MAN-CHECKS TO SEXUAL SELECTION. 583 



and whose judgment is worth much more than mine, believe that 

 communal marriage (this expression being variously guarded) 

 was the original and universal form throughout the world, in- 

 cluding therein the intermarriage of brothers and sisters. The 

 late Sir A. Smith, who had traveled widely in S. Africa, and 

 knew much about the habits of savages there and elsewhere, ex- 

 pressed to me the strongest opinion that no race exists in which 

 woman is considered as the property of the community. I believe 

 that his judgment was largely determined by what is implied by 

 the term marriage. Throughout the following discussion I use 

 the term in the same sense as when naturalists speak of animals 

 as monogamous, meaning thereby that the male is accepted by or 

 chooses a single female, and lives with her either during the 

 breeding-season or for the whole year, keeping possession of 

 her by the law of might; or, as when they speak of a polygamous 

 species, meaning that the male lives with several females. This 

 kind of marriage is all that concerns us here, as it suffices for 

 the work of sexual selection. But I know that some of the writers 

 above referred to, imply by the term marriage, a recognized right, 

 protected by the tribe. 



The indirect evidence in favor of the belief of the former preva- 

 lence of communal marriages is strong, and rests chiefly on the 

 terms of relationship which are employed between the members 

 of the same tribe, implying a connection with the tribe, and not 

 with either parent. But the subject is too large and complex for 

 even an abstract to be here given, and I will confine myself to a 

 few remarks. It is evident in the case of such marriages, or 

 where the marriage tie is very loose, that the relationship of the 

 child to its father cannot be known. But it seems almost incred- 

 ible that the relationship of the child to its mother should ever 

 be completely ignored, especially as the women in most savage 

 tribes nurse their infants for a long time. Accordingly, in many 

 cases the lines of descent are traced through the mother alone, 

 to the exclusion of the father. But in other cases the terms em- 

 ployed express a connection with the tribe- alone, to the exclusion 

 even of the mother. It seems possible that the connection be- 

 tween the related members of the same barbarous tribe, exposed 

 to all sorts of danger, might be so much more important, owing 

 to the need of mutual protection and aid, than that between the 

 mother and her child, as to lead to the sole use of terms expres- 

 sive of the former relationships; but Mr. Morgan is convinced 

 that this view is by no means suflicient 



475), concludes that polygamy and all forms of marriage during pri- 

 meval times were essentially unknown. It appears also, from Sir J. 

 Lubbock's work, that Bachofen likewise believes that communal inter- 

 course, originally prevailed. 



