ciated in tribes of many families living together, apparently without a fixed residence, the different families wandering in different directions for food, but uniting on occasions of disputes with another tribe. The Rev. A. Meyer assures us likewise, as regards the Encounter Bay tribe, that "the whole tribe does not always move in a body from one place to another, unless there should be abundance of food to be obtained at some particular spot; but generally they are scattered in search of food." 2 Again, with reference to the Australians more generally, Mr. Brough Smyth remarks that "in any large area occupied by a tribe, where there was not much forest land, and where kangaroos were not numerous, it is highly probable that the several families composing the tribe would withdraw from their companions for short periods, at certain seasons, and betake themselves to separate portions of the area, . . . and it is more than probable-it is almost certain that each head of a family would betake himself, if practicable, to that portion which his father had frequented." 3

Finally, from Mr. Wyeth's account in Schoolcraft's great work on the Indian Tribes of the United States, I shall make the following characteristic quotation with reference to the Snakes inhabiting the almost desert region which extends southward from the Snake River as far as the southern end of the Great Salt Lake, and castward from the Rocky to the Blue Mountains:-"The paucity of game in this region is, I have little doubt, the cause of the almost entire absence of social organization among its inhabitants; no trace of it is ordinarily seen among them, except during salmon-time, when a large number of the Snakes resort to the rivers, chiefly to the Fishing Falls, and at such places there seems some little organization. . . . Prior to the introduction of the horse, no other tribal arrangement existed than such as is now scen in the management of the salmon fishery. . . . The organization would be very imperfect, because the remainder of the year would be spent by them in families widely spread

1 Hunter, 'Historical Journal of the Transactions at Port Jackson and Norfolk Island,' p. 62.

2 Meyer, loc. cit. p. 191.

3 Brough Smyth, The Aborigines of Victoria,' vol. i. pp. 146, et seq.

subsistence on the roots and After a portion of them, who obtained horses, they would

apart, to eke out the year's limited game of their country. are now called Bonaks, had naturally form bands and resort to the Buffalo region to gain their subsistence, retiring to the most fertile places in their own, to avoid the snows of the mountains and feed their horses. Having food from the proceeds of the Buffalo hunt, to enable them to live together, they would annually do so, for the protection of their horses, lodges, &c., &c. These interests have caused an organization among the Bonaks, which continues the year through, because the interests which produce it continue; and it is more advanced than that of the other Snakes." 1

Here, I think, we have an excellent account of the origin of society, applicable not only to the Snakes, but, in its main features, to man in general. The kind of food he subsisted upon, together with the large quantities of it that he wanted, probably formed in olden times a hindrance to a true gregarious manner of living, except perhaps in some unusually rich places. Man in the savage state, even when living in luxuriant countries, is often brought to the verge of starvation, in spite of his having implements and weapons which his ruder ancestors had no idea of. If the obstacle from insufficient food-supply could be overcome, gregariousness would no doubt be of great advantage to him. Living together, the families could resist the dangers of life and defend themselves from their enemies much more easily than when solitary,-all the more so, as the physical strength of man, and especially savage man," is comparatively slight. Indeed, his bodily inferiority, together with his defencelessness and helplessness, has probably been the chief lever of civilization.

"He has," to quote Mr. Darwin, "invented and is able to use various weapons, tools, traps, &c., with which he defends himself, kills or catches prey, and otherwise obtains food. He has made rafts or canoes for fishing or crossing over to neighbouring fertile islands. He has discovered the art of

1 Schoolcraft, loc. cit. vol. i. pp. 207, et seq.

2

Cf. Spencer,' The Principles of Sociology,' vol. i. §§ 24, 27.

E

making fire, by which hard and stringy roots can be rendered digestible, and poisonous roots or herbs innocuous." In short, man gradually found out many new ways of earning his living and more and more emancipated himself from direct dependence on surrounding nature. The chief obstacle to a gregarious life was by this means in part surmounted, and the advantages of such a life induced families or small gangs to unite together in larger bodies. Thus it seems that the gregariousness and sociability of man sprang, in the main, from progressive intellectual and material civilization, whilst the tie that kept together husband and wife, parents and children, was, if not the only, at least the principal social factor in the earliest life of man. I cannot, therefore, agree with Sir John Lubbock that, as a general rule, as we descend in the scale of civilization, the family diminishes, and the tribe increases, in importance. This may hold good for somewhat higher stages, but it does not apply to the lowest stages. Neither do I see any reason to believe that there ever was a time when the family was quite absorbed in the tribe. There does not exist a single well established instance of a people among whom this is the case.

