204 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



rendering women scarce, led at once to polyandry within the tribe, and 

 to the capturing of women from without." * 



" If it can be shown, firstly, that exogamous tribes exist or have 

 existed, and, secondly, that in rude times the relations of separate 

 tribes are uniformly or almost uniformly hostile, we have found a 

 set of circumstances in which men could get wives only by capturing 

 them a social condition in which capture would be the necessary pre- 

 liminary to marriage." f 



Further on he remarks, " We now confidently submit that the con- 

 ditions required for this inference have been amply established. ..." J 



After a careful study of Mr. McLennan's work, I am not sure that 

 I have grasped his meaning here. The " tribe " of which he speaks 

 must have been in the first place endogamous, because he supposes it 

 to have become exogamous as the result of the practice of female in- 

 fanticide. Here, then, we have an endogamous tribe becoming exoga- 

 mous. But, in the table of contents to Chapter VII. we read, " Con- 

 version of an endogamous tribe into an exogamous tribe inconceiv- 

 able." Turning to that part of the body of the work here indicated, 

 we find the statement to be that the " reconversion of an endogamous 

 tribe into an exogamous tribe is inconceivable." But this does not 

 help us. For there can be no difficulty in conceiving that which we 

 have before our eyes at the present day in almost all savage peoples on 

 the face of the earth a tribe endogamous qua tribe that is, marry- 

 ing within its own limits, and yet split up into exogamous intermarry- 

 ing divisions, classes, gentes, septs, clans, thums, keelis, or whatsoever 

 else they may be called ; so that the law of marriage is distinctly ex- 

 ogamous. The confusion here evidently arises from want of precision 

 in the use of the terms endogamy, exogamy, and tribe. Let us know 

 the exact boundaries of the group to which they are applied, and then 

 we shall be clear as to their meaning. 



Again, turning to the general theory as set forth in Mr. McLen- 

 nan's words already quoted, we find the following sequence : 



1. Female infanticide was the general practice among the " primary 

 hordes," and resulted in a scarcity of women, so causing polyandry 

 arwd marriage by capture. 



2. The tribe having thus taken to capturing women, acquired the 

 habit of so doing, and became exogamous. 



3. Exogamy having thus grown into a law, and neighboring tribes 

 being, as a rule, hostile to one another, men could get their wives no 

 otherwise than by capture. 



"Which may be fairly summed up as follows : Female infanticide 

 causes marriage by capture. Marriage by capture causes exogamy. 

 Exogamy causes marriage by capture. 



I can not suppose this to have been Mr. McLennan's meaning, but 



* " Studies," etc., p. 111. f Ibid., p. 42. J Ibid., p. 109. 



