732 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



female kinship prevailed, "the sovereign nominated his successor 

 naturally choosing a son." Further, it is to be noted that, where, as 

 in these cases, when no nomination has been made, the nobles choose 

 among members of the royal family, and are determined in theii choice 

 by eligibility, there may be, and naturally is, a departure from descent 

 in the female line ; and this once broken through is likely, for several 

 reasons, to be abolished. We are also introduced to another transi- 

 tional process. For some of these cases are among the many in which 

 succession to rulership is fixed in respect of the family, but not fixed 

 in respect of the member of the family a stage implying a partial 

 but incomplete stability of the political headship. Several instances 

 occur in Africa. " The crown of Abyssinia is hereditary in one family, 

 but elective in the person," says Bruce. "Among the Timmanees and 

 Bulloms, the crown remains in the same family, but the chief or head- 

 men of the country, upon whom the election of a king depends, are at 

 liberty to nominate a very distant branch of that family." And a 

 Caffre " law requires the successor to the king should be chosen from 

 among some of the youngest princes." In Java and Samoa, too, while 

 succession to rulership is limited to the family, it is but partially 

 settled with respect to the individual. 



That stability of political headship is secured by establishment of 

 descent in the male line is, of course, not alleged. The assertion sim- 

 ply is, that succession after this mode conduces better than any other 

 to its stability. Of probable reasons for this, one is that in the patri- 

 archal group, as developed among those pastoral races from whicb 

 the leading civilized peoples have descended, the sentiment of subor- 

 dination to the eldest male, fostered by circumstances in the family 

 and in the gens, becomes instrumental to a wider subordination in the 

 larger groups eventually formed. Another probable reason is, that 

 wuth descent in the male line there is more frequently a union of effi- 

 ciency with supremacy. The son of a great warrior, or man other- 

 wise capable as a ruler, is more likely to possess kindred traits than is 

 the son of his sister ; and, if so, it will happen that in those earliest 

 stages, when personal superiority is requisite as well as legitimacy of 

 claim, succession in the male line will conduce to maintenance of power 

 by making usurpation more difficult. 



There is, however, a more potent influence which aids in giving 

 permanence to political headship, and which operates more in con- 

 junction with descent through males than in conjunction with descent 

 through females an influence probably of greater importance than 

 any other. 



When showing how respect for age generates patriarchal authority 

 w^here descent through males bas arisen, I gave cases which inciden- 

 tally showed a further result ; namely, that the dead patriarch, wor- 

 shiped by his descendants, becomes a family deity. In sundry chap- 



