other women and men of the gens.  Often the gentile chief is a potential chief through a period of probation.  During this time he attends the meetings of the council, but takes no part in the deliberations and has no vote.  At his installation, the council women invest him with an elaborately ornamented tunic, place upon his head a chaplet of feathers, and paint the gentile totem upon his face....  The sachem of the tribe is selected by the men belonging to the council of the tribe.

The management of military affairs inheres in the military council and chief.  The military council is composed of all the able-bodied men of the tribe; the military chief is chosen by the council from the Porcupine gens.  Each gentile chief is responsible for the military training of the youth under his authority.  There are usually one or more potential military chiefs, who are the close companions and assistants of the chief in time of war and, in case of the death of the chief, take his place in the order of seniority.[124]

In this tribe the numerical recognition of women is striking, and indicates that they are the original core of society.  They are still responsible for society, in a way, but all the offices involving motor activity are deputed to men.  Thus women, as heads of households, choose four women councilors of the clan (gens), and these choose the fifth member, who is a man and the head of the council and chief of the clan.  The tribal chief is, however, chosen by males, and in the military organization, which represents the group capacity for violence, the women have not even a nominal recognition.  The real authority rests with those who are most fit to exercise it.  Female influence persists as a matter of habit, until, under the pressure of social, particularly of military, activities, the breaking-up of the habit and a new accommodation follows the accumulation of a larger fund of social energy.

The men of any group are at any time in possession of the force to change the habits of the group and push aside any existing system.  But the savage is not revolutionary; his life and his social sanctions are habitual.  He is averse to change as such, and retains form and rite after their meaning is lost.  We consequently find an expression of social respect for woman under the maternal system suggestive of chivalry, and even a formal elevation of women to authority in groups where the actual control is in the hands of men.

In the Mariana Islands the position of woman was distinctly superior; even when the man had contributed an equal share of property on marriage, the wife dictated everything and the man could undertake nothing without her approval; but, if the woman committed an offense, the man was held responsible and suffered the punishment.  The women could speak in the assembly, they held property, and if a woman asked anything of a man, he gave it up without a murmur.  If a wife was unfaithful,