The question of the position of women during the mother-age a disputed one--Bachofen's opinion--An early period of gynaeocracy--This view not accepted--Need for unprejudiced opinion--Women the first owners of property--Their power dependent on this--Further examples of mother-right customs--The maternal family in Australia--Communal marriage--Mother-right in India--The influence of Brahmanism--Traces of the maternal family--Some interesting marriage customs--Polyandry--Examples of its practice--Great polyandrous centres--The freedom enjoyed by women--The causes of polyandry--Matriarchal polyandry--The interesting custom of the Nayars--The Malays of Sumatra--The _ambel-anak_ marriage--Letter from a private correspondent--It proves the high status of women under the early customs of mother-descent--Traces of the maternal family among the Arabs--The custom of _beena_ marriage--Position of women in the Mariana Islands--Rebellion of the husbands--Use of religious symbolism--The slave-wife--Her consecration to the Bossum or god in Guinea. IV.--_The Transition to Father-right_ The position of women in Burma--The code of Manu--Women's activity in trade--Conditions of free-divorce--Traces of mother-descent in Japan--In China--In Madagascar--The power of royal princesses--Tyrannical authority of the princesses of Loango--In Africa descent through women the rule--Illustrations--The transition to father-right--The power passing from the mother into the hand of the maternal uncle--Proofs from the customs of the African tribes--The rise of father-right--Reasons which led to the change--Marriage by capture and marriage by purchase--The payment of a bride-price--Marriage with a slave-wife--The conflict between the old and the new system--Illustration by the curious marriage customs of the Hassanyeh Arabs of the White Nile--Father-right dependent on economic considerations--_Resume_--General conclusions to be drawn from the mother-age--Its relation to the present revolt of women--The bright side of father-right. CHAPTER VI THE MOTHER-AGE CIVILISATION I.--_Progress from Lower to Higher Forms of the Family Relationship_