Page:The evolution of marriage and of the family ... (IA evolutionofmarri00letorich).pdf/300

 the latter thinks so slightly of her, that frequently the men live conjugally for years without communicating with their wives otherwise than by signs, as owing to exogamous marriage they speak different languages. The authority that the husbands concede to their wives in certain tribes is entirely domestic; it is a household royalty.

Thus, with the Selisches, the cabins containing the provisions are confided to the women, and the husband himself can take nothing without their permission. The husband or the son commands in the woods and on the prairie; but in the interior of the wigwam it is the most aged woman or the mother who governs and assigns to each one his place.

These customs and the marriages by servitude have led several observers to attribute to the women a considerable authority which they do not really possess. In fact, they are nearly always purchased, and are very submissive. The maternal family and the matriarchate are very different things. The first is common; the second is very rare, if indeed it has ever existed. The Australians, who have the maternal family, none the less treat their wives as we should not dare to treat our domestic animals. And again, in order that filiation by the female side should give women a notable social influence, it is necessary that society should be very civilised, that there should be exchangeable values, and that women should become rich by inheritance. Then they are in a position to exercise the power that fortune gives in every country. But among the Redskins private property as yet hardly existed; the clans preserved the prior claim; personal property had not a great value; there were no domestic animals; it was difficult for any individual, man or woman, to become rich. Lastly, the chief occupations, those which were reputed noble, those also on which the existence of the tribes depended, were the chase and war; now the women took no part in these. They have not therefore been able to exercise a dominant influence, even in the tribes where they were treated with relative mildness. Among the Redskins in general, all the painful