and the daughters inherit, being charged with the marriage
of their brothers, which constitutes a kind of gynaecocracy." There is
possibly some exaggeration in the term gynaecocracy; yet if there is no
proof of "rule by women," there can be no doubt that, through the
system of female inheritance, property was held by them, and this must
certainly have given them the power always involved by the possession
of wealth.

The freedom of the women of ancient Spain is sufficiently indicated by
the fact that they took part in the activities usually considered as
belonging to men. It was these women who played their part in driving
back the Roman legions from the mountainous districts of northern
Spain; we read of them fighting side by side with men, where they used
their weapons with courage and determination. They received their
wounds with silent fortitude, and no cry of pain ever escaped their
lips, even when the wounds which laid them low were mortal. To women
as well as men liberty was a possession more valued than life, and,
when taken prisoners, they fell upon their own swords, and dashed
their little ones to death rather than suffer them to live to be
slaves. Nor were the activities of women confined to warfare. Justin
speaks of women as not only having the care of all domestic matters,
but also cultivating the fields. And Strabo, writing of these Amazons,
tells us that they would often step aside out of the furrows "to be
brought to bed," and then, having borne a child, would return to their
work "just as if they had only laid an egg." He notes, too, as being
practised among them the _couvade_, whereby the husband, in assertion
of his legal fatherhood, retired to bed when a child was born.[214]

[214] See in this connection my book, _Spain Revisited_, pp.
291-304.

Spain is a land that I know well, and for this reason I have chosen to
write of it in fuller detail. Persistent relics of the early maternal
period even yet may be traced in the customs of this strongly
conservative people. Women are held in honour. There is a proverb
common all over Spain to the effect that "he who is unfortunate and
needs assistance should seek his mother." Many primitive customs
survive, and one of the most interesting is that by which the eldest
daughter in some cases takes precedence over the sons in inheritance.
Among the Basques, until quite recently, the administration of the
family property passed to the eldest child, whe