421 SYSTEMS OF CONSANGUINITY AND AFFINITY 



itself, which contains also his etymological observations upon the nomenclature of 

 relationships. They were evidently prepared with much care and labor, and treat 



great-great-grandfather is the most remote of my practically recognized forefathers ; while, in the same 

 way, my most remote practically recognized descendant is my great-great-grandson. By jiractical 

 recognition two things are expressed : first, within these limits each individual has a separate name 

 of relationship, while beyond them relations are classed generally as "ancestors" and "descendants" 

 respectively ; and secondly, it would be only for relatives within such limits that, according to usage, 

 I should be obliged to wear mourning in the event of their decease during my lifetime. 



9. Thus, the descendants of an original pair do not, iu theory, pass beyond the degree of class 

 brother, and hence results a recognized tie of consanguinity which no lapse of time can effect, but 

 which, practically, the brethren do not consider worth observing after the fifth generation. 



10. The wives of these several brothers and class brothers, as also the husbands of these several 

 sisters and class sisters are interchangeably sisters-in-law and class sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law 

 and class brothers-in-law to the brothers and class brothers, as to the sisters and class sisters of their 

 respective wives and husbands. Likewise all the wives of these several sons and class sons are 

 daughters-in-law and class daughters-in-law to the parents and class parents of their respective 

 husbands, and the husbands of these several daughters and class daughters are alike sons-in-law and 

 class sons-in-law to the parents and class parents of their respective wives. 



11. The nomenclature employed in the designation of two brothers-in-law and two sisters-in-law, 

 i. e., by a wife towards the brothers and sisters of her husband, and by a husband towards the brothers 

 and sisters of his wife, seems to have its origin in the names applied to such people by the children 

 (their class children, or nephews and nieces) born of the marriage. Thus, an individual's wife's 

 brother is the kew of that individual's children, and that individual in speaking of him as his brother- 

 in-law, employs the same word, kew, to designate him as such. So with the others. 



12. As regards "Division into Tribes," I am not aware that the Chinese, amongst whom the pre- 

 ceding form of relationship is in existence, recognize at this day any such tribal distinctions. There 

 are, it is true, in some parts of the country wild aboriginal mountain tribes, but the people composing 

 such tribes speak languages differing entirely (I believe) from that from which the schedule nomen- 

 clature is drawn, and they likewise ignore the authority of the Chinese officials in their country. 

 Their system of relationship, with their habits and customs, are unknown to me, and have not, so far 

 as I am aware, as yet been investigated by foreigners. The Chinese expression, however, for the 

 people is "Pih-sing," which means "the hundred family names;" but whether this is merely word- 

 painting, or had its origin at a time when the Chinese general family consisted of one hundred sub- 

 families or tribes, I am unable to determine. At the present day there are about four hundred family 

 names in this country, amongst which I find some that have reference to animals, fruits, metals, 

 natural objects, &e., and which may be tran.slated as Horse, Sheep, Ox, Fish, Bird, Phcenix, Plum, 

 Flower, Leaf, Rice, Forest, River, Hill, Water, Cloud, Gold, Hide, Bristles, &c. &c. In some parts 

 of the country large villages are met with in each of which there exists but one family name: thus, 

 in one district will be found, say, three villages, each containing two or three thousand people, the 

 one of the "Horse," the second of the " Sheep," and the third of the " Ox" family name ; and two 

 of the three will in all probability have a kind of reciprocity treaty, offensive and defensive, and be 

 continually at feud with the third. In this way may perhaps be detected traces of a recognition, at 

 some former period, of tribal divisions. 



13. Just as among the North American Indians, husbands and wives are of different tribes, so in 

 China, husband and wife are always of different families, i. e., of different surnames. Custom and 

 law alike prohibit intermarriage on the part of people having the same family surname. 



14. The children are of the father's family, that is they take the family surname. The only case 

 in which a child is of its mother's family, taking her family surname, is when a father, having only a 

 female child, instead of marrying her out, brings to his own house a husband for her, then if more 

 sons than one are the fruit of the marriage, the second one generally takes the mother's family name 

 and is considered as continuing literally her father's race. 



