nt
organizations of which the gentile order is composed are jumbled
together without understanding and distinction as tribe, clan, thum,
etc. Sometimes it is stated that intermarrying within these
organizations is forbidden. This gave rise to the hopeless confusion, in
which McLennan could pose as Napoleon and establish order by the decree:
All tribes are divided into those that forbid intermarrying (exogamous)
and those that permit it (endogamous). And after he had thus made
confusion worse confounded, he could indulge in deep meditations which
of his two preposterous classes was the older: exogamy or endogamy. By
the discovery of the gens founded on affinity of blood and the resulting
impossibility of its members to intermarry, this nonsense found a
natural end. It is self understood that the marriage interdict within
the gens was strictly observed at the stage in which we find the
Iroquois.

4. The property of deceased members fell to the share of the other
gentiles; it had to remain in the gens. In view of the insignificance of
the objects an Iroquois could leave behind, the nearest gentile
relations divided the heritage. Was the deceased a man, then his natural
brothers, sisters and the brothers of the mother shared in his property.
Was it a woman, then her children and natural sisters shared, but not
her brothers. For this reason husband and wife could not inherit from
one another, nor the children from the father.

5. The gentile members owed to each other help, protection and
especially assistance in revenging injury inflicted by strangers. The
individual relied for his protection on the gens and could be assured of
it. Whoever injured the individual, injured the whole gens. From this
blood kinship arose the obligation to blood revenge that was
unconditionally recognized by the Iroquois. If a stranger killed a
gentile member, the whole gens of the slain man was pledged to revenge
his death. First mediation was tried. The gens of the slayer deliberated
and offered to the gentile council of the slain propositions for
atonement, consisting generally in expressions of regret and presents of
considerable value. If these were accepted, the matter was settled. In
the opposite case the injured gens appointed one or more avengers who
were obliged to pursue the slayer and to kill him. If they succeeded,
the gens of the slayer had no right to complain. The account was
squared.

6. The gens had certain distinct names or