Note 375 — Chapter III · THEORY OF THE ORIGINAL PAIRING OR MONOGAMOUS FAMILY

In this part of his argument Starcke's generalizations are scarcely sustained by the evidence. See the criticism of Cunow, Australneger, 180-84, who urges the well-known fact that many of the lowest peoples are not acquainted with wife-purchase at all; and even where wife-purchase exists, it might seem to be of as much advantage to a father to marry his daughter to her brother as, for instance, to allow the son to obtain a wife by offering his sister in exchange.