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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/31500-0.txt b/31500-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..eb90d9e --- /dev/null +++ b/31500-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8093 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Position of Woman in Primitive Society, by +C. Gasquoine Hartley + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Position of Woman in Primitive Society + A Study of the Matriarchy + +Author: C. Gasquoine Hartley + +Release Date: March 4, 2010 [EBook #31500] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POSITION OF WOMAN *** + + + + +Produced by Steven Gibbs, Irma Spehar and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + +THE POSITION OF WOMAN IN PRIMITIVE SOCIETY + + +BY THE SAME AUTHOR + +THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN + +_BOOKS ON ART_ + + A RECORD OF SPANISH PAINTING + THE PRADO (Spanish Series) + EL GRECO " + VELAZQUEZ " + PICTURES IN THE TATE GALLERY + +_BOOKS ON SPAIN_ + + MOORISH CITIES IN SPAIN + THINGS SEEN IN SPAIN + SPAIN REVISITED: A SUMMER HOLIDAY IN GALICIA + SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA (Mediæval Towns’ Series) + CATHEDRALS OF SOUTHERN AND EASTERN SPAIN + + + + + THE + POSITION OF WOMAN + IN PRIMITIVE SOCIETY + + A + STUDY OF THE MATRIARCHY + + + BY + C. GASQUOINE HARTLEY + (MRS. WALTER M. GALLICHAN) + AUTHOR OF “THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN.” + + + LONDON + EVELEIGH NASH + 1914 + + + + +DEDICATION + +TO ALL WOMEN + + + “Be not ashamed, women, your privilege includes the rest.... + You are the gates of the body, you are the gates of the soul.... + And I say it is as great to be a woman as to be a man. + And I say there is nothing greater than the mother of men.” + + WALT WHITMAN. + + _7 Carlton Terrace, + Child’s Hill._ + 1914. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +PART I + +THE PRIMITIVE FAMILY + +CHAP. PAGE + +I INTRODUCTORY 11 + +II AN EXPOSITION OF BACHOFEN’S THEORY OF THE MATRIARCHATE 26 + +III DIFFICULTIES AND OBJECTIONS: AN ATTEMPT TO RECONCILE + MOTHER-RIGHT WITH THE PATRIARCHAL THEORY 45 + +IV DEVELOPMENT IN THE PATRIARCHAL FAMILY AND THE RISE + OF MOTHER-POWER 67 + + +PART II + +THE MOTHER AGE CIVILISATION + +V THE MATRIARCHAL FAMILY AMONG THE AMERICAN INDIANS 95 + +VI THE MATERNAL FAMILY AMONG THE KHASIS 132 + +VII FURTHER EXAMPLES OF THE MATERNAL FAMILY 147 + +VIII MOTHER-RIGHT CUSTOMS AND THE TRANSITION TO FATHER-RIGHT 166 + +IX WOMEN AND PRIMITIVE INDUSTRY 192 + +X TRACES OF MOTHER-RIGHT CUSTOMS IN ANCIENT AND MODERN + CIVILISATION 209 + +XI THE SURVIVALS OF MOTHER-RIGHT IN FOLK-LORE, IN HEROIC + LEGENDS, AND IN FAIRY STORIES 235 + +XII CONCLUDING REMARKS 253 + + + + +PART I + +THE PRIMITIVE FAMILY + + + + +CHAPTER I + +INTRODUCTORY + + +The twentieth century is the age of Woman; some day, it may be that it +will be looked back upon as the golden age, the dawn, some say, of +feminine civilisation. We cannot estimate as yet; and no man can tell +what forces these new conditions may not release in the soul of woman. +The modern change is that the will of woman is asserting itself. Women +are looking for a satisfactory life, which is to be determined from +within themselves, not from without by others. The result is a +discontent that may well prove to be the seed or spring of further +changes in a society which has yet to find its normal organisation. +Yes, women are finding themselves, and men are discovering what women +mean. + +In the present time we are passing through a difficult period of +transition. There are conditions of change that have to be met, the +outcome of which it is very difficult to appreciate. A transformation +in the thought and conduct of women, for which the term “revolution” +is not too strong, is taking place around us; doubtless many +experimental phases will be tried before we reach a new position of +equilibrium. + +This must be. There can be no life without movement. + +The expression, “a transition period,” is, of course, only relative. +We often say: This or that is a sign of the present era; and, nine +times out of ten, the thing we believe to be new is in reality as old +as the world itself. In one sense the whole of history is a vast +transition. No period stands alone; the present is in every age merely +the shifting point at which the past and the future meet. All things +move onwards. But the movement sometimes takes the form of a cataract, +at others of an even and almost imperceptible current. This is really +another way of saying that the usually slow and gradual course of +change is, at certain stages, interrupted by a more or less prolonged +period of revolution. The process of growth, from being gradual and +imperceptible, becomes violent and conscious. + +There can be little doubt that what is called the “Woman’s Movement,” +with its disintegrating influences on social opinion and practice, is +bringing vast and momentous changes in women’s attitude towards the +universe and towards themselves. A great motive and an enlarging +ideal, a quickening of the woman’s spirit, a stirring dream of a new +order--these are what we have gained. We are carried on, though as yet +we know not whither, and there is, of necessity, a little stumbling of +our feet as we seek for a way. Hence the fear, always tending to arise +in periods of social reconstruction, which is felt by many to-day as +women pass out far beyond the established boundaries prescribed for +their sex. + +Whoever reflects soberly on the past history of women will not be +surprised at their present movement towards emancipation. Women are +reclaiming a position that is theirs by natural right--a position +which once they held. It may be all very well for those who accept the +authority and headship of the man as the foundation of the family and +of society, to be filled with bewildered fear at what seems to them to +be a quite new assertion of rights on the part of the mothers of the +race. But has the family at all stages of growth been founded on the +authority of the father? Our decision on this question will affect our +outlook on the whole question of Woman’s Rights and the relationships +of the two sexes. There are civilisations, older and, as I believe, +wiser than ours that have accepted the predominant position of the +mother as the great central fact on which the family has been +established. + +The view that the family, much as it existed among the Hebrew +patriarchs, and as it exists to-day, was primeval and universal is +very deeply rooted. This is not surprising. To reverse the gaze of men +from themselves is no easy task. The predominance of the male over the +female, of the man over the woman and of the father over the mother, +has been accepted, almost without question, in a civilisation built up +on the recognition of male values and male standards of opinion. Thus +the institutions, habits, prejudices, and superstitions of the +patriarchal authority rest like an incubus upon us. The women of +to-day carry the dead load upon their backs, and literally stagger +beneath the accumulating burden of the ages. + +The “Woman’s Movement” is pressing us forward towards a recasting of +the patriarchal view of the relative position and duties of the two +sexes. It must be regarded as an extremely great and comprehensive +movement affecting the whole of life. From this wider standpoint, the +fight for the parliamentary suffrage is but as the vestibule to +progress; the possession of the vote being no more than a necessary +condition for attaining far larger and more fundamental ends. + +It is, however, very necessary to remark that the recognition of this +imposes a great responsibility upon women. For one thing the practical +difficulties of the present must be faced. It is far from easy to +readjust existing conditions to meet the new demands. Present social +and economic conditions are to a great extent chaotic. We cannot +safely cast aside, in any haste for reform, those laws, customs and +opinions which it has been the slow task of our civilisation to +establish, not for men only, but for women. We women have to work out +many questions far more thoroughly than hitherto we have done. We owe +this to our movement and to the world of men. It will serve nothing to +pull down, unless we are ready also to build up. Freedom can be +granted only to the self-disciplined. + + “Thou that does know the Self and the not-Self, expert in + every work: endowed with self-restraint and perfect + same-sightedness towards every creature free from the sense + of I and my--thy power and energy are equal to my own, and + thou hast practised the most severe discipline.”[1] + + * * * * * + + [1] The _Mahābhārata_. The Great God thus addresses Shakti, + when he asks her to describe the duties of women. I quote + from a pamphlet by Dr. Ananda Coomaraswamy: _Sati: A + Vindication of the Hindu Woman_. + +This little book is an attempt to establish the position of the mother +in the family. It sets out to investigate those early states of +society, when, through the widespread prevalence of descent through +the mother, the survival of the family clan and, in some cases, the +property rights were dependent on women and not on men. I start from +the belief that the mother was at one period the dominant partner in +the sexual relationships. This does not, however, at all necessarily +involve “rule by women.” We must be very clear here. What I claim is +this. The system by which the family was built up and grouped around +the mother conferred special rights on women. The form of marriage +favourable to this influence was that by which the husband entered the +wife’s family and clan, and lived there as a “consort-guest.” The wife +and mother was director in the home, the owner of the meagre property, +the distributor of food, and the controller of the children.[2] Hence +arises what is known as mother-right. + + [2] McGee: “The Beginning of Marriage,” _American + Anthropologist_, Vol. IV, p. 378. + +I am prompted to this inquiry by two reasons: in the first place, the +origin of the maternal-system and the subsequent association of the +mother and the father appear to me to afford evidence of the working +of a natural law of the two sexes, which, both for social and other +reasons, is of great interest in the present stage of women’s history. +The establishing of the mother’s position is of great importance. If +we can prove that women have exercised unquestioned and direct +authority in the past history of human societies, we shall be in a +position to answer those who to-day wish to set limits to women’s +activities. Then, in the second place, I am compelled to doubt certain +conclusions, both of those who accept mother-right, and also of the +greater number who now deny its occurrence. If I am right, and the +importance of the maternal family has been unduly neglected and the +true explanation of its origin overlooked, I feel that, whatever +errors I may fall into, I am justified in undertaking this task. My +mistakes will be corrected by others with more knowledge than I can +claim; and if my theory of mother-right has any merit, it will be +established in more competent hands. The vast majority of +investigators on these questions are men. I am driven to believe that +sometimes they are mistaken in their interpretation of habits and +customs which arose among primitive societies in which the influence +of women was marked. In dealing with the family and its origin it has +been usual to consider the male side and to pass over the female +members. This has led, I am sure, to much error. + +The custom of tracing descent through the mother, either practised +consciously and completely, or only as a survival, occurs among many +primitive peoples in all parts of the world. Whether, however, it +existed universally and from all time, or whether only in certain +races, among whose institutions it remains or may still be traced, is +a much debated question. Not all barbarous tribes are in the stage of +mother-right; on the contrary many reckon descent through the father. +But even where the latter is the case, vestiges of the former system +are frequently to be found. There seems to be a common tendency to +discredit a system of relationship, which suggests even as a bare +possibility the mother, and not the father, being the head of the +family. Yet, I believe I can assign some, at least plausible, reasons +for believing that descent through women has been a stage, though not, +I think, the first stage, in social growth for all branches of the +human family. + +There can be little doubt of the importance of kinship and inheritance +being reckoned through the mother. If the children belong to her, and +if by marriage the husband enters her home, the greater influence, +based on the present possession of property, and the future hope of +the family rests on the female side. Such conditions must have +exercised strong influence on the position of the women members of the +primitive clan and the honour in which they were held. It cannot be +ignored. + +Of course, this does not prevent the hardships of savage life weighing +more heavily in many ways upon women than on the stronger men. In +primitive societies women have a position quite as full of anomalies +as they hold among civilised races. Among some tribes their position +is extremely good; among others it is undoubtedly bad, but, speaking +generally, it is much better than usually it is held to be.[3] +Obviously the causes must be sought in the environment and in social +organisation. The differences in the status and power of women, often +occurring in tribes at the same level of progress, would seem to be +dependent largely on economic conditions. The subject is full of +difficulties. Not only is the position of women thus variable, but our +knowledge of the matter is very defective. It is seldom, indeed, that +the question has been considered of sufficient importance to receive +accurate attention.[4] Not infrequently conflicting accounts are given +by different authorities, and even by the same writer. + + [3] Westermarck, “The Position of Women in Early + Civilisations,” _Sociological Papers_, 1904. + + [4] For instance, Maine (_Early Law and Custom_), in speaking + of tribes who still trace their descent from a single + ancestress, says, “The outlines” (_i. e._ of the maternal + family) “may still be marked out, _if it be worth any one’s + while to trace it_.” + +I wish it to be understood that mother-right does not necessarily +imply mother-rule. This system may even be combined with the +patriarchal authority of the male. The unfortunate use of the term +_Matriarchate_ has led to much confusion. My own knowledge and study +of primitive customs and ancient civilisations have made it plain to +me that there has been a constant rise and fall of male and female +dominance, but, I believe, that, on the whole, the superiority of +women has been more frequent and more successful than that of men. + +It is this that I shall attempt to prove. + +The theory of mother-right has been subjected to so much criticism +that a re-examination of the position is very necessary. To show its +prevalence, to establish some leading points in its history, to make +out its connection with the patriarchal family, and to trace the +transition by which one system passed into the other, appear to me to +be matters primarily important. The limited compass of this little +book will prevent my substantiating my own views as I should wish, +with a full and systematic survey of all authentic accounts of the +peoples among whom mother-descent may be studied. I have considered, +however, that I could summarise the position in a comprehensive +picture, that will, I hope, suggest a point of view that seems to me +to have been very generally neglected. + +It is necessary to enter into such an inquiry with caution; the +difficulties before me are very great. Nothing would be easier than +from the mass of material available to pile up facts in furnishing a +picture of the high status of women among many tribes under the +favourable influence of mother-descent, that would unnerve any +upholders of the patriarchal view of the subordination of women. It is +just possible, on the other hand, to interpret these facts from a +fixed point of thought of the father’s authority as the one support of +the family, and then to argue that, in spite of the mother’s control +over her children and over property, she still remained the inferior +partner. I wish to do neither. It is my purpose to examine the +evidence, and so to discover to what extent the system of tracing +descent through the female side conferred any special claim for +consideration upon women. I shall try to avoid mistakes. I put forward +my own opinions with great diffidence. It is so easy, as I realise +full well, to interpret facts by the bias of one’s own wishes. I know +that the habits and customs of primitive peoples that I have studied +closely are probably few in comparison with those I have missed; yet +to me they appear of such importance in the light they throw on the +whole question of the relationships of the two sexes, that it seems +well to bring them forward. + +Since my attention, now many years ago, was first directed to this +question, I have felt that a clear and concise account of the +mother-age was indispensable for women. Such an account, with a +criticism of the patriarchal theory, is here offered. Throughout I +have attempted to clear up and bring into uniformity the two opposing +theories of the origin of the human family. I have tried to gather the +facts, very numerous and falling into several classes, by which the +theory of the mother-age could be supported. And first it was +necessary to clear out of the way a body of opinion, the prevalence of +which has opposed an obstacle to the acceptance of the rights of +mothers in the family relationship. The whole question turns upon +which you start with; the man--the woman, or the woman--the man. + +Here it should be explained that this little book is an expansion of +the historical section which treats of “the Mother-age civilisation” +in my former book, _The Truth About Woman_. I wish to take this +opportunity of expressing my gratitude for the generous interest and +sympathy with which my work has been received. Such kindness is very +imperfectly repaid by an author’s thanks; it is certainly the best +incentive to further work. + +This little volume was suggested to me by a review in one of the +Suffrage papers. The writer, after speaking of the interest to women +of the mother-age and the difficulty there was in gaining information +on the subject, said that “a small and cheaper book on the +matriarchate would be useful to women in all countries.” I was +grateful for this suggestion. I at once felt that I wanted to write +such a book. For one thing, this particular section on the mother-age +in _The Truth About Woman_, and my belief in the favourable influence +of mother-descent on the status of women, has been much questioned. I +have been told that I “had quite deliberately gone back to our +uncivilised ancestors to ‘fish up’ the precedent of the matriarchate;” +that I “had allowed my prejudices to dictate my choice of material, +and had thus brought forward examples explanatory of my own opinions;” +that I “had fastened eagerly on these, without inquiring too carefully +about other facts having a contrary tendency.” I was reminded of what +I well knew, that the matriarchate and promiscuity with which it is +usually connected were not universally accepted by anthropologists; +the tendency to-day being to discredit both as being among the early +phases of society. It was suggested that I “had unprofitably spent my +time on the historical section of my book, and had built up my theory +on a curiously uncertain foundation;” that I “had relied too much on +the certain working of mother-right, and had been by no means clear in +showing how, from such a position of power, women had sunk into +subservience to patriarchal rule.” In fact, it has seemed to be the +opinion of my critics that I had allowed what I “would have liked to +have happened to affect my account of what did happen in the infancy +of man’s social life.” + +Now, I want to say quite frankly, that I feel much of this criticism +is just. The inquiry on the mother-age civilisation was only one small +section of my book on Woman. I realise that very much was hurried +over. There is on this subject of the origin of the family a +literature so extensive, and such a variety of opinions, that the +work of the student is far from easy. The whole question is too +extensive to allow anything like adequate treatment within the space +of a brief, and necessarily insufficient, summary. My earlier +investigation may well be objected to as not being in certain points +supported by sufficient proofs. I know this. It is not easy to +condense the marriage customs and social habits of many different +peoples into a few dozen pages. Of course, I selected my examples. But +this I may say; I chose those which had brought me to accept +mother-right. I was driven to this belief by my own study and reading +long before the time of writing my book. What I really tried to do was +to present to others the facts that had convinced me. But my stacks of +unused notes, collected for my own pleasure during many years of work, +are witness to how much I had to leave out. + +I know that many objections that have been raised to the theory of +mother-right were left unanswered. I dismissed much too lightly the +patriarchal theory of the origin of the family, which during late +years has gained such advocacy. I failed to carry my inquiry far +enough back. I accepted with too little caution an early period of +promiscuous sexual relationships. I did not make clear the stages in +the advance of the family to the clan and the tribe; nor examine with +sufficient care the later transition period in which mother-right gave +place to father-right. + +I have been sent back to examine again my own position. And to do +this, it was necessary first to take up the question from the +position of those whose views are in opposition to my own. I have made +a much more extensive study of those authorities who, rejecting +mother-right, accept a modification of the patriarchal theory as the +origin of the family. This has led to some considerable recasting of +my views. Not at all, however, to a change in my belief in +mother-right, which, indeed, has now been strengthened, and, as I +trust, built up on surer foundations. + +By a fortunate chance, I was advised to read Mr. Andrew Lang’s _Social +Origins_,[5] which work includes Mr. Atkinson’s _Primal Law_. I am +greatly indebted to the assistance I have gained from these writers. +It is, perhaps, curious that a very careful study of the patriarchal +family as it is presented by Mr. Atkinson and Mr. Lang, has brought me +to a conclusion fundamentally at variance from what might have been +expected. I have gained invaluable support for my own belief in +mother-right, and have found fresh proofs from the method of +difference. I have cleared up many points that previously puzzled me. +I am able now to accept the patriarchal theory, without at all shaking +my faith in a subsequent period of mother-descent and mother-power. + + [5] This book was mentioned to me in a letter from Mr. H. G. + Wells. + +The discussion on this question is now half a century old. Yet in +spite of the opposition of many investigators, and the support of +others, the main problems are still unsettled. What form did the +family take in its earliest stage? Did it start as a small group or +with the clan or horde? What were the earliest conditions of the +sexual relationships? Was promiscuity at one period the rule? Was the +foundation of the family based on the authority of the father, or of +the mother? If on that of the father, how is mother-kin and +mother-right to be explained? These are among the questions that must +be answered. Not till this is done, can we establish any theory of +mother-descent, or estimate its effect on the status of women. + +The whole subject is a very wide and complicated one. If I differ on +several important points from learned authorities, whose knowledge and +research far exceed my own, I do so only after great hesitation, and +because I must. The facts they have collected from their personal +knowledge of primitive peoples (facts which I have gratefully used) +often suggest quite opposite conclusions to my thoughts than to +theirs--the view-point is different, that is all. They were seeking +for one thing; I for another: they were men; I am a woman. It would be +foolishness for me to attempt any special pleadings for my own +opinions. How far I shall succeed, or fail, to make clear to others a +period of mother-right that is certain to me, I do not know. I offer +my little book with all humility, and yet without any apology. We may +read and learn and gather knowledge from many sources; but the +opinions of others we cannot take on credit; we must re-think them out +for ourselves, and make them our own. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +AN EXPOSITION OF BACHOFEN’S THEORY OF THE MATRIARCHATE + + +Fifty-three years ago in his great work, _Das Mutterrecht_,[6] the +Swiss writer, Bachofen, drew the attention of the world to the fact +that a system of kinship through mothers only prevailed among many +primitive peoples, while survivals of the custom could be widely, if +but faintly, traced among civilised races. Drawing his evidence from +the actual statements of old writers, but more from legends and the +mythologies of antiquity, he came to the conclusion that a system of +descent through women had, in all cases, preceded the rise of kinship +through males. Almost at the same time Dr. J. F. McLennan,[7] ignorant +of the work of Bachofen, came to the same opinion. This led to a +reconsideration of the patriarchal theory; and for a time it was +widely held that in the early stages of society a matriarchate +prevailed, in which women held the supreme power. Further support +came from Morgan, with his knowledge of the maternal family among +American aborigines, and he was followed by Professor Tylor, McGee, +and many other investigators. + + [6] _Das Mutterrecht_ was published in Stuttgart in 1861. + + [7] _Primitive Marriage_, published 1865. _Studies in Ancient + History_, which includes a reprint of _Primitive Marriage_; + 1st ed. 1876, 2nd ed. 1886. _The Patriarchal Theory_, a + criticism of this theory is based on the papers of Mr. + McLennan and edited by his brother. + +Obviously this gynæcocratic view, which placed woman in a new relation +to man, was unlikely to be permanently accepted. Thus a reaction to +the earlier theory of the patriarchal family has set in, especially in +recent years. Many writers, while acknowledging the existence of +mother descent, deny that such a system carries with it, except in a +few exceptional cases, mother-rights of special advantage to women; +even when these seem to be present they believe such rights to be more +apparent than real. + +In bringing forward any theory of mother-right, it thus becomes +necessary to show the causes that have led to this reversal in +opinion. To do this, the first step will be to examine, with +considerable detail, the evidence for the matriarchal theory as it is +given by its two great supporters. Now, an interesting point arises, +if we compare the view of Bachofen with that held by McLennan. No two +ways could well be further apart than those by which these two men +arrived at the same conclusion. Both accept an early period of +promiscuous sexual relationships. But Bachofen found the explanation +of mother-descent in the supremacy of women, and believed a +matriarchate to have been established by them in a moral revolt +against such _hetaïrism_. Mr. McLennan, on the other hand, regarded +the custom as due to uncertainty of paternity--the children were +called after the mother because the father was unknown. + +Let us concentrate our attention on the _Das Mutterrecht_ of Bachofen, +whose work as the great champion of matriarchy claims our most careful +consideration. And it is necessary to say at once that there can be no +doubt his view of women’s supremacy is greatly exaggerated. Such a +rule of women, at the very early stage of society when mother-kin is +supposed to have arisen, is not proved, and does not seem probable. +Even if it existed, _it could not have originated in the way and for +the reasons_ that are credited by the Swiss writer. I wish to +emphasise this point. Much of the discredit that has fallen on the +matriarchate has arisen, I am certain, through the impossibility of +accepting Bachofen’s mythical account of its origin. This great +supporter of women was a dreamer, rather than a calm and impartial +investigator. Founding his main theory on assumptions, he asks us to +accept these as historical facts. Much of his work and his belief in +women must be regarded as the rhapsodies of a poet. And yet, it is the +poet who finds the truth. The poetic spirit is, in one sense, the most +practical of all. Bachofen saw the fact of mother-power, though not +_why_ it was the fact, and he enfolded his arguments in a garment of +pure fiction. + +To disengage from his learned book, _Das Mutterrecht_,[8] his theory +of the origin of the Matriarchate is no easy task. There is, for one +thing, such bewildering contradiction and confusion in the material +used. Then the interpretation of the mythical tales, so freely +intermingled everywhere, is often strained--prompted by a poetic +imagination which snatches at every kind of allegory. Often the views +expressed are inconsistent with each other, the arguments and proofs +are disconnected, while many of the details are hopelessly obscure and +confused. Yet it seems to me possible to recognise the idea which +brings into unity the mass of his work--the spirit, as it were, that +breathes into it its life. It may be found in the clear appreciation +of the superstitious and mystical element in primitive man, and their +close interweaving with the sexual life. As I understand Herr +Bachofen, the sex-act was the means which first opened up ways to +great heights, but also to great depths. + + [8] Prof. Giraud-Teulon’s _La Mère chez certains Peuples de + l’Antiquité_ is founded on the introduction to _Das + Mutterrecht_. This little book of fascinating reading is the + best and easiest way of studying Bachofen’s theory. + +Bachofen strongly insists on the religious element in all early human +thought. He believes that the development of the primitive community +only advanced by means of religious ideas. + + “Religion,” he says, “is the only efficient lever of all + civilisation. Each elevation and depression of human life + has its origin in a movement which begins in this supreme + department.”[9] + + [9] _Das Mutterrecht_, Intro., p. xiii. + +The authority for this belief is sought in religious myths. + + “Mythical tradition appears to be the faithful + interpretation of the progress of the law of life, at a time + when the foundations of the historical development of the + ancient world were laid; it reveals the original mode of + thought, and we may accept this direct revelation as true + from our complete confidence in this source of history.”[10] + + [10] _Das Mutterrecht_, Intro., p. vii. + +This mystical religious element, which is the essential part of _Das +Mutterrecht_, is closely connected by Bachofen with the power of +women. As it is his belief that, even at this early period, the +religious impulse was more developed among women than men, he bases on +this unproved hypothesis his theory of women’s supremacy. “Wherever +gynæcocracy meets us,” he says, “the mystery of religion is bound up +with it, and lends to motherhood an incorporation in some +divinity.”[11] + + [11] _Ibid._, Intro., p. xv. + +Doubtless this theory of a higher feminine spirituality is a pleasing +one for women--but is it true? The insuperable difficulty to its +acceptance arises, in the first place, from the fact that we can know +nothing at all of the spiritual condition of the human beings among +whom mother-kin was held first to have been practised. But we must go +further than this in our doubt. Can we accept for any period a +spiritual superiority in the character of woman over man? To me, at +least, it is clear that a knowledge of the two sexes among all races +both primitive and civilised--yes, and among ourselves, is sufficient +to discredit such a supposition. + +Bachofen would have us believe that[12] the mother-right of the +ancient world, was due to a revolt of women against the degraded +condition of promiscuity, which previously had been universal among +mankind, a condition in which men had a community of wives, and +_openly lived together like gregarious animals_. + + [12] _Das Mutterrecht_, Intro., p. xxiv. and p. 10. + + “Women, by their nature nobler and more spiritual than men, + became disgusted with this lawless _hetaïrism_, and, under + the influence of a powerful religious impulse, combined in a + revolt (the first Amazonian movement) to put an end to + promiscuity and established marriage.” + +Over and over again Bachofen affirms this spiritual quality in women. + + “The woman’s religious attitude, in particular, the tendency + of her mind towards the supernatural and the divine, + influenced the man and robbed him of the position which + nature disposed him to take in virtue of his physical + superiority. In this way women’s position was transformed by + religious considerations, until they became in civil life + what religion had caused them to be.”[13] And again: “We + cannot fail to see that of the two forms of gynæcocracy in + question--religious and civil--the former was the basis of + the latter. Ideas connected with worship came first, and the + civil forms of life were then the result and + expression.”[14] + + [13] _Ibid._, Intro., p. xiv. + + [14] _Ibid._, Intro., p. xv. + +We may note in passing, the greater affectability of woman’s nature, +which would seem always to have had a tendency to expression in +religio-erotic manifestations. But to build up a theory of matriarchy +on this foundation is strangely wide of the facts. Bachofen adduces +the spirituality of women as the cause of their power. But on what +grounds can such a claim be supported? + +It is on the evidence of licentious customs of all kinds and on +polyandry, that he bases his belief in a period of promiscuity. He +regards this early condition of _hetaïrism_ as a law of nature, and +believes that after its infraction by the introduction of individual +marriage, expiation was required to be made to the Earth Goddess, +Demeter, in temporary prostitution. Hence he explains the widespread +custom of religious prostitution. This fanciful idea may be taken to +represent Bachofen’s method of interpretation. There is an +intermediate stage between _hetaïrism_ and marriage, such as the +group-marriage, held by him to have been practised among barbarous +peoples. “Each man has a wife, but they are all permitted to have +intercourse with the wives of others.”[15] + + [15] _Das Mutterrecht_, p. 18. + +Great stress is laid on the acquisition by women of the benefits of a +marriage law. In the families founded upon individual marriage, which +grew up after the Amazonian revolt, the women, and not the men, held +the first place. Bachofen does not tell us whether they assigned this +place to themselves, or had it conceded to them. Women were the heads +of the families, the children were named after the mother, and not +the father, and all the relations to which rights of succession +attached were traced through women only. All property was held by +women. Moreover, from this headship, women assigned to themselves, or +had conceded to them, the social and political power as well as the +domestic supremacy.[16] + + [16] I have taken much of this passage from Mr. McLennan’s + criticism of Bachofen’s theory, _Studies in Ancient History_, + pp. 319-325. + +The authority for this remarkable theory is sought, with great +ingenuity and patience, in the fragmentary accounts of barbarous +people, and in an exhaustive study of heroic stories and religious +myths. Bachofen argues powerfully for the acceptance of these myths. + + “Every age unconsciously obeys, even in its poetry, the laws + of its individual life. A patriarchal age could not, + therefore, have invented the matriarchate, and the myths + which describe the latter may be regarded as trustworthy + witnesses of its historical existence. It may be taken for + granted that the myths did not refer to special persons and + occurrences, but only tell us of the social customs and + ideas which prevailed, or were endeavouring to prevail, in + several communities.”[17] + + [17] _Das Mutterrecht_, Intro., pp. vii.-viii. + +This is true. It is the interpretation given to many of these myths +that one is compelled to question. Bachofen’s way of applying mythical +tales has no scientific method; for one thing, abstract ideas are +added to primitive legends which could only arise from the thought of +civilised peoples. For instance, he accepts, without any doubt, the +existence of the Amazons; and believes that the myths which refer to +them record “a revolt for the elevation of the feminine sex, and +through them of mankind.” It is on such insecure foundations he builds +up his matriarchal theory. + +There is, however, an aspect of truth in Bachofen’s position, which +becomes plain on a closer examination. To prove this, I must quote a +passage from _Das Mutterrecht_, as representing, or at least +suggesting, the opinions of those who have argued most strongly +against his theory. When recapitulating the facts and arguments in +favour of accepting the supremacy of women, he makes this suggestive +statement-- + + “The first state in all cases was that of _hetaïrism_. The + rule is based upon the right of procreation: since there is + no individual fatherhood, _all have only one father--the + tyrant whose sons and daughters they all are, and to whom + all the property belongs. From this condition in which the + man rules by means of his rude sexual needs, we rise to that + of gynæcocracy_, in which there is the dawn of marriage, of + which the strict observance is at first observed by the + woman, not by the man. Weary of always ministering to the + lusts of man, _the woman raises herself by the recognition + of her motherhood_. Just as a child is first disciplined by + its mother, so are people by their women. It is only the + wife who can control the man’s essentially unbridled + desires, and lead him into the paths of well-doing.... + _While man went abroad on distant forays, the woman stayed + at home, and was undisputed mistress of the household._ She + took arms against her foe, and was gradually transformed + into an Amazon.”[18] + + [18] _Das Mutterrecht_, pp. 18-19. + +The italics in the passage are mine, for they bear directly on what I +shall afterwards have to prove: (1) that mother-right was not the +first stage in the history of the human family; (2) that its existence +is not inconsistent with the patriarchal theory. Bachofen here +suggests a pre-matriarchal period in which the elementary family-group +was founded on and held together by a common subjection to the oldest +and strongest male. This is the primordial patriarchal family. + +Then come the questions: Can we accept mother-right? Are there any +reasonable causes to explain the rise of female dominance? +Westermarck, in criticising the matriarchal theory, has said: “The +inference that ‘kinship through females only’ has everywhere preceded +the rise of ‘kinship through males,’ would be warranted only on +condition that the cause, or the causes, to which the maternal system +is owing, could be proved to have operated universally in the past +life of mankind.”[19] Now, this is what I believe I am able to do. +Hence it has been necessary first to clear the way of the old errors. +Bachofen’s interpretation is too fanciful to find acceptance. Will any +one hold it as true that the change came because _women willed it_? +Surely it is a pure dream of the imagination to credit women, at this +supposed early stage of society, with rising up to establish marriage, +in a revolt of purity against sexual licence, and moreover effecting +the change by force of arms! Bachofen would seem to have been touched +with the Puritan spirit. I am convinced also that he understood very +little of the nature of woman. Conventional morality has always acted +on the side of the man, not the woman. The clue is, indeed, given in +the woman’s closer connection with the home, and in the idea that “she +raises herself by the recognition of her motherhood.” But the facts +are capable of an entirely different interpretation. It will be my aim +to give a quite simple, and even commonplace, explanation of the rise +of mother-descent and mother-right in place of the spiritual +hypothesis of Bachofen. + + [19] _The History of Human Marriage_, p. 105. + +It will be well, however, to examine further Bachofen’s own theory. It +is his opinion that the first Amazonian revolt and period of women’s +rule was followed by a second movement-- + +“Woman took arms against her foe [_i. e._ man], and was gradually +transformed into an Amazon. _As a rival to the man the Amazon became +hostile to him, and began to withdraw from marriage and from +motherhood. This set limits to the rule of women, and provoked the +punishment of heaven and men._”[20] + + [20] _Das Mutterrecht_, p. 85. + +There is a splendid imaginative appeal in this remarkable passage. +Again the italics are mine. It is, of course, impossible to accept +this statement, as Bachofen does, as an historical account of what +happened through the agency of women at the time of which he is +treating. Yet, we can find a suggestion of truth that is eternal. Is +there not here a kind of prophetic foretelling of every struggle +towards readjustment in the relationships of the two sexes, through +all the periods of civilisation, from the beginning until now? You +will see what I mean. The essential fact for woman--and also for +man--is the sense of community with the race. Neither sex can keep a +position apart from parenthood. Just in so far as the mother and the +father attain to consciousness and responsibility in their relations +to the race do they reach development and power. Bachofen, as a poet, +understood this; to me, at least, it is the something real that +underlies all the delusion of his work. But I diverge a little in +making these comments. + +Again the origin of the change from the first period of matriarchy is +sought by Bachofen in religion. + + “Each stage of development was marked by its peculiar + religious ideas, produced by the dissatisfaction with which + the dominating idea of the previous stage was regarded; a + dissatisfaction which led to a disappearance of this + condition.” “What was gained by religion, fostering the + cause of women, by assigning a mystical and almost divine + character to motherhood was now lost through the same cause. + The loss came in the Greek era. Dionysus started the idea of + the divinity of fatherhood; holding the father to be the + child’s true parent, and the mother merely the nurse.” In + this way, we are asked to believe, the rights of men arose, + the father came to be the chief parent, the head of the + mother and the owner of the children, and, therefore, the + parent through whom kinship was traced. We learn that, at + first, “women opposed this new gospel of fatherhood, and + fresh Amazonian risings were the common feature of their + opposition.” But the resistance was fruitless. “Jason put an + end to the rule of the Amazons in Lemnos. Dionysus and + Bellerophon strove together passionately, yet without + gaining a decisive victory, until Apollo, with calm + superiority, finally became the conqueror, and the father + gained the power that before had belonged to the + mother.”[21] + + [21] _Das Mutterrecht_, pp. 73, 85. Compare also McLennan, + _Studies_, p. 322, and Starcke, _The Primitive Family in its + Origin and Development_. + +But before this took place, Bachofen relates yet another movement, +which for a time restored the early matriarchate. The women, at first +opposing, presently became converts to the Dionysusian gospel, and +were afterwards its warmest supporters. Motherhood became degraded. +Bacchanalian excesses followed, which led to a return to the ancient +_hetaïrism_. Bachofen believes that this formed a fresh basis for a +second gynæcocracy. He compares the Amazonian period of these later +days with that in which marriage was first introduced, and finds that +“the deep religious impulse being absent, it was destined to fail, and +give place to the spiritual Apollonic conception of fatherhood.”[22] + + [22] _Ibid._, p. 85. + +In Bachofen’s opinion this triumph of fatherhood was the final +salvation. This is what he says-- + + “It was the assertion of fatherhood which delivered the mind + from natural appearances, and when this was successfully + achieved, human existence was raised above the laws of + natural life. The principal of motherhood is common to all + the spheres of animal life, but man goes beyond this tie in + gaining pre-eminence in the process of procreation, and thus + becomes conscious of his higher vocation. In the paternal + and spiritual principle he breaks through the bonds of + tellurism, and looks upwards to the higher regions of the + cosmos. Victorious fatherhood thus becomes as distinctly + connected with the heavenly light as prolific motherhood is + with the teeming earth.”[23] + + [23] _Das Mutterrecht_, Intro., p. xxvii. + +Here, Bachofen, as is his custom, turns to point an analogy with the +process of nature. + + “All the stages of sexual life from Aphrodistic _hetaïrism_ + to the Apollonistic purity of fatherhood, have their + corresponding type in the stages of natural life, from the + wild vegetation of the morass, the prototype of conjugal + motherhood, to the harmonic law of the Uranian world, to the + heavenly light which, as the _flamma non urens_, corresponds + to the eternal youth of fatherhood. The connection is so + completely in accordance with law, that the form taken by + the sexual relation in any period may be inferred from the + predominance of one or other of these universal ideas in the + worship of a people.”[24] + + [24] _Ibid._, Intro., p. xxix. + +Such, in outline, is Bachofen’s famous matriarchal theory. The +passages I have quoted, with the comments I have ventured to give, +make plain the poetic exaggeration of his view, and sufficiently prove +why his theory no longer gains any considerable support. To build up a +dream-picture of mother-rule on such foundations was, of necessity, to +let it perish in the dust of scepticism. But is the downthrow +complete? I believe not. A new structure has to be built up on a new +and surer foundation, and it may yet appear that the prophetic vision +of the dreamer enabled Bachofen to see much that has escaped the sight +of those who have criticised and rejected his assumption that power +was once in the hands of women. + +One great source of confusion has arisen through the acceptance by the +supporters of the matriarchate of the view that men and women lived +originally in a state of promiscuity. This is the opinion of Bachofen, +of McLennan, of Morgan, and also of many other authorities, who have +believed maternal descent to be dependent on the uncertainty of +fatherhood. It will be remembered that Mr. McLennan brought forward +his theory almost simultaneously with that of Bachofen. The basis of +his view is a belief in an ancient communism in women. He holds that +the earliest form of human societies was the group or horde, and not +the family. He affirms that these groups can have had no idea of +kinship, and that the men would hold their women, like their other +goods, in common, which is, of course, equal to a general promiscuity. +There he agrees with Bachofen’s belief in unbridled _hetaïrism_, but +a very different explanation is given of the change which led to +regulation, and the establishment of the maternal family. + +According to Mr. McLennan, the primitive group or horde, though +originally without explicit consciousness of relationships, were yet +held together by a _feeling_ of kin. Such feeling would become +conscious first between the mother and her children, and, in this way, +mother-kin must have been realised at a very early period. Mr. +McLennan then shows the stages by which the savage would gradually, by +reflection, reach a knowledge of the other relationships through the +mother, sister and brother relationships, mother’s brother and +mother’s sister, and all the degrees of mother-kin, at a time before +the father’s relation to his children had been established. The +children, though belonging at first to the group, would remain +attached to the mothers, and the blood-tie established between them +would, as promiscuity gave place to more regulated sexual +relationships, become developed into a system. All inheritance would +pass through women only, and, in this way, mother-right would tend to +be more or less strongly developed. The mother would live alone with +her children, the only permanent male members of the family being the +sons, who would be subordinate to her. The husband would visit the +wife, as is the custom under polyandry, which form of the sexual +relationship Mr. McLennan believes was developed from promiscuity--a +first step towards individual marriage. Even after the next step was +taken, and the husband came to live with his wife, his position was +that of a visitor in her home, where she would have the protection of +her own kindred. She would still be the owner of her children, who +would bear her name, and not the father’s; and the inheritance of all +property would still be in the female line.[25] + + [25] _Studies in Ancient History_, pp. 83, _et seq._ + +We have here what appears to be a much more reasonable explanation of +mother-kin and mother-right than that of Bachofen. Yet many have +argued powerfully against it. Westermarck especially, has shown that +belief in an early stage of promiscuous relationship is altogether +untenable.[26] It is needless here to enter into proof of this.[27] +What matters now is that with the giving up of promiscuity the whole +structure of McLennan’s theory falls to pieces. He takes it for +granted that at one period paternity was unrecognised; but this is +very far from being true. The idea of the father’s relationship to the +child is certainly known among the peoples who trace descent through +the mother; the system is found frequently where strict monogamy is +practised. Again, Mr. McLennan connects polyandry with mother-descent, +regarding the custom of plurality of husbands as a development from +promiscuity. Here, too, he has been proved to be in error. Whatever +the causes of the origin of polyandry, it has no direct connection +with mother-kin, although it is sometimes practised by peoples who +observe that system. + + [26] _History of Human Marriage_, pp. 51-133. It is on this + question that my own opinion has been changed, compare _The + Truth about Woman_, p. 120. + + [27] See next chapter on the Patriarchal Theory. + +For myself, I incline to the opinion that the system by which +inheritance passes through the mother needs no explanation. It was +necessarily (and, as I believe, is still) the _natural_ method of +tracing descent. Moreover, it was adopted as a matter of course by +primitive peoples among whom property considerations had not arisen. +Afterwards what had started as a habit was retained as a system. The +reasons for naming children after the mother did not rest on +relationship, the earliest question was not one of kinship, but of +association. Those were counted as related to one another who dwelt +together.[28] The children lived with the mother, and therefore, as a +matter of course, were called after her, and not the father, who did +not live in the same home. + + [28] Starcke, _The Primitive Family in its Origin and + Development_, pp. 36, 37. + +All these questions will be understood better as we proceed with our +inquiry. The important thing to fix in our minds is that mother-kin +and mother-right (contrary to the opinion of McLennan and others) may +very well have arisen quite independently of dubious fatherhood. It +thus becomes evident that the maternal system offers no evidence for +the hypothesis of promiscuity; we shall find, in point of fact, that +it arose out of the regulation of the sexual relations, and had no +connection with licence. It is necessary to understand this clearly. + +Bachofen is much nearer to what is likely to have happened in the +first stage of the family than Mr. McLennan, though he also mistakenly +connects the maternal system with unregulated _hetaïrism_. Still he +suggests (though it would seem quite unconsciously) the patriarchal +hypothesis, which founds the family first on the brute-force of the +male. Mother-right has been discredited chiefly, as far as I have been +able to find, because it is impossible to accept, at this early +period, sexual conditions of the friendly ownership of women, entirely +opposed to what was the probable nature of brute man. At this stage +the eldest male in the family would be the ruler, and he would claim +sexual rights over all the women in the group. Bachofen postulates a +revolt of women to establish marriage. We have seen that such a +supposition, in the form in which he puts it, is without any credible +foundation. Yet, it is part of my theory that there was a revolt of +women, or rather a combination of the mothers of the group, which led +to a change in the direction of sexual regulation and order. But the +causes of such revolt, and the way in which it was accomplished, were, +in my opinion, entirely different from those which Bachofen supposes. +The arguments in support of my view will be given in the next two +chapters. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +DIFFICULTIES AND OBJECTIONS: AN ATTEMPT TO RECONCILE MOTHER-RIGHT WITH +THE PATRIARCHAL THEORY. + + +The foundation of the Patriarchal theory is the jealous sexual nature +of the male. This is important; indeed profoundly significant. The +strongest argument against promiscuity is to be gained from what we +know of this factor of jealousy in the sexual relationships. + +“The season of love is the season of battle,” says Darwin. Such was +the law passed on to man from millions of his ancestral lovers. The +action of this law[29] may be observed at its fiercest intensity among +man’s pre-human ancestors. Courtship without combat is rare among all +male quadrupeds, and special offensive and defensive weapons for use +in these love-fights are found; for this is the sex-tragedy of the +natural world, the love-tale red-written in blood. + + [29] The reader is referred to _The Truth about Woman_, pp. + 87-114. In the courtships and perfect love marriages of many + birds we find jealous combats replaced by the peaceful + charming of the female by the male. + +This factor of sexual jealousy--the conflict of the male for +possession of the female--has not been held in sufficient account by +those who regard promiscuity as being the earliest stage in the sexual +relationships. That jealousy is still a powerful agent even in the +most civilised races is a fact on which it is unnecessary to dwell. +This being so, and since the action of jealousy is so strong in the +animal kingdom, it cannot be supposed to have been dormant among +primitive men. Rather, in the infancy of his history this passion must +have acted with very great intensity. Thus it becomes impossible to +accept any theory of the community of women in the earliest stage of +the family. For inevitably such peaceful association would be broken +up by jealous battles among the males, in which the strongest member +would kill or drive away his rivals. + +Great stress is laid, by the supporters of promiscuity, on the danger +that such conflicts must have been to the growing community. It is, +therefore, held that in order to prevent this check on their +development, it was necessary for the male members not to give way to +jealousy, but to be content with promiscuous ownership of women. But +this is surely to credit savage man with a control of the driving +jealous instinct that he could not then have had? What we do not find +in the sexual conduct of men, as they now are, cannot be credited as +existing in the infancy of social life. We fall into many mistakes in +judging these questions of sex; we under-estimate the strength of +love-passion--the uncounted ancestral forces dating back to the +remote beginnings of life. Doubtless conflicts over the possession of +women were frequent from the beginning of man’s history. But these +disputes would not lead to promiscuous intercourse, only to a change +in the tyrant male, who ruled over the women in the group. + +Another fact against a belief in promiscuity is that the lowest +savages known to us are not promiscuous, in so far as there is no +proved case of the sexual relations being absolutely unregulated. They +all recognise sets of women with whom certain sets of men can have no +marital relations. Again these savages are very far removed from the +state of man’s first emergence from the brute, as is proved by their +combination into large and friendly tribes. Such peaceful aggregation +could only have arisen at a much later period, and after the males had +learnt by some means to control their brute appetites and jealousy of +rivals in that movement towards companionship, which, first resting in +the sexual needs, broadens out into the social instincts. + +For these reasons, then, we conclude that the theory of a friendly +union having existed among males in the primitive group is the very +reverse of the truth. This question has now been sufficiently proved. +I am thus brought into agreement with Dr. Westermarck, Mr. Crawley, +and Mr. Lang, in his examination of Mr. Atkinson’s _Primal Law_, as +well as with other writers, all of whom have shown that promiscuity +cannot be accepted as a stage in the early life of the human family. + +I have now to show how far this rejection of promiscuity affects our +position with regard to mother-descent and mother-right. It is clearly +of vital importance to any theory that its foundations are secure. One +foundation--that of promiscuity, on which Bachofen and McLennan, the +two upholders of matriarchy, base their hypothesis--has been +overthrown. It thus becomes necessary to approach the question from an +altogether different position. Mother-right must be explained without +any reference to unregulated sexual conduct. I am thus turned back to +examine the opposing theory to matriarchy, which founds the family on +the patriarchal authority of the father. Nor is this all. What we must +expect a true theory to do is to show conditions that are applicable +not only to special cases, but in their main features to mankind in +general. I have to prove that such conditions arose in the primitive +patriarchal family as it advanced towards social aggregation, that +would not only make possible, but, as I believe, would necessitate the +power of the mothers asserting its force in the group-family. Only +when this is done can I hope that a new belief in mother-right may +find acceptance. + +The patriarchal theory stated in its simplest form is this: Primeval +man lived in small family groups, composed of an adult male, and of +his wife, or, if he were powerful, several wives, whom he jealously +guarded from the sexual advances of all other males. In such a group +the father is the chief or patriarch as long as he lives, and the +family is held together by their common subjection to him. As for the +children, the daughters as soon as they grow up are added to his +wives, while the sons are driven out from the home at the time they +reach an age to be dangerous as sexual rivals to their father. The +important thing to note is that _in each group there would be only one +adult polygamous male, with many women of different ages and young +children_. I shall return to this later. Such is the marked difference +in the position of the two sexes--the solitary jealously unsocial +father and the united mothers. I can but wonder how its significance +has escaped the attention of the many inquirers, who have sought the +truth in this matter. Probably the explanation is to be found in this: +they have been interested mainly in one side of the family--the male +side; I am interested in the other side--in the women members of the +group. The position of women has seemed of primary importance to very +few. Bachofen is almost alone in placing this question first, and his +mystical far-fetched hypothesis has failed to find acceptance. + +Let me now, in order to make the position clearer, continue a rough +grouping of the supposed conditions in this primordial family, with +all its members in subjection to the common father. It may be argued +that we can know nothing at all about the family and the position of +the two sexes at this brute period. This is true. The conditions are, +of course, conjectural, and any suggested conclusions to be drawn from +them must be still more so. Yet some hypothesis must be risked as a +starting-point for any theory that attempts to go so far back in the +stream of time. + +We may suppose, then, that mankind aboriginally lived in small +families in much the same way as the great monkeys: we see the same +conditions, for instance, among the families of gorillas, where the +group never becomes large. The male leader will not endure the rivalry +of the young males, and as soon as they grow up a contest takes place, +and the strongest and eldest male, by killing or driving out the +others, maintains his position as the tyrant head of the family.[30] + + [30] Darwin, _Descent of Man_. Wallace, _The Malay + Archipelago_, and Brehm, _Thierleben_. + +This may be taken as a picture of the human brute-family. It is clear +that the relation of the father to the other group members was not one +of kinship, but of power. “Every female in my crowd is my property,” +says--or feels--Mr. Atkinson’s patriarchal anthropoid, “and the +patriarch gives expression to his sentiment with teeth and claws, if +he has not yet learned to double up his fist with a stone in it. These +were early days.”[31] + + [31] _Social Origins and Primal Law_, pp. 4, 21. Westermarck, + pp. 13, 42. _Primal Law_, pp. 209-212. + +We may conclude that there would be many of these groups, each with a +male head, his wives and adult daughters, and children of both sexes. +It is probable that they lived a nomadic life, finding a temporary +home in a cave, rock, or tree-shelter, in some place where the supply +of food was plentiful. The area of their wanderings would be fixed by +the existence of other groups; for such groups would almost certainly +be mutually hostile to each other, watchfully resenting any intrusion +on their own feeding ground. A further, and more powerful, cause of +hostility would arise from the sexual antagonism of the males. Around +each group would be the band of exiled sons, haunting their former +hearth-homes, and forming a constant element of danger to the solitary +paternal tyrant. This I take to be important as we shall presently +see. For, the most urgent necessity of these young men, after the need +for food, must have been to obtain wives. This could be done only by +capturing women from one or other of the groups. The difficulties +attending such captures must have been great. It is, therefore, +probable the young men at first kept together, sharing their wives in +polyandrous union. But this condition would not continue, the group +thus formed would inevitably break up at the adult stage under the +influence of jealousy; the captured wives would be fought for and +carried off by the strongest males to form fresh groups. + +In this matter I have given the opinion of Mr. Atkinson and Mr. Lang. +They hold that no permanent peaceful union could have been maintained +among the groups of young men and their captive wives. Mr. Atkinson +gives the reason-- + + “Their unity could only endure as long as the youthfulness + of the members necessitated union for protection, and their + immaturity prevented the full play of sexual passion.” And + again: “The necessary Primal Law which alone could determine + peace within a family circle by recognising a _distinction + between female and male_ (the indispensable antecedent to a + definition of marital rights) could never have arisen in + such a body. It follows if such a law was ever evoked, it + must have been from _within the only other assembly in + existence_, viz. that headed by the solitary polygamous + patriarch.”[32] + + [32] _Social Origins and Primal Law_, p. 230. Mr. Atkinson + writes this to show that there can be no connection between + these groups of young males and the polyandrous marriages of + Mr. McLennan’s theory. The first italics in the passage are + his own; the second are mine. Why I wish to emphasise this + point will soon be seen. I have already mentioned how I was + recommended to read _Social Origins_ to convince me of my + mistake in accepting the mother-age. It has done just the + opposite, and has given me the clue to many difficulties that + I was before unable to clear up. This is why I am following + this book rather than other authorities in my examination of + the patriarchal theory. I take this opportunity of recording + my debt to the authors, and of expressing my thanks to Mr. + Wells, who recommended me to read the book. + +Whether Mr. Atkinson is right I shall not attempt to say; the point is +one on which I hesitate a decided opinion; but as this view affords +support to my own theory I shall accept it. + +Now, to consider the bearing of this on our present inquiry. So far I +have followed very closely the family group gathered around the +patriarchal tyrant, under the conditions given by Mr. Atkinson and Mr. +Lang, in _Social Origins and Primal Law_. It will not, I think, have +escaped the notice of the reader that very little has been said about +the women and their children. There is no hint at all that the women +must have lived a life of their own, different in its conditions from +that of the men. The female members, it would seem, have been taken +for granted and not considered, except in so far as their presence is +necessary to excite the jealous sexual combats of the males. This +seems to be very instructive. The idea of the subjection of all +females to the solitary male has been accepted without question. But +the group consisted of _many women and only one adult man_. Yet in +spite of this, the man is held to be the essential member; all the +family obey him. His wife (or wives) and his daughters, though +necessary to his pleasure as also to continue the group, are regarded +as otherwise unimportant, in fact, mere property possessions to him. +Now, I am very sure the rights these group-women must have held have +been greatly underrated, and the neglect to recognise this has led, I +think, to many mistakes. I am willing to accept the authority of the +polygamous patriarch--within limits. But it seems probable, as I shall +shortly indicate, that a predominant influence in the domestic life is +to be ascribed to the women, and, therefore, “the movement towards +peace within the group circle” must be looked for as a result from the +feminine side of the family, rather than from the male side. There is +still another point: I maintain that precisely through the +concentration of the male ruler on the sexual subjection of his +females, conditions must have arisen, affecting the conduct and +character of the women: conditions, moreover, that would bring them +inevitably more and more into a position of power. + +It remains for me to suggest what I believe these conditions to have +been. Meanwhile let us keep one fact steadily before our minds. The +fierce sexual jealousy of the males had by some means to be +controlled. It is evident that the way towards social progress could +be found only by the peaceful aggregation of these solitary hostile +groups; and this could not be done without breaking down the rule that +strength and seniority in the male conferred upon him marital right +over all the females. In other words, the tyrant patriarch had in some +way to learn to tolerate the presence of other adult males on friendly +terms within his own group. We have to find how this first, but +momentous, step in social progress was taken. + +Let us concentrate now our attention on the domestic life of the +women. And first we must examine more carefully the exact conditions +that we may suppose to have existed in these hostile groups. The +father is the tyrant of the band--an egoist. Any protection he affords +the family is in his own interests, he is chief much more than father. +His sons he drives away as soon as they are old enough to give him any +trouble; his daughters he adds to his harem. We may conceive that the +domination of his sexual jealousy must have chiefly occupied his time +and his attention. It is probable that he was fed by his women; at +least it seems certain that he cannot have provided food for them and +for all the children of the group. Sex must have been uninterruptedly +interesting to him. In the first place he had to capture his wife, or +wives, then he had to fight for the right of sole possession. +Afterwards he had to guard his women, especially his daughters, from +being carried off, in their turn, by younger males, his deadly rivals, +who, exiled by sexual jealousy from his own and the other similar +hearth-homes, would come, with each returning year, more and more to +be feared. An ever-recurring and growing terror would dog each step of +the solitary paternal despot, and necessitate an unceasing +watchfulness against danger, and even an anticipation of death. For +when old age, or sickness decreased his power of holding his own, then +the tables would be turned, and the younger men, so hardly oppressed, +would raise their hands against him in parricidal strife. + +You will see what all this strife suggests--the unstable and +adventitious relation of the man to the social hearth-group. Such +conditions of antagonism of each male against every other male must +favour the assumption that no advance in peace--on which alone all +future progress depended--could have come from the patriarchs. +Jealousy forced them into unsocial conduct. + +But advance by peace to progress was by some means to be made. I +believe that the way was opened up by women. + +I hasten to add, however, in case I am mistaken here, that I am very +far from wishing to set up any claim of superiority for savage woman +over savage man. The momentous change was not, indeed, the result of +any higher spiritual quality in the female, nor was it a religious +movement, as is the beautiful dream of Bachofen. I do not think we can +credit “a movement” as having taken place at all, rather the change +arose gradually, inevitably, and quite simply. To postulate a +conscious movement towards progress organised by women is surely +absurd. Human nature does not start on any new line of conduct +voluntarily, rather it is forced into it in connection with the +conditions of life. Just as savage man was driven into unsocial +conduct, so, as I shall try to show, savage woman was led by the same +conditions acting in an opposite direction, into social conduct. + +My own thought was drawn first to this conclusion by noting the +behaviour of a band of female turkeys with their young. It was a year +ago. I was staying in a Sussex village, and near by my home was the +meadow of a farm in which families of young turkeys were being reared. +Here I often sat; and one day it chanced that I was reading _Social +Origins and Primal Law_. I had reached the chapter on “Man in the +Brutal Stage,” in which Mr. Atkinson gives the supposed facts of brute +man, and the action of his jealousy in the family group. I was very +much impressed; my reason told me that what the author stated so well +was probably right. Such sexually jealous conduct on the part of +savage man was likely to be true; it was much easier to accept this +than the state of promiscuous intercourse, with its friendly +communism in women, in which I had hitherto believed. I really was +very much disturbed. For I was still unshaken in my belief in +mother-right. How were the two theories to be reconciled? + +Often it is a small thing that points to the way for which one is +seeking. All at once my little boy, who had been playing in the field, +called out, “Oh, look at the Gobble-gobble,”--the name by which he +called the male-turkey. The cock, his great tail spread, his throat +swelling, was swaggering across the field, making an immense amount of +noisy disturbance. A group of females and young birds, many of them +almost full grown, were near to where we were sitting; they had been +rooting about in the ground getting their food. Their fear at the +approach of the strutting male was manifest. All the band gathered +together, with the young in the centre, led and flanked by the +mothers. As the male continued to advance upon them they retreated +further and further, and finally took harbour in a barn. Here the +swaggerer tried to follow them, but the rear females turned and faced +him and drove him off. + +I had found the clue that I was seeking. All I had been reading now +had a clear meaning for me. In my delight, I laughed aloud. I saw the +egoism of the solitary male; I knew the meaning of the females’ +retreat; they were guarding the young from the feared attacks of the +father. I realised how the male’s unsocial conduct towards his +offspring had forced the females to unite with one another. The cock’s +strength, the gorgeous display of sex-charms, were powerless before +this peaceful combination. He was alone, a tyrant--the destroyer of +the family. But I saw, too, that his polygamous jealousy served as a +means to the end of advance in progress. It was the male’s non-social +conduct that had forced social conduct upon the females. And I +understood that the patriarchal tyrant was just the one thing I had +been looking for. My belief in mother-power had gained a new and, as I +felt then in the first delight of that discovery, and as I still feel, +a much surer, because a simpler and more natural foundation. + +Having now defined my position, and having related how such conviction +came to me, let me proceed to examine the causes that would lead to +the assertion of women’s power, in the aboriginal family group. From +what has been said, the following conditions acting on the women, may, +it is submitted, be fairly deduced. + + 1. In the group, which comprised the mothers, the adult + daughters, and the young of both sexes, the women would live + on terms of association as friendly hearth-mates. + + 2. The strongest factor in this association would arise from + the dependence of the children upon their mothers; a + dependence that was of much longer duration than among the + animals, on account of the pre-eminent helplessness of the + human child, which entailed a more prolonged infancy. + + 3. The women and their children would form the group, to + which the father was attached by his sexual needs, but + remained always a member apart--a kind of jealous fighting + specialisation. + + 4. The temporary hearth-home would be the shelter of the + women; and it was under this shelter that children were born + and the group accumulated its members. Whether cave, or + hollow tree, or some frail shelter, the home must have + belonged to the women. + + 5. And this state would necessarily attach the mothers to + the home, much more closely than the father, whose desire + lay in the opposite direction of disrupting the home. + Moreover this attachment always would be present and acting + on the female children, who, unless captured, would remain + with the mothers, while it could never arise in the case of + the sons, whose fate was to be driven from the home. Such + conditions must, as time went on, have profoundly modified + the women’s outlook, bending their desires to a steady, + settled life, conditions under which alone the germ of + social organisation could develop. + + 6. Again, the daily search for the daily food must have been + undertaken chiefly by the women. For it is impossible that + one man, however skilful a hunter, could have fed all the + female members and children of the group. We may conceive + that his attention and his time must have been occupied + largely in fighting his rivals; while much of his strength, + as sole progenitor, must have been expended in sex. It is + therefore probable that frequently the patriarch was + dependent on the food activities of his women. + + 7. The mothers, their inventive faculties quickened by the + stress of child-bearing and child-rearing, would learn to + convert to their own uses the most available portion of + their environment. It would be under the attention of the + women that plants were first utilised for food. Seeds would + be beaten out, roots and tubers dug for, and nuts and fruits + gathered in their season and stored for use. Birds would + have to be snared, shell-fish and fish would be caught; + while, at a later period, animals would be tamed for + service. Primitive domestic vessels to hold and to carry + water, baskets to store the food supplies would have to be + made. Clothes for protection against the cold would come to + be fashioned. All the faculties of the women, in exercises + that would lead to the development of every part of their + bodies, would be called into play by the work of satisfying + the physical needs of the group. + + 8. This interest and providence for the family would + certainly have its effect on the development of the women. + The formation of character is largely a matter of attention, + and the attention of the mothers being fixed on the supply + of the necessary food, doubtless often difficult to obtain, + their energies would be driven into productive activities, + much more than in the case of the father, whose attention + was fixed upon himself. + + 9. In all these numerous activities the women of each group + would work together. And through this co-operation must have + resulted the assertion of the women’s power, as the + directors and organisers of industrial occupations. As the + group slowly advanced in progress, such power increasing + would raise the women’s position; the mothers would + establish themselves permanently as of essential value in + the family, not only as the givers of life, but as the chief + providers of the food essential to the preservation of the + life of its members. + + 10. And a further result would follow in the treatment by + the male of this new order. The women by obtaining and + preparing food would gain an economic value. Wives would + become to the patriarch a source of riches, indispensable to + him, not only on account of his sex needs, but on account of + the more persistent need of food. Thus the more women he + possessed the greater would be his own comfort, and the + physical prosperity of the group. The women would become of + ever greater importance, and the economic power that they + thus acquired would more and more favourably influence their + position. + + 11. There is one other matter in this connection. The + greater number of women in the group the stronger would + become their power of combination. I attach great importance + to this. Working together for the welfare of all, the social + motive would grow stronger in women, so that necessarily + they would come to consider the collective interests of the + group. Can it be credited that such conditions could have + acted upon the patriarch, whose conduct would still be + inspired by individual appetite and selfish inclinations? I + maintain such a view to be impossible. + + 12. Another advantage, I think, would arise for women out of + the male’s jealous tyranny in the sexual relationship. Such + an idea may appear strange, if we think only of the + subjection of the females to the brute-appetite of the + patriarch. Yet there is another side. The women must have + gained freedom by being less occupied with sex passions, and + also from being less jealously interested in the man than he + was in them. It may be urged that the women would be jealous + of each other. I do not think this could have been. Jealousy + has its roots in the consciousness of possession, and is + only aroused through fear of loss. This could not have acted + with any great power among the women in the patriarchal + group. Their interest of possession in sex must have been + less acute in consciousness than the interest of the male. + Doubtless the woman would be attracted by the male’s + courageous action in fighting his rivals for possession of + her, but when the rival was the woman’s son such attraction + would come into strong conflict with the deeper maternal + instinct. + + 13. From the standpoint of physical strength, the patriarch + was the master, the tyrant ruler of the group, who, + doubtless, often was brutal enough. But the women, leading + an independent life to some extent, and with their mental + ingenuity developed by the conditions of their life, would + learn, I believe, to outwit their master by passive united + resistance. They would come to utilise their sex charms as + an accessory of success. Thus the unceasing sexual + preoccupation of the male, with the emotional dependence it + entailed on the females, must, I would suggest, have given + women an immense advantage. If I am right here, the + patriarch would be in the power of his women, much more + surely than they would be in his power. + + 14. Again, an antagonism must have arisen between the despot + father and his women, in particular with his daughters, + forced to submit to his brute-passions. I confess I find + grave difficulty in reconciling the view that the + group-daughters would willingly become the wives of their + father. I cannot conceive them without some power to + exercise that choice in love, which is the right of the + female throughout nature. There is great insistence by Mr. + Atkinson, and all who have written on the subject, on the + sexual passions of the males, while the desires of the women + are not considered at all. Apparently they are held to have + had none! This affords yet another instance of the strange + concentration on the male side of the family. It is taken + for granted, for instance, that in every case the young men, + when driven from their home, had to capture their wives from + other groups. I would suggest that often the capture was + aided by the woman herself; she may even have escaped from + the hearth-home in her desire to find a partner, preferring + the rule of a young tyrant to an old one, who moreover was + her father. I believe, too, that the wives and mothers must + frequently have asserted their will in rebellion. I picture, + indeed, these savage women ever striving for more + privileges, and step by step advancing through peaceful + combination to power. + + 15. I desire also to maintain that all I have here suggested + finds support from what is known of the position of women + among primitive peoples; and I may add also, from the + character of women to-day. + +Now I have summarised briefly what seem to me the probable conditions +of the women’s daily life in these earliest groups. I have attempted +to show how the sexual jealousy, which acted for the destruction of +the mutually hostile male members, would necessitate for the women +conditions in many ways favourable; conditions of union in which lay +the beginnings of peace and order. What we have to fix in our thoughts +is the significant fact of the sociability of the women’s lives in +contrast with the solitude of the jealous sire, watchfully resenting +the intrusion of all other males. Such conditions cannot have failed +to domesticate the women, and urged them forward to the work that was +still to be done in domesticating man. During the development of the +family, we may expect that the patriarch will seek to hold his rights, +and that the women will exert their influence more and more in +breaking these down; and this is precisely what we do find, as I +presently shall show. + +One point further. It may, of course, be urged that all I am affirming +for women in this far back beginning is but a process of ingenious +guessing. Such criticism is just. But I am speaking of conditions at a +time when conjecture is necessary. I venture to say that my +suggestions are in accord with what is likely to have happened. +Moreover, many difficulties will be made clearer if these guesses are +accepted. I believe that here in the earliest patriarchal stage we +have already the germs of the maternal family. All the chances for +success in power rested with the united mothers, rather than with the +solitary father. Assuredly the jealous patriarchs paid a heavy price +for their sexual domination. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +DEVELOPMENT IN THE PATRIARCHAL FAMILY AND THE RISE OF MOTHER-POWER + + +The essential question, now, is how these small hostile groups were +brought by association to expand into larger groups. In what way was +the sexual monopoly of the male ruler first curbed, and afterwards +broken down, for only by this being done could peace be gained? +However advantageous the habits of the patriarch may have been for +himself, they were directly opposed to progress. Jealousy depends on +the failure to recognise the rights of others. This sexual egoism, by +which one man through his strength and seniority held marital rights +over all the females of his group, had to be struck at its roots. In +other words, the solitary despot had to learn to tolerate the +association of other adult males. + +How was this happy change to be brought about? Social qualities are +surely developed in the character by union with one’s fellow beings. +From what has been stated, it seems certain that it was in the +interests of the women to consolidate the family, and by means of +association to establish their own power. Jealousy is an absolutely +non-social quality. Regarding its influence, it is certainly absurd +to believe any voluntary association to have been possible among the +males of the hostile patriarchal groups; to credit this is to give the +lie to the entire theory. We are driven, therefore, to seek for the +beginnings of social conduct among the women. I have suggested the +conditions forcing them into combination with one another against the +tyranny of the patriarch. I have now to show how these causes, +continually acting, brought the women step by step into a position of +authority and power. There is, however, no suggestion of a spiritual +revolt on the part of women. I do not wish to set up any claim for, +because I do not believe in, the superiority of one sex over the other +sex. Character is determined by the conditions of living. If, as I +conceive, progress came through savage women, rather than through +savage men, it was because the conditions were really more favourable +to them, and drove them on in the right path. However strange it may +appear, their sexual subjection to the fierce jealousy of the +patriarch acted as a means to an end in advancing peace. + +The strongest force of union between the women would grow out of the +consciousness of an ever-threatening and common danger. Not only had +the young to be fed and cared for during infancy and childhood, but, +as they grew in years, they had to be guarded from the father, whose +relation to his offspring was that of an enemy. It has been seen how +the sons were banished at puberty from the family group to maintain +the patriarch’s marital rights. Doubtless the strength of maternal +love gained in intensity through the many failures in conflicts, that +must have taken place with the tyrant fathers. Would not this +community of suffering tend to force the women to unite with one +another, at each renewed banishment of their sons? May they not, after +the banishment, have assisted their sons in the capture of their +wives? I think it must be allowed that this is possible. And there is +another point to notice. The exiled sons and their captured wives +would each have a mother in the groups they had left. May it not be +conceived that, as time brought progress in intelligence, some +friendly communication might have been established between group and +group, in defiance of the jealous guardianship of the patriarchs? +Thus, through the danger, ever to be feared in every family, there +might open up a way by sympathy to a possible future union. + +It is part of my supposition that every movement towards friendship +must have arisen among the women. This is no fanciful idea of my own. +Mr. Atkinson, one of the strongest supporters of the patriarchal +theory, agrees with this view, though he does not seem to see its +origin, and does not follow up its deep suggestion. By him the +movement in advance is narrowed to a single issue of peace between the +father and his sons, but this great step is credited to the influence +of the mothers. I must quote the passages that refer to this--[33] + + [33] _Primal Law_, pp. 231-232. + + “At the renewed banishment of each of her male progeny by + the jealous patriarch, the mother’s feelings and instincts + would be increasingly lacerated and outraged. Her agonised + efforts to retain at least her last and youngest would be + even stronger than with her first born. It is exceedingly + important to observe that her chances of success in this + case would be much greater. When this last and dearest son + approached adolescence, it is not difficult to perceive that + the patriarch must have reached an age when the fire of + desire may have become somewhat dull, whilst, again, his + harem, from the presence of numerous adult daughters, would + be increased to an extent that might have overtaxed his once + more active powers. Given some such rather exceptional + situation, where a happy opportunity in superlative mother + love wrestled with a for once satiated paternal appetite in + desire, we may here discern a possible key of the + sociological problem which occupies us, and which consisted + in a conjunction within one group of two adult males.” + +In the next paragraph the author presents the situation which in this +way might have arisen-- + + “We must conceive that, in the march of the centuries, on + some fateful day, the bloody tragedy in the last act of the + familiar drama was avoided, and the edict of exile or death + left unpronounced. _Pure maternal love triumphed over the + demons of lust and jealousy._ A mother succeeded in keeping + by her side a male child, and thus, by a strange + coincidence, that father and son, who, amongst all mammals, + had been the most deadly enemies, were now the first to join + hands. So portentous an alliance might well bring the world + to their feet. The family would now present for the first + time, the until then unknown spectacle of the inclusion + within a domestic circle, and amidst its component females, + of an adolescent male youth. It must, however, be admitted + that such an event, at such an epoch, demanded imperatively + very exceptional qualities, both physiological and + psychological, in the primitive agents. The new happy ending + to that old-world drama which had run so long through blood + and tears, was an innovation requiring very unusually gifted + actors. How many failures had doubtless taken place in its + rehearsal during the centuries, with less able or happy + interpreters!” + +Mr. Atkinson supposes that success in the new experiment “was rendered +possible by the rise of new powers in nascent man.” Here I do not +follow him. “The germ of altruism,” which he sees as “already having +risen to make its force felt” was, indeed, as he says “an important +factor.” But is it credible that this altruism existed in the father? +I can conceive him being won over through his own emotional dependence +on some specially pleasing woman; he may well have had favourites +among his wives. I cannot accept “altruism” as a reason for his +conduct, under conditions acting in an exact opposite way in fostering +and increasing egoism. Much more probable is the supposition that he +“must have reached the age when the fire of desire had become somewhat +dulled.” + +I must also take exception to a further statement of Mr. Atkinson, +“that with such prolonged infancy there had been opportunity for the +development of paternal philoprogenitiveness.” And again: “It is +evident that such long-continued presence of sons could but result in +a certain mutual sympathy, however inevitable the eventual exile.” It +is unnecessary for me to labour this question. I may, however, point +out, that the identical conditions of the family among the anthropoid +apes (on whom Mr. Atkinson bases his patriarchy) do not afford any +proof of paternal altruism. The polygamous jealous father never enters +into friendly union with the other males. He is strong and sexually +beautiful, but he is never social in his domestic conduct. He is the +tyrant in the family, and the young are guarded from his attacks by +the mothers. With the mothers there is protection and safety, with the +father ownership. The whole argument of the patriarchal theory is +based on the fact of the jealous conduct of the male. Driven to live +in solitary enmity, the patriarch could not voluntarily tolerate the +presence of a rival, if he was to maintain his position as ruler. It +is impossible to get away from this. Mr. Atkinson comes very near to +this essential truth, when he suggests (though he does not fully +acknowledge) that the first step in social development came through +the mother’s love for her child; but at once he turns aside from this, +drawn, I think unconsciously, to the common opinion of the complete +subjection of the females to the male, an opinion always making it +difficult to accept the initiative in reform as coming from the woman. + +The exclusive and persisting idea of Mr. Atkinson’s theory is to +establish the action of what he calls “the primal law.” Only by +limiting and defining the marital rights of the males over the females +could advancement be gained. Until this was done these small hostile +groups could not become larger, and expand into the clan or tribe. + +I must follow this question a little although it leads us aside from +the immediate subject of my own inquiry. The first step in progress +has been taken; by the triumph of maternal love, an adult male son is +now included in the group. We must conceive that this victory, having +once been gained by one mother, would be repeated by other mothers. +Afterwards, as time went on, the advantage in strength gained to the +group by this increase in their male members, would tend to encourage +the custom. One may reasonably assume that it became established as a +habit in each group that once had taken the first step. Father and +sons, for so long enemies, now enter on a truce. + +It must not, however, be concluded that sexual peace followed this new +order. It is part of Mr. Atkinson’s theory that the patriarch’s sexual +jealousy would not be broken down by his tolerance of the presence of +his sons. Peace could be maintained only so long as the intruders +respected his marital rights. Under this condition, all the group +women, as they all belonged to the patriarch, would be taboo to the +young men; otherwise there would be a fight, and the offending son +would be driven into exile. Doubtless this frequently happened, but +the advantages gained by union would tend to prevent the danger. Some +means of preserving sexual peace within the group certainly would come +to be established. “For the first time,” as Mr. Atkinson points out, +“we encounter the factor which is to be the leading power in future +metamorphosis, i. e. _an explicit distinction between female and +female as such_.” + +Through this bar placed on the female members within the family +circle, the sons, who remained in peace, would be forced to continue +the practice of capturing their wives, and would bring in women to +live with them from other groups. It is assumed that these captures +were in all cases hostile. I have given my reasons for disagreeing +with this view. I hold that the young women may have been glad to have +been taken by the young men, and most probably assisted them, in a +surely not unnatural desire to escape from their tyrant fathers. I +really cannot credit such continued sexual subjection on the part of +the group-daughters, an opinion which arises, I am certain, from the +curious misconception of the passivity of the human female in love. + +I do not wish to conceal that my conjecture of an active part having +been taken by the women, both in their captures and also in all the +relationships of the family, is opposed to the great majority of +learned opinion. The reason for this already has been suggested. +Almost invariably the writers on these questions are men, and there +is, I imagine, a certain blindness in their view. I am convinced that +from the earliest beginnings of the human family women have exercised +a much stronger and more direct influence than is usually believed. +All the movements towards regulation and progress, so ingeniously +worked out by Mr. Atkinson, are easier to credit if we accept the +initiative as having come from the group-mothers. I have an inward +conviction of an unchanging law between the two sexes, and though I +cannot here attempt to give any proof, it seems to me, we can always +trace _the absorption by the male of female ideas_. The man accepts +what the woman brings forward, and then assumes the control, believing +he is the originator of her ideas. Take this case of capture: If, as I +suggest, the young women assisted or even took the initiative in their +own captures, they would very plainly not be willing to allow sexual +relationships with another hoary patriarch. I would urge that here +again it was by the action of the young women, rather than the young +men, that the new order was established. But this is a small matter. +If I am right, the communal living and common danger among the women +would powerfully bind them together in union, and sever them from the +male rulers. Once this is granted, it follows that social +consciousness in the women must have been stronger than in the +solitary males. Then there can be no possible doubt of the part taken +by women in the slow advancement of the group by regulation to social +peace. Moreover, I believe, that confirmation of what is here claimed +for women will be found (as will appear in the later part of my +inquiry) in many social habits among existing primitive peoples, who +still live under the favourable conditions of the maternal family; +habits that suggest a long evolutionary process, and that can be +explained only if they have arisen in a very remote beginning. But +enough on this subject has now been said. + +Many interesting questions arise from the action of Mr. Atkinson’s +“primal law.” His theory offers a solution of the much-debated +question of the origin of exogamy,[34] the term used first by Mr. +McLennan, in _Primitive Marriage_, for the rule which prohibited +sexual relationships within the group limit. Continence imposed by the +patriarch on his sons within the group, as a condition of his +tolerance of their presence, necessarily and logically entailed +marriage without, with women from some other group. This explanation +of exogamy is so simple that it seems likely to be true. It is much +more reasonable than any of the numerous other theories that have been +brought forward. Mr. McLennan, for instance, suggests that the custom +arose through a scarcity of females, owing to the widespread practice +of female infanticide. This can hardly be accepted, for such +conditions, where they exist, would arise at a much later period. Even +less likely is the theory of Dr. Westermarck, who explains exogamy as +arising from “an instinct against marriage of near kin.” But we have +no proof of the existence of any such instinct.[35] Mr. Crawley’s +view is similar: he connects the custom with the idea of sexual taboo, +which makes certain marriages a deadly sin. It is evident that these +causes could not have operated with the brute patriarch. One great +point in favour of Mr. Atkinson’s view is that it takes us so much +further back. By it exogamy as a custom must have been much earlier +than totemism, as at this stage the different group-families would not +be distinguished by totem names; but its action as a law would become +much stronger when reinforced by the totem superstitions, and would +become fixed in rigid sexual taboos.[36] The strongest of these taboos +is the avoidance between brothers and sisters; this is Mr. Atkinson’s +_primal law_. It is a law that is still a working factor among +barbarous races, and entails restrictions and avoidances of the most +binding nature. + + [34] _Studies._ Chap. VII. “Exogamy: Its Origin.” + + [35] _History of Human Marriage._ Chap. XIV. “Prohibition of + Marriage between Kindred.” + + [36] _Mystic Rose._ + +Unfortunately I have not space to write even briefly on this important +and deeply interesting subject. A right understanding of the whole +question of sexual taboos, with the complicated totem superstitions on +which they are based, is very necessary to any inquiry into the +position of women. But to do this I should have to write another book. +All I can say is this: these avoidances had in their origin no +connection with the relative power of the two sexes; nor do I believe +it can be proved that they were established by men rather than by +women. They arose quite naturally, out of the necessity for regulation +as a condition of peace. + +Let me give one example that will serve to show how easily mistakes +may arise. One of these rules, common among primitive peoples, +prevents the women from eating with the men. This is often considered +as a proof of the inferior position of the women, whereas it proves +nothing of the kind. It is just one instance out of many numerous laws +of avoidance between wife and husband, sister and brother, mother and +son, and, indeed, between all relations in the family, which are part +of the general rule to restrict sexual familiarity between the two +sexes, set up at a time when moral restraints upon desire could act +but feebly. It was only much later that these sexual taboos came to be +fixed as superstitions, that with unbreakable fetters bound the +freedom of women. + +Here, indeed, are facts causing us to think. We perceive how old and +strongly rooted are many customs from which to-day we are fighting to +escape; customs of separation between women and men, which, with +appalling conservatism, have descended through the ages. Will they +ever be broken down? I do not know. These questions are not considered +in adequate fashion; often we are ignorant of the deep forces driving +the sexes into situations of antagonism. Clearly these primitive +avoidances shed strong light on the sexual problems of our day. The +subject is one of profound interest. I wish that it were possible to +follow it, but all this lies outside the limit set to my inquiry, and +already I have been led far from the patriarchal family. + +The group has advanced in progress, and now has many features in +common with existing savage peoples. The friendly conjunction of the +father and his sons has established peace. Exogamy has begun to be +practised; and the family in this way has been increased not only by +the presence of the group-sons, but by their captured wives. We have +seen that this would necessitate certain rules of sexual avoidance; +thus the patriarch still holds marital rights over his wives and the +group-daughters, while the captured women are sacred to the +group-sons. + +There is now a further important change to consider. Again the rights +of the patriarch have to be restricted; a bar has to be raised to +prevent his adding his daughters to his wives. Only by overcoming this +habit of paternal incest can further social evolution become possible. + +On this question I shall give the explanation of Mr. Atkinson; and it +is with real regret that the limit of my space makes it impossible to +quote in full his own words.[37] The change came by _the entrance of +outside suitors as husbands for the daughters and their acceptance as +group-members_. + + [37] _Primal Law._ The chapter “From the Group to the Tribe,” + pp. 250-263. + +At this point a difficulty once again arises. By what means was the +patriarch brought to accept the presence of these young intruders, +thus usurping his sexual rights over his daughters? Mr. Atkinson +believes this could not have taken place during the life of the +patriarch. “The initiative in change must have arisen irrespective of +him, or without his presence.” Here Mr. Atkinson appears to me to fall +into error, as once more he neglects to consider the effect of the +young women’s own desires. I hold that, by this time, the +group-daughters, supported by their mothers, must have been strong +enough to outwit their father (whose authority already had been +weakened), if not openly, then by deceiving him. They would now see +their brothers living with young wives. Is it credible, I ask, that +they would remain content with the sexual embraces of their father? + +In this connection it is of interest to note the opposition sometimes +offered by young females to the advances of an old male among the +families of monkeys. I have received quite recently an account of such +a case in a letter from my friend, Max Henry Ferrass, formerly +Inspector of Schools in India, and the author of a valuable work on +Burmah. This is what he says-- + + “I once was able to observe a herd of common long-tailed + monkeys of the Indian plains at play on a sandbank in a + river. There were about fifty of all ages. There was one + great bully among them who looked double the size of the + average adult--and must have been double the weight, at any + rate--whose sport was to chase the young females. They, + knowing his game, fled before him, but he caught them + readily. But before he could have his will of any, she would + bound from his grasp as if stung, and always escape, as this + sudden spurt of energy was more than he could control.” + +Here we have a clear instance in which the young females escape from +the thraldom of the male ruler of the horde. The power with which Mr. +Atkinson endows his human patriarch seems to me quite incredible. I +have asserted again and again that the consolidation of the +group-circle was of much greater importance to the women than to the +men. Now this surely points to the acceptance of the view that the +regulation of the brute sexual appetite was initiated by the women. +Thereby, it may be pointed out, their action merely resembles +womankind in any stage from the lowest degree of savagery to the +highest stage of civilisation. + +Moreover, there is further proof that points strongly to the +acceptance of this view, that, the new departure, by which young +husbands came into the group, was brought about by the women, in +opposition to the knowledge and will of the patriarch. There exists a +common custom among primitive tribes, which affords evidence of these +outside suitors having visited their brides in secret. I refer to the +practice by which intercourse between the husband and wife is carried +on clandestinely by night. This is one of the earliest forms of +marriage, and, further, it is closely connected, as I shall presently +show, with the maternal family system. There appears to be no real +cause for this precaution. I do not think it can be explained by the +superstitious dread of the sexes for each other, expressing itself in +this form of sexual taboo; as Mr. Crawley and other writers suggest. +Doubtless this is a factor, and a very powerful one, in the +continuance of the custom, but it does not seem to me to be the true +explanation of its origin. Such secrecy and clandestine meetings are, +however, exactly what must have happened if the group-daughters +received their lovers, as I would suggest, in defiance of the will of +the patriarch. May not the custom as it still exists be a survival, +retained and strengthened by superstition, from a time when these +fugitive visits were necessary for safety?[38] + + [38] Mr. Atkinson refers to these clandestine marriages. He + does not, however, connect the custom, as I suggest, with any + action on the part of the young women. + +Mr. Atkinson’s view is different from mine. He does not allow any +power at all to the women. He holds that after the death of the +patriarch, his daughters, still young, would be left without husbands. +To meet this difficulty suitors are brought from other groups by the +brothers, _i. e._ the sons settled in the group and who now rule. We +are asked to believe that they do this to relieve themselves of the +maintenance of their widowed sisters, and to prevent their being +captured and carried off to other groups. According to Mr. Atkinson +the presence of these outside lovers would not be dangerous to the +family peace. They would come from neighbouring groups, from which +the young men had already captured their wives. In this way the strangers +would be the brothers of their women; and thus the brother-and-sister +avoidance--the primal law already established--would prevent any fear of +interference with the established marital rights on the part of the +new-comers. I strongly differ from the suggestion that the brothers +had to feed and maintain their widowed sisters; such an opinion is but +another example of a failure to appreciate the women’s side of the +question. I allow willingly that the sisters may have had the +assistance of their brothers; I incline, indeed, to the opinion that +they would be strong enough to compel their help, though probably this +was not necessary. The group-sisters and the group-brothers may well +have united against the father, who was the enemy of both. To me the +common-sense view is that these visits from outside suitors were first +paid clandestinely at night. In the light of human nature it is at +least probable that the tyrant father was deceived by his daughters +and his sons. If already he was dead, what reason was there for any +fear--why were the visits secret? This seems to show that I am right; +that once more the initiative in the changes that led to regulation +must be traced back to women. Afterwards, the custom thus established, +would come to be recognised, and the practice of the husband visiting +his wife by night would persist long after the danger making such +secrecy necessary had ceased. + +It will be readily seen that the introduction of young husbands from +outside, by whatever means this was done, would be an immense gain in +strength. Again a new regulation in the sexual relationships would +follow, and the group-daughters would now have husbands of their own +generation, sacred to them. Furthermore it was the first direct step +in friendly union between group and group; a step that would open up +ways to further progress. The husband, living in his own group, and +visiting his wife in hers, would at once form a connecting link +between two hitherto separate family circles, which friendly +connection would not be broken, when, later, the custom arose of the +husband leaving his group to take up his residence with his wife. + +Such an arrangement must have been of immense advantage to the women. +Under the new order, a wife married to one of these young strangers +would hold a position of considerable power, that hitherto had been +impossible. We have seen that the home was made by the group-women, +and must have belonged to them; but so far, the continuance of a +daughter in the home had entailed the acceptance of her father as a +husband; the only way of escape being by capture, which--whether +forced or, as I hold, aided by the girl’s desire--sent her out from +her own family as a stranger into a hostile group. Now this was +reversed, and the husband entered as the alien into her home and +family. + +The following observation of Mr. Atkinson in this connection must be +quoted, as it is in strong agreement with my own view-- + + “As a wife who had not been captured, who, in fact, as an + actual member of the group itself, was, so to speak, the + capturer, _her position in regard to her dependent husband + would be profoundly modified_, in comparison with that of + the ordinary captive female, whereas such a captive, seized + by the usual process of hostile capture, had been a mere + chattel utterly without power; _she, as a free agent in her + own home, with her will backed by that of her brothers_” + [why not, I would ask, her sisters and her mother?] “_could + impose law on her subject spouse_.”[39] + + [39] _Primal Law_, p. 256. + +In the foregoing sentences Mr. Atkinson affirms the fateful +significance to women of this new form of marriage. I am in +whole-hearted agreement with this opinion. I glean here and there from +the wealth of Mr. Atkinson’s suggestions, statements which indicate +how nearly he came to seeing all that I am trying to establish. Yet, I +am compelled to disagree with his main argument; for always when he +touches the woman’s side, he falls back at once to consider the +question in its relation to the males as the only important members in +the group. I do not, for instance, accept his view that the captive +wives were “mere chattels.” They could not, under the conditions, have +been without some considerable power, even if it arose only from the +sexual dependence of their owners upon them. Much more significant, +however, is Mr. Atkinson’s view regarding the authority of the wife in +these new peaceable marriages. He sees one point only as arising from +such a position, and finds “a psychological factor of enormous power, +now for the first time able to make itself felt, in the play of sexual +jealousy on the part of the wife.” She would now “impose law on her +subject spouse, and such law dictated by jealousy would ordain a bar +to intercourse between him and her more youthful and hence more +attractive daughters.” Now, I do not deny that such a factor may have +acted, for the incentive to jealousy arises always from individual as +opposed to collective possession. Still I do not think jealousy can +have been strong in this case, and, even if it were not, any reversion +on the part of an alien father to the habits of the patriarch must +have been impossible; such conduct would not have been tolerated by +the other males in the group, nor by the daughters, now able to get +young husbands for themselves. To limit the wife’s power to this +single issue can hardly be consistent with the conditions of the case. +Mr. Atkinson, in common with many other anthropologists, seems +disposed to underrate the evidence regarding the far-reaching +importance of this form of marriage. Among existing examples of the +maternal family, the mother-rights and influences of women are +dependent largely on the position of the husband as a stranger in her +family home. This matter will become clear in the later part of my +inquiry. + +With the establishment of this new peaceful marriage the way was +cleared for future progress; it is but a few further steps for the +group to grow into the clan and the tribe. The family-group has +increased greatly in size and in social organisation, from the time +when it consisted of the patriarch, and his community of women and +young children. The group-sons have brought in wives from other groups +and have founded families; the group-daughters now have husbands who +live with them. Primitive regulations over the marital rights have +arisen, enabling peace to be maintained. Each family to some extent +would be complete in itself. As the groups advanced in progress, totem +names would come to be used as family marks of distinction, taken +usually from some plant or animal. Peaceable marriages between the +sons and daughters of the different groups would more and more become +the habit, and would gradually take the place of capture marriages. +The regulation of the sexual relationships, by which certain women and +certain men became sacred to each other, would become more strongly +fixed by custom; and afterwards the law would follow that a group of +kindred, distinguished by its totem mark, might not marry within the +hereditary name. The religious superstitions that came to be connected +with these totem names would make binding the new order in the +marriage law. When this stage was reached exogamy would be strictly +practised; and in all cases under the complete maternal system, the +woman on marriage would remain in her family home, where the husband +would come to live with her as a kind of privileged guest. + +There is one other matter that must be noted. The totem name was +inherited from the mother, and not the father. This was the natural +arrangement. When the group was small, there may have been a communal +ownership of the group-children by the mothers, under the authority of +the father. But this would not continue for long; when the group +increased in numbers, the mother and her children would keep together +as a little sub-family in the larger circle. This would be especially +the case with captured wives, who would bring with them the totem +marks of their groups, and this would be the name of the children. The +naming of the children after the mother would also be the simplest way +of distinguishing between the offspring of different wives, a +distinction that would often be necessary, during the earlier +conditions, among the polygamous fathers. + +It is, however, an entirely mistaken view that the father’s relation +to the child was ever unrecognised. The taking of the name of the +mother arose as a matter of course, and was adopted simply as being +the most convenient custom. It is manifest that mother-descent has no +connection with a period of promiscuity. Quite the reverse. All the +conditions of mother-right arose out of the earliest movements towards +order and regulation in the relationships of the sexes, and were not +the result of licence. Nor was the naming of the child after the +mother so much a question of relationship as of what may be called +“social kinship.” The causes which led to the maternal system are +closely connected with the collective motive, which, if I am right, +was in its origin, at least, the result of the union of the women +against the selfish inclinations of the patriarch. When property +rights came to be recognised, consisting at first of stores of food +and the household goods, it would be perfectly natural that they +should belong to the women, and descend through them. The inheritance +would be to those most closely bound together, and who lived together +in the same home. Thus it appears that descent through the mother was +founded on social rights, by which the organisation of the family, +such as membership in the group or clan, succession and inheritance +were dependent on the mothers. In this sense it is clear that the term +mother-power is fully justified; it is nearer to the facts than the +term mother-kin. + +Further than this I must not go; the first part of my inquiry now has +come to an end. It may seem to the reader that the patriarchal theory, +in a book written to establish mother-right, has received more +attention than was called for. I have discussed it so fully, not only +because of the interest of the subject in proving the errors in the +earlier theories of matriarchy, but because of the insight the +conditions of the primordial group give us into the origin of the +maternal family. + +Many of the suggestions made are more or less hypothetical, but not a +few, I think, are necessary deductions, based on what is most probable +to have happened. I am fully aware of numerous omissions, and the +inadequacy of this summary; but if the suggestions brought forward +shall prove in themselves to have merit, it has seemed to me that a +fruitful field of investigation has been opened. Much new ground had +to be covered in this attempt to picture the position of women at a +period so remote that the difficulties are very great. I hope at least +to have cleared away the old errors, which connected mother-descent +with uncertainty of paternity and an early period of promiscuity. + +Recognising sexual jealousy as the moving force in brute man, I have +accepted that the primeval family was of the patriarchal type. I have +traced the probable development of the group-family, expanding by +successive steps into larger groups living in peaceful association. In +the earlier stage, whilst the men lived as solitary despots, the women +enjoyed a communal life. It is thus probable that the leading power in +the upward movement of the group developing into the clan and tribe +arose among the united mothers, and not with the father. The women +were forced into social conduct. On this belief is based the theory of +mother-power. + +The most important result we have gained is the proof that the +maternal system was framed for order, and has no connection with +sexual disorder. It is enough if I have suggested reasons to show that +this widespread custom, which is practised still among many peoples, +has nothing about it that is exceptional, nothing fantastic, nothing +improbable. I hold it to be a perfectly natural arrangement--the +practical outgrowth of the practical needs of primitive peoples. The +strongest and the one certain claim for a belief in mother-right and +mother-power must rest on this foundation. It is left for the second +part of my book to prove how far I am right in what I claim. + + + + +PART II + +THE MOTHER-AGE CIVILISATION + + + + + “It’s not too late to seek a newer world: + + * * * * * + + Tho’ much is taken, much abides: and tho’ + We are not now the strength which in old days + Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are; + One equal temper of heroic hearts; + Made weak by time and rule, but strong in will + To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.” + + TENNYSON. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE MATRIARCHAL FAMILY AMONG THE AMERICAN INDIANS + + +It is time now to turn to the actual subject of this investigation, in +order to see how far the theory of mother-right has been helped by the +lengthy examination of the patriarchal group. + +Since the publication of _Das Mutterrecht_ much has been written that +has tended to raise doubts as to the soundness of the matriarchal +theory, at least in the form held by its early supporters. A reaction +in the opposite direction has set in, before which the former belief +in mother-power has been transformed, and now seems likely to +disappear altogether. In recent years, Westermarck, Starcke, Andrew +Lang, N. W. Thomas, and Crawley among others have given utterance to +this view. The prevalence of a system tracing descent through the +mother is accepted by the majority of learned opinion, though it would +seem somewhat grudgingly. Mr. Crawley is the only writer, as far as I +know, who denies that such a practice was ever common; the cases in +which it still exists, as these cannot be denied, he regards as +exceptions. He affirms: “There is no evidence that the maternal system +was ever general or always preceded the paternal system.” And again: +“Though frequent, maternal descent cannot have been either universally +or generally a stage through which man has passed.”[40] + + [40] _The Mystic Rose_, pp. 460-461. + +Mr. Crawley considers this assumption may be taken for granted; so +that he does not trouble himself about proofs. The subject of +mother-right is dismissed as unworthy of serious attention. Such an +attitude is surely instructive, and illustrates the failure, to which +I have already pointed, in considering the woman’s side in these +questions. There would seem to be a tendency to doubt as being +possible any family arrangement favourable to the authority of women. +Even when descent through the mother is accepted as a phase in social +development, it is denied that such descent confers any special rights +to women. + +One reason of this prejudice must be sought in the persistence of the +puritan spirit: the objection to mother-kin rests mainly on the +objection to loose sexual relationships. Thus it became necessary to +attempt a new explanation of the origin of the custom, and hence my +examination of the primordial patriarchal group. It may be thought +that I should have done better to confine my inquiry to existing +primitive peoples. But, if I am right, mother-power is rooted much +further back than history, and arose first in the dawn of the human +family. This had to be established. + +It is clearly of vital importance to an inquiry that claims to set up +a new belief in a discredited theory to protect it from those +objections which hitherto have prevented its acceptance. This I have +attempted to do. I have shown that the customs connected with +mother-right had no connection at all with a state of promiscuity; +that they were the result of order in the sexual relationships, and +not of disorder. I have traced the causes which appear to have given +rise to such a system, showing that the maternal order was not the +first phase of the family, but was a natural forward movement--one +which developed slowly and quite simply from the conditions of the +patriarchal group. Moreover, I have maintained, and tried to prove, +that the initiative in progress was taken by the women, they being +inspired by their collective interest to overcome the individual +interests of the male members of the group. If this is not assented +to, then indeed, my view of mother-power can find no acceptance. + +It is necessary, however, once more to guard against any mistake. I do +not wish to prove a theory of gynæcocracy, or rule of woman. The title +chosen for this chapter at once opens the way to misinterpretation. It +might appear as if I supported Bachofen’s supposition that, under a +system of maternal descent women possessed supreme rule in the family +and in the clan: this is a dream only of visionaries. I declare here +that I consider the theory of the so-called matriarchate at once false +and injurious: false, because it can lead to nothing; and injurious, +because, while it cannot be supported by facts, it overthrows what can +be proved by the evidence that is open to all investigators. Nothing +will be gained by exaggeration and by claiming over much for women. +The term “matriarchal” takes too much for granted that women at one +period ruled. Such a view is far from the truth. All I claim, then, is +this: the system by which the descent of the name and the inheritance +of property passes through the female side of the family placed women +in a favourable position, with definite rights in the family and clan, +rights which, in some cases, resulted in their having great and even +extraordinary power. This, I think, may be granted. _If descent +through the father stands, as it is held to do, for the predominance +of man over woman--the husband over the wife, then it is at least +surely possible that descent through the mother may in some cases have +stood for the predominance of the wife over the husband._ The reader +will judge how far the examples of the maternal family I am able to +bring forward support this claim. + +The evidence for mother-right has never yet been fully brought into +notice; but much of the evidence is now available. Our knowledge of +the customs of primitive peoples has increased greatly of late years, +and these afford a wide field for inquiry. And although the examples +of the complete maternal family existing to-day are few in +number--probably not more than twenty tribes,[41] yet the important +fact is that they occur among widely separated peoples in all the +great regions of the uncivilised world. Moreover, side by side with +these, are found a much larger number of imperfect systems, which give +unmistakable evidence of an earlier maternal stage. Such examples are +specially instructive; they belong to a transitional period, and show +the maternal family in its decline as it passes into a new patriarchal +stage; often, indeed, we see the one system competing in conflict with +the other. + + [41] This is the number given by Prof. Tylor. “The + Matriarchal Family System,” _Nineteenth Century_, July 1896. + +In this connection I may note that Westermarck does not accept an +early period when descent was traced exclusively through the mother; +he gives a long list of peoples among whom the system is not +practised. These passages occur in his well-known _Criticism of the +Hypothesis of Promiscuity_,[42] and his whole argument is based on the +assumption that mother-right arose through the tie between the father +and the child being unrecognised. But mother-descent has no connection +at all with uncertainty of paternity. I venture to think Dr. +Westermarck has not sufficiently considered this aspect of the +question, and, if I mistake not, it is this confusion of +mother-descent with promiscuity which explains his attitude towards +the maternal system, and his failure to recognise its favourable +influence on the status of women. In his opinion this system of +tracing descent does not materially affect the relative power of the +two sexes.[43] In such a view I cannot help thinking he is mistaken; +and I am supported in this by the fact that he makes the important +qualification that the husband’s power is impaired when he lives among +his wife’s kinsfolk. Now, it is this form of marriage, or the more +primitive custom when the husband only visits his wife, that is +practised among the peoples who have preserved the complete maternal +family. Under such a domestic arrangement, which really reverses the +position of the wife and the husband, mother-right is found; this +maternal marriage is, indeed, the true foundation of the woman’s +power. Where the marriage system has been changed from the maternal to +the paternal form, and the wife is taken from the protection of her +own kindred to live in the home of her husband, even when descent is +still traced through the mother, the chief authority is almost always +in the hands of the father. Thus it need not cause surprise to find +mother-descent combined with a fully established patriarchal rule. But +among such peoples practices may often be met with that can be +explained only as survivals from an earlier maternal system. Moreover, +in other cases, we meet with tribes that have not yet advanced to the +maternal stage. A study of existing tribes, and of the records of +ancient civilisations, will yield any number of examples. + + [42] _History of Human Marriage_, pp. 97-104. + + [43] “The Position of Woman in Early Civilisations,” + _Sociological Papers_, 1904. + +Unmistakable traces of mother-right may, indeed, be found by those, +whose eyes are opened to see, in all races. In peasant festivals and +dances, and in many religious beliefs and ceremonies, we may meet +with such survivals. They may be traced in our common language, +especially in the words used for sex and for kin relationships. We can +also find them shadowed in certain of our marriage rites, and sex +habits to-day. Another source of evidence is furnished by the +widespread early occurrence of mother-goddesses, who must be connected +with a system which places the mother in the forefront of religious +thought. Further proof may be gathered from folk stories and heroic +legends, whose interest offers rich rewards in suggestions of a time +when honour rested with the sex to whom the inheritance belonged. +Thus, the difficulty of establishing a claim for mother-right and +mother-power does not rest in any paucity of proof--but rather in its +superabundance. + +It would be superfluous for me to dwell on the difficulties of such an +inquiry. The subject is immensely complicated and wide-reaching, so +that I must keep strictly to the path set before me. It is my purpose +to outline the domestic relations in the maternal family clan, and to +examine the sex-customs and forms of marriage. I shall limit myself to +those matters which throw some light on the position of women, and +shall touch on the features of social life only in so far as they +illustrate this. These questions will be discussed in the three +succeeding chapters. Some portion of the matter given has appeared +already in the section on the “Mother-Age Civilisation” in _The Truth +about Woman_, which gives examples of the maternal family in America, +Australia, India and other countries. Such examples formed a necessary +part of the historical section of that work; they are even more +necessary to this inquiry. Many new examples will be given, and the +examination of the whole subject will be more exhaustive. These +chapters will be followed by a discussion of certain difficulties, and +an examination of the transition period in which the maternal family +gave way to the second patriarchal stage with the family founded on +the authority of the father. A short chapter will be devoted to the +work done by women in primitive tribes and its importance in relation +to their position. Then will come as full an account as is possible of +the traces of the mother-age to be found in the records of ancient and +existing civilised races; while a brief chapter will be added on +certain myths and legends which help to elucidate the theory of +women’s early power. The final chapter will treat of general +conclusions, with an attempt to suggest certain facts which seem to +bear on present-day problems. Throughout I shall support my +investigation (as far as can be done in a work primarily designed for +a text-book) by examples, which, in each case, have been carefully +chosen from trustworthy evidence of those who are personally +acquainted with the habits of the peoples of whom they write. I shall +try to avoid falling into the error of a one-sided view. Facts will be +more important than reflections, and as far as possible, I shall let +these speak for themselves. + +Let us now concentrate our attention on the complete maternal family, +where the clan is grouped around the mothers. + +The examples in this chapter will be taken from the aboriginal tribes +of North and South America among whom traces of the maternal system +are common, while in some cases mother-right is still in force. At the +period of European discovery the American Indians were already well +advanced in the primitive arts, and were very far removed from +savagery. Their domestic and social habits showed an organisation of a +very remarkable character; among certain tribes there was a communal +maternal family, interesting and complicated in its arrangements. Such +customs had prevailed from an antiquity so remote that their origin +seems to have been lost in the obscurity of the ages. It is possible, +however, to see how this communism in living may have arisen and +developed out of the conditions we have studied in the far distant +patriarchal groups. For this reason they afford a very special +interest to our inquiry. + +Morgan, who was commissioned by the American Government to report on +the customs of the aboriginal inhabitants, gives a description of the +system as it existed among the Iroquois-- + + “Each household was made up on the principle of kin. The + married women, usually sisters, own or collateral, were of + the same _gens_ or clan, the symbol or _totem_ of which was + often painted upon the house, while their husbands and the + wives of their sons belonged to several other _gentes_. The + children were of the _gens_ of their mother. As a rule the + sons brought home their wives, and in some cases the + husbands of the daughters were admitted to the maternal + household. Thus each household was composed of persons of + different _gentes_, but the predominating number in each + household would be of the same _gens_, namely, that of the + mother.”[44] + + [44] Morgan, _Houses and House-Life of the American + Aborigines_, p. 64. + +We see here, at once, the persistence and development of the +conditions and later customs of the patriarchal family-group, now +evolved into the clan. In the far-distant days the jealous spirit was +still strong; now it has been curbed and regulated, and the female +yoke binds the clan together. We have the mothers as the centre of the +communal home; the sons bringing their wives to live in the circle, +while the daughters’ husbands are received as permanent guests. Under +such a system the mothers are related to each other, and belong to the +same clan, and their children after them; the fathers are not bound +together by the same ties and are of different clans. The limits +within which marriage can take place are fixed, and we can trace the +action of the ancient primal law in the bar that prohibits the husband +from being of the same clan as his wife. Though the husband takes up +his abode in the wife’s family, dwelling there _during her life and +his good behaviour_,[45] he still belongs to his own family. The +children of the marriage are of the kindred of the mother, and never +of his kindred: they are lost to his family. Thus there can be no +extension of the clan through the males, it is the wife’s clan that is +extended by marriage.[46] + + [45] Tylor, “The Matriarchal Family System,” _Nineteenth + Century_, July 1896. + + [46] McLennan, _The Patriarchal Theory_, p. 208. Heriot, + _Travels through the Canadas_, p. 323. + +The important point to note is that the conditions of the clan are +still favourable to the social conduct of the women, who are attached +much more closely to the home and to each other than can be the case +with the men. The wife never leaves the home, because she is +considered the mistress, or, at least, the heiress. In the house all +the duties and the honour as the head of the household fall upon her. +This position may be illustrated by the wife’s obligation to her +husband and his family, which are curiously in contrast with what is +usually expected from a woman. Thus a wife is not only bound to give +food to her husband, to cook his provisions when he sets out on +expeditions, but she has likewise to assist members of his family when +they cultivate their fields, and to provide wood for an allotted +period for the use of his family. In this work she is assisted by +women of her clan. The women are also required in case of need to look +after their parents. + +There are many interesting customs in the domestic life of the +Iroquois. I can notice a few only. The system of living, at the time +Morgan visited the tribes, consisted of a plan at once novel and +distinctive. Each _gens_ or clan lived in a long tenement house, large +enough to accommodate the separate families. These houses were +erected on frames of poles, covered with bark, and were from fifty to +a hundred feet in length. A passage way led down the centre, and rooms +were portioned off on either side: the doors were at each end of the +passage. An apartment was allotted to each family. There were several +fireplaces, usually one for every four families, which were placed in +the central passage: there were no chimneys. The Iroquois lived in +these long houses, _Ho-de-no-sau-nee_, up to A.D. 1700, and in +occasional instances for a hundred years later. They were not peculiar +to the Iroquois, but were used by many tribes. Unfortunately this wise +plan of living has now almost entirely passed away. + +I wish that I had space to give a fuller account of these +families.[47] Each household practised communism in living, and made a +common stock of the provisions acquired by fishing and hunting, and by +the cultivation of maize and plants. The curse of individual +accumulation would seem not to have existed. Ownership of land and all +property was held in common. Each household was directed by the matron +who supervised its domestic economy. After the daily meal was cooked +at the several fires, the matron was summoned, and it was her duty to +apportion the food from the kettle to the different families according +to their respective needs. What food remained was placed in the +charge of another woman until it was required by the matron. In this +connection Mr. Morgan says: “This plan of life shows that their +domestic economy was not without method, and it displays the care and +management of women, low down in barbarism, for husbanding their +resources and for improving their conditions.” + + [47] The reader is referred to Morgan’s interesting _Houses + and House-Life of the Aborigines_. It is from this work that + many of the facts I give have been taken. + +In this statement, made by one who was intimately acquainted with the +customs of this people there is surely confirmation of what I have +claimed for women? The further we go in our inquiry the more we are +driven to the conclusion that the favourable conditions uniting the +women with one another exerted a powerful influence on their +character. I think this is a view of the maternal family system that +has never received its proper meed of attention. + +It must be noted that the women did not eat with the men; but the fact +that the apportioning of the food was in the women’s hands is +sufficient proof that this separation of women and men, common among +most primitive peoples, has no connection with the superiority of one +sex over the other. It is interesting to find that only one prepared +meal was served in each day. But the pots were always kept boiling +over the fires, and any one who was hungry, either from the household +or from any other part of the village, had a right to order it to be +taken off and to eat as he or she pleased. + +We may notice the influence of their communistic living in all the +Indian customs. At all times the law of hospitality was strictly +observed. Food was dispensed in every case to those who needed it; no +excuse was ever made to avoid giving. If through misfortune one +household fell into want, the needs were freely supplied from the +stock laid by for future use in another household. Hunger and +destitution could not exist in any part of an Indian village or +encampment while plenty prevailed elsewhere. Such generosity at a time +when food was often difficult to obtain, and its supply was the first +concern of life, is a remarkable fact. Nor does this generosity seem, +as might be thought, to have led to idleness and improvidence. He who +begged, when he could work, was stigmatised with the disgraceful name +of “poltroon” or “beggar”; but the miser who refused to assist his +neighbour was branded as “a bad character.” Mr. Morgan, commenting on +this phase of the Indian life says: “I much doubt if the civilised +world would have in their institutions any system which can properly +be called more humane and charitable.” + +These reflections induce one to ask: What were the causes of this +humane system of living among a people considered as uncivilised? Now, +I do not wish to claim overmuch for women. We have seen, however, that +the control and distribution of the supply of food was placed in the +hands of the matrons, thus their association with the giving of food +must be accepted. Is not this fact sufficient to indicate the reason +that made possible this communism? To me it is plain that these +remarkable institutions were connected with the maternal family, in +which the collective interests were more considered than is possible +in a patriarchal society, based upon individual inclination and +proprietary interests. + +A brief notice must now be given to the system of government. An +Indian tribe was composed of several _gentes_ or clans, united in what +is known as a _phratry_ or brotherhood. The tribe was an assemblage of +the _gentes_. The _phratry_ among the Iroquois was organised partly +for social and partly for religious objects. Each _gens_ was ruled by +chiefs of two grades, distinguished by Morgan as the _sachem_ and +common chiefs. The _sachem_ was the official head of the _gens_, and +was elected by its adult members, male and female. The _sachems_ and +chiefs claimed no superiority and were never more than the exponents +of the popular will of the people. Unanimity among the _sachems_ was +required on all public questions. This was the fundamental law of the +brotherhood; if all efforts failed to gain agreement the matter in +question was dropped. Under such a system individual rule or the power +of one _gens_ over the other became impossible. All the members of the +different _gentes_ were personally free; equal in privileges, and in +position, and in rights. “Liberty, equality, and fraternity,” though +never formulated, were the cardinal principles of the _gens_.[48] Mr. +Morgan holds the opinion that “this serves to explain that sense of +independence and personal dignity universally attributed to the Indian +character.” + + [48] Morgan, _Ancient Society_, p. 62. Also _Houses and + House-Life of the American Aborigines_. + +Regarding the part taken by the women in the government, we have very +remarkable testimony. Schoolcraft,[49] in his elaborate study of the +customs of the Indian tribes, states that the women had “a +conservative power in the political deliberations. The matrons had +their representatives in the public councils, and they exercised a +negative, or what we call a veto, power, in the important question of +the declaration of war.” They had also the right to interpose in +bringing about a peace. Heriot also affirms: “In the women is vested +the foundation of all real authority. They give efficiency to the +councils and are the arbiters of war and peace.... It is also to their +disposal that the captured slaves are committed.” And again: “Although +by custom the leaders are chosen from among the men, and the affairs +which concern the tribe are settled by a council of ancients, it would +yet seem that they only represented the women, and assisted in the +discussion of subjects which principally related to that sex.”[50] + + [49] _Historical and Statistical Information Respecting the + History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the + United States_, 6 vols., Vol. III, p. 195. See also _Notes on + the Iroquois_ and _The Indian in his Wigwam_. + + [50] Heriot, _op. cit._, pp. 321-322. + +These remarkable social and domestic conditions were common to the +American Indians under the maternal system. The direct influence of +women, as directors through the men, is a circumstance of much +interest. Among the Senecas, an Iroquoian tribe with the complete +maternal family, the authority was very certainly in the hands of the +women. Morgan quotes an account of their family system, given by the +Rev. Ashur Wright for many years a resident among the Senecas, and +familiar with their language and customs. + + “As to their family system, it is probable that one clan + predominated (in the houses), the women taking in husbands, + however, from other clans, and sometimes for novelty, some + of their sons bringing in their young wives, until they felt + brave enough to leave their mothers. Usually the female + portion ruled the house, and were doubtless clannish enough + about it. The stores were in common, but woe to the luckless + husband or lover who was too shiftless to do his share of + the providing. No matter how many children or whatever goods + he might have in the house, he might at any time be ordered + to pack up his blanket and budge, and after such orders it + would not be healthful for him to attempt to disobey; the + house would be too hot for him, and unless saved by the + intercession of some aunt or grandmother, he must retreat to + his own clan, or, as was often done, go and start a new + matrimonial alliance in some other. The women were the great + power among the clans as everywhere else. They did not + hesitate, when occasion required, to ‘knock off the horns,’ + as it was technically called, from the head of a chief and + send him back to the ranks of the warrior. The original + nomination of the chief also always rested with them.” + +Mr. Morgan affirms his acceptance of the Indian women’s authority, and +says, after quoting this passage: “The mother-right and gynæcocracy +among the Iroquois here plainly indicated is not over-drawn. The +mothers and their children, as we have seen, were of the same _gens_, +and to them the household belonged. The position of the mother was +eminently favourable to her influence in the household, and tended to +strengthen the maternal bond.”[51] + + [51] _Houses and House-Life of American Aborigines_, pp. + 65-66. + +It is important to note that among the Iroquois polygamy is not +permitted, nor does it appear ever to be practised. Many instances are +reported in the Seneca tribe of a woman having more than one husband, +but an Iroquoian man is never allowed more than one wife.[52] This is +the more remarkable when we consider the fact that the mothers nurse +their children for a very long period, during which time they do not +cohabit with their husbands. Such entire absence of polygamy is to be +explained, in part, by the maternal marriage, a system which in its +origin was closely connected with sexual regulation; nor would +plurality of wives be possible in a society in which all the members +of both sexes enjoyed equal privileges, and were in a position of +absolute equality. Marriages usually take place at an early age. Under +the maternal form, the husband living with the wife worked for her +family, and commonly gained his footing only through his service. As +suitor he was required to make presents to the bride’s family. During +the first year of marriage all the produce of his hunting expeditions +belonged to the wife, and afterwards he shared his goods equally with +her. The marriages were negotiated by the mothers: sometimes the +father was consulted, but this was little more than a compliment, as +his approbation or opposition was usually disregarded. Often it was +customary for the bridegroom to seek private interviews at night with +his betrothed; clearly a survival from a time when such secrecy in +love was necessary. In some instances it was enough if the suitor went +and sat by the girl’s side in her apartment; if she permitted this, +and remained where she was, it was taken for consent, and the act +would suffice for marriage. Girls were allowed the right of choice in +the selection of their partners. There is abundant testimony as to the +happiness of the marriage state. Divorce was, however, allowed by +mutual consent, and was carried out without dispute, quarrel or +contradiction.[53] If a husband and a wife could not agree, they +parted amicably, or two unhappy pairs would exchange husbands and +wives. An early French missionary remonstrated with a couple on such a +transaction, and was told: “My wife and I could not agree; my +neighbour was in the same case, so we exchanged wives and all four +were content. What can be more reasonable than to render one another +mutually happy, when it costs so little, and does nobody any +harm.”[54] It would seem that these maternal peoples have solved many +difficulties of domestic and social life better than we ourselves have +done. + + [52] Morgan, _League of the Iroquois_, p. 324. Heriot, _op. + cit._, pp. 323, 329. Schoolcraft, _op. cit._, Vol. III, p. + 191. + + [53] Heriot, pp. 231-237. See also Report of an Official of + Indian Affairs on two of the Iroquoian tribes, cited by + Hartland. _Primitive Paternity_, Vol. I, p. 298. + + [54] _Charleroix_, Vol. V, p. 48, quoted by Hartland, _op. + cit._, Vol. II, p. 66. + +The Wyandots, another Iroquoian tribe, maintained the maternal +household, though they seem to have reached a later stage of +development than the Senecas. They camped in the form of a horse-shoe, +every clan together in regular order. Marriage between members of the +same clan was forbidden; the children belonged to the clan of the +mother. The husbands retained all their rights and privileges in their +own _gentes_, though they lived in the _gentes_ of their wives. After +marriage the pair resided, for a time, at least, with the wife’s +mother, but afterwards they set up housekeeping for themselves.[55] + + [55] Powell, _Rep. Bur. Ethn._, I, 63. + +We may note in this change of residence the creeping in of changes +which inevitably led in time to the decay of the maternal family and +the reassertion of the patriarchal authority of the father. This is +illustrated further by the Musquakies, also belonging to the +Algonquian stock. Though still organised in clans, descent is no +longer reckoned through the mother; the bridegroom, however, serves +his wife’s family, and he lives in her home. This does not make him +of her clan, but she belongs to his, till his death or divorce +separates her from him. As for the children, the minors at the +termination of the marriage belong to the mother’s clan, but those who +had had the puberty feast are counted to the father’s clan.[56] + + [56] Owen: _Musquakie Indians_, p. 72. + +The male authority was felt chiefly in periods of war. This may be +illustrated by the Wyandots, who have an elaborate system of +government. In each _gens_ there is a small council composed of four +women, called _yu-waí-yu-wá-na_; chosen by the heads of the household. +These women select a chief of the _gens_ from its male members, that +is, from their brothers and sons. He is the head of the _gentile_ +council. The council of the tribe is composed of the aggregated +_gentile_ councils; and is thus made up of four-fifths of women and +one-fifth of men. The _sachem_ of the tribes, or tribal-chief, is +chosen by the chiefs of the _gentes_. All the civil government of the +_gens_ and of the tribe is carried on by these councils; and as the +women so largely outnumbered the men, who are also--with the one +exception of the tribal-chief--chosen by them, it is evident that the +social government of the _gens_ and tribe is largely controlled by +them. On military affairs, however, the men have the direct authority, +though, as has been stated, the women have a veto power and are +“allowed to exercise a decision in favour of peace.” There is a +military council of all the able-bodied men of the tribe, with a +military chief chosen by the council.[57] This seems a very wise +adjustment of civic duties; the constructive social work and the +maintaining of peace directed by the women; the destructive work of +war in the hands of men. + + [57] I have summarised the account of the Wyandot government + as given by Hartland, who quotes from Powell’s “Wyandot + Government,” _First Annual Report of the Bureau of American + Ethnology_, 1879-1880, pp. 61 ff. + +Powell gives an interesting account of their communal life. Each clan +owns its own lands which it cultivates; but within these lands each +household has its own patch. It is the women councillors who partition +the clan lands among the households. The partition takes place every +two years. But while each household has its own patch of ground, the +cultivation is communal; that is, all the able-bodied women of the +clan take a share in cultivating every patch. Each clan has a right to +the service of all its women in the cultivation of the soil. It would +be difficult to find a more striking example than this of communism in +labour. I claim it as proof of what I have stated in an earlier +chapter of the conditions driving women into combination and social +conduct. + +If we turn now to the South American continent we shall find many +interesting survivals of the complete maternal family, in particular +among the Pueblo peoples of New Mexico and Arizona, so called from the +Spanish word _pueblo_, a town. The customs of the people have been +carefully studied and recorded by Bancroft, Schoolcraft, Morgan, +Tylor, McGee, the Spanish historian, Herrera, and other travellers. +When first visited by European anthropologists the country was divided +into provinces, and in many provinces the people lived in communities +or little republics. The communal life was here more developed even +than among the Northern Indians. The people lived together in joint +tenement houses, much larger, and of more advanced architecture, than +the long houses of the Iroquois. These houses are constructed of +adobe, brick and stone, imbedded in mortar; one house will contain as +many as 50, 100, 200, and in some cases, 500 apartments. Speaking of +these houses, Bancroft states: “The houses are common property, and +both women and men assist in building them; the men erect the wooden +frames, and the women make the mortar and build the walls. In place of +lime for mortar they mix ashes with earth and charcoal. They make +_adobes_, or sun-dried bricks, by mixing ashes and earth with +water.”[58] Cushing, who visited and lived with the Zuñi Indians, +records that among them the houses are entirely built by the women, +the men supplying the material. These houses are erected in terrace +form; within they are provided with windows, fireplaces and chimneys, +and the entrance to the different apartments is gained by rude pole +ladders. The pueblo, or village, consists of one or two, or sometimes +a greater number of these houses, each containing a hundred or more +families, according to the number of apartments. + + [58] _The Native Races of the Pacific States of South + America_, 5 vols., Vol. I, p. 555. See also Morgan. + +Among the Creek Indians of Georgia, Morgan recounts a somewhat +different mode of communal dwelling as formerly being practised. In +1790 they were living in small houses, placed in clusters of from four +to eight together; and each cluster forming a _gens_ or clan, who ate +and lived in common. The food was prepared in one hut, and each family +sent for its portion. The smallest of these “garden cities” contained +10 to 40 groups of houses, the largest from 50 to 200.[59] These +communistic dwelling-houses are so interesting and so important that I +would add a few words. Here, we have among these maternal peoples a +system of living which appears to be identical with the improved +conditions of associated dwelling now beginning to be tried. How often +we consider new things that really are very old! In the light of these +examples, our co-operative dwelling-houses and garden cities can no +longer be regarded as experiments. They were in use in the mother-age, +when many of our new (!) ideas seem to have been common. Can this be +because of the extended power held by women, who are more practical +and careful of detail than men are? I believe that it is possible. +This would explain, too, the revival of the same ideas to-day, when +women are taking up their part again in social life. To those who are +questioning the waste and discomfort of our solitary homes I would +recommend a careful study of this primitive communism. I would point +out the connection of the social ideal with the maternal family, while +the home that is solitary and unsocial must be regarded as having +arisen from the patriarchal customs. I have had occasion again and +again to note that collective interests are more considered by women; +and individual interests by men. This, at least, is how I see it; and +a study of the Indian maternal families seems to give confirmation to +such a conclusion. + + [59] Schoolcraft, _Indian Tribes_, p. 262, gives an account + of these houses. A similar plan of living is reported of the + Maya Indians. + +But to return to the Pueblo peoples. The tribes are divided into +exogamous totem clans. Kinship is reckoned through the women, and in +several tribes we find the complete maternal family. Among such +peoples the husband goes to live with the wife and becomes an inmate +of her family. If the house is not large enough, additional rooms are +built on to the communal home and connected with those already +occupied. Hence a family with many daughters increases, while one +consisting of sons dies out. + +The marriage customs and relationships between the young men and the +girls are instructive; they vary in the different tribes, but have +some points in common. The Pueblos are monogamists, and polygamy is +not allowed amongst them. Bancroft records a very curious custom. The +morals of the young people are carefully guarded by a kind of secret +police, whose duty it is to report all irregularities; and in the +event of such taking place the young man and the girl are compelled to +marry.[60] Now, whatever opinion may be held of such interference with +the love-making of the young people, it affords strong proof of the +error which has hitherto connected the maternal system with +unregulated sexual relationships. This is a fact I am again and again +compelled to point out, risking the fear of wearying the reader. + + [60] Bancroft, _op. cit._, pp. 546, 547. + +Among some tribes freedom is permitted to the women before marriage. +Heriot states that the natives who allow this justify the custom, and +say “that a young woman is mistress of her own person, and a free +agent.”[61] The tie of marriage is, however, observed more strictly +than among many civilised monogamous races. And this is so, although +divorce is always easy and by mutual consent; a couple being able to +separate at once if they are dissatisfied with each other. Here are +facts that may well cause us to think. As for the courtship, the usual +custom is reversed; when a girl is disposed to marry she does not wait +for a young man to propose to her, but selects one to her liking, and +then consults her family as to his suitability as a husband. The +suitor has to serve the bride’s family before he can be accepted, and +in some cases the conditions are binding and exceedingly curious. + + [61] Heriot, _op. cit._, p. 340. + +How simple and really beautiful are the conditions of life among these +people may be seen from the idyllic record of the Zuñi Indians given +by Mr. Cushing.[62] He describes how the Zuñi girl, when taking a +fancy to a young man, conveys a present of thin _hewe_-bread to him as +a token, and becomes his affianced, or as they say “his-to-be.” He +then sews clothes and moccasins for her, makes her a necklace of gay +beads, and combs her hair out on the terrace in the sun. After his +term of service is over, and all is settled, he takes up his residence +with her; then the married life begins. “With the woman rests the +security of the marriage tie, and, it must be said, in her high +honour, that she rarely abuses the privilege; that is, never sends her +husband ‘to the home of his fathers’ unless he richly deserves it.” +Divorce is by mutual consent, and a husband and wife would “rather +separate than live together unharmoniously.” This testimony is +confirmed by Mrs. Stevenson, who visited the Zuñis, and writes with +enthusiasm of the people. “Their domestic life might well serve as an +example for the civilised world. They do not have large families. The +husband and wife are deeply attached to one another and to their +children.” “The keynote of this harmony is the supremacy of the wife +in the home. The house with all that is in it is hers, descending to +her through her mother from a long line of ancestresses; and the +husband is merely her permanent guest. The children--at least the +female children--have their share in the common home; the father has +none.” “Outside the house the husband has some property in the fields, +although in earlier times he had no possessory rights and the land was +held in common. Modern influences have reached the Zuñi, and +mother-right seems to have begun its inevitable decay.”[63] + + [62] Cushing, “My Visit to the Zuñi Indians,” _Century + Magazine_, 1883. Prof. Tylor gives these passages in his + account of the Zuñi Indians, “The Patriarchal Family System,” + _Nineteenth Century_, 1896. I have quoted from him. + + [63] Mrs. Stevenson, in the _Report Bureau Ethnological_, + XXIII, pp. 290-293. + +The Hopis, another Pueblo tribe, are more conservative, and with them +the women own all the property except the horses and donkeys, which +belong to the men. Among the Pueblos the women commonly have control +over the granary, and they are very provident about the future. +Ordinarily they try to have one year’s provisions on hand. It is only +when two years of scarcity succeed each other that the community +suffers hunger. Like the Zuñis, the Hopis are monogamists. Sexual +freedom is, however, permitted to a girl before marriage. This in no +way detracts from her good repute; even if she has given birth to a +child “she will be sure to marry later on, unless she happens to be +shockingly ugly.” Nor does the child suffer, for among these maternal +peoples, the bastard takes an equal place with the child born in +wedlock. The bride lives for the first few weeks with her husband’s +family, during which time the marriage takes place, the ceremony being +performed by the bridegroom’s mother, whose family also provides the +bride with her wedding outfit. The couple then return to the home of +the wife’s parents, where they remain, either permanently, or for some +years, until they can obtain a separate dwelling. The husband is +always a stranger, and is so treated by his wife’s kin. The dwelling +of his mother remains his true home, in sickness he returns to her to +be nursed, and stays with her until he is well again. Often his +position in his wife’s home is so irksome that he severs his +connection with her and her family, and returns to his old home. On +the other hand, it is not uncommon for the wife, should her husband be +absent, to place his goods outside the door: an intimation which he +well understands, and does not intrude upon her again.[64] + + [64] Voth, _Traditions of the Hopi_, pp. 67, 96, 133. _Rep. + Bur. Ethn._, XIII, 340. Hartland, _Primitive Paternity_, Vol. + II, pp. 74-76. + +Again, among the Pueblo peoples, we may consider the Sai. Like the +other tribes they are divided into exogamous totem clans; descent is +traced only through the mother. The tribe through various reasons has +been greatly reduced in numbers, and whole clans have died out, and +under these circumstances exogamy has ceased to be strictly enforced. +This has led to other changes. The Sai are still normally monogamous. +When a young man wishes to marry a girl he speaks first to her +parents; if they are willing he addresses himself to her. On the day +of the marriage he goes alone to her home, carrying his presents +wrapped in a blanket, his mother and father having preceded him +thither. When the young people are seated together the parents address +them in turn, enjoining unity and forbearance. This constitutes the +ceremony. Tribal custom requires the bridegroom to reside with the +wife’s family.[65] + + [65] _Rep. Bur. Ethn._ IX, p. 19. Hartland, _Ibid._, pp. + 76-77. + +All the Pueblo peoples are more advanced than the greater number of +the neighbouring tribes; their matrimonial customs are more refined, +their domestic life much happier, and they have an appreciation of +love, a rare thing in primitive peoples.[66] Among other tribes +purchase of a wife is common, always a sure sign of the enslavement of +women. Thus in Columbia what is most prized in a woman is her aptitude +for labour, and the price paid for her (usually in horses) depends on +her capacity as a beast of burden. Sometimes, as in California, a +suitor obtains a wife on credit, but then the man is called “half +married;” and until her price is paid he has to labour as a slave for +her parents. Here, as elsewhere, morality is simply a custom of habit; +Bancroft says that purchase of a wife has become accepted as +honourable, so that among the Californian Redskins “the children of a +wife who has cost nothing to her husband are looked down upon.”[67] +Such customs are in sharp contrast to the liberty granted to the woman +among the Pueblos. As an example of women’s power carried to the +limit of tyranny, we may note the Nicaraguans, of whom Bancroft states +that “the husbands are said to have been so much under the control of +their wives that they were obliged to do the housework, while the +women attended to the trading.” Under these circumstances it is +perhaps not surprising to find the women described as “great shrews, +who would on the slightest provocation drive their offending husbands +out of the house.”[68] This is a curious case of the despotic rule of +women. Westermarck accounts for their position by the strict monogamy +that is enforced, but I do not think this can be the true +explanation.[69] + + [66] Bancroft, _op. cit._, Vol. I, p. 549. + + [67] Bancroft, _op. cit._, Vol. I, p. 277. Power’s _Tribes of + California_, pp. 22, 56. + + [68] Bancroft, _op. cit._, Vol. II, p. 685. + + [69] _History of Human Marriage_, p. 500. + +Among the Guanas the women make their own stipulations with their +lovers before marriage, arranging what they are to do in the +household. They are also said to decide the conditions of the +marriage, whether it is to be monogamous, or if polygamy or polyandry +is to be allowed.[70] The Zapotecs and other tribes inhabiting the +Isthmus of Tehuantepec, are remarkable for “the gentleness, affection, +and frugality that characterises the marital relations. Polygamy is +not permitted, which is very remarkable as the women greatly outnumber +the men.”[71] + + [70] Azara, _Voyages dans l’Amérique Méridionale_, Vol. II, + p. 93. + + [71] Bancroft, _op. cit._, Vol. I, pp. 661-662. + +Lastly, I wish to bring forward a very striking example of the +complete maternal family among the Seri Indians, on the south-west +coast of North America, now reduced to a single tribe. Their curious +and interesting marriage customs have been described by McGee, who +visited the people to report on their customs for the American +Government. The Seri are probably the most primitive tribe in the +American continent. At the time of Mr. McGee’s visit they preserved +the maternal system in its early form, and are therefore an +instructive example by which to estimate the position of the +women.[72] + + [72] “The Beginning of Marriage,” _American Anthropologist_, + Vol. IX, p. 376. Also _Rep. Bur. Ethn._, XVII, 275. + + “The tribe is divided into exogamous totem clans. Marriage + is arranged exclusively by the women. The elder woman of the + suitor’s family carries the proposal to the girl’s clan + mother. If this is entertained, the question of marriage is + discussed at length by the matrons of the two clans. The + girl herself is consulted; a _jacal_ is erected for her, and + after many deliberations, the bridegroom is provisionally + received into the wife’s clan for a year under conditions of + the most exacting character. He is expected to prove his + worthiness of a permanent relationship by demonstrating his + ability as a provider, and by showing himself an implacable + foe to aliens. He is compelled to support all the female + relatives of his bride’s family by the products of his skill + and industry in hunting and fishing for one year. There is + also another provision of a very curious nature. The lover + is permitted to share the _jacal_, or sleeping-robe, + provided for the prospective matron by her kinswomen, not + as a privileged spouse, but merely as a protective + companion; and throughout this probationary time he is + compelled to maintain continence--he must display the most + indubitable proof of his moral force.” + +This test of the Seri lover must not mistakenly be thought to be +connected, as might appear, with the modern idea of continence. As is +pointed out by McGee, it arose out of the primitive sexual taboos, and +is imposed on the young man as a test of his strength to abstain from +any sexual relationships outside the proscribed limits. Such a moral +test may once have been common, but seems to have been lost except +among the Seri; though a curious vestige appears in the anti-nuptial +treatment of the bridegroom, in the Salish tribe. The material test is +common among many peoples, and must not be confused with the later +custom of payment for the wife by presents given to her family. Still +this Seri marriage is one of the most curious I know among any +primitive peoples. And the continence demanded from the bridegroom +appears more extraordinary if we compare it with the freedom granted +to the bride. “During this period the always dignified position +occupied by the daughters of the house culminates.” Among other +privileges she is allowed to receive the “most intimate attentions +from the clan-fellows of the group.” “She is the receiver of the +supplies furnished by her lover, measuring his competence as would-be +husband. Through his energy she is enabled to dispense largess with a +lavish hand, and thus to dignify her clan and honour her spouse in the +most effective way known to primitive life; and at the same time she +enjoys the immeasurable moral stimulus of realising she is the arbiter +of the fate of a man who becomes a warrior or an outcast at her +bidding, and through him of the future of two clans--she is raised to +a responsibility in both personal and tribal affairs which, albeit +temporary, is hardly lower than that of the warrior chief.” At the +close of the year, if all goes well, the probation ends in a feast +provided by the lover, who now becomes the husband, and finally enters +his wife’s _jacal_ as “consort-guest.” His position is wholly +subordinate, and without any authority whatever, either over his +children or over the property. In his mother’s hut he has rights, +which seem to continue after his marriage, but in his wife’s hut he +has none. + +I have now collected together, with as much exactitude as I could, +what is known of the maternal family in the American continents. There +are many tribes in which descent is reckoned through the father, and +it would be bold to assert that these have all passed through the +maternal stage. An examination of their customs shows, in some cases, +survivals, which point to such conclusion; among other tribes it seems +probable that the maternal clan has not developed. As illustrations of +mother-power, I claim the examples given speak for themselves. It may, +of course, be urged that these complete maternal families are +exceptions, and thus to dismiss them as unimportant. But this is +surely an unscientific way of settling the question. One has to accept +these cases, or to prove that they are untrue. Moreover, I have by no +means exhausted the evidence; and to these complete maternal families +might be added examples from other tribes which would furnish similar +proofs, but there is such consistency of custom among them all that +further accounts may be dispensed with. + +There is one other matter for which I would claim attention before +closing this chapter on the American Indians, and that is the +remarkable similarity to be noticed in many tribes between the faces +of the men and the women. To me this is a point of deep interest, +though I do not claim to understand it. My attention was first drawn +to notice this likeness between the two sexes when I came to know some +Iroquois natives who live in England. I was at once struck with the +appearance of the men: though strong and powerfully built, they were +strikingly like women. Since then I have examined many portraits of +the North Indian tribes; I have found that the great majority of men +approach much more nearly to the feminine than the male type. I might, +however, hesitate to bring the matter forward, were it founded only on +my own observation. But in my reading I have found an important +reference to the question in a recent work, “The Indians of North +America in Recent Times,” by Mr. Cyrus Thomas, Ph.D., Archæologist, in +the _Bureau of American Ethnology_. He writes as follows (p. 41)-- + + “Another curious fact, which has not hitherto received + special notice, though apparently of considerable interest, + is the prevailing feminine physiognomy of the males, at + least of those of the northern section. If any one will take + the trouble to study carefully a hundred or more good + photographs of males of pure blood he will find that two + thirds, if not a greater proportion, show feminine faces. + The full significance of this fact is not apparent, but it + seems to bear to some extent upon the question of the + evolution of the race.” + +What this fact suggests is a problem to which it is very difficult +even to guess at an answer. Does this lack of differentiation in the +physiognomy of the Indians point to something much deeper? Are the men +really like the women? Such a conception opens up considerations of +very great significance. So far as I understand the matter, it appears +that, as well as the deep inherent differences between the two sexes, +there are other differences due to divergence in function. It seems +probable that changes in environment or in function (as when one sex, +for some reason or other, performs the duties usually undertaken by +the other sex), may alter or modify the differences which tend to +thrust the sexes apart. I feel very sure that there can be changes in +the secondary sexual characters of the male and female. This is +sufficiently proved by many examples. Can we, then, accept the theory +that an environment, which favours women’s forceful function, may +modify the infinitely complicated characters of sex, which, as yet, we +so imperfectly understand? I do not know with any certainty. Yet I can +see no other interpretation; and, if I mistake not, it may be possible +in this way to cast a light on one of the most difficult problems with +which we are faced to-day. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE MATERNAL FAMILY AMONG THE KHASIS + + +There are, perhaps, no people among whom the family in the full +maternal form can be studied with more advantage than the Khasi Hill +tribes, in the north-east of India. This race has a special interest +as a people who, in modern times, have preserved their independence +and their ancestral customs through many centuries. We find +mother-descent strictly practised, combined with great and even +extraordinary rights on the part of the women. The isolation of the +Khasis may account for this conservatism, but, as will appear later, +there are other causes to explain the freedom and power of the Khasi +women. We are fortunate in having a fuller knowledge of the Khasi +tribes, than is common of many primitive peoples. Their institutions +and interesting domestic customs have been carefully noted by +ethnologists and travellers, and in all accounts there is united +testimony to the high status of the women. I will quote a statement of +Sir Charles Lyell,[73] which affirms this fact very strongly-- + + [73] In an Introduction to _The Khasis_, by P. R. Gurdon. + This work, written by one who had a long and intimate + knowledge of the Khasi tribes, gives an admirable account of + the people, their institutions and domestic life. See also + Sir J. Hooker, _Himalayan Journal_, Vol. II, pp. 273 _et + seq._; Dalton, _Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal_; and a + series of papers by J. R. Logan, in the _Journal of the + Indian Archipelago_, 1850-1857. Mr. Frazer (_The Golden + Bough_, Part IV, _Adonis, Attis, Osiris_, p. 387) gives a + short account of the Khasis; also McGee in the article _The + Beginning of Marriage_ already quoted. + + “Their social organisation presents one of the most perfect + examples still surviving of matriarchal institutions carried + out with a logic and a thoroughness which, to those + accustomed to regard the status and authority of the father + as the foundation of society, are exceedingly remarkable. + Not only is the mother the head and source and only bond of + union of the family, in the most primitive part of the + hills, the Synteng country, she is the only owner of real + property, and through her alone is inheritance transmitted. + The father has no kinship with his children, who belong to + their mother’s clan; what he earns goes to his own + matriarchal stock, and at his death his bones are deposited + in the cromlech of his mother’s kin.” + +Such testimony cannot be put aside. I wish it were possible for me to +give a detailed account of this people, there is so much that is of +interest to us in their mother-right customs. All that I can do is to +note briefly a few of these, which to me seem specially important. + +And first, in order to understand better their customs, let us +consider a few facts of the people themselves. The Khasis are a +vigorous and sturdy race. The men are short, but exceedingly muscular; +the women are comely, especially when young; and the children are +remarkably pretty. In both the sexes strongly developed calves are +considered a mark of beauty. It is interesting to note that the men +usually wear their hair long, and when it is cut short, a single lock +is preserved at the back, which is called _u niuhtrong_, “the +grandmother’s lock.” In some districts the men pull out the hairs of +the moustaches, with the exception of a few hairs on either side of +the upper lip. In character these people are independent, simple, +truthful and straightforward; cheerful in disposition, and +light-hearted by nature. They thoroughly appreciate a joke, especially +the women. Among the men there is some drunkenness, but not among the +women, though they are the chief distillers of spirits. Men and women +work together, usually at the same occupations. We learn that the +Khasis have an unusual love of nature, and are fond of music; thus +they have names for birds and flowers, also for many butterflies and +moths. These are traits not usually found in the people of India. + +There is a point to note of special interest in their language. All +the nouns have a masculine and a feminine gender, and the feminine +nouns immensely predominate. The sun is feminine, the moon masculine. +In the pronouns there is one form only in the plural, and that is +feminine. It may seem that these matters--noted so briefly--are +unimportant; but it is such little things that deserve attentive +study. At least they serve to show that the Khasis have reached a high +level of primitive culture; and they indicate further the strong +importance of the feminine idea, which is the main interest in our +inquiry. + +A few words must be said about the organisation of the tribes. These +tribes are formed in sections--of which the chief are the Khasi, +Synteng, and War. Each section or tribe is divided into clans and +sub-clans; these are strictly exogamous. To marry within the clan is +the greatest sin a Khasi can commit. This would explain the strict +reckoning of descent through the mothers. + +The Khasi clan grew from the family. There is a saying common among +the people, _Long jaid ne ka kynthei_, “From the woman sprang the +tribe.” All the clans trace their descent from ancestresses +(grandmothers) who are called _Ki Iwabei Tynrai_, literally, +_grandmothers of the root_, i. e. _the root of the tree of the clan_. +In some clans the name of the ancestress survives, as, for instance, +_Kyngas houning_, “the sweet one.” _Ka Iaw shubde_ is the ancestress +of the Synteng tribe, and it is curious to note that she is credited +with having first introduced the art of smelting iron. She is also +said to have founded a market in which she successfully traded in +cattle.[74] + + [74] _The Khasis_, pp. 62, 64, 82. All the facts I have given + of the Khasis are taken from Mr. Gurdon’s work, unless + otherwise stated. + +It is hardly possible to exaggerate the esteem in which the tribal +ancestress is held; she is so greatly reverenced that she may truly be +said to be deified. In such worship rests the foundation of the deep +tribal piety. _Ka Iawbei_, “the first mother,” has the foremost place +of honour by her side, and acting as her agent is _U Suid Nia_, her +brother. There is another fact to show the honour in which the female +ideal is held. The flat memorial stones set up to perpetuate the +memory of the dead are called after the mothers of the clan, while the +standing stones ranged behind them are dedicated to the male kinsmen +on the female side. These table stones are exceedingly interesting. +They are exactly like the long stones and dolmens which are found in +Brittany, in Ireland, in Galicia in Spain, and other parts of Europe. +Is it possible that some of these memorials, whose history has been +lost, were also set up to commemorate the mothers of tribes? But be +this as it may, among the Khasis, where ancient custom and tradition +have been preserved, goddesses are more important than gods. Almost +all the other deities to whom propitiation is offered are female. Male +personages also figure, and among them _Thaulang_, the husband, is +revered.[75] Still the chief divinity rests in the goddesses; the gods +are represented only in their relation to them. The powers of sickness +and death are all female, and these are most frequently worshipped. +Again, the protectors of the household are goddesses. I wish that I +had space to write of their curious, yet beautiful, religious rites. +The sacrifices are communal in character; they are offered in times of +sickness and when dangers threaten the clan. Priestesses assist at all +sacrifices and the male officiants act only as their agents. The +household sacrifices are always performed by women. + + [75] An incantation used in addressing this god begins: “O + Father, _Thaulang_, who hast enabled me to be born, who hast + given me my stature and my life.” This is very certain proof + that the maternal system among the Khasis has no connection + with uncertainty of paternity. + +Consider what this placing of their goddesses rather than their +gods--of the priestess rather than priest--in the forefront of their +worship signifies! Very plainly it reflects honour on the sex to which +the supreme deities belong. We need no clearer proof of the high +status of women among this people. Such customs are certainly +survivals[76] from the time of a more primitive matriarchate, when the +priestess was the agent for the performance of all religious +ceremonies. In one state a priestess still performs the sacrifices on +the appointment of a new Siem, or ruler. Another such survival is the +High Priestess of Nongkrem, in the Synteng district, who “combines in +her person sacerdotal and regal functions.” In this state the +tradition runs that the first High Priestess was _Ka Pah Synten_, “the +flower-lured one.” She was a beautiful maiden, who had her abode in a +cave at Marai, near Nongkrem whence she was enticed by means of a +flower. She was taken by her lover to be his bride, and she became not +only the first High Priestess of Nongkrem, but also the mother of the +Siems of Nongkrem. + + [76] This is the opinion of Sir Charles Lyell and Mr. Gurdon. + We may compare the remark of Prof. Karl Pearson: “According + to the evidence not only the seers but the sacrificers among + the early Teutons were women.” + +It must be noted that the Siems or rulers of the states are always +men. They are chosen from the eldest sister’s children. Possibly the +case of the High Priestess of Nongkrem, who is the nominal head of the +state, points to an earlier period of rule by women; but to-day the +temporal power is delegated to one of her sons or nephews, who becomes +the Siem. I need not labour this question overmuch; it is actualities +I wish to deal with. As I have repeatedly said, there is no sure +ground for believing that the maternal system involves rule by women. +This may have happened in some cases, but I do not think that it can +ever have been common. I am very certain, however, of the error in the +view which accepts the subordination of women as the common condition +among barbarous peoples, whereas there are indications and proofs in +all directions of a more or less strong assertiveness on their part, +and always in the direction of social unity and sexual regulation. The +fact that the maternal system resulted in the limitation of the +freedom of the male members of the family is, in my opinion, to be +attributed to those powerful female qualities which exercised an +immense influence on early societies. Regarding what has been said, I +think it cannot be denied that while individual rights were of far +more importance to the males, the idea of the family and social rights +were, in their turn, essentially feminine sentiments. Thus it was in +the women’s interest to consolidate the family, and by means of this +their own power; and they succeeded in doing so to an extraordinary +extent in primitive communities, without help of the maternal customs, +which, as I have tried to make clear, arose out of the conditions of +the primordial family and by the action of the united mothers. If I am +right, then, here is the primary cause of the women’s position of +authority in the communal maternal family. + +I am very certain of the rights such a system conferred upon women; +rights that are impossible under the patriarchal family, which +involves the subordination of the woman to her father first and +afterward to her husband. In proof of this let us now consider +marriage and divorce, the laws of inheritance, and other customs of +the Khasis. And first we may note that polygamy--the distinctive +custom of the patriarchs--does not exist; as Mr. Gurdon remarks, “such +a practice would not be in vogue among a people who observe the +matriarchate.” This is the more remarkable as the Khasi women +considerably outnumber the men. In 1901 there were 1118 females to +1000 males. At the present time the people are monandrists. There are +instances of men having wives other than those they regularly marry, +but the practice is not common. Such wives are called “stolen wives,” +and their children are said “to be from the top,” _i. e._ from the +branches of the clan and not the root. In the War country the children +of the “stolen wife” enjoy an equal share in the father’s property +with the children of the regular wife. Polyandry is said to be +practised, but the fact is not mentioned by Mr. Gurdon; in any case it +can prevail only among the poorer sort, with whom, too, it would often +seem to mean rather facility of divorce than the simultaneous +admission of plurality of husbands.[77] + + [77] Fischer, _Tour. As. Soc._, Bengal, Vol. IX, Part II, p. + 834. + +The courtship customs of Khasi youths and maidens are simple and +beautiful. The young people meet at the dances in the spring-time, +when the girls choose their future husbands. There is no practice +among the Khasis of exchange of daughters; and there is an entire +absence of the patriarchal idea of their women as property. Marriage +is a simple contract, unaccompanied by any ceremony.[78] After +marriage the husband lives with his wife in her mother’s home. Of late +years a new custom has arisen, and now in the Khasi tribe, when one or +two children have been born, and _if the marriage is a happy one_, the +couple frequently leave the family home, and set up housekeeping for +themselves. When this is done, husband and wife pool their earnings +for the support of the family. This is clearly a departure from the +maternal marriage, a step in the direction of father-right. Among the +Syntengs, the people who have most closely preserved the customs of +the matriarchate, the husband does not even go to live with his wife, +he only visits her in her mother’s home. In Jowáy this rule is so +strict that the husband comes only after dark. He is not permitted to +sleep, to eat, or smoke during his visit--the idea being that as none +of his earnings go to support the home, he must not partake of food or +any refreshment. Here is a curious instance of etiquette preserving +these clandestine visits long after the time when such secrecy was +necessary. We may note another survival among the Syntengs. The father +is commonly called by the name of the first child, thus, the father of +a child called Bobon, becomes Pa-bobon.[79] This does not, I am sure, +point back to a period when paternity was uncertain, rather, it is an +effort to establish the social relation of the father to the family, +and is connected with domestic and property considerations, not at all +with relationship. The proof of this will appear in a later chapter. + + [78] Dalton, _Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal_, p. 57. + + [79] McGee, _The Beginning of Marriage_. + +Very striking are the conditions attaching to divorce. Again we find +the right of separation granted equally to both sexes, a significant +indication of the high position of women. Marriage being regarded as +an agreement between wife and husband, the tie may be broken without +any question of disgrace. But although divorce is frequent and easy, +and can be claimed for a variety of reasons, all who have dwelt among +the Khasis testify to the durable and happy marriages among them. Only +when they find it impossible to live amicably together do a couple +agree to separate. In this event the children always remain with the +mother. For their mothers the children cherish a very strong +affection, for all their sympathies and affection bind them to her and +her family. + +The conditions of divorce vary in the separate tribes. Among the +Khasis both parties must agree to the dissolution of the tie. With the +Synteng and War tribes such mutual consent is not necessary, but the +partner who claims release from the other, without his or her consent, +must pay compensation. A woman cannot be divorced during pregnancy. +The form of divorce is simple; among the Khasis it consists of the +exchange of five cowries. This is done in the presence of witnesses, +and the ceremony must take place in the open air. Then a crier goes +around the village to proclaim the divorce, using the following +words-- + + “_Kaw_--hear, oh villagers! that--U and K have been + separated in the presence of the elders. _Hei!_ thou, oh + young men, canst go and make love to K--for she is now + unmarried, and thou, oh maidens, canst make love to + U--_Hei!_ there is no let or hindrance from henceforth.” + +And here I would pause, although it leads me a little aside, to make a +point that to me seems to be of special importance. Obviously this +simple divorce by mutual consent was made easy in its working by the +maternal system. The great drawback to the dissolution of the marriage +tie in the patriarchal family is the effect it has on the lives of the +children; but in the maternal family such evil does not exist, for +the children always live with the mother and take her name. By saying +this, I do not wish to imply that I am necessarily recommending such a +system, but that it had its advantages for the mother and her +children, I think, cannot be denied. Its failure arises, as is +evident, from the alien position of the father in relation to his +children. + +In the primitive maternal family the place of the father, to a great +extent, is filled by the maternal uncle. Among the Khasis he is +regarded in the light of a father. It is his duty to assist the mother +in the management of the family. The husband is looked upon merely as +_u shong kha_,[80] a begetter. Only by the later marriage custom, when +the wife and children leave the home of her mother, has the father any +recognised position in the home. “There is no gainsaying the fact,” +writes Mr. Gurdon, “that the husband is a stranger in the wife’s home, +and it is certain he can take no part in the rites and ceremonies of +his wife’s family.” + + [80] _The Khasis_, p. 81. + +The important status assigned to women becomes clearer when we +consider the laws of inheritance. Daughters inherit, not sons. The +youngest daughter is heiress to the family property, but the other +daughters are entitled to a share on the mother’s death. No man can +possess property unless it is self-acquired. Among the Synteng, such +property on the man’s death goes to his mother. This would seem to be +the primitive custom. There is now a provision that, if the wife +undertakes not to re-marry she has half of her husband’s property, +which descends to her youngest daughter. In the Khasi states a man’s +property, if acquired before his marriage, goes to his mother, but +what is gained afterwards goes to the wife, for the youngest daughter. +Only in the War country do the sons inherit from the father with the +daughters, but something in addition is given to the youngest +daughter. The family property always descends in the female line. For +this reason, daughters are of more importance than sons. A family +without daughters dies out, which among the Khasis is the greatest +calamity, as there is no one qualified to bury the dead and perform +the religious rites. Thus both the Khasis and the Syntengs have a plan +of adoption. The male members of any family, if left without females, +are allowed to call in a young girl from another family to perform the +family religious ceremonies. She takes the place of the youngest +daughter, and becomes the head of the household. She inherits the +ancestral property. + +In the face of these facts it can hardly be denied that mother-right +and mother-power among the Khasis are still very much alive. Here at +least descent through the mother does involve power to women, and +confers exceptional rights, especially as regards inheritance. I have +already called attention to the equality of the women with men in the +code of sexual morality. This is so important that it is worth while +to follow it a little further. That freedom in love carries with it +domestic and social rights and privileges to women I have no longer +to prove. We found the same freedom under the maternal family among +the Iroquois and Zuñi Indians: there courtship was in the hands of the +woman; there also divorce was free, and a couple would rather separate +than live together inharmoniously. I have given proof of the happy +domestic life of these peoples. Equality in the sexual relationships +has always been closely associated with the status of women. Wherever +divorce is difficult, there woman’s lot is hard, and her position low. +It is part of the patriarchal custom which regards the man as the +owner of the woman. It would be easy to prove this by the history of +marriage in the races of the past, as also by an examination of the +present divorce laws in civilised countries. I cannot do this, but I +make the assertion without the least shadow of doubt. “Free divorce is +the charter of Woman’s Freedom.” I would point back in proof to these +examples of the maternal family, foremost among whose privileges is +this equality of partnership in marriage. Here you have before you, +solved by these primitive peoples, some of the most urgent questions +that yet have to be faced by us to-day. To hear of peoples who live +gladly, and without those problems that are rotting away our +civilisation, brings a new courage to those of us, who sometimes grow +hopeless at our own needless wastage of love and life. + +I must not say more upon this question, though it is one that tempts +me strongly. It is not, however, my purpose in this book to offer +opinions of my own on these problems of the relations of the two +sexes; I prefer to leave the facts of the mother-age to speak for +themselves. Those whose eyes are not blinded will not fail to see.[81] + + [81] Mrs. Chapman Catt has an article in the April number of + _Harper’s Magazine_ on “A Survival of Matriarchy.” It gives + an account of her visit to the Malay States, and the + favourable position of the women under the maternal customs. + I have received a letter from the great American champion of + Women’s Rights in which she states how pleased she is that I + am writing this book on the Mother-age. “There are many + facts,” she says, “of the early power of women which the + great world does not know.” + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +FURTHER EXAMPLES OF THE MATERNAL FAMILY + + +Pursuing our inquiry into the social organisation of mother-right, an +interesting example occurs among the peoples of the Malay States, +where, notwithstanding the centres of Hindu and Moslem influence, much +has been retained of the maternal system, once universally prevalent. +The maternal marriage, here known as the _ambel-anak_, in which the +husband lives with the wife, paying nothing to the support of the +family and occupying a subordinate position, may be taken as typical +of the former condition. But among the tribes who have come in contact +with outside influences the custom of the husband visiting the wife, +or residing in her house, is modified, and in some cases has +altogether disappeared. + +From a private correspondent, a resident in the Malay States, I have +received some interesting notes about the present conditions of the +native tribes and the position of women. “In most of the Malay States +exogamous matriarchy has in comparatively modern times been superseded +by feudalism (_i. e._, the patriarchal rights of the father). But +where the old customs survive, the women are still to a large extent +in control. The husband goes to live in the wife’s village; thus the +women in each group are a compact unity, while the men are strangers +to each other and enter as unorganised individuals. This is the real +basis of the women’s power. In other tribes, where the old customs +have changed, the women occupy a distinctly inferior position, and +under the influence of Islam the idea of secluding adult women has +been for centuries spreading and increasing in force.” Here, again, +clear proof is shown of the maternal system exercising a direct +influence on the position of women. And this statement is in agreement +with Robertson Smith, who, in writing of the maternal marriage, says: +“And it is remarkable that when both customs--the woman receiving her +husband in her own hut, and the man taking his wife to his--occur side +by side among the same people, descent in the former case is traced +through the mother, in the latter through the father.”[82] + + [82] _Marriage and Kinship in Early Arabia_, p. 74. See also + Marsden, _History of Sumatra_, p. 225. + +In its ancient form the maternal communal family has notably persisted +among the Padang Highlanders of Sumatra. These people live in village +communities, with long timber houses placed in barrack-like rows, very +similar to the communal dwellings of the American Indians. The houses +are gay in appearance, and are adorned with carved and coloured +woodwork. One dwelling will contain as many as a hundred people, who +form a _sa-mandei_, or mother-hood. Again we find the family +consisting of the house-mother and her descendants in the female +line--sons and daughters, and the daughters’ children. McGee thus +describes these maternal households--[83] + + [83] “The Beginning of Marriage,” _American Anthropologist_, + Vol. IX, p. 376. + + “If the visitor, mounting the ladder steps, looks in at one + of the doors of the separate dwellings, he may see seated + beyond the family hearth the mother and her children, eating + the midday meal, and very likely the father, who may have + been doing a turn of work in his wife’s rice-plot. If he is + a kindly husband, he is there much as a friendly visitor, + but his real home remains in the house in which he was + born.” + +The husband has no permanent residence in the woman’s house, and at +dusk each evening the men may be seen walking across the village to +join their wives and families. The father has no rights over his +children, who belong wholly to the wife’s _suku_, or clan. But this in +no way implies that the father is unknown, for monogamy is the rule; +as is usual the question is one rather of social right than of +relationship. The maternal uncle is the male head of the house, and +exercises under the mother the duties of a father to the children. The +brother of the eldest grandmother is the male head of the family +settlement and the clan consists of a number of these families. It +would seem that these male rulers act as the agents of the female +members, whose authority is great. This power is dependent on the +inheritance; as is the descent, so is the property, and its +transmission is arranged for the benefit of the maternal lineage. For +this reason daughters are preferred rather than sons. + +This account of the Padang Malays may be supplemented by the Jesuit +missionary De Mailla’s description of the maternal marriage in the +Island of Formosa.[84] Speaking of this marriage, McGee says: “If it +had received the notice it deserves, it might long ago have placed the +study of maternal institutions on a sounder basis.” + + [84] _Lettres edefiantes et curieux_, Vol. XVIII, p. 441, + copied in Dunhalde, _Description de la Clune_, Vol. I, p. + 166, and cited by McGee. + + “The Formosan youth wishing to marry makes music day by day + at the maid’s door, till, if willing, she comes out to him, + and when they are agreed, the parents are told, and the + marriage feast is prepared in the bride’s house, whence the + bridegroom returns no more to his father, regarding his + father-in-law’s house as his own, and himself as the support + of it, while his own father’s house is no more to him than + in Europe the bride’s home is henceforth to her when she + quits it to live with her husband. Thus the Formosans set no + store on sons, but aspire to have daughters, who procure + them sons-in-law to become the support of their old age.” + +It will be noted that here the house is spoken of as the father’s, and +not as belonging to the mother. The bridegroom is the suitor, and we +see the creeping in of property considerations always associated with +the rise of father-right. Though the husband has as yet no recognised +position and lives in the wife’s home, he is valued for his service to +his father-in-law, clearly a step in the direction of property +assertion. Among many of the Malay hill tribes of Formosa the maternal +system is dying out, though the old law forbidding marriage within the +clan remains in force. + +These changes must be expected wherever the transition towards +father-right has begun; the older forms of courtship and marriage, so +favourable to the woman, are replaced by patriarchal customs. One or +two curious examples of primitive courtship, in which the initiative +is taken entirely by the girl may be noted here. Among the Garos tribe +it is not only the privilege, but the duty of the girl to select her +lover, while an infringement of this rule is severely and summarily +punished. Any declaration made on the part of the young man is +regarded as an insult to the whole _mahári_ (motherhood) to which the +girl belongs, a stain only to be expiated by liberal presents made at +the expense of the _mahári_ of the over-forward lover. The marriage +customs are equally curious. On the morning of the wedding a ceremony +very similar to capture takes place, only it is the bridegroom who is +abducted. He pretends to be unwilling and runs away and hides, but he +is caught by the friends of the bride. Then he is taken by force, +weeping as he goes, in spite of the resistance and counterfeited grief +of his parents and friends, to the bride’s house, where he takes up +his residence with his mother-in-law. It is instructive to find that +these marriages are usually successful. Although divorce is easy, it +is not frequent. “The Garos will not hastily make engagements, +because, when they do make them, they intend to keep them.”[85] + + [85] Dalton, _Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal_, pp. 64, 142. + See also Tylor, “The Matriarchal Theory,” _Nineteenth + Century_, July 1896, p. 89. + +In Paraguay, we are told, the women are generally endowed with +stronger passions than the men, and are allowed to make the +proposals.[86] So also among the Ahitas of the Philippine Islands, +where, if her clan-parents will not consent to a love match the girl +seizes the young man by the hair, carries him off, and declares she +has run away with him. In such a case it appears the marriage is held +to be valid whether the parents consent or not.[87] A similar custom +of a gentler character, is practised by the Tarrahumari Indians of +Northern Mexico, among whom, according to Lumboltz, the maiden is a +persistent wooer employing a _répertoire_ of really exquisite love +songs to soften the heart of a reluctant swain.[88] Again, in New +Guinea, where the women held a very independent position, “the girl is +always regarded as the seducer. Women steal men.” A youth who +proposed to a girl would be making himself ridiculous, would be called +a woman, and laughed at by the girls. The usual method by which a girl +proposes is to send a present to the youth by a third party, following +this up by repeated gifts of food; the young man sometimes waits a +month or two, receiving presents all the time, in order to assure +himself of the girl’s constancy, before decisively accepting her +advances.[89] + + [86] Moore, _Marriage Customs: Modes of Courtship_, etc., p. + 261. Rengger, _Naturgeschichte der Säugelliere von Paraguay_, + p. 11, cited by Westermarck, _op. cit._, p. 158. + + [87] J. M. Wheeler, “Primitive Marriage,” an article in + _Progress_, 1885, p. 128. + + [88] McGee, “The Beginning of Marriage,” _American + Anthropologist_, Vol. IX. + + [89] Haddon, “Western Tribes of the Torres States,” _Journal + of the Anthropological Society_, Vol. XIX, Feb. 1890. Cited + by Havelock Ellis, _Psychology of Sex_, Vol. III, p. 185. + +It is clear that these cases, which I have chosen from a number of +similar courtship customs, differ very much from what is our idea of +the customary rôle of the girl and her lover. To me they are very +instructive. They show the error of the long-held belief in the +passivity of the female as a natural law of the sex.[90] Such openness +of conduct in courtship is impossible except where women hold an +entirely independent position. Here, then, is another advantage that +may be claimed as arising for women out of the maternal system. I +claim this: the woman’s right of selection in love--yes, her greatest +right, one that is necessary for a freer and more beautiful mating. + + [90] For further examination of this question of the supposed + passivity of the woman in courtship, see _The Truth about + Woman_, pp. 65-69, 251-257. + +Terminating this short digression, I return to my examination of the +peoples among whom the family is especially maternal. + +The Pelew Islanders of the South Sea have customs in many respects +the same as those of the Khasi tribes. They preserve strict maternal +descent, and like the Khasis, the deities of all the clans are +goddesses. The life and social habits of the people have been +described by Kubary, a careful and sympathetic observer, for long +resident in the island.