[118] See Thomas, Sex and Society, pp. 63-64.
[119] Morgan, House and House-life of the American Aborigines, p. 64. This example of mother-descent may be taken as typical of Indian life in all parts of America at the epoch of European discovery.
[120] Morgan, Anc. Soc., 62, 71, 76; Hartland, Primitive Paternity, Vol. I. p. 298, Vol. II. p. 65.
[121] McLennan, Studies, I. p. 271. Thus among the Choctas, if a boy is to be placed at school, his uncle, instead of his father, takes him to the mission and makes arrangements.
[122] Report of an Official for Indian Affairs on two of the Iroquoian tribes, cited by Hartland, op. cit., Vol. I. p. 298. McLennan attributes the arrangement of the marriages to the mothers (Studies, ii. p. 339). This would be the earlier custom and is still practised among several tribes.
[123] Charlevoix, V. p. 418, quoted by Hartland, op. cit., Vol. II. p. 66.
[124] The customs of the Senecas have been noted by the Rev. A. Wright, who was a missionary for many years amongst them, and was familiar with their language and habits. His account is quoted by Morgan, House and House-life of the American Aborigines.
[125] We seem here to have a suggestion of the modern plan of co-operative dwelling-houses. It is extraordinary how many of our new (!) ideas seem to have been common in the mother-age. Was it because women, who are certainly more practical and careful of detail than men are, had part in the social arrangements? This would explain the revival of the same ideas to-day, when women are again taking up their part in the ordering of domestic and social life.
[126] Powell, Rep. Bur. Ethn., I, p. 63.
[127] Owen, Musquakies, p. 72, quoted by Hartland, op. cit., Vol. II. pp. 68-69.