TRIBAL SOCIETY 275 



died. 63 We must remember that, "In barbarian and 

 savage communities the collective regulation of life is 

 not less but greater than it is in the civilized state. The 

 bounds that may be overstepped are narrow and dread. 

 Immemorial custom is inflexible, and half of all the pos- 

 sible joys of existence are forbidden and taboo. . . . 

 By the conscious cooperation of elders in directing the 

 rearing of children by young parents, by organized ini- 

 tiation ceremonies, by clan and tribal councils, each new 

 generation is remorselessly trained in those beliefs, habits 

 and loyalties which the group regards as vital to its ex- 

 istence." G4 Thus beneficial innovation in means of pro- 

 duction is as likely as not to go contrary to some tribal 

 usage, and hence be repressed because, being new and 

 better, it might offend the spirit associated with the cus- 

 tomary way. 



Another hindrance to the development of production 

 must be mentioned. It should be remembered that 

 among primitive people agricultural and industrial ac- 

 tivities are usually carried on by the women of the com- 

 munity. 65 The woman of the family was the food 

 bringer, the weaver, the skin dresser, the potter, the 

 beast of burden, and the " Jack-at-all-trades. " The able- 

 bodied men went on the chase, or went to war. Only 

 the old and decrepit, the weaklings and the sickly men 

 were left at home to stay with the women. These de- 

 spised individuals fell into the productive activities of 

 the women, weaving, dressing skins, pottery and other 

 occupations requiring a sedentary mode of life. These 

 occupations therefore, became associated with the weaker 



63 Ratzel, AnthropogeograpJiy, vol. ii, p. 699. 



<"tGiddings, "Social Self-Control," Pol. Sci. Quart., vol. xxiv. no. 4, 1909. 



5 Mason, O. T. Woman's Share in Primitive Culture, 1894. 