[91] The tribes are divided into exogamous +clans, and intermarriage between any relations on the mother’s side is +unlawful. These clans are grouped together in villages and the life is +of a communal character. Each village consists of about a score of +clans, and forms with its lands a petty independent state. + + [91] _Die socialen Einrichtungen der Pelauer. Die Religion, + de Pelauer._ Mr. Frazer, _Golden Bough_, Part IV, _Adonis, + Attis, Osiris_, pp. 387 _et seq._, summarises the account of + Kubary. See also Waitz-Gerland, Vol. V, Part II, p. 106 _et + seq._, and an account of the Pelews given by Ymer. + +Again we find the maternal system intimately connected with religious +ideas, and it is interesting to recall what was said by Bachofen: +“Wherever gynæcocracy meets us the mystery of religion is bound up +with it, and lends to motherhood an incorporation in some divinity.” +Among these Islanders every family traces its descent from a +woman--the common mother of the clan. And for this reason the members +worship a goddess and not a god. In the different states there are, +besides other special deities, usually a goddess and a god, but as +these are held to be derived directly from a household-goddess, it is +evident that here, as among the Khasis, goddesses are older than the +gods. This is shown also by the names of the goddesses. There is +another fact of interest: some women are reputed to be the wives of +the gods, they are called _Amalalieys_ and have a great honour paid to +them, while their children pass for the offspring of the gods. + +The reverence paid to the ancestral goddesses is explained by Mr. +Kubary as arising from the importance of women in the clans. + + “The existence of the clan depends entirely on the life of + the women, and not at all on the life of the men. If the + women survive, it is no matter though every man in the clan + should perish, for the women will, as usual, marry men of + another clan, and their offspring will inherit their + mother’s clan, and thereby prolong its existence. Whereas if + the women of the clan die out the clan necessarily becomes + extinct, even if every man in it should survive; for the men + must, as usual, marry women of another clan, and their + offspring will inherit their mother’s clan and not the clan + of the father, which accordingly, with the death of the + father, is wiped off the community.” + +I quote this passage because it shows so clearly what I am claiming, +that descent through the mother, under the condition of strict +exogamy, conferred a very marked distinction on the female members of +the clan, whose existence depended on them; this cannot possibly have +failed to act favourably on their position. I may note, too, in +passing, the fallacy of Mr. McLennan’s view that polyandry (which, it +will be remembered, he held to have been developed from and connected +with mother-descent) arose as a result of female infanticide. Such a +practice is clearly impossible in clans whose existence depends on the +life of its female members; daughters among them are prized more +highly than sons. + +The case we are now examining affords the strongest confirmation of +the honour paid to women under the strict maternal system. Take alone +the titles that these Pelew islanders give to their women, as _Adhalál +a pelú_, “mothers of the land,” and _Adhalál a blay_, “mothers of the +clan.” The testimony of those who know their customs is that the women +enjoy complete equality with the men in every respect. Mr. Kubary +affirms the predominance of female influence in all the social life of +the clan. He asserts, without qualification, that the women both +politically and socially enjoy a position superior to that of the men. +The eldest women in the clans exercise the most decisive influence in +the conduct of affairs; the head men do nothing without full +consultation with them, and their power extends to affairs of state +and even to foreign politics. No chief would venture to come to a +decision without the approval of the mothers of the families. As one +consequence of this power the women have clubs of association similar +to the clubs of men that are common in so many tribes. A curious +privilege given to women is recorded: “The women have an unlimited +privilege of striking, fining, or if it be done on the spot, killing +any man who makes his way into their bathing places.”[92] + + [92] Semper, _Die Palau-Inseln_, p. 68, cited by Westermarck + _op. cit._, p. 211. + +The marriage customs I shall pass over briefly, as they are similar to +those of other tribes under the maternal system, though changes may be +noted, such, for instance, as presents in the form of a kind of +bride-price being given by the bridegroom to the parents of the bride. +This is not a maternal custom, and although half of such presents +belongs by right to the girl, it is clearly a form of wife-purchase. +Then polygamy is practised, though it is expressly stated to be +uncommon.[93] There is now a marriage ceremony. Divorce still remains +free, and the conditions are favourable for the wife. Jealousy is said +to be prevalent both among the men and the women. The wedding +monologue is interesting and indicates the relative position of the +female and male members of the family. The salutation is as follows-- + + [93] Ymer, Vol. IV, p. 333. + + “Hei, thou, oh mother; oh grandmothers; oh maternal uncle; + oh elder grandmother; oh younger grandfather; oh elder + grandfather! As the flesh has fallen the ring has been put + on.... You will all of you give ear [the ancestresses and + ancestors] you will continue giving strength and spirit that + they [the bride and bridegroom] may be well.” + +There is left an important fact to consider, which explains the +persistence of the women’s authority under marriage conditions much +less favourable than the complete maternal form. The Pelew women have +another source of power; their position has an industrial as well as a +kinship basis. In this island the people subsist mainly on the produce +of their taro fields, and the cultivation of this, their staple food, +is carried out by the women alone. And this identification of women +with the industrial process has without doubt contributed materially +to the predominance of female influence on the social life of the +people. Wherever the control over the means of production is in the +hands of women, we find them exercising influence and even authority. +Among these islanders the women do not merely bestow life on the +people, they also work to obtain that which is most essential for the +preservation of life, and therefore they are called “mothers of the +land.”[94] Now, considering this honour paid to the Pelew women, it is +clearly impossible to regard their work in cultivating the taro as a +sign of their subordinate position in the social order. The facts of +primitive life are often mistaken. This is a question to which I shall +refer again in a later chapter. + + [94] Frazer, _op. cit._, p. 380. + +In the same way among the Pani Kotches, tribes of Bengal, we find the +women in a privileged position, due to their greater industrial +activity and intelligence. + + “It is the women’s business to dig the soil, to sow and + plant, as well as to spin, weave and brew beer; they refuse + no task, and leave only the coarsest labour to the men. The + mother of the family marries her daughter at an early age; + at the feast of betrothal she dispenses half as much again + to the bride as to the bridegroom-elect. As for the grown-up + girls and the widows, they know very well how to find + husbands; the wealthy never lack partners. The chosen one + goes to reside with his mother-in-law, who both reigns and + governs, with her daughter for prime minister. If the + consort permits himself to incur expenses without special + authorisation, he must meet them as best he can. Fathers of + families have been known to be sold as slaves, the wives + refusing to pay the penalties they incurred. Under these + circumstances, it was lawful for them to marry again.”[95] + + [95] Hodgson, _Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal_, 1847 + (Dalton). + +Here, as among the Pelew islanders, special industrial conditions are +combined with the maternal system, and as a result we find what may, +perhaps, be termed “an economic matriarchy.” Another cause of +authority, quite as powerful, is the possession by women of inherited +property. Among barbarous peoples the importance of this is not so +great, but where mother-descent has, for any reason, been maintained +up to a time when individual possession has been developed and +property is large, we meet with a remarkable “pecuniary matriarchate,” +based on the women holding the magic power of money. + +An example may be found in the interesting Touaregs of the Sahara, a +race very far advanced in civilisation, who, even at the present day, +have preserved their independence and many of their ancient customs. +Among them all relationship is still maternal and confers both rank +and inheritance. “The child follows the blood of the mother,” and the +son of a slave or serf father and a noble woman is noble. “It is the +womb which dyes the child,” the Touaregs say in their primitive +language.[96] All property descends only through the mother, and by +means of accumulation the greatest part of the fortune of the +community is in the hands of women. This is the real basis of the +women’s power. “Absolute mistress of her fortune, her actions, and her +children, who belong to her and bear her name, the Targui woman goes +where she will and exercises a real authority.” The unusual position +of the wife is significantly indicated by the fact that, although +polygamy is permitted by the law, she practically enforces monogamy, +for the conditions of divorce are so favourable for a woman that she +can at once separate from a husband who attempts to give her a rival. +Again the initiative in courtship is taken by the woman, who chooses +from her suitors the one whom she herself prefers.[97] + + [96] Duveyrier, _Toûareg du Nord_, p. 337 _et seq._ + + [97] Chavanne, _Die Sahara_, pp. 181, 209, 234. + +It is interesting to note that the Targui women know how to read and +write in greater numbers than the men. Duveyrier states that to them +is due the preservation of the ancient Libyan and Berber writings.[98] +“Leaving domestic work to their slaves, the Targui ladies occupy +themselves with reading, writing, music and embroidery; they live as +intelligent aristocrats.”[99] “The ladies of the tribe of Ifoghas, in +particular, are renowned for their _savoirvivre_ and their musical +talent; they know how to ride _mehari_ better than all their rivals. +Secure in their cages, they can ride races with the most intrepid +cavaliers, if one may give this name to riders on dromedaries; in +order, also, to keep themselves in practice in this kind of riding, +they meet to take short trips together, going wherever they like +without the escort of any man.”[100] In the tribe of Imanan, who are +descended from the ancient sultans, the women are given the title +_Timanôkalîn_, “royal women,” on account of their beauty and their +talent in the art of music. They often give concerts, to which the men +come “from long distances--decked out like male ostriches.” In these +concerts the women improvise the songs, accompanying themselves on the +tambourine and a sort of violin or _rebâza_. They are much sought +after in marriage, because of the title of _cherif_ which they confer +on their children.[101] + + [98] _Ibid._, p. 387. + + [99] Duveyrier, _op. cit._, p. 430. + + [100] _Ibid._, p. 362. + + [101] _Ibid._, p. 347. + +There is a touch of chivalrous sentiment in the relations between men +and women.[102] “If a woman is married,” Duveyrier tells us, “she is +honoured all the more in proportion to the number of her masculine +friends, but she must not show preference to any one of them. The lady +may embroider on the cloak, or write on the shield of her chevalier, +verses in his praise and wishes for his good fortune. Her friend may, +without being censured, cut the name of the lady on the rocks or chant +her virtues. ‘Friends of different sexes,’ say the Touaregs, ‘are for +the eyes and heart, and not for the bed only, as among the +Arabs.’”[103] Letourneau, in quoting these passages from Duveyrier, +makes the following comment: “Such customs as these indicate delicate +instincts, which are absolutely foreign to the Arabs. They strongly +remind us of the times of our southern troubadours and of the _cours +d’amour_, which were the quintessence of chivalry.”[104] + + [102] Chavanne, _op. cit._, p. 208 _et seq._ + + [103] Duveyrier, _op. cit._, p. 429. + + [104] Letourneau, _The Evolution of Marriage_, pp. 180-181. + +The foregoing example is exceedingly interesting; it shows women +holding the position that as a rule belongs to men, and is thus worthy +of most careful study, but at the same time we must guard against +according it a general value which it does not possess. Such a case is +exceptional, though it by no means stands alone, and the social +position of Targui women is analogous to that of the women of ancient +Egypt. It is important to note that their great independence arose +through the persistence of maternal descent, and could not have been +maintained apart from that system, which placed in their hands the +strong power of wealth. Here, then, is certain proof of the favourable +influence mother-descent may exercise on the status of women. It is +because of this I have brought forward this example of the Targui +women. + +Enough has now been said. I have examined the institution of the +maternal family, both in the early communal stage and also under +later social conditions, where, in certain cases, mother-descent has +been maintained. In all the examples cited I have given the marriage +customs and domestic habits of the people as they are testified to by +authorities whose records cannot be questioned. Many similar examples, +it may be said, might be brought forward from other races, and the +proof of mother-right and mother-power greatly strengthened thereby. +There is, however, so much similarity in the maternal family, so much +correspondence in the marriage forms and social habits prevailing +among races widely separated, that the points of difference are little +in comparison with those they have in common. My object is not so much +to exhaust the subject as to bring into relief the radical differences +between the maternal communal clan, with its social life centred +around the mothers, and the opposite patriarchal form in which the +solitary family is founded on the individual father. I hold that, +other conditions being equal, the one system is favourable to the +authority of women, the other to the authority of men. The facts which +have been cited are, I submit, amply sufficient to support this view. + +We have seen that the life of the maternal clan is dependent on the +women--and not upon the men; we have noted that the inheritance of the +family name and the family property passing through the women adds +considerably to their importance, and that daughters are preferred to +sons. We have found women the organisers of the households, the +guardians of the household stores, and the distributors of food, under +a social organisation that may be termed “a communal matriarchy.” More +important than all else, we have noted the remarkable freedom of women +in the sexual relationships; in courtship they are permitted to take +the active part; in marriage their position is one of such power that, +sometimes, they are able to impose the form of the marriage; in +divorce they enjoy equal, and even superior, rights of separation; +moreover, they are always the owners and controllers of the children. +Nor is the influence of women restricted to the domestic sphere. We +have found them the advisers, and in some cases the dictators, in the +social organisation under the headmen of the clan. Then we examined +the cases in which the women’s power has an industrial as well as a +kinship basis, and have proved the existence of an “economic +matriarchy.” And further even than this, we have found women the sole +possessors of accumulated wealth, and noted that, under the favourable +conditions of such a “pecuniary matriarchy,” they are able to obtain a +position in learning and the arts excelling that of the men. We have +even seen goddesses set above the gods, and women worshipped as +deities. + +Now I submit to the judgment of my readers--what do these examples of +mother-right show, if not that, broadly speaking, women were the +dominant force in this stage of the family. No doubt too much +importance may be attached to the idea of women ruling. This is an +error I have tried to guard against. My aim throughout has been to +establish mother-right, not mother-rule. I believe it is only by an +extraordinary power of illusion that we can recognise, in the +favourable position of women under mother-descent Bachofen’s view of +an Amazonian gynæcocracy. But this does not weaken at all my position. +I maintain that such customs of courtship, marriage and divorce, of +property inheritance and possession, and of the domestic and social +rights, as those we have seen in the cases examined, afford conclusive +proof of women’s power in the maternal family. If this is denied, the +only conclusion that suggests itself to me is that, those who seek to +diminish the power of mother-right have done so in reinforcement of a +preconceived idea of the superiority of the man as the natural and +unchanging order in the relationships of the sexes. One suspects +prejudice here. To approach this question with any fairness, it is +absolutely essential to clear the mind from the current theories +regarding the family. The order is not sacred in the sense that it has +always had the same form. It is this belief in the immutability of our +form of marriage and the family which accounts for the prejudice with +which this question is approached. The modern civilised man cannot +easily accustom himself to the idea that in the maternal family the +dominion of the mother was regarded as the natural, and, therefore, +the right and accepted order of the family. It is very difficult for +us even to believe in a relationship of the mother and the father that +is so exactly opposite to that with which we are accustomed. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +MOTHER-RIGHT CUSTOMS AND THE TRANSITION TO FATHER-RIGHT + + +Endeavour has been made in the previous chapters to present the case +for mother-right as clearly and concisely as possible. The point we +have now reached is this: while mother-right does not constitute or +make necessary rule by women, under that system they enjoy +considerable power as the result (1) of their organised position under +the maternal marriage among their own clan-kindred, (2) of their +importance to the male members of the clan as the transmitters and +holders of property. + +It is necessary to remember the close connection between these +mother-right customs and the communal clan, which was a free +association for mutual protection. This is a point of much interest. +As we have seen, the undivided family of the clan could be maintained +only by descent through the mothers, since its existence depended on +its power to retain and protect all its members. In this way it +destroyed the solitary family, by its opposition to the authority and +will of the husband and father. + +These conclusions will be strengthened as we continue our examination +of mother-right customs as we shall find them in all parts of the +world. I must select a few examples only and describe them very +briefly, not because these cases offer less interest than the complete +maternal families already examined, but because of the length to which +this part of my inquiry is rapidly growing. The essential fact to +establish is the prevalence of mother-descent as a probable universal +stage in the past history of mankind, and then to show the causes +which, by undermining the dominion of the maternal clan, led to the +adoption of father-right and the re-establishment of the patriarchal +family. + +Let us begin with Australia, where the aboriginal population is in a +more primitive condition than any other race whose institutions have +been investigated. I can notice a few facts only from the harvest of +information brought together by anthropologists and travellers. The +tribes are grouped into exogamous sub-divisions, and each group has +its own land from which it takes a local name. Each group wanders +about on its own territory in order to hunt game and collect roots, +sometimes in detached families and, less often, in larger hordes, for +there seems to be a tendency to local isolation. A remarkable feature +of the social organisation is found in the more advanced tribes, +where, in addition to the division into clans, the group is divided +into male and female classes. All the members of such clans regard +themselves as kinsmen, or brothers and sisters; they have the same +totem mark and are bound to protect each other. The totem bond is +stronger than any blood tie, while the sex totems are even more sacred +than the clan totems. + +Much confusion has arisen out of the attempts to explain the +Australian system; and for long the close totem kinship was supposed +to afford evidence of group marriage, by which a man of one clan was +held to have sexual rights over all the women in another clan. But +further insight into their customs has proved the error of such a +view, which arose from a misunderstanding of the terms of relationship +used among the tribes. Nowhere is marriage bound by more severe laws; +death is the penalty for sexual intercourse with a person of a +forbidden clan. And it is certain that there is no evidence at all of +communism in wives.[105] + + [105] _See_ Westermarck, _op. cit._, pp. 54-56. + +A system of taboos is very strongly established, and as we should +expect the women appear to be most active in maintaining these sexual +separations. If a man, even by mistake, kills the sex-totem of the +women, they are as much enraged as if it were one of their own +children, and they will turn and attack him with their long poles. + +In Australia it is easy to recognise a very early stage in human +society. The organisation of the family group into the clan is still +taking place. Moreover, the most primitive patriarchal conditions have +not greatly changed, for the males are great individualists and cannot +readily suffer the rights of others than themselves. Mother-right can +hardly be said to exist, and the position of women is low. It is not +the custom among any tribes for the husband to reside in the home of +the wife; this in itself is sufficient to explain the power of the +husbands. Wives are frequently obtained by capture, and fights for +women are of common occurrence. Here it would seem that progress has +been very slow. Indeed, it is the chief interest of the Australian +tribes that we can trace the transformation from the early patriarchal +conditions to the communal clan. + +There is still another fact of very special interest. In the large +majority of tribes known to us descent is traced through the mother; +the proportion of these tribes to those with father-descent being four +to one. Now, the question arises as to which of these two systems is +the earlier custom? As a rule it is assumed that in all cases descent +was originally traced through the mother. But is this really so? The +evidence of the Australian tribes points to the exact opposite +opinion. For what do we find? The tribes that have established +mother-descent have advanced further, with a more developed social +organisation, which could hardly be the case if they were the more +primitive. To this question Starcke, in _The Primitive Family_, has +drawn particular attention; he regards “the female line as a later +development,” arrived at after descent through the father was +recognised, such change being due to an urgent necessity which arose +in the primitive family for cohesion among its members, making +necessary sexual regulation and the maternal clan. + +It is certainly difficult to decide on the priority of this or that +custom. But what is significant is that in Australia the tribes which +maintain the male line of descent must be assigned to the lowest stage +of development. The rights established by marriage among them are less +clearly defined, and the use of the totem marks, with the sexual +taboos arising from them, are less developed. Everything tends to show +that clan organisation and union in peace have arisen with +mother-descent, which cannot thus be regarded as a survival from the +earlier order, but as a later development--a step forward in progress +and social regulation. + +I take this as being exceedingly important: it serves to establish +what it has been my purpose to show, that in the first stage the +family was patriarchal--small hostile groups living under the jealous +authority of the fathers; and that only as advancement came did the +maternal clan develop, since it arose through a community of purpose +binding all its members in peace, and thereby controlling the warring +individual interests. The reasons for mother-descent have been +altogether misunderstood by those who regard it as the earliest phase +of the family, and connect the custom with sexual disorder and +uncertainty of paternity. In all cases the clan system shows a marked +organisation, with a much stronger cohesion than is possible in the +restricted family, which is held together by the force of the father. +It was within the clan that the rights of the father and husband were +endangered: he lost his position as supreme head of the family, and +became an alien member in a free association where his position was +strictly defined. The incorporation of the family into the clan arose +through the struggle for existence forcing it into association; it was +the subordinate position of the husband under such a system which +finally made the women the rulers of the household. If we regard the +social conditions of the maternal system as the first stage of +development, they are as difficult to understand as they become +intelligible when we consider it as a later and beneficent phase in +the growth of society. + +This, then, I claim as the chief good of the maternal system. As I see +it, each advance in progress rests on the conquest of sexual distrusts +and fierceness forcing into isolation. These jealous and odious +monopolist instincts have been the bane of humanity. Each race must +inevitably in the end outlive them; they are the surviving relics of +the ape and the tiger. They arise out of that self-concentration and +intensity of animalism that binds the hands of men and women from +taking their inheritance. The brute in us still resents association. +Am I wrong in connecting this individual monopolist idea of My power! +My right! with the paternal as opposed to the maternal family? At any +rate I find it absent in the communal clan grouped around the mothers, +where the enlarged family makes common cause and life is lived by all +for and with each other. + +An instructive example of the joint maternal family is furnished by +the Naïrs of Malabar, where we see a very late development of the +clan system. The family group includes many allied families, who live +together in large communal houses and possess everything in common. +There is common tenure of land, over which the eldest male member of +the community presides; while the mother, and after her death the +eldest daughter, is the ruler in the household. It is impossible to +give the details of their curious conjugal customs. The men do not +marry, but frequent other houses as lovers, without ceasing to live at +home, and without being in any way detached from the maternal family. +There is, however, a symbolic marriage for every girl, by a rite known +as tying the _tali_; but this marriage serves the purpose only of +initiation, and the couple separate after one day. When thus prepared +for marriage, a Naïr girl chooses her lovers, and any number of unions +may be entered upon without any restrictions other than the strict +prohibitions relative to caste and tribe. These later marriages, +unlike the solemn initial rite, have no ceremony connected with them, +and are entered into freely at the will of the woman and her +family.[106] + + [106] Starcke’s _Primitive Family_, pp. 85-88. Letourneau, + _Evolution of Marriage_, pp. 80-81, 311-312. Hartland, + _Primitive Paternity_, Vol. I, pp. 269, 288. + +Now, if we regard these customs in the light of what has already been +established, it is clear that they cannot be regarded as the first +stage in the maternal family. Such a view is entirely to mistake the +facts. The Naïrs are in no respect a people of primitive culture. +Through a long period they have most strictly preserved the custom of +matriarchal heredity, which has led to an unusual concentration of the +family group, and it is probable that here is the best explanation of +the conjugal liberty of the Naïr girls. However singular their system +may appear to us, it is the most logical and complete of any +polyandric system. If we compare it with the more usual form of +patriarchal polyandry we see at once the influence of maternal +descent. Here, the woman makes a free choice of her husbands; in no +sense is she their property. It is common for them to work for her, +one husband taking on himself to furnish her with clothes, another to +give her rice and food, and so on. It is, in fact, the wife who +possesses, and it is through her that wealth is transmitted. In +fraternal polyandry, on the other hand (as, for instance, it is +practised in Thibet and Ceylon), the husbands of a woman are always +brothers; she belongs to them, and for her children there is a kind of +collective fatherhood. But among the Naïrs the man as husband and +father cannot be said to exist; he is reduced to the most subordinate +rôle of the male--he is simply the progenitor. + +I know of no stronger case than this of the degraded position of the +father. And what I want to make clear is that in such negation of all +father-right rested the inherent weakness in the matriarchal +conditions--a weakness which led eventually to the re-establishment of +the paternal family. We must be very clear in our minds as to the +sharp distinction between the restricted family and the communal +clan. The clan as a confederation of members was opposed to the family +whose interests were necessarily personal and selfish. Such communism, +to some may appear strange at so early a stage of primitive cultures, +yet, as I have more than once pointed out, it was a perfectly natural +development; it arose through the fierce struggle for existence, +forcing the primitive hostile groups to expand and unite with one +another for mutual protection. Such conditions of primitive socialism +were specially favourable for women. As I have again and again +affirmed, the collective motive was more considered by the mothers, +and must be sought in the organisation of the maternal clan. But since +individual desires can never be wholly subdued, and the male nature is +ever directed towards self-assertion, the clan, organised on the +rights of the mothers, had always to contend with an opposing force. +At one stage the clan was able to absorb the family, but only under +exceptional conditions could such a system be maintained. The social +organisation of the clan was inevitably broken up as society advanced. +With greater security of life the individual interests reasserted +their power, and this undermined the dominion of the mother. + +To bring these facts home, we must now consider some further examples +of mother-right, in order to show how closely these customs are +connected with the conditions of the maternal familiar clan. + +The Yaos of Africa have what may be regarded as a matriarchal +organisation. Kinship is reckoned and property is inherited through +the mother. When a man marries, he is expected to live in his wife’s +village, and his first conjugal duties are to build a house for her, +and hoe a garden for her mother. This gives the woman a very important +position, and it is she, and not the man, who usually proposes +marriage.[107] + + [107] Alice Werner, “Our Subject Races”, _National Reformer_, + Aug. 1897, p. 169. + +In Africa descent through the mother is the rule, though there are +exceptions, and these are increasing. The amusing account given by +Miss Kingsley[108] of Joseph, a member of the Batu tribe in French +Congo, strikingly illustrates the prevalence of the custom. When asked +by a French official to furnish his own name and the name of his +father, Joseph was wholly nonplussed. “My fader!” he said. “Who my +fader?” Then he gave the name of his mother. The case is the same +among the negroes. The Fanti of the Gold Coast may be taken as +typical. Among them an intensity of affection (accounted for partly by +the fact that the mothers have exclusive care of the children) is felt +for the mother, while the father is almost disregarded as a parent, +notwithstanding the fact that he may be a wealthy and powerful man. +The practice of the Wamoimia, where the son of a sister is preferred +in legacies, “because a man’s own son is only the son of his wife,” is +typical. The Bush husband does not live with his wife, and often has +wives in different places.[109] + + [108] _Travels_, p. 109. + + [109] Lippert, _Kulturgeschichte_, etc., Vol. II, p. 57. + Hartland, _Primitive Paternity_, Vol. I, pp. 274, 286. + +In Africa the clan system is firmly established, which explains the +prevalence of mother-descent. Women, on the whole, take an important +position, and here, as elsewhere, their inheritance of property +enables them to maintain their equality with their husbands. +Individual possession of wealth is allowed, but a married man usually +cannot dispose of any property unless his wife agrees, and she acts as +the representative of the children’s claims upon the father. The +privilege that, according to Laing, the Soulima women have, of leaving +their husbands when they please, is also proof of the maternal +customs.[110] Moreover, among some tribes, the influence of the +mothers as the heads of families extends to the councils of state; it +is even said that the chiefs do not decide anything without their +consent.[111] + + [110] Letourneau, pp. 306-307; citing Laing, _Travels in + Western Africa_. + + [111] Giraud-Teulon, _Les origines du mariage et de la + famille_, pp. 215 _et seq._ + +Mother-right is still in force in many parts of India, though owing to +the influence of Brahminism on the aboriginal tribes the examples of +the maternal family are fewer than might be expected. Among the once +powerful Koochs the women own all the property, which is inherited +from mother to daughter. The husband lives with his wife and her +mother, and, we are told, is subject to them. These women are most +industrious, weaving, spinning, planting and sowing, in a word, doing +all the work not above their strength.[112] The Koochs may be compared +with the Khasis, already noticed, and these maternal systems among the +Indian hill tribes may surely be regarded as showing conditions at one +time common. Even tribes who have passed from the clan organisation to +the patriarchal family preserve numerous traces of mother-right. Thus, +the choice of her lover often remains with the girl; again, divorce is +easy at the wish either of the woman or the man.[113] Such freedom in +love is clearly inconsistent with the patriarchal authority of the +husband. I must note too the practice, common among many tribes, by +which the husband remains in the wife’s home for a probationary +period, working for her family.[114] This is clearly a step towards +purchase marriage, as is proved by the Santals, where this service is +claimed when a girl is ugly or deformed and cannot be married +otherwise, while other tribes offer their daughters when in want of +labourers. This service-marriage must not be confused with the true +maternal form, where the bridegroom visits or lives with the wife and +any service claimed is a test of his fitness; it shows, however, the +power of the woman’s kindred still curbing the rights of the husband. + + [112] Hodgson, _Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal_, 1855, + Vol. XVIII, p. 707, cited by Starcke, _op. cit._, pp. 79, + 285. + + [113] Hartland, _op. cit._, Vol. II, pp. 155-157. + + [114] This custom prevails, for instance, among the Kharwârs + and Parahiya tribes, and is common among the Ghasiyas, and is + also practised among the Tipperah of Bengal. + +The existence of mother-descent among the peoples of Western Asia has +been ascertained with regard to some ancient tribes; but I may pass +these over, as they offer no points of special interest. I must, +however, refer briefly to the evidence brought forward by the late +Prof. Robertson Smith[115] of mother-right in ancient Arabia. We find +a decisive example of its favourable influence on the position of +women in the custom of _beena_ marriage. Under this maternal form, the +wife was not only freed from any subjection involved by the payment of +a bride-price in the form of compulsory service or of gifts to her +kindred (which always places her more or less under authority), but +she was the owner of the tent and the household property, and thus +enjoyed the liberty which ownership always entails. This explains how +she was able to free herself at pleasure from her husband, who was +really nothing but a temporary lover. Ibn Batua, even in the +fourteenth century found that the women of Zebid were perfectly ready +to marry strangers. The husband might depart when he pleased, but his +wife in that case could never be induced to follow him. She bade him a +friendly adieu and took upon herself the whole charge of any children +of the marriage. The women in Jâhilîya had the right to dismiss their +husbands, and the form of dismissal was this: “If they lived in a +tent they turned it round, so that if the door faced east it now faced +west, and when the man saw this, he knew he was dismissed and did not +enter.” The tent belonged to the woman: the husband was received +there, and at her good pleasure. We find many cases of _beena_ +marriage among widely different peoples. Frazer[116] cites an +interesting example among the tribes on the north frontier of +Abyssinia, partially Semitic peoples, not yet under the influence of +Islam, who preserve a maternal marriage closely resembling the _beena_ +form, but have as well a purchase marriage, by which a wife is +acquired by the payment of a bride-price and becomes the property of +her husband. + + [115] _Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia._ See also + Barton, _Semitic Origins_. + + [116] _Academy_, March 27, 1886. + +A very curious form of conjugal contract is recorded among the +Hassanyeh Arabs of the White Nile, where the wife passed by contract +for a portion of her time only under the authority of her husband. It +illustrates in a striking way the conflict in marriage between the old +rights of the woman and the rising power of the husband. + + “When the parents of the man and the woman meet to settle + the price of the woman, the price depends on how many days + in the week the marriage tie is to be strictly observed. The + woman’s mother first of all proposes that, taking everything + into consideration, with due regard to the feelings of the + family, she could not think of binding her daughter to a due + observance of that chastity which matrimony is expected to + command for more than two days in the week. After a great + deal of apparently angry discussion, and the promise on the + part of the relations of the man to pay more, it is arranged + that the marriage shall hold good, as is customary among the + first families of the tribe, for four days in the week, viz. + Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and in compliance + with old established custom, the marriage rites during the + three remaining days shall not be insisted on, during which + days the bride shall be perfectly free to act as she may + think proper, either by adhering to her husband and home, or + by enjoying her freedom and independence from all observance + of matrimonial obligations.”[117] + + [117] Spencer, _Descriptive Sociology_, Vol. V, p. 8, citing + Petherick, _Egypt, the Soudan, and Central Africa_, pp. + 140-141. + +A further striking example of mother-right is furnished by the Mariana +Islands, where the position of women 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 offence, 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, the husband could send her home, keep her + property, and kill the adulterer; but if the man was guilty + or even suspected of the same offence, the women of the + neighbourhood destroyed his house and all his visible + property, and the owner was fortunate if he escaped with a + whole skin; and if the wife was not pleased with her + husband, she withdrew, and a similar attack followed. On + this account many men were not married, preferring to live + with paid women.”[118] + + [118] Thomas, _Sex and Society_, pp. 73-74, quoting + Waitz-Gerland. + +A similar case of the rebellion of men against their position is +recorded in Guinea, where religious symbolism was used by the husband +as a way of obtaining control and possession of his wife. The maternal +system held with respect only to the chief wife. + + “It was customary, however, for a man to buy and take to + wife a slave, a friendless person with whom he could deal at + pleasure, who had no kindred who could interfere with her, + and to consecrate her to his Bossum, or god. The Bossum + wife, slave as she had been, ranked next to the chief wife, + and was exceptionally treated. She alone was very jealously + guarded, she alone was sacrificed at her husband’s death. + She was, in fact, wife in a peculiar sense. And having by + consecration been made of the kindred and worship of her + husband her children could be born of his kindred and + worship.”[119] + + [119] McLennan, _The Patriarchal Theory_, p. 235. + +It will be readily seen that the special rights held by the husband +over these captive-wives would come to be greatly desired. But the +capture of women was always difficult, as it frequently led to +quarrels and even warfare with the woman’s tribe, and for this reason +was never widely practised. It would therefore be necessary for +another way of escape from the bonds of the maternal marriage to be +found. This was done by a system of buying the wife from her +clan-kindred, in which case she became the property of her husband. + +The change did not, of course, take place at once, and we have many +examples of a transition period where the old customs are in conflict +with the new. Both forms of marriage, the maternal and the purchase +contract, are practised side by side by many peoples. These cases are +so instructive that I must add one or two examples to those already +noticed. The _ambel-anak_ marriage of Sumatra is the maternal form, +but there is another marriage known as _djudur_, by which a man buys +his wife as his absolute property. There is a complicated system of +payments, on which the husband’s rights to take the wife to his home +depends. If the final sum is paid (but this is not commonly claimed +except in the case of a quarrel between the families) the woman +becomes to all intents and purposes the slave of the man; but if, on +the other hand, as is not at all uncommon, the husband fails or has +difficulty in making the main payment, he becomes the debtor of his +wife’s family, and he is practically the slave, all his labour being +due to his wife’s family without any reduction in the debt, which must +be paid in full, before he regains his liberty.[120] In Ceylon, again, +there are two forms of marriage, called _beena_ and _deega_, which +cause a marked difference in the position of the wife. A woman married +under the _beena_ form lives in the house or immediate neighbourhood +of her parents, and if so married she has the right of inheritance +along with her brothers; but if married in _deega_ she goes to live in +her husband’s house and village and loses her rights in her own +family.[121] + + [120] Marsden, _History of Sumatra_, pp. 225-227. + + [121] Forbes, _Eleven Years in Ceylon_, Vol. I, p. 333. + +In Africa where the _beena maternal marriage_ is usual, and the +husband serves for his wife and lives with her family, it is said that +families are usually more or less willing _for value received_ to give +a woman to a man to take away with him, or to let him have his _beena_ +wife to transfer to his own house. Among the Wayao and Mang’anja of +the Shirehighlands, south of Lake Nyassa, a man on marrying leaves his +own village and goes to live in that of his wife; but, as an +alternative, he is allowed to pay a bride-price, in which case he +takes his wife away to his home.[122] Again among the Banyai on the +Zambesi, if the husband gives nothing the children of the marriage +belong to the wife’s family, but if he gives so many cattle to his +wife’s parents the children are his.[123] Similar cases may be found +elsewhere. In the Watubela Islands between New Guinea and Celebes a +man may either pay for his wife before marriage, or he may, without +paying, live as her husband in her parents’ house, working for her. In +the former case, the children belong to him, in the latter to the +mother’s family, but he may buy them subsequently at a price.[124] +Campbell records of the Limboo tribe (where the bride is usually +purchased and lives with the husband), that if poverty compels the +bridegroom to serve for his wife, he becomes the slave of her father, +“until by his work he has redeemed his bride.”[125] An interesting +case occurs in some Californian tribes where the husband has to live +with the wife and work, until he has paid to her kindred the full +price for her and her child. So far has custom advanced in favour of +father-right that the children of a wife not paid for are regarded as +bastards and held in contempt.[126] + + [122] Macdonald, _Africana_, Vol I, p. 136. + + [123] Livingstone, _Travels_, p. 622. + + [124] Riedel, p. 205; cited by McLennan, _Patriarchal + Theory_, p. 326. + + [125] _Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal_, Vol. IX, p. 603. + + [126] Bancroft, Vol. I, p. 549. + +Wherever we find the payment of a bride-price, in whatever form, there +is sure indication of the decay of mother-right: woman has become +property. Among the Bassa Komo of Nigeria marriage is usually effected +by an exchange of sisters or other female relatives. The men may marry +as many wives as they have women to give to other men. In this tribe +the women look after the children, but the boys, when four years old, +go to live and work with the fathers.[127] The husbands of the Bambala +tribe (inhabiting the Congo states between the rivers Inzia and Kwilu) +have to abstain from visiting their wives for a year after the birth +of each child, but they are allowed to return to her on the payment to +her father of two goats.[128] Among the Bassanga on the south-west of +Lake Moeru the children of the wife belong to the mother’s kin, but +the children of slaves are the property of the father. + + [127] _Journal African Society_, VIII, 15 _et seq._ + + [128] Torday and Joyce, _J. A. I._, XXXV, 410. + +The right of a father to his children was established only by +contract. Even where the wife had been given up by her kindred and +allowed to live with her husband, we find that the children may be +claimed by her family. Thus among the Makolo the price paid on +marriage might merely cover the right to have the wife, and in this +case the children belonged to the wife’s family. It might, however, +cover a certain right to the children if that had been contracted for, +but never such a right as separated them wholly from the mother’s +family. To effect this it was necessary that a further price should be +paid at the father’s death. This sum once paid, her family had “given +her up” and her children were entirely severed from them.[129] The +legal acknowledgment of fatherhood in all cases had to be paid for. + + [129] McLennan, _The Patriarchal Theory_, pp. 324-325, 240. + +There are many customs pointing to this new father-force asserting +itself, and pushing aside the mother-power. In Africa, among the +Bavili the mother has the right to pawn her child, but she must first +consult the father, so that he may have a chance of giving her goods +to save the pledging.[130] This is very plainly a step towards +father-right. There is no distinction between legitimate and +illegitimate children. Similar conditions prevail among the Alladians +of the Ivory Coast, but here the mother cannot pledge her children +without the consent of her brother or other male head of the family. +The father has the right to ransom the child.[131] An even stronger +example of the property value of children is furnished by the custom +found among many tribes, by which the father has to make a present to +the wife’s family when a child dies: this is called “buying the +child.”[132] A similar custom prevails among the Maori people of New +Zealand; when a child dies, or even meets with an accident, the +mother’s relations, headed by her brothers, turn out in force against +the father. He must defend himself until wounded. Blood once drawn, +the combat ceases; but the attacking party plunders his house and +appropriates the husband’s property, and finally sits down to a feast +provided by him.[133] + + [130] Dennett, _Jour. Afr. Soc._, I, 266. + + [131] _Jour. Afr. Soc._, I, 412. + + [132] Hartland, _Primitive Paternity_, Vol. I, pp. 275 _et + seq._ + + [133] _Old New Zealand_, p. 110. + +These cases, with the inferences they suggest, show that the power a +husband and father possessed over his wife and her children was gained +through purchase. And it is not the fact of the husband’s power, +however great it might be, that is so important, but the fact that by +the change in the form of marriage the wife and her children were cut +off from the woman’s clan-kindred, whose duty to protect them was now +withdrawn. Here, then, was the reason of the change from mother-right +to father-right. The monopolist desire of the husband to possess for +himself the woman and her children (perhaps the deepest rooted of all +the instincts) reasserted itself. But the regaining of this individual +possession by man was due, not to male strength, but to purchase. I +must insist upon this. As soon as women became sexually marketable +their freedom was doomed. + +There are many interesting cases of transition in which the children +belong sometimes to the mother and sometimes to the father. Again I +can give one or two examples only. In the island of Mangia the parents +at the birth of the child arranged between themselves whether it +should be dedicated to the father’s god or to the mother’s. The +dedication took place forthwith, and finally determined which parent +had the ownership of the child.[134] Among the Haidis, children belong +to the clan of the mother, but in exceptional cases when the clan of +the father is reduced in numbers, the new-born child may be given to +the father’s sister to suckle. It is then spoken of as belonging to +the paternal aunt and is counted to its father’s clan.[135] It is also +possible to transfer a child to the father by giving it one of the +names common to his clan. There are many curious customs practised by +certain tribes, wavering between mother and father descent. In Samoa +religion decides the question. At the birth of a child the totem of +each parent is prayed to in turn (usually, though not always, starting +with that of the father) and whichever totem happens to be invoked at +the moment of birth is the child’s totem for life and decides whether +he or she belongs to the clan of the mother or the father.[136] +Equally curious was the custom of the Liburni, where the children were +all brought up together until they were five years old. They were then +collected and examined in order to trace their likeness to the men and +they were assigned to their fathers accordingly. Whoever received a +boy from his mother in this way regarded him as his son.[137] +Similarly with the Arabs, where one woman was the wife of several men, +the custom was either for the woman to decide to which of them the +child was to belong, or the child was assigned by an expert to one of +the joint husbands to be regarded as his own.[138] + + [134] McLennan, _The Patriarchal Theory_. + + [135] _Survey of Canada_, Report for 1878-79, 134 B. Cited by + Frazer, _Totemism_, p. 76. + + [136] Turner, _Samoa_, p. 78. + + [137] _Das Mutterrecht_, p. 20, quoted by Starcke, _op. + cit._, pp. 126-127. + + [138] Wilken, _Das Matriarchat bei den alten Arabern_, p. 26. + +These facts throw a strong light on the bond between the father and +the child, which was a legal bond, not dependent, as it is with us, +upon blood relationship. Fatherhood really arose out of the ownership +of purchase. And for this reason the father’s right came to extend to +all the children of the wife. It does not appear that the husband +makes any distinction between his wife’s children, even if they were +begotten by other men. Chastity is not regarded as a virtue, and in +those cases where unfaithfulness in a wife is punished, it is always +because the woman, who has passed from the protection of her kindred, +acts without her husband’s permission. Interchange of wives is common, +while it is one of the duties of hospitality to offer a wife to a +stranger guest. Husbands sometimes, indeed, seek other men for their +wives, believing they will obtain sons who will excel all others. Thus +of the Arabs we are told, there is one form of marriage according to +which a man says to his wife, “Send a message to such a one and beg +him to have intercourse with you.” The husband acts in this way in +order that his offspring may be noble.[139] When a Hindu marries, all +the children previously born from his wife become his own; in +Pakpatan, even when a woman has forsaken her husband for ten years, +the children she brings forth are divided between her and her +lover.[140] Similarly in Madagascar, when a woman is divorced, any +children she afterwards bears belong to her husband.[141] Campbell +tells us of children born out of wedlock in the Limboo tribe that the +father may obtain possession of the boys by purchase and by naming +them, but the girls belong to the mother.[142] + + [139] Wilken, _op. cit._, p. 26. + + [140] Wade, _Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal_, Vol. VI, p. + 196. + + [141] See _Truth about Woman_, pp. 160-161, for account of + Madagascar. + + [142] _Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal_, Vol. IX, p. 603. + +I am very certain that it was through property considerations and for +no moral causes that the stringency of the moral code was tightened +for women. It seems to me of very great importance that women should +grasp firmly this truth: the virtue of chastity owes its origin to +property. Our minds fall so readily under the spell of such ideas as +chastity and purity. There is a mass of real superstition on this +question--a belief in a kind of magic in chastity. But, indeed, +continence had at first no connection with morals. The sense of +ownership has been the seed-plot of our moral code. To it we are +indebted for the first germs of the sexual inhibitions which, +sanctified, by religion and supported by custom, have, under the +unreasoned idealism of the common mind, filled life with cruelties and +jealous exclusions, with suicides, and murders, and secret +shames.[143] + + [143] This passage is quoted from _The Truth about Woman_, p. + 171. I give it here, because its importance seems to me to be + very great. + +This brings me to summarise the point we have reached. Father-right +was dependent on purchase-possession and had nothing to do with actual +fatherhood. The payment of a bride-price, the giving of a sister in +exchange, as also marriage with a slave, gained for the husband the +control over his wife and ownership of the children. I could bring +forward much more evidence in proof of this fact that property, and +not kinship, was the basis of fatherhood, did the limits of my space +allow me to do so; such cases are common in all parts of the world +where the transitional stage has been reached. The maternal clan, with +its strong social cohesion is then broken up by the growing power of +individual interests pushing aside the old customs, and bringing about +the restoration of the family. I believe that the causes by which the +father gained his position as the dominant partner in marriage must be +clear to every one from the examples I have given. Fatherhood +established in the first stage of the family on jealous authority, +now, after a period of more or less complete obscuration, rises again +as the dominant force in marriage. The father has bought back his +position as patriarch. On the other hand the mother has lost her +freedom that came with the protection of her kindred, under the social +organisation of the clan. Looking back through the lengthening record, +we find that another step has been taken in the history of the family. +This time is it a step forward, or a step backward? This is a question +I shall not try to answer, for, indeed, I am not sure. + +Yet in case I am mistaken here, let me say at once I am certain that +this return to the restricted family was a necessary and inevitable +step. The individual forces had to triumph. This may seem a +contradiction to all I have just said. What I wish to show is this: +one and all the phases in the development of society have been needful +and fruitful as successive stages in growth; yet none can +continue--none be regarded as the final stage, for each becomes +insufficient and narrow from the standpoint of the needs of a later +stage. We have reached the third stage--the patriarchal family which +still endures. And last and hardest to eradicate is that monopoly of +sexual possession, which says: “This woman and her children are mine: +I have tabooed her for life.” Mankind has still to outlive this brute +instinct in its upward way to civilisation. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +WOMEN AND PRIMITIVE INDUSTRY + + +I have referred in an earlier chapter to a letter from Mr. H. G. +Wells, sent to me after the publication of my book, _The Truth about +Woman_. Now, there is one sentence in this letter that I wish to quote +here, because it brings home just what it is my purpose in this +chapter to show--that the mother-age was a civilisation owing its +institutions, and its early victories over nature, rather to the +genius of woman than to that of man. Mr. Wells does not, indeed, say +this. He rejects the mother-age, and in questioning my acceptance of +it as a stage in the past histories of societies, he writes: “The +primitive matriarchate never was anything more than mother at the +washing-tub and father looking miserable.” + +It seems to me that here, in his own inimitable way, Mr. Wells (though +I think quite unconsciously) sums up the past labour-history of woman +and man. His statement has very far-reaching considerations. It forces +us to accept the active utility of primitive woman in the community--a +utility more developed and practical than that of man. This was really +the basis of women’s position of power. The constructive quality of +the female mind, at a time when the male attention and energy were +fixed chiefly on the destructive activities of warfare, was liberated +for use and invention. Women were the seekers, slowly increasing their +efficiency. + +Very much the same account of the primitive sexual division in work +was given by an Australian Kurnai to Messrs. Fison and Howitt, in a +sentence that has been quoted very frequently: “A man hunts, spears +fish, fights and sits about, all the rest is woman’s work.” This may +be accepted as a fair statement of how work is divided between the two +sexes among primitive peoples. Now, what I wish to make plain is that +it was an arrangement in which the advantage was really on the side of +the woman rather than on that of the man. I would refer the reader +back to what has been said on this subject in Chapter III, where I +summed up the conditions acting on the women in the hypothetical first +stage of the primordial family. We saw that the males were chiefly +concerned with the absorbing duties of sex and fighting rivals, and +also hunting for game. The women’s interest, on the other hand, was +bent on domestic activities--in caring for their children and +developing the food supplies immediately around them. From the +hearth-home, or shelter, as the start of settled life, and with their +intelligence sharpened by the keen chisel of necessity, women carried +on their work as the organisers and directors of industrial +occupations. Very slowly did they make each far-reaching discovery; +seeds cast into the ground sprouted and gave the first start of +agriculture. The plant world gave women the best returns for the +efforts they made, and they began to store up food. Contrivance +followed contrivance, each one making it possible for women to do +more. Certain animals, possibly brought back by the hunters from the +forests, were kept and tamed. Presently the use of fire was +discovered--we know not how--but women became the guardians of this +source of life. And now, instead of caves or tree-shelters, there were +huts and tents and houses, and of these, too, women were frequently +the builders. The home from the first was of greater importance to the +women; it was the place where the errant males rejoined their wives +and children, and hence the women became the owners of the homes and +the heads of households. For as yet the men were occupied in fighting. +The clumsy and the stupid among them were killed soonest; the fine +hand, the quick eye--these prevailed age by age. Tools and weapons +were doubtless fashioned by these fighters, but for destruction; the +male’s attention was directed mainly by his own desires. And may we +not accept that among the most pressing activities of women was the +need to tame man and make him social, so that he could endure the +rights of others than himself? + +So through the long generations the life of human societies continued. +Those activities, due to female influence, developing and opening up +new ways in all directions, until we have that early civilisation, +which I have called the mother-age. + +All the world over, even to this day, this separation in the labour +activities of the two sexes can be traced. Destructive work, demanding +a special development of strength, with corresponding periods of rest, +falls to men; and contrasted with this violent and intermittent male +force we find, with the same uniformity, that the work of women is +domestic and constructive, being connected with the care of children +and all the various industries which radiate from the home--work +demanding a different kind of strength, more enduring, more +continuous, but at a lower tension. + +Bonwick’s account of the work of Tasmanian women may be taken as +typical-- + + “In addition to the necessary duty of looking after the + children, the women had to provide all the food for the + household excepting that derived from the chase of the + kangaroo. They climbed up hills for the opossum” (a very + difficult task, requiring great strength and also skill), + “delved in the ground for yams, native bread, and nutritious + roots, groped about the rocks for shellfish, dived beneath + the sea for oysters, and fished for the finny tribe. In + addition to this, they carried, on their frequent tramps, + the household stuffs in native baskets of their own + manufacture.”[144] + + [144] _Daily Life and Origin of the Tasmanians_, p. 55. + +Among the Indians of Guiana the men’s work is to hunt, and to cut down +the trees when the cassava is to be planted. When the men have felled +the trees and cleaned the ground, the women plant the cassava and +undertake all the subsequent operations; agriculture is entirely in +their hands. They are little, if at all, weaker than the men, and they +work all day while the men are often in their hammocks smoking; but +there is no cruelty or oppression exercised by the men towards the +women.[145] + + [145] Everard im Thurn, _Among the Indians of Guiana_. + +In Africa we meet with much the same conditions of labour. “The work +is done chiefly by the women, this is universal; they hoe the fields, +sow the seed, and reap the harvest. To them, too, falls all the labour +of house-building, grinding corn, brewing beer, cooking, washing, and +caring for almost all the material interests of the community. The men +tend the cattle, hunt, go to war; they also spend much time sitting in +council over the conduct of affairs.”[146] + + [146] Macdonald, “East Central African Customs,” _Journal + Anthropological Institute_, Feb. 1890, p. 342. + +I may note the interesting account of Prof. Haddon[147] of the work of +the Western Tribes of the Torres Straits-- + + [147] _Journal Anthropological Institute_, Feb. 1890, p. 342. + + “The men fished, fought, built houses, did a little + gardening, made fish-lines, fish-hooks, spears, and other + implements, constructed dance-masks and head-dresses, and + all the paraphernalia for the various ceremonies and dances. + They performed all the rites and dances, and in addition did + a good deal of strutting up and down, loafing and ‘yarning.’ + The women cooked and prepared the food, did most of the + gardening, collected shell-fish, and speared fish on the + reefs, made petticoats, baskets and mats.” + +Similar examples might be almost indefinitely multiplied. Among the +Andamanese, while the men go into the jungle to hunt pigs, the women +fetch drinking water and firewood, catch shell-fish, make fishing nets +and baskets, spin thread, and cook the food ready for the return of +the men.[148] The Moki women of America have fifty ways of preparing +corn for food. They make all the preparations necessary for these +varied dishes, involving the arts of the stonecutter, the carrier, the +mason, the miller and the cook.[149] In New Caledonia “girls work in +the plantations, boys learn to fight.”[150] + + [148] Owen, _Transactions of the Ethnological Society_, New + Series, Vol. II, p. 36. + + [149] Mason, _Woman’s Share in Primitive Culture_, p. 143. + + [150] Turner, _Nineteen Years in Polynesia_, p. 424. + +We should, however, fall into a popular error concerning the division +of labour in savagery, if we consider that all women’s work is +regarded as degrading to men and all men’s work is tabooed to women. +The duties of war and the chase are the chief occupation of men, yet +in all parts of the world women have fought at need, and sometimes +habitually, both to assist their men and also against them. Thus +Buckley, who lived for many years among the Australian tribes, relates +that when the tribe he lived with was attacked by a hostile party, the +men “raised a war-cry; on hearing this the women threw off their rugs +and, each armed with a short club, flew to the assistance of their +husbands and brothers.”[151] In Central Australia the men occasionally +beat the women through jealousy, but on such occasions it is by no +means rare for the women, single handed, to beat the men +severely.[152] Again, men carry on, as a rule, the negotiations on +tribal concerns, but in such matters exceptions are very numerous. +Among the Australian Dieyerie, Curr states that the women act as +ambassadors to arrange treaties, and invariably succeed in their +mission.[153] The same conditions are found among the American +Indians. Men are the hunters and fishers, but women also hunt and +fish. Among the Yahgan of Tierra del Fuego fishing is left entirely to +the women,[154] and this is not at all unusual. Mrs. Allison states of +the Similkameen Indians of British Columbia that formerly “the women +were nearly as good hunters as the men,” but being sensitive to the +ridicule of the white settlers, they have given up hunting.[155] In +hunting trips, the help of women is often not to be despised. +Warburton Pike writes thus: “I saw what an advantage it is to take +women on a hunting trip. If we killed anything, we had only to cut up +and _cache_ the meat, and the women would carry it. On returning to +camp we could throw ourselves down on a pile of caribou skins and +smoke our pipes in comfort, but the women’s work was never +finished.”[156] This account is very suggestive. The man undergoes the +fatigue of hunting, and when he has thrown the game at the woman’s +feet his part is done; it is her duty to carry it and to cook it, as +well as to make the vessels in which the food is placed. The skins and +the refuse are hers to utilise, and all the industries connected with +clothing are chiefly in her hands.[157] Hearne, in his delightful old +narrative, speaks of the assistance of women on hunting expeditions-- + + “For when all the men are heavy laden they can neither hunt + nor travel to any considerable distance; and in case they + meet with any success in hunting, who is to carry the + produce of their labour?” + + [151] _Life and Adventures of William Buckley_, p. 43. + + [152] _Journal Anthropological Institute_, Aug. 1890, p. 61. + + [153] _Australian Races_, cited by Ellis, _Man and Woman_, p. + 9 _note_. + + [154] Haydes et Deniker, _Mission Scientifique de Cape Horn_, + tome vii, 1891. + + [155] _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, Feb. 1892, + p. 307. + + [156] Warburton Pike, _Barren Grounds_, p. 75. + + [157] Havelock Ellis, _Man and Woman_, p. 5. + +He adds with a charming frankness-- + + “Women were made for labour; one of them can carry or haul + as much as two men can do. They also pitch our tents, make + and mend our clothing, keep us warm at night, and, in fact, + there is no such thing as travelling any considerable + distance, or any length of time, in this country without + their assistance.”[158] + + [158] _A Journey from Prince of Wales’s Fort to the Northern + Ocean_, p. 55. + +Numerous other examples might be added which illustrate how women take +part in the destructive work of men; conversely we find not a few +cases of the co-operation of men in the women’s activities. The world +over, women are usually the weavers and spinners; but with the Navajo +and in some of the Pueblos the men are among the best weavers.[159] +Among the Indians of Guiana the men are specially skilful in +basket-weaving, and here also they as well as the women spin and +weave.[160] More curious is the custom in East Africa where all the +sewing for their own and the women’s garments is done by the men, and +very well done. Sewing is here so entirely recognised as men’s work +that a wife may obtain a divorce if she “can show a neglected rend in +her petticoat.”[161] + + [159] Mason, _op. cit._, p. 10. + + [160] Im Thurn, _Among the Indians of British Guiana_. + + [161] Macdonald, _Journal Anthropological Institute_, Aug. + 1892. + +It is a common mistake, arising from insufficient knowledge, to +suppose that savage women are specially subject to oppression. Their +life is hard as we look at it, but not as they look at it. We have +still much to learn on these matters. An even greater error is the +view that these women are a source of weakness to the male members of +their families. The very reverse is the truth. Primitive women are +strong in body and capable in work. Fison and Howitt, in discussing +this question, state of the Australian women, “In times of peace, they +are the hardest workers and the most useful members of the community.” +And in times of war, “they are perfectly capable of taking care of +themselves at all times, and so far from being an encumbrance on the +warriors, they will fight, if need be, as bravely as the men, and with +even greater ferocity.”[162] This is no exceptional case. The strength +of savage women is proved by reports from widely different races, of +which all testify to their physical capability and aptness for labour. +Schellong,[163] who has carefully studied the Papuans of the German +protectorate of New Guinea, from the anthropological point of view, +“considers that the women are more strongly built than the men.” Nor +does heavy work appear to damage the health or beauty of the women, +but the contrary. Thus among the Andombies on the Congo, to give one +instance, the women, though working very hard as carriers, and as +labourers in general, lead an entirely happy existence; they are often +stronger than the men and more finely developed: some of them, we are +told, have really splendid figures. And Parke, speaking of the +Manyuema of the Arruwimi in the same region, says that “they are fine +animals, and the women very handsome; they carry loads as heavy as +those of the men and do it quite as well.”[164] Again, McGee[165] +comments on the extraordinary capacity of quite aged women for heavy +labour. He tells of “a withered crone, weighing apparently not more +than 80 to 90 lb. who carried a _kilio_ containing a stone mortar 196 +lb. in weight for more than half a mile on a sandy road without any +perceptible exhaustion. The proportion of the active aged is much +larger than among civilised people.” + + [162] _Kamilaroi and Kurnai_, pp. 133, 147. + + [163] Cited by Ellis, _Man and Woman_, p. 4. + + [164] H. H. Johnston, _The Kilimanjaro Expedition_; Parke, + _Experiences in Equatorial Africa_. These examples are cited + by Ellis. + + [165] “The Beginnings of Agriculture,” _American + Anthropologist_, Oct. 1895, p. 37. + +I may pause to note some of the numerous industries of which women +were the originators. First of all, woman is the food-giver; all the +labours relating to the preparation of food, and to the utilisation of +the side products of foodstuffs are usually found in the hands of +women. Women are everywhere the primitive agriculturists. They beat +out the seeds from plants; dig for roots and tubers, strain the +poisonous juices from the cassava and make bread from the residue; and +it was under their attention that a southern grass was first developed +into what we know as Indian corn.[166] The removal of poisonous matter +from tapioca by means of hot water is also the discovery of savage +women.[167] All the evolution of primitive agriculture may be traced +to women’s industry. Power tells of the Yokia women in Central +California who employ neither plough nor hoe, but cultivate the ground +by digging the earth deep and rubbing it fine with their hands, and by +this means they get an excellent yield.[168] Women have everywhere +been the first potters; vessels were needed for use in cooking, to +carry and to hold water, and to store the supplies of food. For the +same reason baskets were woven. Women invented and exercised in common +multifarious household occupations and industries. Curing food, +tanning the hides of animals, spinning, weaving, dyeing--all are +carried on by women. The domestication of animals is usually in +women’s hands. They are also the primitive architects; the hut, in +widely different parts of the world--among Kaffirs, Fuegians, +Polynesians, Kamtschatdals--is built by women. We have seen that the +communal houses of the American Indians are mainly erected by the +women. Women were frequently, though not always, the primitive +doctors. Among the Kurds, for instance, all the medical knowledge is +in the hands of the women, who are the hereditary _hakims_.[169] Women +seem to have prepared the first intoxicating liquors. The Quissama +women in Angola climb the gigantic palm trees to obtain +palm-beer.[170] In the ancient legends of the North, women are clearly +represented as the discoverers of ale.[171] + + [166] Thomas, _Sex and Society_, p. 136. + + [167] Mason, _op. cit._ p. 24. + + [168] _Cont. North American Ethnology_, Vol. III, p. 167. + + [169] Mrs. Bishop, _Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan_, cited + by H. Ellis, _op. cit._, p. 6. + + [170] _Jour. Anthrop. Inst._, Vol. I, p. 190. + + [171] “Magic Songs of the Finns,” _Folk-lore_, Mar. 1892. + +It would be easy to go on almost indefinitely multiplying examples of +the industries of primitive women. There can be no doubt at all that +their work is exacting and incessant; it is also inventive in its +variety and its ready application to the practical needs of life. If a +catalogue of the primitive forms of labour were made, each woman would +be found doing at least half-a-dozen things while a man did one. We +may accept the statement of Prof. Mason that in the early history of +mankind “women were the industrial, elaborative, conservative half of +society. All the peaceful arts of to-day were once women’s peculiar +province. Along the lines of industrialism she was pioneer, inventor, +author, originator.”[172] + + [172] _American Antiquarian_, Jan. 1899. + +There is another matter that must be noted. The primitive division of +labour between the sexes was not in any sense an arrangement dictated +by men, nor did they impose the women’s tasks upon them. The view that +the women are forced to work by the laziness of the men, and that +their heavy and incessant labour is a proof of their degraded position +is entirely out of focus. Quite the reverse is the truth. Evidence is +not wanting of the great advantage arising to women from their close +connection with labour. It was largely their control over the food +supply and their position as actual producers which gave them so much +influence, and even authority in the mother-age. In this connection I +may quote the statement of Miss Werner about the African women as +representing the true conditions-- + + “I cannot say that, so far as my own observations went, the + women’s lot seemed to be a specially hard one. In fact, they + are too important an element in the community not to be + treated with consideration. The fact that they do most of + the heavy field-work does not imply that they are a + down-trodden sex. On the contrary, it gives them a + considerable pull, as a man will think twice before + endangering his food supply.”[173] + + [173] “Our Subject Races,” _The Reformer_, April 1897, p. 43. + +Mr. Horatio Hale, a well-known American anthropologist likewise +observes-- + + “The common opinion that women among savage tribes in + general are treated with harshness, and regarded as slaves, + or at least as inferiors, is, like many common opinions, + based on error, originating in too large and indiscriminate + deduction from narrow premises.... The wife of a Samoan + landowner or Navajo shepherd has no occasion, so far as her + position in her family or among her people, to envy the wife + of a German peasant.”[174] + + [174] _Journal Anthropological Institute_, May 1892, p. 427, + cited by H. Ellis. + +Certainly savage women do not count their work as any degradation. +There is really an equal division of labour between the sexes, though +the work of the men is accomplished more fitfully than that of the +women. The militant activities of fighting and hunting are essential +in primitive life. The women know this, and they do their share--the +industrial share, willingly, without question, and without compulsion. +It is entirely absurd in this work-connection to regard men as the +oppressors of women. Rather the advantage is on the women’s side. For +one thing, just because they are accustomed to hard labour all their +lives, they are little, if any, weaker than men. Primitive women are +strong in body, and capable in work. The powers they enjoy as well as +their manifold activities are the result of their position as mothers, +this function being to them a source of strength and not a plea of +weakness. + + “They who are accustomed to the ways of civilised women + only,” remarks Mr. Fison, “can hardly believe what savage + women are capable of, even when they may well be supposed to + be at their weakest. For instance, an Australian tribe on + the march scarcely take the trouble to halt for so slight a + performance as childbirth. The newly born infant is wrapped + in skins, the march is resumed, and the mother trudges on + with the rest. Moreover, as is well known, among many tribes + elsewhere it is the father who is put to bed, while the + mother goes about her work as if nothing had happened.”[175] + + [175] _Kamilaroi and Kurnai_, p. 358. + +Another important advantage arising to women, through their +identification with the early industrial process, was their position +as the first property owners. They were almost the sole creators of +ownership in land, and held in this respect a position of great power. +This explains the fact that in the transactions of the North American +tribes with the Colonial Government many deeds of assignment bear +female signatures.[176] A form of divorce used by a husband in ancient +Arabia was: “Begone, for I will no longer drive thy flocks to +pasture.”[177] In almost all cases the household goods belonged to +the woman. The stores of roots and berries laid up for a time of +scarcity were the property of the wife, and the husband would not +touch them without her permission. In many cases such property was +very extensive. Among the Menomini Indians, for instance, a woman of +good circumstances would own as many as 1200 to 1500 birch-bark +vessels.[178] In the New Mexico Pueblos what comes from the outside of +the house as soon as it is inside is put under the immediate control +of the women. Bandelier, in his report of his tour in Mexico, tells us +that “his host at Cochiti, New Mexico, could not sell an ear of corn +or a string of chili without the consent of his fourteen-year-old +daughter, Ignacia, who kept house for her widowed father.”[179] + + [176] Ratzel, _History of Mankind_, Vol. II, p. 130. + + [177] Robertson Smith, _Kinship and Marriage in Early + Arabia_, p. 65. + + [178] Hoffman, “The Menomini Indians,” _Fourteenth Report of + the Bureau of American Ethnology_, p. 288. + + [179] Papers of the _Archæological Institute of America_, + Vol. II, p. 138. + +I must now bring this brief chapter to a close. But first I would give +one further example. It is an account of the Pelew matrons’ work in +the taro fields. Here the richest and most influential women count it +their privilege to labour, and it will be remembered that these women +are called “mothers of the land.” They are politically and socially +superior to the men; and their position is dependent largely on their +close connection with the staple industry of the island. + + “The richest woman in the village looks with pride on her + taro patch, and although she has female followers enough to + allow her merely to superintend the work without taking part + in it, she nevertheless prefers to lay aside her fine apron, + and to betake herself to the field, merely clad in a small + apron that barely hides her nakedness, with a little mat on + her back to protect her from the burning heat of the sun, + and with a shade of banana leaves for her eyes. There, + dripping with sweat in the burning sun, and coated with mud + to the hips and over the elbows, she toils to set the + younger women a good example. Moreover, as in every other + occupation, the _Kalitho_, the gods must be invoked, and who + could be better fitted for the discharge of so important a + duty than ‘the Mother of the House.’” + +Here is a picture of labour that may well make women pause to think. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +TRACES OF MOTHER-RIGHT CUSTOMS IN ANCIENT AND MODERN CIVILISATIONS + + +I propose in this chapter to examine, as fully as I can, the traces +that mother-right customs have left among some of the great races of +antiquity, as also in the early records of western civilisations. It +is the more necessary to do this because there is so marked a tendency +to minimise the importance of the mother-age, and to regard the +patriarchal family as primeval and universal. So much interesting +material is available, and so wide a field of inquiry must be covered, +that I shall be able to give a mere outline sketch, for the purpose of +suggesting, rather than proving, the widespread prevalence of the +communal clan and the maternal family. + +As to whether this maternal-stage, with kinship and inheritance +passing through the mother, has everywhere preceded the second +patriarchal period, it is difficult to be at all certain. Dr. +Westermarck, Mr. Crawley and others have argued against this view. But +(as I have before had occasion to point out) their chief motive has +been to discredit the theory of promiscuity, with which +mother-descent has been so commonly, and so mistakenly, connected. It +does not seem to have been held as possible that the mother-age was a +much later development, whose social customs were made for the +regulation of the family relationships. A number of very primitive +races exhibit no traces, that have yet been discovered, of such a +system, and have descent in the male line. This has been thought to be +a further proof against a maternal stage. But here again is an error; +we are not entitled to regard mother-descent as necessarily the +primitive custom. I believe and have tried to show, from the examples +of the Australian tribes and elsewhere, that in many cases the stage +of the maternal clan has not been reached. If I am right here, we have +the way cleared from much confusion. I would suggest, as also +possible, that there may among some people, have been retrogressions, +customs and habits found out as beneficial, and perhaps for long +practised, have by some tribes been forgotten. There can be no hard +and fast rule of progress for any race. The whole subject is thorny +and obscure, and the evidence on the question is often contradictory. +Still I hold the claim I make is not without foundation. I have tried +to show how the causes which led to the maternal system were perfectly +simple and natural causes, arising out of needs that must have +operated universally in the past history of mankind. And this +indicates a maternal stage at some period for all branches of the +human family. Again the widespread prevalence of mother-right +survivals among races where the patriarchal system has been for long +firmly established lends support to such a view, which will be +strengthened by the evidence now to be brought forward. It will be +necessary to go step by step, from one race to another, and to many +different countries, and I would ask my readers not to shrink from the +trouble of following me. + +Let us turn first to ancient Egypt, where women held a position more +free and more honourable than they have in any country to-day. + +Herodotus, who was a keen observer, records his astonishment at this +freedom, and writes-- + + “They have established laws and customs opposite for the + most part to those of the rest of mankind.... With them + women go to market and traffic; men stay at home and + weave.... The men carry burdens on their heads; the women on + their shoulders.... The boys are never forced to maintain + their parents unless they wish to do so; the girls are + obliged to, even if they do not wish it.”[180] + + [180] Herodotus, Book II, p. 35. + +From this last rule it is logical to infer that women inherited +property, as is to-day the case among the Beni-Amer of Africa,[181] +where daughters have to provide for their parents. + + [181] Starcke, _The Primitive Family_, p. 67. + +Diodorus goes further than Herodotus: he affirms that in the Egyptian +family it is the man who is subjected to the woman. + + “All this explains why the queen receives more power and + respect than the king, and why, among private individuals, + the woman rules over the man, and that it is stipulated + between married couples, by the terms of the dowry-contract, + that the man shall obey the woman.”[182] + + [182] Diodorus, Book I, p. 27. + +There is probably some exaggeration in this account, nevertheless, the +demotic deeds, in a measure, confirm it. By the law of maternal +inheritance, an Egyptian wife was often richer than her husband, and +enjoyed the dignity and freedom always involved by the possession of +property. More than three thousand three hundred years ago men and +women were recognised as equal in this land. + +Under such privileges the wife was entirely preserved from any +subjection; she was able to dictate the terms of the marriage. She +held the right of making contracts without authorisation; she remained +absolute mistress of her dowry. The marriage-contract also specified +the sums that the husband was to pay to his wife, either as a nuptial +gift or annual pension, or as compensation in case of divorce. In some +cases the whole property of the husband was made over to the wife, and +when this was done, it was stipulated that she should provide for him +during his life, and discharge the expenses of his burial and tomb. + +These unusual proprietary rights of the Egyptian wife can be explained +only as being traceable to an early period of mother-right. Without +proof of any absolutely precise text, we have an accumulation of facts +that render it probable that, at one time, descent was traced through +the mother. It is significant that the word _husband_ never occurs in +the marriage deeds before the reign of Philometor. This ruler (it +would appear in order to establish the position of the father in the +family) decreed that all transfers of property made by the wife should +henceforth be authorised by the husband. Up to this time public deeds +often mention only the mother, but King Philometor ordered the names +of contractors to be registered according to the paternal line. +Besides this, the hieroglyphic funeral inscriptions frequently bear +the name of the mother, without indicating that of the father.[183] + + [183] For a fuller account of the position of women in Egypt, + see the chapter on this subject in _The Truth about Woman_, + pp. 179-201. + +All these facts attest that women in Egypt enjoyed an exceptionally +favourable position. We may compare this position with that held by +the Touareg women of the Sahara, who, through the custom of maternal +inheritance, for long continued, have in their hands the strong power +of wealth, and thus exercise extraordinary authority, giving rise to +what I have called “a pecuniary matriarchy.” + +It is probable that in Egypt property was originally entirely in the +hands of women, as is usual under the matriarchal system. Later, a +tradition in favour of the old privileges would seem to have +persisted after descent was changed from the maternal to the paternal +line. The marriage-contracts may thus be regarded as enforcing by +agreement what would occur naturally under the maternal customs. The +husband’s property was made over by deed to the wife (at first +entirely, and afterwards in part) to secure its inheritance by the +children of the marriage. It was in such wise way the Egyptians +arranged the difficult problem of the fusing of mother-right with +father-right. + +In the very ancient civilisation of Babylon we find women in a +position of honour, with privileges similar in many ways to those they +enjoyed in Egypt. There are even indications that the earliest customs +may have gone beyond those of the Egyptians in exalting women. All the +available evidence points to the conclusion that at the opening of +Babylonian history women had complete independence and equal rights +with their husbands and brothers. It is significant that the most +archaic texts in the primitive language are remarkable for the +precedence given to the female sex in all formulas of address: +“Goddesses and gods;” “Women and men,” are mentioned always in that +order; this is in itself a decisive indication of the high status of +women in this early period. And there are other traces all pointing to +the conclusion that in the civilisation of primitive Babylon +mother-right was still in active force. Later (as is shown by the Code +of Hammurabi) a woman’s rights, though not her duties, were more +circumscribed; in the still later Neo-Babylonian periods, she again +acquired, through the favourable conditions with regard to property, +full liberty of action and equal rights with her husband.[184] + + [184] H. Ellis, _Psychology of Sex_, Vol. VI, p. 393. + +Let us now turn our attention to the Græco-Roman civilisation. It is +convenient to take first a brief glance at Rome. I may note that the +family here would certainly appear to have developed from the +primitive clan, or _gens_. At the dawn of history the patriarchal +system was already firmly established, with individual property, and +an unusually strong subjection of woman to her father first and +afterwards to her husband. There are, however, numerous indications of +a prehistoric phase of communism. I can mention only the right of the +_gens_ to the heritage, and in certain cases the possession of an +_ager publicus_, which certainly bears witness in favour of an antique +community of property.[185] Can we, then, accept that there was once a +period of the maternal family, when descent and inheritance were +traced through the mother? Frazer[186] has brought forward facts which +point to the view that the Roman kingship was transmitted in the +female line; and, if this can be accepted, we may fairly conclude that +at one time the maternal customs were in force. The plebeian marriage +ceremonies of Rome should be noted. The funeral inscriptions in +Etruria in the Latin language make much greater insistence on the +maternal than the paternal descent; giving usually the name of the +mother alone, or indicating the father’s name by a simple initial, +whilst that of the mother is written in full.[187] This is very +significant. Very little trustworthy evidence, however, is +forthcoming, and of the position of women in Rome in the earliest +periods we know little or nothing. And for this reason I shall refer +my readers to what I have written elsewhere[188] on this matter; +merely saying that there are indications and traditions pointing to +the view that here, as in so many great civilisations, women’s actions +were once unfettered, and this, as I believe, can be explained only on +the hypothesis of the existence of a maternal stage, before the +establishment of the individual male authority under the patriarchal +system. + + [185] Letourneau, _Evolution of Marriage_, p. 335. + + [186] _Golden Bough_, Part I. _The Magic Art_, Vol. II, pp. + 270, 289, 312. + + [187] Müller and Bachofen, cited by Giraud-Teulon, _op. cit._ + pp. 283-284. + + [188] _The Truth About Woman_, pp. 227-242. + +The evidence with regard to prehistoric Greece is much more complete. +The Greek γένος resembled the Roman _gens_. Its members had a common +sepulture, common property, the mutual obligation of the _vendetta_ +and archon.[189] In the prehistoric clans maternal descent would seem +to have been established. Plutarch relates that the Cretans spoke of +Crete as their motherland, and not fatherland. In primitive Athens, +the women had the right of voting, and their children bore their +name--privileges that were taken from them, says the legend, to +appease the wrath of Poseidon, after his inundation of the city, +owing to the quarrel with Athene. Tradition also relates that at +Athens, until the time of Cecrops, children bore the name of their +mother.[190] Among the Lycians, whose affinity to the Greeks was so +pronounced, a matriarchate prevailed down to the time of Herodotus. +Not the name only, but the inheritance and status of the children +depended on the mother. The Lycians “honoured women rather than men;” +they are represented “as being accustomed from of old to be ruled by +their women.”[191] + + [189] Grote, _History of Greece_, Vol. III, p. 95. + + [190] Letourneau, _op. cit._ pp. 335-336. + + [191] Herodotus, Book I, p. 172. + +One of the most remarkable instances of a gynæcocratic people has only +now been fully discovered as having existed in ancient Crete. It seems +probable that women enjoyed greater powers than they had even in +Egypt. The new evidence that has come to light is certainly most +interesting; the facts are recorded by Mr. J. R. Hall in a recent +book, _Ancient History in the Far East_, and I am specially glad to +bring them forward. He affirms: “It may eventually appear that in +religious matters, perhaps even the government of the State itself as +well, were largely controlled by the women.” From the seals we gather +a universal worship of a supreme female goddess, the Rhea of later +religions, who is accompanied sometimes by a youthful male deity. +Wherever we find this preponderating feminine principle in worship we +shall find also a corresponding feminine influence in the customs of +the people. We have seen this, for instance, among the Khasis, where +also goddesses are placed before gods. Mr. Hall further states: “It is +certain that they [the women in Crete] must have lived on a footing of +greater equality with men than in any other ancient civilisation.” And +again: “We see in the frescoes of Knossos conclusive indications of an +open and free association of men and women, corresponding to our idea +of ‘Society,’ at the Minoan court, unparalleled till our own day.” The +women are unveiled, and the costumes and setting are extraordinarily +modern. Mr. Hall draws attention to the curious fact that in +appearance the women are very similar to the men, so that often the +sexes can be distinguished only by the conventions of the artists, +representing the women in white, and the men in red outline; the same +convention that was used in Egypt. I may recall to the reader the +likeness of the men to the women among the North American Indians, and +the same similarity between the sexes occurs among the ancient +Egyptians.[192] It is perhaps impossible to search for an explanation. +I would, however, point out that in all these cases, where the sexes +appear to be more alike than is common, we find women in a position of +equality with men. This is really very remarkable; I think it is a +fact that demands more attention than as yet it has received. + + [192] See pp. 129-131, also _The Truth about Woman_, pp. + 199-201. + +At one time there would seem to have been in prehistoric Greece a +period of fully established mother-right. Ancient Attic traditions are +filled with recollections of female supremacy. Women in the Homeric +legends hold a position and enjoy a freedom wholly at variance with a +patriarchal subjection. Not infrequently the husband owes to his wife +his rank and his wealth; always the wife possesses a dignified place +and much influence. Even the formal elevation of women to positions of +authority is not uncommon. “There is nothing,” says Homer, “better and +nobler than when husband and wife, being of one mind, rule a +household. Penelope and Clytemnestra were left in charge of the realms +of their husbands during their absence in Troy; the beautiful Chloris +ruled as queen in Pylos. Arete, the beloved wife of Alcinous played an +important part as peacemaker in the kingdom of her husband.”[193] + + [193] Gladstone, _Homeric Studies_, Vol. II, p. 507. + Donaldson, _Woman_, pp. 18-19. + +If we turn to the evidence of the ancient mythology and art, it is +also clear that the number of female deities must be connected with +the early predominance of women in Greece. We have to remember that +“the gods” are shaped by human beings in their own image, and the +status of women on earth is reflected in the status of a goddess. Five +out of the eight divinities of immemorial Greek worship were female, +Hera, Demeter, Persephone, Athene and Aphrodite. In addition there +were numerous lesser goddesses. One must consider also that it was +not uncommon for cities to be named after women; and the Greek stories +seem to point to tribes with totem names. How can these things be +explained, unless we accept a maternal stage? There are numerous other +facts all indicating this same conclusion. We find relationships on +the mother’s side regarded as much more close than those on the +father’s side. In Athens and Sparta a man might marry his father’s +sister, but not his mother’s sister. Lycaon, in pleading with +Achilles, says in order to appease him, that he is not the uterine +brother of Hector. It is also noteworthy to find that the Thebans, +when pressed in war, seek assistance from the Æginetans as their +nearest kin, _recollecting that Thebe and Æginia had been sisters_. A +similar case is that of the Lycaones in Crete, who claimed affinity +with Athens and with Sparta, which affinity was traced through the +mother.[194] + + [194] McLennan, “Kinship in Ancient Greece”; Essay in + _Studies in Ancient History_, pp. 195-246. + +There is much evidence I am compelled to pass over. It must, however, +be noted that there seems clear proof of the maternal form of marriage +having at one time been practised. Plutarch mentions that the +relations between husband and wife in Sparta were at first +secret.[195] The story told by Pausanias about Ulysses’ marriage +certainly points to the custom of the bridegroom going to live with +the wife’s family.[196] In this connection the action of Intaphernes +is significant, who, when granted by Darius permission to claim the +life of a single man, chose her brother, saying that both husband and +children could be replaced.[197] Similarly the declaration of Antigone +that neither for husband nor children would she have performed the +toil she undertook for Polynices[198] clearly shows that the tie of +the common womb was held as closer than the tie of marriage; and this +points to the conditions of the communal clan. + + [195] Plutarch, _Apophthegms of the Lacedæmonians_, LXV. + + [196] Pausanias, III, 20 (10), (Frazer’s translation). + + [197] Herodotus, III, 119. + + [198] Sophocles, _Antigone_, line 905 _et seq._ + +Andromache, when she relates to Hector how her father’s house has been +destroyed, with all who are in it, turns to him and says: “But now, +Hector, thou art my father and gracious mother, thou art my brother, +nay, thou art my valiant husband.”[199] It is easy, I think, to see in +this speech how the early idea of the relationships under mother-right +had been transferred to the husband, as the protector of the woman +conditioned by father-right. As in so many countries, the patriarchal +authority of the husband does not seem to have existed in Greece at +this early stage of development. It may, however, be said that all +this, though proving the high status of women in the prehistoric +period, does not establish the existence of the maternal family. I +would ask: how, then, are these mother-right customs to be explained? +In the later history of Greece, with the family based on patriarchal +authority, all this was changed. We find women occupying a much less +favourable position, their rights and freedom more and more +restricted. In Sparta alone, where the old customs for long were +preserved, did the women retain anything of their old dignity and +influence. The Athenian wives, under the authority of their husbands, +sank almost to the level of slaves.[200] + + [199] _Iliad_, VI, 429-430. + + [200] _The Truth about Woman_, pp. 210-227. + +The patriarchal system is connected closely in our thought with the +Hebrew family, where the father, who is chief, holds grouped under his +despotic sway his wives, their children, and slaves. Yet this Semitic +patriarch has not existed from the beginning; numerous survivals of +mother-right customs afford proof that the Hebrew race must have +passed through a maternal stage. These survivals have a special +interest, as we are all familiar with them in Bible history, but we +have not understood their significance. It is possible to give a few +illustrations only. In the history of Jacob’s service for his wives, +we have clear proof of the maternal custom of _beenah_ marriage. As a +suitor Jacob had to buy his position as husband and to serve Laban for +seven years before he was permitted to marry Leah, and seven years for +Rachel, while six further years of service were claimed before he was +allowed the possession of his cattle.[201] Afterwards, when he wished +to depart with his wives and his children, Laban made the objection, +“these daughters are my daughters, and these children are my +children.”[202] Now, according to the patriarchal custom, Laban’s +daughters should have been cut off from their father by marriage, and +become of the kindred of their husbands. Such a claim on the part of +the father proves the subordinate position held by the husband in the +wife’s family, who retained control over her and the children of the +marriage, and even over the personal property of the man, as was usual +under the later matriarchal custom. Even when the marriage is not in +the maternal form, and the wife goes to the husband’s home, we find +compensation has to be paid to her kindred. Thus when Abraham sought a +wife for Isaac, presents were taken by the messenger to induce the +bride to leave her home; and these presents were given not to the +father of the bride, but to her mother and brother.[203] This is the +early form of purchase marriage, such bridal-gifts being the +forerunners of the payment of a fixed bride-price. We still find +purchase marriage practised side by side with _beenah_ marriage in the +countries where the transitional stage has been reached and +mother-right contends with father-right. But there is stronger +evidence even than these two cases. The injunction in Gen. ii, 24: +“Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall +cleave unto his wife,” refers without any doubt to the early form of +marriage under mother-right, when the husband left his own kindred and +went to live with his wife and among her people. We find Samson +visiting his Philistine wife who remained with her own people.[204] +Even the obligation to blood vengeance rested apparently on the +maternal kinsmen (Judges viii, 19). The Hebrew father did not inherit +from the son, nor the grandfather from the grandson, which points back +to a time when the children did not belong to the clan of the +father.[205] Among the Hebrews individual property was instituted at a +very early period,[206] but various customs show clearly the early +existence of communal clans. Thus the inheritance, especially the +paternal inheritance, must remain in the clan “then shall their +inheritance be added unto the inheritance of the tribe.” Marriage in +the tribe is obligatory for daughters. “Let them marry to whom they +think best; only to the family of the tribe of their father shall they +marry. So shall no inheritance of the children of Israel remove from +tribe to tribe.”[207] We have here an indication of the close relation +between father-right and property. + + [201] Gen. xxx, 18-30; xxxi, 14, 41. + + [202] Gen. xxxi, 43. + + [203] Gen. xxiv, 5, 53. + + [204] Judges xv, 1. + + [205] Numb., xxxii, 8-11. See Letourneau, _Evolution of + Marriage_, p. 326. + + [206] Gen. xxiii, 13. + + [207] Numb. xxxvi, 4-8. + +Under mother-right there is naturally no prohibition against marriage +with a half-sister upon the father’s side. This explains the marriage +of Abraham with Sarah, his half-sister by the same father. When +reproached for having passed his wife off as his sister to the King of +Egypt, the patriarch replies: “For indeed she is my sister; she is the +daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she +became my wife.”[208] In the same way Tamar could have married her +half-brother Amnon, though they were both the children of David: +“Speak to the King, for he will not withhold me from thee.” And it was +her uterine brother, Absalom, who revenged the rape of Tamar by +slaying; afterwards he fled to the kindred of his mother.[209] Again, +the father of Moses and Aaron married his father’s sister, who legally +was not considered to be related to him.[210] Nabor, the brother of +Abraham, took to wife his fraternal niece, the daughter of his +brother.[211] It was only later that paternal kinship became legally +recognised among the Hebrews by the same titles as the natural kinship +through the mother. + + [208] Gen. xii, 10-20. + + [209] 2 Sam. xiii, 13-16 and 37. + + [210] Exod. vi, 20. + + [211] Gen. xi. 26-29. + +It is by considering these survivals of mother-right in connection +with similar customs to be found among existing maternal peoples that +we see their true significance. They warrant us in believing that the +patriarchal family, as we know it among the Hebrews and elsewhere, was +a later stage of an evolution, which had for its starting-point the +communal clan, and that these races have passed through the maternal +phase. We come to understand the change in the privileged position of +women. As the husband and father continued to gain in power, with the +reassertion of individual interests, it was inevitable that the mother +should lose the authority she had held, under the free social +organisation of the undivided clan. + +Traces of a similar evolution of the family may, I am convinced, be +found by all who will undertake an inquiry for themselves. The subject +is one of great interest. So far as my own study goes, I believe that +these survivals of the maternal-group customs may be discovered in the +early history of every people, where the necessary material for such +knowledge is available. I wish it were possible for me even to +summarise all the evidence, direct and inferential, that I have +collected for my own satisfaction. I must reluctantly pass over many +countries I would like to include; some of these--China, Japan, Burma +and Madagascar--have been noticed briefly in _The Truth about +Woman_.[212] There is surprising similarity between the facts; and, +the more of such survivals that can be found, the more the evidence +seems to grow in favour of the acceptance of a universal maternal +stage in the evolution of society. + + [212] See pp. 156-161. + +I must now, before closing this chapter (whose accumulation of facts +may, I fear, have wearied my readers), refer briefly to the races of +barbarous Europe. The point of interest is, of course--how far +mother-right may be accepted, as at one period, having existed. The +earliest direct evidence is the account given by Strabo of the +Iberians of ancient Spain. And first it is important to note that the +Iberians belonged to the Berber race, now widely regarded as the +parent of the chief and largest element in the population of Europe. +There is another fact that must be noted. The general characteristic +of the Berber family seems to have been the privileged position they +accorded to their women, privileges so great that we meet with strong +tendencies towards the matriarchate. This last is still in force among +the Touaregs of the Sahara; and there are as well numerous traces of +its former existence among the neighbouring Kabyles, though there the +most rigorous patriarchate has replaced the maternal family.[213] We +have seen, too, that in ancient Egypt, where the Berbers were largely +represented, women enjoyed a position of extraordinary freedom and +authority. + + [213] Letourneau, _op. cit._ 328. + +Bearing this in mind, we may accept the statement of Strabo: “Among +the Cantabrians usage requires that the husband shall bring a dower to +his wife, and the daughters inherit, being charged with the marriage +of their brothers, which constitutes a kind of gynæcocracy.” There is +possibly some exaggeration in the term gynæcocracy; yet if there is no +proof of “rule by women,” there can be no doubt that, through the +system of female inheritance, property was held by them, and this must +certainly have given them the power always involved by the possession +of wealth. + +The freedom of the women of ancient Spain is sufficiently indicated by +the fact that they took part in the activities usually considered as +belonging to men. It was these women who played their part in driving +back the Roman legions from the mountainous districts of northern +Spain; we read of them fighting side by side with men, where they used +their weapons with courage and determination. They received their +wounds with silent fortitude, and no cry of pain ever escaped their +lips, even when the wounds which laid them low were mortal. To women +as well as men liberty was a possession more valued than life, and, +when taken prisoners, they fell upon their own swords, and dashed +their little ones to death rather than suffer them to live to be +slaves. Nor were the activities of women confined to warfare. Justin +speaks of women as not only having the care of all domestic matters, +but also cultivating the fields. And Strabo, writing of these Amazons, +tells us that they would often step aside out of the furrows “to be +brought to bed,” and then, having borne a child, would return to their +work “just as if they had only laid an egg.” He notes, too, as being +practised among them the _couvade_, whereby the husband, in assertion +of his legal fatherhood, retired to bed when a child was born.[214] + + [214] See in this connection my book, _Spain Revisited_, pp. + 291-304. + +Spain is a land that I know well, and for this reason I have chosen to +write of it in fuller detail. Persistent relics of the early maternal +period even yet may be traced in the customs of this strongly +conservative people. Women are held in honour. There is a proverb +common all over Spain to the effect that “he who is unfortunate and +needs assistance should seek his mother.” Many primitive customs +survive, and one of the most interesting is that by which the eldest +daughter in some cases takes precedence over the sons in inheritance. +Among the Basques, until quite recently, the administration of the +family property passed to the eldest child, whether a boy or a girl; +and in the case of a daughter, her husband was obliged to take the +name of the family and to live in the wife’s home. Spanish women +always retain their own names after marriage, and as far back as the +fourth century we find them at the Synod of Elvira resisting an +attempt to limit this freedom. The practice is still common for +children to use the name of the mother coupled with that of the +father, and even, in some cases, alone, showing a quite unusual +absence of preference for paternal descent. This is very significant. +It explains the recognition given in old Spain to the unmarried +mother; even to-day in no country, that I know, does less social +stigma fall on a child born out of wedlock. The profound Spanish +veneration of the Virgin Mary, as well as the number of female saints, +is another indication of the honour paid to women, which must, I am +certain, be connected with a far back time when goddesses were +worshipped. I would note, too, the fine Spanish understanding of +hospitality. This belongs to the ideals of communal life. I know +nothing to equal it in the common habits of other European countries. +It may be compared with the conditions in the joint-family communities +of the American Indians.[215] + + [215] See pp. 107-109. + +Much more might be said on the position of the Spanish women. I have, +however, written elsewhere of these women,[216] of their intelligence, +and strength, and beauty, and of the active part they take still in +the industrial life of the country. There can be no question that some +features of the maternal customs have left their imprint on the +domestic life of Spain, and this, as I believe, explains how women +here have in certain directions, preserved a freedom of action and +privileges, which even in England have never been established, and +only of late claimed. + + [216] _Spain Revisited; Things Seen in Spain; Moorish + Cities._ + +As we may expect, there is less direct evidence of mother-right in the +other European countries than is the case in conservative Spain. +Dargun, who has written much on this subject,[217] believes that +maternal descent was formerly practised among the Germans. He holds +further “that the ancient Aryans at the time of their dispersion +regarded kinship through the mother as the sole, or chief, basis of +blood-kinship, and all their family rights were governed by this +principle.” There is much conflict of opinion on this matter, and it +would, perhaps, be rash to make any definite statement. We may recall +what Tacitus says of the Germans: + + [217] _Mutterrecht und Raubehe und ihre Reste im Germanischen + Recht und Leben_, Vol. XVI, quoted by Starcke, _The Primitive + Family_, pp. 103 _et seq._ + +“The son of a sister is as dear to his uncle as to his father; some +even think that the first of these ties is the most sacred and close; +and in taking hostages they prefer nephews, as inspiring a stronger +attachment, and interesting the family on more sides.” The same +authority tells us that the Germans of his day met together to take a +clan meal, to settle clan business, _i. e._ for the clan council--and +to arrange marriages. This is strong confirmation of what I am trying +to establish.[218] Further evidence may be gathered from the ancient +religion. There are many Teutonic goddesses, who may well be connected +with the primitive tribal-mothers.[219] Religion here, as so often +elsewhere, would seem to have been symbolised as feminine. Not only +the seers, but the sacrificers among the early Teutons were +women.[220] To this evidence may be added that in Germany up to a late +period the mother could be the guardian of her children; that a wife +had to be bought by the husband, both she and her children remaining +under the guardianship of her father. All this points to mother-right +and the existence of the maternal clan.[221] Let us note also that in +the Slav communities women had the right to vote, and might be elected +to the government of the community. + + [218] _De moribus Germanorum_, XX. See also K. Pearson, _The + Chances of Death_, Vol. II, p. 132. + + [219] Grimm, _Mythologie_, Vol. I, p. 248. + + [220] K. Pearson, _The Chances of Death_, Vol. II, p. 102. + + [221] Starcke, _op. cit._ p. 105, citing Dargun and Grimm. + See also Letourneau, _op. cit._ pp. 339-340. + +It will interest my readers to know that mother-descent must once +have prevailed in Britain. Among the Picts of Scotland kingship was +transmitted through women.[222] Bede tells us that down to his own +time--the early part of the eighth century--whenever a doubt arose as +to the succession, the Picts chose their king from the female rather +than from the male line.[223] There is an ancient legend which +represents the Irish as giving three hundred wives to the Picts, on +the condition that the succession to the crown should always be +through their females-- + + “There were oathes imposed on them, + By the stars, by the earth, + That from the nobility of the mother + Should always be the right to the sovereignty.”[224] + + [222] Giraud-Teulon, _op. cit._ pp. 41-42. + + [223] Bede, II. 1-7. + + [224] McLennan, _Studies_, p. 46. + +Similar traces are found in England: Canute, the Dane, when +acknowledged King of England, married Emma, the widow of his +predecessor, Ethelred. Ethelbald, King of Kent, married his +stepmother, after the death of his father Ethelbert; and, as late as +the ninth century, Ethelbald, King of the West Saxons, wedded Judith, +the widow of his father. Such marriages are intelligible only if we +suppose that the queen had the power of conferring the kingdom upon +her consort, which could only happen where maternal descent was, or +had been, practised. These marriages with the widow of a king were at +one time very common. The familiar example of Hamlet’s uncle is one, +who, after murdering his brother, married his wife and became king. +His acceptance by the people, in spite of his crime, is explained if +it was the old Danish custom for marriage with the king’s widow to +carry the kingdom with it. In Hamlet’s position as avenger, and his +curious hesitancy, we have really an indication of the conflict +between the old and the new ways of descent.[225] + + [225] See Frazer, _Golden Bough_, Part I. _The Magic Art_, + Vol. II, 282-283. + +The Celtic population of Britain preserved the institution of the clan +much longer than the other European races. In Wales and in Ireland, in +particular, communism was strongly established. The clan was +responsible for the crimes of its members, paid the fines, and +received the compensations.[226] There are numerous indications of +mother-right. In Ireland women retained a very high position and much +freedom, both before and after marriage, to a late period: temporary +unions were freely allowed, and customs having the force of law +safeguarded the rights of the wife. “Every woman,” it was said, “is to +go the way she willeth freely.”[227] + + [226] Letourneau, _op. cit._ p. 338. Maine, _Early + Institutions_, pp. 113 _et seq._ + + [227] Rhys and Brynmor-Jones, _The Welsh People_. + +The early Celtic mythologies and folk-records are full of these +survivals. Goddesses are frequent as primeval tribal-mothers. Let me +give one instance. The Irish goddess Brigit (whose attributes at a +later date were transferred to St. Bridget) is referred to in a +ninth-century glossary as--_operum atque artificiorum initia_. She was +the tribal-mother of the Bringantes. Similarly Vote was tribal-mother +of the Burgundians; and the goddess Bil of the Billings, and there are +numerous other cases. In a recent book on _Ulster Folk-lore_,[228] I +have been fortunate enough to find a most interesting passage +referring to the Irish goddess Brigit. I quote it with pleasure as a +fitting ending to this chapter.[229] + + “Now, St. Bridget had a pagan predecessor, Brigit, a poetess + of the Tuatha de Danann, and whom we may perhaps regard as a + female Apollo. Cormac in his _Glossary_ tells us she was a + daughter of the Dagda and a goddess whom all poets adored, + and whose sisters were Brigit the physician and Brigit the + smith. Probably the three sisters represent the same divine, + or semi-divine, person whom we may identify with the British + goddess Brigantia and the Gaulish Brigindo.” + + [228] By E. Andrews, p. 18. + + [229] I would refer the reader to a most interesting article + on “Old English Clans” (_Cornhill_, Sept. 1881); this I had + not read when I wrote this chapter. The author holds that the + clan system was once common to the whole Aryan race. In the + Teutonic stock its memory died out in an early stage of + development, owing to the strong individuality of the + Teutonic mind. Yet it has left behind it many traces. + Numerous examples are given. Perhaps the most interesting is + the evidence showing that totemism seems to have existed; the + clan names being taken from animals or plants. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE SURVIVALS OF MOTHER-RIGHT IN FOLK-LORE, IN HEROIC LEGENDS, AND IN +FAIRY STORIES + + +In the preceding chapter we have found the former existence of the +maternal family, or some indication of it, in the early records of +many races, proving this by numerous survivals of customs entirely at +variance with the patriarchal conditions. Should it be thought that +this claim has not been supported by sufficient evidence, I must plead +the difficulties of such an inquiry. My survey has been very +incomplete. I am certain, however, that these survivals will be +recognised by any one who will undertake for themselves the collection +and interpretation of the facts from the records of the past. + +There is a point to consider here. The absence, or rather the rarity, +of mother-right survivals in some civilisations cannot be counted as +proof that the maternal system never existed. As I have shown in the +earlier chapters of this book, the mother-age was a transitional +stage, between the very early brute-conditions of the family and the +second firmly established patriarchate. Now, it is clear that the +customs of a transitional stage are very likely to disappear; they are +also very likely to be mistaken. Bearing this in mind, the number of +survivals that do occur are, I hold, extraordinary, and, indeed, +impossible to account for if the maternal family was not a universal +stage in the development of society. Moreover, I am certain from my +own study that these survivals are of much wider occurrence than is +believed, but as yet the facts are insufficiently established. + +It now remains to consider a new field of inquiry; and that is the +abundant evidence of mother-right to be found in folk-lore, in heroic +legends, and in the fairy-stories of our children. There is a special +value in these old-world stories, that date back to a time long before +written history. They belong to all countries in slightly different +forms. We have regarded them as fables, but there was never a fable +that did not arise out of truth--not, of course, the outside truth of +facts, but from that inward truth of the life and thought of a people, +which is what really matters. I cannot, then, do better than conclude +the evidence for the mother-age by referring to some few of these +myths and legends. + +In order to group the great mass of material I will take first the +creation myths. One only out of many examples can be given. The Zuñi +Indians, who, it will be remembered, are a maternal people, give this +account of the beginning of the world. We read how the Sun-god, +withdrawing strength from his flesh, impregnated the great waters, +until there arose upon them, waxing wide and weighty, the “Fourfold +Mother-earth” and the “All-covering Father-sky.” + + “From the lying together of these twain, upon the great + world water, so vitalising, life was conceived, whence began + all beings of the earth, men and creatures, in the four-fold + womb of the world. Thereupon the Earth-mother repulsed the + Sky-father, growing big and sinking deep into the embrace of + the waters below, thus separated from the Sky-father, in the + embrace of the waters above.” The story states, “Warm is the + Earth-mother and cold the Sky-father, even as woman is warm + and man is cold.” Then it goes on, “‘So is thy will,’ said + the Sky-father, ‘yet not alone shalt thou helpful be unto + our children’;” and we learn how the Sky-father assisted the + Earth-mother. “Thus in other ways, many diversed, they + worked for their offspring.”[230] + + [230] Cushing, _Zuñi Creation Myths_. + +There is one reflection only I desire to offer on this most beautiful +maternal version of the creation legend. Here we find complete +understanding of the woman’s part; she is the one who gives life; she +is the active partner. The Sky-father is represented as her agent, her +helper. Why should this be? Contrast this idea with the patriarchal +creation story of the Bible. + + “And the Lord God said, It is not good that man should be + alone; I will make him an help meet for him.... And the Lord + God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; + and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead + thereof: and the rib which the Lord God had taken from the + man made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And the + man said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my + flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out + of Man.”[231] + + [231] Gen. ii, 18, 21-23. + +I would again assert my strong belief that in the religious conception +of a people we find the true thoughts and the customs of the period in +which they originated. A patriarchal people could not have given +expression to a creation myth in which the female idea prevailed, and +the mother, and not the father, was dominant. For men have ever +fashioned the gods in their own human image, endowing them with their +thoughts and actions. The sharp change in the view of woman’s part in +the relationship of the sexes is clearly symbolised in these creation +myths. Yes, it marks the degradation of woman; she has fallen from the +maternal conception of the feminine principle, guiding, directing, and +using the male, to that of the woman made for the man in the +patriarchal Bible story. + +Another group of legends that I would notice refer to the conflict +between the right of the mother and that of the father in relation to +the children. These stories belong to a period of transition. In +ancient Greece, as we have seen, the paternal family succeeded the +maternal clan. In his _Orestia_, Æschylus puts in opposition before +Pallas Athene the right of the mother and the right of the father. +The chorus of the Eumenides, representing the people, defends the +position of the mother; Apollo pleads for the father, and ends by +declaring, in a fit of patriarchal delirium, that _the child is not of +the blood of the mother_. “It is not the mother who begets what is +called her child; she is only the nurse of the germ poured into her +womb; he who begets is the father. The woman receives the germ merely +as guardian, and when it pleases the gods, she preserves it.” Plato +also brings forward this view, and states that the mother contributes +nothing to the child’s being. “The mother is to the child what the +soil is to the plant; it owes its nourishment to her, but the essence +and structure of its nature are derived from the father.” Again the +Orestes of Euripides takes up the same theory, when he says to +Tyndarus: “My father has begotten me, and thy daughter has given birth +to me, as the earth receives the seed that another confides to it.” +Here we trace a different world of thoughts and conceptions; the +mother was so little esteemed as to be degraded into the mere +nourisher of the child. These patriarchal theories naturally +consecrated the slavery of woman.[232] + + [232] McLennan, _Studies_, “Kinship in Ancient Greece”; + Letourneau, _Evolution of Marriage_, pp. 336-337, and + Starcke, _The Primitive Family_, pp. 115-116. + +Another point strikingly illustrated by many of these ancient legends +is the struggle for power between the two sexes--a struggle that would +seem to have been present at all stages of civilisation, but always +most active in periods of transition. One out of many examples is all +that I can give. In Hawaii, worship is given to the goddess Pele, the +personification of the volcano Kilauea, and the god Tamapua, the +personification of the sea, or rather, of the storm which lashes the +sea and hurls wave after wave upon the land. The myth tells that +Tamapua wooed Pele, who rejected his suit, whereupon he flooded the +crater with water, but Pele drank up the water and drove him back into +the sea.[233] + + [233] Starcke, pp. 249-250, citing Bachofen’s _Antiquarische + Briefe_, Vol. I, p. 140. + +Here a brief digression into the early mythologies may be made, +although this question of the connection between mother-right and +religious ideas is one on which I have already enlarged. The most +primitive theogony is that of Mother-Earth and her son. Goddesses are +at first of greater importance than gods. The Earth-mother springs +from chaos, and in the beginning her children have no father.[234] +Traces of such a goddess are to be found in many ancient religions. +Afterwards as a modification, or rather a development, of the +Earth-mother, we have the goddesses of fertility. This idea arose with +the development of agriculture, and was closely connected in the +primitive mind with the sex functions. Demeter is of this type; and +there are many of these mother-deities who once were universally +worshipped. Virgin goddesses are a much later creation, and must be +connected with the patriarchal ideals for women. The original god-idea +symbolised as woman is the free mother; she is the source of all +fertility; she is the goddess of love. The servants of these goddesses +were priestesses, or at a later date men dressed as women. At first +the gods, in so far as they had any existence, appear in the form of +temporary lovers of the goddesses; they are very plainly the +transitory male element needful for fertilisation, and then destined +to disappear.[235] We find very early the brother as the husband and +dependent of the Mother-goddess. Thus Isis did not change or lose her +independent position after her marriage to her brother Osiris; her +importance as a deity remained always greater than his.[236] Only at a +much later stage--the patriarchal stage--was the wandering lover-god +or dependent brother-spouse raised to the position of authority of the +All-Father. We may find in the religious sexual festivals, common to +all civilisations, abundant confirmation of these facts. As one +illustration out of many that might be chosen, I will refer to the +account given by Prof. K. Pearson[237] of the festival of Sakäēs, held +in Babylon in honour of the great goddess Mylitta, who was essentially +a mother-goddess of fertility. The festival lasted for five days in +the month of July. It was presided over by the priestess of the +goddess, who represented the goddess herself. She sat enthroned on a +mound which for the time was the sanctuary of the deity, with the +altar with oil and incense before her. To her came the god-lover +represented by a slave, who made homage and worshipped. From her he +received the symbols of kingly power, and she raised him to the throne +by her side. As her accepted lover and lord of the festival, he +remained for five days, during which the law of the goddess prevailed. +Afterwards on the fifth day the god-lover was sacrificed on the pyre. +The male element had performed its function. + + [234] K. Pearson, _Chances of Death_, Vol. II, Essays on the + Mother-age Civilisation, etc. Many of the facts given in this + chapter are taken from these illuminative essays. + + [235] K. Pearson, _Ibid._, p. 102. + + [236] _The Truth about Woman_, p. 198. + + [237] _Ibid._, pp. 109-110. + +I cannot leave this subject without emphasising the importance of +these erotic-religious festivals, once of universal occurrence. They +afford the strongest evidence of the early privileged position of +women in the relationships between the two sexes. It is, I think, +impossible to avoid giving to this a matriarchal interpretation. For +it is by contrasting the religious-sex standpoints of the maternal and +the paternal ideals that the inferior position of women under the +later system can be demonstrated. Moreover, in much later periods, and +even to our own day, we may yet find broken survivals of the old +customs. Illustrations are not far to seek in the common festivals of +the people in Germany and elsewhere, and as I have myself witnessed +them in Spain, a land which has preserved its old customs much more +unchanged than is usual.[238] One example may be noted in England, +which would seem to have a very ancient origin; it is given by Prof. +K. Pearson.[239] “The Roman _Lupercalia_ held on February 15 was +essentially a worship of fertility, and the privileges supposed to be +attached to women in our own country during this month--especially on +February 14 and 29--are probably fossils of the same sex-freedom.” + + [238] See _Spain Revisited_, and _Things Seen in Spain_. + + [239] _Ibid._, p. 158. + +Passing again to the old legends, we find not a few that attempt to +account for both the rise and the decline of the custom of maternal +descent. I will give an example of each. Newbold relates that in +Menangkabowe, where the female line is observed, it is accounted for +by this legend-- + + “Perpati Sabatang built a magnificent vessel, which he + loaded with gold and precious stones so heavily that it got + aground on the sands at the foot of the fiery mountains, and + resisted the efforts of all the men to get it off. The sages + were consulted, and declared that all attempts would be in + vain until the vessel had passed over the body of a pregnant + woman. It happened that the Rajah’s own daughter was in the + condition desired; she was called upon to immolate herself + for the sake of her country, but refused. At this juncture + the pregnant sister of the Rajah boldly stepped forward, and + cast herself beneath the prow of the vessel, which instantly + put itself in motion, and again floated on the waves without + injury to the princess. Whereupon the Rajah disinherited the + offspring of his disobedient daughter in favour of the child + of his sister, and caused this to be enrolled in the + records of the empire as the law of succession in time to + come.”[240] + + [240] Newbold, _Account of the British Settlements in the + Straits of Malacca_, Vol. II, p. 221. + +The second illustration is taken from the quarrel between Pallas +Athene and Poseidon to which already I have referred. The myth tells +us-- + + “A double wonder sprang out of the earth at the same + time--at one place the olive tree and at another water. The + people in terror sent to Delphi to ask what should be done. + The god answered that the olive tree signified the power of + Athene, and the water that of Poseidon; and that it remained + with the burgesses to choose after which of the two they + would name their town. An assembly was called of the + burgesses, both men and women, for it was then the custom to + let the women take part in the public councils. The men + voted for Poseidon, the women for Athene; and as there were + more women than men by one, Athene conquered. Thereupon + Poseidon was enraged, and immediately the sea flowed over + all the lands of Athens. To appease the sea-god, the + burgesses found it necessary to impose a threefold + punishment on their wives. They were to lose their votes; + the children were to receive no more the mother’s name, and + they themselves were no longer to be called after the + goddess.”[241] + + [241] McLennan, _Studies_, “Kinship in Ancient Greece,” p. + 235. + +The origin of these myths is perfectly clear. There is no reason to +force their interpretation by regarding them as historical evidence of +a struggle taking place between the maternal and the paternal custom +of tracing descent;[242] rather they are poetical explanations, +plainly invented to account for women’s predominance at a time when +such power had come to be considered as unusual. The same may be said +of many of these old myths. Man’s fancy begins to weave poetic +inventions around anything he considers abnormal or is not able to +understand. The idea or custom for which an explanation is being +sought must, however, have been present for long in the common life +and thought of the people. Without realising this, all these old +stories become unintelligible. I believe they have been greatly +misinterpreted in the thought of writers bound by patriarchal ideas. + + [242] This is done by Bachofen, and also, to some extent, by + McLennan. + +The limitation of my space does not allow me to enter into the great +amount of evidence provided by these mythical stories of the +privileged position of women. One instance, however, may be referred +to as an illustration. We find a wide range of stories connected with +the mythical Amazons. Now, if I am right, the frequency of these +legends among so many races points to the acceptance of the Amazon +heroines as an historical fact. Fancy, without doubt, wove the details +of their stories, occurrences would be chosen or imagined to give +colour to the narratives, but such poetic inventions, with all their +repetitions, all their reproductions of what is practically one +situation, would take only definite form from conditions so impressed +on the popular mind by facts that must have had a real existence. +Bearing this in mind, special significance attaches to a discovery +recently made by Prof. d’Allosso. In the ancient necropolis of +Belmonte, dating from the iron age, are two very rich tombs of women +warriors with war chariots over their remains. Prof. d’Allosso states +that several details given by Virgil of the Amazon Camilla, who fought +and died on the field of battle, coincide with the details on these +tombs. The importance of this discovery is thus very great, as it +certainly seems to indicate what I am claiming--that the existence of +the Amazon heroines, leaders of armies and sung by the ancient poets, +is not a poetic fancy, but an historic reality.[243] + + [243] See _The Truth about Woman_, p. 228. + +I must turn now to the last group of evidence that I am able to bring +forward; to find this we must enter that realm of fancy--the world of +fairyland. We shall see that this land has its own customs, and its +own laws, entirely at variance with all those to which we are +accustomed. How is this to be explained? These stories are founded +really on the life of the common people, and they have come down from +generation to generation, handed on by the storytellers, from a time +long before the day when they were ever collected and written in +books. It is the popular and social character of these stories that is +so important; they are records of customs and habits long forgotten, +but once common in the daily life of the people. In them the past is +potent with life, and for this reason they claim the most careful and +patient study. I speak of the most familiar stories that we have +regarded as foolish fables. Nowhere else can we gain so clear and +vivid a picture of the childhood of civilisation, when women were the +transmitters of inheritance and the guardians of property. + +Let me try to prove this. I have before me a collection of these +folk-stories, gathered from many countries. Now, the most popular +story (whose theme occurs again and again, the details varied in the +different renderings) is concerned with the gaining of a princess as a +bride by a wooer, usually of humble birth. This lover to obtain his +wife achieves some mighty deed of valour, or performs tasks set for +him by the parents of the bride; he thus inherits the kingdom through +the daughter of the king. Hans, faring forth to seek his luck; the +Dummling in the Golden Goose story; the miller’s son, who gained his +bride by the wit of his cat, and Aladdin with his magic lamp are +well-known examples of this story. The Scottish and Irish legends are +particularly rich in examples of these hero lovers. Assipattle, the +dirty ash-lad, who wins the fair Gemdelovely and then reigns with her +as queen and king, is one of the most interesting. Similar stories may +be found in the folk-lore of every country. Ash-lad figures in many of +the Norwegian tales. There is a charming version in the Lapp story of +the “Silk Weaver and her husband,” where we read, “Once upon a time a +poor lad wooed a princess and the girl wanted to marry him, but the +Emperor was against the match. Nevertheless she took him at last and +they were wed together.”[244] + + [244] K. Pearson, _The Truth about Woman_, p. 70 _note_. + +This “fairy theory” of marriage is really the maternal or _beenah_ +form: such a marriage as was made by Jacob and is still common among +all maternal peoples. The inheritance passes through the daughters; +the suitors gain their position by some deed of valour or by service +done for the bride’s family; sometimes it is the mother who sets the +task, more often it is the father, while, in some cases, the girl +herself imposes the conditions of marriage. It is possible to trace a +development in these stories. We can see the growth of purchase-marriage +in the service demanded by the parents of the bride, this taking the +place of the earlier custom of the bridegroom proving his fitness by +some test of strength. Again, those stories in which the arrangement +of the marriage remains with the mother or with the girl, and not with +the father, must be regarded as the older versions. This change +appears also in the conditions of inheritance; in some cases the +kingdom passes at once with the bride, in others the half of the +kingdom is the marriage portion, while in the later stories the full +authority to rule comes only after the death of the king. But always +sooner or later the daughter of the king conveys the kingdom to her +husband. The sons of the king do not inherit; they are of much less +importance than the daughters; they are sent forth to seek their own +fortunes. This is the law where the inheritance passes through the +daughter. + +This law of female inheritance must at one time have been universal. +We are brought, indeed, constantly back to that opinion--so amply +evidenced by these folk-relics. In the old West country ballad “The +Golden Vanity” or “The Lowland’s Low,” the boy who saves the ship from +the Spanish pirate galleon is promised as a reward “silver and gold, +with the skipper’s pretty little daughter who lives upon the shore.” +Similarly in the well-known folksong “The Farmer’s Boy,” the lad who +comes weary and lame to the farmer’s door, seeking work, eventually +marries the farmer’s daughter and inherits the farm. Again, Dick +Whittington, the poor country lad, who faithfully serves his master in +London, marries his employer’s daughter. This theme is very frequently +found in ballads, romances, and dramas; in all cases the way to +fortune for the lover is through marriage--the daughter carries the +inheritance. + +Let us take Assipattle of the Scottish legend as a type of these hero +wooers. He is represented always as the youngest son, held in contempt +by his brothers, and merely tolerated by his parents. He lies in the +ashes, from which he gains his name. Some emergency arises; a great +danger threatens the land or, more often, a princess has to be +delivered from a position of peril. Assipattle executes the deed, when +his brothers and all others have failed; he frees the land or rescues +the king’s daughter, and is covered with honour. He marries the +princess and inherits the kingdom. Assipattle always begins in the +deepest degradation, and ends on the highest summit of glory. There is +a special interest in this story. The reader will not have failed to +notice the similarity of Assipattle with Cinderella. In both stories +the circumstances are the same, only the Ash-lad has been replaced by +the Cinder-girl. There is no doubt which version is the older:[245] +the one is the maternal form, the other the patriarchal. + + [245] In this connection, see K. Pearson in the essay already + quoted, p. 85 _et seq._ + +The setting of these stories should be noticed. We see the simplicity +of the habits and life so vividly represented. All folk-legends deal +with country people living near to nature. So similar, indeed, are the +customs depicted throughout that these folk-records might well be +taken as a picture of the social organisation among many barbarous +tribes. I should like to wait to point out these resemblances, such, +for instance, as the tendency to personify natural objects, the +identification of human beings with animals and trees, found so often +in the stories, as well as many other things--the belief in magic and +the power of wise women. And what I want to make clear is the very +early beginning of these folk-tales; they take us back to the social +institutions of the mother-age. Thus there is nothing surprising to +find that kingdoms and riches are won by hero-lovers, and that +daughters carry the inheritance. This is really what used to happen. +It is our individual ideas and patriarchal customs that make these +things seem so strange. + +I wish I had space in which to follow further these still-speaking +relics of a past, whose interest offers such rich reward. In his essay +“Ashiepattle, or Hans seeks his Luck” (_The Chances of Death_, Vol. +II, pp. 51-91), Prof. Karl Pearson has fully and beautifully shown the +evidence for mother-right to be found in these stories. To this essay +the reader, who still is in doubt, is referred. All that has been +possible to me is to suggest an inquiry that any one can pursue for +himself. It is the difficulty of treating so wide and fascinating a +subject in briefest outline that so many things that should be noticed +have to be passed over. + +The witness afforded by these folk-stories for mother-right cannot be +neglected. For what interpretation are we to place on the curious +facts they record? Are we to regard this maternal marriage with +descent through the daughter, and not the son, as idle inventions of +the storytellers? Do these princesses and their peasant wooers belong +to the topsy-turvy land of fairies? No: in these stories, drawn from +so many various countries, we have echoes of a very distant past. It +is by placing the customs here represented by the side of similar +social conditions still to be found among primitive maternal peoples, +that we find their significance. We then understand that these old, +old stories of the folk really take us back to the age in which they +first took form. We have read these “fairy stories” to our children, +unknowing what they signified--a prophetic succession of witnesses, +pointing us back to the ripening of that phase of the communal family, +before the establishment of the individual patriarchal rule, when the +law was mother-right, and all inheritance was through women. + +I would add to this chapter a notice I have just recently lighted +on[246] of the ancient warrior, Queen Meave of Ireland. She is +represented as tall and beautiful, terrible in her battle chariot, +when she drove full speed into the press of fighting men. Her virtues +were those of a warlike barbarian king, and she claimed the like large +liberty in morals. Her husband was Ailill, the Connaught king; their +marriage was literally a partnership wherein Meave, making her own +terms, demanded from her husband exact equality of treatment. The +three essential qualities on which she insisted were that he should be +brave, and generous, and completely devoid of jealousy. + + [246] “Ancient Irish Sagas,” _Century_, Jan. 1907. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +CONCLUDING REMARKS + + +My investigation of the mother-age might fitly have terminated with +the preceding chapter; but the immense interest which attaches to the +subject, and the amount of misconception which prevails regarding the +origin and conditions of the maternal family, as well as my own +special views upon it, induce me to devote a brief final chapter to a +few observations that to me seem to be important. + +In my little book (which must be regarded rather as a sketch or design +than as a finished work) an attempt has been made to approach the +problem of the primitive family from a new and decisive standpoint. I +am well aware that in certain directions I have crossed the threshold +only of the subjects treated. I hope that at least I have opened up +suggestions of many questions on which I could not dwell at length. +All this may bring the hesitation that leads to further inquiry. And I +believe that those of my readers who will follow out an investigation +for themselves in any direction--either in the collecting of maternal +customs among existing primitive peoples, or in noting the relics of +such customs to be met with in historical records and in folk-lore, +will find an ever increasing store of evidence, and that then the +discredited mother-age, with its mother-right customs, will become for +them what it is for me, a necessary and accepted stage in the +evolution of human societies. + +Many of the conclusions to which I have come are so completely opposed +to those which generally have been accepted as correct, that now, I am +at the end of my inquiry it will be well to sum up briefly its result. + +The facts I have so rapidly enumerated have a very wide bearing; they +serve to destroy the accepted foundations on which the claim for +mother-right has hitherto been based. The first stage of the family +was patriarchal. All the evidence we possess tends to show that +tracing descent through the mother was not the primitive custom. +Throughout my aim has been to bring into uniformity the opposing +theories of the primeval patriarchate and the maternal family. The +current view, so often asserted, and manifestly inspired by a +Puritanical ideal, insists that mother-descent arose through uncertain +fatherhood, and was connected with an early period of promiscuous +relationships between the two sexes. This view has been proved to be +entirely wrong. The system of maternal descent was a system framed for +order, and had in its origin, at least, no connection with sexual +disorder. Further than this, it is certain that marriage in some form +has always existed, and that the sexual relationships have never been +unregulated. We must renounce any theory of primitive promiscuity. +And there is more than this to be said. Such freedom in love and in +marriage as we do find in barbarous societies is so strong a proof of +friendly feeling and security that it is certain it could not have +existed in the first stage of the jealous patriarchate; rather it must +have developed at a subsequent period with the growth of the +social-tribal spirit, and the liberty of women from the thrall of +sexual ownership. In these particulars my opinion differs from all +other writers who have sought to establish a theory of matriarchy. I +venture to claim that the position of the mother-age has been +strengthened, and, as I hope, built up on surer foundations. + +Let us cast a brief glance backward over the way that we have +travelled. + +Our most primitive ancestors, half-men, half-brutes, lived in small, +solitary and hostile family groups, held together by a common +subjection to the strongest male, who was the father and the owner of +all the women, and their children. There was no promiscuity, for there +could be no possible union in peace. Here was the most primitive form +of jealous ownership by the male, as he killed or drove off his +rivals; his fights were the brutal precursors of all sexual +restrictions for women. These customs of brute ownership are still in +great measure preserved among the least developed races. This explains +how there are many rude peoples that exhibit no traces at all of the +system of mother-descent. In the lowest nomad bands of savages of the +deserts and forests we find still these rough paternal groups, who +know no social bonds, but are ruled alone by brute strength and +jealous ownership. With them development has been very slow; they have +not yet advanced to the social organisation of the maternal clan. + +From these first solitary families, grouped submissively around one +tyrant-ruler, we reach a second stage out of which order and +organisation sprang. In this second stage the family expanded into the +larger group of the communal clan. The upward direction of this +transformation is evident; the change was from the most selfish +individualism to a communism more or less complete--from the +primordial patriarchate to a free social organisation, all the members +of which are bound together by a strict solidarity of interests. The +progress was necessarily slow from the beginning to this first phase +of social life. Yet the change came. With the fierce struggle for +existence, association was the only possible way, not only to further +progress, but to prevent extermination. + +It has been shown that the earliest movements towards peace came +through the influence of the women, for it was in their interest to +consolidate the family, and, by means of union, to establish their own +power. Collective motives were more considered by women, not at all +because of any higher standard of feminine moral virtue, but because +of the peculiar advantages arising to themselves and to their +children--advantages of freedom which could not exist in a society +inspired by individual inclination. And for this reason the clan +system may be considered as a feminine creation, which had special +relation to motherhood. Under this influence, the marital rights of +the male members were restricted and confined. A system of taboos was +established, which as time advanced was greatly strengthened by the +sacred totem marks, and became of inexorable strictness. In this way +association between the jealous fighting males was made possible. + +Here, then, are the reasons that led to the formation of the maternal +family and the communal clan. It was a movement that had nothing about +it that was exceptional; it was a perfectly natural arrangement--the +practical outgrowth of the practical needs of primitive peoples. The +strong and certain claim for the acceptance for the mother-age, with +its privileged position for women, rests on this foundation. + +Let us be quite clear as to the real question involved, for it is a +crucial one. I refer to the complete disturbance arising through this +change in the family organisation in the relationships between the two +sexes. A wife was no longer the husband’s property. Her position was +unchanged by marriage, for her rights were safeguarded by her kindred, +whose own interests could be protected only through her freedom. + +If we turn next to the status of men--of the husband and father--in +the maternal kindred group, we find their power and influence at first +gradually, and then rapidly, decreasing. It was under these conditions +of family communism that the rights of the husband and father were +restricted on every side. Not only does he not stand out as a +principal person from the background of the familial clan; he has not +even any recognised social existence in the family group. This +restriction of the husband and father was clearly dependent on the +form of marriage. We have seen that the individual relationships +between the sexes began with the reception of temporary lovers by the +woman in her own home. But a relationship thus formed would tend under +favourable circumstances to be continued, and, in some cases, +perpetuated. The lover became the husband; he left the home of his +mother to reside with his wife among her kin; he was still without +property or any recognised rights in her clan, with no--or very +little--control over the woman and none over her children, occupying, +indeed, the position of a more or less permanent guest in her hut or +tent. The wife’s position and that of her children was assured, and in +the case of a separation it was the man who departed, leaving her in +possession. + +Under such an organisation the family and social customs were in most +cases--and always, I believe, in their complete maternal +form--favourable to women. Kinship was reckoned through the mother, +since in this way alone could the undivided family be maintained. The +continuity of the clan thus depending on the women, they were placed +in a very special position of importance, the mother was at least the +nominal head of the household, shaping the destiny of the clan through +the aid of her clan-kindred. Her closest male relation was not her +husband, but her brother and her son; she was the conduit by which +property passed to and from them. Often women established their own +claims and all property was held by them; which under favourable +circumstances developed into what may literally be called a +matriarchate. In all cases the child’s position was dependent entirely +on the mother and not on the father. Such a system of inheritance may +be briefly summarised as “mother-right.” + +There is another matter to notice. Every possible experiment in sexual +association has been tried, and is still practised among various +barbarous races, with very little reference to those moral ideas to +which we are accustomed. It is, however, very necessary to remember +that monogamy is frequent and indeed usual under the maternal system. +We have seen many examples where, with complete freedom of separation +held by the wife, lasting and most happy marriages are the rule. When +the husband lives with his wife in a dependent position to her family +he can do so only in the case of one woman. For this reason polygamy +is much less deeply rooted under the conditions in which the communal +life is developed than in patriarchal communities. In the complete +maternal family it is never common, and is even prohibited.[247] + + [247] It is significant that in Sumatra polygamy occurs with + the _djudur_ marriages, where the wife is bought and lives + with her husband, while it is unknown in the maternal + marriages. It is frequent in Africa and elsewhere, when the + marriage is not the maternal form. + +As we might expect, the case is quite opposite with polyandry. This +form of marriage has evident advantages for women when compared with +polygamy; it is also a form that requires a certain degree of social +civilisation. It clearly involves the limitation of the individual +marital rights of the husband. Polyandry in the joint family group was +not due to a licentious view of marriage; far otherwise, it was an +expression of the communism which is characteristic of this +organisation. This fact has been forgotten by many writers, who have +regarded this form of the sexual relationships as a very primitive +development, connected with group-marriage and promiscuous ownership +of women. It is very necessary to be clear on this point. Under the +maternal conditions, nothing is more certain than the equality of +women with men in all questions of sexual morality. In proof of this +it is necessary only to recall the facts we have noted. We find little +or no importance attached to virginity, which in itself indicates the +absence of any conception of the woman as property. Thus no +bride-price is claimed from the husband, who renders service in proof +of his fitness as a lover, not to gain possession of the bride. The +girl is frequently the wooer, and, in certain cases, she or her mother +imposes the conditions of the marriage. After marriage the free +provision for divorce (often more favourable to the wife than to the +husband) is perhaps of even greater significance. There can, I think, +be no doubt that this freedom in love was dependent on the wife’s +position of security under the maternal form of marriage. + +I hold that the facts brought forward entitle us to claim that the +maternal communal clan was an organisation in which there was a freer +community of interest, far more fellowship in labour and partnership +in property, with a resulting liberty for woman, than we find in any +patriarchal society. For this reason, shall we, then, look back to +this maternal stage as to a golden period, wherein was realised a free +social organisation, carrying with it privileges for women, which even +to-day among ourselves have never been established, and only of late +claimed? It is a question very difficult to answer, and we must not in +any haste rush into mistakes. We found that the mother-age was a +transitional stage in the history of the evolution of society, and we +have indicated the stages of its gradual decline. It is thus proved to +have been a less stable social system than the patriarchate which +again succeeded it, or it would not have perished in the struggle with +it. Must we conclude from this that the one form of the family is +higher than the other--that the superior advantage rests with the +patriarchal system? Not at all: rather it proves how difficult is the +struggle to socialise. Human nature tends so readily towards +individualism; it yields itself up to the joy of possession whenever +it is possible. + +The impulse to dominate by virtue of strength or property possession +has manifested itself in every age. It cannot be a matter of surprise, +therefore, that at this period of social development a rebellion arose +against the customs of maternal communism. Within the large and +undivided family of the clan the restricted family became gradually +re-established by a reassertion of individual interests. In proportion +as the family gained in importance (which would arise as the struggle +for existence lessened and the need of association was less +imperative) the interest of the individual members would become +separated from the group to which they belonged. Each one would +endeavour to get himself as large a share as possible of what was +formerly held in common. As society advanced property would increase +in value, and the social and political significance of its possession +would also increase. Afterwards, when personal property was acquired, +each man would aim at gaining a more exclusive right over his wife and +children; he would not willingly submit to the bondage of the maternal +form of marriage. + +In the earlier days the clan spirit was too strong, now men had shaken +off, to a degree sufficient for their purpose, the female yoke, which +bound the clan together. We have seen the husband and father moving +towards the position of a fully acknowledged legal parent by a system +of buying off his wife and her children from their clan-group. The +movement arose in the first instance through a property value being +connected with women themselves. As soon as the women’s kindred found +in their women the possibility of gaining worldly goods for +themselves, they began to claim service and presents from their +lovers. It was in this way for economic reasons, and for no moral +considerations that the maternal marriage fell into disfavour. The +payment of a bride-price was claimed, and an act of purchase was +accounted essential. As we have seen, it was regarded as a condition, +not so much of the marriage itself, but of the transference of the +wife to the home of the husband and of the children to his kindred. +The change was, of course, effected slowly; and often we find the two +forms of marriage--the maternal and the purchase-marriage--occurring +side by side. What, however, is certain is that the purchase-marriage +in the struggle was the one that prevailed. + +This reversal in the form of the marriage brought about a +corresponding reversal in the status of women. This is so plain. The +women of the family do not now inherit property, but are themselves +property, passing from the hands of their father to that of a husband. +As purchased wives they are compelled to reside in the husband’s house +and among his kin, who have no rights or duties in regard to them, and +where they are strangers. In a word, the wife occupies the same +position of disadvantage as the man had done in the maternal marriage. +And her children kept her bound to this alien home in a much closer +way than the husband could ever have been bound to her home. The +protection of her own kindred was the source of the woman’s power and +strength. This was now lost. The change was not brought about without +a struggle, and for long the old customs contended with the new. But +as the patriarchate developed, and men began to gain individual +possession of their children by the purchase of their mothers, the +father became the dominant power in the family. Little by little +individual interests prevailed. Moral limits were set up. Women’s +freedom was threatened on every side as the jealous ownership, which +always arises wherever women are regarded as property, asserted +itself. Mother-right passed away, remaining only as a tradition, or +preserved in isolated cases among primitive peoples. The patriarchal +age, which still endures, succeeded. + +Yet in this connection it is very necessary to remember that the +reassertion of the patriarchate was as necessary a stage in human +development as the maternal stage. Whatever may have been the +advantages arising to women from the clan organisation (and that the +advantages were great I claim to have proved) such conditions could +not remain fixed for ever. For society is not stable; it cannot be, as +the need for adjustment is always arising, and at certain stages of +development different tendencies are active. No one cause can be +isolated, and, therefore, it is necessary in estimating any change to +take a synthetic view of many facts that are contemporaneous and +interacting. Yet, it would seem that the social and domestic habits of +a people are decided largely by the degree of dominance held either by +women or men; and almost everything else depends on the accurate +adjustment of the rights of the two sexes. + +The social clan organised around the mothers carried mankind a long +way--a way the length of which we are only beginning to realise. But +it could not carry mankind to that family organisation from which so +much was afterwards to develop. It was no more possible for society to +be built up on mother-right alone than it is possible for it to remain +permanently based on father-right. + +But there is another aspect of this question that I must briefly touch +upon. The opinion that the reversal in the position of authority of +the mother and the father arose from male mastery, or was due to any +unfair domination on the part of the husband must be set aside. To me +the history of the mother-age does not teach this. I believe that the +change to the individual family must have been regarded favourably by +the women themselves, for such a change could not have arisen, at all +events it would not have persisted, if women, with the power they then +enjoyed, had not desired it. Nor need this bring any surprise. An +arrangement that would give a closer relationship in marriage and the +protection of a husband for herself and her children may well have +come to be preferred by the wife. Nor do I think it unlikely that she, +quite as strongly as the man, may have desired to live apart from her +mother and her kindred in her husband’s home. Individual interests are +not confined to men. + +With all the evils father-right has brought to women, we have got to +remember that the woman owes the individual relation of the man to +herself and her children to the patriarchal system. The father’s +right in his children (which, unlike the right of the mother, was not +founded upon kinship, but rested on the quite different and insecure +basis of property) had to be re-established. Without this being done, +the family in its complete development was impossible. The survival +value of the patriarchal age consists in the additional gain to the +children of the father’s to the mother’s care. I do not think this +gain will ever be lost. We women need to remember this lest bitterness +stains our sense of justice. It may be that progress could not have +been accomplished otherwise; that the cost of love’s development has +been the enslavement of women. If so, then women will not, in the long +account of Nature, have lost in the payment of the price. They may be +(when they come again to understand their power) better fitted for +their refound freedom. + +Such is the history of the past, what is the promise of the future? + +We have traced three stages in the past evolution of the family--two +individual and patriarchal, one communal and maternal. Is the +patriarchal stage, then, the final stage? Has the upward growth, ever +yet continuous, been arrested here? The social ideal of the mother-age +was a transition and a dream--but as a moment of peace in the records +of struggle, following the bloody opening drama in man’s history, and +then passing into a forgetfulness so complete that its existence by +many has been denied. Yet the feet of the race were in the way, +though men and women let it pass, blindly unknowing. + +Our age is working for scarcely yet formulated changes in the +ownership of property and in the status of women. The patriarchal view +of woman’s subjection to man is being questioned in every direction. +What do these movements indicate? If, as seems probable, the +individual evolution, already for so long continued, is perishing, +what is to take its place? What form will the family take in the +future? These are questions to which it is not possible for me here +even to attempt to find the answer.[248] + + [248] I hope to do so in a future book on _Motherhood_. + +Let us look for a moment in this new direction, the direction of the +future, because it is there that the past becomes so important. In our +contemporary society there is a deep-lying dissatisfaction with +existing conditions, a yearning and restless need for change. We stand +in the first rush of a great movement. It is the day of experiments, +when again the old customs are in struggle with the new. We are +questioning where before we have accepted, and are seeking out new +ways in which mankind will go--will go because it must. + +Social institutions alter very slowly as a rule; for long a change may +pass unnoticed, until one day it is discovered that a step forward has +been taken. Those changes that appear so new and are bringing fear to +many to-day, are but the last consequences of causes that for long +have been operating slowly. The extraordinary enthusiasm now sweeping +through womanhood reveals behind its immediate feverish expression a +great power of emotional and spiritual initiative. Wide and radically +sweeping are the changes in women’s outlook. So much stronger is the +promise of a vital force when they have refound their emancipation. To +this end women must gain economic security, and the freedom for the +full expression of their womanhood. The ultimate goal I conceive--at +least I hope--is the right to be women, not the right to become like +men. There can be no gain for women except this. To be mothers were +women created and to be fathers men. This rightly considered is the +deepest of all truths. + +What is needed at present is that women should be allowed to +rediscover for themselves what is their woman’s work, rather than that +they should continue to accept perforce the rôle which men (rightly or +wrongly) have at various times allowed to them throughout the +patriarchal ages. This necessity is as much a necessity for men as it +is for women. + +I do not think that women will fail (even if for a time they stumble a +little) in finding the way. The vital germinal spot of each forward +step in women’s position must be sought with the women who are the +conscious mothers of the race. The great women reformers are not those +who would have women act just like men in all externals, but those who +are conscious that all men are born of women. In this lies women’s +strength in the past and in this must be their strength in that glad +future that is to be. But only if motherhood is regarded as an +intrinsic glory, and children are born in freedom. Think what this +means. The birth of a child, in so far as its mother has not received +the sanction of a man, is subject to the fire and brimstone of public +scorn. And this scorn is the most pitiful result in all the +patriarchal record. A woman’s natural right is her right to be a +mother, and it is the most inglorious page in the history of woman +that too often she has allowed herself to be deprived of that right. +Women have this lesson first to learn. We, and not men, must fix the +standard in sex, for we have to play the chief part in the racial +life. Let us, then, reacquire our proud instinctive consciousness, +which we are fully justified in having, of being the mothers of +humanity; and having that consciousness, once more we shall be +invincible. + + + + +INDEX + + +A + +Absorption by the male of female ideas, 75 + +Advance of the family to the clan and tribe, 36, 67-91, 170, 256 _et seq._ + +Africa, 174-176, 204-205 + +Agriculture and women, 60 _et seq._, 116, 158, 194-208 + +Ahitas of Philippines, 152 + +Alladians of Gold Coast, 185 + +Allison, Mrs., 198 + +Amazons, 34, 36, 38, 228, 245-246 + +Amazons, revolt of, 31, 32, 36, 38 + +_Ambel-anak_ marriage, 147, 182 + +American aborigines, 27, 95-131, 148, 198, 206 + +Andamanese, women’s work among, 197 + +Andombies, women’s work among, 201 + +Apes, anthropoid, 72, 80, 81 + +Arabia, 178, 206 + +Arabs, 179-180, 189 + +Architects, women as primitive, 117, 203 + +Arruwimi tribe, 201 + +Aryans, mother-descent among, 230 _et seq._ + +Athens, 216, 220 + +Atkinson, Mr., 24, 47, 51, 52, 56, 69, 71, 72, 73, 76, 77, 80, + 81, 82, 84, 85, 86 + +Australia, 102, 167-170, 178 + +Australia, work of women in, 197, 200, 210 + + +B + +Babylon, position of women in ancient, 214-215 + +Bacchanalian festivals, 38, 241, 243 + +Bachofen, 26 _et seq._, 40, 97, 154, 165, 216, 240, 245 + +Bachofen’s theory of matriarchy, 26-44 + +Bancroft, 116, 119, 124, 125, 184 + +Bandelier, 207 + +Banyai tribe, 183 + +Barton, 178 + +Basques, 229 + +Batu tribe, 175 + +Bavili tribe, 185 + +_Beena_ marriage, 178, 182, 183, 223, 248 + +Benefits of marriage law for women, 32 + +Beni-Amer of Africa, 211 + +Berbers, 222-227 + +Bonwick, 195 + +Brewers, women as, 203 + +Bride-price, 159, 184, 190, 260, 263 + +Brute-force of male, 44. + _See_ Father as tyrant. + +Buckley, 197, 198 + + +C + +Californian Redskins, 124 + +Campbell, 183 + +Capture of wives, 51, 64, 74, 80, 83, 169, 181 + +Celts, 233, 234 + +Ceylon, 173, 182 + +Charleroix, 114 + +Chavanne, 160, 161 + +Chivalry, 162 + +Choice in love, the right of the female, 64, 113, 151-153, 177, 260 + +Clan, primitive, 18, 103, 166, 167, 176, 190, 209, 257 _et seq._ + +Communal living, 75, 88, 103 _et seq._, 116, 117 _et seq._, 148 + _et seq._, 154, 166, 174, 231, 256 _et seq._ + +Contrast between the work of women and men, 195 _et seq._ + +Conventional morality, 36 + +Courtship, 45, 120 _et seq._, 151-153. + _See_ Choice in love. + +Couvade, 206, 228 + +Crawley, 47, 77, 82, 95, 96, 209 + +Creek Indians, 118-119 + +Crete, matriarchy in ancient, 216, 217-218, 220 + +Criticism of mother-right, 19, 21, 23, 24, 27, 35, 40, 42, 48, + 95-96, 170, 192, 210, 253 + +Curr, 128 + +Cushing, 117, 237 + + +D + +D’Allosso, Prof., 246 + +Dalton, 133, 152 + +Dances, 100 + +Dargun, 230, 231 + +Darwin, 45 + +_Deega_ marriage, 182 + +De Mailla, 150 + +Deniker, 198 + +Dennett, 185 + +Dependence of the human child, 58 + +Descent through the mother, 17, 26, 33, 88, 119, 160, 162 _et seq._, + 163-165, 213-214, 220 _et seq._, 224, 227, 230, + 232-233, 249 _et seq._, 257, 258 _et seq._ + +Diodorus, 211, 212 + +Divinities, women as, 136 _et seq._, 154, 214, 217, 219, 229, 231, 240 + +Divorce, 113, 121, 141-143, 157, 179, 206, 260 + +_Djudur_ marriage, 182, 259 + +Doctors, women as, 203 + +Domestication of animals, 203 + +Duveyrier, 160, 161, 162 + + +E + +Economic matriarchy, 159 _et seq._ + +Egypt, position of women in ancient, 162, 211-214, 227 + +Ellis, Havelock, 153, 192, 199, 201, 203, 205, 215 + +Euripedes, 239 + +Exogamy, 76-77, 87, 119, 123, 135, 141, 154 + +Expansion of the family into the clan, 67 _et seq._, 79 _et seq._, + 86-87, 97, 256 _et seq._ + + +F + +Fairy stories, their evidence for mother-right, 246-252 + +Family, primitive, 41, 48 _et seq._, 54-55, 68 _et seq._, + 168-169, 256 _et seq._ + +Fanti of Gold Coast, 175 + +Father as tyrant, 34, 44, 48, 50, 54, 57, 63, 68, 70, 72, 74, + 81, 83, 168, 255 + +Father the true parent, 38, 39, 239 + +Father-right dependent on purchase, 182 _et seq._, 185-186, 188, + 190, 262-263 + +Female dominance, 35, 111, 133, 156, 159. + _See_ Gynæcocracy. + +Ferrass, Max Henry, 80 + +Fison, 193, 200, 206 + +Folk-lore as evidence of mother-right, 233, 234, 236 _et seq._, 249, 251 + +Food and women, 59 _et seq._ + _See_ Industry and women. + +Forbes, 183 + +Formosans, 150-151 + +Frazer, 133, 179, 187, 215, 220, 233 + +Fuegians, 203 + + +G + +Garos, 151-152 + +Germans, mother-descent among, 230-231 + +Giraud-Teulon, 28, 176, 216 + +Greece, ancient, traces of mother-right in, 216-222 + +Grimm, 231 + +Grote, 216 + +Guinea, 181 + +Gurdon, P. R., 132, 135, 137, 139, 140, 143 + +Gynæcocracy, 27, 30, 34, 38, 97, 112, 133, 156, 159-162, 176 + + +H + +Haddon, 153, 196 + +Haidis, 187 + +Hale, Horatio, 205 + +Hall, J. R., 217, 218 + +Hammurabi, Code of, 214 + +Hartland, 114, 123, 125, 172, 177, 186 + +Hassanyah Arabs, 179-180 + +Haydes, 198 + +Hearne, 178 + +Hebrew patriarchs, 13, 222 _et seq._ + +Heriot, 110, 113, 120 + +Herodotus, 211, 217, 221 + +Herrera, 117 + +Hodgson, 159, 177 + +Hoffman, 208 + +Home, woman’s connection with the, 34-35, 36, 59, 84, 150, + 193 _et seq._, 263 + +Homer, 219 + +Hooker, Sir J., 133 + +Hopis, 122-123 + +Hospitality, American-Indian, 108, 230 + +Howitt, 193, 200 + +Husband as “consort guest,” 15. + _See_ Maternal marriage. + +Husband visiting the wife by night, 81, 83, 140-141, 220, 258 + + +I + +Iberians, mother-right among, 226-227 + +Ibn Batua, 178 + +Illegitimacy, 122, 184, 185, 189 + +Im Thurn, 196, 200 + +Importance of mother-descent, 17, 20, 21, 27, 32-33, 88-89, 99, + 100, 119, 121, 133, 139, 143, 149 + _et seq._, 153, 155, 156, 166, 170, + 173, 175, 258-259, 261 + +Incest, paternal, 79, 176-178 + +India, 102. + _See_ Khasis. + +Indians of Guiana, 195, 200 + +Industry and women, 60-62, 102, 116, 117, 134, 135, 150, 175, 192-208 + + +J + +Jealousy, 45 _et seq._, 51-53, 54, 60, 62, 65, 67, 68, 73, 86, 90, 104, + 157, 170, 191, 253 + +Johnstone, H. H., 201 + +Joint tenement houses, 106, 117, 148-149, 230 + +Joyce. + _See_ Torday. + +Justin, 228 + + +K + +Kaffirs, 203 + +Kamilaroi and Kurnai tribes, 193, 201 + +Kamtschatdals, 203 + +Khasis, 132-146, 177, 218 + +Kingsley, Miss, 175 + +Kinship through women. + _See_ Descent through mother. + +Koochs, 176-177 + +Kubary, 155-156 + +Kurds, 204 + + +L + +Laing, 176 + +Lang, Andrew, 24, 47, 51, 56, 95 + +Legends, 33, 101, 137, 217, 219, 232, 236-240, 243-246 + +Letourneau, 162, 172, 176, 215, 233, 239 + +Liburni tribes, 188, 231 + +Limboltz, 152 + +Limboo tribe, 183 + +Lippert, 176 + +Livingstone, 183 + +Logan, J. R., 133 + +Lyell, Sir Chas., 132, 137 + + +M + +Macdonald, 183, 200 + +McGee, 16, 27, 117, 126, 133, 149, 152, 201 + +McLennan, 26, 27, 33, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 52, 76, 105, 155, 181, + 183, 185, 187, 220, 229, 244, 245 + +McLennan, theory of mother-right, 40 _et seq._ + +Madagascar, 189, 226 + +Maine, Sir H., 18, 223 + +Malay States, 147 _et seq._ + +Malwlo tribe, 185 + +Mang’anja tribe, 188 + +Manyuema tribe, 201 + +Maoris, 186 + +Marsden, 182 + +Marvana Islanders, 180 + +Mason, O., 197, 200, 202 + +Maternal love, 69, 70 _et seq._, 263 + +Maternal marriage, 15, 17, 41, 85, 86, 87, 100, 112 _et seq._, 114, + 119, 123, 127, 147, 149, 158, 166, 176, 177, 183, + 223, 232, 233, 247 _et seq._, 258 + +Matriarchal theory, mistakes in, 15, 16, 19, 39 _et seq._, 90-91, 97, 98. + _See_ Criticism of mother-right. + +Matriarchate. _See_ Gynæcocracy. + +Meave, Queen of Ireland, 252 + +Menomini Indians, 207 + +Monogamy, 119, 122, 123, 125, 149, 259 + +Monopolist desire of male, 186-187. + _See_ Unsocial conduct of males. + +Moore, 152 + +Moral prohibition, primitive, 119. + _See_ Taboos. + +Morgan, 27, 40, 103, 104, 105, 109, 111, 117, 118 + +Müller, 216 + +Musical faculty of women, 161 + + +N + +Naïrs of Malabar, 171-174 + +Newbold, 243 + +New Caledonia, women’s work in, 197 + +New Guinea, 152-153 + +New theory of mother-right, 35, 43-44, 48 _et seq._, 72, 90-91, 96, 97, + 170, 212, 254, 257 + +Nicaraguans, 125 + + +O + +Origin of the human family, 21, 24, 25, 41-42, 50 _et seq._, 77, + 90, 255 _et seq._ + +Origin of the maternal system, 16, 41, 43, 88-89, 166, 257 _et seq._ + +Owen, 115, 197 + +Ownership of children, 115, 141, 183 _et seq._, 187 + + +P + +Pakpatan, 189 + +Pani Kotches, 158-159 + +Papuans of New Guinea, 201 + +Paraguay, 152 + +Parenthood, 37, 268-269 + +Parke, 201 + +Passivity of female in love, 153 + +Patriarchal authority of father, 19, 35, 48, 51, 63, 68, 72, 74, 81. + _See_ Father as tyrant. + +Patriarchal family, 35, 45, 91, 215, 222, 255 _et seq._ + +Patriarchal theory, 24, 26, 35, 45 _et seq._, 254 + +Pearson, K., 231, 240, 241, 243, 248, 250, 251 + +Pecuniary matriarchy, 159 + +Pedangs of Sumatra, 148-150 + +Pelew Islanders, 152-159, 207-208 + +Petherick, 180 + +Picts, mother-descent among, 232 + +Pike, W., 198 + +Plato, 239 + +Plutarch, 216, 220 + +Polyandry, 42, 51, 112, 125, 136, 173, 260 + +Polygamous males, 49, 50, 52 + +Polygamy, 112, 125, 157, 259 + +Polynesians, 203 + +Position of the father, 13, 15, 17, 21, 58 _et seq._, 141, 143, 149, + 165, 170, 173, 191, 225, 238, 242, 257 + +Position of the mother, 13, 15, 17, 21, 58 _et seq._, 111, 165, 176, + 191, 225, 238, 257 + +Position of women, 18, 20, 21, 25, 26, 106, 143, 152, 158, 192, 204, 238 + +Powell, 114, 116 + +Power, 202, 224 + +Pre-matriarchal period, 35, 169, 255 + +Present social and economic condition, 14, 267-269 + +Prevalence of mother-descent, 17, 128-129, 209-210, 233 + +Primal law, 24, 47, 52, 73, 74, 75, 77 + +Promiscuity, 23, 25, 27, 31, 32, 40 _et seq._, 43, 45 _et seq._, 76, 97, + 99, 168, 209-210, 255 + +Property ownership, its importance for women, 43, 45 _et seq._, 77, 97, + 99, 168, 209-210, 255 + +Pueblos, 116 _et seq._, 200, 207 + +Purchase marriage, 124, 177, 182, 233 + +Puritan spirit, 36, 96, 255 + + +Q + +Quissama women, 203 + + +R + +Race, responsibility to, 37, 268-269 + +Ratzel, 206 + +Religions, position of women in primitive, 29, 37, 238, 241. + _See_ Divinities, women as. + +Religious festivals, 241, 242-243 + +Religious myths, 29-30, 33, 236-238 + +Revolt of women, 31, 34, 35, 44, 267 + +Rhys and Brynmor-Jones, 233 + +Riedel, 183 + +Rome, ancient, traces of mother-right in, 215-216 + + +S + +Sai tribe, 123-124 + +Salish tribe, 127 + +Samoa, 187 + +Santals, 177 + +Schellong, 201 + +School craft, 110, 112, 116 + +Semper, 157 + +Senecas. _See_ Iroquois. + +Seri Indians, 126-128 + +Service marriage, 147-150, 184, 222-223 + +Sex antagonism, 36, 55, 264 _et seq._ + +Sexual egoism of male, 61, 67. + _See_ Unsocial conduct of males. + +Sexual freedom for women, 120, 127, 171, 173, 178, 179-180, 260 + +Sexual subjection of female, 53, 63, 68, 189, 191, 265-266 + +Similarity of sexes, 129-131, 218 + +Similkameen Indians, 198 + +Slavs, the clan among the, 231 + +Social conduct of women, 31, 34, 55 _et seq._, 59-65, 68, 70, 72, 75, + 81, 90, 107, 193, 256 _et seq._ + +Social habits, primitive, 23, 49, 58 _et seq._, 67, 81, 107 _et seq._, 170. + _See_ Maternal marriage. + +Soulima women, 176 + +Spain, position of women in, 227-230 + +Sparta, 220, 222 + +Spencer, H., 180 + +Spiritual quality in women, 31, 56, 68 + +Stages in the development of the family, 17, 23, 97, 168, 174, 194, + 254 _et seq._ + + +T + +Taboos, primitive sexual, 73, 77-78, 107, 168, 170, 257 + +Tacitus, 230 + +Tarrahumari Indians, 152 + +Tasmanian women, 195 + +Thebans, 220 + +Thibet, 173 + +Thomas, C., 129 + +Thomas, I. T., 181, 202 + +Thomas, N. W., 95 + +Torday and Joice, 184 + +Torres Straits, women’s work in, 196 + +Totem names, 77,87, 119, 168, 257 + +Touaregs of the Saraha, 159-162, 227 + +Transition period, 12, 23, 151, 169, 184 _et seq._, 187, 235, 261 + +Tribal ancestresses, 135, 155, 226, 231, 233, 234 + +Turner, 188, 197 + +Tylor, 25, 98, 104, 117, 152 + + +U + +Uncertainty of paternity, 27, 41, 42, 99, 141, 254 + +Unsocial conduct of males, 55 _et seq._, 61-64, 68, 71, 72, 75, 90, + 193, 256 + + +V + +Visiting wife in secret, 140-141, 147, 220, 222-223, 258 + +Volti, 123 + + +W + +Wade, 189 + +Waitz-Gerland, 181 + +Wamoimia, 175 + +War and women, 115-116, 197-198, 246 + +Watubela tribe, 183 + +Wayao tribe, 183 + +Wells, Mr. H. G., 24, 52, 192 + +Werner, Alice, 175, 204 + +Westermarck, 18, 35, 42, 47, 76, 95, 99, 125, 152, 168, 209 + +Wheeler, J. M., 152 + +Wilkin, 188, 189 + +Woman as food-giver, 60, 202 _et seq._ + +Woman’s movement, 11 _et seq._, 267-268 + +Women, primitive, not ill-treated by men, 200 _et seq._ + +Women, spiritual superiority, 30 + +Wright, Asher, Rev., 111 + +Wyandots. _See_ Iroquois. + + +Y + +Yahgan of Tierra del Fuego, 198 + +Yaos of Africa, 175 + +Ymer, 157 + +Yokia women of California, 202 + + +Z + +Zuñi Indians, 117-118, 120-122 + +_Richard Clay & Sons, Limited, London and Bungay._ + + + + +_BY THE SAME AUTHOR_ + +THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN + +By C. GASQUOINE HARTLEY + +(Mrs. Walter Gallichan) + +_Fourth Edition 7s. 6d. net_ + +_SOME PRESS OPINIONS_ + +“_The best written and the most profitable of the many recent books +upon the woman’s movement._ It is distinguished alike by the scope of +its learning, the skilful way in which evidence is marshalled, and, +above all, by the independence of thought and temper brought to the +interpretation of the modern issues.... The discussion of sex +differences and of the social problems which spring therefrom shows +not only wide and deep personal acquaintance with modern men and +women, but a singular freedom from some of the squeamishness of +thought and feeling which hampers most discussion ... _an exceedingly +important contribution to the most difficult problem of our and every +other time_.”--J. A. HOBSON in _The Manchester Guardian_. + +“_The book shows a fearless intellectual honesty and a deep sympathy +and tolerance; it is the work of a serious student and of a woman who +knows life as well as libraries...._ The chapter on ‘Sexual +Differences in Mind’ is absorbingly interesting, and based on the +latest research. She writes finely and truly on the absurd and +indecent cruelty of penalising divorce; on the cherished superstition +of feminine passivity in love, and the origin of the chastity taboo on +women with its waste of life and love. She even has a sane and humane +chapter on prostitution, recognising the complexity of its causes, and +the kindness and generosity of these scapegoat women to one another, +as well as their erotic insensibility. _The book should be read by all +educated men and women._ It will probably be greeted with screams of +denunciation from those persons whose hostility forms a hall-mark of +mental honesty and social value.”--_The English Review._ + +“We very heartily commend this remarkable book.... Every chapter +abounds in challenges to thought, and we must thank a woman who has +dared and cared to think and dared to say.”--_The Pall Mall Gazette._ + +“One of the most thoughtful books about women I have yet read.... The +book is certainly of an advanced feminism, yet the author is found +most strongly on the side of marriage, of love, of women’s femininity +as their strength; in fact, of all the things which shallow observers +suppose the woman movement is actively denying.”--_Truth._ + +“Sane, sound, and well reasoned ... she has more capacity than any +other woman writer of the kind we have yet come across for regarding +all questions of sex from the man’s point of view.”--_Glasgow Herald._ + +EVELEIGH NASH, 36 King Street, Covent Garden, London, W.C. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Position of Woman in Primitive +Society, by C. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/31500-0.zip b/31500-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..db4bc4b --- /dev/null +++ b/31500-0.zip diff --git a/31500-8.txt b/31500-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fb292e0 --- /dev/null +++ b/31500-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8093 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Position of Woman in Primitive Society, by +C. Gasquoine Hartley + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Position of Woman in Primitive Society + A Study of the Matriarchy + +Author: C. Gasquoine Hartley + +Release Date: March 4, 2010 [EBook #31500] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POSITION OF WOMAN *** + + + + +Produced by Steven Gibbs, Irma Spehar and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + +THE POSITION OF WOMAN IN PRIMITIVE SOCIETY + + +BY THE SAME AUTHOR + +THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN + +_BOOKS ON ART_ + + A RECORD OF SPANISH PAINTING + THE PRADO (Spanish Series) + EL GRECO " + VELAZQUEZ " + PICTURES IN THE TATE GALLERY + +_BOOKS ON SPAIN_ + + MOORISH CITIES IN SPAIN + THINGS SEEN IN SPAIN + SPAIN REVISITED: A SUMMER HOLIDAY IN GALICIA + SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA (Medival Towns' Series) + CATHEDRALS OF SOUTHERN AND EASTERN SPAIN + + + + + THE + POSITION OF WOMAN + IN PRIMITIVE SOCIETY + + A + STUDY OF THE MATRIARCHY + + + BY + C. GASQUOINE HARTLEY + (MRS. WALTER M. GALLICHAN) + AUTHOR OF "THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN." + + + LONDON + EVELEIGH NASH + 1914 + + + + +DEDICATION + +TO ALL WOMEN + + + "Be not ashamed, women, your privilege includes the rest.... + You are the gates of the body, you are the gates of the soul.... + And I say it is as great to be a woman as to be a man. + And I say there is nothing greater than the mother of men." + + WALT WHITMAN. + + _7 Carlton Terrace, + Child's Hill._ + 1914. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +PART I + +THE PRIMITIVE FAMILY + +CHAP. PAGE + +I INTRODUCTORY 11 + +II AN EXPOSITION OF BACHOFEN'S THEORY OF THE MATRIARCHATE 26 + +III DIFFICULTIES AND OBJECTIONS: AN ATTEMPT TO RECONCILE + MOTHER-RIGHT WITH THE PATRIARCHAL THEORY 45 + +IV DEVELOPMENT IN THE PATRIARCHAL FAMILY AND THE RISE + OF MOTHER-POWER 67 + + +PART II + +THE MOTHER AGE CIVILISATION + +V THE MATRIARCHAL FAMILY AMONG THE AMERICAN INDIANS 95 + +VI THE MATERNAL FAMILY AMONG THE KHASIS 132 + +VII FURTHER EXAMPLES OF THE MATERNAL FAMILY 147 + +VIII MOTHER-RIGHT CUSTOMS AND THE TRANSITION TO FATHER-RIGHT 166 + +IX WOMEN AND PRIMITIVE INDUSTRY 192 + +X TRACES OF MOTHER-RIGHT CUSTOMS IN ANCIENT AND MODERN + CIVILISATION 209 + +XI THE SURVIVALS OF MOTHER-RIGHT IN FOLK-LORE, IN HEROIC + LEGENDS, AND IN FAIRY STORIES 235 + +XII CONCLUDING REMARKS 253 + + + + +PART I + +THE PRIMITIVE FAMILY + + + + +CHAPTER I + +INTRODUCTORY + + +The twentieth century is the age of Woman; some day, it may be that it +will be looked back upon as the golden age, the dawn, some say, of +feminine civilisation. We cannot estimate as yet; and no man can tell +what forces these new conditions may not release in the soul of woman. +The modern change is that the will of woman is asserting itself. Women +are looking for a satisfactory life, which is to be determined from +within themselves, not from without by others. The result is a +discontent that may well prove to be the seed or spring of further +changes in a society which has yet to find its normal organisation. +Yes, women are finding themselves, and men are discovering what women +mean. + +In the present time we are passing through a difficult period of +transition. There are conditions of change that have to be met, the +outcome of which it is very difficult to appreciate. A transformation +in the thought and conduct of women, for which the term "revolution" +is not too strong, is taking place around us; doubtless many +experimental phases will be tried before we reach a new position of +equilibrium. + +This must be. There can be no life without movement. + +The expression, "a transition period," is, of course, only relative. +We often say: This or that is a sign of the present era; and, nine +times out of ten, the thing we believe to be new is in reality as old +as the world itself. In one sense the whole of history is a vast +transition. No period stands alone; the present is in every age merely +the shifting point at which the past and the future meet. All things +move onwards. But the movement sometimes takes the form of a cataract, +at others of an even and almost imperceptible current. This is really +another way of saying that the usually slow and gradual course of +change is, at certain stages, interrupted by a more or less prolonged +period of revolution. The process of growth, from being gradual and +imperceptible, becomes violent and conscious. + +There can be little doubt that what is called the "Woman's Movement," +with its disintegrating influences on social opinion and practice, is +bringing vast and momentous changes in women's attitude towards the +universe and towards themselves. A great motive and an enlarging +ideal, a quickening of the woman's spirit, a stirring dream of a new +order--these are what we have gained. We are carried on, though as yet +we know not whither, and there is, of necessity, a little stumbling of +our feet as we seek for a way. Hence the fear, always tending to arise +in periods of social reconstruction, which is felt by many to-day as +women pass out far beyond the established boundaries prescribed for +their sex. + +Whoever reflects soberly on the past history of women will not be +surprised at their present movement towards emancipation. Women are +reclaiming a position that is theirs by natural right--a position +which once they held. It may be all very well for those who accept the +authority and headship of the man as the foundation of the family and +of society, to be filled with bewildered fear at what seems to them to +be a quite new assertion of rights on the part of the mothers of the +race. But has the family at all stages of growth been founded on the +authority of the father? Our decision on this question will affect our +outlook on the whole question of Woman's Rights and the relationships +of the two sexes. There are civilisations, older and, as I believe, +wiser than ours that have accepted the predominant position of the +mother as the great central fact on which the family has been +established. + +The view that the family, much as it existed among the Hebrew +patriarchs, and as it exists to-day, was primeval and universal is +very deeply rooted. This is not surprising. To reverse the gaze of men +from themselves is no easy task. The predominance of the male over the +female, of the man over the woman and of the father over the mother, +has been accepted, almost without question, in a civilisation built up +on the recognition of male values and male standards of opinion. Thus +the institutions, habits, prejudices, and superstitions of the +patriarchal authority rest like an incubus upon us. The women of +to-day carry the dead load upon their backs, and literally stagger +beneath the accumulating burden of the ages. + +The "Woman's Movement" is pressing us forward towards a recasting of +the patriarchal view of the relative position and duties of the two +sexes. It must be regarded as an extremely great and comprehensive +movement affecting the whole of life. From this wider standpoint, the +fight for the parliamentary suffrage is but as the vestibule to +progress; the possession of the vote being no more than a necessary +condition for attaining far larger and more fundamental ends. + +It is, however, very necessary to remark that the recognition of this +imposes a great responsibility upon women. For one thing the practical +difficulties of the present must be faced. It is far from easy to +readjust existing conditions to meet the new demands. Present social +and economic conditions are to a great extent chaotic. We cannot +safely cast aside, in any haste for reform, those laws, customs and +opinions which it has been the slow task of our civilisation to +establish, not for men only, but for women. We women have to work out +many questions far more thoroughly than hitherto we have done. We owe +this to our movement and to the world of men. It will serve nothing to +pull down, unless we are ready also to build up. Freedom can be +granted only to the self-disciplined. + + "Thou that does know the Self and the not-Self, expert in + every work: endowed with self-restraint and perfect + same-sightedness towards every creature free from the sense + of I and my--thy power and energy are equal to my own, and + thou hast practised the most severe discipline."[1] + + * * * * * + + [1] The _Mahabharata_. The Great God thus addresses Shakti, + when he asks her to describe the duties of women. I quote + from a pamphlet by Dr. Ananda Coomaraswamy: _Sati: A + Vindication of the Hindu Woman_. + +This little book is an attempt to establish the position of the mother +in the family. It sets out to investigate those early states of +society, when, through the widespread prevalence of descent through +the mother, the survival of the family clan and, in some cases, the +property rights were dependent on women and not on men. I start from +the belief that the mother was at one period the dominant partner in +the sexual relationships. This does not, however, at all necessarily +involve "rule by women." We must be very clear here. What I claim is +this. The system by which the family was built up and grouped around +the mother conferred special rights on women. The form of marriage +favourable to this influence was that by which the husband entered the +wife's family and clan, and lived there as a "consort-guest." The wife +and mother was director in the home, the owner of the meagre property, +the distributor of food, and the controller of the children.[2] Hence +arises what is known as mother-right. + + [2] McGee: "The Beginning of Marriage," _American + Anthropologist_, Vol. IV, p. 378. + +I am prompted to this inquiry by two reasons: in the first place, the +origin of the maternal-system and the subsequent association of the +mother and the father appear to me to afford evidence of the working +of a natural law of the two sexes, which, both for social and other +reasons, is of great interest in the present stage of women's history. +The establishing of the mother's position is of great importance. If +we can prove that women have exercised unquestioned and direct +authority in the past history of human societies, we shall be in a +position to answer those who to-day wish to set limits to women's +activities. Then, in the second place, I am compelled to doubt certain +conclusions, both of those who accept mother-right, and also of the +greater number who now deny its occurrence. If I am right, and the +importance of the maternal family has been unduly neglected and the +true explanation of its origin overlooked, I feel that, whatever +errors I may fall into, I am justified in undertaking this task. My +mistakes will be corrected by others with more knowledge than I can +claim; and if my theory of mother-right has any merit, it will be +established in more competent hands. The vast majority of +investigators on these questions are men. I am driven to believe that +sometimes they are mistaken in their interpretation of habits and +customs which arose among primitive societies in which the influence +of women was marked. In dealing with the family and its origin it has +been usual to consider the male side and to pass over the female +members. This has led, I am sure, to much error. + +The custom of tracing descent through the mother, either practised +consciously and completely, or only as a survival, occurs among many +primitive peoples in all parts of the world. Whether, however, it +existed universally and from all time, or whether only in certain +races, among whose institutions it remains or may still be traced, is +a much debated question. Not all barbarous tribes are in the stage of +mother-right; on the contrary many reckon descent through the father. +But even where the latter is the case, vestiges of the former system +are frequently to be found. There seems to be a common tendency to +discredit a system of relationship, which suggests even as a bare +possibility the mother, and not the father, being the head of the +family. Yet, I believe I can assign some, at least plausible, reasons +for believing that descent through women has been a stage, though not, +I think, the first stage, in social growth for all branches of the +human family. + +There can be little doubt of the importance of kinship and inheritance +being reckoned through the mother. If the children belong to her, and +if by marriage the husband enters her home, the greater influence, +based on the present possession of property, and the future hope of +the family rests on the female side. Such conditions must have +exercised strong influence on the position of the women members of the +primitive clan and the honour in which they were held. It cannot be +ignored. + +Of course, this does not prevent the hardships of savage life weighing +more heavily in many ways upon women than on the stronger men. In +primitive societies women have a position quite as full of anomalies +as they hold among civilised races. Among some tribes their position +is extremely good; among others it is undoubtedly bad, but, speaking +generally, it is much better than usually it is held to be.[3] +Obviously the causes must be sought in the environment and in social +organisation. The differences in the status and power of women, often +occurring in tribes at the same level of progress, would seem to be +dependent largely on economic conditions. The subject is full of +difficulties. Not only is the position of women thus variable, but our +knowledge of the matter is very defective. It is seldom, indeed, that +the question has been considered of sufficient importance to receive +accurate attention.[4] Not infrequently conflicting accounts are given +by different authorities, and even by the same writer. + + [3] Westermarck, "The Position of Women in Early + Civilisations," _Sociological Papers_, 1904. + + [4] For instance, Maine (_Early Law and Custom_), in speaking + of tribes who still trace their descent from a single + ancestress, says, "The outlines" (_i. e._ of the maternal + family) "may still be marked out, _if it be worth any one's + while to trace it_." + +I wish it to be understood that mother-right does not necessarily +imply mother-rule. This system may even be combined with the +patriarchal authority of the male. The unfortunate use of the term +_Matriarchate_ has led to much confusion. My own knowledge and study +of primitive customs and ancient civilisations have made it plain to +me that there has been a constant rise and fall of male and female +dominance, but, I believe, that, on the whole, the superiority of +women has been more frequent and more successful than that of men. + +It is this that I shall attempt to prove. + +The theory of mother-right has been subjected to so much criticism +that a re-examination of the position is very necessary. To show its +prevalence, to establish some leading points in its history, to make +out its connection with the patriarchal family, and to trace the +transition by which one system passed into the other, appear to me to +be matters primarily important. The limited compass of this little +book will prevent my substantiating my own views as I should wish, +with a full and systematic survey of all authentic accounts of the +peoples among whom mother-descent may be studied. I have considered, +however, that I could summarise the position in a comprehensive +picture, that will, I hope, suggest a point of view that seems to me +to have been very generally neglected. + +It is necessary to enter into such an inquiry with caution; the +difficulties before me are very great. Nothing would be easier than +from the mass of material available to pile up facts in furnishing a +picture of the high status of women among many tribes under the +favourable influence of mother-descent, that would unnerve any +upholders of the patriarchal view of the subordination of women. It is +just possible, on the other hand, to interpret these facts from a +fixed point of thought of the father's authority as the one support of +the family, and then to argue that, in spite of the mother's control +over her children and over property, she still remained the inferior +partner. I wish to do neither. It is my purpose to examine the +evidence, and so to discover to what extent the system of tracing +descent through the female side conferred any special claim for +consideration upon women. I shall try to avoid mistakes. I put forward +my own opinions with great diffidence. It is so easy, as I realise +full well, to interpret facts by the bias of one's own wishes. I know +that the habits and customs of primitive peoples that I have studied +closely are probably few in comparison with those I have missed; yet +to me they appear of such importance in the light they throw on the +whole question of the relationships of the two sexes, that it seems +well to bring them forward. + +Since my attention, now many years ago, was first directed to this +question, I have felt that a clear and concise account of the +mother-age was indispensable for women. Such an account, with a +criticism of the patriarchal theory, is here offered. Throughout I +have attempted to clear up and bring into uniformity the two opposing +theories of the origin of the human family. I have tried to gather the +facts, very numerous and falling into several classes, by which the +theory of the mother-age could be supported. And first it was +necessary to clear out of the way a body of opinion, the prevalence of +which has opposed an obstacle to the acceptance of the rights of +mothers in the family relationship. The whole question turns upon +which you start with; the man--the woman, or the woman--the man. + +Here it should be explained that this little book is an expansion of +the historical section which treats of "the Mother-age civilisation" +in my former book, _The Truth About Woman_. I wish to take this +opportunity of expressing my gratitude for the generous interest and +sympathy with which my work has been received. Such kindness is very +imperfectly repaid by an author's thanks; it is certainly the best +incentive to further work. + +This little volume was suggested to me by a review in one of the +Suffrage papers. The writer, after speaking of the interest to women +of the mother-age and the difficulty there was in gaining information +on the subject, said that "a small and cheaper book on the +matriarchate would be useful to women in all countries." I was +grateful for this suggestion. I at once felt that I wanted to write +such a book. For one thing, this particular section on the mother-age +in _The Truth About Woman_, and my belief in the favourable influence +of mother-descent on the status of women, has been much questioned. I +have been told that I "had quite deliberately gone back to our +uncivilised ancestors to 'fish up' the precedent of the matriarchate;" +that I "had allowed my prejudices to dictate my choice of material, +and had thus brought forward examples explanatory of my own opinions;" +that I "had fastened eagerly on these, without inquiring too carefully +about other facts having a contrary tendency." I was reminded of what +I well knew, that the matriarchate and promiscuity with which it is +usually connected were not universally accepted by anthropologists; +the tendency to-day being to discredit both as being among the early +phases of society. It was suggested that I "had unprofitably spent my +time on the historical section of my book, and had built up my theory +on a curiously uncertain foundation;" that I "had relied too much on +the certain working of mother-right, and had been by no means clear in +showing how, from such a position of power, women had sunk into +subservience to patriarchal rule." In fact, it has seemed to be the +opinion of my critics that I had allowed what I "would have liked to +have happened to affect my account of what did happen in the infancy +of man's social life." + +Now, I want to say quite frankly, that I feel much of this criticism +is just. The inquiry on the mother-age civilisation was only one small +section of my book on Woman. I realise that very much was hurried +over. There is on this subject of the origin of the family a +literature so extensive, and such a variety of opinions, that the +work of the student is far from easy. The whole question is too +extensive to allow anything like adequate treatment within the space +of a brief, and necessarily insufficient, summary. My earlier +investigation may well be objected to as not being in certain points +supported by sufficient proofs. I know this. It is not easy to +condense the marriage customs and social habits of many different +peoples into a few dozen pages. Of course, I selected my examples. But +this I may say; I chose those which had brought me to accept +mother-right. I was driven to this belief by my own study and reading +long before the time of writing my book. What I really tried to do was +to present to others the facts that had convinced me. But my stacks of +unused notes, collected for my own pleasure during many years of work, +are witness to how much I had to leave out. + +I know that many objections that have been raised to the theory of +mother-right were left unanswered. I dismissed much too lightly the +patriarchal theory of the origin of the family, which during late +years has gained such advocacy. I failed to carry my inquiry far +enough back. I accepted with too little caution an early period of +promiscuous sexual relationships. I did not make clear the stages in +the advance of the family to the clan and the tribe; nor examine with +sufficient care the later transition period in which mother-right gave +place to father-right. + +I have been sent back to examine again my own position. And to do +this, it was necessary first to take up the question from the +position of those whose views are in opposition to my own. I have made +a much more extensive study of those authorities who, rejecting +mother-right, accept a modification of the patriarchal theory as the +origin of the family. This has led to some considerable recasting of +my views. Not at all, however, to a change in my belief in +mother-right, which, indeed, has now been strengthened, and, as I +trust, built up on surer foundations. + +By a fortunate chance, I was advised to read Mr. Andrew Lang's _Social +Origins_,[5] which work includes Mr. Atkinson's _Primal Law_. I am +greatly indebted to the assistance I have gained from these writers. +It is, perhaps, curious that a very careful study of the patriarchal +family as it is presented by Mr. Atkinson and Mr. Lang, has brought me +to a conclusion fundamentally at variance from what might have been +expected. I have gained invaluable support for my own belief in +mother-right, and have found fresh proofs from the method of +difference. I have cleared up many points that previously puzzled me. +I am able now to accept the patriarchal theory, without at all shaking +my faith in a subsequent period of mother-descent and mother-power. + + [5] This book was mentioned to me in a letter from Mr. H. G. + Wells. + +The discussion on this question is now half a century old. Yet in +spite of the opposition of many investigators, and the support of +others, the main problems are still unsettled. What form did the +family take in its earliest stage? Did it start as a small group or +with the clan or horde? What were the earliest conditions of the +sexual relationships? Was promiscuity at one period the rule? Was the +foundation of the family based on the authority of the father, or of +the mother? If on that of the father, how is mother-kin and +mother-right to be explained? These are among the questions that must +be answered. Not till this is done, can we establish any theory of +mother-descent, or estimate its effect on the status of women. + +The whole subject is a very wide and complicated one. If I differ on +several important points from learned authorities, whose knowledge and +research far exceed my own, I do so only after great hesitation, and +because I must. The facts they have collected from their personal +knowledge of primitive peoples (facts which I have gratefully used) +often suggest quite opposite conclusions to my thoughts than to +theirs--the view-point is different, that is all. They were seeking +for one thing; I for another: they were men; I am a woman. It would be +foolishness for me to attempt any special pleadings for my own +opinions. How far I shall succeed, or fail, to make clear to others a +period of mother-right that is certain to me, I do not know. I offer +my little book with all humility, and yet without any apology. We may +read and learn and gather knowledge from many sources; but the +opinions of others we cannot take on credit; we must re-think them out +for ourselves, and make them our own. