108 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 43

clan;' tsan o'wats, 'deer clan;' tso'go o'wats, 'bear clan;' iciwada
&'wets, 'panther clan;' 'no;6l o'wats, 'accoon clan;' a'lax o'wats,
'snake clan;' c6'gol o'wats, 'bird clan.' These correspond in number
but not in names to the clans of the Cherokee. They are all repre-
sented among the Creeks, however, and G(atschet was also told of a
beaver clan existing there.
 It would be interesting to know whether a totemic clan system
similar to that of the surrounding Muskhogean tribes existed in
ancient times along with this aristocratic government, but the absolute
silence of every one of our authorities argues strongly against it.
Probably the aristocratic system acted in the early days of the tribe
to prevent its development. On the whole the Natchez castes may
best be compared with the war classes of Muskhogean tribes to which,
however, a hereditary element has been added.
 In spite of their strong maternal organization government within
the separate families was just as positively paternal.
 Paternal authority, as I have said, is not less inviolable and sncred than
the preeminence of the men. It is still among the Natchez of Louisiana such
as it was in the first age of the world. The children belong to the father, and
so long as he lives they are under his power. They live with hin--they, their
wives, and their children. The entire family is inclosed by the same cabin.
The old man alone comnlands there, and only death puts an end to his empire."
 This old man is the oldest of the family, often enough the great-grandfather
or great-gret-g-grandfather, for these natives live long, and although they have
gray hair only when they are great-grandfathers, some are seen to live when
entirely gray, not being able to stand on their feet, but without any other
malady than old age, so that it is necessary to carry them outside of the cabin
in order to take the air or to do anything else that is necessary, assistance
which is never refused to these old men. The respect in which they are held
in the family is so great that they are regarded as judges. Their counsels are
judgments. An old chief of a family is called father by all the children of
the same cabin, be they his nephews or grandnephews. Tle natives often say
that such an one is their father. It is the chief of the family. When they wish
to speak of their own father they say that such an one is their true father.1
 As these people have little business between one another, or rather have none
at all, this paternal authority is seen to come out in nothing more perfectly
than in marriages.c

 METHOD OF COUNTING TIME

 The savages have neither days, nor weeks, nor months. They do not even
have years. They always count by moons, and their count goes only as far as
ten. for the highest point in their arithmetic does not go beyond this sum.
They count very well so far, but when they have arrived there it is necessary
that they recommence with one, after which they say one ten, two ten, as far
ias ten times ten without being able to go farther. It is for them the non plus
ultra. Besides, when they have reached that point they are heard to say
"Tallabe [talui], which signifies, "There are so many that I can not count


a Du Pratz, Hist. de La Louisiane, II, 386.


b Ibid., 313. Ibid., 386.