[37] Primal Law. The chapter “From the Group to the Tribe,” pp. 250-263.
[38] Mr. Atkinson refers to these clandestine marriages. He does not, however, connect the custom, as I suggest, with any action on the part of the young women.
[39] Primal Law, p. 256.
PART II
THE MOTHER-AGE CIVILISATION
“It’s not too late to seek a newer world:
Tho’ much is taken, much abides: and tho’
We are not now the strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts;
Made weak by time and rule, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”
Tennyson.
CHAPTER V
THE MATRIARCHAL FAMILY AMONG THE AMERICAN INDIANS
It is time now to turn to the actual subject of this investigation, in order to see how far the theory of mother-right has been helped by the lengthy examination of the patriarchal group.
Since the publication of Das Mutterrecht much has been written that has tended to raise doubts as to the soundness of the matriarchal theory, at least in the form held by its early supporters. A reaction in the opposite direction has set in, before which the former belief in mother-power has been transformed, and now seems likely to disappear altogether. In recent years, Westermarck, Starcke, Andrew Lang, N. W. Thomas, and Crawley among others have given utterance to this view. The prevalence of a system tracing descent through the mother is accepted by the majority of learned opinion, though it would seem somewhat grudgingly. Mr. Crawley is the only writer, as far as I know, who denies that such a practice was ever common; the cases in which it still exists, as these cannot be denied, he regards as exceptions. He affirms: “There is no evidence that the maternal system was ever general or always preceded the paternal system.” And again: “Though frequent, maternal descent cannot have been either universally or generally a stage through which man has passed.”[40]