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +AN EXPOSITION OF BACHOFEN'S THEORY OF THE MATRIARCHATE + + +Fifty-three years ago in his great work, _Das Mutterrecht_,[6] the +Swiss writer, Bachofen, drew the attention of the world to the fact +that a system of kinship through mothers only prevailed among many +primitive peoples, while survivals of the custom could be widely, if +but faintly, traced among civilised races. Drawing his evidence from +the actual statements of old writers, but more from legends and the +mythologies of antiquity, he came to the conclusion that a system of +descent through women had, in all cases, preceded the rise of kinship +through males. Almost at the same time Dr. J. F. McLennan,[7] ignorant +of the work of Bachofen, came to the same opinion. This led to a +reconsideration of the patriarchal theory; and for a time it was +widely held that in the early stages of society a matriarchate +prevailed, in which women held the supreme power. Further support +came from Morgan, with his knowledge of the maternal family among +American aborigines, and he was followed by Professor Tylor, McGee, +and many other investigators. + + [6] _Das Mutterrecht_ was published in Stuttgart in 1861. + + [7] _Primitive Marriage_, published 1865. _Studies in Ancient + History_, which includes a reprint of _Primitive Marriage_; + 1st ed. 1876, 2nd ed. 1886. _The Patriarchal Theory_, a + criticism of this theory is based on the papers of Mr. + McLennan and edited by his brother. + +Obviously this gyncocratic view, which placed woman in a new relation +to man, was unlikely to be permanently accepted. Thus a reaction to +the earlier theory of the patriarchal family has set in, especially in +recent years. Many writers, while acknowledging the existence of +mother descent, deny that such a system carries with it, except in a +few exceptional cases, mother-rights of special advantage to women; +even when these seem to be present they believe such rights to be more +apparent than real. + +In bringing forward any theory of mother-right, it thus becomes +necessary to show the causes that have led to this reversal in +opinion. To do this, the first step will be to examine, with +considerable detail, the evidence for the matriarchal theory as it is +given by its two great supporters. Now, an interesting point arises, +if we compare the view of Bachofen with that held by McLennan. No two +ways could well be further apart than those by which these two men +arrived at the same conclusion. Both accept an early period of +promiscuous sexual relationships. But Bachofen found the explanation +of mother-descent in the supremacy of women, and believed a +matriarchate to have been established by them in a moral revolt +against such _hetarism_. Mr. McLennan, on the other hand, regarded +the custom as due to uncertainty of paternity--the children were +called after the mother because the father was unknown. + +Let us concentrate our attention on the _Das Mutterrecht_ of Bachofen, +whose work as the great champion of matriarchy claims our most careful +consideration. And it is necessary to say at once that there can be no +doubt his view of women's supremacy is greatly exaggerated. Such a +rule of women, at the very early stage of society when mother-kin is +supposed to have arisen, is not proved, and does not seem probable. +Even if it existed, _it could not have originated in the way and for +the reasons_ that are credited by the Swiss writer. I wish to +emphasise this point. Much of the discredit that has fallen on the +matriarchate has arisen, I am certain, through the impossibility of +accepting Bachofen's mythical account of its origin. This great +supporter of women was a dreamer, rather than a calm and impartial +investigator. Founding his main theory on assumptions, he asks us to +accept these as historical facts. Much of his work and his belief in +women must be regarded as the rhapsodies of a poet. And yet, it is the +poet who finds the truth. The poetic spirit is, in one sense, the most +practical of all. Bachofen saw the fact of mother-power, though not +_why_ it was the fact, and he enfolded his arguments in a garment of +pure fiction. + +To disengage from his learned book, _Das Mutterrecht_,[8] his theory +of the origin of the Matriarchate is no easy task. There is, for one +thing, such bewildering contradiction and confusion in the material +used. Then the interpretation of the mythical tales, so freely +intermingled everywhere, is often strained--prompted by a poetic +imagination which snatches at every kind of allegory. Often the views +expressed are inconsistent with each other, the arguments and proofs +are disconnected, while many of the details are hopelessly obscure and +confused. Yet it seems to me possible to recognise the idea which +brings into unity the mass of his work--the spirit, as it were, that +breathes into it its life. It may be found in the clear appreciation +of the superstitious and mystical element in primitive man, and their +close interweaving with the sexual life. As I understand Herr +Bachofen, the sex-act was the means which first opened up ways to +great heights, but also to great depths. + + [8] Prof. Giraud-Teulon's _La Mre chez certains Peuples de + l'Antiquit_ is founded on the introduction to _Das + Mutterrecht_. This little book of fascinating reading is the + best and easiest way of studying Bachofen's theory. + +Bachofen strongly insists on the religious element in all early human +thought. He believes that the development of the primitive community +only advanced by means of religious ideas. + + "Religion," he says, "is the only efficient lever of all + civilisation. Each elevation and depression of human life + has its origin in a movement which begins in this supreme + department."[9] + + [9] _Das Mutterrecht_, Intro., p. xiii. + +The authority for this belief is sought in religious myths. + + "Mythical tradition appears to be the faithful + interpretation of the progress of the law of life, at a time + when the foundations of the historical development of the + ancient world were laid; it reveals the original mode of + thought, and we may accept this direct revelation as true + from our complete confidence in this source of history."[10] + + [10] _Das Mutterrecht_, Intro., p. vii. + +This mystical religious element, which is the essential part of _Das +Mutterrecht_, is closely connected by Bachofen with the power of +women. As it is his belief that, even at this early period, the +religious impulse was more developed among women than men, he bases on +this unproved hypothesis his theory of women's supremacy. "Wherever +gyncocracy meets us," he says, "the mystery of religion is bound up +with it, and lends to motherhood an incorporation in some +divinity."[11] + + [11] _Ibid._, Intro., p. xv. + +Doubtless this theory of a higher feminine spirituality is a pleasing +one for women--but is it true? The insuperable difficulty to its +acceptance arises, in the first place, from the fact that we can know +nothing at all of the spiritual condition of the human beings among +whom mother-kin was held first to have been practised. But we must go +further than this in our doubt. Can we accept for any period a +spiritual superiority in the character of woman over man? To me, at +least, it is clear that a knowledge of the two sexes among all races +both primitive and civilised--yes, and among ourselves, is sufficient +to discredit such a supposition. + +Bachofen would have us believe that[12] the mother-right of the +ancient world, was due to a revolt of women against the degraded +condition of promiscuity, which previously had been universal among +mankind, a condition in which men had a community of wives, and +_openly lived together like gregarious animals_. + + [12] _Das Mutterrecht_, Intro., p. xxiv. and p. 10. + + "Women, by their nature nobler and more spiritual than men, + became disgusted with this lawless _hetarism_, and, under + the influence of a powerful religious impulse, combined in a + revolt (the first Amazonian movement) to put an end to + promiscuity and established marriage." + +Over and over again Bachofen affirms this spiritual quality in women. + + "The woman's religious attitude, in particular, the tendency + of her mind towards the supernatural and the divine, + influenced the man and robbed him of the position which + nature disposed him to take in virtue of his physical + superiority. In this way women's position was transformed by + religious considerations, until they became in civil life + what religion had caused them to be."[13] And again: "We + cannot fail to see that of the two forms of gyncocracy in + question--religious and civil--the former was the basis of + the latter. Ideas connected with worship came first, and the + civil forms of life were then the result and + expression."[14] + + [13] _Ibid._, Intro., p. xiv. + + [14] _Ibid._, Intro., p. xv. + +We may note in passing, the greater affectability of woman's nature, +which would seem always to have had a tendency to expression in +religio-erotic manifestations. But to build up a theory of matriarchy +on this foundation is strangely wide of the facts. Bachofen adduces +the spirituality of women as the cause of their power. But on what +grounds can such a claim be supported? + +It is on the evidence of licentious customs of all kinds and on +polyandry, that he bases his belief in a period of promiscuity. He +regards this early condition of _hetarism_ as a law of nature, and +believes that after its infraction by the introduction of individual +marriage, expiation was required to be made to the Earth Goddess, +Demeter, in temporary prostitution. Hence he explains the widespread +custom of religious prostitution. This fanciful idea may be taken to +represent Bachofen's method of interpretation. There is an +intermediate stage between _hetarism_ and marriage, such as the +group-marriage, held by him to have been practised among barbarous +peoples. "Each man has a wife, but they are all permitted to have +intercourse with the wives of others."[15] + + [15] _Das Mutterrecht_, p. 18. + +Great stress is laid on the acquisition by women of the benefits of a +marriage law. In the families founded upon individual marriage, which +grew up after the Amazonian revolt, the women, and not the men, held +the first place. Bachofen does not tell us whether they assigned this +place to themselves, or had it conceded to them. Women were the heads +of the families, the children were named after the mother, and not +the father, and all the relations to which rights of succession +attached were traced through women only. All property was held by +women. Moreover, from this headship, women assigned to themselves, or +had conceded to them, the social and political power as well as the +domestic supremacy.[16] + + [16] I have taken much of this passage from Mr. McLennan's + criticism of Bachofen's theory, _Studies in Ancient History_, + pp. 319-325. + +The authority for this remarkable theory is sought, with great +ingenuity and patience, in the fragmentary accounts of barbarous +people, and in an exhaustive study of heroic stories and religious +myths. Bachofen argues powerfully for the acceptance of these myths. + + "Every age unconsciously obeys, even in its poetry, the laws + of its individual life. A patriarchal age could not, + therefore, have invented the matriarchate, and the myths + which describe the latter may be regarded as trustworthy + witnesses of its historical existence. It may be taken for + granted that the myths did not refer to special persons and + occurrences, but only tell us of the social customs and + ideas which prevailed, or were endeavouring to prevail, in + several communities."[17] + + [17] _Das Mutterrecht_, Intro., pp. vii.-viii. + +This is true. It is the interpretation given to many of these myths +that one is compelled to question. Bachofen's way of applying mythical +tales has no scientific method; for one thing, abstract ideas are +added to primitive legends which could only arise from the thought of +civilised peoples. For instance, he accepts, without any doubt, the +existence of the Amazons; and believes that the myths which refer to +them record "a revolt for the elevation of the feminine sex, and +through them of mankind." It is on such insecure foundations he builds +up his matriarchal theory. + +There is, however, an aspect of truth in Bachofen's position, which +becomes plain on a closer examination. To prove this, I must quote a +passage from _Das Mutterrecht_, as representing, or at least +suggesting, the opinions of those who have argued most strongly +against his theory. When recapitulating the facts and arguments in +favour of accepting the supremacy of women, he makes this suggestive +statement-- + + "The first state in all cases was that of _hetarism_. The + rule is based upon the right of procreation: since there is + no individual fatherhood, _all have only one father--the + tyrant whose sons and daughters they all are, and to whom + all the property belongs. From this condition in which the + man rules by means of his rude sexual needs, we rise to that + of gyncocracy_, in which there is the dawn of marriage, of + which the strict observance is at first observed by the + woman, not by the man. Weary of always ministering to the + lusts of man, _the woman raises herself by the recognition + of her motherhood_. Just as a child is first disciplined by + its mother, so are people by their women. It is only the + wife who can control the man's essentially unbridled + desires, and lead him into the paths of well-doing.... + _While man went abroad on distant forays, the woman stayed + at home, and was undisputed mistress of the household._ She + took arms against her foe, and was gradually transformed + into an Amazon."[18] + + [18] _Das Mutterrecht_, pp. 18-19. + +The italics in the passage are mine, for they bear directly on what I +shall afterwards have to prove: (1) that mother-right was not the +first stage in the history of the human family; (2) that its existence +is not inconsistent with the patriarchal theory. Bachofen here +suggests a pre-matriarchal period in which the elementary family-group +was founded on and held together by a common subjection to the oldest +and strongest male. This is the primordial patriarchal family. + +Then come the questions: Can we accept mother-right? Are there any +reasonable causes to explain the rise of female dominance? +Westermarck, in criticising the matriarchal theory, has said: "The +inference that 'kinship through females only' has everywhere preceded +the rise of 'kinship through males,' would be warranted only on +condition that the cause, or the causes, to which the maternal system +is owing, could be proved to have operated universally in the past +life of mankind."[19] Now, this is what I believe I am able to do. +Hence it has been necessary first to clear the way of the old errors. +Bachofen's interpretation is too fanciful to find acceptance. Will any +one hold it as true that the change came because _women willed it_? +Surely it is a pure dream of the imagination to credit women, at this +supposed early stage of society, with rising up to establish marriage, +in a revolt of purity against sexual licence, and moreover effecting +the change by force of arms! Bachofen would seem to have been touched +with the Puritan spirit. I am convinced also that he understood very +little of the nature of woman. Conventional morality has always acted +on the side of the man, not the woman. The clue is, indeed, given in +the woman's closer connection with the home, and in the idea that "she +raises herself by the recognition of her motherhood." But the facts +are capable of an entirely different interpretation. It will be my aim +to give a quite simple, and even commonplace, explanation of the rise +of mother-descent and mother-right in place of the spiritual +hypothesis of Bachofen. + + [19] _The History of Human Marriage_, p. 105. + +It will be well, however, to examine further Bachofen's own theory. It +is his opinion that the first Amazonian revolt and period of women's +rule was followed by a second movement-- + +"Woman took arms against her foe [_i. e._ man], and was gradually +transformed into an Amazon. _As a rival to the man the Amazon became +hostile to him, and began to withdraw from marriage and from +motherhood. This set limits to the rule of women, and provoked the +punishment of heaven and men._"[20] + + [20] _Das Mutterrecht_, p. 85. + +There is a splendid imaginative appeal in this remarkable passage. +Again the italics are mine. It is, of course, impossible to accept +this statement, as Bachofen does, as an historical account of what +happened through the agency of women at the time of which he is +treating. Yet, we can find a suggestion of truth that is eternal. Is +there not here a kind of prophetic foretelling of every struggle +towards readjustment in the relationships of the two sexes, through +all the periods of civilisation, from the beginning until now? You +will see what I mean. The essential fact for woman--and also for +man--is the sense of community with the race. Neither sex can keep a +position apart from parenthood. Just in so far as the mother and the +father attain to consciousness and responsibility in their relations +to the race do they reach development and power. Bachofen, as a poet, +understood this; to me, at least, it is the something real that +underlies all the delusion of his work. But I diverge a little in +making these comments. + +Again the origin of the change from the first period of matriarchy is +sought by Bachofen in religion. + + "Each stage of development was marked by its peculiar + religious ideas, produced by the dissatisfaction with which + the dominating idea of the previous stage was regarded; a + dissatisfaction which led to a disappearance of this + condition." "What was gained by religion, fostering the + cause of women, by assigning a mystical and almost divine + character to motherhood was now lost through the same cause. + The loss came in the Greek era. Dionysus started the idea of + the divinity of fatherhood; holding the father to be the + child's true parent, and the mother merely the nurse." In + this way, we are asked to believe, the rights of men arose, + the father came to be the chief parent, the head of the + mother and the owner of the children, and, therefore, the + parent through whom kinship was traced. We learn that, at + first, "women opposed this new gospel of fatherhood, and + fresh Amazonian risings were the common feature of their + opposition." But the resistance was fruitless. "Jason put an + end to the rule of the Amazons in Lemnos. Dionysus and + Bellerophon strove together passionately, yet without + gaining a decisive victory, until Apollo, with calm + superiority, finally became the conqueror, and the father + gained the power that before had belonged to the + mother."[21] + + [21] _Das Mutterrecht_, pp. 73, 85. Compare also McLennan, + _Studies_, p. 322, and Starcke, _The Primitive Family in its + Origin and Development_. + +But before this took place, Bachofen relates yet another movement, +which for a time restored the early matriarchate. The women, at first +opposing, presently became converts to the Dionysusian gospel, and +were afterwards its warmest supporters. Motherhood became degraded. +Bacchanalian excesses followed, which led to a return to the ancient +_hetarism_. Bachofen believes that this formed a fresh basis for a +second gyncocracy. He compares the Amazonian period of these later +days with that in which marriage was first introduced, and finds that +"the deep religious impulse being absent, it was destined to fail, and +give place to the spiritual Apollonic conception of fatherhood."[22] + + [22] _Ibid._, p. 85. + +In Bachofen's opinion this triumph of fatherhood was the final +salvation. This is what he says-- + + "It was the assertion of fatherhood which delivered the mind + from natural appearances, and when this was successfully + achieved, human existence was raised above the laws of + natural life. The principal of motherhood is common to all + the spheres of animal life, but man goes beyond this tie in + gaining pre-eminence in the process of procreation, and thus + becomes conscious of his higher vocation. In the paternal + and spiritual principle he breaks through the bonds of + tellurism, and looks upwards to the higher regions of the + cosmos. Victorious fatherhood thus becomes as distinctly + connected with the heavenly light as prolific motherhood is + with the teeming earth."[23] + + [23] _Das Mutterrecht_, Intro., p. xxvii. + +Here, Bachofen, as is his custom, turns to point an analogy with the +process of nature. + + "All the stages of sexual life from Aphrodistic _hetarism_ + to the Apollonistic purity of fatherhood, have their + corresponding type in the stages of natural life, from the + wild vegetation of the morass, the prototype of conjugal + motherhood, to the harmonic law of the Uranian world, to the + heavenly light which, as the _flamma non urens_, corresponds + to the eternal youth of fatherhood. The connection is so + completely in accordance with law, that the form taken by + the sexual relation in any period may be inferred from the + predominance of one or other of these universal ideas in the + worship of a people."[24] + + [24] _Ibid._, Intro., p. xxix. + +Such, in outline, is Bachofen's famous matriarchal theory. The +passages I have quoted, with the comments I have ventured to give, +make plain the poetic exaggeration of his view, and sufficiently prove +why his theory no longer gains any considerable support. To build up a +dream-picture of mother-rule on such foundations was, of necessity, to +let it perish in the dust of scepticism. But is the downthrow +complete? I believe not. A new structure has to be built up on a new +and surer foundation, and it may yet appear that the prophetic vision +of the dreamer enabled Bachofen to see much that has escaped the sight +of those who have criticised and rejected his assumption that power +was once in the hands of women. + +One great source of confusion has arisen through the acceptance by the +supporters of the matriarchate of the view that men and women lived +originally in a state of promiscuity. This is the opinion of Bachofen, +of McLennan, of Morgan, and also of many other authorities, who have +believed maternal descent to be dependent on the uncertainty of +fatherhood. It will be remembered that Mr. McLennan brought forward +his theory almost simultaneously with that of Bachofen. The basis of +his view is a belief in an ancient communism in women. He holds that +the earliest form of human societies was the group or horde, and not +the family. He affirms that these groups can have had no idea of +kinship, and that the men would hold their women, like their other +goods, in common, which is, of course, equal to a general promiscuity. +There he agrees with Bachofen's belief in unbridled _hetarism_, but +a very different explanation is given of the change which led to +regulation, and the establishment of the maternal family. + +According to Mr. McLennan, the primitive group or horde, though +originally without explicit consciousness of relationships, were yet +held together by a _feeling_ of kin. Such feeling would become +conscious first between the mother and her children, and, in this way, +mother-kin must have been realised at a very early period. Mr. +McLennan then shows the stages by which the savage would gradually, by +reflection, reach a knowledge of the other relationships through the +mother, sister and brother relationships, mother's brother and +mother's sister, and all the degrees of mother-kin, at a time before +the father's relation to his children had been established. The +children, though belonging at first to the group, would remain +attached to the mothers, and the blood-tie established between them +would, as promiscuity gave place to more regulated sexual +relationships, become developed into a system. All inheritance would +pass through women only, and, in this way, mother-right would tend to +be more or less strongly developed. The mother would live alone with +her children, the only permanent male members of the family being the +sons, who would be subordinate to her. The husband would visit the +wife, as is the custom under polyandry, which form of the sexual +relationship Mr. McLennan believes was developed from promiscuity--a +first step towards individual marriage. Even after the next step was +taken, and the husband came to live with his wife, his position was +that of a visitor in her home, where she would have the protection of +her own kindred. She would still be the owner of her children, who +would bear her name, and not the father's; and the inheritance of all +property would still be in the female line.[25] + + [25] _Studies in Ancient History_, pp. 83, _et seq._ + +We have here what appears to be a much more reasonable explanation of +mother-kin and mother-right than that of Bachofen. Yet many have +argued powerfully against it. Westermarck especially, has shown that +belief in an early stage of promiscuous relationship is altogether +untenable.[26] It is needless here to enter into proof of this.[27] +What matters now is that with the giving up of promiscuity the whole +structure of McLennan's theory falls to pieces. He takes it for +granted that at one period paternity was unrecognised; but this is +very far from being true. The idea of the father's relationship to the +child is certainly known among the peoples who trace descent through +the mother; the system is found frequently where strict monogamy is +practised. Again, Mr. McLennan connects polyandry with mother-descent, +regarding the custom of plurality of husbands as a development from +promiscuity. Here, too, he has been proved to be in error. Whatever +the causes of the origin of polyandry, it has no direct connection +with mother-kin, although it is sometimes practised by peoples who +observe that system. + + [26] _History of Human Marriage_, pp. 51-133. It is on this + question that my own opinion has been changed, compare _The + Truth about Woman_, p. 120. + + [27] See next chapter on the Patriarchal Theory. + +For myself, I incline to the opinion that the system by which +inheritance passes through the mother needs no explanation. It was +necessarily (and, as I believe, is still) the _natural_ method of +tracing descent. Moreover, it was adopted as a matter of course by +primitive peoples among whom property considerations had not arisen. +Afterwards what had started as a habit was retained as a system. The +reasons for naming children after the mother did not rest on +relationship, the earliest question was not one of kinship, but of +association. Those were counted as related to one another who dwelt +together.[28] The children lived with the mother, and therefore, as a +matter of course, were called after her, and not the father, who did +not live in the same home. + + [28] Starcke, _The Primitive Family in its Origin and + Development_, pp. 36, 37. + +All these questions will be understood better as we proceed with our +inquiry. The important thing to fix in our minds is that mother-kin +and mother-right (contrary to the opinion of McLennan and others) may +very well have arisen quite independently of dubious fatherhood. It +thus becomes evident that the maternal system offers no evidence for +the hypothesis of promiscuity; we shall find, in point of fact, that +it arose out of the regulation of the sexual relations, and had no +connection with licence. It is necessary to understand this clearly. + +Bachofen is much nearer to what is likely to have happened in the +first stage of the family than Mr. McLennan, though he also mistakenly +connects the maternal system with unregulated _hetarism_. Still he +suggests (though it would seem quite unconsciously) the patriarchal +hypothesis, which founds the family first on the brute-force of the +male. Mother-right has been discredited chiefly, as far as I have been +able to find, because it is impossible to accept, at this early +period, sexual conditions of the friendly ownership of women, entirely +opposed to what was the probable nature of brute man. At this stage +the eldest male in the family would be the ruler, and he would claim +sexual rights over all the women in the group. Bachofen postulates a +revolt of women to establish marriage. We have seen that such a +supposition, in the form in which he puts it, is without any credible +foundation. Yet, it is part of my theory that there was a revolt of +women, or rather a combination of the mothers of the group, which led +to a change in the direction of sexual regulation and order. But the +causes of such revolt, and the way in which it was accomplished, were, +in my opinion, entirely different from those which Bachofen supposes. +The arguments in support of my view will be given in the next two +chapters. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +DIFFICULTIES AND OBJECTIONS: AN ATTEMPT TO RECONCILE MOTHER-RIGHT WITH +THE PATRIARCHAL THEORY. + + +The foundation of the Patriarchal theory is the jealous sexual nature +of the male. This is important; indeed profoundly significant. The +strongest argument against promiscuity is to be gained from what we +know of this factor of jealousy in the sexual relationships. + +"The season of love is the season of battle," says Darwin. Such was +the law passed on to man from millions of his ancestral lovers. The +action of this law[29] may be observed at its fiercest intensity among +man's pre-human ancestors. Courtship without combat is rare among all +male quadrupeds, and special offensive and defensive weapons for use +in these love-fights are found; for this is the sex-tragedy of the +natural world, the love-tale red-written in blood. + + [29] The reader is referred to _The Truth about Woman_, pp. + 87-114. In the courtships and perfect love marriages of many + birds we find jealous combats replaced by the peaceful + charming of the female by the male. + +This factor of sexual jealousy--the conflict of the male for +possession of the female--has not been held in sufficient account by +those who regard promiscuity as being the earliest stage in the sexual +relationships. That jealousy is still a powerful agent even in the +most civilised races is a fact on which it is unnecessary to dwell. +This being so, and since the action of jealousy is so strong in the +animal kingdom, it cannot be supposed to have been dormant among +primitive men. Rather, in the infancy of his history this passion must +have acted with very great intensity. Thus it becomes impossible to +accept any theory of the community of women in the earliest stage of +the family. For inevitably such peaceful association would be broken +up by jealous battles among the males, in which the strongest member +would kill or drive away his rivals. + +Great stress is laid, by the supporters of promiscuity, on the danger +that such conflicts must have been to the growing community. It is, +therefore, held that in order to prevent this check on their +development, it was necessary for the male members not to give way to +jealousy, but to be content with promiscuous ownership of women. But +this is surely to credit savage man with a control of the driving +jealous instinct that he could not then have had? What we do not find +in the sexual conduct of men, as they now are, cannot be credited as +existing in the infancy of social life. We fall into many mistakes in +judging these questions of sex; we under-estimate the strength of +love-passion--the uncounted ancestral forces dating back to the +remote beginnings of life. Doubtless conflicts over the possession of +women were frequent from the beginning of man's history. But these +disputes would not lead to promiscuous intercourse, only to a change +in the tyrant male, who ruled over the women in the group. + +Another fact against a belief in promiscuity is that the lowest +savages known to us are not promiscuous, in so far as there is no +proved case of the sexual relations being absolutely unregulated. They +all recognise sets of women with whom certain sets of men can have no +marital relations. Again these savages are very far removed from the +state of man's first emergence from the brute, as is proved by their +combination into large and friendly tribes. Such peaceful aggregation +could only have arisen at a much later period, and after the males had +learnt by some means to control their brute appetites and jealousy of +rivals in that movement towards companionship, which, first resting in +the sexual needs, broadens out into the social instincts. + +For these reasons, then, we conclude that the theory of a friendly +union having existed among males in the primitive group is the very +reverse of the truth. This question has now been sufficiently proved. +I am thus brought into agreement with Dr. Westermarck, Mr. Crawley, +and Mr. Lang, in his examination of Mr. Atkinson's _Primal Law_, as +well as with other writers, all of whom have shown that promiscuity +cannot be accepted as a stage in the early life of the human family. + +I have now to show how far this rejection of promiscuity affects our +position with regard to mother-descent and mother-right. It is clearly +of vital importance to any theory that its foundations are secure. One +foundation--that of promiscuity, on which Bachofen and McLennan, the +two upholders of matriarchy, base their hypothesis--has been +overthrown. It thus becomes necessary to approach the question from an +altogether different position. Mother-right must be explained without +any reference to unregulated sexual conduct. I am thus turned back to +examine the opposing theory to matriarchy, which founds the family on +the patriarchal authority of the father. Nor is this all. What we must +expect a true theory to do is to show conditions that are applicable +not only to special cases, but in their main features to mankind in +general. I have to prove that such conditions arose in the primitive +patriarchal family as it advanced towards social aggregation, that +would not only make possible, but, as I believe, would necessitate the +power of the mothers asserting its force in the group-family. Only +when this is done can I hope that a new belief in mother-right may +find acceptance. + +The patriarchal theory stated in its simplest form is this: Primeval +man lived in small family groups, composed of an adult male, and of +his wife, or, if he were powerful, several wives, whom he jealously +guarded from the sexual advances of all other males. In such a group +the father is the chief or patriarch as long as he lives, and the +family is held together by their common subjection to him. As for the +children, the daughters as soon as they grow up are added to his +wives, while the sons are driven out from the home at the time they +reach an age to be dangerous as sexual rivals to their father. The +important thing to note is that _in each group there would be only one +adult polygamous male, with many women of different ages and young +children_. I shall return to this later. Such is the marked difference +in the position of the two sexes--the solitary jealously unsocial +father and the united mothers. I can but wonder how its significance +has escaped the attention of the many inquirers, who have sought the +truth in this matter. Probably the explanation is to be found in this: +they have been interested mainly in one side of the family--the male +side; I am interested in the other side--in the women members of the +group. The position of women has seemed of primary importance to very +few. Bachofen is almost alone in placing this question first, and his +mystical far-fetched hypothesis has failed to find acceptance. + +Let me now, in order to make the position clearer, continue a rough +grouping of the supposed conditions in this primordial family, with +all its members in subjection to the common father. It may be argued +that we can know nothing at all about the family and the position of +the two sexes at this brute period. This is true. The conditions are, +of course, conjectural, and any suggested conclusions to be drawn from +them must be still more so. Yet some hypothesis must be risked as a +starting-point for any theory that attempts to go so far back in the +stream of time. + +We may suppose, then, that mankind aboriginally lived in small +families in much the same way as the great monkeys: we see the same +conditions, for instance, among the families of gorillas, where the +group never becomes large. The male leader will not endure the rivalry +of the young males, and as soon as they grow up a contest takes place, +and the strongest and eldest male, by killing or driving out the +others, maintains his position as the tyrant head of the family.[30] + + [30] Darwin, _Descent of Man_. Wallace, _The Malay + Archipelago_, and Brehm, _Thierleben_. + +This may be taken as a picture of the human brute-family. It is clear +that the relation of the father to the other group members was not one +of kinship, but of power. "Every female in my crowd is my property," +says--or feels--Mr. Atkinson's patriarchal anthropoid, "and the +patriarch gives expression to his sentiment with teeth and claws, if +he has not yet learned to double up his fist with a stone in it. These +were early days."[31] + + [31] _Social Origins and Primal Law_, pp. 4, 21. Westermarck, + pp. 13, 42. _Primal Law_, pp. 209-212. + +We may conclude that there would be many of these groups, each with a +male head, his wives and adult daughters, and children of both sexes. +It is probable that they lived a nomadic life, finding a temporary +home in a cave, rock, or tree-shelter, in some place where the supply +of food was plentiful. The area of their wanderings would be fixed by +the existence of other groups; for such groups would almost certainly +be mutually hostile to each other, watchfully resenting any intrusion +on their own feeding ground. A further, and more powerful, cause of +hostility would arise from the sexual antagonism of the males. Around +each group would be the band of exiled sons, haunting their former +hearth-homes, and forming a constant element of danger to the solitary +paternal tyrant. This I take to be important as we shall presently +see. For, the most urgent necessity of these young men, after the need +for food, must have been to obtain wives. This could be done only by +capturing women from one or other of the groups. The difficulties +attending such captures must have been great. It is, therefore, +probable the young men at first kept together, sharing their wives in +polyandrous union. But this condition would not continue, the group +thus formed would inevitably break up at the adult stage under the +influence of jealousy; the captured wives would be fought for and +carried off by the strongest males to form fresh groups. + +In this matter I have given the opinion of Mr. Atkinson and Mr. Lang. +They hold that no permanent peaceful union could have been maintained +among the groups of young men and their captive wives. Mr. Atkinson +gives the reason-- + + "Their unity could only endure as long as the youthfulness + of the members necessitated union for protection, and their + immaturity prevented the full play of sexual passion." And + again: "The necessary Primal Law which alone could determine + peace within a family circle by recognising a _distinction + between female and male_ (the indispensable antecedent to a + definition of marital rights) could never have arisen in + such a body. It follows if such a law was ever evoked, it + must have been from _within the only other assembly in + existence_, viz. that headed by the solitary polygamous + patriarch."[32] + + [32] _Social Origins and Primal Law_, p. 230. Mr. Atkinson + writes this to show that there can be no connection between + these groups of young males and the polyandrous marriages of + Mr. McLennan's theory. The first italics in the passage are + his own; the second are mine. Why I wish to emphasise this + point will soon be seen. I have already mentioned how I was + recommended to read _Social Origins_ to convince me of my + mistake in accepting the mother-age. It has done just the + opposite, and has given me the clue to many difficulties that + I was before unable to clear up. This is why I am following + this book rather than other authorities in my examination of + the patriarchal theory. I take this opportunity of recording + my debt to the authors, and of expressing my thanks to Mr. + Wells, who recommended me to read the book. + +Whether Mr. Atkinson is right I shall not attempt to say; the point is +one on which I hesitate a decided opinion; but as this view affords +support to my own theory I shall accept it. + +Now, to consider the bearing of this on our present inquiry. So far I +have followed very closely the family group gathered around the +patriarchal tyrant, under the conditions given by Mr. Atkinson and Mr. +Lang, in _Social Origins and Primal Law_. It will not, I think, have +escaped the notice of the reader that very little has been said about +the women and their children. There is no hint at all that the women +must have lived a life of their own, different in its conditions from +that of the men. The female members, it would seem, have been taken +for granted and not considered, except in so far as their presence is +necessary to excite the jealous sexual combats of the males. This +seems to be very instructive. The idea of the subjection of all +females to the solitary male has been accepted without question. But +the group consisted of _many women and only one adult man_. Yet in +spite of this, the man is held to be the essential member; all the +family obey him. His wife (or wives) and his daughters, though +necessary to his pleasure as also to continue the group, are regarded +as otherwise unimportant, in fact, mere property possessions to him. +Now, I am very sure the rights these group-women must have held have +been greatly underrated, and the neglect to recognise this has led, I +think, to many mistakes. I am willing to accept the authority of the +polygamous patriarch--within limits. But it seems probable, as I shall +shortly indicate, that a predominant influence in the domestic life is +to be ascribed to the women, and, therefore, "the movement towards +peace within the group circle" must be looked for as a result from the +feminine side of the family, rather than from the male side. There is +still another point: I maintain that precisely through the +concentration of the male ruler on the sexual subjection of his +females, conditions must have arisen, affecting the conduct and +character of the women: conditions, moreover, that would bring them +inevitably more and more into a position of power. + +It remains for me to suggest what I believe these conditions to have +been. Meanwhile let us keep one fact steadily before our minds. The +fierce sexual jealousy of the males had by some means to be +controlled. It is evident that the way towards social progress could +be found only by the peaceful aggregation of these solitary hostile +groups; and this could not be done without breaking down the rule that +strength and seniority in the male conferred upon him marital right +over all the females. In other words, the tyrant patriarch had in some +way to learn to tolerate the presence of other adult males on friendly +terms within his own group. We have to find how this first, but +momentous, step in social progress was taken. + +Let us concentrate now our attention on the domestic life of the +women. And first we must examine more carefully the exact conditions +that we may suppose to have existed in these hostile groups. The +father is the tyrant of the band--an egoist. Any protection he affords +the family is in his own interests, he is chief much more than father. +His sons he drives away as soon as they are old enough to give him any +trouble; his daughters he adds to his harem. We may conceive that the +domination of his sexual jealousy must have chiefly occupied his time +and his attention. It is probable that he was fed by his women; at +least it seems certain that he cannot have provided food for them and +for all the children of the group. Sex must have been uninterruptedly +interesting to him. In the first place he had to capture his wife, or +wives, then he had to fight for the right of sole possession. +Afterwards he had to guard his women, especially his daughters, from +being carried off, in their turn, by younger males, his deadly rivals, +who, exiled by sexual jealousy from his own and the other similar +hearth-homes, would come, with each returning year, more and more to +be feared. An ever-recurring and growing terror would dog each step of +the solitary paternal despot, and necessitate an unceasing +watchfulness against danger, and even an anticipation of death. For +when old age, or sickness decreased his power of holding his own, then +the tables would be turned, and the younger men, so hardly oppressed, +would raise their hands against him in parricidal strife. + +You will see what all this strife suggests--the unstable and +adventitious relation of the man to the social hearth-group. Such +conditions of antagonism of each male against every other male must +favour the assumption that no advance in peace--on which alone all +future progress depended--could have come from the patriarchs. +Jealousy forced them into unsocial conduct. + +But advance by peace to progress was by some means to be made. I +believe that the way was opened up by women. + +I hasten to add, however, in case I am mistaken here, that I am very +far from wishing to set up any claim of superiority for savage woman +over savage man. The momentous change was not, indeed, the result of +any higher spiritual quality in the female, nor was it a religious +movement, as is the beautiful dream of Bachofen. I do not think we can +credit "a movement" as having taken place at all, rather the change +arose gradually, inevitably, and quite simply. To postulate a +conscious movement towards progress organised by women is surely +absurd. Human nature does not start on any new line of conduct +voluntarily, rather it is forced into it in connection with the +conditions of life. Just as savage man was driven into unsocial +conduct, so, as I shall try to show, savage woman was led by the same +conditions acting in an opposite direction, into social conduct. + +My own thought was drawn first to this conclusion by noting the +behaviour of a band of female turkeys with their young. It was a year +ago. I was staying in a Sussex village, and near by my home was the +meadow of a farm in which families of young turkeys were being reared. +Here I often sat; and one day it chanced that I was reading _Social +Origins and Primal Law_. I had reached the chapter on "Man in the +Brutal Stage," in which Mr. Atkinson gives the supposed facts of brute +man, and the action of his jealousy in the family group. I was very +much impressed; my reason told me that what the author stated so well +was probably right. Such sexually jealous conduct on the part of +savage man was likely to be true; it was much easier to accept this +than the state of promiscuous intercourse, with its friendly +communism in women, in which I had hitherto believed. I really was +very much disturbed. For I was still unshaken in my belief in +mother-right. How were the two theories to be reconciled? + +Often it is a small thing that points to the way for which one is +seeking. All at once my little boy, who had been playing in the field, +called out, "Oh, look at the Gobble-gobble,"--the name by which he +called the male-turkey. The cock, his great tail spread, his throat +swelling, was swaggering across the field, making an immense amount of +noisy disturbance. A group of females and young birds, many of them +almost full grown, were near to where we were sitting; they had been +rooting about in the ground getting their food. Their fear at the +approach of the strutting male was manifest. All the band gathered +together, with the young in the centre, led and flanked by the +mothers. As the male continued to advance upon them they retreated +further and further, and finally took harbour in a barn. Here the +swaggerer tried to follow them, but the rear females turned and faced +him and drove him off. + +I had found the clue that I was seeking. All I had been reading now +had a clear meaning for me. In my delight, I laughed aloud. I saw the +egoism of the solitary male; I knew the meaning of the females' +retreat; they were guarding the young from the feared attacks of the +father. I realised how the male's unsocial conduct towards his +offspring had forced the females to unite with one another. The cock's +strength, the gorgeous display of sex-charms, were powerless before +this peaceful combination. He was alone, a tyrant--the destroyer of +the family. But I saw, too, that his polygamous jealousy served as a +means to the end of advance in progress. It was the male's non-social +conduct that had forced social conduct upon the females. And I +understood that the patriarchal tyrant was just the one thing I had +been looking for. My belief in mother-power had gained a new and, as I +felt then in the first delight of that discovery, and as I still feel, +a much surer, because a simpler and more natural foundation. + +Having now defined my position, and having related how such conviction +came to me, let me proceed to examine the causes that would lead to +the assertion of women's power, in the aboriginal family group. From +what has been said, the following conditions acting on the women, may, +it is submitted, be fairly deduced. + + 1. In the group, which comprised the mothers, the adult + daughters, and the young of both sexes, the women would live + on terms of association as friendly hearth-mates. + + 2. The strongest factor in this association would arise from + the dependence of the children upon their mothers; a + dependence that was of much longer duration than among the + animals, on account of the pre-eminent helplessness of the + human child, which entailed a more prolonged infancy. + + 3. The women and their children would form the group, to + which the father was attached by his sexual needs, but + remained always a member apart--a kind of jealous fighting + specialisation. + + 4. The temporary hearth-home would be the shelter of the + women; and it was under this shelter that children were born + and the group accumulated its members. Whether cave, or + hollow tree, or some frail shelter, the home must have + belonged to the women. + + 5. And this state would necessarily attach the mothers to + the home, much more closely than the father, whose desire + lay in the opposite direction of disrupting the home. + Moreover this attachment always would be present and acting + on the female children, who, unless captured, would remain + with the mothers, while it could never arise in the case of + the sons, whose fate was to be driven from the home. Such + conditions must, as time went on, have profoundly modified + the women's outlook, bending their desires to a steady, + settled life, conditions under which alone the germ of + social organisation could develop. + + 6. Again, the daily search for the daily food must have been + undertaken chiefly by the women. For it is impossible that + one man, however skilful a hunter, could have fed all the + female members and children of the group. We may conceive + that his attention and his time must have been occupied + largely in fighting his rivals; while much of his strength, + as sole progenitor, must have been expended in sex. It is + therefore probable that frequently the patriarch was + dependent on the food activities of his women. + + 7. The mothers, their inventive faculties quickened by the + stress of child-bearing and child-rearing, would learn to + convert to their own uses the most available portion of + their environment. It would be under the attention of the + women that plants were first utilised for food. Seeds would + be beaten out, roots and tubers dug for, and nuts and fruits + gathered in their season and stored for use. Birds would + have to be snared, shell-fish and fish would be caught; + while, at a later period, animals would be tamed for + service. Primitive domestic vessels to hold and to carry + water, baskets to store the food supplies would have to be + made. Clothes for protection against the cold would come to + be fashioned. All the faculties of the women, in exercises + that would lead to the development of every part of their + bodies, would be called into play by the work of satisfying + the physical needs of the group. + + 8. This interest and providence for the family would + certainly have its effect on the development of the women. + The formation of character is largely a matter of attention, + and the attention of the mothers being fixed on the supply + of the necessary food, doubtless often difficult to obtain, + their energies would be driven into productive activities, + much more than in the case of the father, whose attention + was fixed upon himself. + + 9. In all these numerous activities the women of each group + would work together. And through this co-operation must have + resulted the assertion of the women's power, as the + directors and organisers of industrial occupations. As the + group slowly advanced in progress, such power increasing + would raise the women's position; the mothers would + establish themselves permanently as of essential value in + the family, not only as the givers of life, but as the chief + providers of the food essential to the preservation of the + life of its members. + + 10. And a further result would follow in the treatment by + the male of this new order. The women by obtaining and + preparing food would gain an economic value. Wives would + become to the patriarch a source of riches, indispensable to + him, not only on account of his sex needs, but on account of + the more persistent need of food. Thus the more women he + possessed the greater would be his own comfort, and the + physical prosperity of the group. The women would become of + ever greater importance, and the economic power that they + thus acquired would more and more favourably influence their + position. + + 11. There is one other matter in this connection. The + greater number of women in the group the stronger would + become their power of combination. I attach great importance + to this. Working together for the welfare of all, the social + motive would grow stronger in women, so that necessarily + they would come to consider the collective interests of the + group. Can it be credited that such conditions could have + acted upon the patriarch, whose conduct would still be + inspired by individual appetite and selfish inclinations? I + maintain such a view to be impossible. + + 12. Another advantage, I think, would arise for women out of + the male's jealous tyranny in the sexual relationship. Such + an idea may appear strange, if we think only of the + subjection of the females to the brute-appetite of the + patriarch. Yet there is another side. The women must have + gained freedom by being less occupied with sex passions, and + also from being less jealously interested in the man than he + was in them. It may be urged that the women would be jealous + of each other. I do not think this could have been. Jealousy + has its roots in the consciousness of possession, and is + only aroused through fear of loss. This could not have acted + with any great power among the women in the patriarchal + group. Their interest of possession in sex must have been + less acute in consciousness than the interest of the male. + Doubtless the woman would be attracted by the male's + courageous action in fighting his rivals for possession of + her, but when the rival was the woman's son such attraction + would come into strong conflict with the deeper maternal + instinct. + + 13. From the standpoint of physical strength, the patriarch + was the master, the tyrant ruler of the group, who, + doubtless, often was brutal enough. But the women, leading + an independent life to some extent, and with their mental + ingenuity developed by the conditions of their life, would + learn, I believe, to outwit their master by passive united + resistance. They would come to utilise their sex charms as + an accessory of success. Thus the unceasing sexual + preoccupation of the male, with the emotional dependence it + entailed on the females, must, I would suggest, have given + women an immense advantage. If I am right here, the + patriarch would be in the power of his women, much more + surely than they would be in his power. + + 14. Again, an antagonism must have arisen between the despot + father and his women, in particular with his daughters, + forced to submit to his brute-passions. I confess I find + grave difficulty in reconciling the view that the + group-daughters would willingly become the wives of their + father. I cannot conceive them without some power to + exercise that choice in love, which is the right of the + female throughout nature. There is great insistence by Mr. + Atkinson, and all who have written on the subject, on the + sexual passions of the males, while the desires of the women + are not considered at all. Apparently they are held to have + had none! This affords yet another instance of the strange + concentration on the male side of the family. It is taken + for granted, for instance, that in every case the young men, + when driven from their home, had to capture their wives from + other groups. I would suggest that often the capture was + aided by the woman herself; she may even have escaped from + the hearth-home in her desire to find a partner, preferring + the rule of a young tyrant to an old one, who moreover was + her father. I believe, too, that the wives and mothers must + frequently have asserted their will in rebellion. I picture, + indeed, these savage women ever striving for more + privileges, and step by step advancing through peaceful + combination to power. + + 15. I desire also to maintain that all I have here suggested + finds support from what is known of the position of women + among primitive peoples; and I may add also, from the + character of women to-day. + +Now I have summarised briefly what seem to me the probable conditions +of the women's daily life in these earliest groups. I have attempted +to show how the sexual jealousy, which acted for the destruction of +the mutually hostile male members, would necessitate for the women +conditions in many ways favourable; conditions of union in which lay +the beginnings of peace and order. What we have to fix in our thoughts +is the significant fact of the sociability of the women's lives in +contrast with the solitude of the jealous sire, watchfully resenting +the intrusion of all other males. Such conditions cannot have failed +to domesticate the women, and urged them forward to the work that was +still to be done in domesticating man. During the development of the +family, we may expect that the patriarch will seek to hold his rights, +and that the women will exert their influence more and more in +breaking these down; and this is precisely what we do find, as I +presently shall show. + +One point further. It may, of course, be urged that all I am affirming +for women in this far back beginning is but a process of ingenious +guessing. Such criticism is just. But I am speaking of conditions at a +time when conjecture is necessary. I venture to say that my +suggestions are in accord with what is likely to have happened. +Moreover, many difficulties will be made clearer if these guesses are +accepted. I believe that here in the earliest patriarchal stage we +have already the germs of the maternal family. All the chances for +success in power rested with the united mothers, rather than with the +solitary father. Assuredly the jealous patriarchs paid a heavy price +for their sexual domination. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +DEVELOPMENT IN THE PATRIARCHAL FAMILY AND THE RISE OF MOTHER-POWER + + +The essential question, now, is how these small hostile groups were +brought by association to expand into larger groups. In what way was +the sexual monopoly of the male ruler first curbed, and afterwards +broken down, for only by this being done could peace be gained? +However advantageous the habits of the patriarch may have been for +himself, they were directly opposed to progress. Jealousy depends on +the failure to recognise the rights of others. This sexual egoism, by +which one man through his strength and seniority held marital rights +over all the females of his group, had to be struck at its roots. In +other words, the solitary despot had to learn to tolerate the +association of other adult males. + +How was this happy change to be brought about? Social qualities are +surely developed in the character by union with one's fellow beings. +From what has been stated, it seems certain that it was in the +interests of the women to consolidate the family, and by means of +association to establish their own power. Jealousy is an absolutely +non-social quality. Regarding its influence, it is certainly absurd +to believe any voluntary association to have been possible among the +males of the hostile patriarchal groups; to credit this is to give the +lie to the entire theory. We are driven, therefore, to seek for the +beginnings of social conduct among the women. I have suggested the +conditions forcing them into combination with one another against the +tyranny of the patriarch. I have now to show how these causes, +continually acting, brought the women step by step into a position of +authority and power. There is, however, no suggestion of a spiritual +revolt on the part of women. I do not wish to set up any claim for, +because I do not believe in, the superiority of one sex over the other +sex. Character is determined by the conditions of living. If, as I +conceive, progress came through savage women, rather than through +savage men, it was because the conditions were really more favourable +to them, and drove them on in the right path. However strange it may +appear, their sexual subjection to the fierce jealousy of the +patriarch acted as a means to an end in advancing peace. + +The strongest force of union between the women would grow out of the +consciousness of an ever-threatening and common danger. Not only had +the young to be fed and cared for during infancy and childhood, but, +as they grew in years, they had to be guarded from the father, whose +relation to his offspring was that of an enemy. It has been seen how +the sons were banished at puberty from the family group to maintain +the patriarch's marital rights. Doubtless the strength of maternal +love gained in intensity through the many failures in conflicts, that +must have taken place with the tyrant fathers. Would not this +community of suffering tend to force the women to unite with one +another, at each renewed banishment of their sons? May they not, after +the banishment, have assisted their sons in the capture of their +wives? I think it must be allowed that this is possible. And there is +another point to notice. The exiled sons and their captured wives +would each have a mother in the groups they had left. May it not be +conceived that, as time brought progress in intelligence, some +friendly communication might have been established between group and +group, in defiance of the jealous guardianship of the patriarchs? +Thus, through the danger, ever to be feared in every family, there +might open up a way by sympathy to a possible future union. + +It is part of my supposition that every movement towards friendship +must have arisen among the women. This is no fanciful idea of my own. +Mr. Atkinson, one of the strongest supporters of the patriarchal +theory, agrees with this view, though he does not seem to see its +origin, and does not follow up its deep suggestion. By him the +movement in advance is narrowed to a single issue of peace between the +father and his sons, but this great step is credited to the influence +of the mothers. I must quote the passages that refer to this--[33] + + [33] _Primal Law_, pp. 231-232. + + "At the renewed banishment of each of her male progeny by + the jealous patriarch, the mother's feelings and instincts + would be increasingly lacerated and outraged. Her agonised + efforts to retain at least her last and youngest would be + even stronger than with her first born. It is exceedingly + important to observe that her chances of success in this + case would be much greater. When this last and dearest son + approached adolescence, it is not difficult to perceive that + the patriarch must have reached an age when the fire of + desire may have become somewhat dull, whilst, again, his + harem, from the presence of numerous adult daughters, would + be increased to an extent that might have overtaxed his once + more active powers. Given some such rather exceptional + situation, where a happy opportunity in superlative mother + love wrestled with a for once satiated paternal appetite in + desire, we may here discern a possible key of the + sociological problem which occupies us, and which consisted + in a conjunction within one group of two adult males." + +In the next paragraph the author presents the situation which in this +way might have arisen-- + + "We must conceive that, in the march of the centuries, on + some fateful day, the bloody tragedy in the last act of the + familiar drama was avoided, and the edict of exile or death + left unpronounced. _Pure maternal love triumphed over the + demons of lust and jealousy._ A mother succeeded in keeping + by her side a male child, and thus, by a strange + coincidence, that father and son, who, amongst all mammals, + had been the most deadly enemies, were now the first to join + hands. So portentous an alliance might well bring the world + to their feet. The family would now present for the first + time, the until then unknown spectacle of the inclusion + within a domestic circle, and amidst its component females, + of an adolescent male youth. It must, however, be admitted + that such an event, at such an epoch, demanded imperatively + very exceptional qualities, both physiological and + psychological, in the primitive agents. The new happy ending + to that old-world drama which had run so long through blood + and tears, was an innovation requiring very unusually gifted + actors. How many failures had doubtless taken place in its + rehearsal during the centuries, with less able or happy + interpreters!" + +Mr. Atkinson supposes that success in the new experiment "was rendered +possible by the rise of new powers in nascent man." Here I do not +follow him. "The germ of altruism," which he sees as "already having +risen to make its force felt" was, indeed, as he says "an important +factor." But is it credible that this altruism existed in the father? +I can conceive him being won over through his own emotional dependence +on some specially pleasing woman; he may well have had favourites +among his wives. I cannot accept "altruism" as a reason for his +conduct, under conditions acting in an exact opposite way in fostering +and increasing egoism. Much more probable is the supposition that he +"must have reached the age when the fire of desire had become somewhat +dulled." + +I must also take exception to a further statement of Mr. Atkinson, +"that with such prolonged infancy there had been opportunity for the +development of paternal philoprogenitiveness." And again: "It is +evident that such long-continued presence of sons could but result in +a certain mutual sympathy, however inevitable the eventual exile." It +is unnecessary for me to labour this question. I may, however, point +out, that the identical conditions of the family among the anthropoid +apes (on whom Mr. Atkinson bases his patriarchy) do not afford any +proof of paternal altruism. The polygamous jealous father never enters +into friendly union with the other males. He is strong and sexually +beautiful, but he is never social in his domestic conduct. He is the +tyrant in the family, and the young are guarded from his attacks by +the mothers. With the mothers there is protection and safety, with the +father ownership. The whole argument of the patriarchal theory is +based on the fact of the jealous conduct of the male. Driven to live +in solitary enmity, the patriarch could not voluntarily tolerate the +presence of a rival, if he was to maintain his position as ruler. It +is impossible to get away from this. Mr. Atkinson comes very near to +this essential truth, when he suggests (though he does not fully +acknowledge) that the first step in social development came through +the mother's love for her child; but at once he turns aside from this, +drawn, I think unconsciously, to the common opinion of the complete +subjection of the females to the male, an opinion always making it +difficult to accept the initiative in reform as coming from the woman. + +The exclusive and persisting idea of Mr. Atkinson's theory is to +establish the action of what he calls "the primal law." Only by +limiting and defining the marital rights of the males over the females +could advancement be gained. Until this was done these small hostile +groups could not become larger, and expand into the clan or tribe. + +I must follow this question a little although it leads us aside from +the immediate subject of my own inquiry. The first step in progress +has been taken; by the triumph of maternal love, an adult male son is +now included in the group. We must conceive that this victory, having +once been gained by one mother, would be repeated by other mothers. +Afterwards, as time went on, the advantage in strength gained to the +group by this increase in their male members, would tend to encourage +the custom. One may reasonably assume that it became established as a +habit in each group that once had taken the first step. Father and +sons, for so long enemies, now enter on a truce. + +It must not, however, be concluded that sexual peace followed this new +order. It is part of Mr. Atkinson's theory that the patriarch's sexual +jealousy would not be broken down by his tolerance of the presence of +his sons. Peace could be maintained only so long as the intruders +respected his marital rights. Under this condition, all the group +women, as they all belonged to the patriarch, would be taboo to the +young men; otherwise there would be a fight, and the offending son +would be driven into exile. Doubtless this frequently happened, but +the advantages gained by union would tend to prevent the danger. Some +means of preserving sexual peace within the group certainly would come +to be established. "For the first time," as Mr. Atkinson points out, +"we encounter the factor which is to be the leading power in future +metamorphosis, i. e. _an explicit distinction between female and +female as such_." + +Through this bar placed on the female members within the family +circle, the sons, who remained in peace, would be forced to continue +the practice of capturing their wives, and would bring in women to +live with them from other groups. It is assumed that these captures +were in all cases hostile. I have given my reasons for disagreeing +with this view. I hold that the young women may have been glad to have +been taken by the young men, and most probably assisted them, in a +surely not unnatural desire to escape from their tyrant fathers. I +really cannot credit such continued sexual subjection on the part of +the group-daughters, an opinion which arises, I am certain, from the +curious misconception of the passivity of the human female in love. + +I do not wish to conceal that my conjecture of an active part having +been taken by the women, both in their captures and also in all the +relationships of the family, is opposed to the great majority of +learned opinion. The reason for this already has been suggested. +Almost invariably the writers on these questions are men, and there +is, I imagine, a certain blindness in their view. I am convinced that +from the earliest beginnings of the human family women have exercised +a much stronger and more direct influence than is usually believed. +All the movements towards regulation and progress, so ingeniously +worked out by Mr. Atkinson, are easier to credit if we accept the +initiative as having come from the group-mothers. I have an inward +conviction of an unchanging law between the two sexes, and though I +cannot here attempt to give any proof, it seems to me, we can always +trace _the absorption by the male of female ideas_. The man accepts +what the woman brings forward, and then assumes the control, believing +he is the originator of her ideas. Take this case of capture: If, as I +suggest, the young women assisted or even took the initiative in their +own captures, they would very plainly not be willing to allow sexual +relationships with another hoary patriarch. I would urge that here +again it was by the action of the young women, rather than the young +men, that the new order was established. But this is a small matter. +If I am right, the communal living and common danger among the women +would powerfully bind them together in union, and sever them from the +male rulers. Once this is granted, it follows that social +consciousness in the women must have been stronger than in the +solitary males. Then there can be no possible doubt of the part taken +by women in the slow advancement of the group by regulation to social +peace. Moreover, I believe, that confirmation of what is here claimed +for women will be found (as will appear in the later part of my +inquiry) in many social habits among existing primitive peoples, who +still live under the favourable conditions of the maternal family; +habits that suggest a long evolutionary process, and that can be +explained only if they have arisen in a very remote beginning. But +enough on this subject has now been said. + +Many interesting questions arise from the action of Mr. Atkinson's +"primal law." His theory offers a solution of the much-debated +question of the origin of exogamy,[34] the term used first by Mr. +McLennan, in _Primitive Marriage_, for the rule which prohibited +sexual relationships within the group limit. Continence imposed by the +patriarch on his sons within the group, as a condition of his +tolerance of their presence, necessarily and logically entailed +marriage without, with women from some other group. This explanation +of exogamy is so simple that it seems likely to be true. It is much +more reasonable than any of the numerous other theories that have been +brought forward. Mr. McLennan, for instance, suggests that the custom +arose through a scarcity of females, owing to the widespread practice +of female infanticide. This can hardly be accepted, for such +conditions, where they exist, would arise at a much later period. Even +less likely is the theory of Dr. Westermarck, who explains exogamy as +arising from "an instinct against marriage of near kin." But we have +no proof of the existence of any such instinct.[35] Mr. Crawley's +view is similar: he connects the custom with the idea of sexual taboo, +which makes certain marriages a deadly sin. It is evident that these +causes could not have operated with the brute patriarch. One great +point in favour of Mr. Atkinson's view is that it takes us so much +further back. By it exogamy as a custom must have been much earlier +than totemism, as at this stage the different group-families would not +be distinguished by totem names; but its action as a law would become +much stronger when reinforced by the totem superstitions, and would +become fixed in rigid sexual taboos.[36] The strongest of these taboos +is the avoidance between brothers and sisters; this is Mr. Atkinson's +_primal law_. It is a law that is still a working factor among +barbarous races, and entails restrictions and avoidances of the most +binding nature. + + [34] _Studies._ Chap. VII. "Exogamy: Its Origin." + + [35] _History of Human Marriage._ Chap. XIV. "Prohibition of + Marriage between Kindred." + + [36] _Mystic Rose._ + +Unfortunately I have not space to write even briefly on this important +and deeply interesting subject. A right understanding of the whole +question of sexual taboos, with the complicated totem superstitions on +which they are based, is very necessary to any inquiry into the +position of women. But to do this I should have to write another book. +All I can say is this: these avoidances had in their origin no +connection with the relative power of the two sexes; nor do I believe +it can be proved that they were established by men rather than by +women. They arose quite naturally, out of the necessity for regulation +as a condition of peace. + +Let me give one example that will serve to show how easily mistakes +may arise. One of these rules, common among primitive peoples, +prevents the women from eating with the men. This is often considered +as a proof of the inferior position of the women, whereas it proves +nothing of the kind. It is just one instance out of many numerous laws +of avoidance between wife and husband, sister and brother, mother and +son, and, indeed, between all relations in the family, which are part +of the general rule to restrict sexual familiarity between the two +sexes, set up at a time when moral restraints upon desire could act +but feebly. It was only much later that these sexual taboos came to be +fixed as superstitions, that with unbreakable fetters bound the +freedom of women. + +Here, indeed, are facts causing us to think. We perceive how old and +strongly rooted are many customs from which to-day we are fighting to +escape; customs of separation between women and men, which, with +appalling conservatism, have descended through the ages. Will they +ever be broken down? I do not know. These questions are not considered +in adequate fashion; often we are ignorant of the deep forces driving +the sexes into situations of antagonism. Clearly these primitive +avoidances shed strong light on the sexual problems of our day. The +subject is one of profound interest. I wish that it were possible to +follow it, but all this lies outside the limit set to my inquiry, and +already I have been led far from the patriarchal family. + +The group has advanced in progress, and now has many features in +common with existing savage peoples. The friendly conjunction of the +father and his sons has established peace. Exogamy has begun to be +practised; and the family in this way has been increased not only by +the presence of the group-sons, but by their captured wives. We have +seen that this would necessitate certain rules of sexual avoidance; +thus the patriarch still holds marital rights over his wives and the +group-daughters, while the captured women are sacred to the +group-sons. + +There is now a further important change to consider. Again the rights +of the patriarch have to be restricted; a bar has to be raised to +prevent his adding his daughters to his wives. Only by overcoming this +habit of paternal incest can further social evolution become possible. + +On this question I shall give the explanation of Mr. Atkinson; and it +is with real regret that the limit of my space makes it impossible to +quote in full his own words.[37] The change came by _the entrance of +outside suitors as husbands for the daughters and their acceptance as +group-members_. + + [37] _Primal Law._ The chapter "From the Group to the Tribe," + pp. 250-263. + +At this point a difficulty once again arises. By what means was the +patriarch brought to accept the presence of these young intruders, +thus usurping his sexual rights over his daughters? Mr. Atkinson +believes this could not have taken place during the life of the +patriarch. "The initiative in change must have arisen irrespective of +him, or without his presence." Here Mr. Atkinson appears to me to fall +into error, as once more he neglects to consider the effect of the +young women's own desires. I hold that, by this time, the +group-daughters, supported by their mothers, must have been strong +enough to outwit their father (whose authority already had been +weakened), if not openly, then by deceiving him. They would now see +their brothers living with young wives. Is it credible, I ask, that +they would remain content with the sexual embraces of their father? + +In this connection it is of interest to note the opposition sometimes +offered by young females to the advances of an old male among the +families of monkeys. I have received quite recently an account of such +a case in a letter from my friend, Max Henry Ferrass, formerly +Inspector of Schools in India, and the author of a valuable work on +Burmah. This is what he says-- + + "I once was able to observe a herd of common long-tailed + monkeys of the Indian plains at play on a sandbank in a + river. There were about fifty of all ages. There was one + great bully among them who looked double the size of the + average adult--and must have been double the weight, at any + rate--whose sport was to chase the young females. They, + knowing his game, fled before him, but he caught them + readily. But before he could have his will of any, she would + bound from his grasp as if stung, and always escape, as this + sudden spurt of energy was more than he could control." + +Here we have a clear instance in which the young females escape from +the thraldom of the male ruler of the horde. The power with which Mr. +Atkinson endows his human patriarch seems to me quite incredible. I +have asserted again and again that the consolidation of the +group-circle was of much greater importance to the women than to the +men. Now this surely points to the acceptance of the view that the +regulation of the brute sexual appetite was initiated by the women. +Thereby, it may be pointed out, their action merely resembles +womankind in any stage from the lowest degree of savagery to the +highest stage of civilisation. + +Moreover, there is further proof that points strongly to the +acceptance of this view, that, the new departure, by which young +husbands came into the group, was brought about by the women, in +opposition to the knowledge and will of the patriarch. There exists a +common custom among primitive tribes, which affords evidence of these +outside suitors having visited their brides in secret. I refer to the +practice by which intercourse between the husband and wife is carried +on clandestinely by night. This is one of the earliest forms of +marriage, and, further, it is closely connected, as I shall presently +show, with the maternal family system. There appears to be no real +cause for this precaution. I do not think it can be explained by the +superstitious dread of the sexes for each other, expressing itself in +this form of sexual taboo; as Mr. Crawley and other writers suggest. +Doubtless this is a factor, and a very powerful one, in the +continuance of the custom, but it does not seem to me to be the true +explanation of its origin. Such secrecy and clandestine meetings are, +however, exactly what must have happened if the group-daughters +received their lovers, as I would suggest, in defiance of the will of +the patriarch. May not the custom as it still exists be a survival, +retained and strengthened by superstition, from a time when these +fugitive visits were necessary for safety?[38] + + [38] Mr. Atkinson refers to these clandestine marriages. He + does not, however, connect the custom, as I suggest, with any + action on the part of the young women. + +Mr. Atkinson's view is different from mine. He does not allow any +power at all to the women. He holds that after the death of the +patriarch, his daughters, still young, would be left without husbands. +To meet this difficulty suitors are brought from other groups by the +brothers, _i. e._ the sons settled in the group and who now rule. We +are asked to believe that they do this to relieve themselves of the +maintenance of their widowed sisters, and to prevent their being +captured and carried off to other groups. According to Mr. Atkinson +the presence of these outside lovers would not be dangerous to the +family peace. They would come from neighbouring groups, from which +the young men had already captured their wives. In this way the strangers +would be the brothers of their women; and thus the brother-and-sister +avoidance--the primal law already established--would prevent any fear of +interference with the established marital rights on the part of the +new-comers. I strongly differ from the suggestion that the brothers +had to feed and maintain their widowed sisters; such an opinion is but +another example of a failure to appreciate the women's side of the +question. I allow willingly that the sisters may have had the +assistance of their brothers; I incline, indeed, to the opinion that +they would be strong enough to compel their help, though probably this +was not necessary. The group-sisters and the group-brothers may well +have united against the father, who was the enemy of both. To me the +common-sense view is that these visits from outside suitors were first +paid clandestinely at night. In the light of human nature it is at +least probable that the tyrant father was deceived by his daughters +and his sons. If already he was dead, what reason was there for any +fear--why were the visits secret? This seems to show that I am right; +that once more the initiative in the changes that led to regulation +must be traced back to women. Afterwards, the custom thus established, +would come to be recognised, and the practice of the husband visiting +his wife by night would persist long after the danger making such +secrecy necessary had ceased. + +It will be readily seen that the introduction of young husbands from +outside, by whatever means this was done, would be an immense gain in +strength. Again a new regulation in the sexual relationships would +follow, and the group-daughters would now have husbands of their own +generation, sacred to them. Furthermore it was the first direct step +in friendly union between group and group; a step that would open up +ways to further progress. The husband, living in his own group, and +visiting his wife in hers, would at once form a connecting link +between two hitherto separate family circles, which friendly +connection would not be broken, when, later, the custom arose of the +husband leaving his group to take up his residence with his wife. + +Such an arrangement must have been of immense advantage to the women. +Under the new order, a wife married to one of these young strangers +would hold a position of considerable power, that hitherto had been +impossible. We have seen that the home was made by the group-women, +and must have belonged to them; but so far, the continuance of a +daughter in the home had entailed the acceptance of her father as a +husband; the only way of escape being by capture, which--whether +forced or, as I hold, aided by the girl's desire--sent her out from +her own family as a stranger into a hostile group. Now this was +reversed, and the husband entered as the alien into her home and +family. + +The following observation of Mr. Atkinson in this connection must be +quoted, as it is in strong agreement with my own view-- + + "As a wife who had not been captured, who, in fact, as an + actual member of the group itself, was, so to speak, the + capturer, _her position in regard to her dependent husband + would be profoundly modified_, in comparison with that of + the ordinary captive female, whereas such a captive, seized + by the usual process of hostile capture, had been a mere + chattel utterly without power; _she, as a free agent in her + own home, with her will backed by that of her brothers_" + [why not, I would ask, her sisters and her mother?] "_could + impose law on her subject spouse_."[39] + + [39] _Primal Law_, p. 256. + +In the foregoing sentences Mr. Atkinson affirms the fateful +significance to women of this new form of marriage. I am in +whole-hearted agreement with this opinion. I glean here and there from +the wealth of Mr. Atkinson's suggestions, statements which indicate +how nearly he came to seeing all that I am trying to establish. Yet, I +am compelled to disagree with his main argument; for always when he +touches the woman's side, he falls back at once to consider the +question in its relation to the males as the only important members in +the group. I do not, for instance, accept his view that the captive +wives were "mere chattels." They could not, under the conditions, have +been without some considerable power, even if it arose only from the +sexual dependence of their owners upon them. Much more significant, +however, is Mr. Atkinson's view regarding the authority of the wife in +these new peaceable marriages. He sees one point only as arising from +such a position, and finds "a psychological factor of enormous power, +now for the first time able to make itself felt, in the play of sexual +jealousy on the part of the wife." She would now "impose law on her +subject spouse, and such law dictated by jealousy would ordain a bar +to intercourse between him and her more youthful and hence more +attractive daughters." Now, I do not deny that such a factor may have +acted, for the incentive to jealousy arises always from individual as +opposed to collective possession. Still I do not think jealousy can +have been strong in this case, and, even if it were not, any reversion +on the part of an alien father to the habits of the patriarch must +have been impossible; such conduct would not have been tolerated by +the other males in the group, nor by the daughters, now able to get +young husbands for themselves. To limit the wife's power to this +single issue can hardly be consistent with the conditions of the case. +Mr. Atkinson, in common with many other anthropologists, seems +disposed to underrate the evidence regarding the far-reaching +importance of this form of marriage. Among existing examples of the +maternal family, the mother-rights and influences of women are +dependent largely on the position of the husband as a stranger in her +family home. This matter will become clear in the later part of my +inquiry. + +With the establishment of this new peaceful marriage the way was +cleared for future progress; it is but a few further steps for the +group to grow into the clan and the tribe. The family-group has +increased greatly in size and in social organisation, from the time +when it consisted of the patriarch, and his community of women and +young children. The group-sons have brought in wives from other groups +and have founded families; the group-daughters now have husbands who +live with them. Primitive regulations over the marital rights have +arisen, enabling peace to be maintained. Each family to some extent +would be complete in itself. As the groups advanced in progress, totem +names would come to be used as family marks of distinction, taken +usually from some plant or animal. Peaceable marriages between the +sons and daughters of the different groups would more and more become +the habit, and would gradually take the place of capture marriages. +The regulation of the sexual relationships, by which certain women and +certain men became sacred to each other, would become more strongly +fixed by custom; and afterwards the law would follow that a group of +kindred, distinguished by its totem mark, might not marry within the +hereditary name. The religious superstitions that came to be connected +with these totem names would make binding the new order in the +marriage law. When this stage was reached exogamy would be strictly +practised; and in all cases under the complete maternal system, the +woman on marriage would remain in her family home, where the husband +would come to live with her as a kind of privileged guest. + +There is one other matter that must be noted. The totem name was +inherited from the mother, and not the father. This was the natural +arrangement. When the group was small, there may have been a communal +ownership of the group-children by the mothers, under the authority of +the father. But this would not continue for long; when the group +increased in numbers, the mother and her children would keep together +as a little sub-family in the larger circle. This would be especially +the case with captured wives, who would bring with them the totem +marks of their groups, and this would be the name of the children. The +naming of the children after the mother would also be the simplest way +of distinguishing between the offspring of different wives, a +distinction that would often be necessary, during the earlier +conditions, among the polygamous fathers. + +It is, however, an entirely mistaken view that the father's relation +to the child was ever unrecognised. The taking of the name of the +mother arose as a matter of course, and was adopted simply as being +the most convenient custom. It is manifest that mother-descent has no +connection with a period of promiscuity. Quite the reverse. All the +conditions of mother-right arose out of the earliest movements towards +order and regulation in the relationships of the sexes, and were not +the result of licence. Nor was the naming of the child after the +mother so much a question of relationship as of what may be called +"social kinship." The causes which led to the maternal system are +closely connected with the collective motive, which, if I am right, +was in its origin, at least, the result of the union of the women +against the selfish inclinations of the patriarch. When property +rights came to be recognised, consisting at first of stores of food +and the household goods, it would be perfectly natural that they +should belong to the women, and descend through them. The inheritance +would be to those most closely bound together, and who lived together +in the same home. Thus it appears that descent through the mother was +founded on social rights, by which the organisation of the family, +such as membership in the group or clan, succession and inheritance +were dependent on the mothers. In this sense it is clear that the term +mother-power is fully justified; it is nearer to the facts than the +term mother-kin. + +Further than this I must not go; the first part of my inquiry now has +come to an end. It may seem to the reader that the patriarchal theory, +in a book written to establish mother-right, has received more +attention than was called for. I have discussed it so fully, not only +because of the interest of the subject in proving the errors in the +earlier theories of matriarchy, but because of the insight the +conditions of the primordial group give us into the origin of the +maternal family. + +Many of the suggestions made are more or less hypothetical, but not a +few, I think, are necessary deductions, based on what is most probable +to have happened. I am fully aware of numerous omissions, and the +inadequacy of this summary; but if the suggestions brought forward +shall prove in themselves to have merit, it has seemed to me that a +fruitful field of investigation has been opened. Much new ground had +to be covered in this attempt to picture the position of women at a +period so remote that the difficulties are very great. I hope at least +to have cleared away the old errors, which connected mother-descent +with uncertainty of paternity and an early period of promiscuity. + +Recognising sexual jealousy as the moving force in brute man, I have +accepted that the primeval family was of the patriarchal type. I have +traced the probable development of the group-family, expanding by +successive steps into larger groups living in peaceful association. In +the earlier stage, whilst the men lived as solitary despots, the women +enjoyed a communal life. It is thus probable that the leading power in +the upward movement of the group developing into the clan and tribe +arose among the united mothers, and not with the father. The women +were forced into social conduct. On this belief is based the theory of +mother-power. + +The most important result we have gained is the proof that the +maternal system was framed for order, and has no connection with +sexual disorder. It is enough if I have suggested reasons to show that +this widespread custom, which is practised still among many peoples, +has nothing about it that is exceptional, nothing fantastic, nothing +improbable. I hold it to be a perfectly natural arrangement--the +practical outgrowth of the practical needs of primitive peoples. The +strongest and the one certain claim for a belief in mother-right and +mother-power must rest on this foundation. It is left for the second +part of my book to prove how far I am right in what I claim. + + + + +PART II + +THE MOTHER-AGE CIVILISATION + + + + + "It's not too late to seek a newer world: + + * * * * * + + Tho' much is taken, much abides: and tho' + We are not now the strength which in old days + Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are; + One equal temper of heroic hearts; + Made weak by time and rule, but strong in will + To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." + + TENNYSON. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE MATRIARCHAL FAMILY AMONG THE AMERICAN INDIANS + + +It is time now to turn to the actual subject of this investigation, in +order to see how far the theory of mother-right has been helped by the +lengthy examination of the patriarchal group. + +Since the publication of _Das Mutterrecht_ much has been written that +has tended to raise doubts as to the soundness of the matriarchal +theory, at least in the form held by its early supporters. A reaction +in the opposite direction has set in, before which the former belief +in mother-power has been transformed, and now seems likely to +disappear altogether. In recent years, Westermarck, Starcke, Andrew +Lang, N. W. Thomas, and Crawley among others have given utterance to +this view. The prevalence of a system tracing descent through the +mother is accepted by the majority of learned opinion, though it would +seem somewhat grudgingly. Mr. Crawley is the only writer, as far as I +know, who denies that such a practice was ever common; the cases in +which it still exists, as these cannot be denied, he regards as +exceptions. He affirms: "There is no evidence that the maternal system +was ever general or always preceded the paternal system." And again: +"Though frequent, maternal descent cannot have been either universally +or generally a stage through which man has passed."[40] + + [40] _The Mystic Rose_, pp. 460-461. + +Mr. Crawley considers this assumption may be taken for granted; so +that he does not trouble himself about proofs. The subject of +mother-right is dismissed as unworthy of serious attention. Such an +attitude is surely instructive, and illustrates the failure, to which +I have already pointed, in considering the woman's side in these +questions. There would seem to be a tendency to doubt as being +possible any family arrangement favourable to the authority of women. +Even when descent through the mother is accepted as a phase in social +development, it is denied that such descent confers any special rights +to women. + +One reason of this prejudice must be sought in the persistence of the +puritan spirit: the objection to mother-kin rests mainly on the +objection to loose sexual relationships. Thus it became necessary to +attempt a new explanation of the origin of the custom, and hence my +examination of the primordial patriarchal group. It may be thought +that I should have done better to confine my inquiry to existing +primitive peoples. But, if I am right, mother-power is rooted much +further back than history, and arose first in the dawn of the human +family. This had to be established. + +It is clearly of vital importance to an inquiry that claims to set up +a new belief in a discredited theory to protect it from those +objections which hitherto have prevented its acceptance. This I have +attempted to do. I have shown that the customs connected with +mother-right had no connection at all with a state of promiscuity; +that they were the result of order in the sexual relationships, and +not of disorder. I have traced the causes which appear to have given +rise to such a system, showing that the maternal order was not the +first phase of the family, but was a natural forward movement--one +which developed slowly and quite simply from the conditions of the +patriarchal group. Moreover, I have maintained, and tried to prove, +that the initiative in progress was taken by the women, they being +inspired by their collective interest to overcome the individual +interests of the male members of the group. If this is not assented +to, then indeed, my view of mother-power can find no acceptance. + +It is necessary, however, once more to guard against any mistake. I do +not wish to prove a theory of gyncocracy, or rule of woman. The title +chosen for this chapter at once opens the way to misinterpretation. It +might appear as if I supported Bachofen's supposition that, under a +system of maternal descent women possessed supreme rule in the family +and in the clan: this is a dream only of visionaries. I declare here +that I consider the theory of the so-called matriarchate at once false +and injurious: false, because it can lead to nothing; and injurious, +because, while it cannot be supported by facts, it overthrows what can +be proved by the evidence that is open to all investigators. Nothing +will be gained by exaggeration and by claiming over much for women. +The term "matriarchal" takes too much for granted that women at one +period ruled. Such a view is far from the truth. All I claim, then, is +this: the system by which the descent of the name and the inheritance +of property passes through the female side of the family placed women +in a favourable position, with definite rights in the family and clan, +rights which, in some cases, resulted in their having great and even +extraordinary power. This, I think, may be granted. _If descent +through the father stands, as it is held to do, for the predominance +of man over woman--the husband over the wife, then it is at least +surely possible that descent through the mother may in some cases have +stood for the predominance of the wife over the husband._ The reader +will judge how far the examples of the maternal family I am able to +bring forward support this claim. + +The evidence for mother-right has never yet been fully brought into +notice; but much of the evidence is now available. Our knowledge of +the customs of primitive peoples has increased greatly of late years, +and these afford a wide field for inquiry. And although the examples +of the complete maternal family existing to-day are few in +number--probably not more than twenty tribes,[41] yet the important +fact is that they occur among widely separated peoples in all the +great regions of the uncivilised world. Moreover, side by side with +these, are found a much larger number of imperfect systems, which give +unmistakable evidence of an earlier maternal stage. Such examples are +specially instructive; they belong to a transitional period, and show +the maternal family in its decline as it passes into a new patriarchal +stage; often, indeed, we see the one system competing in conflict with +the other. + + [41] This is the number given by Prof. Tylor. "The + Matriarchal Family System," _Nineteenth Century_, July 1896. + +In this connection I may note that Westermarck does not accept an +early period when descent was traced exclusively through the mother; +he gives a long list of peoples among whom the system is not +practised. These passages occur in his well-known _Criticism of the +Hypothesis of Promiscuity_,[42] and his whole argument is based on the +assumption that mother-right arose through the tie between the father +and the child being unrecognised. But mother-descent has no connection +at all with uncertainty of paternity. I venture to think Dr. +Westermarck has not sufficiently considered this aspect of the +question, and, if I mistake not, it is this confusion of +mother-descent with promiscuity which explains his attitude towards +the maternal system, and his failure to recognise its favourable +influence on the status of women. In his opinion this system of +tracing descent does not materially affect the relative power of the +two sexes.[43] In such a view I cannot help thinking he is mistaken; +and I am supported in this by the fact that he makes the important +qualification that the husband's power is impaired when he lives among +his wife's kinsfolk. Now, it is this form of marriage, or the more +primitive custom when the husband only visits his wife, that is +practised among the peoples who have preserved the complete maternal +family. Under such a domestic arrangement, which really reverses the +position of the wife and the husband, mother-right is found; this +maternal marriage is, indeed, the true foundation of the woman's +power. Where the marriage system has been changed from the maternal to +the paternal form, and the wife is taken from the protection of her +own kindred to live in the home of her husband, even when descent is +still traced through the mother, the chief authority is almost always +in the hands of the father. Thus it need not cause surprise to find +mother-descent combined with a fully established patriarchal rule. But +among such peoples practices may often be met with that can be +explained only as survivals from an earlier maternal system. Moreover, +in other cases, we meet with tribes that have not yet advanced to the +maternal stage. A study of existing tribes, and of the records of +ancient civilisations, will yield any number of examples. + + [42] _History of Human Marriage_, pp. 97-104. + + [43] "The Position of Woman in Early Civilisations," + _Sociological Papers_, 1904. + +Unmistakable traces of mother-right may, indeed, be found by those, +whose eyes are opened to see, in all races. In peasant festivals and +dances, and in many religious beliefs and ceremonies, we may meet +with such survivals. They may be traced in our common language, +especially in the words used for sex and for kin relationships. We can +also find them shadowed in certain of our marriage rites, and sex +habits to-day. Another source of evidence is furnished by the +widespread early occurrence of mother-goddesses, who must be connected +with a system which places the mother in the forefront of religious +thought. Further proof may be gathered from folk stories and heroic +legends, whose interest offers rich rewards in suggestions of a time +when honour rested with the sex to whom the inheritance belonged. +Thus, the difficulty of establishing a claim for mother-right and +mother-power does not rest in any paucity of proof--but rather in its +superabundance. + +It would be superfluous for me to dwell on the difficulties of such an +inquiry. The subject is immensely complicated and wide-reaching, so +that I must keep strictly to the path set before me. It is my purpose +to outline the domestic relations in the maternal family clan, and to +examine the sex-customs and forms of marriage. I shall limit myself to +those matters which throw some light on the position of women, and +shall touch on the features of social life only in so far as they +illustrate this. These questions will be discussed in the three +succeeding chapters. Some portion of the matter given has appeared +already in the section on the "Mother-Age Civilisation" in _The Truth +about Woman_, which gives examples of the maternal family in America, +Australia, India and other countries. Such examples formed a necessary +part of the historical section of that work; they are even more +necessary to this inquiry. Many new examples will be given, and the +examination of the whole subject will be more exhaustive. These +chapters will be followed by a discussion of certain difficulties, and +an examination of the transition period in which the maternal family +gave way to the second patriarchal stage with the family founded on +the authority of the father. A short chapter will be devoted to the +work done by women in primitive tribes and its importance in relation +to their position. Then will come as full an account as is possible of +the traces of the mother-age to be found in the records of ancient and +existing civilised races; while a brief chapter will be added on +certain myths and legends which help to elucidate the theory of +women's early power. The final chapter will treat of general +conclusions, with an attempt to suggest certain facts which seem to +bear on present-day problems. Throughout I shall support my +investigation (as far as can be done in a work primarily designed for +a text-book) by examples, which, in each case, have been carefully +chosen from trustworthy evidence of those who are personally +acquainted with the habits of the peoples of whom they write. I shall +try to avoid falling into the error of a one-sided view. Facts will be +more important than reflections, and as far as possible, I shall let +these speak for themselves. + +Let us now concentrate our attention on the complete maternal family, +where the clan is grouped around the mothers. + +The examples in this chapter will be taken from the aboriginal tribes +of North and South America among whom traces of the maternal system +are common, while in some cases mother-right is still in force. At the +period of European discovery the American Indians were already well +advanced in the primitive arts, and were very far removed from +savagery. Their domestic and social habits showed an organisation of a +very remarkable character; among certain tribes there was a communal +maternal family, interesting and complicated in its arrangements. Such +customs had prevailed from an antiquity so remote that their origin +seems to have been lost in the obscurity of the ages. It is possible, +however, to see how this communism in living may have arisen and +developed out of the conditions we have studied in the far distant +patriarchal groups. For this reason they afford a very special +interest to our inquiry. + +Morgan, who was commissioned by the American Government to report on +the customs of the aboriginal inhabitants, gives a description of the +system as it existed among the Iroquois-- + + "Each household was made up on the principle of kin. The + married women, usually sisters, own or collateral, were of + the same _gens_ or clan, the symbol or _totem_ of which was + often painted upon the house, while their husbands and the + wives of their sons belonged to several other _gentes_. The + children were of the _gens_ of their mother. As a rule the + sons brought home their wives, and in some cases the + husbands of the daughters were admitted to the maternal + household. Thus each household was composed of persons of + different _gentes_, but the predominating number in each + household would be of the same _gens_, namely, that of the + mother."[44] + + [44] Morgan, _Houses and House-Life of the American + Aborigines_, p. 64. + +We see here, at once, the persistence and development of the +conditions and later customs of the patriarchal family-group, now +evolved into the clan. In the far-distant days the jealous spirit was +still strong; now it has been curbed and regulated, and the female +yoke binds the clan together. We have the mothers as the centre of the +communal home; the sons bringing their wives to live in the circle, +while the daughters' husbands are received as permanent guests. Under +such a system the mothers are related to each other, and belong to the +same clan, and their children after them; the fathers are not bound +together by the same ties and are of different clans. The limits +within which marriage can take place are fixed, and we can trace the +action of the ancient primal law in the bar that prohibits the husband +from being of the same clan as his wife. Though the husband takes up +his abode in the wife's family, dwelling there _during her life and +his good behaviour_,[45] he still belongs to his own family. The +children of the marriage are of the kindred of the mother, and never +of his kindred: they are lost to his family. Thus there can be no +extension of the clan through the males, it is the wife's clan that is +extended by marriage.[46] + + [45] Tylor, "The Matriarchal Family System," _Nineteenth + Century_, July 1896. + + [46] McLennan, _The Patriarchal Theory_, p. 208. Heriot, + _Travels through the Canadas_, p. 323. + +The important point to note is that the conditions of the clan are +still favourable to the social conduct of the women, who are attached +much more closely to the home and to each other than can be the case +with the men. The wife never leaves the home, because she is +considered the mistress, or, at least, the heiress. In the house all +the duties and the honour as the head of the household fall upon her. +This position may be illustrated by the wife's obligation to her +husband and his family, which are curiously in contrast with what is +usually expected from a woman. Thus a wife is not only bound to give +food to her husband, to cook his provisions when he sets out on +expeditions, but she has likewise to assist members of his family when +they cultivate their fields, and to provide wood for an allotted +period for the use of his family. In this work she is assisted by +women of her clan. The women are also required in case of need to look +after their parents. + +There are many interesting customs in the domestic life of the +Iroquois. I can notice a few only. The system of living, at the time +Morgan visited the tribes, consisted of a plan at once novel and +distinctive. Each _gens_ or clan lived in a long tenement house, large +enough to accommodate the separate families. These houses were +erected on frames of poles, covered with bark, and were from fifty to +a hundred feet in length. A passage way led down the centre, and rooms +were portioned off on either side: the doors were at each end of the +passage. An apartment was allotted to each family. There were several +fireplaces, usually one for every four families, which were placed in +the central passage: there were no chimneys. The Iroquois lived in +these long houses, _Ho-de-no-sau-nee_, up to A.D. 1700, and in +occasional instances for a hundred years later. They were not peculiar +to the Iroquois, but were used by many tribes. Unfortunately this wise +plan of living has now almost entirely passed away. + +I wish that I had space to give a fuller account of these +families.[47] Each household practised communism in living, and made a +common stock of the provisions acquired by fishing and hunting, and by +the cultivation of maize and plants. The curse of individual +accumulation would seem not to have existed. Ownership of land and all +property was held in common. Each household was directed by the matron +who supervised its domestic economy. After the daily meal was cooked +at the several fires, the matron was summoned, and it was her duty to +apportion the food from the kettle to the different families according +to their respective needs. What food remained was placed in the +charge of another woman until it was required by the matron. In this +connection Mr. Morgan says: "This plan of life shows that their +domestic economy was not without method, and it displays the care and +management of women, low down in barbarism, for husbanding their +resources and for improving their conditions." + + [47] The reader is referred to Morgan's interesting _Houses + and House-Life of the Aborigines_. It is from this work that + many of the facts I give have been taken. + +In this statement, made by one who was intimately acquainted with the +customs of this people there is surely confirmation of what I have +claimed for women? The further we go in our inquiry the more we are +driven to the conclusion that the favourable conditions uniting the +women with one another exerted a powerful influence on their +character. I think this is a view of the maternal family system that +has never received its proper meed of attention. + +It must be noted that the women did not eat with the men; but the fact +that the apportioning of the food was in the women's hands is +sufficient proof that this separation of women and men, common among +most primitive peoples, has no connection with the superiority of one +sex over the other. It is interesting to find that only one prepared +meal was served in each day. But the pots were always kept boiling +over the fires, and any one who was hungry, either from the household +or from any other part of the village, had a right to order it to be +taken off and to eat as he or she pleased. + +We may notice the influence of their communistic living in all the +Indian customs. At all times the law of hospitality was strictly +observed. Food was dispensed in every case to those who needed it; no +excuse was ever made to avoid giving. If through misfortune one +household fell into want, the needs were freely supplied from the +stock laid by for future use in another household. Hunger and +destitution could not exist in any part of an Indian village or +encampment while plenty prevailed elsewhere. Such generosity at a time +when food was often difficult to obtain, and its supply was the first +concern of life, is a remarkable fact. Nor does this generosity seem, +as might be thought, to have led to idleness and improvidence. He who +begged, when he could work, was stigmatised with the disgraceful name +of "poltroon" or "beggar"; but the miser who refused to assist his +neighbour was branded as "a bad character." Mr. Morgan, commenting on +this phase of the Indian life says: "I much doubt if the civilised +world would have in their institutions any system which can properly +be called more humane and charitable." + +These reflections induce one to ask: What were the causes of this +humane system of living among a people considered as uncivilised? Now, +I do not wish to claim overmuch for women. We have seen, however, that +the control and distribution of the supply of food was placed in the +hands of the matrons, thus their association with the giving of food +must be accepted. Is not this fact sufficient to indicate the reason +that made possible this communism? To me it is plain that these +remarkable institutions were connected with the maternal family, in +which the collective interests were more considered than is possible +in a patriarchal society, based upon individual inclination and +proprietary interests. + +A brief notice must now be given to the system of government. An +Indian tribe was composed of several _gentes_ or clans, united in what +is known as a _phratry_ or brotherhood. The tribe was an assemblage of +the _gentes_. The _phratry_ among the Iroquois was organised partly +for social and partly for religious objects. Each _gens_ was ruled by +chiefs of two grades, distinguished by Morgan as the _sachem_ and +common chiefs. The _sachem_ was the official head of the _gens_, and +was elected by its adult members, male and female. The _sachems_ and +chiefs claimed no superiority and were never more than the exponents +of the popular will of the people. Unanimity among the _sachems_ was +required on all public questions. This was the fundamental law of the +brotherhood; if all efforts failed to gain agreement the matter in +question was dropped. Under such a system individual rule or the power +of one _gens_ over the other became impossible. All the members of the +different _gentes_ were personally free; equal in privileges, and in +position, and in rights. "Liberty, equality, and fraternity," though +never formulated, were the cardinal principles of the _gens_.[48] Mr. +Morgan holds the opinion that "this serves to explain that sense of +independence and personal dignity universally attributed to the Indian +character." + + [48] Morgan, _Ancient Society_, p. 62. Also _Houses and + House-Life of the American Aborigines_. + +Regarding the part taken by the women in the government, we have very +remarkable testimony. Schoolcraft,[49] in his elaborate study of the +customs of the Indian tribes, states that the women had "a +conservative power in the political deliberations. The matrons had +their representatives in the public councils, and they exercised a +negative, or what we call a veto, power, in the important question of +the declaration of war." They had also the right to interpose in +bringing about a peace. Heriot also affirms: "In the women is vested +the foundation of all real authority. They give efficiency to the +councils and are the arbiters of war and peace.... It is also to their +disposal that the captured slaves are committed." And again: "Although +by custom the leaders are chosen from among the men, and the affairs +which concern the tribe are settled by a council of ancients, it would +yet seem that they only represented the women, and assisted in the +discussion of subjects which principally related to that sex."[50] + + [49] _Historical and Statistical Information Respecting the + History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the + United States_, 6 vols., Vol. III, p. 195. See also _Notes on + the Iroquois_ and _The Indian in his Wigwam_. + + [50] Heriot, _op. cit._, pp. 321-322. + +These remarkable social and domestic conditions were common to the +American Indians under the maternal system. The direct influence of +women, as directors through the men, is a circumstance of much +interest. Among the Senecas, an Iroquoian tribe with the complete +maternal family, the authority was very certainly in the hands of the +women. Morgan quotes an account of their family system, given by the +Rev. Ashur Wright for many years a resident among the Senecas, and +familiar with their language and customs. + + "As to their family system, it is probable that one clan + predominated (in the houses), the women taking in husbands, + however, from other clans, and sometimes for novelty, some + of their sons bringing in their young wives, until they felt + brave enough to leave their mothers. Usually the female + portion ruled the house, and were doubtless clannish enough + about it. The stores were in common, but woe to the luckless + husband or lover who was too shiftless to do his share of + the providing. No matter how many children or whatever goods + he might have in the house, he might at any time be ordered + to pack up his blanket and budge, and after such orders it + would not be healthful for him to attempt to disobey; the + house would be too hot for him, and unless saved by the + intercession of some aunt or grandmother, he must retreat to + his own clan, or, as was often done, go and start a new + matrimonial alliance in some other. The women were the great + power among the clans as everywhere else. They did not + hesitate, when occasion required, to 'knock off the horns,' + as it was technically called, from the head of a chief and + send him back to the ranks of the warrior. The original + nomination of the chief also always rested with them." + +Mr. Morgan affirms his acceptance of the Indian women's authority, and +says, after quoting this passage: "The mother-right and gyncocracy +among the Iroquois here plainly indicated is not over-drawn. The +mothers and their children, as we have seen, were of the same _gens_, +and to them the household belonged. The position of the mother was +eminently favourable to her influence in the household, and tended to +strengthen the maternal bond."[51] + + [51] _Houses and House-Life of American Aborigines_, pp. + 65-66. + +It is important to note that among the Iroquois polygamy is not +permitted, nor does it appear ever to be practised. Many instances are +reported in the Seneca tribe of a woman having more than one husband, +but an Iroquoian man is never allowed more than one wife.[52] This is +the more remarkable when we consider the fact that the mothers nurse +their children for a very long period, during which time they do not +cohabit with their husbands. Such entire absence of polygamy is to be +explained, in part, by the maternal marriage, a system which in its +origin was closely connected with sexual regulation; nor would +plurality of wives be possible in a society in which all the members +of both sexes enjoyed equal privileges, and were in a position of +absolute equality. Marriages usually take place at an early age. Under +the maternal form, the husband living with the wife worked for her +family, and commonly gained his footing only through his service. As +suitor he was required to make presents to the bride's family. During +the first year of marriage all the produce of his hunting expeditions +belonged to the wife, and afterwards he shared his goods equally with +her. The marriages were negotiated by the mothers: sometimes the +father was consulted, but this was little more than a compliment, as +his approbation or opposition was usually disregarded. Often it was +customary for the bridegroom to seek private interviews at night with +his betrothed; clearly a survival from a time when such secrecy in +love was necessary. In some instances it was enough if the suitor went +and sat by the girl's side in her apartment; if she permitted this, +and remained where she was, it was taken for consent, and the act +would suffice for marriage. Girls were allowed the right of choice in +the selection of their partners. There is abundant testimony as to the +happiness of the marriage state. Divorce was, however, allowed by +mutual consent, and was carried out without dispute, quarrel or +contradiction.[53] If a husband and a wife could not agree, they +parted amicably, or two unhappy pairs would exchange husbands and +wives. An early French missionary remonstrated with a couple on such a +transaction, and was told: "My wife and I could not agree; my +neighbour was in the same case, so we exchanged wives and all four +were content. What can be more reasonable than to render one another +mutually happy, when it costs so little, and does nobody any +harm."[54] It would seem that these maternal peoples have solved many +difficulties of domestic and social life better than we ourselves have +done. + + [52] Morgan, _League of the Iroquois_, p. 324. Heriot, _op. + cit._, pp. 323, 329. Schoolcraft, _op. cit._, Vol. III, p. + 191. + + [53] Heriot, pp. 231-237. See also Report of an Official of + Indian Affairs on two of the Iroquoian tribes, cited by + Hartland. _Primitive Paternity_, Vol. I, p. 298. + + [54] _Charleroix_, Vol. V, p. 48, quoted by Hartland, _op. + cit._, Vol. II, p. 66. + +The Wyandots, another Iroquoian tribe, maintained the maternal +household, though they seem to have reached a later stage of +development than the Senecas. They camped in the form of a horse-shoe, +every clan together in regular order. Marriage between members of the +same clan was forbidden; the children belonged to the clan of the +mother. The husbands retained all their rights and privileges in their +own _gentes_, though they lived in the _gentes_ of their wives. After +marriage the pair resided, for a time, at least, with the wife's +mother, but afterwards they set up housekeeping for themselves.[55] + + [55] Powell, _Rep. Bur. Ethn._, I, 63. + +We may note in this change of residence the creeping in of changes +which inevitably led in time to the decay of the maternal family and +the reassertion of the patriarchal authority of the father. This is +illustrated further by the Musquakies, also belonging to the +Algonquian stock. Though still organised in clans, descent is no +longer reckoned through the mother; the bridegroom, however, serves +his wife's family, and he lives in her home. This does not make him +of her clan, but she belongs to his, till his death or divorce +separates her from him. As for the children, the minors at the +termination of the marriage belong to the mother's clan, but those who +had had the puberty feast are counted to the father's clan.[56] + + [56] Owen: _Musquakie Indians_, p. 72. + +The male authority was felt chiefly in periods of war. This may be +illustrated by the Wyandots, who have an elaborate system of +government. In each _gens_ there is a small council composed of four +women, called _yu-wa-yu-w-na_; chosen by the heads of the household. +These women select a chief of the _gens_ from its male members, that +is, from their brothers and sons. He is the head of the _gentile_ +council. The council of the tribe is composed of the aggregated +_gentile_ councils; and is thus made up of four-fifths of women and +one-fifth of men. The _sachem_ of the tribes, or tribal-chief, is +chosen by the chiefs of the _gentes_. All the civil government of the +_gens_ and of the tribe is carried on by these councils; and as the +women so largely outnumbered the men, who are also--with the one +exception of the tribal-chief--chosen by them, it is evident that the +social government of the _gens_ and tribe is largely controlled by +them. On military affairs, however, the men have the direct authority, +though, as has been stated, the women have a veto power and are +"allowed to exercise a decision in favour of peace." There is a +military council of all the able-bodied men of the tribe, with a +military chief chosen by the council.[57] This seems a very wise +adjustment of civic duties; the constructive social work and the +maintaining of peace directed by the women; the destructive work of +war in the hands of men. + + [57] I have summarised the account of the Wyandot government + as given by Hartland, who quotes from Powell's "Wyandot + Government," _First Annual Report of the Bureau of American + Ethnology_, 1879-1880, pp. 61 ff. + +Powell gives an interesting account of their communal life. Each clan +owns its own lands which it cultivates; but within these lands each +household has its own patch. It is the women councillors who partition +the clan lands among the households. The partition takes place every +two years. But while each household has its own patch of ground, the +cultivation is communal; that is, all the able-bodied women of the +clan take a share in cultivating every patch. Each clan has a right to +the service of all its women in the cultivation of the soil. It would +be difficult to find a more striking example than this of communism in +labour. I claim it as proof of what I have stated in an earlier +chapter of the conditions driving women into combination and social +conduct. + +If we turn now to the South American continent we shall find many +interesting survivals of the complete maternal family, in particular +among the Pueblo peoples of New Mexico and Arizona, so called from the +Spanish word _pueblo_, a town. The customs of the people have been +carefully studied and recorded by Bancroft, Schoolcraft, Morgan, +Tylor, McGee, the Spanish historian, Herrera, and other travellers. +When first visited by European anthropologists the country was divided +into provinces, and in many provinces the people lived in communities +or little republics. The communal life was here more developed even +than among the Northern Indians. The people lived together in joint +tenement houses, much larger, and of more advanced architecture, than +the long houses of the Iroquois. These houses are constructed of +adobe, brick and stone, imbedded in mortar; one house will contain as +many as 50, 100, 200, and in some cases, 500 apartments. Speaking of +these houses, Bancroft states: "The houses are common property, and +both women and men assist in building them; the men erect the wooden +frames, and the women make the mortar and build the walls. In place of +lime for mortar they mix ashes with earth and charcoal. They make +_adobes_, or sun-dried bricks, by mixing ashes and earth with +water."[58] Cushing, who visited and lived with the Zui Indians, +records that among them the houses are entirely built by the women, +the men supplying the material. These houses are erected in terrace +form; within they are provided with windows, fireplaces and chimneys, +and the entrance to the different apartments is gained by rude pole +ladders. The pueblo, or village, consists of one or two, or sometimes +a greater number of these houses, each containing a hundred or more +families, according to the number of apartments. + + [58] _The Native Races of the Pacific States of South + America_, 5 vols., Vol. I, p. 555. See also Morgan. + +Among the Creek Indians of Georgia, Morgan recounts a somewhat +different mode of communal dwelling as formerly being practised. In +1790 they were living in small houses, placed in clusters of from four +to eight together; and each cluster forming a _gens_ or clan, who ate +and lived in common. The food was prepared in one hut, and each family +sent for its portion. The smallest of these "garden cities" contained +10 to 40 groups of houses, the largest from 50 to 200.[59] These +communistic dwelling-houses are so interesting and so important that I +would add a few words. Here, we have among these maternal peoples a +system of living which appears to be identical with the improved +conditions of associated dwelling now beginning to be tried. How often +we consider new things that really are very old! In the light of these +examples, our co-operative dwelling-houses and garden cities can no +longer be regarded as experiments. They were in use in the mother-age, +when many of our new (!) ideas seem to have been common. Can this be +because of the extended power held by women, who are more practical +and careful of detail than men are? I believe that it is possible. +This would explain, too, the revival of the same ideas to-day, when +women are taking up their part again in social life. To those who are +questioning the waste and discomfort of our solitary homes I would +recommend a careful study of this primitive communism. I would point +out the connection of the social ideal with the maternal family, while +the home that is solitary and unsocial must be regarded as having +arisen from the patriarchal customs. I have had occasion again and +again to note that collective interests are more considered by women; +and individual interests by men. This, at least, is how I see it; and +a study of the Indian maternal families seems to give confirmation to +such a conclusion. + + [59] Schoolcraft, _Indian Tribes_, p. 262, gives an account + of these houses. A similar plan of living is reported of the + Maya Indians. + +But to return to the Pueblo peoples. The tribes are divided into +exogamous totem clans. Kinship is reckoned through the women, and in +several tribes we find the complete maternal family. Among such +peoples the husband goes to live with the wife and becomes an inmate +of her family. If the house is not large enough, additional rooms are +built on to the communal home and connected with those already +occupied. Hence a family with many daughters increases, while one +consisting of sons dies out. + +The marriage customs and relationships between the young men and the +girls are instructive; they vary in the different tribes, but have +some points in common. The Pueblos are monogamists, and polygamy is +not allowed amongst them. Bancroft records a very curious custom. The +morals of the young people are carefully guarded by a kind of secret +police, whose duty it is to report all irregularities; and in the +event of such taking place the young man and the girl are compelled to +marry.[60] Now, whatever opinion may be held of such interference with +the love-making of the young people, it affords strong proof of the +error which has hitherto connected the maternal system with +unregulated sexual relationships. This is a fact I am again and again +compelled to point out, risking the fear of wearying the reader. + + [60] Bancroft, _op. cit._, pp. 546, 547. + +Among some tribes freedom is permitted to the women before marriage. +Heriot states that the natives who allow this justify the custom, and +say "that a young woman is mistress of her own person, and a free +agent."[61] The tie of marriage is, however, observed more strictly +than among many civilised monogamous races. And this is so, although +divorce is always easy and by mutual consent; a couple being able to +separate at once if they are dissatisfied with each other. Here are +facts that may well cause us to think. As for the courtship, the usual +custom is reversed; when a girl is disposed to marry she does not wait +for a young man to propose to her, but selects one to her liking, and +then consults her family as to his suitability as a husband. The +suitor has to serve the bride's family before he can be accepted, and +in some cases the conditions are binding and exceedingly curious. + + [61] Heriot, _op. cit._, p. 340. + +How simple and really beautiful are the conditions of life among these +people may be seen from the idyllic record of the Zui Indians given +by Mr. Cushing.[62] He describes how the Zui girl, when taking a +fancy to a young man, conveys a present of thin _hewe_-bread to him as +a token, and becomes his affianced, or as they say "his-to-be." He +then sews clothes and moccasins for her, makes her a necklace of gay +beads, and combs her hair out on the terrace in the sun. After his +term of service is over, and all is settled, he takes up his residence +with her; then the married life begins. "With the woman rests the +security of the marriage tie, and, it must be said, in her high +honour, that she rarely abuses the privilege; that is, never sends her +husband 'to the home of his fathers' unless he richly deserves it." +Divorce is by mutual consent, and a husband and wife would "rather +separate than live together unharmoniously." This testimony is +confirmed by Mrs. Stevenson, who visited the Zuis, and writes with +enthusiasm of the people. "Their domestic life might well serve as an +example for the civilised world. They do not have large families. The +husband and wife are deeply attached to one another and to their +children." "The keynote of this harmony is the supremacy of the wife +in the home. The house with all that is in it is hers, descending to +her through her mother from a long line of ancestresses; and the +husband is merely her permanent guest. The children--at least the +female children--have their share in the common home; the father has +none." "Outside the house the husband has some property in the fields, +although in earlier times he had no possessory rights and the land was +held in common. Modern influences have reached the Zui, and +mother-right seems to have begun its inevitable decay."[63] + + [62] Cushing, "My Visit to the Zui Indians," _Century + Magazine_, 1883. Prof. Tylor gives these passages in his + account of the Zui Indians, "The Patriarchal Family System," + _Nineteenth Century_, 1896. I have quoted from him. + + [63] Mrs. Stevenson, in the _Report Bureau Ethnological_, + XXIII, pp. 290-293. + +The Hopis, another Pueblo tribe, are more conservative, and with them +the women own all the property except the horses and donkeys, which +belong to the men. Among the Pueblos the women commonly have control +over the granary, and they are very provident about the future. +Ordinarily they try to have one year's provisions on hand. It is only +when two years of scarcity succeed each other that the community +suffers hunger. Like the Zuis, the Hopis are monogamists. Sexual +freedom is, however, permitted to a girl before marriage. This in no +way detracts from her good repute; even if she has given birth to a +child "she will be sure to marry later on, unless she happens to be +shockingly ugly." Nor does the child suffer, for among these maternal +peoples, the bastard takes an equal place with the child born in +wedlock. The bride lives for the first few weeks with her husband's +family, during which time the marriage takes place, the ceremony being +performed by the bridegroom's mother, whose family also provides the +bride with her wedding outfit. The couple then return to the home of +the wife's parents, where they remain, either permanently, or for some +years, until they can obtain a separate dwelling. The husband is +always a stranger, and is so treated by his wife's kin. The dwelling +of his mother remains his true home, in sickness he returns to her to +be nursed, and stays with her until he is well again. Often his +position in his wife's home is so irksome that he severs his +connection with her and her family, and returns to his old home. On +the other hand, it is not uncommon for the wife, should her husband be +absent, to place his goods outside the door: an intimation which he +well understands, and does not intrude upon her again.[64] + + [64] Voth, _Traditions of the Hopi_, pp. 67, 96, 133. _Rep. + Bur. Ethn._, XIII, 340. Hartland, _Primitive Paternity_, Vol. + II, pp. 74-76. + +Again, among the Pueblo peoples, we may consider the Sai. Like the +other tribes they are divided into exogamous totem clans; descent is +traced only through the mother. The tribe through various reasons has +been greatly reduced in numbers, and whole clans have died out, and +under these circumstances exogamy has ceased to be strictly enforced. +This has led to other changes. The Sai are still normally monogamous. +When a young man wishes to marry a girl he speaks first to her +parents; if they are willing he addresses himself to her. On the day +of the marriage he goes alone to her home, carrying his presents +wrapped in a blanket, his mother and father having preceded him +thither. When the young people are seated together the parents address +them in turn, enjoining unity and forbearance. This constitutes the +ceremony. Tribal custom requires the bridegroom to reside with the +wife's family.[65] + + [65] _Rep. Bur. Ethn._ IX, p. 19. Hartland, _Ibid._, pp. + 76-77. + +All the Pueblo peoples are more advanced than the greater number of +the neighbouring tribes; their matrimonial customs are more refined, +their domestic life much happier, and they have an appreciation of +love, a rare thing in primitive peoples.[66] Among other tribes +purchase of a wife is common, always a sure sign of the enslavement of +women. Thus in Columbia what is most prized in a woman is her aptitude +for labour, and the price paid for her (usually in horses) depends on +her capacity as a beast of burden. Sometimes, as in California, a +suitor obtains a wife on credit, but then the man is called "half +married;" and until her price is paid he has to labour as a slave for +her parents. Here, as elsewhere, morality is simply a custom of habit; +Bancroft says that purchase of a wife has become accepted as +honourable, so that among the Californian Redskins "the children of a +wife who has cost nothing to her husband are looked down upon."[67] +Such customs are in sharp contrast to the liberty granted to the woman +among the Pueblos. As an example of women's power carried to the +limit of tyranny, we may note the Nicaraguans, of whom Bancroft states +that "the husbands are said to have been so much under the control of +their wives that they were obliged to do the housework, while the +women attended to the trading." Under these circumstances it is +perhaps not surprising to find the women described as "great shrews, +who would on the slightest provocation drive their offending husbands +out of the house."[68] This is a curious case of the despotic rule of +women. Westermarck accounts for their position by the strict monogamy +that is enforced, but I do not think this can be the true +explanation.[69] + + [66] Bancroft, _op. cit._, Vol. I, p. 549. + + [67] Bancroft, _op. cit._, Vol. I, p. 277. Power's _Tribes of + California_, pp. 22, 56. + + [68] Bancroft, _op. cit._, Vol. II, p. 685. + + [69] _History of Human Marriage_, p. 500. + +Among the Guanas the women make their own stipulations with their +lovers before marriage, arranging what they are to do in the +household. They are also said to decide the conditions of the +marriage, whether it is to be monogamous, or if polygamy or polyandry +is to be allowed.[70] The Zapotecs and other tribes inhabiting the +Isthmus of Tehuantepec, are remarkable for "the gentleness, affection, +and frugality that characterises the marital relations. Polygamy is +not permitted, which is very remarkable as the women greatly outnumber +the men."[71] + + [70] Azara, _Voyages dans l'Amrique Mridionale_, Vol. II, + p. 93. + + [71] Bancroft, _op. cit._, Vol. I, pp. 661-662. + +Lastly, I wish to bring forward a very striking example of the +complete maternal family among the Seri Indians, on the south-west +coast of North America, now reduced to a single tribe. Their curious +and interesting marriage customs have been described by McGee, who +visited the people to report on their customs for the American +Government. The Seri are probably the most primitive tribe in the +American continent. At the time of Mr. McGee's visit they preserved +the maternal system in its early form, and are therefore an +instructive example by which to estimate the position of the +women.[72] + + [72] "The Beginning of Marriage," _American Anthropologist_, + Vol. IX, p. 376. Also _Rep. Bur. Ethn._, XVII, 275. + + "The tribe is divided into exogamous totem clans. Marriage + is arranged exclusively by the women. The elder woman of the + suitor's family carries the proposal to the girl's clan + mother. If this is entertained, the question of marriage is + discussed at length by the matrons of the two clans. The + girl herself is consulted; a _jacal_ is erected for her, and + after many deliberations, the bridegroom is provisionally + received into the wife's clan for a year under conditions of + the most exacting character. He is expected to prove his + worthiness of a permanent relationship by demonstrating his + ability as a provider, and by showing himself an implacable + foe to aliens. He is compelled to support all the female + relatives of his bride's family by the products of his skill + and industry in hunting and fishing for one year. There is + also another provision of a very curious nature. The lover + is permitted to share the _jacal_, or sleeping-robe, + provided for the prospective matron by her kinswomen, not + as a privileged spouse, but merely as a protective + companion; and throughout this probationary time he is + compelled to maintain continence--he must display the most + indubitable proof of his moral force." + +This test of the Seri lover must not mistakenly be thought to be +connected, as might appear, with the modern idea of continence. As is +pointed out by McGee, it arose out of the primitive sexual taboos, and +is imposed on the young man as a test of his strength to abstain from +any sexual relationships outside the proscribed limits. Such a moral +test may once have been common, but seems to have been lost except +among the Seri; though a curious vestige appears in the anti-nuptial +treatment of the bridegroom, in the Salish tribe. The material test is +common among many peoples, and must not be confused with the later +custom of payment for the wife by presents given to her family. Still +this Seri marriage is one of the most curious I know among any +primitive peoples. And the continence demanded from the bridegroom +appears more extraordinary if we compare it with the freedom granted +to the bride. "During this period the always dignified position +occupied by the daughters of the house culminates." Among other +privileges she is allowed to receive the "most intimate attentions +from the clan-fellows of the group." "She is the receiver of the +supplies furnished by her lover, measuring his competence as would-be +husband. Through his energy she is enabled to dispense largess with a +lavish hand, and thus to dignify her clan and honour her spouse in the +most effective way known to primitive life; and at the same time she +enjoys the immeasurable moral stimulus of realising she is the arbiter +of the fate of a man who becomes a warrior or an outcast at her +bidding, and through him of the future of two clans--she is raised to +a responsibility in both personal and tribal affairs which, albeit +temporary, is hardly lower than that of the warrior chief." At the +close of the year, if all goes well, the probation ends in a feast +provided by the lover, who now becomes the husband, and finally enters +his wife's _jacal_ as "consort-guest." His position is wholly +subordinate, and without any authority whatever, either over his +children or over the property. In his mother's hut he has rights, +which seem to continue after his marriage, but in his wife's hut he +has none. + +I have now collected together, with as much exactitude as I could, +what is known of the maternal family in the American continents. There +are many tribes in which descent is reckoned through the father, and +it would be bold to assert that these have all passed through the +maternal stage. An examination of their customs shows, in some cases, +survivals, which point to such conclusion; among other tribes it seems +probable that the maternal clan has not developed. As illustrations of +mother-power, I claim the examples given speak for themselves. It may, +of course, be urged that these complete maternal families are +exceptions, and thus to dismiss them as unimportant. But this is +surely an unscientific way of settling the question. One has to accept +these cases, or to prove that they are untrue. Moreover, I have by no +means exhausted the evidence; and to these complete maternal families +might be added examples from other tribes which would furnish similar +proofs, but there is such consistency of custom among them all that +further accounts may be dispensed with. + +There is one other matter for which I would claim attention before +closing this chapter on the American Indians, and that is the +remarkable similarity to be noticed in many tribes between the faces +of the men and the women. To me this is a point of deep interest, +though I do not claim to understand it. My attention was first drawn +to notice this likeness between the two sexes when I came to know some +Iroquois natives who live in England. I was at once struck with the +appearance of the men: though strong and powerfully built, they were +strikingly like women. Since then I have examined many portraits of +the North Indian tribes; I have found that the great majority of men +approach much more nearly to the feminine than the male type. I might, +however, hesitate to bring the matter forward, were it founded only on +my own observation. But in my reading I have found an important +reference to the question in a recent work, "The Indians of North +America in Recent Times," by Mr. Cyrus Thomas, Ph.D., Archologist, in +the _Bureau of American Ethnology_. He writes as follows (p. 41)-- + + "Another curious fact, which has not hitherto received + special notice, though apparently of considerable interest, + is the prevailing feminine physiognomy of the males, at + least of those of the northern section. If any one will take + the trouble to study carefully a hundred or more good + photographs of males of pure blood he will find that two + thirds, if not a greater proportion, show feminine faces. + The full significance of this fact is not apparent, but it + seems to bear to some extent upon the question of the + evolution of the race." + +What this fact suggests is a problem to which it is very difficult +even to guess at an answer. Does this lack of differentiation in the +physiognomy of the Indians point to something much deeper? Are the men +really like the women? Such a conception opens up considerations of +very great significance. So far as I understand the matter, it appears +that, as well as the deep inherent differences between the two sexes, +there are other differences due to divergence in function. It seems +probable that changes in environment or in function (as when one sex, +for some reason or other, performs the duties usually undertaken by +the other sex), may alter or modify the differences which tend to +thrust the sexes apart. I feel very sure that there can be changes in +the secondary sexual characters of the male and female. This is +sufficiently proved by many examples. Can we, then, accept the theory +that an environment, which favours women's forceful function, may +modify the infinitely complicated characters of sex, which, as yet, we +so imperfectly understand? I do not know with any certainty. Yet I can +see no other interpretation; and, if I mistake not, it may be possible +in this way to cast a light on one of the most difficult problems with +which we are faced to-day. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE MATERNAL FAMILY AMONG THE KHASIS + + +There are, perhaps, no people among whom the family in the full +maternal form can be studied with more advantage than the Khasi Hill +tribes, in the north-east of India. This race has a special interest +as a people who, in modern times, have preserved their independence +and their ancestral customs through many centuries. We find +mother-descent strictly practised, combined with great and even +extraordinary rights on the part of the women. The isolation of the +Khasis may account for this conservatism, but, as will appear later, +there are other causes to explain the freedom and power of the Khasi +women. We are fortunate in having a fuller knowledge of the Khasi +tribes, than is common of many primitive peoples. Their institutions +and interesting domestic customs have been carefully noted by +ethnologists and travellers, and in all accounts there is united +testimony to the high status of the women. I will quote a statement of +Sir Charles Lyell,[73] which affirms this fact very strongly-- + + [73] In an Introduction to _The Khasis_, by P. R. Gurdon. + This work, written by one who had a long and intimate + knowledge of the Khasi tribes, gives an admirable account of + the people, their institutions and domestic life. See also + Sir J. Hooker, _Himalayan Journal_, Vol. II, pp. 273 _et + seq._; Dalton, _Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal_; and a + series of papers by J. R. Logan, in the _Journal of the + Indian Archipelago_, 1850-1857. Mr. Frazer (_The Golden + Bough_, Part IV, _Adonis, Attis, Osiris_, p. 387) gives a + short account of the Khasis; also McGee in the article _The + Beginning of Marriage_ already quoted. + + "Their social organisation presents one of the most perfect + examples still surviving of matriarchal institutions carried + out with a logic and a thoroughness which, to those + accustomed to regard the status and authority of the father + as the foundation of society, are exceedingly remarkable. + Not only is the mother the head and source and only bond of + union of the family, in the most primitive part of the + hills, the Synteng country, she is the only owner of real + property, and through her alone is inheritance transmitted. + The father has no kinship with his children, who belong to + their mother's clan; what he earns goes to his own + matriarchal stock, and at his death his bones are deposited + in the cromlech of his mother's kin." + +Such testimony cannot be put aside. I wish it were possible for me to +give a detailed account of this people, there is so much that is of +interest to us in their mother-right customs. All that I can do is to +note briefly a few of these, which to me seem specially important. + +And first, in order to understand better their customs, let us +consider a few facts of the people themselves. The Khasis are a +vigorous and sturdy race. The men are short, but exceedingly muscular; +the women are comely, especially when young; and the children are +remarkably pretty. In both the sexes strongly developed calves are +considered a mark of beauty. It is interesting to note that the men +usually wear their hair long, and when it is cut short, a single lock +is preserved at the back, which is called _u niuhtrong_, "the +grandmother's lock." In some districts the men pull out the hairs of +the moustaches, with the exception of a few hairs on either side of +the upper lip. In character these people are independent, simple, +truthful and straightforward; cheerful in disposition, and +light-hearted by nature. They thoroughly appreciate a joke, especially +the women. Among the men there is some drunkenness, but not among the +women, though they are the chief distillers of spirits. Men and women +work together, usually at the same occupations. We learn that the +Khasis have an unusual love of nature, and are fond of music; thus +they have names for birds and flowers, also for many butterflies and +moths. These are traits not usually found in the people of India. + +There is a point to note of special interest in their language. All +the nouns have a masculine and a feminine gender, and the feminine +nouns immensely predominate. The sun is feminine, the moon masculine. +In the pronouns there is one form only in the plural, and that is +feminine. It may seem that these matters--noted so briefly--are +unimportant; but it is such little things that deserve attentive +study. At least they serve to show that the Khasis have reached a high +level of primitive culture; and they indicate further the strong +importance of the feminine idea, which is the main interest in our +inquiry. + +A few words must be said about the organisation of the tribes. These +tribes are formed in sections--of which the chief are the Khasi, +Synteng, and War. Each section or tribe is divided into clans and +sub-clans; these are strictly exogamous. To marry within the clan is +the greatest sin a Khasi can commit. This would explain the strict +reckoning of descent through the mothers. + +The Khasi clan grew from the family. There is a saying common among +the people, _Long jaid ne ka kynthei_, "From the woman sprang the +tribe." All the clans trace their descent from ancestresses +(grandmothers) who are called _Ki Iwabei Tynrai_, literally, +_grandmothers of the root_, i. e. _the root of the tree of the clan_. +In some clans the name of the ancestress survives, as, for instance, +_Kyngas houning_, "the sweet one." _Ka Iaw shubde_ is the ancestress +of the Synteng tribe, and it is curious to note that she is credited +with having first introduced the art of smelting iron. She is also +said to have founded a market in which she successfully traded in +cattle.[74] + + [74] _The Khasis_, pp. 62, 64, 82. All the facts I have given + of the Khasis are taken from Mr. Gurdon's work, unless + otherwise stated. + +It is hardly possible to exaggerate the esteem in which the tribal +ancestress is held; she is so greatly reverenced that she may truly be +said to be deified. In such worship rests the foundation of the deep +tribal piety. _Ka Iawbei_, "the first mother," has the foremost place +of honour by her side, and acting as her agent is _U Suid Nia_, her +brother. There is another fact to show the honour in which the female +ideal is held. The flat memorial stones set up to perpetuate the +memory of the dead are called after the mothers of the clan, while the +standing stones ranged behind them are dedicated to the male kinsmen +on the female side. These table stones are exceedingly interesting. +They are exactly like the long stones and dolmens which are found in +Brittany, in Ireland, in Galicia in Spain, and other parts of Europe. +Is it possible that some of these memorials, whose history has been +lost, were also set up to commemorate the mothers of tribes? But be +this as it may, among the Khasis, where ancient custom and tradition +have been preserved, goddesses are more important than gods. Almost +all the other deities to whom propitiation is offered are female. Male +personages also figure, and among them _Thaulang_, the husband, is +revered.[75] Still the chief divinity rests in the goddesses; the gods +are represented only in their relation to them. The powers of sickness +and death are all female, and these are most frequently worshipped. +Again, the protectors of the household are goddesses. I wish that I +had space to write of their curious, yet beautiful, religious rites. +The sacrifices are communal in character; they are offered in times of +sickness and when dangers threaten the clan. Priestesses assist at all +sacrifices and the male officiants act only as their agents. The +household sacrifices are always performed by women. + + [75] An incantation used in addressing this god begins: "O + Father, _Thaulang_, who hast enabled me to be born, who hast + given me my stature and my life." This is very certain proof + that the maternal system among the Khasis has no connection + with uncertainty of paternity. + +Consider what this placing of their goddesses rather than their +gods--of the priestess rather than priest--in the forefront of their +worship signifies! Very plainly it reflects honour on the sex to which +the supreme deities belong. We need no clearer proof of the high +status of women among this people. Such customs are certainly +survivals[76] from the time of a more primitive matriarchate, when the +priestess was the agent for the performance of all religious +ceremonies. In one state a priestess still performs the sacrifices on +the appointment of a new Siem, or ruler. Another such survival is the +High Priestess of Nongkrem, in the Synteng district, who "combines in +her person sacerdotal and regal functions." In this state the +tradition runs that the first High Priestess was _Ka Pah Synten_, "the +flower-lured one." She was a beautiful maiden, who had her abode in a +cave at Marai, near Nongkrem whence she was enticed by means of a +flower. She was taken by her lover to be his bride, and she became not +only the first High Priestess of Nongkrem, but also the mother of the +Siems of Nongkrem. + + [76] This is the opinion of Sir Charles Lyell and Mr. Gurdon. + We may compare the remark of Prof. Karl Pearson: "According + to the evidence not only the seers but the sacrificers among + the early Teutons were women." + +It must be noted that the Siems or rulers of the states are always +men. They are chosen from the eldest sister's children. Possibly the +case of the High Priestess of Nongkrem, who is the nominal head of the +state, points to an earlier period of rule by women; but to-day the +temporal power is delegated to one of her sons or nephews, who becomes +the Siem. I need not labour this question overmuch; it is actualities +I wish to deal with. As I have repeatedly said, there is no sure +ground for believing that the maternal system involves rule by women. +This may have happened in some cases, but I do not think that it can +ever have been common. I am very certain, however, of the error in the +view which accepts the subordination of women as the common condition +among barbarous peoples, whereas there are indications and proofs in +all directions of a more or less strong assertiveness on their part, +and always in the direction of social unity and sexual regulation. The +fact that the maternal system resulted in the limitation of the +freedom of the male members of the family is, in my opinion, to be +attributed to those powerful female qualities which exercised an +immense influence on early societies. Regarding what has been said, I +think it cannot be denied that while individual rights were of far +more importance to the males, the idea of the family and social rights +were, in their turn, essentially feminine sentiments. Thus it was in +the women's interest to consolidate the family, and by means of this +their own power; and they succeeded in doing so to an extraordinary +extent in primitive communities, without help of the maternal customs, +which, as I have tried to make clear, arose out of the conditions of +the primordial family and by the action of the united mothers. If I am +right, then, here is the primary cause of the women's position of +authority in the communal maternal family. + +I am very certain of the rights such a system conferred upon women; +rights that are impossible under the patriarchal family, which +involves the subordination of the woman to her father first and +afterward to her husband. In proof of this let us now consider +marriage and divorce, the laws of inheritance, and other customs of +the Khasis. And first we may note that polygamy--the distinctive +custom of the patriarchs--does not exist; as Mr. Gurdon remarks, "such +a practice would not be in vogue among a people who observe the +matriarchate." This is the more remarkable as the Khasi women +considerably outnumber the men. In 1901 there were 1118 females to +1000 males. At the present time the people are monandrists. There are +instances of men having wives other than those they regularly marry, +but the practice is not common. Such wives are called "stolen wives," +and their children are said "to be from the top," _i. e._ from the +branches of the clan and not the root. In the War country the children +of the "stolen wife" enjoy an equal share in the father's property +with the children of the regular wife. Polyandry is said to be +practised, but the fact is not mentioned by Mr. Gurdon; in any case it +can prevail only among the poorer sort, with whom, too, it would often +seem to mean rather facility of divorce than the simultaneous +admission of plurality of husbands.[77] + + [77] Fischer, _Tour. As. Soc._, Bengal, Vol. IX, Part II, p. + 834. + +The courtship customs of Khasi youths and maidens are simple and +beautiful. The young people meet at the dances in the spring-time, +when the girls choose their future husbands. There is no practice +among the Khasis of exchange of daughters; and there is an entire +absence of the patriarchal idea of their women as property. Marriage +is a simple contract, unaccompanied by any ceremony.[78] After +marriage the husband lives with his wife in her mother's home. Of late +years a new custom has arisen, and now in the Khasi tribe, when one or +two children have been born, and _if the marriage is a happy one_, the +couple frequently leave the family home, and set up housekeeping for +themselves. When this is done, husband and wife pool their earnings +for the support of the family. This is clearly a departure from the +maternal marriage, a step in the direction of father-right. Among the +Syntengs, the people who have most closely preserved the customs of +the matriarchate, the husband does not even go to live with his wife, +he only visits her in her mother's home. In Jowy this rule is so +strict that the husband comes only after dark. He is not permitted to +sleep, to eat, or smoke during his visit--the idea being that as none +of his earnings go to support the home, he must not partake of food or +any refreshment. Here is a curious instance of etiquette preserving +these clandestine visits long after the time when such secrecy was +necessary. We may note another survival among the Syntengs. The father +is commonly called by the name of the first child, thus, the father of +a child called Bobon, becomes Pa-bobon.[79] This does not, I am sure, +point back to a period when paternity was uncertain, rather, it is an +effort to establish the social relation of the father to the family, +and is connected with domestic and property considerations, not at all +with relationship. The proof of this will appear in a later chapter. + + [78] Dalton, _Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal_, p. 57. + + [79] McGee, _The Beginning of Marriage_. + +Very striking are the conditions attaching to divorce. Again we find +the right of separation granted equally to both sexes, a significant +indication of the high position of women. Marriage being regarded as +an agreement between wife and husband, the tie may be broken without +any question of disgrace. But although divorce is frequent and easy, +and can be claimed for a variety of reasons, all who have dwelt among +the Khasis testify to the durable and happy marriages among them. Only +when they find it impossible to live amicably together do a couple +agree to separate. In this event the children always remain with the +mother. For their mothers the children cherish a very strong +affection, for all their sympathies and affection bind them to her and +her family. + +The conditions of divorce vary in the separate tribes. Among the +Khasis both parties must agree to the dissolution of the tie. With the +Synteng and War tribes such mutual consent is not necessary, but the +partner who claims release from the other, without his or her consent, +must pay compensation. A woman cannot be divorced during pregnancy. +The form of divorce is simple; among the Khasis it consists of the +exchange of five cowries. This is done in the presence of witnesses, +and the ceremony must take place in the open air. Then a crier goes +around the village to proclaim the divorce, using the following +words-- + + "_Kaw_--hear, oh villagers! that--U and K have been + separated in the presence of the elders. _Hei!_ thou, oh + young men, canst go and make love to K--for she is now + unmarried, and thou, oh maidens, canst make love to + U--_Hei!_ there is no let or hindrance from henceforth." + +And here I would pause, although it leads me a little aside, to make a +point that to me seems to be of special importance. Obviously this +simple divorce by mutual consent was made easy in its working by the +maternal system. The great drawback to the dissolution of the marriage +tie in the patriarchal family is the effect it has on the lives of the +children; but in the maternal family such evil does not exist, for +the children always live with the mother and take her name. By saying +this, I do not wish to imply that I am necessarily recommending such a +system, but that it had its advantages for the mother and her +children, I think, cannot be denied. Its failure arises, as is +evident, from the alien position of the father in relation to his +children. + +In the primitive maternal family the place of the father, to a great +extent, is filled by the maternal uncle. Among the Khasis he is +regarded in the light of a father. It is his duty to assist the mother +in the management of the family. The husband is looked upon merely as +_u shong kha_,[80] a begetter. Only by the later marriage custom, when +the wife and children leave the home of her mother, has the father any +recognised position in the home. "There is no gainsaying the fact," +writes Mr. Gurdon, "that the husband is a stranger in the wife's home, +and it is certain he can take no part in the rites and ceremonies of +his wife's family." + + [80] _The Khasis_, p. 81. + +The important status assigned to women becomes clearer when we +consider the laws of inheritance. Daughters inherit, not sons. The +youngest daughter is heiress to the family property, but the other +daughters are entitled to a share on the mother's death. No man can +possess property unless it is self-acquired. Among the Synteng, such +property on the man's death goes to his mother. This would seem to be +the primitive custom. There is now a provision that, if the wife +undertakes not to re-marry she has half of her husband's property, +which descends to her youngest daughter. In the Khasi states a man's +property, if acquired before his marriage, goes to his mother, but +what is gained afterwards goes to the wife, for the youngest daughter. +Only in the War country do the sons inherit from the father with the +daughters, but something in addition is given to the youngest +daughter. The family property always descends in the female line. For +this reason, daughters are of more importance than sons. A family +without daughters dies out, which among the Khasis is the greatest +calamity, as there is no one qualified to bury the dead and perform +the religious rites. Thus both the Khasis and the Syntengs have a plan +of adoption. The male members of any family, if left without females, +are allowed to call in a young girl from another family to perform the +family religious ceremonies. She takes the place of the youngest +daughter, and becomes the head of the household. She inherits the +ancestral property. + +In the face of these facts it can hardly be denied that mother-right +and mother-power among the Khasis are still very much alive. Here at +least descent through the mother does involve power to women, and +confers exceptional rights, especially as regards inheritance. I have +already called attention to the equality of the women with men in the +code of sexual morality. This is so important that it is worth while +to follow it a little further. That freedom in love carries with it +domestic and social rights and privileges to women I have no longer +to prove. We found the same freedom under the maternal family among +the Iroquois and Zui Indians: there courtship was in the hands of the +woman; there also divorce was free, and a couple would rather separate +than live together inharmoniously. I have given proof of the happy +domestic life of these peoples. Equality in the sexual relationships +has always been closely associated with the status of women. Wherever +divorce is difficult, there woman's lot is hard, and her position low. +It is part of the patriarchal custom which regards the man as the +owner of the woman. It would be easy to prove this by the history of +marriage in the races of the past, as also by an examination of the +present divorce laws in civilised countries. I cannot do this, but I +make the assertion without the least shadow of doubt. "Free divorce is +the charter of Woman's Freedom." I would point back in proof to these +examples of the maternal family, foremost among whose privileges is +this equality of partnership in marriage. Here you have before you, +solved by these primitive peoples, some of the most urgent questions +that yet have to be faced by us to-day. To hear of peoples who live +gladly, and without those problems that are rotting away our +civilisation, brings a new courage to those of us, who sometimes grow +hopeless at our own needless wastage of love and life. + +I must not say more upon this question, though it is one that tempts +me strongly. It is not, however, my purpose in this book to offer +opinions of my own on these problems of the relations of the two +sexes; I prefer to leave the facts of the mother-age to speak for +themselves. Those whose eyes are not blinded will not fail to see.[81] + + [81] Mrs. Chapman Catt has an article in the April number of + _Harper's Magazine_ on "A Survival of Matriarchy." It gives + an account of her visit to the Malay States, and the + favourable position of the women under the maternal customs. + I have received a letter from the great American champion of + Women's Rights in which she states how pleased she is that I + am writing this book on the Mother-age. "There are many + facts," she says, "of the early power of women which the + great world does not know." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +FURTHER EXAMPLES OF THE MATERNAL FAMILY + + +Pursuing our inquiry into the social organisation of mother-right, an +interesting example occurs among the peoples of the Malay States, +where, notwithstanding the centres of Hindu and Moslem influence, much +has been retained of the maternal system, once universally prevalent. +The maternal marriage, here known as the _ambel-anak_, in which the +husband lives with the wife, paying nothing to the support of the +family and occupying a subordinate position, may be taken as typical +of the former condition. But among the tribes who have come in contact +with outside influences the custom of the husband visiting the wife, +or residing in her house, is modified, and in some cases has +altogether disappeared. + +From a private correspondent, a resident in the Malay States, I have +received some interesting notes about the present conditions of the +native tribes and the position of women. "In most of the Malay States +exogamous matriarchy has in comparatively modern times been superseded +by feudalism (_i. e._, the patriarchal rights of the father). But +where the old customs survive, the women are still to a large extent +in control. The husband goes to live in the wife's village; thus the +women in each group are a compact unity, while the men are strangers +to each other and enter as unorganised individuals. This is the real +basis of the women's power. In other tribes, where the old customs +have changed, the women occupy a distinctly inferior position, and +under the influence of Islam the idea of secluding adult women has +been for centuries spreading and increasing in force." Here, again, +clear proof is shown of the maternal system exercising a direct +influence on the position of women. And this statement is in agreement +with Robertson Smith, who, in writing of the maternal marriage, says: +"And it is remarkable that when both customs--the woman receiving her +husband in her own hut, and the man taking his wife to his--occur side +by side among the same people, descent in the former case is traced +through the mother, in the latter through the father."[82] + + [82] _Marriage and Kinship in Early Arabia_, p. 74. See also + Marsden, _History of Sumatra_, p. 225. + +In its ancient form the maternal communal family has notably persisted +among the Padang Highlanders of Sumatra. These people live in village +communities, with long timber houses placed in barrack-like rows, very +similar to the communal dwellings of the American Indians. The houses +are gay in appearance, and are adorned with carved and coloured +woodwork. One dwelling will contain as many as a hundred people, who +form a _sa-mandei_, or mother-hood. Again we find the family +consisting of the house-mother and her descendants in the female +line--sons and daughters, and the daughters' children. McGee thus +describes these maternal households--[83] + + [83] "The Beginning of Marriage," _American Anthropologist_, + Vol. IX, p. 376. + + "If the visitor, mounting the ladder steps, looks in at one + of the doors of the separate dwellings, he may see seated + beyond the family hearth the mother and her children, eating + the midday meal, and very likely the father, who may have + been doing a turn of work in his wife's rice-plot. If he is + a kindly husband, he is there much as a friendly visitor, + but his real home remains in the house in which he was + born." + +The husband has no permanent residence in the woman's house, and at +dusk each evening the men may be seen walking across the village to +join their wives and families. The father has no rights over his +children, who belong wholly to the wife's _suku_, or clan. But this in +no way implies that the father is unknown, for monogamy is the rule; +as is usual the question is one rather of social right than of +relationship. The maternal uncle is the male head of the house, and +exercises under the mother the duties of a father to the children. The +brother of the eldest grandmother is the male head of the family +settlement and the clan consists of a number of these families. It +would seem that these male rulers act as the agents of the female +members, whose authority is great. This power is dependent on the +inheritance; as is the descent, so is the property, and its +transmission is arranged for the benefit of the maternal lineage. For +this reason daughters are preferred rather than sons. + +This account of the Padang Malays may be supplemented by the Jesuit +missionary De Mailla's description of the maternal marriage in the +Island of Formosa.[84] Speaking of this marriage, McGee says: "If it +had received the notice it deserves, it might long ago have placed the +study of maternal institutions on a sounder basis." + + [84] _Lettres edefiantes et curieux_, Vol. XVIII, p. 441, + copied in Dunhalde, _Description de la Clune_, Vol. I, p. + 166, and cited by McGee. + + "The Formosan youth wishing to marry makes music day by day + at the maid's door, till, if willing, she comes out to him, + and when they are agreed, the parents are told, and the + marriage feast is prepared in the bride's house, whence the + bridegroom returns no more to his father, regarding his + father-in-law's house as his own, and himself as the support + of it, while his own father's house is no more to him than + in Europe the bride's home is henceforth to her when she + quits it to live with her husband. Thus the Formosans set no + store on sons, but aspire to have daughters, who procure + them sons-in-law to become the support of their old age." + +It will be noted that here the house is spoken of as the father's, and +not as belonging to the mother. The bridegroom is the suitor, and we +see the creeping in of property considerations always associated with +the rise of father-right. Though the husband has as yet no recognised +position and lives in the wife's home, he is valued for his service to +his father-in-law, clearly a step in the direction of property +assertion. Among many of the Malay hill tribes of Formosa the maternal +system is dying out, though the old law forbidding marriage within the +clan remains in force. + +These changes must be expected wherever the transition towards +father-right has begun; the older forms of courtship and marriage, so +favourable to the woman, are replaced by patriarchal customs. One or +two curious examples of primitive courtship, in which the initiative +is taken entirely by the girl may be noted here. Among the Garos tribe +it is not only the privilege, but the duty of the girl to select her +lover, while an infringement of this rule is severely and summarily +punished. Any declaration made on the part of the young man is +regarded as an insult to the whole _mahri_ (motherhood) to which the +girl belongs, a stain only to be expiated by liberal presents made at +the expense of the _mahri_ of the over-forward lover. The marriage +customs are equally curious. On the morning of the wedding a ceremony +very similar to capture takes place, only it is the bridegroom who is +abducted. He pretends to be unwilling and runs away and hides, but he +is caught by the friends of the bride. Then he is taken by force, +weeping as he goes, in spite of the resistance and counterfeited grief +of his parents and friends, to the bride's house, where he takes up +his residence with his mother-in-law. It is instructive to find that +these marriages are usually successful. Although divorce is easy, it +is not frequent. "The Garos will not hastily make engagements, +because, when they do make them, they intend to keep them."[85] + + [85] Dalton, _Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal_, pp. 64, 142. + See also Tylor, "The Matriarchal Theory," _Nineteenth + Century_, July 1896, p. 89. + +In Paraguay, we are told, the women are generally endowed with +stronger passions than the men, and are allowed to make the +proposals.[86] So also among the Ahitas of the Philippine Islands, +where, if her clan-parents will not consent to a love match the girl +seizes the young man by the hair, carries him off, and declares she +has run away with him. In such a case it appears the marriage is held +to be valid whether the parents consent or not.[87] A similar custom +of a gentler character, is practised by the Tarrahumari Indians of +Northern Mexico, among whom, according to Lumboltz, the maiden is a +persistent wooer employing a _rpertoire_ of really exquisite love +songs to soften the heart of a reluctant swain.[88] Again, in New +Guinea, where the women held a very independent position, "the girl is +always regarded as the seducer. Women steal men." A youth who +proposed to a girl would be making himself ridiculous, would be called +a woman, and laughed at by the girls. The usual method by which a girl +proposes is to send a present to the youth by a third party, following +this up by repeated gifts of food; the young man sometimes waits a +month or two, receiving presents all the time, in order to assure +himself of the girl's constancy, before decisively accepting her +advances.[89] + + [86] Moore, _Marriage Customs: Modes of Courtship_, etc., p. + 261. Rengger, _Naturgeschichte der Sugelliere von Paraguay_, + p. 11, cited by Westermarck, _op. cit._, p. 158. + + [87] J. M. Wheeler, "Primitive Marriage," an article in + _Progress_, 1885, p. 128. + + [88] McGee, "The Beginning of Marriage," _American + Anthropologist_, Vol. IX. + + [89] Haddon, "Western Tribes of the Torres States," _Journal + of the Anthropological Society_, Vol. XIX, Feb. 1890. Cited + by Havelock Ellis, _Psychology of Sex_, Vol. III, p. 185. + +It is clear that these cases, which I have chosen from a number of +similar courtship customs, differ very much from what is our idea of +the customary rle of the girl and her lover. To me they are very +instructive. They show the error of the long-held belief in the +passivity of the female as a natural law of the sex.[90] Such openness +of conduct in courtship is impossible except where women hold an +entirely independent position. Here, then, is another advantage that +may be claimed as arising for women out of the maternal system. I +claim this: the woman's right of selection in love--yes, her greatest +right, one that is necessary for a freer and more beautiful mating. + + [90] For further examination of this question of the supposed + passivity of the woman in courtship, see _The Truth about + Woman_, pp. 65-69, 251-257. + +Terminating this short digression, I return to my examination of the +peoples among whom the family is especially maternal. + +The Pelew Islanders of the South Sea have customs in many respects +the same as those of the Khasi tribes. They preserve strict maternal +descent, and like the Khasis, the deities of all the clans are +goddesses. The life and social habits of the people have been +described by Kubary, a careful and sympathetic observer, for long +resident in the island.[91] The tribes are divided into exogamous +clans, and intermarriage between any relations on the mother's side is +unlawful. These clans are grouped together in villages and the life is +of a communal character. Each village consists of about a score of +clans, and forms with its lands a petty independent state. + + [91] _Die socialen Einrichtungen der Pelauer. Die Religion, + de Pelauer._ Mr. Frazer, _Golden Bough_, Part IV, _Adonis, + Attis, Osiris_, pp. 387 _et seq._, summarises the account of + Kubary. See also Waitz-Gerland, Vol. V, Part II, p. 106 _et + seq._, and an account of the Pelews given by Ymer. + +Again we find the maternal system intimately connected with religious +ideas, and it is interesting to recall what was said by Bachofen: +"Wherever gyncocracy meets us the mystery of religion is bound up +with it, and lends to motherhood an incorporation in some divinity." +Among these Islanders every family traces its descent from a +woman--the common mother of the clan. And for this reason the members +worship a goddess and not a god. In the different states there are, +besides other special deities, usually a goddess and a god, but as +these are held to be derived directly from a household-goddess, it is +evident that here, as among the Khasis, goddesses are older than the +gods. This is shown also by the names of the goddesses. There is +another fact of interest: some women are reputed to be the wives of +the gods, they are called _Amalalieys_ and have a great honour paid to +them, while their children pass for the offspring of the gods. + +The reverence paid to the ancestral goddesses is explained by Mr. +Kubary as arising from the importance of women in the clans. + + "The existence of the clan depends entirely on the life of + the women, and not at all on the life of the men. If the + women survive, it is no matter though every man in the clan + should perish, for the women will, as usual, marry men of + another clan, and their offspring will inherit their + mother's clan, and thereby prolong its existence. Whereas if + the women of the clan die out the clan necessarily becomes + extinct, even if every man in it should survive; for the men + must, as usual, marry women of another clan, and their + offspring will inherit their mother's clan and not the clan + of the father, which accordingly, with the death of the + father, is wiped off the community." + +I quote this passage because it shows so clearly what I am claiming, +that descent through the mother, under the condition of strict +exogamy, conferred a very marked distinction on the female members of +the clan, whose existence depended on them; this cannot possibly have +failed to act favourably on their position. I may note, too, in +passing, the fallacy of Mr. McLennan's view that polyandry (which, it +will be remembered, he held to have been developed from and connected +with mother-descent) arose as a result of female infanticide. Such a +practice is clearly impossible in clans whose existence depends on the +life of its female members; daughters among them are prized more +highly than sons. + +The case we are now examining affords the strongest confirmation of +the honour paid to women under the strict maternal system. Take alone +the titles that these Pelew islanders give to their women, as _Adhall +a pel_, "mothers of the land," and _Adhall a blay_, "mothers of the +clan." The testimony of those who know their customs is that the women +enjoy complete equality with the men in every respect. Mr. Kubary +affirms the predominance of female influence in all the social life of +the clan. He asserts, without qualification, that the women both +politically and socially enjoy a position superior to that of the men. +The eldest women in the clans exercise the most decisive influence in +the conduct of affairs; the head men do nothing without full +consultation with them, and their power extends to affairs of state +and even to foreign politics. No chief would venture to come to a +decision without the approval of the mothers of the families. As one +consequence of this power the women have clubs of association similar +to the clubs of men that are common in so many tribes. A curious +privilege given to women is recorded: "The women have an unlimited +privilege of striking, fining, or if it be done on the spot, killing +any man who makes his way into their bathing places."[92] + + [92] Semper, _Die Palau-Inseln_, p. 68, cited by Westermarck + _op. cit._, p. 211. + +The marriage customs I shall pass over briefly, as they are similar to +those of other tribes under the maternal system, though changes may be +noted, such, for instance, as presents in the form of a kind of +bride-price being given by the bridegroom to the parents of the bride. +This is not a maternal custom, and although half of such presents +belongs by right to the girl, it is clearly a form of wife-purchase. +Then polygamy is practised, though it is expressly stated to be +uncommon.[93] There is now a marriage ceremony. Divorce still remains +free, and the conditions are favourable for the wife. Jealousy is said +to be prevalent both among the men and the women. The wedding +monologue is interesting and indicates the relative position of the +female and male members of the family. The salutation is as follows-- + + [93] Ymer, Vol. IV, p. 333. + + "Hei, thou, oh mother; oh grandmothers; oh maternal uncle; + oh elder grandmother; oh younger grandfather; oh elder + grandfather! As the flesh has fallen the ring has been put + on.... You will all of you give ear [the ancestresses and + ancestors] you will continue giving strength and spirit that + they [the bride and bridegroom] may be well." + +There is left an important fact to consider, which explains the +persistence of the women's authority under marriage conditions much +less favourable than the complete maternal form. The Pelew women have +another source of power; their position has an industrial as well as a +kinship basis. In this island the people subsist mainly on the produce +of their taro fields, and the cultivation of this, their staple food, +is carried out by the women alone. And this identification of women +with the industrial process has without doubt contributed materially +to the predominance of female influence on the social life of the +people. Wherever the control over the means of production is in the +hands of women, we find them exercising influence and even authority. +Among these islanders the women do not merely bestow life on the +people, they also work to obtain that which is most essential for the +preservation of life, and therefore they are called "mothers of the +land."[94] Now, considering this honour paid to the Pelew women, it is +clearly impossible to regard their work in cultivating the taro as a +sign of their subordinate position in the social order. The facts of +primitive life are often mistaken. This is a question to which I shall +refer again in a later chapter. + + [94] Frazer, _op. cit._, p. 380. + +In the same way among the Pani Kotches, tribes of Bengal, we find the +women in a privileged position, due to their greater industrial +activity and intelligence. + + "It is the women's business to dig the soil, to sow and + plant, as well as to spin, weave and brew beer; they refuse + no task, and leave only the coarsest labour to the men. The + mother of the family marries her daughter at an early age; + at the feast of betrothal she dispenses half as much again + to the bride as to the bridegroom-elect. As for the grown-up + girls and the widows, they know very well how to find + husbands; the wealthy never lack partners. The chosen one + goes to reside with his mother-in-law, who both reigns and + governs, with her daughter for prime minister. If the + consort permits himself to incur expenses without special + authorisation, he must meet them as best he can. Fathers of + families have been known to be sold as slaves, the wives + refusing to pay the penalties they incurred. Under these + circumstances, it was lawful for them to marry again."[95] + + [95] Hodgson, _Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal_, 1847 + (Dalton). + +Here, as among the Pelew islanders, special industrial conditions are +combined with the maternal system, and as a result we find what may, +perhaps, be termed "an economic matriarchy." Another cause of +authority, quite as powerful, is the possession by women of inherited +property. Among barbarous peoples the importance of this is not so +great, but where mother-descent has, for any reason, been maintained +up to a time when individual possession has been developed and +property is large, we meet with a remarkable "pecuniary matriarchate," +based on the women holding the magic power of money. + +An example may be found in the interesting Touaregs of the Sahara, a +race very far advanced in civilisation, who, even at the present day, +have preserved their independence and many of their ancient customs. +Among them all relationship is still maternal and confers both rank +and inheritance. "The child follows the blood of the mother," and the +son of a slave or serf father and a noble woman is noble. "It is the +womb which dyes the child," the Touaregs say in their primitive +language.[96] All property descends only through the mother, and by +means of accumulation the greatest part of the fortune of the +community is in the hands of women. This is the real basis of the +women's power. "Absolute mistress of her fortune, her actions, and her +children, who belong to her and bear her name, the Targui woman goes +where she will and exercises a real authority." The unusual position +of the wife is significantly indicated by the fact that, although +polygamy is permitted by the law, she practically enforces monogamy, +for the conditions of divorce are so favourable for a woman that she +can at once separate from a husband who attempts to give her a rival. +Again the initiative in courtship is taken by the woman, who chooses +from her suitors the one whom she herself prefers.[97] + + [96] Duveyrier, _Toareg du Nord_, p. 337 _et seq._ + + [97] Chavanne, _Die Sahara_, pp. 181, 209, 234. + +It is interesting to note that the Targui women know how to read and +write in greater numbers than the men. Duveyrier states that to them +is due the preservation of the ancient Libyan and Berber writings.[98] +"Leaving domestic work to their slaves, the Targui ladies occupy +themselves with reading, writing, music and embroidery; they live as +intelligent aristocrats."[99] "The ladies of the tribe of Ifoghas, in +particular, are renowned for their _savoirvivre_ and their musical +talent; they know how to ride _mehari_ better than all their rivals. +Secure in their cages, they can ride races with the most intrepid +cavaliers, if one may give this name to riders on dromedaries; in +order, also, to keep themselves in practice in this kind of riding, +they meet to take short trips together, going wherever they like +without the escort of any man."[100] In the tribe of Imanan, who are +descended from the ancient sultans, the women are given the title +_Timankaln_, "royal women," on account of their beauty and their +talent in the art of music. They often give concerts, to which the men +come "from long distances--decked out like male ostriches." In these +concerts the women improvise the songs, accompanying themselves on the +tambourine and a sort of violin or _rebza_. They are much sought +after in marriage, because of the title of _cherif_ which they confer +on their children.[101] + + [98] _Ibid._, p. 387. + + [99] Duveyrier, _op. cit._, p. 430. + + [100] _Ibid._, p. 362. + + [101] _Ibid._, p. 347. + +There is a touch of chivalrous sentiment in the relations between men +and women.[102] "If a woman is married," Duveyrier tells us, "she is +honoured all the more in proportion to the number of her masculine +friends, but she must not show preference to any one of them. The lady +may embroider on the cloak, or write on the shield of her chevalier, +verses in his praise and wishes for his good fortune. Her friend may, +without being censured, cut the name of the lady on the rocks or chant +her virtues. 'Friends of different sexes,' say the Touaregs, 'are for +the eyes and heart, and not for the bed only, as among the +Arabs.'"[103] Letourneau, in quoting these passages from Duveyrier, +makes the following comment: "Such customs as these indicate delicate +instincts, which are absolutely foreign to the Arabs. They strongly +remind us of the times of our southern troubadours and of the _cours +d'amour_, which were the quintessence of chivalry."[104] + + [102] Chavanne, _op. cit._, p. 208 _et seq._ + + [103] Duveyrier, _op. cit._, p. 429. + + [104] Letourneau, _The Evolution of Marriage_, pp. 180-181. + +The foregoing example is exceedingly interesting; it shows women +holding the position that as a rule belongs to men, and is thus worthy +of most careful study, but at the same time we must guard against +according it a general value which it does not possess. Such a case is +exceptional, though it by no means stands alone, and the social +position of Targui women is analogous to that of the women of ancient +Egypt. It is important to note that their great independence arose +through the persistence of maternal descent, and could not have been +maintained apart from that system, which placed in their hands the +strong power of wealth. Here, then, is certain proof of the favourable +influence mother-descent may exercise on the status of women. It is +because of this I have brought forward this example of the Targui +women. + +Enough has now been said. I have examined the institution of the +maternal family, both in the early communal stage and also under +later social conditions, where, in certain cases, mother-descent has +been maintained. In all the examples cited I have given the marriage +customs and domestic habits of the people as they are testified to by +authorities whose records cannot be questioned. Many similar examples, +it may be said, might be brought forward from other races, and the +proof of mother-right and mother-power greatly strengthened thereby. +There is, however, so much similarity in the maternal family, so much +correspondence in the marriage forms and social habits prevailing +among races widely separated, that the points of difference are little +in comparison with those they have in common. My object is not so much +to exhaust the subject as to bring into relief the radical differences +between the maternal communal clan, with its social life centred +around the mothers, and the opposite patriarchal form in which the +solitary family is founded on the individual father. I hold that, +other conditions being equal, the one system is favourable to the +authority of women, the other to the authority of men. The facts which +have been cited are, I submit, amply sufficient to support this view. + +We have seen that the life of the maternal clan is dependent on the +women--and not upon the men; we have noted that the inheritance of the +family name and the family property passing through the women adds +considerably to their importance, and that daughters are preferred to +sons. We have found women the organisers of the households, the +guardians of the household stores, and the distributors of food, under +a social organisation that may be termed "a communal matriarchy." More +important than all else, we have noted the remarkable freedom of women +in the sexual relationships; in courtship they are permitted to take +the active part; in marriage their position is one of such power that, +sometimes, they are able to impose the form of the marriage; in +divorce they enjoy equal, and even superior, rights of separation; +moreover, they are always the owners and controllers of the children. +Nor is the influence of women restricted to the domestic sphere. We +have found them the advisers, and in some cases the dictators, in the +social organisation under the headmen of the clan. Then we examined +the cases in which the women's power has an industrial as well as a +kinship basis, and have proved the existence of an "economic +matriarchy." And further even than this, we have found women the sole +possessors of accumulated wealth, and noted that, under the favourable +conditions of such a "pecuniary matriarchy," they are able to obtain a +position in learning and the arts excelling that of the men. We have +even seen goddesses set above the gods, and women worshipped as +deities. + +Now I submit to the judgment of my readers--what do these examples of +mother-right show, if not that, broadly speaking, women were the +dominant force in this stage of the family. No doubt too much +importance may be attached to the idea of women ruling. This is an +error I have tried to guard against. My aim throughout has been to +establish mother-right, not mother-rule. I believe it is only by an +extraordinary power of illusion that we can recognise, in the +favourable position of women under mother-descent Bachofen's view of +an Amazonian gyncocracy. But this does not weaken at all my position. +I maintain that such customs of courtship, marriage and divorce, of +property inheritance and possession, and of the domestic and social +rights, as those we have seen in the cases examined, afford conclusive +proof of women's power in the maternal family. If this is denied, the +only conclusion that suggests itself to me is that, those who seek to +diminish the power of mother-right have done so in reinforcement of a +preconceived idea of the superiority of the man as the natural and +unchanging order in the relationships of the sexes. One suspects +prejudice here. To approach this question with any fairness, it is +absolutely essential to clear the mind from the current theories +regarding the family. The order is not sacred in the sense that it has +always had the same form. It is this belief in the immutability of our +form of marriage and the family which accounts for the prejudice with +which this question is approached. The modern civilised man cannot +easily accustom himself to the idea that in the maternal family the +dominion of the mother was regarded as the natural, and, therefore, +the right and accepted order of the family. It is very difficult for +us even to believe in a relationship of the mother and the father that +is so exactly opposite to that with which we are accustomed. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +MOTHER-RIGHT CUSTOMS AND THE TRANSITION TO FATHER-RIGHT + + +Endeavour has been made in the previous chapters to present the case +for mother-right as clearly and concisely as possible. The point we +have now reached is this: while mother-right does not constitute or +make necessary rule by women, under that system they enjoy +considerable power as the result (1) of their organised position under +the maternal marriage among their own clan-kindred, (2) of their +importance to the male members of the clan as the transmitters and +holders of property. + +It is necessary to remember the close connection between these +mother-right customs and the communal clan, which was a free +association for mutual protection. This is a point of much interest. +As we have seen, the undivided family of the clan could be maintained +only by descent through the mothers, since its existence depended on +its power to retain and protect all its members. In this way it +destroyed the solitary family, by its opposition to the authority and +will of the husband and father. + +These conclusions will be strengthened as we continue our examination +of mother-right customs as we shall find them in all parts of the +world. I must select a few examples only and describe them very +briefly, not because these cases offer less interest than the complete +maternal families already examined, but because of the length to which +this part of my inquiry is rapidly growing. The essential fact to +establish is the prevalence of mother-descent as a probable universal +stage in the past history of mankind, and then to show the causes +which, by undermining the dominion of the maternal clan, led to the +adoption of father-right and the re-establishment of the patriarchal +family. + +Let us begin with Australia, where the aboriginal population is in a +more primitive condition than any other race whose institutions have +been investigated. I can notice a few facts only from the harvest of +information brought together by anthropologists and travellers. The +tribes are grouped into exogamous sub-divisions, and each group has +its own land from which it takes a local name. Each group wanders +about on its own territory in order to hunt game and collect roots, +sometimes in detached families and, less often, in larger hordes, for +there seems to be a tendency to local isolation. A remarkable feature +of the social organisation is found in the more advanced tribes, +where, in addition to the division into clans, the group is divided +into male and female classes. All the members of such clans regard +themselves as kinsmen, or brothers and sisters; they have the same +totem mark and are bound to protect each other. The totem bond is +stronger than any blood tie, while the sex totems are even more sacred +than the clan totems. + +Much confusion has arisen out of the attempts to explain the +Australian system; and for long the close totem kinship was supposed +to afford evidence of group marriage, by which a man of one clan was +held to have sexual rights over all the women in another clan. But +further insight into their customs has proved the error of such a +view, which arose from a misunderstanding of the terms of relationship +used among the tribes. Nowhere is marriage bound by more severe laws; +death is the penalty for sexual intercourse with a person of a +forbidden clan. And it is certain that there is no evidence at all of +communism in wives.