Chapter 18

[274]"Bedenken wir die vielen Mittel, die gerade die Civilisation hierzu bietet, so dürfte dem befremdenden Urteile nicht mehr zu widersprechen sein, dass bei wirklichen Naturvölkern und unter normalen sozialen Verhältnissen der erotische Antrieb ein beschränkterer sei, als auf höheren Stufen der Civilisation."—Lippert,Geschichte der Familie, 29, 30. Among the highly civilized of our own times the nervous system is very greatly developed, and therewith the capacity for sexual pleasure is proportionately increased; seeHellwald,op. cit., 11 ff., 128, and the literature there cited.

[275]Ibid., 22.

[276]Westermarck,op. cit., 9 ff.

[277]Brehm,Tierleben: Allgemeine Kunde des Tierreichs(10 vols., Leipzig and Vienna, 1891). Vols. IV-VI are devoted to birds. See also hisBird-Life(London, 1874).

[278]Westermarck,op. cit., 11;cf.Brehm,op. cit., IV, 19 ff.,passim; andHerman Müller'sAm Neste, which Brehm has used.

[279]Darwin,Animals and Plants under Domestication, II, 81, speaks of pigeons as being "true to their wedding-vow." On polygyny and monogamy among animals seeidem,Descent of Man, 216 ff. "Many mammals and some few birds are polygamous, but with animals belonging to the lower classes I have found no evidence of this habit. The intellectual powers of such animals are, perhaps, not sufficient to lead them to collect and guard a harem of females" (216, 217). Birds sometimes lose the pairing "instinct" under domestication (220). Regarding the "marital virtue" of birds, seeHellwald,op. cit., 30.

[280]"Abweichend von anderen Tieren leben die meisten Vögel in geschlossener Ehe auf Lebenszeit und nur wenige von ihnen, gleich den Säugetieren, in Vielweiberei oder richtiger Vielehigkeit, da eine Vielweiberei einzig und allein bei den Straussen stattzufinden scheint. Das Pärchen, welches sich einmal vereinigte, hält während des ganzen Lebens treuinnig zusammen, und nur ausnahmsweise geschiet es, dass einer der Gatten die Gesetze einer geschlossenen Ehe missachtet." But since there are more males than females, the husband often has to fight for the retention of his wife, though in exceptional cases she aids him in repelling the aggressor. The wife is sometimes too ready to follow the victor, and in some cases the widow is very easily consoled. "Vögel, deren Männchen getötet wurde, waren schon eine halbe Stunde später wieder verehelicht; der zweite Gespons wurde ebenfalls ein Opfer seiner Feinde: und dieselben Weibchen nahmen ohne Bedenken flugs einen dritten Gatten an. Die Männchen legen gewöhnlich viel tiefere Trauer um den Verlust ihrer Gattin an den Tag, wahrscheinlich aber nur weil es ihnen ungleich schwerer wird als den Weibchen, wieder einen Ehegenossen zu erwerben."—Brehm,op. cit., IV, 20, 21. For very interesting examples of marriage and the family among birds, seeHellwald,op. cit., 26 ff., 38; and compareWundt,Menschen und Thierseele, 448 ff.; andEspinas,Des sociétés animales, 417 ff., 439.

[281]Brehm,Bird-Life, 324;Westermarck,op. cit., 11, 482, 502.

[282]Hellwald,op. cit., 25, 26.

[283]Description of Troglodytes Gorilla, 9 ff.;Westermarck,op. cit., 13.

[284]Du Chaillu,Explorations and Adventures in Equatorial Africa, 349;Westermarck,op. cit., 14. But seeHellwald,op. cit., 23.

[285]Cf.Darwin,Descent of Man, 108, 217 ff., 590, 591, who is cautious in his statement as to the rule among the quadrumana.Kautsky, "Entstehung der Ehe und Familie,"Kosmos, XII, 198 ff., gives some interesting illustrations of marriage among animals; and seeEspinas,op. cit., 444 ff.;Atkinson,Primal Law, 219-25.

[286]Kohler,Zur Urgeschichte der Ehe, 6, 7;Lippert,Kulturgeschichte, I, 72, 73.

[287]Hellwald,op. cit., 26, 27.

[288]Op. cit., 444;cf.Hellwald,op. cit., 40-42.

