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Abraham with Sara, his half-sister by the same father. When reproached for having passed his wife off as his sister to the King of Egypt and to Abimelech, the patriarch replies: "For indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife."[114] In the same way Tamar could have married her half-brother Amnon, though they were both the children of David.[115] The father of Moses and Aaron married his father's sister, who was not legally his relation.[116] Nabor, the brother of Abraham, took to wife his fraternal niece, the daughter of his brother.[117] It was only later that paternal kinship became recognised among the Hebrews by the same title as the natural kinship through the mother.[118] Other examples might be added. All these survivals of mother-descent (and they may be discovered in the early history of every people) have their value; they are, however, only survivals, and their interest rests mainly in comparing them with similar facts among other peoples among whom the presence of mother-right customs is undisputed. To these existing examples of the primitive family clan grouped around the mother we will now turn our attention. II.--_The Matriarchal Family in America_ Traces of mother-descent are common everywhere in the American continent; and in some districts mother-rule is still in force. Morgan, who was commissioned by the American Government to report on the customs of the aboriginal inhabitants, gives a description of the system as it existed among the Iroquois-- "Each household was made up on the principle of kin. The married women, usually sisters, own or collateral, were of the same _gens_ or clan, the symbol or _totem_ of which was often painted upon the house, while their husbands and the wives of their sons belonged to several other _gentes_. The children were of the _gens_ of their mother. As a rule the sons brought home their wives, and in some cases the husbands of the daughters were admitted to the maternal household. Thus each household was composed of persons of different _gentes_, but the predominating number in each household would be of the same _gens_, namely that of the mother."[119] There are many interesting customs belonging to the Iroquois; I can notice a few only. The _gens_ was ruled by chiefs of two grades, distinguished by Morgan as _sachem_ and common chiefs. The
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