[105] + + [105] _See_ Westermarck, _op. cit._, pp. 54-56. + +A system of taboos is very strongly established, and as we should +expect the women appear to be most active in maintaining these sexual +separations. If a man, even by mistake, kills the sex-totem of the +women, they are as much enraged as if it were one of their own +children, and they will turn and attack him with their long poles. + +In Australia it is easy to recognise a very early stage in human +society. The organisation of the family group into the clan is still +taking place. Moreover, the most primitive patriarchal conditions have +not greatly changed, for the males are great individualists and cannot +readily suffer the rights of others than themselves. Mother-right can +hardly be said to exist, and the position of women is low. It is not +the custom among any tribes for the husband to reside in the home of +the wife; this in itself is sufficient to explain the power of the +husbands. Wives are frequently obtained by capture, and fights for +women are of common occurrence. Here it would seem that progress has +been very slow. Indeed, it is the chief interest of the Australian +tribes that we can trace the transformation from the early patriarchal +conditions to the communal clan. + +There is still another fact of very special interest. In the large +majority of tribes known to us descent is traced through the mother; +the proportion of these tribes to those with father-descent being four +to one. Now, the question arises as to which of these two systems is +the earlier custom? As a rule it is assumed that in all cases descent +was originally traced through the mother. But is this really so? The +evidence of the Australian tribes points to the exact opposite +opinion. For what do we find? The tribes that have established +mother-descent have advanced further, with a more developed social +organisation, which could hardly be the case if they were the more +primitive. To this question Starcke, in _The Primitive Family_, has +drawn particular attention; he regards "the female line as a later +development," arrived at after descent through the father was +recognised, such change being due to an urgent necessity which arose +in the primitive family for cohesion among its members, making +necessary sexual regulation and the maternal clan. + +It is certainly difficult to decide on the priority of this or that +custom. But what is significant is that in Australia the tribes which +maintain the male line of descent must be assigned to the lowest stage +of development. The rights established by marriage among them are less +clearly defined, and the use of the totem marks, with the sexual +taboos arising from them, are less developed. Everything tends to show +that clan organisation and union in peace have arisen with +mother-descent, which cannot thus be regarded as a survival from the +earlier order, but as a later development--a step forward in progress +and social regulation. + +I take this as being exceedingly important: it serves to establish +what it has been my purpose to show, that in the first stage the +family was patriarchal--small hostile groups living under the jealous +authority of the fathers; and that only as advancement came did the +maternal clan develop, since it arose through a community of purpose +binding all its members in peace, and thereby controlling the warring +individual interests. The reasons for mother-descent have been +altogether misunderstood by those who regard it as the earliest phase +of the family, and connect the custom with sexual disorder and +uncertainty of paternity. In all cases the clan system shows a marked +organisation, with a much stronger cohesion than is possible in the +restricted family, which is held together by the force of the father. +It was within the clan that the rights of the father and husband were +endangered: he lost his position as supreme head of the family, and +became an alien member in a free association where his position was +strictly defined. The incorporation of the family into the clan arose +through the struggle for existence forcing it into association; it was +the subordinate position of the husband under such a system which +finally made the women the rulers of the household. If we regard the +social conditions of the maternal system as the first stage of +development, they are as difficult to understand as they become +intelligible when we consider it as a later and beneficent phase in +the growth of society. + +This, then, I claim as the chief good of the maternal system. As I see +it, each advance in progress rests on the conquest of sexual distrusts +and fierceness forcing into isolation. These jealous and odious +monopolist instincts have been the bane of humanity. Each race must +inevitably in the end outlive them; they are the surviving relics of +the ape and the tiger. They arise out of that self-concentration and +intensity of animalism that binds the hands of men and women from +taking their inheritance. The brute in us still resents association. +Am I wrong in connecting this individual monopolist idea of My power! +My right! with the paternal as opposed to the maternal family? At any +rate I find it absent in the communal clan grouped around the mothers, +where the enlarged family makes common cause and life is lived by all +for and with each other. + +An instructive example of the joint maternal family is furnished by +the Nars of Malabar, where we see a very late development of the +clan system. The family group includes many allied families, who live +together in large communal houses and possess everything in common. +There is common tenure of land, over which the eldest male member of +the community presides; while the mother, and after her death the +eldest daughter, is the ruler in the household. It is impossible to +give the details of their curious conjugal customs. The men do not +marry, but frequent other houses as lovers, without ceasing to live at +home, and without being in any way detached from the maternal family. +There is, however, a symbolic marriage for every girl, by a rite known +as tying the _tali_; but this marriage serves the purpose only of +initiation, and the couple separate after one day. When thus prepared +for marriage, a Nar girl chooses her lovers, and any number of unions +may be entered upon without any restrictions other than the strict +prohibitions relative to caste and tribe. These later marriages, +unlike the solemn initial rite, have no ceremony connected with them, +and are entered into freely at the will of the woman and her +family.[106] + + [106] Starcke's _Primitive Family_, pp. 85-88. Letourneau, + _Evolution of Marriage_, pp. 80-81, 311-312. Hartland, + _Primitive Paternity_, Vol. I, pp. 269, 288. + +Now, if we regard these customs in the light of what has already been +established, it is clear that they cannot be regarded as the first +stage in the maternal family. Such a view is entirely to mistake the +facts. The Nars are in no respect a people of primitive culture. +Through a long period they have most strictly preserved the custom of +matriarchal heredity, which has led to an unusual concentration of the +family group, and it is probable that here is the best explanation of +the conjugal liberty of the Nar girls. However singular their system +may appear to us, it is the most logical and complete of any +polyandric system. If we compare it with the more usual form of +patriarchal polyandry we see at once the influence of maternal +descent. Here, the woman makes a free choice of her husbands; in no +sense is she their property. It is common for them to work for her, +one husband taking on himself to furnish her with clothes, another to +give her rice and food, and so on. It is, in fact, the wife who +possesses, and it is through her that wealth is transmitted. In +fraternal polyandry, on the other hand (as, for instance, it is +practised in Thibet and Ceylon), the husbands of a woman are always +brothers; she belongs to them, and for her children there is a kind of +collective fatherhood. But among the Nars the man as husband and +father cannot be said to exist; he is reduced to the most subordinate +rle of the male--he is simply the progenitor. + +I know of no stronger case than this of the degraded position of the +father. And what I want to make clear is that in such negation of all +father-right rested the inherent weakness in the matriarchal +conditions--a weakness which led eventually to the re-establishment of +the paternal family. We must be very clear in our minds as to the +sharp distinction between the restricted family and the communal +clan. The clan as a confederation of members was opposed to the family +whose interests were necessarily personal and selfish. Such communism, +to some may appear strange at so early a stage of primitive cultures, +yet, as I have more than once pointed out, it was a perfectly natural +development; it arose through the fierce struggle for existence, +forcing the primitive hostile groups to expand and unite with one +another for mutual protection. Such conditions of primitive socialism +were specially favourable for women. As I have again and again +affirmed, the collective motive was more considered by the mothers, +and must be sought in the organisation of the maternal clan. But since +individual desires can never be wholly subdued, and the male nature is +ever directed towards self-assertion, the clan, organised on the +rights of the mothers, had always to contend with an opposing force. +At one stage the clan was able to absorb the family, but only under +exceptional conditions could such a system be maintained. The social +organisation of the clan was inevitably broken up as society advanced. +With greater security of life the individual interests reasserted +their power, and this undermined the dominion of the mother. + +To bring these facts home, we must now consider some further examples +of mother-right, in order to show how closely these customs are +connected with the conditions of the maternal familiar clan. + +The Yaos of Africa have what may be regarded as a matriarchal +organisation. Kinship is reckoned and property is inherited through +the mother. When a man marries, he is expected to live in his wife's +village, and his first conjugal duties are to build a house for her, +and hoe a garden for her mother. This gives the woman a very important +position, and it is she, and not the man, who usually proposes +marriage.[107] + + [107] Alice Werner, "Our Subject Races", _National Reformer_, + Aug. 1897, p. 169. + +In Africa descent through the mother is the rule, though there are +exceptions, and these are increasing. The amusing account given by +Miss Kingsley[108] of Joseph, a member of the Batu tribe in French +Congo, strikingly illustrates the prevalence of the custom. When asked +by a French official to furnish his own name and the name of his +father, Joseph was wholly nonplussed. "My fader!" he said. "Who my +fader?" Then he gave the name of his mother. The case is the same +among the negroes. The Fanti of the Gold Coast may be taken as +typical. Among them an intensity of affection (accounted for partly by +the fact that the mothers have exclusive care of the children) is felt +for the mother, while the father is almost disregarded as a parent, +notwithstanding the fact that he may be a wealthy and powerful man. +The practice of the Wamoimia, where the son of a sister is preferred +in legacies, "because a man's own son is only the son of his wife," is +typical. The Bush husband does not live with his wife, and often has +wives in different places.[109] + + [108] _Travels_, p. 109. + + [109] Lippert, _Kulturgeschichte_, etc., Vol. II, p. 57. + Hartland, _Primitive Paternity_, Vol. I, pp. 274, 286. + +In Africa the clan system is firmly established, which explains the +prevalence of mother-descent. Women, on the whole, take an important +position, and here, as elsewhere, their inheritance of property +enables them to maintain their equality with their husbands. +Individual possession of wealth is allowed, but a married man usually +cannot dispose of any property unless his wife agrees, and she acts as +the representative of the children's claims upon the father. The +privilege that, according to Laing, the Soulima women have, of leaving +their husbands when they please, is also proof of the maternal +customs.[110] Moreover, among some tribes, the influence of the +mothers as the heads of families extends to the councils of state; it +is even said that the chiefs do not decide anything without their +consent.[111] + + [110] Letourneau, pp. 306-307; citing Laing, _Travels in + Western Africa_. + + [111] Giraud-Teulon, _Les origines du mariage et de la + famille_, pp. 215 _et seq._ + +Mother-right is still in force in many parts of India, though owing to +the influence of Brahminism on the aboriginal tribes the examples of +the maternal family are fewer than might be expected. Among the once +powerful Koochs the women own all the property, which is inherited +from mother to daughter. The husband lives with his wife and her +mother, and, we are told, is subject to them. These women are most +industrious, weaving, spinning, planting and sowing, in a word, doing +all the work not above their strength.[112] The Koochs may be compared +with the Khasis, already noticed, and these maternal systems among the +Indian hill tribes may surely be regarded as showing conditions at one +time common. Even tribes who have passed from the clan organisation to +the patriarchal family preserve numerous traces of mother-right. Thus, +the choice of her lover often remains with the girl; again, divorce is +easy at the wish either of the woman or the man.[113] Such freedom in +love is clearly inconsistent with the patriarchal authority of the +husband. I must note too the practice, common among many tribes, by +which the husband remains in the wife's home for a probationary +period, working for her family.[114] This is clearly a step towards +purchase marriage, as is proved by the Santals, where this service is +claimed when a girl is ugly or deformed and cannot be married +otherwise, while other tribes offer their daughters when in want of +labourers. This service-marriage must not be confused with the true +maternal form, where the bridegroom visits or lives with the wife and +any service claimed is a test of his fitness; it shows, however, the +power of the woman's kindred still curbing the rights of the husband. + + [112] Hodgson, _Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal_, 1855, + Vol. XVIII, p. 707, cited by Starcke, _op. cit._, pp. 79, + 285. + + [113] Hartland, _op. cit._, Vol. II, pp. 155-157. + + [114] This custom prevails, for instance, among the Kharwrs + and Parahiya tribes, and is common among the Ghasiyas, and is + also practised among the Tipperah of Bengal. + +The existence of mother-descent among the peoples of Western Asia has +been ascertained with regard to some ancient tribes; but I may pass +these over, as they offer no points of special interest. I must, +however, refer briefly to the evidence brought forward by the late +Prof. Robertson Smith[115] of mother-right in ancient Arabia. We find +a decisive example of its favourable influence on the position of +women in the custom of _beena_ marriage. Under this maternal form, the +wife was not only freed from any subjection involved by the payment of +a bride-price in the form of compulsory service or of gifts to her +kindred (which always places her more or less under authority), but +she was the owner of the tent and the household property, and thus +enjoyed the liberty which ownership always entails. This explains how +she was able to free herself at pleasure from her husband, who was +really nothing but a temporary lover. Ibn Batua, even in the +fourteenth century found that the women of Zebid were perfectly ready +to marry strangers. The husband might depart when he pleased, but his +wife in that case could never be induced to follow him. She bade him a +friendly adieu and took upon herself the whole charge of any children +of the marriage. The women in Jhilya had the right to dismiss their +husbands, and the form of dismissal was this: "If they lived in a +tent they turned it round, so that if the door faced east it now faced +west, and when the man saw this, he knew he was dismissed and did not +enter." The tent belonged to the woman: the husband was received +there, and at her good pleasure. We find many cases of _beena_ +marriage among widely different peoples. Frazer[116] cites an +interesting example among the tribes on the north frontier of +Abyssinia, partially Semitic peoples, not yet under the influence of +Islam, who preserve a maternal marriage closely resembling the _beena_ +form, but have as well a purchase marriage, by which a wife is +acquired by the payment of a bride-price and becomes the property of +her husband. + + [115] _Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia._ See also + Barton, _Semitic Origins_. + + [116] _Academy_, March 27, 1886. + +A very curious form of conjugal contract is recorded among the +Hassanyeh Arabs of the White Nile, where the wife passed by contract +for a portion of her time only under the authority of her husband. It +illustrates in a striking way the conflict in marriage between the old +rights of the woman and the rising power of the husband. + + "When the parents of the man and the woman meet to settle + the price of the woman, the price depends on how many days + in the week the marriage tie is to be strictly observed. The + woman's mother first of all proposes that, taking everything + into consideration, with due regard to the feelings of the + family, she could not think of binding her daughter to a due + observance of that chastity which matrimony is expected to + command for more than two days in the week. After a great + deal of apparently angry discussion, and the promise on the + part of the relations of the man to pay more, it is arranged + that the marriage shall hold good, as is customary among the + first families of the tribe, for four days in the week, viz. + Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and in compliance + with old established custom, the marriage rites during the + three remaining days shall not be insisted on, during which + days the bride shall be perfectly free to act as she may + think proper, either by adhering to her husband and home, or + by enjoying her freedom and independence from all observance + of matrimonial obligations."[117] + + [117] Spencer, _Descriptive Sociology_, Vol. V, p. 8, citing + Petherick, _Egypt, the Soudan, and Central Africa_, pp. + 140-141. + +A further striking example of mother-right is furnished by the Mariana +Islands, where the position of women 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 offence, 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, the husband could send her home, keep her + property, and kill the adulterer; but if the man was guilty + or even suspected of the same offence, the women of the + neighbourhood destroyed his house and all his visible + property, and the owner was fortunate if he escaped with a + whole skin; and if the wife was not pleased with her + husband, she withdrew, and a similar attack followed. On + this account many men were not married, preferring to live + with paid women."[118] + + [118] Thomas, _Sex and Society_, pp. 73-74, quoting + Waitz-Gerland. + +A similar case of the rebellion of men against their position is +recorded in Guinea, where religious symbolism was used by the husband +as a way of obtaining control and possession of his wife. The maternal +system held with respect only to the chief wife. + + "It was customary, however, for a man to buy and take to + wife a slave, a friendless person with whom he could deal at + pleasure, who had no kindred who could interfere with her, + and to consecrate her to his Bossum, or god. The Bossum + wife, slave as she had been, ranked next to the chief wife, + and was exceptionally treated. She alone was very jealously + guarded, she alone was sacrificed at her husband's death. + She was, in fact, wife in a peculiar sense. And having by + consecration been made of the kindred and worship of her + husband her children could be born of his kindred and + worship."[119] + + [119] McLennan, _The Patriarchal Theory_, p. 235. + +It will be readily seen that the special rights held by the husband +over these captive-wives would come to be greatly desired. But the +capture of women was always difficult, as it frequently led to +quarrels and even warfare with the woman's tribe, and for this reason +was never widely practised. It would therefore be necessary for +another way of escape from the bonds of the maternal marriage to be +found. This was done by a system of buying the wife from her +clan-kindred, in which case she became the property of her husband. + +The change did not, of course, take place at once, and we have many +examples of a transition period where the old customs are in conflict +with the new. Both forms of marriage, the maternal and the purchase +contract, are practised side by side by many peoples. These cases are +so instructive that I must add one or two examples to those already +noticed. The _ambel-anak_ marriage of Sumatra is the maternal form, +but there is another marriage known as _djudur_, by which a man buys +his wife as his absolute property. There is a complicated system of +payments, on which the husband's rights to take the wife to his home +depends. If the final sum is paid (but this is not commonly claimed +except in the case of a quarrel between the families) the woman +becomes to all intents and purposes the slave of the man; but if, on +the other hand, as is not at all uncommon, the husband fails or has +difficulty in making the main payment, he becomes the debtor of his +wife's family, and he is practically the slave, all his labour being +due to his wife's family without any reduction in the debt, which must +be paid in full, before he regains his liberty.[120] In Ceylon, again, +there are two forms of marriage, called _beena_ and _deega_, which +cause a marked difference in the position of the wife. A woman married +under the _beena_ form lives in the house or immediate neighbourhood +of her parents, and if so married she has the right of inheritance +along with her brothers; but if married in _deega_ she goes to live in +her husband's house and village and loses her rights in her own +family.[121] + + [120] Marsden, _History of Sumatra_, pp. 225-227. + + [121] Forbes, _Eleven Years in Ceylon_, Vol. I, p. 333. + +In Africa where the _beena maternal marriage_ is usual, and the +husband serves for his wife and lives with her family, it is said that +families are usually more or less willing _for value received_ to give +a woman to a man to take away with him, or to let him have his _beena_ +wife to transfer to his own house. Among the Wayao and Mang'anja of +the Shirehighlands, south of Lake Nyassa, a man on marrying leaves his +own village and goes to live in that of his wife; but, as an +alternative, he is allowed to pay a bride-price, in which case he +takes his wife away to his home.[122] Again among the Banyai on the +Zambesi, if the husband gives nothing the children of the marriage +belong to the wife's family, but if he gives so many cattle to his +wife's parents the children are his.[123] Similar cases may be found +elsewhere. In the Watubela Islands between New Guinea and Celebes a +man may either pay for his wife before marriage, or he may, without +paying, live as her husband in her parents' house, working for her. In +the former case, the children belong to him, in the latter to the +mother's family, but he may buy them subsequently at a price.[124] +Campbell records of the Limboo tribe (where the bride is usually +purchased and lives with the husband), that if poverty compels the +bridegroom to serve for his wife, he becomes the slave of her father, +"until by his work he has redeemed his bride."[125] An interesting +case occurs in some Californian tribes where the husband has to live +with the wife and work, until he has paid to her kindred the full +price for her and her child. So far has custom advanced in favour of +father-right that the children of a wife not paid for are regarded as +bastards and held in contempt.[126] + + [122] Macdonald, _Africana_, Vol I, p. 136. + + [123] Livingstone, _Travels_, p. 622. + + [124] Riedel, p. 205; cited by McLennan, _Patriarchal + Theory_, p. 326. + + [125] _Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal_, Vol. IX, p. 603. + + [126] Bancroft, Vol. I, p. 549. + +Wherever we find the payment of a bride-price, in whatever form, there +is sure indication of the decay of mother-right: woman has become +property. Among the Bassa Komo of Nigeria marriage is usually effected +by an exchange of sisters or other female relatives. The men may marry +as many wives as they have women to give to other men. In this tribe +the women look after the children, but the boys, when four years old, +go to live and work with the fathers.[127] The husbands of the Bambala +tribe (inhabiting the Congo states between the rivers Inzia and Kwilu) +have to abstain from visiting their wives for a year after the birth +of each child, but they are allowed to return to her on the payment to +her father of two goats.[128] Among the Bassanga on the south-west of +Lake Moeru the children of the wife belong to the mother's kin, but +the children of slaves are the property of the father. + + [127] _Journal African Society_, VIII, 15 _et seq._ + + [128] Torday and Joyce, _J. A. I._, XXXV, 410. + +The right of a father to his children was established only by +contract. Even where the wife had been given up by her kindred and +allowed to live with her husband, we find that the children may be +claimed by her family. Thus among the Makolo the price paid on +marriage might merely cover the right to have the wife, and in this +case the children belonged to the wife's family. It might, however, +cover a certain right to the children if that had been contracted for, +but never such a right as separated them wholly from the mother's +family. To effect this it was necessary that a further price should be +paid at the father's death. This sum once paid, her family had "given +her up" and her children were entirely severed from them.[129] The +legal acknowledgment of fatherhood in all cases had to be paid for. + + [129] McLennan, _The Patriarchal Theory_, pp. 324-325, 240. + +There are many customs pointing to this new father-force asserting +itself, and pushing aside the mother-power. In Africa, among the +Bavili the mother has the right to pawn her child, but she must first +consult the father, so that he may have a chance of giving her goods +to save the pledging.[130] This is very plainly a step towards +father-right. There is no distinction between legitimate and +illegitimate children. Similar conditions prevail among the Alladians +of the Ivory Coast, but here the mother cannot pledge her children +without the consent of her brother or other male head of the family. +The father has the right to ransom the child.[131] An even stronger +example of the property value of children is furnished by the custom +found among many tribes, by which the father has to make a present to +the wife's family when a child dies: this is called "buying the +child."[132] A similar custom prevails among the Maori people of New +Zealand; when a child dies, or even meets with an accident, the +mother's relations, headed by her brothers, turn out in force against +the father. He must defend himself until wounded. Blood once drawn, +the combat ceases; but the attacking party plunders his house and +appropriates the husband's property, and finally sits down to a feast +provided by him.[133] + + [130] Dennett, _Jour. Afr. Soc._, I, 266. + + [131] _Jour. Afr. Soc._, I, 412. + + [132] Hartland, _Primitive Paternity_, Vol. I, pp. 275 _et + seq._ + + [133] _Old New Zealand_, p. 110. + +These cases, with the inferences they suggest, show that the power a +husband and father possessed over his wife and her children was gained +through purchase. And it is not the fact of the husband's power, +however great it might be, that is so important, but the fact that by +the change in the form of marriage the wife and her children were cut +off from the woman's clan-kindred, whose duty to protect them was now +withdrawn. Here, then, was the reason of the change from mother-right +to father-right. The monopolist desire of the husband to possess for +himself the woman and her children (perhaps the deepest rooted of all +the instincts) reasserted itself. But the regaining of this individual +possession by man was due, not to male strength, but to purchase. I +must insist upon this. As soon as women became sexually marketable +their freedom was doomed. + +There are many interesting cases of transition in which the children +belong sometimes to the mother and sometimes to the father. Again I +can give one or two examples only. In the island of Mangia the parents +at the birth of the child arranged between themselves whether it +should be dedicated to the father's god or to the mother's. The +dedication took place forthwith, and finally determined which parent +had the ownership of the child.[134] Among the Haidis, children belong +to the clan of the mother, but in exceptional cases when the clan of +the father is reduced in numbers, the new-born child may be given to +the father's sister to suckle. It is then spoken of as belonging to +the paternal aunt and is counted to its father's clan.[135] It is also +possible to transfer a child to the father by giving it one of the +names common to his clan. There are many curious customs practised by +certain tribes, wavering between mother and father descent. In Samoa +religion decides the question. At the birth of a child the totem of +each parent is prayed to in turn (usually, though not always, starting +with that of the father) and whichever totem happens to be invoked at +the moment of birth is the child's totem for life and decides whether +he or she belongs to the clan of the mother or the father.[136] +Equally curious was the custom of the Liburni, where the children were +all brought up together until they were five years old. They were then +collected and examined in order to trace their likeness to the men and +they were assigned to their fathers accordingly. Whoever received a +boy from his mother in this way regarded him as his son.[137] +Similarly with the Arabs, where one woman was the wife of several men, +the custom was either for the woman to decide to which of them the +child was to belong, or the child was assigned by an expert to one of +the joint husbands to be regarded as his own.[138] + + [134] McLennan, _The Patriarchal Theory_. + + [135] _Survey of Canada_, Report for 1878-79, 134 B. Cited by + Frazer, _Totemism_, p. 76. + + [136] Turner, _Samoa_, p. 78. + + [137] _Das Mutterrecht_, p. 20, quoted by Starcke, _op. + cit._, pp. 126-127. + + [138] Wilken, _Das Matriarchat bei den alten Arabern_, p. 26. + +These facts throw a strong light on the bond between the father and +the child, which was a legal bond, not dependent, as it is with us, +upon blood relationship. Fatherhood really arose out of the ownership +of purchase. And for this reason the father's right came to extend to +all the children of the wife. It does not appear that the husband +makes any distinction between his wife's children, even if they were +begotten by other men. Chastity is not regarded as a virtue, and in +those cases where unfaithfulness in a wife is punished, it is always +because the woman, who has passed from the protection of her kindred, +acts without her husband's permission. Interchange of wives is common, +while it is one of the duties of hospitality to offer a wife to a +stranger guest. Husbands sometimes, indeed, seek other men for their +wives, believing they will obtain sons who will excel all others. Thus +of the Arabs we are told, there is one form of marriage according to +which a man says to his wife, "Send a message to such a one and beg +him to have intercourse with you." The husband acts in this way in +order that his offspring may be noble.[139] When a Hindu marries, all +the children previously born from his wife become his own; in +Pakpatan, even when a woman has forsaken her husband for ten years, +the children she brings forth are divided between her and her +lover.[140] Similarly in Madagascar, when a woman is divorced, any +children she afterwards bears belong to her husband.[141] Campbell +tells us of children born out of wedlock in the Limboo tribe that the +father may obtain possession of the boys by purchase and by naming +them, but the girls belong to the mother.[142] + + [139] Wilken, _op. cit._, p. 26. + + [140] Wade, _Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal_, Vol. VI, p. + 196. + + [141] See _Truth about Woman_, pp. 160-161, for account of + Madagascar. + + [142] _Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal_, Vol. IX, p. 603. + +I am very certain that it was through property considerations and for +no moral causes that the stringency of the moral code was tightened +for women. It seems to me of very great importance that women should +grasp firmly this truth: the virtue of chastity owes its origin to +property. Our minds fall so readily under the spell of such ideas as +chastity and purity. There is a mass of real superstition on this +question--a belief in a kind of magic in chastity. But, indeed, +continence had at first no connection with morals. The sense of +ownership has been the seed-plot of our moral code. To it we are +indebted for the first germs of the sexual inhibitions which, +sanctified, by religion and supported by custom, have, under the +unreasoned idealism of the common mind, filled life with cruelties and +jealous exclusions, with suicides, and murders, and secret +shames.[143] + + [143] This passage is quoted from _The Truth about Woman_, p. + 171. I give it here, because its importance seems to me to be + very great. + +This brings me to summarise the point we have reached. Father-right +was dependent on purchase-possession and had nothing to do with actual +fatherhood. The payment of a bride-price, the giving of a sister in +exchange, as also marriage with a slave, gained for the husband the +control over his wife and ownership of the children. I could bring +forward much more evidence in proof of this fact that property, and +not kinship, was the basis of fatherhood, did the limits of my space +allow me to do so; such cases are common in all parts of the world +where the transitional stage has been reached. The maternal clan, with +its strong social cohesion is then broken up by the growing power of +individual interests pushing aside the old customs, and bringing about +the restoration of the family. I believe that the causes by which the +father gained his position as the dominant partner in marriage must be +clear to every one from the examples I have given. Fatherhood +established in the first stage of the family on jealous authority, +now, after a period of more or less complete obscuration, rises again +as the dominant force in marriage. The father has bought back his +position as patriarch. On the other hand the mother has lost her +freedom that came with the protection of her kindred, under the social +organisation of the clan. Looking back through the lengthening record, +we find that another step has been taken in the history of the family. +This time is it a step forward, or a step backward? This is a question +I shall not try to answer, for, indeed, I am not sure. + +Yet in case I am mistaken here, let me say at once I am certain that +this return to the restricted family was a necessary and inevitable +step. The individual forces had to triumph. This may seem a +contradiction to all I have just said. What I wish to show is this: +one and all the phases in the development of society have been needful +and fruitful as successive stages in growth; yet none can +continue--none be regarded as the final stage, for each becomes +insufficient and narrow from the standpoint of the needs of a later +stage. We have reached the third stage--the patriarchal family which +still endures. And last and hardest to eradicate is that monopoly of +sexual possession, which says: "This woman and her children are mine: +I have tabooed her for life." Mankind has still to outlive this brute +instinct in its upward way to civilisation. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +WOMEN AND PRIMITIVE INDUSTRY + + +I have referred in an earlier chapter to a letter from Mr. H. G. +Wells, sent to me after the publication of my book, _The Truth about +Woman_. Now, there is one sentence in this letter that I wish to quote +here, because it brings home just what it is my purpose in this +chapter to show--that the mother-age was a civilisation owing its +institutions, and its early victories over nature, rather to the +genius of woman than to that of man. Mr. Wells does not, indeed, say +this. He rejects the mother-age, and in questioning my acceptance of +it as a stage in the past histories of societies, he writes: "The +primitive matriarchate never was anything more than mother at the +washing-tub and father looking miserable." + +It seems to me that here, in his own inimitable way, Mr. Wells (though +I think quite unconsciously) sums up the past labour-history of woman +and man. His statement has very far-reaching considerations. It forces +us to accept the active utility of primitive woman in the community--a +utility more developed and practical than that of man. This was really +the basis of women's position of power. The constructive quality of +the female mind, at a time when the male attention and energy were +fixed chiefly on the destructive activities of warfare, was liberated +for use and invention. Women were the seekers, slowly increasing their +efficiency. + +Very much the same account of the primitive sexual division in work +was given by an Australian Kurnai to Messrs. Fison and Howitt, in a +sentence that has been quoted very frequently: "A man hunts, spears +fish, fights and sits about, all the rest is woman's work." This may +be accepted as a fair statement of how work is divided between the two +sexes among primitive peoples. Now, what I wish to make plain is that +it was an arrangement in which the advantage was really on the side of +the woman rather than on that of the man. I would refer the reader +back to what has been said on this subject in Chapter III, where I +summed up the conditions acting on the women in the hypothetical first +stage of the primordial family. We saw that the males were chiefly +concerned with the absorbing duties of sex and fighting rivals, and +also hunting for game. The women's interest, on the other hand, was +bent on domestic activities--in caring for their children and +developing the food supplies immediately around them. From the +hearth-home, or shelter, as the start of settled life, and with their +intelligence sharpened by the keen chisel of necessity, women carried +on their work as the organisers and directors of industrial +occupations. Very slowly did they make each far-reaching discovery; +seeds cast into the ground sprouted and gave the first start of +agriculture. The plant world gave women the best returns for the +efforts they made, and they began to store up food. Contrivance +followed contrivance, each one making it possible for women to do +more. Certain animals, possibly brought back by the hunters from the +forests, were kept and tamed. Presently the use of fire was +discovered--we know not how--but women became the guardians of this +source of life. And now, instead of caves or tree-shelters, there were +huts and tents and houses, and of these, too, women were frequently +the builders. The home from the first was of greater importance to the +women; it was the place where the errant males rejoined their wives +and children, and hence the women became the owners of the homes and +the heads of households. For as yet the men were occupied in fighting. +The clumsy and the stupid among them were killed soonest; the fine +hand, the quick eye--these prevailed age by age. Tools and weapons +were doubtless fashioned by these fighters, but for destruction; the +male's attention was directed mainly by his own desires. And may we +not accept that among the most pressing activities of women was the +need to tame man and make him social, so that he could endure the +rights of others than himself? + +So through the long generations the life of human societies continued. +Those activities, due to female influence, developing and opening up +new ways in all directions, until we have that early civilisation, +which I have called the mother-age. + +All the world over, even to this day, this separation in the labour +activities of the two sexes can be traced. Destructive work, demanding +a special development of strength, with corresponding periods of rest, +falls to men; and contrasted with this violent and intermittent male +force we find, with the same uniformity, that the work of women is +domestic and constructive, being connected with the care of children +and all the various industries which radiate from the home--work +demanding a different kind of strength, more enduring, more +continuous, but at a lower tension. + +Bonwick's account of the work of Tasmanian women may be taken as +typical-- + + "In addition to the necessary duty of looking after the + children, the women had to provide all the food for the + household excepting that derived from the chase of the + kangaroo. They climbed up hills for the opossum" (a very + difficult task, requiring great strength and also skill), + "delved in the ground for yams, native bread, and nutritious + roots, groped about the rocks for shellfish, dived beneath + the sea for oysters, and fished for the finny tribe. In + addition to this, they carried, on their frequent tramps, + the household stuffs in native baskets of their own + manufacture."[144] + + [144] _Daily Life and Origin of the Tasmanians_, p. 55. + +Among the Indians of Guiana the men's work is to hunt, and to cut down +the trees when the cassava is to be planted. When the men have felled +the trees and cleaned the ground, the women plant the cassava and +undertake all the subsequent operations; agriculture is entirely in +their hands. They are little, if at all, weaker than the men, and they +work all day while the men are often in their hammocks smoking; but +there is no cruelty or oppression exercised by the men towards the +women.[145] + + [145] Everard im Thurn, _Among the Indians of Guiana_. + +In Africa we meet with much the same conditions of labour. "The work +is done chiefly by the women, this is universal; they hoe the fields, +sow the seed, and reap the harvest. To them, too, falls all the labour +of house-building, grinding corn, brewing beer, cooking, washing, and +caring for almost all the material interests of the community. The men +tend the cattle, hunt, go to war; they also spend much time sitting in +council over the conduct of affairs."[146] + + [146] Macdonald, "East Central African Customs," _Journal + Anthropological Institute_, Feb. 1890, p. 342. + +I may note the interesting account of Prof. Haddon[147] of the work of +the Western Tribes of the Torres Straits-- + + [147] _Journal Anthropological Institute_, Feb. 1890, p. 342. + + "The men fished, fought, built houses, did a little + gardening, made fish-lines, fish-hooks, spears, and other + implements, constructed dance-masks and head-dresses, and + all the paraphernalia for the various ceremonies and dances. + They performed all the rites and dances, and in addition did + a good deal of strutting up and down, loafing and 'yarning.' + The women cooked and prepared the food, did most of the + gardening, collected shell-fish, and speared fish on the + reefs, made petticoats, baskets and mats." + +Similar examples might be almost indefinitely multiplied. Among the +Andamanese, while the men go into the jungle to hunt pigs, the women +fetch drinking water and firewood, catch shell-fish, make fishing nets +and baskets, spin thread, and cook the food ready for the return of +the men.[148] The Moki women of America have fifty ways of preparing +corn for food. They make all the preparations necessary for these +varied dishes, involving the arts of the stonecutter, the carrier, the +mason, the miller and the cook.[149] In New Caledonia "girls work in +the plantations, boys learn to fight."[150] + + [148] Owen, _Transactions of the Ethnological Society_, New + Series, Vol. II, p. 36. + + [149] Mason, _Woman's Share in Primitive Culture_, p. 143. + + [150] Turner, _Nineteen Years in Polynesia_, p. 424. + +We should, however, fall into a popular error concerning the division +of labour in savagery, if we consider that all women's work is +regarded as degrading to men and all men's work is tabooed to women. +The duties of war and the chase are the chief occupation of men, yet +in all parts of the world women have fought at need, and sometimes +habitually, both to assist their men and also against them. Thus +Buckley, who lived for many years among the Australian tribes, relates +that when the tribe he lived with was attacked by a hostile party, the +men "raised a war-cry; on hearing this the women threw off their rugs +and, each armed with a short club, flew to the assistance of their +husbands and brothers."[151] In Central Australia the men occasionally +beat the women through jealousy, but on such occasions it is by no +means rare for the women, single handed, to beat the men +severely.[152] Again, men carry on, as a rule, the negotiations on +tribal concerns, but in such matters exceptions are very numerous. +Among the Australian Dieyerie, Curr states that the women act as +ambassadors to arrange treaties, and invariably succeed in their +mission.[153] The same conditions are found among the American +Indians. Men are the hunters and fishers, but women also hunt and +fish. Among the Yahgan of Tierra del Fuego fishing is left entirely to +the women,[154] and this is not at all unusual. Mrs. Allison states of +the Similkameen Indians of British Columbia that formerly "the women +were nearly as good hunters as the men," but being sensitive to the +ridicule of the white settlers, they have given up hunting.[155] In +hunting trips, the help of women is often not to be despised. +Warburton Pike writes thus: "I saw what an advantage it is to take +women on a hunting trip. If we killed anything, we had only to cut up +and _cache_ the meat, and the women would carry it. On returning to +camp we could throw ourselves down on a pile of caribou skins and +smoke our pipes in comfort, but the women's work was never +finished."[156] This account is very suggestive. The man undergoes the +fatigue of hunting, and when he has thrown the game at the woman's +feet his part is done; it is her duty to carry it and to cook it, as +well as to make the vessels in which the food is placed. The skins and +the refuse are hers to utilise, and all the industries connected with +clothing are chiefly in her hands.[157] Hearne, in his delightful old +narrative, speaks of the assistance of women on hunting expeditions-- + + "For when all the men are heavy laden they can neither hunt + nor travel to any considerable distance; and in case they + meet with any success in hunting, who is to carry the + produce of their labour?" + + [151] _Life and Adventures of William Buckley_, p. 43. + + [152] _Journal Anthropological Institute_, Aug. 1890, p. 61. + + [153] _Australian Races_, cited by Ellis, _Man and Woman_, p. + 9 _note_. + + [154] Haydes et Deniker, _Mission Scientifique de Cape Horn_, + tome vii, 1891. + + [155] _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, Feb. 1892, + p. 307. + + [156] Warburton Pike, _Barren Grounds_, p. 75. + + [157] Havelock Ellis, _Man and Woman_, p. 5. + +He adds with a charming frankness-- + + "Women were made for labour; one of them can carry or haul + as much as two men can do. They also pitch our tents, make + and mend our clothing, keep us warm at night, and, in fact, + there is no such thing as travelling any considerable + distance, or any length of time, in this country without + their assistance."[158] + + [158] _A Journey from Prince of Wales's Fort to the Northern + Ocean_, p. 55. + +Numerous other examples might be added which illustrate how women take +part in the destructive work of men; conversely we find not a few +cases of the co-operation of men in the women's activities. The world +over, women are usually the weavers and spinners; but with the Navajo +and in some of the Pueblos the men are among the best weavers.[159] +Among the Indians of Guiana the men are specially skilful in +basket-weaving, and here also they as well as the women spin and +weave.[160] More curious is the custom in East Africa where all the +sewing for their own and the women's garments is done by the men, and +very well done. Sewing is here so entirely recognised as men's work +that a wife may obtain a divorce if she "can show a neglected rend in +her petticoat."[161] + + [159] Mason, _op. cit._, p. 10. + + [160] Im Thurn, _Among the Indians of British Guiana_. + + [161] Macdonald, _Journal Anthropological Institute_, Aug. + 1892. + +It is a common mistake, arising from insufficient knowledge, to +suppose that savage women are specially subject to oppression. Their +life is hard as we look at it, but not as they look at it. We have +still much to learn on these matters. An even greater error is the +view that these women are a source of weakness to the male members of +their families. The very reverse is the truth. Primitive women are +strong in body and capable in work. Fison and Howitt, in discussing +this question, state of the Australian women, "In times of peace, they +are the hardest workers and the most useful members of the community." +And in times of war, "they are perfectly capable of taking care of +themselves at all times, and so far from being an encumbrance on the +warriors, they will fight, if need be, as bravely as the men, and with +even greater ferocity."[162] This is no exceptional case. The strength +of savage women is proved by reports from widely different races, of +which all testify to their physical capability and aptness for labour. +Schellong,[163] who has carefully studied the Papuans of the German +protectorate of New Guinea, from the anthropological point of view, +"considers that the women are more strongly built than the men." Nor +does heavy work appear to damage the health or beauty of the women, +but the contrary. Thus among the Andombies on the Congo, to give one +instance, the women, though working very hard as carriers, and as +labourers in general, lead an entirely happy existence; they are often +stronger than the men and more finely developed: some of them, we are +told, have really splendid figures. And Parke, speaking of the +Manyuema of the Arruwimi in the same region, says that "they are fine +animals, and the women very handsome; they carry loads as heavy as +those of the men and do it quite as well."[164] Again, McGee[165] +comments on the extraordinary capacity of quite aged women for heavy +labour. He tells of "a withered crone, weighing apparently not more +than 80 to 90 lb. who carried a _kilio_ containing a stone mortar 196 +lb. in weight for more than half a mile on a sandy road without any +perceptible exhaustion. The proportion of the active aged is much +larger than among civilised people." + + [162] _Kamilaroi and Kurnai_, pp. 133, 147. + + [163] Cited by Ellis, _Man and Woman_, p. 4. + + [164] H. H. Johnston, _The Kilimanjaro Expedition_; Parke, + _Experiences in Equatorial Africa_. These examples are cited + by Ellis. + + [165] "The Beginnings of Agriculture," _American + Anthropologist_, Oct. 1895, p. 37. + +I may pause to note some of the numerous industries of which women +were the originators. First of all, woman is the food-giver; all the +labours relating to the preparation of food, and to the utilisation of +the side products of foodstuffs are usually found in the hands of +women. Women are everywhere the primitive agriculturists. They beat +out the seeds from plants; dig for roots and tubers, strain the +poisonous juices from the cassava and make bread from the residue; and +it was under their attention that a southern grass was first developed +into what we know as Indian corn.[166] The removal of poisonous matter +from tapioca by means of hot water is also the discovery of savage +women.[167] All the evolution of primitive agriculture may be traced +to women's industry. Power tells of the Yokia women in Central +California who employ neither plough nor hoe, but cultivate the ground +by digging the earth deep and rubbing it fine with their hands, and by +this means they get an excellent yield.[168] Women have everywhere +been the first potters; vessels were needed for use in cooking, to +carry and to hold water, and to store the supplies of food. For the +same reason baskets were woven. Women invented and exercised in common +multifarious household occupations and industries. Curing food, +tanning the hides of animals, spinning, weaving, dyeing--all are +carried on by women. The domestication of animals is usually in +women's hands. They are also the primitive architects; the hut, in +widely different parts of the world--among Kaffirs, Fuegians, +Polynesians, Kamtschatdals--is built by women. We have seen that the +communal houses of the American Indians are mainly erected by the +women. Women were frequently, though not always, the primitive +doctors. Among the Kurds, for instance, all the medical knowledge is +in the hands of the women, who are the hereditary _hakims_.[169] Women +seem to have prepared the first intoxicating liquors. The Quissama +women in Angola climb the gigantic palm trees to obtain +palm-beer.[170] In the ancient legends of the North, women are clearly +represented as the discoverers of ale.[171] + + [166] Thomas, _Sex and Society_, p. 136. + + [167] Mason, _op. cit._ p. 24. + + [168] _Cont. North American Ethnology_, Vol. III, p. 167. + + [169] Mrs. Bishop, _Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan_, cited + by H. Ellis, _op. cit._, p. 6. + + [170] _Jour. Anthrop. Inst._, Vol. I, p. 190. + + [171] "Magic Songs of the Finns," _Folk-lore_, Mar. 1892. + +It would be easy to go on almost indefinitely multiplying examples of +the industries of primitive women. There can be no doubt at all that +their work is exacting and incessant; it is also inventive in its +variety and its ready application to the practical needs of life. If a +catalogue of the primitive forms of labour were made, each woman would +be found doing at least half-a-dozen things while a man did one. We +may accept the statement of Prof. Mason that in the early history of +mankind "women were the industrial, elaborative, conservative half of +society. All the peaceful arts of to-day were once women's peculiar +province. Along the lines of industrialism she was pioneer, inventor, +author, originator."[172] + + [172] _American Antiquarian_, Jan. 1899. + +There is another matter that must be noted. The primitive division of +labour between the sexes was not in any sense an arrangement dictated +by men, nor did they impose the women's tasks upon them. The view that +the women are forced to work by the laziness of the men, and that +their heavy and incessant labour is a proof of their degraded position +is entirely out of focus. Quite the reverse is the truth. Evidence is +not wanting of the great advantage arising to women from their close +connection with labour. It was largely their control over the food +supply and their position as actual producers which gave them so much +influence, and even authority in the mother-age. In this connection I +may quote the statement of Miss Werner about the African women as +representing the true conditions-- + + "I cannot say that, so far as my own observations went, the + women's lot seemed to be a specially hard one. In fact, they + are too important an element in the community not to be + treated with consideration. The fact that they do most of + the heavy field-work does not imply that they are a + down-trodden sex. On the contrary, it gives them a + considerable pull, as a man will think twice before + endangering his food supply."[173] + + [173] "Our Subject Races," _The Reformer_, April 1897, p. 43. + +Mr. Horatio Hale, a well-known American anthropologist likewise +observes-- + + "The common opinion that women among savage tribes in + general are treated with harshness, and regarded as slaves, + or at least as inferiors, is, like many common opinions, + based on error, originating in too large and indiscriminate + deduction from narrow premises.... The wife of a Samoan + landowner or Navajo shepherd has no occasion, so far as her + position in her family or among her people, to envy the wife + of a German peasant."[174] + + [174] _Journal Anthropological Institute_, May 1892, p. 427, + cited by H. Ellis. + +Certainly savage women do not count their work as any degradation. +There is really an equal division of labour between the sexes, though +the work of the men is accomplished more fitfully than that of the +women. The militant activities of fighting and hunting are essential +in primitive life. The women know this, and they do their share--the +industrial share, willingly, without question, and without compulsion. +It is entirely absurd in this work-connection to regard men as the +oppressors of women. Rather the advantage is on the women's side. For +one thing, just because they are accustomed to hard labour all their +lives, they are little, if any, weaker than men. Primitive women are +strong in body, and capable in work. The powers they enjoy as well as +their manifold activities are the result of their position as mothers, +this function being to them a source of strength and not a plea of +weakness. + + "They who are accustomed to the ways of civilised women + only," remarks Mr. Fison, "can hardly believe what savage + women are capable of, even when they may well be supposed to + be at their weakest. For instance, an Australian tribe on + the march scarcely take the trouble to halt for so slight a + performance as childbirth. The newly born infant is wrapped + in skins, the march is resumed, and the mother trudges on + with the rest. Moreover, as is well known, among many tribes + elsewhere it is the father who is put to bed, while the + mother goes about her work as if nothing had happened."[175] + + [175] _Kamilaroi and Kurnai_, p. 358. + +Another important advantage arising to women, through their +identification with the early industrial process, was their position +as the first property owners. They were almost the sole creators of +ownership in land, and held in this respect a position of great power. +This explains the fact that in the transactions of the North American +tribes with the Colonial Government many deeds of assignment bear +female signatures.[176] A form of divorce used by a husband in ancient +Arabia was: "Begone, for I will no longer drive thy flocks to +pasture."[177] In almost all cases the household goods belonged to +the woman. The stores of roots and berries laid up for a time of +scarcity were the property of the wife, and the husband would not +touch them without her permission. In many cases such property was +very extensive. Among the Menomini Indians, for instance, a woman of +good circumstances would own as many as 1200 to 1500 birch-bark +vessels.[178] In the New Mexico Pueblos what comes from the outside of +the house as soon as it is inside is put under the immediate control +of the women. Bandelier, in his report of his tour in Mexico, tells us +that "his host at Cochiti, New Mexico, could not sell an ear of corn +or a string of chili without the consent of his fourteen-year-old +daughter, Ignacia, who kept house for her widowed father."[179] + + [176] Ratzel, _History of Mankind_, Vol. II, p. 130. + + [177] Robertson Smith, _Kinship and Marriage in Early + Arabia_, p. 65. + + [178] Hoffman, "The Menomini Indians," _Fourteenth Report of + the Bureau of American Ethnology_, p. 288. + + [179] Papers of the _Archological Institute of America_, + Vol. II, p. 138. + +I must now bring this brief chapter to a close. But first I would give +one further example. It is an account of the Pelew matrons' work in +the taro fields. Here the richest and most influential women count it +their privilege to labour, and it will be remembered that these women +are called "mothers of the land." They are politically and socially +superior to the men; and their position is dependent largely on their +close connection with the staple industry of the island. + + "The richest woman in the village looks with pride on her + taro patch, and although she has female followers enough to + allow her merely to superintend the work without taking part + in it, she nevertheless prefers to lay aside her fine apron, + and to betake herself to the field, merely clad in a small + apron that barely hides her nakedness, with a little mat on + her back to protect her from the burning heat of the sun, + and with a shade of banana leaves for her eyes. There, + dripping with sweat in the burning sun, and coated with mud + to the hips and over the elbows, she toils to set the + younger women a good example. Moreover, as in every other + occupation, the _Kalitho_, the gods must be invoked, and who + could be better fitted for the discharge of so important a + duty than 'the Mother of the House.'" + +Here is a picture of labour that may well make women pause to think. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +TRACES OF MOTHER-RIGHT CUSTOMS IN ANCIENT AND MODERN CIVILISATIONS + + +I propose in this chapter to examine, as fully as I can, the traces +that mother-right customs have left among some of the great races of +antiquity, as also in the early records of western civilisations. It +is the more necessary to do this because there is so marked a tendency +to minimise the importance of the mother-age, and to regard the +patriarchal family as primeval and universal. So much interesting +material is available, and so wide a field of inquiry must be covered, +that I shall be able to give a mere outline sketch, for the purpose of +suggesting, rather than proving, the widespread prevalence of the +communal clan and the maternal family. + +As to whether this maternal-stage, with kinship and inheritance +passing through the mother, has everywhere preceded the second +patriarchal period, it is difficult to be at all certain. Dr. +Westermarck, Mr. Crawley and others have argued against this view. But +(as I have before had occasion to point out) their chief motive has +been to discredit the theory of promiscuity, with which +mother-descent has been so commonly, and so mistakenly, connected. It +does not seem to have been held as possible that the mother-age was a +much later development, whose social customs were made for the +regulation of the family relationships. A number of very primitive +races exhibit no traces, that have yet been discovered, of such a +system, and have descent in the male line. This has been thought to be +a further proof against a maternal stage. But here again is an error; +we are not entitled to regard mother-descent as necessarily the +primitive custom. I believe and have tried to show, from the examples +of the Australian tribes and elsewhere, that in many cases the stage +of the maternal clan has not been reached. If I am right here, we have +the way cleared from much confusion. I would suggest, as also +possible, that there may among some people, have been retrogressions, +customs and habits found out as beneficial, and perhaps for long +practised, have by some tribes been forgotten. There can be no hard +and fast rule of progress for any race. The whole subject is thorny +and obscure, and the evidence on the question is often contradictory. +Still I hold the claim I make is not without foundation. I have tried +to show how the causes which led to the maternal system were perfectly +simple and natural causes, arising out of needs that must have +operated universally in the past history of mankind. And this +indicates a maternal stage at some period for all branches of the +human family. Again the widespread prevalence of mother-right +survivals among races where the patriarchal system has been for long +firmly established lends support to such a view, which will be +strengthened by the evidence now to be brought forward. It will be +necessary to go step by step, from one race to another, and to many +different countries, and I would ask my readers not to shrink from the +trouble of following me. + +Let us turn first to ancient Egypt, where women held a position more +free and more honourable than they have in any country to-day. + +Herodotus, who was a keen observer, records his astonishment at this +freedom, and writes-- + + "They have established laws and customs opposite for the + most part to those of the rest of mankind.... With them + women go to market and traffic; men stay at home and + weave.... The men carry burdens on their heads; the women on + their shoulders.... The boys are never forced to maintain + their parents unless they wish to do so; the girls are + obliged to, even if they do not wish it."[180] + + [180] Herodotus, Book II, p. 35. + +From this last rule it is logical to infer that women inherited +property, as is to-day the case among the Beni-Amer of Africa,[181] +where daughters have to provide for their parents. + + [181] Starcke, _The Primitive Family_, p. 67. + +Diodorus goes further than Herodotus: he affirms that in the Egyptian +family it is the man who is subjected to the woman. + + "All this explains why the queen receives more power and + respect than the king, and why, among private individuals, + the woman rules over the man, and that it is stipulated + between married couples, by the terms of the dowry-contract, + that the man shall obey the woman."[182] + + [182] Diodorus, Book I, p. 27. + +There is probably some exaggeration in this account, nevertheless, the +demotic deeds, in a measure, confirm it. By the law of maternal +inheritance, an Egyptian wife was often richer than her husband, and +enjoyed the dignity and freedom always involved by the possession of +property. More than three thousand three hundred years ago men and +women were recognised as equal in this land. + +Under such privileges the wife was entirely preserved from any +subjection; she was able to dictate the terms of the marriage. She +held the right of making contracts without authorisation; she remained +absolute mistress of her dowry. The marriage-contract also specified +the sums that the husband was to pay to his wife, either as a nuptial +gift or annual pension, or as compensation in case of divorce. In some +cases the whole property of the husband was made over to the wife, and +when this was done, it was stipulated that she should provide for him +during his life, and discharge the expenses of his burial and tomb. + +These unusual proprietary rights of the Egyptian wife can be explained +only as being traceable to an early period of mother-right. Without +proof of any absolutely precise text, we have an accumulation of facts +that render it probable that, at one time, descent was traced through +the mother. It is significant that the word _husband_ never occurs in +the marriage deeds before the reign of Philometor. This ruler (it +would appear in order to establish the position of the father in the +family) decreed that all transfers of property made by the wife should +henceforth be authorised by the husband. Up to this time public deeds +often mention only the mother, but King Philometor ordered the names +of contractors to be registered according to the paternal line. +Besides this, the hieroglyphic funeral inscriptions frequently bear +the name of the mother, without indicating that of the father.[183] + + [183] For a fuller account of the position of women in Egypt, + see the chapter on this subject in _The Truth about Woman_, + pp. 179-201. + +All these facts attest that women in Egypt enjoyed an exceptionally +favourable position. We may compare this position with that held by +the Touareg women of the Sahara, who, through the custom of maternal +inheritance, for long continued, have in their hands the strong power +of wealth, and thus exercise extraordinary authority, giving rise to +what I have called "a pecuniary matriarchy." + +It is probable that in Egypt property was originally entirely in the +hands of women, as is usual under the matriarchal system. Later, a +tradition in favour of the old privileges would seem to have +persisted after descent was changed from the maternal to the paternal +line. The marriage-contracts may thus be regarded as enforcing by +agreement what would occur naturally under the maternal customs. The +husband's property was made over by deed to the wife (at first +entirely, and afterwards in part) to secure its inheritance by the +children of the marriage. It was in such wise way the Egyptians +arranged the difficult problem of the fusing of mother-right with +father-right. + +In the very ancient civilisation of Babylon we find women in a +position of honour, with privileges similar in many ways to those they +enjoyed in Egypt. There are even indications that the earliest customs +may have gone beyond those of the Egyptians in exalting women. All the +available evidence points to the conclusion that at the opening of +Babylonian history women had complete independence and equal rights +with their husbands and brothers. It is significant that the most +archaic texts in the primitive language are remarkable for the +precedence given to the female sex in all formulas of address: +"Goddesses and gods;" "Women and men," are mentioned always in that +order; this is in itself a decisive indication of the high status of +women in this early period. And there are other traces all pointing to +the conclusion that in the civilisation of primitive Babylon +mother-right was still in active force. Later (as is shown by the Code +of Hammurabi) a woman's rights, though not her duties, were more +circumscribed; in the still later Neo-Babylonian periods, she again +acquired, through the favourable conditions with regard to property, +full liberty of action and equal rights with her husband.[184] + + [184] H. Ellis, _Psychology of Sex_, Vol. VI, p. 393. + +Let us now turn our attention to the Grco-Roman civilisation. It is +convenient to take first a brief glance at Rome. I may note that the +family here would certainly appear to have developed from the +primitive clan, or _gens_. At the dawn of history the patriarchal +system was already firmly established, with individual property, and +an unusually strong subjection of woman to her father first and +afterwards to her husband. There are, however, numerous indications of +a prehistoric phase of communism. I can mention only the right of the +_gens_ to the heritage, and in certain cases the possession of an +_ager publicus_, which certainly bears witness in favour of an antique +community of property.[185] Can we, then, accept that there was once a +period of the maternal family, when descent and inheritance were +traced through the mother? Frazer[186] has brought forward facts which +point to the view that the Roman kingship was transmitted in the +female line; and, if this can be accepted, we may fairly conclude that +at one time the maternal customs were in force. The plebeian marriage +ceremonies of Rome should be noted. The funeral inscriptions in +Etruria in the Latin language make much greater insistence on the +maternal than the paternal descent; giving usually the name of the +mother alone, or indicating the father's name by a simple initial, +whilst that of the mother is written in full.[187] This is very +significant. Very little trustworthy evidence, however, is +forthcoming, and of the position of women in Rome in the earliest +periods we know little or nothing. And for this reason I shall refer +my readers to what I have written elsewhere[188] on this matter; +merely saying that there are indications and traditions pointing to +the view that here, as in so many great civilisations, women's actions +were once unfettered, and this, as I believe, can be explained only on +the hypothesis of the existence of a maternal stage, before the +establishment of the individual male authority under the patriarchal +system. + + [185] Letourneau, _Evolution of Marriage_, p. 335. + + [186] _Golden Bough_, Part I. _The Magic Art_, Vol. II, pp. + 270, 289, 312. + + [187] Mller and Bachofen, cited by Giraud-Teulon, _op. cit._ + pp. 283-284. + + [188] _The Truth About Woman_, pp. 227-242. + +The evidence with regard to prehistoric Greece is much more complete. +The Greek [Greek: genos] resembled the Roman _gens_. Its members had a +common sepulture, common property, the mutual obligation of the +_vendetta_ and archon.[189] In the prehistoric clans maternal descent +would seem to have been established. Plutarch relates that the Cretans +spoke of Crete as their motherland, and not fatherland. In primitive +Athens, the women had the right of voting, and their children bore +their name--privileges that were taken from them, says the legend, to +appease the wrath of Poseidon, after his inundation of the city, +owing to the quarrel with Athene. Tradition also relates that at +Athens, until the time of Cecrops, children bore the name of their +mother.[190] Among the Lycians, whose affinity to the Greeks was so +pronounced, a matriarchate prevailed down to the time of Herodotus. +Not the name only, but the inheritance and status of the children +depended on the mother. The Lycians "honoured women rather than men;" +they are represented "as being accustomed from of old to be ruled by +their women."[191] + + [189] Grote, _History of Greece_, Vol. III, p. 95. + + [190] Letourneau, _op. cit._ pp. 335-336. + + [191] Herodotus, Book I, p. 172. + +One of the most remarkable instances of a gyncocratic people has only +now been fully discovered as having existed in ancient Crete. It seems +probable that women enjoyed greater powers than they had even in +Egypt. The new evidence that has come to light is certainly most +interesting; the facts are recorded by Mr. J. R. Hall in a recent +book, _Ancient History in the Far East_, and I am specially glad to +bring them forward. He affirms: "It may eventually appear that in +religious matters, perhaps even the government of the State itself as +well, were largely controlled by the women." From the seals we gather +a universal worship of a supreme female goddess, the Rhea of later +religions, who is accompanied sometimes by a youthful male deity. +Wherever we find this preponderating feminine principle in worship we +shall find also a corresponding feminine influence in the customs of +the people. We have seen this, for instance, among the Khasis, where +also goddesses are placed before gods. Mr. Hall further states: "It is +certain that they [the women in Crete] must have lived on a footing of +greater equality with men than in any other ancient civilisation." And +again: "We see in the frescoes of Knossos conclusive indications of an +open and free association of men and women, corresponding to our idea +of 'Society,' at the Minoan court, unparalleled till our own day." The +women are unveiled, and the costumes and setting are extraordinarily +modern. Mr. Hall draws attention to the curious fact that in +appearance the women are very similar to the men, so that often the +sexes can be distinguished only by the conventions of the artists, +representing the women in white, and the men in red outline; the same +convention that was used in Egypt. I may recall to the reader the +likeness of the men to the women among the North American Indians, and +the same similarity between the sexes occurs among the ancient +Egyptians.[192] It is perhaps impossible to search for an explanation. +I would, however, point out that in all these cases, where the sexes +appear to be more alike than is common, we find women in a position of +equality with men. This is really very remarkable; I think it is a +fact that demands more attention than as yet it has received. + + [192] See pp. 129-131, also _The Truth about Woman_, pp. + 199-201. + +At one time there would seem to have been in prehistoric Greece a +period of fully established mother-right. Ancient Attic traditions are +filled with recollections of female supremacy. Women in the Homeric +legends hold a position and enjoy a freedom wholly at variance with a +patriarchal subjection. Not infrequently the husband owes to his wife +his rank and his wealth; always the wife possesses a dignified place +and much influence. Even the formal elevation of women to positions of +authority is not uncommon. "There is nothing," says Homer, "better and +nobler than when husband and wife, being of one mind, rule a +household. Penelope and Clytemnestra were left in charge of the realms +of their husbands during their absence in Troy; the beautiful Chloris +ruled as queen in Pylos. Arete, the beloved wife of Alcinous played an +important part as peacemaker in the kingdom of her husband."[193] + + [193] Gladstone, _Homeric Studies_, Vol. II, p. 507. + Donaldson, _Woman_, pp. 18-19. + +If we turn to the evidence of the ancient mythology and art, it is +also clear that the number of female deities must be connected with +the early predominance of women in Greece. We have to remember that +"the gods" are shaped by human beings in their own image, and the +status of women on earth is reflected in the status of a goddess. Five +out of the eight divinities of immemorial Greek worship were female, +Hera, Demeter, Persephone, Athene and Aphrodite. In addition there +were numerous lesser goddesses. One must consider also that it was +not uncommon for cities to be named after women; and the Greek stories +seem to point to tribes with totem names. How can these things be +explained, unless we accept a maternal stage? There are numerous other +facts all indicating this same conclusion. We find relationships on +the mother's side regarded as much more close than those on the +father's side. In Athens and Sparta a man might marry his father's +sister, but not his mother's sister. Lycaon, in pleading with +Achilles, says in order to appease him, that he is not the uterine +brother of Hector. It is also noteworthy to find that the Thebans, +when pressed in war, seek assistance from the ginetans as their +nearest kin, _recollecting that Thebe and ginia had been sisters_. A +similar case is that of the Lycaones in Crete, who claimed affinity +with Athens and with Sparta, which affinity was traced through the +mother.[194] + + [194] McLennan, "Kinship in Ancient Greece"; Essay in + _Studies in Ancient History_, pp. 195-246. + +There is much evidence I am compelled to pass over. It must, however, +be noted that there seems clear proof of the maternal form of marriage +having at one time been practised. Plutarch mentions that the +relations between husband and wife in Sparta were at first +secret.[195] The story told by Pausanias about Ulysses' marriage +certainly points to the custom of the bridegroom going to live with +the wife's family.[196] In this connection the action of Intaphernes +is significant, who, when granted by Darius permission to claim the +life of a single man, chose her brother, saying that both husband and +children could be replaced.[197] Similarly the declaration of Antigone +that neither for husband nor children would she have performed the +toil she undertook for Polynices[198] clearly shows that the tie of +the common womb was held as closer than the tie of marriage; and this +points to the conditions of the communal clan. + + [195] Plutarch, _Apophthegms of the Lacedmonians_, LXV. + + [196] Pausanias, III, 20 (10), (Frazer's translation). + + [197] Herodotus, III, 119. + + [198] Sophocles, _Antigone_, line 905 _et seq._ + +Andromache, when she relates to Hector how her father's house has been +destroyed, with all who are in it, turns to him and says: "But now, +Hector, thou art my father and gracious mother, thou art my brother, +nay, thou art my valiant husband."[199] It is easy, I think, to see in +this speech how the early idea of the relationships under mother-right +had been transferred to the husband, as the protector of the woman +conditioned by father-right. As in so many countries, the patriarchal +authority of the husband does not seem to have existed in Greece at +this early stage of development. It may, however, be said that all +this, though proving the high status of women in the prehistoric +period, does not establish the existence of the maternal family. I +would ask: how, then, are these mother-right customs to be explained? +In the later history of Greece, with the family based on patriarchal +authority, all this was changed. We find women occupying a much less +favourable position, their rights and freedom more and more +restricted. In Sparta alone, where the old customs for long were +preserved, did the women retain anything of their old dignity and +influence. The Athenian wives, under the authority of their husbands, +sank almost to the level of slaves.[200] + + [199] _Iliad_, VI, 429-430. + + [200] _The Truth about Woman_, pp. 210-227. + +The patriarchal system is connected closely in our thought with the +Hebrew family, where the father, who is chief, holds grouped under his +despotic sway his wives, their children, and slaves. Yet this Semitic +patriarch has not existed from the beginning; numerous survivals of +mother-right customs afford proof that the Hebrew race must have +passed through a maternal stage. These survivals have a special +interest, as we are all familiar with them in Bible history, but we +have not understood their significance. It is possible to give a few +illustrations only. In the history of Jacob's service for his wives, +we have clear proof of the maternal custom of _beenah_ marriage. As a +suitor Jacob had to buy his position as husband and to serve Laban for +seven years before he was permitted to marry Leah, and seven years for +Rachel, while six further years of service were claimed before he was +allowed the possession of his cattle.[201] Afterwards, when he wished +to depart with his wives and his children, Laban made the objection, +"these daughters are my daughters, and these children are my +children."[202] Now, according to the patriarchal custom, Laban's +daughters should have been cut off from their father by marriage, and +become of the kindred of their husbands. Such a claim on the part of +the father proves the subordinate position held by the husband in the +wife's family, who retained control over her and the children of the +marriage, and even over the personal property of the man, as was usual +under the later matriarchal custom. Even when the marriage is not in +the maternal form, and the wife goes to the husband's home, we find +compensation has to be paid to her kindred. Thus when Abraham sought a +wife for Isaac, presents were taken by the messenger to induce the +bride to leave her home; and these presents were given not to the +father of the bride, but to her mother and brother.[203] This is the +early form of purchase marriage, such bridal-gifts being the +forerunners of the payment of a fixed bride-price. We still find +purchase marriage practised side by side with _beenah_ marriage in the +countries where the transitional stage has been reached and +mother-right contends with father-right. But there is stronger +evidence even than these two cases. The injunction in Gen. ii, 24: +"Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall +cleave unto his wife," refers without any doubt to the early form of +marriage under mother-right, when the husband left his own kindred and +went to live with his wife and among her people. We find Samson +visiting his Philistine wife who remained with her own people.[204] +Even the obligation to blood vengeance rested apparently on the +maternal kinsmen (Judges viii, 19). The Hebrew father did not inherit +from the son, nor the grandfather from the grandson, which points back +to a time when the children did not belong to the clan of the +father.[205] Among the Hebrews individual property was instituted at a +very early period,[206] but various customs show clearly the early +existence of communal clans. Thus the inheritance, especially the +paternal inheritance, must remain in the clan "then shall their +inheritance be added unto the inheritance of the tribe." Marriage in +the tribe is obligatory for daughters. "Let them marry to whom they +think best; only to the family of the tribe of their father shall they +marry. So shall no inheritance of the children of Israel remove from +tribe to tribe."[207] We have here an indication of the close relation +between father-right and property. + + [201] Gen. xxx, 18-30; xxxi, 14, 41. + + [202] Gen. xxxi, 43. + + [203] Gen. xxiv, 5, 53. + + [204] Judges xv, 1. + + [205] Numb., xxxii, 8-11. See Letourneau, _Evolution of + Marriage_, p. 326. + + [206] Gen. xxiii, 13. + + [207] Numb. xxxvi, 4-8. + +Under mother-right there is naturally no prohibition against marriage +with a half-sister upon the father's side. This explains the marriage +of Abraham with Sarah, his half-sister by the same father. When +reproached for having passed his wife off as his sister to the King of +Egypt, the patriarch replies: "For indeed she is my sister; she is the +daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she +became my wife."[208] In the same way Tamar could have married her +half-brother Amnon, though they were both the children of David: +"Speak to the King, for he will not withhold me from thee." And it was +her uterine brother, Absalom, who revenged the rape of Tamar by +slaying; afterwards he fled to the kindred of his mother.[209] Again, +the father of Moses and Aaron married his father's sister, who legally +was not considered to be related to him.[210] Nabor, the brother of +Abraham, took to wife his fraternal niece, the daughter of his +brother.[211] It was only later that paternal kinship became legally +recognised among the Hebrews by the same titles as the natural kinship +through the mother. + + [208] Gen. xii, 10-20. + + [209] 2 Sam. xiii, 13-16 and 37. + + [210] Exod. vi, 20. + + [211] Gen. xi. 26-29. + +It is by considering these survivals of mother-right in connection +with similar customs to be found among existing maternal peoples that +we see their true significance. They warrant us in believing that the +patriarchal family, as we know it among the Hebrews and elsewhere, was +a later stage of an evolution, which had for its starting-point the +communal clan, and that these races have passed through the maternal +phase. We come to understand the change in the privileged position of +women. As the husband and father continued to gain in power, with the +reassertion of individual interests, it was inevitable that the mother +should lose the authority she had held, under the free social +organisation of the undivided clan. + +Traces of a similar evolution of the family may, I am convinced, be +found by all who will undertake an inquiry for themselves. The subject +is one of great interest. So far as my own study goes, I believe that +these survivals of the maternal-group customs may be discovered in the +early history of every people, where the necessary material for such +knowledge is available. I wish it were possible for me even to +summarise all the evidence, direct and inferential, that I have +collected for my own satisfaction. I must reluctantly pass over many +countries I would like to include; some of these--China, Japan, Burma +and Madagascar--have been noticed briefly in _The Truth about +Woman_.[212] There is surprising similarity between the facts; and, +the more of such survivals that can be found, the more the evidence +seems to grow in favour of the acceptance of a universal maternal +stage in the evolution of society. + + [212] See pp. 156-161. + +I must now, before closing this chapter (whose accumulation of facts +may, I fear, have wearied my readers), refer briefly to the races of +barbarous Europe. The point of interest is, of course--how far +mother-right may be accepted, as at one period, having existed. The +earliest direct evidence is the account given by Strabo of the +Iberians of ancient Spain. And first it is important to note that the +Iberians belonged to the Berber race, now widely regarded as the +parent of the chief and largest element in the population of Europe. +There is another fact that must be noted. The general characteristic +of the Berber family seems to have been the privileged position they +accorded to their women, privileges so great that we meet with strong +tendencies towards the matriarchate. This last is still in force among +the Touaregs of the Sahara; and there are as well numerous traces of +its former existence among the neighbouring Kabyles, though there the +most rigorous patriarchate has replaced the maternal family.[213] We +have seen, too, that in ancient Egypt, where the Berbers were largely +represented, women enjoyed a position of extraordinary freedom and +authority. + + [213] Letourneau, _op. cit._ 328. + +Bearing this in mind, we may accept the statement of Strabo: "Among +the Cantabrians usage requires that the husband shall bring a dower to +his wife, and the daughters inherit, being charged with the marriage +of their brothers, which constitutes a kind of gyncocracy." There is +possibly some exaggeration in the term gyncocracy; yet if there is no +proof of "rule by women," there can be no doubt that, through the +system of female inheritance, property was held by them, and this must +certainly have given them the power always involved by the possession +of wealth. + +The freedom of the women of ancient Spain is sufficiently indicated by +the fact that they took part in the activities usually considered as +belonging to men. It was these women who played their part in driving +back the Roman legions from the mountainous districts of northern +Spain; we read of them fighting side by side with men, where they used +their weapons with courage and determination. They received their +wounds with silent fortitude, and no cry of pain ever escaped their +lips, even when the wounds which laid them low were mortal. To women +as well as men liberty was a possession more valued than life, and, +when taken prisoners, they fell upon their own swords, and dashed +their little ones to death rather than suffer them to live to be +slaves. Nor were the activities of women confined to warfare. Justin +speaks of women as not only having the care of all domestic matters, +but also cultivating the fields. And Strabo, writing of these Amazons, +tells us that they would often step aside out of the furrows "to be +brought to bed," and then, having borne a child, would return to their +work "just as if they had only laid an egg." He notes, too, as being +practised among them the _couvade_, whereby the husband, in assertion +of his legal fatherhood, retired to bed when a child was born.[214] + + [214] See in this connection my book, _Spain Revisited_, pp. + 291-304. + +Spain is a land that I know well, and for this reason I have chosen to +write of it in fuller detail. Persistent relics of the early maternal +period even yet may be traced in the customs of this strongly +conservative people. Women are held in honour. There is a proverb +common all over Spain to the effect that "he who is unfortunate and +needs assistance should seek his mother." Many primitive customs +survive, and one of the most interesting is that by which the eldest +daughter in some cases takes precedence over the sons in inheritance. +Among the Basques, until quite recently, the administration of the +family property passed to the eldest child, whether a boy or a girl; +and in the case of a daughter, her husband was obliged to take the +name of the family and to live in the wife's home. Spanish women +always retain their own names after marriage, and as far back as the +fourth century we find them at the Synod of Elvira resisting an +attempt to limit this freedom. The practice is still common for +children to use the name of the mother coupled with that of the +father, and even, in some cases, alone, showing a quite unusual +absence of preference for paternal descent. This is very significant. +It explains the recognition given in old Spain to the unmarried +mother; even to-day in no country, that I know, does less social +stigma fall on a child born out of wedlock. The profound Spanish +veneration of the Virgin Mary, as well as the number of female saints, +is another indication of the honour paid to women, which must, I am +certain, be connected with a far back time when goddesses were +worshipped. I would note, too, the fine Spanish understanding of +hospitality. This belongs to the ideals of communal life. I know +nothing to equal it in the common habits of other European countries. +It may be compared with the conditions in the joint-family communities +of the American Indians.[215] + + [215] See pp. 107-109. + +Much more might be said on the position of the Spanish women. I have, +however, written elsewhere of these women,[216] of their intelligence, +and strength, and beauty, and of the active part they take still in +the industrial life of the country. There can be no question that some +features of the maternal customs have left their imprint on the +domestic life of Spain, and this, as I believe, explains how women +here have in certain directions, preserved a freedom of action and +privileges, which even in England have never been established, and +only of late claimed. + + [216] _Spain Revisited; Things Seen in Spain; Moorish + Cities._ + +As we may expect, there is less direct evidence of mother-right in the +other European countries than is the case in conservative Spain. +Dargun, who has written much on this subject,[217] believes that +maternal descent was formerly practised among the Germans. He holds +further "that the ancient Aryans at the time of their dispersion +regarded kinship through the mother as the sole, or chief, basis of +blood-kinship, and all their family rights were governed by this +principle." There is much conflict of opinion on this matter, and it +would, perhaps, be rash to make any definite statement. We may recall +what Tacitus says of the Germans: + + [217] _Mutterrecht und Raubehe und ihre Reste im Germanischen + Recht und Leben_, Vol. XVI, quoted by Starcke, _The Primitive + Family_, pp. 103 _et seq._ + +"The son of a sister is as dear to his uncle as to his father; some +even think that the first of these ties is the most sacred and close; +and in taking hostages they prefer nephews, as inspiring a stronger +attachment, and interesting the family on more sides." The same +authority tells us that the Germans of his day met together to take a +clan meal, to settle clan business, _i. e._ for the clan council--and +to arrange marriages. This is strong confirmation of what I am trying +to establish.[218] Further evidence may be gathered from the ancient +religion. There are many Teutonic goddesses, who may well be connected +with the primitive tribal-mothers.[219] Religion here, as so often +elsewhere, would seem to have been symbolised as feminine. Not only +the seers, but the sacrificers among the early Teutons were +women.[220] To this evidence may be added that in Germany up to a late +period the mother could be the guardian of her children; that a wife +had to be bought by the husband, both she and her children remaining +under the guardianship of her father. All this points to mother-right +and the existence of the maternal clan.[221] Let us note also that in +the Slav communities women had the right to vote, and might be elected +to the government of the community. + + [218] _De moribus Germanorum_, XX. See also K. Pearson, _The + Chances of Death_, Vol. II, p. 132. + + [219] Grimm, _Mythologie_, Vol. I, p. 248. + + [220] K. Pearson, _The Chances of Death_, Vol. II, p. 102. + + [221] Starcke, _op. cit._ p. 105, citing Dargun and Grimm. + See also Letourneau, _op. cit._ pp. 339-340. + +It will interest my readers to know that mother-descent must once +have prevailed in Britain. Among the Picts of Scotland kingship was +transmitted through women.[222] Bede tells us that down to his own +time--the early part of the eighth century--whenever a doubt arose as +to the succession, the Picts chose their king from the female rather +than from the male line.[223] There is an ancient legend which +represents the Irish as giving three hundred wives to the Picts, on +the condition that the succession to the crown should always be +through their females-- + + "There were oathes imposed on them, + By the stars, by the earth, + That from the nobility of the mother + Should always be the right to the sovereignty."[224] + + [222] Giraud-Teulon, _op. cit._ pp. 41-42. + + [223] Bede, II. 1-7. + + [224] McLennan, _Studies_, p. 46. + +Similar traces are found in England: Canute, the Dane, when +acknowledged King of England, married Emma, the widow of his +predecessor, Ethelred. Ethelbald, King of Kent, married his +stepmother, after the death of his father Ethelbert; and, as late as +the ninth century, Ethelbald, King of the West Saxons, wedded Judith, +the widow of his father. Such marriages are intelligible only if we +suppose that the queen had the power of conferring the kingdom upon +her consort, which could only happen where maternal descent was, or +had been, practised. These marriages with the widow of a king were at +one time very common. The familiar example of Hamlet's uncle is one, +who, after murdering his brother, married his wife and became king. +His acceptance by the people, in spite of his crime, is explained if +it was the old Danish custom for marriage with the king's widow to +carry the kingdom with it. In Hamlet's position as avenger, and his +curious hesitancy, we have really an indication of the conflict +between the old and the new ways of descent.[225] + + [225] See Frazer, _Golden Bough_, Part I. _The Magic Art_, + Vol. II, 282-283. + +The Celtic population of Britain preserved the institution of the clan +much longer than the other European races. In Wales and in Ireland, in +particular, communism was strongly established. The clan was +responsible for the crimes of its members, paid the fines, and +received the compensations.[226] There are numerous indications of +mother-right. In Ireland women retained a very high position and much +freedom, both before and after marriage, to a late period: temporary +unions were freely allowed, and customs having the force of law +safeguarded the rights of the wife. "Every woman," it was said, "is to +go the way she willeth freely."[227] + + [226] Letourneau, _op. cit._ p. 338. Maine, _Early + Institutions_, pp. 113 _et seq._ + + [227] Rhys and Brynmor-Jones, _The Welsh People_. + +The early Celtic mythologies and folk-records are full of these +survivals. Goddesses are frequent as primeval tribal-mothers. Let me +give one instance. The Irish goddess Brigit (whose attributes at a +later date were transferred to St. Bridget) is referred to in a +ninth-century glossary as--_operum atque artificiorum initia_. She was +the tribal-mother of the Bringantes. Similarly Vote was tribal-mother +of the Burgundians; and the goddess Bil of the Billings, and there are +numerous other cases. In a recent book on _Ulster Folk-lore_,[228] I +have been fortunate enough to find a most interesting passage +referring to the Irish goddess Brigit. I quote it with pleasure as a +fitting ending to this chapter.[229] + + "Now, St. Bridget had a pagan predecessor, Brigit, a poetess + of the Tuatha de Danann, and whom we may perhaps regard as a + female Apollo. Cormac in his _Glossary_ tells us she was a + daughter of the Dagda and a goddess whom all poets adored, + and whose sisters were Brigit the physician and Brigit the + smith. Probably the three sisters represent the same divine, + or semi-divine, person whom we may identify with the British + goddess Brigantia and the Gaulish Brigindo." + + [228] By E. Andrews, p. 18. + + [229] I would refer the reader to a most interesting article + on "Old English Clans" (_Cornhill_, Sept. 1881); this I had + not read when I wrote this chapter. The author holds that the + clan system was once common to the whole Aryan race. In the + Teutonic stock its memory died out in an early stage of + development, owing to the strong individuality of the + Teutonic mind. Yet it has left behind it many traces. + Numerous examples are given. Perhaps the most interesting is + the evidence showing that totemism seems to have existed; the + clan names being taken from animals or plants. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE SURVIVALS OF MOTHER-RIGHT IN FOLK-LORE, IN HEROIC LEGENDS, AND IN +FAIRY STORIES + + +In the preceding chapter we have found the former existence of the +maternal family, or some indication of it, in the early records of +many races, proving this by numerous survivals of customs entirely at +variance with the patriarchal conditions. Should it be thought that +this claim has not been supported by sufficient evidence, I must plead +the difficulties of such an inquiry. My survey has been very +incomplete. I am certain, however, that these survivals will be +recognised by any one who will undertake for themselves the collection +and interpretation of the facts from the records of the past. + +There is a point to consider here. The absence, or rather the rarity, +of mother-right survivals in some civilisations cannot be counted as +proof that the maternal system never existed. As I have shown in the +earlier chapters of this book, the mother-age was a transitional +stage, between the very early brute-conditions of the family and the +second firmly established patriarchate. Now, it is clear that the +customs of a transitional stage are very likely to disappear; they are +also very likely to be mistaken. Bearing this in mind, the number of +survivals that do occur are, I hold, extraordinary, and, indeed, +impossible to account for if the maternal family was not a universal +stage in the development of society. Moreover, I am certain from my +own study that these survivals are of much wider occurrence than is +believed, but as yet the facts are insufficiently established. + +It now remains to consider a new field of inquiry; and that is the +abundant evidence of mother-right to be found in folk-lore, in heroic +legends, and in the fairy-stories of our children. There is a special +value in these old-world stories, that date back to a time long before +written history. They belong to all countries in slightly different +forms. We have regarded them as fables, but there was never a fable +that did not arise out of truth--not, of course, the outside truth of +facts, but from that inward truth of the life and thought of a people, +which is what really matters. I cannot, then, do better than conclude +the evidence for the mother-age by referring to some few of these +myths and legends. + +In order to group the great mass of material I will take first the +creation myths. One only out of many examples can be given. The Zui +Indians, who, it will be remembered, are a maternal people, give this +account of the beginning of the world. We read how the Sun-god, +withdrawing strength from his flesh, impregnated the great waters, +until there arose upon them, waxing wide and weighty, the "Fourfold +Mother-earth" and the "All-covering Father-sky." + + "From the lying together of these twain, upon the great + world water, so vitalising, life was conceived, whence began + all beings of the earth, men and creatures, in the four-fold + womb of the world. Thereupon the Earth-mother repulsed the + Sky-father, growing big and sinking deep into the embrace of + the waters below, thus separated from the Sky-father, in the + embrace of the waters above." The story states, "Warm is the + Earth-mother and cold the Sky-father, even as woman is warm + and man is cold." Then it goes on, "'So is thy will,' said + the Sky-father, 'yet not alone shalt thou helpful be unto + our children';" and we learn how the Sky-father assisted the + Earth-mother. "Thus in other ways, many diversed, they + worked for their offspring."[230] + + [230] Cushing, _Zui Creation Myths_. + +There is one reflection only I desire to offer on this most beautiful +maternal version of the creation legend. Here we find complete +understanding of the woman's part; she is the one who gives life; she +is the active partner. The Sky-father is represented as her agent, her +helper. Why should this be? Contrast this idea with the patriarchal +creation story of the Bible. + + "And the Lord God said, It is not good that man should be + alone; I will make him an help meet for him.... And the Lord + God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; + and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead + thereof: and the rib which the Lord God had taken from the + man made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And the + man said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my + flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out + of Man."[231] + + [231] Gen. ii, 18, 21-23. + +I would again assert my strong belief that in the religious conception +of a people we find the true thoughts and the customs of the period in +which they originated. A patriarchal people could not have given +expression to a creation myth in which the female idea prevailed, and +the mother, and not the father, was dominant. For men have ever +fashioned the gods in their own human image, endowing them with their +thoughts and actions. The sharp change in the view of woman's part in +the relationship of the sexes is clearly symbolised in these creation +myths. Yes, it marks the degradation of woman; she has fallen from the +maternal conception of the feminine principle, guiding, directing, and +using the male, to that of the woman made for the man in the +patriarchal Bible story. + +Another group of legends that I would notice refer to the conflict +between the right of the mother and that of the father in relation to +the children. These stories belong to a period of transition. In +ancient Greece, as we have seen, the paternal family succeeded the +maternal clan. In his _Orestia_, schylus puts in opposition before +Pallas Athene the right of the mother and the right of the father. +The chorus of the Eumenides, representing the people, defends the +position of the mother; Apollo pleads for the father, and ends by +declaring, in a fit of patriarchal delirium, that _the child is not of +the blood of the mother_. "It is not the mother who begets what is +called her child; she is only the nurse of the germ poured into her +womb; he who begets is the father. The woman receives the germ merely +as guardian, and when it pleases the gods, she preserves it." Plato +also brings forward this view, and states that the mother contributes +nothing to the child's being. "The mother is to the child what the +soil is to the plant; it owes its nourishment to her, but the essence +and structure of its nature are derived from the father." Again the +Orestes of Euripides takes up the same theory, when he says to +Tyndarus: "My father has begotten me, and thy daughter has given birth +to me, as the earth receives the seed that another confides to it." +Here we trace a different world of thoughts and conceptions; the +mother was so little esteemed as to be degraded into the mere +nourisher of the child. These patriarchal theories naturally +consecrated the slavery of woman.[232] + + [232] McLennan, _Studies_, "Kinship in Ancient Greece"; + Letourneau, _Evolution of Marriage_, pp. 336-337, and + Starcke, _The Primitive Family_, pp. 115-116. + +Another point strikingly illustrated by many of these ancient legends +is the struggle for power between the two sexes--a struggle that would +seem to have been present at all stages of civilisation, but always +most active in periods of transition. One out of many examples is all +that I can give. In Hawaii, worship is given to the goddess Pele, the +personification of the volcano Kilauea, and the god Tamapua, the +personification of the sea, or rather, of the storm which lashes the +sea and hurls wave after wave upon the land. The myth tells that +Tamapua wooed Pele, who rejected his suit, whereupon he flooded the +crater with water, but Pele drank up the water and drove him back into +the sea.[233] + + [233] Starcke, pp. 249-250, citing Bachofen's _Antiquarische + Briefe_, Vol. I, p. 140. + +Here a brief digression into the early mythologies may be made, +although this question of the connection between mother-right and +religious ideas is one on which I have already enlarged. The most +primitive theogony is that of Mother-Earth and her son. Goddesses are +at first of greater importance than gods. The Earth-mother springs +from chaos, and in the beginning her children have no father.[234] +Traces of such a goddess are to be found in many ancient religions. +Afterwards as a modification, or rather a development, of the +Earth-mother, we have the goddesses of fertility. This idea arose with +the development of agriculture, and was closely connected in the +primitive mind with the sex functions. Demeter is of this type; and +there are many of these mother-deities who once were universally +worshipped. Virgin goddesses are a much later creation, and must be +connected with the patriarchal ideals for women. The original god-idea +symbolised as woman is the free mother; she is the source of all +fertility; she is the goddess of love. The servants of these goddesses +were priestesses, or at a later date men dressed as women. At first +the gods, in so far as they had any existence, appear in the form of +temporary lovers of the goddesses; they are very plainly the +transitory male element needful for fertilisation, and then destined +to disappear.[235] We find very early the brother as the husband and +dependent of the Mother-goddess. Thus Isis did not change or lose her +independent position after her marriage to her brother Osiris; her +importance as a deity remained always greater than his.[236] Only at a +much later stage--the patriarchal stage--was the wandering lover-god +or dependent brother-spouse raised to the position of authority of the +All-Father. We may find in the religious sexual festivals, common to +all civilisations, abundant confirmation of these facts. As one +illustration out of many that might be chosen, I will refer to the +account given by Prof. K. Pearson[237] of the festival of Sakes, held +in Babylon in honour of the great goddess Mylitta, who was essentially +a mother-goddess of fertility. The festival lasted for five days in +the month of July. It was presided over by the priestess of the +goddess, who represented the goddess herself. She sat enthroned on a +mound which for the time was the sanctuary of the deity, with the +altar with oil and incense before her. To her came the god-lover +represented by a slave, who made homage and worshipped. From her he +received the symbols of kingly power, and she raised him to the throne +by her side. As her accepted lover and lord of the festival, he +remained for five days, during which the law of the goddess prevailed. +Afterwards on the fifth day the god-lover was sacrificed on the pyre. +The male element had performed its function. + + [234] K. Pearson, _Chances of Death_, Vol. II, Essays on the + Mother-age Civilisation, etc. Many of the facts given in this + chapter are taken from these illuminative essays. + + [235] K. Pearson, _Ibid._, p. 102. + + [236] _The Truth about Woman_, p. 198. + + [237] _Ibid._, pp. 109-110. + +I cannot leave this subject without emphasising the importance of +these erotic-religious festivals, once of universal occurrence. They +afford the strongest evidence of the early privileged position of +women in the relationships between the two sexes. It is, I think, +impossible to avoid giving to this a matriarchal interpretation. For +it is by contrasting the religious-sex standpoints of the maternal and +the paternal ideals that the inferior position of women under the +later system can be demonstrated. Moreover, in much later periods, and +even to our own day, we may yet find broken survivals of the old +customs. Illustrations are not far to seek in the common festivals of +the people in Germany and elsewhere, and as I have myself witnessed +them in Spain, a land which has preserved its old customs much more +unchanged than is usual.[238] One example may be noted in England, +which would seem to have a very ancient origin; it is given by Prof. +K. Pearson.[239] "The Roman _Lupercalia_ held on February 15 was +essentially a worship of fertility, and the privileges supposed to be +attached to women in our own country during this month--especially on +February 14 and 29--are probably fossils of the same sex-freedom." + + [238] See _Spain Revisited_, and _Things Seen in Spain_. + + [239] _Ibid._, p. 158. + +Passing again to the old legends, we find not a few that attempt to +account for both the rise and the decline of the custom of maternal +descent. I will give an example of each. Newbold relates that in +Menangkabowe, where the female line is observed, it is accounted for +by this legend-- + + "Perpati Sabatang built a magnificent vessel, which he + loaded with gold and precious stones so heavily that it got + aground on the sands at the foot of the fiery mountains, and + resisted the efforts of all the men to get it off. The sages + were consulted, and declared that all attempts would be in + vain until the vessel had passed over the body of a pregnant + woman. It happened that the Rajah's own daughter was in the + condition desired; she was called upon to immolate herself + for the sake of her country, but refused. At this juncture + the pregnant sister of the Rajah boldly stepped forward, and + cast herself beneath the prow of the vessel, which instantly + put itself in motion, and again floated on the waves without + injury to the princess. Whereupon the Rajah disinherited the + offspring of his disobedient daughter in favour of the child + of his sister, and caused this to be enrolled in the + records of the empire as the law of succession in time to + come."[240] + + [240] Newbold, _Account of the British Settlements in the + Straits of Malacca_, Vol. II, p. 221. + +The second illustration is taken from the quarrel between Pallas +Athene and Poseidon to which already I have referred. The myth tells +us-- + + "A double wonder sprang out of the earth at the same + time--at one place the olive tree and at another water. The + people in terror sent to Delphi to ask what should be done. + The god answered that the olive tree signified the power of + Athene, and the water that of Poseidon; and that it remained + with the burgesses to choose after which of the two they + would name their town. An assembly was called of the + burgesses, both men and women, for it was then the custom to + let the women take part in the public councils. The men + voted for Poseidon, the women for Athene; and as there were + more women than men by one, Athene conquered. Thereupon + Poseidon was enraged, and immediately the sea flowed over + all the lands of Athens. To appease the sea-god, the + burgesses found it necessary to impose a threefold + punishment on their wives. They were to lose their votes; + the children were to receive no more the mother's name, and + they themselves were no longer to be called after the + goddess."[241] + + [241] McLennan, _Studies_, "Kinship in Ancient Greece," p. + 235. + +The origin of these myths is perfectly clear. There is no reason to +force their interpretation by regarding them as historical evidence of +a struggle taking place between the maternal and the paternal custom +of tracing descent;[242] rather they are poetical explanations, +plainly invented to account for women's predominance at a time when +such power had come to be considered as unusual. The same may be said +of many of these old myths. Man's fancy begins to weave poetic +inventions around anything he considers abnormal or is not able to +understand. The idea or custom for which an explanation is being +sought must, however, have been present for long in the common life +and thought of the people. Without realising this, all these old +stories become unintelligible. I believe they have been greatly +misinterpreted in the thought of writers bound by patriarchal ideas. + + [242] This is done by Bachofen, and also, to some extent, by + McLennan. + +The limitation of my space does not allow me to enter into the great +amount of evidence provided by these mythical stories of the +privileged position of women. One instance, however, may be referred +to as an illustration. We find a wide range of stories connected with +the mythical Amazons. Now, if I am right, the frequency of these +legends among so many races points to the acceptance of the Amazon +heroines as an historical fact. Fancy, without doubt, wove the details +of their stories, occurrences would be chosen or imagined to give +colour to the narratives, but such poetic inventions, with all their +repetitions, all their reproductions of what is practically one +situation, would take only definite form from conditions so impressed +on the popular mind by facts that must have had a real existence. +Bearing this in mind, special significance attaches to a discovery +recently made by Prof. d'Allosso. In the ancient necropolis of +Belmonte, dating from the iron age, are two very rich tombs of women +warriors with war chariots over their remains. Prof. d'Allosso states +that several details given by Virgil of the Amazon Camilla, who fought +and died on the field of battle, coincide with the details on these +tombs. The importance of this discovery is thus very great, as it +certainly seems to indicate what I am claiming--that the existence of +the Amazon heroines, leaders of armies and sung by the ancient poets, +is not a poetic fancy, but an historic reality.[243] + + [243] See _The Truth about Woman_, p. 228. + +I must turn now to the last group of evidence that I am able to bring +forward; to find this we must enter that realm of fancy--the world of +fairyland. We shall see that this land has its own customs, and its +own laws, entirely at variance with all those to which we are +accustomed. How is this to be explained? These stories are founded +really on the life of the common people, and they have come down from +generation to generation, handed on by the storytellers, from a time +long before the day when they were ever collected and written in +books. It is the popular and social character of these stories that is +so important; they are records of customs and habits long forgotten, +but once common in the daily life of the people. In them the past is +potent with life, and for this reason they claim the most careful and +patient study. I speak of the most familiar stories that we have +regarded as foolish fables. Nowhere else can we gain so clear and +vivid a picture of the childhood of civilisation, when women were the +transmitters of inheritance and the guardians of property. + +Let me try to prove this. I have before me a collection of these +folk-stories, gathered from many countries. Now, the most popular +story (whose theme occurs again and again, the details varied in the +different renderings) is concerned with the gaining of a princess as a +bride by a wooer, usually of humble birth. This lover to obtain his +wife achieves some mighty deed of valour, or performs tasks set for +him by the parents of the bride; he thus inherits the kingdom through +the daughter of the king. Hans, faring forth to seek his luck; the +Dummling in the Golden Goose story; the miller's son, who gained his +bride by the wit of his cat, and Aladdin with his magic lamp are +well-known examples of this story. The Scottish and Irish legends are +particularly rich in examples of these hero lovers. Assipattle, the +dirty ash-lad, who wins the fair Gemdelovely and then reigns with her +as queen and king, is one of the most interesting. Similar stories may +be found in the folk-lore of every country. Ash-lad figures in many of +the Norwegian tales. There is a charming version in the Lapp story of +the "Silk Weaver and her husband," where we read, "Once upon a time a +poor lad wooed a princess and the girl wanted to marry him, but the +Emperor was against the match. Nevertheless she took him at last and +they were wed together."[244] + + [244] K. Pearson, _The Truth about Woman_, p. 70 _note_. + +This "fairy theory" of marriage is really the maternal or _beenah_ +form: such a marriage as was made by Jacob and is still common among +all maternal peoples. The inheritance passes through the daughters; +the suitors gain their position by some deed of valour or by service +done for the bride's family; sometimes it is the mother who sets the +task, more often it is the father, while, in some cases, the girl +herself imposes the conditions of marriage. It is possible to trace a +development in these stories. We can see the growth of purchase-marriage +in the service demanded by the parents of the bride, this taking the +place of the earlier custom of the bridegroom proving his fitness by +some test of strength. Again, those stories in which the arrangement +of the marriage remains with the mother or with the girl, and not with +the father, must be regarded as the older versions. This change +appears also in the conditions of inheritance; in some cases the +kingdom passes at once with the bride, in others the half of the +kingdom is the marriage portion, while in the later stories the full +authority to rule comes only after the death of the king. But always +sooner or later the daughter of the king conveys the kingdom to her +husband. The sons of the king do not inherit; they are of much less +importance than the daughters; they are sent forth to seek their own +fortunes. This is the law where the inheritance passes through the +daughter. + +This law of female inheritance must at one time have been universal. +We are brought, indeed, constantly back to that opinion--so amply +evidenced by these folk-relics. In the old West country ballad "The +Golden Vanity" or "The Lowland's Low," the boy who saves the ship from +the Spanish pirate galleon is promised as a reward "silver and gold, +with the skipper's pretty little daughter who lives upon the shore." +Similarly in the well-known folksong "The Farmer's Boy," the lad who +comes weary and lame to the farmer's door, seeking work, eventually +marries the farmer's daughter and inherits the farm. Again, Dick +Whittington, the poor country lad, who faithfully serves his master in +London, marries his employer's daughter. This theme is very frequently +found in ballads, romances, and dramas; in all cases the way to +fortune for the lover is through marriage--the daughter carries the +inheritance. + +Let us take Assipattle of the Scottish legend as a type of these hero +wooers. He is represented always as the youngest son, held in contempt +by his brothers, and merely tolerated by his parents. He lies in the +ashes, from which he gains his name. Some emergency arises; a great +danger threatens the land or, more often, a princess has to be +delivered from a position of peril. Assipattle executes the deed, when +his brothers and all others have failed; he frees the land or rescues +the king's daughter, and is covered with honour. He marries the +princess and inherits the kingdom. Assipattle always begins in the +deepest degradation, and ends on the highest summit of glory. There is +a special interest in this story. The reader will not have failed to +notice the similarity of Assipattle with Cinderella. In both stories +the circumstances are the same, only the Ash-lad has been replaced by +the Cinder-girl. There is no doubt which version is the older:[245] +the one is the maternal form, the other the patriarchal. + + [245] In this connection, see K. Pearson in the essay already + quoted, p. 85 _et seq._ + +The setting of these stories should be noticed. We see the simplicity +of the habits and life so vividly represented. All folk-legends deal +with country people living near to nature. So similar, indeed, are the +customs depicted throughout that these folk-records might well be +taken as a picture of the social organisation among many barbarous +tribes. I should like to wait to point out these resemblances, such, +for instance, as the tendency to personify natural objects, the +identification of human beings with animals and trees, found so often +in the stories, as well as many other things--the belief in magic and +the power of wise women. And what I want to make clear is the very +early beginning of these folk-tales; they take us back to the social +institutions of the mother-age. Thus there is nothing surprising to +find that kingdoms and riches are won by hero-lovers, and that +daughters carry the inheritance. This is really what used to happen. +It is our individual ideas and patriarchal customs that make these +things seem so strange. + +I wish I had space in which to follow further these still-speaking +relics of a past, whose interest offers such rich reward. In his essay +"Ashiepattle, or Hans seeks his Luck" (_The Chances of Death_, Vol. +II, pp. 51-91), Prof. Karl Pearson has fully and beautifully shown the +evidence for mother-right to be found in these stories. To this essay +the reader, who still is in doubt, is referred. All that has been +possible to me is to suggest an inquiry that any one can pursue for +himself. It is the difficulty of treating so wide and fascinating a +subject in briefest outline that so many things that should be noticed +have to be passed over. + +The witness afforded by these folk-stories for mother-right cannot be +neglected. For what interpretation are we to place on the curious +facts they record? Are we to regard this maternal marriage with +descent through the daughter, and not the son, as idle inventions of +the storytellers? Do these princesses and their peasant wooers belong +to the topsy-turvy land of fairies? No: in these stories, drawn from +so many various countries, we have echoes of a very distant past. It +is by placing the customs here represented by the side of similar +social conditions still to be found among primitive maternal peoples, +that we find their significance. We then understand that these old, +old stories of the folk really take us back to the age in which they +first took form. We have read these "fairy stories" to our children, +unknowing what they signified--a prophetic succession of witnesses, +pointing us back to the ripening of that phase of the communal family, +before the establishment of the individual patriarchal rule, when the +law was mother-right, and all inheritance was through women. + +I would add to this chapter a notice I have just recently lighted +on[246] of the ancient warrior, Queen Meave of Ireland. She is +represented as tall and beautiful, terrible in her battle chariot, +when she drove full speed into the press of fighting men. Her virtues +were those of a warlike barbarian king, and she claimed the like large +liberty in morals. Her husband was Ailill, the Connaught king; their +marriage was literally a partnership wherein Meave, making her own +terms, demanded from her husband exact equality of treatment. The +three essential qualities on which she insisted were that he should be +brave, and generous, and completely devoid of jealousy. + + [246] "Ancient Irish Sagas," _Century_, Jan. 1907. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +CONCLUDING REMARKS + + +My investigation of the mother-age might fitly have terminated with +the preceding chapter; but the immense interest which attaches to the +subject, and the amount of misconception which prevails regarding the +origin and conditions of the maternal family, as well as my own +special views upon it, induce me to devote a brief final chapter to a +few observations that to me seem to be important. + +In my little book (which must be regarded rather as a sketch or design +than as a finished work) an attempt has been made to approach the +problem of the primitive family from a new and decisive standpoint. I +am well aware that in certain directions I have crossed the threshold +only of the subjects treated. I hope that at least I have opened up +suggestions of many questions on which I could not dwell at length. +All this may bring the hesitation that leads to further inquiry. And I +believe that those of my readers who will follow out an investigation +for themselves in any direction--either in the collecting of maternal +customs among existing primitive peoples, or in noting the relics of +such customs to be met with in historical records and in folk-lore, +will find an ever increasing store of evidence, and that then the +discredited mother-age, with its mother-right customs, will become for +them what it is for me, a necessary and accepted stage in the +evolution of human societies. + +Many of the conclusions to which I have come are so completely opposed +to those which generally have been accepted as correct, that now, I am +at the end of my inquiry it will be well to sum up briefly its result. + +The facts I have so rapidly enumerated have a very wide bearing; they +serve to destroy the accepted foundations on which the claim for +mother-right has hitherto been based. The first stage of the family +was patriarchal. All the evidence we possess tends to show that +tracing descent through the mother was not the primitive custom. +Throughout my aim has been to bring into uniformity the opposing +theories of the primeval patriarchate and the maternal family. The +current view, so often asserted, and manifestly inspired by a +Puritanical ideal, insists that mother-descent arose through uncertain +fatherhood, and was connected with an early period of promiscuous +relationships between the two sexes. This view has been proved to be +entirely wrong. The system of maternal descent was a system framed for +order, and had in its origin, at least, no connection with sexual +disorder. Further than this, it is certain that marriage in some form +has always existed, and that the sexual relationships have never been +unregulated. We must renounce any theory of primitive promiscuity. +And there is more than this to be said. Such freedom in love and in +marriage as we do find in barbarous societies is so strong a proof of +friendly feeling and security that it is certain it could not have +existed in the first stage of the jealous patriarchate; rather it must +have developed at a subsequent period with the growth of the +social-tribal spirit, and the liberty of women from the thrall of +sexual ownership. In these particulars my opinion differs from all +other writers who have sought to establish a theory of matriarchy. I +venture to claim that the position of the mother-age has been +strengthened, and, as I hope, built up on surer foundations. + +Let us cast a brief glance backward over the way that we have +travelled. + +Our most primitive ancestors, half-men, half-brutes, lived in small, +solitary and hostile family groups, held together by a common +subjection to the strongest male, who was the father and the owner of +all the women, and their children. There was no promiscuity, for there +could be no possible union in peace. Here was the most primitive form +of jealous ownership by the male, as he killed or drove off his +rivals; his fights were the brutal precursors of all sexual +restrictions for women. These customs of brute ownership are still in +great measure preserved among the least developed races. This explains +how there are many rude peoples that exhibit no traces at all of the +system of mother-descent. In the lowest nomad bands of savages of the +deserts and forests we find still these rough paternal groups, who +know no social bonds, but are ruled alone by brute strength and +jealous ownership. With them development has been very slow; they have +not yet advanced to the social organisation of the maternal clan. + +From these first solitary families, grouped submissively around one +tyrant-ruler, we reach a second stage out of which order and +organisation sprang. In this second stage the family expanded into the +larger group of the communal clan. The upward direction of this +transformation is evident; the change was from the most selfish +individualism to a communism more or less complete--from the +primordial patriarchate to a free social organisation, all the members +of which are bound together by a strict solidarity of interests. The +progress was necessarily slow from the beginning to this first phase +of social life. Yet the change came. With the fierce struggle for +existence, association was the only possible way, not only to further +progress, but to prevent extermination. + +It has been shown that the earliest movements towards peace came +through the influence of the women, for it was in their interest to +consolidate the family, and, by means of union, to establish their own +power. Collective motives were more considered by women, not at all +because of any higher standard of feminine moral virtue, but because +of the peculiar advantages arising to themselves and to their +children--advantages of freedom which could not exist in a society +inspired by individual inclination. And for this reason the clan +system may be considered as a feminine creation, which had special +relation to motherhood. Under this influence, the marital rights of +the male members were restricted and confined. A system of taboos was +established, which as time advanced was greatly strengthened by the +sacred totem marks, and became of inexorable strictness. In this way +association between the jealous fighting males was made possible. + +Here, then, are the reasons that led to the formation of the maternal +family and the communal clan. It was a movement that had nothing about +it that was exceptional; it was a perfectly natural arrangement--the +practical outgrowth of the practical needs of primitive peoples. The +strong and certain claim for the acceptance for the mother-age, with +its privileged position for women, rests on this foundation. + +Let us be quite clear as to the real question involved, for it is a +crucial one. I refer to the complete disturbance arising through this +change in the family organisation in the relationships between the two +sexes. A wife was no longer the husband's property. Her position was +unchanged by marriage, for her rights were safeguarded by her kindred, +whose own interests could be protected only through her freedom. + +If we turn next to the status of men--of the husband and father--in +the maternal kindred group, we find their power and influence at first +gradually, and then rapidly, decreasing. It was under these conditions +of family communism that the rights of the husband and father were +restricted on every side. Not only does he not stand out as a +principal person from the background of the familial clan; he has not +even any recognised social existence in the family group. This +restriction of the husband and father was clearly dependent on the +form of marriage. We have seen that the individual relationships +between the sexes began with the reception of temporary lovers by the +woman in her own home. But a relationship thus formed would tend under +favourable circumstances to be continued, and, in some cases, +perpetuated. The lover became the husband; he left the home of his +mother to reside with his wife among her kin; he was still without +property or any recognised rights in her clan, with no--or very +little--control over the woman and none over her children, occupying, +indeed, the position of a more or less permanent guest in her hut or +tent. The wife's position and that of her children was assured, and in +the case of a separation it was the man who departed, leaving her in +possession. + +Under such an organisation the family and social customs were in most +cases--and always, I believe, in their complete maternal +form--favourable to women. Kinship was reckoned through the mother, +since in this way alone could the undivided family be maintained. The +continuity of the clan thus depending on the women, they were placed +in a very special position of importance, the mother was at least the +nominal head of the household, shaping the destiny of the clan through +the aid of her clan-kindred. Her closest male relation was not her +husband, but her brother and her son; she was the conduit by which +property passed to and from them. Often women established their own +claims and all property was held by them; which under favourable +circumstances developed into what may literally be called a +matriarchate. In all cases the child's position was dependent entirely +on the mother and not on the father. Such a system of inheritance may +be briefly summarised as "mother-right." + +There is another matter to notice. Every possible experiment in sexual +association has been tried, and is still practised among various +barbarous races, with very little reference to those moral ideas to +which we are accustomed. It is, however, very necessary to remember +that monogamy is frequent and indeed usual under the maternal system. +We have seen many examples where, with complete freedom of separation +held by the wife, lasting and most happy marriages are the rule. When +the husband lives with his wife in a dependent position to her family +he can do so only in the case of one woman. For this reason polygamy +is much less deeply rooted under the conditions in which the communal +life is developed than in patriarchal communities. In the complete +maternal family it is never common, and is even prohibited.[247] + + [247] It is significant that in Sumatra polygamy occurs with + the _djudur_ marriages, where the wife is bought and lives + with her husband, while it is unknown in the maternal + marriages. It is frequent in Africa and elsewhere, when the + marriage is not the maternal form. + +As we might expect, the case is quite opposite with polyandry. This +form of marriage has evident advantages for women when compared with +polygamy; it is also a form that requires a certain degree of social +civilisation. It clearly involves the limitation of the individual +marital rights of the husband. Polyandry in the joint family group was +not due to a licentious view of marriage; far otherwise, it was an +expression of the communism which is characteristic of this +organisation. This fact has been forgotten by many writers, who have +regarded this form of the sexual relationships as a very primitive +development, connected with group-marriage and promiscuous ownership +of women. It is very necessary to be clear on this point. Under the +maternal conditions, nothing is more certain than the equality of +women with men in all questions of sexual morality. In proof of this +it is necessary only to recall the facts we have noted. We find little +or no importance attached to virginity, which in itself indicates the +absence of any conception of the woman as property. Thus no +bride-price is claimed from the husband, who renders service in proof +of his fitness as a lover, not to gain possession of the bride. The +girl is frequently the wooer, and, in certain cases, she or her mother +imposes the conditions of the marriage. After marriage the free +provision for divorce (often more favourable to the wife than to the +husband) is perhaps of even greater significance. There can, I think, +be no doubt that this freedom in love was dependent on the wife's +position of security under the maternal form of marriage. + +I hold that the facts brought forward entitle us to claim that the +maternal communal clan was an organisation in which there was a freer +community of interest, far more fellowship in labour and partnership +in property, with a resulting liberty for woman, than we find in any +patriarchal society. For this reason, shall we, then, look back to +this maternal stage as to a golden period, wherein was realised a free +social organisation, carrying with it privileges for women, which even +to-day among ourselves have never been established, and only of late +claimed? It is a question very difficult to answer, and we must not in +any haste rush into mistakes. We found that the mother-age was a +transitional stage in the history of the evolution of society, and we +have indicated the stages of its gradual decline. It is thus proved to +have been a less stable social system than the patriarchate which +again succeeded it, or it would not have perished in the struggle with +it. Must we conclude from this that the one form of the family is +higher than the other--that the superior advantage rests with the +patriarchal system? Not at all: rather it proves how difficult is the +struggle to socialise. Human nature tends so readily towards +individualism; it yields itself up to the joy of possession whenever +it is possible. + +The impulse to dominate by virtue of strength or property possession +has manifested itself in every age. It cannot be a matter of surprise, +therefore, that at this period of social development a rebellion arose +against the customs of maternal communism. Within the large and +undivided family of the clan the restricted family became gradually +re-established by a reassertion of individual interests. In proportion +as the family gained in importance (which would arise as the struggle +for existence lessened and the need of association was less +imperative) the interest of the individual members would become +separated from the group to which they belonged. Each one would +endeavour to get himself as large a share as possible of what was +formerly held in common. As society advanced property would increase +in value, and the social and political significance of its possession +would also increase. Afterwards, when personal property was acquired, +each man would aim at gaining a more exclusive right over his wife and +children; he would not willingly submit to the bondage of the maternal +form of marriage. + +In the earlier days the clan spirit was too strong, now men had shaken +off, to a degree sufficient for their purpose, the female yoke, which +bound the clan together. We have seen the husband and father moving +towards the position of a fully acknowledged legal parent by a system +of buying off his wife and her children from their clan-group. The +movement arose in the first instance through a property value being +connected with women themselves. As soon as the women's kindred found +in their women the possibility of gaining worldly goods for +themselves, they began to claim service and presents from their +lovers. It was in this way for economic reasons, and for no moral +considerations that the maternal marriage fell into disfavour. The +payment of a bride-price was claimed, and an act of purchase was +accounted essential. As we have seen, it was regarded as a condition, +not so much of the marriage itself, but of the transference of the +wife to the home of the husband and of the children to his kindred. +The change was, of course, effected slowly; and often we find the two +forms of marriage--the maternal and the purchase-marriage--occurring +side by side. What, however, is certain is that the purchase-marriage +in the struggle was the one that prevailed. + +This reversal in the form of the marriage brought about a +corresponding reversal in the status of women. This is so plain. The +women of the family do not now inherit property, but are themselves +property, passing from the hands of their father to that of a husband. +As purchased wives they are compelled to reside in the husband's house +and among his kin, who have no rights or duties in regard to them, and +where they are strangers. In a word, the wife occupies the same +position of disadvantage as the man had done in the maternal marriage. +And her children kept her bound to this alien home in a much closer +way than the husband could ever have been bound to her home. The +protection of her own kindred was the source of the woman's power and +strength. This was now lost. The change was not brought about without +a struggle, and for long the old customs contended with the new. But +as the patriarchate developed, and men began to gain individual +possession of their children by the purchase of their mothers, the +father became the dominant power in the family. Little by little +individual interests prevailed. Moral limits were set up. Women's +freedom was threatened on every side as the jealous ownership, which +always arises wherever women are regarded as property, asserted +itself. Mother-right passed away, remaining only as a tradition, or +preserved in isolated cases among primitive peoples. The patriarchal +age, which still endures, succeeded. + +Yet in this connection it is very necessary to remember that the +reassertion of the patriarchate was as necessary a stage in human +development as the maternal stage. Whatever may have been the +advantages arising to women from the clan organisation (and that the +advantages were great I claim to have proved) such conditions could +not remain fixed for ever. For society is not stable; it cannot be, as +the need for adjustment is always arising, and at certain stages of +development different tendencies are active. No one cause can be +isolated, and, therefore, it is necessary in estimating any change to +take a synthetic view of many facts that are contemporaneous and +interacting. Yet, it would seem that the social and domestic habits of +a people are decided largely by the degree of dominance held either by +women or men; and almost everything else depends on the accurate +adjustment of the rights of the two sexes. + +The social clan organised around the mothers carried mankind a long +way--a way the length of which we are only beginning to realise. But +it could not carry mankind to that family organisation from which so +much was afterwards to develop. It was no more possible for society to +be built up on mother-right alone than it is possible for it to remain +permanently based on father-right. + +But there is another aspect of this question that I must briefly touch +upon. The opinion that the reversal in the position of authority of +the mother and the father arose from male mastery, or was due to any +unfair domination on the part of the husband must be set aside. To me +the history of the mother-age does not teach this. I believe that the +change to the individual family must have been regarded favourably by +the women themselves, for such a change could not have arisen, at all +events it would not have persisted, if women, with the power they then +enjoyed, had not desired it. Nor need this bring any surprise. An +arrangement that would give a closer relationship in marriage and the +protection of a husband for herself and her children may well have +come to be preferred by the wife. Nor do I think it unlikely that she, +quite as strongly as the man, may have desired to live apart from her +mother and her kindred in her husband's home. Individual interests are +not confined to men. + +With all the evils father-right has brought to women, we have got to +remember that the woman owes the individual relation of the man to +herself and her children to the patriarchal system. The father's +right in his children (which, unlike the right of the mother, was not +founded upon kinship, but rested on the quite different and insecure +basis of property) had to be re-established. Without this being done, +the family in its complete development was impossible. The survival +value of the patriarchal age consists in the additional gain to the +children of the father's to the mother's care. I do not think this +gain will ever be lost. We women need to remember this lest bitterness +stains our sense of justice. It may be that progress could not have +been accomplished otherwise; that the cost of love's development has +been the enslavement of women. If so, then women will not, in the long +account of Nature, have lost in the payment of the price. They may be +(when they come again to understand their power) better fitted for +their refound freedom. + +Such is the history of the past, what is the promise of the future? + +We have traced three stages in the past evolution of the family--two +individual and patriarchal, one communal and maternal. Is the +patriarchal stage, then, the final stage? Has the upward growth, ever +yet continuous, been arrested here? The social ideal of the mother-age +was a transition and a dream--but as a moment of peace in the records +of struggle, following the bloody opening drama in man's history, and +then passing into a forgetfulness so complete that its existence by +many has been denied. Yet the feet of the race were in the way, +though men and women let it pass, blindly unknowing. + +Our age is working for scarcely yet formulated changes in the +ownership of property and in the status of women. The patriarchal view +of woman's subjection to man is being questioned in every direction. +What do these movements indicate? If, as seems probable, the +individual evolution, already for so long continued, is perishing, +what is to take its place? What form will the family take in the +future? These are questions to which it is not possible for me here +even to attempt to find the answer.[248] + + [248] I hope to do so in a future book on _Motherhood_. + +Let us look for a moment in this new direction, the direction of the +future, because it is there that the past becomes so important. In our +contemporary society there is a deep-lying dissatisfaction with +existing conditions, a yearning and restless need for change. We stand +in the first rush of a great movement. It is the day of experiments, +when again the old customs are in struggle with the new. We are +questioning where before we have accepted, and are seeking out new +ways in which mankind will go--will go because it must. + +Social institutions alter very slowly as a rule; for long a change may +pass unnoticed, until one day it is discovered that a step forward has +been taken. Those changes that appear so new and are bringing fear to +many to-day, are but the last consequences of causes that for long +have been operating slowly. The extraordinary enthusiasm now sweeping +through womanhood reveals behind its immediate feverish expression a +great power of emotional and spiritual initiative. Wide and radically +sweeping are the changes in women's outlook. So much stronger is the +promise of a vital force when they have refound their emancipation. To +this end women must gain economic security, and the freedom for the +full expression of their womanhood. The ultimate goal I conceive--at +least I hope--is the right to be women, not the right to become like +men. There can be no gain for women except this. To be mothers were +women created and to be fathers men. This rightly considered is the +deepest of all truths. + +What is needed at present is that women should be allowed to +rediscover for themselves what is their woman's work, rather than that +they should continue to accept perforce the rle which men (rightly or +wrongly) have at various times allowed to them throughout the +patriarchal ages. This necessity is as much a necessity for men as it +is for women. + +I do not think that women will fail (even if for a time they stumble a +little) in finding the way. The vital germinal spot of each forward +step in women's position must be sought with the women who are the +conscious mothers of the race. The great women reformers are not those +who would have women act just like men in all externals, but those who +are conscious that all men are born of women. In this lies women's +strength in the past and in this must be their strength in that glad +future that is to be. But only if motherhood is regarded as an +intrinsic glory, and children are born in freedom. Think what this +means. The birth of a child, in so far as its mother has not received +the sanction of a man, is subject to the fire and brimstone of public +scorn. And this scorn is the most pitiful result in all the +patriarchal record. A woman's natural right is her right to be a +mother, and it is the most inglorious page in the history of woman +that too often she has allowed herself to be deprived of that right. +Women have this lesson first to learn. We, and not men, must fix the +standard in sex, for we have to play the chief part in the racial +life. Let us, then, reacquire our proud instinctive consciousness, +which we are fully justified in having, of being the mothers of +humanity; and having that consciousness, once more we shall be +invincible. + + + + +INDEX + + +A + +Absorption by the male of female ideas, 75 + +Advance of the family to the clan and tribe, 36, 67-91, 170, 256 _et seq._ + +Africa, 174-176, 204-205 + +Agriculture and women, 60 _et seq._, 116, 158, 194-208 + +Ahitas of Philippines, 152 + +Alladians of Gold Coast, 185 + +Allison, Mrs., 198 + +Amazons, 34, 36, 38, 228, 245-246 + +Amazons, revolt of, 31, 32, 36, 38 + +_Ambel-anak_ marriage, 147, 182 + +American aborigines, 27, 95-131, 148, 198, 206 + +Andamanese, women's work among, 197 + +Andombies, women's work among, 201 + +Apes, anthropoid, 72, 80, 81 + +Arabia, 178, 206 + +Arabs, 179-180, 189 + +Architects, women as primitive, 117, 203 + +Arruwimi tribe, 201 + +Aryans, mother-descent among, 230 _et seq._ + +Athens, 216, 220 + +Atkinson, Mr., 24, 47, 51, 52, 56, 69, 71, 72, 73, 76, 77, 80, + 81, 82, 84, 85, 86 + +Australia, 102, 167-170, 178 + +Australia, work of women in, 197, 200, 210 + + +B + +Babylon, position of women in ancient, 214-215 + +Bacchanalian festivals, 38, 241, 243 + +Bachofen, 26 _et seq._, 40, 97, 154, 165, 216, 240, 245 + +Bachofen's theory of matriarchy, 26-44 + +Bancroft, 116, 119, 124, 125, 184 + +Bandelier, 207 + +Banyai tribe, 183 + +Barton, 178 + +Basques, 229 + +Batu tribe, 175 + +Bavili tribe, 185 + +_Beena_ marriage, 178, 182, 183, 223, 248 + +Benefits of marriage law for women, 32 + +Beni-Amer of Africa, 211 + +Berbers, 222-227 + +Bonwick, 195 + +Brewers, women as, 203 + +Bride-price, 159, 184, 190, 260, 263 + +Brute-force of male, 44. + _See_ Father as tyrant. + +Buckley, 197, 198 + + +C + +Californian Redskins, 124 + +Campbell, 183 + +Capture of wives, 51, 64, 74, 80, 83, 169, 181 + +Celts, 233, 234 + +Ceylon, 173, 182 + +Charleroix, 114 + +Chavanne, 160, 161 + +Chivalry, 162 + +Choice in love, the right of the female, 64, 113, 151-153, 177, 260 + +Clan, primitive, 18, 103, 166, 167, 176, 190, 209, 257 _et seq._ + +Communal living, 75, 88, 103 _et seq._, 116, 117 _et seq._, 148 + _et seq._, 154, 166, 174, 231, 256 _et seq._ + +Contrast between the work of women and men, 195 _et seq._ + +Conventional morality, 36 + +Courtship, 45, 120 _et seq._, 151-153. + _See_ Choice in love. + +Couvade, 206, 228 + +Crawley, 47, 77, 82, 95, 96, 209 + +Creek Indians, 118-119 + +Crete, matriarchy in ancient, 216, 217-218, 220 + +Criticism of mother-right, 19, 21, 23, 24, 27, 35, 40, 42, 48, + 95-96, 170, 192, 210, 253 + +Curr, 128 + +Cushing, 117, 237 + + +D + +D'Allosso, Prof., 246 + +Dalton, 133, 152 + +Dances, 100 + +Dargun, 230, 231 + +Darwin, 45 + +_Deega_ marriage, 182 + +De Mailla, 150 + +Deniker, 198 + +Dennett, 185 + +Dependence of the human child, 58 + +Descent through the mother, 17, 26, 33, 88, 119, 160, 162 _et seq._, + 163-165, 213-214, 220 _et seq._, 224, 227, 230, + 232-233, 249 _et seq._, 257, 258 _et seq._ + +Diodorus, 211, 212 + +Divinities, women as, 136 _et seq._, 154, 214, 217, 219, 229, 231, 240 + +Divorce, 113, 121, 141-143, 157, 179, 206, 260 + +_Djudur_ marriage, 182, 259 + +Doctors, women as, 203 + +Domestication of animals, 203 + +Duveyrier, 160, 161, 162 + + +E + +Economic matriarchy, 159 _et seq._ + +Egypt, position of women in ancient, 162, 211-214, 227 + +Ellis, Havelock, 153, 192, 199, 201, 203, 205, 215 + +Euripedes, 239 + +Exogamy, 76-77, 87, 119, 123, 135, 141, 154 + +Expansion of the family into the clan, 67 _et seq._, 79 _et seq._, + 86-87, 97, 256 _et seq._ + + +F + +Fairy stories, their evidence for mother-right, 246-252 + +Family, primitive, 41, 48 _et seq._, 54-55, 68 _et seq._, + 168-169, 256 _et seq._ + +Fanti of Gold Coast, 175 + +Father as tyrant, 34, 44, 48, 50, 54, 57, 63, 68, 70, 72, 74, + 81, 83, 168, 255 + +Father the true parent, 38, 39, 239 + +Father-right dependent on purchase, 182 _et seq._, 185-186, 188, + 190, 262-263 + +Female dominance, 35, 111, 133, 156, 159. + _See_ Gyncocracy. + +Ferrass, Max Henry, 80 + +Fison, 193, 200, 206 + +Folk-lore as evidence of mother-right, 233, 234, 236 _et seq._, 249, 251 + +Food and women, 59 _et seq._ + _See_ Industry and women. + +Forbes, 183 + +Formosans, 150-151 + +Frazer, 133, 179, 187, 215, 220, 233 + +Fuegians, 203 + + +G + +Garos, 151-152 + +Germans, mother-descent among, 230-231 + +Giraud-Teulon, 28, 176, 216 + +Greece, ancient, traces of mother-right in, 216-222 + +Grimm, 231 + +Grote, 216 + +Guinea, 181 + +Gurdon, P. R., 132, 135, 137, 139, 140, 143 + +Gyncocracy, 27, 30, 34, 38, 97, 112, 133, 156, 159-162, 176 + + +H + +Haddon, 153, 196 + +Haidis, 187 + +Hale, Horatio, 205 + +Hall, J. R., 217, 218 + +Hammurabi, Code of, 214 + +Hartland, 114, 123, 125, 172, 177, 186 + +Hassanyah Arabs, 179-180 + +Haydes, 198 + +Hearne, 178 + +Hebrew patriarchs, 13, 222 _et seq._ + +Heriot, 110, 113, 120 + +Herodotus, 211, 217, 221 + +Herrera, 117 + +Hodgson, 159, 177 + +Hoffman, 208 + +Home, woman's connection with the, 34-35, 36, 59, 84, 150, + 193 _et seq._, 263 + +Homer, 219 + +Hooker, Sir J., 133 + +Hopis, 122-123 + +Hospitality, American-Indian, 108, 230 + +Howitt, 193, 200 + +Husband as "consort guest," 15. + _See_ Maternal marriage. + +Husband visiting the wife by night, 81, 83, 140-141, 220, 258 + + +I + +Iberians, mother-right among, 226-227 + +Ibn Batua, 178 + +Illegitimacy, 122, 184, 185, 189 + +Im Thurn, 196, 200 + +Importance of mother-descent, 17, 20, 21, 27, 32-33, 88-89, 99, + 100, 119, 121, 133, 139, 143, 149 + _et seq._, 153, 155, 156, 166, 170, + 173, 175, 258-259, 261 + +Incest, paternal, 79, 176-178 + +India, 102. + _See_ Khasis. + +Indians of Guiana, 195, 200 + +Industry and women, 60-62, 102, 116, 117, 134, 135, 150, 175, 192-208 + + +J + +Jealousy, 45 _et seq._, 51-53, 54, 60, 62, 65, 67, 68, 73, 86, 90, 104, + 157, 170, 191, 253 + +Johnstone, H. H., 201 + +Joint tenement houses, 106, 117, 148-149, 230 + +Joyce. + _See_ Torday. + +Justin, 228 + + +K + +Kaffirs, 203 + +Kamilaroi and Kurnai tribes, 193, 201 + +Kamtschatdals, 203 + +Khasis, 132-146, 177, 218 + +Kingsley, Miss, 175 + +Kinship through women. + _See_ Descent through mother. + +Koochs, 176-177 + +Kubary, 155-156 + +Kurds, 204 + + +L + +Laing, 176 + +Lang, Andrew, 24, 47, 51, 56, 95 + +Legends, 33, 101, 137, 217, 219, 232, 236-240, 243-246 + +Letourneau, 162, 172, 176, 215, 233, 239 + +Liburni tribes, 188, 231 + +Limboltz, 152 + +Limboo tribe, 183 + +Lippert, 176 + +Livingstone, 183 + +Logan, J. R., 133 + +Lyell, Sir Chas., 132, 137 + + +M + +Macdonald, 183, 200 + +McGee, 16, 27, 117, 126, 133, 149, 152, 201 + +McLennan, 26, 27, 33, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 52, 76, 105, 155, 181, + 183, 185, 187, 220, 229, 244, 245 + +McLennan, theory of mother-right, 40 _et seq._ + +Madagascar, 189, 226 + +Maine, Sir H., 18, 223 + +Malay States, 147 _et seq._ + +Malwlo tribe, 185 + +Mang'anja tribe, 188 + +Manyuema tribe, 201 + +Maoris, 186 + +Marsden, 182 + +Marvana Islanders, 180 + +Mason, O., 197, 200, 202 + +Maternal love, 69, 70 _et seq._, 263 + +Maternal marriage, 15, 17, 41, 85, 86, 87, 100, 112 _et seq._, 114, + 119, 123, 127, 147, 149, 158, 166, 176, 177, 183, + 223, 232, 233, 247 _et seq._, 258 + +Matriarchal theory, mistakes in, 15, 16, 19, 39 _et seq._, 90-91, 97, 98. + _See_ Criticism of mother-right. + +Matriarchate. _See_ Gyncocracy. + +Meave, Queen of Ireland, 252 + +Menomini Indians, 207 + +Monogamy, 119, 122, 123, 125, 149, 259 + +Monopolist desire of male, 186-187. + _See_ Unsocial conduct of males. + +Moore, 152 + +Moral prohibition, primitive, 119. + _See_ Taboos. + +Morgan, 27, 40, 103, 104, 105, 109, 111, 117, 118 + +Mller, 216 + +Musical faculty of women, 161 + + +N + +Nars of Malabar, 171-174 + +Newbold, 243 + +New Caledonia, women's work in, 197 + +New Guinea, 152-153 + +New theory of mother-right, 35, 43-44, 48 _et seq._, 72, 90-91, 96, 97, + 170, 212, 254, 257 + +Nicaraguans, 125 + + +O + +Origin of the human family, 21, 24, 25, 41-42, 50 _et seq._, 77, + 90, 255 _et seq._ + +Origin of the maternal system, 16, 41, 43, 88-89, 166, 257 _et seq._ + +Owen, 115, 197 + +Ownership of children, 115, 141, 183 _et seq._, 187 + + +P + +Pakpatan, 189 + +Pani Kotches, 158-159 + +Papuans of New Guinea, 201 + +Paraguay, 152 + +Parenthood, 37, 268-269 + +Parke, 201 + +Passivity of female in love, 153 + +Patriarchal authority of father, 19, 35, 48, 51, 63, 68, 72, 74, 81. + _See_ Father as tyrant. + +Patriarchal family, 35, 45, 91, 215, 222, 255 _et seq._ + +Patriarchal theory, 24, 26, 35, 45 _et seq._, 254 + +Pearson, K., 231, 240, 241, 243, 248, 250, 251 + +Pecuniary matriarchy, 159 + +Pedangs of Sumatra, 148-150 + +Pelew Islanders, 152-159, 207-208 + +Petherick, 180 + +Picts, mother-descent among, 232 + +Pike, W., 198 + +Plato, 239 + +Plutarch, 216, 220 + +Polyandry, 42, 51, 112, 125, 136, 173, 260 + +Polygamous males, 49, 50, 52 + +Polygamy, 112, 125, 157, 259 + +Polynesians, 203 + +Position of the father, 13, 15, 17, 21, 58 _et seq._, 141, 143, 149, + 165, 170, 173, 191, 225, 238, 242, 257 + +Position of the mother, 13, 15, 17, 21, 58 _et seq._, 111, 165, 176, + 191, 225, 238, 257 + +Position of women, 18, 20, 21, 25, 26, 106, 143, 152, 158, 192, 204, 238 + +Powell, 114, 116 + +Power, 202, 224 + +Pre-matriarchal period, 35, 169, 255 + +Present social and economic condition, 14, 267-269 + +Prevalence of mother-descent, 17, 128-129, 209-210, 233 + +Primal law, 24, 47, 52, 73, 74, 75, 77 + +Promiscuity, 23, 25, 27, 31, 32, 40 _et seq._, 43, 45 _et seq._, 76, 97, + 99, 168, 209-210, 255 + +Property ownership, its importance for women, 43, 45 _et seq._, 77, 97, + 99, 168, 209-210, 255 + +Pueblos, 116 _et seq._, 200, 207 + +Purchase marriage, 124, 177, 182, 233 + +Puritan spirit, 36, 96, 255 + + +Q + +Quissama women, 203 + + +R + +Race, responsibility to, 37, 268-269 + +Ratzel, 206 + +Religions, position of women in primitive, 29, 37, 238, 241. + _See_ Divinities, women as. + +Religious festivals, 241, 242-243 + +Religious myths, 29-30, 33, 236-238 + +Revolt of women, 31, 34, 35, 44, 267 + +Rhys and Brynmor-Jones, 233 + +Riedel, 183 + +Rome, ancient, traces of mother-right in, 215-216 + + +S + +Sai tribe, 123-124 + +Salish tribe, 127 + +Samoa, 187 + +Santals, 177 + +Schellong, 201 + +School craft, 110, 112, 116 + +Semper, 157 + +Senecas. _See_ Iroquois. + +Seri Indians, 126-128 + +Service marriage, 147-150, 184, 222-223 + +Sex antagonism, 36, 55, 264 _et seq._ + +Sexual egoism of male, 61, 67. + _See_ Unsocial conduct of males. + +Sexual freedom for women, 120, 127, 171, 173, 178, 179-180, 260 + +Sexual subjection of female, 53, 63, 68, 189, 191, 265-266 + +Similarity of sexes, 129-131, 218 + +Similkameen Indians, 198 + +Slavs, the clan among the, 231 + +Social conduct of women, 31, 34, 55 _et seq._, 59-65, 68, 70, 72, 75, + 81, 90, 107, 193, 256 _et seq._ + +Social habits, primitive, 23, 49, 58 _et seq._, 67, 81, 107 _et seq._, 170. + _See_ Maternal marriage. + +Soulima women, 176 + +Spain, position of women in, 227-230 + +Sparta, 220, 222 + +Spencer, H., 180 + +Spiritual quality in women, 31, 56, 68 + +Stages in the development of the family, 17, 23, 97, 168, 174, 194, + 254 _et seq._ + + +T + +Taboos, primitive sexual, 73, 77-78, 107, 168, 170, 257 + +Tacitus, 230 + +Tarrahumari Indians, 152 + +Tasmanian women, 195 + +Thebans, 220 + +Thibet, 173 + +Thomas, C., 129 + +Thomas, I. T., 181, 202 + +Thomas, N. W., 95 + +Torday and Joice, 184 + +Torres Straits, women's work in, 196 + +Totem names, 77,87, 119, 168, 257 + +Touaregs of the Saraha, 159-162, 227 + +Transition period, 12, 23, 151, 169, 184 _et seq._, 187, 235, 261 + +Tribal ancestresses, 135, 155, 226, 231, 233, 234 + +Turner, 188, 197 + +Tylor, 25, 98, 104, 117, 152 + + +U + +Uncertainty of paternity, 27, 41, 42, 99, 141, 254 + +Unsocial conduct of males, 55 _et seq._, 61-64, 68, 71, 72, 75, 90, + 193, 256 + + +V + +Visiting wife in secret, 140-141, 147, 220, 222-223, 258 + +Volti, 123 + + +W + +Wade, 189 + +Waitz-Gerland, 181 + +Wamoimia, 175 + +War and women, 115-116, 197-198, 246 + +Watubela tribe, 183 + +Wayao tribe, 183 + +Wells, Mr. H. G., 24, 52, 192 + +Werner, Alice, 175, 204 + +Westermarck, 18, 35, 42, 47, 76, 95, 99, 125, 152, 168, 209 + +Wheeler, J. M., 152 + +Wilkin, 188, 189 + +Woman as food-giver, 60, 202 _et seq._ + +Woman's movement, 11 _et seq._, 267-268 + +Women, primitive, not ill-treated by men, 200 _et seq._ + +Women, spiritual superiority, 30 + +Wright, Asher, Rev., 111 + +Wyandots. _See_ Iroquois. + + +Y + +Yahgan of Tierra del Fuego, 198 + +Yaos of Africa, 175 + +Ymer, 157 + +Yokia women of California, 202 + + +Z + +Zui Indians, 117-118, 120-122 + +_Richard Clay & Sons, Limited, London and Bungay._ + + + + +_BY THE SAME AUTHOR_ + +THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN + +By C. GASQUOINE HARTLEY + +(Mrs. Walter Gallichan) + +_Fourth Edition 7s. 6d. net_ + +_SOME PRESS OPINIONS_ + +"_The best written and the most profitable of the many recent books +upon the woman's movement._ It is distinguished alike by the scope of +its learning, the skilful way in which evidence is marshalled, and, +above all, by the independence of thought and temper brought to the +interpretation of the modern issues.... The discussion of sex +differences and of the social problems which spring therefrom shows +not only wide and deep personal acquaintance with modern men and +women, but a singular freedom from some of the squeamishness of +thought and feeling which hampers most discussion ... _an exceedingly +important contribution to the most difficult problem of our and every +other time_."--J. A. HOBSON in _The Manchester Guardian_. + +"_The book shows a fearless intellectual honesty and a deep sympathy +and tolerance; it is the work of a serious student and of a woman who +knows life as well as libraries...._ The chapter on 'Sexual +Differences in Mind' is absorbingly interesting, and based on the +latest research. She writes finely and truly on the absurd and +indecent cruelty of penalising divorce; on the cherished superstition +of feminine passivity in love, and the origin of the chastity taboo on +women with its waste of life and love. She even has a sane and humane +chapter on prostitution, recognising the complexity of its causes, and +the kindness and generosity of these scapegoat women to one another, +as well as their erotic insensibility. _The book should be read by all +educated men and women._ It will probably be greeted with screams of +denunciation from those persons whose hostility forms a hall-mark of +mental honesty and social value."--_The English Review._ + +"We very heartily commend this remarkable book.... Every chapter +abounds in challenges to thought, and we must thank a woman who has +dared and cared to think and dared to say."--_The Pall Mall Gazette._ + +"One of the most thoughtful books about women I have yet read.... The +book is certainly of an advanced feminism, yet the author is found +most strongly on the side of marriage, of love, of women's femininity +as their strength; in fact, of all the things which shallow observers +suppose the woman movement is actively denying."--_Truth._ + +"Sane, sound, and well reasoned ... she has more capacity than any +other woman writer of the kind we have yet come across for regarding +all questions of sex from the man's point of view."--_Glasgow Herald._ + +EVELEIGH NASH, 36 King Street, Covent Garden, London, W.C. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Position of Woman in Primitive +Society, by C. 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+ margin-left: 4em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; + } + + .poem span.i16 {display: block; + margin-left: 16em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; + } + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Position of Woman in Primitive Society, by +C. Gasquoine Hartley + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Position of Woman in Primitive Society + A Study of the Matriarchy + +Author: C. Gasquoine Hartley + +Release Date: March 4, 2010 [EBook #31500] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POSITION OF WOMAN *** + + + + +Produced by Steven Gibbs, Irma Spehar and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h1>THE POSITION OF WOMAN<br /> +IN PRIMITIVE SOCIETY</h1> + + +<div class="bbox"> +<h2>BY THE SAME AUTHOR</h2> + +<ul> +<li>THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN</li> + +<li class="c1"><i>BOOKS ON ART</i></li> + +<li>A RECORD OF SPANISH PAINTING</li> +<li>THE PRADO (Spanish Series)</li> +<li>EL GRECO <span style="padding-left: 3.9em">"</span></li> +<li>VELAZQUEZ<span style="padding-left: 3.4em">"</span></li> +<li>PICTURES IN THE TATE GALLERY</li> + +<li class="c1"><i>BOOKS ON SPAIN</i></li> + +<li>MOORISH CITIES IN SPAIN</li> +<li>THINGS SEEN IN SPAIN</li> +<li>SPAIN REVISITED: <span class="smcap">A Summer Holiday in Galicia</span></li> +<li>SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA (Mediæval Towns’ Series)</li> +<li>CATHEDRALS OF SOUTHERN AND EASTERN SPAIN</li> +</ul> +</div> + +<h1>THE<br /> +POSITION OF WOMAN<br /> +IN PRIMITIVE SOCIETY</h1> + +<h2 class="tp"><small>A</small><br /> +STUDY OF THE MATRIARCHY</h2> + +<p class="author">BY<br /> + +<span style="font-size: 160%">C. GASQUOINE HARTLEY</span><br /> + +(MRS. WALTER M. GALLICHAN)<br /> + +<span style="font-size: 80%">AUTHOR OF “THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN.”</span></p> + + +<p class="publisher">LONDON<br /> + +<span style="font-size: 130%">EVELEIGH NASH</span><br /> + +1914</p> + + +<h2><a name="DEDICATION" id="DEDICATION"></a>DEDICATION</h2> + +<hr class="ded" /> + +<p class="center" style="font-size: 130%">TO ALL WOMEN</p> + + +<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Be not ashamed, women, your privilege includes the rest....<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You are the gates of the body, you are the gates of the soul....<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And I say it is as great to be a woman as to be a man.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And I say there is nothing greater than the mother of men.”<br /></span> +<span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 60%">Walt Whitman.</span><br /> +</div> + +<p><i>7 Carlton Terrace,</i><br /> +<span style="padding-left: 4em"><i>Child’s Hill.</i></span><br /> +<span style="padding-left: 6em">1914.</span> +</p> +</div> + + +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span></h2> + + +<table summary="contents"> +<tr><th colspan="3">PART I</th></tr> + +<tr><td class="con1" colspan="3">THE PRIMITIVE FAMILY</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="con2" style="font-size: 70%">CHAP.</td><td class="con3"> </td><td class="con4" style="font-size: 70%">PAGE</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="con2"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">I</a></td><td class="con3">INTRODUCTORY </td><td class="con4"><a href="#Page_11">11</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="con2"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">II</a></td><td class="con3">AN EXPOSITION OF BACHOFEN’S THEORY OF +THE MATRIARCHATE</td><td class="con4"><a href="#Page_26">26</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="con2"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">III</a></td><td class="con3">DIFFICULTIES AND OBJECTIONS: AN ATTEMPT +TO RECONCILE MOTHER-RIGHT WITH THE +PATRIARCHAL THEORY</td><td class="con4"><a href="#Page_45">45</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="con2"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IV</a></td><td class="con3">DEVELOPMENT IN THE PATRIARCHAL FAMILY +AND THE RISE OF MOTHER-POWER</td><td class="con4"><a href="#Page_67">67</a></td></tr> + + +<tr><th colspan="3">PART II</th></tr> + +<tr><td class="con1" colspan="3">THE MOTHER AGE CIVILISATION</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="con2"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">V</a></td><td class="con3">THE MATRIARCHAL FAMILY AMONG THE +AMERICAN INDIANS</td><td class="con4"><a href="#Page_95">95</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="con2"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">VI</a></td><td class="con3">THE MATERNAL FAMILY AMONG THE KHASIS</td><td class="con4"><a href="#Page_132">132</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="con2"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">VII</a></td><td class="con3">FURTHER EXAMPLES OF THE MATERNAL FAMILY</td><td class="con4"><a href="#Page_147">147</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="con2"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">VIII</a></td><td class="con3">MOTHER-RIGHT CUSTOMS AND THE TRANSITION +TO FATHER-RIGHT</td><td class="con4"><a href="#Page_166">166</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a></span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="con2"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">IX</a></td><td class="con3">WOMEN AND PRIMITIVE INDUSTRY</td><td class="con4"><a href="#Page_192">192</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="con2"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">X</a></td><td class="con3">TRACES OF MOTHER-RIGHT CUSTOMS IN +ANCIENT AND MODERN CIVILISATION</td><td class="con4"><a href="#Page_209">209</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="con2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">XI</a></td><td class="con3">THE SURVIVALS OF MOTHER-RIGHT IN FOLK-LORE, +IN HEROIC LEGENDS, AND IN FAIRY +STORIES</td><td class="con4"><a href="#Page_235">235</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="con2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">XII</a></td><td class="con3">CONCLUDING REMARKS</td><td class="con4"><a href="#Page_253">253</a></td></tr> +</table> + + + +<h2 class="part"><a name="PART_I" id="PART_I"></a>PART I<br /> + +THE PRIMITIVE FAMILY</h2> + + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></h2> + +<h3>INTRODUCTORY</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> twentieth century is the age of Woman; +some day, it may be that it will be looked back +upon as the golden age, the dawn, some say, of +feminine civilisation. We cannot estimate as yet; +and no man can tell what forces these new conditions +may not release in the soul of woman. +The modern change is that the will of woman is +asserting itself. Women are looking for a satisfactory +life, which is to be determined from within +themselves, not from without by others. The +result is a discontent that may well prove to be +the seed or spring of further changes in a society +which has yet to find its normal organisation. Yes, +women are finding themselves, and men are discovering +what women mean.</p> + +<p>In the present time we are passing through a +difficult period of transition. There are conditions +of change that have to be met, the outcome of +which it is very difficult to appreciate. A transformation +in the thought and conduct of women, +for which the term “revolution” is not too strong, +is taking place around us; doubtless many experimental +phases will be tried before we reach a new +position of equilibrium.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span></p> + +<p>This must be. There can be no life without +movement.</p> + +<p>The expression, “a transition period,” is, of +course, only relative. We often say: This or that +is a sign of the present era; and, nine times out of +ten, the thing we believe to be new is in reality as +old as the world itself. In one sense the whole of +history is a vast transition. No period stands +alone; the present is in every age merely the +shifting point at which the past and the future +meet. All things move onwards. But the movement +sometimes takes the form of a cataract, at +others of an even and almost imperceptible current. +This is really another way of saying that the usually +slow and gradual course of change is, at certain +stages, interrupted by a more or less prolonged +period of revolution. The process of growth, from +being gradual and imperceptible, becomes violent +and conscious.</p> + +<p>There can be little doubt that what is called +the “Woman’s Movement,” with its disintegrating +influences on social opinion and practice, is bringing +vast and momentous changes in women’s attitude +towards the universe and towards themselves. A +great motive and an enlarging ideal, a quickening +of the woman’s spirit, a stirring dream of a new +order—these are what we have gained. We are +carried on, though as yet we know not whither, +and there is, of necessity, a little stumbling of our +feet as we seek for a way. Hence the fear, always +tending to arise in periods of social reconstruction,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> +which is felt by many to-day as women pass out +far beyond the established boundaries prescribed +for their sex.</p> + +<p>Whoever reflects soberly on the past history of +women will not be surprised at their present movement +towards emancipation. Women are reclaiming +a position that is theirs by natural right—a +position which once they held. It may be all very +well for those who accept the authority and headship +of the man as the foundation of the family +and of society, to be filled with bewildered fear at +what seems to them to be a quite new assertion +of rights on the part of the mothers of the race. +But has the family at all stages of growth been +founded on the authority of the father? Our decision +on this question will affect our outlook on +the whole question of Woman’s Rights and the +relationships of the two sexes. There are civilisations, +older and, as I believe, wiser than ours that +have accepted the predominant position of the +mother as the great central fact on which the family +has been established.</p> + +<p>The view that the family, much as it existed +among the Hebrew patriarchs, and as it exists +to-day, was primeval and universal is very deeply +rooted. This is not surprising. To reverse the +gaze of men from themselves is no easy task. The +predominance of the male over the female, of +the man over the woman and of the father over the +mother, has been accepted, almost without question, +in a civilisation built up on the recognition of male<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> +values and male standards of opinion. Thus the +institutions, habits, prejudices, and superstitions +of the patriarchal authority rest like an incubus +upon us. The women of to-day carry the dead +load upon their backs, and literally stagger beneath +the accumulating burden of the ages.</p> + +<p>The “Woman’s Movement” is pressing us forward +towards a recasting of the patriarchal view of +the relative position and duties of the two sexes. +It must be regarded as an extremely great and +comprehensive movement affecting the whole of +life. From this wider standpoint, the fight for the +parliamentary suffrage is but as the vestibule to +progress; the possession of the vote being no more +than a necessary condition for attaining far larger +and more fundamental ends.</p> + +<p>It is, however, very necessary to remark that the +recognition of this imposes a great responsibility +upon women. For one thing the practical difficulties +of the present must be faced. It is far from easy +to readjust existing conditions to meet the new +demands. Present social and economic conditions +are to a great extent chaotic. We cannot safely +cast aside, in any haste for reform, those laws, +customs and opinions which it has been the slow +task of our civilisation to establish, not for men +only, but for women. We women have to work +out many questions far more thoroughly than +hitherto we have done. We owe this to our +movement and to the world of men. It will serve +nothing to pull down, unless we are ready also<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> +to build up. Freedom can be granted only to the +self-disciplined.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Thou that does know the Self and the not-Self, +expert in every work: endowed with self-restraint +and perfect same-sightedness towards every creature +free from the sense of I and my—thy power and +energy are equal to my own, and thou hast practised +the most severe discipline.”<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p></div> + +<hr /> + +<p>This little book is an attempt to establish the +position of the mother in the family. It sets out +to investigate those early states of society, when, +through the widespread prevalence of descent +through the mother, the survival of the family +clan and, in some cases, the property rights were +dependent on women and not on men. I start +from the belief that the mother was at one period +the dominant partner in the sexual relationships. +This does not, however, at all necessarily involve +“rule by women.” We must be very clear here. +What I claim is this. The system by which the +family was built up and grouped around the mother +conferred special rights on women. The form of +marriage favourable to this influence was that by +which the husband entered the wife’s family and +clan, and lived there as a “consort-guest.” The +wife and mother was director in the home, the +owner of the meagre property, the distributor of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>food, and the controller of the children.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> Hence +arises what is known as mother-right.</p> + +<p>I am prompted to this inquiry by two reasons: +in the first place, the origin of the maternal-system +and the subsequent association of the mother and +the father appear to me to afford evidence of the +working of a natural law of the two sexes, which, +both for social and other reasons, is of great interest +in the present stage of women’s history. The +establishing of the mother’s position is of great +importance. If we can prove that women have +exercised unquestioned and direct authority in the +past history of human societies, we shall be in a +position to answer those who to-day wish to set +limits to women’s activities. Then, in the second +place, I am compelled to doubt certain conclusions, +both of those who accept mother-right, and also of +the greater number who now deny its occurrence. +If I am right, and the importance of the maternal +family has been unduly neglected and the true +explanation of its origin overlooked, I feel that, +whatever errors I may fall into, I am justified in +undertaking this task. My mistakes will be corrected +by others with more knowledge than I can +claim; and if my theory of mother-right has any +merit, it will be established in more competent +hands. The vast majority of investigators on these +questions are men. I am driven to believe that +sometimes they are mistaken in their interpretation +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>of habits and customs which arose among primitive +societies in which the influence of women was +marked. In dealing with the family and its origin +it has been usual to consider the male side and to +pass over the female members. This has led, I +am sure, to much error.</p> + +<p>The custom of tracing descent through the mother, +either practised consciously and completely, or only +as a survival, occurs among many primitive peoples +in all parts of the world. Whether, however, it +existed universally and from all time, or whether +only in certain races, among whose institutions it +remains or may still be traced, is a much debated +question. Not all barbarous tribes are in the stage +of mother-right; on the contrary many reckon +descent through the father. But even where the +latter is the case, vestiges of the former system are +frequently to be found. There seems to be a +common tendency to discredit a system of relationship, +which suggests even as a bare possibility the +mother, and not the father, being the head of the +family. Yet, I believe I can assign some, at least +plausible, reasons for believing that descent through +women has been a stage, though not, I think, the +first stage, in social growth for all branches of the +human family.</p> + +<p>There can be little doubt of the importance of +kinship and inheritance being reckoned through the +mother. If the children belong to her, and if by +marriage the husband enters her home, the greater +influence, based on the present possession of property,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> +and the future hope of the family rests on +the female side. Such conditions must have exercised +strong influence on the position of the women +members of the primitive clan and the honour in +which they were held. It cannot be ignored.</p> + +<p>Of course, this does not prevent the hardships of +savage life weighing more heavily in many ways +upon women than on the stronger men. In primitive +societies women have a position quite as full of +anomalies as they hold among civilised races. +Among some tribes their position is extremely +good; among others it is undoubtedly bad, but, +speaking generally, it is much better than usually +it is held to be.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> Obviously the causes must be +sought in the environment and in social organisation. +The differences in the status and power of +women, often occurring in tribes at the same level +of progress, would seem to be dependent largely +on economic conditions. The subject is full of +difficulties. Not only is the position of women +thus variable, but our knowledge of the matter is +very defective. It is seldom, indeed, that the +question has been considered of sufficient importance +to receive accurate attention.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> Not infrequently +conflicting accounts are given by different +authorities, and even by the same writer.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span></p><p>I wish it to be understood that mother-right does +not necessarily imply mother-rule. This system +may even be combined with the patriarchal authority +of the male. The unfortunate use of the term <i>Matriarchate</i> +has led to much confusion. My own knowledge +and study of primitive customs and ancient +civilisations have made it plain to me that there +has been a constant rise and fall of male and female +dominance, but, I believe, that, on the whole, the +superiority of women has been more frequent and +more successful than that of men.</p> + +<p>It is this that I shall attempt to prove.</p> + +<p>The theory of mother-right has been subjected +to so much criticism that a re-examination of the +position is very necessary. To show its prevalence, +to establish some leading points in its history, to +make out its connection with the patriarchal family, +and to trace the transition by which one system +passed into the other, appear to me to be matters +primarily important. The limited compass of this +little book will prevent my substantiating my own +views as I should wish, with a full and systematic +survey of all authentic accounts of the peoples +among whom mother-descent may be studied. I +have considered, however, that I could summarise +the position in a comprehensive picture, that will, +I hope, suggest a point of view that seems to me to +have been very generally neglected.</p> + +<p>It is necessary to enter into such an inquiry with +caution; the difficulties before me are very great. +Nothing would be easier than from the mass of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> +material available to pile up facts in furnishing a +picture of the high status of women among many +tribes under the favourable influence of mother-descent, +that would unnerve any upholders of the +patriarchal view of the subordination of women. +It is just possible, on the other hand, to interpret +these facts from a fixed point of thought of the +father’s authority as the one support of the family, +and then to argue that, in spite of the mother’s +control over her children and over property, she +still remained the inferior partner. I wish to do +neither. It is my purpose to examine the evidence, +and so to discover to what extent the system of +tracing descent through the female side conferred +any special claim for consideration upon women. +I shall try to avoid mistakes. I put forward my +own opinions with great diffidence. It is so easy, +as I realise full well, to interpret facts by the bias +of one’s own wishes. I know that the habits and +customs of primitive peoples that I have studied +closely are probably few in comparison with those +I have missed; yet to me they appear of such +importance in the light they throw on the whole +question of the relationships of the two sexes, that +it seems well to bring them forward.</p> + +<p>Since my attention, now many years ago, was +first directed to this question, I have felt that a +clear and concise account of the mother-age was +indispensable for women. Such an account, with a +criticism of the patriarchal theory, is here offered. +Throughout I have attempted to clear up and bring<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> +into uniformity the two opposing theories of the +origin of the human family. I have tried to gather +the facts, very numerous and falling into several +classes, by which the theory of the mother-age could +be supported. And first it was necessary to clear +out of the way a body of opinion, the prevalence of +which has opposed an obstacle to the acceptance of +the rights of mothers in the family relationship. +The whole question turns upon which you start +with; the man—the woman, or the woman—the man.</p> + +<p>Here it should be explained that this little book +is an expansion of the historical section which +treats of “the Mother-age civilisation” in my +former book, <i>The Truth About Woman</i>. I wish +to take this opportunity of expressing my gratitude +for the generous interest and sympathy with which +my work has been received. Such kindness is very +imperfectly repaid by an author’s thanks; it is +certainly the best incentive to further work.</p> + +<p>This little volume was suggested to me by a review +in one of the Suffrage papers. The writer, after +speaking of the interest to women of the mother-age +and the difficulty there was in gaining information +on the subject, said that “a small and cheaper +book on the matriarchate would be useful to women +in all countries.” I was grateful for this suggestion. +I at once felt that I wanted to write such a +book. For one thing, this particular section on +the mother-age in <i>The Truth About Woman</i>, and +my belief in the favourable influence of mother-descent +on the status of women, has been much<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +questioned. I have been told that I “had quite +deliberately gone back to our uncivilised ancestors +to ‘fish up’ the precedent of the matriarchate;” +that I “had allowed my prejudices to dictate my +choice of material, and had thus brought forward +examples explanatory of my own opinions;” that +I “had fastened eagerly on these, without inquiring +too carefully about other facts having a contrary +tendency.” I was reminded of what I well knew, +that the matriarchate and promiscuity with which +it is usually connected were not universally accepted +by anthropologists; the tendency to-day being to +discredit both as being among the early phases of +society. It was suggested that I “had unprofitably +spent my time on the historical section of my +book, and had built up my theory on a curiously +uncertain foundation;” that I “had relied too +much on the certain working of mother-right, and +had been by no means clear in showing how, from +such a position of power, women had sunk into +subservience to patriarchal rule.” In fact, it has +seemed to be the opinion of my critics that I had +allowed what I “would have liked to have happened +to affect my account of what did happen in +the infancy of man’s social life.”</p> + +<p>Now, I want to say quite frankly, that I feel much +of this criticism is just. The inquiry on the mother-age +civilisation was only one small section of my +book on Woman. I realise that very much was +hurried over. There is on this subject of the origin +of the family a literature so extensive, and such a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> +variety of opinions, that the work of the student +is far from easy. The whole question is too extensive +to allow anything like adequate treatment +within the space of a brief, and necessarily insufficient, +summary. My earlier investigation may +well be objected to as not being in certain points +supported by sufficient proofs. I know this. It is +not easy to condense the marriage customs and +social habits of many different peoples into a few +dozen pages. Of course, I selected my examples. +But this I may say; I chose those which had +brought me to accept mother-right. I was driven +to this belief by my own study and reading long +before the time of writing my book. What I really +tried to do was to present to others the facts that +had convinced me. But my stacks of unused notes, +collected for my own pleasure during many years +of work, are witness to how much I had to leave out.</p> + +<p>I know that many objections that have been raised +to the theory of mother-right were left unanswered. +I dismissed much too lightly the patriarchal theory +of the origin of the family, which during late years +has gained such advocacy. I failed to carry my +inquiry far enough back. I accepted with too little +caution an early period of promiscuous sexual relationships. +I did not make clear the stages in the +advance of the family to the clan and the tribe; nor +examine with sufficient care the later transition period +in which mother-right gave place to father-right.</p> + +<p>I have been sent back to examine again my own +position. And to do this, it was necessary first to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> +take up the question from the position of those whose +views are in opposition to my own. I have made +a much more extensive study of those authorities +who, rejecting mother-right, accept a modification +of the patriarchal theory as the origin of the family. +This has led to some considerable recasting of my +views. Not at all, however, to a change in my belief +in mother-right, which, indeed, has now been +strengthened, and, as I trust, built up on surer +foundations.</p> + +<p>By a fortunate chance, I was advised to read +Mr. Andrew Lang’s <i>Social Origins</i>,<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> which work +includes Mr. Atkinson’s <i>Primal Law</i>. I am greatly +indebted to the assistance I have gained from these +writers. It is, perhaps, curious that a very careful +study of the patriarchal family as it is presented by +Mr. Atkinson and Mr. Lang, has brought me to a +conclusion fundamentally at variance from what +might have been expected. I have gained invaluable +support for my own belief in mother-right, and have +found fresh proofs from the method of difference. I +have cleared up many points that previously puzzled +me. I am able now to accept the patriarchal theory, +without at all shaking my faith in a subsequent +period of mother-descent and mother-power.</p> + +<p>The discussion on this question is now half a +century old. Yet in spite of the opposition of many +investigators, and the support of others, the main +problems are still unsettled. What form did the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>family take in its earliest stage? Did it start as a +small group or with the clan or horde? What were +the earliest conditions of the sexual relationships? +Was promiscuity at one period the rule? Was the +foundation of the family based on the authority of the +father, or of the mother? If on that of the father, +how is mother-kin and mother-right to be explained? +These are among the questions that must be answered. +Not till this is done, can we establish any +theory of mother-descent, or estimate its effect on +the status of women.</p> + +<p>The whole subject is a very wide and complicated +one. If I differ on several important points from +learned authorities, whose knowledge and research +far exceed my own, I do so only after great hesitation, +and because I must. The facts they have +collected from their personal knowledge of primitive +peoples (facts which I have gratefully used) often +suggest quite opposite conclusions to my thoughts +than to theirs—the view-point is different, that is +all. They were seeking for one thing; I for another: +they were men; I am a woman. It would be foolishness +for me to attempt any special pleadings for my +own opinions. How far I shall succeed, or fail, to +make clear to others a period of mother-right that +is certain to me, I do not know. I offer my little +book with all humility, and yet without any apology. +We may read and learn and gather knowledge from +many sources; but the opinions of others we cannot +take on credit; we must re-think them out for +ourselves, and make them our own.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> The <i>Mahābhārata</i>. The Great God thus addresses +Shakti, when he asks her to describe the duties of women. +I quote from a pamphlet by Dr. Ananda Coomaraswamy: +<i>Sati: A Vindication of the Hindu Woman</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> McGee: “The Beginning of Marriage,” <i>American +Anthropologist</i>, Vol. IV, p. 378.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Westermarck, “The Position of Women in Early +Civilisations,” <i>Sociological Papers</i>, 1904.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> For instance, Maine (<i>Early Law and Custom</i>), in speaking +of tribes who still trace their descent from a single +ancestress, says, “The outlines” (<i>i. e.</i> of the maternal +family) “may still be marked out, <i>if it be worth any one’s +while to trace it</i>.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> This book was mentioned to me in a letter from Mr. +H. G. Wells.</p></div> +</div> + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span></h2> + +<h3>AN EXPOSITION OF BACHOFEN’S THEORY OF +THE MATRIARCHATE</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Fifty-three</span> years ago in his great work, <i>Das +Mutterrecht</i>,<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> the Swiss writer, Bachofen, drew the +attention of the world to the fact that a system +of kinship through mothers only prevailed among +many primitive peoples, while survivals of the +custom could be widely, if but faintly, traced +among civilised races. Drawing his evidence from +the actual statements of old writers, but more +from legends and the mythologies of antiquity, he +came to the conclusion that a system of descent +through women had, in all cases, preceded the rise +of kinship through males. Almost at the same +time Dr. J. F. McLennan,<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> ignorant of the work +of Bachofen, came to the same opinion. This led +to a reconsideration of the patriarchal theory; and +for a time it was widely held that in the early +stages of society a matriarchate prevailed, in which +women held the supreme power. Further support +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>came from Morgan, with his knowledge of the +maternal family among American aborigines, and +he was followed by Professor Tylor, McGee, and +many other investigators.</p> + +<p>Obviously this gynæcocratic view, which placed +woman in a new relation to man, was unlikely to be +permanently accepted. Thus a reaction to the earlier +theory of the patriarchal family has set in, especially +in recent years. Many writers, while acknowledging +the existence of mother descent, deny that such a +system carries with it, except in a few exceptional +cases, mother-rights of special advantage to women; +even when these seem to be present they believe +such rights to be more apparent than real.</p> + +<p>In bringing forward any theory of mother-right, +it thus becomes necessary to show the causes that +have led to this reversal in opinion. To do this, +the first step will be to examine, with considerable +detail, the evidence for the matriarchal theory as +it is given by its two great supporters. Now, an +interesting point arises, if we compare the view +of Bachofen with that held by McLennan. No +two ways could well be further apart than those +by which these two men arrived at the same conclusion. +Both accept an early period of promiscuous +sexual relationships. But Bachofen found the explanation +of mother-descent in the supremacy of +women, and believed a matriarchate to have been +established by them in a moral revolt against such +<i>hetaïrism</i>. Mr. McLennan, on the other hand, +regarded the custom as due to uncertainty of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> +paternity—the children were called after the mother +because the father was unknown.</p> + +<p>Let us concentrate our attention on the <i>Das +Mutterrecht</i> of Bachofen, whose work as the great +champion of matriarchy claims our most careful +consideration. And it is necessary to say at once +that there can be no doubt his view of women’s +supremacy is greatly exaggerated. Such a rule of +women, at the very early stage of society when +mother-kin is supposed to have arisen, is not +proved, and does not seem probable. Even if it +existed, <i>it could not have originated in the way and +for the reasons</i> that are credited by the Swiss writer. +I wish to emphasise this point. Much of the discredit +that has fallen on the matriarchate has +arisen, I am certain, through the impossibility of +accepting Bachofen’s mythical account of its origin. +This great supporter of women was a dreamer, +rather than a calm and impartial investigator. +Founding his main theory on assumptions, he asks +us to accept these as historical facts. Much of his +work and his belief in women must be regarded as +the rhapsodies of a poet. And yet, it is the poet who +finds the truth. The poetic spirit is, in one sense, the +most practical of all. Bachofen saw the fact of +mother-power, though not <i>why</i> it was the fact, and he +enfolded his arguments in a garment of pure fiction.</p> + +<p>To disengage from his learned book, <i>Das Mutterrecht</i>,<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> +his theory of the origin of the Matriarchate +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>is no easy task. There is, for one thing, such +bewildering contradiction and confusion in the +material used. Then the interpretation of the +mythical tales, so freely intermingled everywhere, +is often strained—prompted by a poetic imagination +which snatches at every kind of allegory. Often +the views expressed are inconsistent with each other, +the arguments and proofs are disconnected, while +many of the details are hopelessly obscure and +confused. Yet it seems to me possible to recognise +the idea which brings into unity the mass of his +work—the spirit, as it were, that breathes into it +its life. It may be found in the clear appreciation +of the superstitious and mystical element in primitive +man, and their close interweaving with the sexual +life. As I understand Herr Bachofen, the sex-act +was the means which first opened up ways to great +heights, but also to great depths.</p> + +<p>Bachofen strongly insists on the religious element +in all early human thought. He believes that the +development of the primitive community only +advanced by means of religious ideas.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Religion,” he says, “is the only efficient lever +of all civilisation. Each elevation and depression +of human life has its origin in a movement which +begins in this supreme department.”<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p></div> + +<p>The authority for this belief is sought in religious +myths.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span></p> +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Mythical tradition appears to be the faithful interpretation +of the progress of the law of life, at a time +when the foundations of the historical development +of the ancient world were laid; it reveals the original +mode of thought, and we may accept this direct +revelation as true from our complete confidence +in this source of history.”<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p></div> + +<p>This mystical religious element, which is the +essential part of <i>Das Mutterrecht</i>, is closely connected +by Bachofen with the power of women. +As it is his belief that, even at this early period, +the religious impulse was more developed among +women than men, he bases on this unproved hypothesis +his theory of women’s supremacy. “Wherever +gynæcocracy meets us,” he says, “the mystery +of religion is bound up with it, and lends to motherhood +an incorporation in some divinity.”<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p> + +<p>Doubtless this theory of a higher feminine +spirituality is a pleasing one for women—but is it +true? The insuperable difficulty to its acceptance +arises, in the first place, from the fact that we can +know nothing at all of the spiritual condition of +the human beings among whom mother-kin was +held first to have been practised. But we must go +further than this in our doubt. Can we accept for +any period a spiritual superiority in the character +of woman over man? To me, at least, it is clear +that a knowledge of the two sexes among all races +both primitive and civilised—yes, and among ourselves, +is sufficient to discredit such a supposition.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span></p><p>Bachofen would have us believe that<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> the mother-right +of the ancient world, was due to a revolt of +women against the degraded condition of promiscuity, +which previously had been universal among +mankind, a condition in which men had a community +of wives, and <i>openly lived together like gregarious +animals</i>.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Women, by their nature nobler and more +spiritual than men, became disgusted with this +lawless <i>hetaïrism</i>, and, under the influence of a +powerful religious impulse, combined in a revolt +(the first Amazonian movement) to put an end to +promiscuity and established marriage.”</p></div> + +<p>Over and over again Bachofen affirms this spiritual +quality in women.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“The woman’s religious attitude, in particular, +the tendency of her mind towards the supernatural +and the divine, influenced the man and robbed him +of the position which nature disposed him to take +in virtue of his physical superiority. In this way +women’s position was transformed by religious +considerations, until they became in civil life what +religion had caused them to be.”<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> And again: +“We cannot fail to see that of the two forms of +gynæcocracy in question—religious and civil—the +former was the basis of the latter. Ideas connected +with worship came first, and the civil forms of +life were then the result and expression.”<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p></div> + +<p>We may note in passing, the greater affectability +of woman’s nature, which would seem always to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>have had a tendency to expression in religio-erotic +manifestations. But to build up a theory of +matriarchy on this foundation is strangely wide of +the facts. Bachofen adduces the spirituality of +women as the cause of their power. But on what +grounds can such a claim be supported?</p> + +<p>It is on the evidence of licentious customs of all +kinds and on polyandry, that he bases his belief +in a period of promiscuity. He regards this early +condition of <i>hetaïrism</i> as a law of nature, and believes +that after its infraction by the introduction +of individual marriage, expiation was required to +be made to the Earth Goddess, Demeter, in temporary +prostitution. Hence he explains the widespread +custom of religious prostitution. This +fanciful idea may be taken to represent Bachofen’s +method of interpretation. There is an intermediate +stage between <i>hetaïrism</i> and marriage, such as the +group-marriage, held by him to have been practised +among barbarous peoples. “Each man has a +wife, but they are all permitted to have intercourse +with the wives of others.”<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p> + +<p>Great stress is laid on the acquisition by women +of the benefits of a marriage law. In the families +founded upon individual marriage, which grew up +after the Amazonian revolt, the women, and not +the men, held the first place. Bachofen does not +tell us whether they assigned this place to themselves, +or had it conceded to them. Women were the heads +of the families, the children were named after the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>mother, and not the father, and all the relations +to which rights of succession attached were traced +through women only. All property was held by +women. Moreover, from this headship, women +assigned to themselves, or had conceded to them, +the social and political power as well as the domestic +supremacy.<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> + +<p>The authority for this remarkable theory is +sought, with great ingenuity and patience, in the +fragmentary accounts of barbarous people, and in +an exhaustive study of heroic stories and religious +myths. Bachofen argues powerfully for the acceptance +of these myths.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Every age unconsciously obeys, even in its +poetry, the laws of its individual life. A patriarchal +age could not, therefore, have invented the matriarchate, +and the myths which describe the latter +may be regarded as trustworthy witnesses of its +historical existence. It may be taken for granted +that the myths did not refer to special persons +and occurrences, but only tell us of the social +customs and ideas which prevailed, or were endeavouring +to prevail, in several communities.”<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p></div> + +<p>This is true. It is the interpretation given to +many of these myths that one is compelled to +question. Bachofen’s way of applying mythical +tales has no scientific method; for one thing, +abstract ideas are added to primitive legends which +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>could only arise from the thought of civilised +peoples. For instance, he accepts, without any +doubt, the existence of the Amazons; and believes +that the myths which refer to them record “a +revolt for the elevation of the feminine sex, and +through them of mankind.” It is on such insecure +foundations he builds up his matriarchal theory.</p> + +<p>There is, however, an aspect of truth in Bachofen’s +position, which becomes plain on a closer examination. +To prove this, I must quote a passage from +<i>Das Mutterrecht</i>, as representing, or at least suggesting, +the opinions of those who have argued most +strongly against his theory. When recapitulating +the facts and arguments in favour of accepting +the supremacy of women, he makes this suggestive +statement—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“The first state in all cases was that of <i>hetaïrism</i>. +The rule is based upon the right of procreation: +since there is no individual fatherhood, <i>all have +only one father—the tyrant whose sons and daughters +they all are, and to whom all the property belongs. +From this condition in which the man rules by means +of his rude sexual needs, we rise to that of gynæcocracy</i>, +in which there is the dawn of marriage, of +which the strict observance is at first observed by +the woman, not by the man. Weary of always +ministering to the lusts of man, <i>the woman raises +herself by the recognition of her motherhood</i>. Just +as a child is first disciplined by its mother, so are +people by their women. It is only the wife who +can control the man’s essentially unbridled desires, +and lead him into the paths of well-doing.... +<i>While man went abroad on distant forays, the woman<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> +stayed at home, and was undisputed mistress of the +household.</i> She took arms against her foe, and was +gradually transformed into an Amazon.”<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p></div> + +<p>The italics in the passage are mine, for they bear +directly on what I shall afterwards have to prove: +(1) that mother-right was not the first stage in the +history of the human family; (2) that its existence +is not inconsistent with the patriarchal theory. +Bachofen here suggests a pre-matriarchal period +in which the elementary family-group was founded +on and held together by a common subjection +to the oldest and strongest male. This is the +primordial patriarchal family.</p> + +<p>Then come the questions: Can we accept mother-right? +Are there any reasonable causes to explain +the rise of female dominance? Westermarck, in +criticising the matriarchal theory, has said: “The +inference that ‘kinship through females only’ +has everywhere preceded the rise of ‘kinship +through males,’ would be warranted only on condition +that the cause, or the causes, to which the +maternal system is owing, could be proved to have +operated universally in the past life of mankind.”<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> +Now, this is what I believe I am able to do. Hence +it has been necessary first to clear the way of the +old errors. Bachofen’s interpretation is too fanciful +to find acceptance. Will any one hold it as true +that the change came because <i>women willed it</i>? +Surely it is a pure dream of the imagination to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>credit women, at this supposed early stage of society, +with rising up to establish marriage, in a revolt +of purity against sexual licence, and moreover +effecting the change by force of arms! Bachofen +would seem to have been touched with the Puritan +spirit. I am convinced also that he understood +very little of the nature of woman. Conventional +morality has always acted on the side of the man, +not the woman. The clue is, indeed, given in the +woman’s closer connection with the home, and in +the idea that “she raises herself by the recognition +of her motherhood.” But the facts are capable +of an entirely different interpretation. It will be +my aim to give a quite simple, and even commonplace, +explanation of the rise of mother-descent +and mother-right in place of the spiritual hypothesis +of Bachofen.