[289]Westermarck,op. cit., 14-19.Hildebrand,Ueber das Problem einer allgemeinen Entwicklungsgeschichte, 23 ff., maintains the existence of monogamy in what he holds to be the first culture-stage, that of the chase. A similar result is reached byMucke,Horde und Familie, 59 ff.,passim:Kautsky,op. cit., 190 ff.;Grosse,Die Formen der Familie, as above summarized.

[290]For the social systems among animals, even insects, seeSchäffle,Bau und Leben des socialen Körpers, 20 ff.;Wundt,Menschen und Tierseele, 369 ff., 447 ff.;Groos,Spiele der Thiere, 147 ff., 162 ff., 230 ff.; and especiallyEspinas,op. cit., 207 ff., 274 ff., 458 ff., 543 ff. CompareHouzeau,Étude sur les facultés mentales des animaux; and the other authors on this subject cited in Bibliographical Note III.

[291]Op. cit., 20;cf.Keane,Ethnology, 9, taking the same view.

[292]Schoolcraft,Indian Tribes, IV, 224.

[293]Powers,Tribes of California, 206. Similar evidence is furnished by Corbusier: "For two years in succession I observed that in August and September the women solicited the attentions of the men, and an unusual number of couples were seen with their heads hidden in a blanket caressing each other. The majority of the children were born in the spring."—"The Apache-Yumas and Apache-Mojaves,"Am. Antiquarian, VIII, 330.

[294]Westermarck,op. cit., 20, 24-38, cites the literature. On the pairing seasons among men and animals, see alsoHellwald,op. cit., 127 ff.;Kulischer, inZFE., VIII, 149 ff.; andMucke,op. cit., 67 ff. The pairing season appears to be the result of natural selection, a device of nature to make sure that the young shall be born at a time most favorable to their sustenance and survival.

[295]Vignoli,Ueber das Fundamentalgesetz des Intelligenz im Thierreiche: translated fromHellwald,Die mensch. Familie, 42.

[296]Compare the interesting chapter ofHellwald, "Kuss und Liebe,"op. cit., 97-120.

[297]Primitive Family, 241, 242, 268, and the whole of chap. vii, of the second division of the work, in which he gives the results of the researches comprised in the preceding chapters.Cf.Dargun,Mutterrecht und Vaterrecht, 17, 18, who favors Starcke's view as againstHellwald,op. cit., 457; alsoLippert,Geschichte der Familie, 118, who takes a similar position.

[298]"The family is therefore distinguished from the family group and the clan as a group of kinsfolk established by contract, and only in a subsidiary sense by the tie of blood between parents and children."—Op. cit., 13. With Starcke's view compare that of Posada, who uses the suggestive wordsymbiose(convivencia) to express the totality of influences concerned in the origin of society. He says: "En somme, d'après tout ce qui vient d'être dit, la société humaine ne peut pas être considérée comme ayant eu la familie pour origine. A la forceinstinctivedu sang, au fait nécessaire et primitif de l'union sexuelle, il faut ajouter et combiner lasymbiose, qui tend à devenir territoriale, et résulte du besoin fondamental de la conservation: elle implique la coopération universelle et la vie de relation, déterminée par le plaisir, par la sympathie, par la nécessité de faire face aux exigences d'autres hommes; elle implique aussi la coopération universelle, non plus de mari à femme, ni de père à fils, mais d'homme à homme."—Théories modernes, 99, 100, 96, 81 ff.,passim.

[299]Westermarck,op. cit., 20-22.

[300]Ibid., 22 ff., 379, 535. On these customs, often taken as evidences of former promiscuity, compareLippert,Geschichte der Familie, 6, 7; and the examples inZVR., V, 353; XI, 135, 136.

[301]Westermarck,op. cit., 19, 20;Starcke,op. cit., 13.Friedrichs, "Familienstufen und Eheformen,"ZVR., X, 253-56, accepts Starcke's conception of marriage, but finds his definition inadequate. He offers the following: "Eine von der Rechtsordnung anerkannte und privilegirte Vereinigung geschlechtsdifferenter Personen, entweder zur Führung eines gemeinsamen Hausstandes und zum Geschlechtsverkehr, oder zum ausschliesslichen Geschlechtsverkehr."Cf.Heusler,Institutionen, II, 271-76, on the distinction betweenFamilieandSippe. "Die Familie des Rechtes," he says, "ist nicht ein Verband von Blutsverwandten sondern eine Gemeinschaft der Hausgenossen;" but theSippe(gens) is based on blood-relationship (271). He combats the view ofRosin,Der Begriff der Schwertmagen, §5. Hellwald, as already seen, prefers the term "mother-group" for the so-called primitive family; and does not find marriage proper until the stage of property and full "mother-right" is reached; see chap. ii.

[302]Early Law and Custom, 204, 205;cf.alsoWestermarck,op. cit., 115-17.

[303]Early Law and Custom, 204, 205, note.

[304]Westermarck,op. cit., 115;Mantegazza,Die Hygiene der Liebe, 405;cf.Maine,op. cit., 204.

[305]Op. cit., 115.

[306]Ibid., 115-17. Thus in Tibet but one of the husbands was usually at home; and among the Todas betrothals are made with the condition that each of the husbands should live with the wife a month by turns:ibid., 116.

[307]See the elaborate investigation ofWestermarck,op. cit., chaps, xiv, xv, especially 334 ff.

[308]Ibid., 117-33, 495, 551. With this passage should be read his extremely interesting chapters on the "Courtship of Man," the "Means of Attraction," "Liberty of Choice," "Sexual Selection among Animals," "Sexual Selection of Man; Typical Beauty," and the "Law of Similarity."

[309]Finck,Primitive Love, 87 ff., criticises Westermarck's view, presenting a mass of facts to prove the absence of true jealousy among low races.

[310]Descent of Man, 591;cf.Westermarck, 117; andKautsky, 194 ff. On jealousy among animals, seeHellwald,Die mensch. Familie, 23, 37.

[311]Le Bon,L'homme et les sociétés, II, 293;Westermarck,op. cit., 117;cf.Giraud-Teulon,Origines du mariage, 71.

[312]Tribes of California, 412.

[313]Adair,History of the American Indians, 143;Westermarck,op. cit., 119.Cf.Klemm,Kulturgeschichte, II, 80, who finds evidence in both Americas of male jealousy among the natives.

[314]"Although the men are very jealous of the favors of their wives, and incontinence on the part of the latter is certain to be more or less severely punished, the male offender, if notoriously persistent in his efforts to obtain forbidden favors, is usually killed by the injured lover or husband." Separations are often caused by jealousy.—Turner, "Ethnology of the Ungava District,"XI. Rep. Bureau of Eth., 178, 188, 189.Cf.Krause,Die Tlinkit Indianer, 221, who says the "betrayer of a woman, if he escapes the dagger of the offended husband, must pay for his offense with presents. If, however, he is a relative, he takes the position of a subordinate husband (Nebenmann) and must help contribute to the support of the woman."

[315]José Vieira de Magalhães, "Familia e religião Selvagem," in his "Ensais de Anthropologia, Região e Raças Selvagens," published inRevista Trimensal do Instituto ... do Brasil, XXXVI, 108 ff. The passages quoted here and elsewhere from Magalhães are given in the translation made for the author by Professor J. C. Branner. The reports ofMartius,Ethnographie, I, 112, 115, 116, 119, 120;idem,Rechtszustande, 59, 63, 64, 66-68, seem to confirm that of Magalhães.

[316]"I refer," he says, "to the uncatechised Indian, for the catechised one is, as a rule, a degraded being. Whether the system of catechising is bad, or whether in the efforts directed especially toward making a religious man, the development of the eminently social ideas of free labor is forgotten, or whether it is something else, the fact is this: the catechised Indian is a degraded man, without original customs, indifferent to everything and consequently to his wife and almost to his family."

[317]"Of the Weddings and Marriages of the Abipones," in hisAccount of the Abipones, II, 213. Dobrizhoffer was eight years among this people during his stay in South America, 1749-67.

[318]I am indebted to Professor J. C. Branner for a translation of the passages here and elsewhere quoted from Souza and Anchieta, as also for the dates.

[319]Souza, "chap. clii, which treats of the manner of marriages of the Tupinambas," in his "Tratado descriptivo do Brazil em 1587,"Revista Inst. Hist., XIV, 311 ff.

[320]José d'Anchieta, "Informação dos Casamentos dos Indios do Brazil,"Revista Trimensal de Hist. e Geog., VIII, 254-62. "At most," he continues, "they beat the one guilty of adultery if they can, and he bears it patiently, knowing what he has done, except in case he is some great chief, and the woman has no father or strong brothers of whom he is afraid." Then the author relates how a "great chief," Ambirem, cruelly put a wife to death for adultery; but this act and others of the same sort he ascribes to the influence of the French, whom the good priest evidently does not like.

[321]Avery, "Races of the Indo-Pacific Oceans,"Am. Antiquarian, VI, 366. The death penalty also appears in New Zealand:Rusden, I, 21.

[322]Waitz,Anthropologie, V, 106, 107. "When the wife has broken the marriage vow, the husband may put her away, returning her property; but when the man is guilty of this crime, or has even made himself suspected of it, his fate is worse; for then all the women of the neighborhood troop together and fall upon the offender with his possessions, who is lucky if he gets off with a whole skin. His landed property, his house, and everything he has are completely destroyed. If the husband does not bear himself humbly or friendly enough towards his wife, or if otherwise she is no longer pleased with him, she abandons him and goes to her parents, who then undertake the same work of destruction. Therefore many men are not willing to marry, and they live with paid women."

[323]For examples of all these customs readWestermarck,op. cit., 124 ff. On the sacrifice of widows in India and elsewhere, explained usually as an evidence ofpatria potestasunder influence of ancestor-worship, consultZimmer,Altindisches Leben, 328 ff.;Kohler, "Indisches Ehe- und Familienrecht,"ZVR., III, 376 ff.;Letourneau,L'évolution du mariage, chap. xv;Wake,Marriage and Kinship, 437 ff.;Hellwald,Die mensch. Familie, 478-80 (India), 381 (China).

[324]For general criticism of the hypothesis of promiscuity compare withWestermarck,op. cit., chaps. iv-vi, 51-133;Wake,op. cit., 14-53;Letourneau,op. cit., 46 ff.;Starcke,op. cit., 121 ff., 241 ff.,passim;Spencer,Principles of Sociology, I, 661-71, 641 ff.,passim;Grosse,Die Formen der Familie, 41 ff.

[325]Westermarck,op. cit., 52, 53;Belcher, "Notes on the Andaman Islands,"Trans. Eth. Soc., N. S., V, 45.

[326]Journal Anth. Inst., XII, 135;Westermarck,op. cit., 57.

[327]Magalhães,op. cit., 108 ff.

[328]Compare the somewhat analogous "communism" of the Sia:Stevenson, "The Sia,"XI. Rep. of Bureau of Eth., 19-26.

[329]There are in the villages "men destined to beviri viduarum. These individuals have no other duty; they are supported by the tribe and do not, like the others, engage in the exercises of long trips which they all make annually, each in his turn." This indulgence was justified on the ground that "the peace which the families enjoyed, and which they would not enjoy without these individuals, or rather without this institution, compensated largely for the work that fell upon the others in supporting them."—Magalhães,loc. cit.

[330]Magalhães,loc. cit.

[331]Westermarck,op. cit., 66 ff., where examples are given. See the quotation from Magalhães above.

[332]Ibid., 61 ff.

[333]Primitive Family, 9;ibid., 30.Starckeis conspicuous for the simple causes which he assigns for the various phenomena connected with marriage and the family. See examples,op. cit., 43, 49, 50, 106.

[334]Studies, I, 88, 83-146;Patriarchal Theory, chap. xiii. In general, on kinship in the female line, compareHellwald,Die mensch. Familie, 124, 150 ff., 239, 456-58;Lippert,Die Geschichte der Familie, 4 ff., 8 ff.;Kulturgeschichte, II, 90 ff.,passim;Dargun, Mutterrecht und Raubehe, 1 ff., 13, 17;Mutterrecht und Vaterrecht, 1 ff., 43 ff.;Giraud-Teulon,Origines, 131 ff.;Post,Geschlechtsg., 88 ff., 94 ff.;Familienrecht, 7 ff.;Ursprung, 37 ff.;Anfänge, 10 ff.;Afrikanische Jurisprudenz, I, 13 ff.;Kohler,Zur Urgeschichte der Ehe, 53 ff.;Kovalevsky,Tableau, 7 ff.;Tylor,On a Method, 252 ff.;Wilken,Das Matriarchat, 3 ff.;Smith,Kinship and Marriage, 131 ff., 151 ff.;Lubbock,Origin of Civilization, 149 ff.;Morgan,Ancient Society, 63 ff., 153-83, 344 ff. All the foregoing writers sustain in the main McLennan's and Bachofen's principal assumptions. On the other hand, they are rejected or criticised bySpencer,Principles of Sociology, I, 665 ff.;Wake,Marriage and Kinship, chaps. viii, ix, x;Bernhöft, inZVR., VIII, 4 ff.;Maine,Early Law and Custom, chap, vii;Friedrichs, inZVR., VIII, 370-83; X, 189 ff.;Schurman,Ethical Import of Darwinism, 223;Starcke,Primitive Family, 1-120;Westermarck,Human Marriage, 96-113.Hildebrand,Ueber das Problem, 28-31, holds that the earlier mother-right gave place to the paternal system under influence of property. See alsoLetourneau,L'évolution, 424, 377 ff., who believes that the maternal system is more archaic, but does not imply promiscuity;Mucke,Horde und Familie, 114 ff.,passim; andKautsky,Entstehung der Ehe, 256 ff., 338 ff., who holds that the systems were independently developed;Grosse,Die Formen der Familie, 48 ff., 61, who believes it possible that the two systems may have been worked out side by side and that they are not necessarily successive phases of development.

[335]Palauinseln(1873), 320, 119, 181;Kohler, inZVR., VI, 327.

[336]Friedrichs, "Ueber den Ursprung des Matriarchats,"ZVR., VIII, 374, 375.

[337]Das Weib, I, 172 ff., 179 ff. See also hisDas Kind, I, 383 ff.; and compareFriedrichs,op. cit., 375, 376;Hellwald,op. cit., 343.

[338]Principles of Sociology, I, 665, 666.

[339]Westermarck,op. cit., 107-13;cf.Lubbock,Origin of Civilization, 149 ff.

[340]Westermarck,op. cit., 108;Starcke,op. cit., 27, 28, 35, 36, 40, 41, 69 n. 4, citingWinterbottom,An Account of the Native Africans in the Neighborhood of Sierra Leone.Cf., however,Dargun,Mutterrecht und Vaterrecht, 59 ff.

[341]Westermarck,op. cit., 106, 107, 17.

[342]In the couvade the father occupies the erroneously so-called lying-in bed; is nursed and otherwise cared for as if he were the mother: while he rigidly fasts or abstains from certain kinds of food.Giraud-Teulon,Origines du mariage, 138;Bachofen,Mutterrecht, 17, 255, 419;Letourneau,L'évolution du mariage, 394-98;Bernhöft, inZVR., IX, 417; andLubbock,Origin of Civilization, 14 ff., 159, regard the couvade as a mark of transition. Such, in effect, is also the view ofLippert,Kulturgeschichte, II, 312;Geschichte der Familie, 213 ff., who believes the custom is a form of redemption-sacrifice rendered by the father instead of the actual sacrifice of the first-born child, a sacrifice exacted in the stage of earlier mother-right.Hellwald,Die mensch. Familie, 361 ff., accepts the theory of Lippert. On the other hand,Tylor,Early History of Mankind, chap, x, 297 ff.;Starcke,Primitive Family, 51, 52, 283, 284; andDargun,Mutterrecht und Vaterrecht, 18-26, hold that it takes its rise in a supposed physical connection between father and child, and therefore that it exists for the welfare of the child alone.Lubbock,op. cit., 14 ff., emphasizes this fact, while regarding the practice as an evidence of transition.Tylor, however, in hisMethod of Investigating Institutions, 254-56, accepts the view of Bachofen and Giraud-Teulon, relegating the explanation first assigned by him to a secondary place.Roth, "On the Significance of the Couvade,"Jour. Anth. Inst., XXII, 204-44, holds the custom to be a form of magic or witchcraft, resting on the belief in a physical connection between the father and child, and so implying power over the child. According toCrawley,Mystic Rose, 416-28, the custom has its origin in sexual taboo. It is a case of "substitution." The father simulates the mother so that by exposing himself to the same danger he may help her and the child against the magical or evil influences which are especially harmful in the great sexual crises of human life.Cf.Kohler, "Das Recht der Azteken,"ZVR., XI, 49;Müller,Chips from a German Workshop, II, 281, 278;Ploss,Das Kind, I, 143-53;Mucke,Horde und Familie, 219 ff.;Friedrichs, inAusland(1890), 801, 837, 856, 877, 895;Chamberlain,The Child and Childhood in Folk-Thought, 124, 125.

[343]Starcke,op. cit., 52. See the preceding note; alsoLippert,Geschichte der Familie, 213 ff., who criticises the use of the term "lying-in bed."

[344]Fustel de Coulanges,Ancient City, 47, 70,passim; see further,Westermarck,op. cit., 107, 108;Howitt,Smithsonian Report(1883), 813;Maine,Early Law and Custom, 203;Wilkinson,Ancient Egyptians, I, 320.

[345]Human Marriage, 97. He insists on the powerful influence of names on the roles of succession:ibid., 111.

[346]Starcke,op. cit., 10-16, 25.

[347]Ibid., 26, 27, 30, 58 ff., 101;Westermarck,op. cit., 98 ff.

[348]Starcke,op. cit., 118;cf. ibid., 54.Friedrichsagrees with Starcke on the essential point. The uterine system arises with the formation of families andgentes. In a very primitive state, the natural means of subsistence sufficing, the children leave the parents and look out for themselves; as it becomes more and more difficult to find food and shelter, family groups are formed, and the children remain a longer time with the mother. Hence naturally the name and kinship are taken from her: "Ueber den Ursprung des Matriarchats,"ZVR., VIII, 378 ff. Compareidem, "Familienstufen und Eheformen,"ibid., X, 197 ff., 201.Dargun,Mutterrecht und Vaterrecht, 43-66, discusses the original mother-right, but rejects Starcke's theory of local causes, accepting uncertainty of fatherhood as a primary influence. Starcke is also criticised byHellwald,Die mensch. Familie, 456-58, 465, 484 ff.

[349]Op. cit., 36,passim; summarized byWestermarck,op. cit., 110.

[350]See above, p. 16, on "beena" marriage.

[351]Tylor,On a Method of Investigating the Development of Institutions, 258.Cf.Westermarck,op. cit., 109; alsoStarcke,op. cit., 79, 80, who regards serving as a form of wife-purchase, and the migration of the husband as "due to the great cohesive power of the several families, which causes them to refuse to part with any of their members." Among various American peoples it is the custom for the husband to take up his abode permanently in the wife's family:Souza, "Tratado descriptivo do Brazil,"Revista Inst. Hist., XIV, 311 ff.;Stevenson, "The Sia,"XI. Rep. of Bureau of Eth., 20, 22; or temporarily:Dobrizhoffer,Account of Abipones, II, 208, 209;Powell, "Wyandotte Society," inA. A. A. S., XXIX, 681;MacCauley, "Seminole Indians,"V. Rep. of Bureau of Eth., 496;McGee, "The Seri Indians,"XVII. Rep. of Bureau of Eth., 280.

[352]Westermarck,op. cit., 110. CompareSmith,Kinship and Marriage, 74 ff.;McLennan,Studies, I, 101 ff.; andMarsden,History of Sumatra, 225.

[353]SeeCunow, "Die ökonomischen Grundlagen der Mutterherrschaft,"Neue Zeit(1897-98), XVI, 115, 113, 14, reviewing and supplementingGrosse'sDie Formen der Familie, summarized above. The investigations of Hildebrand, elsewhere mentioned, tend in the same direction.

[354]Letourneau,L'évolution du mariage, 424, thus concludes his investigation of the question of kinship: "Ce qui est vraisemblable, c'est que, dans la majorité des cas, la filiation paternelle a succédé à la filiation maternelle et à des formes familiales plus ou moins confuses."Cf. ibid., 399, 400.Max Müller,Biographies of Words, p. xvii, thinks that "we can neither assert nor deny that in unknown times the Aryans ever passed through a metrocratic stage."Cf.Westermarck,op. cit., 104, 113.

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