y show the error of the long-held belief in the
passivity of the female as a natural law of the sex.[90] Such openness
of conduct in courtship is impossible except where women hold an
entirely independent position. Here, then, is another advantage that
may be claimed as arising for women out of the maternal system. I
claim this: the woman's right of selection in love--yes, her greatest
right, one that is necessary for a freer and more beautiful mating.

[90] For further examination of this question of the supposed
passivity of the woman in courtship, see _The Truth about
Woman_, pp. 65-69, 251-257.

Terminating this short digression, I return to my examination of the
peoples among whom the family is especially maternal.

The Pelew Islanders of the South Sea have customs in many respects
the same as those of the Khasi tribes. They preserve strict maternal
descent, and like the Khasis, the deities of all the clans are
goddesses. The life and social habits of the people have been
described by Kubary, a careful and sympathetic observer, for long
resident in the island.[91] The tribes are divided into exogamous
clans, and intermarriage between any relations on the mother's side is
unlawful. These clans are grouped together in villages and the life is
of a communal character. Each village consists of about a score of
clans, and forms with its lands a petty independent state.

[91] _Die socialen Einrichtungen der Pelauer. Die Religion,
de Pelauer._ Mr. Frazer, _Golden Bough_, Part IV, _Adonis,
Attis, Osiris_, pp. 387 _et seq._, summarises the account of
Kubary. See also Waitz-Gerland, Vol. V, Part II, p. 106 _et
seq._, and an account of the Pelews given by Ymer.

Again we find the maternal system intimately connected with religious
ideas, and it is interesting to recall what was said by Bachofen:
"Wherever gynaecocracy meets us the mystery of religion is bound up
with it, and lends to motherhood an incorporation in some divinity."
Among these Islanders every family traces its descent from a
woman--the common mother of the clan. And for this reason the members
worship a goddess and not a god. In the different states there are,
besides other special deities, usually a goddess and a god, but as
these are held to be derived directly from a household-goddess, it is
evident that here, as among the Khasis, goddesses are older than the
gods. This is shown also by the names of the goddesses. There i