</p> + +<p>It will be well, however, to examine further +Bachofen’s own theory. It is his opinion that the +first Amazonian revolt and period of women’s rule +was followed by a second movement—</p> + +<p>“Woman took arms against her foe [<i>i. e.</i> man], +and was gradually transformed into an Amazon. +<i>As a rival to the man the Amazon became hostile to +him, and began to withdraw from marriage and from +motherhood. This set limits to the rule of women, +and provoked the punishment of heaven and men.</i>”<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p> + +<p>There is a splendid imaginative appeal in this +remarkable passage. Again the italics are mine. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>It is, of course, impossible to accept this statement, +as Bachofen does, as an historical account +of what happened through the agency of women +at the time of which he is treating. Yet, we can +find a suggestion of truth that is eternal. Is there +not here a kind of prophetic foretelling of every +struggle towards readjustment in the relationships +of the two sexes, through all the periods of civilisation, +from the beginning until now? You will see +what I mean. The essential fact for woman—and +also for man—is the sense of community with the +race. Neither sex can keep a position apart from +parenthood. Just in so far as the mother and the +father attain to consciousness and responsibility in +their relations to the race do they reach development +and power. Bachofen, as a poet, understood +this; to me, at least, it is the something real that +underlies all the delusion of his work. But I diverge +a little in making these comments.</p> + +<p>Again the origin of the change from the first period +of matriarchy is sought by Bachofen in religion.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Each stage of development was marked by +its peculiar religious ideas, produced by the dissatisfaction +with which the dominating idea of the +previous stage was regarded; a dissatisfaction +which led to a disappearance of this condition.” +“What was gained by religion, fostering the cause +of women, by assigning a mystical and almost +divine character to motherhood was now lost +through the same cause. The loss came in the +Greek era. Dionysus started the idea of the +divinity of fatherhood; holding the father to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +the child’s true parent, and the mother merely the +nurse.” In this way, we are asked to believe, the +rights of men arose, the father came to be the chief +parent, the head of the mother and the owner of +the children, and, therefore, the parent through +whom kinship was traced. We learn that, at +first, “women opposed this new gospel of fatherhood, +and fresh Amazonian risings were the common +feature of their opposition.” But the resistance +was fruitless. “Jason put an end to the rule of +the Amazons in Lemnos. Dionysus and Bellerophon +strove together passionately, yet without gaining +a decisive victory, until Apollo, with calm superiority, +finally became the conqueror, and the father +gained the power that before had belonged to the +mother.”<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p></div> + +<p>But before this took place, Bachofen relates yet +another movement, which for a time restored the +early matriarchate. The women, at first opposing, +presently became converts to the Dionysusian +gospel, and were afterwards its warmest supporters. +Motherhood became degraded. Bacchanalian excesses +followed, which led to a return to the ancient +<i>hetaïrism</i>. Bachofen believes that this formed a +fresh basis for a second gynæcocracy. He compares +the Amazonian period of these later days with that +in which marriage was first introduced, and finds +that “the deep religious impulse being absent, +it was destined to fail, and give place to the spiritual +Apollonic conception of fatherhood.”<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span></p><p>In Bachofen’s opinion this triumph of fatherhood +was the final salvation. This is what he says—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“It was the assertion of fatherhood which +delivered the mind from natural appearances, and +when this was successfully achieved, human existence +was raised above the laws of natural life. +The principal of motherhood is common to all the +spheres of animal life, but man goes beyond this +tie in gaining pre-eminence in the process of procreation, +and thus becomes conscious of his higher +vocation. In the paternal and spiritual principle +he breaks through the bonds of tellurism, and +looks upwards to the higher regions of the cosmos. +Victorious fatherhood thus becomes as distinctly +connected with the heavenly light as prolific +motherhood is with the teeming earth.”<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p></div> + +<p>Here, Bachofen, as is his custom, turns to point +an analogy with the process of nature.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“All the stages of sexual life from Aphrodistic +<i>hetaïrism</i> to the Apollonistic purity of fatherhood, +have their corresponding type in the stages of natural +life, from the wild vegetation of the morass, the +prototype of conjugal motherhood, to the harmonic +law of the Uranian world, to the heavenly light +which, as the <i>flamma non urens</i>, corresponds to the +eternal youth of fatherhood. The connection is so +completely in accordance with law, that the form +taken by the sexual relation in any period may be +inferred from the predominance of one or other of +these universal ideas in the worship of a people.”<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p></div> + +<p>Such, in outline, is Bachofen’s famous matriarchal +theory. The passages I have quoted, with +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>the comments I have ventured to give, make plain +the poetic exaggeration of his view, and sufficiently +prove why his theory no longer gains any considerable +support. To build up a dream-picture of +mother-rule on such foundations was, of necessity, +to let it perish in the dust of scepticism. But is +the downthrow complete? I believe not. A new +structure has to be built up on a new and surer +foundation, and it may yet appear that the prophetic +vision of the dreamer enabled Bachofen to see much +that has escaped the sight of those who have +criticised and rejected his assumption that power +was once in the hands of women.</p> + +<p>One great source of confusion has arisen through +the acceptance by the supporters of the matriarchate +of the view that men and women lived +originally in a state of promiscuity. This is the +opinion of Bachofen, of McLennan, of Morgan, and +also of many other authorities, who have believed +maternal descent to be dependent on the uncertainty +of fatherhood. It will be remembered that Mr. +McLennan brought forward his theory almost +simultaneously with that of Bachofen. The basis +of his view is a belief in an ancient communism in +women. He holds that the earliest form of human +societies was the group or horde, and not the family. +He affirms that these groups can have had no idea +of kinship, and that the men would hold their +women, like their other goods, in common, which +is, of course, equal to a general promiscuity. There +he agrees with Bachofen’s belief in unbridled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> +<i>hetaïrism</i>, but a very different explanation is given +of the change which led to regulation, and the +establishment of the maternal family.</p> + +<p>According to Mr. McLennan, the primitive group +or horde, though originally without explicit consciousness +of relationships, were yet held together +by a <i>feeling</i> of kin. Such feeling would become +conscious first between the mother and her children, +and, in this way, mother-kin must have been +realised at a very early period. Mr. McLennan +then shows the stages by which the savage would +gradually, by reflection, reach a knowledge of the +other relationships through the mother, sister and +brother relationships, mother’s brother and mother’s +sister, and all the degrees of mother-kin, at a time +before the father’s relation to his children had been +established. The children, though belonging at +first to the group, would remain attached to the +mothers, and the blood-tie established between +them would, as promiscuity gave place to more +regulated sexual relationships, become developed +into a system. All inheritance would pass through +women only, and, in this way, mother-right would +tend to be more or less strongly developed. The +mother would live alone with her children, the only +permanent male members of the family being the +sons, who would be subordinate to her. The +husband would visit the wife, as is the custom +under polyandry, which form of the sexual relationship +Mr. McLennan believes was developed from +promiscuity—a first step towards individual marriage.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> +Even after the next step was taken, and the +husband came to live with his wife, his position +was that of a visitor in her home, where she would +have the protection of her own kindred. She would +still be the owner of her children, who would bear +her name, and not the father’s; and the inheritance +of all property would still be in the female line.<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p> + +<p>We have here what appears to be a much more +reasonable explanation of mother-kin and mother-right +than that of Bachofen. Yet many have +argued powerfully against it. Westermarck especially, +has shown that belief in an early stage of +promiscuous relationship is altogether untenable.<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> +It is needless here to enter into proof of this.<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> What +matters now is that with the giving up of promiscuity +the whole structure of McLennan’s theory +falls to pieces. He takes it for granted that at one +period paternity was unrecognised; but this is +very far from being true. The idea of the father’s +relationship to the child is certainly known among +the peoples who trace descent through the mother; +the system is found frequently where strict monogamy +is practised. Again, Mr. McLennan connects +polyandry with mother-descent, regarding the +custom of plurality of husbands as a development +from promiscuity. Here, too, he has been proved to +be in error. Whatever the causes of the origin of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>polyandry, it has no direct connection with mother-kin, +although it is sometimes practised by peoples +who observe that system.</p> + +<p>For myself, I incline to the opinion that the +system by which inheritance passes through the +mother needs no explanation. It was necessarily +(and, as I believe, is still) the <i>natural</i> method of +tracing descent. Moreover, it was adopted as a +matter of course by primitive peoples among whom +property considerations had not arisen. Afterwards +what had started as a habit was retained as +a system. The reasons for naming children after +the mother did not rest on relationship, the earliest +question was not one of kinship, but of association. +Those were counted as related to one another who +dwelt together.<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> The children lived with the +mother, and therefore, as a matter of course, were +called after her, and not the father, who did not +live in the same home.</p> + +<p>All these questions will be understood better as +we proceed with our inquiry. The important thing +to fix in our minds is that mother-kin and mother-right +(contrary to the opinion of McLennan and +others) may very well have arisen quite independently +of dubious fatherhood. It thus becomes +evident that the maternal system offers no evidence +for the hypothesis of promiscuity; we shall +find, in point of fact, that it arose out of the +regulation of the sexual relations, and had no connection +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>with licence. It is necessary to understand +this clearly.</p> + +<p>Bachofen is much nearer to what is likely to +have happened in the first stage of the family +than Mr. McLennan, though he also mistakenly +connects the maternal system with unregulated +<i>hetaïrism</i>. Still he suggests (though it would seem +quite unconsciously) the patriarchal hypothesis, +which founds the family first on the brute-force +of the male. Mother-right has been discredited +chiefly, as far as I have been able to find, because +it is impossible to accept, at this early period, sexual +conditions of the friendly ownership of women, +entirely opposed to what was the probable nature +of brute man. At this stage the eldest male in +the family would be the ruler, and he would claim +sexual rights over all the women in the group. +Bachofen postulates a revolt of women to establish +marriage. We have seen that such a supposition, +in the form in which he puts it, is without any +credible foundation. Yet, it is part of my theory +that there was a revolt of women, or rather a combination +of the mothers of the group, which led +to a change in the direction of sexual regulation +and order. But the causes of such revolt, and the +way in which it was accomplished, were, in my +opinion, entirely different from those which Bachofen +supposes. The arguments in support of my view +will be given in the next two chapters.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> <i>Das Mutterrecht</i> was published in Stuttgart in 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> <i>Primitive Marriage</i>, published 1865. <i>Studies in Ancient +History</i>, which includes a reprint of <i>Primitive Marriage</i>; +1st ed. 1876, 2nd ed. 1886. <i>The Patriarchal Theory</i>, a criticism +of this theory is based on the papers of Mr. McLennan +and edited by his brother.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Prof. Giraud-Teulon’s <i>La Mère chez certains Peuples +de l’Antiquité</i> is founded on the introduction to <i>Das Mutterrecht</i>. +This little book of fascinating reading is the best +and easiest way of studying Bachofen’s theory.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> <i>Das Mutterrecht</i>, Intro., p. xiii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> <i>Das Mutterrecht</i>, Intro., p. vii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Intro., p. xv.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> <i>Das Mutterrecht</i>, Intro., p. xxiv. and p. 10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Intro., p. xiv.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Intro., p. xv.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> <i>Das Mutterrecht</i>, p. 18.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> I have taken much of this passage from Mr. McLennan’s +criticism of Bachofen’s theory, <i>Studies in Ancient History</i>, +pp. 319-325.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> <i>Das Mutterrecht</i>, Intro., pp. vii.-viii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> <i>Das Mutterrecht</i>, pp. 18-19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> <i>The History of Human Marriage</i>, p. 105.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> <i>Das Mutterrecht</i>, p. 85.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> <i>Das Mutterrecht</i>, pp. 73, 85. Compare also McLennan, +<i>Studies</i>, p. 322, and Starcke, <i>The Primitive Family in its +Origin and Development</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 85.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> <i>Das Mutterrecht</i>, Intro., p. xxvii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Intro., p. xxix.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> <i>Studies in Ancient History</i>, pp. 83, <i>et seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> <i>History of Human Marriage</i>, pp. 51-133. It is on this +question that my own opinion has been changed, compare +<i>The Truth about Woman</i>, p. 120.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> See next chapter on the <a href="#CHAPTER_III">Patriarchal Theory</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Starcke, <i>The Primitive Family in its Origin and +Development</i>, pp. 36, 37.</p></div> +</div> + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span></h2> + +<h3>DIFFICULTIES AND OBJECTIONS: AN ATTEMPT TO RECONCILE<br /> +MOTHER-RIGHT WITH THE PATRIARCHAL +THEORY.</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> foundation of the Patriarchal theory is the +jealous sexual nature of the male. This is important; +indeed profoundly significant. The strongest argument +against promiscuity is to be gained from what +we know of this factor of jealousy in the sexual +relationships.</p> + +<p>“The season of love is the season of battle,” says +Darwin. Such was the law passed on to man from +millions of his ancestral lovers. The action of this +law<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> may be observed at its fiercest intensity among +man’s pre-human ancestors. Courtship without +combat is rare among all male quadrupeds, and +special offensive and defensive weapons for use +in these love-fights are found; for this is the sex-tragedy +of the natural world, the love-tale red-written +in blood.</p> + +<p>This factor of sexual jealousy—the conflict of +the male for possession of the female—has not been +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>held in sufficient account by those who regard +promiscuity as being the earliest stage in the sexual +relationships. That jealousy is still a powerful +agent even in the most civilised races is a fact on +which it is unnecessary to dwell. This being so, +and since the action of jealousy is so strong in the +animal kingdom, it cannot be supposed to have +been dormant among primitive men. Rather, in +the infancy of his history this passion must have +acted with very great intensity. Thus it becomes +impossible to accept any theory of the community +of women in the earliest stage of the family. For +inevitably such peaceful association would be broken +up by jealous battles among the males, in which +the strongest member would kill or drive away his +rivals.</p> + +<p>Great stress is laid, by the supporters of promiscuity, +on the danger that such conflicts must have +been to the growing community. It is, therefore, +held that in order to prevent this check on their +development, it was necessary for the male members +not to give way to jealousy, but to be content with +promiscuous ownership of women. But this is +surely to credit savage man with a control of the +driving jealous instinct that he could not then have +had? What we do not find in the sexual conduct +of men, as they now are, cannot be credited as existing +in the infancy of social life. We fall into many +mistakes in judging these questions of sex; we +under-estimate the strength of love-passion—the +uncounted ancestral forces dating back to the remote<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> +beginnings of life. Doubtless conflicts over the +possession of women were frequent from the beginning +of man’s history. But these disputes would +not lead to promiscuous intercourse, only to a +change in the tyrant male, who ruled over the women +in the group.</p> + +<p>Another fact against a belief in promiscuity is that +the lowest savages known to us are not promiscuous, +in so far as there is no proved case of the sexual +relations being absolutely unregulated. They all +recognise sets of women with whom certain sets of +men can have no marital relations. Again these +savages are very far removed from the state of man’s +first emergence from the brute, as is proved by their +combination into large and friendly tribes. Such +peaceful aggregation could only have arisen at a much +later period, and after the males had learnt by some +means to control their brute appetites and jealousy +of rivals in that movement towards companionship, +which, first resting in the sexual needs, broadens +out into the social instincts.</p> + +<p>For these reasons, then, we conclude that the +theory of a friendly union having existed among +males in the primitive group is the very reverse of +the truth. This question has now been sufficiently +proved. I am thus brought into agreement with +Dr. Westermarck, Mr. Crawley, and Mr. Lang, in +his examination of Mr. Atkinson’s <i>Primal Law</i>, as +well as with other writers, all of whom have shown +that promiscuity cannot be accepted as a stage in +the early life of the human family.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span></p> + +<p>I have now to show how far this rejection of +promiscuity affects our position with regard to +mother-descent and mother-right. It is clearly +of vital importance to any theory that its foundations +are secure. One foundation—that of promiscuity, +on which Bachofen and McLennan, the two +upholders of matriarchy, base their hypothesis—has +been overthrown. It thus becomes necessary +to approach the question from an altogether different +position. Mother-right must be explained without +any reference to unregulated sexual conduct. I +am thus turned back to examine the opposing theory +to matriarchy, which founds the family on the patriarchal +authority of the father. Nor is this all. What +we must expect a true theory to do is to show conditions +that are applicable not only to special cases, +but in their main features to mankind in general. +I have to prove that such conditions arose in the +primitive patriarchal family as it advanced towards +social aggregation, that would not only make possible, +but, as I believe, would necessitate the power +of the mothers asserting its force in the group-family. +Only when this is done can I hope that a +new belief in mother-right may find acceptance.</p> + +<p>The patriarchal theory stated in its simplest +form is this: Primeval man lived in small family +groups, composed of an adult male, and of his wife, +or, if he were powerful, several wives, whom he +jealously guarded from the sexual advances of all +other males. In such a group the father is the +chief or patriarch as long as he lives, and the family<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> +is held together by their common subjection to him. +As for the children, the daughters as soon as they +grow up are added to his wives, while the sons are +driven out from the home at the time they reach an +age to be dangerous as sexual rivals to their father. +The important thing to note is that <i>in each group +there would be only one adult polygamous male, with +many women of different ages and young children</i>. +I shall return to this later. Such is the marked difference +in the position of the two sexes—the solitary +jealously unsocial father and the united mothers. +I can but wonder how its significance has escaped +the attention of the many inquirers, who have sought +the truth in this matter. Probably the explanation +is to be found in this: they have been interested +mainly in one side of the family—the male side; I +am interested in the other side—in the women +members of the group. The position of women has +seemed of primary importance to very few. Bachofen +is almost alone in placing this question first, +and his mystical far-fetched hypothesis has failed +to find acceptance.</p> + +<p>Let me now, in order to make the position clearer, +continue a rough grouping of the supposed conditions +in this primordial family, with all its members in +subjection to the common father. It may be argued +that we can know nothing at all about the family +and the position of the two sexes at this brute period. +This is true. The conditions are, of course, conjectural, +and any suggested conclusions to be drawn +from them must be still more so. Yet some hypothesis<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> +must be risked as a starting-point for any +theory that attempts to go so far back in the stream +of time.</p> + +<p>We may suppose, then, that mankind aboriginally +lived in small families in much the same way as the +great monkeys: we see the same conditions, for +instance, among the families of gorillas, where the +group never becomes large. The male leader will +not endure the rivalry of the young males, and as +soon as they grow up a contest takes place, and the +strongest and eldest male, by killing or driving out +the others, maintains his position as the tyrant +head of the family.<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p> + +<p>This may be taken as a picture of the human brute-family. +It is clear that the relation of the father +to the other group members was not one of kinship, +but of power. “Every female in my crowd is +my property,” says—or feels—Mr. Atkinson’s patriarchal +anthropoid, “and the patriarch gives expression +to his sentiment with teeth and claws, if +he has not yet learned to double up his fist with a +stone in it. These were early days.”<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p> + +<p>We may conclude that there would be many +of these groups, each with a male head, his wives and +adult daughters, and children of both sexes. It is +probable that they lived a nomadic life, finding a +temporary home in a cave, rock, or tree-shelter, +in some place where the supply of food was plentiful. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>The area of their wanderings would be fixed by the +existence of other groups; for such groups would +almost certainly be mutually hostile to each other, +watchfully resenting any intrusion on their own feeding +ground. A further, and more powerful, cause +of hostility would arise from the sexual antagonism +of the males. Around each group would be the +band of exiled sons, haunting their former hearth-homes, +and forming a constant element of danger +to the solitary paternal tyrant. This I take to be +important as we shall presently see. For, the most +urgent necessity of these young men, after the need +for food, must have been to obtain wives. This +could be done only by capturing women from one +or other of the groups. The difficulties attending +such captures must have been great. It is, therefore, +probable the young men at first kept together, +sharing their wives in polyandrous union. But this +condition would not continue, the group thus formed +would inevitably break up at the adult stage under +the influence of jealousy; the captured wives would +be fought for and carried off by the strongest males +to form fresh groups.</p> + +<p>In this matter I have given the opinion of Mr. +Atkinson and Mr. Lang. They hold that no permanent +peaceful union could have been maintained +among the groups of young men and their captive +wives. Mr. Atkinson gives the reason—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Their unity could only endure as long as the +youthfulness of the members necessitated union +for protection, and their immaturity prevented the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> +full play of sexual passion.” And again: “The +necessary Primal Law which alone could determine +peace within a family circle by recognising a +<i>distinction between female and male</i> (the indispensable +antecedent to a definition of marital rights) +could never have arisen in such a body. It follows +if such a law was ever evoked, it must have been from +<i>within the only other assembly in existence</i>, viz. that +headed by the solitary polygamous patriarch.”<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p></div> + +<p>Whether Mr. Atkinson is right I shall not attempt +to say; the point is one on which I hesitate a decided +opinion; but as this view affords support to my +own theory I shall accept it.</p> + +<p>Now, to consider the bearing of this on our present +inquiry. So far I have followed very closely the +family group gathered around the patriarchal tyrant, +under the conditions given by Mr. Atkinson and +Mr. Lang, in <i>Social Origins and Primal Law</i>. It +will not, I think, have escaped the notice of the reader +that very little has been said about the women and +their children. There is no hint at all that the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>women must have lived a life of their own, different +in its conditions from that of the men. The female +members, it would seem, have been taken for granted +and not considered, except in so far as their presence +is necessary to excite the jealous sexual combats +of the males. This seems to be very instructive. +The idea of the subjection of all females to the solitary +male has been accepted without question. +But the group consisted of <i>many women and only +one adult man</i>. Yet in spite of this, the man is held +to be the essential member; all the family obey +him. His wife (or wives) and his daughters, though +necessary to his pleasure as also to continue the group, +are regarded as otherwise unimportant, in fact, +mere property possessions to him. Now, I am very +sure the rights these group-women must have held +have been greatly underrated, and the neglect to +recognise this has led, I think, to many mistakes. +I am willing to accept the authority of the polygamous +patriarch—within limits. But it seems +probable, as I shall shortly indicate, that a predominant +influence in the domestic life is to be ascribed +to the women, and, therefore, “the movement +towards peace within the group circle” must be +looked for as a result from the feminine side of the +family, rather than from the male side. There is +still another point: I maintain that precisely through +the concentration of the male ruler on the sexual +subjection of his females, conditions must have +arisen, affecting the conduct and character of the +women: conditions, moreover, that would bring<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> +them inevitably more and more into a position +of power.</p> + +<p>It remains for me to suggest what I believe these +conditions to have been. Meanwhile let us keep one +fact steadily before our minds. The fierce sexual +jealousy of the males had by some means to be +controlled. It is evident that the way towards +social progress could be found only by the peaceful +aggregation of these solitary hostile groups; and +this could not be done without breaking down the +rule that strength and seniority in the male conferred +upon him marital right over all the females. In +other words, the tyrant patriarch had in some way +to learn to tolerate the presence of other adult +males on friendly terms within his own group. +We have to find how this first, but momentous, +step in social progress was taken.</p> + +<p>Let us concentrate now our attention on the +domestic life of the women. And first we must +examine more carefully the exact conditions that +we may suppose to have existed in these hostile +groups. The father is the tyrant of the band—an +egoist. Any protection he affords the family is in +his own interests, he is chief much more than father. +His sons he drives away as soon as they are old enough +to give him any trouble; his daughters he adds to his +harem. We may conceive that the domination +of his sexual jealousy must have chiefly occupied +his time and his attention. It is probable that he +was fed by his women; at least it seems certain +that he cannot have provided food for them and for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +all the children of the group. Sex must have been +uninterruptedly interesting to him. In the first +place he had to capture his wife, or wives, then he +had to fight for the right of sole possession. Afterwards +he had to guard his women, especially his +daughters, from being carried off, in their turn, +by younger males, his deadly rivals, who, exiled +by sexual jealousy from his own and the other similar +hearth-homes, would come, with each returning year, +more and more to be feared. An ever-recurring +and growing terror would dog each step of the +solitary paternal despot, and necessitate an unceasing +watchfulness against danger, and even an +anticipation of death. For when old age, or sickness +decreased his power of holding his own, +then the tables would be turned, and the younger +men, so hardly oppressed, would raise their hands +against him in parricidal strife.</p> + +<p>You will see what all this strife suggests—the +unstable and adventitious relation of the man to the +social hearth-group. Such conditions of antagonism +of each male against every other male must favour +the assumption that no advance in peace—on which +alone all future progress depended—could have +come from the patriarchs. Jealousy forced them +into unsocial conduct.</p> + +<p>But advance by peace to progress was by some +means to be made. I believe that the way was +opened up by women.</p> + +<p>I hasten to add, however, in case I am mistaken +here, that I am very far from wishing to set up any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> +claim of superiority for savage woman over savage +man. The momentous change was not, indeed, +the result of any higher spiritual quality in the +female, nor was it a religious movement, as is the +beautiful dream of Bachofen. I do not think we +can credit “a movement” as having taken place +at all, rather the change arose gradually, inevitably, +and quite simply. To postulate a conscious movement +towards progress organised by women is surely +absurd. Human nature does not start on any new +line of conduct voluntarily, rather it is forced into +it in connection with the conditions of life. Just as +savage man was driven into unsocial conduct, so, +as I shall try to show, savage woman was led by +the same conditions acting in an opposite direction, +into social conduct.</p> + +<p>My own thought was drawn first to this conclusion +by noting the behaviour of a band of female turkeys +with their young. It was a year ago. I was staying +in a Sussex village, and near by my home was +the meadow of a farm in which families of young +turkeys were being reared. Here I often sat; and +one day it chanced that I was reading <i>Social Origins +and Primal Law</i>. I had reached the chapter on +“Man in the Brutal Stage,” in which Mr. Atkinson +gives the supposed facts of brute man, and the action +of his jealousy in the family group. I was very much +impressed; my reason told me that what the author +stated so well was probably right. Such sexually +jealous conduct on the part of savage man was likely +to be true; it was much easier to accept this than the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> +state of promiscuous intercourse, with its friendly +communism in women, in which I had hitherto +believed. I really was very much disturbed. For I +was still unshaken in my belief in mother-right. +How were the two theories to be reconciled?</p> + +<p>Often it is a small thing that points to the way +for which one is seeking. All at once my little boy, +who had been playing in the field, called out, “Oh, +look at the Gobble-gobble,”—the name by which +he called the male-turkey. The cock, his great +tail spread, his throat swelling, was swaggering +across the field, making an immense amount of +noisy disturbance. A group of females and young +birds, many of them almost full grown, were near +to where we were sitting; they had been rooting +about in the ground getting their food. Their fear +at the approach of the strutting male was manifest. +All the band gathered together, with the young in +the centre, led and flanked by the mothers. As +the male continued to advance upon them they +retreated further and further, and finally took +harbour in a barn. Here the swaggerer tried to +follow them, but the rear females turned and faced +him and drove him off.</p> + +<p>I had found the clue that I was seeking. All +I had been reading now had a clear meaning for +me. In my delight, I laughed aloud. I saw the +egoism of the solitary male; I knew the meaning +of the females’ retreat; they were guarding the +young from the feared attacks of the father. I +realised how the male’s unsocial conduct towards<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> +his offspring had forced the females to unite with +one another. The cock’s strength, the gorgeous +display of sex-charms, were powerless before this +peaceful combination. He was alone, a tyrant—the +destroyer of the family. But I saw, too, that his +polygamous jealousy served as a means to the end +of advance in progress. It was the male’s non-social +conduct that had forced social conduct upon +the females. And I understood that the patriarchal +tyrant was just the one thing I had been looking for. +My belief in mother-power had gained a new and, +as I felt then in the first delight of that discovery, +and as I still feel, a much surer, because a simpler +and more natural foundation.</p> + +<p>Having now defined my position, and having +related how such conviction came to me, let me +proceed to examine the causes that would lead to the +assertion of women’s power, in the aboriginal family +group. From what has been said, the following +conditions acting on the women, may, it is submitted, +be fairly deduced.</p> + +<div class="blockquot2"><p>1. In the group, which comprised the mothers, +the adult daughters, and the young of both +sexes, the women would live on terms of +association as friendly hearth-mates.</p> + +<p>2. The strongest factor in this association would +arise from the dependence of the children +upon their mothers; a dependence that was +of much longer duration than among the +animals, on account of the pre-eminent helplessness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> +of the human child, which entailed +a more prolonged infancy.</p> + +<p>3. The women and their children would form +the group, to which the father was attached +by his sexual needs, but remained always a +member apart—a kind of jealous fighting +specialisation.</p> + +<p>4. The temporary hearth-home would be the shelter +of the women; and it was under this shelter +that children were born and the group accumulated +its members. Whether cave, or +hollow tree, or some frail shelter, the home +must have belonged to the women.</p> + +<p>5. And this state would necessarily attach the +mothers to the home, much more closely than +the father, whose desire lay in the opposite +direction of disrupting the home. Moreover +this attachment always would be present +and acting on the female children, who, +unless captured, would remain with the +mothers, while it could never arise in the +case of the sons, whose fate was to be driven +from the home. Such conditions must, as +time went on, have profoundly modified the +women’s outlook, bending their desires to a +steady, settled life, conditions under which +alone the germ of social organisation could +develop.</p> + +<p>6. Again, the daily search for the daily food must +have been undertaken chiefly by the women. +For it is impossible that one man, however<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> +skilful a hunter, could have fed all the female +members and children of the group. We +may conceive that his attention and his time +must have been occupied largely in fighting +his rivals; while much of his strength, as +sole progenitor, must have been expended in +sex. It is therefore probable that frequently +the patriarch was dependent on the food +activities of his women.</p> + +<p>7. The mothers, their inventive faculties quickened +by the stress of child-bearing and child-rearing, +would learn to convert to their own +uses the most available portion of their +environment. It would be under the attention +of the women that plants were first +utilised for food. Seeds would be beaten +out, roots and tubers dug for, and nuts and +fruits gathered in their season and stored +for use. Birds would have to be snared, +shell-fish and fish would be caught; while, +at a later period, animals would be tamed for +service. Primitive domestic vessels to hold +and to carry water, baskets to store the food +supplies would have to be made. Clothes +for protection against the cold would come +to be fashioned. All the faculties of the +women, in exercises that would lead to the +development of every part of their bodies, +would be called into play by the work of +satisfying the physical needs of the group.</p> + +<p>8. This interest and providence for the family<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> +would certainly have its effect on the development +of the women. The formation of character +is largely a matter of attention, and the +attention of the mothers being fixed on the +supply of the necessary food, doubtless often +difficult to obtain, their energies would be +driven into productive activities, much more +than in the case of the father, whose attention +was fixed upon himself.</p> + +<p>9. In all these numerous activities the women of +each group would work together. And +through this co-operation must have resulted +the assertion of the women’s power, as the +directors and organisers of industrial occupations. +As the group slowly advanced in +progress, such power increasing would raise +the women’s position; the mothers would +establish themselves permanently as of essential +value in the family, not only as the givers +of life, but as the chief providers of the food +essential to the preservation of the life of +its members.</p> + +<p>10. And a further result would follow in the treatment +by the male of this new order. The +women by obtaining and preparing food +would gain an economic value. Wives would +become to the patriarch a source of riches, +indispensable to him, not only on account of +his sex needs, but on account of the more +persistent need of food. Thus the more +women he possessed the greater would be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> +his own comfort, and the physical prosperity +of the group. The women would become of +ever greater importance, and the economic +power that they thus acquired would more +and more favourably influence their position.</p> + +<p>11. There is one other matter in this connection. The +greater number of women in the group the +stronger would become their power of combination. +I attach great importance to this. +Working together for the welfare of all, the +social motive would grow stronger in women, +so that necessarily they would come to consider +the collective interests of the group. +Can it be credited that such conditions +could have acted upon the patriarch, whose +conduct would still be inspired by individual +appetite and selfish inclinations? I maintain +such a view to be impossible.</p> + +<p>12. Another advantage, I think, would arise for +women out of the male’s jealous tyranny in +the sexual relationship. Such an idea may +appear strange, if we think only of the subjection +of the females to the brute-appetite +of the patriarch. Yet there is another side. +The women must have gained freedom by +being less occupied with sex passions, and +also from being less jealously interested in +the man than he was in them. It may be urged +that the women would be jealous of each +other. I do not think this could have been. +Jealousy has its roots in the consciousness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> +of possession, and is only aroused through fear +of loss. This could not have acted with any +great power among the women in the patriarchal +group. Their interest of possession +in sex must have been less acute in consciousness +than the interest of the male. +Doubtless the woman would be attracted +by the male’s courageous action in fighting +his rivals for possession of her, but when the +rival was the woman’s son such attraction +would come into strong conflict with the +deeper maternal instinct.</p> + +<p>13. From the standpoint of physical strength, the +patriarch was the master, the tyrant ruler +of the group, who, doubtless, often was brutal +enough. But the women, leading an independent +life to some extent, and with their +mental ingenuity developed by the conditions +of their life, would learn, I believe, to outwit +their master by passive united resistance. +They would come to utilise their sex charms +as an accessory of success. Thus the unceasing +sexual preoccupation of the male, +with the emotional dependence it entailed +on the females, must, I would suggest, have +given women an immense advantage. If +I am right here, the patriarch would be in +the power of his women, much more surely +than they would be in his power.</p> + +<p>14. Again, an antagonism must have arisen between +the despot father and his women, in particular<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> +with his daughters, forced to submit to his +brute-passions. I confess I find grave difficulty +in reconciling the view that the group-daughters +would willingly become the wives +of their father. I cannot conceive them +without some power to exercise that choice +in love, which is the right of the female +throughout nature. There is great insistence +by Mr. Atkinson, and all who have written +on the subject, on the sexual passions of +the males, while the desires of the women +are not considered at all. Apparently they +are held to have had none! This affords +yet another instance of the strange concentration +on the male side of the family. It is taken +for granted, for instance, that in every case +the young men, when driven from their home, +had to capture their wives from other groups. +I would suggest that often the capture was +aided by the woman herself; she may even +have escaped from the hearth-home in her +desire to find a partner, preferring the rule +of a young tyrant to an old one, who moreover +was her father. I believe, too, that the wives +and mothers must frequently have asserted +their will in rebellion. I picture, indeed, +these savage women ever striving for more +privileges, and step by step advancing through +peaceful combination to power.</p> + +<p>15. I desire also to maintain that all I have here +suggested finds support from what is known<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +of the position of women among primitive +peoples; and I may add also, from the +character of women to-day.</p></div> + +<p>Now I have summarised briefly what seem to me +the probable conditions of the women’s daily life +in these earliest groups. I have attempted to show +how the sexual jealousy, which acted for the destruction +of the mutually hostile male members, would +necessitate for the women conditions in many ways +favourable; conditions of union in which lay the +beginnings of peace and order. What we have to +fix in our thoughts is the significant fact of the sociability +of the women’s lives in contrast with the solitude +of the jealous sire, watchfully resenting the +intrusion of all other males. Such conditions cannot +have failed to domesticate the women, and urged +them forward to the work that was still to be done +in domesticating man. During the development +of the family, we may expect that the patriarch +will seek to hold his rights, and that the women will +exert their influence more and more in breaking these +down; and this is precisely what we do find, as +I presently shall show.</p> + +<p>One point further. It may, of course, be urged +that all I am affirming for women in this far back +beginning is but a process of ingenious guessing. +Such criticism is just. But I am speaking of conditions +at a time when conjecture is necessary. I +venture to say that my suggestions are in accord +with what is likely to have happened. Moreover,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> +many difficulties will be made clearer if these guesses +are accepted. I believe that here in the earliest +patriarchal stage we have already the germs of the +maternal family. All the chances for success in +power rested with the united mothers, rather than +with the solitary father. Assuredly the jealous +patriarchs paid a heavy price for their sexual +domination.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> The reader is referred to <i>The Truth about Woman</i>, +pp. 87-114. In the courtships and perfect love marriages +of many birds we find jealous combats replaced by the +peaceful charming of the female by the male.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Darwin, <i>Descent of Man</i>. Wallace, <i>The Malay Archipelago</i>, +and Brehm, <i>Thierleben</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> <i>Social Origins and Primal Law</i>, pp. 4, 21. Westermarck, +pp. 13, 42. <i>Primal Law</i>, pp. 209-212.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> <i>Social Origins and Primal Law</i>, p. 230. Mr. Atkinson +writes this to show that there can be no connection between +these groups of young males and the polyandrous marriages +of Mr. McLennan’s theory. The first italics in the passage +are his own; the second are mine. Why I wish to emphasise +this point will soon be seen. I have already mentioned +how I was recommended to read <i>Social Origins</i> to convince +me of my mistake in accepting the mother-age. It has +done just the opposite, and has given me the clue to many +difficulties that I was before unable to clear up. This is +why I am following this book rather than other authorities +in my examination of the patriarchal theory. I take this +opportunity of recording my debt to the authors, and of +expressing my thanks to Mr. Wells, who recommended me +to read the book.</p></div> +</div> + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span></h2> + +<h3>DEVELOPMENT IN THE PATRIARCHAL FAMILY<br /> +AND THE RISE OF MOTHER-POWER</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> essential question, now, is how these small +hostile groups were brought by association to expand +into larger groups. In what way was the sexual +monopoly of the male ruler first curbed, and afterwards +broken down, for only by this being done +could peace be gained? However advantageous +the habits of the patriarch may have been for +himself, they were directly opposed to progress. +Jealousy depends on the failure to recognise the +rights of others. This sexual egoism, by which one +man through his strength and seniority held marital +rights over all the females of his group, had to be +struck at its roots. In other words, the solitary +despot had to learn to tolerate the association of +other adult males.</p> + +<p>How was this happy change to be brought about? +Social qualities are surely developed in the character +by union with one’s fellow beings. From what +has been stated, it seems certain that it was in the +interests of the women to consolidate the family, +and by means of association to establish their own +power. Jealousy is an absolutely non-social quality.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> +Regarding its influence, it is certainly absurd to +believe any voluntary association to have been +possible among the males of the hostile patriarchal +groups; to credit this is to give the lie to the entire +theory. We are driven, therefore, to seek for the +beginnings of social conduct among the women. +I have suggested the conditions forcing them into +combination with one another against the tyranny +of the patriarch. I have now to show how these +causes, continually acting, brought the women step +by step into a position of authority and power. +There is, however, no suggestion of a spiritual +revolt on the part of women. I do not wish to set +up any claim for, because I do not believe in, the +superiority of one sex over the other sex. Character +is determined by the conditions of living. If, as I +conceive, progress came through savage women, +rather than through savage men, it was because +the conditions were really more favourable to them, +and drove them on in the right path. However +strange it may appear, their sexual subjection to +the fierce jealousy of the patriarch acted as a means +to an end in advancing peace.</p> + +<p>The strongest force of union between the women +would grow out of the consciousness of an ever-threatening +and common danger. Not only had +the young to be fed and cared for during infancy +and childhood, but, as they grew in years, they +had to be guarded from the father, whose relation +to his offspring was that of an enemy. It has been +seen how the sons were banished at puberty from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> +family group to maintain the patriarch’s marital +rights. Doubtless the strength of maternal love gained +in intensity through the many failures in conflicts, +that must have taken place with the tyrant fathers. +Would not this community of suffering tend to +force the women to unite with one another, at each +renewed banishment of their sons? May they not, +after the banishment, have assisted their sons in +the capture of their wives? I think it must be +allowed that this is possible. And there is another +point to notice. The exiled sons and their captured +wives would each have a mother in the groups they +had left. May it not be conceived that, as time +brought progress in intelligence, some friendly +communication might have been established between +group and group, in defiance of the jealous guardianship +of the patriarchs? Thus, through the danger, +ever to be feared in every family, there might open +up a way by sympathy to a possible future union.</p> + +<p>It is part of my supposition that every movement +towards friendship must have arisen among the +women. This is no fanciful idea of my own. Mr. +Atkinson, one of the strongest supporters of the +patriarchal theory, agrees with this view, though +he does not seem to see its origin, and does not +follow up its deep suggestion. By him the movement +in advance is narrowed to a single issue of +peace between the father and his sons, but this great +step is credited to the influence of the mothers. +I must quote the passages that refer to this—<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span></p> +<div class="blockquot"><p>“At the renewed banishment of each of her male +progeny by the jealous patriarch, the mother’s +feelings and instincts would be increasingly lacerated +and outraged. Her agonised efforts to retain at +least her last and youngest would be even stronger +than with her first born. It is exceedingly important +to observe that her chances of success in this case +would be much greater. When this last and dearest +son approached adolescence, it is not difficult to +perceive that the patriarch must have reached an +age when the fire of desire may have become somewhat +dull, whilst, again, his harem, from the presence +of numerous adult daughters, would be increased +to an extent that might have overtaxed his once +more active powers. Given some such rather exceptional +situation, where a happy opportunity in +superlative mother love wrestled with a for once +satiated paternal appetite in desire, we may here +discern a possible key of the sociological problem +which occupies us, and which consisted in a conjunction +within one group of two adult males.”</p></div> + +<p>In the next paragraph the author presents the +situation which in this way might have arisen—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“We must conceive that, in the march of the +centuries, on some fateful day, the bloody tragedy +in the last act of the familiar drama was avoided, +and the edict of exile or death left unpronounced. +<i>Pure maternal love triumphed over the demons of lust +and jealousy.</i> A mother succeeded in keeping by +her side a male child, and thus, by a strange coincidence, +that father and son, who, amongst all +mammals, had been the most deadly enemies, were +now the first to join hands. So portentous an +alliance might well bring the world to their feet. +The family would now present for the first time, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> +until then unknown spectacle of the inclusion within +a domestic circle, and amidst its component females, +of an adolescent male youth. It must, however, be +admitted that such an event, at such an epoch, +demanded imperatively very exceptional qualities, +both physiological and psychological, in the primitive +agents. The new happy ending to that old-world +drama which had run so long through blood +and tears, was an innovation requiring very unusually +gifted actors. How many failures had doubtless +taken place in its rehearsal during the centuries, +with less able or happy interpreters!”</p></div> + +<p>Mr. Atkinson supposes that success in the new +experiment “was rendered possible by the rise of +new powers in nascent man.” Here I do not follow +him. “The germ of altruism,” which he sees as +“already having risen to make its force felt” was, +indeed, as he says “an important factor.” But is it +credible that this altruism existed in the father? I can +conceive him being won over through his own emotional +dependence on some specially pleasing woman; +he may well have had favourites among his wives. +I cannot accept “altruism” as a reason for his +conduct, under conditions acting in an exact opposite +way in fostering and increasing egoism. Much more +probable is the supposition that he “must have +reached the age when the fire of desire had become +somewhat dulled.”</p> + +<p>I must also take exception to a further statement +of Mr. Atkinson, “that with such prolonged infancy +there had been opportunity for the development of +paternal philoprogenitiveness.” And again: “It is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> +evident that such long-continued presence of sons +could but result in a certain mutual sympathy, +however inevitable the eventual exile.” It is unnecessary +for me to labour this question. I may, +however, point out, that the identical conditions of +the family among the anthropoid apes (on whom +Mr. Atkinson bases his patriarchy) do not afford +any proof of paternal altruism. The polygamous +jealous father never enters into friendly union with +the other males. He is strong and sexually beautiful, +but he is never social in his domestic conduct. +He is the tyrant in the family, and the young are +guarded from his attacks by the mothers. With +the mothers there is protection and safety, with +the father ownership. The whole argument of the +patriarchal theory is based on the fact of the jealous +conduct of the male. Driven to live in solitary +enmity, the patriarch could not voluntarily tolerate +the presence of a rival, if he was to maintain his +position as ruler. It is impossible to get away from +this. Mr. Atkinson comes very near to this essential +truth, when he suggests (though he does not fully +acknowledge) that the first step in social development +came through the mother’s love for her +child; but at once he turns aside from this, drawn, +I think unconsciously, to the common opinion of +the complete subjection of the females to the +male, an opinion always making it difficult to +accept the initiative in reform as coming from the +woman.</p> + +<p>The exclusive and persisting idea of Mr. Atkinson’s<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> +theory is to establish the action of what he calls +“the primal law.” Only by limiting and defining +the marital rights of the males over the females +could advancement be gained. Until this was done +these small hostile groups could not become larger, +and expand into the clan or tribe.</p> + +<p>I must follow this question a little although it +leads us aside from the immediate subject of my +own inquiry. The first step in progress has been +taken; by the triumph of maternal love, an adult +male son is now included in the group. We must +conceive that this victory, having once been gained +by one mother, would be repeated by other mothers. +Afterwards, as time went on, the advantage in +strength gained to the group by this increase in +their male members, would tend to encourage the +custom. One may reasonably assume that it +became established as a habit in each group that +once had taken the first step. Father and sons, +for so long enemies, now enter on a truce.</p> + +<p>It must not, however, be concluded that sexual +peace followed this new order. It is part of Mr. +Atkinson’s theory that the patriarch’s sexual +jealousy would not be broken down by his tolerance +of the presence of his sons. Peace could be maintained +only so long as the intruders respected his +marital rights. Under this condition, all the group +women, as they all belonged to the patriarch, +would be taboo to the young men; otherwise there +would be a fight, and the offending son would be +driven into exile. Doubtless this frequently happened,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> +but the advantages gained by union would +tend to prevent the danger. Some means of preserving +sexual peace within the group certainly +would come to be established. “For the first time,” +as Mr. Atkinson points out, “we encounter the +factor which is to be the leading power in future +metamorphosis, i. e. <i>an explicit distinction between +female and female as such</i>.”</p> + +<p>Through this bar placed on the female members +within the family circle, the sons, who remained in +peace, would be forced to continue the practice of +capturing their wives, and would bring in women +to live with them from other groups. It is assumed +that these captures were in all cases hostile. I have +given my reasons for disagreeing with this view. I +hold that the young women may have been glad +to have been taken by the young men, and most +probably assisted them, in a surely not unnatural +desire to escape from their tyrant fathers. I +really cannot credit such continued sexual subjection +on the part of the group-daughters, an opinion +which arises, I am certain, from the curious misconception +of the passivity of the human female in +love.</p> + +<p>I do not wish to conceal that my conjecture of +an active part having been taken by the women, +both in their captures and also in all the relationships +of the family, is opposed to the great majority of +learned opinion. The reason for this already has +been suggested. Almost invariably the writers on +these questions are men, and there is, I imagine,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> +a certain blindness in their view. I am convinced +that from the earliest beginnings of the human +family women have exercised a much stronger and +more direct influence than is usually believed. All +the movements towards regulation and progress, so +ingeniously worked out by Mr. Atkinson, are easier +to credit if we accept the initiative as having come +from the group-mothers. I have an inward conviction +of an unchanging law between the two sexes, +and though I cannot here attempt to give any proof, +it seems to me, we can always trace <i>the absorption +by the male of female ideas</i>. The man accepts what +the woman brings forward, and then assumes the +control, believing he is the originator of her ideas. +Take this case of capture: If, as I suggest, the young +women assisted or even took the initiative in their +own captures, they would very plainly not be willing +to allow sexual relationships with another hoary +patriarch. I would urge that here again it was by +the action of the young women, rather than the +young men, that the new order was established. +But this is a small matter. If I am right, the communal +living and common danger among the women +would powerfully bind them together in union, and +sever them from the male rulers. Once this is +granted, it follows that social consciousness in the +women must have been stronger than in the solitary +males. Then there can be no possible doubt of +the part taken by women in the slow advancement +of the group by regulation to social peace. Moreover, +I believe, that confirmation of what is here<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +claimed for women will be found (as will appear +in the later part of my inquiry) in many social +habits among existing primitive peoples, who still +live under the favourable conditions of the maternal +family; habits that suggest a long evolutionary +process, and that can be explained only if they have +arisen in a very remote beginning. But enough on +this subject has now been said.</p> + +<p>Many interesting questions arise from the action +of Mr. Atkinson’s “primal law.” His theory offers +a solution of the much-debated question of the +origin of exogamy,<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> the term used first by Mr. +McLennan, in <i>Primitive Marriage</i>, for the rule which +prohibited sexual relationships within the group +limit. Continence imposed by the patriarch on his +sons within the group, as a condition of his tolerance +of their presence, necessarily and logically entailed +marriage without, with women from some other +group. This explanation of exogamy is so simple +that it seems likely to be true. It is much more +reasonable than any of the numerous other theories +that have been brought forward. Mr. McLennan, +for instance, suggests that the custom arose through +a scarcity of females, owing to the widespread +practice of female infanticide. This can hardly be +accepted, for such conditions, where they exist, +would arise at a much later period. Even less +likely is the theory of Dr. Westermarck, who explains +exogamy as arising from “an instinct against +marriage of near kin.” But we have no proof of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>the existence of any such instinct.<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> Mr. Crawley’s +view is similar: he connects the custom with the +idea of sexual taboo, which makes certain marriages +a deadly sin. It is evident that these causes could +not have operated with the brute patriarch. One +great point in favour of Mr. Atkinson’s view is that +it takes us so much further back. By it exogamy +as a custom must have been much earlier than +totemism, as at this stage the different group-families +would not be distinguished by totem names; but +its action as a law would become much stronger +when reinforced by the totem superstitions, and +would become fixed in rigid sexual taboos.<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> The +strongest of these taboos is the avoidance between +brothers and sisters; this is Mr. Atkinson’s <i>primal +law</i>. It is a law that is still a working factor among +barbarous races, and entails restrictions and avoidances +of the most binding nature.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately I have not space to write even +briefly on this important and deeply interesting +subject. A right understanding of the whole question +of sexual taboos, with the complicated totem +superstitions on which they are based, is very +necessary to any inquiry into the position of women. +But to do this I should have to write another book. +All I can say is this: these avoidances had in their +origin no connection with the relative power of +the two sexes; nor do I believe it can be proved +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>that they were established by men rather than +by women. They arose quite naturally, out of the +necessity for regulation as a condition of peace.</p> + +<p>Let me give one example that will serve to show +how easily mistakes may arise. One of these rules, +common among primitive peoples, prevents the +women from eating with the men. This is often considered +as a proof of the inferior position of the women, +whereas it proves nothing of the kind. It is just one +instance out of many numerous laws of avoidance +between wife and husband, sister and brother, +mother and son, and, indeed, between all relations +in the family, which are part of the general rule to +restrict sexual familiarity between the two sexes, +set up at a time when moral restraints upon desire +could act but feebly. It was only much later that +these sexual taboos came to be fixed as superstitions, +that with unbreakable fetters bound the freedom +of women.</p> + +<p>Here, indeed, are facts causing us to think. We +perceive how old and strongly rooted are many +customs from which to-day we are fighting to escape; +customs of separation between women and men, +which, with appalling conservatism, have descended +through the ages. Will they ever be broken down? +I do not know. These questions are not considered +in adequate fashion; often we are ignorant of the +deep forces driving the sexes into situations of +antagonism. Clearly these primitive avoidances +shed strong light on the sexual problems of our day. +The subject is one of profound interest. I wish<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> +that it were possible to follow it, but all this lies +outside the limit set to my inquiry, and already +I have been led far from the patriarchal family.</p> + +<p>The group has advanced in progress, and now has +many features in common with existing savage +peoples. The friendly conjunction of the father +and his sons has established peace. Exogamy has +begun to be practised; and the family in this way +has been increased not only by the presence of the +group-sons, but by their captured wives. We have +seen that this would necessitate certain rules of +sexual avoidance; thus the patriarch still holds +marital rights over his wives and the group-daughters, +while the captured women are sacred to the group-sons.</p> + +<p>There is now a further important change to consider. +Again the rights of the patriarch have to +be restricted; a bar has to be raised to prevent his +adding his daughters to his wives. Only by overcoming +this habit of paternal incest can further +social evolution become possible.</p> + +<p>On this question I shall give the explanation of +Mr. Atkinson; and it is with real regret that the +limit of my space makes it impossible to quote in +full his own words.<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> The change came by <i>the +entrance of outside suitors as husbands for the daughters +and their acceptance as group-members</i>.</p> + +<p>At this point a difficulty once again arises. By +what means was the patriarch brought to accept +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>the presence of these young intruders, thus usurping +his sexual rights over his daughters? Mr. Atkinson +believes this could not have taken place during the +life of the patriarch. “The initiative in change +must have arisen irrespective of him, or without +his presence.” Here Mr. Atkinson appears to me +to fall into error, as once more he neglects to consider +the effect of the young women’s own desires. +I hold that, by this time, the group-daughters, +supported by their mothers, must have been strong +enough to outwit their father (whose authority +already had been weakened), if not openly, then by +deceiving him. They would now see their brothers +living with young wives. Is it credible, I ask, that +they would remain content with the sexual embraces +of their father?</p> + +<p>In this connection it is of interest to note the +opposition sometimes offered by young females to +the advances of an old male among the families of +monkeys. I have received quite recently an account +of such a case in a letter from my friend, Max Henry +Ferrass, formerly Inspector of Schools in India, +and the author of a valuable work on Burmah. +This is what he says—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“I once was able to observe a herd of common +long-tailed monkeys of the Indian plains at play +on a sandbank in a river. There were about fifty +of all ages. There was one great bully among them +who looked double the size of the average adult—and +must have been double the weight, at any rate—whose +sport was to chase the young females.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> +They, knowing his game, fled before him, but he +caught them readily. But before he could have +his will of any, she would bound from his grasp +as if stung, and always escape, as this sudden spurt +of energy was more than he could control.”</p></div> + +<p>Here we have a clear instance in which the young +females escape from the thraldom of the male ruler +of the horde. The power with which Mr. Atkinson +endows his human patriarch seems to me quite +incredible. I have asserted again and again that +the consolidation of the group-circle was of much +greater importance to the women than to the men. +Now this surely points to the acceptance of the view +that the regulation of the brute sexual appetite was +initiated by the women. Thereby, it may be pointed +out, their action merely resembles womankind in any +stage from the lowest degree of savagery to the +highest stage of civilisation.</p> + +<p>Moreover, there is further proof that points +strongly to the acceptance of this view, that, the +new departure, by which young husbands came into +the group, was brought about by the women, in +opposition to the knowledge and will of the patriarch. +There exists a common custom among primitive +tribes, which affords evidence of these outside suitors +having visited their brides in secret. I refer to +the practice by which intercourse between the husband +and wife is carried on clandestinely by night. +This is one of the earliest forms of marriage, and, +further, it is closely connected, as I shall presently +show, with the maternal family system. There<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> +appears to be no real cause for this precaution. I +do not think it can be explained by the superstitious +dread of the sexes for each other, expressing itself +in this form of sexual taboo; as Mr. Crawley and +other writers suggest. Doubtless this is a factor, +and a very powerful one, in the continuance of the +custom, but it does not seem to me to be the true +explanation of its origin. Such secrecy and clandestine +meetings are, however, exactly what must +have happened if the group-daughters received their +lovers, as I would suggest, in defiance of the will +of the patriarch. May not the custom as it still +exists be a survival, retained and strengthened by +superstition, from a time when these fugitive visits +were necessary for safety?<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p> + +<p>Mr. Atkinson’s view is different from mine. He +does not allow any power at all to the women. He +holds that after the death of the patriarch, his +daughters, still young, would be left without husbands. +To meet this difficulty suitors are brought +from other groups by the brothers, <i>i. e.</i> the sons +settled in the group and who now rule. We are +asked to believe that they do this to relieve themselves +of the maintenance of their widowed sisters, +and to prevent their being captured and carried off +to other groups. According to Mr. Atkinson the +presence of these outside lovers would not be +dangerous to the family peace. They would come +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>from neighbouring groups, from which the young +men had already captured their wives. In this +way the strangers would be the brothers of their +women; and thus the brother-and-sister avoidance—the +primal law already established—would prevent +any fear of interference with the established marital +rights on the part of the new-comers. I strongly +differ from the suggestion that the brothers had to +feed and maintain their widowed sisters; such an +opinion is but another example of a failure to appreciate +the women’s side of the question. I allow +willingly that the sisters may have had the assistance +of their brothers; I incline, indeed, to the opinion +that they would be strong enough to compel their +help, though probably this was not necessary. The +group-sisters and the group-brothers may well have +united against the father, who was the enemy of +both. To me the common-sense view is that these +visits from outside suitors were first paid clandestinely +at night. In the light of human nature it is +at least probable that the tyrant father was deceived +by his daughters and his sons. If already he was +dead, what reason was there for any fear—why were +the visits secret? This seems to show that I am +right; that once more the initiative in the changes +that led to regulation must be traced back to women. +Afterwards, the custom thus established, would come +to be recognised, and the practice of the husband +visiting his wife by night would persist long after the +danger making such secrecy necessary had ceased.</p> + +<p>It will be readily seen that the introduction of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> +young husbands from outside, by whatever means +this was done, would be an immense gain in strength. +Again a new regulation in the sexual relationships +would follow, and the group-daughters would now +have husbands of their own generation, sacred to +them. Furthermore it was the first direct step +in friendly union between group and group; a step +that would open up ways to further progress. The +husband, living in his own group, and visiting his +wife in hers, would at once form a connecting link +between two hitherto separate family circles, which +friendly connection would not be broken, when, +later, the custom arose of the husband leaving his +group to take up his residence with his wife.</p> + +<p>Such an arrangement must have been of immense +advantage to the women. Under the new order, +a wife married to one of these young strangers would +hold a position of considerable power, that hitherto +had been impossible. We have seen that the home +was made by the group-women, and must have +belonged to them; but so far, the continuance of a +daughter in the home had entailed the acceptance of +her father as a husband; the only way of escape +being by capture, which—whether forced or, as I +hold, aided by the girl’s desire—sent her out from +her own family as a stranger into a hostile group. +Now this was reversed, and the husband entered +as the alien into her home and family.</p> + +<p>The following observation of Mr. Atkinson in this +connection must be quoted, as it is in strong agreement +with my own view<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“As a wife who had not been captured, who, in +fact, as an actual member of the group itself, was, +so to speak, the capturer, <i>her position in regard to +her dependent husband would be profoundly modified</i>, +in comparison with that of the ordinary captive +female, whereas such a captive, seized by the usual +process of hostile capture, had been a mere chattel +utterly without power; <i>she, as a free agent in her +own home, with her will backed by that of her brothers</i>” +[why not, I would ask, her sisters and her mother?] +“<i>could impose law on her subject spouse</i>.”<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></p></div> + +<p>In the foregoing sentences Mr. Atkinson affirms +the fateful significance to women of this new form +of marriage. I am in whole-hearted agreement with +this opinion. I glean here and there from the +wealth of Mr. Atkinson’s suggestions, statements +which indicate how nearly he came to seeing all +that I am trying to establish. Yet, I am compelled +to disagree with his main argument; for always +when he touches the woman’s side, he falls back at +once to consider the question in its relation to the +males as the only important members in the group. +I do not, for instance, accept his view that the captive +wives were “mere chattels.” They could not, under +the conditions, have been without some considerable +power, even if it arose only from the sexual dependence +of their owners upon them. Much more +significant, however, is Mr. Atkinson’s view regarding +the authority of the wife in these new peaceable +marriages. He sees one point only as arising from +such a position, and finds “a psychological factor +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>of enormous power, now for the first time able to +make itself felt, in the play of sexual jealousy on +the part of the wife.” She would now “impose +law on her subject spouse, and such law dictated +by jealousy would ordain a bar to intercourse +between him and her more youthful and hence more +attractive daughters.” Now, I do not deny that +such a factor may have acted, for the incentive to +jealousy arises always from individual as opposed +to collective possession. Still I do not think +jealousy can have been strong in this case, and, +even if it were not, any reversion on the part of an +alien father to the habits of the patriarch must +have been impossible; such conduct would not +have been tolerated by the other males in the group, +nor by the daughters, now able to get young +husbands for themselves. To limit the wife’s power +to this single issue can hardly be consistent with +the conditions of the case. Mr. Atkinson, in common +with many other anthropologists, seems disposed to +underrate the evidence regarding the far-reaching +importance of this form of marriage. Among +existing examples of the maternal family, the +mother-rights and influences of women are dependent +largely on the position of the husband as a stranger +in her family home. This matter will become clear +in the later part of my inquiry.</p> + +<p>With the establishment of this new peaceful +marriage the way was cleared for future progress; +it is but a few further steps for the group to grow +into the clan and the tribe. The family-group has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> +increased greatly in size and in social organisation, +from the time when it consisted of the patriarch, +and his community of women and young children. +The group-sons have brought in wives from other +groups and have founded families; the group-daughters +now have husbands who live with them. +Primitive regulations over the marital rights have +arisen, enabling peace to be maintained. Each +family to some extent would be complete in itself. +As the groups advanced in progress, totem names +would come to be used as family marks of distinction, +taken usually from some plant or animal. Peaceable +marriages between the sons and daughters of the +different groups would more and more become the +habit, and would gradually take the place of capture +marriages. The regulation of the sexual relationships, +by which certain women and certain men +became sacred to each other, would become more +strongly fixed by custom; and afterwards the law +would follow that a group of kindred, distinguished +by its totem mark, might not marry within the +hereditary name. The religious superstitions that +came to be connected with these totem names would +make binding the new order in the marriage law. +When this stage was reached exogamy would be +strictly practised; and in all cases under the complete +maternal system, the woman on marriage +would remain in her family home, where the husband +would come to live with her as a kind of privileged +guest.</p> + +<p>There is one other matter that must be noted.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> +The totem name was inherited from the mother, +and not the father. This was the natural arrangement. +When the group was small, there may have +been a communal ownership of the group-children +by the mothers, under the authority of the father. +But this would not continue for long; when the +group increased in numbers, the mother and her +children would keep together as a little sub-family +in the larger circle. This would be especially the +case with captured wives, who would bring with +them the totem marks of their groups, and this +would be the name of the children. The naming of +the children after the mother would also be the +simplest way of distinguishing between the offspring +of different wives, a distinction that would often +be necessary, during the earlier conditions, among +the polygamous fathers.</p> + +<p>It is, however, an entirely mistaken view that +the father’s relation to the child was ever unrecognised. +The taking of the name of the mother arose +as a matter of course, and was adopted simply as +being the most convenient custom. It is manifest +that mother-descent has no connection with a period +of promiscuity. Quite the reverse. All the conditions +of mother-right arose out of the earliest +movements towards order and regulation in the +relationships of the sexes, and were not the result +of licence. Nor was the naming of the child after +the mother so much a question of relationship as +of what may be called “social kinship.” The +causes which led to the maternal system are closely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> +connected with the collective motive, which, if I +am right, was in its origin, at least, the result of the +union of the women against the selfish inclinations +of the patriarch. When property rights came to be +recognised, consisting at first of stores of food and +the household goods, it would be perfectly natural +that they should belong to the women, and descend +through them. The inheritance would be to those +most closely bound together, and who lived together +in the same home. Thus it appears that descent +through the mother was founded on social rights, by +which the organisation of the family, such as membership +in the group or clan, succession and inheritance +were dependent on the mothers. In this sense +it is clear that the term mother-power is fully +justified; it is nearer to the facts than the term +mother-kin.</p> + +<p>Further than this I must not go; the first part of +my inquiry now has come to an end. It may seem +to the reader that the patriarchal theory, in a book +written to establish mother-right, has received more +attention than was called for. I have discussed it +so fully, not only because of the interest of the +subject in proving the errors in the earlier theories +of matriarchy, but because of the insight the conditions +of the primordial group give us into the +origin of the maternal family.</p> + +<p>Many of the suggestions made are more or less +hypothetical, but not a few, I think, are necessary +deductions, based on what is most probable to have +happened. I am fully aware of numerous omissions,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> +and the inadequacy of this summary; but if the +suggestions brought forward shall prove in themselves +to have merit, it has seemed to me that a +fruitful field of investigation has been opened. +Much new ground had to be covered in this attempt +to picture the position of women at a period so +remote that the difficulties are very great. I hope +at least to have cleared away the old errors, which +connected mother-descent with uncertainty of +paternity and an early period of promiscuity.</p> + +<p>Recognising sexual jealousy as the moving force +in brute man, I have accepted that the primeval +family was of the patriarchal type. I have traced +the probable development of the group-family, +expanding by successive steps into larger groups +living in peaceful association. In the earlier stage, +whilst the men lived as solitary despots, the women +enjoyed a communal life. It is thus probable that +the leading power in the upward movement of the +group developing into the clan and tribe arose among +the united mothers, and not with the father. The +women were forced into social conduct. On this +belief is based the theory of mother-power.</p> + +<p>The most important result we have gained is the +proof that the maternal system was framed for order, +and has no connection with sexual disorder. It is +enough if I have suggested reasons to show that +this widespread custom, which is practised still +among many peoples, has nothing about it that is +exceptional, nothing fantastic, nothing improbable. +I hold it to be a perfectly natural arrangement—the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +practical outgrowth of the practical needs of +primitive peoples. The strongest and the one certain +claim for a belief in mother-right and mother-power +must rest on this foundation. It is left for +the second part of my book to prove how far I am +right in what I claim.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> <i>Primal Law</i>, pp. 231-232.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> <i>Studies.</i> Chap. VII. “Exogamy: Its Origin.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> <i>History of Human Marriage.</i> Chap. XIV. “Prohibition +of Marriage between Kindred.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> <i>Mystic Rose.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> <i>Primal Law.</i> The chapter “From the Group to the +Tribe,” pp. 250-263.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> Mr. Atkinson refers to these clandestine marriages. +He does not, however, connect the custom, as I suggest, +with any action on the part of the young women.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> <i>Primal Law</i>, p. 256.</p></div> +</div> + + +<h2 class="part"><a name="PART_II" id="PART_II"></a>PART II<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span><br /> + +THE MOTHER-AGE CIVILISATION<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span></h2> + + +<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“It’s not too late to seek a newer world:<br /></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> +<span class="i0"> </span> +</div><div class="stanza"> + +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Tho’ much is taken, much abides: and tho’<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We are not now the strength which in old days<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One equal temper of heroic hearts;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Made weak by time and rule, but strong in will<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”<br /></span> +<span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 60%">Tennyson.</span><br /> +</div></div> + + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></h2> + +<h3>THE MATRIARCHAL FAMILY AMONG THE +AMERICAN INDIANS</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">It</span> is time now to turn to the actual subject of +this investigation, in order to see how far the theory +of mother-right has been helped by the lengthy +examination of the patriarchal group.</p> + +<p>Since the publication of <i>Das Mutterrecht</i> much has +been written that has tended to raise doubts as to +the soundness of the matriarchal theory, at least in +the form held by its early supporters. A reaction +in the opposite direction has set in, before which the +former belief in mother-power has been transformed, +and now seems likely to disappear altogether. In +recent years, Westermarck, Starcke, Andrew Lang, +N. W. Thomas, and Crawley among others have +given utterance to this view. The prevalence of a +system tracing descent through the mother is accepted +by the majority of learned opinion, though +it would seem somewhat grudgingly. Mr. Crawley +is the only writer, as far as I know, who denies that +such a practice was ever common; the cases in +which it still exists, as these cannot be denied, he +regards as exceptions. He affirms: “There is no +evidence that the maternal system was ever general<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> +or always preceded the paternal system.” And +again: “Though frequent, maternal descent cannot +have been either universally or generally a stage +through which man has passed.”<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></p> + +<p>Mr. Crawley considers this assumption may be +taken for granted; so that he does not trouble +himself about proofs. The subject of mother-right +is dismissed as unworthy of serious attention. Such +an attitude is surely instructive, and illustrates the +failure, to which I have already pointed, in considering +the woman’s side in these questions. +There would seem to be a tendency to doubt as +being possible any family arrangement favourable +to the authority of women. Even when descent +through the mother is accepted as a phase in social +development, it is denied that such descent confers +any special rights to women.</p> + +<p>One reason of this prejudice must be sought in +the persistence of the puritan spirit: the objection +to mother-kin rests mainly on the objection to +loose sexual relationships. Thus it became necessary +to attempt a new explanation of the origin of +the custom, and hence my examination of the +primordial patriarchal group. It may be thought +that I should have done better to confine my inquiry +to existing primitive peoples. But, if I am right, +mother-power is rooted much further back than +history, and arose first in the dawn of the human +family. This had to be established.</p> + +<p>It is clearly of vital importance to an inquiry +that claims to set up a new belief in a discredited +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>theory to protect it from those objections which +hitherto have prevented its acceptance. This I +have attempted to do. I have shown that the +customs connected with mother-right had no connection +at all with a state of promiscuity; that +they were the result of order in the sexual relationships, +and not of disorder. I have traced the +causes which appear to have given rise to such a +system, showing that the maternal order was not +the first phase of the family, but was a natural +forward movement—one which developed slowly +and quite simply from the conditions of the patriarchal +group. Moreover, I have maintained, and +tried to prove, that the initiative in progress was +taken by the women, they being inspired by their +collective interest to overcome the individual +interests of the male members of the group. If this +is not assented to, then indeed, my view of mother-power +can find no acceptance.</p> + +<p>It is necessary, however, once more to guard +against any mistake. I do not wish to prove a +theory of gynæcocracy, or rule of woman. The +title chosen for this chapter at once opens the way to +misinterpretation. It might appear as if I supported +Bachofen’s supposition that, under a system +of maternal descent women possessed supreme rule +in the family and in the clan: this is a dream only +of visionaries. I declare here that I consider the +theory of the so-called matriarchate at once false +and injurious: false, because it can lead to nothing; +and injurious, because, while it cannot be supported +by facts, it overthrows what can be proved<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> +by the evidence that is open to all investigators. +Nothing will be gained by exaggeration and by +claiming over much for women. The term “matriarchal” +takes too much for granted that women at +one period ruled. Such a view is far from the +truth. All I claim, then, is this: the system by +which the descent of the name and the inheritance +of property passes through the female side of the +family placed women in a favourable position, with +definite rights in the family and clan, rights which, +in some cases, resulted in their having great and +even extraordinary power. This, I think, may be +granted. <i>If descent through the father stands, as it +is held to do, for the predominance of man over woman—the +husband over the wife, then it is at least surely +possible that descent through the mother may in some +cases have stood for the predominance of the wife over +the husband.</i> The reader will judge how far the +examples of the maternal family I am able to bring +forward support this claim.</p> + +<p>The evidence for mother-right has never yet been +fully brought into notice; but much of the evidence +is now available. Our knowledge of the customs of +primitive peoples has increased greatly of late +years, and these afford a wide field for inquiry. +And although the examples of the complete maternal +family existing to-day are few in number—probably +not more than twenty tribes,<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> yet the important +fact is that they occur among widely separated +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>peoples in all the great regions of the uncivilised +world. Moreover, side by side with these, are found +a much larger number of imperfect systems, which +give unmistakable evidence of an earlier maternal +stage. Such examples are specially instructive; +they belong to a transitional period, and show the +maternal family in its decline as it passes into a +new patriarchal stage; often, indeed, we see the one +system competing in conflict with the other.</p> + +<p>In this connection I may note that Westermarck +does not accept an early period when descent was +traced exclusively through the mother; he gives a +long list of peoples among whom the system is not +practised. These passages occur in his well-known +<i>Criticism of the Hypothesis of Promiscuity</i>,<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> and his +whole argument is based on the assumption that +mother-right arose through the tie between the +father and the child being unrecognised. But +mother-descent has no connection at all with uncertainty +of paternity. I venture to think Dr. +Westermarck has not sufficiently considered this +aspect of the question, and, if I mistake not, it is +this confusion of mother-descent with promiscuity +which explains his attitude towards the maternal +system, and his failure to recognise its favourable +influence on the status of women. In his opinion +this system of tracing descent does not materially +affect the relative power of the two sexes.<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> In such +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>a view I cannot help thinking he is mistaken; and +I am supported in this by the fact that he makes the +important qualification that the husband’s power is +impaired when he lives among his wife’s kinsfolk. +Now, it is this form of marriage, or the more primitive +custom when the husband only visits his wife, +that is practised among the peoples who have preserved +the complete maternal family. Under such +a domestic arrangement, which really reverses the +position of the wife and the husband, mother-right +is found; this maternal marriage is, indeed, the true +foundation of the woman’s power. Where the +marriage system has been changed from the maternal +to the paternal form, and the wife is taken from the +protection of her own kindred to live in the home of +her husband, even when descent is still traced +through the mother, the chief authority is almost +always in the hands of the father. Thus it need not +cause surprise to find mother-descent combined with +a fully established patriarchal rule. But among +such peoples practices may often be met with that +can be explained only as survivals from an earlier +maternal system. Moreover, in other cases, we +meet with tribes that have not yet advanced to the +maternal stage. A study of existing tribes, and +of the records of ancient civilisations, will yield any +number of examples.</p> + +<p>Unmistakable traces of mother-right may, indeed, +be found by those, whose eyes are opened to see, in +all races. In peasant festivals and dances, and in +many religious beliefs and ceremonies, we may<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> +meet with such survivals. They may be traced in +our common language, especially in the words used +for sex and for kin relationships. We can also find +them shadowed in certain of our marriage rites, and +sex habits to-day. Another source of evidence is +furnished by the widespread early occurrence of +mother-goddesses, who must be connected with a +system which places the mother in the forefront of +religious thought. Further proof may be gathered +from folk stories and heroic legends, whose interest +offers rich rewards in suggestions of a time when +honour rested with the sex to whom the inheritance +belonged. Thus, the difficulty of establishing a +claim for mother-right and mother-power does +not rest in any paucity of proof—but rather in its +superabundance.</p> + +<p>It would be superfluous for me to dwell on the +difficulties of such an inquiry. The subject is +immensely complicated and wide-reaching, so that +I must keep strictly to the path set before me. It +is my purpose to outline the domestic relations in +the maternal family clan, and to examine the sex-customs +and forms of marriage. I shall limit myself +to those matters which throw some light on the +position of women, and shall touch on the features +of social life only in so far as they illustrate this. +These questions will be discussed in the three succeeding +chapters. Some portion of the matter given +has appeared already in the section on the “Mother-Age +Civilisation” in <i>The Truth about Woman</i>, +which gives examples of the maternal family in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> +America, Australia, India and other countries. +Such examples formed a necessary part of the +historical section of that work; they are even more +necessary to this inquiry. Many new examples will +be given, and the examination of the whole subject +will be more exhaustive. These chapters will be +followed by a discussion of certain difficulties, and +an examination of the transition period in which +the maternal family gave way to the second patriarchal +stage with the family founded on the authority +of the father. A short chapter will be devoted to the +work done by women in primitive tribes and its +importance in relation to their position. Then will +come as full an account as is possible of the traces +of the mother-age to be found in the records of ancient +and existing civilised races; while a brief chapter will +be added on certain myths and legends which help to +elucidate the theory of women’s early power. The +final chapter will treat of general conclusions, with an +attempt to suggest certain facts which seem to bear +on present-day problems. Throughout I shall +support my investigation (as far as can be done in a +work primarily designed for a text-book) by examples, +which, in each case, have been carefully +chosen from trustworthy evidence of those who are +personally acquainted with the habits of the peoples +of whom they write. I shall try to avoid falling +into the error of a one-sided view. Facts will be +more important than reflections, and as far as +possible, I shall let these speak for themselves.</p> + +<p>Let us now concentrate our attention on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> +complete maternal family, where the clan is grouped +around the mothers.</p> + +<p>The examples in this chapter will be taken from +the aboriginal tribes of North and South America +among whom traces of the maternal system are +common, while in some cases mother-right is still in +force. At the period of European discovery the +American Indians were already well advanced in the +primitive arts, and were very far removed from +savagery. Their domestic and social habits showed +an organisation of a very remarkable character; +among certain tribes there was a communal maternal +family, interesting and complicated in its arrangements. +Such customs had prevailed from an +antiquity so remote that their origin seems to have +been lost in the obscurity of the ages. It is possible, +however, to see how this communism in living may +have arisen and developed out of the conditions we +have studied in the far distant patriarchal groups. +For this reason they afford a very special interest to +our inquiry.</p> + +<p>Morgan, who was commissioned by the American +Government to report on the customs of the aboriginal +inhabitants, gives a description of the system as +it existed among the Iroquois—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Each household was made up on the principle +of kin. The married women, usually sisters, own +or collateral, were of the same <i>gens</i> or clan, the +symbol or <i>totem</i> of which was often painted upon the +house, while their husbands and the wives of their +sons belonged to several other <i>gentes</i>. The children<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> +were of the <i>gens</i> of their mother. As a rule the sons +brought home their wives, and in some cases the +husbands of the daughters were admitted to the +maternal household. Thus each household was +composed of persons of different <i>gentes</i>, but the +predominating number in each household would be +of the same <i>gens</i>, namely, that of the mother.”<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a></p></div> + +<p>We see here, at once, the persistence and development +of the conditions and later customs of the +patriarchal family-group, now evolved into the clan. +In the far-distant days the jealous spirit was still +strong; now it has been curbed and regulated, and +the female yoke binds the clan together. We have +the mothers as the centre of the communal home; +the sons bringing their wives to live in the circle, +while the daughters’ husbands are received as +permanent guests. Under such a system the +mothers are related to each other, and belong to the +same clan, and their children after them; the fathers +are not bound together by the same ties and are +of different clans. The limits within which marriage +can take place are fixed, and we can trace the action +of the ancient primal law in the bar that prohibits +the husband from being of the same clan as his wife. +Though the husband takes up his abode in the wife’s +family, dwelling there <i>during her life and his good +behaviour</i>,<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> he still belongs to his own family. The +children of the marriage are of the kindred of the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>mother, and never of his kindred: they are lost to +his family. Thus there can be no extension of the +clan through the males, it is the wife’s clan that is +extended by marriage.<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></p> + +<p>The important point to note is that the conditions +of the clan are still favourable to the social conduct of +the women, who are attached much more closely to the +home and to each other than can be the case with the +men. The wife never leaves the home, because she +is considered the mistress, or, at least, the heiress. +In the house all the duties and the honour as the +head of the household fall upon her. This position +may be illustrated by the wife’s obligation to her +husband and his family, which are curiously in +contrast with what is usually expected from a woman. +Thus a wife is not only bound to give food to her +husband, to cook his provisions when he sets out on +expeditions, but she has likewise to assist members +of his family when they cultivate their fields, and +to provide wood for an allotted period for the use of +his family. In this work she is assisted by women +of her clan. The women are also required in case of +need to look after their parents.</p> + +<p>There are many interesting customs in the +domestic life of the Iroquois. I can notice a few +only. The system of living, at the time Morgan +visited the tribes, consisted of a plan at once novel +and distinctive. Each <i>gens</i> or clan lived in a long +tenement house, large enough to accommodate the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>separate families. These houses were erected on +frames of poles, covered with bark, and were from +fifty to a hundred feet in length. A passage way +led down the centre, and rooms were portioned off +on either side: the doors were at each end of the +passage. An apartment was allotted to each family. +There were several fireplaces, usually one for every +four families, which were placed in the central +passage: there were no chimneys. The Iroquois +lived in these long houses, <i>Ho-de-no-sau-nee</i>, up to +<small>A.D.</small> 1700, and in occasional instances for a hundred +years later. They were not peculiar to the Iroquois, +but were used by many tribes. Unfortunately this +wise plan of living has now almost entirely passed +away.</p> + +<p>I wish that I had space to give a fuller account of +these families.<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> Each household practised communism +in living, and made a common stock of the +provisions acquired by fishing and hunting, and by +the cultivation of maize and plants. The curse of +individual accumulation would seem not to have +existed. Ownership of land and all property was +held in common. Each household was directed by +the matron who supervised its domestic economy. +After the daily meal was cooked at the several fires, +the matron was summoned, and it was her duty to +apportion the food from the kettle to the different +families according to their respective needs. What +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>food remained was placed in the charge of another +woman until it was required by the matron. In +this connection Mr. Morgan says: “This plan of +life shows that their domestic economy was not +without method, and it displays the care and +management of women, low down in barbarism, for +husbanding their resources and for improving their +conditions.”</p> + +<p>In this statement, made by one who was intimately +acquainted with the customs of this people there is +surely confirmation of what I have claimed for +women? The further we go in our inquiry the more +we are driven to the conclusion that the favourable +conditions uniting the women with one another +exerted a powerful influence on their character. I +think this is a view of the maternal family system +that has never received its proper meed of attention.</p> + +<p>It must be noted that the women did not eat with +the men; but the fact that the apportioning of the +food was in the women’s hands is sufficient proof that +this separation of women and men, common among +most primitive peoples, has no connection with the +superiority of one sex over the other. It is interesting +to find that only one prepared meal was served +in each day. But the pots were always kept boiling +over the fires, and any one who was hungry, either +from the household or from any other part of the +village, had a right to order it to be taken off and to +eat as he or she pleased.</p> + +<p>We may notice the influence of their communistic +living in all the Indian customs. At all times the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> +law of hospitality was strictly observed. Food was +dispensed in every case to those who needed it; no +excuse was ever made to avoid giving. If through +misfortune one household fell into want, the needs +were freely supplied from the stock laid by for future +use in another household. Hunger and destitution +could not exist in any part of an Indian village or +encampment while plenty prevailed elsewhere. +Such generosity at a time when food was often +difficult to obtain, and its supply was the first concern +of life, is a remarkable fact. Nor does this +generosity seem, as might be thought, to have led to +idleness and improvidence. He who begged, when +he could work, was stigmatised with the disgraceful +name of “poltroon” or “beggar”; but the miser +who refused to assist his neighbour was branded as +“a bad character.” Mr. Morgan, commenting on +this phase of the Indian life says: “I much doubt +if the civilised world would have in their institutions +any system which can properly be called more +humane and charitable.”</p> + +<p>These reflections induce one to ask: What were +the causes of this humane system of living among +a people considered as uncivilised? Now, I do not +wish to claim overmuch for women. We have seen, +however, that the control and distribution of the +supply of food was placed in the hands of the +matrons, thus their association with the giving of +food must be accepted. Is not this fact sufficient +to indicate the reason that made possible this communism? +To me it is plain that these remarkable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> +institutions were connected with the maternal +family, in which the collective interests were more +considered than is possible in a patriarchal society, +based upon individual inclination and proprietary +interests.</p> + +<p>A brief notice must now be given to the system +of government. An Indian tribe was composed of +several <i>gentes</i> or clans, united in what is known as a +<i>phratry</i> or brotherhood. The tribe was an assemblage +of the <i>gentes</i>. The <i>phratry</i> among the Iroquois was +organised partly for social and partly for religious +objects. Each <i>gens</i> was ruled by chiefs of two +grades, distinguished by Morgan as the <i>sachem</i> and +common chiefs. The <i>sachem</i> was the official head of +the <i>gens</i>, and was elected by its adult members, male +and female. The <i>sachems</i> and chiefs claimed no +superiority and were never more than the exponents +of the popular will of the people. Unanimity among +the <i>sachems</i> was required on all public questions. +This was the fundamental law of the brotherhood; +if all efforts failed to gain agreement the matter +in question was dropped. Under such a system +individual rule or the power of one <i>gens</i> over the +other became impossible. All the members of the +different <i>gentes</i> were personally free; equal in privileges, +and in position, and in rights. “Liberty, +equality, and fraternity,” though never formulated, +were the cardinal principles of the <i>gens</i>.<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> Mr. Morgan +holds the opinion that “this serves to explain that +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>sense of independence and personal dignity universally +attributed to the Indian character.”</p> + +<p>Regarding the part taken by the women in the +government, we have very remarkable testimony. +Schoolcraft,<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> in his elaborate study of the customs +of the Indian tribes, states that the women had “a +conservative power in the political deliberations. +The matrons had their representatives in the public +councils, and they exercised a negative, or what we +call a veto, power, in the important question of the +declaration of war.” They had also the right to +interpose in bringing about a peace. Heriot also +affirms: “In the women is vested the foundation +of all real authority. They give efficiency to the +councils and are the arbiters of war and peace.... +It is also to their disposal that the captured slaves +are committed.” And again: “Although by +custom the leaders are chosen from among the men, +and the affairs which concern the tribe are settled +by a council of ancients, it would yet seem that they +only represented the women, and assisted in the +discussion of subjects which principally related to +that sex.”<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a></p> + +<p>These remarkable social and domestic conditions +were common to the American Indians under the +maternal system. The direct influence of women, +as directors through the men, is a circumstance of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>much interest. Among the Senecas, an Iroquoian +tribe with the complete maternal family, the +authority was very certainly in the hands of the +women. Morgan quotes an account of their family +system, given by the Rev. Ashur Wright for many +years a resident among the Senecas, and familiar +with their language and customs.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“As to their family system, it is probable that +one clan predominated (in the houses), the women +taking in husbands, however, from other clans, +and sometimes for novelty, some of their sons +bringing in their young wives, until they felt brave +enough to leave their mothers. Usually the female +portion ruled the house, and were doubtless clannish +enough about it. The stores were in common, but +woe to the luckless husband or lover who was too +shiftless to do his share of the providing. No matter +how many children or whatever goods he might +have in the house, he might at any time be ordered +to pack up his blanket and budge, and after such +orders it would not be healthful for him to attempt +to disobey; the house would be too hot for him, and +unless saved by the intercession of some aunt or +grandmother, he must retreat to his own clan, or, +as was often done, go and start a new matrimonial +alliance in some other. The women were the great +power among the clans as everywhere else. They +did not hesitate, when occasion required, to ‘knock +off the horns,’ as it was technically called, from the +head of a chief and send him back to the ranks of the +warrior. The original nomination of the chief also +always rested with them.”</p></div> + +<p>Mr. Morgan affirms his acceptance of the Indian +women’s authority, and says, after quoting this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> +passage: “The mother-right and gynæcocracy +among the Iroquois here plainly indicated is not +over-drawn. The mothers and their children, as +we have seen, were of the same <i>gens</i>, and to them the +household belonged. The position of the mother +was eminently favourable to her influence in the +household, and tended to strengthen the maternal +bond.”<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a></p> + +<p>It is important to note that among the Iroquois +polygamy is not permitted, nor does it appear ever +to be practised. Many instances are reported in the +Seneca tribe of a woman having more than one +husband, but an Iroquoian man is never allowed +more than one wife.<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> This is the more remarkable +when we consider the fact that the mothers nurse +their children for a very long period, during which +time they do not cohabit with their husbands. +Such entire absence of polygamy is to be explained, +in part, by the maternal marriage, a system which +in its origin was closely connected with sexual +regulation; nor would plurality of wives be possible +in a society in which all the members of both sexes +enjoyed equal privileges, and were in a position of +absolute equality. Marriages usually take place at +an early age. Under the maternal form, the +husband living with the wife worked for her family, +and commonly gained his footing only through his +service. As suitor he was required to make presents +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>to the bride’s family. During the first year of +marriage all the produce of his hunting expeditions +belonged to the wife, and afterwards he shared his +goods equally with her. The marriages were negotiated +by the mothers: sometimes the father was consulted, +but this was little more than a compliment, as +his approbation or opposition was usually disregarded. +Often it was customary for the bridegroom to seek +private interviews at night with his betrothed; +clearly a survival from a time when such secrecy in +love was necessary. In some instances it was +enough if the suitor went and sat by the girl’s side +in her apartment; if she permitted this, and remained +where she was, it was taken for consent, and +the act would suffice for marriage. Girls were +allowed the right of choice in the selection of their +partners. There is abundant testimony as to the +happiness of the marriage state. Divorce was, +however, allowed by mutual consent, and was +carried out without dispute, quarrel or contradiction.<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> +If a husband and a wife could not agree, +they parted amicably, or two unhappy pairs would +exchange husbands and wives. An early French +missionary remonstrated with a couple on such a +transaction, and was told: “My wife and I could +not agree; my neighbour was in the same case, so +we exchanged wives and all four were content. +What can be more reasonable than to render one +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>another mutually happy, when it costs so little, +and does nobody any harm.”<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> It would seem that +these maternal peoples have solved many difficulties +of domestic and social life better than we ourselves +have done.</p> + +<p>The Wyandots, another Iroquoian tribe, maintained +the maternal household, though they seem to +have reached a later stage of development than the +Senecas. They camped in the form of a horse-shoe, +every clan together in regular order. Marriage +between members of the same clan was forbidden; +the children belonged to the clan of the mother. +The husbands retained all their rights and privileges +in their own <i>gentes</i>, though they lived in the +<i>gentes</i> of their wives. After marriage the pair +resided, for a time, at least, with the wife’s mother, +but afterwards they set up housekeeping for +themselves.<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a></p> + +<p>We may note in this change of residence the +creeping in of changes which inevitably led in +time to the decay of the maternal family and +the reassertion of the patriarchal authority of +the father. This is illustrated further by the +Musquakies, also belonging to the Algonquian +stock. Though still organised in clans, descent +is no longer reckoned through the mother; the +bridegroom, however, serves his wife’s family, and +he lives in her home. This does not make him +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>of her clan, but she belongs to his, till his death or +divorce separates her from him. As for the children, +the minors at the termination of the marriage +belong to the mother’s clan, but those who had +had the puberty feast are counted to the father’s +clan.<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a></p> + +<p>The male authority was felt chiefly in periods of +war. This may be illustrated by the Wyandots, +who have an elaborate system of government. In +each <i>gens</i> there is a small council composed of four +women, called <i>yu-waí-yu-wá-na</i>; chosen by the +heads of the household. These women select a +chief of the <i>gens</i> from its male members, that is, +from their brothers and sons. He is the head of the +<i>gentile</i> council. The council of the tribe is composed +of the aggregated <i>gentile</i> councils; and is thus +made up of four-fifths of women and one-fifth of +men. The <i>sachem</i> of the tribes, or tribal-chief, is +chosen by the chiefs of the <i>gentes</i>. All the civil +government of the <i>gens</i> and of the tribe is carried on +by these councils; and as the women so largely +outnumbered the men, who are also—with the one +exception of the tribal-chief—chosen by them, it is +evident that the social government of the <i>gens</i> and +tribe is largely controlled by them. On military +affairs, however, the men have the direct authority, +though, as has been stated, the women have a veto +power and are “allowed to exercise a decision in +favour of peace.” There is a military council of all +the able-bodied men of the tribe, with a military +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>chief chosen by the council.<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> This seems a very +wise adjustment of civic duties; the constructive +social work and the maintaining of peace directed +by the women; the destructive work of war in the +hands of men.</p> + +<p>Powell gives an interesting account of their communal +life. Each clan owns its own lands which it +cultivates; but within these lands each household +has its own patch. It is the women councillors who +partition the clan lands among the households. +The partition takes place every two years. But +while each household has its own patch of ground, +the cultivation is communal; that is, all the able-bodied +women of the clan take a share in cultivating +every patch. Each clan has a right to the service +of all its women in the cultivation of the soil. It +would be difficult to find a more striking example +than this of communism in labour. I claim it as +proof of what I have stated in an earlier chapter of +the conditions driving women into combination and +social conduct.</p> + +<p>If we turn now to the South American continent +we shall find many interesting survivals of the complete +maternal family, in particular among the +Pueblo peoples of New Mexico and Arizona, so +called from the Spanish word <i>pueblo</i>, a town. The +customs of the people have been carefully studied +and recorded by Bancroft, Schoolcraft, Morgan, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>Tylor, McGee, the Spanish historian, Herrera, and +other travellers. When first visited by European +anthropologists the country was divided into +provinces, and in many provinces the people lived +in communities or little republics. The communal +life was here more developed even than among the +Northern Indians. The people lived together in +joint tenement houses, much larger, and of more +advanced architecture, than the long houses of the +Iroquois. These houses are constructed of adobe, +brick and stone, imbedded in mortar; one house +will contain as many as 50, 100, 200, and in some +cases, 500 apartments. Speaking of these houses, +Bancroft states: “The houses are common property, +and both women and men assist in building +them; the men erect the wooden frames, and the +women make the mortar and build the walls. In +place of lime for mortar they mix ashes with earth +and charcoal. They make <i>adobes</i>, or sun-dried +bricks, by mixing ashes and earth with water.”<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> +Cushing, who visited and lived with the Zuñi Indians, +records that among them the houses are entirely +built by the women, the men supplying the material. +These houses are erected in terrace form; within they +are provided with windows, fireplaces and chimneys, +and the entrance to the different apartments is +gained by rude pole ladders. The pueblo, or +village, consists of one or two, or sometimes a +greater number of these houses, each containing a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>hundred or more families, according to the number +of apartments.</p> + +<p>Among the Creek Indians of Georgia, Morgan +recounts a somewhat different mode of communal +dwelling as formerly being practised. In 1790 they +were living in small houses, placed in clusters of +from four to eight together; and each cluster +forming a <i>gens</i> or clan, who ate and lived in common. +The food was prepared in one hut, and each family +sent for its portion. The smallest of these “garden +cities” contained 10 to 40 groups of houses, the +largest from 50 to 200.<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> These communistic dwelling-houses +are so interesting and so important that I +would add a few words. Here, we have among these +maternal peoples a system of living which appears +to be identical with the improved conditions of +associated dwelling now beginning to be tried. How +often we consider new things that really are very +old! In the light of these examples, our co-operative +dwelling-houses and garden cities can no +longer be regarded as experiments. They were in +use in the mother-age, when many of our new (!) +ideas seem to have been common. Can this be +because of the extended power held by women, who +are more practical and careful of detail than men +are? I believe that it is possible. This would +explain, too, the revival of the same ideas to-day, +when women are taking up their part again in social +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>life. To those who are questioning the waste and +discomfort of our solitary homes I would recommend +a careful study of this primitive communism. I +would point out the connection of the social ideal +with the maternal family, while the home that is +solitary and unsocial must be regarded as having +arisen from the patriarchal customs. I have had +occasion again and again to note that collective +interests are more considered by women; and individual +interests by men. This, at least, is how I see +it; and a study of the Indian maternal families +seems to give confirmation to such a conclusion.</p> + +<p>But to return to the Pueblo peoples. The tribes +are divided into exogamous totem clans. Kinship +is reckoned through the women, and in several +tribes we find the complete maternal family. +Among such peoples the husband goes to live with the +wife and becomes an inmate of her family. If the +house is not large enough, additional rooms are built +on to the communal home and connected with +those already occupied. Hence a family with many +daughters increases, while one consisting of sons +dies out.</p> + +<p>The marriage customs and relationships between +the young men and the girls are instructive; they +vary in the different tribes, but have some points +in common. The Pueblos are monogamists, and +polygamy is not allowed amongst them. Bancroft +records a very curious custom. The morals of the +young people are carefully guarded by a kind of +secret police, whose duty it is to report all irregularities;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> +and in the event of such taking place the +young man and the girl are compelled to marry.<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> +Now, whatever opinion may be held of such interference +with the love-making of the young people, +it affords strong proof of the error which has hitherto +connected the maternal system with unregulated +sexual relationships. This is a fact I am again and +again compelled to point out, risking the fear of +wearying the reader.</p> + +<p>Among some tribes freedom is permitted to the +women before marriage. Heriot states that the +natives who allow this justify the custom, and say +“that a young woman is mistress of her own person, +and a free agent.”<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> The tie of marriage is, however, +observed more strictly than among many civilised +monogamous races. And this is so, although divorce +is always easy and by mutual consent; a couple +being able to separate at once if they are dissatisfied +with each other. Here are facts that may well +cause us to think. As for the courtship, the usual +custom is reversed; when a girl is disposed to marry +she does not wait for a young man to propose to +her, but selects one to her liking, and then consults +her family as to his suitability as a husband. The +suitor has to serve the bride’s family before he can +be accepted, and in some cases the conditions are +binding and exceedingly curious.</p> + +<p>How simple and really beautiful are the conditions +of life among these people may be seen from the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>idyllic record of the Zuñi Indians given by Mr. +Cushing.<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> He describes how the Zuñi girl, when +taking a fancy to a young man, conveys a present of +thin <i>hewe</i>-bread to him as a token, and becomes his +affianced, or as they say “his-to-be.” He then +sews clothes and moccasins for her, makes her a +necklace of gay beads, and combs her hair out on the +terrace in the sun. After his term of service is over, +and all is settled, he takes up his residence with +her; then the married life begins. “With the +woman rests the security of the marriage tie, and, +it must be said, in her high honour, that she rarely +abuses the privilege; that is, never sends her +husband ‘to the home of his fathers’ unless he +richly deserves it.” Divorce is by mutual consent, +and a husband and wife would “rather separate than +live together unharmoniously.” This testimony is +confirmed by Mrs. Stevenson, who visited the Zuñis, +and writes with enthusiasm of the people. “Their +domestic life might well serve as an example for the +civilised world. They do not have large families. +The husband and wife are deeply attached to one +another and to their children.” “The keynote of +this harmony is the supremacy of the wife in the +home. The house with all that is in it is hers, +descending to her through her mother from a long +line of ancestresses; and the husband is merely her +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>permanent guest. The children—at least the female +children—have their share in the common home; +the father has none.” “Outside the house the +husband has some property in the fields, although in +earlier times he had no possessory rights and the +land was held in common. Modern influences have +reached the Zuñi, and mother-right seems to have +begun its inevitable decay.”<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a></p> + +<p>The Hopis, another Pueblo tribe, are more conservative, +and with them the women own all the +property except the horses and donkeys, which +belong to the men. Among the Pueblos the women +commonly have control over the granary, and they +are very provident about the future. Ordinarily +they try to have one year’s provisions on hand. It +is only when two years of scarcity succeed each +other that the community suffers hunger. Like +the Zuñis, the Hopis are monogamists. Sexual +freedom is, however, permitted to a girl before +marriage. This in no way detracts from her good +repute; even if she has given birth to a child “she +will be sure to marry later on, unless she happens +to be shockingly ugly.” Nor does the child suffer, +for among these maternal peoples, the bastard takes +an equal place with the child born in wedlock. The +bride lives for the first few weeks with her husband’s +family, during which time the marriage takes place, +the ceremony being performed by the bridegroom’s +mother, whose family also provides the bride with +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>her wedding outfit. The couple then return to the +home of the wife’s parents, where they remain, +either permanently, or for some years, until they can +obtain a separate dwelling. The husband is always +a stranger, and is so treated by his wife’s kin. The +dwelling of his mother remains his true home, in +sickness he returns to her to be nursed, and stays +with her until he is well again. Often his position +in his wife’s home is so irksome that he severs his +connection with her and her family, and returns to +his old home. On the other hand, it is not uncommon +for the wife, should her husband be absent, +to place his goods outside the door: an intimation +which he well understands, and does not intrude +upon her again.<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a></p> + +<p>Again, among the Pueblo peoples, we may consider +the Sai. Like the other tribes they are +divided into exogamous totem clans; descent is +traced only through the mother. The tribe through +various reasons has been greatly reduced in numbers, +and whole clans have died out, and under these +circumstances exogamy has ceased to be strictly +enforced. This has led to other changes. The Sai +are still normally monogamous. When a young +man wishes to marry a girl he speaks first to her +parents; if they are willing he addresses himself +to her. On the day of the marriage he goes alone +to her home, carrying his presents wrapped in a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>blanket, his mother and father having preceded him +thither. When the young people are seated together +the parents address them in turn, enjoining +unity and forbearance. This constitutes the ceremony. +Tribal custom requires the bridegroom to +reside with the wife’s family.<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a></p> + +<p>All the Pueblo peoples are more advanced than +the greater number of the neighbouring tribes; their +matrimonial customs are more refined, their domestic +life much happier, and they have an appreciation +of love, a rare thing in primitive peoples.<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> Among +other tribes purchase of a wife is common, always +a sure sign of the enslavement of women. Thus in +Columbia what is most prized in a woman is her +aptitude for labour, and the price paid for her +(usually in horses) depends on her capacity as a +beast of burden. Sometimes, as in California, a +suitor obtains a wife on credit, but then the man is +called “half married;” and until her price is paid +he has to labour as a slave for her parents. Here, +as elsewhere, morality is simply a custom of habit; +Bancroft says that purchase of a wife has become +accepted as honourable, so that among the Californian +Redskins “the children of a wife who has cost +nothing to her husband are looked down upon.”<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> +Such customs are in sharp contrast to the liberty +granted to the woman among the Pueblos. As an +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>example of women’s power carried to the limit of +tyranny, we may note the Nicaraguans, of whom +Bancroft states that “the husbands are said to +have been so much under the control of their wives +that they were obliged to do the housework, while +the women attended to the trading.” Under these +circumstances it is perhaps not surprising to find +the women described as “great shrews, who would +on the slightest provocation drive their offending +husbands out of the house.”<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> This is a curious case of +the despotic rule of women. Westermarck accounts +for their position by the strict monogamy that is +enforced, but I do not think this can be the true +explanation.<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a></p> + +<p>Among the Guanas the women make their own +stipulations with their lovers before marriage, +arranging what they are to do in the household. +They are also said to decide the conditions of the +marriage, whether it is to be monogamous, or if +polygamy or polyandry is to be allowed.<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> The +Zapotecs and other tribes inhabiting the Isthmus of +Tehuantepec, are remarkable for “the gentleness, +affection, and frugality that characterises the +marital relations. Polygamy is not permitted, which +is very remarkable as the women greatly outnumber +the men.”<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a></p> + +<p>Lastly, I wish to bring forward a very striking +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>example of the complete maternal family among +the Seri Indians, on the south-west coast of North +America, now reduced to a single tribe. Their +curious and interesting marriage customs have +been described by McGee, who visited the people to +report on their customs for the American Government. +The Seri are probably the most primitive +tribe in the American continent. At the time +of Mr. McGee’s visit they preserved the maternal +system in its early form, and are therefore an +instructive example by which to estimate the +position of the women.<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“The tribe is divided into exogamous totem +clans. Marriage is arranged exclusively by the +women. The elder woman of the suitor’s family +carries the proposal to the girl’s clan mother. If +this is entertained, the question of marriage is +discussed at length by the matrons of the two clans. +The girl herself is consulted; a <i>jacal</i> is erected for +her, and after many deliberations, the bridegroom is +provisionally received into the wife’s clan for a year +under conditions of the most exacting character. +He is expected to prove his worthiness of a permanent +relationship by demonstrating his ability as a +provider, and by showing himself an implacable +foe to aliens. He is compelled to support all the +female relatives of his bride’s family by the products +of his skill and industry in hunting and fishing for +one year. There is also another provision of a very +curious nature. The lover is permitted to share the +<i>jacal</i>, or sleeping-robe, provided for the prospective +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>matron by her kinswomen, not as a privileged +spouse, but merely as a protective companion; and +throughout this probationary time he is compelled +to maintain continence—he must display the most +indubitable proof of his moral force.”</p></div> + +<p>This test of the Seri lover must not mistakenly be +thought to be connected, as might appear, with the +modern idea of continence. As is pointed out by +McGee, it arose out of the primitive sexual taboos, +and is imposed on the young man as a test of his +strength to abstain from any sexual relationships +outside the proscribed limits. Such a moral test +may once have been common, but seems to have +been lost except among the Seri; though a curious +vestige appears in the anti-nuptial treatment of the +bridegroom, in the Salish tribe. The material test +is common among many peoples, and must not be +confused with the later custom of payment for the +wife by presents given to her family. Still this Seri +marriage is one of the most curious I know among +any primitive peoples. And the continence demanded +from the bridegroom appears more extraordinary +if we compare it with the freedom granted +to the bride. “During this period the always +dignified position occupied by the daughters of the +house culminates.” Among other privileges she is +allowed to receive the “most intimate attentions +from the clan-fellows of the group.” “She is the +receiver of the supplies furnished by her lover, +measuring his competence as would-be husband. +Through his energy she is enabled to dispense<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> +largess with a lavish hand, and thus to dignify her +clan and honour her spouse in the most effective +way known to primitive life; and at the same time +she enjoys the immeasurable moral stimulus of +realising she is the arbiter of the fate of a man who +becomes a warrior or an outcast at her bidding, and +through him of the future of two clans—she is +raised to a responsibility in both personal and +tribal affairs which, albeit temporary, is hardly +lower than that of the warrior chief.” At the close +of the year, if all goes well, the probation ends in a +feast provided by the lover, who now becomes the +husband, and finally enters his wife’s <i>jacal</i> as “consort-guest.” +His position is wholly subordinate, +and without any authority whatever, either over +his children or over the property. In his mother’s +hut he has rights, which seem to continue after his +marriage, but in his wife’s hut he has none.</p> + +<p>I have now collected together, with as much +exactitude as I could, what is known of the maternal +family in the American continents. There are many +tribes in which descent is reckoned through the +father, and it would be bold to assert that these +have all passed through the maternal stage. An +examination of their customs shows, in some cases, +survivals, which point to such conclusion; among +other tribes it seems probable that the maternal clan +has not developed. As illustrations of mother-power, +I claim the examples given speak for +themselves. It may, of course, be urged that these +complete maternal families are exceptions, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> +thus to dismiss them as unimportant. But this is +surely an unscientific way of settling the question. +One has to accept these cases, or to prove that +they are untrue. Moreover, I have by no means +exhausted the evidence; and to these complete +maternal families might be added examples from +other tribes which would furnish similar proofs, +but there is such consistency of custom among +them all that further accounts may be dispensed +with.</p> + +<p>There is one other matter for which I would +claim attention before closing this chapter on the +American Indians, and that is the remarkable +similarity to be noticed in many tribes between the +faces of the men and the women. To me this is a +point of deep interest, though I do not claim to +understand it. My attention was first drawn to +notice this likeness between the two sexes when I +came to know some Iroquois natives who live in +England. I was at once struck with the appearance +of the men: though strong and powerfully built, +they were strikingly like women. Since then I have +examined many portraits of the North Indian +tribes; I have found that the great majority of men +approach much more nearly to the feminine than +the male type. I might, however, hesitate to bring +the matter forward, were it founded only on my own +observation. But in my reading I have found an +important reference to the question in a recent work, +“The Indians of North America in Recent Times,” by +Mr. Cyrus Thomas, Ph.D., Archæologist, in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> +<i>Bureau of American Ethnology</i>. He writes as +follows (p. 41)—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Another curious fact, which has not hitherto +received special notice, though apparently of considerable +interest, is the prevailing feminine physiognomy +of the males, at least of those of the northern +section. If any one will take the trouble to study +carefully a hundred or more good photographs of +males of pure blood he will find that two thirds, if +not a greater proportion, show feminine faces. The +full significance of this fact is not apparent, but it +seems to bear to some extent upon the question of +the evolution of the race.”</p></div> + +<p>What this fact suggests is a problem to which it +is very difficult even to guess at an answer. Does +this lack of differentiation in the physiognomy of the +Indians point to something much deeper? Are +the men really like the women? Such a conception +opens up considerations of very great significance. +So far as I understand the matter, it appears that, +as well as the deep inherent differences between the +two sexes, there are other differences due to divergence +in function. It seems probable that changes in +environment or in function (as when one sex, for +some reason or other, performs the duties usually +undertaken by the other sex), may alter or modify +the differences which tend to thrust the sexes apart. +I feel very sure that there can be changes in the +secondary sexual characters of the male and female. +This is sufficiently proved by many examples. Can +we, then, accept the theory that an environment,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> +which favours women’s forceful function, may modify +the infinitely complicated characters of sex, which, as +yet, we so imperfectly understand? I do not know +with any certainty. Yet I can see no other interpretation; +and, if I mistake not, it may be possible +in this way to cast a light on one of the most +difficult problems with which we are faced to-day.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> <i>The Mystic Rose</i>, pp. 460-461.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> This is the number given by Prof. Tylor. “The Matriarchal +Family System,” <i>Nineteenth Century</i>, July 1896.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> <i>History of Human Marriage</i>, pp. 97-104.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> “The Position of Woman in Early Civilisations,” +<i>Sociological Papers</i>, 1904.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> Morgan, <i>Houses and House-Life of the American Aborigines</i>, +p. 64.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> Tylor, “The Matriarchal Family System,” <i>Nineteenth +Century</i>, July 1896.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> McLennan, <i>The Patriarchal Theory</i>, p. 208. Heriot, +<i>Travels through the Canadas</i>, p. 323.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> The reader is referred to Morgan’s interesting <i>Houses +and House-Life of the Aborigines</i>. It is from this work that +many of the facts I give have been taken.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> Morgan, <i>Ancient Society</i>, p. 62. Also <i>Houses and House-Life +of the American Aborigines</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> <i>Historical and Statistical Information Respecting the +History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the +United States</i>, 6 vols., Vol. III, p. 195. See also <i>Notes on +the Iroquois</i> and <i>The Indian in his Wigwam</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> Heriot, <i>op. cit.</i>, pp. 321-322.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> <i>Houses and House-Life of American Aborigines</i>, pp. 65-66.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> Morgan, <i>League of the Iroquois</i>, p. 324. Heriot, <i>op. cit.</i>, +pp. 323, 329. Schoolcraft, <i>op. cit.</i>, Vol. III, p. 191.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> Heriot, pp. 231-237. See also Report of an Official +of Indian Affairs on two of the Iroquoian tribes, cited +by Hartland. <i>Primitive Paternity</i>, Vol. I, p. 298.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> <i>Charleroix</i>, Vol. V, p. 48, quoted by Hartland, <i>op. cit.</i>, +Vol. II, p. 66.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> Powell, <i>Rep. Bur. Ethn.</i>, I, 63.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> Owen: <i>Musquakie Indians</i>, p. 72.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> I have summarised the account of the Wyandot +government as given by Hartland, who quotes from +Powell’s “Wyandot Government,” <i>First Annual Report +of the Bureau of American Ethnology</i>, 1879-1880, pp. 61 ff.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> <i>The Native Races of the Pacific States of South America</i>, +5 vols., Vol. I, p. 555. See also Morgan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> Schoolcraft, <i>Indian Tribes</i>, p. 262, gives an account of +these houses. A similar plan of living is reported of the +Maya Indians.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> Bancroft, <i>op. cit.</i>, pp. 546, 547.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> Heriot, <i>op. cit.</i>, p. 340.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> Cushing, “My Visit to the Zuñi Indians,” <i>Century +Magazine</i>, 1883. Prof. Tylor gives these passages in his +account of the Zuñi Indians, “The Patriarchal Family +System,” <i>Nineteenth Century</i>, 1896. I have quoted from +him.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> Mrs. Stevenson, in the <i>Report Bureau Ethnological</i>, +XXIII, pp. 290-293.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> Voth, <i>Traditions of the Hopi</i>, pp. 67, 96, 133. <i>Rep. Bur. +Ethn.</i>, XIII, 340. Hartland, <i>Primitive Paternity</i>, Vol. II, +pp. 74-76.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> <i>Rep. Bur. Ethn.</i> IX, p. 19. Hartland, <i>Ibid.</i>, pp. 76-77.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> Bancroft, <i>op. cit.</i>, Vol. I, p. 549.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> Bancroft, <i>op. cit.</i>, Vol. I, p. 277. Power’s <i>Tribes of +California</i>, pp. 22, 56.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> Bancroft, <i>op. cit.</i>, Vol. II, p. 685.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> <i>History of Human Marriage</i>, p. 500.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> Azara, <i>Voyages dans l’Amérique Méridionale</i>, Vol. II, +p. 93.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> Bancroft, <i>op. cit.</i>, Vol. I, pp. 661-662.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> “The Beginning of Marriage,” <i>American Anthropologist</i>, +Vol. IX, p. 376. Also <i>Rep. Bur. Ethn.</i>, XVII, 275.</p></div> +</div> + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span></h2> + +<h3>THE MATERNAL FAMILY AMONG THE KHASIS</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">There</span> are, perhaps, no people among whom the +family in the full maternal form can be studied with +more advantage than the Khasi Hill tribes, in the +north-east of India. This race has a special interest +as a people who, in modern times, have preserved +their independence and their ancestral customs +through many centuries. We find mother-descent +strictly practised, combined with great and even +extraordinary rights on the part of the women. +The isolation of the Khasis may account for this +conservatism, but, as will appear later, there are +other causes to explain the freedom and power of +the Khasi women. We are fortunate in having a +fuller knowledge of the Khasi tribes, than is common +of many primitive peoples. Their institutions and +interesting domestic customs have been carefully +noted by ethnologists and travellers, and in all +accounts there is united testimony to the high +status of the women. I will quote a statement of +Sir Charles Lyell,<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> which affirms this fact very +strongly—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Their social organisation presents one of the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>most perfect examples still surviving of matriarchal +institutions carried out with a logic and a thoroughness +which, to those accustomed to regard the status +and authority of the father as the foundation of +society, are exceedingly remarkable. Not only is +the mother the head and source and only bond of +union of the family, in the most primitive part of +the hills, the Synteng country, she is the only owner +of real property, and through her alone is inheritance +transmitted. The father has no kinship with his +children, who belong to their mother’s clan; what +he earns goes to his own matriarchal stock, and at +his death his bones are deposited in the cromlech +of his mother’s kin.”</p></div> + +<p>Such testimony cannot be put aside. I wish it +were possible for me to give a detailed account of +this people, there is so much that is of interest to +us in their mother-right customs. All that I can +do is to note briefly a few of these, which to me +seem specially important.</p> + +<p>And first, in order to understand better their +customs, let us consider a few facts of the people +themselves. The Khasis are a vigorous and sturdy +race. The men are short, but exceedingly muscular; +the women are comely, especially when young; and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>the children are remarkably pretty. In both the +sexes strongly developed calves are considered a +mark of beauty. It is interesting to note that the +men usually wear their hair long, and when it is +cut short, a single lock is preserved at the back, +which is called <i>u niuhtrong</i>, “the grandmother’s +lock.” In some districts the men pull out the hairs +of the moustaches, with the exception of a few hairs +on either side of the upper lip. In character these +people are independent, simple, truthful and straightforward; +cheerful in disposition, and light-hearted +by nature. They thoroughly appreciate a joke, +especially the women. Among the men there is +some drunkenness, but not among the women, +though they are the chief distillers of spirits. Men +and women work together, usually at the same +occupations. We learn that the Khasis have an +unusual love of nature, and are fond of music; thus +they have names for birds and flowers, also for +many butterflies and moths. These are traits not +usually found in the people of India.</p> + +<p>There is a point to note of special interest in their +language. All the nouns have a masculine and a +feminine gender, and the feminine nouns immensely +predominate. The sun is feminine, the moon +masculine. In the pronouns there is one form +only in the plural, and that is feminine. It may +seem that these matters—noted so briefly—are +unimportant; but it is such little things that deserve +attentive study. At least they serve to show +that the Khasis have reached a high level of primitive<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> +culture; and they indicate further the strong importance +of the feminine idea, which is the main +interest in our inquiry.</p> + +<p>A few words must be said about the organisation +of the tribes. These tribes are formed in sections—of +which the chief are the Khasi, Synteng, and +War. Each section or tribe is divided into clans +and sub-clans; these are strictly exogamous. To +marry within the clan is the greatest sin a Khasi +can commit. This would explain the strict reckoning +of descent through the mothers.</p> + +<p>The Khasi clan grew from the family. There is +a saying common among the people, <i>Long jaid ne +ka kynthei</i>, “From the woman sprang the tribe.” +All the clans trace their descent from ancestresses +(grandmothers) who are called <i>Ki Iwabei Tynrai</i>, +literally, <i>grandmothers of the root</i>, i. e. <i>the root of the +tree of the clan</i>. In some clans the name of the +ancestress survives, as, for instance, <i>Kyngas houning</i>, +“the sweet one.” <i>Ka Iaw shubde</i> is the ancestress +of the Synteng tribe, and it is curious to note that +she is credited with having first introduced the art +of smelting iron. She is also said to have founded +a market in which she successfully traded in cattle.<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a></p> + +<p>It is hardly possible to exaggerate the esteem in +which the tribal ancestress is held; she is so greatly +reverenced that she may truly be said to be deified. +In such worship rests the foundation of the deep +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span>tribal piety. <i>Ka Iawbei</i>, “the first mother,” has +the foremost place of honour by her side, and acting +as her agent is <i>U Suid Nia</i>, her brother. There is +another fact to show the honour in which the female +ideal is held. The flat memorial stones set up to +perpetuate the memory of the dead are called after +the mothers of the clan, while the standing stones +ranged behind them are dedicated to the male +kinsmen on the female side. These table stones +are exceedingly interesting. They are exactly like +the long stones and dolmens which are found in +Brittany, in Ireland, in Galicia in Spain, and other +parts of Europe. Is it possible that some of these +memorials, whose history has been lost, were also +set up to commemorate the mothers of tribes? +But be this as it may, among the Khasis, where +ancient custom and tradition have been preserved, +goddesses are more important than gods. Almost +all the other deities to whom propitiation is offered +are female. Male personages also figure, and among +them <i>Thaulang</i>, the husband, is revered.<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> Still the +chief divinity rests in the goddesses; the gods are +represented only in their relation to them. The +powers of sickness and death are all female, and +these are most frequently worshipped. Again, the +protectors of the household are goddesses. I wish +that I had space to write of their curious, yet +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span>beautiful, religious rites. The sacrifices are communal +in character; they are offered in times of +sickness and when dangers threaten the clan. +Priestesses assist at all sacrifices and the male +officiants act only as their agents. The household +sacrifices are always performed by women.</p> + +<p>Consider what this placing of their goddesses +rather than their gods—of the priestess rather than +priest—in the forefront of their worship signifies! +Very plainly it reflects honour on the sex to which +the supreme deities belong. We need no clearer +proof of the high status of women among this people. +Such customs are certainly survivals<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> from the +time of a more primitive matriarchate, when the +priestess was the agent for the performance of all +religious ceremonies. In one state a priestess still +performs the sacrifices on the appointment of a +new Siem, or ruler. Another such survival is the +High Priestess of Nongkrem, in the Synteng district, +who “combines in her person sacerdotal and +regal functions.” In this state the tradition runs +that the first High Priestess was <i>Ka Pah Synten</i>, +“the flower-lured one.” She was a beautiful +maiden, who had her abode in a cave at Marai, near +Nongkrem whence she was enticed by means of a +flower. She was taken by her lover to be his bride, +and she became not only the first High Priestess of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span>Nongkrem, but also the mother of the Siems of +Nongkrem.</p> + +<p>It must be noted that the Siems or rulers of +the states are always men. They are chosen from +the eldest sister’s children. Possibly the case of the +High Priestess of Nongkrem, who is the nominal +head of the state, points to an earlier period of rule +by women; but to-day the temporal power is +delegated to one of her sons or nephews, who becomes +the Siem. I need not labour this question overmuch; +it is actualities I wish to deal with. As I +have repeatedly said, there is no sure ground for +believing that the maternal system involves rule by +women. This may have happened in some cases, +but I do not think that it can ever have been +common. I am very certain, however, of the error +in the view which accepts the subordination of +women as the common condition among barbarous +peoples, whereas there are indications and proofs +in all directions of a more or less strong assertiveness +on their part, and always in the direction of +social unity and sexual regulation. The fact that +the maternal system resulted in the limitation of +the freedom of the male members of the family is, +in my opinion, to be attributed to those powerful +female qualities which exercised an immense influence +on early societies. Regarding what has been +said, I think it cannot be denied that while individual +rights were of far more importance to the males, +the idea of the family and social rights were, in +their turn, essentially feminine sentiments. Thus<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> +it was in the women’s interest to consolidate the +family, and by means of this their own power; and +they succeeded in doing so to an extraordinary +extent in primitive communities, without help of +the maternal customs, which, as I have tried to +make clear, arose out of the conditions of the +primordial family and by the action of the united +mothers. If I am right, then, here is the primary +cause of the women’s position of authority in the +communal maternal family.</p> + +<p>I am very certain of the rights such a system +conferred upon women; rights that are impossible +under the patriarchal family, which involves the +subordination of the woman to her father first and +afterward to her husband. In proof of this let us +now consider marriage and divorce, the laws of +inheritance, and other customs of the Khasis. And +first we may note that polygamy—the distinctive +custom of the patriarchs—does not exist; as Mr. +Gurdon remarks, “such a practice would not be in +vogue among a people who observe the matriarchate.” +This is the more remarkable as the Khasi +women considerably outnumber the men. In 1901 +there were 1118 females to 1000 males. At the +present time the people are monandrists. There +are instances of men having wives other than those +they regularly marry, but the practice is not common. +Such wives are called “stolen wives,” and +their children are said “to be from the top,” <i>i. e.</i> +from the branches of the clan and not the root. +In the War country the children of the “stolen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> +wife” enjoy an equal share in the father’s property +with the children of the regular wife. Polyandry +is said to be practised, but the fact is not mentioned +by Mr. Gurdon; in any case it can prevail only +among the poorer sort, with whom, too, it would +often seem to mean rather facility of divorce than +the simultaneous admission of plurality of husbands.<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a></p> + +<p>The courtship customs of Khasi youths and +maidens are simple and beautiful. The young +people meet at the dances in the spring-time, when +the girls choose their future husbands. There is no +practice among the Khasis of exchange of daughters; +and there is an entire absence of the patriarchal +idea of their women as property. Marriage is a +simple contract, unaccompanied by any ceremony.<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> +After marriage the husband lives with his wife in +her mother’s home. Of late years a new custom +has arisen, and now in the Khasi tribe, when one +or two children have been born, and <i>if the marriage +is a happy one</i>, the couple frequently leave the +family home, and set up housekeeping for themselves. +When this is done, husband and wife pool +their earnings for the support of the family. This +is clearly a departure from the maternal marriage, +a step in the direction of father-right. Among the +Syntengs, the people who have most closely preserved +the customs of the matriarchate, the husband +does not even go to live with his wife, he only visits +her in her mother’s home. In Jowáy this rule is +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>so strict that the husband comes only after dark. +He is not permitted to sleep, to eat, or smoke during +his visit—the idea being that as none of his earnings +go to support the home, he must not partake of food +or any refreshment. Here is a curious instance of +etiquette preserving these clandestine visits long +after the time when such secrecy was necessary. +We may note another survival among the Syntengs. +The father is commonly called by the name of the +first child, thus, the father of a child called Bobon, +becomes Pa-bobon.<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> This does not, I am sure, +point back to a period when paternity was uncertain, +rather, it is an effort to establish the social +relation of the father to the family, and is connected +with domestic and property considerations, not at +all with relationship. The proof of this will appear +in a later chapter.</p> + +<p>Very striking are the conditions attaching to +divorce. Again we find the right of separation +granted equally to both sexes, a significant indication +of the high position of women. Marriage being +regarded as an agreement between wife and husband, +the tie may be broken without any question of disgrace. +But although divorce is frequent and easy, +and can be claimed for a variety of reasons, all who +have dwelt among the Khasis testify to the durable +and happy marriages among them. Only when they +find it impossible to live amicably together do a +couple agree to separate. In this event the children +always remain with the mother. For their mothers +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span>the children cherish a very strong affection, for all +their sympathies and affection bind them to her and +her family.</p> + +<p>The conditions of divorce vary in the separate +tribes. Among the Khasis both parties must agree +to the dissolution of the tie. With the Synteng +and War tribes such mutual consent is not necessary, +but the partner who claims release from the other, +without his or her consent, must pay compensation. +A woman cannot be divorced during pregnancy. +The form of divorce is simple; among the Khasis +it consists of the exchange of five cowries. This is +done in the presence of witnesses, and the ceremony +must take place in the open air. Then a crier goes +around the village to proclaim the divorce, using +the following words—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“<i>Kaw</i>—hear, oh villagers! that—U and K have +been separated in the presence of the elders. <i>Hei!</i> +thou, oh young men, canst go and make love to +K—for she is now unmarried, and thou, oh maidens, +canst make love to U—<i>Hei!</i> there is no let or +hindrance from henceforth.”</p></div> + +<p>And here I would pause, although it leads me a +little aside, to make a point that to me seems to +be of special importance. Obviously this simple +divorce by mutual consent was made easy in its +working by the maternal system. The great drawback +to the dissolution of the marriage tie in the +patriarchal family is the effect it has on the lives +of the children; but in the maternal family such<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> +evil does not exist, for the children always live with +the mother and take her name. By saying this, I +do not wish to imply that I am necessarily recommending +such a system, but that it had its advantages +for the mother and her children, I think, cannot +be denied. Its failure arises, as is evident, from the +alien position of the father in relation to his children.</p> + +<p>In the primitive maternal family the place of the +father, to a great extent, is filled by the maternal +uncle. Among the Khasis he is regarded in the +light of a father. It is his duty to assist the mother +in the management of the family. The husband is +looked upon merely as <i>u shong kha</i>,<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> a begetter. +Only by the later marriage custom, when the wife +and children leave the home of her mother, has the +father any recognised position in the home. “There +is no gainsaying the fact,” writes Mr. Gurdon, “that +the husband is a stranger in the wife’s home, and +it is certain he can take no part in the rites and +ceremonies of his wife’s family.”</p> + +<p>The important status assigned to women becomes +clearer when we consider the laws of inheritance. +Daughters inherit, not sons. The youngest daughter +is heiress to the family property, but the other +daughters are entitled to a share on the mother’s +death. No man can possess property unless it is +self-acquired. Among the Synteng, such property +on the man’s death goes to his mother. This would +seem to be the primitive custom. There is now a +provision that, if the wife undertakes not to re-marry +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span>she has half of her husband’s property, which descends +to her youngest daughter. In the Khasi +states a man’s property, if acquired before his +marriage, goes to his mother, but what is gained +afterwards goes to the wife, for the youngest +daughter. Only in the War country do the sons +inherit from the father with the daughters, but +something in addition is given to the youngest +daughter. The family property always descends +in the female line. For this reason, daughters are +of more importance than sons. A family without +daughters dies out, which among the Khasis is the +greatest calamity, as there is no one qualified to +bury the dead and perform the religious rites. +Thus both the Khasis and the Syntengs have a plan +of adoption. The male members of any family, if +left without females, are allowed to call in a young +girl from another family to perform the family +religious ceremonies. She takes the place of the +youngest daughter, and becomes the head of the +household. She inherits the ancestral property.</p> + +<p>In the face of these facts it can hardly be denied +that mother-right and mother-power among the +Khasis are still very much alive. Here at least +descent through the mother does involve power to +women, and confers exceptional rights, especially +as regards inheritance. I have already called +attention to the equality of the women with men +in the code of sexual morality. This is so important +that it is worth while to follow it a little further. +That freedom in love carries with it domestic and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> +social rights and privileges to women I have no +longer to prove. We found the same freedom under +the maternal family among the Iroquois and Zuñi +Indians: there courtship was in the hands of the +woman; there also divorce was free, and a couple +would rather separate than live together inharmoniously. +I have given proof of the happy +domestic life of these peoples. Equality in the +sexual relationships has always been closely associated +with the status of women. Wherever divorce +is difficult, there woman’s lot is hard, and her +position low. It is part of the patriarchal custom +which regards the man as the owner of the woman. +It would be easy to prove this by the history of +marriage in the races of the past, as also by an +examination of the present divorce laws in civilised +countries. I cannot do this, but I make the assertion +without the least shadow of doubt. “Free +divorce is the charter of Woman’s Freedom.” I +would point back in proof to these examples of +the maternal family, foremost among whose privileges +is this equality of partnership in marriage. +Here you have before you, solved by these primitive +peoples, some of the most urgent questions that +yet have to be faced by us to-day. To hear of +peoples who live gladly, and without those problems +that are rotting away our civilisation, brings a new +courage to those of us, who sometimes grow hopeless +at our own needless wastage of love and life.</p> + +<p>I must not say more upon this question, though +it is one that tempts me strongly. It is not,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> +however, my purpose in this book to offer opinions of +my own on these problems of the relations of the +two sexes; I prefer to leave the facts of the mother-age +to speak for themselves. Those whose eyes are +not blinded will not fail to see.<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a></p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> In an Introduction to <i>The Khasis</i>, by P. R. Gurdon. +This work, written by one who had a long and intimate +knowledge of the Khasi tribes, gives an admirable account +of the people, their institutions and domestic life. See +also Sir J. Hooker, <i>Himalayan Journal</i>, Vol. II, pp. 273 +<i>et seq.</i>; Dalton, <i>Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal</i>; and a +series of papers by J. R. Logan, in the <i>Journal of the Indian +Archipelago</i>, 1850-1857. Mr. Frazer (<i>The Golden Bough</i>, +Part IV, <i>Adonis, Attis, Osiris</i>, p. 387) gives a short account +of the Khasis; also McGee in the article <i>The Beginning of +Marriage</i> already quoted.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> <i>The Khasis</i>, pp. 62, 64, 82. All the facts I have given +of the Khasis are taken from Mr. Gurdon’s work, unless +otherwise stated.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> An incantation used in addressing this god begins: +“O Father, <i>Thaulang</i>, who hast enabled me to be born, +who hast given me my stature and my life.” This is very +certain proof that the maternal system among the Khasis +has no connection with uncertainty of paternity.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> This is the opinion of Sir Charles Lyell and Mr. Gurdon. +We may compare the remark of Prof. Karl Pearson: +“According to the evidence not only the seers but the +sacrificers among the early Teutons were women.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> Fischer, <i>Tour. As. Soc.</i>, Bengal, Vol. IX, Part II, p. 834.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> Dalton, <i>Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal</i>, p. 57.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> McGee, <i>The Beginning of Marriage</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> <i>The Khasis</i>, p. 81.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> Mrs. Chapman Catt has an article in the April number +of <i>Harper’s Magazine</i> on “A Survival of Matriarchy.” It +gives an account of her visit to the Malay States, and the +favourable position of the women under the maternal +customs. I have received a letter from the great American +champion of Women’s Rights in which she states how +pleased she is that I am writing this book on the Mother-age. +“There are many facts,” she says, “of the early +power of women which the great world does not know.”</p></div> +</div> + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span></h2> + +<h3>FURTHER EXAMPLES OF THE MATERNAL FAMILY</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Pursuing</span> our inquiry into the social organisation +of mother-right, an interesting example occurs +among the peoples of the Malay States, where, +notwithstanding the centres of Hindu and Moslem +influence, much has been retained of the maternal +system, once universally prevalent. The maternal +marriage, here known as the <i>ambel-anak</i>, in which +the husband lives with the wife, paying nothing to +the support of the family and occupying a subordinate +position, may be taken as typical of the +former condition. But among the tribes who have +come in contact with outside influences the custom +of the husband visiting the wife, or residing in her +house, is modified, and in some cases has altogether +disappeared.</p> + +<p>From a private correspondent, a resident in the +Malay States, I have received some interesting notes +about the present conditions of the native tribes +and the position of women. “In most of the Malay +States exogamous matriarchy has in comparatively +modern times been superseded by feudalism (<i>i. e.</i>, +the patriarchal rights of the father). But where the +old customs survive, the women are still to a large<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> +extent in control. The husband goes to live in the +wife’s village; thus the women in each group are a +compact unity, while the men are strangers to each +other and enter as unorganised individuals. This +is the real basis of the women’s power. In other +tribes, where the old customs have changed, the +women occupy a distinctly inferior position, and +under the influence of Islam the idea of secluding +adult women has been for centuries spreading and +increasing in force.” Here, again, clear proof is +shown of the maternal system exercising a direct +influence on the position of women. And this +statement is in agreement with Robertson Smith, +who, in writing of the maternal marriage, says: “And +it is remarkable that when both customs—the +woman receiving her husband in her own hut, and +the man taking his wife to his—occur side by side +among the same people, descent in the former case +is traced through the mother, in the latter through +the father.”<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a></p> + +<p>In its ancient form the maternal communal +family has notably persisted among the Padang +Highlanders of Sumatra. These people live in +village communities, with long timber houses placed +in barrack-like rows, very similar to the communal +dwellings of the American Indians. The houses are +gay in appearance, and are adorned with carved and +coloured woodwork. One dwelling will contain as +many as a hundred people, who form a <i>sa-mandei</i>, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>or mother-hood. Again we find the family consisting +of the house-mother and her descendants in the +female line—sons and daughters, and the daughters’ +children. McGee thus describes these maternal +households—<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“If the visitor, mounting the ladder steps, looks +in at one of the doors of the separate dwellings, he +may see seated beyond the family hearth the mother +and her children, eating the midday meal, and very +likely the father, who may have been doing a turn +of work in his wife’s rice-plot. If he is a kindly +husband, he is there much as a friendly visitor, but +his real home remains in the house in which he was +born.”</p></div> + +<p>The husband has no permanent residence in the +woman’s house, and at dusk each evening the men +may be seen walking across the village to join their +wives and families. The father has no rights over +his children, who belong wholly to the wife’s <i>suku</i>, +or clan. But this in no way implies that the father +is unknown, for monogamy is the rule; as is usual +the question is one rather of social right than of +relationship. The maternal uncle is the male head +of the house, and exercises under the mother the +duties of a father to the children. The brother of the +eldest grandmother is the male head of the family +settlement and the clan consists of a number of +these families. It would seem that these male +rulers act as the agents of the female members, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span>whose authority is great. This power is dependent +on the inheritance; as is the descent, so is the property, +and its transmission is arranged for the benefit +of the maternal lineage. For this reason daughters +are preferred rather than sons.</p> + +<p>This account of the Padang Malays may be +supplemented by the Jesuit missionary De Mailla’s +description of the maternal marriage in the Island +of Formosa.<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> Speaking of this marriage, McGee +says: “If it had received the notice it deserves, it +might long ago have placed the study of maternal +institutions on a sounder basis.”</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“The Formosan youth wishing to marry makes +music day by day at the maid’s door, till, if willing, +she comes out to him, and when they are agreed, +the parents are told, and the marriage feast is +prepared in the bride’s house, whence the bridegroom +returns no more to his father, regarding his +father-in-law’s house as his own, and himself as the +support of it, while his own father’s house is no more +to him than in Europe the bride’s home is henceforth +to her when she quits it to live with her husband. +Thus the Formosans set no store on sons, but aspire +to have daughters, who procure them sons-in-law to +become the support of their old age.”</p></div> + +<p>It will be noted that here the house is spoken of as +the father’s, and not as belonging to the mother. +The bridegroom is the suitor, and we see the creeping +in of property considerations always associated with +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>the rise of father-right. Though the husband has +as yet no recognised position and lives in the wife’s +home, he is valued for his service to his father-in-law, +clearly a step in the direction of property +assertion. Among many of the Malay hill tribes +of Formosa the maternal system is dying out, +though the old law forbidding marriage within the +clan remains in force.</p> + +<p>These changes must be expected wherever the +transition towards father-right has begun; the +older forms of courtship and marriage, so favourable +to the woman, are replaced by patriarchal customs. +One or two curious examples of primitive courtship, +in which the initiative is taken entirely by the girl +may be noted here. Among the Garos tribe it is not +only the privilege, but the duty of the girl to select +her lover, while an infringement of this rule is +severely and summarily punished. Any declaration +made on the part of the young man is regarded as an +insult to the whole <i>mahári</i> (motherhood) to which +the girl belongs, a stain only to be expiated by +liberal presents made at the expense of the <i>mahári</i> +of the over-forward lover. The marriage customs +are equally curious. On the morning of the wedding +a ceremony very similar to capture takes place, only +it is the bridegroom who is abducted. He pretends +to be unwilling and runs away and hides, but he +is caught by the friends of the bride. Then he is +taken by force, weeping as he goes, in spite of the +resistance and counterfeited grief of his parents and +friends, to the bride’s house, where he takes up his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> +residence with his mother-in-law. It is instructive +to find that these marriages are usually successful. +Although divorce is easy, it is not frequent. “The +Garos will not hastily make engagements, because, +when they do make them, they intend to keep +them.”<a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a></p> + +<p>In Paraguay, we are told, the women are generally +endowed with stronger passions than the men, and +are allowed to make the proposals.<a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> So also among +the Ahitas of the Philippine Islands, where, if her +clan-parents will not consent to a love match the +girl seizes the young man by the hair, carries him +off, and declares she has run away with him. In +such a case it appears the marriage is held to be +valid whether the parents consent or not.<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> A +similar custom of a gentler character, is practised +by the Tarrahumari Indians of Northern Mexico, +among whom, according to Lumboltz, the maiden +is a persistent wooer employing a <i>répertoire</i> of +really exquisite love songs to soften the heart of a +reluctant swain.<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> Again, in New Guinea, where +the women held a very independent position, “the +girl is always regarded as the seducer. Women +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>steal men.” A youth who proposed to a girl would +be making himself ridiculous, would be called a +woman, and laughed at by the girls. The usual +method by which a girl proposes is to send a present +to the youth by a third party, following this up by +repeated gifts of food; the young man sometimes +waits a month or two, receiving presents all the time, +in order to assure himself of the girl’s constancy, +before decisively accepting her advances.<a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a></p> + +<p>It is clear that these cases, which I have chosen +from a number of similar courtship customs, differ +very much from what is our idea of the customary +rôle of the girl and her lover. To me they are very +instructive. They show the error of the long-held +belief in the passivity of the female as a natural law +of the sex.<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> Such openness of conduct in courtship +is impossible except where women hold an entirely +independent position. Here, then, is another advantage +that may be claimed as arising for women +out of the maternal system. I claim this: the +woman’s right of selection in love—yes, her greatest +right, one that is necessary for a freer and more +beautiful mating.</p> + +<p>Terminating this short digression, I return to my +examination of the peoples among whom the family +is especially maternal.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span></p><p>The Pelew Islanders of the South Sea have customs +in many respects the same as those of the Khasi +tribes. They preserve strict maternal descent, +and like the Khasis, the deities of all the clans are +goddesses. The life and social habits of the people +have been described by Kubary, a careful and +sympathetic observer, for long resident in the +island.<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> The tribes are divided into exogamous +clans, and intermarriage between any relations on +the mother’s side is unlawful. These clans are +grouped together in villages and the life is of a +communal character. Each village consists of +about a score of clans, and forms with its lands a +petty independent state.</p> + +<p>Again we find the maternal system intimately +connected with religious ideas, and it is interesting +to recall what was said by Bachofen: “Wherever +gynæcocracy meets us the mystery of religion is +bound up with it, and lends to motherhood an incorporation +in some divinity.” Among these +Islanders every family traces its descent from a +woman—the common mother of the clan. And +for this reason the members worship a goddess and +not a god. In the different states there are, besides +other special deities, usually a goddess and a god, +but as these are held to be derived directly from a +household-goddess, it is evident that here, as among +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>the Khasis, goddesses are older than the gods. +This is shown also by the names of the goddesses. +There is another fact of interest: some women are +reputed to be the wives of the gods, they are called +<i>Amalalieys</i> and have a great honour paid to them, +while their children pass for the offspring of the +gods.</p> + +<p>The reverence paid to the ancestral goddesses is +explained by Mr. Kubary as arising from the importance +of women in the clans.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“The existence of the clan depends entirely on the +life of the women, and not at all on the life of the +men. If the women survive, it is no matter though +every man in the clan should perish, for the women +will, as usual, marry men of another clan, and their +offspring will inherit their mother’s clan, and thereby +prolong its existence. Whereas if the women of the +clan die out the clan necessarily becomes extinct, +even if every man in it should survive; for the men +must, as usual, marry women of another clan, and +their offspring will inherit their mother’s clan and +not the clan of the father, which accordingly, with +the death of the father, is wiped off the community.”</p></div> + +<p>I quote this passage because it shows so clearly +what I am claiming, that descent through the +mother, under the condition of strict exogamy, +conferred a very marked distinction on the female +members of the clan, whose existence depended on +them; this cannot possibly have failed to act +favourably on their position. I may note, too, in +passing, the fallacy of Mr. McLennan’s view that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> +polyandry (which, it will be remembered, he held +to have been developed from and connected with +mother-descent) arose as a result of female infanticide. +Such a practice is clearly impossible in +clans whose existence depends on the life of its +female members; daughters among them are prized +more highly than sons.</p> + +<p>The case we are now examining affords the +strongest confirmation of the honour paid to women +under the strict maternal system. Take alone the +titles that these Pelew islanders give to their women, +as <i>Adhalál a pelú</i>, “mothers of the land,” and <i>Adhalál +a blay</i>, “mothers of the clan.” The testimony +of those who know their customs is that the women +enjoy complete equality with the men in every +respect. Mr. Kubary affirms the predominance of +female influence in all the social life of the clan. +He asserts, without qualification, that the women +both politically and socially enjoy a position superior +to that of the men. The eldest women in the clans +exercise the most decisive influence in the conduct +of affairs; the head men do nothing without full +consultation with them, and their power extends to +affairs of state and even to foreign politics. No +chief would venture to come to a decision without +the approval of the mothers of the families. As +one consequence of this power the women have clubs +of association similar to the clubs of men that are +common in so many tribes. A curious privilege +given to women is recorded: “The women have an +unlimited privilege of striking, fining, or if it be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> +done on the spot, killing any man who makes his +way into their bathing places.”<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a></p> + +<p>The marriage customs I shall pass over briefly, +as they are similar to those of other tribes under the +maternal system, though changes may be noted, +such, for instance, as presents in the form of a kind +of bride-price being given by the bridegroom to the +parents of the bride. This is not a maternal custom, +and although half of such presents belongs by right +to the girl, it is clearly a form of wife-purchase. +Then polygamy is practised, though it is expressly +stated to be uncommon.<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> There is now a marriage +ceremony. Divorce still remains free, and the +conditions are favourable for the wife. Jealousy is +said to be prevalent both among the men and the +women. The wedding monologue is interesting +and indicates the relative position of the female and +male members of the family. The salutation is as +follows—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Hei, thou, oh mother; oh grandmothers; oh +maternal uncle; oh elder grandmother; oh younger +grandfather; oh elder grandfather! As the flesh +has fallen the ring has been put on.... You will +all of you give ear [the ancestresses and ancestors] +you will continue giving strength and spirit that +they [the bride and bridegroom] may be well.”</p></div> + +<p>There is left an important fact to consider, which +explains the persistence of the women’s authority +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span>under marriage conditions much less favourable +than the complete maternal form. The Pelew +women have another source of power; their position +has an industrial as well as a kinship basis. In +this island the people subsist mainly on the produce +of their taro fields, and the cultivation of this, their +staple food, is carried out by the women alone. And +this identification of women with the industrial +process has without doubt contributed materially +to the predominance of female influence on the social +life of the people. Wherever the control over the +means of production is in the hands of women, we +find them exercising influence and even authority. +Among these islanders the women do not merely +bestow life on the people, they also work to obtain +that which is most essential for the preservation of +life, and therefore they are called “mothers of the +land.”<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> Now, considering this honour paid to the +Pelew women, it is clearly impossible to regard their +work in cultivating the taro as a sign of their subordinate +position in the social order. The facts of +primitive life are often mistaken. This is a question +to which I shall refer again in a later chapter.</p> + +<p>In the same way among the Pani Kotches, tribes +of Bengal, we find the women in a privileged position, +due to their greater industrial activity and +intelligence.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“It is the women’s business to dig the soil, +to sow and plant, as well as to spin, weave and +brew beer; they refuse no task, and leave only the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span>coarsest labour to the men. The mother of the +family marries her daughter at an early age; at +the feast of betrothal she dispenses half as much +again to the bride as to the bridegroom-elect. As +for the grown-up girls and the widows, they know +very well how to find husbands; the wealthy never +lack partners. The chosen one goes to reside with +his mother-in-law, who both reigns and governs, +with her daughter for prime minister. If the +consort permits himself to incur expenses without +special authorisation, he must meet them as best +he can. Fathers of families have been known to be +sold as slaves, the wives refusing to pay the penalties +they incurred. Under these circumstances, it was +lawful for them to marry again.”<a name="FNanchor_95_95" id="FNanchor_95_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a></p></div> + +<p>Here, as among the Pelew islanders, special +industrial conditions are combined with the maternal +system, and as a result we find what may, perhaps, +be termed “an economic matriarchy.” Another +cause of authority, quite as powerful, is the possession +by women of inherited property. Among +barbarous peoples the importance of this is not so +great, but where mother-descent has, for any reason, +been maintained up to a time when individual +possession has been developed and property is +large, we meet with a remarkable “pecuniary +matriarchate,” based on the women holding the +magic power of money.</p> + +<p>An example may be found in the interesting +Touaregs of the Sahara, a race very far advanced +in civilisation, who, even at the present day, have +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span>preserved their independence and many of their +ancient customs. Among them all relationship is +still maternal and confers both rank and inheritance. +“The child follows the blood of the mother,” and +the son of a slave or serf father and a noble woman +is noble. “It is the womb which dyes the child,” +the Touaregs say in their primitive language.<a name="FNanchor_96_96" id="FNanchor_96_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a> All +property descends only through the mother, and by +means of accumulation the greatest part of the +fortune of the community is in the hands of women. +This is the real basis of the women’s power. “Absolute +mistress of her fortune, her actions, and her +children, who belong to her and bear her name, the +Targui woman goes where she will and exercises a +real authority.” The unusual position of the wife +is significantly indicated by the fact that, although +polygamy is permitted by the law, she practically +enforces monogamy, for the conditions of divorce are +so favourable for a woman that she can at once +separate from a husband who attempts to give her +a rival. Again the initiative in courtship is taken +by the woman, who chooses from her suitors the +one whom she herself prefers.<a name="FNanchor_97_97" id="FNanchor_97_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a></p> + +<p>It is interesting to note that the Targui women +know how to read and write in greater numbers +than the men. Duveyrier states that to them is due +the preservation of the ancient Libyan and Berber +writings.<a name="FNanchor_98_98" id="FNanchor_98_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a> “Leaving domestic work to their slaves, +the Targui ladies occupy themselves with reading, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>writing, music and embroidery; they live as intelligent +aristocrats.”<a name="FNanchor_99_99" id="FNanchor_99_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a> “The ladies of the tribe of +Ifoghas, in particular, are renowned for their <i>savoirvivre</i> +and their musical talent; they know how to +ride <i>mehari</i> better than all their rivals. Secure +in their cages, they can ride races with the most +intrepid cavaliers, if one may give this name to +riders on dromedaries; in order, also, to keep +themselves in practice in this kind of riding, they +meet to take short trips together, going wherever +they like without the escort of any man.”<a name="FNanchor_100_100" id="FNanchor_100_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> In the +tribe of Imanan, who are descended from the ancient +sultans, the women are given the title <i>Timanôkalîn</i>, +“royal women,” on account of their beauty and +their talent in the art of music. They often give +concerts, to which the men come “from long +distances—decked out like male ostriches.” In +these concerts the women improvise the songs, +accompanying themselves on the tambourine and +a sort of violin or <i>rebâza</i>. They are much sought +after in marriage, because of the title of <i>cherif</i> which +they confer on their children.<a name="FNanchor_101_101" id="FNanchor_101_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a></p> + +<p>There is a touch of chivalrous sentiment in the +relations between men and women.<a name="FNanchor_102_102" id="FNanchor_102_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> “If a woman +is married,” Duveyrier tells us, “she is honoured +all the more in proportion to the number of her +masculine friends, but she must not show preference +to any one of them. The lady may embroider on +the cloak, or write on the shield of her chevalier, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span>verses in his praise and wishes for his good fortune. +Her friend may, without being censured, cut the +name of the lady on the rocks or chant her virtues. +‘Friends of different sexes,’ say the Touaregs, ‘are +for the eyes and heart, and not for the bed only, as +among the Arabs.’”<a name="FNanchor_103_103" id="FNanchor_103_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> Letourneau, in quoting these +passages from Duveyrier, makes the following +comment: “Such customs as these indicate delicate +instincts, which are absolutely foreign to the Arabs. +They strongly remind us of the times of our southern +troubadours and of the <i>cours d’amour</i>, which were +the quintessence of chivalry.”<a name="FNanchor_104_104" id="FNanchor_104_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a></p> + +<p>The foregoing example is exceedingly interesting; +it shows women holding the position that as a rule +belongs to men, and is thus worthy of most careful +study, but at the same time we must guard against +according it a general value which it does not possess. +Such a case is exceptional, though it by no means +stands alone, and the social position of Targui women +is analogous to that of the women of ancient Egypt. +It is important to note that their great independence +arose through the persistence of maternal descent, +and could not have been maintained apart from that +system, which placed in their hands the strong power +of wealth. Here, then, is certain proof of the +favourable influence mother-descent may exercise +on the status of women. It is because of this I have +brought forward this example of the Targui women.</p> + +<p>Enough has now been said. I have examined +the institution of the maternal family, both in the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span>early communal stage and also under later social +conditions, where, in certain cases, mother-descent +has been maintained. In all the examples cited I +have given the marriage customs and domestic +habits of the people as they are testified to by +authorities whose records cannot be questioned. +Many similar examples, it may be said, might be +brought forward from other races, and the proof +of mother-right and mother-power greatly strengthened +thereby. There is, however, so much similarity +in the maternal family, so much correspondence in +the marriage forms and social habits prevailing +among races widely separated, that the points of +difference are little in comparison with those they +have in common. My object is not so much to +exhaust the subject as to bring into relief the radical +differences between the maternal communal clan, +with its social life centred around the mothers, and +the opposite patriarchal form in which the solitary +family is founded on the individual father. I hold +that, other conditions being equal, the one system is +favourable to the authority of women, the other to +the authority of men. The facts which have been +cited are, I submit, amply sufficient to support this +view.</p> + +<p>We have seen that the life of the maternal clan is +dependent on the women—and not upon the men; +we have noted that the inheritance of the family +name and the family property passing through the +women adds considerably to their importance, and +that daughters are preferred to sons. We have +found women the organisers of the households, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> +guardians of the household stores, and the distributors +of food, under a social organisation that +may be termed “a communal matriarchy.” More +important than all else, we have noted the remarkable +freedom of women in the sexual relationships; in +courtship they are permitted to take the active +part; in marriage their position is one of such power +that, sometimes, they are able to impose the form +of the marriage; in divorce they enjoy equal, and +even superior, rights of separation; moreover, they +are always the owners and controllers of the children. +Nor is the influence of women restricted to the +domestic sphere. We have found them the advisers, +and in some cases the dictators, in the social organisation +under the headmen of the clan. Then we +examined the cases in which the women’s power has +an industrial as well as a kinship basis, and have +proved the existence of an “economic matriarchy.” +And further even than this, we have found women +the sole possessors of accumulated wealth, and noted +that, under the favourable conditions of such a +“pecuniary matriarchy,” they are able to obtain a +position in learning and the arts excelling that of +the men. We have even seen goddesses set above +the gods, and women worshipped as deities.</p> + +<p>Now I submit to the judgment of my readers—what +do these examples of mother-right show, if not +that, broadly speaking, women were the dominant +force in this stage of the family. No doubt too +much importance may be attached to the idea of +women ruling. This is an error I have tried to +guard against. My aim throughout has been to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> +establish mother-right, not mother-rule. I believe +it is only by an extraordinary power of illusion that +we can recognise, in the favourable position of +women under mother-descent Bachofen’s view of +an Amazonian gynæcocracy. But this does not +weaken at all my position. I maintain that such +customs of courtship, marriage and divorce, of +property inheritance and possession, and of the +domestic and social rights, as those we have seen in +the cases examined, afford conclusive proof of +women’s power in the maternal family. If this is +denied, the only conclusion that suggests itself to me +is that, those who seek to diminish the power of +mother-right have done so in reinforcement of a +preconceived idea of the superiority of the man as +the natural and unchanging order in the relationships +of the sexes. One suspects prejudice here. To +approach this question with any fairness, it is +absolutely essential to clear the mind from the +current theories regarding the family. The order +is not sacred in the sense that it has always had the +same form. It is this belief in the immutability of +our form of marriage and the family which accounts +for the prejudice with which this question is approached. +The modern civilised man cannot easily +accustom himself to the idea that in the maternal +family the dominion of the mother was regarded as +the natural, and, therefore, the right and accepted +order of the family. It is very difficult for us even +to believe in a relationship of the mother and the +father that is so exactly opposite to that with which +we are accustomed.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> <i>Marriage and Kinship in Early Arabia</i>, p. 74. See also +Marsden, <i>History of Sumatra</i>, p. 225.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> “The Beginning of Marriage,” <i>American Anthropologist</i>, +Vol. IX, p. 376.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> <i>Lettres edefiantes et curieux</i>, Vol. XVIII, p. 441, copied +in Dunhalde, <i>Description de la Clune</i>, Vol. I, p. 166, and +cited by McGee.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> Dalton, <i>Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal</i>, pp. 64, 142. +See also Tylor, “The Matriarchal Theory,” <i>Nineteenth +Century</i>, July 1896, p. 89.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> Moore, <i>Marriage Customs: Modes of Courtship</i>, etc., +p. 261. Rengger, <i>Naturgeschichte der Säugelliere von +Paraguay</i>, p. 11, cited by Westermarck, <i>op. cit.</i>, p. 158.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> J. M. Wheeler, “Primitive Marriage,” an article in +<i>Progress</i>, 1885, p. 128.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> McGee, “The Beginning of Marriage,” <i>American +Anthropologist</i>, Vol. IX.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> Haddon, “Western Tribes of the Torres States,” +<i>Journal of the Anthropological Society</i>, Vol. XIX, Feb. 1890. +Cited by Havelock Ellis, <i>Psychology of Sex</i>, Vol. III, p. 185.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> For further examination of this question of the supposed +passivity of the woman in courtship, see <i>The Truth about +Woman</i>, pp. 65-69, 251-257.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> <i>Die socialen Einrichtungen der Pelauer. Die Religion, +de Pelauer.</i> Mr. Frazer, <i>Golden Bough</i>, Part IV, <i>Adonis, +Attis, Osiris</i>, pp. 387 <i>et seq.</i>, summarises the account of +Kubary. See also Waitz-Gerland, Vol. V, Part II, p. 106 +<i>et seq.</i>, and an account of the Pelews given by Ymer.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> Semper, <i>Die Palau-Inseln</i>, p. 68, cited by Westermarck +<i>op. cit.</i>, p. 211.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> Ymer, Vol. IV, p. 333.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> Frazer, <i>op. cit.</i>, p. 380.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> Hodgson, <i>Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal</i>, 1847 +(Dalton).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> Duveyrier, <i>Toûareg du Nord</i>, p. 337 <i>et seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> Chavanne, <i>Die Sahara</i>, pp. 181, 209, 234.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 387.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> Duveyrier, <i>op. cit.</i>, p. 430.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_100_100" id="Footnote_100_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 362.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_101_101" id="Footnote_101_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 347.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_102_102" id="Footnote_102_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> Chavanne, <i>op. cit.</i>, p. 208 <i>et seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_103_103" id="Footnote_103_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> Duveyrier, <i>op. cit.</i>, p. 429.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_104_104" id="Footnote_104_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> Letourneau, <i>The Evolution of Marriage</i>, pp. 180-181.</p></div> +</div> + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span></h2> + +<h3>MOTHER-RIGHT CUSTOMS AND THE TRANSITION TO<br /> +FATHER-RIGHT</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Endeavour</span> has been made in the previous +chapters to present the case for mother-right as +clearly and concisely as possible. The point we +have now reached is this: while mother-right does +not constitute or make necessary rule by women, +under that system they enjoy considerable power as +the result (1) of their organised position under the +maternal marriage among their own clan-kindred, +(2) of their importance to the male members of the +clan as the transmitters and holders of property.</p> + +<p>It is necessary to remember the close connection +between these mother-right customs and the communal +clan, which was a free association for mutual +protection. This is a point of much interest. As +we have seen, the undivided family of the clan could +be maintained only by descent through the mothers, +since its existence depended on its power to retain +and protect all its members. In this way it destroyed +the solitary family, by its opposition to the +authority and will of the husband and father.</p> + +<p>These conclusions will be strengthened as we +continue our examination of mother-right customs<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> +as we shall find them in all parts of the world. I +must select a few examples only and describe them +very briefly, not because these cases offer less +interest than the complete maternal families already +examined, but because of the length to which this +part of my inquiry is rapidly growing. The essential +fact to establish is the prevalence of mother-descent +as a probable universal stage in the past history of +mankind, and then to show the causes which, by +undermining the dominion of the maternal clan, led +to the adoption of father-right and the re-establishment +of the patriarchal family.