we have a clear instance in which the young females escape from
the thraldom of the male ruler of the horde. The power with which Mr.
Atkinson endows his human patriarch seems to me quite incredible. I
have asserted again and again that the consolidation of the
group-circle was of much greater importance to the women than to the
men. Now this surely points to the acceptance of the view that the
regulation of the brute sexual appetite was initiated by the women.
Thereby, it may be pointed out, their action merely resembles
womankind in any stage from the lowest degree of savagery to the
highest stage of civilisation.

Moreover, there is further proof that points strongly to the
acceptance of this view, that, the new departure, by which young
husbands came into the group, was brought about by the women, in
opposition to the knowledge and will of the patriarch. There exists a
common custom among primitive tribes, which affords evidence of these
outside suitors having visited their brides in secret. I refer to the
practice by which intercourse between the husband and wife is carried
on clandestinely by night. This is one of the earliest forms of
marriage, and, further, it is closely connected, as I shall presently
show, with the maternal family system. There appears to be no real
cause for this precaution. I do not think it can be explained by the
superstitious dread of the sexes for each other, expressing itself in
this form of sexual taboo; as Mr. Crawley and other writers suggest.
Doubtless this is a factor, and a very powerful one, in the
continuance of the custom, but it does not seem to me to be the true
explanation of its origin. Such secrecy and clandestine meetings are,
however, exactly what must have happened if the group-daughters
received their lovers, as I would suggest, in defiance of the will of
the patriarch. May not the custom as it still exists be a survival,
retained and strengthened by superstition, from a time when these
fugitive visits were necessary for safety?[38]

[38] Mr. Atkinson refers to these clandestine marriages. He
does not, however, connect the custom, as I suggest, with any
action on the part of the young women.

Mr. Atkinson's view is different from mine. He does not allow any
power at all to the women. He holds that after the death of the
patriarch, his daughters, still young, would be left without husbands.
To meet this difficulty suitors are brought from other groups by