A man counts as uncles all those whom his mothers call "brothers"; and as aunts all the sisters of his father and the wives of his uncles. A man has for brothers-in-law the husbands of his father's sister; for they are the real or virtual husbands of his sisters; a woman has them for virtual husbands.[1]
Various prohibitions of marriage result from these conventional kinships. A man may not marry the women that he calls daughters of a sister, or grand-daughters, etc. A woman may not marry the men who are her sons, the sons of her sister, of her aunt or of her niece, or who are her brothers, etc.[2]
But an Omaha may marry any woman who is not a blood relation, provided that she does not figure among the prohibited affinities.[3]
We have not such detailed information regarding the other Redskin tribes; but we know enough of them to be certain that their systems of kinship are very analogous to those of the Iroquois Senecas and the Omahas. Filiation is everywhere maternal, except in certain tribes in the course of evolution; nearly everywhere also it is a crime to marry a woman having the same totem.[4]
Among the Mandans, Pawnies, and Arickaries, a man calls his brother's wife his wife also. Among the Crows a woman calls her husband's brother's wife her "comrade"; but among the Winebagos she calls her "sister." In some tribes a man's wife's sister's husband is called his "brother."[5]
Some very severe and inconvenient rules of decency have resulted from these fictitious kinships, with their prohibitions of marriage.
Thus, among the Omahas, the young girls may only speak to their father, brother, and grandfather. A woman avoids passing before her daughter's husband as much as possible; and, unless under extraordinary circumstances, a woman does not speak directly to the father of her husband. A man never addresses a word to the mother or grandmother of his wife.[6] In the last century, among the Iroquois, a young
