elucidate the theory of
women's early power. The final chapter will treat of general
conclusions, with an attempt to suggest certain facts which seem to
bear on present-day problems. Throughout I shall support my
investigation (as far as can be done in a work primarily designed for
a text-book) by examples, which, in each case, have been carefully
chosen from trustworthy evidence of those who are personally
acquainted with the habits of the peoples of whom they write. I shall
try to avoid falling into the error of a one-sided view. Facts will be
more important than reflections, and as far as possible, I shall let
these speak for themselves.

Let us now concentrate our attention on the complete maternal family,
where the clan is grouped around the mothers.

The examples in this chapter will be taken from the aboriginal tribes
of North and South America among whom traces of the maternal system
are common, while in some cases mother-right is still in force. At the
period of European discovery the American Indians were already well
advanced in the primitive arts, and were very far removed from
savagery. Their domestic and social habits showed an organisation of a
very remarkable character; among certain tribes there was a communal
maternal family, interesting and complicated in its arrangements. Such
customs had prevailed from an antiquity so remote that their origin
seems to have been lost in the obscurity of the ages. It is possible,
however, to see how this communism in living may have arisen and
developed out of the conditions we have studied in the far distant
patriarchal groups. For this reason they afford a very special
interest to our inquiry.

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 th