20 PRIMITIVE PATERNITY 



existed until recent times among the Basques. The 

 eldest child whether son or daughter inherited. When 

 the eldest child was a daughter her husband came to 

 live at- his wife's house with her parents. There he 

 played a very limited part in the family ; the real 

 power was hers. The eldest son was not allowed to 

 marry an heiress, nor the eldest daughter an heir. 1 As 

 we have seen in a previous chapter, a Transylvanian 

 Gypsy enters his wife's clan, but his complete union 

 with it is not recognised until she has borne him a 

 child. 2 Previous to that time his relation is obviously 

 provisional and probably in earlier times was not 

 recognised. 3 



The custom by which the wife continues to live at 

 her own home and there receives the visits, open or 



1 UAnnee Soc. iii. 379 ; Simcox, i. 212, 461. Cf. the Japanese 

 custom, supra, p. 14. There is reason to suspect that a somewhat 

 similar custom prevailed among the ancient Egyptians. On 

 succession and on the position of women in general among the 

 Basques, see A. R. White way, Eng. Hist. Rev. xv. 625 sqq. 



2 Potter, 1 1 6, citing von Wlislocki. I have not von Wlislocki's 

 work before me and cannot judge of the exact force of the word 

 translated clan; but it is unimportant for our present purpose. 



3 Secret cohabitation does not appear in all of these modern 

 examples : but it may be observed that in the north of Europe the 

 nocturnal visits of an accepted lover are or were until quite recent 

 years an ordinary part of the courtship. They are reported from 

 Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Scotland, the Lake District 

 of England, and from Wales. Although the interviews take place 

 upon or even in the lady's bed the pair are supposed to be dressed 

 and to confine themselves to innocent endearments. It is only 

 natural that the hypothesis imperfectly corresponds to the facts. 

 Little harm is thought of whatever may take place if marriage follow 

 in due course. So usual is the practice referred to that there are 

 special verbs in the languages of all the countries named to describe 

 it. See Potter, 133 sqq.; Liebrecht, 379; Lloyd, 346. Cf. the 

 North American and other practices, infra, pp. 31, 66, 85, 89, 90. 



