Oriental Women Part 18

In height, Australian women average about five feet two inches, the tallest not exceeding five feet five inches. They have small feet and hands, the widest span being six inches. The color of the skin is dark chocolate, the lips are thick, the nose is broad and incurved, the head long, the hair black, but not woolly, and is generally worn short. Some of the young girls are pretty, and from carrying burdens on the head they have an erect pose; the Australians, however, are an unhandsome race, and at thirty, if she lives so long, the woman is an old hag, the acme of indescribable ugliness intensified by following the habit of knocking out the front teeth for the sake of fas.h.i.+on.

The girl-child born in Australia has little care beyond what is necessary to preserve her life. The almost deserted mother is placed apart in a brush shelter and is attended by some old woman of her clan.

The birthplace of the little girl is amid the greatest squalor. On rare occasions mothers practise infanticide. The child is killed as soon as born, in the belief (in the words of Nicodemus) that it can enter a second time into the mother's womb and be reborn. As infants are suckled several years, the chief cause of this unnatural act is the inability of the mother to add another ounce to life's burdens. Being considered uncanny, twins are immediately killed; and once in a while a healthy child meets with a like fate, in order that its vigor may go into a weaker one.

The baby's name is inherited from her mother, or perhaps from her father. It is merely a cla.s.s t.i.tle, for every tribe in Australia is separated into cla.s.ses with names. If descent be in the female line, then everyone in a cla.s.s has the same name from the mothers; if it be in the male line, all whose fathers are in the same cla.s.s are named alike.

In all Australia there is no such t.i.tle as "mother," in our sense of the word. Of the girl-child here considered, there are as many mothers as there are females in that cla.s.s belonging to the same generation. If the reader were an Australian girl, she would, then, have several or many mothers; there would be her own mother, her maternal aunts, and all collateral female kin of that generation and of the mother's cla.s.s. For example, suppose a tribe in which the two moieties were named Brown and Smith. Every Brown man would have to marry a Smith woman and vice versa.

A Smith would not and dare not marry a Smith, or a Brown marry a Brown.

Now, if the mother-right prevailed, all the children of the Brown mothers would be Browns, of the Smith mothers would be Smiths; but if father-right prevailed, then all the children of Brown mothers would be Smiths, and those of the Smith mothers would be Browns. The marriage tie is so loose in Australia that the family exists only in the group, and the little girl is not "Miss Brown," but a Brown--one of the Browns. The principle is as here stated, but the practice in detail is most bewildering. The little newborn girl is not merely "Miss S." or "Miss B." Her tribe, with its two moieties or cla.s.ses, may have six totems in each. In that case, her father and her mother will have totem names.

Take the Urabrinna tribe with its two cla.s.ses, Matthurie and Kirarwa. If the father be a Dingo Matthurie and the mother be a Water Hen Kirarwa, our little girl will bear her mother's name, so will all other girls of Water Hen mothers and, also, their children to remotest posterity.

The girls of this generation are, in fact, sisters and look upon the whole generation that gave them birth as a cla.s.s of mothers; it is the best they can do.

In some tribes the cla.s.sification takes this quaint form: every man belongs to one of a number of families or cla.s.ses, which we may mark, for convenience, A, B, C, and D. Every woman belongs, also, to one of a number of named cla.s.ses, which we may call E, F, G, and H. Now, all the men in the A cla.s.s are compelled to marry one of the four cla.s.ses of women, and their children are cla.s.sified by rule under the other letters in the most confusing but interesting fas.h.i.+on. The system is far more intricate than that of the American Indians.

Besides these cla.s.s or totem names, each little Australian girl has a personal name by which she is freely addressed by all excepting such of the opposite s.e.x as are tabooed by custom. She may also have nicknames like the American Indian girls, and finally, every girl of the tribe has her secret name which may be that of some celebrated woman handed down by tradition. It is never uttered except upon most solemn occasions, and is known to those only who are initiated. When mentioned at all, it is in a whisper. If a stranger should know one's name, he would have a special chance to work her ill by ways of magic.

At a very early age, the Australian girl has graduated in all the hardening processes which result in the survival of the fittest, and is ready to take her place among women. The rites by which she is initiated into womanhood lessen her vitality, if they do not destroy it. No sooner does the little girl get upon her feet than her education begins. Her play is imitation of her mother's labors and enjoyments. A group of girls will amuse themselves by the hour, playing little dramas with the hands. Many of these games are to be found among civilized peoples. Your meaningless piling of fists in the play: "Take it off, or I'll knock it off," is part of a game which represents the entire operation of finding a honey tree, cutting it down, gathering the honey, mixing it with water, and eating it.

