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