I do not, of course, deny that the tie which bound the children to the mother was much more intimate and more lasting than that which bound them to the father. But it seems to me that the only result to which a critical investigation of facts can lead us is, that in all probability there has been no stage of human development when marriage has not existed, and that the father has always been, as a rule, the protector of his family. Human marriage appears, then, to be an inheritance from some ape-like progenitor.

1 Darwin, 'The Descent of Man,' vol. i. p. 72.

2 Lubbock, 'The Development of Relationships,' in 'Jour. Anthr. Inst.,' vol. i. p. 2.

CHAPTER IV

A CRITICISM OF THE HYPOTHESIS OF PROMISCUITY

THE inference drawn in the last chapter is opposed to the view held by most sociologists who have written upon early history. According to them, man lived originally in a state of promiscuity. This is the opinion of Bachofen, McLennan, Morgan, Lubbock, Bastian, Giraud-Teulon, Lippert, Kohler, Post, Wilken, and several other writers. Although suggested at first only as a probable hypothesis, this presumption is now treated by many writers as a demonstrated truth.2

1 Bachofen,‘Das Mutterrecht,' pp. xix., xx., 10. Idem,' Antiquarische Briefe,' pp. 20, et seq. McLennan, loc. cit. pp. 92, 95. Morgan, loc. cit. pp. 480, 487, et seq. Idem, 'Ancient Society,' pp. 418, 500-502. Lubbock, loc. cit. pp. 86, 98, 104. Bastian, loc. cit. p. xviii. Giraud-Teulon, loc. cit. p. 70. Lippert, loc. cit. vol. ii. p. 7. Post, Die Geschlechtsgenossenschaft der Urzeit,' pp. 16, et seq. Idem, 'Die Grundlagen des Rechts,' pp. 183, et seq. Idem, 'Studien zur Entwickelungsgeschichte des Familienrechts,' pp. 54, et seq. Wilken, ' Over de primitieve vormen van het huwelijk en den oorsprong van het gezin,' in 'De Indische Gids,' 1880, vol. ii. p. 611. Kohler, in 'Zeitschrift für vergleichende Rechtswissenschaft,' vol. iv. p. 267. Engels, 'Der Ursprung der Familie, des Privateigenthums und des Staats,' p. 17. Mr. Herbert Spencer, though inferring ('The Principles of Sociology, vol. i. p. 635) that even in prehistoric times promiscuity was checked by the establishment of individual connections, thinks that in the earliest stages it was but in a small degree thus qualified.

2 Fiske, loc. cit. vol. ii. p 345. Kulischer, in 'Zeitschrift für Ethnologie,' vol. viii. pp. 140, et Gumplowicz, Grundriss der Sociologie,' p. 107. Bebel,' Woman in the Past, Present, and Future, p. 9.

The promiscuity of primitive man is not, however, generally considered to be perfectly indiscriminate, but limited to the individuals belonging to the same tribe. It may, therefore, perhaps be said to be a kind of marriage: polygyny combined with polyandry. Sir John Lubbock has also given it the name of "communal marriage," indicating by this word, that all the men and women in a community were regarded as equally husbands and wives to one another. As I do not, in speaking of marriage, take into consideration unions of so indefinite a nature, this seems to be the proper place to discuss the hypothesis in question.

The evidence adduced in support of it flows from two sources. First, there are, in the books of ancient writers and modern travellers, notices of some savage nations said to live promiscuously; secondly, there are some remarkable customs which are assumed to be social survivals, pointing to an earlier stage of civilization, when marriage did not exist. Let us see whether this evidence will stand the test of a critical examination.

Herodotus and Strabo inform us that, among the Massagetæ every man had his own wife, but that all the other men of the tribe were allowed to have sexual intercourse with her.1 The Auseans, a Libyan people, had, according to the former, their wives in common;2 and Solinus reports the same of the Garamantians of Ethiopia.3 Community of women is, further, alleged to have occurred among the Liburnes, Galactophagi, and the ancient Bohemians. And Garcilasso de la Vega asserts that, among the natives of Passau in Peru, before the time of the Incas, men had no separate wives.

To these statements of ancient peoples Sir J. Lubbock adds a few others concerning modern savages.7 "The Bushmen of 1 Herodotus, ''Ioropía,' book i. ch. 216. S rabo, loc. cit. book xi. p. 513. 2 Herodotus, book iv. ch. 180.

3 Solinus, 'Collectanea Rerum Memorabilium,' ch. xxx. § 2.

4 Nicolaus Damascenus, ''Elov ovvaywyn,' §§ 3, 14.

Wolkov, 'Rites et usages nuptiaux en Ukraïne,' in 'L'Anthropologie, vol. ii. p. 164.

6 Garcilasso de la Vega, 'The Royal Commentaries of the Yncas,

vol. ii. p. 443.

7 Lubbock, loc. cit. pp. 86–95.