SURVIVALS FROM MARRIAGE BY CAPTURE. 221 



go to live with her husband till she is far advanced in pregnancy. 

 If she does not become pregnant, she may not live in her hus- 

 band's tent till a full year from the wedding-day.* 



Our second subhead of this group comprises those forms in 

 which social intercourse between the husband and the tribe, rela- 

 tions, or parents of the wife is forbidden. He is pretended to 

 be regarded as an enemy who has robbed them of one of their 

 number. 



An example of the most complete form of this custom, occur- 

 ring before marriage, has already been quoted from Caillie', and, 

 apparently, the restrictions remain in force after marriage, at all 

 events for a time. In most cases, however, the restriction is lim- 

 ited to the relations of the bride. This, according to Rochefort,f 

 was the case with the Caribs. He says: "All the women talk 

 with whom they will, but the husband dares not converse with 

 his wife's relatives, except on extraordinary occasions." Bae- 

 gert describes a similar custom among the Indians of California, 

 with whom the son-in-law was not allowed to look in the face of 

 his mother-in-law, or his wife's nearest relations, but had to step 

 on one side, or to hide himself when they were present. J In 

 Florida, the parents-in-law did not enter the son-in-law's house, 

 nor he theirs, nor his brothers-in-law, and, if they met by chance, 

 they went a bow-shot out of their way, with their heads down 

 and eyes fixed on the ground, for they held it a bad thing to see 

 or speak to one another. 4 * 



Among other peoples the restriction is limited to the mother- 

 in-law, and this form is very wide-spread. It is, or was, observed 

 by the Indians of North America generally, and by many tribes 

 in South America. In Africa the custom is found among the 

 tribes of the Gold Coast, the Mpongwe of the Gaboon, and the 

 Bushmen. The Zulu and his mother-in-law may not mention one 

 another's names, nor look in one another's faces. If they chance 

 to meet they pretend not to see each other, the man hiding his 

 face with his shield. || In Australia " it is compulsory on the 

 mothers-in-law to avoid the sight of their sons-in-law, by mak- 

 ing the mothers-in-law take a very circuitous route on all occa- 

 sions to avoid being seen, and they hide the face and figure 

 with the rug which the female carries with her." The custom 

 which, among the Banyai of South Africa, compels a man to sit 

 with his knees bent in presence of his mother-in-law, and for- 

 bids him to put out his feet toward her, has perhaps something 

 to do with this form, as, no doubt, has also the proverbial hostility 



* Burckhardt, vol. i, p. 269. * Tylor, Early History of Mankind, p. 289. 



t Hist. Nat. des ties Antilles, p. 545. | Lubbock, p. 14. 



% Smithsonian Reports, 1863-'64, p. 368. 



