themselves.1 In the Tonga Islands "disrespect to one's superior relations is little short of sacrilege to the gods," and to pay respect to chiefs is "a superior sacred duty, the non-fulfilment of which it is supposed the gods would punish almost as severely as disrespect to themselves.” 2 In the same islands great efficacy is ascribed to curses which are uttered by a superior.3 4 6 5 Why are the blessings and curses of parents supposed to possess such an extraordinary power? One reason is no doubt the mystery of old age and the nearness of death. As appears from several of the cases already referred to, it is not parents only but old people generally that are held capable of giving due effect to their good and evil wishes, and this capacity is believed to increase when life is drawing to its close. The Herero "know really no blessing save that conferred by the father on his deathbed." According to old Teutonic ideas, the curse of a dying person was the strongest of all curses. A similar notion prevailed among the ancient Arabs; and among the Hebrews the father's mystic privilege of determining the weal or woe of his children was particularly obvious when his days were manifestly numbered. But, at the same time, parental benedictions and imprecations possess a potency of their own owing to the parents' superior position in the family and the respect in which they are naturally held. The influence which such a superiority has upon the efficacy of curses is well brought out by various facts. According to the Greek notion, the Erinyes avenged wrongs done by younger members of a family to elder ones, even brothers and sisters, but not vice versa.s The Arabs of Morocco say that the curse of a husband is as potent as that of a father. The Tonga Islanders believe 1 Veniaminof, quoted by Petroff, loc. cit. p. 155. 2 Mariner, op. cit. ii. 237, 155. 3 Ibid. ii. 238. 468. Ratzel, History of Mankind, ii. 5 Grimm, Teutonic Mythology, iv. 1690. 6 Wellhausen, Reste arabischen Heidentums, pp. 139, 191. 7 Cheyne, in Encyclopædia Biblica, i. 592. Iliad, xv. 204: "Thou knowest how the Erinyes do always follow to aid the elder-born." Cf. Müller, Dissertations on the Eumenides, p. 155 sq. that curses have no effect "if the party who curses is considerably lower in rank than the party cursed." Moreover, where the father was invested with sacerdotal functions. as was the case among the ancient nations of culturehis blessings and curses would for that reason also be efficacious in an exceptional degree.2 However, the facts which we have hitherto considered are hardly sufficient to account for the extraordinary development of the paternal authority in the archaic State. Great though it be, the influence which magic and religious beliefs exercise upon the paternal authority is, as we have just seen, largely of a reactive character. A father's blessings would not be so eagerly sought for, nor would his curses be so greatly feared, if he were a less important personage in the family. So, too, as Sir Henry Maine aptly remarks, the father's power is older than the practice of worshipping him. "Why should the dead father be worshipped more than any other member of the household unless he was the most prominent-it may be said, the most awful-figure in it during his life?" We must assume that there exists some connection between the organisation of the family and the political constitution of the society. At the lower stages of civilisation-though hardly at the very lowest-we frequently find that the clan has attained such an overwhelming importance that only a very limited amount of authority could be claimed by the head of each separate family. But, as will be shown in a following chapter, this was changed when clans and tribes were united into a State. The new State tended to weaken and destroy the clan-system, whereas at the same time the family-tie grew in strength. In early society there seems to be an antagonism between the family and the clan. Where the clan-bond is very strong it encroaches upon the family feeling, and where it is loosened the family gains. Hence Dr. Grosse is probably right in his 1 Mariner, op. cit. ii. 238. 