The marriage tie of Australian women cannot be likened to that existing among Christian nations, nor is it similar to the polygamy of Mohammedan peoples, but is a modified form of group marriage.

The Australian man obtains his wife in one of four different ways. His father secures her for him by an arrangement with the girl's father; he charms his intended by magic; he captures her as he would an enemy in battle; or she elopes with him. It is to be understood, of course, that the woman belongs to the proper cla.s.s by descent. The Australians are very particular in this regard. The first and most usual method of taking a wife is connected with the law which makes every woman the possible wife of some man. There is little or no ceremony in connection with the rite of matrimony. When a man has secured a wife, she becomes his private property.

Let us imagine, therefore, that a man has set his heart upon a woman of the proper group. There are several ways of practising magic to procure a wife. Spencer and Gillan, the greatest authorities in this line of study, say, that when a man is desirous of securing a woman for his wife,--it makes no difference whether or not she be already a.s.signed to some other man,--he takes a small strip of wood, attached at one end to a string, and marks it with the design of his totem, and with this instrument (called by the American boy a "buzzer") he goes into the bush accompanied by his friends. All night long the men keep up a low singing and chanting of amorous phrases. At daylight, the man stands up alone and swings his roarer. The sound of the instrument and the singing of the air is carried to the ear of the woman by magic, and it has the power of compelling her affections. It is a.s.serted that women have been known to come fifty miles in order to marry the man who had bewitched them. There are other ways of charming a woman upon whom the lover has set his heart,--such as the charm of the gaudy headband worn on a public occasion, the charm of blowing the horn, and more. Elopement is only another form of magic. The third method of obtaining a wife, by capture, has been described as universal among the Australians, but the latest writers affirm that it is the rarest way in which the central Australian secures his wife.

Among the Australians, Polynesians, Malays, and many others of the lower races, descent has been primarily and uniformly through the mother. It was not until tribes became sedentary and property was held by individuals that inheritance pa.s.sed to the male members of the family. The so-called mother-right is based upon the belief that individuals forming a certain clan or group, by whatever name they may be called, are the offspring of a woman who lived long ago. The term _mutterrecht_, by which this custom is called, is of course a sort of legal fiction; for men have always governed the world. Two benefits grew out of this form of descent. One was the certainty of motherhood. The other was the a.s.surance, to every individual, of family support, as the children of a number of sisters were not cousins to one another, but all were brothers and sisters. So long as there were provisions with any one of this group, the rest were sure of a meal. This plan of descent through the mother has survived in many curious ways. It is found among many African tribes. Even to-day the Spaniards, who have a great deal of Moorish blood in their veins, have the custom of adding the mother's name to the father's to show that the descent is legitimate. It may be of interest to know, in pa.s.sing, that James Smithson, the founder of the Smithsonian Inst.i.tution, was required by his father, the Duke of Northumberland, to be known by his mother's name until he was of age, when he was allowed to a.s.sume the family name of the duke, which was Smithson. This is but a modern instance of how persistent the ancient custom has been. As soon as sedentary life and settled owners.h.i.+p of property took the place of nomadic life and communal owners.h.i.+p, mother-right or matriarchy pa.s.sed gradually into patriarchy. It is curious to know that among the American Indians at the time they were discovered one could find all degrees of this transition. We must be careful, too, to discriminate between the tribe and the clan, or gens, for all savage tribes are exogamous with respect to the clans and endogamous with respect to the tribes. When the people develop the tendency to marriage within the tribe, it is evident that they have pa.s.sed out of the earlier stages of clan grouping into the stage of property grouping. Marrying in the tribes was necessary, in order, as we might put it, to "keep the money in the family." Among many of the lowest as well of the highest civilization, the practice is against marrying a girl who is akin; and it is always a subject of humor when a young woman in our own country marries without changing her name, a quiet recognition of the old practice of the exogamous marriage between clan members.

