Board Thread:The Reference Desk/@comment-165.228.133.90-20130213061834/@comment-188432-20130214174637

Are you positive that it's not gum? It is, after all, his tribe, and the name "gum" is not otherwise explained by the narrative. If the "g" and the "m" are disallowed by other parts of the puzzle, fine. But if they're in positions where nothing else is connected, then "gum" is almost certainly the right answer.

EDIT: It's actually not his tribe, is it? "The Tribe of Gum" is never used in any published narrative surrounding this story. That was just a working title. I'm guessing the reason the title had to change was because the character's name changed from "Gum" to "Za".