436 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



tives along with other property. Sundry examples of this have been 

 given; and many others might be added. Smith says of the Mapu- 

 ches that " a widow by the death of her husband becomes her own 

 mistress, unless he may have left grown-up sons by another wife, in 

 which case she becomes their common concubine, being regarded as a 

 chattel naturally belonging to the heirs of the estate." 



Thus recognizing the truth that as long as women continue to be 

 stolen or bought, their human individualities are ignored, let us ob- 

 serve the division of labor that resvdts between the sexes; determined 

 partly by this unqualified despotism of men and partly by the limita- 

 tions which certain incapacities of women entail. 



The slave-class in a primitive society consists of the women ; aiid 

 the earliest division of labor is that which arises between them and 

 their masters. For a long time no other division of labor exists. Of 

 course nothing more is to be expected among such low, wandering 

 groups as Tasmanians, Australians, Fuegians, Andamanese, Bushmen. 

 Nor do we find any adv^ance in this resjject made by the higher hunt- 

 ing races, such as the Comanches, Chippewas, Dakotas, etc. 



Of the occupations thus divided, the males put upon the females 

 whatever these are not disabled from doing by inadequate strength, 

 or agility, or skill. While the men among the now-extinct Tasma- 

 nians added to the food only that furnished by the kangaroos they 

 chased, the women climbed trees for opossums, dug up roots with 

 sticks, groped for shell-fish, dived for oysters, and fished, in addition 

 to looking after their children ; and there now exists a kindred appor- 

 tionment among the Fuegians, Andamanese, Australians. Where the 

 food consists wholly or mainly of the greater mammals, the men catch 

 and the women carry. We read of the Chippewas that " when the 

 men kill any large beast, the women are always sent to bring it to the 

 tent;" of the Comanches, that the women "often accompany their 

 husbands in hunting he kills the game, they butcher and transport 

 the meat, dress the skins, etc,;" of the Esquimaux, that when the 

 man has "brought his booty to land, he troubles himself no further 

 about it ; for it would be a stigma on his character, if he so much as 

 drew a seal out of the water." Though, in these cases, an excuse 

 made is that the exhaustion caused by the chase is great, yet, when 

 we read that the Esquimaux women, excepting the woodwork, "build 

 the houses and tents, and though they have to carry stones almost 

 heavy enough to break their backs, the men look on with the greatest 

 insensibility, not stirring a finger to assist them," we cannot accept 

 the excuse as adequate. Further, it is the custom with these low 

 races, nomadic or semi-nomadic in their habits, to give the females the 

 task of transporting the baggage. A Tasmanian woman often had 

 piled on all the other burdens she carried when tramping, "sundry 

 spears and waddies not required for present service ; " and the like 



