ights, moreover, that were recognised by
the tribe) would come to be desired by other men. But the capture of
wives was always difficult as it frequently led to a quarrel and even
warfare with the woman's tribe, and for this reason was never widely
practised. It would, therefore, be necessary for another way of escape
to be found. This was done by changing the conditions of the customary
marriage. Nor do I think it unlikely that such change may have been
received favourably by women. The captive wives may even have been
envied by the regular wife. An arrangement that would give a more
individual relationship to marriage and the protection of a husband
for herself and the children of their union may well have been
preferred by woman to her position of subjection that had now arisen
to the authority of her brother or other male relative. The alteration
from the old custom may thus be said to have been due, in part, to the
interests of the husband, but also, in part, to the inclination of the
wife.

XIII. The change was gained by elopement, by simulated capture, by the
gift or exchange of women, and by the payment of a bride-price. The
bride-price came to be the most usual custom, gradually displacing the
others. As we have seen, it was often regarded as a condition, not of
the marriage itself, but of the transfer of the wife to the home of
the husband and of the children to his kin.

XIV. It was in this way, for economic reasons, and the personal needs
of both the woman and the man, and not, I believe, specially through
the fighting propensities of the males, and certainly not by any
unfair domination or tyranny on the part of the husband that the
position of the sexes was reversed.

XV. But be this as it may, to woman the result was no less
far-reaching and disastrous. She had become the property of one
master, residing in her husband's tribe, which had no rights or duties
in regard to her, where she was a stranger, perhaps speaking a
different language. And her children kept her bound to this alien home
in a much closer way than the husband could ever have been bound to
her home under the earlier custom. Woman's early power rested in her
organised position among her own kin: this was now lost.

XVI. The change was not brought about quickly. For long the mother's
influence persisted as a matter of habit. We have its rather empty
shadow with us to-day.

XVII. But, under the pressure of the new conditions, the old cu