diff options
| author | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-01-22 01:25:13 -0800 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-01-22 01:25:13 -0800 |
| commit | f303098b97f3497c13192ef4ea819f82065d4645 (patch) | |
| tree | 66a5cd520539e8f8252e173f5c4f4cf3b7f00f8a | |
| parent | 7842f9e65b5c644219d225119160f4d66044cd28 (diff) | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 4 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67739-0.txt | 17318 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67739-0.zip | bin | 317664 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67739-h.zip | bin | 583588 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67739-h/67739-h.htm | 23546 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67739-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 219844 -> 0 bytes |
8 files changed, 17 insertions, 40864 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b329d97 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #67739 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/67739) diff --git a/old/67739-0.txt b/old/67739-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 65eb1fb..0000000 --- a/old/67739-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,17318 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Evolution of Marriage and of the -Family, by Charles Jean Marie Letourneau - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The Evolution of Marriage and of the Family - -Author: Charles Jean Marie Letourneau - -Release Date: March 30, 2022 [eBook #67739] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Turgut Dincer and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team - at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images - generously made available by The Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EVOLUTION OF MARRIAGE AND -OF THE FAMILY *** - - - - - - _THE CONTEMPORARY SCIENCE SERIES._ - - EDITED BY HAVELOCK ELLIS. - - - EVOLUTION OF MARRIAGE - - - - - THE EVOLUTION - - OF MARRIAGE - - AND OF THE FAMILY - - BY - - CH. LETOURNEAU, - - _General Secretary to the Anthropological Society of Paris, - and Professor in the School of Anthropology_. - - - LONDON - WALTER SCOTT, 24 WARWICK LANE - PATERNOSTER ROW - 1891. - - - - - CONTENTS. - - - CHAPTER I. - PAGE - - THE BIOLOGICAL ORIGIN OF MARRIAGE 1-19 - - I. The True Place of Man in the Animal Kingdom. - II. Reproduction. - III. Rut and Love. - IV. Love of Animals. - - - CHAPTER II. - - MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY AMONGST ANIMALS 20-36 - - I. The Preservation of Species. - II. Marriage and the Rearing of the Young among Animals. - III. The Family amongst Animals. - - - CHAPTER III. - - PROMISCUITY 37-55 - - I. Has there been a Stage of Promiscuity? - II. Cases of Human Promiscuity. - III. Hetaïrism. - - - CHAPTER IV. - - SOME SINGULAR FORMS OF SEXUAL ASSOCIATION 56-72 - - I. Primitive Sexual Immorality. - II. Some Strange Forms of Marriage. - - - CHAPTER V. - - POLYANDRY 73-88 - - I. Sexual Proportion of Births: its Influence on Marriage. - II. Ethnography of Polyandry. - III. Polyandry in Ancient Arabia. - IV. Polyandry in General. - - - CHAPTER VI. - - MARRIAGE BY CAPTURE 89-104 - - I. Rape. - II. Marriage by Capture. - III. Signification of the Ceremonial of Capture. - - - CHAPTER VII. - - MARRIAGE BY PURCHASE AND BY SERVITUDE 105-121 - - I. The Power of Parents. - II. Marriage by Servitude. - III. Marriage by Purchase. - - - CHAPTER VIII. - - PRIMITIVE POLYGAMY 122-137 - - I. Polygamy in Oceania, Africa, and America. - II. Polygamy in Asia and in Europe. - - - CHAPTER IX. - - POLYGAMY OF CIVILISED PEOPLE 138-153 - - I. The Stage of Polygamy. - II. Arab Polygamy. - III. Polygamy in Egypt, Mexico, and Peru. - IV. Polygamy in Persia and India. - - - CHAPTER X. - - PROSTITUTION AND CONCUBINAGE 154-170 - - I. Concubinage in General. - II. Prostitution. - III. Various Forms of Concubinage. - - - CHAPTER XI. - - PRIMITIVE MONOGAMY 171-187 - - I. The Monogamy of Inferior Races. - II. Monogamy in the Ancient States of Central America. - III. Monogamy in Ancient Egypt. - IV. Monogamy of the Touaregs and Abyssinians. - V. Monogamy among the Mongols of Asia. - VI. Monogamy and Civilisation. - - - CHAPTER XII. - - HEBREW AND ARYAN MONOGAMY 188-206 - - I. Monogamy of the Races called Superior. - II. Hebrew Marriage. - III. Marriage in Persia and Ancient India. - IV. Marriage in Ancient Greece. - V. Marriage in Ancient Rome. - VI. Barbarous Marriage and Christian Marriage. - - - CHAPTER XIII. - - ADULTERY 207-227 - - I. Adultery in General. - II. Adultery in Melanesia. - III. Adultery in Black Africa. - IV. Adultery in Polynesia. - V. Adultery in Savage America. - VI. Adultery in Barbarous America. - VII. Adultery among the Mongol Races and in Malaya. - VIII. Adultery among the Egyptians, the Berbers, and the Semites. - IX. Adultery in Persia and India. - X. Adultery in the Greco-Roman World. - XI. Adultery in Barbarous Europe. - XII. Adultery in the Past and in the Future. - - - CHAPTER XIV. - - REPUDIATION AND DIVORCE 228-248 - - I. In Savage Countries. - II. Divorce and Repudiation among Barbarous Peoples. - III. The Evolution of Divorce. - - - CHAPTER XV. - - WIDOWHOOD AND THE LEVIRATE 249-266 - - I. Widowhood in Savage Countries. - II. Widowhood in Barbarous Countries. - III. The Levirate. - IV. Summary. - - - CHAPTER XVI. - - THE FAMILIAL CLAN IN AUSTRALIA AND AMERICA 267-284 - - I. The Family. - II. The Family in Melanesia. - III. The Family in America. - - - CHAPTER XVII. - - THE FAMILIAL CLAN AND ITS EVOLUTION 285-302 - - I. The Clan among the Redskins. - II. The Family among the Redskins. - III. The Family in Polynesia. - IV. The Family among the Mongols. - V. The Evolution of the System of Kinship by Classes. - VI. The Clan and the Family. - - - CHAPTER XVIII. - - THE MATERNAL FAMILY 303-321 - - I. The Familial Clan and the Family properly so-called. - II. The Family in Africa. - III. The Family in Malaya. - IV. The Family among the Naïrs of Malabar. - V. The Family among the Aborigines of Bengal. - VI. The Couvade. - VII. The Primitive Family. - - - CHAPTER XIX. - - THE FAMILY IN CIVILISED COUNTRIES 322-340 - - I. The Family in China. - II. The Family among the Semitic Races. - III. The Family among the Berbers. - IV. The Family in Persia. - V. The Family in India. - VI. The Greco-Roman Family. - VII. The Family in Barbarous Europe. - - - CHAPTER XX. - - MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY IN THE PAST, THE PRESENT, AND THE - FUTURE 341-360 - - I. The Past. - II. The Present. - III. The Future. - - INDEX 361 - - - - -PREFACE. - - -A few preliminary observations in regard to the aim and method of this -work may be useful to the reader. - -He will do well to begin by persuading himself, with Montaigne, that -the “hinges of custom” are not always the “hinges of reason,” and -still less those of reality in all times and places. He will do better -still to steep himself in the spirit of scientific evolution, and to -bear in mind that incessant change is the law of the social, quite as -much as of the physical and organic world, and that the most splendid -blossoms have sprung from very humble germs. This is the supreme truth -of science, and it is only when such a point of view has become quite -familiar to us that we shall be neither troubled nor disconcerted -by the sociological history of humanity; and however shocking or -unnatural certain customs may appear, we shall guard ourselves against -any feeling of indignation at them, and more especially against a -thoughtless refusal to give credence to them, simply because they run -counter to our own usages and morality. - -All that social science has a right to ask of the facts which it -registers is that they should be authentic; this duly proved, it -only remains to accept, classify, and interpret them. Faithful to -this method, without which there could be no science of sociology, -I have here gathered together as proofs a number of singular facts, -which, improbable as they may appear according to our pre-conceived -notions, and criminal according to our moral sense, are nevertheless -most instructive. Although in a former work I have taken care to -establish the relativity of morality, the explanations that I am about -to make are not out of season; for the subject of this book is closely -connected with what, _par excellence_, we call “morals.” - -On this point I must permit myself a short digression. - -No one will pretend that our so-called civilised society has a very -strict practical morality, yet public opinion still seems to attach a -particular importance to sexual morality, and this is the expression of -a very real sentiment, the origin of which scientific sociology has no -difficulty in retracing. This origin, far from being a lofty one, goes -back simply to the right of proprietorship in women similar to that in -goods and chattels--a proprietorship which we find claimed in savage, -and even in barbarous countries, without any feeling of shame. During -the lower stages of social evolution, women are uniformly treated as -domestic animals; but this female live-stock are difficult to guard; -for, on the one hand, they are much coveted and are unskilful in -defending themselves, and on the other, they do not bend willingly to -the one-sided duty of fidelity that is imposed on them. The masters, -therefore, protect their own interests by a whole series of vexatious -restraints, of rigorous punishments, and of ferocious revenges, left at -first to the good pleasure of the marital proprietors, and afterwards -regulated and codified. In the chapter on adultery, especially, will -be found a great number of examples of this marital savagery. I have -previously shown, in my _Evolution de la Morale_, that the unforeseen -result of all this jealous fury has been to endow humanity, and more -particularly women, with the delicate sentiment of modesty, unknown to -the animal world and to primitive man. - -From this evolution of thousands of years there has finally resulted, -in countries and races more or less civilised, a certain sexual -morality, which is half instinctive, and varies according to time -and place, but which it is impossible to transgress without the risk -of offending gravely against public opinion. Civilisations, however, -whether coarse or refined, differ from each other. Certain actions, -counted as blameworthy in one part of the world, are elsewhere held as -lawful and even praiseworthy. In order to trace the origin of marriage -and of the family, it is therefore indispensable to relate a number of -practices which may be scandalous in our eyes. While submitting to this -necessity, I have done so unwillingly, and with all the sobriety which -befits the subject. I have striven never to depart from the scientific -spirit, which purifies everything, and renders even indecency decent. - -Like the savages of to-day, our distant ancestors were very little -removed from simple animal existence. A knowledge of their physiology -is nevertheless necessary to enable us to understand our own; for, -however cultivated the civilised man may be, he derives from the humble -progenitors of his race a number of instincts which are energetic in -proportion as they are of a low order. More or less deadened, these -gross tendencies are latent in the most highly developed individuals; -and when they sometimes break out suddenly in the actions of a man’s -life, or in the morals or literature of a people, they recall to us -our very humble origin, and even show a certain mental and moral -retrogression. - -Now it is to this primitive man, still in such a rudimentary state, -that we must go back for enlightenment on the genesis of all our social -institutions. We must take him at the most distant dawn of humanity, -follow him step by step in his slow metamorphoses, without either -disparaging or poetising him; we must watch him rising and becoming -more refined through accumulated centuries, till he loses by degrees -his animal instincts, and at length acquires aptitudes, inclinations, -and faculties that are truly human. - -Nothing is better adapted to exemplify the evolution which binds our -present to our past and to our future than the sociological history of -marriage and of the family. - -After having spoken of the aim of this book, it remains for me to -justify its method. This differs considerably from what the mass of -the public like far too well. But a scientific treatise must not take -purely literary works for its models; and I can say to my readers, -with much more reason than old Rabelais, that if they wish to taste -the marrow, they must take the trouble to break the bone. My first -and chief consideration is to assist in the foundation of a new -science--ethnographical sociology. Elegant and vain dissertations, or -vague generalities, have no place here. It is by giving way to these, -and in attempting to reap the harvest before sowing the seed, that -many authors have lost themselves in a pseudo-sociology, having no -foundation, and consequently no value. - -Social science, if it is to be seriously constituted, must submit with -docility to the method of natural science. The first task, and the one -which especially falls to the lot of the sociologists of the present -day, is to collect the facts which will form materials for the future -edifice. To their successors will fall the pleasure of completing and -adorning it. - -The present work is, therefore, above all, a collection of facts which, -even if taken alone, are curious and suggestive. These facts have been -patiently gleaned from the writings of ethnographers, travellers, -legists, and historians. I have classed them as well as I could, -and naturally they have inspired me here and there with glimpses of -possible inductions, and with some slight attempts at generalisation. - -But whether the reader rejects or accepts my interpretations, the -groundwork of facts on which they rest is so instructive of itself that -a perusal of the following pages cannot be quite fruitless. - - CH. LETOURNEAU. - - - - -THE EVOLUTION OF MARRIAGE AND OF THE FAMILY. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -THE BIOLOGICAL ORIGIN OF MARRIAGE. - - - I. _The True Place of Man in the Animal Kingdom._--Man is a - mammiferous, bimanous vertebrate--Biology the starting-point of - sociology--The origin of love. - - II. _Reproduction._--Nutrition and - reproduction--Scissiparity--Budding--Ovulation--Conjugation-- - Impregnation--Reproduction in the invertebrates--The entity called - Nature--Organic specialisation and reproduction--A dithyramb by - Haeckel. - - III. _Rut and Love._--Rut renders sociable--Rut is a short puberty--Its - organic adornment--The frenzy of rut--Physiological reason of rut in - mammals--Love and rut--Schopenhauer and the designs of Nature. - - IV. _Love of Animals._--Love and death--The law of coquetry--The - law of battle--Jealousy and æsthetic considerations--Love amongst - birds--Effects of sexual selection--The loves of the skylark--The males - of the blue heron and their combats--Battles of male geese and male - gallinaceæ--Courteous duels between males--Æsthetic seduction among - certain birds--Æsthetic constructions--Musical seduction--Predominance - of the female among certain birds--Greater sensuality of the - male--Effect of sexual exaltation--A Cartesian paradox--Individual - choice amongst animals--Individual fancies of females--General - propositions. - - -I. _The True Place of Man._ - -We have too long been accustomed to study human society as if man were -a being apart in the universe. In comparing human bipeds with animals -it has seemed as if we were disparaging these so-called demi-gods. It -is to this blind prejudice that we must attribute the tardy rise of -anthropological sociology. A deeper knowledge of biological science -and of inferior races has at last cured us of this childish vanity. -We have decided to assign to man his true place in the organic world -of our little globe. Granted that the human biped is incontestably -the most intelligent of terrestrial animals, yet, by his histological -texture, by his organs, and by the functions of these organs, he is -evidently only an animal, and easily classed in the series: he is -a bimanous, mammiferous vertebrate. Not that by his most glorious -representatives, by those whom we call men of genius, man does not rise -prodigiously above his distant relations of the mammal class; but, on -the other hand, by imperfectly developed specimens he descends far -below many species of animals; for if the idiot is only an exception, -the man of genius is still more so. In fact, the lowest human races, -with whose anatomy, psychology, and sociology we are to-day familiar, -can only inspire us with feelings of modesty. They furnish studies -in ethnography which have struck a mortal blow at the dreams of “the -kingdom of man.” - -When once it is established that man is a mammal like any other, -and only distinguished from the animals of his class by a greater -cerebral development, all study of human sociology must logically be -preceded by a corresponding study of animal sociology. Moreover, as -sociology finally depends on biology, it will be necessary to seek in -physiological conditions themselves the origin of great sociological -manifestations. The first necessity of societies is that they should -endure, and they can only do so on the condition of providing -satisfaction for primordial needs, which are the condition of life -itself, and which imperatively dominate and regulate great social -institutions. Lastly, if man is a sociable animal, he is not the only -one; many other species have grouped themselves in societies, where, -however rudimentary they may be, we find in embryonic sketch the -principal traits of human agglomerations. There are even species--as, -for example, bees, ants, and termites--that have created true -republics, of complicated structure, in which the social problem has -been solved in an entirely original manner. We may take from them more -than one good example, and more than one valuable hint. - -My present task is to write the history of marriage and of the family. -The institution of marriage has had no other object than the regulation -of sexual unions. These have for their aim the satisfaction of one of -the most imperious biological needs--the sexual appetite; but this -appetite is only a conscious impulse, a “snare,” as Montaigne calls -it, which impels both man and animal to provide, as far as concerns -them, for the preservation of their species--to “pay the ancestral -debt,” according to the Brahmanical formula. Before studying the sexual -relations, and their more or less regulated form in human societies, it -will not be out of place to say a few words on reproduction in general, -to sketch briefly its physiology in so far as this is fundamental, -and to show how tyrannical are the instincts whose formation has been -determined by physiological causes, and which render the fiercest -animals mild and tractable. This is what I shall attempt to do in the -following chapter. - - -II. _Reproduction._ - -Stendhal has somewhere said that the beautiful is simply the outcome -of the useful; changing the phrase, we may say that generation is -the outcome of nutrition. If we examine the processes of generation -in very simple organisms, this great function seems to answer to a -superabundance of nutritive materials, which, after having carried -the anatomic elements to their maximum volume, at length overflows -and provokes the formation of new elements. As long as the new-born -elements can remain aggregated with those which already constitute the -individual, as long as the latter has not acquired all the development -compatible with the plan of its being, there is simply growth. When -once the limit is attained that the species cannot pass, the organism -(I mean a very rudimentary organism) reproduces itself commonly by a -simple division in two halves. It perishes in doubling itself and in -producing two beings, similar to itself, and having nothing to do but -grow. It is by means of this bi-partition that hydras, vorticellæ, -algæ, and the lowest mushrooms are generally propagated. - -In the organisms that are slightly more complicated the function of -reproduction tends to be specialised. The individual is no longer -totally divided; it produces a bud which grows by degrees, and detaches -itself from the parent organism to run in its turn through the very -limited adventures of its meagre existence. - -By a more advanced step in specialisation the function of reproduction -becomes localised in a particular cell, an ovule, and the latter, -by a series of repeated bi-partitions, develops a new individual; -but it is generally necessary that the cellule destined to multiply -itself by segmentation should at first dissolve by union with another -cell. Through the action of various organic processes the two -generating cells arrive in contact. The element which is to undergo -segmentation--the female element--then absorbs the element that is -simply impulsive; the element called male becomes impregnated with -it, and from that moment it is fertilised, that is to say, capable of -pursuing the course of its formative work. - -This phenomenon, so simple in itself, of the conjugation of two -cellules, is the foundation of reproduction in the two organic -kingdoms as soon as the two sexes are separated. Whether the sexes are -represented by distinct or united individuals, whether the accessory -organic apparatus is more or less complicated, are matters of no -consequence; the essential fact reappears always and everywhere of the -conjugation of two cellules, with absorption, in the case of superior -animals, of the male cellule by the female cellule. - -The process may be observed in its most elementary form in the algæ and -the diatomaceæ, said to be conjugated. To form a reproductive cellule, -or spore, two neighbouring cellules each throw out, one towards the -other, a prolongation. These prolongations meet, and their sides -absorb each other at the point of contact; then the protoplasms of the -two elements mingle, and at length the two cellules melt into a single -reproductive cellule (_Spirogyra longata_). - -Between this marriage of two lower vegetal cellules, which realises to -the letter the celebrated biblical words, “they shall be one flesh,” or -rather one protoplasm, and the fundamental phenomenon of fecundation -in the superior animals, including man, there is no essential -dissimilarity. The ovule of the female and the spermatozoon of the male -become fused in the same manner, with this difference only, that the -feminine cellule, the ovule, preserves its individuality and absorbs -the masculine cellule, or is impregnated by it. - -But, simple as it is, this phenomenon of fecundation is the sole reason -of the duration of bi-sexual species. Thanks to it, organic individuals -that are all more or less ephemeral, - - “Et, quasi cursores, vitaï lampada tradunt.” - - (_Lucretius_, ii. 78.) - - -For many organised beings reproduction seems in reality the supreme -object of existence. Numbers of vegetables and of animals, even of -animals high in the series--as insects--die as soon as they have -accomplished this great duty. Sometimes the male expires before having -detached himself from the female, and the latter herself survives just -long enough to effect the laying of eggs. Instead of laying eggs, the -female cochineal fills herself with eggs to such a degree that she dies -in consequence, and the tegument of her body is transformed into a -protecting envelope for the eggs. - -At the not very distant time when animism reigned supreme, these facts -were attributed to calculations of design. Nature, it was believed, -occupied herself chiefly with perpetuating organised species; as for -individuals, she disdained the care of them. We now know that Nature, -as an anthropomorphic being, does not exist; that the great forces -called natural are unconscious; that their blind action results, -however, in the world of life, in a choice, a selection, a progressive -evolution, or, to sum up, in the survival of the individuals best -adapted to the conditions of their existence. Without any intention of -Dame Nature, the preservation of the species was necessarily, before -anything else, the object of selection; and during the course of -geological periods primitive bi-partition gradually became transformed -through progressive differentiation into bi-sexual procreation, -requiring the concurrence of special and complicated apparatus in -order to be effected. But, at the same time as procreation, other -functions also became differentiated by the formation of special -organs; the nervous system vegetated around the _chorda dorsalis_; -and, finally, conscious life awoke in the nervous centres. Thenceforth -the accomplishment of the great function of procreation assumed an -entirely different aspect. In the lowest stages of the animal kingdom -reproduction is effected mechanically and unconsciously. A paramœcium, -observed by M. Balbiani, produced in forty-two days, by a series -of simple bi-partitions, 1,384,116 individuals, who very certainly -had not the least notion of the phenomena by which they transmitted -existence. But with superior animals it is very different; in their -case the act of procreation is a real efflorescence, not only physical, -but psychical. For the study that I am now undertaking it will not -be without use to recall the principal features of this amorous -efflorescence, since it is, after all, the first cause of marriage and -of the family. At the same time, not to lose our standpoint, it is -important to bear in mind that at the bottom all this expenditure of -physical and psychical force has for motive and for result, both in man -and animal, the conjugation of two generative cellules. Haeckel has -written a dithyramb on this subject in his _Anthropogenia_, which is -in the main so true that I take pleasure in quoting it--“Great effects -are everywhere produced, in animated nature, by minute causes.... -Think of how many curious phenomena sexual selection gives rise to -in animal life; think of the results of love in human life; now, -all this has for its _raison d’être_ the union of two cellules.... -There is no organic act which approaches this one in power and in the -force of differentiation. The Semitic myth of Eve seducing Adam for -the love of knowledge, the old Greek legend of Paris and Helen, and -many other magnificent poems, do they not simply express the enormous -influence that sexual love and sexual selection have exercised since -the separation of the sexes? The influence of all the other passions -which agitate the human heart cannot weigh in the balance with love, -which inflames the senses and fascinates the reason. On the one hand, -we celebrate in love the source of the most sublime works of art, -and of the noblest creations of poetry and of music; we venerate it -as the most powerful factor in civilisation, as the prime cause of -family life, and consequently of social life. On the other hand, we -fear love as a destructive flame; it is love that drives so many to -ruin; it is love that has caused more misery, vice, and crime than -all other calamities together. Love is so prodigious, its influence -is so enormous on psychic life and the most diverse functions of -the nervous system, that in regard to it we are tempted to question -the supernatural effect of our natural explanation. Nevertheless, -comparative biology and the history of development conduct us surely -and incontestably to the simplest, most remote source of love; that is -to say, the elective affinity of two different cellules--the spermatic -cell and the ovulary cell.”[1] - - -III. _Rut and Love._ - -In a former work on the evolution of morality I have described the -manner in which the hereditary tendencies and instincts arise from -habit, induced in the nervous cellules by a sufficient repetition of -the same acts. The instinct of procreation has, and can have, no other -origin. The animal species, during the long phases of their evolution, -have reproduced themselves unconsciously, and by very simple processes, -which we may still observe in certain zoophytes. By degrees these mere -sketches of animals have become perfected and differentiated, and -have acquired special organs over which the biological work has been -distributed; thenceforth the play of life has echoed in the nervous -centres, and has awakened in them impressions and desires, the energy -of which strictly corresponds to the importance of the functions. -Now, there is no more primordial function than procreation, since on -it depends the duration even of the species; and for this reason the -need of reproduction, or the rut, breaks out in many animals like a -kind of madness. The psychic faculties of the animal, whether great or -small, are then over-excited, and rise above their ordinary level; but -they all tend to one supreme aim--the desire for reproduction. At this -period the wildest and most unsociable species can no longer endure -solitude; both males and females seek each other; sometimes, even, -they are seen to form themselves into groups, or small provisional -societies, which will dissolve again after the coupling time is over. - -Each period of rut is for animals a sort of puberty. The hair, the -plumage, and the scales often assume rich tints which afterwards -disappear. Sometimes special epidermic productions appear in the male, -and serve him for temporary weapons with which to fight his rivals, or -for ornaments to captivate the female. It is with a veritable frenzy -that the sexual union is accomplished among certain species. Thus Dr. -Günther has several times found female toads dead, smothered by the -embrace of the males.[2] Spallanzani was able to amputate the thighs -of male frogs and toads during copulation, without diverting them from -their work. - -In the animal class which more particularly interests us, that of -mammals, rut produces analogous, though less violent, phenomena. Now, -in this case, we know that erotic fury is closely related to congestive -phenomena, having for their seat the procreative glands, which swell -in both male and female, and provoke in the latter a veritable process -of egg-laying. We must not forget that man, in his quality of mammal, -is subject to the common law, that female menstruation is essentially -identical with the intimate phenomena of rut in the females of mammals, -and corresponds also to an ovarian congestion, or to the swelling and -bursting of one or more of the Graafian follicles; it is, in short, a -production of eggs. I need not lay stress on these facts, but it is -right to recall them by the way, since they are the _raison d’être_ of -sexual attraction, without which there would be neither marriage nor -family. - -If we are willing to descend to the foundation of things, we find -that human love is essentially rut in an intelligent being. It exalts -all the vital forces of the man just as rut over-excites those of the -animal. If it seems to differ extremely from it, this is simply because -in man the procreative need, a primordial need beyond all others, in -radiating from highly developed nervous centres, awakens and sets in -commotion an entire psychic life unknown to the animal. - -There is nothing surprising to the naturalist in this procreative -explosion, which evolves altruism out of egotism. We know too -well, however, that it has not appeared so simple a matter to many -philosophers and celebrated literary men, little familiar with -biological sciences. A belated metaphysician, Schopenhauer, who has -lately become fashionable, adopting the ancient stereotyped doctrine -which makes Nature an anthropomorphic personage, has gratuitously -credited her with quite a profound diplomatic design. According to him, -it is a foregone conclusion that she should intoxicate individuals with -love, and thus urge them on, without their suspecting it, to sacrifice -themselves to the major interest of the preservation of the species. -The glance that we have just thrown on the processes of reproduction, -from the paramœcium up to man, suffices to refute this dream. I will -not, however, dwell on this. What is here of great interest is to -inquire how the superior animals comport themselves when pricked by -desire, and to note the principal traits of their sexual psychology; -for here again we shall have to recognise more than one analogy to -what happens in regard to man; and we shall also see later that there -exists both in the animal and the man some relation between the manner -in which sexual attraction is felt and the greater or less aptitude for -durable pairing, and consequently for marriage and the family. - -Without giving more time than is necessary to these short excursions -into animal psychology, it will be well to pause on them for a moment. -They throw a light on the sources of human sociology; they force us -also to break once for all with the abstract and trite theories which -have inspired, on the subject of marriage and the family, so much empty -writing and so many satiating trivialities. It is in animality that -humanity has its root; it is there, consequently, that we must seek the -origins of human sociology. - - -IV. _Loves of Animals._ - -In a well-known mystic book occurs an aphorism which has become -celebrated--“Love is strong as death.” The expression is not -exaggerated; we may even say that love is stronger than death, since -it makes us despise it. This is perhaps truer with animals than with -man, and is all the more evident in proportion as the rational will is -weaker, and prudential calculations furnish no check to the impetuosity -of desire. For the majority of insects to love and to die are almost -synonymous, and yet they make no effort to resist the amorous frenzy -which urges them on. But however short may be their sexual career, one -fact has been so generally observed in regard to many of them, that it -may be considered as the expression of a law--_the law of coquetry_. -With the greater number of species that are slightly intelligent, the -female refuses at first to yield to amorous caresses. This useful -practice may well have arisen from selection, for its result has -invariably been to excite the desire of the male, and arouse in him -latent or sleeping faculties. However brief, for example, may be -the life of butterflies, their pairing is not accomplished without -preliminaries; the males court the females during entire hours, and for -a butterfly hours are years. - -We can easily imagine that the coquetry of females is more common -amongst vertebrates. When the season of love arrives, many male fishes, -who are then adorned with extremely brilliant colours, make the most of -their transient beauty by spreading out their fins, and by executing -leaps, darts, and seductive manœuvres around the females. - -Among fishes we begin already to observe another sexual law, at least -as general as the law of coquetry, which Darwin has called the _law -of battle_. The males dispute with each other for the females, and -must triumph over their rivals before obtaining them. Thus, whilst -the female sticklebacks are very pacific, their males are of warlike -humour, and engage in furious combats in their honour. In the same way -the male salmon, whose lower jaw lengthens into a crook during the -breeding season, are constantly fighting amongst each other.[3] - -The higher we ascend in the animal kingdom the more frequent and more -violent become two desires in the males--the desire of appearing -beautiful, and that of driving away rivals. In South America, the males -of the _Analis cristellatus_, a fissilingual saurian, have terrible -battles in the breeding season, the vanquished habitually losing his -tail, which is bitten off by the victor. An old observer also describes -the amorous male alligator as “swollen to bursting, the head and tail -raised, spinning round on the surface of the water, and appearing to -assume the manner of an Indian chief relating his exploits.”[4] - -But it is particularly among birds that the sentiment, or rather the -passion, of love breaks out with most force and even poetry. It is -especially to birds that the celebrated Darwinian theory of sexual -selection applies. It is difficult, indeed, not to attribute to this -influence the production of the offensive and defensive arms, the -armaments, the organs of song, the glands of odoriferous secretion -of many male birds, also their courage, the warlike instinct of many -of them, and lastly, the coquetry of the females. Let us listen to -Audubon, as he relates the loves of the skylark:--“Each male is seen -to advance with an imposing and measured step, swinging his tail, -spreading it out to its full extent, then closing it again like a fan -in the hands of a fine lady. Their brilliant notes are more melodious -than ever; they repeat them oftener than usual as they rest on the -branch or summit of some tall meadow reed. Woe to the rival who dares -to enter the lists, or to the male who simply comes in sight of another -male at this moment of veritable delirium: he is suddenly attacked, -and, if he is the weaker, chased beyond the limits of the territory -claimed by the first occupant. Sometimes several birds are seen engaged -in these rude combats, which rarely last more than two or three -minutes: the appearance of a single female suffices to put an instant -end to their quarrel, and they all fly after her as if mad. The female -shows the natural reserve of her sex, without which, even among larks, -every female would probably fail to find a male [this is a little too -flattering for larks, and even for men]. When the latter,” continues -Audubon, “flies towards her, sighing forth his sweetest notes, she -retreats before her ardent admirer in such a way that he knows not -whether he is repulsed or encouraged.”[5] - -In this little picture the author has noted all the striking traits of -the love of birds--the courage and jealousy of the male, his efforts -to charm the female by his beauty and the sweetness of his song, and -finally, the coquetry of the female, who retreats, and thus throws oil -on the fire. The combats of the amorous males among many species of -birds have been observed and described minutely. “The large blue male -herons,” says Audubon, “attack each other brutally, without courtesy; -they make passes with their long beaks and parry them like fencing -masters, often for half-an-hour at a time, after which the vanquished -one remains on the ground, wounded or killed.”[6] - -The male Canadian geese engage in combats which last more than -half-an-hour; the vanquished sometimes return to the charge, and the -fight always takes place in an enclosed field, in the middle of a -circle formed by the band or clan of which the rivals form part. - -But it is especially among the gallinaceæ that love inspires the -males with warlike fury. In this order of birds nearly all the males -are of bellicose temperament. Our barn-door cock is the type of the -gallinaceæ--vain, amorous, and courageous. Black cocks are also always -ready for a fight, and their females quietly look on at their combats, -and afterwards reward the conqueror. We may observe analogous facts, -only somewhat masked, in savage, and even in civilised humanity. The -conduct of certain females of the _Tetras urogallus_ is still more -human. According to Kowalewsky, they take advantage of a moment when -the attention of the old cocks is entirely absorbed by the anxiety of -the combat, to run off with a younger male.[7] - -If we may believe certain authors, these amorous duels must not always -be taken seriously. They are often nothing more than parades, tourneys, -or courteous jousts, merely giving the males an opportunity of showing -their beauty, address, or strength. This is the case, according to -Blyth, with the _Tetras umbellus_.[8] In the same way, the grouse of -Florida (_Tetras cuspido_) are said to assemble at night to fight until -the morning with measured grace, and then to separate, having first -exchanged formal courtesies.[9] - -But among animals, as well as men, love has more than one string to -his bow. It is especially so with birds, who are the most amorous of -vertebrates. They use several æsthetic means of attracting the female, -such as beauty of plumage and the art of showing it, and also sweetness -of song. Strength seems often to be quite set aside, and the eye and -ear are alone appealed to by the love-stricken males. - -Every one has seen our pigeons and doves courteously salute their -mates. Many male birds execute dances and courting parades before -their females. Thus, for example, do the _Tetras phasaniellus_ of -North America, herons (_Cathartes jota_), vultures, etc. The male of -the red-wing struts about before his female, sweeping the ground with -his tail and acting the dandy.[10] The crested duck raises his head -gracefully, straightens his silky aigrette, or bows to his female, -while his throat swells and he utters a sort of gutteral sound.[11] -The male chaffinch places himself in front of the female, that she may -admire at her ease his red throat and blue head.[12] - -All this æsthetic display is quite intentional and premeditated; -for while many pheasants and gallinaceous birds parade before their -females, two pheasants of dull colour, the _Crossoptilon auritum_ and -the _Phasianus Wallichii_, refrain from doing so,[13] being apparently -conscious of their modest livery. - -Birds often assemble in large numbers to compete in beauty before -pairing. The _Tetras cuspido_ of Florida and the little grouse of -Germany and Scandinavia do this. The latter have daily amorous -assemblies, or _cours d’amour_, of great length, which are renewed -every year in the month of May.[14] - -Certain birds are not content with their natural ornaments, however -brilliant these may be, but give the rein to their æsthetic desire -in a way that may be called human. Mr. Gould assures us that some -species of humming-birds decorate the exterior of their nests with -exquisite taste, making use of lichens, feathers, etc. The bower-birds -of Australia (_Chlamydera maculata_, etc.) construct bowers on the -ground, ornamented with feathers, shells, bones, and leaves. These -bowers are intended to shelter the courting parades, and both males -and females join in building them, though the former are more zealous -in the work.[15] But in this erotic architecture the palm is carried -off by a bird of New Guinea, the _Amblyornis inornata_, made known to -us by M. O. Beccari.[16] This bird of rare beauty, for it is a bird of -Paradise, constructs a little conical hut to protect his amours, and -in front of this he arranges a lawn, carpeted with moss, the greenness -of which he relieves by scattering on it various bright-coloured -objects, such as berries, grains, flowers, pebbles, and shells. More -than this, when the flowers are faded, he takes great care to replace -them by fresh ones, so that the eye may be always agreeably flattered. -These curious constructions are solid, lasting for several years, and -probably serving for several birds. What we know of sexual unions among -the lower human races suffices to show how much these birds excel men -in sexual delicacy. - -Every one is aware that the melodious voice of many male birds -furnishes them with a powerful means of seduction. Every spring our -nightingales figure in true lyric tournaments. Magpies, who are -ill-endowed from a musical point of view, endeavour to make up for this -organic imperfection by rapping on a dry and sonorous branch, not -only to call the female, but also to charm her; we may say, in fact, -that they perform instrumental music. Another bird, the male of the -weaver-bird, builds an abode of pleasure for himself, where he goes to -sing to his companion.[17] - -Audubon has made one observation in regard to Canadian geese which -is in every point applicable to the human species. The older the -birds are, he says, the more they abridge the preliminaries of their -amours. Their poetic and æsthetic sense has become blunted, and they go -straight to their object. - -Wherever amongst the animal species supremacy in love is obtained -by force, the male, nearly always the more ardent, has necessarily -become, through the action of selection, larger, stronger, and better -armed than the female. Such is in reality the case in regard to the -greater number of vertebrates; certain exceptions, however, exist, -and naturally these are chiefly found among birds, as they are more -inclined than other types to put a certain delicacy in their sexual -unions. With many species of birds, indeed, the female is larger and -stronger than the male. It is well known to be the same with certain -articulates, and these facts authorise us to admit that there is no -necessary correlation between relative weakness and the female sex. -Must we therefore conclude, with Darwin, that the females of certain -birds owe their excess of size and height to the fact that they have -formerly contested also for the possession of the males? We may be -allowed to doubt it. Almost universally, whether she is large or -small, the female is less ardent than the male, and in the amorous -tragi-comedy she generally plays, from beginning to end, a passive -_rôle_; in the animal kingdom, as well as with mankind, amazons are -rare. - -Among birds and vertebrates generally the male is much more impetuous -than the female, and therefore he has no difficulty in accepting for -the moment any companion whatever.[18] This uncontrollable ardour -sometimes even urges the males to commit actual attempts on the safety -of the family. Thus it happens that the male canary (_Fringilla_ -_canaria_) persecutes his female while she is sitting, tears her nest, -throws out the eggs, and, in short, tries to excite his mate to become -again a lover, forgetting that she is a mother. In the same way our -domestic cock pursues the sitting hen when she leaves her eggs in order -to feed.[19] - -With the cousins-german of man, the mammals, sexual psychology has a -general resemblance to that of birds, but more often it is far less -delicate. And besides this, the sexual customs are naturally less -refined in proportion as the nervous centres of the species are less -perfected. Thus the stupid tatoways meet by chance, smell each other, -copulate and separate with the greatest indifference. Our domestic dog -himself, although so civilised and affectionate, is generally as gross -in his amours as the tatoway. - -With birds, as we have seen, the law of battle plays an important -part in sexual selection; but it is often counter-balanced by other -less brutal influences. This is rarely the case in regard to mammals, -with whom especially the right of the strongest regulates the unions. -The law of battle prevails among aquatic as well as land mammals. The -combats of the male stags, in the rutting season, are celebrated. The -combatants have been known to succumb without being able to disentangle -their interlocked antlers; but seals and male sperm-whales fight with -equal fury, and so also do the males of the Greenland whale.[20] - -In mammals, as in birds, and as in man, sexual desire raises and -intensifies all the faculties, and seems to elevate the individual -above the level of normal life. Animals in a state of rut become -bolder, more ferocious, and more dangerous. The elephant, pacific -enough by nature, assumes a terrible fury in the rutting season. The -Sanskrit poems constantly recur to the simile of the elephant in rut to -express the highest degree of strength, nobility, grandeur, and even -beauty. - -But obviously I must not linger very long over the loves of the -animals. My chief object is to study sexual union and marriage -amongst human beings. The rut of animals and their sexual passions -merely interest us here as preliminary studies, which throw light on -the origin of analogous sentiments in mankind. Before leaving this -subject, however, it will be useful to note a few more facts which, -from the point of view of sexual psychology, bring animals and men near -to each other. - -The old Cartesian paradox, which makes the animal an unconscious -machine, has still many partisans. A widely-prevailing prejudice -insists that animals always obey blind instincts, while man alone, -_homo sapiens_, made after the image of God, weighs motives, -deliberates and chooses. Now, as procreation constitutes one of the -great necessities of organised beings, and is an imperious law which no -species can elude without disappearing, surely we ought to find amongst -animals the most exact regularity in the acts connected with it. Man -alone ought to have the privilege of introducing caprice and free -choice into love. It is not so, however. On this side of his nature, -as on all the others, man and animal approach, resemble, and copy each -other. In his celebrated invocation to Venus, Lucretius has truly said, -proclaiming the universal empire of the instinct of reproduction-- - - “Per te quoniam genus omne animantum - Concipitur, visitque exortum lumine solis.” - -The animal, as well as the morally developed man, is capable of -preference and individual passion; he does not yield blindly and -passively to sexual love. - -According to observers and breeders, it is the female who is specially -susceptible of sentimental selection. The male, even the male of birds, -is more ardent than the female, that is to say, more intoxicated and -more sharply pricked by instinct, and thus generally accepts any -female whatever: all are alike to him. This is the rule, but it is not -without exceptions; thus, the male pheasant shows a singular aversion -to certain hens. Amongst the long-tailed ducks some females have -evidently a particular charm for the males, and are courted more than -the others.[21] The pigeon of the dovecot shows a strong aversion to -the species modified by breeders, which he regards as deteriorated.[22] -Stallions are often capricious. It was necessary, for example, to -use stratagem in order to induce the famous stallion Monarch to beget -Gladiateur, who became still more famous.[23] Analogous facts have been -observed in regard to bulls.[24] - -But it is more especially the females who introduce individual fancy -into sexual love. They are subject to singular and inexplicable -aversions. Mares sometimes resist, and it is necessary to deceive -them.[25] Female pigeons occasionally show a strong dislike to certain -males without apparent cause, and refuse to yield to their caresses. At -other times a female pigeon, suddenly forgetting the constancy of her -species, abandons her old mate or legitimate spouse to fall violently -in love with another male. In the same way peahens sometimes show a -lively attachment to a particular peacock.[26] High-bred bitches, led -astray by passion, trample under foot their dignity, honour, and all -care for nobility of blood, to yield themselves to pug-dogs of low -breed or mongrel males. We are told of some who have persisted for -entire weeks in these degrading passions, repulsing between times the -most distinguished of their own race.[27] - -Even among species noted for their fidelity it sometimes happens -that acts of sexual looseness are committed. The female pigeon often -abandons her mate if the latter is wounded or becomes weak.[28] -Misfortune is not attractive, and love does not always inspire heroism. - -In concluding this short study of sexual union in the animal kingdom, I -will attempt to formulate the general propositions which may be drawn -from it. - -All organic species undergo the tyranny of the procreative function, -which is a guarantee of the duration of the type. - -The phenomenon of reproduction, when detached from all the complicated -accessories which often conceal it in bi-sexual species, goes back -essentially to the conjugation of two cellules. - -With intelligent animals the procreative function echoes in the nervous -centres under the form of violent desires, which intensify all the -psychic and physical faculties in awakening what we call love. - -At its base, the love of animals does not differ from that of man. -Doubtless it is never such a quintessence as the love of Petrarch, -but it is often more delicate than that of inferior races, and of -ill-conditioned individuals, who, though belonging to the human race, -seek for nothing in love but, to use an energetic expression of Amyot’s -Plutarch, to “get drunk.” - -But among many of the animal species the sexual union induces a durable -association, having for its object the rearing of young. In nobility, -delicacy, and devotion these unions do not yield precedence to many -human unions. They deserve attentive study. - -I have now, therefore, to consider marriage and the family amongst the -animals. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] _Anthropogenia_, p. 577. - -[2] Darwin, _Descent of Man_, p. 384. - -[3] Darwin, _Descent of Man_, p. 365. - -[4] Bartram, _Travels through Carolina_, p. 128 (1791). - -[5] Audubon, _Scènes de la Nature dans les États-Unis_, vol. i. p. 383. - -[6] _Ibid._ vol. ii. p. 66. - -[7] Darwin, _Descent of Man_, p. 399. - -[8] _Ibid._ p. 403. - -[9] Espinas, _Sociétés Animales_, p. 326. - -[10] Audubon, _loc. cit._, vol. i. p. 305. - -[11] _Ibid._ vol. ii. p. 50. - -[12] Darwin, _Descent of Man_, p. 438. - -[13] _Ibid._ p. 438. - -[14] Darwin, _Descent of Man_, p. 433.--Espinas, _Soc. Animales_, p. -326. - -[15] _Ibid._ pp. 418, 453. - -[16] _Annali del Museo civico di storia naturale di Genova_, t. ix. -fase 3-4, 1877. - -[17] Espinas, _loc. cit._, pp. 299, 438. - -[18] Darwin, _Descent of Man_, p. 460. - -[19] Houzeau, _Facultés mentales des animaux_, t. I^{er.} p. 292. - -[20] Darwin, _Descent of Man_, pp. 550, 556. - -[21] Darwin, _Descent of Man_, pp. 460, 461. - -[22] _Ibid._ p. 457. - -[23] Darwin, _Descent of Man_, p. 575. - -[24] _Ibid._ p. 576. - -[25] _Ibid._ p. 576. - -[26] _Ibid._ pp. 458, 459. - -[27] _Ibid._ p. 574. - -[28] _Ibid._ p. 234. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY AMONGST ANIMALS. - - I. _The preservation of species._--Two great processes of - preservation--Different _rôles_ of the male and the female in the - animal family. - - II. _Marriage and the rearing of the young among - animals._--Abandonment of the young in the inferior species--The - superior molluscs guard their eggs--Solicitude of spiders for - their eggs and their young--Instinctive foresight of insects--Its - origin--Larvæ are ancestral forms--The familial instinct amongst - birds--Frequency of monogamy amongst birds. - - III. _The family amongst animals._--Intoxication of egg-laying with - birds--Absence of paternal love in certain birds--The familial - instinct very developed in certain species--Transient nature of - their love for the young--Promiscuity, polygamy, and monogamy among - mammals--Hordes of sociable animals--Polygamous monkeys--Monogamous - monkeys--General observations. - - -I. _The Preservation of Species._ - -Two great processes are employed in the animal kingdom to assure -the preservation of the species: either the parents do not concern -themselves at all with their progeny, in which case the females give -birth to an enormous number of young; or, on the other hand, they are -full of solicitude for their offspring, cherishing and protecting -them against the numerous dangers that menace them; and, in this last -case, the young are few in number. Nature (since the expression is -consecrated) proceeds sometimes by a lavish and lawless production, -and sometimes by a sort of Malthusianism. Thus a cod lays every year -about a million eggs, on which she bestows no care, and of which -only the thousandth, or perhaps even the hundred thousandth part, -escapes destruction; turtle-doves, on the contrary, only lay two eggs, -but nearly all their young attain maturity. In short, the species -is maintained sometimes by prodigality of births and sometimes by a -great expenditure of care and affection on the part of the parents, -especially of the female. It is almost superfluous to remark that -analogous facts are observed in human natality, according as it is -savage or civilised. - -With animals, as with men, sexual association, when it endures, becomes -marriage, and results in the family, that is to say, a union of parents -for the purpose of protecting their young. The care of the male for his -progeny is more rare and tardy than that of the female. Among animals, -as among men, the family is at first matriarchal, and it is only in -the higher stages of the animal kingdom that the male becomes a truly -constituent part of the family group; but even then, except among -certain species of birds, his chief care is less to rear the young than -to govern in order to protect them. He plays the _rôle_ of a despotic -chief, guiding the family when it remains undivided after the rearing -of the young, and most frequently acting like a polygamous sultan, -without the purely human scruple in regard to incest. - -Just as we find amongst animals the two principal types of the human -family, the matriarchate and the patriarchate, or rather the maternal -and paternal family, so we may observe equally among them all the forms -of sexual union from promiscuity up to monogamy; but for enlightenment -on these interesting points of sociology, a rapid examination of the -animal kingdom is worth far more than all generalities. - - -II. _Marriage and the Rearing of Young amongst Animals._ - -We shall leave entirely unnoticed the inferior kingdom of zoophytes, -which are devoid of coalescing nervous centres, and consequently of -conscious life. Even the lower types of molluscs do not begin to think -of their progeny; they scatter their eggs as plants do their seeds, -and leave them exposed to all chances. We must go to the superior -molluscs to see any care of offspring awakening. In this order, indeed, -the most highly developed species watch more or less over their eggs. -The taredos carry them stuck together in rings round their bodies; -snails often deposit them in damp ground, or in the trunk of a tree; -cephalopods fix them in clusters round algæ, and sometimes watch them -till they open, after which they leave them to get on as they can in -the great world. - -With spiders and insects the eggs are often the object of a solicitude -and even prolonged forethought, which rejoice greatly the lovers of -design. We must observe, however, that the males of spiders and that of -the greater number of insects entirely neglect their young; it is again -in the female that the care for offspring first awakens. And this is -natural, for the eggs have been formed in her body; she has laid them, -and has been conscious of them; they form, in a way, an integral part -of her individuality. - -The females of spiders also take care of their eggs after laying them, -enclose them in a ball of thread arranged in cocoons, carry them about -with them, and at the moment of hatching set them free, one by one, -from the envelope. Amongst some species there is even a certain rearing -of the young. Thus the _Nemesia Eleonora_ lives for some time in her -trapped nest with her young, numbering from twenty to forty.[29] - -With insects maternal forethought sometimes amounts to a sort of -divining prescience, which the doctrine of evolution alone can explain. -There is really something wonderful in the actions of a female insect, -as she prepares for her descendants, whom she will never see any more -than she has seen her own parents, a special nourishment which differs -from her own. It is thus that the sphinx, the pompilus, the sand-wasp, -and the philanthus dig holes in the sand, in which they deposit with -the eggs a suitable food for the future larvæ.[30] - -In order to understand these facts, apparently so inexplicable, we -must look not only to the powerful influence of selection, but also -to the zoögenic past of the species. With the insect the perfect form -is always the last which it assumes, the outcome of all the previous -metamorphoses. But the larval form, though actually transitory, must -have been for a long time the permanent form, and it had different -tastes and needs. At the present time there are still numbers of -insects whose larval existence has a much longer duration than that of -the so-called perfect insect (May-flies, cockchafers). There are even -larvæ which reproduce themselves. Certain others, even though sterile, -have not lost the maternal instinct. Thus at the time of the hatching -of the nymphs the larvæ of the termites assist the latter to get rid of -their envelope. It is therefore probable that, though now transitory, -the larval forms of insects have formerly been permanent; they -represent ancestral types, which evolution has by degrees metamorphosed -into insects that we call perfect. The larvæ, now actually sterile, -descend from ancestors which were not so, and in the larvæ of -certain species the maternal instinct has survived the reproductive -function.[31] - -This is doubtless the case with bees and ants; their workers must -represent an ancestral form, having preserved the maternal fervour -of its anterior state; the winged form, on the contrary, must be -relatively recent. It even appears probable that in the republics of -ants and bees the laborious workers may have succeeded, in a certain -way, in getting rid of sexual needs which cause animals and even men -to commit so many mad actions. With them the old maternal instinct has -taken the place ceded to it by sexual instinct, and has become enlarged -and ennobled. Their affection is no longer exclusively confined to a -few individuals produced from their own bowels, but is shared by all -the young of the association. In their sub-œsophagian ganglion one care -takes precedence of all others--the care of rearing the young. This is -their constant occupation and the great duty to which they sacrifice -their lives. Maternal love, usually so selfish, expands with them into -an all-embracing social affection. It is not impossible that a psychic -metamorphosis of the same kind may one day take place in future human -societies. - -It would even seem that the workers appreciate the faculty of -reproduction all the more for being deprived of it. The queen bee, or -rather the fertile female, who is the common mother of all the tribe, -has every possible care lavished on her, and is publicly mourned when -she dies. If she happens to perish before having young, and then cannot -be replaced, the virgin workers despair of the republic; losing for -ever “les longs espoirs et les vastes pensées,” they give way to an -incurable and mortal pessimism. - -One primitive form of the family, the matriarchate, which we shall -study later, is realised, even in an exaggerated form, by ants and -bees. In human societies we shall only find very faint imitations of -this system, which has been so strictly carried out by the primates of -the invertebrates, and which seems to have inspired the ancients with -their fables about the amazons. - -The vertebrated species, with the exception of mankind, have founded -no society that can be even distantly compared to that of hymenoptera -and of ants. With nearly all fishes and amphibia the parents are very -poorly developed as regards consciousness, and take no care of their -eggs after fecundation. Some species of fishes are, however, endowed -with a certain familial instinct, and strange to say, here it is the -male who tends his offspring. So true is it, that the imaginary being -called Nature has no preference for any special methods, and that in -her eyes all processes are good on the one condition that they succeed! -Thus the Chinese _Macropus_ gathers the fecundated eggs into his -jaws, deposits them in the midst of the froth and mucous exuding from -his mouth, and watches over the young when they are hatched.[32] The -male of synagnathous fishes and the sea-horses carry their eggs in an -incubating pouch; the _Chromis paterfamilias_, of the lake of Tiberias, -protects and nourishes in his mouth and bronchial cavity hundreds of -small fishes.[33] - -Other fishes also have more or less care for their young. Salmon and -trout deposit their eggs in a depression which they have hollowed out -in the sand for the purpose. Fishes, belonging to various families, -construct nests and watch over the young when hatched (_Cranilabrus -massa_, _Cranilabrus melops_). Often again it is the male who -undertakes all the work. Thus the male of the _Gasterosteus leiurus_ is -incessantly occupied in fetching the young ones home, and driving away -all enemies, including the mother.[34] The male stickleback, who is -polygamous, builds a nest and watches with solicitude over the safety -and rearing of the young.[35] - -Many reptiles are unnatural parents; some, however, already possess -some degree of familial instinct. Thus several males of the batrachians -assist the female to eject her eggs. The male accoucheur toad rolls the -eggs round his feet, and carefully carries them thus. The Surinam toad, -the _Pipa Americana_, after having aided the female in the operation of -laying the eggs, places them on the back of his companion, in little -cutaneous cavities formed for their reception.[36] - -The _Cobra capella_ bravely defends its eggs. The saurians often live -in couples, and the females of crocodiles escort their new-born little -ones. Female tortoises go so far as to shelter their young in a sort of -nest.[37] - -But it is especially among birds and mammals that we find forms -of union or association very similar to marriage and the family -in the human species. Nothing is more natural; for anatomical and -physiological analogy must of necessity lead in its train the analogy -of sociology. There is no more uniformity either amongst mammals than -amongst men; the needs, the habitat, and the necessities of existence -dominate everything, and in order to secure adjustment to these, -recourse is had to various processes. - -Like men, birds live sometimes in promiscuity, and sometimes in -monogamy or polygamy; the familial instinct is also very unequally -developed among them. Sometimes even we find their conjugal customs -modified by the kind of life they lead. Thus the wild duck, which is -strictly monogamous in a wild state, becomes very polygamous when -domesticated, and it is the same with the guinea fowl. Civilisation -depraves these birds, as it does some men. As may be supposed, it is -generally the animals living in troops who are degraded most easily by -habitual promiscuity. But this is not always the case; the character -of the animal, his mode of life, and the degree of morality previously -acquired, determine his manner of acting. It is probable also that -certain animals, living in troops during the breeding season, have -formerly been less sociable than at present, for they leave the troop -and retire apart in couples as soon as they have paired. Social life is -burdensome to them. - -It is especially interesting to study the various modes of conjugal -and familial association amongst birds. This may easily be inferred -from the ardour, the variety, and the delicacy they bring to their -amours; the moral level among them, to borrow a human expression, is -very diverse, according to the species. There are some birds absolutely -fickle and even debauched--as, for example, the little American -starling (_Icterus pecoris_), which changes its female from day to day; -that is to say, it is in the lowest stage of sexual union, a debauched -promiscuity, which we only exceptionally find in some hardly civilised -human societies.[38] The starling, nevertheless, is not ferocious, like -the asturides, to whom, according to Brehm, love seems unknown, and -amongst whom the female devours her male, the father and the mother -feast on their own young, and the latter, when full grown, willingly -eat their parents. These ferocious habits denote a very feeble moral -development. But if we may believe a French missionary, Mgr. Farand, -bishop of the Mackenzie territory, similar customs still prevail among -the Redskins of the extreme north.[39] We shall not, therefore, be too -much scandalised at the birds. These cases of moral grossness are, -besides, rare enough with them. - -Other species, while they have renounced promiscuity, are still -determined polygamists. The gallinaceæ are particularly addicted to -this form of conjugal union, which is so common, in fact, with mankind, -even when highly civilised and boasting of their practice of monogamy. -Our barn-door cock, vain and sensual, courageous and jealous, is a -perfect type of the polygamous bird. But the polygamous habits of the -gallinaceæ do not prevent them from experiencing very strong sexual -passion. When seized by this frenzy of desire, some of them appear to -be senseless of all danger. The firing of a gun, for example, does not -alarm a male grouse when swinging his head and whistling to charm his -female;[40] but this ardour does not hinder him from being a fickle -animal, always in search of new adventures, and always seeking fresh -mates.[41] - -These examples of wandering fancy are for the most part rare among -birds, the majority of whom are monogamous, and even far superior to -most men in the matter of conjugal fidelity. - -Nearly all the rapacious animals, even the stupid vultures, are -monogamous. The conjugal union of the bald-headed eagle appears even to -last till the death of one of the partners. This is indeed monogamic -and indissoluble marriage, though without legal constraint.[42] -Golden eagles live in couples, and remain attached to each other for -years without even changing their domicile.[43] But these instances, -honourable as they are, have nothing exceptional in them; strong -conjugal attachment is a sentiment common to many birds. - -With the female Illinois parrot (_Psittacus pertinax_) widowhood and -death are synonymous, a circumstance rare enough in the human species, -yet of which birds give us more than one example. When, after some -years of conjugal life, a wheatear happens to die, his companion -hardly survives him a month. The male and female of the _panurus_ -are always perched side by side. When they fall asleep, one of them, -generally the male, tenderly spreads its wing over the other. The -death of one, says Brehm, is fatal to its companion. The couples of -golden wood-peckers, of doves, etc., live in a perfect union, and -in case of widowhood experience a violent and lasting grief. The -male of a climbing wood-pecker, having seen his mate die, tapped day -and night with his beak to recall the absent one; then at length, -discouraged and hopeless, he became silent, but never recovered his -gaiety (Brehm). These examples of a fidelity that stands every test, -and of the religion of memory, although much more frequent in the -unions of birds than in those of human beings, are not, however, the -unfailing rule. With birds, as with men, there seems to be a good -number of irregular cases--individuals of imperfect moral development -and of fickle disposition. This may be inferred from the facility with -which, among certain species of monogamous birds, the dead partner is -replaced. Jenner, who introduced vaccination, relates that in Wiltshire -he has seen one of a couple of magpies killed seven days in succession, -and seven times over immediately replaced. Analogous facts have been -observed of jays, falcons, and starlings. Now, when it concerns animals -that are paired, each substitution must correspond to a desertion, the -more so as the observations were made in the same locality and in the -height of the breeding season.[44] - -Very peculiar fancies sometimes arise in the brains of certain birds. -Thus we see birds of distinct species pairing, and this even in a wild -state. These illegitimate unions have been observed between geese and -barnacle geese, and between black grouse and pheasants. - -Darwin relates a case of this kind of passion suddenly appearing in -a wild duck. The fact is related by Mr. Hewitt as follows:--“After -breeding a couple of seasons with her own mallard, she at once shook -him off on my placing a male pintail in the water. It was evidently -a case of love at first sight, for she swam about the new-comer -caressingly, though he appeared evidently alarmed and averse to her -overtures of affection. From that hour she forgot her old partner. -Winter passed by, and the next spring the pintail seemed to have -become a convert to her blandishments, for they nested and produced -seven or eight young ones.”[45] It is difficult not to attribute -such deviations as these to motives similar to those by which we are -ourselves actuated--to passion, caprice, or depravity. They certainly -cannot be accounted for by the theory of mechanical and immutable -instinct. Such facts clearly prove that animal psychology, although -less complicated than our own, does not differ essentially from it, -and consequently throws much light on our present investigation. The -adventure of the wild duck, for example, may, without any alteration, -be read as a human adventure, proving for the hundred-thousandth -time that the heart, or what we call by that name, is versatile; that -conjugal fidelity does not always resist a strong impression arising -from a chance encounter; that novelty has a disturbing effect; and, -finally, that indifference and coldness can rarely hold out against -the persistent advances of one who loves ardently enough not to yield -to discouragement. Dante has already made this last reflection in his -celebrated line-- - - “Amor ch’a nullo amato amar perdona.” - -To quote Dante _à propos_ of the illicit amours of a pintail and a wild -duck may shock the learned, but the aptness of the quotation proves -once more the essential identity of the animal and human organisms. - - -III. _The Family amongst Animals._ - -If the study of the modes of sexual union amongst animals is not -useless to the sociologist, that of the animal family is at least -quite as interesting. This latter confirms the inductions of theorists -relative to the primitive form of the human family. The animal family -is especially maternal. The female of birds, immediately she has laid -her eggs, experiences a sort of intoxication; to sit becomes for her -an imperious need, which completely transforms her moral nature. In -January 1871, during the bombardment of Paris, a German shell, bursting -in the loft of a house inhabited by one of my friends, was powerless -to disturb a female pigeon absolutely enchained by the passion of -incubation. - -It is amongst birds that the animal family is best constituted; this, -however, differs much according to the species, especially as regards -the participation of the male in the rearing of the young. - -Amongst ducks, the male has no care for his progeny. The male eider -resembles the duck in this respect (Audubon). Male turkeys do much -worse: they often devour the eggs of their females, and thus oblige the -latter to hide them.[46] Female turkeys join each other with their -young ones for greater security, and thus form troops of from sixty to -eighty individuals, led by the mothers, and carefully avoiding the old -males, who rush on the young ones and kill them by violent blows on the -head with their beaks.[47] - -Among certain species of gallinaceæ the male leaves to the female the -care of incubation and of rearing the young. During this time he is -running after adventures, but returns when the young are old enough -to follow him and form a docile band under his government.[48] It -is important to notice that, amongst birds, the fathers devoid of -affection generally belong to the less intelligent species, and are -most often polygamous. It seems, therefore, that polygamy is not very -favourable to the development of paternal love.[49] - -But bad fathers are rare amongst birds. Often, on the contrary, the -male rivals the female in love for the young; he guards and feeds her -during incubation, and sometimes even sits on the eggs with her. The -carrier pigeon feeds his female while she is sitting;[50] the Canadian -goose[51] and the crow do the same; more than that, the latter takes -his companion’s place at times, to give her some relaxation. The blue -marten behaves in the same manner.[52] Among many species, male and -female combine their efforts without distinction of sex; they sit in -turn, and the one who is free takes the duty of feeding the one who is -occupied. This is the custom of the black-coated gull,[53] the booby -of Bassan,[54] the great blue heron,[55] and of the black vulture.[56] -According to Audubon, the blue bird of America works so ardently at the -propagation of its species that a single brood does not satisfy him; -each couple, therefore, exerts itself zealously, rearing two or three -broods at the same time, the female sitting on one, while the male -feeds the little ones of the preceding brood.[57] - -But however violent the love of birds for their progeny may be, it -lasts only a short time, and is suddenly extinguished when the young -can manage for themselves. It is then quite surprising to see the -parents drive away by strokes of the beak the little ones they had been -nursing with such devoted tenderness a few days before. The birds of -several species, however, teach their young to fly before separating -from them. The white-headed sea-eagle carries them on its back to give -them lessons in flying; grebes, swans, and eiders teach their young to -swim, etc. But the family is only of short duration among birds and -animals generally, unless, as is the case with some gallinaceæ, the -male keeps a few of his daughters to enrich his harem. As a matter -of fact, both with birds and other animals, the paternal or maternal -sentiment hardly lasts longer than the rearing time. When once the -young are full grown, the parents no longer distinguish them from -strangers of their species, and it is thus even with monogamic species -when the conjugal tie is lifelong; the marriage alone endures, but the -family is intermittent and renewed with every brood. We may remark that -it is almost the same with certain human races of low development. But, -before speaking of man, it will be well to investigate conjugal union -and the family amongst the animals nearest to man--the mammals. - -From the point of view of duration and strength of the affections, -or that which we as men should call their morality, the mammals are -far from occupying the first rank in the animal hierarchy; many birds -are very superior to them. We find, however, great differences in -the morals, according to the species. Many mammals have stopped at -the most brutal promiscuity; males and females unite and separate -at chance meetings, without any care for the family arising in the -mind of the male. The females of mammals being always weaker than -the males, no sexual association comparable to polyandry is possible -in this class, since, even if she wished it, the female could not -succeed in collecting a seraglio of males. But as to polygamy, it is -quite different, and this is very common with mammals, especially -with the sociable kinds, living in flocks. It is even a necessity -of the struggle for existence. Sociability generally proceeds from -weakness. The species that are badly armed for fierce combats, and -that have besides some difficulty in finding food, are glad to live in -association. Union is strength. The ruminants, for example, do this. -Certain carnivorous animals, ill-furnished with teeth and claws, dogs -also, and jackals, live in troops for the same reason--that of opposing -a respectable front to the enemy. This life in common is certainly -favourable to the development of social virtues; it cannot but soften -primitive cruelty, and develop altruistic qualities; but it is little -conducive to sexual restraint and monogamy. Thus the greater number of -sociable mammals are polygamous. The ruminants live in hordes composed -of females and young, grouped around a male who protects them, but who -expels his rivals and becomes a veritable chief of a band. Very various -species compose familial societies in the same manner, and strongly -resembling each other. - -When the Indian adult elephant renounces the solitary life which strong -animals generally adopt, it is in order to found a little polygamous -society, from which he expels all the males weaker than himself.[58] - -The moufflons of Europe and of the Atlas also form little societies of -the same kind in the breeding season.[59] - -Among the walrus, says Brehm, the male, who is of very jealous -temperament, collects around him from thirty to forty females, without -counting young, making altogether a polygamous family sometimes -amounting to a hundred and twenty individuals. - -The male of the Asiatic _antilope saiga_ is inordinately polygamous; he -expels all his rivals, and forms a harem numbering sometimes a hundred -females.[60] - -The polygamic _régime_ of animals is far from extinguishing -affectionate sentiments in the females towards their husband and -master. The females of the guanaco lamas, for example, are very -faithful to their male. If the latter happens to be wounded or killed, -instead of running away, they hasten to his side, bleating and offering -themselves to the shots of the hunter in order to shield him, while, on -the contrary, if a female is killed, the male makes off with all his -troop; he only thinks of himself. - -In regard to mammals, there is no strict relation between the -degree of intellectual development and the form of sexual union. The -carnivorous animals often live in couples for the reason previously -given; but this is not an absolute rule, for the South African lion is -frequently accompanied by four or five females.[61] Bears, weasels, -whales, etc., on the contrary, generally go in couples. Sometimes -species that are very nearly allied have different conjugal customs; -thus the white-cheeked peccary lives in troops, whilst the white-ringed -peccary lives in couples.[62] - -There is the same diversity in the habits of monkeys. Some are -polygamous and others monogamous. The wanderoo (_Macacus silenus_) of -India has only one female, and is faithful to her until death.[63] The -_Cebus capucinus_, on the contrary, is polygamous.[64] - -Those cousins-german of man, the anthropoid apes, have sometimes -adopted polygamy and sometimes monogamy. Savage tells us that the -_Gorilla gina_ forms small hordes, consisting of a single adult male, -who is the despotic chief of many females and a certain number of young. - -Chimpanzees are sometimes polygamous and sometimes monogamous. The -polygamous family of monkeys is always subject to the monarchic -_régime_. The male, who is at the same time the chief, is despotic; he -exacts a passive obedience from his subordinates, and he expels the -young males as soon as they are old enough to give umbrage to him. To -sum up, he is at once the father, the protector, and the tyrant of -the band. Nevertheless, the females are affectionate to him, and the -most zealous among them prove it by assiduously picking the lice from -him, which, with monkeys, is a mark of great tenderness.[65] But the -master who has been thus flattered and cringed to sometimes comes to a -bad end. One fine day, when old age has rendered him less formidable, -when he is no longer capable of proving at every instant that right -must yield to might, the young ones, so long oppressed, rebel, and -assassinate this tyrannous father. We must here remark, that whatever -the form of sexual association among mammals, the male has always -much less affection for the young than the female. Even in monogamous -species, when the male keeps with the female, he does so more as chief -than as father. At times he is much inclined to commit infanticides and -to destroy the offspring, which, by absorbing all the attention of his -female, thwart his amours. Thus, among the large felines, the mother is -obliged to hide her young ones from the male during the first few days -after birth, to prevent his devouring them. - -I shall here conclude this very condensed study of sexual association -and the family in the animal kingdom. My object is not so much to -exhaust the subject, as to bring into relief the analogies existing -between man and the other species. The facts which have been cited -are amply sufficient for this purpose, and we may draw the following -general conclusions from them:-- - -In the first place there is no premeditated design in nature; any mode -of reproduction, of sexual association and of rearing of young that is -compatible with the duration of the species may be adopted. But in a -general manner it may be said that a sort of antagonism exists between -the multiplicity of births and the degree of protection bestowed on the -young by the parents. - -A rough outline of the family is already found in the animal kingdom; -it is sometimes patriarchal, as with sticklebacks, etc., but most often -it is matriarchal. In the latter case the female is the centre of it, -and her love for the young is infinitely stronger and more devoted than -that of the male. This is especially true of mammals, with whom the -male is generally an egoist, merely protecting the family in his own -personal interest. - -The familial instinct, more or less developed, exists in the greater -number of vertebrates, and in many invertebrates. From an early period -it must have been an object of selection, since it adds considerably to -the chances of the duration of the species. With some species (ants, -bees, termites) this instinct has expanded into a wide social love, -resulting in the production of large societies of complex structure, -in which the family, as we understand it, is unknown. I lay stress on -this fact, for it is of great importance in theoretical sociology; it -proves, in fact, that large and complicated societies, with division -of social labour, can be maintained without the institution of the -family. We are not, therefore, warranted in pretending, as is usually -done, that the family is absolutely indispensable, and that it is the -“cellule” of the social organism. Let us observe, by the way, that the -expression “social organism” is simply metaphorical, and we must beware -of taking it literally, as Herbert Spencer, with a strange naïveté, -seems to have done. Societies are agglomerations of individuals in -which a certain order is necessarily established; but it is almost -puerile to seek for, and to pretend to find in them, an actual -organisation, comparable, for example, to the anatomic and physiologic -plan of a mammal. - -Terminating this short digression, I revert to my subject by summing up -the results of our examination of sexual associations among the animals. - -In regard to marriage, as well as to the family, nature has no -preference; all means are welcome to her, provided the species profits -by them, or, at least, does not suffer too much from them. - -We find amongst animals temporary unions, at the close of which the -male ceases absolutely to care for the female; but we also find, -especially among birds, numbers of lasting unions, for which the word -marriage is not too exalted. It does not appear that polyandry--that -is, a durable society between one female and many males--has been -practised by animals. The female, nearly always weaker than the male, -could not reduce a number of them to sexual servitude, and the latter -have never been tempted to share one female systematically. On the -contrary, they are often polygamous. But it is especially amongst -mammals that polygamy is common, and it must often have had its _raison -d’être_ either in the sexual proportion of births, or in a greater -mortality of males. These are reasons I shall have to refer to later, -in speaking of human polygamy. - -But if polygamy is frequent with mammals, it is far from being the -conjugal _régime_ universally adopted; monogamy is common, and is -sometimes accompanied by so much devotion, that it would serve as an -example to human monogamists. - -It is important also to notice that, in regard to animals, the mode of -sexual association may vary without much difficulty. No species is of -necessity and always restricted to such or such a form of sexual union. -An animal belonging to a species habitually monogamous may very easily -become polygamous. In short, there does not seem to be any relation -between the degree of intelligence in a species and its conjugal -customs. - -In the following chapters it will be seen that, in great measure, these -observations do not apply exclusively to animals. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[29] Espinas, _Soc. Animales_, pp. 343, 344. - -[30] _Ibid._ pp. 344, 345. - -[31] Espinas, _Soc. Animales_, pp. 336-396. - -[32] Darwin, _Descent of Man_, p. 375. - -[33] Lortet, _Comptes rendus de l’Académie des Sciences_, 1878. - -[34] Darwin, _Descent of Man_, p. 379. - -[35] _Ibid._ p. 244. - -[36] Espinas, _Soc. Animales_, p. 415. - -[37] _Ibid._ pp. 416, 417. - -[38] Houzeau, _Fac. mentales des animaux_, t. ii. p. 380. - -[39] _Dix-huit ans chez les sauvages_, etc., p. 374. - -[40] Espinas, _Soc. anim._, p. 427. - -[41] _Ibid._ p. 421. - -[42] Audubon, _loc. cit._, vol. i. p. 83. - -[43] _Ibid._ t. I^{er.} p. 292. - -[44] Darwin, _Descent of Man_, pp. 446, 449. - -[45] _Ibid._ p. 455. - -[46] Espinas, _Soc. Animales_, p. 422. - -[47] Audubon, _Scènes de la Nature_, t. I^{er.} p. 29. - -[48] Espinas, _loc. cit._ pp. 421-423. - -[49] Audubon, _loc. cit._ t. I^{er.} p. 209. - -[50] _Ibid._ t. ii. p. 13. - -[51] _Ibid._ - -[52] _Ibid._ t. I^{er.} p. 167. - -[53] _Ibid._ t. ii. p. 199. - -[54] _Ibid._ t. ii. p. 476. - -[55] _Ibid._ t. ii. p. 70. - -[56] _Ibid._ t. I^{er.} p. 347. - -[57] Audubon, _Scènes de la Nature_, t. I^{er.} p. 317. - -[58] Darwin, _Descent of Man_, p. 238. - -[59] Espinas, _Soc. Animales_, p. 448. - -[60] Darwin, _Descent of Man_, p. 238. - -[61] Darwin, _Descent of Man_, p. 443. - -[62] Espinas, _loc. cit._ p. 443. - -[63] Houzeau, _Facultés mentales des animaux_, t. ii. p. 394. - -[64] Darwin, _Descent of Man_, p. 238. - -[65] Espinas, _loc. cit._ p. 453. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -PROMISCUITY. - - I. _Has there been a Stage of Promiscuity?_--Promiscuity rare among - the superior vertebrates--It has been exceptional in mankind. - - II. _Cases of Human Promiscuity._--Promiscuity among the Troglodytes, - the ancient Arabs, the Agathyrses, the Anses, the Garamantes, the - ancient Greeks, in the _Timæus_, in China, in India, among the - Andamanites, in California, among the aborigines of India, among the - Zaporogs, and the Ansarians--Insufficience of these proofs. - - III. _Hetaïrism._--_Jus primæ noctis_--Religious hetaïrism at Babylon, - in Armenia--Religious prostitution--Religious defloration--The _jus - primæ noctis_ with the Nasamons, in the Balearic Isles, in ancient - Peru, in Asia, etc.--The right of the chief with the Kaffirs, in New - Zealand, in New Mexico, in Cochin-China, in feudal Europe--The right - of religious prelibation--Religious defloration in Cambodia--The - reason of the right of prelibation--The _jus primæ noctis_ confounded - with the simple licence of unmarried women--Shamelessness of girls in - Australia, Polynesia, America, Malaya, Abyssinia, etc.--The _indotata_ - in primitive Rome--Loan and barter of women in America and elsewhere, - and among the ancient Arabs--Actual promiscuity has been rare in - humanity. - - -I. _Has there been a Stage of Promiscuity?_ - -Having made our preliminary investigation of love, sexual unions, -marriage, or what corresponds to it, and the family in the animal -kingdom, we are now in a position to approach the examination of -corresponding social facts in regard to man. The method of evolution -requires us to begin our inquiry with the lowest forms of sexual -association, and there is none lower, morally and intellectually, than -promiscuity; that is to say, a social condition so gross that within -a group, a horde, or a tribe, all the women belong, without rule or -distinction, to all the men. In a society so bestial there is surely -no room for what we call love, however grossly we may understand this -sentiment. There is no choice, no preference; the sexual need is -reduced to its simplest expression, and absolutely debased to the level -of the nutritive needs; love is no more than a hunger or thirst of -another kind; there is no longer any distinction between the man and -the tatoway. - -Some sociologists have affirmed, without hesitation, that community -of women represented a primitive and necessary stage of the sexual -associations of mankind. Surely they would have been less dogmatic -on this point if, before approaching human sociology, they had first -consulted animal sociology, as we have done. We have seen that many -vertebrated animals are capable of a really exclusive and jealous -passion, even when they are determined polygamists. As a matter of -fact, the vertebrates with whom love is merely a need, like any other, -seem to be a very small minority. Some among them, especially birds, -are models of fidelity, constancy, and devoted attachment, which may -well inspire man with feelings of modesty. Mammals, while less delicate -in their love than many birds, are, however, for the most part, already -on a moral level incompatible with promiscuity. The mammals nearest to -man, those whom we may consider as the effigies of our nearest animal -ancestors, the anthropoid apes, are sometimes monogamous and sometimes -polygamous, but, as a rule, they cannot endure promiscuity. Now, this -fact manifestly constitutes a very strong presumption against the -basis of the theory according to which promiscuity has been, with the -human species, the primitive and necessary stage of sexual unions. Do -we thus mean to say that there is no example of promiscuity in human -societies, primitive or not? Far from it. It would be impossible -to affirm this without neglecting a large number of facts observed -in antiquity or observable in our own day. But we are warranted in -believing that the very inferior stage of promiscuity has never been -other than exceptional in humanity. If it has existed here and there, -it is that by the very reason of the relative superiority of his -intelligence, man is less rigorously subject to general laws, and that -he knows sometimes how to modify or infringe them; there is more room -for caprice in his existence than in the life of the animals. - - -II. _Some Cases of Human Promiscuity._ - -Human groups have, then, practised promiscuity, and it is not quite -impossible that some of them practise it still. Exceptional as these -facts may be, they are interesting to sociologists, and it is important -to mention and to criticise them also. We are indebted for our -knowledge of a certain number of them to the writers of Greco-Latin -antiquity. I will give them in full, at least those that deserve or -have obtained more or less credit. - -“Throughout the Troglodyte country,” relates Strabo, “the people lead -a nomad life. Each tribe has its chief, or _tyrant_. The women and the -children are possessed in common, with the exception of the wives and -children of the chief, and whoever is guilty of adultery with one of -the wives of the chief is punished by a fine consisting of the payment -of a sheep.”[66] - -Another passage of Strabo’s, which is better known, is often quoted -as proving a primitive epoch of promiscuity among the ancient Arabs -also. This passage is curious and interesting, but it has not in the -least the extent of signification that is attributed to it. Concerning -the conjugal customs of the peoples of Arabia Felix, Strabo speaks as -follows:--“Community of goods exists between all the members of the -same family, but there is only one master, who is always the eldest -of the family. They have only one wife between them all, and he who -can forestall the others enters her apartment the first, and enjoys -her, after having taken the precaution of placing his staff across -the door (it is the custom for every man to carry a staff). She never -spends the night with any but the eldest, the chief. This promiscuity -makes them all brothers. We must add that they have commerce with -their own mothers. On the other hand, adultery, which means for them -commerce with a lover who is not of the family, is pitilessly punished -with death. The daughter of one of the kings of the country, who -was marvellously beautiful, had fifteen brothers, all desperately in -love with her, and who, for this reason, took turns in enjoying her -without intermission. Fatigued with their assiduity, she invented the -following stratagem. She procured staffs exactly similar to those of -her brothers, and when one of them left her, she quickly placed across -the door the staff similar to that of the brother who had just quitted -her, then replaced it shortly after by another, and so on, taking care -not to place there the staff like the brother’s whose visit she was -expecting. Now, one day, when all the brothers were together in the -public place, one of them went to her door, and concluded, at the sight -of the staff, that some one was with her; but, as he had left all his -brothers together, he believed in a flagrant act of adultery, hastened -to seek their father, and led him to the spot. He was, however, forced -to acknowledge in his presence that he had slandered his sister.”[67] - -Even admitting the perfect accuracy of the fact related by Strabo (and -there is nothing in it to surprise an ethnographical sociologist), the -word promiscuity is here quite inappropriate. The custom of maternal -incest, which is not without example, perhaps warrants the supposition -of ancient familial promiscuity; but in reality the Arabs of whom -Strabo speaks were simply polyandrous, and they were so precisely -in the manner of the Thibetans of the present day; they practised -fraternal polyandry--a conjugal form to which we shall presently return. - -The other examples of so-called promiscuity related by the writers of -antiquity are, unfortunately, so briefly given that it is difficult to -judge of their value. - -“The Agathyrses” (Scythians), says Herodotus, “are the most delicate -of men; their ornaments are chiefly of gold. They have their women -in common in order that they may all be brothers, and that, being so -nearly related, they may feel neither hatred nor envy against each -other.”[68] - -In another passage Herodotus says of the Massagetes (Scythians), “Each -man marries a wife, but they use them all in common.” The assertion -is grossly contradictory, and can only relate to the extremely loose -manners of the unmarried women. As a matter of fact, amongst many -savage or barbarous peoples chastity is not imposed on the women, as -long as they have no proprietors. “When one of them desires a woman,” -continues Herodotus, “he suspends his quiver in front of his chariot, -and tranquilly unites with her.”[69] - -This is merely a trait of very free manners, which may be placed by -the side of many others, proving that modesty has been slow of growth -in the human brain. The Tahitians were still more cynical than the -Massagetes. Herodotus himself speaks of black Indians (Tamils) “who -coupled as publicly as beasts” (iii. 101), and V. Jacquemont has -related that Runjeet Singh would ride with one of his wives on the -back of an elephant and take his pleasure publicly with his companion, -careless of censure (V. Jacquemont, _Corres._, 16th March 1831). It -would be very easy, by searching into ethnography, to accumulate facts -of this kind; but for the moment I have only to continue my examination -of old Greco-Roman texts relating more or less to promiscuity. I -therefore return to them. Herodotus again relates, in speaking of the -Anses, an Ethiopian tribe: “Their women are common; they do not live -with them, but couple after the manner of beasts. When a vigorous child -is born to a woman, all the men go to see it at the third month, and -he whom it most resembles acknowledges it for his.”[70] And here we -have Pliny saying also of the Garamantes: _Garamantes matrimoniorum -exsortes, passim cum feminis degunt_.[71] - -Strabo, too, affirms of the Celtic population of Ierne (Ireland), “the -men have public commerce with all kinds of women, even with their -mothers and sisters.”[72] - -The passages that I have just quoted are those which are most -frequently used to support the pretension that human societies have -begun with promiscuity; they are at once the most ancient, most -authentic, and most explicit. We may add to them the assertion of -Varro, quoted by Saint Augustine,[73] according to which the Greeks, -prior to the time of Cecrops, lived in promiscuity. But how is it -possible not to be struck with the weakness of these historical -proofs? Some of them are mere general assertions, while others plainly -relate either to social anomalies or to cases of polyandry. There is no -doubt as to this in regard to the ancient Arabs of whom Strabo speaks, -and also to the Protohellenes of Varro. This last instance certainly -relates to the matriarchal family, of which I shall have to speak again -at some length. In fact, after having stated that the Protohellenes had -no marriage, Varro adds that the children only knew their mother and -bore her name. The proof is decisive, for the matriarchate does not in -the least exclude marriage, as we shall see later, and in the case of -the Lydians it lasted until the time of Herodotus. - -In order to complete this review of ancient texts, I will mention -further the passage of the _Timæus_ in which Socrates speaks of the -community of wives:--“On the subject of the procreation of children we -established a community of wives and children; and we devised means -that no one should ever know his own child. They were to imagine that -they were of one family, and to regard those who were within a certain -limit of age as brothers and sisters; and again, those who were of an -elder generation as parents and grandparents, and those who were of a -younger generation as children and grandchildren.” - -But Plato had a lively imagination. He was a “great dreamer,” as -Voltaire said of him, and this passage evidently describes a purely -utopian society. - -Traditions relative to a very ancient epoch of promiscuity are found -here and there outside the Greco-Roman world. In China, for example, -the women are said to have been common until the reign of Fouhi.[74] A -tradition of the same kind, but more explicitly stated, is mentioned in -the Mahabharata (i. 503): “Formerly it was not a crime to be faithless -to a husband; it was even a duty.... This custom is observed in our own -days among the Kourous of the north.... The females of all classes are -common on the earth; as are the cows, so are the women; each one has -her caste.... It is Civéta-Ketou who has established a limit for the -men and women on the earth.”[75] This assertion is vague, and has not -the least proof to support it. - -If, continuing our inquiry, we attempt to correct these historical -documents by ethnographical information, we shall hardly find, on -this side of the subject more than on the other, anything but simple -assertions, which are either too vague or too brief, or evidently open -to dispute. - -In the Andaman Islands, or at least in certain of them, the women -are said to have been held in common till quite recently. Every -woman belonged to all the men of the tribe, and resistance to any of -them was a crime severely punished.[76] This time we seem to have -found, at length, a case of actual legal promiscuity. But, according -to other accounts, the Andamanite man and woman contract, on the -contrary, a monogamic and temporary union, and remain together, in -case of pregnancy and maternity, until the child is weaned, as do -many animals.[77] Now, however short a conjugal union may be, it is -incompatible with promiscuity. - -The indigenous Indians of California, who are among the lowest of -human races, couple after the manner of inferior mammals, without the -least formality, and according to the caprice of the moment.[78] They -are said even to celebrate feasts and propitiatory dances, which are -followed by a general promiscuity.[79] - -According to Major Ross King, some aboriginal tribes of India, notably -the Kouroumbas and the Iroulas, have no idea of marriage, and live -in promiscuity.[80] The only prohibitory rule consists in not having -intimate commerce with a person belonging to another class or caste; -but there seem only to be two classes in the tribe. - -Barbarous tribes belonging to white races are said also to have -practised promiscuity in modern times. Among certain tribes of the -Zaporog Cossacks the women are said to be common, and are confined -in separate camps.[81] Besides these, the Ansarians, mountaineers of -Syria, are said to practise, not promiscuity pure and simple, or civil -promiscuity, but a religious promiscuity, analogous to that of the -ancient Gnostics[82] and the Areoïs of Tahiti. These Ansarians must -doubtless have been confounded with the Yazidies, a sect of Arabs, also -Syrians, practising a sort of manichæism, and who, it is said, assemble -periodically every month, or every three months, in fraternal agapæ, at -the conclusion of which they unite in the darkness without heed as to -adultery or incest. Throughout the Syrian Orient the erotic festival of -the Yazidies is called by a significant name, _Daour-el-Cachfeh_--the -game of catching.[83] But even if the fact were true, what does it -show? Only one more aberration to the score of the phallic religions. - -Here I end my enumeration. Evidently nothing very convincing results -from it. The greater number of the facts that I have just quoted -have either been carelessly observed, or contested, or affirmed by a -single witness, or depend merely on hearsay evidence. It is prudent, -therefore, to regard them with lawful suspicion, and even if certain of -them are exact, we must be careful not to draw general conclusions from -them. Promiscuity may have been adopted by certain small human groups, -more probably by certain associations or brotherhoods. Thus the chiefs -of the Namaquoi Hottentots willingly held their wives in common. - -When we come to study the family we shall find that among the Kamilaroi -of Australia all the women of one clan are reputed to be the wives of -all the men of another. But this community is often only fictitious, -and, besides, it is already regulated; it is not promiscuity pure and -simple. So far, nothing proves sufficiently that there has been a -universal stage of promiscuity among mankind. Some theorists have been -so hasty to come to a conclusion on this point that they have gone -beyond actual experience. Moreover, as I have been careful to remark, -the simple fact that man is a mammalian primate weakens this hypothesis -in advance, since the nearest relations of man in the animal kingdom -are in general polygamous, and even sometimes monogamous. - - -III. _Hetaïrism.--Jus primæ noctis._ - -Not only is it impossible to admit that mankind has, in all times and -places, passed through a necessary stage of promiscuity, but we must -go further, and also renounce a theory which has had some degree of -success lately--the theory of obligatory primitive hetaïrism. According -to this theory, when the instinct of holding feminine property arose in -man, some individuals arrogated the right to keep for themselves one -or more of the women hitherto common. The community then protested, -and while tolerating this derogation from ancient usage, exacted that -the bride, or purchased woman, should make an act of hetaïrism, or -prostitution, before belonging to one man only. - -It is Herodotus who has transmitted to us the most striking example of -this kind, the one invoked by all the theorists of hetaïrism. I shall, -therefore, quote it at length: “The most disgraceful of the Babylonian -customs is the following. Every native woman is obliged, once in her -life, to sit in the temple of Venus and have intercourse with some -stranger. And many, disdaining to sit with the rest, being proud on -account of their wealth, come in covered carriages, and take up their -station at the temple with a numerous train of servants attending them. -But the far greater part do this: many sit down in the temple of Venus, -wearing a crown of cord round their heads; some are continually coming -and others are going out. Passages marked out in a straight line lead -in every direction through the women, along which strangers pass and -make their choice. When a woman has once seated herself, she must not -return home till some stranger has thrown a piece of silver into her -lap and lain with her outside the temple. He who throws the silver -must say thus: ‘I beseech the goddess Mylitta to favour thee;’ for the -Assyrians call Venus Mylitta. The silver may be ever so small, for she -will not reject it, inasmuch as it is not lawful for her to do so, for -such silver is accounted sacred. The woman follows the first man that -throws, and refuses no one. But when she has had intercourse, and has -absolved herself from her obligations to the goddess, she returns home; -and after that time, however great a sum you may give her, you will -not gain possession of her. Those that are endowed with beauty and -symmetry of shape are soon set free; but the deformed are detained a -long time, from inability to satisfy the law, for some wait for a space -of three or four years. In some parts of Cyprus there is a custom very -similar.”[84] - -After having read this passage, we are surprised at the import that has -been attributed to it. Even admitting the obligation and universality -of the custom in ancient Babylon, it is only an example of religious -prostitution, with traces of exogamy. The Babylonians honoured Mylitta, -just as the Armenians, according to Strabo,[85] venerated the goddess -Anaïtis. “They have erected temples to Anaïtis in various places, -especially in the Akilisenus, and have attached to these temples a good -number of hierodules, or sacred slaves, of both sexes. So far, indeed, -there is no ground for astonishment; but their devotion goes further, -and it is the custom for the most illustrious personages to consecrate -their virgin daughters to the goddess. This in no way prevents the -latter from easily finding husbands, even after they have prostituted -themselves for a long time in the temples of Anaïtis. No man feels on -this account any repugnance to take them as wives.” - -I quote in full these venerable passages, which have been so much -used and abused, in order that it may not be possible to mistake -their signification. Once more we repeat that they merely relate to -erotico-religious aberrations. The procreative need, or delirium, -has inspired men with many foolish ideas, and probably will continue -to do so. A very slight knowledge of mythology is enough to show us -that numerous cults have been founded on the sexual instinct, and -these cults are naturally accompanied by special practices, little in -accordance with our European morality. Religious prostitution, which -was widely spread in Greek antiquity, has been also found in India, -where every temple of renown had its bayadères, the only women in India -to whom, until quite recently, any instruction was given. - -The far more peculiar custom of _Tchin-than_, or religious -defloration, formerly in use in Cambodia[86] and in Malabar, is -evidently akin to religious prostitution. But this custom is nothing -else than a mystic transformation of what was called the _jus primæ -noctis_, of which I must first speak. It is important to distinguish -several varieties of it. The first and most simple was the custom by -which every newly-married woman, before belonging to her husband, was -obliged to give herself, or be given, to a certain number of men, -either relatives, friends, or fellow-citizens. This was the custom -among the Nasamons, according to Herodotus: “When a Nasamon marries, -custom requires that his bride should yield herself on the first night -to all his guests in turn; each one who has had commerce with her makes -her a present, which he has been mindful to bring with him.”[87] - -A similar custom is said to have existed in various countries of the -globe, in ancient times in the Balearic Isles, more recently among the -ancient Peruvians, in our own times among several aboriginal tribes of -India; in Burmah, in Cashmere, in the south of Arabia, in Madagascar, -and in New Zealand;[88] but always as an exceptional practice, in -use only in a small group or tribe. It is not impossible that here -and there this usage, which is rare enough, may have been derived -traditionally from an ancient marriage by classes, analogous to that -still found among the Kamilaroi of Australia; but it may have been -simply a mark of good-fellowship, or of conjugal generosity on the part -of the bridegroom. - -The seignorial _jus primæ noctis_, the right of the lord, is much -more widely spread, and its existence cannot be contested. Among the -Kaffirs, says Hamilton,[89] the chiefs have the choice of the women for -several leagues round. So also, until lately, in New Zealand, every -pretty girl was _taboo_ for the vulgar, and had to be first reserved -for the chief.[90] In New Mexico, with the Tahous, as Castañeda informs -us, it is necessary, after having purchased the girl from her parents, -to submit her to the seignorial right of the cacique, or to a priest -of high rank. Religion already begins to insinuate itself into this -singular right.[91] - -According to Marco Polo, the same custom existed in the thirteenth -century in Cochin-China. “Know,” says the old chronicler, “no woman can -marry without the king first seeing her. If she pleases him, he takes -her to wife; if she does not please him, he gives her enough from his -own property to enable her to marry. - -“In the year 1280 of Christ, when Messire Marco Polo was in that -country, the king had three hundred and eighty-six children, male and -female.”[92] - -Under the feudal system in Europe this right of prelibation, or -marquette (designated in old French by the expressive term _droit de -culage_), has been in use in many fiefs, and until a very recent epoch. -Almost in our own days certain lords of the Netherlands, of Prussia, -and of Germany, still claimed it. In a French title-deed of 1507 we -read that the Count d’Eu has the right of prelibation in the said place -when any one marries.[93] More than this, ecclesiastics, and even -bishops, have been known to claim this right in their quality of feudal -lords. “I have seen,” says Boetius, “in the court at Bourges, before -the metropolitan, an appeal by a certain parish priest, who pretended -to claim the first night of young brides, according to the received -usage. The demand was rejected with indignation, the custom unanimously -proscribed, and the scandalous priest condemned to pay a fine.” - -“In a kingdom of Malabar,” says J. Forbes, “the ecclesiastical power -took precedence of the civil on this particular point, and the -sovereign himself passed under the yoke. Like the other women, the -queen had to submit to the right of prelibation exercised by the -high priest, who had a right to the first three nights, and who was -paid fifty pieces of gold besides for his trouble.”[94] In Cambodia, -according to an ancient Chinese traveller, religious prelibation -was obligatory on all the young girls, and was performed every year -with great ceremony. The parents who had daughters to marry made a -declaration of it, and a public functionary fixed the day for the -celebration of _Tchin-than_, or the legal and religious defloration. -For this the intervention of a Buddhist priest, or a _tao-sse_ -priest, was indispensable. The parents entreated his service, which -was very costly, and for this reason girls who were poor retained -their virginity longer than the rich. It even sometimes happened that -pious persons, moved by a sentiment of charity, took on themselves -the payment of the costs of the ceremony for those who had been -waiting a long time. Great display attended it. On the appointed day -the officiating priest was carried in the evening with much pomp to -the festive house, and the next morning he was reconducted home in a -palanquin with parasol, drum, and music, and not without being offered -fresh presents. A. de Rémusat has given, in Latin, some curious -particulars of the intimate details of the ceremony, which I cannot -relate here.[95] - -These few examples suffice to show how very much morality is a relative -thing, but they cannot serve as a basis to a general theory of -hetaïrism. - -The seignorial right of prelibation is simply an abuse of force and -good pleasure; only, viewed in the light of our morality, it shocks us -more than the others. One might justify it, however, by reasons which -Bossuet considered sufficient to render slavery lawful. The right of -conquest has given, or still gives, all over the world, every sort -of right over the vanquished, even the right of life and death. The -conqueror, “in a just war,” says the sage of Meaux, may legitimately -kill the vanquished and, _a fortiori_, enslave him; and one may add, -following out a logical conclusion, that it is lawful for him to -dispose as he pleases of his wife and daughter. As a matter of course, -the priest, in his quality of lord, can claim the same privileges as -the layman; but besides this, if it should happen that his particular -religion lends itself to the idea by being founded in some manner on -the worship of the principle of procreation, as is so frequently the -case with oriental religions, a sort of superstitious prestige will -come to adorn and clothe this sacerdotal shamelessness. - -In all this there is hardly any room for hetaïrism considered as a -compensation to the community for damage to its ancient rights. - -Admitting that the _jus primæ noctis_ of relatives and friends does -not imply simple polyandry, it may very naturally be explained by -primitive laxity of morals. Among the greater number of peoples who -are very slightly or not at all civilised, the women are free to give -or sell themselves before marriage as they please, and as it does not -entail any disgrace, they use the liberty largely. Besides, in many -countries the husband had, or still has, over his wife or wives all the -rights of a proprietor over the thing possessed. Now, considering he -is a stranger to all modesty and sexual restraint, nothing seems more -natural, if he has some instinct of sociability, than to lend his wife -to his friends, just as he would do them an act of politeness, make -them a present, or invite them to a feast, all without thinking any -evil. This view of the practice is supported by many facts. - -Doubtless it is the great sexual licence accorded to young girls in so -many countries which has led many observers and travellers to conclude -that promiscuity has been systematically established. In Australia -the girls cohabit from the age of ten with young boys of fourteen or -fifteen, without rebuke from any one, and there are even great sexual -orgies in which the signal is given to the young people for liberty to -unite freely in open day.[96] - -In the greater number of savage countries these customs are common. At -Nouka-Hiva, or more generally all over Polynesia, the young girls did -not marry, that is to say, did not become the chattel of a man, before -the age of nineteen or twenty, and until then they contracted a great -number of capricious unions, which became lasting only in case of the -birth of children.[97] - -In all these islands, moreover, modesty was unknown, and the members of -each family passed the night side by side on mats, and entirely naked. -The place of honour, in the centre, was occupied by the master of the -house, flanked by his wife or wives.[98] - -Analogous customs, extremely licentious in our eyes, but perfectly -natural for primitive peoples, were in full force among all the -indigenous races of America. - -The Chinouk girls give or hire themselves out as they please. In the -latter case the parents often take the payment.[99] - -The Aymaras, who have no word for marriage, and who are such a simple -folk that, in their opinion, any crime can be committed with impunity -on Good Friday, since God is dead on that day, contract without scruple -free unions merely for the duration of the evening of a feast. The -contract is made in mimic language, and in settling it the man and -woman exchange head-gear only.[100] - -Similar manners prevail among the Esquimaux, the Kaffirs, and the Dyaks -of Borneo. In Japan the parents willingly hire out their daughters, -either to private individuals or to houses of prostitution, for a -period of several years, and the girls are in no way dishonoured -thereby. In Abyssinia, says Bruce, outside of the conjugal bond, which -is easily tied or untied, the women dispose of their person as they -please. - -In primitive Rome, as with us, the young girl without dowry, the -_indotata_, was held in moderate esteem; and therefore many young -girls procured themselves a dowry by trafficking their persons. An old -Latin proverb has handed down the souvenir of this ancient fashion of -procuring a dowry: _Tusco more, tute tibi dotem quæris corpore_.[101] - -Now, in all these customs, at once so simple and so gross, it is -impossible to see the traces of an enforced hetaïrism, derived from -an antique period of promiscuity, which was also equally obligatory. -They are simply traits of animal laxity. Men were still almost devoid -of moral training, and the care for decency and modesty was of the -slightest. - -If in a primitive country a certain amount of restraint is imposed -on a woman who is married, or rather owned by a man, it is solely -because she is considered as property, held by the same title as a -field or a domestic animal. For her to dispose of her person without -authorisation is often a capital crime; but the husband, on the -contrary, has in many countries the undisputed right to lend, let out, -or barter his wife or wives: _jus utendi et abutendi_. I will mention a -few of these marital customs. - -In America, from the land of the Esquimaux to Patagonia, the loan of -the wife is not only lawful, but praiseworthy. Egidius says of the -Esquimaux, “that those who lend their wives to their friends without -the least hesitation are reputed in the tribe as having the best and -noblest character.”[102] The English traveller, Captain Ross, relates -that one of the Esquimaux prowling around his ship was accompanied by -the wives and children of one of his intimate friends, to whom he had, -in the preceding autumn, confided, on his side, his own two wives. -The exchange was to terminate at a fixed time, and the Esquimaux of -whom Captain Ross speaks was very indignant with his friend because -the latter, having forgotten himself while chasing the deer in distant -regions, was not exact in keeping the engagement.[103] - -On this point the Redskins are not more delicate than the Esquimaux. -Thus the Natchez make no difficulty of lending their wives to their -friends.[104] In New Mexico the Yuma husbands willingly hire out their -wives and their slaves, without making any difference. And, besides, -with them, as in many other countries, to furnish a guest with a -temporary wife is simply one of the duties of hospitality.[105] The -chiefs of the Noutka Columbians barter their wives among each other as -a sign of friendship.[106] Nothing would be easier than to enumerate a -great number of facts of the same kind observed in Australia, Africa, -Polynesia, Mongolia, and almost everywhere. But it is more remarkable -to meet with the same custom in a Mussulman country. Nevertheless, -Burckhardt relates that the Merekedeh, a branch of the great tribe -of Asyr, understood hospitality in this primitive manner. To every -stranger received under their tents or in their houses, they offered -a woman of the family, and most often a wife of the host himself. -The young girls alone were exempt from this strange service. It was -considered the duty of the traveller to conform with a good grace to -the custom, otherwise he was hooted and chased from the village or -camp by the women and children. This extreme manner of understanding -hospitality was very ancient and deeply rooted, and it was not without -difficulty that the conquering Wahabites brought the Asyrs to renounce -it.[107] But these customs were not specially confined to the Asyrs; -they were in force throughout prehistoric Arabia. An old Arab writer, -Ibn al Moghawir, mentions them. “Sometimes,” he says, “the wife was -actually placed at the disposition of the guest; at other times, the -offer was only symbolic. The guests were invited to press the wife -in their arms, and to give her kisses, but the poignard would have -revenged any further liberties.”[108] It is not very long since the -same practice prevailed in Kordofan and Djebel-Taggale.[109] Certain -traits of morals related by the Greco-Latin writers show that in Rome, -and Greece also, if it was not the husband’s duty to lend his wife to -his friends, he had at least the right to do so. At Sparta, Lycurgus -authorised husbands to be thus liberal with their wives whenever they -judged their friends worthy of this honour. And, further, the public -opinion of Sparta strongly approved the conduct of an aged husband -who took care to procure for his wife a young, handsome, and virtuous -substitute.[110] - -The same customs prevailed at Athens, where Socrates, it is said, -lent his wife Xantippe to his friend Alcibiades; and at Rome,[111] -where the austere Cato the elder gave up his wife Marcia to his friend -Hortensius, and afterwards took her back, much enriched, it is true, at -the death of this friend. - -All these facts relate, therefore, to a very widely-spread and almost -universal custom, which is in perfect accord with the extremely low -position that has been granted to women in the greater number of savage -and barbarous societies. The married woman, being exactly assimilated -to a slave or a thing possessed, might thenceforth be treated as such; -and the right of property, soon becoming sacred, easily stood before -any scruples of decency which were still rare and weak. - -After the preceding investigation, there appears to be no difficulty -in refuting the sociological theory, far too prevalent, according to -which the entire human race has passed through a primitive period of -promiscuity followed by hetaïrism. Our first ancestors, the precursors -of man, were surely very analogous to the other primates. We may, -therefore, conclude that, like them, they generally lived in polygamous -families. When these almost human little groups were associated in -hordes or tribes, it is quite possible that great laxity of morals may -have prevailed amongst them, but not a legal or obligatory promiscuity. -In a society sufficiently numerous and savage it is no easy task for a -man to guard his feminine property, for the women are not by any means -averse to adventures. Their modesty is still very slight, and before -belonging specially to one man they have generally been given or sold -to many others. At that period of the social evolution public opinion -saw no harm in all this. And, besides, the husband or the proprietor of -the woman considered her absolutely as his thing, and did not scruple -to lend her to his friends, to barter her, or to hire her out. - -These primitive customs, combined with polyandrous or collective -marriage and the matriarchate, have deceived many observers, both -ancient and modern. - -When we come to scrutinise these facts, and to view them in the light -of animal sociology, we arrive at the conclusion that human promiscuity -can only have been rare and exceptional, and that the theory of -the community of wives and of obligatory hetaïrism will not bear -examination. - -The procreative need is one of the most tyrannical, and primitive -man has satisfied it as he best could, without the least delicate -refinement; but the egotism of individuals has had for its result, from -the origin of human societies, the formation of unions based on force, -and, correlatively, a right of property which fettered more or less -rigorously the liberty of the women who were thus possessed. - -These primitive unions were concluded according to the chance caprices -or needs of extremely gross societies, who cared little to submit to a -uniform conjugal type. There are some very singular ones among them, -which differ essentially from the legal forms of marriage finally and -very tardily adopted by the majority of mankind. It is these isolated -conjugal unions, extravagant and immoral in our eyes, that we now have -to consider. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[66] Herodotus, Book xvi. p. 17. - -[67] Strabo, vol. xvi. ch. iv. p. 25. - -[68] Herodotus, Book i. p. 216. - -[69] Herodotus, iv. 104. - -[70] _Ibid._ iv. 180. - -[71] Pliny, v. 8. - -[72] Strabo, iv. 4. - -[73] Varro, _Apud. August. de Civit. Dei_., xviii. 9. - -[74] Goguet, _Orig. des lois_, t. iii. p. 388. - -[75] Quoted by Giraud-Teulon, _Orig. de la Famille_, p. 66. - -[76] _Trans. Ethn. Soc._, New Series, vol. ii. p. 35. - -[77] _Ibid._ vol. v. p. 45. - -[78] Bagaert, _Smithsonian Report_, p. 368, 1863. - -[79] Bancroft, _Native Races of Pacific_, vol. i. p. 352. - -[80] Wake, _Evolution of Morality_, vol. i. p. 110. - -[81] Campenhausen, _Bemerk. über Russland_. - -[82] Volney, _Syria_, ch. iii. - -[83] Mayeux, _Les Bédouins ou Arabes du Désert_ (1816), t. I^{er.} pp. -187, 189. - -[84] Herodotus, Book i. 199. - -[85] Strabo, vol. xi. 14. - -[86] Abel de Rémusat, _Nouv. mél. Asiatiques_, p. 116. - -[87] Herodotus, iv. 172. - -[88] Giraud-Teulon, _Orig. de la Famille_, p. 69. - -[89] Darwin, _Descent of Man_, p. 651. - -[90] _Ibid._ p. 651. - -[91] Bancroft, _Native Races_, etc., vol. i. p. 584. - -[92] Marco Polo, _Edition Populaire_, p. 187. - -[93] Laurière, _Glose du droit Français_, at the word Culage ou Culiage. - -[94] James Forbes, _Oriental Memoirs_, vol. i. p. 446; vol. iv. 1813. - -[95] A. Rémusat, _Nouv. mél. Asiatiques_, t. I^{er.} p. 118. - -[96] Eyre, _Discoveries_, vol. ii. p. 320. - -[97] Porter, _Hist. Univ. des Voy_., vol. xvi. p. 323. - -[98] Cook, _First Voy_. (_Hist. Univ. des Voy._., t. v. p. 252). -Moerenhout, _Voy. aux îles du Grand Océan_, t. I^{er.} p. 263. - -[99] Bancroft, _Native Races_, etc. - -[100] Wake, _Evolution of Morality_, vol. i. p. 219. - -[101] Giraud-Teulon, _Orig. de la Famille_, p. 83. - -[102] _History of Greenland_, p. 142. - -[103] Ross, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xl. p. 158. - -[104] _Lettres Edifiantes_, t. xx. p. 116. - -[105] Bancroft, _Native Races_, etc., vol. i. p. 514. - -[106] Meares, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xiii. p. 375. - -[107] Burckhardt, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxxii. p. 380. - -[108] R. Smith, _Kinship_, etc., p. 276. - -[109] _Les Abyssiniennes et les Femmes du Soudan Oriental_, p. 97. - -[110] Plutarch, _Lycurgus_. - -[111] _Ibid._, _Cato_. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -SOME SINGULAR FORMS OF SEXUAL ASSOCIATION. - - I. _Primitive Sexual Immorality._--Origin of modesty--Absence of - modesty in the savage--Loan of wives in Melanesia and among the - Bochimans--Absence of modesty in the Esquimaux, the Redskins, and - Polynesians--Right of the husband in Polynesia--Loan or barter of - wives--Erotic training of little girls in Polynesia--Society of the - Areoïs--Man in a state of nature--Unnatural love in New Caledonia, - in the two Americas, among Asiatic peoples, and in Greco-Roman - antiquity--The _erastes_ of Crete. - - II. _Some Strange Forms of Marriage._--Coarseness of primitive - marriage--Horror of incest artificially created--Incest among - various peoples--Artificial defloration--Experimental marriages - among the Redskins, the Otomies, the Sonthals, the Tartars, and - in Ceylon--Temporary marriages among the Jews of Morocco and the - Tapyres--Free unions--Partial marriages and marriages for a term - among the Arabs--Marriage and the right of the strongest in savage - countries--Savage coarseness and civilised depravity. - - -I. _Primitive Sexual Immorality._ - -In a former work[112] I have attempted to trace the genesis of a -sentiment peculiar to humanity--the sentiment of modesty. It would be -inexpedient here to treat the subject afresh in detail, but I will -recall the conclusions arrived at by that investigation. Modesty is -_par excellence_ a human sentiment, and is totally unknown to the -animals, although the procreative need inspires them with desires and -passions essentially identical with what in man we call love; it is -therefore certainly an artificial sentiment, and comparative ethnology -proves that it must have resulted from the enforced chastity imposed -on women under the most terrible penalties. In reality, primitive -marriage hardly merits the name; it is simply the taking possession -of one or several women by one man, who holds them by the same title -as all other property, and who treats adultery, when unauthorised by -himself, strictly as robbery. This ferocious restraint has resulted, -especially in the woman, in the formation of particular mental -impressions, corresponding psychically to the sentiment of modesty, and -inducing a certain sexual reserve which has become instinctive. But -this moral inhibition is still very weak in races of low development, -and, taking the whole human species, it exists chiefly in the woman; -it is a sexual peculiarity of character, and is of relatively recent -origin. - -If we keep well in mind these preliminary considerations, we shall -not be much surprised at the forms of sexual association which we -are about to consider, although they are singularly repulsive to our -ideas of morality. We shall be still less surprised at them when we -are acquainted with the extreme licence permitted in many savage and -barbarous societies. - -There is nothing more difficult for us to realise, civilised as we -are, than the mental state of the man far behind us in cultivation as -regards what we call _par excellence_ “morality.” It is not indecency; -it is simply an animal absence of modesty. Acts which are undeniably -quite natural, since they are the expression of a primordial need, -essential to the duration of the species, but which a long ancestral -and individual education has trained us to subject to a rigorous -restraint, and to the accomplishment of which, consequently, we cannot -help attaching a certain shame, do not in the least shock the still -imperfect conscience of the primitive man. On this point facts are -eloquent and abundant; I will quote a few of them. - -In Tasmania it way thought an honour for women to prostitute themselves -to Europeans, who were ennobled in the eyes of the natives by the -prestige of their superiority.[113] The Australians, who were a little -more developed than the Tasmanians, willingly lent or hired out -their women--at least those that were their own property--to their -friends.[114] - -The women were not less bestial than their males. They often engaged, -says Peltier, in furious combats, fighting with spears, for the -possession of a man. This is a peculiar case, and is an entirely human -instance of that _law of battle_ of which I have spoken in regard to -animals. Like the females of animals also the Australian women adored -strength, and when the men of their own horde were beaten in battle -they sometimes went over to the camp of the conquerors of their own -accord (Mitchell).[115] In these facts there is nothing exceptional, -and we may change the country without changing the customs. Thus the -Bochimans treat their wives as simple domestic animals, and offer them -willingly to strangers,[116] as do also the Australians. - -In the Andaman Islands and elsewhere the women give themselves up -before marriage--that is, before becoming the property of one man--to -the most unbridled prostitution,[117] and yet the most innocent, -according to the morality of the country. - -Among the Esquimaux the laxity of sexual customs, both for men and -women, is extreme. The husbands feel no shame in selling, or rather -hiring out, their wives; and the latter, as soon as their proprietors -are gone to the chase or to fish, abandon themselves to an uncontrolled -debauch, taking care to post their children outside the hut to warn -them in case of the unexpected return of the master.[118] Sexual -morality does not yet exist among the Esquimaux, and an Aleout said -quite simply to the missionary Langsdorff, “When my people couple they -do it like the sea-otters.”[119] In fact, if the cold permitted, the -Esquimaux would not be any more clothed than the sea-otters. In their -common houses, where two or three hundred people are crowded together, -and a high degree of temperature is maintained, they throw off their -clothing without distinction of age or sex.[120] They go further -still, and, like many savages, practise what is called Socratic love -openly and without shame. Thus, among the Inoits, well-favoured boys -are brought up with care, dressed as girls, and sold at a high price -towards the age of fifteen,[121] without any harm being seen in it. - -The Redskins of the extreme north are scarcely more modest than the -Esquimaux. Carver relates that among the Nandowessics a woman was -particularly honoured because she had first entertained and then -treated as husbands the forty chief warriors of the tribe.[122] - -But it is especially in Polynesia that the naïve immodesty of primitive -peoples was displayed with the greatest indifference to the opinions of -others. - -“The principal difficulty of the missionaries in the Sandwich Isles,” -says M. de Varigny, “consisted in teaching the women chastity; they -were ignorant of the name and of the thing. Adultery, incest, and -fornication were common things, approved by public opinion, and even -consecrated by religion.”[123] - -These customs are of ancient date in Polynesia. The travellers of -last century had observed them still the same. The Tahitian women, -if they were free, openly bartered their persons, and the fathers, -mothers, brothers, and sometimes the husbands, often brought them to -the European sailors and hired them out, after a lively bargaining, for -nails, red feathers, etc.[124] - -At Noukahiva “the young girls of the island,” says Porter, “are the -wives of all those who can buy their favours, and a beautiful daughter -is considered by her parents as a means of procuring them for a time -riches and plenty. However, when they are older, they form more lasting -connections, and seem then as firmly attached to their husbands as -women of any other country.”[125] - -In the same archipelago, the surgeon Roblet says that the French -sailors were frequently offered girls of eight years; “and,” he adds, -“they were not virgins.”[126] - -“Virtue,” says Porter, “such as we understand it, was unknown among -them, and they attached no shame to acts which they regarded not only -as natural, but as an inoffensive amusement. Many parents thought -themselves honoured by the preference given to their daughters, and -showed their satisfaction by presents of pigs and fruits, which, on -their part, was an extreme of munificence.”[127] - -In Polynesia public opinion forbade married women to yield themselves -without the authorisation of their owners, and this was almost the only -strict rule of morals existing; but the husbands trafficked in their -wives without scruple. “Tawee,” says Porter, “was one of the handsomest -men of the island, and loved to adorn his person; a bit of red stuff, -some morsels of glass, or a whale’s tooth, had irresistible charms -for him, and in order to procure these objects he would offer any of -the most precious things he possessed. Thus, though his wife was of -remarkable beauty, and he was the tenderest of husbands, Tawee offered -his wife more than once for a necklace.”[128] - -To offer a woman to a visitor to whom one would do honour was, for that -matter, a simple act of courtesy in Polynesia, and the same courtesy -prescribed the immediate acceptance of the offer, _coram populo_ -(Bougainville). It was frequently his own wife that the husband thus -gave up to his guest, and the case of Porter, which I have just quoted, -had nothing exceptional in it. A similar thing happened to Captain -Beechey,[129] and to many other travellers. This conjugal liberality -was one of the customs of the country; the friend, or _tayo_, acquired -conjugal rights over the wife or wives of his friend. Between brothers -and relations the exchange of wives was frequent,[130] to such a degree -that at Toubouai, etc., Moerenhout tells us the women were nearly held -in common, and that in the Marquesas a woman had sometimes as many as -twenty lovers.[131] - -For the Polynesians the pleasures of sensual love were the chief -business of life; they neither saw evil nor practised restraint in -them. The women were trained with a view to amorous sports;[132] they -were fattened on a soup of bread fruit, and from earliest infancy -taught by their mothers to dance the _timorodie_, a very lewd dance, -accompanied by appropriate words.[133] The conversation also was in -keeping with the morals. “One thing which particularly struck me,” says -Moerenhout, “as soon as I began to understand their language, was the -extreme licence in conversation--a licence pushed to the limit of most -shameless cynicism, and which is the same even with the women; for -these people think and talk of nothing but sensual pleasure, and speak -openly of everything, having no idea of the euphemisms of our civilised -societies, where we use double meanings and veiled words, or terms -that are permitted in mentioning things which would appear revolting -and cause scandal if plainly expressed; but these islanders could not -understand this, and the missionaries have never been able to make them -do so.”[134] - -Lastly, the existence of the religious and aristocratic society of -the _Areoïs_, in Tahiti and other archipelagoes, finishes the picture -of the mental condition of the Polynesians as regards morals. Without -describing afresh this curious association, I shall only remind -my readers that it had for its object an unrestrained and public -abandonment to amorous pleasures, and that, for this reason, the -community of women and the obligation of infanticide were decreed. - -During the last century sentimentality invaded the brains of thinkers -and writers like an epidemic, and gave rise to the belief that -primitive man, or “man in a state of nature,” as the phrase went, -was the model of all virtues. But we must discount much of this. -As we might naturally expect, the uncultivated man is a mammal of -the grossest kind. We have already seen that his sexual morality is -extremely loose, and necessarily so; we are, however, surprised to find -him addicted to certain aberrations from nature which the chroniclers -of the Greco-Latin world have accustomed us to regard as the result -of a refined and depraved civilisation,--an opinion which is quite -erroneous, as comparative ethnography irrefutably proves. Nothing is -more common among primitive races than what is called Socratic love, -and on this point I will briefly quote a few facts, without pausing -longer on them than my subject requires. In the vast sociological -investigation which I am undertaking, moral bestiality must not -discourage scientific analysis any more than putrefaction arrests the -scalpel of the anatomist; it does not therefore follow that we take -delight in it. - -As a matter of fact, many human races have practised, from the first, -vices contrary to nature. The Kanaks of New Caledonia frequently -assemble at night in a cabin to give themselves up to this kind of -debauchery.[135] The New Zealanders practised it even among their -women.[136] It was also a widely-spread custom throughout Polynesia, -and even a special deity presided over it. In the whole of America, -from north to south, similar customs have existed or still exist. We -have previously seen that the Esquimaux reared young boys for this -purpose. The Southern Californians did the same, and the Spanish -missionaries, on their arrival in the country, found men dressed as -women and assuming their part. They were trained to this from youth, -and often publicly married to the chiefs.[137] Nero was evidently a -mere plagiarist. The existence of analogous customs has been proved -amongst the Guyacurus of La Plata, the natives of the Isthmus of -Darien, the tribes of Louisiana, and the ancient Illinois, etc.[138] - -The two chief forms of sexual excess of which I have been speaking, -unnatural vice and the debauchery of girls or free women, are habitual -in savage countries; and later, when civilisation and morality have -evolved, the same inveterate inclinations still persist for a long -time, in spite of public opinion and even of legal repression. - -The Incas, according to the chronicler Garcilaso, were merciless in -regard to these sexual aberrations, and the Mexican law was equally -severe, but all without much effect, if we may believe the accounts of -Garcilaso himself, Gomara, Bernal Diaz, etc. I have elsewhere related -how the ancient legislations of the great Asiatic states repressed -these base aberrations of the procreative sense, and nevertheless, -at the present day, the Arabs frequently give way to them, even in -the holy Mosque at Mecca;[139] and other Eastern peoples, Hindoos, -Persians, and Chinese, are also very imperfectly reformed on this point. - -When we remember that morality is essentially relative, and that -ancestral impressions are extremely tenacious in the human brain, -we shall not be much surprised to see these low tendencies persist -as survivals in the midst of civilisations already far advanced. -Nevertheless, the theoretic morality of all the great nations of the -East has for centuries condemned these repugnant excesses, which our -European ancestors, both Celts and Teutons, have early reproved and -repressed. It is all the more singular to find the most intelligent -race of antiquity, the ancient Greeks, practising the greatest -tolerance on this subject, so much so that the names of Socrates and -Plato, those fathers of ethereal spiritualism, are attached to amours -the mere thought of which now excites disgust in a civilised European. - -A very slight acquaintance with Greco-Roman literature furnishes -abundant information on this matter. I have no need, therefore, to -dwell on it, but I must quote a curious passage of Strabo, from -which we learn that the ancient Cretans associated with so-called -Socratic amours the ceremonial of marriage by capture, of which I -shall soon have to speak. This strange passage is as follows:--“It -is not by persuasion, but by capture, that they obtain possession -of the beloved object. Three days or more in advance the _erastes_ -apprises the friends of the young boy of his project of abduction. -It would be considered the greatest disgrace for them to conceal the -child, or prevent him from passing by the road indicated. By so doing -they would appear to confess that he did not merit the favours of -such a distinguished _erastes_. What do they do therefore? They meet -together, and if the ravisher is equal or superior in rank and all -other respects to the family of the child, they are content in their -pursuit to comply with the idea of the law, and to make a semblance of -attack only, allowing the child to be carried off, and even testifying -their satisfaction; but if, on the contrary, the ravisher should be of -greatly inferior rank, they invariably rescue the child from his hands. -In any case the pursuit comes to an end when the child has crossed the -threshold of the _andrion_ of his captor.” We may doubtless presume, -from this passage, that the ancient Cretans were no longer in the state -of bestial coarseness of the New Caledonians. With them the capture was -a symbol or comedy. It was a mark of esteem, paid less to the beauty of -the child than to his valour and propriety of manners. In fact, the boy -had the legal right to revenge himself, if he had suffered any violence -in his capture; and in restoring him to liberty his ravisher loaded -him with presents, some of which were obligatory and legal, namely, -a warrior’s cloak, an ox, and a goblet; it was a kind of initiation -in virility, and it was considered a disgrace for a young boy not to -obtain an _erastes_.[140] - -But even if we admit that all the ceremonial of this singular platonic -marriage among the Cretans was perfectly innocent, it arose, none the -less, from a moral laxity, plainly showing that ancient morals were -gross in the extreme. - -I here conclude my enumeration. Short as it has been, for I have -purposely limited my facts to a small number, it is sufficient to -prove that for an immense period man has been a very coarse animal. We -may, therefore, expect to find him adapting without scruple forms of -marriage or sexual association quite unusual among Europeans, and which -it now remains for me to describe briefly. - - -II. _Some Strange Forms of Marriage._ - -In savage societies, where no delicacy yet exists in regard to sexual -union, and where, on the other hand, woman is strictly assimilated -to things and domestic animals, marriage, or what we please to call -so, is an affair of small importance, which is regulated according -to individual caprice. More generally the parents, and sometimes the -friends or the chiefs, pair the young people as they think fit, and -quite naturally they have little regard for monogamic marriage, to -the strictness of which, even in civilised societies, man finds it so -difficult to bend. - -The young people, on their part, have hardly any individual -preferences. The young boys of the Redskins, as Lafitau tells us, never -even troubled to see, before marriage, the wife chosen for them by -their parents.[141] In Bargo, according to R. and J. Lander, they marry -with perfect indifference; “a man does not care any more about choosing -a wife than about which ear of corn he shall pick.” There is never any -question as to the sentiments of the contracting parties.[142] - -It is quite certain, also, that during the first ages of the evolution -of societies, the ties of kinship, even those we are accustomed to -regard as sacred, and respect for which seems to be incarnate in us, -have not been any impediment to sexual unions. Like the sentiment of -modesty, the horror of incest has only been engraved on the human -conscience with great difficulty and by long culture. Scruples of -this kind are unknown to the animal, and before they could arise in -the human brain it was first necessary that the family should be -constituted, and then that, from some motive or other, the custom of -exogamous marriage should be adopted. Now, as we shall see later, the -family has at first been matriarchal or rather maternal, and with such -a familial system, the children have no legal father; the prohibitions -relative to incest could therefore, at the most, only exist in regard -to the female line, and, in fact, we find it to be so in many countries -where this system of filiation prevails. But primitive morals, existing -before the formation of a morality condemning incest, have left many -traces in the past, and even in the present. “The Chippeways,” says -Hearne, “frequently cohabit with their mother, and oftener still with -their sisters and daughters.”[143] And yet he is speaking here of -Redskins, a people reputed to be fanatical on the matter of exogamy. -Langsdorff says the same of the Kadiaks, who unite indiscriminately, -brothers with sisters, and parents with children.[144] It is well -known, besides, that in the matter of sexual unions no race has fewer -prejudices than the Esquimaux. The Coucous of Chili, and the Caribs -also, willingly married at the same time a mother and daughter. With -the Karens, too, of Tenasserim, marriages between brother and sister, -or father and daughter, are frequent enough, even in our own day.[145] - -But these unions, though incestuous for us, have not been practised -amongst savages and inferior races only. According to Strabo, the -ancient Irish married, without distinction, their mothers and -sisters.[146] - -We are told by Justin and Tertullian[147] that the Parthians and -Persians married their own mothers without scruple. In ancient Persia, -religion went so far even as to sanctify the union of a son with his -mother.[148] Priscus relates that these marriages were also permitted -among the Tartars and Scythians, and it is reported, too, that Attila -married his daughter Esca.[149] - -Whether from a survival of ancient morals, or the care to preserve -purity of race, conjugal unions between brother and sister were -authorised, or even prescribed, in various countries, for the royal -families. The kings of ancient Egypt were obliged to marry their -sisters, and Cleopatra thus became the wife of her brother Ptolemy -Dionysius. The Incas of Peru were subject to a similar law; and at Siam -also, when the traveller La Loubère visited it, the king had married -his sister.[150] But I shall have to return to the subject of marriage -between relations in treating of the endogamic _régime_ which has been, -or is, in force among many peoples. - -These incestuous marriages astonish us, and certain of them are even -revolting to our ideas, as, for example, the union of the mother with -the son. Another custom will probably surprise, if not shock us quite -as much. I allude to experimental marriages, which are far from being -rare. They will appear, however, less singular, if we remember that in -societies of low order little value is set on the chastity of young -girls; virginal purity is not at all prized, and there are even some -peoples, as the Saccalaves of Madagascar,[151] for instance, and also -certain indigenous peoples of India,[152] among whom it is regarded as -a duty for the mothers themselves to deflower their daughters before -marrying them. - -With such morals prevailing, experimental marriages seem natural -enough. De Champlain, an ancient French traveller in North America, -relates that the Redskins of Canada always lived a few days together, -and then quitted each other if the trial had not been satisfactory to -either of them.[153] - -A Spanish chronicler, Herrara, reports that the Otomies of Mexico spent -a night of trial with the woman that they desired to marry; they could -quit her afterwards, but only on condition of not retaining her during -the following day.[154] - -Among the Sonthals also, an aboriginal tribe of India, whose marriages -are celebrated simultaneously once a year, the candidates for marriage -must first live six days together, and it is only after this trial -that it is lawful for them to marry.[155] With certain Tartar tribes -of Russia in Europe and of Siberia there existed an institution of -experimental marriages lasting for a year, if the woman did not become -a mother during that period.[156] In the island of Ceylon, according to -Davy, there are also provisional marriages, confirmed or annulled at -the end of a fortnight.[157] - -Among the Jews in Morocco the Rabbis consecrate temporary marriages, -for three or six months, according to agreement. The man only engages -to acknowledge the child if needful, and to make a certain donation to -the mother.[158] - -Strabo tells us of an analogous custom prevailing in antiquity among -the Tapyres (Parthians), according to which a woman, after having -had two or three children by a man, was forced by law to change her -husband.[159] This is almost exactly what Marshal Saxe demanded for -Frenchwomen in the last century. - -We must not confound these experimental marriages, which are regulated, -and in some sort legal, with free and easily cancelled unions still -more common, as, for example, those of the Nouka-Hivians, that are -broken at will, provided there are no children;[160] those of the -Hottentots;[161] those of the Abyssinians, who marry, part, and -re-marry at will.[162] These last unions, founded merely on individual -caprice, have nothing extraordinary about them, and we know that they -are not rare in civilised countries. - -Much more curious, from a point of view of sexual and conjugal -morality, are the partial marriages, which only bind the parties for -certain days of the week. This is a rare kind of marriage that seems -improbable to us, yet it has been proved to have existed among the -Hassinyehs of the White Nile, of Arab or perhaps Berber race. - -By an agreement, which is sharply discussed beforehand, the Hassinyeh -woman engages to be a faithful wife for a fixed number of days in the -week, generally three or four, but this is in proportion to the number -of heads of cattle given to the parents by the bridegroom as the price -of their daughter, and it is the mother herself who makes the bargain. -Naturally, on the days that are not reserved the woman is free, and she -has a right to use her liberty as she pleases.[163] - -These strange customs amongst the Arabs must surely date from old -pre-Islamite ages, and we may class them with other antique customs, -as, for example, marriage for a term, called _mot’a_ marriage, which -was in use with the Arabs until the time of Mahomet, and which -doubtless they imported later into Persia, where it exists in our own -day. And again, in the kingdom of Omân, in the fourteenth century, the -Sultan could still grant to a woman, indeed to any woman he pleased, -the permission to have lovers according to her fancy, and her relations -had no right to interfere.[164] - -The partial marriage of the Hassinyeh Arabs is therefore not so -surprising as it seems at first sight when isolated from other -practices of the same kind. And it must be confessed that, immoral as -it may appear to us, it is superior to the other modes of primitive -conjugal association in use among the greater number of savage peoples. -Doubtless it denotes an extreme of moral grossness, but at the same -time it shows a certain respect for feminine independence, contrasting -strongly with the animal subjection imposed on women in the greater -number of societies of little or no civilisation. The situation of the -woman who is owned and treated as a simple domestic animal, hired out -or lent to strangers or to friends, according to the caprice of her -master, but not allowed, at the peril of her life, to be unfaithful to -her owner without his leave, is surely far more abject still. - -I shall not dwell any more on these mere sketches of marriage, free -and transient unions broken as soon as made, experimental marriages, -three-quarter marriages, and marriages for a term, all of which show -the very slight importance attached to sexual union by man in a low -stage of development. And yet we must not refuse the name of marriage -to these ephemeral and incomplete unions, since they are arranged by -means of serious contracts which have been well discussed beforehand, -and by agreements entered into at least between the husband and the -relatives of the wife. The men of the horde or tribe do not, however, -profess a very strict respect for these marriages; the husband is often -uneasy in the enjoyment of his feminine property, and although legally -obtained, he must always be ready to defend it. - -Among the Bochimans, says Liechtenstein, with whom marriage is reduced -to its most simple expression, “the strongest man often carries off the -wife of the weakest,” because it is the proper thing for him to do, -since he is called “the lion.” - -In fact, these abuses of strength exist, more or less, in all countries -and all races; but among the Redskins of America and the Esquimaux it -seems that public opinion ratifies them, and that might has morally -become right. - -“When a Toski,” says Hooper, “desires the wife of another man, he -simply fights with her husband.” - -“A very ancient custom,” says Hearne, “obliges the men to wrestle for -any woman to whom they are attached; and of course the strongest party -always carries off the prize. A weak man, unless he be a good hunter -and well beloved, is seldom permitted to keep a wife that a stronger -man thinks worth his notice. This custom prevails throughout all the -tribes.”[165] - -In the same way, among the Copper and Chippeway Indians woman is a -property which is little respected, and which the strong may always -take from the weak.[166] - -Richardson also says that among the Redskins every man has the right -to challenge another to fight, and if he is victor, to carry off his -wife.[167] - -The same customs prevail among the Indians of South America--at least -among certain of them. Thus Azara relates that the Guanas never marry -before they are over twenty, for earlier than this they would be beaten -by their rivals.[168] - -It has been attempted to show that these conflicts are the equivalent -of what is called in regard to animals “the law of battle,” but the -comparison is not exact, for animals seem in this respect much more -delicate than men. If they fight it is before pairing, and besides, as -we have seen, their combats are often courteous, like the tournaments -of our ancestors; frequently, too, the object of these assaults is -much less to capture the female than to seduce her by displaying -before her eyes the qualities with which they are endowed--courage, -force, address, and beauty. On her part, the female for whom they are -competing is so little alarmed at their violence that, in general, she -tranquilly looks on at the duels, and afterwards gives herself, one -may say, freely to the victor. With certain species of birds a lyric -tourney is substituted for the fight, and so ardently do the birds -engage in it that a competitor will often die of exhaustion. - -Lastly, when the tourney is over, the couples paired, and the marriage -concluded, all rivalry ceases, the newly-mated birds isolate themselves -more or less, and devote all their energies to the production of a -family. Now these are delicate refinements unknown to primitive man, -whose rivalries on the subject of the possession of women resemble far -more the struggles of the old males with the young in the hordes of the -gorillas or chimpanzees. We are forced to acknowledge that the sexual -morality of primitive man does not much differ from that of anthropoid -apes, and it is quite a stranger to the æsthetic and poetic refinements -of certain birds. - -I here end my short inquiry into the morals of primitive man and the -eccentric modes of conjugal union which have preceded the institution -of a more durable, exclusive, and solemn marriage. - -We are filled with astonishment when we find such complete animal -laxity in our undeveloped ancestors, and we can hardly understand the -total absence of scruples which are now profoundly incarnate in us. - -Those anthropologists who insist on making man a being apart in the -universe shut their eyes to these gross aberrations. Evolutionists are -not so timid, and do not fear to face the truth. - -If, as it is impossible to deny, man is subject to the laws of -evolution like all other beings, we are forced to admit that he -must have passed through very inferior phases of physical and moral -development. _Homo sapiens_ surely descends from an ancient pithecoid -ancestor, and this original blot has necessarily been a drawback to his -moral evolution. - -But here it is important to make a distinction. The resemblance -between the moral coarseness of the savage and the depravation of the -civilised man is quite superficial. Who thinks of being shocked at the -morals of animals? Now those of primitive man are quite as innocent, -and the brutality of the savage has nothing in common with the moral -retrogression of the civilised man struck with decay. - -How unlike is the Aleout, imitating the sea-otter, without thinking -any evil, to the European degraded by the vices of our civilisation! -For the latter the future is closed; there are some declivities that -can never be remounted. The posterity of the savage, on the contrary, -may, with the aid of time and culture, attain to great moral elevation, -for there are vital forces within him which are fresh and intact. The -primitive man is still young, and he possesses many latent energies -susceptible of development. In short, the savage is a child, while the -civilised man, whose moral nature is corrupt, presents to us rather the -picture of decrepid old age. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[112] _L’Évolution de la Morale._ - -[113] Wake, vol. i. p. 77. - -[114] _Id._ vol. i. p. 71. - -[115] H. Spencer, _Sociology_, vol. ii. p. 213. - -[116] Wake, vol. i. p. 205. - -[117] Giraud-Teulon, _Orig. de la Famille_, p. 68. - -[118] Parry (_Third Voyage_), _Hist. Univ. des Voyages_, t. xl. p. 456. - -[119] Giraud-Teulon, _loc. cit._, p. 96. - -[120] Élie Reclus, _Les Primitifs_, p. 70. - -[121] Élie Reclus, _Les Primitifs_, p. 80. - -[122] Carver, _Travels in North America_, p. 245. - -[123] De Varigny, _Quatorze ans aux îles Sandwich_, p. 159. - -[124] Wallis, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xviii. p. 364.--Edwards, -_ibid._ t. xiii. p. 426. - -[125] Porter, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xvi. p. 232. - -[126] Marchand, _ibid._ t. xv. p. 406.--Moerenhout, _Voy. aux îles_, t. -I^{er.} p. 313. - -[127] Porter, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xvi. p. 229. - -[128] _Id., loc. cit._, t. xvi. p. 245. - -[129] _Ibid._ t. xix. p. 213. - -[130] Wake, _Evolution of Morality_, vol. i. p. 79. - -[131] Moerenhout, _Voy. aux îles_, etc., t. ii. p. 56. - -[132] Moerenhout, _Voy. aux îles_, etc., t. I^{er.} p. 206. - -[133] Cook, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. v. p. 268. - -[134] Moerenhout, _loc. cit._, t. I^{er.} p. 229. - -[135] Bourgarel, _Des Races de l’Océanie française_, in _Mém. Soc. -d’Anthropologie_, t. ii. p. 390.--De Rochas, _Nouvelle Calédonie_, p. -235. - -[136] Moerenhout, _Voy. aux îles_, etc., t. ii. p. 167.--Marion, _Hist. -Univ. des Voy._, t. iii. p. 487. - -[137] Wake, _Evolution of Morality_, vol. i. p. 241. - -[138] Peschel, _Races of Man_, p. 408. - -[139] Burckhardt, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxxii. p. 155. - -[140] Strabo, x. 21. - -[141] Démeunier, _Esprit des Différents Peuples_, t. I^{er.} p. 153 - -[142] _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxx. p. 94. - -[143] H. Spencer, _Sociology_, vol. ii. p. 218. - -[144] Langsdorff, _Voyages_, t. ii. p. 64. - -[145] Heber, quoted by H. Spencer, _Sociology_, vol. ii. p. 248. - -[146] _Geography_, Lib. iv. par. 4. - -[147] Justin, _Agatha_, vol. ii. Tertullian, in _Apologet._ - -[148] A. Hovelacque, _L’Avesta_, pp. 465, 466. - -[149] Démeunier, t. I^{er.} pp. 465, 466. - -[150] _Ibid._ p. 166. - -[151] Noël, _Bull. de la Soc. de Géog._, Paris, 1843. - -[152] Collection Ramusio, t. I^{er.} libro di Odoardo Barbosa, -portoghese. - -[153] Démeunier, t. I^{er.} p. 155. - -[154] _Ibid._ - -[155] _The People of India_, vol. i. p. 2. - -[156] _Travels through the Russian Empire and Tartary_, by D. J. Cook, -vol. i. - -[157] Davy, _Ceylon_, p. 286. - -[158] Dr. Decugis, _Bull. de la Soc. de Géog._, Paris. - -[159] Strabo, vol. ii. p. 514. - -[160] Porter, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xvi. p. 323. - -[161] Levaillant, _ibid_. t. xxi. p. 164. - -[162] Bruce, _Travels_, vol. ix. p. 187; vol. v. p. 1. - -[163] Ausland, Jan. 1867, p. 114. - -[164] Ibn Batûta, vol. ii. p. 230 (quoted by R. Smith in _Kinship and -Marriage in Early Arabia_). - -[165] Hearne, _A Journey from Prince of Wales Fort_, p. 104 (1796). - -[166] Franklin, _Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea_, vol. viii. p. -43. - -[167] Richardson, _Boat Journey_, vol. ii. p. 21. - -[168] Darwin, _Descent of Man_, p. 614. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -POLYANDRY. - - I. _Sexual Proportion of Births: its Influence on - Marriage._--Sexual proportion amongst animals--The state of this - in Europe--Its variations according to race and profession--Its - oscillations--Proportion of the sexes disturbed by war, by - infanticide, and by the sale of daughters--Polyandry has not been - general. - - II. _Ethnography of Polyandry._--Examples of polyandry--Great - polyandrous centres--The polyandry of Thibet--The polyandry of the - Naïrs. - - III. _Polyandry in Ancient Arabia._--Its causes--Infanticide in - Arabia--The legend of Caïs, the infanticide--Evolution of polyandry in - Arabia--_Mot’a_ marriage--_Ba’al_ marriage. - - IV. _Polyandry in General._--Matriarchal polyandry and patriarchal - polyandry. - - -I. _Sexual Proportion of Births, and its Influence on Marriage._ - -With the exception of the rare and singular forms of sexual or conjugal -association which we have just passed in review, matrimonial types -are not numerous among the peoples more or less civilised who have -already instituted a marriage--that is to say, a sexual association -regulated by generally admitted convention. The forms of marriage most -universally practised, those which the majority of mankind has reached -and stopped at, are polygamy and monogamy, or monandry. I shall have -much to say of these. For the moment I shall treat of another kind of -marriage, far less widely spread without doubt, but which, however, -exists or has existed at divers points of the globe; I allude to -polyandry. - -I have no longer to prove that morality is variable and perfectible, -that it results from social life, and is only to be taken together -with the other needs, desires, and necessities of the struggle for -existence. Our moral sentiments are simply habits incarnate in our -brain, or instincts artificially created; and thus an act reputed -culpable at Paris or at London may be and frequently is held innocent -at Calcutta or at Pekin. In order to judge impartially of polyandric -marriage we must remember these elementary truths. Not, certainly, that -polyandry is rare amongst us, but it is censured, counted as criminal, -and obliged to hide itself. The legal and regulated possession, -publicly acknowledged, of one woman by several men, who are all -husbands by the same title, shocks our feelings and morality extremely -in the present day. - -Nevertheless, human societies, small or large, must and will live, and -it is an imperious condition which imposes the polyandric _régime_, -namely, a considerable inequality between the number of men and that of -women. Now, this disproportion may result from divers causes. In the -first place, it may be natural, as it is among certain animal species. -Among the lepidoptera, for example, nine hundred and thirty-four males -have been counted as against seven hundred and sixty-one females.[169] -Although smaller, the disproportion is not less real amongst mankind. -As a general rule, and in nearly all countries where it has been -possible to ascertain it, the relation between masculine and feminine -births gives a certain excess of boys. This relation has been found -in Europe to be 106 for 70 million of births; but our great masculine -mortality re-establishes the equilibrium in the early years of life. -The proportion of births, besides, is far from being identical in -all the countries of Europe, and we even find oscillations in a -given country. In England it is generally 104.5, in France 106.3, -in Russia 108.9, at Philadelphia 110.5. In certain ethnic or social -categories the proportion of masculine births notably augments. It -rises to 113 for the Jews of Russia, to 114 for those of Breslau, to -120 for the Jews of Livonia. More singular still, the proportion of -masculine to feminine births augments for certain professions; it is, -for example, higher amongst the English clergy.[170] It is even seen -to vary spontaneously. In the year 1886, during several months, the -proportion of feminine births rose at Paris. In France, for a period -of forty-four years, it has happened five times in one department, and -six times in another, that the female births have been in excess. At -the Cape of Good Hope, among the whites, for several years there have -been ninety to ninety-nine masculine births. The reason or reasons of -these spontaneous oscillations in the proportion of the sexes still -escapes us. We verify it only, and we are warranted in concluding that -the production of sex in the embryo depends on some relatively second -causes. It is sure, for example, that the clergy of England are not -of a special race. If, however, they have more male children than the -other inhabitants of England, the fact can only depend on intimate -particulars of their kind of life. This reminds us of certain biblical -precepts relative to conjugal life, and the too neglected theory of M. -Thury (of Geneva) on the influence of the degree of ovular maturity on -the production of the sexes. - -But spontaneous oscillations in the proportion of the sexes are always -feeble; even the matrimonial type does not seem to influence them, for -in the harems of Siam the sexual relation of births is the same as in -Europe.[171] On the other hand, it is proved that race-horses, which -are very polygamous, since they serve as stallions, have male and -female descendants in exactly equal proportions.[172] - -It is the social actions of men which produce the most profound -disturbances in the proportion of the sexes. To begin with, in savage -or barbarous countries, where violent death has become an ordinary -occurrence for men, the number of adult females much exceeds that of -adult males. Thus, at Bantou, when the Dutch established themselves -there, they found ten women to one man.[173] In La Soñora, at the -end of a civil war, there were seven women to one man. In spite of -all moral and legal precepts, such conditions unfailingly result in -polygamy, disguised or not. - -On the contrary, a custom very widely spread in savage countries, that -of the infanticide of girls, not less necessarily engenders polyandry, -if the equilibrium in the numerical proportion of the sexes is not -re-established in another manner. In reality, the infanticide of -girls has been largely practised in nearly all polyandrous countries. -It seems also that the custom of sacrificing the female children -influences in the long run the natural production of the sexes. -Thus the polyandrous Todas, who _formerly_ killed their girls, have -actually a sexual proportion of 133.3 for adults, and of 124 for the -children.[174] - -In Polynesia, where the infanticide of girls was so largely practised, -the sexual relation to-day is altogether in favour of male births. - -In New Zealand the proportion of the sexes in 1858 was 130.3 for -adults, and 122.2 for non-adults.[175] - -In 1839, in the Sandwich Islands, the numerical proportion was 125.08 -for adults, and 125.75 for non-adults. - -In 1872 a general census of all the Sandwich Islands gave for the -numerical proportion of the sexes 125.36. - -But there is more than one way of falsifying the proportion of the -sexes. It is not necessary to kill nearly all the female children, -as was the custom among the Gonds of Bengal, where in many villages -Macpherson did not see a single girl;[176] it suffices to sell them. -It is even the sale of girls which in many countries has at first -restrained the savage practice of feminine infanticide. Girls became a -merchandise negotiated by the parents, and afterwards redeemed by the -men, because they could not do without them; but then it happened, in -various countries and among various races, that men joined together to -lighten the expense, and that several of them contented themselves with -one wife in common, became polyandrous. - -But we must not believe, with certain sociologists, that polyandry has -ever been a universal and necessary matrimonial phase. The enormous -consumption of men, necessitated by a savage or barbarous life, has -often given an impulse to polygamy. It is only in certain societies -where the practice of female infanticide exceeded all measure, or in -certain islands, or certain regions with little or no population, -where conquerors badly off for wives came to settle, that polyandry has -become general and enduring. It is surely only an exceptional form of -marriage, and we can enumerate the countries where it has been or is -still in use. - - -II. _Ethnography of Polyandry._ - -Cæsar speaks thus of the polyandry of the ancient Britons:--“By tens -and twelves the husbands have their wives in common, especially -brothers with brothers, and parents with children.”[177] - -I have previously quoted Strabo on the polyandry of the primitive -Arabs, which was also fraternal. - -In the sixteenth century the Guanches of two of the Canary Isles, -Lancerote and Tortaventura, were still polyandrous, but amongst them -the husbands did not number more than three.[178] - -Polyandry also existed in New Zealand and in the Marquesas, but -restricted to certain women only.[179] - -In America, amongst the Avaroes and the Maypures, according to -Humboldt, brothers had often only one wife. - -But the great polyandric centres exist or have existed in Asia, in -India, Ceylon, and Thibet. Various aboriginal tribes of India, nearly -always much addicted to female infanticide, have practised polyandry. -The Miris and Dophlas of Bengal are still polyandrous.[180] Among the -Todas of Nilgherry polyandry was fraternal. When a man married a girl, -she became on that account the wife of all his brothers, and inversely -these became the husbands of all the sisters of the wife. The first -child born of these marriages was attributed to the eldest brother, the -second to the next brother, and so forth.[181] - -But polyandry has not flourished only among the primitive races of -India. The Hindoo populations had also adopted it, and traces of it are -found in their sacred literature. Thus in the Mahabharata the five -Pandou brothers marry all together the charming Drâaupadi, with eyes -of lotus blue.[182] But in Brahmanic India polyandry is more than a -mere memory. Skinner has proved that near the sources of the Djemmah, -amongst a very fine race of Hindoo mountaineers, fraternal polyandry -still prevailed. “Having asked one of these women,” says the traveller, -“how many husbands she had--‘Only four,’ she replied. ‘And all living?’ -‘Why not?’” - -These customs, according to the traveller, did not hinder these -mountaineers from being, on other points, very moral men. Thus they -held lying in horror, and in their eyes to deviate from the truth, even -quite innocently, was almost a sacrilege.[183] - -At the other extremity of India, in Ceylon, the polyandric _régime_ is -still very flourishing, especially in the interior of the island, and -among the leisured classes. The number of husbands, generally brothers -or relatives, is variable; it varies from three to eight. According -to Emerson Tennent, polyandry was formerly general in the island, and -it is owing to the efforts of the Dutch and Portuguese that it has -disappeared from the coast.[184] - -It is particularly in lamaic Thibet that the polyandric _régime_ is -in full vigour; and in this country religion strengthens it, for the -most distinguished men, the ruling classes, the chiefs or officers of -the State, _a fortiori_ the lamas, have the same disdain for marriage -so loudly professed by the saints of Catholicism. The greater number -exempt themselves from it, and leave to the common people the gross -care of producing children. Now, the latter, by reason of their -poverty, associate together to lighten the burden of the family. It is, -again, fraternal polyandry which is the rule in Thibet. It is in this -country that sociologists have sought the classic type of this kind of -polyandry. - -In Thibet the right of primogeniture is combined with the right of -marriage, and the younger brothers follow the fate of their chief. -It is this last who marries for all of them, and chooses the common -wife.[185] However, if we may believe other accounts, a certain liberty -is allowed to younger brothers. The pressure on them is chiefly -economic. When the eldest son marries, the property is transmitted -to him in advance of his inheritance, with the charge of maintaining -his parents, who, however, can live in a separate house. The youngest -brother takes orders, and becomes a lama. The others, if they choose, -become inferior husbands of the wife, who with us would be their -sister-in-law, and they are almost forced to do this, since their -eldest brother is sole inheritor. Once within the polyandric _régime_, -the younger brothers have a subordinate position. The eldest, the -husband-in-chief, considers them as his servants, and has even the -right to send them away without any resource, if he pleases. If the -principal husband dies, then his widow, his property, and his authority -pass to the younger brother next in age. In the case of the brother not -being one of the co-husbands, he cannot inherit the property without -the wife, nor the wife without the property. We have here, then, a sort -of polyandrian levirate.[186] - -The children springing from these unions give the name of father -sometimes to the eldest of the husbands, and sometimes to all.[187] -Travellers tell us that these polyandrous households are not more -troubled than our monogamous ones. Some Thibetans, living thus in -conjugal association, could not understand V. Jacquemont when he -asked them if the preference of their single wife for one or other of -them did not cause quarrels between the husbands. But if jealousy is -unknown to the husbands, it is, on the contrary, frequent with the -wife. “A Thibetan woman,” says Turner, “united to several husbands, is -as jealous of her conjugal rights as an Indian despot could be of the -beauties who people his zenana or harem.”[188] - -As to the manner in which the intimate relations between husbands and -wife are regulated in the polyandric households of Thibet, we have -scarcely any information. Among the Todas the wife never had conjugal -commerce with more than one husband at a time, but she changed every -month; sometimes also the associated husbands add to their number -temporarily some young man belonging to the tribe, but not yet engaged -in the bonds of wedlock.[189] - -There is another form of polyandry besides the fraternal, but quite -as curious, and which has been made to play a great _rôle_ in various -sociological theories. It is the polyandry of the Naïrs, an indigenous -high caste of Malabar. - -However extraordinary the fraternal polyandry called Thibetan may -seem in our eyes, that of the Naïrs of Malabar is far more so. Here -the reality exceeds all that we could have imagined in the way of -conjugal customs. The Naïr parents married their daughters early. The -bride was rarely more than twelve years old. The proceedings began -with an ephemeral union, a sort of fictitious marriage, but celebrated -nevertheless with great rejoicings in presence of parents and friends. -The initiative and provisional husband passed round the neck of the -bride the conjugal collar, the _tali_, and henceforth the marriage -was concluded and had to be consummated; only at the end of four or -five days the new husband was obliged to quit the house of the wife -for ever. On the contrary, the young bride remained in the family, and -from this period contracted a series of partial but durable marriages. -The first marriage of the young Naïr girl had evidently no other -object than defloration; it was a service demanded of a fictitious -husband, and for which he was often paid. A traveller relates that -for this preliminary marriage a porter or a workman was employed and -paid. If his pretensions were too high, recourse was had to an Arab -or a stranger; and, says the narrator, the gratuitous services of -these last were always preferred if, when the ceremony was over, they -withdrew in time and with good grace. When once well and duly prepared -for marriage, the young Naïr girl might take for husband whomsoever -she liked, except the provisional husband of the first few days.[190] -The number of her husbands varied from four to twelve.[191] Each one -of them was at first presented to her either by her mother or by her -maternal uncle, an important personage in the family. Each co-partner -was in his turn husband in reality during a very short time, varying -from one day to ten, and he was free, on his side, to participate in -divers polyandric conjugal societies. We are assured that in these -curious _ménages_ all the associated husbands lived in very good -understanding with each other.[192] - -Generally the Naïr husbands were neither brothers nor relatives, for -these polyandrous people seemed to have ideas about incest analogous to -our own. But the unions outside the caste were the only ones reputed -culpable; they constituted a sort of social adultery. The conjugal -prerogatives of the husbands were not unaccompanied by certain duties. -They had to maintain the common wife, and they agreed together to share -the expense. One took on himself to furnish the clothes, another to -give the rice.[193] On these conditions each one could in his turn -enjoy the common property, and, in order not to be troubled in the use -of his rights, it sufficed the husband on duty to hang on the door of -the house and on the wife’s door his shield and his sword or knife. - -The Brahmins were obliged to tolerate these polyandric marriages, so -contrary, however, to their laws; they finished by even deriving a -profit from them. In the Brahmanic families in contact with the Naïrs -the eldest son alone married, so as not to scatter the patrimony; the -others entered the matrimonial combinations of the Naïrs, and thus -their children did not inherit.[194] - -On their side, the Naïrs were naturally only acquainted with -matriarchal heredity. No Naïr, says Buchanan, knows his father, and -every man has for heirs the children of his sister. He loves them as -if they were his own, and unless he is reputed a monster, he must show -much more grief at their death than he would for his own possible -children--namely, those of his own wife.[195] - -In comparing the two kinds of polyandry that I have just described, the -patriarchal polyandry of the Thibetans, and the matriarchal polyandry -of the Naïrs, the majority of sociologists consider the first as -superior to the other. In so doing they seem to me not to be able to -shake off sufficiently our European ideas. Doubtless the fraternal -Thibetan polyandry, while leaving undecided the paternal filiation of -the children, assures them a sort of collective paternal parenthood, -since the fathers are of the same blood. This polyandrian family -consequently differs less than the Naïr family from our own system of -patriarchal kinship, which is reputed superior; but surely the liberty, -and even the dignity of the woman, which must count for something, are -more respected under the Naïr system, which not only does not reduce -the woman to a thing possessed, that one lends to one’s friends, but -gives her the power of choosing her husbands. - -Fraternal polyandry being declared superior to polyandry of the Naïr -type, it has been concluded that in virtue of the law of progress -it must have been preceded in all times and places by the latter. -As regards the greater number of cases of Thibetan polyandry, the -supposition is gratuitous; it seems, however, established as far as -ancient Arabia is concerned, where, thanks to a very learned treatise -recently published by Mr. W. Robertson Smith, professor of Arabic at -the University of Cambridge,[196] we may note the causes of polyandry -and follow its evolution. - - -III. _Polyandry in Ancient Arabia._ - -The chief cause of ancient Arabian polyandry was the one we find in -nearly all the polyandric countries--that is to say, the infanticide of -daughters. - -The primitive Arabs, extremely savage and even anthropophagous, were -led to adopt the custom of female infanticide by the difficulty of -living in their arid country, where famines were very common. Down to -the present time the nomads of Arabia suffer constantly from hunger -during a great part of the year.[197] - -The custom of infanticide was inveterate among the Arabs, and Mahomet -was obliged to condemn it over and over again in the Koran:--“They who -from folly or ignorance kill their children shall perish.[198] Kill not -your children on account of poverty.[199] Kill not your children for -fear of poverty; we will feed them, and you also.[200] When it shall be -asked of the girl buried alive for what crime she is put to death ... -every soul will then acknowledge the work that she had done.”[201] - -In this last verse the Koran bears witness to the custom of killing the -girls, and it indicates the process in use, which actually consisted -in burying them alive. This was done openly, and often the grave of -the newly-born infant was dug by the side even of the couch of the -mother who had just given birth to it. According to the morality of -the primitive Arabs, these acts were not only very simple, but even -virtuous and generous,[202] which seems to indicate that they were -indeed only precautions against famine. An Arab legend, quoted by Mr. -R. Smith, paints in lively colours these atrocious customs. It relates -to a chief of Tamin, who became a constant practitioner of infanticide -in consequence of a wound given to his pride. He was called Caïs, and -was contemporary with Mahomet. The daughter of his sister was carried -off in a razzia and given to the son of her captor, as was the usage -in Arabia, where the captured women made part of the booty and were -divided with it. This time, when Caïs came to reclaim his niece by -offering to pay her ransom, the latter, being well pleased with the -adventure, refused to quit her husband. Caïs, the uncle, was mortally -offended, and from that moment he interred alive all his daughters, -according to the ancient custom. But one day, during his absence, a -daughter was born to him, whom the mother secretly sent to a relative -to save her, and then declared to her husband that she had been -delivered of a still-born child. Some years later, the girl, grown -tall, came to pay a visit to her mother. Caïs discovered her, while -her mother was plaiting her hair and ornamenting it with cowries. “I -arrived,” the father is made to say, speaking to Mahomet, “and I said, -‘Who is this young girl?’ ‘She is yours,’ replied the mother, weeping, -and she related how she had formerly saved her. I waited till the -emotion of the mother was calmed; then one day I led away the girl; I -dug a grave and I made her lie down in it. She cried, ‘Father, what do -you intend to do with me?’ Then I covered her with earth. She cried -again, ‘Father, do you wish to bury me? Are you going away, and will -you abandon me?’ But I continued to heap earth on her until her cries -were stifled. That was the only time it has happened to me to feel pity -in burying a daughter.”[203] - -Such customs, combined with the sale to strangers of girls carried -off in razzias, and the polygamy of the rich men, must assuredly have -profoundly disturbed the numerical proportion of the sexes, and have -rendered polyandry almost a necessity, which, besides, could not -excite any scruple with the ancient Arabs, whose morals were very -licentious. Thus the captured women often remained common to a group of -relatives.[204] In the fifth century the Syrio-Roman law had even to -forbid the contracts of fraternity, by which all was held in common, -including the wives and children.[205] - -That fraternal polyandry, called Thibetan, may have existed in Arabia, -the passage of Strabo, which I have previously quoted in regard to -promiscuity, would suffice to establish; but Arab writers expressly -attest it, and notably Bokhâri (vi. 127), according to whom the number -of polyandrous husbands was not allowed to exceed ten; besides this, -various customs of more modern date, as, for example, the passing of -the widow, by heritage, to the relatives of the husband, seem to arise -from it. Moreover, even at the present day in Arabia, the father cannot -give his daughter to another if the son of his brother demands her, and -the latter has the right to obtain her at a lower price;[206] this is -the right of pre-emption applied to the woman. - -It seems, indeed, as if these were the vestiges of an antique -fraternal polyandry, and it is in fact of fraternal or Thibetan -polyandry that Strabo speaks. Has this fraternal patriarchal polyandry -been preceded by a matriarchal polyandry, after the mode of the -Naïrs--a polyandry which did not make the woman the property of the -husbands? Without being able to give a direct proof of this, we may, -however, consider it as very probable. In the present day the partial -marriages, by which the women of the Hassinyeh Arabs engage themselves -for some days of the week only, strongly resemble the matriarchal -polyandry of the Naïrs, and temporary marriage, or _mot’a_, of the -ancient Arabs approaches nearly to it also. - -It is this kind of marriage, in all probability, that the prophet means -when he inveighs against “fornication.” - -By the _mot’a_ marriage the woman does not leave her home; her tribe -preserves the rights it has over her, and her children do not belong -to the husband. In short, the conjugal union is only contracted for a -fixed time. These _mot’a_ marriages had nothing dishonourable in them, -and did not in the least prevent the women from finding fresh husbands -when, at the expiration of the lease, they became once more free.[207] - -The custom of _mot’a_ marriage was long prevalent in Arabia. Ammianus -speaks of it,[208] saying that the wife received a price or indemnity -from her temporary husband, and that, if it happened to the contracting -parties to wish to continue to live together at the expiration of -the time fixed, they inaugurated a fresh and more durable union by -a symbolic ceremony, during which the wife offered to her husband a -javelin and a tent. - -The prophet himself decided with great hesitation to condemn the -_mot’a_ marriage. A tradition makes him say that “if a man and a woman -agree together, their union should last for three nights, after which -they may separate or live together, as they please.”[209] - -In fact, the _mot’a_ marriage was only abolished in the time of Omar; -and it is important to remark with regard to it, that this mode of -marriage, singular as it may appear to us, was, for the woman, very -superior to the servitude of the Mussulman harem. It was a personal -contract, in which her parents did not interfere, and which did not -degrade her from the rank of an independent person to the humiliation -of merely being a thing possessed. The _mot’ a_ marriage indicates, -besides, very free manners, as is attested by a number of facts and -traditions, particularly certain religious rites of the Canaanites, the -Aramites, and the pagan Hebrews, and also the licentious practices of -women and girls in the temple of Baalbek. - -By degrees the _mot’ a_ marriage gave place to a definite marriage, -the _ba’al_ marriage, by which the young girl went to live with her -husband and owed him fidelity. Marriages of this kind were sought at -first by the chiefs, to whom they assured alliances. As a consequence -these unions became honourable, and dethroned the ancient matrimonial -custom.[210] Henceforth the women who continued to live in the ancient -mode were dishonoured, and treated as prostitutes, whose dwelling was -indicated by a special flag. At the same time the taste for paternity -was born in men, and, in case of doubt on this matter, sages whose -profession it was, declared the signs by which a man could recognise -his own offspring.[211] - - -IV. _Polyandry in General._ - -I have quoted or made a summary of nearly all the information that -has reached us on the subject of ancient and modern polyandry. From -thence we may conclude that in no way are we authorised to consider -this form of conjugal union as having been general. Still it has become -a necessity in a good number of gross societies. It has specially -prevailed in countries badly supplied with food, where the struggle -for existence was severe, where warlike conflicts with neighbouring -tribes were incessant, and where, in order to endure, the community -was forced to diminish the _impedimenta_ and the useless mouths. In -such conditions, men still savage or barbarous have recourse without -hesitation all over the world to female infanticide; and as, on the -other side, the chiefs and strong men monopolise as many women as -possible, the debauchery of unmarried women and polyandrian households -become necessary palliatives. - -We have seen that there are two principal kinds of polyandry--the -matriarchal and patriarchal. In the first, the woman or girl does not -quit her family or her _gens_; sometimes even she is permitted the -right of choosing her husbands, who are not related to each other, and -upon whom the woman scarcely depends at all, since she remains with her -own relations, and bears children for them. - -On the contrary, in the patriarchal polyandry, the woman, captured or -bought, is almost entirely uprooted; she leaves her natural protectors -to go and live with her husbands, to whom she belongs, who are limited -in number, are nearly always brothers or relations, and to whom she -cannot be unfaithful without authorisation. - -Both forms of polyandric marriage suppose a complete absence of -modesty, of sexual reserve and moral delicacy. But we know that these -qualities can only be the fruit of long culture. In this respect both -matriarchal and patriarchal polygamy are equal. But it is important to -observe that the first enslaves woman much less. On the other hand, -the second already permits the establishment of a sort of paternal -filiation, since the husbands are generally of the same blood. For this -reason it is reputed superior. - -In reality matriarchal polyandry always coincides with the primitive -family form, the matriarchate--that is to say, with a system that takes -no account of paternal filiation, and leaves the children to the tribe -of the mother. - -Patriarchal polyandry, on the contrary, already presents the outline of -a sort of paternal family, with the right of primogeniture attributed -to the first-born. - -We shall have to study in detail both the patriarchate and the -matriarchate. Polyandry, in its reputedly highest form, the Thibetan, -only constitutes a patriarchate of the most imperfect kind, since there -is still a confusion of fatherhood. - -Proof is still wanting to force us to conclude that matriarchal -polyandry must always have preceded the other. This appears to be true -for ancient Arabia only. In all other places we can merely suppose -it to have been so. We should be equally mistaken if we admitted _a -priori_ that patriarchal polyandry implies a degree of civilisation -superior to that of the countries where matriarchal polyandry prevails. -The ancient Arabs, of whom Strabo speaks, practised fraternal -polyandry, and yet we know that they were scarcely civilised, they -were cannibals, and so ferocious that their wives accompanied them in -combats in order to despatch and mutilate the wounded enemies. These -furies made themselves necklaces and bracelets for their ankles with -the nose and ears of a dead enemy,[212] and sometimes even they ate his -liver. - -In conclusion, polyandry is an exceptional conjugal form, as rare as -polygamy is common. It must be classed with experimental and term -marriages. With our European ideas on conjugal fidelity, obligatory -by the right of proprietorship, we can scarcely conceive even of the -possibility of this perfect absence of jealousy, this placidity of the -co-husbands. It is indelicate, doubtless. But how shall we describe our -morality and the laws that give to the deceived husband the right of -life and death over his faithless companion, and in this respect bring -us down to the level of the savage? Do indelicate manners rank lower -than ferocious manners? They are both those of the animal. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[169] Darwin, _Descent of Man_, p. 278. - -[170] A. Bertillon. - -[171] Darwin, _Descent of Man_, p. 270. - -[172] _Id., ibid._ - -[173] Houzeau, _Facultés mentales des animaux_, t. I^{er.} p. 282. - -[174] Darwin, _Descent of Man_, p. 270. - -[175] _Id., ibid._ p. 282. - -[176] Dalton, _Ethn. Bengal_, p. 289. - -[177] _De bello Gallico_, v. p. 14. - -[178] Berthelot, _Mém. Soc. Ethn._, pp. 121, 125, 155, 186, 210. - -[179] Radiguet, _Derniers Sauvages_, p. 180. - -[180] Dalton, _loc. cit._, pp. 33-36. - -[181] Schortt, _Trans. Ethno. Soc._ (New Series), vol. viii. p. 240. - -[182] _Mahabharata_, trad. Fauche, t. ii. p. 148. - -[183] _Hist. Univ. des Voy_., vol. xxxi. pp. 458-468. - -[184] Davy, _Ceylon_, p. 286.--O. Sachot, _L’île de Ceylon_, p. 25. - -[185] Turner, _Thibet_, p. 348, and _Hist. Univ. des Voy_., vol. xxxi. -p. 434. - -[186] Moorcroft and Trebeck’s _Travels_, vol. i. p. 320. - -[187] Rousselet, _Ethnographie de l’Himalaya occidental_, in _Revue -d’anthrop._, 1878. - -[188] Turner, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, vol. xxxi. p. 434. - -[189] Major Ross King, _Journ. of Anthrop._ (1870), p. 32. - -[190] Élie Reclus, _Les Primitifs_, p. 191. - -[191] Hamilton, _Account of the East Indies_, vol. i. p. 308. - -[192] Forbes, _Oriental Memoirs_, vol. i. p. 385. - -[193] _Lettres Edifiantes_, vol. x. p. 22. - -[194] Robertson Smith, _Kinship_, etc., p. 313. - -[195] Buchanan, _Journey_, vol. ii. p. 411, etc. - -[196] _Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia_, 1885. - -[197] _Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia_, p. 283. - -[198] Sourate, vi. p. 141. - -[199] _Ibid._ p. 152. - -[200] _Ibid._ xvii. p. 33. - -[201] _Ibid._ lxxxi. pp. 8-14. - -[202] R. Smith, _Kinship_, p. 282. - -[203] R. Smith, _Kinship_, etc., pp. 279, 280. - -[204] _Id., ibid._ pp. 131-134. - -[205] _Id., ibid._ p. 135. - -[206] _Id., ibid._ p. 137. - -[207] R. Smith, _Kinship_, etc., pp. 69, 141-143. - -[208] _Id., ibid._ vol. xiv. p. 4. - -[209] _Id., ibid._ p. 67. - -[210] R. Smith, _Kinship_, etc., pp. 141-143. - -[211] _Id., ibid._ p. 143. - -[212] R. Smith, _Kinship_, etc., p. 284. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -MARRIAGE BY CAPTURE. - - I. _Rape._--Rape and marriage--Rape in Tasmania, Australia, New - Guinea, Africa, America, among the Tartars, the Hindoos, the Hebrews, - and the Celts--The rape of concubines in ancient Greece. - - II. _Marriage by Capture._--The ceremonial of capture in - marriage--Symbolic capture among the Esquimaux, the Indians of Canada, - in Guatemala, among the Mongols, the aborigines of Bengal, in New - Zealand, among the Arabs, the ancient Greeks, in ancient Rome, in - Circassia, among the modern Celts, and in Livonia. - - III. _Signification of the Ceremonial of Capture._--Violent exogamy - has not been universal--Rape and marriage by purchase--What the - ceremonial of capture means. - - -I. _Rape._ - -The marriage by capture, which we have now to consider, is not actually -a form of marriage; it is only a manner of procuring one or more -wives, whatever at the same time may be the prevailing matrimonial -_régime_. If, however, we cannot dispense with the special study of -marriage by capture, it is because it has been made to play a chief -_rôle_ in sociology. According to some authors, it has been a universal -necessity, and must have preceded exogamy in all times and places. - -Surely this too general theory may be contested; but it is beyond doubt -that the rape of women has been widely practised all over the world, -that very often it has been considered glorious, and that in many -countries it has been attenuated into pacific marriage. - -Nothing is more natural and simple than rape among savage or barbarous -tribes, who hold violence in esteem and use it largely, and who, as we -have previously seen, are almost always addicted to female infanticide. -But has the widely-spread custom of rape the great importance in -sociological theory that has been attributed to it? This is a question -to which we can only reply after having consulted the facts. - -Throughout Melanesia capture has been the primitive means of procuring -wives, or rather slaves-of-all-work, absolutely at the discretion -of the ravisher. Bonwick, indeed, tells us that in Tasmania, and -consequently in Australia, capture was more often simulated only, and -resulted from a previous agreement between the man and woman;[213] but -the savage manner in which the rape was effected abundantly proves that -amiable agreement was exceptional. The Australian who desires to carry -off a woman belonging to another tribe prowls traitorously around the -camp. If he happens to discover a woman without a protector he rushes -on her, stuns her with a blow of his club (_douak_), seizes her by -her thick hair, drags her thus into the neighbouring wood; then, when -she has recovered her senses, he obliges her to follow him into the -midst of his own people, and there he violates her in their presence, -for she has become his property--his domestic animal.[2] The captured -woman generally resigns herself without difficulty;[214] in truth, she -has, generally, changed her master, but not in the least changed her -condition. - -Sometimes two men unite to commit one of these rapes. They glide -noiselessly into a neighbouring camp in the night; one of them winds -round his barbed spear the hair of a sleeping _lubra_, the other -points his spear at her bosom. She awakes, and dares not cry out; they -take her off, bind her to a tree, and then return in the same manner -to make a second capture; after that they return in triumph to their -own people.[215] The captives rarely revolt, for they are, in a way, -accustomed to the capture. From infancy they have been familiarised -with the fate that awaits them, for the simulation of the rape is one -of the games of the Australian children.[216] Later the life of a -pretty Australian girl is marked by a series of plots to carry her off, -and of successive rapes, which force her to pass from hand to hand, -and expose her to wounds received in conflicts, and to bad treatment -inflicted by the other women amongst whom she is introduced. Sometimes -she is dragged very far, even hundreds of miles from the place of her -birth.[217] - -It is the duty of the tribe to which the ravished woman belongs to -avenge her, and the Australian has, after his own manner, a strong -sentiment of certain obligations, which for him are moral; but more -frequently, to escape too great damages, the tribes hold a meeting, and -the ravisher submits to a symbolic retaliation agreed on beforehand. -Armed with his little shield of bark, he takes his place at about forty -yards from a group of ten warriors belonging to the aggrieved tribe, -and each one of these throws two or three darts at him, which are -nearly always avoided or parried. Thenceforth the offence is effaced, -and peace re-established.[218] - -The same customs prevail among the Papuans of New Guinea. At Bali the -men carry off and violate brutally the solitary women they may meet; -and afterwards they agree with the tribe as to compensation.[219] In -like manner, in the Fiji Isles, rape, real or simulated, was general -and even glorious. A particular divinity presided over it. The ravished -woman either fled to a protector or resigned herself, and then a feast -given to the parents terminated the affair.[220] - -To be able to see in these bestial customs anything resembling -marriage, one must be a prey to a fixed idea--a positive matrimonial -monomania. There is here no marriage by capture, but rather slavery -by capture. This is not the only method of procuring wives practised -by the Australians. They often proceed pacifically by traffic, and a -man acquires a wife by giving in exchange another woman of whom he -has power to dispose--a sister or relative.[221] Certain tribes had -also instituted a sort of regulated promiscuity--a collective marriage -between all the men of one clan and all the women of another. I shall -have to return to the consideration of this singular form of sexual -association. For the moment I confine myself to noticing that rape is -not always obligatory in Australia. - -Neither is it so among the negroes of Africa; it is even more rare -there than in Melanesia, but there also it does not constitute a -marriage. Women are carried off just in the same way as other things -are carried off. Thus the Damara Hottentots often steal wives from the -Namaquois Hottentots.[222] Among the Mandingos and the Timanis there is -no marriage by capture, properly speaking; already they purchase the -daughter from her parents, without, of course, consulting her; then the -intending purchaser, aided by his friends, carries off his acquisition -in a brutal manner, whether she will or not. It is a simple commercial -affair; the daughter is an exchange value representing a certain number -of jars of palm wine, of stuffs, etc. - -Amongst the natives of America brutal rape was, or still is, very -common. In Terra del Fuego, the young Fuegians carry off a woman as -soon as they are able to construct or procure a canoe.[223] From tribe -to tribe the Patagonians at war exterminate the men and carry off the -women. The Oen Patagonians make incursions every year at the time of -“the red leaf” on the Fuegians to seize their women, their dogs, and -their weapons.[224] The Indians on the banks of the Amazon and Orinoco -continually capture women, and thus every tribe is sometimes nearly -without women and sometimes overflowing with them.[225] The Caribs so -frequently procured wives in this way that their women did not often -speak the language of the men.[226] In the Redskin tribe of the Mandans -the rape of young women was a perpetual cause of trouble, of disorder, -and of vengeance, proportioned to the power and to the anger of the -relations of the ravished woman.[227] - -We find similar customs among savage or barbarous peoples nearly -everywhere. The Tartars, says Barnes, make their wives of the prisoners -that they capture in battles.[228] - -The Code of Manu also mentions this primitive mode of union more or -less conjugal:--“When a young girl is carried off by force from the -parental house, weeping and crying for succour, and those who oppose -this violence are killed or wounded, and a breach is made in the walls, -this mode (of marriage) is called that of the giants.”[229] - -The Bible relates several facts of the same kind. Thus the tribe of -Benjamin procured themselves wives by massacring the inhabitants of -Jabez-Gilead and capturing four hundred of their virgins. Another time -the Benjamites practised a Sabine rape in carrying off the women during -a feast near Bethel. - -The Israelites, having vanquished the Midianites, killed all the -men, according to the Semitic custom, and took away the cattle, the -children, and the women.[230] But Moses, always directly inspired by -the Lord, ordered them to put to death the women and even the male -children, and to keep the young girls and virgins.[231] There were -sixteen thousand maidens, of whom thirty-two were reserved for the -Lord’s share, which doubtless means for the priests. Of the sheep, -oxen, asses, and maidens that remained, Moses further deducted the -fiftieth part, which he gave to the Levites of the tabernacle.[232] - -This ferocity and this coarse assimilation of captured women to cattle -are not peculiar to the people of God, but prevailed amongst the -primitive Arabs,[233] or rather amongst all the Semites, who were still -savage or barbarous. - -Capture in war has, besides, been largely practised by all races and -throughout the world. An old Irish poem, the “Duan Eiranash,” speaks -of three hundred women carried off by the Picts from the Gaels, who, -finding themselves thus deprived of their women by a single blow, -allied themselves then with the Irish. - -I will confine myself to these examples, gleaned from all parts, and -which it would be easy to multiply. They amply suffice to establish -that in primitive societies woman, being held in very low esteem, is -absolutely reduced to the level of chattels and of domestic animals; -that she represents a booty like any other; that her master can use -and abuse her without fear. But in these bestial practices there is -nothing which approaches, even distantly, to marriage, and we are not -in the least warranted to call these brutal rapes marriages. Even in -the countries where a true marriage exists, the customs and the laws -tolerate for a long time the introduction into the house of the husband -of captured slaves, who are treated by the master as concubines by -the side of the legitimate wife or wives. The heroes of Homer profit -largely by this legal tolerance, and when the Clytemnestra of Æschylus -justifies herself for having killed her husband, she alleges, among -other extenuating circumstances, the intimacy of Agamemnon with his -slave Cassandra. - -Assuredly in all this there is no marriage. We shall presently see that -in many countries the concubinate, legal and patent, has co-existed, or -co-exists, by the side of marriage without being confounded with it. -It is important to reserve the name of _marriage by capture_ to legal -and pacific marriage, in the ceremonial of which we find practices -recalling or simulating by survival the primitive rape of woman. - - -II. _Marriage by Capture._ - -It is to be observed that this symbolic rape does not always signify -that the capture of the woman has preceded pacific conjugal union. It -represents especially a mental survival, the tradition of an epoch, -more or less distant, when violence was held in high esteem, and when -it was glorious to procure slaves for all sorts of labour by force of -arms. In the countries where the ceremonial of capture exists, the -fine times of rape are generally somewhat gone by, but the mind is -still haunted by it, and even in peaceful marriages, after the contract -or bargain is concluded, men like to symbolise in the ceremonial the -rapes of former days, which they cannot and dare not any longer commit. -These practices have also another bearing: they signify that the bride, -then nearly always purchased from her parents, must be in complete -subjection to the master that has been given her, and occupy the -humblest place in the conjugal house. - -For all these reasons the symbolic ceremonial of capture has been, or -is still, in use with many races at the celebration of their marriages. -In some degree it is found all over the world. Among the Esquimaux of -Cape York the marriages are arranged in a friendly way by the parents -of the future couple, and nevertheless, from the infancy of the latter, -the conjugal ceremony must simulate a capture. The future bride must -fly, must defend herself with her feet and hands, scream at the height -of her voice, until her new master has succeeded in taking her to his -hut, where she at once settles happily.[234] - -In the same way, in Greenland the bridegroom captures his bride, or has -her captured for him; and in the latter case he has recourse to the -help of two or three old women.[235] - -With the Indians of Canada, where sometimes a true marriage is -concluded in presence of the chief of the tribe, when he has pronounced -the matrimonial formula, “the husband turns round, stoops down, -takes his wife on his back, and carries her to his tent, amid the -acclamations of the spectators.”[236] - -Some Redskin tribes, observed by Lafitau, symbolised rape even in the -intimate relations between young couples. The husband was obliged -to enter the wigwam of his wife in the night; it would be a grave -impropriety for him to approach it in the day-time.[237] - -In ancient Guatemala, where marriages were celebrated with a certain -pomp, the father of the bridegroom sent a deputation of friends to seek -the bride, and one of these messengers had to take the girl on his -shoulders and carry her to an appointed spot, near the house of the -bridegroom.[238] - -In Asia, over the vast Mongol region extending from Kamtschatka to the -country of the Turcomans, the ceremonial of capture is always held in -honour. - -This symbolism of capture is especially curious with the -Kamtschatdales. There it is not as a conqueror that the husband enters -the family of the wife, since he must first do an act of servitude, -find the parents of the girl he desires, put himself at their service, -and take his part in the domestic labour. This period of probation -may last a long time, even years,[239] and surely it is a singular -prelude to a marriage by violent capture. However, when the time of the -novitiate is over, the future husband is allowed to triumph violently -and publicly over the resistance of his bride. She is armed with thick -garments, one over the other, and with straps and cords. Besides this -she is guarded and defended by the women of the _iourte_. However, the -marriage is not definitely concluded until the bridegroom, surmounting -all these obstacles, succeeds in effecting on his well-defended bride a -sort of outrage on modesty, that she herself must acknowledge by crying -_ni ni_ in a plaintive tone. But the girls and women of the guard fall -on the assailant with great cries and blows, tear his hair, scratch -his face, and sometimes throw him. Victory often necessitates repeated -assaults and many days of combat. When at last it is gained, and the -bride has herself acknowledged it, the marriage is settled, and is -consummated the same evening in the _iourte_ of the bride, who is not -taken to her husband’s house till the next day.[240] - -The ceremonial of capture still continues in the marriages of the -Kalmucks, the Tungouses, and the Turcomans, but has become less coarse. - -With the Kalmucks the girl is first bought from her father, and -then, after a pretended resistance, is carried away on a horse ready -saddled.[241] The custom varies: sometimes it is enough to place the -bride, by force, on a horse; sometimes she flees, always on horseback, -but is pursued and caught by the bridegroom, who consummates the -marriage on the spot, and then conducts his prize to his tent.[242] - -The Tungouses, coarser still, proceed by an attempt on modesty, as with -the Kamtschatdales; the bridegroom must attack his bride and tear her -clothes.[243] - -With the Turcomans, marriage can be concluded with or without the -consent of the parents. In the latter case, the young people fly and -seek refuge in a neighbouring _obah_. They are always well received -there, and remain a month or six weeks. During this time the elders -of the two _obahs_ negotiate an arrangement with the parents; they -agree on the price of the girl, who afterwards returns to the paternal -domicile; she must remain six months or a year, or even longer, before -living with her husband, and during all this time he may only see her -secretly. Sometimes the flight is executed with the previous consent -of the parents, and then it is no more than a symbolic capture,[244] a -comedy. - -In reality rape, more or less real, is often replaced by a simple -ceremonial with the greater part of the nomads of Central Asia, and -notably the Turcomans. Then the young girl, clothed in her bridal -costume, bestrides a fiery horse, which she puts to a gallop, having -at the saddle a kid or a lamb freshly killed. The bridegroom and all -the wedding guests, also on horseback, pursue the future wife, who, -by clever turns and evolutions, hides herself, and hinders them from -seizing the animal she has carried off.[245] All this is plainly the -mere mimic of rape, and there is in these divers customs a designed -gradation: at first the actual stealing of the girl, with the -understanding that the affair will not end tragically; then a stealing -that may be called legal, as it is authorised by the parents; at length -the simple ceremony symbolic of rape by violence. - -Customs very similar to these are found with a certain number of the -aborigines of Bengal. - -The Kurmis and other _sudras_ celebrate marriage by a pretended -combat. Sometimes the bridegrooms mark their foreheads with blood, -which seems, indeed, to be the origin of the singular and nearly -universal custom in India of the _sindradan_,[246] consisting of -marking the forehead of the bride with vermilion. The vermilion has -apparently replaced the blood, and the blood may, and doubtless does, -symbolise a violent rape. - -With the Mecks and the Kacharis, the bridegroom, accompanied by his -friends, goes to the house of his future bride; he there meets the -friends of the latter, and the two troupes simulate a combat, in which -the future husband is always victor; the bride finishes by being -carried off, and her husband has only to feast the friends of both -parties, and pay the father the price of the girl.[247] - -With the Soligas, the man carries away the young girl with her consent, -and goes, like the Mongols, to a neighbouring village to pass the -time of the honeymoon, after which the couple return home and give a -feast.[248] - -The custom of simulated capture still exists among other aboriginal -tribes of India, the Khonds, Badagas, etc. - -It is evident that in primitive humanity, to carry off a woman with -armed violence was considered a glorious exploit, since in the most -diverse races pacific marriage assumes, with such good will, the -pretence of violent conquest. - -In New Zealand, in order to marry a girl, a man applied either to her -father or nearest relation; then, consent being obtained, he ravished -his future bride, who was bound to resist energetically. As the New -Zealand women were robust, the contest, however courteous it might be, -was severe; the clothes of the girl were generally torn to shreds, and -it sometimes took hours to drag her a hundred yards.[249] - -Sometimes the mother of the bride interfered. Mr. Yate mentions a case -of this kind. It relates to a mother quite content with the marriage -of her daughter, but obliged by custom to make a show of violent -opposition. The newly-married couple, on coming out of the church, for -they were converted, met the old woman, vociferating and tearing her -hair, and abusing the missionary, but telling him at the same time in a -low voice not to mind, for she was not serious.[250] - -In certain districts of New Zealand the future husband was obliged -literally to carry off the girl. When the marriage was negotiated and, -in principle, concluded, all the relatives watched the _fiancée_ with -the greatest care, and held themselves in readiness to defend her. The -young man had to seize his bride at all costs by force of arms; his -honour depended on it, and often he suffered severely in conducting his -glorious enterprise to a successful end.[251] - -The ceremonial of capture evidently springs from customs of rape, -whether ancient or not; it is, therefore, quite natural to meet with -razzias among the Bedouins, as among all of their race. With the -Bedouins of Sinai, the comedy is played to the life. The bridegroom, -accompanied by a couple of friends, attacks the girl when she is -leading the flocks home. She defends herself vigorously by throwing -stones, and is esteemed according to the amount of energy she shows. -At length they finish by taking her to the tent of her father, where -the name of her future husband is proclaimed. After this the girl -is dressed as a bride, placed on a camel, all the time feigning -resistance, and conducted to the encampment. A feast and presents -terminate the ceremony.[252] - -With the Mezeyn Arabs things are pushed further. The girl, in the -so-called capture, evades pursuit and takes refuge in the mountains, -where her friends have prepared provisions for her beforehand. The -bridegroom rejoins his future wife in her retreat, and it is there -that the marriage is consummated. After this the couple return to the -paternal domicile, which the woman, unless she is with child, does not -quit for a year. - -The matrimonial comedy is not always so complicated. With the Amezas -the bride only runs from tent to tent, and is at last conducted by -several women to a tent prepared at some distance; her bridegroom -awaits her there, but he has to force her to enter it; that done, the -women retire.[253] - -With the Moors of Java, relates Schouten, the father of the bride -carries her, all swathed up, to the bridegroom. The latter, aided by -two of his paranymphs, lifts her on a horse and rides away with her. -Once arrived at his house he hides his wife there and goes off, without -thanking his assistants and friends. - -Many European races have also practised the ceremonial of marriage -by capture. The Bœotians, says Pausanias, conducted the wives to the -house of the husband in a chariot, of which they afterwards solemnly -burnt the pole, to indicate that the woman was henceforth the property -of her master, and was never to think of quitting his abode. But in -ancient Greece it was at Sparta especially that the nuptial ceremony of -capture was practised.[254] A frequently quoted passage from Plutarch’s -_Life of Lycurgus_ gives us details on this point. “In their marriages -the bridegroom carried off the bride by violence; and she was never -chosen in a tender age, but when she had arrived at full maturity. Then -the woman that had the direction of the wedding cut the bride’s hair -close to the skin, dressed her in a man’s clothes, laid her upon a -mattress, and left her in the dark. The bridegroom, neither oppressed -with wine nor enervated with luxury, but perfectly sober, as having -always supped at the common table, went in privately, untied her -girdle, and carried her to another bed. Having stayed there a short -time, he modestly retired to his usual apartment to sleep with the -other young men, and observed the same conduct afterwards, spending the -day with his companions and reposing himself with them in the night, -nor even visiting his bride but with great caution and apprehensions -of being discovered by the rest of the family; the bride at the same -time exerted all her art to contrive convenient opportunities for their -private meetings,” etc.[255] - -At Rome the ceremonial of capture was kept up for a long time in the -plebeian marriages, without confarreation or coemption. As in so -many other countries, they played the comedy of the carrying off -of the bride by the bridegroom with the pretended resistance of the -mother and the relations.[256] In the more respectable marriages the -ceremonial of capture was simplified, but still very significant. The -hair of the bride was separated with the point of a javelin (_hasta -celibaris_),[257] and for this symbolic ceremony a javelin that -had pierced the body of a gladiator was preferred. Then the bride, -conducted to the house of her husband, was to enter it without touching -the threshold; she was lifted over it.[258] It is curious to find -this same custom in China now in our own day, and we can hardly help -recognising in it the symbolic embodiment of capture. - -A similar ceremonial is always practised in Circassia. In the midst of -a feast the bridegroom enters, escorted by his friends, and carries off -his bride, who henceforth becomes his wife.[259] - -Moreover, as at Sparta, the newly-married Circassian must not visit the -wife, except in secret, for a whole year--a term evidently fixed, as at -Sparta, for the period of probable pregnancy.[260] - -It is not very long ago that a ceremonial of the same kind was observed -quite near us, in Wales. On the day fixed, the bridegroom and his -friends, all on horseback, came to take the bride; but they found -themselves in the presence of the friends of the young girl, also on -horseback, and a mock fight ensued, during which the future wife fled -on the crupper of the horse of her nearest relative. But instantly the -squadron of the bridegroom, counting sometimes two or three hundred -horse, galloped in pursuit. Finally they rejoined the fugitive, and all -was terminated by a feast and common rejoicings.[261] - -In Livonia every marriage was also the occasion of a simulated -combat of cavalry, as with the Welsh, but it took place before the -marriage.[262] In Poland also, and in Lithuania and Russia, the seizure -of the girl often preceded marriage. - -I shall here end the enumeration of these customs, which are all -manifestly symbolical of capture. We still find the trace of it even -in the Brittany of to-day, where the representative of the husband, -the _bazvalan_, and the parents of the _fiancée_ sing, alternately, -strophes of a marriage song, in which the one asks and the others -refuse the bride, offering in her stead either a younger sister, or the -mother or grandmother.[263] Our inquiry is terminated; it remains now -to ask what is the meaning of this ceremonial so widely spread in all -ages and in all countries. - - -III. _Signification of the Ceremonial of Capture._ - -The author of an interesting book on primitive marriage, Mr. McLennan, -and after him a great number of sociologists, have concluded that in -savage societies sexual unions or associations have been generally -effected by the violent capture of the woman, that by degrees these -captures have become friendly ones, and have at length ended in a -peaceful exogamy, retaining the ancient custom only in the ceremonial -form. - -It is quite possible to have been thus in a certain number of -countries; but we must beware of seeing in this a necessary and general -evolution. Surely savage hordes and tribes naturally carry off the -women and girls of their neighbours and enemies, the little groups -with whom they are incessantly struggling for existence. They seize -their women as they do everything else, and impose on the captives -the unenviable _rôle_ of slaves-of-all-work. Given the brutality of -primitive man, the fate of the captured woman is necessarily of the -hardest, and it is natural that the woman of the tribe should not -solicit it. Thus, with or without reason, the Australian fells to the -ground his captured wife, pierces her limbs with his javelin, etc. A -stranger, a prisoner, violently brought into a society where she cannot -count on a single friend, will evidently be more resigned to this -bad treatment, and can nearly always be made to submit to it without -resistance. But we must not accept this as a sufficient explanation of -exogamy. We have seen that the Australian, accustomed to primitive -rape in all its brutality, only has recourse to it when he cannot -procure by simple barter the woman he covets. - -There is certainly great temptation to capture a woman. A man thereby -escapes paying a price for her to her parents, which is the rule in -nearly all savage countries, but the operation is not effected without -risk and reprisals more or less dangerous, so that before undertaking -it he thinks twice. - -We must be careful not to confound rape with marriage; nothing is more -distinct with savage and even with civilised men. Perhaps even the -dangers and the inconveniences of brutal capture have given rise to the -idea of primitive conjugal barter, of a peaceful agreement by which a -girl was ceded to a man for a compensation agreed upon. In principle -this commercial transaction left to the husband the greater part of -the rights he would have acquired by violent capture; but, in reality, -these rights were necessarily mitigated, for the woman, being thus -ceded in a friendly manner, was not completely abandoned by her own -people. - -Thus in Polynesia, or at least in New Zealand, the husband who murdered -his wife, although he had purchased her, incurred the revenge of her -relations, unless she was guilty of adultery.[264] It was often thus, -but not always, however; for with the Fijians, in delivering a daughter -to the purchaser, the father or the brother said to the future husband, -“If you become discontented with her, sell her, kill her, eat her; you -are her absolute master.”[265] Much nearer home, in ancient Russia, the -father at the moment of marriage gave his daughter some strokes with a -whip, saying, “Henceforth, if you are not obedient, your husband will -beat you.”[266] - -Such customs show us plainly why, in so many countries, symbolic -practices recalling violent capture are kept up in the ceremony of -marriage. In the first place, by reason even of the dangers to which -it exposed the ravisher, rape was considered a brilliant action, and -pleasure was felt in simulating it. But besides and beyond all, the -ceremonial of capture symbolised also the subjection of the woman -sold or ceded by her parents; it sanctioned the very excessive rights -that the husband acquired over the wife. As a rule, the ceremonial of -capture coincides with a very great subjection of the woman, even where -it is only a very distant survival. At Sparta, for example, the wife -might still be lent by the husband, and it was the same in ancient -Rome, where she was, according to the legal expression, _in manu_, -assimilated to slaves, and where the _pater familias_ had the right of -life and death over her. - -We are, therefore, warranted in believing that in civilised countries -where conjugal legislation is still derived from the Roman law, the -subordinate position assigned to woman is the last vestige of primitive -marriage by capture or by rape, attenuated to a purchase, as practised -in the earliest times of the Romans. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[213] _Daily Life and Origin of the Tasmanians_, p. 65. - -[214] Dumont d’Urville, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, vol. xviii. p. -225.--Oldfield, _Trans. Ethn. Soc._, vol. iii. p. 250. - -[215] _Chambers’s Journal_, p. 22 (October 1861). - -[216] Collins, _English Colony in New South Wales_, p. 362. - -[217] G. Grey, _Travels in North-Western Australia_, vol. ii. p. 249. - -[218] _Chambers’s Journal_, 1864. - -[219] _Notices on the Indian Archipelago_, p. 90. - -[220] Williams, _Fiji and the Fijians_, vol. i. p. 174. - -[221] McLennan, _Primitive Marriage_, p. 321. - -[222] Campbell, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, vol. xxix. p. 343. - -[223] Laing, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, vol. xxviii. p. 31. - -[224] Fitzroy, _Voy. Beagle_, vol. ii. p. 182. - -[225] Fitzroy, _loc. cit._, vol. ii. p. 205. - -[226] McLennan, _loc. cit._, p. 48. - -[227] McLennan, _Primitive Marriage_, p. 71.--Lewis and Clarke, -_Travels to the Source of the Missouri River_, vol. i. p. 231. - -[228] _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, vol. xxvii. p. 130. - -[229] _Code of Manu_, book iii. p. 33. - -[230] Numbers, ch. xxxi. ver. 7-9. - -[231] _Ibid._ ver. 15-18. - -[232] _Ibid._ ver. 40-47. - -[233] R. Smith, _Kinship_, etc. - -[234] T. Hayes, _The Open Sea at the Pole_, pp. 448, 449. - -[235] Egede, _History of Greenland_, p. 143. - -[236] Carver, _Travels_, p. 374. - -[237] Lafitau, _Mœurs des Sauvages Américains_, t. I^{er.} p. 576. - -[238] Bancroft, _Native Races_, etc., vol. ii. p. 668. - -[239] Kotzebue (_Deuxième Voyage_), _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xvii. p. -392. - -[240] Beniouski, _Hist Univ. des Voy._, t. xxxi. p. 408. - -[241] H. de Hell, _Travels in the Steppes of the Caspian Sea_, p. 289. - -[242] Clarke, _Travels_, etc., vol. i. p. 433. - -[243] Erman, _Travels in Siberia_, vol. ii. p. 372. - -[244] Fraser’s _Journey_, vol. ii. pp. 372-375. - -[245] A. Vambéry, _Voy. d’un faux Derviche_, p. 295. - -[246] Dalton, _Ethn. Bengal_, p. 319. - -[247] _Id._, _ibid._ p. 86. - -[248] Buchanan, _Journey from Madras_, vol. ii. p. 178. - -[249] Earle, _Residence in New Zealand_, p. 244. - -[250] Yate, _New Zealand_, p. 96. - -[251] Moerenhout, _Voy. aux îles du Grand Océan_, t. ii. p. 68. - -[252] Burckhardt, _Notes_, vol. i. p. 263. - -[253] Burckhardt, _Notes_, vol. i. p. 107. - -[254] Démeunier, _Esprit des Différents Peuples_, t. I^{er.} p. 296. - -[255] Plutarch, _Life of Lycurgus_. - -[256] Apuleius, _Golden Ass_, iv. - -[257] Plutarch, _Romulus_.--Ovid, _Fastes_, ii. - -[258] Lucan, ii.--Virgil, _Æneid_, iv. - -[259] Louis Moser, _The Caucasus and its People_, p. 31. - -[260] Wake, _Evolution of Morality_, vol. i. p. 401. - -[261] Lord Kames, _Sketches of the Hist. of Man_, book i., sec. 6. - -[262] _Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus_ (1555), lib. xiv. cap. 2. - -[263] La Villemarqué, _Barzas Breis_. - -[264] _Voyage de l’Astrolabe._ - -[265] Moerenhout, _Voy. aux îles_, t. ii. p. 62. - -[266] Démeunier, t. I^{er.} p. 191. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -MARRIAGE BY PURCHASE AND BY SERVITUDE. - - I. _The Power of Parents._--The hypothesis of a primitive - matriarchate--Maternal filiation and the condition of the - woman--Parental right of property in children--Conjugal sales of - little girls in Africa, Polynesia, America, and India. - - II. _Marriage by Servitude._--Labour and exchange value--Marriage by - servitude with the Redskins, in Central America, in India, with the - Hebrews--Influence of marriage by servitude on the condition of the - woman. - - III. _Marriage by Purchase._--With the Hottentots and the Kaffirs - in Middle Africa, in Polynesia, in America, with the Mongols in - China, with the aborigines of India, with the Berbers, the Hindoos - in Malasia, and in Greco-Roman antiquity--Dowry marriage--Moral - signification of marriage by purchase. - - -I. _The Power of Parents._ - -Marriage by capture, that is to say, the custom of rape, necessarily -supposes a profound disdain for the ravished woman, and the antipathies -or sympathies she may feel. It is indeed the truth that, as far back -as we can carry our historical and ethnographical investigations, we -find, with very rare exceptions, the subjection of woman is the rule -in all human societies, and that the more backward the civilisation -the harder was the subjection. Some sociologists have pretended that -maternal filiation implied for the woman a sort of golden age--a reign -of Amazons--during which the woman, as centre of the family, must have -been honoured as its chief. All we know of ethnography gives the lie to -this hypothesis. In the present day the matriarchate does not anywhere -exist, but maternal kinship does, and we do not find that it involves -a milder condition for the woman. This system of filiation necessarily -indicates a gross state of society, in which paternity is still -uncertain. Now, as a rule, the subjection of woman is in inverse ratio -to the development of man. In primitive societies, where might is the -only right, the woman, on account of her relative weakness, is always -treated with extreme brutality. It would be difficult, without losing -all human quality whatever, to be less intelligent than the Australian, -and equally difficult to imagine a more cruel servitude than that of -the Australian woman, always beaten, often wounded, sometimes killed -and eaten, according to the convenience of her owner. The Fijians, much -more intelligent than the Australians, amused themselves with beating -their mother, and with binding their wives to trees in order to whip -them.[267] A Fijian named Loti, simply to make himself notorious, -devoured his wife, after having cooked her on a fire that he had forced -her to light herself.[268] No kind of ferocious caprice was condemned -by the morality of the country. But such manners are as far as possible -from being consistent with the idea of a matriarchal society, in which -a place of honour is accorded to the wife. - -In primitive societies the condition of children is, if possible, still -more subordinate than that of woman. Infanticide at the moment of -birth is not even a venial fault. And later, the parents exercise the -undisputed right of life and death over their progeny; and when slavery -is instituted, the children become a veritable article of merchandise. -In short, the rights of a father of a family are unlimited. - -From this primitive right of property accorded to the parents over -their children has resulted quite naturally all over the world the -right of marrying them without consulting them at all. Moreover, as -it had long been the custom to sell them, marriage was naturally -considered as a commercial bargain, and by degrees marriage by purchase -even took the place of marriage by capture, but after having long -co-existed with it. Capture and purchase had each their advantages -and disadvantages. Capture cost nothing, and it procured wives and -concubines over whom the husband had every possible right; but, in -practice, it was not exempt from danger, and once accomplished, it -exposed him still to revenge and retaliation. Men became resigned, -therefore, to the purchase of the wife, as soon as they could dispose -of some exchange-values; and as nothing, absolutely nothing, was -any obstacle to the caprice or avidity of the parents, the most -unreasonable marriages were often negotiated, and notably the marriages -of children. - -This custom of selling children, especially girls, for a future -conjugal association is very common all over the world. - -In New Caledonia the children are betrothed by the parents almost from -the moment of birth.[269] In Africa, among the black races, and notably -the Hottentots, whose women age fast, the prudent men retain, years in -advance, the little girls destined to succeed their actual wives.[270] -In Ashantee little girls of ten and twelve thus sold are already -legally considered the wives of the acquirer, although they have not -yet left their mothers, and any familiarity taken with them by another -man is punished by a fine paid to the future owner.[271] - -In Polynesia, also, the fathers, mothers, and relatives arranged the -conjugal unions of the children years before these unions were actually -possible.[272] - -With the Moxos and the Chiquitos of South America premature marriages -were such a settled order of things that there were no celibates above -the age of fourteen for the men and twelve for the women. The Jesuit -missionaries in America had completely adopted this native custom, -and they often married young girls of ten to boys of twelve years. -Naturally these child marriages entailed sometimes equally precocious -widowhood. D’Orbigny states that he has seen among these tribes a -widower of twelve and a widow of ten years.[273] - -In the time of Marco Polo the Tartars of Asia celebrated marriages -that were more singular still--the marriages of deceased children. The -families drew up the contract as if their children had been living, -solemnly celebrated a symbolic wedding, then burned not less solemnly -the fictitious contract, which would be, they thought, the means of -holding it good in the other world for the vanished young couple. -Thenceforward an alliance existed between the contracting families as -if the marriage had been real.[274] - -Among the Reddies of India a young woman from sixteen to twenty years -old is frequently married to a little boy of five or six. The wife -then goes to live either with the father, or with an uncle, or a -maternal cousin of her future husband. The children resulting from -these extra-conjugal unions are attributed to the boy, who is reputed -to be the legal husband. When once this boy has reached manhood his -legitimate wife is old, and then he in his turn unites himself to the -wife of another boy, for whom he also raises up pseudo-legitimate -children.[275] - -Child-marriages, at least of little girls, are still very common in -India amongst the Brahmins, and it is not unusual to see sexagenarian -Brahmins marry little girls of six or seven years, for whom they pay -money.[276] - -On this point, as on most others, our European ancestors have not been -more delicate than the savage or barbarous races of other countries. -Thus Plutarch tells us that in ancient Italy the girls were often -married before the age of twelve years, but that they did not become -wives before that age.[277] - -At the present day the Russian peasants still frequently act like the -Reddies of India, and it is not rare to see, under the _Mir_ system, -young boys of eight or ten years married to women of twenty-five or -thirty. Very often, in this case, the chief of the family becomes the -effective husband of the woman while the legal husband is growing -up.[278] - - -II. _Marriage by Servitude._ - -From all these facts we may evidently conclude that in societies of -little or no cultivation the children are left absolutely to the -discretion of the parents. The latter, having every possible right over -their progeny, consider them as a property, and think it no crime to -sell their daughters, pubescent or not, as soon as they constitute a -negotiable value. This sale of daughters is even the most widely spread -form of primitive marriage, or of what it is convenient to call so. In -societies of some degree of civilisation, where exchange-values exist, -as domestic animals, stores of provisions, or slaves, the sale of a -daughter is argued and debated like any other transaction, and the -merchandise is delivered for the price agreed on. In a more primitive -state of civilisation, when man subsists chiefly by the chase, or -fishing from day to day, and is not always rich enough to buy a wife, -the exchange-values considered equivalent of the required daughter are -often replaced by a certain amount of labour or services rendered to -the parents, and hence results a special form of marriage--marriage by -servitude. - -This mode of marriage was not uncommon with the Indians of North -America. Sometimes the future husband engaged to serve the parents of -the girl for a fixed period of time. He hunted for them, hollowed out -or constructed canoes, or where agriculture was practised he cultivated -the land.[279] Sometimes the husband was not entirely enslaved; he had -only to give to his wife’s parents a part of the produce of the chase, -and he was not exempt from this tribute till a daughter was born to -him, who became, by way of indemnity, the property of the maternal -uncle of his wife.[280] - -Often during the time of his voluntary servitude the husband remained -in the family of his wife, and he actually took the position there of a -sort of slave.[281] - -In the more civilised societies of Central America the custom of -marriage by servitude was nevertheless preserved. Among the Kenaï, the -future husband went every morning for a whole year to the house of the -parents of his betrothed to prepare the food, carry the water, or heat -the bath-chamber; then, when his year of service was over, he took away -the daughter.[282] In Yucatan the son-in-law was obliged to serve his -father-in-law for two or three years. This manner of acting even became -a general custom which it was considered immoral not to follow.[283] -With the Mayas, the bridegroom was required to build himself a house -opposite that of his future father-in-law, and he lived there five or -six years, giving his labour during all that period.[284] - -Although more common in America than elsewhere, the custom of marriage -by servitude is not confined to that continent. The Limboos and the -Kirantis of Bengal often buy their wives by giving a certain term of -labour to the father, in whose house they remain until the payment is -finished.[285] We know also that marriage by servitude is not peculiar -to savages of inferior races, since the Bible informs us that Jacob -only espoused Leah and Rachel at the price of fourteen years’ service. -Without dilating further on marriage by servitude, I shall remark by -the way that it had for its result the placing of the husband in a -subordinate position towards the woman, or at least towards the family -of the woman, in which he had so long been treated as a servant. A -certain independence was gained by the wife who had been acquired in -this manner. Thus, with the Kenaï, of whom I was speaking just now, the -woman had the right to return to her father if she was not well treated -by her husband.[286] Marriage by servitude had therefore, in fact, -a moral side; it lessened the subjection, always hard and sometimes -cruel, to which woman is liable in nearly all savage or barbarous -societies. - - -III. _Marriage by Purchase._ - -Marriage by purchase is much more widely spread than marriage by -servitude or service. All over the world, in all races and in all -times, wherever history can inform us, we find well-authenticated -examples permitting us to affirm that during the middle age of -civilisation the right of parents over children, and especially -over daughters, included in all countries the power to sell them. I -purpose to consult on this subject all the great races of mankind, and -confirmatory facts will not be wanting; I shall, indeed, have to limit -myself in giving them. - -Among the Hottentots and the Kaffirs, the exchange value of the country -being cattle, the daughters are paid for in cows or oxen, and the price -of the merchandise varies according to the fluctuations of demand and -supply. Among the Great Namaquois Levaillant saw a conjugal affair -concluded very cheaply, for a single cow;[287] but this price may be -increased tenfold.[288] With the Corannas, the man makes his request -leading an ox to the door of the girl. If he is allowed to kill the -animal, it means that his demand is granted. In the contrary case, the -suitor is sent away and sometimes stoned.[289] Hottentot girls are -sometimes sold in their own tribe, and sometimes in a neighbouring one. -At the time of Burchell’s travels there was a lively traffic in girls -between the Bachapin Hottentots and the Kora Hottentots.[290] - -According to Livingstone, among the Makalolo Kaffirs the price paid -to the father had also for its object the redemption of the right of -ownership which he would otherwise have in the children of his daughter. - -In Central Africa, in Senegambia, in the valley of the Niger, with the -Mandingoes, the Peuls, etc., marriages are reduced to the sale of the -girl by those having the right.[291] With the Timannis, says Laing, -the pretendant first brings a jar of palm wine, or a little rum, to -the parents. If his demand is favourably received the presents are -accepted, and the giver is invited to return, which he does, bringing -a second jar of wine, some kolas, some measures of stuff, and some -chaplets. All is then definitely concluded, and they announce to the -girl that she is married.[292] - -With the Moors of Senegambia conjugal sales are effected in nearly the -same manner; however, the girl has a right to refuse, but on condition -of renouncing marriage for ever, on pain of becoming the slave of her -first suitor in the case of an attempt to marry her to another.[293] -This right of refusal, limited as it is, already constitutes a notable -degree of progress which does not always exist in much more civilised -countries. We must place by the side of this some other customs in -force here and there in this region of Central Africa, confining -ourselves to the Sahara and to where the population is strongly mixed -with Berber blood. It is to be remembered that in nearly all Berber -countries the subjection of women is or has been a little less severe. - -At Sackatoo the daughter is generally consulted by her parents as a -matter of form only, for she never refuses. In the same district the -young people first obtain a mutual consent, and then that of their -parents. Among rich people the husband settles on his future wife a -dowry consisting of female slaves, sculptured calabashes filled with -millet, dourra, and rice, of cloth, bracelets, toilet articles, of -stones for grinding the grain, mortars for pounding it, etc. All these -presents are borne in great pomp, on the heads of female slaves, to the -husband’s house when the wife enters it for the first time. - -At Kouranko the young girls are often sold by their parents as -dearly as possible to rich old men. They are forced to submit, but, -once widows, they resume their liberty and recoup themselves by -choosing at will a young husband, on whom they lavish their care -and attentions.[294] Now we shall find that in many civilisations -relatively advanced, widowhood even does not gratify the woman with a -liberty of which she is never thought worthy. - -At Wowow and at Boussa the emancipation of woman is markedly greater. -It is no longer the father, it is the grandmother who gives or refuses -her grand-daughter, and if the grandmother is dead, the girl is free -to act as she likes.[295] This fact, if correct, is infinitely more -curious than all the others, and it ought to rejoice the sociologists -full of faith, who admit in a distant antiquity the existence of a -matriarchal _régime_ assigning to woman the chief place in the family. -But let us continue our inquiry. - -In Polynesia marriage by purchase was habitual. In New Zealand the man -bought the girl, and offered presents to her parents.[296] - -Generally in Polynesia the suitor offered pigs, stuffs, etc. If his -demand was granted, the bargain was quickly concluded; the girl was -there and then delivered to the husband; a Polynesian bed was arranged -in the house of the bride’s father, and the newly-married couple passed -the night there. The next day a feast was celebrated, to which friends -were invited, and which consisted of several pigs.[297] - -At Tahiti temporary marriages were also concluded, and in this case the -presents of pigs, stuffs, pigeons, etc., varied in amount according to -the length of the union.[298] - -But, in spite of the sale, the Polynesian father always retained over -his daughter the prior right of ownership, and when the presents seemed -to him to be insufficient, he took back the merchandise to let or sell -it to a more generous lover. If a child was born, the husband was free -to kill the infant, which was done by applying a piece of wet stuff -to the mouth and nose, or to let it live, but in the latter case he -generally kept the wife for the whole of her life. If the union was -sterile, or the children put to death, the man had always the right to -abandon the woman when and how it seemed good to him.[299] She was a -slave that he had bought, and that he could get rid of at will.[300] - -On the great American continent, from north to south the custom of -the sale of the daughter is common to a great number of peoples. With -the Redskins female merchandise is generally paid for in horses and -blankets. When the daughter had been sold to a white man and then -abandoned, as frequently happened, the parents resumed possession of -her, and sold her a second time. - -In Columbia what was most prized was the aptitude of the woman for -labour, and her qualities as a beast of burden were worth to her -parents a greater or less number of horses.[301] - -Among the Redskins of northern California the girls were bought and -sold like any other articles, and there was no thought of consulting -them in the matter. The price was paid to the father, and the girl was -led off simply as if it were a horse-sale. Poor suitors naturally had -to give way to rich ones, and hence all the opulent old men obtained -all the beautiful young women.[302] There was no nuptial ceremony. -However, with the Modocs, the conclusion of the business is marked by a -feast, but the newly-married couple take no part in it. - -The Redskin parents do not always entirely abandon their married -daughter, and if she is too ill-treated by her owner, they have the -right to take her back, and then of course to sell her to some one -else.[303] Socialist customs sometimes co-exist with these gross -conjugal ones. The nuptial abode is often prepared by the tribe, or, -as in Columbia, the friends join in paying to the father the price of -the daughter.[304] The Californian suitors sometimes obtain a wife on -credit; but then the man is called “half-married,” and is forced to -live as a slave with the parents of the girl until he has concluded -the payment, for there is no essential difference between marriage by -servitude and marriage by purchase. In America, as elsewhere, morality -is simply the expression of habits and needs, and thus the purchase -of the wife has ended by becoming an honourable thing; and among the -Californian Redskins the children of a wife who has cost nothing to her -husband are looked down on.[305] - -The Papayos of New Mexico are not content with selling their daughters -by private contract; they put them up to auction.[306] As for the -inhabitants of those curious Neo-Mexican phalansteries called -_pueblos_, as they are much more advanced than the greater part of -their American congeners, their matrimonial customs are less gross; -and the suitor, when accepted by the parents, tries to charm his -bride by daily serenades lasting for hours--a rare thing in savage -countries.[307] - -With the half-civilised tribes of Guatemala and Nicaragua conjugal -unions were also determined according to the presents made to the -parents, and in Guatemala the young people were both kept in ignorance -of the affair until the last moment.[308] In Nicaragua, however, there -existed a curious exception in certain towns, where at a particular -festival the young girls had the right to choose their husbands freely -from among the young men present.[309] - -With the Moxos and the Guaranis the price paid to the parents is still -the decisive reason of the marriage.[310] However, the Guaranis also -exact from the husband proofs of virile qualities in the chase and in -war.[311] The struggle for existence is still severe, and in order -to keep one or more wives a man must be able not only to feed but to -defend them. - -The Mongols of Asia buy their wives exactly like the Mongoloids of -America, of whom I have just spoken. - -Among the nomad Mongols, the Tartars of northern Asia, the parents -arrange the marriages with absolute authority, and without consulting -the parties more especially interested. The bargain is sharply debated -between the parents, and the price to be paid by the husband or his -family is very precisely settled; the future couple are not even -informed of it, their sentiments, their desires, or dislikes, are not -considered in the least. The price of the girl is paid in cattle, -sheep, oxen, or horses; in pieces of stuff, in brandy, in butter, in -flour, etc. Everything being agreed on, the contract of sale is drawn -up before witnesses, but the girl is only delivered to the purchaser -after the ceremony of marriage, which, as we have previously seen, -takes the form of capture.