Clothing for warmth or protection is not worn by Australian women; even the ap.r.o.n is not universal. The sense of beauty, however, has been awakened in these savage b.r.e.a.s.t.s, and expresses itself in pretty headbands, necklaces, and breast ornaments of seeds, teeth, and strings colored with ochre. The men, too, are but little better attired; but one indispensable article of their costumes must not be omitted in this connection, namely, the knout, or coil of twine, with which they thrash the women.

The home of the Australian woman, where she and her co-wives and their children live, is nothing more than a brush shelter, so faced as to protect the occupants from the prevailing wind. In front of this, or under it, they work, eat, sleep, and hold social intercourse. In the morning, they go forth with their digging sticks and wooden troughs to gather small animals. They take no thought of what they shall eat, the problem being to have anything to eat. When the men hunt the small kangaroo, the women surround the game and drive it toward the ambush.

Every edible thing is known and is used for food. The women are the gleaners also, gathering large quant.i.ties of seeds, throwing them from one trough to another so that the wind may blow away the chaff, grinding them on one stone with another, and cooking in hot ashes the dough made from the meal. The cooking of flesh food is done by men, as that prepared by females may not be eaten by them; the women attend to the vegetable diet. In many places, females over a certain age take their meals apart; this rule, however, is not uniform.

Should the Australian woman allow her child to live past the earliest stages of infancy, she is usually a devoted mother. She often bears her child about on her shoulders as she attends upon her tasks, even after the child has become five or six years old. And should the little one die, she will continue to bear the dear body with her, apparently not noting the decomposition, which soon sets in. Mothers have been known to carry the body of a dead child for weeks.

From earliest childhood, girls as well as boys are trained to note the tracks of every living thing. For amus.e.m.e.nt, skilful women imitate, in the sand, the tracks of animals; and they know one another's footsteps.

Spencer and Gillan say that every woman has her _pitchi_, or "wooden trough," from one to three feet long, in which she carries everything, even the baby, for she is both pack and pa.s.senger beast; when she is hunting, it will very often be used as a scoop-shovel to clear out earth. Her only other implement is her digging stick, the primitive pick-plow excavator. It is a straight staff, pointed at the end. When at work requiring its use, the owner loosens the earth with the digging stick, held in the right hand, while her left hand plays the part of shovel. Acre after acre of the soil wherein lives the honey ant is dug over for this toothsome mite. Little girls go out with their mothers; and while the latter are digging up vermin and insects, the toddlers, with little picks, will be taking their first lesson in what will be their chief lifework.

Among savages, the textile art--woman's peculiar industry--is little encouraged. The spindle used in Australia before the discovery of the island-continent in 1606, and which is still in use among the wild tribes, is the most primitive conceivable, for it is merely a little switch with a hooked end. The women make string for tying, as well as for bags and network, out of human, opossum, and kangaroo hair, from sinew, like the Eskimo, and from vegetable fibre. They sit upon the ground, use the left hand for a distaff, and with the right hand roll the spindle dexterously on the naked thigh. When a foot or so of string is finished, it is rolled about the hook of the spindle for a bobbin.

When two of these are completed, a stick is driven into the ground, and a rude rope or twine walk is set up. The women know the dyes in many plants and use them. With the strings they make basketry, nets, bags, plaiting, and many ornamental forms of simple lacework and borders.

Indeed, the Australian aborigines are at the bottom of the textile ladder, where human fingers perform all spinning, netting, and weaving.

In lieu of the gaudy costumes and of the tattooed tooth patterns etched upon the skin among other Indo-Pacific tribes, Australian women decorate their b.r.e.a.s.t.s and other parts with horrid scars. They cut the skin with flint or gla.s.s, and rub ashes or down into the open wounds in order that the cicatrices may be large and prominent. They submit to these tortures with the greatest satisfaction, and add more from time to time as memorials of personal experiences or in honor of the dead.

The Australian women are fond of games and sports. Dr. Roth, the Northern Protector of Aborigines in Queensland, says that with a fair length of twine adult women will amuse themselves for hours at a time.

The twine is used in the form of an endless string, known to Europeans as "cat's cradle" or "catch cradle." Hundreds of the most intricate and bewildering designs are made, in the formation of which the mouth, the knees, and the toes cooperate with the hand. Some of the figures are extremely complicated. Dr. Roth gives the plates of the finished patterns, which certainly are as fascinating as any work of savage hands.

