The various occupations of life are thus divided between the sexes according to rules; and, though the formation of these rules no doubt has been more or less influenced by the egoism of the stronger sex, the essential principle from which they spring lies deeper. They are on the whole in conformity with the indications which nature herself has given. Take, for instance, the apparently cruel custom of using the women as beasts of burden. To the superficial observer, as M. Pinart remarks with special reference to the Panama Indians,it may indeed seem strange that the woman should be charged with a heavy load, while the man walking before her carries nothing but his weapons. But a little reflection will make it plain that the man has good reason for keeping himself free and mobile. The little caravan is surrounded with dangers: when traversing a savannah or a forest a hostile Indian may appear at any moment, or a tiger or a snake may lie in wait for the travellers. Hence the man must be on the alert, and ready in an instant to catch his arms to defend himself and his family against the aggressor.1 Dobrizhoffer writes, "The luggage being all committed to the women, the Abipones travel armed

and Bapuku). Möller, Pagels, and Gleerup, Tre år i Kongo, i. 129, 137 (Kuilu Negroes), 270 (Bakongo). Valdau, in Ymer, v. 165 (Bakwileh). Burrows, 'Natives of the Upper Welle District,' in Jour. Anthr. Inst. xxviii. 41 (Niam-Niam). New, op. cit. pp. 114 (Wanika), 359 (Wataveta). Stuhlmann, Mit Emin Pascha ins Herz von Afrika, p. 182 (Waganda). Pogge, Im Reiche des Muata Jamwo, p. 243 (Kalunda of Mussumba). Decle, Three Years in Savage Africa, pp. 78, 79, 85 (Barotse), 160 (Matabele). von Weber, Vier Jahre in Afrika, ii. 195 (Zulus). There are, however, exceptions to the rule. Among the Creeks and Cherokee Indians not a third part as many women as men are seen at work in their plantations (Bartram, in Trans. American Ethn. Soc. iii. pt. i. 31). Among the Wakamba both sexes work in the fields, all heavy work, such as clearing and

breaking new ground, being done by nien (Decle, op. cit. p. 493). Among various peoples, indeed, such agricultural work as requires considerable strength devolves on the male sex (Hildebrand, op. cit. p. 44 sqq. Havelock Ellis, Man and Woman, p. 5). In the Malay Archipelago the men are chiefly engaged in the field-work (Ratzel, History of Mankind, i. 441). In the Kingsmill Islands (Wilkes, op. cit. v. 91), Tonga (Cook, Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, i. 390 sqq.), and the Caroline Group (Cantova, quoted ibid. i. 392, note) the soil is cultivated by the men. Among the Gallas, "whilst the women tend the sheep and oxen in the field, and manage the hives of bees, the men plough, sow, and reap" (Harris, Highlands of Aethiopia, iii. 47).

1 Pinart, quoted by Nieboer, op. cit.

p. 21.

with a spear alone, that they may be disengaged to fight or hunt, if occasion require." 1

only permitted to men.4

6

1

Moreover, whatever may have been the original reason for allotting a certain occupation to the one sex to the exclusion of the other, any such restriction has subsequently been much emphasised by custom, and in many cases by superstition as well.2 In Africa it is a common belief that the cattle get ill if women have anything to do with them. Hence among most Negro races milking is In South-Eastern Africa "a woman must not enter the cattle fold." 5 The Bechuanas never allow women to touch their cattle, hence the men have to plough themselves. In North America Indian custom and superstition ordain that the wife must carefully keep away from all that belongs to her husband's sphere of action. On the other hand, among the Dacotahs "the men do not often interfere with the work of the women; neither will they help them if they can avoid it, for fear of being laughed at and called a woman." 18 In Abyssinia "it is infamy for a man to go to market to buy anything. He cannot carry water or bake bread; but he must wash the clothes belonging to both sexes, and, in this function, the women cannot help him." 9 Among the Beni Aḥsen tribe in Morocco the women of the village where I was staying were quite horrified when one of my native servants set out to fetch water; they would on no account allow him to do what they said was a woman's business. The Greenlander

regards it as scandalous for a man to interfere with any occupation which belongs to the women. When he has brought his booty to land, he troubles himself no further about it; "for it would be a

stigma on his character,

Macdonald, Light in Africa, p. 221. 6 Holub, O Central South African Tribes,' in Jour. Anthr. Inst. x. II. 7 Waitz, op. cit. iii. 100.

8 Prescott, in Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes of the United States, iii. 235.

9 Bruce, Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, iv. 474.

Among

if he so much as drew a seal out of the water.' the Bakongo a man would be much ridiculed by the women themselves, if he wanted to help them in their work in the field. Sometimes agriculture is supposed to be dependent for success on a magic quality in woman, intimately connected with child-bearing. Some Orinoco Indians said to Father Gumilla :-" When the women plant maize the stalk produces two or three ears; when they set the manioc the plant produces two or three baskets of roots; and thus everything is multiplied. Why? Because women know how to produce children, and know how to plant the corn so as to ensure its germinating. Then, let them plant it; we do not know so much as they do." 4

It is obvious that this strict division of labour is apt to mislead the travelling stranger. He sees the women hard at work, and the men idly looking on; and it escapes him that the latter will have to be busy in their turn, within their own sphere of action. What is largely due to the force of custom is taken to be sheer tyranny on the part of the men; and the wife is pronounced to be an abject slave of her husband, destitute of all rights. And yet the strong differentiation of work, however burdensome it may be to the wife, is itself a source of rights, giving her authority within the circle which is exclusively her own. Among the Banaka and Bapuku the wife, though said to be her husband's property and slave, is nevertheless an autocrat in her own house, strong enough to bid defiance to her lord and master. Among the North American Indians, Schoolcraft observes, "the lodge itself, with all its arrangements, is the precinct of the rule and government of the wife. The husband has no voice in this matter. Many other statements to a similar effect will be quoted below.