[312] - -The Turcomans have customs very similar to those of the Tartars. -With them the price of the girl is chiefly reckoned in camels, and -it generally takes five to pay for a girl; but as in their eyes the -woman is not an object of luxury, as she not only has to manage the -housekeeping but to manufacture articles which have an exchange -value, and which are profitable to the family, experienced women and -widows, provided they are passable, are much more sought for in the -conjugal market than young girls. It is no longer five camels, but -fifty, or even a hundred, that must be paid for a widow still in good -condition.[313] If the suitor cannot immediately get together the price -of the woman he covets, he has recourse to marriage by capture, and -takes refuge with his bride in a neighbouring camp. - -A settlement is always effected, matters are compounded, and the -ravisher engages to pay a certain number of camels and horses, which -he generally procures by marauding on the frontiers of Persia. It is -a veritable debt of honour for him, and he must pay it with the least -possible delay.[314] - -These barbarous customs of Mongolia are naturally softened in China, -but without any essential change in their main features. There, as well -as in Tartary, the young girl is considered as the property of her -parents, and her training is so perfect that she has not the slightest -desire to be consulted before being married, or rather sold, for ready -money.[315] In the Chinese family, daughters count for so little value -that they are only called by ordinal numbers--first-born, second-born, -etc.--to which is added a surname.[316] The price of the daughter when -purchased is paid to the parents in two separate portions--the first on -the conclusion of the agreement and the signing of the contract, and -the other on the wedding-day.[317] Marriage by capture has naturally -gone out of use in the old civilisation of China, but the trace of it -still remains in the ceremonial, for the bride is lifted over the -threshold of the conjugal dwelling, as was the custom in ancient Rome. - -It has appeared so natural to parents all over the world to dispose of -their daughters as they chose, that many of the aborigines of India -do nearly the same as the Mongols. The daughters are sold by the -parents among the Kolhans, the Bendkars, the Limboos, the Kirantis, the -Moundas, the Santals, the Oraons, the Muasis, the Birhors, the Hos, the -Boyars, the Nagas, the Gonds, etc.[318] The price of the girl varies -from three to fourteen rupees, or is reckoned in head of cattle or -measures of rice. Sometimes female merchandise is rare and dear, for in -some countries female infanticide has long prevailed; it may happen, -too, that daughters are condemned to celibacy, as with the Hos,[319] -or, as with the Nagas, that marriages are delayed, and that the -bridegroom must often submit to marriage by servitude.[320] Sometimes, -again, the girls are carried off, as happens among the Kolhans, by the -impatient bridegrooms, and, after the rape, arbitrators negotiate a -settlement.[321] It should be remarked, by the way, that with the Nagas -marriage by servitude has its ordinary effect, that of abasing the -husband and raising the wife; and, in fact, among these races, although -the wife performs severe labour, she is treated as the equal of her -husband.[322] - -In some aboriginal tribes of India we even find matriarchal customs. -Thus with the Pani-Koechs the husbands leave to their very industrious -wives the care of their property. In marrying, a man goes to live with -his mother-in-law, and obeys her as well as his wife. Moreover, in this -tribe the mothers negotiate the marriages; the fathers have nothing to -do with them.[323] - -Among the Yerkalas the maternal uncle has the right to claim for his -sons the two eldest daughters of his sister, or to renounce them for an -indemnity of eight images of idols.[324] - -Money, always money! With all peoples and races marriage is often -reduced to a pecuniary question. In this respect the Berbers, the -Semites, and the Aryans are not distinguished from other human types. -With certain Touaregs of the Sahara, says Duveyrier, it is the daughter -herself who indemnifies the father, and it is after the old Italian -manner, _more tusco_, that she gains the price of enfranchisement -which is necessary for her marriage. “The father, before the marriage -of his daughter, exacts from her the reimbursement, levied on her -body, of what she has cost her family ... and the girl, dishonoured -according to our ideas, but ransomed according to local ideas, is all -the more sought after, the greater her success in the commerce of her -attractions.”[325] - -In contrast to the Touaregs, the Semites, Hebrews, and Arabs, attached -and still attach an enormous value to the virginity of the bride; -but marriage was not and is not any the less for them a simple sale. -The history of Jacob’s marriage has already shown us that marriage -by servitude was practised by the ancient Hebrews. In later times -the consent of the woman became necessary, which is a great step in -advance, but the husband none the less bought his wife in some way or -other.[326] - -With contemporary Arabs marriage is a simple sale, without any -disguise. An Arab jurist gives us the formula of it, which is very -clear. It is as follows: “I sell you my daughter for such a sum.” “I -accept.” The same author says elsewhere: “The woman sells in marriage -a part of her person. In a purchase men buy an article of merchandise; -in a marriage they buy the field of procreation.”[327] It would be -impossible to speak more plainly. Nevertheless, the consent of the -woman is necessary; it is she who is supposed to sell herself, and the -price of the bargain constitutes her dowry. It was the same with the -Hebrews. - -Whatever may have been their religion, the greater number of the Aryan -peoples have also considered marriage as a commercial transaction. -The Afghan Mussulmans buy their wives, and these are regarded as a -property, so much so that in case of widowhood they cannot re-marry, -unless the second husband indemnifies the family of the first.[328] - -In Brahmanic India the daughter is also bought from the parents. A -curious verse of the Code of Manu tells us how the purchaser was -indemnified in the case of substitution of another person: “If, after -having shown a suitor a young girl, whose hand is granted to him, -another is given him to wife, and secretly brought to him, he becomes -the husband of both for the same price; such is the decision of -Manu.”[329] Things have not much changed at present. “When they wish to -signify that they are going to be married,” says an editor of _Lettres -édifiantes_, in speaking of the Hindoos, “they generally say that they -are going to buy a wife.” However, the parents do not appropriate -the entire sum paid by the purchaser; a great part of it goes to buy -jewels for the bride.[330] The ancient Malays of Sumatra had solved the -conjugal problem in three different ways. Sometimes the man bought and -led away the woman, according to the universal custom; sometimes the -woman bought the man, who then came to live with her family; sometimes -the two were married on a footing of equality.[331] We must note in -passing that this last matrimonial form is very exceptional. - -Throughout Europe, as well in Greco-Latin antiquity as among -barbarians, the young girl has formerly been considered as a negotiable -property, and marriage as a sale. - -The Sagas tell us that the Scandinavian fathers married their daughters -without consulting them--after the manner of savages--and received an -indemnity from the son-in-law.[332] - -With the Germans the daughter could not marry without the authorisation -of her father or of her nearest relative, who first received the -earnest money from the bridegroom;[333] as for the bride, she received -the _oscle_, or price of the first kiss, and then the _morgengabe_, -which constituted her dowry. In return, the German widow, like the -Afghan widow, was the property of the parents of her husband, and could -not re-marry without their authorisation.[334] - -In primitive Greece the daughter was purchased either by presents -to the father or by services rendered to him.[335] The father could -marry his daughter as he thought well, and in default of a son could -leave her by will, with the heritage of which she formed a part, to a -stranger.[336] - -At Rome also the daughter was the property of her father, and until -the time of Antoninus the father had the right to re-marry her when -the husband had been absent three years.[337] Marriage by purchase had -certainly been the primitive form of the conjugal contract. In reality -the _confarreatio_, a solemn and religious union in the presence of ten -witnesses, was a patrician marriage. The _usus_, or the consecration -of a free union after a year of cohabitation, strongly resembles the -Polynesian marriage. But the most common conjugal form, the one which -succeeded the _usus_, and surely preceded the _confarreatio_, was -marriage by purchase, the _coemptio_. - -Coemption ended in time by becoming purely symbolic; the wife was -delivered to the husband, who, as a formality, gave her a few pieces -of money; but the ceremony is none the less eloquent, and it proves -clearly that in principle the woman had been, at Rome as elsewhere, -assimilated by the parents to a thing, to a venal property. When at -Athens and at Rome an effort was made to give the married woman a -less subordinate position, nothing more was done than opposing money -to money by inventing the dowry marriage; and hence resulted other -inconveniences, on which Latin writers have largely dilated, and which -we can easily study to-day from life. But for the present I must not -speak of them. It suffices to have proved that all over the earth, in -all times and among all races, marriage by purchase has been widely -practised. - -Now, the custom of marriage by purchase has a very clear and very -important signification from a moral and social point of view. It -implies a profound contempt for woman, and her complete assimilation -to chattels, to cattle, and to things in general. On this point the -Roman law leaves no room for ambiguity, since it makes no essential -difference between the marital law and the law of property. In regard -to the woman, as in regard to goods, possession or use, continued -for a year, gave a right of ownership. When applied to things, this -possession is called _usucapion_; applied to the woman, it is called -_usus_.[338] The difference between the terms is slight; between the -facts there is none. In reality the wife and the child, especially -the female child, have been the first property possessed by man, -which has even implanted in the savage mind the taste for possession, -and the pretension to use and abuse the things left entirely to his -mercy. At Rome this became by the _jus quiritium_, for the woman the -_manus_ of the husband, and for property the _jus utendi et abutendi_ -of the proprietor. But this abuse, and this use, nearly always equally -an abuse also, have contributed not a little to deprave man and to -render him, from the origin of societies until our own day, refractory -to ideas of equity and justice, especially in what relates to the -condition of woman. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[267] Williams, _Fiji and the Fijians_, vol. i. p. 156. - -[268] Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, etc., p. 371. - -[269] De Rochas, _Nouv. Calédonie_, p. 231. - -[270] Burchell, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxvi. p. 330. - -[271] Bowdich, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxviii. p. 430. - -[272] Moerenhout, _Voy. aux îles_, etc., t. ii. p. 67. - -[273] _Homme Américain_, t. I^{er.} p. 40. - -[274] Marco Polo (Edition Populaire), p. 61. - -[275] Schortt, _Trans. Ethn. Soc._ (New Series), vol. vii. p. 194. - -[276] Sonnerat, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxxi. p. 350.--_Lettres -Edifiantes_, t. x. p. 23. - -[277] Plutarch, _Numa and Lycurgus compared_. - -[278] E. de Lavelaye, _De la Propriété_, p. 35. - -[279] Lafitau, t. I^{er.} pp. 557-560. - -[280] Domenech, _Voy. pittoresque_, etc., p. 508. - -[281] Lafitau, t. I^{er.} pp. 557-560. - -[282] H. Bancroft, _Native Races of the Pacific States_, etc., vol. i. -p. 134. - -[283] _Id., loc. cit._, vol. ii. p. 606. - -[284] _Id., ibid._ vol. i. p. 662. - -[285] _Id., ibid._ vol. i. p. 104. - -[286] _Id., ibid._ vol. i. p. 134. - -[287] Levaillant, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxiv. p. 348. - -[288] Burchell, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxvi. p. 486. - -[289] Campbell, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxix. p. 363. - -[290] Burchell, _ibid._ t. xxvi. p. 486. - -[291] _Neue Missionsreise in Süd-Afrika_, vol. i. p. 317. - -[292] Laing, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxviii. p. 31. - -[293] Clapperton, _Second Voyage_, vol. ii. p. 86. - -[294] Laing, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxxviii. p. 71. - -[295] R. J. Lauder, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxx. p. 244. - -[296] Duperrey, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xviii. p. 157. - -[297] Moerenhout, _Voy. aux îles_, etc., t. ii. p. 62. - -[298] Cook (_Third Voyage_), _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. x. p. 232. - -[299] _Id., ibid._ t. x. p. 232. - -[300] Domenech, _Voy. pittoresque_, etc., p. 511. - -[301] Bancroft, _Native Races of Pacific_, etc., vol. i. p. 276. - -[302] _Id., ibid._ vol. i. p. 349. - -[303] _Id., ibid._ vol. i. p. 412. - -[304] _Id., ibid._ vol. i. pp. 276-349. - -[305] _Id., ibid._ vol. i. p. 349. - -[306] _Id., ibid._ vol. i. p. 549. - -[307] Bancroft, _Native Races_, vol. i. p. 549. - -[308] _Id., ibid._ vol. ii. pp. 666, 667. - -[309] _Id., ibid._ ii. p. 667. - -[310] _Lettres Edifiantes_, t. x. p. 202. - -[311] A. d’Orbigny, _L’homme Américain_, t. ii. p. 307. - -[312] Timkowski, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxxii. p. 332.--Huc, -_Travels in Tartary_, vol. i. pp. 298, 299. - -[313] Fraser, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxxv. p. 118. - -[314] Burnes, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxxvii. p. 270. - -[315] _Lettres Edifiantes_, t. x. p. 138.--Huc, _Chinese Empire_, vol. -ii. p. 255. - -[316] Comte d’Hérisson, _Journal d’un interprète en Chine_, p. 7. - -[317] Huc, _Chinese Empire_, vol. ii. p. 256. - -[318] Dalton, _Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal_, passim. - -[319] _Id., ibid._ p. 190. - -[320] _Id., ibid._ p. 41. - -[321] Dalton, _loc. cit._ p. 192. - -[322] _Id., loc. cit._ p. 41. - -[323] _Id., ibid._ p. 91. - -[324] Schortt, _Trans. Ethn. Soc._ (New Series), vol. vii. p. 187. - -[325] Duveyrier, _Touaregs du Nord_, p. 340. - -[326] Wake, _Evolution of Morality_, vol. ii. p. 68. - -[327] Sidi Khelil, _Précis de jurisprudence musulmane_, trad. Perron -(quoted by E. Meynier) in _Études sur l’Islamisme_, pp. 152, 156. - -[328] Elphinstone, _Picture of the Kingdom of Cabul_, vol. i. p. 168. - -[329] _Code of Manu_, book viii. p. 204. - -[330] _Lettres édifiantes_, t. xiv. p. 382. - -[331] Marsden, _Hist. of Sumatra_, p. 262. - -[332] Nials, _Saga_, vol. i. pp. 9, 10. - -[333] Rambaud, _Hist. civil. française_, p. 107. - -[334] Hist. _Succes. des Femmes_. - -[335] Aristotle, _Politics_, vol. ii. p. 8. - -[336] Legouvé, _Hist. Mor. des Femmes_, p. 86. - -[337] Plautus, _Stichus_.--Laboulaye, _Droit romain_. - -[338] R. Cubain, _Lois civiles de Rome_, p. 181. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -PRIMITIVE POLYGAMY. - - I. _Polygamy in Oceania, Africa, and America._--Polygamy and - sociability--Polygamy in Australia, in New Caledonia, and at Fiji--The - legitimate wife and concubines at Fiji--Polygamy among the Hottentots - and Kaffirs--Economic reasons of polygamy in Africa--Brutality - of husbands on the Gaboon--Polygamy limited by the law of supply - and demand--Its effects on the morality of women--Commercial - fidelity--Mumbo Jumbo--Love unknown in black Africa--Legal - marriage with the Bongos at Madagascar--Hierarchical polygamy at - Madagascar--Polygamy in Polynesia, in America--Jealousy unknown to - the female savage--The sister-wives among the Redskins--Religion - sanctifies polygamy--Monogamic tendencies in America. - - II. _Polygamy in Asia and in Europe._--Polygamy among the aborigines - of India, in Bootan, among the Ostiaks and the Battas--Universality - of primitive polygamy--Polygamy of the ancient Peruvians, Chinese, - and Vedic Aryans--Polygamy among the Gauls and the Germans--Causes of - primitive polygamy--Its evolution. - - -I. _Polygamy in Oceania, Africa, and America._ - -We have seen that in the animal kingdom species are sometimes -monogamous, sometimes polygamous, but that in general a gregarious -life, a life in association, favours polygamy. Now, man is surely the -most sociable of animals, therefore he is much inclined to polygamy, -like the great anthropoid apes, with whom our primitive ancestors must -have had more than one analogy. We have already spoken of the causes -which in human societies of the earliest ages disturbed the normal -relation of the sexes, or the approximate equilibrium between the -number of men and that of women. We have seen how savage life rapidly -uses up the men to such a degree that often, in spite of the custom -of female infanticide, there is still an excess of women sufficient -to impose polygamy. Although primitive morality may not think in the -least of blaming the plurality of wives, it yet happens that this -polygamy, to which all men aspire in a savage country, is spontaneously -restricted; and, as with chimpanzees, and for the same reasons, it -becomes, in fact, the privilege of a small number of the strongest and -the most feared, the chiefs, the sorcerers, or the priests, when there -are any. - -In Australia, for example, the adult men take possession of the women -of all ages, and in consequence the greater number of young men cannot -become proprietors of a woman before the age of about thirty years.[339] - -Enforced celibacy is, besides, softened by the complaisance of the -men already provided for, the husbands, if we may so call them, who -are generous to the other men, and much more jealous of their rights -of property than of their conjugal rights. It is easy to have an -understanding with them, and, with the aid of a suitable present, to -induce them to lend their wives. In New Caledonia the chiefs and rich -men only can indulge in the luxury of polygamy, and in this archipelago -the plurality of wives has already the character that it nearly always -assumes in a primitive country. If the New Caledonians ardently -desire to have several wives it is not generally with a sensual aim, -for among the Canaks the genetic appetite is little developed; their -reasons are of quite another kind. Neither slavery nor domesticity -yet exist in New Caledonia. However, agriculture is already practised -there, and this requires hard labour, from which the men, especially -the chief men, like to exonerate themselves. Now, it is polygamy that -furnishes the Canaks with servile labour, which they cannot do without; -it exactly replaces slavery. Therefore, every man, of however little -importance he may be, procures a number of women in proportion to the -extent of the land he has in cultivation, and also to the figure he -must make in the world. We shall find this servile polygamy in many -other countries, notably among the Fijians, who resemble the New -Caledonians, but at Fiji polygamy had already evolved and become -complicated. It was accompanied by concubinage. As we shall see later, -this is generally the case. Nowhere do we find men passing abruptly -from polygamy to monogamy, and long before arriving at the latter, when -first custom and then law restrains and regulates the loose polygamy -of the earlier ages, the change is only at first effected in the form; -a man has a small number of wives, who, with their children, enjoy -certain privileges, but by the side of these titular wives he possesses -concubines in greater or less number. In this manner everything is -reconciled--morality with sensuality, and the family with the interests -of property. - -This _régime_ was already in force among the Melanesians of the Fiji -Isles, where the chiefs, living in great state, acquired in one way -or another three or four hundred women, of whom the greater number -filled only the position of servants to the master, and at the same -time of concubines, who were at the disposition of the warriors or of -the guests. The wives whose children inherited were very few in number. -They were daughters of chiefs, and their situation, although less -degraded than that of the concubines, was still very humble. Not only -did they resign themselves without difficulty to polygamy, but they -were subjected to a singular duty--that of rearing for their husband -a chosen concubine. The fact is curious, and worth the trouble of -narrating. “The bride takes with her a young girl who is still a child, -but who promises to be beautiful, and who has been carefully selected -from the lower class of the people. It is a virgin destined for her -husband. She brings her up with the tenderest solicitude, and when the -girl is marriageable, the queen, on an appointed day, undresses her, -washes her carefully, and even pours perfumed oil on her hair, crowns -her with flowers, conducts her thus naked to her husband, presents her -to him, and retires in silence.”[340] Excessive as it seems to us, this -absolute resignation is quite natural among savages. - -In primitive countries the married woman--that is to say, the woman -belonging to a man--has herself the conscience of being a thing, a -property (it is proved to her often and severely enough), but she does -not think of retaliating, especially in what concerns the conjugal -relations. Moreover, as her condition is oftenest that of a slave -over-burdened with work, not only does she not resent the introduction -of other women in the house of the master, but she desires it, for -the work will be so much the less for herself. Thus among the Zulus -the wife first purchased strives and works with ardour in the hope of -furnishing her husband with means to acquire a second wife--a companion -in misery over whom, by right of seniority, she will have the upper -hand.[341] - -In consequence of this the greater number of the men in Kaffirland -have two or three wives, and hence a certain scarcity of feminine -merchandise in the country; the young men have difficulty in providing -for themselves, and many girls are sold from infancy.[342] The same -customs prevail with the Hottentots; and both Kaffirs and Hottentots -esteem the monogamic preaching of the Christian missionaries as very -impertinent, and on this point both men and women are agreed.[343] - -Along the whole course of the Zambesi, says Livingstone, the number of -wives are the measure of a man’s riches, and the women are the first to -find this quite natural. - -It is important to observe that in savage societies the woman could not -live independently; for her, celibacy is synonymous with desertion, and -desertion would mean a speedy death. This is even the reason of the -levirate, of which I shall have to speak later. - -As for all the negroes of Africa, whatever the degree of their -civilisation or savagery, they have not even a suspicion of the -monogamic _régime_. But, in Africa also, sensuality is only one of the -secondary causes of the plurality of wives so strongly desired by all -the blacks. Their polygamy is chiefly founded on economic motives. At -the Gaboon,[344] says Du Chaillu, the supreme ambition of a man is to -possess a great number of wives. Nothing is of more value to him, for -they cultivate the ground, and their strict duty is to serve him and -furnish him with food. The wife is always purchased from her father -at a price agreed on, and often from her earliest infancy. In this -case she is placed under the care of the husband’s chief wife. The -husband-proprietor does not interfere at all with the agricultural -labour executed by the wives; he only requires them to supply him with -food. If he has bought them, it is merely as a profitable investment. -He consequently treats them as slaves, or as domestic animals, and -has no scruple in lashing them with a whip for nothing at all, and -thus causing ineffaceable scars. “I have seen very few women,” says Du -Chaillu, “who had not traces of this kind on their bodies.” - -The whip which serves for these conjugal corrections has a double -thong, made of hippopotamus or sea-cow hide. “You should hear,” says -the traveller, “the worthy husband cry out--‘Ah, wretch! do you think -I have bought you for nothing?’”[345] The Gaboon tribes, of whom Du -Chaillu speaks, are reckoned the least civilised of negroes; but even -among the least gross of African races the conjugal _régime_ and the -degree of subjection imposed on women are scarcely lessened. - -At Tchaki, and at Badagry, etc., when Clapperton spoke of English -monogamy to the natives, all his auditors, without distinction of -sex, burst into a laugh,[346] so absurd did the thing appear to them. -Throughout Africa the number of a man’s wives is only limited by his -resources. If, as Schweinfurth tells us, among the Bongos of the upper -Nile, a man rarely has more than three wives, it is simply on account -of the strict law of supply and demand; for a woman costs no less than -ten iron plates, each weighing about two pounds, to which must be -added twenty iron spear heads, all precious articles and not easily -procured.[347] At Bornou also men in easy circumstances have seldom -more than three wives; and the poor have to content themselves, whether -they will or not, with monogamy.[348] But among the negroes of Kaarta -and the Fantis of the coast of Guinea polygamy is excessive. In Kaarta -a private individual often has ten wives and as many concubines; -but princes or knights often have threefold or even tenfold that -number.[349] In consequence of this, about a third of the inhabitants -are of princely or royal blood. As for the Fantis, polygamy is a source -of riches, not only through the labour of the women, but also through -the sale of the children, of whom a large and profitable trade is -made.[350] This trait of morals is not in the least peculiar to them; -throughout black Africa the right of the father of a family includes -that of selling the children, and he exercises it without scruple. - -Naturally the last sentiments we may expect to find in African -households are those of delicacy or moral nobility. Humble to servility -in presence of the master, the women give the rein to their shameless -excesses as soon as they can do it without danger. - -In Bornou a wife never approaches her husband without kneeling.[351] -When a Poul orders one of his wives to prepare his supper, which -implies that the master desires her company for the night, this signal -favour is received with transports of joy. The chosen wife hastens to -obey, and when the repast is ready she proudly goes to seek the master, -thus humiliating her female colleagues, who retreat in confusion to -their cabins to await their turn.[352] But all this abject behaviour -is merely by compulsion, and the women recoup themselves well for it -whenever they have the chance. - -The poor women of the Gaboon, who are lacerated by whips for no -offence, do not understand chastity, and their intrigues constantly -provoke conflicts and _palavers_ between the men of the villages.[353] -The obscenity of the Monboottoo women astonished Schweinfurth, well -acquainted as he was with negro customs.[354] The Bambarra women easily -forget conjugal fidelity for a bead necklace, a fine waist-cloth, etc.; -and, as in so many other countries, the husband-proprietors have no -scruple in hiring out their wives for a sufficient price.[355] - -Nevertheless, unauthorised adultery is cruelly punished throughout -Africa; but fear is powerless to ensure to the negro husbands the -purely commercial fidelity they exact from their wives, and therefore, -in order to correct feminine morals, they have recourse in certain -parts to fantastic methods--to the _Mumbo Jumbo_ which Mungo Park -describes.[356] Strangely attired and unrecognisable, a singular -personage, doubtless a sorcerer, appears in the evening after being -called for by frightful howlings in the woods, and first goes to the -spot where the inhabitants are accustomed to assemble to talk at their -ease. This coming is the signal for songs and dances, which last into -the middle of the night. Then the _Mumbo Jumbo_ designates the guilty -or indocile woman. The latter is immediately seized, stripped, bound -to a stake, and vigorously beaten by the _Mumbo_ himself, amid the -acclamations and laughter of the assembly, and especially of the other -women. - -In all negro Africa the husbands are generally strangers to the -jealousy of honour which exists among the intelligent husbands of -civilised countries. They do not care for moral fidelity, based on -affection and free choice. The Kaffir woman, Schouter tells us, is the -ox of her husband. A Kaffir said one day, speaking of his wife, “I have -bought her, therefore it is her duty to work.” - -“The negro,” relates another traveller (Monteiro), “knows neither love, -affection, nor jealousy. During the many years that I have spent in -Africa I have never seen a negro manifest the least tenderness for a -woman--put his arms around her, give or receive a caress, denoting some -degree of affection or love on one side or the other.... They have no -word in their language to signify love or affection.”[357] - -A French traveller says also of the Malagasies, “Modesty and jealousy -are two sentiments very little developed among the Malagasies of both -sexes and all ranks. They push licence very far in their manners, but -quite unconsciously.”[358] - -Throughout black Africa, indeed, marriage does not exist, at least -in the sense we attach to the word. It is not a civil institution, -much less a sacrament; it is a bargain, delivering the woman to the -mercy of the buyer. Here and there, however, we see dawnings of legal -marriage--that is to say, a contract sanctioned by civil authority. -Among the Bongos of the upper Nile, for example, a man who wishes to -procure a certain woman generally applies to the chief or to some -dignitary, who enforces his demand.[359] - -With the Malagasies, where the social organisation is much more complex -and _quasi_ feudal, there is already a veritable civil marriage. The -future pair, accompanied by their parents, go before the judge or the -chief of the village, declare their intentions, pay the _Hasina_, -or matrimonial tax, and the union is concluded. As is the case in -many countries, Malagasian polygamy already tends towards monogamy. -At Madagascar, as in China, rich men have one chief wife, who has a -house to herself and other privileges; but by the side of the titular -wife there are lesser wives.[360] I shall have to return to this -hierarchical polygamy, which forms a sort of evolutionary connecting -link between primitive polygamy, subjecting all the wives equally -before their owner, and monogamic marriage. But for the present I must -pursue my summary inquiry through the lands of primitive polygamy. - -In the whole of Polynesia polygamy was general and unlimited. There, -again, the number of wives was strictly in proportion to rank and -riches.[361] There were, however, examples of voluntary monogamy[362] -among the chiefs, and a much larger number of monogamists, in spite of -themselves, in the lower classes.[363] In several Polynesian islands -polygamy was already evolving towards monogamy; thus, at Samoa,[364] -at Tonga,[365] in New Zealand,[366] there existed a chief wife, -exempted from hard work, and having pre-eminence over the other wives. - -Over all the great American continent polygamy is or has been in force. -The Ancas or Araucanos of South America--nomads and robbers--buy very -dear wives when they can, and make concubines of all the prisoners -procured in their razzias, exactly after the manner of the ancient -Arabs. The poor or the feeble among them, as elsewhere, are badly -provided, and are frequently reduced to remain celibate,[367] or to -have only one wife. For the same reasons, the young men among the -Otomacs were often obliged to be contented with an old woman,[368] and -the Charruas waited till their first wife grew old before procuring -a younger one.[369] Herrero tells us also, that in Honduras forced -monogamy was general enough, except, indeed, for the chiefs, who -appropriated the women by the right of the strongest.[370] In South -America, as in Africa, the women were very far from rebelling against -polygamy; for there, also, all the hard work fell to them, and the -burden of it was lightened in proportion to the number of labourers. In -the tribes that were already agricultural, the Guaranis, for example, -the men did nothing to the land but clear off the brushwood and timber; -then came the women, who did all the sowing, harvesting, prepared the -fermented drink for guests,[371] without mentioning other domestic -cares. Such a kind of life is necessarily unfavourable to delicacy, and -even amongst civilised people habitual overwork is hardly compatible -with refined sentiments. In all countries exclusive love and jealousy -suppose not only some moral development, but also a certain amount -of leisure and of time and capacity, to think. It is therefore quite -natural that the savage woman should seldom pretend to possess a man -for herself alone, and on this point the women of the Redskins of -North America think and feel like the Guarani women of Brazil. Thus, -with the Omahas, the man hardly ever takes a second wife but with the -consent of the first.[372] Often the initiative even comes from her; -she goes to find her husband, and says to him, “Marry the daughter -of my brother. She and I are of the same flesh.” It must be admitted -that America is the promised land of the matriarchate, or rather, of -maternal filiation; polygamy easily takes an incestuous colour there; -the wives of the same man are often relatives, habitually sisters. In -about forty of the Redskin tribes, and surely they are not the only -ones, when a man marries the eldest daughter of a family, he acquires, -by express privilege, the right of taking afterwards for wives all the -sisters of the first as soon as they become marriageable.[373] This was -the custom of the Omahas, the Cheyennes, the Crees, the Osages, the -Black-feet, the Crows, the Spokans of Columbia,[374] the Chawanons of -Louisiana, etc. - -The custom was not, however, obligatory. The wives were not necessarily -relatives, or, at least, not necessarily sisters. Thus, with the -Omahas, a man sometimes took as wives an aunt and a niece of his first -wife.[375] Among the Californians a man sometimes married not only a -group of sisters, but also their mother,[376] and in this respect the -Greenlanders imitated their hereditary enemies, the Redskins.[377] -But, consanguine or not, polygamy was general among the savage tribes -of North America. The possession of a numerous flock of wives placed -a man above the common as surely as that of a large fortune does -in Europe;[378] religion even sanctified this polygamy, for in all -countries it can accommodate itself to the dominant morals. Thus, the -Chippeways believe that polygamy is agreeable to the Great Spirit; for -it is a means of having a numerous posterity.[379] - -Except the habitual consanguinity of the wives, the polygamy of -the Redskins has nothing original in it; it is, as elsewhere, the -privilege of the rich men.[380] Sometimes also the girls are retained -from infancy, and then, as happens with the Noutka-Columbians, the -buyer deposits certain valuable articles as security.[381] In these -polygamous families of Redskins the harmony is rarely disturbed; and -the man, always having the power to repudiate any wife as he may -please, only has to command very submissive ones.[382] Here and there -certain customs appear which have a shade of monogamy about them; for -instance, among the Columbians every wife has her separate habitation, -or, at the least, her special fireside.[383] Sometimes there is a chief -wife having authority over the other wives.[384] But everywhere the -subjection of women in regard to man is extreme. Among the Indians -of New Mexico--and these are not by any means the most savage--the -women have to prepare the food, tan the skins, cultivate the ground, -fabricate the clothes, build the houses, and groom the horses. In -return for this, the men, whose sole occupations are hunting and war, -beat their wives without pity, and often mutilate and kill them.[385] - - -II. _Polygamy in Asia and Europe._ - -We might already deduce some general ideas from our rapid survey -of savage polygamy in Oceania, Africa, and America; but it will be -convenient, before we do so, to interrogate the primitive races of Asia -and Europe. Doubtless, the description of their conjugal manners and -customs, after all that precedes, may seem monotonous; nevertheless, -this monotony even is instructive; it proves that in all times and -places, in despite of differences of race, climate and environment, the -evolution of human groups is subject to certain laws, that the family, -marriage, the constitution of property, and social organisation pass -through a series of necessary phases; in short, that in attempting to -construct a science of sociology we are not pursuing a chimera. - -I resume, therefore, my enumeration. Among the indigenous tribes of -India polygamy is widely spread, without, however, being universal; for -each one of these small peoples has evolved, as it has been able, more -or less rapidly. Some among them are polyandrous, and even monogamous. -Often enough polyandry co-exists with polygamy, the one appearing as -moral as the other. - -With all these aborigines, marriage, or what we are pleased to call -so, is generally concluded by purchase, and the price of the woman -naturally oscillates according to the law of supply and demand. Most -often it is represented by poultry, pigs, oxen, or cows, given to the -parents. From this manner of procuring wives it seems that, there -also, polygamy is the luxury of the rich or of chiefs. Among the -Mishmis these privileged individuals sometimes possess sixty wives. -The Mishmi husbands form a rare exception on one point--they are not -at all exacting about the fidelity of their wives; they consider them -as slaves or servants, and provided they continue to benefit their -masters by their work, the latter willingly shut their eyes to their -intrigues.[386] - -Among these polygamous tribes, which it would take too long to -enumerate, may be counted the Miris, the Dophlas, the Juangs, the -Khamtis, the Singphos, etc. - -We must again note in certain tribes, the Khamtis, for example, the -monogamic pre-eminence of the first wife.[387] It is one of those -sociological analogies of which I have already spoken, and it is -important to point it out. - -Polygamy still prevails with the mountaineers of Bootan, concurrently -with polyandry. It is often incestuous; a man willingly marries two -sisters, the one an adult, the other younger. But no other incest -is recognised or punished except that committed between son and -mother.[388] - -Farther north, among the Ostiaks, a man feels no repugnance to marrying -several sisters,[389] and, in general, polygamy is very widely spread -among the nomad Mongols. A Yakout, for example, if obliged to make -frequent journeys, takes care to have a wife in every place at which -he stops.[390] - -The polygamic _régime_ is also in great honour in the Mongolian -archipelagoes of Asia, in the Palos Islands, in the Caroline Islands, -etc. Among the Battas of Sumatra it evidently begins to be distasteful -to the women, since the polygamous husband is obliged to assign to each -of his wives a special hearth, and kitchen utensils of her own, with -which she prepares her food apart, or with that of her husband, when -she is on duty, and required by the master.[391] - -In this chapter I confine myself to primitive polygamy, to that of the -grossest savages or barbarians; but there are barbarians of every race -and colour, and the roots of all superior civilisations necessarily go -far down into primitive savagery. Now we have seen that the polygamic -_régime_ is prevalent throughout the world among races that are little -cultivated; we may hence conclude that the most civilised nations must -have begun with polygamy, and, in reality, it has been thus everywhere -and always. In the various civilised societies, living or dead, -marriage has commenced by being polygamous. It is a law which has few -exceptions. - -In ancient Peru, the Incas decreed monogamy to be obligatory for the -lower classes. The Chinese attribute to Fo-Hi, their first sovereign, -the institution of marriage. This legendary king is said to have raised -them out of promiscuity. Such also was the _rôle_ of Cecrops, in -Greece, and the same thing happened in primitive India. About thirty -years ago a number of erudite Europeans, especially the mythologists -and linguists, were smitten with a blind love for the Indian hymns of -the Rig-Veda. They set to work to torture these old Sanscrit texts, -naturally obscure, and by subjecting them to a sort of linguistic -examination, they wrung from them imaginary revelations. It was -decided that a unique and marvellous race, primitively endowed with -every virtue and capacity, had sprung up one fine day on some plateau -or other of Central Asia. The most enthusiastic of them generously -endowed these hypothetical Aryans with superhuman faculties. A French -academician believed and declared that from the high plateaus of Pâmir -they perceived the sea, distant, however, some hundreds of leagues; -he affirms that they understood the “circles of the stars,” and were -omniscient. It is to be presumed that this model race was of necessity -monogamous, since it was perfect. To-day, however, we must demolish all -these castles in the air, too lightly built in primitive and chimerical -Arya. The antiquity of the Vedic hymns has had to be much shortened, -and, if we consent to read them without prejudice, we shall have little -admiration for the authors, those gross Aryans, who tried to make their -gods drunk in order to obtain cows, and who sacrificed and cut to -pieces animals, and perhaps men, on their altars. There is surely room -to suppose that their social condition was not more refined than their -religion. On this point the information that may be drawn from the -Vedic hymns is vague and drowned in the waves of religious effusion. -Nevertheless the Rig-Veda speaks of spouses of the gods, and of princes -surrounded by their wives, etc. In fact, a document much more precise -and more recent, the Code of Manu, abundantly proves that the Hindoos, -like all other peoples, have begun by being polygamous. - -I do not now insist on this point, as I shall return to it later. -In every country the primitive races have practised polygamy, when -that has been possible for them. Our European ancestors have not been -more scrupulous on this point than our hypothetical Aryan cousins of -Central Asia. Cæsar tells us that the Gauls were polygamous, and had -the right of life and death over their wives.[392] Tacitus vaunts much -the monogamy of the Germans; this moral feature, says he, distinguishes -them from other barbarians, but he confesses that certain German chiefs -had several wives, and that, as it happens in all barbarous countries, -the wife was sold by the parents for presents consisting of oxen, -horses, and arms.[393] - -Polygamy was so natural to German morals that, long after Tacitus, the -Merovingian kings, Clotaire and his sons, for example, still practised -it, that Dagobert had three wives, and that Charlemagne himself was -bigamous. We know, too, that Saint Columban was banished from Gaul -only for having blamed the polygamy of King Thierry. Let us resign -ourselves, therefore, to confess the truth. The white race has no -divine investiture. Like all the others, it has sprung from animality; -like all the others, it has been polygamous, and we have only to open -our eyes to perceive that, in the present day, in countries reputed to -be the most civilised, and even in the classes reputed to be the most -distinguished, the majority of individuals have polygamic instincts -which they find it difficult to resist. - -We are now in a position to form a just opinion of primitive polygamy. -Its causes are manifold. The principal one is often the disproportion -of the sexes, resulting from the enormous mortality of men which savage -life necessitates. The desire of giving the rein to a sensuality that -there is, as yet, no thought of repressing, may have a certain share -in the matter; but this motive, which is perhaps dominant in the -polygamous anthropoid apes, quickly becomes secondary in man. - -Even the lowest savage is more calculating, and has more forethought, -than the monkey. His first slave, one may say his first domestic -animal, is his wife. Even when he is still a simple hunter and nomad, -he has always game to be carried, fire to be lighted, a shelter to be -erected, without reckoning that wives are very apt at gathering edible -fruits and shell-fish, and rendering a thousand services. Besides, they -give birth to offspring that can be bartered, sold, or even eaten at -need. - -It is, therefore, very desirable to possess as many as possible -of these beings, fitted for such various ends. If a man is an -agriculturist, the wife is then of still greater utility; he puts upon -her all the hard work; she digs, plants, sows, reaps even, and all -for the profit of her master. She is, besides, a subjected and feeble -creature, whom he can treat just as he will, and on whom he can let -loose his instincts of brutal domination. By force or by ruse, by -capture or by purchase, he therefore procures himself as many wives -as possible. He often buys them in the lump; for example, a lot of -sisters, or of relations of different ages. This diversity of age has -its value; for, in all the numerous uses to which a wife can be put, -the younger ones can take at need the place of the elder when the -latter are worn out or broken down. - -Polygamy begins with equality--that is to say, that the man subjects -his little feminine flock to an equal servitude, against which the -wives do not think of rebelling, as they find it quite natural, for -they are not of a more refined nature than their proprietor. By -degrees, however, a certain hierarchy is established among the wives of -the same man. This comes to pass when the social structure is already -more complex, when there are chiefs, nobles, and priests. Polygamy, -in this case, is restrained. Though it continues to be the taste of -nearly all men, it becomes the privilege of the rich and powerful. The -latter sometimes even indulge in an excessive polygamy, and it becomes -difficult for them to maintain order and servile submission among their -feminine flock. From this time they have one or more titular wives, who -rule over their companions, and are sometimes exempt from hard labour. -These chief wives are often daughters, sisters, or relatives of noted -warriors, or of important men, with whom the husband is allied, and -whose prestige somewhat protects the wives that they have given, or -more often sold. In consequence of this, a certain tendency to become -a distinct personality awakens in the wives themselves; they insist on -having their separate hearth, and even their distinct apartment; life -in the flock weighs on them. - -Polygamy then puts on monogamic tendencies. The greater number of -superior races have adopted this hierarchical polygamy before reaching -the legal monogamy, in a mitigated form, of which I shall treat later. -It is important now to describe with some details this polygamy of -superior races. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[339] Baudin, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xviii. p. 34. - -[340] Moerenhout, _Voy. aux îles_, etc., t. ii. p. 235. - -[341] Waitz, _Anthropology_, vol. i. p. 299.--Steedman, _Wanderings, -etc., in South Africa_, vol. i. p. 240.--Delegorgue, t. I^{er.} p. 154; -t. ii. p. 231. - -[342] Campbell, _Hist. Univ. des Voy_., t. xxix. p. 357. - -[343] Burchell, _ibid._ t. xxvi. p. 204. - -[344] Du Chaillu, _Voy. dans l’Afrique équatoriale_, pp. 376, 377. - -[345] Du Chaillu, _loc. cit._ p. 377. - -[346] _Second Voyage_, etc., pp. 18-48. - -[347] _The Heart of Africa_, vol. i. p. 301. - -[348] Denham and Clapperton, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxvii. p 437. - -[349] Gray and Dockard, _ibid._ t. xviii. p. 373. - -[350] Brodie Cruikshank, _Sojourn of Eight Years on the Gold Coast_. - -[351] Denham and Clapperton, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxvii. p. 437. - -[352] Mollien, _ibid._ t. xxviii. p. 439. - -[353] Du Chaillu, _loc. cit._, pp. 378-435. - -[354] _The Heart of Africa_, vol. ii. p. 91. - -[355] Raffenel, _Nouv. Voy. aux Pays des Nègres_, t. I^{er.} p. 402. - -[356] _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxv. p. 58. - -[357] Herbert Spencer, _Sociology_, vol. ii. pp. 284-293. - -[358] Dupré, _Trois Mois à Madagascar_, p. 153. - -[359] Schweinfurth, _The Heart of Africa_, vol. i. p. 27. - -[360] Dupré, _Trois Mois à Madagascar_, p. 153. - -[361] Pritchard, _Polynesian Reminiscences_, etc., p. 270. - -[362] Th. West, _Ten Years in South Central Polynesia_, p. 270. - -[363] Bougainville, _Voyages_, p. 244. - -[364] Pritchard, _loc. cit._, p. 372. - -[365] Cook (Third Voyage), _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. ix. p. 70. - -[366] Dumont d’Urville. - -[367] A. d’Orbigny, _L’homme Américain_, t. I^{er.} p. 403. - -[368] _Voyage à la Terre-ferme_, etc., t. I^{er.} p. 304. - -[369] A. d’Orbigny, _loc. cit._, t. ii. p. 89. - -[370] H. Spencer, _Sociology_, vol. ii. p. 282. - -[371] A. d’Orbigny, _loc. cit._, t. ii. p. 308. - -[372] J. Owen Dorsey, _Omaha Sociology_, p. 260 (_Smithsonian -Institution_, 1885). - -[373] L. Morgan, _Ancient Societies_, p. 432. - -[374] Bancroft, _loc. cit._, vol. i. p. 277. - -[375] J. Owen Dorsey, _loc. cit._, p. 260. - -[376] Bancroft, _loc. cit._, vol. i. p. 388. - -[377] Wake, _Evolution of Morality_, vol. i. p. 255. - -[378] H. Spencer, _Sociology_, vol. i. p. 283. - -[379] _Id., ibid._ vol. ii. p. 285. - -[380] Domenech, _Voy. pitt._, p. 509.--Bancroft, vol. i. pp. 168-195. - -[381] Bancroft, _loc. cit._, p. 511. - -[382] Domenech, _loc. cit._, p. 511. - -[383] Bancroft, _loc. cit._, vol. i. p. 277. - -[384] _Ibid._ vol. i. p. 511. - -[385] _Ibid._ vol. i. p. 511. - -[386] Dalton, _Descriptive Ethno. of Bengal_, pp. 12, 16, 19. - -[387] _Ibid._ p. 8. - -[388] _Voy. au Bootan_, by a Hindoo author, in _Revue Britannique_, -1827. - -[389] Wake, _loc. cit._, vol. i. p. 269. - -[390] H. Spencer, _Sociology_, vol. ii. p. 280. - -[391] _Id., ibid._ vol. ii. p. 292. - -[392] _De bello Gallico_, vi. 19. - -[393] _Germania_, xviii. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -POLYGAMY OF CIVILISED PEOPLE. - - I. _The Stage of Polygamy._--Primitive polygamy--Man resigns himself - to monogamy. - - II. _Arab Polygamy._--Why the Mussulmans have remained polygamous--The - inferiority of woman proclaimed by the Koran--Polygamic restrictions - in the Koran--Religion sanctions the right of conjugal property--The - purchased woman--The conjugal prerogatives of the prophet--Duties of - the polygamous husband--Celestial polygamy--The Mussulman marriage - is laic--Female merchandise--The preliminaries of marriage--Duties - and obligations of the Mussulman husband; his rights--Marriage in - Kabyle--Cruel subjection of the Kabyle wife--Sale and purchase of the - wife--Excessive rights of the Kabyle husband--The Kabyle marriage is - inferior to the Arab marriage--Polygamy and the subjection of women. - - III. _Polygamy in Egypt, Mexico, and Peru._--Monogamy of the priests - in Egypt--Polygamy of the Incas and of the nobles in Peru--Polygamy of - the nobles in Mexico--Polygamy with monogamic tendency. - - IV. _Polygamy in Persia and India._--Polygamy and concubinage of - princes in Persia--Severity of sexual morality in the Avesta--Polygamy - according to the Rig-Veda--Polygamy in the Code of Manu--Evolution of - polygamy in India--How monogamy became established. - - -I. _The Stage of Polygamy._ - -Our inquiry is already sufficiently advanced to give us an idea of the -first phases of the evolution of marriage. To begin with, both in the -case of human beings and of anthropoid apes, sexual unions have not -been reduced to any rule; promiscuity has been rare and exceptional, -but polygamy has been very common, at least a gross polygamy, not -regulated in any way, and merely resulting from the monopoly of the -women by the strongest or the richest men. It has been a sort of -conjugal anarchy, admitting simultaneously of various matrimonial -forms, as polyandry, term marriage, experimental marriage, etc., during -periods of more or less length. - -Besides their primordial _rôle_ as child-bearers, wives were found very -useful in other ways--either for the satisfaction of sensual desires, -or for the execution of a number of painful labours; and therefore -men endeavoured to procure as many of them as possible, first by -capture, and then by purchase, or by giving a certain amount of work in -submitting to a temporary servitude. In the preceding chapter I have -given the history of this primitive, savage polygamy which as yet no -law regulated. - -During the first phases of their social evolution, all the human races -have practised, with more or less brutality, this gross polygamy. We -have seen--and it is a subject to which I shall have to return--how, -in the bosom of the polygamic _régime_, monogamic tendencies have -appeared, which by degrees have ended by prevailing amongst all the -more civilised races. These races have resigned themselves to adopt -monogamy, or at least legal monogamy. I say “resigned,” for it seems -that monogamy costs much to man; in reality laws and customs have -everywhere attenuated the severity of it for him by various compromises -of which I shall soon have to speak. - - -II. _Arab Polygamy._ - -However, among the superior races, there is one, the Arab race, -which, up to our own time, has maintained and legalised the polygamic -_régime_, while propagating and regulating it among the various -peoples that have come under its domination. If, in this respect, the -Arab race has been an exception to the general evolution, it is not -because it is less gifted than the others; it has sufficiently proved -this. According to the ancients, a fantastic fish, the _remora_, had -the power of suddenly stopping the passage of ships at sea; religion -has played this part for the Arabs. Theoretically, all the great and -solidly constituted religions are incompatible with progress. Although -relatively they may appear innovations at the moment of their birth, -yet they bar the route of the future, and, as much as is in their -power, oppose all ulterior evolution. This is imperative, since they -pretend to declare the immutable will of divine personages, who are -omnipotent, omniscient, and perfectly wise, and who cannot consequently -either re-touch or amend the laws that they make, and the commands -they give to poor human creatures. Now, Islamism arose amidst the full -polygamic _régime_; its founder could not even dream of establishing -any other. Polygamy was therefore established by divine right among -the faithful, and as at the bottom it is in accord with the primitive -instincts of man, it has maintained itself in Mussulman countries from -the time of Mahomet to our own days. From the sociological point of -view this is a most interesting fact, for it gives us the opportunity -of studying and estimating the polygamic _régime_ in its full -development. - -Let us listen at first to the Koran; we will then consult the Arabian -jurists and the customs of contemporary Arabs. - -To begin with, the holy book loudly proclaims the inferiority of women, -which naturally justifies their subjection, and this subjection is -great in all polygamous countries. There is no ambiguity on this point -in the words of the prophet: “Men are superior to women by reason -of the qualities God has given them to place them above women, and -_because men employ their wealth in giving dowries to women_. Virtuous -women are obedient and submissive; they carefully guard, during their -husband’s absence, that which God has ordered them to preserve intact. -Thou shalt correct those whom thou fearest may be disobedient: thou -shalt put them in beds apart: _thou shalt beat them_: but as soon as -they obey thee again, do not seek cause for quarrel with them. God is -merciful and great.”[394] - -This text is eloquent. It first of all consecrates masculine -superiority by divine right, then marriage by purchase, and lastly, the -liberty of the husband to treat his wives with brutality. - -The restrictions on polygamy found in the Koran are very slight: -“Marry not the women whom your fathers had to wife: it is a sin, and -abomination: except what is already past.”[395] - -No retrospective effect here! We may conclude from this that, up to the -time of Mahomet, the sons inherited the harem of their father, as is -still the case in a number of little despotic states of negro Africa. - -The holy book also commands respect for the feminine property of -others, save in the case of capture by war or of religious infidelity -of the husband. “You are forbidden to take to wife free women who are -married, except those women whom your right hand shall possess as -slaves: such is the law of God.”[396] “O believers! when believing -women come unto you as refugees, try them. And if you know them to be -true believers, send them not back to their infidel husbands; but give -their husbands back what they have expended for their dower.”[397] -In the Koran the respect for money is already much greater than for -females. The wife must be purchased. “It is permitted unto you to -procure wives with money, and you shall keep them in virtuous ways, -avoiding debauchery. Give unto her with whom thou dost cohabit the -dower thou hast promised.”[398] - -The prophet counsels the faithful, without however commanding it, -to have a small number of wives: “But if ye fear that ye cannot act -equitably towards the orphans, take in marriage of such other women as -please you, two, or three, or four, and not more.” - -The text ends with a permission to the man merely to pay a fictitious -dowry to the wives: “Assign dowries freely to your wives, and if it -pleases them to give you back a part, enjoy it conveniently at your -ease.”[399] - -As for the prophet himself, he was to be above most of the restrictions -which he imposed on others: “O prophet, we have allowed thee thy wives -unto whom thou hast given their dower, and also the slaves which thy -right hand possesseth of the booty which God hath granted thee, and -the daughters of thy uncle, and the daughters of thy aunts, both on -thy father’s side and on thy mother’s side, who have fled with thee -from Mecca, and any other believing woman, if she give herself unto -the prophet.”[400] “O prophet, if believing women come to thee for an -asylum, having promised thee that they will flee idolatry, that they -will not steal, nor commit fornication, nor kill their children, and -will not disobey thee in anything that is just: believe them and pray -for them: God is indulgent and merciful.”[401] This last text gives -a sad enough idea of the morality of the Arab women before the time -of Mahomet; but taken together with the preceding one, it shows how -convenient and even agreeable it is to be the interpreter of the Divine -will. - -With such facilities for recruiting, the harem of the prophet must have -been richly furnished; therefore he has taken care to free himself from -one duty which he recommends to others, of _debitum conjugale_: “Thou -mayest,” he says to himself, “either grant or refuse thy embraces to -thy wives.”[402] - -On the contrary, he says to vulgar believers: “Ye can by no means carry -yourselves equally between wives in all respects, though you study to -do it; therefore turn not from a wife with all manner of aversion, nor -leave her like one in suspense; if ye agree and fear to abuse your -wives, God is gracious and merciful.”[403] - -Polygamy is not rare in the world. We have seen it and shall see it -again in the course of our inquiries; but the polygamy of the Koran -has an advantage over most of the others; it is at once celestial -and terrestrial, for the paradise of true believers is only an ideal -harem: “Say, O believer, what shall I declare of greater benefit for -those who fear God, than gardens through which flow rivers of water, -where they shall dwell for ever, and there shall be women, who are pure -virgins, etc.[404]... Damsels having large black eyes. Therein shall be -agreeable damsels, whom no man or genius hath deflowered.[405] There -shall be young and beautiful virgins.[406]... And near them (the elect) -shall be houris with large black eyes, having complexions like rubies -and pearls.[407] Verily we have created the damsels of Paradise by a -peculiar creation.”[408] - -The whole of this sacred code sanctifies the inferiority of the woman, -and this inferiority has not been at all mitigated in practice; for -iniquity, always tenacious, is far more so when it is authorised by -religion. - -We must notice, however, in regard to Mussulman marriage, a -circumstance which at first sight is singular: it is that Mahometanism -intervenes in nothing, as religion, in all that concerns marriage; all -conjugal matters are absolutely private, and even the civil power does -not appear any more than the religious power in the celebration of -marriage. - -As a general rule, the future husband goes to declare his union to -the sheik or cadi, who then remits the minute of it to the interested -party, without keeping a copy of it. This formality is, besides, in no -way obligatory; the marriage is considered as a private act, and if -afterwards any disputes should arise in relation to it, the parties -concerned arrange them as well as they can, by appealing to the -testimonial proof.[409] - -It all amounts to this, that for Mussulmans the wife is a thing, and -the marriage a simple bargain. The wife is always sold to the husband, -and the price is discussed either by her legal representative or by her -conventional agent. The nuptial gift is even essential to marriage, and -if it has not been paid the wife has the right to refuse all intimate -commerce. “The wife sells herself,” says Sidi Khelil; “and every vendor -has the right to retain the merchandise sold until after taking the -payment.”[410] Before buying, the suitor is allowed to see the face and -the hands of the bride; for the hands of the woman are reputed to give -an idea of her personal beauty.[411] - -A man ought, whenever possible, to marry a virgin, and the bargain may -be concluded several years before the delivery of the merchandise.[412] -If the girl is still a virgin, not emancipated, but beyond the age when -it is considered necessary to commence the special _rôle_ reserved to -her sex, the father has the right to impose marriage on her.[413] - -The orphan girl can also be married by the authority of the Cadi, if -she is more than ten years old, and if there is reason to fear that she -may lead an irregular life.[414] - -In all other cases the consent of the girl is necessary. This -circumstance, let us especially note, constitutes a real moral -progress beyond savage polygamy, and we shall presently see that it is -not yet realised in Kabyle. The consent of the girl is given in two -ways, according to whether she is a virgin or not. This interesting -particular must be frankly declared during the negotiation; the Koran -commands it. If the girl is a virgin, it is understood that modesty -should deprive her of speech, and in order to signify yes or no, she -must have recourse to the language of signs. She can, for example, show -her repugnance by covering her face, and her content by smiling. But if -she is no longer _virgo intacta_ she is allowed to speak freely.[415] - -We have seen that, according to the Koran, the woman owes her master an -absolute submission; and he, in return, whatever may be the number of -his wives, binds himself morally not to leave any one of them “as in -suspense.” This precept of the sacred code is specifically carried out. -Every Mussulman owes to his wives an equal share of his nights, and she -who has had the favour of the night has a right to the following day -also. - -When the husband buys a fresh wife he is indebted to her seven -successive nights if she is a virgin; for three only, in a contrary -case. He has the right to refuse greater exactions than this.[416] - -But the husband has other obligations. He must supply food to his wife, -even if she is afflicted with a voracious appetite. This last case is -considered as a calamity, but the husband must resign himself to it, -or repudiate the glutton.[417] - -The husband owes, besides, to his wife or wives water to drink, water -for ablutions and purifications, oil to eat, oil to burn, oil for -cosmetic unctions, wood for cooking and for the oven, salt, vinegar, -meat every other day or otherwise, according to the custom in various -countries. He must supply them with a mat or a bed--that is to say, a -mattress--and a cover to put on the mat. These duties have correlative -rights. The husband has the right to forbid his wife to eat garlic, or -to eat or drink any other thing which may leave a disagreeable odour. -He may interdict any occupation likely to weaken her, or impair her -beauty.[418] Finally, if she refuses her conjugal obligations without -reasonable motives, the husband can at will deprive her of salt, -pepper, vinegar, etc.[419] The sum total of these restrictions renders -an Arab woman’s position a very subordinate one, both before and after -marriage. But the fate of the Kabyle woman is much more miserable. - -We are always hearing it repeated in France that the Kabyle man is -monogamous, and consequently not so different from ourselves in this -respect as the Arab; but among the Kabyles, as among the Arabs, it is -polygamy which is legal; and if the greater number of the Kabyles are -monogamous in practice, it is chiefly from economy. - -In spite of their republican customs, of their respect for individual -liberty, of the rights they accord to the mother, and of certain -safeguards with which they protect the women in time of war, contrary -also to the liberal tendencies of the Berbers in relation to women, -the Kabyles of Algeria treat their married women and their daughters -as actual slaves, and they are in this respect inferior to the Arabs -themselves.[420] In all matters that refer to sexual relations the -Kabyle customs are ferocious. Outside of marriage all union of the -sexes is severely interdicted in Kabyle, and the married woman has no -personality; she is literally a thing possessed.[421] - -The young Kabyle girl is sold by her father, her brother, her uncle, -or some relation (_açeb_); in short, by her legal owner. In announcing -his marriage, a man says quite bluntly--“I have bought a wife.” When a -father has married his daughter, the phrase in ordinary use is--“He has -eaten his daughter.”[422] - -Among the Cheurfas, but it is an exceptional case, the girl is -consulted on the choice of a husband when she has attained the age of -reason; everywhere else the virgin daughter is never consulted, and -even the widow and repudiated wife, to whom the Mussulman law accords -liberty, cannot dispose of themselves in Kabyle countries.[423] - -In many tribes, however, the daughter can twice refuse the man that is -proposed to her; but after that she has exhausted her right, and is -forced to submit.[424] - -The legal owner of the Kabyle woman generally gives her, at her -wedding, garments and jewels; or rather, he lends them to her, for it -is forbidden to the woman to dispose of them, and at her death these -precious articles must be returned to her relatives.[425] - -An essential condition of the Kabyle marriage, as of the Arab, is the -payment of a certain price, generally debated, but which certain tribes -of southern Jurjura have fixed once for all. This price is called the -“turban” (_thâmanth_), as with us “pin-money” is spoken of. A penal -sanction guarantees the payment of the _thâmanth_ and the delivery of -the person sold.[426] - -In principle the woman has no right over the _thâmanth_.[427] - -Besides the purchase money, or _thâmanth_, the Kabyle further -stipulates in addition that he shall receive a certain quantity of -provisions (cattle, or food, flour, oil, butter) to be consumed during -the marriage festivities. - -The villages which have tariffed the _thâmanth_ have also fixed the -amount of these presents. - -The father likewise stipulates, for the benefit of the daughter who is -sold, a gift of garments and of jewels; but this gift dispenses the -husband from providing in this respect for the maintenance of the wife -during one year. This is particularly necessary, because the bride, in -quitting her parents, leaves them all that she has received,[428] and -takes away nothing but her body. - -It is sometimes the mother who thus makes the conjugal sale of her -daughter, but on condition of being recognised as guardian; and even -then she does not enjoy, like the father, an unrestrained power, and -she has to consult her daughter.[429] - -Once purchased, the Kabyle wife is entirely at the mercy of the -husband-proprietor. She must follow him wherever it suits him to -settle; her only actual possession is the raiment which covers her. -Her husband has the right to chastise her with his fist, with a stick, -with a stone, or even with a poignard. He is only forbidden to kill her -without a reasonably serious motive.[430] - -If, however, when she has become a mother, she is unable to suckle her -child, the law decides that the husband is obliged to provide a wet -nurse;[431] though this is more for the child’s sake than the mother’s, -as she cares little enough about the infant. - -The married woman is considered so entirely as property in Kabyle that -the prolonged absence of the master is allowed to set her free. In this -case she belongs, after four years, to her maternal relations, who -have the right to re-marry her--that is to say, to re-sell her--unless -the absent husband has left her a sufficient provision. However, the -husband’s parents can delay the dissolution of the first marriage, -sometimes for seven years, sometimes for ten years, but on condition of -taking the place of the absent husband in furnishing the deserted wife -with food and clothes.[432] - -The Kabyle woman, therefore, married or not, is always a thing -possessed. We shall see later that even widowhood does not enfranchise -her. The right of correcting the woman who is not under the power of a -husband ceases only when she has reached an age when marriage would be -sterile, and especially if she has in a way abjured her sex by mixing -with men in the markets.[433] - -Very often the assimilation of the Kabyle people to the French is -spoken of as a thing relatively easy. It appears to me that the servile -subjection of the Kabyle woman is an almost insurmountable obstacle to -this dream of fusion. Without doubt the married woman in France is only -a minor; but in Kabyle she is still in the lowest stage of slavery. In -this respect the Berbers of Kabyle are on a level with the coarsest -savages; they are even inferior to the Arabs, although the latter have -preserved almost unchanged the polygamic _régime_ of the old Islamite, -and even pre-Islamite ages. But in all times and all countries the -condition of woman is the measure of the moral development of the whole -people. Now, in regard to this there is a gulf between Kabyle and -civilised Europe. - -The polygamic _régime_ has, besides, in every country an almost -necessary result--the slavery of women. This is natural. As in the -hordes of chimpanzees, the male, the anthropomorphous paterfamilias, -only maintains his authority by force and by expelling his rivals, so, -in human societies, the polygamous husband can hardly be anything but -the proprietor of subjugated beings, not daring to aspire to freedom. -It may be remarked also that the polygamic appetite, so habitual to -man, cannot be strange to woman. Both have the same blood and share the -same heredity. The polygamous husband, therefore, has always to prevent -or repress the straying of his feminine flock by close confinement or -by terror. Under a polygamic _régime_ the wife has scarcely any rights; -she has chiefly duties. - - -III. _Polygamy in Egypt, Mexico, and Peru._ - -I have dwelt long enough on Mussulman polygamy. From a sociological -point of view it is extremely interesting. It affords us the -opportunity of studying from life customs which, with differences of -detail, must have been those of all civilised peoples at a certain -period of their evolution, and which probably have only been kept up -among the Islamites on account of the confusion of civil and religious -laws, these last giving to polygamy a sort of consecration. - -In all the great primitive barbarous monarchies the polygamy of the -first ages has been by degrees restrained or abolished, according to -the measure of social progress. - -In ancient Egypt polygamy was still in force; but already it was -interdicted to the priests,[434] contrary to what has happened nearly -everywhere. As a matter of fact, and by the simple necessity resulting -from the proportion of the sexes, even when polygamy is authorised and -legal, it is especially the luxury of rich and powerful men; the common -people have everywhere been reduced to monogamy, whether they wished -it or not. Under most of the great early despotic monarchies which -had emerged from primitive savagery this fact became legalised, and -plurality of wives constituted a privilege reserved to the great ones -of the land. - -In ancient Peru monogamy was obligatory for men who possessed nothing, -but not for the Inca and the nobles of the kingdom. Thus the last Inca, -Atahualpa, had three thousand wives or concubines. As generally happens -when polygamy is restrained, there was already a hierarchy among the -wives of the Inca; one of them, who was obliged to be his sister, -the _coya_, was reputed superior to the others, and her eldest son -succeeded his father.[435] On this point, as on many others, ancient -Peru had unconsciously copied Egypt. - -In Mexico also, monogamy was habitual for the poor, but the powerful -and the nobles had a number of wives proportioned to their rank and to -their riches.[436] In Mexico, as in Peru, polygamy was monogamic in -the sense that one wife had pre-eminence over the others, and that her -children alone inherited the paternal title and wealth. - -This polygamy of princes and potentates, who by right of birth soar -above the common rule, is found also in the great Aryan empires of -Asia.[437] - - -IV. _Polygamy in Persia and India._ - -The polygamy of the monarchs of ancient Persia seems to have been -copied from that of the kings of Egypt, or of the Incas of Peru. They -had numerous concubines and three or four wives, of whom one was -especially considered as queen, or privileged wife.[438] - -As for the Persians of more ancient times still, the Mazdeans who drew -up the sacred code of the Avesta, if we refer to the Zend text, we -find they had a most severe sexual morality. The Avestic code condemns -and punishes resort to prostitutes, seduction, sexual extravagances, -abortion, etc. Throughout that portion of the Avesta which has come -down to us there is no recognition of polygamy, and the verses which -mention marriage have quite a monogamic meaning. It seems, however, -says one of the translators of the Avesta, that among the ancient -Persians polygamy may have been authorised in case of sterility of -the first wife.[439] Like anthropophagy, polygamy is an original -sin with human societies. But writings so exclusively religious and -even liturgic as the Avesta constitute very incomplete sources of -information in regard to civil institutions. To study the marriage of -the ancient Persians in the Avesta seems about as illusory as it would -be to study ours in a Catholic prayer-book. - -We know also, from the Code of Manu and historical and ethnographical -documents, that polygamy is and has been far from being unknown in -India, and yet it is difficult to prove from the text of the Vedic -hymns that the writers of these chants have practised it. - -This may be inferred, however, from several verses. In the beginning -the morals were coarse enough for abortion to be common. “Let Agni,” we -read in a hymn, “kill the rakchasa who, under the form of a brother, a -husband, or a lover, approaches thee to destroy thy fruit.”[440] On the -other hand, woman is held in slight esteem by the sacred chants. She is -a being “of incapable mind and unfit for serious employment.”[441] In -one hymn, Satchi, the daughter of Buloman, boasts of having eclipsed -her rivals in the eyes of her husband.[442] A certain number of verses -speak of the wives of the gods: “The praying cows, these wives of Agni, -wish to obtain a proof of the virility of the god.”[443] - -In Sanskrit the word “finger” is feminine, and thus very often the -fingers which handle the sacred mortar are called the ten wives of -Agni.[444] - -In short, other accounts leave us no room to doubt that in primitive -India, as elsewhere, the great and the powerful have largely practised -polygamy from Vedic times.[445] - -That these customs have been those of Brahmanic India, the text of Manu -in antiquity, and the reports of travellers in modern times, attest -loudly enough. One verse of Manu regulates the right of succession -of sons that a Brahmin may have by four wives belonging to different -castes. “If a Brahmin has four wives belonging to four classes, in -the direct order, and if they all have sons, this is the rule of -inheritance. Let the son of the Brahmin (after having deducted the -bull, the chariot, and the jewels) take three parts of the rest; let -the son of the Kchatriya wife take two parts; that of the Vaisyâ, one -part and a half; that of the Soudra, one part only.”[446] - -Another verse, much more singular, declares that the children of a -second wife belong to the person who has lent the money to buy her: - -“He who has a wife, and who, after having borrowed money from some one, -marries another with it, derives no other advantage than the sensual -pleasure; the children belong to the man who has given the money.”[447] -As for the king, the Code of Manu permits polygamy to him in the -largest measure, at least under the form of concubinage. He ought to -have a troop of wives, whose duty it is to fan him, and to pour water -and perfumes over his august person. He refreshes himself with them -from the cares of government, and passes the night in their agreeable -company.[448] We must not forget, besides, that, as the Mahabharata -has informed us, the Kchatriyas practised marriage by capture and -polygamy.[449] - -To sum up, in India, as everywhere else, polygamy has evolved; it -has at first been common; then, when power and riches have been -concentrated in the hands of a small number, it has become the -privilege of the great. The polygamy of the princes and of the rich -Brahmins was even the first obstacle encountered in the seventeenth -century by the preaching of the Jesuits in India.[450] - -In the present time it is the same for the great, and custom tolerates -a second wife, even to common husbands, in case of sterility of the -first.[451] I shall have to speak again of these customs in treating of -concubinage. - -If we now sum up the general sense of the numerous facts which I have -just passed in review, we see that with the entire human race polygamy -has succeeded to the sexual and conjugal anarchy of the first ages. -Like all other institutions, primitive polygamy has gradually become -regulated, but always while keeping the woman in a very humiliating -position. One fact of great importance, and which has by degrees -ruined the _régime_ of a plurality of wives, even when custom, law, -and religion authorised it, is that polygamy became a luxury within -the reach only of rulers, as soon as a tolerable social condition -restrained the too rapid mortality of males. Indeed, from this moment -the sexual equilibrium of births compelled the greater number of men to -practical monogamy, and thenceforth, as Herbert Spencer justly remarks, -a public opinion was necessarily formed in favour of monogamy. Often, -therefore, polygamy constituted a legal privilege; it was expressly -limited to kings, great men, and priests. - -Besides this a hierarchy became established among the numerous wives, -and one of them had precedence of her companions. - -Finally, legal monogamy was decreed, but this monogamy was in -appearance only. In practice the pain of it was softened by -compromises, notably by prostitution, which was at least tolerated, and -by concubinage, which received the consecration of law. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[394] Koran, Sourate, iv. 38. - -[395] Koran, Sourate, iv. 26. - -[396] _Ibid._ iv. 28. - -[397] _Ibid._ lx. 10. - -[398] _Ibid._ iv. 18. - -[399] _Ibid._ iv. 3. - -[400] Koran, xxxiii. 47. - -[401] _Ibid._ lx. 12. - -[402] _Ibid._ xxxiii. 49. - -[403] _Ibid._ iv. 128. - -[404] _Ibid._ iii. 13. - -[405] Koran, lii. 20. - -[406] _Ibid._ lv. 56-70. - -[407] _Ibid._ lvi. 22. - -[408] _Ibid._ lvi. 35. - -[409] E. Meynier, _Études sur l’Islamisme_, p. 148. - -[410] Sidi Khelil, t. ii. p. 434 (quoted by Meynier). - -[411] E. Meynier, _loc. cit._ p. 159. - -[412] E. Meynier, _loc. cit._ pp. 158-160. - -[413] Sidi Khelil, t. ii. pp. 326, 327 (quoted by Meynier). - -[414] _Ibid._ p. 157. - -[415] E. Meynier, _loc. cit._ p. 158. - -[416] Sidi Khelil, t. ii. p. 505. - -[417] E. Meynier, _loc. cit._ p. 165. - -[418] _Ibid._ p. 166. - -[419] _Ibid._ p. 167. - -[420] E. Sabatier, _Essai sur l’origine, etc., des Berbères -sédentaires_, in _Revue d’anthropologie_, 1882. - -[421] Hanoteau et Letourneux, _La Kabylie_, t. ii. p. 148. - -[422] Hanoteau et Letourneux, _La Kabylie_, t. ii. p. 148. - -[423] _Id., ibid._ p. 149. - -[424] _Id., ibid._ p. 150. - -[425] _Id., ibid._ p. 162. - -[426] _Id., ibid._ pp. 152, 153. - -[427] _Id., ibid._ - -[428] Hanoteau et Letourneux, _La Kabylie_, t. ii. p. 161. - -[429] _Id., ibid._ p. 151. - -[430] _Id., ibid._ t. ii. p. 165. - -[431] _Id., ibid._ p. 169. - -[432] _Id., ibid._ t. ii. p. 146. - -[433] _Id., ibid._ p. 151. - -[434] Diodorus, book i. 80. - -[435] W. Prescott, _Hist. of the Conquest of Peru_, vol. i. p. 46. - -[436] W. Prescott, _Hist. of the Conquest of Mexico_, vol. i. p. -121.--Herbert Spencer, _Sociology_, vol. ii. p. 283. - -[437] F. Müller, _Allgem. Ethnogr._, p. 263. - -[438] Herbert Spencer, _Sociology_, vol. ii. p. 295. - -[439] C. de Harlez, _Avesta_, Introd. clxxi. - -[440] _Rig-Veda_, sec. viii., lect. viii., H. xx., ver. 45. - -[441] _Rig-Veda_, sec. iii., H. ii., ver. 17. - -[442] _Ibid._ sec. viii., H. xvii., ver. 5, 6. - -[443] _Ibid._ sec. iii., lect. iv., ver. 3. - -[444] _Ibid._ sec. vii., lect. viii., H. xxvi., ver. 2. - -[445] E. Burnouf, _Essai sur le Véda_, p. 213. - -[446] _Code of Manu_, ix. ver. 149-151. - -[447] _Ibid._ xi. ver. 5. - -[448] _Code of Manu_, vii. ver. 219, 221, and 224. - -[449] Wake, _Evolution of Morality_, vol. ii. p. 241. - -[450] _Lettres édif._, t. vi. p. 26; t. xv. p. 286; t. xii. p. 416. - -[451] Wake, _loc. cit._, vol. ii. p. 230. - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -PROSTITUTION AND CONCUBINAGE. - - I. _Concubinage in General._--Frequency and reason of polygamic - instincts--Palliatives of monogamy. - - II. _Prostitution._--Primitive prostitution--Slow rise - of scruples--Specialisation of prostitution in civilised - societies--Prostitution in the ancient States of Central America, - in China and Japan--The right of the father, and prostitution in - Japan--Prostitution in India--Religious prostitution--Prostitution in - Europe. - - III. _Various Forms of Concubinage._--The concubinate--Concubine - captives in Judæa and Homeric Greece--Some modern facts of the same - kind--Slave concubines in Africa, in Abyssinia, and Madagascar--Legal - concubinate in Central America--Categories of the concubinate - in Mexico--The “lesser wives” in Tartary and China--Concubines - in Assyria, among the Arabs, and in India--Greek hetaïrism--The - concubinate in ancient Rome--The concubinate of the primitive catholic - clergy--Concubines “by precaution”--Contemporary concubinage--Why it - does not exist in Kabyle--The evolution of concubinage. - - -I. _Concubinage in General._ - -As a connecting link between polygamy and monogamy, concubinage -deserves special study. - -Between institutions, as between organised beings, there is no sudden -leap. Societies evolve slowly; it is by degrees that customs become -refined, and that laws are formulated of a less and less brutal kind. -It has been with marriage as with everything else. To the confusion -of primitive bestial unions, when polygamy after the manner of -chimpanzees prevailed, have succeeded sexual associations regulated -by laws and customs. I have successively described these outlines -or primitive forms of marriage, ending with polygamy, which itself -is not incompatible with a somewhat advanced civilisation, but which -generally, by its restrictions, soon develops a tendency towards -monogamy. - -The abyss is not so very great that separates polygamic from monogamic -marriage. - -As we have seen, primitive man, besides having a purely animal absence -of modesty, has generally polygamic instincts, and nothing can be more -natural, since he descends from anthropoid precursors, and the great -monkeys are habitually polygamous. But the solidity of instincts, moral -or immoral, is always in proportion to the duration of their rise. -Now, during enormous chronological periods or cycles, in comparison -with which the historic ages of humanity are but a moment, our nearest -animal ancestors and our prehistoric percursors have, as far as it was -possible, lived in a polygamic _régime_. It is therefore quite natural -that most men, even in the present time, should be much inclined -to polygamy, and that primitive societies should only have emerged -slowly and imperfectly from it, while tempering monogamic marriage by -polygamic palliatives. Of these palliatives the two principal ones -still in use amongst the most civilised peoples are prostitution and -concubinage, which last becomes a concubinate when legalised. - - -II. _Prostitution._ - -It would certainly be out of place here to give a detailed history of -prostitution. Having, besides, repeatedly spoken of it in the preceding -chapters, I may now confine myself to recapitulating the chief traits -of its evolution. In primitive societies, as we know, it is general, -and in no way blamed. Free girls and women willingly sell themselves, -and more often still, they are an article of traffic for their parents, -like any other merchandise. - -No idea of shame as yet attaches to sexual unions considered in -themselves. Prostitution is a simple barter which shocks no one, -and venal love is merely restrained by respect for the property of -another. Women who are already appropriated, or possessed by a man, -are in principle respected, but solely by the same title as any other -property. Their masters, their husbands, those who have bought or -captured them, have a perfect right to hire them out to whomsoever they -will, as the Australian husbands do, and as the Polynesian ones did. - -When the appropriation of women, polygamic as much as possible, -became general, the more than fickle instincts of primitive man -persisted none the less; and, as a matter of fact, it is then that -prostitution, in the modern sense of the word, first arose. Outside the -majority of women, regularly belonging to husband-proprietors, there -existed, in much smaller numbers, women trafficking their persons, -either voluntarily for their own profit, or for that of their legal -possessors. At Senaar, for example, and in many other countries, -merchants and slave-dealers trade very profitably in their feminine -live stock. - -We know also that, in primitive Athens, the most eminent men possessed -troops of prostitutes, and drew a large revenue from them; for it is -very slowly that prostitution, and all that relates to it, has awakened -any scruple in the human conscience. - -Even at the most glorious period of Hellenic civilisation, with what -consideration were the most distinguished hetaïræ still regarded, since -Socrates and Pericles willingly met at the house of Aspasia! - -In all the more or less cultivated societies of the old or new world -prostitution has flourished or continues to flourish. It is even in -refined societies alone that prostitution becomes specialised and -legalised, and ends by being regulated, by becoming, in short, a kind -of institution, supplementing legal marriage and being concurrent with -it. - -Everywhere--in all countries, and among all races--prostitution has -been, or continues to be, tolerated, and sometimes even honoured. It -existed in the great states of Central America, in ancient Peru, in -ancient Mexico, and in Nicaragua, where there were already prostitutes -and brothels. In this last country the morals were still so impure, -and continence, although very relative, so difficult to bear, that at -a certain annual festival the women of all classes were authorised to -abandon themselves to whomsoever they pleased.[452] - -In the great societies founded by the Mongoloid races, or the Mongols -of Asia, prostitution displays itself in the open day. In China, -tea-houses abound, although the ancient morality of the Celestial -Empire makes chastity a moral duty for unmarried girls and women. In -Cochin-China and Japan, on the contrary,[453] practice and theory are -in accord. No moral brand of shame attaches to the prostitute. In -Cochin-China, says Finlayson,[454] a father has the right to give his -daughter, for a small sum of money, to a visitor or even a stranger, -without the reputation of the young girl suffering any harm, and -without any hindrance to her finding a suitable husband afterwards. In -Japan the tea-houses (_tsiaya_) are more numerous still than in China; -in the large towns they form vast quarters, and some of them are very -luxurious. The mode of recruiting for inmates seems at first improbable -to a European, and this alone suffices to show the relativity of -morality. - -Everywhere “the right of the father of a family” over his children has -begun by being unlimited. In Japan it is still excessive, even over -married daughters. Thus M. Bousquet, who was travelling in Japan a few -years ago, relates that as he was lodging one day in the house of a -young married couple, the father of the wife offered her to him, and -the husband did not dream of protesting.[455] - -A daughter represents a certain amount of capital, belonging first to -the father and then to the husband; to alienate it without the consent -of the proprietor is a theft, but with his authorisation the action -becomes lawful, and therefore parents who are in difficulties negotiate -their daughter without any intervention by the Japanese law. A young -girl is even admired when she prostitutes herself from devotion. “The -Japanese romances repeat to satiety the story of the virtuous virgin -who voluntarily submits to this servitude in order to save her father -from misery, or to pay the debts of her betrothed.”[456] In Japan, -houses of prostitution are a national institution; the law regulates -the costume of the women who inhabit them, and the duration of their -stay. On this point Europe has little to envy Japan. But what is -special to Japan is that the _tikakie_, the inmates of these houses, -are placed there by their parents themselves, and for a price that is -debated beforehand. These inmates of the tea-houses generally enter -them from the age of fourteen or fifteen years, to live there till -they are twenty-five years old. They are taught to dance, to sing, to -play the guitar, and to write letters. They are lodged in handsome -apartments, where men go to see them openly and without any mystery. - -They are in no way dishonoured by their trade; many of them marry very -well afterwards; it even happens that respectable citizens go to seek -an agreeable wife in these houses of pleasure. The most beautiful among -them are celebrated. After their death their portraits are placed in -the temples. “In the temple of Asaxa,” says M. Bousquet, “is found a -painting representing several Japanese ladies in full dress; they are, -my guides tell me, the portraits of the most celebrated courtesans of -Yeddo, which are annually placed here in their honour.” So also Dr. -Schliemann reports that he has seen statues of deified courtesans in -the Japanese temples. Their celestial intervention was implored in an -original manner. The suppliants first wrote a prayer on a paper, then -masticated the request and rolled it into a bullet, which they shot -with an air-gun at the statues of these strange divinities.[457] - -It is clear that the Japanese differ very much from us in their idea -of feminine virtue. They have an idea, however, and do not in the -least permit the women to love as they please. Thus the girl who gives -herself to a lover without paternal authorisation is legally punished -by sixty lashes with a whip, and the Japanese public would not endure -in a play the personage of a young girl in love.[458] - -It is not the chastity of woman, as we understand it, but her -subjection, that Japanese morality requires. The woman is a thing -possessed, and her immorality consists simply in disposing freely of -herself. - -As regards prostitution, Brahmanic India is scarcely more scrupulous -than Japan, and there again we find religious prostitution practised in -the temples, analogous to that which in ancient Greece was practised at -Cyprus, Corinth, Miletus, Tenedos, Lesbos, Abydos, etc.[459] - -According to the legend, the Buddha himself, Sakyamouni, when visiting -the famous Indian town of Vesali, was received there by the great -mistress of the courtesans.[460] - -But the Brahmins have not been more strict in what concerns -prostitution than the founder of the great Buddhist religion. On this -point the accounts of travellers and missionaries supplement the -silence of the Code of Manu. The writers of _Lettres édifiantes_ found -religious prostitution openly practised in the Brahmanic temples. “The -people have put,” writes one of them, “the idol named _Coppal_ in a -neighbouring house; there she is served by priests and by _Devadachi_, -or slaves of the gods. These are prostitute girls, whose employment is -to dance and to ring little bells in cadence while singing infamous -songs, either in the pagoda, or in the streets when the idol is carried -out in state.”[461] In this case it was a matter of actual commerce, -of trading for the profit of the priests, and the latter had recourse -without any shame to what we call to-day the advertisement to attract -the customers. “I heard,” relates the same missionary, “published with -the blowing of a trumpet, that there was danger in frequenting the -_Devadachi_ who dwelt in the town; but that one could safely visit -those who served in the temple of _Coppal_.”[462] An old traveller, -Sonnerat, confirms the testimony of the missionaries of the seventeenth -century. He affirms that, like all the other Hindoos, the Brahmins are -much addicted to libertinage, and that, in their practical morality, -it is not considered a fault to have commerce with a courtesan; that -they have licentious books in which refined debauchery is taught _ex -professo_; that they use love-charms, etc.[463] - -I stop here, and purposely abstain from speaking of the prostitution -of Europe. We know too well that it has always been very flourishing, -as well in ancient Rome as in the Middle Ages, although they were so -catholic. In old France it established itself boldly, in full daylight, -to such a degree that some towns, that of Rouen for example, had their -_proxénètes jurés_, wearing bronze medals with the arms of the town on -them.[464] As for contemporary prostitution, it is superfluous to call -attention to the fact that it is one of our great social diseases. - -To sum up, the origin of prostitution goes back to the most primitive -societies; it is anterior to all the forms of marriage, and it has -persisted down to our own day in every country, and whatever might -be the race, religion, form of government, or conjugal _régime_ -prevailing. Taken by itself, it would suffice to prove that monogamy is -a type of marriage to which mankind has found it very difficult to bend -itself; the very general existence of the concubinate completes the -demonstration. - - -III. _Various Forms of Concubinage._ - -Between animal love, that can be tasted with the prostitute, and the -noblest monogamic union, there is a wide space, which the concubinate -has filled. Legal concubinage or the concubinate, admitted and -practised, as we shall see, in so many countries, is a sort of free -marriage, tolerated by custom, recognised by law, and co-existing by -the side of monogamic marriage, the rigour of which it palliates. It -was at first a blending of polygamy with monogamy, and then, undergoing -itself an evolution analogous to that which has caused the adoption -by degrees of legal monogamy among nearly all civilised peoples, it -ended by becoming in its turn monogamic in ancient Rome. I will briefly -retrace its ethnographical history. - -In its primitive phase, still very confused, the concubinate has been -simply the conjugal appropriation of slaves, especially of women -captured after a victory. These were part of the rights of the victor; -the captives were considered as booty, and shared in the same way. We -have already seen in Deuteronomy that Moses authorises this barbarous -practice, and that it was habitual also among the primitive Arabs. The -Homeric warriors did the same, as various passages of the _Iliad_ and -_Odyssey_ prove. - -I will quote a few of them. To begin with, we find the old priest -Chryses comes to offer Agamemnon a rich ransom for his daughter, and -receives from the king of kings the brutal reply--“I will not set your -daughter free: old age shall find her in my dwelling at Argos, far -from her native land, weaving linen and sharing my bed. Go, then, and -provoke me not.”[465] - -Thersites, speaking to Agamemnon, is still more explicit--“Son of -Atreus, what more dost thou require? What wilt thou? Thy tents are full -of brass and of many most beautiful women, that we give first to thee, -we, Acheans, when we take a town.”[466] Elsewhere, Achilles, speaking -of his beloved Briseis, of whom he had been robbed, cries--“Why have -the Atreides led hither this vast army? Is it not for the sake of the -dark-haired Helen? Are they, then, the only men who love their wives? -Every wise and good man cherishes and loves his wife. And I also loved -Briseis from my heart, although she was a captive.”[467] - -And, a little further on, he makes a clear distinction between the -slave concubine and the legitimate wife, swearing never to accept as -wife a daughter of Agamemnon. - -In the _Odyssey_, when Ulysses enters unrecognised his own house, and -sees pass before him in the vestibule his female slaves, laughing and -joyous as they go to play with the suitors, his feelings are not merely -those of a lawful proprietor who is offended, but of a jealous man -whose harem has been violated. At first he is tempted to kill these -women, which he actually does a little later, and he hears “his heart -cry out in his bosom, as a bitch, turning around her young ones, barks -at a stranger and tries to bite him.”[468] - -But such customs have prevailed here and there up to modern times. -In 1548, in Peru, when Pedro de la Gasca had defeated the party of -Pizarro, he distributed amongst his followers the widows of the -colonists who were killed. - -At Asterabad, after a small local revolt, Hanway saw the Persian -magistrates sell fifty women to the soldiers. - -In Livonia, after the taking of Narva, Peter the Great coolly sold to -the boyars the wives of the inhabitants.[469] Bruce tells us also that -in Abyssinia the victors habitually take possession of the wives of the -vanquished.[470] - -But if captives serve or have served somewhat in all countries to -supply the domestic concubinate, they were not the only ones reserved -for this purpose; female slaves, however procured, were treated as -such. The fact is so well known that I shall abstain from establishing -it by examples. I only quote one observed at Sackatoo, in tropical -Africa, for it proves clearly that in a barbarous country, concubinage, -or the domestic and servile concubinate, does not outrage morality in -any way, and is regarded merely from a commercial point of view. At -Sackatoo, when a married man has intimate relations with one of the -female slaves given as dowry to his wife, he need simply replace her -the following day by another slave who is a virgin and of equal value. -On this purely mercenary condition, the caprice of the husband never -occasions any conflict with the legitimate wife.[471] - -The relative and so-called Christian civilisation of the Abyssinians -accommodates itself very easily to such customs. By the side of the -_oizoro_, the proud and indolent matron, all the great nobles have a -troop of pretty servant girls with sprightly looks.[472] - -The king sets the example, and naturally he goes further still. If any -woman has had the good luck to please him, he sends an envoy to invite -her to live in the palace. This distinction is received as it should -be: the lady adorns herself as quickly as possible, and obeys without -a murmur; but above these concubines there is the wife or queen, the -_itighe_. - -As far as they can, ecclesiastical dignitaries imitate laic ones. -Bruce found one, the Abba-Salam, guardian of the sacred fire, third -personage in authority in the church, who forced women to yield to -him by a threat at the same time pious and original--the fear of -excommunication. - -I have already spoken of the Malagasy concubinage, of the chief wife -(_vadi-be_) having her own apartment and privileges, and ruling -over the “lesser wives” (_vadi-keli_), who live together in equal -submission.[473] - -In short, the domestic concubinate is largely practised over all -central or barbarous Africa. - -The ancient half-civilised nations of central America did not disdain -it either. In Peru, as we shall see, the monogamic _régime_ was -obligatory, but only for the poorer people. - -In the Maya nations, the rich and powerful practised the concubinate -without any moderation.[474] At Guatemala, the parents were filled with -solicitude on this point, and when a young noble married a girl of his -own rank who had not yet attained puberty, they were careful to keep -him patient by giving him a young slave as concubine, whose children, -however, would not be his heirs.[475] - -In Mexico the were three kinds of concubines:-- - -1. Young girls not yet arrived at a marriageable age, and whom the -parents usually chose for their sons at the request of the latter. -These unions required neither ceremony nor contract, but they were -often legitimated later, when they became fruitful. - -2. Partially legitimate wives, who were also partially married, -retaining only the characteristic trait of the conjugal ceremony--that -is, the tying together of the garments of the half-married ones. These -wives could not be repudiated without a motive, but neither they nor -their children could inherit. - -3. Lastly, the third class comprehended simple concubines, largely -kept by the nobles, and who ranked not only lower than the legitimate -wives, but also than the half-legitimate ones.[476] All this system is -ingenious, and it is certainly difficult to state the gradation better. - -However common the concubinate may be, nowhere do we find it so wisely -combined as in ancient Mexico, where four sorts of sexual association -were recognised--monogamic marriage, consecrated by law and religion; -semi-legitimate marriage; free and durable union with a legitimable -concubine; and lastly, free love, escaping all regulation. - -I shall proceed soon to take an estimate of these customs, so different -from our own, but it still remains for me to speak of the concubinate -among the superior races, the yellow and the white. The Mongols of -Tartary are monogamous in principle, in the sense of having one sole -legitimate wife; but the rich and noble have by the side of this matron -or chief wife, concubines or lesser wives, subject to the former, -who has precedence and rules over them, who governs the household, -and whose children are considered legitimate and have hereditary -rights.[477] - -In China, the concubinage of the Mongols has been carefully regulated, -like everything else; it is naturally, as elsewhere, the privilege -of the rich and great, who sometimes keep a veritable harem, and -people it by purchasing pretty girls, scarcely arrived at puberty, -from their parents (Macartney, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxxiii. -473).[478] According to the current morality of China, the concubinate -is blamed unless the legitimate wife remains sterile for ten or twelve -years.[479] Formerly an attempt was made to restrain it, by only -tolerating it for the mandarins and childless quadragenarians;[480] but -these severe measures have fallen into desuetude. - -At the present day the Chinese concubinate has no other check than -human respect and public opinion. It is perfectly legal. The first or -_chief wife_ is an honoured matron; she commands the _lesser wives_, -who owe her respect and obedience. If a husband attempts to lower her -to the rank of lesser wife, he incurs the bastonnade with a hundred -strokes of the bamboo, but ninety only if, on the contrary, he tries -to raise a lesser wife to the supreme rank.[481] The legal concubines, -the lesser wives, are subordinate to the especially legitimate wife, -and are forbidden to assume the dress reserved for her.[482] The chief -wife is the mistress of the house; she is not only the mother of her -own children, but also the putative mother of the children of the -lesser wives. The latter children wear mourning for her and not for -their natural mother; and it is on the legal mother that they lavish -the expressions of their respect, affection, and obedience.[483] We -learn from Chinese comedies that rivalries sometimes break out between -the matron and her fellow wives; but in general the Chinese woman is so -well trained, so well broken in from infancy, that this is rare enough, -and Chinese wives have even been known to counsel their husbands -to take concubines in the towns where they may be long detained by -business.[484] It is well to remember, by the way, that the human brain -can retain all kinds of impressions, and that morality and instincts -strictly result from the nature of the life and education. - -The concubinate must actually have been necessary for man, for we see -it practised by all races, and by the white races as well as the others. - -We know that the monarchs of ancient Assyria had, by the side of the -single wife, a good number of concubines, exactly like the Abyssinian -negroes of our own days, or, to keep to antiquity, like the glorious -Solomon. - -Polygamous as they are, the modern Arabs do not on that account abstain -from the concubinate. Even at Mecca all the rich men keep in their -houses, with their legitimate wives, concubines who are generally -natives of Abyssinia. However, if one of these women becomes a mother, -the morality of the country requires her master to raise her to the -rank of legitimate wife.[485] The _Mekavy_ of the middle and lower -class also buy young Abyssinian slaves, teach them to cook and to sew, -make concubines of them, and re-sell them afterwards advantageously to -passing strangers, especially if they have been sterile;[486] in this -commerce they unite pleasure and profit. - -The concubinate is not more rare among the Aryans than the Semites. The -monarchs of ancient Persia had, we know, a troop of concubines; and in -all the great barbarian societies, the princely concubinate is only the -survival of old customs. - -In India the Brahmins of the middle class often have one chief wife, -and at the same time several domestic concubines.[487] - -We have seen that in Homeric Greece the concubinate was a general -practice, and in no way censured. In later times, when Greece was more -civilised, the primitive domestic concubinate disappeared, but there -always remained to alleviate the ennui of monogamic marriage what we -call concubinage, or hetaïrism, which was openly practised by Socrates -and Pericles. “If,” says Lecky on this subject, “we could imagine a -Bossuet or a Fénelon figuring among the followers of Ninon de Lenclos, -and publicly giving her counsel on the subject of her professional -duties and the means of securing adorers, this would be hardly less -strange than the relation which really existed between Socrates and the -courtesan Theodota.”[488] - -All societies which have had any legal form of marriage have adopted -the concubinate, either free or more or less regulated, but it has -nowhere been so precisely legalised as in ancient Rome. I shall say -a few words about it, not that I intend to walk in the steps of our -legists, but in order to show what assistance ethnographical sociology -could be to the science of written law. By its means alone can the -legal texts, which have been a hundred times studied, commented on, and -criticised in an isolated manner, as if they related to sociological -facts without analogy in the world, be connected with the general -evolution of customs and institutions. - -At the bottom, the Roman concubinate is essentially similar to the -others; it has merely been legalised with more care, and transformed -into an institution as regular as marriage proper. It was, besides, -indispensable in a country where the right of marriage, the _jus -connubii_, was restricted. The _leges Julia_ and _Papia Poppæa_ also -expressly authorise it. - -In short, the Roman concubinate was a free union between a man and a -woman not wishing, or not being able, to marry.[489] It was lawful -to have as concubine a woman with whom marriage was forbidden--an -adulteress, an actress, a woman of bad life, or a freed slave. This -last case was the most frequent, most moral, and the most protected by -the laws. - -The intention of the parties, revealed either by a formal declaration, -or by the inequality of conditions, determined between marriage and the -concubinate. The dowry was one of the signs which served to distinguish -marriage from the concubinate. - -The Roman concubinate was only, in fact, a marriage of inferior -degree.[490] Thus a married man could not take a concubine. A bachelor -could not have several at the same time.[491] - -The concubinate implied paternity. The child was considered as a -natural child of the father (_naturalis, non vulgo conceptus_), though -he did not enter the father’s family or become his heir, but followed -the status of his mother.[492] - -The institution of the Roman concubinate evolved naturally, and its -conditions were more and more ameliorated. - -Under Constantine, the legitimation of children born from a concubinate -was permitted in a general way by marriage between the father and -the woman who had been his concubine up to the day of marriage. It -was necessary, however, that the man should not have at the time a -legitimate child. But Justinian authorised the legitimation even in -this last case; he granted also the benefit of legitimation to the -children of an enfranchised slave marrying her master, provided that -the latter had not then any legitimate children.[493] - -When Christian marriage had definitely abolished the Roman legal -concubinate, custom naturally braved the laws, and the clergy -themselves were the first to set the example, thus proving the truth -of the assertion in Genesis, “It is not good for man that he should -be alone.” For a long time the anointed of the Lord had wives or -concubines. The latter took the place of the former when, by St. -Boniface, St. Anselm, Hildebrand, etc., and the Councils, the marriage -of priests had become an atrocious crime. - -In 1171, at Canterbury, an investigation proved that the abbot-elect -of St. Augustine had seventy children in a single village.[494] -During many years a tax, called by an expressive name (_culagium_), -was systematically levied by various princes on priests living in -concubinage.[495] Better still, it often happened that the lay -parishioners obliged their priests to have concubines, _by way of -precaution_. A canon of the Council of Palencia (1322) anathematises -the laics who act thus.[496] In his _History of the Council of Trent_, -Sarpi says that many Swiss cantons had adopted this custom. At the -Council of Constance, an important speaker, Nicolas de Clemangis, -declared that it was a widely-spread practice, and that the laity were -firmly persuaded that the celibacy of the priests was quite fictitious. -Bayle quotes on this point the following remarkable passage--“Taceo de -fornicationibus et adulteriis a quibus qui alieni sunt probro cæteris -ac ludibrio esse solent, spadonesque aut sodomitæ appellantur; denique -laici usque adeo persuasum habent nullos cælibes esse, ut in plerisque -parochiis non aliter velint presbyterum tolerare nisi concubinam -habeat, quo vel sic suis sit consultum uxoribus, quæ nec sic quidem -usque quaque sunt extra periculum.” - -If, leaving aside the middle age and its clergy, we cast our eyes -around us in the most civilised and polished European societies, -we see that the concubinate has indeed disappeared, but that its -inferior form, concubinage, is very flourishing. Centuries of legal -and religious restraint have not been able to uproot it, and the -rigid monogamic marriage inscribed in our laws is constantly set at -defiance by our customs. Nearly everywhere the number of births called -illegitimate is on the increase. In France it constantly progresses-- - - From 1800 to 1805 4.75 per cent. - ” 1806 to 1810 5.43 ” - ” 1821 to 1825 7.16 ” - -Since that time the proportion has oscillated round 7.25 in France. But -in Sweden, from 1776 to 1866, it has risen from 3.11 per cent. to 9.5. -In Saxony the return has been 15.37 in 1862-1864.[497] - -At Paris, according to the calculations of A. Bertillon, more than a -tenth of the couples (40,000) were living in free union. - -In fact, if we interrogate all races, all epochs, and all countries, -we see that the concubinate and concubinage have flourished, and still -flourish, by the side of legal marriage. One country alone is an -exception to this--Kabyle. But the exception confirms the rule. If we -find in Kabyle neither concubinage nor concubinate, neither free unions -nor natural children, the reason is very simple. It is that outside -marriage no sexual union is tolerated, and in case of illegitimate -birth the mother and child are both put to death, whilst retaliation -falls on the illegal father.[498] - -The concubinate is therefore, or at least has been till now, natural -to man. One may say, borrowing a locution from Bossuet, that this -is proved by “the experience of all the centuries.” It remains for -me now to deduce from the facts I have enumerated a sketch of the -general evolution which they represent, and to estimate their moral -significance. The evolution is of the simplest. Sexual union, without -restraint or law, has been the commencement. Then the right of the -strongest or the richest has created polygamic households. In these -households the priority was at last bestowed on one wife; but as the -husband did not intend to curb his changing humour, he kept by the side -of the chief spouse either slaves or “lesser wives,” to whom, in the -end, a legal position was accorded. The monogamic _régime_ making more -and more way, the time came--at Rome, for example--when this disguised -polygamy was no longer tolerated, and the concubinate became a marriage -of the second order, being unable to co-exist with the other. At -length there was a pretence of abolishing it, and there was no other -matrimonial type legally recognised except the monogamic union, lasting -till the death of the husband or wife. But custom has rebelled against -the law, and monogamy has been more apparent than real. Prostitution -for the least refined, adultery and free union for the others, have -served as safety-valves for inclinations too inveterate and too violent -to be controlled by legal texts. Has moral purity gained thereby? -Surely not. Moreover, there is in consequence a whole population of -illegitimate children, too often abandoned by their fathers, and -suffering from their birth a legal indignity of the most iniquitous -kind. Hence arise a thousand unmerited sufferings, which legislation -must some day or other remedy, and from which the legal concubinate has -spared China, for example. Doubtless the ideal is a fine thing, but it -is folly to sacrifice the real to it, and to legislate without taking -into account the requirements of human nature. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[452] Bancroft, _loc. cit._, vol. ii. p. 676. - -[453] _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxxi. p. 133. - -[454] _Ibid._ t. xxxiv. p. 334. - -[455] G. Bousquet, _Le Japon de nos jours_ (1877), t. I^{er.} p. 246. - -[456] G. Bousquet, _loc. cit._, t. I^{er.} p. 87. - -[457] Schliemann, _La Chine et le Japon_. - -[458] G. Bousquet, _Le Théâtre au Japon_ (_Revue des Deux Mondes_, -1874). - -[459] Lecky, _History of European Morals_, vol. i. p. 103. - -[460] Mrs. Spier, _Life in Ancient India_, p. 28. - -[461] _Lettres édifiantes_, t. xii. p. 412. - -[462] _Ibid._ p. 417. - -[463] _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxxi. p. 351. - -[464] Desmaze, _Curiosités des anciennes justices_, etc., p. 289. - -[465] _Iliad_, i. - -[466] _Ibid._ ii. - -[467] _Ibid._ ix. - -[468] _Odyssey_, xx. xxii. - -[469] Houzeau, _Études sur les facultés mentales des animaux_, t. ii. -p. 381. - -[470] _Les Abyssiniennes_, p. 13. - -[471] Clapperton, _Second Voy._, vol. ii. p. 86. - -[472] Le Jean, _Théodore_, ii. - -[473] Dupré, _Trois Mois à Madagascar_, p. 153. - -[474] Bancroft, _Native Races_, vol. ii. p. 671. - -[475] _Id., ibid._ vol. ii. p. 664. - -[476] _Id., ibid._ vol. ii. p. 164. - -[477] Huc, _Voyage en Tartarie_, etc., t. I^{er.} p. 301.--Préjévalsky, -t. I^{er.} p. 69; t. ii. p. 121. - -[478] Timkowski, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxxiii. p. 311. - -[479] Sinibaldo de Mas, _La Chine et les puissances Chrétiennes_, t. -I^{er.} p. 51. - -[480] Huc, _L’Empire Chinois_, t. ii. p. 255. - -[481] Pauthier, _Chine moderne_, p. 238. - -[482] Milne, _Real Life in China_, p. 161. - -[483] Huc, _L’Empire Chinois_, t. ii. p. 258. - -[484] Milne, _Real Life in China_, p 161. - -[485] Burckhardt, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxxi. p. 148. - -[486] Burckhardt, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxxii. p. 148. - -[487] Sonnerat, _Hist. Univ. des Voy_., t. xxxi. p. 349.--_Ibid._, -Laplace, t. xviii. p. 433. - -[488] Lecky, _Hist. of European Morals_, vol. ii. p. 280. - -[489] Domenget, _Institutes de Gaius_, sec. 63. - -[490] R. Cubain, _Lois civiles de Rome_, pp. 188, 189. - -[491] Domenget, _loc. cit._ sec. 63. - -[492] R. Cubain, _loc. cit._ p. 188. - -[493] Domenget, _Institutes de Gaius_, sec. 58. - -[494] Lea, _History of Sacerdotal Celibacy_ (Philadelphia, 1867), p. -296. - -[495] _Id., ibid._ pp. 274, 292, 422. - -[496] _Id., ibid._ p. 324. - -[497] M. Block, _Europe Politique et Sociale_, pp. 204, 205. - -[498] Hanoteau et Letourneux, _La Kabylie_, t. ii. p. 148. - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -PRIMITIVE MONOGAMY. - - I. _The Monogamy of Inferior Races._--The causes of monogamy--The - gynecocratic theory of Bachofen--Inferior monogamic races--Races - which are polygamic, although superior--Co-existence of monogamy and - polygamy. - - II. _Monogamy in the Ancient States of Central America._--Monogamy of - the common people in Mexico and Peru--Civil marriage in Peru. - - III. _Monogamy in Ancient Egypt._--Gynecocracy in Egypt--Its _raison - d’être_. - - IV. _Monogamy of the Touaregs and Abyssinians._--Gynecocracy among the - Touaregs--Fragility of Marriage in Abyssinia. - - V. _Monogamy among the Mongols of Asia._--Monogamy in reality - in Thibet--Modified monogamy among the Tartars--Marriage in - China--Matrimonial legislation in China--Conjugal docility of the - Chinese women--Japanese marriage. - - VI. _Monogamy and Civilisation._ - - -I. _The Monogamy of Inferior Races._ - -After having successively studied the inferior forms of sexual and -conjugal unions, it now remains for us to investigate the most elevated -of them--the one that all, or nearly all, the great civilised societies -have ended by adopting, at least in appearance, in their legal -systems--monogamy. - -Of the great causes which have led to the adoption of monogamic -marriage, the first is the sexual equilibrium of births as soon as -it was no longer disturbed by the casualties of savage life. Without -doubt, in a society composed sensibly of equal numbers of men and -women, the more powerful and rich may monopolise several women by the -right of the strongest, but in doing so they wrong the community, and -public opinion becomes hostile to the practice. It is thus that with -the Dyaks the chiefs lose their authority and see their influence -diminish when they indulge in polygamy, although no law forbids it.[499] - -Another cause quite as powerful which contributed greatly to lead -to legal monogamy was the institution of individual and hereditary -property. L. Morgan does not hesitate to refer monogamic marriage to -this sole origin. Indeed, in all societies more or less civilised, the -desire for heritable property has quickly assumed a capital importance; -the more or less equitable regulation of questions of interest, and -the anxiety to safeguard these interests, form the solid basis of all -written codes. Now, nearly everywhere the heritage is transmitted -according to filiation, sometimes maternal, sometimes paternal; but it -is only in the monogamic _régime_ that the parentage of children is the -same for all in the paternal as well as the maternal line.[500] - -Over and above this, moral motives have reinforced the great influences -resulting from the laws of natality and the all-powerful questions of -interest. In theory or ideal, the life-long union of two beings, giving -and devoting themselves to each other, engaging to share good and evil -fortune, is surely very noble; but, as we shall see, the realisation of -monogamic marriage has everywhere been most gross, and it is difficult -to refer it to elevated aspirations. Unless we are intoxicated with -sentimentalism, we cannot believe, with Bachofen,[501] that women, -naturally more noble and more sensitive than their gross companions, -grew tired of primitive hetaïrism, and, obeying powerful religious -aspirations, enthroned monogamic marriage by force, becoming by the -same stroke heads of the family, and inaugurating gynecocracy. These -Amazonian fables are very energetically contradicted by history and -ethnography. - -Nearly in every age, and nearly in every place, woman, by reason of -her native weakness, has been subordinate to her companion, often -oppressed by him, and her subjection is the more severe as the -civilisation is the more primitive. It is a great error to believe -that in all times and places monogamic union is the sign and necessary -seal of an advanced civilisation. A number of primitive tribes are -monogamous; certain monkeys are so too. Among the inferior monogamous -races I will mention the Veddahs[502] of the woods of Ceylon, so low -in intelligence that they have not even names for the numbers; the -Bochimans of South Africa,[503] scarcely more developed; the Kurnais of -Australia, among whom monogamy, though not obligatory, is general.[504] -Certain aborigines of India,[505] less primitive, no doubt, than these -very humble specimens of our species, but still very savage, are also -monogamous. These are: the Nagas, who are contented to make their one -wife work very hard; the Kisans, who limit themselves to a single wife, -and have not even any concubines;[506] the Padans, who set a good -example to more than one superior race, for not only do they blame -polygamy and only practise it exceptionally, but they do not buy their -wives, and leave to their young people the liberty of marrying as they -please.[507] - -The form of marriage is therefore not necessarily connected with the -degree of general civilisation. The contrary is well proved, since -very civilised peoples have adopted polygamy, sometimes openly, and -very often in a masked form. Man is willingly polygamous by instinct, -but he is often forced to bend to the necessities of social existence. -Therefore, in the same country, and in the same race, we may meet -with tribes and ethnic groups very analogous in everything else, but -practising very dissimilar conjugal forms. It is not rare, for example, -to see monogamy and polygamy elbowing each other. Thus the Redskins -are willingly polygamous, and yet the Pimas, the Cocomaricopas, and -a number of tribes on the banks of the Gilo, of Colorado and of New -Mexico, only marry one wife, whilst with the Navajos, the Comanches, -etc., a man has as many wives as he can buy.[508] - -With the Zapotecs of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec there is no polygamy; -it is forbidden.[509] On the contrary, with all the Indians of Columbia -polygamy is general; but the Otomacs, who are reckoned among the most -savage, are monogamous.[510] Necessity makes the law; and although -it may be the legal form of marriage adopted by the superior races, -monogamy does not imply in itself an advanced civilisation. Besides, -the numerous facts that I have previously quoted abundantly prove that -polygamy and monogamy can coexist in the same society--the former for -the sole use of the ruling classes, the latter for the common people. - - -II. _Monogamy in the Ancient States of Central America._ - -It was thus in Mexico,[511] where, among the wives of the great men, -one alone was called lawful; her children inherited the paternal title -and wealth, to the exclusion of the others.[512] In Peru, as in Mexico, -the law, with the bold partiality which there is no attempt to disguise -in barbarous societies, permitted polygamy to the Inca and to the -enormous family of the Incas, while exacting a strict monogamy from the -poor. State communism, imposed on the country, regulated the sexual -unions somewhat as our rural proprietors regulate the coupling of their -domestic animals. Peruvian marriage was a civil act, very comparable to -enforced military service in modern Europe. Every year in the kingdom -of Cuzco it was the practice to assemble together in the squares of -the towns and villages all the individuals of marriageable age, from -twenty-four to twenty-six years for the men, and from eighteen to -twenty for the women. At Cuzco the Inca himself married the persons of -his own family, and always in a public square, by putting in each other -the hands of the different couples. In their respective boundaries -the chiefs of districts, resembling our mayors, fulfilled the same -function for the persons of their own rank or of an inferior rank. We -are indeed told that the consent of parents was necessary, but it was -not a question of the consent of the interested parties.[513] Besides, -it was strictly forbidden to marry outside the civil group of which the -individuals formed a part. In this case marriages must often have been -contracted between relatives more or less near. As to incest, there -was little severity, since the Inca was legally bound to marry one of -his sisters, with the reservation that she might not be his uterine -sister,[514] and the same rule was at last extended to the nobles of -the empire. - -In sanctioning the civil marriage of the country, the public -functionary, the _Curaca_, administered to the couple the oath of -conjugal fidelity, which, according to P. Pizzarre, was generally kept; -perhaps because, as we shall see later, the Peruvian law was not tender -to adulterers. - -There does not appear to have been the least nuptial ceremony in Peru. -In Mexico, on the contrary, marriage was celebrated with much show, -and it was religious. The bride was conducted in great pomp to the -house of the bridegroom, who came with his family to meet her. The -two processions mutually perfumed each other with boxes of burning -incense. After this the future spouses sat down on the same mat, and -a priest married them by tying the robe of the bride to the mantle of -the bridegroom. The precaution had previously been taken to consult -the diviners and augurs. Nuptial festivals followed, in which the -newly-married couple took no part. They lasted four days, and the -marriage was not to be consummated until their termination. - - -III. _Monogamy in Ancient Egypt._ - -In the ancient empires of central America the position of the wife was -very subordinate;--this is an ordinary fact in barbarous countries. But -in this respect, a singular exception seems to have existed in ancient -Egypt, which nevertheless offers so many analogies to ancient Peru. -This anomaly must be described with some details, because the believers -in a prehistoric gynecocracy complacently rely on it to support their -theory. - -The general assertions of the writers of antiquity on this point have -been confirmed by the demotic deeds recently deciphered. I shall -briefly quote both. - -Let us listen first to Herodotus on the subject of Egyptian women: -“They have established laws and customs opposite, for the most part, -to those of the rest of mankind. With them the women go to market and -traffic; the men stay at home and weave.... The men carry burdens on -the head, the women on the 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.”[1] From this last rule it is already -logical to infer that the women possessed and inherited property, -which is not ordinary in primitive monarchies. Herodotus adds that “no -woman performs sacerdotal duties towards a divinity of either sex; the -priests of all the divinities are men.”[515] In a country so profoundly -religious this interdict clearly proves that in public opinion, at -least, the woman was held to be an inferior being. Besides, polygamy -was permitted in Egypt, which suffices of itself to exclude the idea of -feminine domination in the family. However, Herodotus relates that many -Egyptians, especially “those that dwelt on the marshes,” have, like the -Greeks, adopted monogamy.[516] - -Diodorus goes further than Herodotus. He affirms that in the Egyptian -family it is the man who is subjected to the woman: “Contrary to the -received usage of other nations, the laws permit the Egyptians to marry -their sisters, after the example of Osiris and Isis. The latter, in -fact, having cohabited with her brother Osiris, swore, after his death, -never to suffer the approach of any man, pursued the murderer, governed -according to the laws, and loaded men with benefits. 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.”[517] - -The assertion of Diodorus seems at first sight inadmissible; -nevertheless, the demotic deeds, in a measure, confirm it. If the -family subjection of the man was not general in Egypt, at least it -existed in a number of cases. In reality, the Egyptian law did not -deal with marriages, and the interested parties contracted them at -their will. Now, in virtue of the law of matriarchal inheritance, -the woman was often richer than the man. She could therefore dictate -how the marriage contract should be drawn up. The conjugal union was -manifestly before every thing a commercial agreement, since the word -_husband_ does not appear in the documents until after the reign -of Philopator.[518] The Egyptian woman generally married under the -_régime_ of the separate possession of property; she did not change -her condition, and preserved the right of making contracts without -authorisation; she remained absolute mistress of her dowry. The -contract also specified the sums that the husband was to pay to his -wife, either as nuptial gift, or as annual pension, or as compensation -in case of divorce.[519] - -Sometimes even, by acts subsequent to marriage, the Egyptian wife could -succeed in completely dispossessing her husband, and therefore the -latter was careful to stipulate, as a precaution, that his wife should -take care of him during his life, and pay the expenses of his burial -and tomb.[520] - -To sum up, it appears, indeed, that in ancient Egypt no marital power -existed, at least in the families of private individuals. - -This state of things lasted till the time of Philopator, who, in the -fourth year of his reign, established the pre-eminence of the husband -in the family by deciding that thenceforth all the transfers of -property made by the wife should be authorised by the husband.[521] - -These facts, certainly very curious, have seemed decisive to a number -of sociologists who, with Bachofen, like to believe that in prehistoric -times there has existed a gynecocratic period--an age of gold, when -women reigned as mistresses, and of which the mythic Amazons were -a survival. The very incomplete accounts that we possess of the -condition and _rôle_ of woman in Egypt do not seem to me to warrant -the importance that is attached to them. - -In barbarous, as in civilised societies, there are three great means -of influence--religion, military power, and money. In ancient Egypt, -Diodorus tells us, woman was judged unworthy of the priesthood, and -therefore inferior from a religious point of view. She did not possess -any warlike power. Neither monuments, nor writings, nor traditions -make any mention of female warriors, analogous either to the Amazons -of fable or those of the king of Dahomey. There remains the influence -of money, doubtless an enormous influence in all societies where it -can accumulate in the hands of certain individuals to the detriment of -others. Now, everything proves that if in ancient Egypt women have more -or less enjoyed great independence, and have even abused it so as to -subject their husbands, they obtained it simply by the power of money. - -Evidently the organisation of property and the laws of succession in -Egypt permitted women to be rich or to become so, and in consequence -to domineer over husbands less favoured in this respect. We shall see -that in ancient Greece and Rome the same causes produced the same -effects. Is it even necessary to go to ancient times to seek examples -of feminine emancipation, even very insolent emancipation, based only -on the dowry or fortune? We also have an abundance of plutocratic -Amazons. But these facts are not incompatible with the legal subjection -of women. If they seem to have been very common in ancient Egypt, it -is because legislation did not meddle with marriage; and it must also -be remembered that the demotic documents only mention, as is natural, -the contracts of the upper or middle classes, the propertied classes, -which, of course, are a minority. - -So little was gynecocracy inscribed in the laws and customs of Egypt -that a simple royal decree depriving women of the disposition of their -property sufficed to cast them into the subordinate rank which they -have occupied until the present time in all human societies, but which, -perhaps, they will not always occupy. - -Nevertheless, it is a noteworthy fact that in a society so rigid as the -Egyptian, a minority of women should have been able to obtain legally -a great amount of independence; it constitutes a remarkable exception, -and may, perhaps, be referred to the influence of the Berber races, -which, according to Egyptian traditions themselves, played an important -part in the foundation of primitive Egypt. - - -IV. _The Monogamy of the Touaregs and Abyssinians._ - -We have already seen that our contemporary Kabyles, although of -Berber origin, make the yoke of their wives very hard; but it may -be admitted that, in this respect, they have been influenced by -numerous conquerors. A certain emancipation of women seems to be a -characteristic trait of Berber societies. Even at the present time, -among the Touaregs of the Sahara, who have preserved their independence -and the purity of their race better than the Kabyles, the rich woman -enjoys a social position analogous to that of the ladies of ancient -Egypt. - -In spite of the Mussulman law, the Targui woman practically imposes -monogamy on the man. She would immediately seek a divorce if her -husband attempted to give her a rival. - -Amongst the Touaregs filiation is still maternal, and confers the rank. -“The child follows the blood of the mother;” the son of a slave or -serf father and a noble woman is noble. “It is the womb which dyes the -child,” they say in their primitive language.[522] “Absolute mistress -of her fortune, her actions, and her children, who belong to her and -bear her name, the Targui lady goes where she will and exercises a -real authority.”[523] She seldom marries before the age of twenty, and -she marries as she pleases, the fathers only intervening to prevent -_mésalliances_. She eats with her husband, to whom, however, she owes -obedience, and who can kill her in case of adultery.--(Duveyrier, -339-340.) - -The Targui women know how to read and write in greater numbers than the -men. It is well known, besides, that rudimentary instruction in reading -and writing is widely spread among the Mahometan population of North -Africa. - -It is to the Targui ladies, says Duveyrier, that is due the -preservation of the ancient Lybian and ancient Berber writing.[524] - -Leaving domestic work to their slaves, the Targui ladies occupy -themselves with reading, writing, music, and embroidery;[525] they live -as intelligent aristocrats. - -“The ladies of the tribe of the Ifoghas are renowned,” says again -Duveyrier, “for their _savoir-vivre_ 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.”[526] Targui gallantry has preserved for the women of the tribe of -Imanan, who are descended from the ancient sultans, the title of royal -women (_timanôkalîn_) on account of their beauty and their superiority -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 sing while -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.”[527] - -The Targui lady often sings in the evenings, improvising and -accompanying herself on the rebâza. If she is married, says Duveyrier, -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 the heart, and not for the bed only, as -among the Arabs.”[528] - -Such customs as these indicate delicate instincts which are absolutely -foreign to the Arabs and to the Kabyles. They strongly remind us of -the times of our southern troubadours, and of the _cours d’amour_, -which were the quintessence of chivalry. But it is important to notice -that with the Touaregs, as with the Provençals and the Acquitainers -of the twelfth century, who may well have had Berber ancestors, these -diversions and gallantries were for aristocrats and princes, and in no -way prevented the general slavery of women. These customs are curious; -they show a degree of moral nobility, and are worthy of note, but at -the same time we must guard against according them a general value -which they do not possess. It is important, also, to remark that the -independence of the Berber lady, who is saved the trouble of grinding -the corn, of cooking, etc., rests on the magic power of money. “By -means of accumulation,” says Duveyrier, “the greatest part of the -fortune is in the hands of women”--(p. 339). In short, it is only by an -extraordinary power of illusion that we can recognise in the relatively -favourable situation of the Berber lady a case of Amazonian gynecocracy. - -In Abyssinia, which also is not a gynecocratic country, the women -enjoy very great liberty; their conduct is very dissolute, and their -marriage very easily broken. Bruce, who first made known to us these -curious customs, likens them to those of ancient Egypt. “In Abyssinia,” -he says, “the women live as if they were common to every one. They -pretend, however, to belong, by principle, to one man only when they -marry, but they do not act up to it.”[529] Divorce is so easy in -Abyssinia that Bruce says he has seen a woman surrounded by seven -former husbands.[530] The most distinguished Abyssinian ladies have -cicisbei, after the Italian fashion of old times. At their feasts, -according to Bruce again, the lovers yield themselves publicly to each -other. Their neighbours at table simply take care to hide them very -imperfectly by improvising with their cloaks a waving partition.[531] -The young women of the province of Samen, says Bruce, came alone to -trade with the travellers. “They were hard in their bargains, with the -exception of one only, in which they seemed very reasonable and very -generous. They agreed to give rather than sell their favours, alleging -that long solicitations on one side and refusals on the other wasted -time that might be more agreeably employed.”[532] It is clear from this -that the monogamic _régime_ of the Abyssinians is more apparent than -real, that it is much modified by the extreme cicisbeism, by the use of -concubines, of which I have already spoken, and lastly by the abuse of -divorce, turning it into a successive polygamy. - - -V. _Monogamy among the Mongols of Asia._ - -Among the Asiatic Mongols monogamy is also not very strict. In Thibetan -Himalaya polyandry seems to predominate. It is not rare, either, in -Thibet proper, where, on the other hand, polygamy is not forbidden, -for there is no rigid legislation in regard to marriage. Besides, in -these countries, as in many others, girls enjoy complete liberty before -marriage, and they use it without suffering at all in reputation.[533] - -It is singular that in Lamaïc Thibet, in full theocracy, in a country -where the prayers and the practices of religion enter into nearly -all the actions of civil life, marriage escapes all ecclesiastical -interference. In fact, the priests have nothing to do with it, and -all the matrimonial ceremony, which is purely laïc, consists in a -simple mutual engagement entered into by the interested parties before -witnesses.[534] - -This laïc anarchy of marriage in Thibet must no doubt be attributed -to Lamaïc bigotry itself. The Lamas avoid women, holding marriage in -contempt, and all the great functionaries, as well as many Thibetans -of the other classes, are of the same opinion.[535] Religion does not -concern herself with it; she disdains it, as in Egypt, which seems to -show that a sufficient degree of religious madness hinders theocratic -legislators from thinking of civil institutions. - -But in regard to marriage, both civil and religious laws are always -subordinate to the necessities resulting from the social condition and -the proportion of the sexes. In Thibet, therefore, in spite of the -entire liberty allowed to individuals, the marriage of the greatest -number is monogamic quite as much as if the law had prescribed it.[536] - -In Tartary the nomad Mongols have adopted for their matrimonial type -monogamy tempered by the domestic concubinate. I have spoken previously -of their “lesser wives,” of their marriage by purchase with the -ceremonial of capture. I need not, therefore, repeat all this. I will -only note in passing that their girls have also very loose manners, -which are not always corrected by marriage.[537] According to one of -the most recent explorers of Mongolia, the proportion of the sexes in -that country is the inverse of that in Europe. The women are much less -numerous than the men. This may probably be the principal reason of the -celibacy of the Lamas, and of the real monogamy of the greater number -of laymen who do not belong to the aristocracy.[538] - -Chinese marriage essentially resembles Mongol marriage, but with a more -settled ritual and a more uniform legislation. It is also monogamic, -with the palliative of the concubinate, the “lesser wives” of whom I -have already spoken.[539] Besides this, the subjection of women in -China is extreme. When a Chinaman has only daughters he is said to -have no children.[540] The Chinese woman is submissive in all states, -as a daughter to her parents, as a wife to her husband, and as a widow -to her sons, especially to her eldest son.[541] (Pauthier, _Chine -Moderne_, p. 239). The young Chinese girl has not even an idea that -she may be consulted in the choice of a husband.[542] She is bought -from her parents, and a part of the sum agreed on is paid when the -contract is signed.[543] As in Mongolia, matrimonial arrangements -are often settled, not only from the infancy of the future wife and -husband, but even before their birth, on the hypothesis of a difference -of sex.[544] These agreements are made by the fathers and mothers, or, -in default of them, by the grandparents or nearest relatives.[545] -Lastly, the women are excluded by law from inheritance,[546] and kept -as much as possible in seclusion, so that they scarcely see any one -besides their parents.[547] By marrying, the young Chinese girl simply -changes masters. “The bride,” says a Chinese author, “ought only to be -a shadow and an echo in the house.” The married woman eats neither with -her husband nor with her male children; she waits at table in silence, -lights the pipes, must be content with the coarsest food, and has not -even the right to touch what her son leaves.[548] - -China is a country of very ancient civilisation, where the laws and -rites have regulated everything, and consequently there exists a whole -legislation with regard to marriage. - -To begin with, conjugal union is forbidden between persons having the -same family name,[549] and I shall have to return to this circumstance. - -As in ancient Rome, the law prohibits marriage between slaves and free -persons.[550] It absolutely forbids marriage to the priests of _Fo_, -and to those of the _tao_ sect.[551] It orders public functionaries -not to contract marriage with actresses, comedians, or musicians.[552] -It seems that in ancient times, in China as in Greco-Latin antiquity, -the father had the excessive right to unmarry his daughter, for to -remedy this abuse the Chinese law pronounces the punishment of a -hundred strokes of bamboo on the father-in-law who should send away -his son-in-law in order to re-marry his daughter to another.[553] The -Chinese widow, no longer belonging to her original family, but to the -family of her husband, can be re-married by the latter.[554] Moreover, -the contract of betrothal concluded between the parents having a legal -value, the family of the betrothed man who dies before the conclusion -of the marriage has the right to marry the bereaved _fiancée_, or false -widow,[555] who, by-the-bye, is much honoured when she has the courage -to devote herself to a celibate life.[556] - -We have seen that Chinese women are excluded from inheritance; they -have a right, however, in marrying, to a small dowry, either in money -or furniture, but the value of it is optional. It must be at least -a chest of drawers or a small _trousseau_, which the bridegroom is -obliged to supply if the parents fail to do so. Moreover, he must -also give the nuptial bed.[557] Primitive and even cruel as are the -conditions and rules of Chinese marriage, the Chinese women submit to -them not only without murmuring, but with a sort of devotion, broken -in as they are by a long ancestral education. And besides, for the -Chinese in general, it is a strict duty to marry, from a triple point -of view--social, political, and religious. Everybody marries in the -Celestial Empire, and the number of male celibates over twenty-four -years of age is quite insignificant. If a suitable opportunity of -marriage does not present itself, the parents, who are sovereign -arbiters in this matter, do not hesitate to go to an orphanage to seek -a son or daughter-in-law.[558] - -In Japan, during the feudal age, the end of which we are now -witnessing, marriage was nearly identical with Chinese marriage, and -there would be nothing to say about it in particular, if during the -last few years the fever of reformation, with which Japan is carried -away, had not happily modified marriage, at least in practice, by -giving the young girl a voice in the matter,[559] and by awakening in -some Japanese consciences doubts on the subject of the prostitution -of young girls. At the present moment, everything in Japan is being -Europeanised, and the adaptation of our Civil Code to the old Japanese -customs is only a question of time. - - -VI. _Monogamy and Civilisation._ - -The foregoing facts are sufficiently numerous to enable us to deduce -certain conclusions from them. These facts, taken as they are from -nearly all the non-Aryan races, prove in the first place that the -monogamic _régime_ is in no way the appanage of the superior races, -for among the lowest of human races some are monogamic. In regard to -marriage, we find that primordial conditions impose the various forms -of sexual union, quite independently of the caprice of individuals, or -of the degree of culture and social development. - -In attempting to estimate the moral worth of a people, a race, or a -civilisation, we are much more enlightened by the position given to -woman than by the legal type of the conjugal union. This type, besides, -is usually more apparent than real. In many civilisations, both dead -and living, legal monogamy has for its chief object the regulation -of succession and the division of property. With much _naïveté_ and -effrontery, many legislators have sanctioned polygamy in reality by -recognising the domestic concubinate by the side of legal monogamy. As -for the position of the wife who is reputed to be specially legitimate, -it is often much inferior to that enjoyed by the woman who lives under -other conjugal _régimes_ which are theoretically less elevated. In the -greater number of countries more or less monogamic, which I have just -passed in review, woman, whether married or not, has been subjected to -extreme subordination. In an exceptional case she acquires a certain -independence, where, thanks to maternal inheritance, she can become -possessed of personal or real estate. It is to money alone, and not to -the moralising influence of monogamy, that woman in barbarous countries -owes the power of attaining a certain independence, for the two peoples -who have granted it to her, the Egyptians in antiquity and the Touaregs -of our own day, lived or live under a legislation which authorises -polygamy. It is important also to notice that in the valley of the -Nile, and in the Sahara, feminine emancipation is only the privilege of -those women who belong to the ruling and propertied classes. - -Upon the whole, in every country and in every time, woman, organically -weaker than man, has been more or less enslaved by him, unless in the -case where legislation has allowed her to use an artificial force to -serve her as a shield. This fictitious force, before which virile -brutality has lowered its flag, has been money, wherever the laws -regulating succession have permitted women to raise themselves to the -dignity of proprietors. - -A similar lesson will be given us by the study of the monogamic -_régime_ among the white races of Asia and of Europe. There also -we shall see riches serve woman as a defensive, and sometimes even -offensive weapon, against the severity of laws and customs. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[499] Herbert Spencer, _Sociology_, vol. ii. p. 301. - -[500] _Id., ibid._ vol. ii. pp. 301, 302. - -[501] _Das Mutterrecht._ - -[502] _Das Mutterrecht._ - -[503] Spencer, _Sociology_, vol. ii. p. 299. - -[504] Fison and Howitt, _Kamilaroi and Kurnai_. - -[505] Dalton, _Ethnology of Bengal_, p. 41. - -[506] _Id., ibid._ p. 132. - -[507] _Id., ibid._ p. 28. - -[508] Doménech, _Voyage Pittoresque dans les Déserts du Nouveau Monde_, -p. 510. - -[509] Bancroft, _Native Races_, etc., vol. ii. p. 661. - -[510] Mollien, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xlii. p. 416. - -[511] Fr. Müller, _Allgem. Ethnogr._, etc., p. 263. - -[512] _Id., ibid._ p. 263. - -[513] W. Prescott, _Hist. of the Conq. of Peru_, vol. i. p. -121.--Garcilaso de la Vega, _Com. de los Incas_, pp. 25, 113, 218. - -[514] _Id., ibid._ - -[515] Herodotus, bk. ii. p. 35. - -[516] _Id._, bk. ii. p. 42. - -[517] Diodorus, bk. i. p. 27. - -[518] Révillout, _Revue égyptienne_, 1880. - -[519] _Id., ibid._ - -[520] _Id., ibid._ - -[521] _Id., ibid._ - -[522] Duveyrier, _Toûareg du Nord_, 337. - -[523] _Id., ibid._ - -[524] Duveyrier, _Toûareg du Nord_, p. 387. - -[525] _Id., ibid._ p. 430. - -[526] _Id., loc. cit._ p. 362. - -[527] _Id., ibid._ pp. 345, 347. - -[528] _Id., loc. cit._ p. 429. - -[529] Bruce, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxiii. p. 358. - -[530] Bruce, _Travels_, etc., vol. iv. p. 487.--A. d’Abbadie, _Douze -ans dans la haute Éthiopie_, t. I^{er.} pp. 100, 128. - -[531] Bruce, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxiii. p. 365. - -[532] Bruce, _loc. cit._, t. xxiii. p. 255. - -[533] Turner, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxxi. p. 437. - -[534] _Id., ibid._ t. xxxi. pp. 437, 454. - -[535] _Id., ibid._ p. 435. - -[536] _Lettres édifiantes_, t. xv. p. 200. - -[537] Préjévalsky, _Mongolia_, t. I^{er.} p. 69.--Huc, _Tartarie_, t. -I^{er.} p. 301. - -[538] _Id., ibid._ t. I^{er.} p. 71. - -[539] Huc, _L’Empire chinois_, t. ii. p. 258.--Sinibaldo de Mas, _Chine -et puissances Chrétiennes_, t. I^{er.} p. 51. - -[540] Duhaut Cily, _Voyage autour du monde_, t. ii. p. 369. - -[541] Milne, _Real Life in China_, p. 159. - -[542] _Id., ibid._ p. 159. - -[543] Huc, _Empire chinois_, t. ii. p. 255. - -[544] Milne, _loc. cit._ p. 151. - -[545] Huc, _loc. cit._ p. 255. - -[546] G. E. Simon, _La famille chinoise_, _Nouvelle Revue_, 1883. - -[547] Milne, _loc. cit._ p. 154. - -[548] Huc, _Empire chinois_, t. I^{er.} p. 268. - -[549] Pauthier, _Chine Moderne_, p. 238. - -[550] _Id., ibid._ p. 238. - -[551] _Id., ibid._ - -[552] _Id., ibid._ - -[553] _Id., ibid._ p. 288. - -[554] E. Simon, _Famille Chinoise_, _Nouvelle Revue_, 1883. - -[555] _Id., ibid._ - -[556] Milne, _loc. cit._ p. 153. - -[557] E. Simon, _loc. cit._ - -[558] _Id., ibid._ - -[559] Masana Maeda, _La Société japonaise_, in _Revue Scientifique_, -1878. - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - -HEBREW AND ARYAN MONOGAMY. - - I. _Monogamy of the Races called Superior._--The monogamic ideal and - the monogamic reality. - - II. _Hebrew Marriage._--Monogamy and concubinage--Position of - the wife--The virtuous woman of the Book of Proverbs--Obligatory - virginity--The levirate. - - III. _Marriage in Persia and Ancient India._--Marriage in the - Avesta--Marriage in India--General monogamy--Extreme subjection of - the wife--Purchase of the wife--Matrimonial prohibitions--The ideal - spouse--Marriage in modern India. - - IV. _Marriage in Ancient Greece._--Wives and concubines--Low position - of the wife--Marriage in Sparta--Celibacy chastised--The young Greek - girl assimilated to a thing--Dowry--The wife emancipated by money. - - V. _Marriage in Ancient Rome._--Marriages of children--Relative - liberty of the Roman woman--The _Patria potestas_--The _Manus_--Three - kinds of marriage--The rights of the husband--The case of Cato the - Elder--The _jus connubii_--The dowry and its effects. - - VI. _Barbarous Marriage and Christian Marriage._--Marriage among the - Germans in the Middle Ages, among the Saxons of England--Marriage - according to Christianity. - - -I. _Monogamy of the Races called Superior._ - -After a long journey of exploration through the inferior forms of the -sexual union amongst mankind, we have in the preceding chapter begun -the study of monogamy, which all the superior races have more or less -adopted in their legislation. - -It is impossible to deny that monogamy is theoretically nobler than -the other matrimonial forms. Nothing can be more beautiful than -the union of two intelligent and refined beings freely associating -their lives after ripe reflection “for better, for worse,” as the -marriage service of England has it. But the reality is often very -different from this poetic ideal. Even amongst the most highly -civilised peoples, this spontaneous, disinterested, devoted union, -based on moral and intellectual sympathies, is very rare; it does not -exist in civilisations still partly barbarous, whose monogamy easily -accommodates itself to the subjection of women, however extreme. We -shall see that it is so, in studying this matrimonial type amongst -the Hebrews at first, and afterwards amongst the Aryan races, that is -to say, amongst the human types which are reputed _par excellence_ -Superior. - - -II. _Hebrew Marriage._ - -The Hebrews seem to have been alone among the Semites in adopting -monogamy, at least in general practice. Moreover, the Bible tells us -that concubinage was not forbidden to God’s chosen people. In speaking -of the daughter sold by her father to a rich man, the book of Exodus -used language sufficiently explicit on this point--“If she please not -her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her -be redeemed: to sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power. -And if he have betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after -the manner of daughters. But if he take to him another wife, her food, -her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.”[560] The -book of Genesis indeed tells us that “a man shall leave his father and -mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they twain shall be one -flesh;”[561] but this famous verse seems to indicate the violence of -the love rather than monogamic and indissoluble marriage. - -Doubtless the subjection of the Jewish woman was not extreme, as it is -in Kabyle; it was, however, very great. Her consent to marriage was -necessary, it is true, when she had reached majority, but she was all -the same sold to her husband. We must note, nevertheless, that she had -a recognised right of ownership, and that the property of the husband -was security for that of the wife and for her dowry; but the husband -none the less held the wife in strict dependence. The song of the -virtuous woman at the end of Proverbs is generally quoted as a sublime -portrait of the Jewish wife by all those who are still hypnotised by -the prestige of the so-called holy books. However, in reading these -celebrated verses with an unprejudiced mind, we hardly find more -than the portrait of a laborious servant, busy and grasping--“She -seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.... She -riseth while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a -portion to her maidens. She considereth a field, and buyeth it; with -the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. She girdeth her loins -with strength, and strengtheneth her arms.... Her candle goeth not -out by night.... She eateth not the bread of idleness.” We shall see -later that the wife, though she might gain much money, which seems to -have been the ideal of the Hebrew husband according to the Proverbs, -was repudiable at will, with no other reason than the caprice of the -master who had bought her. Finally, and this is much more severe, she -was always obliged to be able to prove, cloths in hand, that she was -a virgin at the moment of her marriage, and this under pain of being -stoned. Let us listen to the sacred book--“If any man take a wife, and -go in unto her, and hate her ...” and seeking a pretext to repudiate -her, he imputes to her a shameful crime, saying, “I took this woman, -and when I came to her, I found her not a maid ... her father and -mother shall take her and shall represent to the elders of the city -in the gate the tokens of the damsel’s virginity.” Of what kind were -these proofs? The following verses tell us, “They shall spread the -cloth before the elders of the city. And the elders of that city shall -take that man and chastise him, and they shall amerce him in an hundred -shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel.... But -if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for -the damsel, then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her -father’s house, and the men of the city shall stone her with stones -that she die; because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the -whore in her father’s house; so shalt thou put evil away from among -you.”[562] If we add to the preceding, that by the law of levirate, -the childless widow, whether she wished or not, was awarded to her -brother-in-law, we shall be enlightened as to the unenviable position -of the married woman under the Hebrew law. - - -III. _Marriage in Persia and Ancient India._ - -Of the conjugal customs of the ancient Persians we know little. The -only formal prescription that we find in the Avesta is a strict -prohibition against marrying an infidel. The Mazdean who commits such -a crime troubles the whole universe: “he changes to mud a third of the -rivers that rush down the mountain sides; he withers a third of the -growth of trees and of herbs which cover the earth; he takes from pure -men a third of their good thoughts, of their good words, of their good -actions; he is more noxious than serpents and wolves.”[563] - -On Indian marriage we are better informed, at first by the Code -of Manu, and then by modern travellers. India has early practised -mitigated monogamy. Polygamy and concubinage were the privilege of the -Brahmins and rich Kchatriyas; but the mass of the nation generally -lived in monogamy, though nevertheless imposing on the married woman -a most humiliating position. Manu proclaims aloud the necessary -dependence and incurable inferiority of the weaker sex: “If women -were not guarded, they would bring misfortune to two families.” “Manu -has bestowed on women the love of their bed, of their seat, and of -adornment, concupiscence, anger, bad inclinations, the desire to do -evil, perversity.”[564] “A little girl, a young woman, and an old -woman ought never to do anything of their own will, even in their own -house.” “During her childhood a woman depends on her father; during -her youth, on her husband; her husband being dead, on her sons; if she -has no sons, on the near relatives of her husband; or in default of -them, on those of her father; if she has no paternal relatives, on the -sovereign. A woman ought never to have her own way.”[565] - -Given such an utter subordination of woman, it is self-evident that -there would be no question of her choosing a husband. It is the -father’s duty to marry his daughter; and he need not wait till she -has reached puberty: “A father must give his daughter in marriage to -a young man of agreeable appearance, and of the same rank, according -to the law, although she may not have attained the age of eight years, -at which he ought to marry her.”[566] However, if the father neglects -the prime duty of marrying his daughter, the law ordains that the -latter shall proceed to do it. Marriage is a sacred duty: “Let a girl, -although adult, wait three years; but after that period, let her choose -a husband of the same rank as herself.”[567] The girl is then free, and -her husband in marrying her owes no payment to the father: “The father -has lost all authority over his daughter in delaying for her the time -of becoming a mother.”[568] Girls cannot be married too soon; at eight -years old they are given a husband of twenty-eight; at twelve years, a -man of thirty.[569] Some verses, in contradiction to that which I have -just now quoted, forbid the father from receiving any gratuity whatever -in marrying his daughter, not even a cow or a bull: “All gratuity, -small or large, constitutes a sale.”[570] But the prohibition to sell -his daughter, though still very little observed, is evidently of -posterior date; and in India, as in all other countries, the daughter -has been esteemed at first as merchandise. The law imposes at times -very curious restrictions on a man who is intending to marry. He must -not take a girl with red hair, or bearing the name of a constellation, -of a river, a bird, or a serpent.[571] He must not, under pain of hell, -marry before his elder brother.[572] Above all, he must not marry below -his rank. To marry a woman belonging to the servile class is, for the -Brahmin or the Kchatriya, an enormous crime, which lowers him to the -rank of the Soudras.[573] It is an unpardonable sin: “For him who -drinks the foam of the lips of a Soudra, or who has a child by her, -there is no expiation declared by the law.”[574] He descends to the -infernal abode, and his son loses caste. As for the son of a Brahmanic -woman and a Soudra, he is a Tchandala, the vilest of mortals.[575] The -young Brahmin, after having received the authorisation of his spiritual -director, and having purified himself by a bath, must marry a woman of -his own class, who is well made, who has a fine down over her body, -fine hair, small teeth, limbs of a charming sweetness, and the graceful -movement of a swan or a young elephant.[576] But, however the wife may -be chosen, she is held in a state of servile submission. “A wife,” says -the Code, “can never be set free from the authority of her husband; -neither by sale nor by desertion.” “Once only a young girl is given in -marriage; once only the father says, I give her.”[577] - -Taken as a whole, these antique precepts are still observed in India. -In general, monogamy prevails, but the married woman is none the less -kept in a state of abject subjection. It is shameful, says Somerset, -for a virtuous woman to know how to read and dance; these futile -accomplishments are left to the bayadere. “Servant, slave,” are the -habitual appellations used by the husband in addressing his wife, -who replies by saying “Master, lord,” who must take care not to call -her husband by his name,[578] and has not the right to sit at his -table.[579] It is the parents who negotiate the marriage, without any -regard to the tastes of the future husband and wife, and thinking only -of rank and fortune.[580] A daughter is always married, or rather sold, -in infancy, often to a sexagenarian Brahmin, and before she is of age -to manifest any preference.[581] - -These accounts, which are as authentic as possible, enable us to -estimate the Hindoo marriage. However monogamic it may generally be, -it is very inferior from a moral point of view. The tyrannical right -left to the husband, his unlimited power, the servitude of the wife, -yielded or negotiated in infancy, the pride of caste and the care for -wealth outweighing all other considerations, proclaim loudly enough -that matrimonial legislation in India has been the regulation, for the -man’s profit only, of instincts of a very low order. - - -IV. _Marriage in Ancient Greece._ - -In primitive Greece the position of woman was little better. On one -hand, the _Iliad_ tells us that the epithet “woman” thrown at a man -was the most contemptuous insult;[582] on the other hand, we have seen -that the girl was purchased by the husband, either by presents or by -services rendered to the father;[583] in short, that the husband might -have domestic concubines with the sole reservation that their children -did not inherit from him.[584] In the first chant of the _Odyssey_ the -severe apostrophe of Telemachus to his mother proves also that in the -absence of the husband the wife was humbly submissive to her sons. “Go -to thy chamber; attend to thy work; turn the spinning wheel; weave the -linen; see that thy servants do their tasks. Speech belongs to men, -and especially to me, who am the master here.”[585] Penelope, like a -well-trained woman, meekly allows herself to be silenced and obeys, -“bearing in her mind the sage discourse of her son.” - -In later times the virtuous woman was shut up in the gyneceum, where -she could only receive her parents or the friends authorised by her -husband.[586] She was not even admitted to festivities. But, while -the wife was semi-cloistered in the conjugal house, the husband could -at will frequent and court the hetaïræ (ἑταίραι), and the strangers -(ξέναι) with whom the citizens of Athens had not the _jus connubii_, -and who were not admitted like the well-born or native Athenian woman -(ελευθέρα) to the thesmophors.[587] - -It is evident that at Athens primitive marriage was regulated by the -man with very little heed to the tastes or preferences of the woman. -At Sparta it was the sentiment of strict and zealous patriotism -which inspired Lycurgus in all his regulations regarding marriage. -The obligation of marriage was legal, like the military service. The -young men were attracted to it by making them assist at the gymnastic -exercises of naked young girls. “This was an incentive to marriage, -and, to use Plato’s expression, drew them almost as necessarily by -the attraction of love as a geometrical conclusion is drawn from the -premises.”[588] In the supreme interest of population, love was forced -on young men, but it was for the sake of fertility. The young married -couple were not allowed to meet except in secret until the first -pregnancy.[589] It was praiseworthy for an old husband to lend his -young wife to a handsome young man, by whom she might have a child. - -In our own day it is not very rare, particularly in France, to see poor -young men marry rich old women. Solon did not permit this conjugal -prostitution of man at Athens. “A censor,” says Plutarch, “finding -a young man in the house of a rich old woman, fattening as they say -a partridge fattens by his services to the female, would remove him -to some young girl who wanted a husband.”[590] At Sparta Lycurgus -went as far as to put hardened celibates under the ban of society. In -the first place, they were not permitted to see these exercises of -the naked virgins; and the magistrates commanded them to march naked -round the market-place in winter, and to sing a song composed against -themselves.... They were also deprived of that honour and respect which -the young pay to the old.[591] - -The young Greek girl could not dispose of her person any more than -the Chinese or Hindoo woman could. She was married by her father; in -default of her father, by her brother of the same blood; in default of -a brother, by a paternal grandfather.[592] The right of brothers who -were heirs to their father to marry their sister was not even exhausted -by a first marriage.[593] The father of the family had the power either -to marry his daughter during his lifetime, or to bequeath her by will, -as well as her mother, who was assimilated, like her, to chattels or -property. “Demosthenes, my father, bequeathed his fortune, which was -fourteen talents, myself, aged seven years, my sister, aged five years, -and our mother. At the moment of dying, when asked what he would have -done with us, he bequeathed _all these things_ to this Aphobus and to -Demophontes, his nephews; he married my sister to Demophontes, and gave -at once two talents.”[594] “In the same way,” says Demosthenes again, -“Pasion dying, bequeathed his wife to Phormion.”[595] It might happen -that the daughter or the wife were by law one body with the estate. -Thus a daughter, in default of male heirs, belonged to the relation who -would have inherited in her stead and place, if she had not lived. - -If there were several relatives in the same degree of succession, -the daughter was to marry the eldest of them. Further still, she was -obliged in this case to quit her husband, if previously, and even with -paternal authorisation, she had contracted marriage.[596] In Greece, to -safeguard or conquer her independence, a woman had no other resources -than the seduction of her sex and the love she could inspire. She -had early recourse to these defensive weapons, for Aristotle thinks -it his duty to put young men on guard against the excess of conjugal -tenderness and feminine tyranny, the habit which enchains the man to -his wife.[597] At length in Greece, as it had happened in Egypt, money -finished by protecting the woman much more efficaciously, and even by -giving her sometimes the advantage on the conjugal field of battle. -Solon, who knew Egypt, began by decreeing the absolute poverty of -the married woman. “The bride was to bring with her only three suits -of clothes, and some household stuff of small value, for he wished -marriages to be made without mercenary or venal views, and would have -that union cemented by love and friendship, and not by money.”[598] But -this primitive legislation could not stand against the combined action -of the affection of the girl’s parents, her own desire of independence, -and lastly, the cupidity of the husband, and thus the practice of -the dowry became general. This dowry was constituted before marriage -by a public act.[599] Securities and bonds were given to assure the -dowry and the conditions of marriage. The dowry was mortgaged on the -husband’s property, and returned to the wife on the dissolution of the -marriage. When the woman could shelter herself behind the shield of the -dowry she was much more respected, and she even sometimes tyrannised in -her turn. Aristophanes, Menander, Lucian, etc., pour out endless bitter -criticisms on the haughty and extravagant rich woman. - -In the comedy of _The Clouds_ the good Strepsiades cries: “I led so -happily in the country a good simple life, without vexation or care, -rich in bees, in sheep, and in olives! Then I married the niece of -Megacles, son of Megacles. I was of the country, she of the town; she -was a haughty, extravagant woman, a true Cesyra. The wedding day, -when I lay down by her, I smelt the wine, the cheese, and the wool; -she cares for perfumes, saffron, tender kisses, expense, good cheer, -and wanton transports. I will not say that she was idle--no--she -worked hard at ruining me.” According to Menander, religion served -as an excuse to women for enormous expenses. Under the pretext of -piety they ruined their husbands by religious sacrifices accompanied -with perfumes, with golden clasps for the sandals, and female slaves -ceremoniously ranged in a circle.[600] - -One poor hen-pecked husband groans in these terms: “Cursed be the first -man who invented marriage, and then the second, and the third, and the -fourth, and all those who imitated them.” One old husband laments: “I -have married a witch with a dowry. I took her, to have her fields and -house, and that, O Apollo, is the worst of evils.”[601] Listen again to -this one: “If being poor, you marry a rich woman, you give yourself a -mistress and not a wife; you reduce yourself to be at the same time a -slave and poor”--(Anaxandrides).[602] - -To sum up, in ancient Greece marriage implied at first the complete -slavery of the wife, who was treated as a thing; then by degrees -conjugal customs were mitigated, and the wife became a person, and -even a proprietor, whom her dowry or personal fortune could protect. -Thenceforward money produced its usual effect on inferior characters: -it debased or infatuated individuals who were without moral nobility; -cupidity blinded certain men; the insolence of money intoxicated -certain women. But this only occurred among the ruling classes, and the -fate of husbands reduced to conjugal servitude by love of a large dowry -does not concern us here. - -The important feature in Greek marriage is, that the first legislators -regarded it solely from the point of view of increase of population, -and held individual liberty, especially that of the woman, very -cheaply. Whatever we may think of this legal tyranny, it attained -its end perfectly. The small republics of ancient Greece overflowed -with men; thus Attica had four thousand one hundred and sixty-six -inhabitants to the square league--that is to say, the population was -three times more dense than that of France at present. - - -V. _Marriage in Ancient Rome._ - -In its general features Roman marriage does not greatly differ from -Greek, but its evolution has been more complete, and the legislation on -the subject is better known to us. Marriages of children, especially -of little girls, were the rule at Rome, since the nuptial majority of -girls was fixed at twelve years. But they were often betrothed, and -even married, before that age. Vipsania Agrippina, daughter of Agrippa -and of Pomponia, was promised to Tiberius from her first year.[603] The -_Digest_ authorised betrothal at the age of seven.[604] - -In betrothing his daughter the father contracted a civil obligation, -sanctioned at first by an action for damages, and later by infamy. -Every woman of twenty, if she was neither married nor a mother, -incurred the punishment decreed by Augustus against celibacy and -childlessness.[605] We are indeed told in Roman legislation that the -consent of the girl was necessary before passing finally to betrothal -and marriage. But it is evident that the consent of a child of twelve -years, or even less, was illusory; in reality, the young Roman girl was -married by her parents.[606] The young wife was still such a child, -that on the day of her wedding she took a ceremonious leave of her -playthings and dolls, offering them up to the gods. In reality, it was -not the wife who made the engagement, but the persons in whose power -she found herself.[607] - -Nevertheless, Roman customs conceded to women a certain liberty of -manners which the Greeks would not have tolerated. The Roman woman -walked in the streets, went to the theatre with the men, shared in -banquets, etc.; yet she was, especially in primitive Rome, subjected -first to her father and then to her husband. And, besides, public -opinion obliged the woman to use in great moderation the practical -liberty that was left to her. The famous epitaph of the Roman -matron--_domum mansit; lanam fecit_--is well known. This epitaph may -perhaps exaggerate, but it does not lie. Thus Suetonius tells us that -the daughters and grand-daughters of Augustus were compelled to weave -and spin, and that the Emperor usually wore no other garments but those -made by the hands of his wife and sister.[608] - -Legally, the Roman wife was the property of her husband, who treated -her, not as his equal, but as his child. At Rome, also, conjugal union -had been looked at chiefly from the point of view of procreation -(_Liberorum quærendorum causâ_). The wife who was the mother of three -children acquired a certain independence; she could make a will even -during the lifetime of her husband, and did not need to have recourse -to a trustee.[609] But the subjection of woman was very great. The -father, invested with the _potestas_, could sell his child to a third -party, _in mancipium_. The _mancipium_, which was almost a right of -propriety, passed afterwards to the heirs of the owner. - -We have seen that the _pater familias_ had the right to marry his -daughter without consulting her, but he enjoyed a right more excessive -still, that of re-marrying her when his son-in-law had been absent -for three years.[610] It was Antoninus only who thought of depriving -the father of his right to annul the marriage of his daughter. To the -_potestas_ of the father succeeded the _manus_ of the husband. The -woman _in manu_ was considered legally as the daughter of her husband, -and therefore as the sister of her children. If the husband was himself -the son of a family, the wife _in manu_ was held as grand-daughter -of the father of the family. This entailed for her the extinction of -paternal power (on her own side), and of guardianship and the rights -of relationship with the male members of her father’s family. In the -marriage with _manus_ the husband became the proprietor of all the -dowry of his wife. The father, however, could stipulate that the dowry -should be returned to him if his daughter died without children or was -repudiated. The _leges Julia_ and _Papia_ had, in fact, imposed on the -father the obligation of giving a dowry to his daughter; but the dowry -could be appointed by third parties or by the woman herself, if she -was _sui juris_, and then also she had the right to stipulate for some -reservations. - -This terrible right of _manus_ was acquired by the husband with every -form of marriage, even the grossest of all, the _usus_, or simple -cohabitation during one year; but the wife could avoid the _conventio -in manum_ by passing three nights in the year out of the conjugal -domicile. The _manus_ invested the husband with a large right of -correction over his wife, though in very grave cases he was to assemble -the family tribunal, which included the children of cousins-german. -These family tribunals took cognisance even of murder committed by -the wife, and they were still in use under the emperors.[611] On the -other hand, the Roman husbands did not let their legal right of beating -their wives fall into desuetude, for Saint Monica consoled the wives -of her acquaintance whose faces showed marks of marital brutality, -by saying to them: “Take care to control your tongues.... It is the -duty of servants to obey their masters.... You have made a contract of -servitude.”[612] - -There were at Rome three kinds of marriages, which I have already -named--1st, The _usus_, resulting from a simple continuous -cohabitation, without contract or ceremony, a sort of Tahitian -marriage; 2nd, the _coemptio_ or purchase, of which I have spoken at -length--that is to say, the legal regulation of the primitive marriage -by purchase, in use all over the world at the origin of civilisations. -Coemption, without any palliatives, delivered the wife’s body and goods -to her husband; 3rd, the _confarreatio_, or aristocratic marriage, -in which the high Pontiff of Jupiter gave, in the presence of ten -witnesses, a cake made of flour, water, and salt to the bride and -bridegroom, who ate it between them. The _manus_ was conferred on the -husband in the marriage by confarreation, the same as in the marriage -by _usus_ and _coemptio_. We must note that at Rome, as in Greece, the -religious ceremony was in no way essential to the marriage, which was a -laic and civil institution in the first place.[613] - -These three forms of marriage very probably represent the evolution of -the conjugal union in ancient Rome. The _usus_, or free cohabitation, -must have been the commencement; then came the purchase of the wife, -the _coemptio_, and at length the solemn marriage or _confarreatio_ -of the patricians. But marriage with the husband’s right of _manus_ -subsisted for a long time, and it conferred on him all the customary -licence of savages of every country, notably that of lending the wife, -and this exorbitant right endured till the best days of Rome, since the -virtuous Cato of Utica used it still in lending his wife Martia to his -friend Hortensius. - -This fact is curious, and deserves attention. Hortensius began by -asking for the loan of Cato’s daughter, Portia, already married to -Bibulus, and the mother of two children. It was, says Plutarch, with -the object of selection, that he might have a child of good race; he -promised to return her afterwards to her husband. On the refusal of -Cato, Hortensius fell back on Martia, Cato’s own wife, who was at the -time _enceinte_. Cato was not at all shocked at the proposition, -but referred it, however, to Philip, his father-in-law, who also -saw no harm in it. A contract was therefore concluded between Cato, -Hortensius, and Philip; and Martia, whom no one thought of consulting, -was yielded to Hortensius, and afterwards taken back, at the death of -the latter, by Cato. She was then the heir of Hortensius, and Cato had -not the least scruple in receiving her back with her money at the same -time.[614] - -To any one not versed in ethnographical sociology these customs seem -improbable. Doubt has been cast on this story of Hortensius and Cato, -though it is attested by the _Anti-Cato_ of Julius Cæsar, on which -Plutarch relies; but it has nothing extraordinary for us. We know that -at first woman was everywhere the absolute property of the man. The -_manus_ of the Roman husband was in the main only an attenuated form -of primitive conjugal right, which we know included the power to lend, -barter, or cede the wife without consulting her. The case of Cato is -then only a survival of preceding ages. - -Necessarily brief and incomplete as the _résumé_ must be that I can -here give of conjugal legislation at Rome, it will suffice, I hope, to -give a clear idea of what Roman marriage was. I should add that the -law, inspired by the old patriotic spirit and the prejudices of caste, -limited the right of marriage, the _jus connubii_. The _justes noces_ -were at first an aristocratic privilege. The plebeians coupled _more -ferarum_. At length the _jus connubii_ extended to marriages between -Latin and Roman, Latin and Latin, and even foreigner and foreigner. -The child followed the condition of the mother, which seems to be a -survival of the ancient maternal family. Another vestige of the same -kind is found in the legal position of _spurii_--that is to say, of -children born of a marriage which is either prohibited or incestuous or -bigamous. These children, irregularly conceived, have a mother, but no -legal father; they do not come under the paternal power of the father, -like the child of lawful marriage, and cannot be legitimated.[615] - -The study of the transformations that Roman marriage underwent from -the time of Numa to that of the emperors is most interesting; for we -can follow a complete evolution in regard to it which has never been -so complete in any other country. At first we find conjugal anarchy, -the capricious union or _usus_, which could be, and which was in fact, -often polygamous, as the ulterior persistence of the concubinate -proves; then the marriage by capture, of which the trace remained in -the marriage ceremony; then the marriage by purchase, the coemptio, -with its ordinary consequence, the servitude of the wife, which even -the solemn marriage or confarreation did not abolish. At length this -brutal law of the primitive ages relaxes. The law which holds the -woman under paternal power (_patria potestas_) is turned round. The -father himself gives his daughter _in mancipium_ to a third party, who -afterwards enfranchises her. Sometimes it is the _patria potestas_ -which is a check to the _manus_ of the husband. The wife, in marrying, -without being subject to the _manus_, remains subject to her father, -who can even claim her again. - -But the institution of the dowry as obligatory and inalienable by -the husband, the power of the woman to marry while remaining in the -paternal family, to have her paraphernalia, to inherit property of -her father, to control both of these, and also the great facility -of divorce, ended by rendering the Roman, or at least the patrician -matron, almost independent. Under the empire Roman marriage had become -in fact a sort of free union, in which money considerations played the -predominant part. Plautus already speaks of the dotal-slave, a creature -of the wife’s, managing her property and ruling the husband-- - - “_Argentum accepi, dote imperium vendidi._”[616] - -Horace mentions the wife ruling by means of her dowry--“_dotata regit -virum conjux_” (_Od._ iii. 18). Martial declares that he wishes no -rich marriage; it does not suit him, he says, to be married by his -wife--“_uxori nubere nolo meae_” (_Epig._ viii. 12). From Seneca to -Saint Jerome, who both speak of it, the dotal-slave is advantageously -replaced by the frizzed steward (_Procurator calamistratus_) managing -the affairs of my lady.[617] They went further still, and as it -happens in Russia at the present day, they concluded fictitious -marriages; but at Rome, these false marriages, contracted for ready -money, had no other object than to elude the laws against celibacy.[618] - - -VI. _Barbarous Marriage and Christian Marriage._ - -In order to avoid being too incomplete in this rapid survey of marriage -among all races, I will say a few words on barbarous marriage outside -the Greco-Roman world. - -The barbarians of ancient Europe, more or less monogamous, have -differed little from any others. Their marriage resembles that of their -fellows of all races and all times; that which chiefly characterises it -is the subjection of woman. - -Barbarous women, says Plutarch, neither ate nor drank with their -husbands, and never called them by their name.[619] Among the -Germans, who were more often monogamous, as Tacitus says,[620] the -wife was purchased; then the purchase-money was transformed into a -dower accorded to the bride under the name of _morgengabe_ or oscle -(_osculum_), the price of the first kiss. - -German betrothals, which could only be annulled for a serious reason, -strongly resembled Latin ones--that is, they were a sale of the girl in -anticipation by her legal owners. It was necessary for the girl to have -the consent of her father, or her nearest relative, for her marriage. -As widow, having been purchased, she belonged to the relatives of her -dead husband, and could not marry again without their leave.[621] The -feudalism of the Middle Ages was careful not to emancipate the woman, -and she remained a minor, or even less, since the Code of Beaumanoir -says (titre lvii.)--“Every husband can beat his wife when she will -not obey his commands, or when she curses him or contradicts him, -provided that he does it moderately, and that death does not follow in -consequence.” Among the Saxons, the Burgundians, and the Germans in -general, the widow was subjected to the rule of her eldest son as soon -as he had attained the age of fifteen. - -In the Middle Ages the woman surprised in committing adultery might -be executed by her husband, who even had the right to call in the aid -of her son.[622] In the ninth and tenth centuries, however, among the -Saxons in England, an advance that was quite exceptional took place. -The young girl could marry herself, was not repudiable at will, had -her own property and her keys, and the penal law of her husband ceased -to weigh upon her.[623] This progress was quite local, and operated -spontaneously, quite independently of Christian influence. In fact, -Christianity has only emancipated women spiritually, and its real -influence on marriage has been injurious. Doubtless the Christian wife -might hope to become a seraph in the next world, but in this she was -only a servant or a slave. In Greco-Roman antiquity marriage had been -considered, as it ought to be, a civil institution. Legislation, more -or less sensible and intelligent, regarded it simply from the point of -view of population. - -Christianity, which taught that the earthly country was of no account, -and taxed with impurity all that related to sexual union, made marriage -a sacrament, and consequently an institution quite apart from humble -considerations of social utility. All sexual union outside marriage -was reputed criminal; the ideal preached to women was the mystic -marriage with God. The pious Constantine increased all the penalties -against sexual crimes. Adultery became again a capital offence; the -woman guilty of marrying a slave was condemned to death;[624] marriage -was declared indissoluble; second marriages were blameworthy. At the -same time the fathers of the Church and the preachers did not cease -to utter their thunders against woman, disparaging her, and abusing -her as an impure creature, almost devilish. This encouraged the severe -legislation of the barbarians in conjugal matters. I have previously -mentioned some traits of these brutal laws. I shall return to them in -speaking of questions connected with marriage, which remain still to -be treated of--adultery, divorce, and widowhood. We shall then see how -hurtful the influence of Christianity has been on marriage, and we -shall come to the conclusion that in order to manage earthly affairs -well, it is not good to keep our looks constantly raised to the skies. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[560] Exodus, xxi. 8-10. - -[561] Genesis, ii. 24. - -[562] Deut., ch. xxii., ver. 13-21. - -[563] Hovelacque, _L’Avesta_, p. 396. - -[564] _Code of Manu_, book ix. pp. 5-17. - -[565] _Code of Manu_, v. pp. 147, 148. - -[566] _Ibid._ - -[567] _Ibid._ ix. p. 90. - -[568] _Ibid._ p. 93. - -[569] _Ibid._ p. 94. - -[570] _Ibid._ iii. pp. 51, 53. - -[571] _Ibid._ book iii. - -[572] _Ibid._ book iii. pp. 171, 172. - -[573] _Ibid._ pp. 14, 15. - -[574] _Code of Manu_, book iii. p. 19. - -[575] _Ibid._ p. 17. - -[576] _Ibid._ pp. 4-10. - -[577] _Ibid._ ix. pp. 46, 47. - -[578] Somerset, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxxi. p. 352. - -[579] _Id._, _ibid._ p. 341. - -[580] _Id._, _ibid._ p. 350. - -[581] _Id._, _ibid._ p. 350.--_Lettres édifiantes_, t. x. p. 23. - -[582] _Iliad_, ii., vii., viii. - -[583] Goguet, _Orig. des Lois_, t. ii. p. 60. - -[584] _Odyssey_, xiv. - -[585] _Ibid._ i. - -[586] Cavallotti, _La Sposa di Menecle_ (notes), p. 246. - -[587] _Id._, _ibid._ p. 239. - -[588] Lycurgus, xxvi. - -[589] Plutarch, _Apophthegms of the Lacedemonians_.--_Demandes -Romaines_, lxv. - -[590] Solon, xxxviii. - -[591] Lycurgus, xxxvii. - -[592] Demosthenes, cf. Step. ii.; in Cavallotti, _loc. cit._ - -[593] Isaeus, _Heritage of Menecles_, §§ 5-9. - -[594] Demosthenes, _Against Aphobus_. - -[595] _Id._, _For Phormion_. - -[596] Isaeus, _Succession of Pyrrhus_. - -[597] _Nic. Ethics_, viii. 14.--_Econom._, i. p. 4. - -[598] Solon, xxxvii. - -[599] Isaeus, _Succession of Pyrrhus_. - -[600] _Mysogyne_, Fr. 3. - -[601] Menander, _The Necklace_. - -[602] Cavallotti, _La Sposa di Menecle_, p. 158. - -[603] Friedländer, _Mœurs romaines_, etc., t. I^{er.} pp. 251-254. - -[604] _Id._, _ibid._ t. xxiii. pp. 1-14.--_Avis de Molestion._ - -[605] Friedländer, _loc. cit._ p. 351. - -[606] Plutarch, _Lycurgus and Numa compared_, 4, 2. - -[607] Friedländer, _loc. cit._ p. 356. - -[608] Suetonius, _Octavius_, lxiv. - -[609] Plutarch, _Numa Pompilius_, xvii. - -[610] Plautus, _Stichus_. - -[611] _L’Italie ancienne_, par MM. Duruy, Filon, etc. (_passim_). - -[612] Saint Augustine, _Confessions_, book ix. ch. ix. - -[613] R. Cubain, _Lois civiles de Rome_, p. 179. - -[614] Plutarch, _Cato of Utica_, xxxvi. lxviii. - -[615] Domenget, _Institutes de Gaius_, i. 64. - -[616] _Asinaria_, v. 70-72. - -[617] Seneca, _De matrim._--Saint Jerome, _Letters_, 54, 13, 79, 9. - -[618] Friedländer, _Mœurs_, etc., t. I^{er.} p. 360. - -[619] Plutarch, _On Herodotus_, xxi. - -[620] _Germania_, xviii. - -[621] Laboulaye, _Hist. de la succes. des femmes_. - -[622] _Summa Cardinalis Hostiensis_, lib. v., _De Adulteris_. - -[623] Wake, _Evolution of Morality_, vol. i. p. 381. - -[624] _Code Theod._, lib. vi., tit. I^{er.}. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - -ADULTERY. - - I. _Adultery in General._--Adultery considered as a theft. - - II. _Adultery in Melanesia._--Indulgence and severity of Tasmanian and - Australian husbands--Adultery at New Caledonia. - - III. _Adultery in Black Africa._--Among the Hottentots, at the Gaboon, - in middle Africa, in Abyssinia. - - IV. _Adultery in Polynesia._--Punishment of unauthorised adultery--The - “fire-lighter” at Noukahiva. - - V. _Adultery in Savage America._--Among the Esquimaux--Special penalty - among the Redskins--Obscene retaliation. - - VI. _Adultery in Barbarous America._--Among the Pipiles in Yucatan, in - Mexico, in Peru, in Guatemala. - - VII. _Adultery among the Mongol Races and in Malaya._--Among the nomad - Tartars, in Thibet, in China, in Japan, in Malaya. - - VIII. _Adultery among the Egyptians, the Berbers, and the - Semites._--Penalty of adultery in ancient Egypt; among the Hebrews, - the Arabs, and in Kabyle. - - IX. _Adultery in Persia and India._--Penalty of adultery in - Persia--Adultery in the Code of Manu--Fraternal and authorised - adultery--The obligation of a double vengeance. - - X. _Adultery in the Greco-Roman World._--Legal adultery according - to Lycurgus and Solon--Punishment of illegal adultery--Adultery in - primitive Rome--_Lex Julia_--Legal vengeance of the father--Obscene - retaliation--Laws of Antoninus, of Septimus Severus, and of - Constantine. - - XI. _Adultery in Barbarous Europe._--Among the Tcherkesses, the - Visigoths, the Francs, under Charlemagne--Singular penalties of the - Middle Ages. - - XII. _Adultery in the Past and in the Future._ - - -I. _Adultery in General._ - -We will now pass in review some of the principal penalties (the -enumeration of all of them would be too long) with which the men of -all times and races have attempted to repress adultery. That the human -species, and especially the primitive, unpolished human species, is one -of the most ferocious of the animal kingdom, stands out strikingly from -these investigations; but it is perhaps in regard to adultery that the -cruelty and injustice of men are most strongly shown; and by the word -“men” here we mean the masculine half of mankind, for generally the -only adultery which has been punished has been that of the woman. As -for the adultery of the husband, men have been very slow in admitting -that it was a wrong of which the wife might complain. - -The reason of this revolting partiality is very simple. Diderot makes -Orou tell it in his _Supplément au Voyage de Bougainville_; it is -that “the tyranny of man has converted the possession of woman into a -property.”[625] - -On the whole, our long inquiry has abundantly proved that very -generally, in human societies, marriage has been, or is still, a -bargain, when not a capture. In all legislations the married woman is -more or less openly considered as the property of the husband, and is -very often confounded, absolutely confounded, with things possessed. To -use her, therefore, without the authority of her owner, is a theft; and -human societies have never been tender to thieves. Nearly everywhere -theft has been considered a crime much more grave than murder. But -adultery is not a common theft. An object, an inert possession, are -passive things; their owner may well punish the thief who has taken -them, but him only. In adultery, the object of the larceny, the wife, -is a sentient and thinking being--that is to say, an accomplice in -the attempt on her husband’s property in her own person; moreover, he -generally has her in his keeping; he can chastise her freely, and glut -his rage on her without any arm being raised for her defence. On the -contrary, in letting loose his vengeance the husband will frequently -have public opinion and law on his side, when the latter does not take -on itself the punishment of the guilty one. But let us listen once more -to the eloquent language of facts. - - -II. _Adultery in Melanesia._ - -In Tasmania and Australia the women were, or are, considered as the -property of the men. We have seen that in these countries there is -no care for decency or chastity, and that wives are often obtained -by brutal rape. Their proprietors also make no scruple of letting -them out, lending them, or bartering them; they have the fullest -right to use or abuse them. The Tasmanians felt very honoured if a -white man borrowed their wives, but they none the less chastised, and -very cruelly too, unauthorised infidelities, on the simple ground, -as their panegyrist, the Rev. Bonwick, tells us, of their right of -ownership.[626] In certain Australian tribes, organised in classes, the -women were reputed common to all the individuals of the same class, -but all intimate relation with a man of another group was a most grave -adultery for both the guilty ones--a social adultery.[627] - -In the greater number of New Caledonian tribes the punishment of -adultery is left to the care of the injured husband, who kills the -thief, if he can, but often contents himself with giving a severe -punishment to his wife, sometimes inflicting a sort of scalping. At -Kanala, however, adultery has already become a social crime. The man -who commits it is led before the chief, judged by the council of elders -whom the chief presides over, and executed on the spot.[628] But in one -way or another, whether he incurs the social vengeance or that of the -offended one--the robbed one, rather--and of his relatives, the New -Caledonian who commits adultery risks his life. Sometimes, however, he -can get off by paying a fine, after the old German fashion. Often also, -in case of adultery committed by a married man, the New Caledonians -practise a singular retaliation: the adult men of the village simply -violate the wife of the delinquent.[629] The wives of the chiefs being -much more sacred than the others, the slightest attempt on the rights -of their proprietors risks being cruelly punished. M. Moncelon has seen -a man condemned to death merely for having looked at the wife of the -chief while she was picking up shells;[630] it was regarded as treason. -This ferocity in the repression of adultery is not at all special to -Melanesia. With some variations, it is found in all times and in all -countries. It is worthy of remark also that even when the adulterous -man is punished, it is simply because he has robbed another husband, -and not because he has failed in conjugal faith. - - -III. _Adultery in Black Africa._ - -We have previously seen that among the black populations of Africa -marriage is a simple bargain, and that the negresses are only -moderately chaste. Now, as the purchase of wives and the absence of -chastity in the women are factors eminently suited to produce adultery, -we shall not be surprised to find that it is very common in Africa; it -is nevertheless very severely punished there, but only because it is -a very grave outrage on property. Among the Hottentots, the husband, -having the right of life and death[631] over his wife or wives, and -being allowed to kill them for the smallest offence, naturally enjoys -the same right, with a much stronger reason, when they commit an -unauthorised infidelity, for he can lend or let them to strangers if he -likes.[632] - -In the tribes where polygamy already inclines to monogamy, and where -there exists a chief wife ruling over the others, the gravity of the -crime of adultery is in relation to the position occupied by the -woman. Thus, at the Gaboon, Du Chaillu tells us, where the women are -extremely dissolute, a distinction is made in their infidelities. -The adultery of the chief wife is an enormous crime. The man who -has been an accomplice in it is, at the very least, sold as a slave; -but adultery with less important wives can be atoned for by a large -compensation.[633] As for the woman, her pecuniary value often protects -her. The husband-proprietor has bought his wife, and he cares very -little for the purity of her morals, since he has no scruple in making -her an object of traffic;[634] therefore, whenever she is unfaithful -without his permission, the consideration of the cost of purchase and -of the possible profit of letting her out, often restrains his vengeful -arm. He is free, however, to punish or to pardon, and sometimes the -chastisement of adultery is terrible. At Bornou, for example, the -guilty ones are bound hand and foot, and their heads are smashed -by being struck together.[635] At Kaarta, says Mungo Park, the two -guilty ones are put to death. With the Soulimas there is a singular -exception to this. The adulterous woman merely has her head shaved, -and she loses a privilege which is probably of Berber origin--viz., -that of quitting her husband at will, simply by refunding him the -amount of purchase-money he has paid for her. All the vengeance of -the husband falls on the lover, and he makes him his slave.[636] At -Jouida, in Dahomey, the offended husband had still the right, in 1713, -of invoking judicial power in order to have his guilty wife strangled -or beheaded by the public executioner.[637] Her accomplice was not -spared, and sometimes, says Bosman, he was burned at a slow fire. This -cruel wish to make delinquents suffer a long time is found again in -Uganda, where King M’tesa caused adulterers to be dismembered, having -one limb at a time cut off and thrown to the vultures, who feasted -on it before the eyes of the sufferers.[638] With the Ashantees, the -husband, as sovereign justiciary, can either kill his wife, or marry -her to a slave, or cut off her nose, according to his pleasure.[639] -We find this last punishment specially applied to adultery in various -countries, and Diodorus will tell us the motive for it. On the -Senegal coast the all-powerful protection of money saved the life of -adulterers, and the offended husbands spared them in order to sell them -to European slave-traders. - -In Abyssinia the conjugal bond is so frail, morals are so shameless, -and divorce is so easy, that adultery is rarely taken in a tragic -light. Formerly the injured husband often confined himself to -chasing from his house the adulterous woman, clothed in rags for the -occasion.[640] - - -IV. _Adultery in Polynesia._ - -Polynesian customs alone would suffice to prove that in primitive -countries adultery is simply punished as a robbery, or commercial -fraud. As regards sexual morality, or rather immorality, nothing can -be compared to what was practised in Polynesia, where all modesty was -unknown, where the husbands willingly let out their wives, and the -intimate friend of the husband (_tayo_) had the right to share his -wife with him. But dissolute as they were, these islanders were very -determined conjugal proprietors, and they sometimes punished adultery -with the most extreme severity. The missionary, Marsden, relates that a -New Zealand chief killed his adulterous wife by dealing her a blow on -the head with his club. Public opinion approved of the deed, and the -brother of the dead woman came to take the body, only making a feint of -retaliation, because the punishment was considered to be merited.[641] - -Cook saw at Tahiti a native man punished in the same way for adultery, -by blows of the club; but in this case there was the aggravating -circumstance that the woman belonged to a class superior to his.[642] -In some islands, especially at Tahiti and Tonga, where the customs were -less savage, and licence was more unbridled than in New Zealand, the -women sometimes got off with a simple correction. We must again remark -that what was blamed and punished was not the adultery itself, but -adultery unauthorised, or not commanded by the legal owner--in short, -theft. - -At Noukahiva, says Krusenstern, there was a functionary called the -“fire-lighter” who lived with the wife of a king. The duty of this -dignitary was, in the first place, to obey the queen, and in the next -to supply her husband’s place with her in case of prolonged absence on -his part.[643] Taking this fact by the side of others, as, for example, -the unlimited right of the friend, or _tayo_, over the wife, we see -clearly what the Polynesians understood by adultery. - - -V. _Adultery in Savage America._ - -The Esquimaux, who are as free from prejudices in their conjugal -customs as the Polynesians, have also, at least certain of them, -adopted the custom of joint husbands, _cicisbei_, who replace the -husband in case of absence.[644] There are some, however, who blame -the adultery of wives, and believe even that the fairies would kill -them if their wives were unfaithful during their absence.[645] But -all the Esquimaux are not equally easy going; some of them, the -reindeer Koriaks, for example, kill at once the man and woman taken in -adultery.[646] - -The Redskins are always less tolerant; with them adultery is a very -serious affair, although they often also consider the exchange of wives -a mark of friendship. It is generally the husband who takes vengeance -as he pleases, and he often does so by cutting open with his teeth -the nose, and sometimes the ears, of the guilty woman. This was the -practice with the Comanches,[647] the Yumas,[648] and the Sioux.[649] -But the injured, or robbed, husband is at liberty to make a -composition with the seducer.[650] He can at will either pardon--as did -a Mandan husband who sent the wife to her lover, adding three horses -to the present[651]--or he can put to death the faithless wife and her -accomplice. By a rare exception, the Omahas recognised the right of the -wife to revenge herself on an adulterous husband and his mistress.[652] -With the Omahas, also, an adulterous wife was bound to a stake in the -prairie, abused by twenty or thirty men, and then abandoned by her -husband.[653] We have seen that this obscene mode of retaliation is in -use at New Caledonia, and we shall find it again in the Roman Empire. -The mode of vengeance with the Redskins, whether of the husband or the -tribe, varied according to locality, but was often atrocious. Thus the -Modocs of California publicly disembowelled the guilty woman.[654] -Among the Hoopsas, another tribe of Californian Redskins, the male -accomplice in the adultery lost one eye,[655] or, if he was married, -the injured man took his wife. - -The natives of South America were not more clement than their congeners -in the north. The Caribees put both guilty ones to death.[656] The -Guarayos also punished with death the accomplice in adultery as if he -were a thief.[657] - -From this rapid survey of savage countries we may conclude that -adultery is everywhere considered as a robbery only, but at the same -time as one of the gravest of robberies. The man who is guilty of -adultery suffers consequently, by virtue of the right of retaliation, -a punishment more or less severe. As for the adulterous woman, she is -generally chastised by the husband-proprietor with extreme cruelty, no -restraint existing to moderate his vengeance. - - -VI. _Adultery in Barbarous America._ - -In the barbarous monarchies of all countries the chastisement of -adultery is scarcely mitigated, and for a long time it is directly -inflicted on the guilty woman by the husband or the parents. - -With the Pipiles of Salvador the man who committed adultery was put to -death, or became the slave of the offended husband.[658] In Yucatan the -guilty ones were stoned or pierced with arrows; before this they were -impaled or disjointed.[659] According to Herrara, among the Yzipecs the -injured husband cut off the nose and ears of the adulterous woman.[660] -The same author tells us that among the Guaxlotillans the woman was -taken before the Cacique, and if found guilty she was cut in pieces and -eaten.[661] - -In ancient Mexico adultery was generally punished with stoning,[662] -and in certain districts this crime entailed the quartering of the -guilty woman; elsewhere, the judges simply ordered the husband to cut -off her nose and ears.[663] - -In Peru the law also punished ordinary adultery with capital -punishment.[664] There was no chastisement terrible enough for adultery -committed with one of the wives of the Inca, the son of the Sun: the -guilty man was burnt, his parents were put to death, and his house -destroyed (Pizarro). - -Guatemala offered an exception;[665] there the affair was arranged by -a composition--a fine of precious feathers paid to the husband. The -latter could also repudiate his wife, or pardon her, in which last -case he was much honoured. If the adultery was committed with the wife -of a great lord, the crime naturally acquired an exceptional gravity; -the guilty man was then strangled if he was noble, and if servile, -was thrown down a precipice. We shall find elsewhere this hierarchic -iniquity, for in this matter, as in others, various human societies and -races repeat themselves. - - -VII. _Adultery among the Mongol Races and in Malaya._ - -Thus the Mongols of Asia seem to have copied the Mongoloids of America. -With the nomad Tartars a man of inferior class who has committed -adultery with a woman of his own class pays the injured husband -forty-five head of cattle; but the husband must revenge himself on the -inconstant wife. The law invites him to do so; for if he kills her, -the compensation of cattle remains his property; if not, it goes to -the prince. But if it happens that a man of low condition has illicit -intercourse with the wife of a prince, then the crime is terrible; the -man is cut to pieces, the faithless wife is decapitated, and the family -of the guilty man reduced to slavery.[666] If we may believe a modern -traveller, Mongol customs have become considerably modified on this -point, adultery being now extremely common in Mongolia, and so little -repressed that the women hardly take the trouble to conceal it.[667] - -In lamaic Thibet they do not regard adultery as a tragedy. The wife is -corrected, and the lover pays a fine to the husband, or husbands, when -there are several.[668] - -Chinese legislation is relatively moderate in regard to adultery. In -the first place it expressly forbids the husband to lend or let out -his wife, under pain of twenty-four strokes with the bamboo.[669] The -Chinese woman can certainly be imprisoned for adultery,[670] but she is -chiefly punished by repudiation, which is obligatory on the husband on -pain of twenty strokes of the bamboo.[671] She can, however, be sold -either by the husband or by the judge to whom the offended husband -remits her.[672] In contrast to certain barbarous legislations, the -Chinese law is more severe in regard to adultery for the strong than -for the weak. “Whoever, on the strength of his power or credit, shall -take away the wife or the daughter of a free man to make her his own -wife, shall be imprisoned for the usual time and put to death by -strangulation.”[673] - -In Japan the law gives the offended husband the cruel and very general -right to kill the guilty ones if taken in adultery, and forbids him to -spare one.[674] We find this latter injunction, perhaps more humane -than it appears, in ancient Roman legislation and elsewhere. - -Nothing is at once more monotonous and more ghastly than this -ethnographic review of the penalties against adultery. - -Simple death has not sufficed to punish this crime, so enormous has -it everywhere seemed; and thus other refinements of cruelty have been -added--disembowelling, cutting in pieces, the stake, etc. - -So far, among the races we have been investigating, Chinese legislation -has been the wisest and most just, since, contrary to usual custom, it -enacts the most severe penalties against the powerful man who takes -advantage of his social position to commit adultery. Here and there, -however, we find societies where adultery excites less fury. These -societies are rare, and they are not always the most civilised. - -At Java, for example, adultery is treated with clemency, especially -if it is not committed with the chief wife. Even in this last case -the guilty one, at least the man, is often only punished by public -contempt.[675] The Dyaks punish conjugal infidelity with a fine only, -for both parties.[676] This is a rare example of clemency, and it is -given by a still barbarous race. We look in vain for such moderation -among much more civilised peoples, as we shall see in studying ancient -Egypt and the Berbers and Semites. - - -VIII. _Adultery among the Egyptians, the Berbers, and the Semites._ - -Diodorus tells us that in ancient Egypt the man who was guilty of -adultery received a thousand lashes, whilst the woman suffered the -amputation of her nose, a very special penalty, which we have seen -used in America and negro Africa, which we shall find also among the -Saxons of England, and for which Diodorus has given us the reason. “The -legislator,” he says, “has intended to deprive the woman of attractions -which she had only made use of for seduction.”[677] - -The Bible, also, is not tender towards adulterers. But it makes no -distinction between the culpability of the man and the woman; stoning -is for both. This terrible punishment is not only inflicted on the -faithless wife, but on the inconstant _fiancée_. The accomplices -even are put to death. There are, however, some distinctions, and -precautions are taken to mitigate the rigour of the law; thus the -guilty woman is only condemned to be stoned if the crime has been -committed in the city. If in the fields, the man alone incurs -stoning;[678] it is thus admitted that the woman may have suffered -violence. Besides this, two witnesses are in all cases necessary to -establish the crime. Lastly, the slave woman is not punished with -death.[679] - -The ancient Arabs were not more clement towards adultery than their -cousins of Palestine, and the Bedouins, who have preserved more of -the old customs, still consider adultery as the greatest of crimes. -Burckhardt tells us that with them the adulterous woman is beheaded -either by her father or her brother.[680] These are morals that go far -beyond the prescriptions of the Koran. It would seem that Mahomet, -much given to sexual pleasures himself, had not the courage to be too -severe on others. He, indeed, calls the adultery of woman the “infamous -action” _par excellence_, but he directs, nevertheless, that the crime -be proved by four witnesses.[681] Moreover, the woman can escape the -punishment by swearing four times before God that she is innocent, -and that her husband has lied.[682] If she is convicted, both she and -her accomplice receive a hundred lashes in public. Then the woman -must be shut up “until death visits her, or God finds her a means of -salvation,”[683] all of which is relatively mild enough. - -Although Mussulmans, the Kabyles of Algeria do not keep to the somewhat -humane prescriptions of the Koran in regard to adultery. In general, -they are pitiless towards all infractions of morals. With them a -kiss on the mouth is equivalent to adultery, and costs more than an -assassination.[684] Every child born out of marriage is put to death, -as well as its mother.[685] If the family tries to spare the guilty -one, the Djemâa stones her and imposes a fine on the relatives.[686] -The child and mother are stoned by the Djemâa or the family. Even when -a woman is actually separated from her husband her adulterous child is -killed, but the fate of the mother is left to the discretion of the -relatives.[687] - -Whoever carries off a woman, especially a married woman, and flees -with her, becomes a public enemy, and the village where the fugitives -have taken refuge must give them up under pain of war. The man is put -to death, and the woman is restored to her family, who do not spare -her.[688] - -Custom authorises the deceived husband to sacrifice his wife, and if -he rarely does it he is only hindered by the loss of the capital she -represents; but usage requires the repudiation,[689] and the husband -must, besides, take a striking and bloody vengeance on the lover.[690] -At the very least he must simulate it, must fire, perhaps, on the -guilty one with a gun loaded only with powder, and strike or slightly -wound his wife’s lover. He has thus saved his honour; he is content -with little, as in our rose-water duels.[691] With the Kabyles, more -than elsewhere, marriage is a mercenary affair; consequently adultery -naturally has pecuniary consequences. Thus, in compensation for -adultery or the abduction of his wife, the husband has a right to the -amount of the purchase, the _thâmanth_, or to an indemnity, sometimes -arbitrary, sometimes tariffed;[692] but this compensation in money is -distinct from the retaliation, and in no way hinders it.[693] - -Lastly, the Kabyle legislation formally interdicts the marriage of the -adulterous woman with her accomplice.[694] - -Beginning with Melanesia and reaching Kabyle, I have sought among -very different races, forming altogether the major part of mankind, -the penalties used or decreed against adulterers. The result is a -lamentable enumeration of sanguinary follies. I have passed by in -silence the legendary or exceptional sufferings. I have not spoken -of women crushed under the feet of elephants, violated by stallions, -buried alive, etc. The common reality alone more than suffices to show -that man, still far from being very delicate in conjugal or amorous -matters, considers adultery as a great crime, especially for woman. It -remains for us to see how the races calling themselves _par excellence_ -noble--the Indo-European races--have regarded this fault, so difficult -to pardon. - - -IX. _Adultery in Persia and India._ - -The Avesta does not mention adultery in ancient Persia. In modern -Persia it has been punished with ferocity, except, naturally, when it -was committed by the Shah, who chose, according to his fancy, any young -girls or women among his subjects, without any one daring to find fault -with him.[695] But for private individuals adultery was an abominable -crime; the man who had committed it was put to death; the woman, -treated of course more severely, was tied up alive in a sack and thrown -into the water. - -The Code of Manu gives us very complete information in regard to -the penalty for adultery in ancient India. In the first place, it is -understood that the adultery of the husband ought not to trouble the -wife at all. “Although the conduct of her husband may be blameworthy, -and he may give himself up to other amours and be devoid of good -qualities, a virtuous woman ought constantly to revere him as a -god.”[696] The adultery of the woman is naturally quite another thing. -“If a woman, proud of her family and her importance, is unfaithful -to her husband, the king shall have her devoured by dogs in a very -frequented public place.”[697] If a woman of high rank, the lover -also is not spared. “The king shall condemn her accomplice to be -burned on a bed of red hot iron.”[698] For the less aristocratic -adultery the punishment varies according to the caste. “For adultery -with a protected Brahmanee, a Vaisya loses all his property, after -imprisonment for a year; a Kchatriya is condemned to pay a thousand -panas, to have his head shaved and watered with urine of an ass.” For -the Brahmin the penalty is very light. “An ignominious tonsure is -ordered instead of capital punishment for a Brahmin in the cases where -the punishment of the other classes would be death.”[699] The Soudra, -on the contrary, who holds criminal commerce with a woman belonging -to one of the three first classes, “shall be deprived of the guilty -member, and of all his possessions, if she was not guarded; but if it -was so, he loses both his goods and his existence.”[700] It must be -noticed, also, that very slight evidence suffices to prove adultery. -“To pay little attentions to a woman, to send her flowers and perfumes, -to frolic with her, to touch her ornaments or vestments, to sit with -her on the same couch, are considered by wise men as proofs of an -adulterous love.”[701] - -On the other hand, the husband, if he has had no children, can oblige -his wife to give herself either to his brother or to another relative. -“Anointed with liquid butter and keeping silence, let the relative -charged with this office approach during the night a widow or a -childless woman, and engender one single son, but never a second.” -Then, in the following verse, the Code alters: “Some of those who -understand this question well, think that the aim of this precept -is not perfectly attained by the birth of a single child, and that -women may legally engender in this manner a second son.”[702] One -verse, certainly less ancient, contradicts these curious texts, which -are evidently survivals of primitive customs, according to which the -husband disposed as he pleased of his feminine property. More modern -Brahmanic legislation still authorises the husband to kill the wife -and her lover if taken in adultery, and there would be nothing new to -us in this, if, as in Japan, and as formerly at Rome, the law did not -formally interdict him from killing only one of the two culprits.[703] - - -X. _Adultery in the Greco-Roman World._ - -However Aryan India may be, she differs very remarkably from us. Let -us look now at the way in which adultery has been regarded in Europe, -and, to begin with, in the Greco-Roman world. We know that in classic -antiquity marriage was quite crudely considered as a civic duty, and -looked at from the single point of view of population. Lycurgus and -Solon encouraged the impotent husband to favour the adultery of his -young wife. Speaking of the laws of Lycurgus, Plutarch says--“He -laughed at those who revenge with war and bloodshed the communication -of a married woman’s favours; and allowed that, if any one in years -should have a young wife, he might introduce to her some handsome and -worthy young man, whom he most approved, and when she had borne a -child of this generous race, bring it up as his own. Also he permitted -that if a man of character should entertain a passion for a married -woman upon account of her modesty and the beauty of her children, he -might beg her husband that he might be allowed to plant, as it were, -in rich and fertile soil, excellent children, the congenial offspring -of excellent parents.”[704] This is marriage considered without the -least prejudice, from the strict point of view of social utility. Solon -imitates Lycurgus on this point, but with one restriction which recalls -the Code of Manu, that the wife of an impotent husband should, with his -permission of course, choose a lover from among the nearest relatives -of the said husband.[705] - -Custom sometimes went further than the laws, and Plutarch relates that -Cimon of Athens, who was a model of goodness and greatness of soul, -lent his wife to the rich Callias.[706] But that did not prevent the -laws of Solon from authorising the husband to kill the adulterer.[707] -Further, the law punished with civil degradation the too indulgent -husband, and authorised the family tribunals to condemn to death the -guilty woman, whom the husband himself executed before witnesses.[708] -Lastly, a law of Draco, which was never abrogated, delivered the -adulterous lover to the discretion of the husband.[709] After all, save -for the good of the state, before which everything had to bend, this -Greek legislation only consecrates the old primitive right by which the -wife was the property of her husband. - -In all that concerns marriage ancient Rome singularly resembles -ancient Greece.[710] Her customs and regulations regarding the wife -were at first of a savage atrocity. The term adulterer begins by being -applied to the woman alone, and the law of the Ten Tables arraigned -the guilty wife before the domestic tribunal; she was condemned and -executed by the relatives themselves--_Cognati necanto uti volent_. -Family tribunals continued to exist during the whole period of the -republic, and even later, concurrently with the law _Julia_; but -customs softened, and death was commuted to banishment to two hundred -miles from Rome at the least, with the obligation of wearing the toga -of the courtesan. The _flagrante delicto_ naturally authorised the -husband to kill the wife on the spot;[711] as for the lover, he could -keep him, torture him, mutilate him, _raffanise_ him (I dare not give -the sense of this picturesque word), and deliver him to the ferocious -lubricity of his slaves. Law and public opinion authorised the husband -to fleece the surprised lover, and thus torture could be made a means -of extorting money from him. - -The _Lex Julia_, enacted either by Julius Cæsar or Augustus, attempted -a reform of morals. By the terms of this law, which was in force till -the time of Justinian, the husband could not kill his wife, taken in -adultery, without being punished as a murderer. Neither could he put -the lover to death unless he were a slave, a go-between (_leno_), a -comedian, or a freed man of the husband or of the family. But the -husband could hold him prisoner twenty hours in order to procure -witnesses. The father had more extensive rights than the husband; he -was authorised, in case of _flagrante delicto_, to kill his daughter -and her lover, but he was to kill them both, and immediately. However, -to enable him to act thus as justiciary, he must have the _potestas_ -still, and the crime must have been committed in his house, or in -that of his son-in-law. The _Lex Julia_ punishes the adulterous man -by the confiscation of the half of his goods; it decrees the same -punishment for the woman, and, besides, forbids her to marry after -the repudiation, which was obligatory for the husband. The latter was -obliged even to drive away his wife at once for fear of being called -a go-between. This same _Lex Julia_ made adultery a public crime -which every citizen could bring before the tribunals, and it punished -with the sword the adulterous man.[712] By degrees, and towards the -Christian epoch, the legislation relative to adultery was amended. - -In his quality of philosopher the Emperor Antoninus was more clement -and just than his predecessors; by one law he interdicted the husband, -who might himself be presumably guilty of adultery, to kill or sue his -wife surprised in _flagrante delicto_. By degrees the customs became in -time so free and so tolerant that, Septimus Severus having enacted new -laws against adultery, the consul, Dion Cassius, found at Rome three -thousand plaints on the register for this cause.[713] Theodosius, says -an ecclesiastical writer, mitigated the penalties against adultery; he -abolished an ancient Roman custom, inspired by the idea of retaliation, -according to which the guilty woman, shut up in a little hut, was -given to the passers-by, who even were to be furnished with little -bells to attract attention.[714] The same ignoble penalty was, we -have seen, in use among several of the Redskin tribes, and this fact -proves, with many others, the original equality of the most diverse -races in primitive savagery. Yielding to the ardour of a new convert, -Constantine legislated with fury against all moral outrages, and -decreed, without wincing, the punishment of death against adulterers of -both sexes. - -Justinian reformed and moderated legal severities. His code condemns -the adulteress to be whipped, to have her hair shaved, and to be shut -in a convent for life, if her husband does not take her back before -the end of two years. In comparison with the excess of zeal shown by -Constantine, this is nearly merciful. We have already said enough of -the relaxation of manners under the wiser Pagan emperors. A marriage -which was almost free procured for young women of the aristocracy an -independence without much restraint; and in practice, at least, and in -spite of the laws, adultery had ceased to be the abominable crime which -it had begun by being.[715] - - -XI. _Adultery in Barbarous Europe._ - -Our ancestors of barbarous Europe have had, as regards adultery, -customs quite as ferocious as those of the savages of any other race. -These same customs were still found recently among the Tcherkesses of -the Caucasus, where the injured husband shaved the hair of the guilty -woman, split her ears, and sent her back to her parents, who sold her -or put her to death.[716] The lover was generally killed by the husband -or his relatives. With the Lesghis, the husband who had not killed his -adulterous wife in _flagrante delicto_ could have her judged by the -council of the tribe, and she was then condemned and stoned after the -Hebrew fashion.[717] - -In the Germanic and Scandinavian countries adultery has primitively -been considered as an enormous crime. Thus the ancient Danes punished -adultery with death, whilst murder was only fined. The old Saxons began -by burning alive the adulteress, and on the extinct fire they hung or -strangled her accomplice. In England King Edmund assimilated adultery -to murder. King Canute ordered that the man should be banished, and the -woman should have her nose and ears slit. - -Tacitus tells us that with the Germans the adulteress was made to walk -naked through the villages. Prior to the ordinances of Canute this old -German custom was still preserved in England. Her head shaved, and her -body bare to the waist, the woman was dragged out of her husband’s -house in the presence of her relations, and then whipped to death -through the streets. Her lover was hung on a tree. - -According to the laws of the Visigoths, and in virtue of the law of -retaliation, the adulteress was given into the hands of the wife of her -lover, if the latter was married. And if the lover had no children, his -goods were confiscated to the profit of the injured husband (lib. iii.). - -The penalties ended by becoming entirely pecuniary, especially for -the man. The fifth section of the Salic law, and the thirty-fifth -section of the Ripuarian law, both inflict a fine of two hundred pence -on whoever abducts a married woman. A law of Charlemagne orders the -ravisher to restore the wife and all that she has carried off. If the -husband does not exact a composition, the sheriff takes up the matter, -banishes the guilty man, and condemns him to pay a fine of sixty pence. -In the Middle Ages the adulteress was generally shut up for life in -a convent, and lost her dowry. Whipping was sometimes added to these -punishments, as is proved by an ordinance made in 1561.[718] - -The laws of King John (1362), of Charles le Bel (1325), of Louis XI. -(1463), show that certain towns preserved the old custom of making -the adulteress run naked through the city. Lastly, until 1789, -legislation, although moderating its severity, remains undecided, -varies according to place, circumstance, and even social position; but -the atrocious and coarse penalties of ancient times are abolished and -forgotten. - - -XII. _Adultery in the Past and in the Future._ - -Like all our ethnographical studies, this also affirms the law of -progress. We have seen savagery pass into barbarism, and barbarism into -civilisation. We have seen adultery punished at first as a robbery--but -a most execrable robbery--and the chastisement falling chiefly on -the woman as being a property in revolt. For her alone fidelity is -obligatory. As to the adulterous husband, he is punished, if at all, -on the ground of having abused the property of another, and not in the -least because he has been unfaithful to his own wife. By slow degrees, -however, equity asserts certain rights, and at the same time customs -are humanised; marriage becomes less and less a “contract of slavery” -for the woman; and, in spite of the recoil caused by catholicism, -progress resumes its course, and we begin to foresee the time when, -marriage being instituted on rational and just foundations, adultery -will disappear, or nearly so, from our customs and our laws. - -But surely that time is far distant. Our conscience is still so -impregnated with the morality of past ages that our public opinion and -our juries willingly pardon a man who murders his adulterous wife, -while they are full of mercy for the conjugal infidelities of this -ferocious justiciary. The antique morals which hold woman as a servile -property belonging to her husband still live in many minds. They will -be extinguished by degrees. The matrimonial contract will end by -being the same kind of contract as any other, freely accepted, freely -maintained, freely dissolved; but where constraint has disappeared -deception becomes an unworthy offence. Such will be the opinion of a -future humanity, more elevated morally than ours. Doubtless it will -have no longer any tender indulgence for conveniently dissimulated -adultery, but, on the other hand, it will no longer excuse the avenging -husband. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[625] Diderot, _Supplément au Voyage de Bougainville, in Œuvres_, t. -ii. p. 245. - -[626] Bonwick, _Daily Life_, etc., p. 72. - -[627] Fison and Howitt, _Kamilaroi_, etc. - -[628] De Rochas, _Nouvelle Calédonie_, p. 262. - -[629] L. Moncelon, _Réponse au Questionnaire de Sociologie_, in _Bull. -Soc. d’anthrop._, 1886. - -[630] L. Moncelon, _loc. cit._ - -[631] Burchell, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxvi. p. 479. - -[632] Alexander, _Expedition into the Interior of Africa_, vol. i. pp. -98, 173. - -[633] Du Chaillu, _Afrique équatoriale_, pp. 67, 435. - -[634] Raffenel, _Nouv. Voy. aux pays des Nègres_, t. I^{er.} p. 402. - -[635] Denham and Clapperton, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxvii. p. 437. - -[636] _Id._, _ibid._ t. xxviii. p. 106. - -[637] Démeunier, _Mœurs des Différents Peuples_, t. I^{er.} p. 223. - -[638] Speke, _Voy. to the Sources of the Nile_, p. 343. - -[639] Bowdich, _English Mission to the Ashantees_. - -[640] Démeunier, _loc. cit._ t. I^{er.} p. 218. - -[641] _Journal of Marsden_, in _Voy. of the Astrolabe_, p. 360. - -[642] Cook, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. x. p. 31. - -[643] Cook, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xvii. p. 12. - -[644] Bancroft, _Native Races_, etc., vol. i. p. 81. - -[645] Élie Reclus, _Les Primitifs_. - -[646] Démeunier, _loc. cit._, t. I^{er.} p. 216. - -[647] Domenech, _Voy. pittoresque_, etc., p. 533. - -[648] Bancroft, _Native Races_, etc., vol. i. p. 514. - -[649] Démeunier, _loc. cit._, t. I^{er.} p. 219. - -[650] J. O. Dorsey, _Omaha Sociology_, p. 364, Smithsonian Institution, -1885. - -[651] Wake, vol. i. p. 428. - -[652] J. O. Dorsey, _loc. cit._ - -[653] _Id._, _ibid._ - -[654] Bancroft, _Native Races_, etc., vol. i. p. 350. - -[655] _Id._, _ibid._ p. 412. - -[656] _Voyage à la Terre-ferme_, etc., t. I^{er.} p. 304. - -[657] D’Orbigny, _L’homme Américain_, t. ii. p. 329. - -[658] Bancroft, _Native Races_, vol. ii. p. 675. - -[659] _Id._, _ibid._ vol. ii. p. 674. - -[660] Démeunier, _loc. cit._, t. I^{er.} p. 224. - -[661] _Id._, _ibid._ t. I^{er.} p. 225. - -[662] Prescott, _Hist. Conq. of Mexico_, vol. i. p. 26. - -[663] L. Biart, _Les Aztèques_, p. 168. - -[664] Prescott, _Hist. Conq. of Peru_, vol. i. p. 59. - -[665] Bancroft, _Native Races of the Pacific States_, vol. ii. p. 673. - -[666] Timkowski, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxxiii. p. 341. - -[667] Préjévalsky, _Mongolia_, t. I^{er.} p. 69. - -[668] Turner, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxxi. p. 437. - -[669] Pauthier, _Chine moderne_, p. 238. - -[670] Davis, _China_, vol. i. p. 322, etc. - -[671] Pauthier, _Chine moderne_, p. 239. - -[672] Sinibaldo de Mas, _Chine et puissances chrétiennes_, t. I^{er.} -p. 52. - -[673] Pauthier, _loc. cit._ p. 239. - -[674] Masana Maeda, _La Société japonaise_, in _Revue Scientifique_, -1878. - -[675] Waitz, _Anthropology_, vol. i. p. 315. - -[676] _Journal of James Brook, Rajah of Sarawak_, by Capt. Munday, vol. -ii. p. 2. - -[677] Diodorus, i. p. 78. - -[678] Deuteronomy, xxii. - -[679] Leviticus, xix. 20-22. - -[680] Burckhardt, _Notes_, etc., t. ii. p. 84. - -[681] Sourate, iv. 8. - -[682] Koran, Sourate, xxiv. 8. - -[683] _Id._, _ibid._ iv. 19. - -[684] Hanoteau et Letourneux, _Kabylie_, t. iii. p. 209. - -[685] _Id._, _ibid._ t. ii. p. 186. - -[686] _Id._, _ibid._ t. iii. p. 208. - -[687] _Id._, _ibid._ t. ii. p. 187. - -[688] _Id._, _ibid._ t. iii. pp. 212, 213. - -[689] _Id._, _ibid._ p. 74. - -[690] _Id._, _ibid._ p. 187. - -[691] _Id._, _ibid._ t. iii. p. 74. - -[692] Hanoteau et Letourneux, _Kabylie_, t. ii. p. 159. - -[693] _Id._, _ibid._ t. ii. p. 165. - -[694] Chardin, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxxi. p. 251. - -[695] G. Drouville, _Voyage en Perse_, t. I^{er.} p. 251. - -[696] _Code of Manu_, v. 154. - -[697] _Ibid._ book viii. 371. - -[698] _Ibid._ p. 375. - -[699] _Ibid._ viii. 379. - -[700] _Ibid._ viii. 374. - -[701] _Ibid._ viii. 357. - -[702] _Code of Manu_, ix. 60, 61. - -[703] _Lettres édifiantes_, t. xiv. p. 378. - -[704] Plutarch, _Lycurgus_, xxix. - -[705] Plutarch, _Solon_, xxxvi. - -[706] _Id._, _Life of Cimon_. - -[707] _Id._, _Solon_, xliv. - -[708] Legouvé, _Hist. Morale des Femmes_, p. 182. - -[709] Ménard, _Morale avant les Philosophes_, p. 303. - -[710] Lecky, _Hist. of European Morals_, vol. i. p. 312. - -[711] Wake, _Evolution of Morality_, vol. ii. p. 85. - -[712] _Institutes_, iv., tit. 18. - -[713] Friedländer, _Mœurs Romaines_, etc., t. I^{er.} p. 367. - -[714] Socrates, _Hist. Eccles._, lib. v., cap. xviii. - -[715] Friedländer, etc., _Mœurs_, t. I^{er.} p. 367. - -[716] Klaproth and Gamba, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xlv. p. 435. - -[717] Klaproth and Gamba, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xlv. p. 448. - -[718] Desmaze, _Curiosités_, etc. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - -REPUDIATION AND DIVORCE. - - I. _In Savage Countries._--The right of repudiation in New Caledonia, - among the Hottentots, the Bongos, the Soulimas, the Fantis, the - Ashantees--Divorce in Polynesia--The right of repudiation in America. - - II. _Divorce and Repudiation among Barbarous Peoples._--In Abyssinia, - at Hayti--The _nefir_ of the Djebel-Taggale--Repudiation among - the Bedouins and the Touaregs--Repudiation among the Kabyles--The - “prevented” Kabyle woman--The “insurgent” Kabyle woman--Repudiation - among the Arabs--Divorce among the Arabs--Obligatory - divorce--Repudiation on account of non-virginity--Divorce by mutual - consent in Peru and Thibet--Repudiation among the Mongols--Repudiation - in China--Obligatory divorce in China--Repudiation in ancient - India--Repudiation among the Hebrews--Repudiation in Greece--Evolution - of repudiation and divorce in ancient Rome--Divorce and - Christianity--Repudiation in barbarous Europe, in France, in the - Middle Ages. - - III. _The Evolution of Divorce._ - - -I. _In Savage Countries._ - -I have no longer to demonstrate that woman has been treated with -extreme brutality among nearly all primitive peoples. In the lowest -stage of savagery--as, for example, in Australia and Tasmania--woman, -being exactly assimilated to a domestic animal, who can be beaten, -wounded, killed, and even eaten, her association with man does not -merit the name of marriage, and consequently there is no question among -these races of divorce, nor even of repudiation. The man, being able, -as master, to dispose of the life of his wife, has, in addition, the -right to send her away, or abandon her, if he chooses. - -In New Caledonia, where the stage of the most brutal savagery is past, -where the wife is no longer carried off as in Australia, but bought -from her legal owners, the dissolution of the conjugal union is still -ill-regulated. The man can chase away or repudiate his wife. The couple -can also part by mutual agreement, the children following sometimes -the mother and sometimes the father; nothing is uniform.[719] But the -purchase of the woman protects her already somewhat against murder. As -she represents a capital, the husband often hesitates to kill her, or -even to drive her away. - -The Hottentots of the Damara tribe have on this point similar customs -to the New Caledonians. They do not hesitate to send away the wives -of whom they are tired, and whom they can replace.[720] In Caffraria -the husbands have also every right, without exception, over the wives -they have bought.[721] In middle Africa, which is much more civilised, -divorce and repudiation are rather less simple, and often give place to -restitutions or indemnities. - -With the Bongos, in case of divorce, the father must give back a part -of the utensils or fire-arms for which he had ceded his daughter. He is -even forced to a total restitution, if the husband keeps the children -while repudiating the wife. In the last case there is evidently an -idea of indemnifying the husband for the charge he undertakes, and -this view of the matter is not uncommon in Africa.[722] Among the -Bongos marriage is considered as a simple commercial transaction; and -it is the same in the whole of Central Africa, especially among the -Soulimas, where the women have the power of leaving their husbands to -unite themselves to another man, on the sole condition of returning -to their husband-proprietor the sum that he has paid to purchase them -from their parents. However, this rare and singular liberty is taken -from them if they commit adultery. But even in this last case they are -treated with relative mildness.[723] As we have previously seen, the -same custom is observed among the Fantis of the Gold Coast, where -the woman who quits her husband without a serious reason, taking her -children with her, need only pay him a fixed indemnity--four ackies -(twenty-two shillings and sixpence) for each child.[724] In the same -way the Ashantees consider children a value worth keeping; thus their -women can re-marry after a three years’ absence of their husband; and -in case of the traveller’s return, it is the second marriage which -holds good, only all the children that are his become the property of -the first husband.[725] In fact, that equals an indemnity, since in -Africa children are generally considered as a commercial value. - -In Polynesia the conjugal bond could be untied, as it was tied, with -the greatest ease. In the Marquesas Isles the husband and wife parted -of mutual accord, in case of incompatibility of temper, and all was -over; but if without his authorisation the wife deserted the conjugal -hut to follow a lover, the husband watched for her and administered -furious and repeated corrections.[726] At Hawaï the marriage was -also dissolved at will, if the husband and wife were agreed on this -point.[727] At Tahiti the unions were of the frailest; the husband and -wife parted without ceremony, and the children were no obstacle, for -by a previous agreement they were made over to one or other of the -partners.[728] It was the same in the Caroline Isles, where, though the -race was different, the customs were analogous, and married couples -could divorce themselves at will.[729] - -This fragility of marriages is common in savage countries. The man -always has the right of repudiation, and very often the reciprocal -right exists also. This fact seems even less rare among savages than it -is later, at the middle period of the development of civilisation, when -the patriarchal family is solidly established. - -In North America, meaning, of course, savage America, the classic -land of the matriarchate, man nevertheless enjoys nearly always the -right of repudiation, often without limits; but certain tribes either -admit divorce by mutual consent, or limit the right of repudiation, -or recognise certain rights of the wife. The Malemoute Esquimaux -drive away their wives at will,[730] as do also the Kamtschatdales, -their congeners of Asia;[731] but, with the Esquimaux, hardly any -but a free and capricious union is known; there is as yet no durable -marriage. It is nearly the same in a certain number of American -tribes, where divorce is easy at the will of the two parties. Among -the Dakota Santals the wife who is ill treated by her companion has -the right to retire; but she cannot take the children without the -husband’s consent.[732] The marriage of the Iroquois, and of some other -neighbouring tribes, was also broken by mutual consent. These Redskins -lived in great common houses, each one inhabited by a fraction of the -tribe, a _gens_, and consequently, that one of the divorced couple -whose relations dominated in the _gens_, remained there; the other was -forced to depart.[733] The Redskins of California also practised this -easy and mutual divorce.[734] The Navajos still recognised the right -of the wife to leave her husband, but already the masculine point of -honour entered into play, and the deserted husband was obliged, under -pain of ridicule, to revenge himself by killing some one.[735] At -Guatemala the wife and husband could part at will and on the slightest -pretext.[736] The Moxos of South America only regarded marriage as an -agreement that could be dissolved by the will of the two parties.[737] -But in many other Redskin tribes the right of divorce seems far from -being reciprocal; it is replaced, to the detriment of the wife, by -repudiation, which the husband can pronounce with a word. According to -the Abbé Domenech, it is the fear of this terrible word which maintains -an appearance of harmony among the many women in the interior of the -Indian wigwams.[738] With the Chippeways a man takes or buys a girl of -twelve, and sends her back when he is tired of her.[739] The Chinook -husband can also repudiate his wife according to his caprice.[740] -In a tribe of the Nahuas, the husbands enjoyed the same rights, but -on condition of exercising them on the day after the marriage; the -experimental union preceded the durable one.[741] In New Mexico, the -husband repudiated at will, on condition only of restoring his wife’s -possessions.[742] A single word of the Caribean husbands also sufficed -to dismiss the wife.[743] The same rule is found with the Abipones -also, where the husband can repudiate his wife on the slightest -pretext.[744] - -The conclusion to be drawn from all these facts is, that there are no -more fixed rules for divorce than for marriage in savage societies. -But, as the wife is more often bought or captured, it is quite natural -that her owner should send her away at his pleasure. Wherever divorce -is mutual, it is when the wife costs little to obtain, or where the -ties of relationship are well defined between the members of her and -her tribe, or her _gens_, who then think themselves bound to afford her -a certain protection. - - -II. _Divorce and Repudiation among Barbarous Peoples._ - -These free and fragile marriages are found in societies more civilised -than those of the Polynesians and the American Indians. Bruce tells us -that in Abyssinia marriage is in reality only a free union, without any -sanction or ceremony; couples unite, part, and re-unite as many times -as they like. There are neither legitimate nor illegitimate children. -In case of divorce the children are divided; the girls belong to the -father, and the boys to the mother.[745] - -M. d’Abbadie affirms also that Abyssinian marriage is purely civil -and always dissoluble; he adds that it is dotal, and co-exists, for -rich men, with the concubinate.[746] It is quite certain that divorce -is largely used in Abyssinia, since Bruce says he has seen a woman -surrounded with seven former husbands. In Hayti, the only negro country -that is civilised in European fashion, we find either preserved or -instituted, by the side of legal monogamic marriage, free unions which -recall the Roman concubinate. The persons thus paired are called -“placed”; they suffer no contempt on this account, and their children -have the same rights as those of persons legally married. There are at -Hayti ten times more “placed” persons than married ones; they separate -less often than the latter are divorced, and have better morals.[747] -But in general the free union, or, what comes to the same thing, the -power of divorce, left to the two united parties, is rare enough in -countries more or less civilised. Most usually it is the husband who, -even without any cause of adultery in the wife, has the right to -repudiate her. It is thus, for example, at Madagascar, where, in order -to repudiate his wife, a husband need simply declare his resolution to -the magistrate who has received the notification of the marriage; it -is only necessary for him to pay for the second time the _hasina_, or -duty on marriage. When once he has declared his intention, the husband -has still twelve days’ grace to retract it; but if he exceeds this -delay the repudiated wife becomes her own mistress and free to marry -again.[748] - -In Kordofan, among the Djebel-Taggale,[749] the great legal motive for -repudiation in all the primitive legislations, sterility, justified -proceedings that were absolutely savage. The ceremony was called the -_nefir_ (drum or trumpet). A woman being apparently sterile, the -husband, before repudiating her, called noisily together all his male -relatives, who, after a feast, all had intimacy with the barren wife. -If this heroic expedient did not result in pregnancy, the husband sold -his wife by auction, agreeing to return to his obliging relatives the -difference, if any, between the first price and the sum she would fetch -in the auction. Extraordinary as this custom of _nefir_ may seem to -us, it is, apart from the final sale, but the repetition with more -shamelessness of analogous practices in India, and even in ancient -Greece, in case of well-proved sterility in the wife. - -The Bedouins and the Touaregs in general have nothing comparable to the -_nefir_ of the Djebel-Taggale, but among them the extreme facility and -excessive frequency of repudiations renders marriage nearly illusory. -According to Burckhardt, repudiation is so common with the former that -a man sometimes has fifty wives in succession.[750] With the Touaregs -of the Sahara the wives themselves can demand divorce, and we have -seen that they thus force their husbands to bend to monogamy, in spite -of the Koran and of their polygamic appetites.[751] It seems that in -certain of their tribes the women make it a point of honour to be often -repudiated. Only to have one husband is, in their eyes, a humiliating -thing, and they are heard to say: “Thou art not worth anything; thou -hast neither beauty nor merit; men have disdained thee, and would have -none of thee.”[752] - -This is quite in accord with the _laisser aller_ habitual to the -primitive Berbers in regard to marriage. In this respect, however, our -Kabyles of Algeria contrast with the other ethnic groups of their race. -Their conjugal customs are most rigid; neither liberty nor libertinage -exist for the wife amongst them. Their customs in regard to repudiation -and divorce are consequently very curious, and are worth studying in -detail. In Kabyle, marriage is treated literally as a commercial affair -of the most serious kind, especially for the women, who are owned as -things by their husbands. The customs and the _Kanouns_, however, -forbid the exchange of wives, and the husband whose wife has fled from -the conjugal dwelling is forbidden to sell the fugitive except to a man -of the tribe, and even then he is not allowed to have the price.[753] -Still, the Kabyle husband has preserved the right of repudiation, and -this right he alone enjoys, and without restriction. - -There are in Kabyle two kinds of repudiation. In one, the husband -simply says, “I repudiate thee;” and he repeats this formula three -times. The wife remains dependent on him until he sells her by means -of a price of redemption. If he accepts from the father or some other -man this price (_lefdi_) he must, when the sum is once counted out, -declare before witnesses that he gives up all rights over his wife. -Then, and only then, the marriage is dissolved.[754] Under the other -form of repudiation the husband says, “I repudiate thee, and I put such -a sum on thy head.” The formula is pronounced once, twice, and thrice. -In this case the husband is irrevocably bound, and by paying the sum -fixed, the wife has the power to marry again; at the same time, the -husband can specify the conditions, can say, for example, that if the -woman is married to such or such a man, the price of redemption will be -doubled or tripled. Sometimes the sum is so great that it amounts to -an absolute interdiction of any fresh marriage, and the woman is then -designated “a prevented one” (_thamaouok’t_).[755] When the formula of -repudiation has only been pronounced once or twice, the husband can, -by means of a fine paid to the _djemâa_, and with the consent of the -father-in-law, take back his wife; but he loses his reputation, and his -testimony is no longer legal. If the formula has been pronounced three -times, it is irrevocable. As for the other revocation, public opinion -does not admit that it may be revocable, unless it has only been -declared once, and that the husband find a priest who will consecrate a -fresh union.[756] - -If, after repudiation, the Kabyle woman marries again, and becomes a -widow, the first husband can retake her without repayment and without a -fine.[757] - -Without pronouncing the formula of repudiation, the Kabyle husband has -the power to send his wife back to her family, with the consent of the -said family. If the husband has serious reasons of displeasure he sends -her to her parents without forewarning them, mounted on an ass, and -conducted by a servant or a negro. This treatment is so ignominious -for the wife that it is equal to repudiation, and public opinion then -forbids the husband to take her back. Sometimes, in case of proved -adultery, the husband sends the wife back to her family, after having -shaved her head; the guilty one is then for ever dishonoured, and -however beautiful she may be, she never finds another husband.[758] - -In case of repudiation, for any motive whatever, the Kabyle husband -has the right to keep all his children, girls and boys, even those -at the breast.[759] As for the repudiated woman, she always returns -to her parents, and it is to these last that a man must apply to -marry her; but the new marriage cannot be concluded until after the -payment to the first husband of the price of the redemption (_lefdi_), -which is sometimes more, sometimes less, than the _thâmanth_, or -price of the first acquisition. Generally, too, the parents profit -by the opportunity to claim a supplement, or gratification. The -father often agrees first with the husband, reimburses him for the -_thâmanth_, and afterwards negotiates his daughter as he pleases. In -a certain number of tribes the husband can directly sell his wife, -but Kabyle morality reproves this practice,[760] and permits the wife -in that case to retire to her father, where she remains “prevented” -(_thamaouok’t_); however, if the father is powerful, he risks sometimes -marrying his daughter, and the tribe at need stands by him.