A History of Matrimonial Institutions, Vol. 1 of 3Howard, George Elliott
History
A History of Matrimonial Institutions, Vol. 1 of 3
Howard, George Elliott
Families; Marriage -- History
For instance, to select a few examples from the wealth of
illustration provided by Westermarck, the "Californian Gualala
account it 'poison,' as they say, for a person to marry a cousin
or an avuncular relation, and strictly observe in marriage the
Mosaic table of prohibited affinities."[382] Among the "Bogos of
Eastern Africa, persons related within the seventh degree may not
intermarry, whether the relationship be on the paternal or maternal
side;" and a similar rule exists among the Pipiles of San Salvador.
"Among the Kalmucks, no man can marry a relation on the father's
side; and so deeply rooted is this custom among them, that a Kalmuck
proverb says, 'The great folk and dogs know no relationship,'
alluding to the fact that only a prince may marry a relative." Often
clan exogamy is enforced by the severest penalties. "The Algonquins
tell of cases where men, for breaking this rule, have been put to
death by their nearest kinsfolk."[383]
[381] Here and there among low races one finds examples of
alleged incest recorded. Thus among the New England Indians
marriages between brothers and sisters are said to have existed:
WAITZ, _Anthropologie_, III, 106. "Among these people
only," says Turner of the Innuit on the Labrador coast, "have
I heard of a son who took his mother as a wife, and when the
sentiment of the community compelled him to discard her he took
two other women, who were so persecuted by the mother that they
believed themselves to be wholly under her influence." "Ethnology
of the Ungava District," _XI. Rep. of Bureau of Eth._, 180. So
also D'EVREUX suspects incest, not marriage, between
brothers and sisters among the Brazilian Indians: _Voyage
dans le Nord du Brésil, 1613-14_, 85-95. On the other hand,
DOBRIZHOFFER says the Abipones abhor marriage with near
kindred: _Relation_, II, 212; and the same appears to be true of
the Kafirs: RATZEL, _History of Mankind_, II, 435. See
also the examples mentioned by GROSSE, _Die Formen der
Familie_, 129, 130.
[382] WESTERMARCK, _op. cit._, 297; POWERS,
_Tribes of California_, 192.
[383] WESTERMARCK, _op. cit._, 297, 305, 306.
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