</p> + +<p>Let us begin with Australia, where the aboriginal +population is in a more primitive condition than any +other race whose institutions have been investigated. +I can notice a few facts only from the harvest of +information brought together by anthropologists +and travellers. The tribes are grouped into exogamous +sub-divisions, and each group has its own +land from which it takes a local name. Each group +wanders about on its own territory in order to hunt +game and collect roots, sometimes in detached +families and, less often, in larger hordes, for there +seems to be a tendency to local isolation. A +remarkable feature of the social organisation is found +in the more advanced tribes, where, in addition to +the division into clans, the group is divided into +male and female classes. All the members of such +clans regard themselves as kinsmen, or brothers and +sisters; they have the same totem mark and are +bound to protect each other. The totem bond is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> +stronger than any blood tie, while the sex totems +are even more sacred than the clan totems.</p> + +<p>Much confusion has arisen out of the attempts to +explain the Australian system; and for long the +close totem kinship was supposed to afford evidence +of group marriage, by which a man of one clan was +held to have sexual rights over all the women in +another clan. But further insight into their customs +has proved the error of such a view, which arose +from a misunderstanding of the terms of relationship +used among the tribes. Nowhere is marriage bound +by more severe laws; death is the penalty for sexual +intercourse with a person of a forbidden clan. And +it is certain that there is no evidence at all of communism +in wives.<a name="FNanchor_105_105" id="FNanchor_105_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a></p> + +<p>A system of taboos is very strongly established, +and as we should expect the women appear to be +most active in maintaining these sexual separations. +If a man, even by mistake, kills the sex-totem of the +women, they are as much enraged as if it were one +of their own children, and they will turn and attack +him with their long poles.</p> + +<p>In Australia it is easy to recognise a very early +stage in human society. The organisation of the +family group into the clan is still taking place. +Moreover, the most primitive patriarchal conditions +have not greatly changed, for the males are great +individualists and cannot readily suffer the rights +of others than themselves. Mother-right can hardly +be said to exist, and the position of women is low. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span>It is not the custom among any tribes for the husband +to reside in the home of the wife; this in itself is +sufficient to explain the power of the husbands. +Wives are frequently obtained by capture, and fights +for women are of common occurrence. Here it +would seem that progress has been very slow. +Indeed, it is the chief interest of the Australian +tribes that we can trace the transformation from the +early patriarchal conditions to the communal clan.</p> + +<p>There is still another fact of very special interest. +In the large majority of tribes known to us descent +is traced through the mother; the proportion of +these tribes to those with father-descent being four +to one. Now, the question arises as to which of +these two systems is the earlier custom? As a rule +it is assumed that in all cases descent was originally +traced through the mother. But is this really so? +The evidence of the Australian tribes points to the +exact opposite opinion. For what do we find? +The tribes that have established mother-descent +have advanced further, with a more developed +social organisation, which could hardly be the case +if they were the more primitive. To this question +Starcke, in <i>The Primitive Family</i>, has drawn +particular attention; he regards “the female line +as a later development,” arrived at after descent +through the father was recognised, such change +being due to an urgent necessity which arose in the +primitive family for cohesion among its members, +making necessary sexual regulation and the maternal +clan.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span></p> + +<p>It is certainly difficult to decide on the priority +of this or that custom. But what is significant is +that in Australia the tribes which maintain the male +line of descent must be assigned to the lowest stage +of development. The rights established by marriage +among them are less clearly defined, and the use of +the totem marks, with the sexual taboos arising +from them, are less developed. Everything tends +to show that clan organisation and union in peace +have arisen with mother-descent, which cannot thus +be regarded as a survival from the earlier order, but +as a later development—a step forward in progress +and social regulation.</p> + +<p>I take this as being exceedingly important: it +serves to establish what it has been my purpose to +show, that in the first stage the family was patriarchal—small +hostile groups living under the jealous +authority of the fathers; and that only as advancement +came did the maternal clan develop, since it +arose through a community of purpose binding all +its members in peace, and thereby controlling the +warring individual interests. The reasons for +mother-descent have been altogether misunderstood +by those who regard it as the earliest phase of the +family, and connect the custom with sexual disorder +and uncertainty of paternity. In all cases the clan +system shows a marked organisation, with a much +stronger cohesion than is possible in the restricted +family, which is held together by the force of the +father. It was within the clan that the rights of the +father and husband were endangered: he lost his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> +position as supreme head of the family, and became +an alien member in a free association where his +position was strictly defined. The incorporation +of the family into the clan arose through the struggle +for existence forcing it into association; it was the +subordinate position of the husband under such a +system which finally made the women the rulers of +the household. If we regard the social conditions +of the maternal system as the first stage of development, +they are as difficult to understand as they +become intelligible when we consider it as a later and +beneficent phase in the growth of society.</p> + +<p>This, then, I claim as the chief good of the maternal +system. As I see it, each advance in progress rests +on the conquest of sexual distrusts and fierceness +forcing into isolation. These jealous and odious +monopolist instincts have been the bane of humanity. +Each race must inevitably in the end outlive them; +they are the surviving relics of the ape and the tiger. +They arise out of that self-concentration and intensity +of animalism that binds the hands of men +and women from taking their inheritance. The +brute in us still resents association. Am I wrong +in connecting this individual monopolist idea of +My power! My right! with the paternal as opposed +to the maternal family? At any rate I find it +absent in the communal clan grouped around the +mothers, where the enlarged family makes common +cause and life is lived by all for and with each other.</p> + +<p>An instructive example of the joint maternal +family is furnished by the Naïrs of Malabar, where<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> +we see a very late development of the clan system. +The family group includes many allied families, who +live together in large communal houses and possess +everything in common. There is common tenure of +land, over which the eldest male member of the +community presides; while the mother, and after +her death the eldest daughter, is the ruler in the +household. It is impossible to give the details of +their curious conjugal customs. The men do not +marry, but frequent other houses as lovers, without +ceasing to live at home, and without being in any +way detached from the maternal family. There is, +however, a symbolic marriage for every girl, by a +rite known as tying the <i>tali</i>; but this marriage +serves the purpose only of initiation, and the couple +separate after one day. When thus prepared for +marriage, a Naïr girl chooses her lovers, and any +number of unions may be entered upon without any +restrictions other than the strict prohibitions relative +to caste and tribe. These later marriages, unlike +the solemn initial rite, have no ceremony connected +with them, and are entered into freely at the will of +the woman and her family.<a name="FNanchor_106_106" id="FNanchor_106_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a></p> + +<p>Now, if we regard these customs in the light of +what has already been established, it is clear that +they cannot be regarded as the first stage in the +maternal family. Such a view is entirely to mistake +the facts. The Naïrs are in no respect a people of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>primitive culture. Through a long period they have +most strictly preserved the custom of matriarchal +heredity, which has led to an unusual concentration +of the family group, and it is probable that here is +the best explanation of the conjugal liberty of the +Naïr girls. However singular their system may +appear to us, it is the most logical and complete of +any polyandric system. If we compare it with the +more usual form of patriarchal polyandry we see +at once the influence of maternal descent. Here, +the woman makes a free choice of her husbands; in +no sense is she their property. It is common for +them to work for her, one husband taking on himself +to furnish her with clothes, another to give her rice +and food, and so on. It is, in fact, the wife who +possesses, and it is through her that wealth is transmitted. +In fraternal polyandry, on the other hand +(as, for instance, it is practised in Thibet and Ceylon), +the husbands of a woman are always brothers; she +belongs to them, and for her children there is a kind +of collective fatherhood. But among the Naïrs the +man as husband and father cannot be said to exist; +he is reduced to the most subordinate rôle of the +male—he is simply the progenitor.</p> + +<p>I know of no stronger case than this of the degraded +position of the father. And what I want to +make clear is that in such negation of all father-right +rested the inherent weakness in the matriarchal +conditions—a weakness which led eventually +to the re-establishment of the paternal family. We +must be very clear in our minds as to the sharp<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> +distinction between the restricted family and the +communal clan. The clan as a confederation of +members was opposed to the family whose interests +were necessarily personal and selfish. Such communism, +to some may appear strange at so early a +stage of primitive cultures, yet, as I have more +than once pointed out, it was a perfectly natural +development; it arose through the fierce struggle +for existence, forcing the primitive hostile groups +to expand and unite with one another for mutual +protection. Such conditions of primitive socialism +were specially favourable for women. As I have +again and again affirmed, the collective motive was +more considered by the mothers, and must be sought +in the organisation of the maternal clan. But since +individual desires can never be wholly subdued, and +the male nature is ever directed towards self-assertion, +the clan, organised on the rights of the mothers, +had always to contend with an opposing force. +At one stage the clan was able to absorb the family, +but only under exceptional conditions could such a +system be maintained. The social organisation of +the clan was inevitably broken up as society advanced. +With greater security of life the individual +interests reasserted their power, and this undermined +the dominion of the mother.</p> + +<p>To bring these facts home, we must now consider +some further examples of mother-right, in order to +show how closely these customs are connected with +the conditions of the maternal familiar clan.</p> + +<p>The Yaos of Africa have what may be regarded<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> +as a matriarchal organisation. Kinship is reckoned +and property is inherited through the mother. +When a man marries, he is expected to live in his +wife’s village, and his first conjugal duties are to +build a house for her, and hoe a garden for her +mother. This gives the woman a very important +position, and it is she, and not the man, who usually +proposes marriage.<a name="FNanchor_107_107" id="FNanchor_107_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a></p> + +<p>In Africa descent through the mother is the rule, +though there are exceptions, and these are increasing. +The amusing account given by Miss Kingsley<a name="FNanchor_108_108" id="FNanchor_108_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_108_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a> of +Joseph, a member of the Batu tribe in French +Congo, strikingly illustrates the prevalence of the +custom. When asked by a French official to furnish +his own name and the name of his father, Joseph +was wholly nonplussed. “My fader!” he said. +“Who my fader?” Then he gave the name of his +mother. The case is the same among the negroes. +The Fanti of the Gold Coast may be taken as typical. +Among them an intensity of affection (accounted for +partly by the fact that the mothers have exclusive +care of the children) is felt for the mother, while the +father is almost disregarded as a parent, notwithstanding +the fact that he may be a wealthy and +powerful man. The practice of the Wamoimia, +where the son of a sister is preferred in legacies, +“because a man’s own son is only the son of his +wife,” is typical. The Bush husband does not live +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>with his wife, and often has wives in different +places.<a name="FNanchor_109_109" id="FNanchor_109_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a></p> + +<p>In Africa the clan system is firmly established, +which explains the prevalence of mother-descent. +Women, on the whole, take an important position, +and here, as elsewhere, their inheritance of property +enables them to maintain their equality with their +husbands. Individual possession of wealth is +allowed, but a married man usually cannot dispose +of any property unless his wife agrees, and she acts +as the representative of the children’s claims upon +the father. The privilege that, according to Laing, +the Soulima women have, of leaving their husbands +when they please, is also proof of the maternal +customs.<a name="FNanchor_110_110" id="FNanchor_110_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_110_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> Moreover, among some tribes, the influence +of the mothers as the heads of families extends +to the councils of state; it is even said that +the chiefs do not decide anything without their +consent.<a name="FNanchor_111_111" id="FNanchor_111_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_111_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a></p> + +<p>Mother-right is still in force in many parts of +India, though owing to the influence of Brahminism +on the aboriginal tribes the examples of the maternal +family are fewer than might be expected. Among +the once powerful Koochs the women own all the +property, which is inherited from mother to daughter. +The husband lives with his wife and her mother, and, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span>we are told, is subject to them. These women are +most industrious, weaving, spinning, planting and +sowing, in a word, doing all the work not above their +strength.<a name="FNanchor_112_112" id="FNanchor_112_112"></a><a href="#Footnote_112_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a> The Koochs may be compared with the +Khasis, already noticed, and these maternal systems +among the Indian hill tribes may surely be regarded +as showing conditions at one time common. Even +tribes who have passed from the clan organisation +to the patriarchal family preserve numerous traces +of mother-right. Thus, the choice of her lover often +remains with the girl; again, divorce is easy at the +wish either of the woman or the man.<a name="FNanchor_113_113" id="FNanchor_113_113"></a><a href="#Footnote_113_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a> Such +freedom in love is clearly inconsistent with the +patriarchal authority of the husband. I must note +too the practice, common among many tribes, by +which the husband remains in the wife’s home for +a probationary period, working for her family.<a name="FNanchor_114_114" id="FNanchor_114_114"></a><a href="#Footnote_114_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a> +This is clearly a step towards purchase marriage, as +is proved by the Santals, where this service is +claimed when a girl is ugly or deformed and cannot +be married otherwise, while other tribes offer their +daughters when in want of labourers. This service-marriage +must not be confused with the true +maternal form, where the bridegroom visits or lives +with the wife and any service claimed is a test of +his fitness; it shows, however, the power of the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span>woman’s kindred still curbing the rights of the +husband.</p> + +<p>The existence of mother-descent among the +peoples of Western Asia has been ascertained with +regard to some ancient tribes; but I may pass these +over, as they offer no points of special interest. +I must, however, refer briefly to the evidence brought +forward by the late Prof. Robertson Smith<a name="FNanchor_115_115" id="FNanchor_115_115"></a><a href="#Footnote_115_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a> of +mother-right in ancient Arabia. We find a decisive +example of its favourable influence on the position +of women in the custom of <i>beena</i> marriage. Under +this maternal form, the wife was not only freed from +any subjection involved by the payment of a bride-price +in the form of compulsory service or of gifts to +her kindred (which always places her more or +less under authority), but she was the owner of +the tent and the household property, and thus +enjoyed the liberty which ownership always entails. +This explains how she was able to free herself at +pleasure from her husband, who was really nothing +but a temporary lover. Ibn Batua, even in the +fourteenth century found that the women of Zebid +were perfectly ready to marry strangers. The +husband might depart when he pleased, but his +wife in that case could never be induced to follow +him. She bade him a friendly adieu and took upon +herself the whole charge of any children of the +marriage. The women in Jâhilîya had the right to +dismiss their husbands, and the form of dismissal +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span>was this: “If they lived in a tent they turned it +round, so that if the door faced east it now faced +west, and when the man saw this, he knew he was +dismissed and did not enter.” The tent belonged +to the woman: the husband was received there, +and at her good pleasure. We find many cases of +<i>beena</i> marriage among widely different peoples. +Frazer<a name="FNanchor_116_116" id="FNanchor_116_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a> cites an interesting example among the +tribes on the north frontier of Abyssinia, partially +Semitic peoples, not yet under the influence of +Islam, who preserve a maternal marriage closely +resembling the <i>beena</i> form, but have as well a +purchase marriage, by which a wife is acquired by +the payment of a bride-price and becomes the +property of her husband.</p> + +<p>A very curious form of conjugal contract is recorded +among the Hassanyeh Arabs of the White +Nile, where the wife passed by contract for a portion +of her time only under the authority of her husband. +It illustrates in a striking way the conflict in marriage +between the old rights of the woman and the rising +power of the husband.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“When the parents of the man and the woman +meet to settle the price of the woman, the price +depends on how many days in the week the marriage +tie is to be strictly observed. The woman’s mother +first of all proposes that, taking everything into +consideration, with due regard to the feelings of the +family, she could not think of binding her daughter +to a due observance of that chastity which +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span>matrimony is expected to command for more than two +days in the week. After a great deal of apparently +angry discussion, and the promise on the part of the +relations of the man to pay more, it is arranged that +the marriage shall hold good, as is customary among +the first families of the tribe, for four days in the +week, viz. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and +Thursday, and in compliance with old established +custom, the marriage rites during the three remaining +days shall not be insisted on, during which days +the bride shall be perfectly free to act as she may +think proper, either by adhering to her husband and +home, or by enjoying her freedom and independence +from all observance of matrimonial obligations.”<a name="FNanchor_117_117" id="FNanchor_117_117"></a><a href="#Footnote_117_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a></p></div> + +<p>A further striking example of mother-right is +furnished by the Mariana Islands, where the position +of women was distinctly superior.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“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 offence, 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, the husband could send her +home, keep her property, and kill the adulterer; but +if the man was guilty or even suspected of the same +offence, the women of the neighbourhood destroyed +his house and all his visible property, and the owner +was fortunate if he escaped with a whole skin; and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span>if the wife was not pleased with her husband, she +withdrew, and a similar attack followed. On this +account many men were not married, preferring to +live with paid women.”<a name="FNanchor_118_118" id="FNanchor_118_118"></a><a href="#Footnote_118_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a></p></div> + +<p>A similar case of the rebellion of men against their +position is recorded in Guinea, where religious +symbolism was used by the husband as a way of +obtaining control and possession of his wife. The +maternal system held with respect only to the chief +wife.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“It was customary, however, for a man to buy +and take to wife a slave, a friendless person with +whom he could deal at pleasure, who had no kindred +who could interfere with her, and to consecrate her +to his Bossum, or god. The Bossum wife, slave +as she had been, ranked next to the chief wife, and +was exceptionally treated. She alone was very +jealously guarded, she alone was sacrificed at her +husband’s death. She was, in fact, wife in a peculiar +sense. And having by consecration been made of +the kindred and worship of her husband her children +could be born of his kindred and worship.”<a name="FNanchor_119_119" id="FNanchor_119_119"></a><a href="#Footnote_119_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a></p></div> + +<p>It will be readily seen that the special rights held +by the husband over these captive-wives would +come to be greatly desired. But the capture of +women was always difficult, as it frequently led to +quarrels and even warfare with the woman’s tribe, +and for this reason was never widely practised. +It would therefore be necessary for another way of +escape from the bonds of the maternal marriage +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span>to be found. This was done by a system of buying +the wife from her clan-kindred, in which case she +became the property of her husband.</p> + +<p>The change did not, of course, take place at once, +and we have many examples of a transition period +where the old customs are in conflict with the new. +Both forms of marriage, the maternal and the purchase +contract, are practised side by side by many +peoples. These cases are so instructive that I must +add one or two examples to those already noticed. +The <i>ambel-anak</i> marriage of Sumatra is the maternal +form, but there is another marriage known as <i>djudur</i>, +by which a man buys his wife as his absolute property. +There is a complicated system of payments, +on which the husband’s rights to take the wife to +his home depends. If the final sum is paid (but +this is not commonly claimed except in the case of +a quarrel between the families) the woman becomes +to all intents and purposes the slave of the man; +but if, on the other hand, as is not at all uncommon, +the husband fails or has difficulty in making the +main payment, he becomes the debtor of his wife’s +family, and he is practically the slave, all his labour +being due to his wife’s family without any reduction +in the debt, which must be paid in full, before he +regains his liberty.<a name="FNanchor_120_120" id="FNanchor_120_120"></a><a href="#Footnote_120_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a> In Ceylon, again, there are +two forms of marriage, called <i>beena</i> and <i>deega</i>, +which cause a marked difference in the position of +the wife. A woman married under the <i>beena</i> form +lives in the house or immediate neighbourhood of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span>her parents, and if so married she has the right of +inheritance along with her brothers; but if married +in <i>deega</i> she goes to live in her husband’s house and +village and loses her rights in her own family.<a name="FNanchor_121_121" id="FNanchor_121_121"></a><a href="#Footnote_121_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a></p> + +<p>In Africa where the <i>beena maternal marriage</i> is +usual, and the husband serves for his wife and lives +with her family, it is said that families are usually +more or less willing <i>for value received</i> to give a woman +to a man to take away with him, or to let him have +his <i>beena</i> wife to transfer to his own house. Among +the Wayao and Mang’anja of the Shirehighlands, +south of Lake Nyassa, a man on marrying leaves his +own village and goes to live in that of his wife; +but, as an alternative, he is allowed to pay a bride-price, +in which case he takes his wife away to his +home.<a name="FNanchor_122_122" id="FNanchor_122_122"></a><a href="#Footnote_122_122" class="fnanchor">[122]</a> Again among the Banyai on the Zambesi, +if the husband gives nothing the children of the +marriage belong to the wife’s family, but if he gives +so many cattle to his wife’s parents the children are +his.<a name="FNanchor_123_123" id="FNanchor_123_123"></a><a href="#Footnote_123_123" class="fnanchor">[123]</a> Similar cases may be found elsewhere. In the +Watubela Islands between New Guinea and Celebes a +man may either pay for his wife before marriage, or +he may, without paying, live as her husband in her +parents’ house, working for her. In the former case, +the children belong to him, in the latter to the +mother’s family, but he may buy them subsequently +at a price.<a name="FNanchor_124_124" id="FNanchor_124_124"></a><a href="#Footnote_124_124" class="fnanchor">[124]</a> Campbell records of the Limboo tribe +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span>(where the bride is usually purchased and lives with +the husband), that if poverty compels the bridegroom +to serve for his wife, he becomes the slave +of her father, “until by his work he has redeemed +his bride.”<a name="FNanchor_125_125" id="FNanchor_125_125"></a><a href="#Footnote_125_125" class="fnanchor">[125]</a> An interesting case occurs in some +Californian tribes where the husband has to live +with the wife and work, until he has paid to her +kindred the full price for her and her child. So +far has custom advanced in favour of father-right +that the children of a wife not paid for are regarded +as bastards and held in contempt.<a name="FNanchor_126_126" id="FNanchor_126_126"></a><a href="#Footnote_126_126" class="fnanchor">[126]</a></p> + +<p>Wherever we find the payment of a bride-price, +in whatever form, there is sure indication of the +decay of mother-right: woman has become property. +Among the Bassa Komo of Nigeria marriage is +usually effected by an exchange of sisters or other +female relatives. The men may marry as many +wives as they have women to give to other men. +In this tribe the women look after the children, +but the boys, when four years old, go to live and +work with the fathers.<a name="FNanchor_127_127" id="FNanchor_127_127"></a><a href="#Footnote_127_127" class="fnanchor">[127]</a> The husbands of the +Bambala tribe (inhabiting the Congo states between +the rivers Inzia and Kwilu) have to abstain from +visiting their wives for a year after the birth of each +child, but they are allowed to return to her on the +payment to her father of two goats.<a name="FNanchor_128_128" id="FNanchor_128_128"></a><a href="#Footnote_128_128" class="fnanchor">[128]</a> Among +the Bassanga on the south-west of Lake Moeru the +children of the wife belong to the mother’s kin, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span>but the children of slaves are the property of the +father.</p> + +<p>The right of a father to his children was established +only by contract. Even where the wife had +been given up by her kindred and allowed to live +with her husband, we find that the children may be +claimed by her family. Thus among the Makolo +the price paid on marriage might merely cover the +right to have the wife, and in this case the children +belonged to the wife’s family. It might, however, +cover a certain right to the children if that had been +contracted for, but never such a right as separated +them wholly from the mother’s family. To effect +this it was necessary that a further price should be +paid at the father’s death. This sum once paid, +her family had “given her up” and her children +were entirely severed from them.<a name="FNanchor_129_129" id="FNanchor_129_129"></a><a href="#Footnote_129_129" class="fnanchor">[129]</a> The legal +acknowledgment of fatherhood in all cases had to +be paid for.</p> + +<p>There are many customs pointing to this new +father-force asserting itself, and pushing aside the +mother-power. In Africa, among the Bavili the +mother has the right to pawn her child, but she +must first consult the father, so that he may have a +chance of giving her goods to save the pledging.<a name="FNanchor_130_130" id="FNanchor_130_130"></a><a href="#Footnote_130_130" class="fnanchor">[130]</a> +This is very plainly a step towards father-right. +There is no distinction between legitimate and +illegitimate children. Similar conditions prevail +among the Alladians of the Ivory Coast, but here +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span>the mother cannot pledge her children without the +consent of her brother or other male head of +the family. The father has the right to ransom the +child.<a name="FNanchor_131_131" id="FNanchor_131_131"></a><a href="#Footnote_131_131" class="fnanchor">[131]</a> An even stronger example of the property +value of children is furnished by the custom found +among many tribes, by which the father has to +make a present to the wife’s family when a child +dies: this is called “buying the child.”<a name="FNanchor_132_132" id="FNanchor_132_132"></a><a href="#Footnote_132_132" class="fnanchor">[132]</a> A similar +custom prevails among the Maori people of New +Zealand; when a child dies, or even meets with an +accident, the mother’s relations, headed by her +brothers, turn out in force against the father. He +must defend himself until wounded. Blood once +drawn, the combat ceases; but the attacking party +plunders his house and appropriates the husband’s +property, and finally sits down to a feast provided +by him.<a name="FNanchor_133_133" id="FNanchor_133_133"></a><a href="#Footnote_133_133" class="fnanchor">[133]</a></p> + +<p>These cases, with the inferences they suggest, +show that the power a husband and father possessed +over his wife and her children was gained through +purchase. And it is not the fact of the husband’s +power, however great it might be, that is so important, +but the fact that by the change in the form of +marriage the wife and her children were cut off +from the woman’s clan-kindred, whose duty to +protect them was now withdrawn. Here, then, +was the reason of the change from mother-right to +father-right. The monopolist desire of the husband +to possess for himself the woman and her children +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span>(perhaps the deepest rooted of all the instincts) +reasserted itself. But the regaining of this individual +possession by man was due, not to male strength, +but to purchase. I must insist upon this. As soon +as women became sexually marketable their freedom +was doomed.</p> + +<p>There are many interesting cases of transition in +which the children belong sometimes to the mother +and sometimes to the father. Again I can give one +or two examples only. In the island of Mangia +the parents at the birth of the child arranged +between themselves whether it should be dedicated +to the father’s god or to the mother’s. The dedication +took place forthwith, and finally determined +which parent had the ownership of the child.<a name="FNanchor_134_134" id="FNanchor_134_134"></a><a href="#Footnote_134_134" class="fnanchor">[134]</a> +Among the Haidis, children belong to the clan of +the mother, but in exceptional cases when the clan +of the father is reduced in numbers, the new-born +child may be given to the father’s sister to suckle. +It is then spoken of as belonging to the paternal +aunt and is counted to its father’s clan.<a name="FNanchor_135_135" id="FNanchor_135_135"></a><a href="#Footnote_135_135" class="fnanchor">[135]</a> It is also +possible to transfer a child to the father by giving +it one of the names common to his clan. There +are many curious customs practised by certain +tribes, wavering between mother and father descent. +In Samoa religion decides the question. At the +birth of a child the totem of each parent is prayed +to in turn (usually, though not always, starting with +that of the father) and whichever totem happens +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span>to be invoked at the moment of birth is the child’s +totem for life and decides whether he or she belongs +to the clan of the mother or the father.<a name="FNanchor_136_136" id="FNanchor_136_136"></a><a href="#Footnote_136_136" class="fnanchor">[136]</a> Equally +curious was the custom of the Liburni, where the +children were all brought up together until they +were five years old. They were then collected and +examined in order to trace their likeness to the +men and they were assigned to their fathers accordingly. +Whoever received a boy from his mother +in this way regarded him as his son.<a name="FNanchor_137_137" id="FNanchor_137_137"></a><a href="#Footnote_137_137" class="fnanchor">[137]</a> Similarly +with the Arabs, where one woman was the wife of +several men, the custom was either for the woman +to decide to which of them the child was to belong, +or the child was assigned by an expert to one of +the joint husbands to be regarded as his own.<a name="FNanchor_138_138" id="FNanchor_138_138"></a><a href="#Footnote_138_138" class="fnanchor">[138]</a></p> + +<p>These facts throw a strong light on the bond +between the father and the child, which was a legal +bond, not dependent, as it is with us, upon blood +relationship. Fatherhood really arose out of the +ownership of purchase. And for this reason the +father’s right came to extend to all the children of +the wife. It does not appear that the husband makes +any distinction between his wife’s children, even if +they were begotten by other men. Chastity is not +regarded as a virtue, and in those cases where +unfaithfulness in a wife is punished, it is always +because the woman, who has passed from the protection +of her kindred, acts without her husband’s +permission. Interchange of wives is common, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span>while it is one of the duties of hospitality to offer +a wife to a stranger guest. Husbands sometimes, +indeed, seek other men for their wives, believing +they will obtain sons who will excel all others. +Thus of the Arabs we are told, there is one form of +marriage according to which a man says to his +wife, “Send a message to such a one and beg him +to have intercourse with you.” The husband acts +in this way in order that his offspring may be noble.<a name="FNanchor_139_139" id="FNanchor_139_139"></a><a href="#Footnote_139_139" class="fnanchor">[139]</a> +When a Hindu marries, all the children previously +born from his wife become his own; in Pakpatan, +even when a woman has forsaken her husband for +ten years, the children she brings forth are divided +between her and her lover.<a name="FNanchor_140_140" id="FNanchor_140_140"></a><a href="#Footnote_140_140" class="fnanchor">[140]</a> Similarly in Madagascar, +when a woman is divorced, any children she +afterwards bears belong to her husband.<a name="FNanchor_141_141" id="FNanchor_141_141"></a><a href="#Footnote_141_141" class="fnanchor">[141]</a> Campbell +tells us of children born out of wedlock in the +Limboo tribe that the father may obtain possession +of the boys by purchase and by naming them, but +the girls belong to the mother.<a name="FNanchor_142_142" id="FNanchor_142_142"></a><a href="#Footnote_142_142" class="fnanchor">[142]</a></p> + +<p>I am very certain that it was through property +considerations and for no moral causes that the +stringency of the moral code was tightened for +women. It seems to me of very great importance +that women should grasp firmly this truth: the +virtue of chastity owes its origin to property. Our +minds fall so readily under the spell of such ideas +as chastity and purity. There is a mass of real +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span>superstition on this question—a belief in a kind of +magic in chastity. But, indeed, continence had at +first no connection with morals. The sense of ownership +has been the seed-plot of our moral code. To it +we are indebted for the first germs of the sexual inhibitions +which, sanctified, by religion and supported +by custom, have, under the unreasoned idealism of +the common mind, filled life with cruelties and +jealous exclusions, with suicides, and murders, and +secret shames.<a name="FNanchor_143_143" id="FNanchor_143_143"></a><a href="#Footnote_143_143" class="fnanchor">[143]</a></p> + +<p>This brings me to summarise the point we have +reached. Father-right was dependent on purchase-possession +and had nothing to do with actual fatherhood. +The payment of a bride-price, the giving +of a sister in exchange, as also marriage with a slave, +gained for the husband the control over his wife +and ownership of the children. I could bring +forward much more evidence in proof of this fact +that property, and not kinship, was the basis of +fatherhood, did the limits of my space allow me +to do so; such cases are common in all parts of +the world where the transitional stage has been +reached. The maternal clan, with its strong social +cohesion is then broken up by the growing power +of individual interests pushing aside the old customs, +and bringing about the restoration of the family. +I believe that the causes by which the father gained +his position as the dominant partner in marriage +must be clear to every one from the examples I +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span>have given. Fatherhood established in the first +stage of the family on jealous authority, now, after +a period of more or less complete obscuration, rises +again as the dominant force in marriage. The +father has bought back his position as patriarch. +On the other hand the mother has lost her freedom +that came with the protection of her kindred, +under the social organisation of the clan. Looking +back through the lengthening record, we find that +another step has been taken in the history of the +family. This time is it a step forward, or a step +backward? This is a question I shall not try to +answer, for, indeed, I am not sure.</p> + +<p>Yet in case I am mistaken here, let me say at +once I am certain that this return to the restricted +family was a necessary and inevitable step. The +individual forces had to triumph. This may seem +a contradiction to all I have just said. What I +wish to show is this: one and all the phases in the +development of society have been needful and +fruitful as successive stages in growth; yet none +can continue—none be regarded as the final stage, +for each becomes insufficient and narrow from the +standpoint of the needs of a later stage. We have +reached the third stage—the patriarchal family +which still endures. And last and hardest to +eradicate is that monopoly of sexual possession, +which says: “This woman and her children are mine: +I have tabooed her for life.” Mankind has still to +outlive this brute instinct in its upward way to +civilisation.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_105_105" id="Footnote_105_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> <i>See</i> Westermarck, <i>op. cit.</i>, pp. 54-56.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_106_106" id="Footnote_106_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> Starcke’s <i>Primitive Family</i>, pp. 85-88. Letourneau, +<i>Evolution of Marriage</i>, pp. 80-81, 311-312. Hartland, +<i>Primitive Paternity</i>, Vol. I, pp. 269, 288.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_107_107" id="Footnote_107_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> Alice Werner, “Our Subject Races”, <i>National Reformer</i>, +Aug. 1897, p. 169.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_108_108" id="Footnote_108_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> <i>Travels</i>, p. 109.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_109_109" id="Footnote_109_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> Lippert, <i>Kulturgeschichte</i>, etc., Vol. II, p. 57. Hartland, +<i>Primitive Paternity</i>, Vol. I, pp. 274, 286.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_110_110" id="Footnote_110_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> Letourneau, pp. 306-307; citing Laing, <i>Travels in +Western Africa</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_111_111" id="Footnote_111_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> Giraud-Teulon, <i>Les origines du mariage et de la famille</i>, +pp. 215 <i>et seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_112_112" id="Footnote_112_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112_112"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> Hodgson, <i>Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal</i>, 1855, +Vol. XVIII, p. 707, cited by Starcke, <i>op. cit.</i>, pp. 79, 285.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_113_113" id="Footnote_113_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113_113"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> Hartland, <i>op. cit.</i>, Vol. II, pp. 155-157.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_114_114" id="Footnote_114_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114_114"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> This custom prevails, for instance, among the Kharwârs +and Parahiya tribes, and is common among the Ghasiyas, +and is also practised among the Tipperah of Bengal.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_115_115" id="Footnote_115_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115_115"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> <i>Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia.</i> See also +Barton, <i>Semitic Origins</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_116_116" id="Footnote_116_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116_116"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> <i>Academy</i>, March 27, 1886.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_117_117" id="Footnote_117_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117_117"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> Spencer, <i>Descriptive Sociology</i>, Vol. V, p. 8, citing +Petherick, <i>Egypt, the Soudan, and Central Africa</i>, pp. 140-141.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_118_118" id="Footnote_118_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118_118"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> Thomas, <i>Sex and Society</i>, pp. 73-74, quoting Waitz-Gerland.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_119_119" id="Footnote_119_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119_119"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> McLennan, <i>The Patriarchal Theory</i>, p. 235.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_120_120" id="Footnote_120_120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_120_120"><span class="label">[120]</span></a> Marsden, <i>History of Sumatra</i>, pp. 225-227.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_121_121" id="Footnote_121_121"></a><a href="#FNanchor_121_121"><span class="label">[121]</span></a> Forbes, <i>Eleven Years in Ceylon</i>, Vol. I, p. 333.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_122_122" id="Footnote_122_122"></a><a href="#FNanchor_122_122"><span class="label">[122]</span></a> Macdonald, <i>Africana</i>, Vol I, p. 136.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_123_123" id="Footnote_123_123"></a><a href="#FNanchor_123_123"><span class="label">[123]</span></a> Livingstone, <i>Travels</i>, p. 622.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_124_124" id="Footnote_124_124"></a><a href="#FNanchor_124_124"><span class="label">[124]</span></a> Riedel, p. 205; cited by McLennan, <i>Patriarchal Theory</i>, +p. 326.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_125_125" id="Footnote_125_125"></a><a href="#FNanchor_125_125"><span class="label">[125]</span></a> <i>Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal</i>, Vol. IX, p. 603.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_126_126" id="Footnote_126_126"></a><a href="#FNanchor_126_126"><span class="label">[126]</span></a> Bancroft, Vol. I, p. 549.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_127_127" id="Footnote_127_127"></a><a href="#FNanchor_127_127"><span class="label">[127]</span></a> <i>Journal African Society</i>, VIII, 15 <i>et seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_128_128" id="Footnote_128_128"></a><a href="#FNanchor_128_128"><span class="label">[128]</span></a> Torday and Joyce, <i>J. A. I.</i>, XXXV, 410.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_129_129" id="Footnote_129_129"></a><a href="#FNanchor_129_129"><span class="label">[129]</span></a> McLennan, <i>The Patriarchal Theory</i>, pp. 324-325, 240.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_130_130" id="Footnote_130_130"></a><a href="#FNanchor_130_130"><span class="label">[130]</span></a> Dennett, <i>Jour. Afr. Soc.</i>, I, 266.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_131_131" id="Footnote_131_131"></a><a href="#FNanchor_131_131"><span class="label">[131]</span></a> <i>Jour. Afr. Soc.</i>, I, 412.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_132_132" id="Footnote_132_132"></a><a href="#FNanchor_132_132"><span class="label">[132]</span></a> Hartland, <i>Primitive Paternity</i>, Vol. I, pp. 275 <i>et seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_133_133" id="Footnote_133_133"></a><a href="#FNanchor_133_133"><span class="label">[133]</span></a> <i>Old New Zealand</i>, p. 110.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_134_134" id="Footnote_134_134"></a><a href="#FNanchor_134_134"><span class="label">[134]</span></a> McLennan, <i>The Patriarchal Theory</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_135_135" id="Footnote_135_135"></a><a href="#FNanchor_135_135"><span class="label">[135]</span></a> <i>Survey of Canada</i>, Report for 1878-79, 134 <small>B</small>. Cited by +Frazer, <i>Totemism</i>, p. 76.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_136_136" id="Footnote_136_136"></a><a href="#FNanchor_136_136"><span class="label">[136]</span></a> Turner, <i>Samoa</i>, p. 78.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_137_137" id="Footnote_137_137"></a><a href="#FNanchor_137_137"><span class="label">[137]</span></a> <i>Das Mutterrecht</i>, p. 20, quoted by Starcke, <i>op. cit.</i>, +pp. 126-127.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_138_138" id="Footnote_138_138"></a><a href="#FNanchor_138_138"><span class="label">[138]</span></a> Wilken, <i>Das Matriarchat bei den alten Arabern</i>, p. 26.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_139_139" id="Footnote_139_139"></a><a href="#FNanchor_139_139"><span class="label">[139]</span></a> Wilken, <i>op. cit.</i>, p. 26.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_140_140" id="Footnote_140_140"></a><a href="#FNanchor_140_140"><span class="label">[140]</span></a> Wade, <i>Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal</i>, Vol. VI, p. 196.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_141_141" id="Footnote_141_141"></a><a href="#FNanchor_141_141"><span class="label">[141]</span></a> See <i>Truth about Woman</i>, pp. 160-161, for account of +Madagascar.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_142_142" id="Footnote_142_142"></a><a href="#FNanchor_142_142"><span class="label">[142]</span></a> <i>Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal</i>, Vol. IX, p. 603.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_143_143" id="Footnote_143_143"></a><a href="#FNanchor_143_143"><span class="label">[143]</span></a> This passage is quoted from <i>The Truth about Woman</i>, +p. 171. I give it here, because its importance seems to me +to be very great.</p></div> +</div> + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span></h2> + +<h3>WOMEN AND PRIMITIVE INDUSTRY</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">I have</span> referred in an earlier chapter to a letter +from Mr. H. G. Wells, sent to me after the publication +of my book, <i>The Truth about Woman</i>. Now, +there is one sentence in this letter that I wish to +quote here, because it brings home just what it +is my purpose in this chapter to show—that the +mother-age was a civilisation owing its institutions, +and its early victories over nature, rather to the +genius of woman than to that of man. Mr. Wells +does not, indeed, say this. He rejects the mother-age, +and in questioning my acceptance of it as a +stage in the past histories of societies, he writes: +“The primitive matriarchate never was anything +more than mother at the washing-tub and father +looking miserable.”</p> + +<p>It seems to me that here, in his own inimitable way, +Mr. Wells (though I think quite unconsciously) sums +up the past labour-history of woman and man. +His statement has very far-reaching considerations. +It forces us to accept the active utility of primitive +woman in the community—a utility more developed +and practical than that of man. This +was really the basis of women’s position of power.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> +The constructive quality of the female mind, at a +time when the male attention and energy were +fixed chiefly on the destructive activities of warfare, +was liberated for use and invention. Women were +the seekers, slowly increasing their efficiency.</p> + +<p>Very much the same account of the primitive +sexual division in work was given by an Australian +Kurnai to Messrs. Fison and Howitt, in a sentence +that has been quoted very frequently: “A man +hunts, spears fish, fights and sits about, all the rest +is woman’s work.” This may be accepted as a fair +statement of how work is divided between the two +sexes among primitive peoples. Now, what I +wish to make plain is that it was an arrangement in +which the advantage was really on the side of the +woman rather than on that of the man. I would +refer the reader back to what has been said on this +subject in Chapter III, where I summed up the +conditions acting on the women in the hypothetical +first stage of the primordial family. We saw that +the males were chiefly concerned with the absorbing +duties of sex and fighting rivals, and also hunting +for game. The women’s interest, on the other +hand, was bent on domestic activities—in caring +for their children and developing the food supplies +immediately around them. From the hearth-home, +or shelter, as the start of settled life, and with +their intelligence sharpened by the keen chisel of +necessity, women carried on their work as the +organisers and directors of industrial occupations. +Very slowly did they make each far-reaching<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> +discovery; seeds cast into the ground sprouted and +gave the first start of agriculture. The plant world +gave women the best returns for the efforts they +made, and they began to store up food. Contrivance +followed contrivance, each one making it possible +for women to do more. Certain animals, possibly +brought back by the hunters from the forests, were +kept and tamed. Presently the use of fire was +discovered—we know not how—but women became +the guardians of this source of life. And now, +instead of caves or tree-shelters, there were huts +and tents and houses, and of these, too, women +were frequently the builders. The home from the +first was of greater importance to the women; it +was the place where the errant males rejoined their +wives and children, and hence the women became +the owners of the homes and the heads of households. +For as yet the men were occupied in fighting. +The clumsy and the stupid among them were +killed soonest; the fine hand, the quick eye—these +prevailed age by age. Tools and weapons were +doubtless fashioned by these fighters, but for +destruction; the male’s attention was directed +mainly by his own desires. And may we not +accept that among the most pressing activities of +women was the need to tame man and make him +social, so that he could endure the rights of others +than himself?</p> + +<p>So through the long generations the life of human +societies continued. Those activities, due to female +influence, developing and opening up new ways in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> +all directions, until we have that early civilisation, +which I have called the mother-age.</p> + +<p>All the world over, even to this day, this separation +in the labour activities of the two sexes can be +traced. Destructive work, demanding a special +development of strength, with corresponding periods +of rest, falls to men; and contrasted with this violent +and intermittent male force we find, with the same +uniformity, that the work of women is domestic +and constructive, being connected with the care +of children and all the various industries which +radiate from the home—work demanding a different +kind of strength, more enduring, more continuous, +but at a lower tension.</p> + +<p>Bonwick’s account of the work of Tasmanian +women may be taken as typical—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“In addition to the necessary duty of looking +after the children, the women had to provide all +the food for the household excepting that derived +from the chase of the kangaroo. They climbed +up hills for the opossum” (a very difficult task, requiring +great strength and also skill), “delved in the +ground for yams, native bread, and nutritious roots, +groped about the rocks for shellfish, dived beneath +the sea for oysters, and fished for the finny tribe. +In addition to this, they carried, on their frequent +tramps, the household stuffs in native baskets of +their own manufacture.”<a name="FNanchor_144_144" id="FNanchor_144_144"></a><a href="#Footnote_144_144" class="fnanchor">[144]</a></p></div> + +<p>Among the Indians of Guiana the men’s work is +to hunt, and to cut down the trees when the cassava +is to be planted. When the men have felled the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span>trees and cleaned the ground, the women plant the +cassava and undertake all the subsequent operations; +agriculture is entirely in their hands. They are +little, if at all, weaker than the men, and they work +all day while the men are often in their hammocks +smoking; but there is no cruelty or oppression +exercised by the men towards the women.<a name="FNanchor_145_145" id="FNanchor_145_145"></a><a href="#Footnote_145_145" class="fnanchor">[145]</a></p> + +<p>In Africa we meet with much the same conditions +of labour. “The work is done chiefly by the +women, this is universal; they hoe the fields, sow +the seed, and reap the harvest. To them, too, falls +all the labour of house-building, grinding corn, +brewing beer, cooking, washing, and caring for +almost all the material interests of the community. +The men tend the cattle, hunt, go to war; they +also spend much time sitting in council over the +conduct of affairs.”<a name="FNanchor_146_146" id="FNanchor_146_146"></a><a href="#Footnote_146_146" class="fnanchor">[146]</a></p> + +<p>I may note the interesting account of Prof. +Haddon<a name="FNanchor_147_147" id="FNanchor_147_147"></a><a href="#Footnote_147_147" class="fnanchor">[147]</a> of the work of the Western Tribes of the +Torres Straits—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“The men fished, fought, built houses, did a little +gardening, made fish-lines, fish-hooks, spears, and +other implements, constructed dance-masks and +head-dresses, and all the paraphernalia for the +various ceremonies and dances. They performed +all the rites and dances, and in addition did a good +deal of strutting up and down, loafing and ‘yarning.’ +The women cooked and prepared the food, did most +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span>of the gardening, collected shell-fish, and speared +fish on the reefs, made petticoats, baskets and mats.”</p></div> + +<p>Similar examples might be almost indefinitely +multiplied. Among the Andamanese, while the +men go into the jungle to hunt pigs, the women +fetch drinking water and firewood, catch shell-fish, +make fishing nets and baskets, spin thread, and +cook the food ready for the return of the men.<a name="FNanchor_148_148" id="FNanchor_148_148"></a><a href="#Footnote_148_148" class="fnanchor">[148]</a> +The Moki women of America have fifty ways of +preparing corn for food. They make all the preparations +necessary for these varied dishes, involving +the arts of the stonecutter, the carrier, the mason, +the miller and the cook.<a name="FNanchor_149_149" id="FNanchor_149_149"></a><a href="#Footnote_149_149" class="fnanchor">[149]</a> In New Caledonia “girls +work in the plantations, boys learn to fight.”<a name="FNanchor_150_150" id="FNanchor_150_150"></a><a href="#Footnote_150_150" class="fnanchor">[150]</a></p> + +<p>We should, however, fall into a popular error +concerning the division of labour in savagery, if +we consider that all women’s work is regarded as +degrading to men and all men’s work is tabooed +to women. The duties of war and the chase are +the chief occupation of men, yet in all parts of the +world women have fought at need, and sometimes +habitually, both to assist their men and also against +them. Thus Buckley, who lived for many years +among the Australian tribes, relates that when the +tribe he lived with was attacked by a hostile party, +the men “raised a war-cry; on hearing this the +women threw off their rugs and, each armed with +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span>a short club, flew to the assistance of their husbands +and brothers.”<a name="FNanchor_151_151" id="FNanchor_151_151"></a><a href="#Footnote_151_151" class="fnanchor">[151]</a> In Central Australia the men +occasionally beat the women through jealousy, but +on such occasions it is by no means rare for the +women, single handed, to beat the men severely.<a name="FNanchor_152_152" id="FNanchor_152_152"></a><a href="#Footnote_152_152" class="fnanchor">[152]</a> +Again, men carry on, as a rule, the negotiations on +tribal concerns, but in such matters exceptions are +very numerous. Among the Australian Dieyerie, +Curr states that the women act as ambassadors to +arrange treaties, and invariably succeed in their +mission.<a name="FNanchor_153_153" id="FNanchor_153_153"></a><a href="#Footnote_153_153" class="fnanchor">[153]</a> The same conditions are found among +the American Indians. Men are the hunters and +fishers, but women also hunt and fish. Among the +Yahgan of Tierra del Fuego fishing is left entirely +to the women,<a name="FNanchor_154_154" id="FNanchor_154_154"></a><a href="#Footnote_154_154" class="fnanchor">[154]</a> and this is not at all unusual. +Mrs. Allison states of the Similkameen Indians of +British Columbia that formerly “the women were +nearly as good hunters as the men,” but being +sensitive to the ridicule of the white settlers, they +have given up hunting.<a name="FNanchor_155_155" id="FNanchor_155_155"></a><a href="#Footnote_155_155" class="fnanchor">[155]</a> In hunting trips, the help +of women is often not to be despised. Warburton +Pike writes thus: “I saw what an advantage it is +to take women on a hunting trip. If we killed +anything, we had only to cut up and <i>cache</i> the +meat, and the women would carry it. On returning +to camp we could throw ourselves down on a pile +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span>of caribou skins and smoke our pipes in comfort, +but the women’s work was never finished.”<a name="FNanchor_156_156" id="FNanchor_156_156"></a><a href="#Footnote_156_156" class="fnanchor">[156]</a> This +account is very suggestive. The man undergoes +the fatigue of hunting, and when he has thrown +the game at the woman’s feet his part is done; it +is her duty to carry it and to cook it, as well as to +make the vessels in which the food is placed. The +skins and the refuse are hers to utilise, and all the +industries connected with clothing are chiefly in her +hands.<a name="FNanchor_157_157" id="FNanchor_157_157"></a><a href="#Footnote_157_157" class="fnanchor">[157]</a> Hearne, in his delightful old narrative, +speaks of the assistance of women on hunting +expeditions—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“For when all the men are heavy laden they can +neither hunt nor travel to any considerable distance; +and in case they meet with any success in hunting, +who is to carry the produce of their labour?”</p></div> + +<p>He adds with a charming frankness—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Women were made for labour; one of them can +carry or haul as much as two men can do. They +also pitch our tents, make and mend our clothing, +keep us warm at night, and, in fact, there is no +such thing as travelling any considerable distance, +or any length of time, in this country without their +assistance.”<a name="FNanchor_158_158" id="FNanchor_158_158"></a><a href="#Footnote_158_158" class="fnanchor">[158]</a></p></div> + +<p>Numerous other examples might be added which +illustrate how women take part in the destructive +work of men; conversely we find not a few cases of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span>the co-operation of men in the women’s activities. +The world over, women are usually the weavers +and spinners; but with the Navajo and in some of +the Pueblos the men are among the best weavers.<a name="FNanchor_159_159" id="FNanchor_159_159"></a><a href="#Footnote_159_159" class="fnanchor">[159]</a> +Among the Indians of Guiana the men are specially +skilful in basket-weaving, and here also they as +well as the women spin and weave.<a name="FNanchor_160_160" id="FNanchor_160_160"></a><a href="#Footnote_160_160" class="fnanchor">[160]</a> More curious +is the custom in East Africa where all the sewing +for their own and the women’s garments is done by +the men, and very well done. Sewing is here so +entirely recognised as men’s work that a wife may +obtain a divorce if she “can show a neglected rend +in her petticoat.”<a name="FNanchor_161_161" id="FNanchor_161_161"></a><a href="#Footnote_161_161" class="fnanchor">[161]</a></p> + +<p>It is a common mistake, arising from insufficient +knowledge, to suppose that savage women are +specially subject to oppression. Their life is hard +as we look at it, but not as they look at it. We +have still much to learn on these matters. An even +greater error is the view that these women are a +source of weakness to the male members of their +families. The very reverse is the truth. Primitive +women are strong in body and capable in work. +Fison and Howitt, in discussing this question, state +of the Australian women, “In times of peace, they +are the hardest workers and the most useful members +of the community.” And in times of war, “they +are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves +at all times, and so far from being an encumbrance +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span>on the warriors, they will fight, if need be, as bravely +as the men, and with even greater ferocity.”<a name="FNanchor_162_162" id="FNanchor_162_162"></a><a href="#Footnote_162_162" class="fnanchor">[162]</a> This +is no exceptional case. The strength of savage +women is proved by reports from widely different +races, of which all testify to their physical capability +and aptness for labour. Schellong,<a name="FNanchor_163_163" id="FNanchor_163_163"></a><a href="#Footnote_163_163" class="fnanchor">[163]</a> who has carefully +studied the Papuans of the German protectorate +of New Guinea, from the anthropological point of +view, “considers that the women are more strongly +built than the men.” Nor does heavy work appear +to damage the health or beauty of the women, +but the contrary. Thus among the Andombies on +the Congo, to give one instance, the women, though +working very hard as carriers, and as labourers in +general, lead an entirely happy existence; they +are often stronger than the men and more finely +developed: some of them, we are told, have really +splendid figures. And Parke, speaking of the +Manyuema of the Arruwimi in the same region, +says that “they are fine animals, and the women +very handsome; they carry loads as heavy as +those of the men and do it quite as well.”<a name="FNanchor_164_164" id="FNanchor_164_164"></a><a href="#Footnote_164_164" class="fnanchor">[164]</a> +Again, McGee<a name="FNanchor_165_165" id="FNanchor_165_165"></a><a href="#Footnote_165_165" class="fnanchor">[165]</a> comments on the extraordinary +capacity of quite aged women for heavy labour. +He tells of “a withered crone, weighing apparently +not more than 80 to 90 lb. who carried a <i>kilio</i> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span>containing a stone mortar 196 lb. in weight for +more than half a mile on a sandy road without +any perceptible exhaustion. The proportion of the +active aged is much larger than among civilised +people.”</p> + +<p>I may pause to note some of the numerous +industries of which women were the originators. +First of all, woman is the food-giver; all the +labours relating to the preparation of food, and to +the utilisation of the side products of foodstuffs +are usually found in the hands of women. Women +are everywhere the primitive agriculturists. They +beat out the seeds from plants; dig for roots and +tubers, strain the poisonous juices from the cassava +and make bread from the residue; and it was under +their attention that a southern grass was first +developed into what we know as Indian corn.<a name="FNanchor_166_166" id="FNanchor_166_166"></a><a href="#Footnote_166_166" class="fnanchor">[166]</a> +The removal of poisonous matter from tapioca by +means of hot water is also the discovery of savage +women.<a name="FNanchor_167_167" id="FNanchor_167_167"></a><a href="#Footnote_167_167" class="fnanchor">[167]</a> All the evolution of primitive agriculture +may be traced to women’s industry. Power tells +of the Yokia women in Central California who +employ neither plough nor hoe, but cultivate the +ground by digging the earth deep and rubbing it +fine with their hands, and by this means they get +an excellent yield.<a name="FNanchor_168_168" id="FNanchor_168_168"></a><a href="#Footnote_168_168" class="fnanchor">[168]</a> Women have everywhere been +the first potters; vessels were needed for use in +cooking, to carry and to hold water, and to store +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span>the supplies of food. For the same reason baskets +were woven. Women invented and exercised in +common multifarious household occupations and +industries. Curing food, tanning the hides of +animals, spinning, weaving, dyeing—all are carried +on by women. The domestication of animals is +usually in women’s hands. They are also the +primitive architects; the hut, in widely different +parts of the world—among Kaffirs, Fuegians, +Polynesians, Kamtschatdals—is built by women. +We have seen that the communal houses of the +American Indians are mainly erected by the women. +Women were frequently, though not always, the +primitive doctors. Among the Kurds, for instance, +all the medical knowledge is in the hands of the +women, who are the hereditary <i>hakims</i>.<a name="FNanchor_169_169" id="FNanchor_169_169"></a><a href="#Footnote_169_169" class="fnanchor">[169]</a> Women +seem to have prepared the first intoxicating liquors. +The Quissama women in Angola climb the gigantic +palm trees to obtain palm-beer.<a name="FNanchor_170_170" id="FNanchor_170_170"></a><a href="#Footnote_170_170" class="fnanchor">[170]</a> In the ancient +legends of the North, women are clearly represented +as the discoverers of ale.<a name="FNanchor_171_171" id="FNanchor_171_171"></a><a href="#Footnote_171_171" class="fnanchor">[171]</a></p> + +<p>It would be easy to go on almost indefinitely +multiplying examples of the industries of primitive +women. There can be no doubt at all that their +work is exacting and incessant; it is also inventive +in its variety and its ready application to the +practical needs of life. If a catalogue of the primitive +forms of labour were made, each woman would +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span>be found doing at least half-a-dozen things while a +man did one. We may accept the statement of +Prof. Mason that in the early history of mankind +“women were the industrial, elaborative, conservative +half of society. All the peaceful arts of +to-day were once women’s peculiar province. Along +the lines of industrialism she was pioneer, inventor, +author, originator.”<a name="FNanchor_172_172" id="FNanchor_172_172"></a><a href="#Footnote_172_172" class="fnanchor">[172]</a></p> + +<p>There is another matter that must be noted. The +primitive division of labour between the sexes was +not in any sense an arrangement dictated by men, +nor did they impose the women’s tasks upon them. +The view that the women are forced to work by the +laziness of the men, and that their heavy and +incessant labour is a proof of their degraded position +is entirely out of focus. Quite the reverse is the +truth. Evidence is not wanting of the great advantage +arising to women from their close connection +with labour. It was largely their control over the +food supply and their position as actual producers +which gave them so much influence, and even +authority in the mother-age. In this connection I +may quote the statement of Miss Werner about the +African women as representing the true conditions—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“I cannot say that, so far as my own observations +went, the women’s lot seemed to be a specially hard +one. In fact, they are too important an element +in the community not to be treated with consideration. +The fact that they do most of the heavy +field-work does not imply that they are a down-trodden +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span>sex. On the contrary, it gives them a +considerable pull, as a man will think twice before +endangering his food supply.”<a name="FNanchor_173_173" id="FNanchor_173_173"></a><a href="#Footnote_173_173" class="fnanchor">[173]</a></p></div> + +<p>Mr. Horatio Hale, a well-known American anthropologist +likewise observes—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“The common opinion that women among savage +tribes in general are treated with harshness, and +regarded as slaves, or at least as inferiors, is, like +many common opinions, based on error, originating +in too large and indiscriminate deduction from +narrow premises.... The wife of a Samoan landowner +or Navajo shepherd has no occasion, so far +as her position in her family or among her people, +to envy the wife of a German peasant.”<a name="FNanchor_174_174" id="FNanchor_174_174"></a><a href="#Footnote_174_174" class="fnanchor">[174]</a></p></div> + +<p>Certainly savage women do not count their work +as any degradation. There is really an equal +division of labour between the sexes, though the +work of the men is accomplished more fitfully than +that of the women. The militant activities of +fighting and hunting are essential in primitive life. +The women know this, and they do their share—the +industrial share, willingly, without question, +and without compulsion. It is entirely absurd in +this work-connection to regard men as the oppressors +of women. Rather the advantage is on +the women’s side. For one thing, just because +they are accustomed to hard labour all their lives, +they are little, if any, weaker than men. Primitive +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span>women are strong in body, and capable in work. +The powers they enjoy as well as their manifold +activities are the result of their position as mothers, +this function being to them a source of strength and +not a plea of weakness.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“They who are accustomed to the ways of +civilised women only,” remarks Mr. Fison, “can +hardly believe what savage women are capable of, +even when they may well be supposed to be at their +weakest. For instance, an Australian tribe on the +march scarcely take the trouble to halt for so +slight a performance as childbirth. The newly +born infant is wrapped in skins, the march is resumed, +and the mother trudges on with the rest. +Moreover, as is well known, among many tribes +elsewhere it is the father who is put to bed, while +the mother goes about her work as if nothing had +happened.”<a name="FNanchor_175_175" id="FNanchor_175_175"></a><a href="#Footnote_175_175" class="fnanchor">[175]</a></p></div> + +<p>Another important advantage arising to women, +through their identification with the early industrial +process, was their position as the first property +owners. They were almost the sole creators of +ownership in land, and held in this respect a position +of great power. This explains the fact that in the +transactions of the North American tribes with the +Colonial Government many deeds of assignment bear +female signatures.<a name="FNanchor_176_176" id="FNanchor_176_176"></a><a href="#Footnote_176_176" class="fnanchor">[176]</a> A form of divorce used by a +husband in ancient Arabia was: “Begone, for I +will no longer drive thy flocks to pasture.”<a name="FNanchor_177_177" id="FNanchor_177_177"></a><a href="#Footnote_177_177" class="fnanchor">[177]</a> In +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span>almost all cases the household goods belonged to +the woman. The stores of roots and berries laid +up for a time of scarcity were the property of the +wife, and the husband would not touch them +without her permission. In many cases such +property was very extensive. Among the Menomini +Indians, for instance, a woman of good circumstances +would own as many as 1200 to 1500 +birch-bark vessels.<a name="FNanchor_178_178" id="FNanchor_178_178"></a><a href="#Footnote_178_178" class="fnanchor">[178]</a> In the New Mexico Pueblos +what comes from the outside of the house as soon +as it is inside is put under the immediate control of +the women. Bandelier, in his report of his tour +in Mexico, tells us that “his host at Cochiti, New +Mexico, could not sell an ear of corn or a string of +chili without the consent of his fourteen-year-old +daughter, Ignacia, who kept house for her widowed +father.”<a name="FNanchor_179_179" id="FNanchor_179_179"></a><a href="#Footnote_179_179" class="fnanchor">[179]</a></p> + +<p>I must now bring this brief chapter to a close. +But first I would give one further example. It is +an account of the Pelew matrons’ work in the taro +fields. Here the richest and most influential women +count it their privilege to labour, and it will be remembered +that these women are called “mothers +of the land.” They are politically and socially +superior to the men; and their position is dependent +largely on their close connection with the staple +industry of the island.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span></p> +<div class="blockquot"><p>“The richest woman in the village looks with +pride on her taro patch, and although she has +female followers enough to allow her merely to +superintend the work without taking part in it, +she nevertheless prefers to lay aside her fine apron, +and to betake herself to the field, merely clad in a +small apron that barely hides her nakedness, with +a little mat on her back to protect her from the +burning heat of the sun, and with a shade of banana +leaves for her eyes. There, dripping with sweat +in the burning sun, and coated with mud to the +hips and over the elbows, she toils to set the younger +women a good example. Moreover, as in every +other occupation, the <i>Kalitho</i>, the gods must be +invoked, and who could be better fitted for the +discharge of so important a duty than ‘the Mother +of the House.’”</p></div> + +<p>Here is a picture of labour that may well make +women pause to think.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_144_144" id="Footnote_144_144"></a><a href="#FNanchor_144_144"><span class="label">[144]</span></a> <i>Daily Life and Origin of the Tasmanians</i>, p. 55.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_145_145" id="Footnote_145_145"></a><a href="#FNanchor_145_145"><span class="label">[145]</span></a> Everard im Thurn, <i>Among the Indians of Guiana</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_146_146" id="Footnote_146_146"></a><a href="#FNanchor_146_146"><span class="label">[146]</span></a> Macdonald, “East Central African Customs,” <i>Journal +Anthropological Institute</i>, Feb. 1890, p. 342.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_147_147" id="Footnote_147_147"></a><a href="#FNanchor_147_147"><span class="label">[147]</span></a> <i>Journal Anthropological Institute</i>, Feb. 1890, p. 342.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_148_148" id="Footnote_148_148"></a><a href="#FNanchor_148_148"><span class="label">[148]</span></a> Owen, <i>Transactions of the Ethnological Society</i>, New +Series, Vol. II, p. 36.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_149_149" id="Footnote_149_149"></a><a href="#FNanchor_149_149"><span class="label">[149]</span></a> Mason, <i>Woman’s Share in Primitive Culture</i>, p. 143.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_150_150" id="Footnote_150_150"></a><a href="#FNanchor_150_150"><span class="label">[150]</span></a> Turner, <i>Nineteen Years in Polynesia</i>, p. 424.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_151_151" id="Footnote_151_151"></a><a href="#FNanchor_151_151"><span class="label">[151]</span></a> <i>Life and Adventures of William Buckley</i>, p. 43.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_152_152" id="Footnote_152_152"></a><a href="#FNanchor_152_152"><span class="label">[152]</span></a> <i>Journal Anthropological Institute</i>, Aug. 1890, p. 61.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_153_153" id="Footnote_153_153"></a><a href="#FNanchor_153_153"><span class="label">[153]</span></a> <i>Australian Races</i>, cited by Ellis, <i>Man and Woman</i>, +p. 9 <i>note</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_154_154" id="Footnote_154_154"></a><a href="#FNanchor_154_154"><span class="label">[154]</span></a> Haydes et Deniker, <i>Mission Scientifique de Cape Horn</i>, +tome vii, 1891.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_155_155" id="Footnote_155_155"></a><a href="#FNanchor_155_155"><span class="label">[155]</span></a> <i>Journal of the Anthropological Institute</i>, Feb. 1892, p. 307.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_156_156" id="Footnote_156_156"></a><a href="#FNanchor_156_156"><span class="label">[156]</span></a> Warburton Pike, <i>Barren Grounds</i>, p. 75.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_157_157" id="Footnote_157_157"></a><a href="#FNanchor_157_157"><span class="label">[157]</span></a> Havelock Ellis, <i>Man and Woman</i>, p. 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_158_158" id="Footnote_158_158"></a><a href="#FNanchor_158_158"><span class="label">[158]</span></a> <i>A Journey from Prince of Wales’s Fort to the Northern +Ocean</i>, p. 55.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_159_159" id="Footnote_159_159"></a><a href="#FNanchor_159_159"><span class="label">[159]</span></a> Mason, <i>op. cit.</i>, p. 10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_160_160" id="Footnote_160_160"></a><a href="#FNanchor_160_160"><span class="label">[160]</span></a> Im Thurn, <i>Among the Indians of British Guiana</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_161_161" id="Footnote_161_161"></a><a href="#FNanchor_161_161"><span class="label">[161]</span></a> Macdonald, <i>Journal Anthropological Institute</i>, Aug. 1892.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_162_162" id="Footnote_162_162"></a><a href="#FNanchor_162_162"><span class="label">[162]</span></a> <i>Kamilaroi and Kurnai</i>, pp. 133, 147.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_163_163" id="Footnote_163_163"></a><a href="#FNanchor_163_163"><span class="label">[163]</span></a> Cited by Ellis, <i>Man and Woman</i>, p. 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_164_164" id="Footnote_164_164"></a><a href="#FNanchor_164_164"><span class="label">[164]</span></a> H. H. Johnston, <i>The Kilimanjaro Expedition</i>; Parke, +<i>Experiences in Equatorial Africa</i>. These examples are cited +by Ellis.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_165_165" id="Footnote_165_165"></a><a href="#FNanchor_165_165"><span class="label">[165]</span></a> “The Beginnings of Agriculture,” <i>American Anthropologist</i>, +Oct. 1895, p. 37.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_166_166" id="Footnote_166_166"></a><a href="#FNanchor_166_166"><span class="label">[166]</span></a> Thomas, <i>Sex and Society</i>, p. 136.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_167_167" id="Footnote_167_167"></a><a href="#FNanchor_167_167"><span class="label">[167]</span></a> Mason, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 24.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_168_168" id="Footnote_168_168"></a><a href="#FNanchor_168_168"><span class="label">[168]</span></a> <i>Cont. North American Ethnology</i>, Vol. III, p. 167.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_169_169" id="Footnote_169_169"></a><a href="#FNanchor_169_169"><span class="label">[169]</span></a> Mrs. Bishop, <i>Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan</i>, cited +by H. Ellis, <i>op. cit.</i>, p. 6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_170_170" id="Footnote_170_170"></a><a href="#FNanchor_170_170"><span class="label">[170]</span></a> <i>Jour. Anthrop. Inst.</i>, Vol. I, p. 190.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_171_171" id="Footnote_171_171"></a><a href="#FNanchor_171_171"><span class="label">[171]</span></a> “Magic Songs of the Finns,” <i>Folk-lore</i>, Mar. 1892.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_172_172" id="Footnote_172_172"></a><a href="#FNanchor_172_172"><span class="label">[172]</span></a> <i>American Antiquarian</i>, Jan. 1899.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_173_173" id="Footnote_173_173"></a><a href="#FNanchor_173_173"><span class="label">[173]</span></a> “Our Subject Races,” <i>The Reformer</i>, April 1897, p. 43.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_174_174" id="Footnote_174_174"></a><a href="#FNanchor_174_174"><span class="label">[174]</span></a> <i>Journal Anthropological Institute</i>, May 1892, p. 427, +cited by H. Ellis.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_175_175" id="Footnote_175_175"></a><a href="#FNanchor_175_175"><span class="label">[175]</span></a> <i>Kamilaroi and Kurnai</i>, p. 358.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_176_176" id="Footnote_176_176"></a><a href="#FNanchor_176_176"><span class="label">[176]</span></a> Ratzel, <i>History of Mankind</i>, Vol. II, p. 130.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_177_177" id="Footnote_177_177"></a><a href="#FNanchor_177_177"><span class="label">[177]</span></a> Robertson Smith, <i>Kinship and Marriage in Early +Arabia</i>, p. 65.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_178_178" id="Footnote_178_178"></a><a href="#FNanchor_178_178"><span class="label">[178]</span></a> Hoffman, “The Menomini Indians,” <i>Fourteenth Report +of the Bureau of American Ethnology</i>, p. 288.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_179_179" id="Footnote_179_179"></a><a href="#FNanchor_179_179"><span class="label">[179]</span></a> Papers of the <i>Archæological Institute of America</i>, Vol. II, +p. 138.</p></div> +</div> + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span></h2> + +<h3>TRACES OF MOTHER-RIGHT CUSTOMS IN ANCIENT AND<br /> +MODERN CIVILISATIONS</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">I propose</span> in this chapter to examine, as fully as +I can, the traces that mother-right customs have +left among some of the great races of antiquity, as +also in the early records of western civilisations. +It is the more necessary to do this because there is +so marked a tendency to minimise the importance +of the mother-age, and to regard the patriarchal +family as primeval and universal. So much interesting +material is available, and so wide a field +of inquiry must be covered, that I shall be able to +give a mere outline sketch, for the purpose of suggesting, +rather than proving, the widespread prevalence +of the communal clan and the maternal +family.</p> + +<p>As to whether this maternal-stage, with kinship +and inheritance passing through the mother, has +everywhere preceded the second patriarchal period, +it is difficult to be at all certain. Dr. Westermarck, +Mr. Crawley and others have argued against this +view. But (as I have before had occasion to point +out) their chief motive has been to discredit the +theory of promiscuity, with which mother-descent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> +has been so commonly, and so mistakenly, connected. +It does not seem to have been held as +possible that the mother-age was a much later +development, whose social customs were made for +the regulation of the family relationships. A number +of very primitive races exhibit no traces, that +have yet been discovered, of such a system, and +have descent in the male line. This has been +thought to be a further proof against a maternal +stage. But here again is an error; we are not +entitled to regard mother-descent as necessarily the +primitive custom. I believe and have tried to show, +from the examples of the Australian tribes and +elsewhere, that in many cases the stage of the +maternal clan has not been reached. If I am right +here, we have the way cleared from much confusion. +I would suggest, as also possible, that there may +among some people, have been retrogressions, customs +and habits found out as beneficial, and perhaps for +long practised, have by some tribes been forgotten. +There can be no hard and fast rule of progress for any +race. The whole subject is thorny and obscure, and +the evidence on the question is often contradictory. +Still I hold the claim I make is not without foundation. +I have tried to show how the causes which +led to the maternal system were perfectly simple +and natural causes, arising out of needs that must +have operated universally in the past history of +mankind. And this indicates a maternal stage at +some period for all branches of the human family. +Again the widespread prevalence of mother-right<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> +survivals among races where the patriarchal system +has been for long firmly established lends support +to such a view, which will be strengthened by the +evidence now to be brought forward. It will be +necessary to go step by step, from one race to +another, and to many different countries, and I +would ask my readers not to shrink from the trouble +of following me.</p> + +<p>Let us turn first to ancient Egypt, where women +held a position more free and more honourable than +they have in any country to-day.</p> + +<p>Herodotus, who was a keen observer, records his +astonishment at this freedom, and writes—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“They have established laws and customs opposite +for the most part to those of the rest of +mankind.... With them women go to market +and traffic; men stay at home and weave.... The +men carry burdens on their heads; the women on +their shoulders.... The boys are never forced to +maintain their parents unless they wish to do so; +the girls are obliged to, even if they do not wish +it.”<a name="FNanchor_180_180" id="FNanchor_180_180"></a><a href="#Footnote_180_180" class="fnanchor">[180]</a></p></div> + +<p>From this last rule it is logical to infer that women +inherited property, as is to-day the case among the +Beni-Amer of Africa,<a name="FNanchor_181_181" id="FNanchor_181_181"></a><a href="#Footnote_181_181" class="fnanchor">[181]</a> where daughters have to +provide for their parents.</p> + +<p>Diodorus goes further than Herodotus: he affirms +that in the Egyptian family it is the man who is +subjected to the woman.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span></p> +<div class="blockquot"><p>“All this explains why the queen receives more +power and respect than the king, and why, among +private individuals, the woman rules over the man, +and that it is stipulated between married couples, +by the terms of the dowry-contract, that the man +shall obey the woman.”<a name="FNanchor_182_182" id="FNanchor_182_182"></a><a href="#Footnote_182_182" class="fnanchor">[182]</a></p></div> + +<p>There is probably some exaggeration in this +account, nevertheless, the demotic deeds, in a +measure, confirm it. By the law of maternal +inheritance, an Egyptian wife was often richer +than her husband, and enjoyed the dignity and +freedom always involved by the possession of +property. More than three thousand three hundred +years ago men and women were recognised as equal +in this land.</p> + +<p>Under such privileges the wife was entirely +preserved from any subjection; she was able to +dictate the terms of the marriage. She held the +right of making contracts without authorisation; +she remained absolute mistress of her dowry. The +marriage-contract also specified the sums that the +husband was to pay to his wife, either as a nuptial +gift or annual pension, or as compensation in case +of divorce. In some cases the whole property of +the husband was made over to the wife, and when +this was done, it was stipulated that she should +provide for him during his life, and discharge the +expenses of his burial and tomb.</p> + +<p>These unusual proprietary rights of the Egyptian +wife can be explained only as being traceable to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span>an early period of mother-right. Without proof of +any absolutely precise text, we have an accumulation +of facts that render it probable that, at one time, +descent was traced through the mother. It is +significant that the word <i>husband</i> never occurs in +the marriage deeds before the reign of Philometor. +This ruler (it would appear in order to establish the +position of the father in the family) decreed that +all transfers of property made by the wife should +henceforth be authorised by the husband. Up to +this time public deeds often mention only the mother, +but King Philometor ordered the names of contractors +to be registered according to the paternal +line. Besides this, the hieroglyphic funeral inscriptions +frequently bear the name of the mother, without +indicating that of the father.<a name="FNanchor_183_183" id="FNanchor_183_183"></a><a href="#Footnote_183_183" class="fnanchor">[183]</a></p> + +<p>All these facts attest that women in Egypt +enjoyed an exceptionally favourable position. We +may compare this position with that held by the +Touareg women of the Sahara, who, through the +custom of maternal inheritance, for long continued, +have in their hands the strong power of wealth, and +thus exercise extraordinary authority, giving rise to +what I have called “a pecuniary matriarchy.”</p> + +<p>It is probable that in Egypt property was originally +entirely in the hands of women, as is usual +under the matriarchal system. Later, a tradition +in favour of the old privileges would seem to have +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span>persisted after descent was changed from the +maternal to the paternal line. The marriage-contracts +may thus be regarded as enforcing by +agreement what would occur naturally under the +maternal customs. The husband’s property was +made over by deed to the wife (at first entirely, +and afterwards in part) to secure its inheritance by +the children of the marriage. It was in such wise +way the Egyptians arranged the difficult problem +of the fusing of mother-right with father-right.</p> + +<p>In the very ancient civilisation of Babylon we +find women in a position of honour, with privileges +similar in many ways to those they enjoyed in +Egypt. There are even indications that the earliest +customs may have gone beyond those of the Egyptians +in exalting women. All the available evidence +points to the conclusion that at the opening of +Babylonian history women had complete independence +and equal rights with their husbands and +brothers. It is significant that the most archaic +texts in the primitive language are remarkable +for the precedence given to the female sex in all +formulas of address: “Goddesses and gods;” +“Women and men,” are mentioned always in that +order; this is in itself a decisive indication of the +high status of women in this early period. And +there are other traces all pointing to the conclusion +that in the civilisation of primitive Babylon mother-right +was still in active force. Later (as is shown +by the Code of Hammurabi) a woman’s rights, though +not her duties, were more circumscribed; in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> +still later Neo-Babylonian periods, she again acquired, +through the favourable conditions with +regard to property, full liberty of action and equal +rights with her husband.<a name="FNanchor_184_184" id="FNanchor_184_184"></a><a href="#Footnote_184_184" class="fnanchor">[184]</a></p> + +<p>Let us now turn our attention to the Græco-Roman +civilisation. It is convenient to take first +a brief glance at Rome. I may note that the family +here would certainly appear to have developed from +the primitive clan, or <i>gens</i>. At the dawn of history +the patriarchal system was already firmly established, +with individual property, and an unusually +strong subjection of woman to her father first and +afterwards to her husband. There are, however, +numerous indications of a prehistoric phase of +communism. I can mention only the right of the +<i>gens</i> to the heritage, and in certain cases the possession +of an <i>ager publicus</i>, which certainly bears +witness in favour of an antique community of +property.<a name="FNanchor_185_185" id="FNanchor_185_185"></a><a href="#Footnote_185_185" class="fnanchor">[185]</a> Can we, then, accept that there was +once a period of the maternal family, when descent +and inheritance were traced through the mother? +Frazer<a name="FNanchor_186_186" id="FNanchor_186_186"></a><a href="#Footnote_186_186" class="fnanchor">[186]</a> has brought forward facts which point to +the view that the Roman kingship was transmitted +in the female line; and, if this can be accepted, we +may fairly conclude that at one time the maternal +customs were in force. The plebeian marriage ceremonies +of Rome should be noted. The funeral inscriptions +in Etruria in the Latin language make +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span>much greater insistence on the maternal than the +paternal descent; giving usually the name of the +mother alone, or indicating the father’s name by a +simple initial, whilst that of the mother is written in +full.<a name="FNanchor_187_187" id="FNanchor_187_187"></a><a href="#Footnote_187_187" class="fnanchor">[187]</a> This is very significant. Very little trustworthy +evidence, however, is forthcoming, and of the position +of women in Rome in the earliest periods we know +little or nothing. And for this reason I shall refer +my readers to what I have written elsewhere<a name="FNanchor_188_188" id="FNanchor_188_188"></a><a href="#Footnote_188_188" class="fnanchor">[188]</a> on +this matter; merely saying that there are indications +and traditions pointing to the view that here, as in +so many great civilisations, women’s actions were +once unfettered, and this, as I believe, can be explained +only on the hypothesis of the existence of a +maternal stage, before the establishment of the individual +male authority under the patriarchal system.</p> + +<p>The evidence with regard to prehistoric Greece +is much more complete. The Greek γένος resembled +the Roman <i>gens</i>. Its members had a common +sepulture, common property, the mutual obligation +of the <i>vendetta</i> and archon.<a name="FNanchor_189_189" id="FNanchor_189_189"></a><a href="#Footnote_189_189" class="fnanchor">[189]</a> In the prehistoric +clans maternal descent would seem to have been +established. Plutarch relates that the Cretans +spoke of Crete as their motherland, and not fatherland. +In primitive Athens, the women had the +right of voting, and their children bore their name—privileges +that were taken from them, says the +legend, to appease the wrath of Poseidon, after +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span>his inundation of the city, owing to the quarrel +with Athene. Tradition also relates that at Athens, +until the time of Cecrops, children bore the name +of their mother.<a name="FNanchor_190_190" id="FNanchor_190_190"></a><a href="#Footnote_190_190" class="fnanchor">[190]</a> Among the Lycians, whose +affinity to the Greeks was so pronounced, a matriarchate +prevailed down to the time of Herodotus. +Not the name only, but the inheritance and status +of the children depended on the mother. The +Lycians “honoured women rather than men;” +they are represented “as being accustomed from +of old to be ruled by their women.”<a name="FNanchor_191_191" id="FNanchor_191_191"></a><a href="#Footnote_191_191" class="fnanchor">[191]</a></p> + +<p>One of the most remarkable instances of a gynæcocratic +people has only now been fully discovered +as having existed in ancient Crete. It seems +probable that women enjoyed greater powers than +they had even in Egypt. The new evidence that +has come to light is certainly most interesting; the +facts are recorded by Mr. J. R. Hall in a recent book, +<i>Ancient History in the Far East</i>, and I am specially +glad to bring them forward. He affirms: “It may +eventually appear that in religious matters, perhaps +even the government of the State itself as well, +were largely controlled by the women.” From the +seals we gather a universal worship of a supreme +female goddess, the Rhea of later religions, who +is accompanied sometimes by a youthful male deity. +Wherever we find this preponderating feminine +principle in worship we shall find also a corresponding +feminine influence in the customs of the people. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span>We have seen this, for instance, among the Khasis, +where also goddesses are placed before gods. Mr. +Hall further states: “It is certain that they [the +women in Crete] must have lived on a footing of +greater equality with men than in any other ancient +civilisation.” And again: “We see in the frescoes +of Knossos conclusive indications of an open and +free association of men and women, corresponding +to our idea of ‘Society,’ at the Minoan court, +unparalleled till our own day.” The women are +unveiled, and the costumes and setting are extraordinarily +modern. Mr. Hall draws attention to +the curious fact that in appearance the women are +very similar to the men, so that often the sexes can +be distinguished only by the conventions of the +artists, representing the women in white, and the +men in red outline; the same convention that was +used in Egypt. I may recall to the reader the +likeness of the men to the women among the North +American Indians, and the same similarity between +the sexes occurs among the ancient Egyptians.<a name="FNanchor_192_192" id="FNanchor_192_192"></a><a href="#Footnote_192_192" class="fnanchor">[192]</a> It +is perhaps impossible to search for an explanation. +I would, however, point out that in all these cases, +where the sexes appear to be more alike than is +common, we find women in a position of equality +with men. This is really very remarkable; I think +it is a fact that demands more attention than as +yet it has received.</p> + +<p>At one time there would seem to have been in +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span>prehistoric Greece a period of fully established +mother-right. Ancient Attic traditions are filled +with recollections of female supremacy. Women +in the Homeric legends hold a position and enjoy +a freedom wholly at variance with a patriarchal +subjection. Not infrequently the husband owes to +his wife his rank and his wealth; always the wife +possesses a dignified place and much influence. +Even the formal elevation of women to positions +of authority is not uncommon. “There is nothing,” +says Homer, “better and nobler than when husband +and wife, being of one mind, rule a household. +Penelope and Clytemnestra were left in charge of +the realms of their husbands during their absence +in Troy; the beautiful Chloris ruled as queen in +Pylos. Arete, the beloved wife of Alcinous played +an important part as peacemaker in the kingdom +of her husband.”<a name="FNanchor_193_193" id="FNanchor_193_193"></a><a href="#Footnote_193_193" class="fnanchor">[193]</a></p> + +<p>If we turn to the evidence of the ancient mythology +and art, it is also clear that the number of female +deities must be connected with the early predominance +of women in Greece. We have to remember +that “the gods” are shaped by human beings in +their own image, and the status of women on earth +is reflected in the status of a goddess. Five out of +the eight divinities of immemorial Greek worship +were female, Hera, Demeter, Persephone, Athene +and Aphrodite. In addition there were numerous +lesser goddesses. One must consider also that it +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span>was not uncommon for cities to be named after +women; and the Greek stories seem to point to +tribes with totem names. How can these things +be explained, unless we accept a maternal stage? +There are numerous other facts all indicating this +same conclusion. We find relationships on the +mother’s side regarded as much more close than +those on the father’s side. In Athens and Sparta +a man might marry his father’s sister, but not his +mother’s sister. Lycaon, in pleading with Achilles, +says in order to appease him, that he is not the +uterine brother of Hector. It is also noteworthy +to find that the Thebans, when pressed in war, seek +assistance from the Æginetans as their nearest kin, +<i>recollecting that Thebe and Æginia had been sisters</i>. +A similar case is that of the Lycaones in Crete, who +claimed affinity with Athens and with Sparta, which +affinity was traced through the mother.<a name="FNanchor_194_194" id="FNanchor_194_194"></a><a href="#Footnote_194_194" class="fnanchor">[194]</a></p> + +<p>There is much evidence I am compelled to pass +over. It must, however, be noted that there seems +clear proof of the maternal form of marriage having +at one time been practised. Plutarch mentions +that the relations between husband and wife in +Sparta were at first secret.<a name="FNanchor_195_195" id="FNanchor_195_195"></a><a href="#Footnote_195_195" class="fnanchor">[195]</a> The story told by +Pausanias about Ulysses’ marriage certainly points +to the custom of the bridegroom going to live with +the wife’s family.<a name="FNanchor_196_196" id="FNanchor_196_196"></a><a href="#Footnote_196_196" class="fnanchor">[196]</a> In this connection the action +of Intaphernes is significant, who, when granted +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span>by Darius permission to claim the life of a single +man, chose her brother, saying that both husband +and children could be replaced.<a name="FNanchor_197_197" id="FNanchor_197_197"></a><a href="#Footnote_197_197" class="fnanchor">[197]</a> Similarly the +declaration of Antigone that neither for husband +nor children would she have performed the toil she +undertook for Polynices<a name="FNanchor_198_198" id="FNanchor_198_198"></a><a href="#Footnote_198_198" class="fnanchor">[198]</a> clearly shows that the +tie of the common womb was held as closer than +the tie of marriage; and this points to the conditions +of the communal clan.</p> + +<p>Andromache, when she relates to Hector how +her father’s house has been destroyed, with all who +are in it, turns to him and says: “But now, Hector, +thou art my father and gracious mother, thou art +my brother, nay, thou art my valiant husband.”<a name="FNanchor_199_199" id="FNanchor_199_199"></a><a href="#Footnote_199_199" class="fnanchor">[199]</a> +It is easy, I think, to see in this speech how the +early idea of the relationships under mother-right +had been transferred to the husband, as the protector +of the woman conditioned by father-right. As in +so many countries, the patriarchal authority of the +husband does not seem to have existed in Greece at +this early stage of development. It may, however, +be said that all this, though proving the high +status of women in the prehistoric period, does not +establish the existence of the maternal family. I +would ask: how, then, are these mother-right +customs to be explained? In the later history +of Greece, with the family based on patriarchal +authority, all this was changed. We find women +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span>occupying a much less favourable position, their +rights and freedom more and more restricted. In +Sparta alone, where the old customs for long were +preserved, did the women retain anything of their +old dignity and influence. The Athenian wives, +under the authority of their husbands, sank almost +to the level of slaves.<a name="FNanchor_200_200" id="FNanchor_200_200"></a><a href="#Footnote_200_200" class="fnanchor">[200]</a></p> + +<p>The patriarchal system is connected closely in our +thought with the Hebrew family, where the father, +who is chief, holds grouped under his despotic sway +his wives, their children, and slaves. Yet this +Semitic patriarch has not existed from the beginning; +numerous survivals of mother-right customs +afford proof that the Hebrew race must have passed +through a maternal stage. These survivals have a +special interest, as we are all familiar with them in +Bible history, but we have not understood their +significance. It is possible to give a few illustrations +only. In the history of Jacob’s service for his wives, +we have clear proof of the maternal custom of <i>beenah</i> +marriage. As a suitor Jacob had to buy his position +as husband and to serve Laban for seven years +before he was permitted to marry Leah, and seven +years for Rachel, while six further years of service +were claimed before he was allowed the possession +of his cattle.<a name="FNanchor_201_201" id="FNanchor_201_201"></a><a href="#Footnote_201_201" class="fnanchor">[201]</a> Afterwards, when he wished to +depart with his wives and his children, Laban made +the objection, “these daughters are my daughters, +and these children are my children.”<a name="FNanchor_202_202" id="FNanchor_202_202"></a><a href="#Footnote_202_202" class="fnanchor">[202]</a> Now, according +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span>to the patriarchal custom, Laban’s daughters +should have been cut off from their father by +marriage, and become of the kindred of their +husbands. Such a claim on the part of the father +proves the subordinate position held by the husband +in the wife’s family, who retained control over her +and the children of the marriage, and even over the +personal property of the man, as was usual under +the later matriarchal custom. Even when the +marriage is not in the maternal form, and the wife +goes to the husband’s home, we find compensation +has to be paid to her kindred. Thus when Abraham +sought a wife for Isaac, presents were taken by the +messenger to induce the bride to leave her home; +and these presents were given not to the father of +the bride, but to her mother and brother.<a name="FNanchor_203_203" id="FNanchor_203_203"></a><a href="#Footnote_203_203" class="fnanchor">[203]</a> This is +the early form of purchase marriage, such bridal-gifts +being the forerunners of the payment of a +fixed bride-price. We still find purchase marriage +practised side by side with <i>beenah</i> marriage in the +countries where the transitional stage has been +reached and mother-right contends with father-right. +But there is stronger evidence even than +these two cases. The injunction in Gen. ii, 24: +“Therefore shall a man leave his father and his +mother, and shall cleave unto his wife,” refers +without any doubt to the early form of marriage +under mother-right, when the husband left his own +kindred and went to live with his wife and among +her people. We find Samson visiting his Philistine +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span>wife who remained with her own people.<a name="FNanchor_204_204" id="FNanchor_204_204"></a><a href="#Footnote_204_204" class="fnanchor">[204]</a> Even +the obligation to blood vengeance rested apparently +on the maternal kinsmen (Judges viii, 19). The +Hebrew father did not inherit from the son, nor +the grandfather from the grandson, which points +back to a time when the children did not belong to +the clan of the father.<a name="FNanchor_205_205" id="FNanchor_205_205"></a><a href="#Footnote_205_205" class="fnanchor">[205]</a> Among the Hebrews +individual property was instituted at a very early +period,<a name="FNanchor_206_206" id="FNanchor_206_206"></a><a href="#Footnote_206_206" class="fnanchor">[206]</a> but various customs show clearly the early +existence of communal clans. Thus the inheritance, +especially the paternal inheritance, must remain in +the clan “then shall their inheritance be added +unto the inheritance of the tribe.” Marriage in the +tribe is obligatory for daughters. “Let them marry +to whom they think best; only to the family of the +tribe of their father shall they marry. So shall no +inheritance of the children of Israel remove from tribe +to tribe.”<a name="FNanchor_207_207" id="FNanchor_207_207"></a><a href="#Footnote_207_207" class="fnanchor">[207]</a> We have here an indication of the close +relation between father-right and property.</p> + +<p>Under mother-right there is naturally no prohibition +against marriage with a half-sister upon the +father’s side. This explains the marriage of Abraham +with Sarah, his half-sister by the same father. When +reproached for having passed his wife off as his +sister to the King of Egypt, the patriarch replies: +“For indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter +of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span>and she became my wife.”<a name="FNanchor_208_208" id="FNanchor_208_208"></a><a href="#Footnote_208_208" class="fnanchor">[208]</a> In the same way +Tamar could have married her half-brother Amnon, +though they were both the children of David: +“Speak to the King, for he will not withhold me +from thee.” And it was her uterine brother, +Absalom, who revenged the rape of Tamar by +slaying; afterwards he fled to the kindred of his +mother.<a name="FNanchor_209_209" id="FNanchor_209_209"></a><a href="#Footnote_209_209" class="fnanchor">[209]</a> Again, the father of Moses and Aaron +married his father’s sister, who legally was not +considered to be related to him.<a name="FNanchor_210_210" id="FNanchor_210_210"></a><a href="#Footnote_210_210" class="fnanchor">[210]</a> Nabor, the +brother of Abraham, took to wife his fraternal +niece, the daughter of his brother.<a name="FNanchor_211_211" id="FNanchor_211_211"></a><a href="#Footnote_211_211" class="fnanchor">[211]</a> It was only +later that paternal kinship became legally recognised +among the Hebrews by the same titles as the +natural kinship through the mother.</p> + +<p>It is by considering these survivals of mother-right +in connection with similar customs to be +found among existing maternal peoples that we +see their true significance. They warrant us in +believing that the patriarchal family, as we know +it among the Hebrews and elsewhere, was a later +stage of an evolution, which had for its starting-point +the communal clan, and that these races have +passed through the maternal phase. We come to +understand the change in the privileged position of +women. As the husband and father continued to +gain in power, with the reassertion of individual +interests, it was inevitable that the mother should +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span>lose the authority she had held, under the free +social organisation of the undivided clan.</p> + +<p>Traces of a similar evolution of the family may, +I am convinced, be found by all who will undertake +an inquiry for themselves. The subject is one of +great interest. So far as my own study goes, I +believe that these survivals of the maternal-group +customs may be discovered in the early history +of every people, where the necessary material for +such knowledge is available. I wish it were possible +for me even to summarise all the evidence, direct +and inferential, that I have collected for my own +satisfaction. I must reluctantly pass over many +countries I would like to include; some of these—China, +Japan, Burma and Madagascar—have been +noticed briefly in <i>The Truth about Woman</i>.<a name="FNanchor_212_212" id="FNanchor_212_212"></a><a href="#Footnote_212_212" class="fnanchor">[212]</a> There +is surprising similarity between the facts; and, the +more of such survivals that can be found, the more +the evidence seems to grow in favour of the acceptance +of a universal maternal stage in the evolution +of society.</p> + +<p>I must now, before closing this chapter (whose +accumulation of facts may, I fear, have wearied +my readers), refer briefly to the races of barbarous +Europe. The point of interest is, of course—how +far mother-right may be accepted, as at one period, +having existed. The earliest direct evidence is the +account given by Strabo of the Iberians of ancient +Spain. And first it is important to note that the +Iberians belonged to the Berber race, now widely +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span>regarded as the parent of the chief and largest +element in the population of Europe. There is +another fact that must be noted. The general +characteristic of the Berber family seems to have +been the privileged position they accorded to their +women, privileges so great that we meet with strong +tendencies towards the matriarchate. This last is +still in force among the Touaregs of the Sahara; +and there are as well numerous traces of its former +existence among the neighbouring Kabyles, though +there the most rigorous patriarchate has replaced +the maternal family.<a name="FNanchor_213_213" id="FNanchor_213_213"></a><a href="#Footnote_213_213" class="fnanchor">[213]</a> We have seen, too, that in +ancient Egypt, where the Berbers were largely +represented, women enjoyed a position of extraordinary +freedom and authority.</p> + +<p>Bearing this in mind, we may accept the statement +of Strabo: “Among the Cantabrians usage requires +that the husband shall bring a dower to his wife, +and the daughters inherit, being charged with the +marriage of their brothers, which constitutes a kind +of gynæcocracy.” There is possibly some exaggeration +in the term gynæcocracy; yet if there is no proof +of “rule by women,” there can be no doubt that, +through the system of female inheritance, property +was held by them, and this must certainly have +given them the power always involved by the +possession of wealth.</p> + +<p>The freedom of the women of ancient Spain is +sufficiently indicated by the fact that they took +part in the activities usually considered as belonging +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span>to men. It was these women who played their part +in driving back the Roman legions from the mountainous +districts of northern Spain; we read of them +fighting side by side with men, where they used +their weapons with courage and determination. +They received their wounds with silent fortitude, +and no cry of pain ever escaped their lips, even +when the wounds which laid them low were mortal. +To women as well as men liberty was a possession +more valued than life, and, when taken prisoners, +they fell upon their own swords, and dashed their +little ones to death rather than suffer them to live +to be slaves. Nor were the activities of women +confined to warfare. Justin speaks of women as +not only having the care of all domestic matters, +but also cultivating the fields. And Strabo, writing +of these Amazons, tells us that they would often +step aside out of the furrows “to be brought to +bed,” and then, having borne a child, would return +to their work “just as if they had only laid an egg.” +He notes, too, as being practised among them the +<i>couvade</i>, whereby the husband, in assertion of his +legal fatherhood, retired to bed when a child was +born.<a name="FNanchor_214_214" id="FNanchor_214_214"></a><a href="#Footnote_214_214" class="fnanchor">[214]</a></p> + +<p>Spain is a land that I know well, and for this +reason I have chosen to write of it in fuller detail. +Persistent relics of the early maternal period even +yet may be traced in the customs of this strongly +conservative people. Women are held in honour. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span>There is a proverb common all over Spain to the +effect that “he who is unfortunate and needs +assistance should seek his mother.” Many primitive +customs survive, and one of the most interesting +is that by which the eldest daughter in some cases +takes precedence over the sons in inheritance. +Among the Basques, until quite recently, the administration +of the family property passed to the +eldest child, whether a boy or a girl; and in the +case of a daughter, her husband was obliged to take +the name of the family and to live in the wife’s +home. Spanish women always retain their own +names after marriage, and as far back as the fourth +century we find them at the Synod of Elvira resisting +an attempt to limit this freedom. The +practice is still common for children to use the +name of the mother coupled with that of the father, +and even, in some cases, alone, showing a quite +unusual absence of preference for paternal descent. +This is very significant. It explains the recognition +given in old Spain to the unmarried mother; even +to-day in no country, that I know, does less social +stigma fall on a child born out of wedlock. The +profound Spanish veneration of the Virgin Mary, +as well as the number of female saints, is another +indication of the honour paid to women, which +must, I am certain, be connected with a far back +time when goddesses were worshipped. I would +note, too, the fine Spanish understanding of hospitality. +This belongs to the ideals of communal +life. I know nothing to equal it in the common<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> +habits of other European countries. It may be +compared with the conditions in the joint-family +communities of the American Indians.<a name="FNanchor_215_215" id="FNanchor_215_215"></a><a href="#Footnote_215_215" class="fnanchor">[215]</a></p> + +<p>Much more might be said on the position of the +Spanish women. I have, however, written elsewhere +of these women,<a name="FNanchor_216_216" id="FNanchor_216_216"></a><a href="#Footnote_216_216" class="fnanchor">[216]</a> of their intelligence, and +strength, and beauty, and of the active part they +take still in the industrial life of the country. There +can be no question that some features of the maternal +customs have left their imprint on the domestic life +of Spain, and this, as I believe, explains how women +here have in certain directions, preserved a freedom +of action and privileges, which even in England have +never been established, and only of late claimed.</p> + +<p>As we may expect, there is less direct evidence +of mother-right in the other European countries +than is the case in conservative Spain. Dargun, +who has written much on this subject,<a name="FNanchor_217_217" id="FNanchor_217_217"></a><a href="#Footnote_217_217" class="fnanchor">[217]</a> believes +that maternal descent was formerly practised among +the Germans. He holds further “that the ancient +Aryans at the time of their dispersion regarded +kinship through the mother as the sole, or chief, +basis of blood-kinship, and all their family rights +were governed by this principle.” There is much +conflict of opinion on this matter, and it would, +perhaps, be rash to make any definite statement. +We may recall what Tacitus says of the Germans:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span></p><p>“The son of a sister is as dear to his uncle as to +his father; some even think that the first of these +ties is the most sacred and close; and in taking +hostages they prefer nephews, as inspiring a stronger +attachment, and interesting the family on more +sides.” The same authority tells us that the +Germans of his day met together to take a clan +meal, to settle clan business, <i>i. e.</i> for the clan +council—and to arrange marriages. This is strong +confirmation of what I am trying to establish.<a name="FNanchor_218_218" id="FNanchor_218_218"></a><a href="#Footnote_218_218" class="fnanchor">[218]</a> +Further evidence may be gathered from the ancient +religion. There are many Teutonic goddesses, who +may well be connected with the primitive tribal-mothers.<a name="FNanchor_219_219" id="FNanchor_219_219"></a><a href="#Footnote_219_219" class="fnanchor">[219]</a> +Religion here, as so often elsewhere, +would seem to have been symbolised as feminine. +Not only the seers, but the sacrificers among the +early Teutons were women.<a name="FNanchor_220_220" id="FNanchor_220_220"></a><a href="#Footnote_220_220" class="fnanchor">[220]</a> To this evidence may +be added that in Germany up to a late period the +mother could be the guardian of her children; that +a wife had to be bought by the husband, both she +and her children remaining under the guardianship +of her father. All this points to mother-right and +the existence of the maternal clan.<a name="FNanchor_221_221" id="FNanchor_221_221"></a><a href="#Footnote_221_221" class="fnanchor">[221]</a> Let us note +also that in the Slav communities women had the +right to vote, and might be elected to the government +of the community.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span></p><p>It will interest my readers to know that mother-descent +must once have prevailed in Britain. +Among the Picts of Scotland kingship was transmitted +through women.<a name="FNanchor_222_222" id="FNanchor_222_222"></a><a href="#Footnote_222_222" class="fnanchor">[222]</a> Bede tells us that down +to his own time—the early part of the eighth +century—whenever a doubt arose as to the succession, +the Picts chose their king from the female +rather than from the male line.<a name="FNanchor_223_223" id="FNanchor_223_223"></a><a href="#Footnote_223_223" class="fnanchor">[223]</a> There is an ancient +legend which represents the Irish as giving three +hundred wives to the Picts, on the condition that +the succession to the crown should always be +through their females—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“There were oathes imposed on them,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By the stars, by the earth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That from the nobility of the mother<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Should always be the right to the sovereignty.”<a name="FNanchor_224_224" id="FNanchor_224_224"></a><a href="#Footnote_224_224" class="fnanchor">[224]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Similar traces are found in England: Canute, the +Dane, when acknowledged King of England, married +Emma, the widow of his predecessor, Ethelred. +Ethelbald, King of Kent, married his stepmother, +after the death of his father Ethelbert; and, as late +as the ninth century, Ethelbald, King of the West +Saxons, wedded Judith, the widow of his father. +Such marriages are intelligible only if we suppose +that the queen had the power of conferring the kingdom +upon her consort, which could only happen +where maternal descent was, or had been, practised. +These marriages with the widow of a king were at +one time very common. The familiar example of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span>Hamlet’s uncle is one, who, after murdering his +brother, married his wife and became king. His +acceptance by the people, in spite of his crime, is +explained if it was the old Danish custom for +marriage with the king’s widow to carry the kingdom +with it. In Hamlet’s position as avenger, +and his curious hesitancy, we have really an indication +of the conflict between the old and the +new ways of descent.<a name="FNanchor_225_225" id="FNanchor_225_225"></a><a href="#Footnote_225_225" class="fnanchor">[225]</a></p> + +<p>The Celtic population of Britain preserved the +institution of the clan much longer than the other +European races. In Wales and in Ireland, in particular, +communism was strongly established. The +clan was responsible for the crimes of its members, +paid the fines, and received the compensations.<a name="FNanchor_226_226" id="FNanchor_226_226"></a><a href="#Footnote_226_226" class="fnanchor">[226]</a> +There are numerous indications of mother-right. +In Ireland women retained a very high position +and much freedom, both before and after marriage, +to a late period: temporary unions were freely +allowed, and customs having the force of law safeguarded +the rights of the wife. “Every woman,” +it was said, “is to go the way she willeth freely.”<a name="FNanchor_227_227" id="FNanchor_227_227"></a><a href="#Footnote_227_227" class="fnanchor">[227]</a></p> + +<p>The early Celtic mythologies and folk-records are +full of these survivals. Goddesses are frequent as +primeval tribal-mothers. Let me give one instance. +The Irish goddess Brigit (whose attributes at a later +date were transferred to St. Bridget) is referred +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span>to in a ninth-century glossary as—<i>operum atque +artificiorum initia</i>. She was the tribal-mother of +the Bringantes. Similarly Vote was tribal-mother of +the Burgundians; and the goddess Bil of the Billings, +and there are numerous other cases. In a recent +book on <i>Ulster Folk-lore</i>,<a name="FNanchor_228_228" id="FNanchor_228_228"></a><a href="#Footnote_228_228" class="fnanchor">[228]</a> I have been fortunate +enough to find a most interesting passage referring +to the Irish goddess Brigit. I quote it with pleasure +as a fitting ending to this chapter.<a name="FNanchor_229_229" id="FNanchor_229_229"></a><a href="#Footnote_229_229" class="fnanchor">[229]</a></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Now, St. Bridget had a pagan predecessor, Brigit, +a poetess of the Tuatha de Danann, and whom we +may perhaps regard as a female Apollo. Cormac in +his <i>Glossary</i> tells us she was a daughter of the Dagda +and a goddess whom all poets adored, and whose +sisters were Brigit the physician and Brigit the +smith. Probably the three sisters represent the +same divine, or semi-divine, person whom we may +identify with the British goddess Brigantia and the +Gaulish Brigindo.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_180_180" id="Footnote_180_180"></a><a href="#FNanchor_180_180"><span class="label">[180]</span></a> Herodotus, Book II, p. 35.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_181_181" id="Footnote_181_181"></a><a href="#FNanchor_181_181"><span class="label">[181]</span></a> Starcke, <i>The Primitive Family</i>, p. 67.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_182_182" id="Footnote_182_182"></a><a href="#FNanchor_182_182"><span class="label">[182]</span></a> Diodorus, Book I, p. 27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_183_183" id="Footnote_183_183"></a><a href="#FNanchor_183_183"><span class="label">[183]</span></a> For a fuller account of the position of women in Egypt, +see the chapter on this subject in <i>The Truth about Woman</i>, +pp. 179-201.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_184_184" id="Footnote_184_184"></a><a href="#FNanchor_184_184"><span class="label">[184]</span></a> H. Ellis, <i>Psychology of Sex</i>, Vol. VI, p. 393.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_185_185" id="Footnote_185_185"></a><a href="#FNanchor_185_185"><span class="label">[185]</span></a> Letourneau, <i>Evolution of Marriage</i>, p. 335.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_186_186" id="Footnote_186_186"></a><a href="#FNanchor_186_186"><span class="label">[186]</span></a> <i>Golden Bough</i>, Part I. <i>The Magic Art</i>, Vol. II, pp. 270, +289, 312.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_187_187" id="Footnote_187_187"></a><a href="#FNanchor_187_187"><span class="label">[187]</span></a> Müller and Bachofen, cited by Giraud-Teulon, <i>op. cit.</i> +pp. 283-284.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_188_188" id="Footnote_188_188"></a><a href="#FNanchor_188_188"><span class="label">[188]</span></a> <i>The Truth About Woman</i>, pp. 227-242.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_189_189" id="Footnote_189_189"></a><a href="#FNanchor_189_189"><span class="label">[189]</span></a> Grote, <i>History of Greece</i>, Vol. III, p. 95.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_190_190" id="Footnote_190_190"></a><a href="#FNanchor_190_190"><span class="label">[190]</span></a> Letourneau, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 335-336.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_191_191" id="Footnote_191_191"></a><a href="#FNanchor_191_191"><span class="label">[191]</span></a> Herodotus, Book I, p. 172.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_192_192" id="Footnote_192_192"></a><a href="#FNanchor_192_192"><span class="label">[192]</span></a> See pp. <a href="#Page_129">129</a>-<a href="#Page_131">131</a>, also <i>The Truth about Woman</i>, pp. +199-201.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_193_193" id="Footnote_193_193"></a><a href="#FNanchor_193_193"><span class="label">[193]</span></a> Gladstone, <i>Homeric Studies</i>, Vol. II, p. 507. Donaldson, +<i>Woman</i>, pp. 18-19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_194_194" id="Footnote_194_194"></a><a href="#FNanchor_194_194"><span class="label">[194]</span></a> McLennan, “Kinship in Ancient Greece”; Essay in +<i>Studies in Ancient History</i>, pp. 195-246.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_195_195" id="Footnote_195_195"></a><a href="#FNanchor_195_195"><span class="label">[195]</span></a> Plutarch, <i>Apophthegms of the Lacedæmonians</i>, LXV.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_196_196" id="Footnote_196_196"></a><a href="#FNanchor_196_196"><span class="label">[196]</span></a> Pausanias, III, 20 (10), (Frazer’s translation).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_197_197" id="Footnote_197_197"></a><a href="#FNanchor_197_197"><span class="label">[197]</span></a> Herodotus, III, 119.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_198_198" id="Footnote_198_198"></a><a href="#FNanchor_198_198"><span class="label">[198]</span></a> Sophocles, <i>Antigone</i>, line 905 <i>et seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_199_199" id="Footnote_199_199"></a><a href="#FNanchor_199_199"><span class="label">[199]</span></a> <i>Iliad</i>, VI, 429-430.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_200_200" id="Footnote_200_200"></a><a href="#FNanchor_200_200"><span class="label">[200]</span></a> <i>The Truth about Woman</i>, pp. 210-227.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_201_201" id="Footnote_201_201"></a><a href="#FNanchor_201_201"><span class="label">[201]</span></a> Gen. xxx, 18-30; xxxi, 14, 41.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_202_202" id="Footnote_202_202"></a><a href="#FNanchor_202_202"><span class="label">[202]</span></a> Gen. xxxi, 43.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_203_203" id="Footnote_203_203"></a><a href="#FNanchor_203_203"><span class="label">[203]</span></a> Gen. xxiv, 5, 53.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_204_204" id="Footnote_204_204"></a><a href="#FNanchor_204_204"><span class="label">[204]</span></a> Judges xv, 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_205_205" id="Footnote_205_205"></a><a href="#FNanchor_205_205"><span class="label">[205]</span></a> Numb., xxxii, 8-11. See Letourneau, <i>Evolution of +Marriage</i>, p. 326.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_206_206" id="Footnote_206_206"></a><a href="#FNanchor_206_206"><span class="label">[206]</span></a> Gen. xxiii, 13.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_207_207" id="Footnote_207_207"></a><a href="#FNanchor_207_207"><span class="label">[207]</span></a> Numb. xxxvi, 4-8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_208_208" id="Footnote_208_208"></a><a href="#FNanchor_208_208"><span class="label">[208]</span></a> Gen. xii, 10-20.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_209_209" id="Footnote_209_209"></a><a href="#FNanchor_209_209"><span class="label">[209]</span></a> 2 Sam. xiii, 13-16 and 37.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_210_210" id="Footnote_210_210"></a><a href="#FNanchor_210_210"><span class="label">[210]</span></a> Exod. vi, 20.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_211_211" id="Footnote_211_211"></a><a href="#FNanchor_211_211"><span class="label">[211]</span></a> Gen. xi. 26-29.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_212_212" id="Footnote_212_212"></a><a href="#FNanchor_212_212"><span class="label">[212]</span></a> See pp. <a href="#Page_156">156</a>-<a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_213_213" id="Footnote_213_213"></a><a href="#FNanchor_213_213"><span class="label">[213]</span></a> Letourneau, <i>op. cit.</i> 328.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_214_214" id="Footnote_214_214"></a><a href="#FNanchor_214_214"><span class="label">[214]</span></a> See in this connection my book, <i>Spain Revisited</i>, +pp. 291-304.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_215_215" id="Footnote_215_215"></a><a href="#FNanchor_215_215"><span class="label">[215]</span></a> See pp. <a href="#Page_107">107</a>-<a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_216_216" id="Footnote_216_216"></a><a href="#FNanchor_216_216"><span class="label">[216]</span></a> <i>Spain Revisited; Things Seen in Spain; Moorish Cities.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_217_217" id="Footnote_217_217"></a><a href="#FNanchor_217_217"><span class="label">[217]</span></a> <i>Mutterrecht und Raubehe und ihre Reste im Germanischen +Recht und Leben</i>, Vol. XVI, quoted by Starcke, <i>The +Primitive Family</i>, pp. 103 <i>et seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_218_218" id="Footnote_218_218"></a><a href="#FNanchor_218_218"><span class="label">[218]</span></a> <i>De moribus Germanorum</i>, XX. See also K. Pearson, +<i>The Chances of Death</i>, Vol. II, p. 132.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_219_219" id="Footnote_219_219"></a><a href="#FNanchor_219_219"><span class="label">[219]</span></a> Grimm, <i>Mythologie</i>, Vol. I, p. 248.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_220_220" id="Footnote_220_220"></a><a href="#FNanchor_220_220"><span class="label">[220]</span></a> K. Pearson, <i>The Chances of Death</i>, Vol. II, p. 102.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_221_221" id="Footnote_221_221"></a><a href="#FNanchor_221_221"><span class="label">[221]</span></a> Starcke, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 105, citing Dargun and Grimm. +See also Letourneau, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 339-340.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_222_222" id="Footnote_222_222"></a><a href="#FNanchor_222_222"><span class="label">[222]</span></a> Giraud-Teulon, <i>op. cit.</i> pp. 41-42.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_223_223" id="Footnote_223_223"></a><a href="#FNanchor_223_223"><span class="label">[223]</span></a> Bede, II. 1-7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_224_224" id="Footnote_224_224"></a><a href="#FNanchor_224_224"><span class="label">[224]</span></a> McLennan, <i>Studies</i>, p. 46.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_225_225" id="Footnote_225_225"></a><a href="#FNanchor_225_225"><span class="label">[225]</span></a> See Frazer, <i>Golden Bough</i>, Part I. <i>The Magic Art</i>, +Vol. II, 282-283.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_226_226" id="Footnote_226_226"></a><a href="#FNanchor_226_226"><span class="label">[226]</span></a> Letourneau, <i>op. cit.</i> p. 338. Maine, <i>Early Institutions</i>, +pp. 113 <i>et seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_227_227" id="Footnote_227_227"></a><a href="#FNanchor_227_227"><span class="label">[227]</span></a> Rhys and Brynmor-Jones, <i>The Welsh People</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_228_228" id="Footnote_228_228"></a><a href="#FNanchor_228_228"><span class="label">[228]</span></a> By E. Andrews, p. 18.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_229_229" id="Footnote_229_229"></a><a href="#FNanchor_229_229"><span class="label">[229]</span></a> I would refer the reader to a most interesting article +on “Old English Clans” (<i>Cornhill</i>, Sept. 1881); this I had +not read when I wrote this chapter. The author holds +that the clan system was once common to the whole +Aryan race. In the Teutonic stock its memory died out +in an early stage of development, owing to the strong +individuality of the Teutonic mind. Yet it has left behind +it many traces. Numerous examples are given. Perhaps +the most interesting is the evidence showing that totemism +seems to have existed; the clan names being taken from +animals or plants.</p></div> +</div> + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span></h2> + +<h3>THE SURVIVALS OF MOTHER-RIGHT IN FOLK-LORE,<br /> +IN HEROIC LEGENDS, AND IN FAIRY STORIES</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> the preceding chapter we have found the former +existence of the maternal family, or some indication +of it, in the early records of many races, proving +this by numerous survivals of customs entirely at +variance with the patriarchal conditions. Should it +be thought that this claim has not been supported +by sufficient evidence, I must plead the difficulties +of such an inquiry. My survey has been very incomplete. +I am certain, however, that these survivals +will be recognised by any one who will undertake for +themselves the collection and interpretation of the +facts from the records of the past.</p> + +<p>There is a point to consider here. The absence, or +rather the rarity, of mother-right survivals in some +civilisations cannot be counted as proof that the +maternal system never existed. As I have shown +in the earlier chapters of this book, the mother-age +was a transitional stage, between the very early +brute-conditions of the family and the second firmly +established patriarchate. Now, it is clear that the +customs of a transitional stage are very likely to +disappear; they are also very likely to be mistaken.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> +Bearing this in mind, the number of survivals that +do occur are, I hold, extraordinary, and, indeed, +impossible to account for if the maternal family +was not a universal stage in the development of +society. Moreover, I am certain from my own study +that these survivals are of much wider occurrence +than is believed, but as yet the facts are insufficiently +established.</p> + +<p>It now remains to consider a new field of inquiry; +and that is the abundant evidence of mother-right +to be found in folk-lore, in heroic legends, and in +the fairy-stories of our children. There is a special +value in these old-world stories, that date back to +a time long before written history. They belong to +all countries in slightly different forms. We have +regarded them as fables, but there was never a +fable that did not arise out of truth—not, of course, +the outside truth of facts, but from that inward +truth of the life and thought of a people, which is +what really matters. I cannot, then, do better +than conclude the evidence for the mother-age +by referring to some few of these myths and +legends.</p> + +<p>In order to group the great mass of material I +will take first the creation myths. One only out +of many examples can be given. The Zuñi Indians, +who, it will be remembered, are a maternal people, +give this account of the beginning of the world. +We read how the Sun-god, withdrawing strength +from his flesh, impregnated the great waters, until +there arose upon them, waxing wide and weighty,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span> +the “Fourfold Mother-earth” and the “All-covering +Father-sky.”</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“From the lying together of these twain, upon +the great world water, so vitalising, life was conceived, +whence began all beings of the earth, men +and creatures, in the four-fold womb of the world. +Thereupon the Earth-mother repulsed the Sky-father, +growing big and sinking deep into the +embrace of the waters below, thus separated from +the Sky-father, in the embrace of the waters above.” +The story states, “Warm is the Earth-mother and +cold the Sky-father, even as woman is warm and +man is cold.” Then it goes on, “‘So is thy will,’ +said the Sky-father, ‘yet not alone shalt thou +helpful be unto our children’;” and we learn how +the Sky-father assisted the Earth-mother. “Thus +in other ways, many diversed, they worked for their +offspring.”<a name="FNanchor_230_230" id="FNanchor_230_230"></a><a href="#Footnote_230_230" class="fnanchor">[230]</a></p></div> + +<p>There is one reflection only I desire to offer on +this most beautiful maternal version of the creation +legend. Here we find complete understanding of +the woman’s part; she is the one who gives life; +she is the active partner. The Sky-father is represented +as her agent, her helper. Why should this +be? Contrast this idea with the patriarchal creation +story of the Bible.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“And the Lord God said, It is not good that man +should be alone; I will make him an help meet +for him.... And the Lord God caused a deep +sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; and he +took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span>thereof: and the rib which the Lord God had taken +from the man made he a woman, and brought her +unto the man. And the man said, This is now +bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall +be called Woman, because she was taken out of +Man.”<a name="FNanchor_231_231" id="FNanchor_231_231"></a><a href="#Footnote_231_231" class="fnanchor">[231]</a></p></div> + +<p>I would again assert my strong belief that in the +religious conception of a people we find the true +thoughts and the customs of the period in which +they originated. A patriarchal people could not +have given expression to a creation myth in which +the female idea prevailed, and the mother, and not +the father, was dominant. For men have ever +fashioned the gods in their own human image, +endowing them with their thoughts and actions. +The sharp change in the view of woman’s part in +the relationship of the sexes is clearly symbolised +in these creation myths. Yes, it marks the degradation +of woman; she has fallen from the maternal +conception of the feminine principle, guiding, directing, +and using the male, to that of the woman made +for the man in the patriarchal Bible story.</p> + +<p>Another group of legends that I would notice +refer to the conflict between the right of the mother +and that of the father in relation to the children. +These stories belong to a period of transition. In +ancient Greece, as we have seen, the paternal family +succeeded the maternal clan. In his <i>Orestia</i>, +Æschylus puts in opposition before Pallas Athene +the right of the mother and the right of the father. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span>The chorus of the Eumenides, representing the +people, defends the position of the mother; Apollo +pleads for the father, and ends by declaring, in a +fit of patriarchal delirium, that <i>the child is not of +the blood of the mother</i>. “It is not the mother who +begets what is called her child; she is only the +nurse of the germ poured into her womb; he who +begets is the father. The woman receives the germ +merely as guardian, and when it pleases the gods, +she preserves it.” Plato also brings forward this +view, and states that the mother contributes nothing +to the child’s being. “The mother is to the child +what the soil is to the plant; it owes its nourishment +to her, but the essence and structure of its nature +are derived from the father.” Again the Orestes +of Euripides takes up the same theory, when he +says to Tyndarus: “My father has begotten me, +and thy daughter has given birth to me, as the +earth receives the seed that another confides to it.” +Here we trace a different world of thoughts and +conceptions; the mother was so little esteemed as +to be degraded into the mere nourisher of the child. +These patriarchal theories naturally consecrated the +slavery of woman.<a name="FNanchor_232_232" id="FNanchor_232_232"></a><a href="#Footnote_232_232" class="fnanchor">[232]</a></p> + +<p>Another point strikingly illustrated by many of +these ancient legends is the struggle for power +between the two sexes—a struggle that would +seem to have been present at all stages of civilisation, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span>but always most active in periods of transition. +One out of many examples is all that I can give. +In Hawaii, worship is given to the goddess Pele, +the personification of the volcano Kilauea, and the +god Tamapua, the personification of the sea, or +rather, of the storm which lashes the sea and hurls +wave after wave upon the land. The myth tells +that Tamapua wooed Pele, who rejected his suit, +whereupon he flooded the crater with water, but Pele +drank up the water and drove him back into the sea.<a name="FNanchor_233_233" id="FNanchor_233_233"></a><a href="#Footnote_233_233" class="fnanchor">[233]</a></p> + +<p>Here a brief digression into the early mythologies +may be made, although this question of the connection +between mother-right and religious ideas +is one on which I have already enlarged. The most +primitive theogony is that of Mother-Earth and her +son. Goddesses are at first of greater importance +than gods. The Earth-mother springs from chaos, +and in the beginning her children have no father.<a name="FNanchor_234_234" id="FNanchor_234_234"></a><a href="#Footnote_234_234" class="fnanchor">[234]</a> +Traces of such a goddess are to be found in many +ancient religions. Afterwards as a modification, or +rather a development, of the Earth-mother, we have +the goddesses of fertility. This idea arose with the +development of agriculture, and was closely connected +in the primitive mind with the sex functions. +Demeter is of this type; and there are many of +these mother-deities who once were universally +worshipped. Virgin goddesses are a much later +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span>creation, and must be connected with the patriarchal +ideals for women. The original god-idea +symbolised as woman is the free mother; she +is the source of all fertility; she is the goddess +of love. The servants of these goddesses were +priestesses, or at a later date men dressed as women. +At first the gods, in so far as they had any existence, +appear in the form of temporary lovers of the goddesses; +they are very plainly the transitory male +element needful for fertilisation, and then destined +to disappear.<a name="FNanchor_235_235" id="FNanchor_235_235"></a><a href="#Footnote_235_235" class="fnanchor">[235]</a> We find very early the brother as +the husband and dependent of the Mother-goddess. +Thus Isis did not change or lose her independent +position after her marriage to her brother Osiris; +her importance as a deity remained always greater +than his.<a name="FNanchor_236_236" id="FNanchor_236_236"></a><a href="#Footnote_236_236" class="fnanchor">[236]</a> Only at a much later stage—the +patriarchal stage—was the wandering lover-god or +dependent brother-spouse raised to the position of +authority of the All-Father. We may find in the +religious sexual festivals, common to all civilisations, +abundant confirmation of these facts. As one +illustration out of many that might be chosen, I +will refer to the account given by Prof. K. Pearson<a name="FNanchor_237_237" id="FNanchor_237_237"></a><a href="#Footnote_237_237" class="fnanchor">[237]</a> +of the festival of Sakäēs, held in Babylon in honour +of the great goddess Mylitta, who was essentially +a mother-goddess of fertility. The festival lasted +for five days in the month of July. It was presided +over by the priestess of the goddess, who represented +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span>the goddess herself. She sat enthroned on a mound +which for the time was the sanctuary of the deity, +with the altar with oil and incense before her. To +her came the god-lover represented by a slave, +who made homage and worshipped. From her he +received the symbols of kingly power, and she raised +him to the throne by her side. As her accepted +lover and lord of the festival, he remained for five +days, during which the law of the goddess prevailed. +Afterwards on the fifth day the god-lover was +sacrificed on the pyre. The male element had +performed its function.</p> + +<p>I cannot leave this subject without emphasising +the importance of these erotic-religious festivals, +once of universal occurrence. They afford the +strongest evidence of the early privileged position +of women in the relationships between the two +sexes. It is, I think, impossible to avoid giving +to this a matriarchal interpretation. For it is by +contrasting the religious-sex standpoints of the +maternal and the paternal ideals that the inferior +position of women under the later system can be +demonstrated. Moreover, in much later periods, +and even to our own day, we may yet find broken +survivals of the old customs. Illustrations are not +far to seek in the common festivals of the people +in Germany and elsewhere, and as I have myself +witnessed them in Spain, a land which has preserved +its old customs much more unchanged than is +usual.<a name="FNanchor_238_238" id="FNanchor_238_238"></a><a href="#Footnote_238_238" class="fnanchor">[238]</a> One example may be noted in England, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span>which would seem to have a very ancient origin; +it is given by Prof. K. Pearson.<a name="FNanchor_239_239" id="FNanchor_239_239"></a><a href="#Footnote_239_239" class="fnanchor">[239]</a> “The Roman +<i>Lupercalia</i> held on February 15 was essentially a +worship of fertility, and the privileges supposed to +be attached to women in our own country during +this month—especially on February 14 and 29—are +probably fossils of the same sex-freedom.”</p> + +<p>Passing again to the old legends, we find not a +few that attempt to account for both the rise and +the decline of the custom of maternal descent. I +will give an example of each. Newbold relates that +in Menangkabowe, where the female line is observed, +it is accounted for by this legend—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Perpati Sabatang built a magnificent vessel, +which he loaded with gold and precious stones so +heavily that it got aground on the sands at the +foot of the fiery mountains, and resisted the efforts +of all the men to get it off. The sages were consulted, +and declared that all attempts would be in +vain until the vessel had passed over the body of +a pregnant woman. It happened that the Rajah’s +own daughter was in the condition desired; she was +called upon to immolate herself for the sake of her +country, but refused. At this juncture the pregnant +sister of the Rajah boldly stepped forward, +and cast herself beneath the prow of the vessel, +which instantly put itself in motion, and again +floated on the waves without injury to the princess. +Whereupon the Rajah disinherited the offspring of +his disobedient daughter in favour of the child of +his sister, and caused this to be enrolled in the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span>records of the empire as the law of succession in +time to come.”<a name="FNanchor_240_240" id="FNanchor_240_240"></a><a href="#Footnote_240_240" class="fnanchor">[240]</a></p></div> + +<p>The second illustration is taken from the quarrel +between Pallas Athene and Poseidon to which +already I have referred. The myth tells us—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“A double wonder sprang out of the earth at the +same time—at one place the olive tree and at +another water. The people in terror sent to Delphi +to ask what should be done. The god answered +that the olive tree signified the power of Athene, +and the water that of Poseidon; and that it remained +with the burgesses to choose after which of +the two they would name their town. An assembly +was called of the burgesses, both men and women, +for it was then the custom to let the women take part +in the public councils. The men voted for Poseidon, +the women for Athene; and as there were more +women than men by one, Athene conquered. Thereupon +Poseidon was enraged, and immediately the +sea flowed over all the lands of Athens. To appease +the sea-god, the burgesses found it necessary to impose +a threefold punishment on their wives. They +were to lose their votes; the children were to receive +no more the mother’s name, and they themselves +were no longer to be called after the goddess.”<a name="FNanchor_241_241" id="FNanchor_241_241"></a><a href="#Footnote_241_241" class="fnanchor">[241]</a></p></div> + +<p>The origin of these myths is perfectly clear. There +is no reason to force their interpretation by regarding +them as historical evidence of a struggle taking place +between the maternal and the paternal custom of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span>tracing descent;<a name="FNanchor_242_242" id="FNanchor_242_242"></a><a href="#Footnote_242_242" class="fnanchor">[242]</a> rather they are poetical explanations, +plainly invented to account for women’s +predominance at a time when such power had come +to be considered as unusual. The same may be +said of many of these old myths. Man’s fancy +begins to weave poetic inventions around anything +he considers abnormal or is not able to understand. +The idea or custom for which an explanation is +being sought must, however, have been present for +long in the common life and thought of the people. +Without realising this, all these old stories become +unintelligible. I believe they have been greatly +misinterpreted in the thought of writers bound by +patriarchal ideas.</p> + +<p>The limitation of my space does not allow me to +enter into the great amount of evidence provided +by these mythical stories of the privileged position +of women. One instance, however, may be referred +to as an illustration. We find a wide range of stories +connected with the mythical Amazons. Now, if I +am right, the frequency of these legends among so +many races points to the acceptance of the Amazon +heroines as an historical fact. Fancy, without +doubt, wove the details of their stories, occurrences +would be chosen or imagined to give colour to the +narratives, but such poetic inventions, with all +their repetitions, all their reproductions of what +is practically one situation, would take only definite +form from conditions so impressed on the popular +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span>mind by facts that must have had a real existence. +Bearing this in mind, special significance attaches +to a discovery recently made by Prof. d’Allosso. +In the ancient necropolis of Belmonte, dating from +the iron age, are two very rich tombs of women +warriors with war chariots over their remains. +Prof. d’Allosso states that several details given by +Virgil of the Amazon Camilla, who fought and died on +the field of battle, coincide with the details on these +tombs. The importance of this discovery is thus +very great, as it certainly seems to indicate what I +am claiming—that the existence of the Amazon +heroines, leaders of armies and sung by the ancient +poets, is not a poetic fancy, but an historic reality.<a name="FNanchor_243_243" id="FNanchor_243_243"></a><a href="#Footnote_243_243" class="fnanchor">[243]</a></p> + +<p>I must turn now to the last group of evidence +that I am able to bring forward; to find this we +must enter that realm of fancy—the world of fairyland. +We shall see that this land has its own customs, +and its own laws, entirely at variance with all +those to which we are accustomed. How is this to be +explained? These stories are founded really on the +life of the common people, and they have come down +from generation to generation, handed on by the +storytellers, from a time long before the day when +they were ever collected and written in books. It +is the popular and social character of these stories +that is so important; they are records of customs +and habits long forgotten, but once common in the +daily life of the people. In them the past is potent +with life, and for this reason they claim the most +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span>careful and patient study. I speak of the most +familiar stories that we have regarded as foolish +fables. Nowhere else can we gain so clear and +vivid a picture of the childhood of civilisation, when +women were the transmitters of inheritance and the +guardians of property.</p> + +<p>Let me try to prove this. I have before me a +collection of these folk-stories, gathered from many +countries. Now, the most popular story (whose +theme occurs again and again, the details varied +in the different renderings) is concerned with the +gaining of a princess as a bride by a wooer, usually +of humble birth. This lover to obtain his wife +achieves some mighty deed of valour, or performs +tasks set for him by the parents of the bride; he +thus inherits the kingdom through the daughter +of the king. Hans, faring forth to seek his luck; the +Dummling in the Golden Goose story; the miller’s +son, who gained his bride by the wit of his cat, +and Aladdin with his magic lamp are well-known +examples of this story. The Scottish and Irish +legends are particularly rich in examples of these +hero lovers. Assipattle, the dirty ash-lad, who wins +the fair Gemdelovely and then reigns with her +as queen and king, is one of the most interesting. +Similar stories may be found in the folk-lore of every +country. Ash-lad figures in many of the Norwegian +tales. There is a charming version in the Lapp +story of the “Silk Weaver and her husband,” +where we read, “Once upon a time a poor lad +wooed a princess and the girl wanted to marry him,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span> +but the Emperor was against the match. Nevertheless +she took him at last and they were wed +together.”<a name="FNanchor_244_244" id="FNanchor_244_244"></a><a href="#Footnote_244_244" class="fnanchor">[244]</a></p> + +<p>This “fairy theory” of marriage is really the +maternal or <i>beenah</i> form: such a marriage as was +made by Jacob and is still common among all +maternal peoples. The inheritance passes through +the daughters; the suitors gain their position by +some deed of valour or by service done for the +bride’s family; sometimes it is the mother who sets +the task, more often it is the father, while, in some +cases, the girl herself imposes the conditions of +marriage. It is possible to trace a development +in these stories. We can see the growth of purchase-marriage +in the service demanded by the parents +of the bride, this taking the place of the earlier +custom of the bridegroom proving his fitness by +some test of strength. Again, those stories in which +the arrangement of the marriage remains with the +mother or with the girl, and not with the father, +must be regarded as the older versions. This change +appears also in the conditions of inheritance; in +some cases the kingdom passes at once with the +bride, in others the half of the kingdom is the +marriage portion, while in the later stories the full +authority to rule comes only after the death of the +king. But always sooner or later the daughter of +the king conveys the kingdom to her husband. +The sons of the king do not inherit; they are of +much less importance than the daughters; they +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span>are sent forth to seek their own fortunes. This is +the law where the inheritance passes through the +daughter.</p> + +<p>This law of female inheritance must at one time +have been universal. We are brought, indeed, constantly +back to that opinion—so amply evidenced by +these folk-relics. In the old West country ballad +“The Golden Vanity” or “The Lowland’s Low,” +the boy who saves the ship from the Spanish pirate +galleon is promised as a reward “silver and gold, +with the skipper’s pretty little daughter who lives +upon the shore.” Similarly in the well-known folksong +“The Farmer’s Boy,” the lad who comes +weary and lame to the farmer’s door, seeking work, +eventually marries the farmer’s daughter and +inherits the farm. Again, Dick Whittington, the +poor country lad, who faithfully serves his master +in London, marries his employer’s daughter. This +theme is very frequently found in ballads, romances, +and dramas; in all cases the way to fortune for the +lover is through marriage—the daughter carries the +inheritance.</p> + +<p>Let us take Assipattle of the Scottish legend as +a type of these hero wooers. He is represented +always as the youngest son, held in contempt by +his brothers, and merely tolerated by his parents. +He lies in the ashes, from which he gains his name. +Some emergency arises; a great danger threatens +the land or, more often, a princess has to be delivered +from a position of peril. Assipattle executes the +deed, when his brothers and all others have failed;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> +he frees the land or rescues the king’s daughter, and +is covered with honour. He marries the princess +and inherits the kingdom. Assipattle always begins +in the deepest degradation, and ends on the highest +summit of glory. There is a special interest in this +story. The reader will not have failed to notice +the similarity of Assipattle with Cinderella. In both +stories the circumstances are the same, only the +Ash-lad has been replaced by the Cinder-girl. There +is no doubt which version is the older:<a name="FNanchor_245_245" id="FNanchor_245_245"></a><a href="#Footnote_245_245" class="fnanchor">[245]</a> the one is +the maternal form, the other the patriarchal.</p> + +<p>The setting of these stories should be noticed. We +see the simplicity of the habits and life so vividly +represented. All folk-legends deal with country +people living near to nature. So similar, indeed, +are the customs depicted throughout that these +folk-records might well be taken as a picture of the +social organisation among many barbarous tribes. +I should like to wait to point out these resemblances, +such, for instance, as the tendency to personify +natural objects, the identification of human beings +with animals and trees, found so often in the stories, +as well as many other things—the belief in magic +and the power of wise women. And what I want +to make clear is the very early beginning of these +folk-tales; they take us back to the social institutions +of the mother-age. Thus there is nothing surprising +to find that kingdoms and riches are won by hero-lovers, +and that daughters carry the inheritance. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span>This is really what used to happen. It is our individual +ideas and patriarchal customs that make +these things seem so strange.</p> + +<p>I wish I had space in which to follow further +these still-speaking relics of a past, whose interest +offers such rich reward. In his essay “Ashiepattle, +or Hans seeks his Luck” (<i>The Chances of Death</i>, +Vol. II, pp. 51-91), Prof. Karl Pearson has fully +and beautifully shown the evidence for mother-right +to be found in these stories. To this essay +the reader, who still is in doubt, is referred. All that +has been possible to me is to suggest an inquiry +that any one can pursue for himself. It is the +difficulty of treating so wide and fascinating a subject +in briefest outline that so many things that +should be noticed have to be passed over.</p> + +<p>The witness afforded by these folk-stories for +mother-right cannot be neglected. For what interpretation +are we to place on the curious facts they +record? Are we to regard this maternal marriage +with descent through the daughter, and not the son, +as idle inventions of the storytellers? Do these +princesses and their peasant wooers belong to the +topsy-turvy land of fairies? No: in these stories, +drawn from so many various countries, we have +echoes of a very distant past. It is by placing the +customs here represented by the side of similar +social conditions still to be found among primitive +maternal peoples, that we find their significance. +We then understand that these old, old stories of +the folk really take us back to the age in which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span> +they first took form. We have read these “fairy +stories” to our children, unknowing what they +signified—a prophetic succession of witnesses, pointing +us back to the ripening of that phase of the +communal family, before the establishment of the +individual patriarchal rule, when the law was +mother-right, and all inheritance was through +women.</p> + +<p>I would add to this chapter a notice I have just +recently lighted on<a name="FNanchor_246_246" id="FNanchor_246_246"></a><a href="#Footnote_246_246" class="fnanchor">[246]</a> of the ancient warrior, Queen +Meave of Ireland. She is represented as tall and +beautiful, terrible in her battle chariot, when she +drove full speed into the press of fighting men. Her +virtues were those of a warlike barbarian king, and +she claimed the like large liberty in morals. Her +husband was Ailill, the Connaught king; their +marriage was literally a partnership wherein Meave, +making her own terms, demanded from her husband +exact equality of treatment. The three +essential qualities on which she insisted were that +he should be brave, and generous, and completely +devoid of jealousy.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_230_230" id="Footnote_230_230"></a><a href="#FNanchor_230_230"><span class="label">[230]</span></a> Cushing, <i>Zuñi Creation Myths</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_231_231" id="Footnote_231_231"></a><a href="#FNanchor_231_231"><span class="label">[231]</span></a> Gen. ii, 18, 21-23.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_232_232" id="Footnote_232_232"></a><a href="#FNanchor_232_232"><span class="label">[232]</span></a> McLennan, <i>Studies</i>, “Kinship in Ancient Greece”; +Letourneau, <i>Evolution of Marriage</i>, pp. 336-337, and +Starcke, <i>The Primitive Family</i>, pp. 115-116.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_233_233" id="Footnote_233_233"></a><a href="#FNanchor_233_233"><span class="label">[233]</span></a> Starcke, pp. 249-250, citing Bachofen’s <i>Antiquarische +Briefe</i>, Vol. I, p. 140.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_234_234" id="Footnote_234_234"></a><a href="#FNanchor_234_234"><span class="label">[234]</span></a> K. Pearson, <i>Chances of Death</i>, Vol. II, Essays on the +Mother-age Civilisation, etc. Many of the facts given in +this chapter are taken from these illuminative essays.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_235_235" id="Footnote_235_235"></a><a href="#FNanchor_235_235"><span class="label">[235]</span></a> K. Pearson, <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 102.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_236_236" id="Footnote_236_236"></a><a href="#FNanchor_236_236"><span class="label">[236]</span></a> <i>The Truth about Woman</i>, p. 198.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_237_237" id="Footnote_237_237"></a><a href="#FNanchor_237_237"><span class="label">[237]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, pp. 109-110.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_238_238" id="Footnote_238_238"></a><a href="#FNanchor_238_238"><span class="label">[238]</span></a> See <i>Spain Revisited</i>, and <i>Things Seen in Spain</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_239_239" id="Footnote_239_239"></a><a href="#FNanchor_239_239"><span class="label">[239]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 158.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_240_240" id="Footnote_240_240"></a><a href="#FNanchor_240_240"><span class="label">[240]</span></a> Newbold, <i>Account of the British Settlements in the +Straits of Malacca</i>, Vol. II, p. 221.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_241_241" id="Footnote_241_241"></a><a href="#FNanchor_241_241"><span class="label">[241]</span></a> McLennan, <i>Studies</i>, “Kinship in Ancient Greece,” +p. 235.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_242_242" id="Footnote_242_242"></a><a href="#FNanchor_242_242"><span class="label">[242]</span></a> This is done by Bachofen, and also, to some extent, +by McLennan.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_243_243" id="Footnote_243_243"></a><a href="#FNanchor_243_243"><span class="label">[243]</span></a> See <i>The Truth about Woman</i>, p. 228.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_244_244" id="Footnote_244_244"></a><a href="#FNanchor_244_244"><span class="label">[244]</span></a> K. Pearson, <i>The Truth about Woman</i>, p. 70 <i>note</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_245_245" id="Footnote_245_245"></a><a href="#FNanchor_245_245"><span class="label">[245]</span></a> In this connection, see K. Pearson in the essay already +quoted, p. 85 <i>et seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_246_246" id="Footnote_246_246"></a><a href="#FNanchor_246_246"><span class="label">[246]</span></a> “Ancient Irish Sagas,” <i>Century</i>, Jan. 1907.</p></div> +</div> + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span></h2> + +<h3>CONCLUDING REMARKS</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">My</span> investigation of the mother-age might fitly +have terminated with the preceding chapter; but +the immense interest which attaches to the subject, +and the amount of misconception which prevails +regarding the origin and conditions of the maternal +family, as well as my own special views upon it, +induce me to devote a brief final chapter to a few +observations that to me seem to be important.</p> + +<p>In my little book (which must be regarded rather +as a sketch or design than as a finished work) an +attempt has been made to approach the problem of +the primitive family from a new and decisive standpoint. +I am well aware that in certain directions +I have crossed the threshold only of the subjects +treated. I hope that at least I have opened up suggestions +of many questions on which I could not +dwell at length. All this may bring the hesitation +that leads to further inquiry. And I believe that +those of my readers who will follow out an investigation +for themselves in any direction—either in the +collecting of maternal customs among existing +primitive peoples, or in noting the relics of such +customs to be met with in historical records and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span> +in folk-lore, will find an ever increasing store of +evidence, and that then the discredited mother-age, +with its mother-right customs, will become for them +what it is for me, a necessary and accepted stage +in the evolution of human societies.</p> + +<p>Many of the conclusions to which I have come +are so completely opposed to those which generally +have been accepted as correct, that now, I am at +the end of my inquiry it will be well to sum up +briefly its result.</p> + +<p>The facts I have so rapidly enumerated have a +very wide bearing; they serve to destroy the +accepted foundations on which the claim for mother-right +has hitherto been based. The first stage of +the family was patriarchal. All the evidence we +possess tends to show that tracing descent through +the mother was not the primitive custom. Throughout +my aim has been to bring into uniformity the +opposing theories of the primeval patriarchate and +the maternal family. The current view, so often +asserted, and manifestly inspired by a Puritanical +ideal, insists that mother-descent arose through +uncertain fatherhood, and was connected with an +early period of promiscuous relationships between +the two sexes. This view has been proved to be +entirely wrong. The system of maternal descent +was a system framed for order, and had in its origin, +at least, no connection with sexual disorder. Further +than this, it is certain that marriage in some form +has always existed, and that the sexual relationships +have never been unregulated. We must renounce<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span> +any theory of primitive promiscuity. And there +is more than this to be said. Such freedom in love +and in marriage as we do find in barbarous societies +is so strong a proof of friendly feeling and security +that it is certain it could not have existed in the first +stage of the jealous patriarchate; rather it must +have developed at a subsequent period with the +growth of the social-tribal spirit, and the liberty of +women from the thrall of sexual ownership. In +these particulars my opinion differs from all other +writers who have sought to establish a theory of +matriarchy. I venture to claim that the position +of the mother-age has been strengthened, and, as +I hope, built up on surer foundations.</p> + +<p>Let us cast a brief glance backward over the way +that we have travelled.</p> + +<p>Our most primitive ancestors, half-men, half-brutes, +lived in small, solitary and hostile family +groups, held together by a common subjection to the +strongest male, who was the father and the owner +of all the women, and their children. There was +no promiscuity, for there could be no possible union +in peace. Here was the most primitive form of +jealous ownership by the male, as he killed or drove +off his rivals; his fights were the brutal precursors +of all sexual restrictions for women. These customs +of brute ownership are still in great measure preserved +among the least developed races. This +explains how there are many rude peoples that +exhibit no traces at all of the system of mother-descent. +In the lowest nomad bands of savages<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> +of the deserts and forests we find still these rough +paternal groups, who know no social bonds, but are +ruled alone by brute strength and jealous ownership. +With them development has been very slow; they +have not yet advanced to the social organisation +of the maternal clan.</p> + +<p>From these first solitary families, grouped submissively +around one tyrant-ruler, we reach a +second stage out of which order and organisation +sprang. In this second stage the family expanded +into the larger group of the communal clan. The +upward direction of this transformation is evident; +the change was from the most selfish individualism +to a communism more or less complete—from the +primordial patriarchate to a free social organisation, +all the members of which are bound together by a +strict solidarity of interests. The progress was +necessarily slow from the beginning to this first +phase of social life. Yet the change came. With +the fierce struggle for existence, association was the +only possible way, not only to further progress, but +to prevent extermination.</p> + +<p>It has been shown that the earliest movements +towards peace came through the influence of the +women, for it was in their interest to consolidate +the family, and, by means of union, to establish +their own power. Collective motives were more +considered by women, not at all because of any +higher standard of feminine moral virtue, but because +of the peculiar advantages arising to themselves +and to their children—advantages of freedom which +could not exist in a society inspired by individual<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span> +inclination. And for this reason the clan system +may be considered as a feminine creation, which had +special relation to motherhood. Under this influence, +the marital rights of the male members +were restricted and confined. A system of taboos +was established, which as time advanced was greatly +strengthened by the sacred totem marks, and became +of inexorable strictness. In this way association between +the jealous fighting males was made possible.</p> + +<p>Here, then, are the reasons that led to the formation +of the maternal family and the communal clan. +It was a movement that had nothing about it that +was exceptional; it was a perfectly natural arrangement—the +practical outgrowth of the practical +needs of primitive peoples. The strong and certain +claim for the acceptance for the mother-age, with +its privileged position for women, rests on this +foundation.</p> + +<p>Let us be quite clear as to the real question +involved, for it is a crucial one. I refer to the complete +disturbance arising through this change in +the family organisation in the relationships between +the two sexes. A wife was no longer the husband’s +property. Her position was unchanged by marriage, +for her rights were safeguarded by her kindred, +whose own interests could be protected only through +her freedom.</p> + +<p>If we turn next to the status of men—of the husband +and father—in the maternal kindred group, +we find their power and influence at first gradually, +and then rapidly, decreasing. It was under these +conditions of family communism that the rights<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span> +of the husband and father were restricted on every +side. Not only does he not stand out as a principal +person from the background of the familial clan; +he has not even any recognised social existence in +the family group. This restriction of the husband +and father was clearly dependent on the form of +marriage. We have seen that the individual +relationships between the sexes began with the +reception of temporary lovers by the woman in +her own home. But a relationship thus formed would +tend under favourable circumstances to be continued, +and, in some cases, perpetuated. The +lover became the husband; he left the home of +his mother to reside with his wife among her kin; he +was still without property or any recognised rights +in her clan, with no—or very little—control over +the woman and none over her children, occupying, +indeed, the position of a more or less permanent +guest in her hut or tent. The wife’s position and +that of her children was assured, and in the case of a +separation it was the man who departed, leaving +her in possession.</p> + +<p>Under such an organisation the family and social +customs were in most cases—and always, I believe, +in their complete maternal form—favourable to +women. Kinship was reckoned through the mother, +since in this way alone could the undivided family +be maintained. The continuity of the clan thus +depending on the women, they were placed in a very +special position of importance, the mother was at +least the nominal head of the household, shaping +the destiny of the clan through the aid of her clan-kindred.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> +Her closest male relation was not her +husband, but her brother and her son; she was +the conduit by which property passed to and from +them. Often women established their own claims and +all property was held by them; which under favourable +circumstances developed into what may literally +be called a matriarchate. In all cases the child’s +position was dependent entirely on the mother and +not on the father. Such a system of inheritance +may be briefly summarised as “mother-right.”</p> + +<p>There is another matter to notice. Every possible +experiment in sexual association has been tried, +and is still practised among various barbarous +races, with very little reference to those moral ideas +to which we are accustomed. It is, however, very +necessary to remember that monogamy is frequent +and indeed usual under the maternal system. We +have seen many examples where, with complete +freedom of separation held by the wife, lasting and +most happy marriages are the rule. When the +husband lives with his wife in a dependent position to +her family he can do so only in the case of one woman. +For this reason polygamy is much less deeply rooted +under the conditions in which the communal life +is developed than in patriarchal communities. In +the complete maternal family it is never common, +and is even prohibited.<a name="FNanchor_247_247" id="FNanchor_247_247"></a><a href="#Footnote_247_247" class="fnanchor">[247]</a></p> + +<p>As we might expect, the case is quite opposite +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span>with polyandry. This form of marriage has evident +advantages for women when compared with polygamy; +it is also a form that requires a certain +degree of social civilisation. It clearly involves +the limitation of the individual marital rights of the +husband. Polyandry in the joint family group was +not due to a licentious view of marriage; far otherwise, +it was an expression of the communism which +is characteristic of this organisation. This fact +has been forgotten by many writers, who have +regarded this form of the sexual relationships as +a very primitive development, connected with group-marriage +and promiscuous ownership of women. +It is very necessary to be clear on this point. Under +the maternal conditions, nothing is more certain +than the equality of women with men in all questions +of sexual morality. In proof of this it is necessary +only to recall the facts we have noted. We find +little or no importance attached to virginity, which +in itself indicates the absence of any conception of the +woman as property. Thus no bride-price is claimed +from the husband, who renders service in proof +of his fitness as a lover, not to gain possession of the +bride. The girl is frequently the wooer, and, in +certain cases, she or her mother imposes the conditions +of the marriage. After marriage the free +provision for divorce (often more favourable to the +wife than to the husband) is perhaps of even greater +significance. There can, I think, be no doubt that +this freedom in love was dependent on the wife’s +position of security under the maternal form of +marriage.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span></p> + +<p>I hold that the facts brought forward entitle +us to claim that the maternal communal clan was +an organisation in which there was a freer community +of interest, far more fellowship in labour +and partnership in property, with a resulting liberty +for woman, than we find in any patriarchal society. +For this reason, shall we, then, look back to this +maternal stage as to a golden period, wherein was +realised a free social organisation, carrying with it +privileges for women, which even to-day among +ourselves have never been established, and only +of late claimed? It is a question very difficult to +answer, and we must not in any haste rush into +mistakes. We found that the mother-age was +a transitional stage in the history of the evolution +of society, and we have indicated the stages of +its gradual decline. It is thus proved to have been +a less stable social system than the patriarchate +which again succeeded it, or it would not have +perished in the struggle with it. Must we conclude +from this that the one form of the family is higher +than the other—that the superior advantage rests +with the patriarchal system? Not at all: rather +it proves how difficult is the struggle to socialise. +Human nature tends so readily towards individualism; +it yields itself up to the joy of possession whenever +it is possible.</p> + +<p>The impulse to dominate by virtue of strength +or property possession has manifested itself in every +age. It cannot be a matter of surprise, therefore, +that at this period of social development a rebellion +arose against the customs of maternal communism.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span> +Within the large and undivided family of the clan +the restricted family became gradually re-established +by a reassertion of individual interests. In proportion +as the family gained in importance (which would +arise as the struggle for existence lessened and the +need of association was less imperative) the interest +of the individual members would become separated +from the group to which they belonged. Each one +would endeavour to get himself as large a share +as possible of what was formerly held in common. +As society advanced property would increase in +value, and the social and political significance of +its possession would also increase. Afterwards, +when personal property was acquired, each man +would aim at gaining a more exclusive right over +his wife and children; he would not willingly +submit to the bondage of the maternal form of +marriage.</p> + +<p>In the earlier days the clan spirit was too strong, +now men had shaken off, to a degree sufficient for +their purpose, the female yoke, which bound the +clan together. We have seen the husband and +father moving towards the position of a fully acknowledged +legal parent by a system of buying off his +wife and her children from their clan-group. The +movement arose in the first instance through a +property value being connected with women themselves. +As soon as the women’s kindred found in +their women the possibility of gaining worldly +goods for themselves, they began to claim service +and presents from their lovers. It was in this way<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span> +for economic reasons, and for no moral considerations +that the maternal marriage fell into disfavour. +The payment of a bride-price was claimed, and an +act of purchase was accounted essential. As we +have seen, it was regarded as a condition, not so +much of the marriage itself, but of the transference +of the wife to the home of the husband and of the +children to his kindred. The change was, of course, +effected slowly; and often we find the two forms +of marriage—the maternal and the purchase-marriage—occurring +side by side. What, however, +is certain is that the purchase-marriage in the +struggle was the one that prevailed.</p> + +<p>This reversal in the form of the marriage brought +about a corresponding reversal in the status of +women. This is so plain. The women of the +family do not now inherit property, but are themselves +property, passing from the hands of their +father to that of a husband. As purchased wives +they are compelled to reside in the husband’s house +and among his kin, who have no rights or duties +in regard to them, and where they are strangers. +In a word, the wife occupies the same position of +disadvantage as the man had done in the maternal +marriage. And her children kept her bound to +this alien home in a much closer way than the +husband could ever have been bound to her home. +The protection of her own kindred was the source +of the woman’s power and strength. This was now +lost. The change was not brought about without a +struggle, and for long the old customs contended<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span> +with the new. But as the patriarchate developed, +and men began to gain individual possession of +their children by the purchase of their mothers, +the father became the dominant power in the +family. Little by little individual interests prevailed. +Moral limits were set up. Women’s freedom +was threatened on every side as the jealous +ownership, which always arises wherever women +are regarded as property, asserted itself. Mother-right +passed away, remaining only as a tradition, or +preserved in isolated cases among primitive peoples. +The patriarchal age, which still endures, succeeded.</p> + +<p>Yet in this connection it is very necessary to +remember that the reassertion of the patriarchate +was as necessary a stage in human development +as the maternal stage. Whatever may have been +the advantages arising to women from the clan +organisation (and that the advantages were great +I claim to have proved) such conditions could not +remain fixed for ever. For society is not stable; +it cannot be, as the need for adjustment is always +arising, and at certain stages of development different +tendencies are active. No one cause can be isolated, +and, therefore, it is necessary in estimating any +change to take a synthetic view of many facts that +are contemporaneous and interacting. Yet, it +would seem that the social and domestic habits +of a people are decided largely by the degree of +dominance held either by women or men; and almost +everything else depends on the accurate adjustment +of the rights of the two sexes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span></p> + +<p>The social clan organised around the mothers +carried mankind a long way—a way the length of +which we are only beginning to realise. But it +could not carry mankind to that family organisation +from which so much was afterwards to develop. +It was no more possible for society to be built up +on mother-right alone than it is possible for it to +remain permanently based on father-right.</p> + +<p>But there is another aspect of this question that +I must briefly touch upon. The opinion that the +reversal in the position of authority of the mother +and the father arose from male mastery, or was due +to any unfair domination on the part of the husband +must be set aside. To me the history of the mother-age +does not teach this. I believe that the change +to the individual family must have been regarded +favourably by the women themselves, for such +a change could not have arisen, at all events it +would not have persisted, if women, with the power +they then enjoyed, had not desired it. Nor need this +bring any surprise. An arrangement that would +give a closer relationship in marriage and the protection +of a husband for herself and her children +may well have come to be preferred by the wife. +Nor do I think it unlikely that she, quite as strongly +as the man, may have desired to live apart from her +mother and her kindred in her husband’s home. +Individual interests are not confined to men.</p> + +<p>With all the evils father-right has brought to +women, we have got to remember that the woman +owes the individual relation of the man to herself<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span> +and her children to the patriarchal system. The +father’s right in his children (which, unlike the right +of the mother, was not founded upon kinship, but +rested on the quite different and insecure basis +of property) had to be re-established. Without +this being done, the family in its complete development +was impossible. The survival value of the +patriarchal age consists in the additional gain to +the children of the father’s to the mother’s care. +I do not think this gain will ever be lost. We women +need to remember this lest bitterness stains our +sense of justice. It may be that progress could not +have been accomplished otherwise; that the cost +of love’s development has been the enslavement of +women. If so, then women will not, in the long +account of Nature, have lost in the payment of +the price. They may be (when they come again +to understand their power) better fitted for their +refound freedom.</p> + +<p>Such is the history of the past, what is the promise +of the future?</p> + +<p>We have traced three stages in the past evolution +of the family—two individual and patriarchal, +one communal and maternal. Is the patriarchal +stage, then, the final stage? Has the upward +growth, ever yet continuous, been arrested here? +The social ideal of the mother-age was a transition +and a dream—but as a moment of peace in the +records of struggle, following the bloody opening +drama in man’s history, and then passing into a +forgetfulness so complete that its existence by many<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span> +has been denied. Yet the feet of the race were +in the way, though men and women let it pass, +blindly unknowing.</p> + +<p>Our age is working for scarcely yet formulated +changes in the ownership of property and in the +status of women. The patriarchal view of woman’s +subjection to man is being questioned in every +direction. What do these movements indicate? +If, as seems probable, the individual evolution, +already for so long continued, is perishing, what is +to take its place? What form will the family take +in the future? These are questions to which it is +not possible for me here even to attempt to find the +answer.<a name="FNanchor_248_248" id="FNanchor_248_248"></a><a href="#Footnote_248_248" class="fnanchor">[248]</a></p> + +<p>Let us look for a moment in this new direction, +the direction of the future, because it is there that +the past becomes so important. In our contemporary +society there is a deep-lying dissatisfaction +with existing conditions, a yearning and restless +need for change. We stand in the first rush of a +great movement. It is the day of experiments, +when again the old customs are in struggle with the +new. We are questioning where before we have +accepted, and are seeking out new ways in which +mankind will go—will go because it must.</p> + +<p>Social institutions alter very slowly as a rule; +for long a change may pass unnoticed, until one day +it is discovered that a step forward has been taken. +Those changes that appear so new and are bringing +fear to many to-day, are but the last consequences +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span>of causes that for long have been operating slowly. +The extraordinary enthusiasm now sweeping through +womanhood reveals behind its immediate feverish +expression a great power of emotional and spiritual +initiative. Wide and radically sweeping are the +changes in women’s outlook. So much stronger +is the promise of a vital force when they have refound +their emancipation. To this end women must gain +economic security, and the freedom for the full +expression of their womanhood. The ultimate +goal I conceive—at least I hope—is the right to be +women, not the right to become like men. There +can be no gain for women except this. To be mothers +were women created and to be fathers men. This +rightly considered is the deepest of all truths.</p> + +<p>What is needed at present is that women should +be allowed to rediscover for themselves what is their +woman’s work, rather than that they should continue +to accept perforce the rôle which men (rightly or +wrongly) have at various times allowed to them +throughout the patriarchal ages. This necessity is +as much a necessity for men as it is for women.</p> + +<p>I do not think that women will fail (even if for +a time they stumble a little) in finding the way. +The vital germinal spot of each forward step in +women’s position must be sought with the women +who are the conscious mothers of the race. The +great women reformers are not those who would +have women act just like men in all externals, +but those who are conscious that all men are born +of women. In this lies women’s strength in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span> +past and in this must be their strength in +that glad future that is to be. But only if +motherhood is regarded as an intrinsic glory, and +children are born in freedom. Think what this +means. The birth of a child, in so far as its mother +has not received the sanction of a man, is subject +to the fire and brimstone of public scorn. And this +scorn is the most pitiful result in all the patriarchal +record. A woman’s natural right is her right to be +a mother, and it is the most inglorious page in the +history of woman that too often she has allowed herself +to be deprived of that right. Women have this +lesson first to learn. We, and not men, must fix the +standard in sex, for we have to play the chief part in +the racial life. Let us, then, reacquire our proud instinctive +consciousness, which we are fully justified +in having, of being the mothers of humanity; and +having that consciousness, once more we shall be +invincible.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_247_247" id="Footnote_247_247"></a><a href="#FNanchor_247_247"><span class="label">[247]</span></a> It is significant that in Sumatra polygamy occurs with +the <i>djudur</i> marriages, where the wife is bought and lives +with her husband, while it is unknown in the maternal +marriages. It is frequent in Africa and elsewhere, when +the marriage is not the maternal form.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_248_248" id="Footnote_248_248"></a><a href="#FNanchor_248_248"><span class="label">[248]</span></a> I hope to do so in a future book on <i>Motherhood</i>.</p></div> +</div> + + +<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span></h2> + + +<ul class="index"> + +<li class="letter">A</li> + +<li><span class="smcap">Absorption</span> by the male of female ideas, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> + +<li>Advance of the family to the clan and tribe, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>-<a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Africa, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>-<a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>-<a href="#Page_205">205</a></li> + +<li>Agriculture and women, <a href="#Page_60">60</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>-<a href="#Page_208">208</a></li> + +<li>Ahitas of Philippines, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li> + +<li>Alladians of Gold Coast, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> + +<li>Allison, Mrs., <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> + +<li>Amazons, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>-<a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> + +<li>Amazons, revolt of, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> + +<li><i>Ambel-anak</i> marriage, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> + +<li>American aborigines, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>-<a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li> + +<li>Andamanese, women’s work among, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> + +<li>Andombies, women’s work among, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> + +<li>Apes, anthropoid, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> + +<li>Arabia, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li> + +<li>Arabs, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>-<a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li> + +<li>Architects, women as primitive, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> + +<li>Arruwimi tribe, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> + +<li>Aryans, mother-descent among, <a href="#Page_230">230</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Athens, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> + +<li>Atkinson, Mr., <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> + +<li>Australia, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>-<a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li> + +<li>Australia, work of women in, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li> + + +<li class="letter">B</li> + +<li>Babylon, position of women in ancient, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>-<a href="#Page_215">215</a></li> + +<li>Bacchanalian festivals, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a></li> + +<li>Bachofen, <a href="#Page_26">26</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li> + +<li>Bachofen’s theory of matriarchy, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>-<a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> + +<li>Bancroft, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> + +<li>Bandelier, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li> + +<li>Banyai tribe, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> + +<li>Barton, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li> + +<li>Basques, <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> + +<li>Batu tribe, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> + +<li>Bavili tribe, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> + +<li><i>Beena</i> marriage, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a></li> + +<li>Benefits of marriage law for women, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> + +<li>Beni-Amer of Africa, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li> + +<li>Berbers, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>-<a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> + +<li>Bonwick, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> + +<li>Brewers, women as, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> + +<li>Bride-price, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> + +<li>Brute-force of male, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</li> +<li class="see"><i>See</i> <a href="#Father_as_tyrant">Father as tyrant.</a></li> + +<li>Buckley, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> + + +<li class="letter">C</li> + +<li>Californian Redskins, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> + +<li>Campbell, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> + +<li>Capture of wives, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> + +<li>Celts, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span></li> + +<li>Ceylon, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> + +<li>Charleroix, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> + +<li>Chavanne, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> + +<li>Chivalry, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> + +<li><a name="Choice_in_love" id="Choice_in_love"></a>Choice in love, the right of the female, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>-<a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + +<li>Clan, primitive, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Communal living, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Contrast between the work of women and men, <a href="#Page_195">195</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Conventional morality, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li> + +<li>Courtship, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>-<a href="#Page_153">153</a>.</li> +<li class="see"><i>See</i> <a href="#Choice_in_love">Choice in love.</a></li> + +<li>Couvade, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li> + +<li>Crawley, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li> + +<li>Creek Indians, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>-<a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> + +<li>Crete, matriarchy in ancient, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>-<a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> + +<li><a name="Criticism_of_mother-right" id="Criticism_of_mother-right"></a>Criticism of mother-right, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>-<a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li> + +<li>Curr, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> + +<li>Cushing, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a></li> + + +<li class="letter">D</li> + +<li>D’Allosso, Prof., <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> + +<li>Dalton, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li> + +<li>Dances, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> + +<li>Dargun, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li> + +<li>Darwin, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> + +<li><i>Deega</i> marriage, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> + +<li>De Mailla, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> + +<li>Deniker, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> + +<li>Dennett, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> + +<li>Dependence of the human child, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> + +<li><a name="Descent_through_the_mother" id="Descent_through_the_mother"></a>Descent through the mother, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>-<a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>-<a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>-<a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Diodorus, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> + +<li><a name="Divinities_women_as" id="Divinities_women_as"></a>Divinities, women as, <a href="#Page_136">136</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li> + +<li>Divorce, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>-<a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + +<li><i>Djudur</i> marriage, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> + +<li>Doctors, women as, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> + +<li>Domestication of animals, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> + +<li>Duveyrier, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> + + +<li class="letter">E</li> + +<li>Economic matriarchy, <a href="#Page_159">159</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Egypt, position of women in ancient, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>-<a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> + +<li>Ellis, Havelock, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li> + +<li>Euripedes, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li> + +<li>Exogamy, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>-<a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li> + +<li>Expansion of the family into the clan, <a href="#Page_67">67</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>-<a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + + +<li class="letter">F</li> + +<li>Fairy stories, their evidence for mother-right, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>-<a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> + +<li>Family, primitive, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>-<a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>-<a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Fanti of Gold Coast, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> + +<li><a name="Father_as_tyrant" id="Father_as_tyrant"></a>Father as tyrant, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> + +<li>Father the true parent, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li> + +<li>Father-right dependent on purchase, <a href="#Page_182">182</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>-<a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>-<a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> + +<li>Female dominance, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.</li> +<li class="see"><i>See</i> <a href="#Gynaecocracy">Gynæcocracy.</a></li> + +<li>Ferrass, Max Henry, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> + +<li>Fison, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li> + +<li>Folk-lore as evidence of mother-right, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> + +<li>Food and women, <a href="#Page_59">59</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> +<li class="see"><i>See</i> <a href="#Industry_and_women">Industry and women.</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span></li> + +<li>Forbes, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> + +<li>Formosans, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>-<a href="#Page_151">151</a></li> + +<li>Frazer, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> + +<li>Fuegians, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> + + +<li class="letter">G</li> + +<li>Garos, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>-<a href="#Page_152">152</a></li> + +<li>Germans, mother-descent among, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>-<a href="#Page_231">231</a></li> + +<li>Giraud-Teulon, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> + +<li>Greece, ancient, traces of mother-right in, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>-<a href="#Page_222">222</a></li> + +<li>Grimm, <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li> + +<li>Grote, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> + +<li>Guinea, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> + +<li>Gurdon, P. R., <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li> + +<li><a name="Gynaecocracy" id="Gynaecocracy"></a>Gynæcocracy, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>-<a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li> + + +<li class="letter">H</li> + +<li>Haddon, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> + +<li>Haidis, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + +<li>Hale, Horatio, <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li> + +<li>Hall, J. R., <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li> + +<li>Hammurabi, Code of, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> + +<li>Hartland, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> + +<li>Hassanyah Arabs, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>-<a href="#Page_180">180</a></li> + +<li>Haydes, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> + +<li>Hearne, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li> + +<li>Hebrew patriarchs, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Heriot, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> + +<li>Herodotus, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li> + +<li>Herrera, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> + +<li>Hodgson, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + +<li>Hoffman, <a href="#Page_208">208</a></li> + +<li>Home, woman’s connection with the, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>-<a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> + +<li>Homer, <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li> + +<li>Hooker, Sir J., <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> + +<li>Hopis, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>-<a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> + +<li>Hospitality, American-Indian, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li> + +<li>Howitt, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> + +<li>Husband as “consort guest,” <a href="#Page_15">15</a>.