In peasant festivals and
dances, and in many religious beliefs and ceremonies, we may meet
with such survivals. They may be traced in our common language,
especially in the words used for sex and for kin relationships. We can
also find them shadowed in certain of our marriage rites, and sex
habits to-day. Another source of evidence is furnished by the
widespread early occurrence of mother-goddesses, who must be connected
with a system which places the mother in the forefront of religious
thought. Further proof may be gathered from folk stories and heroic
legends, whose interest offers rich rewards in suggestions of a time
when honour rested with the sex to whom the inheritance belonged.
Thus, the difficulty of establishing a claim for mother-right and
mother-power does not rest in any paucity of proof--but rather in its
superabundance.

It would be superfluous for me to dwell on the difficulties of such an
inquiry. The subject is immensely complicated and wide-reaching, so
that I must keep strictly to the path set before me. It is my purpose
to outline the domestic relations in the maternal family clan, and to
examine the sex-customs and forms of marriage. I shall limit myself to
those matters which throw some light on the position of women, and
shall touch on the features of social life only in so far as they
illustrate this. These questions will be discussed in the three
succeeding chapters. Some portion of the matter given has appeared
already in the section on the "Mother-Age Civilisation" in _The Truth
about Woman_, which gives examples of the maternal family in America,
Australia, India and other countries. Such examples formed a necessary
part of the historical section of that work; they are even more
necessary to this inquiry. Many new examples will be given, and the
examination of the whole subject will be more exhaustive. These
chapters will be followed by a discussion of certain difficulties, and
an examination of the transition period in which the maternal family
gave way to the second patriarchal stage with the family founded on
the authority of the father. A short chapter will be devoted to the
work done by women in primitive tribes and its importance in relation
to their position. Then will come as full an account as is possible of
the traces of the mother-age to be found in the records of ancient and
existing civilised races; while a brief chapter will be added on
certain myths and legends which help to