[462] Descent of Man, ii, 360.
[463] The Ippais and Kapotas are married in a group. Ippai begets Murri, and Murri in turn begets Ippai; in like manner Kapota begets Mata, and Mata in turn begets Kapota; so that the grandchildren of Ippai and Kapota are themselves Ippais and Kapotas, as well as collateral brothers and sisters; and as such are born husbands and wives.
[464] Historical Sketch of the Missions, etc., in the Sandwich Islands, etc., p. 5.
[465] Uxores habent deni duodenique inter se communes, et maxime fratres cum fratribus parentesque cum liberis.—De Bell. Gall., v, 14.
[466] γυναῖκα μὲν γαμέει ἕκαστος, ταύτῃσι δὲ ἐπίκοινα χρέωνται. —Lib. i, c. 216.
[467] ἐπίκοινον δὲ τῶν γυναικῶν τὴν μίξιν ποιεῦνται, ἵνα κασίγνητοί τε ἀλλήλων ἔωσι καὶ οἰκήïοι ἐόντες πάντες μήτε φθόνῳ μήτ' ἔχθεï χρέωνται ἐς ἀλλήλους.—Lib. iv, c. 104.
[468] Herrera’s History of America, l. c., i, 216. Speaking of the coast tribes of Brazil, Herrera further remarks that “they live in bohios, or large thatched cottages, of which there are about eight in every village, full of people, with their nests or hammocks to lye in.... They live in a beastly manner, without any regard to justice or decency.”—Ib., iv, 94. Garcilasso de la Vega gives an equally unfavorable account of the marriage relation among some of the lowest tribes of Peru.—Royal Com. of Peru, l. c., pp. 10 and 106.
[469] Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family, Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, vol. xvii.
[470] The late Rev. Ashur Wright, for many years a missionary among the Senecas, wrote the author in 1873 on this subject as follows: “As to their family system, when occupying the old long-houses, it is probable that some one clan predominated, the women taking in husbands, however, from the other clans; and sometimes, for a novelty, some of their sons bringing in their young wives until they felt brave enough to leave their mothers. Usually, the female portion ruled the house, and were doubtless clannish enough about it. The stores were in common; but woe to the luckless husband or lover who was too shiftless to do his share of the providing. No matter how many children, or whatever goods he might have in the house, he might at any time be ordered to pick up his blanket and budge; and after such orders it would not be healthful for him to attempt to disobey. The house would be too hot for him; and, unless saved by the intercession of some aunt or grandmother, he must retreat to his own clan; or, as was often done, go and start a new matrimonial alliance in some other. The women were the great power among the clans, as everywhere else. They did not hesitate, when occasion required, ‘to knock off the horns,’ as it was technically called, from the head of a chief, and send him back to the ranks of the warriors. The original nomination of the chiefs also always rested with them.” These statements illustrate the gyneocracy discussed by Bachofen in “Das Mutterrecht.”
[471] History of Mexico, Phil. ed., 1817, Cullen’s trans., ii, 99.