272 PRIMITIVE PATERNITY 



him alone in the forest, warning him that at midnight 

 he would see the Forest-man, another supernatural 

 being who haunted its gloomy depths. Accordingly 

 at midnight he met the monster, and at once fired on 

 him, wounding him fatally. The dying monster re- 

 vealed himself as the brother of the lady with whom 

 Chopa dwelt. She herself afterwards cast it in his 

 teeth that he had murdered her brother. But she did 

 not refuse to continue cohabitation on that account, 

 and a son was born as the result. Fearful that he 

 might avenge his uncle's death, Chopa, as his son grew 

 up, ceased to resort to the forest. His forecast was 

 justified ; for one day he met his son ; a struggle 

 ensued ; and the son left his father, not indeed slain, 

 but wounded and robbed, by way of vengeance for his 

 uncle's death. 1 



This is no mere story of a battle between contending 

 peoples ; it is an example of a much more poignant 

 character. We may disregard the supernatural 

 elements of the tale as not for our present purpose 

 relevant. The tribes of the Caucasus have now long 

 since passed from motherright, but there linger among 

 them more than one relic of the former social condition. 

 The blood-feud is an institution not peculiar to tribes 

 reckoning descent through females ; and it is still in 

 force. By virtue of its requirements every member of 

 a kin, one of whom had suffered at the hands of a 

 member of another kin, was bound to avenge the 

 wron^ upon the latter kin. Such is the solidarity 

 between members of a kin that vengeance might be 

 taken upon any member of the offending kin, though 

 he might be personally quite innocent. In the 

 1 Darinsky, Zeits. vergl Rechtsw. xiv. 192, citing Achrijeff. 



