Note (return) — THE PSYCHOLOGY OF EXOGAMY

In addition to a lively sexual interest in the women of their own group, we find that even the lowest races have a well-developed appreciation of the property value of women. In the earliest times women were the sole creators of certain economic values, and since the women contributed as much or more to the support of the men as the men contributed to the support of the women, the men naturally got and kept as many women as possible.221 The condition prevailing in this regard in central Australia is stated by Howitt: