Chapter 58

34Lichtenstein,Travels in Southern Africa, i. 265. Alberti,De Kaffers aan de Zuidkust van Afrika, p. 116sqq.Shooter,Kafirs of Natal, p. 98.

The period during which the paternal authority lasts varies. The daughter is in her father’s power till she marries, and as a rule no longer;35but in some instances his authority over her continues even after her marriage.36This, we have reason to believe, is particularly the case when the husband, on marrying, does not take his wife to his own home, but goes himself to live with her in the house or community of her father.37A father’s authority over his son frequently comes to an end as the young mangrows up. Among the Fuegians a son becomes independent of his parents at a very early age, being allowed to leave their wigwam if he pleases.38Among the Togiagamutes, an Eskimo tribe, “the youth, as soon as he is able to build a kaiak and to support himself, no longer observes any family ties but goes where his fancy takes him.”39Of the Australian natives it is said that sons become independent when they have gone through the ceremonies by which they attain to thestatusof manhood;40among the Bangerang tribe of Victoria “after his twelfth year or so the boy was very little subject to the father, though parental affection always endured.”41Among the Bedouins “the young man, as soon as it is in his power, emancipates himself from the father’s authority, still paying him some deference as long as he continues in his tent; but whenever he can become master of a tent himself (to obtain which is his constant endeavour), he listens to no advice, nor obeys any earthly command but that of his own will.”42That a son is emancipated from the father’s power by getting full-grown or by leaving the household is probably the rule among the great majority of the lower races.43But here again instances to the contrary are not wanting.44In Flores the sons even of rich families are dressed like slaves at public feasts, so long as the father lives, as also at his funeral. This, our authority adds, is apparently the external sign of a strictpatria potestas, which remains in force till the funeral; until then the son is the father’s slave.45

35See,e.g., Leuschner, in Steinmetz,Rechtsverhältnisse, p. 17 (Bakwiri); Fama Mademba,ibid.p. 65 (natives of the Sansanding States); Nicole,ibid.p. 100 (Diakité); Lang,ibid.p. 224 (Washambala); Kraft,ibid.p. 286 (Wapokomo); Marx,ibid.p. 349 (Amahlubi); Sorge,ibid.p. 404 (Nissan Islanders of the Bismarck Archipelago).

36See,e.g., Beverley, in Steinmetz,Rechtsverhältnisse, p. 206. What is said,ibid.p. 31, concerning the Banaka and Bapuku does not seem to agree with the statement p. 30, that the husband is the head of his household and the possessor of his wives.

37Cf.Mazzarella,La condizione giuridica del marito nella famiglia matriarcale,passim;infra, on theSubjection of Wives. The point in question, like the whole subject of the father’s authority among the lower races, requires much further investigation.

38Bove,Patagonia, Terra del Fuoco, p. 133.

39Petroff,loc. cit.p. 135.

40Curr,The Australian Race, i. 61.

41Idem,Recollections of Squatting in Victoria, p. 248.

42Burckhardt,Notes on the Bedouins and Wahábys, p. 201.

43For other instances, see Munzinger,Die Sitten und das Recht der Bogos, p. 36; Post,Afrikanische Jurisprudenz, i. 51 (Somals); Leuschner, in Steinmetz,Rechtsverhältnisse, p. 17 (Bakwiri); Nicole,ibid.p. 100 (Diakité); Beverley,ibid.p. 206 (Wagogo); Marx,ibid.p. 349 (Amahlubi); Sorge,ibid.p. 404 (Nissan Islanders).

44Sarbah,Fanti Customary Laws, p. 5. Stuhlmann,op. cit.p. 801 (Latuka). Steinmetz,Rechtsverhältnisse, p. 31 (Banaka and Bapuku). Fama Mademba,ibid.p. 65 (natives of the Sansanding States). Kraft,ibid.p. 286 (Wapokomo), Abercromby,Pre- and Proto-historic Finns, i. 181 (Mordvins).

45von Martens, quoted by Nieboer,Slavery as an Industrial System, p. 26, n. 2.

However, the expiration of the paternal power, in the proper sense of the term, does not necessarily imply the loss of all authority over the children. The father, at all events, retains the rights incident to his superior age, and among many uncivilised peoples these are great. Old age commands respect and gives authority.

Among the Fuegians “in each family the word of an old man is accepted as law by the young people; they never dispute his authority.”46The Patagonians “pay respect to old people, taking great care of them.”47The Caribs “portent un grand respect aus vieillards.”48The same is the case among many of the North American Indians.49Among the Naudowessies, whilst the advice of a father will seldom meet with any extraordinary attention from the young Indians, “they will tremble before a grandfather, and submit to his injunctions with the utmost alacrity. The words of the ancient part of their community are esteemed by the young as oracles.”50Among the Eskimo about Behring Strait the old men are listened to with respect;51and among the Point Barrow Eskimo “respect for the opinions of elders is so great that the people may be said to be practically under what is called ‘simple elder rule.’”52Among the Veddahs of Ceylon the oldest man “is regarded with a sort of patriarchal respect when accident or occasion has brought together any others than the members of one family.”53Among the Jakuts an old man is implicitly obeyed as a father of a family; “a young man ever gives his opinion with the greatest respect and caution; and even when asked, he submits his ideas to the judgment of the old.”54Regard for the aged is found among the Ainos,55Kurilians,56Mongols,57Ossetes,58Kukis,59Nicobarese,60Negritos of the Philippine Islands,61Papuans of New Guinea62New Caledonians,63Caroline Islanders,64Tonga Islanders,65and, in a remarkable degree, among the Australian aborigines.66“Among the Kurnai,” says Mr. Howitt, “age meets with great reverence…. It may be stated as a general rule that authority attaches to age. It follows from this that there is no hereditary authority and no hereditary chieftain. The authority which is inherent in age attaches not alone to the man, but also to the woman.” And he justly adds that this principle regulating authority seems to be, not peculiar to the Kurnai, but general to the whole Australian race.67

46King and Fitzroy,Voyages of the“Adventure”and“Beagle,” ii. 179.

47Ibid.ii. 172.

48de Poircy-de Rochefort,Histoire des Isles Antilles, p. 461.

49Buchanan,North American Indians, p. 7. Prescott, in Schoolcraft,Indian Tribes of the United States, ii. 196.

50Carver,Travels through the Interior Parts of North America, p. 243.

51Nelson, ‘Eskimo about Bering Strait,’ inAnn. Rep. Bur. Ethn.xviii. 304.

52Murdoch, inAnn. Rep. Bur. Ethn.ix. 427.

53Hartshorne, ‘Weddas,’ inIndian Antiquary, viii. 320.Cf.Deschamps,Carnet d’un voyageur, p. 395.

54Sauer,Billings’ Expedition to the Northern Parts of Russia, p. 124.

55Batchelor,Ainu and their Folk-Lore, p. 254. von Siebold,Ethnol. Studien über die Aino auf der Insel Yesso, p. 25.

56Krasheninnikoff,History of Kamschatka, p. 236.

57Prejevalsky,Mongolia, i. 71.

58von Haxthausen,Transcaucasia, p. 414. Strabo (xi. 4. 8) reports the same of the Albanians of the Eastern Caucasus.

59Lewin,Hill Tracts of Chittagong, p. 102.

60Kloss,In the Andamans and Nicobars, p. 243.

61Schadenberg, inZeitschr. f. Ethnol.xii. 135. Earl,Papuans, p. 133. Foreman,Philippine Islands, p. 209.

62Earl,op. cit.p. 81.

63Atkinson, inFolk-Lore, xiv. 248.

64Christian,Caroline Islands, p. 72. Angas,Polynesia, p. 382.

65Mariner,op. cit.ii. 155.

66Roth,North-West-Central Queensland Aborigines, p. 141. Fraser,Aborigines of New South Wales, p. 5. Schuermann, ‘Aboriginal Tribes of Port Lincoln,’ in Woods,Native Tribes of South Australia, p. 226. HaleU.S. Exploring Expedition. Vol. VI. Ethnography and Philology, p. 113. Mitchell,Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia, ii. 346. Brough Smyth,Aborigines of Victoria, i. 137sq.See also Steinmetz,Ethnol. Studien zur Entwicklungsgeschichte der Strafe, ii. 26sqq.

67Fison and Howitt,Kamilaroi and Kurnai, p. 211sq.

Turning to African peoples: among the Danakil the aged of both sexes, but especially the males, are held in great veneration, and the old men are consulted on every occasion of any importance.68“The real religion of the Barea and Kunáma,” says Munzinger, “consists in an extraordinary reverence for old age. Among these peoples only the old, the weak, or the blind command respect.”69The Ew̔e-speaking peoples on the Slave Coast have a proverb, “Respect the elders, they are our fathers.”70Winterbottom doubts whether the ancient Lacedæmonians paid greater regard to old age than do the natives of Sierra Leone.71Mr. Leighton Wilson says of the Mpongwe:—“There is no part of the world where respect and veneration for age is carried to a greater length than among this people…. All the younger members of society are early trained to show the utmost deference to age. They must never come into the presence of aged persons or pass by their dwellings without taking off their hats and assuming a crouching gait. When seated in their presenceit must always be at a ‘respectful distance’—a distance proportioned to the difference in their ages and position in society. If they come near enough to hand an aged man a lighted pipe or a glass of water, the bearer must always fall upon one knee. Aged persons must always be addressed as ‘father’ (rera) or ‘mother’ (ngwe). Any disrespectful deportment or reproachful language toward such persons is regarded as a misdemeanour of no ordinary aggravation. A youthful person carefully avoids communicating any disagreeable intelligence to such persons, and almost always addresses them in terms of flattery and adulation.”72Among the For tribe of Central Africa “great consideration is shown towards women when they are old, as well as towards aged men.”73Regard for old age is, in fact, a very general trait of the African character.74

68Scaramucci and Giglioli, ‘Notizie suiDanakil,’ inArchivio per l’antropologia e la etnologia, xiv. 36.

69Munzinger,Ostafrikanische Studien, p. 474.

70Ellis,Ew̔e-speaking Peoples, p. 268.

71Winterbottom,Native Africans in the Neighbourhood of Sierra Leone, i. 211.

72Wilson,Western Africa, p. 392sq.

73Felkin, ‘Notes on the For Tribe of Central Africa,’ inProceed. Roy. Soc. Edinburgh, xiii. 224sq.

74Monrad,Bidrag til en Skildring af Guinea-Kysten, p. 37 (Negroes of Accra). Granville and Roth, inJour. Anthr. Inst.xxviii. 109 (Jekris). Kingsley,Travels in West Africa, p. 460 (Calabar tribes). Caillié,op. cit.i. 352 (Mandingoes). Stuhlmann,op. cit.pp. 789, 801 (Latuka). Casati,Ten Years in Equatoria, i. 186. Chanler,Through Jungle and Desert, p. 246 (Embe). New,Life, Wanderings, and Labours in Eastern Africa, p. 101 (Wanika). Johnston,Kilima-njaro Expedition, p. 419 (Masai). Arnot,Garenganze, p. 78, note. Lichtenstein,op. cit.i. 265; Alberti,op. cit.p. 118; Shooter,op. cit.p. 98 (Kafirs). Schinz,Deutsch-Südwest-Afrika, p. 82 (Hottentots).

Not only old age, but superiority of age, gives a certain amount of power.

The Australian natives have a well-regulated order of precedence and authority. “When the individual reaches the full development of puberty, he or she undergoes a ceremony which entitles him or her on its successful completion to a certain social rank orstatusin the community. As life progresses, other and higher ranks are progressively attainable for each sex, until the highest and most honourable grade, that enjoyed by an old man, or an old woman, is reached.”75All North American Indians “hold that superior age gives authority; and every person is taught from childhood to obey his superiors and to rule over his inferiors. The superiors are those of greater age; the inferiors, those who are younger.”76The same influence of age makes itself felt in the relations between elderand younger brothers and sisters.77Navaho myths indicate that “even among twins, the younger must defer to the elder.”78The eldest brother comes next to the father in authority, and, in case of his death, succeeds him as the head of the family. The Aleuts described by Father Veniaminof maintained that “if one had no father he should respect his oldest brother and serve him as he would a father.”79Among the Kalmucks “the elder brother is the despot of the younger ones, and is even allowed to punish them.”80In Madagascar so great respect is paid to seniority “that if two slaves who are brothers are going a journey, any burden must be carried by the younger one, so far at least as his strength will allow.”81In Tonga custom decrees “that all persons shall be in the service of their older and superior relations, if those relations think proper to employ them”; and every chief shows the greatest regard for his eldest sister.82Among the Hottentots “the highest oath a man could take and still takes, was to swear by his eldest sister, and if he should abuse this name, the sister will walk into his flock and take his finest cows and sheep, and no law could prevent her from doing so.”83Among the Point Barrow Eskimo, again, “seniority gives precedence when there are several women in one hut, and the sway of the elder in the direction of everything connected with her duties seems never disputed.”84

75Roth,op. cit.p. 169.Cf.ibid.p. 65sq.; Eyre,Journals of Expeditions of Discovery into Central Australia, ii. 315.

76Powell, ‘Sociology,’ inAmerican Anthropologist, N. S. i. 700.Cf.Idem, inAnn. Rep. Bur. Ethn.iii. p. lviii.

77Nachtigal,Sahara und Sudan, i. 450 (Tedâ). Chavanne,Die Sahara, p. 396 (Arabs of the Sahara). Paulitschke,op. cit.p. 192 (Gallas). von Haxthausen,Transcaucasia, p. 415 (Ossetes). Bach, ‘Die Wotjaken,’ inActa Societatis Scientiarum Fennicæ, xii. 489 (Votyaks). Sumner, inJour. Anthr. Inst.xxxi. 75 (Jakuts). Batchelor,Ainu and their Folk-Lore, p. 254.

78Matthews, ‘Study of Ethics among the Lower Races,’ inJournal of American Folk-Lore, xii. 9.

79Veniaminof, quoted by Petroff,loc. cit.p. 155.

80Bergmann,Nomadische Streifereien unter den Kalmüken, ii. 305.

81Sibree,op. cit.p. 182.

82Mariner,op. cit.i. 226; ii. 155.

83Hahn,The Supreme Being of the Khoi-Khoi, p. 21.

84Simpson, quoted by Murdoch, inAnn. Rep. Bur. Ethn.ix. 427.

It must be added, however, that the reverence for old age may cease when the grey-head gets so old as to be an incumbrance to those around him;85and imbecility may put an end to the father’s authority over his family.86We have previously noticed that parents worn out with ageand disease are among some peoples killed or abandoned by their own children.87

85Curr,Squatting in Victoria, pp. 254. 245, 265sqq.; Eyre,op. cit.ii. 316 (Australian aborigines). Sumner, inJour. Anthr. Inst.xxxi. 76 (Jakuts). Nansen,Eskimo Life, p. 177sq.(Greenlanders).Supra, p. 534.

86Steinmetz,Rechtsverhältnisse, p. 31 (Banaka and Bapuku).

87Supra,p. 386sq.

When passing from the savage and barbarous races of men to those next above them in civilisation, we find paternal, or parental, authority and filial reverence at their height. In ancient Mexico “necessitous parents were allowed to dispose of any one of their children, in order to relieve their poverty,” whereas a master could not sell a well-behaved slave without his consent.88A youth was seldom permitted to choose a wife for himself, but was expected to abide by the selection of his parents;89and “children were bred to stand so much in awe of their parents that even when grown up and married they hardly durst speak before them.”90So, too, in Nicaragua a father might sell his children as slaves in cases of great necessity,91and matches were in the larger part of the country arranged by the parents.92In ancient Peru disobedient children were publicly chastised by their own parents;93and Inca Pachacutec confirmed the law that sons should obey and serve their fathers until they reached the age of twenty-five, and that none should marry without the consent of the parents and of the parents of the girl.94

88Clavigero,History of Mexico, i. 360.

89Westermarck,op. cit.p. 226.

90Clavigero,op. cit.i. 331.

91Squier,Nicaragua, p. 345.

92Bancroft,Native Races of the Pacific States, ii. 667.

93Herrera,General History of the West Indies, iv. 339.

94Garcilasso de la Vega,First Part of the Royal Commentaries of the Yncas, ii. 207.

In China a house-father reigns almost supreme in his family, and, according to ancient Chinese ideas, not even marriage withdraws the son from his power.95The law, it is true, prohibits him from killing96or selling97his children; but it is only in supreme cases that the State interferes between the head of a household and his family belongings, and the sale of children is practically allowed.98No person, of whatever age, can act for himself in matrimonialmatters during the lifetime or in the neighbourhood of his parents or near senior kinsfolk.99The law provides that disobedience to the instructions and commands of parents or paternal grandparents shall be punished with one hundred blows,100and that a still greater punishment shall be inflicted on a son accusing his father or mother and on a grandson accusing his paternal grandparent, even though the accusation prove true.101Indeed, from earliest youth the Chinese lad is imbued with such respect for his parents that it becomes at last a religious sentiment, and forms, as he gets older, the basis of his only creed—the worship of ancestors.102Confucianism itself has been briefly described as “an expansion of the root idea of filial piety.”103The Master said:—“filial piety is the root of all virtue, and the stem out of which grows all moral teaching…. Filial piety is the constant method of Heaven, the righteousness of Earth, and the practical duty of Man…. Of all the actions of man there is none greater than filial piety. In filial piety there is nothing greater than the reverential awe of one’s father. In the reverential awe shown to one’s father there is nothing greater than the making him the correlate of Heaven.”104But the idea that filial piety is the fundamental duty of man was not originated by Confucius, it had obtained a firm hold of the national mind long before his time.105It also prevails in Corea106and Japan,107where the authority of a house-father is, or, in the case of Japan, until lately has been,108as great as in China. “The Japanese maiden, as pure as the purest Christian virgin, will at the command of her father enter the brothel to-morrow, and prostitute herself for life. Not a murmur escapes her lipsas she thus filially obeys.”109In Corea, whilst the first thing inculcated in a child’s mind is respect for his father, little respect is felt for the mother; the child soon learns that a mother’s authority is next to nothing.110

95de Groot,Religious System of China(vol. ii. book) i. 507.

96Supra,p. 393.

97Ta Tsing Leu Lee, sec. cclxxv. p. 292.

98Douglas,Society in China, p. 78. Staunton, in his translation ofTa Tsing Leu Lee, p. 292 n. * Doolittle,Social Life of the Chinese, ii. 209.

Back to Index Next