of his wife," is
typical. The Bush husband does not live with his wife, and often has
wives in different places.[109]

[108] _Travels_, p. 109.

[109] Lippert, _Kulturgeschichte_, etc., Vol. II, p. 57.
Hartland, _Primitive Paternity_, Vol. I, pp. 274, 286.

In Africa the clan system is firmly established, which explains the
prevalence of mother-descent. Women, on the whole, take an important
position, and here, as elsewhere, their inheritance of property
enables them to maintain their equality with their husbands.
Individual possession of wealth is allowed, but a married man usually
cannot dispose of any property unless his wife agrees, and she acts as
the representative of the children's claims upon the father. The
privilege that, according to Laing, the Soulima women have, of leaving
their husbands when they please, is also proof of the maternal
customs.[110] Moreover, among some tribes, the influence of the
mothers as the heads of families extends to the councils of state; it
is even said that the chiefs do not decide anything without their
consent.[111]

[110] Letourneau, pp. 306-307; citing Laing, _Travels in
Western Africa_.

[111] Giraud-Teulon, _Les origines du mariage et de la
famille_, pp. 215 _et seq._

Mother-right is still in force in many parts of India, though owing to
the influence of Brahminism on the aboriginal tribes the examples of
the maternal family are fewer than might be expected. Among the once
powerful Koochs the women own all the property, which is inherited
from mother to daughter. The husband lives with his wife and her
mother, and, we are told, is subject to them. These women are most
industrious, weaving, spinning, planting and sowing, in a word, doing
all the work not above their strength.[112] The Koochs may be compared
with the Khasis, already noticed, and these maternal systems among the
Indian hill tribes may surely be regarded as showing conditions at one
time common. Even tribes who have passed from the clan organisation to
the patriarchal family preserve numerous traces of mother-right. Thus,
the choice of her lover often remains with the girl; again, divorce is
easy at the wish either of the woman or the man.[113] Such freedom in
love is clearly inconsistent with the patriarchal authority of the
husband. I must note too the practice, common among many tribes, by
which the husband remains in the wife's home for a probationary
period, working fo