Australian women are described as cheerful and light-hearted, but, on occasion, they fight with their digging sticks most furiously, giving and taking blows like men. The testimony of the best observers is to the effect that, in most tribes, women are not treated with excessive cruelty, which would be quickly fatal to the tribe in longevity, fecundity, and service. Women receive their share of the resources, be they abundant or meagre. What seems to be cruelty is only custom or, as one would say, fas.h.i.+on; and in Australia, even more so than in Paris, you had as well be out of the world as out of the fas.h.i.+on.

All her life, the Australian woman is in the most abject social state; her connection with the rites and ceremonies of her tribes is only as an a.s.sistant or attendant. She is charged with all the industrial occupations of food getting, and is not allowed to venture near the sacred places on in of death. She is bound hand and foot by custom.

No Australian woman is believed to die a natural death. All are killed by magic--it may be a personal enemy near at hand or by a great sorcerer far away. Their life, so remote from ours, is, however, less sensitive, and it would be untrue to say that they are a melancholy set, living in perpetual dread.

When an Australian woman dies, she is at once placed in a sitting posture, with the knees doubled up against the chin. The body thus prepared is deposited in a round hole at once or is placed on a platform, made of boughs, until some of the flesh disappears, after which the bones are put into a grave. Nothing whatever is deposited with her, and the earth is piled directly upon the body so as to form a low mound with a depression on the side toward the camp ground. As soon as the burial is over, her camp is burnt utterly and her group remove to another place. Those who stood in certain kins.h.i.+p to her may never mention her name again or go near her grave after the last act of quieting the spirit has been performed. This ceremony occurs about a year after the death of a woman, and consists of trampling on her grave.

Her mother and the nearest clan kin paint themselves with kaolin and visit her grave, accompanied by certain of her tribal brothers. On the way, the actual mother throws herself on the ground and is only prevented from frightfully cutting herself by watchful attendants. At the grave, the blood flows copiously from self-inflicted wounds upon all the mourners. After this blood letting, charms are planted upon the grave mound, the blood stained pipe clay, with which the half dead mother has smeared herself, is rubbed off and the grave is smoothed over. All this is done cheerfully, as it is the custom of the country.

The widow (or widows) of a deceased man smears her hair, face, and breast with white pipe clay, and remains silent during a long time, perhaps a year, communicating by means of gesture language. She remains in camp, performing a.s.siduously the ceremonies for the dead; indeed, should she venture forth on her old avocations, a younger brother of her husband, on meeting her, might run her through with his spear. When the time comes to have the ban of silence removed, she smears herself afresh with kaolin, prepares a large tray full of food, and accompanied by female friends walks to the dividing line of her camp. They are joined by the proper kindred of the deceased, who, after an elaborate ceremony, release her from her vows, and certify to her having done her whole widowly duties. At the ceremony of trampling on the grave of the dead man, in which certain women take part, and especially the widow, who sc.r.a.pes the kaolin from her body, showing that her mourning is ended.

When a child dies, not only does the actual _mia_, or "mother," cut herself, but all the sisters of the latter perform a like ceremony. On the death of relatives, women gash themselves. The scars thus made have naught to do with the decorative cicatrices across the breast, before mentioned. They are specially proud of these self-inflicted wounds, since they are the permanent record of their faithfulness to their dead.

Let us turn our attention to the smallest women of the world. History, ethnology, and cla.s.sic myth have united to make the Eastern pigmies the most interesting people in the world. Though they are a little people, and have been hard pressed by larger and stronger races, they have survived for centuries. They are to be found in Asia, Africa, and the islands of the sea. Africa was doubtless their aboriginal home; but this negrito type has spread eastward, probably in their canoes in the early days, till the islands of the South Seas have become their home.

The women among these little people are even smaller than the men. The Mincopies of the Andaman Islands are among the most interesting of the negritos. Because of their roving nature, they live in huts which are rather temporary in character. These are put up by the women, though when a sojourn in a given locality is to be of longer duration the men build huts that are more permanent. The boys and girls do not sleep in the same huts with the married people, but in huts specially constructed for them. The women often become quite expert in the manufacture of pottery by hand, the vessels having rounded bottoms, and being decorated with wavy lines, or lines made by a wooden style.

