MOTHERRIGHT 313 



children. 1 It is true that at the period referred to (at 

 and before the time of Mohammed) the social organisa- 

 tion was undergoing a revolution : the present system 

 had not yet completely taken the place of motherright. 

 But some of these practices continued into quite 

 modern times, and some, like the hospitality-rite of 

 leading a wife to a guest, are well-known practices 

 among many patrilineal peoples. It is even asserted 

 to have been the custom in the Netherlands in com- 

 paratively modern times. 2 



Pursuing our inquiries on the continent of Africa 

 we find numerous examples of the indifference of the 

 husband to the actual paternity of the children who 

 are reckoned to him. Only a few can be mentioned 

 here. Among the Dinkas of Bahr-el-Ghazal when a 

 man dies his wives become the wives of his sons, 

 except of course their respective mothers. I f a son have 

 children by a wife so inherited they are looked upon as 

 brothers and not as sons : that is, they are reckoned to 

 his father. So, if a beng (sheikh, or head of a village) 

 be " too old to be sexually efficient, he nevertheless 

 continues to take wives, but these cohabit with his 

 sons. Children so begotten are regarded as the 

 children of the sheikh and as the brothers of their 

 actual fathers." Adultery indeed is punished with the 

 death of the male offender, 3 if caught in the act ; 

 but the definition of adultery is limited as among 

 many other peoples to sexual relations without the 

 husband's consent. Among the Dinkas in general 

 marriage is concluded by the payment of a bride-price. 



1 Robertson Smith, Kinship, 107, sqq. 



* Ploss, IVeib, i. 300. 



8 Capt. S. L. Cummins,/. A. I. xxxiv. 151. 