[761] In -any case, the repudiated Kabyle woman can only marry after a delay -(_aidda_), generally of four months,[762] which is conformable to the -prescriptions of the Koran. If she flees the country, the parents -must restore to the husband the _thâmanth_ or _lefdi_, for this -last can no longer gain them a new suitor.[763] The whole of this -_régime_ is very partial to the husband. However, as public opinion -in Kabyle is sovereign, it has decreed a few protective measures for -woman, recalling from afar the proverbial liberality of the Berbers -in conjugal matters. Thus, though the woman is deprived of the right -of divorce, she is allowed a “right of insurrection” if she has just -complaints to make. In this case she begins by telling one of her -relatives, who fetches her back to her father openly, the husband not -being permitted to oppose; it remains to him either to repudiate the -fugitive or to let her be a “prevented one.” It is understood that -custom protects an “insurgent” wife only when she takes refuge with her -relatives.[764] Some tribes have tariffed the _thâmanth_; and in case -of repudiation the husband can only exact or receive the ordained sum. -As for the tariff of the repudiated woman, it is nearly always more -than the _thâmanth_, or price of the virgin and the widow. This is done -counting on the avidity of the husband, to urge him to permit a fresh -marriage.[765] Lastly, it is the rule that after four years’ absence -on the part of the husband the union is dissolved and the woman is -free.[766] This is a wise law which certain European codes might borrow -with advantage from Kabyle legislation. - -It is a veritable godsend for scientific sociology to be able to know -in its minute details all this curious regulation of Kabyle marriage. -Too often we are forced to content ourselves, in regard to savage or -barbarous peoples, with general assertions that have to be completed -as well as may be from accounts that are incoherent, sometimes -contradictory, and always fragmentary. Here we possess a whole -barbarous code, quite an assemblage of old Berber customs, which are -more or less confounded with the precepts of the Koran. - -The law of Mahomet itself is only a sort of compromise between the -ancient customs of Arabia and the Biblical precepts relating to -marriage. On certain sides the Arab customs are superior to the -severity of the Kabyle kanouns, but on others they are inferior to -them, as, for example, in not affording to the wife the right of -“insurrection.” - -It is necessary to distinguish between the text of the Koran and -practice, which has notably departed from it--sometimes for the -better, sometimes for the worse. The Koran leaves to the husband -the absolute right of repudiation. It orders that if the formula of -repudiation has been pronounced three times, the husband cannot take -back the wife until she has been married to another; it permits him -to do it, therefore, in the contrary case.[767] It specifies that the -repudiated wife should have a sufficient maintenance provided for -her, and that the husband should not keep the dower she brought with -her;[768] that the husband should have four months’ grace to retract -his decision;[769] that if the repudiated wife is suckling an infant, -the husband, or, in his default, the next heir, should supply her needs -during the two years that the suckling should last.[770] - -The Koran orders repudiated wives not to re-marry before three -menstrual periods, not to dissimulate their pregnancy, “if they believe -in God and in the day of judgment;” and in the last case it advises the -husbands to take them back.[771] Lastly, the law of Mahomet encourages -amicable arrangements, and these by money payments between ill-assorted -couples; it authorises the husband to sell a divorce to his wife for a -cession, with her consent, of a portion of her dowry.[772] This is what -the texts, which are both legal and sacred, declare: this, then, is the -theory. We will now see what is the practice as regards repudiation and -divorce in Algeria at the present time. - -There are three graduated formulas of repudiation: first, the -discontented husband says simply to the wife, “Go away,” and if he -has only said it once or twice, he may retract his decision; second, -but if he has said, “Thou art to me as one dead, or as the flesh of -swine,” it is forbidden to take back the repudiated wife until she has -been married to another, and then repudiated or left a widow; lastly, -there is a formula so solemn that it entails a separation for ever; it -is this, “Let thy back be turned on me henceforth, like the back of my -mother.”[773] - -Any one of these senseless reasons, which have often the force of law -with unenlightened races, can be set aside, and the repudiation counted -null when it has been pronounced during a critical period of the -woman.[774] The woman with child, on the contrary, can be repudiated, -but she has a right to an “allowance during pregnancy.”[775] Actual -custom also admits voluntary divorce, at the proposal of the wife, for -a redemption paid by her to her master. Sometimes the initiative comes -from the husband, who, knowing that his wife desires her liberty, says -to her, “I repudiate thee, if thou givest me this _pallium_ of Herat, -or this horse, or this camel,” etc. It is then a sort of divorce by -mutual consent, and the two part as good friends.[776] - -Lastly, there is obligatory divorce, pronounced by the Cadi, on the -plaint of the woman, when the husband is impotent, when in spite of -these matrimonial conventions he tries to compel the woman to quit -the house of her parents, or when he has corrected her with excessive -brutality.[777] Then the divorced wife goes away, taking her dowry with -her. - -Taken altogether, these customs, while conforming to the spirit of -the Koran, have in a certain measure improved the position of the -married woman. This is because progress is the law of the social as -well as the organic world; more or less slowly, more or less quickly, -it ends by modifying in practice even theocratic legislations, which -are the most rigid of all. But the old customs are still found almost -intact in certain districts of Arabia which have remained more or less -completely isolated. Thus in nearly all Arab countries there is one -especial reason which justifies immediate repudiation of the marriage, -and that is the absence of virginity, when it has been affirmed in -the agreements preceding the union. But in Yemen this circumstance -justifies far more than mere repudiation; it excuses the murder of the -bride;[778] it is a practical return to the old law preserved in the -Bible ordering the guilty woman to be stoned. - -After the manner of all barbarous legislations, that of Mahomet has -corrected, or at least tried to restrain, certain especially ferocious -customs; but, on the other hand, it has given the force of law to -some particularly crying abuses, and has thus rendered them more -difficult of redress. This is generally the case. In all barbarous -societies the subjection of woman is more or less severe; customs or -coarse laws have regulated the savagery of the first anarchic ages; -they have doubtless set up a barrier against primitive ferocity, they -have interdicted certain absolutely terrible abuses of force, but they -have only replaced these by a servitude which is still very heavy, -is often iniquitous, and no longer permits to legally possessed women -those escapes, or capriciously accorded liberties, which were tolerated -in savage life. We shall have to prove this fact more than once in -continuing our ethnographic study of divorce in barbarous societies. - -In ancient Peru the liberal and reasonable custom of divorce by mutual -consent was adopted.[779] At Quito, at least, where marriage was not -civil and obligatory, the married pair had the power of separating by -mutual accord. - -In Mexico divorce was merely tolerated. Before being allowed to break -the conjugal tie, the couple were obliged to submit their differences -to a special tribunal, which, after a minute examination of the facts, -and three hearings of the parties, sent them away without pronouncing -judgment, if they persevered in their design.[780] The tribunal could, -it seems, forbid the separation, but it did not expressly authorise it. -Its silence, however, equalled a sentence of divorce. - -This luxury of legality, this pretence of placing the conjugal union -out of reach of the caprice or injustice of one of the parties, can -only be met with in societies already advanced in organisation. - -In lamaic Thibet, where marriage is a simple civil convention, with -which the theocratic government of the country does not interfere, -marriages are dissolved, as they are made, by mere mutual consent; -but this consent is necessary, and there only results a separation -analogous to ours, and taking from the separated couple the power to -re-marry.[781] With the nomad Mongols we find, in spite of a relative -civilisation, the absolute right of repudiation left to the husband -alone, as it is in savage countries. The Mongol husband who is tired -of his wife, whom, besides, he has purchased, can send her back to her -parents without giving the least reason; he simply loses the oxen, -sheep, and horses that he has paid for her. On their side, the parents -make no difficulty of taking her back, for they have the right to sell -her again. The Mongol wife can also spontaneously quit her husband; -but this is not so simple a matter, because she represents a value. -It is a capital that has fled; therefore the parents must send her -back four times following to the husband-proprietor. If the latter -persists in not receiving her, the marriage is dissolved, but in that -case the parents must restore a part of the cattle previously paid -by the marital purchaser.[782] In short, repudiation and divorce are -considered in Mongolia entirely as commercial transactions, and always -arranged for the advantage of the husband. - -The Chinese have regulated this still quite primitive divorce, and -while leaving to the husband the right of repudiation, they have -carefully specified the conditions of it. - -A Chinese husband can repudiate his wife for adultery, sterility, -immodesty, disobedience to her father and mother or to him, loquacity -or propensity to slander, inclination to theft, a jealous disposition, -or an incurable malady. These motives, however, no longer suffice when -the wife has worn mourning for her father-in-law or her mother-in-law; -when the family has become rich in comparison with its former poverty; -and lastly, when the wife has no longer a father or mother to receive -her. If, heedless of these interdictions, the husband repudiates his -wife all the same, he becomes liable to receive eighty strokes of -bamboo, and must take her back.[783] To the husband alone belongs the -right of repudiation, but the law admits divorce by mutual consent. On -the other hand, it has taken good care to consecrate the servitude of -the wife by ordering that if she flees from the conjugal abode when -the husband refuses a divorce, she shall be punished by a hundred -strokes of bamboo, and may be sold by her husband to any one willing to -marry her.[784] Chinese legislation absolutely refuses the “right of -insurrection” to the wife, which the Kabyle _Kanouns_, rigorous as they -are to women, have granted. For divorce, as for everything else, China -is at the stage of mitigated or humane barbarism. The foundation of -her laws has remained savage, but a less ancient spirit has attempted -to modify their severity. It has limited the right of repudiation, at -first in the power of the master; it has specified the impediments; -lastly, it has sanctioned divorce by mutual consent, which still -terrifies our legislators. - -Ancient India had also left the right of repudiation to the husband, -but she had no place for divorce in her legislation, and had imposed no -restriction on the good pleasure of the husband if there existed one -of the cases enumerated by the Code:--“A wife given to intoxicating -liquors, having bad morals, given to contradicting her husband, -attacked with an incurable disease, as leprosy, or who has been -spendthrift of his wealth, ought to be replaced by another.” “A sterile -wife ought to be replaced in the eighth year; the wife whose children -are all dead, in the tenth year; the wife who only bears daughters, in -the eleventh; the wife who speaks with bitterness, instantly.”[785] -“For one whole year let a husband bear with the aversion of his wife; -but after a year, if she continues to hate him, let him take what she -possesses, only giving her enough to clothe and feed her, and let him -cease to cohabit with her.”[786] - -Here it is no longer a question of divorce by mutual consent, nor -of protective measures for the wife. If she is legally replaced -without being repudiated, and then if she abandons with anger the -conjugal abode, she must be imprisoned or repudiated in the presence -of witnesses.[787] The prolonged absence of the husband does not set -free the wife, even when she has been left without resources. She -must patiently await the return of the absent master, during eight -years if he is gone for a pious motive; six years if he is travelling -for science or glory; three years if he is roaming the world for his -pleasure. When these delays have expired, the deserted one is none the -less married; she has only the power to go to seek the traveller.[788] - -Like the writers of the Code of Manu, those of the Bible have thought -very little of the rights of woman in legislating on divorce and -repudiation. - -The book of Deuteronomy, very accommodating for the husband, authorises -him to repudiate his wife “when she find no favour in his eyes, because -he hath found some uncleanness in her;” he has only to put a “letter -of divorce” in her hand, and may not take her again, either if she -is repudiated by another husband or becomes a widow.[789] With much -stronger reason a man can repudiate an immodest wife.[790] As for -the wife, she could only demand a divorce for very grave causes: if -the husband was attacked by a contagious malady (leprosy); if his -occupations were too repugnant; if he deceived her; if he _habitually_ -ill-treated her; if he refused to contribute to her maintenance; and -if, after ten years of marriage, his impotence was well established, -especially if the woman declared she needed a son to sustain her in her -old age.[791] But even then it was the husband who was reputed to have -sent away his wife, and she lost her dowry. - -All these antique legislations bear on the woman with shameful -iniquity. The most humane have confined their efforts to placing a few -slight restrictions on the brutal good pleasure of man, which nothing -holds back in savage societies. But it is important to notice that -certain tribes, still more or less buried in savagery, have regulated -divorce with humanity enough and equity enough to put to shame the -theocratic legislators of the great barbarian societies. - -We discover again this iniquitous spirit in regard to the respective -situations of the man and the woman in marriage in the Greco-Roman -world, but it becomes moderated as ancient civilisation progresses. -In primitive Greece the right of repudiation is left to the man, and -he uses it whenever he thinks he has legitimate motives for doing -so.[792] This right continued in more civilised Greece, but it was -gradually restricted. Nevertheless, it was always a great dishonour -for a woman to be repudiated. Euripides makes Medea say, “Divorce is -always shameful for a woman.” In _Andromachus_, Menelaus, speaking of -his daughter Hermione, said: “I will not that my daughter should be -driven from the nuptial bed; save that, all that a woman can suffer -is relatively without importance; but for her to lose her husband is -to lose her life.” At Athens repudiations were frequent, and they -would have been more so if considerations of interest had not often -hindered the good pleasure of the master. He was obliged, in fact, by -the conditions of the law, in repudiating his wife, to restore her -dowry, or pay interest at the rate of nine oboles.[793] Moreover, the -relatives who were guardians of the woman could claim by law a pension -for her maintenance.[794] A personage of Euripides cries mournfully: -“The riches that a wife brings only serve to make her divorce more -difficult.”[795] However, the right of divorce was recognised for -women, but custom held the laws in check by rendering it difficult -for wives to perform any public action, and by imposing on them the -confinement of the gyneceum.[796] - -At Rome divorce evolved more rapidly and more completely than in -Greece. In primitive Rome we see at first, as usual, the right -of repudiation allowed to the husband and forbidden to the wife. -“Romulus,” says Plutarch, “gave the husband power to divorce his -wife in case of her poisoning his children, or counterfeiting his -keys, or committing adultery, and if on any other account he put her -away she was to have one moiety of his goods, and the other was to -be consecrated to Ceres.”[797] The Roman husband could also put away -his wife for sterility.[798] He was, however, obliged to assemble the -family beforehand for consultation. If the marriage had been contracted -by confarreation it had to be dissolved by a contradictory ceremony, -diffarreation.[799] In the ancient law, when the crime of the woman led -to divorce, she lost all her dowry. Later, only a sixth was kept back -by adultery, and an eighth for other crimes.[800] At length divorce by -consent (_bonâ gratiâ_) was introduced in spite of the censors; and -then both parties had liberty of divorce, only with certain pecuniary -disadvantages for the husband whose fault led to the divorce. Thus the -adulterous husband lost advantage of the terms which usage accorded for -the restitution of the dowry. In the last stage of the law the guilty -husband lost the dowry, or the _donatio propter nuptias_. Inversely, -if the wife divorced without a cause, the husband retained a sixth -of the dowry for each child, but only up to three-sixths.[801] The -formula of the Roman repudiation recalls by its energetic conciseness -the Kabyle formula, and it seems especially to relate to the property: -_Res tuas habeto_.[802] The wife, even though subjected to the _manus_, -obtained at last the power of divorce, by sending the _repudium_ to her -husband, who was then forced to set her free from the _manus_.[803] In -short, divorce became in time very easy. Cicero repudiated his wife -Terentia in order to get a new dowry. Augustus forced the husband of -Livia to put her away, although she was with child. Seneca speaks of -women counting their years, not according to the Consuls, but to the -number of their husbands. Juvenal quotes a woman who was married eight -times in five years. St. Jerome mentions another who, after having had -twenty-three husbands, married a man who had had twenty-three wives. - -Constantine, humbly obedient to the Christian spirit which had invaded -his base soul, restricted the cases of divorce to three for each -spouse, but always admitted mutual consent, and under Justinian the -full liberty of divorce reappeared in the Code.[804] - -From its origin Christianity combatted the morals called pagan, which -name even was a reproach. Abandoning the modest reality, it lost anchor -from the first, and was drowned in a sea of dreams. Marriage, instead -of being simply the union of a man and a woman in order to produce -children, became mystic; it was the symbol of the union of Christ -with his church; it was tolerated only, and the church especially -condemned divorce. Nevertheless, custom and good sense held out a -long time against ecclesiastical unreason, and it was very slowly, in -the twelfth century only, that the civil law prohibited divorce.[805] -St. Jerome had allowed, as did afterwards the Christians of the East, -that adultery broke the bond of marriage as well for the woman as -the man, which is simply just; but this sentiment was condemned and -anathematised by the Council of Trent,[806] which thus returned, -contrary to the opinion of Papinian and the ancient jurists, to savage -customs, which make the wife the slave, and not the companion, of her -husband. - -Among the Germans and the Scandinavians, the man alone had the right -of repudiation according to the almost universal usage of barbarous -peoples; however, divorce by mutual consent was tolerated.[807] The -Salic law also permitted divorce, and we find in Marculphus the form -of an act of divorce by mutual consent. “The husband and wife, such -and such a one, seeing that discord troubles their marriage and that -love does not rule in it, have agreed to separate, and leave each other -mutually free, without opposition from either party, under pain of a -fine of one pound.” - -The pagan Irish had rendered divorce useless by instituting marriages -of one year, at the end of which the wife could be repudiated by the -temporary husband and even ceded to another for a fresh year. These -experimental marriages were made or unmade, sometimes on the first of -May, and sometimes on the first of November of each year.[808] - -Repudiations at the will of the husband are still in use among the -Tcherkesses of the Caucasus, whose customs have more than one feature -in common with those of our ancestors of barbarous Europe. With them -the husband can repudiate in two manners: either by sending away -his wife in the presence of witnesses, and leaving the dowry to the -parents, which implies the liberty to marry again for the repudiated -wife; or by simply driving the wife away, and then he can recall her -again during one year.[809] - -In France, under the two first races, the man could put away the -woman; he could even, which is more rare and original, repudiate his -family, and leave it, after a declaration before the judge, and this -destroyed all rights of inheritance on both sides. Later, under the -influence of the Catholic clergy, who by reason, no doubt, of their -want of practical experience in the “things of the flesh,” claimed -energetically the right of regulating all conjugal questions, a -distinction was made between the separation of abode (_quoad thorum_) -and complete divorce (_quoad vinculum_); the first only was permitted. -The Church, always assuming to be immutable, maintained in theory the -indissolubility of the sacramental marriage, and it needed the great -movement of the French Revolution to shake for a moment the Catholic -prejudice against divorce, which was incompletely re-established in -our French code a few years ago. But the brutality of our ancient -conjugal customs survives still, and they are not up to the level of -our legislation, imperfect as that is. Many husbands always treat their -wives as slaves, against whom everything is lawful, since in a hundred -suits for separation or divorce there are ninety-one to ninety-three -made by wives on account of cruelties and serious injuries.[810] Above -all, our juries almost invariably acquit the husband who has murdered -his adulterous wife. So difficult is it to “put off the old man.” - - -III. _The Evolution of Divorce._ - -Our various researches on the subject of divorce have led us to nearly -uniform conclusions. They all show us that, however dissimilar may be -the countries or the epochs, the union of man and woman begins, with -very rare exceptions, by the complete slavery of the latter, and her -assimilation to domestic animals, over which man has all possible -rights, _a fortiori_ that of driving away. Then as the ages move on -their course we see societies which become by degrees civilised, and -in proportion to this advance the condition of the woman improves. -At first the man could kill her if she displeased him; then, cases -of adultery apart, he contented himself with repudiating her; next, -the severity of this right of repudiation, at first unlimited, was -mitigated; then it was restricted to certain well-defined cases; -some rights were even granted to the repudiated woman. At length -her own right was recognised to seek divorce in order to escape -from intolerable treatment. At last a return was made to divorce by -mutual consent, which had been allowed in a good number of primitive -societies, before a rigid legislation, generally theocratic, had -crystallised, in codifying them, some of the old barbarous customs. -The Catholic prejudice itself, absurd as it was in regard to marriage, -became humanised by time. Doubtless the Church continued in principle -to condemn divorce, but she allowed a good number of cases of nullity -of marriage, undoing thus with one hand what she attempted to build up -with the other, and, willingly or not, compounding and compromising -with “the world.” - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[719] Moncelon, _Réponses au Questionnaire de Sociologie_, in _Bull. de -la Soc. d’anthrop._, 1886. - -[720] Campbell, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxix. p. 343. - -[721] Burchell, _ibid._ t. xxvi. p. 479. - -[722] Schweinfurth, _The Heart of Africa_, vol. ii. p. 27. - -[723] Laing, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxviii. p. 107. - -[724] Brodie Cruikshank, _The Gold Coast_. - -[725] Bowdich, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxviii. p. 425. - -[726] M. Radiguet, _Derniers Sauvages_, p. 179. - -[727] _Revue de l’Orient_, 1844. - -[728] Moerenhout, _Voy. aux îles_, etc., t. ii. p. 62. - -[729] Freycinet, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xviii. p. 82. - -[730] Bancroft, _loc. cit._, vol. i. p. 81. - -[731] Beniouski, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxxi. p. 410. - -[732] J. O. Dorsey, _Omaha Sociology_, Smithsonian Institution, 1885. - -[733] L. Morgan, _Ancient Societies_. - -[734] Bancroft, _loc. cit._, vol. i. p. 412. - -[735] _Id._, _ibid._ p. 512. - -[736] _Id._, _ibid._ vol. ii. p. 672. - -[737] A. d’Orbigny, _L’homme Américain_, t. ii. p. 211. - -[738] _Id._, _Voy. pittor._, etc., p. 511. - -[739] Bancroft, _loc. cit._, vol. i. p. 117. - -[740] _Id._, _ibid._ vol. i. p. 241. - -[741] _Id._, _ibid._ vol. ii. p. 261. - -[742] _Id._, _ibid._ vol. i. p. 511. - -[743] _Voy. à la Terre-ferme_, etc., t. I^{er.} p. 304. - -[744] Dobritzhoffer, _An Account of the Abipones of Paraguay_, vol. ii. -p. 97. - -[745] Bruce, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxiii. p. 365. - -[746] D’Abbadie, _Douze ans dans la haute Éthiopie_, pp. 100, 128. - -[747] Annie Besant, _Marriage, as it was, as it is, and as it should -be_. - -[748] Dupré, _Trois Mois à Madagascar_, p. 153. - -[749] D. Cuny, _Journal de Voyage à Siout et à El-Obéid, en 1857-58_. - -[750] Burckhardt, _loc. cit._ - -[751] Duveyrier, _loc. cit._ p. 429. - -[752] Raffenel, _Voy. au pays des Nègres_, t. I^{er.} p. 355. - -[753] Hanoteau et Letourneux, _Kabylie_, t. ii. p. 164. - -[754] Hanoteau et Letourneux, _Kabylie_, t. ii. p. 178. - -[755] _Id._, _ibid._ t. ii. p. 177. - -[756] _Id._, _ibid._ t. ii. p. 177. - -[757] _Id._, _ibid._ t. ii. p. 179. - -[758] Hanoteau et Letourneux, _Kabylie_, t. ii. p. 181. - -[759] _Id._, _ibid._. t. ii. p. 184. - -[760] _Id._, _ibid._ t. ii. p. 159. - -[761] _Id._, _ibid._ t. ii. p. 180. - -[762] _Id._, _ibid._ t. ii. p. 173. - -[763] _Id._, _ibid._ t. ii. p. 180. - -[764] Hanoteau et Letourneux, _Kabylie_, t. ii. p. 182. - -[765] _Id._, _ibid._ - -[766] _Id._, _ibid._ t. ii. p. 180. - -[767] Koran, ii. 229, 230. - -[768] Koran, ii. 229. - -[769] _Ibid._ ii. 226, 242. - -[770] _Ibid._ ii. 233. - -[771] _Ibid._ ii. 228. - -[772] _Ibid._ iv. 127. - -[773] Meynier, _Études sur l’Islamisme_, pp. 168, 169. - -[774] _Id._, _ibid._ p. 178. - -[775] _Id._, _ibid._ p. 174. - -[776] Meynier, _Études sur l’Islamisme_. - -[777] _Id._, _ibid._ p. 174. - -[778] Niebuhr, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxxi. p. 330. - -[779] Prescott, _Conquest of Peru_. - -[780] _Id._, _Conquest of Mexico_, vol. i. p. 28. - -[781] Turner, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxxi. p. 437. - -[782] Huc, _Voy. dans la Tartarie_, t. I^{er.} p. 301. - -[783] Pauthier, _Chine Moderne_, p. 239. - -[784] _Id._, _ibid._ - -[785] _Code of Manu_, ix. pp. 80, 81. - -[786] _Ibid._ p. 77. - -[787] _Ibid._ p. 83. - -[788] _Ibid._ - -[789] Deuteronomy, ch. xxiv. ver. 1, 2. - -[790] _Mischnah_ (third part). - -[791] A. Weil, _La Femme juive_, _passim_. - -[792] Goguet, _Orig. des Lois_, t. ii. p. 61. - -[793] Demosthenes, _Against Aphobus_. - -[794] _Id._, _Against Neera_. - -[795] Euripides, _Melanippus_, Fr. 31 (quoted by Cavallotti). - -[796] Lecky, _Hist. of European Morals_, etc., vol. ii. p. 287. - -[797] Romulus, xxxv. - -[798] Plutarch, _Demandes Romaines_, xiv. - -[799] _Italie ancienne_ (_Univers pittoresque_), p. 487. - -[800] _Ibid._ p. 488. - -[801] _Italie ancienne_, p. 488. - -[802] R. Cubain, _Lois Civiles de Rome_, p. 183. - -[803] _Italie ancienne_, p. 487. - -[804] Lecky, _loc. cit._, p. 352. - -[805] _Id._, _ibid._ - -[806] Session xxiv., can. 17. - -[807] Rambaud, _Hist. de la Civil. Franç._, t. I^{er.} p. 107. - -[808] D’Arbois de Jubainville, Preface to _Hist. inst. primit._ of Sir -H. Maine. - -[809] Klaproth et Gamba, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xlv. p. 435. - -[810] M. Block, _Europe Politique et Sociale_, p. 216. - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - -WIDOWHOOD AND THE LEVIRATE. - - I. _Widowhood in Savage Countries._--Societies without widowhood--The - widow considered as property by the Hottentots and at the Gaboon, - etc.--Widowhood in Kouranko, at Kaarta, and in Madagascar--The wives - of Queen Ranavalo--Widowhood among the Redskins--Sacrifices and - mutilations of widows. - - II. _Widowhood in Barbarous Countries._--Widowhood in - Bhootan--Polyandric widowhood--Widowhood in China--Traffic in the - widow--Glorification of widowhood--Suicides of widows--Widowhood - in India--Duties of widows--_Suttees_--Widowhood in Islamite - countries--Position given to the widow in the Koran--Position given - to the widow in the Bible--Widowhood in Kabylia--The sleeping - fœtus--Widowhood in ancient Rome--Opinion of the Christian Church on - second marriages--Widowhood in barbarous Europe and in the Middle Ages. - - III. _The Levirate._--The levirate in Melanesia, among the Redskins, - the Ostiaks, the Kirghis, the Afghans, in the Code of Manu, among the - Hebrews. - - IV. _Summary._ - - -I. _Widowhood in Savage Countries._ - -We have very little knowledge as to the condition of widows in the -lowest human societies. It is one of those questions of social -organisation hardly noticed by the travellers to whom we look -especially for information. - -To begin with, we may affirm that widowhood, regarded as a special -condition recognised by customs and laws, does not exist in very -anarchic societies. Voltaire has somewhere said that the origin of -divorce was doubtless posterior by some days to that of marriage. With -much stronger reason may we infer that the existence of some kind of -marriage is necessary before there can be any widowhood. Widowhood, -therefore, does not exist in societies where promiscuity or temporary -marriage prevails. No widowhood is possible, for example, in the tribe -of the Australian Kamilaroi, where all the women of a class are common -to all the men of the same class. It became otherwise from the time -that, either by capture, purchase, or any other means, woman became -the particular property of one man. Thenceforth it was necessary to -regulate in some way the condition of the widow or widows. Generally -the solution of the problem has been very simple: the widow, who has -been habitually captured or bought by the deceased, does not cease -after his death to be regarded as a thing or property; she is part of -the inheritance, by the same title as chattels or domestic animals. -Sometimes, however, special obligations or troubles are imposed on -her; Kolben tells us that in passing to a fresh husband, the Hottentot -widow must cut off a joint of the little finger; but to cut off a -finger-joint was a common custom with the Hottentots on the death of -a relative, and the women did it, or were forced to do it, more often -than the men. There is nothing in this particular to the condition -of the widow.[811] At the Gaboon a man’s wives belonged to his heir, -and if the deceased was of importance in the tribe, they must resign -themselves to a period of mourning and of widowhood, which lasts a year -or two. The end of this mourning is marked by a great festival or orgy, -which Du Chaillu has thus described--“The wives of the deceased (he had -seven) were radiant ... they were going to quit their widow’s clothes -and join the festival like brides. The heir had the right to marry them -all, but to show his generosity, he had ceded two to a younger brother -and one to a cousin.” They drank bumper after bumper (palm wine), and -then began to dance. “The wives danced. But what dances! The most -modest step was indecent.”[812] - -In equatorial Africa, the son inherits the widows of his father: it -is thus in Yarriba.[813] Sometimes they are sold simply, if they have -had no children by the deceased husband.[814] In Kouranko, widows -have a milder fate. They are numerous; for, as young girls, they have -generally been sold by their parents to old husbands; but according -to Laing, the custom of the country renders them free, and makes them -their own mistresses as soon as they are widows, and they profit by -this immediately to choose themselves a young husband, and lavish cares -and attentions on him; it is then their turn.[815] Nevertheless, the -custom of classing widows with the heritage seems very general in negro -Africa. It exists with the Bambarras of Kaarta, where, at the death -of a prince, his successor puts the wives of the deceased monarch up -to auction. Even if old and horrible, they sell easily and dear, for -men like the honour of succeeding to a king.[816] We shall find the -same usage again in Madagascar, at least in the noble families of the -Hovas. On ascending the throne, Radama simply kept all his father’s -wives. So obligatory is this on the reigning sovereign, that at the -death of the same Radama, his widow Ranavalo was bound to keep, by the -title of _wives_, all her husband’s widows. Then, in a great council -held after her elevation to the throne, it was decided that the Queen -Ranavalo could not marry again, but would be free to take lovers at her -will, and that all the children born of these fugitive unions should -be considered as the legitimate posterity of Radama.[817] By this -ingenious measure all was conciliated--respect to custom, the liberty -of the queen, and the regular succession to the throne. - -We shall find again in very different countries this savage custom of -considering widows as a simple property, transmissible by inheritance. -Sometimes the heir succeeds simply to the deceased husband; sometimes -he accepts and exacts an indemnity, in case the widow re-marries. Such -was already the custom with the Smoos of Central America. There the -widows belonged by right to the relatives of the deceased husband; -and in order to contract afresh, they had to pay to these relatives -what was called “widow money.”[818] Inversely, with the Kliketats, if -a woman happened to die very soon after her marriage, the husband who -had bought her could claim her price back from the parents;[819] he had -been deceived in the quality of the merchandise. - -This was not all; as long as the mourning lasted, the widow was always -considered, in certain districts, as having duties to fulfil towards -her dead husband, or rather towards his shade. Thus, with the Sambos -of Central America, she had to furnish a sufficient quantity of food -during a year to the tomb of the deceased;[820] and it was the same in -Mexico.[821] - -In many of the Redskin tribes second marriages are not tolerated by -custom till after a very long delay, exacted for reasons that have -nothing savage in them; it is simply that the children of the first -marriage may be grown out of their early infancy, and the custom is -obligatory for the man as well as for the woman. The Selish widow only -marries after two years;[822] but the delay is sometimes from two to -three years for the widower as well as for the widow.[823] With the -Nez-Percés of Columbia, the widower can marry again at the end of one -year.[824] With the Omahas the delay was much longer, from four to -seven years for the man and the woman. This rule was very strict, and -in case of its infraction, the parents of the dead husband had the -right to strike and wound, but without killing, the widow who might -be too hasty in marrying again. In a parallel case, they confined -themselves to taking a pony from the man;[825] this was because a man -could defend himself. On the contrary, if the widower waited much -beyond the legal time before marrying again, the parents or relatives -of the dead wife thought themselves obliged to intervene. “This man,” -said they, “has no one to sew his mocassins; let us seek a wife -for him.” When they did so, the widower was bound to accept their -offer.[826] - -This question of widows has evidently been very embarrassing for -primitive societies. They have either been kept or sold, according as -it might be agreeable or advantageous. But another very simple way -of getting rid of the encumbrance has been to sacrifice them on the -tomb of the dead husband. Nothing is less rare than such immolations -in savage countries, and these atrocious acts are often inspired -by affectionate sentiments, by care for the fate which awaits the -deceased husband after death. How can they let him travel alone on that -dangerous journey beyond the tomb? This is the reason of the widely -spread custom of human sacrifices, which chiefly consist of women and -slaves. I quote a few facts of this kind, simply as specimens. - -In certain tribes of New Zealand the widows were strangled on the tomb -of the deceased husband.[827] In equatorial Africa, at Yourriba, when -the king dies, four of his wives and a number of slaves are forced to -poison themselves. The poison is poured into a parrot’s egg for them, -and if it does not produce any effect the patients must supplement it -by hanging themselves. At Jenna, on the Niger, at the death of a chief, -one or two of his widows must commit suicide the same day, in order to -furnish him with pleasant company in the country beyond the tomb, of -which he is going to take possession.[828] At Katunga, the chief wife -of the deceased king is obliged to poison herself on the tomb of her -husband, in company with the eldest son and the principal personages of -the kingdom. All these victims must be buried with the dead master.[829] - -The massacres by which the death of the king of Dahomey is solemnised -are well known, and in them also the wives play an important part as -victims. We know that the primitive Germans had analogous customs; for -savages of all countries, to whatever race they belong, resemble each -other and repeat themselves. - -Among various peoples funeral sacrifices are replaced by mutilations -more or less voluntary, and especially obligatory on widows. As -examples, I may mention the amputation of the little finger by the -Hottentots, the Melanesians, and the Charruas; and the gashes which -Polynesian widows made on their faces and bodies. These bloody -demonstrations were obligatory, and far from corresponding to a real -grief. At Noukahiva Porter saw a widow, the funeral wounds still -fresh on her neck, breast, and arms, prostitute herself to American -sailors.[830] - -This review of savage manners and customs in regard to widows has -only been a long enumeration of cruelties and iniquities, and these, -although much lessened in barbarous countries, do not, by any means, -disappear. - - -II. _Widowhood in Barbarous Countries._ - -The natives of Himalayan Bhootan are sometimes monogamous, sometimes -polygamous, and sometimes polyandrous, and these variations naturally -affect the conditions of widowhood. Among the monogamous and -polygamous, the widows can only marry again after a delay of three -years. This regulation, which we have already found among the Redskins, -has doubtless been dictated by the same reasons; and taken with many -other similarities existing in very dissimilar races and countries, -it tends to prove that scientific sociology can be more than a mere -name or imagination. In the Himalayan Bhootan, a widow who has no -repugnance to polygamy has many chances of marrying again, if she has -a younger sister still free, whom the new husband can marry at the -same time.[831] In polyandrous families there can hardly be any real -widowhood for the woman. Thus, at Ladak, if the eldest brother, the -husband in chief, happens to die, his property, authority, and share -of the wife pass to the next brother, whether the latter be or not -one of the husbands.[832] This is a sort of levirate which naturally -exists in polyandrous households, and obviates at once the question -of widowhood, so embarrassing to the other forms of marriage. This -question of widows has been solved very grossly, and sometimes very -cruelly, in the Middle Empire or China proper. Although on certain -sides the old Chinese civilisation puts ours to shame, it is very -backward in relation to all that concerns widows. We have previously -seen that during her whole life the subjection of the Chinese woman -is extreme, that she owes obedience first to her parents, then to -her husband, then to her son, and that she is married, or rather -sold, without being consulted at all. But widowhood does not even -set her free, for she represents a value which the relatives of the -husband inherit, and which they hasten to profit by. It often happens, -therefore, that the Chinese widow is made to marry again, or rather, is -sold again, and this time, also, no one dreams of asking her consent. -The child at the breast, if there is one, is included in the bargain. -In order to moderate the haste of covetous parents, the law has been -obliged to intervene, and prevent the sale of the widow before the -expiration of the time of mourning. The Chinese widow, if she wishes -to escape this traffic in her person, and is without fortune, has no -resource except to become a bonzess. Those widows only whose rank or -riches place them above the common, are able to pass the rest of their -days without being united to a fresh husband;[833] this posthumous -fidelity is much encouraged in China by public opinion, whenever -interest does not forbid it. The betrothed maiden, who may become a -widow before being a wife, is much esteemed if she buries herself for -ever in an enforced sorrow; but naturally, a reciprocal demand is not -made on the betrothed man who may lose his _fiancée_. If the rich widow -who remains inconsolable is much praised, she who refuses to survive -her husband receives greater honour. Tablets are erected in the temples -in memory of young girls who have killed themselves on the tombs of -their betrothed, and twice a year certain mandarins make oblations in -their honour.[834] With much stronger reason is this done for real -widows. - -In 1857 the _Pekin Gazette_ published a decree, according a tablet -to the memory of the wife of a mandarin who had poisoned herself on -hearing of the death of her husband in a battle against the rebels. -These suicides of widows are performed in public, with great pomp and -solemnity. In January 1861 two young widows thus committed suicide -at Fou-Chow, in presence of several thousand spectators. Another did -the same at the end of December 1860.[835] It would seem, therefore, -that these suicides are frequent enough even at the present time. From -observations made during the Anglo-French Expedition to China, it -appears that they are generally widows without children or relations -who thus sacrifice themselves; they do it openly and with much -ceremony. A month beforehand, the widow goes in procession through -the town, as has been thus described:--“Two executioners headed the -procession; then came musicians; then men dressed in coarse linen -tunics with hoods, carrying parasols, little pagodas, boxes of -perfumes, and streamers. After them came a third executioner, followed -by a second group bearing poles, surmounted by figures of fantastic -animals. And lastly came a mandarin’s palanquin, surrounded by numerous -servants of both sexes, dressed in mourning, which consisted of grey -linen. In the palanquin was the heroine of the _fête_, a young woman -dressed in red (the imperial colour), and crowned with a blue diadem. -Her red satin robe was ornamented with lace and gold embroidery. This -solemn procession had no other object than to announce the suicide to -the public, and invite them to attend it on the following moon, day -for day. The young widow was exact in appearing at the rendezvous, and -tranquilly hung herself at the date fixed.”[836] - -With differences of form and mode of execution, India devotes her -widows to a similar fate. - -It seems, indeed, that in India also the widow is, or has been, -considered as the property of the relatives of her dead husband, for -a verse of the Code of Manu orders that if she has been sterile, a -relative shall endeavour to make her conceive. Very striking and -primitive is the inequality of the obligations imposed by Indian law -on the widower and on the widow.[837] - -Here is the law for the husband: “Every Dwidja knowing the law, who -sees his wife die before him, if she has obeyed these precepts, and -is of the same class as himself, must burn her with consecrated fires -and with utensils of sacrifice.”--“After having accomplished thus -with consecrated fires the funeral ceremony of a wife who has died, -let him contract a new marriage, and light a second time the nuptial -fire.”[838] As for the widow, her duty is very different: “A virtuous -woman, who desires to obtain the same abode of felicity as her husband, -must do nothing which may displease him, either during life or after -death.”--“Let her willingly emaciate her body by feeding on flowers, -roots, and pure fruits; but, after losing her husband, let her not -pronounce the name of any other man.”--“But the widow, who, through -the desire of having children, is unfaithful to her husband, incurs -contempt here below, and will be excluded from the celestial abode -whither her husband has gone.”--“Nowhere in this Code is the right of -taking a second husband assigned to a virtuous wife.”[839] - -The obligation not to marry again, and especially that of living on -flowers and fruits, are sufficiently vexatious, but they are nothing -to the suttees, or burning alive of widows, which were quite recently -common in Bengal. The Code of Manu does not speak of this abominable -custom, though it was very ancient, for Diodorus mentions it, and -relates how the two widows of Ceteus, an Indian general under Eumenes, -disputed the honour of burning themselves with the corpse of their -husband. The description which Diodorus gives corresponds in every -detail with what took place at the suttees quite recently; so slow -to change are these old theocratic societies. One of the wives, says -Diodorus, could not be burnt because she was with child. The other -advanced to the funeral pile crowned with myrtle, adorned as for a -wedding, and preceded by her relatives, who sang hymns in her praise. -Then after having distributed her jewels to her friends and domestics, -she lay down on the funeral pile by the side of her husband’s body, -and died without uttering a cry.[840] - -At that time, according to Diodorus, the law only allowed the sacrifice -of one wife. In the eighteenth century it was more exacting. In fact, -the writers of the _Lettres édifiantes_ have described in detail -several sacrifices of this kind. The custom was no longer observed -except by wives of grandees, and especially of rajahs; but all of -these were burnt, save the women with child, whose suffering was only -deferred. - -In 1710, at the death of the Prince of Marava, aged eighty years, all -his wives, to the number of forty-seven, were burnt with his corpse, -which was richly adorned and placed in a large grave filled with wood. -The victims, who were covered with precious stones, stepped at first -very bravely on the funeral pile; but the moment the flames reached -them, they uttered loud cries, and rushed on each other. The spectators -succeeded in calming them by throwing a number of pieces of wood at -them; afterwards their bones were gathered up and thrown into the sea, -and a temple to their honour was erected over the grave.[841] At that -date, and in that part of the country, even women with child were only -temporarily spared till after their delivery.[842] Two other princes, -vassals of Marava, having died at the same epoch, and leaving, the one -seventeen, the other thirteen widows, all these unfortunate creatures -were burnt together, except one, who, being with child, could not -sacrifice herself until later. The suttees were not a legal obligation; -relatives even tried to dissuade the widows from it; but the point of -honour, and the fear of public opinion, or rather of public contempt, -were stronger with them than love of life.[843] The mode of burning -varied in different provinces. In Bengal the woman was bound firmly to -the corpse, and the two bodies were covered with bamboos. In Orissa, -the widow threw herself on the pile, which was in a pit or grave. In -the Deccan, a country which was in great part Tamil, and where suttees -were much more rare, the widow sat on the pile, and placed the head -of her dead husband on her knees. She remained thus, motionless, -until she was suffocated by the smoke, or overthrown by the fall of -heavy logs of wood, previously attached with cords to posts placed at -the four corners of the pile. It is said that in certain provinces -the victim was intoxicated with opium beforehand. Sometimes also, -proper precautions not having been taken, it happened that she rushed -madly out of the flames, and was then brutally thrust back by the -spectators.[844] - -These frightful customs, which have hardly yet disappeared from India, -are but survivals from the times of savagery: such brutalities were -habitual in a number of primitive societies, as I have previously shown. - -In the Koran, in the Bible, and among the Arabs, or rather the -contemporaneous Islamites, we find nothing analogous to this; but the -position given to the widow is none the less unenviable. - -A verse of the Koran shows us that before the time of Mahomet, sons -inherited all their father’s wives as a matter of course, in African -fashion: “Thou shalt not marry the women who have been thy father’s -wives; it is an abomination and a bad practice.”[845] We have seen -that this most gross custom, against which Mahomet inveighs, still -prevails in various countries, and especially amongst the negroes of -tropical Africa. It must have been general at the time of Mahomet, even -amongst the Arabs, since the prophet states that his law need not have -any retrospective effect: “Let that remain,” proceeds the same verse, -“which has already been done.” - -There is one point, however, on which the Koran is in advance of the -greater number of barbarous societies, and even of the Bible. It -recognises, in fact, the right of a widow to inherit from her husband; -this right gives her a fourth, if there is no child, and an eighth only -in the contrary case.[846] But notwithstanding this the widow was often -abandoned, or, what is worse, confounded with the heritage. The Bible -was less kind to the widow. It specifies indeed that the fortune of -the husband is security for the personal effects and the dowry of the -wife, but it does not place her among her husband’s heirs. The Jewish -widow was a charge on her children, or, if she had none, on her own -family.[847] The abandoned widow had no other resource than her share -in the offerings and public charity.[848] The injunction is indeed -given not to afflict her;[849] it would certainly have been better to -grant her some rights. - -In Judæa, the wife was bought by her husband; it is therefore probable -that, in primitive times, she formed a part of his wealth, as is the -case now among the Mussulman Afghans and among the Kabyles. - -In Afghanistan, the widow, being a mortgaged property, cannot re-marry -until the price of purchase paid for her by her deceased husband has -been reimbursed to the parents of that husband.[850] In a great number -of Kabyle tribes, the widow remains “hung” to her dead husband--that is -to say, she is counted part of the heritage.[851] Generally she returns -to her family, and her father or her relatives sell her a second -time.[852] If, however, she has children, especially male children, she -cannot be forced to marry again; but then the son redeems her, or she -deducts from the property of her children the sum necessary to redeem -herself from paternal power.[853] In the tribe of Aït Flik, heirs have, -by pre-emption, the privilege of marrying the widow, and that without -having to pay the _thâmanth_.[854] It is understood that while awaiting -the day when she is to be disposed of again, the Kabyle widow is bound -to the strictest chastity. If she becomes with child, she is punished -by stoning.[855] - -Like the Bible, and nearly all other legislations, the Koran only -allows the marriage of a widow after a certain term of delay. In the -Koran, this term is four months and ten days;[856] and if the woman is -with child, the delay must extend till after her delivery. But there -are some pregnancies that are either imaginary or fictitious, and which -come to nothing, yet in Arab countries successions are suspended on -account of them. If, at the moment of her husband’s death, a woman -thinks herself with child, she places her girdle on the body of the -deceased; note is taken of it, and the time awaited. If the waiting is -vain, at the end of eleven months the widow is visited and examined by -matrons; and if nevertheless the professed pregnancy has no result, the -child who refuses to be born is called “asleep” for an indefinite time. -Henceforth the widow is free, and if she ends by becoming a mother, her -child, awaited so long, is reputed to be the son of the husband dead -years before, and inherits from him.[857] - -This singular prejudice is common to the Kabyles and to the Arabs. A -number of Mussulman legists have vainly tried to overcome it. All that -they have been able to do is to limit to four or five years, generally -to four, the duration of this pretended “sleep” of the fœtus.[858] - -The widow has not been more worthily treated at the origin of -Greco-Roman civilisation than in the other barbarous civilisations. It -would be strange if it were so. We have seen that at Athens the woman, -even when married, was part of the paternal patrimony; that the dying -husband could leave her by will to a friend, with his goods, and by -the same title; that at Rome the wife was bought and subjected to the -terrible right of the marital _manus_. - -For a long time at Rome, as in China at the present day, the widows who -did not marry were particularly honoured. The widower married again -immediately after his wife’s death; widows, on the contrary, were in -any case forbidden to marry before a delay of six months, afterwards -extended to twelve months, and that under pain of infamy for the father -who had made the marriage, for the husband who had taken the widow, and -later for the re-married woman also, when infamy also applied to women. -By degrees Roman customs and laws improved on this point as on others. -The _Leges Julia_ and _Papia Poppæa_ encouraged second marriages, in -opposition to the ancient prejudice; the _Institutes_ ordained that -when the widow was poor and without dowry, she could inherit from her -husband one-fourth if there were three children, and a full masculine -share if there were none.[859] But the triumph of Christianity was the -signal for a retrograde movement. Constantine returned to the old ideas -of primitive Rome, and went so far as to inflict on second marriages -pecuniary penalties, which were to be paid to the children of the first -marriage.[860] In acting thus, the neophyte emperor was acting up to -the logic of the Church, in whose eyes marriage itself was an evil -rendered necessary by the sin of Adam, and by whom second marriages -were emphatically condemned.[861] - -From the fusion of Christian doctrines with the gross customs of more -or less barbarous European races, on the subject of women and marriage, -there resulted for the widow a position of extreme subjection. Among -the Germans, as among the Afghans and Kabyles, the widow became again -the property of her own family, and in order to marry her, it was -necessary to pay a special price, the _reipus_, which was double the -_mundium_ or price of the first purchase.[862] The Salic law decreed -that at the age of fifteen the son should be the guardian of his -widowed mother. The Lombard law decides also that the widow shall not -marry again without the consent of her son (section xxxvii.); and this -consent was necessary even for her to enter a convent. Thus Theodoric, -adopting with barbarous fury the opinions of the Church on second -marriages, promulgated a law interdicting widows from marrying again, -and condemning to the flames any man who should be convicted of having -had commerce with them. - -These objections to second marriage, or at least the blame attached -to them by public opinion, are common in many ancient societies. We -have found them in India, in ancient Rome and Greece, etc. We can only -attribute this way of thinking, senseless and unjust as it is, to a -sort of delirium of proprietorship in the husband, who pretends still -to rule over and possess his wife from beyond the tomb, but chiefly to -the desire of avoiding disturbances in the transmission of hereditary -wealth, when the women were able to have possessions of their own. -The levirate, of which I am now going to speak, remedied the latter -inconveniences. - - -III.--_The Levirate._ - -The levirate is the name given to the obligation imposed by custom or -law on the brother of the deceased husband to marry his sister-in-law -when she became a widow. This custom of the levirate, which for a long -time has been thought peculiar to the Hebrews, is very widely spread, -and is found among races most widely differing from each other. There -is surely good reason for it in savage or barbarous societies where for -a woman abandonment would mean death. - -I will enumerate some of the peoples who practise the levirate, -beginning as usual with the inferior races. - -We meet the levirate first in Melanesia, at New Caledonia, where the -brother-in-law, whether he be already married or not, must marry his -brother’s widow immediately. - -We also find the levirate among the Redskins, particularly the -Chippeways; and at Nicaragua, where the widow belongs either to the -brother or nearest relative of her deceased husband.[863] - -With the Ostiaks, the next brother of the husband is obliged to marry -his widow or widows; for the Ostiaks, like the Redskins, often take for -wives a whole set of sisters.[864] It is the same with the Kirghis, and -in general with the nomad Mongols.[865] The Afghans also make it a duty -of the brother-in-law to marry his sister-in-law, on her becoming a -widow.[866] - -The Code of Manu imposes the levirate even on the brother of a -betrothed man who dies: “When the husband of a young girl happens to -die after the betrothal, let the brother of the husband take her for -wife.”[867] The object of this legal precept in India is to give a -posterity to the deceased brother; for the following verse seems to -limit the duration of the cohabitation with the widowed _fiancée_, -and it seems indeed that all commerce is to cease after the first -pregnancy.[868] - -We will now consider the Hebrew levirate, which is only a particular -case of a very general fact. - -We find the levirate mentioned twice in the Bible. At first in Genesis: -“Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother’s wife, and perform -the duty of an husband’s brother unto her, and raise up seed to thy -brother.”[869] Again, in Deuteronomy: “If brethren dwell together, -and one of them die, and have no son, the wife of the dead shall not -marry without unto a stranger; her husband’s brother shall go in unto -her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband’s -brother unto her. And it shall be, that the first-born whom she beareth -shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name -be not blotted out of Israel.”[870] The Hebrew levirate was therefore -a sort of obligatory and fictitious adoption of a nephew by the -deceased uncle. We shall soon see that in all primitive or barbarous -societies this adoption is largely practised, and that it is absolutely -equivalent to a real filiation. - -The verses which follow inform us that, with the Hebrews, the levirate -was rather a moral than a legal obligation; the brother-in-law could -even refuse it; but in refusing, he incurred the public contempt, and -had to submit to a degrading ceremony: “And if the man like not to -take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall go up to the -gate unto the elders, and say, My husband’s brother refuseth to raise -up unto his brother a name in Israel, he will not perform the duty of -an husband’s brother unto me; then the elders of his city shall call -him, and speak unto him: and if he stand, and say, I like not to take -her; then shall his brother’s wife come unto him in the presence of the -elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, -and she shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto that man that -doth not build up his brother’s house. And his name shall be called in -Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe loosed.”[871] - -In India the principal object of the levirate, applied to the widowed -_fiancée_, was to furnish the deceased man with a fictitious son, -who could perform for him the sacrifices to the manes, a duty of the -highest importance in the religion of Brahma. For the Hebrews, a much -more practical people than the Hindoos, the levirate had only an -earthly object--that of keeping up the name or family of the deceased, -and all that belonged to it. It may be compared with the obligation -imposed at Athens on the nearest relative in the masculine line to -marry the heiress, or to supplement at need the impotence of the -husband. - -The old practice of the levirate still exists in Abyssinia with this -curious detail, that it is applied during the lifetime of the husband -if he has been the victim of an accident, frequent in the Abyssinian -wars, of emasculation. The mutilated husband, being thus struck with -what might be called “virile death,” his brother succeeds him in his -marital rights and duties.[872] - -Some sociologists, too much given to theorise, have tried to prove -that the levirate was a remnant of polyandry. Certainly the levirate -is practised under a polyandric _régime_, but polyandry has never been -more than an exceptional mode of marriage, and there is hardly any -trace of it among the New Caledonians, the Redskins, the Mongols, the -Afghans, the Hindoos, the Hebrews, the Abyssinians, etc., who, all of -them, practise different varieties of levirate. - -The much more natural reasons that I have given above appear to me -quite sufficient and more probable. - - -IV. _Conclusions._ - -From a consideration of all these facts, we find that the fate of -the widow has varied according to the matrimonial form in use, and -according to the degree of civilisation, but that it has not always -been ameliorated in proportion to the general progress. Laws and -customs have ever been kind to the widower. It has been very different -for the woman, and her position has perhaps been better, from our -point of view, in certain primitive societies, than it became later. -Thus, in the confused state of primitive families, when men lived -either in a freedom almost bordering on promiscuity, or in groups -half polyandric or polygamic, and more especially in polyandrous -countries, there was no actual widowhood, or state of being a widow, -for woman. The disappearance of one of the men with whom she lived -in intimate relations made no great change in her position. Under -a polygamic _régime_ it is quite otherwise; for then the wives are -private property. Their master has nearly always bought them, and their -subjection is very great. Therefore, at the death of their master, they -are treated exactly like things; they follow the fate of the goods, and -pass into the hands of the heir, who can keep or sell them. Sometimes, -however, they are sacrificed in greater or less numbers on the tomb -of the dead husband, whom they must continue to serve and love in the -future life. - -Under a monogamic _régime_ societies are generally more civilised, and -the dominating ideas are then the care of property, and sometimes the -perpetuation of the name. The widow cannot inherit, for the property -must not be divided. She is then a most embarrassing incumbrance. -Sometimes she is persuaded to follow still into the next world the -husband who has preceded her thither; this is the most radical -solution. Sometimes her relations marry her again, and obtain a second -price for her; sometimes she is provided for by the levirate. - -Traces of these ancestral iniquities are still preserved in our modern -codes, which, though nearly emancipating the widow, push the fanaticism -of consanguinity so far as not to consider her as the relative of her -husband as concerns property. From a social point of view, the whole of -this survey of the treatment of widows is not flattering for humanity. -In short, from a moral point of view, the easy resignation with which -men and women bear widowhood, places mankind, as regards nobility of -sentiment, far below certain species of animals, as, for example, the -Illinois paraquet (_Psittacus Illinois_), for whom widowhood and death -are synonymous, as well for the male as the female. Doubtless it might -be alleged that even in so-called highly civilised societies people do -not marry as a rule from any lofty sentiment; but that is surely a poor -excuse. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[811] Burchell, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxvi. p. 321.--Thompson, -_ibid._, t. xxix. p. 163. - -[812] Du Chaillu, _Voy. dans l’Afrique équatoriale_, p. 268. - -[813] Clapperton, _Second Voyage_, p. 90. - -[814] _Id._, _ibid._ p. 156. - -[815] Laing, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxviii. p. 71. - -[816] Raffenel, _Nouveau Voyage au Pays des Nègres_, t. I^{er.} p. 389. - -[817] Dupré, _Trois Mois à Madagascar_, p. 124. - -[818] Bancroft, _Native Races of Pacific_, etc., vol. i. p. 731. - -[819] _Id._, _ibid._ vol. i. p. 277. - -[820] Bancroft, _loc. cit._, p. 731. - -[821] Démeunier, _Esprit des Différents Peuples_, t. I^{er.} p. 244. - -[822] Bancroft, _loc. cit._, p. 277. - -[823] Doménech, _Voyage Pittoresque_, etc., p. 516. - -[824] Bancroft, _Native Races_, etc., vol i. p. 277. - -[825] O. Dorsey, _Omaha Sociology_, in _Smithsonian Reports_, p. 267 -(1885). - -[826] O. Dorsey, _loc. cit._ - -[827] Moerenhout, _Voy. aux îles_, etc., t. ii. p. 187. - -[828] Clapperton, _Second Voyage_, vol. i. p. 94. - -[829] R. and J. Lander, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxx. p. 54. - -[830] Porter, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xiv. p. 331. - -[831] _Voyage au Bootan_, by a Hindoo author, _Revue Britannique_, 1824. - -[832] Moorcroft and Trebeck’s _Travels_, vol. i. p. 320. - -[833] _Lettres édifiantes_, t. xiii. pp. 349, 353. - -[834] Doolittle, _Social Life of the Chinese_, p. 78. - -[835] Sinibaldo de Mas, _La Chine et les Puissances Chrétiennes_, t. -I^{er.} p. 55. - -[836] Comte d’Hérisson, _Journal d’un interprète en Chine_, p. 132. - -[837] _Code of Manu_, ix. 64. - -[838] _Ibid._ v. 167, 168. - -[839] _Ibid._ v. 156, 157, 161, 168. - -[840] Diodorus, book xix. p. 34. - -[841] _Lettres édifiantes_, t. xiii. pp. 23, 28. - -[842] _Ibid._ p. 30. - -[843] _Ibid._ p. 32. - -[844] _Lettres édifiantes_, t. xiii. p. 27. - -[845] Koran, iv. 26. - -[846] _Ibid._ iv. 14. - -[847] Leviticus, xxii. 13. - -[848] Deuteronomy, xxvi. 12. - -[849] Leviticus, xxii. 13. - -[850] M. Elphinstone, _Picture of the Kingdom of Cabul_, vol. i. p. 168. - -[851] Hanoteau and Letourneux, _Kabylie_, p. 156. - -[852] _Id._, _ibid._ t. ii. p. 156. - -[853] _Id._, _ibid._ t. ii. p. 158. - -[854] _Id._, _ibid._ t. ii. p. 157. - -[855] _Id._, _ibid._ t. iii. p. 77. - -[856] Koran, t. ii. p. 234. - -[857] Hanoteau and Letourneux, _Kabylie_, t. ii. p. 174. - -[858] _Id._ p. 175.--E. Meynier, _Études sur l’Islamisme_, p. 175. - -[859] Domenget, _Institutes de Gaius_, p. 336. - -[860] _Italie ancienne_, p. 488. - -[861] Lecky, _loc. cit._, vol. ii. pp. 321, 324. - -[862] Giraud-Teulon, _Orig. du Mariage_, etc., p. 336. - -[863] Bancroft, _Native Races_, vol. ii. p. 671. - -[864] Castren, _Reiseberichte und Briefe aus den Jahren_, 1845-1853, p. -56. - -[865] McLennan, p. 158. - -[866] M. Elphinstone, _Picture of the Kingdom of Cabul_, vol. i. p. 168. - -[867] _Code of Manu_, ix. 69. - -[868] _Code of Manu_, ix. 70. - -[869] Genesis, xxxviii. 8. - -[870] Deuteronomy, xxv. 5, 6. - -[871] _Ibid._ xxv. 7-10. - -[872] A. d’Abbadie, _Douze ans de séjour dans la haute Éthiopie_, p. -273. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI. - -THE FAMILIAL CLAN IN AUSTRALIA AND AMERICA. - - I. _The Family._ - - II. _The Family in Melanesia._--Melanesian rape--First formation - of societies--Exogamy--The Australian clans--Native marriage - state--Marriage of clans among the Kamilaroi--Their social - incest--How a clan originates--Fictitious fraternity and the - _totem_--How individual marriage is made among the Kurnai--Maternal - filiation--Agnation tends to be constituted--Evolution of the family - in Melanesia. - - III. _The Family in America._--The Redskin clans--Common - dwellings--Rights and duties--Exogamy of the clan--Clans of the - _Pueblos_--The family among the Indians of South America--Relationship - among the Redskins--Communism--Maternal filiation--Distinction between - the matriarchate and the maternal family--Origin of the ideas of - relationship. - - -I. _The Family._ - -I shall now attempt to retrace as clearly as I can the history of the -evolution of the family, first of all ascertaining the facts that -have been observed, and then using these facts as a touchstone to try -the solidity of the various sociological theories that have been put -forth on the subject. Among these theories, there are some which have -been very favourably received, and not without reason. Insufficient as -they might be, they reduced a chaos of facts into order, and contained -a certain amount of truth. All of them are open to criticism and -contest, both because they are the fruit of a too hasty generalisation, -and because their authors have claimed for them a certainty which -sociological facts do not easily bear out. Human groups have always -lived as they could, without caring about theories; their social -conduct inevitably results from a sort of compromise in the conflict -between their appetites, their aptitudes, and the necessities dictated -by their physical environment. - -Before hazarding any general conclusions, I shall be careful, as -before, to refer to comparative ethnography, and to interrogate the -various human races, from the lowest to the most elevated. This inquiry -will enable us to form a rough idea, with a certain approximation to -truth, in regard to the probable evolution of the family in humanity. -But in order to approach this subject with sufficient impartiality, -it is absolutely necessary to clear our minds from all the current -theories in regard to the family. There is, in fact, no theme which -has inspired more empty oratorical lucubrations. The doctrine has been -firmly held that the family, as we have it instituted in Europe and -in European colonies, is the _beau idéal_, the sacred and immutable -sociological type. Ethnography, however, and even history, teach us -that the present familial type of Europe has not always existed, and -that it is the result, like everything else, of a slow evolution; -from whence it is reasonable to infer that it will still continue to -be modified. But facts are more eloquent than reflections; I will -therefore approach them, beginning with the lowest human races, the -Melanesians. - - -II. _The Family in Melanesia._ - -In my sketch of the family in the animal kingdom, I have already had -occasion to remark that the family, such as we understand it, is not -indispensable to the maintenance of societies, since the ants do -without it in their republics, in which we find neither paternity nor -maternity, in the sense we attach to them, but simply three classes of -individuals, the breeders, the young, and the educators. - -With these last, the working ants, by a paradoxical contradiction, -maternal love has survived the atrophy of the generative function; it -is even purified and widened, for it is lavished without partiality on -all the young ones, which form the hope of the republic; and though -thus diluted, it seems to have lost none of its energy. - -Nothing at all similar is seen in inferior human societies, but the -family is still, however, in a confused state; paternity, in the social -sense of the word, does not exist; filiation is especially maternal, -but the actual degrees of consanguinity are not well distinguished in -detail; parenthood is not yet individual, but is constituted in groups. - -In the present day we may still study this familial confusion in -certain Australian tribes. We have seen that marriage, or what goes by -that name, resulted in Tasmania, Australia, Bali, etc., from a violent -and brutal rape, generally ratified by a compensation and a simulation -of retaliation between the tribe of the woman and that of the ravisher. - -Among the least savage tribes of Melanesia, this rape is often -fictitious, in which case it is no more than a survival; but sometimes -it is still real, and it surely must always have been so at the origin -of the Australian societies. But however gross these societies may be, -they are none the less the result of a long evolution. In the interior -of Borneo there are still existing human beings compared with whom the -Australians are civilised people. These absolutely primitive savages of -Borneo are probably the remains of negroïd peoples, who must formerly -have been the first inhabitants of Malaya. They roam the forests in -little hordes, like monkeys; the man, or rather the male, carries off -the female and couples with her in the thickets. The family passes the -night under a large tree; the children are suspended from the branches -in a sort of net, and a great fire is lighted at the foot of the tree -to keep off the wild beasts. As soon as the children are capable of -taking care of themselves, the parents turn them adrift as animals -do.[873] - -It is doubtless thus, after the manner of the great monkeys, that -primitive human societies have been formed. With the chimpanzees these -hordes can never become very large, for the male progenitor will not -endure rivals, and drives away the young males as long as he is the -strongest. The first men were surely more sociable, because of their -human nature. The young males of the human horde were able to remain, -in greater or less number, within the association, but the jealousy -of the progenitor-in-chief, the father of the family, must often have -obliged them to procure one or several females by capturing them from -neighbouring or rival hordes; they thus became more or less exogamous; -and, in their embryo societies, marriage, or rather sexual union, ended -by being prohibited between brothers and sisters, not because there was -the least moral scruple about incest, but because, within the limit of -the horde, the young women were claimed by the most robust males, who -would not yield them up. We know that this is still the case in the -Australian tribes.[874] - -In this gross social state it is necessarily the mother who is the -centre of the family, just as she is in the families of mammifers; it -is, therefore, quite natural that the children should bear her name and -not that of their father, which, for that matter, is not always easy -to designate. When once the custom of exogamy was well established, -what was at first a necessity ended by becoming an obligation, and men -were forbidden to unite themselves with women of the group to which -they belonged, and which bore the same name as their own. Such is still -the general rule in Australia.[875] But in Australia this group is -often only a sub-tribe, a _gens_ or clan; for the hordes, becoming too -numerous, are subdivided into factions or large families, who unite -together for common defence or vengeance. The children of each group -belong sometimes to the clan of the mother, and there is then no legal -parenthood between them and their father;[876] also, in case of war, -the son must join the maternal tribe.[877] But this is not a universal -rule, and in many tribes the children now belong to the paternal -clan.[878] - -These are general cases, common to the greater part of the Australian -tribes, but not to all. There are some who have organised their -marriage and their family into classes, thus regulating, in a certain -measure, the primitive confusion, and establishing by this very -regulation a sort of limited promiscuity. The word “classes,” employed -by travellers who have made us acquainted with these curious customs, -is improper, for neither social classes nor castes exist in Australia. -These so-called classes are simply sub-tribes or clans, analogous to -the Roman _gens_. - -In certain of these tribes a sort of categorical promiscuity is kept -up. Thus, among the tribes of Mount Gambier, of the Darling River, and -of Queensland, each tribe is divided into two sub-tribes, and within -each of these clans all the men are reputed brothers, and all the -women are sisters, and all marriage between these brothers and these -sisters is strictly forbidden.[879] This is a primordial law; the -violation of it is an act of the deepest guilt, which not only stains -the individual, but the group to which he belongs; it is more than -incest, and the Australians, who have a very lively sentiment of duty, -feel intense horror of such an act. But if every man is brother to -all the women in his clan, on the other hand he is husband to all the -women of the other clan of his tribe. Consequently, all the men of one -group are called husbands by all the women of the other, and inversely. -Marriage with these Australians is not therefore an individual act, -as with us; it is a social condition, resulting from the fact of -birth.[880] However, the actual communal union is not obligatory in -the least. A man or woman may stop at the nominal or reputed marriage; -they may merely call each other husband and wife; but in principle, -the right is admitted, and the men sometimes offer temporary wives of -their own class to strangers who visit them.[881] Thus in the tribe of -the Kamilaroi, near Sydney, every man of the Kubi clan has the right -to call “my wife” every person of feminine sex belonging to the Ipai -clan, and to treat her as such. There is no need of proposals, or of -contract, or of ceremony; a man is a husband by right of birth, but the -intimate union does not imply association by couples; the woman passes -from one to the other, or even from several to several others. On the -other hand, within the limit of the clan, all the men and all the women -call each other brothers and sisters, and are bound to respect each -other. In uniting with the men of the other sub-tribe having conjugal -right over them, the women do not on that account cease to reside in -their own clan, the sub-tribe of their “brothers.” - -Marriage within this sub-tribe is the abomination of desolation, the -sin for which there is no forgiveness. Whoever commits it is outlawed -from society, driven from the tribe, tracked through the woods like -game, and put to death. He has dishonoured the association, and the -children who are born of these social incests are exterminated.[882] -Thus, all real consanguinity has been set aside, and a fictitious -fraternity created between all the members of the same clan, similar -to paternity by adoption. Is this artificial parenthood the result of -practical exogamy, or has it, on the contrary, produced it? We cannot -tell; but wherever it exists, its rule is absolutely inflexible. If, -for example, as often happens in Australia, the important men, the -chiefs, the sorcerers, or the strong adults, seize a certain number of -women for their personal use, they only do it in conformity to the law -of exogamy between the sub-tribes. If one of the women thus confiscated -runs away and is re-taken, she is not restored to the man who had -usurped possession of her, but belongs by right to those who have -caught her. - -Moreover, certain neighbouring tribes are subdivided into sub-tribes, -or clans of the same name; they have probably sprung one from the other -at some former period. If it happens that a man steals a woman from one -of these tribes, the captured woman is immediately incorporated into -the corresponding clan of the ravisher’s tribe, and she becomes the -“sister” of all the women of this clan, to which will also belong her -children. As for the ravisher, he is always a member of another _gens_, -or clan, of the same tribe. If the tribes of the captured woman and of -her captor are not symmetrical--that is to say, have not corresponding -clans--then the woman may become the founder of a new clan belonging to -the tribe of the man who has carried her off.[883] - -If a woman is captured by a party of warriors, and not by one -individual only, the first care of the captors is to inflict on her -a collective violation, on the condition, however, that none of them -belong to a clan homonymous with that of the ravished woman; if any -one of their party is an exception to this, he must abstain from so -doing.[884] - -The sign of the fictitious fraternity of the Kamilaroi, and of all the -Australian tribes organised in the same manner, is a common emblem, -the _totem_. All the men bearing the same _totem_ are united by the -bond of a conventional fraternity, which is none the less strict for -that reason. The _totem_ has evidently been invented in a primitive -epoch, when the different degrees of consanguinity were not easily -distinguished, and were therefore replaced by an artificial union far -wider than the limits of the natural family. - -Whenever a single individual wished to escape from this tribal -marriage, he was obliged to resort to various artifices. One of these -transitional processes has remained in use in the Kurnai tribe, in -Gippsland, Victoria. - -The terms still in use with them to designate kinship recall the -former existence of a fraternal marriage; but in practice they have -none the less adopted individual marriage. The manner in which these -individual marriages are contracted probably indicates what must have -happened in primitive times, when some innovators attempted to escape -from tribal marriage by carrying off the women they preferred, and -were only re-admitted to their tribe after having obtained pardon and -the ratification of their audacious enterprise. Among the Kurnai every -marriage must be made by the capture of one of the women of their -tribe, even when this rape has been preceded by a friendly exchange -of sisters, which is usual enough. This simulated rape is punished by -a simulation of vengeance. The fugitives are pursued; they are even -ill-treated, but short of being actually killed. Their punishment is -simply an act of obedience to ancestral customs. When all is concluded, -and the fugitive couple reinstated among their people, the woman -belongs to the man who has carried her off; he is no longer obliged to -offer her to the visitors of his clan, as old Australian hospitality -required;[885] she belongs to him alone. Sometimes the ravisher -legalises his right of sole proprietor by first giving notice to his -friends, and offering them the use of his wife, after which he can keep -her to himself.[886] - -In proportion as tribal marriage was being transformed, owing to the -breaches made in it by individual instinct, the consanguineous family -was gradually arising in place of the collective and fictitious family. -It seems most likely that uterine filiation, or the maternal family, -was first established. The Australian Motas still have filiation by the -woman’s side, and among them the property of the uncle is transmitted -to the uterine nephew; but already the paternal family is beginning to -be constituted, and the relatives on the male side seek to redeem the -heritage by means of an indemnity.[887] With other and more advanced -Australian tribes, fanatical evolution is more complete; masculine -filiation is already instituted, and agnation adopted; there is even -a worship of the manes of male ancestors.[888] The Melanesians of -Australia and Tasmania present, therefore, a tolerably complete picture -of the evolution of marriage and of the family, from the primitive -rape, followed by a tribal period in which marriage is merely a limited -and regulated promiscuity, and in which real consanguinity is replaced -by a fictitious fraternity, down to the _régime_ of individual marriage -and masculine filiation, previously passing through uterine filiation, -or the maternal family. We shall find traces of this evolution among -other races, but nowhere is the lower stage so well preserved as in -Australia. - - -III. _The Family in America._ - -Nothing similar to the gross tribal marriage of the Australian -Kamilaroi is to be found among the American Indians, whose familial -organisation, however, strikingly recalls that of the Melanesian clans, -though already in a higher degree of evolution. - -The tribes of the Redskins were, and are still, divided into phratries, -which are again subdivided into clans. Now these clans are composed of -real or fictitious relatives. In each phratry the corresponding clans -have the same _totem_, and it is strictly forbidden to marry a woman -belonging to the group bearing the same _totem_. This organisation is -very ancient; it existed in Mexico at the time of the Spanish conquest, -and the French found it in the eighteenth century among the Redskins of -Canada. The Hurons, Charlevoix tells us, were divided into three clans: -the wolf, the tortoise, and the bear.[889] The _totem_, or emblem of -the clan, served to sign treaties.[890] This is a general fact, and the -subdivision of the tribe into clans or _gentes_ is observed among the -Tinneh Indians, the Choctaws, the Iroquois, the Omahas, the Indians -of Columbia, etc., etc. Each clan forms one large family, inhabiting -sometimes a common house, as do still the Indians of the Pueblos, as -did the Iroquois at the time they were first discovered, and as did the -Mexicans at the epoch of the Spanish conquest. The “long houses” of the -Iroquois were buildings a hundred feet in length. A large corridor, -closed at the two extremities by a door, traversed its entire length. -To the right and left of this central corridor, and opening on it, -were stalls, or niches, each serving as the apartment of a family. The -number of these families varied from five to twenty.[891] - -The members of a Redskin clan had common rights and duties. When a -man died, any personal objects he might possess were deposited in -his tomb, for they might be useful to him in the future life. The -remaining property of the deceased belonged principally to the clan, -or the _gentiles_; his near relatives, however, were considered first. -Thus, among the Iroquois, the widow, the children, and the maternal -uncles claimed the largest part, while a very small portion of the -heritage came to the brothers. The general principle was that the -property should remain in the clan. In the present day the old customs -are modified, and with the Iroquois, the Creeks, the Cherokees, the -Choctaws, the Crows, etc., there is no longer any gentile heritage; all -passes to the children.[892] - -The political organisation was, or still is, republican. The members -of a Redskin clan have the right to elect and to depose the chief of -the community, and the liberty to adopt strangers. They are united -by a strict solidarity, and have a mutual duty to help and to avenge -each other. And lastly they have their council and their sepulture in -common.[893] - -But the most rigorous obligation for the members of the same clan is -that of not marrying in it. To take a wife having the same _totem_ is -considered as a most culpable act; it is a crime sometimes punished by -death.[894] The Iroquois law regulating marriages recalls, in a certain -degree, that which takes place among the Kamilaroi of Australia. Thus -an Iroquois of the Seneca tribe and of the Wolf clan must not marry a -woman belonging, not only to his own clan, but to all the clans of the -same name in the five other tribes of the Iroquois. On the other hand, -he is perfectly free to marry in any of the seven other clans of his -own Seneca tribe.[895] In short, an Iroquois may be endogamous in the -tribe, but he must be exogamous from the point of view of the clan or -clans. - -The motive of the prohibition of marriage within the clan is always the -supposed relationship. Thus the law of the Tinneh Indians forbids a man -of the Chitsang clan to marry a woman of the same clan because that -woman is his sister.[896] - -The children always belong to the _gens_, or clan, of their mother. - -These rules vary more or less from tribe to tribe, except the -prohibition of marriage within the clan, which is strict and general. -Thus, among the Omahas, a man may take a wife in another tribe, even -if this woman belongs to a clan of the same name as his own; but he -cannot marry within his own clan, because all the women of this clan -are reputed to be his relations--sisters, aunts, nieces, daughters, -etc. We shall see presently to what women these various appellations, -which among the Redskins have a much wider sense than with us, are -applied.[897] - -These customs, or very analogous ones, were in force with a great -number of American tribes. At the present day the Indians of the Moqui -Pueblos still live in their common habitations, as at the time of the -conquest, and they are divided into nine clans.[898] - -In the Pueblo of Orayba the relatives of a married woman who dies take -her property and her children, only leaving to the husband his horse, -his clothes, and his weapons;[899] for by marrying the woman does not -cease to belong to her original clan. Among the Pipiles of Salvador -a genealogical tree with seven branches was painted on the wall of -the common house, and save in the case of a great service rendered -to the clan, a man could not intermarry with any persons related up -to the degree indicated by the genealogical tree.[900] In reality, -this people had got beyond familial confusion, or of purely _totemic_ -relationship, but the principle regulating conjugal unions had not yet -changed. In Yucatan marriage between persons of the same name--that is -to say, of the same clan--entailed the penalty of being considered as -a renegade.[901] The savage Abipones were also exogamous, according -to Dobritzhoffer. This rule naturally gives way in proportion as -civilisation develops. The Nahuas still prohibited marriage between -consanguineous relatives; but at Nicaragua the prohibition only applied -to relatives of the first degree.[902] - -We have previously seen, in describing the family amongst the animals, -that it is habitually maternal; it is around the female that the young -group themselves. As for the male, if he does not abandon the family, -he exercises no other function but that of chief of the band. It must -surely have been thus that the first human hordes were formed, and when -man became intelligent enough to take note of filiation, it was uterine -parenthood alone that he considered worthy of account. The primitive -family was maternal, for in the confusion of sexual unions paternal -filiation would have been difficult to determine; no importance was -therefore attached to it in early times, and the father was not looked -upon as the parent of his children. - -We shall find the maternal family, or at least traces of it, in many -countries, but it is especially among the Indians of North America -that it has been the best preserved and the best studied. In the -eighteenth century it was already remarked by Charlevoix, Lafitau, and -Lahontan,[903] that the Redskins always bear the name of their mother, -and that it is through a man’s sister that his name is transmitted -to descendants. The American clan is based on uterine filiation; it -comprehends all the descendants, in the female line of an ancestral -mother, real or hypothetical. It is therefore exactly the contrary of -the agnatic _gens_ of the Greco-Roman world. - -The Redskin clan is composed of all the families reputed to be related -to each other; it is a little republic having the right to the service -of all the women for the cultivation of the soil, and of all the men -for the chase, war, and _vendettas_. It is to the woman that the wigwam -or family dwelling belongs, as well as all the objects possessed by -the family, and the whole is transmitted by heritage, not to the son, -but to the eldest daughter or to the nearest maternal relative,[904] -sometimes to the brother of the deceased woman. Nevertheless, this -heritage must be understood in the sense of a simple usufruct. It was -the maternal clan in reality who was the proprietor, and none of the -members of the community could seriously alienate the social property. -The husband alone, in most of the tribes, had no right over the goods -or over the children; they all remained in the maternal clan;[905] -it was maternal filiation which regulated the name, the rank, and -the hereditary rights in the clan.[906] A sort of communism reigned -there. All the provisions, whether they were the produce of the soil, -of the chase, or of fishing, were placed in public storehouses, under -the control of an aged matron; and if it ever happened that a family -had exhausted its provisions, another family immediately came to its -aid.[907] - -But maternal filiation was, or is, in force even where the clans did -not live in common houses, as we find it still among the Mohicans, the -Delawares, the Narrangasetts, the Pequots, the Wyandots, the Missouris, -the Minnitaris, the Crows, the Creeks, the Chickasaws, the Cherokees, -etc. - -With the Iroquois and the Hurons, the father, says Charlevoix, was -almost a stranger to his children. “Among the Hurons,” continues the -same observer, “dignity and succession are inherited through the women. -It is the son of the sister who succeeds, and in default of him the -next relative in the female line.”[908] - -“With these peoples,” says Lafitau, “marriages are arranged in such -a way that the husband and wife do not leave their own family to -establish a family and a cabin independently. Each one remains at home, -and the children born of these marriages belong to the families that -have produced them, and are counted as members of the family and cabin -of the mother, and not at all as belonging to those of the father. The -possessions of the husband do not go to his wife’s cabin, to which -he is himself a stranger; and in his wife’s cabin the daughters are -heirs in preference to the males, who have nothing there but mere -subsistence.”[909] - -“Besides this,” continues Lafitau, “the wife’s cabin has rights over -the product of the husband’s, hunting; all of this must be contributed -during the first year, and a half only afterwards.”[910] - -The mothers negotiated the marriages, and naturally did so without -consulting the interested parties. When the affair was once settled, -presents had to be made to the gentile relatives of the bride. It -was the care of these relatives, in case of conjugal dissensions -between the married pair, to attempt a reconciliation and to prevent a -divorce.[911] At the present time, among the Santi-Dakotas, if a wife -is ill-treated by her husband, the mother-in-law has the right to take -back her daughter; the husband’s power must yield to hers.[912] Does -the institution of filiation by women, or the maternal family, entail, -as some have pretended, the _régime_ of the matriarchate? North America -being _par excellence_ the country of exogamy and of the maternal -family, the theorists of the primitive matriarchate have often drawn -arguments from thence which it is interesting to weigh. - -At the epoch during which the Seneca-Iroquois still lived in their -“long houses,” it seems that the influence of the women in the -community was very great. The missionary, Arthur Wright, wrote in -1873:--“It was the custom for the women to govern the house. The -provisions were in common; but woe to the unfortunate husband or -lover too idle or clumsy to bring home from the chase a sufficient -booty. Whatever the number of his children or the value of the goods -he possessed in the house, he might be ordered at any moment to take -up his blanket and pack off.” After that, unless he obtained the -intercession of some aunt or grandmother, he was forced to obey, return -to his own clan, or contract an alliance elsewhere. “The women were the -chief power in the clans, and they did not hesitate, when necessary, to -depose a chief, and make him re-enter the ranks of simple warriors. The -election of the chiefs always depended on them.”[913] - -Among the Wyandots there is in every clan a council composed of four -women elected by the female chiefs of the family. These four women -choose a chief of the clan from among the men; then the _totem_ of the -clan is painted on the face of this chief. The council of the tribe -is formed by an assemblage of the clan councils; four-fifths of it, -therefore, consist of women. The sachem, or chief of the tribe, is -chosen by the chiefs of the clans.[914] - -Charlevoix relates that in 1721 the Natchez Indians were governed by -a very despotic chief, the Sun, who was succeeded by the son of his -nearest of kin. This was the female chief, and she had, like the Sun, -the power of life and death over the people. At the death of the female -chief in 1721, her husband, not belonging to the family of the Sun, was -strangled by her son, according to custom, and that without prejudice -to other human sacrifices.[915] The ancient Spanish chroniclers also -speak of the submission of the husbands to their wives in Nicaragua; -they seem to have been treated as servants (Herrera, Audogoya). - -Lastly, among the Redskins the matrons had the right to baptise the -children--that is to say, to make them enter either the maternal or the -paternal clan.[916] - -These facts are curious. They prove, indeed, that with the Redskins the -women enjoyed a notable influence, especially in ancient times. With -the Seneca-Iroquois they could expel the incapable hunter; but this -was evidently by their title of housekeepers of the clan. Among the -Wyandots, they figured numerously in the council; but nevertheless, -the supreme chief was a man. As for the woman-chief of the Natchez -Indians, we find an equivalent of it in certain little despotic -monarchies of black Africa. Among the Ashantees, and in Darfour, etc., -the princesses dominate their husbands or their lovers by the prestige -of royalty. Nothing is more natural than that a plebeian husband should -be strangled on the tomb of his wife with other human victims, when we -consider the prevailing ideas of future life and the absolute servility -of the subject in primitive monarchical states. In fact, the power -of women among the Redskins was more apparent than real. Charlevoix -himself declares that their domination is fictitious,[917] “that they -are, in domestic life, the slaves of their husband,” that the men hold -them in profound contempt, and that, amongst themselves, the epithet of -“woman” is a cutting insult. - -Important affairs were kept secret from them;[918] polygamy was -habitually permitted to the men, but polyandry was nearly always -prohibited to the women. In fact, among the Redskins the woman is the -slave of her husband, and the latter thinks so slightly of her, that -frequently the men live conjugally for years without communicating with -their wives otherwise than by signs, as owing to exogamous marriage -they speak different languages.[919] The authority that the husbands -concede to their wives in certain tribes is entirely domestic; it is a -household royalty. - -Thus, with the Selisches, the cabins containing the provisions are -confided to the women, and the husband himself can take nothing without -their permission.[920] The husband or the son commands in the woods and -on the prairie; but in the interior of the wigwam it is the most aged -woman or the mother who governs and assigns to each one his place.[921] - -These customs and the marriages by servitude have led several observers -to attribute to the women a considerable authority which they do not -really possess. In fact, they are nearly always purchased, and are very -submissive. The maternal family and the matriarchate are very different -things. The first is common; the second is very rare, if indeed it has -ever existed. The Australians, who have the maternal family, none the -less treat their wives as we should not dare to treat our domestic -animals. And again, in order that filiation by the female side should -give women a notable social influence, it is necessary that society -should be very civilised, that there should be exchangeable values, -and that women should become rich by inheritance. Then they are in a -position to exercise the power that fortune gives in every country. But -among the Redskins private property as yet hardly existed; the clans -preserved the prior claim; personal property had not a great value; -there were no domestic animals; it was difficult for any individual, -man or woman, to become rich. Lastly, the chief occupations, those -which were reputed noble, those also on which the existence of the -tribes depended, were the chase and war; now the women took no part -in these. They have not therefore been able to exercise a dominant -influence, even in the tribes where they were treated with relative -mildness. Among the Redskins in general, all the painful labours fall -to the women, except the fabrication of arms. It is she who takes care -of the home, who cooks, prepares the skins and the furs, gathers the -wild rice, digs, sows and reaps the maize and the vegetables, dries the -meat and the roots for the winter-provision, makes the clothes and the -necklaces, etc. She even works at the construction of bark canoes, but -in this, man comes to her aid. With that exception, he confines himself -to hunting and fighting, smoking, eating, drinking, and sleeping. -In his eyes work is a disgrace.[922] Such are the customs of living -Redskins. Were they different last century? Not at all, if we may -believe the authorities even who are invoked by the modern theorists -of the American matriarchate. Charlevoix tells us that the Huron -husbands prostituted their daughters and their wives for money,[923] -that the Sioux cut off the noses of their unfaithful wives and scalped -them,[924] and that all the hard work was left to the women, the men -glorying in their idleness.[925] Lafitau enumerates, with still greater -detail, the many and painful occupations of the women,[926] and he -narrates the story of a husband who burnt his adulterous wife at a -slow fire.[927] It is not then amongst the Redskins that we can find -the matriarchate. Their familial system is none the less very curious, -especially if we compare it with that of the Australians. - -The familial clan of the Australians and of the Redskins enables us -to retrace the origin of the ideas of kinship. Nothing similar seems -to exist among the animals. In the best endowed species, the parents, -especially the females, have an instinctive love of their young, but -only as long as they are young. After that period they no longer -recognise them, and often even drive them away. - -Man, who has certainly begun his existence in the same way as the -animals, has early attained, not to ideas of precise filiation, but to -a vague idea of consanguinity between all the members of his horde. -In these little primitive groups, no distinction has at first been -made between real and fictitious kinship. All the men of the same clan -have been brothers, all the women have been sisters, and by the help -of an inveterate habit of exogamy, a gross morality has been formed, -which condemned social incest. But as the life of the clan was, before -all things, communal, while marriages within the clan were prohibited, -it was decided that the clans of the same name--that is, those who -had sprung one from the other--should be united by a sort of social -marriage, all the women of the one being common to all the men of -the other. Then, in the course of time, the instinct of individual -appropriation having undermined the primitive community, the women -were distributed amongst the men; they formed families which were -often singular ones, and of which I shall have to speak again. There -was no longer promiscuity from clan to clan, but the wife was to be -taken from an allied clan. The first filiation which was established -was surely maternal filiation: primitive conjugal confusion would not -permit of any other. But at length, when the family became more or -less instituted, the relations could be classified, and the degrees of -consanguinity distinguished. - -It was not without difficulty that man succeeded so far. A long period -of time was required to disentangle the skein of family relationships; -and fictitious kinship continued to be confounded with real kinship -for many ages. Change came only by a slow evolution, which we will now -proceed to study. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[873] Lubbock, _Orig. Civil._, p. 9. - -[874] Lang, _Aborigines of Australia_.--Eyre, _Discoveries in Central -Australia_, vol. ii. p. 385. - -[875] _Grey’s Journal_, vol. ii. ch. ii. - -[876] Tylor, _Researches in Early History of Mankind_, vol. i. ch. ix. - -[877] Giraud-Teulon, père, _Origine de la Famille_, p. 44. - -[878] _Folklore, etc., of the Australian Aborigines_ (Adelaide, -1879), pp. 28, 50, 57, 58, 65, 67, 87, 89, 92, 93.--Fison and Howitt, -_Kamilaroi and Kurnai_, 215. - -[879] Fison and Howitt, _Kamilaroi and Kurnai_, 50. - -[880] _Id._, _ibid._ - -[881] _Id._, _ibid._ - -[882] Fison and Howitt, _Kamilaroi and Kurnai_, pp. 65, 66. - -[883] Fison and Howitt, quoted by Giraud-Teulon, fils, in _Origines du -Mariage et de la Famille_, p. 120. - -[884] Fison and Howitt, quoted by Giraud-Teulon, fils, in _Origines du -Mariage et de la Famille_, pp. 86-88. - -[885] Fison and Howitt, _loc. cit._, p. 200. - -[886] _Id._, _ibid._ - -[887] Giraud-Teulon, _loc. cit._, p. 447. - -[888] Giraud-Teulon, fils, _loc. cit._, p. 446. - -[889] _Hist. et descrip. générale de la Nouvelle-France_, etc. - -[890] _Ibid._ t. v. p. 393. - -[891] L. Morgan, _Ancient Societies_, p. 70.--Lahontan, _Voy._, etc., -t. ii. pp. 104, 183. - -[892] L. Morgan, _Ancient Societies_, pp. 528-531. - -[893] _Id._, _ibid._ pp. 70, 71. - -[894] _Id._, _ibid._ p. 97. - -[895] L. Morgan, _loc. cit._ p. 513. - -[896] _Notes on the Tinneh_, Hardisty, in _Smithsonian Reports_, 1866. - -[897] _Omaha Sociology_, p. 255, in _Smithsonian Reports_, 1885. - -[898] L. Morgan, _Ancient Societies_, p. 178. - -[899] _Id._, _ibid._ p. 535. - -[900] Bancroft, _Native Races_, etc., vol. ii. p. 665. - -[901] _Id._, _ibid._ vol. ii. p. 665. - -[902] _Id._, _ibid._ vol. ii. pp. 251, 666. - -[903] _Voyages_, etc., t. ii. p. 154. - -[904] A. Giraud-Teulon, fils, _Orig. du Mariage_, etc., p. 191. - -[905] _Id._, _ibid._ p. 186. - -[906] _Id._, _ibid._ p. 177. - -[907] A. Giraud-Teulon, _Orig. du Mariage_, p. 185. - -[908] Charlevoix, _Hist. de la Nouvelle France_, t. v. p. 395. - -[909] Lafitau, _Mœurs des Sauvages Américains_, t. I^{er.} p. 69, etc. - -[910] _Id._, _ibid._ t. ii. pp. 252, 268. - -[911] L. Morgan, _Ancient Societies_, p. 454. - -[912] J. Owen Dorsey, _Omaha Sociology_, p. 261, in _Smithsonian -Reports_, 1885. - -[913] L. Morgan, _Ancient Societies_, p. 455. - -[914] J. W. Powell, _Wyandot Government_, in _Smithsonian Reports_, -1881. - -[915] Charlevoix, _loc. cit._, t. vi. pp. 177-179. - -[916] L. Morgan,_ Ancient Societies_, p. 169. - -[917] Charlevoix, t. v. pp. 397-421. - -[918] _Id._, _ibid._, t. vi. p. 172. - -[919] Lubbock, _Orig. Civil._, p. 152. - -[920] Doménech, _Voy. pitt. dans les déserts du Nouveau Monde_, p. 508. - -[921] _Ibid._ p. 543. - -[922] Doménech, _loc. cit._, pp. 338, 425, 467. - -[923] Charlevoix, _Journal_, etc., t. vi. p. 39. - -[924] _Id._, _ibid._, t. v. p. 271. - -[925] _Id._, _ibid._, t. vi. p. 44. - -[926] _Mœurs des Sauvages_, ii. 266; iii. 56, 69, 70, 72, 76, 92, 97, -98, 120. - -[927] _Ibid._, t. ii. pp. 274, 275. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII. - -THE FAMILIAL CLAN AND ITS EVOLUTION. - - I. _The Clan among the Redskins._--Primitive form of the Tribe--The - Clan. - - II. _The Family among the Redskins._--Classes of relations among - the Omahas--The family among the Iroquois-Senecas, the Omahas, - etc.--Primitive familial stage of the Redskins--Adoption and - its miracles--Rise and evolution of masculine filiation in - America--Exogamy and endogamy. - - III. _The Family in Polynesia._--Maternal filiation--Rarity of - exogamy--Hawaian marriage--The terms of kinship--The father humbling - himself to the male child--Adoption in Polynesia. - - IV. _The Family among the Mongols_.--Familial exogamy among the - Mongols--Kinship by classes--Evolution of kinship by classes. - - V. _The Clan and the Family._--The European family has not been the - “cellule” of societies--The primitive clan. - - -I. _The Clan among the Redskins._ - -In the preceding chapter we have seen the nature of Redskin exogamy, on -which it has sometimes been attempted to construct theories of conjugal -evolution applicable to the entire human race. As a matter of fact, the -North American Indians marry within their tribe; they are therefore -endogamous as regards the tribe, but they do not take their wives from -their own clan, and consequently they are exogamous as regards this -clan. But the clan being composed of real or supposed blood-relations, -the exogamy of the Redskins is actually nothing more than our own -prohibition, very much extended, of marriages within certain degrees of -kinship. - -There is really nothing here which resembles marriage by capture, so -often classed with exogamy; but the latter may very easily co-exist -with the former, and may even be the general rule in more savage -tribes. It prevailed, we are told, among the Caribs[928] to such a -degree that the wives did not speak the same language as their husbands. - -How was the American tribe originally formed? Either consanguineous -hordes have ranged themselves side by side, or, which is more -probable, a horde, becoming too numerous, has swarmed. Analogous -groups, proceeding from it, have formed large families, remaining -all the while attached to the original stock, but constituting, -nevertheless, distinct communities, confederated with each other and -with the primitive clan, which at length became indistinguishable -from the others. The whole of these clans taken together represent a -tribe. If the clans are too numerous, they group themselves in twos, -or threes, etc., within the bosom of the tribe, and thus form what in -primitive Greece were called _phratries_, the bond between them being -a lesser degree of kinship. At first, marriage was prohibited within -the phratry, and afterwards exogamy was restricted to the clans. The -clans composing the phratry had festivals in common, and considered -themselves bound to aid each other in revenging wrongs.[929] The clan, -or _gens_, is a group of persons united by a closer consanguinity, but -in the female line. The children of the women of the clan remain in -the clan of their mother. “The woman bears the clan,” say the Wyandot -Indians,[930] just as our ancestors said, “The womb dyes the child.” -Each clan has its _totem_ (a tortoise, bear, eland, or fox, etc.). In -the “long houses” of the Iroquois, or in the Pueblos, the members of -each clan even had a common habitation, in which each family had its -own cell; but the members of this cell-family belonged to different -clans, as the husband was not of the same clan as his wife, and -sometimes did not inhabit the same dwelling. We have heard it said many -times that “the family is the social cellule.” Now this is evidently -false in regard to the American tribe, and to all tribes that are -organised on the same plan. In them it is the clan which is the social -unit, or cellule, to keep to the metaphor favoured by H. Spencer, and -it is feminine filiation which determines the kinship. What is this -kinship in the female line in its details? That is what we must now -proceed to inquire. - - -II. _The Family among the Redskins._ - -The manner in which the different degrees of kinship are understood -and named varies somewhat among the diverse Redskin tribes; but, in -general, the similarity is very great, and great also is the confusion -between real consanguinity and fictitious kinship. Among the Omahas, -for example, five classes of kinship are recognised--1st, the _nikie_ -kinship, arising from a very distant common ancestor; 2nd, the clan -kinship; thus the families whose tents adjoin each other when the -tribe is assembled, are of this kinship; 3rd, kinship by the calumet -dance--that is to say, by adoption; 4th, kinship by marriage, including -the husband, wife, son, and daughter’s husband; 5th, kinship of -blood-relation, including the clans of the mother, grandmother, and -father.[931] - -The Omahas admit, therefore, entire groups of so-called kinsfolk quite -unknown in our individualist societies; and moreover, the adopted -kinsmen are held exactly on the same footing as the others. - -If we confine ourselves to real kinship, we shall see that it is -understood in a very wide manner. I will simply give, as a detailed -example, a description of the family among the Iroquois Senecas and -the Omahas. With the Iroquois Senecas, the direct line, both ascending -and descending, is very short. It does not go farther than grandfather -and grandmother, and grandson and grand-daughter. The more distant -ancestors and descendants are all comprised without distinction in the -same categories; they form groups of grandfathers or grandsons. In a -collateral line, they proceed by groups, in the same manner. Thus, _for -a_ _woman_, the sons and daughters of a sister are reckoned as her -own sons and daughters, and their children are her grandchildren. The -collateral kinship is then confounded, at least in terminology, with -kinship in a direct line. On the contrary, the sons and daughters of -a woman’s brother are only her nephews and nieces. How can we explain -this familial confusion on one side, and this distinction on the other? -It may probably be attributed to the habit of the Redskins to marry a -lot of sisters at the same time. A woman counts her sister’s children -as her own, because the husband of that sister, whom we should call -her brother-in-law, is virtually her husband also. Inversely, _for a -man_, his brother’s children, or his fraternal nieces and nephews, -are reckoned as his own children; their children are his grandsons or -grand-daughters, whilst the children and grandchildren of his sister -are only his nephews and nieces.[932] Following our previous line of -reasoning, we are led to suppose that these denominations of kinship -go back to a distant epoch, when brothers had their wives in common, -but abstained from marrying their own sisters. This supposition is -confirmed by the examination of the collateral ascending kinship. Thus, -either in the case of a man or woman, the father’s brother, or the -paternal uncle, is reckoned as the father, and his sons and daughters -are reckoned as brothers and sisters. - -The sisters of the father, or of any person bearing the title of -father, are called aunts. The children of these aunts are cousins. -For a man, the kinship of uncle is restricted to the brothers of the -mother, and the children of these uncles are cousins. The mother’s -sister, or the maternal aunt, is counted as a mother; her children are -not nephews and nieces, but sons and daughters. All sisters, real or -fictitious, are mutually mothers of all their children. The children -of a man’s brothers are not his nephews and nieces, but his sons and -daughters; his sisters’ children are his nephews and nieces,[933] -probably because these names have been given at an epoch when the -brothers married groups of sisters in common, but not their own sisters. - -The Omaha Redskins distinguish the degrees of kinship almost in the -same way as the Iroquois Senecas. For them also the most distant -ascendants are all grandfathers or grandmothers. They class all their -relations in groups, formed of individuals virtually brought together -by similar degrees of consanguinity or alliance. Whole categories of -individuals, more or less numerous, are called brothers or fathers of -a man or woman; all those whom the father of a person calls brothers -are fathers to that person; all those whom the mother of a woman calls -husbands are also fathers to that woman. The name “mother” is given to -all the women reputed as sisters to the mother, to the aunts or nieces -of the mother, and also to the virtual wives of the father. - -A man has virtually for wives all the wives of his brothers, and also -their widows, on account of the levirate. - -If a man has a brother-in-law who is at the same time the husband of -a paternal aunt, the sister of that man is the grand-daughter of the -brother-in-law. - -A man becomes your brother-in-law if he is merely the husband of a -paternal aunt, because he can marry your sister. - -The husband of a daughter, of a niece, or of a grand-daughter, is a -son-in-law.[934] - -All the sons and all the daughters of persons reputed as fathers and -mothers call each other brothers and sisters. All the wives, real or -virtual, of the grandfather are called grandmothers; so are also all -the mothers or grandmothers of the fathers and mothers, and all the -women that the fathers and mothers call sisters. - -A man counts as his sons all the sons of his brothers or of his virtual -wives; but the sisters of these sons are his sisters. A woman calls -the sons and daughters of her brothers her nephews and nieces, but the -children of her sister are counted as her own children; because their -father is virtually her husband. - -Among the Omahas a man calls his sister’s children nephews and nieces. -A person of either sex counts as grandchildren all those who are called -the children of his sons, daughters, nephews, and nieces, or reputed as -such. - -A man counts as uncles all those whom his mothers call “brothers”; and -as aunts all the sisters of his father and the wives of his uncles. A -man has for brothers-in-law the husbands of his father’s sister; for -they are the real or virtual husbands of his sisters; a woman has them -for virtual husbands.[935] - -Various prohibitions of marriage result from these conventional -kinships. A man may not marry the women that he calls daughters of a -sister, or grand-daughters, etc. A woman may not marry the men who are -her sons, the sons of her sister, of her aunt or of her niece, or who -are her brothers, etc.[936] - -But an Omaha may marry any woman who is not a blood relation, provided -that she does not figure among the prohibited affinities.[937] - -We have not such detailed information regarding the other Redskin -tribes; but we know enough of them to be certain that their systems of -kinship are very analogous to those of the Iroquois Senecas and the -Omahas. Filiation is everywhere maternal, except in certain tribes in -the course of evolution; nearly everywhere also it is a crime to marry -a woman having the same _totem_.[938] - -Among the Mandans, Pawnies, and Arickaries, a man calls his brother’s -wife his wife also. Among the Crows a woman calls her husband’s -brother’s wife her “comrade”; but among the Winebagos she calls her -“sister.” In some tribes a man’s wife’s sister’s husband is called his -“brother.”[939] - -Some very severe and inconvenient rules of decency have resulted from -these fictitious kinships, with their prohibitions of marriage. - -Thus, among the Omahas, the young girls may only speak to their -father, brother, and grandfather. A woman avoids passing before her -daughter’s husband as much as possible; and, unless under extraordinary -circumstances, a woman does not speak directly to the father of her -husband. A man never addresses a word to the mother or grandmother of -his wife.[940] In the last century, among the Iroquois, a young man -was dishonoured if he stopped to converse in public with a young girl -who was certainly within the prohibited degree of kinship.[941] For a -young Iroquois girl to call the husband of her aunt by his personal -name was considered a grave act, indicating a culpable _liaison_.[942] - -From the manner in which the Redskins understand kinship, we may infer -two things: first, that they must have passed through a familial stage, -in which groups of brothers married groups of sisters and possessed -them in common, thus combining polygamy and polyandry, since they -attach little value to real consanguinity, and their kinships are very -often fictitious; and secondly, that they make no difference between -real filiation and adoption, and in this they resemble savages and even -barbarians of all countries. Among the Omahas the word used to signify -adoption means literally “to take for one’s own son.”[943] The adopted -child is always treated as the first-born, and takes his place; the -father who adopts him refuses him nothing, and gives him a share in all -his wealth. The real father, on his side, makes presents to the adopted -father. And lastly, there is a prohibition of marriage during four -years between the two families, on account of the kinship created by -the adoption.[944] - -Sometimes an entire clan adopts another. Thus the Wolf-Iroquois were -adopted by the Falcon-Iroquois, and the effect of this adoption was -that the two clans became completely assimilated, the new-comers taking -the kinships of the adoptive clan.[945] - -The adoption of enemies, taken prisoners after a battle, is still more -curious. This adoption has almost miraculous effects; it extinguishes -the ferocious hatred which the Redskins always feel for men belonging -to rival tribes; more than that, it makes the captive warrior become -the husband of the woman whom he has perhaps rendered a widow, or -of the daughter whose father he may have killed. The Redskins have, -it should be said, very exaggerated ideas on the subject of warlike -valour. A combatant must never surrender unless very severely wounded. -Every warrior who is taken prisoner is dishonoured and held as -dead by his tribe, and his captors generally torture him to death. -However, in the last century, the most ferocious of the Redskins, the -Iroquois, sometimes spared a few prisoners to offer them to the wives -or daughters whose relations had been killed. The latter had the power -either to put them to death, in order that their shades might serve as -slaves to their father, brother, or husband, etc., who had fallen, or -to pardon them, and even adopt them. In this last case, the enemies of -the previous night took a place among the warriors of the clan, and -were no longer distinguished from the others.[946] - -This system of kinship in the familial clan is curious, because it -holds real consanguinity very cheap, unhesitatingly confusing real with -fictitious kinship, and thus forming classes of fictitious relations. -It seems to prove the existence of an ancient period of promiscuity, -during which there was scarcely any thought of determining with -precision the degrees of consanguinity of individuals. Naturally, -the first form of the family which was more or less vaguely outlined -in the confused groups anterior to the familial clans, was the -maternal family; but this system of filiation by classes is in no way -incompatible with paternal filiation. - -Up to the present time kinship in the female line prevails among most -of the Redskin tribes. Certain of them, however, are evolving in -the direction of masculine filiation, and this movement was already -commencing at the close of the last century.[947] The transformation -began with the chiefs and more powerful men. Among the Thlinkits of -Russian America the great men already give the paternal name to their -children; but the poorer people are still in the stage of uterine -filiation.[948] Certain tribes have quite recently adopted the system -of paternal filiation. It is owing to European influence that this -change is operating, and its accomplishment is only a question of time. -The Ojibways have only taken two generations to effect the adoption -of agnatic filiation.[949] A similar evolution was spontaneously -accomplished in the great states of Central America. In Peru maternal -filiation was still in general use, but the paternal family was -beginning to appear. In the mass of the nation, says Gomara, the -heritage was transmitted to nephews and not to sons; but in the family -of the Incas direct male descendants alone had the right to avail -themselves of their origin, and sons inherited.[950] It seems that in -Mexico the familial evolution may have been more advanced, for there -it is always the paternal personality which predominates, and it is -the father who dictates to the children rules of conduct and moral -precepts. The mothers exhort their daughters to be submissive to their -husbands, to obey them and strive to please them. - -The familial customs which I have just described are general in -America; they are not universal as regards exogamy, for Hearne tells us -that many Chippeways frequently take to wife their sisters, daughters, -and even mothers.[951] We know, on the other hand, that the Peruvian -Incas married their sisters, and that throughout the Peruvian empire no -one married outside the administrative district. - -In some parts of America the diversity is still greater. The Caribs -married their relatives, with the exception of sisters,[952] -indiscriminately; the Indians of Guiana, on the contrary, practised -totemic exogamy, like the Redskins.[953] - -The Indians of Guatemala were unacquainted with maternal kinship. They -willingly married their sisters, provided they were not children of the -same father, and among them the children belonged to the class of the -father even when the mother was a slave.[954] Among the Mayas descent -was also reckoned in the male line.[955] In various savage tribes of -Mexico the women did not inherit. Among the Ityas and in Yucatan the -name of the child was formed by combining the names of the father and -mother; the mother’s name, however, had the precedence.[956] - -The monk Thevet relates that the Indians of Brazil already pushed the -agnatic system, at least in theory, to its most extreme limits; for -they affirmed, he says, that in procreation the part of the father is -predominant, and that of the mother only secondary.[957] The general -conclusion to be drawn from these very dissimilar facts is, that we -should abstain from forming any absolute theories on these great -sociological questions of marriage and the family, which are still so -far from being elucidated. - - -III. _The Family in Polynesia._ - -Filiation by the female line seems to be generally adopted, not only in -Polynesia, but in many Melanesian or Micronesian archipelagoes. It has -been found in the Fiji Islands, at Tonga and the Carolines,[958] etc. -But exogamy, even the exogamy of the clan, after the American fashion, -appears rare. It existed at Samoa, but in any case it seems not to have -been a general custom.[959] - -In New Zealand endogamy predominated, and marriage with a woman of -another tribe was even prohibited, unless an important political motive -could be given as an excuse.[960] Endogamy was also practised in the -Hawaian Islands. In the Mulgrave Islands every marriage required the -sanction of an assembly of all the friends and relatives, or rather of -the whole clan,[961] for the interest of the community was involved in -it. - -In the Hawaian Islands there existed a confused kinship by classes, -analogous to that of the familial clan among the Redskins, but much -more gross. Group-marriage of brothers and sisters prevailed, but -generally the brothers did not marry their own sisters. As for the -names expressing the degrees of kinship, they were names of classes. -The Hawaians had no words to express “father” or “mother.” They used -the word “_mkûa_,” which signifies “parents.” To say “father,” they -added the word “_kana_,” which signifies “male”: _Mkûa kana_, male -parent. To say “mother,” they used the combination, _Mkûa ouahina_, -female parent. There was no expression for “son” or “daughter.” They -used the word _keiki_, child, or little one, to which they added _kana_ -or _ouahina_, as before, according as the child was male or female. The -language had no terms for “brother” or “sister.”[962] The word employed -to express “wives” is collective; it applies to the wife’s sister as -well as to the wife proper, and signifies literally “female”; in the -same way, for “husband” they used the word _kana_ (male), and applied -it also to the husband’s brother and sister’s husband. All the sisters -of a woman were called “the wives of the husband of that woman,” even -when they were not actually so.[963] The Hawaians had no expressions -for “grandfather” or “grandmother.” Their word _kapuna_ signifies an -ancestor of any degree beyond the father and mother (_mkûa_). Neither -had they any special denomination for “grandson” or “grand-daughter.” -As brothers and sisters did not generally intermarry, the women called -the husband or husbands of their sisters, not “husbands,” but “intimate -companions” (_punalua_).[964] - -It was possible for either the paternal or maternal family to evolve -from this confused system of kinship, based at first apparently on the -promiscuity of brothers and sisters; but it was the latter which at -first arose, and in the time of Cook the rank and dignity of the chiefs -were transmitted in the female line.[965] A singular custom noticed -by Cook in the Society Isles may perhaps be interpreted in the sense -of maternal filiation. They spoke of the transmission of the title -and dignity of the chiefs to their first-born, and that even at the -moment of birth. As soon as the wife of a chief had given birth to a -son, the father was reckoned as deposed, and became a simple regent; he -owed homage to his son, and might not remain in his presence without -uncovering to the waist.[966] At Tonga maternal filiation was well -established; rank was transmitted by the women, who sometimes even -reigned,[967] and the father was not counted as the parent of his -child.[968] - -Of late years, and manifestly under European influence, the familial -system has become modified in Polynesia. At Tonga masculine filiation -is being substituted by degrees for feminine filiation.[969] The Maoris -of New Zealand have also adopted agnatic filiation, but this new system -still jars against ancient usages, which formerly harmonised with the -maternal family. - -This evolution of the family in Polynesia has probably had for its -starting-point a confused promiscuity, and afterwards a system of -classification of relations, in which real and fictitious ties were -hardly distinguished from each other. With the slight importance -attached to real consanguinity might very naturally coexist a great -facility to practise adoption. This was abused to such a degree in -the Marquesas Islands that it was not uncommon to see aged persons -getting themselves adopted by children, and even animals were adopted -also. Thus a chief had adopted a dog, to which he had ceremoniously -offered ten pigs and some precious ornaments; he had him constantly -carried by a _kikino_; and at the banquets of the chiefs, the animal -had his appointed place by the side of his adoptive father.[970] There -was no distinction generally made between the real and the adoptive -parent,[971] and we may hence conclude that the degrees and bonds of -kinship were not well distinguished. - - -IV. _The Family among the Mongols._ - -The family of the Polynesians, and more especially of the Hawaians, may -well have been, as L. Morgan supposes, the primitive familial type of -the American Redskins. It has for its basis a marriage which is at once -polyandric and polygynic, between groups of sisters and corresponding -groups of brothers, and it results quite naturally in a system of -kinship by classes, holding real consanguinity very cheap. - -It seems probable that analogous systems of kinship may have been -adopted by the greater number of the Asiatic Mongols. This may at -least be inferred from the fragmentary but significant accounts with -which explorers have supplied us. Among the Yourak Samoyedes, it is -forbidden to marry a woman of the same tribe (or rather clan).[972] -The people among the Kalmucks are subject to restrictions of the same -kind in regard to marriage, which must not take place within three or -four degrees of kinship. The great men, however, for whom the laws -are more lenient in all countries, sometimes obtain immunity from -these inconvenient obligations, but the populace is very much shocked -at their laxity. “Great men and dogs,” they say, “have no kin.” -Nevertheless, the sons of the great men, who often also marry their -sisters-in-law, always take a wife in another clan.[973] Kinship by -classes surely existed among the Mongols only a few centuries ago, -for Baber, the founder of the Mongol Empire of Delhi, speaks in his -_Memoirs_ of one of his lieutenants, named Lenguer Khan, who possessed -a whole tribe of maternal uncles, the Djendjouhah, forming a people who -lived in the mountains of the Punjaub.[974] - - -V. _The Evolution of the System of Kinship by Classes._ - -These facts, and the inferences they suggest, enable us to solve a -difficulty which has embarrassed an eminent sociologist, L. Morgan, to -whom we owe our acquaintance with the details of the curious systems of -kinship by classes prevailing among the Polynesians and the Redskins. - -Morgan, in comparing, term for term, the denominations indicating -kinship among the Iroquois-Senecas and the Tamils of India, found -them identical as to meaning and number, and he admits, but not -without hesitation, that there has been, in both races, a parallel and -spontaneous evolution.[975] This way of explaining ethnic similarities -is certainly in general very legitimate. At first sight it often -appears trustworthy, and saves the trouble of inventing fantastic -migrations. In thousands of cases men of every period, every country, -every race have conducted themselves in the same way, had the same -ideas, realised the same inventions, adopted the same practices, -without knowing each other, without even supposing the existence of -the other peoples, and this simply because all of them were part of -the great human family. But between the Mongoloids of North America, -their cousins of Northern Asia, and the Hawaians, there is probably -the bond of a distant and common origin, and, besides this, the nomad -Mongols of Asia have more than once penetrated into India. Up to the -present time, half-savage Mongol tribes occupy entire regions of the -Himalaya. Mongols and Tamils have had wide and long communications with -each other during prehistoric ages; it has therefore been possible -for them to borrow mutually their system of kinship. There exists -quite a chain of peoples, including the Tamils of India, the least -civilised Mongols, the American Redskins, and lastly the greater -number of the Polynesians, all of whom have formerly adopted, or still -practise systems of kinship, based, not on consanguinity, but on a -classification more or less fictitious. - -The fact is interesting; but it is somewhat bold to attach to it, as -Morgan has done, a universal value, and to pretend that all human -races have passed through this phase of kinship by classes. Even in -the countries where this familial form prevails, it is subject to more -than one exception, and it is probable that each great human type, -having had its special centre of creation, has evolved physically -and psychically in its own manner, sometimes unconsciously imitating -the others, but quite as often deviating from them, according as the -environment, the difficulties to be overcome, and the necessities -of the struggle for existence imposed on it such or such a line of -conduct. - -However it may be, if we condense, by classification, all the notions -that have been collected in relation to kinship by classes among the -Australians, the Tamils, the primitive Mongols, the Mongoloids of North -America and those of Polynesia, we may retrace the evolution of kinship -by classes with sufficient appearance of truth. - -To begin with, there must have existed hordes, which, though doubtless -human, were still very bestial as regards their instincts and -intelligence. In these hordes, which were not very numerous, the women -being taken possession of by the most robust old males, the young ones -were obliged either to quit the group or to remain in it by ravishing -one or two women from rival hordes; for exogamy was a necessity. The -least advanced of the Australian tribes seem to be still in this -primitive stage. At length a little order was put into this disorder -by the horde breaking up into clans; it was then decided that all the -men and all the women of each clan should be brothers and sisters, and -should not intermarry, and that on the other hand, all the men of a -clan should be the husbands of all the women of the neighbouring clan, -simply by right of birth. The Kamilaroi of Australia may represent the -second stage. - -In Polynesia the principle is the same, but the idea has become -restricted and defined. Groups of real brothers marry groups of women -actually sisters, thus forming households at once polyandric and -polygamic; but traces of the antique marriage by fictitious groups -of brothers and sisters appear again in the terms used to designate -the various degrees of kinship. These terms are in reality purely -classificatory, and take little account of real consanguinity. - -Among the Redskins a new and important restriction has been -established. Marriage outside the clan is continued, but not marriage -by groups of sisters and brothers. That this was done in primitive -times, however, is proved by the familial vocabulary. On the other -hand, they have clearly renounced polyandry, and adopted polygamy with -not less clearness; but this polygamy is special, and it is generally a -group of sisters who marry the polygamous husband. - -As for the terms of kinship, they are always general and -classificatory. The relations are denominated by groups, and the titles -of kinship do not in the least correspond to the ties of blood. - -Lastly, among certain nomad Mongols of Asia, the strict prohibition to -marry within the clan, and the terms of kinship applying to groups, -show that formerly a familial system, analogous to that of the American -Redskins, has been in use. - -Moreover, this classificatory system is preserved entire in the -denominations of kinship by the Tamils of India. But among these last, -and also among certain Mongol populations of Thibetan Himalaya, the -primitive family, at once polygamic and polyandric, that of the Hawaian -islanders, has evolved after its own manner, which it is interesting to -notice. - -The Polynesian, or rather the Hawaian family, formed essentially by -the conjugal union of a group of brothers with a group of sisters, -may evidently be restricted in two ways. Either, in the long run, -polyandry is found irksome; the men will no longer share their wives, -even with brothers, but find polygamy very convenient; in this case the -brothers contract isolated marriages, preserving nothing of the old -ways but the custom of marrying, when possible, a group of sisters: -the Redskins have done and still do this. Or, on the contrary, for -one reason or another, and most often on account of the relative -scarcity of women, the Hawaian marriage evolves in another direction. -The brothers continue to marry in a group; but, instead of marrying -simultaneously several sisters, they take only one wife and possess her -in common: this time it is in the direction of polyandry that primitive -group-marriage has evolved. From the Himalaya to Ceylon we find a long -track of ethnic groups who have thus transformed their marriage. The -mountaineers of Bhootan, the Naïrs, certain other aboriginal tribes -of India, and a part of the population of Ceylon, where the Tamils -have largely immigrated, are all of them the remains or landmarks of -an ancient layer of polyandric population traversing the whole of -Hindostan. - -All these facts can be classed in a satisfactory manner. Thus united, -and placed in a series, they complete and throw a light on each other, -and show us the reason of customs which before appeared inexplicable. - -All this evolution is quite admissible, but it is important to restrict -it to the populations with which it actually appears to be connected, -and not to make of it a universal law, applicable to the whole human -race. - - -VI. _The Clan and the Family._ - -Independently of their intrinsic interest, the facts that I have so -rapidly enumerated have a very wide bearing. Taken alone, they suffice -to destroy altogether the generally accepted ideas as to the origin -of human societies. The current doctrine, so often asserted, and -manifestly inspired by the Edenic tradition of a terrestrial Paradise -and by the memory of the Roman family, insists that human societies -have always and everywhere started with the family, and by this word is -understood the patriarchal family, essentially composed of the father -and the mother, or at most the mothers and the children. From this -first family, grouped submissively around one august chief, the father, -similar families are supposed to have sprung, which, side by side, -constituted tribes, cities, and states. This familial unit, supposed to -be primordial, this “cellule” of societies, is held to be particularly -respectable; the chief who governs it despotically, the father, has -something enchanting about him. At his voice the celestial wrath bursts -without mercy on the child bold enough to brave it. Even as late as -the last century, the paternal malediction had the effect of a moral -thunderbolt; in romances and theatrical plays the writers often had -recourse to it in order to effect the catastrophes of their plots. - -We are forced in the present day to renounce this traditional notion. -We must bid adieu to the primitive patriarchate. The patriarchal, or -even simply paternal family, does not date, at least in most cases, -from the origin of societies. - -The truly primitive stock is no other than the clan, that is, a small -consanguine group in which the kinship is still very much confused. -It was not in a day that the first men succeeded in constructing -genealogical trees, or even in determining with any precision the -degrees of consanguinity. Not only does the father not stand out as -a principal personage from the background of the familial clan; he -has not even yet any recognised social existence in the little group; -in short, the actual physiological father has had in principle no -ascertainable relationship with his children, for marriage was anything -but monandric. - -Within the primitive social unit, the familial clan, every one was -consanguine, but in a confused way; the wives had several husbands, and -the husbands several wives; the degrees of kinship were not individual, -but applied to classes of individuals. At this period of social -development it was difficult to distinguish as yet the real from the -possible, fictitious consanguinity from real consanguinity. Every one -had groups of fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters: filiation and -the true ties of consanguinity in numerous cases could not be discerned. - -In these groups of consanguine individuals, these clans with -kinship still confused, the first thing that became most habitually -differentiated was not the paternal family, for that could scarcely -exist, seeing that the father of a child was not easy to designate; it -was the maternal family, which we will now proceed to examine. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[928] McLennan, _Primitive Marriage_, p. 71. - -[929] A. Giraud-Teulon, _loc. cit._, p. 170-172. - -[930] Powell, _Reports of Smithsonian Institution_, 1881. - -[931] Owen Dorsey, _Omaha Sociology_, p. 252, in _Reports of -Smithsonian Institution_, 1885. - -[932] Lewis Morgan, _Ancient Societies_, p. 436. - -[933] _Id._, _ibid._ p. 438. - -[934] Owen Dorsey, _loc. cit._, p. 255. - -[935] Owen Dorsey, _loc. cit._, pp. 254, 255. - -[936] _Id._, _ibid._ p. 256. - -[937] _Id._, _ibid._ p. 257. - -[938] McLennan, _Primitive Marriage_, p. 97. - -[939] L. Morgan, _Ancient Societies_, p. 440. - -[940] Owen Dorsey, _loc. cit._, pp. 262, 263. - -[941] _Lettres édifiantes_, t. xii. p. 130. - -[942] _Ibid._ p. 144. - -[943] Owen Dorsey, _loc. cit._, p. 265. - -[944] _Id._, _ibid._ p. 281. - -[945] Morgan, _Ancient Societies_, p. 81. - -[946] _Voyages du baron de Lahontan_, etc., t. ii. pp. 203, 204 (1741). - -[947] A. Giraud-Teulon, _loc. cit._, p. 196. - -[948] Holmberg, _Skizzen über die Völker des Russischen Amerika_, p. 32. - -[949] L. Morgan, _loc. cit._, pp. 166, 344. - -[950] H. Spencer, _Sociology_, vol. ii. p. 340. - -[951] _Id._, _ibid._, vol. ii. p. 218. - -[952] Squier, _States of Central America_, p. 237. - -[953] Brett, _Indian Tribes of Guiana_, p. 98. - -[954] Bancroft, _loc. cit._, pp. 664, 665. - -[955] L. Morgan, _Ancient Societies_, p. 538. - -[956] Bancroft, _loc. cit._, vol. ii. p. 680. - -[957] Thevet, _Singularités de la France antarctique_, p. 215. - -[958] A. Giraud-Teulon, _loc. cit._, p. 167. - -[959] Hubner, _Six semaines en Polynésie_ in _Revue des Deux Mondes_, -1886. - -[960] Yate, _New Zealand_, p. 99. - -[961] Paulding, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xvi. p. 459. - -[962] L. Morgan, _Ancient Societies_, p. 374. - -[963] _Id._, _ibid._ p. 428.--McLennan, _Primitive Marriage_, p. 375. - -[964] L. Morgan, _Ancient Societies_, p. 428. - -[965] De Varigny, _Quatorze ans aux îles Sandwich_, p. 14. - -[966] Cook (Second Voyage), _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. vii. p. -417.--Moerenhout, _Voy. aux îles_, etc., t. ii. pp. 13, 15. - -[967] Th. West, _Ten Years in South Central Polynesia_, p. 260. - -[968] Mariner, _Voy. to the Friendly Islands_, etc., vol. ii. p. 165. - -[969] Erskine, _Islands of the Western Pacific_. - -[970] M. Radiguet, _Derniers Sauvages_, p. 181. - -[971] Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, vol. ii. p. 98. - -[972] Latham, _Descriptive Ethnology_, vol. ii. p. 455. - -[973] McLennan, _loc. cit._, pp. 78, 79. - -[974] A. Giraud-Teulon, _Orig. du Mariage_, p. 268. - -[975] L. Morgan, _Conjectural Solution of the Origin of the -Classificatory System of Relationship_, in _Proceedings of the American -Academy of Arts and Sciences_, 1868. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII. - -THE MATERNAL FAMILY. - - I. _The Familial Clan and the Family properly so-called._--The - probable evolution of the family--It cannot have been uniform--Why the - uterine family has been common. - - II. _The Family in Africa._--The maternal family among the negroes of - Africa, in Egypt, in Abyssinia, in Madagascar, among the Arabs and - Kabyles. - - III. _The Family in Malaya._ - - IV. _The Family among the Naïrs of Malabar._--The female progenitrix, - the mother-bee--The uncle among the Naïrs. - - V. _The Family among the Aborigines of Bengal._--Co-existence of the - maternal and paternal family; exogamy and endogamy. - - VI. _The Couvade._--It exists in very different countries--The couvade - in antiquity--The couvade in contemporary Europe--Signification of the - couvade. - - VII. _The Primitive Family._ - - -I. _The Familial Clan and the Family properly so-called._ - -At the conclusion of the preceding chapter I have ventured to sketch -the probable evolution of the family, or at least that which must have -been effected among the greater number of Melanesians, Polynesians, -American Redskins, Tamils, and ancient Mongols. The small primitive -societies founded by these races seem to have begun, not with the -family, in the sense we give to this word, but by groups of consanguine -individuals with still very confused filiation. The familial form which -first emerged from this primitive clan was most often a matrimonial -association between several sisters on the one hand and several -brothers on the other. Then, from this household, at once polygamic -and polyandric, sprang sometimes the polyandric family, when several -brothers had a single wife in common, and sometimes the polygynic -family, when a single man married or bought several women, who might, -or might not, be sisters to each other. - -But has the familial group evolved in the same manner all over the -earth and among all races? Except for the countries previously -enumerated, precise and detailed information is wanting, and we -are reduced to conjectures which are more or less probable. With -rare exceptions, the races which it remains for us to examine have -definitely emerged from primitive familial confusion, and they have -adopted either maternal or paternal filiation. Have they first passed -through the familial clan with classes of fictitious or real relations? -We cannot certainly affirm it. The existence of a _totem_ and the -custom of exogamy seem to bear witness in favour of this hypothesis; -but these are insufficient proofs. The _totem_ does not necessarily -imply consanguinity; and exogamy may be dictated by very diverse -reasons, for we often find exogamic tribes living side by side with -endogamic tribes. - -What is still more general than the clan, is the institution of the -maternal family, or uterine filiation; but this familial type is not -invariably deduced from a previous familial clan. Among many animal -species the maternal family exists without there ever having been -either clan or _gens_. As a matter of fact, in humanity as well as -in animality, the uterine family establishes itself spontaneously, -whenever the male abandons the female and her progeny. This familial -type will therefore necessarily appear in every horde where there is no -durable pairing of males and females, of men and women. In every ethnic -group living in promiscuity, for example, uterine filiation shows -itself, and it will be the same under a polyandric _régime_, unless -fictitious paternity is established. In short, for the adoption of the -paternal family, it is imperative that the wives should be appropriated -by a particular man, though it is of no importance whether the marriage -be monogamic or polygamic. But this possession of one or more women by -one man to the exclusion of all others, presupposes already a complex -social condition, which has necessarily been preceded by a period of -gross savagery, when only uterine filiation was possible. Now, it is -a rule that ancient customs endure for a long time, and survive the -social condition which had given birth to them. - - -II. _The Family in Africa._ - -The uterine family is far from being rare in negro Africa, but this -does not in any way hinder the man from exercising a discretionary -power over his wife or wives, and still more over his children. We -have previously seen how lamentable the fate of woman is among the -negro Africans, and how excessive are “the rights of the father of -the family,” since he can traffic in his children without rebuke. -This virile despotism may easily coexist with the adoption of uterine -filiation. In one Kaffir tribe, the men used their own children to -bait their traps for catching lions,[976] and yet maternal filiation -prevails in Kaffraria; only it does not govern inheritance. This mode -of filiation is adopted by other races as well as Kaffirs. “In Guinea,” -says Bosman,[977] “if it pleases the daughter of a king to marry a -slave, her children are free.” Among the Fantees, the chief slave has -the rights of succession, to the exclusion of the son; but the latter -is only deprived of paternal succession; the property of his mother, as -distinct from that of his father, comes to him.[978] At Dahomey there -seems to be, in the royal family, a symbolic survival of the maternal -family. At the death of the king, his sister exercises a regency of -several days, and her duty is to occupy the throne in reality, and to -remain seated on it as long as a successor has not been appointed.[979] -But this does not in any way hinder the populations of Dahomey from -adopting as a general custom, not only masculine succession, but even -the right of primogeniture.[980] Barbarous as Dahomey may be, it is -already a society of too complex a structure to accommodate itself -easily to the maternal family. Has this savage mode of filiation been -formerly in use there? It is possible; but the short regency of the -king’s sister is a very insufficient proof of it. In eastern Africa, -among the Vouazegouras, and also among the Bangalas of Cassanga, the -uncle has the indefeasible right to sell his nephews, and in so doing -he has the strong approval of public opinion. “Why,” say they, “should -a man remain in need while his brothers and sisters have children?” Yet -this relates to tribes long under Arab influence. In the same region, -the Vouamrimas generally consider the son of their sister as their -heir, in preference to their own children.[981] Among the Bazes and the -Bareas, succession is also in the maternal line, and the heirs are, -in the first degree, the eldest son of the eldest sister; and in the -second degree, the second son of the same sister,[982] etc. In southern -Africa the children belong to the maternal uncle, who also has the -right to sell them.[983] It is the same among the Basuto Kaffirs. With -these last, as a Kaffir chief informed me, it is again the nephew who -succeeds to the throne.[984] The Makololo Kaffirs, however, seem to be -in process of adopting paternal filiation; or at least they combine -it with maternal filiation, by compelling the husband, as Livingstone -informs us, to redeem his children by the payment of a tax, without -which they would belong to the maternal grandfather. - -In short, there is no uniform rule among the Kaffirs, for Levaillant -has seen a tribe with whom the inheritance was transmitted at a -man’s death to his wife and male children, to the exclusion of the -daughters,[985] which is again a transitional _régime_. - -In some districts of central Africa, among populations that are -half-civilised, and more or less converted to Mahometanism, matriarchal -customs still persist. On the Niger, at Wowow and at Boussa, it is the -grandmother who grants or refuses to her grand-daughter the permission -to marry.[986] The curious privilege that, according to Laing, the -Soulima have, to quit their husband when they please, is perhaps of -matriarchal origin also.[987] - -The exogamy of the clan, which frequently coexists with uterine -filiation, is met with here and there in Africa. Burton has proved -the existence of it among the Somals,[988] and Du Chaillu has found -it at the Gaboon.[989] Traces of the maternal family still exist, or -have existed, in African societies that are more or less barbarous, -but which have, however, emerged from savagery; in Madagascar, -Nubia, Abyssinia, and especially in ancient Egypt. Among the Hovas -of Madagascar, not only wealth, but political dignities, and even -sacerdotal functions, are transmitted to the nephew, the sister’s son. -The Saccalavas do the same as the Hovas, and among them the women of -high rank willingly take husbands of inferior rank, who simply become -their servants. As for the children, they inherit the rank and rights -of their mother.[990] The same customs prevail among the Nubians, or -did formerly prevail; the Arab chroniclers tell us that among them the -heritage belonged, not to the son of the deceased, but to the nephew, -the sister’s son. The Nubians justified this custom pertinaciously, by -saying that the consanguinity of the sister’s son had the advantage of -being incontestable.[991] And lastly, Nicholas of Damascus says the -same thing of the Ethiopians.[992] - -Without the proof of any absolutely precise text, we have an -accumulation of facts which render it very probable that, in ancient -Egypt, maternal filiation was in force. In a preceding chapter I have -spoken of the exceptional position granted to the free woman in the -kingdom of the Pharaohs. I will recall, in passing, that until the time -of Philometor, who deprived women of the right to dispose of their -property, the word _husband_ never occurs in marriage deeds.[993] -Besides this, public deeds often only mention the mother, up to the -time of this same King Philometor, who, being evidently a determined -partisan of the patriarchate, ordered the names of contractors to be -registered according to the paternal name.[994] Also, in the valley of -the Nile, the hieroglyphic funeral inscriptions frequently bear the -name of the mother without indicating that of the father, and it is -only in demotic inscriptions that paternal filiation is mentioned.[995] -We must add that in Egypt women could reign, and that during the -lifetime of the monarch who was their husband they divided with him the -sovereign honours, and even, according to Diodorus,[996] received the -larger share of them. All these facts seem to attest that in Egypt free -women enjoyed an exceptionally favourable position, and they render -probable the ancient existence of uterine filiation in the valley of -the Nile. There are, however, some contradictory facts, especially the -genealogy of the chief priests, of which Herodotus speaks, and also -the incestuous endogamy customary in the royal families. According to -Herodotus, the Egyptian priests showed him, at Thebes, three hundred -and forty-one wooden statues representing high-priests, all born one -of the other in the masculine line: “Each of these statues,” he says, -“represents a Piromis born of a Piromis.”[997] From which it would -result that in Egypt, at least in the sacerdotal caste, masculine -filiation was established from the highest antiquity, for a hundred and -forty-one generations represent something like ten or eleven thousand -years. Maternal filiation is also generally connected with exogamy, -while the Pharaohs habitually married their sisters. According to -Diodorus, this was even obligatory.[998] In the ancient royal records -the qualities of sister and wife of kings are often found united. -Under the Ptolemies, all the queens have borne both these titles; -and we may perhaps refer to an ancient tradition of Egyptian origin -certain customs which recently existed in the Soudan, Abyssinia, and -Madagascar. At Massegna, in the Soudan, Barth tells us that Othman -Bougoman, Sultan of Massegna, had among his wives one of his sisters -and one of his daughters. At the end of the seventeenth century, the -sister of the king of Abyssinia displayed a sumptuous style of living -peculiarly feminine: “The sister of the emperor appears in public -mounted on a mule richly caparisoned, having by her side her women -bearing a daïs over her. From four to five hundred women surround her, -singing verses in her praise, and playing the tambour in a lively and -graceful manner.”[999] And at the present time, among the Malagasy -nobility, marriage between brother and sister is very common.[1000] - -There is certainly nothing farther from exogamy than marriages between -brothers and sisters; but, to say the truth, there is no logical and -necessary connection between the form of filiation and exogamic or -endogamic customs. - -The Malagasy contract what we should call incestuous marriages, -while preserving maternal filiation; the Arabs and Kabyles, on the -contrary, in obedience to the prescriptions of the Koran, have a -horror of incest. The sacred book prohibits a man from taking to wife -his mother, daughter, sister, his paternal or maternal aunt, his -grand-daughter, his mother-in-law, his daughter-in-law, or even his -nurse and foster-sister. A man was not to marry two sisters at the -same time.[1001] This is indeed a limited exogamy; and yet the Koran -establishes the paternal and even patriarchal family very clearly. -The study of the family in Malaya and among the aborigines of India -will complete the proof that in the same country, and in the same -race, various systems of marriage, family, and filiation, may coexist, -and that consequently we must guard against formulating too strict -sociological laws in regard to them. - - -III. _The Family in Malaya._ - -At Sumatra there were three kinds of marriages--1st, the wife, or -rather the family of the wife, bought the man, who henceforth became -her property, worked for her, possessed nothing of his own, was liable -to be dismissed, and could commit no fault without the proprietary -family being responsible for it, exactly as the Roman master answered -for his slaves; 2nd, the man and the woman could marry on a footing of -equality; 3rd, the man bought his wife or wives.[1002] The first form -of marriage, that of servitude of the man, who, instead of marrying, -is married by the family of his wife, has fallen into desuetude in -Malaya, but it has left behind it, in certain districts, the system of -maternal filiation. It is the maternal uncle who is the head of the -family, or, in default of him, the eldest son of the wife’s family. -If there is neither uncle nor son old enough, it is the mother who -becomes the head of the family, and the father only takes her place -in case she has disappeared, and when all the children are minors. At -the death of a man, his property does not go to his wife or children, -but to his maternal family, and in the first place to his brothers -and sisters. The married man also continues to live in his maternal -family; it is the field of his own family that he cultivates, and he -only accidentally assists his wife.[1003] In short, under this system -the individual, whether man or woman, is not set free in the least from -the family in which he is born; it is for this family that the woman -bears children; filiation and inheritance must therefore follow the -maternal line. But it is not at all the same throughout Malaya. Marsden -tells us that a man sometimes buys his wife by giving a sister in -exchange;[1004] he must therefore be the proprietor of his sister, and -consequently of the wife whom he procures by means of this barter. - -In the Arroo Isles the men buy their wives, by giving gongs, clothes, -etc., to the parents of the women.[1005] - -At Timor the son-in-law buys his wife thus from his father-in-law, and -the latter can remain owner of the children if they are not included -in the bargain;[1006] but these customs are not easily compatible with -the system of the maternal family, and, taken altogether, they prove -that in Malaya the family is not by any means constituted in a uniform -manner. We shall see that it is the same with the primitive races of -India. - - -IV. _The Family among the Naïrs of Malabar._ - -In the first place, we have to inquire what the family is among the -Naïrs of Malabar, whose curious polyandry I have previously described. -The Naïrs of Malabar are not by any means savages; they form an -aristocratic caste. We have seen how, from a very early age (ten -to twelve years), the young Naïr girls, after having been solemnly -deflowered by a stranger, who has been paid to perform this task, -practised the widest polyandry, without any other restriction than -the prohibitions relative to caste and tribe. As is usual and even -natural, Naïr polyandry coexists with a system of maternal filiation. -Precautions are taken in order that the free and numerous unions of -the Naïr ladies should not destroy the family. The Naïr husbands are -reduced to the modest _rôle_ of progenitors; and it is to the wife that -the fortune of the family belongs. It is not, however, the mother who -governs the family, but her brother. To this brother belongs the duty -of bringing up his nephews, of protecting them, and of mourning for -them, if they happen to die; in reality, he is an avuncular father, and -when he dies his nephews inherit his personal property. In the Naïr -family the polyandrous mother is much respected, and the next in honour -to her is her eldest daughter, who will replace her in her _rôle_ of -mother-bee, the producer of children. The Naïr husbands, the fathers, -only enter the house of their common wife by turns and on certain days; -they have not even the right to sit down by the side of their wife or -their children; they are mere passing guests, almost strangers.[1007] - -If we regard these facts on a certain side, it appears as if we may at -last have found among the Naïrs, in a country where the matriarchate -incontestably reigns, the legal pre-eminence of woman over man, or the -_materna potestas_. It is, in fact, the Naïr woman who possesses; it -is through her that wealth is transmitted, and, given the _régime_ of -free polyandry, it is difficult for Naïr children to know their own -father. Moreover, in various polyandric countries of Malabar, the -pre-eminence of the woman in the family has influenced the political -organisation, and thus an entire female feudal system has arisen, the -bonds of suzerainty and vassalage reposing on a fictitious polyandry. -Thus, in February 1887, the English journals announced that the Sultan -of the Laccadives, having become the vassal of England, had notified -to his subjects his new position by means of a proclamation, in which -he explained that he had ceased to be the _husband_ and subject of his -ancient suzerain, the Bibi of Cannanor; for by a special favour the -government of Ceylon had consented to admit him to the number of the -_husbands_, that is to say, of the direct vassals, of the Queen of -England. We must note that for the Indians of this region the Queen -of England is “the daughter” of the East India Company, and lives in -a palace in London with many men. And now what is the real value of -this polyandric matriarchate? It is surely more apparent than real. -Among the Naïrs, as everywhere else, property assures to the man or -woman who possesses it an importance in proportion to its value. The -Naïr lady then, being a proprietor, is highly esteemed. But it does not -follow that this esteem is equal to undisputed domination. Doubtless -among the Naïrs the man, as husband, does not exist; nevertheless he -is a warrior, and even a very fierce one. But military force has this -in common with money, that it is nowhere despised. Therefore, in the -family of his sister, the Naïr man is anything but a subordinate. We -have just seen this. It is he who governs and brings up the children of -his sister by her numerous husbands. He is, in reality, the chief of -his sister’s family, and what he loses as husband he gains as uncle. - -Reduced to their true value, the polyandry and the familial _régime_ of -the Naïrs still remain a sociological fact of the greatest interest. -It is at once the most complete and the most logical of polyandric -systems. In reality, the Naïr marriage does not only or specially -include groups of brothers or sisters; full liberty is given to the -woman, save only the restrictions of class. There is no attempt, as -in Thibet, to create a masculine pseudo-filiation, by arbitrarily -attributing such or such children to such or such husbands. Among -the Naïrs, the maternal family is instituted in all its plenitude; -and lastly, their polyandry is in no way thwarted by the proportion -of the sexes, for if the woman may contract marriage with several -men, each one of the latter in his turn has power to enter several -conjugal associations. This matrimonial _régime_ is therefore perfectly -compatible with the maintenance of the population and the equilibrium -of the sexes. - - -V. _The Family among the Aborigines of Bengal._ - -If we proceed with our investigations by studying the familial and -matrimonial _régime_ of the aborigines of Bengal, we shall find, among -populations having probably a common origin, systems of family and -marriage which are very dissimilar. - -Here and there we discover the maternal family, or customs proving that -this familial fashion has formerly been in force. - -According to Buchanan, among the Buntar, who are neighbours to the -Naïrs, a father is free during his lifetime to make presents to his -children, but at his death all that he possesses goes to his sisters -and their children. The Kochh, also, have no kinship or succession -except through the women. The mothers arrange the marriages; the -fathers never interfere, and the husband goes to live with his wife and -his mother-in-law, whom he obeys. As for widows, they choose themselves -young husbands when they are rich. Among the Yerkalas of Southern -India, the maternal uncle has the right to claim for his sons the two -eldest daughters of his sister.[1008] Among the Khasias, it is to the -son of the sister that the power of the Rajah is transmitted; but -this princess (_Kunwari_) has not the right to marry herself; she is -subject to reasons of state, and her husband is chosen by the assembled -people.[1009] The Garos have established the rule, that in marriages -the right of initiative belongs to the woman; it is the young girl who -distinguishes the man of her choice, tells him so, and invites him to -follow her. Any advance made by a man is considered as an insult to all -the clan (_mahari_) of the girl, and in order to expiate it, libations -of beer and sacrifices of pigs are required, all of them at the expense -of the _mahari_ of the man. The marriage of the Garos answers exactly -to the ceremony of capture, only the actors change parts; it is here -the bridegroom who pretends to refuse the bride, runs away and is -conducted by force to his future wife amidst the lamentations of his -relations.[1010] At the death of a man, among the Garos, the widow -remains mistress of the house, but the other property passes to a -collateral heir, who marries the widow and sometimes her daughter also. - -If we were to confine ourselves to the consideration and interpretation -of these facts only, we might naturally conclude that the familial -_régime_ of the aborigines of Bengal is maternal; but contradictory -facts are not wanting. Among the Bhuiyas, although the demand in -marriage is made by the girls, as with the Garos, the sons receive the -names of their male ascendants; the eldest son takes the name of the -grandfather; the second son takes that of the great-grandfather, and -the names of collaterals are given to the other sons.[1011] Among the -Muasis, it is the father who negotiates the marriage of his daughter, -or who sells her, rather, for a certain number of measures of rice -solemnly measured and delivered.[1012] - -Among the Malers of Rajmahal, it is again the father who places his -daughter’s hand in that of her future husband and exhorts him to love -his wife.[1013] The Kandhs have adopted succession in the masculine -line, with a division of property amongst the sons.[1014] The servitude -of the women amongst the Korwas is very great; they are oppressed with -work, and till the fields and gain the daily bread, whilst the men -hunt or repose.[1015] The Mishmis buy their wives, have as many as -they can procure, and own them like chattels, since at a man’s death -all his wives, except the mother of the heir, pass to the nearest male -relation.[1016] Among the Mundas, after the decease of the father of -a family, the sons live together until the majority of the youngest -of them; they then proceed to divide the property, including their -sisters, who are exactly assimilated to cattle.[1017] The Oraons share -the widows amongst the brothers and cousins in the same way as the -Mundas share their sisters.[1018] - -We find, therefore, no uniformity in the familial organisation of the -Bengalese aborigines; and it is the same in regard to their exogamy -or endogamy. Exogamy is common. Thus the Juangas are divided into -exogamous tribes.[1019] The Khonds think it humiliating to marry the -women of their own tribe. It is more manly, in their opinion, to go -and _take_ a wife from a distant neighbourhood.[1020] The Munniporees -are divided into four clans, who do not intermarry.[1021] Among the -Santals, it is forbidden to men to marry in their own clan; but -their children belong to the paternal clan.[1022] The Limboos (near -Darjeeling) are also exogamous, but evidently oscillate between the -maternal and paternal family; for the daughters remain in the tribe -or rather in the clan of their mother, whilst the sons belong to the -paternal clan, but only after the father has paid a certain sum to the -mother.[1023] The Garos are divided into several clans or _maharis_, -and, amongst them, a man must not marry in his own clan, but in another -appointed clan, in which from time immemorial his family has been -accustomed to take wives. - -Other aborigines of Bengal are endogamous. Thus it is imperative for -the daughters of the Abors to marry in their own clan, or the sun and -moon would cease to shine.[1024] According to Heber, the Karens of -Tenasserim are more than endogamous, for among them marriages between -brother and sister, father and daughter, are frequent enough in the -present day.[1025] - -What may we deduce from these contradictory facts? A general -conclusion, which I have expressed several times over: namely, that in -what concerns the evolution of marriage and of the family, there is no -absolute law. Nevertheless, by reason of the familial and matrimonial -confusion usual in the greater number of primitive societies, maternal -filiation has been adopted more often than paternal, and has frequently -preceded it. - - -VI. _The Couvade._ - -There is a custom, at first sight extraordinary but still common -enough, which must have arisen during transitional epochs, when, -polygamic or monogamic marriage having become established, the husbands -have exerted themselves to affirm their parental rights, and to -substitute masculine filiation for the ancient uterine filiation. In -the same way as in certain countries, Abyssinia,[1026] for example, -in order to proclaim an adoption, the adoptive father simulates some -maternal practice, sometimes goes so far as to offer his breast -solemnly to his adoptive son, so, in very different countries, the -husband has found no better way to prove his paternity than to simulate -childbirth; and hence the very singular custom of the couvade. - -At first sight, it seems very foolish for the husband to take to his -bed immediately after the delivery of his wife, and for a certain -number of days to be nursed and tended by the mother herself. - -The existence of the custom has often been questioned. It will not be -out of place, therefore, to quote authentic facts which put all doubt -to silence. These facts are numerous enough, and have been observed in -various parts of the globe; in America, Asia, and Europe. - -In New Mexico, among the Lagunero and the Ahomana, when a woman is -delivered of a child, the father goes to bed for six or seven days, -and scrupulously abstains from eating fish or meat.[1027] As soon as a -Carib became a father, he at once went to bed and simulated childbirth -by suitable cries and contortions; the women of the hamlet hastened -to his side and congratulated him on his happy delivery.[1028] The -Choctaw Redskins formerly had an analogous custom. Brett and Im Thurn -have observed this “lying-in” among the Indians of Guiana. The father, -Brett says, goes to his hammock quite naked, taking the most indecent -posture, and he remains there some days as if he were ill, receiving -the congratulations of his friends and tended by the women of the -neighbourhood, whilst the mother of the new-born infant goes about her -cooking without receiving any attention.[1029] - -The testimony of the Jesuit Dobritzhoffer, in regard to the Abipones, -is not less explicit: “Among the Abipones of South America,” he says, -“as soon as the wife has given birth to a child, the husband is put to -bed, and carefully tended; he fasts for a certain time. You would swear -that it is he who has just been delivered. I had formerly read of this -and smiled at it, not being able to credit such folly, and supposing -that this barbarous custom was related more as a joke than seriously, -but at last I have seen it with my own eyes amongst them.”[1030] More -recent testimony confirms what I have just quoted. In 1842 M. Mazé, -Commissioner-General in French Guiana, himself proved the custom of -couvade among the Indian tribes on the river Oyapok. In 1852 M. Voisin, -justice of the peace in a commune of French Guiana, ascending in a -canoe the river Mana, received hospitality one night in the hut of some -Galibi Indians. On awaking he learned that during the night, and behind -a partition of foliage which separated his hammock from the household -of his hosts, a child had been born. The mother had uttered no sound, -and at daybreak M. Voisin saw her go to the river-side and make her -toilet, then take her new-born child and throw it several times into -the water, catching it as it rose to the surface, and then wiping it -with her hands. The husband, on the contrary, remained all the while -in his hammock, acting the invalid, and receiving with the greatest -seriousness the attention lavished on him by his wife.[1031] - -The couvade comedy is not always so complete. In certain tribes it is -attenuated, and becomes more symbolic. - -Thus in California, when the mother is delivered, the father is content -to keep to the house and abstain from eating fish and meat.[1032] - -Among various tribes of South America the husband of the woman limits -the practice to a few hygienic precautions; this is the couvade reduced -to its simplest expression.[1033] - -This custom was found in Asia, among the Tartars, by Marco Polo. It -still exists in Bengal, among the Larkas, although attenuated; on -the occasion of a birth the parents quit the house, the wife and -husband are both declared unclean for eight days, and during that -time the husband cooks the food. After which the masculine filiation -of the child is proclaimed by solemnly giving him the name of his -grandfather.[1034] We shall be mistaken if we imagine that the couvade -is special to very inferior races. The Greco-Roman writers have quoted -a certain number of examples observed among the barbarians of the -ancient world. Strabo relates that the Iberian women, after the example -of those of the Celts, Thracians, and Scythians, quit their beds as -soon as they are delivered, and give them up to their husbands, whom -they tend.[1035] Diodorus tells us that in Corsica, after a woman -has given birth to a child, the husband goes to bed as if he were -ill, and he remains there an appointed number of days like a lying-in -woman.[1036] - -In his _Argonautica_ Apollonius of Rhodes speaks of a people of -Tibarenedes, on the north-west coast of Asia Minor, who had the custom -of the couvade: “As soon as the married women are delivered, their -husbands groan, lie on beds, and cover their heads. All this time their -wives give them strengthening food, and prepare baths for them suitable -for lying-in women.”[1037] It is probable that more than one trace of -this “lying-in” still exists in Europe, in superstitious and popular -practices. Quite recently a Russian has informed me that it is still in -use in the Baltic provinces, but naturally in a form of survival in -which the meaning is lost. It is, however, complete enough; the husband -goes to bed, utters groans and cries, and his neighbours hasten to his -side. And lastly, M. Léon Donnat told me lately that he had discovered -the couvade still practised in the little island of Marken, in the -Zuydersee. - -However strange it may be, a custom that is thus widely spread in -countries, races, and epochs extremely diverse must have had a serious -_raison d’être_. It cannot be attributed to mere caprice. - -Now the only plausible explanation is that which gives to the couvade -the value of our registry of birth. Not, perhaps, all over the world, -but here and there, at the moment when the effort was being made -to found the paternal family, or at least to determine masculine -filiation, some very simple-minded tribes conceived the idea of -symbolising the share of the man in procreation by the gross mimicry -of childbirth. By this practice, so well calculated to strike the -attention, the father openly affirmed his paternity, and doubtless -acquired certain rights over the new-born child. Let us note that the -custom has been especially preserved among the American Indians, that -is to say, in a country where the system of the maternal family has -been, and still is, widely spread. The couvade probably represents -an effort to emerge from it. It shows that the man will no longer -share his wife or wives, that he claims to have children which are -certainly his own, and who will doubtless inherit his possessions. It -is, in short, a revolt of individualism against primitive communism. -The mimicry is gross and strange, but in a social condition where -there exists neither lawyer, nor mayor, nor register of civil acts, -testimonial proof is the great resource, and, in order to make it -sure and durable, men have willingly had recourse to striking and -complicated practices which are calculated to engrave the remembrance -of a fact on the memory of those present. - -The procedure of primitive Rome offers us many examples of the same -kind; and notably in the formalities of emancipation, when the Roman -father made, three times in succession, a simulation of selling his -son. - - -VII. _The Primitive Family._ - -In the preceding pages I have collected together, with as much -exactitude as I could, all that we know of the familial clan and the -maternal family. It would be bold to assert that such have been the -primitive and always necessary forms of the family. It is indisputable, -however, that they are or have been very common in all countries and -in all races. But these are types of familial association already -regulated and complicated. Anterior to them there must have existed, in -the little human hordes, a complete anarchy, most often characterised -by the despotism of the strongest male, dominating a small flock of -women and children, who were meekly submissive to his caprices--in -fact, a sort of bestial patriarchate. Among thinly-scattered races, -without intelligence or industry, practical monogamy was established at -the very outset. We know that this was the case with the stupid Veddahs -of Ceylon, when they wandered in simple families in the virgin forests -of their island, incapable of constituting even the smallest horde. As -soon as men have grouped themselves in small societies, regulated even -in a slight degree, the familial clan with its confused kinship must -frequently have been constituted, but on plans which were necessarily -variable according to the conditions and exigencies of the social life. -All that was possible has surely been attempted; sometimes regulated -promiscuity, for each man claimed his rights, sometimes the mixed -polyandric and polygynic household, elsewhere simple polyandry, when -the women were scarce, and at other times monogamy. - -I repeat, all that was compatible with the maintenance of the little -social group must have been tried at first; and then selection assured -the permanent adoption of such or such a system. As soon as men began -to take note of descent, it was always uterine filiation that they held -in account; paternal descent was less evident, and less easy to prove; -it has been nearly everywhere the latest, and the widely-spread custom -of the couvade proves that it was not established without difficulty. -It has ended, however, by triumphing, all over the world, in the -states that are still barbarous, but which have a complex social and -political structure, where the primitive tribal _régime_ has more or -less disappeared, and where a line of demarcation sufficiently strong -separates the interests of the individual from those of the group to -which he belongs. In short, the social transformation from which the -paternal family has arisen has nearly always coincided with a radical -change in the _régime_ of property, which has simultaneously become -individual or, at least, familial. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[976] Layland, _Journal of Ethnological Society_, 1869. - -[977] Bosman, _Voyage en Guinée_, p. 197. - -[978] Bowdich, _Observations sur le Gouvernement des Achantis_ -(collection Walkenær, t. xii.). - -[979] A. Giraud-Teulon, _Orig. de la Famille_, p. 216. - -[980] Herbert Spencer, _Sociology_, vol. ii. p. 340. - -[981] Burton, _Journey to the Great Lakes_, p. 37. - -[982] A. Giraud-Teulon, _loc. cit._, p. 211. - -[983] L. Magyar, _Reisen in Süd-Africa_, pp. 256, 284. - -[984] Ch. Letourneau, _Bull. Soc. d’Anthrop._, 1872. - -[985] Levaillant, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxiv. p. 210. - -[986] R. and J. Lander, _Hist. Univ. des Voy._, t. xxx. p. 244. - -[987] Laing, _Hist. Univ. des Voyages_, t. xxviii. p. 106. - -[988] Burton, _First Footsteps_, etc., p. 420. - -[989] _Equatorial Africa._ - -[990] Noël, _Bull. Soc. de Geogr._, t. xx. p. 294 (quoted by -Giraud-Teulon). - -[991] A. Giraud-Teulon, _Orig. de la Famille_, p. 209. - -[992] _Id._, _ibid._ p. 208. - -[993] _Id._, _ibid._ p. 248. - -[994] A. Giraud-Teulon, _Orig. de la Famille_, p. 233. - -[995] _Id._, _ibid._ p. 232. - -[996] Diodorus, i. 27. - -[997] Herodotus, ii. 143. - -[998] _Id._, i. 27. - -[999] _Lettres édifiantes_, t. iv. p. 327 (_Voyage en Éthiopie du -médecin, Ch. J. Poncet_, en 1698-1700). - -[1000] A. Giraud-Teulon, _Orig. de la Famille_, p. 258. - -[1001] Surat, iv. 27. - -[1002] Marsden, _Hist. of Sumatra_, p. 262. - -[1003] A. Giraud-Teulon, _Orig. de la Famille_, pp. 199, 200, etc. - -[1004] Marsden, _Hist. of Sumatra_. - -[1005] Wallace, _Malay Archipelago_, vol. ii. p. 169. - -[1006] A. Giraud-Teulon, _loc. cit._, p. 265. - -[1007] Bachofen, _Antiq. Briefe_, pp. 216, 278 (quoted by A. -Giraud-Teulon, _loc. cit._, pp. 150, 154). - -[1008] Schortt, _Trans. Ethn. Soc._, vol. vii. (New Series). - -[1009] Dalton, _Ethnology of Bengal_, p. 54. - -[1010] Dalton, _Ethnology of Bengal_, p. 63. - -[1011] _Id._, _ibid._ p. 142. - -[1012] _Id._, _ibid._ p. 233. - -[1013] _Id._, _ibid._ p. 273. - -[1014] _Id._, _ibid._ p. 294. - -[1015] _Id._, _ibid._ p. 226. - -[1016] _Id._, _ibid._ p. 16. - -[1017] Dalton, _Ethnology of Bengal_, p. 200. - -[1018] _Id._, _ibid._ p. 272. - -[1019] _Id._, _ibid._ p. 158. - -[1020] Macpherson, _Report on the Khonds.--Account of the Religion of -the Khonds in Orissa_, p. 57. - -[1021] MacCulloch, _Account of the Valley of Munniporees_, etc., pp. -49, 69. - -[1022] Hunter, _Annals of Rural Bengal_, p. 236. - -[1023] A. Giraud-Teulon, _Orig. du Mariage_, p. 266. - -[1024] Dalton, _Ethnology of Bengal_, p. 28. - -[1025] Herbert Spencer, _Sociology_, vol. ii. p. 218. - -[1026] D’Abbadie, _Douze ans dans la haute Éthiopie_, p. 272. - -[1027] Bancroft, _Native Races_, etc., vol. i. p. 585. - -[1028] Du Tertre, _Histoire des Antilles_ (1667), t. ii. p. 371. - -[1029] A. Giraud-Teulon, _Orig. du Mariage_, p. 138. - -[1030] _Historia de Abiponibus_ (1784), vol. ii. p. 231. - -[1031] _Bull. Soc. d’Anthrop._ (July 1884). - -[1032] Bancroft, _Native Races_, vol. i. p. 412. - -[1033] A. d’Orbigny, _L’homme Américain_, t. i. p. 237. - -[1034] Dalton, _Ethnology of Bengal_, p. 190. - -[1035] Strabo, iii. 16. - -[1036] Diodorus, v. 14. - -[1037] _Argonautica_, ii. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX. - -THE FAMILY IN CIVILISED COUNTRIES. - - I. _The Family in China._--Filiation in Japan--Traces of ancient - fraternal filiation in China--Fictitious kinship in China--The - patriarchate in China--The Chinese clan--The idea of the family in the - political organisation. - - II. _The Family among the Semitic Races._--The primitive clan among - the Arabs--The primitive clan among the Hebrews--Laws of inheritance - among the Hebrews--The uterine sister and the german sister--The - maternal family in Phœnicia. - - III. _The Family among the Berbers._--Meaning of the word - “Berber”--Maternal filiation among the ancient Berbers and - Touaregs--Traces of the ancient organisation of the clan among the - Kabyles--The actual patriarchate among the Kabyles--Categories of - heirs. - - IV. _The Family in Persia._--No trace of the familial clan and of - exogamy--Incestuous endogamy--Marriage by rent in modern Persia--The - right of primogeniture. - - V. _The Family in India._--The family in Vedic India--The patriarchate - in the Code of Manu--The right of primogeniture--Paternity by - suggestion--Traces of the familial clan and of the maternal family in - Tamil India and Ceylon. - - VI. _The Greco-Roman Family._--The primitive _gens_--Maternal - filiation in Crete, in primitive Athens--Uterine fraternity and german - fraternity--Paternal filiation in the _Orestes_--The _Patria potestas_ - at Rome. - - VII. _The Family in Barbarous Europe._--The Celtic clan--Incestuous - endogamy of the Irish--The Slav _mir_--Traces of maternal filiation in - Germany and among the Picts. - - -I. _The Family in China._ - -In order to study the family under the latest forms that it has -assumed, we must set aside all strict distinction of race. Doubtless -the white races have ended by excelling the others, and by attaining -a higher degree of moral, social, and intellectual development. -Nevertheless, the ethnic groups, belonging to the races classed -together _en bloc_ as inferior, have emerged from savagery, and formed -large societies, which have been veritable training schools for the men -of their race. - -Now, in all the States which have succeeded in attaining some degree -of civilisation, the paternal family is the type that has been finally -adopted. It was thus in Peru, in Mexico, and even in ancient Egypt, -where King Philometor gave the finishing stroke to the maternal family -which had so long flourished in the valley of the Nile. With much more -reason in China, a country very civilised after its own fashion, an -analogous evolution must have been effected. Indeed, in China proper, -there are scarcely any traces of the maternal family left; but they are -still visible in Japan, whose civilisation has been entirely borrowed -from China. - -In Japan, as formerly among the Basques, filiation is subordinated to -the transmission of the patrimony whole and inalienated. It is to the -first-born, whether boy or girl, that the inheritance is transmitted, -and he or she is forbidden to abandon it. At the time of marriage -the husband or wife must take the name of the heir or heiress, who -marries and personifies the property. Filiation is therefore sometimes -maternal and sometimes paternal; but the maternal uncle still bears the -name of “second little father”; the paternal aunt is called “little -mother,” the paternal uncle is called “little father,” etc.[1038] -Marriage between groups of brothers and other groups of sisters has -been common enough in primitive societies to enable us to see in this -familial nomenclature the traces of one of those ancient unions at once -monogamic and polygamic. - -In China the language itself attests the ancient existence of a -marriage contracted by a group of brothers having their wives in -common, but not marrying their sisters. A Chinaman always calls the -sons of his brother his “sons,” whilst he considers those of his -sister as his nephews;[1039] but the virtual, or rather fictitious -fathers, brothers, and sons, are distinguished from the real fathers, -brothers, and sons, by the epithet “class” added to their appellation. -Thus they say, “class-father, class-son, class-brother”--that is to -say, the man who belongs to the class of the father, to that of the -son, or to that of the brother. It is therefore simply the American -nomenclature perfected.[1040] We have previously seen that in China -proper, not only the paternal family, but the patriarchate, are -rigorously established; that woman is in extreme subjection, and always -disinherited;[1041] but certain impediments to marriage can only relate -to an ancient familial organisation which has now disappeared. In all -the vast Chinese empire there are scarcely more than from one to two -hundred family names, and the Chinese call themselves the “people of a -hundred families.” Now in China all marriage between persons bearing -the same name is prohibited.[1042] In certain villages every one has -the same family name; two or three thousand persons, for example, are -called “sheep,” “ox,” “horse,” etc., all of them appellations agreeing -well with clans having corresponding _totems_.[1043] But however it -may have been in the past, at the present day masculine filiation is -well established in China, and nine degrees of kinship in the direct -line are distinguished, which an old Chinese author has enumerated -as follows:--“All men who come into the world have nine degrees of -kinship--namely, my own generation in the first place, then that of -my father, of my grandfather, and of the father and grandfather of my -grandfather. In a descending line come the generation of my son, that -of my grandson, then that of his son and his grandson. All the members -of one same generation are brothers to each other.”[1044] Let us note -that this filiation, short as it is, is still associated with kinship -by classes. - -Doubtless these accounts, taken alone, would be insufficient, but -united with those which the study of the family among the Australians, -the Redskins, the Tamils, etc., has furnished us with, they warrant us -in believing that the Chinese paternal family is the last term of an -evolution having for its starting-point the familial clan, and having -passed through the maternal family. - -Let us add, in conclusion, that the system of fictitious kinships is -reflected throughout the governmental organisation of China. In reality -the political structure of China is only an enlarged copy of the -family. The emperor is the reputed father and even mother of all the -empire. The mandarin who governs a town is the “father” of that town, -and he himself has for “governmental father” the mandarin of a superior -grade, whom he obeys.[1045] - -We shall now discover traces of a similar evolution of the family among -the Semites and Berbers. - - -II. _The Family among Semitic Races._ - -When we read the word “patriarch” in our current literature, our -thoughts instantly fly to the chief of the ancient Semitic, and -especially the Hebraic family, the little tyrant holding grouped -under his despotic sway his wives, children, and slaves--that is to -say, the patriarchate in all its severity, with the power of life and -death attributed to the patriarch. But this Semitic patriarch has -not existed from the beginning; he is the result of a long anterior -evolution, and, like so many other peoples, the Semites have begun with -the confused kinship of the familial clan. We have previously found, -in studying primitive marriage among the Arabs, an ancient _régime_ of -free polyandry, analogous to that of the Naïrs. At this distant epoch -the woman still bore children for her clan, and this clan was so much -like a large family, that in the present day even, in certain parts of -Arabia, the word used for clan literally signifies “flesh.”[1046] To be -of the same clan, therefore, was to be of the same flesh. - -It was in a relatively recent epoch that paternal filiation was -established among the Arabs. In the time of the prophet the -prohibitions of marriage were still on the maternal side,[1047] and -in all ages the collateral kinship with uncles and aunts has been -considered very close in Arabia.[1048] - -Among the Hebrews, individual property was instituted in very early -times, for it is alluded to in Genesis.[1049] But various customs show -clearly the ancient existence of communal clans. Thus the inheritance, -especially the paternal inheritance, must remain in the clan. 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 not the inheritance of the children of Israel remove -from tribe to tribe; for every one of the children of Israel shall keep -himself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.”[1050] - -Moses instituted three classes of heirs: first the children, then the -agnates, and then the members of the clan or gentiles.[1051] The Hebrew -father did not inherit from his son, nor the grandfather from his -grandson, which seems to indicate an ancient epoch, when the children -did not yet belong to the clan of their father. - -For a long time among the Hebrews the german sister was distinguished -from the uterine sister; the kinship with this last was considered much -closer. In primitive Judæa a man could marry the first, but not the -second. To the King of Egypt and to Abimelech, who reproached Abraham -for having passed Sarah off as his sister, 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.” In the same way -Tamar could become the wife of Amnon, for she was only his paternal -sister.[1052] The father of Moses and Aaron married his father’s -sister, who was not legally his relation.[1053] Abraham himself could -marry his paternal sister, and his brother Nabor took to wife his -fraternal niece, the daughter of his brother.[1054] But by degrees -paternal kinship was recognised by the same title as maternal kinship, -and Leviticus advances as far as to expressly forbid marriage with -father’s sisters as well as with mother’s sisters,[1055] “whether -they be born at home or abroad.” Doubtless all these indications have -their value; they are, however, only indications, and it is especially -in placing them by the side of similar facts observed amongst other -peoples where the existence of the maternal family and the familial -clan is indisputable, that we are inclined to accord to them the same -significance. In short, it is clear that the Hebrews early adopted -paternal filiation and the patriarchate. - -The memory of a distant epoch of confused kinship and of free sexual -unions had, however, remained in Semitic tradition. Sanchoniathon, -indeed, in his _History of Phœnicia_, says that the first men bore the -name of their mother, because then the women yielded themselves without -shame to the first comer.[1056] Among the Berbers familial evolution is -much easier to follow than with the Semites, and its lower phases are -more evident. - - -III. _The Family among the Berbers._ - -During late years the meaning of the word “Berber” has become -considerably widened. We are now inclined to consider as varieties of -the same very old race the men of Cro-Magnon, the ancient inhabitants -of the cave of Mentone, the ancient Vascons, the Cantabrians, Iberians, -Guanchos, Kabyles, Berbers, and Touaregs, etc. All these peoples are -thought to belong to one great human type, which we may call Berber, -and of which numerous representatives still exist. Anterior to all -Asiatic migration, and from the time of the stone age, this race seems -to have occupied the south of Gaul and Spain, the Canary Isles, and -Northern Africa. At the present day the most important epigonic groups -of the Berber race are the Kabyles and the Touaregs of the Sahara. -Several writers of antiquity have told us how the family of the ancient -Berbers was formerly instituted, and we know _de visu_ what it is -among contemporary Berbers. We are therefore able to give a rough -outline of it. - -The general characteristics of the Berber family seem to have been a -privileged position accorded to women and maternal filiation, with -tendencies even to the matriarchate. Speaking of the Cantabrians, -Strabo writes: “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 gynecocracy.”[1057] The word gynecocracy is surely too strong. We -have here probably an account of a custom which still exists in Japan, -and which existed quite recently in Basque countries, that of leaving -to the first-born, whether boy or girl, the administration of the -inalienable patrimony of the family, and of obliging his or her wedded -partner to take the name and abode of the family. This is what M. le -Play has formerly called the family-stock; but this family-stock may, -and doubtless must, have co-existed primitively with maternal filiation. - -This last is still in force among the Touaregs of the Sahara, and I -have previously spoken of the great independence which their women -enjoy, and especially the rich and noble ladies. At Rhât, for example, -by inheritances and by the accumulation of productions, it has come to -pass that nearly the whole of the real property has fallen into the -hands of the women.[1058] We know that in ancient Egypt, where the -Berbers were largely represented, the women also enjoyed a very similar -position. As a consequence of this _régime_, the rights and pretensions -of the Berber ladies have become so inconvenient for the men, that many -of them prefer to marry slaves.[1059] The family among the Touaregs -will surely evolve, as it formerly did in Egypt, and as it has done -with the Kabyles, where the most rigorous patriarchate has at length -replaced the ancient maternal family. In Kabyle, however, traces of the -ancient organisation, anterior to Rome and to Islamism, still exist. -The Kabyle village has, in its tribe, a political personality which -strongly recalls the clan. Many customs, indeed, are evident survivals -of an ancient communal organisation. Thus, with the Kabyles, mutual -assistance between fellow-citizens is a strict duty. Even in a foreign -land the fellow-citizen must be helped, at the risk of all interests -and at the peril of one’s life. Whoever fails in this duty incurs -public contempt; he is even punished with a fine, and made responsible -for the losses suffered by the deserted compatriot. Even the Kabyle of -another tribe must, at need, be succoured, or his tribe may bring a -plaint before the _djemâa_ of the tribe to which the egoist belongs, -and the latter is punished or reprimanded. - -In a Kabyle village, when an individual erects a building, he has -a right to the assistance of all the inhabitants. In the same -way the greater part of the field labour is performed by mutual -assistance.[1060] But all this refers to the men; for women there -remains no trace either of the maternal family or of the more or less -serious advantages which it generally confers on wives and mothers. One -custom, however, and one only, still recalls ancient manners; this is -“the right of rebellion,” of which I have spoken elsewhere. - -We are acquainted with the date at which the last seal was placed on -the subjection of the Kabyle woman. It was only a hundred and twenty -years ago that the men refused henceforth a legal position to women in -the succession of males.[1061] At present the Kabyle woman, whether -married or not, no longer inherits.[1062] - -The Kabyle _Kanouns_ admit six categories of heirs: 1st, the _açeb_ -or universal heirs--that is to say, all the male descent, the direct -line through males, and all the collaterals descending through males of -the paternal branch; 2nd, the ascendants through males on the paternal -side--the father, grandfather, and great-grandfather; 3rd, the uterine -brother, heir to a legal portion; 4th, the master and the freed man, -_açeb_ heirs of each other; 5th, the _karouba_--that is to say, the -community having its assembly of major citizens, the _djemâa_, and -being a civil personage;[1063] 6th, the _ensemble_ of the _karoubas_, -constituting the village. However, the collaterals of all degrees may -inherit in default of ascendants and descendants.[1064] In all this -list there is no mention of women. - -In fact, whatever property a Kabyle woman may have been able -laboriously to amass, it falls to the male descent, to the ascendants, -or to the husband, or to the collaterals in the paternal line. It is -only in default of this cloud of male heirs that the succession to the -property gained by a Kabyle woman devolves at last on her daughters, -or her mother or grandmother.[1065] From all the preceding facts, and -in spite of gaps in our information, we may, however, suppose that in -the Berber world also the family has evolved in passing through three -degrees, which we have already found amongst various races, and which -are the communal clan, the maternal family, and the patriarchate. - - -IV. _The Family in Persia._ - -This evolution seems therefore very common; it is a general fact, but -we are not yet warranted in calling it a law. Thus, as far as our -information goes, which it is true is not very complete, no trace of it -is to be found among the ancient Persians, with whom we will now begin -our interrogation of the Aryan races, from the point of view of their -familial organisation. If the familial clan with confused kinship has -ever existed in ancient Persia, it can only have been at an extremely -remote epoch; there is no trace of it in the _Avesta_. And more than -this, the most ancient accounts show us the patriarchal family, in the -Hebraic sense of the word, instituted among the Mazdeans: a legitimate -wife, purchased from her parents, and by the side of her a greater or -less number of concubines; and lastly, dominating all the rest, the -father of the family, having the right of life or death over the wives -and children.[1066] - -Not only does the clan not exist, but exogamy is replaced by the -most incestuous of endogamies. Thus Strabo relates that, following -a very ancient custom, the Magi might have commerce with their own -mothers.[1067] According to Ctesias, marriage between mother and son -was a common thing in Persia, and this not from sudden passion, but -by deliberate proposal, “by false judgment.”[1068] Lucian, on his -part, says expressly that marriage between brother and sister among -the Persians was perfectly legal. Indeed, in various passages of the -_Avesta_, consanguineous unions are recommended and praised.[1069] -In the eyes of the Mazdeans, whose sacred code expressly forbade all -alliance with infidels, endogamy, even when excessive, was evidently -moral; and they encouraged it to such a degree as to approve of the -kind of incest which is regarded as the most criminal by nearly all -other peoples. Neither is there any trace of the matriarchate in -ancient Persia, unless we choose to see a vestige of it in the legend -according to which, in the time of the mythic monarchies, the eldest -daughter of the king had the right to choose her husband herself. -For this purpose all the young nobles of the country were assembled -together at a festival, and the princess signified her preference by -throwing an orange to the man who pleased her best.[1070] I mention -this tradition that I may omit nothing, but it evidently constitutes a -most insignificant proof. Modern Persia, being Mahometan, has regulated -marriage and the family in accordance with the Koran. We find, however, -by the side of the perpetual marriage which only death or divorce can -dissolve, a form of conjugal union less solemn and more ephemeral, and -which is not generally recognised by law in countries even slightly -civilised. I speak of marriages for a term, or rather the hiring of a -wife for a time and for a fixed price. Unions of this kind are legal in -Persia. They are agreed on before the judge, and at the expiration of -the contract, or rather the lease, the interested parties may renew the -engagement if they think well. In a contrary case, the woman can only -contract another union of the same kind after a delay of forty days. If -before the expiration of the conjugal lease the man desires to break -it, he can do so, but only on condition of placing in the hands of the -woman the total sum stipulated in the contract.[1071] The offspring -of these temporary unions, or of any sort of union, are all equal -before the Persian law, which merely subjects them to the right of -primogeniture. At the death of the father, the eldest son, though born -of a slave mother, takes two-thirds of the succession. The remaining -third of the property is divided amongst the other children, but in -such a way that the share of the boys is half as large again as that -of the girls.[1072] This right of primogeniture and these advantages -granted to boys exclude all idea of maternal filiation in the customs -of modern Persia, and we have seen that there was no trace of it in -ancient Persia; this race therefore seems not to have passed through -the phase of the maternal family, nor perhaps through that of the clan. - - -V. _The Family in India._ - -In India, on the contrary, certain customs and traditions appear to be -true survivals, relating to an ancient organisation of exogamic clans -with maternal filiation. But of these old customs the sacred books -retain no trace. In Vedic India the family is already patriarchal, -since the husband is called _pati_, which signifies master; but this -Vedic family is of a most restricted kind. It is composed, essentially -and simply, at first of the husband and wife, who become the father -and the mother; then of the son and of the daughter, who are mutually -brother and sister. The grandparents belong to the anterior family; the -uncles and aunts are part of the collateral families.[1073] The Code -of Manu is already less exclusive, for it admits, as we shall see, a -fictitious filiation; but it is still patriarchal, and, according to -Manu, the daughters occupy an entirely subordinate position. It is -a son and a chain of male descendants that it is important to have; -religion even makes it an obligation; for the ancestors of any man -who has not a son to perform in their honour the sacrifice to the -manes, or the _Srâddha_, are excluded from the celestial abode. It -is necessary to have a son to “pay the debt of the ancestors.” “By a -son, a man gains heaven; by the son of a son, he obtains immortality; -by the son of this grandson, he rises to dwell in the sun.”[1074] The -Code of Manu already proclaims the right of primogeniture. It is by -means of the eldest son that a man pays the debt of the ancestors; it -is therefore he who ought to have everything; his obedient brothers -will live under his guardianship, as they have lived under that of the -father,[1075] on condition, however, that if the sons are of different -mothers, the mothers of the younger ones are not of superior rank to -that of the mother of the eldest son.[1076] The son of a brahmanee, -for example, would not yield precedence to the son of a _kchâtriya_: -caste is always of the first consideration. But the quality of son -may be acquired otherwise than by community of blood. Thus a husband -may, as we have seen, have his sterile wife fertilised by his younger -brother. The child thus conceived is reputed to be son of the husband; -nevertheless, in the succession, he is given the share of an uncle -only, and not the double share to which he would have had a right if he -had been the real son[1077] by flesh and blood. If a man has the great -misfortune to have only daughters, he can obviate this by charging -his daughter to bear him a son. For this purpose, it suffices for him -to say mentally to himself: “Let the male child that she gives birth -to become mine, and fulfil in my honour the funeral ceremony.”[1078] -The son thus engendered by mental incest and by suggestion, as we -should say to-day, is perfectly authentic. He is not a grandson, but -a real and true son, and he inherits all the fortune of his maternal -grandfather, with the light charge on it of offering two funeral -cakes--one to his own father, his father according to the flesh, -the other to his maternal grandfather, or father according to the -spirit.[1079] The law of Manu does not totally disinherit daughters, -but it cuts down their share considerably. Under pain of degradation, -brothers must give their sisters, but only to their german sisters, -the fourth of their share, to enable them to marry.[1080] Another -verse[1081] accords to the daughter the inheritance of the maternal -property, composed of what has been given to the mother at her -marriage. But to be capable of inheriting, this daughter must still -be celibate. In the contrary case, she merely receives a present. In -short, the whole Brahmanic code is based, in what concerns the family, -on masculine filiation and the patriarchate. Nevertheless, customs that -are kept up by the side of it, and doubtless in spite of it, prove that -in certain parts of India there must formerly have existed exogamic -clans and a system of maternal filiation. - -But it is important to remark that these survivals are, or were, met -with especially in Tamil districts, in Malabar or Ceylon, which were -in great measure colonised by Tamils. In certain small kingdoms of -Malabar, as late as the seventeenth century, the right of succession -was transmitted through the mother; a princess could also, if she -pleased, marry an inferior.[1082] Custom still designated as brothers -to each other the children either of two brothers or two sisters, -but the children of the brother and of the sister were only german -cousins.[1083] Certain families never made any partition, thus -preserving the custom of the ancient familial clan.[1084] Wherever -feminine filiation prevailed, it was the sister’s son who succeeded -the defunct Rajah.[1085] So also in the eastern part of Ceylon, the -property was transmitted to the sister’s son, to the exclusion of the -sons.[1086] To conclude, I will mention the custom, also very widely -spread in India, of not marrying a woman of the same name. - -We must beware of exaggerating the value of these partial facts; they -permit us, however, to infer that in certain parts of India, and -especially among the Tamils, the family has at first been maternal, and -has slowly evolved from the primitive clan. - - -VI. _The Greco-Roman Family._ - -The chief object of this book being to study the evolution of the -family and of marriage, I need not describe in detail the Greco-Roman -family, which has, besides, served as a theme for so many writers. It -certainly appears, contrary to the opinion of the Romans themselves, -to have emerged tardily enough from the primitive clan or _gens_. This -Roman _gens_ was composed, really or fictitiously, of consanguine -individuals, living under an elected chief, and having the same name. -The union of several _gentes_ formed the _curia_ or the _phratry_. -Grouped together, the phratries or curiæ constituted _tribus_. -And lastly, the assembly of the tribus formed the nation: Rome or -Athens.[1087] It is therefore the clan, or _gens_, and not the family, -which has been at Rome, and at Athens the _cellule_, according to the -fashionable expression, of ancient society. - -At the dawn of history, these clans were already agnatic; they had -adopted paternal filiation, and each of them claimed a common masculine -ancestor; but the right of the _gens_ to the heritage, and in certain -cases the possession of an _ager publicus_, still proved the antique -community of property; and a number of indications and traditions -bore witness in favour of the existence of a prehistoric phase of the -maternal family, preceding agnation. Bachofen goes much further, and -not without a show of reason. He insists, for example, that kinship in -the Latin clan may at first have been confused. He alleges, on this -point, that in the time of Numa the word _parricide_ signified, not -the murder of a father, but that of a free man of some sort; that in -the family tribunal the cognates of the wife figured, and that the -cognates wore mourning for each other; that the cognates of the wife, -and those of the husband of a wife, had over her the _jus osculi_, or -the right of embracing her, etc.; lastly, that the Etruscan Servius, -the founder of plebeian liberty, was conceived, says the legend, during -a great annual festival, when the people reverted to primitive sexual -disorder.[1088] - -The Greek γένος resembled the Roman _gens_. Its members had a common -sepulture, common property, the mutual obligation of the _vendetta_, -and an archon.[1089] - -In the protohistoric clans of Greece maternal filiation was first -of all established. The Cretans said motherland (μητρίς), and not -fatherland (πατρίς). In primitive Athens the women had the right of -voting, and their children bore their name--privileges which were taken -from them, says the legend, to appease the wrath of Neptune, after an -inundation.[1090] Tradition also relates that at Athens, until the time -of Cecrops, children bore the name of their mother.[1091] - -Among the Lycians, says Herodotus, the matriarchate endured a long -time, and the children followed the status of their mother. Uterine -brothers were carefully distinguished from german brothers for a long -period in Greece; the former are called ὁμογάστριοι in Homer, and the -latter ὄπατροι; and uterine fraternity was regarded as much more close. -Lycaon, pleading with Achilles, says, in order to appease him, that he -is not the uterine brother of Hector.[1092] At Athens and Sparta a man -could marry his father’s sister, but not his mother’s sister.[1093] In -Etruria the funeral inscriptions in the Latin language make much more -frequent mention of the maternal than the paternal descent. Sometimes -they mention only the name of a child and that of his mother (Lars -Caius, son of Caulia, etc.); sometimes they indicate the father’s name -by simple initials, whilst that of the mother is written in full.[1094] - -As in so many other countries, the paternal family succeeded the -maternal family in the ancient world, but not without difficulty. To -begin with, the fact of marriage did not suffice alone to establish -paternal filiation; the declaration of the father was necessary, -as well in Greece as in Rome. In his _Oresteia_, Æschylus puts in -opposition before Minerva the old maternal right and the new paternal -right. The chorus of the Eumenides, representing the people, defends -the ancient customs; Apollo pleads for the innovators, 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.” 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; without a father, there could be no child.” These patriarchal -theories naturally consecrated the slavery of woman. The laws of Solon -still recognised the right of women to inherit, in default of paternal -relations of the male sex, to the fourth degree, but in the time of -Isæus the law refused to the mother any place among the heirs of her -son.[1095] - -In fact, throughout the historic period the Greco-Roman world is -patriarchal. In Greece and at Rome woman is despised, subjected, and -possessed like a thing; while the power of the father of the family is -enormous. It is especially so at Rome, where, nevertheless, the family -is not yet strictly consanguineous, for it includes the wife, children, -and slaves, and where agnation has for its basis the _patria potestas_. -“All those are agnates who are under the same paternal power, or who -have been, or who could be, if their ancestor had lived long enough to -exercise his empire.... Wherever the paternal power begins, there also -begins kinship. Adoptive children are relations.... A son emancipated -by his father loses his rights of agnation.”[1096] At the commencement -of Roman history, we see, therefore, clans, or _gentes_, composed of -families, of whom some are patrician--that is, able to indicate their -agnatic lineage--and the others plebeian. The “justæ nuptiæ” are for -the former; the latter unite without ceremony, _more ferarum_. The -family is possessed by the _pater familias_; he is the king and priest -of it, and becomes one of its gods when his shade goes to dwell among -the manes. In this last case, the family simply changes masters; -“the nearest agnate _takes the family_,” says the law of the Twelve -Tables. Something very similar existed in Greece, for we have seen -that at Athens the right of marrying their sisters, left to brothers -who were heirs, was not even exhausted by a first marriage.[1097] -The institution of individual, or rather familial property, that of -masculine filiation, and of patriarchal monogamy, dismembered the -_gens_, which at length became merely nominal. The law of the Twelve -Tables, however, still decides that the succession shall be vacant if, -at the death of the father, the nearest agnate refuses to “take the -family,” and in default of an agnate the _gentiles_ shall take the -succession. The nominal _gens_ persisted for a long time in the ancient -world; thus every Roman patrician had three names--that of his _gens_, -that of his family, and his personal name.[1098] At Athens, in the time -of Solon, the _gens_ still inherited when a man died without children. - -The long duration of Greco-Roman society enables us to follow the -whole evolution of the family in it. It would be going beyond the -facts to affirm the existence of a still confused consanguinity in -the ancient _gens_; but it seems very probable that this _gens_ first -adopted the maternal and then the paternal family, which last became -somewhat modified, in the sense of the extension of feminine rights. -This extension was slow, and it was not till the time of Justinian that -equal shares were given to sons and daughters in succession, or even -that widows were entrusted with the care of their children. - - -VII. _The Family in Barbarous Europe._ - -Organisation into clans more or less consanguineous, then into -phratries and tribes, seems natural in many primitive societies; and -outside the Greco-Roman world the barbarous populations of Europe had -all adopted it. In these clans, has kinship begun by being confused? -Has exogamy prevailed? On these particular points precise information -is wanting; doubtless evolution cannot everywhere have been uniform. -One thing is, however, certain, namely, that the Celtic populations -have preserved the institution of the clan much longer than any -others. In Wales and Ireland the clan was still the social unit; it -was responsible for the crimes of its members, paid the fines and -received the compensations. In Ireland, and surely elsewhere, there -was an _ager publicus_ allotted amongst the members of the clans. -Individualism prevailed in the end, as it did everywhere. A certain -portion of the common soil, reserved in usufruct for the chiefs, was at -last seized by them as individual property; but all the members of a -clan were reputed as of kin, and at a man’s death his land was allotted -by the chief amongst the other families of the clan or _sept_.[1099] -These clans, however, were anything but exogamous, if we may believe -Strabo, who affirms that the ancient Irish, like the Mazdeans, -married, without distinction, their mothers and sisters.[1100] Irish -marriage had in no way the strictness of the Roman marriage; temporary -unions were freely allowed, and customs having the force of law -safeguarded the rights of the wife.[1101] Other European barbarians, -on the contrary, were exogamous, and prohibited under pain of severe -punishment, as whipping or drowning, marriage between members of the -same clan.[1102] The _mir_ of the southern Slavs may be considered as -a survival of these ancient barbarous clans, sometimes endogamous, -sometimes exogamous. - -In becoming subdivided into families, have these little primitive -clans adopted maternal filiation? This is possible; but when they came -in contact with the Roman world the greater number had already the -paternal family. Let us notice, however, that the Irish law, far from -subjecting the mother, accorded her a position equal to that of the -father.[1103] Let us also recall the following passage of Tacitus[1104] -_à propos_ of the Germans: “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.” We may add to this that in Germany the mother could be the -guardian of her children;[1105] that the Salic law, _non emendata_, -admitted to the succession, in default of children, the father and -mother, the brothers and sisters, and then the sister of the mother -in preference to that of the father. Let us remember, also, that in -Slav communities women have a right to vote, and may be elected to the -government of the community;[1106] but this is still a long way off the -matriarchate, or even uterine filiation. The Saxon law (tit. vii.), the -Burgundian law (tit. xlv.), and the German law (tit. lvii. and xcii.) -only admit women to the succession in default of male ascendants; the -law of the Angles prefers paternal agnates, even to the fifth degree, -before women. - -To sum up, there are only two precise testimonies that may be quoted -in favour of the ancient existence of maternal filiation among the -barbarians of Europe--that of Strabo, relating to the Iberians; and the -case of the Picts, amongst whom the lists of kings show that fathers -and sons had different names, and that brothers succeeded instead of -sons.[1107] From this absence, or rather rarity, of proofs in favour of -the ancient existence of the maternal family among the barbarians of -Europe, must we conclude that it has never existed? Not at all; we can -only say that this ancient filiation is possible, and even probable, -but as yet insufficiently established. - -What cannot be disputed is, that always and everywhere peoples who are -in process of civilisation have adopted the paternal family, according -even excessive powers to the father of the family. What is probable -is, that in the majority of cases paternal filiation has succeeded to -maternal filiation and to more or less confused familial forms. Is -this paternal or even patriarchal family the final term of familial -evolution? Has evolution, never as yet arrested in its course, said its -last word in regard to marriage and the family? - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1038] Lubbock, _Orig. Civil._, p. 177. - -[1039] L. H. Morgan, _Systems of Consanguinity_, etc., in _Smithsonian -Contributions_, vol. xvii. pp. 416, 417. - -[1040] Morgan, _loc. cit._, p. 422. - -[1041] G. Eugène Simon, _La Famille Chinoise_, in _Nouvelle Revue_, -1883. - -[1042] Davis, _The Chinese_, vol. i. p. 282.--Pauthier, _Chine -moderne_, p. 238. - -[1043] A. Giraud-Teulon, _Orig. du Mariage_, p. 363. - -[1044] L. Morgan, _loc. cit._, pp. 416, 425. - -[1045] _Lettres édifiantes_, t. xv. p. 164. - -[1046] R. Smith, _Kinship_, etc., p. 148. - -[1047] R. Smith, _Kinship_, etc., pp. 147, 151. - -[1048] _Id._, _ibid._, p. 159. - -[1049] Genesis, xxiii. 13. - -[1050] Numbers, xxxvi. 4-8. - -[1051] Numbers, xxxii. 8-11. - -[1052] 2 Samuel, xiii. 16. - -[1053] Exodus, vi. 20. - -[1054] Genesis, xi. 26-29. - -[1055] Leviticus, xviii. 9. - -[1056] Eusebius of Cæsarea, _Preparation of Gospel_, i. - -[1057] Strabo, iii. 18. - -[1058] Duveyrier, _Touâreg du Nord_, p. 339. - -[1059] _Id._, _ibid._ - -[1060] Hanoteau et Letourneux, _Kabylie_, t. ii. p. 59. - -[1061] _Id._, _ibid._, t. ii. p. 283. - -[1062] _Id._, _ibid._, p. 286. - -[1063] E. Sabatier, _Essai sur l’origine des Berbères sédentaires_, in -_Revue d’Anthropologie_, 1882. - -[1064] Hanoteau et Letourneux, _Kabylie_, t. ii. pp. 287, 288. - -[1065] _Id._, _ibid._, t. ii. p. 297. - -[1066] Dareste, _Sur l’ancien droit des Perses_, in _Bull. -de l’Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques_, 23rd Oct. -1886.--Strabo, xv. 17. - -[1067] Strabo, xv. 20. - -[1068] _Sancti Joannis Chrysostomi_, Op. i. 384, and x. 573. - -[1069] A. Hovelacque, _Avesta_, p. 465. - -[1070] L. Dubeux, _La Perse_, p. 262. - -[1071] L. Dubeux, _La Perse_, p. 468. - -[1072] Chardin, _Hist. Univ. des Voyages_, t. xxxi. pp. 230, 236.--L. -Dubeux, _loc. cit._, p. 468. - -[1073] E. Burnouf, _Essai sur le Véda_, p. 190. - -[1074] _Code of Manu_, ix. 137. - -[1075] _Ibid._, 105, 106. - -[1076] _Ibid._, 125. - -[1077] _Ibid._, 120, 121. - -[1078] _Ibid._, 127. - -[1079] _Ibid._, 132. - -[1080] _Code of Manu_, ix. 118. - -[1081] _Ibid._, 131. - -[1082] _Lettres édifiantes_, t. xiv. p. 387. - -[1083] _Ibid._, p. 320. - -[1084] _Ibid._, t. xiv. p. 396. - -[1085] McLennan, _loc. cit._, p. 189. - -[1086] O. Sachot, _l’Île de Ceylan_, p. 27. - -[1087] L. Morgan, _Ancient Societies_, pp. 35, 67. - -[1088] Giraud-Teulon, _loc. cit._, p. 411. - -[1089] Grote, _Hist. of Greece_, vol. iii. p. 95. - -[1090] A. Giraud-Teulon, _loc. cit._, p. 289. - -[1091] Varro, quoted by St. Augustine, _City of God_, vol. xviii. p. 9. - -[1092] McLennan, _loc. cit._, p. 244. - -[1093] _Id._, _ibid._ pp. 177, 275. - -[1094] Ott. Müller and Bachofen (quoted by A. Giraud-Teulon, pp. 283, -284). - -[1095] Morgan, _Ancient Societies_, p. 548.--McLennan, _Primitive -Marriage_, p. 255. - -[1096] H. Maine, _Ancient Law_, pp. 141, 142. - -[1097] Isæus, _Heritage of Menecles_. - -[1098] A. Giraud-Teulon, _loc. cit._, p. 372. - -[1099] H. Maine, _Early Institutions_, pp. 113, 116, 124. - -[1100] Strabo, iv. 4. - -[1101] H. Maine, _loc. cit._, p. 76. - -[1102] Bell, _Journal of a Residence in Circassia_, vol. i. p. 347. - -[1103] H. Maine, _loc. cit._ - -[1104] _De moribus Germanorum_, xx. - -[1105] Laboulaye, _Recherches sur la condition civile et politique des -femmes_, etc., pp. 166, 167. - -[1106] A. Giraud-Teulon, _loc. cit._, pp. 41, 42. - -[1107] McLennan, _Primitive Marriage_, p. 101. - - - - -CHAPTER XX. - -MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY IN THE PAST, THE PRESENT, AND THE FUTURE. - - I. _The Past._--Sociology and evolution--Sociology and scientific - method--The biological reason of marriage and the family--Primitive - forms of marriage--Its evolution--Consanguineous primitive groups--The - evolution of the family--The stages of this evolution--From communism - to individualism--Advantages of the primitive clan--Polygamy and - statistics of births. - - II. _The Present._--Present marriage in Europe--The dangers of - celibacy according to A. Bertillon--They marry who can--Imperfect - categories of celibates--Money and matrimony--Selection by - money--Marriages by purchase. - - III. _The Future._--Prehistoric peoples still surviving--Progress - is the law of the world--The meaning of matrimonial and familial - evolution--Sociological rhythms--Future collective societies--The - family and society--Progress of conjugal discord--The marriage - of the future--Herbert Spencer and Montaigne--Slowness of social - evolutions--Conservatives and innovators--Nothing dies; everything is - renewed. - - -I. _The Past._ - -In the preceding chapters I have attempted to describe how men of all -countries and all races have more or less constituted and organised -their marriage and their family, and for this purpose I have patiently -classified a multitude of facts collected singly by an army of -observers. - -Moreover, in conformity with the method of evolution, and in order not -to neglect the most distant sources, I have prefaced my minute inquiry -into marriage and the family among men by an investigation of the same -kind in regard to animals. Man is neither a demi-god nor an angel; he -is a primate more intelligent than the others, and his relationship -with the neighbouring species of the animal kingdom is more strongly -shown in his psychic than in his anatomical traits. - -More than once, I fear, the accumulation of detailed facts which forms -the groundwork of this book may have fatigued my readers; but this is -the only condition on which it is possible to give a solid basis to -sociology. It is, in fact, nothing less than a matter of creating a -new science. We are scarcely beginning to be really acquainted with -mankind, to take a complete survey of it in time and space. Now this -would be quite impossible without the help of comparative ethnography. -We must regard the existing inferior races as survivals, as prehistoric -or protohistoric types that have persisted through long ages, and are -still on different steps of the ladder of progress; it is this view -alone which we shall find suggestive and enlightening; and it is in -strict correlation with the method of evolution, to which, indeed, it -owes its value. - -The innumerable dissertations on the history of marriage and of the -family which appeared previous to the rise of scientific method, have -necessarily been devoid of accuracy and especially of breadth of -thought. A thick veil concealed the real origin of these institutions; -religious legends, that had become venerable on account of their -antiquity, paralysed scientific investigation. To submit our social -institutions to the great law of evolution, by means of disagreeable -researches, was not to be tolerated by public opinion. In fact, if -marriage and the family have been constantly modified in the past, -we cannot maintain that these institutions will remain for ever -crystallised in their present state. Until this revolutionary idea had -taken root and become sufficiently acclimatised in public opinion, all -so-called social studies were scarcely more than empty lucubrations. -From time to time, no doubt, a few bold innovators, braving scoffs or -even martyrdom, have dared to construct theories of new societies; -but, being insufficiently informed, they could only create Utopias -contemned by the mass of the public. Scientific sociology builds -its edifice stone by stone; its duty is to bind the present to the -most distant past; its honour will lie in furnishing a solid basis -of operation to the innovators of the future; but this new branch -of human knowledge can only grow by submitting to the method of the -natural sciences. Before everything else, it is important to classify -the facts that have been observed. This course is imperative. It is -dry, and lends itself with difficulty to oratorical effusions, but no -other path can lead to the truth. My constant anxiety has been to be -faithful to it, and as an anthropologist I have especially borrowed -my materials from ethnography. Step by step, and following as much as -possible the hierarchic order of human races and of civilisations, I -have described the modes of marriage and of the family adopted by the -numerous varieties of the human type; I have endeavoured to note the -phases of their evolution, and to show how superior forms have evolved -from inferior ones. Now that I am at the end of my inquiry, it will be -well to sum up clearly its result. - -The prime cause of marriage and the family is purely biological; it is -the powerful instinct of reproduction, the condition of the duration -of species, and the origin of which is necessarily contemporaneous -with that of primal organisms, of protoplasmic monads, multiplying -themselves by unconscious scissiparity. By a slow specialisation -of organs and functions, in obedience to the laws of evolutionary -selection, various animal types have been created; and when they have -been provided with separate sexes and conscious nervous centres, -procreation has become a tyrannic need, driving males and females to -unite in order to fulfil the important function of reproduction. - -In this respect man is strictly assimilable to the other animals, and -with him as with them all the intoxication of love has for its initial -principle the elective affinity of two generating cellules of different -sex. So far, this is mere biology, but it results, among superior -animals, in sociological phenomena, in pairings which endure after the -satisfaction of procreative needs, and produce in outline some forms -of human marriage, or rather, of sexual union in humanity--namely, -promiscuity, polygamy, and even monogamy. Our most primitive ancestors, -our precursors, half men and half apes, have certainly had extremely -gross customs, which are still in great measure preserved among the -least developed races. - -The study, however, of contemporary savage societies proves to us that -absolutely unbridled promiscuity, without rule or restraint, is very -rare even in inferior humanity. In exceptional cases, individuals -of both sexes may have abandoned themselves, of common accord, to -promiscuity, as did the Polynesian _areoïs_; but these instances -relate to acts of debauchery, and not to a regulated social condition -compatible with the maintenance of an ethnic group. The conjugal form -nearest to promiscuity is the collective marriage of clan to clan--as, -for example, that of the Kamilaroi, amongst whom all the men of one -clan are reputed brothers to each other, and at the same time husbands -of all the women of a neighbouring clan, reputed also sisters to each -other. Other varieties of sexual association are more common, and -may be arranged under the general heads of promiscuity, polygamy, -polyandry, and monogamy. We hear also of temporary unions, marriages -for a term, and partial marriages concluded at a debated price for -certain days of the week only, etc. Every possible experiment, -compatible with the duration of savage or barbarous societies, has -been tried, or is still practised, amongst various races, without the -least thought of the moral ideas generally prevailing in Europe, and -which our metaphysicians proclaim as innate and necessary. Having -elsewhere demonstrated at length the relativity of morality, I will -not go over the ground again, but will quote on this point some lines -of Montaigne:--“The laws of conscience, which we pretend to be derived -from nature, proceed from custom; every one having an inward veneration -for the opinions and manners approved and received amongst his own -people, cannot without very great reluctancy depart from them, nor -apply himself to them without applause.... The common fancies that we -find in repute everywhere about us, and infused into our mind with the -seed of our fathers, appear to be most universal and genuine. From -whence it comes to pass, that whatever is off the hinges of custom -is believed to be also off the hinges of reason.”[1108] The partial -marriages of the Hassinyeh Arabs are surely off the hinges of our -custom; and it is the same with polyandry, which borders on these -partial marriages, but is much more widely spread. Like everything else, polyandric -marriage has evolved, from its most complete form, that of the Naïrs, -to the polyandry in use in Thibet, which already inclines towards -monandry and the paternal family. Primitive polyandry has easily arisen -from the marriage by classes practised by many savage clans; but most -often it is polygamy which has sprung from it. And the latter must -frequently have been established from the first in primitive hordes, -simply by the right of the strongest. - -Man may be monogamous in the very lowest degree of savagery and -stupidity; certain animals are so; but in humanity it is more often the -instinct of polygamy which predominates; and therefore, when in the -course of the progressive evolution of societies monogamy at length -became moral and legal, men have been careful to soften its rigour -by maintaining together with it concubinage and prostitution, and by -generally leaving to the husband the right of repudiation, which has -nearly always been refused to the wife. This injustice appeared quite -natural, for as the wife had usually been captured or bought, she was -considered as the property of the man, and held in strict subjection. -At length, in its last form, monogamic marriage, which had at first -been the association of a master and a slave, tended more and more to -become the union of two persons, living on a footing of equality. - -The family has undergone a similar evolution. Apart from a few -exceptional cases of precocious monogamy (Veddahs, Boshimans, etc.), -ethnography shows us the greater number of savage races living in -little consanguine groups, in which the kinship is still confused -and the solidarity strong. The degrees of consanguinity are not well -defined; real kinship is easily confounded with fictitious kinship, and -classes of relations are created, ranged under the same title, although -very differently united by ties of blood. The woman nearly always bears -children for her group, or clan, and this clan is very often exogamic; -this exogamy is practised from clan to clan, and only within the tribe. -There is no absolute rule, however, and it is not unusual to see -endogamy elbow exogamy. - -In the large and confused family of the clan, all the members of which -were bound together by a strict solidarity of interests and a real or -fictitious kinship, the restricted family became gradually established -by a reaction of individual interests. On account of the more or less -complete confusion of sexual unions, the first to become detached -from the consanguine clan was the maternal family, based on uterine -filiation, the only filiation capable of sure proof; but the great -association of all the members of the clan still existed. By the simple -fact of birth in this little ethnic group, the individual had rights to -the territory of the clan and his share in the common resources; his -clan were bound to give him aid, assistance, and, at need, vengeance -also. In proportion as the family assumed more distinct proportions -in the clan, it tended to become separate from it, and then, nearly -always, it was based not on maternal but on paternal filiation. This -did not come to pass in a day; it took a long time to arrive at the -point of attributing to such or such a man the ownership of one or -more women and their progeny. The ridiculous ceremonial of the couvade -was probably invented during this period of transition, when it was no -easy matter for a man to obtain the recognition of his paternal title -and rights by the other men of the clan. For a long time the maternal -family resisted the enthronisation of the paternal family, and here -and there it succeeded in maintaining its existence, and in serving as -a basis for the transmission of inheritance. For, whether paternal or -maternal, the institution of the family, when well consolidated, had -for its result the parcelling out of the possessions of the ancient -clans, and the creation of familial or individual property on the ruins -of the ancient common property. Finally, nothing more remained of the -clan, or _gens_, but the sign or _totem_, the name, and a kinship, also -nominal, between the various families that had come from it. - -The system and the vocabulary of kinship were then renewed; to the -classificatory mode, grouping the relations by classes, without much -care as to consanguinity, has succeeded the descriptive mode, which -carefully specifies the degree of consanguinity of each person, and -distinguishes a direct line from collateral lines, and in which each -individual is the centre of a group of relations. - -In a remarkable book, which has not yet had all the success it -deserves, Lewis Morgan believes he has recognised five stages in the -evolution of the family: 1st, the family is consanguineous--that is -to say, founded on the marriage of brothers and sisters of a group; -2nd, several brothers are the common husbands of their wives, who -are not sisters; 3rd, a man and woman unite, but without exclusive -cohabitation, and with faculty of divorce for one or the other; 4th, -then comes the pastoral family of the Hebrews, the marriage of one man -with several women; but this patriarchal form has not been universal; -5th, at last appeared the family of civilised societies, the most -modern, characterised by the exclusive cohabitation of one man and one -woman. Not taking this classification too literally, and reserving a -place for varieties and exceptions, we have here five stages which mark -tolerably well the evolution of the family in humanity. - -The moral direction of this slow transformation is evident; it proceeds -from a communism more or less extensive to individualism; from the -clan, where all is solidarity, to the family and the individual, having -their own interests, which are as distinct as possible from those -of other families and other individuals. Each one has endeavoured -to get for himself as large a share as possible of that which was -formerly held in common; each man has aimed at obtaining a more and -more exclusive right over property, wife, and children. From these -appetites, more economic than ethereal, have at length proceeded -the patriarchal family, monogamy, and familial property, and later, -individual property;[1109] the _régime_ of the family and that of -property have evolved in company. But this transformation has been -effected by extremely slow degrees; for a long time the new _régime_ -bore the mark of the old one in certain rights reserved to the clan, in -certain prohibitions, in certain obligations, which still imposed some -solidarity on individuals--as, for example, the legal injunction to -help a man in peril, to hasten to the assistance of a village plundered -by robbers, the general duty of hospitality, etc.--all of them precepts -formulated by the codes of Egypt and India, and still to be found in -Kabylie, and which have disappeared from our frankly individualistic, -or rather egoistic, modern legislations. - -It is indisputable that this evolution has everywhere coincided with -a general progress in civilisation, and the advance has been sensibly -the same among the peoples of all races, on the sole condition that -they should have emerged from savagery. Everywhere, in the end, the -paternal family and monogamic marriage have become a sort of ideal to -which men have striven to conform their customs and institutions. It -has very naturally been concluded that these last forms of the family -and of conjugal union have an intrinsic sociologic superiority over the -others, that in all times and places they strengthen the ethnic group, -and create for it better conditions in its struggle for existence. But -this reasoning has nothing strict in it; civilisation is the result -of very complex influences, and if a certain social practice has been -adopted by inferior races, it does not logically follow that it is, -for that reason only, bad in itself. What seems indisputable is, that -man tends willingly towards individualism, and yields himself up to -it with joy as soon as that becomes possible to him, thanks to the -general progress of civilisation. At the origin of civilisations, in -a tribe of savages, surrounded with perils, and painfully struggling -for existence, a more or less strict solidarity is imperative; the -co-associates must necessarily form as it were a large family, in which -a more or less communal _régime_ is essential. The children, the weak -ones, and the women have more chance of surviving if in some measure -they belong to the entire clan; perpetual war soon cuts down a great -number of men; it is therefore necessary that their widows and children -should find support and protection without difficulty, and the _régime_ -of the clan, with its wide and confused kinship, lends itself better to -this helpful fraternity than a strict distinction of _tuum_ and _meum_ -applied to property and persons. The same may be said of patriarchal -polygamy, which often flourished on the ruins of the clan. For this -_régime_ to become general, it is necessary that, in the ethnic group, -the proportion of the sexes should be to the advantage of the feminine -sex; in this case it is imperative, and evidently becomes favourable to -the maintenance of the social body; in fact it guarantees the women -against desertion, augments the number of births, and assures to the -children the care of one or more adoptive mothers, if the real mother -happens to die. The opinion of Herbert Spencer, who quite _à priori_ -attributes to monogamy a diminution in the mortality of children,[1110] -is a most hazardous one. By the last census taken in Algeria we learn, -not without surprise, that the increase in the indigenous Mussulman and -polygamic population was much superior to that of the most prolific -of the European monogamous states. Polygamy may therefore have its -utilitarian value, and this is the case as soon as it adapts itself to -the general conditions of social life. - - -II. _The Present._ - -It is many centuries since Europe adopted monogamic marriage as the -legal type of the sexual union. That there exists by the side of -regular marriage a considerable margin, in which are still found -nearly all the other forms of sexual association, we do not deny; but -in France, for example, two-thirds of the population live so entirely -under the _régime_ of legal monogamy, that it would be evidently -superfluous to describe it here; it is, in substance, the Roman -marriage, the bonds of which Christianity has striven to lighten. In -the general opinion, marriage such as our laws and customs require it -to be, is the most perfect type possible of conjugal union; and this -current appreciation has not been a little strengthened by a learned -treatise, frequently quoted, and of which I cannot dispense with saying -a few words. - -In 1859, a justly celebrated demographer, whom I have the honour to -call friend, Dr. Adolphe Bertillon, published a monograph on marriage, -which made a great sensation.[1111] - -This work, bristling with figures, scrupulously collected and strictly -accurate, proves or seems to prove that the celibate third of the -French population is, by reason of its celibacy, struck with decay, -and plays the part of an inferior race by the side of the married -two-thirds. In comparative tables, which are extremely clear, A. -Bertillon follows step by step the different fates of the married and -unmarried, and he shows us that at every age the celibate population -is struck by a mortality nearly twice as great as the other; that its -births merely make up 45 per cent. of its annual losses; that it counts -every year twice as many cases of madness, twice as many suicides, -twice as many attempts on property, and twice as many murders and acts -of personal violence. Consequently, the State has to maintain for this -celibate population twice as many prisons, twice as many asylums and -hospitals, twice as many undertakers,[1112] etc. These revelations, -absolutely true as raw results, caused a great commotion in the little -public specially occupied with demography and sociology. Their alarm -was soon calmed. - -From his interesting work A. Bertillon had drawn conclusions which were -very doubtful, taking surely the effect for the cause, by attributing -the inferiority of the celibate population solely to its celibacy. If -this be so, we have only to marry these weak ones in order to raise -them; but the superiority of the married population, which on the whole -is indisputable, does not necessarily imply the superiority of the -marriage state. - -It is in consequence of economic hindrances, and of physical or -psychical inferiority, that, in the greater number of cases, people -resign themselves to celibacy. Those who wish to marry cannot always -do so, and A. Bertillon knew better than any one that the number of -marriages, the age at marriage, the number of children by marriage, -etc., depend in the mass not on individual caprice, but on causes -altogether general. Setting aside money considerations--which are so -powerful, and to which I shall presently return--and confining our -calculation to persons of normal endowment, it is probable that there -is more energy, more moral and intellectual vitality, in those who -bravely face the risk of marriage than in the timid celibates; but it -is certain that the celibate population, taken as a whole, includes the -majority of the human waste of a country. At the time when A. Bertillon -wrote his learned treatise, in 1859, statistics prove the existence in -France of 370,018 infirm persons,[1113] of whom the greater number were -evidently condemned to celibacy by the very fact of their infirmity. -On the other hand, it is probable that among the beggars, properly so -called, there is a large proportion of celibates, without counting the -infirm; now in 1847 there were 337,838 beggars in France.[1114] - -To these lists of unwilling celibates must be added, especially, the -virile population in the army, the mortality in which was, as we well -know, double that of the civil population. Now, on the 1st January -1852, the French army counted 354,960 men.[1115] To these matrimonial -non-values, contributing a larger tithe to sickness and death, must -be further joined the celibates from religious vows. The census shows -52,885 of the latter. Without any ill-feeling towards the Catholic -clergy, we may be allowed to hold the opinion that the very fact of -a man’s vowing himself to celibacy--that is to say, of setting at -nought the desires of nature and the needs of the society of which -he forms a part--merely for metaphysical motives, often implies a -certain degree of mental inferiority. The special statistics of the -little ecclesiastical world are not published in France; but M. Duruy -having once had the happy thought of ascertaining from the judicial -pigeon-holes the number of crimes and misdemeanours committed by the -members of religious orders engaged in teaching, compared with those -of lay schoolmasters, during a period of thirty months, the result of -the inquiry showed that, proportionally to the number of schools, the -former were guilty of four times as many misdemeanours and twelve times -as many crimes as the latter.[1116] Short as the period of observation -was, this enormous difference gives matter for reflection, although it -may not have the value of a law. - -But the principal causes which influence matrimony are the greater or -less facility of existence, and the extreme importance attached to -money. As a general rule, life and death tend to balance each other, -and the populations whose mortality is great have, as compensation, a -rich birthrate. We invariably see the number of marriages and births -increasing after a series of prosperous years, and _vice versâ_. -General causes have naturally a greater influence on the population -living from hand to mouth. The well-to-do classes escape this, and we -even find that the chances of marriage for the rich increase during -years of high prices.[1117] - -We can scarcely attribute to anything else but an excessive care for -money and a forethought pushed to timidity some very disquieting traits -in our marriage and birth rates in France. I will merely recall, by the -way, the continually decreasing excess of our births, which, if not -stopped by radical social reforms, can only end in our final decay. - -The fear of marriage and the family is the particular feature of -French matrimoniality. The desirable age for marriage, says A. -Bertillon,[1118] is from twenty-two to twenty-five for men, and from -nineteen to twenty for women. In England more than half the marriages -for men (504 in 1000) and nearly two-thirds of those of women are -contracted before the age of twenty-five. Now, this is only the case -in France for 0.29, and in Belgium for 0.20 of the marriages. A -demographical phenomenon of the same kind is observed in Italy, where -only 232 men out of 1000 marry before the age of twenty-five.[1119] -At Paris, where the struggle for existence is more severe, and where -the care for money is more predominant, late marriages abound, and -it is only above the age of forty for men and thirty-five for women -that the marriage rate equals, and even exceeds, that of the whole -of France;[1120] it is self-evident that the result of this must be -a decrease in the total of births by marriage. Whether these facts -proceed from the growing difficulties of existence, or from a fear, -always augmenting also, of trouble and care, or from these two causes -combined and mutually strengthening each other, the consequence is -the same: marriages are becoming more and more simple commercial -transactions, from whence arises the worst and most shameful of -selections--selection by money. As a moral demographer, A. Bertillon -thunders against what he calls “the system of dower” more peculiar -to the Latin races, since we get it from Rome, where recourse was -doubtless had to it in order to emancipate patrician women from strict -conjugal servitude. But the remedy has become an evil, and it is -surely to the love of the dowry rather than to “the beautiful eyes of -the casket” that must be attributed a whole list of true marriages -by purchase, much more common in our own country than elsewhere. -Sometimes it is old men who conjugally purchase young girls, and -sometimes old women who buy young husbands. I will especially notice -this last category of marriages by purchase. As regards them, France -is unworthily distinguished beyond other nations. In our tables of -statistics, for example, the proportionate number of marriages between -bachelors from eighteen to forty years and women of fifty and upwards, -is ten times greater than in England.[1121] - - -_Marriages with Women of Fifty Years and upwards. (In a million -marriages.)