TRIBAL SOCIETY 271 



primitive men must have similar usages. But the first 

 discoverers of the Australian natives found that they 

 had no conception of exchange. Ornaments offered them 

 had no power whatever to arouse their interest; gifts 

 pressed upon them were found later strewn about in the 

 woods where they had been cast in neglect. The same 

 experiences were had with the Indian tribes of Brazil. 

 Yet there was from tribe to tribe a brisk trade in pots, 

 stone hatchets, hammocks, cotton threads, necklaces of 

 mussel-shells, and many other products. Direct obser- 

 vation showed that the explanation of this riddle was in 

 fact simple enough, the transfer insues by way of pres- 

 ents, and also, according to circumstances, by way of 

 robbery, spoils of war, tribute, fine, compensation, and 

 winnings in gaming. As to sustenance, almost a com- 

 munity of goods prevails among members of the same 

 tribes. It is looked upon as a theft if a herd of cattle 

 is slaughtered and not shared with one's neighbor, or 

 if one is eating and neglects to invite a passer-by. Any 

 one can enter a hut at will and demand food, and he is 

 never refused. If there is a poor harvest, whole com- 

 munities visit their neighbors and look to them for sup- 

 port. There exists a universal custom of loaning articles 

 of use and implements. There is no private property in 

 land. Consequently within the tribe where all house- 

 holds produce similar commodities and, in case of need, 

 assist each other, and where the surplus stores can only 

 be utilized for consumption, there is no occasion for di- 

 rect barter from family to family. 59 



From tribe to tribe there prevail rules of hospitality 

 which require that the stranger on arriving receive a 

 present. After a certain interval he reciprocates and at 



59BUcher, Carl Industrial Evolution, 1901, pp. 59-82, 



