A history of the United States for schools . each side and openino-on the long passageway that runs through the centre of the house with anoutside door ateach end. Thishouse would havetwenty-four com-partments, ofwhich twentywould hold eacha family, while ateach end twostalls were gen-erally reservedfor storing pro-visions. Othertribes had dif-ferent styles ofhouses; for ex-ample, the Man-dans, on the upper Missouri, lived in round frame housescovered with clay which hardened under the suns raysand became fire-proof. Each house had a fire-pit in thecentre, and the compartments for families wer
A history of the United States for schools . each side and openino-on the long passageway that runs through the centre of the house with anoutside door ateach end. Thishouse would havetwenty-four com-partments, ofwhich twentywould hold eacha family, while ateach end twostalls were gen-erally reservedfor storing pro-visions. Othertribes had dif-ferent styles ofhouses; for ex-ample, the Man-dans, on the upper Missouri, lived in round frame housescovered with clay which hardened under the suns raysand became fire-proof. Each house had a fire-pit in thecentre, and the compartments for families were triangu-lar, with the points toward the centre, like the cuts of apie. 4. The Clan and the Tribe. All the families thatlived together in the same house were supposed to beThe Indian descended from the same female ancestor. Allclan. j-j^g families thus related made a clan. Some- times there were too many to live in one house, and they 1 From Catlins North American Indians, i. 88. The picture is modernand sinews a horse; see opposite MANDAN |§ 4, 5. ANCIENT AMERICA. 7 occupied several houses grouped together in one neigh-borhood. The houses and food belonged to the clan,and there was no private property except weapons andtrinkets. The clan had its own religious ceremonies,and was known by a name, usually of some animal, asBear or Turtle; such animals were held sacred, andcarved images of them, called totems, served as a kindof emblem of the clan. A certain number of clans,— from three or four up totwenty or more,— speaking the same language, made upan Indian tribe. Society was completely demo- ^j^^ jj^.cratic; there were no distinctions of rank. ^^ ^^s-Every clan elected its own sachem or civil magistrate,and could depose him for misconduct. Every clan alsoelected a certain number of war-chiefs. The tribe wasgoverned by a council of its clan-sachems ; some tribeselected a head war-chief and some did not. Every mat-ter of importance had to be decided i
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