210 McLennan s Theory of the Family. 



Lennan, if the tribe is endogenous ihe symbol 

 of capture could not conceivably come into being. 

 But if marriage within the tribe were prohibited 

 that is, if the tribe were exogamous and if a 

 state of war usually prevailed between neighbor 

 ing tribes, as was the case in primitive times, each 

 tribe could get wives only by theft or force ; and 

 the reality of capture would, when friendly re 

 lations came to be established, degenerate into 

 the form of capture. Now, it is a fact that ex 

 ogamous tribes exist and have existed. And of 

 the. prevalence of capturing wives de facto savage 

 and barbarous tribes still furnish abundant illus 

 tration. It is also found that the rule against 

 marriage between members of the same tribe 

 coexists with the practice of capturing wives de 

 facto and with the form of capture in marriage 

 ceremonies. 



If, then, the capture of women for wives and, 

 consequently, the form of capture in marriage 

 ceremonies are to be referred to exogamy, what, 

 we must next ask, is the origin of exogamy ? A 

 survey of the facts of primitive life forbids the 

 supposition that it originated in any innate or 

 primary feeling against marriage with kinsfolk. 

 It may, however, be connected with the practice 

 of female infanticide ; and it was this, says Me- 



