Page:The Position of Women in Indian Life.djvu/53

Rh dwelling-place. There they spoke the same language and venerated the same gods. In primitive times woman would appear to have been fully equal, both mentally and physically, to man, and observations made among savage races of the present day, who are presumably at a similar stage of civilization, also point to this conclusion, since we find among them little or no difference between the male and female, either in physique or brain-power. The next step in the advance of civilization was the banding together of hordes into tribes, and gradually the separate tribes, migrating in different directions, developed into various nations of the earth. Their common characteristics disappeared in time to a great extent, under the influence of changed surroundings, of which climate is the most important feature in the evolution of distinct nationality.

In the most primitive stage of human life there was no permanent union between man and woman. Afterwards the custom of marriage arose, out of which developed in turn the home, the family, the tribe, the nation. It was woman who reared the children, built the rude hut or tent in which the family lived, made what scanty clothing they possessed, fed the household, in short, performed the general domestic labour, and left man to do most of the work outside the home. Later on, when, the human race increasing, it was found incumbent to sow and