</li> +<li class="see"><i>See</i> <a href="#Maternal_marriage">Maternal marriage.</a></li> + +<li>Husband visiting the wife by night, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>-<a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a></li> + + +<li class="letter">I</li> + +<li>Iberians, mother-right among, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>-<a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> + +<li>Ibn Batua, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li> + +<li>Illegitimacy, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li> + +<li>Im Thurn, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> + +<li>Importance of mother-descent, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>-<a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>-<a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>-<a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> + +<li>Incest, paternal, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>-<a href="#Page_178">178</a></li> + +<li>India, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li> +<li class="see"><i>See</i> <a href="#Khasis">Khasis.</a></li> + +<li>Indians of Guiana, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> + +<li><a name="Industry_and_women" id="Industry_and_women"></a>Industry and women, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>-<a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>-<a href="#Page_208">208</a></li> + + +<li class="letter">J</li> + +<li>Jealousy, <a href="#Page_45">45</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>-<a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li> + +<li>Johnstone, H. H., <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> + +<li>Joint tenement houses, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>-<a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li> + +<li>Joyce.</li> +<li class="see"><i>See</i> <a href="#Torday">Torday.</a></li> + +<li>Justin, <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li> + + +<li class="letter">K</li> + +<li>Kaffirs, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> + +<li>Kamilaroi and Kurnai tribes, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> + +<li>Kamtschatdals, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> + +<li><a name="Khasis" id="Khasis"></a>Khasis, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>-<a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li> + +<li>Kingsley, Miss, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> + +<li>Kinship through women.</li> +<li class="see"><i>See</i> <a href="#Descent_through_the_mother">Descent through mother.</a></li> + +<li>Koochs, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>-<a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + +<li>Kubary, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>-<a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> + +<li>Kurds, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li> + + +<li class="letter">L</li> + +<li>Laing, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li> + +<li>Lang, Andrew, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span></li> + +<li>Legends, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>-<a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>-<a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> + +<li>Letourneau, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li> + +<li>Liburni tribes, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li> + +<li>Limboltz, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li> + +<li>Limboo tribe, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> + +<li>Lippert, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li> + +<li>Livingstone, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> + +<li>Logan, J. R., <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> + +<li>Lyell, Sir Chas., <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li> + + +<li class="letter">M</li> + +<li>Macdonald, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> + +<li>McGee, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> + +<li>McLennan, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li> + +<li>McLennan, theory of mother-right, <a href="#Page_40">40</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Madagascar, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> + +<li>Maine, Sir H., <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a></li> + +<li>Malay States, <a href="#Page_147">147</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Malwlo tribe, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> + +<li>Mang’anja tribe, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> + +<li>Manyuema tribe, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> + +<li>Maoris, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> + +<li>Marsden, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> + +<li>Marvana Islanders, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li> + +<li>Mason, O., <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> + +<li>Maternal love, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> + +<li><a name="Maternal_marriage" id="Maternal_marriage"></a>Maternal marriage, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a></li> + +<li>Matriarchal theory, mistakes in, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>-<a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.</li> +<li class="see"><i>See</i> <a href="#Criticism_of_mother-right">Criticism of mother-right.</a></li> + +<li>Matriarchate. <i>See</i> <a href="#Gynaecocracy">Gynæcocracy.</a></li> + +<li>Meave, Queen of Ireland, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> + +<li>Menomini Indians, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li> + +<li>Monogamy, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> + +<li>Monopolist desire of male, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>-<a href="#Page_187">187</a>.</li> +<li class="see"><i>See</i> <a href="#Unsocial_conduct_of_males">Unsocial conduct of males.</a></li> + +<li>Moore, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li> + +<li>Moral prohibition, primitive, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>.</li> +<li class="see"><i>See</i> <a href="#Taboos">Taboos.</a></li> + +<li>Morgan, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> + +<li>Müller, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> + +<li>Musical faculty of women, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> + + +<li class="letter">N</li> + +<li>Naïrs of Malabar, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>-<a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> + +<li>Newbold, <a href="#Page_243">243</a></li> + +<li>New Caledonia, women’s work in, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> + +<li>New Guinea, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>-<a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> + +<li>New theory of mother-right, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>-<a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>-<a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> + +<li>Nicaraguans, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> + + +<li class="letter">O</li> + +<li>Origin of the human family, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>-<a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Origin of the maternal system, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>-<a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Owen, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> + +<li>Ownership of children, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + + +<li class="letter">P</li> + +<li>Pakpatan, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li> + +<li>Pani Kotches, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>-<a href="#Page_159">159</a></li> + +<li>Papuans of New Guinea, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> + +<li>Paraguay, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li> + +<li>Parenthood, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>-<a href="#Page_269">269</a></li> + +<li>Parke, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> + +<li>Passivity of female in love, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> + +<li>Patriarchal authority of father, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</li> +<li class="see"><i>See</i> <a href="#Father_as_tyrant">Father as tyrant.</a></li> + +<li>Patriarchal family, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Patriarchal theory, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span></li> + +<li>Pearson, K., <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> + +<li>Pecuniary matriarchy, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li> + +<li>Pedangs of Sumatra, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>-<a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> + +<li>Pelew Islanders, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>-<a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>-<a href="#Page_208">208</a></li> + +<li>Petherick, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li> + +<li>Picts, mother-descent among, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li> + +<li>Pike, W., <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> + +<li>Plato, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li> + +<li>Plutarch, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> + +<li>Polyandry, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + +<li>Polygamous males, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> + +<li>Polygamy, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> + +<li>Polynesians, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> + +<li>Position of the father, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> + +<li>Position of the mother, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> + +<li>Position of women, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li> + +<li>Powell, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> + +<li>Power, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> + +<li>Pre-matriarchal period, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> + +<li>Present social and economic condition, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>-<a href="#Page_269">269</a></li> + +<li>Prevalence of mother-descent, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>-<a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>-<a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> + +<li>Primal law, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> + +<li>Promiscuity, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>-<a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> + +<li>Property ownership, its importance for women, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>-<a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> + +<li>Pueblos, <a href="#Page_116">116</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li> + +<li>Purchase marriage, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> + +<li>Puritan spirit, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> + + +<li class="letter">Q</li> + +<li>Quissama women, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> + + +<li class="letter">R</li> + +<li>Race, responsibility to, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>-<a href="#Page_269">269</a></li> + +<li>Ratzel, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li> + +<li>Religions, position of women in primitive, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>.</li> +<li class="see"><i>See</i> <a href="#Divinities_women_as">Divinities, women as.</a></li> + +<li>Religious festivals, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>-<a href="#Page_243">243</a></li> + +<li>Religious myths, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>-<a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>-<a href="#Page_238">238</a></li> + +<li>Revolt of women, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> + +<li>Rhys and Brynmor-Jones, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> + +<li>Riedel, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> + +<li>Rome, ancient, traces of mother-right in, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>-<a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> + + +<li class="letter">S</li> + +<li>Sai tribe, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>-<a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> + +<li>Salish tribe, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> + +<li>Samoa, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + +<li>Santals, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + +<li>Schellong, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> + +<li>School craft, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> + +<li>Semper, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> + +<li>Senecas. <i>See</i> Iroquois.</li> + +<li>Seri Indians, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>-<a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> + +<li>Service marriage, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>-<a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>-<a href="#Page_223">223</a></li> + +<li>Sex antagonism, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Sexual egoism of male, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.</li> +<li class="see"><i>See</i> <a href="#Unsocial_conduct_of_males">Unsocial conduct of males.</a></li> + +<li>Sexual freedom for women, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>-<a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + +<li>Sexual subjection of female, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>-<a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> + +<li>Similarity of sexes, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>-<a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li> + +<li>Similkameen Indians, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> + +<li>Slavs, the clan among the, <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li> + +<li>Social conduct of women, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>-<a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a> <i>et seq.</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span></li> + +<li>Social habits, primitive, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>.</li> +<li class="see"><i>See</i> <a href="#Maternal_marriage">Maternal marriage.</a></li> + +<li>Soulima women, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li> + +<li>Spain, position of women in, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>-<a href="#Page_230">230</a></li> + +<li>Sparta, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a></li> + +<li>Spencer, H., <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li> + +<li>Spiritual quality in women, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> + +<li>Stages in the development of the family, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + + +<li class="letter">T</li> + +<li><a name="Taboos" id="Taboos"></a>Taboos, primitive sexual, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>-<a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> + +<li>Tacitus, <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li> + +<li>Tarrahumari Indians, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li> + +<li>Tasmanian women, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> + +<li>Thebans, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> + +<li>Thibet, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li> + +<li>Thomas, C., <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> + +<li>Thomas, I. T., <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> + +<li>Thomas, N. W., <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> + +<li><a name="Torday" id="Torday"></a>Torday and Joice, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> + +<li>Torres Straits, women’s work in, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> + +<li>Totem names, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> + +<li>Touaregs of the Saraha, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>-<a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> + +<li>Transition period, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> + +<li>Tribal ancestresses, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li> + +<li>Turner, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> + +<li>Tylor, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li> + + +<li class="letter">U</li> + +<li>Uncertainty of paternity, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a></li> + +<li><a name="Unsocial_conduct_of_males" id="Unsocial_conduct_of_males"></a>Unsocial conduct of male, <a href="#Page_55">55</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>-<a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></li> + + +<li class="letter">V</li> + +<li>Visiting wife in secret, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>-<a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>-<a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a></li> + +<li>Volti, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> + + +<li class="letter">W</li> + +<li>Wade, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li> + +<li>Waitz-Gerland, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> + +<li>Wamoimia, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> + +<li>War and women, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>-<a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>-<a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> + +<li>Watubela tribe, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> + +<li>Wayao tribe, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> + +<li>Wells, Mr. H. G., <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> + +<li>Werner, Alice, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li> + +<li>Westermarck, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li> + +<li>Wheeler, J. M., <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li> + +<li>Wilkin, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li> + +<li>Woman as food-giver, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Woman’s movement, <a href="#Page_11">11</a> <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>-<a href="#Page_268">268</a></li> + +<li>Women, primitive, not ill-treated by men, <a href="#Page_200">200</a> <i>et seq.</i></li> + +<li>Women, spiritual superiority, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> + +<li>Wright, Asher, Rev., <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> + +<li>Wyandots. <i>See</i> Iroquois.</li> + + +<li class="letter">Y</li> + +<li>Yahgan of Tierra del Fuego, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> + +<li>Yaos of Africa, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> + +<li>Ymer, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> + +<li>Yokia women of California, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> + + +<li class="letter">Z</li> + +<li>Zuñi Indians, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>-<a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>-<a href="#Page_122">122</a></li> +</ul> + + +<p class="end"><i>Richard Clay & Sons, Limited, London and Bungay.</i></p> + + +<div class="advertisements"> + +<p class="center" style="width: 12em; border-bottom: solid black 1px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; font-size: 130%; padding-bottom: 0.3em"><b><i>BY THE SAME AUTHOR</i></b></p> + +<h1>THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN</h1> + +<p class="center" style="font-size: 140%; font-weight: bold">By C. GASQUOINE HARTLEY<br /> + +<small>(Mrs. Walter Gallichan)</small></p> + +<p class="center"><i>Fourth Edition <span style="padding-left: 3em">7s. 6d. net</span></i></p> + +<p class="center"><b><i>SOME PRESS OPINIONS</i></b></p> + +<p>“<i>The best written and the most profitable of the many recent books +upon the woman’s movement.</i> It is distinguished alike by the scope of +its learning, the skilful way in which evidence is marshalled, and, above +all, by the independence of thought and temper brought to the interpretation +of the modern issues.... The discussion of sex differences +and of the social problems which spring therefrom shows not only wide +and deep personal acquaintance with modern men and women, but a +singular freedom from some of the squeamishness of thought and feeling +which hampers most discussion ... <i>an exceedingly important contribution +to the most difficult problem of our and every other time</i>.”—<span class="smcap">J. +A. Hobson</span> in <i>The Manchester Guardian</i>.</p> + +<p>“<i>The book shows a fearless intellectual honesty and a deep sympathy +and tolerance; it is the work of a serious student and of a woman who +knows life as well as libraries....</i> The chapter on ‘Sexual Differences +in Mind’ is absorbingly interesting, and based on the latest research. +She writes finely and truly on the absurd and indecent cruelty of +penalising divorce; on the cherished superstition of feminine passivity +in love, and the origin of the chastity taboo on women with its waste of +life and love. She even has a sane and humane chapter on prostitution, +recognising the complexity of its causes, and the kindness and generosity +of these scapegoat women to one another, as well as their erotic insensibility. +<i>The book should be read by all educated men and women.</i> +It will probably be greeted with screams of denunciation from those +persons whose hostility forms a hall-mark of mental honesty and social +value.”—<i>The English Review.</i></p> + +<p>“We very heartily commend this remarkable book.... Every +chapter abounds in challenges to thought, and we must thank a woman +who has dared and cared to think and dared to say.”—<i>The Pall Mall +Gazette.</i></p> + +<p>“One of the most thoughtful books about women I have yet read.... +The book is certainly of an advanced feminism, yet the author is found +most strongly on the side of marriage, of love, of women’s femininity as +their strength; in fact, of all the things which shallow observers suppose +the woman movement is actively denying.”—<i>Truth.</i></p> + +<p>“Sane, sound, and well reasoned ... she has more capacity than +any other woman writer of the kind we have yet come across for regarding +all questions of sex from the man’s point of view.”—<i>Glasgow +Herald.</i></p> + +<p class="center"><b>EVELEIGH NASH, 36 King Street, Covent Garden, London, W.C.</b></p> +</div> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Position of Woman in Primitive +Society, by C. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Position of Woman in Primitive Society + A Study of the Matriarchy + +Author: C. Gasquoine Hartley + +Release Date: March 4, 2010 [EBook #31500] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POSITION OF WOMAN *** + + + + +Produced by Steven Gibbs, Irma Spehar and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + +THE POSITION OF WOMAN IN PRIMITIVE SOCIETY + + +BY THE SAME AUTHOR + +THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN + +_BOOKS ON ART_ + + A RECORD OF SPANISH PAINTING + THE PRADO (Spanish Series) + EL GRECO " + VELAZQUEZ " + PICTURES IN THE TATE GALLERY + +_BOOKS ON SPAIN_ + + MOORISH CITIES IN SPAIN + THINGS SEEN IN SPAIN + SPAIN REVISITED: A SUMMER HOLIDAY IN GALICIA + SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA (Mediaeval Towns' Series) + CATHEDRALS OF SOUTHERN AND EASTERN SPAIN + + + + + THE + POSITION OF WOMAN + IN PRIMITIVE SOCIETY + + A + STUDY OF THE MATRIARCHY + + + BY + C. GASQUOINE HARTLEY + (MRS. WALTER M. GALLICHAN) + AUTHOR OF "THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN." + + + LONDON + EVELEIGH NASH + 1914 + + + + +DEDICATION + +TO ALL WOMEN + + + "Be not ashamed, women, your privilege includes the rest.... + You are the gates of the body, you are the gates of the soul.... + And I say it is as great to be a woman as to be a man. + And I say there is nothing greater than the mother of men." + + WALT WHITMAN. + + _7 Carlton Terrace, + Child's Hill._ + 1914. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +PART I + +THE PRIMITIVE FAMILY + +CHAP. PAGE + +I INTRODUCTORY 11 + +II AN EXPOSITION OF BACHOFEN'S THEORY OF THE MATRIARCHATE 26 + +III DIFFICULTIES AND OBJECTIONS: AN ATTEMPT TO RECONCILE + MOTHER-RIGHT WITH THE PATRIARCHAL THEORY 45 + +IV DEVELOPMENT IN THE PATRIARCHAL FAMILY AND THE RISE + OF MOTHER-POWER 67 + + +PART II + +THE MOTHER AGE CIVILISATION + +V THE MATRIARCHAL FAMILY AMONG THE AMERICAN INDIANS 95 + +VI THE MATERNAL FAMILY AMONG THE KHASIS 132 + +VII FURTHER EXAMPLES OF THE MATERNAL FAMILY 147 + +VIII MOTHER-RIGHT CUSTOMS AND THE TRANSITION TO FATHER-RIGHT 166 + +IX WOMEN AND PRIMITIVE INDUSTRY 192 + +X TRACES OF MOTHER-RIGHT CUSTOMS IN ANCIENT AND MODERN + CIVILISATION 209 + +XI THE SURVIVALS OF MOTHER-RIGHT IN FOLK-LORE, IN HEROIC + LEGENDS, AND IN FAIRY STORIES 235 + +XII CONCLUDING REMARKS 253 + + + + +PART I + +THE PRIMITIVE FAMILY + + + + +CHAPTER I + +INTRODUCTORY + + +The twentieth century is the age of Woman; some day, it may be that it +will be looked back upon as the golden age, the dawn, some say, of +feminine civilisation. We cannot estimate as yet; and no man can tell +what forces these new conditions may not release in the soul of woman. +The modern change is that the will of woman is asserting itself. Women +are looking for a satisfactory life, which is to be determined from +within themselves, not from without by others. The result is a +discontent that may well prove to be the seed or spring of further +changes in a society which has yet to find its normal organisation. +Yes, women are finding themselves, and men are discovering what women +mean. + +In the present time we are passing through a difficult period of +transition. There are conditions of change that have to be met, the +outcome of which it is very difficult to appreciate. A transformation +in the thought and conduct of women, for which the term "revolution" +is not too strong, is taking place around us; doubtless many +experimental phases will be tried before we reach a new position of +equilibrium. + +This must be. There can be no life without movement. + +The expression, "a transition period," is, of course, only relative. +We often say: This or that is a sign of the present era; and, nine +times out of ten, the thing we believe to be new is in reality as old +as the world itself. In one sense the whole of history is a vast +transition. No period stands alone; the present is in every age merely +the shifting point at which the past and the future meet. All things +move onwards. But the movement sometimes takes the form of a cataract, +at others of an even and almost imperceptible current. This is really +another way of saying that the usually slow and gradual course of +change is, at certain stages, interrupted by a more or less prolonged +period of revolution. The process of growth, from being gradual and +imperceptible, becomes violent and conscious. + +There can be little doubt that what is called the "Woman's Movement," +with its disintegrating influences on social opinion and practice, is +bringing vast and momentous changes in women's attitude towards the +universe and towards themselves. A great motive and an enlarging +ideal, a quickening of the woman's spirit, a stirring dream of a new +order--these are what we have gained. We are carried on, though as yet +we know not whither, and there is, of necessity, a little stumbling of +our feet as we seek for a way. Hence the fear, always tending to arise +in periods of social reconstruction, which is felt by many to-day as +women pass out far beyond the established boundaries prescribed for +their sex. + +Whoever reflects soberly on the past history of women will not be +surprised at their present movement towards emancipation. Women are +reclaiming a position that is theirs by natural right--a position +which once they held. It may be all very well for those who accept the +authority and headship of the man as the foundation of the family and +of society, to be filled with bewildered fear at what seems to them to +be a quite new assertion of rights on the part of the mothers of the +race. But has the family at all stages of growth been founded on the +authority of the father? Our decision on this question will affect our +outlook on the whole question of Woman's Rights and the relationships +of the two sexes. There are civilisations, older and, as I believe, +wiser than ours that have accepted the predominant position of the +mother as the great central fact on which the family has been +established. + +The view that the family, much as it existed among the Hebrew +patriarchs, and as it exists to-day, was primeval and universal is +very deeply rooted. This is not surprising. To reverse the gaze of men +from themselves is no easy task. The predominance of the male over the +female, of the man over the woman and of the father over the mother, +has been accepted, almost without question, in a civilisation built up +on the recognition of male values and male standards of opinion. Thus +the institutions, habits, prejudices, and superstitions of the +patriarchal authority rest like an incubus upon us. The women of +to-day carry the dead load upon their backs, and literally stagger +beneath the accumulating burden of the ages. + +The "Woman's Movement" is pressing us forward towards a recasting of +the patriarchal view of the relative position and duties of the two +sexes. It must be regarded as an extremely great and comprehensive +movement affecting the whole of life. From this wider standpoint, the +fight for the parliamentary suffrage is but as the vestibule to +progress; the possession of the vote being no more than a necessary +condition for attaining far larger and more fundamental ends. + +It is, however, very necessary to remark that the recognition of this +imposes a great responsibility upon women. For one thing the practical +difficulties of the present must be faced. It is far from easy to +readjust existing conditions to meet the new demands. Present social +and economic conditions are to a great extent chaotic. We cannot +safely cast aside, in any haste for reform, those laws, customs and +opinions which it has been the slow task of our civilisation to +establish, not for men only, but for women. We women have to work out +many questions far more thoroughly than hitherto we have done. We owe +this to our movement and to the world of men. It will serve nothing to +pull down, unless we are ready also to build up. Freedom can be +granted only to the self-disciplined. + + "Thou that does know the Self and the not-Self, expert in + every work: endowed with self-restraint and perfect + same-sightedness towards every creature free from the sense + of I and my--thy power and energy are equal to my own, and + thou hast practised the most severe discipline."[1] + + * * * * * + + [1] The _Mahabharata_. The Great God thus addresses Shakti, + when he asks her to describe the duties of women. I quote + from a pamphlet by Dr. Ananda Coomaraswamy: _Sati: A + Vindication of the Hindu Woman_. + +This little book is an attempt to establish the position of the mother +in the family. It sets out to investigate those early states of +society, when, through the widespread prevalence of descent through +the mother, the survival of the family clan and, in some cases, the +property rights were dependent on women and not on men. I start from +the belief that the mother was at one period the dominant partner in +the sexual relationships. This does not, however, at all necessarily +involve "rule by women." We must be very clear here. What I claim is +this. The system by which the family was built up and grouped around +the mother conferred special rights on women. The form of marriage +favourable to this influence was that by which the husband entered the +wife's family and clan, and lived there as a "consort-guest." The wife +and mother was director in the home, the owner of the meagre property, +the distributor of food, and the controller of the children.[2] Hence +arises what is known as mother-right. + + [2] McGee: "The Beginning of Marriage," _American + Anthropologist_, Vol. IV, p. 378. + +I am prompted to this inquiry by two reasons: in the first place, the +origin of the maternal-system and the subsequent association of the +mother and the father appear to me to afford evidence of the working +of a natural law of the two sexes, which, both for social and other +reasons, is of great interest in the present stage of women's history. +The establishing of the mother's position is of great importance. If +we can prove that women have exercised unquestioned and direct +authority in the past history of human societies, we shall be in a +position to answer those who to-day wish to set limits to women's +activities. Then, in the second place, I am compelled to doubt certain +conclusions, both of those who accept mother-right, and also of the +greater number who now deny its occurrence. If I am right, and the +importance of the maternal family has been unduly neglected and the +true explanation of its origin overlooked, I feel that, whatever +errors I may fall into, I am justified in undertaking this task. My +mistakes will be corrected by others with more knowledge than I can +claim; and if my theory of mother-right has any merit, it will be +established in more competent hands. The vast majority of +investigators on these questions are men. I am driven to believe that +sometimes they are mistaken in their interpretation of habits and +customs which arose among primitive societies in which the influence +of women was marked. In dealing with the family and its origin it has +been usual to consider the male side and to pass over the female +members. This has led, I am sure, to much error. + +The custom of tracing descent through the mother, either practised +consciously and completely, or only as a survival, occurs among many +primitive peoples in all parts of the world. Whether, however, it +existed universally and from all time, or whether only in certain +races, among whose institutions it remains or may still be traced, is +a much debated question. Not all barbarous tribes are in the stage of +mother-right; on the contrary many reckon descent through the father. +But even where the latter is the case, vestiges of the former system +are frequently to be found. There seems to be a common tendency to +discredit a system of relationship, which suggests even as a bare +possibility the mother, and not the father, being the head of the +family. Yet, I believe I can assign some, at least plausible, reasons +for believing that descent through women has been a stage, though not, +I think, the first stage, in social growth for all branches of the +human family. + +There can be little doubt of the importance of kinship and inheritance +being reckoned through the mother. If the children belong to her, and +if by marriage the husband enters her home, the greater influence, +based on the present possession of property, and the future hope of +the family rests on the female side. Such conditions must have +exercised strong influence on the position of the women members of the +primitive clan and the honour in which they were held. It cannot be +ignored. + +Of course, this does not prevent the hardships of savage life weighing +more heavily in many ways upon women than on the stronger men. In +primitive societies women have a position quite as full of anomalies +as they hold among civilised races. Among some tribes their position +is extremely good; among others it is undoubtedly bad, but, speaking +generally, it is much better than usually it is held to be.[3] +Obviously the causes must be sought in the environment and in social +organisation. The differences in the status and power of women, often +occurring in tribes at the same level of progress, would seem to be +dependent largely on economic conditions. The subject is full of +difficulties. Not only is the position of women thus variable, but our +knowledge of the matter is very defective. It is seldom, indeed, that +the question has been considered of sufficient importance to receive +accurate attention.[4] Not infrequently conflicting accounts are given +by different authorities, and even by the same writer. + + [3] Westermarck, "The Position of Women in Early + Civilisations," _Sociological Papers_, 1904. + + [4] For instance, Maine (_Early Law and Custom_), in speaking + of tribes who still trace their descent from a single + ancestress, says, "The outlines" (_i. e._ of the maternal + family) "may still be marked out, _if it be worth any one's + while to trace it_." + +I wish it to be understood that mother-right does not necessarily +imply mother-rule. This system may even be combined with the +patriarchal authority of the male. The unfortunate use of the term +_Matriarchate_ has led to much confusion. My own knowledge and study +of primitive customs and ancient civilisations have made it plain to +me that there has been a constant rise and fall of male and female +dominance, but, I believe, that, on the whole, the superiority of +women has been more frequent and more successful than that of men. + +It is this that I shall attempt to prove. + +The theory of mother-right has been subjected to so much criticism +that a re-examination of the position is very necessary. To show its +prevalence, to establish some leading points in its history, to make +out its connection with the patriarchal family, and to trace the +transition by which one system passed into the other, appear to me to +be matters primarily important. The limited compass of this little +book will prevent my substantiating my own views as I should wish, +with a full and systematic survey of all authentic accounts of the +peoples among whom mother-descent may be studied. I have considered, +however, that I could summarise the position in a comprehensive +picture, that will, I hope, suggest a point of view that seems to me +to have been very generally neglected. + +It is necessary to enter into such an inquiry with caution; the +difficulties before me are very great. Nothing would be easier than +from the mass of material available to pile up facts in furnishing a +picture of the high status of women among many tribes under the +favourable influence of mother-descent, that would unnerve any +upholders of the patriarchal view of the subordination of women. It is +just possible, on the other hand, to interpret these facts from a +fixed point of thought of the father's authority as the one support of +the family, and then to argue that, in spite of the mother's control +over her children and over property, she still remained the inferior +partner. I wish to do neither. It is my purpose to examine the +evidence, and so to discover to what extent the system of tracing +descent through the female side conferred any special claim for +consideration upon women. I shall try to avoid mistakes. I put forward +my own opinions with great diffidence. It is so easy, as I realise +full well, to interpret facts by the bias of one's own wishes. I know +that the habits and customs of primitive peoples that I have studied +closely are probably few in comparison with those I have missed; yet +to me they appear of such importance in the light they throw on the +whole question of the relationships of the two sexes, that it seems +well to bring them forward. + +Since my attention, now many years ago, was first directed to this +question, I have felt that a clear and concise account of the +mother-age was indispensable for women. Such an account, with a +criticism of the patriarchal theory, is here offered. Throughout I +have attempted to clear up and bring into uniformity the two opposing +theories of the origin of the human family. I have tried to gather the +facts, very numerous and falling into several classes, by which the +theory of the mother-age could be supported. And first it was +necessary to clear out of the way a body of opinion, the prevalence of +which has opposed an obstacle to the acceptance of the rights of +mothers in the family relationship. The whole question turns upon +which you start with; the man--the woman, or the woman--the man. + +Here it should be explained that this little book is an expansion of +the historical section which treats of "the Mother-age civilisation" +in my former book, _The Truth About Woman_. I wish to take this +opportunity of expressing my gratitude for the generous interest and +sympathy with which my work has been received. Such kindness is very +imperfectly repaid by an author's thanks; it is certainly the best +incentive to further work. + +This little volume was suggested to me by a review in one of the +Suffrage papers. The writer, after speaking of the interest to women +of the mother-age and the difficulty there was in gaining information +on the subject, said that "a small and cheaper book on the +matriarchate would be useful to women in all countries." I was +grateful for this suggestion. I at once felt that I wanted to write +such a book. For one thing, this particular section on the mother-age +in _The Truth About Woman_, and my belief in the favourable influence +of mother-descent on the status of women, has been much questioned. I +have been told that I "had quite deliberately gone back to our +uncivilised ancestors to 'fish up' the precedent of the matriarchate;" +that I "had allowed my prejudices to dictate my choice of material, +and had thus brought forward examples explanatory of my own opinions;" +that I "had fastened eagerly on these, without inquiring too carefully +about other facts having a contrary tendency." I was reminded of what +I well knew, that the matriarchate and promiscuity with which it is +usually connected were not universally accepted by anthropologists; +the tendency to-day being to discredit both as being among the early +phases of society. It was suggested that I "had unprofitably spent my +time on the historical section of my book, and had built up my theory +on a curiously uncertain foundation;" that I "had relied too much on +the certain working of mother-right, and had been by no means clear in +showing how, from such a position of power, women had sunk into +subservience to patriarchal rule." In fact, it has seemed to be the +opinion of my critics that I had allowed what I "would have liked to +have happened to affect my account of what did happen in the infancy +of man's social life." + +Now, I want to say quite frankly, that I feel much of this criticism +is just. The inquiry on the mother-age civilisation was only one small +section of my book on Woman. I realise that very much was hurried +over. There is on this subject of the origin of the family a +literature so extensive, and such a variety of opinions, that the +work of the student is far from easy. The whole question is too +extensive to allow anything like adequate treatment within the space +of a brief, and necessarily insufficient, summary. My earlier +investigation may well be objected to as not being in certain points +supported by sufficient proofs. I know this. It is not easy to +condense the marriage customs and social habits of many different +peoples into a few dozen pages. Of course, I selected my examples. But +this I may say; I chose those which had brought me to accept +mother-right. I was driven to this belief by my own study and reading +long before the time of writing my book. What I really tried to do was +to present to others the facts that had convinced me. But my stacks of +unused notes, collected for my own pleasure during many years of work, +are witness to how much I had to leave out. + +I know that many objections that have been raised to the theory of +mother-right were left unanswered. I dismissed much too lightly the +patriarchal theory of the origin of the family, which during late +years has gained such advocacy. I failed to carry my inquiry far +enough back. I accepted with too little caution an early period of +promiscuous sexual relationships. I did not make clear the stages in +the advance of the family to the clan and the tribe; nor examine with +sufficient care the later transition period in which mother-right gave +place to father-right. + +I have been sent back to examine again my own position. And to do +this, it was necessary first to take up the question from the +position of those whose views are in opposition to my own. I have made +a much more extensive study of those authorities who, rejecting +mother-right, accept a modification of the patriarchal theory as the +origin of the family. This has led to some considerable recasting of +my views. Not at all, however, to a change in my belief in +mother-right, which, indeed, has now been strengthened, and, as I +trust, built up on surer foundations. + +By a fortunate chance, I was advised to read Mr. Andrew Lang's _Social +Origins_,[5] which work includes Mr. Atkinson's _Primal Law_. I am +greatly indebted to the assistance I have gained from these writers. +It is, perhaps, curious that a very careful study of the patriarchal +family as it is presented by Mr. Atkinson and Mr. Lang, has brought me +to a conclusion fundamentally at variance from what might have been +expected. I have gained invaluable support for my own belief in +mother-right, and have found fresh proofs from the method of +difference. I have cleared up many points that previously puzzled me. +I am able now to accept the patriarchal theory, without at all shaking +my faith in a subsequent period of mother-descent and mother-power. + + [5] This book was mentioned to me in a letter from Mr. H. G. + Wells. + +The discussion on this question is now half a century old. Yet in +spite of the opposition of many investigators, and the support of +others, the main problems are still unsettled. What form did the +family take in its earliest stage? Did it start as a small group or +with the clan or horde? What were the earliest conditions of the +sexual relationships? Was promiscuity at one period the rule? Was the +foundation of the family based on the authority of the father, or of +the mother? If on that of the father, how is mother-kin and +mother-right to be explained? These are among the questions that must +be answered. Not till this is done, can we establish any theory of +mother-descent, or estimate its effect on the status of women. + +The whole subject is a very wide and complicated one. If I differ on +several important points from learned authorities, whose knowledge and +research far exceed my own, I do so only after great hesitation, and +because I must. The facts they have collected from their personal +knowledge of primitive peoples (facts which I have gratefully used) +often suggest quite opposite conclusions to my thoughts than to +theirs--the view-point is different, that is all. They were seeking +for one thing; I for another: they were men; I am a woman. It would be +foolishness for me to attempt any special pleadings for my own +opinions. How far I shall succeed, or fail, to make clear to others a +period of mother-right that is certain to me, I do not know. I offer +my little book with all humility, and yet without any apology. We may +read and learn and gather knowledge from many sources; but the +opinions of others we cannot take on credit; we must re-think them out +for ourselves, and make them our own. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +AN EXPOSITION OF BACHOFEN'S THEORY OF THE MATRIARCHATE + + +Fifty-three years ago in his great work, _Das Mutterrecht_,[6] the +Swiss writer, Bachofen, drew the attention of the world to the fact +that a system of kinship through mothers only prevailed among many +primitive peoples, while survivals of the custom could be widely, if +but faintly, traced among civilised races. Drawing his evidence from +the actual statements of old writers, but more from legends and the +mythologies of antiquity, he came to the conclusion that a system of +descent through women had, in all cases, preceded the rise of kinship +through males. Almost at the same time Dr. J. F. McLennan,[7] ignorant +of the work of Bachofen, came to the same opinion. This led to a +reconsideration of the patriarchal theory; and for a time it was +widely held that in the early stages of society a matriarchate +prevailed, in which women held the supreme power. Further support +came from Morgan, with his knowledge of the maternal family among +American aborigines, and he was followed by Professor Tylor, McGee, +and many other investigators. + + [6] _Das Mutterrecht_ was published in Stuttgart in 1861. + + [7] _Primitive Marriage_, published 1865. _Studies in Ancient + History_, which includes a reprint of _Primitive Marriage_; + 1st ed. 1876, 2nd ed. 1886. _The Patriarchal Theory_, a + criticism of this theory is based on the papers of Mr. + McLennan and edited by his brother. + +Obviously this gynaecocratic view, which placed woman in a new relation +to man, was unlikely to be permanently accepted. Thus a reaction to +the earlier theory of the patriarchal family has set in, especially in +recent years. Many writers, while acknowledging the existence of +mother descent, deny that such a system carries with it, except in a +few exceptional cases, mother-rights of special advantage to women; +even when these seem to be present they believe such rights to be more +apparent than real. + +In bringing forward any theory of mother-right, it thus becomes +necessary to show the causes that have led to this reversal in +opinion. To do this, the first step will be to examine, with +considerable detail, the evidence for the matriarchal theory as it is +given by its two great supporters. Now, an interesting point arises, +if we compare the view of Bachofen with that held by McLennan. No two +ways could well be further apart than those by which these two men +arrived at the same conclusion. Both accept an early period of +promiscuous sexual relationships. But Bachofen found the explanation +of mother-descent in the supremacy of women, and believed a +matriarchate to have been established by them in a moral revolt +against such _hetairism_. Mr. McLennan, on the other hand, regarded +the custom as due to uncertainty of paternity--the children were +called after the mother because the father was unknown. + +Let us concentrate our attention on the _Das Mutterrecht_ of Bachofen, +whose work as the great champion of matriarchy claims our most careful +consideration. And it is necessary to say at once that there can be no +doubt his view of women's supremacy is greatly exaggerated. Such a +rule of women, at the very early stage of society when mother-kin is +supposed to have arisen, is not proved, and does not seem probable. +Even if it existed, _it could not have originated in the way and for +the reasons_ that are credited by the Swiss writer. I wish to +emphasise this point. Much of the discredit that has fallen on the +matriarchate has arisen, I am certain, through the impossibility of +accepting Bachofen's mythical account of its origin. This great +supporter of women was a dreamer, rather than a calm and impartial +investigator. Founding his main theory on assumptions, he asks us to +accept these as historical facts. Much of his work and his belief in +women must be regarded as the rhapsodies of a poet. And yet, it is the +poet who finds the truth. The poetic spirit is, in one sense, the most +practical of all. Bachofen saw the fact of mother-power, though not +_why_ it was the fact, and he enfolded his arguments in a garment of +pure fiction. + +To disengage from his learned book, _Das Mutterrecht_,[8] his theory +of the origin of the Matriarchate is no easy task. There is, for one +thing, such bewildering contradiction and confusion in the material +used. Then the interpretation of the mythical tales, so freely +intermingled everywhere, is often strained--prompted by a poetic +imagination which snatches at every kind of allegory. Often the views +expressed are inconsistent with each other, the arguments and proofs +are disconnected, while many of the details are hopelessly obscure and +confused. Yet it seems to me possible to recognise the idea which +brings into unity the mass of his work--the spirit, as it were, that +breathes into it its life. It may be found in the clear appreciation +of the superstitious and mystical element in primitive man, and their +close interweaving with the sexual life. As I understand Herr +Bachofen, the sex-act was the means which first opened up ways to +great heights, but also to great depths. + + [8] Prof. Giraud-Teulon's _La Mere chez certains Peuples de + l'Antiquite_ is founded on the introduction to _Das + Mutterrecht_. This little book of fascinating reading is the + best and easiest way of studying Bachofen's theory. + +Bachofen strongly insists on the religious element in all early human +thought. He believes that the development of the primitive community +only advanced by means of religious ideas. + + "Religion," he says, "is the only efficient lever of all + civilisation. Each elevation and depression of human life + has its origin in a movement which begins in this supreme + department."[9] + + [9] _Das Mutterrecht_, Intro., p. xiii. + +The authority for this belief is sought in religious myths. + + "Mythical tradition appears to be the faithful + interpretation of the progress of the law of life, at a time + when the foundations of the historical development of the + ancient world were laid; it reveals the original mode of + thought, and we may accept this direct revelation as true + from our complete confidence in this source of history."[10] + + [10] _Das Mutterrecht_, Intro., p. vii. + +This mystical religious element, which is the essential part of _Das +Mutterrecht_, is closely connected by Bachofen with the power of +women. As it is his belief that, even at this early period, the +religious impulse was more developed among women than men, he bases on +this unproved hypothesis his theory of women's supremacy. "Wherever +gynaecocracy meets us," he says, "the mystery of religion is bound up +with it, and lends to motherhood an incorporation in some +divinity."[11] + + [11] _Ibid._, Intro., p. xv. + +Doubtless this theory of a higher feminine spirituality is a pleasing +one for women--but is it true? The insuperable difficulty to its +acceptance arises, in the first place, from the fact that we can know +nothing at all of the spiritual condition of the human beings among +whom mother-kin was held first to have been practised. But we must go +further than this in our doubt. Can we accept for any period a +spiritual superiority in the character of woman over man? To me, at +least, it is clear that a knowledge of the two sexes among all races +both primitive and civilised--yes, and among ourselves, is sufficient +to discredit such a supposition. + +Bachofen would have us believe that[12] the mother-right of the +ancient world, was due to a revolt of women against the degraded +condition of promiscuity, which previously had been universal among +mankind, a condition in which men had a community of wives, and +_openly lived together like gregarious animals_. + + [12] _Das Mutterrecht_, Intro., p. xxiv. and p. 10. + + "Women, by their nature nobler and more spiritual than men, + became disgusted with this lawless _hetairism_, and, under + the influence of a powerful religious impulse, combined in a + revolt (the first Amazonian movement) to put an end to + promiscuity and established marriage." + +Over and over again Bachofen affirms this spiritual quality in women. + + "The woman's religious attitude, in particular, the tendency + of her mind towards the supernatural and the divine, + influenced the man and robbed him of the position which + nature disposed him to take in virtue of his physical + superiority. In this way women's position was transformed by + religious considerations, until they became in civil life + what religion had caused them to be."[13] And again: "We + cannot fail to see that of the two forms of gynaecocracy in + question--religious and civil--the former was the basis of + the latter. Ideas connected with worship came first, and the + civil forms of life were then the result and + expression."[14] + + [13] _Ibid._, Intro., p. xiv. + + [14] _Ibid._, Intro., p. xv. + +We may note in passing, the greater affectability of woman's nature, +which would seem always to have had a tendency to expression in +religio-erotic manifestations. But to build up a theory of matriarchy +on this foundation is strangely wide of the facts. Bachofen adduces +the spirituality of women as the cause of their power. But on what +grounds can such a claim be supported? + +It is on the evidence of licentious customs of all kinds and on +polyandry, that he bases his belief in a period of promiscuity. He +regards this early condition of _hetairism_ as a law of nature, and +believes that after its infraction by the introduction of individual +marriage, expiation was required to be made to the Earth Goddess, +Demeter, in temporary prostitution. Hence he explains the widespread +custom of religious prostitution. This fanciful idea may be taken to +represent Bachofen's method of interpretation. There is an +intermediate stage between _hetairism_ and marriage, such as the +group-marriage, held by him to have been practised among barbarous +peoples. "Each man has a wife, but they are all permitted to have +intercourse with the wives of others."[15] + + [15] _Das Mutterrecht_, p. 18. + +Great stress is laid on the acquisition by women of the benefits of a +marriage law. In the families founded upon individual marriage, which +grew up after the Amazonian revolt, the women, and not the men, held +the first place. Bachofen does not tell us whether they assigned this +place to themselves, or had it conceded to them. Women were the heads +of the families, the children were named after the mother, and not +the father, and all the relations to which rights of succession +attached were traced through women only. All property was held by +women. Moreover, from this headship, women assigned to themselves, or +had conceded to them, the social and political power as well as the +domestic supremacy.[16] + + [16] I have taken much of this passage from Mr. McLennan's + criticism of Bachofen's theory, _Studies in Ancient History_, + pp. 319-325. + +The authority for this remarkable theory is sought, with great +ingenuity and patience, in the fragmentary accounts of barbarous +people, and in an exhaustive study of heroic stories and religious +myths. Bachofen argues powerfully for the acceptance of these myths. + + "Every age unconsciously obeys, even in its poetry, the laws + of its individual life. A patriarchal age could not, + therefore, have invented the matriarchate, and the myths + which describe the latter may be regarded as trustworthy + witnesses of its historical existence. It may be taken for + granted that the myths did not refer to special persons and + occurrences, but only tell us of the social customs and + ideas which prevailed, or were endeavouring to prevail, in + several communities."[17] + + [17] _Das Mutterrecht_, Intro., pp. vii.-viii. + +This is true. It is the interpretation given to many of these myths +that one is compelled to question. Bachofen's way of applying mythical +tales has no scientific method; for one thing, abstract ideas are +added to primitive legends which could only arise from the thought of +civilised peoples. For instance, he accepts, without any doubt, the +existence of the Amazons; and believes that the myths which refer to +them record "a revolt for the elevation of the feminine sex, and +through them of mankind." It is on such insecure foundations he builds +up his matriarchal theory. + +There is, however, an aspect of truth in Bachofen's position, which +becomes plain on a closer examination. To prove this, I must quote a +passage from _Das Mutterrecht_, as representing, or at least +suggesting, the opinions of those who have argued most strongly +against his theory. When recapitulating the facts and arguments in +favour of accepting the supremacy of women, he makes this suggestive +statement-- + + "The first state in all cases was that of _hetairism_. The + rule is based upon the right of procreation: since there is + no individual fatherhood, _all have only one father--the + tyrant whose sons and daughters they all are, and to whom + all the property belongs. From this condition in which the + man rules by means of his rude sexual needs, we rise to that + of gynaecocracy_, in which there is the dawn of marriage, of + which the strict observance is at first observed by the + woman, not by the man. Weary of always ministering to the + lusts of man, _the woman raises herself by the recognition + of her motherhood_. Just as a child is first disciplined by + its mother, so are people by their women. It is only the + wife who can control the man's essentially unbridled + desires, and lead him into the paths of well-doing.... + _While man went abroad on distant forays, the woman stayed + at home, and was undisputed mistress of the household._ She + took arms against her foe, and was gradually transformed + into an Amazon."[18] + + [18] _Das Mutterrecht_, pp. 18-19. + +The italics in the passage are mine, for they bear directly on what I +shall afterwards have to prove: (1) that mother-right was not the +first stage in the history of the human family; (2) that its existence +is not inconsistent with the patriarchal theory. Bachofen here +suggests a pre-matriarchal period in which the elementary family-group +was founded on and held together by a common subjection to the oldest +and strongest male. This is the primordial patriarchal family. + +Then come the questions: Can we accept mother-right? Are there any +reasonable causes to explain the rise of female dominance? +Westermarck, in criticising the matriarchal theory, has said: "The +inference that 'kinship through females only' has everywhere preceded +the rise of 'kinship through males,' would be warranted only on +condition that the cause, or the causes, to which the maternal system +is owing, could be proved to have operated universally in the past +life of mankind."[19] Now, this is what I believe I am able to do. +Hence it has been necessary first to clear the way of the old errors. +Bachofen's interpretation is too fanciful to find acceptance. Will any +one hold it as true that the change came because _women willed it_? +Surely it is a pure dream of the imagination to credit women, at this +supposed early stage of society, with rising up to establish marriage, +in a revolt of purity against sexual licence, and moreover effecting +the change by force of arms! Bachofen would seem to have been touched +with the Puritan spirit. I am convinced also that he understood very +little of the nature of woman. Conventional morality has always acted +on the side of the man, not the woman. The clue is, indeed, given in +the woman's closer connection with the home, and in the idea that "she +raises herself by the recognition of her motherhood." But the facts +are capable of an entirely different interpretation. It will be my aim +to give a quite simple, and even commonplace, explanation of the rise +of mother-descent and mother-right in place of the spiritual +hypothesis of Bachofen. + + [19] _The History of Human Marriage_, p. 105. + +It will be well, however, to examine further Bachofen's own theory. It +is his opinion that the first Amazonian revolt and period of women's +rule was followed by a second movement-- + +"Woman took arms against her foe [_i. e._ man], and was gradually +transformed into an Amazon. _As a rival to the man the Amazon became +hostile to him, and began to withdraw from marriage and from +motherhood. This set limits to the rule of women, and provoked the +punishment of heaven and men._"[20] + + [20] _Das Mutterrecht_, p. 85. + +There is a splendid imaginative appeal in this remarkable passage. +Again the italics are mine. It is, of course, impossible to accept +this statement, as Bachofen does, as an historical account of what +happened through the agency of women at the time of which he is +treating. Yet, we can find a suggestion of truth that is eternal. Is +there not here a kind of prophetic foretelling of every struggle +towards readjustment in the relationships of the two sexes, through +all the periods of civilisation, from the beginning until now? You +will see what I mean. The essential fact for woman--and also for +man--is the sense of community with the race. Neither sex can keep a +position apart from parenthood. Just in so far as the mother and the +father attain to consciousness and responsibility in their relations +to the race do they reach development and power. Bachofen, as a poet, +understood this; to me, at least, it is the something real that +underlies all the delusion of his work. But I diverge a little in +making these comments. + +Again the origin of the change from the first period of matriarchy is +sought by Bachofen in religion. + + "Each stage of development was marked by its peculiar + religious ideas, produced by the dissatisfaction with which + the dominating idea of the previous stage was regarded; a + dissatisfaction which led to a disappearance of this + condition." "What was gained by religion, fostering the + cause of women, by assigning a mystical and almost divine + character to motherhood was now lost through the same cause. + The loss came in the Greek era. Dionysus started the idea of + the divinity of fatherhood; holding the father to be the + child's true parent, and the mother merely the nurse." In + this way, we are asked to believe, the rights of men arose, + the father came to be the chief parent, the head of the + mother and the owner of the children, and, therefore, the + parent through whom kinship was traced. We learn that, at + first, "women opposed this new gospel of fatherhood, and + fresh Amazonian risings were the common feature of their + opposition." But the resistance was fruitless. "Jason put an + end to the rule of the Amazons in Lemnos. Dionysus and + Bellerophon strove together passionately, yet without + gaining a decisive victory, until Apollo, with calm + superiority, finally became the conqueror, and the father + gained the power that before had belonged to the + mother."[21] + + [21] _Das Mutterrecht_, pp. 73, 85. Compare also McLennan, + _Studies_, p. 322, and Starcke, _The Primitive Family in its + Origin and Development_. + +But before this took place, Bachofen relates yet another movement, +which for a time restored the early matriarchate. The women, at first +opposing, presently became converts to the Dionysusian gospel, and +were afterwards its warmest supporters. Motherhood became degraded. +Bacchanalian excesses followed, which led to a return to the ancient +_hetairism_. Bachofen believes that this formed a fresh basis for a +second gynaecocracy. He compares the Amazonian period of these later +days with that in which marriage was first introduced, and finds that +"the deep religious impulse being absent, it was destined to fail, and +give place to the spiritual Apollonic conception of fatherhood."[22] + + [22] _Ibid._, p. 85. + +In Bachofen's opinion this triumph of fatherhood was the final +salvation. This is what he says-- + + "It was the assertion of fatherhood which delivered the mind + from natural appearances, and when this was successfully + achieved, human existence was raised above the laws of + natural life. The principal of motherhood is common to all + the spheres of animal life, but man goes beyond this tie in + gaining pre-eminence in the process of procreation, and thus + becomes conscious of his higher vocation. In the paternal + and spiritual principle he breaks through the bonds of + tellurism, and looks upwards to the higher regions of the + cosmos. Victorious fatherhood thus becomes as distinctly + connected with the heavenly light as prolific motherhood is + with the teeming earth."[23] + + [23] _Das Mutterrecht_, Intro., p. xxvii. + +Here, Bachofen, as is his custom, turns to point an analogy with the +process of nature. + + "All the stages of sexual life from Aphrodistic _hetairism_ + to the Apollonistic purity of fatherhood, have their + corresponding type in the stages of natural life, from the + wild vegetation of the morass, the prototype of conjugal + motherhood, to the harmonic law of the Uranian world, to the + heavenly light which, as the _flamma non urens_, corresponds + to the eternal youth of fatherhood. The connection is so + completely in accordance with law, that the form taken by + the sexual relation in any period may be inferred from the + predominance of one or other of these universal ideas in the + worship of a people."[24] + + [24] _Ibid._, Intro., p. xxix. + +Such, in outline, is Bachofen's famous matriarchal theory. The +passages I have quoted, with the comments I have ventured to give, +make plain the poetic exaggeration of his view, and sufficiently prove +why his theory no longer gains any considerable support. To build up a +dream-picture of mother-rule on such foundations was, of necessity, to +let it perish in the dust of scepticism. But is the downthrow +complete? I believe not. A new structure has to be built up on a new +and surer foundation, and it may yet appear that the prophetic vision +of the dreamer enabled Bachofen to see much that has escaped the sight +of those who have criticised and rejected his assumption that power +was once in the hands of women. + +One great source of confusion has arisen through the acceptance by the +supporters of the matriarchate of the view that men and women lived +originally in a state of promiscuity. This is the opinion of Bachofen, +of McLennan, of Morgan, and also of many other authorities, who have +believed maternal descent to be dependent on the uncertainty of +fatherhood. It will be remembered that Mr. McLennan brought forward +his theory almost simultaneously with that of Bachofen. The basis of +his view is a belief in an ancient communism in women. He holds that +the earliest form of human societies was the group or horde, and not +the family. He affirms that these groups can have had no idea of +kinship, and that the men would hold their women, like their other +goods, in common, which is, of course, equal to a general promiscuity. +There he agrees with Bachofen's belief in unbridled _hetairism_, but +a very different explanation is given of the change which led to +regulation, and the establishment of the maternal family. + +According to Mr. McLennan, the primitive group or horde, though +originally without explicit consciousness of relationships, were yet +held together by a _feeling_ of kin. Such feeling would become +conscious first between the mother and her children, and, in this way, +mother-kin must have been realised at a very early period. Mr. +McLennan then shows the stages by which the savage would gradually, by +reflection, reach a knowledge of the other relationships through the +mother, sister and brother relationships, mother's brother and +mother's sister, and all the degrees of mother-kin, at a time before +the father's relation to his children had been established. The +children, though belonging at first to the group, would remain +attached to the mothers, and the blood-tie established between them +would, as promiscuity gave place to more regulated sexual +relationships, become developed into a system. All inheritance would +pass through women only, and, in this way, mother-right would tend to +be more or less strongly developed. The mother would live alone with +her children, the only permanent male members of the family being the +sons, who would be subordinate to her. The husband would visit the +wife, as is the custom under polyandry, which form of the sexual +relationship Mr. McLennan believes was developed from promiscuity--a +first step towards individual marriage. Even after the next step was +taken, and the husband came to live with his wife, his position was +that of a visitor in her home, where she would have the protection of +her own kindred. She would still be the owner of her children, who +would bear her name, and not the father's; and the inheritance of all +property would still be in the female line.[25] + + [25] _Studies in Ancient History_, pp. 83, _et seq._ + +We have here what appears to be a much more reasonable explanation of +mother-kin and mother-right than that of Bachofen. Yet many have +argued powerfully against it. Westermarck especially, has shown that +belief in an early stage of promiscuous relationship is altogether +untenable.[26] It is needless here to enter into proof of this.[27] +What matters now is that with the giving up of promiscuity the whole +structure of McLennan's theory falls to pieces. He takes it for +granted that at one period paternity was unrecognised; but this is +very far from being true. The idea of the father's relationship to the +child is certainly known among the peoples who trace descent through +the mother; the system is found frequently where strict monogamy is +practised. Again, Mr. McLennan connects polyandry with mother-descent, +regarding the custom of plurality of husbands as a development from +promiscuity. Here, too, he has been proved to be in error. Whatever +the causes of the origin of polyandry, it has no direct connection +with mother-kin, although it is sometimes practised by peoples who +observe that system. + + [26] _History of Human Marriage_, pp. 51-133. It is on this + question that my own opinion has been changed, compare _The + Truth about Woman_, p. 120. + + [27] See next chapter on the Patriarchal Theory. + +For myself, I incline to the opinion that the system by which +inheritance passes through the mother needs no explanation. It was +necessarily (and, as I believe, is still) the _natural_ method of +tracing descent. Moreover, it was adopted as a matter of course by +primitive peoples among whom property considerations had not arisen. +Afterwards what had started as a habit was retained as a system. The +reasons for naming children after the mother did not rest on +relationship, the earliest question was not one of kinship, but of +association. Those were counted as related to one another who dwelt +together.[28] The children lived with the mother, and therefore, as a +matter of course, were called after her, and not the father, who did +not live in the same home. + + [28] Starcke, _The Primitive Family in its Origin and + Development_, pp. 36, 37. + +All these questions will be understood better as we proceed with our +inquiry. The important thing to fix in our minds is that mother-kin +and mother-right (contrary to the opinion of McLennan and others) may +very well have arisen quite independently of dubious fatherhood. It +thus becomes evident that the maternal system offers no evidence for +the hypothesis of promiscuity; we shall find, in point of fact, that +it arose out of the regulation of the sexual relations, and had no +connection with licence. It is necessary to understand this clearly. + +Bachofen is much nearer to what is likely to have happened in the +first stage of the family than Mr. McLennan, though he also mistakenly +connects the maternal system with unregulated _hetairism_. Still he +suggests (though it would seem quite unconsciously) the patriarchal +hypothesis, which founds the family first on the brute-force of the +male. Mother-right has been discredited chiefly, as far as I have been +able to find, because it is impossible to accept, at this early +period, sexual conditions of the friendly ownership of women, entirely +opposed to what was the probable nature of brute man. At this stage +the eldest male in the family would be the ruler, and he would claim +sexual rights over all the women in the group. Bachofen postulates a +revolt of women to establish marriage. We have seen that such a +supposition, in the form in which he puts it, is without any credible +foundation. Yet, it is part of my theory that there was a revolt of +women, or rather a combination of the mothers of the group, which led +to a change in the direction of sexual regulation and order. But the +causes of such revolt, and the way in which it was accomplished, were, +in my opinion, entirely different from those which Bachofen supposes. +The arguments in support of my view will be given in the next two +chapters. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +DIFFICULTIES AND OBJECTIONS: AN ATTEMPT TO RECONCILE MOTHER-RIGHT WITH +THE PATRIARCHAL THEORY. + + +The foundation of the Patriarchal theory is the jealous sexual nature +of the male. This is important; indeed profoundly significant. The +strongest argument against promiscuity is to be gained from what we +know of this factor of jealousy in the sexual relationships. + +"The season of love is the season of battle," says Darwin. Such was +the law passed on to man from millions of his ancestral lovers. The +action of this law[29] may be observed at its fiercest intensity among +man's pre-human ancestors. Courtship without combat is rare among all +male quadrupeds, and special offensive and defensive weapons for use +in these love-fights are found; for this is the sex-tragedy of the +natural world, the love-tale red-written in blood. + + [29] The reader is referred to _The Truth about Woman_, pp. + 87-114. In the courtships and perfect love marriages of many + birds we find jealous combats replaced by the peaceful + charming of the female by the male. + +This factor of sexual jealousy--the conflict of the male for +possession of the female--has not been held in sufficient account by +those who regard promiscuity as being the earliest stage in the sexual +relationships. That jealousy is still a powerful agent even in the +most civilised races is a fact on which it is unnecessary to dwell. +This being so, and since the action of jealousy is so strong in the +animal kingdom, it cannot be supposed to have been dormant among +primitive men. Rather, in the infancy of his history this passion must +have acted with very great intensity. Thus it becomes impossible to +accept any theory of the community of women in the earliest stage of +the family. For inevitably such peaceful association would be broken +up by jealous battles among the males, in which the strongest member +would kill or drive away his rivals. + +Great stress is laid, by the supporters of promiscuity, on the danger +that such conflicts must have been to the growing community. It is, +therefore, held that in order to prevent this check on their +development, it was necessary for the male members not to give way to +jealousy, but to be content with promiscuous ownership of women. But +this is surely to credit savage man with a control of the driving +jealous instinct that he could not then have had? What we do not find +in the sexual conduct of men, as they now are, cannot be credited as +existing in the infancy of social life. We fall into many mistakes in +judging these questions of sex; we under-estimate the strength of +love-passion--the uncounted ancestral forces dating back to the +remote beginnings of life. Doubtless conflicts over the possession of +women were frequent from the beginning of man's history. But these +disputes would not lead to promiscuous intercourse, only to a change +in the tyrant male, who ruled over the women in the group. + +Another fact against a belief in promiscuity is that the lowest +savages known to us are not promiscuous, in so far as there is no +proved case of the sexual relations being absolutely unregulated. They +all recognise sets of women with whom certain sets of men can have no +marital relations. Again these savages are very far removed from the +state of man's first emergence from the brute, as is proved by their +combination into large and friendly tribes. Such peaceful aggregation +could only have arisen at a much later period, and after the males had +learnt by some means to control their brute appetites and jealousy of +rivals in that movement towards companionship, which, first resting in +the sexual needs, broadens out into the social instincts. + +For these reasons, then, we conclude that the theory of a friendly +union having existed among males in the primitive group is the very +reverse of the truth. This question has now been sufficiently proved. +I am thus brought into agreement with Dr. Westermarck, Mr. Crawley, +and Mr. Lang, in his examination of Mr. Atkinson's _Primal Law_, as +well as with other writers, all of whom have shown that promiscuity +cannot be accepted as a stage in the early life of the human family. + +I have now to show how far this rejection of promiscuity affects our +position with regard to mother-descent and mother-right. It is clearly +of vital importance to any theory that its foundations are secure. One +foundation--that of promiscuity, on which Bachofen and McLennan, the +two upholders of matriarchy, base their hypothesis--has been +overthrown. It thus becomes necessary to approach the question from an +altogether different position. Mother-right must be explained without +any reference to unregulated sexual conduct. I am thus turned back to +examine the opposing theory to matriarchy, which founds the family on +the patriarchal authority of the father. Nor is this all. What we must +expect a true theory to do is to show conditions that are applicable +not only to special cases, but in their main features to mankind in +general. I have to prove that such conditions arose in the primitive +patriarchal family as it advanced towards social aggregation, that +would not only make possible, but, as I believe, would necessitate the +power of the mothers asserting its force in the group-family. Only +when this is done can I hope that a new belief in mother-right may +find acceptance. + +The patriarchal theory stated in its simplest form is this: Primeval +man lived in small family groups, composed of an adult male, and of +his wife, or, if he were powerful, several wives, whom he jealously +guarded from the sexual advances of all other males. In such a group +the father is the chief or patriarch as long as he lives, and the +family is held together by their common subjection to him. As for the +children, the daughters as soon as they grow up are added to his +wives, while the sons are driven out from the home at the time they +reach an age to be dangerous as sexual rivals to their father. The +important thing to note is that _in each group there would be only one +adult polygamous male, with many women of different ages and young +children_. I shall return to this later. Such is the marked difference +in the position of the two sexes--the solitary jealously unsocial +father and the united mothers. I can but wonder how its significance +has escaped the attention of the many inquirers, who have sought the +truth in this matter. Probably the explanation is to be found in this: +they have been interested mainly in one side of the family--the male +side; I am interested in the other side--in the women members of the +group. The position of women has seemed of primary importance to very +few. Bachofen is almost alone in placing this question first, and his +mystical far-fetched hypothesis has failed to find acceptance. + +Let me now, in order to make the position clearer, continue a rough +grouping of the supposed conditions in this primordial family, with +all its members in subjection to the common father. It may be argued +that we can know nothing at all about the family and the position of +the two sexes at this brute period. This is true. The conditions are, +of course, conjectural, and any suggested conclusions to be drawn from +them must be still more so. Yet some hypothesis must be risked as a +starting-point for any theory that attempts to go so far back in the +stream of time. + +We may suppose, then, that mankind aboriginally lived in small +families in much the same way as the great monkeys: we see the same +conditions, for instance, among the families of gorillas, where the +group never becomes large. The male leader will not endure the rivalry +of the young males, and as soon as they grow up a contest takes place, +and the strongest and eldest male, by killing or driving out the +others, maintains his position as the tyrant head of the family.[30] + + [30] Darwin, _Descent of Man_. Wallace, _The Malay + Archipelago_, and Brehm, _Thierleben_. + +This may be taken as a picture of the human brute-family. It is clear +that the relation of the father to the other group members was not one +of kinship, but of power. "Every female in my crowd is my property," +says--or feels--Mr. Atkinson's patriarchal anthropoid, "and the +patriarch gives expression to his sentiment with teeth and claws, if +he has not yet learned to double up his fist with a stone in it. These +were early days."[31] + + [31] _Social Origins and Primal Law_, pp. 4, 21. Westermarck, + pp. 13, 42. _Primal Law_, pp. 209-212. + +We may conclude that there would be many of these groups, each with a +male head, his wives and adult daughters, and children of both sexes. +It is probable that they lived a nomadic life, finding a temporary +home in a cave, rock, or tree-shelter, in some place where the supply +of food was plentiful. The area of their wanderings would be fixed by +the existence of other groups; for such groups would almost certainly +be mutually hostile to each other, watchfully resenting any intrusion +on their own feeding ground. A further, and more powerful, cause of +hostility would arise from the sexual antagonism of the males. Around +each group would be the band of exiled sons, haunting their former +hearth-homes, and forming a constant element of danger to the solitary +paternal tyrant. This I take to be important as we shall presently +see. For, the most urgent necessity of these young men, after the need +for food, must have been to obtain wives. This could be done only by +capturing women from one or other of the groups. The difficulties +attending such captures must have been great. It is, therefore, +probable the young men at first kept together, sharing their wives in +polyandrous union. But this condition would not continue, the group +thus formed would inevitably break up at the adult stage under the +influence of jealousy; the captured wives would be fought for and +carried off by the strongest males to form fresh groups. + +In this matter I have given the opinion of Mr. Atkinson and Mr. Lang. +They hold that no permanent peaceful union could have been maintained +among the groups of young men and their captive wives. Mr. Atkinson +gives the reason-- + + "Their unity could only endure as long as the youthfulness + of the members necessitated union for protection, and their + immaturity prevented the full play of sexual passion." And + again: "The necessary Primal Law which alone could determine + peace within a family circle by recognising a _distinction + between female and male_ (the indispensable antecedent to a + definition of marital rights) could never have arisen in + such a body. It follows if such a law was ever evoked, it + must have been from _within the only other assembly in + existence_, viz. that headed by the solitary polygamous + patriarch."[32] + + [32] _Social Origins and Primal Law_, p. 230. Mr. Atkinson + writes this to show that there can be no connection between + these groups of young males and the polyandrous marriages of + Mr. McLennan's theory. The first italics in the passage are + his own; the second are mine. Why I wish to emphasise this + point will soon be seen. I have already mentioned how I was + recommended to read _Social Origins_ to convince me of my + mistake in accepting the mother-age. It has done just the + opposite, and has given me the clue to many difficulties that + I was before unable to clear up. This is why I am following + this book rather than other authorities in my examination of + the patriarchal theory. I take this opportunity of recording + my debt to the authors, and of expressing my thanks to Mr. + Wells, who recommended me to read the book. + +Whether Mr. Atkinson is right I shall not attempt to say; the point is +one on which I hesitate a decided opinion; but as this view affords +support to my own theory I shall accept it. + +Now, to consider the bearing of this on our present inquiry. So far I +have followed very closely the family group gathered around the +patriarchal tyrant, under the conditions given by Mr. Atkinson and Mr. +Lang, in _Social Origins and Primal Law_. It will not, I think, have +escaped the notice of the reader that very little has been said about +the women and their children. There is no hint at all that the women +must have lived a life of their own, different in its conditions from +that of the men. The female members, it would seem, have been taken +for granted and not considered, except in so far as their presence is +necessary to excite the jealous sexual combats of the males. This +seems to be very instructive. The idea of the subjection of all +females to the solitary male has been accepted without question. But +the group consisted of _many women and only one adult man_. Yet in +spite of this, the man is held to be the essential member; all the +family obey him. His wife (or wives) and his daughters, though +necessary to his pleasure as also to continue the group, are regarded +as otherwise unimportant, in fact, mere property possessions to him. +Now, I am very sure the rights these group-women must have held have +been greatly underrated, and the neglect to recognise this has led, I +think, to many mistakes. I am willing to accept the authority of the +polygamous patriarch--within limits. But it seems probable, as I shall +shortly indicate, that a predominant influence in the domestic life is +to be ascribed to the women, and, therefore, "the movement towards +peace within the group circle" must be looked for as a result from the +feminine side of the family, rather than from the male side. There is +still another point: I maintain that precisely through the +concentration of the male ruler on the sexual subjection of his +females, conditions must have arisen, affecting the conduct and +character of the women: conditions, moreover, that would bring them +inevitably more and more into a position of power. + +It remains for me to suggest what I believe these conditions to have +been. Meanwhile let us keep one fact steadily before our minds. The +fierce sexual jealousy of the males had by some means to be +controlled. It is evident that the way towards social progress could +be found only by the peaceful aggregation of these solitary hostile +groups; and this could not be done without breaking down the rule that +strength and seniority in the male conferred upon him marital right +over all the females. In other words, the tyrant patriarch had in some +way to learn to tolerate the presence of other adult males on friendly +terms within his own group. We have to find how this first, but +momentous, step in social progress was taken. + +Let us concentrate now our attention on the domestic life of the +women. And first we must examine more carefully the exact conditions +that we may suppose to have existed in these hostile groups. The +father is the tyrant of the band--an egoist. Any protection he affords +the family is in his own interests, he is chief much more than father. +His sons he drives away as soon as they are old enough to give him any +trouble; his daughters he adds to his harem. We may conceive that the +domination of his sexual jealousy must have chiefly occupied his time +and his attention. It is probable that he was fed by his women; at +least it seems certain that he cannot have provided food for them and +for all the children of the group. Sex must have been uninterruptedly +interesting to him. In the first place he had to capture his wife, or +wives, then he had to fight for the right of sole possession. +Afterwards he had to guard his women, especially his daughters, from +being carried off, in their turn, by younger males, his deadly rivals, +who, exiled by sexual jealousy from his own and the other similar +hearth-homes, would come, with each returning year, more and more to +be feared. An ever-recurring and growing terror would dog each step of +the solitary paternal despot, and necessitate an unceasing +watchfulness against danger, and even an anticipation of death. For +when old age, or sickness decreased his power of holding his own, then +the tables would be turned, and the younger men, so hardly oppressed, +would raise their hands against him in parricidal strife. + +You will see what all this strife suggests--the unstable and +adventitious relation of the man to the social hearth-group. Such +conditions of antagonism of each male against every other male must +favour the assumption that no advance in peace--on which alone all +future progress depended--could have come from the patriarchs. +Jealousy forced them into unsocial conduct. + +But advance by peace to progress was by some means to be made. I +believe that the way was opened up by women. + +I hasten to add, however, in case I am mistaken here, that I am very +far from wishing to set up any claim of superiority for savage woman +over savage man. The momentous change was not, indeed, the result of +any higher spiritual quality in the female, nor was it a religious +movement, as is the beautiful dream of Bachofen. I do not think we can +credit "a movement" as having taken place at all, rather the change +arose gradually, inevitably, and quite simply. To postulate a +conscious movement towards progress organised by women is surely +absurd. Human nature does not start on any new line of conduct +voluntarily, rather it is forced into it in connection with the +conditions of life. Just as savage man was driven into unsocial +conduct, so, as I shall try to show, savage woman was led by the same +conditions acting in an opposite direction, into social conduct. + +My own thought was drawn first to this conclusion by noting the +behaviour of a band of female turkeys with their young. It was a year +ago. I was staying in a Sussex village, and near by my home was the +meadow of a farm in which families of young turkeys were being reared. +Here I often sat; and one day it chanced that I was reading _Social +Origins and Primal Law_. I had reached the chapter on "Man in the +Brutal Stage," in which Mr. Atkinson gives the supposed facts of brute +man, and the action of his jealousy in the family group. I was very +much impressed; my reason told me that what the author stated so well +was probably right. Such sexually jealous conduct on the part of +savage man was likely to be true; it was much easier to accept this +than the state of promiscuous intercourse, with its friendly +communism in women, in which I had hitherto believed. I really was +very much disturbed. For I was still unshaken in my belief in +mother-right. How were the two theories to be reconciled? + +Often it is a small thing that points to the way for which one is +seeking. All at once my little boy, who had been playing in the field, +called out, "Oh, look at the Gobble-gobble,"--the name by which he +called the male-turkey. The cock, his great tail spread, his throat +swelling, was swaggering across the field, making an immense amount of +noisy disturbance. A group of females and young birds, many of them +almost full grown, were near to where we were sitting; they had been +rooting about in the ground getting their food. Their fear at the +approach of the strutting male was manifest. All the band gathered +together, with the young in the centre, led and flanked by the +mothers. As the male continued to advance upon them they retreated +further and further, and finally took harbour in a barn. Here the +swaggerer tried to follow them, but the rear females turned and faced +him and drove him off. + +I had found the clue that I was seeking. All I had been reading now +had a clear meaning for me. In my delight, I laughed aloud. I saw the +egoism of the solitary male; I knew the meaning of the females' +retreat; they were guarding the young from the feared attacks of the +father. I realised how the male's unsocial conduct towards his +offspring had forced the females to unite with one another. The cock's +strength, the gorgeous display of sex-charms, were powerless before +this peaceful combination. He was alone, a tyrant--the destroyer of +the family. But I saw, too, that his polygamous jealousy served as a +means to the end of advance in progress. It was the male's non-social +conduct that had forced social conduct upon the females. And I +understood that the patriarchal tyrant was just the one thing I had +been looking for. My belief in mother-power had gained a new and, as I +felt then in the first delight of that discovery, and as I still feel, +a much surer, because a simpler and more natural foundation. + +Having now defined my position, and having related how such conviction +came to me, let me proceed to examine the causes that would lead to +the assertion of women's power, in the aboriginal family group. From +what has been said, the following conditions acting on the women, may, +it is submitted, be fairly deduced. + + 1. In the group, which comprised the mothers, the adult + daughters, and the young of both sexes, the women would live + on terms of association as friendly hearth-mates. + + 2. The strongest factor in this association would arise from + the dependence of the children upon their mothers; a + dependence that was of much longer duration than among the + animals, on account of the pre-eminent helplessness of the + human child, which entailed a more prolonged infancy. + + 3. The women and their children would form the group, to + which the father was attached by his sexual needs, but + remained always a member apart--a kind of jealous fighting + specialisation. + + 4. The temporary hearth-home would be the shelter of the + women; and it was under this shelter that children were born + and the group accumulated its members. Whether cave, or + hollow tree, or some frail shelter, the home must have + belonged to the women. + + 5. And this state would necessarily attach the mothers to + the home, much more closely than the father, whose desire + lay in the opposite direction of disrupting the home. + Moreover this attachment always would be present and acting + on the female children, who, unless captured, would remain + with the mothers, while it could never arise in the case of + the sons, whose fate was to be driven from the home. Such + conditions must, as time went on, have profoundly modified + the women's outlook, bending their desires to a steady, + settled life, conditions under which alone the germ of + social organisation could develop. + + 6. Again, the daily search for the daily food must have been + undertaken chiefly by the women. For it is impossible that + one man, however skilful a hunter, could have fed all the + female members and children of the group. We may conceive + that his attention and his time must have been occupied + largely in fighting his rivals; while much of his strength, + as sole progenitor, must have been expended in sex. It is + therefore probable that frequently the patriarch was + dependent on the food activities of his women. + + 7. The mothers, their inventive faculties quickened by the + stress of child-bearing and child-rearing, would learn to + convert to their own uses the most available portion of + their environment. It would be under the attention of the + women that plants were first utilised for food. Seeds would + be beaten out, roots and tubers dug for, and nuts and fruits + gathered in their season and stored for use. Birds would + have to be snared, shell-fish and fish would be caught; + while, at a later period, animals would be tamed for + service. Primitive domestic vessels to hold and to carry + water, baskets to store the food supplies would have to be + made. Clothes for protection against the cold would come to + be fashioned. All the faculties of the women, in exercises + that would lead to the development of every part of their + bodies, would be called into play by the work of satisfying + the physical needs of the group. + + 8. This interest and providence for the family would + certainly have its effect on the development of the women. + The formation of character is largely a matter of attention, + and the attention of the mothers being fixed on the supply + of the necessary food, doubtless often difficult to obtain, + their energies would be driven into productive activities, + much more than in the case of the father, whose attention + was fixed upon himself. + + 9. In all these numerous activities the women of each group + would work together. And through this co-operation must have + resulted the assertion of the women's power, as the + directors and organisers of industrial occupations. As the + group slowly advanced in progress, such power increasing + would raise the women's position; the mothers would + establish themselves permanently as of essential value in + the family, not only as the givers of life, but as the chief + providers of the food essential to the preservation of the + life of its members. + + 10. And a further result would follow in the treatment by + the male of this new order. The women by obtaining and + preparing food would gain an economic value. Wives would + become to the patriarch a source of riches, indispensable to + him, not only on account of his sex needs, but on account of + the more persistent need of food. Thus the more women he + possessed the greater would be his own comfort, and the + physical prosperity of the group. The women would become of + ever greater importance, and the economic power that they + thus acquired would more and more favourably influence their + position. + + 11. There is one other matter in this connection. The + greater number of women in the group the stronger would + become their power of combination. I attach great importance + to this. Working together for the welfare of all, the social + motive would grow stronger in women, so that necessarily + they would come to consider the collective interests of the + group. Can it be credited that such conditions could have + acted upon the patriarch, whose conduct would still be + inspired by individual appetite and selfish inclinations? I + maintain such a view to be impossible. + + 12. Another advantage, I think, would arise for women out of + the male's jealous tyranny in the sexual relationship. Such + an idea may appear strange, if we think only of the + subjection of the females to the brute-appetite of the + patriarch. Yet there is another side. The women must have + gained freedom by being less occupied with sex passions, and + also from being less jealously interested in the man than he + was in them. It may be urged that the women would be jealous + of each other. I do not think this could have been. Jealousy + has its roots in the consciousness of possession, and is + only aroused through fear of loss. This could not have acted + with any great power among the women in the patriarchal + group. Their interest of possession in sex must have been + less acute in consciousness than the interest of the male. + Doubtless the woman would be attracted by the male's + courageous action in fighting his rivals for possession of + her, but when the rival was the woman's son such attraction + would come into strong conflict with the deeper maternal + instinct. + + 13. From the standpoint of physical strength, the patriarch + was the master, the tyrant ruler of the group, who, + doubtless, often was brutal enough. But the women, leading + an independent life to some extent, and with their mental + ingenuity developed by the conditions of their life, would + learn, I believe, to outwit their master by passive united + resistance. They would come to utilise their sex charms as + an accessory of success. Thus the unceasing sexual + preoccupation of the male, with the emotional dependence it + entailed on the females, must, I would suggest, have given + women an immense advantage. If I am right here, the + patriarch would be in the power of his women, much more + surely than they would be in his power. + + 14. Again, an antagonism must have arisen between the despot + father and his women, in particular with his daughters, + forced to submit to his brute-passions. I confess I find + grave difficulty in reconciling the view that the + group-daughters would willingly become the wives of their + father. I cannot conceive them without some power to + exercise that choice in love, which is the right of the + female throughout nature. There is great insistence by Mr. + Atkinson, and all who have written on the subject, on the + sexual passions of the males, while the desires of the women + are not considered at all. Apparently they are held to have + had none! This affords yet another instance of the strange + concentration on the male side of the family. It is taken + for granted, for instance, that in every case the young men, + when driven from their home, had to capture their wives from + other groups. I would suggest that often the capture was + aided by the woman herself; she may even have escaped from + the hearth-home in her desire to find a partner, preferring + the rule of a young tyrant to an old one, who moreover was + her father. I believe, too, that the wives and mothers must + frequently have asserted their will in rebellion. I picture, + indeed, these savage women ever striving for more + privileges, and step by step advancing through peaceful + combination to power. + + 15. I desire also to maintain that all I have here suggested + finds support from what is known of the position of women + among primitive peoples; and I may add also, from the + character of women to-day. + +Now I have summarised briefly what seem to me the probable conditions +of the women's daily life in these earliest groups. I have attempted +to show how the sexual jealousy, which acted for the destruction of +the mutually hostile male members, would necessitate for the women +conditions in many ways favourable; conditions of union in which lay +the beginnings of peace and order. What we have to fix in our thoughts +is the significant fact of the sociability of the women's lives in +contrast with the solitude of the jealous sire, watchfully resenting +the intrusion of all other males. Such conditions cannot have failed +to domesticate the women, and urged them forward to the work that was +still to be done in domesticating man. During the development of the +family, we may expect that the patriarch will seek to hold his rights, +and that the women will exert their influence more and more in +breaking these down; and this is precisely what we do find, as I +presently shall show. + +One point further. It may, of course, be urged that all I am affirming +for women in this far back beginning is but a process of ingenious +guessing. Such criticism is just. But I am speaking of conditions at a +time when conjecture is necessary. I venture to say that my +suggestions are in accord with what is likely to have happened. +Moreover, many difficulties will be made clearer if these guesses are +accepted. I believe that here in the earliest patriarchal stage we +have already the germs of the maternal family. All the chances for +success in power rested with the united mothers, rather than with the +solitary father. Assuredly the jealous patriarchs paid a heavy price +for their sexual domination. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +DEVELOPMENT IN THE PATRIARCHAL FAMILY AND THE RISE OF MOTHER-POWER + + +The essential question, now, is how these small hostile groups were +brought by association to expand into larger groups. In what way was +the sexual monopoly of the male ruler first curbed, and afterwards +broken down, for only by this being done could peace be gained? +However advantageous the habits of the patriarch may have been for +himself, they were directly opposed to progress. Jealousy depends on +the failure to recognise the rights of others. This sexual egoism, by +which one man through his strength and seniority held marital rights +over all the females of his group, had to be struck at its roots. In +other words, the solitary despot had to learn to tolerate the +association of other adult males. + +How was this happy change to be brought about? Social qualities are +surely developed in the character by union with one's fellow beings. +From what has been stated, it seems certain that it was in the +interests of the women to consolidate the family, and by means of +association to establish their own power. Jealousy is an absolutely +non-social quality. Regarding its influence, it is certainly absurd +to believe any voluntary association to have been possible among the +males of the hostile patriarchal groups; to credit this is to give the +lie to the entire theory. We are driven, therefore, to seek for the +beginnings of social conduct among the women. I have suggested the +conditions forcing them into combination with one another against the +tyranny of the patriarch. I have now to show how these causes, +continually acting, brought the women step by step into a position of +authority and power. There is, however, no suggestion of a spiritual +revolt on the part of women. I do not wish to set up any claim for, +because I do not believe in, the superiority of one sex over the other +sex. Character is determined by the conditions of living. If, as I +conceive, progress came through savage women, rather than through +savage men, it was because the conditions were really more favourable +to them, and drove them on in the right path. However strange it may +appear, their sexual subjection to the fierce jealousy of the +patriarch acted as a means to an end in advancing peace. + +The strongest force of union between the women would grow out of the +consciousness of an ever-threatening and common danger. Not only had +the young to be fed and cared for during infancy and childhood, but, +as they grew in years, they had to be guarded from the father, whose +relation to his offspring was that of an enemy. It has been seen how +the sons were banished at puberty from the family group to maintain +the patriarch's marital rights. Doubtless the strength of maternal +love gained in intensity through the many failures in conflicts, that +must have taken place with the tyrant fathers. Would not this +community of suffering tend to force the women to unite with one +another, at each renewed banishment of their sons? May they not, after +the banishment, have assisted their sons in the capture of their +wives? I think it must be allowed that this is possible. And there is +another point to notice. The exiled sons and their captured wives +would each have a mother in the groups they had left. May it not be +conceived that, as time brought progress in intelligence, some +friendly communication might have been established between group and +group, in defiance of the jealous guardianship of the patriarchs? +Thus, through the danger, ever to be feared in every family, there +might open up a way by sympathy to a possible future union. + +It is part of my supposition that every movement towards friendship +must have arisen among the women. This is no fanciful idea of my own. +Mr. Atkinson, one of the strongest supporters of the patriarchal +theory, agrees with this view, though he does not seem to see its +origin, and does not follow up its deep suggestion. By him the +movement in advance is narrowed to a single issue of peace between the +father and his sons, but this great step is credited to the influence +of the mothers. I must quote the passages that refer to this--[33] + + [33] _Primal Law_, pp. 231-232. + + "At the renewed banishment of each of her male progeny by + the jealous patriarch, the mother's feelings and instincts + would be increasingly lacerated and outraged. Her agonised + efforts to retain at least her last and youngest would be + even stronger than with her first born. It is exceedingly + important to observe that her chances of success in this + case would be much greater. When this last and dearest son + approached adolescence, it is not difficult to perceive that + the patriarch must have reached an age when the fire of + desire may have become somewhat dull, whilst, again, his + harem, from the presence of numerous adult daughters, would + be increased to an extent that might have overtaxed his once + more active powers. Given some such rather exceptional + situation, where a happy opportunity in superlative mother + love wrestled with a for once satiated paternal appetite in + desire, we may here discern a possible key of the + sociological problem which occupies us, and which consisted + in a conjunction within one group of two adult males." + +In the next paragraph the author presents the situation which in this +way might have arisen-- + + "We must conceive that, in the march of the centuries, on + some fateful day, the bloody tragedy in the last act of the + familiar drama was avoided, and the edict of exile or death + left unpronounced. _Pure maternal love triumphed over the + demons of lust and jealousy._ A mother succeeded in keeping + by her side a male child, and thus, by a strange + coincidence, that father and son, who, amongst all mammals, + had been the most deadly enemies, were now the first to join + hands. So portentous an alliance might well bring the world + to their feet. The family would now present for the first + time, the until then unknown spectacle of the inclusion + within a domestic circle, and amidst its component females, + of an adolescent male youth. It must, however, be admitted + that such an event, at such an epoch, demanded imperatively + very exceptional qualities, both physiological and + psychological, in the primitive agents. The new happy ending + to that old-world drama which had run so long through blood + and tears, was an innovation requiring very unusually gifted + actors. How many failures had doubtless taken place in its + rehearsal during the centuries, with less able or happy + interpreters!" + +Mr. Atkinson supposes that success in the new experiment "was rendered +possible by the rise of new powers in nascent man." Here I do not +follow him. "The germ of altruism," which he sees as "already having +risen to make its force felt" was, indeed, as he says "an important +factor." But is it credible that this altruism existed in the father? +I can conceive him being won over through his own emotional dependence +on some specially pleasing woman; he may well have had favourites +among his wives. I cannot accept "altruism" as a reason for his +conduct, under conditions acting in an exact opposite way in fostering +and increasing egoism. Much more probable is the supposition that he +"must have reached the age when the fire of desire had become somewhat +dulled." + +I must also take exception to a further statement of Mr. Atkinson, +"that with such prolonged infancy there had been opportunity for the +development of paternal philoprogenitiveness." And again: "It is +evident that such long-continued presence of sons could but result in +a certain mutual sympathy, however inevitable the eventual exile." It +is unnecessary for me to labour this question. I may, however, point +out, that the identical conditions of the family among the anthropoid +apes (on whom Mr. Atkinson bases his patriarchy) do not afford any +proof of paternal altruism. The polygamous jealous father never enters +into friendly union with the other males. He is strong and sexually +beautiful, but he is never social in his domestic conduct. He is the +tyrant in the family, and the young are guarded from his attacks by +the mothers. With the mothers there is protection and safety, with the +father ownership. The whole argument of the patriarchal theory is +based on the fact of the jealous conduct of the male. Driven to live +in solitary enmity, the patriarch could not voluntarily tolerate the +presence of a rival, if he was to maintain his position as ruler. It +is impossible to get away from this. Mr. Atkinson comes very near to +this essential truth, when he suggests (though he does not fully +acknowledge) that the first step in social development came through +the mother's love for her child; but at once he turns aside from this, +drawn, I think unconsciously, to the common opinion of the complete +subjection of the females to the male, an opinion always making it +difficult to accept the initiative in reform as coming from the woman. + +The exclusive and persisting idea of Mr. Atkinson's theory is to +establish the action of what he calls "the primal law." Only by +limiting and defining the marital rights of the males over the females +could advancement be gained. Until this was done these small hostile +groups could not become larger, and expand into the clan or tribe. + +I must follow this question a little although it leads us aside from +the immediate subject of my own inquiry. The first step in progress +has been taken; by the triumph of maternal love, an adult male son is +now included in the group. We must conceive that this victory, having +once been gained by one mother, would be repeated by other mothers. +Afterwards, as time went on, the advantage in strength gained to the +group by this increase in their male members, would tend to encourage +the custom. One may reasonably assume that it became established as a +habit in each group that once had taken the first step. Father and +sons, for so long enemies, now enter on a truce. + +It must not, however, be concluded that sexual peace followed this new +order. It is part of Mr. Atkinson's theory that the patriarch's sexual +jealousy would not be broken down by his tolerance of the presence of +his sons. Peace could be maintained only so long as the intruders +respected his marital rights. Under this condition, all the group +women, as they all belonged to the patriarch, would be taboo to the +young men; otherwise there would be a fight, and the offending son +would be driven into exile. Doubtless this frequently happened, but +the advantages gained by union would tend to prevent the danger. Some +means of preserving sexual peace within the group certainly would come +to be established. "For the first time," as Mr. Atkinson points out, +"we encounter the factor which is to be the leading power in future +metamorphosis, i. e. _an explicit distinction between female and +female as such_." + +Through this bar placed on the female members within the family +circle, the sons, who remained in peace, would be forced to continue +the practice of capturing their wives, and would bring in women to +live with them from other groups. It is assumed that these captures +were in all cases hostile. I have given my reasons for disagreeing +with this view. I hold that the young women may have been glad to have +been taken by the young men, and most probably assisted them, in a +surely not unnatural desire to escape from their tyrant fathers. I +really cannot credit such continued sexual subjection on the part of +the group-daughters, an opinion which arises, I am certain, from the +curious misconception of the passivity of the human female in love. + +I do not wish to conceal that my conjecture of an active part having +been taken by the women, both in their captures and also in all the +relationships of the family, is opposed to the great majority of +learned opinion. The reason for this already has been suggested. +Almost invariably the writers on these questions are men, and there +is, I imagine, a certain blindness in their view. I am convinced that +from the earliest beginnings of the human family women have exercised +a much stronger and more direct influence than is usually believed. +All the movements towards regulation and progress, so ingeniously +worked out by Mr. Atkinson, are easier to credit if we accept the +initiative as having come from the group-mothers. I have an inward +conviction of an unchanging law between the two sexes, and though I +cannot here attempt to give any proof, it seems to me, we can always +trace _the absorption by the male of female ideas_. The man accepts +what the woman brings forward, and then assumes the control, believing +he is the originator of her ideas. Take this case of capture: If, as I +suggest, the young women assisted or even took the initiative in their +own captures, they would very plainly not be willing to allow sexual +relationships with another hoary patriarch. I would urge that here +again it was by the action of the young women, rather than the young +men, that the new order was established. But this is a small matter. +If I am right, the communal living and common danger among the women +would powerfully bind them together in union, and sever them from the +male rulers. Once this is granted, it follows that social +consciousness in the women must have been stronger than in the +solitary males. Then there can be no possible doubt of the part taken +by women in the slow advancement of the group by regulation to social +peace. Moreover, I believe, that confirmation of what is here claimed +for women will be found (as will appear in the later part of my +inquiry) in many social habits among existing primitive peoples, who +still live under the favourable conditions of the maternal family; +habits that suggest a long evolutionary process, and that can be +explained only if they have arisen in a very remote beginning. But +enough on this subject has now been said. + +Many interesting questions arise from the action of Mr. Atkinson's +"primal law." His theory offers a solution of the much-debated +question of the origin of exogamy,[34] the term used first by Mr. +McLennan, in _Primitive Marriage_, for the rule which prohibited +sexual relationships within the group limit. Continence imposed by the +patriarch on his sons within the group, as a condition of his +tolerance of their presence, necessarily and logically entailed +marriage without, with women from some other group. This explanation +of exogamy is so simple that it seems likely to be true. It is much +more reasonable than any of the numerous other theories that have been +brought forward. Mr. McLennan, for instance, suggests that the custom +arose through a scarcity of females, owing to the widespread practice +of female infanticide. This can hardly be accepted, for such +conditions, where they exist, would arise at a much later period. Even +less likely is the theory of Dr. Westermarck, who explains exogamy as +arising from "an instinct against marriage of near kin." But we have +no proof of the existence of any such instinct.[35] Mr. Crawley's +view is similar: he connects the custom with the idea of sexual taboo, +which makes certain marriages a deadly sin. It is evident that these +causes could not have operated with the brute patriarch. One great +point in favour of Mr. Atkinson's view is that it takes us so much +further back. By it exogamy as a custom must have been much earlier +than totemism, as at this stage the different group-families would not +be distinguished by totem names; but its action as a law would become +much stronger when reinforced by the totem superstitions, and would +become fixed in rigid sexual taboos.[36] The strongest of these taboos +is the avoidance between brothers and sisters; this is Mr. Atkinson's +_primal law_. It is a law that is still a working factor among +barbarous races, and entails restrictions and avoidances of the most +binding nature. + + [34] _Studies._ Chap. VII. "Exogamy: Its Origin." + + [35] _History of Human Marriage._ Chap. XIV. "Prohibition of + Marriage between Kindred." + + [36] _Mystic Rose._ + +Unfortunately I have not space to write even briefly on this important +and deeply interesting subject. A right understanding of the whole +question of sexual taboos, with the complicated totem superstitions on +which they are based, is very necessary to any inquiry into the +position of women. But to do this I should have to write another book. +All I can say is this: these avoidances had in their origin no +connection with the relative power of the two sexes; nor do I believe +it can be proved that they were established by men rather than by +women. They arose quite naturally, out of the necessity for regulation +as a condition of peace. + +Let me give one example that will serve to show how easily mistakes +may arise. One of these rules, common among primitive peoples, +prevents the women from eating with the men. This is often considered +as a proof of the inferior position of the women, whereas it proves +nothing of the kind. It is just one instance out of many numerous laws +of avoidance between wife and husband, sister and brother, mother and +son, and, indeed, between all relations in the family, which are part +of the general rule to restrict sexual familiarity between the two +sexes, set up at a time when moral restraints upon desire could act +but feebly. It was only much later that these sexual taboos came to be +fixed as superstitions, that with unbreakable fetters bound the +freedom of women. + +Here, indeed, are facts causing us to think. We perceive how old and +strongly rooted are many customs from which to-day we are fighting to +escape; customs of separation between women and men, which, with +appalling conservatism, have descended through the ages. Will they +ever be broken down? I do not know. These questions are not considered +in adequate fashion; often we are ignorant of the deep forces driving +the sexes into situations of antagonism. Clearly these primitive +avoidances shed strong light on the sexual problems of our day. The +subject is one of profound interest. I wish that it were possible to +follow it, but all this lies outside the limit set to my inquiry, and +already I have been led far from the patriarchal family. + +The group has advanced in progress, and now has many features in +common with existing savage peoples. The friendly conjunction of the +father and his sons has established peace. Exogamy has begun to be +practised; and the family in this way has been increased not only by +the presence of the group-sons, but by their captured wives. We have +seen that this would necessitate certain rules of sexual avoidance; +thus the patriarch still holds marital rights over his wives and the +group-daughters, while the captured women are sacred to the +group-sons. + +There is now a further important change to consider. Again the rights +of the patriarch have to be restricted; a bar has to be raised to +prevent his adding his daughters to his wives. Only by overcoming this +habit of paternal incest can further social evolution become possible. + +On this question I shall give the explanation of Mr. Atkinson; and it +is with real regret that the limit of my space makes it impossible to +quote in full his own words.[37] The change came by _the entrance of +outside suitors as husbands for the daughters and their acceptance as +group-members_. + + [37] _Primal Law._ The chapter "From the Group to the Tribe," + pp. 250-263. + +At this point a difficulty once again arises. By what means was the +patriarch brought to accept the presence of these young intruders, +thus usurping his sexual rights over his daughters? Mr. Atkinson +believes this could not have taken place during the life of the +patriarch. "The initiative in change must have arisen irrespective of +him, or without his presence." Here Mr. Atkinson appears to me to fall +into error, as once more he neglects to consider the effect of the +young women's own desires. I hold that, by this time, the +group-daughters, supported by their mothers, must have been strong +enough to outwit their father (whose authority already had been +weakened), if not openly, then by deceiving him. They would now see +their brothers living with young wives. Is it credible, I ask, that +they would remain content with the sexual embraces of their father? + +In this connection it is of interest to note the opposition sometimes +offered by young females to the advances of an old male among the +families of monkeys. I have received quite recently an account of such +a case in a letter from my friend, Max Henry Ferrass, formerly +Inspector of Schools in India, and the author of a valuable work on +Burmah. This is what he says-- + + "I once was able to observe a herd of common long-tailed + monkeys of the Indian plains at play on a sandbank in a + river. There were about fifty of all ages. There was one + great bully among them who looked double the size of the + average adult--and must have been double the weight, at any + rate--whose sport was to chase the young females. They, + knowing his game, fled before him, but he caught them + readily. But before he could have his will of any, she would + bound from his grasp as if stung, and always escape, as this + sudden spurt of energy was more than he could control." + +Here we have a clear instance in which the young females escape from +the thraldom of the male ruler of the horde. The power with which Mr. +Atkinson endows his human patriarch seems to me quite incredible. I +have asserted again and again that the consolidation of the +group-circle was of much greater importance to the women than to the +men. Now this surely points to the acceptance of the view that the +regulation of the brute sexual appetite was initiated by the women. +Thereby, it may be pointed out, their action merely resembles +womankind in any stage from the lowest degree of savagery to the +highest stage of civilisation. + +Moreover, there is further proof that points strongly to the +acceptance of this view, that, the new departure, by which young +husbands came into the group, was brought about by the women, in +opposition to the knowledge and will of the patriarch. There exists a +common custom among primitive tribes, which affords evidence of these +outside suitors having visited their brides in secret. I refer to the +practice by which intercourse between the husband and wife is carried +on clandestinely by night. This is one of the earliest forms of +marriage, and, further, it is closely connected, as I shall presently +show, with the maternal family system. There appears to be no real +cause for this precaution. I do not think it can be explained by the +superstitious dread of the sexes for each other, expressing itself in +this form of sexual taboo; as Mr. Crawley and other writers suggest. +Doubtless this is a factor, and a very powerful one, in the +continuance of the custom, but it does not seem to me to be the true +explanation of its origin. Such secrecy and clandestine meetings are, +however, exactly what must have happened if the group-daughters +received their lovers, as I would suggest, in defiance of the will of +the patriarch. May not the custom as it still exists be a survival, +retained and strengthened by superstition, from a time when these +fugitive visits were necessary for safety?[38] + + [38] Mr. Atkinson refers to these clandestine marriages. He + does not, however, connect the custom, as I suggest, with any + action on the part of the young women. + +Mr. Atkinson's view is different from mine. He does not allow any +power at all to the women. He holds that after the death of the +patriarch, his daughters, still young, would be left without husbands. +To meet this difficulty suitors are brought from other groups by the +brothers, _i. e._ the sons settled in the group and who now rule. We +are asked to believe that they do this to relieve themselves of the +maintenance of their widowed sisters, and to prevent their being +captured and carried off to other groups. According to Mr. Atkinson +the presence of these outside lovers would not be dangerous to the +family peace. They would come from neighbouring groups, from which +the young men had already captured their wives. In this way the strangers +would be the brothers of their women; and thus the brother-and-sister +avoidance--the primal law already established--would prevent any fear of +interference with the established marital rights on the part of the +new-comers. I strongly differ from the suggestion that the brothers +had to feed and maintain their widowed sisters; such an opinion is but +another example of a failure to appreciate the women's side of the +question. I allow willingly that the sisters may have had the +assistance of their brothers; I incline, indeed, to the opinion that +they would be strong enough to compel their help, though probably this +was not necessary. The group-sisters and the group-brothers may well +have united against the father, who was the enemy of both. To me the +common-sense view is that these visits from outside suitors were first +paid clandestinely at night. In the light of human nature it is at +least probable that the tyrant father was deceived by his daughters +and his sons. If already he was dead, what reason was there for any +fear--why were the visits secret? This seems to show that I am right; +that once more the initiative in the changes that led to regulation +must be traced back to women. Afterwards, the custom thus established, +would come to be recognised, and the practice of the husband visiting +his wife by night would persist long after the danger making such +secrecy necessary had ceased. + +It will be readily seen that the introduction of young husbands from +outside, by whatever means this was done, would be an immense gain in +strength. Again a new regulation in the sexual relationships would +follow, and the group-daughters would now have husbands of their own +generation, sacred to them. Furthermore it was the first direct step +in friendly union between group and group; a step that would open up +ways to further progress. The husband, living in his own group, and +visiting his wife in hers, would at once form a connecting link +between two hitherto separate family circles, which friendly +connection would not be broken, when, later, the custom arose of the +husband leaving his group to take up his residence with his wife. + +Such an arrangement must have been of immense advantage to the women. +Under the new order, a wife married to one of these young strangers +would hold a position of considerable power, that hitherto had been +impossible. We have seen that the home was made by the group-women, +and must have belonged to them; but so far, the continuance of a +daughter in the home had entailed the acceptance of her father as a +husband; the only way of escape being by capture, which--whether +forced or, as I hold, aided by the girl's desire--sent her out from +her own family as a stranger into a hostile group. Now this was +reversed, and the husband entered as the alien into her home and +family. + +The following observation of Mr. Atkinson in this connection must be +quoted, as it is in strong agreement with my own view-- + + "As a wife who had not been captured, who, in fact, as an + actual member of the group itself, was, so to speak, the + capturer, _her position in regard to her dependent husband + would be profoundly modified_, in comparison with that of + the ordinary captive female, whereas such a captive, seized + by the usual process of hostile capture, had been a mere + chattel utterly without power; _she, as a free agent in her + own home, with her will backed by that of her brothers_" + [why not, I would ask, her sisters and her mother?] "_could + impose law on her subject spouse_."[39] + + [39] _Primal Law_, p. 256. + +In the foregoing sentences Mr. Atkinson affirms the fateful +significance to women of this new form of marriage. I am in +whole-hearted agreement with this opinion. I glean here and there from +the wealth of Mr. Atkinson's suggestions, statements which indicate +how nearly he came to seeing all that I am trying to establish. Yet, I +am compelled to disagree with his main argument; for always when he +touches the woman's side, he falls back at once to consider the +question in its relation to the males as the only important members in +the group. I do not, for instance, accept his view that the captive +wives were "mere chattels." They could not, under the conditions, have +been without some considerable power, even if it arose only from the +sexual dependence of their owners upon them. Much more significant, +however, is Mr. Atkinson's view regarding the authority of the wife in +these new peaceable marriages. He sees one point only as arising from +such a position, and finds "a psychological factor of enormous power, +now for the first time able to make itself felt, in the play of sexual +jealousy on the part of the wife." She would now "impose law on her +subject spouse, and such law dictated by jealousy would ordain a bar +to intercourse between him and her more youthful and hence more +attractive daughters." Now, I do not deny that such a factor may have +acted, for the incentive to jealousy arises always from individual as +opposed to collective possession. Still I do not think jealousy can +have been strong in this case, and, even if it were not, any reversion +on the part of an alien father to the habits of the patriarch must +have been impossible; such conduct would not have been tolerated by +the other males in the group, nor by the daughters, now able to get +young husbands for themselves. To limit the wife's power to this +single issue can hardly be consistent with the conditions of the case. +Mr. Atkinson, in common with many other anthropologists, seems +disposed to underrate the evidence regarding the far-reaching +importance of this form of marriage. Among existing examples of the +maternal family, the mother-rights and influences of women are +dependent largely on the position of the husband as a stranger in her +family home. This matter will become clear in the later part of my +inquiry. + +With the establishment of this new peaceful marriage the way was +cleared for future progress; it is but a few further steps for the +group to grow into the clan and the tribe. The family-group has +increased greatly in size and in social organisation, from the time +when it consisted of the patriarch, and his community of women and +young children. The group-sons have brought in wives from other groups +and have founded families; the group-daughters now have husbands who +live with them. Primitive regulations over the marital rights have +arisen, enabling peace to be maintained. Each family to some extent +would be complete in itself. As the groups advanced in progress, totem +names would come to be used as family marks of distinction, taken +usually from some plant or animal. Peaceable marriages between the +sons and daughters of the different groups would more and more become +the habit, and would gradually take the place of capture marriages. +The regulation of the sexual relationships, by which certain women and +certain men became sacred to each other, would become more strongly +fixed by custom; and afterwards the law would follow that a group of +kindred, distinguished by its totem mark, might not marry within the +hereditary name. The religious superstitions that came to be connected +with these totem names would make binding the new order in the +marriage law. When this stage was reached exogamy would be strictly +practised; and in all cases under the complete maternal system, the +woman on marriage would remain in her family home, where the husband +would come to live with her as a kind of privileged guest. + +There is one other matter that must be noted. The totem name was +inherited from the mother, and not the father. This was the natural +arrangement. When the group was small, there may have been a communal +ownership of the group-children by the mothers, under the authority of +the father. But this would not continue for long; when the group +increased in numbers, the mother and her children would keep together +as a little sub-family in the larger circle. This would be especially +the case with captured wives, who would bring with them the totem +marks of their groups, and this would be the name of the children. The +naming of the children after the mother would also be the simplest way +of distinguishing between the offspring of different wives, a +distinction that would often be necessary, during the earlier +conditions, among the polygamous fathers. + +It is, however, an entirely mistaken view that the father's relation +to the child was ever unrecognised. The taking of the name of the +mother arose as a matter of course, and was adopted simply as being +the most convenient custom. It is manifest that mother-descent has no +connection with a period of promiscuity. Quite the reverse. All the +conditions of mother-right arose out of the earliest movements towards +order and regulation in the relationships of the sexes, and were not +the result of licence. Nor was the naming of the child after the +mother so much a question of relationship as of what may be called +"social kinship." The causes which led to the maternal system are +closely connected with the collective motive, which, if I am right, +was in its origin, at least, the result of the union of the women +against the selfish inclinations of the patriarch. When property +rights came to be recognised, consisting at first of stores of food +and the household goods, it would be perfectly natural that they +should belong to the women, and descend through them. The inheritance +would be to those most closely bound together, and who lived together +in the same home. Thus it appears that descent through the mother was +founded on social rights, by which the organisation of the family, +such as membership in the group or clan, succession and inheritance +were dependent on the mothers. In this sense it is clear that the term +mother-power is fully justified; it is nearer to the facts than the +term mother-kin. + +Further than this I must not go; the first part of my inquiry now has +come to an end. It may seem to the reader that the patriarchal theory, +in a book written to establish mother-right, has received more +attention than was called for. I have discussed it so fully, not only +because of the interest of the subject in proving the errors in the +earlier theories of matriarchy, but because of the insight the +conditions of the primordial group give us into the origin of the +maternal family. + +Many of the suggestions made are more or less hypothetical, but not a +few, I think, are necessary deductions, based on what is most probable +to have happened. I am fully aware of numerous omissions, and the +inadequacy of this summary; but if the suggestions brought forward +shall prove in themselves to have merit, it has seemed to me that a +fruitful field of investigation has been opened. Much new ground had +to be covered in this attempt to picture the position of women at a +period so remote that the difficulties are very great. I hope at least +to have cleared away the old errors, which connected mother-descent +with uncertainty of paternity and an early period of promiscuity. + +Recognising sexual jealousy as the moving force in brute man, I have +accepted that the primeval family was of the patriarchal type. I have +traced the probable development of the group-family, expanding by +successive steps into larger groups living in peaceful association. In +the earlier stage, whilst the men lived as solitary despots, the women +enjoyed a communal life. It is thus probable that the leading power in +the upward movement of the group developing into the clan and tribe +arose among the united mothers, and not with the father. The women +were forced into social conduct. On this belief is based the theory of +mother-power. + +The most important result we have gained is the proof that the +maternal system was framed for order, and has no connection with +sexual disorder. It is enough if I have suggested reasons to show that +this widespread custom, which is practised still among many peoples, +has nothing about it that is exceptional, nothing fantastic, nothing +improbable. I hold it to be a perfectly natural arrangement--the +practical outgrowth of the practical needs of primitive peoples. The +strongest and the one certain claim for a belief in mother-right and +mother-power must rest on this foundation. It is left for the second +part of my book to prove how far I am right in what I claim. + + + + +PART II + +THE MOTHER-AGE CIVILISATION + + + + + "It's not too late to seek a newer world: + + * * * * * + + Tho' much is taken, much abides: and tho' + We are not now the strength which in old days + Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are; + One equal temper of heroic hearts; + Made weak by time and rule, but strong in will + To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." + + TENNYSON. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE MATRIARCHAL FAMILY AMONG THE AMERICAN INDIANS + + +It is time now to turn to the actual subject of this investigation, in +order to see how far the theory of mother-right has been helped by the +lengthy examination of the patriarchal group. + +Since the publication of _Das Mutterrecht_ much has been written that +has tended to raise doubts as to the soundness of the matriarchal +theory, at least in the form held by its early supporters. A reaction +in the opposite direction has set in, before which the former belief +in mother-power has been transformed, and now seems likely to +disappear altogether. In recent years, Westermarck, Starcke, Andrew +Lang, N. W. Thomas, and Crawley among others have given utterance to +this view. The prevalence of a system tracing descent through the +mother is accepted by the majority of learned opinion, though it would +seem somewhat grudgingly. Mr. Crawley is the only writer, as far as I +know, who denies that such a practice was ever common; the cases in +which it still exists, as these cannot be denied, he regards as +exceptions. He affirms: "There is no evidence that the maternal system +was ever general or always preceded the paternal system." And again: +"Though frequent, maternal descent cannot have been either universally +or generally a stage through which man has passed."[40] + + [40] _The Mystic Rose_, pp. 460-461. + +Mr. Crawley considers this assumption may be taken for granted; so +that he does not trouble himself about proofs. The subject of +mother-right is dismissed as unworthy of serious attention. Such an +attitude is surely instructive, and illustrates the failure, to which +I have already pointed, in considering the woman's side in these +questions. There would seem to be a tendency to doubt as being +possible any family arrangement favourable to the authority of women. +Even when descent through the mother is accepted as a phase in social +development, it is denied that such descent confers any special rights +to women. + +One reason of this prejudice must be sought in the persistence of the +puritan spirit: the objection to mother-kin rests mainly on the +objection to loose sexual relationships. Thus it became necessary to +attempt a new explanation of the origin of the custom, and hence my +examination of the primordial patriarchal group. It may be thought +that I should have done better to confine my inquiry to existing +primitive peoples. But, if I am right, mother-power is rooted much +further back than history, and arose first in the dawn of the human +family. This had to be established. + +It is clearly of vital importance to an inquiry that claims to set up +a new belief in a discredited theory to protect it from those +objections which hitherto have prevented its acceptance. This I have +attempted to do. I have shown that the customs connected with +mother-right had no connection at all with a state of promiscuity; +that they were the result of order in the sexual relationships, and +not of disorder. I have traced the causes which appear to have given +rise to such a system, showing that the maternal order was not the +first phase of the family, but was a natural forward movement--one +which developed slowly and quite simply from the conditions of the +patriarchal group. Moreover, I have maintained, and tried to prove, +that the initiative in progress was taken by the women, they being +inspired by their collective interest to overcome the individual +interests of the male members of the group. If this is not assented +to, then indeed, my view of mother-power can find no acceptance. + +It is necessary, however, once more to guard against any mistake. I do +not wish to prove a theory of gynaecocracy, or rule of woman. The title +chosen for this chapter at once opens the way to misinterpretation. It +might appear as if I supported Bachofen's supposition that, under a +system of maternal descent women possessed supreme rule in the family +and in the clan: this is a dream only of visionaries. I declare here +that I consider the theory of the so-called matriarchate at once false +and injurious: false, because it can lead to nothing; and injurious, +because, while it cannot be supported by facts, it overthrows what can +be proved by the evidence that is open to all investigators. Nothing +will be gained by exaggeration and by claiming over much for women. +The term "matriarchal" takes too much for granted that women at one +period ruled. Such a view is far from the truth. All I claim, then, is +this: the system by which the descent of the name and the inheritance +of property passes through the female side of the family placed women +in a favourable position, with definite rights in the family and clan, +rights which, in some cases, resulted in their having great and even +extraordinary power. This, I think, may be granted. _If descent +through the father stands, as it is held to do, for the predominance +of man over woman--the husband over the wife, then it is at least +surely possible that descent through the mother may in some cases have +stood for the predominance of the wife over the husband._ The reader +will judge how far the examples of the maternal family I am able to +bring forward support this claim. + +The evidence for mother-right has never yet been fully brought into +notice; but much of the evidence is now available. Our knowledge of +the customs of primitive peoples has increased greatly of late years, +and these afford a wide field for inquiry. And although the examples +of the complete maternal family existing to-day are few in +number--probably not more than twenty tribes,[41] yet the important +fact is that they occur among widely separated peoples in all the +great regions of the uncivilised world. Moreover, side by side with +these, are found a much larger number of imperfect systems, which give +unmistakable evidence of an earlier maternal stage. Such examples are +specially instructive; they belong to a transitional period, and show +the maternal family in its decline as it passes into a new patriarchal +stage; often, indeed, we see the one system competing in conflict with +the other. + + [41] This is the number given by Prof. Tylor. "The + Matriarchal Family System," _Nineteenth Century_, July 1896. + +In this connection I may note that Westermarck does not accept an +early period when descent was traced exclusively through the mother; +he gives a long list of peoples among whom the system is not +practised. These passages occur in his well-known _Criticism of the +Hypothesis of Promiscuity_,[42] and his whole argument is based on the +assumption that mother-right arose through the tie between the father +and the child being unrecognised. But mother-descent has no connection +at all with uncertainty of paternity. I venture to think Dr. +Westermarck has not sufficiently considered this aspect of the +question, and, if I mistake not, it is this confusion of +mother-descent with promiscuity which explains his attitude towards +the maternal system, and his failure to recognise its favourable +influence on the status of women. In his opinion this system of +tracing descent does not materially affect the relative power of the +two sexes.[43] In such a view I cannot help thinking he is mistaken; +and I am supported in this by the fact that he makes the important +qualification that the husband's power is impaired when he lives among +his wife's kinsfolk. Now, it is this form of marriage, or the more +primitive custom when the husband only visits his wife, that is +practised among the peoples who have preserved the complete maternal +family. Under such a domestic arrangement, which really reverses the +position of the wife and the husband, mother-right is found; this +maternal marriage is, indeed, the true foundation of the woman's +power. Where the marriage system has been changed from the maternal to +the paternal form, and the wife is taken from the protection of her +own kindred to live in the home of her husband, even when descent is +still traced through the mother, the chief authority is almost always +in the hands of the father. Thus it need not cause surprise to find +mother-descent combined with a fully established patriarchal rule. But +among such peoples practices may often be met with that can be +explained only as survivals from an earlier maternal system. Moreover, +in other cases, we meet with tribes that have not yet advanced to the +maternal stage. A study of existing tribes, and of the records of +ancient civilisations, will yield any number of examples. + + [42] _History of Human Marriage_, pp. 97-104. + + [43] "The Position of Woman in Early Civilisations," + _Sociological Papers_, 1904. + +Unmistakable traces of mother-right may, indeed, be found by those, +whose eyes are opened to see, in all races. In peasant festivals and +dances, and in many religious beliefs and ceremonies, we may meet +with such survivals. They may be traced in our common language, +especially in the words used for sex and for kin relationships. We can +also find them shadowed in certain of our marriage rites, and sex +habits to-day. Another source of evidence is furnished by the +widespread early occurrence of mother-goddesses, who must be connected +with a system which places the mother in the forefront of religious +thought. Further proof may be gathered from folk stories and heroic +legends, whose interest offers rich rewards in suggestions of a time +when honour rested with the sex to whom the inheritance belonged. +Thus, the difficulty of establishing a claim for mother-right and +mother-power does not rest in any paucity of proof--but rather in its +superabundance. + +It would be superfluous for me to dwell on the difficulties of such an +inquiry. The subject is immensely complicated and wide-reaching, so +that I must keep strictly to the path set before me. It is my purpose +to outline the domestic relations in the maternal family clan, and to +examine the sex-customs and forms of marriage. I shall limit myself to +those matters which throw some light on the position of women, and +shall touch on the features of social life only in so far as they +illustrate this. These questions will be discussed in the three +succeeding chapters. Some portion of the matter given has appeared +already in the section on the "Mother-Age Civilisation" in _The Truth +about Woman_, which gives examples of the maternal family in America, +Australia, India and other countries. Such examples formed a necessary +part of the historical section of that work; they are even more +necessary to this inquiry. Many new examples will be given, and the +examination of the whole subject will be more exhaustive. These +chapters will be followed by a discussion of certain difficulties, and +an examination of the transition period in which the maternal family +gave way to the second patriarchal stage with the family founded on +the authority of the father. A short chapter will be devoted to the +work done by women in primitive tribes and its importance in relation +to their position. Then will come as full an account as is possible of +the traces of the mother-age to be found in the records of ancient and +existing civilised races; while a brief chapter will be added on +certain myths and legends which help to elucidate the theory of +women's early power. The final chapter will treat of general +conclusions, with an attempt to suggest certain facts which seem to +bear on present-day problems. Throughout I shall support my +investigation (as far as can be done in a work primarily designed for +a text-book) by examples, which, in each case, have been carefully +chosen from trustworthy evidence of those who are personally +acquainted with the habits of the peoples of whom they write. I shall +try to avoid falling into the error of a one-sided view. Facts will be +more important than reflections, and as far as possible, I shall let +these speak for themselves. + +Let us now concentrate our attention on the complete maternal family, +where the clan is grouped around the mothers. + +The examples in this chapter will be taken from the aboriginal tribes +of North and South America among whom traces of the maternal system +are common, while in some cases mother-right is still in force. At the +period of European discovery the American Indians were already well +advanced in the primitive arts, and were very far removed from +savagery. Their domestic and social habits showed an organisation of a +very remarkable character; among certain tribes there was a communal +maternal family, interesting and complicated in its arrangements. Such +customs had prevailed from an antiquity so remote that their origin +seems to have been lost in the obscurity of the ages. It is possible, +however, to see how this communism in living may have arisen and +developed out of the conditions we have studied in the far distant +patriarchal groups. For this reason they afford a very special +interest to our inquiry. + +Morgan, who was commissioned by the American Government to report on +the customs of the aboriginal inhabitants, gives a description of the +system as it existed among the Iroquois-- + + "Each household was made up on the principle of kin. The + married women, usually sisters, own or collateral, were of + the same _gens_ or clan, the symbol or _totem_ of which was + often painted upon the house, while their husbands and the + wives of their sons belonged to several other _gentes_. The + children were of the _gens_ of their mother. As a rule the + sons brought home their wives, and in some cases the + husbands of the daughters were admitted to the maternal + household. Thus each household was composed of persons of + different _gentes_, but the predominating number in each + household would be of the same _gens_, namely, that of the + mother."[44] + + [44] Morgan, _Houses and House-Life of the American + Aborigines_, p. 64. + +We see here, at once, the persistence and development of the +conditions and later customs of the patriarchal family-group, now +evolved into the clan. In the far-distant days the jealous spirit was +still strong; now it has been curbed and regulated, and the female +yoke binds the clan together. We have the mothers as the centre of the +communal home; the sons bringing their wives to live in the circle, +while the daughters' husbands are received as permanent guests. Under +such a system the mothers are related to each other, and belong to the +same clan, and their children after them; the fathers are not bound +together by the same ties and are of different clans. The limits +within which marriage can take place are fixed, and we can trace the +action of the ancient primal law in the bar that prohibits the husband +from being of the same clan as his wife. Though the husband takes up +his abode in the wife's family, dwelling there _during her life and +his good behaviour_,[45] he still belongs to his own family. The +children of the marriage are of the kindred of the mother, and never +of his kindred: they are lost to his family. Thus there can be no +extension of the clan through the males, it is the wife's clan that is +extended by marriage.[46] + + [45] Tylor, "The Matriarchal Family System," _Nineteenth + Century_, July 1896. + + [46] McLennan, _The Patriarchal Theory_, p. 208. Heriot, + _Travels through the Canadas_, p. 323. + +The important point to note is that the conditions of the clan are +still favourable to the social conduct of the women, who are attached +much more closely to the home and to each other than can be the case +with the men. The wife never leaves the home, because she is +considered the mistress, or, at least, the heiress. In the house all +the duties and the honour as the head of the household fall upon her. +This position may be illustrated by the wife's obligation to her +husband and his family, which are curiously in contrast with what is +usually expected from a woman. Thus a wife is not only bound to give +food to her husband, to cook his provisions when he sets out on +expeditions, but she has likewise to assist members of his family when +they cultivate their fields, and to provide wood for an allotted +period for the use of his family. In this work she is assisted by +women of her clan. The women are also required in case of need to look +after their parents. + +There are many interesting customs in the domestic life of the +Iroquois. I can notice a few only. The system of living, at the time +Morgan visited the tribes, consisted of a plan at once novel and +distinctive. Each _gens_ or clan lived in a long tenement house, large +enough to accommodate the separate families. These houses were +erected on frames of poles, covered with bark, and were from fifty to +a hundred feet in length. A passage way led down the centre, and rooms +were portioned off on either side: the doors were at each end of the +passage. An apartment was allotted to each family. There were several +fireplaces, usually one for every four families, which were placed in +the central passage: there were no chimneys. The Iroquois lived in +these long houses, _Ho-de-no-sau-nee_, up to A.D. 1700, and in +occasional instances for a hundred years later. They were not peculiar +to the Iroquois, but were used by many tribes. Unfortunately this wise +plan of living has now almost entirely passed away. + +I wish that I had space to give a fuller account of these +families.[47] Each household practised communism in living, and made a +common stock of the provisions acquired by fishing and hunting, and by +the cultivation of maize and plants. The curse of individual +accumulation would seem not to have existed. Ownership of land and all +property was held in common. Each household was directed by the matron +who supervised its domestic economy. After the daily meal was cooked +at the several fires, the matron was summoned, and it was her duty to +apportion the food from the kettle to the different families according +to their respective needs. What food remained was placed in the +charge of another woman until it was required by the matron. In this +connection Mr. Morgan says: "This plan of life shows that their +domestic economy was not without method, and it displays the care and +management of women, low down in barbarism, for husbanding their +resources and for improving their conditions." + + [47] The reader is referred to Morgan's interesting _Houses + and House-Life of the Aborigines_. It is from this work that + many of the facts I give have been taken. + +In this statement, made by one who was intimately acquainted with the +customs of this people there is surely confirmation of what I have +claimed for women? The further we go in our inquiry the more we are +driven to the conclusion that the favourable conditions uniting the +women with one another exerted a powerful influence on their +character. I think this is a view of the maternal family system that +has never received its proper meed of attention. + +It must be noted that the women did not eat with the men; but the fact +that the apportioning of the food was in the women's hands is +sufficient proof that this separation of women and men, common among +most primitive peoples, has no connection with the superiority of one +sex over the other. It is interesting to find that only one prepared +meal was served in each day. But the pots were always kept boiling +over the fires, and any one who was hungry, either from the household +or from any other part of the village, had a right to order it to be +taken off and to eat as he or she pleased. + +We may notice the influence of their communistic living in all the +Indian customs. At all times the law of hospitality was strictly +observed. Food was dispensed in every case to those who needed it; no +excuse was ever made to avoid giving. If through misfortune one +household fell into want, the needs were freely supplied from the +stock laid by for future use in another household. Hunger and +destitution could not exist in any part of an Indian village or +encampment while plenty prevailed elsewhere. Such generosity at a time +when food was often difficult to obtain, and its supply was the first +concern of life, is a remarkable fact. Nor does this generosity seem, +as might be thought, to have led to idleness and improvidence. He who +begged, when he could work, was stigmatised with the disgraceful name +of "poltroon" or "beggar"; but the miser who refused to assist his +neighbour was branded as "a bad character." Mr. Morgan, commenting on +this phase of the Indian life says: "I much doubt if the civilised +world would have in their institutions any system which can properly +be called more humane and charitable." + +These reflections induce one to ask: What were the causes of this +humane system of living among a people considered as uncivilised? Now, +I do not wish to claim overmuch for women. We have seen, however, that +the control and distribution of the supply of food was placed in the +hands of the matrons, thus their association with the giving of food +must be accepted. Is not this fact sufficient to indicate the reason +that made possible this communism? To me it is plain that these +remarkable institutions were connected with the maternal family, in +which the collective interests were more considered than is possible +in a patriarchal society, based upon individual inclination and +proprietary interests. + +A brief notice must now be given to the system of government. An +Indian tribe was composed of several _gentes_ or clans, united in what +is known as a _phratry_ or brotherhood. The tribe was an assemblage of +the _gentes_. The _phratry_ among the Iroquois was organised partly +for social and partly for religious objects. Each _gens_ was ruled by +chiefs of two grades, distinguished by Morgan as the _sachem_ and +common chiefs. The _sachem_ was the official head of the _gens_, and +was elected by its adult members, male and female. The _sachems_ and +chiefs claimed no superiority and were never more than the exponents +of the popular will of the people. Unanimity among the _sachems_ was +required on all public questions. This was the fundamental law of the +brotherhood; if all efforts failed to gain agreement the matter in +question was dropped. Under such a system individual rule or the power +of one _gens_ over the other became impossible. All the members of the +different _gentes_ were personally free; equal in privileges, and in +position, and in rights. "Liberty, equality, and fraternity," though +never formulated, were the cardinal principles of the _gens_.[48] Mr. +Morgan holds the opinion that "this serves to explain that sense of +independence and personal dignity universally attributed to the Indian +character." + + [48] Morgan, _Ancient Society_, p. 62. Also _Houses and + House-Life of the American Aborigines_. + +Regarding the part taken by the women in the government, we have very +remarkable testimony. Schoolcraft,[49] in his elaborate study of the +customs of the Indian tribes, states that the women had "a +conservative power in the political deliberations. The matrons had +their representatives in the public councils, and they exercised a +negative, or what we call a veto, power, in the important question of +the declaration of war." They had also the right to interpose in +bringing about a peace. Heriot also affirms: "In the women is vested +the foundation of all real authority. They give efficiency to the +councils and are the arbiters of war and peace.... It is also to their +disposal that the captured slaves are committed." And again: "Although +by custom the leaders are chosen from among the men, and the affairs +which concern the tribe are settled by a council of ancients, it would +yet seem that they only represented the women, and assisted in the +discussion of subjects which principally related to that sex."[50] + + [49] _Historical and Statistical Information Respecting the + History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the + United States_, 6 vols., Vol. III, p. 195. See also _Notes on + the Iroquois_ and _The Indian in his Wigwam_. + + [50] Heriot, _op. cit._, pp. 321-322. + +These remarkable social and domestic conditions were common to the +American Indians under the maternal system. The direct influence of +women, as directors through the men, is a circumstance of much +interest. Among the Senecas, an Iroquoian tribe with the complete +maternal family, the authority was very certainly in the hands of the +women. Morgan quotes an account of their family system, given by the +Rev. Ashur Wright for many years a resident among the Senecas, and +familiar with their language and customs. + + "As to their family system, it is probable that one clan + predominated (in the houses), the women taking in husbands, + however, from other clans, and sometimes for novelty, some + of their sons bringing in their young wives, until they felt + brave enough to leave their mothers. Usually the female + portion ruled the house, and were doubtless clannish enough + about it. The stores were in common, but woe to the luckless + husband or lover who was too shiftless to do his share of + the providing. No matter how many children or whatever goods + he might have in the house, he might at any time be ordered + to pack up his blanket and budge, and after such orders it + would not be healthful for him to attempt to disobey; the + house would be too hot for him, and unless saved by the + intercession of some aunt or grandmother, he must retreat to + his own clan, or, as was often done, go and start a new + matrimonial alliance in some other. The women were the great + power among the clans as everywhere else. They did not + hesitate, when occasion required, to 'knock off the horns,' + as it was technically called, from the head of a chief and + send him back to the ranks of the warrior. The original + nomination of the chief also always rested with them." + +Mr. Morgan affirms his acceptance of the Indian women's authority, and +says, after quoting this passage: "The mother-right and gynaecocracy +among the Iroquois here plainly indicated is not over-drawn. The +mothers and their children, as we have seen, were of the same _gens_, +and to them the household belonged. The position of the mother was +eminently favourable to her influence in the household, and tended to +strengthen the maternal bond."[51] + + [51] _Houses and House-Life of American Aborigines_, pp. + 65-66. + +It is important to note that among the Iroquois polygamy is not +permitted, nor does it appear ever to be practised. Many instances are +reported in the Seneca tribe of a woman having more than one husband, +but an Iroquoian man is never allowed more than one wife.[52] This is +the more remarkable when we consider the fact that the mothers nurse +their children for a very long period, during which time they do not +cohabit with their husbands. Such entire absence of polygamy is to be +explained, in part, by the maternal marriage, a system which in its +origin was closely connected with sexual regulation; nor would +plurality of wives be possible in a society in which all the members +of both sexes enjoyed equal privileges, and were in a position of +absolute equality. Marriages usually take place at an early age. Under +the maternal form, the husband living with the wife worked for her +family, and commonly gained his footing only through his service. As +suitor he was required to make presents to the bride's family. During +the first year of marriage all the produce of his hunting expeditions +belonged to the wife, and afterwards he shared his goods equally with +her. The marriages were negotiated by the mothers: sometimes the +father was consulted, but this was little more than a compliment, as +his approbation or opposition was usually disregarded. Often it was +customary for the bridegroom to seek private interviews at night with +his betrothed; clearly a survival from a time when such secrecy in +love was necessary. In some instances it was enough if the suitor went +and sat by the girl's side in her apartment; if she permitted this, +and remained where she was, it was taken for consent, and the act +would suffice for marriage. Girls were allowed the right of choice in +the selection of their partners. There is abundant testimony as to the +happiness of the marriage state. Divorce was, however, allowed by +mutual consent, and was carried out without dispute, quarrel or +contradiction.[53] If a husband and a wife could not agree, they +parted amicably, or two unhappy pairs would exchange husbands and +wives. An early French missionary remonstrated with a couple on such a +transaction, and was told: "My wife and I could not agree; my +neighbour was in the same case, so we exchanged wives and all four +were content. What can be more reasonable than to render one another +mutually happy, when it costs so little, and does nobody any +harm."[54] It would seem that these maternal peoples have solved many +difficulties of domestic and social life better than we ourselves have +done. + + [52] Morgan, _League of the Iroquois_, p. 324. Heriot, _op. + cit._, pp. 323, 329. Schoolcraft, _op. cit._, Vol. III, p. + 191. + + [53] Heriot, pp. 231-237. See also Report of an Official of + Indian Affairs on two of the Iroquoian tribes, cited by + Hartland. _Primitive Paternity_, Vol. I, p. 298. + + [54] _Charleroix_, Vol. V, p. 48, quoted by Hartland, _op. + cit._, Vol. II, p. 66. + +The Wyandots, another Iroquoian tribe, maintained the maternal +household, though they seem to have reached a later stage of +development than the Senecas. They camped in the form of a horse-shoe, +every clan together in regular order. Marriage between members of the +same clan was forbidden; the children belonged to the clan of the +mother. The husbands retained all their rights and privileges in their +own _gentes_, though they lived in the _gentes_ of their wives. After +marriage the pair resided, for a time, at least, with the wife's +mother, but afterwards they set up housekeeping for themselves.[55] + + [55] Powell, _Rep. Bur. Ethn._, I, 63. + +We may note in this change of residence the creeping in of changes +which inevitably led in time to the decay of the maternal family and +the reassertion of the patriarchal authority of the father. This is +illustrated further by the Musquakies, also belonging to the +Algonquian stock. Though still organised in clans, descent is no +longer reckoned through the mother; the bridegroom, however, serves +his wife's family, and he lives in her home. This does not make him +of her clan, but she belongs to his, till his death or divorce +separates her from him. As for the children, the minors at the +termination of the marriage belong to the mother's clan, but those who +had had the puberty feast are counted to the father's clan.[56] + + [56] Owen: _Musquakie Indians_, p. 72. + +The male authority was felt chiefly in periods of war. This may be +illustrated by the Wyandots, who have an elaborate system of +government. In each _gens_ there is a small council composed of four +women, called _yu-wai-yu-wa-na_; chosen by the heads of the household. +These women select a chief of the _gens_ from its male members, that +is, from their brothers and sons. He is the head of the _gentile_ +council. The council of the tribe is composed of the aggregated +_gentile_ councils; and is thus made up of four-fifths of women and +one-fifth of men. The _sachem_ of the tribes, or tribal-chief, is +chosen by the chiefs of the _gentes_. All the civil government of the +_gens_ and of the tribe is carried on by these councils; and as the +women so largely outnumbered the men, who are also--with the one +exception of the tribal-chief--chosen by them, it is evident that the +social government of the _gens_ and tribe is largely controlled by +them. On military affairs, however, the men have the direct authority, +though, as has been stated, the women have a veto power and are +"allowed to exercise a decision in favour of peace." There is a +military council of all the able-bodied men of the tribe, with a +military chief chosen by the council.[57] This seems a very wise +adjustment of civic duties; the constructive social work and the +maintaining of peace directed by the women; the destructive work of +war in the hands of men. + + [57] I have summarised the account of the Wyandot government + as given by Hartland, who quotes from Powell's "Wyandot + Government," _First Annual Report of the Bureau of American + Ethnology_, 1879-1880, pp. 61 ff. + +Powell gives an interesting account of their communal life. Each clan +owns its own lands which it cultivates; but within these lands each +household has its own patch. It is the women councillors who partition +the clan lands among the households. The partition takes place every +two years. But while each household has its own patch of ground, the +cultivation is communal; that is, all the able-bodied women of the +clan take a share in cultivating every patch. Each clan has a right to +the service of all its women in the cultivation of the soil. It would +be difficult to find a more striking example than this of communism in +labour. I claim it as proof of what I have stated in an earlier +chapter of the conditions driving women into combination and social +conduct. + +If we turn now to the South American continent we shall find many +interesting survivals of the complete maternal family, in particular +among the Pueblo peoples of New Mexico and Arizona, so called from the +Spanish word _pueblo_, a town. The customs of the people have been +carefully studied and recorded by Bancroft, Schoolcraft, Morgan, +Tylor, McGee, the Spanish historian, Herrera, and other travellers. +When first visited by European anthropologists the country was divided +into provinces, and in many provinces the people lived in communities +or little republics. The communal life was here more developed even +than among the Northern Indians. The people lived together in joint +tenement houses, much larger, and of more advanced architecture, than +the long houses of the Iroquois. These houses are constructed of +adobe, brick and stone, imbedded in mortar; one house will contain as +many as 50, 100, 200, and in some cases, 500 apartments. Speaking of +these houses, Bancroft states: "The houses are common property, and +both women and men assist in building them; the men erect the wooden +frames, and the women make the mortar and build the walls. In place of +lime for mortar they mix ashes with earth and charcoal. They make +_adobes_, or sun-dried bricks, by mixing ashes and earth with +water."[58] Cushing, who visited and lived with the Zuni Indians, +records that among them the houses are entirely built by the women, +the men supplying the material. These houses are erected in terrace +form; within they are provided with windows, fireplaces and chimneys, +and the entrance to the different apartments is gained by rude pole +ladders. The pueblo, or village, consists of one or two, or sometimes +a greater number of these houses, each containing a hundred or more +families, according to the number of apartments. + + [58] _The Native Races of the Pacific States of South + America_, 5 vols., Vol. I, p. 555. See also Morgan. + +Among the Creek Indians of Georgia, Morgan recounts a somewhat +different mode of communal dwelling as formerly being practised. In +1790 they were living in small houses, placed in clusters of from four +to eight together; and each cluster forming a _gens_ or clan, who ate +and lived in common. The food was prepared in one hut, and each family +sent for its portion. The smallest of these "garden cities" contained +10 to 40 groups of houses, the largest from 50 to 200.[59] These +communistic dwelling-houses are so interesting and so important that I +would add a few words. Here, we have among these maternal peoples a +system of living which appears to be identical with the improved +conditions of associated dwelling now beginning to be tried. How often +we consider new things that really are very old! In the light of these +examples, our co-operative dwelling-houses and garden cities can no +longer be regarded as experiments. They were in use in the mother-age, +when many of our new (!) ideas seem to have been common. Can this be +because of the extended power held by women, who are more practical +and careful of detail than men are? I believe that it is possible. +This would explain, too, the revival of the same ideas to-day, when +women are taking up their part again in social life. To those who are +questioning the waste and discomfort of our solitary homes I would +recommend a careful study of this primitive communism. I would point +out the connection of the social ideal with the maternal family, while +the home that is solitary and unsocial must be regarded as having +arisen from the patriarchal customs. I have had occasion again and +again to note that collective interests are more considered by women; +and individual interests by men. This, at least, is how I see it; and +a study of the Indian maternal families seems to give confirmation to +such a conclusion. + + [59] Schoolcraft, _Indian Tribes_, p. 262, gives an account + of these houses. A similar plan of living is reported of the + Maya Indians. + +But to return to the Pueblo peoples. The tribes are divided into +exogamous totem clans. Kinship is reckoned through the women, and in +several tribes we find the complete maternal family. Among such +peoples the husband goes to live with the wife and becomes an inmate +of her family. If the house is not large enough, additional rooms are +built on to the communal home and connected with those already +occupied. Hence a family with many daughters increases, while one +consisting of sons dies out. + +The marriage customs and relationships between the young men and the +girls are instructive; they vary in the different tribes, but have +some points in common. The Pueblos are monogamists, and polygamy is +not allowed amongst them. Bancroft records a very curious custom. The +morals of the young people are carefully guarded by a kind of secret +police, whose duty it is to report all irregularities; and in the +event of such taking place the young man and the girl are compelled to +marry.[60] Now, whatever opinion may be held of such interference with +the love-making of the young people, it affords strong proof of the +error which has hitherto connected the maternal system with +unregulated sexual relationships. This is a fact I am again and again +compelled to point out, risking the fear of wearying the reader. + + [60] Bancroft, _op. cit._, pp. 546, 547. + +Among some tribes freedom is permitted to the women before marriage. +Heriot states that the natives who allow this justify the custom, and +say "that a young woman is mistress of her own person, and a free +agent."[61] The tie of marriage is, however, observed more strictly +than among many civilised monogamous races. And this is so, although +divorce is always easy and by mutual consent; a couple being able to +separate at once if they are dissatisfied with each other. Here are +facts that may well cause us to think. As for the courtship, the usual +custom is reversed; when a girl is disposed to marry she does not wait +for a young man to propose to her, but selects one to her liking, and +then consults her family as to his suitability as a husband. The +suitor has to serve the bride's family before he can be accepted, and +in some cases the conditions are binding and exceedingly curious. + + [61] Heriot, _op. cit._, p. 340. + +How simple and really beautiful are the conditions of life among these +people may be seen from the idyllic record of the Zuni Indians given +by Mr. Cushing.[62] He describes how the Zuni girl, when taking a +fancy to a young man, conveys a present of thin _hewe_-bread to him as +a token, and becomes his affianced, or as they say "his-to-be." He +then sews clothes and moccasins for her, makes her a necklace of gay +beads, and combs her hair out on the terrace in the sun. After his +term of service is over, and all is settled, he takes up his residence +with her; then the married life begins. "With the woman rests the +security of the marriage tie, and, it must be said, in her high +honour, that she rarely abuses the privilege; that is, never sends her +husband 'to the home of his fathers' unless he richly deserves it." +Divorce is by mutual consent, and a husband and wife would "rather +separate than live together unharmoniously." This testimony is +confirmed by Mrs. Stevenson, who visited the Zunis, and writes with +enthusiasm of the people. "Their domestic life might well serve as an +example for the civilised world. They do not have large families. The +husband and wife are deeply attached to one another and to their +children." "The keynote of this harmony is the supremacy of the wife +in the home. The house with all that is in it is hers, descending to +her through her mother from a long line of ancestresses; and the +husband is merely her permanent guest. The children--at least the +female children--have their share in the common home; the father has +none." "Outside the house the husband has some property in the fields, +although in earlier times he had no possessory rights and the land was +held in common. Modern influences have reached the Zuni, and +mother-right seems to have begun its inevitable decay."[63] + + [62] Cushing, "My Visit to the Zuni Indians," _Century + Magazine_, 1883. Prof. Tylor gives these passages in his + account of the Zuni Indians, "The Patriarchal Family System," + _Nineteenth Century_, 1896. I have quoted from him. + + [63] Mrs. Stevenson, in the _Report Bureau Ethnological_, + XXIII, pp. 290-293. + +The Hopis, another Pueblo tribe, are more conservative, and with them +the women own all the property except the horses and donkeys, which +belong to the men. Among the Pueblos the women commonly have control +over the granary, and they are very provident about the future. +Ordinarily they try to have one year's provisions on hand. It is only +when two years of scarcity succeed each other that the community +suffers hunger. Like the Zunis, the Hopis are monogamists. Sexual +freedom is, however, permitted to a girl before marriage. This in no +way detracts from her good repute; even if she has given birth to a +child "she will be sure to marry later on, unless she happens to be +shockingly ugly." Nor does the child suffer, for among these maternal +peoples, the bastard takes an equal place with the child born in +wedlock. The bride lives for the first few weeks with her husband's +family, during which time the marriage takes place, the ceremony being +performed by the bridegroom's mother, whose family also provides the +bride with her wedding outfit. The couple then return to the home of +the wife's parents, where they remain, either permanently, or for some +years, until they can obtain a separate dwelling. The husband is +always a stranger, and is so treated by his wife's kin. The dwelling +of his mother remains his true home, in sickness he returns to her to +be nursed, and stays with her until he is well again. Often his +position in his wife's home is so irksome that he severs his +connection with her and her family, and returns to his old home. On +the other hand, it is not uncommon for the wife, should her husband be +absent, to place his goods outside the door: an intimation which he +well understands, and does not intrude upon her again.[64] + + [64] Voth, _Traditions of the Hopi_, pp. 67, 96, 133. _Rep. + Bur. Ethn._, XIII, 340. Hartland, _Primitive Paternity_, Vol. + II, pp. 74-76. + +Again, among the Pueblo peoples, we may consider the Sai. Like the +other tribes they are divided into exogamous totem clans; descent is +traced only through the mother. The tribe through various reasons has +been greatly reduced in numbers, and whole clans have died out, and +under these circumstances exogamy has ceased to be strictly enforced. +This has led to other changes. The Sai are still normally monogamous. +When a young man wishes to marry a girl he speaks first to her +parents; if they are willing he addresses himself to her. On the day +of the marriage he goes alone to her home, carrying his presents +wrapped in a blanket, his mother and father having preceded him +thither. When the young people are seated together the parents address +them in turn, enjoining unity and forbearance. This constitutes the +ceremony. Tribal custom requires the bridegroom to reside with the +wife's family.[65] + + [65] _Rep. Bur. Ethn._ IX, p. 19. Hartland, _Ibid._, pp. + 76-77. + +All the Pueblo peoples are more advanced than the greater number of +the neighbouring tribes; their matrimonial customs are more refined, +their domestic life much happier, and they have an appreciation of +love, a rare thing in primitive peoples.[66] Among other tribes +purchase of a wife is common, always a sure sign of the enslavement of +women. Thus in Columbia what is most prized in a woman is her aptitude +for labour, and the price paid for her (usually in horses) depends on +her capacity as a beast of burden. Sometimes, as in California, a +suitor obtains a wife on credit, but then the man is called "half +married;" and until her price is paid he has to labour as a slave for +her parents. Here, as elsewhere, morality is simply a custom of habit; +Bancroft says that purchase of a wife has become accepted as +honourable, so that among the Californian Redskins "the children of a +wife who has cost nothing to her husband are looked down upon."[67] +Such customs are in sharp contrast to the liberty granted to the woman +among the Pueblos. As an example of women's power carried to the +limit of tyranny, we may note the Nicaraguans, of whom Bancroft states +that "the husbands are said to have been so much under the control of +their wives that they were obliged to do the housework, while the +women attended to the trading." Under these circumstances it is +perhaps not surprising to find the women described as "great shrews, +who would on the slightest provocation drive their offending husbands +out of the house."[68] This is a curious case of the despotic rule of +women. Westermarck accounts for their position by the strict monogamy +that is enforced, but I do not think this can be the true +explanation.[69] + + [66] Bancroft, _op. cit._, Vol. I, p. 549. + + [67] Bancroft, _op. cit._, Vol. I, p. 277. Power's _Tribes of + California_, pp. 22, 56. + + [68] Bancroft, _op. cit._, Vol. II, p. 685. + + [69] _History of Human Marriage_, p. 500. + +Among the Guanas the women make their own stipulations with their +lovers before marriage, arranging what they are to do in the +household. They are also said to decide the conditions of the +marriage, whether it is to be monogamous, or if polygamy or polyandry +is to be allowed.[70] The Zapotecs and other tribes inhabiting the +Isthmus of Tehuantepec, are remarkable for "the gentleness, affection, +and frugality that characterises the marital relations. Polygamy is +not permitted, which is very remarkable as the women greatly outnumber +the men."[71] + + [70] Azara, _Voyages dans l'Amerique Meridionale_, Vol. II, + p. 93. + + [71] Bancroft, _op. cit._, Vol. I, pp. 661-662. + +Lastly, I wish to bring forward a very striking example of the +complete maternal family among the Seri Indians, on the south-west +coast of North America, now reduced to a single tribe. Their curious +and interesting marriage customs have been described by McGee, who +visited the people to report on their customs for the American +Government. The Seri are probably the most primitive tribe in the +American continent. At the time of Mr. McGee's visit they preserved +the maternal system in its early form, and are therefore an +instructive example by which to estimate the position of the +women.[72] + + [72] "The Beginning of Marriage," _American Anthropologist_, + Vol. IX, p. 376. Also _Rep. Bur. Ethn._, XVII, 275. + + "The tribe is divided into exogamous totem clans. Marriage + is arranged exclusively by the women. The elder woman of the + suitor's family carries the proposal to the girl's clan + mother. If this is entertained, the question of marriage is + discussed at length by the matrons of the two clans. The + girl herself is consulted; a _jacal_ is erected for her, and + after many deliberations, the bridegroom is provisionally + received into the wife's clan for a year under conditions of + the most exacting character. He is expected to prove his + worthiness of a permanent relationship by demonstrating his + ability as a provider, and by showing himself an implacable + foe to aliens. He is compelled to support all the female + relatives of his bride's family by the products of his skill + and industry in hunting and fishing for one year. There is + also another provision of a very curious nature. The lover + is permitted to share the _jacal_, or sleeping-robe, + provided for the prospective matron by her kinswomen, not + as a privileged spouse, but merely as a protective + companion; and throughout this probationary time he is + compelled to maintain continence--he must display the most + indubitable proof of his moral force." + +This test of the Seri lover must not mistakenly be thought to be +connected, as might appear, with the modern idea of continence. As is +pointed out by McGee, it arose out of the primitive sexual taboos, and +is imposed on the young man as a test of his strength to abstain from +any sexual relationships outside the proscribed limits. Such a moral +test may once have been common, but seems to have been lost except +among the Seri; though a curious vestige appears in the anti-nuptial +treatment of the bridegroom, in the Salish tribe. The material test is +common among many peoples, and must not be confused with the later +custom of payment for the wife by presents given to her family. Still +this Seri marriage is one of the most curious I know among any +primitive peoples. And the continence demanded from the bridegroom +appears more extraordinary if we compare it with the freedom granted +to the bride. "During this period the always dignified position +occupied by the daughters of the house culminates." Among other +privileges she is allowed to receive the "most intimate attentions +from the clan-fellows of the group." "She is the receiver of the +supplies furnished by her lover, measuring his competence as would-be +husband. Through his energy she is enabled to dispense largess with a +lavish hand, and thus to dignify her clan and honour her spouse in the +most effective way known to primitive life; and at the same time she +enjoys the immeasurable moral stimulus of realising she is the arbiter +of the fate of a man who becomes a warrior or an outcast at her +bidding, and through him of the future of two clans--she is raised to +a responsibility in both personal and tribal affairs which, albeit +temporary, is hardly lower than that of the warrior chief." At the +close of the year, if all goes well, the probation ends in a feast +provided by the lover, who now becomes the husband, and finally enters +his wife's _jacal_ as "consort-guest." His position is wholly +subordinate, and without any authority whatever, either over his +children or over the property. In his mother's hut he has rights, +which seem to continue after his marriage, but in his wife's hut he +has none. + +I have now collected together, with as much exactitude as I could, +what is known of the maternal family in the American continents. There +are many tribes in which descent is reckoned through the father, and +it would be bold to assert that these have all passed through the +maternal stage. An examination of their customs shows, in some cases, +survivals, which point to such conclusion; among other tribes it seems +probable that the maternal clan has not developed. As illustrations of +mother-power, I claim the examples given speak for themselves. It may, +of course, be urged that these complete maternal families are +exceptions, and thus to dismiss them as unimportant. But this is +surely an unscientific way of settling the question. One has to accept +these cases, or to prove that they are untrue. Moreover, I have by no +means exhausted the evidence; and to these complete maternal families +might be added examples from other tribes which would furnish similar +proofs, but there is such consistency of custom among them all that +further accounts may be dispensed with. + +There is one other matter for which I would claim attention before +closing this chapter on the American Indians, and that is the +remarkable similarity to be noticed in many tribes between the faces +of the men and the women. To me this is a point of deep interest, +though I do not claim to understand it. My attention was first drawn +to notice this likeness between the two sexes when I came to know some +Iroquois natives who live in England. I was at once struck with the +appearance of the men: though strong and powerfully built, they were +strikingly like women. Since then I have examined many portraits of +the North Indian tribes; I have found that the great majority of men +approach much more nearly to the feminine than the male type. I might, +however, hesitate to bring the matter forward, were it founded only on +my own observation. But in my reading I have found an important +reference to the question in a recent work, "The Indians of North +America in Recent Times," by Mr. Cyrus Thomas, Ph.D., Archaeologist, in +the _Bureau of American Ethnology_. He writes as follows (p. 41)-- + + "Another curious fact, which has not hitherto received + special notice, though apparently of considerable interest, + is the prevailing feminine physiognomy of the males, at + least of those of the northern section. If any one will take + the trouble to study carefully a hundred or more good + photographs of males of pure blood he will find that two + thirds, if not a greater proportion, show feminine faces. + The full significance of this fact is not apparent, but it + seems to bear to some extent upon the question of the + evolution of the race." + +What this fact suggests is a problem to which it is very difficult +even to guess at an answer. Does this lack of differentiation in the +physiognomy of the Indians point to something much deeper? Are the men +really like the women? Such a conception opens up considerations of +very great significance. So far as I understand the matter, it appears +that, as well as the deep inherent differences between the two sexes, +there are other differences due to divergence in function. It seems +probable that changes in environment or in function (as when one sex, +for some reason or other, performs the duties usually undertaken by +the other sex), may alter or modify the differences which tend to +thrust the sexes apart. I feel very sure that there can be changes in +the secondary sexual characters of the male and female. This is +sufficiently proved by many examples. Can we, then, accept the theory +that an environment, which favours women's forceful function, may +modify the infinitely complicated characters of sex, which, as yet, we +so imperfectly understand? I do not know with any certainty. Yet I can +see no other interpretation; and, if I mistake not, it may be possible +in this way to cast a light on one of the most difficult problems with +which we are faced to-day. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE MATERNAL FAMILY AMONG THE KHASIS + + +There are, perhaps, no people among whom the family in the full +maternal form can be studied with more advantage than the Khasi Hill +tribes, in the north-east of India. This race has a special interest +as a people who, in modern times, have preserved their independence +and their ancestral customs through many centuries. We find +mother-descent strictly practised, combined with great and even +extraordinary rights on the part of the women. The isolation of the +Khasis may account for this conservatism, but, as will appear later, +there are other causes to explain the freedom and power of the Khasi +women. We are fortunate in having a fuller knowledge of the Khasi +tribes, than is common of many primitive peoples. Their institutions +and interesting domestic customs have been carefully noted by +ethnologists and travellers, and in all accounts there is united +testimony to the high status of the women. I will quote a statement of +Sir Charles Lyell,[73] which affirms this fact very strongly-- + + [73] In an Introduction to _The Khasis_, by P. R. Gurdon. + This work, written by one who had a long and intimate + knowledge of the Khasi tribes, gives an admirable account of + the people, their institutions and domestic life. See also + Sir J. Hooker, _Himalayan Journal_, Vol. II, pp. 273 _et + seq._; Dalton, _Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal_; and a + series of papers by J. R. Logan, in the _Journal of the + Indian Archipelago_, 1850-1857. Mr. Frazer (_The Golden + Bough_, Part IV, _Adonis, Attis, Osiris_, p. 387) gives a + short account of the Khasis; also McGee in the article _The + Beginning of Marriage_ already quoted. + + "Their social organisation presents one of the most perfect + examples still surviving of matriarchal institutions carried + out with a logic and a thoroughness which, to those + accustomed to regard the status and authority of the father + as the foundation of society, are exceedingly remarkable. + Not only is the mother the head and source and only bond of + union of the family, in the most primitive part of the + hills, the Synteng country, she is the only owner of real + property, and through her alone is inheritance transmitted. + The father has no kinship with his children, who belong to + their mother's clan; what he earns goes to his own + matriarchal stock, and at his death his bones are deposited + in the cromlech of his mother's kin." + +Such testimony cannot be put aside. I wish it were possible for me to +give a detailed account of this people, there is so much that is of +interest to us in their mother-right customs. All that I can do is to +note briefly a few of these, which to me seem specially important. + +And first, in order to understand better their customs, let us +consider a few facts of the people themselves. The Khasis are a +vigorous and sturdy race. The men are short, but exceedingly muscular; +the women are comely, especially when young; and the children are +remarkably pretty. In both the sexes strongly developed calves are +considered a mark of beauty. It is interesting to note that the men +usually wear their hair long, and when it is cut short, a single lock +is preserved at the back, which is called _u niuhtrong_, "the +grandmother's lock." In some districts the men pull out the hairs of +the moustaches, with the exception of a few hairs on either side of +the upper lip. In character these people are independent, simple, +truthful and straightforward; cheerful in disposition, and +light-hearted by nature. They thoroughly appreciate a joke, especially +the women. Among the men there is some drunkenness, but not among the +women, though they are the chief distillers of spirits. Men and women +work together, usually at the same occupations. We learn that the +Khasis have an unusual love of nature, and are fond of music; thus +they have names for birds and flowers, also for many butterflies and +moths. These are traits not usually found in the people of India. + +There is a point to note of special interest in their language. All +the nouns have a masculine and a feminine gender, and the feminine +nouns immensely predominate. The sun is feminine, the moon masculine. +In the pronouns there is one form only in the plural, and that is +feminine. It may seem that these matters--noted so briefly--are +unimportant; but it is such little things that deserve attentive +study. At least they serve to show that the Khasis have reached a high +level of primitive culture; and they indicate further the strong +importance of the feminine idea, which is the main interest in our +inquiry. + +A few words must be said about the organisation of the tribes. These +tribes are formed in sections--of which the chief are the Khasi, +Synteng, and War. Each section or tribe is divided into clans and +sub-clans; these are strictly exogamous. To marry within the clan is +the greatest sin a Khasi can commit. This would explain the strict +reckoning of descent through the mothers. + +The Khasi clan grew from the family. There is a saying common among +the people, _Long jaid ne ka kynthei_, "From the woman sprang the +tribe." All the clans trace their descent from ancestresses +(grandmothers) who are called _Ki Iwabei Tynrai_, literally, +_grandmothers of the root_, i. e. _the root of the tree of the clan_. +In some clans the name of the ancestress survives, as, for instance, +_Kyngas houning_, "the sweet one." _Ka Iaw shubde_ is the ancestress +of the Synteng tribe, and it is curious to note that she is credited +with having first introduced the art of smelting iron. She is also +said to have founded a market in which she successfully traded in +cattle.[74] + + [74] _The Khasis_, pp. 62, 64, 82. All the facts I have given + of the Khasis are taken from Mr. Gurdon's work, unless + otherwise stated. + +It is hardly possible to exaggerate the esteem in which the tribal +ancestress is held; she is so greatly reverenced that she may truly be +said to be deified. In such worship rests the foundation of the deep +tribal piety. _Ka Iawbei_, "the first mother," has the foremost place +of honour by her side, and acting as her agent is _U Suid Nia_, her +brother. There is another fact to show the honour in which the female +ideal is held. The flat memorial stones set up to perpetuate the +memory of the dead are called after the mothers of the clan, while the +standing stones ranged behind them are dedicated to the male kinsmen +on the female side. These table stones are exceedingly interesting. +They are exactly like the long stones and dolmens which are found in +Brittany, in Ireland, in Galicia in Spain, and other parts of Europe. +Is it possible that some of these memorials, whose history has been +lost, were also set up to commemorate the mothers of tribes? But be +this as it may, among the Khasis, where ancient custom and tradition +have been preserved, goddesses are more important than gods. Almost +all the other deities to whom propitiation is offered are female. Male +personages also figure, and among them _Thaulang_, the husband, is +revered.[75] Still the chief divinity rests in the goddesses; the gods +are represented only in their relation to them. The powers of sickness +and death are all female, and these are most frequently worshipped. +Again, the protectors of the household are goddesses. I wish that I +had space to write of their curious, yet beautiful, religious rites. +The sacrifices are communal in character; they are offered in times of +sickness and when dangers threaten the clan. Priestesses assist at all +sacrifices and the male officiants act only as their agents. The +household sacrifices are always performed by women. + + [75] An incantation used in addressing this god begins: "O + Father, _Thaulang_, who hast enabled me to be born, who hast + given me my stature and my life." This is very certain proof + that the maternal system among the Khasis has no connection + with uncertainty of paternity. + +Consider what this placing of their goddesses rather than their +gods--of the priestess rather than priest--in the forefront of their +worship signifies! Very plainly it reflects honour on the sex to which +the supreme deities belong. We need no clearer proof of the high +status of women among this people. Such customs are certainly +survivals[76] from the time of a more primitive matriarchate, when the +priestess was the agent for the performance of all religious +ceremonies. In one state a priestess still performs the sacrifices on +the appointment of a new Siem, or ruler. Another such survival is the +High Priestess of Nongkrem, in the Synteng district, who "combines in +her person sacerdotal and regal functions." In this state the +tradition runs that the first High Priestess was _Ka Pah Synten_, "the +flower-lured one." She was a beautiful maiden, who had her abode in a +cave at Marai, near Nongkrem whence she was enticed by means of a +flower. She was taken by her lover to be his bride, and she became not +only the first High Priestess of Nongkrem, but also the mother of the +Siems of Nongkrem. + + [76] This is the opinion of Sir Charles Lyell and Mr. Gurdon. + We may compare the remark of Prof. Karl Pearson: "According + to the evidence not only the seers but the sacrificers among + the early Teutons were women." + +It must be noted that the Siems or rulers of the states are always +men. They are chosen from the eldest sister's children. Possibly the +case of the High Priestess of Nongkrem, who is the nominal head of the +state, points to an earlier period of rule by women; but to-day the +temporal power is delegated to one of her sons or nephews, who becomes +the Siem. I need not labour this question overmuch; it is actualities +I wish to deal with. As I have repeatedly said, there is no sure +ground for believing that the maternal system involves rule by women. +This may have happened in some cases, but I do not think that it can +ever have been common. I am very certain, however, of the error in the +view which accepts the subordination of women as the common condition +among barbarous peoples, whereas there are indications and proofs in +all directions of a more or less strong assertiveness on their part, +and always in the direction of social unity and sexual regulation. The +fact that the maternal system resulted in the limitation of the +freedom of the male members of the family is, in my opinion, to be +attributed to those powerful female qualities which exercised an +immense influence on early societies. Regarding what has been said, I +think it cannot be denied that while individual rights were of far +more importance to the males, the idea of the family and social rights +were, in their turn, essentially feminine sentiments. Thus it was in +the women's interest to consolidate the family, and by means of this +their own power; and they succeeded in doing so to an extraordinary +extent in primitive communities, without help of the maternal customs, +which, as I have tried to make clear, arose out of the conditions of +the primordial family and by the action of the united mothers. If I am +right, then, here is the primary cause of the women's position of +authority in the communal maternal family. + +I am very certain of the rights such a system conferred upon women; +rights that are impossible under the patriarchal family, which +involves the subordination of the woman to her father first and +afterward to her husband. In proof of this let us now consider +marriage and divorce, the laws of inheritance, and other customs of +the Khasis. And first we may note that polygamy--the distinctive +custom of the patriarchs--does not exist; as Mr. Gurdon remarks, "such +a practice would not be in vogue among a people who observe the +matriarchate." This is the more remarkable as the Khasi women +considerably outnumber the men. In 1901 there were 1118 females to +1000 males. At the present time the people are monandrists. There are +instances of men having wives other than those they regularly marry, +but the practice is not common. Such wives are called "stolen wives," +and their children are said "to be from the top," _i. e._ from the +branches of the clan and not the root. In the War country the children +of the "stolen wife" enjoy an equal share in the father's property +with the children of the regular wife. Polyandry is said to be +practised, but the fact is not mentioned by Mr. Gurdon; in any case it +can prevail only among the poorer sort, with whom, too, it would often +seem to mean rather facility of divorce than the simultaneous +admission of plurality of husbands.