Chap. XX. 
INTERFERING CAUSES. 
359 
than mine, believe that communal marriage was the 
original and universal form throughout the world, in- 
cluding the intermarriage of brothers and sisters. Ihe 
indirect evidence in favour of this belief is extremely 
strong, and rests chiefly on the terms ot relationship 
which are employed between the members of the same 
tribe, implying a connection with the tribe alone, 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 communal 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 incredible 
that the relationship of the child to its mother should 
ever have been completely ignored, especially as the 
women in most savage tribes nurse their infants for a 
long time. Accordingly in many cases the lines ot 
descent are traced through the mother alone, to the 
exclusion of the father. But in many other cases the 
terms employed express a connection with the tribe 
alone, to the exclusion even of the mother. It seems 
possible that the connection between the related mem- 
bers 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 expressive of the former relationships ; but Mr. 
Morgan is convinced that this view of the case is by no 
means sufficient. 
The terms of relationship used in different parts ot 
of relationship (‘ Uroc. American Acad, of Sciences,’ vol. vii. Feb. 1808, 
p. 475) concludes that polygamy and all forms of marriage during 
primeval times were essentially unknown. It appears, also, Irom bir •>. 
Lubbock’s work, that Bacliofen likewise believes that communal inter- 
course originally prevailed. 