_ - - IN FRANCE. IN ENGLAND. - Age of Number of | Age of Number of - Bachelors. Marriages. | Bachelors. Marriages. - 18 to 20 years 64 | 16 to 20 years 0 - 20 ” 25 ” 109 | 20 ” 25 ” 5 - 25 ” 30 ” 151 | 25 ” 30 ” 12 - 30 ” 35 ” 188 | 30 ” 35 ” 22 - 35 ” 40 ” 257 | 35 ” 40 ” 40 - --- | --- - 769 | 79 - -We must remark, in comparing these tables, that the first group, -including the married men from eighteen to twenty years with women of -fifty and upwards, is unknown in England; and that the second group, -that of the married men of twenty to twenty-five years with women of -fifty years and upwards, is scarcely represented. The comparison is not -flattering for us. It is important to note, also, that these figures -only refer to first marriages. Tables of the same kind, showing the -marriages between young girls and old men, or between aged widows -and young men, would add to our confusion, and bring to our thoughts -the picturesque exclamation which Shakespeare puts into the mouth of -King Lear--“Fie! Fie! Fie! Pah! Pah! Give me an ounce of civet, good -apothecary, to sweeten my imagination.”[1122] - - -_Marriages with Men of Sixty Years and upwards._ - - IN FRANCE. | IN ENGLAND. - Age of Girls. Number of | Age of Girls. Number of - Marriages.| Marriages. - 15 to 20 years 94 | 15 to 20 years 2 - 20 ” 25 ” 139 | 20 ” 25 ” 15 - 25 ” 30 ” 176 | 25 ” 30 ” 32 - 30 ” 35 ” 242 | 30 ” 35 ” 49 - --- | --- - 651 | 98 - - -III. _The Future._ - -What will marriage and the family become in the future? For one who -is not a prophet by supernatural inspiration, it is hazardous to make -predictions. The future, nevertheless, is born from the womb of the -past, and, after having patiently scrutinised the evolution of bygone -ages, we may legitimately risk a few inductions with regard to the ages -to come. Doubtless the primitive forms of marriage and the family will -persist, if not for ever, as Herbert Spencer believes, at least for a -very long time among certain inferior races, protected and at the same -time oppressed by climates which the civilised man cannot brave with -impunity. These backward prehistoric races will continue to subsist in -unwholesome regions, as witnesses of a distant past, recalling to more -developed races their humble origin. But with these last the form of -marriage and of the family, which has incessantly been evolving, cannot -evidently remain immutable in the future. The little human world knows -no more repose than the cosmic environment from whence it has sprung, -and which encloses it. Among peoples, as among individuals, vital -concurrence and selection do their work. Now, when it is a matter of -institutions so essentially vital as marriage and the family, the least -amelioration is of the highest importance; it has an influence on the -number and quality of fresh generations, and on the flesh and spirit of -peoples. All things being equal, the preponderance, whether pacific or -not, will always fall to the nations which produce the greatest number -of the most robust, most intelligent, and best citizens. These better -endowed nations will often absorb or replace the others, and always -in the long run will be docilely imitated by them. Ethnography and -history show us the true sense of evolution in the past. Societies have -constantly advanced from confusion to distinction. Monogamic marriage -has succeeded to various more confused modes of sexual association. -So also the family is the ultimate residuum of vast communities of -ill-defined relationships. In its turn, the family itself has become -restricted. At first it was still a sort of little clan; and then -it was reduced to be essentially no more than the very modest group -formed by the father, the mother, and the children. At the same time -the familial patrimony crumbled, just as that of the clan had been -previously parcelled out; it became individual. What is reserved for -us in the future? Will the family be reconstituted by a slow movement -of retrogression, as Herbert Spencer believes?[1123] Nothing is less -probable. - -Institutions have this in common with rivers, that they do not easily -flow back towards their source. If they sometimes seem to retrograde, -it is generally a mere appearance, resulting from a sort of sociologic -rhythm. In truth, the end and the beginning may assume a superficial -analogy, masking a profound difference. Thus the unconscious atheism of -the Kaffirs has nothing in common with that of Lucretius, and nothing -can be less analogous than the anarchic equality of the Fuegians -and American individualism. If, as is probable, the individualist -evolution, already so long begun, continues in the future, the -civilised family--that is to say, the last collective unit of -societies--must again be disintegrated, and finally subsist no longer -except in genealogy scientifically registered with ever-increasing -care; for it is, and always will be, important to be able to prejudge -how “the voice of the ancestors” may speak in the individual. But even -from the crumbling of the family will result the reconstitution of a -larger collective unit, having common interests and resuscitating under -another form that solidarity without which no society can endure. - -But this new collectivity will in no way be copied from the primitive -clan. Whether it be called State, district, canton, or commune, its -government will be at once despotic and liberal; it will repress -everything that would be calculated to injure the community, but -in everything else it will endeavour to leave the most complete -independence to individuals. Our actual family circle is most often -very imperfect; so few families can give, or know how to give, a -healthy, physical, moral, and intellectual education to the child, -that in this domain large encroachments of the State, whether small or -great, are probable, even desirable. There is, in fact, a great social -interest before which the pretended rights of families must be effaced. -In order to prosper and live, it is necessary that the ethnic or social -unit should incessantly produce a sufficient number of individuals -well endowed in body, heart, and mind. Before this primordial need all -prejudices must yield, all egoistic interests must bend. - -But the family and marriage are closely connected; the former cannot be -modified so long as the latter remains unchanged. If the legal ties of -the family are stretched, while social ties are drawn closer, marriage -will have the same fortune. For a long time, more or less silently, a -slow work of disintegration has begun, and we see it accentuated every -day. Leaving aside morals, which are difficult to appreciate, let us -simply take the numerical results which statistics furnish us with in -regard to divorce and illegitimate births. - -In the five countries compared as follows, the increase of divorces has -been continuous and progressive during thirty years, and in France the -number has doubled. - -The number of illegitimate births followed simultaneously an analogous -progression. In France, during the period 1800-1805, it was 4.75 per -100; now, wrote M. Block in 1869, it has gradually risen to 7.25 per -100.[1124] At the same time, and as a consequence of this demographic -movement, the proportion of free unions has considerably increased. - - -INCREASE OF DIVORCES.[1125] - -_The frequency of divorces in 1851-55 being 100, what has it become -during the following years?_ - - France. Saxony. Belgium. Holland. Sweden. - Separations. Divorces. Divorces. Divorces. Divorces. - 1851-55 100 100 100 100 100 - 1856-60 128 83 140 100 98 - 1861-65 150 75 160 112 109 - 1866-70 190 72 190 115 113 - 1871-75 163 80 280 139 132 - 1876-80 225 105 420 151 161 - -A. Bertillon calculated this proportion for Paris at about a tenth. -But these results are simply the logical continuation of the evolution -of marriage. It is in the sense of an ever-increasing individual -liberty, especially for woman, that this evolution is being effected. -Between men and women the conjugal relations have at first been -nearly everywhere from masters to slaves; then marital despotism -became slowly attenuated, and at Rome, for example, where the gradual -metamorphosis may be traced during a long historic period, the power -of the _paterfamilias_, which at first had no limit, at length became -curbed; the personality of the woman was more and more accentuated, and -the rigid marriage of the first centuries of the Republic was replaced -under the Empire by a sort of free union. Doubtless this movement -necessarily retrograded under the influence of Christianity; but, as -always happens in the logic of things, it has, nevertheless, resumed -its course; it will become more and more evident, and will surely pass -the point at which it stopped in imperial Rome. - -Monogamic marriage will continue to subsist; it is the last-comer, -and much the most worthy, and besides, the balance of the sexes makes -it almost a necessity; but it will have more and more equality in it, -and less and less of legal restraint. On this point I am glad to find -myself in accord with the most celebrated of modern sociologists, -Herbert Spencer, who is not very bold, however, on these delicate -points. “In primitive phases,” he says, “while permanent monogamy was -developing, union in the name of the law--that is, originally, the -act of purchase--was accounted the essential part of the marriage, -and union in the name of affection was not essential. In the present -day union in the name of the law is considered the most important, -and union by affection as less important. A time will come when union -by affection will be considered the most important, and union in the -name of the law the least important, and men will hold in reprobation -those conjugal unions in which union by affection is dissolved.”[1126] -Montaigne once wrote: “We have thought to make our marriage tie -stronger by taking away all means of dissolving it; but the more we -have tightened the constraint, so much the more have we relaxed and -detracted from the bond of will and affection.”[1127] - -It is therefore probable that a future more or less distant will -inaugurate the _régime_ of monogamic unions, freely contracted, and, at -need, freely dissolved by simple mutual consent, as is already the case -with divorces in various European countries--at Geneva, in Belgium, -in Roumania, etc., and with separation in Italy. In these divorces of -the future, the community will only intervene in order to safeguard -that which is of vital interest to it--the fate and the education of -the children. But this evolution in the manner of understanding and -practising marriage will operate slowly, for it supposes an entire -corresponding revolution in public opinion; moreover, it requires as a -corollary, profound modifications in the social organism. The _régime_ -of liberty in marriage and the disintegration of our actual familial -type are only possible on condition that the State or the district, in -a great number of cases, is ready to assume the _rôle_ of guardian and -educator of children; but, before it can take on itself these important -functions, it must have considerable resources at its disposal which -to-day are wanting. In our present _régime_, the family, however -defective it may be, still constitutes the safest, and almost the only -shelter for the child, and we cannot think of destroying this shelter -before we have constructed a larger and better one. - -Transformations so radical as these cannot evidently be wrought -instantaneously, by a mere change of view, after the fashion of -political revolutions. Nothing is more chimerical than to fear or -to hope for the sudden destruction of our actual forms of marriage, -of the family, and of property; but there is no doubt that all this -is tottering. The alarm and the lamentations of so many moralists, -both lay and religious, are not therefore without some foundation. -Societies have always evolved, but the rapidity of this evolution is -accelerating; it is, in some sort, proportionate to the square of the -time elapsed. I fear that in the eyes of our descendants we shall -appear slaves of routine, as our ancestors are in ours. - -For those who have not firmly rallied to the side of the great law -of progress, the future is full of terror. It has always been thus; -the apostles of progress have always had to overcome the resistance -of the sectaries of the past. From time immemorial, certain Dyak -tribes were accustomed to fell trees by chopping at the trunk with a -hatchet, perpendicularly to the fibres. One day some revolutionaries -proposed making V-shaped cuttings, in the European method. The Dyak -conservative party, inspired by the regard due to custom, were wroth at -this, and punished the innovators by a fine.[1128] Nevertheless, I do -not doubt that the new method has triumphed in practice; it was found -advantageous. But this incident is, in miniature, the history of all -transformations, small or great. - -It is very certain that in societies where marriage by groups half -polyandric and half polygamic had been instituted for centuries, -the bold agitators who attempted to substitute individual union -were considered at first as dangerous revolutionaries, and those -who dismembered into families the communal clan only succeeded at -the cost of great difficulty and peril. Thus in the _Oresteia_ of -Æschylus, of which I have spoken in the last chapter, the chorus of -the Eumenides gives voice to the protestations of public opinion -against the establishment of the paternal family in Greece. The -prospects which alarm the conservative spirits of to-day are, in truth, -but the last consequence of that ancient evolution. Statisticians -who are not evolutionists prove, without understanding it, that the -indissolubility of marriage becomes more and more intolerable for -individuals.[1129]There is, as it were, a tide of discord continually -rising which renders conjugal stability more and more precarious. This -grievous state of things distresses, on the other hand, the moralists, -for neither do they see the reason of it. The surprise of the former is -not more justified than the lamentation of the latter. It is nothing -more than the future, which, with its habitual effrontery, persists in -rising out of the past. The faint-hearted cry to us that everything is -coming to an end. It is not so; on the contrary, everything is about to -be renewed. From the most distant stone age, the history of humanity -has only been a long series of regenerations. Far from mourning when -the world seems to be entering a period of fresh life, let us rather -rejoice and say again with Lucretius-- - - “Cedit enim rerum novitate extrusa vetustas - Semper et ex aliis aliud reparare necesse est.” - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1108] Montaigne, _Essays_; _Custom_. - -[1109] A. Giraud-Teulon, _Orig. du Mariage_, etc., p. 428.--L. Morgan, -_Ancient Societies_, p. 389. - -[1110] _Sociology_, vol. ii. p. 304. - -[1111] Article, “Mariage,” in the _Dictionnaire encyclopédique des -sciences médicales_. - -[1112] A. Bertillon, _loc. cit._ - -[1113] M. Block, _Statistique de la France_, t. ii. p. 55. - -[1114] _Id._, _ibid._ p. 298. - -[1115] _Id._, _ibid._ p. 506. - -[1116] A. Bertillon, article “Mariage,” _loc. cit._ - -[1117] A. Bertillon, article “Mariage,” _loc. cit._ - -[1118] _Id._, _ibid._ - -[1119] _Id._, _ibid._ - -[1120] _Id._, _ibid._ - -[1121] A. Bertillon, _loc. cit._ - -[1122] _King Lear_, Act iv. Sc. 6. - -[1123] _Sociology_, vol. ii. p. 418. - -[1124] M. Block, _Europe politique et sociale_, p. 204. - -[1125] J. Bertillon, _Étude démographique du divorce_, p. 61. - -[1126] Herbert Spencer, _Sociology_, vol. ii. p. 410. - -[1127] Montaigne, _Essays_, vol. ii. p. 15. - -[1128] _Journal Ind. Archip._, vol. ii. p. 54. - -[1129] J. Bertillon, _loc. cit._, p. 61. - - - - -INDEX - - - Abyssinia, The concubinate in, 162 - Monogamy in, 179 - Dissolute morals of women in, 181 - Facility of divorce in, 181 - Cicisbei in, 181 - Divorce in, 232 - Levirate by emasculation in, 265 - Adoption in, 316 - - Abyssinian women, Licentious manners of, 51 - - Adoption among the Redskins, 291 - in Polynesia, 296 - in Abyssinia, 316 - - Adultery in the Middle Ages, 204, 226 - Of, in general, 208 - considered as a theft, 208 - in Melanesia, 209 - in New Caledonia, 209 - in negro Africa, 210 - among the Hottentots, 210 - at the Gaboon, 210 - in Bornou, 211 - at Kaarta, 211 - among the Soulimas, 211 - at Youida, 211 - in Uganda, 211 - in Senegal, 212 - in Abyssinia, 212 - in Polynesia, 212 - in New Zealand, 212 - at Tahiti, 212 - at Noukahiva, 213 - in the American savage, 213 - among the Esquimaux, 213 - among the Redskins, 213 - among the Omahas, 214 - in South America, 214 - in barbarous America, 214 - in ancient Mexico, 215 - in Peru, 215 - in Guatemala, 215 - among the Mongols, 216 - in Thibet, 216 - in China, 216 - in Japan, 217 - in Malaya, 217 - in Egypt, 218 - among the Hebrews, 218 - among the Arabs, 218 - among the Kabyles, 219 - in Persia and India, 220 - in the Greco-Roman world, 222 - at Sparta, 222 - at Athens, 223 - at Rome, 222-225 - among the Tcherkesses of the Caucasus, 225 - in barbarous Europe, 225 - among the ancient Saxons, 226 - among the Germans, 226 - in feudal France, 226 - The evolution of, 227 - and Christianity, 245 - - Africa, The concubinate in middle, 161 - Adultery in negro, 210 - The family in, 305 - - Agathyrses, Promiscuity of the, 40 - - Akilisenus, Sacred prostitution in, 46 - - Amazons, The so-called age of, 105 - - _Amblyornis inornata_, Love architecture of, 14 - - America, Prostitution in central, 156 - Concubinate in, 163 - Familial clan in, 267 - The family in, 274 - - Amorous combats of sticklebacks, 10 - - _Analis crystellatus_, Amorous combats of, 11 - - Andamanites, Promiscuity of, 43 - Prostitution of girls amongst the, 58 - - Animals, Love among, 10 - Amorous preferences of, 17 - Grossness of the male among, 18 - Durable pairing among, 18 - Marriage and the family among, 20 - Matriarchate among, 21 - Patriarchate among, 21 - Divers types of sexual association among, 21 - Marriage among, 21 - Inferior, have not maternal love, 21 - Various forms of sexual association among, 26 - The family among, 26 - Shortness of love for the young among, 31 - Variation of the matrimonial type among, 35 - Divers types of marriage among, 35 - - Ansarians, Religious promiscuity of, 43 - - Anses, Promiscuity of, 41 - - Anthropophagy, Familial, of the Redskins, 26 - - Ants, Originality of Republics of, 23 - Workers, ancestral forms, 23 - - Arabs, Fraternal polyandry of the ancient, 39 - Loan of wife among the, 52 - Temporary marriages among, 68 - Causes of polyandry of the, 82 - Polyandry of ancient, 82 - Infanticide of daughters among the ancient, 83 - Caïs, legend of infanticide, 83 - Community of wives among the, 84 - Fraternal polyandry of the, 84 - Term-marriage among the, 85 - Patriarchal marriage among the, 86 - Marriage by capture among the, 99 - Polygamy of the, 139 - Concubinate among the, 161 - Adultery among the, 218 - Repudiation among the, 237, 239 - Widowhood among the, 259 - - Areoïs in Polynesia, 61 - - Aryas, Polygamy among Vedic, 135, 150 - Infanticide among, 150 - - Aryomania, 134 - - Association, Singular forms of sexual, 56 - - Assyria, Concubinate in, 165 - - Athens, Dotal marriage in, 120 - Prostitution at, 156 - Adultery at, 222 - Widowhood at, 261 - - Attica, Density of population in, 198 - - Australia, Licentious morals of young girls in, 50 - Rape in, 90 - Capture of women in, 90 - Loan of wife in, 123 - Familial clan in, 261, 270 - Communal marriage in, 270, 272 - Fraternity of clan in, 271 - _Totem_, amongst the Kamilaroi of, 273 - Communal marriage transitory in, 273 - Maternal family in, 274 - - Australians, Law of amorous battle among the, 58 - - _Avesta_, Marriage in the, 191 - - Avunculate, The, among the Naïrs, 311 - - - Babylon, Hetaïrism at, 45 - Religious prostitution at, 45 - - Battas, Monogamic tendencies of, 134 - - Battle, Law of, among vertebrates, 16 - Law of, 11 - Amorous, among the _Analis cristellatus_, 11 - of blue herons, 12 - of Canadian geese, 12 - of gallinaceæ, 12 - of grouse, 12 - of _Tetras urogallus_, 12 - of _Tetras umbellus_, 13 - - Bees, Republic of, 23 - Workers, ancestral forms, 23 - Matriarchate of, 24 - Death of Queen of, 24 - - Berbers, The family amongst, 327 - Meaning of the word, 328 - The maternal family amongst, 328 - - Birds, Love amongst, 11 - Æsthetic tournaments of, 13 - Love dances of, 13 - Love parades of, 13 - Intentional love parades of, 13 - _Cours d’amour_ of, 13 - Decorated nests of humming, 14 - Preliminaries abridged with old, 15 - Females of certain, stronger than males, 15 - Males more ardent, 15 - Amorous attempts of males of, 15 - more delicate in love than other vertebrates, 15 - Amorous selection among the females of, 17 - Monogamy among, 27 - Fickle monogamy of certain, 28 - Amorous fancies of certain, 28 - The family amongst, 29 - Absence of paternal love amongst certain males of, 29 - Polygamous, often devoid of paternal love, 30 - Paternal love developed among many, 30 - Shortness of love for the young amongst, 31 - - Births, Sexual relation of, and marriage, 73 - Sexual relation of, 74 - - Bitches, Amorous preferences of, 18 - - Blackcock, Amorous battles of, 12 - - Bochimans, Loan of woman among the, 58 - - - Californian Indians, Promiscuity of, 43 - - Celibacy, Disadvantages of, according to A. Bertillon, 349 - - Celibates comprise the waste of the population, 350 - - Celts, Warlike rape among the, 93 - - Ceylon, Polyandry in, 78 - - Child marriages in Rome, 198 - - China, Primitive promiscuity in, 42 - Marriage by capture in, 116 - Prostitution in, 156 - Concubinate in, 164 - Monogamy in, 183 - Marriage by purchase in, 183 - Submission of woman in, 185 - Adultery in, 216 - Repudiation in, 245 - Widowhood in, 255 - Widowhood of brides in, 255 - The family in, 322 - Family nomenclature in, 323 - Trace of fraternal marriage in, 323 - Traces of familial clan in, 324 - The paternal family in, 324 - Fictitious kinship in, 324 - - _Chlamydera maculata_, Love bowers of, 14 - - _Chorda dorsalis_, 6 - - _Chromis paterfamilias_, Paternal love of, 24 - - Civilisation depraves certain birds, 25 - - Clan, Familial, in America, 267 - Familial, in Australia, 267, 270 - Fraternity of, in Australia, 271 - Exogamy of, among the Redskins, 275 - Duties of, among the Redskins, 275 - Common house of the, among the Redskins, 275 - The, of the _Pueblos_, 277 - Communism in the Redskin, 278 - The familial, and its evolution, 285 - among the Redskins, 285 - and the family, 301 - “Social cellule,” 301 - Familial, and the family, 303 - Traces of the familial, in China, 323 - Traces of communal, among the Hebrews, 326 - Traces of ancient, among the Kabyles, 328 - Not found in Persia, 330 - Vestiges of ancient, in India, 334 - Primitive, at Rome, 334 - Primitive, in Greece, 334 - Primitive, in Ireland, 338 - - Clergy, The concubinate among ancient Catholic, 168 - - Clergymen, Sexual relation of births among, 75 - - _Coemptio_ at Rome, 201 - - Communism in the Redskin clan, 278 - From, to individualism, 347 - - Concubinage in general, 154 - - Concubinage and prostitution, 154 - Various forms of, 160 - in Europe, 168 - Absence of, in Kabylie, 169 - Evolution of, 169 - and morality, 170 - - Concubinate, 160 - among the Hebrews, 161 - among the Arabs, 161 - in primitive Greece, 161 - in modern Peru, 162 - in Livonia, 162 - in middle Africa, 162 - in Abyssinia, 162 - in Central America, 163 - in ancient Mexico, 163 - in Mongolia, 164 - in China, 164 - in ancient Assyria, 165 - at Mecca, 165 - in ancient Persia, 166 - in Greece, 166 - at Rome, 166 - among the Catholic clergy, 168 - - Concubine bought by labour of wife among Zulus, 125 - offered by wife at Fiji, 124 - - _Confarreatio_ at Rome, 201 - - Conjugation, 4 - among algæ, 4 - - Conservation of species, 20 - - Coquetry among insects, 10 - The law of, 10 - among butterflies, 10 - among fishes, 10 - among vertebrates, 11 - - Couvade, 316 - in New Mexico, 316 - among the Redskins, 317 - among the Abipones, 317 - among the Galibis, 317 - in California, 318 - in South America, 318 - among the Tartars, 318 - in Bengal, 318 - among the Celts, 318 - among the Thracians, 318 - among the Scythians, 318 - in Corsica, 318 - in the Tibarenede, 318 - in Europe of to-day, 318 - Reason of the, 319 - - Crete, Sodomy in, 63 - - _Culage, Droit de_, 48 - - Cynicism, Erotic, in India, 40 - of the Massagetes, 40 - - - Debauchery, Savage, and that of civilised peoples, 72 - - Decency, Rules of, among Redskins, 290 - - Defloration, Religious, in Cambodia, 47 - Maternal, with the Saccalaves, 67 - in India, 67 - - Divorce, Facility of, in Abyssinia, 181 - in savage countries, 228 - among the Bongos, 229 - among the Soulimas, 229 - among the Fantees, 230 - in Polynesia, 230 - in the Caroline Islands, 230 - among the Moxos, 231 - in Abyssinia, 232 - among the Arabs, 238 - in ancient Peru, 240 - in lamaic Thibet, 240 - among the Mongols, 241 - among the Hebrews, 242 - in Greece, 243 - at Rome, 244 - and repudiation, 228 - among barbarous peoples, 232 - condemned by Christianity, 245 - The evolution of, 247 - and Christianity, 247 - among the Germans, 246 - among the ancient Irish, 246 - Modern, 247 - Increase in number of, in Europe, 357 - - Dogs, Sexual coarseness of, 18 - - Dower and its results in France, 352 - - Duck, Love at first sight in a wild, 28 - - - Egypt, Polygamy in, 149 - Royal incest in, 66 - Monogamy in ancient, 175 - Pretended gynecocracy in ancient, 176, 177 - Adultery in, 218 - The maternal family in, 308 - The paternal family in, 308 - - Emasculation in Abyssinia, 265 - - Endogamy in New Zealand, 294 - in Bengal, 315 - Incestuous, in Persia, 330 - - Esquimaux, Licentious morals of, 58 - Letting of wives among the, 58 - Sodomy among the, 58 - Marriage by capture among the, 94 - - Etruscans, The maternal family among the, 336 - - Europe, Increase of illegitimate births in, 169 - - Exogamy in Bengal, 315 - of the clan among the Redskins, 276 - at Samoa, 294 - - - Family, _Rôle_ of the male in the animal, 21 - Maternal, amongst the animals, 21 - amongst the mammifers, 25 - amongst the animals, 29 - Maternal, amongst the Naïrs, 81 - Maternal, at Rome, 202, 233 - in Melanesia, 268, 335 - Origin of the, 267 - Maternal, in Australia, 274 - in America, 274 - Maternal, among the Redskins, 278 - Origin and evolution of the, 284 - Maternal, and the matriarchate, 282 - among the Omahas, 287 - among the Redskins, 287 - among the Iroquois Senecas, 287 - Nomenclature of, among the Redskins, 288 - Evolution of the, among the Redskins, 292 - Genesis of the paternal family among the, 292 - The paternal, among the Incas, 293 - Maternal, in Peru, 293 - Paternal, in Peru, 293 - Paternal, in Mexico, 293 - in Polynesia, 294 - Nomenclature of the, at Hawaii, 295 - Genesis of the maternal, at Hawaii, 295 - Genesis of the paternal, in Polynesia, 295 - among the Mongols, 296 - among the Tamils, 296 - and the clan, 301 - The maternal, 303 - and the familial clan, 303 - Genesis of the uterine, 301 - in Africa, 305 - The maternal, In Kaffirland, 305 - among the Fantees, 305 - in eastern Africa, 306 - among the Nubians, 307 - in Egypt, 307 - The paternal, in Dahomey, 305 - The maternal, in Africa, 305 - The maternal, in Madagascar, 307 - The paternal, in Egypt, 308 - in Malaya, 309 - among the Naïrs, 311 - among the aborigines of Bengal, 313 - The maternal, in Bengal, 313 - The paternal, in Bengal, 314 - The primitive, 320 - in civilised countries, 322 - in China, 322 - in Japan, 323 - The paternal, in China, 323 - among the Semites, 325 - Traces of the maternal, among the Hebrews, 326 - The maternal, in Phœnicia, 327 - among the Berbers, 327 - The maternal, among the Berbers, 327 - in Persia, 330 - in India, 332 - The patriarchal, in Vedic India, 332 - The maternal, in India, 333 - The maternal, among the Tamils, 334 - The Greco-Roman, 334 - The maternal, in Greece, 335 - The maternal, in Etruria, 336 - Genesis of the paternal, in Greece, 336 - Evolution of the, at Rome, 347 - in barbarous Europe, 338 - The paternal, in barbarous Europe, 339 - The maternal, in Germany, 339 - in the past, present, and future, 341 - in the past, 341 - Stages of the, according to L. Morgan, 347 - Actual state of the, 349 - - Father, The _potestas_ of, at Rome, 199 - - Fecundation, 4 - among superior animals, 7 - - Feudality, Polyandric, in Malabar, 311 - - Filiation, Maternal, among the Touaregs, 179 - - Fishes, Paternal love in certain, 24 - Coquetry in, 10 - - France, Prostitution in mediæval, 160 - Adultery in feudal, 226 - Repudiation in feudal, 246 - Late marriages in, 352 - Malthusianism in, 352 - Dowry and its results on marriage in, 352 - Disproportionate marriages in, 323 - - - Gallinaceæ, Amorous combats of, 12 - Vertigo of love in, 27 - - _Gasterosteus leiurus_, Paternal love of, 25 - - Gauls, Polygamy of, 135 - - Geese of Canada, Amorous battles of, 12 - - Generation by budding, 4 - by division, 4 - a product of nutrition, 4 - among animals, 18 - by ovulation, 5 - by conjugation, 4 - the aim of life, 5 - in the cochineal, 5 - Evolution of, 5 - in the paramœcia, 6 - Essential phenomenon of, 6 - - _Gens_ in Greece, 335 - at Rome, 334 - - Germans, Polygamy of, 135 - The maternal family among the, 339 - The paternal family among the, 339 - Laws of succession among the, 339 - Marriage by purchase among the, 204 - Subjection of women among the, 204 - Adultery among the, 225 - Repudiation among the, 246 - Divorce among the, 246 - Widowhood among the, 262 - - Girls, Prostitution of, among the Andamanites, 58 - Prostitution of, in Polynesia, 59 - married by the father in India, 192 - Marriage of little, in India, 193 - Gymnastic exercises of naked, in Sparta, 195 - Marriage of little, at Rome, 198 - Conjugal sale of little, 107 - married by the grandmother at Boussa, 112 - Free conjugal choice of, at Nicaragua, 115 - Consent of the, in Mussulman marriage, 144 - How, inherit in India, 334 - - Greece, Loan of wife in ancient, 53 - Sodomy in, 63 - Marriage by capture in, 100 - Concubinate in primitive, 161 - Concubinate in, 166 - Subjection of women in, 195 - Hetaïræ in, 166 - Subjection of women in, 194 - Marriage in ancient, 194 - Dotal marriage in, 196 - Evolution of marriage in, 197 - Adultery in, 222 - Repudiation in, 243 - Divorce in, 243 - The primitive clan in, 334 - The maternal family in, 335 - The _gens_ in, 335 - Genesis of the paternal family in, 336 - - Greeks, Promiscuity of the ancient, 41 - - Guaranis, Qualities exacted of the husband among the, 115 - - Gynecocracy according to Bachofen, 172 - Pretended, in ancient Egypt, 175 - Pretended, among the Touaregs, 179 - - - Hawaii, Kinship by classes in, 294 - Familial nomenclature at, 295 - Genesis of the maternal family in, 294 - - Hebrews, Concubinate among the, 161 - Marriage among the, 189 - Monogamy among the, 189 - Virginity among the, 190 - Levirate among the, 190 - Adultery among the, 218 - Divorce among the, 242 - Repudiation among the, 242 - Widowhood among the, 259 - The levirate among the, 263 - Laws of succession among the, 326 - Traces of communal clans among the, 326 - - Herons, Amorous battles of blue, 12 - - Hetaïræ in Greece, 166 - - Hetaïrism, 45 - No primitive, 45 - at Babylon, 45 - - Hiring out of wives in Polynesia, 60 - - Humming-birds, Decorated nests of, 14 - - Husbands, Brutality of, at Gaboon, 125 - Jealousy of, unknown in Africa, 128 - Duties of Mussulman, 145 - Rights of punishment of Kabyle, 147 - _Manus_ of, at Rome, 200 - - - _Icterus pecoris_, Promiscuity of the, 26 - - Immodesty, Primitive, 56 - - Immorality, Primitive sexual, 56 - - Incas, Polygamy of the, 148 - - Incest permitted among various American peoples, 65 - permitted among the Karens, 66 - among the Parthians, 66 - in ancient Persia, 66 - among the Scythians, 66 - Royal, in Egypt, 66 - of the Incas, 66 - in ancient Ireland, 66 - Royal, in Siam, 66 - in Bhootan, 133 - among the Malagasies, 309 - Horror of, in Kabylie, 309 - - India, Primitive promiscuity in, 42 - Religious prostitution in, 46 - Marriage by capture in, 93 - Polygamy in Brahmanic, 151 - Prostitution in, 159 - Polygamy among the aborigines of, 135 - Monogamic tendencies in the aborigines of, 133 - Repudiation in, 242 - Widowhood in, 256 - Mitigated monogamy in, 191 - Inferiority of women in, 191 - Daughter married by the father in, 192 - Marriage by purchase in, 192 - Prohibitions to marriage in, 192 - Subjection of woman in, 192 - Marriage of little girls in, 193 - Adultery in, 220 - The levirate in, 263 - The family in, 332 - The patriarchal family in Vedic, 332 - The patriarchate in, 332 - Primogeniture in, 333 - Paternity by suggestion in, 333 - How daughters inherit in, 333 - The maternal family in, 334 - Vestiges of ancient clans in, 334 - - Individualism has succeeded to communism, 347 - - Infanticide committed by male mammifers, 34 - of girls among the ancient Arabs, 83 - Legend of Caïs, 83 - The paternal right of, in Polynesia, 113 - among the Vedic Aryans, 150 - - Innovators, Fate of, 359 - - Insects, Maternal prescience of, 22 - Coquetry amongst, 10 - - Ireland, The primitive clan in, 338 - - Irish, Promiscuity of the ancient, 41 - Incest among the ancient, 66 - Temporary marriages among the, 246 - Divorce among the ancient, 246 - - - Japan, Prostitution of young girls in, 51 - Prostitution in, 157 - Marriage in, 185 - Adultery in, 217 - The maternal family in, 322 - Familial nomenclature in, 324 - - Jews of Morocco, Temporary marriages among the, 67 - - _Jus primæ noctis_, 45 - Religious, in Malabar, 47 - among the Nasamons, 47 - in the Balearic Isles, 47 - Seignorial, 47 - in Cochin-China, 48 - of parents and friends, 50 - - - Kabyles, Adultery amongst the, 219 - Repudiation amongst the, 234 - Right of insurrection of the wife, 236 - Widowhood among the, 260 - Horror of incest among the, 309 - Traces of the clan among the, 328 - Mutual assistance amongst the, 329 - Disinheritance of the wife, 329 - Laws of succession among the, 329 - - Kabylie, Marriage by purchase in, 145 - Tariff of the woman in, 146 - Essential condition of marriage in, 146 - Loan of jewels to the wife in, 146 - Subjection of the wife in, 145 - Rights of correction of the husband in, 147 - The wife a thing possessed in, 147 - Fate of woman in, 147 - Absence of concubinage in, 169 - - Kaffirs, Right of the chief among the, 47 - - Kamilaroi, Regulated promiscuity of the, 44 - Marriage among the, 271 - - Kinship, Origin of ideas of, 283 - by classes in the Hawaii Isles, 294 - The evolution of, by classes, 297, 301 - Fictitious, in China, 325 - - Koran, The, and the inferiority of women, 140 - Restrictions on polygamy in the, 140 - Celestial polygamy in the, 142 - Purchase of the wife in the, 141 - - Kurnai, Marriage among the, of Australia, 273 - - - Lark, Loves of, 12 - - Larva, The, is a survival, 23 - - Larvæ, Fertile, 23 - Maternal love in sterile, 23 - - Law of amorous battle among the Australian women, 57 - - Levirate, The, among the Hebrews, 191 - and widowhood, 191 - The, 263 - in Malaya, 263 - in New Caledonia, 263 - among the Redskins, 263 - among the Mongols, 263 - among the Afghans, 263 - in India, 263 - among the Hebrews, 263 - in Abyssinia, 265 - - Loan of the wife among savages, 52 - among the Redskins, 52 - among the Arabs, 53 - in antique Greece, 53 - in antique Rome, 53 - in Australia, 57 - among the Bushmen, 58 - - Love, The snare of, 3 - according to Haeckel, 6 - and rut, 7, 8 - according to Schopenhauer, 9 - and pairing, 9 - according to Imitation of Christ, 10 - in insects, 10 - in birds, 11 - in the lark, 12 - dances of birds, 13 - parades of _Tetras phasaniellus_, 13 - parades of birds, 13 - Intentional, parades of birds, 13 - courts of birds, 14 - bowers of _Chlamydera maculata_, 14 - house of the _Amblyornis inornata_, 14 - tourneys of nightingales, 14 - songs of weaver birds, 15 - The instinct of, is not blind, 17 - Choice in, among animals, 17 - Selection in, among females, 17 - Selection in, among female birds, 17 - Exclusive, of bitches, 18 - Essential identity of, with animals and man, 19 - Maternal, wanting in lower animals, 21 - Maternal, in spiders, 22 - Paternal, wanting in spiders, 22 - Biological reason of maternal, 22 - Maternal, in the sterile larvæ, 23 - Paternal, in certain fishes, 24 - Paternal, of Chinese _Macropus_, 24 - Paternal, of _Chromis paterfamilias_, 24 - Paternal, of the _Gasterosteus leiurus_, 25 - Paternal, of toads, 25 - Paternal, in the _Pipa_, 25 - Maternal, in reptiles, 25 - Vertigo of, in gallinaceæ, 26 - at first sight in a wild duck, 28 - Passion of, analogous in animal and man, 29 - Paternal, absent in certain male birds, 29 - Paternal, wanting in polygamous birds, 31 - Paternal, developed in many birds, 31 - Paternal and maternal, is brief in duration with birds, 31 - Conjugal, in female chimpanzees,33 - - - _Macropus_, Chinese, paternal love of, 24 - - Madagascar, The maternal family in, 307 - Incest in, 309 - - Mahomet, Conjugal freedom of, 141 - and the _debitum conjugale_, 142 - - Malagasies, Civil marriage among the, 129 - - Malaya, Adultery in, 217 - The levirate in, 263 - The family in, 309 - Marriage by purchase in, 310 - - Malays of Sumatra, Three modes of marriage with the, 119 - - Male, Part of the, in the animal family, 21 - - Malthusianism, Natural, 20 - in France, 352 - - Mammals, Marriage among, 25 - Marriage and the family among, 25 - Promiscuity in the, 31 - No polyandry in the, 31 - Polygamous societies of, 32 - Conjugal devotion of females of, 32 - Male infanticides amongst, 34 - - Man, The taxonomic place of, 2 - Grandeur and inferiority of, 2 - Real place of, 2 - Origin of, 71 - - Manus, The, of husband at Rome, 200 - - Marquette, Right of, 48 - - Marriage, Biological origin of, 1 - Object of, 2 - among animals, 20 - among mammals, 25 - Various types of, among animals, 35 - Primitive evolution of, 54 - Strange forms of, 64 - a simple pairing with many savages, 64 - Experimental, 67 - Experimental, in Canada, 67 - Experimental, among the Otomies, 67 - Experimental, among the Sonthals, 67 - Experimental, among the Tartars, 67 - Experimental, at Ceylon, 67 - Temporary, among the Jews of Morocco, 67 - Temporary, among the Tapyres, 68 - Free, at Noukahiva, 68 - Free, among the Hottentots, 68 - Free, in Abyssinia, 68 - Partial, of the Hassinyehs, 68 - Temporary, in Persia, 68 - Temporary, among the Arabs, 69 - the right of the strongest among many savage peoples, 69 - and the sexual proportion of births, 73 - Initiation into, by the Naïrs, 80 - Term, _mot’a_, with the Arabs, 85 - Patriarchal, with the Arabs, 85 - by capture, 89 - by capture in India, 93 - by capture, 93 - by capture among the Esquimaux, 95 - by capture among the Redskins, 95 - among the Kamstchatdales, 95 - among the Kalmucks, 96 - among the Tannganses, 96 - among the Turcomans, 97 - among the aborigines of Bengal, 97 - in New Zealand, 98 - in Arabia, 99 - in Java, 100 - among the Bœotians, 100 - at Sparta, 100 - at Rome, 100 - in Circassia, 101 - in Wales, 101 - among the Slavs, 101 - by capture, Signification of, 102 - by purchase at Fiji, 103 - by purchase of servitude, 106 - Premature, by girls in New Caledonia, 107 - among the Hottentots, 107 - in Ashantee, 107 - in Polynesia, 107 - in South America, 107 - in India, 108 - in ancient Italy, 108 - Premature, of little boys among the Reddies, 108 - in Russia, 108 - of deceased children among the Tartars, 108 - by servitude, 109 - among the Redskins, 109 - in Central America, 109 - among the aborigines of Bengal, 110 - among the Hebrews, 110 - by purchase, 110 - among the Hottentots, 111 - among the Kaffirs, 111 - in Central Africa, 111 - at Sackatoo, 112 - at Kouranko, 112 - in Polynesia, 113 - among the Redskins, 113 - in California, 114 - in New Mexico, 114 - in Central America, 115 - among the Guaranis, 115 - among the Mongols, 115 - among the Turcomans, 116 - in China, 116 - among the aborigines of India, 117 - among the Arabs, 118 - among the Afghans, 118 - in Brahmanic India, 119 - among the Scandinavians, 119 - among the Germans, 119 - in primitive Greece, 120 - at Rome, 120 - by capture in China, 116 - by _usus_ at Rome, 120 - Dotal, at Athens, 120 - Dotal, at Rome, 120 - by coemption at Rome, 120 - by confarreation at Rome, 120 - State, among the Bongos, 129 - by purchase, Signification of, 120 - Civil, with the Malagasies, 129 - Mussulman and laic, 143 - by purchase with the Mussulmans, 143 - Mussulman, is a contract of sale, 143 - Virginity in the Mussulman, 143 - Consent of girl in Mussulman, 144 - _Debitum conjugale_ in Mussulman, 144 - Marital rights in Mussulman, 145 - by purchase in Kabylie, 145 - Essential condition of Kabyle, 146 - Free, at Paris, 169 - The form of, and civilisation, 173 - Civil, in Thibet, 182 - by purchase in China, 183 - in Japan, 185 - Hebrew, 184 - in ancient India and Persia, 191 - in the _Avesta_, 191 - by purchase in India, 191 - Prohibitions of, in India, 192 - in ancient Greece, 194 - obligatory at Sparta, 195 - Dotal, in Greece, 196 - in ancient Rome, 198 - Evolution of, in Greece, 198 - by _confarreatio_ at Rome, 201 - by _coemptio_ at Rome, 201 - by _usus_ at Rome, 201 - Dotal, at Rome, 200 - The evolution of, at Rome, 201 - Barbarous and Christian, 204 - by purchase with the Germans, 204 - Christian, 205 - Free, at Hayti, 233 - Temporary, among the Irish, 246 - Communal, in Australia, 270 - Communal, transitory in Australia, 273 - among the Redskins, 275 - Incestuous, with the Redskins, 293 - Three sorts of, at Sumatra, 309 - by purchase in Malaya, 309 - by purchase in Bengal, 315 - Traces of fraternal, in China, 323 - Term, in Persia, 331 - in the past, present, and future, 341 - Influence of money on the frequency of, 351 - The age of election of, 352 - Late, in France, 352 - Disproportionate in France, 353 - The future of, 354 - by affection in the future, 358 - - Matriarchate in animals, 24 - in bees, 24 - and the maternal family, 202 - Pecuniary, of the Touareg women, 328 - - Mecca, The concubinate in, 165 - - Melanesia, Adultery in, 209 - The family in, 268 - - Menstruation and ovulation, 8 - - Mexico, Polygamy of the great in, 148 - Monogamy of the people in, 149 - The concubinate in ancient, 163 - Monogamy in, 174 - The paternal family in, 293 - Adultery in, 215 - - Modesty, Genesis of, 56 - - Mongols, Polygamy of the, 133 - The concubinate among the, 164 - Monogamy among the, 182 - Adultery among the, 216 - Repudiation among the, 240 - Divorce among the, 240 - The family among the, 296 - - Monkeys, Polygamy of certain, 33 - Monogamy in certain, 33 - Polygamy of anthropomorphous, 33 - Monogamy of, 33 - Conjugal love of females amongst, 33 - - Monogamy of golden woodpeckers, 27 - of the Illinois parrot, 27 - of rapacious animals, 27 - of anthropomorphous apes, 33 - of certain apes, 42 - in Polynesia, 129 - dawning among the Battas, 133 - dawning among the Redskins, 131 - dawning among the aborigines of India, 133 - Proletarian, obligatory in Peru, 149 - of the populace in Mexico, 149 - Primitive, 171 - of inferior races, 171 - Causes of, 171 - Ideal of, 171 - in Central America, 174 - Administrative, in Peru, 174 - in Mexico, 175 - in ancient Egypt, 175 - of the Touaregs and Abyssinians, 179 - among the Mongols, 182 - in Thibet, 182 - in China, 185 - and civilisation, 186 - Hebraic and Aryan, 189 - of superior races, 189 - Hebrew, 189 - Ideal, and in reality, 189 - mitigated in India, 191 - in the future, 357 - Advantages of, according to A. Bertillon, 349 - - Montaigne, Origin of laws of conscience according to, 349 - - Morality, Variability of, 73 - various amongst birds, 27 - - Morgan, L., Stages of the family according to, 347 - - Moses and rape in war, 93 - - _Mumbo Jumbo_, 128 - - - Naïrs, Polyandry of, 80 - Initiation in marriage among the, 80 - The maternal family among the, 81 - The avuncular family among the, 311 - The family among the, 311 - Rational polyandry of the, 312 - - Namaquois, Promiscuity of chiefs of the, 44 - - Natality, unregulated, among fishes, 24 - - Nature, the personification of natural forces, 5 - Absence of design in, 34 - - _Nefir_, The, among the Djebel-Taggalé, 233 - - _Nemesia Eleonora_, Rearing of young with the, 22 - - Nests, Decorated, of humming-birds, 14 - - New Caledonia, Sodomy in, 62 - Adultery in, 209 - The levirate in, 263 - - Nightingale, Amorous song of, 14 - - _Noces, justes_, at Rome, 202 - - Nutrition the basis of generation, 3 - - - Omahas, The family amongst the, 287 - - - Paramœcia, Generation in the, 6 - - Parents, The power of, 105 - Right of propriety of, over children, 106 - - Paris, Free marriages at, 169 - - Parrot, Conjugal fidelity of Illinois, 27 - - _Paterfamilias_ at Rome, 333 - - Paternity by suggestion in India, 333 - - _Patria Potestas_ at Rome, 337 - - Patriarchate among the animals, 21 - Semitic, 325 - in India, 332 - at Rome, 337 - - Persia, Incest in ancient, 66 - Polygamy in ancient, 150 - The concubinate in ancient, 166 - Adultery in, 220 - The family in, 330 - No clans in, 330 - Incestuous endogamy in, 330 - Term-marriage in, 331 - Laws of succession in, 332 - - Peru, Sodomy in, 62 - Proletarian monogamy obligatory in, 149 - Concubinage in, 162 - Administrative monogamy in, 174 - Adultery in, 215 - Divorce in ancient, 240 - The paternal family among the Incas of, 293 - - Pigeons, Maternal love in, 30 - - _Pipa_, Paternal love in, 25 - - Polyandry does not exist in mammals, 31 - Fraternal, of the ancient Arabs, 39, 73 - and the sexual proportion of births, 74 - and infanticide of girls, 76 - and sale of girls, 76 - has not been general, 76 - The ethnography of, 77 - of the ancient Britons, 77 - of the Arabs, 77 - of the Guanches, 77 - of the New Zealanders, 77 - of the Marquesas Islanders, 77 - in America, 77 - of the aborigines of India, 77 - of the Hindoos, 77 - at Ceylon, 78 - Fraternal, in Thibet, 78 - among the Todas, 80 - of the Naïrs, 80 - of Thibet and of Naïrs, 81 - in ancient Arabia, 82 - Causes of Arab, 84 - Fraternal, in Arabia, 84 - in general, 86 - Matriarchal, 87 - Patriarchal, 87 - The evolution of, 88 - and polygamy in Bhootan, 133 - Feudal, in Malabar, 311 - Rational, of the Naïrs, 312 - - Polygamy of gallinaceæ, 26 - favoured by sociability, 31 - of mammals, 32 - of certain monkeys, 33 - of anthropomorphous apes, 33 - Primitive, 122 - in Oceania, Africa, and America, 122 - Causes restraining, 122 - Object of, in New Caledonia, 123 - and concubinage at Fiji, 124 - the measure of wealth on the Zambesi, 125 - Economic motives for, in Africa, 125 - restrained by the dearness of women amongst the Bongos, 126 - Excessive, in Central Africa, 127 - in Polynesia, 129 - of the Indians in South America, 130 - among the Redskins, 131 - a sign of wealth among the Redskins, 131 - in Asia and in Europe, 132 - and polyandry in Bhootan, 133 - of the Vedic Aryans, 135 - of the Gauls, 135 - of the Germans, 135 - Primitive, 136 - Evolution of, 137 - of civilised peoples, 138 - The stage of, 138 - Arab, 139 - Islamism and, 139 - Restrictions on, in the Koran, 140 - Celestial, in the Koran, 142 - in Egypt, in Mexico, and in Peru,148 - and the subjection of women, 148 - in Egypt, 148 - of the great in Mexico, 148 - in ancient Persia, 150 - among the Vedic Aryans, 150 - in Brahmanic India, 151 - The evolution of, 152 - Genesis of the instinct of, 155 - may favour the growth of population, 349 - - Polynesia, Licentious morals of young girls in, 50 - Licentious morals in, 59 - Prostitution of girls in, 59 - Leasing of wives in, 60 - Freedom of women in, 60 - Shameless language of the women in, 61 - The Areoïs of, 61 - Sodomy in, 61 - Paternal right of infanticide in, 113 - Polygamy in, 129 - Monogamy in, 129 - Adultery in, 212 - The family in, 294 - Genesis of paternal family in, 295 - Adoption in, 296 - - Population, density of, in Attica, 198 - Increase of, favoured sometimes by polygamy, 349 - - _Potestas_, The, of the father at Rome, 199 - - Prelibation, Right of, 48 - The right of, and the right of conquest, 48 - - Prescience, Maternal, of insects, 22 - - Primogeniture, Right of, 333 - - Procreative instinct, Origin of, 9 - - Promiscuity among sociable animals, 26 - of the _Icterus pecoris_, 26 - among the mammals, 31 - If there has been a stage of, 37 - is the lowest form of sexual association, 38 - rare amongst vertebrates, 38 - is exceptional in humanity, 39 - Case of human, 39 - in the Troglodyte, 39 - of the Agathyrses, 40 - of the Anses, 41 - of the ancient Irish, 41 - of primitive Greeks, 42 - in the _Timæus_, 42 - Primitive, in China, 42 - Primitive, in India, 42 - of the Andamanites, 43 - of the Indians of California, 43 - of certain aborigines of India, 43 - of the Zaporog Cossacks, 43 - Religious, of the Ansarians, 43 - of the Yazidies, 44 - of the Namaquois chiefs, 44 - Regulated, of the Kamilaroi, 44 - No universal stage of, 44 - - Property, Right of, of parents over children, 106 - - Prostitution, Religious, in India, 46 - Religious, at Babylon, 46 - Religious, in the Akilisenus, 46 - of young girls in Japan, 51 - Dotal, in ancient Rome, 51 - honourable in Tasmania, 57 - of girls among the Andamanites, 58 - of girls in Polynesia, 59 - Religious, among the ancient Semites, 86 - Evolution of, 155 - in primitive Athens, 156 - in Central America, 156 - in Japan, 157 - in Brahmanic India, 159 - in Buddhist India, 159 - in modern India, 159 - in France in the Middle Ages, 160 - and concubinage, 154 - - Pueblos, Marriages of love in the, 114 - The clans of the, 277 - - - Rapacious animals, Monogamy of, 27 - - Rape, 89 - in Australia, 90 - among the negroes of Africa, 92 - The expiation of, in Australia, 91 - in New Guinea, 91 - among the Indians of America, 92 - among the Tartars, 93 - among the Hebrews, 93 - in war, and Moses, 93 - in war among the Celts, 93 - - Rearing of young among animals, 21 - with the _Nemesia Eleonora_, 22 - - Redskins, Familial anthropophagy of the, 26 - Sodomy among the, 62 - Marriage by capture among the, 95 - Right of protection of relations over women of, 114 - Polygamy among the, 131 - Sister wives among the, 131 - Polygamy a sign of wealth among the, 132 - Conjugal submission of women among the, 132 - Monogamic tendencies among the, 130 - Subjection of women among the, 132 - Adultery among the, 213 - Widowhood among the, 252 - Rules of decency among the, 298 - The levirate among the, 263 - The _totems_ of the, 275 - The clan among the, 275 - The common house of the clan among the, 275 - Duties of the clan among the, 275 - Exogamy of the clan among the, 276 - Marriage among the, 276 - Inheritance among the, 275 - The maternal family among the, 277 - Communism in the clan of the, 278 - The power of the women among the, 278 - Subjection of woman among the, 283 - The clan among the, 285 - The family among the, 286 - Familial nomenclature among the, 287 - Adoption among the, 291 - Incestuous marriages among the, 294 - The evolution of the family among the, 292 - Genesis of paternal filiation among the, 293 - - Repudiation and divorce, 228 - in savage countries, 228 - in New Caledonia, 229 - among the Hottentots, 229 - among the Redskins, 231 - among the Esquimaux, 231 - at Madagascar, 233 - among the Djebel-Taggalé, 233 - among the Touaregs, 234 - among the Kabyles, 234 - among the Arabs, 237 - among the Mongols, 240 - in China, 241 - in India, 242 - among the Hebrews, 242 - in Greece, 243 - at Rome, 244 - among the Germans, 246 - among the Scandinavians, 246 - among the Tcherkesses, 246 - in feudal France, 246 - - Rome, Loan of the wife in ancient, 53 - Marriage by capture at, 100 - The wife assimilated to a slave at, 104 - Marriage by confarreation at, 120 - Marriage by purchase at, 120 - Marriage by _usus_ at, 120 - Marriage by _coemption_ at, 120 - Dotal marriage at, 120 - The concubinate at, 166 - Marriage in ancient, 198 - Marriages of children at, 198 - Relative liberty of the wife at, 198 - The wife considered as a daughter of her husband at, 198 - The _potestas_ of the father at, 199 - The _manus_ of the husband at, 200 - Dotal marriage at, 200 - Marriage by _usus_ at, 201 - Marriage by _coemptio_ at, 201 - Marriage by _confarreatio_ at, 201 - Loan of women at, 201 - The evolution of marriage at, 201 - The _jus connubii_ at, 202 - The maternal family at, 202 - The _spurii_ at, 202 - Divorce at, 244 - Repudiation at, 244 - Widowhood at, 261 - The _gens_ at, 335 - The primitive clan at, 335 - The patriarchate at, 337 - The right of succession of the _gentiles_ at, 338 - The evolution of the family at, 338 - The evolution of marriage at, 357 - - Rut and love, 7 - Sociologic importance of, 7 - The madness of, 8 - a sort of puberty, 8 - among toads, 8 - among mammals, 8 - The physiological reason of, 9 - and human love, 9 - Moral position of, 17 - - - Salmon, Battles of amorous, 11 - Maternal love among, 24 - - Savages, Loan of the wife among, 52 - - Schopenhauer and his theory of love, 9 - - Scythians, Incest among the, 66 - - Seignor, Right of the, among the Kaffirs, in New Zealand and New - Mexico, etc., 47 - - Selection, Sexual, by females, 17 - - Semites, The family among the, 325 - The patriarchate of the, 325 - - Senecas, The family among the Iroquois, 287 - - Sexes, Proportion of the, 75 - The proportion of the, and infanticide, 75 - - Sociability often comes from weakness, 31 - engenders altruism, 31 - favourable to polygamy, 31 - - Sociology, Biological origin of, 3 - The animal sources of, 10 - The rhythms of, 355 - The method of, 342 - - Sodomy among the Esquimaux, 58 - in New Caledonia, 62 - in New Zealand, 62 - among the Redskins, 62 - in Peru, 62 - at Mecca, 63 - in the East, 63 - repressed by the Celts and the Germans, 63 - in Greece, 63 - in Crete, 63 - - Sparta, Gymnastic exercises of naked girls at, 195 - Obligatory marriage at, 195 - Adultery at, 322 - - Species, Preservation of, 20 - - Spiders, Maternal love of, 22 - - _Spurii_ at Rome, 202 - - Sticklebacks, Amorous battles of, 11 - - Suttees of widows in India, 257 - - Suttees, Indian, in the time of Alexander, 257 - in modern times, 258 - - Succession, Customs of, among the Redskins, 277, 278 - Laws of, among the Kabyles, 329 - Laws of, in Persia, 331 - The right of, of the _gentiles_ at Rome, 338 - Laws of, among the Germans, 339 - - - Tamils, The family among the, 296 - The maternal family among the, 334 - - Tasmania, Honourable prostitution in,57 - - Tatoways, Coupling of the, 16 - - _Tchin-than_, Cambodian, 49 - - Termites, Republics of, 3 - - _Tetras phasaniellus_, Amorous parades of, 13 - - _Tetras umbellus_, Amorous combats of, 13 - - _Tetras urogallus_, Amorous battles of, 12 - - Thibet, Polyandry in, 78 - Civil marriage in, 182 - Monogamy in, 182 - Adultery in, 216 - Divorce in, 240 - Widowhood in, 254 - - Toads, Paternal love of, 25 - - Todas, Polyandry among the, 80 - - _Totem_, The, among the Kamilaroi of Australia, 273 - of the Redskins, 275 - - Touaregs, Paternal right redeemed by prostitution among the, 118 - Monogamy among the, 179 - Maternal filiation among the, 179 - Independence of woman among the, 179 - Pretended gynecocracy of, 181 - Repudiation among the, 234 - The pecuniary matriarchate of the women, 328 - - Tournaments, Æsthetic, of birds, 13 - - Troglodytes, Promiscuity among the, 39 - - Turkeys, League of female, against the males, 30 - - - _Usus_ at Rome, 200 - - - Vertebrates, Coquetry among the, 10 - Strength greater in males among the, 15 - Law of battle among the, 16 - Promiscuity rare among the, 38 - - Virginity among the Hebrews, 190 - - - Weaver bird, Amorous music of, 15 - - Widowhood and the levirate, 249 - in savage countries, 249 - Societies without, 250 - among the Hottentots, 250 - at the Gaboon, 250 - in equatorial Africa, 250 - at Madagascar, 251 - in Central America, 251 - among the Redskins, 252 - in Bhootan, 254 - in Thibet, 254 - in China, 255 - of brides in China, 255 - in India, 256 - in the Koran, 259 - in the Bible, 259 - in Afghanistan, 260 - among the Kabyles, 260 - among the Arabs, 260 - at Athens, 261 - at Rome, 261 - among the Germans, 262 - among the Lombards, 262 - in general, 265 - - Widows, Right of, at Kouranko, 112 - Immolation of, 253 - Suicides of, in China, 255 - Suttees of, in India, 257 - - Wives, Loan of, in America, 52 - Loan of, among the Esquimaux, 52 - Loan of, 52 - Loan of, among the Redskins, 52 - Loan of, among the Arabs, 53 - Loan of, in antique Greece, 53 - Loan of, in antique Rome, 53 - Loan of, in Australia, 57 - Loan of, among Bushmen, 58 - Lease of, among the Esquimaux, 58 - Lease of, in Polynesia, 60 - Community of, among Arabs, 84 - Assimilated to slaves at Rome, 104 - Right of refusal of the, among the Moors of Senegambia, 112 - Subjection of, 105 - Food in reserve in Melanesia, 106 - Seizure of, in Australia, 123 - Servility of, in Africa, 126 - the “oxen” of the husband, among Kaffirs, 128 - Labour of, among the Guaranis, 130 - Sister, among the Redskins, 131 - Conjugal submission of Redskin, 132 - Subjection of, by Redskins, 132 - Sisters, in Bhootan, 133 - Sisters, among the Ostiaks, 133 - Purchase of, in the Koran, 141 - Rights of the, in Mussulman marriage, 144 - Subjection of, in Kabylie, 145 - Loan of jewels to the Kabyle, 146 - Price of the, tariffed in Kabylie, 146 - Kabyle, is a thing possessed, 146 - Fate of the Kabyle, 147 - Independence of Touareg, 149 - considered as daughters of husband at Rome, 199 - Loan of, at Rome, 201 - Christian subjection of, 205 - Independence of, among the Saxons of England, 205 - Subjection of, among the Germans, 204 - Kabyle, have “right of insurrection,” 236 - Power of, among Redskins, 280 - Subjection of, among Redskins, 282 - - Women, Freedom of, in Polynesia, 60 - Shameless language of, in Polynesia, 61 - Shamelessness of, in Africa, 127 - Inferiority of, in the Koran, 140 - Dissolute morals of, in Abyssinia, 181 - Submission of, in China, 185 - Emancipated by money, 187 - Virtuous, of Proverbs, 190 - Inferiority of, in India, 191 - Subjection of, in India, 192 - Subjection of, in primitive Greece, 194 - Subjection of, in Greece, 195 - Relative liberty of, in Rome, 198 - - - Yazidies, Promiscuity of, 44 - - Young girls, Licentious manners of, in Australia, 50 - Licentious manners of, in Polynesia, 50 - Licentious manners of, in savage countries, 50 - - - Zaporogs, Promiscuity of, 43 - - -THE WALTER SCOTT PRESS, NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE. - - - - -Transcriber’s Notes - -Obvious errors in punctuation, accents and spacing have been corrected. - -The original table of contents was missing V. The Evolution of the -System of Kinship by Classes. in Chapter XVII. This has been added and -The Clan and the Family. has been renumbered to VI. - -Page 2: “terrestial animals” changed to “terrestrial animals” - -Page 12: In the footnote, “_Scènes de la Nature dans les Etats Unis_” -changed to “_Scènes de la Nature dans les États-Unis_” - -Page 29: “Amor ch’a null’” changed to “Amor ch’a nullo” - -Page 32: “Asaitic _antilope saiga_” changed to “Asiatic _antilope -saiga_” - -Page 43: In the footnote, “_Bemark. über Russland_” changed to -“_Bemerk. über Russland_” - -Page 44: In the footnote, “_Les Bédouins ou Arabes du Desert_” changed -to “_Les Bédouins ou Arabes du Désert_” - -Page 50: “aux iles” changed to “aux îles” - -Page 67: “to deflour their daughters” changed to “to deflower their -daughters” - -Page 83: “the noses and ears” changed to “the nose and ears” - -Page 96: “the husband captured slaves” changed to “the husband of -captured slaves” - -Page 100: “without confarrearation” changed to “without confarreation” - -Page 116: In the footnote, “_Journal d’un interprète en China_” changed -to “_Journal d’un interprète en Chine_” - -Page 122: “sociable of amimals” changed to “sociable of animals” - -Page 125: In the footnote, “_Voy. dans l’Afrique equatoriale_” changed -to “ _Voy. dans l’Afrique équatoriale_” - -Page 143: “all that that concerns marriage” changed to “all that -concerns marriage” “hands of the women” changed to “hands of the woman” - -Page 164: “has precedence and rule over them” changed to “has -precedence and rules over them” In the footnote on this and the -subsequent page, _L’Empire Chinoise_ changed to “_L’Empire Chinois_” - -Page 171: “monogamy and pologamy” changed to “monogamy and polygamy” - -Page 174: “Déserts du Nouvean Monde” changed to “Déserts du Nouveau -Monde” - -Page 179: “Duveyrier, 339-430” changed to “Duveyrier, 339-340” - -Page 184: A missing footnote anchor was added after “law from -inheritance,” - -Page 200: In the footnote, “Stychus” changed to “Stichus” - -Page 201: “Tahitan marriage” changed to “Tahitian marriage” and “at the -time _enciente_” changed to “at the time _enceinte_” - -Page 219: A missing footnote anchor was added after “rose-water duels.” - -Page 228: “In Abyssinia, at Haïti” changed to “In Abyssinia, at Hayti” - -Page 246: “among the Teherkesses” changed to “among the Tcherkesses” - -Page 254: In the footnote, “Revue Brittanique” changed to “Revue -Britannique” and “Morcroft and Trebeck’s” changed to “Moorcroft and -Trebeck’s” - -Page 256: In the footnote, “_Chine et les Puissances Chretiennes_” -changed to “_La Chine et les Puissances Chrétiennes_” - -Page 292: In the footnote, “Völker des Russichen” changed to “Völker -des Russischen” - -Page 298: “of the Himalayah” changed to “of the Himalaya” - -Page 314: “The Michmis buy their wives” changed to “The Mishmis buy -their wives” - -Page 315: “The Ooraons share” changed to “The Oraons share” - -Page 328: “In Kabylie, however” changed to “In Kabyle, however” - -Page 329: “for woman there remains” changed to “for women there remains” - -Page 334: “_l’Ile de Ceylon_” changed to “_l’Île de Ceylan_” - -Page 349, 351 & 352: In the footnote, “Article, “Marriage”” changed to -“Article, “Mariage”” - -A few minor adjustments were made to the index to match the spelling -and page numbers in the rest of the text. - -The spelling of MacLennan, author of _Primitive Marriage_, was -corrected to McLennon. - -The spelling of Moerenhaut, author of _Voy. aux îles_, was corrected to -Moerenhout. - -The spelling of Shortt, author of _Trans. Ethn. Soc._, was corrected to -Schortt. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EVOLUTION OF MARRIAGE AND -OF THE FAMILY *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for -copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very -easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation -of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project -Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away--you may -do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected -by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark -license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country other than the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and - most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the - United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where - you are located before using this eBook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm website -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that: - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of -the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the Foundation as set -forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, -Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up -to date contact information can be found at the Foundation's website -and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without -widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our website which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This website 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/old/67739-0.zip b/old/67739-0.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 9b98d06..0000000 --- a/old/67739-0.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/67739-h.zip b/old/67739-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 88b3347..0000000 --- a/old/67739-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/67739-h/67739-h.htm b/old/67739-h/67739-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 4b057a3..0000000 --- a/old/67739-h/67739-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,23546 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - The Evolution of Marriage and of the Family, by Charles Jean Marie Letourneau—A Project Gutenberg eBook - </title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; - text-indent: 1em; -} - -.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} -.p4 {margin-top: 4em;} -.p0 {text-indent: 0em;} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -.bt {border-top: 2px solid;} -.br {border-right: 2px solid;} - -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -@media print { hr.chap {display: none; visibility: hidden;} } - -hr.r5 {width: 5%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 47.5%; margin-right: 47.5%;} -hr.r65 {width: 65%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} - -div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} -h2.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} - -ul.index { list-style-type: none; margin-top: 2em;} -li.ifrst { - margin-top: 1em; - text-indent: -2em; - padding-left: 1em; -} -li.isuba { - text-indent: -2em; - padding-left: 2em; -} - -table { - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; -} -table.autotable { border-collapse: collapse; width: 80%; font-size: 1.1em;} -table.autotable td, -table.autotable th { padding-left: 4px; padding-bottom: 4px; padding-right: 4px;} -table.thin { border-collapse: collapse; width: 60%; font-size: 1.1em;} -table.thin td, -table.thin th { padding: 4px; } -.x-ebookmaker table {width: 90%; font-size: 0.9em;} -.mt {padding-top: 6px;} - -.tdl {text-align: left;} -.tdr {text-align: right;} -.tdc {text-align: center;} - -.page {width: 4em;} - -.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ - /* visibility: hidden; */ - position: absolute; - left: 92%; - font-size: smaller; - text-align: right; - font-style: normal; - font-weight: normal; - font-variant: normal; -} /* page numbers */ - -.blockquot { - margin-left: 5%; - margin-right: 5%; -} - -abbr[title] {text-decoration: none;} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.right {text-align: right;} - -.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} - -.allsmcap {font-variant: small-caps; text-transform: lowercase;} - -.u {text-decoration: underline;} - - -/* Footnotes */ -.footnotes {border: 1px dashed; margin-top: 2em; margin-left: 3%; margin-right: 3%;} - -.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} - -.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} - -.fnanchor { - vertical-align: super; - font-size: .8em; - text-decoration: - none; -} - -/* Poetry */ -.poetry {text-align: left; margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;} -/* uncomment the next line for centered poetry in browsers */ -/* .poetry {display: inline-block;} */ -/* large inline blocks don't split well on paged devices */ -@media print { .poetry {display: block;} } -.x-ebookmaker .poetry {display: block;} - -.xbig {font-size: 1.5em;} -.big {font-size: 1.2em;} -.small {font-size: 0.8em;} - -/* Transcriber's notes */ -.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; - color: black; - font-size:smaller; - padding:0.5em; - margin-bottom:5em; - font-family:sans-serif, serif; } - - </style> - </head> -<body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Evolution of Marriage and of the Family, by Charles Jean Marie Letourneau</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Evolution of Marriage and of the Family</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Charles Jean Marie Letourneau</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: March 30, 2022 [eBook #67739]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Turgut Dincer and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EVOLUTION OF MARRIAGE AND OF THE FAMILY ***</div> - - - - - -<p class="center p0 u big"><i>THE CONTEMPORARY SCIENCE SERIES.</i></p> -<hr class="r65" /> -<p class="center p0"><span class="smcap">Edited by</span> HAVELOCK ELLIS.</p> - - -<p class="center p0 p4 xbig"> EVOLUTION OF MARRIAGE -</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - - - -<h1>THE EVOLUTION<br /><br /> -OF MARRIAGE<br /><br /> -<span class="small">AND OF THE FAMILY</span></h1> - -<p class="center p0 p4 small"> BY</p> - -<p class="center p0 big"> CH. LETOURNEAU,</p> - -<p class="center p0 small"> <i>General Secretary to the Anthropological Society of Paris, - and Professor in the School of Anthropology</i>.</p> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<p class="center p0 p2"><span class="big">LONDON<br /> - WALTER SCOTT, 24 WARWICK LANE</span><br /> -<span class="small">PATERNOSTER ROW</span><br /> - 1891. -</p></div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS.</h2> -</div> -<hr class="r5" /> - -<table class="autotable"> -<tr> -<td class="tdc mt" colspan="4"> -<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan="3"> -<span class="smcap">The Biological Origin of Marriage</span> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<span class="small">PAGE</span><br /> -<a href="#Page_1">1-19</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_1">I.</a> -</td> -<td> -The True Place of Man in the Animal Kingdom. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_2">II.</a> -</td> -<td>Reproduction. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_3">III.</a> -</td> -<td>Rut and Love. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_4">IV.</a> -</td> -<td>Love of Animals. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc mt" colspan="4"> -<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan="3"><span class="smcap">Marriage and the Family amongst Animals</span> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_20">20-36</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_5">I.</a> -</td> -<td> The Preservation of Species. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_6">II.</a> -</td> -<td> Marriage and the Rearing of the Young among Animals. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_7">III.</a> -</td> -<td> The Family amongst Animals. -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc mt" colspan="4"> -<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan="3"><span class="smcap">Promiscuity</span> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_37">37-55</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_8">I.</a> -</td> -<td> Has there been a Stage of Promiscuity? -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_9">II.</a> -</td> -<td> Cases of Human Promiscuity. -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_10">III.</a> -</td> -<td> Hetaïrism. -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc mt" colspan="4"> -<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan="3"><span class="smcap">Some Singular Forms of Sexual Association</span> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_56">56-72</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_11">I.</a> -</td> -<td> Primitive Sexual Immorality. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_12">II.</a> -</td> -<td> Some Strange Forms of Marriage. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc mt" colspan="4"> -<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan="3"><span class="smcap">Polyandry</span> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_73">73-88</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_13">I.</a> -</td> -<td> Sexual Proportion of Births: its Influence on Marriage. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_14">II.</a> -</td> -<td> Ethnography of Polyandry. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_15">III.</a> -</td> -<td>Polyandry in Ancient Arabia. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_16">IV.</a> -</td> -<td> Polyandry in General.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</span> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc mt" colspan="4"> -<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan="3"><span class="smcap">Marriage by Capture</span> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_89">89-104</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_17">I.</a> -</td> -<td> Rape. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_18">II.</a> -</td> -<td> Marriage by Capture. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_19">III.</a> -</td> -<td> Signification of the Ceremonial of Capture. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc mt" colspan="4"> -<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan="3"><span class="smcap">Marriage by Purchase and by Servitude</span> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_105">105-121</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_20">I.</a> -</td> -<td> The Power of Parents. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_21">II.</a> -</td> -<td> Marriage by Servitude. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_22">III.</a> -</td> -<td> Marriage by Purchase. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc mt" colspan="4"> -<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan="3"><span class="smcap">Primitive Polygamy</span> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_122">122-137</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_23">I.</a> -</td> -<td> Polygamy in Oceania, Africa, and America. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_24">II.</a> -</td> -<td> Polygamy in Asia and in Europe. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc mt" colspan="4"> -<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan="3"><span class="smcap">Polygamy of Civilised People</span> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_138">138-153</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_25">I.</a> -</td> -<td> The Stage of Polygamy. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_26">II.</a> -</td> -<td> Arab Polygamy. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_27">III.</a> -</td> -<td> Polygamy in Egypt, Mexico, and Peru. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_28">IV.</a> -</td> -<td> Polygamy in Persia and India. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc mt" colspan="4"> -<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan="3"><span class="smcap">Prostitution and Concubinage</span> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_154">154-170</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_29">I.</a> -</td> -<td> Concubinage in General. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_30">II.</a> -</td> -<td> Prostitution. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_31">III.</a> -</td> -<td> Various Forms of Concubinage. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc mt" colspan="4"> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan="3"><span class="smcap">Primitive Monogamy</span> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_171">171-187</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_32">I.</a> -</td> -<td> The Monogamy of Inferior Races. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_33">II.</a> -</td> -<td> Monogamy in the Ancient States of Central America. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_34">III.</a> -</td> -<td> Monogamy in Ancient Egypt. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_35">IV.</a> -</td> -<td> Monogamy of the Touaregs and Abyssinians. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_36">V.</a> -</td> -<td> Monogamy among the Mongols of Asia. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_37">VI.</a> -</td> -<td>Monogamy and Civilisation.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</span> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc mt" colspan="4"> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan="3"><span class="smcap">Hebrew and Aryan Monogamy</span> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_188">188-206</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_38">I.</a> -</td> -<td> Monogamy of the Races called Superior. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_39">II.</a> -</td> -<td> Hebrew Marriage. -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_40">III.</a> -</td> -<td> Marriage in Persia and Ancient India. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_41">IV.</a> -</td> -<td> Marriage in Ancient Greece. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_42">V.</a> -</td> -<td> Marriage in Ancient Rome. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_43">VI.</a> -</td> -<td> Barbarous Marriage and Christian Marriage. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc mt" colspan="4"> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan="3"><span class="smcap">Adultery</span> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_207">207-227</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_44">I.</a> -</td> -<td> Adultery in General. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_45">II.</a> -</td> -<td> Adultery in Melanesia. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_46">III.</a> -</td> -<td> Adultery in Black Africa. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_47">IV.</a> -</td> -<td> Adultery in Polynesia. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_48">V.</a> -</td> -<td> Adultery in Savage America. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_49">VI.</a> -</td> -<td> Adultery in Barbarous America. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_50">VII.</a> -</td> -<td> Adultery among the Mongol Races and in Malaya. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_51">VIII.</a> -</td> -<td> Adultery among the Egyptians, the Berbers, and the Semites. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_52">IX.</a> -</td> -<td> Adultery in Persia and India. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_53">X.</a> -</td> -<td> Adultery in the Greco-Roman World. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_54">XI.</a> -</td> -<td> Adultery in Barbarous Europe. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_55">XII.</a> -</td> -<td> Adultery in the Past and in the Future. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc mt" colspan="4"> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan="3"><span class="smcap">Repudiation and Divorce</span> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_228">228-248</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_56">I.</a> -</td> -<td> In Savage Countries. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_57">II.</a> -</td> -<td> Divorce and Repudiation among Barbarous Peoples. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_58">III.</a> -</td> -<td> The Evolution of Divorce. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc mt" colspan="4"> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan="3"><span class="smcap">Widowhood and the Levirate</span> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_249">249-266</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_59">I.</a> -</td> -<td> Widowhood in Savage Countries. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_60">II.</a> -</td> -<td> Widowhood in Barbarous Countries. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_61">III.</a> -</td> -<td> The Levirate. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_62">IV.</a> -</td> -<td> Summary. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc mt" colspan="4"> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI.</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan="3"><span class="smcap">The Familial Clan in Australia and - America</span> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_267">267-284</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_63">I.</a> -</td> -<td> The Family. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_64">II.</a> -</td> -<td> The Family in Melanesia. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_65">III.</a> -</td> -<td> The Family in America.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</span> -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc mt" colspan="4"> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII.</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan="3"><span class="smcap">The Familial Clan and its Evolution</span> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_285">285-302</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_66">I.</a> -</td> -<td> The Clan among the Redskins. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_67">II.</a> -</td> -<td> The Family among the Redskins. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_68">III.</a> -</td> -<td> The Family in Polynesia. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_69">IV.</a> -</td> -<td> The Family among the Mongols. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_70">V.</a> -</td> -<td> The Evolution of the System of Kinship by Classes. -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_71">VI.</a> -</td> -<td>The Clan and the Family. -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc mt" colspan="4"> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII.</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan="3"><span class="smcap">The Maternal Family</span> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_303">303-321</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_72">I.</a> -</td> -<td> The Familial Clan and the Family properly so-called. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_73">II.</a> -</td> -<td> The Family in Africa. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_74">III.</a> -</td> -<td> The Family in Malaya. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_75">IV.</a> -</td> -<td> The Family among the Naïrs of Malabar. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_76">V.</a> -</td> -<td> The Family among the Aborigines of Bengal. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_77">VI.</a> -</td> -<td> The Couvade. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_78">VII.</a> -</td> -<td> The Primitive Family. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc mt" colspan="4"> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX.</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan="3"><span class="smcap">The Family in Civilised Countries</span> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_322">322-340</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_79">I.</a> -</td> -<td> The Family in China. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_80">II.</a> -</td> -<td> The Family among the Semitic Races. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_81">III.</a> -</td> -<td> The Family among the Berbers. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_82">IV.</a> -</td> -<td> The Family in Persia. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_83">V.</a> -</td> -<td> The Family in India. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_84">VI.</a> -</td> -<td> The Greco-Roman Family. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_85">VII.</a> -</td> -<td> The Family in Barbarous Europe. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc mt" colspan="4"> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX.</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td colspan="3"><span class="smcap">Marriage and the Family in the Past, the - Present, and the Future</span> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_341">341-360</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_86">I.</a> -</td> -<td> The Past. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_87">II.</a> -</td> -<td> The Present. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#h3_88">III.</a> -</td> -<td> The Future. -</td> -<td> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl mt" colspan="3"><a href="#INDEX"><span class="smcap">Index</span></a> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_361">361</a> -</td> -</tr> -</table> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="PREFACE">PREFACE.</h2> -</div> -<hr class="r5" /> - -<p>A few preliminary observations in regard to the aim and method of this -work may be useful to the reader.</p> - -<p>He will do well to begin by persuading himself, with Montaigne, that -the “hinges of custom” are not always the “hinges of reason,” and -still less those of reality in all times and places. He will do better -still to steep himself in the spirit of scientific evolution, and to -bear in mind that incessant change is the law of the social, quite as -much as of the physical and organic world, and that the most splendid -blossoms have sprung from very humble germs. This is the supreme truth -of science, and it is only when such a point of view has become quite -familiar to us that we shall be neither troubled nor disconcerted -by the sociological history of humanity; and however shocking or -unnatural certain customs may appear, we shall guard ourselves against -any feeling of indignation at them, and more especially against a -thoughtless refusal to give credence to them, simply because they run -counter to our own usages and morality.</p> - -<p>All that social science has a right to ask of the facts which it -registers is that they should be authentic; this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</span> duly proved, it -only remains to accept, classify, and interpret them. Faithful to -this method, without which there could be no science of sociology, -I have here gathered together as proofs a number of singular facts, -which, improbable as they may appear according to our pre-conceived -notions, and criminal according to our moral sense, are nevertheless -most instructive. Although in a former work I have taken care to -establish the relativity of morality, the explanations that I am about -to make are not out of season; for the subject of this book is closely -connected with what, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">par excellence</i>, we call “morals.”</p> - -<p>On this point I must permit myself a short digression.</p> - -<p>No one will pretend that our so-called civilised society has a very -strict practical morality, yet public opinion still seems to attach a -particular importance to sexual morality, and this is the expression of -a very real sentiment, the origin of which scientific sociology has no -difficulty in retracing. This origin, far from being a lofty one, goes -back simply to the right of proprietorship in women similar to that in -goods and chattels—a proprietorship which we find claimed in savage, -and even in barbarous countries, without any feeling of shame. During -the lower stages of social evolution, women are uniformly treated as -domestic animals; but this female live-stock are difficult to guard; -for, on the one hand, they are much coveted and are unskilful in -defending themselves, and on the other, they do not bend willingly to -the one-sided duty of fidelity that is imposed on them. The masters, -therefore, protect their own interests by a whole series of vexatious -restraints, of rigorous punishments, and of ferocious revenges, left at -first to the good pleasure of the marital proprietors, and afterwards<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</span> -regulated and codified. In the chapter on adultery, especially, will -be found a great number of examples of this marital savagery. I have -previously shown, in my <i lang="es" xml:lang="es">Evolution de la Morale</i>, that the -unforeseen result of all this jealous fury has been to endow humanity, -and more particularly women, with the delicate sentiment of modesty, -unknown to the animal world and to primitive man.</p> - -<p>From this evolution of thousands of years there has finally resulted, -in countries and races more or less civilised, a certain sexual -morality, which is half instinctive, and varies according to time -and place, but which it is impossible to transgress without the risk -of offending gravely against public opinion. Civilisations, however, -whether coarse or refined, differ from each other. Certain actions, -counted as blameworthy in one part of the world, are elsewhere held as -lawful and even praiseworthy. In order to trace the origin of marriage -and of the family, it is therefore indispensable to relate a number of -practices which may be scandalous in our eyes. While submitting to this -necessity, I have done so unwillingly, and with all the sobriety which -befits the subject. I have striven never to depart from the scientific -spirit, which purifies everything, and renders even indecency decent.</p> - -<p>Like the savages of to-day, our distant ancestors were very little -removed from simple animal existence. A knowledge of their physiology -is nevertheless necessary to enable us to understand our own; for, -however cultivated the civilised man may be, he derives from the humble -progenitors of his race a number of instincts which are energetic in -proportion as they are of a low order. More or less deadened, these -gross tendencies are latent in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</span> the most highly developed individuals; -and when they sometimes break out suddenly in the actions of a man’s -life, or in the morals or literature of a people, they recall to us -our very humble origin, and even show a certain mental and moral -retrogression.</p> - -<p>Now it is to this primitive man, still in such a rudimentary state, -that we must go back for enlightenment on the genesis of all our social -institutions. We must take him at the most distant dawn of humanity, -follow him step by step in his slow metamorphoses, without either -disparaging or poetising him; we must watch him rising and becoming -more refined through accumulated centuries, till he loses by degrees -his animal instincts, and at length acquires aptitudes, inclinations, -and faculties that are truly human.</p> - -<p>Nothing is better adapted to exemplify the evolution which binds our -present to our past and to our future than the sociological history of -marriage and of the family.</p> - -<p>After having spoken of the aim of this book, it remains for me to -justify its method. This differs considerably from what the mass of -the public like far too well. But a scientific treatise must not take -purely literary works for its models; and I can say to my readers, -with much more reason than old Rabelais, that if they wish to taste -the marrow, they must take the trouble to break the bone. My first -and chief consideration is to assist in the foundation of a new -science—ethnographical sociology. Elegant and vain dissertations, or -vague generalities, have no place here. It is by giving way to these, -and in attempting to reap the harvest before sowing the seed, that -many authors have lost themselves in a pseudo-sociology, having no -foundation, and consequently no value.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiii">[Pg xiii]</span></p> - -<p>Social science, if it is to be seriously constituted, must submit with -docility to the method of natural science. The first task, and the one -which especially falls to the lot of the sociologists of the present -day, is to collect the facts which will form materials for the future -edifice. To their successors will fall the pleasure of completing and -adorning it.</p> - -<p>The present work is, therefore, above all, a collection of facts which, -even if taken alone, are curious and suggestive. These facts have been -patiently gleaned from the writings of ethnographers, travellers, -legists, and historians. I have classed them as well as I could, -and naturally they have inspired me here and there with glimpses of -possible inductions, and with some slight attempts at generalisation.</p> - -<p>But whether the reader rejects or accepts my interpretations, the -groundwork of facts on which they rest is so instructive of itself that -a perusal of the following pages cannot be quite fruitless.</p> - -<p class="right p0"> -CH. LETOURNEAU. -</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_EVOLUTION_OF_MARRIAGE_AND_OF_THE_FAMILY">THE EVOLUTION OF MARRIAGE AND OF THE FAMILY.</h2> -</div> - -<hr class="r5" /> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.<br /><br /><span class="small">THE BIOLOGICAL ORIGIN OF MARRIAGE.</span></h2> - - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>I. <i>The True Place of Man in the Animal Kingdom.</i>—Man is a -mammiferous, bimanous vertebrate—Biology the starting-point of -sociology—The origin of love.</p> - -<p>II. <i>Reproduction.</i>—Nutrition and -reproduction—Scissiparity—Budding—Ovulation—Conjugation—Impregnation—Reproduction -in the invertebrates—The entity called Nature—Organic specialisation -and reproduction—A dithyramb by Haeckel.</p> - -<p>III. <i>Rut and Love.</i>—Rut renders sociable—Rut is a short -puberty—Its organic adornment—The frenzy of rut—Physiological reason -of rut in mammals—Love and rut—Schopenhauer and the designs of Nature.</p> - -<p>IV. <i>Love of Animals.</i>—Love and death—The law of coquetry—The -law of battle—Jealousy and æsthetic considerations—Love amongst -birds—Effects of sexual selection—The loves of the skylark—The males -of the blue heron and their combats—Battles of male geese and male -gallinaceæ—Courteous duels between males—Æsthetic seduction among -certain birds—Æsthetic constructions—Musical seduction—Predominance -of the female among certain birds—Greater sensuality of the -male—Effect of sexual exaltation—A Cartesian paradox—Individual -choice amongst animals—Individual fancies of females—General -propositions.</p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</span></p> - - -<h3 id="h3_1">I. <i>The True Place of Man.</i></h3> - -<p>We have too long been accustomed to study human society as if man were -a being apart in the universe. In comparing human bipeds with animals -it has seemed as if we were disparaging these so-called demi-gods. It -is to this blind prejudice that we must attribute the tardy rise of -anthropological sociology. A deeper knowledge of biological science -and of inferior races has at last cured us of this childish vanity. -We have decided to assign to man his true place in the organic world -of our little globe. Granted that the human biped is incontestably -the most intelligent of terrestrial animals, yet, by his histological -texture, by his organs, and by the functions of these organs, he is -evidently only an animal, and easily classed in the series: he is -a bimanous, mammiferous vertebrate. Not that by his most glorious -representatives, by those whom we call men of genius, man does not rise -prodigiously above his distant relations of the mammal class; but, on -the other hand, by imperfectly developed specimens he descends far -below many species of animals; for if the idiot is only an exception, -the man of genius is still more so. In fact, the lowest human races, -with whose anatomy, psychology, and sociology we are to-day familiar, -can only inspire us with feelings of modesty. They furnish studies -in ethnography which have struck a mortal blow at the dreams of “the -kingdom of man.”</p> - -<p>When once it is established that man is a mammal like any other, -and only distinguished from the animals of his class by a greater -cerebral development, all study of human sociology must logically be -preceded by a corresponding study of animal sociology. Moreover, as -sociology finally depends on biology, it will be necessary to seek in -physiological conditions themselves the origin of great sociological -manifestations. The first necessity of societies is that they should -endure, and they can only do so on the condition of providing -satisfaction for primordial needs, which are the condition of life -itself, and which imperatively dominate and regulate great social -institutions. Lastly, if man is a sociable animal, he is not the only -one; many other species<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</span> have grouped themselves in societies, where, -however rudimentary they may be, we find in embryonic sketch the -principal traits of human agglomerations. There are even species—as, -for example, bees, ants, and termites—that have created true -republics, of complicated structure, in which the social problem has -been solved in an entirely original manner. We may take from them more -than one good example, and more than one valuable hint.</p> - -<p>My present task is to write the history of marriage and of the family. -The institution of marriage has had no other object than the regulation -of sexual unions. These have for their aim the satisfaction of one of -the most imperious biological needs—the sexual appetite; but this -appetite is only a conscious impulse, a “snare,” as Montaigne calls -it, which impels both man and animal to provide, as far as concerns -them, for the preservation of their species—to “pay the ancestral -debt,” according to the Brahmanical formula. Before studying the sexual -relations, and their more or less regulated form in human societies, it -will not be out of place to say a few words on reproduction in general, -to sketch briefly its physiology in so far as this is fundamental, -and to show how tyrannical are the instincts whose formation has been -determined by physiological causes, and which render the fiercest -animals mild and tractable. This is what I shall attempt to do in the -following chapter.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_2">II. <i>Reproduction.</i></h3> - -<p>Stendhal has somewhere said that the beautiful is simply the outcome -of the useful; changing the phrase, we may say that generation is -the outcome of nutrition. If we examine the processes of generation -in very simple organisms, this great function seems to answer to a -superabundance of nutritive materials, which, after having carried -the anatomic elements to their maximum volume, at length overflows -and provokes the formation of new elements. As long as the new-born -elements can remain aggregated with those which already constitute the -individual, as long as the latter has not acquired all the development -compatible with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</span> the plan of its being, there is simply growth. When -once the limit is attained that the species cannot pass, the organism -(I mean a very rudimentary organism) reproduces itself commonly by a -simple division in two halves. It perishes in doubling itself and in -producing two beings, similar to itself, and having nothing to do but -grow. It is by means of this bi-partition that hydras, vorticellæ, -algæ, and the lowest mushrooms are generally propagated.</p> - -<p>In the organisms that are slightly more complicated the function of -reproduction tends to be specialised. The individual is no longer -totally divided; it produces a bud which grows by degrees, and detaches -itself from the parent organism to run in its turn through the very -limited adventures of its meagre existence.</p> - -<p>By a more advanced step in specialisation the function of reproduction -becomes localised in a particular cell, an ovule, and the latter, -by a series of repeated bi-partitions, develops a new individual; -but it is generally necessary that the cellule destined to multiply -itself by segmentation should at first dissolve by union with another -cell. Through the action of various organic processes the two -generating cells arrive in contact. The element which is to undergo -segmentation—the female element—then absorbs the element that is -simply impulsive; the element called male becomes impregnated with -it, and from that moment it is fertilised, that is to say, capable of -pursuing the course of its formative work.</p> - -<p>This phenomenon, so simple in itself, of the conjugation of two -cellules, is the foundation of reproduction in the two organic -kingdoms as soon as the two sexes are separated. Whether the sexes are -represented by distinct or united individuals, whether the accessory -organic apparatus is more or less complicated, are matters of no -consequence; the essential fact reappears always and everywhere of the -conjugation of two cellules, with absorption, in the case of superior -animals, of the male cellule by the female cellule.</p> - -<p>The process may be observed in its most elementary form in the algæ and -the diatomaceæ, said to be conjugated. To form a reproductive cellule, -or spore, two neighbouring cellules each throw out, one towards the -other, a prolongation.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</span> These prolongations meet, and their sides -absorb each other at the point of contact; then the protoplasms of the -two elements mingle, and at length the two cellules melt into a single -reproductive cellule (<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Spirogyra longata</i>).</p> - -<p>Between this marriage of two lower vegetal cellules, which realises to -the letter the celebrated biblical words, “they shall be one flesh,” or -rather one protoplasm, and the fundamental phenomenon of fecundation -in the superior animals, including man, there is no essential -dissimilarity. The ovule of the female and the spermatozoon of the male -become fused in the same manner, with this difference only, that the -feminine cellule, the ovule, preserves its individuality and absorbs -the masculine cellule, or is impregnated by it.</p> - -<p>But, simple as it is, this phenomenon of fecundation is the sole reason -of the duration of bi-sexual species. Thanks to it, organic individuals -that are all more or less ephemeral,</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p xml:lang="la" lang="la">“Et, quasi cursores, vitaï lampada tradunt.”</p> - -<p class="right p0"> -(<i>Lucretius</i>, ii. 78.) -</p> -</div> - - -<p>For many organised beings reproduction seems in reality the supreme -object of existence. Numbers of vegetables and of animals, even of -animals high in the series—as insects—die as soon as they have -accomplished this great duty. Sometimes the male expires before having -detached himself from the female, and the latter herself survives just -long enough to effect the laying of eggs. Instead of laying eggs, the -female cochineal fills herself with eggs to such a degree that she dies -in consequence, and the tegument of her body is transformed into a -protecting envelope for the eggs.</p> - -<p>At the not very distant time when animism reigned supreme, these facts -were attributed to calculations of design. Nature, it was believed, -occupied herself chiefly with perpetuating organised species; as for -individuals, she disdained the care of them. We now know that Nature, -as an anthropomorphic being, does not exist; that the great forces -called natural are unconscious; that their blind action results, -however, in the world of life, in a choice, a selection,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</span> a progressive -evolution, or, to sum up, in the survival of the individuals best -adapted to the conditions of their existence. Without any intention of -Dame Nature, the preservation of the species was necessarily, before -anything else, the object of selection; and during the course of -geological periods primitive bi-partition gradually became transformed -through progressive differentiation into bi-sexual procreation, -requiring the concurrence of special and complicated apparatus in order -to be effected. But, at the same time as procreation, other functions -also became differentiated by the formation of special organs; the -nervous system vegetated around the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">chorda dorsalis</i>; and, -finally, conscious life awoke in the nervous centres. Thenceforth -the accomplishment of the great function of procreation assumed an -entirely different aspect. In the lowest stages of the animal kingdom -reproduction is effected mechanically and unconsciously. A paramœcium, -observed by M. Balbiani, produced in forty-two days, by a series -of simple bi-partitions, 1,384,116 individuals, who very certainly -had not the least notion of the phenomena by which they transmitted -existence. But with superior animals it is very different; in their -case the act of procreation is a real efflorescence, not only physical, -but psychical. For the study that I am now undertaking it will not -be without use to recall the principal features of this amorous -efflorescence, since it is, after all, the first cause of marriage and -of the family. At the same time, not to lose our standpoint, it is -important to bear in mind that at the bottom all this expenditure of -physical and psychical force has for motive and for result, both in -man and animal, the conjugation of two generative cellules. Haeckel -has written a dithyramb on this subject in his <i lang="de" xml:lang="de">Anthropogenia</i>, -which is in the main so true that I take pleasure in quoting it—“Great -effects are everywhere produced, in animated nature, by minute -causes.... Think of how many curious phenomena sexual selection gives -rise to in animal life; think of the results of love in human life; -now, all this has for its <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">raison d’être</i> the union of two -cellules.... There is no organic act which approaches this one in -power and in the force of differentiation. The Semitic myth of Eve -seducing Adam for the love of knowledge, the old Greek<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</span> legend of -Paris and Helen, and many other magnificent poems, do they not simply -express the enormous influence that sexual love and sexual selection -have exercised since the separation of the sexes? The influence of all -the other passions which agitate the human heart cannot weigh in the -balance with love, which inflames the senses and fascinates the reason. -On the one hand, we celebrate in love the source of the most sublime -works of art, and of the noblest creations of poetry and of music; we -venerate it as the most powerful factor in civilisation, as the prime -cause of family life, and consequently of social life. On the other -hand, we fear love as a destructive flame; it is love that drives -so many to ruin; it is love that has caused more misery, vice, and -crime than all other calamities together. Love is so prodigious, its -influence is so enormous on psychic life and the most diverse functions -of the nervous system, that in regard to it we are tempted to question -the supernatural effect of our natural explanation. Nevertheless, -comparative biology and the history of development conduct us surely -and incontestably to the simplest, most remote source of love; that is -to say, the elective affinity of two different cellules—the spermatic -cell and the ovulary cell.”<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> - - -<h3 id="h3_3">III. <i>Rut and Love.</i></h3> - -<p>In a former work on the evolution of morality I have described the -manner in which the hereditary tendencies and instincts arise from -habit, induced in the nervous cellules by a sufficient repetition of -the same acts. The instinct of procreation has, and can have, no other -origin. The animal species, during the long phases of their evolution, -have reproduced themselves unconsciously, and by very simple processes, -which we may still observe in certain zoophytes. By degrees these mere -sketches of animals have become perfected and differentiated, and -have acquired special organs over which the biological work has been -distributed; thenceforth the play of life has echoed in the nervous -centres, and has awakened in them impressions and desires, the energy -of which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</span> strictly corresponds to the importance of the functions. -Now, there is no more primordial function than procreation, since on -it depends the duration even of the species; and for this reason the -need of reproduction, or the rut, breaks out in many animals like a -kind of madness. The psychic faculties of the animal, whether great or -small, are then over-excited, and rise above their ordinary level; but -they all tend to one supreme aim—the desire for reproduction. At this -period the wildest and most unsociable species can no longer endure -solitude; both males and females seek each other; sometimes, even, -they are seen to form themselves into groups, or small provisional -societies, which will dissolve again after the coupling time is over.</p> - -<p>Each period of rut is for animals a sort of puberty. The hair, the -plumage, and the scales often assume rich tints which afterwards -disappear. Sometimes special epidermic productions appear in the male, -and serve him for temporary weapons with which to fight his rivals, or -for ornaments to captivate the female. It is with a veritable frenzy -that the sexual union is accomplished among certain species. Thus <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> -Günther has several times found female toads dead, smothered by the -embrace of the males.<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> Spallanzani was able to amputate the thighs -of male frogs and toads during copulation, without diverting them from -their work.</p> - -<p>In the animal class which more particularly interests us, that of -mammals, rut produces analogous, though less violent, phenomena. Now, -in this case, we know that erotic fury is closely related to congestive -phenomena, having for their seat the procreative glands, which swell -in both male and female, and provoke in the latter a veritable process -of egg-laying. We must not forget that man, in his quality of mammal, -is subject to the common law, that female menstruation is essentially -identical with the intimate phenomena of rut in the females of mammals, -and corresponds also to an ovarian congestion, or to the swelling and -bursting of one or more of the Graafian follicles; it is, in short, -a production of eggs. I need not lay stress on these facts, but it -is right to recall them by the way, since they are the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">raison -d’être</i> of sexual<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span> attraction, without which there would be neither -marriage nor family.</p> - -<p>If we are willing to descend to the foundation of things, we find -that human love is essentially rut in an intelligent being. It exalts -all the vital forces of the man just as rut over-excites those of the -animal. If it seems to differ extremely from it, this is simply because -in man the procreative need, a primordial need beyond all others, in -radiating from highly developed nervous centres, awakens and sets in -commotion an entire psychic life unknown to the animal.</p> - -<p>There is nothing surprising to the naturalist in this procreative -explosion, which evolves altruism out of egotism. We know too -well, however, that it has not appeared so simple a matter to many -philosophers and celebrated literary men, little familiar with -biological sciences. A belated metaphysician, Schopenhauer, who has -lately become fashionable, adopting the ancient stereotyped doctrine -which makes Nature an anthropomorphic personage, has gratuitously -credited her with quite a profound diplomatic design. According to him, -it is a foregone conclusion that she should intoxicate individuals with -love, and thus urge them on, without their suspecting it, to sacrifice -themselves to the major interest of the preservation of the species. -The glance that we have just thrown on the processes of reproduction, -from the paramœcium up to man, suffices to refute this dream. I will -not, however, dwell on this. What is here of great interest is to -inquire how the superior animals comport themselves when pricked by -desire, and to note the principal traits of their sexual psychology; -for here again we shall have to recognise more than one analogy to -what happens in regard to man; and we shall also see later that there -exists both in the animal and the man some relation between the manner -in which sexual attraction is felt and the greater or less aptitude for -durable pairing, and consequently for marriage and the family.</p> - -<p>Without giving more time than is necessary to these short excursions -into animal psychology, it will be well to pause on them for a moment. -They throw a light on the sources of human sociology; they force us -also to break<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span> once for all with the abstract and trite theories which -have inspired, on the subject of marriage and the family, so much empty -writing and so many satiating trivialities. It is in animality that -humanity has its root; it is there, consequently, that we must seek the -origins of human sociology.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_4">IV. <i>Loves of Animals.</i></h3> - -<p>In a well-known mystic book occurs an aphorism which has become -celebrated—“Love is strong as death.” The expression is not -exaggerated; we may even say that love is stronger than death, since -it makes us despise it. This is perhaps truer with animals than with -man, and is all the more evident in proportion as the rational will is -weaker, and prudential calculations furnish no check to the impetuosity -of desire. For the majority of insects to love and to die are almost -synonymous, and yet they make no effort to resist the amorous frenzy -which urges them on. But however short may be their sexual career, -one fact has been so generally observed in regard to many of them, -that it may be considered as the expression of a law—<em>the law of -coquetry</em>. With the greater number of species that are slightly -intelligent, the female refuses at first to yield to amorous caresses. -This useful practice may well have arisen from selection, for its -result has invariably been to excite the desire of the male, and arouse -in him latent or sleeping faculties. However brief, for example, may -be the life of butterflies, their pairing is not accomplished without -preliminaries; the males court the females during entire hours, and for -a butterfly hours are years.</p> - -<p>We can easily imagine that the coquetry of females is more common -amongst vertebrates. When the season of love arrives, many male fishes, -who are then adorned with extremely brilliant colours, make the most of -their transient beauty by spreading out their fins, and by executing -leaps, darts, and seductive manœuvres around the females.</p> - -<p>Among fishes we begin already to observe another sexual law, at least -as general as the law of coquetry, which Darwin has called the <em>law -of battle</em>. The males dispute with each other for the females, and -must triumph<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span> over their rivals before obtaining them. Thus, whilst -the female sticklebacks are very pacific, their males are of warlike -humour, and engage in furious combats in their honour. In the same way -the male salmon, whose lower jaw lengthens into a crook during the -breeding season, are constantly fighting amongst each other.<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> - -<p>The higher we ascend in the animal kingdom the more frequent and more -violent become two desires in the males—the desire of appearing -beautiful, and that of driving away rivals. In South America, the -males of the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Analis cristellatus</i>, a fissilingual saurian, have -terrible battles in the breeding season, the vanquished habitually -losing his tail, which is bitten off by the victor. An old observer -also describes the amorous male alligator as “swollen to bursting, -the head and tail raised, spinning round on the surface of the water, -and appearing to assume the manner of an Indian chief relating his -exploits.”<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> - -<p>But it is particularly among birds that the sentiment, or rather the -passion, of love breaks out with most force and even poetry. It is -especially to birds that the celebrated Darwinian theory of sexual -selection applies. It is difficult, indeed, not to attribute to this -influence the production of the offensive and defensive arms, the -armaments, the organs of song, the glands of odoriferous secretion -of many male birds, also their courage, the warlike instinct of many -of them, and lastly, the coquetry of the females. Let us listen to -Audubon, as he relates the loves of the skylark:—“Each male is seen -to advance with an imposing and measured step, swinging his tail, -spreading it out to its full extent, then closing it again like a fan -in the hands of a fine lady. Their brilliant notes are more melodious -than ever; they repeat them oftener than usual as they rest on the -branch or summit of some tall meadow reed. Woe to the rival who dares -to enter the lists, or to the male who simply comes in sight of another -male at this moment of veritable delirium: he is suddenly attacked, -and, if he is the weaker, chased beyond the limits of the territory -claimed by the first occupant. Sometimes several birds are seen engaged -in these rude combats, which rarely last more than two or<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</span> three -minutes: the appearance of a single female suffices to put an instant -end to their quarrel, and they all fly after her as if mad. The female -shows the natural reserve of her sex, without which, even among larks, -every female would probably fail to find a male [this is a little too -flattering for larks, and even for men]. When the latter,” continues -Audubon, “flies towards her, sighing forth his sweetest notes, she -retreats before her ardent admirer in such a way that he knows not -whether he is repulsed or encouraged.”<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> - -<p>In this little picture the author has noted all the striking traits of -the love of birds—the courage and jealousy of the male, his efforts -to charm the female by his beauty and the sweetness of his song, and -finally, the coquetry of the female, who retreats, and thus throws oil -on the fire. The combats of the amorous males among many species of -birds have been observed and described minutely. “The large blue male -herons,” says Audubon, “attack each other brutally, without courtesy; -they make passes with their long beaks and parry them like fencing -masters, often for half-an-hour at a time, after which the vanquished -one remains on the ground, wounded or killed.”<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> - -<p>The male Canadian geese engage in combats which last more than -half-an-hour; the vanquished sometimes return to the charge, and the -fight always takes place in an enclosed field, in the middle of a -circle formed by the band or clan of which the rivals form part.</p> - -<p>But it is especially among the gallinaceæ that love inspires the -males with warlike fury. In this order of birds nearly all the males -are of bellicose temperament. Our barn-door cock is the type of the -gallinaceæ—vain, amorous, and courageous. Black cocks are also always -ready for a fight, and their females quietly look on at their combats, -and afterwards reward the conqueror. We may observe analogous facts, -only somewhat masked, in savage, and even in civilised humanity. The -conduct of certain females of the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Tetras urogallus</i> is still more -human. According to Kowalewsky, they take advantage of a moment when -the attention of the old cocks is entirely absorbed by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</span> the anxiety of -the combat, to run off with a younger male.<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> - -<p>If we may believe certain authors, these amorous duels must not always -be taken seriously. They are often nothing more than parades, tourneys, -or courteous jousts, merely giving the males an opportunity of showing -their beauty, address, or strength. This is the case, according to -Blyth, with the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Tetras umbellus</i>.<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> In the same way, the grouse -of Florida (<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Tetras cuspido</i>) are said to assemble at night to -fight until the morning with measured grace, and then to separate, -having first exchanged formal courtesies.<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> - -<p>But among animals, as well as men, love has more than one string to -his bow. It is especially so with birds, who are the most amorous of -vertebrates. They use several æsthetic means of attracting the female, -such as beauty of plumage and the art of showing it, and also sweetness -of song. Strength seems often to be quite set aside, and the eye and -ear are alone appealed to by the love-stricken males.</p> - -<p>Every one has seen our pigeons and doves courteously salute their -mates. Many male birds execute dances and courting parades before their -females. Thus, for example, do the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Tetras phasaniellus</i> of North -America, herons (<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Cathartes jota</i>), vultures, etc. The male of -the red-wing struts about before his female, sweeping the ground with -his tail and acting the dandy.<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> The crested duck raises his head -gracefully, straightens his silky aigrette, or bows to his female, -while his throat swells and he utters a sort of gutteral sound.<a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> -The male chaffinch places himself in front of the female, that she may -admire at her ease his red throat and blue head.<a id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p> - -<p>All this æsthetic display is quite intentional and premeditated; -for while many pheasants and gallinaceous birds parade before their -females, two pheasants of dull colour, the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Crossoptilon auritum</i> -and the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Phasianus Wallichii</i>, refrain from doing so,<a id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> being -apparently conscious of their modest livery.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</span></p> - -<p>Birds often assemble in large numbers to compete in beauty before -pairing. The <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Tetras cuspido</i> of Florida and the little grouse -of Germany and Scandinavia do this. The latter have daily amorous -assemblies, or <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">cours d’amour</i>, of great length, which are renewed -every year in the month of May.<a id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p> - -<p>Certain birds are not content with their natural ornaments, however -brilliant these may be, but give the rein to their æsthetic desire -in a way that may be called human. Mr. Gould assures us that some -species of humming-birds decorate the exterior of their nests with -exquisite taste, making use of lichens, feathers, etc. The bower-birds -of Australia (<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Chlamydera maculata</i>, etc.) construct bowers on -the ground, ornamented with feathers, shells, bones, and leaves. These -bowers are intended to shelter the courting parades, and both males and -females join in building them, though the former are more zealous in -the work.<a id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> But in this erotic architecture the palm is carried off -by a bird of New Guinea, the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Amblyornis inornata</i>, made known to -us by M. O. Beccari.<a id="FNanchor_16" href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> This bird of rare beauty, for it is a bird of -Paradise, constructs a little conical hut to protect his amours, and -in front of this he arranges a lawn, carpeted with moss, the greenness -of which he relieves by scattering on it various bright-coloured -objects, such as berries, grains, flowers, pebbles, and shells. More -than this, when the flowers are faded, he takes great care to replace -them by fresh ones, so that the eye may be always agreeably flattered. -These curious constructions are solid, lasting for several years, and -probably serving for several birds. What we know of sexual unions among -the lower human races suffices to show how much these birds excel men -in sexual delicacy.</p> - -<p>Every one is aware that the melodious voice of many male birds -furnishes them with a powerful means of seduction. Every spring our -nightingales figure in true lyric tournaments. Magpies, who are -ill-endowed from a musical point of view, endeavour to make up for this -organic imperfection<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span> by rapping on a dry and sonorous branch, not -only to call the female, but also to charm her; we may say, in fact, -that they perform instrumental music. Another bird, the male of the -weaver-bird, builds an abode of pleasure for himself, where he goes to -sing to his companion.<a id="FNanchor_17" href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> - -<p>Audubon has made one observation in regard to Canadian geese which -is in every point applicable to the human species. The older the -birds are, he says, the more they abridge the preliminaries of their -amours. Their poetic and æsthetic sense has become blunted, and they go -straight to their object.</p> - -<p>Wherever amongst the animal species supremacy in love is obtained -by force, the male, nearly always the more ardent, has necessarily -become, through the action of selection, larger, stronger, and better -armed than the female. Such is in reality the case in regard to the -greater number of vertebrates; certain exceptions, however, exist, -and naturally these are chiefly found among birds, as they are more -inclined than other types to put a certain delicacy in their sexual -unions. With many species of birds, indeed, the female is larger and -stronger than the male. It is well known to be the same with certain -articulates, and these facts authorise us to admit that there is no -necessary correlation between relative weakness and the female sex. -Must we therefore conclude, with Darwin, that the females of certain -birds owe their excess of size and height to the fact that they have -formerly contested also for the possession of the males? We may be -allowed to doubt it. Almost universally, whether she is large or -small, the female is less ardent than the male, and in the amorous -tragi-comedy she generally plays, from beginning to end, a passive -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">rôle</i>; in the animal kingdom, as well as with mankind, amazons -are rare.</p> - -<p>Among birds and vertebrates generally the male is much more impetuous -than the female, and therefore he has no difficulty in accepting for -the moment any companion whatever.<a id="FNanchor_18" href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> This uncontrollable ardour -sometimes even urges the males to commit actual attempts on the safety -of the family. Thus it happens that the male canary (<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Fringilla</i><span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span> -<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">canaria</i>) persecutes his female while she is sitting, tears her -nest, throws out the eggs, and, in short, tries to excite his mate to -become again a lover, forgetting that she is a mother. In the same way -our domestic cock pursues the sitting hen when she leaves her eggs in -order to feed.<a id="FNanchor_19" href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p> - -<p>With the cousins-german of man, the mammals, sexual psychology has a -general resemblance to that of birds, but more often it is far less -delicate. And besides this, the sexual customs are naturally less -refined in proportion as the nervous centres of the species are less -perfected. Thus the stupid tatoways meet by chance, smell each other, -copulate and separate with the greatest indifference. Our domestic dog -himself, although so civilised and affectionate, is generally as gross -in his amours as the tatoway.</p> - -<p>With birds, as we have seen, the law of battle plays an important -part in sexual selection; but it is often counter-balanced by other -less brutal influences. This is rarely the case in regard to mammals, -with whom especially the right of the strongest regulates the unions. -The law of battle prevails among aquatic as well as land mammals. The -combats of the male stags, in the rutting season, are celebrated. The -combatants have been known to succumb without being able to disentangle -their interlocked antlers; but seals and male sperm-whales fight with -equal fury, and so also do the males of the Greenland whale.<a id="FNanchor_20" href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p> - -<p>In mammals, as in birds, and as in man, sexual desire raises and -intensifies all the faculties, and seems to elevate the individual -above the level of normal life. Animals in a state of rut become -bolder, more ferocious, and more dangerous. The elephant, pacific -enough by nature, assumes a terrible fury in the rutting season. The -Sanskrit poems constantly recur to the simile of the elephant in rut to -express the highest degree of strength, nobility, grandeur, and even -beauty.</p> - -<p>But obviously I must not linger very long over the loves of the -animals. My chief object is to study sexual union and marriage -amongst human beings. The rut of animals and their sexual passions -merely interest us here as preliminary studies, which throw light on -the origin of analogous<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</span> sentiments in mankind. Before leaving this -subject, however, it will be useful to note a few more facts which, -from the point of view of sexual psychology, bring animals and men near -to each other.</p> - -<p>The old Cartesian paradox, which makes the animal an unconscious -machine, has still many partisans. A widely-prevailing prejudice -insists that animals always obey blind instincts, while man alone, -<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">homo sapiens</i>, made after the image of God, weighs motives, -deliberates and chooses. Now, as procreation constitutes one of the -great necessities of organised beings, and is an imperious law which no -species can elude without disappearing, surely we ought to find amongst -animals the most exact regularity in the acts connected with it. Man -alone ought to have the privilege of introducing caprice and free -choice into love. It is not so, however. On this side of his nature, -as on all the others, man and animal approach, resemble, and copy each -other. In his celebrated invocation to Venus, Lucretius has truly said, -proclaiming the universal empire of the instinct of reproduction—</p> - -<p class="poetry p0" xml:lang="la" lang="la"> -<span style="margin-left: 4em;">“Per te quoniam genus omne animantum</span><br /> -Concipitur, visitque exortum lumine solis.”<br /> -</p> - -<p>The animal, as well as the morally developed man, is capable of -preference and individual passion; he does not yield blindly and -passively to sexual love.</p> - -<p>According to observers and breeders, it is the female who is specially -susceptible of sentimental selection. The male, even the male of birds, -is more ardent than the female, that is to say, more intoxicated and -more sharply pricked by instinct, and thus generally accepts any -female whatever: all are alike to him. This is the rule, but it is not -without exceptions; thus, the male pheasant shows a singular aversion -to certain hens. Amongst the long-tailed ducks some females have -evidently a particular charm for the males, and are courted more than -the others.<a id="FNanchor_21" href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> The pigeon of the dovecot shows a strong aversion to -the species modified by breeders, which he regards as deteriorated.<a id="FNanchor_22" href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> -Stallions are often capricious. It was necessary, for example,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</span> to -use stratagem in order to induce the famous stallion Monarch to beget -Gladiateur, who became still more famous.<a id="FNanchor_23" href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> Analogous facts have been -observed in regard to bulls.<a id="FNanchor_24" href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p> - -<p>But it is more especially the females who introduce individual fancy -into sexual love. They are subject to singular and inexplicable -aversions. Mares sometimes resist, and it is necessary to deceive -them.<a id="FNanchor_25" href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> Female pigeons occasionally show a strong dislike to certain -males without apparent cause, and refuse to yield to their caresses. At -other times a female pigeon, suddenly forgetting the constancy of her -species, abandons her old mate or legitimate spouse to fall violently -in love with another male. In the same way peahens sometimes show a -lively attachment to a particular peacock.<a id="FNanchor_26" href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> High-bred bitches, led -astray by passion, trample under foot their dignity, honour, and all -care for nobility of blood, to yield themselves to pug-dogs of low -breed or mongrel males. We are told of some who have persisted for -entire weeks in these degrading passions, repulsing between times the -most distinguished of their own race.<a id="FNanchor_27" href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p> - -<p>Even among species noted for their fidelity it sometimes happens -that acts of sexual looseness are committed. The female pigeon often -abandons her mate if the latter is wounded or becomes weak.<a id="FNanchor_28" href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> -Misfortune is not attractive, and love does not always inspire heroism.</p> - -<p>In concluding this short study of sexual union in the animal kingdom, I -will attempt to formulate the general propositions which may be drawn -from it.</p> - -<p>All organic species undergo the tyranny of the procreative function, -which is a guarantee of the duration of the type.</p> - -<p>The phenomenon of reproduction, when detached from all the complicated -accessories which often conceal it in bi-sexual species, goes back -essentially to the conjugation of two cellules.</p> - -<p>With intelligent animals the procreative function echoes in the nervous -centres under the form of violent desires, which intensify all the -psychic and physical faculties in awakening what we call love.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span></p> - -<p>At its base, the love of animals does not differ from that of man. -Doubtless it is never such a quintessence as the love of Petrarch, -but it is often more delicate than that of inferior races, and of -ill-conditioned individuals, who, though belonging to the human race, -seek for nothing in love but, to use an energetic expression of Amyot’s -Plutarch, to “get drunk.”</p> - -<p>But among many of the animal species the sexual union induces a durable -association, having for its object the rearing of young. In nobility, -delicacy, and devotion these unions do not yield precedence to many -human unions. They deserve attentive study.</p> - -<p>I have now, therefore, to consider marriage and the family amongst the -animals.</p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> <i lang="de" xml:lang="de">Anthropogenia</i>, p. 577.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> Darwin, <i>Descent of Man</i>, p. 384.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> Darwin, <i>Descent of Man</i>, p. 365.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">[4]</a> Bartram, <i>Travels through Carolina</i>, p. 128 (1791).</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="label">[5]</a> Audubon, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Scènes de la Nature dans les États-Unis</i>, -<abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. p. 383.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="label">[6]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 66.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="label">[7]</a> Darwin, <i>Descent of Man</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 399.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="label">[8]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 403.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="label">[9]</a> Espinas, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Sociétés Animales</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 326.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="label">[10]</a> Audubon, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 305.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="label">[11]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 50.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12" class="label">[12]</a> Darwin, <i>Descent of Man</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 438.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13" class="label">[13]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 438.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14" class="label">[14]</a> Darwin, <i>Descent of Man</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 433.—Espinas, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Soc. -Animales</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 326.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15" class="label">[15]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 418, 453.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_16" href="#FNanchor_16" class="label">[16]</a> <i lang="it" xml:lang="it">Annali del Museo civico di storia naturale di -Genova</i>, t. ix. fase 3-4, 1877.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_17" href="#FNanchor_17" class="label">[17]</a> Espinas, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 299, 438.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_18" href="#FNanchor_18" class="label">[18]</a> Darwin, <i>Descent of Man</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 460.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_19" href="#FNanchor_19" class="label">[19]</a> Houzeau, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Facultés mentales des animaux</i>, t. -<span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 292.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_20" href="#FNanchor_20" class="label">[20]</a> Darwin, <i>Descent of Man</i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 550, 556.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_21" href="#FNanchor_21" class="label">[21]</a> Darwin, <i>Descent of Man</i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 460, 461.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_22" href="#FNanchor_22" class="label">[22]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 457.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_23" href="#FNanchor_23" class="label">[23]</a> Darwin, <i>Descent of Man</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 575.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_24" href="#FNanchor_24" class="label">[24]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 576.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_25" href="#FNanchor_25" class="label">[25]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 576.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_26" href="#FNanchor_26" class="label">[26]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 458, 459.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_27" href="#FNanchor_27" class="label">[27]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 574.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_28" href="#FNanchor_28" class="label">[28]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 234.</p> - -</div> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.<br /><br /><span class="small">MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY AMONGST ANIMALS.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>I. <i>The preservation of species.</i>—Two great processes of -preservation—Different <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">rôles</i> of the male and the female in the -animal family.</p> - -<p>II. <i>Marriage and the rearing of the young among -animals.</i>—Abandonment of the young in the inferior species—The -superior molluscs guard their eggs—Solicitude of spiders for -their eggs and their young—Instinctive foresight of insects—Its -origin—Larvæ are ancestral forms—The familial instinct amongst -birds—Frequency of monogamy amongst birds.</p> - -<p>III. <i>The family amongst animals.</i>—Intoxication of egg-laying -with birds—Absence of paternal love in certain birds—The familial -instinct very developed in certain species—Transient nature of -their love for the young—Promiscuity, polygamy, and monogamy among -mammals—Hordes of sociable animals—Polygamous monkeys—Monogamous -monkeys—General observations.</p> -</div> - - -<h3 id="h3_5">I. <i>The Preservation of Species.</i></h3> - -<p>Two great processes are employed in the animal kingdom to assure -the preservation of the species: either the parents do not concern -themselves at all with their progeny, in which case the females give -birth to an enormous number of young; or, on the other hand, they are -full of solicitude for their offspring, cherishing and protecting -them against the numerous dangers that menace them; and, in this last -case, the young are few in number. Nature (since the expression is -consecrated) proceeds sometimes by a lavish and lawless production, -and sometimes by a sort of Malthusianism. Thus a cod lays every year -about a million<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</span> eggs, on which she bestows no care, and of which -only the thousandth, or perhaps even the hundred thousandth part, -escapes destruction; turtle-doves, on the contrary, only lay two eggs, -but nearly all their young attain maturity. In short, the species -is maintained sometimes by prodigality of births and sometimes by a -great expenditure of care and affection on the part of the parents, -especially of the female. It is almost superfluous to remark that -analogous facts are observed in human natality, according as it is -savage or civilised.</p> - -<p>With animals, as with men, sexual association, when it endures, becomes -marriage, and results in the family, that is to say, a union of parents -for the purpose of protecting their young. The care of the male for his -progeny is more rare and tardy than that of the female. Among animals, -as among men, the family is at first matriarchal, and it is only in -the higher stages of the animal kingdom that the male becomes a truly -constituent part of the family group; but even then, except among -certain species of birds, his chief care is less to rear the young -than to govern in order to protect them. He plays the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">rôle</i> of -a despotic chief, guiding the family when it remains undivided after -the rearing of the young, and most frequently acting like a polygamous -sultan, without the purely human scruple in regard to incest.</p> - -<p>Just as we find amongst animals the two principal types of the human -family, the matriarchate and the patriarchate, or rather the maternal -and paternal family, so we may observe equally among them all the forms -of sexual union from promiscuity up to monogamy; but for enlightenment -on these interesting points of sociology, a rapid examination of the -animal kingdom is worth far more than all generalities.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_6">II. <i>Marriage and the Rearing of Young amongst Animals.</i></h3> - -<p>We shall leave entirely unnoticed the inferior kingdom of zoophytes, -which are devoid of coalescing nervous centres, and consequently of -conscious life. Even the lower types of molluscs do not begin to think -of their progeny; they scatter their eggs as plants do their seeds, -and leave them<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</span> exposed to all chances. We must go to the superior -molluscs to see any care of offspring awakening. In this order, indeed, -the most highly developed species watch more or less over their eggs. -The taredos carry them stuck together in rings round their bodies; -snails often deposit them in damp ground, or in the trunk of a tree; -cephalopods fix them in clusters round algæ, and sometimes watch them -till they open, after which they leave them to get on as they can in -the great world.</p> - -<p>With spiders and insects the eggs are often the object of a solicitude -and even prolonged forethought, which rejoice greatly the lovers of -design. We must observe, however, that the males of spiders and that of -the greater number of insects entirely neglect their young; it is again -in the female that the care for offspring first awakens. And this is -natural, for the eggs have been formed in her body; she has laid them, -and has been conscious of them; they form, in a way, an integral part -of her individuality.</p> - -<p>The females of spiders also take care of their eggs after laying them, -enclose them in a ball of thread arranged in cocoons, carry them about -with them, and at the moment of hatching set them free, one by one, -from the envelope. Amongst some species there is even a certain rearing -of the young. Thus the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Nemesia Eleonora</i> lives for some time in -her trapped nest with her young, numbering from twenty to forty.<a id="FNanchor_29" href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></p> - -<p>With insects maternal forethought sometimes amounts to a sort of -divining prescience, which the doctrine of evolution alone can explain. -There is really something wonderful in the actions of a female insect, -as she prepares for her descendants, whom she will never see any more -than she has seen her own parents, a special nourishment which differs -from her own. It is thus that the sphinx, the pompilus, the sand-wasp, -and the philanthus dig holes in the sand, in which they deposit with -the eggs a suitable food for the future larvæ.<a id="FNanchor_30" href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p> - -<p>In order to understand these facts, apparently so inexplicable, we -must look not only to the powerful influence of selection, but also -to the zoögenic past of the species. With the insect the perfect form -is always the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</span> last which it assumes, the outcome of all the previous -metamorphoses. But the larval form, though actually transitory, must -have been for a long time the permanent form, and it had different -tastes and needs. At the present time there are still numbers of -insects whose larval existence has a much longer duration than that of -the so-called perfect insect (May-flies, cockchafers). There are even -larvæ which reproduce themselves. Certain others, even though sterile, -have not lost the maternal instinct. Thus at the time of the hatching -of the nymphs the larvæ of the termites assist the latter to get rid of -their envelope. It is therefore probable that, though now transitory, -the larval forms of insects have formerly been permanent; they -represent ancestral types, which evolution has by degrees metamorphosed -into insects that we call perfect. The larvæ, now actually sterile, -descend from ancestors which were not so, and in the larvæ of -certain species the maternal instinct has survived the reproductive -function.<a id="FNanchor_31" href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p> - -<p>This is doubtless the case with bees and ants; their workers must -represent an ancestral form, having preserved the maternal fervour -of its anterior state; the winged form, on the contrary, must be -relatively recent. It even appears probable that in the republics of -ants and bees the laborious workers may have succeeded, in a certain -way, in getting rid of sexual needs which cause animals and even men -to commit so many mad actions. With them the old maternal instinct has -taken the place ceded to it by sexual instinct, and has become enlarged -and ennobled. Their affection is no longer exclusively confined to a -few individuals produced from their own bowels, but is shared by all -the young of the association. In their sub-œsophagian ganglion one care -takes precedence of all others—the care of rearing the young. This is -their constant occupation and the great duty to which they sacrifice -their lives. Maternal love, usually so selfish, expands with them into -an all-embracing social affection. It is not impossible that a psychic -metamorphosis of the same kind may one day take place in future human -societies.</p> - -<p>It would even seem that the workers appreciate the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</span> faculty of -reproduction all the more for being deprived of it. The queen bee, or -rather the fertile female, who is the common mother of all the tribe, -has every possible care lavished on her, and is publicly mourned when -she dies. If she happens to perish before having young, and then cannot -be replaced, the virgin workers despair of the republic; losing for -ever “les longs espoirs et les vastes pensées,” they give way to an -incurable and mortal pessimism.</p> - -<p>One primitive form of the family, the matriarchate, which we shall -study later, is realised, even in an exaggerated form, by ants and -bees. In human societies we shall only find very faint imitations of -this system, which has been so strictly carried out by the primates of -the invertebrates, and which seems to have inspired the ancients with -their fables about the amazons.</p> - -<p>The vertebrated species, with the exception of mankind, have founded -no society that can be even distantly compared to that of hymenoptera -and of ants. With nearly all fishes and amphibia the parents are very -poorly developed as regards consciousness, and take no care of their -eggs after fecundation. Some species of fishes are, however, endowed -with a certain familial instinct, and strange to say, here it is the -male who tends his offspring. So true is it, that the imaginary being -called Nature has no preference for any special methods, and that in -her eyes all processes are good on the one condition that they succeed! -Thus the Chinese <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Macropus</i> gathers the fecundated eggs into his -jaws, deposits them in the midst of the froth and mucous exuding from -his mouth, and watches over the young when they are hatched.<a id="FNanchor_32" href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> The -male of synagnathous fishes and the sea-horses carry their eggs in an -incubating pouch; the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Chromis paterfamilias</i>, of the lake of -Tiberias, protects and nourishes in his mouth and bronchial cavity -hundreds of small fishes.<a id="FNanchor_33" href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></p> - -<p>Other fishes also have more or less care for their young. Salmon and -trout deposit their eggs in a depression which they have hollowed out -in the sand for the purpose. Fishes, belonging to various families, -construct nests and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span> watch over the young when hatched (<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Cranilabrus -massa</i>, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Cranilabrus melops</i>). Often again it is the male -who undertakes all the work. Thus the male of the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Gasterosteus -leiurus</i> is incessantly occupied in fetching the young ones -home, and driving away all enemies, including the mother.<a id="FNanchor_34" href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> The -male stickleback, who is polygamous, builds a nest and watches with -solicitude over the safety and rearing of the young.<a id="FNanchor_35" href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p> - -<p>Many reptiles are unnatural parents; some, however, already possess -some degree of familial instinct. Thus several males of the batrachians -assist the female to eject her eggs. The male accoucheur toad rolls -the eggs round his feet, and carefully carries them thus. The Surinam -toad, the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Pipa Americana</i>, after having aided the female in the -operation of laying the eggs, places them on the back of his companion, -in little cutaneous cavities formed for their reception.<a id="FNanchor_36" href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a></p> - -<p>The <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Cobra capella</i> bravely defends its eggs. The saurians often -live in couples, and the females of crocodiles escort their new-born -little ones. Female tortoises go so far as to shelter their young in a -sort of nest.<a id="FNanchor_37" href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p> - -<p>But it is especially among birds and mammals that we find forms -of union or association very similar to marriage and the family -in the human species. Nothing is more natural; for anatomical and -physiological analogy must of necessity lead in its train the analogy -of sociology. There is no more uniformity either amongst mammals than -amongst men; the needs, the habitat, and the necessities of existence -dominate everything, and in order to secure adjustment to these, -recourse is had to various processes.</p> - -<p>Like men, birds live sometimes in promiscuity, and sometimes in -monogamy or polygamy; the familial instinct is also very unequally -developed among them. Sometimes even we find their conjugal customs -modified by the kind of life they lead. Thus the wild duck, which is -strictly monogamous in a wild state, becomes very polygamous when -domesticated, and it is the same with the guinea fowl. Civilisation -depraves these birds, as it does some men. As may be supposed, it is -generally the animals living in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</span> troops who are degraded most easily by -habitual promiscuity. But this is not always the case; the character -of the animal, his mode of life, and the degree of morality previously -acquired, determine his manner of acting. It is probable also that -certain animals, living in troops during the breeding season, have -formerly been less sociable than at present, for they leave the troop -and retire apart in couples as soon as they have paired. Social life is -burdensome to them.</p> - -<p>It is especially interesting to study the various modes of conjugal -and familial association amongst birds. This may easily be inferred -from the ardour, the variety, and the delicacy they bring to their -amours; the moral level among them, to borrow a human expression, is -very diverse, according to the species. There are some birds absolutely -fickle and even debauched—as, for example, the little American -starling (<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Icterus pecoris</i>), which changes its female from day -to day; that is to say, it is in the lowest stage of sexual union, a -debauched promiscuity, which we only exceptionally find in some hardly -civilised human societies.<a id="FNanchor_38" href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> The starling, nevertheless, is not -ferocious, like the asturides, to whom, according to Brehm, love seems -unknown, and amongst whom the female devours her male, the father and -the mother feast on their own young, and the latter, when full grown, -willingly eat their parents. These ferocious habits denote a very -feeble moral development. But if we may believe a French missionary, -Mgr. Farand, bishop of the Mackenzie territory, similar customs still -prevail among the Redskins of the extreme north.<a id="FNanchor_39" href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> We shall not, -therefore, be too much scandalised at the birds. These cases of moral -grossness are, besides, rare enough with them.</p> - -<p>Other species, while they have renounced promiscuity, are still -determined polygamists. The gallinaceæ are particularly addicted to -this form of conjugal union, which is so common, in fact, with mankind, -even when highly civilised and boasting of their practice of monogamy. -Our barn-door cock, vain and sensual, courageous and jealous, is a -perfect type of the polygamous bird. But the polygamous<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</span> habits of the -gallinaceæ do not prevent them from experiencing very strong sexual -passion. When seized by this frenzy of desire, some of them appear to -be senseless of all danger. The firing of a gun, for example, does not -alarm a male grouse when swinging his head and whistling to charm his -female;<a id="FNanchor_40" href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> but this ardour does not hinder him from being a fickle -animal, always in search of new adventures, and always seeking fresh -mates.<a id="FNanchor_41" href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p> - -<p>These examples of wandering fancy are for the most part rare among -birds, the majority of whom are monogamous, and even far superior to -most men in the matter of conjugal fidelity.</p> - -<p>Nearly all the rapacious animals, even the stupid vultures, are -monogamous. The conjugal union of the bald-headed eagle appears even to -last till the death of one of the partners. This is indeed monogamic -and indissoluble marriage, though without legal constraint.<a id="FNanchor_42" href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> -Golden eagles live in couples, and remain attached to each other for -years without even changing their domicile.<a id="FNanchor_43" href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> But these instances, -honourable as they are, have nothing exceptional in them; strong -conjugal attachment is a sentiment common to many birds.</p> - -<p>With the female Illinois parrot (<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Psittacus pertinax</i>) widowhood -and death are synonymous, a circumstance rare enough in the human -species, yet of which birds give us more than one example. When, after -some years of conjugal life, a wheatear happens to die, his companion -hardly survives him a month. The male and female of the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">panurus</i> -are always perched side by side. When they fall asleep, one of them, -generally the male, tenderly spreads its wing over the other. The -death of one, says Brehm, is fatal to its companion. The couples of -golden wood-peckers, of doves, etc., live in a perfect union, and -in case of widowhood experience a violent and lasting grief. The -male of a climbing wood-pecker, having seen his mate die, tapped day -and night with his beak to recall the absent one; then at length, -discouraged and hopeless, he became silent, but never recovered his -gaiety (Brehm). These examples of a fidelity that stands every test, -and of the religion of memory,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span> although much more frequent in the -unions of birds than in those of human beings, are not, however, the -unfailing rule. With birds, as with men, there seems to be a good -number of irregular cases—individuals of imperfect moral development -and of fickle disposition. This may be inferred from the facility with -which, among certain species of monogamous birds, the dead partner is -replaced. Jenner, who introduced vaccination, relates that in Wiltshire -he has seen one of a couple of magpies killed seven days in succession, -and seven times over immediately replaced. Analogous facts have been -observed of jays, falcons, and starlings. Now, when it concerns animals -that are paired, each substitution must correspond to a desertion, the -more so as the observations were made in the same locality and in the -height of the breeding season.<a id="FNanchor_44" href="#Footnote_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a></p> - -<p>Very peculiar fancies sometimes arise in the brains of certain birds. -Thus we see birds of distinct species pairing, and this even in a wild -state. These illegitimate unions have been observed between geese and -barnacle geese, and between black grouse and pheasants.</p> - -<p>Darwin relates a case of this kind of passion suddenly appearing in -a wild duck. The fact is related by <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Hewitt as follows:—“After -breeding a couple of seasons with her own mallard, she at once shook -him off on my placing a male pintail in the water. It was evidently -a case of love at first sight, for she swam about the new-comer -caressingly, though he appeared evidently alarmed and averse to her -overtures of affection. From that hour she forgot her old partner. -Winter passed by, and the next spring the pintail seemed to have -become a convert to her blandishments, for they nested and produced -seven or eight young ones.”<a id="FNanchor_45" href="#Footnote_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> It is difficult not to attribute -such deviations as these to motives similar to those by which we are -ourselves actuated—to passion, caprice, or depravity. They certainly -cannot be accounted for by the theory of mechanical and immutable -instinct. Such facts clearly prove that animal psychology, although -less complicated than our own, does not differ essentially from it, -and consequently throws much light on our present investigation. The -adventure of the wild duck, for example, may, without any alteration, -be read as a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</span> human adventure, proving for the hundred-thousandth -time that the heart, or what we call by that name, is versatile; that -conjugal fidelity does not always resist a strong impression arising -from a chance encounter; that novelty has a disturbing effect; and, -finally, that indifference and coldness can rarely hold out against -the persistent advances of one who loves ardently enough not to yield -to discouragement. Dante has already made this last reflection in his -celebrated line—</p> - -<p class="poetry p0" lang="it" xml:lang="it"> -“Amor ch’a nullo amato amar perdona.”<br /> -</p> - -<p>To quote Dante <i lang="it" xml:lang="it">à propos</i> of the illicit amours of a pintail and -a wild duck may shock the learned, but the aptness of the quotation -proves once more the essential identity of the animal and human -organisms.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_7">III. <i>The Family amongst Animals.</i></h3> - -<p>If the study of the modes of sexual union amongst animals is not -useless to the sociologist, that of the animal family is at least -quite as interesting. This latter confirms the inductions of theorists -relative to the primitive form of the human family. The animal family -is especially maternal. The female of birds, immediately she has laid -her eggs, experiences a sort of intoxication; to sit becomes for her -an imperious need, which completely transforms her moral nature. In -January 1871, during the bombardment of Paris, a German shell, bursting -in the loft of a house inhabited by one of my friends, was powerless -to disturb a female pigeon absolutely enchained by the passion of -incubation.</p> - -<p>It is amongst birds that the animal family is best constituted; this, -however, differs much according to the species, especially as regards -the participation of the male in the rearing of the young.</p> - -<p>Amongst ducks, the male has no care for his progeny. The male eider -resembles the duck in this respect (Audubon). Male turkeys do much -worse: they often devour the eggs of their females, and thus oblige the -latter<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</span> to hide them.<a id="FNanchor_46" href="#Footnote_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> Female turkeys join each other with their -young ones for greater security, and thus form troops of from sixty to -eighty individuals, led by the mothers, and carefully avoiding the old -males, who rush on the young ones and kill them by violent blows on the -head with their beaks.<a id="FNanchor_47" href="#Footnote_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a></p> - -<p>Among certain species of gallinaceæ the male leaves to the female the -care of incubation and of rearing the young. During this time he is -running after adventures, but returns when the young are old enough -to follow him and form a docile band under his government.<a id="FNanchor_48" href="#Footnote_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> It -is important to notice that, amongst birds, the fathers devoid of -affection generally belong to the less intelligent species, and are -most often polygamous. It seems, therefore, that polygamy is not very -favourable to the development of paternal love.<a id="FNanchor_49" href="#Footnote_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a></p> - -<p>But bad fathers are rare amongst birds. Often, on the contrary, the -male rivals the female in love for the young; he guards and feeds her -during incubation, and sometimes even sits on the eggs with her. The -carrier pigeon feeds his female while she is sitting;<a id="FNanchor_50" href="#Footnote_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> the Canadian -goose<a id="FNanchor_51" href="#Footnote_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> and the crow do the same; more than that, the latter takes -his companion’s place at times, to give her some relaxation. The blue -marten behaves in the same manner.<a id="FNanchor_52" href="#Footnote_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> Among many species, male and -female combine their efforts without distinction of sex; they sit in -turn, and the one who is free takes the duty of feeding the one who is -occupied. This is the custom of the black-coated gull,<a id="FNanchor_53" href="#Footnote_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> the booby -of Bassan,<a id="FNanchor_54" href="#Footnote_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> the great blue heron,<a id="FNanchor_55" href="#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> and of the black vulture.<a id="FNanchor_56" href="#Footnote_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> -According to Audubon, the blue bird of America works so ardently at the -propagation of its species that a single brood does not satisfy him; -each couple, therefore, exerts itself zealously, rearing two or three -broods at the same time, the female sitting on one, while the male -feeds the little ones of the preceding brood.<a id="FNanchor_57" href="#Footnote_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</span></p> - -<p>But however violent the love of birds for their progeny may be, it -lasts only a short time, and is suddenly extinguished when the young -can manage for themselves. It is then quite surprising to see the -parents drive away by strokes of the beak the little ones they had been -nursing with such devoted tenderness a few days before. The birds of -several species, however, teach their young to fly before separating -from them. The white-headed sea-eagle carries them on its back to give -them lessons in flying; grebes, swans, and eiders teach their young to -swim, etc. But the family is only of short duration among birds and -animals generally, unless, as is the case with some gallinaceæ, the -male keeps a few of his daughters to enrich his harem. As a matter -of fact, both with birds and other animals, the paternal or maternal -sentiment hardly lasts longer than the rearing time. When once the -young are full grown, the parents no longer distinguish them from -strangers of their species, and it is thus even with monogamic species -when the conjugal tie is lifelong; the marriage alone endures, but the -family is intermittent and renewed with every brood. We may remark that -it is almost the same with certain human races of low development. But, -before speaking of man, it will be well to investigate conjugal union -and the family amongst the animals nearest to man—the mammals.</p> - -<p>From the point of view of duration and strength of the affections, -or that which we as men should call their morality, the mammals are -far from occupying the first rank in the animal hierarchy; many birds -are very superior to them. We find, however, great differences in -the morals, according to the species. Many mammals have stopped at -the most brutal promiscuity; males and females unite and separate -at chance meetings, without any care for the family arising in the -mind of the male. The females of mammals being always weaker than -the males, no sexual association comparable to polyandry is possible -in this class, since, even if she wished it, the female could not -succeed in collecting a seraglio of males. But as to polygamy, it is -quite different, and this is very common with mammals, especially -with the sociable kinds, living in flocks. It is even a necessity -of the struggle for existence. Sociability generally proceeds from -weakness. The species that are badly armed for fierce<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</span> combats, and -that have besides some difficulty in finding food, are glad to live in -association. Union is strength. The ruminants, for example, do this. -Certain carnivorous animals, ill-furnished with teeth and claws, dogs -also, and jackals, live in troops for the same reason—that of opposing -a respectable front to the enemy. This life in common is certainly -favourable to the development of social virtues; it cannot but soften -primitive cruelty, and develop altruistic qualities; but it is little -conducive to sexual restraint and monogamy. Thus the greater number of -sociable mammals are polygamous. The ruminants live in hordes composed -of females and young, grouped around a male who protects them, but who -expels his rivals and becomes a veritable chief of a band. Very various -species compose familial societies in the same manner, and strongly -resembling each other.</p> - -<p>When the Indian adult elephant renounces the solitary life which strong -animals generally adopt, it is in order to found a little polygamous -society, from which he expels all the males weaker than himself.<a id="FNanchor_58" href="#Footnote_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a></p> - -<p>The moufflons of Europe and of the Atlas also form little societies of -the same kind in the breeding season.<a id="FNanchor_59" href="#Footnote_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a></p> - -<p>Among the walrus, says Brehm, the male, who is of very jealous -temperament, collects around him from thirty to forty females, without -counting young, making altogether a polygamous family sometimes -amounting to a hundred and twenty individuals.</p> - -<p>The male of the Asiatic <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">antilope saiga</i> is inordinately -polygamous; he expels all his rivals, and forms a harem numbering -sometimes a hundred females.<a id="FNanchor_60" href="#Footnote_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a></p> - -<p>The polygamic <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> of animals is far from extinguishing -affectionate sentiments in the females towards their husband and -master. The females of the guanaco lamas, for example, are very -faithful to their male. If the latter happens to be wounded or killed, -instead of running away, they hasten to his side, bleating and offering -themselves to the shots of the hunter in order to shield him, while, on -the contrary, if a female is killed, the male makes off with all his -troop; he only thinks of himself.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</span></p> - -<p>In regard to mammals, there is no strict relation between the -degree of intellectual development and the form of sexual union. The -carnivorous animals often live in couples for the reason previously -given; but this is not an absolute rule, for the South African lion is -frequently accompanied by four or five females.<a id="FNanchor_61" href="#Footnote_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> Bears, weasels, -whales, etc., on the contrary, generally go in couples. Sometimes -species that are very nearly allied have different conjugal customs; -thus the white-cheeked peccary lives in troops, whilst the white-ringed -peccary lives in couples.<a id="FNanchor_62" href="#Footnote_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a></p> - -<p>There is the same diversity in the habits of monkeys. Some are -polygamous and others monogamous. The wanderoo (<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Macacus silenus</i>) -of India has only one female, and is faithful to her until death.<a id="FNanchor_63" href="#Footnote_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> -The <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Cebus capucinus</i>, on the contrary, is polygamous.<a id="FNanchor_64" href="#Footnote_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a></p> - -<p>Those cousins-german of man, the anthropoid apes, have sometimes -adopted polygamy and sometimes monogamy. Savage tells us that the -<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Gorilla gina</i> forms small hordes, consisting of a single adult -male, who is the despotic chief of many females and a certain number of -young.</p> - -<p>Chimpanzees are sometimes polygamous and sometimes monogamous. The -polygamous family of monkeys is always subject to the monarchic -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i>. The male, who is at the same time the chief, is -despotic; he exacts a passive obedience from his subordinates, and he -expels the young males as soon as they are old enough to give umbrage -to him. To sum up, he is at once the father, the protector, and the -tyrant of the band. Nevertheless, the females are affectionate to him, -and the most zealous among them prove it by assiduously picking the -lice from him, which, with monkeys, is a mark of great tenderness.<a id="FNanchor_65" href="#Footnote_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> -But the master who has been thus flattered and cringed to sometimes -comes to a bad end. One fine day, when old age has rendered him less -formidable, when he is no longer capable of proving at every instant -that right must yield to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</span> might, the young ones, so long oppressed, -rebel, and assassinate this tyrannous father. We must here remark, -that whatever the form of sexual association among mammals, the male -has always much less affection for the young than the female. Even in -monogamous species, when the male keeps with the female, he does so -more as chief than as father. At times he is much inclined to commit -infanticides and to destroy the offspring, which, by absorbing all -the attention of his female, thwart his amours. Thus, among the large -felines, the mother is obliged to hide her young ones from the male -during the first few days after birth, to prevent his devouring them.</p> - -<p>I shall here conclude this very condensed study of sexual association -and the family in the animal kingdom. My object is not so much to -exhaust the subject, as to bring into relief the analogies existing -between man and the other species. The facts which have been cited -are amply sufficient for this purpose, and we may draw the following -general conclusions from them:—</p> - -<p>In the first place there is no premeditated design in nature; any mode -of reproduction, of sexual association and of rearing of young that is -compatible with the duration of the species may be adopted. But in a -general manner it may be said that a sort of antagonism exists between -the multiplicity of births and the degree of protection bestowed on the -young by the parents.</p> - -<p>A rough outline of the family is already found in the animal kingdom; -it is sometimes patriarchal, as with sticklebacks, etc., but most often -it is matriarchal. In the latter case the female is the centre of it, -and her love for the young is infinitely stronger and more devoted than -that of the male. This is especially true of mammals, with whom the -male is generally an egoist, merely protecting the family in his own -personal interest.</p> - -<p>The familial instinct, more or less developed, exists in the greater -number of vertebrates, and in many invertebrates. From an early period -it must have been an object of selection, since it adds considerably to -the chances of the duration of the species. With some species (ants, -bees, termites) this instinct has expanded into a wide social love, -resulting in the production of large societies of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</span> complex structure, -in which the family, as we understand it, is unknown. I lay stress on -this fact, for it is of great importance in theoretical sociology; it -proves, in fact, that large and complicated societies, with division -of social labour, can be maintained without the institution of the -family. We are not, therefore, warranted in pretending, as is usually -done, that the family is absolutely indispensable, and that it is the -“cellule” of the social organism. Let us observe, by the way, that the -expression “social organism” is simply metaphorical, and we must beware -of taking it literally, as Herbert Spencer, with a strange naïveté, -seems to have done. Societies are agglomerations of individuals in -which a certain order is necessarily established; but it is almost -puerile to seek for, and to pretend to find in them, an actual -organisation, comparable, for example, to the anatomic and physiologic -plan of a mammal.</p> - -<p>Terminating this short digression, I revert to my subject by summing up -the results of our examination of sexual associations among the animals.</p> - -<p>In regard to marriage, as well as to the family, nature has no -preference; all means are welcome to her, provided the species profits -by them, or, at least, does not suffer too much from them.</p> - -<p>We find amongst animals temporary unions, at the close of which the -male ceases absolutely to care for the female; but we also find, -especially among birds, numbers of lasting unions, for which the word -marriage is not too exalted. It does not appear that polyandry—that -is, a durable society between one female and many males—has been -practised by animals. The female, nearly always weaker than the male, -could not reduce a number of them to sexual servitude, and the latter -have never been tempted to share one female systematically. On the -contrary, they are often polygamous. But it is especially amongst -mammals that polygamy is common, and it must often have had its -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">raison d’être</i> either in the sexual proportion of births, or in a -greater mortality of males. These are reasons I shall have to refer to -later, in speaking of human polygamy.</p> - -<p>But if polygamy is frequent with mammals, it is far from being the -conjugal <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> universally adopted; monogamy is common, and is -sometimes accompanied by so<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</span> much devotion, that it would serve as an -example to human monogamists.</p> - -<p>It is important also to notice that, in regard to animals, the mode of -sexual association may vary without much difficulty. No species is of -necessity and always restricted to such or such a form of sexual union. -An animal belonging to a species habitually monogamous may very easily -become polygamous. In short, there does not seem to be any relation -between the degree of intelligence in a species and its conjugal -customs.</p> - -<p>In the following chapters it will be seen that, in great measure, these -observations do not apply exclusively to animals.</p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_29" href="#FNanchor_29" class="label">[29]</a> Espinas, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Soc. Animales</i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 343, 344.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_30" href="#FNanchor_30" class="label">[30]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 344, 345.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_31" href="#FNanchor_31" class="label">[31]</a> Espinas, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Soc. Animales</i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 336-396.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_32" href="#FNanchor_32" class="label">[32]</a> Darwin, <i>Descent of Man</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 375.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_33" href="#FNanchor_33" class="label">[33]</a> Lortet, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Comptes rendus de l’Académie des Sciences</i>, -1878.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_34" href="#FNanchor_34" class="label">[34]</a> Darwin, <i>Descent of Man</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 379.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_35" href="#FNanchor_35" class="label">[35]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 244.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_36" href="#FNanchor_36" class="label">[36]</a> Espinas, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Soc. Animales</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 415.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_37" href="#FNanchor_37" class="label">[37]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 416, 417.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_38" href="#FNanchor_38" class="label">[38]</a> Houzeau, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="facultés">Fac.</abbr> mentales des animaux</i>, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 380.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_39" href="#FNanchor_39" class="label">[39]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Dix-huit ans chez les sauvages</i>, etc., <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 374.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_40" href="#FNanchor_40" class="label">[40]</a> Espinas, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Soc. anim.</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 427.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_41" href="#FNanchor_41" class="label">[41]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 421.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_42" href="#FNanchor_42" class="label">[42]</a> Audubon, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 83.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_43" href="#FNanchor_43" class="label">[43]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 292.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_44" href="#FNanchor_44" class="label">[44]</a> Darwin, <i>Descent of Man</i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 446, 449.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_45" href="#FNanchor_45" class="label">[45]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 455.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_46" href="#FNanchor_46" class="label">[46]</a> Espinas, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Soc. Animales</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 422.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_47" href="#FNanchor_47" class="label">[47]</a> Audubon, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Scènes de la Nature</i>, t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> -<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 29.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_48" href="#FNanchor_48" class="label">[48]</a> Espinas, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i> <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 421-423.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_49" href="#FNanchor_49" class="label">[49]</a> Audubon, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i> t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 209.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_50" href="#FNanchor_50" class="label">[50]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 13.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_51" href="#FNanchor_51" class="label">[51]</a> <i>Ibid.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_52" href="#FNanchor_52" class="label">[52]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 167.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_53" href="#FNanchor_53" class="label">[53]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 199.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_54" href="#FNanchor_54" class="label">[54]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 476.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_55" href="#FNanchor_55" class="label">[55]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 70.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_56" href="#FNanchor_56" class="label">[56]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 347.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_57" href="#FNanchor_57" class="label">[57]</a> Audubon, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Scènes de la Nature</i>, t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> -<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 317.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_58" href="#FNanchor_58" class="label">[58]</a> Darwin, <i>Descent of Man</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 238.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_59" href="#FNanchor_59" class="label">[59]</a> Espinas, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Soc. Animales</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 448.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_60" href="#FNanchor_60" class="label">[60]</a> Darwin, <i>Descent of Man</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 238.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_61" href="#FNanchor_61" class="label">[61]</a> Darwin, <i>Descent of Man</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 443.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_62" href="#FNanchor_62" class="label">[62]</a> Espinas, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 443.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_63" href="#FNanchor_63" class="label">[63]</a> Houzeau, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Facultés mentales des animaux</i>, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -394.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_64" href="#FNanchor_64" class="label">[64]</a> Darwin, <i>Descent of Man</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 238.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_65" href="#FNanchor_65" class="label">[65]</a> Espinas, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 453.</p> - -</div> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.<br /><br /><span class="small">PROMISCUITY.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>I. <i>Has there been a Stage of Promiscuity?</i>—Promiscuity rare -among the superior vertebrates—It has been exceptional in mankind.</p> - -<p>II. <i>Cases of Human Promiscuity.</i>—Promiscuity among the -Troglodytes, the ancient Arabs, the Agathyrses, the Anses, the -Garamantes, the ancient Greeks, in the <i>Timæus</i>, in China, in -India, among the Andamanites, in California, among the aborigines of -India, among the Zaporogs, and the Ansarians—Insufficience of these -proofs.</p> - -<p>III. <i>Hetaïrism.</i>—<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Jus primæ noctis</i>—Religious -hetaïrism at Babylon, in Armenia—Religious prostitution—Religious -defloration—The <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">jus primæ noctis</i> with the Nasamons, in the -Balearic Isles, in ancient Peru, in Asia, etc.—The right of the chief -with the Kaffirs, in New Zealand, in New Mexico, in Cochin-China, -in feudal Europe—The right of religious prelibation—Religious -defloration in Cambodia—The reason of the right of prelibation—The -<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">jus primæ noctis</i> confounded with the simple licence of -unmarried women—Shamelessness of girls in Australia, Polynesia, -America, Malaya, Abyssinia, etc.—The <em>indotata</em> in primitive -Rome—Loan and barter of women in America and elsewhere, and among the -ancient Arabs—Actual promiscuity has been rare in humanity.</p> -</div> - - -<h3 id="h3_8">I. <i>Has there been a Stage of Promiscuity?</i></h3> - -<p>Having made our preliminary investigation of love, sexual unions, -marriage, or what corresponds to it, and the family in the animal -kingdom, we are now in a position to approach the examination of -corresponding social facts in regard to man. The method of evolution -requires us to begin our inquiry with the lowest forms of sexual -association, and there is none lower, morally and intellectually, than -promiscuity; that is to say, a social condition so gross<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</span> that within -a group, a horde, or a tribe, all the women belong, without rule or -distinction, to all the men. In a society so bestial there is surely -no room for what we call love, however grossly we may understand this -sentiment. There is no choice, no preference; the sexual need is -reduced to its simplest expression, and absolutely debased to the level -of the nutritive needs; love is no more than a hunger or thirst of -another kind; there is no longer any distinction between the man and -the tatoway.</p> - -<p>Some sociologists have affirmed, without hesitation, that community -of women represented a primitive and necessary stage of the sexual -associations of mankind. Surely they would have been less dogmatic -on this point if, before approaching human sociology, they had first -consulted animal sociology, as we have done. We have seen that many -vertebrated animals are capable of a really exclusive and jealous -passion, even when they are determined polygamists. As a matter of -fact, the vertebrates with whom love is merely a need, like any other, -seem to be a very small minority. Some among them, especially birds, -are models of fidelity, constancy, and devoted attachment, which may -well inspire man with feelings of modesty. Mammals, while less delicate -in their love than many birds, are, however, for the most part, already -on a moral level incompatible with promiscuity. The mammals nearest to -man, those whom we may consider as the effigies of our nearest animal -ancestors, the anthropoid apes, are sometimes monogamous and sometimes -polygamous, but, as a rule, they cannot endure promiscuity. Now, this -fact manifestly constitutes a very strong presumption against the -basis of the theory according to which promiscuity has been, with the -human species, the primitive and necessary stage of sexual unions. Do -we thus mean to say that there is no example of promiscuity in human -societies, primitive or not? Far from it. It would be impossible -to affirm this without neglecting a large number of facts observed -in antiquity or observable in our own day. But we are warranted in -believing that the very inferior stage of promiscuity has never been -other than exceptional in humanity. If it has existed here and there, -it is that by the very reason of the relative superiority<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</span> of his -intelligence, man is less rigorously subject to general laws, and that -he knows sometimes how to modify or infringe them; there is more room -for caprice in his existence than in the life of the animals.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_9">II. <i>Some Cases of Human Promiscuity.</i></h3> - -<p>Human groups have, then, practised promiscuity, and it is not quite -impossible that some of them practise it still. Exceptional as these -facts may be, they are interesting to sociologists, and it is important -to mention and to criticise them also. We are indebted for our -knowledge of a certain number of them to the writers of Greco-Latin -antiquity. I will give them in full, at least those that deserve or -have obtained more or less credit.</p> - -<p>“Throughout the Troglodyte country,” relates Strabo, “the people lead -a nomad life. Each tribe has its chief, or <em>tyrant</em>. The women -and the children are possessed in common, with the exception of the -wives and children of the chief, and whoever is guilty of adultery with -one of the wives of the chief is punished by a fine consisting of the -payment of a sheep.”<a id="FNanchor_66" href="#Footnote_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a></p> - -<p>Another passage of Strabo’s, which is better known, is often quoted -as proving a primitive epoch of promiscuity among the ancient Arabs -also. This passage is curious and interesting, but it has not in the -least the extent of signification that is attributed to it. Concerning -the conjugal customs of the peoples of Arabia Felix, Strabo speaks as -follows:—“Community of goods exists between all the members of the -same family, but there is only one master, who is always the eldest -of the family. They have only one wife between them all, and he who -can forestall the others enters her apartment the first, and enjoys -her, after having taken the precaution of placing his staff across -the door (it is the custom for every man to carry a staff). She never -spends the night with any but the eldest, the chief. This promiscuity -makes them all brothers. We must add that they have commerce with -their own mothers. On the other hand, adultery, which means for them -commerce with a lover who is not of the family, is pitilessly punished -with death. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</span> daughter of one of the kings of the country, who -was marvellously beautiful, had fifteen brothers, all desperately in -love with her, and who, for this reason, took turns in enjoying her -without intermission. Fatigued with their assiduity, she invented the -following stratagem. She procured staffs exactly similar to those of -her brothers, and when one of them left her, she quickly placed across -the door the staff similar to that of the brother who had just quitted -her, then replaced it shortly after by another, and so on, taking care -not to place there the staff like the brother’s whose visit she was -expecting. Now, one day, when all the brothers were together in the -public place, one of them went to her door, and concluded, at the sight -of the staff, that some one was with her; but, as he had left all his -brothers together, he believed in a flagrant act of adultery, hastened -to seek their father, and led him to the spot. He was, however, forced -to acknowledge in his presence that he had slandered his sister.”<a id="FNanchor_67" href="#Footnote_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a></p> - -<p>Even admitting the perfect accuracy of the fact related by Strabo (and -there is nothing in it to surprise an ethnographical sociologist), the -word promiscuity is here quite inappropriate. The custom of maternal -incest, which is not without example, perhaps warrants the supposition -of ancient familial promiscuity; but in reality the Arabs of whom -Strabo speaks were simply polyandrous, and they were so precisely -in the manner of the Thibetans of the present day; they practised -fraternal polyandry—a conjugal form to which we shall presently return.</p> - -<p>The other examples of so-called promiscuity related by the writers of -antiquity are, unfortunately, so briefly given that it is difficult to -judge of their value.</p> - -<p>“The Agathyrses” (Scythians), says Herodotus, “are the most delicate -of men; their ornaments are chiefly of gold. They have their women -in common in order that they may all be brothers, and that, being so -nearly related, they may feel neither hatred nor envy against each -other.”<a id="FNanchor_68" href="#Footnote_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a></p> - -<p>In another passage Herodotus says of the Massagetes (Scythians), “Each -man marries a wife, but they use them all in common.” The assertion -is grossly contradictory, and can only relate to the extremely loose -manners of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</span> unmarried women. As a matter of fact, amongst many -savage or barbarous peoples chastity is not imposed on the women, as -long as they have no proprietors. “When one of them desires a woman,” -continues Herodotus, “he suspends his quiver in front of his chariot, -and tranquilly unites with her.”<a id="FNanchor_69" href="#Footnote_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a></p> - -<p>This is merely a trait of very free manners, which may be placed -by the side of many others, proving that modesty has been slow of -growth in the human brain. The Tahitians were still more cynical than -the Massagetes. Herodotus himself speaks of black Indians (Tamils) -“who coupled as publicly as beasts” (iii. 101), and V. Jacquemont -has related that Runjeet Singh would ride with one of his wives on -the back of an elephant and take his pleasure publicly with his -companion, careless of censure (V. Jacquemont, <i>Corres.</i>, 16th -March 1831). It would be very easy, by searching into ethnography, -to accumulate facts of this kind; but for the moment I have only to -continue my examination of old Greco-Roman texts relating more or less -to promiscuity. I therefore return to them. Herodotus again relates, -in speaking of the Anses, an Ethiopian tribe: “Their women are common; -they do not live with them, but couple after the manner of beasts. -When a vigorous child is born to a woman, all the men go to see it -at the third month, and he whom it most resembles acknowledges it -for his.”<a id="FNanchor_70" href="#Footnote_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> And here we have Pliny saying also of the Garamantes: -<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Garamantes matrimoniorum exsortes, passim cum feminis degunt</i>.<a id="FNanchor_71" href="#Footnote_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a></p> - -<p>Strabo, too, affirms of the Celtic population of Ierne (Ireland), “the -men have public commerce with all kinds of women, even with their -mothers and sisters.”<a id="FNanchor_72" href="#Footnote_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a></p> - -<p>The passages that I have just quoted are those which are most -frequently used to support the pretension that human societies have -begun with promiscuity; they are at once the most ancient, most -authentic, and most explicit. We may add to them the assertion of -Varro, quoted by Saint Augustine,<a id="FNanchor_73" href="#Footnote_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> according to which the Greeks, -prior to the time of Cecrops, lived in promiscuity. But how is it -possible<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</span> not to be struck with the weakness of these historical -proofs? Some of them are mere general assertions, while others plainly -relate either to social anomalies or to cases of polyandry. There is no -doubt as to this in regard to the ancient Arabs of whom Strabo speaks, -and also to the Protohellenes of Varro. This last instance certainly -relates to the matriarchal family, of which I shall have to speak again -at some length. In fact, after having stated that the Protohellenes had -no marriage, Varro adds that the children only knew their mother and -bore her name. The proof is decisive, for the matriarchate does not in -the least exclude marriage, as we shall see later, and in the case of -the Lydians it lasted until the time of Herodotus.</p> - -<p>In order to complete this review of ancient texts, I will mention -further the passage of the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Timæus</i> in which Socrates speaks of -the community of wives:—“On the subject of the procreation of children -we established a community of wives and children; and we devised means -that no one should ever know his own child. They were to imagine that -they were of one family, and to regard those who were within a certain -limit of age as brothers and sisters; and again, those who were of an -elder generation as parents and grandparents, and those who were of a -younger generation as children and grandchildren.”</p> - -<p>But Plato had a lively imagination. He was a “great dreamer,” as -Voltaire said of him, and this passage evidently describes a purely -utopian society.</p> - -<p>Traditions relative to a very ancient epoch of promiscuity are found -here and there outside the Greco-Roman world. In China, for example, -the women are said to have been common until the reign of Fouhi.<a id="FNanchor_74" href="#Footnote_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> A -tradition of the same kind, but more explicitly stated, is mentioned in -the Mahabharata (i. 503): “Formerly it was not a crime to be faithless -to a husband; it was even a duty.... This custom is observed in our own -days among the Kourous of the north.... The females of all classes are -common on the earth; as are the cows, so are the women; each one has -her caste.... It is Civéta-Ketou who has established a limit for the -men and women on the earth.”<a id="FNanchor_75" href="#Footnote_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> This<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</span> assertion is vague, and has not -the least proof to support it.</p> - -<p>If, continuing our inquiry, we attempt to correct these historical -documents by ethnographical information, we shall hardly find, on -this side of the subject more than on the other, anything but simple -assertions, which are either too vague or too brief, or evidently open -to dispute.</p> - -<p>In the Andaman Islands, or at least in certain of them, the women -are said to have been held in common till quite recently. Every -woman belonged to all the men of the tribe, and resistance to any of -them was a crime severely punished.<a id="FNanchor_76" href="#Footnote_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> This time we seem to have -found, at length, a case of actual legal promiscuity. But, according -to other accounts, the Andamanite man and woman contract, on the -contrary, a monogamic and temporary union, and remain together, in -case of pregnancy and maternity, until the child is weaned, as do -many animals.<a id="FNanchor_77" href="#Footnote_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> Now, however short a conjugal union may be, it is -incompatible with promiscuity.</p> - -<p>The indigenous Indians of California, who are among the lowest of -human races, couple after the manner of inferior mammals, without the -least formality, and according to the caprice of the moment.<a id="FNanchor_78" href="#Footnote_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> They -are said even to celebrate feasts and propitiatory dances, which are -followed by a general promiscuity.<a id="FNanchor_79" href="#Footnote_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a></p> - -<p>According to Major Ross King, some aboriginal tribes of India, notably -the Kouroumbas and the Iroulas, have no idea of marriage, and live -in promiscuity.<a id="FNanchor_80" href="#Footnote_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> The only prohibitory rule consists in not having -intimate commerce with a person belonging to another class or caste; -but there seem only to be two classes in the tribe.</p> - -<p>Barbarous tribes belonging to white races are said also to have -practised promiscuity in modern times. Among certain tribes of the -Zaporog Cossacks the women are said to be common, and are confined -in separate camps.<a id="FNanchor_81" href="#Footnote_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a> Besides these, the Ansarians, mountaineers of -Syria, are<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</span> said to practise, not promiscuity pure and simple, or -civil promiscuity, but a religious promiscuity, analogous to that of -the ancient Gnostics<a id="FNanchor_82" href="#Footnote_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> and the Areoïs of Tahiti. These Ansarians -must doubtless have been confounded with the Yazidies, a sect of -Arabs, also Syrians, practising a sort of manichæism, and who, it is -said, assemble periodically every month, or every three months, in -fraternal agapæ, at the conclusion of which they unite in the darkness -without heed as to adultery or incest. Throughout the Syrian Orient -the erotic festival of the Yazidies is called by a significant name, -<i>Daour-el-Cachfeh</i>—the game of catching.<a id="FNanchor_83" href="#Footnote_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> But even if the fact -were true, what does it show? Only one more aberration to the score of -the phallic religions.</p> - -<p>Here I end my enumeration. Evidently nothing very convincing results -from it. The greater number of the facts that I have just quoted -have either been carelessly observed, or contested, or affirmed by a -single witness, or depend merely on hearsay evidence. It is prudent, -therefore, to regard them with lawful suspicion, and even if certain of -them are exact, we must be careful not to draw general conclusions from -them. Promiscuity may have been adopted by certain small human groups, -more probably by certain associations or brotherhoods. Thus the chiefs -of the Namaquoi Hottentots willingly held their wives in common.</p> - -<p>When we come to study the family we shall find that among the Kamilaroi -of Australia all the women of one clan are reputed to be the wives of -all the men of another. But this community is often only fictitious, -and, besides, it is already regulated; it is not promiscuity pure and -simple. So far, nothing proves sufficiently that there has been a -universal stage of promiscuity among mankind. Some theorists have been -so hasty to come to a conclusion on this point that they have gone -beyond actual experience. Moreover, as I have been careful to remark, -the simple fact that man is a mammalian primate weakens this hypothesis -in advance, since the nearest relations of man in the animal kingdom -are in general polygamous, and even sometimes monogamous.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</span></p> -<h3 id="h3_10">III. <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Hetaïrism.—Jus primæ noctis.</i></h3> - -<p>Not only is it impossible to admit that mankind has, in all times and -places, passed through a necessary stage of promiscuity, but we must -go further, and also renounce a theory which has had some degree of -success lately—the theory of obligatory primitive hetaïrism. According -to this theory, when the instinct of holding feminine property arose in -man, some individuals arrogated the right to keep for themselves one -or more of the women hitherto common. The community then protested, -and while tolerating this derogation from ancient usage, exacted that -the bride, or purchased woman, should make an act of hetaïrism, or -prostitution, before belonging to one man only.</p> - -<p>It is Herodotus who has transmitted to us the most striking example of -this kind, the one invoked by all the theorists of hetaïrism. I shall, -therefore, quote it at length: “The most disgraceful of the Babylonian -customs is the following. Every native woman is obliged, once in her -life, to sit in the temple of Venus and have intercourse with some -stranger. And many, disdaining to sit with the rest, being proud on -account of their wealth, come in covered carriages, and take up their -station at the temple with a numerous train of servants attending them. -But the far greater part do this: many sit down in the temple of Venus, -wearing a crown of cord round their heads; some are continually coming -and others are going out. Passages marked out in a straight line lead -in every direction through the women, along which strangers pass and -make their choice. When a woman has once seated herself, she must not -return home till some stranger has thrown a piece of silver into her -lap and lain with her outside the temple. He who throws the silver -must say thus: ‘I beseech the goddess Mylitta to favour thee;’ for the -Assyrians call Venus Mylitta. The silver may be ever so small, for she -will not reject it, inasmuch as it is not lawful for her to do so, for -such silver is accounted sacred. The woman follows the first man that -throws, and refuses no one. But when she has had intercourse, and has -absolved herself from her obligations to the goddess, she returns home; -and after that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</span> time, however great a sum you may give her, you will -not gain possession of her. Those that are endowed with beauty and -symmetry of shape are soon set free; but the deformed are detained a -long time, from inability to satisfy the law, for some wait for a space -of three or four years. In some parts of Cyprus there is a custom very -similar.”<a id="FNanchor_84" href="#Footnote_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a></p> - -<p>After having read this passage, we are surprised at the import that has -been attributed to it. Even admitting the obligation and universality -of the custom in ancient Babylon, it is only an example of religious -prostitution, with traces of exogamy. The Babylonians honoured Mylitta, -just as the Armenians, according to Strabo,<a id="FNanchor_85" href="#Footnote_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> venerated the goddess -Anaïtis. “They have erected temples to Anaïtis in various places, -especially in the Akilisenus, and have attached to these temples a good -number of hierodules, or sacred slaves, of both sexes. So far, indeed, -there is no ground for astonishment; but their devotion goes further, -and it is the custom for the most illustrious personages to consecrate -their virgin daughters to the goddess. This in no way prevents the -latter from easily finding husbands, even after they have prostituted -themselves for a long time in the temples of Anaïtis. No man feels on -this account any repugnance to take them as wives.”</p> - -<p>I quote in full these venerable passages, which have been so much -used and abused, in order that it may not be possible to mistake -their signification. Once more we repeat that they merely relate to -erotico-religious aberrations. The procreative need, or delirium, -has inspired men with many foolish ideas, and probably will continue -to do so. A very slight knowledge of mythology is enough to show us -that numerous cults have been founded on the sexual instinct, and -these cults are naturally accompanied by special practices, little in -accordance with our European morality. Religious prostitution, which -was widely spread in Greek antiquity, has been also found in India, -where every temple of renown had its bayadères, the only women in India -to whom, until quite recently, any instruction was given.</p> - -<p>The far more peculiar custom of <i>Tchin-than</i>, or religious<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</span> -defloration, formerly in use in Cambodia<a id="FNanchor_86" href="#Footnote_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> and in Malabar, is -evidently akin to religious prostitution. But this custom is nothing -else than a mystic transformation of what was called the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">jus primæ -noctis</i>, of which I must first speak. It is important to distinguish -several varieties of it. The first and most simple was the custom by -which every newly-married woman, before belonging to her husband, was -obliged to give herself, or be given, to a certain number of men, -either relatives, friends, or fellow-citizens. This was the custom -among the Nasamons, according to Herodotus: “When a Nasamon marries, -custom requires that his bride should yield herself on the first night -to all his guests in turn; each one who has had commerce with her makes -her a present, which he has been mindful to bring with him.”<a id="FNanchor_87" href="#Footnote_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a></p> - -<p>A similar custom is said to have existed in various countries of the -globe, in ancient times in the Balearic Isles, more recently among the -ancient Peruvians, in our own times among several aboriginal tribes of -India; in Burmah, in Cashmere, in the south of Arabia, in Madagascar, -and in New Zealand;<a id="FNanchor_88" href="#Footnote_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> but always as an exceptional practice, in -use only in a small group or tribe. It is not impossible that here -and there this usage, which is rare enough, may have been derived -traditionally from an ancient marriage by classes, analogous to that -still found among the Kamilaroi of Australia; but it may have been -simply a mark of good-fellowship, or of conjugal generosity on the part -of the bridegroom.</p> - -<p>The seignorial <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">jus primæ noctis</i>, the right of the lord, is much -more widely spread, and its existence cannot be contested. Among the -Kaffirs, says Hamilton,<a id="FNanchor_89" href="#Footnote_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> the chiefs have the choice of the women -for several leagues round. So also, until lately, in New Zealand, -every pretty girl was <em>taboo</em> for the vulgar, and had to be -first reserved for the chief.<a id="FNanchor_90" href="#Footnote_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> In New Mexico, with the Tahous, as -Castañeda informs us, it is necessary, after having purchased the -girl from her parents, to submit her to the seignorial right of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</span> the -cacique, or to a priest of high rank. Religion already begins to -insinuate itself into this singular right.<a id="FNanchor_91" href="#Footnote_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a></p> - -<p>According to Marco Polo, the same custom existed in the thirteenth -century in Cochin-China. “Know,” says the old chronicler, “no woman can -marry without the king first seeing her. If she pleases him, he takes -her to wife; if she does not please him, he gives her enough from his -own property to enable her to marry.</p> - -<p>“In the year 1280 of Christ, when Messire Marco Polo was in that -country, the king had three hundred and eighty-six children, male and -female.”<a id="FNanchor_92" href="#Footnote_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a></p> - -<p>Under the feudal system in Europe this right of prelibation, or -marquette (designated in old French by the expressive term <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">droit de -culage</i>), has been in use in many fiefs, and until a very recent -epoch. Almost in our own days certain lords of the Netherlands, of -Prussia, and of Germany, still claimed it. In a French title-deed of -1507 we read that the Count d’Eu has the right of prelibation in the -said place when any one marries.<a id="FNanchor_93" href="#Footnote_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> More than this, ecclesiastics, and -even bishops, have been known to claim this right in their quality of -feudal lords. “I have seen,” says Boetius, “in the court at Bourges, -before the metropolitan, an appeal by a certain parish priest, who -pretended to claim the first night of young brides, according to the -received usage. The demand was rejected with indignation, the custom -unanimously proscribed, and the scandalous priest condemned to pay a -fine.”</p> - -<p>“In a kingdom of Malabar,” says J. Forbes, “the ecclesiastical power -took precedence of the civil on this particular point, and the -sovereign himself passed under the yoke. Like the other women, the -queen had to submit to the right of prelibation exercised by the -high priest, who had a right to the first three nights, and who was -paid fifty pieces of gold besides for his trouble.”<a id="FNanchor_94" href="#Footnote_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> In Cambodia, -according to an ancient Chinese traveller, religious prelibation -was obligatory on all the young girls, and was performed every year -with great ceremony. The parents who had daughters<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</span> to marry made -a declaration of it, and a public functionary fixed the day for -the celebration of <i>Tchin-than</i>, or the legal and religious -defloration. For this the intervention of a Buddhist priest, or a -<i>tao-sse</i> priest, was indispensable. The parents entreated his -service, which was very costly, and for this reason girls who were -poor retained their virginity longer than the rich. It even sometimes -happened that pious persons, moved by a sentiment of charity, took on -themselves the payment of the costs of the ceremony for those who had -been waiting a long time. Great display attended it. On the appointed -day the officiating priest was carried in the evening with much pomp -to the festive house, and the next morning he was reconducted home -in a palanquin with parasol, drum, and music, and not without being -offered fresh presents. A. de Rémusat has given, in Latin, some curious -particulars of the intimate details of the ceremony, which I cannot -relate here.<a id="FNanchor_95" href="#Footnote_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a></p> - -<p>These few examples suffice to show how very much morality is a relative -thing, but they cannot serve as a basis to a general theory of -hetaïrism.</p> - -<p>The seignorial right of prelibation is simply an abuse of force and -good pleasure; only, viewed in the light of our morality, it shocks us -more than the others. One might justify it, however, by reasons which -Bossuet considered sufficient to render slavery lawful. The right of -conquest has given, or still gives, all over the world, every sort -of right over the vanquished, even the right of life and death. The -conqueror, “in a just war,” says the sage of Meaux, may legitimately -kill the vanquished and, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">a fortiori</i>, enslave him; and one may -add, following out a logical conclusion, that it is lawful for him to -dispose as he pleases of his wife and daughter. As a matter of course, -the priest, in his quality of lord, can claim the same privileges as -the layman; but besides this, if it should happen that his particular -religion lends itself to the idea by being founded in some manner on -the worship of the principle of procreation, as is so frequently the -case with oriental religions, a sort of superstitious prestige will -come to adorn and clothe this sacerdotal shamelessness.</p> - -<p>In all this there is hardly any room for hetaïrism considered<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</span> as a -compensation to the community for damage to its ancient rights.</p> - -<p>Admitting that the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">jus primæ noctis</i> of relatives and friends -does not imply simple polyandry, it may very naturally be explained by -primitive laxity of morals. Among the greater number of peoples who -are very slightly or not at all civilised, the women are free to give -or sell themselves before marriage as they please, and as it does not -entail any disgrace, they use the liberty largely. Besides, in many -countries the husband had, or still has, over his wife or wives all the -rights of a proprietor over the thing possessed. Now, considering he -is a stranger to all modesty and sexual restraint, nothing seems more -natural, if he has some instinct of sociability, than to lend his wife -to his friends, just as he would do them an act of politeness, make -them a present, or invite them to a feast, all without thinking any -evil. This view of the practice is supported by many facts.</p> - -<p>Doubtless it is the great sexual licence accorded to young girls in so -many countries which has led many observers and travellers to conclude -that promiscuity has been systematically established. In Australia -the girls cohabit from the age of ten with young boys of fourteen or -fifteen, without rebuke from any one, and there are even great sexual -orgies in which the signal is given to the young people for liberty to -unite freely in open day.<a id="FNanchor_96" href="#Footnote_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a></p> - -<p>In the greater number of savage countries these customs are common. At -Nouka-Hiva, or more generally all over Polynesia, the young girls did -not marry, that is to say, did not become the chattel of a man, before -the age of nineteen or twenty, and until then they contracted a great -number of capricious unions, which became lasting only in case of the -birth of children.<a id="FNanchor_97" href="#Footnote_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a></p> - -<p>In all these islands, moreover, modesty was unknown, and the members of -each family passed the night side by side on mats, and entirely naked. -The place of honour, in the centre, was occupied by the master of the -house, flanked by his wife or wives.<a id="FNanchor_98" href="#Footnote_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</span></p> - -<p>Analogous customs, extremely licentious in our eyes, but perfectly -natural for primitive peoples, were in full force among all the -indigenous races of America.</p> - -<p>The Chinouk girls give or hire themselves out as they please. In the -latter case the parents often take the payment.<a id="FNanchor_99" href="#Footnote_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a></p> - -<p>The Aymaras, who have no word for marriage, and who are such a simple -folk that, in their opinion, any crime can be committed with impunity -on Good Friday, since God is dead on that day, contract without scruple -free unions merely for the duration of the evening of a feast. The -contract is made in mimic language, and in settling it the man and -woman exchange head-gear only.<a id="FNanchor_100" href="#Footnote_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a></p> - -<p>Similar manners prevail among the Esquimaux, the Kaffirs, and the Dyaks -of Borneo. In Japan the parents willingly hire out their daughters, -either to private individuals or to houses of prostitution, for a -period of several years, and the girls are in no way dishonoured -thereby. In Abyssinia, says Bruce, outside of the conjugal bond, which -is easily tied or untied, the women dispose of their person as they -please.</p> - -<p>In primitive Rome, as with us, the young girl without dowry, the -<i>indotata</i>, was held in moderate esteem; and therefore many -young girls procured themselves a dowry by trafficking their persons. -An old Latin proverb has handed down the souvenir of this ancient -fashion of procuring a dowry: <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Tusco more, tute tibi dotem quæris -corpore</i>.<a id="FNanchor_101" href="#Footnote_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a></p> - -<p>Now, in all these customs, at once so simple and so gross, it is -impossible to see the traces of an enforced hetaïrism, derived from -an antique period of promiscuity, which was also equally obligatory. -They are simply traits of animal laxity. Men were still almost devoid -of moral training, and the care for decency and modesty was of the -slightest.</p> - -<p>If in a primitive country a certain amount of restraint is imposed -on a woman who is married, or rather owned by a man, it is solely -because she is considered as property, held by the same title as a -field or a domestic animal. For her<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</span> to dispose of her person without -authorisation is often a capital crime; but the husband, on the -contrary, has in many countries the undisputed right to lend, let out, -or barter his wife or wives: <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">jus utendi et abutendi</i>. I will -mention a few of these marital customs.</p> - -<p>In America, from the land of the Esquimaux to Patagonia, the loan of -the wife is not only lawful, but praiseworthy. Egidius says of the -Esquimaux, “that those who lend their wives to their friends without -the least hesitation are reputed in the tribe as having the best and -noblest character.”<a id="FNanchor_102" href="#Footnote_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> The English traveller, Captain Ross, relates -that one of the Esquimaux prowling around his ship was accompanied by -the wives and children of one of his intimate friends, to whom he had, -in the preceding autumn, confided, on his side, his own two wives. -The exchange was to terminate at a fixed time, and the Esquimaux of -whom Captain Ross speaks was very indignant with his friend because -the latter, having forgotten himself while chasing the deer in distant -regions, was not exact in keeping the engagement.<a id="FNanchor_103" href="#Footnote_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a></p> - -<p>On this point the Redskins are not more delicate than the Esquimaux. -Thus the Natchez make no difficulty of lending their wives to their -friends.<a id="FNanchor_104" href="#Footnote_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a> In New Mexico the Yuma husbands willingly hire out their -wives and their slaves, without making any difference. And, besides, -with them, as in many other countries, to furnish a guest with a -temporary wife is simply one of the duties of hospitality.<a id="FNanchor_105" href="#Footnote_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> The -chiefs of the Noutka Columbians barter their wives among each other as -a sign of friendship.<a id="FNanchor_106" href="#Footnote_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a> Nothing would be easier than to enumerate a -great number of facts of the same kind observed in Australia, Africa, -Polynesia, Mongolia, and almost everywhere. But it is more remarkable -to meet with the same custom in a Mussulman country. Nevertheless, -Burckhardt relates that the Merekedeh, a branch of the great tribe -of Asyr, understood hospitality in this primitive manner. To every -stranger received under<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</span> their tents or in their houses, they offered -a woman of the family, and most often a wife of the host himself. -The young girls alone were exempt from this strange service. It was -considered the duty of the traveller to conform with a good grace to -the custom, otherwise he was hooted and chased from the village or -camp by the women and children. This extreme manner of understanding -hospitality was very ancient and deeply rooted, and it was not without -difficulty that the conquering Wahabites brought the Asyrs to renounce -it.<a id="FNanchor_107" href="#Footnote_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a> But these customs were not specially confined to the Asyrs; -they were in force throughout prehistoric Arabia. An old Arab writer, -Ibn al Moghawir, mentions them. “Sometimes,” he says, “the wife was -actually placed at the disposition of the guest; at other times, the -offer was only symbolic. The guests were invited to press the wife -in their arms, and to give her kisses, but the poignard would have -revenged any further liberties.”<a id="FNanchor_108" href="#Footnote_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a> It is not very long since the -same practice prevailed in Kordofan and Djebel-Taggale.<a id="FNanchor_109" href="#Footnote_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a> Certain -traits of morals related by the Greco-Latin writers show that in Rome, -and Greece also, if it was not the husband’s duty to lend his wife to -his friends, he had at least the right to do so. At Sparta, Lycurgus -authorised husbands to be thus liberal with their wives whenever they -judged their friends worthy of this honour. And, further, the public -opinion of Sparta strongly approved the conduct of an aged husband -who took care to procure for his wife a young, handsome, and virtuous -substitute.<a id="FNanchor_110" href="#Footnote_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a></p> - -<p>The same customs prevailed at Athens, where Socrates, it is said, -lent his wife Xantippe to his friend Alcibiades; and at Rome,<a id="FNanchor_111" href="#Footnote_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a> -where the austere Cato the elder gave up his wife Marcia to his friend -Hortensius, and afterwards took her back, much enriched, it is true, at -the death of this friend.</p> - -<p>All these facts relate, therefore, to a very widely-spread and almost -universal custom, which is in perfect accord<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</span> with the extremely low -position that has been granted to women in the greater number of savage -and barbarous societies. The married woman, being exactly assimilated -to a slave or a thing possessed, might thenceforth be treated as such; -and the right of property, soon becoming sacred, easily stood before -any scruples of decency which were still rare and weak.</p> - -<p>After the preceding investigation, there appears to be no difficulty -in refuting the sociological theory, far too prevalent, according to -which the entire human race has passed through a primitive period of -promiscuity followed by hetaïrism. Our first ancestors, the precursors -of man, were surely very analogous to the other primates. We may, -therefore, conclude that, like them, they generally lived in polygamous -families. When these almost human little groups were associated in -hordes or tribes, it is quite possible that great laxity of morals may -have prevailed amongst them, but not a legal or obligatory promiscuity. -In a society sufficiently numerous and savage it is no easy task for a -man to guard his feminine property, for the women are not by any means -averse to adventures. Their modesty is still very slight, and before -belonging specially to one man they have generally been given or sold -to many others. At that period of the social evolution public opinion -saw no harm in all this. And, besides, the husband or the proprietor of -the woman considered her absolutely as his thing, and did not scruple -to lend her to his friends, to barter her, or to hire her out.</p> - -<p>These primitive customs, combined with polyandrous or collective -marriage and the matriarchate, have deceived many observers, both -ancient and modern.</p> - -<p>When we come to scrutinise these facts, and to view them in the light -of animal sociology, we arrive at the conclusion that human promiscuity -can only have been rare and exceptional, and that the theory of -the community of wives and of obligatory hetaïrism will not bear -examination.</p> - -<p>The procreative need is one of the most tyrannical, and primitive -man has satisfied it as he best could, without the least delicate -refinement; but the egotism of individuals has had for its result, from -the origin of human societies, the formation of unions based on force, -and, correlatively, a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</span> right of property which fettered more or less -rigorously the liberty of the women who were thus possessed.</p> - -<p>These primitive unions were concluded according to the chance caprices -or needs of extremely gross societies, who cared little to submit to a -uniform conjugal type. There are some very singular ones among them, -which differ essentially from the legal forms of marriage finally and -very tardily adopted by the majority of mankind. It is these isolated -conjugal unions, extravagant and immoral in our eyes, that we now have -to consider.</p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_66" href="#FNanchor_66" class="label">[66]</a> Herodotus, Book xvi. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 17.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_67" href="#FNanchor_67" class="label">[67]</a> Strabo, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> xvi. ch. iv. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 25.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_68" href="#FNanchor_68" class="label">[68]</a> Herodotus, Book i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 216.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_69" href="#FNanchor_69" class="label">[69]</a> Herodotus, iv. 104.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_70" href="#FNanchor_70" class="label">[70]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> iv. 180.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_71" href="#FNanchor_71" class="label">[71]</a> Pliny, v. 8.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_72" href="#FNanchor_72" class="label">[72]</a> Strabo, iv. 4.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_73" href="#FNanchor_73" class="label">[73]</a> Varro, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Apud. August. de Civit. Dei</i>., xviii. 9.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_74" href="#FNanchor_74" class="label">[74]</a> Goguet, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Orig. des lois</i>, t. iii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 388.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_75" href="#FNanchor_75" class="label">[75]</a> Quoted by Giraud-Teulon, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Orig. de la Famille</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -66.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_76" href="#FNanchor_76" class="label">[76]</a> <i>Trans. Ethn. Soc.</i>, New Series, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 35.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_77" href="#FNanchor_77" class="label">[77]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> v. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 45.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_78" href="#FNanchor_78" class="label">[78]</a> Bagaert, <i>Smithsonian Report</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 368, 1863.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_79" href="#FNanchor_79" class="label">[79]</a> Bancroft, <i>Native Races of Pacific</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 352.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_80" href="#FNanchor_80" class="label">[80]</a> Wake, <i>Evolution of Morality</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 110.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_81" href="#FNanchor_81" class="label">[81]</a> Campenhausen, <i lang="de" xml:lang="de">Bemerk. über Russland</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_82" href="#FNanchor_82" class="label">[82]</a> Volney, <i>Syria</i>, ch. iii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_83" href="#FNanchor_83" class="label">[83]</a> Mayeux, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Les Bédouins ou Arabes du Désert</i> (1816), -t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 187, 189.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_84" href="#FNanchor_84" class="label">[84]</a> Herodotus, Book i. 199.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_85" href="#FNanchor_85" class="label">[85]</a> Strabo, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> xi. 14.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_86" href="#FNanchor_86" class="label">[86]</a> Abel de Rémusat, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Nouveau">Nouv.</abbr> mél. Asiatiques</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 116.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_87" href="#FNanchor_87" class="label">[87]</a> Herodotus, iv. 172.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_88" href="#FNanchor_88" class="label">[88]</a> Giraud-Teulon, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Orig. de la Famille</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 69.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_89" href="#FNanchor_89" class="label">[89]</a> Darwin, <i>Descent of Man</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 651.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_90" href="#FNanchor_90" class="label">[90]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 651.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_91" href="#FNanchor_91" class="label">[91]</a> Bancroft, <i>Native Races</i>, etc., <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 584.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_92" href="#FNanchor_92" class="label">[92]</a> Marco Polo, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Edition Populaire</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 187.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_93" href="#FNanchor_93" class="label">[93]</a> Laurière, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Glose du droit Français</i>, at the word -Culage ou Culiage.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_94" href="#FNanchor_94" class="label">[94]</a> James Forbes, <i>Oriental Memoirs</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 446; -<abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> iv. 1813.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_95" href="#FNanchor_95" class="label">[95]</a> A. Rémusat, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Nouveau">Nouv.</abbr> mél. Asiatiques</i>, t. -<span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 118.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_96" href="#FNanchor_96" class="label">[96]</a> Eyre, <i>Discoveries</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 320.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_97" href="#FNanchor_97" class="label">[97]</a> Porter, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. Univ. des <abbr title="voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>., <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> xvi. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 323.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_98" href="#FNanchor_98" class="label">[98]</a> Cook, <i>First Voy</i>. (<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. <abbr title="l'Universite">Univ.</abbr> des Voy</i>., -t. v. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 252). Moerenhout, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr> aux îles du Grand Océan</i>, t. -<span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 263.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_99" href="#FNanchor_99" class="label">[99]</a> Bancroft, <i>Native Races</i>, etc.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_100" href="#FNanchor_100" class="label">[100]</a> Wake, <i>Evolution of Morality</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 219.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_101" href="#FNanchor_101" class="label">[101]</a> Giraud-Teulon, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Orig. de la Famille</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 83.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_102" href="#FNanchor_102" class="label">[102]</a> <i>History of Greenland</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 142.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_103" href="#FNanchor_103" class="label">[103]</a> Ross, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. <abbr title="l'Universite">Univ.</abbr> des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xl. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 158.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_104" href="#FNanchor_104" class="label">[104]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lettres Edifiantes</i>, t. xx. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 116.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_105" href="#FNanchor_105" class="label">[105]</a> Bancroft, <i>Native Races</i>, etc., <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 514.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_106" href="#FNanchor_106" class="label">[106]</a> Meares, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. <abbr title="l'Universite">Univ.</abbr> des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xiii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 375.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_107" href="#FNanchor_107" class="label">[107]</a> Burckhardt, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. <abbr title="l'Universite">Univ.</abbr> des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxxii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -380.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_108" href="#FNanchor_108" class="label">[108]</a> R. Smith, <i>Kinship</i>, etc., <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 276.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_109" href="#FNanchor_109" class="label">[109]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Les Abyssiniennes et les Femmes du Soudan -Oriental</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 97.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_110" href="#FNanchor_110" class="label">[110]</a> Plutarch, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Lycurgus</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_111" href="#FNanchor_111" class="label">[111]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, <i>Cato</i>.</p> - -</div> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.<br /><br /><span class="small">SOME SINGULAR FORMS OF SEXUAL ASSOCIATION.</span></h2> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>I. <i>Primitive Sexual Immorality.</i>—Origin of modesty—Absence -of modesty in the savage—Loan of wives in Melanesia and among the -Bochimans—Absence of modesty in the Esquimaux, the Redskins, and -Polynesians—Right of the husband in Polynesia—Loan or barter of -wives—Erotic training of little girls in Polynesia—Society of the -Areoïs—Man in a state of nature—Unnatural love in New Caledonia, -in the two Americas, among Asiatic peoples, and in Greco-Roman -antiquity—The <i>erastes</i> of Crete.</p> - -<p>II. <i>Some Strange Forms of Marriage.</i>—Coarseness of primitive -marriage—Horror of incest artificially created—Incest among -various peoples—Artificial defloration—Experimental marriages -among the Redskins, the Otomies, the Sonthals, the Tartars, and -in Ceylon—Temporary marriages among the Jews of Morocco and the -Tapyres—Free unions—Partial marriages and marriages for a term -among the Arabs—Marriage and the right of the strongest in savage -countries—Savage coarseness and civilised depravity.</p> -</div> - - -<h3 id="h3_11">I. <i>Primitive Sexual Immorality.</i></h3> - -<p>In a former work<a id="FNanchor_112" href="#Footnote_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a> I have attempted to trace the genesis of a -sentiment peculiar to humanity—the sentiment of modesty. It would be -inexpedient here to treat the subject afresh in detail, but I will -recall the conclusions arrived at by that investigation. Modesty is -<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">par excellence</i> a human sentiment, and is totally unknown to the -animals, although the procreative need inspires them with desires and -passions essentially identical with what in man we call love; it is -therefore certainly an artificial sentiment, and comparative ethnology -proves that it must have resulted from the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</span> enforced chastity imposed -on women under the most terrible penalties. In reality, primitive -marriage hardly merits the name; it is simply the taking possession -of one or several women by one man, who holds them by the same title -as all other property, and who treats adultery, when unauthorised by -himself, strictly as robbery. This ferocious restraint has resulted, -especially in the woman, in the formation of particular mental -impressions, corresponding psychically to the sentiment of modesty, and -inducing a certain sexual reserve which has become instinctive. But -this moral inhibition is still very weak in races of low development, -and, taking the whole human species, it exists chiefly in the woman; -it is a sexual peculiarity of character, and is of relatively recent -origin.</p> - -<p>If we keep well in mind these preliminary considerations, we shall -not be much surprised at the forms of sexual association which we -are about to consider, although they are singularly repulsive to our -ideas of morality. We shall be still less surprised at them when we -are acquainted with the extreme licence permitted in many savage and -barbarous societies.</p> - -<p>There is nothing more difficult for us to realise, civilised as we -are, than the mental state of the man far behind us in cultivation -as regards what we call <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">par excellence</i> “morality.” It is not -indecency; it is simply an animal absence of modesty. Acts which are -undeniably quite natural, since they are the expression of a primordial -need, essential to the duration of the species, but which a long -ancestral and individual education has trained us to subject to a -rigorous restraint, and to the accomplishment of which, consequently, -we cannot help attaching a certain shame, do not in the least shock the -still imperfect conscience of the primitive man. On this point facts -are eloquent and abundant; I will quote a few of them.</p> - -<p>In Tasmania it way thought an honour for women to prostitute themselves -to Europeans, who were ennobled in the eyes of the natives by the -prestige of their superiority.<a id="FNanchor_113" href="#Footnote_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a> The Australians, who were a little -more developed than the Tasmanians, willingly lent or hired out -their women—at least those that were their own property—to their -friends.<a id="FNanchor_114" href="#Footnote_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</span></p> - -<p>The women were not less bestial than their males. They often engaged, -says Peltier, in furious combats, fighting with spears, for the -possession of a man. This is a peculiar case, and is an entirely -human instance of that <em>law of battle</em> of which I have spoken in -regard to animals. Like the females of animals also the Australian -women adored strength, and when the men of their own horde were beaten -in battle they sometimes went over to the camp of the conquerors of -their own accord (Mitchell).<a id="FNanchor_115" href="#Footnote_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a> In these facts there is nothing -exceptional, and we may change the country without changing the -customs. Thus the Bochimans treat their wives as simple domestic -animals, and offer them willingly to strangers,<a id="FNanchor_116" href="#Footnote_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a> as do also the -Australians.</p> - -<p>In the Andaman Islands and elsewhere the women give themselves up -before marriage—that is, before becoming the property of one man—to -the most unbridled prostitution,<a id="FNanchor_117" href="#Footnote_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a> and yet the most innocent, -according to the morality of the country.</p> - -<p>Among the Esquimaux the laxity of sexual customs, both for men and -women, is extreme. The husbands feel no shame in selling, or rather -hiring out, their wives; and the latter, as soon as their proprietors -are gone to the chase or to fish, abandon themselves to an uncontrolled -debauch, taking care to post their children outside the hut to warn -them in case of the unexpected return of the master.<a id="FNanchor_118" href="#Footnote_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a> Sexual -morality does not yet exist among the Esquimaux, and an Aleout said -quite simply to the missionary Langsdorff, “When my people couple they -do it like the sea-otters.”<a id="FNanchor_119" href="#Footnote_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a> In fact, if the cold permitted, the -Esquimaux would not be any more clothed than the sea-otters. In their -common houses, where two or three hundred people are crowded together, -and a high degree of temperature is maintained, they throw off their -clothing without distinction of age or sex.<a id="FNanchor_120" href="#Footnote_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a> They go further -still, and, like many savages, practise what is called Socratic love -openly and without shame. Thus, among the Inoits, well-favoured boys<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</span> -are brought up with care, dressed as girls, and sold at a high price -towards the age of fifteen,<a id="FNanchor_121" href="#Footnote_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a> without any harm being seen in it.</p> - -<p>The Redskins of the extreme north are scarcely more modest than the -Esquimaux. Carver relates that among the Nandowessics a woman was -particularly honoured because she had first entertained and then -treated as husbands the forty chief warriors of the tribe.<a id="FNanchor_122" href="#Footnote_122" class="fnanchor">[122]</a></p> - -<p>But it is especially in Polynesia that the naïve immodesty of primitive -peoples was displayed with the greatest indifference to the opinions of -others.</p> - -<p>“The principal difficulty of the missionaries in the Sandwich Isles,” -says M. de Varigny, “consisted in teaching the women chastity; they -were ignorant of the name and of the thing. Adultery, incest, and -fornication were common things, approved by public opinion, and even -consecrated by religion.”<a id="FNanchor_123" href="#Footnote_123" class="fnanchor">[123]</a></p> - -<p>These customs are of ancient date in Polynesia. The travellers of -last century had observed them still the same. The Tahitian women, -if they were free, openly bartered their persons, and the fathers, -mothers, brothers, and sometimes the husbands, often brought them to -the European sailors and hired them out, after a lively bargaining, for -nails, red feathers, etc.<a id="FNanchor_124" href="#Footnote_124" class="fnanchor">[124]</a></p> - -<p>At Noukahiva “the young girls of the island,” says Porter, “are the -wives of all those who can buy their favours, and a beautiful daughter -is considered by her parents as a means of procuring them for a time -riches and plenty. However, when they are older, they form more lasting -connections, and seem then as firmly attached to their husbands as -women of any other country.”<a id="FNanchor_125" href="#Footnote_125" class="fnanchor">[125]</a></p> - -<p>In the same archipelago, the surgeon Roblet says that the French -sailors were frequently offered girls of eight years; “and,” he adds, -“they were not virgins.”<a id="FNanchor_126" href="#Footnote_126" class="fnanchor">[126]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</span></p> - -<p>“Virtue,” says Porter, “such as we understand it, was unknown among -them, and they attached no shame to acts which they regarded not only -as natural, but as an inoffensive amusement. Many parents thought -themselves honoured by the preference given to their daughters, and -showed their satisfaction by presents of pigs and fruits, which, on -their part, was an extreme of munificence.”<a id="FNanchor_127" href="#Footnote_127" class="fnanchor">[127]</a></p> - -<p>In Polynesia public opinion forbade married women to yield themselves -without the authorisation of their owners, and this was almost the only -strict rule of morals existing; but the husbands trafficked in their -wives without scruple. “Tawee,” says Porter, “was one of the handsomest -men of the island, and loved to adorn his person; a bit of red stuff, -some morsels of glass, or a whale’s tooth, had irresistible charms -for him, and in order to procure these objects he would offer any of -the most precious things he possessed. Thus, though his wife was of -remarkable beauty, and he was the tenderest of husbands, Tawee offered -his wife more than once for a necklace.”<a id="FNanchor_128" href="#Footnote_128" class="fnanchor">[128]</a></p> - -<p>To offer a woman to a visitor to whom one would do honour was, for that -matter, a simple act of courtesy in Polynesia, and the same courtesy -prescribed the immediate acceptance of the offer, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">coram populo</i> -(Bougainville). It was frequently his own wife that the husband thus -gave up to his guest, and the case of Porter, which I have just quoted, -had nothing exceptional in it. A similar thing happened to Captain -Beechey,<a id="FNanchor_129" href="#Footnote_129" class="fnanchor">[129]</a> and to many other travellers. This conjugal liberality -was one of the customs of the country; the friend, or <i>tayo</i>, -acquired conjugal rights over the wife or wives of his friend. Between -brothers and relations the exchange of wives was frequent,<a id="FNanchor_130" href="#Footnote_130" class="fnanchor">[130]</a> to such -a degree that at Toubouai, etc., Moerenhout tells us the women were -nearly held in common, and that in the Marquesas a woman had sometimes -as many as twenty lovers.<a id="FNanchor_131" href="#Footnote_131" class="fnanchor">[131]</a></p> - -<p>For the Polynesians the pleasures of sensual love were the chief -business of life; they neither saw evil nor practised<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</span> restraint in -them. The women were trained with a view to amorous sports;<a id="FNanchor_132" href="#Footnote_132" class="fnanchor">[132]</a> they -were fattened on a soup of bread fruit, and from earliest infancy -taught by their mothers to dance the <i>timorodie</i>, a very lewd -dance, accompanied by appropriate words.<a id="FNanchor_133" href="#Footnote_133" class="fnanchor">[133]</a> The conversation also was -in keeping with the morals. “One thing which particularly struck me,” -says Moerenhout, “as soon as I began to understand their language, was -the extreme licence in conversation—a licence pushed to the limit of -most shameless cynicism, and which is the same even with the women; for -these people think and talk of nothing but sensual pleasure, and speak -openly of everything, having no idea of the euphemisms of our civilised -societies, where we use double meanings and veiled words, or terms -that are permitted in mentioning things which would appear revolting -and cause scandal if plainly expressed; but these islanders could not -understand this, and the missionaries have never been able to make them -do so.”<a id="FNanchor_134" href="#Footnote_134" class="fnanchor">[134]</a></p> - -<p>Lastly, the existence of the religious and aristocratic society of -the <i>Areoïs</i>, in Tahiti and other archipelagoes, finishes the -picture of the mental condition of the Polynesians as regards morals. -Without describing afresh this curious association, I shall only remind -my readers that it had for its object an unrestrained and public -abandonment to amorous pleasures, and that, for this reason, the -community of women and the obligation of infanticide were decreed.</p> - -<p>During the last century sentimentality invaded the brains of thinkers -and writers like an epidemic, and gave rise to the belief that -primitive man, or “man in a state of nature,” as the phrase went, -was the model of all virtues. But we must discount much of this. -As we might naturally expect, the uncultivated man is a mammal of -the grossest kind. We have already seen that his sexual morality is -extremely loose, and necessarily so; we are, however, surprised to find -him addicted to certain aberrations from nature which the chroniclers -of the Greco-Latin world have accustomed us to regard as the result -of a refined and depraved civilisation,—an<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</span> opinion which is quite -erroneous, as comparative ethnography irrefutably proves. Nothing is -more common among primitive races than what is called Socratic love, -and on this point I will briefly quote a few facts, without pausing -longer on them than my subject requires. In the vast sociological -investigation which I am undertaking, moral bestiality must not -discourage scientific analysis any more than putrefaction arrests the -scalpel of the anatomist; it does not therefore follow that we take -delight in it.</p> - -<p>As a matter of fact, many human races have practised, from the first, -vices contrary to nature. The Kanaks of New Caledonia frequently -assemble at night in a cabin to give themselves up to this kind of -debauchery.<a id="FNanchor_135" href="#Footnote_135" class="fnanchor">[135]</a> The New Zealanders practised it even among their -women.<a id="FNanchor_136" href="#Footnote_136" class="fnanchor">[136]</a> It was also a widely-spread custom throughout Polynesia, -and even a special deity presided over it. In the whole of America, -from north to south, similar customs have existed or still exist. We -have previously seen that the Esquimaux reared young boys for this -purpose. The Southern Californians did the same, and the Spanish -missionaries, on their arrival in the country, found men dressed as -women and assuming their part. They were trained to this from youth, -and often publicly married to the chiefs.<a id="FNanchor_137" href="#Footnote_137" class="fnanchor">[137]</a> Nero was evidently a -mere plagiarist. The existence of analogous customs has been proved -amongst the Guyacurus of La Plata, the natives of the Isthmus of -Darien, the tribes of Louisiana, and the ancient Illinois, etc.<a id="FNanchor_138" href="#Footnote_138" class="fnanchor">[138]</a></p> - -<p>The two chief forms of sexual excess of which I have been speaking, -unnatural vice and the debauchery of girls or free women, are habitual -in savage countries; and later, when civilisation and morality have -evolved, the same inveterate inclinations still persist for a long -time, in spite of public opinion and even of legal repression.