Both boys and girls in the first few years of life are left entirely nude. At about six years the little girl has placed upon her an ap.r.o.n of leaves. This is her sole garment. Later in life, the womanly instinct for ornament shows itself however, so that necklaces and girdles are added. There is a certain kind of girdle, made from the panda.n.u.s leaves, which is the peculiar possession of the married women. The women, as well as the men, tattoo their entire bodies. This art of tattooing is practised almost entirely by the women. They use a piece of quartz or gla.s.s, making horizontal and vertical incisions in alternating series.

There was probably some religious significance originally in this practice, since the men begin the process by making incisions with an arrow used in hunting the wild pig, and while the wounds are still fresh the man must refrain from using the flesh of this animal. The bodies of the women are usually quite shapely, though their faces are not beautiful. With the women as well as the men, the body is of nearly uniform width, there being scarcely any enlargement at the hips. Since the race is comparatively pure, marrying among themselves, the type is very uniform; and since, as Quatref.a.ges says, the occupations of men and women vary little, the difference in the development of female as contrasted with masculine characteristics is exceedingly small.

The young girl enjoys equal freedom with her brother, but preserves her modesty with commendable strictness. An official, "the guardian of youth," scrutinizes the conduct of the young people with much care and attempts to see that wrongs against modesty and chast.i.ty are, as far as possible, righted. The marriage relation is well guarded; bigamy and polygamy are rigidly prohibited; and betrothals, which are often made for the little ones at a very tender age, are held as inviolate, a betrothal being regarded as quite as binding as actual marriage. The young couple to be married never take the initiative for themselves, this duty falls to the "guardian of youth," whose watchful eye is expected to discern the eternal fitness of things in this important field of human interest.

The marriage contract is a purely civil one, being celebrated at the hut of the chieftain of the tribe. The bride remains seated. By her side is one or more women; the groom stands surrounded by the young men. The chief approaches him and leads him to the young girl, whose legs are held by several women. After some pretended resistance on the part of both, the groom sits down on the knees of his bride. The torches are lighted so that all present can attest that the ceremony has been regularly carried out. Finally the chief declares the young people duly married, and they retire to a hut prepared in advance. Then they are said to spend several days silently, without so much as looking at each other, during which period they receive from friends presents of a very practical nature, such as provisions and equipments for housekeeping.

After this silent but profitable function is over, a wedding dance is given in which the whole community joins, except the two who are most concerned in the festivities.

"It is incorrect to say that among the Andamese marriage is nothing more than taking a female slave, for one of the striking features of their social relation is the marked equality and affection which subsists between husband and wife. Careful observations extended over many years prove that not only is the husband's authority more or less nominal, but that it is not at all an uncommon occurrence for Andamese Benedicts to be considerably at the beck and call of their better halves."

A writer upon the Andamese islanders has this significant utterance concerning woman's moral influence even among these uncivilized peoples: "Experience has taught us that one of the most effective means of inspiring confidence when endeavoring to make acquaintance with these savages is to show that we are accompanied by women, for they at once infer that, whatever may be our intentions, they are at least not hostile."

As a rule, marriage life among these Andamese islanders is said to be very happy. The women are constant and faithful; the husbands also exercise marked fidelity. The spirit of equality and reciprocity prevails to an exceptional degree when compared with many other uncivilized peoples, and indeed with many civilized people.

Even before the mother gives birth to the child, the little one receives a name with a qualitative, according to s.e.x. This it bears for two or three years. It is then replaced by another qualitative which the boy bears till his initiation into the rites of manhood, and the girl till the appearance of signs of p.u.b.erty. This name corresponds to some tree or flower. When the girl marries she drops her "flower name."

Mothers, too, have great fondness for their children, nursing them as long as there is milk for them, and it is not uncommon for three children to feed at the same maternal breast. A peculiar custom prevails, however, by which most of the children are by the fifth or sixth year taken from their parents, and become parts of another household. This custom of adoption is a method by which friends express and cement their friends.h.i.+ps for one another. As Quatref.a.ges says: "Every married man received into a family regards as an expression of grat.i.tude and proof of friends.h.i.+p, the privilege of adopting one of the children of the family." The parents rarely see children that have been adopted. They may pay them visits, but they never take them back permanently to their homes, and temporarily only by permission. The foster-father may, strangely enough, pa.s.s his adopted child on to some friend of his, as freely as he might one of his own.

