which cannot well be doubted, shows clearly that such a congregation has occurred repeatedly. Units may also have broken up, owing to inner dissensions or to other accidents.
On the other hand, each tribe consists of units that claim as their places of origin, localities not far apart. In a few cases only, may one or the other division of the tribe claim as the place of its origin a locality removed quite a long distance from the traditional home of the other divisions. This is the case for instance with the Q!ōmk·!ōt!es of the Kwāg·uł. Some of the tribal names are purely geographical terms and indicate that we are dealing with communities that live in close proximity, including perhaps groups that moved to the territory in question. Other types of names, however, occur. The translations given by the natives for some of them are folk-etymologies and cannot be taken as authoritative. Thus the name Kwāg·uł is derived from a stem kwaku- of unknown significance, but is considered by the natives as a derived form of kwax·—which means “smoke.” The name Nāk!wax·daεxu is explained by them as derived from neq-, “ten,” philologically an impossible etymology. In previous writings, I accepted some of these etymologies, but I am certain that they must be rejected.
There are a number of cases in which the relations between certain divisions of a tribe are explained by tradition. Thus several pairs of divisions of one sept[1] of the Kwāg·uł are considered as the descendants of two brothers, one of the elder, the other of the younger one. In another case, the divisions of the tribe are considered each as descended from one of four brothers. When I inquired later on why in one of these pairs the one division was considered of lower rank, the following information was obtained. In the generation I the ancestor of one division a of one sept A had a slave whom we may call IAa1. He married the woman slave of the ancestor of another division b of another sept B whom we may call IBb2. Their eldest son (Generation II, designated IIBb′3), married the daughter (IIAc7) of the chief (IAc6) of the division c of the sept A, assumed a chief’s name and became the ancestor of
- ↑ The Kwāg·uł proper consist of four septs or subtribes, each being divided into a number of subdivisions which are the fundamental social units.
