UNITY AND CONTINUITY. 317 



degrees of relationship, and this accords with its high 

 antiquity > for the origin of men from a single pair 

 implies in the earlier generations of mankind the 

 intermarriage of the nearest relatives. The Book of 

 Genesis, it is true, passes this over in silence, but we 

 can detect evidence in the marriages of Abraham and 

 the patriarchs, that even in their days the union of 

 near blood relations was considered proper ; and even 

 the Mosaic prohibitions were only written for the great 

 brotherhood of Israel, into which all Israelites were 

 supposed to marry. It is further undoubtedly implied 

 in the Old Testament history, that the classificatory 

 system of consanguinity was that of antediluvian times, 

 and perhaps continued in full force till the divergence 

 which is indicated in the story of the dispersion from 

 Babel. 



As a special illustration of the primitive laws of con- 

 sanguinity in force among the Americans, we may take 

 those of the Iroquois as detailed by Morgan, and this 

 will introduce us to a new and curious parallelism with 

 the Old Testament. Among these people each nation 

 was divided into eight tribes, designated respectively 

 by the totems of the Wolf, Bear, Beaver, Turtle, Deer, 

 Snipe, Heron, and Hawk. No member of any of 

 these tribes could marry within his or her tribe. The 

 husband or wife must in every case be from a tribe of 

 different name. Further, the tribal descent was in the 

 female line, the husband joining the tribe of his wife, 

 and the children being reckoned as of her tribe. All 

 the women of a tribe or family were thus nearly re- 



