In this little book Dr. Hartland aims at a "brief restatement in popular form of the facts and arguments leading to the conclusion that the earliest ascertainable method of deriving human kinship and descent is through the woman only, and that patrilineal reckoning is a subsequent development."
Dr. Hartland's survey of the evidence is conducted on a geographical basis. Beginning with Australia and ending with America, he analyses the systems of descent found in each area, and indicates how far we are justified in inferring from the practices of patrilineal systems the previous existence of matrilineal descent. It would be beyond the purpose of this brief notice to examine in detail the mass of facts which the author has here set forth with admirable lucidity in support of the priority of the matrilineal system. The crucial test of the conclusion must be sought in its applicability to the evidence from the Australian continent. The Arunta and other tribes of Central Australia have been adduced as an example of communities of a most primitive type who, nevertheless, reckon descent through the father. If the primitive character of Arunta institutions be accepted, it involves the rejection of the priority, in all cases at least, of matrilineal institutions. Dr. Hartland, however, supports the view which denies the primitive character of the Arunta; he maintains that their totemic institutions have broken down and that they have advanced further in the evolution of descent than other tribes. He finds further support for this view in the fact that the custom of reckoning descent through the father is spreading to other tribes, among some of whom the process of change from the matrilineal to the patrilineal system can be observed as it takes place. In this connexion it may be noted that Dr. Hartland describes as rudimentary the social organisation found, for instance, among the Yahgans of Tierra del Fuego, the Polar Eskimo, and similar peoples, some of whom recognise descent through both father and mother. He suggests that their
