Chap. XX. INTERFERING CAUSES. 359 



than mine, believe that commnnal marriasre was the 

 original and universal form throughout the world, in- 

 cluding the intermarriage of brothers and sisters. The 

 indirect evidence in favour of this belief is extremely 

 strong, and rests chiefly on the terms of relationship 

 which are employed between the members of the same 

 tribe, implying a connection with the tribe alone, and 

 not with either parent. But the subject is too large 

 and complex for even an abstract to be here given, and 

 I will confine myself to a few remarks. It is evident in 

 the case of communal marriages, or where the marriage- 

 tie is very loose, that the relationship of the child to its 

 father cannot be known. But it seems almost incredible 

 that the relationship of the child to its mother should 

 ever have been completely ignored, especially as the 

 women in most savage tribes nurse their infants for a 

 long time. Accordingly in many cases the lines of 

 descent are traced through the mother alone, to the 

 exclusion of the father. But in many other cases the 

 terms employed express a connection with the tribe 

 alone, to the exclusion even of the mother. It seems 

 possible that the connection between the related mem- 

 bers of the same barbarous tribe, exposed to all sorts of 

 danger, might be so much more important, owing to the 

 need of mutual protection and aid, than that between 

 the mother and her child, as to lead to the sole use of 

 terms expressive of the former relationships ; but Mr. 

 Morgan is convinced that this view of the case is by no 

 means sufficient. 



The terms of relationship used in different parts of 



of relationslnp (' Proc, American Acad, of Sciences,' vol. vii. Feb. 1868, 

 p. 475) coucludes that polygamy and all forms of marriage during 

 primeval times were essentially unknown. It appears, also, from Sir J. 

 Lubbock's work, that Bachofen likewise believes that communal inter- 

 course originally prevailed. 