</p> - -<p>The Incas, according to the chronicler Garcilaso, were merciless in -regard to these sexual aberrations, and the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</span> Mexican law was equally -severe, but all without much effect, if we may believe the accounts of -Garcilaso himself, Gomara, Bernal Diaz, etc. I have elsewhere related -how the ancient legislations of the great Asiatic states repressed -these base aberrations of the procreative sense, and nevertheless, -at the present day, the Arabs frequently give way to them, even in -the holy Mosque at Mecca;<a id="FNanchor_139" href="#Footnote_139" class="fnanchor">[139]</a> and other Eastern peoples, Hindoos, -Persians, and Chinese, are also very imperfectly reformed on this point.</p> - -<p>When we remember that morality is essentially relative, and that -ancestral impressions are extremely tenacious in the human brain, -we shall not be much surprised to see these low tendencies persist -as survivals in the midst of civilisations already far advanced. -Nevertheless, the theoretic morality of all the great nations of the -East has for centuries condemned these repugnant excesses, which our -European ancestors, both Celts and Teutons, have early reproved and -repressed. It is all the more singular to find the most intelligent -race of antiquity, the ancient Greeks, practising the greatest -tolerance on this subject, so much so that the names of Socrates and -Plato, those fathers of ethereal spiritualism, are attached to amours -the mere thought of which now excites disgust in a civilised European.</p> - -<p>A very slight acquaintance with Greco-Roman literature furnishes -abundant information on this matter. I have no need, therefore, to -dwell on it, but I must quote a curious passage of Strabo, from which -we learn that the ancient Cretans associated with so-called Socratic -amours the ceremonial of marriage by capture, of which I shall soon -have to speak. This strange passage is as follows:—“It is not by -persuasion, but by capture, that they obtain possession of the beloved -object. Three days or more in advance the <i>erastes</i> apprises -the friends of the young boy of his project of abduction. It would -be considered the greatest disgrace for them to conceal the child, -or prevent him from passing by the road indicated. By so doing they -would appear to confess that he did not merit the favours of such a -distinguished <i>erastes</i>. What do they do therefore? They meet -together, and if the ravisher is equal or superior in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</span> rank and all -other respects to the family of the child, they are content in their -pursuit to comply with the idea of the law, and to make a semblance of -attack only, allowing the child to be carried off, and even testifying -their satisfaction; but if, on the contrary, the ravisher should be of -greatly inferior rank, they invariably rescue the child from his hands. -In any case the pursuit comes to an end when the child has crossed -the threshold of the <i>andrion</i> of his captor.” We may doubtless -presume, from this passage, that the ancient Cretans were no longer in -the state of bestial coarseness of the New Caledonians. With them the -capture was a symbol or comedy. It was a mark of esteem, paid less to -the beauty of the child than to his valour and propriety of manners. -In fact, the boy had the legal right to revenge himself, if he had -suffered any violence in his capture; and in restoring him to liberty -his ravisher loaded him with presents, some of which were obligatory -and legal, namely, a warrior’s cloak, an ox, and a goblet; it was a -kind of initiation in virility, and it was considered a disgrace for a -young boy not to obtain an <i>erastes</i>.<a id="FNanchor_140" href="#Footnote_140" class="fnanchor">[140]</a></p> - -<p>But even if we admit that all the ceremonial of this singular platonic -marriage among the Cretans was perfectly innocent, it arose, none the -less, from a moral laxity, plainly showing that ancient morals were -gross in the extreme.</p> - -<p>I here conclude my enumeration. Short as it has been, for I have -purposely limited my facts to a small number, it is sufficient to -prove that for an immense period man has been a very coarse animal. We -may, therefore, expect to find him adapting without scruple forms of -marriage or sexual association quite unusual among Europeans, and which -it now remains for me to describe briefly.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_12">II. <i>Some Strange Forms of Marriage.</i></h3> - -<p>In savage societies, where no delicacy yet exists in regard to sexual -union, and where, on the other hand, woman is strictly assimilated -to things and domestic animals, marriage, or what we please to call -so, is an affair of small<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</span> importance, which is regulated according -to individual caprice. More generally the parents, and sometimes the -friends or the chiefs, pair the young people as they think fit, and -quite naturally they have little regard for monogamic marriage, to -the strictness of which, even in civilised societies, man finds it so -difficult to bend.</p> - -<p>The young people, on their part, have hardly any individual -preferences. The young boys of the Redskins, as Lafitau tells us, never -even troubled to see, before marriage, the wife chosen for them by -their parents.<a id="FNanchor_141" href="#Footnote_141" class="fnanchor">[141]</a> In Bargo, according to R. and J. Lander, they marry -with perfect indifference; “a man does not care any more about choosing -a wife than about which ear of corn he shall pick.” There is never any -question as to the sentiments of the contracting parties.<a id="FNanchor_142" href="#Footnote_142" class="fnanchor">[142]</a></p> - -<p>It is quite certain, also, that during the first ages of the evolution -of societies, the ties of kinship, even those we are accustomed to -regard as sacred, and respect for which seems to be incarnate in us, -have not been any impediment to sexual unions. Like the sentiment of -modesty, the horror of incest has only been engraved on the human -conscience with great difficulty and by long culture. Scruples of -this kind are unknown to the animal, and before they could arise in -the human brain it was first necessary that the family should be -constituted, and then that, from some motive or other, the custom of -exogamous marriage should be adopted. Now, as we shall see later, the -family has at first been matriarchal or rather maternal, and with such -a familial system, the children have no legal father; the prohibitions -relative to incest could therefore, at the most, only exist in regard -to the female line, and, in fact, we find it to be so in many countries -where this system of filiation prevails. But primitive morals, existing -before the formation of a morality condemning incest, have left many -traces in the past, and even in the present. “The Chippeways,” says -Hearne, “frequently cohabit with their mother, and oftener still with -their sisters and daughters.”<a id="FNanchor_143" href="#Footnote_143" class="fnanchor">[143]</a> And yet he is speaking here of -Redskins, a people reputed to be<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</span> fanatical on the matter of exogamy. -Langsdorff says the same of the Kadiaks, who unite indiscriminately, -brothers with sisters, and parents with children.<a id="FNanchor_144" href="#Footnote_144" class="fnanchor">[144]</a> It is well -known, besides, that in the matter of sexual unions no race has fewer -prejudices than the Esquimaux. The Coucous of Chili, and the Caribs -also, willingly married at the same time a mother and daughter. With -the Karens, too, of Tenasserim, marriages between brother and sister, -or father and daughter, are frequent enough, even in our own day.<a id="FNanchor_145" href="#Footnote_145" class="fnanchor">[145]</a></p> - -<p>But these unions, though incestuous for us, have not been practised -amongst savages and inferior races only. According to Strabo, the -ancient Irish married, without distinction, their mothers and -sisters.<a id="FNanchor_146" href="#Footnote_146" class="fnanchor">[146]</a></p> - -<p>We are told by Justin and Tertullian<a id="FNanchor_147" href="#Footnote_147" class="fnanchor">[147]</a> that the Parthians and -Persians married their own mothers without scruple. In ancient Persia, -religion went so far even as to sanctify the union of a son with his -mother.<a id="FNanchor_148" href="#Footnote_148" class="fnanchor">[148]</a> Priscus relates that these marriages were also permitted -among the Tartars and Scythians, and it is reported, too, that Attila -married his daughter Esca.<a id="FNanchor_149" href="#Footnote_149" class="fnanchor">[149]</a></p> - -<p>Whether from a survival of ancient morals, or the care to preserve -purity of race, conjugal unions between brother and sister were -authorised, or even prescribed, in various countries, for the royal -families. The kings of ancient Egypt were obliged to marry their -sisters, and Cleopatra thus became the wife of her brother Ptolemy -Dionysius. The Incas of Peru were subject to a similar law; and at Siam -also, when the traveller La Loubère visited it, the king had married -his sister.<a id="FNanchor_150" href="#Footnote_150" class="fnanchor">[150]</a> But I shall have to return to the subject of marriage -between relations in treating of the endogamic <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> which has -been, or is, in force among many peoples.</p> - -<p>These incestuous marriages astonish us, and certain of them are even -revolting to our ideas, as, for example, the union of the mother with -the son. Another custom<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</span> will probably surprise, if not shock us quite -as much. I allude to experimental marriages, which are far from being -rare. They will appear, however, less singular, if we remember that in -societies of low order little value is set on the chastity of young -girls; virginal purity is not at all prized, and there are even some -peoples, as the Saccalaves of Madagascar,<a id="FNanchor_151" href="#Footnote_151" class="fnanchor">[151]</a> for instance, and also -certain indigenous peoples of India,<a id="FNanchor_152" href="#Footnote_152" class="fnanchor">[152]</a> among whom it is regarded as -a duty for the mothers themselves to deflower their daughters before -marrying them.</p> - -<p>With such morals prevailing, experimental marriages seem natural -enough. De Champlain, an ancient French traveller in North America, -relates that the Redskins of Canada always lived a few days together, -and then quitted each other if the trial had not been satisfactory to -either of them.<a id="FNanchor_153" href="#Footnote_153" class="fnanchor">[153]</a></p> - -<p>A Spanish chronicler, Herrara, reports that the Otomies of Mexico spent -a night of trial with the woman that they desired to marry; they could -quit her afterwards, but only on condition of not retaining her during -the following day.<a id="FNanchor_154" href="#Footnote_154" class="fnanchor">[154]</a></p> - -<p>Among the Sonthals also, an aboriginal tribe of India, whose marriages -are celebrated simultaneously once a year, the candidates for marriage -must first live six days together, and it is only after this trial -that it is lawful for them to marry.<a id="FNanchor_155" href="#Footnote_155" class="fnanchor">[155]</a> With certain Tartar tribes -of Russia in Europe and of Siberia there existed an institution of -experimental marriages lasting for a year, if the woman did not become -a mother during that period.<a id="FNanchor_156" href="#Footnote_156" class="fnanchor">[156]</a> In the island of Ceylon, according to -Davy, there are also provisional marriages, confirmed or annulled at -the end of a fortnight.<a id="FNanchor_157" href="#Footnote_157" class="fnanchor">[157]</a></p> - -<p>Among the Jews in Morocco the Rabbis consecrate temporary marriages, -for three or six months, according to agreement. The man only engages -to acknowledge the child if needful, and to make a certain donation to -the mother.<a id="FNanchor_158" href="#Footnote_158" class="fnanchor">[158]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</span></p> - -<p>Strabo tells us of an analogous custom prevailing in antiquity among -the Tapyres (Parthians), according to which a woman, after having -had two or three children by a man, was forced by law to change her -husband.<a id="FNanchor_159" href="#Footnote_159" class="fnanchor">[159]</a> This is almost exactly what Marshal Saxe demanded for -Frenchwomen in the last century.</p> - -<p>We must not confound these experimental marriages, which are regulated, -and in some sort legal, with free and easily cancelled unions still -more common, as, for example, those of the Nouka-Hivians, that are -broken at will, provided there are no children;<a id="FNanchor_160" href="#Footnote_160" class="fnanchor">[160]</a> those of the -Hottentots;<a id="FNanchor_161" href="#Footnote_161" class="fnanchor">[161]</a> those of the Abyssinians, who marry, part, and -re-marry at will.<a id="FNanchor_162" href="#Footnote_162" class="fnanchor">[162]</a> These last unions, founded merely on individual -caprice, have nothing extraordinary about them, and we know that they -are not rare in civilised countries.</p> - -<p>Much more curious, from a point of view of sexual and conjugal -morality, are the partial marriages, which only bind the parties for -certain days of the week. This is a rare kind of marriage that seems -improbable to us, yet it has been proved to have existed among the -Hassinyehs of the White Nile, of Arab or perhaps Berber race.</p> - -<p>By an agreement, which is sharply discussed beforehand, the Hassinyeh -woman engages to be a faithful wife for a fixed number of days in the -week, generally three or four, but this is in proportion to the number -of heads of cattle given to the parents by the bridegroom as the price -of their daughter, and it is the mother herself who makes the bargain. -Naturally, on the days that are not reserved the woman is free, and she -has a right to use her liberty as she pleases.<a id="FNanchor_163" href="#Footnote_163" class="fnanchor">[163]</a></p> - -<p>These strange customs amongst the Arabs must surely date from old -pre-Islamite ages, and we may class them with other antique customs, -as, for example, marriage for a term, called <i>mot’a</i> marriage, -which was in use with the Arabs until the time of Mahomet, and which -doubtless they imported later into Persia, where it exists in our own -day.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</span> And again, in the kingdom of Omân, in the fourteenth century, the -Sultan could still grant to a woman, indeed to any woman he pleased, -the permission to have lovers according to her fancy, and her relations -had no right to interfere.<a id="FNanchor_164" href="#Footnote_164" class="fnanchor">[164]</a></p> - -<p>The partial marriage of the Hassinyeh Arabs is therefore not so -surprising as it seems at first sight when isolated from other -practices of the same kind. And it must be confessed that, immoral as -it may appear to us, it is superior to the other modes of primitive -conjugal association in use among the greater number of savage peoples. -Doubtless it denotes an extreme of moral grossness, but at the same -time it shows a certain respect for feminine independence, contrasting -strongly with the animal subjection imposed on women in the greater -number of societies of little or no civilisation. The situation of the -woman who is owned and treated as a simple domestic animal, hired out -or lent to strangers or to friends, according to the caprice of her -master, but not allowed, at the peril of her life, to be unfaithful to -her owner without his leave, is surely far more abject still.</p> - -<p>I shall not dwell any more on these mere sketches of marriage, free -and transient unions broken as soon as made, experimental marriages, -three-quarter marriages, and marriages for a term, all of which show -the very slight importance attached to sexual union by man in a low -stage of development. And yet we must not refuse the name of marriage -to these ephemeral and incomplete unions, since they are arranged by -means of serious contracts which have been well discussed beforehand, -and by agreements entered into at least between the husband and the -relatives of the wife. The men of the horde or tribe do not, however, -profess a very strict respect for these marriages; the husband is often -uneasy in the enjoyment of his feminine property, and although legally -obtained, he must always be ready to defend it.</p> - -<p>Among the Bochimans, says Liechtenstein, with whom marriage is reduced -to its most simple expression, “the strongest man often carries off the -wife of the weakest,”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</span> because it is the proper thing for him to do, -since he is called “the lion.”</p> - -<p>In fact, these abuses of strength exist, more or less, in all countries -and all races; but among the Redskins of America and the Esquimaux it -seems that public opinion ratifies them, and that might has morally -become right.</p> - -<p>“When a Toski,” says Hooper, “desires the wife of another man, he -simply fights with her husband.”</p> - -<p>“A very ancient custom,” says Hearne, “obliges the men to wrestle for -any woman to whom they are attached; and of course the strongest party -always carries off the prize. A weak man, unless he be a good hunter -and well beloved, is seldom permitted to keep a wife that a stronger -man thinks worth his notice. This custom prevails throughout all the -tribes.”<a id="FNanchor_165" href="#Footnote_165" class="fnanchor">[165]</a></p> - -<p>In the same way, among the Copper and Chippeway Indians woman is a -property which is little respected, and which the strong may always -take from the weak.<a id="FNanchor_166" href="#Footnote_166" class="fnanchor">[166]</a></p> - -<p>Richardson also says that among the Redskins every man has the right -to challenge another to fight, and if he is victor, to carry off his -wife.<a id="FNanchor_167" href="#Footnote_167" class="fnanchor">[167]</a></p> - -<p>The same customs prevail among the Indians of South America—at least -among certain of them. Thus Azara relates that the Guanas never marry -before they are over twenty, for earlier than this they would be beaten -by their rivals.<a id="FNanchor_168" href="#Footnote_168" class="fnanchor">[168]</a></p> - -<p>It has been attempted to show that these conflicts are the equivalent -of what is called in regard to animals “the law of battle,” but the -comparison is not exact, for animals seem in this respect much more -delicate than men. If they fight it is before pairing, and besides, as -we have seen, their combats are often courteous, like the tournaments -of our ancestors; frequently, too, the object of these assaults is -much less to capture the female than to seduce her by displaying -before her eyes the qualities with which they are endowed—courage, -force, address, and beauty. On her part, the female for whom they are -competing is so little<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</span> alarmed at their violence that, in general, she -tranquilly looks on at the duels, and afterwards gives herself, one -may say, freely to the victor. With certain species of birds a lyric -tourney is substituted for the fight, and so ardently do the birds -engage in it that a competitor will often die of exhaustion.</p> - -<p>Lastly, when the tourney is over, the couples paired, and the marriage -concluded, all rivalry ceases, the newly-mated birds isolate themselves -more or less, and devote all their energies to the production of a -family. Now these are delicate refinements unknown to primitive man, -whose rivalries on the subject of the possession of women resemble far -more the struggles of the old males with the young in the hordes of the -gorillas or chimpanzees. We are forced to acknowledge that the sexual -morality of primitive man does not much differ from that of anthropoid -apes, and it is quite a stranger to the æsthetic and poetic refinements -of certain birds.</p> - -<p>I here end my short inquiry into the morals of primitive man and the -eccentric modes of conjugal union which have preceded the institution -of a more durable, exclusive, and solemn marriage.</p> - -<p>We are filled with astonishment when we find such complete animal -laxity in our undeveloped ancestors, and we can hardly understand the -total absence of scruples which are now profoundly incarnate in us.</p> - -<p>Those anthropologists who insist on making man a being apart in the -universe shut their eyes to these gross aberrations. Evolutionists are -not so timid, and do not fear to face the truth.</p> - -<p>If, as it is impossible to deny, man is subject to the laws of -evolution like all other beings, we are forced to admit that he -must have passed through very inferior phases of physical and moral -development. <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Homo sapiens</i> surely descends from an ancient -pithecoid ancestor, and this original blot has necessarily been a -drawback to his moral evolution.</p> - -<p>But here it is important to make a distinction. The resemblance -between the moral coarseness of the savage and the depravation of the -civilised man is quite superficial. Who thinks of being shocked at the -morals of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</span> animals? Now those of primitive man are quite as innocent, -and the brutality of the savage has nothing in common with the moral -retrogression of the civilised man struck with decay.</p> - -<p>How unlike is the Aleout, imitating the sea-otter, without thinking -any evil, to the European degraded by the vices of our civilisation! -For the latter the future is closed; there are some declivities that -can never be remounted. The posterity of the savage, on the contrary, -may, with the aid of time and culture, attain to great moral elevation, -for there are vital forces within him which are fresh and intact. The -primitive man is still young, and he possesses many latent energies -susceptible of development. In short, the savage is a child, while the -civilised man, whose moral nature is corrupt, presents to us rather the -picture of decrepid old age.</p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_112" href="#FNanchor_112" class="label">[112]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">L’Évolution de la Morale.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_113" href="#FNanchor_113" class="label">[113]</a> Wake, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 77.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_114" href="#FNanchor_114" class="label">[114]</a> <i>Id.</i> <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 71.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_115" href="#FNanchor_115" class="label">[115]</a> H. Spencer, <i>Sociology</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 213.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_116" href="#FNanchor_116" class="label">[116]</a> Wake, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 205.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_117" href="#FNanchor_117" class="label">[117]</a> Giraud-Teulon, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Orig. de la Famille</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 68.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_118" href="#FNanchor_118" class="label">[118]</a> Parry (<i>Third Voyage</i>), <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. <abbr title="l'Universite">Univ.</abbr> des -Voyages</i>, t. xl. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 456.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_119" href="#FNanchor_119" class="label">[119]</a> Giraud-Teulon, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 96.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_120" href="#FNanchor_120" class="label">[120]</a> Élie Reclus, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Les Primitifs</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 70.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_121" href="#FNanchor_121" class="label">[121]</a> Élie Reclus, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Les Primitifs</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 80.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_122" href="#FNanchor_122" class="label">[122]</a> Carver, <i>Travels in North America</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 245.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_123" href="#FNanchor_123" class="label">[123]</a> De Varigny, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Quatorze ans aux îles Sandwich</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -159.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_124" href="#FNanchor_124" class="label">[124]</a> Wallis, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. <abbr title="l'Universite">Univ.</abbr> des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xviii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -364.—Edwards, <i>ibid.</i> t. xiii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 426.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_125" href="#FNanchor_125" class="label">[125]</a> Porter, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. <abbr title="l'Universite">Univ.</abbr> des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xvi. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 232.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_126" href="#FNanchor_126" class="label">[126]</a> Marchand, <i>ibid.</i> t. xv. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 406.—Moerenhout, -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr> aux îles</i>, t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 313.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_127" href="#FNanchor_127" class="label">[127]</a> Porter, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. <abbr title="l'Universite">Univ.</abbr> des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xvi. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 229.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_128" href="#FNanchor_128" class="label">[128]</a> <i>Id., loc. cit.</i>, t. xvi. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 245.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_129" href="#FNanchor_129" class="label">[129]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> t. xix. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 213.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_130" href="#FNanchor_130" class="label">[130]</a> Wake, <i>Evolution of Morality</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 79.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_131" href="#FNanchor_131" class="label">[131]</a> Moerenhout, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr> aux îles</i>, etc., t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 56.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_132" href="#FNanchor_132" class="label">[132]</a> Moerenhout, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr> aux îles</i>, etc., t. -<span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 206.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_133" href="#FNanchor_133" class="label">[133]</a> Cook, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. <abbr title="l'Universite">Univ.</abbr> des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. v. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 268.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_134" href="#FNanchor_134" class="label">[134]</a> Moerenhout, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -229.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_135" href="#FNanchor_135" class="label">[135]</a> Bourgarel, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Des Races de l’Océanie française</i>, -in <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mém. Soc. d’Anthropologie</i>, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 390.—De Rochas, -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Nouvelle Calédonie</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 235.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_136" href="#FNanchor_136" class="label">[136]</a> Moerenhout, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr> aux îles</i>, etc., t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -167.—Marion, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. <abbr title="l'Universite">Univ.</abbr> des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. iii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 487.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_137" href="#FNanchor_137" class="label">[137]</a> Wake, <i>Evolution of Morality</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 241.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_138" href="#FNanchor_138" class="label">[138]</a> Peschel, <i>Races of Man</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 408.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_139" href="#FNanchor_139" class="label">[139]</a> Burckhardt, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. <abbr title="l'Universite">Univ.</abbr> des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxxii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -155.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_140" href="#FNanchor_140" class="label">[140]</a> Strabo, x. 21.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_141" href="#FNanchor_141" class="label">[141]</a> Démeunier, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Esprit des Différents Peuples</i>, t. -<span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 153</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_142" href="#FNanchor_142" class="label">[142]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. <abbr title="l'Universite">Univ.</abbr> des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxx. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 94.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_143" href="#FNanchor_143" class="label">[143]</a> H. Spencer, <i>Sociology</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 218.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_144" href="#FNanchor_144" class="label">[144]</a> Langsdorff, <i>Voyages</i>, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 64.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_145" href="#FNanchor_145" class="label">[145]</a> Heber, quoted by H. Spencer, <i>Sociology</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. -<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 248.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_146" href="#FNanchor_146" class="label">[146]</a> <i>Geography</i>, Lib. iv. par. 4.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_147" href="#FNanchor_147" class="label">[147]</a> Justin, <i>Agatha</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. Tertullian, in -<i>Apologet.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_148" href="#FNanchor_148" class="label">[148]</a> A. Hovelacque, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">L’Avesta</i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 465, 466.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_149" href="#FNanchor_149" class="label">[149]</a> Démeunier, t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 465, 466.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_150" href="#FNanchor_150" class="label">[150]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 166.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_151" href="#FNanchor_151" class="label">[151]</a> Noël, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Bull. de la Soc. de Géog.</i>, Paris, 1843.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_152" href="#FNanchor_152" class="label">[152]</a> Collection Ramusio, t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> libro di Odoardo -Barbosa, portoghese.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_153" href="#FNanchor_153" class="label">[153]</a> Démeunier, t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 155.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_154" href="#FNanchor_154" class="label">[154]</a> <i>Ibid.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_155" href="#FNanchor_155" class="label">[155]</a> <i>The People of India</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 2.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_156" href="#FNanchor_156" class="label">[156]</a> <i>Travels through the Russian Empire and Tartary</i>, -by D. J. Cook, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_157" href="#FNanchor_157" class="label">[157]</a> Davy, <i>Ceylon</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 286.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_158" href="#FNanchor_158" class="label">[158]</a> <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Decugis, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Bull. de la Soc. de Géog.</i>, Paris.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_159" href="#FNanchor_159" class="label">[159]</a> Strabo, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 514.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_160" href="#FNanchor_160" class="label">[160]</a> Porter, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. <abbr title="l'Universite">Univ.</abbr> des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xvi. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 323.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_161" href="#FNanchor_161" class="label">[161]</a> Levaillant, <i>ibid</i>. t. xxi. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 164.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_162" href="#FNanchor_162" class="label">[162]</a> Bruce, <i>Travels</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ix. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 187; <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> v. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 1.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_163" href="#FNanchor_163" class="label">[163]</a> Ausland, Jan. 1867, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 114.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_164" href="#FNanchor_164" class="label">[164]</a> Ibn Batûta, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 230 (quoted by R. Smith in -<i>Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia</i>).</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_165" href="#FNanchor_165" class="label">[165]</a> Hearne, <i>A Journey from Prince of Wales Fort</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -104 (1796).</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_166" href="#FNanchor_166" class="label">[166]</a> Franklin, <i>Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea</i>, -<abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> viii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 43.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_167" href="#FNanchor_167" class="label">[167]</a> Richardson, <i>Boat Journey</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 21.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_168" href="#FNanchor_168" class="label">[168]</a> Darwin, <i>Descent of Man</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 614.</p> - -</div> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.<br /><br /><span class="small">POLYANDRY.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>I. <i>Sexual Proportion of Births: its Influence on -Marriage.</i>—Sexual proportion amongst animals—The state of this -in Europe—Its variations according to race and profession—Its -oscillations—Proportion of the sexes disturbed by war, by -infanticide, and by the sale of daughters—Polyandry has not been -general.</p> - -<p>II. <i>Ethnography of Polyandry.</i>—Examples of polyandry—Great -polyandrous centres—The polyandry of Thibet—The polyandry of the -Naïrs.</p> - -<p>III. <i>Polyandry in Ancient Arabia.</i>—Its causes—Infanticide in -Arabia—The legend of Caïs, the infanticide—Evolution of polyandry in -Arabia—<i>Mot’a</i> marriage—<i>Ba’al</i> marriage.</p> - -<p>IV. <i>Polyandry in General.</i>—Matriarchal polyandry and -patriarchal polyandry.</p> -</div> - - -<h3 id="h3_13">I. <i>Sexual Proportion of Births, and its Influence on Marriage.</i></h3> - -<p>With the exception of the rare and singular forms of sexual or conjugal -association which we have just passed in review, matrimonial types -are not numerous among the peoples more or less civilised who have -already instituted a marriage—that is to say, a sexual association -regulated by generally admitted convention. The forms of marriage most -universally practised, those which the majority of mankind has reached -and stopped at, are polygamy and monogamy, or monandry. I shall have -much to say of these. For the moment I shall treat of another kind of -marriage, far less widely spread without doubt, but which, however, -exists or has existed at divers points of the globe; I allude to -polyandry.</p> - -<p>I have no longer to prove that morality is variable and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</span> perfectible, -that it results from social life, and is only to be taken together -with the other needs, desires, and necessities of the struggle for -existence. Our moral sentiments are simply habits incarnate in our -brain, or instincts artificially created; and thus an act reputed -culpable at Paris or at London may be and frequently is held innocent -at Calcutta or at Pekin. In order to judge impartially of polyandric -marriage we must remember these elementary truths. Not, certainly, that -polyandry is rare amongst us, but it is censured, counted as criminal, -and obliged to hide itself. The legal and regulated possession, -publicly acknowledged, of one woman by several men, who are all -husbands by the same title, shocks our feelings and morality extremely -in the present day.</p> - -<p>Nevertheless, human societies, small or large, must and will live, -and it is an imperious condition which imposes the polyandric -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i>, namely, a considerable inequality between the number of -men and that of women. Now, this disproportion may result from divers -causes. In the first place, it may be natural, as it is among certain -animal species. Among the lepidoptera, for example, nine hundred and -thirty-four males have been counted as against seven hundred and -sixty-one females.<a id="FNanchor_169" href="#Footnote_169" class="fnanchor">[169]</a> Although smaller, the disproportion is not less -real amongst mankind. As a general rule, and in nearly all countries -where it has been possible to ascertain it, the relation between -masculine and feminine births gives a certain excess of boys. This -relation has been found in Europe to be 106 for 70 million of births; -but our great masculine mortality re-establishes the equilibrium in -the early years of life. The proportion of births, besides, is far -from being identical in all the countries of Europe, and we even -find oscillations in a given country. In England it is generally -104.5, in France 106.3, in Russia 108.9, at Philadelphia 110.5. In -certain ethnic or social categories the proportion of masculine births -notably augments. It rises to 113 for the Jews of Russia, to 114 -for those of Breslau, to 120 for the Jews of Livonia. More singular -still, the proportion of masculine to feminine births augments for -certain professions; it is, for example, higher amongst the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</span> English -clergy.<a id="FNanchor_170" href="#Footnote_170" class="fnanchor">[170]</a> It is even seen to vary spontaneously. In the year 1886, -during several months, the proportion of feminine births rose at Paris. -In France, for a period of forty-four years, it has happened five -times in one department, and six times in another, that the female -births have been in excess. At the Cape of Good Hope, among the whites, -for several years there have been ninety to ninety-nine masculine -births. The reason or reasons of these spontaneous oscillations in the -proportion of the sexes still escapes us. We verify it only, and we -are warranted in concluding that the production of sex in the embryo -depends on some relatively second causes. It is sure, for example, that -the clergy of England are not of a special race. If, however, they have -more male children than the other inhabitants of England, the fact can -only depend on intimate particulars of their kind of life. This reminds -us of certain biblical precepts relative to conjugal life, and the too -neglected theory of M. Thury (of Geneva) on the influence of the degree -of ovular maturity on the production of the sexes.</p> - -<p>But spontaneous oscillations in the proportion of the sexes are always -feeble; even the matrimonial type does not seem to influence them, for -in the harems of Siam the sexual relation of births is the same as in -Europe.<a id="FNanchor_171" href="#Footnote_171" class="fnanchor">[171]</a> On the other hand, it is proved that race-horses, which -are very polygamous, since they serve as stallions, have male and -female descendants in exactly equal proportions.<a id="FNanchor_172" href="#Footnote_172" class="fnanchor">[172]</a></p> - -<p>It is the social actions of men which produce the most profound -disturbances in the proportion of the sexes. To begin with, in savage -or barbarous countries, where violent death has become an ordinary -occurrence for men, the number of adult females much exceeds that of -adult males. Thus, at Bantou, when the Dutch established themselves -there, they found ten women to one man.<a id="FNanchor_173" href="#Footnote_173" class="fnanchor">[173]</a> In La Soñora, at the -end of a civil war, there were seven women to one man. In spite of -all moral and legal precepts, such conditions unfailingly result in -polygamy, disguised or not.</p> - -<p>On the contrary, a custom very widely spread in savage<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</span> countries, that -of the infanticide of girls, not less necessarily engenders polyandry, -if the equilibrium in the numerical proportion of the sexes is not -re-established in another manner. In reality, the infanticide of -girls has been largely practised in nearly all polyandrous countries. -It seems also that the custom of sacrificing the female children -influences in the long run the natural production of the sexes. Thus -the polyandrous Todas, who <em>formerly</em> killed their girls, have -actually a sexual proportion of 133.3 for adults, and of 124 for the -children.<a id="FNanchor_174" href="#Footnote_174" class="fnanchor">[174]</a></p> - -<p>In Polynesia, where the infanticide of girls was so largely practised, -the sexual relation to-day is altogether in favour of male births.</p> - -<p>In New Zealand the proportion of the sexes in 1858 was 130.3 for -adults, and 122.2 for non-adults.<a id="FNanchor_175" href="#Footnote_175" class="fnanchor">[175]</a></p> - -<p>In 1839, in the Sandwich Islands, the numerical proportion was 125.08 -for adults, and 125.75 for non-adults.</p> - -<p>In 1872 a general census of all the Sandwich Islands gave for the -numerical proportion of the sexes 125.36.</p> - -<p>But there is more than one way of falsifying the proportion of the -sexes. It is not necessary to kill nearly all the female children, -as was the custom among the Gonds of Bengal, where in many villages -Macpherson did not see a single girl;<a id="FNanchor_176" href="#Footnote_176" class="fnanchor">[176]</a> it suffices to sell them. -It is even the sale of girls which in many countries has at first -restrained the savage practice of feminine infanticide. Girls became a -merchandise negotiated by the parents, and afterwards redeemed by the -men, because they could not do without them; but then it happened, in -various countries and among various races, that men joined together to -lighten the expense, and that several of them contented themselves with -one wife in common, became polyandrous.</p> - -<p>But we must not believe, with certain sociologists, that polyandry has -ever been a universal and necessary matrimonial phase. The enormous -consumption of men, necessitated by a savage or barbarous life, has -often given an impulse to polygamy. It is only in certain societies -where the practice of female infanticide exceeded all measure, or in -certain islands, or certain regions with little or no<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</span> population, -where conquerors badly off for wives came to settle, that polyandry has -become general and enduring. It is surely only an exceptional form of -marriage, and we can enumerate the countries where it has been or is -still in use.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_14">II. <i>Ethnography of Polyandry.</i></h3> - -<p>Cæsar speaks thus of the polyandry of the ancient Britons:—“By tens -and twelves the husbands have their wives in common, especially -brothers with brothers, and parents with children.”<a id="FNanchor_177" href="#Footnote_177" class="fnanchor">[177]</a></p> - -<p>I have previously quoted Strabo on the polyandry of the primitive -Arabs, which was also fraternal.</p> - -<p>In the sixteenth century the Guanches of two of the Canary Isles, -Lancerote and Tortaventura, were still polyandrous, but amongst them -the husbands did not number more than three.<a id="FNanchor_178" href="#Footnote_178" class="fnanchor">[178]</a></p> - -<p>Polyandry also existed in New Zealand and in the Marquesas, but -restricted to certain women only.<a id="FNanchor_179" href="#Footnote_179" class="fnanchor">[179]</a></p> - -<p>In America, amongst the Avaroes and the Maypures, according to -Humboldt, brothers had often only one wife.</p> - -<p>But the great polyandric centres exist or have existed in Asia, in -India, Ceylon, and Thibet. Various aboriginal tribes of India, nearly -always much addicted to female infanticide, have practised polyandry. -The Miris and Dophlas of Bengal are still polyandrous.<a id="FNanchor_180" href="#Footnote_180" class="fnanchor">[180]</a> Among the -Todas of Nilgherry polyandry was fraternal. When a man married a girl, -she became on that account the wife of all his brothers, and inversely -these became the husbands of all the sisters of the wife. The first -child born of these marriages was attributed to the eldest brother, the -second to the next brother, and so forth.<a id="FNanchor_181" href="#Footnote_181" class="fnanchor">[181]</a></p> - -<p>But polyandry has not flourished only among the primitive races of -India. The Hindoo populations had also adopted it, and traces of it are -found in their sacred<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</span> literature. Thus in the Mahabharata the five -Pandou brothers marry all together the charming Drâaupadi, with eyes -of lotus blue.<a id="FNanchor_182" href="#Footnote_182" class="fnanchor">[182]</a> But in Brahmanic India polyandry is more than a -mere memory. Skinner has proved that near the sources of the Djemmah, -amongst a very fine race of Hindoo mountaineers, fraternal polyandry -still prevailed. “Having asked one of these women,” says the traveller, -“how many husbands she had—‘Only four,’ she replied. ‘And all living?’ -‘Why not?’”</p> - -<p>These customs, according to the traveller, did not hinder these -mountaineers from being, on other points, very moral men. Thus they -held lying in horror, and in their eyes to deviate from the truth, even -quite innocently, was almost a sacrilege.<a id="FNanchor_183" href="#Footnote_183" class="fnanchor">[183]</a></p> - -<p>At the other extremity of India, in Ceylon, the polyandric -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> is still very flourishing, especially in the interior of -the island, and among the leisured classes. The number of husbands, -generally brothers or relatives, is variable; it varies from three to -eight. According to Emerson Tennent, polyandry was formerly general in -the island, and it is owing to the efforts of the Dutch and Portuguese -that it has disappeared from the coast.<a id="FNanchor_184" href="#Footnote_184" class="fnanchor">[184]</a></p> - -<p>It is particularly in lamaic Thibet that the polyandric <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> -is in full vigour; and in this country religion strengthens it, for -the most distinguished men, the ruling classes, the chiefs or officers -of the State, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">a fortiori</i> the lamas, have the same disdain for -marriage so loudly professed by the saints of Catholicism. The greater -number exempt themselves from it, and leave to the common people the -gross care of producing children. Now, the latter, by reason of their -poverty, associate together to lighten the burden of the family. It is, -again, fraternal polyandry which is the rule in Thibet. It is in this -country that sociologists have sought the classic type of this kind of -polyandry.</p> - -<p>In Thibet the right of primogeniture is combined with the right -of marriage, and the younger brothers follow the fate of their -chief. It is this last who marries for all of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</span> them, and chooses -the common wife.<a id="FNanchor_185" href="#Footnote_185" class="fnanchor">[185]</a> However, if we may believe other accounts, a -certain liberty is allowed to younger brothers. The pressure on them -is chiefly economic. When the eldest son marries, the property is -transmitted to him in advance of his inheritance, with the charge of -maintaining his parents, who, however, can live in a separate house. -The youngest brother takes orders, and becomes a lama. The others, if -they choose, become inferior husbands of the wife, who with us would -be their sister-in-law, and they are almost forced to do this, since -their eldest brother is sole inheritor. Once within the polyandric -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i>, the younger brothers have a subordinate position. The -eldest, the husband-in-chief, considers them as his servants, and has -even the right to send them away without any resource, if he pleases. -If the principal husband dies, then his widow, his property, and his -authority pass to the younger brother next in age. In the case of -the brother not being one of the co-husbands, he cannot inherit the -property without the wife, nor the wife without the property. We have -here, then, a sort of polyandrian levirate.<a id="FNanchor_186" href="#Footnote_186" class="fnanchor">[186]</a></p> - -<p>The children springing from these unions give the name of father -sometimes to the eldest of the husbands, and sometimes to all.<a id="FNanchor_187" href="#Footnote_187" class="fnanchor">[187]</a> -Travellers tell us that these polyandrous households are not more -troubled than our monogamous ones. Some Thibetans, living thus in -conjugal association, could not understand V. Jacquemont when he -asked them if the preference of their single wife for one or other of -them did not cause quarrels between the husbands. But if jealousy is -unknown to the husbands, it is, on the contrary, frequent with the -wife. “A Thibetan woman,” says Turner, “united to several husbands, is -as jealous of her conjugal rights as an Indian despot could be of the -beauties who people his zenana or harem.”<a id="FNanchor_188" href="#Footnote_188" class="fnanchor">[188]</a></p> - -<p>As to the manner in which the intimate relations between<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</span> husbands and -wife are regulated in the polyandric households of Thibet, we have -scarcely any information. Among the Todas the wife never had conjugal -commerce with more than one husband at a time, but she changed every -month; sometimes also the associated husbands add to their number -temporarily some young man belonging to the tribe, but not yet engaged -in the bonds of wedlock.<a id="FNanchor_189" href="#Footnote_189" class="fnanchor">[189]</a></p> - -<p>There is another form of polyandry besides the fraternal, but quite as -curious, and which has been made to play a great <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">rôle</i> in various -sociological theories. It is the polyandry of the Naïrs, an indigenous -high caste of Malabar.</p> - -<p>However extraordinary the fraternal polyandry called Thibetan may -seem in our eyes, that of the Naïrs of Malabar is far more so. Here -the reality exceeds all that we could have imagined in the way of -conjugal customs. The Naïr parents married their daughters early. The -bride was rarely more than twelve years old. The proceedings began -with an ephemeral union, a sort of fictitious marriage, but celebrated -nevertheless with great rejoicings in presence of parents and friends. -The initiative and provisional husband passed round the neck of the -bride the conjugal collar, the <i>tali</i>, and henceforth the marriage -was concluded and had to be consummated; only at the end of four or -five days the new husband was obliged to quit the house of the wife -for ever. On the contrary, the young bride remained in the family, and -from this period contracted a series of partial but durable marriages. -The first marriage of the young Naïr girl had evidently no other -object than defloration; it was a service demanded of a fictitious -husband, and for which he was often paid. A traveller relates that -for this preliminary marriage a porter or a workman was employed and -paid. If his pretensions were too high, recourse was had to an Arab -or a stranger; and, says the narrator, the gratuitous services of -these last were always preferred if, when the ceremony was over, they -withdrew in time and with good grace. When once well and duly prepared -for marriage, the young Naïr girl might take for husband whomsoever -she liked, except the provisional<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</span> husband of the first few days.<a id="FNanchor_190" href="#Footnote_190" class="fnanchor">[190]</a> -The number of her husbands varied from four to twelve.<a id="FNanchor_191" href="#Footnote_191" class="fnanchor">[191]</a> Each one -of them was at first presented to her either by her mother or by her -maternal uncle, an important personage in the family. Each co-partner -was in his turn husband in reality during a very short time, varying -from one day to ten, and he was free, on his side, to participate in -divers polyandric conjugal societies. We are assured that in these -curious <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">ménages</i> all the associated husbands lived in very good -understanding with each other.<a id="FNanchor_192" href="#Footnote_192" class="fnanchor">[192]</a></p> - -<p>Generally the Naïr husbands were neither brothers nor relatives, for -these polyandrous people seemed to have ideas about incest analogous to -our own. But the unions outside the caste were the only ones reputed -culpable; they constituted a sort of social adultery. The conjugal -prerogatives of the husbands were not unaccompanied by certain duties. -They had to maintain the common wife, and they agreed together to share -the expense. One took on himself to furnish the clothes, another to -give the rice.<a id="FNanchor_193" href="#Footnote_193" class="fnanchor">[193]</a> On these conditions each one could in his turn -enjoy the common property, and, in order not to be troubled in the use -of his rights, it sufficed the husband on duty to hang on the door of -the house and on the wife’s door his shield and his sword or knife.</p> - -<p>The Brahmins were obliged to tolerate these polyandric marriages, so -contrary, however, to their laws; they finished by even deriving a -profit from them. In the Brahmanic families in contact with the Naïrs -the eldest son alone married, so as not to scatter the patrimony; the -others entered the matrimonial combinations of the Naïrs, and thus -their children did not inherit.<a id="FNanchor_194" href="#Footnote_194" class="fnanchor">[194]</a></p> - -<p>On their side, the Naïrs were naturally only acquainted with -matriarchal heredity. No Naïr, says Buchanan, knows his father, and -every man has for heirs the children of his sister. He loves them as -if they were his own, and unless he is reputed a monster, he must show -much more grief at<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</span> their death than he would for his own possible -children—namely, those of his own wife.<a id="FNanchor_195" href="#Footnote_195" class="fnanchor">[195]</a></p> - -<p>In comparing the two kinds of polyandry that I have just described, the -patriarchal polyandry of the Thibetans, and the matriarchal polyandry -of the Naïrs, the majority of sociologists consider the first as -superior to the other. In so doing they seem to me not to be able to -shake off sufficiently our European ideas. Doubtless the fraternal -Thibetan polyandry, while leaving undecided the paternal filiation of -the children, assures them a sort of collective paternal parenthood, -since the fathers are of the same blood. This polyandrian family -consequently differs less than the Naïr family from our own system of -patriarchal kinship, which is reputed superior; but surely the liberty, -and even the dignity of the woman, which must count for something, are -more respected under the Naïr system, which not only does not reduce -the woman to a thing possessed, that one lends to one’s friends, but -gives her the power of choosing her husbands.</p> - -<p>Fraternal polyandry being declared superior to polyandry of the Naïr -type, it has been concluded that in virtue of the law of progress -it must have been preceded in all times and places by the latter. -As regards the greater number of cases of Thibetan polyandry, the -supposition is gratuitous; it seems, however, established as far as -ancient Arabia is concerned, where, thanks to a very learned treatise -recently published by <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> W. Robertson Smith, professor of Arabic at -the University of Cambridge,<a id="FNanchor_196" href="#Footnote_196" class="fnanchor">[196]</a> we may note the causes of polyandry -and follow its evolution.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_15">III. <i>Polyandry in Ancient Arabia.</i></h3> - -<p>The chief cause of ancient Arabian polyandry was the one we find in -nearly all the polyandric countries—that is to say, the infanticide of -daughters.</p> - -<p>The primitive Arabs, extremely savage and even anthropophagous, were -led to adopt the custom of female infanticide by the difficulty of -living in their arid country,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</span> where famines were very common. Down to -the present time the nomads of Arabia suffer constantly from hunger -during a great part of the year.<a id="FNanchor_197" href="#Footnote_197" class="fnanchor">[197]</a></p> - -<p>The custom of infanticide was inveterate among the Arabs, and Mahomet -was obliged to condemn it over and over again in the Koran:—“They who -from folly or ignorance kill their children shall perish.<a id="FNanchor_198" href="#Footnote_198" class="fnanchor">[198]</a> Kill not -your children on account of poverty.<a id="FNanchor_199" href="#Footnote_199" class="fnanchor">[199]</a> Kill not your children for -fear of poverty; we will feed them, and you also.<a id="FNanchor_200" href="#Footnote_200" class="fnanchor">[200]</a> When it shall be -asked of the girl buried alive for what crime she is put to death ... -every soul will then acknowledge the work that she had done.”<a id="FNanchor_201" href="#Footnote_201" class="fnanchor">[201]</a></p> - -<p>In this last verse the Koran bears witness to the custom of killing the -girls, and it indicates the process in use, which actually consisted -in burying them alive. This was done openly, and often the grave of -the newly-born infant was dug by the side even of the couch of the -mother who had just given birth to it. According to the morality of -the primitive Arabs, these acts were not only very simple, but even -virtuous and generous,<a id="FNanchor_202" href="#Footnote_202" class="fnanchor">[202]</a> which seems to indicate that they were -indeed only precautions against famine. An Arab legend, quoted by <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> -R. Smith, paints in lively colours these atrocious customs. It relates -to a chief of Tamin, who became a constant practitioner of infanticide -in consequence of a wound given to his pride. He was called Caïs, and -was contemporary with Mahomet. The daughter of his sister was carried -off in a razzia and given to the son of her captor, as was the usage -in Arabia, where the captured women made part of the booty and were -divided with it. This time, when Caïs came to reclaim his niece by -offering to pay her ransom, the latter, being well pleased with the -adventure, refused to quit her husband. Caïs, the uncle, was mortally -offended, and from that moment he interred alive all his daughters, -according to the ancient custom. But one day, during his absence, a -daughter was born to him, whom the mother secretly sent to a relative -to save her, and then declared to her husband that she<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</span> had been -delivered of a still-born child. Some years later, the girl, grown -tall, came to pay a visit to her mother. Caïs discovered her, while -her mother was plaiting her hair and ornamenting it with cowries. “I -arrived,” the father is made to say, speaking to Mahomet, “and I said, -‘Who is this young girl?’ ‘She is yours,’ replied the mother, weeping, -and she related how she had formerly saved her. I waited till the -emotion of the mother was calmed; then one day I led away the girl; I -dug a grave and I made her lie down in it. She cried, ‘Father, what do -you intend to do with me?’ Then I covered her with earth. She cried -again, ‘Father, do you wish to bury me? Are you going away, and will -you abandon me?’ But I continued to heap earth on her until her cries -were stifled. That was the only time it has happened to me to feel pity -in burying a daughter.”<a id="FNanchor_203" href="#Footnote_203" class="fnanchor">[203]</a></p> - -<p>Such customs, combined with the sale to strangers of girls carried -off in razzias, and the polygamy of the rich men, must assuredly have -profoundly disturbed the numerical proportion of the sexes, and have -rendered polyandry almost a necessity, which, besides, could not -excite any scruple with the ancient Arabs, whose morals were very -licentious. Thus the captured women often remained common to a group of -relatives.<a id="FNanchor_204" href="#Footnote_204" class="fnanchor">[204]</a> In the fifth century the Syrio-Roman law had even to -forbid the contracts of fraternity, by which all was held in common, -including the wives and children.<a id="FNanchor_205" href="#Footnote_205" class="fnanchor">[205]</a></p> - -<p>That fraternal polyandry, called Thibetan, may have existed in Arabia, -the passage of Strabo, which I have previously quoted in regard to -promiscuity, would suffice to establish; but Arab writers expressly -attest it, and notably Bokhâri (vi. 127), according to whom the number -of polyandrous husbands was not allowed to exceed ten; besides this, -various customs of more modern date, as, for example, the passing of -the widow, by heritage, to the relatives of the husband, seem to arise -from it. Moreover, even at the present day in Arabia, the father cannot -give his daughter to another if the son of his brother demands her, and -the latter has the right to obtain her at a lower price;<a id="FNanchor_206" href="#Footnote_206" class="fnanchor">[206]</a> this is -the right of pre-emption applied to the woman.</p> - -<p>It seems, indeed, as if these were the vestiges of an<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</span> antique -fraternal polyandry, and it is in fact of fraternal or Thibetan -polyandry that Strabo speaks. Has this fraternal patriarchal polyandry -been preceded by a matriarchal polyandry, after the mode of the -Naïrs—a polyandry which did not make the woman the property of the -husbands? Without being able to give a direct proof of this, we may, -however, consider it as very probable. In the present day the partial -marriages, by which the women of the Hassinyeh Arabs engage themselves -for some days of the week only, strongly resemble the matriarchal -polyandry of the Naïrs, and temporary marriage, or <i>mot’a</i>, of the -ancient Arabs approaches nearly to it also.</p> - -<p>It is this kind of marriage, in all probability, that the prophet means -when he inveighs against “fornication.”</p> - -<p>By the <i>mot’a</i> marriage the woman does not leave her home; -her tribe preserves the rights it has over her, and her children -do not belong to the husband. In short, the conjugal union is only -contracted for a fixed time. These <i>mot’a</i> marriages had nothing -dishonourable in them, and did not in the least prevent the women from -finding fresh husbands when, at the expiration of the lease, they -became once more free.<a id="FNanchor_207" href="#Footnote_207" class="fnanchor">[207]</a></p> - -<p>The custom of <i>mot’a</i> marriage was long prevalent in Arabia. -Ammianus speaks of it,<a id="FNanchor_208" href="#Footnote_208" class="fnanchor">[208]</a> saying that the wife received a price or -indemnity from her temporary husband, and that, if it happened to -the contracting parties to wish to continue to live together at the -expiration of the time fixed, they inaugurated a fresh and more durable -union by a symbolic ceremony, during which the wife offered to her -husband a javelin and a tent.</p> - -<p>The prophet himself decided with great hesitation to condemn the -<i>mot’a</i> marriage. A tradition makes him say that “if a man and a -woman agree together, their union should last for three nights, after -which they may separate or live together, as they please.”<a id="FNanchor_209" href="#Footnote_209" class="fnanchor">[209]</a></p> - -<p>In fact, the <i>mot’a</i> marriage was only abolished in the time -of Omar; and it is important to remark with regard to it, that this -mode of marriage, singular as it may appear to us, was, for the -woman, very superior to the servitude of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</span> Mussulman harem. It -was a personal contract, in which her parents did not interfere, and -which did not degrade her from the rank of an independent person to -the humiliation of merely being a thing possessed. The <i>mot’a</i> -marriage indicates, besides, very free manners, as is attested by a -number of facts and traditions, particularly certain religious rites -of the Canaanites, the Aramites, and the pagan Hebrews, and also the -licentious practices of women and girls in the temple of Baalbek.</p> - -<p>By degrees the <i>mot’a</i> marriage gave place to a definite -marriage, the <i>ba’al</i> marriage, by which the young girl went to -live with her husband and owed him fidelity. Marriages of this kind -were sought at first by the chiefs, to whom they assured alliances. As -a consequence these unions became honourable, and dethroned the ancient -matrimonial custom.<a id="FNanchor_210" href="#Footnote_210" class="fnanchor">[210]</a> Henceforth the women who continued to live in -the ancient mode were dishonoured, and treated as prostitutes, whose -dwelling was indicated by a special flag. At the same time the taste -for paternity was born in men, and, in case of doubt on this matter, -sages whose profession it was, declared the signs by which a man could -recognise his own offspring.<a id="FNanchor_211" href="#Footnote_211" class="fnanchor">[211]</a></p> - - -<h3 id="h3_16">IV. <i>Polyandry in General.</i></h3> - -<p>I have quoted or made a summary of nearly all the information that -has reached us on the subject of ancient and modern polyandry. From -thence we may conclude that in no way are we authorised to consider -this form of conjugal union as having been general. Still it has become -a necessity in a good number of gross societies. It has specially -prevailed in countries badly supplied with food, where the struggle -for existence was severe, where warlike conflicts with neighbouring -tribes were incessant, and where, in order to endure, the community was -forced to diminish the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">impedimenta</i> and the useless mouths. In -such conditions, men still savage or barbarous have recourse without -hesitation all over the world to female infanticide; and as, on the -other side, the chiefs and strong men monopolise as many women as -possible, the debauchery of unmarried<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</span> women and polyandrian households -become necessary palliatives.</p> - -<p>We have seen that there are two principal kinds of polyandry—the -matriarchal and patriarchal. In the first, the woman or girl does not -quit her family or her <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">gens</i>; sometimes even she is permitted the -right of choosing her husbands, who are not related to each other, and -upon whom the woman scarcely depends at all, since she remains with her -own relations, and bears children for them.</p> - -<p>On the contrary, in the patriarchal polyandry, the woman, captured or -bought, is almost entirely uprooted; she leaves her natural protectors -to go and live with her husbands, to whom she belongs, who are limited -in number, are nearly always brothers or relations, and to whom she -cannot be unfaithful without authorisation.</p> - -<p>Both forms of polyandric marriage suppose a complete absence of -modesty, of sexual reserve and moral delicacy. But we know that these -qualities can only be the fruit of long culture. In this respect both -matriarchal and patriarchal polygamy are equal. But it is important to -observe that the first enslaves woman much less. On the other hand, -the second already permits the establishment of a sort of paternal -filiation, since the husbands are generally of the same blood. For this -reason it is reputed superior.</p> - -<p>In reality matriarchal polyandry always coincides with the primitive -family form, the matriarchate—that is to say, with a system that takes -no account of paternal filiation, and leaves the children to the tribe -of the mother.</p> - -<p>Patriarchal polyandry, on the contrary, already presents the outline of -a sort of paternal family, with the right of primogeniture attributed -to the first-born.</p> - -<p>We shall have to study in detail both the patriarchate and the -matriarchate. Polyandry, in its reputedly highest form, the Thibetan, -only constitutes a patriarchate of the most imperfect kind, since there -is still a confusion of fatherhood.</p> - -<p>Proof is still wanting to force us to conclude that matriarchal -polyandry must always have preceded the other. This appears to be true -for ancient Arabia only. In all other places we can merely suppose it -to have been so. We should be equally mistaken if we admitted <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">a -priori</i><span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</span> that patriarchal polyandry implies a degree of civilisation -superior to that of the countries where matriarchal polyandry prevails. -The ancient Arabs, of whom Strabo speaks, practised fraternal -polyandry, and yet we know that they were scarcely civilised, they -were cannibals, and so ferocious that their wives accompanied them in -combats in order to despatch and mutilate the wounded enemies. These -furies made themselves necklaces and bracelets for their ankles with -the nose and ears of a dead enemy,<a id="FNanchor_212" href="#Footnote_212" class="fnanchor">[212]</a> and sometimes even they ate his -liver.</p> - -<p>In conclusion, polyandry is an exceptional conjugal form, as rare as -polygamy is common. It must be classed with experimental and term -marriages. With our European ideas on conjugal fidelity, obligatory -by the right of proprietorship, we can scarcely conceive even of the -possibility of this perfect absence of jealousy, this placidity of the -co-husbands. It is indelicate, doubtless. But how shall we describe our -morality and the laws that give to the deceived husband the right of -life and death over his faithless companion, and in this respect bring -us down to the level of the savage? Do indelicate manners rank lower -than ferocious manners? They are both those of the animal.</p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_169" href="#FNanchor_169" class="label">[169]</a> Darwin, <i>Descent of Man</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 278.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_170" href="#FNanchor_170" class="label">[170]</a> A. Bertillon.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_171" href="#FNanchor_171" class="label">[171]</a> Darwin, <i>Descent of Man</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 270.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_172" href="#FNanchor_172" class="label">[172]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_173" href="#FNanchor_173" class="label">[173]</a> Houzeau, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Facultés mentales des animaux</i>, t. -<span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 282.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_174" href="#FNanchor_174" class="label">[174]</a> Darwin, <i>Descent of Man</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 270.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_175" href="#FNanchor_175" class="label">[175]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 282.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_176" href="#FNanchor_176" class="label">[176]</a> Dalton, <i>Ethn. Bengal</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 289.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_177" href="#FNanchor_177" class="label">[177]</a> <i lang="it" xml:lang="it">De bello Gallico</i>, v. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 14.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_178" href="#FNanchor_178" class="label">[178]</a> Berthelot, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mém. Soc. Ethn.</i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 121, 125, 155, -186, 210.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_179" href="#FNanchor_179" class="label">[179]</a> Radiguet, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Derniers Sauvages</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 180.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_180" href="#FNanchor_180" class="label">[180]</a> Dalton, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 33-36.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_181" href="#FNanchor_181" class="label">[181]</a> Schortt, <i>Trans. Ethno. Soc.</i> (New Series), <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> -viii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 240.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_182" href="#FNanchor_182" class="label">[182]</a> <i>Mahabharata</i>, trad. Fauche, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 148.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_183" href="#FNanchor_183" class="label">[183]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. <abbr title="l'Universite">Univ.</abbr> des Voy</i>., <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> xxxi. <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 458-468.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_184" href="#FNanchor_184" class="label">[184]</a> Davy, <i>Ceylon</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 286.—O. Sachot, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">L’île de -Ceylon</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 25.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_185" href="#FNanchor_185" class="label">[185]</a> Turner, <i>Thibet</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 348, and <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. <abbr title="l'Universite">Univ.</abbr> des -Voy</i>., <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> xxxi. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 434.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_186" href="#FNanchor_186" class="label">[186]</a> Moorcroft and Trebeck’s <i>Travels</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 320.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_187" href="#FNanchor_187" class="label">[187]</a> Rousselet, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Ethnographie de l’Himalaya occidental</i>, -in <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Revue d’anthrop.</i>, 1878.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_188" href="#FNanchor_188" class="label">[188]</a> Turner, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. <abbr title="l'Universite">Univ.</abbr> des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> xxxi. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 434.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_189" href="#FNanchor_189" class="label">[189]</a> Major Ross King, <i>Journ. of Anthrop.</i> (1870), <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -32.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_190" href="#FNanchor_190" class="label">[190]</a> Élie Reclus, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Les Primitifs</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 191.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_191" href="#FNanchor_191" class="label">[191]</a> Hamilton, <i>Account of the East Indies</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -308.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_192" href="#FNanchor_192" class="label">[192]</a> Forbes, <i>Oriental Memoirs</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 385.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_193" href="#FNanchor_193" class="label">[193]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lettres Edifiantes</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> x. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 22.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_194" href="#FNanchor_194" class="label">[194]</a> Robertson Smith, <i>Kinship</i>, etc., <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 313.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_195" href="#FNanchor_195" class="label">[195]</a> Buchanan, <i>Journey</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 411, etc.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_196" href="#FNanchor_196" class="label">[196]</a> <i>Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia</i>, 1885.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_197" href="#FNanchor_197" class="label">[197]</a> <i>Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 283.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_198" href="#FNanchor_198" class="label">[198]</a> Sourate, vi. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 141.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_199" href="#FNanchor_199" class="label">[199]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 152.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_200" href="#FNanchor_200" class="label">[200]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> xvii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 33.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_201" href="#FNanchor_201" class="label">[201]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> lxxxi. <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 8-14.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_202" href="#FNanchor_202" class="label">[202]</a> R. Smith, <i>Kinship</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 282.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_203" href="#FNanchor_203" class="label">[203]</a> R. Smith, <i>Kinship</i>, etc., <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 279, 280.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_204" href="#FNanchor_204" class="label">[204]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 131-134.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_205" href="#FNanchor_205" class="label">[205]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 135.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_206" href="#FNanchor_206" class="label">[206]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 137.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_207" href="#FNanchor_207" class="label">[207]</a> R. Smith, <i>Kinship</i>, etc., <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 69, 141-143.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_208" href="#FNanchor_208" class="label">[208]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> xiv. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 4.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_209" href="#FNanchor_209" class="label">[209]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 67.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_210" href="#FNanchor_210" class="label">[210]</a> R. Smith, <i>Kinship</i>, etc., <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 141-143.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_211" href="#FNanchor_211" class="label">[211]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 143.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_212" href="#FNanchor_212" class="label">[212]</a> R. Smith, <i>Kinship</i>, etc., <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 284.</p> - -</div> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.<br /><br /><span class="small">MARRIAGE BY CAPTURE.</span></h2> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>I. <i>Rape.</i>—Rape and marriage—Rape in Tasmania, Australia, New -Guinea, Africa, America, among the Tartars, the Hindoos, the Hebrews, -and the Celts—The rape of concubines in ancient Greece.</p> - -<p>II. <i>Marriage by Capture.</i>—The ceremonial of capture in -marriage—Symbolic capture among the Esquimaux, the Indians of Canada, -in Guatemala, among the Mongols, the aborigines of Bengal, in New -Zealand, among the Arabs, the ancient Greeks, in ancient Rome, in -Circassia, among the modern Celts, and in Livonia.</p> - -<p>III. <i>Signification of the Ceremonial of Capture.</i>—Violent -exogamy has not been universal—Rape and marriage by purchase—What -the ceremonial of capture means.</p> -</div> - - -<h3 id="h3_17">I. <i>Rape.</i></h3> - -<p>The marriage by capture, which we have now to consider, is not actually -a form of marriage; it is only a manner of procuring one or more -wives, whatever at the same time may be the prevailing matrimonial -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i>. If, however, we cannot dispense with the special study -of marriage by capture, it is because it has been made to play a chief -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">rôle</i> in sociology. According to some authors, it has been a -universal necessity, and must have preceded exogamy in all times and -places.</p> - -<p>Surely this too general theory may be contested; but it is beyond doubt -that the rape of women has been widely practised all over the world, -that very often it has been considered glorious, and that in many -countries it has been attenuated into pacific marriage.</p> - -<p>Nothing is more natural and simple than rape among savage or barbarous -tribes, who hold violence in esteem and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</span> use it largely, and who, as we -have previously seen, are almost always addicted to female infanticide. -But has the widely-spread custom of rape the great importance in -sociological theory that has been attributed to it? This is a question -to which we can only reply after having consulted the facts.</p> - -<p>Throughout Melanesia capture has been the primitive means of procuring -wives, or rather slaves-of-all-work, absolutely at the discretion -of the ravisher. Bonwick, indeed, tells us that in Tasmania, and -consequently in Australia, capture was more often simulated only, and -resulted from a previous agreement between the man and woman;<a id="FNanchor_213" href="#Footnote_213" class="fnanchor">[213]</a> but -the savage manner in which the rape was effected abundantly proves that -amiable agreement was exceptional. The Australian who desires to carry -off a woman belonging to another tribe prowls traitorously around the -camp. If he happens to discover a woman without a protector he rushes -on her, stuns her with a blow of his club (<i>douak</i>), seizes her by -her thick hair, drags her thus into the neighbouring wood; then, when -she has recovered her senses, he obliges her to follow him into the -midst of his own people, and there he violates her in their presence, -for she has become his property—his domestic animal.[2] The captured -woman generally resigns herself without difficulty;<a id="FNanchor_214" href="#Footnote_214" class="fnanchor">[214]</a> in truth, she -has, generally, changed her master, but not in the least changed her -condition.</p> - -<p>Sometimes two men unite to commit one of these rapes. They glide -noiselessly into a neighbouring camp in the night; one of them winds -round his barbed spear the hair of a sleeping <i>lubra</i>, the other -points his spear at her bosom. She awakes, and dares not cry out; they -take her off, bind her to a tree, and then return in the same manner -to make a second capture; after that they return in triumph to their -own people.<a id="FNanchor_215" href="#Footnote_215" class="fnanchor">[215]</a> The captives rarely revolt, for they are, in a way, -accustomed to the capture. From infancy they have been familiarised -with the fate that awaits them, for the simulation of the rape is one -of the games of the Australian<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</span> children.<a id="FNanchor_216" href="#Footnote_216" class="fnanchor">[216]</a> Later the life of a -pretty Australian girl is marked by a series of plots to carry her off, -and of successive rapes, which force her to pass from hand to hand, -and expose her to wounds received in conflicts, and to bad treatment -inflicted by the other women amongst whom she is introduced. Sometimes -she is dragged very far, even hundreds of miles from the place of her -birth.<a id="FNanchor_217" href="#Footnote_217" class="fnanchor">[217]</a></p> - -<p>It is the duty of the tribe to which the ravished woman belongs to -avenge her, and the Australian has, after his own manner, a strong -sentiment of certain obligations, which for him are moral; but more -frequently, to escape too great damages, the tribes hold a meeting, and -the ravisher submits to a symbolic retaliation agreed on beforehand. -Armed with his little shield of bark, he takes his place at about forty -yards from a group of ten warriors belonging to the aggrieved tribe, -and each one of these throws two or three darts at him, which are -nearly always avoided or parried. Thenceforth the offence is effaced, -and peace re-established.<a id="FNanchor_218" href="#Footnote_218" class="fnanchor">[218]</a></p> - -<p>The same customs prevail among the Papuans of New Guinea. At Bali the -men carry off and violate brutally the solitary women they may meet; -and afterwards they agree with the tribe as to compensation.<a id="FNanchor_219" href="#Footnote_219" class="fnanchor">[219]</a> In -like manner, in the Fiji Isles, rape, real or simulated, was general -and even glorious. A particular divinity presided over it. The ravished -woman either fled to a protector or resigned herself, and then a feast -given to the parents terminated the affair.<a id="FNanchor_220" href="#Footnote_220" class="fnanchor">[220]</a></p> - -<p>To be able to see in these bestial customs anything resembling -marriage, one must be a prey to a fixed idea—a positive matrimonial -monomania. There is here no marriage by capture, but rather slavery -by capture. This is not the only method of procuring wives practised -by the Australians. They often proceed pacifically by traffic, and a -man acquires a wife by giving in exchange another woman of whom he -has power to dispose—a sister<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</span> or relative.<a id="FNanchor_221" href="#Footnote_221" class="fnanchor">[221]</a> Certain tribes had -also instituted a sort of regulated promiscuity—a collective marriage -between all the men of one clan and all the women of another. I shall -have to return to the consideration of this singular form of sexual -association. For the moment I confine myself to noticing that rape is -not always obligatory in Australia.</p> - -<p>Neither is it so among the negroes of Africa; it is even more rare -there than in Melanesia, but there also it does not constitute a -marriage. Women are carried off just in the same way as other things -are carried off. Thus the Damara Hottentots often steal wives from the -Namaquois Hottentots.<a id="FNanchor_222" href="#Footnote_222" class="fnanchor">[222]</a> Among the Mandingos and the Timanis there is -no marriage by capture, properly speaking; already they purchase the -daughter from her parents, without, of course, consulting her; then the -intending purchaser, aided by his friends, carries off his acquisition -in a brutal manner, whether she will or not. It is a simple commercial -affair; the daughter is an exchange value representing a certain number -of jars of palm wine, of stuffs, etc.</p> - -<p>Amongst the natives of America brutal rape was, or still is, very -common. In Terra del Fuego, the young Fuegians carry off a woman as -soon as they are able to construct or procure a canoe.<a id="FNanchor_223" href="#Footnote_223" class="fnanchor">[223]</a> From tribe -to tribe the Patagonians at war exterminate the men and carry off the -women. The Oen Patagonians make incursions every year at the time of -“the red leaf” on the Fuegians to seize their women, their dogs, and -their weapons.<a id="FNanchor_224" href="#Footnote_224" class="fnanchor">[224]</a> The Indians on the banks of the Amazon and Orinoco -continually capture women, and thus every tribe is sometimes nearly -without women and sometimes overflowing with them.<a id="FNanchor_225" href="#Footnote_225" class="fnanchor">[225]</a> The Caribs so -frequently procured wives in this way that their women did not often -speak the language of the men.<a id="FNanchor_226" href="#Footnote_226" class="fnanchor">[226]</a> In the Redskin tribe of the Mandans -the rape of young women was a perpetual cause of trouble, of disorder, -and of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</span> vengeance, proportioned to the power and to the anger of the -relations of the ravished woman.<a id="FNanchor_227" href="#Footnote_227" class="fnanchor">[227]</a></p> - -<p>We find similar customs among savage or barbarous peoples nearly -everywhere. The Tartars, says Barnes, make their wives of the prisoners -that they capture in battles.<a id="FNanchor_228" href="#Footnote_228" class="fnanchor">[228]</a></p> - -<p>The Code of Manu also mentions this primitive mode of union more or -less conjugal:—“When a young girl is carried off by force from the -parental house, weeping and crying for succour, and those who oppose -this violence are killed or wounded, and a breach is made in the walls, -this mode (of marriage) is called that of the giants.”<a id="FNanchor_229" href="#Footnote_229" class="fnanchor">[229]</a></p> - -<p>The Bible relates several facts of the same kind. Thus the tribe of -Benjamin procured themselves wives by massacring the inhabitants of -Jabez-Gilead and capturing four hundred of their virgins. Another time -the Benjamites practised a Sabine rape in carrying off the women during -a feast near Bethel.</p> - -<p>The Israelites, having vanquished the Midianites, killed all the -men, according to the Semitic custom, and took away the cattle, the -children, and the women.<a id="FNanchor_230" href="#Footnote_230" class="fnanchor">[230]</a> But Moses, always directly inspired by -the Lord, ordered them to put to death the women and even the male -children, and to keep the young girls and virgins.<a id="FNanchor_231" href="#Footnote_231" class="fnanchor">[231]</a> There were -sixteen thousand maidens, of whom thirty-two were reserved for the -Lord’s share, which doubtless means for the priests. Of the sheep, -oxen, asses, and maidens that remained, Moses further deducted the -fiftieth part, which he gave to the Levites of the tabernacle.<a id="FNanchor_232" href="#Footnote_232" class="fnanchor">[232]</a></p> - -<p>This ferocity and this coarse assimilation of captured women to cattle -are not peculiar to the people of God, but prevailed amongst the -primitive Arabs,<a id="FNanchor_233" href="#Footnote_233" class="fnanchor">[233]</a> or rather amongst all the Semites, who were still -savage or barbarous.</p> - -<p>Capture in war has, besides, been largely practised by all races and -throughout the world. An old Irish poem, the “Duan Eiranash,” speaks -of three hundred women carried<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</span> off by the Picts from the Gaels, who, -finding themselves thus deprived of their women by a single blow, -allied themselves then with the Irish.</p> - -<p>I will confine myself to these examples, gleaned from all parts, and -which it would be easy to multiply. They amply suffice to establish -that in primitive societies woman, being held in very low esteem, is -absolutely reduced to the level of chattels and of domestic animals; -that she represents a booty like any other; that her master can use -and abuse her without fear. But in these bestial practices there is -nothing which approaches, even distantly, to marriage, and we are not -in the least warranted to call these brutal rapes marriages. Even in -the countries where a true marriage exists, the customs and the laws -tolerate for a long time the introduction into the house of the husband -of captured slaves, who are treated by the master as concubines by -the side of the legitimate wife or wives. The heroes of Homer profit -largely by this legal tolerance, and when the Clytemnestra of Æschylus -justifies herself for having killed her husband, she alleges, among -other extenuating circumstances, the intimacy of Agamemnon with his -slave Cassandra.</p> - -<p>Assuredly in all this there is no marriage. We shall presently see that -in many countries the concubinate, legal and patent, has co-existed, or -co-exists, by the side of marriage without being confounded with it. It -is important to reserve the name of <em>marriage by capture</em> to legal -and pacific marriage, in the ceremonial of which we find practices -recalling or simulating by survival the primitive rape of woman.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_18">II. <i>Marriage by Capture.</i></h3> - -<p>It is to be observed that this symbolic rape does not always signify -that the capture of the woman has preceded pacific conjugal union. It -represents especially a mental survival, the tradition of an epoch, -more or less distant, when violence was held in high esteem, and when -it was glorious to procure slaves for all sorts of labour by force of -arms. In the countries where the ceremonial of capture exists, the -fine times of rape are generally somewhat gone<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</span> by, but the mind is -still haunted by it, and even in peaceful marriages, after the contract -or bargain is concluded, men like to symbolise in the ceremonial the -rapes of former days, which they cannot and dare not any longer commit. -These practices have also another bearing: they signify that the bride, -then nearly always purchased from her parents, must be in complete -subjection to the master that has been given her, and occupy the -humblest place in the conjugal house.</p> - -<p>For all these reasons the symbolic ceremonial of capture has been, or -is still, in use with many races at the celebration of their marriages. -In some degree it is found all over the world. Among the Esquimaux of -Cape York the marriages are arranged in a friendly way by the parents -of the future couple, and nevertheless, from the infancy of the latter, -the conjugal ceremony must simulate a capture. The future bride must -fly, must defend herself with her feet and hands, scream at the height -of her voice, until her new master has succeeded in taking her to his -hut, where she at once settles happily.<a id="FNanchor_234" href="#Footnote_234" class="fnanchor">[234]</a></p> - -<p>In the same way, in Greenland the bridegroom captures his bride, or has -her captured for him; and in the latter case he has recourse to the -help of two or three old women.<a id="FNanchor_235" href="#Footnote_235" class="fnanchor">[235]</a></p> - -<p>With the Indians of Canada, where sometimes a true marriage is -concluded in presence of the chief of the tribe, when he has pronounced -the matrimonial formula, “the husband turns round, stoops down, -takes his wife on his back, and carries her to his tent, amid the -acclamations of the spectators.”<a id="FNanchor_236" href="#Footnote_236" class="fnanchor">[236]</a></p> - -<p>Some Redskin tribes, observed by Lafitau, symbolised rape even in the -intimate relations between young couples. The husband was obliged -to enter the wigwam of his wife in the night; it would be a grave -impropriety for him to approach it in the day-time.<a id="FNanchor_237" href="#Footnote_237" class="fnanchor">[237]</a></p> - -<p>In ancient Guatemala, where marriages were celebrated with a certain -pomp, the father of the bridegroom sent a deputation of friends to seek -the bride, and one of these<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</span> messengers had to take the girl on his -shoulders and carry her to an appointed spot, near the house of the -bridegroom.<a id="FNanchor_238" href="#Footnote_238" class="fnanchor">[238]</a></p> - -<p>In Asia, over the vast Mongol region extending from Kamtschatka to the -country of the Turcomans, the ceremonial of capture is always held in -honour.</p> - -<p>This symbolism of capture is especially curious with the -Kamtschatdales. There it is not as a conqueror that the husband enters -the family of the wife, since he must first do an act of servitude, -find the parents of the girl he desires, put himself at their service, -and take his part in the domestic labour. This period of probation -may last a long time, even years,<a id="FNanchor_239" href="#Footnote_239" class="fnanchor">[239]</a> and surely it is a singular -prelude to a marriage by violent capture. However, when the time of the -novitiate is over, the future husband is allowed to triumph violently -and publicly over the resistance of his bride. She is armed with thick -garments, one over the other, and with straps and cords. Besides -this she is guarded and defended by the women of the <i>iourte</i>. -However, the marriage is not definitely concluded until the bridegroom, -surmounting all these obstacles, succeeds in effecting on his -well-defended bride a sort of outrage on modesty, that she herself -must acknowledge by crying <i>ni ni</i> in a plaintive tone. But the -girls and women of the guard fall on the assailant with great cries -and blows, tear his hair, scratch his face, and sometimes throw him. -Victory often necessitates repeated assaults and many days of combat. -When at last it is gained, and the bride has herself acknowledged it, -the marriage is settled, and is consummated the same evening in the -<i>iourte</i> of the bride, who is not taken to her husband’s house -till the next day.<a id="FNanchor_240" href="#Footnote_240" class="fnanchor">[240]</a></p> - -<p>The ceremonial of capture still continues in the marriages of the -Kalmucks, the Tungouses, and the Turcomans, but has become less coarse.</p> - -<p>With the Kalmucks the girl is first bought from her father, and -then, after a pretended resistance, is carried away on a horse ready -saddled.<a id="FNanchor_241" href="#Footnote_241" class="fnanchor">[241]</a> The custom varies:<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</span> sometimes it is enough to place the -bride, by force, on a horse; sometimes she flees, always on horseback, -but is pursued and caught by the bridegroom, who consummates the -marriage on the spot, and then conducts his prize to his tent.<a id="FNanchor_242" href="#Footnote_242" class="fnanchor">[242]</a></p> - -<p>The Tungouses, coarser still, proceed by an attempt on modesty, as with -the Kamtschatdales; the bridegroom must attack his bride and tear her -clothes.<a id="FNanchor_243" href="#Footnote_243" class="fnanchor">[243]</a></p> - -<p>With the Turcomans, marriage can be concluded with or without the -consent of the parents. In the latter case, the young people fly -and seek refuge in a neighbouring <i>obah</i>. They are always well -received there, and remain a month or six weeks. During this time -the elders of the two <i>obahs</i> negotiate an arrangement with the -parents; they agree on the price of the girl, who afterwards returns to -the paternal domicile; she must remain six months or a year, or even -longer, before living with her husband, and during all this time he -may only see her secretly. Sometimes the flight is executed with the -previous consent of the parents, and then it is no more than a symbolic -capture,<a id="FNanchor_244" href="#Footnote_244" class="fnanchor">[244]</a> a comedy.</p> - -<p>In reality rape, more or less real, is often replaced by a simple -ceremonial with the greater part of the nomads of Central Asia, and -notably the Turcomans. Then the young girl, clothed in her bridal -costume, bestrides a fiery horse, which she puts to a gallop, having -at the saddle a kid or a lamb freshly killed. The bridegroom and all -the wedding guests, also on horseback, pursue the future wife, who, -by clever turns and evolutions, hides herself, and hinders them from -seizing the animal she has carried off.<a id="FNanchor_245" href="#Footnote_245" class="fnanchor">[245]</a> All this is plainly the -mere mimic of rape, and there is in these divers customs a designed -gradation: at first the actual stealing of the girl, with the -understanding that the affair will not end tragically; then a stealing -that may be called legal, as it is authorised by the parents; at length -the simple ceremony symbolic of rape by violence.</p> - -<p>Customs very similar to these are found with a certain number of the -aborigines of Bengal.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</span></p> - -<p>The Kurmis and other <i>sudras</i> celebrate marriage by a pretended -combat. Sometimes the bridegrooms mark their foreheads with blood, -which seems, indeed, to be the origin of the singular and nearly -universal custom in India of the <i>sindradan</i>,<a id="FNanchor_246" href="#Footnote_246" class="fnanchor">[246]</a> consisting of -marking the forehead of the bride with vermilion. The vermilion has -apparently replaced the blood, and the blood may, and doubtless does, -symbolise a violent rape.</p> - -<p>With the Mecks and the Kacharis, the bridegroom, accompanied by his -friends, goes to the house of his future bride; he there meets the -friends of the latter, and the two troupes simulate a combat, in which -the future husband is always victor; the bride finishes by being -carried off, and her husband has only to feast the friends of both -parties, and pay the father the price of the girl.<a id="FNanchor_247" href="#Footnote_247" class="fnanchor">[247]</a></p> - -<p>With the Soligas, the man carries away the young girl with her consent, -and goes, like the Mongols, to a neighbouring village to pass the -time of the honeymoon, after which the couple return home and give a -feast.<a id="FNanchor_248" href="#Footnote_248" class="fnanchor">[248]</a></p> - -<p>The custom of simulated capture still exists among other aboriginal -tribes of India, the Khonds, Badagas, etc.</p> - -<p>It is evident that in primitive humanity, to carry off a woman with -armed violence was considered a glorious exploit, since in the most -diverse races pacific marriage assumes, with such good will, the -pretence of violent conquest.</p> - -<p>In New Zealand, in order to marry a girl, a man applied either to her -father or nearest relation; then, consent being obtained, he ravished -his future bride, who was bound to resist energetically. As the New -Zealand women were robust, the contest, however courteous it might be, -was severe; the clothes of the girl were generally torn to shreds, and -it sometimes took hours to drag her a hundred yards.<a id="FNanchor_249" href="#Footnote_249" class="fnanchor">[249]</a></p> - -<p>Sometimes the mother of the bride interfered. <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Yate mentions a case -of this kind. It relates to a mother quite content with the marriage -of her daughter, but obliged by custom to make a show of violent -opposition.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</span> The newly-married couple, on coming out of the church, for -they were converted, met the old woman, vociferating and tearing her -hair, and abusing the missionary, but telling him at the same time in a -low voice not to mind, for she was not serious.<a id="FNanchor_250" href="#Footnote_250" class="fnanchor">[250]</a></p> - -<p>In certain districts of New Zealand the future husband was obliged -literally to carry off the girl. When the marriage was negotiated and, -in principle, concluded, all the relatives watched the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">fiancée</i> -with the greatest care, and held themselves in readiness to defend her. -The young man had to seize his bride at all costs by force of arms; his -honour depended on it, and often he suffered severely in conducting his -glorious enterprise to a successful end.<a id="FNanchor_251" href="#Footnote_251" class="fnanchor">[251]</a></p> - -<p>The ceremonial of capture evidently springs from customs of rape, -whether ancient or not; it is, therefore, quite natural to meet with -razzias among the Bedouins, as among all of their race. With the -Bedouins of Sinai, the comedy is played to the life. The bridegroom, -accompanied by a couple of friends, attacks the girl when she is -leading the flocks home. She defends herself vigorously by throwing -stones, and is esteemed according to the amount of energy she shows. -At length they finish by taking her to the tent of her father, where -the name of her future husband is proclaimed. After this the girl -is dressed as a bride, placed on a camel, all the time feigning -resistance, and conducted to the encampment. A feast and presents -terminate the ceremony.<a id="FNanchor_252" href="#Footnote_252" class="fnanchor">[252]</a></p> - -<p>With the Mezeyn Arabs things are pushed further. The girl, in the -so-called capture, evades pursuit and takes refuge in the mountains, -where her friends have prepared provisions for her beforehand. The -bridegroom rejoins his future wife in her retreat, and it is there -that the marriage is consummated. After this the couple return to the -paternal domicile, which the woman, unless she is with child, does not -quit for a year.</p> - -<p>The matrimonial comedy is not always so complicated. With the Amezas -the bride only runs from tent to tent, and is at last conducted by -several women to a tent prepared at<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</span> some distance; her bridegroom -awaits her there, but he has to force her to enter it; that done, the -women retire.<a id="FNanchor_253" href="#Footnote_253" class="fnanchor">[253]</a></p> - -<p>With the Moors of Java, relates Schouten, the father of the bride -carries her, all swathed up, to the bridegroom. The latter, aided by -two of his paranymphs, lifts her on a horse and rides away with her. -Once arrived at his house he hides his wife there and goes off, without -thanking his assistants and friends.</p> - -<p>Many European races have also practised the ceremonial of marriage -by capture. The Bœotians, says Pausanias, conducted the wives to the -house of the husband in a chariot, of which they afterwards solemnly -burnt the pole, to indicate that the woman was henceforth the property -of her master, and was never to think of quitting his abode. But in -ancient Greece it was at Sparta especially that the nuptial ceremony of -capture was practised.<a id="FNanchor_254" href="#Footnote_254" class="fnanchor">[254]</a> A frequently quoted passage from Plutarch’s -<i>Life of Lycurgus</i> gives us details on this point. “In their -marriages the bridegroom carried off the bride by violence; and she -was never chosen in a tender age, but when she had arrived at full -maturity. Then the woman that had the direction of the wedding cut the -bride’s hair close to the skin, dressed her in a man’s clothes, laid -her upon a mattress, and left her in the dark. The bridegroom, neither -oppressed with wine nor enervated with luxury, but perfectly sober, as -having always supped at the common table, went in privately, untied her -girdle, and carried her to another bed. Having stayed there a short -time, he modestly retired to his usual apartment to sleep with the -other young men, and observed the same conduct afterwards, spending the -day with his companions and reposing himself with them in the night, -nor even visiting his bride but with great caution and apprehensions -of being discovered by the rest of the family; the bride at the same -time exerted all her art to contrive convenient opportunities for their -private meetings,” etc.<a id="FNanchor_255" href="#Footnote_255" class="fnanchor">[255]</a></p> - -<p>At Rome the ceremonial of capture was kept up for a long time in the -plebeian marriages, without confarreation or coemption. As in so -many other countries, they played<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</span> the comedy of the carrying off -of the bride by the bridegroom with the pretended resistance of the -mother and the relations.<a id="FNanchor_256" href="#Footnote_256" class="fnanchor">[256]</a> In the more respectable marriages the -ceremonial of capture was simplified, but still very significant. The -hair of the bride was separated with the point of a javelin (<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">hasta -celibaris</i>),<a id="FNanchor_257" href="#Footnote_257" class="fnanchor">[257]</a> and for this symbolic ceremony a javelin that -had pierced the body of a gladiator was preferred. Then the bride, -conducted to the house of her husband, was to enter it without touching -the threshold; she was lifted over it.<a id="FNanchor_258" href="#Footnote_258" class="fnanchor">[258]</a> It is curious to find -this same custom in China now in our own day, and we can hardly help -recognising in it the symbolic embodiment of capture.</p> - -<p>A similar ceremonial is always practised in Circassia. In the midst of -a feast the bridegroom enters, escorted by his friends, and carries off -his bride, who henceforth becomes his wife.<a id="FNanchor_259" href="#Footnote_259" class="fnanchor">[259]</a></p> - -<p>Moreover, as at Sparta, the newly-married Circassian must not visit the -wife, except in secret, for a whole year—a term evidently fixed, as at -Sparta, for the period of probable pregnancy.<a id="FNanchor_260" href="#Footnote_260" class="fnanchor">[260]</a></p> - -<p>It is not very long ago that a ceremonial of the same kind was observed -quite near us, in Wales. On the day fixed, the bridegroom and his -friends, all on horseback, came to take the bride; but they found -themselves in the presence of the friends of the young girl, also on -horseback, and a mock fight ensued, during which the future wife fled -on the crupper of the horse of her nearest relative. But instantly the -squadron of the bridegroom, counting sometimes two or three hundred -horse, galloped in pursuit. Finally they rejoined the fugitive, and all -was terminated by a feast and common rejoicings.<a id="FNanchor_261" href="#Footnote_261" class="fnanchor">[261]</a></p> - -<p>In Livonia every marriage was also the occasion of a simulated -combat of cavalry, as with the Welsh, but it took place before the -marriage.<a id="FNanchor_262" href="#Footnote_262" class="fnanchor">[262]</a> In Poland also, and in Lithuania and Russia, the seizure -of the girl often preceded marriage.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</span></p> - -<p>I shall here end the enumeration of these customs, which are all -manifestly symbolical of capture. We still find the trace of it even -in the Brittany of to-day, where the representative of the husband, -the <i>bazvalan</i>, and the parents of the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">fiancée</i> sing, -alternately, strophes of a marriage song, in which the one asks and -the others refuse the bride, offering in her stead either a younger -sister, or the mother or grandmother.<a id="FNanchor_263" href="#Footnote_263" class="fnanchor">[263]</a> Our inquiry is terminated; -it remains now to ask what is the meaning of this ceremonial so widely -spread in all ages and in all countries.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_19">III. <i>Signification of the Ceremonial of Capture.</i></h3> - -<p>The author of an interesting book on primitive marriage, <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> McLennan, -and after him a great number of sociologists, have concluded that in -savage societies sexual unions or associations have been generally -effected by the violent capture of the woman, that by degrees these -captures have become friendly ones, and have at length ended in a -peaceful exogamy, retaining the ancient custom only in the ceremonial -form.</p> - -<p>It is quite possible to have been thus in a certain number of -countries; but we must beware of seeing in this a necessary and general -evolution. Surely savage hordes and tribes naturally carry off the -women and girls of their neighbours and enemies, the little groups -with whom they are incessantly struggling for existence. They seize -their women as they do everything else, and impose on the captives -the unenviable <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">rôle</i> of slaves-of-all-work. Given the brutality -of primitive man, the fate of the captured woman is necessarily of -the hardest, and it is natural that the woman of the tribe should not -solicit it. Thus, with or without reason, the Australian fells to the -ground his captured wife, pierces her limbs with his javelin, etc. A -stranger, a prisoner, violently brought into a society where she cannot -count on a single friend, will evidently be more resigned to this -bad treatment, and can nearly always be made to submit to it without -resistance. But we must not accept this as a sufficient explanation of -exogamy. We have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</span> seen that the Australian, accustomed to primitive -rape in all its brutality, only has recourse to it when he cannot -procure by simple barter the woman he covets.</p> - -<p>There is certainly great temptation to capture a woman. A man thereby -escapes paying a price for her to her parents, which is the rule in -nearly all savage countries, but the operation is not effected without -risk and reprisals more or less dangerous, so that before undertaking -it he thinks twice.</p> - -<p>We must be careful not to confound rape with marriage; nothing is more -distinct with savage and even with civilised men. Perhaps even the -dangers and the inconveniences of brutal capture have given rise to the -idea of primitive conjugal barter, of a peaceful agreement by which a -girl was ceded to a man for a compensation agreed upon. In principle -this commercial transaction left to the husband the greater part of -the rights he would have acquired by violent capture; but, in reality, -these rights were necessarily mitigated, for the woman, being thus -ceded in a friendly manner, was not completely abandoned by her own -people.</p> - -<p>Thus in Polynesia, or at least in New Zealand, the husband who murdered -his wife, although he had purchased her, incurred the revenge of her -relations, unless she was guilty of adultery.<a id="FNanchor_264" href="#Footnote_264" class="fnanchor">[264]</a> It was often thus, -but not always, however; for with the Fijians, in delivering a daughter -to the purchaser, the father or the brother said to the future husband, -“If you become discontented with her, sell her, kill her, eat her; you -are her absolute master.”<a id="FNanchor_265" href="#Footnote_265" class="fnanchor">[265]</a> Much nearer home, in ancient Russia, the -father at the moment of marriage gave his daughter some strokes with a -whip, saying, “Henceforth, if you are not obedient, your husband will -beat you.”<a id="FNanchor_266" href="#Footnote_266" class="fnanchor">[266]</a></p> - -<p>Such customs show us plainly why, in so many countries, symbolic -practices recalling violent capture are kept up in the ceremony of -marriage. In the first place, by reason even of the dangers to which -it exposed the ravisher, rape was considered a brilliant action, and -pleasure was felt in simulating it. But besides and beyond all, the -ceremonial of capture symbolised also the subjection of the woman -sold<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</span> or ceded by her parents; it sanctioned the very excessive rights -that the husband acquired over the wife. As a rule, the ceremonial of -capture coincides with a very great subjection of the woman, even where -it is only a very distant survival. At Sparta, for example, the wife -might still be lent by the husband, and it was the same in ancient -Rome, where she was, according to the legal expression, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">in manu</i>, -assimilated to slaves, and where the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">pater familias</i> had the -right of life and death over her.</p> - -<p>We are, therefore, warranted in believing that in civilised countries -where conjugal legislation is still derived from the Roman law, the -subordinate position assigned to woman is the last vestige of primitive -marriage by capture or by rape, attenuated to a purchase, as practised -in the earliest times of the Romans.</p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_213" href="#FNanchor_213" class="label">[213]</a> <i>Daily Life and Origin of the Tasmanians</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 65.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_214" href="#FNanchor_214" class="label">[214]</a> Dumont d’Urville, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. <abbr title="l'Universite">Univ.</abbr> des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> -xviii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 225.—Oldfield, <i>Trans. Ethn. Soc.</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> iii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 250.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_215" href="#FNanchor_215" class="label">[215]</a> <i>Chambers’s Journal</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 22 (October 1861).</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_216" href="#FNanchor_216" class="label">[216]</a> Collins, <i>English Colony in New South Wales</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -362.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_217" href="#FNanchor_217" class="label">[217]</a> G. Grey, <i>Travels in North-Western Australia</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> -ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 249.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_218" href="#FNanchor_218" class="label">[218]</a> <i>Chambers’s Journal</i>, 1864.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_219" href="#FNanchor_219" class="label">[219]</a> <i>Notices on the Indian Archipelago</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 90.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_220" href="#FNanchor_220" class="label">[220]</a> Williams, <i>Fiji and the Fijians</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 174.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_221" href="#FNanchor_221" class="label">[221]</a> McLennan, <i>Primitive Marriage</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 321.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_222" href="#FNanchor_222" class="label">[222]</a> Campbell, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. <abbr title="l'Universite">Univ.</abbr> des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> xxix. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -343.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_223" href="#FNanchor_223" class="label">[223]</a> Laing, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. <abbr title="l'Universite">Univ.</abbr> des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> xxviii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 31.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_224" href="#FNanchor_224" class="label">[224]</a> Fitzroy, <i><abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr> Beagle</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 182.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_225" href="#FNanchor_225" class="label">[225]</a> Fitzroy, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 205.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_226" href="#FNanchor_226" class="label">[226]</a> McLennan, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 48.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_227" href="#FNanchor_227" class="label">[227]</a> McLennan, <i>Primitive Marriage</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 71.—Lewis and -Clarke, <i>Travels to the Source of the Missouri River</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -231.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_228" href="#FNanchor_228" class="label">[228]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. <abbr title="l'Universite">Univ.</abbr> des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> xxvii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 130.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_229" href="#FNanchor_229" class="label">[229]</a> <i>Code of Manu</i>, book iii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 33.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_230" href="#FNanchor_230" class="label">[230]</a> Numbers, ch. xxxi. ver. 7-9.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_231" href="#FNanchor_231" class="label">[231]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> ver. 15-18.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_232" href="#FNanchor_232" class="label">[232]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> ver. 40-47.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_233" href="#FNanchor_233" class="label">[233]</a> R. Smith, <i>Kinship</i>, etc.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_234" href="#FNanchor_234" class="label">[234]</a> T. Hayes, <i>The Open Sea at the Pole</i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 448, 449.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_235" href="#FNanchor_235" class="label">[235]</a> Egede, <i>History of Greenland</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 143.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_236" href="#FNanchor_236" class="label">[236]</a> Carver, <i>Travels</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 374.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_237" href="#FNanchor_237" class="label">[237]</a> Lafitau, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mœurs des Sauvages Américains</i>, t. -I<sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 576.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_238" href="#FNanchor_238" class="label">[238]</a> Bancroft, <i>Native Races</i>, etc., <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 668.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_239" href="#FNanchor_239" class="label">[239]</a> Kotzebue (<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Deuxième Voyage</i>), <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. Univ. des -<abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xvii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 392.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_240" href="#FNanchor_240" class="label">[240]</a> Beniouski, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxxi. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 408.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_241" href="#FNanchor_241" class="label">[241]</a> H. de Hell, <i>Travels in the Steppes of the Caspian -Sea</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 289.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_242" href="#FNanchor_242" class="label">[242]</a> Clarke, <i>Travels</i>, etc., <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 433.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_243" href="#FNanchor_243" class="label">[243]</a> Erman, <i>Travels in Siberia</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 372.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_244" href="#FNanchor_244" class="label">[244]</a> Fraser’s <i>Journey</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 372-375.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_245" href="#FNanchor_245" class="label">[245]</a> A. Vambéry, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr> d’un faux Derviche</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 295.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_246" href="#FNanchor_246" class="label">[246]</a> Dalton, <i>Ethn. Bengal</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 319.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_247" href="#FNanchor_247" class="label">[247]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 86.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_248" href="#FNanchor_248" class="label">[248]</a> Buchanan, <i>Journey from Madras</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 178.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_249" href="#FNanchor_249" class="label">[249]</a> Earle, <i>Residence in New Zealand</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 244.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_250" href="#FNanchor_250" class="label">[250]</a> Yate, <i>New Zealand</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 96.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_251" href="#FNanchor_251" class="label">[251]</a> Moerenhout, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr> aux îles du Grand Océan</i>, t. ii. -<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 68.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_252" href="#FNanchor_252" class="label">[252]</a> Burckhardt, <i>Notes</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 263.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_253" href="#FNanchor_253" class="label">[253]</a> Burckhardt, <i>Notes</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 107.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_254" href="#FNanchor_254" class="label">[254]</a> Démeunier, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Esprit des Différents Peuples</i>, t. -I<sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 296.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_255" href="#FNanchor_255" class="label">[255]</a> Plutarch, <i>Life of Lycurgus</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_256" href="#FNanchor_256" class="label">[256]</a> Apuleius, <i>Golden Ass</i>, iv.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_257" href="#FNanchor_257" class="label">[257]</a> Plutarch, <i>Romulus</i>.—Ovid, <i>Fastes</i>, ii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_258" href="#FNanchor_258" class="label">[258]</a> Lucan, ii.—Virgil, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Æneid</i>, iv.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_259" href="#FNanchor_259" class="label">[259]</a> Louis Moser, <i>The Caucasus and its People</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 31.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_260" href="#FNanchor_260" class="label">[260]</a> Wake, <i>Evolution of Morality</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 401.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_261" href="#FNanchor_261" class="label">[261]</a> Lord Kames, <i>Sketches of the Hist. of Man</i>, book -i., <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="section">sec.</abbr></i> 6.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_262" href="#FNanchor_262" class="label">[262]</a> <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus</i> (1555), -lib. xiv. <abbr title="capitulum">cap.</abbr> 2.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_263" href="#FNanchor_263" class="label">[263]</a> La Villemarqué, <i>Barzas Breis</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_264" href="#FNanchor_264" class="label">[264]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Voyage de l’Astrolabe.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_265" href="#FNanchor_265" class="label">[265]</a> Moerenhout, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr> aux îles</i>, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 62.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_266" href="#FNanchor_266" class="label">[266]</a> Démeunier, t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 191.</p> - -</div> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.<br /><br /><span class="small">MARRIAGE BY PURCHASE AND BY SERVITUDE.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>I. <i>The Power of Parents.</i>—The hypothesis of a primitive -matriarchate—Maternal filiation and the condition of the -woman—Parental right of property in children—Conjugal sales of -little girls in Africa, Polynesia, America, and India.</p> - -<p>II. <i>Marriage by Servitude.</i>—Labour and exchange value—Marriage -by servitude with the Redskins, in Central America, in India, with the -Hebrews—Influence of marriage by servitude on the condition of the -woman.</p> - -<p>III. <i>Marriage by Purchase.</i>—With the Hottentots and the Kaffirs -in Middle Africa, in Polynesia, in America, with the Mongols in -China, with the aborigines of India, with the Berbers, the Hindoos -in Malasia, and in Greco-Roman antiquity—Dowry marriage—Moral -signification of marriage by purchase.</p> -</div> - - -<h3 id="h3_20">I. <i>The Power of Parents.</i></h3> - -<p>Marriage by capture, that is to say, the custom of rape, necessarily -supposes a profound disdain for the ravished woman, and the antipathies -or sympathies she may feel. It is indeed the truth that, as far back -as we can carry our historical and ethnographical investigations, we -find, with very rare exceptions, the subjection of woman is the rule -in all human societies, and that the more backward the civilisation -the harder was the subjection. Some sociologists have pretended that -maternal filiation implied for the woman a sort of golden age—a reign -of Amazons—during which the woman, as centre of the family, must have -been honoured as its chief. All we know of ethnography gives the lie to -this hypothesis. In the present day the matriarchate<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</span> does not anywhere -exist, but maternal kinship does, and we do not find that it involves -a milder condition for the woman. This system of filiation necessarily -indicates a gross state of society, in which paternity is still -uncertain. Now, as a rule, the subjection of woman is in inverse ratio -to the development of man. In primitive societies, where might is the -only right, the woman, on account of her relative weakness, is always -treated with extreme brutality. It would be difficult, without losing -all human quality whatever, to be less intelligent than the Australian, -and equally difficult to imagine a more cruel servitude than that of -the Australian woman, always beaten, often wounded, sometimes killed -and eaten, according to the convenience of her owner. The Fijians, much -more intelligent than the Australians, amused themselves with beating -their mother, and with binding their wives to trees in order to whip -them.<a id="FNanchor_267" href="#Footnote_267" class="fnanchor">[267]</a> A Fijian named Loti, simply to make himself notorious, -devoured his wife, after having cooked her on a fire that he had forced -her to light herself.<a id="FNanchor_268" href="#Footnote_268" class="fnanchor">[268]</a> No kind of ferocious caprice was condemned -by the morality of the country. But such manners are as far as possible -from being consistent with the idea of a matriarchal society, in which -a place of honour is accorded to the wife.</p> - -<p>In primitive societies the condition of children is, if possible, still -more subordinate than that of woman. Infanticide at the moment of -birth is not even a venial fault. And later, the parents exercise the -undisputed right of life and death over their progeny; and when slavery -is instituted, the children become a veritable article of merchandise. -In short, the rights of a father of a family are unlimited.</p> - -<p>From this primitive right of property accorded to the parents over -their children has resulted quite naturally all over the world the -right of marrying them without consulting them at all. Moreover, as -it had long been the custom to sell them, marriage was naturally -considered as a commercial bargain, and by degrees marriage by purchase -even took the place of marriage by capture, but after having long -co-existed with it. Capture and purchase had each<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</span> their advantages -and disadvantages. Capture cost nothing, and it procured wives and -concubines over whom the husband had every possible right; but, in -practice, it was not exempt from danger, and once accomplished, it -exposed him still to revenge and retaliation. Men became resigned, -therefore, to the purchase of the wife, as soon as they could dispose -of some exchange-values; and as nothing, absolutely nothing, was -any obstacle to the caprice or avidity of the parents, the most -unreasonable marriages were often negotiated, and notably the marriages -of children.</p> - -<p>This custom of selling children, especially girls, for a future -conjugal association is very common all over the world.</p> - -<p>In New Caledonia the children are betrothed by the parents almost from -the moment of birth.<a id="FNanchor_269" href="#Footnote_269" class="fnanchor">[269]</a> In Africa, among the black races, and notably -the Hottentots, whose women age fast, the prudent men retain, years in -advance, the little girls destined to succeed their actual wives.<a id="FNanchor_270" href="#Footnote_270" class="fnanchor">[270]</a> -In Ashantee little girls of ten and twelve thus sold are already -legally considered the wives of the acquirer, although they have not -yet left their mothers, and any familiarity taken with them by another -man is punished by a fine paid to the future owner.<a id="FNanchor_271" href="#Footnote_271" class="fnanchor">[271]</a></p> - -<p>In Polynesia, also, the fathers, mothers, and relatives arranged the -conjugal unions of the children years before these unions were actually -possible.<a id="FNanchor_272" href="#Footnote_272" class="fnanchor">[272]</a></p> - -<p>With the Moxos and the Chiquitos of South America premature marriages -were such a settled order of things that there were no celibates above -the age of fourteen for the men and twelve for the women. The Jesuit -missionaries in America had completely adopted this native custom, -and they often married young girls of ten to boys of twelve years. -Naturally these child marriages entailed sometimes equally precocious -widowhood. D’Orbigny states that he has seen among these tribes a -widower of twelve and a widow of ten years.<a id="FNanchor_273" href="#Footnote_273" class="fnanchor">[273]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</span></p> - -<p>In the time of Marco Polo the Tartars of Asia celebrated marriages -that were more singular still—the marriages of deceased children. The -families drew up the contract as if their children had been living, -solemnly celebrated a symbolic wedding, then burned not less solemnly -the fictitious contract, which would be, they thought, the means of -holding it good in the other world for the vanished young couple. -Thenceforward an alliance existed between the contracting families as -if the marriage had been real.<a id="FNanchor_274" href="#Footnote_274" class="fnanchor">[274]</a></p> - -<p>Among the Reddies of India a young woman from sixteen to twenty years -old is frequently married to a little boy of five or six. The wife -then goes to live either with the father, or with an uncle, or a -maternal cousin of her future husband. The children resulting from -these extra-conjugal unions are attributed to the boy, who is reputed -to be the legal husband. When once this boy has reached manhood his -legitimate wife is old, and then he in his turn unites himself to the -wife of another boy, for whom he also raises up pseudo-legitimate -children.<a id="FNanchor_275" href="#Footnote_275" class="fnanchor">[275]</a></p> - -<p>Child-marriages, at least of little girls, are still very common in -India amongst the Brahmins, and it is not unusual to see sexagenarian -Brahmins marry little girls of six or seven years, for whom they pay -money.<a id="FNanchor_276" href="#Footnote_276" class="fnanchor">[276]</a></p> - -<p>On this point, as on most others, our European ancestors have not been -more delicate than the savage or barbarous races of other countries. -Thus Plutarch tells us that in ancient Italy the girls were often -married before the age of twelve years, but that they did not become -wives before that age.<a id="FNanchor_277" href="#Footnote_277" class="fnanchor">[277]</a></p> - -<p>At the present day the Russian peasants still frequently act like the -Reddies of India, and it is not rare to see, under the <i>Mir</i> -system, young boys of eight or ten years married to women of -twenty-five or thirty. Very often, in this case, the chief of the -family becomes the effective husband of the woman while the legal -husband is growing up.<a id="FNanchor_278" href="#Footnote_278" class="fnanchor">[278]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</span></p> -<h3 id="h3_21">II. <i>Marriage by Servitude.</i></h3> - -<p>From all these facts we may evidently conclude that in societies of -little or no cultivation the children are left absolutely to the -discretion of the parents. The latter, having every possible right over -their progeny, consider them as a property, and think it no crime to -sell their daughters, pubescent or not, as soon as they constitute a -negotiable value. This sale of daughters is even the most widely spread -form of primitive marriage, or of what it is convenient to call so. In -societies of some degree of civilisation, where exchange-values exist, -as domestic animals, stores of provisions, or slaves, the sale of a -daughter is argued and debated like any other transaction, and the -merchandise is delivered for the price agreed on. In a more primitive -state of civilisation, when man subsists chiefly by the chase, or -fishing from day to day, and is not always rich enough to buy a wife, -the exchange-values considered equivalent of the required daughter are -often replaced by a certain amount of labour or services rendered to -the parents, and hence results a special form of marriage—marriage by -servitude.</p> - -<p>This mode of marriage was not uncommon with the Indians of North -America. Sometimes the future husband engaged to serve the parents of -the girl for a fixed period of time. He hunted for them, hollowed out -or constructed canoes, or where agriculture was practised he cultivated -the land.<a id="FNanchor_279" href="#Footnote_279" class="fnanchor">[279]</a> Sometimes the husband was not entirely enslaved; he had -only to give to his wife’s parents a part of the produce of the chase, -and he was not exempt from this tribute till a daughter was born to -him, who became, by way of indemnity, the property of the maternal -uncle of his wife.<a id="FNanchor_280" href="#Footnote_280" class="fnanchor">[280]</a></p> - -<p>Often during the time of his voluntary servitude the husband remained -in the family of his wife, and he actually took the position there of a -sort of slave.<a id="FNanchor_281" href="#Footnote_281" class="fnanchor">[281]</a></p> - -<p>In the more civilised societies of Central America the custom of -marriage by servitude was nevertheless preserved. Among the Kenaï, the -future husband went every morning<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</span> for a whole year to the house of the -parents of his betrothed to prepare the food, carry the water, or heat -the bath-chamber; then, when his year of service was over, he took away -the daughter.<a id="FNanchor_282" href="#Footnote_282" class="fnanchor">[282]</a> In Yucatan the son-in-law was obliged to serve his -father-in-law for two or three years. This manner of acting even became -a general custom which it was considered immoral not to follow.<a id="FNanchor_283" href="#Footnote_283" class="fnanchor">[283]</a> -With the Mayas, the bridegroom was required to build himself a house -opposite that of his future father-in-law, and he lived there five or -six years, giving his labour during all that period.<a id="FNanchor_284" href="#Footnote_284" class="fnanchor">[284]</a></p> - -<p>Although more common in America than elsewhere, the custom of marriage -by servitude is not confined to that continent. The Limboos and the -Kirantis of Bengal often buy their wives by giving a certain term of -labour to the father, in whose house they remain until the payment is -finished.<a id="FNanchor_285" href="#Footnote_285" class="fnanchor">[285]</a> We know also that marriage by servitude is not peculiar -to savages of inferior races, since the Bible informs us that Jacob -only espoused Leah and Rachel at the price of fourteen years’ service. -Without dilating further on marriage by servitude, I shall remark by -the way that it had for its result the placing of the husband in a -subordinate position towards the woman, or at least towards the family -of the woman, in which he had so long been treated as a servant. A -certain independence was gained by the wife who had been acquired in -this manner. Thus, with the Kenaï, of whom I was speaking just now, the -woman had the right to return to her father if she was not well treated -by her husband.<a id="FNanchor_286" href="#Footnote_286" class="fnanchor">[286]</a> Marriage by servitude had therefore, in fact, -a moral side; it lessened the subjection, always hard and sometimes -cruel, to which woman is liable in nearly all savage or barbarous -societies.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_22">III. <i>Marriage by Purchase.</i></h3> - -<p>Marriage by purchase is much more widely spread than marriage by -servitude or service. All over the world, in all races and in all -times, wherever history can inform us, we find well-authenticated -examples permitting us to affirm that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</span> during the middle age of -civilisation the right of parents over children, and especially -over daughters, included in all countries the power to sell them. I -purpose to consult on this subject all the great races of mankind, and -confirmatory facts will not be wanting; I shall, indeed, have to limit -myself in giving them.</p> - -<p>Among the Hottentots and the Kaffirs, the exchange value of the country -being cattle, the daughters are paid for in cows or oxen, and the price -of the merchandise varies according to the fluctuations of demand and -supply. Among the Great Namaquois Levaillant saw a conjugal affair -concluded very cheaply, for a single cow;<a id="FNanchor_287" href="#Footnote_287" class="fnanchor">[287]</a> but this price may be -increased tenfold.<a id="FNanchor_288" href="#Footnote_288" class="fnanchor">[288]</a> With the Corannas, the man makes his request -leading an ox to the door of the girl. If he is allowed to kill the -animal, it means that his demand is granted. In the contrary case, the -suitor is sent away and sometimes stoned.<a id="FNanchor_289" href="#Footnote_289" class="fnanchor">[289]</a> Hottentot girls are -sometimes sold in their own tribe, and sometimes in a neighbouring one. -At the time of Burchell’s travels there was a lively traffic in girls -between the Bachapin Hottentots and the Kora Hottentots.<a id="FNanchor_290" href="#Footnote_290" class="fnanchor">[290]</a></p> - -<p>According to Livingstone, among the Makalolo Kaffirs the price paid -to the father had also for its object the redemption of the right of -ownership which he would otherwise have in the children of his daughter.</p> - -<p>In Central Africa, in Senegambia, in the valley of the Niger, with the -Mandingoes, the Peuls, etc., marriages are reduced to the sale of the -girl by those having the right.<a id="FNanchor_291" href="#Footnote_291" class="fnanchor">[291]</a> With the Timannis, says Laing, -the pretendant first brings a jar of palm wine, or a little rum, to -the parents. If his demand is favourably received the presents are -accepted, and the giver is invited to return, which he does, bringing -a second jar of wine, some kolas, some measures of stuff, and some -chaplets. All is then definitely concluded, and they announce to the -girl that she is married.<a id="FNanchor_292" href="#Footnote_292" class="fnanchor">[292]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</span></p> - -<p>With the Moors of Senegambia conjugal sales are effected in nearly the -same manner; however, the girl has a right to refuse, but on condition -of renouncing marriage for ever, on pain of becoming the slave of her -first suitor in the case of an attempt to marry her to another.<a id="FNanchor_293" href="#Footnote_293" class="fnanchor">[293]</a> -This right of refusal, limited as it is, already constitutes a notable -degree of progress which does not always exist in much more civilised -countries. We must place by the side of this some other customs in -force here and there in this region of Central Africa, confining -ourselves to the Sahara and to where the population is strongly mixed -with Berber blood. It is to be remembered that in nearly all Berber -countries the subjection of women is or has been a little less severe.</p> - -<p>At Sackatoo the daughter is generally consulted by her parents as a -matter of form only, for she never refuses. In the same district the -young people first obtain a mutual consent, and then that of their -parents. Among rich people the husband settles on his future wife a -dowry consisting of female slaves, sculptured calabashes filled with -millet, dourra, and rice, of cloth, bracelets, toilet articles, of -stones for grinding the grain, mortars for pounding it, etc. All these -presents are borne in great pomp, on the heads of female slaves, to the -husband’s house when the wife enters it for the first time.</p> - -<p>At Kouranko the young girls are often sold by their parents as -dearly as possible to rich old men. They are forced to submit, but, -once widows, they resume their liberty and recoup themselves by -choosing at will a young husband, on whom they lavish their care -and attentions.<a id="FNanchor_294" href="#Footnote_294" class="fnanchor">[294]</a> Now we shall find that in many civilisations -relatively advanced, widowhood even does not gratify the woman with a -liberty of which she is never thought worthy.</p> - -<p>At Wowow and at Boussa the emancipation of woman is markedly greater. -It is no longer the father, it is the grandmother who gives or refuses -her grand-daughter, and if the grandmother is dead, the girl is free -to act as she likes.<a id="FNanchor_295" href="#Footnote_295" class="fnanchor">[295]</a> This fact, if correct, is infinitely more -curious than all the others, and it ought to rejoice the sociologists -full<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</span> of faith, who admit in a distant antiquity the existence of a -matriarchal <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> assigning to woman the chief place in the -family. But let us continue our inquiry.</p> - -<p>In Polynesia marriage by purchase was habitual. In New Zealand the man -bought the girl, and offered presents to her parents.<a id="FNanchor_296" href="#Footnote_296" class="fnanchor">[296]</a></p> - -<p>Generally in Polynesia the suitor offered pigs, stuffs, etc. If his -demand was granted, the bargain was quickly concluded; the girl was -there and then delivered to the husband; a Polynesian bed was arranged -in the house of the bride’s father, and the newly-married couple passed -the night there. The next day a feast was celebrated, to which friends -were invited, and which consisted of several pigs.<a id="FNanchor_297" href="#Footnote_297" class="fnanchor">[297]</a></p> - -<p>At Tahiti temporary marriages were also concluded, and in this case the -presents of pigs, stuffs, pigeons, etc., varied in amount according to -the length of the union.<a id="FNanchor_298" href="#Footnote_298" class="fnanchor">[298]</a></p> - -<p>But, in spite of the sale, the Polynesian father always retained over -his daughter the prior right of ownership, and when the presents seemed -to him to be insufficient, he took back the merchandise to let or sell -it to a more generous lover. If a child was born, the husband was free -to kill the infant, which was done by applying a piece of wet stuff -to the mouth and nose, or to let it live, but in the latter case he -generally kept the wife for the whole of her life. If the union was -sterile, or the children put to death, the man had always the right to -abandon the woman when and how it seemed good to him.<a id="FNanchor_299" href="#Footnote_299" class="fnanchor">[299]</a> She was a -slave that he had bought, and that he could get rid of at will.<a id="FNanchor_300" href="#Footnote_300" class="fnanchor">[300]</a></p> - -<p>On the great American continent, from north to south the custom of -the sale of the daughter is common to a great number of peoples. With -the Redskins female merchandise is generally paid for in horses and -blankets. When the daughter had been sold to a white man and then -abandoned, as frequently happened, the parents resumed possession of -her, and sold her a second time.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</span></p> - -<p>In Columbia what was most prized was the aptitude of the woman for -labour, and her qualities as a beast of burden were worth to her -parents a greater or less number of horses.<a id="FNanchor_301" href="#Footnote_301" class="fnanchor">[301]</a></p> - -<p>Among the Redskins of northern California the girls were bought and -sold like any other articles, and there was no thought of consulting -them in the matter. The price was paid to the father, and the girl was -led off simply as if it were a horse-sale. Poor suitors naturally had -to give way to rich ones, and hence all the opulent old men obtained -all the beautiful young women.<a id="FNanchor_302" href="#Footnote_302" class="fnanchor">[302]</a> There was no nuptial ceremony. -However, with the Modocs, the conclusion of the business is marked by a -feast, but the newly-married couple take no part in it.</p> - -<p>The Redskin parents do not always entirely abandon their married -daughter, and if she is too ill-treated by her owner, they have the -right to take her back, and then of course to sell her to some one -else.<a id="FNanchor_303" href="#Footnote_303" class="fnanchor">[303]</a> Socialist customs sometimes co-exist with these gross -conjugal ones. The nuptial abode is often prepared by the tribe, or, -as in Columbia, the friends join in paying to the father the price of -the daughter.<a id="FNanchor_304" href="#Footnote_304" class="fnanchor">[304]</a> The Californian suitors sometimes obtain a wife on -credit; but then the man is called “half-married,” and is forced to -live as a slave with the parents of the girl until he has concluded -the payment, for there is no essential difference between marriage by -servitude and marriage by purchase. In America, as elsewhere, morality -is simply the expression of habits and needs, and thus the purchase -of the wife has ended by becoming an honourable thing; and among the -Californian Redskins the children of a wife who has cost nothing to her -husband are looked down on.<a id="FNanchor_305" href="#Footnote_305" class="fnanchor">[305]</a></p> - -<p>The Papayos of New Mexico are not content with selling their daughters -by private contract; they put them up to auction.<a id="FNanchor_306" href="#Footnote_306" class="fnanchor">[306]</a> As for the -inhabitants of those curious Neo-Mexican phalansteries called -<i lang="es" xml:lang="es">pueblos</i>, as they are much more advanced than the greater part -of their American<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</span> congeners, their matrimonial customs are less -gross; and the suitor, when accepted by the parents, tries to charm -his bride by daily serenades lasting for hours—a rare thing in savage -countries.<a id="FNanchor_307" href="#Footnote_307" class="fnanchor">[307]</a></p> - -<p>With the half-civilised tribes of Guatemala and Nicaragua conjugal -unions were also determined according to the presents made to the -parents, and in Guatemala the young people were both kept in ignorance -of the affair until the last moment.<a id="FNanchor_308" href="#Footnote_308" class="fnanchor">[308]</a> In Nicaragua, however, there -existed a curious exception in certain towns, where at a particular -festival the young girls had the right to choose their husbands freely -from among the young men present.<a id="FNanchor_309" href="#Footnote_309" class="fnanchor">[309]</a></p> - -<p>With the Moxos and the Guaranis the price paid to the parents is still -the decisive reason of the marriage.<a id="FNanchor_310" href="#Footnote_310" class="fnanchor">[310]</a> However, the Guaranis also -exact from the husband proofs of virile qualities in the chase and in -war.<a id="FNanchor_311" href="#Footnote_311" class="fnanchor">[311]</a> The struggle for existence is still severe, and in order -to keep one or more wives a man must be able not only to feed but to -defend them.</p> - -<p>The Mongols of Asia buy their wives exactly like the Mongoloids of -America, of whom I have just spoken.</p> - -<p>Among the nomad Mongols, the Tartars of northern Asia, the parents -arrange the marriages with absolute authority, and without consulting -the parties more especially interested. The bargain is sharply debated -between the parents, and the price to be paid by the husband or his -family is very precisely settled; the future couple are not even -informed of it, their sentiments, their desires, or dislikes, are not -considered in the least. The price of the girl is paid in cattle, -sheep, oxen, or horses; in pieces of stuff, in brandy, in butter, in -flour, etc. Everything being agreed on, the contract of sale is drawn -up before witnesses, but the girl is only delivered to the purchaser -after the ceremony of marriage, which, as we have previously seen, -takes the form of capture.<a id="FNanchor_312" href="#Footnote_312" class="fnanchor">[312]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</span></p> - -<p>The Turcomans have customs very similar to those of the Tartars. -With them the price of the girl is chiefly reckoned in camels, and -it generally takes five to pay for a girl; but as in their eyes the -woman is not an object of luxury, as she not only has to manage the -housekeeping but to manufacture articles which have an exchange -value, and which are profitable to the family, experienced women and -widows, provided they are passable, are much more sought for in the -conjugal market than young girls. It is no longer five camels, but -fifty, or even a hundred, that must be paid for a widow still in good -condition.<a id="FNanchor_313" href="#Footnote_313" class="fnanchor">[313]</a> If the suitor cannot immediately get together the price -of the woman he covets, he has recourse to marriage by capture, and -takes refuge with his bride in a neighbouring camp.</p> - -<p>A settlement is always effected, matters are compounded, and the -ravisher engages to pay a certain number of camels and horses, which -he generally procures by marauding on the frontiers of Persia. It is -a veritable debt of honour for him, and he must pay it with the least -possible delay.<a id="FNanchor_314" href="#Footnote_314" class="fnanchor">[314]</a></p> - -<p>These barbarous customs of Mongolia are naturally softened in China, -but without any essential change in their main features. There, as well -as in Tartary, the young girl is considered as the property of her -parents, and her training is so perfect that she has not the slightest -desire to be consulted before being married, or rather sold, for ready -money.<a id="FNanchor_315" href="#Footnote_315" class="fnanchor">[315]</a> In the Chinese family, daughters count for so little value -that they are only called by ordinal numbers—first-born, second-born, -etc.—to which is added a surname.<a id="FNanchor_316" href="#Footnote_316" class="fnanchor">[316]</a> The price of the daughter when -purchased is paid to the parents in two separate portions—the first on -the conclusion of the agreement and the signing of the contract, and -the other on the wedding-day.<a id="FNanchor_317" href="#Footnote_317" class="fnanchor">[317]</a> Marriage by capture has naturally -gone out of use in the old civilisation of China, but the trace of it -still remains in the ceremonial,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</span> for the bride is lifted over the -threshold of the conjugal dwelling, as was the custom in ancient Rome.</p> - -<p>It has appeared so natural to parents all over the world to dispose of -their daughters as they chose, that many of the aborigines of India -do nearly the same as the Mongols. The daughters are sold by the -parents among the Kolhans, the Bendkars, the Limboos, the Kirantis, the -Moundas, the Santals, the Oraons, the Muasis, the Birhors, the Hos, the -Boyars, the Nagas, the Gonds, etc.<a id="FNanchor_318" href="#Footnote_318" class="fnanchor">[318]</a> The price of the girl varies -from three to fourteen rupees, or is reckoned in head of cattle or -measures of rice. Sometimes female merchandise is rare and dear, for in -some countries female infanticide has long prevailed; it may happen, -too, that daughters are condemned to celibacy, as with the Hos,<a id="FNanchor_319" href="#Footnote_319" class="fnanchor">[319]</a> -or, as with the Nagas, that marriages are delayed, and that the -bridegroom must often submit to marriage by servitude.<a id="FNanchor_320" href="#Footnote_320" class="fnanchor">[320]</a> Sometimes, -again, the girls are carried off, as happens among the Kolhans, by the -impatient bridegrooms, and, after the rape, arbitrators negotiate a -settlement.<a id="FNanchor_321" href="#Footnote_321" class="fnanchor">[321]</a> It should be remarked, by the way, that with the Nagas -marriage by servitude has its ordinary effect, that of abasing the -husband and raising the wife; and, in fact, among these races, although -the wife performs severe labour, she is treated as the equal of her -husband.<a id="FNanchor_322" href="#Footnote_322" class="fnanchor">[322]</a></p> - -<p>In some aboriginal tribes of India we even find matriarchal customs. -Thus with the Pani-Koechs the husbands leave to their very industrious -wives the care of their property. In marrying, a man goes to live with -his mother-in-law, and obeys her as well as his wife. Moreover, in this -tribe the mothers negotiate the marriages; the fathers have nothing to -do with them.<a id="FNanchor_323" href="#Footnote_323" class="fnanchor">[323]</a></p> - -<p>Among the Yerkalas the maternal uncle has the right to claim for his -sons the two eldest daughters of his sister, or to renounce them for an -indemnity of eight images of idols.<a id="FNanchor_324" href="#Footnote_324" class="fnanchor">[324]</a></p> - -<p>Money, always money! With all peoples and races marriage is often -reduced to a pecuniary question. In this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</span> respect the Berbers, the -Semites, and the Aryans are not distinguished from other human types. -With certain Touaregs of the Sahara, says Duveyrier, it is the daughter -herself who indemnifies the father, and it is after the old Italian -manner, <i lang="it" xml:lang="it">more tusco</i>, that she gains the price of enfranchisement -which is necessary for her marriage. “The father, before the marriage -of his daughter, exacts from her the reimbursement, levied on her -body, of what she has cost her family ... and the girl, dishonoured -according to our ideas, but ransomed according to local ideas, is all -the more sought after, the greater her success in the commerce of her -attractions.”<a id="FNanchor_325" href="#Footnote_325" class="fnanchor">[325]</a></p> - -<p>In contrast to the Touaregs, the Semites, Hebrews, and Arabs, attached -and still attach an enormous value to the virginity of the bride; -but marriage was not and is not any the less for them a simple sale. -The history of Jacob’s marriage has already shown us that marriage -by servitude was practised by the ancient Hebrews. In later times -the consent of the woman became necessary, which is a great step in -advance, but the husband none the less bought his wife in some way or -other.<a id="FNanchor_326" href="#Footnote_326" class="fnanchor">[326]</a></p> - -<p>With contemporary Arabs marriage is a simple sale, without any -disguise. An Arab jurist gives us the formula of it, which is very -clear. It is as follows: “I sell you my daughter for such a sum.” “I -accept.” The same author says elsewhere: “The woman sells in marriage -a part of her person. In a purchase men buy an article of merchandise; -in a marriage they buy the field of procreation.”<a id="FNanchor_327" href="#Footnote_327" class="fnanchor">[327]</a> It would be -impossible to speak more plainly. Nevertheless, the consent of the -woman is necessary; it is she who is supposed to sell herself, and the -price of the bargain constitutes her dowry. It was the same with the -Hebrews.</p> - -<p>Whatever may have been their religion, the greater number of the Aryan -peoples have also considered marriage as a commercial transaction. -The Afghan Mussulmans buy their wives, and these are regarded as a -property, so much<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</span> so that in case of widowhood they cannot re-marry, -unless the second husband indemnifies the family of the first.<a id="FNanchor_328" href="#Footnote_328" class="fnanchor">[328]</a></p> - -<p>In Brahmanic India the daughter is also bought from the parents. A -curious verse of the Code of Manu tells us how the purchaser was -indemnified in the case of substitution of another person: “If, -after having shown a suitor a young girl, whose hand is granted to -him, another is given him to wife, and secretly brought to him, he -becomes the husband of both for the same price; such is the decision -of Manu.”<a id="FNanchor_329" href="#Footnote_329" class="fnanchor">[329]</a> Things have not much changed at present. “When they -wish to signify that they are going to be married,” says an editor of -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lettres édifiantes</i>, in speaking of the Hindoos, “they generally -say that they are going to buy a wife.” However, the parents do not -appropriate the entire sum paid by the purchaser; a great part of it -goes to buy jewels for the bride.<a id="FNanchor_330" href="#Footnote_330" class="fnanchor">[330]</a> The ancient Malays of Sumatra -had solved the conjugal problem in three different ways. Sometimes the -man bought and led away the woman, according to the universal custom; -sometimes the woman bought the man, who then came to live with her -family; sometimes the two were married on a footing of equality.<a id="FNanchor_331" href="#Footnote_331" class="fnanchor">[331]</a> -We must note in passing that this last matrimonial form is very -exceptional.</p> - -<p>Throughout Europe, as well in Greco-Latin antiquity as among -barbarians, the young girl has formerly been considered as a negotiable -property, and marriage as a sale.</p> - -<p>The Sagas tell us that the Scandinavian fathers married their daughters -without consulting them—after the manner of savages—and received an -indemnity from the son-in-law.<a id="FNanchor_332" href="#Footnote_332" class="fnanchor">[332]</a></p> - -<p>With the Germans the daughter could not marry without the authorisation -of her father or of her nearest relative, who first received the -earnest money from the bridegroom;<a id="FNanchor_333" href="#Footnote_333" class="fnanchor">[333]</a> as for the bride, she -received the <i>oscle</i>, or price of the first kiss, and then the -<i>morgengabe</i>, which constituted her dowry.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</span> In return, the German -widow, like the Afghan widow, was the property of the parents of her -husband, and could not re-marry without their authorisation.<a id="FNanchor_334" href="#Footnote_334" class="fnanchor">[334]</a></p> - -<p>In primitive Greece the daughter was purchased either by presents -to the father or by services rendered to him.<a id="FNanchor_335" href="#Footnote_335" class="fnanchor">[335]</a> The father could -marry his daughter as he thought well, and in default of a son could -leave her by will, with the heritage of which she formed a part, to a -stranger.<a id="FNanchor_336" href="#Footnote_336" class="fnanchor">[336]</a></p> - -<p>At Rome also the daughter was the property of her father, and until -the time of Antoninus the father had the right to re-marry her when -the husband had been absent three years.<a id="FNanchor_337" href="#Footnote_337" class="fnanchor">[337]</a> Marriage by purchase had -certainly been the primitive form of the conjugal contract. In reality -the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">confarreatio</i>, a solemn and religious union in the presence -of ten witnesses, was a patrician marriage. The <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">usus</i>, or the -consecration of a free union after a year of cohabitation, strongly -resembles the Polynesian marriage. But the most common conjugal form, -the one which succeeded the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">usus</i>, and surely preceded the -<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">confarreatio</i>, was marriage by purchase, the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">coemptio</i>.</p> - -<p>Coemption ended in time by becoming purely symbolic; the wife was -delivered to the husband, who, as a formality, gave her a few pieces -of money; but the ceremony is none the less eloquent, and it proves -clearly that in principle the woman had been, at Rome as elsewhere, -assimilated by the parents to a thing, to a venal property. When at -Athens and at Rome an effort was made to give the married woman a -less subordinate position, nothing more was done than opposing money -to money by inventing the dowry marriage; and hence resulted other -inconveniences, on which Latin writers have largely dilated, and which -we can easily study to-day from life. But for the present I must not -speak of them. It suffices to have proved that all over the earth, in -all times and among all races, marriage by purchase has been widely -practised.</p> - -<p>Now, the custom of marriage by purchase has a very clear and very -important signification from a moral and social<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</span> point of view. It -implies a profound contempt for woman, and her complete assimilation -to chattels, to cattle, and to things in general. On this point the -Roman law leaves no room for ambiguity, since it makes no essential -difference between the marital law and the law of property. In regard -to the woman, as in regard to goods, possession or use, continued -for a year, gave a right of ownership. When applied to things, this -possession is called <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">usucapion</i>; applied to the woman, it is -called <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">usus</i>.<a id="FNanchor_338" href="#Footnote_338" class="fnanchor">[338]</a> The difference between the terms is slight; -between the facts there is none. In reality the wife and the child, -especially the female child, have been the first property possessed -by man, which has even implanted in the savage mind the taste for -possession, and the pretension to use and abuse the things left -entirely to his mercy. At Rome this became by the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">jus quiritium</i>, -for the woman the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">manus</i> of the husband, and for property the -<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">jus utendi et abutendi</i> of the proprietor. But this abuse, -and this use, nearly always equally an abuse also, have contributed -not a little to deprave man and to render him, from the origin of -societies until our own day, refractory to ideas of equity and justice, -especially in what relates to the condition of woman.</p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_267" href="#FNanchor_267" class="label">[267]</a> Williams, <i>Fiji and the Fijians</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 156.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_268" href="#FNanchor_268" class="label">[268]</a> Pritchard, <i>Polynesian Reminiscences</i>, etc., <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -371.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_269" href="#FNanchor_269" class="label">[269]</a> De Rochas, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Nouveau">Nouv.</abbr> Calédonie</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 231.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_270" href="#FNanchor_270" class="label">[270]</a> Burchell, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxvi. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 330.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_271" href="#FNanchor_271" class="label">[271]</a> Bowdich, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxviii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 430.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_272" href="#FNanchor_272" class="label">[272]</a> Moerenhout, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr> aux îles</i>, etc., t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 67.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_273" href="#FNanchor_273" class="label">[273]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Homme Américain</i>, t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 40.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_274" href="#FNanchor_274" class="label">[274]</a> Marco Polo (Edition Populaire), <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 61.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_275" href="#FNanchor_275" class="label">[275]</a> Schortt, <i>Trans. Ethn. Soc.</i> (New Series), <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> -vii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 194.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_276" href="#FNanchor_276" class="label">[276]</a> Sonnerat, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxxi. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -350.—<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lettres Edifiantes</i>, t. x. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 23.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_277" href="#FNanchor_277" class="label">[277]</a> Plutarch, <i>Numa and Lycurgus compared</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_278" href="#FNanchor_278" class="label">[278]</a> E. de Lavelaye, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">De la Propriété</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 35.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_279" href="#FNanchor_279" class="label">[279]</a> Lafitau, t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 557-560.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_280" href="#FNanchor_280" class="label">[280]</a> Domenech, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr> pittoresque</i>, etc., <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 508.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_281" href="#FNanchor_281" class="label">[281]</a> Lafitau, t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 557-560.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_282" href="#FNanchor_282" class="label">[282]</a> H. Bancroft, <i>Native Races of the Pacific States</i>, -etc., <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 134.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_283" href="#FNanchor_283" class="label">[283]</a> <i>Id., loc. cit.</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 606.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_284" href="#FNanchor_284" class="label">[284]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 662.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_285" href="#FNanchor_285" class="label">[285]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 104.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_286" href="#FNanchor_286" class="label">[286]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 134.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_287" href="#FNanchor_287" class="label">[287]</a> Levaillant, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxiv. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -348.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_288" href="#FNanchor_288" class="label">[288]</a> Burchell, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxvi. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 486.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_289" href="#FNanchor_289" class="label">[289]</a> Campbell, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxix. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 363.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_290" href="#FNanchor_290" class="label">[290]</a> Burchell, <i>ibid.</i> t. xxvi. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 486.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_291" href="#FNanchor_291" class="label">[291]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Neue Missionsreise in Süd-Afrika</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 317.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_292" href="#FNanchor_292" class="label">[292]</a> Laing, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxviii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 31.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_293" href="#FNanchor_293" class="label">[293]</a> Clapperton, <i>Second Voyage</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 86.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_294" href="#FNanchor_294" class="label">[294]</a> Laing, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxxviii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 71.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_295" href="#FNanchor_295" class="label">[295]</a> R. J. Lauder, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxx. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -244.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_296" href="#FNanchor_296" class="label">[296]</a> Duperrey, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xviii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 157.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_297" href="#FNanchor_297" class="label">[297]</a> Moerenhout, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr> aux îles</i>, etc., t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 62.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_298" href="#FNanchor_298" class="label">[298]</a> Cook (<i>Third Voyage</i>), <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, -t. x. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 232.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_299" href="#FNanchor_299" class="label">[299]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> t. x. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 232.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_300" href="#FNanchor_300" class="label">[300]</a> Domenech, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr> pittoresque</i>, etc., <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 511.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_301" href="#FNanchor_301" class="label">[301]</a> Bancroft, <i>Native Races of Pacific</i>, etc., <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. -<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 276.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_302" href="#FNanchor_302" class="label">[302]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 349.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_303" href="#FNanchor_303" class="label">[303]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 412.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_304" href="#FNanchor_304" class="label">[304]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 276-349.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_305" href="#FNanchor_305" class="label">[305]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 349.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_306" href="#FNanchor_306" class="label">[306]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 549.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_307" href="#FNanchor_307" class="label">[307]</a> Bancroft, <i>Native Races</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 549.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_308" href="#FNanchor_308" class="label">[308]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 666, 667.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_309" href="#FNanchor_309" class="label">[309]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 667.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_310" href="#FNanchor_310" class="label">[310]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lettres Edifiantes</i>, t. x. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 202.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_311" href="#FNanchor_311" class="label">[311]</a> A. d’Orbigny, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">L’homme Américain</i>, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 307.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_312" href="#FNanchor_312" class="label">[312]</a> Timkowski, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxxii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -332.—Huc, <i>Travels in Tartary</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 298, 299.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_313" href="#FNanchor_313" class="label">[313]</a> Fraser, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxxv. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 118.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_314" href="#FNanchor_314" class="label">[314]</a> Burnes, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxxvii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 270.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_315" href="#FNanchor_315" class="label">[315]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lettres Edifiantes</i>, t. x. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 138.—Huc, -<i>Chinese Empire</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 255.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_316" href="#FNanchor_316" class="label">[316]</a> Comte d’Hérisson, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Journal d’un interprète en -Chine</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 7.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_317" href="#FNanchor_317" class="label">[317]</a> Huc, <i>Chinese Empire</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 256.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_318" href="#FNanchor_318" class="label">[318]</a> Dalton, <i>Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal</i>, passim.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_319" href="#FNanchor_319" class="label">[319]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 190.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_320" href="#FNanchor_320" class="label">[320]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 41.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_321" href="#FNanchor_321" class="label">[321]</a> Dalton, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 192.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_322" href="#FNanchor_322" class="label">[322]</a> <i>Id., loc. cit.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 41.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_323" href="#FNanchor_323" class="label">[323]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 91.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_324" href="#FNanchor_324" class="label">[324]</a> Schortt, <i>Trans. Ethn. Soc.</i> (New Series), <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> -vii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 187.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_325" href="#FNanchor_325" class="label">[325]</a> Duveyrier, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Touaregs du Nord</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 340.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_326" href="#FNanchor_326" class="label">[326]</a> Wake, <i>Evolution of Morality</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 68.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_327" href="#FNanchor_327" class="label">[327]</a> Sidi Khelil, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Précis de jurisprudence musulmane</i>, -trad. Perron (quoted by E. Meynier) in <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Études sur l’Islamisme</i>, -<abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 152, 156.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_328" href="#FNanchor_328" class="label">[328]</a> Elphinstone, <i>Picture of the Kingdom of Cabul</i>, -<abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 168.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_329" href="#FNanchor_329" class="label">[329]</a> <i>Code of Manu</i>, book viii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 204.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_330" href="#FNanchor_330" class="label">[330]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lettres édifiantes</i>, t. xiv. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 382.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_331" href="#FNanchor_331" class="label">[331]</a> Marsden, <i>Hist. of Sumatra</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 262.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_332" href="#FNanchor_332" class="label">[332]</a> Nials, <i>Saga</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 9, 10.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_333" href="#FNanchor_333" class="label">[333]</a> Rambaud, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. civil. française</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 107.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_334" href="#FNanchor_334" class="label">[334]</a> Hist. <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Succes. des Femmes</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_335" href="#FNanchor_335" class="label">[335]</a> Aristotle, <i>Politics</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 8.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_336" href="#FNanchor_336" class="label">[336]</a> Legouvé, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Hist. <abbr title="morale">Mor.</abbr> des Femmes</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 86.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_337" href="#FNanchor_337" class="label">[337]</a> Plautus, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Stichus</i>.—Laboulaye, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Droit -romain</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_338" href="#FNanchor_338" class="label">[338]</a> R. Cubain, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lois civiles de Rome</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 181.</p> - -</div> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.<br /><br /><span class="small">PRIMITIVE POLYGAMY.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>I. <i>Polygamy in Oceania, Africa, and America.</i>—Polygamy and -sociability—Polygamy in Australia, in New Caledonia, and at Fiji—The -legitimate wife and concubines at Fiji—Polygamy among the Hottentots -and Kaffirs—Economic reasons of polygamy in Africa—Brutality -of husbands on the Gaboon—Polygamy limited by the law of supply -and demand—Its effects on the morality of women—Commercial -fidelity—Mumbo Jumbo—Love unknown in black Africa—Legal -marriage with the Bongos at Madagascar—Hierarchical polygamy at -Madagascar—Polygamy in Polynesia, in America—Jealousy unknown to -the female savage—The sister-wives among the Redskins—Religion -sanctifies polygamy—Monogamic tendencies in America.</p> - -<p>II. <i>Polygamy in Asia and in Europe.</i>—Polygamy among -the aborigines of India, in Bootan, among the Ostiaks and the -Battas—Universality of primitive polygamy—Polygamy of the ancient -Peruvians, Chinese, and Vedic Aryans—Polygamy among the Gauls and the -Germans—Causes of primitive polygamy—Its evolution.</p> -</div> - - -<h3 id="h3_23">I. <i>Polygamy in Oceania, Africa, and America.</i></h3> - -<p>We have seen that in the animal kingdom species are sometimes -monogamous, sometimes polygamous, but that in general a gregarious -life, a life in association, favours polygamy. Now, man is surely the -most sociable of animals, therefore he is much inclined to polygamy, -like the great anthropoid apes, with whom our primitive ancestors must -have had more than one analogy. We have already spoken of the causes -which in human societies of the earliest ages disturbed the normal -relation of the sexes, or the approximate equilibrium between the -number of men and that of women. We have seen how savage life rapidly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</span> -uses up the men to such a degree that often, in spite of the custom -of female infanticide, there is still an excess of women sufficient -to impose polygamy. Although primitive morality may not think in the -least of blaming the plurality of wives, it yet happens that this -polygamy, to which all men aspire in a savage country, is spontaneously -restricted; and, as with chimpanzees, and for the same reasons, it -becomes, in fact, the privilege of a small number of the strongest and -the most feared, the chiefs, the sorcerers, or the priests, when there -are any.</p> - -<p>In Australia, for example, the adult men take possession of the women -of all ages, and in consequence the greater number of young men cannot -become proprietors of a woman before the age of about thirty years.<a id="FNanchor_339" href="#Footnote_339" class="fnanchor">[339]</a></p> - -<p>Enforced celibacy is, besides, softened by the complaisance of the -men already provided for, the husbands, if we may so call them, who -are generous to the other men, and much more jealous of their rights -of property than of their conjugal rights. It is easy to have an -understanding with them, and, with the aid of a suitable present, to -induce them to lend their wives. In New Caledonia the chiefs and rich -men only can indulge in the luxury of polygamy, and in this archipelago -the plurality of wives has already the character that it nearly always -assumes in a primitive country. If the New Caledonians ardently -desire to have several wives it is not generally with a sensual aim, -for among the Canaks the genetic appetite is little developed; their -reasons are of quite another kind. Neither slavery nor domesticity -yet exist in New Caledonia. However, agriculture is already practised -there, and this requires hard labour, from which the men, especially -the chief men, like to exonerate themselves. Now, it is polygamy that -furnishes the Canaks with servile labour, which they cannot do without; -it exactly replaces slavery. Therefore, every man, of however little -importance he may be, procures a number of women in proportion to the -extent of the land he has in cultivation, and also to the figure he -must make in the world. We shall find this servile polygamy in many -other countries, notably among the Fijians, who resemble the New -Caledonians, but at Fiji polygamy had already<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</span> evolved and become -complicated. It was accompanied by concubinage. As we shall see later, -this is generally the case. Nowhere do we find men passing abruptly -from polygamy to monogamy, and long before arriving at the latter, when -first custom and then law restrains and regulates the loose polygamy -of the earlier ages, the change is only at first effected in the form; -a man has a small number of wives, who, with their children, enjoy -certain privileges, but by the side of these titular wives he possesses -concubines in greater or less number. In this manner everything is -reconciled—morality with sensuality, and the family with the interests -of property.</p> - -<p>This <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> was already in force among the Melanesians of the -Fiji Isles, where the chiefs, living in great state, acquired in one -way or another three or four hundred women, of whom the greater number -filled only the position of servants to the master, and at the same -time of concubines, who were at the disposition of the warriors or of -the guests. The wives whose children inherited were very few in number. -They were daughters of chiefs, and their situation, although less -degraded than that of the concubines, was still very humble. Not only -did they resign themselves without difficulty to polygamy, but they -were subjected to a singular duty—that of rearing for their husband -a chosen concubine. The fact is curious, and worth the trouble of -narrating. “The bride takes with her a young girl who is still a child, -but who promises to be beautiful, and who has been carefully selected -from the lower class of the people. It is a virgin destined for her -husband. She brings her up with the tenderest solicitude, and when the -girl is marriageable, the queen, on an appointed day, undresses her, -washes her carefully, and even pours perfumed oil on her hair, crowns -her with flowers, conducts her thus naked to her husband, presents her -to him, and retires in silence.”<a id="FNanchor_340" href="#Footnote_340" class="fnanchor">[340]</a> Excessive as it seems to us, this -absolute resignation is quite natural among savages.</p> - -<p>In primitive countries the married woman—that is to say, the woman -belonging to a man—has herself the conscience of being a thing, a -property (it is proved to her often and severely enough), but she does -not think of retaliating,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</span> especially in what concerns the conjugal -relations. Moreover, as her condition is oftenest that of a slave -over-burdened with work, not only does she not resent the introduction -of other women in the house of the master, but she desires it, for -the work will be so much the less for herself. Thus among the Zulus -the wife first purchased strives and works with ardour in the hope of -furnishing her husband with means to acquire a second wife—a companion -in misery over whom, by right of seniority, she will have the upper -hand.<a id="FNanchor_341" href="#Footnote_341" class="fnanchor">[341]</a></p> - -<p>In consequence of this the greater number of the men in Kaffirland -have two or three wives, and hence a certain scarcity of feminine -merchandise in the country; the young men have difficulty in providing -for themselves, and many girls are sold from infancy.<a id="FNanchor_342" href="#Footnote_342" class="fnanchor">[342]</a> The same -customs prevail with the Hottentots; and both Kaffirs and Hottentots -esteem the monogamic preaching of the Christian missionaries as very -impertinent, and on this point both men and women are agreed.<a id="FNanchor_343" href="#Footnote_343" class="fnanchor">[343]</a></p> - -<p>Along the whole course of the Zambesi, says Livingstone, the number of -wives are the measure of a man’s riches, and the women are the first to -find this quite natural.</p> - -<p>It is important to observe that in savage societies the woman could not -live independently; for her, celibacy is synonymous with desertion, and -desertion would mean a speedy death. This is even the reason of the -levirate, of which I shall have to speak later.</p> - -<p>As for all the negroes of Africa, whatever the degree of their -civilisation or savagery, they have not even a suspicion of the -monogamic <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i>. But, in Africa also, sensuality is only one of -the secondary causes of the plurality of wives so strongly desired by -all the blacks. Their polygamy is chiefly founded on economic motives. -At the Gaboon,<a id="FNanchor_344" href="#Footnote_344" class="fnanchor">[344]</a> says Du Chaillu, the supreme ambition of a man is -to possess a great number of wives. Nothing is of more value to him, -for they cultivate the ground, and their strict duty is to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</span> serve -him and furnish him with food. The wife is always purchased from her -father at a price agreed on, and often from her earliest infancy. In -this case she is placed under the care of the husband’s chief wife. -The husband-proprietor does not interfere at all with the agricultural -labour executed by the wives; he only requires them to supply him with -food. If he has bought them, it is merely as a profitable investment. -He consequently treats them as slaves, or as domestic animals, and -has no scruple in lashing them with a whip for nothing at all, and -thus causing ineffaceable scars. “I have seen very few women,” says Du -Chaillu, “who had not traces of this kind on their bodies.”</p> - -<p>The whip which serves for these conjugal corrections has a double -thong, made of hippopotamus or sea-cow hide. “You should hear,” says -the traveller, “the worthy husband cry out—‘Ah, wretch! do you think -I have bought you for nothing?’”<a id="FNanchor_345" href="#Footnote_345" class="fnanchor">[345]</a> The Gaboon tribes, of whom Du -Chaillu speaks, are reckoned the least civilised of negroes; but even -among the least gross of African races the conjugal <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> and -the degree of subjection imposed on women are scarcely lessened.</p> - -<p>At Tchaki, and at Badagry, etc., when Clapperton spoke of English -monogamy to the natives, all his auditors, without distinction of -sex, burst into a laugh,<a id="FNanchor_346" href="#Footnote_346" class="fnanchor">[346]</a> so absurd did the thing appear to them. -Throughout Africa the number of a man’s wives is only limited by his -resources. If, as Schweinfurth tells us, among the Bongos of the upper -Nile, a man rarely has more than three wives, it is simply on account -of the strict law of supply and demand; for a woman costs no less than -ten iron plates, each weighing about two pounds, to which must be -added twenty iron spear heads, all precious articles and not easily -procured.<a id="FNanchor_347" href="#Footnote_347" class="fnanchor">[347]</a> At Bornou also men in easy circumstances have seldom -more than three wives; and the poor have to content themselves, whether -they will or not, with monogamy.<a id="FNanchor_348" href="#Footnote_348" class="fnanchor">[348]</a> But among the negroes of Kaarta -and the Fantis of the coast of Guinea polygamy is excessive. In Kaarta -a private<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</span> individual often has ten wives and as many concubines; -but princes or knights often have threefold or even tenfold that -number.<a id="FNanchor_349" href="#Footnote_349" class="fnanchor">[349]</a> In consequence of this, about a third of the inhabitants -are of princely or royal blood. As for the Fantis, polygamy is a source -of riches, not only through the labour of the women, but also through -the sale of the children, of whom a large and profitable trade is -made.<a id="FNanchor_350" href="#Footnote_350" class="fnanchor">[350]</a> This trait of morals is not in the least peculiar to them; -throughout black Africa the right of the father of a family includes -that of selling the children, and he exercises it without scruple.</p> - -<p>Naturally the last sentiments we may expect to find in African -households are those of delicacy or moral nobility. Humble to servility -in presence of the master, the women give the rein to their shameless -excesses as soon as they can do it without danger.</p> - -<p>In Bornou a wife never approaches her husband without kneeling.<a id="FNanchor_351" href="#Footnote_351" class="fnanchor">[351]</a> -When a Poul orders one of his wives to prepare his supper, which -implies that the master desires her company for the night, this signal -favour is received with transports of joy. The chosen wife hastens to -obey, and when the repast is ready she proudly goes to seek the master, -thus humiliating her female colleagues, who retreat in confusion to -their cabins to await their turn.<a id="FNanchor_352" href="#Footnote_352" class="fnanchor">[352]</a> But all this abject behaviour -is merely by compulsion, and the women recoup themselves well for it -whenever they have the chance.</p> - -<p>The poor women of the Gaboon, who are lacerated by whips for no -offence, do not understand chastity, and their intrigues constantly -provoke conflicts and <i>palavers</i> between the men of the -villages.<a id="FNanchor_353" href="#Footnote_353" class="fnanchor">[353]</a> The obscenity of the Monboottoo women astonished -Schweinfurth, well acquainted as he was with negro customs.<a id="FNanchor_354" href="#Footnote_354" class="fnanchor">[354]</a> The -Bambarra women easily forget conjugal fidelity for a bead necklace, -a fine waist-cloth, etc.; and, as in so many other countries, the -husband-proprietors<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</span> have no scruple in hiring out their wives for a sufficient price.<a id="FNanchor_355" href="#Footnote_355" class="fnanchor">[355]</a></p> - -<p>Nevertheless, unauthorised adultery is cruelly punished throughout -Africa; but fear is powerless to ensure to the negro husbands the -purely commercial fidelity they exact from their wives, and therefore, -in order to correct feminine morals, they have recourse in certain -parts to fantastic methods—to the <i>Mumbo Jumbo</i> which Mungo -Park describes.<a id="FNanchor_356" href="#Footnote_356" class="fnanchor">[356]</a> Strangely attired and unrecognisable, a singular -personage, doubtless a sorcerer, appears in the evening after being -called for by frightful howlings in the woods, and first goes to the -spot where the inhabitants are accustomed to assemble to talk at their -ease. This coming is the signal for songs and dances, which last into -the middle of the night. Then the <i>Mumbo Jumbo</i> designates the -guilty or indocile woman. The latter is immediately seized, stripped, -bound to a stake, and vigorously beaten by the <i>Mumbo</i> himself, -amid the acclamations and laughter of the assembly, and especially of -the other women.</p> - -<p>In all negro Africa the husbands are generally strangers to the -jealousy of honour which exists among the intelligent husbands of -civilised countries. They do not care for moral fidelity, based on -affection and free choice. The Kaffir woman, Schouter tells us, is the -ox of her husband. A Kaffir said one day, speaking of his wife, “I have -bought her, therefore it is her duty to work.”</p> - -<p>“The negro,” relates another traveller (Monteiro), “knows neither love, -affection, nor jealousy. During the many years that I have spent in -Africa I have never seen a negro manifest the least tenderness for a -woman—put his arms around her, give or receive a caress, denoting some -degree of affection or love on one side or the other.... They have no -word in their language to signify love or affection.”<a id="FNanchor_357" href="#Footnote_357" class="fnanchor">[357]</a></p> - -<p>A French traveller says also of the Malagasies, “Modesty and jealousy -are two sentiments very little developed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</span> among the Malagasies of both -sexes and all ranks. They push licence very far in their manners, but -quite unconsciously.”<a id="FNanchor_358" href="#Footnote_358" class="fnanchor">[358]</a></p> - -<p>Throughout black Africa, indeed, marriage does not exist, at least -in the sense we attach to the word. It is not a civil institution, -much less a sacrament; it is a bargain, delivering the woman to the -mercy of the buyer. Here and there, however, we see dawnings of legal -marriage—that is to say, a contract sanctioned by civil authority. -Among the Bongos of the upper Nile, for example, a man who wishes to -procure a certain woman generally applies to the chief or to some -dignitary, who enforces his demand.<a id="FNanchor_359" href="#Footnote_359" class="fnanchor">[359]</a></p> - -<p>With the Malagasies, where the social organisation is much more -complex and <i>quasi</i> feudal, there is already a veritable civil -marriage. The future pair, accompanied by their parents, go before the -judge or the chief of the village, declare their intentions, pay the -<i>Hasina</i>, or matrimonial tax, and the union is concluded. As is -the case in many countries, Malagasian polygamy already tends towards -monogamy. At Madagascar, as in China, rich men have one chief wife, -who has a house to herself and other privileges; but by the side of -the titular wife there are lesser wives.<a id="FNanchor_360" href="#Footnote_360" class="fnanchor">[360]</a> I shall have to return -to this hierarchical polygamy, which forms a sort of evolutionary -connecting link between primitive polygamy, subjecting all the wives -equally before their owner, and monogamic marriage. But for the present -I must pursue my summary inquiry through the lands of primitive -polygamy.</p> - -<p>In the whole of Polynesia polygamy was general and unlimited. There, -again, the number of wives was strictly in proportion to rank and -riches.<a id="FNanchor_361" href="#Footnote_361" class="fnanchor">[361]</a> There were, however, examples of voluntary monogamy<a id="FNanchor_362" href="#Footnote_362" class="fnanchor">[362]</a> -among the chiefs, and a much larger number of monogamists, in spite of -themselves, in the lower classes.<a id="FNanchor_363" href="#Footnote_363" class="fnanchor">[363]</a> In several Polynesian islands -polygamy was already evolving towards monogamy; thus,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</span> at Samoa,<a id="FNanchor_364" href="#Footnote_364" class="fnanchor">[364]</a> -at Tonga,<a id="FNanchor_365" href="#Footnote_365" class="fnanchor">[365]</a> in New Zealand,<a id="FNanchor_366" href="#Footnote_366" class="fnanchor">[366]</a> there existed a chief wife, -exempted from hard work, and having pre-eminence over the other wives.</p> - -<p>Over all the great American continent polygamy is or has been in force. -The Ancas or Araucanos of South America—nomads and robbers—buy very -dear wives when they can, and make concubines of all the prisoners -procured in their razzias, exactly after the manner of the ancient -Arabs. The poor or the feeble among them, as elsewhere, are badly -provided, and are frequently reduced to remain celibate,<a id="FNanchor_367" href="#Footnote_367" class="fnanchor">[367]</a> or to -have only one wife. For the same reasons, the young men among the -Otomacs were often obliged to be contented with an old woman,<a id="FNanchor_368" href="#Footnote_368" class="fnanchor">[368]</a> and -the Charruas waited till their first wife grew old before procuring -a younger one.<a id="FNanchor_369" href="#Footnote_369" class="fnanchor">[369]</a> Herrero tells us also, that in Honduras forced -monogamy was general enough, except, indeed, for the chiefs, who -appropriated the women by the right of the strongest.<a id="FNanchor_370" href="#Footnote_370" class="fnanchor">[370]</a> In South -America, as in Africa, the women were very far from rebelling against -polygamy; for there, also, all the hard work fell to them, and the -burden of it was lightened in proportion to the number of labourers. In -the tribes that were already agricultural, the Guaranis, for example, -the men did nothing to the land but clear off the brushwood and timber; -then came the women, who did all the sowing, harvesting, prepared the -fermented drink for guests,<a id="FNanchor_371" href="#Footnote_371" class="fnanchor">[371]</a> without mentioning other domestic -cares. Such a kind of life is necessarily unfavourable to delicacy, and -even amongst civilised people habitual overwork is hardly compatible -with refined sentiments. In all countries exclusive love and jealousy -suppose not only some moral development, but also a certain amount -of leisure and of time and capacity, to think. It is therefore quite -natural that the savage woman should seldom pretend to possess a man -for herself alone,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</span> and on this point the women of the Redskins of -North America think and feel like the Guarani women of Brazil. Thus, -with the Omahas, the man hardly ever takes a second wife but with the -consent of the first.<a id="FNanchor_372" href="#Footnote_372" class="fnanchor">[372]</a> Often the initiative even comes from her; -she goes to find her husband, and says to him, “Marry the daughter -of my brother. She and I are of the same flesh.” It must be admitted -that America is the promised land of the matriarchate, or rather, of -maternal filiation; polygamy easily takes an incestuous colour there; -the wives of the same man are often relatives, habitually sisters. In -about forty of the Redskin tribes, and surely they are not the only -ones, when a man marries the eldest daughter of a family, he acquires, -by express privilege, the right of taking afterwards for wives all the -sisters of the first as soon as they become marriageable.<a id="FNanchor_373" href="#Footnote_373" class="fnanchor">[373]</a> This was -the custom of the Omahas, the Cheyennes, the Crees, the Osages, the -Black-feet, the Crows, the Spokans of Columbia,<a id="FNanchor_374" href="#Footnote_374" class="fnanchor">[374]</a> the Chawanons of -Louisiana, etc.</p> - -<p>The custom was not, however, obligatory. The wives were not necessarily -relatives, or, at least, not necessarily sisters. Thus, with the -Omahas, a man sometimes took as wives an aunt and a niece of his first -wife.<a id="FNanchor_375" href="#Footnote_375" class="fnanchor">[375]</a> Among the Californians a man sometimes married not only a -group of sisters, but also their mother,<a id="FNanchor_376" href="#Footnote_376" class="fnanchor">[376]</a> and in this respect the -Greenlanders imitated their hereditary enemies, the Redskins.<a id="FNanchor_377" href="#Footnote_377" class="fnanchor">[377]</a> -But, consanguine or not, polygamy was general among the savage tribes -of North America. The possession of a numerous flock of wives placed -a man above the common as surely as that of a large fortune does -in Europe;<a id="FNanchor_378" href="#Footnote_378" class="fnanchor">[378]</a> religion even sanctified this polygamy, for in all -countries it can accommodate itself to the dominant morals. Thus, the -Chippeways believe that polygamy is agreeable to the Great Spirit; for -it is a means of having a numerous posterity.<a id="FNanchor_379" href="#Footnote_379" class="fnanchor">[379]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</span></p> - -<p>Except the habitual consanguinity of the wives, the polygamy of -the Redskins has nothing original in it; it is, as elsewhere, the -privilege of the rich men.<a id="FNanchor_380" href="#Footnote_380" class="fnanchor">[380]</a> Sometimes also the girls are retained -from infancy, and then, as happens with the Noutka-Columbians, the -buyer deposits certain valuable articles as security.<a id="FNanchor_381" href="#Footnote_381" class="fnanchor">[381]</a> In these -polygamous families of Redskins the harmony is rarely disturbed; and -the man, always having the power to repudiate any wife as he may -please, only has to command very submissive ones.<a id="FNanchor_382" href="#Footnote_382" class="fnanchor">[382]</a> Here and there -certain customs appear which have a shade of monogamy about them; for -instance, among the Columbians every wife has her separate habitation, -or, at the least, her special fireside.<a id="FNanchor_383" href="#Footnote_383" class="fnanchor">[383]</a> Sometimes there is a chief -wife having authority over the other wives.<a id="FNanchor_384" href="#Footnote_384" class="fnanchor">[384]</a> But everywhere the -subjection of women in regard to man is extreme. Among the Indians -of New Mexico—and these are not by any means the most savage—the -women have to prepare the food, tan the skins, cultivate the ground, -fabricate the clothes, build the houses, and groom the horses. In -return for this, the men, whose sole occupations are hunting and war, -beat their wives without pity, and often mutilate and kill them.<a id="FNanchor_385" href="#Footnote_385" class="fnanchor">[385]</a></p> - - -<h3 id="h3_24">II. <i>Polygamy in Asia and Europe.</i></h3> - -<p>We might already deduce some general ideas from our rapid survey -of savage polygamy in Oceania, Africa, and America; but it will be -convenient, before we do so, to interrogate the primitive races of Asia -and Europe. Doubtless, the description of their conjugal manners and -customs, after all that precedes, may seem monotonous; nevertheless, -this monotony even is instructive; it proves that in all times and -places, in despite of differences of race, climate and environment, the -evolution of human groups is subject to certain laws, that the family, -marriage, the constitution of property, and social organisation pass -through a series of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</span> necessary phases; in short, that in attempting to -construct a science of sociology we are not pursuing a chimera.</p> - -<p>I resume, therefore, my enumeration. Among the indigenous tribes of -India polygamy is widely spread, without, however, being universal; for -each one of these small peoples has evolved, as it has been able, more -or less rapidly. Some among them are polyandrous, and even monogamous. -Often enough polyandry co-exists with polygamy, the one appearing as -moral as the other.</p> - -<p>With all these aborigines, marriage, or what we are pleased to call -so, is generally concluded by purchase, and the price of the woman -naturally oscillates according to the law of supply and demand. Most -often it is represented by poultry, pigs, oxen, or cows, given to the -parents. From this manner of procuring wives it seems that, there -also, polygamy is the luxury of the rich or of chiefs. Among the -Mishmis these privileged individuals sometimes possess sixty wives. -The Mishmi husbands form a rare exception on one point—they are not -at all exacting about the fidelity of their wives; they consider them -as slaves or servants, and provided they continue to benefit their -masters by their work, the latter willingly shut their eyes to their -intrigues.<a id="FNanchor_386" href="#Footnote_386" class="fnanchor">[386]</a></p> - -<p>Among these polygamous tribes, which it would take too long to -enumerate, may be counted the Miris, the Dophlas, the Juangs, the -Khamtis, the Singphos, etc.</p> - -<p>We must again note in certain tribes, the Khamtis, for example, the -monogamic pre-eminence of the first wife.<a id="FNanchor_387" href="#Footnote_387" class="fnanchor">[387]</a> It is one of those -sociological analogies of which I have already spoken, and it is -important to point it out.</p> - -<p>Polygamy still prevails with the mountaineers of Bootan, concurrently -with polyandry. It is often incestuous; a man willingly marries two -sisters, the one an adult, the other younger. But no other incest -is recognised or punished except that committed between son and -mother.<a id="FNanchor_388" href="#Footnote_388" class="fnanchor">[388]</a></p> - -<p>Farther north, among the Ostiaks, a man feels no repugnance to marrying -several sisters,<a id="FNanchor_389" href="#Footnote_389" class="fnanchor">[389]</a> and, in general, polygamy is very widely spread -among the nomad Mongols. A Yakout, for example, if obliged to make -frequent<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</span> journeys, takes care to have a wife in every place at which -he stops.<a id="FNanchor_390" href="#Footnote_390" class="fnanchor">[390]</a></p> - -<p>The polygamic <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> is also in great honour in the Mongolian -archipelagoes of Asia, in the Palos Islands, in the Caroline Islands, -etc. Among the Battas of Sumatra it evidently begins to be distasteful -to the women, since the polygamous husband is obliged to assign to each -of his wives a special hearth, and kitchen utensils of her own, with -which she prepares her food apart, or with that of her husband, when -she is on duty, and required by the master.<a id="FNanchor_391" href="#Footnote_391" class="fnanchor">[391]</a></p> - -<p>In this chapter I confine myself to primitive polygamy, to that of the -grossest savages or barbarians; but there are barbarians of every race -and colour, and the roots of all superior civilisations necessarily go -far down into primitive savagery. Now we have seen that the polygamic -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> is prevalent throughout the world among races that are -little cultivated; we may hence conclude that the most civilised -nations must have begun with polygamy, and, in reality, it has been -thus everywhere and always. In the various civilised societies, living -or dead, marriage has commenced by being polygamous. It is a law which -has few exceptions.</p> - -<p>In ancient Peru, the Incas decreed monogamy to be obligatory for the -lower classes. The Chinese attribute to Fo-Hi, their first sovereign, -the institution of marriage. This legendary king is said to have raised -them out of promiscuity. Such also was the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">rôle</i> of Cecrops, in -Greece, and the same thing happened in primitive India. About thirty -years ago a number of erudite Europeans, especially the mythologists -and linguists, were smitten with a blind love for the Indian hymns of -the Rig-Veda. They set to work to torture these old Sanscrit texts, -naturally obscure, and by subjecting them to a sort of linguistic -examination, they wrung from them imaginary revelations. It was -decided that a unique and marvellous race, primitively endowed with -every virtue and capacity, had sprung up one fine day on some plateau -or other of Central Asia. The most enthusiastic of them generously -endowed these<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</span> hypothetical Aryans with superhuman faculties. A French -academician believed and declared that from the high plateaus of Pâmir -they perceived the sea, distant, however, some hundreds of leagues; -he affirms that they understood the “circles of the stars,” and were -omniscient. It is to be presumed that this model race was of necessity -monogamous, since it was perfect. To-day, however, we must demolish all -these castles in the air, too lightly built in primitive and chimerical -Arya. The antiquity of the Vedic hymns has had to be much shortened, -and, if we consent to read them without prejudice, we shall have little -admiration for the authors, those gross Aryans, who tried to make their -gods drunk in order to obtain cows, and who sacrificed and cut to -pieces animals, and perhaps men, on their altars. There is surely room -to suppose that their social condition was not more refined than their -religion. On this point the information that may be drawn from the -Vedic hymns is vague and drowned in the waves of religious effusion. -Nevertheless the Rig-Veda speaks of spouses of the gods, and of princes -surrounded by their wives, etc. In fact, a document much more precise -and more recent, the Code of Manu, abundantly proves that the Hindoos, -like all other peoples, have begun by being polygamous.</p> - -<p>I do not now insist on this point, as I shall return to it later. -In every country the primitive races have practised polygamy, when -that has been possible for them. Our European ancestors have not been -more scrupulous on this point than our hypothetical Aryan cousins of -Central Asia. Cæsar tells us that the Gauls were polygamous, and had -the right of life and death over their wives.<a id="FNanchor_392" href="#Footnote_392" class="fnanchor">[392]</a> Tacitus vaunts much -the monogamy of the Germans; this moral feature, says he, distinguishes -them from other barbarians, but he confesses that certain German chiefs -had several wives, and that, as it happens in all barbarous countries, -the wife was sold by the parents for presents consisting of oxen, -horses, and arms.<a id="FNanchor_393" href="#Footnote_393" class="fnanchor">[393]</a></p> - -<p>Polygamy was so natural to German morals that, long after Tacitus, the -Merovingian kings, Clotaire and his sons, for example, still practised -it, that Dagobert had three wives, and that Charlemagne himself was -bigamous. We<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</span> know, too, that Saint Columban was banished from Gaul -only for having blamed the polygamy of King Thierry. Let us resign -ourselves, therefore, to confess the truth. The white race has no -divine investiture. Like all the others, it has sprung from animality; -like all the others, it has been polygamous, and we have only to open -our eyes to perceive that, in the present day, in countries reputed to -be the most civilised, and even in the classes reputed to be the most -distinguished, the majority of individuals have polygamic instincts -which they find it difficult to resist.</p> - -<p>We are now in a position to form a just opinion of primitive polygamy. -Its causes are manifold. The principal one is often the disproportion -of the sexes, resulting from the enormous mortality of men which savage -life necessitates. The desire of giving the rein to a sensuality that -there is, as yet, no thought of repressing, may have a certain share -in the matter; but this motive, which is perhaps dominant in the -polygamous anthropoid apes, quickly becomes secondary in man.</p> - -<p>Even the lowest savage is more calculating, and has more forethought, -than the monkey. His first slave, one may say his first domestic -animal, is his wife. Even when he is still a simple hunter and nomad, -he has always game to be carried, fire to be lighted, a shelter to be -erected, without reckoning that wives are very apt at gathering edible -fruits and shell-fish, and rendering a thousand services. Besides, they -give birth to offspring that can be bartered, sold, or even eaten at -need.</p> - -<p>It is, therefore, very desirable to possess as many as possible -of these beings, fitted for such various ends. If a man is an -agriculturist, the wife is then of still greater utility; he puts upon -her all the hard work; she digs, plants, sows, reaps even, and all -for the profit of her master. She is, besides, a subjected and feeble -creature, whom he can treat just as he will, and on whom he can let -loose his instincts of brutal domination. By force or by ruse, by -capture or by purchase, he therefore procures himself as many wives -as possible. He often buys them in the lump; for example, a lot of -sisters, or of relations of different ages. This diversity of age has -its value; for, in all the numerous uses to which a wife can be put, -the younger ones can take<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</span> at need the place of the elder when the -latter are worn out or broken down.</p> - -<p>Polygamy begins with equality—that is to say, that the man subjects -his little feminine flock to an equal servitude, against which the -wives do not think of rebelling, as they find it quite natural, for -they are not of a more refined nature than their proprietor. By -degrees, however, a certain hierarchy is established among the wives of -the same man. This comes to pass when the social structure is already -more complex, when there are chiefs, nobles, and priests. Polygamy, -in this case, is restrained. Though it continues to be the taste of -nearly all men, it becomes the privilege of the rich and powerful. The -latter sometimes even indulge in an excessive polygamy, and it becomes -difficult for them to maintain order and servile submission among their -feminine flock. From this time they have one or more titular wives, who -rule over their companions, and are sometimes exempt from hard labour. -These chief wives are often daughters, sisters, or relatives of noted -warriors, or of important men, with whom the husband is allied, and -whose prestige somewhat protects the wives that they have given, or -more often sold. In consequence of this, a certain tendency to become -a distinct personality awakens in the wives themselves; they insist on -having their separate hearth, and even their distinct apartment; life -in the flock weighs on them.</p> - -<p>Polygamy then puts on monogamic tendencies. The greater number of -superior races have adopted this hierarchical polygamy before reaching -the legal monogamy, in a mitigated form, of which I shall treat later. -It is important now to describe with some details this polygamy of -superior races.</p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_339" href="#FNanchor_339" class="label">[339]</a> Baudin, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xviii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 34.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_340" href="#FNanchor_340" class="label">[340]</a> Moerenhout, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr> aux îles</i>, etc., t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 235.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_341" href="#FNanchor_341" class="label">[341]</a> Waitz, <i>Anthropology</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 299.—Steedman, -<i>Wanderings, etc., in South Africa</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 240.—Delegorgue, -t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 154; t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 231.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_342" href="#FNanchor_342" class="label">[342]</a> Campbell, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des Voy</i>., t. xxix. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 357.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_343" href="#FNanchor_343" class="label">[343]</a> Burchell, <i>ibid.</i> t. xxvi. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 204.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_344" href="#FNanchor_344" class="label">[344]</a> Du Chaillu, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr> dans l’Afrique équatoriale</i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> -376, 377.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_345" href="#FNanchor_345" class="label">[345]</a> Du Chaillu, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 377.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_346" href="#FNanchor_346" class="label">[346]</a> <i>Second Voyage</i>, etc., <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 18-48.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_347" href="#FNanchor_347" class="label">[347]</a> <i>The Heart of Africa</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 301.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_348" href="#FNanchor_348" class="label">[348]</a> Denham and Clapperton, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. -xxvii. p 437.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_349" href="#FNanchor_349" class="label">[349]</a> Gray and Dockard, <i>ibid.</i> t. xviii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 373.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_350" href="#FNanchor_350" class="label">[350]</a> Brodie Cruikshank, <i>Sojourn of Eight Years on the Gold -Coast</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_351" href="#FNanchor_351" class="label">[351]</a> Denham and Clapperton, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. -xxvii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 437.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_352" href="#FNanchor_352" class="label">[352]</a> Mollien, <i>ibid.</i> t. xxviii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 439.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_353" href="#FNanchor_353" class="label">[353]</a> Du Chaillu, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 378-435.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_354" href="#FNanchor_354" class="label">[354]</a> <i>The Heart of Africa</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 91.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_355" href="#FNanchor_355" class="label">[355]</a> Raffenel, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Nouveau">Nouv.</abbr> <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr> aux Pays des Nègres</i>, t. -<span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 402.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_356" href="#FNanchor_356" class="label">[356]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxv. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 58.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_357" href="#FNanchor_357" class="label">[357]</a> Herbert Spencer, <i>Sociology</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 284-293.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_358" href="#FNanchor_358" class="label">[358]</a> Dupré, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Trois Mois à Madagascar</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 153.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_359" href="#FNanchor_359" class="label">[359]</a> Schweinfurth, <i>The Heart of Africa</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 27.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_360" href="#FNanchor_360" class="label">[360]</a> Dupré, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Trois Mois à Madagascar</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 153.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_361" href="#FNanchor_361" class="label">[361]</a> Pritchard, <i>Polynesian Reminiscences</i>, etc., <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -270.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_362" href="#FNanchor_362" class="label">[362]</a> Th. West, <i>Ten Years in South Central Polynesia</i>, -<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 270.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_363" href="#FNanchor_363" class="label">[363]</a> Bougainville, <i>Voyages</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 244.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_364" href="#FNanchor_364" class="label">[364]</a> Pritchard, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 372.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_365" href="#FNanchor_365" class="label">[365]</a> Cook (Third Voyage), <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. ix. -<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 70.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_366" href="#FNanchor_366" class="label">[366]</a> Dumont d’Urville.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_367" href="#FNanchor_367" class="label">[367]</a> A. d’Orbigny, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">L’homme Américain</i>, t. -<span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 403.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_368" href="#FNanchor_368" class="label">[368]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Voyage à la Terre-ferme</i>, etc., t. -<span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 304.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_369" href="#FNanchor_369" class="label">[369]</a> A. d’Orbigny, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 89.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_370" href="#FNanchor_370" class="label">[370]</a> H. Spencer, <i>Sociology</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 282.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_371" href="#FNanchor_371" class="label">[371]</a> A. d’Orbigny, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 308.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_372" href="#FNanchor_372" class="label">[372]</a> J. Owen Dorsey, <i>Omaha Sociology</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 260 -(<i>Smithsonian Institution</i>, 1885).</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_373" href="#FNanchor_373" class="label">[373]</a> L. Morgan, <i>Ancient Societies</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 432.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_374" href="#FNanchor_374" class="label">[374]</a> Bancroft, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 277.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_375" href="#FNanchor_375" class="label">[375]</a> J. Owen Dorsey, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 260.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_376" href="#FNanchor_376" class="label">[376]</a> Bancroft, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 388.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_377" href="#FNanchor_377" class="label">[377]</a> Wake, <i>Evolution of Morality</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 255.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_378" href="#FNanchor_378" class="label">[378]</a> H. Spencer, <i>Sociology</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 283.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_379" href="#FNanchor_379" class="label">[379]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 285.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_380" href="#FNanchor_380" class="label">[380]</a> Domenech, <i><abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr> pitt.</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 509.—Bancroft, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. -<abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 168-195.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_381" href="#FNanchor_381" class="label">[381]</a> Bancroft, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 511.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_382" href="#FNanchor_382" class="label">[382]</a> Domenech, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 511.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_383" href="#FNanchor_383" class="label">[383]</a> Bancroft, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 277.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_384" href="#FNanchor_384" class="label">[384]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 511.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_385" href="#FNanchor_385" class="label">[385]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 511.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_386" href="#FNanchor_386" class="label">[386]</a> Dalton, <i>Descriptive Ethno. of Bengal</i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 12, 16, -19.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_387" href="#FNanchor_387" class="label">[387]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 8.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_388" href="#FNanchor_388" class="label">[388]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr> au Bootan</i>, by a Hindoo author, in <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Revue -Britannique</i>, 1827.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_389" href="#FNanchor_389" class="label">[389]</a> Wake, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 269.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_390" href="#FNanchor_390" class="label">[390]</a> H. Spencer, <i>Sociology</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 280.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_391" href="#FNanchor_391" class="label">[391]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 292.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_392" href="#FNanchor_392" class="label">[392]</a> <i lang="it" xml:lang="it">De bello Gallico</i>, vi. 19.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_393" href="#FNanchor_393" class="label">[393]</a> <i>Germania</i>, xviii.</p> - -</div> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.<br /><br /><span class="small">POLYGAMY OF CIVILISED PEOPLE.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>I. <i>The Stage of Polygamy.</i>—Primitive polygamy—Man resigns -himself to monogamy.</p> - -<p>II. <i>Arab Polygamy.</i>—Why the Mussulmans have remained -polygamous—The inferiority of woman proclaimed by the -Koran—Polygamic restrictions in the Koran—Religion sanctions -the right of conjugal property—The purchased woman—The -conjugal prerogatives of the prophet—Duties of the polygamous -husband—Celestial polygamy—The Mussulman marriage is laic—Female -merchandise—The preliminaries of marriage—Duties and obligations -of the Mussulman husband; his rights—Marriage in Kabyle—Cruel -subjection of the Kabyle wife—Sale and purchase of the -wife—Excessive rights of the Kabyle husband—The Kabyle marriage is -inferior to the Arab marriage—Polygamy and the subjection of women.</p> - -<p>III. <i>Polygamy in Egypt, Mexico, and Peru.</i>—Monogamy of -the priests in Egypt—Polygamy of the Incas and of the nobles in -Peru—Polygamy of the nobles in Mexico—Polygamy with monogamic -tendency.</p> - -<p>IV. <i>Polygamy in Persia and India.</i>—Polygamy and concubinage of -princes in Persia—Severity of sexual morality in the Avesta—Polygamy -according to the Rig-Veda—Polygamy in the Code of Manu—Evolution of -polygamy in India—How monogamy became established.</p> -</div> - - -<h3 id="h3_25">I. <i>The Stage of Polygamy.</i></h3> - -<p>Our inquiry is already sufficiently advanced to give us an idea of the -first phases of the evolution of marriage. To begin with, both in the -case of human beings and of anthropoid apes, sexual unions have not -been reduced to any rule; promiscuity has been rare and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</span> exceptional, -but polygamy has been very common, at least a gross polygamy, not -regulated in any way, and merely resulting from the monopoly of the -women by the strongest or the richest men. It has been a sort of -conjugal anarchy, admitting simultaneously of various matrimonial -forms, as polyandry, term marriage, experimental marriage, etc., during -periods of more or less length.</p> - -<p>Besides their primordial <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">rôle</i> as child-bearers, wives were found -very useful in other ways—either for the satisfaction of sensual -desires, or for the execution of a number of painful labours; and -therefore men endeavoured to procure as many of them as possible, first -by capture, and then by purchase, or by giving a certain amount of work -in submitting to a temporary servitude. In the preceding chapter I have -given the history of this primitive, savage polygamy which as yet no -law regulated.</p> - -<p>During the first phases of their social evolution, all the human races -have practised, with more or less brutality, this gross polygamy. We -have seen—and it is a subject to which I shall have to return—how, -in the bosom of the polygamic <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i>, monogamic tendencies have -appeared, which by degrees have ended by prevailing amongst all the -more civilised races. These races have resigned themselves to adopt -monogamy, or at least legal monogamy. I say “resigned,” for it seems -that monogamy costs much to man; in reality laws and customs have -everywhere attenuated the severity of it for him by various compromises -of which I shall soon have to speak.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_26">II. <i>Arab Polygamy.</i></h3> - -<p>However, among the superior races, there is one, the Arab race, -which, up to our own time, has maintained and legalised the polygamic -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i>, while propagating and regulating it among the various -peoples that have come under its domination. If, in this respect, the -Arab race has been an exception to the general evolution, it is not -because it is less gifted than the others; it has sufficiently proved -this. According to the ancients, a fantastic fish,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</span> the <i>remora</i>, -had the power of suddenly stopping the passage of ships at sea; -religion has played this part for the Arabs. Theoretically, all the -great and solidly constituted religions are incompatible with progress. -Although relatively they may appear innovations at the moment of their -birth, yet they bar the route of the future, and, as much as is in -their power, oppose all ulterior evolution. This is imperative, since -they pretend to declare the immutable will of divine personages, -who are omnipotent, omniscient, and perfectly wise, and who cannot -consequently either re-touch or amend the laws that they make, and -the commands they give to poor human creatures. Now, Islamism arose -amidst the full polygamic <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i>; its founder could not even -dream of establishing any other. Polygamy was therefore established -by divine right among the faithful, and as at the bottom it is in -accord with the primitive instincts of man, it has maintained itself -in Mussulman countries from the time of Mahomet to our own days. From -the sociological point of view this is a most interesting fact, for -it gives us the opportunity of studying and estimating the polygamic -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> in its full development.</p> - -<p>Let us listen at first to the Koran; we will then consult the Arabian -jurists and the customs of contemporary Arabs.</p> - -<p>To begin with, the holy book loudly proclaims the inferiority of women, -which naturally justifies their subjection, and this subjection is -great in all polygamous countries. There is no ambiguity on this point -in the words of the prophet: “Men are superior to women by reason -of the qualities God has given them to place them above women, and -<em>because men employ their wealth in giving dowries to women</em>. -Virtuous women are obedient and submissive; they carefully guard, -during their husband’s absence, that which God has ordered them to -preserve intact. Thou shalt correct those whom thou fearest may be -disobedient: thou shalt put them in beds apart: <em>thou shalt beat -them</em>: but as soon as they obey thee again, do not seek cause for -quarrel with them. God is merciful and great.”<a id="FNanchor_394" href="#Footnote_394" class="fnanchor">[394]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</span></p> - -<p>This text is eloquent. It first of all consecrates masculine -superiority by divine right, then marriage by purchase, and lastly, the -liberty of the husband to treat his wives with brutality.</p> - -<p>The restrictions on polygamy found in the Koran are very slight: -“Marry not the women whom your fathers had to wife: it is a sin, and -abomination: except what is already past.”<a id="FNanchor_395" href="#Footnote_395" class="fnanchor">[395]</a></p> - -<p>No retrospective effect here! We may conclude from this that, up to the -time of Mahomet, the sons inherited the harem of their father, as is -still the case in a number of little despotic states of negro Africa.</p> - -<p>The holy book also commands respect for the feminine property of -others, save in the case of capture by war or of religious infidelity -of the husband. “You are forbidden to take to wife free women who are -married, except those women whom your right hand shall possess as -slaves: such is the law of God.”<a id="FNanchor_396" href="#Footnote_396" class="fnanchor">[396]</a> “O believers! when believing -women come unto you as refugees, try them. And if you know them to be -true believers, send them not back to their infidel husbands; but give -their husbands back what they have expended for their dower.”<a id="FNanchor_397" href="#Footnote_397" class="fnanchor">[397]</a> -In the Koran the respect for money is already much greater than for -females. The wife must be purchased. “It is permitted unto you to -procure wives with money, and you shall keep them in virtuous ways, -avoiding debauchery. Give unto her with whom thou dost cohabit the -dower thou hast promised.”<a id="FNanchor_398" href="#Footnote_398" class="fnanchor">[398]</a></p> - -<p>The prophet counsels the faithful, without however commanding it, -to have a small number of wives: “But if ye fear that ye cannot act -equitably towards the orphans, take in marriage of such other women as -please you, two, or three, or four, and not more.”</p> - -<p>The text ends with a permission to the man merely to pay a fictitious -dowry to the wives: “Assign dowries freely to your wives, and if it -pleases them to give you back a part, enjoy it conveniently at your -ease.”<a id="FNanchor_399" href="#Footnote_399" class="fnanchor">[399]</a></p> - -<p>As for the prophet himself, he was to be above most of the restrictions -which he imposed on others: “O prophet,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</span> we have allowed thee thy wives -unto whom thou hast given their dower, and also the slaves which thy -right hand possesseth of the booty which God hath granted thee, and -the daughters of thy uncle, and the daughters of thy aunts, both on -thy father’s side and on thy mother’s side, who have fled with thee -from Mecca, and any other believing woman, if she give herself unto -the prophet.”<a id="FNanchor_400" href="#Footnote_400" class="fnanchor">[400]</a> “O prophet, if believing women come to thee for an -asylum, having promised thee that they will flee idolatry, that they -will not steal, nor commit fornication, nor kill their children, and -will not disobey thee in anything that is just: believe them and pray -for them: God is indulgent and merciful.”<a id="FNanchor_401" href="#Footnote_401" class="fnanchor">[401]</a> This last text gives -a sad enough idea of the morality of the Arab women before the time -of Mahomet; but taken together with the preceding one, it shows how -convenient and even agreeable it is to be the interpreter of the Divine -will.</p> - -<p>With such facilities for recruiting, the harem of the prophet must have -been richly furnished; therefore he has taken care to free himself from -one duty which he recommends to others, of <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">debitum conjugale</i>: -“Thou mayest,” he says to himself, “either grant or refuse thy embraces -to thy wives.”<a id="FNanchor_402" href="#Footnote_402" class="fnanchor">[402]</a></p> - -<p>On the contrary, he says to vulgar believers: “Ye can by no means carry -yourselves equally between wives in all respects, though you study to -do it; therefore turn not from a wife with all manner of aversion, nor -leave her like one in suspense; if ye agree and fear to abuse your -wives, God is gracious and merciful.”<a id="FNanchor_403" href="#Footnote_403" class="fnanchor">[403]</a></p> - -<p>Polygamy is not rare in the world. We have seen it and shall see it -again in the course of our inquiries; but the polygamy of the Koran -has an advantage over most of the others; it is at once celestial -and terrestrial, for the paradise of true believers is only an ideal -harem: “Say, O believer, what shall I declare of greater benefit for -those who fear God, than gardens through which flow rivers of water, -where they shall dwell for ever, and there shall be women, who are pure -virgins, etc.<a id="FNanchor_404" href="#Footnote_404" class="fnanchor">[404]</a>... Damsels having large black eyes. Therein shall be -agreeable damsels, whom no man<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</span> or genius hath deflowered.<a id="FNanchor_405" href="#Footnote_405" class="fnanchor">[405]</a> There -shall be young and beautiful virgins.<a id="FNanchor_406" href="#Footnote_406" class="fnanchor">[406]</a>... And near them (the elect) -shall be houris with large black eyes, having complexions like rubies -and pearls.<a id="FNanchor_407" href="#Footnote_407" class="fnanchor">[407]</a> Verily we have created the damsels of Paradise by a -peculiar creation.”<a id="FNanchor_408" href="#Footnote_408" class="fnanchor">[408]</a></p> - -<p>The whole of this sacred code sanctifies the inferiority of the woman, -and this inferiority has not been at all mitigated in practice; for -iniquity, always tenacious, is far more so when it is authorised by -religion.</p> - -<p>We must notice, however, in regard to Mussulman marriage, a -circumstance which at first sight is singular: it is that Mahometanism -intervenes in nothing, as religion, in all that concerns marriage; all -conjugal matters are absolutely private, and even the civil power does -not appear any more than the religious power in the celebration of -marriage.</p> - -<p>As a general rule, the future husband goes to declare his union to -the sheik or cadi, who then remits the minute of it to the interested -party, without keeping a copy of it. This formality is, besides, in no -way obligatory; the marriage is considered as a private act, and if -afterwards any disputes should arise in relation to it, the parties -concerned arrange them as well as they can, by appealing to the -testimonial proof.<a id="FNanchor_409" href="#Footnote_409" class="fnanchor">[409]</a></p> - -<p>It all amounts to this, that for Mussulmans the wife is a thing, and -the marriage a simple bargain. The wife is always sold to the husband, -and the price is discussed either by her legal representative or by her -conventional agent. The nuptial gift is even essential to marriage, and -if it has not been paid the wife has the right to refuse all intimate -commerce. “The wife sells herself,” says Sidi Khelil; “and every vendor -has the right to retain the merchandise sold until after taking the -payment.”<a id="FNanchor_410" href="#Footnote_410" class="fnanchor">[410]</a> Before buying, the suitor is allowed to see the face and -the hands of the bride; for the hands of the woman are reputed to give -an idea of her personal beauty.<a id="FNanchor_411" href="#Footnote_411" class="fnanchor">[411]</a></p> - -<p>A man ought, whenever possible, to marry a virgin, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</span> the bargain may -be concluded several years before the delivery of the merchandise.<a id="FNanchor_412" href="#Footnote_412" class="fnanchor">[412]</a> -If the girl is still a virgin, not emancipated, but beyond the age when -it is considered necessary to commence the special <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">rôle</i> reserved -to her sex, the father has the right to impose marriage on her.<a id="FNanchor_413" href="#Footnote_413" class="fnanchor">[413]</a></p> - -<p>The orphan girl can also be married by the authority of the Cadi, if -she is more than ten years old, and if there is reason to fear that she -may lead an irregular life.<a id="FNanchor_414" href="#Footnote_414" class="fnanchor">[414]</a></p> - -<p>In all other cases the consent of the girl is necessary. This -circumstance, let us especially note, constitutes a real moral -progress beyond savage polygamy, and we shall presently see that it is -not yet realised in Kabyle. The consent of the girl is given in two -ways, according to whether she is a virgin or not. This interesting -particular must be frankly declared during the negotiation; the Koran -commands it. If the girl is a virgin, it is understood that modesty -should deprive her of speech, and in order to signify yes or no, she -must have recourse to the language of signs. She can, for example, -show her repugnance by covering her face, and her content by smiling. -But if she is no longer <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">virgo intacta</i> she is allowed to speak -freely.<a id="FNanchor_415" href="#Footnote_415" class="fnanchor">[415]</a></p> - -<p>We have seen that, according to the Koran, the woman owes her master an -absolute submission; and he, in return, whatever may be the number of -his wives, binds himself morally not to leave any one of them “as in -suspense.” This precept of the sacred code is specifically carried out. -Every Mussulman owes to his wives an equal share of his nights, and she -who has had the favour of the night has a right to the following day -also.</p> - -<p>When the husband buys a fresh wife he is indebted to her seven -successive nights if she is a virgin; for three only, in a contrary -case. He has the right to refuse greater exactions than this.<a id="FNanchor_416" href="#Footnote_416" class="fnanchor">[416]</a></p> - -<p>But the husband has other obligations. He must supply food to his wife, -even if she is afflicted with a voracious appetite. This last case is -considered as a calamity, but<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</span> the husband must resign himself to it, -or repudiate the glutton.<a id="FNanchor_417" href="#Footnote_417" class="fnanchor">[417]</a></p> - -<p>The husband owes, besides, to his wife or wives water to drink, water -for ablutions and purifications, oil to eat, oil to burn, oil for -cosmetic unctions, wood for cooking and for the oven, salt, vinegar, -meat every other day or otherwise, according to the custom in various -countries. He must supply them with a mat or a bed—that is to say, a -mattress—and a cover to put on the mat. These duties have correlative -rights. The husband has the right to forbid his wife to eat garlic, or -to eat or drink any other thing which may leave a disagreeable odour. -He may interdict any occupation likely to weaken her, or impair her -beauty.<a id="FNanchor_418" href="#Footnote_418" class="fnanchor">[418]</a> Finally, if she refuses her conjugal obligations without -reasonable motives, the husband can at will deprive her of salt, -pepper, vinegar, etc.<a id="FNanchor_419" href="#Footnote_419" class="fnanchor">[419]</a> The sum total of these restrictions renders -an Arab woman’s position a very subordinate one, both before and after -marriage. But the fate of the Kabyle woman is much more miserable.</p> - -<p>We are always hearing it repeated in France that the Kabyle man is -monogamous, and consequently not so different from ourselves in this -respect as the Arab; but among the Kabyles, as among the Arabs, it is -polygamy which is legal; and if the greater number of the Kabyles are -monogamous in practice, it is chiefly from economy.</p> - -<p>In spite of their republican customs, of their respect for individual -liberty, of the rights they accord to the mother, and of certain -safeguards with which they protect the women in time of war, contrary -also to the liberal tendencies of the Berbers in relation to women, -the Kabyles of Algeria treat their married women and their daughters -as actual slaves, and they are in this respect inferior to the Arabs -themselves.<a id="FNanchor_420" href="#Footnote_420" class="fnanchor">[420]</a> In all matters that refer to sexual relations the -Kabyle customs are ferocious. Outside of marriage all union of the -sexes is severely interdicted in Kabyle, and the married woman has no -personality; she is literally a thing possessed.<a id="FNanchor_421" href="#Footnote_421" class="fnanchor">[421]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</span></p> - -<p>The young Kabyle girl is sold by her father, her brother, her uncle, -or some relation (<i>açeb</i>); in short, by her legal owner. In -announcing his marriage, a man says quite bluntly—“I have bought a -wife.” When a father has married his daughter, the phrase in ordinary -use is—“He has eaten his daughter.”<a id="FNanchor_422" href="#Footnote_422" class="fnanchor">[422]</a></p> - -<p>Among the Cheurfas, but it is an exceptional case, the girl is -consulted on the choice of a husband when she has attained the age of -reason; everywhere else the virgin daughter is never consulted, and -even the widow and repudiated wife, to whom the Mussulman law accords -liberty, cannot dispose of themselves in Kabyle countries.<a id="FNanchor_423" href="#Footnote_423" class="fnanchor">[423]</a></p> - -<p>In many tribes, however, the daughter can twice refuse the man that is -proposed to her; but after that she has exhausted her right, and is -forced to submit.<a id="FNanchor_424" href="#Footnote_424" class="fnanchor">[424]</a></p> - -<p>The legal owner of the Kabyle woman generally gives her, at her -wedding, garments and jewels; or rather, he lends them to her, for it -is forbidden to the woman to dispose of them, and at her death these -precious articles must be returned to her relatives.<a id="FNanchor_425" href="#Footnote_425" class="fnanchor">[425]</a></p> - -<p>An essential condition of the Kabyle marriage, as of the Arab, is the -payment of a certain price, generally debated, but which certain tribes -of southern Jurjura have fixed once for all. This price is called the -“turban” (<i>thâmanth</i>), as with us “pin-money” is spoken of. A -penal sanction guarantees the payment of the <i>thâmanth</i> and the -delivery of the person sold.<a id="FNanchor_426" href="#Footnote_426" class="fnanchor">[426]</a></p> - -<p>In principle the woman has no right over the <i>thâmanth</i>.<a id="FNanchor_427" href="#Footnote_427" class="fnanchor">[427]</a></p> - -<p>Besides the purchase money, or <i>thâmanth</i>, the Kabyle further -stipulates in addition that he shall receive a certain quantity of -provisions (cattle, or food, flour, oil, butter) to be consumed during -the marriage festivities.</p> - -<p>The villages which have tariffed the <i>thâmanth</i> have also fixed -the amount of these presents.</p> - -<p>The father likewise stipulates, for the benefit of the daughter who is -sold, a gift of garments and of jewels; but this gift dispenses the -husband from providing in this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</span> respect for the maintenance of the wife -during one year. This is particularly necessary, because the bride, in -quitting her parents, leaves them all that she has received,<a id="FNanchor_428" href="#Footnote_428" class="fnanchor">[428]</a> and -takes away nothing but her body.</p> - -<p>It is sometimes the mother who thus makes the conjugal sale of her -daughter, but on condition of being recognised as guardian; and even -then she does not enjoy, like the father, an unrestrained power, and -she has to consult her daughter.<a id="FNanchor_429" href="#Footnote_429" class="fnanchor">[429]</a></p> - -<p>Once purchased, the Kabyle wife is entirely at the mercy of the -husband-proprietor. She must follow him wherever it suits him to -settle; her only actual possession is the raiment which covers her. -Her husband has the right to chastise her with his fist, with a stick, -with a stone, or even with a poignard. He is only forbidden to kill her -without a reasonably serious motive.<a id="FNanchor_430" href="#Footnote_430" class="fnanchor">[430]</a></p> - -<p>If, however, when she has become a mother, she is unable to suckle her -child, the law decides that the husband is obliged to provide a wet -nurse;<a id="FNanchor_431" href="#Footnote_431" class="fnanchor">[431]</a> though this is more for the child’s sake than the mother’s, -as she cares little enough about the infant.</p> - -<p>The married woman is considered so entirely as property in Kabyle that -the prolonged absence of the master is allowed to set her free. In this -case she belongs, after four years, to her maternal relations, who -have the right to re-marry her—that is to say, to re-sell her—unless -the absent husband has left her a sufficient provision. However, the -husband’s parents can delay the dissolution of the first marriage, -sometimes for seven years, sometimes for ten years, but on condition of -taking the place of the absent husband in furnishing the deserted wife -with food and clothes.<a id="FNanchor_432" href="#Footnote_432" class="fnanchor">[432]</a></p> - -<p>The Kabyle woman, therefore, married or not, is always a thing -possessed. We shall see later that even widowhood does not enfranchise -her. The right of correcting the woman who is not under the power of a -husband ceases only when she has reached an age when marriage would be -sterile, and especially if she has in a way abjured her sex by mixing -with men in the markets.