RISE OF PATHERRIGHT 97 



more complete ownership, such as would be involved 

 in counting them to the father's stock instead of the 

 mother's. Self-interest of a more material kind would 

 concur. The self-interest of the individual father 

 would seek a means of increasing his wealth and con- 

 solidating his influence. The common self-interest of 

 the local tribe would seek to strengthen itself against 

 competitors and foes. The same reasons indeed would 

 operate where, as in ancient Arabia, the matrilineal 

 clan dwelt together. A band of brethren forming a 

 local matrilineal clan would soon feel their strength. 

 If faced by formidable foes they would become more 

 and more conscious of the power of union. They 

 would be reluctant to separate even for a limited period 

 to mate with women outside their own home. The 

 bringing in of strange women might then have led 

 either to the mixture of clans by the retention of 

 female kinship, or directly to the reckoning of the 

 children to the paternal stock. The point that needs 

 to be insisted on is that the bond of continual associa- 

 tion founded on daily contact and the authority of the 

 head of the family and of the local elders and chiefs is 

 insufficient of itself to give that sense of union and 

 security which the legal tie of kinship carries. We 

 have had illustrations of this in the preceding chapter. 

 Where kinship is reckoned through the mother, father 

 and child are found on opposite sides in quarrels 

 between clans ; they meet in conflict ; and the duty of 

 blood-revenge lays upon them the necessity of exact- 

 ing compensation from one another, and even life for 

 life. The powerful impression made by such collisions 

 upon the mind at a certain stage of civilisation is 

 shown by the wide diffusion of stories founded on the 



H G 