[77] + + [77] Fischer, _Tour. As. Soc._, Bengal, Vol. IX, Part II, p. + 834. + +The courtship customs of Khasi youths and maidens are simple and +beautiful. The young people meet at the dances in the spring-time, +when the girls choose their future husbands. There is no practice +among the Khasis of exchange of daughters; and there is an entire +absence of the patriarchal idea of their women as property. Marriage +is a simple contract, unaccompanied by any ceremony.[78] After +marriage the husband lives with his wife in her mother's home. Of late +years a new custom has arisen, and now in the Khasi tribe, when one or +two children have been born, and _if the marriage is a happy one_, the +couple frequently leave the family home, and set up housekeeping for +themselves. When this is done, husband and wife pool their earnings +for the support of the family. This is clearly a departure from the +maternal marriage, a step in the direction of father-right. Among the +Syntengs, the people who have most closely preserved the customs of +the matriarchate, the husband does not even go to live with his wife, +he only visits her in her mother's home. In Joway this rule is so +strict that the husband comes only after dark. He is not permitted to +sleep, to eat, or smoke during his visit--the idea being that as none +of his earnings go to support the home, he must not partake of food or +any refreshment. Here is a curious instance of etiquette preserving +these clandestine visits long after the time when such secrecy was +necessary. We may note another survival among the Syntengs. The father +is commonly called by the name of the first child, thus, the father of +a child called Bobon, becomes Pa-bobon.[79] This does not, I am sure, +point back to a period when paternity was uncertain, rather, it is an +effort to establish the social relation of the father to the family, +and is connected with domestic and property considerations, not at all +with relationship. The proof of this will appear in a later chapter. + + [78] Dalton, _Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal_, p. 57. + + [79] McGee, _The Beginning of Marriage_. + +Very striking are the conditions attaching to divorce. Again we find +the right of separation granted equally to both sexes, a significant +indication of the high position of women. Marriage being regarded as +an agreement between wife and husband, the tie may be broken without +any question of disgrace. But although divorce is frequent and easy, +and can be claimed for a variety of reasons, all who have dwelt among +the Khasis testify to the durable and happy marriages among them. Only +when they find it impossible to live amicably together do a couple +agree to separate. In this event the children always remain with the +mother. For their mothers the children cherish a very strong +affection, for all their sympathies and affection bind them to her and +her family. + +The conditions of divorce vary in the separate tribes. Among the +Khasis both parties must agree to the dissolution of the tie. With the +Synteng and War tribes such mutual consent is not necessary, but the +partner who claims release from the other, without his or her consent, +must pay compensation. A woman cannot be divorced during pregnancy. +The form of divorce is simple; among the Khasis it consists of the +exchange of five cowries. This is done in the presence of witnesses, +and the ceremony must take place in the open air. Then a crier goes +around the village to proclaim the divorce, using the following +words-- + + "_Kaw_--hear, oh villagers! that--U and K have been + separated in the presence of the elders. _Hei!_ thou, oh + young men, canst go and make love to K--for she is now + unmarried, and thou, oh maidens, canst make love to + U--_Hei!_ there is no let or hindrance from henceforth." + +And here I would pause, although it leads me a little aside, to make a +point that to me seems to be of special importance. Obviously this +simple divorce by mutual consent was made easy in its working by the +maternal system. The great drawback to the dissolution of the marriage +tie in the patriarchal family is the effect it has on the lives of the +children; but in the maternal family such evil does not exist, for +the children always live with the mother and take her name. By saying +this, I do not wish to imply that I am necessarily recommending such a +system, but that it had its advantages for the mother and her +children, I think, cannot be denied. Its failure arises, as is +evident, from the alien position of the father in relation to his +children. + +In the primitive maternal family the place of the father, to a great +extent, is filled by the maternal uncle. Among the Khasis he is +regarded in the light of a father. It is his duty to assist the mother +in the management of the family. The husband is looked upon merely as +_u shong kha_,[80] a begetter. Only by the later marriage custom, when +the wife and children leave the home of her mother, has the father any +recognised position in the home. "There is no gainsaying the fact," +writes Mr. Gurdon, "that the husband is a stranger in the wife's home, +and it is certain he can take no part in the rites and ceremonies of +his wife's family." + + [80] _The Khasis_, p. 81. + +The important status assigned to women becomes clearer when we +consider the laws of inheritance. Daughters inherit, not sons. The +youngest daughter is heiress to the family property, but the other +daughters are entitled to a share on the mother's death. No man can +possess property unless it is self-acquired. Among the Synteng, such +property on the man's death goes to his mother. This would seem to be +the primitive custom. There is now a provision that, if the wife +undertakes not to re-marry she has half of her husband's property, +which descends to her youngest daughter. In the Khasi states a man's +property, if acquired before his marriage, goes to his mother, but +what is gained afterwards goes to the wife, for the youngest daughter. +Only in the War country do the sons inherit from the father with the +daughters, but something in addition is given to the youngest +daughter. The family property always descends in the female line. For +this reason, daughters are of more importance than sons. A family +without daughters dies out, which among the Khasis is the greatest +calamity, as there is no one qualified to bury the dead and perform +the religious rites. Thus both the Khasis and the Syntengs have a plan +of adoption. The male members of any family, if left without females, +are allowed to call in a young girl from another family to perform the +family religious ceremonies. She takes the place of the youngest +daughter, and becomes the head of the household. She inherits the +ancestral property. + +In the face of these facts it can hardly be denied that mother-right +and mother-power among the Khasis are still very much alive. Here at +least descent through the mother does involve power to women, and +confers exceptional rights, especially as regards inheritance. I have +already called attention to the equality of the women with men in the +code of sexual morality. This is so important that it is worth while +to follow it a little further. That freedom in love carries with it +domestic and social rights and privileges to women I have no longer +to prove. We found the same freedom under the maternal family among +the Iroquois and Zuni Indians: there courtship was in the hands of the +woman; there also divorce was free, and a couple would rather separate +than live together inharmoniously. I have given proof of the happy +domestic life of these peoples. Equality in the sexual relationships +has always been closely associated with the status of women. Wherever +divorce is difficult, there woman's lot is hard, and her position low. +It is part of the patriarchal custom which regards the man as the +owner of the woman. It would be easy to prove this by the history of +marriage in the races of the past, as also by an examination of the +present divorce laws in civilised countries. I cannot do this, but I +make the assertion without the least shadow of doubt. "Free divorce is +the charter of Woman's Freedom." I would point back in proof to these +examples of the maternal family, foremost among whose privileges is +this equality of partnership in marriage. Here you have before you, +solved by these primitive peoples, some of the most urgent questions +that yet have to be faced by us to-day. To hear of peoples who live +gladly, and without those problems that are rotting away our +civilisation, brings a new courage to those of us, who sometimes grow +hopeless at our own needless wastage of love and life. + +I must not say more upon this question, though it is one that tempts +me strongly. It is not, however, my purpose in this book to offer +opinions of my own on these problems of the relations of the two +sexes; I prefer to leave the facts of the mother-age to speak for +themselves. Those whose eyes are not blinded will not fail to see.[81] + + [81] Mrs. Chapman Catt has an article in the April number of + _Harper's Magazine_ on "A Survival of Matriarchy." It gives + an account of her visit to the Malay States, and the + favourable position of the women under the maternal customs. + I have received a letter from the great American champion of + Women's Rights in which she states how pleased she is that I + am writing this book on the Mother-age. "There are many + facts," she says, "of the early power of women which the + great world does not know." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +FURTHER EXAMPLES OF THE MATERNAL FAMILY + + +Pursuing our inquiry into the social organisation of mother-right, an +interesting example occurs among the peoples of the Malay States, +where, notwithstanding the centres of Hindu and Moslem influence, much +has been retained of the maternal system, once universally prevalent. +The maternal marriage, here known as the _ambel-anak_, in which the +husband lives with the wife, paying nothing to the support of the +family and occupying a subordinate position, may be taken as typical +of the former condition. But among the tribes who have come in contact +with outside influences the custom of the husband visiting the wife, +or residing in her house, is modified, and in some cases has +altogether disappeared. + +From a private correspondent, a resident in the Malay States, I have +received some interesting notes about the present conditions of the +native tribes and the position of women. "In most of the Malay States +exogamous matriarchy has in comparatively modern times been superseded +by feudalism (_i. e._, the patriarchal rights of the father). But +where the old customs survive, the women are still to a large extent +in control. The husband goes to live in the wife's village; thus the +women in each group are a compact unity, while the men are strangers +to each other and enter as unorganised individuals. This is the real +basis of the women's power. In other tribes, where the old customs +have changed, the women occupy a distinctly inferior position, and +under the influence of Islam the idea of secluding adult women has +been for centuries spreading and increasing in force." Here, again, +clear proof is shown of the maternal system exercising a direct +influence on the position of women. And this statement is in agreement +with Robertson Smith, who, in writing of the maternal marriage, says: +"And it is remarkable that when both customs--the woman receiving her +husband in her own hut, and the man taking his wife to his--occur side +by side among the same people, descent in the former case is traced +through the mother, in the latter through the father."[82] + + [82] _Marriage and Kinship in Early Arabia_, p. 74. See also + Marsden, _History of Sumatra_, p. 225. + +In its ancient form the maternal communal family has notably persisted +among the Padang Highlanders of Sumatra. These people live in village +communities, with long timber houses placed in barrack-like rows, very +similar to the communal dwellings of the American Indians. The houses +are gay in appearance, and are adorned with carved and coloured +woodwork. One dwelling will contain as many as a hundred people, who +form a _sa-mandei_, or mother-hood. Again we find the family +consisting of the house-mother and her descendants in the female +line--sons and daughters, and the daughters' children. McGee thus +describes these maternal households--[83] + + [83] "The Beginning of Marriage," _American Anthropologist_, + Vol. IX, p. 376. + + "If the visitor, mounting the ladder steps, looks in at one + of the doors of the separate dwellings, he may see seated + beyond the family hearth the mother and her children, eating + the midday meal, and very likely the father, who may have + been doing a turn of work in his wife's rice-plot. If he is + a kindly husband, he is there much as a friendly visitor, + but his real home remains in the house in which he was + born." + +The husband has no permanent residence in the woman's house, and at +dusk each evening the men may be seen walking across the village to +join their wives and families. The father has no rights over his +children, who belong wholly to the wife's _suku_, or clan. But this in +no way implies that the father is unknown, for monogamy is the rule; +as is usual the question is one rather of social right than of +relationship. The maternal uncle is the male head of the house, and +exercises under the mother the duties of a father to the children. The +brother of the eldest grandmother is the male head of the family +settlement and the clan consists of a number of these families. It +would seem that these male rulers act as the agents of the female +members, whose authority is great. This power is dependent on the +inheritance; as is the descent, so is the property, and its +transmission is arranged for the benefit of the maternal lineage. For +this reason daughters are preferred rather than sons. + +This account of the Padang Malays may be supplemented by the Jesuit +missionary De Mailla's description of the maternal marriage in the +Island of Formosa.[84] Speaking of this marriage, McGee says: "If it +had received the notice it deserves, it might long ago have placed the +study of maternal institutions on a sounder basis." + + [84] _Lettres edefiantes et curieux_, Vol. XVIII, p. 441, + copied in Dunhalde, _Description de la Clune_, Vol. I, p. + 166, and cited by McGee. + + "The Formosan youth wishing to marry makes music day by day + at the maid's door, till, if willing, she comes out to him, + and when they are agreed, the parents are told, and the + marriage feast is prepared in the bride's house, whence the + bridegroom returns no more to his father, regarding his + father-in-law's house as his own, and himself as the support + of it, while his own father's house is no more to him than + in Europe the bride's home is henceforth to her when she + quits it to live with her husband. Thus the Formosans set no + store on sons, but aspire to have daughters, who procure + them sons-in-law to become the support of their old age." + +It will be noted that here the house is spoken of as the father's, and +not as belonging to the mother. The bridegroom is the suitor, and we +see the creeping in of property considerations always associated with +the rise of father-right. Though the husband has as yet no recognised +position and lives in the wife's home, he is valued for his service to +his father-in-law, clearly a step in the direction of property +assertion. Among many of the Malay hill tribes of Formosa the maternal +system is dying out, though the old law forbidding marriage within the +clan remains in force. + +These changes must be expected wherever the transition towards +father-right has begun; the older forms of courtship and marriage, so +favourable to the woman, are replaced by patriarchal customs. One or +two curious examples of primitive courtship, in which the initiative +is taken entirely by the girl may be noted here. Among the Garos tribe +it is not only the privilege, but the duty of the girl to select her +lover, while an infringement of this rule is severely and summarily +punished. Any declaration made on the part of the young man is +regarded as an insult to the whole _mahari_ (motherhood) to which the +girl belongs, a stain only to be expiated by liberal presents made at +the expense of the _mahari_ of the over-forward lover. The marriage +customs are equally curious. On the morning of the wedding a ceremony +very similar to capture takes place, only it is the bridegroom who is +abducted. He pretends to be unwilling and runs away and hides, but he +is caught by the friends of the bride. Then he is taken by force, +weeping as he goes, in spite of the resistance and counterfeited grief +of his parents and friends, to the bride's house, where he takes up +his residence with his mother-in-law. It is instructive to find that +these marriages are usually successful. Although divorce is easy, it +is not frequent. "The Garos will not hastily make engagements, +because, when they do make them, they intend to keep them."[85] + + [85] Dalton, _Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal_, pp. 64, 142. + See also Tylor, "The Matriarchal Theory," _Nineteenth + Century_, July 1896, p. 89. + +In Paraguay, we are told, the women are generally endowed with +stronger passions than the men, and are allowed to make the +proposals.[86] So also among the Ahitas of the Philippine Islands, +where, if her clan-parents will not consent to a love match the girl +seizes the young man by the hair, carries him off, and declares she +has run away with him. In such a case it appears the marriage is held +to be valid whether the parents consent or not.[87] A similar custom +of a gentler character, is practised by the Tarrahumari Indians of +Northern Mexico, among whom, according to Lumboltz, the maiden is a +persistent wooer employing a _repertoire_ of really exquisite love +songs to soften the heart of a reluctant swain.[88] Again, in New +Guinea, where the women held a very independent position, "the girl is +always regarded as the seducer. Women steal men." A youth who +proposed to a girl would be making himself ridiculous, would be called +a woman, and laughed at by the girls. The usual method by which a girl +proposes is to send a present to the youth by a third party, following +this up by repeated gifts of food; the young man sometimes waits a +month or two, receiving presents all the time, in order to assure +himself of the girl's constancy, before decisively accepting her +advances.[89] + + [86] Moore, _Marriage Customs: Modes of Courtship_, etc., p. + 261. Rengger, _Naturgeschichte der Saeugelliere von Paraguay_, + p. 11, cited by Westermarck, _op. cit._, p. 158. + + [87] J. M. Wheeler, "Primitive Marriage," an article in + _Progress_, 1885, p. 128. + + [88] McGee, "The Beginning of Marriage," _American + Anthropologist_, Vol. IX. + + [89] Haddon, "Western Tribes of the Torres States," _Journal + of the Anthropological Society_, Vol. XIX, Feb. 1890. Cited + by Havelock Ellis, _Psychology of Sex_, Vol. III, p. 185. + +It is clear that these cases, which I have chosen from a number of +similar courtship customs, differ very much from what is our idea of +the customary role of the girl and her lover. To me they are very +instructive. They show the error of the long-held belief in the +passivity of the female as a natural law of the sex.[90] Such openness +of conduct in courtship is impossible except where women hold an +entirely independent position. Here, then, is another advantage that +may be claimed as arising for women out of the maternal system. I +claim this: the woman's right of selection in love--yes, her greatest +right, one that is necessary for a freer and more beautiful mating. + + [90] For further examination of this question of the supposed + passivity of the woman in courtship, see _The Truth about + Woman_, pp. 65-69, 251-257. + +Terminating this short digression, I return to my examination of the +peoples among whom the family is especially maternal. + +The Pelew Islanders of the South Sea have customs in many respects +the same as those of the Khasi tribes. They preserve strict maternal +descent, and like the Khasis, the deities of all the clans are +goddesses. The life and social habits of the people have been +described by Kubary, a careful and sympathetic observer, for long +resident in the island.[91] The tribes are divided into exogamous +clans, and intermarriage between any relations on the mother's side is +unlawful. These clans are grouped together in villages and the life is +of a communal character. Each village consists of about a score of +clans, and forms with its lands a petty independent state. + + [91] _Die socialen Einrichtungen der Pelauer. Die Religion, + de Pelauer._ Mr. Frazer, _Golden Bough_, Part IV, _Adonis, + Attis, Osiris_, pp. 387 _et seq._, summarises the account of + Kubary. See also Waitz-Gerland, Vol. V, Part II, p. 106 _et + seq._, and an account of the Pelews given by Ymer. + +Again we find the maternal system intimately connected with religious +ideas, and it is interesting to recall what was said by Bachofen: +"Wherever gynaecocracy meets us the mystery of religion is bound up +with it, and lends to motherhood an incorporation in some divinity." +Among these Islanders every family traces its descent from a +woman--the common mother of the clan. And for this reason the members +worship a goddess and not a god. In the different states there are, +besides other special deities, usually a goddess and a god, but as +these are held to be derived directly from a household-goddess, it is +evident that here, as among the Khasis, goddesses are older than the +gods. This is shown also by the names of the goddesses. There is +another fact of interest: some women are reputed to be the wives of +the gods, they are called _Amalalieys_ and have a great honour paid to +them, while their children pass for the offspring of the gods. + +The reverence paid to the ancestral goddesses is explained by Mr. +Kubary as arising from the importance of women in the clans. + + "The existence of the clan depends entirely on the life of + the women, and not at all on the life of the men. If the + women survive, it is no matter though every man in the clan + should perish, for the women will, as usual, marry men of + another clan, and their offspring will inherit their + mother's clan, and thereby prolong its existence. Whereas if + the women of the clan die out the clan necessarily becomes + extinct, even if every man in it should survive; for the men + must, as usual, marry women of another clan, and their + offspring will inherit their mother's clan and not the clan + of the father, which accordingly, with the death of the + father, is wiped off the community." + +I quote this passage because it shows so clearly what I am claiming, +that descent through the mother, under the condition of strict +exogamy, conferred a very marked distinction on the female members of +the clan, whose existence depended on them; this cannot possibly have +failed to act favourably on their position. I may note, too, in +passing, the fallacy of Mr. McLennan's view that polyandry (which, it +will be remembered, he held to have been developed from and connected +with mother-descent) arose as a result of female infanticide. Such a +practice is clearly impossible in clans whose existence depends on the +life of its female members; daughters among them are prized more +highly than sons. + +The case we are now examining affords the strongest confirmation of +the honour paid to women under the strict maternal system. Take alone +the titles that these Pelew islanders give to their women, as _Adhalal +a pelu_, "mothers of the land," and _Adhalal a blay_, "mothers of the +clan." The testimony of those who know their customs is that the women +enjoy complete equality with the men in every respect. Mr. Kubary +affirms the predominance of female influence in all the social life of +the clan. He asserts, without qualification, that the women both +politically and socially enjoy a position superior to that of the men. +The eldest women in the clans exercise the most decisive influence in +the conduct of affairs; the head men do nothing without full +consultation with them, and their power extends to affairs of state +and even to foreign politics. No chief would venture to come to a +decision without the approval of the mothers of the families. As one +consequence of this power the women have clubs of association similar +to the clubs of men that are common in so many tribes. A curious +privilege given to women is recorded: "The women have an unlimited +privilege of striking, fining, or if it be done on the spot, killing +any man who makes his way into their bathing places."[92] + + [92] Semper, _Die Palau-Inseln_, p. 68, cited by Westermarck + _op. cit._, p. 211. + +The marriage customs I shall pass over briefly, as they are similar to +those of other tribes under the maternal system, though changes may be +noted, such, for instance, as presents in the form of a kind of +bride-price being given by the bridegroom to the parents of the bride. +This is not a maternal custom, and although half of such presents +belongs by right to the girl, it is clearly a form of wife-purchase. +Then polygamy is practised, though it is expressly stated to be +uncommon.[93] There is now a marriage ceremony. Divorce still remains +free, and the conditions are favourable for the wife. Jealousy is said +to be prevalent both among the men and the women. The wedding +monologue is interesting and indicates the relative position of the +female and male members of the family. The salutation is as follows-- + + [93] Ymer, Vol. IV, p. 333. + + "Hei, thou, oh mother; oh grandmothers; oh maternal uncle; + oh elder grandmother; oh younger grandfather; oh elder + grandfather! As the flesh has fallen the ring has been put + on.... You will all of you give ear [the ancestresses and + ancestors] you will continue giving strength and spirit that + they [the bride and bridegroom] may be well." + +There is left an important fact to consider, which explains the +persistence of the women's authority under marriage conditions much +less favourable than the complete maternal form. The Pelew women have +another source of power; their position has an industrial as well as a +kinship basis. In this island the people subsist mainly on the produce +of their taro fields, and the cultivation of this, their staple food, +is carried out by the women alone. And this identification of women +with the industrial process has without doubt contributed materially +to the predominance of female influence on the social life of the +people. Wherever the control over the means of production is in the +hands of women, we find them exercising influence and even authority. +Among these islanders the women do not merely bestow life on the +people, they also work to obtain that which is most essential for the +preservation of life, and therefore they are called "mothers of the +land."[94] Now, considering this honour paid to the Pelew women, it is +clearly impossible to regard their work in cultivating the taro as a +sign of their subordinate position in the social order. The facts of +primitive life are often mistaken. This is a question to which I shall +refer again in a later chapter. + + [94] Frazer, _op. cit._, p. 380. + +In the same way among the Pani Kotches, tribes of Bengal, we find the +women in a privileged position, due to their greater industrial +activity and intelligence. + + "It is the women's business to dig the soil, to sow and + plant, as well as to spin, weave and brew beer; they refuse + no task, and leave only the coarsest labour to the men. The + mother of the family marries her daughter at an early age; + at the feast of betrothal she dispenses half as much again + to the bride as to the bridegroom-elect. As for the grown-up + girls and the widows, they know very well how to find + husbands; the wealthy never lack partners. The chosen one + goes to reside with his mother-in-law, who both reigns and + governs, with her daughter for prime minister. If the + consort permits himself to incur expenses without special + authorisation, he must meet them as best he can. Fathers of + families have been known to be sold as slaves, the wives + refusing to pay the penalties they incurred. Under these + circumstances, it was lawful for them to marry again."[95] + + [95] Hodgson, _Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal_, 1847 + (Dalton). + +Here, as among the Pelew islanders, special industrial conditions are +combined with the maternal system, and as a result we find what may, +perhaps, be termed "an economic matriarchy." Another cause of +authority, quite as powerful, is the possession by women of inherited +property. Among barbarous peoples the importance of this is not so +great, but where mother-descent has, for any reason, been maintained +up to a time when individual possession has been developed and +property is large, we meet with a remarkable "pecuniary matriarchate," +based on the women holding the magic power of money. + +An example may be found in the interesting Touaregs of the Sahara, a +race very far advanced in civilisation, who, even at the present day, +have preserved their independence and many of their ancient customs. +Among them all relationship is still maternal and confers both rank +and inheritance. "The child follows the blood of the mother," and the +son of a slave or serf father and a noble woman is noble. "It is the +womb which dyes the child," the Touaregs say in their primitive +language.[96] All property descends only through the mother, and by +means of accumulation the greatest part of the fortune of the +community is in the hands of women. This is the real basis of the +women's power. "Absolute mistress of her fortune, her actions, and her +children, who belong to her and bear her name, the Targui woman goes +where she will and exercises a real authority." The unusual position +of the wife is significantly indicated by the fact that, although +polygamy is permitted by the law, she practically enforces monogamy, +for the conditions of divorce are so favourable for a woman that she +can at once separate from a husband who attempts to give her a rival. +Again the initiative in courtship is taken by the woman, who chooses +from her suitors the one whom she herself prefers.[97] + + [96] Duveyrier, _Touareg du Nord_, p. 337 _et seq._ + + [97] Chavanne, _Die Sahara_, pp. 181, 209, 234. + +It is interesting to note that the Targui women know how to read and +write in greater numbers than the men. Duveyrier states that to them +is due the preservation of the ancient Libyan and Berber writings.[98] +"Leaving domestic work to their slaves, the Targui ladies occupy +themselves with reading, writing, music and embroidery; they live as +intelligent aristocrats."[99] "The ladies of the tribe of Ifoghas, in +particular, are renowned for their _savoirvivre_ and their musical +talent; they know how to ride _mehari_ better than all their rivals. +Secure in their cages, they can ride races with the most intrepid +cavaliers, if one may give this name to riders on dromedaries; in +order, also, to keep themselves in practice in this kind of riding, +they meet to take short trips together, going wherever they like +without the escort of any man."[100] In the tribe of Imanan, who are +descended from the ancient sultans, the women are given the title +_Timanokalin_, "royal women," on account of their beauty and their +talent in the art of music. They often give concerts, to which the men +come "from long distances--decked out like male ostriches." In these +concerts the women improvise the songs, accompanying themselves on the +tambourine and a sort of violin or _rebaza_. They are much sought +after in marriage, because of the title of _cherif_ which they confer +on their children.[101] + + [98] _Ibid._, p. 387. + + [99] Duveyrier, _op. cit._, p. 430. + + [100] _Ibid._, p. 362. + + [101] _Ibid._, p. 347. + +There is a touch of chivalrous sentiment in the relations between men +and women.[102] "If a woman is married," Duveyrier tells us, "she is +honoured all the more in proportion to the number of her masculine +friends, but she must not show preference to any one of them. The lady +may embroider on the cloak, or write on the shield of her chevalier, +verses in his praise and wishes for his good fortune. Her friend may, +without being censured, cut the name of the lady on the rocks or chant +her virtues. 'Friends of different sexes,' say the Touaregs, 'are for +the eyes and heart, and not for the bed only, as among the +Arabs.'"[103] Letourneau, in quoting these passages from Duveyrier, +makes the following comment: "Such customs as these indicate delicate +instincts, which are absolutely foreign to the Arabs. They strongly +remind us of the times of our southern troubadours and of the _cours +d'amour_, which were the quintessence of chivalry."[104] + + [102] Chavanne, _op. cit._, p. 208 _et seq._ + + [103] Duveyrier, _op. cit._, p. 429. + + [104] Letourneau, _The Evolution of Marriage_, pp. 180-181. + +The foregoing example is exceedingly interesting; it shows women +holding the position that as a rule belongs to men, and is thus worthy +of most careful study, but at the same time we must guard against +according it a general value which it does not possess. Such a case is +exceptional, though it by no means stands alone, and the social +position of Targui women is analogous to that of the women of ancient +Egypt. It is important to note that their great independence arose +through the persistence of maternal descent, and could not have been +maintained apart from that system, which placed in their hands the +strong power of wealth. Here, then, is certain proof of the favourable +influence mother-descent may exercise on the status of women. It is +because of this I have brought forward this example of the Targui +women. + +Enough has now been said. I have examined the institution of the +maternal family, both in the early communal stage and also under +later social conditions, where, in certain cases, mother-descent has +been maintained. In all the examples cited I have given the marriage +customs and domestic habits of the people as they are testified to by +authorities whose records cannot be questioned. Many similar examples, +it may be said, might be brought forward from other races, and the +proof of mother-right and mother-power greatly strengthened thereby. +There is, however, so much similarity in the maternal family, so much +correspondence in the marriage forms and social habits prevailing +among races widely separated, that the points of difference are little +in comparison with those they have in common. My object is not so much +to exhaust the subject as to bring into relief the radical differences +between the maternal communal clan, with its social life centred +around the mothers, and the opposite patriarchal form in which the +solitary family is founded on the individual father. I hold that, +other conditions being equal, the one system is favourable to the +authority of women, the other to the authority of men. The facts which +have been cited are, I submit, amply sufficient to support this view. + +We have seen that the life of the maternal clan is dependent on the +women--and not upon the men; we have noted that the inheritance of the +family name and the family property passing through the women adds +considerably to their importance, and that daughters are preferred to +sons. We have found women the organisers of the households, the +guardians of the household stores, and the distributors of food, under +a social organisation that may be termed "a communal matriarchy." More +important than all else, we have noted the remarkable freedom of women +in the sexual relationships; in courtship they are permitted to take +the active part; in marriage their position is one of such power that, +sometimes, they are able to impose the form of the marriage; in +divorce they enjoy equal, and even superior, rights of separation; +moreover, they are always the owners and controllers of the children. +Nor is the influence of women restricted to the domestic sphere. We +have found them the advisers, and in some cases the dictators, in the +social organisation under the headmen of the clan. Then we examined +the cases in which the women's power has an industrial as well as a +kinship basis, and have proved the existence of an "economic +matriarchy." And further even than this, we have found women the sole +possessors of accumulated wealth, and noted that, under the favourable +conditions of such a "pecuniary matriarchy," they are able to obtain a +position in learning and the arts excelling that of the men. We have +even seen goddesses set above the gods, and women worshipped as +deities. + +Now I submit to the judgment of my readers--what do these examples of +mother-right show, if not that, broadly speaking, women were the +dominant force in this stage of the family. No doubt too much +importance may be attached to the idea of women ruling. This is an +error I have tried to guard against. My aim throughout has been to +establish mother-right, not mother-rule. I believe it is only by an +extraordinary power of illusion that we can recognise, in the +favourable position of women under mother-descent Bachofen's view of +an Amazonian gynaecocracy. But this does not weaken at all my position. +I maintain that such customs of courtship, marriage and divorce, of +property inheritance and possession, and of the domestic and social +rights, as those we have seen in the cases examined, afford conclusive +proof of women's power in the maternal family. If this is denied, the +only conclusion that suggests itself to me is that, those who seek to +diminish the power of mother-right have done so in reinforcement of a +preconceived idea of the superiority of the man as the natural and +unchanging order in the relationships of the sexes. One suspects +prejudice here. To approach this question with any fairness, it is +absolutely essential to clear the mind from the current theories +regarding the family. The order is not sacred in the sense that it has +always had the same form. It is this belief in the immutability of our +form of marriage and the family which accounts for the prejudice with +which this question is approached. The modern civilised man cannot +easily accustom himself to the idea that in the maternal family the +dominion of the mother was regarded as the natural, and, therefore, +the right and accepted order of the family. It is very difficult for +us even to believe in a relationship of the mother and the father that +is so exactly opposite to that with which we are accustomed. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +MOTHER-RIGHT CUSTOMS AND THE TRANSITION TO FATHER-RIGHT + + +Endeavour has been made in the previous chapters to present the case +for mother-right as clearly and concisely as possible. The point we +have now reached is this: while mother-right does not constitute or +make necessary rule by women, under that system they enjoy +considerable power as the result (1) of their organised position under +the maternal marriage among their own clan-kindred, (2) of their +importance to the male members of the clan as the transmitters and +holders of property. + +It is necessary to remember the close connection between these +mother-right customs and the communal clan, which was a free +association for mutual protection. This is a point of much interest. +As we have seen, the undivided family of the clan could be maintained +only by descent through the mothers, since its existence depended on +its power to retain and protect all its members. In this way it +destroyed the solitary family, by its opposition to the authority and +will of the husband and father. + +These conclusions will be strengthened as we continue our examination +of mother-right customs as we shall find them in all parts of the +world. I must select a few examples only and describe them very +briefly, not because these cases offer less interest than the complete +maternal families already examined, but because of the length to which +this part of my inquiry is rapidly growing. The essential fact to +establish is the prevalence of mother-descent as a probable universal +stage in the past history of mankind, and then to show the causes +which, by undermining the dominion of the maternal clan, led to the +adoption of father-right and the re-establishment of the patriarchal +family. + +Let us begin with Australia, where the aboriginal population is in a +more primitive condition than any other race whose institutions have +been investigated. I can notice a few facts only from the harvest of +information brought together by anthropologists and travellers. The +tribes are grouped into exogamous sub-divisions, and each group has +its own land from which it takes a local name. Each group wanders +about on its own territory in order to hunt game and collect roots, +sometimes in detached families and, less often, in larger hordes, for +there seems to be a tendency to local isolation. A remarkable feature +of the social organisation is found in the more advanced tribes, +where, in addition to the division into clans, the group is divided +into male and female classes. All the members of such clans regard +themselves as kinsmen, or brothers and sisters; they have the same +totem mark and are bound to protect each other. The totem bond is +stronger than any blood tie, while the sex totems are even more sacred +than the clan totems. + +Much confusion has arisen out of the attempts to explain the +Australian system; and for long the close totem kinship was supposed +to afford evidence of group marriage, by which a man of one clan was +held to have sexual rights over all the women in another clan. But +further insight into their customs has proved the error of such a +view, which arose from a misunderstanding of the terms of relationship +used among the tribes. Nowhere is marriage bound by more severe laws; +death is the penalty for sexual intercourse with a person of a +forbidden clan. And it is certain that there is no evidence at all of +communism in wives.[105] + + [105] _See_ Westermarck, _op. cit._, pp. 54-56. + +A system of taboos is very strongly established, and as we should +expect the women appear to be most active in maintaining these sexual +separations. If a man, even by mistake, kills the sex-totem of the +women, they are as much enraged as if it were one of their own +children, and they will turn and attack him with their long poles. + +In Australia it is easy to recognise a very early stage in human +society. The organisation of the family group into the clan is still +taking place. Moreover, the most primitive patriarchal conditions have +not greatly changed, for the males are great individualists and cannot +readily suffer the rights of others than themselves. Mother-right can +hardly be said to exist, and the position of women is low. It is not +the custom among any tribes for the husband to reside in the home of +the wife; this in itself is sufficient to explain the power of the +husbands. Wives are frequently obtained by capture, and fights for +women are of common occurrence. Here it would seem that progress has +been very slow. Indeed, it is the chief interest of the Australian +tribes that we can trace the transformation from the early patriarchal +conditions to the communal clan. + +There is still another fact of very special interest. In the large +majority of tribes known to us descent is traced through the mother; +the proportion of these tribes to those with father-descent being four +to one. Now, the question arises as to which of these two systems is +the earlier custom? As a rule it is assumed that in all cases descent +was originally traced through the mother. But is this really so? The +evidence of the Australian tribes points to the exact opposite +opinion. For what do we find? The tribes that have established +mother-descent have advanced further, with a more developed social +organisation, which could hardly be the case if they were the more +primitive. To this question Starcke, in _The Primitive Family_, has +drawn particular attention; he regards "the female line as a later +development," arrived at after descent through the father was +recognised, such change being due to an urgent necessity which arose +in the primitive family for cohesion among its members, making +necessary sexual regulation and the maternal clan. + +It is certainly difficult to decide on the priority of this or that +custom. But what is significant is that in Australia the tribes which +maintain the male line of descent must be assigned to the lowest stage +of development. The rights established by marriage among them are less +clearly defined, and the use of the totem marks, with the sexual +taboos arising from them, are less developed. Everything tends to show +that clan organisation and union in peace have arisen with +mother-descent, which cannot thus be regarded as a survival from the +earlier order, but as a later development--a step forward in progress +and social regulation. + +I take this as being exceedingly important: it serves to establish +what it has been my purpose to show, that in the first stage the +family was patriarchal--small hostile groups living under the jealous +authority of the fathers; and that only as advancement came did the +maternal clan develop, since it arose through a community of purpose +binding all its members in peace, and thereby controlling the warring +individual interests. The reasons for mother-descent have been +altogether misunderstood by those who regard it as the earliest phase +of the family, and connect the custom with sexual disorder and +uncertainty of paternity. In all cases the clan system shows a marked +organisation, with a much stronger cohesion than is possible in the +restricted family, which is held together by the force of the father. +It was within the clan that the rights of the father and husband were +endangered: he lost his position as supreme head of the family, and +became an alien member in a free association where his position was +strictly defined. The incorporation of the family into the clan arose +through the struggle for existence forcing it into association; it was +the subordinate position of the husband under such a system which +finally made the women the rulers of the household. If we regard the +social conditions of the maternal system as the first stage of +development, they are as difficult to understand as they become +intelligible when we consider it as a later and beneficent phase in +the growth of society. + +This, then, I claim as the chief good of the maternal system. As I see +it, each advance in progress rests on the conquest of sexual distrusts +and fierceness forcing into isolation. These jealous and odious +monopolist instincts have been the bane of humanity. Each race must +inevitably in the end outlive them; they are the surviving relics of +the ape and the tiger. They arise out of that self-concentration and +intensity of animalism that binds the hands of men and women from +taking their inheritance. The brute in us still resents association. +Am I wrong in connecting this individual monopolist idea of My power! +My right! with the paternal as opposed to the maternal family? At any +rate I find it absent in the communal clan grouped around the mothers, +where the enlarged family makes common cause and life is lived by all +for and with each other. + +An instructive example of the joint maternal family is furnished by +the Nairs of Malabar, where we see a very late development of the +clan system. The family group includes many allied families, who live +together in large communal houses and possess everything in common. +There is common tenure of land, over which the eldest male member of +the community presides; while the mother, and after her death the +eldest daughter, is the ruler in the household. It is impossible to +give the details of their curious conjugal customs. The men do not +marry, but frequent other houses as lovers, without ceasing to live at +home, and without being in any way detached from the maternal family. +There is, however, a symbolic marriage for every girl, by a rite known +as tying the _tali_; but this marriage serves the purpose only of +initiation, and the couple separate after one day. When thus prepared +for marriage, a Nair girl chooses her lovers, and any number of unions +may be entered upon without any restrictions other than the strict +prohibitions relative to caste and tribe. These later marriages, +unlike the solemn initial rite, have no ceremony connected with them, +and are entered into freely at the will of the woman and her +family.[106] + + [106] Starcke's _Primitive Family_, pp. 85-88. Letourneau, + _Evolution of Marriage_, pp. 80-81, 311-312. Hartland, + _Primitive Paternity_, Vol. I, pp. 269, 288. + +Now, if we regard these customs in the light of what has already been +established, it is clear that they cannot be regarded as the first +stage in the maternal family. Such a view is entirely to mistake the +facts. The Nairs are in no respect a people of primitive culture. +Through a long period they have most strictly preserved the custom of +matriarchal heredity, which has led to an unusual concentration of the +family group, and it is probable that here is the best explanation of +the conjugal liberty of the Nair girls. However singular their system +may appear to us, it is the most logical and complete of any +polyandric system. If we compare it with the more usual form of +patriarchal polyandry we see at once the influence of maternal +descent. Here, the woman makes a free choice of her husbands; in no +sense is she their property. It is common for them to work for her, +one husband taking on himself to furnish her with clothes, another to +give her rice and food, and so on. It is, in fact, the wife who +possesses, and it is through her that wealth is transmitted. In +fraternal polyandry, on the other hand (as, for instance, it is +practised in Thibet and Ceylon), the husbands of a woman are always +brothers; she belongs to them, and for her children there is a kind of +collective fatherhood. But among the Nairs the man as husband and +father cannot be said to exist; he is reduced to the most subordinate +role of the male--he is simply the progenitor. + +I know of no stronger case than this of the degraded position of the +father. And what I want to make clear is that in such negation of all +father-right rested the inherent weakness in the matriarchal +conditions--a weakness which led eventually to the re-establishment of +the paternal family. We must be very clear in our minds as to the +sharp distinction between the restricted family and the communal +clan. The clan as a confederation of members was opposed to the family +whose interests were necessarily personal and selfish. Such communism, +to some may appear strange at so early a stage of primitive cultures, +yet, as I have more than once pointed out, it was a perfectly natural +development; it arose through the fierce struggle for existence, +forcing the primitive hostile groups to expand and unite with one +another for mutual protection. Such conditions of primitive socialism +were specially favourable for women. As I have again and again +affirmed, the collective motive was more considered by the mothers, +and must be sought in the organisation of the maternal clan. But since +individual desires can never be wholly subdued, and the male nature is +ever directed towards self-assertion, the clan, organised on the +rights of the mothers, had always to contend with an opposing force. +At one stage the clan was able to absorb the family, but only under +exceptional conditions could such a system be maintained. The social +organisation of the clan was inevitably broken up as society advanced. +With greater security of life the individual interests reasserted +their power, and this undermined the dominion of the mother. + +To bring these facts home, we must now consider some further examples +of mother-right, in order to show how closely these customs are +connected with the conditions of the maternal familiar clan. + +The Yaos of Africa have what may be regarded as a matriarchal +organisation. Kinship is reckoned and property is inherited through +the mother. When a man marries, he is expected to live in his wife's +village, and his first conjugal duties are to build a house for her, +and hoe a garden for her mother. This gives the woman a very important +position, and it is she, and not the man, who usually proposes +marriage.[107] + + [107] Alice Werner, "Our Subject Races", _National Reformer_, + Aug. 1897, p. 169. + +In Africa descent through the mother is the rule, though there are +exceptions, and these are increasing. The amusing account given by +Miss Kingsley[108] of Joseph, a member of the Batu tribe in French +Congo, strikingly illustrates the prevalence of the custom. When asked +by a French official to furnish his own name and the name of his +father, Joseph was wholly nonplussed. "My fader!" he said. "Who my +fader?" Then he gave the name of his mother. The case is the same +among the negroes. The Fanti of the Gold Coast may be taken as +typical. Among them an intensity of affection (accounted for partly by +the fact that the mothers have exclusive care of the children) is felt +for the mother, while the father is almost disregarded as a parent, +notwithstanding the fact that he may be a wealthy and powerful man. +The practice of the Wamoimia, where the son of a sister is preferred +in legacies, "because a man's own son is only the son of his wife," is +typical. The Bush husband does not live with his wife, and often has +wives in different places.[109] + + [108] _Travels_, p. 109. + + [109] Lippert, _Kulturgeschichte_, etc., Vol. II, p. 57. + Hartland, _Primitive Paternity_, Vol. I, pp. 274, 286. + +In Africa the clan system is firmly established, which explains the +prevalence of mother-descent. Women, on the whole, take an important +position, and here, as elsewhere, their inheritance of property +enables them to maintain their equality with their husbands. +Individual possession of wealth is allowed, but a married man usually +cannot dispose of any property unless his wife agrees, and she acts as +the representative of the children's claims upon the father. The +privilege that, according to Laing, the Soulima women have, of leaving +their husbands when they please, is also proof of the maternal +customs.[110] Moreover, among some tribes, the influence of the +mothers as the heads of families extends to the councils of state; it +is even said that the chiefs do not decide anything without their +consent.[111] + + [110] Letourneau, pp. 306-307; citing Laing, _Travels in + Western Africa_. + + [111] Giraud-Teulon, _Les origines du mariage et de la + famille_, pp. 215 _et seq._ + +Mother-right is still in force in many parts of India, though owing to +the influence of Brahminism on the aboriginal tribes the examples of +the maternal family are fewer than might be expected. Among the once +powerful Koochs the women own all the property, which is inherited +from mother to daughter. The husband lives with his wife and her +mother, and, we are told, is subject to them. These women are most +industrious, weaving, spinning, planting and sowing, in a word, doing +all the work not above their strength.[112] The Koochs may be compared +with the Khasis, already noticed, and these maternal systems among the +Indian hill tribes may surely be regarded as showing conditions at one +time common. Even tribes who have passed from the clan organisation to +the patriarchal family preserve numerous traces of mother-right. Thus, +the choice of her lover often remains with the girl; again, divorce is +easy at the wish either of the woman or the man.[113] Such freedom in +love is clearly inconsistent with the patriarchal authority of the +husband. I must note too the practice, common among many tribes, by +which the husband remains in the wife's home for a probationary +period, working for her family.[114] This is clearly a step towards +purchase marriage, as is proved by the Santals, where this service is +claimed when a girl is ugly or deformed and cannot be married +otherwise, while other tribes offer their daughters when in want of +labourers. This service-marriage must not be confused with the true +maternal form, where the bridegroom visits or lives with the wife and +any service claimed is a test of his fitness; it shows, however, the +power of the woman's kindred still curbing the rights of the husband. + + [112] Hodgson, _Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal_, 1855, + Vol. XVIII, p. 707, cited by Starcke, _op. cit._, pp. 79, + 285. + + [113] Hartland, _op. cit._, Vol. II, pp. 155-157. + + [114] This custom prevails, for instance, among the Kharwars + and Parahiya tribes, and is common among the Ghasiyas, and is + also practised among the Tipperah of Bengal. + +The existence of mother-descent among the peoples of Western Asia has +been ascertained with regard to some ancient tribes; but I may pass +these over, as they offer no points of special interest. I must, +however, refer briefly to the evidence brought forward by the late +Prof. Robertson Smith[115] of mother-right in ancient Arabia. We find +a decisive example of its favourable influence on the position of +women in the custom of _beena_ marriage. Under this maternal form, the +wife was not only freed from any subjection involved by the payment of +a bride-price in the form of compulsory service or of gifts to her +kindred (which always places her more or less under authority), but +she was the owner of the tent and the household property, and thus +enjoyed the liberty which ownership always entails. This explains how +she was able to free herself at pleasure from her husband, who was +really nothing but a temporary lover. Ibn Batua, even in the +fourteenth century found that the women of Zebid were perfectly ready +to marry strangers. The husband might depart when he pleased, but his +wife in that case could never be induced to follow him. She bade him a +friendly adieu and took upon herself the whole charge of any children +of the marriage. The women in Jahiliya had the right to dismiss their +husbands, and the form of dismissal was this: "If they lived in a +tent they turned it round, so that if the door faced east it now faced +west, and when the man saw this, he knew he was dismissed and did not +enter." The tent belonged to the woman: the husband was received +there, and at her good pleasure. We find many cases of _beena_ +marriage among widely different peoples. Frazer[116] cites an +interesting example among the tribes on the north frontier of +Abyssinia, partially Semitic peoples, not yet under the influence of +Islam, who preserve a maternal marriage closely resembling the _beena_ +form, but have as well a purchase marriage, by which a wife is +acquired by the payment of a bride-price and becomes the property of +her husband. + + [115] _Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia._ See also + Barton, _Semitic Origins_. + + [116] _Academy_, March 27, 1886. + +A very curious form of conjugal contract is recorded among the +Hassanyeh Arabs of the White Nile, where the wife passed by contract +for a portion of her time only under the authority of her husband. It +illustrates in a striking way the conflict in marriage between the old +rights of the woman and the rising power of the husband. + + "When the parents of the man and the woman meet to settle + the price of the woman, the price depends on how many days + in the week the marriage tie is to be strictly observed. The + woman's mother first of all proposes that, taking everything + into consideration, with due regard to the feelings of the + family, she could not think of binding her daughter to a due + observance of that chastity which matrimony is expected to + command for more than two days in the week. After a great + deal of apparently angry discussion, and the promise on the + part of the relations of the man to pay more, it is arranged + that the marriage shall hold good, as is customary among the + first families of the tribe, for four days in the week, viz. + Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and in compliance + with old established custom, the marriage rites during the + three remaining days shall not be insisted on, during which + days the bride shall be perfectly free to act as she may + think proper, either by adhering to her husband and home, or + by enjoying her freedom and independence from all observance + of matrimonial obligations."[117] + + [117] Spencer, _Descriptive Sociology_, Vol. V, p. 8, citing + Petherick, _Egypt, the Soudan, and Central Africa_, pp. + 140-141. + +A further striking example of mother-right is furnished by the Mariana +Islands, where the position of women 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 offence, 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, the husband could send her home, keep her + property, and kill the adulterer; but if the man was guilty + or even suspected of the same offence, the women of the + neighbourhood destroyed his house and all his visible + property, and the owner was fortunate if he escaped with a + whole skin; and if the wife was not pleased with her + husband, she withdrew, and a similar attack followed. On + this account many men were not married, preferring to live + with paid women."[118] + + [118] Thomas, _Sex and Society_, pp. 73-74, quoting + Waitz-Gerland. + +A similar case of the rebellion of men against their position is +recorded in Guinea, where religious symbolism was used by the husband +as a way of obtaining control and possession of his wife. The maternal +system held with respect only to the chief wife. + + "It was customary, however, for a man to buy and take to + wife a slave, a friendless person with whom he could deal at + pleasure, who had no kindred who could interfere with her, + and to consecrate her to his Bossum, or god. The Bossum + wife, slave as she had been, ranked next to the chief wife, + and was exceptionally treated. She alone was very jealously + guarded, she alone was sacrificed at her husband's death. + She was, in fact, wife in a peculiar sense. And having by + consecration been made of the kindred and worship of her + husband her children could be born of his kindred and + worship."[119] + + [119] McLennan, _The Patriarchal Theory_, p. 235. + +It will be readily seen that the special rights held by the husband +over these captive-wives would come to be greatly desired. But the +capture of women was always difficult, as it frequently led to +quarrels and even warfare with the woman's tribe, and for this reason +was never widely practised. It would therefore be necessary for +another way of escape from the bonds of the maternal marriage to be +found. This was done by a system of buying the wife from her +clan-kindred, in which case she became the property of her husband. + +The change did not, of course, take place at once, and we have many +examples of a transition period where the old customs are in conflict +with the new. Both forms of marriage, the maternal and the purchase +contract, are practised side by side by many peoples. These cases are +so instructive that I must add one or two examples to those already +noticed. The _ambel-anak_ marriage of Sumatra is the maternal form, +but there is another marriage known as _djudur_, by which a man buys +his wife as his absolute property. There is a complicated system of +payments, on which the husband's rights to take the wife to his home +depends. If the final sum is paid (but this is not commonly claimed +except in the case of a quarrel between the families) the woman +becomes to all intents and purposes the slave of the man; but if, on +the other hand, as is not at all uncommon, the husband fails or has +difficulty in making the main payment, he becomes the debtor of his +wife's family, and he is practically the slave, all his labour being +due to his wife's family without any reduction in the debt, which must +be paid in full, before he regains his liberty.[120] In Ceylon, again, +there are two forms of marriage, called _beena_ and _deega_, which +cause a marked difference in the position of the wife. A woman married +under the _beena_ form lives in the house or immediate neighbourhood +of her parents, and if so married she has the right of inheritance +along with her brothers; but if married in _deega_ she goes to live in +her husband's house and village and loses her rights in her own +family.[121] + + [120] Marsden, _History of Sumatra_, pp. 225-227. + + [121] Forbes, _Eleven Years in Ceylon_, Vol. I, p. 333. + +In Africa where the _beena maternal marriage_ is usual, and the +husband serves for his wife and lives with her family, it is said that +families are usually more or less willing _for value received_ to give +a woman to a man to take away with him, or to let him have his _beena_ +wife to transfer to his own house. Among the Wayao and Mang'anja of +the Shirehighlands, south of Lake Nyassa, a man on marrying leaves his +own village and goes to live in that of his wife; but, as an +alternative, he is allowed to pay a bride-price, in which case he +takes his wife away to his home.[122] Again among the Banyai on the +Zambesi, if the husband gives nothing the children of the marriage +belong to the wife's family, but if he gives so many cattle to his +wife's parents the children are his.[123] Similar cases may be found +elsewhere. In the Watubela Islands between New Guinea and Celebes a +man may either pay for his wife before marriage, or he may, without +paying, live as her husband in her parents' house, working for her. In +the former case, the children belong to him, in the latter to the +mother's family, but he may buy them subsequently at a price.[124] +Campbell records of the Limboo tribe (where the bride is usually +purchased and lives with the husband), that if poverty compels the +bridegroom to serve for his wife, he becomes the slave of her father, +"until by his work he has redeemed his bride."[125] An interesting +case occurs in some Californian tribes where the husband has to live +with the wife and work, until he has paid to her kindred the full +price for her and her child. So far has custom advanced in favour of +father-right that the children of a wife not paid for are regarded as +bastards and held in contempt.[126] + + [122] Macdonald, _Africana_, Vol I, p. 136. + + [123] Livingstone, _Travels_, p. 622. + + [124] Riedel, p. 205; cited by McLennan, _Patriarchal + Theory_, p. 326. + + [125] _Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal_, Vol. IX, p. 603. + + [126] Bancroft, Vol. I, p. 549. + +Wherever we find the payment of a bride-price, in whatever form, there +is sure indication of the decay of mother-right: woman has become +property. Among the Bassa Komo of Nigeria marriage is usually effected +by an exchange of sisters or other female relatives. The men may marry +as many wives as they have women to give to other men. In this tribe +the women look after the children, but the boys, when four years old, +go to live and work with the fathers.[127] The husbands of the Bambala +tribe (inhabiting the Congo states between the rivers Inzia and Kwilu) +have to abstain from visiting their wives for a year after the birth +of each child, but they are allowed to return to her on the payment to +her father of two goats.[128] Among the Bassanga on the south-west of +Lake Moeru the children of the wife belong to the mother's kin, but +the children of slaves are the property of the father. + + [127] _Journal African Society_, VIII, 15 _et seq._ + + [128] Torday and Joyce, _J. A. I._, XXXV, 410. + +The right of a father to his children was established only by +contract. Even where the wife had been given up by her kindred and +allowed to live with her husband, we find that the children may be +claimed by her family. Thus among the Makolo the price paid on +marriage might merely cover the right to have the wife, and in this +case the children belonged to the wife's family. It might, however, +cover a certain right to the children if that had been contracted for, +but never such a right as separated them wholly from the mother's +family. To effect this it was necessary that a further price should be +paid at the father's death. This sum once paid, her family had "given +her up" and her children were entirely severed from them.[129] The +legal acknowledgment of fatherhood in all cases had to be paid for. + + [129] McLennan, _The Patriarchal Theory_, pp. 324-325, 240. + +There are many customs pointing to this new father-force asserting +itself, and pushing aside the mother-power. In Africa, among the +Bavili the mother has the right to pawn her child, but she must first +consult the father, so that he may have a chance of giving her goods +to save the pledging.[130] This is very plainly a step towards +father-right. There is no distinction between legitimate and +illegitimate children. Similar conditions prevail among the Alladians +of the Ivory Coast, but here the mother cannot pledge her children +without the consent of her brother or other male head of the family. +The father has the right to ransom the child.[131] An even stronger +example of the property value of children is furnished by the custom +found among many tribes, by which the father has to make a present to +the wife's family when a child dies: this is called "buying the +child."[132] A similar custom prevails among the Maori people of New +Zealand; when a child dies, or even meets with an accident, the +mother's relations, headed by her brothers, turn out in force against +the father. He must defend himself until wounded. Blood once drawn, +the combat ceases; but the attacking party plunders his house and +appropriates the husband's property, and finally sits down to a feast +provided by him.[133] + + [130] Dennett, _Jour. Afr. Soc._, I, 266. + + [131] _Jour. Afr. Soc._, I, 412. + + [132] Hartland, _Primitive Paternity_, Vol. I, pp. 275 _et + seq._ + + [133] _Old New Zealand_, p. 110. + +These cases, with the inferences they suggest, show that the power a +husband and father possessed over his wife and her children was gained +through purchase. And it is not the fact of the husband's power, +however great it might be, that is so important, but the fact that by +the change in the form of marriage the wife and her children were cut +off from the woman's clan-kindred, whose duty to protect them was now +withdrawn. Here, then, was the reason of the change from mother-right +to father-right. The monopolist desire of the husband to possess for +himself the woman and her children (perhaps the deepest rooted of all +the instincts) reasserted itself. But the regaining of this individual +possession by man was due, not to male strength, but to purchase. I +must insist upon this. As soon as women became sexually marketable +their freedom was doomed. + +There are many interesting cases of transition in which the children +belong sometimes to the mother and sometimes to the father. Again I +can give one or two examples only. In the island of Mangia the parents +at the birth of the child arranged between themselves whether it +should be dedicated to the father's god or to the mother's. The +dedication took place forthwith, and finally determined which parent +had the ownership of the child.[134] Among the Haidis, children belong +to the clan of the mother, but in exceptional cases when the clan of +the father is reduced in numbers, the new-born child may be given to +the father's sister to suckle. It is then spoken of as belonging to +the paternal aunt and is counted to its father's clan.[135] It is also +possible to transfer a child to the father by giving it one of the +names common to his clan. There are many curious customs practised by +certain tribes, wavering between mother and father descent. In Samoa +religion decides the question. At the birth of a child the totem of +each parent is prayed to in turn (usually, though not always, starting +with that of the father) and whichever totem happens to be invoked at +the moment of birth is the child's totem for life and decides whether +he or she belongs to the clan of the mother or the father.[136] +Equally curious was the custom of the Liburni, where the children were +all brought up together until they were five years old. They were then +collected and examined in order to trace their likeness to the men and +they were assigned to their fathers accordingly. Whoever received a +boy from his mother in this way regarded him as his son.[137] +Similarly with the Arabs, where one woman was the wife of several men, +the custom was either for the woman to decide to which of them the +child was to belong, or the child was assigned by an expert to one of +the joint husbands to be regarded as his own.[138] + + [134] McLennan, _The Patriarchal Theory_. + + [135] _Survey of Canada_, Report for 1878-79, 134 B. Cited by + Frazer, _Totemism_, p. 76. + + [136] Turner, _Samoa_, p. 78. + + [137] _Das Mutterrecht_, p. 20, quoted by Starcke, _op. + cit._, pp. 126-127. + + [138] Wilken, _Das Matriarchat bei den alten Arabern_, p. 26. + +These facts throw a strong light on the bond between the father and +the child, which was a legal bond, not dependent, as it is with us, +upon blood relationship. Fatherhood really arose out of the ownership +of purchase. And for this reason the father's right came to extend to +all the children of the wife. It does not appear that the husband +makes any distinction between his wife's children, even if they were +begotten by other men. Chastity is not regarded as a virtue, and in +those cases where unfaithfulness in a wife is punished, it is always +because the woman, who has passed from the protection of her kindred, +acts without her husband's permission. Interchange of wives is common, +while it is one of the duties of hospitality to offer a wife to a +stranger guest. Husbands sometimes, indeed, seek other men for their +wives, believing they will obtain sons who will excel all others. Thus +of the Arabs we are told, there is one form of marriage according to +which a man says to his wife, "Send a message to such a one and beg +him to have intercourse with you." The husband acts in this way in +order that his offspring may be noble.[139] When a Hindu marries, all +the children previously born from his wife become his own; in +Pakpatan, even when a woman has forsaken her husband for ten years, +the children she brings forth are divided between her and her +lover.[140] Similarly in Madagascar, when a woman is divorced, any +children she afterwards bears belong to her husband.[141] Campbell +tells us of children born out of wedlock in the Limboo tribe that the +father may obtain possession of the boys by purchase and by naming +them, but the girls belong to the mother.[142] + + [139] Wilken, _op. cit._, p. 26. + + [140] Wade, _Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal_, Vol. VI, p. + 196. + + [141] See _Truth about Woman_, pp. 160-161, for account of + Madagascar. + + [142] _Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal_, Vol. IX, p. 603. + +I am very certain that it was through property considerations and for +no moral causes that the stringency of the moral code was tightened +for women. It seems to me of very great importance that women should +grasp firmly this truth: the virtue of chastity owes its origin to +property. Our minds fall so readily under the spell of such ideas as +chastity and purity. There is a mass of real superstition on this +question--a belief in a kind of magic in chastity. But, indeed, +continence had at first no connection with morals. The sense of +ownership has been the seed-plot of our moral code. To it we are +indebted for the first germs of the sexual inhibitions which, +sanctified, by religion and supported by custom, have, under the +unreasoned idealism of the common mind, filled life with cruelties and +jealous exclusions, with suicides, and murders, and secret +shames.[143] + + [143] This passage is quoted from _The Truth about Woman_, p. + 171. I give it here, because its importance seems to me to be + very great. + +This brings me to summarise the point we have reached. Father-right +was dependent on purchase-possession and had nothing to do with actual +fatherhood. The payment of a bride-price, the giving of a sister in +exchange, as also marriage with a slave, gained for the husband the +control over his wife and ownership of the children. I could bring +forward much more evidence in proof of this fact that property, and +not kinship, was the basis of fatherhood, did the limits of my space +allow me to do so; such cases are common in all parts of the world +where the transitional stage has been reached. The maternal clan, with +its strong social cohesion is then broken up by the growing power of +individual interests pushing aside the old customs, and bringing about +the restoration of the family. I believe that the causes by which the +father gained his position as the dominant partner in marriage must be +clear to every one from the examples I have given. Fatherhood +established in the first stage of the family on jealous authority, +now, after a period of more or less complete obscuration, rises again +as the dominant force in marriage. The father has bought back his +position as patriarch. On the other hand the mother has lost her +freedom that came with the protection of her kindred, under the social +organisation of the clan. Looking back through the lengthening record, +we find that another step has been taken in the history of the family. +This time is it a step forward, or a step backward? This is a question +I shall not try to answer, for, indeed, I am not sure. + +Yet in case I am mistaken here, let me say at once I am certain that +this return to the restricted family was a necessary and inevitable +step. The individual forces had to triumph. This may seem a +contradiction to all I have just said. What I wish to show is this: +one and all the phases in the development of society have been needful +and fruitful as successive stages in growth; yet none can +continue--none be regarded as the final stage, for each becomes +insufficient and narrow from the standpoint of the needs of a later +stage. We have reached the third stage--the patriarchal family which +still endures. And last and hardest to eradicate is that monopoly of +sexual possession, which says: "This woman and her children are mine: +I have tabooed her for life." Mankind has still to outlive this brute +instinct in its upward way to civilisation. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +WOMEN AND PRIMITIVE INDUSTRY + + +I have referred in an earlier chapter to a letter from Mr. H. G. +Wells, sent to me after the publication of my book, _The Truth about +Woman_. Now, there is one sentence in this letter that I wish to quote +here, because it brings home just what it is my purpose in this +chapter to show--that the mother-age was a civilisation owing its +institutions, and its early victories over nature, rather to the +genius of woman than to that of man. Mr. Wells does not, indeed, say +this. He rejects the mother-age, and in questioning my acceptance of +it as a stage in the past histories of societies, he writes: "The +primitive matriarchate never was anything more than mother at the +washing-tub and father looking miserable." + +It seems to me that here, in his own inimitable way, Mr. Wells (though +I think quite unconsciously) sums up the past labour-history of woman +and man. His statement has very far-reaching considerations. It forces +us to accept the active utility of primitive woman in the community--a +utility more developed and practical than that of man. This was really +the basis of women's position of power. The constructive quality of +the female mind, at a time when the male attention and energy were +fixed chiefly on the destructive activities of warfare, was liberated +for use and invention. Women were the seekers, slowly increasing their +efficiency. + +Very much the same account of the primitive sexual division in work +was given by an Australian Kurnai to Messrs. Fison and Howitt, in a +sentence that has been quoted very frequently: "A man hunts, spears +fish, fights and sits about, all the rest is woman's work." This may +be accepted as a fair statement of how work is divided between the two +sexes among primitive peoples. Now, what I wish to make plain is that +it was an arrangement in which the advantage was really on the side of +the woman rather than on that of the man. I would refer the reader +back to what has been said on this subject in Chapter III, where I +summed up the conditions acting on the women in the hypothetical first +stage of the primordial family. We saw that the males were chiefly +concerned with the absorbing duties of sex and fighting rivals, and +also hunting for game. The women's interest, on the other hand, was +bent on domestic activities--in caring for their children and +developing the food supplies immediately around them. From the +hearth-home, or shelter, as the start of settled life, and with their +intelligence sharpened by the keen chisel of necessity, women carried +on their work as the organisers and directors of industrial +occupations. Very slowly did they make each far-reaching discovery; +seeds cast into the ground sprouted and gave the first start of +agriculture. The plant world gave women the best returns for the +efforts they made, and they began to store up food. Contrivance +followed contrivance, each one making it possible for women to do +more. Certain animals, possibly brought back by the hunters from the +forests, were kept and tamed. Presently the use of fire was +discovered--we know not how--but women became the guardians of this +source of life. And now, instead of caves or tree-shelters, there were +huts and tents and houses, and of these, too, women were frequently +the builders. The home from the first was of greater importance to the +women; it was the place where the errant males rejoined their wives +and children, and hence the women became the owners of the homes and +the heads of households. For as yet the men were occupied in fighting. +The clumsy and the stupid among them were killed soonest; the fine +hand, the quick eye--these prevailed age by age. Tools and weapons +were doubtless fashioned by these fighters, but for destruction; the +male's attention was directed mainly by his own desires. And may we +not accept that among the most pressing activities of women was the +need to tame man and make him social, so that he could endure the +rights of others than himself? + +So through the long generations the life of human societies continued. +Those activities, due to female influence, developing and opening up +new ways in all directions, until we have that early civilisation, +which I have called the mother-age. + +All the world over, even to this day, this separation in the labour +activities of the two sexes can be traced. Destructive work, demanding +a special development of strength, with corresponding periods of rest, +falls to men; and contrasted with this violent and intermittent male +force we find, with the same uniformity, that the work of women is +domestic and constructive, being connected with the care of children +and all the various industries which radiate from the home--work +demanding a different kind of strength, more enduring, more +continuous, but at a lower tension. + +Bonwick's account of the work of Tasmanian women may be taken as +typical-- + + "In addition to the necessary duty of looking after the + children, the women had to provide all the food for the + household excepting that derived from the chase of the + kangaroo. They climbed up hills for the opossum" (a very + difficult task, requiring great strength and also skill), + "delved in the ground for yams, native bread, and nutritious + roots, groped about the rocks for shellfish, dived beneath + the sea for oysters, and fished for the finny tribe. In + addition to this, they carried, on their frequent tramps, + the household stuffs in native baskets of their own + manufacture."[144] + + [144] _Daily Life and Origin of the Tasmanians_, p. 55. + +Among the Indians of Guiana the men's work is to hunt, and to cut down +the trees when the cassava is to be planted. When the men have felled +the trees and cleaned the ground, the women plant the cassava and +undertake all the subsequent operations; agriculture is entirely in +their hands. They are little, if at all, weaker than the men, and they +work all day while the men are often in their hammocks smoking; but +there is no cruelty or oppression exercised by the men towards the +women.[145] + + [145] Everard im Thurn, _Among the Indians of Guiana_. + +In Africa we meet with much the same conditions of labour. "The work +is done chiefly by the women, this is universal; they hoe the fields, +sow the seed, and reap the harvest. To them, too, falls all the labour +of house-building, grinding corn, brewing beer, cooking, washing, and +caring for almost all the material interests of the community. The men +tend the cattle, hunt, go to war; they also spend much time sitting in +council over the conduct of affairs."[146] + + [146] Macdonald, "East Central African Customs," _Journal + Anthropological Institute_, Feb. 1890, p. 342. + +I may note the interesting account of Prof. Haddon[147] of the work of +the Western Tribes of the Torres Straits-- + + [147] _Journal Anthropological Institute_, Feb. 1890, p. 342. + + "The men fished, fought, built houses, did a little + gardening, made fish-lines, fish-hooks, spears, and other + implements, constructed dance-masks and head-dresses, and + all the paraphernalia for the various ceremonies and dances. + They performed all the rites and dances, and in addition did + a good deal of strutting up and down, loafing and 'yarning.' + The women cooked and prepared the food, did most of the + gardening, collected shell-fish, and speared fish on the + reefs, made petticoats, baskets and mats." + +Similar examples might be almost indefinitely multiplied. Among the +Andamanese, while the men go into the jungle to hunt pigs, the women +fetch drinking water and firewood, catch shell-fish, make fishing nets +and baskets, spin thread, and cook the food ready for the return of +the men.[148] The Moki women of America have fifty ways of preparing +corn for food. They make all the preparations necessary for these +varied dishes, involving the arts of the stonecutter, the carrier, the +mason, the miller and the cook.[149] In New Caledonia "girls work in +the plantations, boys learn to fight."[150] + + [148] Owen, _Transactions of the Ethnological Society_, New + Series, Vol. II, p. 36. + + [149] Mason, _Woman's Share in Primitive Culture_, p. 143. + + [150] Turner, _Nineteen Years in Polynesia_, p. 424. + +We should, however, fall into a popular error concerning the division +of labour in savagery, if we consider that all women's work is +regarded as degrading to men and all men's work is tabooed to women. +The duties of war and the chase are the chief occupation of men, yet +in all parts of the world women have fought at need, and sometimes +habitually, both to assist their men and also against them. Thus +Buckley, who lived for many years among the Australian tribes, relates +that when the tribe he lived with was attacked by a hostile party, the +men "raised a war-cry; on hearing this the women threw off their rugs +and, each armed with a short club, flew to the assistance of their +husbands and brothers."[151] In Central Australia the men occasionally +beat the women through jealousy, but on such occasions it is by no +means rare for the women, single handed, to beat the men +severely.[152] Again, men carry on, as a rule, the negotiations on +tribal concerns, but in such matters exceptions are very numerous. +Among the Australian Dieyerie, Curr states that the women act as +ambassadors to arrange treaties, and invariably succeed in their +mission.[153] The same conditions are found among the American +Indians. Men are the hunters and fishers, but women also hunt and +fish. Among the Yahgan of Tierra del Fuego fishing is left entirely to +the women,[154] and this is not at all unusual. Mrs. Allison states of +the Similkameen Indians of British Columbia that formerly "the women +were nearly as good hunters as the men," but being sensitive to the +ridicule of the white settlers, they have given up hunting.[155] In +hunting trips, the help of women is often not to be despised. +Warburton Pike writes thus: "I saw what an advantage it is to take +women on a hunting trip. If we killed anything, we had only to cut up +and _cache_ the meat, and the women would carry it. On returning to +camp we could throw ourselves down on a pile of caribou skins and +smoke our pipes in comfort, but the women's work was never +finished."[156] This account is very suggestive. The man undergoes the +fatigue of hunting, and when he has thrown the game at the woman's +feet his part is done; it is her duty to carry it and to cook it, as +well as to make the vessels in which the food is placed. The skins and +the refuse are hers to utilise, and all the industries connected with +clothing are chiefly in her hands.[157] Hearne, in his delightful old +narrative, speaks of the assistance of women on hunting expeditions-- + + "For when all the men are heavy laden they can neither hunt + nor travel to any considerable distance; and in case they + meet with any success in hunting, who is to carry the + produce of their labour?" + + [151] _Life and Adventures of William Buckley_, p. 43. + + [152] _Journal Anthropological Institute_, Aug. 1890, p. 61. + + [153] _Australian Races_, cited by Ellis, _Man and Woman_, p. + 9 _note_. + + [154] Haydes et Deniker, _Mission Scientifique de Cape Horn_, + tome vii, 1891. + + [155] _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, Feb. 1892, + p. 307. + + [156] Warburton Pike, _Barren Grounds_, p. 75. + + [157] Havelock Ellis, _Man and Woman_, p. 5. + +He adds with a charming frankness-- + + "Women were made for labour; one of them can carry or haul + as much as two men can do. They also pitch our tents, make + and mend our clothing, keep us warm at night, and, in fact, + there is no such thing as travelling any considerable + distance, or any length of time, in this country without + their assistance."[158] + + [158] _A Journey from Prince of Wales's Fort to the Northern + Ocean_, p. 55. + +Numerous other examples might be added which illustrate how women take +part in the destructive work of men; conversely we find not a few +cases of the co-operation of men in the women's activities. The world +over, women are usually the weavers and spinners; but with the Navajo +and in some of the Pueblos the men are among the best weavers.[159] +Among the Indians of Guiana the men are specially skilful in +basket-weaving, and here also they as well as the women spin and +weave.[160] More curious is the custom in East Africa where all the +sewing for their own and the women's garments is done by the men, and +very well done. Sewing is here so entirely recognised as men's work +that a wife may obtain a divorce if she "can show a neglected rend in +her petticoat."[161] + + [159] Mason, _op. cit._, p. 10. + + [160] Im Thurn, _Among the Indians of British Guiana_. + + [161] Macdonald, _Journal Anthropological Institute_, Aug. + 1892. + +It is a common mistake, arising from insufficient knowledge, to +suppose that savage women are specially subject to oppression. Their +life is hard as we look at it, but not as they look at it. We have +still much to learn on these matters. An even greater error is the +view that these women are a source of weakness to the male members of +their families. The very reverse is the truth. Primitive women are +strong in body and capable in work. Fison and Howitt, in discussing +this question, state of the Australian women, "In times of peace, they +are the hardest workers and the most useful members of the community." +And in times of war, "they are perfectly capable of taking care of +themselves at all times, and so far from being an encumbrance on the +warriors, they will fight, if need be, as bravely as the men, and with +even greater ferocity."[162] This is no exceptional case. The strength +of savage women is proved by reports from widely different races, of +which all testify to their physical capability and aptness for labour. +Schellong,[163] who has carefully studied the Papuans of the German +protectorate of New Guinea, from the anthropological point of view, +"considers that the women are more strongly built than the men." Nor +does heavy work appear to damage the health or beauty of the women, +but the contrary. Thus among the Andombies on the Congo, to give one +instance, the women, though working very hard as carriers, and as +labourers in general, lead an entirely happy existence; they are often +stronger than the men and more finely developed: some of them, we are +told, have really splendid figures. And Parke, speaking of the +Manyuema of the Arruwimi in the same region, says that "they are fine +animals, and the women very handsome; they carry loads as heavy as +those of the men and do it quite as well."[164] Again, McGee[165] +comments on the extraordinary capacity of quite aged women for heavy +labour. He tells of "a withered crone, weighing apparently not more +than 80 to 90 lb. who carried a _kilio_ containing a stone mortar 196 +lb. in weight for more than half a mile on a sandy road without any +perceptible exhaustion. The proportion of the active aged is much +larger than among civilised people." + + [162] _Kamilaroi and Kurnai_, pp. 133, 147. + + [163] Cited by Ellis, _Man and Woman_, p. 4. + + [164] H. H. Johnston, _The Kilimanjaro Expedition_; Parke, + _Experiences in Equatorial Africa_. These examples are cited + by Ellis. + + [165] "The Beginnings of Agriculture," _American + Anthropologist_, Oct. 1895, p. 37. + +I may pause to note some of the numerous industries of which women +were the originators. First of all, woman is the food-giver; all the +labours relating to the preparation of food, and to the utilisation of +the side products of foodstuffs are usually found in the hands of +women. Women are everywhere the primitive agriculturists. They beat +out the seeds from plants; dig for roots and tubers, strain the +poisonous juices from the cassava and make bread from the residue; and +it was under their attention that a southern grass was first developed +into what we know as Indian corn.[166] The removal of poisonous matter +from tapioca by means of hot water is also the discovery of savage +women.[167] All the evolution of primitive agriculture may be traced +to women's industry. Power tells of the Yokia women in Central +California who employ neither plough nor hoe, but cultivate the ground +by digging the earth deep and rubbing it fine with their hands, and by +this means they get an excellent yield.[168] Women have everywhere +been the first potters; vessels were needed for use in cooking, to +carry and to hold water, and to store the supplies of food. For the +same reason baskets were woven. Women invented and exercised in common +multifarious household occupations and industries. Curing food, +tanning the hides of animals, spinning, weaving, dyeing--all are +carried on by women. The domestication of animals is usually in +women's hands. They are also the primitive architects; the hut, in +widely different parts of the world--among Kaffirs, Fuegians, +Polynesians, Kamtschatdals--is built by women. We have seen that the +communal houses of the American Indians are mainly erected by the +women. Women were frequently, though not always, the primitive +doctors. Among the Kurds, for instance, all the medical knowledge is +in the hands of the women, who are the hereditary _hakims_.[169] Women +seem to have prepared the first intoxicating liquors. The Quissama +women in Angola climb the gigantic palm trees to obtain +palm-beer.[170] In the ancient legends of the North, women are clearly +represented as the discoverers of ale.[171] + + [166] Thomas, _Sex and Society_, p. 136. + + [167] Mason, _op. cit._ p. 24. + + [168] _Cont. North American Ethnology_, Vol. III, p. 167. + + [169] Mrs. Bishop, _Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan_, cited + by H. Ellis, _op. cit._, p. 6. + + [170] _Jour. Anthrop. Inst._, Vol. I, p. 190. + + [171] "Magic Songs of the Finns," _Folk-lore_, Mar. 1892. + +It would be easy to go on almost indefinitely multiplying examples of +the industries of primitive women. There can be no doubt at all that +their work is exacting and incessant; it is also inventive in its +variety and its ready application to the practical needs of life. If a +catalogue of the primitive forms of labour were made, each woman would +be found doing at least half-a-dozen things while a man did one. We +may accept the statement of Prof. Mason that in the early history of +mankind "women were the industrial, elaborative, conservative half of +society. All the peaceful arts of to-day were once women's peculiar +province. Along the lines of industrialism she was pioneer, inventor, +author, originator."[172] + + [172] _American Antiquarian_, Jan. 1899. + +There is another matter that must be noted. The primitive division of +labour between the sexes was not in any sense an arrangement dictated +by men, nor did they impose the women's tasks upon them. The view that +the women are forced to work by the laziness of the men, and that +their heavy and incessant labour is a proof of their degraded position +is entirely out of focus. Quite the reverse is the truth. Evidence is +not wanting of the great advantage arising to women from their close +connection with labour. It was largely their control over the food +supply and their position as actual producers which gave them so much +influence, and even authority in the mother-age. In this connection I +may quote the statement of Miss Werner about the African women as +representing the true conditions-- + + "I cannot say that, so far as my own observations went, the + women's lot seemed to be a specially hard one. In fact, they + are too important an element in the community not to be + treated with consideration. The fact that they do most of + the heavy field-work does not imply that they are a + down-trodden sex. On the contrary, it gives them a + considerable pull, as a man will think twice before + endangering his food supply."[173] + + [173] "Our Subject Races," _The Reformer_, April 1897, p. 43. + +Mr. Horatio Hale, a well-known American anthropologist likewise +observes-- + + "The common opinion that women among savage tribes in + general are treated with harshness, and regarded as slaves, + or at least as inferiors, is, like many common opinions, + based on error, originating in too large and indiscriminate + deduction from narrow premises.... The wife of a Samoan + landowner or Navajo shepherd has no occasion, so far as her + position in her family or among her people, to envy the wife + of a German peasant."[174] + + [174] _Journal Anthropological Institute_, May 1892, p. 427, + cited by H. Ellis. + +Certainly savage women do not count their work as any degradation. +There is really an equal division of labour between the sexes, though +the work of the men is accomplished more fitfully than that of the +women. The militant activities of fighting and hunting are essential +in primitive life. The women know this, and they do their share--the +industrial share, willingly, without question, and without compulsion. +It is entirely absurd in this work-connection to regard men as the +oppressors of women. Rather the advantage is on the women's side. For +one thing, just because they are accustomed to hard labour all their +lives, they are little, if any, weaker than men. Primitive women are +strong in body, and capable in work. The powers they enjoy as well as +their manifold activities are the result of their position as mothers, +this function being to them a source of strength and not a plea of +weakness. + + "They who are accustomed to the ways of civilised women + only," remarks Mr. Fison, "can hardly believe what savage + women are capable of, even when they may well be supposed to + be at their weakest. For instance, an Australian tribe on + the march scarcely take the trouble to halt for so slight a + performance as childbirth. The newly born infant is wrapped + in skins, the march is resumed, and the mother trudges on + with the rest. Moreover, as is well known, among many tribes + elsewhere it is the father who is put to bed, while the + mother goes about her work as if nothing had happened."[175] + + [175] _Kamilaroi and Kurnai_, p. 358. + +Another important advantage arising to women, through their +identification with the early industrial process, was their position +as the first property owners. They were almost the sole creators of +ownership in land, and held in this respect a position of great power. +This explains the fact that in the transactions of the North American +tribes with the Colonial Government many deeds of assignment bear +female signatures.[176] A form of divorce used by a husband in ancient +Arabia was: "Begone, for I will no longer drive thy flocks to +pasture."[177] In almost all cases the household goods belonged to +the woman. The stores of roots and berries laid up for a time of +scarcity were the property of the wife, and the husband would not +touch them without her permission. In many cases such property was +very extensive. Among the Menomini Indians, for instance, a woman of +good circumstances would own as many as 1200 to 1500 birch-bark +vessels.[178] In the New Mexico Pueblos what comes from the outside of +the house as soon as it is inside is put under the immediate control +of the women. Bandelier, in his report of his tour in Mexico, tells us +that "his host at Cochiti, New Mexico, could not sell an ear of corn +or a string of chili without the consent of his fourteen-year-old +daughter, Ignacia, who kept house for her widowed father."[179] + + [176] Ratzel, _History of Mankind_, Vol. II, p. 130. + + [177] Robertson Smith, _Kinship and Marriage in Early + Arabia_, p. 65. + + [178] Hoffman, "The Menomini Indians," _Fourteenth Report of + the Bureau of American Ethnology_, p. 288. + + [179] Papers of the _Archaeological Institute of America_, + Vol. II, p. 138. + +I must now bring this brief chapter to a close. But first I would give +one further example. It is an account of the Pelew matrons' work in +the taro fields. Here the richest and most influential women count it +their privilege to labour, and it will be remembered that these women +are called "mothers of the land." They are politically and socially +superior to the men; and their position is dependent largely on their +close connection with the staple industry of the island. + + "The richest woman in the village looks with pride on her + taro patch, and although she has female followers enough to + allow her merely to superintend the work without taking part + in it, she nevertheless prefers to lay aside her fine apron, + and to betake herself to the field, merely clad in a small + apron that barely hides her nakedness, with a little mat on + her back to protect her from the burning heat of the sun, + and with a shade of banana leaves for her eyes. There, + dripping with sweat in the burning sun, and coated with mud + to the hips and over the elbows, she toils to set the + younger women a good example. Moreover, as in every other + occupation, the _Kalitho_, the gods must be invoked, and who + could be better fitted for the discharge of so important a + duty than 'the Mother of the House.'" + +Here is a picture of labour that may well make women pause to think. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +TRACES OF MOTHER-RIGHT CUSTOMS IN ANCIENT AND MODERN CIVILISATIONS + + +I propose in this chapter to examine, as fully as I can, the traces +that mother-right customs have left among some of the great races of +antiquity, as also in the early records of western civilisations. It +is the more necessary to do this because there is so marked a tendency +to minimise the importance of the mother-age, and to regard the +patriarchal family as primeval and universal. So much interesting +material is available, and so wide a field of inquiry must be covered, +that I shall be able to give a mere outline sketch, for the purpose of +suggesting, rather than proving, the widespread prevalence of the +communal clan and the maternal family. + +As to whether this maternal-stage, with kinship and inheritance +passing through the mother, has everywhere preceded the second +patriarchal period, it is difficult to be at all certain. Dr. +Westermarck, Mr. Crawley and others have argued against this view. But +(as I have before had occasion to point out) their chief motive has +been to discredit the theory of promiscuity, with which +mother-descent has been so commonly, and so mistakenly, connected. It +does not seem to have been held as possible that the mother-age was a +much later development, whose social customs were made for the +regulation of the family relationships. A number of very primitive +races exhibit no traces, that have yet been discovered, of such a +system, and have descent in the male line. This has been thought to be +a further proof against a maternal stage. But here again is an error; +we are not entitled to regard mother-descent as necessarily the +primitive custom. I believe and have tried to show, from the examples +of the Australian tribes and elsewhere, that in many cases the stage +of the maternal clan has not been reached. If I am right here, we have +the way cleared from much confusion. I would suggest, as also +possible, that there may among some people, have been retrogressions, +customs and habits found out as beneficial, and perhaps for long +practised, have by some tribes been forgotten. There can be no hard +and fast rule of progress for any race. The whole subject is thorny +and obscure, and the evidence on the question is often contradictory. +Still I hold the claim I make is not without foundation. I have tried +to show how the causes which led to the maternal system were perfectly +simple and natural causes, arising out of needs that must have +operated universally in the past history of mankind. And this +indicates a maternal stage at some period for all branches of the +human family. Again the widespread prevalence of mother-right +survivals among races where the patriarchal system has been for long +firmly established lends support to such a view, which will be +strengthened by the evidence now to be brought forward. It will be +necessary to go step by step, from one race to another, and to many +different countries, and I would ask my readers not to shrink from the +trouble of following me. + +Let us turn first to ancient Egypt, where women held a position more +free and more honourable than they have in any country to-day. + +Herodotus, who was a keen observer, records his astonishment at this +freedom, and writes-- + + "They have established laws and customs opposite for the + most part to those of the rest of mankind.... With them + women go to market and traffic; men stay at home and + weave.... The men carry burdens on their heads; the women on + their shoulders.... The boys are never forced to maintain + their parents unless they wish to do so; the girls are + obliged to, even if they do not wish it."[180] + + [180] Herodotus, Book II, p. 35. + +From this last rule it is logical to infer that women inherited +property, as is to-day the case among the Beni-Amer of Africa,[181] +where daughters have to provide for their parents. + + [181] Starcke, _The Primitive Family_, p. 67. + +Diodorus goes further than Herodotus: he affirms that in the Egyptian +family it is the man who is subjected to the woman. + + "All this explains why the queen receives more power and + respect than the king, and why, among private individuals, + the woman rules over the man, and that it is stipulated + between married couples, by the terms of the dowry-contract, + that the man shall obey the woman."[182] + + [182] Diodorus, Book I, p. 27. + +There is probably some exaggeration in this account, nevertheless, the +demotic deeds, in a measure, confirm it. By the law of maternal +inheritance, an Egyptian wife was often richer than her husband, and +enjoyed the dignity and freedom always involved by the possession of +property. More than three thousand three hundred years ago men and +women were recognised as equal in this land. + +Under such privileges the wife was entirely preserved from any +subjection; she was able to dictate the terms of the marriage. She +held the right of making contracts without authorisation; she remained +absolute mistress of her dowry. The marriage-contract also specified +the sums that the husband was to pay to his wife, either as a nuptial +gift or annual pension, or as compensation in case of divorce. In some +cases the whole property of the husband was made over to the wife, and +when this was done, it was stipulated that she should provide for him +during his life, and discharge the expenses of his burial and tomb. + +These unusual proprietary rights of the Egyptian wife can be explained +only as being traceable to an early period of mother-right. Without +proof of any absolutely precise text, we have an accumulation of facts +that render it probable that, at one time, descent was traced through +the mother. It is significant that the word _husband_ never occurs in +the marriage deeds before the reign of Philometor. This ruler (it +would appear in order to establish the position of the father in the +family) decreed that all transfers of property made by the wife should +henceforth be authorised by the husband. Up to this time public deeds +often mention only the mother, but King Philometor ordered the names +of contractors to be registered according to the paternal line. +Besides this, the hieroglyphic funeral inscriptions frequently bear +the name of the mother, without indicating that of the father.[183] + + [183] For a fuller account of the position of women in Egypt, + see the chapter on this subject in _The Truth about Woman_, + pp. 179-201. + +All these facts attest that women in Egypt enjoyed an exceptionally +favourable position. We may compare this position with that held by +the Touareg women of the Sahara, who, through the custom of maternal +inheritance, for long continued, have in their hands the strong power +of wealth, and thus exercise extraordinary authority, giving rise to +what I have called "a pecuniary matriarchy." + +It is probable that in Egypt property was originally entirely in the +hands of women, as is usual under the matriarchal system. Later, a +tradition in favour of the old privileges would seem to have +persisted after descent was changed from the maternal to the paternal +line. The marriage-contracts may thus be regarded as enforcing by +agreement what would occur naturally under the maternal customs. The +husband's property was made over by deed to the wife (at first +entirely, and afterwards in part) to secure its inheritance by the +children of the marriage. It was in such wise way the Egyptians +arranged the difficult problem of the fusing of mother-right with +father-right. + +In the very ancient civilisation of Babylon we find women in a +position of honour, with privileges similar in many ways to those they +enjoyed in Egypt. There are even indications that the earliest customs +may have gone beyond those of the Egyptians in exalting women. All the +available evidence points to the conclusion that at the opening of +Babylonian history women had complete independence and equal rights +with their husbands and brothers. It is significant that the most +archaic texts in the primitive language are remarkable for the +precedence given to the female sex in all formulas of address: +"Goddesses and gods;" "Women and men," are mentioned always in that +order; this is in itself a decisive indication of the high status of +women in this early period. And there are other traces all pointing to +the conclusion that in the civilisation of primitive Babylon +mother-right was still in active force. Later (as is shown by the Code +of Hammurabi) a woman's rights, though not her duties, were more +circumscribed; in the still later Neo-Babylonian periods, she again +acquired, through the favourable conditions with regard to property, +full liberty of action and equal rights with her husband.[184] + + [184] H. Ellis, _Psychology of Sex_, Vol. VI, p. 393. + +Let us now turn our attention to the Graeco-Roman civilisation. It is +convenient to take first a brief glance at Rome. I may note that the +family here would certainly appear to have developed from the +primitive clan, or _gens_. At the dawn of history the patriarchal +system was already firmly established, with individual property, and +an unusually strong subjection of woman to her father first and +afterwards to her husband. There are, however, numerous indications of +a prehistoric phase of communism. I can mention only the right of the +_gens_ to the heritage, and in certain cases the possession of an +_ager publicus_, which certainly bears witness in favour of an antique +community of property.[185] Can we, then, accept that there was once a +period of the maternal family, when descent and inheritance were +traced through the mother? Frazer[186] has brought forward facts which +point to the view that the Roman kingship was transmitted in the +female line; and, if this can be accepted, we may fairly conclude that +at one time the maternal customs were in force. The plebeian marriage +ceremonies of Rome should be noted. The funeral inscriptions in +Etruria in the Latin language make much greater insistence on the +maternal than the paternal descent; giving usually the name of the +mother alone, or indicating the father's name by a simple initial, +whilst that of the mother is written in full.[187] This is very +significant. Very little trustworthy evidence, however, is +forthcoming, and of the position of women in Rome in the earliest +periods we know little or nothing. And for this reason I shall refer +my readers to what I have written elsewhere[188] on this matter; +merely saying that there are indications and traditions pointing to +the view that here, as in so many great civilisations, women's actions +were once unfettered, and this, as I believe, can be explained only on +the hypothesis of the existence of a maternal stage, before the +establishment of the individual male authority under the patriarchal +system. + + [185] Letourneau, _Evolution of Marriage_, p. 335. + + [186] _Golden Bough_, Part I. _The Magic Art_, Vol. II, pp. + 270, 289, 312. + + [187] Mueller and Bachofen, cited by Giraud-Teulon, _op. cit._ + pp. 283-284. + + [188] _The Truth About Woman_, pp. 227-242. + +The evidence with regard to prehistoric Greece is much more complete. +The Greek [Greek: genos] resembled the Roman _gens_. Its members had a +common sepulture, common property, the mutual obligation of the +_vendetta_ and archon.[189] In the prehistoric clans maternal descent +would seem to have been established. Plutarch relates that the Cretans +spoke of Crete as their motherland, and not fatherland. In primitive +Athens, the women had the right of voting, and their children bore +their name--privileges that were taken from them, says the legend, to +appease the wrath of Poseidon, after his inundation of the city, +owing to the quarrel with Athene. Tradition also relates that at +Athens, until the time of Cecrops, children bore the name of their +mother.[190] Among the Lycians, whose affinity to the Greeks was so +pronounced, a matriarchate prevailed down to the time of Herodotus. +Not the name only, but the inheritance and status of the children +depended on the mother. The Lycians "honoured women rather than men;" +they are represented "as being accustomed from of old to be ruled by +their women."[191] + + [189] Grote, _History of Greece_, Vol. III, p. 95. + + [190] Letourneau, _op. cit._ pp. 335-336. + + [191] Herodotus, Book I, p. 172. + +One of the most remarkable instances of a gynaecocratic people has only +now been fully discovered as having existed in ancient Crete. It seems +probable that women enjoyed greater powers than they had even in +Egypt. The new evidence that has come to light is certainly most +interesting; the facts are recorded by Mr. J. R. Hall in a recent +book, _Ancient History in the Far East_, and I am specially glad to +bring them forward. He affirms: "It may eventually appear that in +religious matters, perhaps even the government of the State itself as +well, were largely controlled by the women." From the seals we gather +a universal worship of a supreme female goddess, the Rhea of later +religions, who is accompanied sometimes by a youthful male deity. +Wherever we find this preponderating feminine principle in worship we +shall find also a corresponding feminine influence in the customs of +the people. We have seen this, for instance, among the Khasis, where +also goddesses are placed before gods. Mr. Hall further states: "It is +certain that they [the women in Crete] must have lived on a footing of +greater equality with men than in any other ancient civilisation." And +again: "We see in the frescoes of Knossos conclusive indications of an +open and free association of men and women, corresponding to our idea +of 'Society,' at the Minoan court, unparalleled till our own day." The +women are unveiled, and the costumes and setting are extraordinarily +modern. Mr. Hall draws attention to the curious fact that in +appearance the women are very similar to the men, so that often the +sexes can be distinguished only by the conventions of the artists, +representing the women in white, and the men in red outline; the same +convention that was used in Egypt. I may recall to the reader the +likeness of the men to the women among the North American Indians, and +the same similarity between the sexes occurs among the ancient +Egyptians.[192] It is perhaps impossible to search for an explanation. +I would, however, point out that in all these cases, where the sexes +appear to be more alike than is common, we find women in a position of +equality with men. This is really very remarkable; I think it is a +fact that demands more attention than as yet it has received. + + [192] See pp. 129-131, also _The Truth about Woman_, pp. + 199-201. + +At one time there would seem to have been in prehistoric Greece a +period of fully established mother-right. Ancient Attic traditions are +filled with recollections of female supremacy. Women in the Homeric +legends hold a position and enjoy a freedom wholly at variance with a +patriarchal subjection. Not infrequently the husband owes to his wife +his rank and his wealth; always the wife possesses a dignified place +and much influence. Even the formal elevation of women to positions of +authority is not uncommon. "There is nothing," says Homer, "better and +nobler than when husband and wife, being of one mind, rule a +household. Penelope and Clytemnestra were left in charge of the realms +of their husbands during their absence in Troy; the beautiful Chloris +ruled as queen in Pylos. Arete, the beloved wife of Alcinous played an +important part as peacemaker in the kingdom of her husband."[193] + + [193] Gladstone, _Homeric Studies_, Vol. II, p. 507. + Donaldson, _Woman_, pp. 18-19. + +If we turn to the evidence of the ancient mythology and art, it is +also clear that the number of female deities must be connected with +the early predominance of women in Greece. We have to remember that +"the gods" are shaped by human beings in their own image, and the +status of women on earth is reflected in the status of a goddess. Five +out of the eight divinities of immemorial Greek worship were female, +Hera, Demeter, Persephone, Athene and Aphrodite. In addition there +were numerous lesser goddesses. One must consider also that it was +not uncommon for cities to be named after women; and the Greek stories +seem to point to tribes with totem names. How can these things be +explained, unless we accept a maternal stage? There are numerous other +facts all indicating this same conclusion. We find relationships on +the mother's side regarded as much more close than those on the +father's side. In Athens and Sparta a man might marry his father's +sister, but not his mother's sister. Lycaon, in pleading with +Achilles, says in order to appease him, that he is not the uterine +brother of Hector. It is also noteworthy to find that the Thebans, +when pressed in war, seek assistance from the AEginetans as their +nearest kin, _recollecting that Thebe and AEginia had been sisters_. A +similar case is that of the Lycaones in Crete, who claimed affinity +with Athens and with Sparta, which affinity was traced through the +mother.[194] + + [194] McLennan, "Kinship in Ancient Greece"; Essay in + _Studies in Ancient History_, pp. 195-246. + +There is much evidence I am compelled to pass over. It must, however, +be noted that there seems clear proof of the maternal form of marriage +having at one time been practised. Plutarch mentions that the +relations between husband and wife in Sparta were at first +secret.[195] The story told by Pausanias about Ulysses' marriage +certainly points to the custom of the bridegroom going to live with +the wife's family.[196] In this connection the action of Intaphernes +is significant, who, when granted by Darius permission to claim the +life of a single man, chose her brother, saying that both husband and +children could be replaced.[197] Similarly the declaration of Antigone +that neither for husband nor children would she have performed the +toil she undertook for Polynices[198] clearly shows that the tie of +the common womb was held as closer than the tie of marriage; and this +points to the conditions of the communal clan. + + [195] Plutarch, _Apophthegms of the Lacedaemonians_, LXV. + + [196] Pausanias, III, 20 (10), (Frazer's translation). + + [197] Herodotus, III, 119. + + [198] Sophocles, _Antigone_, line 905 _et seq._ + +Andromache, when she relates to Hector how her father's house has been +destroyed, with all who are in it, turns to him and says: "But now, +Hector, thou art my father and gracious mother, thou art my brother, +nay, thou art my valiant husband."[199] It is easy, I think, to see in +this speech how the early idea of the relationships under mother-right +had been transferred to the husband, as the protector of the woman +conditioned by father-right. As in so many countries, the patriarchal +authority of the husband does not seem to have existed in Greece at +this early stage of development. It may, however, be said that all +this, though proving the high status of women in the prehistoric +period, does not establish the existence of the maternal family. I +would ask: how, then, are these mother-right customs to be explained? +In the later history of Greece, with the family based on patriarchal +authority, all this was changed. We find women occupying a much less +favourable position, their rights and freedom more and more +restricted. In Sparta alone, where the old customs for long were +preserved, did the women retain anything of their old dignity and +influence. The Athenian wives, under the authority of their husbands, +sank almost to the level of slaves.[200] + + [199] _Iliad_, VI, 429-430. + + [200] _The Truth about Woman_, pp. 210-227. + +The patriarchal system is connected closely in our thought with the +Hebrew family, where the father, who is chief, holds grouped under his +despotic sway his wives, their children, and slaves. Yet this Semitic +patriarch has not existed from the beginning; numerous survivals of +mother-right customs afford proof that the Hebrew race must have +passed through a maternal stage. These survivals have a special +interest, as we are all familiar with them in Bible history, but we +have not understood their significance. It is possible to give a few +illustrations only. In the history of Jacob's service for his wives, +we have clear proof of the maternal custom of _beenah_ marriage. As a +suitor Jacob had to buy his position as husband and to serve Laban for +seven years before he was permitted to marry Leah, and seven years for +Rachel, while six further years of service were claimed before he was +allowed the possession of his cattle.[201] Afterwards, when he wished +to depart with his wives and his children, Laban made the objection, +"these daughters are my daughters, and these children are my +children."[202] Now, according to the patriarchal custom, Laban's +daughters should have been cut off from their father by marriage, and +become of the kindred of their husbands. Such a claim on the part of +the father proves the subordinate position held by the husband in the +wife's family, who retained control over her and the children of the +marriage, and even over the personal property of the man, as was usual +under the later matriarchal custom. Even when the marriage is not in +the maternal form, and the wife goes to the husband's home, we find +compensation has to be paid to her kindred. Thus when Abraham sought a +wife for Isaac, presents were taken by the messenger to induce the +bride to leave her home; and these presents were given not to the +father of the bride, but to her mother and brother.[203] This is the +early form of purchase marriage, such bridal-gifts being the +forerunners of the payment of a fixed bride-price. We still find +purchase marriage practised side by side with _beenah_ marriage in the +countries where the transitional stage has been reached and +mother-right contends with father-right. But there is stronger +evidence even than these two cases. The injunction in Gen. ii, 24: +"Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall +cleave unto his wife," refers without any doubt to the early form of +marriage under mother-right, when the husband left his own kindred and +went to live with his wife and among her people. We find Samson +visiting his Philistine wife who remained with her own people.[204] +Even the obligation to blood vengeance rested apparently on the +maternal kinsmen (Judges viii, 19). The Hebrew father did not inherit +from the son, nor the grandfather from the grandson, which points back +to a time when the children did not belong to the clan of the +father.[205] Among the Hebrews individual property was instituted at a +very early period,[206] but various customs show clearly the early +existence of communal clans. Thus the inheritance, especially the +paternal inheritance, must remain in the clan "then shall their +inheritance be added unto the inheritance of the tribe." Marriage in +the tribe is obligatory for daughters. "Let them marry to whom they +think best; only to the family of the tribe of their father shall they +marry. So shall no inheritance of the children of Israel remove from +tribe to tribe."[207] We have here an indication of the close relation +between father-right and property. + + [201] Gen. xxx, 18-30; xxxi, 14, 41. + + [202] Gen. xxxi, 43. + + [203] Gen. xxiv, 5, 53. + + [204] Judges xv, 1. + + [205] Numb., xxxii, 8-11. See Letourneau, _Evolution of + Marriage_, p. 326. + + [206] Gen. xxiii, 13. + + [207] Numb. xxxvi, 4-8. + +Under mother-right there is naturally no prohibition against marriage +with a half-sister upon the father's side. This explains the marriage +of Abraham with Sarah, his half-sister by the same father. When +reproached for having passed his wife off as his sister to the King of +Egypt, the patriarch replies: "For indeed she is my sister; she is the +daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she +became my wife."[208] In the same way Tamar could have married her +half-brother Amnon, though they were both the children of David: +"Speak to the King, for he will not withhold me from thee." And it was +her uterine brother, Absalom, who revenged the rape of Tamar by +slaying; afterwards he fled to the kindred of his mother.[209] Again, +the father of Moses and Aaron married his father's sister, who legally +was not considered to be related to him.[210] Nabor, the brother of +Abraham, took to wife his fraternal niece, the daughter of his +brother.[211] It was only later that paternal kinship became legally +recognised among the Hebrews by the same titles as the natural kinship +through the mother. + + [208] Gen. xii, 10-20. + + [209] 2 Sam. xiii, 13-16 and 37. + + [210] Exod. vi, 20. + + [211] Gen. xi. 26-29. + +It is by considering these survivals of mother-right in connection +with similar customs to be found among existing maternal peoples that +we see their true significance. They warrant us in believing that the +patriarchal family, as we know it among the Hebrews and elsewhere, was +a later stage of an evolution, which had for its starting-point the +communal clan, and that these races have passed through the maternal +phase. We come to understand the change in the privileged position of +women. As the husband and father continued to gain in power, with the +reassertion of individual interests, it was inevitable that the mother +should lose the authority she had held, under the free social +organisation of the undivided clan. + +Traces of a similar evolution of the family may, I am convinced, be +found by all who will undertake an inquiry for themselves. The subject +is one of great interest. So far as my own study goes, I believe that +these survivals of the maternal-group customs may be discovered in the +early history of every people, where the necessary material for such +knowledge is available. I wish it were possible for me even to +summarise all the evidence, direct and inferential, that I have +collected for my own satisfaction. I must reluctantly pass over many +countries I would like to include; some of these--China, Japan, Burma +and Madagascar--have been noticed briefly in _The Truth about +Woman_.[212] There is surprising similarity between the facts; and, +the more of such survivals that can be found, the more the evidence +seems to grow in favour of the acceptance of a universal maternal +stage in the evolution of society. + + [212] See pp. 156-161. + +I must now, before closing this chapter (whose accumulation of facts +may, I fear, have wearied my readers), refer briefly to the races of +barbarous Europe. The point of interest is, of course--how far +mother-right may be accepted, as at one period, having existed. The +earliest direct evidence is the account given by Strabo of the +Iberians of ancient Spain. And first it is important to note that the +Iberians belonged to the Berber race, now widely regarded as the +parent of the chief and largest element in the population of Europe. +There is another fact that must be noted. The general characteristic +of the Berber family seems to have been the privileged position they +accorded to their women, privileges so great that we meet with strong +tendencies towards the matriarchate. This last is still in force among +the Touaregs of the Sahara; and there are as well numerous traces of +its former existence among the neighbouring Kabyles, though there the +most rigorous patriarchate has replaced the maternal family.[213] We +have seen, too, that in ancient Egypt, where the Berbers were largely +represented, women enjoyed a position of extraordinary freedom and +authority. + + [213] Letourneau, _op. cit._ 328. + +Bearing this in mind, we may accept the statement of Strabo: "Among +the Cantabrians usage requires that the husband shall bring a dower to +his wife, and the daughters inherit, being charged with the marriage +of their brothers, which constitutes a kind of gynaecocracy." There is +possibly some exaggeration in the term gynaecocracy; yet if there is no +proof of "rule by women," there can be no doubt that, through the +system of female inheritance, property was held by them, and this must +certainly have given them the power always involved by the possession +of wealth. + +The freedom of the women of ancient Spain is sufficiently indicated by +the fact that they took part in the activities usually considered as +belonging to men. It was these women who played their part in driving +back the Roman legions from the mountainous districts of northern +Spain; we read of them fighting side by side with men, where they used +their weapons with courage and determination. They received their +wounds with silent fortitude, and no cry of pain ever escaped their +lips, even when the wounds which laid them low were mortal. To women +as well as men liberty was a possession more valued than life, and, +when taken prisoners, they fell upon their own swords, and dashed +their little ones to death rather than suffer them to live to be +slaves. Nor were the activities of women confined to warfare. Justin +speaks of women as not only having the care of all domestic matters, +but also cultivating the fields. And Strabo, writing of these Amazons, +tells us that they would often step aside out of the furrows "to be +brought to bed," and then, having borne a child, would return to their +work "just as if they had only laid an egg." He notes, too, as being +practised among them the _couvade_, whereby the husband, in assertion +of his legal fatherhood, retired to bed when a child was born.[214] + + [214] See in this connection my book, _Spain Revisited_, pp. + 291-304. + +Spain is a land that I know well, and for this reason I have chosen to +write of it in fuller detail. Persistent relics of the early maternal +period even yet may be traced in the customs of this strongly +conservative people. Women are held in honour. There is a proverb +common all over Spain to the effect that "he who is unfortunate and +needs assistance should seek his mother." Many primitive customs +survive, and one of the most interesting is that by which the eldest +daughter in some cases takes precedence over the sons in inheritance. +Among the Basques, until quite recently, the administration of the +family property passed to the eldest child, whether a boy or a girl; +and in the case of a daughter, her husband was obliged to take the +name of the family and to live in the wife's home. Spanish women +always retain their own names after marriage, and as far back as the +fourth century we find them at the Synod of Elvira resisting an +attempt to limit this freedom. The practice is still common for +children to use the name of the mother coupled with that of the +father, and even, in some cases, alone, showing a quite unusual +absence of preference for paternal descent. This is very significant. +It explains the recognition given in old Spain to the unmarried +mother; even to-day in no country, that I know, does less social +stigma fall on a child born out of wedlock. The profound Spanish +veneration of the Virgin Mary, as well as the number of female saints, +is another indication of the honour paid to women, which must, I am +certain, be connected with a far back time when goddesses were +worshipped. I would note, too, the fine Spanish understanding of +hospitality. This belongs to the ideals of communal life. I know +nothing to equal it in the common habits of other European countries. +It may be compared with the conditions in the joint-family communities +of the American Indians.[215] + + [215] See pp. 107-109. + +Much more might be said on the position of the Spanish women. I have, +however, written elsewhere of these women,[216] of their intelligence, +and strength, and beauty, and of the active part they take still in +the industrial life of the country. There can be no question that some +features of the maternal customs have left their imprint on the +domestic life of Spain, and this, as I believe, explains how women +here have in certain directions, preserved a freedom of action and +privileges, which even in England have never been established, and +only of late claimed. + + [216] _Spain Revisited; Things Seen in Spain; Moorish + Cities._ + +As we may expect, there is less direct evidence of mother-right in the +other European countries than is the case in conservative Spain. +Dargun, who has written much on this subject,[217] believes that +maternal descent was formerly practised among the Germans. He holds +further "that the ancient Aryans at the time of their dispersion +regarded kinship through the mother as the sole, or chief, basis of +blood-kinship, and all their family rights were governed by this +principle." There is much conflict of opinion on this matter, and it +would, perhaps, be rash to make any definite statement. We may recall +what Tacitus says of the Germans: + + [217] _Mutterrecht und Raubehe und ihre Reste im Germanischen + Recht und Leben_, Vol. XVI, quoted by Starcke, _The Primitive + Family_, pp. 103 _et seq._ + +"The son of a sister is as dear to his uncle as to his father; some +even think that the first of these ties is the most sacred and close; +and in taking hostages they prefer nephews, as inspiring a stronger +attachment, and interesting the family on more sides." The same +authority tells us that the Germans of his day met together to take a +clan meal, to settle clan business, _i. e._ for the clan council--and +to arrange marriages. This is strong confirmation of what I am trying +to establish.[218] Further evidence may be gathered from the ancient +religion. There are many Teutonic goddesses, who may well be connected +with the primitive tribal-mothers.[219] Religion here, as so often +elsewhere, would seem to have been symbolised as feminine. Not only +the seers, but the sacrificers among the early Teutons were +women.[220] To this evidence may be added that in Germany up to a late +period the mother could be the guardian of her children; that a wife +had to be bought by the husband, both she and her children remaining +under the guardianship of her father. All this points to mother-right +and the existence of the maternal clan.[221] Let us note also that in +the Slav communities women had the right to vote, and might be elected +to the government of the community. + + [218] _De moribus Germanorum_, XX. See also K. Pearson, _The + Chances of Death_, Vol. II, p. 132. + + [219] Grimm, _Mythologie_, Vol. I, p. 248. + + [220] K. Pearson, _The Chances of Death_, Vol. II, p. 102. + + [221] Starcke, _op. cit._ p. 105, citing Dargun and Grimm. + See also Letourneau, _op. cit._ pp. 339-340. + +It will interest my readers to know that mother-descent must once +have prevailed in Britain. Among the Picts of Scotland kingship was +transmitted through women.[222] Bede tells us that down to his own +time--the early part of the eighth century--whenever a doubt arose as +to the succession, the Picts chose their king from the female rather +than from the male line.[223] There is an ancient legend which +represents the Irish as giving three hundred wives to the Picts, on +the condition that the succession to the crown should always be +through their females-- + + "There were oathes imposed on them, + By the stars, by the earth, + That from the nobility of the mother + Should always be the right to the sovereignty."[224] + + [222] Giraud-Teulon, _op. cit._ pp. 41-42. + + [223] Bede, II. 1-7. + + [224] McLennan, _Studies_, p. 46. + +Similar traces are found in England: Canute, the Dane, when +acknowledged King of England, married Emma, the widow of his +predecessor, Ethelred. Ethelbald, King of Kent, married his +stepmother, after the death of his father Ethelbert; and, as late as +the ninth century, Ethelbald, King of the West Saxons, wedded Judith, +the widow of his father. Such marriages are intelligible only if we +suppose that the queen had the power of conferring the kingdom upon +her consort, which could only happen where maternal descent was, or +had been, practised. These marriages with the widow of a king were at +one time very common. The familiar example of Hamlet's uncle is one, +who, after murdering his brother, married his wife and became king. +His acceptance by the people, in spite of his crime, is explained if +it was the old Danish custom for marriage with the king's widow to +carry the kingdom with it. In Hamlet's position as avenger, and his +curious hesitancy, we have really an indication of the conflict +between the old and the new ways of descent.[225] + + [225] See Frazer, _Golden Bough_, Part I. _The Magic Art_, + Vol. II, 282-283. + +The Celtic population of Britain preserved the institution of the clan +much longer than the other European races. In Wales and in Ireland, in +particular, communism was strongly established. The clan was +responsible for the crimes of its members, paid the fines, and +received the compensations.[226] There are numerous indications of +mother-right. In Ireland women retained a very high position and much +freedom, both before and after marriage, to a late period: temporary +unions were freely allowed, and customs having the force of law +safeguarded the rights of the wife. "Every woman," it was said, "is to +go the way she willeth freely."[227] + + [226] Letourneau, _op. cit._ p. 338. Maine, _Early + Institutions_, pp. 113 _et seq._ + + [227] Rhys and Brynmor-Jones, _The Welsh People_. + +The early Celtic mythologies and folk-records are full of these +survivals. Goddesses are frequent as primeval tribal-mothers. Let me +give one instance. The Irish goddess Brigit (whose attributes at a +later date were transferred to St. Bridget) is referred to in a +ninth-century glossary as--_operum atque artificiorum initia_. She was +the tribal-mother of the Bringantes. Similarly Vote was tribal-mother +of the Burgundians; and the goddess Bil of the Billings, and there are +numerous other cases. In a recent book on _Ulster Folk-lore_,[228] I +have been fortunate enough to find a most interesting passage +referring to the Irish goddess Brigit. I quote it with pleasure as a +fitting ending to this chapter.[229] + + "Now, St. Bridget had a pagan predecessor, Brigit, a poetess + of the Tuatha de Danann, and whom we may perhaps regard as a + female Apollo. Cormac in his _Glossary_ tells us she was a + daughter of the Dagda and a goddess whom all poets adored, + and whose sisters were Brigit the physician and Brigit the + smith. Probably the three sisters represent the same divine, + or semi-divine, person whom we may identify with the British + goddess Brigantia and the Gaulish Brigindo." + + [228] By E. Andrews, p. 18. + + [229] I would refer the reader to a most interesting article + on "Old English Clans" (_Cornhill_, Sept. 1881); this I had + not read when I wrote this chapter. The author holds that the + clan system was once common to the whole Aryan race. In the + Teutonic stock its memory died out in an early stage of + development, owing to the strong individuality of the + Teutonic mind. Yet it has left behind it many traces. + Numerous examples are given. Perhaps the most interesting is + the evidence showing that totemism seems to have existed; the + clan names being taken from animals or plants. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE SURVIVALS OF MOTHER-RIGHT IN FOLK-LORE, IN HEROIC LEGENDS, AND IN +FAIRY STORIES + + +In the preceding chapter we have found the former existence of the +maternal family, or some indication of it, in the early records of +many races, proving this by numerous survivals of customs entirely at +variance with the patriarchal conditions. Should it be thought that +this claim has not been supported by sufficient evidence, I must plead +the difficulties of such an inquiry. My survey has been very +incomplete. I am certain, however, that these survivals will be +recognised by any one who will undertake for themselves the collection +and interpretation of the facts from the records of the past. + +There is a point to consider here. The absence, or rather the rarity, +of mother-right survivals in some civilisations cannot be counted as +proof that the maternal system never existed. As I have shown in the +earlier chapters of this book, the mother-age was a transitional +stage, between the very early brute-conditions of the family and the +second firmly established patriarchate. Now, it is clear that the +customs of a transitional stage are very likely to disappear; they are +also very likely to be mistaken. Bearing this in mind, the number of +survivals that do occur are, I hold, extraordinary, and, indeed, +impossible to account for if the maternal family was not a universal +stage in the development of society. Moreover, I am certain from my +own study that these survivals are of much wider occurrence than is +believed, but as yet the facts are insufficiently established. + +It now remains to consider a new field of inquiry; and that is the +abundant evidence of mother-right to be found in folk-lore, in heroic +legends, and in the fairy-stories of our children. There is a special +value in these old-world stories, that date back to a time long before +written history. They belong to all countries in slightly different +forms. We have regarded them as fables, but there was never a fable +that did not arise out of truth--not, of course, the outside truth of +facts, but from that inward truth of the life and thought of a people, +which is what really matters. I cannot, then, do better than conclude +the evidence for the mother-age by referring to some few of these +myths and legends. + +In order to group the great mass of material I will take first the +creation myths. One only out of many examples can be given. The Zuni +Indians, who, it will be remembered, are a maternal people, give this +account of the beginning of the world. We read how the Sun-god, +withdrawing strength from his flesh, impregnated the great waters, +until there arose upon them, waxing wide and weighty, the "Fourfold +Mother-earth" and the "All-covering Father-sky." + + "From the lying together of these twain, upon the great + world water, so vitalising, life was conceived, whence began + all beings of the earth, men and creatures, in the four-fold + womb of the world. Thereupon the Earth-mother repulsed the + Sky-father, growing big and sinking deep into the embrace of + the waters below, thus separated from the Sky-father, in the + embrace of the waters above." The story states, "Warm is the + Earth-mother and cold the Sky-father, even as woman is warm + and man is cold." Then it goes on, "'So is thy will,' said + the Sky-father, 'yet not alone shalt thou helpful be unto + our children';" and we learn how the Sky-father assisted the + Earth-mother. "Thus in other ways, many diversed, they + worked for their offspring."[230] + + [230] Cushing, _Zuni Creation Myths_. + +There is one reflection only I desire to offer on this most beautiful +maternal version of the creation legend. Here we find complete +understanding of the woman's part; she is the one who gives life; she +is the active partner. The Sky-father is represented as her agent, her +helper. Why should this be? Contrast this idea with the patriarchal +creation story of the Bible. + + "And the Lord God said, It is not good that man should be + alone; I will make him an help meet for him.... And the Lord + God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; + and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead + thereof: and the rib which the Lord God had taken from the + man made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And the + man said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my + flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out + of Man."[231] + + [231] Gen. ii, 18, 21-23. + +I would again assert my strong belief that in the religious conception +of a people we find the true thoughts and the customs of the period in +which they originated. A patriarchal people could not have given +expression to a creation myth in which the female idea prevailed, and +the mother, and not the father, was dominant. For men have ever +fashioned the gods in their own human image, endowing them with their +thoughts and actions. The sharp change in the view of woman's part in +the relationship of the sexes is clearly symbolised in these creation +myths. Yes, it marks the degradation of woman; she has fallen from the +maternal conception of the feminine principle, guiding, directing, and +using the male, to that of the woman made for the man in the +patriarchal Bible story. + +Another group of legends that I would notice refer to the conflict +between the right of the mother and that of the father in relation to +the children. These stories belong to a period of transition. In +ancient Greece, as we have seen, the paternal family succeeded the +maternal clan. In his _Orestia_, AEschylus puts in opposition before +Pallas Athene the right of the mother and the right of the father. +The chorus of the Eumenides, representing the people, defends the +position of the mother; Apollo pleads for the father, and ends by +declaring, in a fit of patriarchal delirium, that _the child is not of +the blood of the mother_. "It is not the mother who begets what is +called her child; she is only the nurse of the germ poured into her +womb; he who begets is the father. The woman receives the germ merely +as guardian, and when it pleases the gods, she preserves it." Plato +also brings forward this view, and states that the mother contributes +nothing to the child's being. "The mother is to the child what the +soil is to the plant; it owes its nourishment to her, but the essence +and structure of its nature are derived from the father." Again the +Orestes of Euripides takes up the same theory, when he says to +Tyndarus: "My father has begotten me, and thy daughter has given birth +to me, as the earth receives the seed that another confides to it." +Here we trace a different world of thoughts and conceptions; the +mother was so little esteemed as to be degraded into the mere +nourisher of the child. These patriarchal theories naturally +consecrated the slavery of woman.[232] + + [232] McLennan, _Studies_, "Kinship in Ancient Greece"; + Letourneau, _Evolution of Marriage_, pp. 336-337, and + Starcke, _The Primitive Family_, pp. 115-116. + +Another point strikingly illustrated by many of these ancient legends +is the struggle for power between the two sexes--a struggle that would +seem to have been present at all stages of civilisation, but always +most active in periods of transition. One out of many examples is all +that I can give. In Hawaii, worship is given to the goddess Pele, the +personification of the volcano Kilauea, and the god Tamapua, the +personification of the sea, or rather, of the storm which lashes the +sea and hurls wave after wave upon the land. The myth tells that +Tamapua wooed Pele, who rejected his suit, whereupon he flooded the +crater with water, but Pele drank up the water and drove him back into +the sea.[233] + + [233] Starcke, pp. 249-250, citing Bachofen's _Antiquarische + Briefe_, Vol. I, p. 140. + +Here a brief digression into the early mythologies may be made, +although this question of the connection between mother-right and +religious ideas is one on which I have already enlarged. The most +primitive theogony is that of Mother-Earth and her son. Goddesses are +at first of greater importance than gods. The Earth-mother springs +from chaos, and in the beginning her children have no father.[234] +Traces of such a goddess are to be found in many ancient religions. +Afterwards as a modification, or rather a development, of the +Earth-mother, we have the goddesses of fertility. This idea arose with +the development of agriculture, and was closely connected in the +primitive mind with the sex functions. Demeter is of this type; and +there are many of these mother-deities who once were universally +worshipped. Virgin goddesses are a much later creation, and must be +connected with the patriarchal ideals for women. The original god-idea +symbolised as woman is the free mother; she is the source of all +fertility; she is the goddess of love. The servants of these goddesses +were priestesses, or at a later date men dressed as women. At first +the gods, in so far as they had any existence, appear in the form of +temporary lovers of the goddesses; they are very plainly the +transitory male element needful for fertilisation, and then destined +to disappear.[235] We find very early the brother as the husband and +dependent of the Mother-goddess. Thus Isis did not change or lose her +independent position after her marriage to her brother Osiris; her +importance as a deity remained always greater than his.[236] Only at a +much later stage--the patriarchal stage--was the wandering lover-god +or dependent brother-spouse raised to the position of authority of the +All-Father. We may find in the religious sexual festivals, common to +all civilisations, abundant confirmation of these facts. As one +illustration out of many that might be chosen, I will refer to the +account given by Prof. K. Pearson[237] of the festival of Sakaees, held +in Babylon in honour of the great goddess Mylitta, who was essentially +a mother-goddess of fertility. The festival lasted for five days in +the month of July. It was presided over by the priestess of the +goddess, who represented the goddess herself. She sat enthroned on a +mound which for the time was the sanctuary of the deity, with the +altar with oil and incense before her. To her came the god-lover +represented by a slave, who made homage and worshipped. From her he +received the symbols of kingly power, and she raised him to the throne +by her side. As her accepted lover and lord of the festival, he +remained for five days, during which the law of the goddess prevailed. +Afterwards on the fifth day the god-lover was sacrificed on the pyre. +The male element had performed its function. + + [234] K. Pearson, _Chances of Death_, Vol. II, Essays on the + Mother-age Civilisation, etc. Many of the facts given in this + chapter are taken from these illuminative essays. + + [235] K. Pearson, _Ibid._, p. 102. + + [236] _The Truth about Woman_, p. 198. + + [237] _Ibid._, pp. 109-110. + +I cannot leave this subject without emphasising the importance of +these erotic-religious festivals, once of universal occurrence. They +afford the strongest evidence of the early privileged position of +women in the relationships between the two sexes. It is, I think, +impossible to avoid giving to this a matriarchal interpretation. For +it is by contrasting the religious-sex standpoints of the maternal and +the paternal ideals that the inferior position of women under the +later system can be demonstrated. Moreover, in much later periods, and +even to our own day, we may yet find broken survivals of the old +customs. Illustrations are not far to seek in the common festivals of +the people in Germany and elsewhere, and as I have myself witnessed +them in Spain, a land which has preserved its old customs much more +unchanged than is usual.[238] One example may be noted in England, +which would seem to have a very ancient origin; it is given by Prof. +K. Pearson.[239] "The Roman _Lupercalia_ held on February 15 was +essentially a worship of fertility, and the privileges supposed to be +attached to women in our own country during this month--especially on +February 14 and 29--are probably fossils of the same sex-freedom." + + [238] See _Spain Revisited_, and _Things Seen in Spain_. + + [239] _Ibid._, p. 158. + +Passing again to the old legends, we find not a few that attempt to +account for both the rise and the decline of the custom of maternal +descent. I will give an example of each. Newbold relates that in +Menangkabowe, where the female line is observed, it is accounted for +by this legend-- + + "Perpati Sabatang built a magnificent vessel, which he + loaded with gold and precious stones so heavily that it got + aground on the sands at the foot of the fiery mountains, and + resisted the efforts of all the men to get it off. The sages + were consulted, and declared that all attempts would be in + vain until the vessel had passed over the body of a pregnant + woman. It happened that the Rajah's own daughter was in the + condition desired; she was called upon to immolate herself + for the sake of her country, but refused. At this juncture + the pregnant sister of the Rajah boldly stepped forward, and + cast herself beneath the prow of the vessel, which instantly + put itself in motion, and again floated on the waves without + injury to the princess. Whereupon the Rajah disinherited the + offspring of his disobedient daughter in favour of the child + of his sister, and caused this to be enrolled in the + records of the empire as the law of succession in time to + come."[240] + + [240] Newbold, _Account of the British Settlements in the + Straits of Malacca_, Vol. II, p. 221. + +The second illustration is taken from the quarrel between Pallas +Athene and Poseidon to which already I have referred. The myth tells +us-- + + "A double wonder sprang out of the earth at the same + time--at one place the olive tree and at another water. The + people in terror sent to Delphi to ask what should be done. + The god answered that the olive tree signified the power of + Athene, and the water that of Poseidon; and that it remained + with the burgesses to choose after which of the two they + would name their town. An assembly was called of the + burgesses, both men and women, for it was then the custom to + let the women take part in the public councils. The men + voted for Poseidon, the women for Athene; and as there were + more women than men by one, Athene conquered. Thereupon + Poseidon was enraged, and immediately the sea flowed over + all the lands of Athens. To appease the sea-god, the + burgesses found it necessary to impose a threefold + punishment on their wives. They were to lose their votes; + the children were to receive no more the mother's name, and + they themselves were no longer to be called after the + goddess."[241] + + [241] McLennan, _Studies_, "Kinship in Ancient Greece," p. + 235. + +The origin of these myths is perfectly clear. There is no reason to +force their interpretation by regarding them as historical evidence of +a struggle taking place between the maternal and the paternal custom +of tracing descent;[242] rather they are poetical explanations, +plainly invented to account for women's predominance at a time when +such power had come to be considered as unusual. The same may be said +of many of these old myths. Man's fancy begins to weave poetic +inventions around anything he considers abnormal or is not able to +understand. The idea or custom for which an explanation is being +sought must, however, have been present for long in the common life +and thought of the people. Without realising this, all these old +stories become unintelligible. I believe they have been greatly +misinterpreted in the thought of writers bound by patriarchal ideas. + + [242] This is done by Bachofen, and also, to some extent, by + McLennan. + +The limitation of my space does not allow me to enter into the great +amount of evidence provided by these mythical stories of the +privileged position of women. One instance, however, may be referred +to as an illustration. We find a wide range of stories connected with +the mythical Amazons. Now, if I am right, the frequency of these +legends among so many races points to the acceptance of the Amazon +heroines as an historical fact. Fancy, without doubt, wove the details +of their stories, occurrences would be chosen or imagined to give +colour to the narratives, but such poetic inventions, with all their +repetitions, all their reproductions of what is practically one +situation, would take only definite form from conditions so impressed +on the popular mind by facts that must have had a real existence. +Bearing this in mind, special significance attaches to a discovery +recently made by Prof. d'Allosso. In the ancient necropolis of +Belmonte, dating from the iron age, are two very rich tombs of women +warriors with war chariots over their remains. Prof. d'Allosso states +that several details given by Virgil of the Amazon Camilla, who fought +and died on the field of battle, coincide with the details on these +tombs. The importance of this discovery is thus very great, as it +certainly seems to indicate what I am claiming--that the existence of +the Amazon heroines, leaders of armies and sung by the ancient poets, +is not a poetic fancy, but an historic reality.[243] + + [243] See _The Truth about Woman_, p. 228. + +I must turn now to the last group of evidence that I am able to bring +forward; to find this we must enter that realm of fancy--the world of +fairyland. We shall see that this land has its own customs, and its +own laws, entirely at variance with all those to which we are +accustomed. How is this to be explained? These stories are founded +really on the life of the common people, and they have come down from +generation to generation, handed on by the storytellers, from a time +long before the day when they were ever collected and written in +books. It is the popular and social character of these stories that is +so important; they are records of customs and habits long forgotten, +but once common in the daily life of the people. In them the past is +potent with life, and for this reason they claim the most careful and +patient study. I speak of the most familiar stories that we have +regarded as foolish fables. Nowhere else can we gain so clear and +vivid a picture of the childhood of civilisation, when women were the +transmitters of inheritance and the guardians of property. + +Let me try to prove this. I have before me a collection of these +folk-stories, gathered from many countries. Now, the most popular +story (whose theme occurs again and again, the details varied in the +different renderings) is concerned with the gaining of a princess as a +bride by a wooer, usually of humble birth. This lover to obtain his +wife achieves some mighty deed of valour, or performs tasks set for +him by the parents of the bride; he thus inherits the kingdom through +the daughter of the king. Hans, faring forth to seek his luck; the +Dummling in the Golden Goose story; the miller's son, who gained his +bride by the wit of his cat, and Aladdin with his magic lamp are +well-known examples of this story. The Scottish and Irish legends are +particularly rich in examples of these hero lovers. Assipattle, the +dirty ash-lad, who wins the fair Gemdelovely and then reigns with her +as queen and king, is one of the most interesting. Similar stories may +be found in the folk-lore of every country. Ash-lad figures in many of +the Norwegian tales. There is a charming version in the Lapp story of +the "Silk Weaver and her husband," where we read, "Once upon a time a +poor lad wooed a princess and the girl wanted to marry him, but the +Emperor was against the match. Nevertheless she took him at last and +they were wed together."[244] + + [244] K. Pearson, _The Truth about Woman_, p. 70 _note_. + +This "fairy theory" of marriage is really the maternal or _beenah_ +form: such a marriage as was made by Jacob and is still common among +all maternal peoples. The inheritance passes through the daughters; +the suitors gain their position by some deed of valour or by service +done for the bride's family; sometimes it is the mother who sets the +task, more often it is the father, while, in some cases, the girl +herself imposes the conditions of marriage. It is possible to trace a +development in these stories. We can see the growth of purchase-marriage +in the service demanded by the parents of the bride, this taking the +place of the earlier custom of the bridegroom proving his fitness by +some test of strength. Again, those stories in which the arrangement +of the marriage remains with the mother or with the girl, and not with +the father, must be regarded as the older versions. This change +appears also in the conditions of inheritance; in some cases the +kingdom passes at once with the bride, in others the half of the +kingdom is the marriage portion, while in the later stories the full +authority to rule comes only after the death of the king. But always +sooner or later the daughter of the king conveys the kingdom to her +husband. The sons of the king do not inherit; they are of much less +importance than the daughters; they are sent forth to seek their own +fortunes. This is the law where the inheritance passes through the +daughter. + +This law of female inheritance must at one time have been universal. +We are brought, indeed, constantly back to that opinion--so amply +evidenced by these folk-relics. In the old West country ballad "The +Golden Vanity" or "The Lowland's Low," the boy who saves the ship from +the Spanish pirate galleon is promised as a reward "silver and gold, +with the skipper's pretty little daughter who lives upon the shore." +Similarly in the well-known folksong "The Farmer's Boy," the lad who +comes weary and lame to the farmer's door, seeking work, eventually +marries the farmer's daughter and inherits the farm. Again, Dick +Whittington, the poor country lad, who faithfully serves his master in +London, marries his employer's daughter. This theme is very frequently +found in ballads, romances, and dramas; in all cases the way to +fortune for the lover is through marriage--the daughter carries the +inheritance. + +Let us take Assipattle of the Scottish legend as a type of these hero +wooers. He is represented always as the youngest son, held in contempt +by his brothers, and merely tolerated by his parents. He lies in the +ashes, from which he gains his name. Some emergency arises; a great +danger threatens the land or, more often, a princess has to be +delivered from a position of peril. Assipattle executes the deed, when +his brothers and all others have failed; he frees the land or rescues +the king's daughter, and is covered with honour. He marries the +princess and inherits the kingdom. Assipattle always begins in the +deepest degradation, and ends on the highest summit of glory. There is +a special interest in this story. The reader will not have failed to +notice the similarity of Assipattle with Cinderella. In both stories +the circumstances are the same, only the Ash-lad has been replaced by +the Cinder-girl. There is no doubt which version is the older:[245] +the one is the maternal form, the other the patriarchal. + + [245] In this connection, see K. Pearson in the essay already + quoted, p. 85 _et seq._ + +The setting of these stories should be noticed. We see the simplicity +of the habits and life so vividly represented. All folk-legends deal +with country people living near to nature. So similar, indeed, are the +customs depicted throughout that these folk-records might well be +taken as a picture of the social organisation among many barbarous +tribes. I should like to wait to point out these resemblances, such, +for instance, as the tendency to personify natural objects, the +identification of human beings with animals and trees, found so often +in the stories, as well as many other things--the belief in magic and +the power of wise women. And what I want to make clear is the very +early beginning of these folk-tales; they take us back to the social +institutions of the mother-age. Thus there is nothing surprising to +find that kingdoms and riches are won by hero-lovers, and that +daughters carry the inheritance. This is really what used to happen. +It is our individual ideas and patriarchal customs that make these +things seem so strange. + +I wish I had space in which to follow further these still-speaking +relics of a past, whose interest offers such rich reward. In his essay +"Ashiepattle, or Hans seeks his Luck" (_The Chances of Death_, Vol. +II, pp. 51-91), Prof. Karl Pearson has fully and beautifully shown the +evidence for mother-right to be found in these stories. To this essay +the reader, who still is in doubt, is referred. All that has been +possible to me is to suggest an inquiry that any one can pursue for +himself. It is the difficulty of treating so wide and fascinating a +subject in briefest outline that so many things that should be noticed +have to be passed over. + +The witness afforded by these folk-stories for mother-right cannot be +neglected. For what interpretation are we to place on the curious +facts they record? Are we to regard this maternal marriage with +descent through the daughter, and not the son, as idle inventions of +the storytellers? Do these princesses and their peasant wooers belong +to the topsy-turvy land of fairies? No: in these stories, drawn from +so many various countries, we have echoes of a very distant past. It +is by placing the customs here represented by the side of similar +social conditions still to be found among primitive maternal peoples, +that we find their significance. We then understand that these old, +old stories of the folk really take us back to the age in which they +first took form. We have read these "fairy stories" to our children, +unknowing what they signified--a prophetic succession of witnesses, +pointing us back to the ripening of that phase of the communal family, +before the establishment of the individual patriarchal rule, when the +law was mother-right, and all inheritance was through women. + +I would add to this chapter a notice I have just recently lighted +on[246] of the ancient warrior, Queen Meave of Ireland. She is +represented as tall and beautiful, terrible in her battle chariot, +when she drove full speed into the press of fighting men. Her virtues +were those of a warlike barbarian king, and she claimed the like large +liberty in morals. Her husband was Ailill, the Connaught king; their +marriage was literally a partnership wherein Meave, making her own +terms, demanded from her husband exact equality of treatment. The +three essential qualities on which she insisted were that he should be +brave, and generous, and completely devoid of jealousy. + + [246] "Ancient Irish Sagas," _Century_, Jan. 1907. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +CONCLUDING REMARKS + + +My investigation of the mother-age might fitly have terminated with +the preceding chapter; but the immense interest which attaches to the +subject, and the amount of misconception which prevails regarding the +origin and conditions of the maternal family, as well as my own +special views upon it, induce me to devote a brief final chapter to a +few observations that to me seem to be important. + +In my little book (which must be regarded rather as a sketch or design +than as a finished work) an attempt has been made to approach the +problem of the primitive family from a new and decisive standpoint. I +am well aware that in certain directions I have crossed the threshold +only of the subjects treated. I hope that at least I have opened up +suggestions of many questions on which I could not dwell at length. +All this may bring the hesitation that leads to further inquiry. And I +believe that those of my readers who will follow out an investigation +for themselves in any direction--either in the collecting of maternal +customs among existing primitive peoples, or in noting the relics of +such customs to be met with in historical records and in folk-lore, +will find an ever increasing store of evidence, and that then the +discredited mother-age, with its mother-right customs, will become for +them what it is for me, a necessary and accepted stage in the +evolution of human societies. + +Many of the conclusions to which I have come are so completely opposed +to those which generally have been accepted as correct, that now, I am +at the end of my inquiry it will be well to sum up briefly its result. + +The facts I have so rapidly enumerated have a very wide bearing; they +serve to destroy the accepted foundations on which the claim for +mother-right has hitherto been based. The first stage of the family +was patriarchal. All the evidence we possess tends to show that +tracing descent through the mother was not the primitive custom. +Throughout my aim has been to bring into uniformity the opposing +theories of the primeval patriarchate and the maternal family. The +current view, so often asserted, and manifestly inspired by a +Puritanical ideal, insists that mother-descent arose through uncertain +fatherhood, and was connected with an early period of promiscuous +relationships between the two sexes. This view has been proved to be +entirely wrong. The system of maternal descent was a system framed for +order, and had in its origin, at least, no connection with sexual +disorder. Further than this, it is certain that marriage in some form +has always existed, and that the sexual relationships have never been +unregulated. We must renounce any theory of primitive promiscuity. +And there is more than this to be said. Such freedom in love and in +marriage as we do find in barbarous societies is so strong a proof of +friendly feeling and security that it is certain it could not have +existed in the first stage of the jealous patriarchate; rather it must +have developed at a subsequent period with the growth of the +social-tribal spirit, and the liberty of women from the thrall of +sexual ownership. In these particulars my opinion differs from all +other writers who have sought to establish a theory of matriarchy. I +venture to claim that the position of the mother-age has been +strengthened, and, as I hope, built up on surer foundations. + +Let us cast a brief glance backward over the way that we have +travelled. + +Our most primitive ancestors, half-men, half-brutes, lived in small, +solitary and hostile family groups, held together by a common +subjection to the strongest male, who was the father and the owner of +all the women, and their children. There was no promiscuity, for there +could be no possible union in peace. Here was the most primitive form +of jealous ownership by the male, as he killed or drove off his +rivals; his fights were the brutal precursors of all sexual +restrictions for women. These customs of brute ownership are still in +great measure preserved among the least developed races. This explains +how there are many rude peoples that exhibit no traces at all of the +system of mother-descent. In the lowest nomad bands of savages of the +deserts and forests we find still these rough paternal groups, who +know no social bonds, but are ruled alone by brute strength and +jealous ownership. With them development has been very slow; they have +not yet advanced to the social organisation of the maternal clan. + +From these first solitary families, grouped submissively around one +tyrant-ruler, we reach a second stage out of which order and +organisation sprang. In this second stage the family expanded into the +larger group of the communal clan. The upward direction of this +transformation is evident; the change was from the most selfish +individualism to a communism more or less complete--from the +primordial patriarchate to a free social organisation, all the members +of which are bound together by a strict solidarity of interests. The +progress was necessarily slow from the beginning to this first phase +of social life. Yet the change came. With the fierce struggle for +existence, association was the only possible way, not only to further +progress, but to prevent extermination. + +It has been shown that the earliest movements towards peace came +through the influence of the women, for it was in their interest to +consolidate the family, and, by means of union, to establish their own +power. Collective motives were more considered by women, not at all +because of any higher standard of feminine moral virtue, but because +of the peculiar advantages arising to themselves and to their +children--advantages of freedom which could not exist in a society +inspired by individual inclination. And for this reason the clan +system may be considered as a feminine creation, which had special +relation to motherhood. Under this influence, the marital rights of +the male members were restricted and confined. A system of taboos was +established, which as time advanced was greatly strengthened by the +sacred totem marks, and became of inexorable strictness. In this way +association between the jealous fighting males was made possible. + +Here, then, are the reasons that led to the formation of the maternal +family and the communal clan. It was a movement that had nothing about +it that was exceptional; it was a perfectly natural arrangement--the +practical outgrowth of the practical needs of primitive peoples. The +strong and certain claim for the acceptance for the mother-age, with +its privileged position for women, rests on this foundation. + +Let us be quite clear as to the real question involved, for it is a +crucial one. I refer to the complete disturbance arising through this +change in the family organisation in the relationships between the two +sexes. A wife was no longer the husband's property. Her position was +unchanged by marriage, for her rights were safeguarded by her kindred, +whose own interests could be protected only through her freedom. + +If we turn next to the status of men--of the husband and father--in +the maternal kindred group, we find their power and influence at first +gradually, and then rapidly, decreasing. It was under these conditions +of family communism that the rights of the husband and father were +restricted on every side. Not only does he not stand out as a +principal person from the background of the familial clan; he has not +even any recognised social existence in the family group. This +restriction of the husband and father was clearly dependent on the +form of marriage. We have seen that the individual relationships +between the sexes began with the reception of temporary lovers by the +woman in her own home. But a relationship thus formed would tend under +favourable circumstances to be continued, and, in some cases, +perpetuated. The lover became the husband; he left the home of his +mother to reside with his wife among her kin; he was still without +property or any recognised rights in her clan, with no--or very +little--control over the woman and none over her children, occupying, +indeed, the position of a more or less permanent guest in her hut or +tent. The wife's position and that of her children was assured, and in +the case of a separation it was the man who departed, leaving her in +possession. + +Under such an organisation the family and social customs were in most +cases--and always, I believe, in their complete maternal +form--favourable to women. Kinship was reckoned through the mother, +since in this way alone could the undivided family be maintained. The +continuity of the clan thus depending on the women, they were placed +in a very special position of importance, the mother was at least the +nominal head of the household, shaping the destiny of the clan through +the aid of her clan-kindred. Her closest male relation was not her +husband, but her brother and her son; she was the conduit by which +property passed to and from them. Often women established their own +claims and all property was held by them; which under favourable +circumstances developed into what may literally be called a +matriarchate. In all cases the child's position was dependent entirely +on the mother and not on the father. Such a system of inheritance may +be briefly summarised as "mother-right." + +There is another matter to notice. Every possible experiment in sexual +association has been tried, and is still practised among various +barbarous races, with very little reference to those moral ideas to +which we are accustomed. It is, however, very necessary to remember +that monogamy is frequent and indeed usual under the maternal system. +We have seen many examples where, with complete freedom of separation +held by the wife, lasting and most happy marriages are the rule. When +the husband lives with his wife in a dependent position to her family +he can do so only in the case of one woman. For this reason polygamy +is much less deeply rooted under the conditions in which the communal +life is developed than in patriarchal communities. In the complete +maternal family it is never common, and is even prohibited.[247] + + [247] It is significant that in Sumatra polygamy occurs with + the _djudur_ marriages, where the wife is bought and lives + with her husband, while it is unknown in the maternal + marriages. It is frequent in Africa and elsewhere, when the + marriage is not the maternal form. + +As we might expect, the case is quite opposite with polyandry. This +form of marriage has evident advantages for women when compared with +polygamy; it is also a form that requires a certain degree of social +civilisation. It clearly involves the limitation of the individual +marital rights of the husband. Polyandry in the joint family group was +not due to a licentious view of marriage; far otherwise, it was an +expression of the communism which is characteristic of this +organisation. This fact has been forgotten by many writers, who have +regarded this form of the sexual relationships as a very primitive +development, connected with group-marriage and promiscuous ownership +of women. It is very necessary to be clear on this point. Under the +maternal conditions, nothing is more certain than the equality of +women with men in all questions of sexual morality. In proof of this +it is necessary only to recall the facts we have noted. We find little +or no importance attached to virginity, which in itself indicates the +absence of any conception of the woman as property. Thus no +bride-price is claimed from the husband, who renders service in proof +of his fitness as a lover, not to gain possession of the bride. The +girl is frequently the wooer, and, in certain cases, she or her mother +imposes the conditions of the marriage. After marriage the free +provision for divorce (often more favourable to the wife than to the +husband) is perhaps of even greater significance. There can, I think, +be no doubt that this freedom in love was dependent on the wife's +position of security under the maternal form of marriage. + +I hold that the facts brought forward entitle us to claim that the +maternal communal clan was an organisation in which there was a freer +community of interest, far more fellowship in labour and partnership +in property, with a resulting liberty for woman, than we find in any +patriarchal society. For this reason, shall we, then, look back to +this maternal stage as to a golden period, wherein was realised a free +social organisation, carrying with it privileges for women, which even +to-day among ourselves have never been established, and only of late +claimed? It is a question very difficult to answer, and we must not in +any haste rush into mistakes. We found that the mother-age was a +transitional stage in the history of the evolution of society, and we +have indicated the stages of its gradual decline. It is thus proved to +have been a less stable social system than the patriarchate which +again succeeded it, or it would not have perished in the struggle with +it. Must we conclude from this that the one form of the family is +higher than the other--that the superior advantage rests with the +patriarchal system? Not at all: rather it proves how difficult is the +struggle to socialise. Human nature tends so readily towards +individualism; it yields itself up to the joy of possession whenever +it is possible. + +The impulse to dominate by virtue of strength or property possession +has manifested itself in every age. It cannot be a matter of surprise, +therefore, that at this period of social development a rebellion arose +against the customs of maternal communism. Within the large and +undivided family of the clan the restricted family became gradually +re-established by a reassertion of individual interests. In proportion +as the family gained in importance (which would arise as the struggle +for existence lessened and the need of association was less +imperative) the interest of the individual members would become +separated from the group to which they belonged. Each one would +endeavour to get himself as large a share as possible of what was +formerly held in common. As society advanced property would increase +in value, and the social and political significance of its possession +would also increase. Afterwards, when personal property was acquired, +each man would aim at gaining a more exclusive right over his wife and +children; he would not willingly submit to the bondage of the maternal +form of marriage. + +In the earlier days the clan spirit was too strong, now men had shaken +off, to a degree sufficient for their purpose, the female yoke, which +bound the clan together. We have seen the husband and father moving +towards the position of a fully acknowledged legal parent by a system +of buying off his wife and her children from their clan-group. The +movement arose in the first instance through a property value being +connected with women themselves. As soon as the women's kindred found +in their women the possibility of gaining worldly goods for +themselves, they began to claim service and presents from their +lovers. It was in this way for economic reasons, and for no moral +considerations that the maternal marriage fell into disfavour. The +payment of a bride-price was claimed, and an act of purchase was +accounted essential. As we have seen, it was regarded as a condition, +not so much of the marriage itself, but of the transference of the +wife to the home of the husband and of the children to his kindred. +The change was, of course, effected slowly; and often we find the two +forms of marriage--the maternal and the purchase-marriage--occurring +side by side. What, however, is certain is that the purchase-marriage +in the struggle was the one that prevailed. + +This reversal in the form of the marriage brought about a +corresponding reversal in the status of women. This is so plain. The +women of the family do not now inherit property, but are themselves +property, passing from the hands of their father to that of a husband. +As purchased wives they are compelled to reside in the husband's house +and among his kin, who have no rights or duties in regard to them, and +where they are strangers. In a word, the wife occupies the same +position of disadvantage as the man had done in the maternal marriage. +And her children kept her bound to this alien home in a much closer +way than the husband could ever have been bound to her home. The +protection of her own kindred was the source of the woman's power and +strength. This was now lost. The change was not brought about without +a struggle, and for long the old customs contended with the new. But +as the patriarchate developed, and men began to gain individual +possession of their children by the purchase of their mothers, the +father became the dominant power in the family. Little by little +individual interests prevailed. Moral limits were set up. Women's +freedom was threatened on every side as the jealous ownership, which +always arises wherever women are regarded as property, asserted +itself. Mother-right passed away, remaining only as a tradition, or +preserved in isolated cases among primitive peoples. The patriarchal +age, which still endures, succeeded. + +Yet in this connection it is very necessary to remember that the +reassertion of the patriarchate was as necessary a stage in human +development as the maternal stage. Whatever may have been the +advantages arising to women from the clan organisation (and that the +advantages were great I claim to have proved) such conditions could +not remain fixed for ever. For society is not stable; it cannot be, as +the need for adjustment is always arising, and at certain stages of +development different tendencies are active. No one cause can be +isolated, and, therefore, it is necessary in estimating any change to +take a synthetic view of many facts that are contemporaneous and +interacting. Yet, it would seem that the social and domestic habits of +a people are decided largely by the degree of dominance held either by +women or men; and almost everything else depends on the accurate +adjustment of the rights of the two sexes. + +The social clan organised around the mothers carried mankind a long +way--a way the length of which we are only beginning to realise. But +it could not carry mankind to that family organisation from which so +much was afterwards to develop. It was no more possible for society to +be built up on mother-right alone than it is possible for it to remain +permanently based on father-right. + +But there is another aspect of this question that I must briefly touch +upon. The opinion that the reversal in the position of authority of +the mother and the father arose from male mastery, or was due to any +unfair domination on the part of the husband must be set aside. To me +the history of the mother-age does not teach this. I believe that the +change to the individual family must have been regarded favourably by +the women themselves, for such a change could not have arisen, at all +events it would not have persisted, if women, with the power they then +enjoyed, had not desired it. Nor need this bring any surprise. An +arrangement that would give a closer relationship in marriage and the +protection of a husband for herself and her children may well have +come to be preferred by the wife. Nor do I think it unlikely that she, +quite as strongly as the man, may have desired to live apart from her +mother and her kindred in her husband's home. Individual interests are +not confined to men. + +With all the evils father-right has brought to women, we have got to +remember that the woman owes the individual relation of the man to +herself and her children to the patriarchal system. The father's +right in his children (which, unlike the right of the mother, was not +founded upon kinship, but rested on the quite different and insecure +basis of property) had to be re-established. Without this being done, +the family in its complete development was impossible. The survival +value of the patriarchal age consists in the additional gain to the +children of the father's to the mother's care. I do not think this +gain will ever be lost. We women need to remember this lest bitterness +stains our sense of justice. It may be that progress could not have +been accomplished otherwise; that the cost of love's development has +been the enslavement of women. If so, then women will not, in the long +account of Nature, have lost in the payment of the price. They may be +(when they come again to understand their power) better fitted for +their refound freedom. + +Such is the history of the past, what is the promise of the future? + +We have traced three stages in the past evolution of the family--two +individual and patriarchal, one communal and maternal. Is the +patriarchal stage, then, the final stage? Has the upward growth, ever +yet continuous, been arrested here? The social ideal of the mother-age +was a transition and a dream--but as a moment of peace in the records +of struggle, following the bloody opening drama in man's history, and +then passing into a forgetfulness so complete that its existence by +many has been denied. Yet the feet of the race were in the way, +though men and women let it pass, blindly unknowing. + +Our age is working for scarcely yet formulated changes in the +ownership of property and in the status of women. The patriarchal view +of woman's subjection to man is being questioned in every direction. +What do these movements indicate? If, as seems probable, the +individual evolution, already for so long continued, is perishing, +what is to take its place? What form will the family take in the +future? These are questions to which it is not possible for me here +even to attempt to find the answer.[248] + + [248] I hope to do so in a future book on _Motherhood_. + +Let us look for a moment in this new direction, the direction of the +future, because it is there that the past becomes so important. In our +contemporary society there is a deep-lying dissatisfaction with +existing conditions, a yearning and restless need for change. We stand +in the first rush of a great movement. It is the day of experiments, +when again the old customs are in struggle with the new. We are +questioning where before we have accepted, and are seeking out new +ways in which mankind will go--will go because it must. + +Social institutions alter very slowly as a rule; for long a change may +pass unnoticed, until one day it is discovered that a step forward has +been taken. Those changes that appear so new and are bringing fear to +many to-day, are but the last consequences of causes that for long +have been operating slowly. The extraordinary enthusiasm now sweeping +through womanhood reveals behind its immediate feverish expression a +great power of emotional and spiritual initiative. Wide and radically +sweeping are the changes in women's outlook. So much stronger is the +promise of a vital force when they have refound their emancipation. To +this end women must gain economic security, and the freedom for the +full expression of their womanhood. The ultimate goal I conceive--at +least I hope--is the right to be women, not the right to become like +men. There can be no gain for women except this. To be mothers were +women created and to be fathers men. This rightly considered is the +deepest of all truths. + +What is needed at present is that women should be allowed to +rediscover for themselves what is their woman's work, rather than that +they should continue to accept perforce the role which men (rightly or +wrongly) have at various times allowed to them throughout the +patriarchal ages. This necessity is as much a necessity for men as it +is for women. + +I do not think that women will fail (even if for a time they stumble a +little) in finding the way. The vital germinal spot of each forward +step in women's position must be sought with the women who are the +conscious mothers of the race. The great women reformers are not those +who would have women act just like men in all externals, but those who +are conscious that all men are born of women. In this lies women's +strength in the past and in this must be their strength in that glad +future that is to be. But only if motherhood is regarded as an +intrinsic glory, and children are born in freedom. Think what this +means. The birth of a child, in so far as its mother has not received +the sanction of a man, is subject to the fire and brimstone of public +scorn. And this scorn is the most pitiful result in all the +patriarchal record. A woman's natural right is her right to be a +mother, and it is the most inglorious page in the history of woman +that too often she has allowed herself to be deprived of that right. +Women have this lesson first to learn. We, and not men, must fix the +standard in sex, for we have to play the chief part in the racial +life. Let us, then, reacquire our proud instinctive consciousness, +which we are fully justified in having, of being the mothers of +humanity; and having that consciousness, once more we shall be +invincible. + + + + +INDEX + + +A + +Absorption by the male of female ideas, 75 + +Advance of the family to the clan and tribe, 36, 67-91, 170, 256 _et seq._ + +Africa, 174-176, 204-205 + +Agriculture and women, 60 _et seq._, 116, 158, 194-208 + +Ahitas of Philippines, 152 + +Alladians of Gold Coast, 185 + +Allison, Mrs., 198 + +Amazons, 34, 36, 38, 228, 245-246 + +Amazons, revolt of, 31, 32, 36, 38 + +_Ambel-anak_ marriage, 147, 182 + +American aborigines, 27, 95-131, 148, 198, 206 + +Andamanese, women's work among, 197 + +Andombies, women's work among, 201 + +Apes, anthropoid, 72, 80, 81 + +Arabia, 178, 206 + +Arabs, 179-180, 189 + +Architects, women as primitive, 117, 203 + +Arruwimi tribe, 201 + +Aryans, mother-descent among, 230 _et seq._ + +Athens, 216, 220 + +Atkinson, Mr., 24, 47, 51, 52, 56, 69, 71, 72, 73, 76, 77, 80, + 81, 82, 84, 85, 86 + +Australia, 102, 167-170, 178 + +Australia, work of women in, 197, 200, 210 + + +B + +Babylon, position of women in ancient, 214-215 + +Bacchanalian festivals, 38, 241, 243 + +Bachofen, 26 _et seq._, 40, 97, 154, 165, 216, 240, 245 + +Bachofen's theory of matriarchy, 26-44 + +Bancroft, 116, 119, 124, 125, 184 + +Bandelier, 207 + +Banyai tribe, 183 + +Barton, 178 + +Basques, 229 + +Batu tribe, 175 + +Bavili tribe, 185 + +_Beena_ marriage, 178, 182, 183, 223, 248 + +Benefits of marriage law for women, 32 + +Beni-Amer of Africa, 211 + +Berbers, 222-227 + +Bonwick, 195 + +Brewers, women as, 203 + +Bride-price, 159, 184, 190, 260, 263 + +Brute-force of male, 44. + _See_ Father as tyrant. + +Buckley, 197, 198 + + +C + +Californian Redskins, 124 + +Campbell, 183 + +Capture of wives, 51, 64, 74, 80, 83, 169, 181 + +Celts, 233, 234 + +Ceylon, 173, 182 + +Charleroix, 114 + +Chavanne, 160, 161 + +Chivalry, 162 + +Choice in love, the right of the female, 64, 113, 151-153, 177, 260 + +Clan, primitive, 18, 103, 166, 167, 176, 190, 209, 257 _et seq._ + +Communal living, 75, 88, 103 _et seq._, 116, 117 _et seq._, 148 + _et seq._, 154, 166, 174, 231, 256 _et seq._ + +Contrast between the work of women and men, 195 _et seq._ + +Conventional morality, 36 + +Courtship, 45, 120 _et seq._, 151-153. + _See_ Choice in love. + +Couvade, 206, 228 + +Crawley, 47, 77, 82, 95, 96, 209 + +Creek Indians, 118-119 + +Crete, matriarchy in ancient, 216, 217-218, 220 + +Criticism of mother-right, 19, 21, 23, 24, 27, 35, 40, 42, 48, + 95-96, 170, 192, 210, 253 + +Curr, 128 + +Cushing, 117, 237 + + +D + +D'Allosso, Prof., 246 + +Dalton, 133, 152 + +Dances, 100 + +Dargun, 230, 231 + +Darwin, 45 + +_Deega_ marriage, 182 + +De Mailla, 150 + +Deniker, 198 + +Dennett, 185 + +Dependence of the human child, 58 + +Descent through the mother, 17, 26, 33, 88, 119, 160, 162 _et seq._, + 163-165, 213-214, 220 _et seq._, 224, 227, 230, + 232-233, 249 _et seq._, 257, 258 _et seq._ + +Diodorus, 211, 212 + +Divinities, women as, 136 _et seq._, 154, 214, 217, 219, 229, 231, 240 + +Divorce, 113, 121, 141-143, 157, 179, 206, 260 + +_Djudur_ marriage, 182, 259 + +Doctors, women as, 203 + +Domestication of animals, 203 + +Duveyrier, 160, 161, 162 + + +E + +Economic matriarchy, 159 _et seq._ + +Egypt, position of women in ancient, 162, 211-214, 227 + +Ellis, Havelock, 153, 192, 199, 201, 203, 205, 215 + +Euripedes, 239 + +Exogamy, 76-77, 87, 119, 123, 135, 141, 154 + +Expansion of the family into the clan, 67 _et seq._, 79 _et seq._, + 86-87, 97, 256 _et seq._ + + +F + +Fairy stories, their evidence for mother-right, 246-252 + +Family, primitive, 41, 48 _et seq._, 54-55, 68 _et seq._, + 168-169, 256 _et seq._ + +Fanti of Gold Coast, 175 + +Father as tyrant, 34, 44, 48, 50, 54, 57, 63, 68, 70, 72, 74, + 81, 83, 168, 255 + +Father the true parent, 38, 39, 239 + +Father-right dependent on purchase, 182 _et seq._, 185-186, 188, + 190, 262-263 + +Female dominance, 35, 111, 133, 156, 159. + _See_ Gynaecocracy. + +Ferrass, Max Henry, 80 + +Fison, 193, 200, 206 + +Folk-lore as evidence of mother-right, 233, 234, 236 _et seq._, 249, 251 + +Food and women, 59 _et seq._ + _See_ Industry and women. + +Forbes, 183 + +Formosans, 150-151 + +Frazer, 133, 179, 187, 215, 220, 233 + +Fuegians, 203 + + +G + +Garos, 151-152 + +Germans, mother-descent among, 230-231 + +Giraud-Teulon, 28, 176, 216 + +Greece, ancient, traces of mother-right in, 216-222 + +Grimm, 231 + +Grote, 216 + +Guinea, 181 + +Gurdon, P. R., 132, 135, 137, 139, 140, 143 + +Gynaecocracy, 27, 30, 34, 38, 97, 112, 133, 156, 159-162, 176 + + +H + +Haddon, 153, 196 + +Haidis, 187 + +Hale, Horatio, 205 + +Hall, J. R., 217, 218 + +Hammurabi, Code of, 214 + +Hartland, 114, 123, 125, 172, 177, 186 + +Hassanyah Arabs, 179-180 + +Haydes, 198 + +Hearne, 178 + +Hebrew patriarchs, 13, 222 _et seq._ + +Heriot, 110, 113, 120 + +Herodotus, 211, 217, 221 + +Herrera, 117 + +Hodgson, 159, 177 + +Hoffman, 208 + +Home, woman's connection with the, 34-35, 36, 59, 84, 150, + 193 _et seq._, 263 + +Homer, 219 + +Hooker, Sir J., 133 + +Hopis, 122-123 + +Hospitality, American-Indian, 108, 230 + +Howitt, 193, 200 + +Husband as "consort guest," 15. + _See_ Maternal marriage. + +Husband visiting the wife by night, 81, 83, 140-141, 220, 258 + + +I + +Iberians, mother-right among, 226-227 + +Ibn Batua, 178 + +Illegitimacy, 122, 184, 185, 189 + +Im Thurn, 196, 200 + +Importance of mother-descent, 17, 20, 21, 27, 32-33, 88-89, 99, + 100, 119, 121, 133, 139, 143, 149 + _et seq._, 153, 155, 156, 166, 170, + 173, 175, 258-259, 261 + +Incest, paternal, 79, 176-178 + +India, 102. + _See_ Khasis. + +Indians of Guiana, 195, 200 + +Industry and women, 60-62, 102, 116, 117, 134, 135, 150, 175, 192-208 + + +J + +Jealousy, 45 _et seq._, 51-53, 54, 60, 62, 65, 67, 68, 73, 86, 90, 104, + 157, 170, 191, 253 + +Johnstone, H. H., 201 + +Joint tenement houses, 106, 117, 148-149, 230 + +Joyce. + _See_ Torday. + +Justin, 228 + + +K + +Kaffirs, 203 + +Kamilaroi and Kurnai tribes, 193, 201 + +Kamtschatdals, 203 + +Khasis, 132-146, 177, 218 + +Kingsley, Miss, 175 + +Kinship through women. + _See_ Descent through mother. + +Koochs, 176-177 + +Kubary, 155-156 + +Kurds, 204 + + +L + +Laing, 176 + +Lang, Andrew, 24, 47, 51, 56, 95 + +Legends, 33, 101, 137, 217, 219, 232, 236-240, 243-246 + +Letourneau, 162, 172, 176, 215, 233, 239 + +Liburni tribes, 188, 231 + +Limboltz, 152 + +Limboo tribe, 183 + +Lippert, 176 + +Livingstone, 183 + +Logan, J. R., 133 + +Lyell, Sir Chas., 132, 137 + + +M + +Macdonald, 183, 200 + +McGee, 16, 27, 117, 126, 133, 149, 152, 201 + +McLennan, 26, 27, 33, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 52, 76, 105, 155, 181, + 183, 185, 187, 220, 229, 244, 245 + +McLennan, theory of mother-right, 40 _et seq._ + +Madagascar, 189, 226 + +Maine, Sir H., 18, 223 + +Malay States, 147 _et seq._ + +Malwlo tribe, 185 + +Mang'anja tribe, 188 + +Manyuema tribe, 201 + +Maoris, 186 + +Marsden, 182 + +Marvana Islanders, 180 + +Mason, O., 197, 200, 202 + +Maternal love, 69, 70 _et seq._, 263 + +Maternal marriage, 15, 17, 41, 85, 86, 87, 100, 112 _et seq._, 114, + 119, 123, 127, 147, 149, 158, 166, 176, 177, 183, + 223, 232, 233, 247 _et seq._, 258 + +Matriarchal theory, mistakes in, 15, 16, 19, 39 _et seq._, 90-91, 97, 98. + _See_ Criticism of mother-right. + +Matriarchate. _See_ Gynaecocracy. + +Meave, Queen of Ireland, 252 + +Menomini Indians, 207 + +Monogamy, 119, 122, 123, 125, 149, 259 + +Monopolist desire of male, 186-187. + _See_ Unsocial conduct of males. + +Moore, 152 + +Moral prohibition, primitive, 119. + _See_ Taboos. + +Morgan, 27, 40, 103, 104, 105, 109, 111, 117, 118 + +Mueller, 216 + +Musical faculty of women, 161 + + +N + +Nairs of Malabar, 171-174 + +Newbold, 243 + +New Caledonia, women's work in, 197 + +New Guinea, 152-153 + +New theory of mother-right, 35, 43-44, 48 _et seq._, 72, 90-91, 96, 97, + 170, 212, 254, 257 + +Nicaraguans, 125 + + +O + +Origin of the human family, 21, 24, 25, 41-42, 50 _et seq._, 77, + 90, 255 _et seq._ + +Origin of the maternal system, 16, 41, 43, 88-89, 166, 257 _et seq._ + +Owen, 115, 197 + +Ownership of children, 115, 141, 183 _et seq._, 187 + + +P + +Pakpatan, 189 + +Pani Kotches, 158-159 + +Papuans of New Guinea, 201 + +Paraguay, 152 + +Parenthood, 37, 268-269 + +Parke, 201 + +Passivity of female in love, 153 + +Patriarchal authority of father, 19, 35, 48, 51, 63, 68, 72, 74, 81. + _See_ Father as tyrant. + +Patriarchal family, 35, 45, 91, 215, 222, 255 _et seq._ + +Patriarchal theory, 24, 26, 35, 45 _et seq._, 254 + +Pearson, K., 231, 240, 241, 243, 248, 250, 251 + +Pecuniary matriarchy, 159 + +Pedangs of Sumatra, 148-150 + +Pelew Islanders, 152-159, 207-208 + +Petherick, 180 + +Picts, mother-descent among, 232 + +Pike, W., 198 + +Plato, 239 + +Plutarch, 216, 220 + +Polyandry, 42, 51, 112, 125, 136, 173, 260 + +Polygamous males, 49, 50, 52 + +Polygamy, 112, 125, 157, 259 + +Polynesians, 203 + +Position of the father, 13, 15, 17, 21, 58 _et seq._, 141, 143, 149, + 165, 170, 173, 191, 225, 238, 242, 257 + +Position of the mother, 13, 15, 17, 21, 58 _et seq._, 111, 165, 176, + 191, 225, 238, 257 + +Position of women, 18, 20, 21, 25, 26, 106, 143, 152, 158, 192, 204, 238 + +Powell, 114, 116 + +Power, 202, 224 + +Pre-matriarchal period, 35, 169, 255 + +Present social and economic condition, 14, 267-269 + +Prevalence of mother-descent, 17, 128-129, 209-210, 233 + +Primal law, 24, 47, 52, 73, 74, 75, 77 + +Promiscuity, 23, 25, 27, 31, 32, 40 _et seq._, 43, 45 _et seq._, 76, 97, + 99, 168, 209-210, 255 + +Property ownership, its importance for women, 43, 45 _et seq._, 77, 97, + 99, 168, 209-210, 255 + +Pueblos, 116 _et seq._, 200, 207 + +Purchase marriage, 124, 177, 182, 233 + +Puritan spirit, 36, 96, 255 + + +Q + +Quissama women, 203 + + +R + +Race, responsibility to, 37, 268-269 + +Ratzel, 206 + +Religions, position of women in primitive, 29, 37, 238, 241. + _See_ Divinities, women as. + +Religious festivals, 241, 242-243 + +Religious myths, 29-30, 33, 236-238 + +Revolt of women, 31, 34, 35, 44, 267 + +Rhys and Brynmor-Jones, 233 + +Riedel, 183 + +Rome, ancient, traces of mother-right in, 215-216 + + +S + +Sai tribe, 123-124 + +Salish tribe, 127 + +Samoa, 187 + +Santals, 177 + +Schellong, 201 + +School craft, 110, 112, 116 + +Semper, 157 + +Senecas. _See_ Iroquois. + +Seri Indians, 126-128 + +Service marriage, 147-150, 184, 222-223 + +Sex antagonism, 36, 55, 264 _et seq._ + +Sexual egoism of male, 61, 67. + _See_ Unsocial conduct of males. + +Sexual freedom for women, 120, 127, 171, 173, 178, 179-180, 260 + +Sexual subjection of female, 53, 63, 68, 189, 191, 265-266 + +Similarity of sexes, 129-131, 218 + +Similkameen Indians, 198 + +Slavs, the clan among the, 231 + +Social conduct of women, 31, 34, 55 _et seq._, 59-65, 68, 70, 72, 75, + 81, 90, 107, 193, 256 _et seq._ + +Social habits, primitive, 23, 49, 58 _et seq._, 67, 81, 107 _et seq._, 170. + _See_ Maternal marriage. + +Soulima women, 176 + +Spain, position of women in, 227-230 + +Sparta, 220, 222 + +Spencer, H., 180 + +Spiritual quality in women, 31, 56, 68 + +Stages in the development of the family, 17, 23, 97, 168, 174, 194, + 254 _et seq._ + + +T + +Taboos, primitive sexual, 73, 77-78, 107, 168, 170, 257 + +Tacitus, 230 + +Tarrahumari Indians, 152 + +Tasmanian women, 195 + +Thebans, 220 + +Thibet, 173 + +Thomas, C., 129 + +Thomas, I. T., 181, 202 + +Thomas, N. W., 95 + +Torday and Joice, 184 + +Torres Straits, women's work in, 196 + +Totem names, 77,87, 119, 168, 257 + +Touaregs of the Saraha, 159-162, 227 + +Transition period, 12, 23, 151, 169, 184 _et seq._, 187, 235, 261 + +Tribal ancestresses, 135, 155, 226, 231, 233, 234 + +Turner, 188, 197 + +Tylor, 25, 98, 104, 117, 152 + + +U + +Uncertainty of paternity, 27, 41, 42, 99, 141, 254 + +Unsocial conduct of males, 55 _et seq._, 61-64, 68, 71, 72, 75, 90, + 193, 256 + + +V + +Visiting wife in secret, 140-141, 147, 220, 222-223, 258 + +Volti, 123 + + +W + +Wade, 189 + +Waitz-Gerland, 181 + +Wamoimia, 175 + +War and women, 115-116, 197-198, 246 + +Watubela tribe, 183 + +Wayao tribe, 183 + +Wells, Mr. H. G., 24, 52, 192 + +Werner, Alice, 175, 204 + +Westermarck, 18, 35, 42, 47, 76, 95, 99, 125, 152, 168, 209 + +Wheeler, J. M., 152 + +Wilkin, 188, 189 + +Woman as food-giver, 60, 202 _et seq._ + +Woman's movement, 11 _et seq._, 267-268 + +Women, primitive, not ill-treated by men, 200 _et seq._ + +Women, spiritual superiority, 30 + +Wright, Asher, Rev., 111 + +Wyandots. _See_ Iroquois. + + +Y + +Yahgan of Tierra del Fuego, 198 + +Yaos of Africa, 175 + +Ymer, 157 + +Yokia women of California, 202 + + +Z + +Zuni Indians, 117-118, 120-122 + +_Richard Clay & Sons, Limited, London and Bungay._ + + + + +_BY THE SAME AUTHOR_ + +THE TRUTH ABOUT WOMAN + +By C. GASQUOINE HARTLEY + +(Mrs. Walter Gallichan) + +_Fourth Edition 7s. 6d. net_ + +_SOME PRESS OPINIONS_ + +"_The best written and the most profitable of the many recent books +upon the woman's movement._ It is distinguished alike by the scope of +its learning, the skilful way in which evidence is marshalled, and, +above all, by the independence of thought and temper brought to the +interpretation of the modern issues.... The discussion of sex +differences and of the social problems which spring therefrom shows +not only wide and deep personal acquaintance with modern men and +women, but a singular freedom from some of the squeamishness of +thought and feeling which hampers most discussion ... _an exceedingly +important contribution to the most difficult problem of our and every +other time_."--J. A. HOBSON in _The Manchester Guardian_. + +"_The book shows a fearless intellectual honesty and a deep sympathy +and tolerance; it is the work of a serious student and of a woman who +knows life as well as libraries...._ The chapter on 'Sexual +Differences in Mind' is absorbingly interesting, and based on the +latest research. She writes finely and truly on the absurd and +indecent cruelty of penalising divorce; on the cherished superstition +of feminine passivity in love, and the origin of the chastity taboo on +women with its waste of life and love. She even has a sane and humane +chapter on prostitution, recognising the complexity of its causes, and +the kindness and generosity of these scapegoat women to one another, +as well as their erotic insensibility. _The book should be read by all +educated men and women._ It will probably be greeted with screams of +denunciation from those persons whose hostility forms a hall-mark of +mental honesty and social value."--_The English Review._ + +"We very heartily commend this remarkable book.... Every chapter +abounds in challenges to thought, and we must thank a woman who has +dared and cared to think and dared to say."--_The Pall Mall Gazette._ + +"One of the most thoughtful books about women I have yet read.... The +book is certainly of an advanced feminism, yet the author is found +most strongly on the side of marriage, of love, of women's femininity +as their strength; in fact, of all the things which shallow observers +suppose the woman movement is actively denying."--_Truth._ + +"Sane, sound, and well reasoned ... she has more capacity than any +other woman writer of the kind we have yet come across for regarding +all questions of sex from the man's point of view."--_Glasgow Herald._ + +EVELEIGH NASH, 36 King Street, Covent Garden, London, W.C. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Position of Woman in Primitive +Society, by C. 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