<a id="FNanchor_433" href="#Footnote_433" class="fnanchor">[433]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</span></p> - -<p>Very often the assimilation of the Kabyle people to the French is -spoken of as a thing relatively easy. It appears to me that the servile -subjection of the Kabyle woman is an almost insurmountable obstacle -to this dream of fusion. Without doubt the married woman in France -is only a minor; but in Kabyle she is still in the lowest stage of -slavery. In this respect the Berbers of Kabyle are on a level with the -coarsest savages; they are even inferior to the Arabs, although the -latter have preserved almost unchanged the polygamic <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> -of the old Islamite, and even pre-Islamite ages. But in all times -and all countries the condition of woman is the measure of the moral -development of the whole people. Now, in regard to this there is a gulf -between Kabyle and civilised Europe.</p> - -<p>The polygamic <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> has, besides, in every country an almost -necessary result—the slavery of women. This is natural. As in the -hordes of chimpanzees, the male, the anthropomorphous paterfamilias, -only maintains his authority by force and by expelling his rivals, so, -in human societies, the polygamous husband can hardly be anything but -the proprietor of subjugated beings, not daring to aspire to freedom. -It may be remarked also that the polygamic appetite, so habitual to -man, cannot be strange to woman. Both have the same blood and share the -same heredity. The polygamous husband, therefore, has always to prevent -or repress the straying of his feminine flock by close confinement or -by terror. Under a polygamic <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> the wife has scarcely any -rights; she has chiefly duties.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_27">III. <i>Polygamy in Egypt, Mexico, and Peru.</i></h3> - -<p>I have dwelt long enough on Mussulman polygamy. From a sociological -point of view it is extremely interesting. It affords us the -opportunity of studying from life customs which, with differences of -detail, must have been those of all civilised peoples at a certain -period of their evolution, and which probably have only been kept up -among the Islamites on account of the confusion of civil and religious -laws, these last giving to polygamy a sort of consecration.</p> - -<p>In all the great primitive barbarous monarchies the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</span> polygamy of the -first ages has been by degrees restrained or abolished, according to -the measure of social progress.</p> - -<p>In ancient Egypt polygamy was still in force; but already it was -interdicted to the priests,<a id="FNanchor_434" href="#Footnote_434" class="fnanchor">[434]</a> contrary to what has happened nearly -everywhere. As a matter of fact, and by the simple necessity resulting -from the proportion of the sexes, even when polygamy is authorised and -legal, it is especially the luxury of rich and powerful men; the common -people have everywhere been reduced to monogamy, whether they wished -it or not. Under most of the great early despotic monarchies which -had emerged from primitive savagery this fact became legalised, and -plurality of wives constituted a privilege reserved to the great ones -of the land.</p> - -<p>In ancient Peru monogamy was obligatory for men who possessed nothing, -but not for the Inca and the nobles of the kingdom. Thus the last Inca, -Atahualpa, had three thousand wives or concubines. As generally happens -when polygamy is restrained, there was already a hierarchy among the -wives of the Inca; one of them, who was obliged to be his sister, the -<i>coya</i>, was reputed superior to the others, and her eldest son -succeeded his father.<a id="FNanchor_435" href="#Footnote_435" class="fnanchor">[435]</a> On this point, as on many others, ancient -Peru had unconsciously copied Egypt.</p> - -<p>In Mexico also, monogamy was habitual for the poor, but the powerful -and the nobles had a number of wives proportioned to their rank and to -their riches.<a id="FNanchor_436" href="#Footnote_436" class="fnanchor">[436]</a> In Mexico, as in Peru, polygamy was monogamic in -the sense that one wife had pre-eminence over the others, and that her -children alone inherited the paternal title and wealth.</p> - -<p>This polygamy of princes and potentates, who by right of birth soar -above the common rule, is found also in the great Aryan empires of -Asia.<a id="FNanchor_437" href="#Footnote_437" class="fnanchor">[437]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</span></p> -<h3 id="h3_28">IV. <i>Polygamy in Persia and India.</i></h3> - -<p>The polygamy of the monarchs of ancient Persia seems to have been -copied from that of the kings of Egypt, or of the Incas of Peru. They -had numerous concubines and three or four wives, of whom one was -especially considered as queen, or privileged wife.<a id="FNanchor_438" href="#Footnote_438" class="fnanchor">[438]</a></p> - -<p>As for the Persians of more ancient times still, the Mazdeans who drew -up the sacred code of the Avesta, if we refer to the Zend text, we -find they had a most severe sexual morality. The Avestic code condemns -and punishes resort to prostitutes, seduction, sexual extravagances, -abortion, etc. Throughout that portion of the Avesta which has come -down to us there is no recognition of polygamy, and the verses which -mention marriage have quite a monogamic meaning. It seems, however, -says one of the translators of the Avesta, that among the ancient -Persians polygamy may have been authorised in case of sterility of -the first wife.<a id="FNanchor_439" href="#Footnote_439" class="fnanchor">[439]</a> Like anthropophagy, polygamy is an original -sin with human societies. But writings so exclusively religious and -even liturgic as the Avesta constitute very incomplete sources of -information in regard to civil institutions. To study the marriage of -the ancient Persians in the Avesta seems about as illusory as it would -be to study ours in a Catholic prayer-book.</p> - -<p>We know also, from the Code of Manu and historical and ethnographical -documents, that polygamy is and has been far from being unknown in -India, and yet it is difficult to prove from the text of the Vedic -hymns that the writers of these chants have practised it.</p> - -<p>This may be inferred, however, from several verses. In the beginning -the morals were coarse enough for abortion to be common. “Let Agni,” we -read in a hymn, “kill the rakchasa who, under the form of a brother, a -husband, or a lover, approaches thee to destroy thy fruit.”<a id="FNanchor_440" href="#Footnote_440" class="fnanchor">[440]</a> On the -other hand, woman is held in slight esteem by the sacred chants. She is -a being “of incapable mind and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</span> unfit for serious employment.”<a id="FNanchor_441" href="#Footnote_441" class="fnanchor">[441]</a> In -one hymn, Satchi, the daughter of Buloman, boasts of having eclipsed -her rivals in the eyes of her husband.<a id="FNanchor_442" href="#Footnote_442" class="fnanchor">[442]</a> A certain number of verses -speak of the wives of the gods: “The praying cows, these wives of Agni, -wish to obtain a proof of the virility of the god.”<a id="FNanchor_443" href="#Footnote_443" class="fnanchor">[443]</a></p> - -<p>In Sanskrit the word “finger” is feminine, and thus very often the -fingers which handle the sacred mortar are called the ten wives of -Agni.<a id="FNanchor_444" href="#Footnote_444" class="fnanchor">[444]</a></p> - -<p>In short, other accounts leave us no room to doubt that in primitive -India, as elsewhere, the great and the powerful have largely practised -polygamy from Vedic times.<a id="FNanchor_445" href="#Footnote_445" class="fnanchor">[445]</a></p> - -<p>That these customs have been those of Brahmanic India, the text of Manu -in antiquity, and the reports of travellers in modern times, attest -loudly enough. One verse of Manu regulates the right of succession -of sons that a Brahmin may have by four wives belonging to different -castes. “If a Brahmin has four wives belonging to four classes, in -the direct order, and if they all have sons, this is the rule of -inheritance. Let the son of the Brahmin (after having deducted the -bull, the chariot, and the jewels) take three parts of the rest; let -the son of the Kchatriya wife take two parts; that of the Vaisyâ, one -part and a half; that of the Soudra, one part only.”<a id="FNanchor_446" href="#Footnote_446" class="fnanchor">[446]</a></p> - -<p>Another verse, much more singular, declares that the children of a -second wife belong to the person who has lent the money to buy her:</p> - -<p>“He who has a wife, and who, after having borrowed money from some one, -marries another with it, derives no other advantage than the sensual -pleasure; the children belong to the man who has given the money.”<a id="FNanchor_447" href="#Footnote_447" class="fnanchor">[447]</a> -As for the king, the Code of Manu permits polygamy to him in the -largest measure, at least under the form of concubinage. He ought to -have a troop of wives, whose duty it is to fan him, and to pour water -and perfumes over his august person.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</span> He refreshes himself with them -from the cares of government, and passes the night in their agreeable -company.<a id="FNanchor_448" href="#Footnote_448" class="fnanchor">[448]</a> We must not forget, besides, that, as the Mahabharata -has informed us, the Kchatriyas practised marriage by capture and -polygamy.<a id="FNanchor_449" href="#Footnote_449" class="fnanchor">[449]</a></p> - -<p>To sum up, in India, as everywhere else, polygamy has evolved; it -has at first been common; then, when power and riches have been -concentrated in the hands of a small number, it has become the -privilege of the great. The polygamy of the princes and of the rich -Brahmins was even the first obstacle encountered in the seventeenth -century by the preaching of the Jesuits in India.<a id="FNanchor_450" href="#Footnote_450" class="fnanchor">[450]</a></p> - -<p>In the present time it is the same for the great, and custom tolerates -a second wife, even to common husbands, in case of sterility of the -first.<a id="FNanchor_451" href="#Footnote_451" class="fnanchor">[451]</a> I shall have to speak again of these customs in treating of -concubinage.</p> - -<p>If we now sum up the general sense of the numerous facts which I have -just passed in review, we see that with the entire human race polygamy -has succeeded to the sexual and conjugal anarchy of the first ages. -Like all other institutions, primitive polygamy has gradually become -regulated, but always while keeping the woman in a very humiliating -position. One fact of great importance, and which has by degrees ruined -the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> of a plurality of wives, even when custom, law, -and religion authorised it, is that polygamy became a luxury within -the reach only of rulers, as soon as a tolerable social condition -restrained the too rapid mortality of males. Indeed, from this moment -the sexual equilibrium of births compelled the greater number of men to -practical monogamy, and thenceforth, as Herbert Spencer justly remarks, -a public opinion was necessarily formed in favour of monogamy. Often, -therefore, polygamy constituted a legal privilege; it was expressly -limited to kings, great men, and priests.</p> - -<p>Besides this a hierarchy became established among the numerous wives, -and one of them had precedence of her companions.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</span></p> - -<p>Finally, legal monogamy was decreed, but this monogamy was in -appearance only. In practice the pain of it was softened by -compromises, notably by prostitution, which was at least tolerated, and -by concubinage, which received the consecration of law.</p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_394" href="#FNanchor_394" class="label">[394]</a> Koran, Sourate, iv. 38.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_395" href="#FNanchor_395" class="label">[395]</a> Koran, Sourate, iv. 26.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_396" href="#FNanchor_396" class="label">[396]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> iv. 28.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_397" href="#FNanchor_397" class="label">[397]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> lx. 10.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_398" href="#FNanchor_398" class="label">[398]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> iv. 18.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_399" href="#FNanchor_399" class="label">[399]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> iv. 3.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_400" href="#FNanchor_400" class="label">[400]</a> Koran, xxxiii. 47.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_401" href="#FNanchor_401" class="label">[401]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> lx. 12.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_402" href="#FNanchor_402" class="label">[402]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> xxxiii. 49.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_403" href="#FNanchor_403" class="label">[403]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> iv. 128.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_404" href="#FNanchor_404" class="label">[404]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> iii. 13.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_405" href="#FNanchor_405" class="label">[405]</a> Koran, lii. 20.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_406" href="#FNanchor_406" class="label">[406]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> lv. 56-70.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_407" href="#FNanchor_407" class="label">[407]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> lvi. 22.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_408" href="#FNanchor_408" class="label">[408]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> lvi. 35.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_409" href="#FNanchor_409" class="label">[409]</a> E. Meynier, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Études sur l’Islamisme</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 148.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_410" href="#FNanchor_410" class="label">[410]</a> Sidi Khelil, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 434 (quoted by Meynier).</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_411" href="#FNanchor_411" class="label">[411]</a> E. Meynier, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 159.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_412" href="#FNanchor_412" class="label">[412]</a> E. Meynier, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i> <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 158-160.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_413" href="#FNanchor_413" class="label">[413]</a> Sidi Khelil, t. ii. <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 326, 327 (quoted by Meynier).</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_414" href="#FNanchor_414" class="label">[414]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 157.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_415" href="#FNanchor_415" class="label">[415]</a> E. Meynier, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 158.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_416" href="#FNanchor_416" class="label">[416]</a> Sidi Khelil, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 505.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_417" href="#FNanchor_417" class="label">[417]</a> E. Meynier, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 165.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_418" href="#FNanchor_418" class="label">[418]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 166.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_419" href="#FNanchor_419" class="label">[419]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 167.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_420" href="#FNanchor_420" class="label">[420]</a> E. Sabatier, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Essai sur l’origine, etc., des Berbères -sédentaires</i>, in <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Revue d’anthropologie</i>, 1882.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_421" href="#FNanchor_421" class="label">[421]</a> Hanoteau et Letourneux, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La Kabylie</i>, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -148.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_422" href="#FNanchor_422" class="label">[422]</a> Hanoteau et Letourneux, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La Kabylie</i>, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -148.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_423" href="#FNanchor_423" class="label">[423]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 149.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_424" href="#FNanchor_424" class="label">[424]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 150.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_425" href="#FNanchor_425" class="label">[425]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 162.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_426" href="#FNanchor_426" class="label">[426]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 152, 153.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_427" href="#FNanchor_427" class="label">[427]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_428" href="#FNanchor_428" class="label">[428]</a> Hanoteau et Letourneux, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La Kabylie</i>, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -161.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_429" href="#FNanchor_429" class="label">[429]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 151.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_430" href="#FNanchor_430" class="label">[430]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 165.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_431" href="#FNanchor_431" class="label">[431]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 169.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_432" href="#FNanchor_432" class="label">[432]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 146.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_433" href="#FNanchor_433" class="label">[433]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 151.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_434" href="#FNanchor_434" class="label">[434]</a> Diodorus, book i. 80.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_435" href="#FNanchor_435" class="label">[435]</a> W. Prescott, <i><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> of the Conquest of Peru</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> -i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 46.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_436" href="#FNanchor_436" class="label">[436]</a> W. Prescott, <i><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> of the Conquest of Mexico</i>, -<abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 121.—Herbert Spencer, <i>Sociology</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 283.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_437" href="#FNanchor_437" class="label">[437]</a> F. Müller, <i lang="de" xml:lang="de">Allgem. Ethnogr.</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 263.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_438" href="#FNanchor_438" class="label">[438]</a> Herbert Spencer, <i>Sociology</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 295.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_439" href="#FNanchor_439" class="label">[439]</a> C. de Harlez, <i>Avesta</i>, <abbr title="introduction">Introd.</abbr> clxxi.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_440" href="#FNanchor_440" class="label">[440]</a> <i>Rig-Veda</i>, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="section">sec.</abbr></i> viii., <abbr title="lecture">lect.</abbr> viii., H. xx., ver. -45.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_441" href="#FNanchor_441" class="label">[441]</a> <i>Rig-Veda</i>, <abbr title="section">sec.</abbr> iii., H. ii., ver. 17.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_442" href="#FNanchor_442" class="label">[442]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="section">sec.</abbr> viii., H. xvii., ver. 5, 6.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_443" href="#FNanchor_443" class="label">[443]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="section">sec.</abbr> iii., <abbr title="lecture">lect.</abbr> iv., ver. 3.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_444" href="#FNanchor_444" class="label">[444]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="section">sec.</abbr> vii., <abbr title="lecture">lect.</abbr> viii., H. xxvi., ver. 2.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_445" href="#FNanchor_445" class="label">[445]</a> E. Burnouf, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Essai sur le Véda</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 213.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_446" href="#FNanchor_446" class="label">[446]</a> <i>Code of Manu</i>, ix. ver. 149-151.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_447" href="#FNanchor_447" class="label">[447]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> xi. ver. 5.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_448" href="#FNanchor_448" class="label">[448]</a> <i>Code of Manu</i>, vii. ver. 219, 221, and 224.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_449" href="#FNanchor_449" class="label">[449]</a> Wake, <i>Evolution of Morality</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 241.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_450" href="#FNanchor_450" class="label">[450]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lettres édif.</i>, t. vi. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 26; t. xv. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 286; t. -xii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 416.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_451" href="#FNanchor_451" class="label">[451]</a> Wake, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 230.</p> - -</div> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.<br /><br /><span class="small">PROSTITUTION AND CONCUBINAGE.</span></h2> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>I. <i>Concubinage in General.</i>—Frequency and reason of polygamic -instincts—Palliatives of monogamy.</p> - -<p>II. <i>Prostitution.</i>—Primitive prostitution—Slow rise -of scruples—Specialisation of prostitution in civilised -societies—Prostitution in the ancient States of Central America, -in China and Japan—The right of the father, and prostitution in -Japan—Prostitution in India—Religious prostitution—Prostitution in -Europe.</p> - -<p>III. <i>Various Forms of Concubinage.</i>—The concubinate—Concubine -captives in Judæa and Homeric Greece—Some modern facts of the same -kind—Slave concubines in Africa, in Abyssinia, and Madagascar—Legal -concubinate in Central America—Categories of the concubinate -in Mexico—The “lesser wives” in Tartary and China—Concubines -in Assyria, among the Arabs, and in India—Greek hetaïrism—The -concubinate in ancient Rome—The concubinate of the primitive catholic -clergy—Concubines “by precaution”—Contemporary concubinage—Why it -does not exist in Kabyle—The evolution of concubinage.</p> -</div> - - -<h3 id="h3_29">I. <i>Concubinage in General.</i></h3> - -<p>As a connecting link between polygamy and monogamy, concubinage -deserves special study.</p> - -<p>Between institutions, as between organised beings, there is no sudden -leap. Societies evolve slowly; it is by degrees that customs become -refined, and that laws are formulated of a less and less brutal kind. -It has been with marriage as with everything else. To the confusion -of primitive bestial unions, when polygamy after the manner of -chimpanzees prevailed, have succeeded sexual associations regulated -by laws and customs. I have successively<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</span> described these outlines -or primitive forms of marriage, ending with polygamy, which itself -is not incompatible with a somewhat advanced civilisation, but which -generally, by its restrictions, soon develops a tendency towards -monogamy.</p> - -<p>The abyss is not so very great that separates polygamic from monogamic -marriage.</p> - -<p>As we have seen, primitive man, besides having a purely animal absence -of modesty, has generally polygamic instincts, and nothing can be more -natural, since he descends from anthropoid precursors, and the great -monkeys are habitually polygamous. But the solidity of instincts, moral -or immoral, is always in proportion to the duration of their rise. -Now, during enormous chronological periods or cycles, in comparison -with which the historic ages of humanity are but a moment, our nearest -animal ancestors and our prehistoric percursors have, as far as it -was possible, lived in a polygamic <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i>. It is therefore -quite natural that most men, even in the present time, should be much -inclined to polygamy, and that primitive societies should only have -emerged slowly and imperfectly from it, while tempering monogamic -marriage by polygamic palliatives. Of these palliatives the two -principal ones still in use amongst the most civilised peoples are -prostitution and concubinage, which last becomes a concubinate when -legalised.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_30">II. <i>Prostitution.</i></h3> - -<p>It would certainly be out of place here to give a detailed history of -prostitution. Having, besides, repeatedly spoken of it in the preceding -chapters, I may now confine myself to recapitulating the chief traits -of its evolution. In primitive societies, as we know, it is general, -and in no way blamed. Free girls and women willingly sell themselves, -and more often still, they are an article of traffic for their parents, -like any other merchandise.</p> - -<p>No idea of shame as yet attaches to sexual unions considered in -themselves. Prostitution is a simple barter which shocks no one, -and venal love is merely restrained by respect for the property of -another. Women who are<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</span> already appropriated, or possessed by a man, -are in principle respected, but solely by the same title as any other -property. Their masters, their husbands, those who have bought or -captured them, have a perfect right to hire them out to whomsoever they -will, as the Australian husbands do, and as the Polynesian ones did.</p> - -<p>When the appropriation of women, polygamic as much as possible, -became general, the more than fickle instincts of primitive man -persisted none the less; and, as a matter of fact, it is then that -prostitution, in the modern sense of the word, first arose. Outside the -majority of women, regularly belonging to husband-proprietors, there -existed, in much smaller numbers, women trafficking their persons, -either voluntarily for their own profit, or for that of their legal -possessors. At Senaar, for example, and in many other countries, -merchants and slave-dealers trade very profitably in their feminine -live stock.</p> - -<p>We know also that, in primitive Athens, the most eminent men possessed -troops of prostitutes, and drew a large revenue from them; for it is -very slowly that prostitution, and all that relates to it, has awakened -any scruple in the human conscience.</p> - -<p>Even at the most glorious period of Hellenic civilisation, with what -consideration were the most distinguished hetaïræ still regarded, since -Socrates and Pericles willingly met at the house of Aspasia!</p> - -<p>In all the more or less cultivated societies of the old or new world -prostitution has flourished or continues to flourish. It is even in -refined societies alone that prostitution becomes specialised and -legalised, and ends by being regulated, by becoming, in short, a kind -of institution, supplementing legal marriage and being concurrent with -it.</p> - -<p>Everywhere—in all countries, and among all races—prostitution has -been, or continues to be, tolerated, and sometimes even honoured. It -existed in the great states of Central America, in ancient Peru, in -ancient Mexico, and in Nicaragua, where there were already prostitutes -and brothels. In this last country the morals were still so impure, -and continence, although very relative, so difficult to bear, that at -a certain annual festival the women of all<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</span> classes were authorised to -abandon themselves to whomsoever they pleased.<a id="FNanchor_452" href="#Footnote_452" class="fnanchor">[452]</a></p> - -<p>In the great societies founded by the Mongoloid races, or the Mongols -of Asia, prostitution displays itself in the open day. In China, -tea-houses abound, although the ancient morality of the Celestial -Empire makes chastity a moral duty for unmarried girls and women. In -Cochin-China and Japan, on the contrary,<a id="FNanchor_453" href="#Footnote_453" class="fnanchor">[453]</a> practice and theory are -in accord. No moral brand of shame attaches to the prostitute. In -Cochin-China, says Finlayson,<a id="FNanchor_454" href="#Footnote_454" class="fnanchor">[454]</a> a father has the right to give his -daughter, for a small sum of money, to a visitor or even a stranger, -without the reputation of the young girl suffering any harm, and -without any hindrance to her finding a suitable husband afterwards. -In Japan the tea-houses (<i>tsiaya</i>) are more numerous still than -in China; in the large towns they form vast quarters, and some of -them are very luxurious. The mode of recruiting for inmates seems at -first improbable to a European, and this alone suffices to show the -relativity of morality.</p> - -<p>Everywhere “the right of the father of a family” over his children has -begun by being unlimited. In Japan it is still excessive, even over -married daughters. Thus M. Bousquet, who was travelling in Japan a few -years ago, relates that as he was lodging one day in the house of a -young married couple, the father of the wife offered her to him, and -the husband did not dream of protesting.<a id="FNanchor_455" href="#Footnote_455" class="fnanchor">[455]</a></p> - -<p>A daughter represents a certain amount of capital, belonging first to -the father and then to the husband; to alienate it without the consent -of the proprietor is a theft, but with his authorisation the action -becomes lawful, and therefore parents who are in difficulties negotiate -their daughter without any intervention by the Japanese law. A young -girl is even admired when she prostitutes herself from devotion. “The -Japanese romances repeat to satiety the story of the virtuous virgin -who voluntarily submits to this servitude in order to save her father -from misery, or to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</span> pay the debts of her betrothed.”<a id="FNanchor_456" href="#Footnote_456" class="fnanchor">[456]</a> In Japan, -houses of prostitution are a national institution; the law regulates -the costume of the women who inhabit them, and the duration of their -stay. On this point Europe has little to envy Japan. But what is -special to Japan is that the <i>tikakie</i>, the inmates of these -houses, are placed there by their parents themselves, and for a price -that is debated beforehand. These inmates of the tea-houses generally -enter them from the age of fourteen or fifteen years, to live there -till they are twenty-five years old. They are taught to dance, to sing, -to play the guitar, and to write letters. They are lodged in handsome -apartments, where men go to see them openly and without any mystery.</p> - -<p>They are in no way dishonoured by their trade; many of them marry very -well afterwards; it even happens that respectable citizens go to seek -an agreeable wife in these houses of pleasure. The most beautiful among -them are celebrated. After their death their portraits are placed in -the temples. “In the temple of Asaxa,” says M. Bousquet, “is found a -painting representing several Japanese ladies in full dress; they are, -my guides tell me, the portraits of the most celebrated courtesans of -Yeddo, which are annually placed here in their honour.” So also <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> -Schliemann reports that he has seen statues of deified courtesans in -the Japanese temples. Their celestial intervention was implored in an -original manner. The suppliants first wrote a prayer on a paper, then -masticated the request and rolled it into a bullet, which they shot -with an air-gun at the statues of these strange divinities.<a id="FNanchor_457" href="#Footnote_457" class="fnanchor">[457]</a></p> - -<p>It is clear that the Japanese differ very much from us in their idea -of feminine virtue. They have an idea, however, and do not in the -least permit the women to love as they please. Thus the girl who gives -herself to a lover without paternal authorisation is legally punished -by sixty lashes with a whip, and the Japanese public would not endure -in a play the personage of a young girl in love.<a id="FNanchor_458" href="#Footnote_458" class="fnanchor">[458]</a></p> - -<p>It is not the chastity of woman, as we understand it, but her -subjection, that Japanese morality requires. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</span> woman is a thing -possessed, and her immorality consists simply in disposing freely of -herself.</p> - -<p>As regards prostitution, Brahmanic India is scarcely more scrupulous -than Japan, and there again we find religious prostitution practised in -the temples, analogous to that which in ancient Greece was practised at -Cyprus, Corinth, Miletus, Tenedos, Lesbos, Abydos, etc.<a id="FNanchor_459" href="#Footnote_459" class="fnanchor">[459]</a></p> - -<p>According to the legend, the Buddha himself, Sakyamouni, when visiting -the famous Indian town of Vesali, was received there by the great -mistress of the courtesans.<a id="FNanchor_460" href="#Footnote_460" class="fnanchor">[460]</a></p> - -<p>But the Brahmins have not been more strict in what concerns -prostitution than the founder of the great Buddhist religion. On this -point the accounts of travellers and missionaries supplement the -silence of the Code of Manu. The writers of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lettres édifiantes</i> -found religious prostitution openly practised in the Brahmanic -temples. “The people have put,” writes one of them, “the idol named -<i>Coppal</i> in a neighbouring house; there she is served by priests -and by <i>Devadachi</i>, or slaves of the gods. These are prostitute -girls, whose employment is to dance and to ring little bells in cadence -while singing infamous songs, either in the pagoda, or in the streets -when the idol is carried out in state.”<a id="FNanchor_461" href="#Footnote_461" class="fnanchor">[461]</a> In this case it was a -matter of actual commerce, of trading for the profit of the priests, -and the latter had recourse without any shame to what we call to-day -the advertisement to attract the customers. “I heard,” relates the -same missionary, “published with the blowing of a trumpet, that there -was danger in frequenting the <i>Devadachi</i> who dwelt in the town; -but that one could safely visit those who served in the temple of -<i>Coppal</i>.”<a id="FNanchor_462" href="#Footnote_462" class="fnanchor">[462]</a> An old traveller, Sonnerat, confirms the testimony -of the missionaries of the seventeenth century. He affirms that, like -all the other Hindoos, the Brahmins are much addicted to libertinage, -and that, in their practical morality, it is not considered a fault -to have commerce with a courtesan; that they have licentious books in -which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</span> refined debauchery is taught <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">ex professo</i>; that they use -love-charms, etc.<a id="FNanchor_463" href="#Footnote_463" class="fnanchor">[463]</a></p> - -<p>I stop here, and purposely abstain from speaking of the prostitution -of Europe. We know too well that it has always been very flourishing, -as well in ancient Rome as in the Middle Ages, although they were so -catholic. In old France it established itself boldly, in full daylight, -to such a degree that some towns, that of Rouen for example, had their -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">proxénètes jurés</i>, wearing bronze medals with the arms of the -town on them.<a id="FNanchor_464" href="#Footnote_464" class="fnanchor">[464]</a> As for contemporary prostitution, it is superfluous -to call attention to the fact that it is one of our great social -diseases.</p> - -<p>To sum up, the origin of prostitution goes back to the most primitive -societies; it is anterior to all the forms of marriage, and it has -persisted down to our own day in every country, and whatever might -be the race, religion, form of government, or conjugal <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> -prevailing. Taken by itself, it would suffice to prove that monogamy is -a type of marriage to which mankind has found it very difficult to bend -itself; the very general existence of the concubinate completes the -demonstration.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_31">III. <i>Various Forms of Concubinage.</i></h3> - -<p>Between animal love, that can be tasted with the prostitute, and the -noblest monogamic union, there is a wide space, which the concubinate -has filled. Legal concubinage or the concubinate, admitted and -practised, as we shall see, in so many countries, is a sort of free -marriage, tolerated by custom, recognised by law, and co-existing by -the side of monogamic marriage, the rigour of which it palliates. It -was at first a blending of polygamy with monogamy, and then, undergoing -itself an evolution analogous to that which has caused the adoption -by degrees of legal monogamy among nearly all civilised peoples, it -ended by becoming in its turn monogamic in ancient Rome. I will briefly -retrace its ethnographical history.</p> - -<p>In its primitive phase, still very confused, the concubinate has been -simply the conjugal appropriation of slaves,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</span> especially of women -captured after a victory. These were part of the rights of the victor; -the captives were considered as booty, and shared in the same way. We -have already seen in Deuteronomy that Moses authorises this barbarous -practice, and that it was habitual also among the primitive Arabs. The -Homeric warriors did the same, as various passages of the <i>Iliad</i> -and <i>Odyssey</i> prove.</p> - -<p>I will quote a few of them. To begin with, we find the old priest -Chryses comes to offer Agamemnon a rich ransom for his daughter, and -receives from the king of kings the brutal reply—“I will not set your -daughter free: old age shall find her in my dwelling at Argos, far -from her native land, weaving linen and sharing my bed. Go, then, and -provoke me not.”<a id="FNanchor_465" href="#Footnote_465" class="fnanchor">[465]</a></p> - -<p>Thersites, speaking to Agamemnon, is still more explicit—“Son of -Atreus, what more dost thou require? What wilt thou? Thy tents are full -of brass and of many most beautiful women, that we give first to thee, -we, Acheans, when we take a town.”<a id="FNanchor_466" href="#Footnote_466" class="fnanchor">[466]</a> Elsewhere, Achilles, speaking -of his beloved Briseis, of whom he had been robbed, cries—“Why have -the Atreides led hither this vast army? Is it not for the sake of the -dark-haired Helen? Are they, then, the only men who love their wives? -Every wise and good man cherishes and loves his wife. And I also loved -Briseis from my heart, although she was a captive.”<a id="FNanchor_467" href="#Footnote_467" class="fnanchor">[467]</a></p> - -<p>And, a little further on, he makes a clear distinction between the -slave concubine and the legitimate wife, swearing never to accept as -wife a daughter of Agamemnon.</p> - -<p>In the <i>Odyssey</i>, when Ulysses enters unrecognised his own house, -and sees pass before him in the vestibule his female slaves, laughing -and joyous as they go to play with the suitors, his feelings are not -merely those of a lawful proprietor who is offended, but of a jealous -man whose harem has been violated. At first he is tempted to kill these -women, which he actually does a little later, and he hears “his heart -cry out in his bosom, as a bitch, turning around her young ones, barks -at a stranger and tries to bite him.”<a id="FNanchor_468" href="#Footnote_468" class="fnanchor">[468]</a></p> - -<p>But such customs have prevailed here and there up to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</span> modern times. -In 1548, in Peru, when Pedro de la Gasca had defeated the party of -Pizarro, he distributed amongst his followers the widows of the -colonists who were killed.</p> - -<p>At Asterabad, after a small local revolt, Hanway saw the Persian -magistrates sell fifty women to the soldiers.</p> - -<p>In Livonia, after the taking of Narva, Peter the Great coolly sold to -the boyars the wives of the inhabitants.<a id="FNanchor_469" href="#Footnote_469" class="fnanchor">[469]</a> Bruce tells us also that -in Abyssinia the victors habitually take possession of the wives of the -vanquished.<a id="FNanchor_470" href="#Footnote_470" class="fnanchor">[470]</a></p> - -<p>But if captives serve or have served somewhat in all countries to -supply the domestic concubinate, they were not the only ones reserved -for this purpose; female slaves, however procured, were treated as -such. The fact is so well known that I shall abstain from establishing -it by examples. I only quote one observed at Sackatoo, in tropical -Africa, for it proves clearly that in a barbarous country, concubinage, -or the domestic and servile concubinate, does not outrage morality in -any way, and is regarded merely from a commercial point of view. At -Sackatoo, when a married man has intimate relations with one of the -female slaves given as dowry to his wife, he need simply replace her -the following day by another slave who is a virgin and of equal value. -On this purely mercenary condition, the caprice of the husband never -occasions any conflict with the legitimate wife.<a id="FNanchor_471" href="#Footnote_471" class="fnanchor">[471]</a></p> - -<p>The relative and so-called Christian civilisation of the Abyssinians -accommodates itself very easily to such customs. By the side of the -<i>oizoro</i>, the proud and indolent matron, all the great nobles have -a troop of pretty servant girls with sprightly looks.<a id="FNanchor_472" href="#Footnote_472" class="fnanchor">[472]</a></p> - -<p>The king sets the example, and naturally he goes further still. If any -woman has had the good luck to please him, he sends an envoy to invite -her to live in the palace. This distinction is received as it should -be: the lady adorns herself as quickly as possible, and obeys without -a murmur; but above these concubines there is the wife or queen, the -<i>itighe</i>.</p> - -<p>As far as they can, ecclesiastical dignitaries imitate laic<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</span> ones. -Bruce found one, the Abba-Salam, guardian of the sacred fire, third -personage in authority in the church, who forced women to yield to -him by a threat at the same time pious and original—the fear of -excommunication.</p> - -<p>I have already spoken of the Malagasy concubinage, of the chief wife -(<i>vadi-be</i>) having her own apartment and privileges, and ruling -over the “lesser wives” (<i>vadi-keli</i>), who live together in equal -submission.<a id="FNanchor_473" href="#Footnote_473" class="fnanchor">[473]</a></p> - -<p>In short, the domestic concubinate is largely practised over all -central or barbarous Africa.</p> - -<p>The ancient half-civilised nations of central America did not disdain -it either. In Peru, as we shall see, the monogamic <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> was -obligatory, but only for the poorer people.</p> - -<p>In the Maya nations, the rich and powerful practised the concubinate -without any moderation.<a id="FNanchor_474" href="#Footnote_474" class="fnanchor">[474]</a> At Guatemala, the parents were filled with -solicitude on this point, and when a young noble married a girl of his -own rank who had not yet attained puberty, they were careful to keep -him patient by giving him a young slave as concubine, whose children, -however, would not be his heirs.<a id="FNanchor_475" href="#Footnote_475" class="fnanchor">[475]</a></p> - -<p>In Mexico the were three kinds of concubines:—</p> - -<p>1. Young girls not yet arrived at a marriageable age, and whom the -parents usually chose for their sons at the request of the latter. -These unions required neither ceremony nor contract, but they were -often legitimated later, when they became fruitful.</p> - -<p>2. Partially legitimate wives, who were also partially married, -retaining only the characteristic trait of the conjugal ceremony—that -is, the tying together of the garments of the half-married ones. These -wives could not be repudiated without a motive, but neither they nor -their children could inherit.</p> - -<p>3. Lastly, the third class comprehended simple concubines, largely -kept by the nobles, and who ranked not only lower than the legitimate -wives, but also than the half-legitimate ones.<a id="FNanchor_476" href="#Footnote_476" class="fnanchor">[476]</a> All this system is -ingenious, and it is certainly difficult to state the gradation better.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</span></p> - -<p>However common the concubinate may be, nowhere do we find it so wisely -combined as in ancient Mexico, where four sorts of sexual association -were recognised—monogamic marriage, consecrated by law and religion; -semi-legitimate marriage; free and durable union with a legitimable -concubine; and lastly, free love, escaping all regulation.</p> - -<p>I shall proceed soon to take an estimate of these customs, so different -from our own, but it still remains for me to speak of the concubinate -among the superior races, the yellow and the white. The Mongols of -Tartary are monogamous in principle, in the sense of having one sole -legitimate wife; but the rich and noble have by the side of this matron -or chief wife, concubines or lesser wives, subject to the former, -who has precedence and rules over them, who governs the household, -and whose children are considered legitimate and have hereditary -rights.<a id="FNanchor_477" href="#Footnote_477" class="fnanchor">[477]</a></p> - -<p>In China, the concubinage of the Mongols has been carefully regulated, -like everything else; it is naturally, as elsewhere, the privilege of -the rich and great, who sometimes keep a veritable harem, and people -it by purchasing pretty girls, scarcely arrived at puberty, from -their parents (Macartney, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxxiii. -473).<a id="FNanchor_478" href="#Footnote_478" class="fnanchor">[478]</a> According to the current morality of China, the concubinate -is blamed unless the legitimate wife remains sterile for ten or twelve -years.<a id="FNanchor_479" href="#Footnote_479" class="fnanchor">[479]</a> Formerly an attempt was made to restrain it, by only -tolerating it for the mandarins and childless quadragenarians;<a id="FNanchor_480" href="#Footnote_480" class="fnanchor">[480]</a> but -these severe measures have fallen into desuetude.</p> - -<p>At the present day the Chinese concubinate has no other check than -human respect and public opinion. It is perfectly legal. The first or -<em>chief wife</em> is an honoured matron; she commands the <em>lesser -wives</em>, who owe her respect and obedience. If a husband attempts to -lower her to the rank of lesser wife, he incurs the bastonnade with a -hundred strokes of the bamboo, but ninety only if, on the contrary,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</span> -he tries to raise a lesser wife to the supreme rank.<a id="FNanchor_481" href="#Footnote_481" class="fnanchor">[481]</a> The legal -concubines, the lesser wives, are subordinate to the especially -legitimate wife, and are forbidden to assume the dress reserved for -her.<a id="FNanchor_482" href="#Footnote_482" class="fnanchor">[482]</a> The chief wife is the mistress of the house; she is not only -the mother of her own children, but also the putative mother of the -children of the lesser wives. The latter children wear mourning for -her and not for their natural mother; and it is on the legal mother -that they lavish the expressions of their respect, affection, and -obedience.<a id="FNanchor_483" href="#Footnote_483" class="fnanchor">[483]</a> We learn from Chinese comedies that rivalries sometimes -break out between the matron and her fellow wives; but in general the -Chinese woman is so well trained, so well broken in from infancy, that -this is rare enough, and Chinese wives have even been known to counsel -their husbands to take concubines in the towns where they may be long -detained by business.<a id="FNanchor_484" href="#Footnote_484" class="fnanchor">[484]</a> It is well to remember, by the way, that the -human brain can retain all kinds of impressions, and that morality and -instincts strictly result from the nature of the life and education.</p> - -<p>The concubinate must actually have been necessary for man, for we see -it practised by all races, and by the white races as well as the others.</p> - -<p>We know that the monarchs of ancient Assyria had, by the side of the -single wife, a good number of concubines, exactly like the Abyssinian -negroes of our own days, or, to keep to antiquity, like the glorious -Solomon.</p> - -<p>Polygamous as they are, the modern Arabs do not on that account abstain -from the concubinate. Even at Mecca all the rich men keep in their -houses, with their legitimate wives, concubines who are generally -natives of Abyssinia. However, if one of these women becomes a mother, -the morality of the country requires her master to raise her to the -rank of legitimate wife.<a id="FNanchor_485" href="#Footnote_485" class="fnanchor">[485]</a> The <i>Mekavy</i> of the middle and lower -class also buy young Abyssinian slaves, teach them to cook and to sew, -make concubines of them, and re-sell them afterwards advantageously to -passing strangers,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</span> especially if they have been sterile;<a id="FNanchor_486" href="#Footnote_486" class="fnanchor">[486]</a> in this -commerce they unite pleasure and profit.</p> - -<p>The concubinate is not more rare among the Aryans than the Semites. The -monarchs of ancient Persia had, we know, a troop of concubines; and in -all the great barbarian societies, the princely concubinate is only the -survival of old customs.</p> - -<p>In India the Brahmins of the middle class often have one chief wife, -and at the same time several domestic concubines.<a id="FNanchor_487" href="#Footnote_487" class="fnanchor">[487]</a></p> - -<p>We have seen that in Homeric Greece the concubinate was a general -practice, and in no way censured. In later times, when Greece was more -civilised, the primitive domestic concubinate disappeared, but there -always remained to alleviate the ennui of monogamic marriage what we -call concubinage, or hetaïrism, which was openly practised by Socrates -and Pericles. “If,” says Lecky on this subject, “we could imagine a -Bossuet or a Fénelon figuring among the followers of Ninon de Lenclos, -and publicly giving her counsel on the subject of her professional -duties and the means of securing adorers, this would be hardly less -strange than the relation which really existed between Socrates and the -courtesan Theodota.”<a id="FNanchor_488" href="#Footnote_488" class="fnanchor">[488]</a></p> - -<p>All societies which have had any legal form of marriage have adopted -the concubinate, either free or more or less regulated, but it has -nowhere been so precisely legalised as in ancient Rome. I shall say -a few words about it, not that I intend to walk in the steps of our -legists, but in order to show what assistance ethnographical sociology -could be to the science of written law. By its means alone can the -legal texts, which have been a hundred times studied, commented on, and -criticised in an isolated manner, as if they related to sociological -facts without analogy in the world, be connected with the general -evolution of customs and institutions.</p> - -<p>At the bottom, the Roman concubinate is essentially similar to the -others; it has merely been legalised with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</span> more care, and transformed -into an institution as regular as marriage proper. It was, besides, -indispensable in a country where the right of marriage, the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">jus -connubii</i>, was restricted. The <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">leges Julia</i> and <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Papia -Poppæa</i> also expressly authorise it.</p> - -<p>In short, the Roman concubinate was a free union between a man and a -woman not wishing, or not being able, to marry.<a id="FNanchor_489" href="#Footnote_489" class="fnanchor">[489]</a> It was lawful -to have as concubine a woman with whom marriage was forbidden—an -adulteress, an actress, a woman of bad life, or a freed slave. This -last case was the most frequent, most moral, and the most protected by -the laws.</p> - -<p>The intention of the parties, revealed either by a formal declaration, -or by the inequality of conditions, determined between marriage and the -concubinate. The dowry was one of the signs which served to distinguish -marriage from the concubinate.</p> - -<p>The Roman concubinate was only, in fact, a marriage of inferior -degree.<a id="FNanchor_490" href="#Footnote_490" class="fnanchor">[490]</a> Thus a married man could not take a concubine. A bachelor -could not have several at the same time.<a id="FNanchor_491" href="#Footnote_491" class="fnanchor">[491]</a></p> - -<p>The concubinate implied paternity. The child was considered as a -natural child of the father (<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">naturalis, non vulgo conceptus</i>), -though he did not enter the father’s family or become his heir, but -followed the status of his mother.<a id="FNanchor_492" href="#Footnote_492" class="fnanchor">[492]</a></p> - -<p>The institution of the Roman concubinate evolved naturally, and its -conditions were more and more ameliorated.</p> - -<p>Under Constantine, the legitimation of children born from a concubinate -was permitted in a general way by marriage between the father and -the woman who had been his concubine up to the day of marriage. It -was necessary, however, that the man should not have at the time a -legitimate child. But Justinian authorised the legitimation even in -this last case; he granted also the benefit of legitimation to the -children of an enfranchised slave marrying<span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</span> her master, provided that -the latter had not then any legitimate children.<a id="FNanchor_493" href="#Footnote_493" class="fnanchor">[493]</a></p> - -<p>When Christian marriage had definitely abolished the Roman legal -concubinate, custom naturally braved the laws, and the clergy -themselves were the first to set the example, thus proving the truth -of the assertion in Genesis, “It is not good for man that he should -be alone.” For a long time the anointed of the Lord had wives or -concubines. The latter took the place of the former when, by <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> -Boniface, <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> Anselm, Hildebrand, etc., and the Councils, the marriage -of priests had become an atrocious crime.</p> - -<p>In 1171, at Canterbury, an investigation proved that the abbot-elect -of <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> Augustine had seventy children in a single village.<a id="FNanchor_494" href="#Footnote_494" class="fnanchor">[494]</a> During -many years a tax, called by an expressive name (<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">culagium</i>), -was systematically levied by various princes on priests living in -concubinage.<a id="FNanchor_495" href="#Footnote_495" class="fnanchor">[495]</a> Better still, it often happened that the lay -parishioners obliged their priests to have concubines, <em>by way of -precaution</em>. A canon of the Council of Palencia (1322) anathematises -the laics who act thus.<a id="FNanchor_496" href="#Footnote_496" class="fnanchor">[496]</a> In his <i>History of the Council of -Trent</i>, Sarpi says that many Swiss cantons had adopted this -custom. At the Council of Constance, an important speaker, Nicolas de -Clemangis, declared that it was a widely-spread practice, and that -the laity were firmly persuaded that the celibacy of the priests was -quite fictitious. Bayle quotes on this point the following remarkable -passage—“Taceo de fornicationibus et adulteriis a quibus qui alieni -sunt probro cæteris ac ludibrio esse solent, spadonesque aut sodomitæ -appellantur; denique laici usque adeo persuasum habent nullos cælibes -esse, ut in plerisque parochiis non aliter velint presbyterum tolerare -nisi concubinam habeat, quo vel sic suis sit consultum uxoribus, quæ -nec sic quidem usque quaque sunt extra periculum.”</p> - -<p>If, leaving aside the middle age and its clergy, we cast our eyes -around us in the most civilised and polished European societies, -we see that the concubinate has indeed disappeared, but that its -inferior form, concubinage, is very<span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</span> flourishing. Centuries of legal -and religious restraint have not been able to uproot it, and the -rigid monogamic marriage inscribed in our laws is constantly set at -defiance by our customs. Nearly everywhere the number of births called -illegitimate is on the increase. In France it constantly progresses—</p> - -<table class="thin"> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> -From 1800 to 1805 -</td> -<td class="tdl"> -4.75 per cent. -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> ” 1806 to 1810 -</td> -<td class="tdl">5.43 ” -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> ” 1821 to 1825 -</td> -<td class="tdl">7.16 ” -</td> -</tr> -</table> - -<p>Since that time the proportion has oscillated round 7.25 in France. But -in Sweden, from 1776 to 1866, it has risen from 3.11 per cent. to 9.5. -In Saxony the return has been 15.37 in 1862-1864.<a id="FNanchor_497" href="#Footnote_497" class="fnanchor">[497]</a></p> - -<p>At Paris, according to the calculations of A. Bertillon, more than a -tenth of the couples (40,000) were living in free union.</p> - -<p>In fact, if we interrogate all races, all epochs, and all countries, -we see that the concubinate and concubinage have flourished, and still -flourish, by the side of legal marriage. One country alone is an -exception to this—Kabyle. But the exception confirms the rule. If we -find in Kabyle neither concubinage nor concubinate, neither free unions -nor natural children, the reason is very simple. It is that outside -marriage no sexual union is tolerated, and in case of illegitimate -birth the mother and child are both put to death, whilst retaliation -falls on the illegal father.<a id="FNanchor_498" href="#Footnote_498" class="fnanchor">[498]</a></p> - -<p>The concubinate is therefore, or at least has been till now, natural -to man. One may say, borrowing a locution from Bossuet, that this -is proved by “the experience of all the centuries.” It remains for -me now to deduce from the facts I have enumerated a sketch of the -general evolution which they represent, and to estimate their moral -significance. The evolution is of the simplest. Sexual union, without -restraint or law, has been the commencement. Then the right of the -strongest or the richest has created polygamic households. In these -households the priority was at last bestowed on one wife; but as the -husband did not intend to curb his changing humour, he kept by the -side of the chief spouse either slaves or “lesser<span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</span> wives,” to whom, in -the end, a legal position was accorded. The monogamic <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> -making more and more way, the time came—at Rome, for example—when -this disguised polygamy was no longer tolerated, and the concubinate -became a marriage of the second order, being unable to co-exist with -the other. At length there was a pretence of abolishing it, and there -was no other matrimonial type legally recognised except the monogamic -union, lasting till the death of the husband or wife. But custom has -rebelled against the law, and monogamy has been more apparent than -real. Prostitution for the least refined, adultery and free union -for the others, have served as safety-valves for inclinations too -inveterate and too violent to be controlled by legal texts. Has moral -purity gained thereby? Surely not. Moreover, there is in consequence -a whole population of illegitimate children, too often abandoned by -their fathers, and suffering from their birth a legal indignity of the -most iniquitous kind. Hence arise a thousand unmerited sufferings, -which legislation must some day or other remedy, and from which the -legal concubinate has spared China, for example. Doubtless the ideal -is a fine thing, but it is folly to sacrifice the real to it, and to -legislate without taking into account the requirements of human nature.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</span></p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_452" href="#FNanchor_452" class="label">[452]</a> Bancroft, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 676.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_453" href="#FNanchor_453" class="label">[453]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxxi. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 133.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_454" href="#FNanchor_454" class="label">[454]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> t. xxxiv. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 334.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_455" href="#FNanchor_455" class="label">[455]</a> G. Bousquet, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Le Japon de nos jours</i> (1877), t. -<span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 246.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_456" href="#FNanchor_456" class="label">[456]</a> G. Bousquet, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -87.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_457" href="#FNanchor_457" class="label">[457]</a> Schliemann, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La Chine et le Japon</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_458" href="#FNanchor_458" class="label">[458]</a> G. Bousquet, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Le Théâtre au Japon</i> (<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Revue des -Deux Mondes</i>, 1874).</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_459" href="#FNanchor_459" class="label">[459]</a> Lecky, <i>History of European Morals</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -103.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_460" href="#FNanchor_460" class="label">[460]</a> Mrs. Spier, <i>Life in Ancient India</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 28.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_461" href="#FNanchor_461" class="label">[461]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lettres édifiantes</i>, t. xii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 412.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_462" href="#FNanchor_462" class="label">[462]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 417.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_463" href="#FNanchor_463" class="label">[463]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxxi. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 351.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_464" href="#FNanchor_464" class="label">[464]</a> Desmaze, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Curiosités des anciennes justices</i>, etc., -<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 289.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_465" href="#FNanchor_465" class="label">[465]</a> <i>Iliad</i>, i.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_466" href="#FNanchor_466" class="label">[466]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> ii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_467" href="#FNanchor_467" class="label">[467]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> ix.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_468" href="#FNanchor_468" class="label">[468]</a> <i>Odyssey</i>, xx. xxii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_469" href="#FNanchor_469" class="label">[469]</a> Houzeau, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Études sur les facultés mentales des -animaux</i>, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 381.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_470" href="#FNanchor_470" class="label">[470]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Les Abyssiniennes</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 13.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_471" href="#FNanchor_471" class="label">[471]</a> Clapperton, <i>Second <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 86.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_472" href="#FNanchor_472" class="label">[472]</a> Le Jean, <i>Théodore</i>, ii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_473" href="#FNanchor_473" class="label">[473]</a> Dupré, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Trois Mois à Madagascar</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 153.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_474" href="#FNanchor_474" class="label">[474]</a> Bancroft, <i>Native Races</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 671.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_475" href="#FNanchor_475" class="label">[475]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 664.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_476" href="#FNanchor_476" class="label">[476]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 164.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_477" href="#FNanchor_477" class="label">[477]</a> Huc, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Voyage en Tartarie</i>, etc., t. -<span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 301.—Préjévalsky, t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 69; t. -ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 121.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_478" href="#FNanchor_478" class="label">[478]</a> Timkowski, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxxiii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -311.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_479" href="#FNanchor_479" class="label">[479]</a> Sinibaldo de Mas, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La Chine et les puissances -Chrétiennes</i>, t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 51.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_480" href="#FNanchor_480" class="label">[480]</a> Huc, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">L’Empire Chinois</i>, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 255.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_481" href="#FNanchor_481" class="label">[481]</a> Pauthier, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Chine moderne</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 238.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_482" href="#FNanchor_482" class="label">[482]</a> Milne, <i>Real Life in China</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 161.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_483" href="#FNanchor_483" class="label">[483]</a> Huc, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">L’Empire Chinois</i>, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 258.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_484" href="#FNanchor_484" class="label">[484]</a> Milne, <i>Real Life in China</i>, p 161.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_485" href="#FNanchor_485" class="label">[485]</a> Burckhardt, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxxi. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -148.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_486" href="#FNanchor_486" class="label">[486]</a> Burckhardt, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxxii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -148.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_487" href="#FNanchor_487" class="label">[487]</a> Sonnerat, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des Voy</i>., t. xxxi. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -349.—<i>Ibid.</i>, Laplace, t. xviii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 433.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_488" href="#FNanchor_488" class="label">[488]</a> Lecky, <i><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> of European Morals</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 280.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_489" href="#FNanchor_489" class="label">[489]</a> Domenget, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Institutes de Gaius</i>, <abbr title="section">sec.</abbr> 63.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_490" href="#FNanchor_490" class="label">[490]</a> R. Cubain, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lois civiles de Rome</i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 188, 189.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_491" href="#FNanchor_491" class="label">[491]</a> Domenget, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i> <abbr title="section">sec.</abbr> 63.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_492" href="#FNanchor_492" class="label">[492]</a> R. Cubain, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 188.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_493" href="#FNanchor_493" class="label">[493]</a> Domenget, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Institutes de Gaius</i>, <abbr title="section">sec.</abbr> 58.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_494" href="#FNanchor_494" class="label">[494]</a> Lea, <i>History of Sacerdotal Celibacy</i> -(Philadelphia, 1867), <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 296.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_495" href="#FNanchor_495" class="label">[495]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 274, 292, 422.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_496" href="#FNanchor_496" class="label">[496]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 324.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_497" href="#FNanchor_497" class="label">[497]</a> M. Block, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Europe Politique et Sociale</i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 204, -205.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_498" href="#FNanchor_498" class="label">[498]</a> Hanoteau et Letourneux, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La Kabylie</i>, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -148.</p> - -</div> -</div> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.<br /><br /><span class="small">PRIMITIVE MONOGAMY.</span></h2> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>I. <i>The Monogamy of Inferior Races.</i>—The causes of monogamy—The -gynecocratic theory of Bachofen—Inferior monogamic races—Races -which are polygamic, although superior—Co-existence of monogamy and -polygamy.</p> - -<p>II. <i>Monogamy in the Ancient States of Central -America.</i>—Monogamy of the common people in Mexico and Peru—Civil -marriage in Peru.</p> - -<p>III. <i>Monogamy in Ancient Egypt.</i>—Gynecocracy in Egypt—Its -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">raison d’être</i>.</p> - -<p>IV. <i>Monogamy of the Touaregs and Abyssinians.</i>—Gynecocracy -among the Touaregs—Fragility of Marriage in Abyssinia.</p> - -<p>V. <i>Monogamy among the Mongols of Asia.</i>—Monogamy in reality -in Thibet—Modified monogamy among the Tartars—Marriage in -China—Matrimonial legislation in China—Conjugal docility of the -Chinese women—Japanese marriage.</p> - -<p>VI. <i>Monogamy and Civilisation.</i></p> -</div> - - -<h3 id="h3_32">I. <i>The Monogamy of Inferior Races.</i></h3> - -<p>After having successively studied the inferior forms of sexual and -conjugal unions, it now remains for us to investigate the most elevated -of them—the one that all, or nearly all, the great civilised societies -have ended by adopting, at least in appearance, in their legal -systems—monogamy.</p> - -<p>Of the great causes which have led to the adoption of monogamic -marriage, the first is the sexual equilibrium of births as soon as -it was no longer disturbed by the casualties of savage life. Without -doubt, in a society<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</span> composed sensibly of equal numbers of men and -women, the more powerful and rich may monopolise several women by the -right of the strongest, but in doing so they wrong the community, and -public opinion becomes hostile to the practice. It is thus that with -the Dyaks the chiefs lose their authority and see their influence -diminish when they indulge in polygamy, although no law forbids it.<a id="FNanchor_499" href="#Footnote_499" class="fnanchor">[499]</a></p> - -<p>Another cause quite as powerful which contributed greatly to lead -to legal monogamy was the institution of individual and hereditary -property. L. Morgan does not hesitate to refer monogamic marriage to -this sole origin. Indeed, in all societies more or less civilised, the -desire for heritable property has quickly assumed a capital importance; -the more or less equitable regulation of questions of interest, and -the anxiety to safeguard these interests, form the solid basis of all -written codes. Now, nearly everywhere the heritage is transmitted -according to filiation, sometimes maternal, sometimes paternal; but it -is only in the monogamic <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> that the parentage of children -is the same for all in the paternal as well as the maternal line.<a id="FNanchor_500" href="#Footnote_500" class="fnanchor">[500]</a></p> - -<p>Over and above this, moral motives have reinforced the great influences -resulting from the laws of natality and the all-powerful questions of -interest. In theory or ideal, the life-long union of two beings, giving -and devoting themselves to each other, engaging to share good and evil -fortune, is surely very noble; but, as we shall see, the realisation of -monogamic marriage has everywhere been most gross, and it is difficult -to refer it to elevated aspirations. Unless we are intoxicated with -sentimentalism, we cannot believe, with Bachofen,<a id="FNanchor_501" href="#Footnote_501" class="fnanchor">[501]</a> that women, -naturally more noble and more sensitive than their gross companions, -grew tired of primitive hetaïrism, and, obeying powerful religious -aspirations, enthroned monogamic marriage by force, becoming by the -same stroke heads of the family, and inaugurating gynecocracy. These -Amazonian fables are very energetically contradicted by history and -ethnography.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</span></p> - -<p>Nearly in every age, and nearly in every place, woman, by reason of -her native weakness, has been subordinate to her companion, often -oppressed by him, and her subjection is the more severe as the -civilisation is the more primitive. It is a great error to believe -that in all times and places monogamic union is the sign and necessary -seal of an advanced civilisation. A number of primitive tribes are -monogamous; certain monkeys are so too. Among the inferior monogamous -races I will mention the Veddahs<a id="FNanchor_502" href="#Footnote_502" class="fnanchor">[502]</a> of the woods of Ceylon, so low -in intelligence that they have not even names for the numbers; the -Bochimans of South Africa,<a id="FNanchor_503" href="#Footnote_503" class="fnanchor">[503]</a> scarcely more developed; the Kurnais of -Australia, among whom monogamy, though not obligatory, is general.<a id="FNanchor_504" href="#Footnote_504" class="fnanchor">[504]</a> -Certain aborigines of India,<a id="FNanchor_505" href="#Footnote_505" class="fnanchor">[505]</a> less primitive, no doubt, than these -very humble specimens of our species, but still very savage, are also -monogamous. These are: the Nagas, who are contented to make their one -wife work very hard; the Kisans, who limit themselves to a single wife, -and have not even any concubines;<a id="FNanchor_506" href="#Footnote_506" class="fnanchor">[506]</a> the Padans, who set a good -example to more than one superior race, for not only do they blame -polygamy and only practise it exceptionally, but they do not buy their -wives, and leave to their young people the liberty of marrying as they -please.<a id="FNanchor_507" href="#Footnote_507" class="fnanchor">[507]</a></p> - -<p>The form of marriage is therefore not necessarily connected with the -degree of general civilisation. The contrary is well proved, since -very civilised peoples have adopted polygamy, sometimes openly, and -very often in a masked form. Man is willingly polygamous by instinct, -but he is often forced to bend to the necessities of social existence. -Therefore, in the same country, and in the same race, we may meet -with tribes and ethnic groups very analogous in everything else, but -practising very dissimilar conjugal forms. It is not rare, for example, -to see monogamy and polygamy elbowing each other. Thus the Redskins -are willingly polygamous, and yet the Pimas, the Cocomaricopas, and -a number of tribes on the banks of the Gilo, of Colorado and of New -Mexico, only marry one wife, whilst<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</span> with the Navajos, the Comanches, -etc., a man has as many wives as he can buy.<a id="FNanchor_508" href="#Footnote_508" class="fnanchor">[508]</a></p> - -<p>With the Zapotecs of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec there is no polygamy; -it is forbidden.<a id="FNanchor_509" href="#Footnote_509" class="fnanchor">[509]</a> On the contrary, with all the Indians of Columbia -polygamy is general; but the Otomacs, who are reckoned among the most -savage, are monogamous.<a id="FNanchor_510" href="#Footnote_510" class="fnanchor">[510]</a> Necessity makes the law; and although -it may be the legal form of marriage adopted by the superior races, -monogamy does not imply in itself an advanced civilisation. Besides, -the numerous facts that I have previously quoted abundantly prove that -polygamy and monogamy can coexist in the same society—the former for -the sole use of the ruling classes, the latter for the common people.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_33">II. <i>Monogamy in the Ancient States of Central America.</i></h3> - -<p>It was thus in Mexico,<a id="FNanchor_511" href="#Footnote_511" class="fnanchor">[511]</a> where, among the wives of the great men, -one alone was called lawful; her children inherited the paternal title -and wealth, to the exclusion of the others.<a id="FNanchor_512" href="#Footnote_512" class="fnanchor">[512]</a> In Peru, as in Mexico, -the law, with the bold partiality which there is no attempt to disguise -in barbarous societies, permitted polygamy to the Inca and to the -enormous family of the Incas, while exacting a strict monogamy from the -poor. State communism, imposed on the country, regulated the sexual -unions somewhat as our rural proprietors regulate the coupling of their -domestic animals. Peruvian marriage was a civil act, very comparable to -enforced military service in modern Europe. Every year in the kingdom -of Cuzco it was the practice to assemble together in the squares of -the towns and villages all the individuals of marriageable age, from -twenty-four to twenty-six years for the men, and from eighteen to -twenty for the women. At Cuzco the Inca himself married the persons of -his own family, and always in a public square, by putting in each other -the hands of the different couples. In their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</span> respective boundaries -the chiefs of districts, resembling our mayors, fulfilled the same -function for the persons of their own rank or of an inferior rank. We -are indeed told that the consent of parents was necessary, but it was -not a question of the consent of the interested parties.<a id="FNanchor_513" href="#Footnote_513" class="fnanchor">[513]</a> Besides, -it was strictly forbidden to marry outside the civil group of which the -individuals formed a part. In this case marriages must often have been -contracted between relatives more or less near. As to incest, there -was little severity, since the Inca was legally bound to marry one of -his sisters, with the reservation that she might not be his uterine -sister,<a id="FNanchor_514" href="#Footnote_514" class="fnanchor">[514]</a> and the same rule was at last extended to the nobles of -the empire.</p> - -<p>In sanctioning the civil marriage of the country, the public -functionary, the <i>Curaca</i>, administered to the couple the oath of -conjugal fidelity, which, according to P. Pizzarre, was generally kept; -perhaps because, as we shall see later, the Peruvian law was not tender -to adulterers.</p> - -<p>There does not appear to have been the least nuptial ceremony in Peru. -In Mexico, on the contrary, marriage was celebrated with much show, -and it was religious. The bride was conducted in great pomp to the -house of the bridegroom, who came with his family to meet her. The -two processions mutually perfumed each other with boxes of burning -incense. After this the future spouses sat down on the same mat, and -a priest married them by tying the robe of the bride to the mantle of -the bridegroom. The precaution had previously been taken to consult -the diviners and augurs. Nuptial festivals followed, in which the -newly-married couple took no part. They lasted four days, and the -marriage was not to be consummated until their termination.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_34">III. <i>Monogamy in Ancient Egypt.</i></h3> - -<p>In the ancient empires of central America the position of the wife was -very subordinate;—this is an ordinary fact in barbarous countries. But -in this respect, a singular exception seems to have existed in ancient -Egypt, which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</span> nevertheless offers so many analogies to ancient Peru. -This anomaly must be described with some details, because the believers -in a prehistoric gynecocracy complacently rely on it to support their -theory.</p> - -<p>The general assertions of the writers of antiquity on this point have -been confirmed by the demotic deeds recently deciphered. I shall -briefly quote both.</p> - -<p>Let us listen first to Herodotus on the subject of Egyptian women: -“They have established laws and customs opposite, for the most part, -to those of the rest of mankind. With them the women go to market and -traffic; the men stay at home and weave.... The men carry burdens on -the head, the women on the 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.”[1] From this last rule it is already -logical to infer that the women possessed and inherited property, -which is not ordinary in primitive monarchies. Herodotus adds that “no -woman performs sacerdotal duties towards a divinity of either sex; the -priests of all the divinities are men.”<a id="FNanchor_515" href="#Footnote_515" class="fnanchor">[515]</a> In a country so profoundly -religious this interdict clearly proves that in public opinion, at -least, the woman was held to be an inferior being. Besides, polygamy -was permitted in Egypt, which suffices of itself to exclude the idea of -feminine domination in the family. However, Herodotus relates that many -Egyptians, especially “those that dwelt on the marshes,” have, like the -Greeks, adopted monogamy.<a id="FNanchor_516" href="#Footnote_516" class="fnanchor">[516]</a></p> - -<p>Diodorus goes further than Herodotus. He affirms that in the Egyptian -family it is the man who is subjected to the woman: “Contrary to the -received usage of other nations, the laws permit the Egyptians to marry -their sisters, after the example of Osiris and Isis. The latter, in -fact, having cohabited with her brother Osiris, swore, after his death, -never to suffer the approach of any man, pursued the murderer, governed -according to the laws, and loaded men with benefits. 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 id="FNanchor_517" href="#Footnote_517" class="fnanchor">[517]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</span></p> - -<p>The assertion of Diodorus seems at first sight inadmissible; -nevertheless, the demotic deeds, in a measure, confirm it. If the -family subjection of the man was not general in Egypt, at least it -existed in a number of cases. In reality, the Egyptian law did not -deal with marriages, and the interested parties contracted them at -their will. Now, in virtue of the law of matriarchal inheritance, -the woman was often richer than the man. She could therefore dictate -how the marriage contract should be drawn up. The conjugal union was -manifestly before every thing a commercial agreement, since the word -<em>husband</em> does not appear in the documents until after the reign -of Philopator.<a id="FNanchor_518" href="#Footnote_518" class="fnanchor">[518]</a> The Egyptian woman generally married under the -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> of the separate possession of property; she did not -change her condition, and preserved the right of making contracts -without authorisation; she remained absolute mistress of her dowry. The -contract also specified the sums that the husband was to pay to his -wife, either as nuptial gift, or as annual pension, or as compensation -in case of divorce.<a id="FNanchor_519" href="#Footnote_519" class="fnanchor">[519]</a></p> - -<p>Sometimes even, by acts subsequent to marriage, the Egyptian wife could -succeed in completely dispossessing her husband, and therefore the -latter was careful to stipulate, as a precaution, that his wife should -take care of him during his life, and pay the expenses of his burial -and tomb.<a id="FNanchor_520" href="#Footnote_520" class="fnanchor">[520]</a></p> - -<p>To sum up, it appears, indeed, that in ancient Egypt no marital power -existed, at least in the families of private individuals.</p> - -<p>This state of things lasted till the time of Philopator, who, in the -fourth year of his reign, established the pre-eminence of the husband -in the family by deciding that thenceforth all the transfers of -property made by the wife should be authorised by the husband.<a id="FNanchor_521" href="#Footnote_521" class="fnanchor">[521]</a></p> - -<p>These facts, certainly very curious, have seemed decisive to a number -of sociologists who, with Bachofen, like to believe that in prehistoric -times there has existed a gynecocratic period—an age of gold, when -women reigned as mistresses, and of which the mythic Amazons were -a survival. The very incomplete accounts that we possess of the -condition<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</span> and <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">rôle</i> of woman in Egypt do not seem to me to -warrant the importance that is attached to them.</p> - -<p>In barbarous, as in civilised societies, there are three great means -of influence—religion, military power, and money. In ancient Egypt, -Diodorus tells us, woman was judged unworthy of the priesthood, and -therefore inferior from a religious point of view. She did not possess -any warlike power. Neither monuments, nor writings, nor traditions -make any mention of female warriors, analogous either to the Amazons -of fable or those of the king of Dahomey. There remains the influence -of money, doubtless an enormous influence in all societies where it -can accumulate in the hands of certain individuals to the detriment of -others. Now, everything proves that if in ancient Egypt women have more -or less enjoyed great independence, and have even abused it so as to -subject their husbands, they obtained it simply by the power of money.</p> - -<p>Evidently the organisation of property and the laws of succession in -Egypt permitted women to be rich or to become so, and in consequence -to domineer over husbands less favoured in this respect. We shall see -that in ancient Greece and Rome the same causes produced the same -effects. Is it even necessary to go to ancient times to seek examples -of feminine emancipation, even very insolent emancipation, based only -on the dowry or fortune? We also have an abundance of plutocratic -Amazons. But these facts are not incompatible with the legal subjection -of women. If they seem to have been very common in ancient Egypt, it -is because legislation did not meddle with marriage; and it must also -be remembered that the demotic documents only mention, as is natural, -the contracts of the upper or middle classes, the propertied classes, -which, of course, are a minority.</p> - -<p>So little was gynecocracy inscribed in the laws and customs of Egypt -that a simple royal decree depriving women of the disposition of their -property sufficed to cast them into the subordinate rank which they -have occupied until the present time in all human societies, but which, -perhaps, they will not always occupy.</p> - -<p>Nevertheless, it is a noteworthy fact that in a society so rigid as the -Egyptian, a minority of women should have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</span> been able to obtain legally -a great amount of independence; it constitutes a remarkable exception, -and may, perhaps, be referred to the influence of the Berber races, -which, according to Egyptian traditions themselves, played an important -part in the foundation of primitive Egypt.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_35">IV. <i>The Monogamy of the Touaregs and Abyssinians.</i></h3> - -<p>We have already seen that our contemporary Kabyles, although of -Berber origin, make the yoke of their wives very hard; but it may -be admitted that, in this respect, they have been influenced by -numerous conquerors. A certain emancipation of women seems to be a -characteristic trait of Berber societies. Even at the present time, -among the Touaregs of the Sahara, who have preserved their independence -and the purity of their race better than the Kabyles, the rich woman -enjoys a social position analogous to that of the ladies of ancient -Egypt.</p> - -<p>In spite of the Mussulman law, the Targui woman practically imposes -monogamy on the man. She would immediately seek a divorce if her -husband attempted to give her a rival.</p> - -<p>Amongst the Touaregs filiation is still maternal, and confers the rank. -“The child follows the blood of the mother;” the son of a slave or -serf father and a noble woman is noble. “It is the womb which dyes the -child,” they say in their primitive language.<a id="FNanchor_522" href="#Footnote_522" class="fnanchor">[522]</a> “Absolute mistress -of her fortune, her actions, and her children, who belong to her and -bear her name, the Targui lady goes where she will and exercises a -real authority.”<a id="FNanchor_523" href="#Footnote_523" class="fnanchor">[523]</a> She seldom marries before the age of twenty, and -she marries as she pleases, the fathers only intervening to prevent -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">mésalliances</i>. She eats with her husband, to whom, however, she -owes obedience, and who can kill her in case of adultery.—(Duveyrier, -339-340.)</p> - -<p>The Targui women know how to read and write in greater numbers than the -men. It is well known, besides, that rudimentary instruction in reading -and writing is widely spread among the Mahometan population of North -Africa.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</span></p> - -<p>It is to the Targui ladies, says Duveyrier, that is due the -preservation of the ancient Lybian and ancient Berber writing.<a id="FNanchor_524" href="#Footnote_524" class="fnanchor">[524]</a></p> - -<p>Leaving domestic work to their slaves, the Targui ladies occupy -themselves with reading, writing, music, and embroidery;<a id="FNanchor_525" href="#Footnote_525" class="fnanchor">[525]</a> they live -as intelligent aristocrats.</p> - -<p>“The ladies of the tribe of the Ifoghas are renowned,” says again -Duveyrier, “for their <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">savoir-vivre</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 id="FNanchor_526" href="#Footnote_526" class="fnanchor">[526]</a> Targui gallantry has preserved for -the women of the tribe of Imanan, who are descended from the ancient -sultans, the title of royal women (<i>timanôkalîn</i>) on account of -their beauty and their superiority in the art of music.</p> - -<p>They often give concerts, to which the men come from long distances -decked out like male ostriches. In these concerts the women sing while -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.”<a id="FNanchor_527" href="#Footnote_527" class="fnanchor">[527]</a></p> - -<p>The Targui lady often sings in the evenings, improvising and -accompanying herself on the rebâza. If she is married, says Duveyrier, -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 the heart, and not for the bed only, as -among the Arabs.”<a id="FNanchor_528" href="#Footnote_528" class="fnanchor">[528]</a></p> - -<p>Such customs as these indicate delicate instincts which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</span> are absolutely -foreign to the Arabs and to the Kabyles. They strongly remind us of the -times of our southern troubadours, and of the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">cours d’amour</i>, -which were the quintessence of chivalry. But it is important to notice -that with the Touaregs, as with the Provençals and the Acquitainers -of the twelfth century, who may well have had Berber ancestors, these -diversions and gallantries were for aristocrats and princes, and in no -way prevented the general slavery of women. These customs are curious; -they show a degree of moral nobility, and are worthy of note, but at -the same time we must guard against according them a general value -which they do not possess. It is important, also, to remark that the -independence of the Berber lady, who is saved the trouble of grinding -the corn, of cooking, etc., rests on the magic power of money. “By -means of accumulation,” says Duveyrier, “the greatest part of the -fortune is in the hands of women”—(<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 339). In short, it is only by an -extraordinary power of illusion that we can recognise in the relatively -favourable situation of the Berber lady a case of Amazonian gynecocracy.</p> - -<p>In Abyssinia, which also is not a gynecocratic country, the women -enjoy very great liberty; their conduct is very dissolute, and their -marriage very easily broken. Bruce, who first made known to us these -curious customs, likens them to those of ancient Egypt. “In Abyssinia,” -he says, “the women live as if they were common to every one. They -pretend, however, to belong, by principle, to one man only when they -marry, but they do not act up to it.”<a id="FNanchor_529" href="#Footnote_529" class="fnanchor">[529]</a> Divorce is so easy in -Abyssinia that Bruce says he has seen a woman surrounded by seven -former husbands.<a id="FNanchor_530" href="#Footnote_530" class="fnanchor">[530]</a> The most distinguished Abyssinian ladies have -cicisbei, after the Italian fashion of old times. At their feasts, -according to Bruce again, the lovers yield themselves publicly to each -other. Their neighbours at table simply take care to hide them very -imperfectly by improvising with their cloaks a waving partition.<a id="FNanchor_531" href="#Footnote_531" class="fnanchor">[531]</a> -The young women of the province of Samen, says Bruce, came alone to -trade with the travellers.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</span> “They were hard in their bargains, with the -exception of one only, in which they seemed very reasonable and very -generous. They agreed to give rather than sell their favours, alleging -that long solicitations on one side and refusals on the other wasted -time that might be more agreeably employed.”<a id="FNanchor_532" href="#Footnote_532" class="fnanchor">[532]</a> It is clear from this -that the monogamic <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> of the Abyssinians is more apparent -than real, that it is much modified by the extreme cicisbeism, by the -use of concubines, of which I have already spoken, and lastly by the -abuse of divorce, turning it into a successive polygamy.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_36">V. <i>Monogamy among the Mongols of Asia.</i></h3> - -<p>Among the Asiatic Mongols monogamy is also not very strict. In Thibetan -Himalaya polyandry seems to predominate. It is not rare, either, in -Thibet proper, where, on the other hand, polygamy is not forbidden, -for there is no rigid legislation in regard to marriage. Besides, in -these countries, as in many others, girls enjoy complete liberty before -marriage, and they use it without suffering at all in reputation.<a id="FNanchor_533" href="#Footnote_533" class="fnanchor">[533]</a></p> - -<p>It is singular that in Lamaïc Thibet, in full theocracy, in a country -where the prayers and the practices of religion enter into nearly -all the actions of civil life, marriage escapes all ecclesiastical -interference. In fact, the priests have nothing to do with it, and -all the matrimonial ceremony, which is purely laïc, consists in a -simple mutual engagement entered into by the interested parties before -witnesses.<a id="FNanchor_534" href="#Footnote_534" class="fnanchor">[534]</a></p> - -<p>This laïc anarchy of marriage in Thibet must no doubt be attributed -to Lamaïc bigotry itself. The Lamas avoid women, holding marriage in -contempt, and all the great functionaries, as well as many Thibetans -of the other classes, are of the same opinion.<a id="FNanchor_535" href="#Footnote_535" class="fnanchor">[535]</a> Religion does not -concern herself with it; she disdains it, as in Egypt, which seems to -show that a sufficient degree of religious<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</span> madness hinders theocratic -legislators from thinking of civil institutions.</p> - -<p>But in regard to marriage, both civil and religious laws are always -subordinate to the necessities resulting from the social condition and -the proportion of the sexes. In Thibet, therefore, in spite of the -entire liberty allowed to individuals, the marriage of the greatest -number is monogamic quite as much as if the law had prescribed it.<a id="FNanchor_536" href="#Footnote_536" class="fnanchor">[536]</a></p> - -<p>In Tartary the nomad Mongols have adopted for their matrimonial type -monogamy tempered by the domestic concubinate. I have spoken previously -of their “lesser wives,” of their marriage by purchase with the -ceremonial of capture. I need not, therefore, repeat all this. I will -only note in passing that their girls have also very loose manners, -which are not always corrected by marriage.<a id="FNanchor_537" href="#Footnote_537" class="fnanchor">[537]</a> According to one of -the most recent explorers of Mongolia, the proportion of the sexes in -that country is the inverse of that in Europe. The women are much less -numerous than the men. This may probably be the principal reason of the -celibacy of the Lamas, and of the real monogamy of the greater number -of laymen who do not belong to the aristocracy.<a id="FNanchor_538" href="#Footnote_538" class="fnanchor">[538]</a></p> - -<p>Chinese marriage essentially resembles Mongol marriage, but with a more -settled ritual and a more uniform legislation. It is also monogamic, -with the palliative of the concubinate, the “lesser wives” of whom I -have already spoken.<a id="FNanchor_539" href="#Footnote_539" class="fnanchor">[539]</a> Besides this, the subjection of women in -China is extreme. When a Chinaman has only daughters he is said to -have no children.<a id="FNanchor_540" href="#Footnote_540" class="fnanchor">[540]</a> The Chinese woman is submissive in all states, -as a daughter to her parents, as a wife to her husband, and as a widow -to her sons, especially to her eldest son.<a id="FNanchor_541" href="#Footnote_541" class="fnanchor">[541]</a> (Pauthier, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Chine -Moderne</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 239). The young Chinese girl has not even an idea that -she may be consulted in the choice of a husband.<a id="FNanchor_542" href="#Footnote_542" class="fnanchor">[542]</a> She is bought -from<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</span> her parents, and a part of the sum agreed on is paid when the -contract is signed.<a id="FNanchor_543" href="#Footnote_543" class="fnanchor">[543]</a> As in Mongolia, matrimonial arrangements -are often settled, not only from the infancy of the future wife and -husband, but even before their birth, on the hypothesis of a difference -of sex.<a id="FNanchor_544" href="#Footnote_544" class="fnanchor">[544]</a> These agreements are made by the fathers and mothers, or, -in default of them, by the grandparents or nearest relatives.<a id="FNanchor_545" href="#Footnote_545" class="fnanchor">[545]</a> -Lastly, the women are excluded by law from inheritance,<a id="FNanchor_546" href="#Footnote_546" class="fnanchor">[546]</a> and kept -as much as possible in seclusion, so that they scarcely see any one -besides their parents.<a id="FNanchor_547" href="#Footnote_547" class="fnanchor">[547]</a> By marrying, the young Chinese girl simply -changes masters. “The bride,” says a Chinese author, “ought only to be -a shadow and an echo in the house.” The married woman eats neither with -her husband nor with her male children; she waits at table in silence, -lights the pipes, must be content with the coarsest food, and has not -even the right to touch what her son leaves.<a id="FNanchor_548" href="#Footnote_548" class="fnanchor">[548]</a></p> - -<p>China is a country of very ancient civilisation, where the laws and -rites have regulated everything, and consequently there exists a whole -legislation with regard to marriage.</p> - -<p>To begin with, conjugal union is forbidden between persons having the -same family name,<a id="FNanchor_549" href="#Footnote_549" class="fnanchor">[549]</a> and I shall have to return to this circumstance.</p> - -<p>As in ancient Rome, the law prohibits marriage between slaves and -free persons.<a id="FNanchor_550" href="#Footnote_550" class="fnanchor">[550]</a> It absolutely forbids marriage to the priests of -<i>Fo</i>, and to those of the <i>tao</i> sect.<a id="FNanchor_551" href="#Footnote_551" class="fnanchor">[551]</a> It orders public -functionaries not to contract marriage with actresses, comedians, -or musicians.<a id="FNanchor_552" href="#Footnote_552" class="fnanchor">[552]</a> It seems that in ancient times, in China as in -Greco-Latin antiquity, the father had the excessive right to unmarry -his daughter, for to remedy this abuse the Chinese law pronounces the -punishment of a hundred strokes of bamboo on the father-in-law who -should send away his son-in-law in order to re-marry his daughter to -another.<a id="FNanchor_553" href="#Footnote_553" class="fnanchor">[553]</a> The Chinese widow, no longer belonging to her original -family, but to the family of her husband, can<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</span> be re-married by the -latter.<a id="FNanchor_554" href="#Footnote_554" class="fnanchor">[554]</a> Moreover, the contract of betrothal concluded between -the parents having a legal value, the family of the betrothed man who -dies before the conclusion of the marriage has the right to marry the -bereaved <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">fiancée</i>, or false widow,<a id="FNanchor_555" href="#Footnote_555" class="fnanchor">[555]</a> who, by-the-bye, is much -honoured when she has the courage to devote herself to a celibate -life.<a id="FNanchor_556" href="#Footnote_556" class="fnanchor">[556]</a></p> - -<p>We have seen that Chinese women are excluded from inheritance; they -have a right, however, in marrying, to a small dowry, either in money -or furniture, but the value of it is optional. It must be at least a -chest of drawers or a small <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">trousseau</i>, which the bridegroom -is obliged to supply if the parents fail to do so. Moreover, he must -also give the nuptial bed.<a id="FNanchor_557" href="#Footnote_557" class="fnanchor">[557]</a> Primitive and even cruel as are the -conditions and rules of Chinese marriage, the Chinese women submit to -them not only without murmuring, but with a sort of devotion, broken -in as they are by a long ancestral education. And besides, for the -Chinese in general, it is a strict duty to marry, from a triple point -of view—social, political, and religious. Everybody marries in the -Celestial Empire, and the number of male celibates over twenty-four -years of age is quite insignificant. If a suitable opportunity of -marriage does not present itself, the parents, who are sovereign -arbiters in this matter, do not hesitate to go to an orphanage to seek -a son or daughter-in-law.<a id="FNanchor_558" href="#Footnote_558" class="fnanchor">[558]</a></p> - -<p>In Japan, during the feudal age, the end of which we are now -witnessing, marriage was nearly identical with Chinese marriage, and -there would be nothing to say about it in particular, if during the -last few years the fever of reformation, with which Japan is carried -away, had not happily modified marriage, at least in practice, by -giving the young girl a voice in the matter,<a id="FNanchor_559" href="#Footnote_559" class="fnanchor">[559]</a> and by awakening in -some Japanese consciences doubts on the subject of the prostitution -of young girls. At the present moment, everything in Japan is being -Europeanised, and the adaptation of our Civil Code to the old Japanese -customs is only a question of time.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</span></p> -<h3 id="h3_37">VI. <i>Monogamy and Civilisation.</i></h3> - -<p>The foregoing facts are sufficiently numerous to enable us to deduce -certain conclusions from them. These facts, taken as they are from -nearly all the non-Aryan races, prove in the first place that the -monogamic <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> is in no way the appanage of the superior -races, for among the lowest of human races some are monogamic. In -regard to marriage, we find that primordial conditions impose the -various forms of sexual union, quite independently of the caprice of -individuals, or of the degree of culture and social development.</p> - -<p>In attempting to estimate the moral worth of a people, a race, or a -civilisation, we are much more enlightened by the position given to -woman than by the legal type of the conjugal union. This type, besides, -is usually more apparent than real. In many civilisations, both dead -and living, legal monogamy has for its chief object the regulation of -succession and the division of property. With much <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">naïveté</i> and -effrontery, many legislators have sanctioned polygamy in reality by -recognising the domestic concubinate by the side of legal monogamy. As -for the position of the wife who is reputed to be specially legitimate, -it is often much inferior to that enjoyed by the woman who lives under -other conjugal <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régimes</i> which are theoretically less elevated. -In the greater number of countries more or less monogamic, which I -have just passed in review, woman, whether married or not, has been -subjected to extreme subordination. In an exceptional case she acquires -a certain independence, where, thanks to maternal inheritance, she can -become possessed of personal or real estate. It is to money alone, and -not to the moralising influence of monogamy, that woman in barbarous -countries owes the power of attaining a certain independence, for the -two peoples who have granted it to her, the Egyptians in antiquity -and the Touaregs of our own day, lived or live under a legislation -which authorises polygamy. It is important also to notice that in the -valley of the Nile, and in the Sahara, feminine emancipation is only -the privilege of those women who belong to the ruling and propertied -classes.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</span></p> - -<p>Upon the whole, in every country and in every time, woman, organically -weaker than man, has been more or less enslaved by him, unless in the -case where legislation has allowed her to use an artificial force to -serve her as a shield. This fictitious force, before which virile -brutality has lowered its flag, has been money, wherever the laws -regulating succession have permitted women to raise themselves to the -dignity of proprietors.</p> - -<p>A similar lesson will be given us by the study of the monogamic -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> among the white races of Asia and of Europe. There also -we shall see riches serve woman as a defensive, and sometimes even -offensive weapon, against the severity of laws and customs.</p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_499" href="#FNanchor_499" class="label">[499]</a> Herbert Spencer, <i>Sociology</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 301.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_500" href="#FNanchor_500" class="label">[500]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 301, 302.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_501" href="#FNanchor_501" class="label">[501]</a> <i lang="de" xml:lang="de">Das Mutterrecht.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_502" href="#FNanchor_502" class="label">[502]</a> <i lang="de" xml:lang="de">Das Mutterrecht.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_503" href="#FNanchor_503" class="label">[503]</a> Spencer, <i>Sociology</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 299.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_504" href="#FNanchor_504" class="label">[504]</a> Fison and Howitt, <i>Kamilaroi and Kurnai</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_505" href="#FNanchor_505" class="label">[505]</a> Dalton, <i>Ethnology of Bengal</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 41.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_506" href="#FNanchor_506" class="label">[506]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 132.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_507" href="#FNanchor_507" class="label">[507]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 28.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_508" href="#FNanchor_508" class="label">[508]</a> Doménech, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Voyage Pittoresque dans les Déserts du -Nouveau Monde</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 510.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_509" href="#FNanchor_509" class="label">[509]</a> Bancroft, <i>Native Races</i>, etc., <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 661.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_510" href="#FNanchor_510" class="label">[510]</a> Mollien, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xlii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 416.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_511" href="#FNanchor_511" class="label">[511]</a> Fr. Müller, <i lang="de" xml:lang="de">Allgem. Ethnogr.</i>, etc., <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 263.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_512" href="#FNanchor_512" class="label">[512]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 263.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_513" href="#FNanchor_513" class="label">[513]</a> W. Prescott, <i><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> of the Conq. of Peru</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. -<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 121.—Garcilaso de la Vega, <i lang="es" xml:lang="es"><abbr title="comentarios">Com.</abbr> de los Incas</i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 25, 113, -218.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_514" href="#FNanchor_514" class="label">[514]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_515" href="#FNanchor_515" class="label">[515]</a> Herodotus, <abbr title="book">bk.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 35.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_516" href="#FNanchor_516" class="label">[516]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <abbr title="book">bk.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 42.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_517" href="#FNanchor_517" class="label">[517]</a> Diodorus, <abbr title="book">bk.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 27.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_518" href="#FNanchor_518" class="label">[518]</a> Révillout, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Revue égyptienne</i>, 1880.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_519" href="#FNanchor_519" class="label">[519]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_520" href="#FNanchor_520" class="label">[520]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_521" href="#FNanchor_521" class="label">[521]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_522" href="#FNanchor_522" class="label">[522]</a> Duveyrier, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Toûareg du Nord</i>, 337.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_523" href="#FNanchor_523" class="label">[523]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_524" href="#FNanchor_524" class="label">[524]</a> Duveyrier, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Toûareg du Nord</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 387.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_525" href="#FNanchor_525" class="label">[525]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 430.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_526" href="#FNanchor_526" class="label">[526]</a> <i>Id., loc. cit.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 362.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_527" href="#FNanchor_527" class="label">[527]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 345, 347.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_528" href="#FNanchor_528" class="label">[528]</a> <i>Id., loc. cit.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 429.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_529" href="#FNanchor_529" class="label">[529]</a> Bruce, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxiii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 358.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_530" href="#FNanchor_530" class="label">[530]</a> Bruce, <i>Travels</i>, etc., <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> iv. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 487.—A. -d’Abbadie, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Douze ans dans la haute Éthiopie</i>, t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> -<abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 100, 128.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_531" href="#FNanchor_531" class="label">[531]</a> Bruce, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxiii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 365.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_532" href="#FNanchor_532" class="label">[532]</a> Bruce, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, t. xxiii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 255.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_533" href="#FNanchor_533" class="label">[533]</a> Turner, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxxi. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 437.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_534" href="#FNanchor_534" class="label">[534]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> t. xxxi. <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 437, 454.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_535" href="#FNanchor_535" class="label">[535]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 435.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_536" href="#FNanchor_536" class="label">[536]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lettres édifiantes</i>, t. xv. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 200.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_537" href="#FNanchor_537" class="label">[537]</a> Préjévalsky, <i>Mongolia</i>, t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -69.—Huc, <i>Tartarie</i>, t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 301.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_538" href="#FNanchor_538" class="label">[538]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 71.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_539" href="#FNanchor_539" class="label">[539]</a> Huc, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">L’Empire chinois</i>, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 258.—Sinibaldo -de Mas, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Chine et puissances Chrétiennes</i>, t. I<sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 51.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_540" href="#FNanchor_540" class="label">[540]</a> Duhaut Cily, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Voyage autour du monde</i>, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -369.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_541" href="#FNanchor_541" class="label">[541]</a> Milne, <i>Real Life in China</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 159.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_542" href="#FNanchor_542" class="label">[542]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 159.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_543" href="#FNanchor_543" class="label">[543]</a> Huc, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Empire chinois</i>, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 255.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_544" href="#FNanchor_544" class="label">[544]</a> Milne, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 151.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_545" href="#FNanchor_545" class="label">[545]</a> Huc, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 255.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_546" href="#FNanchor_546" class="label">[546]</a> G. E. Simon, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La famille chinoise</i>, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Nouvelle -Revue</i>, 1883.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_547" href="#FNanchor_547" class="label">[547]</a> Milne, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 154.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_548" href="#FNanchor_548" class="label">[548]</a> Huc, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Empire chinois</i>, t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 268.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_549" href="#FNanchor_549" class="label">[549]</a> Pauthier, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Chine Moderne</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 238.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_550" href="#FNanchor_550" class="label">[550]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 238.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_551" href="#FNanchor_551" class="label">[551]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_552" href="#FNanchor_552" class="label">[552]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_553" href="#FNanchor_553" class="label">[553]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 288.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_554" href="#FNanchor_554" class="label">[554]</a> E. Simon, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Famille Chinoise</i>, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Nouvelle -Revue</i>, 1883.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_555" href="#FNanchor_555" class="label">[555]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_556" href="#FNanchor_556" class="label">[556]</a> Milne, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 153.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_557" href="#FNanchor_557" class="label">[557]</a> E. Simon, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_558" href="#FNanchor_558" class="label">[558]</a> <i>Id., ibid.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_559" href="#FNanchor_559" class="label">[559]</a> Masana Maeda, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La Société japonaise</i>, in <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Revue -Scientifique</i>, 1878.</p> - -</div> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.<br /><br /><span class="small">HEBREW AND ARYAN MONOGAMY.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>I. <i>Monogamy of the Races called Superior.</i>—The monogamic ideal -and the monogamic reality.</p> - -<p>II. <i>Hebrew Marriage.</i>—Monogamy and concubinage—Position of -the wife—The virtuous woman of the Book of Proverbs—Obligatory -virginity—The levirate.</p> - -<p>III. <i>Marriage in Persia and Ancient India.</i>—Marriage in the -Avesta—Marriage in India—General monogamy—Extreme subjection of -the wife—Purchase of the wife—Matrimonial prohibitions—The ideal -spouse—Marriage in modern India.</p> - -<p>IV. <i>Marriage in Ancient Greece.</i>—Wives and concubines—Low -position of the wife—Marriage in Sparta—Celibacy chastised—The -young Greek girl assimilated to a thing—Dowry—The wife emancipated -by money.</p> - -<p>V. <i>Marriage in Ancient Rome.</i>—Marriages of children—Relative -liberty of the Roman woman—The <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Patria potestas</i>—The -<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Manus</i>—Three kinds of marriage—The rights of the husband—The -case of Cato the Elder—The <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">jus connubii</i>—The dowry and its -effects.</p> - -<p>VI. <i>Barbarous Marriage and Christian Marriage.</i>—Marriage among -the Germans in the Middle Ages, among the Saxons of England—Marriage -according to Christianity.</p> -</div> - - -<h3 id="h3_38">I. <i>Monogamy of the Races called Superior.</i></h3> - -<p>After a long journey of exploration through the inferior forms of the -sexual union amongst mankind, we have in the preceding chapter begun -the study of monogamy, which all the superior races have more or less -adopted in their legislation.</p> - -<p>It is impossible to deny that monogamy is theoretically<span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</span> nobler than -the other matrimonial forms. Nothing can be more beautiful than -the union of two intelligent and refined beings freely associating -their lives after ripe reflection “for better, for worse,” as the -marriage service of England has it. But the reality is often very -different from this poetic ideal. Even amongst the most highly -civilised peoples, this spontaneous, disinterested, devoted union, -based on moral and intellectual sympathies, is very rare; it does not -exist in civilisations still partly barbarous, whose monogamy easily -accommodates itself to the subjection of women, however extreme. We -shall see that it is so, in studying this matrimonial type amongst the -Hebrews at first, and afterwards amongst the Aryan races, that is to -say, amongst the human types which are reputed <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">par excellence</i> -Superior.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_39">II. <i>Hebrew Marriage.</i></h3> - -<p>The Hebrews seem to have been alone among the Semites in adopting -monogamy, at least in general practice. Moreover, the Bible tells us -that concubinage was not forbidden to God’s chosen people. In speaking -of the daughter sold by her father to a rich man, the book of Exodus -used language sufficiently explicit on this point—“If she please not -her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her -be redeemed: to sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power. -And if he have betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after -the manner of daughters. But if he take to him another wife, her food, -her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.”<a id="FNanchor_560" href="#Footnote_560" class="fnanchor">[560]</a> The -book of Genesis indeed tells us that “a man shall leave his father and -mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they twain shall be one -flesh;”<a id="FNanchor_561" href="#Footnote_561" class="fnanchor">[561]</a> but this famous verse seems to indicate the violence of -the love rather than monogamic and indissoluble marriage.</p> - -<p>Doubtless the subjection of the Jewish woman was not extreme, as it is -in Kabyle; it was, however, very great. Her consent to marriage was -necessary, it is true, when she had reached majority, but she was all -the same sold to her husband. We must note, nevertheless, that she had<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</span> -a recognised right of ownership, and that the property of the husband -was security for that of the wife and for her dowry; but the husband -none the less held the wife in strict dependence. The song of the -virtuous woman at the end of Proverbs is generally quoted as a sublime -portrait of the Jewish wife by all those who are still hypnotised by -the prestige of the so-called holy books. However, in reading these -celebrated verses with an unprejudiced mind, we hardly find more -than the portrait of a laborious servant, busy and grasping—“She -seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.... She -riseth while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a -portion to her maidens. She considereth a field, and buyeth it; with -the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. She girdeth her loins -with strength, and strengtheneth her arms.... Her candle goeth not -out by night.... She eateth not the bread of idleness.” We shall see -later that the wife, though she might gain much money, which seems to -have been the ideal of the Hebrew husband according to the Proverbs, -was repudiable at will, with no other reason than the caprice of the -master who had bought her. Finally, and this is much more severe, she -was always obliged to be able to prove, cloths in hand, that she was -a virgin at the moment of her marriage, and this under pain of being -stoned. Let us listen to the sacred book—“If any man take a wife, and -go in unto her, and hate her ...” and seeking a pretext to repudiate -her, he imputes to her a shameful crime, saying, “I took this woman, -and when I came to her, I found her not a maid ... her father and -mother shall take her and shall represent to the elders of the city -in the gate the tokens of the damsel’s virginity.” Of what kind were -these proofs? The following verses tell us, “They shall spread the -cloth before the elders of the city. And the elders of that city shall -take that man and chastise him, and they shall amerce him in an hundred -shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel.... But -if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for -the damsel, then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her -father’s house, and the men of the city shall stone her with stones -that she die; because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the -whore<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</span> in her father’s house; so shalt thou put evil away from among -you.”<a id="FNanchor_562" href="#Footnote_562" class="fnanchor">[562]</a> If we add to the preceding, that by the law of levirate, -the childless widow, whether she wished or not, was awarded to her -brother-in-law, we shall be enlightened as to the unenviable position -of the married woman under the Hebrew law.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_40">III. <i>Marriage in Persia and Ancient India.</i></h3> - -<p>Of the conjugal customs of the ancient Persians we know little. The -only formal prescription that we find in the Avesta is a strict -prohibition against marrying an infidel. The Mazdean who commits such -a crime troubles the whole universe: “he changes to mud a third of the -rivers that rush down the mountain sides; he withers a third of the -growth of trees and of herbs which cover the earth; he takes from pure -men a third of their good thoughts, of their good words, of their good -actions; he is more noxious than serpents and wolves.”<a id="FNanchor_563" href="#Footnote_563" class="fnanchor">[563]</a></p> - -<p>On Indian marriage we are better informed, at first by the Code -of Manu, and then by modern travellers. India has early practised -mitigated monogamy. Polygamy and concubinage were the privilege of the -Brahmins and rich Kchatriyas; but the mass of the nation generally -lived in monogamy, though nevertheless imposing on the married woman -a most humiliating position. Manu proclaims aloud the necessary -dependence and incurable inferiority of the weaker sex: “If women -were not guarded, they would bring misfortune to two families.” “Manu -has bestowed on women the love of their bed, of their seat, and of -adornment, concupiscence, anger, bad inclinations, the desire to do -evil, perversity.”<a id="FNanchor_564" href="#Footnote_564" class="fnanchor">[564]</a> “A little girl, a young woman, and an old -woman ought never to do anything of their own will, even in their own -house.” “During her childhood a woman depends on her father; during -her youth, on her husband; her husband being dead, on her sons; if she -has no sons, on the near relatives of her husband; or in default of -them, on those of her father; if<span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</span> she has no paternal relatives, on the -sovereign. A woman ought never to have her own way.”<a id="FNanchor_565" href="#Footnote_565" class="fnanchor">[565]</a></p> - -<p>Given such an utter subordination of woman, it is self-evident that -there would be no question of her choosing a husband. It is the -father’s duty to marry his daughter; and he need not wait till she -has reached puberty: “A father must give his daughter in marriage to -a young man of agreeable appearance, and of the same rank, according -to the law, although she may not have attained the age of eight years, -at which he ought to marry her.”<a id="FNanchor_566" href="#Footnote_566" class="fnanchor">[566]</a> However, if the father neglects -the prime duty of marrying his daughter, the law ordains that the -latter shall proceed to do it. Marriage is a sacred duty: “Let a girl, -although adult, wait three years; but after that period, let her choose -a husband of the same rank as herself.”<a id="FNanchor_567" href="#Footnote_567" class="fnanchor">[567]</a> The girl is then free, and -her husband in marrying her owes no payment to the father: “The father -has lost all authority over his daughter in delaying for her the time -of becoming a mother.”<a id="FNanchor_568" href="#Footnote_568" class="fnanchor">[568]</a> Girls cannot be married too soon; at eight -years old they are given a husband of twenty-eight; at twelve years, a -man of thirty.<a id="FNanchor_569" href="#Footnote_569" class="fnanchor">[569]</a> Some verses, in contradiction to that which I have -just now quoted, forbid the father from receiving any gratuity whatever -in marrying his daughter, not even a cow or a bull: “All gratuity, -small or large, constitutes a sale.”<a id="FNanchor_570" href="#Footnote_570" class="fnanchor">[570]</a> But the prohibition to sell -his daughter, though still very little observed, is evidently of -posterior date; and in India, as in all other countries, the daughter -has been esteemed at first as merchandise. The law imposes at times -very curious restrictions on a man who is intending to marry. He must -not take a girl with red hair, or bearing the name of a constellation, -of a river, a bird, or a serpent.<a id="FNanchor_571" href="#Footnote_571" class="fnanchor">[571]</a> He must not, under pain of hell, -marry before his elder brother.<a id="FNanchor_572" href="#Footnote_572" class="fnanchor">[572]</a> Above all, he must not marry below -his rank. To marry a woman belonging to the servile class is, for the -Brahmin or the Kchatriya, an enormous crime, which lowers him to the -rank of the Soudras.<a id="FNanchor_573" href="#Footnote_573" class="fnanchor">[573]</a> It is an unpardonable sin: “For him who -drinks the foam of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</span> the lips of a Soudra, or who has a child by her, -there is no expiation declared by the law.”<a id="FNanchor_574" href="#Footnote_574" class="fnanchor">[574]</a> He descends to the -infernal abode, and his son loses caste. As for the son of a Brahmanic -woman and a Soudra, he is a Tchandala, the vilest of mortals.<a id="FNanchor_575" href="#Footnote_575" class="fnanchor">[575]</a> The -young Brahmin, after having received the authorisation of his spiritual -director, and having purified himself by a bath, must marry a woman of -his own class, who is well made, who has a fine down over her body, -fine hair, small teeth, limbs of a charming sweetness, and the graceful -movement of a swan or a young elephant.<a id="FNanchor_576" href="#Footnote_576" class="fnanchor">[576]</a> But, however the wife may -be chosen, she is held in a state of servile submission. “A wife,” says -the Code, “can never be set free from the authority of her husband; -neither by sale nor by desertion.” “Once only a young girl is given in -marriage; once only the father says, I give her.”<a id="FNanchor_577" href="#Footnote_577" class="fnanchor">[577]</a></p> - -<p>Taken as a whole, these antique precepts are still observed in India. -In general, monogamy prevails, but the married woman is none the less -kept in a state of abject subjection. It is shameful, says Somerset, -for a virtuous woman to know how to read and dance; these futile -accomplishments are left to the bayadere. “Servant, slave,” are the -habitual appellations used by the husband in addressing his wife, -who replies by saying “Master, lord,” who must take care not to call -her husband by his name,<a id="FNanchor_578" href="#Footnote_578" class="fnanchor">[578]</a> and has not the right to sit at his -table.<a id="FNanchor_579" href="#Footnote_579" class="fnanchor">[579]</a> It is the parents who negotiate the marriage, without any -regard to the tastes of the future husband and wife, and thinking only -of rank and fortune.<a id="FNanchor_580" href="#Footnote_580" class="fnanchor">[580]</a> A daughter is always married, or rather sold, -in infancy, often to a sexagenarian Brahmin, and before she is of age -to manifest any preference.<a id="FNanchor_581" href="#Footnote_581" class="fnanchor">[581]</a></p> - -<p>These accounts, which are as authentic as possible, enable us to -estimate the Hindoo marriage. However monogamic it may generally be, -it is very inferior from a moral point of view. The tyrannical right -left to the husband, his unlimited power, the servitude of the wife,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</span> -yielded or negotiated in infancy, the pride of caste and the care for -wealth outweighing all other considerations, proclaim loudly enough -that matrimonial legislation in India has been the regulation, for the -man’s profit only, of instincts of a very low order.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_41">IV. <i>Marriage in Ancient Greece.</i></h3> - -<p>In primitive Greece the position of woman was little better. On one -hand, the <i>Iliad</i> tells us that the epithet “woman” thrown at a -man was the most contemptuous insult;<a id="FNanchor_582" href="#Footnote_582" class="fnanchor">[582]</a> on the other hand, we have -seen that the girl was purchased by the husband, either by presents or -by services rendered to the father;<a id="FNanchor_583" href="#Footnote_583" class="fnanchor">[583]</a> in short, that the husband -might have domestic concubines with the sole reservation that their -children did not inherit from him.<a id="FNanchor_584" href="#Footnote_584" class="fnanchor">[584]</a> In the first chant of the -<i>Odyssey</i> the severe apostrophe of Telemachus to his mother proves -also that in the absence of the husband the wife was humbly submissive -to her sons. “Go to thy chamber; attend to thy work; turn the spinning -wheel; weave the linen; see that thy servants do their tasks. Speech -belongs to men, and especially to me, who am the master here.”<a id="FNanchor_585" href="#Footnote_585" class="fnanchor">[585]</a> -Penelope, like a well-trained woman, meekly allows herself to be -silenced and obeys, “bearing in her mind the sage discourse of her son.”</p> - -<p>In later times the virtuous woman was shut up in the gyneceum, where -she could only receive her parents or the friends authorised by her -husband.<a id="FNanchor_586" href="#Footnote_586" class="fnanchor">[586]</a> She was not even admitted to festivities. But, while -the wife was semi-cloistered in the conjugal house, the husband -could at will frequent and court the hetaïræ (ἑταίραι), and the -strangers (ξέναι) with whom the citizens of Athens had not the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">jus -connubii</i>, and who were not admitted like the well-born or native -Athenian woman (ελευθέρα) to the thesmophors.<a id="FNanchor_587" href="#Footnote_587" class="fnanchor">[587]</a></p> - -<p>It is evident that at Athens primitive marriage was regulated by the -man with very little heed to the tastes or preferences of the woman. -At Sparta it was the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</span> sentiment of strict and zealous patriotism -which inspired Lycurgus in all his regulations regarding marriage. -The obligation of marriage was legal, like the military service. The -young men were attracted to it by making them assist at the gymnastic -exercises of naked young girls. “This was an incentive to marriage, -and, to use Plato’s expression, drew them almost as necessarily by -the attraction of love as a geometrical conclusion is drawn from the -premises.”<a id="FNanchor_588" href="#Footnote_588" class="fnanchor">[588]</a> In the supreme interest of population, love was forced -on young men, but it was for the sake of fertility. The young married -couple were not allowed to meet except in secret until the first -pregnancy.<a id="FNanchor_589" href="#Footnote_589" class="fnanchor">[589]</a> It was praiseworthy for an old husband to lend his -young wife to a handsome young man, by whom she might have a child.</p> - -<p>In our own day it is not very rare, particularly in France, to see poor -young men marry rich old women. Solon did not permit this conjugal -prostitution of man at Athens. “A censor,” says Plutarch, “finding -a young man in the house of a rich old woman, fattening as they say -a partridge fattens by his services to the female, would remove him -to some young girl who wanted a husband.”<a id="FNanchor_590" href="#Footnote_590" class="fnanchor">[590]</a> At Sparta Lycurgus -went as far as to put hardened celibates under the ban of society. In -the first place, they were not permitted to see these exercises of -the naked virgins; and the magistrates commanded them to march naked -round the market-place in winter, and to sing a song composed against -themselves.... They were also deprived of that honour and respect which -the young pay to the old.<a id="FNanchor_591" href="#Footnote_591" class="fnanchor">[591]</a></p> - -<p>The young Greek girl could not dispose of her person any more than -the Chinese or Hindoo woman could. She was married by her father; in -default of her father, by her brother of the same blood; in default of -a brother, by a paternal grandfather.<a id="FNanchor_592" href="#Footnote_592" class="fnanchor">[592]</a> The right of brothers who -were heirs to their father to marry their sister was not even exhausted -by a first marriage.<a id="FNanchor_593" href="#Footnote_593" class="fnanchor">[593]</a> The father of the family had the power either -to marry his daughter during his lifetime, or<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</span> to bequeath her by will, -as well as her mother, who was assimilated, like her, to chattels or -property. “Demosthenes, my father, bequeathed his fortune, which was -fourteen talents, myself, aged seven years, my sister, aged five years, -and our mother. At the moment of dying, when asked what he would have -done with us, he bequeathed <em>all these things</em> to this Aphobus and -to Demophontes, his nephews; he married my sister to Demophontes, and -gave at once two talents.”<a id="FNanchor_594" href="#Footnote_594" class="fnanchor">[594]</a> “In the same way,” says Demosthenes -again, “Pasion dying, bequeathed his wife to Phormion.”<a id="FNanchor_595" href="#Footnote_595" class="fnanchor">[595]</a> It might -happen that the daughter or the wife were by law one body with the -estate. Thus a daughter, in default of male heirs, belonged to the -relation who would have inherited in her stead and place, if she had -not lived.</p> - -<p>If there were several relatives in the same degree of succession, -the daughter was to marry the eldest of them. Further still, she was -obliged in this case to quit her husband, if previously, and even with -paternal authorisation, she had contracted marriage.<a id="FNanchor_596" href="#Footnote_596" class="fnanchor">[596]</a> In Greece, to -safeguard or conquer her independence, a woman had no other resources -than the seduction of her sex and the love she could inspire. She -had early recourse to these defensive weapons, for Aristotle thinks -it his duty to put young men on guard against the excess of conjugal -tenderness and feminine tyranny, the habit which enchains the man to -his wife.<a id="FNanchor_597" href="#Footnote_597" class="fnanchor">[597]</a> At length in Greece, as it had happened in Egypt, money -finished by protecting the woman much more efficaciously, and even by -giving her sometimes the advantage on the conjugal field of battle. -Solon, who knew Egypt, began by decreeing the absolute poverty of -the married woman. “The bride was to bring with her only three suits -of clothes, and some household stuff of small value, for he wished -marriages to be made without mercenary or venal views, and would have -that union cemented by love and friendship, and not by money.”<a id="FNanchor_598" href="#Footnote_598" class="fnanchor">[598]</a> But -this primitive legislation could not stand against the combined action -of the affection of the girl’s parents, her own desire of independence, -and lastly, the cupidity of the husband, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</span> thus the practice of -the dowry became general. This dowry was constituted before marriage -by a public act.<a id="FNanchor_599" href="#Footnote_599" class="fnanchor">[599]</a> Securities and bonds were given to assure the -dowry and the conditions of marriage. The dowry was mortgaged on the -husband’s property, and returned to the wife on the dissolution of the -marriage. When the woman could shelter herself behind the shield of the -dowry she was much more respected, and she even sometimes tyrannised in -her turn. Aristophanes, Menander, Lucian, etc., pour out endless bitter -criticisms on the haughty and extravagant rich woman.</p> - -<p>In the comedy of <i>The Clouds</i> the good Strepsiades cries: “I led -so happily in the country a good simple life, without vexation or -care, rich in bees, in sheep, and in olives! Then I married the niece -of Megacles, son of Megacles. I was of the country, she of the town; -she was a haughty, extravagant woman, a true Cesyra. The wedding day, -when I lay down by her, I smelt the wine, the cheese, and the wool; -she cares for perfumes, saffron, tender kisses, expense, good cheer, -and wanton transports. I will not say that she was idle—no—she -worked hard at ruining me.” According to Menander, religion served -as an excuse to women for enormous expenses. Under the pretext of -piety they ruined their husbands by religious sacrifices accompanied -with perfumes, with golden clasps for the sandals, and female slaves -ceremoniously ranged in a circle.<a id="FNanchor_600" href="#Footnote_600" class="fnanchor">[600]</a></p> - -<p>One poor hen-pecked husband groans in these terms: “Cursed be the first -man who invented marriage, and then the second, and the third, and the -fourth, and all those who imitated them.” One old husband laments: “I -have married a witch with a dowry. I took her, to have her fields and -house, and that, O Apollo, is the worst of evils.”<a id="FNanchor_601" href="#Footnote_601" class="fnanchor">[601]</a> Listen again to -this one: “If being poor, you marry a rich woman, you give yourself a -mistress and not a wife; you reduce yourself to be at the same time a -slave and poor”—(Anaxandrides).<a id="FNanchor_602" href="#Footnote_602" class="fnanchor">[602]</a></p> - -<p>To sum up, in ancient Greece marriage implied at first<span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</span> the complete -slavery of the wife, who was treated as a thing; then by degrees -conjugal customs were mitigated, and the wife became a person, and -even a proprietor, whom her dowry or personal fortune could protect. -Thenceforward money produced its usual effect on inferior characters: -it debased or infatuated individuals who were without moral nobility; -cupidity blinded certain men; the insolence of money intoxicated -certain women. But this only occurred among the ruling classes, and the -fate of husbands reduced to conjugal servitude by love of a large dowry -does not concern us here.</p> - -<p>The important feature in Greek marriage is, that the first legislators -regarded it solely from the point of view of increase of population, -and held individual liberty, especially that of the woman, very -cheaply. Whatever we may think of this legal tyranny, it attained -its end perfectly. The small republics of ancient Greece overflowed -with men; thus Attica had four thousand one hundred and sixty-six -inhabitants to the square league—that is to say, the population was -three times more dense than that of France at present.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_42">V. <i>Marriage in Ancient Rome.</i></h3> - -<p>In its general features Roman marriage does not greatly differ from -Greek, but its evolution has been more complete, and the legislation on -the subject is better known to us. Marriages of children, especially -of little girls, were the rule at Rome, since the nuptial majority of -girls was fixed at twelve years. But they were often betrothed, and -even married, before that age. Vipsania Agrippina, daughter of Agrippa -and of Pomponia, was promised to Tiberius from her first year.<a id="FNanchor_603" href="#Footnote_603" class="fnanchor">[603]</a> The -<i>Digest</i> authorised betrothal at the age of seven.<a id="FNanchor_604" href="#Footnote_604" class="fnanchor">[604]</a></p> - -<p>In betrothing his daughter the father contracted a civil obligation, -sanctioned at first by an action for damages, and later by infamy. -Every woman of twenty, if she was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</span> neither married nor a mother, -incurred the punishment decreed by Augustus against celibacy and -childlessness.<a id="FNanchor_605" href="#Footnote_605" class="fnanchor">[605]</a> We are indeed told in Roman legislation that the -consent of the girl was necessary before passing finally to betrothal -and marriage. But it is evident that the consent of a child of twelve -years, or even less, was illusory; in reality, the young Roman girl was -married by her parents.<a id="FNanchor_606" href="#Footnote_606" class="fnanchor">[606]</a> The young wife was still such a child, -that on the day of her wedding she took a ceremonious leave of her -playthings and dolls, offering them up to the gods. In reality, it was -not the wife who made the engagement, but the persons in whose power -she found herself.<a id="FNanchor_607" href="#Footnote_607" class="fnanchor">[607]</a></p> - -<p>Nevertheless, Roman customs conceded to women a certain liberty of -manners which the Greeks would not have tolerated. The Roman woman -walked in the streets, went to the theatre with the men, shared in -banquets, etc.; yet she was, especially in primitive Rome, subjected -first to her father and then to her husband. And, besides, public -opinion obliged the woman to use in great moderation the practical -liberty that was left to her. The famous epitaph of the Roman -matron—<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">domum mansit; lanam fecit</i>—is well known. This epitaph -may perhaps exaggerate, but it does not lie. Thus Suetonius tells us -that the daughters and grand-daughters of Augustus were compelled to -weave and spin, and that the Emperor usually wore no other garments but -those made by the hands of his wife and sister.<a id="FNanchor_608" href="#Footnote_608" class="fnanchor">[608]</a></p> - -<p>Legally, the Roman wife was the property of her husband, who treated -her, not as his equal, but as his child. At Rome, also, conjugal union -had been looked at chiefly from the point of view of procreation -(<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Liberorum quærendorum causâ</i>). The wife who was the mother of -three children acquired a certain independence; she could make a will -even during the lifetime of her husband, and did not need to have -recourse to a trustee.<a id="FNanchor_609" href="#Footnote_609" class="fnanchor">[609]</a> But the subjection of woman was very great. -The father, invested with the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">potestas</i>, could sell his child -to a third party, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">in mancipium</i>. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</span> <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">mancipium</i>, which -was almost a right of propriety, passed afterwards to the heirs of the -owner.</p> - -<p>We have seen that the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">pater familias</i> had the right to marry his -daughter without consulting her, but he enjoyed a right more excessive -still, that of re-marrying her when his son-in-law had been absent -for three years.<a id="FNanchor_610" href="#Footnote_610" class="fnanchor">[610]</a> It was Antoninus only who thought of depriving -the father of his right to annul the marriage of his daughter. To -the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">potestas</i> of the father succeeded the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">manus</i> of the -husband. The woman <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">in manu</i> was considered legally as the -daughter of her husband, and therefore as the sister of her children. -If the husband was himself the son of a family, the wife <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">in manu</i> -was held as grand-daughter of the father of the family. This entailed -for her the extinction of paternal power (on her own side), and of -guardianship and the rights of relationship with the male members of -her father’s family. In the marriage with <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">manus</i> the husband -became the proprietor of all the dowry of his wife. The father, -however, could stipulate that the dowry should be returned to him if -his daughter died without children or was repudiated. The <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">leges -Julia</i> and <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Papia</i> had, in fact, imposed on the father the -obligation of giving a dowry to his daughter; but the dowry could be -appointed by third parties or by the woman herself, if she was <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">sui -juris</i>, and then also she had the right to stipulate for some -reservations.</p> - -<p>This terrible right of <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">manus</i> was acquired by the husband with -every form of marriage, even the grossest of all, the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">usus</i>, -or simple cohabitation during one year; but the wife could avoid the -<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">conventio in manum</i> by passing three nights in the year out of -the conjugal domicile. The <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">manus</i> invested the husband with a -large right of correction over his wife, though in very grave cases -he was to assemble the family tribunal, which included the children -of cousins-german. These family tribunals took cognisance even of -murder committed by the wife, and they were still in use under the -emperors.<a id="FNanchor_611" href="#Footnote_611" class="fnanchor">[611]</a> On the other hand, the Roman husbands did not let their -legal right of beating their wives fall into desuetude, for Saint -Monica consoled the wives of her acquaintance whose faces showed marks -of marital<span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</span> brutality, by saying to them: “Take care to control your -tongues.... It is the duty of servants to obey their masters.... You -have made a contract of servitude.”<a id="FNanchor_612" href="#Footnote_612" class="fnanchor">[612]</a></p> - -<p>There were at Rome three kinds of marriages, which I have already -named—1st, The <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">usus</i>, resulting from a simple continuous -cohabitation, without contract or ceremony, a sort of Tahitian -marriage; 2nd, the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">coemptio</i> or purchase, of which I have spoken -at length—that is to say, the legal regulation of the primitive -marriage by purchase, in use all over the world at the origin of -civilisations. Coemption, without any palliatives, delivered the -wife’s body and goods to her husband; 3rd, the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">confarreatio</i>, or -aristocratic marriage, in which the high Pontiff of Jupiter gave, in -the presence of ten witnesses, a cake made of flour, water, and salt to -the bride and bridegroom, who ate it between them. The <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">manus</i> was -conferred on the husband in the marriage by confarreation, the same as -in the marriage by <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">usus</i> and <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">coemptio</i>. We must note that -at Rome, as in Greece, the religious ceremony was in no way essential -to the marriage, which was a laic and civil institution in the first -place.<a id="FNanchor_613" href="#Footnote_613" class="fnanchor">[613]</a></p> - -<p>These three forms of marriage very probably represent the evolution -of the conjugal union in ancient Rome. The <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">usus</i>, or free -cohabitation, must have been the commencement; then came the purchase -of the wife, the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">coemptio</i>, and at length the solemn marriage or -<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">confarreatio</i> of the patricians. But marriage with the husband’s -right of <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">manus</i> subsisted for a long time, and it conferred on -him all the customary licence of savages of every country, notably that -of lending the wife, and this exorbitant right endured till the best -days of Rome, since the virtuous Cato of Utica used it still in lending -his wife Martia to his friend Hortensius.</p> - -<p>This fact is curious, and deserves attention. Hortensius began by -asking for the loan of Cato’s daughter, Portia, already married to -Bibulus, and the mother of two children. It was, says Plutarch, with -the object of selection, that he might have a child of good race; he -promised to return her afterwards to her husband. On the refusal of -Cato, Hortensius fell back on Martia, Cato’s own wife, who was at the -time <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">enceinte</i>. Cato was not at all shocked at the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</span> proposition, -but referred it, however, to Philip, his father-in-law, who also -saw no harm in it. A contract was therefore concluded between Cato, -Hortensius, and Philip; and Martia, whom no one thought of consulting, -was yielded to Hortensius, and afterwards taken back, at the death of -the latter, by Cato. She was then the heir of Hortensius, and Cato had -not the least scruple in receiving her back with her money at the same -time.<a id="FNanchor_614" href="#Footnote_614" class="fnanchor">[614]</a></p> - -<p>To any one not versed in ethnographical sociology these customs seem -improbable. Doubt has been cast on this story of Hortensius and Cato, -though it is attested by the <i>Anti-Cato</i> of Julius Cæsar, on which -Plutarch relies; but it has nothing extraordinary for us. We know that -at first woman was everywhere the absolute property of the man. The -<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">manus</i> of the Roman husband was in the main only an attenuated -form of primitive conjugal right, which we know included the power to -lend, barter, or cede the wife without consulting her. The case of Cato -is then only a survival of preceding ages.</p> - -<p>Necessarily brief and incomplete as the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">résumé</i> must be that I -can here give of conjugal legislation at Rome, it will suffice, I hope, -to give a clear idea of what Roman marriage was. I should add that the -law, inspired by the old patriotic spirit and the prejudices of caste, -limited the right of marriage, the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">jus connubii</i>. The <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">justes -noces</i> were at first an aristocratic privilege. The plebeians -coupled <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">more ferarum</i>. At length the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">jus connubii</i> -extended to marriages between Latin and Roman, Latin and Latin, and -even foreigner and foreigner. The child followed the condition of the -mother, which seems to be a survival of the ancient maternal family. -Another vestige of the same kind is found in the legal position of -<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">spurii</i>—that is to say, of children born of a marriage which -is either prohibited or incestuous or bigamous. These children, -irregularly conceived, have a mother, but no legal father; they do not -come under the paternal power of the father, like the child of lawful -marriage, and cannot be legitimated.<a id="FNanchor_615" href="#Footnote_615" class="fnanchor">[615]</a></p> - -<p>The study of the transformations that Roman marriage underwent from -the time of Numa to that of the emperors<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</span> is most interesting; for we -can follow a complete evolution in regard to it which has never been -so complete in any other country. At first we find conjugal anarchy, -the capricious union or <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">usus</i>, which could be, and which was in -fact, often polygamous, as the ulterior persistence of the concubinate -proves; then the marriage by capture, of which the trace remained in -the marriage ceremony; then the marriage by purchase, the coemptio, -with its ordinary consequence, the servitude of the wife, which even -the solemn marriage or confarreation did not abolish. At length this -brutal law of the primitive ages relaxes. The law which holds the -woman under paternal power (<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">patria potestas</i>) is turned round. -The father himself gives his daughter <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">in mancipium</i> to a third -party, who afterwards enfranchises her. Sometimes it is the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">patria -potestas</i> which is a check to the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">manus</i> of the husband. The -wife, in marrying, without being subject to the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">manus</i>, remains -subject to her father, who can even claim her again.</p> - -<p>But the institution of the dowry as obligatory and inalienable by -the husband, the power of the woman to marry while remaining in the -paternal family, to have her paraphernalia, to inherit property of -her father, to control both of these, and also the great facility -of divorce, ended by rendering the Roman, or at least the patrician -matron, almost independent. Under the empire Roman marriage had become -in fact a sort of free union, in which money considerations played the -predominant part. Plautus already speaks of the dotal-slave, a creature -of the wife’s, managing her property and ruling the husband—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p xml:lang="la" lang="la">“<i>Argentum accepi, dote imperium vendidi.</i>”<a id="FNanchor_616" href="#Footnote_616" class="fnanchor">[616]</a></p> -</div> - -<p>Horace mentions the wife ruling by means of her dowry—“<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">dotata -regit virum conjux</i>” (<i>Od.</i> iii. 18). Martial declares that he -wishes no rich marriage; it does not suit him, he says, to be married -by his wife—“<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">uxori nubere nolo meae</i>” (<i>Epig.</i> viii. 12). -From Seneca to Saint Jerome, who both speak of it, the dotal-slave -is advantageously replaced by the frizzed steward (<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Procurator -calamistratus</i>) managing the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</span> affairs of my lady.<a id="FNanchor_617" href="#Footnote_617" class="fnanchor">[617]</a> They went -further still, and as it happens in Russia at the present day, they -concluded fictitious marriages; but at Rome, these false marriages, -contracted for ready money, had no other object than to elude the laws -against celibacy.<a id="FNanchor_618" href="#Footnote_618" class="fnanchor">[618]</a></p> - - -<h3 id="h3_43">VI. <i>Barbarous Marriage and Christian Marriage.</i></h3> - -<p>In order to avoid being too incomplete in this rapid survey of marriage -among all races, I will say a few words on barbarous marriage outside -the Greco-Roman world.</p> - -<p>The barbarians of ancient Europe, more or less monogamous, have -differed little from any others. Their marriage resembles that of their -fellows of all races and all times; that which chiefly characterises it -is the subjection of woman.</p> - -<p>Barbarous women, says Plutarch, neither ate nor drank with their -husbands, and never called them by their name.<a id="FNanchor_619" href="#Footnote_619" class="fnanchor">[619]</a> Among the Germans, -who were more often monogamous, as Tacitus says,<a id="FNanchor_620" href="#Footnote_620" class="fnanchor">[620]</a> the wife was -purchased; then the purchase-money was transformed into a dower -accorded to the bride under the name of <i>morgengabe</i> or oscle -(<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">osculum</i>), the price of the first kiss.</p> - -<p>German betrothals, which could only be annulled for a serious reason, -strongly resembled Latin ones—that is, they were a sale of the girl in -anticipation by her legal owners. It was necessary for the girl to have -the consent of her father, or her nearest relative, for her marriage. -As widow, having been purchased, she belonged to the relatives of her -dead husband, and could not marry again without their leave.<a id="FNanchor_621" href="#Footnote_621" class="fnanchor">[621]</a> The -feudalism of the Middle Ages was careful not to emancipate the woman, -and she remained a minor, or even less, since the Code of Beaumanoir -says (titre lvii.)—“Every husband can beat his wife when she will -not obey his commands, or when she curses him or contradicts him,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</span> -provided that he does it moderately, and that death does not follow in -consequence.” Among the Saxons, the Burgundians, and the Germans in -general, the widow was subjected to the rule of her eldest son as soon -as he had attained the age of fifteen.</p> - -<p>In the Middle Ages the woman surprised in committing adultery might -be executed by her husband, who even had the right to call in the aid -of her son.<a id="FNanchor_622" href="#Footnote_622" class="fnanchor">[622]</a> In the ninth and tenth centuries, however, among the -Saxons in England, an advance that was quite exceptional took place. -The young girl could marry herself, was not repudiable at will, had -her own property and her keys, and the penal law of her husband ceased -to weigh upon her.<a id="FNanchor_623" href="#Footnote_623" class="fnanchor">[623]</a> This progress was quite local, and operated -spontaneously, quite independently of Christian influence. In fact, -Christianity has only emancipated women spiritually, and its real -influence on marriage has been injurious. Doubtless the Christian wife -might hope to become a seraph in the next world, but in this she was -only a servant or a slave. In Greco-Roman antiquity marriage had been -considered, as it ought to be, a civil institution. Legislation, more -or less sensible and intelligent, regarded it simply from the point of -view of population.</p> - -<p>Christianity, which taught that the earthly country was of no account, -and taxed with impurity all that related to sexual union, made marriage -a sacrament, and consequently an institution quite apart from humble -considerations of social utility. All sexual union outside marriage -was reputed criminal; the ideal preached to women was the mystic -marriage with God. The pious Constantine increased all the penalties -against sexual crimes. Adultery became again a capital offence; the -woman guilty of marrying a slave was condemned to death;<a id="FNanchor_624" href="#Footnote_624" class="fnanchor">[624]</a> marriage -was declared indissoluble; second marriages were blameworthy. At the -same time the fathers of the Church and the preachers did not cease -to utter their thunders against woman, disparaging her, and abusing -her as an impure creature, almost devilish. This encouraged the severe -legislation of the barbarians in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</span> conjugal matters. I have previously -mentioned some traits of these brutal laws. I shall return to them in -speaking of questions connected with marriage, which remain still to -be treated of—adultery, divorce, and widowhood. We shall then see how -hurtful the influence of Christianity has been on marriage, and we -shall come to the conclusion that in order to manage earthly affairs -well, it is not good to keep our looks constantly raised to the skies.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</span></p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_560" href="#FNanchor_560" class="label">[560]</a> Exodus, xxi. 8-10.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_561" href="#FNanchor_561" class="label">[561]</a> Genesis, ii. 24.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_562" href="#FNanchor_562" class="label">[562]</a> Deut., <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> xxii., ver. 13-21.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_563" href="#FNanchor_563" class="label">[563]</a> Hovelacque, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">L’Avesta</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 396.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_564" href="#FNanchor_564" class="label">[564]</a> <i>Code of Manu</i>, book ix. <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 5-17.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_565" href="#FNanchor_565" class="label">[565]</a> <i>Code of Manu</i>, v. <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 147, 148.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_566" href="#FNanchor_566" class="label">[566]</a> <i>Ibid.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_567" href="#FNanchor_567" class="label">[567]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> ix. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 90.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_568" href="#FNanchor_568" class="label">[568]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 93.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_569" href="#FNanchor_569" class="label">[569]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 94.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_570" href="#FNanchor_570" class="label">[570]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> iii. <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 51, 53.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_571" href="#FNanchor_571" class="label">[571]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> book iii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_572" href="#FNanchor_572" class="label">[572]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> book iii. <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 171, 172.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_573" href="#FNanchor_573" class="label">[573]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 14, 15.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_574" href="#FNanchor_574" class="label">[574]</a> <i>Code of Manu</i>, book iii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 19.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_575" href="#FNanchor_575" class="label">[575]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 17.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_576" href="#FNanchor_576" class="label">[576]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 4-10.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_577" href="#FNanchor_577" class="label">[577]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> ix. <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 46, 47.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_578" href="#FNanchor_578" class="label">[578]</a> Somerset, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxxi. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 352.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_579" href="#FNanchor_579" class="label">[579]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 341.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_580" href="#FNanchor_580" class="label">[580]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 350.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_581" href="#FNanchor_581" class="label">[581]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 350.—<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lettres -édifiantes</i>, t. x. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 23.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_582" href="#FNanchor_582" class="label">[582]</a> <i>Iliad</i>, ii., vii., viii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_583" href="#FNanchor_583" class="label">[583]</a> Goguet, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Orig. des Lois</i>, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 60.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_584" href="#FNanchor_584" class="label">[584]</a> <i>Odyssey</i>, xiv.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_585" href="#FNanchor_585" class="label">[585]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> i.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_586" href="#FNanchor_586" class="label">[586]</a> Cavallotti, <i lang="it" xml:lang="it">La Sposa di Menecle</i> (notes), <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 246.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_587" href="#FNanchor_587" class="label">[587]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 239.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_588" href="#FNanchor_588" class="label">[588]</a> Lycurgus, xxvi.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_589" href="#FNanchor_589" class="label">[589]</a> Plutarch, <i>Apophthegms of the -Lacedemonians</i>.—<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Demandes Romaines</i>, lxv.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_590" href="#FNanchor_590" class="label">[590]</a> Solon, xxxviii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_591" href="#FNanchor_591" class="label">[591]</a> Lycurgus, xxxvii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_592" href="#FNanchor_592" class="label">[592]</a> Demosthenes, cf. Step. ii.; in Cavallotti, <i>loc. -cit.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_593" href="#FNanchor_593" class="label">[593]</a> Isaeus, <i>Heritage of Menecles</i>, §§ 5-9.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_594" href="#FNanchor_594" class="label">[594]</a> Demosthenes, <i>Against Aphobus</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_595" href="#FNanchor_595" class="label">[595]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>For Phormion</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_596" href="#FNanchor_596" class="label">[596]</a> Isaeus, <i>Succession of Pyrrhus</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_597" href="#FNanchor_597" class="label">[597]</a> <i>Nic. Ethics</i>, viii. 14.—<i>Econom.</i>, i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 4.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_598" href="#FNanchor_598" class="label">[598]</a> Solon, xxxvii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_599" href="#FNanchor_599" class="label">[599]</a> Isaeus, <i>Succession of Pyrrhus</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_600" href="#FNanchor_600" class="label">[600]</a> <i>Mysogyne</i>, Fr. 3.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_601" href="#FNanchor_601" class="label">[601]</a> Menander, <i>The Necklace</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_602" href="#FNanchor_602" class="label">[602]</a> Cavallotti, <i lang="it" xml:lang="it">La Sposa di Menecle</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 158.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_603" href="#FNanchor_603" class="label">[603]</a> Friedländer, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mœurs romaines</i>, etc., t. -<span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 251-254.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_604" href="#FNanchor_604" class="label">[604]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> t. xxiii. <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 1-14.—<i>Avis de -Molestion.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_605" href="#FNanchor_605" class="label">[605]</a> Friedländer, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 351.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_606" href="#FNanchor_606" class="label">[606]</a> Plutarch, <i>Lycurgus and Numa compared</i>, 4, 2.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_607" href="#FNanchor_607" class="label">[607]</a> Friedländer, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 356.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_608" href="#FNanchor_608" class="label">[608]</a> Suetonius, <i>Octavius</i>, lxiv.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_609" href="#FNanchor_609" class="label">[609]</a> Plutarch, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Numa Pompilius</i>, xvii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_610" href="#FNanchor_610" class="label">[610]</a> Plautus, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Stichus</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_611" href="#FNanchor_611" class="label">[611]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">L’Italie ancienne</i>, par MM. Duruy, Filon, etc. -(<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">passim</i>).</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_612" href="#FNanchor_612" class="label">[612]</a> Saint Augustine, <i>Confessions</i>, book ix. <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> ix.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_613" href="#FNanchor_613" class="label">[613]</a> R. Cubain, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lois civiles de Rome</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 179.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_614" href="#FNanchor_614" class="label">[614]</a> Plutarch, <i>Cato of Utica</i>, xxxvi. lxviii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_615" href="#FNanchor_615" class="label">[615]</a> Domenget, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Institutes de Gaius</i>, i. 64.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_616" href="#FNanchor_616" class="label">[616]</a> <i>Asinaria</i>, v. 70-72.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_617" href="#FNanchor_617" class="label">[617]</a> Seneca, <i>De matrim.</i>—Saint Jerome, <i>Letters</i>, -54, 13, 79, 9.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_618" href="#FNanchor_618" class="label">[618]</a> Friedländer, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mœurs</i>, etc., t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -360.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_619" href="#FNanchor_619" class="label">[619]</a> Plutarch, <i>On Herodotus</i>, xxi.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_620" href="#FNanchor_620" class="label">[620]</a> <i>Germania</i>, xviii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_621" href="#FNanchor_621" class="label">[621]</a> Laboulaye, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> de la succes. des femmes</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_622" href="#FNanchor_622" class="label">[622]</a> <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Summa Cardinalis Hostiensis</i>, lib. v., <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">De -Adulteris</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_623" href="#FNanchor_623" class="label">[623]</a> Wake, <i>Evolution of Morality</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 381.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_624" href="#FNanchor_624" class="label">[624]</a> <i>Code Theod.</i>, lib. vi., tit. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup>.</p> - -</div> -</div> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.<br /><br /><span class="small">ADULTERY.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>I. <i>Adultery in General.</i>—Adultery considered as a theft.</p> - -<p>II. <i>Adultery in Melanesia.</i>—Indulgence and severity of -Tasmanian and Australian husbands—Adultery at New Caledonia.</p> - -<p>III. <i>Adultery in Black Africa.</i>—Among the Hottentots, at the -Gaboon, in middle Africa, in Abyssinia.</p> - -<p>IV. <i>Adultery in Polynesia.</i>—Punishment of unauthorised -adultery—The “fire-lighter” at Noukahiva.</p> - -<p>V. <i>Adultery in Savage America.</i>—Among the Esquimaux—Special -penalty among the Redskins—Obscene retaliation.</p> - -<p>VI. <i>Adultery in Barbarous America.</i>—Among the Pipiles in -Yucatan, in Mexico, in Peru, in Guatemala.</p> - -<p>VII. <i>Adultery among the Mongol Races and in Malaya.</i>—Among the -nomad Tartars, in Thibet, in China, in Japan, in Malaya.</p> - -<p>VIII. <i>Adultery among the Egyptians, the Berbers, and the -Semites.</i>—Penalty of adultery in ancient Egypt; among the Hebrews, -the Arabs, and in Kabyle.</p> - -<p>IX. <i>Adultery in Persia and India.</i>—Penalty of adultery in -Persia—Adultery in the Code of Manu—Fraternal and authorised -adultery—The obligation of a double vengeance.</p> - -<p>X. <i>Adultery in the Greco-Roman World.</i>—Legal adultery according -to Lycurgus and Solon—Punishment of illegal adultery—Adultery -in primitive Rome—<i>Lex Julia</i>—Legal vengeance of the -father—Obscene retaliation—Laws of Antoninus, of Septimus Severus, -and of Constantine.</p> - -<p>XI. <i>Adultery in Barbarous Europe.</i>—Among the Tcherkesses, the -Visigoths, the Francs, under Charlemagne—Singular penalties of the -Middle Ages.</p> - -<p>XII. <i>Adultery in the Past and in the Future.</i></p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</span></p> - - -<h3 id="h3_44">I. <i>Adultery in General.</i></h3> - -<p>We will now pass in review some of the principal penalties (the -enumeration of all of them would be too long) with which the men of -all times and races have attempted to repress adultery. That the human -species, and especially the primitive, unpolished human species, is one -of the most ferocious of the animal kingdom, stands out strikingly from -these investigations; but it is perhaps in regard to adultery that the -cruelty and injustice of men are most strongly shown; and by the word -“men” here we mean the masculine half of mankind, for generally the -only adultery which has been punished has been that of the woman. As -for the adultery of the husband, men have been very slow in admitting -that it was a wrong of which the wife might complain.</p> - -<p>The reason of this revolting partiality is very simple. Diderot makes -Orou tell it in his <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Supplément au Voyage de Bougainville</i>; it is -that “the tyranny of man has converted the possession of woman into a -property.”<a id="FNanchor_625" href="#Footnote_625" class="fnanchor">[625]</a></p> - -<p>On the whole, our long inquiry has abundantly proved that very -generally, in human societies, marriage has been, or is still, a -bargain, when not a capture. In all legislations the married woman is -more or less openly considered as the property of the husband, and is -very often confounded, absolutely confounded, with things possessed. To -use her, therefore, without the authority of her owner, is a theft; and -human societies have never been tender to thieves. Nearly everywhere -theft has been considered a crime much more grave than murder. But -adultery is not a common theft. An object, an inert possession, are -passive things; their owner may well punish the thief who has taken -them, but him only. In adultery, the object of the larceny, the wife, -is a sentient and thinking being—that is to say, an accomplice in -the attempt on her husband’s property in her own person; moreover, he -generally has her in his keeping; he can chastise her freely, and glut -his rage on her without any arm being raised for her defence. On the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</span> -contrary, in letting loose his vengeance the husband will frequently -have public opinion and law on his side, when the latter does not take -on itself the punishment of the guilty one. But let us listen once more -to the eloquent language of facts.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_45">II. <i>Adultery in Melanesia.</i></h3> - -<p>In Tasmania and Australia the women were, or are, considered as the -property of the men. We have seen that in these countries there is -no care for decency or chastity, and that wives are often obtained -by brutal rape. Their proprietors also make no scruple of letting -them out, lending them, or bartering them; they have the fullest -right to use or abuse them. The Tasmanians felt very honoured if a -white man borrowed their wives, but they none the less chastised, and -very cruelly too, unauthorised infidelities, on the simple ground, -as their panegyrist, the <abbr title="reverend">Rev.</abbr> Bonwick, tells us, of their right of -ownership.<a id="FNanchor_626" href="#Footnote_626" class="fnanchor">[626]</a> In certain Australian tribes, organised in classes, the -women were reputed common to all the individuals of the same class, -but all intimate relation with a man of another group was a most grave -adultery for both the guilty ones—a social adultery.<a id="FNanchor_627" href="#Footnote_627" class="fnanchor">[627]</a></p> - -<p>In the greater number of New Caledonian tribes the punishment of -adultery is left to the care of the injured husband, who kills the -thief, if he can, but often contents himself with giving a severe -punishment to his wife, sometimes inflicting a sort of scalping. At -Kanala, however, adultery has already become a social crime. The man -who commits it is led before the chief, judged by the council of elders -whom the chief presides over, and executed on the spot.<a id="FNanchor_628" href="#Footnote_628" class="fnanchor">[628]</a> But in one -way or another, whether he incurs the social vengeance or that of the -offended one—the robbed one, rather—and of his relatives, the New -Caledonian who commits adultery risks his life. Sometimes, however, he -can get off by paying a fine, after the old German fashion. Often also, -in case of adultery committed by a married man, the New Caledonians -practise a singular<span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</span> retaliation: the adult men of the village simply -violate the wife of the delinquent.<a id="FNanchor_629" href="#Footnote_629" class="fnanchor">[629]</a> The wives of the chiefs being -much more sacred than the others, the slightest attempt on the rights -of their proprietors risks being cruelly punished. M. Moncelon has seen -a man condemned to death merely for having looked at the wife of the -chief while she was picking up shells;<a id="FNanchor_630" href="#Footnote_630" class="fnanchor">[630]</a> it was regarded as treason. -This ferocity in the repression of adultery is not at all special to -Melanesia. With some variations, it is found in all times and in all -countries. It is worthy of remark also that even when the adulterous -man is punished, it is simply because he has robbed another husband, -and not because he has failed in conjugal faith.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_46">III. <i>Adultery in Black Africa.</i></h3> - -<p>We have previously seen that among the black populations of Africa -marriage is a simple bargain, and that the negresses are only -moderately chaste. Now, as the purchase of wives and the absence of -chastity in the women are factors eminently suited to produce adultery, -we shall not be surprised to find that it is very common in Africa; it -is nevertheless very severely punished there, but only because it is -a very grave outrage on property. Among the Hottentots, the husband, -having the right of life and death<a id="FNanchor_631" href="#Footnote_631" class="fnanchor">[631]</a> over his wife or wives, and -being allowed to kill them for the smallest offence, naturally enjoys -the same right, with a much stronger reason, when they commit an -unauthorised infidelity, for he can lend or let them to strangers if he -likes.<a id="FNanchor_632" href="#Footnote_632" class="fnanchor">[632]</a></p> - -<p>In the tribes where polygamy already inclines to monogamy, and where -there exists a chief wife ruling over the others, the gravity of the -crime of adultery is in relation to the position occupied by the -woman. Thus, at the Gaboon, Du Chaillu tells us, where the women are -extremely dissolute, a distinction is made in their infidelities. -The adultery of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</span> the chief wife is an enormous crime. The man who -has been an accomplice in it is, at the very least, sold as a slave; -but adultery with less important wives can be atoned for by a large -compensation.<a id="FNanchor_633" href="#Footnote_633" class="fnanchor">[633]</a> As for the woman, her pecuniary value often protects -her. The husband-proprietor has bought his wife, and he cares very -little for the purity of her morals, since he has no scruple in making -her an object of traffic;<a id="FNanchor_634" href="#Footnote_634" class="fnanchor">[634]</a> therefore, whenever she is unfaithful -without his permission, the consideration of the cost of purchase and -of the possible profit of letting her out, often restrains his vengeful -arm. He is free, however, to punish or to pardon, and sometimes the -chastisement of adultery is terrible. At Bornou, for example, the -guilty ones are bound hand and foot, and their heads are smashed -by being struck together.<a id="FNanchor_635" href="#Footnote_635" class="fnanchor">[635]</a> At Kaarta, says Mungo Park, the two -guilty ones are put to death. With the Soulimas there is a singular -exception to this. The adulterous woman merely has her head shaved, -and she loses a privilege which is probably of Berber origin—viz., -that of quitting her husband at will, simply by refunding him the -amount of purchase-money he has paid for her. All the vengeance of -the husband falls on the lover, and he makes him his slave.<a id="FNanchor_636" href="#Footnote_636" class="fnanchor">[636]</a> At -Jouida, in Dahomey, the offended husband had still the right, in 1713, -of invoking judicial power in order to have his guilty wife strangled -or beheaded by the public executioner.<a id="FNanchor_637" href="#Footnote_637" class="fnanchor">[637]</a> Her accomplice was not -spared, and sometimes, says Bosman, he was burned at a slow fire. This -cruel wish to make delinquents suffer a long time is found again in -Uganda, where King M’tesa caused adulterers to be dismembered, having -one limb at a time cut off and thrown to the vultures, who feasted -on it before the eyes of the sufferers.<a id="FNanchor_638" href="#Footnote_638" class="fnanchor">[638]</a> With the Ashantees, the -husband, as sovereign justiciary, can either kill his wife, or marry -her to a slave, or cut off her nose, according to his pleasure.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</span><a id="FNanchor_639" href="#Footnote_639" class="fnanchor">[639]</a> -We find this last punishment specially applied to adultery in various -countries, and Diodorus will tell us the motive for it. On the -Senegal coast the all-powerful protection of money saved the life of -adulterers, and the offended husbands spared them in order to sell them -to European slave-traders.</p> - -<p>In Abyssinia the conjugal bond is so frail, morals are so shameless, -and divorce is so easy, that adultery is rarely taken in a tragic -light. Formerly the injured husband often confined himself to -chasing from his house the adulterous woman, clothed in rags for the -occasion.<a id="FNanchor_640" href="#Footnote_640" class="fnanchor">[640]</a></p> - - -<h3 id="h3_47">IV. <i>Adultery in Polynesia.</i></h3> - -<p>Polynesian customs alone would suffice to prove that in primitive -countries adultery is simply punished as a robbery, or commercial -fraud. As regards sexual morality, or rather immorality, nothing can -be compared to what was practised in Polynesia, where all modesty was -unknown, where the husbands willingly let out their wives, and the -intimate friend of the husband (<i>tayo</i>) had the right to share his -wife with him. But dissolute as they were, these islanders were very -determined conjugal proprietors, and they sometimes punished adultery -with the most extreme severity. The missionary, Marsden, relates that a -New Zealand chief killed his adulterous wife by dealing her a blow on -the head with his club. Public opinion approved of the deed, and the -brother of the dead woman came to take the body, only making a feint of -retaliation, because the punishment was considered to be merited.<a id="FNanchor_641" href="#Footnote_641" class="fnanchor">[641]</a></p> - -<p>Cook saw at Tahiti a native man punished in the same way for adultery, -by blows of the club; but in this case there was the aggravating -circumstance that the woman belonged to a class superior to his.<a id="FNanchor_642" href="#Footnote_642" class="fnanchor">[642]</a> -In some islands, especially at Tahiti and Tonga, where the customs were -less savage, and licence was more unbridled than in New<span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</span> Zealand, the -women sometimes got off with a simple correction. We must again remark -that what was blamed and punished was not the adultery itself, but -adultery unauthorised, or not commanded by the legal owner—in short, -theft.</p> - -<p>At Noukahiva, says Krusenstern, there was a functionary called the -“fire-lighter” who lived with the wife of a king. The duty of this -dignitary was, in the first place, to obey the queen, and in the next -to supply her husband’s place with her in case of prolonged absence on -his part.<a id="FNanchor_643" href="#Footnote_643" class="fnanchor">[643]</a> Taking this fact by the side of others, as, for example, -the unlimited right of the friend, or <i>tayo</i>, over the wife, we -see clearly what the Polynesians understood by adultery.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_48">V. <i>Adultery in Savage America.</i></h3> - -<p>The Esquimaux, who are as free from prejudices in their conjugal -customs as the Polynesians, have also, at least certain of them, -adopted the custom of joint husbands, <i>cicisbei</i>, who replace -the husband in case of absence.<a id="FNanchor_644" href="#Footnote_644" class="fnanchor">[644]</a> There are some, however, who -blame the adultery of wives, and believe even that the fairies would -kill them if their wives were unfaithful during their absence.<a id="FNanchor_645" href="#Footnote_645" class="fnanchor">[645]</a> -But all the Esquimaux are not equally easy going; some of them, the -reindeer Koriaks, for example, kill at once the man and woman taken in -adultery.<a id="FNanchor_646" href="#Footnote_646" class="fnanchor">[646]</a></p> - -<p>The Redskins are always less tolerant; with them adultery is a very -serious affair, although they often also consider the exchange of wives -a mark of friendship. It is generally the husband who takes vengeance -as he pleases, and he often does so by cutting open with his teeth -the nose, and sometimes the ears, of the guilty woman. This was the -practice with the Comanches,<a id="FNanchor_647" href="#Footnote_647" class="fnanchor">[647]</a> the Yumas,<a id="FNanchor_648" href="#Footnote_648" class="fnanchor">[648]</a> and the Sioux.<a id="FNanchor_649" href="#Footnote_649" class="fnanchor">[649]</a> -But the injured, or robbed, husband is at liberty to make a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</span> -composition with the seducer.<a id="FNanchor_650" href="#Footnote_650" class="fnanchor">[650]</a> He can at will either pardon—as did -a Mandan husband who sent the wife to her lover, adding three horses -to the present<a id="FNanchor_651" href="#Footnote_651" class="fnanchor">[651]</a>—or he can put to death the faithless wife and her -accomplice. By a rare exception, the Omahas recognised the right of the -wife to revenge herself on an adulterous husband and his mistress.<a id="FNanchor_652" href="#Footnote_652" class="fnanchor">[652]</a> -With the Omahas, also, an adulterous wife was bound to a stake in the -prairie, abused by twenty or thirty men, and then abandoned by her -husband.<a id="FNanchor_653" href="#Footnote_653" class="fnanchor">[653]</a> We have seen that this obscene mode of retaliation is in -use at New Caledonia, and we shall find it again in the Roman Empire. -The mode of vengeance with the Redskins, whether of the husband or the -tribe, varied according to locality, but was often atrocious. Thus the -Modocs of California publicly disembowelled the guilty woman.<a id="FNanchor_654" href="#Footnote_654" class="fnanchor">[654]</a> -Among the Hoopsas, another tribe of Californian Redskins, the male -accomplice in the adultery lost one eye,<a id="FNanchor_655" href="#Footnote_655" class="fnanchor">[655]</a> or, if he was married, -the injured man took his wife.</p> - -<p>The natives of South America were not more clement than their congeners -in the north. The Caribees put both guilty ones to death.<a id="FNanchor_656" href="#Footnote_656" class="fnanchor">[656]</a> The -Guarayos also punished with death the accomplice in adultery as if he -were a thief.<a id="FNanchor_657" href="#Footnote_657" class="fnanchor">[657]</a></p> - -<p>From this rapid survey of savage countries we may conclude that -adultery is everywhere considered as a robbery only, but at the same -time as one of the gravest of robberies. The man who is guilty of -adultery suffers consequently, by virtue of the right of retaliation, -a punishment more or less severe. As for the adulterous woman, she is -generally chastised by the husband-proprietor with extreme cruelty, no -restraint existing to moderate his vengeance.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_49">VI. <i>Adultery in Barbarous America.</i></h3> - -<p>In the barbarous monarchies of all countries the chastisement of -adultery is scarcely mitigated, and for a long time<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</span> it is directly -inflicted on the guilty woman by the husband or the parents.</p> - -<p>With the Pipiles of Salvador the man who committed adultery was put to -death, or became the slave of the offended husband.<a id="FNanchor_658" href="#Footnote_658" class="fnanchor">[658]</a> In Yucatan the -guilty ones were stoned or pierced with arrows; before this they were -impaled or disjointed.<a id="FNanchor_659" href="#Footnote_659" class="fnanchor">[659]</a> According to Herrara, among the Yzipecs the -injured husband cut off the nose and ears of the adulterous woman.<a id="FNanchor_660" href="#Footnote_660" class="fnanchor">[660]</a> -The same author tells us that among the Guaxlotillans the woman was -taken before the Cacique, and if found guilty she was cut in pieces and -eaten.<a id="FNanchor_661" href="#Footnote_661" class="fnanchor">[661]</a></p> - -<p>In ancient Mexico adultery was generally punished with stoning,<a id="FNanchor_662" href="#Footnote_662" class="fnanchor">[662]</a> -and in certain districts this crime entailed the quartering of the -guilty woman; elsewhere, the judges simply ordered the husband to cut -off her nose and ears.<a id="FNanchor_663" href="#Footnote_663" class="fnanchor">[663]</a></p> - -<p>In Peru the law also punished ordinary adultery with capital -punishment.<a id="FNanchor_664" href="#Footnote_664" class="fnanchor">[664]</a> There was no chastisement terrible enough for adultery -committed with one of the wives of the Inca, the son of the Sun: the -guilty man was burnt, his parents were put to death, and his house -destroyed (Pizarro).</p> - -<p>Guatemala offered an exception;<a id="FNanchor_665" href="#Footnote_665" class="fnanchor">[665]</a> there the affair was arranged by -a composition—a fine of precious feathers paid to the husband. The -latter could also repudiate his wife, or pardon her, in which last -case he was much honoured. If the adultery was committed with the wife -of a great lord, the crime naturally acquired an exceptional gravity; -the guilty man was then strangled if he was noble, and if servile, -was thrown down a precipice. We shall find elsewhere this hierarchic -iniquity, for in this matter, as in others, various human societies and -races repeat themselves.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</span></p> -<h3 id="h3_50">VII. <i>Adultery among the Mongol Races and in Malaya.</i></h3> - -<p>Thus the Mongols of Asia seem to have copied the Mongoloids of America. -With the nomad Tartars a man of inferior class who has committed -adultery with a woman of his own class pays the injured husband -forty-five head of cattle; but the husband must revenge himself on the -inconstant wife. The law invites him to do so; for if he kills her, -the compensation of cattle remains his property; if not, it goes to -the prince. But if it happens that a man of low condition has illicit -intercourse with the wife of a prince, then the crime is terrible; the -man is cut to pieces, the faithless wife is decapitated, and the family -of the guilty man reduced to slavery.<a id="FNanchor_666" href="#Footnote_666" class="fnanchor">[666]</a> If we may believe a modern -traveller, Mongol customs have become considerably modified on this -point, adultery being now extremely common in Mongolia, and so little -repressed that the women hardly take the trouble to conceal it.<a id="FNanchor_667" href="#Footnote_667" class="fnanchor">[667]</a></p> - -<p>In lamaic Thibet they do not regard adultery as a tragedy. The wife is -corrected, and the lover pays a fine to the husband, or husbands, when -there are several.<a id="FNanchor_668" href="#Footnote_668" class="fnanchor">[668]</a></p> - -<p>Chinese legislation is relatively moderate in regard to adultery. In -the first place it expressly forbids the husband to lend or let out -his wife, under pain of twenty-four strokes with the bamboo.<a id="FNanchor_669" href="#Footnote_669" class="fnanchor">[669]</a> The -Chinese woman can certainly be imprisoned for adultery,<a id="FNanchor_670" href="#Footnote_670" class="fnanchor">[670]</a> but she is -chiefly punished by repudiation, which is obligatory on the husband on -pain of twenty strokes of the bamboo.<a id="FNanchor_671" href="#Footnote_671" class="fnanchor">[671]</a> She can, however, be sold -either by the husband or by the judge to whom the offended husband -remits her.<a id="FNanchor_672" href="#Footnote_672" class="fnanchor">[672]</a> In contrast to certain barbarous legislations, the -Chinese law is more severe in regard to adultery for the strong than -for the weak. “Whoever, on the strength of his power or credit, shall<span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</span> -take away the wife or the daughter of a free man to make her his own -wife, shall be imprisoned for the usual time and put to death by -strangulation.”<a id="FNanchor_673" href="#Footnote_673" class="fnanchor">[673]</a></p> - -<p>In Japan the law gives the offended husband the cruel and very general -right to kill the guilty ones if taken in adultery, and forbids him to -spare one.<a id="FNanchor_674" href="#Footnote_674" class="fnanchor">[674]</a> We find this latter injunction, perhaps more humane -than it appears, in ancient Roman legislation and elsewhere.</p> - -<p>Nothing is at once more monotonous and more ghastly than this -ethnographic review of the penalties against adultery.</p> - -<p>Simple death has not sufficed to punish this crime, so enormous has -it everywhere seemed; and thus other refinements of cruelty have been -added—disembowelling, cutting in pieces, the stake, etc.</p> - -<p>So far, among the races we have been investigating, Chinese legislation -has been the wisest and most just, since, contrary to usual custom, it -enacts the most severe penalties against the powerful man who takes -advantage of his social position to commit adultery. Here and there, -however, we find societies where adultery excites less fury. These -societies are rare, and they are not always the most civilised.</p> - -<p>At Java, for example, adultery is treated with clemency, especially -if it is not committed with the chief wife. Even in this last case -the guilty one, at least the man, is often only punished by public -contempt.<a id="FNanchor_675" href="#Footnote_675" class="fnanchor">[675]</a> The Dyaks punish conjugal infidelity with a fine only, -for both parties.<a id="FNanchor_676" href="#Footnote_676" class="fnanchor">[676]</a> This is a rare example of clemency, and it is -given by a still barbarous race. We look in vain for such moderation -among much more civilised peoples, as we shall see in studying ancient -Egypt and the Berbers and Semites.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</span></p> - -<h3 id="h3_51">VIII. <i>Adultery among the Egyptians, the Berbers, and the Semites.</i></h3> - -<p>Diodorus tells us that in ancient Egypt the man who was guilty of -adultery received a thousand lashes, whilst the woman suffered the -amputation of her nose, a very special penalty, which we have seen -used in America and negro Africa, which we shall find also among the -Saxons of England, and for which Diodorus has given us the reason. “The -legislator,” he says, “has intended to deprive the woman of attractions -which she had only made use of for seduction.”<a id="FNanchor_677" href="#Footnote_677" class="fnanchor">[677]</a></p> - -<p>The Bible, also, is not tender towards adulterers. But it makes no -distinction between the culpability of the man and the woman; stoning -is for both. This terrible punishment is not only inflicted on the -faithless wife, but on the inconstant <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">fiancée</i>. The accomplices -even are put to death. There are, however, some distinctions, and -precautions are taken to mitigate the rigour of the law; thus the -guilty woman is only condemned to be stoned if the crime has been -committed in the city. If in the fields, the man alone incurs -stoning;<a id="FNanchor_678" href="#Footnote_678" class="fnanchor">[678]</a> it is thus admitted that the woman may have suffered -violence. Besides this, two witnesses are in all cases necessary to -establish the crime. Lastly, the slave woman is not punished with -death.<a id="FNanchor_679" href="#Footnote_679" class="fnanchor">[679]</a></p> - -<p>The ancient Arabs were not more clement towards adultery than their -cousins of Palestine, and the Bedouins, who have preserved more of -the old customs, still consider adultery as the greatest of crimes. -Burckhardt tells us that with them the adulterous woman is beheaded -either by her father or her brother.<a id="FNanchor_680" href="#Footnote_680" class="fnanchor">[680]</a> These are morals that go far -beyond the prescriptions of the Koran. It would seem that Mahomet, -much given to sexual pleasures himself, had not the courage to be too -severe on others. He, indeed, calls the adultery of woman the “infamous -action” <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">par excellence</i>, but he directs, nevertheless, that the -crime be proved by four witnesses.<a id="FNanchor_681" href="#Footnote_681" class="fnanchor">[681]</a> Moreover, the woman can<span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</span> escape -the punishment by swearing four times before God that she is innocent, -and that her husband has lied.<a id="FNanchor_682" href="#Footnote_682" class="fnanchor">[682]</a> If she is convicted, both she and -her accomplice receive a hundred lashes in public. Then the woman -must be shut up “until death visits her, or God finds her a means of -salvation,”<a id="FNanchor_683" href="#Footnote_683" class="fnanchor">[683]</a> all of which is relatively mild enough.</p> - -<p>Although Mussulmans, the Kabyles of Algeria do not keep to the somewhat -humane prescriptions of the Koran in regard to adultery. In general, -they are pitiless towards all infractions of morals. With them a -kiss on the mouth is equivalent to adultery, and costs more than an -assassination.<a id="FNanchor_684" href="#Footnote_684" class="fnanchor">[684]</a> Every child born out of marriage is put to death, -as well as its mother.<a id="FNanchor_685" href="#Footnote_685" class="fnanchor">[685]</a> If the family tries to spare the guilty -one, the Djemâa stones her and imposes a fine on the relatives.<a id="FNanchor_686" href="#Footnote_686" class="fnanchor">[686]</a> -The child and mother are stoned by the Djemâa or the family. Even when -a woman is actually separated from her husband her adulterous child is -killed, but the fate of the mother is left to the discretion of the -relatives.<a id="FNanchor_687" href="#Footnote_687" class="fnanchor">[687]</a></p> - -<p>Whoever carries off a woman, especially a married woman, and flees -with her, becomes a public enemy, and the village where the fugitives -have taken refuge must give them up under pain of war. The man is put -to death, and the woman is restored to her family, who do not spare -her.<a id="FNanchor_688" href="#Footnote_688" class="fnanchor">[688]</a></p> - -<p>Custom authorises the deceived husband to sacrifice his wife, and if -he rarely does it he is only hindered by the loss of the capital she -represents; but usage requires the repudiation,<a id="FNanchor_689" href="#Footnote_689" class="fnanchor">[689]</a> and the husband -must, besides, take a striking and bloody vengeance on the lover.<a id="FNanchor_690" href="#Footnote_690" class="fnanchor">[690]</a> -At the very least he must simulate it, must fire, perhaps, on the -guilty one with a gun loaded only with powder, and strike or slightly -wound his wife’s lover. He has thus saved his honour; he is content -with little, as in our rose-water duels.<a id="FNanchor_691" href="#Footnote_691" class="fnanchor">[691]</a> With the Kabyles, -more than elsewhere, marriage is a mercenary<span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</span> affair; consequently -adultery naturally has pecuniary consequences. Thus, in compensation -for adultery or the abduction of his wife, the husband has a right to -the amount of the purchase, the <i>thâmanth</i>, or to an indemnity, -sometimes arbitrary, sometimes tariffed;<a id="FNanchor_692" href="#Footnote_692" class="fnanchor">[692]</a> but this compensation in -money is distinct from the retaliation, and in no way hinders it.<a id="FNanchor_693" href="#Footnote_693" class="fnanchor">[693]</a></p> - -<p>Lastly, the Kabyle legislation formally interdicts the marriage of the -adulterous woman with her accomplice.<a id="FNanchor_694" href="#Footnote_694" class="fnanchor">[694]</a></p> - -<p>Beginning with Melanesia and reaching Kabyle, I have sought among -very different races, forming altogether the major part of mankind, -the penalties used or decreed against adulterers. The result is a -lamentable enumeration of sanguinary follies. I have passed by in -silence the legendary or exceptional sufferings. I have not spoken -of women crushed under the feet of elephants, violated by stallions, -buried alive, etc. The common reality alone more than suffices to show -that man, still far from being very delicate in conjugal or amorous -matters, considers adultery as a great crime, especially for woman. -It remains for us to see how the races calling themselves <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">par -excellence</i> noble—the Indo-European races—have regarded this -fault, so difficult to pardon.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_52">IX. <i>Adultery in Persia and India.</i></h3> - -<p>The Avesta does not mention adultery in ancient Persia. In modern -Persia it has been punished with ferocity, except, naturally, when it -was committed by the Shah, who chose, according to his fancy, any young -girls or women among his subjects, without any one daring to find fault -with him.<a id="FNanchor_695" href="#Footnote_695" class="fnanchor">[695]</a> But for private individuals adultery was an abominable -crime; the man who had committed it was put to death; the woman, -treated of course more severely, was tied up alive in a sack and thrown -into the water.</p> - -<p>The Code of Manu gives us very complete information<span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</span> in regard to -the penalty for adultery in ancient India. In the first place, it is -understood that the adultery of the husband ought not to trouble the -wife at all. “Although the conduct of her husband may be blameworthy, -and he may give himself up to other amours and be devoid of good -qualities, a virtuous woman ought constantly to revere him as a -god.”<a id="FNanchor_696" href="#Footnote_696" class="fnanchor">[696]</a> The adultery of the woman is naturally quite another thing. -“If a woman, proud of her family and her importance, is unfaithful -to her husband, the king shall have her devoured by dogs in a very -frequented public place.”<a id="FNanchor_697" href="#Footnote_697" class="fnanchor">[697]</a> If a woman of high rank, the lover -also is not spared. “The king shall condemn her accomplice to be -burned on a bed of red hot iron.”<a id="FNanchor_698" href="#Footnote_698" class="fnanchor">[698]</a> For the less aristocratic -adultery the punishment varies according to the caste. “For adultery -with a protected Brahmanee, a Vaisya loses all his property, after -imprisonment for a year; a Kchatriya is condemned to pay a thousand -panas, to have his head shaved and watered with urine of an ass.” For -the Brahmin the penalty is very light. “An ignominious tonsure is -ordered instead of capital punishment for a Brahmin in the cases where -the punishment of the other classes would be death.”<a id="FNanchor_699" href="#Footnote_699" class="fnanchor">[699]</a> The Soudra, -on the contrary, who holds criminal commerce with a woman belonging -to one of the three first classes, “shall be deprived of the guilty -member, and of all his possessions, if she was not guarded; but if it -was so, he loses both his goods and his existence.”<a id="FNanchor_700" href="#Footnote_700" class="fnanchor">[700]</a> It must be -noticed, also, that very slight evidence suffices to prove adultery. -“To pay little attentions to a woman, to send her flowers and perfumes, -to frolic with her, to touch her ornaments or vestments, to sit with -her on the same couch, are considered by wise men as proofs of an -adulterous love.”<a id="FNanchor_701" href="#Footnote_701" class="fnanchor">[701]</a></p> - -<p>On the other hand, the husband, if he has had no children, can oblige -his wife to give herself either to his brother or to another relative. -“Anointed with liquid butter and keeping silence, let the relative -charged with this office approach during the night a widow or a -childless woman, and engender one single son, but never a second.”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</span> -Then, in the following verse, the Code alters: “Some of those who -understand this question well, think that the aim of this precept -is not perfectly attained by the birth of a single child, and that -women may legally engender in this manner a second son.”<a id="FNanchor_702" href="#Footnote_702" class="fnanchor">[702]</a> One -verse, certainly less ancient, contradicts these curious texts, which -are evidently survivals of primitive customs, according to which the -husband disposed as he pleased of his feminine property. More modern -Brahmanic legislation still authorises the husband to kill the wife -and her lover if taken in adultery, and there would be nothing new to -us in this, if, as in Japan, and as formerly at Rome, the law did not -formally interdict him from killing only one of the two culprits.<a id="FNanchor_703" href="#Footnote_703" class="fnanchor">[703]</a></p> - - -<h3 id="h3_53">X. <i>Adultery in the Greco-Roman World.</i></h3> - -<p>However Aryan India may be, she differs very remarkably from us. Let -us look now at the way in which adultery has been regarded in Europe, -and, to begin with, in the Greco-Roman world. We know that in classic -antiquity marriage was quite crudely considered as a civic duty, and -looked at from the single point of view of population. Lycurgus and -Solon encouraged the impotent husband to favour the adultery of his -young wife. Speaking of the laws of Lycurgus, Plutarch says—“He -laughed at those who revenge with war and bloodshed the communication -of a married woman’s favours; and allowed that, if any one in years -should have a young wife, he might introduce to her some handsome and -worthy young man, whom he most approved, and when she had borne a -child of this generous race, bring it up as his own. Also he permitted -that if a man of character should entertain a passion for a married -woman upon account of her modesty and the beauty of her children, he -might beg her husband that he might be allowed to plant, as it were, -in rich and fertile soil, excellent children, the congenial offspring -of excellent parents.”<a id="FNanchor_704" href="#Footnote_704" class="fnanchor">[704]</a> This is marriage considered without<span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</span> the -least prejudice, from the strict point of view of social utility. Solon -imitates Lycurgus on this point, but with one restriction which recalls -the Code of Manu, that the wife of an impotent husband should, with his -permission of course, choose a lover from among the nearest relatives -of the said husband.<a id="FNanchor_705" href="#Footnote_705" class="fnanchor">[705]</a></p> - -<p>Custom sometimes went further than the laws, and Plutarch relates that -Cimon of Athens, who was a model of goodness and greatness of soul, -lent his wife to the rich Callias.<a id="FNanchor_706" href="#Footnote_706" class="fnanchor">[706]</a> But that did not prevent the -laws of Solon from authorising the husband to kill the adulterer.<a id="FNanchor_707" href="#Footnote_707" class="fnanchor">[707]</a> -Further, the law punished with civil degradation the too indulgent -husband, and authorised the family tribunals to condemn to death the -guilty woman, whom the husband himself executed before witnesses.<a id="FNanchor_708" href="#Footnote_708" class="fnanchor">[708]</a> -Lastly, a law of Draco, which was never abrogated, delivered the -adulterous lover to the discretion of the husband.<a id="FNanchor_709" href="#Footnote_709" class="fnanchor">[709]</a> After all, save -for the good of the state, before which everything had to bend, this -Greek legislation only consecrates the old primitive right by which the -wife was the property of her husband.</p> - -<p>In all that concerns marriage ancient Rome singularly resembles ancient -Greece.<a id="FNanchor_710" href="#Footnote_710" class="fnanchor">[710]</a> Her customs and regulations regarding the wife were at -first of a savage atrocity. The term adulterer begins by being applied -to the woman alone, and the law of the Ten Tables arraigned the guilty -wife before the domestic tribunal; she was condemned and executed by -the relatives themselves—<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Cognati necanto uti volent</i>. Family -tribunals continued to exist during the whole period of the republic, -and even later, concurrently with the law <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Julia</i>; but customs -softened, and death was commuted to banishment to two hundred miles -from Rome at the least, with the obligation of wearing the toga of -the courtesan. The <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">flagrante delicto</i> naturally authorised the -husband to kill the wife on the spot;<a id="FNanchor_711" href="#Footnote_711" class="fnanchor">[711]</a> as for the lover, he could -keep him, torture him, mutilate him, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">raffanise</i> him<span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</span> (I dare -not give the sense of this picturesque word), and deliver him to the -ferocious lubricity of his slaves. Law and public opinion authorised -the husband to fleece the surprised lover, and thus torture could be -made a means of extorting money from him.</p> - -<p>The <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Lex Julia</i>, enacted either by Julius Cæsar or Augustus, -attempted a reform of morals. By the terms of this law, which was -in force till the time of Justinian, the husband could not kill his -wife, taken in adultery, without being punished as a murderer. Neither -could he put the lover to death unless he were a slave, a go-between -(<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">leno</i>), a comedian, or a freed man of the husband or of the -family. But the husband could hold him prisoner twenty hours in order -to procure witnesses. The father had more extensive rights than the -husband; he was authorised, in case of <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">flagrante delicto</i>, to -kill his daughter and her lover, but he was to kill them both, and -immediately. However, to enable him to act thus as justiciary, he must -have the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">potestas</i> still, and the crime must have been committed -in his house, or in that of his son-in-law. The <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Lex Julia</i> -punishes the adulterous man by the confiscation of the half of his -goods; it decrees the same punishment for the woman, and, besides, -forbids her to marry after the repudiation, which was obligatory for -the husband. The latter was obliged even to drive away his wife at once -for fear of being called a go-between. This same <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Lex Julia</i> made -adultery a public crime which every citizen could bring before the -tribunals, and it punished with the sword the adulterous man.<a id="FNanchor_712" href="#Footnote_712" class="fnanchor">[712]</a> By -degrees, and towards the Christian epoch, the legislation relative to -adultery was amended.</p> - -<p>In his quality of philosopher the Emperor Antoninus was more clement -and just than his predecessors; by one law he interdicted the husband, -who might himself be presumably guilty of adultery, to kill or sue his -wife surprised in <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">flagrante delicto</i>. By degrees the customs -became in time so free and so tolerant that, Septimus Severus having -enacted new laws against adultery, the consul, Dion Cassius, found -at Rome three thousand plaints on the register for this cause.<a id="FNanchor_713" href="#Footnote_713" class="fnanchor">[713]</a> -Theodosius, says an ecclesiastical writer, mitigated<span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</span> the penalties -against adultery; he abolished an ancient Roman custom, inspired by -the idea of retaliation, according to which the guilty woman, shut -up in a little hut, was given to the passers-by, who even were to be -furnished with little bells to attract attention.<a id="FNanchor_714" href="#Footnote_714" class="fnanchor">[714]</a> The same ignoble -penalty was, we have seen, in use among several of the Redskin tribes, -and this fact proves, with many others, the original equality of the -most diverse races in primitive savagery. Yielding to the ardour of -a new convert, Constantine legislated with fury against all moral -outrages, and decreed, without wincing, the punishment of death against -adulterers of both sexes.</p> - -<p>Justinian reformed and moderated legal severities. His code condemns -the adulteress to be whipped, to have her hair shaved, and to be shut -in a convent for life, if her husband does not take her back before -the end of two years. In comparison with the excess of zeal shown by -Constantine, this is nearly merciful. We have already said enough of -the relaxation of manners under the wiser Pagan emperors. A marriage -which was almost free procured for young women of the aristocracy an -independence without much restraint; and in practice, at least, and in -spite of the laws, adultery had ceased to be the abominable crime which -it had begun by being.<a id="FNanchor_715" href="#Footnote_715" class="fnanchor">[715]</a></p> - - -<h3 id="h3_54">XI. <i>Adultery in Barbarous Europe.</i></h3> - -<p>Our ancestors of barbarous Europe have had, as regards adultery, -customs quite as ferocious as those of the savages of any other race. -These same customs were still found recently among the Tcherkesses of -the Caucasus, where the injured husband shaved the hair of the guilty -woman, split her ears, and sent her back to her parents, who sold her -or put her to death.<a id="FNanchor_716" href="#Footnote_716" class="fnanchor">[716]</a> The lover was generally killed by the husband -or his relatives. With the Lesghis, the husband who had not killed his -adulterous wife in <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">flagrante delicto</i> could have her judged by -the council of the tribe, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</span> she was then condemned and stoned after -the Hebrew fashion.<a id="FNanchor_717" href="#Footnote_717" class="fnanchor">[717]</a></p> - -<p>In the Germanic and Scandinavian countries adultery has primitively -been considered as an enormous crime. Thus the ancient Danes punished -adultery with death, whilst murder was only fined. The old Saxons began -by burning alive the adulteress, and on the extinct fire they hung or -strangled her accomplice. In England King Edmund assimilated adultery -to murder. King Canute ordered that the man should be banished, and the -woman should have her nose and ears slit.</p> - -<p>Tacitus tells us that with the Germans the adulteress was made to walk -naked through the villages. Prior to the ordinances of Canute this old -German custom was still preserved in England. Her head shaved, and her -body bare to the waist, the woman was dragged out of her husband’s -house in the presence of her relations, and then whipped to death -through the streets. Her lover was hung on a tree.</p> - -<p>According to the laws of the Visigoths, and in virtue of the law of -retaliation, the adulteress was given into the hands of the wife of her -lover, if the latter was married. And if the lover had no children, his -goods were confiscated to the profit of the injured husband (lib. iii.).</p> - -<p>The penalties ended by becoming entirely pecuniary, especially for -the man. The fifth section of the Salic law, and the thirty-fifth -section of the Ripuarian law, both inflict a fine of two hundred pence -on whoever abducts a married woman. A law of Charlemagne orders the -ravisher to restore the wife and all that she has carried off. If the -husband does not exact a composition, the sheriff takes up the matter, -banishes the guilty man, and condemns him to pay a fine of sixty pence. -In the Middle Ages the adulteress was generally shut up for life in -a convent, and lost her dowry. Whipping was sometimes added to these -punishments, as is proved by an ordinance made in 1561.<a id="FNanchor_718" href="#Footnote_718" class="fnanchor">[718]</a></p> - -<p>The laws of King John (1362), of Charles le Bel (1325), of Louis XI. -(1463), show that certain towns preserved the old custom of making -the adulteress run naked through the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</span> city. Lastly, until 1789, -legislation, although moderating its severity, remains undecided, -varies according to place, circumstance, and even social position; but -the atrocious and coarse penalties of ancient times are abolished and -forgotten.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_55">XII. <i>Adultery in the Past and in the Future.</i></h3> - -<p>Like all our ethnographical studies, this also affirms the law of -progress. We have seen savagery pass into barbarism, and barbarism into -civilisation. We have seen adultery punished at first as a robbery—but -a most execrable robbery—and the chastisement falling chiefly on -the woman as being a property in revolt. For her alone fidelity is -obligatory. As to the adulterous husband, he is punished, if at all, -on the ground of having abused the property of another, and not in the -least because he has been unfaithful to his own wife. By slow degrees, -however, equity asserts certain rights, and at the same time customs -are humanised; marriage becomes less and less a “contract of slavery” -for the woman; and, in spite of the recoil caused by catholicism, -progress resumes its course, and we begin to foresee the time when, -marriage being instituted on rational and just foundations, adultery -will disappear, or nearly so, from our customs and our laws.</p> - -<p>But surely that time is far distant. Our conscience is still so -impregnated with the morality of past ages that our public opinion and -our juries willingly pardon a man who murders his adulterous wife, -while they are full of mercy for the conjugal infidelities of this -ferocious justiciary. The antique morals which hold woman as a servile -property belonging to her husband still live in many minds. They will -be extinguished by degrees. The matrimonial contract will end by -being the same kind of contract as any other, freely accepted, freely -maintained, freely dissolved; but where constraint has disappeared -deception becomes an unworthy offence. Such will be the opinion of a -future humanity, more elevated morally than ours. Doubtless it will -have no longer any tender indulgence for conveniently dissimulated -adultery, but, on the other hand, it will no longer excuse the avenging -husband.</p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_625" href="#FNanchor_625" class="label">[625]</a> Diderot, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Supplément au Voyage de Bougainville, in -Œuvres</i>, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 245.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_626" href="#FNanchor_626" class="label">[626]</a> Bonwick, <i>Daily Life</i>, etc., <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 72.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_627" href="#FNanchor_627" class="label">[627]</a> Fison and Howitt, <i>Kamilaroi</i>, etc.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_628" href="#FNanchor_628" class="label">[628]</a> De Rochas, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Nouvelle Calédonie</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 262.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_629" href="#FNanchor_629" class="label">[629]</a> L. Moncelon, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Réponse au Questionnaire de -Sociologie</i>, in <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Bull. Soc. d’anthrop.</i>, 1886.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_630" href="#FNanchor_630" class="label">[630]</a> L. Moncelon, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_631" href="#FNanchor_631" class="label">[631]</a> Burchell, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxvi. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 479.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_632" href="#FNanchor_632" class="label">[632]</a> Alexander, <i>Expedition into the Interior of -Africa</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 98, 173.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_633" href="#FNanchor_633" class="label">[633]</a> Du Chaillu, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Afrique équatoriale</i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 67, 435.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_634" href="#FNanchor_634" class="label">[634]</a> Raffenel, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Nouveau">Nouv.</abbr> <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr> aux pays des Nègres</i>, t. -<span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 402.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_635" href="#FNanchor_635" class="label">[635]</a> Denham and Clapperton, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. -xxvii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 437.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_636" href="#FNanchor_636" class="label">[636]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> t. xxviii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 106.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_637" href="#FNanchor_637" class="label">[637]</a> Démeunier, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mœurs des Différents Peuples</i>, t. -<span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 223.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_638" href="#FNanchor_638" class="label">[638]</a> Speke, <i><abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr> to the Sources of the Nile</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 343.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_639" href="#FNanchor_639" class="label">[639]</a> Bowdich, <i>English Mission to the Ashantees</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_640" href="#FNanchor_640" class="label">[640]</a> Démeunier, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i> t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 218.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_641" href="#FNanchor_641" class="label">[641]</a> <i>Journal of Marsden</i>, in <i><abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr> of the -Astrolabe</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 360.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_642" href="#FNanchor_642" class="label">[642]</a> Cook, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. x. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 31.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_643" href="#FNanchor_643" class="label">[643]</a> Cook, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xvii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 12.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_644" href="#FNanchor_644" class="label">[644]</a> Bancroft, <i>Native Races</i>, etc., <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 81.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_645" href="#FNanchor_645" class="label">[645]</a> Élie Reclus, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Les Primitifs</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_646" href="#FNanchor_646" class="label">[646]</a> Démeunier, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 216.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_647" href="#FNanchor_647" class="label">[647]</a> Domenech, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr> pittoresque</i>, etc., <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 533.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_648" href="#FNanchor_648" class="label">[648]</a> Bancroft, <i>Native Races</i>, etc., <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 514.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_649" href="#FNanchor_649" class="label">[649]</a> Démeunier, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 219.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_650" href="#FNanchor_650" class="label">[650]</a> J. O. Dorsey, <i>Omaha Sociology</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 364, -Smithsonian Institution, 1885.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_651" href="#FNanchor_651" class="label">[651]</a> Wake, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 428.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_652" href="#FNanchor_652" class="label">[652]</a> J. O. Dorsey, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_653" href="#FNanchor_653" class="label">[653]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_654" href="#FNanchor_654" class="label">[654]</a> Bancroft, <i>Native Races</i>, etc., <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 350.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_655" href="#FNanchor_655" class="label">[655]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 412.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_656" href="#FNanchor_656" class="label">[656]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Voyage à la Terre-ferme</i>, etc., t. -<span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 304.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_657" href="#FNanchor_657" class="label">[657]</a> D’Orbigny, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">L’homme Américain</i>, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 329.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_658" href="#FNanchor_658" class="label">[658]</a> Bancroft, <i>Native Races</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 675.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_659" href="#FNanchor_659" class="label">[659]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 674.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_660" href="#FNanchor_660" class="label">[660]</a> Démeunier, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 224.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_661" href="#FNanchor_661" class="label">[661]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 225.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_662" href="#FNanchor_662" class="label">[662]</a> Prescott, <i><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Conq. of Mexico</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 26.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_663" href="#FNanchor_663" class="label">[663]</a> L. Biart, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Les Aztèques</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 168.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_664" href="#FNanchor_664" class="label">[664]</a> Prescott, <i><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Conq. of Peru</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 59.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_665" href="#FNanchor_665" class="label">[665]</a> Bancroft, <i>Native Races of the Pacific States</i>, -<abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 673.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_666" href="#FNanchor_666" class="label">[666]</a> Timkowski, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxxiii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -341.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_667" href="#FNanchor_667" class="label">[667]</a> Préjévalsky, <i>Mongolia</i>, t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 69.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_668" href="#FNanchor_668" class="label">[668]</a> Turner, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxxi. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 437.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_669" href="#FNanchor_669" class="label">[669]</a> Pauthier, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Chine moderne</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 238.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_670" href="#FNanchor_670" class="label">[670]</a> Davis, <i>China</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 322, etc.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_671" href="#FNanchor_671" class="label">[671]</a> Pauthier, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Chine moderne</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 239.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_672" href="#FNanchor_672" class="label">[672]</a> Sinibaldo de Mas, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Chine et puissances -chrétiennes</i>, t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 52.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_673" href="#FNanchor_673" class="label">[673]</a> Pauthier, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 239.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_674" href="#FNanchor_674" class="label">[674]</a> Masana Maeda, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La Société japonaise</i>, in <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Revue -Scientifique</i>, 1878.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_675" href="#FNanchor_675" class="label">[675]</a> Waitz, <i>Anthropology</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 315.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_676" href="#FNanchor_676" class="label">[676]</a> <i>Journal of James Brook, Rajah of Sarawak</i>, by -Capt. Munday, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 2.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_677" href="#FNanchor_677" class="label">[677]</a> Diodorus, i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 78.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_678" href="#FNanchor_678" class="label">[678]</a> Deuteronomy, xxii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_679" href="#FNanchor_679" class="label">[679]</a> Leviticus, xix. 20-22.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_680" href="#FNanchor_680" class="label">[680]</a> Burckhardt, <i>Notes</i>, etc., t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 84.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_681" href="#FNanchor_681" class="label">[681]</a> Sourate, iv. 8.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_682" href="#FNanchor_682" class="label">[682]</a> Koran, Sourate, xxiv. 8.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_683" href="#FNanchor_683" class="label">[683]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> iv. 19.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_684" href="#FNanchor_684" class="label">[684]</a> Hanoteau et Letourneux, <i>Kabylie</i>, t. iii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 209.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_685" href="#FNanchor_685" class="label">[685]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 186.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_686" href="#FNanchor_686" class="label">[686]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> t. iii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 208.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_687" href="#FNanchor_687" class="label">[687]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 187.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_688" href="#FNanchor_688" class="label">[688]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> t. iii. <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 212, 213.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_689" href="#FNanchor_689" class="label">[689]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 74.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_690" href="#FNanchor_690" class="label">[690]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 187.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_691" href="#FNanchor_691" class="label">[691]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> t. iii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 74.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_692" href="#FNanchor_692" class="label">[692]</a> Hanoteau et Letourneux, <i>Kabylie</i>, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 159.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_693" href="#FNanchor_693" class="label">[693]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 165.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_694" href="#FNanchor_694" class="label">[694]</a> Chardin, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxxi. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 251.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_695" href="#FNanchor_695" class="label">[695]</a> G. Drouville, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Voyage en Perse</i>, t. -<span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 251.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_696" href="#FNanchor_696" class="label">[696]</a> <i>Code of Manu</i>, v. 154.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_697" href="#FNanchor_697" class="label">[697]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> book viii. 371.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_698" href="#FNanchor_698" class="label">[698]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 375.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_699" href="#FNanchor_699" class="label">[699]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> viii. 379.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_700" href="#FNanchor_700" class="label">[700]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> viii. 374.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_701" href="#FNanchor_701" class="label">[701]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> viii. 357.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_702" href="#FNanchor_702" class="label">[702]</a> <i>Code of Manu</i>, ix. 60, 61.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_703" href="#FNanchor_703" class="label">[703]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lettres édifiantes</i>, t. xiv. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 378.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_704" href="#FNanchor_704" class="label">[704]</a> Plutarch, <i>Lycurgus</i>, xxix.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_705" href="#FNanchor_705" class="label">[705]</a> Plutarch, <i>Solon</i>, xxxvi.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_706" href="#FNanchor_706" class="label">[706]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>Life of Cimon</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_707" href="#FNanchor_707" class="label">[707]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>Solon</i>, xliv.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_708" href="#FNanchor_708" class="label">[708]</a> Legouvé, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Morale des Femmes</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 182.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_709" href="#FNanchor_709" class="label">[709]</a> Ménard, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Morale avant les Philosophes</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 303.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_710" href="#FNanchor_710" class="label">[710]</a> Lecky, <i><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> of European Morals</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 312.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_711" href="#FNanchor_711" class="label">[711]</a> Wake, <i>Evolution of Morality</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 85.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_712" href="#FNanchor_712" class="label">[712]</a> <i>Institutes</i>, iv., tit. 18.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_713" href="#FNanchor_713" class="label">[713]</a> Friedländer, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mœurs Romaines</i>, etc., t. -<span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 367.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_714" href="#FNanchor_714" class="label">[714]</a> Socrates, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Eccles.</i>, <abbr title="liber">lib.</abbr> v., <abbr title="capitulum">cap.</abbr> xviii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_715" href="#FNanchor_715" class="label">[715]</a> Friedländer, etc., <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mœurs</i>, t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -367.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_716" href="#FNanchor_716" class="label">[716]</a> Klaproth and Gamba, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xlv. -<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 435.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_717" href="#FNanchor_717" class="label">[717]</a> Klaproth and Gamba, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xlv. -<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 448.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_718" href="#FNanchor_718" class="label">[718]</a> Desmaze, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Curiosités</i>, etc.</p> - -</div> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.<br /><br /><span class="small">REPUDIATION AND DIVORCE.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>I. <i>In Savage Countries.</i>—The right of repudiation in New -Caledonia, among the Hottentots, the Bongos, the Soulimas, the Fantis, -the Ashantees—Divorce in Polynesia—The right of repudiation in -America.</p> - -<p>II. <i>Divorce and Repudiation among Barbarous -Peoples.</i>—In Abyssinia, at Hayti—The <i>nefir</i> of -the Djebel-Taggale—Repudiation among the Bedouins and the -Touaregs—Repudiation among the Kabyles—The “prevented” Kabyle -woman—The “insurgent” Kabyle woman—Repudiation among the -Arabs—Divorce among the Arabs—Obligatory divorce—Repudiation -on account of non-virginity—Divorce by mutual consent in -Peru and Thibet—Repudiation among the Mongols—Repudiation -in China—Obligatory divorce in China—Repudiation in ancient -India—Repudiation among the Hebrews—Repudiation in Greece—Evolution -of repudiation and divorce in ancient Rome—Divorce and -Christianity—Repudiation in barbarous Europe, in France, in the -Middle Ages.</p> - -<p>III. <i>The Evolution of Divorce.</i></p> -</div> - - -<h3 id="h3_56">I. <i>In Savage Countries.</i></h3> - -<p>I have no longer to demonstrate that woman has been treated with -extreme brutality among nearly all primitive peoples. In the lowest -stage of savagery—as, for example, in Australia and Tasmania—woman, -being exactly assimilated to a domestic animal, who can be beaten, -wounded, killed, and even eaten, her association with man does not -merit the name of marriage, and consequently there is no question among -these races of divorce, nor even of repudiation. The man, being able, -as master, to dispose of the life of his wife, has, in addition, the -right to send her away, or abandon her, if he chooses.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</span></p> - -<p>In New Caledonia, where the stage of the most brutal savagery is past, -where the wife is no longer carried off as in Australia, but bought -from her legal owners, the dissolution of the conjugal union is still -ill-regulated. The man can chase away or repudiate his wife. The couple -can also part by mutual agreement, the children following sometimes -the mother and sometimes the father; nothing is uniform.<a id="FNanchor_719" href="#Footnote_719" class="fnanchor">[719]</a> But the -purchase of the woman protects her already somewhat against murder. As -she represents a capital, the husband often hesitates to kill her, or -even to drive her away.</p> - -<p>The Hottentots of the Damara tribe have on this point similar customs -to the New Caledonians. They do not hesitate to send away the wives -of whom they are tired, and whom they can replace.<a id="FNanchor_720" href="#Footnote_720" class="fnanchor">[720]</a> In Caffraria -the husbands have also every right, without exception, over the wives -they have bought.<a id="FNanchor_721" href="#Footnote_721" class="fnanchor">[721]</a> In middle Africa, which is much more civilised, -divorce and repudiation are rather less simple, and often give place to -restitutions or indemnities.</p> - -<p>With the Bongos, in case of divorce, the father must give back a part -of the utensils or fire-arms for which he had ceded his daughter. He is -even forced to a total restitution, if the husband keeps the children -while repudiating the wife. In the last case there is evidently an -idea of indemnifying the husband for the charge he undertakes, and -this view of the matter is not uncommon in Africa.<a id="FNanchor_722" href="#Footnote_722" class="fnanchor">[722]</a> Among the -Bongos marriage is considered as a simple commercial transaction; and -it is the same in the whole of Central Africa, especially among the -Soulimas, where the women have the power of leaving their husbands to -unite themselves to another man, on the sole condition of returning -to their husband-proprietor the sum that he has paid to purchase them -from their parents. However, this rare and singular liberty is taken -from them if they commit adultery. But even in this last case they are -treated with relative mildness.<a id="FNanchor_723" href="#Footnote_723" class="fnanchor">[723]</a> As we have previously seen, the -same custom is observed among the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</span> Fantis of the Gold Coast, where -the woman who quits her husband without a serious reason, taking her -children with her, need only pay him a fixed indemnity—four ackies -(twenty-two shillings and sixpence) for each child.<a id="FNanchor_724" href="#Footnote_724" class="fnanchor">[724]</a> In the same -way the Ashantees consider children a value worth keeping; thus their -women can re-marry after a three years’ absence of their husband; and -in case of the traveller’s return, it is the second marriage which -holds good, only all the children that are his become the property of -the first husband.<a id="FNanchor_725" href="#Footnote_725" class="fnanchor">[725]</a> In fact, that equals an indemnity, since in -Africa children are generally considered as a commercial value.</p> - -<p>In Polynesia the conjugal bond could be untied, as it was tied, with -the greatest ease. In the Marquesas Isles the husband and wife parted -of mutual accord, in case of incompatibility of temper, and all was -over; but if without his authorisation the wife deserted the conjugal -hut to follow a lover, the husband watched for her and administered -furious and repeated corrections.<a id="FNanchor_726" href="#Footnote_726" class="fnanchor">[726]</a> At Hawaï the marriage was -also dissolved at will, if the husband and wife were agreed on this -point.<a id="FNanchor_727" href="#Footnote_727" class="fnanchor">[727]</a> At Tahiti the unions were of the frailest; the husband and -wife parted without ceremony, and the children were no obstacle, for -by a previous agreement they were made over to one or other of the -partners.<a id="FNanchor_728" href="#Footnote_728" class="fnanchor">[728]</a> It was the same in the Caroline Isles, where, though the -race was different, the customs were analogous, and married couples -could divorce themselves at will.<a id="FNanchor_729" href="#Footnote_729" class="fnanchor">[729]</a></p> - -<p>This fragility of marriages is common in savage countries. The man -always has the right of repudiation, and very often the reciprocal -right exists also. This fact seems even less rare among savages than it -is later, at the middle period of the development of civilisation, when -the patriarchal family is solidly established.</p> - -<p>In North America, meaning, of course, savage America, the classic -land of the matriarchate, man nevertheless enjoys nearly always the -right of repudiation, often without limits;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</span> but certain tribes either -admit divorce by mutual consent, or limit the right of repudiation, -or recognise certain rights of the wife. The Malemoute Esquimaux -drive away their wives at will,<a id="FNanchor_730" href="#Footnote_730" class="fnanchor">[730]</a> as do also the Kamtschatdales, -their congeners of Asia;<a id="FNanchor_731" href="#Footnote_731" class="fnanchor">[731]</a> but, with the Esquimaux, hardly any -but a free and capricious union is known; there is as yet no durable -marriage. It is nearly the same in a certain number of American -tribes, where divorce is easy at the will of the two parties. Among -the Dakota Santals the wife who is ill treated by her companion has -the right to retire; but she cannot take the children without the -husband’s consent.<a id="FNanchor_732" href="#Footnote_732" class="fnanchor">[732]</a> The marriage of the Iroquois, and of some other -neighbouring tribes, was also broken by mutual consent. These Redskins -lived in great common houses, each one inhabited by a fraction of the -tribe, a <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">gens</i>, and consequently, that one of the divorced couple -whose relations dominated in the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">gens</i>, remained there; the other -was forced to depart.<a id="FNanchor_733" href="#Footnote_733" class="fnanchor">[733]</a> The Redskins of California also practised -this easy and mutual divorce.<a id="FNanchor_734" href="#Footnote_734" class="fnanchor">[734]</a> The Navajos still recognised the -right of the wife to leave her husband, but already the masculine point -of honour entered into play, and the deserted husband was obliged, -under pain of ridicule, to revenge himself by killing some one.<a id="FNanchor_735" href="#Footnote_735" class="fnanchor">[735]</a> At -Guatemala the wife and husband could part at will and on the slightest -pretext.<a id="FNanchor_736" href="#Footnote_736" class="fnanchor">[736]</a> The Moxos of South America only regarded marriage as an -agreement that could be dissolved by the will of the two parties.<a id="FNanchor_737" href="#Footnote_737" class="fnanchor">[737]</a> -But in many other Redskin tribes the right of divorce seems far from -being reciprocal; it is replaced, to the detriment of the wife, by -repudiation, which the husband can pronounce with a word. According to -the Abbé Domenech, it is the fear of this terrible word which maintains -an appearance of harmony among the many women in the interior of the -Indian wigwams.<a id="FNanchor_738" href="#Footnote_738" class="fnanchor">[738]</a> With the Chippeways a man takes or buys a girl of -twelve, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</span> sends her back when he is tired of her.