ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 187 



separated from his children. In such communities there is often a 

 partial separation by clans of this nature: in savage society the 

 men of a clan often go off together on a hunting or fishing excur- 

 sion. Sometimes these excursions or travels are prolonged for 

 weeks or months. In such cases the men often take their wives 

 with them, and under these circumstances the women are separated 

 from their clan and kindred and- are not under the control of clan 

 authority, but fall under the temporary control of their husbands 

 and fathers. Now, if we could suppose a state of affairs where 

 this separation of women and children from kindred and clan 

 authority becomes permanent, it is manifest that the power of 

 clan authority would wane, and the authority of the husband and 

 father would grow. Such a condition of affixirs results from ex- 

 tensive agriculture by irrigation and the care of extensive flocks. 

 It must be remembered that in this stage of society property is 

 communal; that is, property in the main belongs to the clan. A 

 flock of sheep, a herd of cattle, a band of horses; is the property 

 of the men of a clan. When such property becomes so large that 

 it will occupy for its sustentation a large valley, the men to whom 

 it belongs will necessarily be occupied all the time with its care 

 and protection, and they must have their wives and children with 

 them in order that domestic life may be possible. Under such 

 circumstances it results that women and children are gradually taken 

 from the control of those persons who had previously been supposed 

 to be their natural protectors, their clan kindred, and fall under the 

 control of their husbands and fathers, who are members of other 

 clans. The same result has always been produced by the segrega- 

 tion of the male members of the clan from the tribe through agri- 

 culture by irrigation. The circumstances are these : In this early 

 agriculture the agricultural implements are very crude, and great 

 hydraulic works cannot be undertaken. It is thus necessary to 

 attempt the control of only the small streams, and the men of each 

 clan will therefore select some small stream and occupy the little 

 valley through which it runs and upon which its waters are trained ; 

 the men of one clan, witli their wives and children, occupy a dis- 

 tinct valley, the male members of another clan another valley, and 

 the tribe is thus segregated into groups, the male members of each 

 group belonging to the same clan and having with them their wives 

 and children. The women and children being thus severed from clan 

 authority, fall under the authority of their husbands, and mother- 



