A History of Matrimonial Institutions, Vol. 1 of 3

by George Elliott Howard

[431] On polygyny see Swinderen, Disputatio de polygynia (1795); Weinhold, Die deutschen Frauen, II, 13 ff.; Post, Familienrecht, 63 ff.; Geschlechtsgenossenschaft, 17 ff., 26 ff.; Kovalevsky, Tableau, 101 ff.; Hellwald, Die mensch. Familie, 367-437; Mason, Woman's Share in Primitive Culture, 222 ff.; Darwin, Descent of Man, chaps. viii, xx; Lubbock, Origin of Civilization, 143; Letourneau, L'évolution du mariage, chaps. viii, ix, x, xi; Wake, Marriage and Kinship, chap. vi; Spencer, Principles of Sociology, I, 682-97; Starcke, Primitive Family, 261 ff., passim; Westermarck, Human Marriage, 431 ff., and Index. For examples of polygyny see Kohler, in ZVR., VII, 370, 379 (Papuas); VIII, 114 (Dekkan); IX, 324 (Bengal); X, 55 (Azteks); 97-99 (Bombay); XI, 432, 433 (Kamerun); Henrici, "Das Recht der Epheneger," ZVR., XI, 134; Post, "Die Kodification des Rechts der Amaxosa," ibid., XI, 232, 233; Rehme, "Das Recht der Amaxosa," ibid., X, 36.

[432] For instance, Spencer, Principles of Sociology, I, 672, 688.

[433] See the enumeration of polygynous peoples in Westermarck, op. cit., 431-35; Spencer, op. cit., I, 682, 683; Wake, Marriage and Kinship, 181 ff.; Mason, Woman's Place in Primitive Culture, 222 ff.

[434] Hellwald, Die mensch. Familie, 366 ff.; Grosse, Die Formen der Familie, 104 ff.

[435] See the lists of monogamous peoples in Westermarck, op. cit., 435-38; and compare Darwin, Descent of Man, 591; Post, Familienrecht, 73; Letourneau, L'évolution du mariage, chap. xi; and especially Grosse, Die Formen der Familie, as above summarized, chap. ii.

[436] Sarasin, Die Weddas von Ceylon, I, 457-75. These investigators, sustaining Westermarck's view of social evolution, regard the monogamy of the Veddahs as a typical primitive institution. Of course, as Kohler, Zur Urgeschichte der Ehe, 10 ff., 14 ff., urges against Westermarck and the Sarasin brothers, the accumulation of a great number of examples of peoples among whom monogamy prevails does not necessarily constitute proof of the original condition of man. It is possible, for example, that the Veddahs are far advanced beyond their former condition, or, conversely, that they are a degraded race. Still the existence of these examples of the single pairing family among barbarous and savage men, as well as those found among the anthropoid mammals, puts the burden of proof on the other side. At any rate, it must not be lightly assumed that this kind of evidence has been used more critically by the adherents of the theory of promiscuity than by those who take the opposite view.

[437] Polygyny is found, for example, among the Innuit, but monogamy is the rule, though marriages are often of very short duration. Occasionally there are two, three, four, or in very rare cases even five wives: Turner, "Ethnology of the Ungava District," XI. Rep. of Bureau of Eth., 182, 188, 189. Among the Point Barrow Eskimo Murdoch found usually one wife, and never heard of more than two: "Point Barrow Expedition," ibid., 411. "Rich men" among the Thlinkets often have two wives: Niblack, "Coast Indians," Rep. Smith. Inst., 1888, 367, 368; Krause, Die Tlinkit Indianer, 220. The Pima Indian has more than one wife when he can support them, for "the wife is the slave of the husband": Grossmann, "The Pima Indians of Arizona," Rep. Smith. Inst., 1871, 415, 416. A Ponca chief married four wives at one time, took them at once to his wigwam, and all got on well: Rep. Smith. Inst., 1885, 64. The Wyandottes allow polygyny if the wives are taken from different gentes, but polyandry is prohibited: Powell, "Wyandotte Society," A. A. A. S., XXIX, 681. Sometimes "duogamy" is found among the Seminoles: MacCauley, in V. Rep. of Bureau of Eth., 495. Among the Sioux "a plurality of wives is required of a good hunter, since in the labors of the chase women are of great service": Dorsey, "Siouan Sociology," XV. Rep. of Bureau of Eth., 225; but the "maximum number of wives that one man (an Omaha Sioux) can have is three, e. g., the first wife, her aunt, and her sister or niece, if all be consanguinities. Sometimes the three are not kindred": idem, "Omaha Sociology," III. Rep. of Bureau of Eth., 261; and compare Kohler, Zur Urgeschichte der Ehe, 65 ff., 82, who finds here an evidence of group-marriage. One wife is the rule among the South American Abipones: Dobrizhoffer, Account, II, 209, 210; and Appiacás: Guimarães, "Memoria," Revist. Trimens. Hist., VI, 307; and in general it is the prevalent form in South America: Martius, Ethnographie, II, 104; idem, Rechtszustande, 53. Two wives is the average number among the Seri: McGee, in XVII. Rep. of Bureau of Eth., Part I, 279.

[438] For a collation of the facts as to the ratio of polygynists to the whole population among polygynous peoples, consult Westermarck, op. cit., 438-42; cf. Hellwald, Die mensch. Familie, 413, 414.

[439] Waitz, Anthropologie, II, 109; but here the subordinate women are not always legitimate wives. Cf. Grosse, Die Formen der Familie, 109; Fritsch, Die Eingeborenen Süd-Afrikas, 114, 192, 193, 227, 363.

[440] Waitz, op. cit., III, 308, 328. In the Ungava District the children of the first wife take precedence: Turner, op. cit., 190; cf. Niblack, "Coast Indians," Rep. Smith. Inst., 1888, 367.