<a id="FNanchor_739" href="#Footnote_739" class="fnanchor">[739]</a> The Chinook -husband can also repudiate his wife according to his caprice.<a id="FNanchor_740" href="#Footnote_740" class="fnanchor">[740]</a> -In a tribe of the Nahuas, the husbands enjoyed the same rights, but -on condition of exercising them on the day after the marriage; the -experimental union preceded the durable one.<a id="FNanchor_741" href="#Footnote_741" class="fnanchor">[741]</a> In New Mexico, the -husband repudiated at will, on condition only of restoring his wife’s -possessions.<a id="FNanchor_742" href="#Footnote_742" class="fnanchor">[742]</a> A single word of the Caribean husbands also sufficed -to dismiss the wife.<a id="FNanchor_743" href="#Footnote_743" class="fnanchor">[743]</a> The same rule is found with the Abipones -also, where the husband can repudiate his wife on the slightest -pretext.<a id="FNanchor_744" href="#Footnote_744" class="fnanchor">[744]</a></p> - -<p>The conclusion to be drawn from all these facts is, that there are no -more fixed rules for divorce than for marriage in savage societies. -But, as the wife is more often bought or captured, it is quite natural -that her owner should send her away at his pleasure. Wherever divorce -is mutual, it is when the wife costs little to obtain, or where the -ties of relationship are well defined between the members of her and -her tribe, or her <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">gens</i>, who then think themselves bound to -afford her a certain protection.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_57">II. <i>Divorce and Repudiation among Barbarous Peoples.</i></h3> - -<p>These free and fragile marriages are found in societies more civilised -than those of the Polynesians and the American Indians. Bruce tells us -that in Abyssinia marriage is in reality only a free union, without any -sanction or ceremony; couples unite, part, and re-unite as many times -as they like. There are neither legitimate nor illegitimate children. -In case of divorce the children are divided; the girls belong to the -father, and the boys to the mother.<a id="FNanchor_745" href="#Footnote_745" class="fnanchor">[745]</a></p> - -<p>M. d’Abbadie affirms also that Abyssinian marriage is purely civil -and always dissoluble; he adds that it is dotal, and co-exists, for -rich men, with the concubinate.<a id="FNanchor_746" href="#Footnote_746" class="fnanchor">[746]</a> It is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</span> quite certain that divorce -is largely used in Abyssinia, since Bruce says he has seen a woman -surrounded with seven former husbands. In Hayti, the only negro country -that is civilised in European fashion, we find either preserved or -instituted, by the side of legal monogamic marriage, free unions which -recall the Roman concubinate. The persons thus paired are called -“placed”; they suffer no contempt on this account, and their children -have the same rights as those of persons legally married. There are at -Hayti ten times more “placed” persons than married ones; they separate -less often than the latter are divorced, and have better morals.<a id="FNanchor_747" href="#Footnote_747" class="fnanchor">[747]</a> -But in general the free union, or, what comes to the same thing, the -power of divorce, left to the two united parties, is rare enough in -countries more or less civilised. Most usually it is the husband who, -even without any cause of adultery in the wife, has the right to -repudiate her. It is thus, for example, at Madagascar, where, in order -to repudiate his wife, a husband need simply declare his resolution to -the magistrate who has received the notification of the marriage; it is -only necessary for him to pay for the second time the <i>hasina</i>, or -duty on marriage. When once he has declared his intention, the husband -has still twelve days’ grace to retract it; but if he exceeds this -delay the repudiated wife becomes her own mistress and free to marry -again.<a id="FNanchor_748" href="#Footnote_748" class="fnanchor">[748]</a></p> - -<p>In Kordofan, among the Djebel-Taggale,<a id="FNanchor_749" href="#Footnote_749" class="fnanchor">[749]</a> the great legal motive for -repudiation in all the primitive legislations, sterility, justified -proceedings that were absolutely savage. The ceremony was called the -<i>nefir</i> (drum or trumpet). A woman being apparently sterile, the -husband, before repudiating her, called noisily together all his male -relatives, who, after a feast, all had intimacy with the barren wife. -If this heroic expedient did not result in pregnancy, the husband sold -his wife by auction, agreeing to return to his obliging relatives the -difference, if any, between the first price and the sum she would fetch -in the auction. Extraordinary as this custom of <i>nefir</i> may seem -to us, it is, apart from the final sale, but the repetition with more -shamelessness of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</span> analogous practices in India, and even in ancient -Greece, in case of well-proved sterility in the wife.</p> - -<p>The Bedouins and the Touaregs in general have nothing comparable to the -<i>nefir</i> of the Djebel-Taggale, but among them the extreme facility -and excessive frequency of repudiations renders marriage nearly -illusory. According to Burckhardt, repudiation is so common with the -former that a man sometimes has fifty wives in succession.<a id="FNanchor_750" href="#Footnote_750" class="fnanchor">[750]</a> With -the Touaregs of the Sahara the wives themselves can demand divorce, and -we have seen that they thus force their husbands to bend to monogamy, -in spite of the Koran and of their polygamic appetites.<a id="FNanchor_751" href="#Footnote_751" class="fnanchor">[751]</a> It seems -that in certain of their tribes the women make it a point of honour -to be often repudiated. Only to have one husband is, in their eyes, -a humiliating thing, and they are heard to say: “Thou art not worth -anything; thou hast neither beauty nor merit; men have disdained thee, -and would have none of thee.”<a id="FNanchor_752" href="#Footnote_752" class="fnanchor">[752]</a></p> - -<p>This is quite in accord with the <i>laisser aller</i> habitual to the -primitive Berbers in regard to marriage. In this respect, however, our -Kabyles of Algeria contrast with the other ethnic groups of their race. -Their conjugal customs are most rigid; neither liberty nor libertinage -exist for the wife amongst them. Their customs in regard to repudiation -and divorce are consequently very curious, and are worth studying in -detail. In Kabyle, marriage is treated literally as a commercial affair -of the most serious kind, especially for the women, who are owned as -things by their husbands. The customs and the <i>Kanouns</i>, however, -forbid the exchange of wives, and the husband whose wife has fled from -the conjugal dwelling is forbidden to sell the fugitive except to a man -of the tribe, and even then he is not allowed to have the price.<a id="FNanchor_753" href="#Footnote_753" class="fnanchor">[753]</a> -Still, the Kabyle husband has preserved the right of repudiation, and -this right he alone enjoys, and without restriction.</p> - -<p>There are in Kabyle two kinds of repudiation. In one, the husband -simply says, “I repudiate thee;” and he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</span> repeats this formula three -times. The wife remains dependent on him until he sells her by means of -a price of redemption. If he accepts from the father or some other man -this price (<i>lefdi</i>) he must, when the sum is once counted out, -declare before witnesses that he gives up all rights over his wife. -Then, and only then, the marriage is dissolved.<a id="FNanchor_754" href="#Footnote_754" class="fnanchor">[754]</a> Under the other -form of repudiation the husband says, “I repudiate thee, and I put such -a sum on thy head.” The formula is pronounced once, twice, and thrice. -In this case the husband is irrevocably bound, and by paying the sum -fixed, the wife has the power to marry again; at the same time, the -husband can specify the conditions, can say, for example, that if the -woman is married to such or such a man, the price of redemption will -be doubled or tripled. Sometimes the sum is so great that it amounts -to an absolute interdiction of any fresh marriage, and the woman is -then designated “a prevented one” (<i>thamaouok’t</i>).<a id="FNanchor_755" href="#Footnote_755" class="fnanchor">[755]</a> When the -formula of repudiation has only been pronounced once or twice, the -husband can, by means of a fine paid to the <i>djemâa</i>, and with -the consent of the father-in-law, take back his wife; but he loses -his reputation, and his testimony is no longer legal. If the formula -has been pronounced three times, it is irrevocable. As for the other -revocation, public opinion does not admit that it may be revocable, -unless it has only been declared once, and that the husband find a -priest who will consecrate a fresh union.<a id="FNanchor_756" href="#Footnote_756" class="fnanchor">[756]</a></p> - -<p>If, after repudiation, the Kabyle woman marries again, and becomes a -widow, the first husband can retake her without repayment and without a -fine.<a id="FNanchor_757" href="#Footnote_757" class="fnanchor">[757]</a></p> - -<p>Without pronouncing the formula of repudiation, the Kabyle husband has -the power to send his wife back to her family, with the consent of the -said family. If the husband has serious reasons of displeasure he sends -her to her parents without forewarning them, mounted on an ass, and -conducted by a servant or a negro. This treatment is so ignominious -for the wife that it is equal to repudiation, and public opinion then -forbids the husband to take her back. Sometimes, in case of proved -adultery, the husband sends<span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</span> the wife back to her family, after having -shaved her head; the guilty one is then for ever dishonoured, and -however beautiful she may be, she never finds another husband.<a id="FNanchor_758" href="#Footnote_758" class="fnanchor">[758]</a></p> - -<p>In case of repudiation, for any motive whatever, the Kabyle husband -has the right to keep all his children, girls and boys, even those at -the breast.<a id="FNanchor_759" href="#Footnote_759" class="fnanchor">[759]</a> As for the repudiated woman, she always returns to -her parents, and it is to these last that a man must apply to marry -her; but the new marriage cannot be concluded until after the payment -to the first husband of the price of the redemption (<i>lefdi</i>), -which is sometimes more, sometimes less, than the <i>thâmanth</i>, or -price of the first acquisition. Generally, too, the parents profit -by the opportunity to claim a supplement, or gratification. The -father often agrees first with the husband, reimburses him for the -<i>thâmanth</i>, and afterwards negotiates his daughter as he pleases. -In a certain number of tribes the husband can directly sell his wife, -but Kabyle morality reproves this practice,<a id="FNanchor_760" href="#Footnote_760" class="fnanchor">[760]</a> and permits the wife -in that case to retire to her father, where she remains “prevented” -(<i>thamaouok’t</i>); however, if the father is powerful, he risks -sometimes marrying his daughter, and the tribe at need stands by -him.<a id="FNanchor_761" href="#Footnote_761" class="fnanchor">[761]</a> In any case, the repudiated Kabyle woman can only marry -after a delay (<i>aidda</i>), generally of four months,<a id="FNanchor_762" href="#Footnote_762" class="fnanchor">[762]</a> which -is conformable to the prescriptions of the Koran. If she flees the -country, the parents must restore to the husband the <i>thâmanth</i> or -<i>lefdi</i>, for this last can no longer gain them a new suitor.<a id="FNanchor_763" href="#Footnote_763" class="fnanchor">[763]</a> -The whole of this <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> is very partial to the husband. -However, as public opinion in Kabyle is sovereign, it has decreed a -few protective measures for woman, recalling from afar the proverbial -liberality of the Berbers in conjugal matters. Thus, though the woman -is deprived of the right of divorce, she is allowed a “right of -insurrection” if she has just complaints to make. In this case she -begins by telling one of her relatives, who fetches her back to her -father openly, the husband not being permitted to oppose; it remains -to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</span> him either to repudiate the fugitive or to let her be a “prevented -one.” It is understood that custom protects an “insurgent” wife only -when she takes refuge with her relatives.<a id="FNanchor_764" href="#Footnote_764" class="fnanchor">[764]</a> Some tribes have -tariffed the <i>thâmanth</i>; and in case of repudiation the husband -can only exact or receive the ordained sum. As for the tariff of the -repudiated woman, it is nearly always more than the <i>thâmanth</i>, or -price of the virgin and the widow. This is done counting on the avidity -of the husband, to urge him to permit a fresh marriage.<a id="FNanchor_765" href="#Footnote_765" class="fnanchor">[765]</a> Lastly, it -is the rule that after four years’ absence on the part of the husband -the union is dissolved and the woman is free.<a id="FNanchor_766" href="#Footnote_766" class="fnanchor">[766]</a> This is a wise law -which certain European codes might borrow with advantage from Kabyle -legislation.</p> - -<p>It is a veritable godsend for scientific sociology to be able to know -in its minute details all this curious regulation of Kabyle marriage. -Too often we are forced to content ourselves, in regard to savage or -barbarous peoples, with general assertions that have to be completed -as well as may be from accounts that are incoherent, sometimes -contradictory, and always fragmentary. Here we possess a whole -barbarous code, quite an assemblage of old Berber customs, which are -more or less confounded with the precepts of the Koran.</p> - -<p>The law of Mahomet itself is only a sort of compromise between the -ancient customs of Arabia and the Biblical precepts relating to -marriage. On certain sides the Arab customs are superior to the -severity of the Kabyle kanouns, but on others they are inferior to -them, as, for example, in not affording to the wife the right of -“insurrection.”</p> - -<p>It is necessary to distinguish between the text of the Koran and -practice, which has notably departed from it—sometimes for the -better, sometimes for the worse. The Koran leaves to the husband -the absolute right of repudiation. It orders that if the formula of -repudiation has been pronounced three times, the husband cannot take -back the wife until she has been married to another; it permits him -to do it, therefore, in the contrary case.<a id="FNanchor_767" href="#Footnote_767" class="fnanchor">[767]</a> It specifies that the -repudiated wife should have a sufficient maintenance provided for -her, and that the husband should not keep the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</span> dower she brought with -her;<a id="FNanchor_768" href="#Footnote_768" class="fnanchor">[768]</a> that the husband should have four months’ grace to retract -his decision;<a id="FNanchor_769" href="#Footnote_769" class="fnanchor">[769]</a> that if the repudiated wife is suckling an infant, -the husband, or, in his default, the next heir, should supply her needs -during the two years that the suckling should last.<a id="FNanchor_770" href="#Footnote_770" class="fnanchor">[770]</a></p> - -<p>The Koran orders repudiated wives not to re-marry before three -menstrual periods, not to dissimulate their pregnancy, “if they believe -in God and in the day of judgment;” and in the last case it advises the -husbands to take them back.<a id="FNanchor_771" href="#Footnote_771" class="fnanchor">[771]</a> Lastly, the law of Mahomet encourages -amicable arrangements, and these by money payments between ill-assorted -couples; it authorises the husband to sell a divorce to his wife for a -cession, with her consent, of a portion of her dowry.<a id="FNanchor_772" href="#Footnote_772" class="fnanchor">[772]</a> This is what -the texts, which are both legal and sacred, declare: this, then, is the -theory. We will now see what is the practice as regards repudiation and -divorce in Algeria at the present time.</p> - -<p>There are three graduated formulas of repudiation: first, the -discontented husband says simply to the wife, “Go away,” and if he -has only said it once or twice, he may retract his decision; second, -but if he has said, “Thou art to me as one dead, or as the flesh of -swine,” it is forbidden to take back the repudiated wife until she has -been married to another, and then repudiated or left a widow; lastly, -there is a formula so solemn that it entails a separation for ever; it -is this, “Let thy back be turned on me henceforth, like the back of my -mother.”<a id="FNanchor_773" href="#Footnote_773" class="fnanchor">[773]</a></p> - -<p>Any one of these senseless reasons, which have often the force of law -with unenlightened races, can be set aside, and the repudiation counted -null when it has been pronounced during a critical period of the -woman.<a id="FNanchor_774" href="#Footnote_774" class="fnanchor">[774]</a> The woman with child, on the contrary, can be repudiated, -but she has a right to an “allowance during pregnancy.”<a id="FNanchor_775" href="#Footnote_775" class="fnanchor">[775]</a> Actual -custom also admits voluntary divorce, at the proposal of the wife, for -a redemption paid by her to her master. Sometimes the initiative comes -from the husband, who, knowing that his wife desires her liberty, says -to her, “I repudiate<span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</span> thee, if thou givest me this <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">pallium</i> of -Herat, or this horse, or this camel,” etc. It is then a sort of divorce -by mutual consent, and the two part as good friends.<a id="FNanchor_776" href="#Footnote_776" class="fnanchor">[776]</a></p> - -<p>Lastly, there is obligatory divorce, pronounced by the Cadi, on the -plaint of the woman, when the husband is impotent, when in spite of -these matrimonial conventions he tries to compel the woman to quit -the house of her parents, or when he has corrected her with excessive -brutality.<a id="FNanchor_777" href="#Footnote_777" class="fnanchor">[777]</a> Then the divorced wife goes away, taking her dowry with -her.</p> - -<p>Taken altogether, these customs, while conforming to the spirit of -the Koran, have in a certain measure improved the position of the -married woman. This is because progress is the law of the social as -well as the organic world; more or less slowly, more or less quickly, -it ends by modifying in practice even theocratic legislations, which -are the most rigid of all. But the old customs are still found almost -intact in certain districts of Arabia which have remained more or less -completely isolated. Thus in nearly all Arab countries there is one -especial reason which justifies immediate repudiation of the marriage, -and that is the absence of virginity, when it has been affirmed in -the agreements preceding the union. But in Yemen this circumstance -justifies far more than mere repudiation; it excuses the murder of the -bride;<a id="FNanchor_778" href="#Footnote_778" class="fnanchor">[778]</a> it is a practical return to the old law preserved in the -Bible ordering the guilty woman to be stoned.</p> - -<p>After the manner of all barbarous legislations, that of Mahomet has -corrected, or at least tried to restrain, certain especially ferocious -customs; but, on the other hand, it has given the force of law to -some particularly crying abuses, and has thus rendered them more -difficult of redress. This is generally the case. In all barbarous -societies the subjection of woman is more or less severe; customs or -coarse laws have regulated the savagery of the first anarchic ages; -they have doubtless set up a barrier against primitive ferocity, they -have interdicted certain absolutely terrible abuses of force, but they -have only replaced these by a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</span> servitude which is still very heavy, -is often iniquitous, and no longer permits to legally possessed women -those escapes, or capriciously accorded liberties, which were tolerated -in savage life. We shall have to prove this fact more than once in -continuing our ethnographic study of divorce in barbarous societies.</p> - -<p>In ancient Peru the liberal and reasonable custom of divorce by mutual -consent was adopted.<a id="FNanchor_779" href="#Footnote_779" class="fnanchor">[779]</a> At Quito, at least, where marriage was not -civil and obligatory, the married pair had the power of separating by -mutual accord.</p> - -<p>In Mexico divorce was merely tolerated. Before being allowed to break -the conjugal tie, the couple were obliged to submit their differences -to a special tribunal, which, after a minute examination of the facts, -and three hearings of the parties, sent them away without pronouncing -judgment, if they persevered in their design.<a id="FNanchor_780" href="#Footnote_780" class="fnanchor">[780]</a> The tribunal could, -it seems, forbid the separation, but it did not expressly authorise it. -Its silence, however, equalled a sentence of divorce.</p> - -<p>This luxury of legality, this pretence of placing the conjugal union -out of reach of the caprice or injustice of one of the parties, can -only be met with in societies already advanced in organisation.</p> - -<p>In lamaic Thibet, where marriage is a simple civil convention, with -which the theocratic government of the country does not interfere, -marriages are dissolved, as they are made, by mere mutual consent; -but this consent is necessary, and there only results a separation -analogous to ours, and taking from the separated couple the power to -re-marry.<a id="FNanchor_781" href="#Footnote_781" class="fnanchor">[781]</a> With the nomad Mongols we find, in spite of a relative -civilisation, the absolute right of repudiation left to the husband -alone, as it is in savage countries. The Mongol husband who is tired -of his wife, whom, besides, he has purchased, can send her back to her -parents without giving the least reason; he simply loses the oxen, -sheep, and horses that he has paid for her. On their side, the parents -make no difficulty of taking her back, for they have the right to sell -her again. The Mongol wife can also<span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</span> spontaneously quit her husband; -but this is not so simple a matter, because she represents a value. -It is a capital that has fled; therefore the parents must send her -back four times following to the husband-proprietor. If the latter -persists in not receiving her, the marriage is dissolved, but in that -case the parents must restore a part of the cattle previously paid -by the marital purchaser.<a id="FNanchor_782" href="#Footnote_782" class="fnanchor">[782]</a> In short, repudiation and divorce are -considered in Mongolia entirely as commercial transactions, and always -arranged for the advantage of the husband.</p> - -<p>The Chinese have regulated this still quite primitive divorce, and -while leaving to the husband the right of repudiation, they have -carefully specified the conditions of it.</p> - -<p>A Chinese husband can repudiate his wife for adultery, sterility, -immodesty, disobedience to her father and mother or to him, loquacity -or propensity to slander, inclination to theft, a jealous disposition, -or an incurable malady. These motives, however, no longer suffice when -the wife has worn mourning for her father-in-law or her mother-in-law; -when the family has become rich in comparison with its former poverty; -and lastly, when the wife has no longer a father or mother to receive -her. If, heedless of these interdictions, the husband repudiates his -wife all the same, he becomes liable to receive eighty strokes of -bamboo, and must take her back.<a id="FNanchor_783" href="#Footnote_783" class="fnanchor">[783]</a> To the husband alone belongs the -right of repudiation, but the law admits divorce by mutual consent. On -the other hand, it has taken good care to consecrate the servitude of -the wife by ordering that if she flees from the conjugal abode when -the husband refuses a divorce, she shall be punished by a hundred -strokes of bamboo, and may be sold by her husband to any one willing to -marry her.<a id="FNanchor_784" href="#Footnote_784" class="fnanchor">[784]</a> Chinese legislation absolutely refuses the “right of -insurrection” to the wife, which the Kabyle <i>Kanouns</i>, rigorous -as they are to women, have granted. For divorce, as for everything -else, China is at the stage of mitigated or humane barbarism. The -foundation of her laws has remained savage, but a less ancient spirit -has attempted to modify their severity. It has limited the right of -repudiation,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</span> at first in the power of the master; it has specified the -impediments; lastly, it has sanctioned divorce by mutual consent, which -still terrifies our legislators.</p> - -<p>Ancient India had also left the right of repudiation to the husband, -but she had no place for divorce in her legislation, and had imposed no -restriction on the good pleasure of the husband if there existed one -of the cases enumerated by the Code:—“A wife given to intoxicating -liquors, having bad morals, given to contradicting her husband, -attacked with an incurable disease, as leprosy, or who has been -spendthrift of his wealth, ought to be replaced by another.” “A sterile -wife ought to be replaced in the eighth year; the wife whose children -are all dead, in the tenth year; the wife who only bears daughters, in -the eleventh; the wife who speaks with bitterness, instantly.”<a id="FNanchor_785" href="#Footnote_785" class="fnanchor">[785]</a> -“For one whole year let a husband bear with the aversion of his wife; -but after a year, if she continues to hate him, let him take what she -possesses, only giving her enough to clothe and feed her, and let him -cease to cohabit with her.”<a id="FNanchor_786" href="#Footnote_786" class="fnanchor">[786]</a></p> - -<p>Here it is no longer a question of divorce by mutual consent, nor -of protective measures for the wife. If she is legally replaced -without being repudiated, and then if she abandons with anger the -conjugal abode, she must be imprisoned or repudiated in the presence -of witnesses.<a id="FNanchor_787" href="#Footnote_787" class="fnanchor">[787]</a> The prolonged absence of the husband does not set -free the wife, even when she has been left without resources. She -must patiently await the return of the absent master, during eight -years if he is gone for a pious motive; six years if he is travelling -for science or glory; three years if he is roaming the world for his -pleasure. When these delays have expired, the deserted one is none the -less married; she has only the power to go to seek the traveller.<a id="FNanchor_788" href="#Footnote_788" class="fnanchor">[788]</a></p> - -<p>Like the writers of the Code of Manu, those of the Bible have thought -very little of the rights of woman in legislating on divorce and -repudiation.</p> - -<p>The book of Deuteronomy, very accommodating for the husband, authorises -him to repudiate his wife “when she find no favour in his eyes, -because he hath found some uncleanness in her;” he has only to put a -“letter of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</span> divorce” in her hand, and may not take her again, either -if she is repudiated by another husband or becomes a widow.<a id="FNanchor_789" href="#Footnote_789" class="fnanchor">[789]</a> -With much stronger reason a man can repudiate an immodest wife.<a id="FNanchor_790" href="#Footnote_790" class="fnanchor">[790]</a> -As for the wife, she could only demand a divorce for very grave -causes: if the husband was attacked by a contagious malady (leprosy); -if his occupations were too repugnant; if he deceived her; if he -<em>habitually</em> ill-treated her; if he refused to contribute to her -maintenance; and if, after ten years of marriage, his impotence was -well established, especially if the woman declared she needed a son to -sustain her in her old age.<a id="FNanchor_791" href="#Footnote_791" class="fnanchor">[791]</a> But even then it was the husband who -was reputed to have sent away his wife, and she lost her dowry.</p> - -<p>All these antique legislations bear on the woman with shameful -iniquity. The most humane have confined their efforts to placing a few -slight restrictions on the brutal good pleasure of man, which nothing -holds back in savage societies. But it is important to notice that -certain tribes, still more or less buried in savagery, have regulated -divorce with humanity enough and equity enough to put to shame the -theocratic legislators of the great barbarian societies.</p> - -<p>We discover again this iniquitous spirit in regard to the respective -situations of the man and the woman in marriage in the Greco-Roman -world, but it becomes moderated as ancient civilisation progresses. -In primitive Greece the right of repudiation is left to the man, and -he uses it whenever he thinks he has legitimate motives for doing -so.<a id="FNanchor_792" href="#Footnote_792" class="fnanchor">[792]</a> This right continued in more civilised Greece, but it was -gradually restricted. Nevertheless, it was always a great dishonour -for a woman to be repudiated. Euripides makes Medea say, “Divorce is -always shameful for a woman.” In <i>Andromachus</i>, Menelaus, speaking -of his daughter Hermione, said: “I will not that my daughter should be -driven from the nuptial bed; save that, all that a woman can suffer -is relatively without importance; but for her to lose her husband is -to lose her life.” At Athens repudiations were frequent, and they -would have been more<span class="pagenum" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</span> so if considerations of interest had not often -hindered the good pleasure of the master. He was obliged, in fact, by -the conditions of the law, in repudiating his wife, to restore her -dowry, or pay interest at the rate of nine oboles.<a id="FNanchor_793" href="#Footnote_793" class="fnanchor">[793]</a> Moreover, the -relatives who were guardians of the woman could claim by law a pension -for her maintenance.<a id="FNanchor_794" href="#Footnote_794" class="fnanchor">[794]</a> A personage of Euripides cries mournfully: -“The riches that a wife brings only serve to make her divorce more -difficult.”<a id="FNanchor_795" href="#Footnote_795" class="fnanchor">[795]</a> However, the right of divorce was recognised for -women, but custom held the laws in check by rendering it difficult -for wives to perform any public action, and by imposing on them the -confinement of the gyneceum.<a id="FNanchor_796" href="#Footnote_796" class="fnanchor">[796]</a></p> - -<p>At Rome divorce evolved more rapidly and more completely than in -Greece. In primitive Rome we see at first, as usual, the right -of repudiation allowed to the husband and forbidden to the wife. -“Romulus,” says Plutarch, “gave the husband power to divorce his -wife in case of her poisoning his children, or counterfeiting his -keys, or committing adultery, and if on any other account he put her -away she was to have one moiety of his goods, and the other was to -be consecrated to Ceres.”<a id="FNanchor_797" href="#Footnote_797" class="fnanchor">[797]</a> The Roman husband could also put away -his wife for sterility.<a id="FNanchor_798" href="#Footnote_798" class="fnanchor">[798]</a> He was, however, obliged to assemble the -family beforehand for consultation. If the marriage had been contracted -by confarreation it had to be dissolved by a contradictory ceremony, -diffarreation.<a id="FNanchor_799" href="#Footnote_799" class="fnanchor">[799]</a> In the ancient law, when the crime of the woman -led to divorce, she lost all her dowry. Later, only a sixth was kept -back by adultery, and an eighth for other crimes.<a id="FNanchor_800" href="#Footnote_800" class="fnanchor">[800]</a> At length -divorce by consent (<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">bonâ gratiâ</i>) was introduced in spite of -the censors; and then both parties had liberty of divorce, only with -certain pecuniary disadvantages for the husband whose fault led to the -divorce. Thus the adulterous husband lost advantage of the terms which -usage accorded for the restitution of the dowry. In the last stage of -the law the guilty husband lost the dowry, or the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">donatio propter -nuptias</i>. Inversely, if the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</span> wife divorced without a cause, the -husband retained a sixth of the dowry for each child, but only up to -three-sixths.<a id="FNanchor_801" href="#Footnote_801" class="fnanchor">[801]</a> The formula of the Roman repudiation recalls by its -energetic conciseness the Kabyle formula, and it seems especially to -relate to the property: <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Res tuas habeto</i>.<a id="FNanchor_802" href="#Footnote_802" class="fnanchor">[802]</a> The wife, even -though subjected to the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">manus</i>, obtained at last the power of -divorce, by sending the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">repudium</i> to her husband, who was then -forced to set her free from the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">manus</i>.<a id="FNanchor_803" href="#Footnote_803" class="fnanchor">[803]</a> In short, divorce -became in time very easy. Cicero repudiated his wife Terentia in order -to get a new dowry. Augustus forced the husband of Livia to put her -away, although she was with child. Seneca speaks of women counting -their years, not according to the Consuls, but to the number of their -husbands. Juvenal quotes a woman who was married eight times in five -years. <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> Jerome mentions another who, after having had twenty-three -husbands, married a man who had had twenty-three wives.</p> - -<p>Constantine, humbly obedient to the Christian spirit which had invaded -his base soul, restricted the cases of divorce to three for each -spouse, but always admitted mutual consent, and under Justinian the -full liberty of divorce reappeared in the Code.<a id="FNanchor_804" href="#Footnote_804" class="fnanchor">[804]</a></p> - -<p>From its origin Christianity combatted the morals called pagan, which -name even was a reproach. Abandoning the modest reality, it lost anchor -from the first, and was drowned in a sea of dreams. Marriage, instead -of being simply the union of a man and a woman in order to produce -children, became mystic; it was the symbol of the union of Christ -with his church; it was tolerated only, and the church especially -condemned divorce. Nevertheless, custom and good sense held out a -long time against ecclesiastical unreason, and it was very slowly, in -the twelfth century only, that the civil law prohibited divorce.<a id="FNanchor_805" href="#Footnote_805" class="fnanchor">[805]</a> -<abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> Jerome had allowed, as did afterwards the Christians of the East, -that adultery broke the bond of marriage as well for the woman as -the man, which is simply just; but this sentiment was condemned and -anathematised by the Council of Trent,<a id="FNanchor_806" href="#Footnote_806" class="fnanchor">[806]</a> which thus returned, -contrary to the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</span> opinion of Papinian and the ancient jurists, to savage -customs, which make the wife the slave, and not the companion, of her -husband.</p> - -<p>Among the Germans and the Scandinavians, the man alone had the right -of repudiation according to the almost universal usage of barbarous -peoples; however, divorce by mutual consent was tolerated.<a id="FNanchor_807" href="#Footnote_807" class="fnanchor">[807]</a> The -Salic law also permitted divorce, and we find in Marculphus the form -of an act of divorce by mutual consent. “The husband and wife, such -and such a one, seeing that discord troubles their marriage and that -love does not rule in it, have agreed to separate, and leave each other -mutually free, without opposition from either party, under pain of a -fine of one pound.”</p> - -<p>The pagan Irish had rendered divorce useless by instituting marriages -of one year, at the end of which the wife could be repudiated by the -temporary husband and even ceded to another for a fresh year. These -experimental marriages were made or unmade, sometimes on the first of -May, and sometimes on the first of November of each year.<a id="FNanchor_808" href="#Footnote_808" class="fnanchor">[808]</a></p> - -<p>Repudiations at the will of the husband are still in use among the -Tcherkesses of the Caucasus, whose customs have more than one feature -in common with those of our ancestors of barbarous Europe. With them -the husband can repudiate in two manners: either by sending away -his wife in the presence of witnesses, and leaving the dowry to the -parents, which implies the liberty to marry again for the repudiated -wife; or by simply driving the wife away, and then he can recall her -again during one year.<a id="FNanchor_809" href="#Footnote_809" class="fnanchor">[809]</a></p> - -<p>In France, under the two first races, the man could put away the -woman; he could even, which is more rare and original, repudiate -his family, and leave it, after a declaration before the judge, and -this destroyed all rights of inheritance on both sides. Later, under -the influence of the Catholic clergy, who by reason, no doubt, of -their want of practical experience in the “things of the flesh,” -claimed energetically the right of regulating all conjugal questions, -a distinction<span class="pagenum" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</span> was made between the separation of abode (<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">quoad -thorum</i>) and complete divorce (<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">quoad vinculum</i>); the first -only was permitted. The Church, always assuming to be immutable, -maintained in theory the indissolubility of the sacramental marriage, -and it needed the great movement of the French Revolution to shake for -a moment the Catholic prejudice against divorce, which was incompletely -re-established in our French code a few years ago. But the brutality -of our ancient conjugal customs survives still, and they are not up -to the level of our legislation, imperfect as that is. Many husbands -always treat their wives as slaves, against whom everything is lawful, -since in a hundred suits for separation or divorce there are ninety-one -to ninety-three made by wives on account of cruelties and serious -injuries.<a id="FNanchor_810" href="#Footnote_810" class="fnanchor">[810]</a> Above all, our juries almost invariably acquit the -husband who has murdered his adulterous wife. So difficult is it to -“put off the old man.”</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_58">III. <i>The Evolution of Divorce.</i></h3> - -<p>Our various researches on the subject of divorce have led us to nearly -uniform conclusions. They all show us that, however dissimilar may be -the countries or the epochs, the union of man and woman begins, with -very rare exceptions, by the complete slavery of the latter, and her -assimilation to domestic animals, over which man has all possible -rights, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">a fortiori</i> that of driving away. Then as the ages move -on their course we see societies which become by degrees civilised, -and in proportion to this advance the condition of the woman improves. -At first the man could kill her if she displeased him; then, cases -of adultery apart, he contented himself with repudiating her; next, -the severity of this right of repudiation, at first unlimited, was -mitigated; then it was restricted to certain well-defined cases; -some rights were even granted to the repudiated woman. At length her -own right was recognised to seek divorce in order to escape from -intolerable treatment. At last a return was made to divorce by mutual -consent, which had been allowed in a good number of primitive<span class="pagenum" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</span> societies, before a rigid legislation, generally theocratic, had -crystallised, in codifying them, some of the old barbarous customs. -The Catholic prejudice itself, absurd as it was in regard to marriage, -became humanised by time. Doubtless the Church continued in principle -to condemn divorce, but she allowed a good number of cases of nullity -of marriage, undoing thus with one hand what she attempted to build up -with the other, and, willingly or not, compounding and compromising -with “the world.”</p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_719" href="#FNanchor_719" class="label">[719]</a> Moncelon, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Réponses au Questionnaire de -Sociologie</i>, in <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Bull. de la Soc. d’anthrop.</i>, 1886.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_720" href="#FNanchor_720" class="label">[720]</a> Campbell, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxix. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 343.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_721" href="#FNanchor_721" class="label">[721]</a> Burchell, <i>ibid.</i> t. xxvi. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 479.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_722" href="#FNanchor_722" class="label">[722]</a> Schweinfurth, <i>The Heart of Africa</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -27.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_723" href="#FNanchor_723" class="label">[723]</a> Laing, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxviii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 107.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_724" href="#FNanchor_724" class="label">[724]</a> Brodie Cruikshank, <i>The Gold Coast</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_725" href="#FNanchor_725" class="label">[725]</a> Bowdich, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxviii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 425.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_726" href="#FNanchor_726" class="label">[726]</a> M. Radiguet, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Derniers Sauvages</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 179.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_727" href="#FNanchor_727" class="label">[727]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Revue de l’Orient</i>, 1844.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_728" href="#FNanchor_728" class="label">[728]</a> Moerenhout, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr> aux îles</i>, etc., t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 62.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_729" href="#FNanchor_729" class="label">[729]</a> Freycinet, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xviii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 82.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_730" href="#FNanchor_730" class="label">[730]</a> Bancroft, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 81.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_731" href="#FNanchor_731" class="label">[731]</a> Beniouski, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxxi. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 410.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_732" href="#FNanchor_732" class="label">[732]</a> J. O. Dorsey, <i>Omaha Sociology</i>, Smithsonian -Institution, 1885.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_733" href="#FNanchor_733" class="label">[733]</a> L. Morgan, <i>Ancient Societies</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_734" href="#FNanchor_734" class="label">[734]</a> Bancroft, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 412.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_735" href="#FNanchor_735" class="label">[735]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 512.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_736" href="#FNanchor_736" class="label">[736]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 672.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_737" href="#FNanchor_737" class="label">[737]</a> A. d’Orbigny, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">L’homme Américain</i>, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 211.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_738" href="#FNanchor_738" class="label">[738]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr> pittor.</i>, etc., <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 511.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_739" href="#FNanchor_739" class="label">[739]</a> Bancroft, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 117.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_740" href="#FNanchor_740" class="label">[740]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 241.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_741" href="#FNanchor_741" class="label">[741]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 261.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_742" href="#FNanchor_742" class="label">[742]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 511.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_743" href="#FNanchor_743" class="label">[743]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr> à la Terre-ferme</i>, etc., t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> -<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 304.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_744" href="#FNanchor_744" class="label">[744]</a> Dobritzhoffer, <i>An Account of the Abipones of -Paraguay</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 97.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_745" href="#FNanchor_745" class="label">[745]</a> Bruce, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxiii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 365.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_746" href="#FNanchor_746" class="label">[746]</a> D’Abbadie, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Douze ans dans la haute Éthiopie</i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> -100, 128.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_747" href="#FNanchor_747" class="label">[747]</a> Annie Besant, <i>Marriage, as it was, as it is, and as -it should be</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_748" href="#FNanchor_748" class="label">[748]</a> Dupré, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Trois Mois à Madagascar</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 153.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_749" href="#FNanchor_749" class="label">[749]</a> D. Cuny, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Journal de Voyage à Siout et à El-Obéid, en -1857-58</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_750" href="#FNanchor_750" class="label">[750]</a> Burckhardt, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_751" href="#FNanchor_751" class="label">[751]</a> Duveyrier, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 429.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_752" href="#FNanchor_752" class="label">[752]</a> Raffenel, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr> au pays des Nègres</i>, t. -<span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 355.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_753" href="#FNanchor_753" class="label">[753]</a> Hanoteau et Letourneux, <i>Kabylie</i>, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 164.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_754" href="#FNanchor_754" class="label">[754]</a> Hanoteau et Letourneux, <i>Kabylie</i>, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 178.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_755" href="#FNanchor_755" class="label">[755]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 177.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_756" href="#FNanchor_756" class="label">[756]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 177.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_757" href="#FNanchor_757" class="label">[757]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 179.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_758" href="#FNanchor_758" class="label">[758]</a> Hanoteau et Letourneux, <i>Kabylie</i>, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 181.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_759" href="#FNanchor_759" class="label">[759]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i>. t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 184.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_760" href="#FNanchor_760" class="label">[760]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 159.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_761" href="#FNanchor_761" class="label">[761]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 180.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_762" href="#FNanchor_762" class="label">[762]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 173.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_763" href="#FNanchor_763" class="label">[763]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 180.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_764" href="#FNanchor_764" class="label">[764]</a> Hanoteau et Letourneux, <i>Kabylie</i>, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 182.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_765" href="#FNanchor_765" class="label">[765]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_766" href="#FNanchor_766" class="label">[766]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 180.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_767" href="#FNanchor_767" class="label">[767]</a> Koran, ii. 229, 230.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_768" href="#FNanchor_768" class="label">[768]</a> Koran, ii. 229.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_769" href="#FNanchor_769" class="label">[769]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> ii. 226, 242.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_770" href="#FNanchor_770" class="label">[770]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> ii. 233.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_771" href="#FNanchor_771" class="label">[771]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> ii. 228.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_772" href="#FNanchor_772" class="label">[772]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> iv. 127.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_773" href="#FNanchor_773" class="label">[773]</a> Meynier, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Études sur l’Islamisme</i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 168, 169.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_774" href="#FNanchor_774" class="label">[774]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 178.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_775" href="#FNanchor_775" class="label">[775]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 174.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_776" href="#FNanchor_776" class="label">[776]</a> Meynier, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Études sur l’Islamisme</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_777" href="#FNanchor_777" class="label">[777]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 174.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_778" href="#FNanchor_778" class="label">[778]</a> Niebuhr, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxxi. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 330.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_779" href="#FNanchor_779" class="label">[779]</a> Prescott, <i>Conquest of Peru</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_780" href="#FNanchor_780" class="label">[780]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>Conquest of Mexico</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 28.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_781" href="#FNanchor_781" class="label">[781]</a> Turner, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxxi. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 437.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_782" href="#FNanchor_782" class="label">[782]</a> Huc, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr> dans la Tartarie</i>, t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> -<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 301.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_783" href="#FNanchor_783" class="label">[783]</a> Pauthier, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Chine Moderne</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 239.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_784" href="#FNanchor_784" class="label">[784]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_785" href="#FNanchor_785" class="label">[785]</a> <i>Code of Manu</i>, ix. <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 80, 81.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_786" href="#FNanchor_786" class="label">[786]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 77.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_787" href="#FNanchor_787" class="label">[787]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 83.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_788" href="#FNanchor_788" class="label">[788]</a> <i>Ibid.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_789" href="#FNanchor_789" class="label">[789]</a> Deuteronomy, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> xxiv. ver. 1, 2.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_790" href="#FNanchor_790" class="label">[790]</a> <i>Mischnah</i> (third part).</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_791" href="#FNanchor_791" class="label">[791]</a> A. Weil, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La Femme juive</i>, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">passim</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_792" href="#FNanchor_792" class="label">[792]</a> Goguet, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Orig. des Lois</i>, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 61.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_793" href="#FNanchor_793" class="label">[793]</a> Demosthenes, <i>Against Aphobus</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_794" href="#FNanchor_794" class="label">[794]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>Against Neera</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_795" href="#FNanchor_795" class="label">[795]</a> Euripides, <i>Melanippus</i>, Fr. 31 (quoted by -Cavallotti).</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_796" href="#FNanchor_796" class="label">[796]</a> Lecky, <i><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> of European Morals</i>, etc., <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. -<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 287.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_797" href="#FNanchor_797" class="label">[797]</a> Romulus, xxxv.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_798" href="#FNanchor_798" class="label">[798]</a> Plutarch, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Demandes Romaines</i>, xiv.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_799" href="#FNanchor_799" class="label">[799]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Italie ancienne</i> (<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Univers pittoresque</i>), <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -487.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_800" href="#FNanchor_800" class="label">[800]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 488.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_801" href="#FNanchor_801" class="label">[801]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Italie ancienne</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 488.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_802" href="#FNanchor_802" class="label">[802]</a> R. Cubain, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lois Civiles de Rome</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 183.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_803" href="#FNanchor_803" class="label">[803]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Italie ancienne</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 487.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_804" href="#FNanchor_804" class="label">[804]</a> Lecky, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 352.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_805" href="#FNanchor_805" class="label">[805]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_806" href="#FNanchor_806" class="label">[806]</a> Session xxiv., can. 17.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_807" href="#FNanchor_807" class="label">[807]</a> Rambaud, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> de la Civil. Franç.</i>, t. -<span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 107.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_808" href="#FNanchor_808" class="label">[808]</a> D’Arbois de Jubainville, Preface to <i><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> inst. -primit.</i> of Sir H. Maine.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_809" href="#FNanchor_809" class="label">[809]</a> Klaproth et Gamba, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xlv. -<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 435.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_810" href="#FNanchor_810" class="label">[810]</a> M. Block, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Europe Politique et Sociale</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 216.</p> - -</div> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.<br /><br /><span class="small">WIDOWHOOD AND THE LEVIRATE.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>I. <i>Widowhood in Savage Countries.</i>—Societies without -widowhood—The widow considered as property by the Hottentots -and at the Gaboon, etc.—Widowhood in Kouranko, at Kaarta, and -in Madagascar—The wives of Queen Ranavalo—Widowhood among the -Redskins—Sacrifices and mutilations of widows.</p> - -<p>II. <i>Widowhood in Barbarous Countries.</i>—Widowhood in -Bhootan—Polyandric widowhood—Widowhood in China—Traffic in the -widow—Glorification of widowhood—Suicides of widows—Widowhood -in India—Duties of widows—<i>Suttees</i>—Widowhood in Islamite -countries—Position given to the widow in the Koran—Position given -to the widow in the Bible—Widowhood in Kabylia—The sleeping -fœtus—Widowhood in ancient Rome—Opinion of the Christian Church on -second marriages—Widowhood in barbarous Europe and in the Middle Ages.</p> - -<p>III. <i>The Levirate.</i>—The levirate in Melanesia, among the -Redskins, the Ostiaks, the Kirghis, the Afghans, in the Code of Manu, -among the Hebrews.</p> - -<p>IV. <i>Summary.</i></p> -</div> - - -<h3 id="h3_59">I. <i>Widowhood in Savage Countries.</i></h3> - -<p>We have very little knowledge as to the condition of widows in the -lowest human societies. It is one of those questions of social -organisation hardly noticed by the travellers to whom we look -especially for information.</p> - -<p>To begin with, we may affirm that widowhood, regarded as a special -condition recognised by customs and laws, does not exist in very -anarchic societies. Voltaire has somewhere said that the origin of -divorce was doubtless posterior by some days to that of marriage. With -much stronger<span class="pagenum" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</span> reason may we infer that the existence of some kind of -marriage is necessary before there can be any widowhood. Widowhood, -therefore, does not exist in societies where promiscuity or temporary -marriage prevails. No widowhood is possible, for example, in the tribe -of the Australian Kamilaroi, where all the women of a class are common -to all the men of the same class. It became otherwise from the time -that, either by capture, purchase, or any other means, woman became -the particular property of one man. Thenceforth it was necessary to -regulate in some way the condition of the widow or widows. Generally -the solution of the problem has been very simple: the widow, who has -been habitually captured or bought by the deceased, does not cease -after his death to be regarded as a thing or property; she is part of -the inheritance, by the same title as chattels or domestic animals. -Sometimes, however, special obligations or troubles are imposed on -her; Kolben tells us that in passing to a fresh husband, the Hottentot -widow must cut off a joint of the little finger; but to cut off a -finger-joint was a common custom with the Hottentots on the death of -a relative, and the women did it, or were forced to do it, more often -than the men. There is nothing in this particular to the condition -of the widow.<a id="FNanchor_811" href="#Footnote_811" class="fnanchor">[811]</a> At the Gaboon a man’s wives belonged to his heir, -and if the deceased was of importance in the tribe, they must resign -themselves to a period of mourning and of widowhood, which lasts a year -or two. The end of this mourning is marked by a great festival or orgy, -which Du Chaillu has thus described—“The wives of the deceased (he had -seven) were radiant ... they were going to quit their widow’s clothes -and join the festival like brides. The heir had the right to marry them -all, but to show his generosity, he had ceded two to a younger brother -and one to a cousin.” They drank bumper after bumper (palm wine), and -then began to dance. “The wives danced. But what dances! The most -modest step was indecent.”<a id="FNanchor_812" href="#Footnote_812" class="fnanchor">[812]</a></p> - -<p>In equatorial Africa, the son inherits the widows of his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</span> father: it -is thus in Yarriba.<a id="FNanchor_813" href="#Footnote_813" class="fnanchor">[813]</a> Sometimes they are sold simply, if they have -had no children by the deceased husband.<a id="FNanchor_814" href="#Footnote_814" class="fnanchor">[814]</a> In Kouranko, widows -have a milder fate. They are numerous; for, as young girls, they have -generally been sold by their parents to old husbands; but according -to Laing, the custom of the country renders them free, and makes them -their own mistresses as soon as they are widows, and they profit by -this immediately to choose themselves a young husband, and lavish cares -and attentions on him; it is then their turn.<a id="FNanchor_815" href="#Footnote_815" class="fnanchor">[815]</a> Nevertheless, the -custom of classing widows with the heritage seems very general in negro -Africa. It exists with the Bambarras of Kaarta, where, at the death of -a prince, his successor puts the wives of the deceased monarch up to -auction. Even if old and horrible, they sell easily and dear, for men -like the honour of succeeding to a king.<a id="FNanchor_816" href="#Footnote_816" class="fnanchor">[816]</a> We shall find the same -usage again in Madagascar, at least in the noble families of the Hovas. -On ascending the throne, Radama simply kept all his father’s wives. -So obligatory is this on the reigning sovereign, that at the death of -the same Radama, his widow Ranavalo was bound to keep, by the title -of <em>wives</em>, all her husband’s widows. Then, in a great council -held after her elevation to the throne, it was decided that the Queen -Ranavalo could not marry again, but would be free to take lovers at her -will, and that all the children born of these fugitive unions should -be considered as the legitimate posterity of Radama.<a id="FNanchor_817" href="#Footnote_817" class="fnanchor">[817]</a> By this -ingenious measure all was conciliated—respect to custom, the liberty -of the queen, and the regular succession to the throne.</p> - -<p>We shall find again in very different countries this savage custom of -considering widows as a simple property, transmissible by inheritance. -Sometimes the heir succeeds simply to the deceased husband; sometimes -he accepts and exacts an indemnity, in case the widow re-marries. Such -was already the custom with the Smoos of Central America. There the -widows belonged by right to the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</span> relatives of the deceased husband; -and in order to contract afresh, they had to pay to these relatives -what was called “widow money.”<a id="FNanchor_818" href="#Footnote_818" class="fnanchor">[818]</a> Inversely, with the Kliketats, if -a woman happened to die very soon after her marriage, the husband who -had bought her could claim her price back from the parents;<a id="FNanchor_819" href="#Footnote_819" class="fnanchor">[819]</a> he had -been deceived in the quality of the merchandise.</p> - -<p>This was not all; as long as the mourning lasted, the widow was always -considered, in certain districts, as having duties to fulfil towards -her dead husband, or rather towards his shade. Thus, with the Sambos -of Central America, she had to furnish a sufficient quantity of food -during a year to the tomb of the deceased;<a id="FNanchor_820" href="#Footnote_820" class="fnanchor">[820]</a> and it was the same in -Mexico.<a id="FNanchor_821" href="#Footnote_821" class="fnanchor">[821]</a></p> - -<p>In many of the Redskin tribes second marriages are not tolerated by -custom till after a very long delay, exacted for reasons that have -nothing savage in them; it is simply that the children of the first -marriage may be grown out of their early infancy, and the custom is -obligatory for the man as well as for the woman. The Selish widow only -marries after two years;<a id="FNanchor_822" href="#Footnote_822" class="fnanchor">[822]</a> but the delay is sometimes from two to -three years for the widower as well as for the widow.<a id="FNanchor_823" href="#Footnote_823" class="fnanchor">[823]</a> With the -Nez-Percés of Columbia, the widower can marry again at the end of one -year.<a id="FNanchor_824" href="#Footnote_824" class="fnanchor">[824]</a> With the Omahas the delay was much longer, from four to -seven years for the man and the woman. This rule was very strict, and -in case of its infraction, the parents of the dead husband had the -right to strike and wound, but without killing, the widow who might -be too hasty in marrying again. In a parallel case, they confined -themselves to taking a pony from the man;<a id="FNanchor_825" href="#Footnote_825" class="fnanchor">[825]</a> this was because a man -could defend himself. On the contrary, if the widower waited much -beyond the legal time before marrying again, the parents or relatives -of the dead wife thought themselves obliged to intervene. “This man,” -said they, “has no one to sew his mocassins; let us<span class="pagenum" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</span> seek a wife -for him.” When they did so, the widower was bound to accept their -offer.<a id="FNanchor_826" href="#Footnote_826" class="fnanchor">[826]</a></p> - -<p>This question of widows has evidently been very embarrassing for -primitive societies. They have either been kept or sold, according as -it might be agreeable or advantageous. But another very simple way -of getting rid of the encumbrance has been to sacrifice them on the -tomb of the dead husband. Nothing is less rare than such immolations -in savage countries, and these atrocious acts are often inspired -by affectionate sentiments, by care for the fate which awaits the -deceased husband after death. How can they let him travel alone on that -dangerous journey beyond the tomb? This is the reason of the widely -spread custom of human sacrifices, which chiefly consist of women and -slaves. I quote a few facts of this kind, simply as specimens.</p> - -<p>In certain tribes of New Zealand the widows were strangled on the tomb -of the deceased husband.<a id="FNanchor_827" href="#Footnote_827" class="fnanchor">[827]</a> In equatorial Africa, at Yourriba, when -the king dies, four of his wives and a number of slaves are forced to -poison themselves. The poison is poured into a parrot’s egg for them, -and if it does not produce any effect the patients must supplement it -by hanging themselves. At Jenna, on the Niger, at the death of a chief, -one or two of his widows must commit suicide the same day, in order to -furnish him with pleasant company in the country beyond the tomb, of -which he is going to take possession.<a id="FNanchor_828" href="#Footnote_828" class="fnanchor">[828]</a> At Katunga, the chief wife -of the deceased king is obliged to poison herself on the tomb of her -husband, in company with the eldest son and the principal personages of -the kingdom. All these victims must be buried with the dead master.<a id="FNanchor_829" href="#Footnote_829" class="fnanchor">[829]</a></p> - -<p>The massacres by which the death of the king of Dahomey is solemnised -are well known, and in them also the wives play an important part as -victims. We know that the primitive Germans had analogous customs; for -savages of all countries, to whatever race they belong, resemble each -other and repeat themselves.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</span></p> - -<p>Among various peoples funeral sacrifices are replaced by mutilations -more or less voluntary, and especially obligatory on widows. As -examples, I may mention the amputation of the little finger by the -Hottentots, the Melanesians, and the Charruas; and the gashes which -Polynesian widows made on their faces and bodies. These bloody -demonstrations were obligatory, and far from corresponding to a real -grief. At Noukahiva Porter saw a widow, the funeral wounds still -fresh on her neck, breast, and arms, prostitute herself to American -sailors.<a id="FNanchor_830" href="#Footnote_830" class="fnanchor">[830]</a></p> - -<p>This review of savage manners and customs in regard to widows has -only been a long enumeration of cruelties and iniquities, and these, -although much lessened in barbarous countries, do not, by any means, -disappear.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_60">II. <i>Widowhood in Barbarous Countries.</i></h3> - -<p>The natives of Himalayan Bhootan are sometimes monogamous, sometimes -polygamous, and sometimes polyandrous, and these variations naturally -affect the conditions of widowhood. Among the monogamous and -polygamous, the widows can only marry again after a delay of three -years. This regulation, which we have already found among the Redskins, -has doubtless been dictated by the same reasons; and taken with many -other similarities existing in very dissimilar races and countries, -it tends to prove that scientific sociology can be more than a mere -name or imagination. In the Himalayan Bhootan, a widow who has no -repugnance to polygamy has many chances of marrying again, if she has -a younger sister still free, whom the new husband can marry at the -same time.<a id="FNanchor_831" href="#Footnote_831" class="fnanchor">[831]</a> In polyandrous families there can hardly be any real -widowhood for the woman. Thus, at Ladak, if the eldest brother, the -husband in chief, happens to die, his property, authority, and share -of the wife pass to the next brother, whether the latter be or not -one of the husbands.<a id="FNanchor_832" href="#Footnote_832" class="fnanchor">[832]</a> This is a sort of levirate which naturally -exists in polyandrous households,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</span> and obviates at once the question -of widowhood, so embarrassing to the other forms of marriage. This -question of widows has been solved very grossly, and sometimes very -cruelly, in the Middle Empire or China proper. Although on certain -sides the old Chinese civilisation puts ours to shame, it is very -backward in relation to all that concerns widows. We have previously -seen that during her whole life the subjection of the Chinese woman -is extreme, that she owes obedience first to her parents, then to -her husband, then to her son, and that she is married, or rather -sold, without being consulted at all. But widowhood does not even -set her free, for she represents a value which the relatives of the -husband inherit, and which they hasten to profit by. It often happens, -therefore, that the Chinese widow is made to marry again, or rather, is -sold again, and this time, also, no one dreams of asking her consent. -The child at the breast, if there is one, is included in the bargain. -In order to moderate the haste of covetous parents, the law has been -obliged to intervene, and prevent the sale of the widow before the -expiration of the time of mourning. The Chinese widow, if she wishes -to escape this traffic in her person, and is without fortune, has no -resource except to become a bonzess. Those widows only whose rank or -riches place them above the common, are able to pass the rest of their -days without being united to a fresh husband;<a id="FNanchor_833" href="#Footnote_833" class="fnanchor">[833]</a> this posthumous -fidelity is much encouraged in China by public opinion, whenever -interest does not forbid it. The betrothed maiden, who may become a -widow before being a wife, is much esteemed if she buries herself for -ever in an enforced sorrow; but naturally, a reciprocal demand is not -made on the betrothed man who may lose his <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">fiancée</i>. If the -rich widow who remains inconsolable is much praised, she who refuses -to survive her husband receives greater honour. Tablets are erected -in the temples in memory of young girls who have killed themselves on -the tombs of their betrothed, and twice a year certain mandarins make -oblations in their honour.<a id="FNanchor_834" href="#Footnote_834" class="fnanchor">[834]</a> With much stronger reason is this done -for real widows.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</span></p> - -<p>In 1857 the <i>Pekin Gazette</i> published a decree, according a -tablet to the memory of the wife of a mandarin who had poisoned -herself on hearing of the death of her husband in a battle against the -rebels. These suicides of widows are performed in public, with great -pomp and solemnity. In January 1861 two young widows thus committed -suicide at Fou-Chow, in presence of several thousand spectators. -Another did the same at the end of December 1860.<a id="FNanchor_835" href="#Footnote_835" class="fnanchor">[835]</a> It would seem, -therefore, that these suicides are frequent enough even at the present -time. From observations made during the Anglo-French Expedition to -China, it appears that they are generally widows without children -or relations who thus sacrifice themselves; they do it openly and -with much ceremony. A month beforehand, the widow goes in procession -through the town, as has been thus described:—“Two executioners -headed the procession; then came musicians; then men dressed in coarse -linen tunics with hoods, carrying parasols, little pagodas, boxes of -perfumes, and streamers. After them came a third executioner, followed -by a second group bearing poles, surmounted by figures of fantastic -animals. And lastly came a mandarin’s palanquin, surrounded by -numerous servants of both sexes, dressed in mourning, which consisted -of grey linen. In the palanquin was the heroine of the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">fête</i>, -a young woman dressed in red (the imperial colour), and crowned -with a blue diadem. Her red satin robe was ornamented with lace and -gold embroidery. This solemn procession had no other object than to -announce the suicide to the public, and invite them to attend it on the -following moon, day for day. The young widow was exact in appearing at -the rendezvous, and tranquilly hung herself at the date fixed.”<a id="FNanchor_836" href="#Footnote_836" class="fnanchor">[836]</a></p> - -<p>With differences of form and mode of execution, India devotes her -widows to a similar fate.</p> - -<p>It seems, indeed, that in India also the widow is, or has been, -considered as the property of the relatives of her dead husband, for -a verse of the Code of Manu orders that if she has been sterile, a -relative shall endeavour to make her conceive. Very striking and -primitive is the inequality of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</span> the obligations imposed by Indian law -on the widower and on the widow.<a id="FNanchor_837" href="#Footnote_837" class="fnanchor">[837]</a></p> - -<p>Here is the law for the husband: “Every Dwidja knowing the law, who -sees his wife die before him, if she has obeyed these precepts, and -is of the same class as himself, must burn her with consecrated fires -and with utensils of sacrifice.”—“After having accomplished thus -with consecrated fires the funeral ceremony of a wife who has died, -let him contract a new marriage, and light a second time the nuptial -fire.”<a id="FNanchor_838" href="#Footnote_838" class="fnanchor">[838]</a> As for the widow, her duty is very different: “A virtuous -woman, who desires to obtain the same abode of felicity as her husband, -must do nothing which may displease him, either during life or after -death.”—“Let her willingly emaciate her body by feeding on flowers, -roots, and pure fruits; but, after losing her husband, let her not -pronounce the name of any other man.”—“But the widow, who, through -the desire of having children, is unfaithful to her husband, incurs -contempt here below, and will be excluded from the celestial abode -whither her husband has gone.”—“Nowhere in this Code is the right of -taking a second husband assigned to a virtuous wife.”<a id="FNanchor_839" href="#Footnote_839" class="fnanchor">[839]</a></p> - -<p>The obligation not to marry again, and especially that of living on -flowers and fruits, are sufficiently vexatious, but they are nothing -to the suttees, or burning alive of widows, which were quite recently -common in Bengal. The Code of Manu does not speak of this abominable -custom, though it was very ancient, for Diodorus mentions it, and -relates how the two widows of Ceteus, an Indian general under Eumenes, -disputed the honour of burning themselves with the corpse of their -husband. The description which Diodorus gives corresponds in every -detail with what took place at the suttees quite recently; so slow -to change are these old theocratic societies. One of the wives, says -Diodorus, could not be burnt because she was with child. The other -advanced to the funeral pile crowned with myrtle, adorned as for a -wedding, and preceded by her relatives, who sang hymns in her praise. -Then after having distributed her jewels to her friends and domestics, -she lay down on the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</span> funeral pile by the side of her husband’s body, -and died without uttering a cry.<a id="FNanchor_840" href="#Footnote_840" class="fnanchor">[840]</a></p> - -<p>At that time, according to Diodorus, the law only allowed the sacrifice -of one wife. In the eighteenth century it was more exacting. In fact, -the writers of the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lettres édifiantes</i> have described in detail -several sacrifices of this kind. The custom was no longer observed -except by wives of grandees, and especially of rajahs; but all of -these were burnt, save the women with child, whose suffering was only -deferred.</p> - -<p>In 1710, at the death of the Prince of Marava, aged eighty years, all -his wives, to the number of forty-seven, were burnt with his corpse, -which was richly adorned and placed in a large grave filled with wood. -The victims, who were covered with precious stones, stepped at first -very bravely on the funeral pile; but the moment the flames reached -them, they uttered loud cries, and rushed on each other. The spectators -succeeded in calming them by throwing a number of pieces of wood at -them; afterwards their bones were gathered up and thrown into the sea, -and a temple to their honour was erected over the grave.<a id="FNanchor_841" href="#Footnote_841" class="fnanchor">[841]</a> At that -date, and in that part of the country, even women with child were only -temporarily spared till after their delivery.<a id="FNanchor_842" href="#Footnote_842" class="fnanchor">[842]</a> Two other princes, -vassals of Marava, having died at the same epoch, and leaving, the one -seventeen, the other thirteen widows, all these unfortunate creatures -were burnt together, except one, who, being with child, could not -sacrifice herself until later. The suttees were not a legal obligation; -relatives even tried to dissuade the widows from it; but the point of -honour, and the fear of public opinion, or rather of public contempt, -were stronger with them than love of life.<a id="FNanchor_843" href="#Footnote_843" class="fnanchor">[843]</a> The mode of burning -varied in different provinces. In Bengal the woman was bound firmly to -the corpse, and the two bodies were covered with bamboos. In Orissa, -the widow threw herself on the pile, which was in a pit or grave. In -the Deccan, a country which was in great part Tamil, and where suttees -were much more rare, the widow sat on the pile, and placed the head -of her dead husband on her knees. She remained thus,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</span> motionless, -until she was suffocated by the smoke, or overthrown by the fall of -heavy logs of wood, previously attached with cords to posts placed at -the four corners of the pile. It is said that in certain provinces -the victim was intoxicated with opium beforehand. Sometimes also, -proper precautions not having been taken, it happened that she rushed -madly out of the flames, and was then brutally thrust back by the -spectators.<a id="FNanchor_844" href="#Footnote_844" class="fnanchor">[844]</a></p> - -<p>These frightful customs, which have hardly yet disappeared from India, -are but survivals from the times of savagery: such brutalities were -habitual in a number of primitive societies, as I have previously shown.</p> - -<p>In the Koran, in the Bible, and among the Arabs, or rather the -contemporaneous Islamites, we find nothing analogous to this; but the -position given to the widow is none the less unenviable.</p> - -<p>A verse of the Koran shows us that before the time of Mahomet, sons -inherited all their father’s wives as a matter of course, in African -fashion: “Thou shalt not marry the women who have been thy father’s -wives; it is an abomination and a bad practice.”<a id="FNanchor_845" href="#Footnote_845" class="fnanchor">[845]</a> We have seen -that this most gross custom, against which Mahomet inveighs, still -prevails in various countries, and especially amongst the negroes of -tropical Africa. It must have been general at the time of Mahomet, even -amongst the Arabs, since the prophet states that his law need not have -any retrospective effect: “Let that remain,” proceeds the same verse, -“which has already been done.”</p> - -<p>There is one point, however, on which the Koran is in advance of the -greater number of barbarous societies, and even of the Bible. It -recognises, in fact, the right of a widow to inherit from her husband; -this right gives her a fourth, if there is no child, and an eighth only -in the contrary case.<a id="FNanchor_846" href="#Footnote_846" class="fnanchor">[846]</a> But notwithstanding this the widow was often -abandoned, or, what is worse, confounded with the heritage. The Bible -was less kind to the widow. It specifies indeed that the fortune of -the husband is security for the personal effects and the dowry of the -wife, but it does not place her among her husband’s heirs. The Jewish<span class="pagenum" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</span> -widow was a charge on her children, or, if she had none, on her own -family.<a id="FNanchor_847" href="#Footnote_847" class="fnanchor">[847]</a> The abandoned widow had no other resource than her share -in the offerings and public charity.<a id="FNanchor_848" href="#Footnote_848" class="fnanchor">[848]</a> The injunction is indeed -given not to afflict her;<a id="FNanchor_849" href="#Footnote_849" class="fnanchor">[849]</a> it would certainly have been better to -grant her some rights.</p> - -<p>In Judæa, the wife was bought by her husband; it is therefore probable -that, in primitive times, she formed a part of his wealth, as is the -case now among the Mussulman Afghans and among the Kabyles.</p> - -<p>In Afghanistan, the widow, being a mortgaged property, cannot re-marry -until the price of purchase paid for her by her deceased husband has -been reimbursed to the parents of that husband.<a id="FNanchor_850" href="#Footnote_850" class="fnanchor">[850]</a> In a great number -of Kabyle tribes, the widow remains “hung” to her dead husband—that is -to say, she is counted part of the heritage.<a id="FNanchor_851" href="#Footnote_851" class="fnanchor">[851]</a> Generally she returns -to her family, and her father or her relatives sell her a second -time.<a id="FNanchor_852" href="#Footnote_852" class="fnanchor">[852]</a> If, however, she has children, especially male children, she -cannot be forced to marry again; but then the son redeems her, or she -deducts from the property of her children the sum necessary to redeem -herself from paternal power.<a id="FNanchor_853" href="#Footnote_853" class="fnanchor">[853]</a> In the tribe of Aït Flik, heirs have, -by pre-emption, the privilege of marrying the widow, and that without -having to pay the <i>thâmanth</i>.<a id="FNanchor_854" href="#Footnote_854" class="fnanchor">[854]</a> It is understood that while -awaiting the day when she is to be disposed of again, the Kabyle widow -is bound to the strictest chastity. If she becomes with child, she is -punished by stoning.<a id="FNanchor_855" href="#Footnote_855" class="fnanchor">[855]</a></p> - -<p>Like the Bible, and nearly all other legislations, the Koran only -allows the marriage of a widow after a certain term of delay. In the -Koran, this term is four months and ten days;<a id="FNanchor_856" href="#Footnote_856" class="fnanchor">[856]</a> and if the woman is -with child, the delay must extend till after her delivery. But there -are some pregnancies that are either imaginary or fictitious, and which -come to nothing, yet in Arab countries successions are suspended on -account of them. If, at the moment of her husband’s death, a woman -thinks herself with child, she<span class="pagenum" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</span> places her girdle on the body of the -deceased; note is taken of it, and the time awaited. If the waiting is -vain, at the end of eleven months the widow is visited and examined by -matrons; and if nevertheless the professed pregnancy has no result, the -child who refuses to be born is called “asleep” for an indefinite time. -Henceforth the widow is free, and if she ends by becoming a mother, her -child, awaited so long, is reputed to be the son of the husband dead -years before, and inherits from him.<a id="FNanchor_857" href="#Footnote_857" class="fnanchor">[857]</a></p> - -<p>This singular prejudice is common to the Kabyles and to the Arabs. A -number of Mussulman legists have vainly tried to overcome it. All that -they have been able to do is to limit to four or five years, generally -to four, the duration of this pretended “sleep” of the fœtus.<a id="FNanchor_858" href="#Footnote_858" class="fnanchor">[858]</a></p> - -<p>The widow has not been more worthily treated at the origin of -Greco-Roman civilisation than in the other barbarous civilisations. It -would be strange if it were so. We have seen that at Athens the woman, -even when married, was part of the paternal patrimony; that the dying -husband could leave her by will to a friend, with his goods, and by -the same title; that at Rome the wife was bought and subjected to the -terrible right of the marital <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">manus</i>.</p> - -<p>For a long time at Rome, as in China at the present day, the widows -who did not marry were particularly honoured. The widower married -again immediately after his wife’s death; widows, on the contrary, -were in any case forbidden to marry before a delay of six months, -afterwards extended to twelve months, and that under pain of infamy for -the father who had made the marriage, for the husband who had taken -the widow, and later for the re-married woman also, when infamy also -applied to women. By degrees Roman customs and laws improved on this -point as on others. The <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Leges Julia</i> and <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Papia Poppæa</i> -encouraged second marriages, in opposition to the ancient prejudice; -the <i>Institutes</i> ordained that when the widow was poor and without -dowry, she could inherit from her husband one-fourth if there were -three children, and a full masculine share if there were none.<a id="FNanchor_859" href="#Footnote_859" class="fnanchor">[859]</a> But -the triumph of Christianity<span class="pagenum" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</span> was the signal for a retrograde movement. -Constantine returned to the old ideas of primitive Rome, and went so -far as to inflict on second marriages pecuniary penalties, which were -to be paid to the children of the first marriage.<a id="FNanchor_860" href="#Footnote_860" class="fnanchor">[860]</a> In acting thus, -the neophyte emperor was acting up to the logic of the Church, in whose -eyes marriage itself was an evil rendered necessary by the sin of Adam, -and by whom second marriages were emphatically condemned.<a id="FNanchor_861" href="#Footnote_861" class="fnanchor">[861]</a></p> - -<p>From the fusion of Christian doctrines with the gross customs of more -or less barbarous European races, on the subject of women and marriage, -there resulted for the widow a position of extreme subjection. Among -the Germans, as among the Afghans and Kabyles, the widow became again -the property of her own family, and in order to marry her, it was -necessary to pay a special price, the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">reipus</i>, which was double -the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">mundium</i> or price of the first purchase.<a id="FNanchor_862" href="#Footnote_862" class="fnanchor">[862]</a> The Salic law -decreed that at the age of fifteen the son should be the guardian of -his widowed mother. The Lombard law decides also that the widow shall -not marry again without the consent of her son (section xxxvii.); -and this consent was necessary even for her to enter a convent. Thus -Theodoric, adopting with barbarous fury the opinions of the Church on -second marriages, promulgated a law interdicting widows from marrying -again, and condemning to the flames any man who should be convicted of -having had commerce with them.</p> - -<p>These objections to second marriage, or at least the blame attached -to them by public opinion, are common in many ancient societies. We -have found them in India, in ancient Rome and Greece, etc. We can only -attribute this way of thinking, senseless and unjust as it is, to a -sort of delirium of proprietorship in the husband, who pretends still -to rule over and possess his wife from beyond the tomb, but chiefly to -the desire of avoiding disturbances in the transmission of hereditary -wealth, when the women were able to have possessions of their own. -The levirate, of which I am now going to speak, remedied the latter -inconveniences.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</span></p> -<h3 id="h3_61">III.—<i>The Levirate.</i></h3> - -<p>The levirate is the name given to the obligation imposed by custom or -law on the brother of the deceased husband to marry his sister-in-law -when she became a widow. This custom of the levirate, which for a long -time has been thought peculiar to the Hebrews, is very widely spread, -and is found among races most widely differing from each other. There -is surely good reason for it in savage or barbarous societies where for -a woman abandonment would mean death.</p> - -<p>I will enumerate some of the peoples who practise the levirate, -beginning as usual with the inferior races.</p> - -<p>We meet the levirate first in Melanesia, at New Caledonia, where the -brother-in-law, whether he be already married or not, must marry his -brother’s widow immediately.</p> - -<p>We also find the levirate among the Redskins, particularly the -Chippeways; and at Nicaragua, where the widow belongs either to the -brother or nearest relative of her deceased husband.<a id="FNanchor_863" href="#Footnote_863" class="fnanchor">[863]</a></p> - -<p>With the Ostiaks, the next brother of the husband is obliged to marry -his widow or widows; for the Ostiaks, like the Redskins, often take for -wives a whole set of sisters.<a id="FNanchor_864" href="#Footnote_864" class="fnanchor">[864]</a> It is the same with the Kirghis, and -in general with the nomad Mongols.<a id="FNanchor_865" href="#Footnote_865" class="fnanchor">[865]</a> The Afghans also make it a duty -of the brother-in-law to marry his sister-in-law, on her becoming a -widow.<a id="FNanchor_866" href="#Footnote_866" class="fnanchor">[866]</a></p> - -<p>The Code of Manu imposes the levirate even on the brother of a -betrothed man who dies: “When the husband of a young girl happens -to die after the betrothal, let the brother of the husband take her -for wife.”<a id="FNanchor_867" href="#Footnote_867" class="fnanchor">[867]</a> The object of this legal precept in India is to -give a posterity to the deceased brother; for the following verse -seems to limit the duration of the cohabitation with the widowed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</span> -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">fiancée</i>, and it seems indeed that all commerce is to cease after -the first pregnancy.<a id="FNanchor_868" href="#Footnote_868" class="fnanchor">[868]</a></p> - -<p>We will now consider the Hebrew levirate, which is only a particular -case of a very general fact.</p> - -<p>We find the levirate mentioned twice in the Bible. At first in Genesis: -“Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother’s wife, and perform -the duty of an husband’s brother unto her, and raise up seed to thy -brother.”<a id="FNanchor_869" href="#Footnote_869" class="fnanchor">[869]</a> Again, in Deuteronomy: “If brethren dwell together, -and one of them die, and have no son, the wife of the dead shall not -marry without unto a stranger; her husband’s brother shall go in unto -her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband’s -brother unto her. And it shall be, that the first-born whom she beareth -shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name -be not blotted out of Israel.”<a id="FNanchor_870" href="#Footnote_870" class="fnanchor">[870]</a> The Hebrew levirate was therefore -a sort of obligatory and fictitious adoption of a nephew by the -deceased uncle. We shall soon see that in all primitive or barbarous -societies this adoption is largely practised, and that it is absolutely -equivalent to a real filiation.</p> - -<p>The verses which follow inform us that, with the Hebrews, the levirate -was rather a moral than a legal obligation; the brother-in-law could -even refuse it; but in refusing, he incurred the public contempt, and -had to submit to a degrading ceremony: “And if the man like not to -take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall go up to the -gate unto the elders, and say, My husband’s brother refuseth to raise -up unto his brother a name in Israel, he will not perform the duty of -an husband’s brother unto me; then the elders of his city shall call -him, and speak unto him: and if he stand, and say, I like not to take -her; then shall his brother’s wife come unto him in the presence of the -elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, -and she shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto that man that -doth not build up his brother’s house. And his name shall be called in -Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe loosed.”<a id="FNanchor_871" href="#Footnote_871" class="fnanchor">[871]</a></p> - -<p>In India the principal object of the levirate, applied<span class="pagenum" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</span> to the widowed -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">fiancée</i>, was to furnish the deceased man with a fictitious -son, who could perform for him the sacrifices to the manes, a duty of -the highest importance in the religion of Brahma. For the Hebrews, a -much more practical people than the Hindoos, the levirate had only an -earthly object—that of keeping up the name or family of the deceased, -and all that belonged to it. It may be compared with the obligation -imposed at Athens on the nearest relative in the masculine line to -marry the heiress, or to supplement at need the impotence of the -husband.</p> - -<p>The old practice of the levirate still exists in Abyssinia with this -curious detail, that it is applied during the lifetime of the husband -if he has been the victim of an accident, frequent in the Abyssinian -wars, of emasculation. The mutilated husband, being thus struck with -what might be called “virile death,” his brother succeeds him in his -marital rights and duties.<a id="FNanchor_872" href="#Footnote_872" class="fnanchor">[872]</a></p> - -<p>Some sociologists, too much given to theorise, have tried to prove -that the levirate was a remnant of polyandry. Certainly the levirate -is practised under a polyandric <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i>, but polyandry has never -been more than an exceptional mode of marriage, and there is hardly any -trace of it among the New Caledonians, the Redskins, the Mongols, the -Afghans, the Hindoos, the Hebrews, the Abyssinians, etc., who, all of -them, practise different varieties of levirate.</p> - -<p>The much more natural reasons that I have given above appear to me -quite sufficient and more probable.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_62">IV. <i>Conclusions.</i></h3> - -<p>From a consideration of all these facts, we find that the fate of -the widow has varied according to the matrimonial form in use, and -according to the degree of civilisation, but that it has not always -been ameliorated in proportion to the general progress. Laws and -customs have ever been kind to the widower. It has been very different -for the woman, and her position has perhaps been better, from our -point of view, in certain primitive societies, than it became later. -Thus, in the confused state of primitive families,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</span> when men lived -either in a freedom almost bordering on promiscuity, or in groups -half polyandric or polygamic, and more especially in polyandrous -countries, there was no actual widowhood, or state of being a widow, -for woman. The disappearance of one of the men with whom she lived -in intimate relations made no great change in her position. Under a -polygamic <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> it is quite otherwise; for then the wives are -private property. Their master has nearly always bought them, and their -subjection is very great. Therefore, at the death of their master, they -are treated exactly like things; they follow the fate of the goods, and -pass into the hands of the heir, who can keep or sell them. Sometimes, -however, they are sacrificed in greater or less numbers on the tomb -of the dead husband, whom they must continue to serve and love in the -future life.</p> - -<p>Under a monogamic <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> societies are generally more -civilised, and the dominating ideas are then the care of property, -and sometimes the perpetuation of the name. The widow cannot inherit, -for the property must not be divided. She is then a most embarrassing -incumbrance. Sometimes she is persuaded to follow still into the next -world the husband who has preceded her thither; this is the most -radical solution. Sometimes her relations marry her again, and obtain a -second price for her; sometimes she is provided for by the levirate.</p> - -<p>Traces of these ancestral iniquities are still preserved in our modern -codes, which, though nearly emancipating the widow, push the fanaticism -of consanguinity so far as not to consider her as the relative of her -husband as concerns property. From a social point of view, the whole of -this survey of the treatment of widows is not flattering for humanity. -In short, from a moral point of view, the easy resignation with which -men and women bear widowhood, places mankind, as regards nobility of -sentiment, far below certain species of animals, as, for example, the -Illinois paraquet (<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Psittacus Illinois</i>), for whom widowhood and -death are synonymous, as well for the male as the female. Doubtless -it might be alleged that even in so-called highly civilised societies -people do not marry as a rule from any lofty sentiment; but that is -surely a poor excuse.</p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_811" href="#FNanchor_811" class="label">[811]</a> Burchell, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxvi. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -321.—Thompson, <i>ibid.</i>, t. xxix. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 163.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_812" href="#FNanchor_812" class="label">[812]</a> Du Chaillu, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr> dans l’Afrique équatoriale</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -268.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_813" href="#FNanchor_813" class="label">[813]</a> Clapperton, <i>Second Voyage</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 90.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_814" href="#FNanchor_814" class="label">[814]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 156.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_815" href="#FNanchor_815" class="label">[815]</a> Laing, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxviii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 71.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_816" href="#FNanchor_816" class="label">[816]</a> Raffenel, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Nouveau Voyage au Pays des Nègres</i>, t. -<span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 389.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_817" href="#FNanchor_817" class="label">[817]</a> Dupré, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Trois Mois à Madagascar</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 124.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_818" href="#FNanchor_818" class="label">[818]</a> Bancroft, <i>Native Races of Pacific</i>, etc., <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. -<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 731.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_819" href="#FNanchor_819" class="label">[819]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 277.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_820" href="#FNanchor_820" class="label">[820]</a> Bancroft, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 731.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_821" href="#FNanchor_821" class="label">[821]</a> Démeunier, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Esprit des Différents Peuples</i>, t. -<span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 244.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_822" href="#FNanchor_822" class="label">[822]</a> Bancroft, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 277.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_823" href="#FNanchor_823" class="label">[823]</a> Doménech, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Voyage Pittoresque</i>, etc., <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 516.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_824" href="#FNanchor_824" class="label">[824]</a> Bancroft, <i>Native Races</i>, etc., vol i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 277.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_825" href="#FNanchor_825" class="label">[825]</a> O. Dorsey, <i>Omaha Sociology</i>, in <i>Smithsonian -Reports</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 267 (1885).</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_826" href="#FNanchor_826" class="label">[826]</a> O. Dorsey, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_827" href="#FNanchor_827" class="label">[827]</a> Moerenhout, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr> aux îles</i>, etc., t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 187.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_828" href="#FNanchor_828" class="label">[828]</a> Clapperton, <i>Second Voyage</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 94.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_829" href="#FNanchor_829" class="label">[829]</a> R. and J. Lander, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxx. -<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 54.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_830" href="#FNanchor_830" class="label">[830]</a> Porter, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xiv. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 331.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_831" href="#FNanchor_831" class="label">[831]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Voyage au Bootan</i>, by a Hindoo author, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Revue -Britannique</i>, 1824.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_832" href="#FNanchor_832" class="label">[832]</a> Moorcroft and Trebeck’s <i>Travels</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 320.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_833" href="#FNanchor_833" class="label">[833]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lettres édifiantes</i>, t. xiii. <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 349, 353.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_834" href="#FNanchor_834" class="label">[834]</a> Doolittle, <i>Social Life of the Chinese</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 78.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_835" href="#FNanchor_835" class="label">[835]</a> Sinibaldo de Mas, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La Chine et les Puissances -Chrétiennes</i>, t. <span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 55.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_836" href="#FNanchor_836" class="label">[836]</a> Comte d’Hérisson, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Journal d’un interprète en -Chine</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 132.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_837" href="#FNanchor_837" class="label">[837]</a> <i>Code of Manu</i>, ix. 64.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_838" href="#FNanchor_838" class="label">[838]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> v. 167, 168.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_839" href="#FNanchor_839" class="label">[839]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> v. 156, 157, 161, 168.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_840" href="#FNanchor_840" class="label">[840]</a> Diodorus, book xix. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 34.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_841" href="#FNanchor_841" class="label">[841]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lettres édifiantes</i>, t. xiii. <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 23, 28.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_842" href="#FNanchor_842" class="label">[842]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 30.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_843" href="#FNanchor_843" class="label">[843]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 32.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_844" href="#FNanchor_844" class="label">[844]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lettres édifiantes</i>, t. xiii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 27.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_845" href="#FNanchor_845" class="label">[845]</a> Koran, iv. 26.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_846" href="#FNanchor_846" class="label">[846]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> iv. 14.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_847" href="#FNanchor_847" class="label">[847]</a> Leviticus, xxii. 13.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_848" href="#FNanchor_848" class="label">[848]</a> Deuteronomy, xxvi. 12.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_849" href="#FNanchor_849" class="label">[849]</a> Leviticus, xxii. 13.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_850" href="#FNanchor_850" class="label">[850]</a> M. Elphinstone, <i>Picture of the Kingdom of Cabul</i>, -<abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 168.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_851" href="#FNanchor_851" class="label">[851]</a> Hanoteau and Letourneux, <i>Kabylie</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 156.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_852" href="#FNanchor_852" class="label">[852]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 156.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_853" href="#FNanchor_853" class="label">[853]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 158.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_854" href="#FNanchor_854" class="label">[854]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 157.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_855" href="#FNanchor_855" class="label">[855]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> t. iii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 77.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_856" href="#FNanchor_856" class="label">[856]</a> Koran, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 234.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_857" href="#FNanchor_857" class="label">[857]</a> Hanoteau and Letourneux, <i>Kabylie</i>, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 174.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_858" href="#FNanchor_858" class="label">[858]</a> <i>Id.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 175.—E. Meynier, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Études sur -l’Islamisme</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 175.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_859" href="#FNanchor_859" class="label">[859]</a> Domenget, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Institutes de Gaius</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 336.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_860" href="#FNanchor_860" class="label">[860]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Italie ancienne</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 488.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_861" href="#FNanchor_861" class="label">[861]</a> Lecky, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 321, 324.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_862" href="#FNanchor_862" class="label">[862]</a> Giraud-Teulon, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Orig. du Mariage</i>, etc., <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 336.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_863" href="#FNanchor_863" class="label">[863]</a> Bancroft, <i>Native Races</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 671.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_864" href="#FNanchor_864" class="label">[864]</a> Castren, <i lang="de" xml:lang="de">Reiseberichte und Briefe aus den Jahren</i>, -1845-1853, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 56.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_865" href="#FNanchor_865" class="label">[865]</a> McLennan, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 158.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_866" href="#FNanchor_866" class="label">[866]</a> M. Elphinstone, <i>Picture of the Kingdom of Cabul</i>, -<abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 168.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_867" href="#FNanchor_867" class="label">[867]</a> <i>Code of Manu</i>, ix. 69.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_868" href="#FNanchor_868" class="label">[868]</a> <i>Code of Manu</i>, ix. 70.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_869" href="#FNanchor_869" class="label">[869]</a> Genesis, xxxviii. 8.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_870" href="#FNanchor_870" class="label">[870]</a> Deuteronomy, xxv. 5, 6.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_871" href="#FNanchor_871" class="label">[871]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> xxv. 7-10.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_872" href="#FNanchor_872" class="label">[872]</a> A. d’Abbadie, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Douze ans de séjour dans la haute -Éthiopie</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 273.</p> - -</div> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI.<br /><br /><span class="small">THE FAMILIAL CLAN IN AUSTRALIA AND AMERICA.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>I. <i>The Family.</i></p> - -<p>II. <i>The Family in Melanesia.</i>—Melanesian rape—First formation -of societies—Exogamy—The Australian clans—Native marriage -state—Marriage of clans among the Kamilaroi—Their social incest—How -a clan originates—Fictitious fraternity and the <i>totem</i>—How -individual marriage is made among the Kurnai—Maternal -filiation—Agnation tends to be constituted—Evolution of the family -in Melanesia.</p> - -<p>III. <i>The Family in America.</i>—The Redskin clans—Common -dwellings—Rights and duties—Exogamy of the clan—Clans of -the <i lang="es" xml:lang="es">Pueblos</i>—The family among the Indians of South -America—Relationship among the Redskins—Communism—Maternal -filiation—Distinction between the matriarchate and the maternal -family—Origin of the ideas of relationship.</p> -</div> - - -<h3 id="h3_63">I. <i>The Family.</i></h3> - -<p>I shall now attempt to retrace as clearly as I can the history of the -evolution of the family, first of all ascertaining the facts that -have been observed, and then using these facts as a touchstone to try -the solidity of the various sociological theories that have been put -forth on the subject. Among these theories, there are some which have -been very favourably received, and not without reason. Insufficient as -they might be, they reduced a chaos of facts into order, and contained -a certain amount of truth. All of them are open to criticism and -contest, both because they are the fruit of a too hasty generalisation, -and because their authors have claimed for them a certainty which -sociological facts do not easily bear out. Human groups have always -lived as they could, without caring about theories; their social<span class="pagenum" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</span> -conduct inevitably results from a sort of compromise in the conflict -between their appetites, their aptitudes, and the necessities dictated -by their physical environment.</p> - -<p>Before hazarding any general conclusions, I shall be careful, as -before, to refer to comparative ethnography, and to interrogate the -various human races, from the lowest to the most elevated. This inquiry -will enable us to form a rough idea, with a certain approximation to -truth, in regard to the probable evolution of the family in humanity. -But in order to approach this subject with sufficient impartiality, -it is absolutely necessary to clear our minds from all the current -theories in regard to the family. There is, in fact, no theme which -has inspired more empty oratorical lucubrations. The doctrine has been -firmly held that the family, as we have it instituted in Europe and in -European colonies, is the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">beau idéal</i>, the sacred and immutable -sociological type. Ethnography, however, and even history, teach us -that the present familial type of Europe has not always existed, and -that it is the result, like everything else, of a slow evolution; -from whence it is reasonable to infer that it will still continue to -be modified. But facts are more eloquent than reflections; I will -therefore approach them, beginning with the lowest human races, the -Melanesians.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_64">II. <i>The Family in Melanesia.</i></h3> - -<p>In my sketch of the family in the animal kingdom, I have already had -occasion to remark that the family, such as we understand it, is not -indispensable to the maintenance of societies, since the ants do -without it in their republics, in which we find neither paternity nor -maternity, in the sense we attach to them, but simply three classes of -individuals, the breeders, the young, and the educators.</p> - -<p>With these last, the working ants, by a paradoxical contradiction, -maternal love has survived the atrophy of the generative function; it -is even purified and widened, for it is lavished without partiality on -all the young ones, which form the hope of the republic; and though -thus diluted, it seems to have lost none of its energy.</p> - -<p>Nothing at all similar is seen in inferior human societies,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</span> but the -family is still, however, in a confused state; paternity, in the social -sense of the word, does not exist; filiation is especially maternal, -but the actual degrees of consanguinity are not well distinguished in -detail; parenthood is not yet individual, but is constituted in groups.</p> - -<p>In the present day we may still study this familial confusion in -certain Australian tribes. We have seen that marriage, or what goes by -that name, resulted in Tasmania, Australia, Bali, etc., from a violent -and brutal rape, generally ratified by a compensation and a simulation -of retaliation between the tribe of the woman and that of the ravisher.</p> - -<p>Among the least savage tribes of Melanesia, this rape is often -fictitious, in which case it is no more than a survival; but sometimes -it is still real, and it surely must always have been so at the origin -of the Australian societies. But however gross these societies may be, -they are none the less the result of a long evolution. In the interior -of Borneo there are still existing human beings compared with whom the -Australians are civilised people. These absolutely primitive savages of -Borneo are probably the remains of negroïd peoples, who must formerly -have been the first inhabitants of Malaya. They roam the forests in -little hordes, like monkeys; the man, or rather the male, carries off -the female and couples with her in the thickets. The family passes the -night under a large tree; the children are suspended from the branches -in a sort of net, and a great fire is lighted at the foot of the tree -to keep off the wild beasts. As soon as the children are capable of -taking care of themselves, the parents turn them adrift as animals -do.<a id="FNanchor_873" href="#Footnote_873" class="fnanchor">[873]</a></p> - -<p>It is doubtless thus, after the manner of the great monkeys, that -primitive human societies have been formed. With the chimpanzees these -hordes can never become very large, for the male progenitor will not -endure rivals, and drives away the young males as long as he is the -strongest. The first men were surely more sociable, because of their -human nature. The young males of the human horde were able to remain, -in greater or less number, within the association, but the jealousy -of the progenitor-in-chief, the father of the family, must often have -obliged them to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</span> procure one or several females by capturing them from -neighbouring or rival hordes; they thus became more or less exogamous; -and, in their embryo societies, marriage, or rather sexual union, ended -by being prohibited between brothers and sisters, not because there was -the least moral scruple about incest, but because, within the limit of -the horde, the young women were claimed by the most robust males, who -would not yield them up. We know that this is still the case in the -Australian tribes.<a id="FNanchor_874" href="#Footnote_874" class="fnanchor">[874]</a></p> - -<p>In this gross social state it is necessarily the mother who is the -centre of the family, just as she is in the families of mammifers; it -is, therefore, quite natural that the children should bear her name and -not that of their father, which, for that matter, is not always easy to -designate. When once the custom of exogamy was well established, what -was at first a necessity ended by becoming an obligation, and men were -forbidden to unite themselves with women of the group to which they -belonged, and which bore the same name as their own. Such is still the -general rule in Australia.<a id="FNanchor_875" href="#Footnote_875" class="fnanchor">[875]</a> But in Australia this group is often -only a sub-tribe, a <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">gens</i> or clan; for the hordes, becoming too -numerous, are subdivided into factions or large families, who unite -together for common defence or vengeance. The children of each group -belong sometimes to the clan of the mother, and there is then no legal -parenthood between them and their father;<a id="FNanchor_876" href="#Footnote_876" class="fnanchor">[876]</a> also, in case of war, -the son must join the maternal tribe.<a id="FNanchor_877" href="#Footnote_877" class="fnanchor">[877]</a> But this is not a universal -rule, and in many tribes the children now belong to the paternal -clan.<a id="FNanchor_878" href="#Footnote_878" class="fnanchor">[878]</a></p> - -<p>These are general cases, common to the greater part of the Australian -tribes, but not to all. There are some who have organised their -marriage and their family into classes, thus regulating, in a certain -measure, the primitive confusion, and establishing by this very -regulation a sort of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</span> limited promiscuity. The word “classes,” employed -by travellers who have made us acquainted with these curious customs, -is improper, for neither social classes nor castes exist in Australia. -These so-called classes are simply sub-tribes or clans, analogous to -the Roman <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">gens</i>.</p> - -<p>In certain of these tribes a sort of categorical promiscuity is kept -up. Thus, among the tribes of Mount Gambier, of the Darling River, and -of Queensland, each tribe is divided into two sub-tribes, and within -each of these clans all the men are reputed brothers, and all the -women are sisters, and all marriage between these brothers and these -sisters is strictly forbidden.<a id="FNanchor_879" href="#Footnote_879" class="fnanchor">[879]</a> This is a primordial law; the -violation of it is an act of the deepest guilt, which not only stains -the individual, but the group to which he belongs; it is more than -incest, and the Australians, who have a very lively sentiment of duty, -feel intense horror of such an act. But if every man is brother to -all the women in his clan, on the other hand he is husband to all the -women of the other clan of his tribe. Consequently, all the men of one -group are called husbands by all the women of the other, and inversely. -Marriage with these Australians is not therefore an individual act, -as with us; it is a social condition, resulting from the fact of -birth.<a id="FNanchor_880" href="#Footnote_880" class="fnanchor">[880]</a> However, the actual communal union is not obligatory in -the least. A man or woman may stop at the nominal or reputed marriage; -they may merely call each other husband and wife; but in principle, -the right is admitted, and the men sometimes offer temporary wives of -their own class to strangers who visit them.<a id="FNanchor_881" href="#Footnote_881" class="fnanchor">[881]</a> Thus in the tribe of -the Kamilaroi, near Sydney, every man of the Kubi clan has the right -to call “my wife” every person of feminine sex belonging to the Ipai -clan, and to treat her as such. There is no need of proposals, or of -contract, or of ceremony; a man is a husband by right of birth, but the -intimate union does not imply association by couples; the woman passes -from one to the other, or even from several to several others. On the -other hand, within the limit of the clan, all the men and all the women -call each other brothers and sisters, and are bound to respect each -other. In uniting<span class="pagenum" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</span> with the men of the other sub-tribe having conjugal -right over them, the women do not on that account cease to reside in -their own clan, the sub-tribe of their “brothers.”</p> - -<p>Marriage within this sub-tribe is the abomination of desolation, the -sin for which there is no forgiveness. Whoever commits it is outlawed -from society, driven from the tribe, tracked through the woods like -game, and put to death. He has dishonoured the association, and the -children who are born of these social incests are exterminated.<a id="FNanchor_882" href="#Footnote_882" class="fnanchor">[882]</a> -Thus, all real consanguinity has been set aside, and a fictitious -fraternity created between all the members of the same clan, similar -to paternity by adoption. Is this artificial parenthood the result of -practical exogamy, or has it, on the contrary, produced it? We cannot -tell; but wherever it exists, its rule is absolutely inflexible. If, -for example, as often happens in Australia, the important men, the -chiefs, the sorcerers, or the strong adults, seize a certain number of -women for their personal use, they only do it in conformity to the law -of exogamy between the sub-tribes. If one of the women thus confiscated -runs away and is re-taken, she is not restored to the man who had -usurped possession of her, but belongs by right to those who have -caught her.</p> - -<p>Moreover, certain neighbouring tribes are subdivided into sub-tribes, -or clans of the same name; they have probably sprung one from the other -at some former period. If it happens that a man steals a woman from -one of these tribes, the captured woman is immediately incorporated -into the corresponding clan of the ravisher’s tribe, and she becomes -the “sister” of all the women of this clan, to which will also belong -her children. As for the ravisher, he is always a member of another -<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">gens</i>, or clan, of the same tribe. If the tribes of the captured -woman and of her captor are not symmetrical—that is to say, have not -corresponding clans—then the woman may become the founder of a new -clan belonging to the tribe of the man who has carried her off.<a id="FNanchor_883" href="#Footnote_883" class="fnanchor">[883]</a></p> - -<p>If a woman is captured by a party of warriors, and not<span class="pagenum" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</span> by one -individual only, the first care of the captors is to inflict on her -a collective violation, on the condition, however, that none of them -belong to a clan homonymous with that of the ravished woman; if any -one of their party is an exception to this, he must abstain from so -doing.<a id="FNanchor_884" href="#Footnote_884" class="fnanchor">[884]</a></p> - -<p>The sign of the fictitious fraternity of the Kamilaroi, and of all the -Australian tribes organised in the same manner, is a common emblem, the -<i>totem</i>. All the men bearing the same <i>totem</i> are united by -the bond of a conventional fraternity, which is none the less strict -for that reason. The <i>totem</i> has evidently been invented in a -primitive epoch, when the different degrees of consanguinity were not -easily distinguished, and were therefore replaced by an artificial -union far wider than the limits of the natural family.</p> - -<p>Whenever a single individual wished to escape from this tribal -marriage, he was obliged to resort to various artifices. One of these -transitional processes has remained in use in the Kurnai tribe, in -Gippsland, Victoria.</p> - -<p>The terms still in use with them to designate kinship recall the -former existence of a fraternal marriage; but in practice they have -none the less adopted individual marriage. The manner in which these -individual marriages are contracted probably indicates what must have -happened in primitive times, when some innovators attempted to escape -from tribal marriage by carrying off the women they preferred, and -were only re-admitted to their tribe after having obtained pardon and -the ratification of their audacious enterprise. Among the Kurnai every -marriage must be made by the capture of one of the women of their -tribe, even when this rape has been preceded by a friendly exchange -of sisters, which is usual enough. This simulated rape is punished by -a simulation of vengeance. The fugitives are pursued; they are even -ill-treated, but short of being actually killed. Their punishment is -simply an act of obedience to ancestral customs. When all is concluded, -and the fugitive couple reinstated among their people, the woman -belongs to the man who has carried her off; he is no longer obliged to -offer her to the visitors of his clan, as old Australian hospitality<span class="pagenum" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</span> -required;<a id="FNanchor_885" href="#Footnote_885" class="fnanchor">[885]</a> she belongs to him alone. Sometimes the ravisher -legalises his right of sole proprietor by first giving notice to his -friends, and offering them the use of his wife, after which he can keep -her to himself.<a id="FNanchor_886" href="#Footnote_886" class="fnanchor">[886]</a></p> - -<p>In proportion as tribal marriage was being transformed, owing to the -breaches made in it by individual instinct, the consanguineous family -was gradually arising in place of the collective and fictitious family. -It seems most likely that uterine filiation, or the maternal family, -was first established. The Australian Motas still have filiation by the -woman’s side, and among them the property of the uncle is transmitted -to the uterine nephew; but already the paternal family is beginning to -be constituted, and the relatives on the male side seek to redeem the -heritage by means of an indemnity.<a id="FNanchor_887" href="#Footnote_887" class="fnanchor">[887]</a> With other and more advanced -Australian tribes, fanatical evolution is more complete; masculine -filiation is already instituted, and agnation adopted; there is even -a worship of the manes of male ancestors.<a id="FNanchor_888" href="#Footnote_888" class="fnanchor">[888]</a> The Melanesians of -Australia and Tasmania present, therefore, a tolerably complete picture -of the evolution of marriage and of the family, from the primitive -rape, followed by a tribal period in which marriage is merely a limited -and regulated promiscuity, and in which real consanguinity is replaced -by a fictitious fraternity, down to the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> of individual -marriage and masculine filiation, previously passing through uterine -filiation, or the maternal family. We shall find traces of this -evolution among other races, but nowhere is the lower stage so well -preserved as in Australia.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_65">III. <i>The Family in America.</i></h3> - -<p>Nothing similar to the gross tribal marriage of the Australian -Kamilaroi is to be found among the American Indians, whose familial -organisation, however, strikingly recalls that of the Melanesian clans, -though already in a higher degree of evolution.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</span></p> - -<p>The tribes of the Redskins were, and are still, divided into phratries, -which are again subdivided into clans. Now these clans are composed of -real or fictitious relatives. In each phratry the corresponding clans -have the same <i>totem</i>, and it is strictly forbidden to marry -a woman belonging to the group bearing the same <i>totem</i>. This -organisation is very ancient; it existed in Mexico at the time of the -Spanish conquest, and the French found it in the eighteenth century -among the Redskins of Canada. The Hurons, Charlevoix tells us, were -divided into three clans: the wolf, the tortoise, and the bear.<a id="FNanchor_889" href="#Footnote_889" class="fnanchor">[889]</a> -The <i>totem</i>, or emblem of the clan, served to sign treaties.<a id="FNanchor_890" href="#Footnote_890" class="fnanchor">[890]</a> -This is a general fact, and the subdivision of the tribe into clans -or <i lang="es" xml:lang="es">gentes</i> is observed among the Tinneh Indians, the Choctaws, -the Iroquois, the Omahas, the Indians of Columbia, etc., etc. Each -clan forms one large family, inhabiting sometimes a common house, as -do still the Indians of the Pueblos, as did the Iroquois at the time -they were first discovered, and as did the Mexicans at the epoch of the -Spanish conquest. The “long houses” of the Iroquois were buildings a -hundred feet in length. A large corridor, closed at the two extremities -by a door, traversed its entire length. To the right and left of this -central corridor, and opening on it, were stalls, or niches, each -serving as the apartment of a family. The number of these families -varied from five to twenty.<a id="FNanchor_891" href="#Footnote_891" class="fnanchor">[891]</a></p> - -<p>The members of a Redskin clan had common rights and duties. When a -man died, any personal objects he might possess were deposited in his -tomb, for they might be useful to him in the future life. The remaining -property of the deceased belonged principally to the clan, or the -<i>gentiles</i>; his near relatives, however, were considered first. -Thus, among the Iroquois, the widow, the children, and the maternal -uncles claimed the largest part, while a very small portion of the -heritage came to the brothers. The general principle was that the -property should remain in the clan. In the present day the old customs -are modified, and with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</span> the Iroquois, the Creeks, the Cherokees, the -Choctaws, the Crows, etc., there is no longer any gentile heritage; all -passes to the children.<a id="FNanchor_892" href="#Footnote_892" class="fnanchor">[892]</a></p> - -<p>The political organisation was, or still is, republican. The members -of a Redskin clan have the right to elect and to depose the chief of -the community, and the liberty to adopt strangers. They are united -by a strict solidarity, and have a mutual duty to help and to avenge -each other. And lastly they have their council and their sepulture in -common.<a id="FNanchor_893" href="#Footnote_893" class="fnanchor">[893]</a></p> - -<p>But the most rigorous obligation for the members of the same clan is -that of not marrying in it. To take a wife having the same <i>totem</i> -is considered as a most culpable act; it is a crime sometimes punished -by death.<a id="FNanchor_894" href="#Footnote_894" class="fnanchor">[894]</a> The Iroquois law regulating marriages recalls, in -a certain degree, that which takes place among the Kamilaroi of -Australia. Thus an Iroquois of the Seneca tribe and of the Wolf clan -must not marry a woman belonging, not only to his own clan, but to all -the clans of the same name in the five other tribes of the Iroquois. -On the other hand, he is perfectly free to marry in any of the seven -other clans of his own Seneca tribe.<a id="FNanchor_895" href="#Footnote_895" class="fnanchor">[895]</a> In short, an Iroquois may be -endogamous in the tribe, but he must be exogamous from the point of -view of the clan or clans.</p> - -<p>The motive of the prohibition of marriage within the clan is always the -supposed relationship. Thus the law of the Tinneh Indians forbids a man -of the Chitsang clan to marry a woman of the same clan because that -woman is his sister.<a id="FNanchor_896" href="#Footnote_896" class="fnanchor">[896]</a></p> - -<p>The children always belong to the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">gens</i>, or clan, of their mother.</p> - -<p>These rules vary more or less from tribe to tribe, except the -prohibition of marriage within the clan, which is strict and general. -Thus, among the Omahas, a man may take a wife in another tribe, even -if this woman belongs to a clan of the same name as his own; but he -cannot marry within his own clan, because all the women of this clan -are<span class="pagenum" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</span> reputed to be his relations—sisters, aunts, nieces, daughters, -etc. We shall see presently to what women these various appellations, -which among the Redskins have a much wider sense than with us, are -applied.<a id="FNanchor_897" href="#Footnote_897" class="fnanchor">[897]</a></p> - -<p>These customs, or very analogous ones, were in force with a great -number of American tribes. At the present day the Indians of the Moqui -Pueblos still live in their common habitations, as at the time of the -conquest, and they are divided into nine clans.<a id="FNanchor_898" href="#Footnote_898" class="fnanchor">[898]</a></p> - -<p>In the Pueblo of Orayba the relatives of a married woman who dies take -her property and her children, only leaving to the husband his horse, -his clothes, and his weapons;<a id="FNanchor_899" href="#Footnote_899" class="fnanchor">[899]</a> for by marrying the woman does not -cease to belong to her original clan. Among the Pipiles of Salvador -a genealogical tree with seven branches was painted on the wall of -the common house, and save in the case of a great service rendered to -the clan, a man could not intermarry with any persons related up to -the degree indicated by the genealogical tree.<a id="FNanchor_900" href="#Footnote_900" class="fnanchor">[900]</a> In reality, this -people had got beyond familial confusion, or of purely <em>totemic</em> -relationship, but the principle regulating conjugal unions had not yet -changed. In Yucatan marriage between persons of the same name—that is -to say, of the same clan—entailed the penalty of being considered as -a renegade.<a id="FNanchor_901" href="#Footnote_901" class="fnanchor">[901]</a> The savage Abipones were also exogamous, according -to Dobritzhoffer. This rule naturally gives way in proportion as -civilisation develops. The Nahuas still prohibited marriage between -consanguineous relatives; but at Nicaragua the prohibition only applied -to relatives of the first degree.<a id="FNanchor_902" href="#Footnote_902" class="fnanchor">[902]</a></p> - -<p>We have previously seen, in describing the family amongst the animals, -that it is habitually maternal; it is around the female that the young -group themselves. As for the male, if he does not abandon the family, -he exercises no other function but that of chief of the band. It must -surely have been thus that the first human hordes were formed, and when -man became intelligent enough to take note of filiation, it was uterine -parenthood alone that he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</span> considered worthy of account. The primitive -family was maternal, for in the confusion of sexual unions paternal -filiation would have been difficult to determine; no importance was -therefore attached to it in early times, and the father was not looked -upon as the parent of his children.</p> - -<p>We shall find the maternal family, or at least traces of it, in many -countries, but it is especially among the Indians of North America -that it has been the best preserved and the best studied. In the -eighteenth century it was already remarked by Charlevoix, Lafitau, and -Lahontan,<a id="FNanchor_903" href="#Footnote_903" class="fnanchor">[903]</a> that the Redskins always bear the name of their mother, -and that it is through a man’s sister that his name is transmitted -to descendants. The American clan is based on uterine filiation; it -comprehends all the descendants, in the female line of an ancestral -mother, real or hypothetical. It is therefore exactly the contrary of -the agnatic <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">gens</i> of the Greco-Roman world.</p> - -<p>The Redskin clan is composed of all the families reputed to be related -to each other; it is a little republic having the right to the service -of all the women for the cultivation of the soil, and of all the men -for the chase, war, and <em>vendettas</em>. It is to the woman that -the wigwam or family dwelling belongs, as well as all the objects -possessed by the family, and the whole is transmitted by heritage, -not to the son, but to the eldest daughter or to the nearest maternal -relative,<a id="FNanchor_904" href="#Footnote_904" class="fnanchor">[904]</a> sometimes to the brother of the deceased woman. -Nevertheless, this heritage must be understood in the sense of a simple -usufruct. It was the maternal clan in reality who was the proprietor, -and none of the members of the community could seriously alienate the -social property. The husband alone, in most of the tribes, had no right -over the goods or over the children; they all remained in the maternal -clan;<a id="FNanchor_905" href="#Footnote_905" class="fnanchor">[905]</a> it was maternal filiation which regulated the name, the -rank, and the hereditary rights in the clan.<a id="FNanchor_906" href="#Footnote_906" class="fnanchor">[906]</a> A sort of communism -reigned there. All the provisions, whether they were the produce of the -soil, of the chase, or of fishing, were placed in public storehouses, -under the control of an aged matron; and if it ever happened that a -family had<span class="pagenum" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</span> exhausted its provisions, another family immediately came -to its aid.<a id="FNanchor_907" href="#Footnote_907" class="fnanchor">[907]</a></p> - -<p>But maternal filiation was, or is, in force even where the clans did -not live in common houses, as we find it still among the Mohicans, the -Delawares, the Narrangasetts, the Pequots, the Wyandots, the Missouris, -the Minnitaris, the Crows, the Creeks, the Chickasaws, the Cherokees, -etc.</p> - -<p>With the Iroquois and the Hurons, the father, says Charlevoix, was -almost a stranger to his children. “Among the Hurons,” continues the -same observer, “dignity and succession are inherited through the women. -It is the son of the sister who succeeds, and in default of him the -next relative in the female line.”<a id="FNanchor_908" href="#Footnote_908" class="fnanchor">[908]</a></p> - -<p>“With these peoples,” says Lafitau, “marriages are arranged in such -a way that the husband and wife do not leave their own family to -establish a family and a cabin independently. Each one remains at home, -and the children born of these marriages belong to the families that -have produced them, and are counted as members of the family and cabin -of the mother, and not at all as belonging to those of the father. The -possessions of the husband do not go to his wife’s cabin, to which -he is himself a stranger; and in his wife’s cabin the daughters are -heirs in preference to the males, who have nothing there but mere -subsistence.”<a id="FNanchor_909" href="#Footnote_909" class="fnanchor">[909]</a></p> - -<p>“Besides this,” continues Lafitau, “the wife’s cabin has rights over -the product of the husband’s, hunting; all of this must be contributed -during the first year, and a half only afterwards.”<a id="FNanchor_910" href="#Footnote_910" class="fnanchor">[910]</a></p> - -<p>The mothers negotiated the marriages, and naturally did so without -consulting the interested parties. When the affair was once settled, -presents had to be made to the gentile relatives of the bride. It -was the care of these relatives, in case of conjugal dissensions -between the married pair, to attempt a reconciliation and to prevent a -divorce.<a id="FNanchor_911" href="#Footnote_911" class="fnanchor">[911]</a> At the present time, among the Santi-Dakotas,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</span> if a wife -is ill-treated by her husband, the mother-in-law has the right to take -back her daughter; the husband’s power must yield to hers.<a id="FNanchor_912" href="#Footnote_912" class="fnanchor">[912]</a> Does -the institution of filiation by women, or the maternal family, entail, -as some have pretended, the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> of the matriarchate? North -America being <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">par excellence</i> the country of exogamy and of the -maternal family, the theorists of the primitive matriarchate have often -drawn arguments from thence which it is interesting to weigh.</p> - -<p>At the epoch during which the Seneca-Iroquois still lived in their -“long houses,” it seems that the influence of the women in the -community was very great. The missionary, Arthur Wright, wrote in -1873:—“It was the custom for the women to govern the house. The -provisions were in common; but woe to the unfortunate husband or -lover too idle or clumsy to bring home from the chase a sufficient -booty. Whatever the number of his children or the value of the goods -he possessed in the house, he might be ordered at any moment to take -up his blanket and pack off.” After that, unless he obtained the -intercession of some aunt or grandmother, he was forced to obey, return -to his own clan, or contract an alliance elsewhere. “The women were the -chief power in the clans, and they did not hesitate, when necessary, to -depose a chief, and make him re-enter the ranks of simple warriors. The -election of the chiefs always depended on them.”<a id="FNanchor_913" href="#Footnote_913" class="fnanchor">[913]</a></p> - -<p>Among the Wyandots there is in every clan a council composed of four -women elected by the female chiefs of the family. These four women -choose a chief of the clan from among the men; then the <i>totem</i> -of the clan is painted on the face of this chief. The council of the -tribe is formed by an assemblage of the clan councils; four-fifths of -it, therefore, consist of women. The sachem, or chief of the tribe, is -chosen by the chiefs of the clans.<a id="FNanchor_914" href="#Footnote_914" class="fnanchor">[914]</a></p> - -<p>Charlevoix relates that in 1721 the Natchez Indians were governed by -a very despotic chief, the Sun, who was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</span> succeeded by the son of his -nearest of kin. This was the female chief, and she had, like the Sun, -the power of life and death over the people. At the death of the female -chief in 1721, her husband, not belonging to the family of the Sun, was -strangled by her son, according to custom, and that without prejudice -to other human sacrifices.<a id="FNanchor_915" href="#Footnote_915" class="fnanchor">[915]</a> The ancient Spanish chroniclers also -speak of the submission of the husbands to their wives in Nicaragua; -they seem to have been treated as servants (Herrera, Audogoya).</p> - -<p>Lastly, among the Redskins the matrons had the right to baptise the -children—that is to say, to make them enter either the maternal or the -paternal clan.<a id="FNanchor_916" href="#Footnote_916" class="fnanchor">[916]</a></p> - -<p>These facts are curious. They prove, indeed, that with the Redskins the -women enjoyed a notable influence, especially in ancient times. With -the Seneca-Iroquois they could expel the incapable hunter; but this -was evidently by their title of housekeepers of the clan. Among the -Wyandots, they figured numerously in the council; but nevertheless, -the supreme chief was a man. As for the woman-chief of the Natchez -Indians, we find an equivalent of it in certain little despotic -monarchies of black Africa. Among the Ashantees, and in Darfour, etc., -the princesses dominate their husbands or their lovers by the prestige -of royalty. Nothing is more natural than that a plebeian husband should -be strangled on the tomb of his wife with other human victims, when we -consider the prevailing ideas of future life and the absolute servility -of the subject in primitive monarchical states. In fact, the power -of women among the Redskins was more apparent than real. Charlevoix -himself declares that their domination is fictitious,<a id="FNanchor_917" href="#Footnote_917" class="fnanchor">[917]</a> “that they -are, in domestic life, the slaves of their husband,” that the men hold -them in profound contempt, and that, amongst themselves, the epithet of -“woman” is a cutting insult.</p> - -<p>Important affairs were kept secret from them;<a id="FNanchor_918" href="#Footnote_918" class="fnanchor">[918]</a> polygamy was -habitually permitted to the men, but polyandry was nearly always -prohibited to the women. In fact, among the Redskins the woman is the -slave of her husband, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</span> the latter thinks so slightly of her, that -frequently the men live conjugally for years without communicating with -their wives otherwise than by signs, as owing to exogamous marriage -they speak different languages.<a id="FNanchor_919" href="#Footnote_919" class="fnanchor">[919]</a> The authority that the husbands -concede to their wives in certain tribes is entirely domestic; it is a -household royalty.</p> - -<p>Thus, with the Selisches, the cabins containing the provisions are -confided to the women, and the husband himself can take nothing without -their permission.<a id="FNanchor_920" href="#Footnote_920" class="fnanchor">[920]</a> The husband or the son commands in the woods and -on the prairie; but in the interior of the wigwam it is the most aged -woman or the mother who governs and assigns to each one his place.<a id="FNanchor_921" href="#Footnote_921" class="fnanchor">[921]</a></p> - -<p>These customs and the marriages by servitude have led several observers -to attribute to the women a considerable authority which they do not -really possess. In fact, they are nearly always purchased, and are very -submissive. The maternal family and the matriarchate are very different -things. The first is common; the second is very rare, if indeed it has -ever existed. The Australians, who have the maternal family, none the -less treat their wives as we should not dare to treat our domestic -animals. And again, in order that filiation by the female side should -give women a notable social influence, it is necessary that society -should be very civilised, that there should be exchangeable values, -and that women should become rich by inheritance. Then they are in a -position to exercise the power that fortune gives in every country. But -among the Redskins private property as yet hardly existed; the clans -preserved the prior claim; personal property had not a great value; -there were no domestic animals; it was difficult for any individual, -man or woman, to become rich. Lastly, the chief occupations, those -which were reputed noble, those also on which the existence of the -tribes depended, were the chase and war; now the women took no part -in these. They have not therefore been able to exercise a dominant -influence, even in the tribes where they were treated with relative -mildness. Among the Redskins in general, all the painful<span class="pagenum" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</span> labours fall -to the women, except the fabrication of arms. It is she who takes care -of the home, who cooks, prepares the skins and the furs, gathers the -wild rice, digs, sows and reaps the maize and the vegetables, dries the -meat and the roots for the winter-provision, makes the clothes and the -necklaces, etc. She even works at the construction of bark canoes, but -in this, man comes to her aid. With that exception, he confines himself -to hunting and fighting, smoking, eating, drinking, and sleeping. -In his eyes work is a disgrace.<a id="FNanchor_922" href="#Footnote_922" class="fnanchor">[922]</a> Such are the customs of living -Redskins. Were they different last century? Not at all, if we may -believe the authorities even who are invoked by the modern theorists -of the American matriarchate. Charlevoix tells us that the Huron -husbands prostituted their daughters and their wives for money,<a id="FNanchor_923" href="#Footnote_923" class="fnanchor">[923]</a> -that the Sioux cut off the noses of their unfaithful wives and scalped -them,<a id="FNanchor_924" href="#Footnote_924" class="fnanchor">[924]</a> and that all the hard work was left to the women, the men -glorying in their idleness.<a id="FNanchor_925" href="#Footnote_925" class="fnanchor">[925]</a> Lafitau enumerates, with still greater -detail, the many and painful occupations of the women,<a id="FNanchor_926" href="#Footnote_926" class="fnanchor">[926]</a> and he -narrates the story of a husband who burnt his adulterous wife at a -slow fire.<a id="FNanchor_927" href="#Footnote_927" class="fnanchor">[927]</a> It is not then amongst the Redskins that we can find -the matriarchate. Their familial system is none the less very curious, -especially if we compare it with that of the Australians.</p> - -<p>The familial clan of the Australians and of the Redskins enables us -to retrace the origin of the ideas of kinship. Nothing similar seems -to exist among the animals. In the best endowed species, the parents, -especially the females, have an instinctive love of their young, but -only as long as they are young. After that period they no longer -recognise them, and often even drive them away.</p> - -<p>Man, who has certainly begun his existence in the same way as the -animals, has early attained, not to ideas of precise filiation, but to -a vague idea of consanguinity<span class="pagenum" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</span> between all the members of his horde. -In these little primitive groups, no distinction has at first been -made between real and fictitious kinship. All the men of the same clan -have been brothers, all the women have been sisters, and by the help -of an inveterate habit of exogamy, a gross morality has been formed, -which condemned social incest. But as the life of the clan was, before -all things, communal, while marriages within the clan were prohibited, -it was decided that the clans of the same name—that is, those who -had sprung one from the other—should be united by a sort of social -marriage, all the women of the one being common to all the men of -the other. Then, in the course of time, the instinct of individual -appropriation having undermined the primitive community, the women -were distributed amongst the men; they formed families which were -often singular ones, and of which I shall have to speak again. There -was no longer promiscuity from clan to clan, but the wife was to be -taken from an allied clan. The first filiation which was established -was surely maternal filiation: primitive conjugal confusion would not -permit of any other. But at length, when the family became more or -less instituted, the relations could be classified, and the degrees of -consanguinity distinguished.</p> - -<p>It was not without difficulty that man succeeded so far. A long period -of time was required to disentangle the skein of family relationships; -and fictitious kinship continued to be confounded with real kinship -for many ages. Change came only by a slow evolution, which we will now -proceed to study.</p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_873" href="#FNanchor_873" class="label">[873]</a> Lubbock, <i>Orig. Civil.</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 9.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_874" href="#FNanchor_874" class="label">[874]</a> Lang, <i>Aborigines of Australia</i>.—Eyre, -<i>Discoveries in Central Australia</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 385.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_875" href="#FNanchor_875" class="label">[875]</a> <i>Grey’s Journal</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> ii.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_876" href="#FNanchor_876" class="label">[876]</a> Tylor, <i>Researches in Early History of Mankind</i>, -<abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> ix.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_877" href="#FNanchor_877" class="label">[877]</a> Giraud-Teulon, père, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Origine de la Famille</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -44.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_878" href="#FNanchor_878" class="label">[878]</a> <i>Folklore, etc., of the Australian Aborigines</i> -(Adelaide, 1879), <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 28, 50, 57, 58, 65, 67, 87, 89, 92, 93.—Fison -and Howitt, <i>Kamilaroi and Kurnai</i>, 215.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_879" href="#FNanchor_879" class="label">[879]</a> Fison and Howitt, <i>Kamilaroi and Kurnai</i>, 50.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_880" href="#FNanchor_880" class="label">[880]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_881" href="#FNanchor_881" class="label">[881]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_882" href="#FNanchor_882" class="label">[882]</a> Fison and Howitt, <i>Kamilaroi and Kurnai</i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 65, -66.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_883" href="#FNanchor_883" class="label">[883]</a> Fison and Howitt, quoted by Giraud-Teulon, fils, in -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Origines du Mariage et de la Famille</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 120.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_884" href="#FNanchor_884" class="label">[884]</a> Fison and Howitt, quoted by Giraud-Teulon, fils, in -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Origines du Mariage et de la Famille</i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 86-88.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_885" href="#FNanchor_885" class="label">[885]</a> Fison and Howitt, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 200.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_886" href="#FNanchor_886" class="label">[886]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_887" href="#FNanchor_887" class="label">[887]</a> Giraud-Teulon, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 447.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_888" href="#FNanchor_888" class="label">[888]</a> Giraud-Teulon, fils, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 446.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_889" href="#FNanchor_889" class="label">[889]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> et <abbr title="description">descrip.</abbr> générale de la Nouvelle-France</i>, -etc.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_890" href="#FNanchor_890" class="label">[890]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> t. v. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 393.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_891" href="#FNanchor_891" class="label">[891]</a> L. Morgan, <i>Ancient Societies</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 70.—Lahontan, -<i><abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, etc., t. ii. <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 104, 183.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_892" href="#FNanchor_892" class="label">[892]</a> L. Morgan, <i>Ancient Societies</i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 528-531.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_893" href="#FNanchor_893" class="label">[893]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 70, 71.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_894" href="#FNanchor_894" class="label">[894]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 97.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_895" href="#FNanchor_895" class="label">[895]</a> L. Morgan, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 513.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_896" href="#FNanchor_896" class="label">[896]</a> <i>Notes on the Tinneh</i>, Hardisty, in <i>Smithsonian -Reports</i>, 1866.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_897" href="#FNanchor_897" class="label">[897]</a> <i>Omaha Sociology</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 255, in <i>Smithsonian -Reports</i>, 1885.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_898" href="#FNanchor_898" class="label">[898]</a> L. Morgan, <i>Ancient Societies</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 178.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_899" href="#FNanchor_899" class="label">[899]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 535.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_900" href="#FNanchor_900" class="label">[900]</a> Bancroft, <i>Native Races</i>, etc., <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 665.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_901" href="#FNanchor_901" class="label">[901]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 665.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_902" href="#FNanchor_902" class="label">[902]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 251, 666.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_903" href="#FNanchor_903" class="label">[903]</a> <i>Voyages</i>, etc., t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 154.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_904" href="#FNanchor_904" class="label">[904]</a> A. Giraud-Teulon, fils, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Orig. du Mariage</i>, etc., -<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 191.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_905" href="#FNanchor_905" class="label">[905]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 186.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_906" href="#FNanchor_906" class="label">[906]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 177.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_907" href="#FNanchor_907" class="label">[907]</a> A. Giraud-Teulon, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Orig. du Mariage</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 185.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_908" href="#FNanchor_908" class="label">[908]</a> Charlevoix, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> de la Nouvelle France</i>, t. v. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -395.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_909" href="#FNanchor_909" class="label">[909]</a> Lafitau, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mœurs des Sauvages Américains</i>, t. -<span class="allsmcap">I</span><sup>er.</sup> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 69, etc.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_910" href="#FNanchor_910" class="label">[910]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> t. ii. <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 252, 268.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_911" href="#FNanchor_911" class="label">[911]</a> L. Morgan, <i>Ancient Societies</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 454.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_912" href="#FNanchor_912" class="label">[912]</a> J. Owen Dorsey, <i>Omaha Sociology</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 261, in -<i>Smithsonian Reports</i>, 1885.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_913" href="#FNanchor_913" class="label">[913]</a> L. Morgan, <i>Ancient Societies</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 455.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_914" href="#FNanchor_914" class="label">[914]</a> J. W. Powell, <i>Wyandot Government</i>, in -<i>Smithsonian Reports</i>, 1881.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_915" href="#FNanchor_915" class="label">[915]</a> Charlevoix, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, t. vi. <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 177-179.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_916" href="#FNanchor_916" class="label">[916]</a> L. Morgan,<i> Ancient Societies</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 169.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_917" href="#FNanchor_917" class="label">[917]</a> Charlevoix, t. v. <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 397-421.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_918" href="#FNanchor_918" class="label">[918]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i>, t. vi. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 172.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_919" href="#FNanchor_919" class="label">[919]</a> Lubbock, <i>Orig. Civil.</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 152.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_920" href="#FNanchor_920" class="label">[920]</a> Doménech, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr> pitt. dans les déserts du Nouveau -Monde</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 508.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_921" href="#FNanchor_921" class="label">[921]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 543.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_922" href="#FNanchor_922" class="label">[922]</a> Doménech, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 338, 425, 467.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_923" href="#FNanchor_923" class="label">[923]</a> Charlevoix, <i>Journal</i>, etc., t. vi. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 39.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_924" href="#FNanchor_924" class="label">[924]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i>, t. v. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 271.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_925" href="#FNanchor_925" class="label">[925]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i>, t. vi. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 44.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_926" href="#FNanchor_926" class="label">[926]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mœurs des Sauvages</i>, ii. 266; iii. 56, 69, 70, 72, -76, 92, 97, 98, 120.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_927" href="#FNanchor_927" class="label">[927]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, t. ii. <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 274, 275.</p> - -</div> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII.<br /><br /><span class="small">THE FAMILIAL CLAN AND ITS EVOLUTION.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>I. <i>The Clan among the Redskins.</i>—Primitive form of the -Tribe—The Clan.</p> - -<p>II. <i>The Family among the Redskins.</i>—Classes of relations -among the Omahas—The family among the Iroquois-Senecas, the -Omahas, etc.—Primitive familial stage of the Redskins—Adoption -and its miracles—Rise and evolution of masculine filiation in -America—Exogamy and endogamy.</p> - -<p>III. <i>The Family in Polynesia.</i>—Maternal filiation—Rarity of -exogamy—Hawaian marriage—The terms of kinship—The father humbling -himself to the male child—Adoption in Polynesia.</p> - -<p>IV. <i>The Family among the Mongols</i>.—Familial exogamy among the -Mongols—Kinship by classes—Evolution of kinship by classes.</p> - -<p>V. <i>The Clan and the Family.</i>—The European family has not been -the “cellule” of societies—The primitive clan.</p> -</div> - - -<h3 id="h3_66">I. <i>The Clan among the Redskins.</i></h3> - -<p>In the preceding chapter we have seen the nature of Redskin exogamy, on -which it has sometimes been attempted to construct theories of conjugal -evolution applicable to the entire human race. As a matter of fact, the -North American Indians marry within their tribe; they are therefore -endogamous as regards the tribe, but they do not take their wives from -their own clan, and consequently they are exogamous as regards this -clan. But the clan being composed of real or supposed blood-relations, -the exogamy of the Redskins is actually nothing more than our own -prohibition, very much extended, of marriages within certain degrees of -kinship.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</span></p> - -<p>There is really nothing here which resembles marriage by capture, so -often classed with exogamy; but the latter may very easily co-exist -with the former, and may even be the general rule in more savage -tribes. It prevailed, we are told, among the Caribs<a id="FNanchor_928" href="#Footnote_928" class="fnanchor">[928]</a> to such a -degree that the wives did not speak the same language as their husbands.</p> - -<p>How was the American tribe originally formed? Either consanguineous -hordes have ranged themselves side by side, or, which is more probable, -a horde, becoming too numerous, has swarmed. Analogous groups, -proceeding from it, have formed large families, remaining all the -while attached to the original stock, but constituting, nevertheless, -distinct communities, confederated with each other and with the -primitive clan, which at length became indistinguishable from the -others. The whole of these clans taken together represent a tribe. If -the clans are too numerous, they group themselves in twos, or threes, -etc., within the bosom of the tribe, and thus form what in primitive -Greece were called <i>phratries</i>, the bond between them being a -lesser degree of kinship. At first, marriage was prohibited within -the phratry, and afterwards exogamy was restricted to the clans. The -clans composing the phratry had festivals in common, and considered -themselves bound to aid each other in revenging wrongs.<a id="FNanchor_929" href="#Footnote_929" class="fnanchor">[929]</a> The clan, -or <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">gens</i>, is a group of persons united by a closer consanguinity, -but in the female line. The children of the women of the clan remain in -the clan of their mother. “The woman bears the clan,” say the Wyandot -Indians,<a id="FNanchor_930" href="#Footnote_930" class="fnanchor">[930]</a> just as our ancestors said, “The womb dyes the child.” -Each clan has its <i>totem</i> (a tortoise, bear, eland, or fox, etc.). -In the “long houses” of the Iroquois, or in the Pueblos, the members of -each clan even had a common habitation, in which each family had its -own cell; but the members of this cell-family belonged to different -clans, as the husband was not of the same clan as his wife, and -sometimes did not inhabit the same dwelling. We have heard it said many -times that “the family is the social cellule.” Now this is evidently -false in regard to the American tribe, and to all<span class="pagenum" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</span> tribes that are -organised on the same plan. In them it is the clan which is the social -unit, or cellule, to keep to the metaphor favoured by H. Spencer, and -it is feminine filiation which determines the kinship. What is this -kinship in the female line in its details? That is what we must now -proceed to inquire.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_67">II. <i>The Family among the Redskins.</i></h3> - -<p>The manner in which the different degrees of kinship are understood -and named varies somewhat among the diverse Redskin tribes; but, -in general, the similarity is very great, and great also is the -confusion between real consanguinity and fictitious kinship. Among the -Omahas, for example, five classes of kinship are recognised—1st, the -<i>nikie</i> kinship, arising from a very distant common ancestor; -2nd, the clan kinship; thus the families whose tents adjoin each other -when the tribe is assembled, are of this kinship; 3rd, kinship by the -calumet dance—that is to say, by adoption; 4th, kinship by marriage, -including the husband, wife, son, and daughter’s husband; 5th, kinship -of blood-relation, including the clans of the mother, grandmother, and -father.<a id="FNanchor_931" href="#Footnote_931" class="fnanchor">[931]</a></p> - -<p>The Omahas admit, therefore, entire groups of so-called kinsfolk quite -unknown in our individualist societies; and moreover, the adopted -kinsmen are held exactly on the same footing as the others.</p> - -<p>If we confine ourselves to real kinship, we shall see that it is -understood in a very wide manner. I will simply give, as a detailed -example, a description of the family among the Iroquois Senecas and -the Omahas. With the Iroquois Senecas, the direct line, both ascending -and descending, is very short. It does not go farther than grandfather -and grandmother, and grandson and grand-daughter. The more distant -ancestors and descendants are all comprised without distinction in -the same categories; they form groups of grandfathers or grandsons. -In a collateral line, they proceed by groups, in the same manner. -Thus, <em>for a</em><span class="pagenum" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</span> <em>woman</em>, the sons and daughters of a sister -are reckoned as her own sons and daughters, and their children are -her grandchildren. The collateral kinship is then confounded, at -least in terminology, with kinship in a direct line. On the contrary, -the sons and daughters of a woman’s brother are only her nephews and -nieces. How can we explain this familial confusion on one side, and -this distinction on the other? It may probably be attributed to the -habit of the Redskins to marry a lot of sisters at the same time. A -woman counts her sister’s children as her own, because the husband of -that sister, whom we should call her brother-in-law, is virtually her -husband also. Inversely, <em>for a man</em>, his brother’s children, or -his fraternal nieces and nephews, are reckoned as his own children; -their children are his grandsons or grand-daughters, whilst the -children and grandchildren of his sister are only his nephews and -nieces.<a id="FNanchor_932" href="#Footnote_932" class="fnanchor">[932]</a> Following our previous line of reasoning, we are led to -suppose that these denominations of kinship go back to a distant epoch, -when brothers had their wives in common, but abstained from marrying -their own sisters. This supposition is confirmed by the examination of -the collateral ascending kinship. Thus, either in the case of a man or -woman, the father’s brother, or the paternal uncle, is reckoned as the -father, and his sons and daughters are reckoned as brothers and sisters.</p> - -<p>The sisters of the father, or of any person bearing the title of -father, are called aunts. The children of these aunts are cousins. -For a man, the kinship of uncle is restricted to the brothers of the -mother, and the children of these uncles are cousins. The mother’s -sister, or the maternal aunt, is counted as a mother; her children are -not nephews and nieces, but sons and daughters. All sisters, real or -fictitious, are mutually mothers of all their children. The children -of a man’s brothers are not his nephews and nieces, but his sons and -daughters; his sisters’ children are his nephews and nieces,<a id="FNanchor_933" href="#Footnote_933" class="fnanchor">[933]</a> -probably because these names have been given at an epoch when the -brothers married groups of sisters in common, but not their own sisters.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</span></p> - -<p>The Omaha Redskins distinguish the degrees of kinship almost in the -same way as the Iroquois Senecas. For them also the most distant -ascendants are all grandfathers or grandmothers. They class all their -relations in groups, formed of individuals virtually brought together -by similar degrees of consanguinity or alliance. Whole categories of -individuals, more or less numerous, are called brothers or fathers of -a man or woman; all those whom the father of a person calls brothers -are fathers to that person; all those whom the mother of a woman calls -husbands are also fathers to that woman. The name “mother” is given to -all the women reputed as sisters to the mother, to the aunts or nieces -of the mother, and also to the virtual wives of the father.</p> - -<p>A man has virtually for wives all the wives of his brothers, and also -their widows, on account of the levirate.</p> - -<p>If a man has a brother-in-law who is at the same time the husband of -a paternal aunt, the sister of that man is the grand-daughter of the -brother-in-law.</p> - -<p>A man becomes your brother-in-law if he is merely the husband of a -paternal aunt, because he can marry your sister.</p> - -<p>The husband of a daughter, of a niece, or of a grand-daughter, is a -son-in-law.<a id="FNanchor_934" href="#Footnote_934" class="fnanchor">[934]</a></p> - -<p>All the sons and all the daughters of persons reputed as fathers and -mothers call each other brothers and sisters. All the wives, real or -virtual, of the grandfather are called grandmothers; so are also all -the mothers or grandmothers of the fathers and mothers, and all the -women that the fathers and mothers call sisters.</p> - -<p>A man counts as his sons all the sons of his brothers or of his virtual -wives; but the sisters of these sons are his sisters. A woman calls -the sons and daughters of her brothers her nephews and nieces, but the -children of her sister are counted as her own children; because their -father is virtually her husband.</p> - -<p>Among the Omahas a man calls his sister’s children nephews and nieces. -A person of either sex counts as grandchildren all those who are called -the children of his sons, daughters, nephews, and nieces, or reputed as -such.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</span></p> - -<p>A man counts as uncles all those whom his mothers call “brothers”; and -as aunts all the sisters of his father and the wives of his uncles. A -man has for brothers-in-law the husbands of his father’s sister; for -they are the real or virtual husbands of his sisters; a woman has them -for virtual husbands.<a id="FNanchor_935" href="#Footnote_935" class="fnanchor">[935]</a></p> - -<p>Various prohibitions of marriage result from these conventional -kinships. A man may not marry the women that he calls daughters of a -sister, or grand-daughters, etc. A woman may not marry the men who are -her sons, the sons of her sister, of her aunt or of her niece, or who -are her brothers, etc.<a id="FNanchor_936" href="#Footnote_936" class="fnanchor">[936]</a></p> - -<p>But an Omaha may marry any woman who is not a blood relation, provided -that she does not figure among the prohibited affinities.<a id="FNanchor_937" href="#Footnote_937" class="fnanchor">[937]</a></p> - -<p>We have not such detailed information regarding the other Redskin -tribes; but we know enough of them to be certain that their systems of -kinship are very analogous to those of the Iroquois Senecas and the -Omahas. Filiation is everywhere maternal, except in certain tribes in -the course of evolution; nearly everywhere also it is a crime to marry -a woman having the same <i>totem</i>.<a id="FNanchor_938" href="#Footnote_938" class="fnanchor">[938]</a></p> - -<p>Among the Mandans, Pawnies, and Arickaries, a man calls his brother’s -wife his wife also. Among the Crows a woman calls her husband’s -brother’s wife her “comrade”; but among the Winebagos she calls her -“sister.” In some tribes a man’s wife’s sister’s husband is called his -“brother.”<a id="FNanchor_939" href="#Footnote_939" class="fnanchor">[939]</a></p> - -<p>Some very severe and inconvenient rules of decency have resulted from -these fictitious kinships, with their prohibitions of marriage.</p> - -<p>Thus, among the Omahas, the young girls may only speak to their -father, brother, and grandfather. A woman avoids passing before her -daughter’s husband as much as possible; and, unless under extraordinary -circumstances, a woman does not speak directly to the father of her -husband. A man never addresses a word to the mother or grandmother -of his wife.<a id="FNanchor_940" href="#Footnote_940" class="fnanchor">[940]</a> In the last century, among the Iroquois, a young<span class="pagenum" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</span> -man was dishonoured if he stopped to converse in public with a young -girl who was certainly within the prohibited degree of kinship.<a id="FNanchor_941" href="#Footnote_941" class="fnanchor">[941]</a> -For a young Iroquois girl to call the husband of her aunt by his -personal name was considered a grave act, indicating a culpable -<em>liaison</em>.<a id="FNanchor_942" href="#Footnote_942" class="fnanchor">[942]</a></p> - -<p>From the manner in which the Redskins understand kinship, we may infer -two things: first, that they must have passed through a familial stage, -in which groups of brothers married groups of sisters and possessed -them in common, thus combining polygamy and polyandry, since they -attach little value to real consanguinity, and their kinships are very -often fictitious; and secondly, that they make no difference between -real filiation and adoption, and in this they resemble savages and even -barbarians of all countries. Among the Omahas the word used to signify -adoption means literally “to take for one’s own son.”<a id="FNanchor_943" href="#Footnote_943" class="fnanchor">[943]</a> The adopted -child is always treated as the first-born, and takes his place; the -father who adopts him refuses him nothing, and gives him a share in all -his wealth. The real father, on his side, makes presents to the adopted -father. And lastly, there is a prohibition of marriage during four -years between the two families, on account of the kinship created by -the adoption.<a id="FNanchor_944" href="#Footnote_944" class="fnanchor">[944]</a></p> - -<p>Sometimes an entire clan adopts another. Thus the Wolf-Iroquois were -adopted by the Falcon-Iroquois, and the effect of this adoption was -that the two clans became completely assimilated, the new-comers taking -the kinships of the adoptive clan.<a id="FNanchor_945" href="#Footnote_945" class="fnanchor">[945]</a></p> - -<p>The adoption of enemies, taken prisoners after a battle, is still more -curious. This adoption has almost miraculous effects; it extinguishes -the ferocious hatred which the Redskins always feel for men belonging -to rival tribes; more than that, it makes the captive warrior become -the husband of the woman whom he has perhaps rendered a widow, or -of the daughter whose father he may have killed. The Redskins have, -it should be said, very exaggerated ideas on the subject of warlike -valour. A combatant must never surrender unless very severely wounded. -Every<span class="pagenum" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</span> warrior who is taken prisoner is dishonoured and held as -dead by his tribe, and his captors generally torture him to death. -However, in the last century, the most ferocious of the Redskins, the -Iroquois, sometimes spared a few prisoners to offer them to the wives -or daughters whose relations had been killed. The latter had the power -either to put them to death, in order that their shades might serve as -slaves to their father, brother, or husband, etc., who had fallen, or -to pardon them, and even adopt them. In this last case, the enemies of -the previous night took a place among the warriors of the clan, and -were no longer distinguished from the others.<a id="FNanchor_946" href="#Footnote_946" class="fnanchor">[946]</a></p> - -<p>This system of kinship in the familial clan is curious, because it -holds real consanguinity very cheap, unhesitatingly confusing real with -fictitious kinship, and thus forming classes of fictitious relations. -It seems to prove the existence of an ancient period of promiscuity, -during which there was scarcely any thought of determining with -precision the degrees of consanguinity of individuals. Naturally, -the first form of the family which was more or less vaguely outlined -in the confused groups anterior to the familial clans, was the -maternal family; but this system of filiation by classes is in no way -incompatible with paternal filiation.</p> - -<p>Up to the present time kinship in the female line prevails among most -of the Redskin tribes. Certain of them, however, are evolving in -the direction of masculine filiation, and this movement was already -commencing at the close of the last century.<a id="FNanchor_947" href="#Footnote_947" class="fnanchor">[947]</a> The transformation -began with the chiefs and more powerful men. Among the Thlinkits of -Russian America the great men already give the paternal name to their -children; but the poorer people are still in the stage of uterine -filiation.<a id="FNanchor_948" href="#Footnote_948" class="fnanchor">[948]</a> Certain tribes have quite recently adopted the system -of paternal filiation. It is owing to European influence that this -change is operating, and its accomplishment is only a question of time. -The Ojibways have only taken two generations to effect the adoption -of agnatic filiation.<a id="FNanchor_949" href="#Footnote_949" class="fnanchor">[949]</a> A similar evolution<span class="pagenum" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</span> was spontaneously -accomplished in the great states of Central America. In Peru maternal -filiation was still in general use, but the paternal family was -beginning to appear. In the mass of the nation, says Gomara, the -heritage was transmitted to nephews and not to sons; but in the family -of the Incas direct male descendants alone had the right to avail -themselves of their origin, and sons inherited.<a id="FNanchor_950" href="#Footnote_950" class="fnanchor">[950]</a> It seems that in -Mexico the familial evolution may have been more advanced, for there -it is always the paternal personality which predominates, and it is -the father who dictates to the children rules of conduct and moral -precepts. The mothers exhort their daughters to be submissive to their -husbands, to obey them and strive to please them.</p> - -<p>The familial customs which I have just described are general in -America; they are not universal as regards exogamy, for Hearne tells us -that many Chippeways frequently take to wife their sisters, daughters, -and even mothers.<a id="FNanchor_951" href="#Footnote_951" class="fnanchor">[951]</a> We know, on the other hand, that the Peruvian -Incas married their sisters, and that throughout the Peruvian empire no -one married outside the administrative district.</p> - -<p>In some parts of America the diversity is still greater. The Caribs -married their relatives, with the exception of sisters,<a id="FNanchor_952" href="#Footnote_952" class="fnanchor">[952]</a> -indiscriminately; the Indians of Guiana, on the contrary, practised -totemic exogamy, like the Redskins.<a id="FNanchor_953" href="#Footnote_953" class="fnanchor">[953]</a></p> - -<p>The Indians of Guatemala were unacquainted with maternal kinship. They -willingly married their sisters, provided they were not children of the -same father, and among them the children belonged to the class of the -father even when the mother was a slave.<a id="FNanchor_954" href="#Footnote_954" class="fnanchor">[954]</a> Among the Mayas descent -was also reckoned in the male line.<a id="FNanchor_955" href="#Footnote_955" class="fnanchor">[955]</a> In various savage tribes of -Mexico the women did not inherit. Among the Ityas and in Yucatan the -name of the child was formed by combining the names of the father and -mother; the mother’s name, however, had the precedence.<a id="FNanchor_956" href="#Footnote_956" class="fnanchor">[956]</a></p> - -<p>The monk Thevet relates that the Indians of Brazil<span class="pagenum" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</span> already pushed the -agnatic system, at least in theory, to its most extreme limits; for -they affirmed, he says, that in procreation the part of the father is -predominant, and that of the mother only secondary.<a id="FNanchor_957" href="#Footnote_957" class="fnanchor">[957]</a> The general -conclusion to be drawn from these very dissimilar facts is, that we -should abstain from forming any absolute theories on these great -sociological questions of marriage and the family, which are still so -far from being elucidated.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_68">III. <i>The Family in Polynesia.</i></h3> - -<p>Filiation by the female line seems to be generally adopted, not only in -Polynesia, but in many Melanesian or Micronesian archipelagoes. It has -been found in the Fiji Islands, at Tonga and the Carolines,<a id="FNanchor_958" href="#Footnote_958" class="fnanchor">[958]</a> etc. -But exogamy, even the exogamy of the clan, after the American fashion, -appears rare. It existed at Samoa, but in any case it seems not to have -been a general custom.<a id="FNanchor_959" href="#Footnote_959" class="fnanchor">[959]</a></p> - -<p>In New Zealand endogamy predominated, and marriage with a woman of -another tribe was even prohibited, unless an important political motive -could be given as an excuse.<a id="FNanchor_960" href="#Footnote_960" class="fnanchor">[960]</a> Endogamy was also practised in the -Hawaian Islands. In the Mulgrave Islands every marriage required the -sanction of an assembly of all the friends and relatives, or rather of -the whole clan,<a id="FNanchor_961" href="#Footnote_961" class="fnanchor">[961]</a> for the interest of the community was involved in -it.</p> - -<p>In the Hawaian Islands there existed a confused kinship by classes, -analogous to that of the familial clan among the Redskins, but much -more gross. Group-marriage of brothers and sisters prevailed, but -generally the brothers did not marry their own sisters. As for the -names expressing the degrees of kinship, they were names of classes. -The Hawaians had no words to express “father” or “mother.” They used -the word “<i>mkûa</i>,” which signifies “parents.” To say “father,” -they added the word “<i>kana</i>,” which signifies “male”: <i>Mkûa -kana</i>, male<span class="pagenum" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</span> parent. To say “mother,” they used the combination, -<i>Mkûa ouahina</i>, female parent. There was no expression for “son” -or “daughter.” They used the word <i>keiki</i>, child, or little -one, to which they added <i>kana</i> or <i>ouahina</i>, as before, -according as the child was male or female. The language had no terms -for “brother” or “sister.”<a id="FNanchor_962" href="#Footnote_962" class="fnanchor">[962]</a> The word employed to express “wives” -is collective; it applies to the wife’s sister as well as to the -wife proper, and signifies literally “female”; in the same way, for -“husband” they used the word <i>kana</i> (male), and applied it also -to the husband’s brother and sister’s husband. All the sisters of a -woman were called “the wives of the husband of that woman,” even when -they were not actually so.<a id="FNanchor_963" href="#Footnote_963" class="fnanchor">[963]</a> The Hawaians had no expressions for -“grandfather” or “grandmother.” Their word <i>kapuna</i> signifies an -ancestor of any degree beyond the father and mother (<i>mkûa</i>). -Neither had they any special denomination for “grandson” or -“grand-daughter.” As brothers and sisters did not generally intermarry, -the women called the husband or husbands of their sisters, not -“husbands,” but “intimate companions” (<i>punalua</i>).<a id="FNanchor_964" href="#Footnote_964" class="fnanchor">[964]</a></p> - -<p>It was possible for either the paternal or maternal family to evolve -from this confused system of kinship, based at first apparently on the -promiscuity of brothers and sisters; but it was the latter which at -first arose, and in the time of Cook the rank and dignity of the chiefs -were transmitted in the female line.<a id="FNanchor_965" href="#Footnote_965" class="fnanchor">[965]</a> A singular custom noticed -by Cook in the Society Isles may perhaps be interpreted in the sense -of maternal filiation. They spoke of the transmission of the title -and dignity of the chiefs to their first-born, and that even at the -moment of birth. As soon as the wife of a chief had given birth to a -son, the father was reckoned as deposed, and became a simple regent; he -owed homage to his son, and might not remain in his presence without -uncovering to the waist.<a id="FNanchor_966" href="#Footnote_966" class="fnanchor">[966]</a> At Tonga maternal filiation was well -established; rank was transmitted by the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</span> women, who sometimes even -reigned,<a id="FNanchor_967" href="#Footnote_967" class="fnanchor">[967]</a> and the father was not counted as the parent of his -child.<a id="FNanchor_968" href="#Footnote_968" class="fnanchor">[968]</a></p> - -<p>Of late years, and manifestly under European influence, the familial -system has become modified in Polynesia. At Tonga masculine filiation -is being substituted by degrees for feminine filiation.<a id="FNanchor_969" href="#Footnote_969" class="fnanchor">[969]</a> The Maoris -of New Zealand have also adopted agnatic filiation, but this new system -still jars against ancient usages, which formerly harmonised with the -maternal family.</p> - -<p>This evolution of the family in Polynesia has probably had for its -starting-point a confused promiscuity, and afterwards a system of -classification of relations, in which real and fictitious ties were -hardly distinguished from each other. With the slight importance -attached to real consanguinity might very naturally coexist a great -facility to practise adoption. This was abused to such a degree in the -Marquesas Islands that it was not uncommon to see aged persons getting -themselves adopted by children, and even animals were adopted also. -Thus a chief had adopted a dog, to which he had ceremoniously offered -ten pigs and some precious ornaments; he had him constantly carried -by a <i>kikino</i>; and at the banquets of the chiefs, the animal had -his appointed place by the side of his adoptive father.<a id="FNanchor_970" href="#Footnote_970" class="fnanchor">[970]</a> There -was no distinction generally made between the real and the adoptive -parent,<a id="FNanchor_971" href="#Footnote_971" class="fnanchor">[971]</a> and we may hence conclude that the degrees and bonds of -kinship were not well distinguished.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_69">IV. <i>The Family among the Mongols.</i></h3> - -<p>The family of the Polynesians, and more especially of the Hawaians, may -well have been, as L. Morgan supposes, the primitive familial type of -the American Redskins. It has for its basis a marriage which is at once -polyandric and polygynic, between groups of sisters and corresponding<span class="pagenum" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</span> -groups of brothers, and it results quite naturally in a system of -kinship by classes, holding real consanguinity very cheap.</p> - -<p>It seems probable that analogous systems of kinship may have been -adopted by the greater number of the Asiatic Mongols. This may at -least be inferred from the fragmentary but significant accounts with -which explorers have supplied us. Among the Yourak Samoyedes, it is -forbidden to marry a woman of the same tribe (or rather clan).<a id="FNanchor_972" href="#Footnote_972" class="fnanchor">[972]</a> -The people among the Kalmucks are subject to restrictions of the same -kind in regard to marriage, which must not take place within three or -four degrees of kinship. The great men, however, for whom the laws -are more lenient in all countries, sometimes obtain immunity from -these inconvenient obligations, but the populace is very much shocked -at their laxity. “Great men and dogs,” they say, “have no kin.” -Nevertheless, the sons of the great men, who often also marry their -sisters-in-law, always take a wife in another clan.<a id="FNanchor_973" href="#Footnote_973" class="fnanchor">[973]</a> Kinship by -classes surely existed among the Mongols only a few centuries ago, -for Baber, the founder of the Mongol Empire of Delhi, speaks in his -<i>Memoirs</i> of one of his lieutenants, named Lenguer Khan, who -possessed a whole tribe of maternal uncles, the Djendjouhah, forming a -people who lived in the mountains of the Punjaub.<a id="FNanchor_974" href="#Footnote_974" class="fnanchor">[974]</a></p> - - -<h3 id="h3_70">V. <i>The Evolution of the System of Kinship by Classes.</i></h3> - -<p>These facts, and the inferences they suggest, enable us to solve a -difficulty which has embarrassed an eminent sociologist, L. Morgan, to -whom we owe our acquaintance with the details of the curious systems of -kinship by classes prevailing among the Polynesians and the Redskins.</p> - -<p>Morgan, in comparing, term for term, the denominations indicating -kinship among the Iroquois-Senecas and the Tamils of India, found -them identical as to meaning and number, and he admits, but not -without hesitation, that there has been, in both races, a parallel and -spontaneous<span class="pagenum" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</span> evolution.<a id="FNanchor_975" href="#Footnote_975" class="fnanchor">[975]</a> This way of explaining ethnic similarities -is certainly in general very legitimate. At first sight it often -appears trustworthy, and saves the trouble of inventing fantastic -migrations. In thousands of cases men of every period, every country, -every race have conducted themselves in the same way, had the same -ideas, realised the same inventions, adopted the same practices, -without knowing each other, without even supposing the existence of -the other peoples, and this simply because all of them were part of -the great human family. But between the Mongoloids of North America, -their cousins of Northern Asia, and the Hawaians, there is probably -the bond of a distant and common origin, and, besides this, the nomad -Mongols of Asia have more than once penetrated into India. Up to the -present time, half-savage Mongol tribes occupy entire regions of the -Himalaya. Mongols and Tamils have had wide and long communications with -each other during prehistoric ages; it has therefore been possible -for them to borrow mutually their system of kinship. There exists -quite a chain of peoples, including the Tamils of India, the least -civilised Mongols, the American Redskins, and lastly the greater -number of the Polynesians, all of whom have formerly adopted, or still -practise systems of kinship, based, not on consanguinity, but on a -classification more or less fictitious.</p> - -<p>The fact is interesting; but it is somewhat bold to attach to it, as -Morgan has done, a universal value, and to pretend that all human -races have passed through this phase of kinship by classes. Even in -the countries where this familial form prevails, it is subject to more -than one exception, and it is probable that each great human type, -having had its special centre of creation, has evolved physically -and psychically in its own manner, sometimes unconsciously imitating -the others, but quite as often deviating from them, according as the -environment, the difficulties to be overcome, and the necessities -of the struggle for existence imposed on it such or such a line of -conduct.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</span></p> - -<p>However it may be, if we condense, by classification, all the notions -that have been collected in relation to kinship by classes among the -Australians, the Tamils, the primitive Mongols, the Mongoloids of North -America and those of Polynesia, we may retrace the evolution of kinship -by classes with sufficient appearance of truth.</p> - -<p>To begin with, there must have existed hordes, which, though doubtless -human, were still very bestial as regards their instincts and -intelligence. In these hordes, which were not very numerous, the women -being taken possession of by the most robust old males, the young ones -were obliged either to quit the group or to remain in it by ravishing -one or two women from rival hordes; for exogamy was a necessity. The -least advanced of the Australian tribes seem to be still in this -primitive stage. At length a little order was put into this disorder -by the horde breaking up into clans; it was then decided that all the -men and all the women of each clan should be brothers and sisters, and -should not intermarry, and that on the other hand, all the men of a -clan should be the husbands of all the women of the neighbouring clan, -simply by right of birth. The Kamilaroi of Australia may represent the -second stage.</p> - -<p>In Polynesia the principle is the same, but the idea has become -restricted and defined. Groups of real brothers marry groups of women -actually sisters, thus forming households at once polyandric and -polygamic; but traces of the antique marriage by fictitious groups -of brothers and sisters appear again in the terms used to designate -the various degrees of kinship. These terms are in reality purely -classificatory, and take little account of real consanguinity.</p> - -<p>Among the Redskins a new and important restriction has been -established. Marriage outside the clan is continued, but not marriage -by groups of sisters and brothers. That this was done in primitive -times, however, is proved by the familial vocabulary. On the other -hand, they have clearly renounced polyandry, and adopted polygamy with -not less clearness; but this polygamy is special, and it is generally a -group of sisters who marry the polygamous husband.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</span></p> - -<p>As for the terms of kinship, they are always general and -classificatory. The relations are denominated by groups, and the titles -of kinship do not in the least correspond to the ties of blood.</p> - -<p>Lastly, among certain nomad Mongols of Asia, the strict prohibition to -marry within the clan, and the terms of kinship applying to groups, -show that formerly a familial system, analogous to that of the American -Redskins, has been in use.</p> - -<p>Moreover, this classificatory system is preserved entire in the -denominations of kinship by the Tamils of India. But among these last, -and also among certain Mongol populations of Thibetan Himalaya, the -primitive family, at once polygamic and polyandric, that of the Hawaian -islanders, has evolved after its own manner, which it is interesting to -notice.</p> - -<p>The Polynesian, or rather the Hawaian family, formed essentially by -the conjugal union of a group of brothers with a group of sisters, -may evidently be restricted in two ways. Either, in the long run, -polyandry is found irksome; the men will no longer share their wives, -even with brothers, but find polygamy very convenient; in this case the -brothers contract isolated marriages, preserving nothing of the old -ways but the custom of marrying, when possible, a group of sisters: -the Redskins have done and still do this. Or, on the contrary, for -one reason or another, and most often on account of the relative -scarcity of women, the Hawaian marriage evolves in another direction. -The brothers continue to marry in a group; but, instead of marrying -simultaneously several sisters, they take only one wife and possess her -in common: this time it is in the direction of polyandry that primitive -group-marriage has evolved. From the Himalaya to Ceylon we find a long -track of ethnic groups who have thus transformed their marriage. The -mountaineers of Bhootan, the Naïrs, certain other aboriginal tribes -of India, and a part of the population of Ceylon, where the Tamils -have largely immigrated, are all of them the remains or landmarks of -an ancient layer of polyandric population traversing the whole of -Hindostan.</p> - -<p>All these facts can be classed in a satisfactory manner. Thus united, -and placed in a series, they complete and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</span> throw a light on each other, -and show us the reason of customs which before appeared inexplicable.</p> - -<p>All this evolution is quite admissible, but it is important to restrict -it to the populations with which it actually appears to be connected, -and not to make of it a universal law, applicable to the whole human -race.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_71">VI. <i>The Clan and the Family.</i></h3> - -<p>Independently of their intrinsic interest, the facts that I have so -rapidly enumerated have a very wide bearing. Taken alone, they suffice -to destroy altogether the generally accepted ideas as to the origin -of human societies. The current doctrine, so often asserted, and -manifestly inspired by the Edenic tradition of a terrestrial Paradise -and by the memory of the Roman family, insists that human societies -have always and everywhere started with the family, and by this word is -understood the patriarchal family, essentially composed of the father -and the mother, or at most the mothers and the children. From this -first family, grouped submissively around one august chief, the father, -similar families are supposed to have sprung, which, side by side, -constituted tribes, cities, and states. This familial unit, supposed to -be primordial, this “cellule” of societies, is held to be particularly -respectable; the chief who governs it despotically, the father, has -something enchanting about him. At his voice the celestial wrath bursts -without mercy on the child bold enough to brave it. Even as late as -the last century, the paternal malediction had the effect of a moral -thunderbolt; in romances and theatrical plays the writers often had -recourse to it in order to effect the catastrophes of their plots.</p> - -<p>We are forced in the present day to renounce this traditional notion. -We must bid adieu to the primitive patriarchate. The patriarchal, or -even simply paternal family, does not date, at least in most cases, -from the origin of societies.</p> - -<p>The truly primitive stock is no other than the clan, that is, a small -consanguine group in which the kinship is still very much confused. -It was not in a day that the first<span class="pagenum" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</span> men succeeded in constructing -genealogical trees, or even in determining with any precision the -degrees of consanguinity. Not only does the father not stand out as -a principal personage from the background of the familial clan; he -has not even yet any recognised social existence in the little group; -in short, the actual physiological father has had in principle no -ascertainable relationship with his children, for marriage was anything -but monandric.</p> - -<p>Within the primitive social unit, the familial clan, every one was -consanguine, but in a confused way; the wives had several husbands, and -the husbands several wives; the degrees of kinship were not individual, -but applied to classes of individuals. At this period of social -development it was difficult to distinguish as yet the real from the -possible, fictitious consanguinity from real consanguinity. Every one -had groups of fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters: filiation and -the true ties of consanguinity in numerous cases could not be discerned.</p> - -<p>In these groups of consanguine individuals, these clans with -kinship still confused, the first thing that became most habitually -differentiated was not the paternal family, for that could scarcely -exist, seeing that the father of a child was not easy to designate; it -was the maternal family, which we will now proceed to examine.</p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_928" href="#FNanchor_928" class="label">[928]</a> McLennan, <i>Primitive Marriage</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 71.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_929" href="#FNanchor_929" class="label">[929]</a> A. Giraud-Teulon, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 170-172.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_930" href="#FNanchor_930" class="label">[930]</a> Powell, <i>Reports of Smithsonian Institution</i>, 1881.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_931" href="#FNanchor_931" class="label">[931]</a> Owen Dorsey, <i>Omaha Sociology</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 252, in -<i>Reports of Smithsonian Institution</i>, 1885.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_932" href="#FNanchor_932" class="label">[932]</a> Lewis Morgan, <i>Ancient Societies</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 436.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_933" href="#FNanchor_933" class="label">[933]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 438.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_934" href="#FNanchor_934" class="label">[934]</a> Owen Dorsey, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 255.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_935" href="#FNanchor_935" class="label">[935]</a> Owen Dorsey, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 254, 255.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_936" href="#FNanchor_936" class="label">[936]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 256.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_937" href="#FNanchor_937" class="label">[937]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 257.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_938" href="#FNanchor_938" class="label">[938]</a> McLennan, <i>Primitive Marriage</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 97.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_939" href="#FNanchor_939" class="label">[939]</a> L. Morgan, <i>Ancient Societies</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 440.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_940" href="#FNanchor_940" class="label">[940]</a> Owen Dorsey, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 262, 263.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_941" href="#FNanchor_941" class="label">[941]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lettres édifiantes</i>, t. xii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 130.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_942" href="#FNanchor_942" class="label">[942]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 144.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_943" href="#FNanchor_943" class="label">[943]</a> Owen Dorsey, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 265.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_944" href="#FNanchor_944" class="label">[944]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 281.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_945" href="#FNanchor_945" class="label">[945]</a> Morgan, <i>Ancient Societies</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 81.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_946" href="#FNanchor_946" class="label">[946]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Voyages du baron de Lahontan</i>, etc., t. ii. <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> -203, 204 (1741).</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_947" href="#FNanchor_947" class="label">[947]</a> A. Giraud-Teulon, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 196.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_948" href="#FNanchor_948" class="label">[948]</a> Holmberg, <i lang="de" xml:lang="de">Skizzen über die Völker des Russischen -Amerika</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 32.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_949" href="#FNanchor_949" class="label">[949]</a> L. Morgan, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 166, 344.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_950" href="#FNanchor_950" class="label">[950]</a> H. Spencer, <i>Sociology</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 340.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_951" href="#FNanchor_951" class="label">[951]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 218.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_952" href="#FNanchor_952" class="label">[952]</a> Squier, <i>States of Central America</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 237.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_953" href="#FNanchor_953" class="label">[953]</a> Brett, <i>Indian Tribes of Guiana</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 98.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_954" href="#FNanchor_954" class="label">[954]</a> Bancroft, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 664, 665.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_955" href="#FNanchor_955" class="label">[955]</a> L. Morgan, <i>Ancient Societies</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 538.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_956" href="#FNanchor_956" class="label">[956]</a> Bancroft, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 680.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_957" href="#FNanchor_957" class="label">[957]</a> Thevet, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Singularités de la France antarctique</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -215.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_958" href="#FNanchor_958" class="label">[958]</a> A. Giraud-Teulon, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 167.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_959" href="#FNanchor_959" class="label">[959]</a> Hubner, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Six semaines en Polynésie</i> in <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Revue des -Deux Mondes</i>, 1886.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_960" href="#FNanchor_960" class="label">[960]</a> Yate, <i>New Zealand</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 99.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_961" href="#FNanchor_961" class="label">[961]</a> Paulding, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xvi. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 459.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_962" href="#FNanchor_962" class="label">[962]</a> L. Morgan, <i>Ancient Societies</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 374.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_963" href="#FNanchor_963" class="label">[963]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 428.—McLennan, <i>Primitive -Marriage</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 375.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_964" href="#FNanchor_964" class="label">[964]</a> L. Morgan, <i>Ancient Societies</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 428.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_965" href="#FNanchor_965" class="label">[965]</a> De Varigny, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Quatorze ans aux îles Sandwich</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -14.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_966" href="#FNanchor_966" class="label">[966]</a> Cook (Second Voyage), <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. -vii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 417.—Moerenhout, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr> aux îles</i>, etc., t. ii. <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 13, -15.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_967" href="#FNanchor_967" class="label">[967]</a> Th. West, <i>Ten Years in South Central Polynesia</i>, -<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 260.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_968" href="#FNanchor_968" class="label">[968]</a> Mariner, <i><abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr> to the Friendly Islands</i>, etc., <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> -ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 165.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_969" href="#FNanchor_969" class="label">[969]</a> Erskine, <i>Islands of the Western Pacific</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_970" href="#FNanchor_970" class="label">[970]</a> M. Radiguet, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Derniers Sauvages</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 181.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_971" href="#FNanchor_971" class="label">[971]</a> Mariner, <i>Tonga Islands</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 98.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_972" href="#FNanchor_972" class="label">[972]</a> Latham, <i>Descriptive Ethnology</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 455.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_973" href="#FNanchor_973" class="label">[973]</a> McLennan, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 78, 79.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_974" href="#FNanchor_974" class="label">[974]</a> A. Giraud-Teulon, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Orig. du Mariage</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 268.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_975" href="#FNanchor_975" class="label">[975]</a> L. Morgan, <i>Conjectural Solution of the Origin of the -Classificatory System of Relationship</i>, in <i>Proceedings of the -American Academy of Arts and Sciences</i>, 1868.</p> - -</div> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII.<br /><br /><span class="small">THE MATERNAL FAMILY.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>I. <i>The Familial Clan and the Family properly so-called.</i>—The -probable evolution of the family—It cannot have been uniform—Why the -uterine family has been common.</p> - -<p>II. <i>The Family in Africa.</i>—The maternal family among the -negroes of Africa, in Egypt, in Abyssinia, in Madagascar, among the -Arabs and Kabyles.</p> - -<p>III. <i>The Family in Malaya.</i></p> - -<p>IV. <i>The Family among the Naïrs of Malabar.</i>—The female -progenitrix, the mother-bee—The uncle among the Naïrs.</p> - -<p>V. <i>The Family among the Aborigines of Bengal.</i>—Co-existence of -the maternal and paternal family; exogamy and endogamy.</p> - -<p>VI. <i>The Couvade.</i>—It exists in very different -countries—The couvade in antiquity—The couvade in contemporary -Europe—Signification of the couvade.</p> - -<p>VII. <i>The Primitive Family.</i></p> -</div> - - -<h3 id="h3_72">I. <i>The Familial Clan and the Family properly so-called.</i></h3> - -<p>At the conclusion of the preceding chapter I have ventured to sketch -the probable evolution of the family, or at least that which must have -been effected among the greater number of Melanesians, Polynesians, -American Redskins, Tamils, and ancient Mongols. The small primitive -societies founded by these races seem to have begun, not with the -family, in the sense we give to this word, but by groups of consanguine -individuals with still very confused filiation. The familial form which -first emerged from this primitive clan was most often a matrimonial -association between several sisters on the one hand and several -brothers on the other. Then, from this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</span> household, at once polygamic -and polyandric, sprang sometimes the polyandric family, when several -brothers had a single wife in common, and sometimes the polygynic -family, when a single man married or bought several women, who might, -or might not, be sisters to each other.</p> - -<p>But has the familial group evolved in the same manner all over the -earth and among all races? Except for the countries previously -enumerated, precise and detailed information is wanting, and we -are reduced to conjectures which are more or less probable. With -rare exceptions, the races which it remains for us to examine have -definitely emerged from primitive familial confusion, and they have -adopted either maternal or paternal filiation. Have they first passed -through the familial clan with classes of fictitious or real relations? -We cannot certainly affirm it. The existence of a <i>totem</i> and the -custom of exogamy seem to bear witness in favour of this hypothesis; -but these are insufficient proofs. The <i>totem</i> does not -necessarily imply consanguinity; and exogamy may be dictated by very -diverse reasons, for we often find exogamic tribes living side by side -with endogamic tribes.</p> - -<p>What is still more general than the clan, is the institution of the -maternal family, or uterine filiation; but this familial type is not -invariably deduced from a previous familial clan. Among many animal -species the maternal family exists without there ever having been -either clan or <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">gens</i>. As a matter of fact, in humanity as well -as in animality, the uterine family establishes itself spontaneously, -whenever the male abandons the female and her progeny. This familial -type will therefore necessarily appear in every horde where there is -no durable pairing of males and females, of men and women. In every -ethnic group living in promiscuity, for example, uterine filiation -shows itself, and it will be the same under a polyandric <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i>, -unless fictitious paternity is established. In short, for the adoption -of the paternal family, it is imperative that the wives should be -appropriated by a particular man, though it is of no importance whether -the marriage be monogamic or polygamic. But this possession of one -or more women by one man to the exclusion of all others, presupposes -already a complex social condition, which has necessarily been preceded -by a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</span> period of gross savagery, when only uterine filiation was -possible. Now, it is a rule that ancient customs endure for a long -time, and survive the social condition which had given birth to them.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_73">II. <i>The Family in Africa.</i></h3> - -<p>The uterine family is far from being rare in negro Africa, but this -does not in any way hinder the man from exercising a discretionary -power over his wife or wives, and still more over his children. We -have previously seen how lamentable the fate of woman is among the -negro Africans, and how excessive are “the rights of the father of -the family,” since he can traffic in his children without rebuke. -This virile despotism may easily coexist with the adoption of uterine -filiation. In one Kaffir tribe, the men used their own children to -bait their traps for catching lions,<a id="FNanchor_976" href="#Footnote_976" class="fnanchor">[976]</a> and yet maternal filiation -prevails in Kaffraria; only it does not govern inheritance. This mode -of filiation is adopted by other races as well as Kaffirs. “In Guinea,” -says Bosman,<a id="FNanchor_977" href="#Footnote_977" class="fnanchor">[977]</a> “if it pleases the daughter of a king to marry a -slave, her children are free.” Among the Fantees, the chief slave has -the rights of succession, to the exclusion of the son; but the latter -is only deprived of paternal succession; the property of his mother, as -distinct from that of his father, comes to him.<a id="FNanchor_978" href="#Footnote_978" class="fnanchor">[978]</a> At Dahomey there -seems to be, in the royal family, a symbolic survival of the maternal -family. At the death of the king, his sister exercises a regency of -several days, and her duty is to occupy the throne in reality, and to -remain seated on it as long as a successor has not been appointed.<a id="FNanchor_979" href="#Footnote_979" class="fnanchor">[979]</a> -But this does not in any way hinder the populations of Dahomey from -adopting as a general custom, not only masculine succession, but even -the right of primogeniture.<a id="FNanchor_980" href="#Footnote_980" class="fnanchor">[980]</a> Barbarous as Dahomey may be, it is -already a society of too complex a structure to accommodate itself -easily to the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</span> maternal family. Has this savage mode of filiation been -formerly in use there? It is possible; but the short regency of the -king’s sister is a very insufficient proof of it. In eastern Africa, -among the Vouazegouras, and also among the Bangalas of Cassanga, the -uncle has the indefeasible right to sell his nephews, and in so doing -he has the strong approval of public opinion. “Why,” say they, “should -a man remain in need while his brothers and sisters have children?” Yet -this relates to tribes long under Arab influence. In the same region, -the Vouamrimas generally consider the son of their sister as their -heir, in preference to their own children.<a id="FNanchor_981" href="#Footnote_981" class="fnanchor">[981]</a> Among the Bazes and the -Bareas, succession is also in the maternal line, and the heirs are, -in the first degree, the eldest son of the eldest sister; and in the -second degree, the second son of the same sister,<a id="FNanchor_982" href="#Footnote_982" class="fnanchor">[982]</a> etc. In southern -Africa the children belong to the maternal uncle, who also has the -right to sell them.<a id="FNanchor_983" href="#Footnote_983" class="fnanchor">[983]</a> It is the same among the Basuto Kaffirs. With -these last, as a Kaffir chief informed me, it is again the nephew who -succeeds to the throne.<a id="FNanchor_984" href="#Footnote_984" class="fnanchor">[984]</a> The Makololo Kaffirs, however, seem to be -in process of adopting paternal filiation; or at least they combine -it with maternal filiation, by compelling the husband, as Livingstone -informs us, to redeem his children by the payment of a tax, without -which they would belong to the maternal grandfather.</p> - -<p>In short, there is no uniform rule among the Kaffirs, for Levaillant -has seen a tribe with whom the inheritance was transmitted at a -man’s death to his wife and male children, to the exclusion of the -daughters,<a id="FNanchor_985" href="#Footnote_985" class="fnanchor">[985]</a> which is again a transitional <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i>.</p> - -<p>In some districts of central Africa, among populations that are -half-civilised, and more or less converted to Mahometanism, matriarchal -customs still persist. On the Niger, at Wowow and at Boussa, it is the -grandmother who grants or refuses to her grand-daughter the permission -to marry.<a id="FNanchor_986" href="#Footnote_986" class="fnanchor">[986]</a> The curious privilege that, according to Laing, the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</span> -Soulima have, to quit their husband when they please, is perhaps of -matriarchal origin also.<a id="FNanchor_987" href="#Footnote_987" class="fnanchor">[987]</a></p> - -<p>The exogamy of the clan, which frequently coexists with uterine -filiation, is met with here and there in Africa. Burton has proved -the existence of it among the Somals,<a id="FNanchor_988" href="#Footnote_988" class="fnanchor">[988]</a> and Du Chaillu has found -it at the Gaboon.<a id="FNanchor_989" href="#Footnote_989" class="fnanchor">[989]</a> Traces of the maternal family still exist, or -have existed, in African societies that are more or less barbarous, -but which have, however, emerged from savagery; in Madagascar, -Nubia, Abyssinia, and especially in ancient Egypt. Among the Hovas -of Madagascar, not only wealth, but political dignities, and even -sacerdotal functions, are transmitted to the nephew, the sister’s son. -The Saccalavas do the same as the Hovas, and among them the women of -high rank willingly take husbands of inferior rank, who simply become -their servants. As for the children, they inherit the rank and rights -of their mother.<a id="FNanchor_990" href="#Footnote_990" class="fnanchor">[990]</a> The same customs prevail among the Nubians, or -did formerly prevail; the Arab chroniclers tell us that among them the -heritage belonged, not to the son of the deceased, but to the nephew, -the sister’s son. The Nubians justified this custom pertinaciously, by -saying that the consanguinity of the sister’s son had the advantage of -being incontestable.<a id="FNanchor_991" href="#Footnote_991" class="fnanchor">[991]</a> And lastly, Nicholas of Damascus says the -same thing of the Ethiopians.<a id="FNanchor_992" href="#Footnote_992" class="fnanchor">[992]</a></p> - -<p>Without the proof of any absolutely precise text, we have an -accumulation of facts which render it very probable that, in ancient -Egypt, maternal filiation was in force. In a preceding chapter I have -spoken of the exceptional position granted to the free woman in the -kingdom of the Pharaohs. I will recall, in passing, that until the time -of Philometor, who deprived women of the right to dispose of their -property, the word <em>husband</em> never occurs in marriage deeds.<a id="FNanchor_993" href="#Footnote_993" class="fnanchor">[993]</a> -Besides this, public deeds often only mention the mother, up to the -time of this same King Philometor, who, being evidently a determined -partisan of the patriarchate,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</span> ordered the names of contractors to be -registered according to the paternal name.<a id="FNanchor_994" href="#Footnote_994" class="fnanchor">[994]</a> Also, in the valley of -the Nile, the hieroglyphic funeral inscriptions frequently bear the -name of the mother without indicating that of the father, and it is -only in demotic inscriptions that paternal filiation is mentioned.<a id="FNanchor_995" href="#Footnote_995" class="fnanchor">[995]</a> -We must add that in Egypt women could reign, and that during the -lifetime of the monarch who was their husband they divided with him the -sovereign honours, and even, according to Diodorus,<a id="FNanchor_996" href="#Footnote_996" class="fnanchor">[996]</a> received the -larger share of them. All these facts seem to attest that in Egypt free -women enjoyed an exceptionally favourable position, and they render -probable the ancient existence of uterine filiation in the valley of -the Nile. There are, however, some contradictory facts, especially the -genealogy of the chief priests, of which Herodotus speaks, and also -the incestuous endogamy customary in the royal families. According to -Herodotus, the Egyptian priests showed him, at Thebes, three hundred -and forty-one wooden statues representing high-priests, all born one -of the other in the masculine line: “Each of these statues,” he says, -“represents a Piromis born of a Piromis.”<a id="FNanchor_997" href="#Footnote_997" class="fnanchor">[997]</a> From which it would -result that in Egypt, at least in the sacerdotal caste, masculine -filiation was established from the highest antiquity, for a hundred and -forty-one generations represent something like ten or eleven thousand -years. Maternal filiation is also generally connected with exogamy, -while the Pharaohs habitually married their sisters. According to -Diodorus, this was even obligatory.<a id="FNanchor_998" href="#Footnote_998" class="fnanchor">[998]</a> In the ancient royal records -the qualities of sister and wife of kings are often found united. -Under the Ptolemies, all the queens have borne both these titles; -and we may perhaps refer to an ancient tradition of Egyptian origin -certain customs which recently existed in the Soudan, Abyssinia, and -Madagascar. At Massegna, in the Soudan, Barth tells us that Othman -Bougoman, Sultan of Massegna, had among his wives one of his sisters -and one of his daughters. At the end of the seventeenth century, the -sister of the king of Abyssinia displayed a sumptuous style of living -peculiarly feminine:<span class="pagenum" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</span> “The sister of the emperor appears in public -mounted on a mule richly caparisoned, having by her side her women -bearing a daïs over her. From four to five hundred women surround her, -singing verses in her praise, and playing the tambour in a lively and -graceful manner.”<a id="FNanchor_999" href="#Footnote_999" class="fnanchor">[999]</a> And at the present time, among the Malagasy -nobility, marriage between brother and sister is very common.<a id="FNanchor_1000" href="#Footnote_1000" class="fnanchor">[1000]</a></p> - -<p>There is certainly nothing farther from exogamy than marriages between -brothers and sisters; but, to say the truth, there is no logical and -necessary connection between the form of filiation and exogamic or -endogamic customs.</p> - -<p>The Malagasy contract what we should call incestuous marriages, -while preserving maternal filiation; the Arabs and Kabyles, on the -contrary, in obedience to the prescriptions of the Koran, have a -horror of incest. The sacred book prohibits a man from taking to wife -his mother, daughter, sister, his paternal or maternal aunt, his -grand-daughter, his mother-in-law, his daughter-in-law, or even his -nurse and foster-sister. A man was not to marry two sisters at the -same time.<a id="FNanchor_1001" href="#Footnote_1001" class="fnanchor">[1001]</a> This is indeed a limited exogamy; and yet the Koran -establishes the paternal and even patriarchal family very clearly. -The study of the family in Malaya and among the aborigines of India -will complete the proof that in the same country, and in the same -race, various systems of marriage, family, and filiation, may coexist, -and that consequently we must guard against formulating too strict -sociological laws in regard to them.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_74">III. <i>The Family in Malaya.</i></h3> - -<p>At Sumatra there were three kinds of marriages—1st, the wife, or -rather the family of the wife, bought the man, who henceforth became -her property, worked for her, possessed nothing of his own, was liable -to be dismissed, and could commit no fault without the proprietary -family being responsible for it, exactly as the Roman master answered -for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</span> his slaves; 2nd, the man and the woman could marry on a footing of -equality; 3rd, the man bought his wife or wives.<a id="FNanchor_1002" href="#Footnote_1002" class="fnanchor">[1002]</a> The first form -of marriage, that of servitude of the man, who, instead of marrying, -is married by the family of his wife, has fallen into desuetude in -Malaya, but it has left behind it, in certain districts, the system of -maternal filiation. It is the maternal uncle who is the head of the -family, or, in default of him, the eldest son of the wife’s family. -If there is neither uncle nor son old enough, it is the mother who -becomes the head of the family, and the father only takes her place -in case she has disappeared, and when all the children are minors. At -the death of a man, his property does not go to his wife or children, -but to his maternal family, and in the first place to his brothers -and sisters. The married man also continues to live in his maternal -family; it is the field of his own family that he cultivates, and he -only accidentally assists his wife.<a id="FNanchor_1003" href="#Footnote_1003" class="fnanchor">[1003]</a> In short, under this system -the individual, whether man or woman, is not set free in the least from -the family in which he is born; it is for this family that the woman -bears children; filiation and inheritance must therefore follow the -maternal line. But it is not at all the same throughout Malaya. Marsden -tells us that a man sometimes buys his wife by giving a sister in -exchange;<a id="FNanchor_1004" href="#Footnote_1004" class="fnanchor">[1004]</a> he must therefore be the proprietor of his sister, and -consequently of the wife whom he procures by means of this barter.</p> - -<p>In the Arroo Isles the men buy their wives, by giving gongs, clothes, -etc., to the parents of the women.<a id="FNanchor_1005" href="#Footnote_1005" class="fnanchor">[1005]</a></p> - -<p>At Timor the son-in-law buys his wife thus from his father-in-law, and -the latter can remain owner of the children if they are not included -in the bargain;<a id="FNanchor_1006" href="#Footnote_1006" class="fnanchor">[1006]</a> but these customs are not easily compatible with -the system of the maternal family, and, taken altogether, they prove -that in Malaya the family is not by any means constituted in a uniform -manner. We shall see that it is the same with the primitive races of -India.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</span></p> -<h3 id="h3_75">IV. <i>The Family among the Naïrs of Malabar.</i></h3> - -<p>In the first place, we have to inquire what the family is among the -Naïrs of Malabar, whose curious polyandry I have previously described. -The Naïrs of Malabar are not by any means savages; they form an -aristocratic caste. We have seen how, from a very early age (ten -to twelve years), the young Naïr girls, after having been solemnly -deflowered by a stranger, who has been paid to perform this task, -practised the widest polyandry, without any other restriction than -the prohibitions relative to caste and tribe. As is usual and even -natural, Naïr polyandry coexists with a system of maternal filiation. -Precautions are taken in order that the free and numerous unions of -the Naïr ladies should not destroy the family. The Naïr husbands are -reduced to the modest <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">rôle</i> of progenitors; and it is to the wife -that the fortune of the family belongs. It is not, however, the mother -who governs the family, but her brother. To this brother belongs the -duty of bringing up his nephews, of protecting them, and of mourning -for them, if they happen to die; in reality, he is an avuncular father, -and when he dies his nephews inherit his personal property. In the -Naïr family the polyandrous mother is much respected, and the next -in honour to her is her eldest daughter, who will replace her in her -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">rôle</i> of mother-bee, the producer of children. The Naïr husbands, -the fathers, only enter the house of their common wife by turns and -on certain days; they have not even the right to sit down by the side -of their wife or their children; they are mere passing guests, almost -strangers.<a id="FNanchor_1007" href="#Footnote_1007" class="fnanchor">[1007]</a></p> - -<p>If we regard these facts on a certain side, it appears as if we may at -last have found among the Naïrs, in a country where the matriarchate -incontestably reigns, the legal pre-eminence of woman over man, or -the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">materna potestas</i>. It is, in fact, the Naïr woman who -possesses; it is through her that wealth is transmitted, and, given the -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> of free polyandry, it is difficult for Naïr children to -know their own father. Moreover, in various polyandric countries of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</span> -Malabar, the pre-eminence of the woman in the family has influenced the -political organisation, and thus an entire female feudal system has -arisen, the bonds of suzerainty and vassalage reposing on a fictitious -polyandry. Thus, in February 1887, the English journals announced that -the Sultan of the Laccadives, having become the vassal of England, had -notified to his subjects his new position by means of a proclamation, -in which he explained that he had ceased to be the <em>husband</em> -and subject of his ancient suzerain, the Bibi of Cannanor; for by a -special favour the government of Ceylon had consented to admit him -to the number of the <em>husbands</em>, that is to say, of the direct -vassals, of the Queen of England. We must note that for the Indians -of this region the Queen of England is “the daughter” of the East -India Company, and lives in a palace in London with many men. And -now what is the real value of this polyandric matriarchate? It is -surely more apparent than real. Among the Naïrs, as everywhere else, -property assures to the man or woman who possesses it an importance in -proportion to its value. The Naïr lady then, being a proprietor, is -highly esteemed. But it does not follow that this esteem is equal to -undisputed domination. Doubtless among the Naïrs the man, as husband, -does not exist; nevertheless he is a warrior, and even a very fierce -one. But military force has this in common with money, that it is -nowhere despised. Therefore, in the family of his sister, the Naïr -man is anything but a subordinate. We have just seen this. It is he -who governs and brings up the children of his sister by her numerous -husbands. He is, in reality, the chief of his sister’s family, and what -he loses as husband he gains as uncle.</p> - -<p>Reduced to their true value, the polyandry and the familial -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> of the Naïrs still remain a sociological fact of the -greatest interest. It is at once the most complete and the most logical -of polyandric systems. In reality, the Naïr marriage does not only or -specially include groups of brothers or sisters; full liberty is given -to the woman, save only the restrictions of class. There is no attempt, -as in Thibet, to create a masculine pseudo-filiation, by arbitrarily -attributing such or such children to such or<span class="pagenum" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</span> such husbands. Among the -Naïrs, the maternal family is instituted in all its plenitude; and -lastly, their polyandry is in no way thwarted by the proportion of -the sexes, for if the woman may contract marriage with several men, -each one of the latter in his turn has power to enter several conjugal -associations. This matrimonial <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> is therefore perfectly -compatible with the maintenance of the population and the equilibrium -of the sexes.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_76">V. <i>The Family among the Aborigines of Bengal.</i></h3> - -<p>If we proceed with our investigations by studying the familial and -matrimonial <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> of the aborigines of Bengal, we shall find, -among populations having probably a common origin, systems of family -and marriage which are very dissimilar.</p> - -<p>Here and there we discover the maternal family, or customs proving that -this familial fashion has formerly been in force.</p> - -<p>According to Buchanan, among the Buntar, who are neighbours to the -Naïrs, a father is free during his lifetime to make presents to his -children, but at his death all that he possesses goes to his sisters -and their children. The Kochh, also, have no kinship or succession -except through the women. The mothers arrange the marriages; the -fathers never interfere, and the husband goes to live with his wife and -his mother-in-law, whom he obeys. As for widows, they choose themselves -young husbands when they are rich. Among the Yerkalas of Southern -India, the maternal uncle has the right to claim for his sons the two -eldest daughters of his sister.<a id="FNanchor_1008" href="#Footnote_1008" class="fnanchor">[1008]</a> Among the Khasias, it is to the -son of the sister that the power of the Rajah is transmitted; but this -princess (<i>Kunwari</i>) has not the right to marry herself; she is -subject to reasons of state, and her husband is chosen by the assembled -people.<a id="FNanchor_1009" href="#Footnote_1009" class="fnanchor">[1009]</a> The Garos have established the rule, that in marriages -the right of initiative belongs to the woman; it is the young girl who -distinguishes the man of her choice, tells him so, and invites<span class="pagenum" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</span> him to -follow her. Any advance made by a man is considered as an insult to -all the clan (<i>mahari</i>) of the girl, and in order to expiate it, -libations of beer and sacrifices of pigs are required, all of them at -the expense of the <i>mahari</i> of the man. The marriage of the Garos -answers exactly to the ceremony of capture, only the actors change -parts; it is here the bridegroom who pretends to refuse the bride, -runs away and is conducted by force to his future wife amidst the -lamentations of his relations.<a id="FNanchor_1010" href="#Footnote_1010" class="fnanchor">[1010]</a> At the death of a man, among the -Garos, the widow remains mistress of the house, but the other property -passes to a collateral heir, who marries the widow and sometimes her -daughter also.</p> - -<p>If we were to confine ourselves to the consideration and interpretation -of these facts only, we might naturally conclude that the familial -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> of the aborigines of Bengal is maternal; but -contradictory facts are not wanting. Among the Bhuiyas, although -the demand in marriage is made by the girls, as with the Garos, the -sons receive the names of their male ascendants; the eldest son -takes the name of the grandfather; the second son takes that of the -great-grandfather, and the names of collaterals are given to the -other sons.<a id="FNanchor_1011" href="#Footnote_1011" class="fnanchor">[1011]</a> Among the Muasis, it is the father who negotiates -the marriage of his daughter, or who sells her, rather, for a certain -number of measures of rice solemnly measured and delivered.<a id="FNanchor_1012" href="#Footnote_1012" class="fnanchor">[1012]</a></p> - -<p>Among the Malers of Rajmahal, it is again the father who places his -daughter’s hand in that of her future husband and exhorts him to love -his wife.<a id="FNanchor_1013" href="#Footnote_1013" class="fnanchor">[1013]</a> The Kandhs have adopted succession in the masculine -line, with a division of property amongst the sons.<a id="FNanchor_1014" href="#Footnote_1014" class="fnanchor">[1014]</a> The servitude -of the women amongst the Korwas is very great; they are oppressed with -work, and till the fields and gain the daily bread, whilst the men -hunt or repose.<a id="FNanchor_1015" href="#Footnote_1015" class="fnanchor">[1015]</a> The Mishmis buy their wives, have as many as -they can procure, and own them like chattels, since at a man’s death -all his wives, except the mother of the heir, pass to the nearest male -relation.<a id="FNanchor_1016" href="#Footnote_1016" class="fnanchor">[1016]</a> Among the Mundas, after the decease of the father of -a family, the sons live together until the majority of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</span> youngest -of them; they then proceed to divide the property, including their -sisters, who are exactly assimilated to cattle.<a id="FNanchor_1017" href="#Footnote_1017" class="fnanchor">[1017]</a> The Oraons share -the widows amongst the brothers and cousins in the same way as the -Mundas share their sisters.<a id="FNanchor_1018" href="#Footnote_1018" class="fnanchor">[1018]</a></p> - -<p>We find, therefore, no uniformity in the familial organisation of the -Bengalese aborigines; and it is the same in regard to their exogamy -or endogamy. Exogamy is common. Thus the Juangas are divided into -exogamous tribes.<a id="FNanchor_1019" href="#Footnote_1019" class="fnanchor">[1019]</a> The Khonds think it humiliating to marry the -women of their own tribe. It is more manly, in their opinion, to -go and <em>take</em> a wife from a distant neighbourhood.<a id="FNanchor_1020" href="#Footnote_1020" class="fnanchor">[1020]</a> The -Munniporees are divided into four clans, who do not intermarry.<a id="FNanchor_1021" href="#Footnote_1021" class="fnanchor">[1021]</a> -Among the Santals, it is forbidden to men to marry in their own clan; -but their children belong to the paternal clan.<a id="FNanchor_1022" href="#Footnote_1022" class="fnanchor">[1022]</a> The Limboos -(near Darjeeling) are also exogamous, but evidently oscillate between -the maternal and paternal family; for the daughters remain in the -tribe or rather in the clan of their mother, whilst the sons belong -to the paternal clan, but only after the father has paid a certain -sum to the mother.<a id="FNanchor_1023" href="#Footnote_1023" class="fnanchor">[1023]</a> The Garos are divided into several clans or -<i>maharis</i>, and, amongst them, a man must not marry in his own -clan, but in another appointed clan, in which from time immemorial his -family has been accustomed to take wives.</p> - -<p>Other aborigines of Bengal are endogamous. Thus it is imperative for -the daughters of the Abors to marry in their own clan, or the sun and -moon would cease to shine.<a id="FNanchor_1024" href="#Footnote_1024" class="fnanchor">[1024]</a> According to Heber, the Karens of -Tenasserim are more than endogamous, for among them marriages between -brother and sister, father and daughter, are frequent enough in the -present day.<a id="FNanchor_1025" href="#Footnote_1025" class="fnanchor">[1025]</a></p> - -<p>What may we deduce from these contradictory facts? A general -conclusion, which I have expressed several times<span class="pagenum" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</span> over: namely, that in -what concerns the evolution of marriage and of the family, there is no -absolute law. Nevertheless, by reason of the familial and matrimonial -confusion usual in the greater number of primitive societies, maternal -filiation has been adopted more often than paternal, and has frequently -preceded it.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_77">VI. <i>The Couvade.</i></h3> - -<p>There is a custom, at first sight extraordinary but still common -enough, which must have arisen during transitional epochs, when, -polygamic or monogamic marriage having become established, the husbands -have exerted themselves to affirm their parental rights, and to -substitute masculine filiation for the ancient uterine filiation. In -the same way as in certain countries, Abyssinia,<a id="FNanchor_1026" href="#Footnote_1026" class="fnanchor">[1026]</a> for example, -in order to proclaim an adoption, the adoptive father simulates some -maternal practice, sometimes goes so far as to offer his breast -solemnly to his adoptive son, so, in very different countries, the -husband has found no better way to prove his paternity than to simulate -childbirth; and hence the very singular custom of the couvade.</p> - -<p>At first sight, it seems very foolish for the husband to take to his -bed immediately after the delivery of his wife, and for a certain -number of days to be nursed and tended by the mother herself.</p> - -<p>The existence of the custom has often been questioned. It will not be -out of place, therefore, to quote authentic facts which put all doubt -to silence. These facts are numerous enough, and have been observed in -various parts of the globe; in America, Asia, and Europe.</p> - -<p>In New Mexico, among the Lagunero and the Ahomana, when a woman is -delivered of a child, the father goes to bed for six or seven days, -and scrupulously abstains from eating fish or meat.<a id="FNanchor_1027" href="#Footnote_1027" class="fnanchor">[1027]</a> As soon as a -Carib became a father, he at once went to bed and simulated childbirth -by suitable cries and contortions; the women of the hamlet hastened -to his side and congratulated him on his happy delivery.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</span><a id="FNanchor_1028" href="#Footnote_1028" class="fnanchor">[1028]</a> The -Choctaw Redskins formerly had an analogous custom. Brett and Im Thurn -have observed this “lying-in” among the Indians of Guiana. The father, -Brett says, goes to his hammock quite naked, taking the most indecent -posture, and he remains there some days as if he were ill, receiving -the congratulations of his friends and tended by the women of the -neighbourhood, whilst the mother of the new-born infant goes about her -cooking without receiving any attention.<a id="FNanchor_1029" href="#Footnote_1029" class="fnanchor">[1029]</a></p> - -<p>The testimony of the Jesuit Dobritzhoffer, in regard to the Abipones, -is not less explicit: “Among the Abipones of South America,” he says, -“as soon as the wife has given birth to a child, the husband is put to -bed, and carefully tended; he fasts for a certain time. You would swear -that it is he who has just been delivered. I had formerly read of this -and smiled at it, not being able to credit such folly, and supposing -that this barbarous custom was related more as a joke than seriously, -but at last I have seen it with my own eyes amongst them.”<a id="FNanchor_1030" href="#Footnote_1030" class="fnanchor">[1030]</a> More -recent testimony confirms what I have just quoted. In 1842 M. Mazé, -Commissioner-General in French Guiana, himself proved the custom of -couvade among the Indian tribes on the river Oyapok. In 1852 M. Voisin, -justice of the peace in a commune of French Guiana, ascending in a -canoe the river Mana, received hospitality one night in the hut of some -Galibi Indians. On awaking he learned that during the night, and behind -a partition of foliage which separated his hammock from the household -of his hosts, a child had been born. The mother had uttered no sound, -and at daybreak M. Voisin saw her go to the river-side and make her -toilet, then take her new-born child and throw it several times into -the water, catching it as it rose to the surface, and then wiping it -with her hands. The husband, on the contrary, remained all the while -in his hammock, acting the invalid, and receiving with the greatest -seriousness the attention lavished on him by his wife.<a id="FNanchor_1031" href="#Footnote_1031" class="fnanchor">[1031]</a></p> - -<p>The couvade comedy is not always so complete. In certain tribes it is -attenuated, and becomes more symbolic.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</span></p> - -<p>Thus in California, when the mother is delivered, the father is content -to keep to the house and abstain from eating fish and meat.<a id="FNanchor_1032" href="#Footnote_1032" class="fnanchor">[1032]</a></p> - -<p>Among various tribes of South America the husband of the woman limits -the practice to a few hygienic precautions; this is the couvade reduced -to its simplest expression.<a id="FNanchor_1033" href="#Footnote_1033" class="fnanchor">[1033]</a></p> - -<p>This custom was found in Asia, among the Tartars, by Marco Polo. It -still exists in Bengal, among the Larkas, although attenuated; on -the occasion of a birth the parents quit the house, the wife and -husband are both declared unclean for eight days, and during that -time the husband cooks the food. After which the masculine filiation -of the child is proclaimed by solemnly giving him the name of his -grandfather.<a id="FNanchor_1034" href="#Footnote_1034" class="fnanchor">[1034]</a> We shall be mistaken if we imagine that the couvade -is special to very inferior races. The Greco-Roman writers have quoted -a certain number of examples observed among the barbarians of the -ancient world. Strabo relates that the Iberian women, after the example -of those of the Celts, Thracians, and Scythians, quit their beds as -soon as they are delivered, and give them up to their husbands, whom -they tend.<a id="FNanchor_1035" href="#Footnote_1035" class="fnanchor">[1035]</a> Diodorus tells us that in Corsica, after a woman -has given birth to a child, the husband goes to bed as if he were -ill, and he remains there an appointed number of days like a lying-in -woman.<a id="FNanchor_1036" href="#Footnote_1036" class="fnanchor">[1036]</a></p> - -<p>In his <i>Argonautica</i> Apollonius of Rhodes speaks of a people of -Tibarenedes, on the north-west coast of Asia Minor, who had the custom -of the couvade: “As soon as the married women are delivered, their -husbands groan, lie on beds, and cover their heads. All this time their -wives give them strengthening food, and prepare baths for them suitable -for lying-in women.”<a id="FNanchor_1037" href="#Footnote_1037" class="fnanchor">[1037]</a> It is probable that more than one trace of -this “lying-in” still exists in Europe, in superstitious and popular -practices. Quite recently a Russian has informed me that it is still in -use in the Baltic provinces, but naturally in a form of survival in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</span> -which the meaning is lost. It is, however, complete enough; the husband -goes to bed, utters groans and cries, and his neighbours hasten to his -side. And lastly, M. Léon Donnat told me lately that he had discovered -the couvade still practised in the little island of Marken, in the -Zuydersee.</p> - -<p>However strange it may be, a custom that is thus widely spread in -countries, races, and epochs extremely diverse must have had a serious -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">raison d’être</i>. It cannot be attributed to mere caprice.