OF ARTS AND SCIENCES: FEBRUARY II, 1868. 469 



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ascend far back toward the primitive ages of mankind. It still pre- 

 vails, or has prevailed, among the principal Asiatic and American 

 Indian nations, and also among the ancestors of several of the present 

 Aryan nations. It is explainable, in its origin, and only explainable, 

 as a reformatory movement to break up the intermarriage of blood 

 relations, and particularly of brothers and sisters, by compelling them 

 to marry out of the tribe. With the prohibition of intermarriage in 

 the tribe, the cohabitation of brothers and sisters was permanently abol- 

 ished, since they were necessarily of the same tribe. It would neither 

 overthrow the Hawaiian custom, although it abridged its range, nor 

 the communal family, which harmonized with tribal life ; but it struck 

 at the roots of promiscuous intercourse by abolishing its worst features, 

 and thus became a powerful movement toward the ultimate realization 

 of marriage between single pairs and the true family state. 



A tribe is a group of consanguine!, with descent limited either to the 

 male or to the female line. Where descent is limited to the male line, 

 the tribe would consist of a supposed male ancestor and his children, 

 together with the descendants of his sons in the male line forever. It 

 would include this ancestor and his children, the children of his sons, 

 and all the children of his lineal male descendants, whilst the children 

 of the daughters of this ancestor, and all the children of his female 

 descendants, would be transferred to the tribes of their respective 

 fathers. Where descent is limited to the female line, the tribe would 

 consist of a supposed female ancestor and her children, together with 

 the descendants of her daughters in the female line forever. It would 

 include the children of this ancestor, the children of her daughters, and 

 all the children of her lineal female descendants, whilst the children of 

 the sons of this ancestor, and all the children of her male descendants, 

 would be transferred to the tribes of their respective mothers. Modi- 

 fications of this form of the tribe may have existed, but this is the sub- 

 stance of the institution. No man can marry a woman of his own 

 tribe, whether descent is in the male or female line. All of its mem- 

 bers are consanguineal. This prohibition is a fundamental characteris- 

 tic of the tribal organization. The knowledge of a common tribal 

 descent is preserved by a tribal name, such as wolf, bear, or horse. 



If the principles resulting from the tribal organization, so far as they 

 relate to parentage, are now applied to that part of the Turanian 

 system, which is distinctively Turanian, the relationships will be found 

 to be those actually existing, and to be in accordance with the nature 



