THE STATUS OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN. 437 



happens witli races considerably higher, both semi-agricultural and 

 pastoral. A Daraara's wife " carries his things when he moves from 

 place to place." When the Tupis migrate, all the household stock is 

 taken to the new abode by the females : " The husband only took his 

 weapons, and the wife," says Marcgraff", " is loaded like a mule." 

 Similarly, enumerating the labors of wives among the aborigines of 

 South Brazil, Spix and Martins say, " They are also the beasts of bur- 

 den;" and iu like manner DobrizhoiJer writes, " The luggage being 

 all committed to the women, the Abipoues travel armed with a spear 

 alone, that they may be disengaged to fight or hunt, if occasion re- 

 quires." Doubtless the reason indicated in the last extract is a par- 

 tial defense for this practice, so general with savages when traveling ; 

 since, liable as they are to be at any moment surprised by ambushed 

 enemies, fatal results would happen were the men not ready to fight on 

 the instant. And possibly knowledge of this may join the force of cus- 

 tom iu making the women themselves uphold the practice, as they do. 



On ascending to societies partially or wholly settled, and a little 

 more complex, we begin to find considerable diversities in the division 

 of labor between the sexes. Usually the men are the builders, but not 

 always : the women erect the huts among the Bechuanas, Cafi'res, 

 Damaras, as also do the women of the Outanatas, New Guinea ; and 

 sometimes it is the task of women to cut dowm trees, though nearly 

 always this business falls to the men. Anomalous as it seems, we are 

 told of the Coroados that " the cooking of the dinner, as well as keep- 

 ing in the fire, is the business of the men ; " and the like happens in 

 Samoa : " The duties of cooking devolve on the men " not excepting 

 the chiefs. Mostly among the uncivilized and semi-civilized, trading 

 is done by the men, but not always. In Java, according to Raffles, 

 " the women alone attend the markets and conduct all the business of 

 buying and selling." So, too, according to Astley, in Angola the 

 women " buy, sell, and do all other things which the men do in other 

 countries, while their husbands stay at home, and employ themselves 

 in spinning, weaving cotton, and such like effeminate business." In 

 ancient Peru there was a like division : men did the spinning and 

 weaving, and women the field-work. Again, according to Bruce, in 

 Abyssinia " it is infamy for a man to go to market to buy anything. 

 He cannot carry water or bake bread ; but he must wash the clothes 

 belonging to both sexes, and, in this function, the women cannot help 

 him." And Petherick says that among the Arabs " the females repu- 

 diate needlework entirely, the little tliey require being performed by 

 their husbands and brothers." 



From a general survey of the facts, multitudinous and heterogene- 

 ous, thus briefly indicated, the only definite conclusion appears to be 

 that men monopolize the occupations requiring both strength and 

 agility always available war and the chase. Leaving undiscussed 

 the relative fitness of women at other times for fiofhtine: enemies and 