</p> - -<p>Now the only plausible explanation is that which gives to the couvade -the value of our registry of birth. Not, perhaps, all over the world, -but here and there, at the moment when the effort was being made -to found the paternal family, or at least to determine masculine -filiation, some very simple-minded tribes conceived the idea of -symbolising the share of the man in procreation by the gross mimicry -of childbirth. By this practice, so well calculated to strike the -attention, the father openly affirmed his paternity, and doubtless -acquired certain rights over the new-born child. Let us note that the -custom has been especially preserved among the American Indians, that -is to say, in a country where the system of the maternal family has -been, and still is, widely spread. The couvade probably represents -an effort to emerge from it. It shows that the man will no longer -share his wife or wives, that he claims to have children which are -certainly his own, and who will doubtless inherit his possessions. It -is, in short, a revolt of individualism against primitive communism. -The mimicry is gross and strange, but in a social condition where -there exists neither lawyer, nor mayor, nor register of civil acts, -testimonial proof is the great resource, and, in order to make it -sure and durable, men have willingly had recourse to striking and -complicated practices which are calculated to engrave the remembrance -of a fact on the memory of those present.</p> - -<p>The procedure of primitive Rome offers us many examples of the same -kind; and notably in the formalities of emancipation, when the Roman -father made, three times in succession, a simulation of selling his -son.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</span></p> - - -<h3 id="h3_78">VII. <i>The Primitive Family.</i></h3> - -<p>In the preceding pages I have collected together, with as much -exactitude as I could, all that we know of the familial clan and the -maternal family. It would be bold to assert that such have been the -primitive and always necessary forms of the family. It is indisputable, -however, that they are or have been very common in all countries and -in all races. But these are types of familial association already -regulated and complicated. Anterior to them there must have existed, in -the little human hordes, a complete anarchy, most often characterised -by the despotism of the strongest male, dominating a small flock of -women and children, who were meekly submissive to his caprices—in -fact, a sort of bestial patriarchate. Among thinly-scattered races, -without intelligence or industry, practical monogamy was established at -the very outset. We know that this was the case with the stupid Veddahs -of Ceylon, when they wandered in simple families in the virgin forests -of their island, incapable of constituting even the smallest horde. As -soon as men have grouped themselves in small societies, regulated even -in a slight degree, the familial clan with its confused kinship must -frequently have been constituted, but on plans which were necessarily -variable according to the conditions and exigencies of the social life. -All that was possible has surely been attempted; sometimes regulated -promiscuity, for each man claimed his rights, sometimes the mixed -polyandric and polygynic household, elsewhere simple polyandry, when -the women were scarce, and at other times monogamy.</p> - -<p>I repeat, all that was compatible with the maintenance of the little -social group must have been tried at first; and then selection assured -the permanent adoption of such or such a system. As soon as men began -to take note of descent, it was always uterine filiation that they held -in account; paternal descent was less evident, and less easy to prove; -it has been nearly everywhere the latest, and the widely-spread custom -of the couvade proves that it was not established without difficulty. -It has ended, however, by triumphing, all over the world, in the -states that are still<span class="pagenum" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</span> barbarous, but which have a complex social and -political structure, where the primitive tribal <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> has more -or less disappeared, and where a line of demarcation sufficiently -strong separates the interests of the individual from those of the -group to which he belongs. In short, the social transformation from -which the paternal family has arisen has nearly always coincided -with a radical change in the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> of property, which has -simultaneously become individual or, at least, familial.</p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_976" href="#FNanchor_976" class="label">[976]</a> Layland, <i>Journal of Ethnological Society</i>, 1869.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_977" href="#FNanchor_977" class="label">[977]</a> Bosman, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Voyage en Guinée</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 197.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_978" href="#FNanchor_978" class="label">[978]</a> Bowdich, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Observations sur le Gouvernement des -Achantis</i> (collection Walkenær, t. xii.).</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_979" href="#FNanchor_979" class="label">[979]</a> A. Giraud-Teulon, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Orig. de la Famille</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 216.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_980" href="#FNanchor_980" class="label">[980]</a> Herbert Spencer, <i>Sociology</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 340.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_981" href="#FNanchor_981" class="label">[981]</a> Burton, <i>Journey to the Great Lakes</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 37.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_982" href="#FNanchor_982" class="label">[982]</a> A. Giraud-Teulon, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 211.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_983" href="#FNanchor_983" class="label">[983]</a> L. Magyar, <i>Reisen in Süd-Africa</i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 256, 284.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_984" href="#FNanchor_984" class="label">[984]</a> Ch. Letourneau, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Bull. Soc. d’Anthrop.</i>, 1872.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_985" href="#FNanchor_985" class="label">[985]</a> Levaillant, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxiv. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -210.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_986" href="#FNanchor_986" class="label">[986]</a> R. and J. Lander, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des <abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr></i>, t. xxx. -<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 244.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_987" href="#FNanchor_987" class="label">[987]</a> Laing, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des Voyages</i>, t. xxviii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -106.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_988" href="#FNanchor_988" class="label">[988]</a> Burton, <i>First Footsteps</i>, etc., <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 420.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_989" href="#FNanchor_989" class="label">[989]</a> <i>Equatorial Africa.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_990" href="#FNanchor_990" class="label">[990]</a> Noël, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Bulletin de la Société de Géographie">Bull. Soc. de Geogr.</abbr></i>, t. xx. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 294 (quoted -by Giraud-Teulon).</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_991" href="#FNanchor_991" class="label">[991]</a> A. Giraud-Teulon, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Orig. de la Famille</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 209.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_992" href="#FNanchor_992" class="label">[992]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 208.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_993" href="#FNanchor_993" class="label">[993]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 248.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_994" href="#FNanchor_994" class="label">[994]</a> A. Giraud-Teulon, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Orig. de la Famille</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 233.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_995" href="#FNanchor_995" class="label">[995]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 232.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_996" href="#FNanchor_996" class="label">[996]</a> Diodorus, i. 27.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_997" href="#FNanchor_997" class="label">[997]</a> Herodotus, ii. 143.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_998" href="#FNanchor_998" class="label">[998]</a> <i>Id.</i>, i. 27.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_999" href="#FNanchor_999" class="label">[999]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lettres édifiantes</i>, t. iv. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 327 (<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Voyage en -Éthiopie du médecin, Ch. J. Poncet</i>, en 1698-1700).</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1000" href="#FNanchor_1000" class="label">[1000]</a> A. Giraud-Teulon, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Orig. de la Famille</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 258.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1001" href="#FNanchor_1001" class="label">[1001]</a> Surat, iv. 27.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1002" href="#FNanchor_1002" class="label">[1002]</a> Marsden, <i><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> of Sumatra</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 262.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1003" href="#FNanchor_1003" class="label">[1003]</a> A. Giraud-Teulon, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Orig. de la Famille</i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 199, -200, etc.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1004" href="#FNanchor_1004" class="label">[1004]</a> Marsden, <i><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> of Sumatra</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1005" href="#FNanchor_1005" class="label">[1005]</a> Wallace, <i>Malay Archipelago</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 169.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1006" href="#FNanchor_1006" class="label">[1006]</a> A. Giraud-Teulon, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 265.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1007" href="#FNanchor_1007" class="label">[1007]</a> Bachofen, <i>Antiq. Briefe</i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 216, 278 (quoted by -A. Giraud-Teulon, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 150, 154).</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1008" href="#FNanchor_1008" class="label">[1008]</a> Schortt, <i>Trans. Ethn. Soc.</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> vii. (New -Series).</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1009" href="#FNanchor_1009" class="label">[1009]</a> Dalton, <i>Ethnology of Bengal</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 54.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1010" href="#FNanchor_1010" class="label">[1010]</a> Dalton, <i>Ethnology of Bengal</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 63.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1011" href="#FNanchor_1011" class="label">[1011]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 142.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1012" href="#FNanchor_1012" class="label">[1012]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 233.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1013" href="#FNanchor_1013" class="label">[1013]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 273.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1014" href="#FNanchor_1014" class="label">[1014]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 294.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1015" href="#FNanchor_1015" class="label">[1015]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 226.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1016" href="#FNanchor_1016" class="label">[1016]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 16.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1017" href="#FNanchor_1017" class="label">[1017]</a> Dalton, <i>Ethnology of Bengal</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 200.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1018" href="#FNanchor_1018" class="label">[1018]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 272.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1019" href="#FNanchor_1019" class="label">[1019]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 158.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1020" href="#FNanchor_1020" class="label">[1020]</a> Macpherson, <i>Report on the Khonds.—Account of the -Religion of the Khonds in Orissa</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 57.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1021" href="#FNanchor_1021" class="label">[1021]</a> MacCulloch, <i>Account of the Valley of -Munniporees</i>, etc., <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 49, 69.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1022" href="#FNanchor_1022" class="label">[1022]</a> Hunter, <i>Annals of Rural Bengal</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 236.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1023" href="#FNanchor_1023" class="label">[1023]</a> A. Giraud-Teulon, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Orig. du Mariage</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 266.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1024" href="#FNanchor_1024" class="label">[1024]</a> Dalton, <i>Ethnology of Bengal</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 28.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1025" href="#FNanchor_1025" class="label">[1025]</a> Herbert Spencer, <i>Sociology</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 218.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1026" href="#FNanchor_1026" class="label">[1026]</a> D’Abbadie, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Douze ans dans la haute Éthiopie</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -272.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1027" href="#FNanchor_1027" class="label">[1027]</a> Bancroft, <i>Native Races</i>, etc., <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 585.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1028" href="#FNanchor_1028" class="label">[1028]</a> Du Tertre, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Histoire des Antilles</i> (1667), t. ii. -<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 371.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1029" href="#FNanchor_1029" class="label">[1029]</a> A. Giraud-Teulon, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Orig. du Mariage</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 138.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1030" href="#FNanchor_1030" class="label">[1030]</a> <i lang="es" xml:lang="es">Historia de Abiponibus</i> (1784), <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 231.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1031" href="#FNanchor_1031" class="label">[1031]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Bull. Soc. d’Anthrop.</i> (July 1884).</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1032" href="#FNanchor_1032" class="label">[1032]</a> Bancroft, <i>Native Races</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 412.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1033" href="#FNanchor_1033" class="label">[1033]</a> A. d’Orbigny, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">L’homme Américain</i>, t. i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 237.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1034" href="#FNanchor_1034" class="label">[1034]</a> Dalton, <i>Ethnology of Bengal</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 190.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1035" href="#FNanchor_1035" class="label">[1035]</a> Strabo, iii. 16.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1036" href="#FNanchor_1036" class="label">[1036]</a> Diodorus, v. 14.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1037" href="#FNanchor_1037" class="label">[1037]</a> <i>Argonautica</i>, ii.</p> - -</div> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX.<br /><br /><span class="small">THE FAMILY IN CIVILISED COUNTRIES.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>I. <i>The Family in China.</i>—Filiation in Japan—Traces of ancient -fraternal filiation in China—Fictitious kinship in China—The -patriarchate in China—The Chinese clan—The idea of the family in the -political organisation.</p> - -<p>II. <i>The Family among the Semitic Races.</i>—The primitive clan -among the Arabs—The primitive clan among the Hebrews—Laws of -inheritance among the Hebrews—The uterine sister and the german -sister—The maternal family in Phœnicia.</p> - -<p>III. <i>The Family among the Berbers.</i>—Meaning of the word -“Berber”—Maternal filiation among the ancient Berbers and -Touaregs—Traces of the ancient organisation of the clan among the -Kabyles—The actual patriarchate among the Kabyles—Categories of -heirs.</p> - -<p>IV. <i>The Family in Persia.</i>—No trace of the familial clan and of -exogamy—Incestuous endogamy—Marriage by rent in modern Persia—The -right of primogeniture.</p> - -<p>V. <i>The Family in India.</i>—The family in Vedic -India—The patriarchate in the Code of Manu—The right of -primogeniture—Paternity by suggestion—Traces of the familial clan -and of the maternal family in Tamil India and Ceylon.</p> - -<p>VI. <i>The Greco-Roman Family.</i>—The primitive -<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">gens</i>—Maternal filiation in Crete, in primitive Athens—Uterine -fraternity and german fraternity—Paternal filiation in the -<i>Orestes</i>—The <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Patria potestas</i> at Rome.</p> - -<p>VII. <i>The Family in Barbarous Europe.</i>—The Celtic -clan—Incestuous endogamy of the Irish—The Slav <i>mir</i>—Traces of -maternal filiation in Germany and among the Picts.</p> -</div> - - -<h3 id="h3_79">I. <i>The Family in China.</i></h3> - -<p>In order to study the family under the latest forms that it has -assumed, we must set aside all strict distinction of race. Doubtless -the white races have ended by excelling the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</span> others, and by attaining -a higher degree of moral, social, and intellectual development. -Nevertheless, the ethnic groups, belonging to the races classed -together <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">en bloc</i> as inferior, have emerged from savagery, and -formed large societies, which have been veritable training schools for -the men of their race.</p> - -<p>Now, in all the States which have succeeded in attaining some degree -of civilisation, the paternal family is the type that has been finally -adopted. It was thus in Peru, in Mexico, and even in ancient Egypt, -where King Philometor gave the finishing stroke to the maternal family -which had so long flourished in the valley of the Nile. With much more -reason in China, a country very civilised after its own fashion, an -analogous evolution must have been effected. Indeed, in China proper, -there are scarcely any traces of the maternal family left; but they are -still visible in Japan, whose civilisation has been entirely borrowed -from China.</p> - -<p>In Japan, as formerly among the Basques, filiation is subordinated to -the transmission of the patrimony whole and inalienated. It is to the -first-born, whether boy or girl, that the inheritance is transmitted, -and he or she is forbidden to abandon it. At the time of marriage -the husband or wife must take the name of the heir or heiress, who -marries and personifies the property. Filiation is therefore sometimes -maternal and sometimes paternal; but the maternal uncle still bears the -name of “second little father”; the paternal aunt is called “little -mother,” the paternal uncle is called “little father,” etc.<a id="FNanchor_1038" href="#Footnote_1038" class="fnanchor">[1038]</a> -Marriage between groups of brothers and other groups of sisters has -been common enough in primitive societies to enable us to see in this -familial nomenclature the traces of one of those ancient unions at once -monogamic and polygamic.</p> - -<p>In China the language itself attests the ancient existence of a -marriage contracted by a group of brothers having their wives in -common, but not marrying their sisters. A Chinaman always calls the -sons of his brother his “sons,” whilst he considers those of his sister -as his nephews;<a id="FNanchor_1039" href="#Footnote_1039" class="fnanchor">[1039]</a> but the virtual, or rather fictitious fathers, -brothers, and sons,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</span> are distinguished from the real fathers, brothers, -and sons, by the epithet “class” added to their appellation. Thus they -say, “class-father, class-son, class-brother”—that is to say, the -man who belongs to the class of the father, to that of the son, or to -that of the brother. It is therefore simply the American nomenclature -perfected.<a id="FNanchor_1040" href="#Footnote_1040" class="fnanchor">[1040]</a> We have previously seen that in China proper, not only -the paternal family, but the patriarchate, are rigorously established; -that woman is in extreme subjection, and always disinherited;<a id="FNanchor_1041" href="#Footnote_1041" class="fnanchor">[1041]</a> -but certain impediments to marriage can only relate to an ancient -familial organisation which has now disappeared. In all the vast -Chinese empire there are scarcely more than from one to two hundred -family names, and the Chinese call themselves the “people of a hundred -families.” Now in China all marriage between persons bearing the same -name is prohibited.<a id="FNanchor_1042" href="#Footnote_1042" class="fnanchor">[1042]</a> In certain villages every one has the same -family name; two or three thousand persons, for example, are called -“sheep,” “ox,” “horse,” etc., all of them appellations agreeing well -with clans having corresponding <i>totems</i>.<a id="FNanchor_1043" href="#Footnote_1043" class="fnanchor">[1043]</a> But however it -may have been in the past, at the present day masculine filiation is -well established in China, and nine degrees of kinship in the direct -line are distinguished, which an old Chinese author has enumerated -as follows:—“All men who come into the world have nine degrees of -kinship—namely, my own generation in the first place, then that of -my father, of my grandfather, and of the father and grandfather of my -grandfather. In a descending line come the generation of my son, that -of my grandson, then that of his son and his grandson. All the members -of one same generation are brothers to each other.”<a id="FNanchor_1044" href="#Footnote_1044" class="fnanchor">[1044]</a> Let us note -that this filiation, short as it is, is still associated with kinship -by classes.</p> - -<p>Doubtless these accounts, taken alone, would be insufficient, but -united with those which the study of the family<span class="pagenum" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</span> among the Australians, -the Redskins, the Tamils, etc., has furnished us with, they warrant us -in believing that the Chinese paternal family is the last term of an -evolution having for its starting-point the familial clan, and having -passed through the maternal family.</p> - -<p>Let us add, in conclusion, that the system of fictitious kinships is -reflected throughout the governmental organisation of China. In reality -the political structure of China is only an enlarged copy of the -family. The emperor is the reputed father and even mother of all the -empire. The mandarin who governs a town is the “father” of that town, -and he himself has for “governmental father” the mandarin of a superior -grade, whom he obeys.<a id="FNanchor_1045" href="#Footnote_1045" class="fnanchor">[1045]</a></p> - -<p>We shall now discover traces of a similar evolution of the family among -the Semites and Berbers.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_80">II. <i>The Family among Semitic Races.</i></h3> - -<p>When we read the word “patriarch” in our current literature, our -thoughts instantly fly to the chief of the ancient Semitic, and -especially the Hebraic family, the little tyrant holding grouped under -his despotic sway his wives, children, and slaves—that is to say, the -patriarchate in all its severity, with the power of life and death -attributed to the patriarch. But this Semitic patriarch has not existed -from the beginning; he is the result of a long anterior evolution, and, -like so many other peoples, the Semites have begun with the confused -kinship of the familial clan. We have previously found, in studying -primitive marriage among the Arabs, an ancient <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> of free -polyandry, analogous to that of the Naïrs. At this distant epoch the -woman still bore children for her clan, and this clan was so much like -a large family, that in the present day even, in certain parts of -Arabia, the word used for clan literally signifies “flesh.”<a id="FNanchor_1046" href="#Footnote_1046" class="fnanchor">[1046]</a> To be -of the same clan, therefore, was to be of the same flesh.</p> - -<p>It was in a relatively recent epoch that paternal filiation was -established among the Arabs. In the time of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</span> prophet the -prohibitions of marriage were still on the maternal side,<a id="FNanchor_1047" href="#Footnote_1047" class="fnanchor">[1047]</a> and -in all ages the collateral kinship with uncles and aunts has been -considered very close in Arabia.<a id="FNanchor_1048" href="#Footnote_1048" class="fnanchor">[1048]</a></p> - -<p>Among the Hebrews, individual property was instituted in very early -times, for it is alluded to in Genesis.<a id="FNanchor_1049" href="#Footnote_1049" class="fnanchor">[1049]</a> But various customs show -clearly the ancient existence of communal clans. Thus the inheritance, -especially the paternal inheritance, must remain in the clan. 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 not the inheritance of the children of Israel remove -from tribe to tribe; for every one of the children of Israel shall keep -himself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.”<a id="FNanchor_1050" href="#Footnote_1050" class="fnanchor">[1050]</a></p> - -<p>Moses instituted three classes of heirs: first the children, then the -agnates, and then the members of the clan or gentiles.<a id="FNanchor_1051" href="#Footnote_1051" class="fnanchor">[1051]</a> The Hebrew -father did not inherit from his son, nor the grandfather from his -grandson, which seems to indicate an ancient epoch, when the children -did not yet belong to the clan of their father.</p> - -<p>For a long time among the Hebrews the german sister was distinguished -from the uterine sister; the kinship with this last was considered much -closer. In primitive Judæa a man could marry the first, but not the -second. To the King of Egypt and to Abimelech, who reproached Abraham -for having passed Sarah off as his sister, the patriarch replies: -“For indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, -<em>but not the daughter of my mother</em>, and she became my wife.” -In the same way Tamar could become the wife of Amnon, for she was -only his paternal sister.<a id="FNanchor_1052" href="#Footnote_1052" class="fnanchor">[1052]</a> The father of Moses and Aaron married -his father’s sister, who was not legally his relation.<a id="FNanchor_1053" href="#Footnote_1053" class="fnanchor">[1053]</a> Abraham -himself could marry his paternal sister, and his brother Nabor took to -wife his fraternal niece, the daughter of his brother.<a id="FNanchor_1054" href="#Footnote_1054" class="fnanchor">[1054]</a> But by -degrees paternal kinship was recognised by the same title as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</span> maternal -kinship, and Leviticus advances as far as to expressly forbid marriage -with father’s sisters as well as with mother’s sisters,<a id="FNanchor_1055" href="#Footnote_1055" class="fnanchor">[1055]</a> “whether -they be born at home or abroad.” Doubtless all these indications have -their value; they are, however, only indications, and it is especially -in placing them by the side of similar facts observed amongst other -peoples where the existence of the maternal family and the familial -clan is indisputable, that we are inclined to accord to them the same -significance. In short, it is clear that the Hebrews early adopted -paternal filiation and the patriarchate.</p> - -<p>The memory of a distant epoch of confused kinship and of free sexual -unions had, however, remained in Semitic tradition. Sanchoniathon, -indeed, in his <i>History of Phœnicia</i>, says that the first men bore -the name of their mother, because then the women yielded themselves -without shame to the first comer.<a id="FNanchor_1056" href="#Footnote_1056" class="fnanchor">[1056]</a> Among the Berbers familial -evolution is much easier to follow than with the Semites, and its lower -phases are more evident.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_81">III. <i>The Family among the Berbers.</i></h3> - -<p>During late years the meaning of the word “Berber” has become -considerably widened. We are now inclined to consider as varieties of -the same very old race the men of Cro-Magnon, the ancient inhabitants -of the cave of Mentone, the ancient Vascons, the Cantabrians, Iberians, -Guanchos, Kabyles, Berbers, and Touaregs, etc. All these peoples are -thought to belong to one great human type, which we may call Berber, -and of which numerous representatives still exist. Anterior to all -Asiatic migration, and from the time of the stone age, this race seems -to have occupied the south of Gaul and Spain, the Canary Isles, and -Northern Africa. At the present day the most important epigonic groups -of the Berber race are the Kabyles and the Touaregs of the Sahara. -Several writers of antiquity have told us how the family of the ancient -Berbers was formerly instituted, and we know <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">de visu</i> what<span class="pagenum" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</span> it -is among contemporary Berbers. We are therefore able to give a rough -outline of it.</p> - -<p>The general characteristics of the Berber family seem to have been a -privileged position accorded to women and maternal filiation, with -tendencies even to the matriarchate. Speaking of the Cantabrians, -Strabo writes: “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 gynecocracy.”<a id="FNanchor_1057" href="#Footnote_1057" class="fnanchor">[1057]</a> The word gynecocracy is surely too strong. We -have here probably an account of a custom which still exists in Japan, -and which existed quite recently in Basque countries, that of leaving -to the first-born, whether boy or girl, the administration of the -inalienable patrimony of the family, and of obliging his or her wedded -partner to take the name and abode of the family. This is what M. le -Play has formerly called the family-stock; but this family-stock may, -and doubtless must, have co-existed primitively with maternal filiation.</p> - -<p>This last is still in force among the Touaregs of the Sahara, and I -have previously spoken of the great independence which their women -enjoy, and especially the rich and noble ladies. At Rhât, for example, -by inheritances and by the accumulation of productions, it has come to -pass that nearly the whole of the real property has fallen into the -hands of the women.<a id="FNanchor_1058" href="#Footnote_1058" class="fnanchor">[1058]</a> We know that in ancient Egypt, where the -Berbers were largely represented, the women also enjoyed a very similar -position. As a consequence of this <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i>, the rights and -pretensions of the Berber ladies have become so inconvenient for the -men, that many of them prefer to marry slaves.<a id="FNanchor_1059" href="#Footnote_1059" class="fnanchor">[1059]</a> The family among -the Touaregs will surely evolve, as it formerly did in Egypt, and as it -has done with the Kabyles, where the most rigorous patriarchate has at -length replaced the ancient maternal family. In Kabyle, however, traces -of the ancient organisation, anterior to Rome and to Islamism, still -exist. The Kabyle village has, in its tribe, a political personality -which strongly recalls the clan. Many customs, indeed, are evident -survivals of an ancient communal organisation. Thus, with the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</span> Kabyles, -mutual assistance between fellow-citizens is a strict duty. Even in -a foreign land the fellow-citizen must be helped, at the risk of all -interests and at the peril of one’s life. Whoever fails in this duty -incurs public contempt; he is even punished with a fine, and made -responsible for the losses suffered by the deserted compatriot. Even -the Kabyle of another tribe must, at need, be succoured, or his tribe -may bring a plaint before the <i>djemâa</i> of the tribe to which the -egoist belongs, and the latter is punished or reprimanded.</p> - -<p>In a Kabyle village, when an individual erects a building, he has -a right to the assistance of all the inhabitants. In the same -way the greater part of the field labour is performed by mutual -assistance.<a id="FNanchor_1060" href="#Footnote_1060" class="fnanchor">[1060]</a> But all this refers to the men; for women there -remains no trace either of the maternal family or of the more or less -serious advantages which it generally confers on wives and mothers. One -custom, however, and one only, still recalls ancient manners; this is -“the right of rebellion,” of which I have spoken elsewhere.</p> - -<p>We are acquainted with the date at which the last seal was placed on -the subjection of the Kabyle woman. It was only a hundred and twenty -years ago that the men refused henceforth a legal position to women in -the succession of males.<a id="FNanchor_1061" href="#Footnote_1061" class="fnanchor">[1061]</a> At present the Kabyle woman, whether -married or not, no longer inherits.<a id="FNanchor_1062" href="#Footnote_1062" class="fnanchor">[1062]</a></p> - -<p>The Kabyle <i>Kanouns</i> admit six categories of heirs: 1st, the -<i>açeb</i> or universal heirs—that is to say, all the male descent, -the direct line through males, and all the collaterals descending -through males of the paternal branch; 2nd, the ascendants through males -on the paternal side—the father, grandfather, and great-grandfather; -3rd, the uterine brother, heir to a legal portion; 4th, the master -and the freed man, <i>açeb</i> heirs of each other; 5th, the -<i>karouba</i>—that is to say, the community having its assembly of -major citizens, the <i>djemâa</i>, and being a civil personage;<a id="FNanchor_1063" href="#Footnote_1063" class="fnanchor">[1063]</a> -6th, the <i>ensemble</i> of the <i>karoubas</i>, constituting the -village. However, the collaterals<span class="pagenum" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</span> of all degrees may inherit in -default of ascendants and descendants.<a id="FNanchor_1064" href="#Footnote_1064" class="fnanchor">[1064]</a> In all this list there is -no mention of women.</p> - -<p>In fact, whatever property a Kabyle woman may have been able -laboriously to amass, it falls to the male descent, to the ascendants, -or to the husband, or to the collaterals in the paternal line. It is -only in default of this cloud of male heirs that the succession to the -property gained by a Kabyle woman devolves at last on her daughters, -or her mother or grandmother.<a id="FNanchor_1065" href="#Footnote_1065" class="fnanchor">[1065]</a> From all the preceding facts, and -in spite of gaps in our information, we may, however, suppose that in -the Berber world also the family has evolved in passing through three -degrees, which we have already found amongst various races, and which -are the communal clan, the maternal family, and the patriarchate.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_82">IV. <i>The Family in Persia.</i></h3> - -<p>This evolution seems therefore very common; it is a general fact, but -we are not yet warranted in calling it a law. Thus, as far as our -information goes, which it is true is not very complete, no trace of it -is to be found among the ancient Persians, with whom we will now begin -our interrogation of the Aryan races, from the point of view of their -familial organisation. If the familial clan with confused kinship has -ever existed in ancient Persia, it can only have been at an extremely -remote epoch; there is no trace of it in the <i>Avesta</i>. And more -than this, the most ancient accounts show us the patriarchal family, -in the Hebraic sense of the word, instituted among the Mazdeans: a -legitimate wife, purchased from her parents, and by the side of her a -greater or less number of concubines; and lastly, dominating all the -rest, the father of the family, having the right of life or death over -the wives and children.<a id="FNanchor_1066" href="#Footnote_1066" class="fnanchor">[1066]</a></p> - -<p>Not only does the clan not exist, but exogamy is replaced by the -most incestuous of endogamies. Thus Strabo relates that, following -a very ancient custom, the Magi might have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</span> commerce with their own -mothers.<a id="FNanchor_1067" href="#Footnote_1067" class="fnanchor">[1067]</a> According to Ctesias, marriage between mother and son -was a common thing in Persia, and this not from sudden passion, but -by deliberate proposal, “by false judgment.”<a id="FNanchor_1068" href="#Footnote_1068" class="fnanchor">[1068]</a> Lucian, on his -part, says expressly that marriage between brother and sister among -the Persians was perfectly legal. Indeed, in various passages of the -<i>Avesta</i>, consanguineous unions are recommended and praised.<a id="FNanchor_1069" href="#Footnote_1069" class="fnanchor">[1069]</a> -In the eyes of the Mazdeans, whose sacred code expressly forbade all -alliance with infidels, endogamy, even when excessive, was evidently -moral; and they encouraged it to such a degree as to approve of the -kind of incest which is regarded as the most criminal by nearly all -other peoples. Neither is there any trace of the matriarchate in -ancient Persia, unless we choose to see a vestige of it in the legend -according to which, in the time of the mythic monarchies, the eldest -daughter of the king had the right to choose her husband herself. -For this purpose all the young nobles of the country were assembled -together at a festival, and the princess signified her preference by -throwing an orange to the man who pleased her best.<a id="FNanchor_1070" href="#Footnote_1070" class="fnanchor">[1070]</a> I mention -this tradition that I may omit nothing, but it evidently constitutes a -most insignificant proof. Modern Persia, being Mahometan, has regulated -marriage and the family in accordance with the Koran. We find, however, -by the side of the perpetual marriage which only death or divorce can -dissolve, a form of conjugal union less solemn and more ephemeral, and -which is not generally recognised by law in countries even slightly -civilised. I speak of marriages for a term, or rather the hiring of a -wife for a time and for a fixed price. Unions of this kind are legal in -Persia. They are agreed on before the judge, and at the expiration of -the contract, or rather the lease, the interested parties may renew the -engagement if they think well. In a contrary case, the woman can only -contract another union of the same kind after a delay of forty days. If -before the expiration of the conjugal lease the man desires to break -it, he can do so, but only on condition of placing in the hands of the -woman the total<span class="pagenum" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</span> sum stipulated in the contract.<a id="FNanchor_1071" href="#Footnote_1071" class="fnanchor">[1071]</a> The offspring -of these temporary unions, or of any sort of union, are all equal -before the Persian law, which merely subjects them to the right of -primogeniture. At the death of the father, the eldest son, though born -of a slave mother, takes two-thirds of the succession. The remaining -third of the property is divided amongst the other children, but in -such a way that the share of the boys is half as large again as that -of the girls.<a id="FNanchor_1072" href="#Footnote_1072" class="fnanchor">[1072]</a> This right of primogeniture and these advantages -granted to boys exclude all idea of maternal filiation in the customs -of modern Persia, and we have seen that there was no trace of it in -ancient Persia; this race therefore seems not to have passed through -the phase of the maternal family, nor perhaps through that of the clan.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_83">V. <i>The Family in India.</i></h3> - -<p>In India, on the contrary, certain customs and traditions appear to be -true survivals, relating to an ancient organisation of exogamic clans -with maternal filiation. But of these old customs the sacred books -retain no trace. In Vedic India the family is already patriarchal, -since the husband is called <i>pati</i>, which signifies master; -but this Vedic family is of a most restricted kind. It is composed, -essentially and simply, at first of the husband and wife, who become -the father and the mother; then of the son and of the daughter, who -are mutually brother and sister. The grandparents belong to the -anterior family; the uncles and aunts are part of the collateral -families.<a id="FNanchor_1073" href="#Footnote_1073" class="fnanchor">[1073]</a> The Code of Manu is already less exclusive, for it -admits, as we shall see, a fictitious filiation; but it is still -patriarchal, and, according to Manu, the daughters occupy an entirely -subordinate position. It is a son and a chain of male descendants that -it is important to have; religion even makes it an obligation; for the -ancestors of any man who has not a son to perform in their honour the -sacrifice<span class="pagenum" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</span> to the manes, or the <i>Srâddha</i>, are excluded from the -celestial abode. It is necessary to have a son to “pay the debt of the -ancestors.” “By a son, a man gains heaven; by the son of a son, he -obtains immortality; by the son of this grandson, he rises to dwell -in the sun.”<a id="FNanchor_1074" href="#Footnote_1074" class="fnanchor">[1074]</a> The Code of Manu already proclaims the right of -primogeniture. It is by means of the eldest son that a man pays the -debt of the ancestors; it is therefore he who ought to have everything; -his obedient brothers will live under his guardianship, as they have -lived under that of the father,<a id="FNanchor_1075" href="#Footnote_1075" class="fnanchor">[1075]</a> on condition, however, that if -the sons are of different mothers, the mothers of the younger ones are -not of superior rank to that of the mother of the eldest son.<a id="FNanchor_1076" href="#Footnote_1076" class="fnanchor">[1076]</a> -The son of a brahmanee, for example, would not yield precedence to the -son of a <i>kchâtriya</i>: caste is always of the first consideration. -But the quality of son may be acquired otherwise than by community -of blood. Thus a husband may, as we have seen, have his sterile wife -fertilised by his younger brother. The child thus conceived is reputed -to be son of the husband; nevertheless, in the succession, he is given -the share of an uncle only, and not the double share to which he -would have had a right if he had been the real son<a id="FNanchor_1077" href="#Footnote_1077" class="fnanchor">[1077]</a> by flesh and -blood. If a man has the great misfortune to have only daughters, he -can obviate this by charging his daughter to bear him a son. For this -purpose, it suffices for him to say mentally to himself: “Let the male -child that she gives birth to become mine, and fulfil in my honour -the funeral ceremony.”<a id="FNanchor_1078" href="#Footnote_1078" class="fnanchor">[1078]</a> The son thus engendered by mental incest -and by suggestion, as we should say to-day, is perfectly authentic. -He is not a grandson, but a real and true son, and he inherits all -the fortune of his maternal grandfather, with the light charge on -it of offering two funeral cakes—one to his own father, his father -according to the flesh, the other to his maternal grandfather, or -father according to the spirit.<a id="FNanchor_1079" href="#Footnote_1079" class="fnanchor">[1079]</a> The law of Manu does not totally -disinherit daughters, but it cuts down their share considerably. -Under pain of degradation, brothers must give their sisters, but -only to their german sisters, the fourth of their share, to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</span> enable -them to marry.<a id="FNanchor_1080" href="#Footnote_1080" class="fnanchor">[1080]</a> Another verse<a id="FNanchor_1081" href="#Footnote_1081" class="fnanchor">[1081]</a> accords to the daughter the -inheritance of the maternal property, composed of what has been given -to the mother at her marriage. But to be capable of inheriting, this -daughter must still be celibate. In the contrary case, she merely -receives a present. In short, the whole Brahmanic code is based, in -what concerns the family, on masculine filiation and the patriarchate. -Nevertheless, customs that are kept up by the side of it, and doubtless -in spite of it, prove that in certain parts of India there must -formerly have existed exogamic clans and a system of maternal filiation.</p> - -<p>But it is important to remark that these survivals are, or were, met -with especially in Tamil districts, in Malabar or Ceylon, which were -in great measure colonised by Tamils. In certain small kingdoms of -Malabar, as late as the seventeenth century, the right of succession -was transmitted through the mother; a princess could also, if she -pleased, marry an inferior.<a id="FNanchor_1082" href="#Footnote_1082" class="fnanchor">[1082]</a> Custom still designated as brothers -to each other the children either of two brothers or two sisters, -but the children of the brother and of the sister were only german -cousins.<a id="FNanchor_1083" href="#Footnote_1083" class="fnanchor">[1083]</a> Certain families never made any partition, thus -preserving the custom of the ancient familial clan.<a id="FNanchor_1084" href="#Footnote_1084" class="fnanchor">[1084]</a> Wherever -feminine filiation prevailed, it was the sister’s son who succeeded -the defunct Rajah.<a id="FNanchor_1085" href="#Footnote_1085" class="fnanchor">[1085]</a> So also in the eastern part of Ceylon, the -property was transmitted to the sister’s son, to the exclusion of the -sons.<a id="FNanchor_1086" href="#Footnote_1086" class="fnanchor">[1086]</a> To conclude, I will mention the custom, also very widely -spread in India, of not marrying a woman of the same name.</p> - -<p>We must beware of exaggerating the value of these partial facts; they -permit us, however, to infer that in certain parts of India, and -especially among the Tamils, the family has at first been maternal, and -has slowly evolved from the primitive clan.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_84">VI. <i>The Greco-Roman Family.</i></h3> - -<p>The chief object of this book being to study the evolution of the -family and of marriage, I need not describe in detail<span class="pagenum" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</span> the Greco-Roman -family, which has, besides, served as a theme for so many writers. It -certainly appears, contrary to the opinion of the Romans themselves, -to have emerged tardily enough from the primitive clan or <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">gens</i>. -This Roman <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">gens</i> was composed, really or fictitiously, of -consanguine individuals, living under an elected chief, and having the -same name. The union of several <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">gentes</i> formed the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">curia</i> -or the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">phratry</i>. Grouped together, the phratries or curiæ -constituted <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">tribus</i>. And lastly, the assembly of the tribus -formed the nation: Rome or Athens.<a id="FNanchor_1087" href="#Footnote_1087" class="fnanchor">[1087]</a> It is therefore the clan, or -<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">gens</i>, and not the family, which has been at Rome, and at Athens -the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">cellule</i>, according to the fashionable expression, of ancient -society.</p> - -<p>At the dawn of history, these clans were already agnatic; they had -adopted paternal filiation, and each of them claimed a common masculine -ancestor; but the right of the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">gens</i> to the heritage, and in -certain cases the possession of an <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">ager publicus</i>, still proved -the antique community of property; and a number of indications and -traditions bore witness in favour of the existence of a prehistoric -phase of the maternal family, preceding agnation. Bachofen goes much -further, and not without a show of reason. He insists, for example, -that kinship in the Latin clan may at first have been confused. -He alleges, on this point, that in the time of Numa the word -<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">parricide</i> signified, not the murder of a father, but that of -a free man of some sort; that in the family tribunal the cognates of -the wife figured, and that the cognates wore mourning for each other; -that the cognates of the wife, and those of the husband of a wife, had -over her the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">jus osculi</i>, or the right of embracing her, etc.; -lastly, that the Etruscan Servius, the founder of plebeian liberty, was -conceived, says the legend, during a great annual festival, when the -people reverted to primitive sexual disorder.<a id="FNanchor_1088" href="#Footnote_1088" class="fnanchor">[1088]</a></p> - -<p>The Greek γένος resembled the Roman <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">gens</i>. Its members had -a common sepulture, common property, the mutual obligation of the -<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">vendetta</i>, and an archon.<a id="FNanchor_1089" href="#Footnote_1089" class="fnanchor">[1089]</a></p> - -<p>In the protohistoric clans of Greece maternal filiation was first -of all established. The Cretans said motherland<span class="pagenum" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</span> (μητρίς), and not -fatherland (πατρίς). In primitive Athens the women had the right of -voting, and their children bore their name—privileges which were taken -from them, says the legend, to appease the wrath of Neptune, after an -inundation.<a id="FNanchor_1090" href="#Footnote_1090" class="fnanchor">[1090]</a> Tradition also relates that at Athens, until the time -of Cecrops, children bore the name of their mother.<a id="FNanchor_1091" href="#Footnote_1091" class="fnanchor">[1091]</a></p> - -<p>Among the Lycians, says Herodotus, the matriarchate endured a long -time, and the children followed the status of their mother. Uterine -brothers were carefully distinguished from german brothers for a long -period in Greece; the former are called ὁμογάστριοι in Homer, and the -latter ὄπατροι; and uterine fraternity was regarded as much more close. -Lycaon, pleading with Achilles, says, in order to appease him, that he -is not the uterine brother of Hector.<a id="FNanchor_1092" href="#Footnote_1092" class="fnanchor">[1092]</a> At Athens and Sparta a man -could marry his father’s sister, but not his mother’s sister.<a id="FNanchor_1093" href="#Footnote_1093" class="fnanchor">[1093]</a> In -Etruria the funeral inscriptions in the Latin language make much more -frequent mention of the maternal than the paternal descent. Sometimes -they mention only the name of a child and that of his mother (Lars -Caius, son of Caulia, etc.); sometimes they indicate the father’s name -by simple initials, whilst that of the mother is written in full.<a id="FNanchor_1094" href="#Footnote_1094" class="fnanchor">[1094]</a></p> - -<p>As in so many other countries, the paternal family succeeded the -maternal family in the ancient world, but not without difficulty. To -begin with, the fact of marriage did not suffice alone to establish -paternal filiation; the declaration of the father was necessary, as -well in Greece as in Rome. In his <i>Oresteia</i>, Æschylus puts in -opposition before Minerva the old maternal right and the new paternal -right. The chorus of the Eumenides, representing the people, defends -the ancient customs; Apollo pleads for the innovators, 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 <em>what -is called her child</em>; she is only the nurse of the germ poured -into her womb; he who begets is the father. The woman receives the -germ merely<span class="pagenum" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</span> as guardian, and when it pleases the gods, she preserves -it.” 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; without a father, there could be no child.” These patriarchal -theories naturally consecrated the slavery of woman. The laws of Solon -still recognised the right of women to inherit, in default of paternal -relations of the male sex, to the fourth degree, but in the time of -Isæus the law refused to the mother any place among the heirs of her -son.<a id="FNanchor_1095" href="#Footnote_1095" class="fnanchor">[1095]</a></p> - -<p>In fact, throughout the historic period the Greco-Roman world is -patriarchal. In Greece and at Rome woman is despised, subjected, and -possessed like a thing; while the power of the father of the family is -enormous. It is especially so at Rome, where, nevertheless, the family -is not yet strictly consanguineous, for it includes the wife, children, -and slaves, and where agnation has for its basis the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">patria -potestas</i>. “All those are agnates who are under the same paternal -power, or who have been, or who could be, if their ancestor had lived -long enough to exercise his empire.... Wherever the paternal power -begins, there also begins kinship. Adoptive children are relations.... -A son emancipated by his father loses his rights of agnation.”<a id="FNanchor_1096" href="#Footnote_1096" class="fnanchor">[1096]</a> -At the commencement of Roman history, we see, therefore, clans, or -<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">gentes</i>, composed of families, of whom some are patrician—that -is, able to indicate their agnatic lineage—and the others plebeian. -The “justæ nuptiæ” are for the former; the latter unite without -ceremony, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">more ferarum</i>. The family is possessed by the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">pater -familias</i>; he is the king and priest of it, and becomes one of -its gods when his shade goes to dwell among the manes. In this last -case, the family simply changes masters; “the nearest agnate <em>takes -the family</em>,” says the law of the Twelve Tables. Something very -similar existed in Greece, for we have seen that at Athens the right of -marrying their sisters, left to brothers who were heirs, was not even -exhausted by a first marriage.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</span><a id="FNanchor_1097" href="#Footnote_1097" class="fnanchor">[1097]</a> The institution of individual, -or rather familial property, that of masculine filiation, and of -patriarchal monogamy, dismembered the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">gens</i>, which at length -became merely nominal. The law of the Twelve Tables, however, still -decides that the succession shall be vacant if, at the death of the -father, the nearest agnate refuses to “take the family,” and in default -of an agnate the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">gentiles</i> shall take the succession. The nominal -<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">gens</i> persisted for a long time in the ancient world; thus every -Roman patrician had three names—that of his <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">gens</i>, that of his -family, and his personal name.<a id="FNanchor_1098" href="#Footnote_1098" class="fnanchor">[1098]</a> At Athens, in the time of Solon, -the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">gens</i> still inherited when a man died without children.</p> - -<p>The long duration of Greco-Roman society enables us to follow the whole -evolution of the family in it. It would be going beyond the facts to -affirm the existence of a still confused consanguinity in the ancient -<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">gens</i>; but it seems very probable that this <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">gens</i> first -adopted the maternal and then the paternal family, which last became -somewhat modified, in the sense of the extension of feminine rights. -This extension was slow, and it was not till the time of Justinian that -equal shares were given to sons and daughters in succession, or even -that widows were entrusted with the care of their children.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_85">VII. <i>The Family in Barbarous Europe.</i></h3> - -<p>Organisation into clans more or less consanguineous, then into -phratries and tribes, seems natural in many primitive societies; and -outside the Greco-Roman world the barbarous populations of Europe had -all adopted it. In these clans, has kinship begun by being confused? -Has exogamy prevailed? On these particular points precise information -is wanting; doubtless evolution cannot everywhere have been uniform. -One thing is, however, certain, namely, that the Celtic populations -have preserved the institution of the clan much longer than any -others. In Wales and Ireland the clan was still the social unit; it -was responsible for the crimes of its members, paid the fines and -received the compensations. In Ireland, and surely elsewhere, there<span class="pagenum" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</span> -was an <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">ager publicus</i> allotted amongst the members of the clans. -Individualism prevailed in the end, as it did everywhere. A certain -portion of the common soil, reserved in usufruct for the chiefs, was -at last seized by them as individual property; but all the members -of a clan were reputed as of kin, and at a man’s death his land was -allotted by the chief amongst the other families of the clan or -<em>sept</em>.<a id="FNanchor_1099" href="#Footnote_1099" class="fnanchor">[1099]</a> These clans, however, were anything but exogamous, -if we may believe Strabo, who affirms that the ancient Irish, like -the Mazdeans, married, without distinction, their mothers and -sisters.<a id="FNanchor_1100" href="#Footnote_1100" class="fnanchor">[1100]</a> Irish marriage had in no way the strictness of the Roman -marriage; temporary unions were freely allowed, and customs having the -force of law safeguarded the rights of the wife.<a id="FNanchor_1101" href="#Footnote_1101" class="fnanchor">[1101]</a> Other European -barbarians, on the contrary, were exogamous, and prohibited under pain -of severe punishment, as whipping or drowning, marriage between members -of the same clan.<a id="FNanchor_1102" href="#Footnote_1102" class="fnanchor">[1102]</a> The <i>mir</i> of the southern Slavs may be -considered as a survival of these ancient barbarous clans, sometimes -endogamous, sometimes exogamous.</p> - -<p>In becoming subdivided into families, have these little primitive -clans adopted maternal filiation? This is possible; but when they came -in contact with the Roman world the greater number had already the -paternal family. Let us notice, however, that the Irish law, far from -subjecting the mother, accorded her a position equal to that of the -father.<a id="FNanchor_1103" href="#Footnote_1103" class="fnanchor">[1103]</a> Let us also recall the following passage of Tacitus<a id="FNanchor_1104" href="#Footnote_1104" class="fnanchor">[1104]</a> -<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">à propos</i> of the Germans: “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.” We may add to this that in Germany the mother could -be the guardian of her children;<a id="FNanchor_1105" href="#Footnote_1105" class="fnanchor">[1105]</a> that the Salic law, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">non -emendata</i>,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</span> admitted to the succession, in default of children, -the father and mother, the brothers and sisters, and then the sister -of the mother in preference to that of the father. Let us remember, -also, that in Slav communities women have a right to vote, and may be -elected to the government of the community;<a id="FNanchor_1106" href="#Footnote_1106" class="fnanchor">[1106]</a> but this is still a -long way off the matriarchate, or even uterine filiation. The Saxon law -(tit. vii.), the Burgundian law (tit. xlv.), and the German law (tit. -lvii. and xcii.) only admit women to the succession in default of male -ascendants; the law of the Angles prefers paternal agnates, even to the -fifth degree, before women.</p> - -<p>To sum up, there are only two precise testimonies that may be quoted -in favour of the ancient existence of maternal filiation among the -barbarians of Europe—that of Strabo, relating to the Iberians; and the -case of the Picts, amongst whom the lists of kings show that fathers -and sons had different names, and that brothers succeeded instead of -sons.<a id="FNanchor_1107" href="#Footnote_1107" class="fnanchor">[1107]</a> From this absence, or rather rarity, of proofs in favour of -the ancient existence of the maternal family among the barbarians of -Europe, must we conclude that it has never existed? Not at all; we can -only say that this ancient filiation is possible, and even probable, -but as yet insufficiently established.</p> - -<p>What cannot be disputed is, that always and everywhere peoples who are -in process of civilisation have adopted the paternal family, according -even excessive powers to the father of the family. What is probable -is, that in the majority of cases paternal filiation has succeeded to -maternal filiation and to more or less confused familial forms. Is -this paternal or even patriarchal family the final term of familial -evolution? Has evolution, never as yet arrested in its course, said its -last word in regard to marriage and the family?</p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1038" href="#FNanchor_1038" class="label">[1038]</a> Lubbock, <i>Orig. Civil.</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 177.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1039" href="#FNanchor_1039" class="label">[1039]</a> L. H. Morgan, <i>Systems of Consanguinity</i>, etc., in -<i>Smithsonian Contributions</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> xvii. <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 416, 417.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1040" href="#FNanchor_1040" class="label">[1040]</a> Morgan, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 422.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1041" href="#FNanchor_1041" class="label">[1041]</a> G. Eugène Simon, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La Famille Chinoise</i>, in -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Nouvelle Revue</i>, 1883.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1042" href="#FNanchor_1042" class="label">[1042]</a> Davis, <i>The Chinese</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 282.—Pauthier, -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Chine moderne</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 238.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1043" href="#FNanchor_1043" class="label">[1043]</a> A. Giraud-Teulon, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Orig. du Mariage</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 363.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1044" href="#FNanchor_1044" class="label">[1044]</a> L. Morgan, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 416, 425.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1045" href="#FNanchor_1045" class="label">[1045]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lettres édifiantes</i>, t. xv. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 164.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1046" href="#FNanchor_1046" class="label">[1046]</a> R. Smith, <i>Kinship</i>, etc., <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 148.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1047" href="#FNanchor_1047" class="label">[1047]</a> R. Smith, <i>Kinship</i>, etc., <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 147, 151.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1048" href="#FNanchor_1048" class="label">[1048]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 159.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1049" href="#FNanchor_1049" class="label">[1049]</a> Genesis, xxiii. 13.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1050" href="#FNanchor_1050" class="label">[1050]</a> Numbers, xxxvi. 4-8.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1051" href="#FNanchor_1051" class="label">[1051]</a> Numbers, xxxii. 8-11.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1052" href="#FNanchor_1052" class="label">[1052]</a> 2 Samuel, xiii. 16.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1053" href="#FNanchor_1053" class="label">[1053]</a> Exodus, vi. 20.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1054" href="#FNanchor_1054" class="label">[1054]</a> Genesis, xi. 26-29.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1055" href="#FNanchor_1055" class="label">[1055]</a> Leviticus, xviii. 9.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1056" href="#FNanchor_1056" class="label">[1056]</a> Eusebius of Cæsarea, <i>Preparation of Gospel</i>, i.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1057" href="#FNanchor_1057" class="label">[1057]</a> Strabo, iii. 18.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1058" href="#FNanchor_1058" class="label">[1058]</a> Duveyrier, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Touâreg du Nord</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 339.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1059" href="#FNanchor_1059" class="label">[1059]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1060" href="#FNanchor_1060" class="label">[1060]</a> Hanoteau et Letourneux, <i>Kabylie</i>, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 59.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1061" href="#FNanchor_1061" class="label">[1061]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i>, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 283.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1062" href="#FNanchor_1062" class="label">[1062]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 286.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1063" href="#FNanchor_1063" class="label">[1063]</a> E. Sabatier, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Essai sur l’origine des Berbères -sédentaires</i>, in <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Revue d’Anthropologie</i>, 1882.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1064" href="#FNanchor_1064" class="label">[1064]</a> Hanoteau et Letourneux, <i>Kabylie</i>, t. ii. <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 287, -288.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1065" href="#FNanchor_1065" class="label">[1065]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i>, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 297.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1066" href="#FNanchor_1066" class="label">[1066]</a> Dareste, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Sur l’ancien droit des Perses</i>, in -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Bull. de l’Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques</i>, 23rd -Oct. 1886.—Strabo, xv. 17.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1067" href="#FNanchor_1067" class="label">[1067]</a> Strabo, xv. 20.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1068" href="#FNanchor_1068" class="label">[1068]</a> <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Sancti Joannis Chrysostomi</i>, Op. i. 384, and x. -573.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1069" href="#FNanchor_1069" class="label">[1069]</a> A. Hovelacque, <i>Avesta</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 465.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1070" href="#FNanchor_1070" class="label">[1070]</a> L. Dubeux, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La Perse</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 262.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1071" href="#FNanchor_1071" class="label">[1071]</a> L. Dubeux, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La Perse</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 468.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1072" href="#FNanchor_1072" class="label">[1072]</a> Chardin, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> Univ. des Voyages</i>, t. xxxi. <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> -230, 236.—L. Dubeux, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 468.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1073" href="#FNanchor_1073" class="label">[1073]</a> E. Burnouf, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Essai sur le Véda</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 190.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1074" href="#FNanchor_1074" class="label">[1074]</a> <i>Code of Manu</i>, ix. 137.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1075" href="#FNanchor_1075" class="label">[1075]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 105, 106.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1076" href="#FNanchor_1076" class="label">[1076]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 125.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1077" href="#FNanchor_1077" class="label">[1077]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 120, 121.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1078" href="#FNanchor_1078" class="label">[1078]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 127.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1079" href="#FNanchor_1079" class="label">[1079]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 132.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1080" href="#FNanchor_1080" class="label">[1080]</a> <i>Code of Manu</i>, ix. 118.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1081" href="#FNanchor_1081" class="label">[1081]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 131.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1082" href="#FNanchor_1082" class="label">[1082]</a> <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lettres édifiantes</i>, t. xiv. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 387.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1083" href="#FNanchor_1083" class="label">[1083]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 320.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1084" href="#FNanchor_1084" class="label">[1084]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, t. xiv. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 396.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1085" href="#FNanchor_1085" class="label">[1085]</a> McLennan, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 189.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1086" href="#FNanchor_1086" class="label">[1086]</a> O. Sachot, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">l’Île de Ceylan</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 27.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1087" href="#FNanchor_1087" class="label">[1087]</a> L. Morgan, <i>Ancient Societies</i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 35, 67.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1088" href="#FNanchor_1088" class="label">[1088]</a> Giraud-Teulon, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 411.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1089" href="#FNanchor_1089" class="label">[1089]</a> Grote, <i><abbr title="Histoire">Hist.</abbr> of Greece</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> iii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 95.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1090" href="#FNanchor_1090" class="label">[1090]</a> A. Giraud-Teulon, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 289.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1091" href="#FNanchor_1091" class="label">[1091]</a> Varro, quoted by <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> Augustine, <i>City of God</i>, -<abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> xviii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 9.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1092" href="#FNanchor_1092" class="label">[1092]</a> McLennan, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 244.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1093" href="#FNanchor_1093" class="label">[1093]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 177, 275.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1094" href="#FNanchor_1094" class="label">[1094]</a> Ott. Müller and Bachofen (quoted by A. Giraud-Teulon, -<abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 283, 284).</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1095" href="#FNanchor_1095" class="label">[1095]</a> Morgan, <i>Ancient Societies</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 548.—McLennan, -<i>Primitive Marriage</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 255.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1096" href="#FNanchor_1096" class="label">[1096]</a> H. Maine, <i>Ancient Law</i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 141, 142.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1097" href="#FNanchor_1097" class="label">[1097]</a> Isæus, <i>Heritage of Menecles</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1098" href="#FNanchor_1098" class="label">[1098]</a> A. Giraud-Teulon, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 372.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1099" href="#FNanchor_1099" class="label">[1099]</a> H. Maine, <i>Early Institutions</i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 113, 116, 124.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1100" href="#FNanchor_1100" class="label">[1100]</a> Strabo, iv. 4.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1101" href="#FNanchor_1101" class="label">[1101]</a> H. Maine, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 76.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1102" href="#FNanchor_1102" class="label">[1102]</a> Bell, <i>Journal of a Residence in Circassia</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> -i. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 347.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1103" href="#FNanchor_1103" class="label">[1103]</a> H. Maine, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1104" href="#FNanchor_1104" class="label">[1104]</a> <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">De moribus Germanorum</i>, xx.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1105" href="#FNanchor_1105" class="label">[1105]</a> Laboulaye, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Recherches sur la condition civile et -politique des femmes</i>, etc., <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 166, 167.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1106" href="#FNanchor_1106" class="label">[1106]</a> A. Giraud-Teulon, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 41, 42.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1107" href="#FNanchor_1107" class="label">[1107]</a> McLennan, <i>Primitive Marriage</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 101.</p> - -</div> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX.<br /><br /><span class="small">MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY IN THE PAST, THE PRESENT, AND THE FUTURE.</span></h2> -</div> - - - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>I. <i>The Past.</i>—Sociology and evolution—Sociology and scientific -method—The biological reason of marriage and the family—Primitive -forms of marriage—Its evolution—Consanguineous primitive groups—The -evolution of the family—The stages of this evolution—From communism -to individualism—Advantages of the primitive clan—Polygamy and -statistics of births.</p> - -<p>II. <i>The Present.</i>—Present marriage in Europe—The dangers of -celibacy according to A. Bertillon—They marry who can—Imperfect -categories of celibates—Money and matrimony—Selection by -money—Marriages by purchase.</p> - -<p>III. <i>The Future.</i>—Prehistoric peoples still surviving—Progress -is the law of the world—The meaning of matrimonial and familial -evolution—Sociological rhythms—Future collective societies—The -family and society—Progress of conjugal discord—The marriage -of the future—Herbert Spencer and Montaigne—Slowness of social -evolutions—Conservatives and innovators—Nothing dies; everything is -renewed.</p> -</div> - - -<h3 id="h3_86">I. <i>The Past.</i></h3> - -<p>In the preceding chapters I have attempted to describe how men of all -countries and all races have more or less constituted and organised -their marriage and their family, and for this purpose I have patiently -classified a multitude of facts collected singly by an army of -observers.</p> - -<p>Moreover, in conformity with the method of evolution, and in order not -to neglect the most distant sources, I have prefaced my minute inquiry -into marriage and the family among men by an investigation of the same -kind in regard to animals. Man is neither a demi-god nor an angel; he -is a primate more intelligent than the others, and his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</span> relationship -with the neighbouring species of the animal kingdom is more strongly -shown in his psychic than in his anatomical traits.</p> - -<p>More than once, I fear, the accumulation of detailed facts which forms -the groundwork of this book may have fatigued my readers; but this is -the only condition on which it is possible to give a solid basis to -sociology. It is, in fact, nothing less than a matter of creating a -new science. We are scarcely beginning to be really acquainted with -mankind, to take a complete survey of it in time and space. Now this -would be quite impossible without the help of comparative ethnography. -We must regard the existing inferior races as survivals, as prehistoric -or protohistoric types that have persisted through long ages, and are -still on different steps of the ladder of progress; it is this view -alone which we shall find suggestive and enlightening; and it is in -strict correlation with the method of evolution, to which, indeed, it -owes its value.</p> - -<p>The innumerable dissertations on the history of marriage and of the -family which appeared previous to the rise of scientific method, have -necessarily been devoid of accuracy and especially of breadth of -thought. A thick veil concealed the real origin of these institutions; -religious legends, that had become venerable on account of their -antiquity, paralysed scientific investigation. To submit our social -institutions to the great law of evolution, by means of disagreeable -researches, was not to be tolerated by public opinion. In fact, if -marriage and the family have been constantly modified in the past, -we cannot maintain that these institutions will remain for ever -crystallised in their present state. Until this revolutionary idea had -taken root and become sufficiently acclimatised in public opinion, all -so-called social studies were scarcely more than empty lucubrations. -From time to time, no doubt, a few bold innovators, braving scoffs or -even martyrdom, have dared to construct theories of new societies; -but, being insufficiently informed, they could only create Utopias -contemned by the mass of the public. Scientific sociology builds -its edifice stone by stone; its duty is to bind the present to the -most distant past; its honour will lie in furnishing a solid basis -of operation to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</span> the innovators of the future; but this new branch -of human knowledge can only grow by submitting to the method of the -natural sciences. Before everything else, it is important to classify -the facts that have been observed. This course is imperative. It is -dry, and lends itself with difficulty to oratorical effusions, but no -other path can lead to the truth. My constant anxiety has been to be -faithful to it, and as an anthropologist I have especially borrowed -my materials from ethnography. Step by step, and following as much as -possible the hierarchic order of human races and of civilisations, I -have described the modes of marriage and of the family adopted by the -numerous varieties of the human type; I have endeavoured to note the -phases of their evolution, and to show how superior forms have evolved -from inferior ones. Now that I am at the end of my inquiry, it will be -well to sum up clearly its result.</p> - -<p>The prime cause of marriage and the family is purely biological; it is -the powerful instinct of reproduction, the condition of the duration -of species, and the origin of which is necessarily contemporaneous -with that of primal organisms, of protoplasmic monads, multiplying -themselves by unconscious scissiparity. By a slow specialisation -of organs and functions, in obedience to the laws of evolutionary -selection, various animal types have been created; and when they have -been provided with separate sexes and conscious nervous centres, -procreation has become a tyrannic need, driving males and females to -unite in order to fulfil the important function of reproduction.</p> - -<p>In this respect man is strictly assimilable to the other animals, and -with him as with them all the intoxication of love has for its initial -principle the elective affinity of two generating cellules of different -sex. So far, this is mere biology, but it results, among superior -animals, in sociological phenomena, in pairings which endure after the -satisfaction of procreative needs, and produce in outline some forms -of human marriage, or rather, of sexual union in humanity—namely, -promiscuity, polygamy, and even monogamy. Our most primitive ancestors, -our precursors, half men and half apes, have certainly had extremely -gross customs, which are still in great measure preserved among the -least developed races.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</span></p> - -<p>The study, however, of contemporary savage societies proves to us that -absolutely unbridled promiscuity, without rule or restraint, is very -rare even in inferior humanity. In exceptional cases, individuals -of both sexes may have abandoned themselves, of common accord, to -promiscuity, as did the Polynesian <i>areoïs</i>; but these instances -relate to acts of debauchery, and not to a regulated social condition -compatible with the maintenance of an ethnic group. The conjugal form -nearest to promiscuity is the collective marriage of clan to clan—as, -for example, that of the Kamilaroi, amongst whom all the men of one -clan are reputed brothers to each other, and at the same time husbands -of all the women of a neighbouring clan, reputed also sisters to each -other. Other varieties of sexual association are more common, and -may be arranged under the general heads of promiscuity, polygamy, -polyandry, and monogamy. We hear also of temporary unions, marriages -for a term, and partial marriages concluded at a debated price for -certain days of the week only, etc. Every possible experiment, -compatible with the duration of savage or barbarous societies, has -been tried, or is still practised, amongst various races, without the -least thought of the moral ideas generally prevailing in Europe, and -which our metaphysicians proclaim as innate and necessary. Having -elsewhere demonstrated at length the relativity of morality, I will -not go over the ground again, but will quote on this point some lines -of Montaigne:—“The laws of conscience, which we pretend to be derived -from nature, proceed from custom; every one having an inward veneration -for the opinions and manners approved and received amongst his own -people, cannot without very great reluctancy depart from them, nor -apply himself to them without applause.... The common fancies that we -find in repute everywhere about us, and infused into our mind with the -seed of our fathers, appear to be most universal and genuine. From -whence it comes to pass, that whatever is off the hinges of custom -is believed to be also off the hinges of reason.”<a id="FNanchor_1108" href="#Footnote_1108" class="fnanchor">[1108]</a> The partial -marriages of the Hassinyeh Arabs are surely off the hinges of our -custom; and it is the same with polyandry, which borders on these -partial marriages,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</span> but is much more widely spread. Like everything else, polyandric -marriage has evolved, from its most complete form, that of the Naïrs, -to the polyandry in use in Thibet, which already inclines towards -monandry and the paternal family. Primitive polyandry has easily arisen -from the marriage by classes practised by many savage clans; but most -often it is polygamy which has sprung from it. And the latter must -frequently have been established from the first in primitive hordes, -simply by the right of the strongest.</p> - -<p>Man may be monogamous in the very lowest degree of savagery and -stupidity; certain animals are so; but in humanity it is more often the -instinct of polygamy which predominates; and therefore, when in the -course of the progressive evolution of societies monogamy at length -became moral and legal, men have been careful to soften its rigour -by maintaining together with it concubinage and prostitution, and by -generally leaving to the husband the right of repudiation, which has -nearly always been refused to the wife. This injustice appeared quite -natural, for as the wife had usually been captured or bought, she was -considered as the property of the man, and held in strict subjection. -At length, in its last form, monogamic marriage, which had at first -been the association of a master and a slave, tended more and more to -become the union of two persons, living on a footing of equality.</p> - -<p>The family has undergone a similar evolution. Apart from a few -exceptional cases of precocious monogamy (Veddahs, Boshimans, etc.), -ethnography shows us the greater number of savage races living in -little consanguine groups, in which the kinship is still confused -and the solidarity strong. The degrees of consanguinity are not well -defined; real kinship is easily confounded with fictitious kinship, and -classes of relations are created, ranged under the same title, although -very differently united by ties of blood. The woman nearly always bears -children for her group, or clan, and this clan is very often exogamic; -this exogamy is practised from clan to clan, and only within the tribe. -There is no absolute rule, however, and it is not unusual to see -endogamy elbow exogamy.</p> - -<p>In the large and confused family of the clan, all the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</span> members of which -were bound together by a strict solidarity of interests and a real or -fictitious kinship, the restricted family became gradually established -by a reaction of individual interests. On account of the more or less -complete confusion of sexual unions, the first to become detached -from the consanguine clan was the maternal family, based on uterine -filiation, the only filiation capable of sure proof; but the great -association of all the members of the clan still existed. By the simple -fact of birth in this little ethnic group, the individual had rights to -the territory of the clan and his share in the common resources; his -clan were bound to give him aid, assistance, and, at need, vengeance -also. In proportion as the family assumed more distinct proportions -in the clan, it tended to become separate from it, and then, nearly -always, it was based not on maternal but on paternal filiation. This -did not come to pass in a day; it took a long time to arrive at the -point of attributing to such or such a man the ownership of one or -more women and their progeny. The ridiculous ceremonial of the couvade -was probably invented during this period of transition, when it was no -easy matter for a man to obtain the recognition of his paternal title -and rights by the other men of the clan. For a long time the maternal -family resisted the enthronisation of the paternal family, and here -and there it succeeded in maintaining its existence, and in serving as -a basis for the transmission of inheritance. For, whether paternal or -maternal, the institution of the family, when well consolidated, had -for its result the parcelling out of the possessions of the ancient -clans, and the creation of familial or individual property on the ruins -of the ancient common property. Finally, nothing more remained of the -clan, or <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">gens</i>, but the sign or <i>totem</i>, the name, and a -kinship, also nominal, between the various families that had come from -it.</p> - -<p>The system and the vocabulary of kinship were then renewed; to the -classificatory mode, grouping the relations by classes, without much -care as to consanguinity, has succeeded the descriptive mode, which -carefully specifies the degree of consanguinity of each person, and -distinguishes a direct line from collateral lines, and in which each -individual is the centre of a group of relations.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</span></p> - -<p>In a remarkable book, which has not yet had all the success it -deserves, Lewis Morgan believes he has recognised five stages in the -evolution of the family: 1st, the family is consanguineous—that is -to say, founded on the marriage of brothers and sisters of a group; -2nd, several brothers are the common husbands of their wives, who -are not sisters; 3rd, a man and woman unite, but without exclusive -cohabitation, and with faculty of divorce for one or the other; 4th, -then comes the pastoral family of the Hebrews, the marriage of one man -with several women; but this patriarchal form has not been universal; -5th, at last appeared the family of civilised societies, the most -modern, characterised by the exclusive cohabitation of one man and one -woman. Not taking this classification too literally, and reserving a -place for varieties and exceptions, we have here five stages which mark -tolerably well the evolution of the family in humanity.</p> - -<p>The moral direction of this slow transformation is evident; it proceeds -from a communism more or less extensive to individualism; from the -clan, where all is solidarity, to the family and the individual, having -their own interests, which are as distinct as possible from those -of other families and other individuals. Each one has endeavoured -to get for himself as large a share as possible of that which was -formerly held in common; each man has aimed at obtaining a more and -more exclusive right over property, wife, and children. From these -appetites, more economic than ethereal, have at length proceeded -the patriarchal family, monogamy, and familial property, and later, -individual property;<a id="FNanchor_1109" href="#Footnote_1109" class="fnanchor">[1109]</a> the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> of the family and that -of property have evolved in company. But this transformation has -been effected by extremely slow degrees; for a long time the new -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> bore the mark of the old one in certain rights reserved -to the clan, in certain prohibitions, in certain obligations, which -still imposed some solidarity on individuals—as, for example, the -legal injunction to help a man in peril, to hasten to the assistance -of a village plundered by robbers, the general duty of hospitality, -etc.—all of them precepts formulated by the codes of Egypt and India, -and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</span> still to be found in Kabylie, and which have disappeared from our -frankly individualistic, or rather egoistic, modern legislations.</p> - -<p>It is indisputable that this evolution has everywhere coincided with -a general progress in civilisation, and the advance has been sensibly -the same among the peoples of all races, on the sole condition that -they should have emerged from savagery. Everywhere, in the end, the -paternal family and monogamic marriage have become a sort of ideal to -which men have striven to conform their customs and institutions. It -has very naturally been concluded that these last forms of the family -and of conjugal union have an intrinsic sociologic superiority over the -others, that in all times and places they strengthen the ethnic group, -and create for it better conditions in its struggle for existence. But -this reasoning has nothing strict in it; civilisation is the result -of very complex influences, and if a certain social practice has been -adopted by inferior races, it does not logically follow that it is, -for that reason only, bad in itself. What seems indisputable is, that -man tends willingly towards individualism, and yields himself up to -it with joy as soon as that becomes possible to him, thanks to the -general progress of civilisation. At the origin of civilisations, in -a tribe of savages, surrounded with perils, and painfully struggling -for existence, a more or less strict solidarity is imperative; the -co-associates must necessarily form as it were a large family, in which -a more or less communal <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> is essential. The children, the -weak ones, and the women have more chance of surviving if in some -measure they belong to the entire clan; perpetual war soon cuts down a -great number of men; it is therefore necessary that their widows and -children should find support and protection without difficulty, and the -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> of the clan, with its wide and confused kinship, lends -itself better to this helpful fraternity than a strict distinction of -<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">tuum</i> and <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">meum</i> applied to property and persons. The same -may be said of patriarchal polygamy, which often flourished on the -ruins of the clan. For this <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> to become general, it is -necessary that, in the ethnic group, the proportion of the sexes should -be to the advantage of the feminine sex; in this case it is imperative, -and evidently becomes favourable to the maintenance<span class="pagenum" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</span> of the social -body; in fact it guarantees the women against desertion, augments the -number of births, and assures to the children the care of one or more -adoptive mothers, if the real mother happens to die. The opinion of -Herbert Spencer, who quite <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">à priori</i> attributes to monogamy a -diminution in the mortality of children,<a id="FNanchor_1110" href="#Footnote_1110" class="fnanchor">[1110]</a> is a most hazardous -one. By the last census taken in Algeria we learn, not without -surprise, that the increase in the indigenous Mussulman and polygamic -population was much superior to that of the most prolific of the -European monogamous states. Polygamy may therefore have its utilitarian -value, and this is the case as soon as it adapts itself to the general -conditions of social life.</p> - - -<h3 id="h3_87">II. <i>The Present.</i></h3> - -<p>It is many centuries since Europe adopted monogamic marriage as the -legal type of the sexual union. That there exists by the side of -regular marriage a considerable margin, in which are still found -nearly all the other forms of sexual association, we do not deny; but -in France, for example, two-thirds of the population live so entirely -under the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> of legal monogamy, that it would be evidently -superfluous to describe it here; it is, in substance, the Roman -marriage, the bonds of which Christianity has striven to lighten. In -the general opinion, marriage such as our laws and customs require it -to be, is the most perfect type possible of conjugal union; and this -current appreciation has not been a little strengthened by a learned -treatise, frequently quoted, and of which I cannot dispense with saying -a few words.</p> - -<p>In 1859, a justly celebrated demographer, whom I have the honour to -call friend, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Adolphe Bertillon, published a monograph on marriage, -which made a great sensation.<a id="FNanchor_1111" href="#Footnote_1111" class="fnanchor">[1111]</a></p> - -<p>This work, bristling with figures, scrupulously collected and strictly -accurate, proves or seems to prove that the celibate third of the -French population is, by reason of its celibacy, struck with decay, -and plays the part of an inferior<span class="pagenum" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</span> race by the side of the married -two-thirds. In comparative tables, which are extremely clear, A. -Bertillon follows step by step the different fates of the married and -unmarried, and he shows us that at every age the celibate population -is struck by a mortality nearly twice as great as the other; that its -births merely make up 45 per cent. of its annual losses; that it counts -every year twice as many cases of madness, twice as many suicides, -twice as many attempts on property, and twice as many murders and acts -of personal violence. Consequently, the State has to maintain for this -celibate population twice as many prisons, twice as many asylums and -hospitals, twice as many undertakers,<a id="FNanchor_1112" href="#Footnote_1112" class="fnanchor">[1112]</a> etc. These revelations, -absolutely true as raw results, caused a great commotion in the little -public specially occupied with demography and sociology. Their alarm -was soon calmed.</p> - -<p>From his interesting work A. Bertillon had drawn conclusions which were -very doubtful, taking surely the effect for the cause, by attributing -the inferiority of the celibate population solely to its celibacy. If -this be so, we have only to marry these weak ones in order to raise -them; but the superiority of the married population, which on the whole -is indisputable, does not necessarily imply the superiority of the -marriage state.</p> - -<p>It is in consequence of economic hindrances, and of physical or -psychical inferiority, that, in the greater number of cases, people -resign themselves to celibacy. Those who wish to marry cannot always -do so, and A. Bertillon knew better than any one that the number of -marriages, the age at marriage, the number of children by marriage, -etc., depend in the mass not on individual caprice, but on causes -altogether general. Setting aside money considerations—which are so -powerful, and to which I shall presently return—and confining our -calculation to persons of normal endowment, it is probable that there -is more energy, more moral and intellectual vitality, in those who -bravely face the risk of marriage than in the timid celibates; but it -is certain that the celibate population, taken as a whole, includes the -majority of the human waste of a country. At the time when A. Bertillon -wrote his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</span> learned treatise, in 1859, statistics prove the existence in -France of 370,018 infirm persons,<a id="FNanchor_1113" href="#Footnote_1113" class="fnanchor">[1113]</a> of whom the greater number were -evidently condemned to celibacy by the very fact of their infirmity. -On the other hand, it is probable that among the beggars, properly so -called, there is a large proportion of celibates, without counting the -infirm; now in 1847 there were 337,838 beggars in France.<a id="FNanchor_1114" href="#Footnote_1114" class="fnanchor">[1114]</a></p> - -<p>To these lists of unwilling celibates must be added, especially, the -virile population in the army, the mortality in which was, as we well -know, double that of the civil population. Now, on the 1st January -1852, the French army counted 354,960 men.<a id="FNanchor_1115" href="#Footnote_1115" class="fnanchor">[1115]</a> To these matrimonial -non-values, contributing a larger tithe to sickness and death, must -be further joined the celibates from religious vows. The census shows -52,885 of the latter. Without any ill-feeling towards the Catholic -clergy, we may be allowed to hold the opinion that the very fact of -a man’s vowing himself to celibacy—that is to say, of setting at -nought the desires of nature and the needs of the society of which -he forms a part—merely for metaphysical motives, often implies a -certain degree of mental inferiority. The special statistics of the -little ecclesiastical world are not published in France; but M. Duruy -having once had the happy thought of ascertaining from the judicial -pigeon-holes the number of crimes and misdemeanours committed by the -members of religious orders engaged in teaching, compared with those -of lay schoolmasters, during a period of thirty months, the result of -the inquiry showed that, proportionally to the number of schools, the -former were guilty of four times as many misdemeanours and twelve times -as many crimes as the latter.<a id="FNanchor_1116" href="#Footnote_1116" class="fnanchor">[1116]</a> Short as the period of observation -was, this enormous difference gives matter for reflection, although it -may not have the value of a law.</p> - -<p>But the principal causes which influence matrimony are the greater or -less facility of existence, and the extreme importance attached to -money. As a general rule, life and death tend to balance each other, -and the populations whose mortality is great have, as compensation, a -rich birthrate.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</span> We invariably see the number of marriages and births -increasing after a series of prosperous years, and <i>vice versâ</i>. -General causes have naturally a greater influence on the population -living from hand to mouth. The well-to-do classes escape this, and we -even find that the chances of marriage for the rich increase during -years of high prices.<a id="FNanchor_1117" href="#Footnote_1117" class="fnanchor">[1117]</a></p> - -<p>We can scarcely attribute to anything else but an excessive care for -money and a forethought pushed to timidity some very disquieting traits -in our marriage and birth rates in France. I will merely recall, by the -way, the continually decreasing excess of our births, which, if not -stopped by radical social reforms, can only end in our final decay.</p> - -<p>The fear of marriage and the family is the particular feature of -French matrimoniality. The desirable age for marriage, says A. -Bertillon,<a id="FNanchor_1118" href="#Footnote_1118" class="fnanchor">[1118]</a> is from twenty-two to twenty-five for men, and from -nineteen to twenty for women. In England more than half the marriages -for men (504 in 1000) and nearly two-thirds of those of women are -contracted before the age of twenty-five. Now, this is only the case -in France for 0.29, and in Belgium for 0.20 of the marriages. A -demographical phenomenon of the same kind is observed in Italy, where -only 232 men out of 1000 marry before the age of twenty-five.<a id="FNanchor_1119" href="#Footnote_1119" class="fnanchor">[1119]</a> -At Paris, where the struggle for existence is more severe, and where -the care for money is more predominant, late marriages abound, and -it is only above the age of forty for men and thirty-five for women -that the marriage rate equals, and even exceeds, that of the whole -of France;<a id="FNanchor_1120" href="#Footnote_1120" class="fnanchor">[1120]</a> it is self-evident that the result of this must be -a decrease in the total of births by marriage. Whether these facts -proceed from the growing difficulties of existence, or from a fear, -always augmenting also, of trouble and care, or from these two causes -combined and mutually strengthening each other, the consequence is -the same: marriages are becoming more and more simple commercial -transactions, from whence arises the worst and most shameful of -selections—selection by money. As a moral demographer, A. Bertillon -thunders against what he calls “the system of dower” more<span class="pagenum" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</span> peculiar -to the Latin races, since we get it from Rome, where recourse was -doubtless had to it in order to emancipate patrician women from strict -conjugal servitude. But the remedy has become an evil, and it is -surely to the love of the dowry rather than to “the beautiful eyes of -the casket” that must be attributed a whole list of true marriages -by purchase, much more common in our own country than elsewhere. -Sometimes it is old men who conjugally purchase young girls, and -sometimes old women who buy young husbands. I will especially notice -this last category of marriages by purchase. As regards them, France -is unworthily distinguished beyond other nations. In our tables of -statistics, for example, the proportionate number of marriages between -bachelors from eighteen to forty years and women of fifty and upwards, -is ten times greater than in England.<a id="FNanchor_1121" href="#Footnote_1121" class="fnanchor">[1121]</a></p> - - -<p class="center p0"><i>Marriages with Women of Fifty Years and upwards. (In a million -marriages.)</i></p> - -<table class="thin"> -<tr> -<th colspan="2" class="tdc"> -IN FRANCE. -</th> -<th colspan="2" class="tdc"> -IN ENGLAND. -</th> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc">Age of Bachelors. -</td> -<td class="tdc br">Number of Marriages. -</td> -<td class="tdc">Age of Bachelors. -</td> -<td class="tdc">Number of Marriages. -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> 18 to 20 years -</td> -<td class="tdr br"> -64 -</td> -<td class="tdl"> - 16 to 20 years</td> -<td class="tdr"> -0 -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> 20 ” 25 ” -</td> -<td class="tdr br">109 -</td> -<td class="tdl"> 20 ” 25 ”</td> -<td class="tdr">5 -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> 25 ” 30 ” -</td> -<td class="tdr br">151 -</td> -<td class="tdl"> 25 ” 30 ”</td> -<td class="tdr">12 -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> 30 ” 35 ” -</td> -<td class="tdr br">188 -</td> -<td class="tdl"> 30 ” 35 ”</td> -<td class="tdr">22 -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> 35 ” 40 ” -</td> -<td class="tdr br">257 -</td> -<td class="tdl"> 35 ” 40 ”</td> -<td class="tdr">40 -</td> -</tr> -<tr class="bt"> -<td class="tdl"> -</td> -<td class="tdr br"> -769 -</td> -<td class="tdl"></td> -<td class="tdr">79 -</td> -</tr> -</table> - -<p>We must remark, in comparing these tables, that the first group, -including the married men from eighteen to twenty years with women of -fifty and upwards, is unknown in England; and that the second group, -that of the married men of twenty to twenty-five years with women of -fifty years and upwards, is scarcely represented. The comparison is not -flattering for us. It is important to note, also, that these figures -only refer to first marriages. Tables of the same kind, showing the -marriages between young<span class="pagenum" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</span> girls and old men, or between aged widows and young men, would add to -our confusion, and bring to our thoughts the picturesque exclamation -which Shakespeare puts into the mouth of King Lear—“Fie! Fie! Fie! -Pah! Pah! Give me an ounce of civet, good apothecary, to sweeten my -imagination.”<a id="FNanchor_1122" href="#Footnote_1122" class="fnanchor">[1122]</a></p> - - -<p class="center p0"><i>Marriages with Men of Sixty Years and upwards.</i></p> - -<table class="thin"> -<tr> -<th colspan="2" class="tdc"> -IN FRANCE. -</th> -<th colspan="2" class="tdc"> -IN ENGLAND. -</th> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdc">Age of Girls. -</td> -<td class="tdc br">Number of Marriages. -</td> -<td class="tdc">Age of Girls. -</td> -<td class="tdc">Number of Marriages. -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> 15 to 20 years -</td> -<td class="tdr br"> -94 -</td> -<td class="tdl"> - 15 to 20 years</td> -<td class="tdr"> -2 -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> 20 ” 25 ” -</td> -<td class="tdr br">139 -</td> -<td class="tdl"> 20 ” 25 ”</td> -<td class="tdr">15 -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> 25 ” 30 ” -</td> -<td class="tdr br">176 -</td> -<td class="tdl"> 25 ” 30 ”</td> -<td class="tdr">32 -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> 30 ” 35 ” -</td> -<td class="tdr br">242 -</td> -<td class="tdl"> 30 ” 35 ”</td> -<td class="tdr">49 -</td> -</tr> -<tr class="bt"> -<td class="tdl"> -</td> -<td class="tdr br"> -651 -</td> -<td class="tdl"></td> -<td class="tdr">98 -</td> -</tr> -</table> - - - -<h3 id="h3_88">III. <i>The Future.</i></h3> - -<p>What will marriage and the family become in the future? For one who -is not a prophet by supernatural inspiration, it is hazardous to make -predictions. The future, nevertheless, is born from the womb of the -past, and, after having patiently scrutinised the evolution of bygone -ages, we may legitimately risk a few inductions with regard to the ages -to come. Doubtless the primitive forms of marriage and the family will -persist, if not for ever, as Herbert Spencer believes, at least for a -very long time among certain inferior races, protected and at the same -time oppressed by climates which the civilised man cannot brave with -impunity. These backward prehistoric races will continue to subsist in -unwholesome regions, as witnesses of a distant past, recalling to more -developed races their humble origin. But with these last the form of -marriage and of the family, which has incessantly been evolving, cannot -evidently remain immutable in the future. The little human world knows -no more repose than the cosmic environment from whence it has sprung, -and which encloses it. Among<span class="pagenum" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</span> peoples, as among individuals, vital -concurrence and selection do their work. Now, when it is a matter of -institutions so essentially vital as marriage and the family, the least -amelioration is of the highest importance; it has an influence on the -number and quality of fresh generations, and on the flesh and spirit of -peoples. All things being equal, the preponderance, whether pacific or -not, will always fall to the nations which produce the greatest number -of the most robust, most intelligent, and best citizens. These better -endowed nations will often absorb or replace the others, and always -in the long run will be docilely imitated by them. Ethnography and -history show us the true sense of evolution in the past. Societies have -constantly advanced from confusion to distinction. Monogamic marriage -has succeeded to various more confused modes of sexual association. -So also the family is the ultimate residuum of vast communities of -ill-defined relationships. In its turn, the family itself has become -restricted. At first it was still a sort of little clan; and then -it was reduced to be essentially no more than the very modest group -formed by the father, the mother, and the children. At the same time -the familial patrimony crumbled, just as that of the clan had been -previously parcelled out; it became individual. What is reserved for -us in the future? Will the family be reconstituted by a slow movement -of retrogression, as Herbert Spencer believes?<a id="FNanchor_1123" href="#Footnote_1123" class="fnanchor">[1123]</a> Nothing is less -probable.</p> - -<p>Institutions have this in common with rivers, that they do not easily -flow back towards their source. If they sometimes seem to retrograde, -it is generally a mere appearance, resulting from a sort of sociologic -rhythm. In truth, the end and the beginning may assume a superficial -analogy, masking a profound difference. Thus the unconscious atheism of -the Kaffirs has nothing in common with that of Lucretius, and nothing -can be less analogous than the anarchic equality of the Fuegians -and American individualism. If, as is probable, the individualist -evolution, already so long begun, continues in the future, the -civilised family—that is to say, the last collective unit of -societies—must again be disintegrated, and finally subsist no longer -except in genealogy scientifically registered with ever-increasing -care; for it is,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</span> and always will be, important to be able to prejudge -how “the voice of the ancestors” may speak in the individual. But even -from the crumbling of the family will result the reconstitution of a -larger collective unit, having common interests and resuscitating under -another form that solidarity without which no society can endure.</p> - -<p>But this new collectivity will in no way be copied from the primitive -clan. Whether it be called State, district, canton, or commune, its -government will be at once despotic and liberal; it will repress -everything that would be calculated to injure the community, but -in everything else it will endeavour to leave the most complete -independence to individuals. Our actual family circle is most often -very imperfect; so few families can give, or know how to give, a -healthy, physical, moral, and intellectual education to the child, -that in this domain large encroachments of the State, whether small or -great, are probable, even desirable. There is, in fact, a great social -interest before which the pretended rights of families must be effaced. -In order to prosper and live, it is necessary that the ethnic or social -unit should incessantly produce a sufficient number of individuals -well endowed in body, heart, and mind. Before this primordial need all -prejudices must yield, all egoistic interests must bend.</p> - -<p>But the family and marriage are closely connected; the former cannot be -modified so long as the latter remains unchanged. If the legal ties of -the family are stretched, while social ties are drawn closer, marriage -will have the same fortune. For a long time, more or less silently, a -slow work of disintegration has begun, and we see it accentuated every -day. Leaving aside morals, which are difficult to appreciate, let us -simply take the numerical results which statistics furnish us with in -regard to divorce and illegitimate births.</p> - -<p>In the five countries compared as follows, the increase of divorces has -been continuous and progressive during thirty years, and in France the -number has doubled.</p> - -<p>The number of illegitimate births followed simultaneously an analogous -progression. In France, during the period 1800-1805, it was 4.75 per -100; now, wrote M. Block in 1869, it has gradually risen to 7.25 per -100.<a id="FNanchor_1124" href="#Footnote_1124" class="fnanchor">[1124]</a> At the same<span class="pagenum" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</span> time, and as a consequence of this demographic -movement, the proportion of free unions has considerably increased.</p> - - -<p class="center p0"><span class="smcap">Increase of Divorces.</span><a id="FNanchor_1125" href="#Footnote_1125" class="fnanchor">[1125]</a></p> - -<p class="center p0"><i>The frequency of divorces in 1851-55 being 100, what has it become -during the following years?</i></p> - -<table class="autotable"> -<tr> -<th></th> -<th> -France.<br />Separations. -</th> -<th> -Saxony.<br />Divorces. -</th> -<th>Belgium.<br />Divorces. -</th> -<th>Holland.<br />Divorces. -</th> -<th>Sweden.<br />Divorces. -</th> -</tr> -<tr> -<td> -1851-55 -</td> -<td class="tdc"> -100 -</td> -<td class="tdc"> -100 -</td> -<td class="tdc">100 -</td> -<td class="tdc">100 -</td> -<td class="tdc">100 -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td> -1856-60 -</td> -<td class="tdc">128 -</td> -<td class="tdc">83 -</td> -<td class="tdc">140 -</td> -<td class="tdc">100 -</td> -<td class="tdc">98 -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td>1861-65 -</td> -<td class="tdc">150 -</td> -<td class="tdc">75 -</td> -<td class="tdc">160 -</td> -<td class="tdc">112 -</td> -<td class="tdc">109 -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td>1866-70 -</td> -<td class="tdc">190 -</td> -<td class="tdc">72 -</td> -<td class="tdc">190 -</td> -<td class="tdc">115 -</td> -<td class="tdc">113 -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td>1871-75 -</td> -<td class="tdc">163 -</td> -<td class="tdc">80 -</td> -<td class="tdc">280 -</td> -<td class="tdc">139 -</td> -<td class="tdc">132 -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td>1876-80 -</td> -<td class="tdc">225 -</td> -<td class="tdc">105 -</td> -<td class="tdc">420 -</td> -<td class="tdc">151 -</td> -<td class="tdc">161 -</td> -</tr> -</table> - -<p>A. Bertillon calculated this proportion for Paris at about a tenth. -But these results are simply the logical continuation of the evolution -of marriage. It is in the sense of an ever-increasing individual -liberty, especially for woman, that this evolution is being effected. -Between men and women the conjugal relations have at first been -nearly everywhere from masters to slaves; then marital despotism -became slowly attenuated, and at Rome, for example, where the gradual -metamorphosis may be traced during a long historic period, the power of -the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">paterfamilias</i>, which at first had no limit, at length became -curbed; the personality of the woman was more and more accentuated, and -the rigid marriage of the first centuries of the Republic was replaced -under the Empire by a sort of free union. Doubtless this movement -necessarily retrograded under the influence of Christianity; but, as -always happens in the logic of things, it has, nevertheless, resumed -its course; it will become more and more evident, and will surely pass -the point at which it stopped in imperial Rome.</p> - -<p>Monogamic marriage will continue to subsist; it is the last-comer, -and much the most worthy, and besides, the balance of the sexes makes -it almost a necessity; but it will have more and more equality in it, -and less and less of legal restraint. On this point I am glad to find -myself in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</span> accord with the most celebrated of modern sociologists, -Herbert Spencer, who is not very bold, however, on these delicate -points. “In primitive phases,” he says, “while permanent monogamy was -developing, union in the name of the law—that is, originally, the -act of purchase—was accounted the essential part of the marriage, -and union in the name of affection was not essential. In the present -day union in the name of the law is considered the most important, -and union by affection as less important. A time will come when union -by affection will be considered the most important, and union in the -name of the law the least important, and men will hold in reprobation -those conjugal unions in which union by affection is dissolved.”<a id="FNanchor_1126" href="#Footnote_1126" class="fnanchor">[1126]</a> -Montaigne once wrote: “We have thought to make our marriage tie -stronger by taking away all means of dissolving it; but the more we -have tightened the constraint, so much the more have we relaxed and -detracted from the bond of will and affection.”<a id="FNanchor_1127" href="#Footnote_1127" class="fnanchor">[1127]</a></p> - -<p>It is therefore probable that a future more or less distant will -inaugurate the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> of monogamic unions, freely contracted, -and, at need, freely dissolved by simple mutual consent, as is already -the case with divorces in various European countries—at Geneva, in -Belgium, in Roumania, etc., and with separation in Italy. In these -divorces of the future, the community will only intervene in order -to safeguard that which is of vital interest to it—the fate and -the education of the children. But this evolution in the manner -of understanding and practising marriage will operate slowly, for -it supposes an entire corresponding revolution in public opinion; -moreover, it requires as a corollary, profound modifications in -the social organism. The <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i> of liberty in marriage and -the disintegration of our actual familial type are only possible -on condition that the State or the district, in a great number of -cases, is ready to assume the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">rôle</i> of guardian and educator of -children; but, before it can take on itself these important functions, -it must have considerable resources at its disposal which to-day are -wanting. In our present <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">régime</i>, the family, however defective -it may be, still constitutes the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</span> safest, and almost the only shelter -for the child, and we cannot think of destroying this shelter before we -have constructed a larger and better one.</p> - -<p>Transformations so radical as these cannot evidently be wrought -instantaneously, by a mere change of view, after the fashion of -political revolutions. Nothing is more chimerical than to fear or -to hope for the sudden destruction of our actual forms of marriage, -of the family, and of property; but there is no doubt that all this -is tottering. The alarm and the lamentations of so many moralists, -both lay and religious, are not therefore without some foundation. -Societies have always evolved, but the rapidity of this evolution is -accelerating; it is, in some sort, proportionate to the square of the -time elapsed. I fear that in the eyes of our descendants we shall -appear slaves of routine, as our ancestors are in ours.</p> - -<p>For those who have not firmly rallied to the side of the great law -of progress, the future is full of terror. It has always been thus; -the apostles of progress have always had to overcome the resistance -of the sectaries of the past. From time immemorial, certain Dyak -tribes were accustomed to fell trees by chopping at the trunk with a -hatchet, perpendicularly to the fibres. One day some revolutionaries -proposed making V-shaped cuttings, in the European method. The Dyak -conservative party, inspired by the regard due to custom, were wroth at -this, and punished the innovators by a fine.<a id="FNanchor_1128" href="#Footnote_1128" class="fnanchor">[1128]</a> Nevertheless, I do -not doubt that the new method has triumphed in practice; it was found -advantageous. But this incident is, in miniature, the history of all -transformations, small or great.</p> - -<p>It is very certain that in societies where marriage by groups half -polyandric and half polygamic had been instituted for centuries, -the bold agitators who attempted to substitute individual union -were considered at first as dangerous revolutionaries, and those -who dismembered into families the communal clan only succeeded at -the cost of great difficulty and peril. Thus in the <i>Oresteia</i> -of Æschylus, of which I have spoken in the last chapter, the chorus -of the Eumenides gives voice to the protestations of public opinion -against the establishment of the paternal family in Greece.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</span> The -prospects which alarm the conservative spirits of to-day are, in truth, -but the last consequence of that ancient evolution. Statisticians -who are not evolutionists prove, without understanding it, that the -indissolubility of marriage becomes more and more intolerable for -individuals.<a id="FNanchor_1129" href="#Footnote_1129" class="fnanchor">[1129]</a>There is, as it were, a tide of discord continually -rising which renders conjugal stability more and more precarious. This -grievous state of things distresses, on the other hand, the moralists, -for neither do they see the reason of it. The surprise of the former is -not more justified than the lamentation of the latter. It is nothing -more than the future, which, with its habitual effrontery, persists in -rising out of the past. The faint-hearted cry to us that everything is -coming to an end. It is not so; on the contrary, everything is about to -be renewed. From the most distant stone age, the history of humanity -has only been a long series of regenerations. Far from mourning when -the world seems to be entering a period of fresh life, let us rather -rejoice and say again with Lucretius—</p> - -<p class="poetry p0" xml:lang="la" lang="la"> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“Cedit enim rerum novitate extrusa vetustas</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Semper et ex aliis aliud reparare necesse est.”</span><br /> -</p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1108" href="#FNanchor_1108" class="label">[1108]</a> Montaigne, <i>Essays</i>; <i>Custom</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1109" href="#FNanchor_1109" class="label">[1109]</a> A. Giraud-Teulon, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Orig. du Mariage</i>, etc., <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -428.—L. Morgan, <i>Ancient Societies</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 389.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1110" href="#FNanchor_1110" class="label">[1110]</a> <i>Sociology</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 304.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1111" href="#FNanchor_1111" class="label">[1111]</a> Article, “Mariage,” in the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Dictionnaire -encyclopédique des sciences médicales</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1112" href="#FNanchor_1112" class="label">[1112]</a> A. Bertillon, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1113" href="#FNanchor_1113" class="label">[1113]</a> M. Block, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Statistique de la France</i>, t. ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -55.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1114" href="#FNanchor_1114" class="label">[1114]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 298.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1115" href="#FNanchor_1115" class="label">[1115]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i> <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 506.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1116" href="#FNanchor_1116" class="label">[1116]</a> A. Bertillon, article “Mariage,” <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1117" href="#FNanchor_1117" class="label">[1117]</a> A. Bertillon, article “Mariage,” <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1118" href="#FNanchor_1118" class="label">[1118]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1119" href="#FNanchor_1119" class="label">[1119]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1120" href="#FNanchor_1120" class="label">[1120]</a> <i>Id.</i>, <i>ibid.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1121" href="#FNanchor_1121" class="label">[1121]</a> A. Bertillon, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1122" href="#FNanchor_1122" class="label">[1122]</a> <i>King Lear</i>, Act iv. Sc. 6.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1123" href="#FNanchor_1123" class="label">[1123]</a> <i>Sociology</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 418.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1124" href="#FNanchor_1124" class="label">[1124]</a> M. Block, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Europe politique et sociale</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 204.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1125" href="#FNanchor_1125" class="label">[1125]</a> J. Bertillon, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Étude démographique du divorce</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -61.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1126" href="#FNanchor_1126" class="label">[1126]</a> Herbert Spencer, <i>Sociology</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 410.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1127" href="#FNanchor_1127" class="label">[1127]</a> Montaigne, <i>Essays</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 15.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1128" href="#FNanchor_1128" class="label">[1128]</a> <i>Journal Ind. Archip.</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> ii. <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 54.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1129" href="#FNanchor_1129" class="label">[1129]</a> J. Bertillon, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="loco citato">loc. cit.</abbr></i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 61.</p> - -</div> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="INDEX">INDEX</h2> -</div> -<hr class="r5" /> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Abyssinia, The concubinate in, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Monogamy in, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Dissolute morals of women in, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Facility of divorce in, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Cicisbei in, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Divorce in, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Levirate by emasculation in, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Adoption in, <a href="#Page_316">316</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Abyssinian women, Licentious manners of, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Adoption among the Redskins, <a href="#Page_291">291</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Polynesia, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Abyssinia, <a href="#Page_316">316</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Adultery in the Middle Ages, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Of, in general, <a href="#Page_208">208</a></li> -<li class="isuba">considered as a theft, <a href="#Page_208">208</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Melanesia, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in New Caledonia, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in negro Africa, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Hottentots, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li> -<li class="isuba">at the Gaboon, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Bornou, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li> -<li class="isuba">at Kaarta, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Soulimas, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li> -<li class="isuba">at Youida, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Uganda, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Senegal, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Abyssinia, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Polynesia, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in New Zealand, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> -<li class="isuba">at Tahiti, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> -<li class="isuba">at Noukahiva, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in the American savage, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Esquimaux, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Redskins, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Omahas, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in South America, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in barbarous America, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in ancient Mexico, <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Peru, <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Guatemala, <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Mongols, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Thibet, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in China, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Japan, <a href="#Page_217">217</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Malaya, <a href="#Page_217">217</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Egypt, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Hebrews, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Arabs, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Kabyles, <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Persia and India, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in the Greco-Roman world, <a href="#Page_222">222</a></li> -<li class="isuba">at Sparta, <a href="#Page_222">222</a></li> -<li class="isuba">at Athens, <a href="#Page_223">223</a></li> -<li class="isuba">at Rome, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>-<a href="#Page_225">225</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Tcherkesses of the Caucasus, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in barbarous Europe, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the ancient Saxons, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Germans, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in feudal France, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The evolution of, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> -<li class="isuba">and Christianity, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Africa, The concubinate in middle, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Adultery in negro, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The family in, <a href="#Page_305">305</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Agathyrses, Promiscuity of the, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Akilisenus, Sacred prostitution in, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Amazons, The so-called age of, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Amblyornis inornata</i>, Love architecture of, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">America, Prostitution in central, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Concubinate in, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Familial clan in, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The family in, <a href="#Page_274">274</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Amorous combats of sticklebacks, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Analis crystellatus</i>, Amorous combats of, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Andamanites, Promiscuity of, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Prostitution of girls amongst the, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Animals, Love among, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Amorous preferences of, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Grossness of the male among, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Durable pairing among, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Marriage and the family among, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Matriarchate among, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Patriarchate among, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Divers types of sexual association among, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Marriage among, <a href="#Page_21">21</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</span></li> -<li class="isuba">Inferior, have not maternal love, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Various forms of sexual association among, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The family among, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Shortness of love for the young among, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Variation of the matrimonial type among, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Divers types of marriage among, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Ansarians, Religious promiscuity of, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Anses, Promiscuity of, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Anthropophagy, Familial, of the Redskins, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Ants, Originality of Republics of, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Workers, ancestral forms, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Arabs, Fraternal polyandry of the ancient, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Loan of wife among the, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Temporary marriages among, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Causes of polyandry of the, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Polyandry of ancient, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Infanticide of daughters among the ancient, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Caïs, legend of infanticide, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Community of wives among the, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Fraternal polyandry of the, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Term-marriage among the, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Patriarchal marriage among the, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Marriage by capture among the, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Polygamy of the, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Concubinate among the, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Adultery among the, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Repudiation among the, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Widowhood among the, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Areoïs in Polynesia, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Aryas, Polygamy among Vedic, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Infanticide among, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Aryomania, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Association, Singular forms of sexual, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Assyria, Concubinate in, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Athens, Dotal marriage in, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Prostitution at, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Adultery at, <a href="#Page_222">222</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Widowhood at, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Attica, Density of population in, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Australia, Licentious morals of young girls in, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Rape in, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Capture of women in, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Loan of wife in, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Familial clan in, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Communal marriage in, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Fraternity of clan in, <a href="#Page_271">271</a></li> -<li class="isuba"><i>Totem</i>, amongst the Kamilaroi of, <a href="#Page_273">273</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Communal marriage transitory in, <a href="#Page_273">273</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Maternal family in, <a href="#Page_274">274</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Australians, Law of amorous battle among the, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i>Avesta</i>, Marriage in the, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Avunculate, The, among the Naïrs, <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Babylon, Hetaïrism at, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Religious prostitution at, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Battas, Monogamic tendencies of, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Battle, Law of, among vertebrates, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Law of, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Amorous, among the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Analis cristellatus</i>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of blue herons, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of Canadian geese, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of gallinaceæ, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of grouse, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Tetras urogallus</i>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Tetras umbellus</i>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bees, Republic of, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Workers, ancestral forms, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Matriarchate of, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Death of Queen of, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Berbers, The family amongst, <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Meaning of the word, <a href="#Page_328">328</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The maternal family amongst, <a href="#Page_328">328</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Birds, Love amongst, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Æsthetic tournaments of, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Love dances of, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Love parades of, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Intentional love parades of, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> -<li class="isuba"><i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Cours d’amour</i> of, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Decorated nests of humming, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Preliminaries abridged with old, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Females of certain, stronger than males, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Males more ardent, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Amorous attempts of males of, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li> -<li class="isuba">more delicate in love than other vertebrates, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Amorous selection among the females of, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Monogamy among, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Fickle monogamy of certain, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Amorous fancies of certain, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The family amongst, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Absence of paternal love amongst certain males of, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Polygamous, often devoid of paternal love, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Paternal love developed among many, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Shortness of love for the young amongst, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Births, Sexual relation of, and marriage, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Sexual relation of, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bitches, Amorous preferences of, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Blackcock, Amorous battles of, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bochimans, Loan of woman among the, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Californian Indians, Promiscuity of, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Celibacy, Disadvantages of, according to A. Bertillon, <a href="#Page_349">349</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Celibates comprise the waste of the population, <a href="#Page_350">350</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Celts, Warlike rape among the, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Ceylon, Polyandry in, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Child marriages in Rome, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">China, Primitive promiscuity in, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Marriage by capture in, <a href="#Page_116">116</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</span></li> -<li class="isuba">Prostitution in, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Concubinate in, <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Monogamy in, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Marriage by purchase in, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Submission of woman in, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Adultery in, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Repudiation in, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Widowhood in, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Widowhood of brides in, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The family in, <a href="#Page_322">322</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Family nomenclature in, <a href="#Page_323">323</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Trace of fraternal marriage in, <a href="#Page_323">323</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Traces of familial clan in, <a href="#Page_324">324</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The paternal family in, <a href="#Page_324">324</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Fictitious kinship in, <a href="#Page_324">324</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Chlamydera maculata</i>, Love bowers of, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Chorda dorsalis</i>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Chromis paterfamilias</i>, Paternal love of, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Civilisation depraves certain birds, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Clan, Familial, in America, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Familial, in Australia, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Fraternity of, in Australia, <a href="#Page_271">271</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Exogamy of, among the Redskins, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Duties of, among the Redskins, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Common house of the, among the Redskins, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The, of the <i lang="es" xml:lang="es">Pueblos</i>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Communism in the Redskin, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The familial, and its evolution, <a href="#Page_285">285</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Redskins, <a href="#Page_285">285</a></li> -<li class="isuba">and the family, <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li> -<li class="isuba">“Social cellule,” <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Familial, and the family, <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Traces of the familial, in China, <a href="#Page_323">323</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Traces of communal, among the Hebrews, <a href="#Page_326">326</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Traces of ancient, among the Kabyles, <a href="#Page_328">328</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Not found in Persia, <a href="#Page_330">330</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Vestiges of ancient, in India, <a href="#Page_334">334</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Primitive, at Rome, <a href="#Page_334">334</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Primitive, in Greece, <a href="#Page_334">334</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Primitive, in Ireland, <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Clergy, The concubinate among ancient Catholic, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Clergymen, Sexual relation of births among, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Coemptio</i> at Rome, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Communism in the Redskin clan, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li> -<li class="isuba">From, to individualism, <a href="#Page_347">347</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Concubinage in general, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Concubinage and prostitution, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Various forms of, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Europe, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Absence of, in Kabylie, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Evolution of, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> -<li class="isuba">and morality, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Concubinate, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Hebrews, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Arabs, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in primitive Greece, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in modern Peru, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Livonia, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in middle Africa, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Abyssinia, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Central America, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in ancient Mexico, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Mongolia, <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in China, <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in ancient Assyria, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li> -<li class="isuba">at Mecca, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in ancient Persia, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Greece, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> -<li class="isuba">at Rome, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Catholic clergy, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Concubine bought by labour of wife among Zulus, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> -<li class="isuba">offered by wife at Fiji, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Confarreatio</i> at Rome, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Conjugation, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among algæ, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Conservation of species, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Coquetry among insects, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The law of, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among butterflies, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among fishes, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among vertebrates, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Couvade, <a href="#Page_316">316</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in New Mexico, <a href="#Page_316">316</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Redskins, <a href="#Page_317">317</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Abipones, <a href="#Page_317">317</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Galibis, <a href="#Page_317">317</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in California, <a href="#Page_318">318</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in South America, <a href="#Page_318">318</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Tartars, <a href="#Page_318">318</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Bengal, <a href="#Page_318">318</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Celts, <a href="#Page_318">318</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Thracians, <a href="#Page_318">318</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Scythians, <a href="#Page_318">318</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Corsica, <a href="#Page_318">318</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in the Tibarenede, <a href="#Page_318">318</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Europe of to-day, <a href="#Page_318">318</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Reason of the, <a href="#Page_319">319</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Crete, Sodomy in, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Culage, Droit de</i>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cynicism, Erotic, in India, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of the Massagetes, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Debauchery, Savage, and that of civilised peoples, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Decency, Rules of, among Redskins, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Defloration, Religious, in Cambodia, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Maternal, with the Saccalaves, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in India, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Divorce, Facility of, in Abyssinia, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in savage countries, <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Bongos, <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Soulimas, <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Fantees, <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Polynesia, <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in the Caroline Islands, <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Moxos, <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Abyssinia, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Arabs, <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in ancient Peru, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in lamaic Thibet, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Mongols, <a href="#Page_241">241</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Hebrews, <a href="#Page_242">242</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</span></li> -<li class="isuba">in Greece, <a href="#Page_243">243</a></li> -<li class="isuba">at Rome, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li> -<li class="isuba">and repudiation, <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among barbarous peoples, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li> -<li class="isuba">condemned by Christianity, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The evolution of, <a href="#Page_247">247</a></li> -<li class="isuba">and Christianity, <a href="#Page_247">247</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Germans, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the ancient Irish, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Modern, <a href="#Page_247">247</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Increase in number of, in Europe, <a href="#Page_357">357</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Dogs, Sexual coarseness of, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Dower and its results in France, <a href="#Page_352">352</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Duck, Love at first sight in a wild, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Egypt, Polygamy in, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Royal incest in, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Monogamy in ancient, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Pretended gynecocracy in ancient, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Adultery in, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The maternal family in, <a href="#Page_308">308</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The paternal family in, <a href="#Page_308">308</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Emasculation in Abyssinia, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Endogamy in New Zealand, <a href="#Page_294">294</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Bengal, <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Incestuous, in Persia, <a href="#Page_330">330</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Esquimaux, Licentious morals of, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Letting of wives among the, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Sodomy among the, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Marriage by capture among the, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Etruscans, The maternal family among the, <a href="#Page_336">336</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Europe, Increase of illegitimate births in, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Exogamy in Bengal, <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of the clan among the Redskins, <a href="#Page_276">276</a></li> -<li class="isuba">at Samoa, <a href="#Page_294">294</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Family, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Rôle</i> of the male in the animal, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Maternal, amongst the animals, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> -<li class="isuba">amongst the mammifers, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> -<li class="isuba">amongst the animals, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Maternal, amongst the Naïrs, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Maternal, at Rome, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Melanesia, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_335">335</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Origin of the, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Maternal, in Australia, <a href="#Page_274">274</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in America, <a href="#Page_274">274</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Maternal, among the Redskins, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Origin and evolution of the, <a href="#Page_284">284</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Maternal, and the matriarchate, <a href="#Page_282">282</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Omahas, <a href="#Page_287">287</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Redskins, <a href="#Page_287">287</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Iroquois Senecas, <a href="#Page_287">287</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Nomenclature of, among the Redskins, <a href="#Page_288">288</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Evolution of the, among the Redskins, <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Genesis of the paternal family among the, <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The paternal, among the Incas, <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Maternal, in Peru, <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Paternal, in Peru, <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Paternal, in Mexico, <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Polynesia, <a href="#Page_294">294</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Nomenclature of the, at Hawaii, <a href="#Page_295">295</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Genesis of the maternal, at Hawaii, <a href="#Page_295">295</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Genesis of the paternal, in Polynesia, <a href="#Page_295">295</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Mongols, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Tamils, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> -<li class="isuba">and the clan, <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The maternal, <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li> -<li class="isuba">and the familial clan, <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Genesis of the uterine, <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Africa, <a href="#Page_305">305</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The maternal, In Kaffirland, <a href="#Page_305">305</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Fantees, <a href="#Page_305">305</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in eastern Africa, <a href="#Page_306">306</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Nubians, <a href="#Page_307">307</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Egypt, <a href="#Page_307">307</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The paternal, in Dahomey, <a href="#Page_305">305</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The maternal, in Africa, <a href="#Page_305">305</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The maternal, in Madagascar, <a href="#Page_307">307</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The paternal, in Egypt, <a href="#Page_308">308</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Malaya, <a href="#Page_309">309</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Naïrs, <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the aborigines of Bengal, <a href="#Page_313">313</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The maternal, in Bengal, <a href="#Page_313">313</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The paternal, in Bengal, <a href="#Page_314">314</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The primitive, <a href="#Page_320">320</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in civilised countries, <a href="#Page_322">322</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in China, <a href="#Page_322">322</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Japan, <a href="#Page_323">323</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The paternal, in China, <a href="#Page_323">323</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Semites, <a href="#Page_325">325</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Traces of the maternal, among the Hebrews, <a href="#Page_326">326</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The maternal, in Phœnicia, <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Berbers, <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The maternal, among the Berbers, <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Persia, <a href="#Page_330">330</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in India, <a href="#Page_332">332</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The patriarchal, in Vedic India, <a href="#Page_332">332</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The maternal, in India, <a href="#Page_333">333</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The maternal, among the Tamils, <a href="#Page_334">334</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The Greco-Roman, <a href="#Page_334">334</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The maternal, in Greece, <a href="#Page_335">335</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The maternal, in Etruria, <a href="#Page_336">336</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Genesis of the paternal, in Greece, <a href="#Page_336">336</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Evolution of the, at Rome, <a href="#Page_347">347</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in barbarous Europe, <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The paternal, in barbarous Europe, <a href="#Page_339">339</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The maternal, in Germany, <a href="#Page_339">339</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in the past, present, and future, <a href="#Page_341">341</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in the past, <a href="#Page_341">341</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</span></li> -<li class="isuba">Stages of the, according to L. Morgan, <a href="#Page_347">347</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Actual state of the, <a href="#Page_349">349</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Father, The <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">potestas</i> of, at Rome, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fecundation, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among superior animals, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Feudality, Polyandric, in Malabar, <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Filiation, Maternal, among the Touaregs, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fishes, Paternal love in certain, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Coquetry in, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">France, Prostitution in mediæval, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Adultery in feudal, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Repudiation in feudal, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Late marriages in, <a href="#Page_352">352</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Malthusianism in, <a href="#Page_352">352</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Dowry and its results on marriage in, <a href="#Page_352">352</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Disproportionate marriages in, <a href="#Page_323">323</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Gallinaceæ, Amorous combats of, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Vertigo of love in, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Gasterosteus leiurus</i>, Paternal love of, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Gauls, Polygamy of, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Geese of Canada, Amorous battles of, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Generation by budding, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> -<li class="isuba">by division, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> -<li class="isuba">a product of nutrition, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among animals, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> -<li class="isuba">by ovulation, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> -<li class="isuba">by conjugation, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> -<li class="isuba">the aim of life, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in the cochineal, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Evolution of, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in the paramœcia, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Essential phenomenon of, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Gens</i> in Greece, <a href="#Page_335">335</a></li> -<li class="isuba">at Rome, <a href="#Page_334">334</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Germans, Polygamy of, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The maternal family among the, <a href="#Page_339">339</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The paternal family among the, <a href="#Page_339">339</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Laws of succession among the, <a href="#Page_339">339</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Marriage by purchase among the, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Subjection of women among the, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Adultery among the, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Repudiation among the, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Divorce among the, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Widowhood among the, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Girls, Prostitution of, among the Andamanites, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Prostitution of, in Polynesia, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> -<li class="isuba">married by the father in India, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Marriage of little, in India, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Gymnastic exercises of naked, in Sparta, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Marriage of little, at Rome, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Conjugal sale of little, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> -<li class="isuba">married by the grandmother at Boussa, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Free conjugal choice of, at Nicaragua, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Consent of the, in Mussulman marriage, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li> -<li class="isuba">How, inherit in India, <a href="#Page_334">334</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Greece, Loan of wife in ancient, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Sodomy in, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Marriage by capture in, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Concubinate in primitive, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Concubinate in, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Subjection of women in, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Hetaïræ in, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Subjection of women in, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Marriage in ancient, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Dotal marriage in, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Evolution of marriage in, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Adultery in, <a href="#Page_222">222</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Repudiation in, <a href="#Page_243">243</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Divorce in, <a href="#Page_243">243</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The primitive clan in, <a href="#Page_334">334</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The maternal family in, <a href="#Page_335">335</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">gens</i> in, <a href="#Page_335">335</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Genesis of the paternal family in, <a href="#Page_336">336</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Greeks, Promiscuity of the ancient, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Guaranis, Qualities exacted of the husband among the, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Gynecocracy according to Bachofen, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Pretended, in ancient Egypt, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Pretended, among the Touaregs, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Hawaii, Kinship by classes in, <a href="#Page_294">294</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Familial nomenclature at, <a href="#Page_295">295</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Genesis of the maternal family in, <a href="#Page_294">294</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hebrews, Concubinate among the, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Marriage among the, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Monogamy among the, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Virginity among the, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Levirate among the, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Adultery among the, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Divorce among the, <a href="#Page_242">242</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Repudiation among the, <a href="#Page_242">242</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Widowhood among the, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The levirate among the, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Laws of succession among the, <a href="#Page_326">326</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Traces of communal clans among the, <a href="#Page_326">326</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Herons, Amorous battles of blue, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hetaïræ in Greece, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hetaïrism, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> -<li class="isuba">No primitive, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> -<li class="isuba">at Babylon, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hiring out of wives in Polynesia, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Humming-birds, Decorated nests of, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Husbands, Brutality of, at Gaboon, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Jealousy of, unknown in Africa, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Duties of Mussulman, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Rights of punishment of Kabyle, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> -<li class="isuba"><i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Manus</i> of, at Rome, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst"><i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Icterus pecoris</i>, Promiscuity of the, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Immodesty, Primitive, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Immorality, Primitive sexual, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Incas, Polygamy of the, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Incest permitted among various American peoples, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> -<li class="isuba">permitted among the Karens, <a href="#Page_66">66</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</span></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Parthians, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in ancient Persia, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Scythians, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Royal, in Egypt, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of the Incas, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in ancient Ireland, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Royal, in Siam, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Bhootan, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Malagasies, <a href="#Page_309">309</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Horror of, in Kabylie, <a href="#Page_309">309</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">India, Primitive promiscuity in, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Religious prostitution in, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Marriage by capture in, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Polygamy in Brahmanic, <a href="#Page_151">151</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Prostitution in, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Polygamy among the aborigines of, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Monogamic tendencies in the aborigines of, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Repudiation in, <a href="#Page_242">242</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Widowhood in, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Mitigated monogamy in, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Inferiority of women in, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Daughter married by the father in, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Marriage by purchase in, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Prohibitions to marriage in, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Subjection of woman in, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Marriage of little girls in, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Adultery in, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The levirate in, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The family in, <a href="#Page_332">332</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The patriarchal family in Vedic, <a href="#Page_332">332</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The patriarchate in, <a href="#Page_332">332</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Primogeniture in, <a href="#Page_333">333</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Paternity by suggestion in, <a href="#Page_333">333</a></li> -<li class="isuba">How daughters inherit in, <a href="#Page_333">333</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The maternal family in, <a href="#Page_334">334</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Vestiges of ancient clans in, <a href="#Page_334">334</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Individualism has succeeded to communism, <a href="#Page_347">347</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Infanticide committed by male mammifers, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of girls among the ancient Arabs, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Legend of Caïs, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The paternal right of, in Polynesia, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Vedic Aryans, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Innovators, Fate of, <a href="#Page_359">359</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Insects, Maternal prescience of, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Coquetry amongst, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Ireland, The primitive clan in, <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Irish, Promiscuity of the ancient, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Incest among the ancient, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Temporary marriages among the, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Divorce among the ancient, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Japan, Prostitution of young girls in, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Prostitution in, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Marriage in, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Adultery in, <a href="#Page_217">217</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The maternal family in, <a href="#Page_322">322</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Familial nomenclature in, <a href="#Page_324">324</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Jews of Morocco, Temporary marriages among the, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Jus primæ noctis</i>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Religious, in Malabar, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Nasamons, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in the Balearic Isles, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Seignorial, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Cochin-China, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of parents and friends, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> - - -<li class="ifrst">Kabyles, Adultery amongst the, <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Repudiation amongst the, <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Right of insurrection of the wife, <a href="#Page_236">236</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Widowhood among the, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Horror of incest among the, <a href="#Page_309">309</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Traces of the clan among the, <a href="#Page_328">328</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Mutual assistance amongst the, <a href="#Page_329">329</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Disinheritance of the wife, <a href="#Page_329">329</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Laws of succession among the, <a href="#Page_329">329</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Kabylie, Marriage by purchase in, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Tariff of the woman in, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Essential condition of marriage in, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Loan of jewels to the wife in, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Subjection of the wife in, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Rights of correction of the husband in, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The wife a thing possessed in, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Fate of woman in, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Absence of concubinage in, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Kaffirs, Right of the chief among the, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Kamilaroi, Regulated promiscuity of the, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Marriage among the, <a href="#Page_271">271</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Kinship, Origin of ideas of, <a href="#Page_283">283</a></li> -<li class="isuba">by classes in the Hawaii Isles, <a href="#Page_294">294</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The evolution of, by classes, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Fictitious, in China, <a href="#Page_325">325</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Koran, The, and the inferiority of women, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Restrictions on polygamy in the, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Celestial polygamy in the, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Purchase of the wife in the, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Kurnai, Marriage among the, of Australia, <a href="#Page_273">273</a></li> - - -<li class="ifrst">Lark, Loves of, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Larva, The, is a survival, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Larvæ, Fertile, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Maternal love in sterile, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Law of amorous battle among the Australian women, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Levirate, The, among the Hebrews, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> -<li class="isuba">and widowhood, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Malaya, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in New Caledonia, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Redskins, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Mongols, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Afghans, <a href="#Page_263">263</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</span></li> -<li class="isuba">in India, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Hebrews, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Abyssinia, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Loan of the wife among savages, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Redskins, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Arabs, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in antique Greece, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in antique Rome, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Australia, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Bushmen, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Love, The snare of, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li> -<li class="isuba">according to Haeckel, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> -<li class="isuba">and rut, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> -<li class="isuba">according to Schopenhauer, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> -<li class="isuba">and pairing, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> -<li class="isuba">according to Imitation of Christ, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in insects, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in birds, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in the lark, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> -<li class="isuba">dances of birds, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> -<li class="isuba">parades of <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Tetras phasaniellus</i>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> -<li class="isuba">parades of birds, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Intentional, parades of birds, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> -<li class="isuba">courts of birds, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> -<li class="isuba">bowers of <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Chlamydera maculata</i>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> -<li class="isuba">house of the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Amblyornis inornata</i>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> -<li class="isuba">tourneys of nightingales, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> -<li class="isuba">songs of weaver birds, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The instinct of, is not blind, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Choice in, among animals, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Selection in, among females, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Selection in, among female birds, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Exclusive, of bitches, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Essential identity of, with animals and man, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Maternal, wanting in lower animals, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Maternal, in spiders, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Paternal, wanting in spiders, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Biological reason of maternal, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Maternal, in the sterile larvæ, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Paternal, in certain fishes, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Paternal, of Chinese <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Macropus</i>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Paternal, of <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Chromis paterfamilias</i>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Paternal, of the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Gasterosteus leiurus</i>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Paternal, of toads, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Paternal, in the <i>Pipa</i>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Maternal, in reptiles, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Vertigo of, in gallinaceæ, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> -<li class="isuba">at first sight in a wild duck, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Passion of, analogous in animal and man, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Paternal, absent in certain male birds, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Paternal, wanting in polygamous birds, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Paternal, developed in many birds, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Paternal and maternal, is brief in duration with birds, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Conjugal, in female chimpanzees,<a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst"><i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Macropus</i>, Chinese, paternal love of, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Madagascar, The maternal family in, <a href="#Page_307">307</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Incest in, <a href="#Page_309">309</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Mahomet, Conjugal freedom of, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li> -<li class="isuba">and the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">debitum conjugale</i>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Malagasies, Civil marriage among the, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Malaya, Adultery in, <a href="#Page_217">217</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The levirate in, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The family in, <a href="#Page_309">309</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Marriage by purchase in, <a href="#Page_310">310</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Malays of Sumatra, Three modes of marriage with the, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Male, Part of the, in the animal family, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Malthusianism, Natural, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in France, <a href="#Page_352">352</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Mammals, Marriage among, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Marriage and the family among, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Promiscuity in the, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> -<li class="isuba">No polyandry in the, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Polygamous societies of, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Conjugal devotion of females of, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Male infanticides amongst, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Man, The taxonomic place of, <a href="#Page_2">2</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Grandeur and inferiority of, <a href="#Page_2">2</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Real place of, <a href="#Page_2">2</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Origin of, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Manus, The, of husband at Rome, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Marquette, Right of, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Marriage, Biological origin of, <a href="#Page_1">1</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Object of, <a href="#Page_2">2</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among animals, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among mammals, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Various types of, among animals, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Primitive evolution of, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Strange forms of, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> -<li class="isuba">a simple pairing with many savages, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Experimental, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Experimental, in Canada, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Experimental, among the Otomies, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Experimental, among the Sonthals, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Experimental, among the Tartars, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Experimental, at Ceylon, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Temporary, among the Jews of Morocco, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Temporary, among the Tapyres, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Free, at Noukahiva, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Free, among the Hottentots, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Free, in Abyssinia, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Partial, of the Hassinyehs, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Temporary, in Persia, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Temporary, among the Arabs, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li> -<li class="isuba">the right of the strongest among many savage peoples, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li> -<li class="isuba">and the sexual proportion of births, <a href="#Page_73">73</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</span></li> -<li class="isuba">Initiation into, by the Naïrs, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Term, <i>mot’a</i>, with the Arabs, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Patriarchal, with the Arabs, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li> -<li class="isuba">by capture, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> -<li class="isuba">by capture in India, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> -<li class="isuba">by capture, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> -<li class="isuba">by capture among the Esquimaux, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> -<li class="isuba">by capture among the Redskins, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Kamstchatdales, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Kalmucks, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Tannganses, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Turcomans, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the aborigines of Bengal, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in New Zealand, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Arabia, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Java, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Bœotians, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> -<li class="isuba">at Sparta, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> -<li class="isuba">at Rome, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Circassia, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Wales, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Slavs, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> -<li class="isuba">by capture, Signification of, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> -<li class="isuba">by purchase at Fiji, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> -<li class="isuba">by purchase of servitude, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Premature, by girls in New Caledonia, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Hottentots, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Ashantee, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Polynesia, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in South America, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in India, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in ancient Italy, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Premature, of little boys among the Reddies, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Russia, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of deceased children among the Tartars, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> -<li class="isuba">by servitude, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Redskins, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Central America, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the aborigines of Bengal, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Hebrews, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li> -<li class="isuba">by purchase, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Hottentots, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Kaffirs, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Central Africa, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> -<li class="isuba">at Sackatoo, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> -<li class="isuba">at Kouranko, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Polynesia, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Redskins, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in California, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in New Mexico, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Central America, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Guaranis, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Mongols, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Turcomans, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in China, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the aborigines of India, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Arabs, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Afghans, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Brahmanic India, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Scandinavians, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Germans, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in primitive Greece, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> -<li class="isuba">at Rome, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> -<li class="isuba">by capture in China, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> -<li class="isuba">by <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">usus</i> at Rome, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Dotal, at Athens, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Dotal, at Rome, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> -<li class="isuba">by coemption at Rome, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> -<li class="isuba">by confarreation at Rome, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> -<li class="isuba">State, among the Bongos, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> -<li class="isuba">by purchase, Signification of, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Civil, with the Malagasies, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Mussulman and laic, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li> -<li class="isuba">by purchase with the Mussulmans, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Mussulman, is a contract of sale, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Virginity in the Mussulman, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Consent of girl in Mussulman, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li> -<li class="isuba"><i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Debitum conjugale</i> in Mussulman, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Marital rights in Mussulman, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> -<li class="isuba">by purchase in Kabylie, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Essential condition of Kabyle, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Free, at Paris, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The form of, and civilisation, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Civil, in Thibet, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> -<li class="isuba">by purchase in China, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Japan, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Hebrew, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in ancient India and Persia, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in the <i>Avesta</i>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> -<li class="isuba">by purchase in India, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Prohibitions of, in India, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in ancient Greece, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> -<li class="isuba">obligatory at Sparta, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Dotal, in Greece, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in ancient Rome, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Evolution of, in Greece, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> -<li class="isuba">by <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">confarreatio</i> at Rome, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> -<li class="isuba">by <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">coemptio</i> at Rome, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> -<li class="isuba">by <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">usus</i> at Rome, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Dotal, at Rome, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The evolution of, at Rome, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Barbarous and Christian, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li> -<li class="isuba">by purchase with the Germans, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Christian, <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Free, at Hayti, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Temporary, among the Irish, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Communal, in Australia, <a href="#Page_270">270</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Communal, transitory in Australia, <a href="#Page_273">273</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Redskins, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Incestuous, with the Redskins, <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Three sorts of, at Sumatra, <a href="#Page_309">309</a></li> -<li class="isuba">by purchase in Malaya, <a href="#Page_309">309</a></li> -<li class="isuba">by purchase in Bengal, <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Traces of fraternal, in China, <a href="#Page_323">323</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Term, in Persia, <a href="#Page_331">331</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in the past, present, and future, <a href="#Page_341">341</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Influence of money on the frequency of, <a href="#Page_351">351</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The age of election of, <a href="#Page_352">352</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Late, in France, <a href="#Page_352">352</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Disproportionate in France, <a href="#Page_353">353</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The future of, <a href="#Page_354">354</a></li> -<li class="isuba">by affection in the future, <a href="#Page_358">358</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</span></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Matriarchate in animals, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in bees, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> -<li class="isuba">and the maternal family, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Pecuniary, of the Touareg women, <a href="#Page_328">328</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Mecca, The concubinate in, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Melanesia, Adultery in, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The family in, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Menstruation and ovulation, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Mexico, Polygamy of the great in, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Monogamy of the people in, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The concubinate in ancient, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Monogamy in, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The paternal family in, <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Adultery in, <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Modesty, Genesis of, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Mongols, Polygamy of the, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The concubinate among the, <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Monogamy among the, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Adultery among the, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Repudiation among the, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Divorce among the, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The family among the, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Monkeys, Polygamy of certain, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Monogamy in certain, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Polygamy of anthropomorphous, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Monogamy of, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Conjugal love of females amongst, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Monogamy of golden woodpeckers, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of the Illinois parrot, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of rapacious animals, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of anthropomorphous apes, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of certain apes, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Polynesia, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> -<li class="isuba">dawning among the Battas, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> -<li class="isuba">dawning among the Redskins, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li> -<li class="isuba">dawning among the aborigines of India, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Proletarian, obligatory in Peru, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of the populace in Mexico, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Primitive, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of inferior races, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Causes of, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Ideal of, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Central America, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Administrative, in Peru, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Mexico, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in ancient Egypt, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of the Touaregs and Abyssinians, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Mongols, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Thibet, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in China, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> -<li class="isuba">and civilisation, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Hebraic and Aryan, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of superior races, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Hebrew, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Ideal, and in reality, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li> -<li class="isuba">mitigated in India, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in the future, <a href="#Page_357">357</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Advantages of, according to A. Bertillon, <a href="#Page_349">349</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Montaigne, Origin of laws of conscience according to, <a href="#Page_349">349</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Morality, Variability of, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li> -<li class="isuba">various amongst birds, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Morgan, L., Stages of the family according to, <a href="#Page_347">347</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Moses and rape in war, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i>Mumbo Jumbo</i>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Naïrs, Polyandry of, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Initiation in marriage among the, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The maternal family among the, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The avuncular family among the, <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The family among the, <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Rational polyandry of the, <a href="#Page_312">312</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Namaquois, Promiscuity of chiefs of the, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Natality, unregulated, among fishes, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Nature, the personification of natural forces, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Absence of design in, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i>Nefir</i>, The, among the Djebel-Taggalé, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i>Nemesia Eleonora</i>, Rearing of young with the, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Nests, Decorated, of humming-birds, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">New Caledonia, Sodomy in, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Adultery in, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The levirate in, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Nightingale, Amorous song of, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Noces, justes</i>, at Rome, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Nutrition the basis of generation, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li> - - -<li class="ifrst">Omahas, The family amongst the, <a href="#Page_287">287</a></li> - - -<li class="ifrst">Paramœcia, Generation in the, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Parents, The power of, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Right of propriety of, over children, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Paris, Free marriages at, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Parrot, Conjugal fidelity of Illinois, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Paterfamilias</i> at Rome, <a href="#Page_333">333</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Paternity by suggestion in India, <a href="#Page_333">333</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Patria Potestas</i> at Rome, <a href="#Page_337">337</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Patriarchate among the animals, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Semitic, <a href="#Page_325">325</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in India, <a href="#Page_332">332</a></li> -<li class="isuba">at Rome, <a href="#Page_337">337</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Persia, Incest in ancient, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Polygamy in ancient, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The concubinate in ancient, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Adultery in, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The family in, <a href="#Page_330">330</a></li> -<li class="isuba">No clans in, <a href="#Page_330">330</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Incestuous endogamy in, <a href="#Page_330">330</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Term-marriage in, <a href="#Page_331">331</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Laws of succession in, <a href="#Page_332">332</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Peru, Sodomy in, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Proletarian monogamy obligatory in, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Concubinage in, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Administrative monogamy in, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Adultery in, <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Divorce in ancient, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The paternal family among the Incas of, <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Pigeons, Maternal love in, <a href="#Page_30">30</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</span></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i>Pipa</i>, Paternal love in, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Polyandry does not exist in mammals, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Fraternal, of the ancient Arabs, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li> -<li class="isuba">and the sexual proportion of births, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> -<li class="isuba">and infanticide of girls, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> -<li class="isuba">and sale of girls, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> -<li class="isuba">has not been general, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The ethnography of, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of the ancient Britons, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of the Arabs, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of the Guanches, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of the New Zealanders, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of the Marquesas Islanders, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in America, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of the aborigines of India, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of the Hindoos, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> -<li class="isuba">at Ceylon, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Fraternal, in Thibet, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Todas, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of the Naïrs, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of Thibet and of Naïrs, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in ancient Arabia, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Causes of Arab, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Fraternal, in Arabia, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in general, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Matriarchal, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Patriarchal, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The evolution of, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li> -<li class="isuba">and polygamy in Bhootan, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Feudal, in Malabar, <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Rational, of the Naïrs, <a href="#Page_312">312</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Polygamy of gallinaceæ, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> -<li class="isuba">favoured by sociability, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of mammals, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of certain monkeys, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of anthropomorphous apes, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Primitive, <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Oceania, Africa, and America, <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Causes restraining, <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Object of, in New Caledonia, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> -<li class="isuba">and concubinage at Fiji, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> -<li class="isuba">the measure of wealth on the Zambesi, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Economic motives for, in Africa, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> -<li class="isuba">restrained by the dearness of women amongst the Bongos, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Excessive, in Central Africa, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Polynesia, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of the Indians in South America, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Redskins, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li> -<li class="isuba">a sign of wealth among the Redskins, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Asia and in Europe, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li> -<li class="isuba">and polyandry in Bhootan, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of the Vedic Aryans, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of the Gauls, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of the Germans, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Primitive, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Evolution of, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of civilised peoples, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The stage of, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Arab, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Islamism and, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Restrictions on, in the Koran, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Celestial, in the Koran, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Egypt, in Mexico, and in Peru,<a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> -<li class="isuba">and the subjection of women, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Egypt, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of the great in Mexico, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in ancient Persia, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Vedic Aryans, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Brahmanic India, <a href="#Page_151">151</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The evolution of, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Genesis of the instinct of, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li> -<li class="isuba">may favour the growth of population, <a href="#Page_349">349</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Polynesia, Licentious morals of young girls in, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Licentious morals in, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Prostitution of girls in, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Leasing of wives in, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Freedom of women in, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Shameless language of the women in, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The Areoïs of, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Sodomy in, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Paternal right of infanticide in, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Polygamy in, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Monogamy in, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Adultery in, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The family in, <a href="#Page_294">294</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Genesis of paternal family in, <a href="#Page_295">295</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Adoption in, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Population, density of, in Attica, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Increase of, favoured sometimes by polygamy, <a href="#Page_349">349</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Potestas</i>, The, of the father at Rome, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Prelibation, Right of, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The right of, and the right of conquest, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Prescience, Maternal, of insects, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Primogeniture, Right of, <a href="#Page_333">333</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Procreative instinct, Origin of, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Promiscuity among sociable animals, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Icterus pecoris</i>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the mammals, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> -<li class="isuba">If there has been a stage of, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> -<li class="isuba">is the lowest form of sexual association, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> -<li class="isuba">rare amongst vertebrates, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> -<li class="isuba">is exceptional in humanity, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Case of human, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in the Troglodyte, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of the Agathyrses, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of the Anses, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of the ancient Irish, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of primitive Greeks, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in the <i>Timæus</i>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Primitive, in China, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Primitive, in India, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of the Andamanites, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of the Indians of California, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of certain aborigines of India, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of the Zaporog Cossacks, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Religious, of the Ansarians, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of the Yazidies, <a href="#Page_44">44</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</span></li> -<li class="isuba">of the Namaquois chiefs, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Regulated, of the Kamilaroi, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> -<li class="isuba">No universal stage of, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Property, Right of, of parents over children, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Prostitution, Religious, in India, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Religious, at Babylon, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Religious, in the Akilisenus, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of young girls in Japan, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Dotal, in ancient Rome, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> -<li class="isuba">honourable in Tasmania, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of girls among the Andamanites, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of girls in Polynesia, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Religious, among the ancient Semites, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Evolution of, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in primitive Athens, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Central America, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Japan, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Brahmanic India, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Buddhist India, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in modern India, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in France in the Middle Ages, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> -<li class="isuba">and concubinage, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Pueblos, Marriages of love in the, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The clans of the, <a href="#Page_277">277</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Rapacious animals, Monogamy of, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Rape, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Australia, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the negroes of Africa, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The expiation of, in Australia, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in New Guinea, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Indians of America, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Tartars, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Hebrews, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in war, and Moses, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in war among the Celts, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Rearing of young among animals, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> -<li class="isuba">with the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Nemesia Eleonora</i>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Redskins, Familial anthropophagy of the, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Sodomy among the, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Marriage by capture among the, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Right of protection of relations over women of, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Polygamy among the, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Sister wives among the, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Polygamy a sign of wealth among the, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Conjugal submission of women among the, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Monogamic tendencies among the, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Subjection of women among the, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Adultery among the, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Widowhood among the, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Rules of decency among the, <a href="#Page_298">298</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The levirate among the, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The <i>totems</i> of the, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The clan among the, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The common house of the clan among the, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Duties of the clan among the, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Exogamy of the clan among the, <a href="#Page_276">276</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Marriage among the, <a href="#Page_276">276</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Inheritance among the, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The maternal family among the, <a href="#Page_277">277</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Communism in the clan of the, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The power of the women among the, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Subjection of woman among the, <a href="#Page_283">283</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The clan among the, <a href="#Page_285">285</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The family among the, <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Familial nomenclature among the, <a href="#Page_287">287</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Adoption among the, <a href="#Page_291">291</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Incestuous marriages among the, <a href="#Page_294">294</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The evolution of the family among the, <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Genesis of paternal filiation among the, <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Repudiation and divorce, <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in savage countries, <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in New Caledonia, <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Hottentots, <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Redskins, <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Esquimaux, <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li> -<li class="isuba">at Madagascar, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Djebel-Taggalé, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Touaregs, <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Kabyles, <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Arabs, <a href="#Page_237">237</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Mongols, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in China, <a href="#Page_241">241</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in India, <a href="#Page_242">242</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Hebrews, <a href="#Page_242">242</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Greece, <a href="#Page_243">243</a></li> -<li class="isuba">at Rome, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Germans, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Scandinavians, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Tcherkesses, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in feudal France, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Rome, Loan of the wife in ancient, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Marriage by capture at, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The wife assimilated to a slave at, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Marriage by confarreation at, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Marriage by purchase at, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Marriage by <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">usus</i> at, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Marriage by <i>coemption</i> at, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Dotal marriage at, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The concubinate at, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Marriage in ancient, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Marriages of children at, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Relative liberty of the wife at, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The wife considered as a daughter of her husband at, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">potestas</i> of the father at, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">manus</i> of the husband at, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Dotal marriage at, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Marriage by <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">usus</i> at, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Marriage by <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">coemptio</i> at, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Marriage by <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">confarreatio</i> at, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Loan of women at, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The evolution of marriage at, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">jus connubii</i> at, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The maternal family at, <a href="#Page_202">202</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</span></li> -<li class="isuba">The <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">spurii</i> at, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Divorce at, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Repudiation at, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Widowhood at, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">gens</i> at, <a href="#Page_335">335</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The primitive clan at, <a href="#Page_335">335</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The patriarchate at, <a href="#Page_337">337</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The right of succession of the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">gentiles</i> at, <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The evolution of the family at, <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The evolution of marriage at, <a href="#Page_357">357</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Rut and love, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Sociologic importance of, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The madness of, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> -<li class="isuba">a sort of puberty, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among toads, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among mammals, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The physiological reason of, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> -<li class="isuba">and human love, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Moral position of, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Salmon, Battles of amorous, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Maternal love among, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Savages, Loan of the wife among, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Schopenhauer and his theory of love, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Scythians, Incest among the, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Seignor, Right of the, among the Kaffirs, in New Zealand and New Mexico, etc., <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Selection, Sexual, by females, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Semites, The family among the, <a href="#Page_325">325</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The patriarchate of the, <a href="#Page_325">325</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Senecas, The family among the Iroquois, <a href="#Page_287">287</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Sexes, Proportion of the, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The proportion of the, and infanticide, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Sociability often comes from weakness, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> -<li class="isuba">engenders altruism, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> -<li class="isuba">favourable to polygamy, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Sociology, Biological origin of, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The animal sources of, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The rhythms of, <a href="#Page_355">355</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The method of, <a href="#Page_342">342</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Sodomy among the Esquimaux, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in New Caledonia, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in New Zealand, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Redskins, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Peru, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> -<li class="isuba">at Mecca, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in the East, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> -<li class="isuba">repressed by the Celts and the Germans, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Greece, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Crete, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Sparta, Gymnastic exercises of naked girls at, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Obligatory marriage at, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Adultery at, <a href="#Page_322">322</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Species, Preservation of, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Spiders, Maternal love of, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Spurii</i> at Rome, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Sticklebacks, Amorous battles of, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Suttees of widows in India, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Suttees, Indian, in the time of Alexander, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in modern times, <a href="#Page_258">258</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Succession, Customs of, among the Redskins, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Laws of, among the Kabyles, <a href="#Page_329">329</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Laws of, in Persia, <a href="#Page_331">331</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The right of, of the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">gentiles</i> at Rome, <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Laws of, among the Germans, <a href="#Page_339">339</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Tamils, The family among the, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The maternal family among the, <a href="#Page_334">334</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Tasmania, Honourable prostitution in,<a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Tatoways, Coupling of the, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i>Tchin-than</i>, Cambodian, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Termites, Republics of, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Tetras phasaniellus</i>, Amorous parades of, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Tetras umbellus</i>, Amorous combats of, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Tetras urogallus</i>, Amorous battles of, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Thibet, Polyandry in, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Civil marriage in, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Monogamy in, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Adultery in, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Divorce in, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Widowhood in, <a href="#Page_254">254</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Toads, Paternal love of, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Todas, Polyandry among the, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i>Totem</i>, The, among the Kamilaroi of Australia, <a href="#Page_273">273</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of the Redskins, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Touaregs, Paternal right redeemed by prostitution among the, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Monogamy among the, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Maternal filiation among the, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Independence of woman among the, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Pretended gynecocracy of, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Repudiation among the, <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li> -<li class="isuba">The pecuniary matriarchate of the women, <a href="#Page_328">328</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Tournaments, Æsthetic, of birds, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Troglodytes, Promiscuity among the, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Turkeys, League of female, against the males, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst"><i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Usus</i> at Rome, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Vertebrates, Coquetry among the, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Strength greater in males among the, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Law of battle among the, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Promiscuity rare among the, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Virginity among the Hebrews, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Weaver bird, Amorous music of, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Widowhood and the levirate, <a href="#Page_249">249</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in savage countries, <a href="#Page_249">249</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Societies without, <a href="#Page_250">250</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Hottentots, <a href="#Page_250">250</a></li> -<li class="isuba">at the Gaboon, <a href="#Page_250">250</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in equatorial Africa, <a href="#Page_250">250</a></li> -<li class="isuba">at Madagascar, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Central America, <a href="#Page_251">251</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</span></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Redskins, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Bhootan, <a href="#Page_254">254</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Thibet, <a href="#Page_254">254</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in China, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> -<li class="isuba">of brides in China, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in India, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in the Koran, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in the Bible, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in Afghanistan, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Kabyles, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Arabs, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> -<li class="isuba">at Athens, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> -<li class="isuba">at Rome, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Germans, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> -<li class="isuba">among the Lombards, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> -<li class="isuba">in general, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Widows, Right of, at Kouranko, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Immolation of, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Suicides of, in China, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Suttees of, in India, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Wives, Loan of, in America, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Loan of, among the Esquimaux, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Loan of, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Loan of, among the Redskins, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Loan of, among the Arabs, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Loan of, in antique Greece, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Loan of, in antique Rome, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Loan of, in Australia, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Loan of, among Bushmen, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Lease of, among the Esquimaux, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Lease of, in Polynesia, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Community of, among Arabs, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Assimilated to slaves at Rome, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Right of refusal of the, among the Moors of Senegambia, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Subjection of, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Food in reserve in Melanesia, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Seizure of, in Australia, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Servility of, in Africa, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> -<li class="isuba">the “oxen” of the husband, among Kaffirs, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Labour of, among the Guaranis, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Sister, among the Redskins, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Conjugal submission of Redskin, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Subjection of, by Redskins, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Sisters, in Bhootan, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Sisters, among the Ostiaks, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Purchase of, in the Koran, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Rights of the, in Mussulman marriage, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Subjection of, in Kabylie, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Loan of jewels to the Kabyle, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Price of the, tariffed in Kabylie, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Kabyle, is a thing possessed, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Fate of the Kabyle, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Independence of Touareg, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> -<li class="isuba">considered as daughters of husband at Rome, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Loan of, at Rome, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Christian subjection of, <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Independence of, among the Saxons of England, <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Subjection of, among the Germans, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Kabyle, have “right of insurrection,” <a href="#Page_236">236</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Power of, among Redskins, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Subjection of, among Redskins, <a href="#Page_282">282</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Women, Freedom of, in Polynesia, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Shameless language of, in Polynesia, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Shamelessness of, in Africa, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Inferiority of, in the Koran, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Dissolute morals of, in Abyssinia, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Submission of, in China, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Emancipated by money, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Virtuous, of Proverbs, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Inferiority of, in India, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Subjection of, in India, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Subjection of, in primitive Greece, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Subjection of, in Greece, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Relative liberty of, in Rome, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Yazidies, Promiscuity of, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Young girls, Licentious manners of, in Australia, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Licentious manners of, in Polynesia, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Licentious manners of, in savage countries, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Zaporogs, Promiscuity of, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> -</ul> - - -<p class="center p0 p4">THE WALTER SCOTT PRESS, NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter transnote"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Transcribers_Notes">Transcriber’s Notes</h2> - - -<p>Obvious errors in punctuation, accents and spacing have been corrected.</p> - -<p>The original table of contents was missing V. The Evolution of the System of Kinship by Classes. in <a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">Chapter XVII</a>. This has been added and The Clan and the Family. has been renumbered to VI.</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_2">2</a>: “terrestial animals” changed to “terrestrial animals”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_12">12</a>: In the footnote, “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Scènes de la Nature dans les Etats -Unis</i>” changed to “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Scènes de la Nature dans les États-Unis</i>”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_29">29</a>: “Amor ch’a null’” changed to “Amor ch’a nullo”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_32">32</a>: “Asaitic <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">antilope saiga</i>” changed to “Asiatic -<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">antilope saiga</i>”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_43">43</a>: In the footnote, “<i lang="de" xml:lang="de">Bemark. über Russland</i>” changed to -“<i lang="de" xml:lang="de">Bemerk. über Russland</i>”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_44">44</a>: In the footnote, “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Les Bédouins ou Arabes du Desert</i>” -changed to “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Les Bédouins ou Arabes du Désert</i>”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_50">50</a>: “aux iles” changed to “aux îles”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_67">67</a>: “to deflour their daughters” changed to “to deflower their -daughters”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_83">83</a>: “the noses and ears” changed to “the nose and ears”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_96">96</a>: “the husband captured slaves” changed to “the husband of -captured slaves”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_100">100</a>: “without confarrearation” changed to “without confarreation”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_116">116</a>: In the footnote, “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Journal d’un interprète en China</i>” -changed to “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Journal d’un interprète en Chine</i>”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_122">122</a>: “sociable of amimals” changed to “sociable of animals”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_125">125</a>: In the footnote, “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr> dans l’Afrique equatoriale</i>” -changed to “ <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr> dans l’Afrique équatoriale</i>”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_143">143</a>: “all that that concerns marriage” changed to “all that -concerns marriage” “hands of the women” changed to “hands of the woman”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_164">164</a>: “has precedence and rule over them” changed to “has -precedence and rules over them” In the footnote on this and the -subsequent page, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">L’Empire Chinoise</i> changed to “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">L’Empire -Chinois</i>”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_171">171</a>: “monogamy and pologamy” changed to “monogamy and polygamy”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_174">174</a>: “Déserts du Nouvean Monde” changed to “Déserts du Nouveau -Monde”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_179">179</a>: “Duveyrier, 339-430” changed to “Duveyrier, 339-340”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_184">184</a>: A missing footnote anchor was added after “law from -inheritance,”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_200">200</a>: In the footnote, “Stychus” changed to “Stichus”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_201">201</a>: “Tahitan marriage” changed to “Tahitian marriage” and “at the -time <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">enciente</i>” changed to “at the time <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">enceinte</i>”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_219">219</a>: A missing footnote anchor was added after “rose-water duels.”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_228">228</a>: “In Abyssinia, at Haïti” changed to “In Abyssinia, at Hayti”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_246">246</a>: “among the Teherkesses” changed to “among the Tcherkesses”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_254">254</a>: In the footnote, “Revue Brittanique” changed to “Revue -Britannique” and “Morcroft and Trebeck’s” changed to “Moorcroft and -Trebeck’s”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_256">256</a>: In the footnote, “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Chine et les Puissances Chretiennes</i>” -changed to “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La Chine et les Puissances Chrétiennes</i>”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_292">292</a>: In the footnote, “Völker des Russichen” changed to “Völker -des Russischen”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_298">298</a>: “of the Himalayah” changed to “of the Himalaya”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_314">314</a>: “The Michmis buy their wives” changed to “The Mishmis buy -their wives”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_315">315</a>: “The Ooraons share” changed to “The Oraons share”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_328">328</a>: “In Kabylie, however” changed to “In Kabyle, however”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_329">329</a>: “for woman there remains” changed to “for women there remains”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_334">334</a>: “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">l’Ile de Ceylon</i>” changed to “<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">l’Île de Ceylan</i>”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_349">349</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a> & <a href="#Page_352">352</a>: In the footnote, “Article, “Marriage”” changed to -“Article, “Mariage””</p> - -<p>A few minor adjustments were made to the index to match the spelling and page numbers -in the rest of the text.</p> - -<p>The spelling of MacLennan, author of <i>Primitive Marriage</i>, was -corrected to McLennon.</p> - -<p>The spelling of Moerenhaut, author of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><abbr title="Voyage">Voy.</abbr> aux îles</i>, was -corrected to Moerenhout.</p> - -<p>The spelling of Shortt, author of <i>Trans. Ethn. Soc.</i>, was -corrected to Schortt.</p> - -</div> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EVOLUTION OF MARRIAGE AND OF THE FAMILY ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for -copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very -easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation -of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project -Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away—you may -do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected -by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark -license, especially commercial redistribution. -</div> - -<div style='margin:0.83em 0; font-size:1.1em; text-align:center'>START: FULL LICENSE<br /> -<span style='font-size:smaller'>THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE<br /> -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK</span> -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project -Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™ -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person -or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the -Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg™ -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg™ name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when -you share it without charge with others. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country other than the United States. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™ work (any work -on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the -phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: -</div> - -<blockquote> - <div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most - other parts of the world 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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you - are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws - of the country where you are located before using this eBook. - </div> -</blockquote> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project -Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg™ -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg™ -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg™. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg™ License. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work in a format -other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain -Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -provided that: -</div> - -<div style='margin-left:0.7em;'> - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation.” - </div> - - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™ - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™ - works. - </div> - - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - </div> - - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works. - </div> -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of -the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set -forth in Section 3 below. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right -of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™ -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™’s -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -The Foundation’s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, -Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up -to date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s website -and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without widespread -public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state -visit <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/donate/">www.gutenberg.org/donate</a>. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Most people start at our website which has the main PG search -facility: <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™, -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. -</div> - -</div> -</body> -</html> diff --git a/old/67739-h/images/cover.jpg b/old/67739-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 0c6c195..0000000 --- a/old/67739-h/images/cover.jpg +++ /dev/null |
