[124]
In this tribe the numerical recognition of women is striking, and
indicates that they are the original core of society. They are still
responsible for society, in a way, but all the offices involving
motor activity are deputed to men. Thus women, as heads of households,
choose four women councilors of the clan (gens), and these choose
the fifth member, who is a man and the head of the council and chief
of the clan. The tribal chief is, however, chosen by males, and in
the military organization, which represents the group capacity for
violence, the women have not even a nominal recognition. The real
authority rests with those who are most fit to exercise it. Female
influence persists as a matter of habit, until, under the pressure of
social, particularly of military, activities, the breaking-up of the
habit and a new accommodation follows the accumulation of a larger
fund of social energy.
The men of any group are at any time in possession of the force to
change the habits of the group and push aside any existing system. But
the savage is not revolutionary; his life and his social sanctions are
habitual.
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