Chap. XX.] INTERFERING CAUSES. 343 



whose judgment is worth much more than mine, believe 

 that communal marriage was the original and universal 

 form throughout the world, including the intermarriage 

 of brothers and sisters. The indirect evidence in favor 

 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 sub- 

 ject 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 de- 

 scent are traced through the mother alone, to the exclusion 

 of the father. But in many other cases the terms em- 

 ployed express a connection with the tribe alone, to the 

 exclusion even of the mother. It seems possible that the 

 connection between the related members of the same bar- 

 barous tribe, exposed to all sorts of danger, might be so 

 much more important, owing to the need of mutual pro- 

 tection 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 the 

 world may be divided, according to the author just 

 quoted, into two great classes, the classificatory and de- 

 scriptive — the latter being employed by us. It is the 



were essentially unknown. It appears, also, from Sir J. Lubbock's work, 

 that Bachofen likewise believes that communal intercourse originally 

 prevailed. 