2 Cf. Nowack, in Jewish Encyclo- 76. pedia, iii. 243 sq. 3 Maine, Early Law and Custom, p. assumption that the father became a patriarch, in the true sense of the word, only as the inheritor of the authority which formerly belonged to the clan.' But whilst in its early days the State strengthened the family by weakening the clan, its later development had a different tendency. When national life grew more intense, when members of separate families drew nearer to one another in pursuit of a common goal, the family again lost in importance. It has been observed that in England and America, where political life is most highly developed, children's respect for their parents is at a particularly low ebb. Other factors also, inherent in progressive civilisation, contributed to the downfall of the paternal power the extinction of ancestor-worship, the decay of certain superstitious beliefs, the declining influence of religion, and last, but not least, the spread of a keener mutual sympathy throughout the State, which could not tolerate that the liberty of children should be sacrificed to the despotic rule of their fathers. 1 Grosse, Die Formen der Familie, p. 219. 2 Monier Williams, Indian Wisdom, P. 440, n. I. CHAPTER XXVI THE SUBJECTION OF WIVES AMONG the lower races, as a rule, a woman is always more or less in a state of dependence. When she is emancipated by marriage from the power of her father, she generally passes into the power of her husband. But the authority which the latter possesses over his wife varies extremely among different peoples. Frequently the wife is said to be the property or slave of her husband. In Fiji "the women are kept in great subjection. . . . Like other Like other property, wives may be sold at pleasure, and the usual price is a musket." "The Carib woman is always in bondage to her male relations. To her father, brother, or husband she is ever a slave, and seldom has any power in the disposal of herself."2 Many North American Indians are said to treat their wives much as they treat their dogs. Among the Shoshones "the man is the sole proprietor of his wives and daughters, and can barter them away, or dispose of them in any manner think proper. may Among the East African Wanika a woman "is a toy, a tool, a slave in the very worst sense; indeed she is treated as though she were a he "4 3 1 Wilkes, U.S. Exploring Expedition, iii. 332. 2 Brett, Indian Tribes of Guiana, P. 353. 3 Harmon, Journal of Voyages in the Interior of North America, p. 344. Lewis and Clarke, Travels to the Source of the Missouri River, p. 307. mere brute." Many other statements to a similar effect are met with in ethnographical literature.2 3 Yet it seems that even in cases where the husband's power over his wife is described as absolute, custom has not left her entirely destitute of rights. Of the Australian aborigines in general it is said that “the husband is the absolute owner of his wife (or wives)" ; of the natives of Central Australia, that "each father of a family rules absolutely over his own circle"; of certain tribes in West Australia, that the state of slavery in which the women are kept is truly deplorable, and that the mere presence of their husbands makes them tremble." But we have reason to believe that there is some exaggeration in these statements, and they certainly do not hold good of the whole Australian race. We have noticed above that custom does not really allow the Australian husband full liberty to kill his wife.R For punishing or divorcing her he must sometimes have the consent of the tribe. There are even cases in which a wife whose husband has been unfaithful to her may complain of his conduct to the elders of the tribe, and he may have to suffer for it.s In North-West-Central Queensland the women on one special occasion are 1 New, Life, Wanderings, and Labourings in Eastern Africa, p. 119. 2 Gibbs, Tribes of Western Washington and Northwestern Oregon,' in Contributions to N. American Ethnology, i. 198. von Martius, Beiträge zur Ethnographie Amerika's, i. 104 (Brazilian Indians). Reade, Savage Africa, p. 548 (Negroes of Equatorial Africa). Proyart, History of Loango,' in Pinkerton, Collection of Voyages and Travels, xvi. 570 (Negroes of Loango). Andersson, Notes on Travel in South Africa, p. 236 (Ovambo). Castrén, Nordiska resor och forskningar, i. 310; ii. 56 (Ostyaks). In all these cases women are said to be mere articles of commerce, or slaves, or kept in a state of dependence bordering on slavery. In other instances women are said to be oppressed by their husbands, or treated as inferior beings (Waitz [-Gerland], Anthropologie der Naturvölker, iii. 100 [North American Indians]; vi. 626 [Melanesians]. Bancroft, Native Races of the Pacific States, i. 121 [Hare and Sheep Indians]. Powers, Tribes of California, p. 133 [Yuki]. Tuckey, Expedition to Explore the River Zaire, P. 371 [Negroes]. Ling Roth, Aborigines of Tasmania, p. 54). 3 Curr, The Australian Race, i. 109. 4 Eyre, Expeditions of Discovery into Central Australia, ii. 317. 5 Salvado, Mémoires historiques sur l'Australie, p. 279. For other similar statements referring to the Australian aborigines, see Nieboer, Slavery as an Industrial System, p. II. Supra, p. 418. 7 Nieboer, op. cit. p. 17. |