The modesty of the scantily clothed women is noteworthy. Man, who has written so minutely upon the Andamese, says that when a woman has occasion to remove one of her girdles in order to make it a present to a friend, she does so with a shyness that amounts almost to prudery; and she never changes her ap.r.o.n before a companion, but retires to some secret place. Even within the same family circle, the bearing of the s.e.xes toward each other is modest and delicate. The man will observe the greatest care in his att.i.tude toward the wife of a cousin or of a younger brother, only addressing her through a third person. The wife of an elder brother receives the respect accorded to a mother.

The negritos of Luzon in the Philippines are also found to be very correct in their ideas upon the relations of the s.e.xes. Adultery is very rare, and is punished, as are theft and murder, by death. The manners of the young girls are very correct, for any suspicion of their chast.i.ty might prevent their marriage, for the young men are particular that their wives should be without stain or even an imputation of it. When a young man is ready to marry and has found the girl of his choice, he lets her parents know of his heart's wish. They are said never to refuse. They do not turn her formally or informally over to her suitor, however, but they send her out into the forest, where, early in the morning, before even the sun has risen, she conceals herself. It is the young man's business to find this pearl of great price, or else he cannot claim to be worthy of her and must forever relinquish all right in her. This, it will be readily seen, is but another way of leaving the whole matter in the hands of the girl, who may not seek the thickest jungles for a hiding place. The day for the marriage has come. The lovers climb two young trees which are adjacent one to the other and may be easily bent together. An aged man comes, and presses the boughs of the trees toward each other till the heads of the young couple touch.

They are then husband and wife. Feasting and dancing follow, and then the pair settle down to life's realities in earnest. The husband gives his father-in-law a present, a custom surviving from a day when wives were purchased; and the father presents his daughter with a present as dowry, which becomes her own personal property. The Aeta has but one wife. If he should die after his children are grown, the family home is continued; should the children be yet very young, the mother usually takes them and returns to the home of her own people.

Among some of the negrito tribes there has been found an incipient literature. The following are words of a love song which Montano found among the Aetas. It has thus been translated:

"I leave, oh, my loved one, Be very prudent, thou loved one.

Ah! I go very far, my loved one, While thou remainest in dwelling thine, Never the village will be forgotten by me."

In contrast with these pigmies of probably African origin, there may come to our minds the ancient tradition of African Amazons. For the poetical allusions among the Greek authors to such a community of female warriors there was doubtless some basis in fact, and this even when all due allowance is made for the imaginative element in the tale. According to the tradition, these African Amazons, an army of powerful women, under the leaders.h.i.+p of their Queen Myrina, marched against the Gorgons and Atlantes and subdued them, and at last marched through Egypt and Arabia and founded their capital on Lake Tritonis, where they were finally annihilated by Hercules. The truth in these Amazon stories lies doubtless in the fact that it is not an unknown custom for African women, strong of body and brave of spirit, to enlist as soldiers in companies or armies, commanded by officers of their own s.e.x, and to become very powerful in regulating the life of some communities.

Among the Dahomeys, women captives are often enrolled in the king's army of "amazons." These are said to have a perfect pa.s.sion for fighting. They are bound to perpetual celibacy and chast.i.ty, under the penalty of death. They are described as famous in battle, but their chief utility is to prevent rebellion among the male soldiers. They have separate organizations and are commanded by officers of their own s.e.x, and are most loyal to their king.

The world has long known of the Hottentots of South Africa. Their women are taller and larger than those of the neighboring Bushmen, who are the South African pigmies. Among these Hottentots woman often occupies a place of considerable power; this is notably in the home, where she reigns supreme. The husband may lord it over her outside of the house, and often does, making almost a slave of his spouse; but when he enters the house, he abdicates his authority. Without her permission, the husband cannot take a bit of meat or a drop of milk. If he attempts to infringe the law, the neighbors take up his case; he is amerced, often to the extent of several sheep or cows, and these become the absolute property of the wife. Should the chief of a tribe die, his wife takes his place and authority and becomes "queen of the tribe," unless her son is of age. And it is said that some of these women chieftains have left for themselves names of honor in the traditions of their people.

It is a custom among the Hottentots to call their children by the names of their parents, but by a sort of exchange, the girls a.s.suming that of their father, the boys that of the mother--a syllabic suffix indicating the s.e.x. To the oldest daughter are accorded especial authority and honor; for it is she who milks the cows and, in a way, has them under her control. Requests for milk must be made to her, reminding us of the Aryan _wood-daughter_, who was once the milkmaid.