The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1896-04-18

They Are Divided Into Four Castles and
Approach wcdlock Through a Most Ex-
acting Social Formuia--Astonishing
Things In Their Life and Usages.
Copyright, 1904. by John Clark Ridpathl
VII.
The lowest races of barbarians make
the greatest ado over the laws of mar
riage. In primeval savagery we do not
doubt that miscellany was the rule of
the sexual union, but as soon as saw
age race emerges into the conscious state
and begins to organize, the most elabo-
rate antecedent conditions of marriage
are prepared. The mere ceremony of
taking wife continues as simple and
as brutal as before, but vast prelimi-
nary social formality is produced, which
possesses for thoughtful persons Il pro
found interest
The strange thing is that from tho
lowest form of life among barharians,
through all the ascending grades of So
cial development to the highest stages
OF enlightenment, the antecedent regu-
lations with respect 10 marriage become
mose and moro simple as society pro
gresses, until in the very highest forms
OF life marriage becomes a civil con
tract between the parties. All the way
up from the bushmen to the Parisans
the law holds good. The lower the race,
the more elaborate arc the preliminary
conditions Of the sexual union; the
higher the social evolution, the simpler
and easier is the law of marriage
On the other hand, the ceremony of
taking the wife becomes ever more form
al and spectacular. The ceremony be-
gins among the lowest savages with the
simple act of carrying off the bride by
force. To this is added in many cases
the brutality Of striking her unconscious
before she is borne away on the shoul-
ders of the husband to his own cave or
tent. From this the ceremony rises to
purchase; from purchase, to the agree
ment Of the parents; from this, by com
plicated stages, to the joint agreement
Of the parents and the parties, and from
this finally to the agreement Of the par
ties only. In the highest stages Of So
ciety the principle of purchase seems to
reappear. Thus, while the ceremony of
marriage becomes more and more form
al and ornate, the antecedent social law
of the marriage becomes less and less
severe, until the man and the woman.
in the very highest estate, virtually
make the law for themselves by reducing
marriage to a civil contract of the par
ties.
The native Australians furnish the
best example of the extremely complex
laws of barbarian marriage. The Aus
tralian may be regarded as the lowest
form Of existing man life on the earth.
In few particulars he is superior to
the bushman In all particulars he is
inferior to the Hottenlot. In brain ca
pacity he is absolutely mt the bottom of
the scale. Winchell has shown by a
careful examination that the cranial
mass of the Australians is much below
that of any of the savages Of South At
RIGA. The brain of the negroes exceeds
that Of the Australians by an average of
about S4 cubic centimeters, or &C. per
cent Of the whole. We should hardly
expect race having only an average Of
1876 cubic centimeters of brain to pro-
duce the most elaborate marriage law
in the world, but such is the fact. The
antecedent conditions under which a ma
tive Australian may become married
man are SO complicated and curious
that they might well be made the foun-
dation of treatise in social science.
The natives Of Australia are now on
ly handful. They cover away on the
horizon and refuse to be known by
their destroyers, but their characteris-
tics have been investigated sufficiently
to show us a number of astonishing
things in their life and usages. The ma
tives are polygamists, to begin with, a
fact that seems to contradict the theory
that polyandry is the original marriage
law of barbarians.
The Australian may take as many
wives as he can, but he has to approach
marriage through social formula most
exacting. The savages are divided into
four castles or orders, and these are OBJ
served with as much strictness as are
those Of India, but not in the samf
manner. The castes are not to be re
garded as grades the one dboUe the 9th
er, but rather as a social cycle having
its foundation in sex There arc really
eight divisions, four male and four fo
male. The four male and the fonr fe
male groups ore set over against eacl
other in manner most peculiar ant
complicated. Every child, whether {
boy or girl, is born into one of thu
caste divisions, and takes the name O.
that division and carries it through life
If we begin on the male side, the up
per caste is called Ippai. The second di
vision is named Murri, the third Kubb
and the fourth Kumbo. On the female
side the highest caste is called Ippata
the second Mata, the third Kapota ant
the fourth Buta. Under special circum
stances some Of the castles are designated
by other names-as, for instance, th'
caste Murri may be called Baia, for th'
reason that the word murri differentl,
accented is the general term for blacl
man or Australian.
Consider then these low savages ar
ranged in the two columns. male ant
female. Each column is divided int
four groups, as just described. TIL,
male Ippai caste stands over against tn
female group called Ippata. The MUIR
caste is opposite the female Mata rank
IN