efore and after the dawn of real history.

For the sake of distinctness we may here number the heads of the evidence
bearing on this question. We have--

1. The evidence of inference from the form of capture in bridal
ceremonies.

2. The evidence from exogamy: the law which forbids marriage between
persons of the same family name.

3. The evidence from totemism--that is, the derivation of the family
name and crest or badge, from some natural object, plant or animal. {252}
Persons bearing the name may not intermarry, nor, as a rule, may they eat
the object from which they derive their family name and from which they
claim to be descended.

4. The evidence from the gens of Rome, or [Greek] of ancient Greece, in
connection with Totemism.

5. The evidence from myth and legend.

6. The evidence from direct historical statements as to the prevalence
of the matriarchal family, and inheritance through the maternal line.

To take these various testimonies in their order, let us begin with

(1.) The form of capture in bridal ceremonies. That this form survived
in Sparta, Crete, in Hindoo law, in the traditions of Ireland, in the
popular rustic customs of Wales, is not denied.

If we hold, with Mr. M'Lennan, that scarcity of women (produced by female
infanticide or otherwise) is the cause of the habit of capturing wives,
we may see, in survivals of this ceremony of capture among Aryans, a
proof of early scarcity of women, and of probable polyandry. But an
opponent may argue, like Mr. J. A. Farrer in 'Primitive Manners,' that
the ceremony of capture is mainly a concession to maiden modesty among
early races. Here one may observe that the girls of savage tribes are
notoriously profligate and immodest about illicit connections. Only
honourable marriage brings a blush to the cheek of these young persons.
This is odd, but, in the present state of the question, we cannot lean on
the evidence of the ceremony of capture. We cannot demonstrate that it
is derived from a time when paucity of women made capture of brides
necessary. Thus 'honours are easy' in this first deal.

(2.) The next indication is very curious, and requires much more
prolonged discussion. The custom of Exogamy was first noted and named by
Mr. M'Lennan. Exogamy is the prohibition of marriage within the supposed
blood-kinship, as denoted by the family name. Such marriage, among many
backward races, is reckoned incestuous, and is punishable by