"6

5

1 Nansen, First Crossing of Greenland, ii. 313. Cranz, History of Greenland, i. 138, 154.

2 Möller, Pagels, and Gleerup, op. cit. i. 270.

3 See Payne, History of the New World, ii. 8.

4 Gumilla, El Orinoco ilustrado, ii. 274 sq.

5 Steinmetz, Rechtsverhältnisse, p. 29 sq.

6 Schoolcraft, Indian in his Wigwam, p. 73.

We have reason, then, to believe that the authority which savage husbands possess over their wives is not always quite so great as it is said to be. And we must distinctly reject as erroneous the broad statement that the lower races in general hold their women in a state of almost complete subjection.1 Among many of them the married woman, though in the power of her husband, is known to enjoy a remarkable degree of independence, to be treated by him with consideration, and to exercise no small influence upon him. In several cases she is stated to be his equal, and in a few his superior.

"3

Among many of the South American Indians the women have been noticed to occupy a respected position in the family or community. 2 Thus, among the Goajiros of Colombia, “ in a quarrel or drunken brawl, women often save bloodshed by stepping in and tearing the weapons out of their husband's or brother's hand. Travelling with women is consequently perfectly safe, and in case of danger, if one undertakes to protect a stranger, he may rely upon coming out all right.' Among the Tarahumares of Mexico-in spite of their saying that one man is as good as five women—the woman occupies a comparatively high position in the family, and no bargain is ever concluded until the husband has consulted his wife in the matter." 4 Among the Navahos of New Mexico the women exert a great deal of influence "; ;5 they "are very independent of menial duties, and leave their husbands upon the slightest pretext of dislike "; " "by common consent the house and all the domestic gear belongs entirely to the wife.”7 In

66

1 Thus Meiners says (History of the Female Sex, i. 2), Among savage nations, the entrance into the married state is for the female the commencement of the most cruel and abject slavery; for which reason many women dread matrimony more than death." In a recent work on the primitive family an Italian writer regards it as perhaps the most fundamental fact in the family institution that the woman is always and everywhere "sottoposta al più gravoso mundium maritale" (Amadori-Virgilj, L'istituto famigliare nelle società primordiali, p. 138).

2 Waitz, Anthropologie der Natur

6

his description of North American Indians Mr. Grinnell observes :-"The Indian woman, it is usually thought, is a mere drudge and slave, but, so far as my observations extend, this notion is wholly an erroneous one. It is true that the women were the labourers of the camp; that they did all the hard work, about which there was no excitement . . ., but they were not mere servants. On the contrary, their position was very respectable. They were consulted on many subjects, not only in connection with family affairs, but in more important and general matters. Sometimes women were even admitted to the councils and spoke there, giving their advice.

In ordinary family conversation women did not hesitate to interrupt and correct their husbands when the latter made statements with which they did not agree, and the men listened to them with respectful attention, though of course this depended on the standing of the woman, her intelligence, etc." 1 Another competent observer, Ten Kate, strongly protests against the statement that, among the North American Indians, women are treated as beasts of burden, and affirms that their condition, as compared with that of the women of the lower classes in civilised countries, is rather better than worse.2 Among the Omahas the women had an equal standing in society with the men; both the husband and wife were at the head of the family and the joint owners of the lodge, robes, and so forth, so that the man could not give away anything if his wife was unwilling.3 Among the Senecas, "usually, the female portion ruled the house, and were doubtless clannish enough about it. The stores were in common; but woe to the luckless husband or lover who was too shiftless

to do his share of the providing. No matter how many children, or whatever goods he might have in the house, he might at any time be ordered to pick up his blanket and budge."4 "From documentary references," says Mr. Mooney, "it is apparent that there existed among the Cherokee a custom analogous to that found among the Iroquois and probably other Eastern tribes, by which 'the decision of important questions relating to peace and war was left to a vote of the women." 5 Among the Salish, or Flatheads, “although the women are required to do much hard labour, they are

1 Grinnell, Story of the Indian, p. 46 sq. Cf. Waitz, op. cit. iii. 101 sq.

2 Ten Kate, Reizen en onderzoekingen in Noord-Amerika, p. 365. Cf. ibid. 459.

3Dorsey, 'Omaha Sociology,' in

Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethn. iii. 266, 366.

4 Morgan, Houses and House-Life of the American Aborigines, p. 65 sq. See also Dixon, New America, p. 46.

5 Mooney, Myths of the Cherokee,’ in Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethn. xix. 489.