COMMUNAL REGULATION. 445 



&quot;The wele, therefore, of the original ancestor is a division not of the 

 land, but of the tribe, and it remains outwardly one unit, with internal 

 subdivisions among sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons.&quot; 



&quot;The weles or family groups occupied undivided shares in what may 

 be called the common rights of the villata.&quot; 



The kindreds may be pictured as &quot;communities of graziers of 

 cattle with rights of grazing by tribal right or tribal arrangement in 

 different parts of the district, each community, with, it may be, its 

 score or two of kinsmen, forming a complete unit.&quot; 



Under this system a man s position depended wholly on 

 blood-relationship: the &quot; kin-broken &quot; man occupying a 

 servile position. The groups had a general government, 

 under which 



&quot;Associated with the chief of kindred, and acting as his coadjutors, 

 were the seven elders of the kindred, whose duty it was to preserve by 

 tradition the knowledge of kinship ... to swear to the kin of anyone 

 claiming by kin and descent.&quot; 



This last statement refers to a stage later than that of the 

 compound household, when there had been separation of 

 families who had joint claims to pasturage within the tribal 

 territory. At that time a man s income was &quot; the result of 

 his own labour and use of the cattle and cyvarwys [right of 

 maintenance] which was received as his tribesman s right on 

 his coming of age and assuming a tribesman s responsibili 

 ties.&quot; But that along with undivided ownership of the land 

 there went divided ownership of other property, is implied 

 by the rules for division of household goods in cases of sepa 

 ration between husband and wife, as also by the rules for pay 

 ment of blood-money a graduated scale of galanas, ex 

 pressed in cows. 



In England the normal development of the village-com 

 munity, which evidence from Wales implies was going on 

 among the British Celts, was of course prevented by invad 

 ing races, who brought with them tribal usages pre-existing 

 on the Continent, and who, settling down as invaders, vari 

 ously mingled, founded settlements partially abnormal in 

 character. But, recognizing these causes of deviation, we 



