With the progress of civilization the desire for offspring has become less intense. The religious motive has of course died out in the Christian world, and, in proportion as social life becomes more complicated, and a professional education becomes more necessary for success in the struggle for existence, children, at least in "the upper classes" and among towns-people, put their parents to expense instead of being a source of wealth. A childless couple may indeed, deplore the absence of children; but a woman is no longer held in respect only, or principally, as a mother; and marriage, according to modern ideas, is something more than an institution for the procreation of legitimate offspring. Yet it is remarkable that, in Switzerland, although barrenness is no sufficient reason for a man to repudiate his wife, two-fifths of the total number of divorces take place between married people who have no children whilst the sterile marriages amount only to one-fifth of the number of marriages.1

A wife is of use to her husband not merely because she gives him labourers, but also because she herself is a labourer. Drying and preparing fish and meat, lighting and attending to the fire, transporting baggage, picking berries, dressing hides and making clothes, cooking food and taking care of the children—these are, in the savage state, the chief pursuits of a wife. Among agricultural and cattle-farming peoples, she has besides, to cultivate the soil and to tend the cattle. A wife, therefore, is chosen partly because of her ability to perform such duties. Thus, among the Greenlanders, cleverness in sewing and skill in the management of household affairs are the most attractive qualities of a woman.2 Among other Eskimo tribes and in Tierra del Fuego, middle-aged men will connect themselves with old women who are best able to take care of their common comforts.3 The Inland Columbians, according to Mr. Bancroft, make "capacity for work the standard of female excellence ;" and, among the Turkomans, young widows fetch double the price of spinsters,

1 Glasson, 'Le mariage civil et le divorce,' p. 470.

2 Fries, loc. cit. p. 111. Cf. Cranz, loc. cit. vol. i. pp. 145, et seq.

3 King, in 'Jour. Ethn. Soc. London,' vol. i. p. 145. 'Globus,' vol. xlix. p. 35. 4 Bancroft, loc. cit. vol. i. p. 276.

because they are more accustomed to hard labour, and more experienced in household concerns.1

A husband's function is to protect his family from enemies and to prevent them falling into distress. A woman, as we have already seen, even instinctively prefers a courageous and strong man to one who is cowardly and feeble. reflection also makes her choose a man who is well able to defend her and to provide food. Among the Comanches, says Mr. Parker, "young girls are not averse to marry very old men, particularly if they are chiefs, as they are always sure of something to eat." 2

At more advanced stages of civilization, money and inherited property often take the place of skill, strength, and working ability. Thus, wife-purchase and husband-purchase, still persist in modern society, though in disguised forms.

1 de Bode, 'The Yamúd and Goklán Tribes of Turkomania,' in 'Jour. Ethn. Soc. London,' vol. i. p. 75.

2 Schoolcraft, loc. cit. vol. v. p. 683.

CHAPTER XVII

MARRIAGE BY CAPTURE AND MARRIAGE BY PURCHASE

THE practice of capturing wives prevails in various parts of the world, and traces of it are met with in the marriage ceremonies of several peoples, indicating that it occurred much more frequently in past ages.

Speaking of the inhabitants of Unimak, Coxe says that they invaded the other Aleutian islands, and carried off women the chief object of their incursions.1 Among the Ahts, a man occasionally steals a wife from the women of his own tribe; whilst the Bonaks of California usually take women in battle from other tribes, and the Macas Indians of Ecuador acquire wives by purchase, if the woman belongs to the same tribe, but otherwise by force. All the Carib tribes used to capture women from different peoples and tribes, so that the men and women nowhere spoke the same tongue; and v. Martius states that, in Brazil, "some tribes habitually steal their neighbours' daughters." 5

Among the Mosquito Indians, after the wedding is all arranged and the presents paid, the bridegroom seizes his bride and carries her off, followed by her female relatives, who pretend to try to rescue her. The Araucanians considered the carrying off of the bride by pretended violence an

1 Coxe, loc. cit. p. 257.

2 Sproat, loc. cit. p. 98.

3 Schoolcraft, loc. cit. vol. iv. p. 224. 'Jour. Anthr. Inst.,' vol. iii. p. 30. 4 Waitz, loc. cit. vol. iii. p. 355. McLennan, 'Studies,' p. 34. 5 v. Martius, in 'Jour. Roy. Geo. Soc.,' vol. ii. p. 197.

