Cbap. XX. Man— Checks to Sexual Selection. 5^9 



tribe alone, to the exclusion even of the mother. It seems 

 jMjssible that the connection between the related members of the 

 eame 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 expressive of the former relationships ; 

 but Mr. Morgan is convinced that this view is by no means 

 sufficient. 



The terms of relationship used in different parts of the world 

 may be divided, according to the author just quoted, into two 

 great classes, the classificatory and descriptive, — the latter being 

 employed by us. It is the classificatory system which so strongly 

 leads to the belief, that communal and other extremely loose 

 forms of marriage were originally universal. But as far as I can 

 see, there is no necessity on this ground for believing in abso- 

 lutely promiscuous intercourse ; and I am glad to find that this 

 is Sir. J. Lubbouk's view. Men and women, like many of the 

 lower animals, might formerly have entered into strict though 

 temporary unions for each birth, and in this case nearly as much 

 confiision would have arisen in the terms of relationship, as in 

 the case of promiscuous intercourse. As far as sexual selection 

 is concerned, aU that is required is that choice should be exerted 

 before the parents unite, and it signifies httle whether the unions 

 last fot hfe or only for a season. 



Besides the evidence derived from the terms of relationship, 

 other lines of reasoning indicate the former wide prevalence of 

 communal marriage. Sir. J. Lubbock accounts" for the strange 

 and widely-extended habit of exogamy — that is, the men of one 

 tribe taking wives from a distinct tribe,— by communism having 

 been the original form of intercourse; so that a man never 

 obtained a wife for himself unless he captm-ed her from a 

 neighbouring and hostile tribe, and then she would naturally 

 have become his sole and valuable property. Thus the practice 

 of capturing wives might have arisen ; and from the honour so 

 gained it might ultimately have become the universal habit. 

 According to Sir J. Lubbock," we can also thus understand " the 

 " necessity of expiation for marriage as an infringement of tribal 

 " rites, since, according to old ideas, a man had no right to 

 " appropriate to himself that which belonged to the whole 

 " tribe." Sir J. Lubbock further gives a curious body of 

 facts shewing that in old times high honour was bestowed on 

 women who were utterly licentious ; and this, as he explains, is 



• Address to British Association dition of the Lower Races of Mau, i 

 On the Social and Religious Con- 1«70, j). 20. 



