[663] Mathew, p. 166. Mrs. D. M. Bates writes that when a mother died at childbirth the infant was put to death.[664] We are not informed what reasons the natives gave for this practice; but most probably they are the same as those mentioned by Collins. [664] _Loc. cit._, p. 50. All this evidence makes it nearly impossible to suppose that suckling, carrying the baby and caring for it, was the task of a group of women. For then it would not be necessary to kill the infant at the death of its mother, or to kill it when there was another one to be suckled, as the toils could easily be shared by the other women of the group. The assumption we are now able to draw, namely that the mother always suckles and nurses her own child, is of great importance.[665] [665] It is very important to note that this individual rearing is, in all probability, deeply connected with the aboriginal mode of life; viz. their scattered manner of living in small groups and their roaming habits. Both these latter seem to be, on the other hand, dependent upon the economic conditions of the stage of primitive hunting and fishing, and it may be assumed that all lower races have passed through, broadly speaking, the same circumstances of life; it is, therefore, probable that the fact of common nursing can never have taken place in very low societies. I do not think, consequently, that Dr. Rivers's hypothesis, basing group motherhood on communism in suckling and rearing, can be accepted even in its general form. Amongst the Australian aborigines suckling establishes undoubtedly much stronger bonds between mother and child than amongst civilized races, for it lasts much longer. As we saw and shall see in a few statements, the child is never weaned before its third year, and sometimes suckling lasts much longer. Between a bigger child and its mother this constant dependence upon each other must necessarily create a strong bond of union. The child must be continually with its mother. During infancy it is carried by her in a pouch or bag on the shoulders. Afterwards it accompanies her on all her wanderings and in all her work. A great addition to her work is the continuous care she must display towards it. This will be exemplified in our statements referring to the economic division of labour. To sum up, we may say that natural necessities of nurture and of the earliest cares, combined with the aboriginal mode of living, make the child absolutely dependent on the personal, individual help it receives from its mother, and creates therefore an intimate relation between the two.