6 Bancroft, loc. cit. vol. i. p. 733.

essential prerequisite to the nuptials, and, according to Mr. E. R. Smith, it is even "a point of honour with the bride to resist and struggle, however willing she may be."1 The Uaupés "have no particular ceremony at their marriages, except that of always carrying away the girl by force, or making a show of doing so, even when she and her parents are quite willing." 2 Almost the same is said of the Fuegians, though among them the capture is sometimes more than a ceremony.3 Andersson remarks that, among the Bushmans, woman is only too often belli teterrima causa. Speaking of the Bechuanas, Mr. Conder says, "As regards wedding ceremonies, there is one of casting an arrow into the hut by the bridegroom, which is worthy of notice as symbolic." 5 Among the Wakamba, marriage is an affair of purchase, but the bridegroom "must then carry off the bride by force or stratagem." The Wa-taïta and Wa-chaga of Eastern Equatorial Africa have also a marriage ceremony of capture; and the like is the case with the Inland Negroes mentioned by Lord Kames,8 and the Abyssinians. Among the tribes of Eastern Central Africa described by Mr. Macdonald, marriage by capture occurs not as a symbol only.10

9

According to a common belief, the Australian method of obtaining wives is capture in its most brutal form.11 But contrary to Mr. Howitt, Mr. Curr informs us that only on rare occasions is a wife captured from another tribe, and carried

12

1 Alcedo-Thompson, 'Dictionary of America and the West Indies,' vol. i. p. 416. Smith, 'The Araucanians,' p. 215.

2 Wallace, 'Travels on the Amazon,' p. 497. v. Martius, loc. cit. vol. i. p. 600.

3 King and Fitzroy, loc. cit. vol. ii. p. 182. Hyades, in 'Bull. Soc. d'Anthr.,' ser. iii. vol. x. p. 334.

4 Andersson, 'The Okavango River,' p. 143.

" Conder, in 'Jour. Anthr. Inst.,' vol. xvi. p. 83.

6 Krapf, loc. cit. p. 354.

7 Thomson, loc. cit. p. 51.

Johnston, loc. cit. pp. 431, 436, et seq.

8 Kames, 'Sketches of the History of Man,' vol. i. p. 449.

9 Parkyns, loc. cit. vol. ii. pp. 55, et seq.

10 Macdonald, 'Africana,' vol. i. p. 133.

11 Cf. Hodgson, ' Reminiscences of Australia,' p. 243; Angas, 'Savage Life,' vol. ii. pp. 225, et seq.

12 Fison and Howitt, loc. cit. p. 343.

off. The possession of a stolen woman would lead to constant attacks, hence the tribes set themselves very generally against the practice.2 Even elopements, according to Mr. Mathew, are now usually more fictitious than real; but there are strong reasons for believing that formerly, when the continent was only partially occupied, elopements from within the tribe frequently occurred.*

In Tasmania the capture of women for wives from hostile and alien tribes was generally prevalent. Among the Maoris, the ancient and most general way of obtaining a wife was for the man to get together a party of his friends and carry off the woman by force, apparent or actual. A similar practice occurs on the larger islands of the Fiji Group, in Samoa,8 Tukopia, New Guinea, 10 and extremely frequently in the Indian Archipelago,11 and among the wild tribes of India.12 Among the Arabs, 13 Tartars, 14 and other peoples of Central Asia, as also in European Russia,15 traces of capture occur in

1 Curr, loc. cit. vol. i. p. 108. Cf. Taplin, loc. cit. p. 10; Palmer, in ‘Jour. Anthr. Inst.' vol. xiii. p. 301. 2 Curr, vol. i. p. 108.

3 Mathew, in 'Jour. Roy. Soc. N.S. Wales,' vol. xxiii. p. 407.

4 Curr, vol. i. p. 108. For marriage by capture among the Australians, cf. also Montgomery, loc. cit. vol. ii. pp. 153, et seq.; Oldfield, in 'Trans. Ethn. Soc.,' N.S. vol. iii. p. 250; Sturt, loc. cit. vol. ii. p. 283; WaitzGerland, loc. cit. vol. vi. p. 773.

5 Waitz-Gerland, vol. vi. p. 813.

7 Williams and Calvert, loc. cit. p. 149.

9 Waitz-Gerland, vol. v. pt. ii. p. 191.

6 Taylor, loc. cit. p. 336.

8 Wilkes, loc. cit. vol. ii. p. 138.

10 Bink, in 'Bull. Soc. d'Anthr.,' ser. iii. vol. xi. p. 396.

11 Wilken, in 'Bijdragen,' &c., ser. v. vol. i. p. 183. Riedel, loc. cit. pp. 69, 133, 415.

12 Bodo, Hos, Mundas, Kúrmis (Dalton, loc. cit. pp. 86, 192, 194, 319), Bhils, Káttis, Oráons (Rowney, loc. cit. pp. 37, 46, 81), Gonds (Forsyth, loc. cit. pp. 149, et seq.), Chittagong Hill tribes (Lewin, loc. cit. p. 92), Savaras (Fawcett, in 'Jour. Anthr. Soc. Bombay,' vol. i. p. 235).

13 Burkhardt, loc. cit. pp. 61, 62, 150, 153. According to Professor Robertson Smith (loc. cit. p. 72), instances of marriage by capture might be accumulated to an indefinite extent from Arabian history and tradition. At the time of Mohammed the practice was universal.

14 Huc, loc. cit. vol. i. p. 185.

15 Kirghiz (Atkinson, 'Travels in the Regions of the Upper and Lower Amoor,' pp. 250, et seq.), Chulims (Georgi, loc. cit. p. 231), Mordvins (Mainoff, Mordvankansan häätapoja ').

C C