Page:Researches into the Early History of Mankind and the Development of Civilization.djvu/292

282 such a degree, that a man never marries a girl descended from the same family with himself, however distant the affinity;" and the Lapps have a similar custom. Even among the Semitic race, who, generally speaking, rival the Caribs in the practice of marrying "in and in," something of the kind is found; the tribe Rebua always marries into the tribe Modjar, and vice versâ.

In Africa, the marriage of cousins is looked upon as illegal in some tribes, and the practice of a man not marrying in his own clan is found in various places. The custom in Aquapim is especially suggestive; two families who have fetishes of the same name consider themselves related, and do not intermarry. Munzinger, the Swiss traveller in East Africa, suggests Christian influence as having operated in this direction. The Beni Amer, north of Abyssinia, follow the rules of Islam, cousins often marrying; "the Beit Bidel and the Allabje, on the other hand, mindful of their Christian origin, observe blood-relationship to seven degrees." In Madagascar, Ellis says that "certain ranks are not permitted under any circumstances to intermarry, and affinity to the sixth generation also forbids intermarriage, yet the principal restrictions against intermarriages respect descendants on the female side. Collateral branches on the male side are permitted in most cases to intermarry, on the observance of a slight but prescribed ceremony, which is supposed to remove the impediment or disqualification arising out of consanguinity."

Among the natives of Australia, prohibitory marriage laws have been found, but they are very far from being uniform, and may sometimes have been misunderstood. Sir George Grey's account is that the Australians, so far as he is acquainted with them, are divided into great clans, and use the clan-name as a sort of surname beside the individual name. Children take the family name of the mother, and a man cannot marry a woman of his own name, so that here it would seem that only relationship