Note 11 — Chapter II · HUNTERS AND FISHERS.

For, first, good hunters are highly respected. This appears from several statements. Ottawa women respected a man if he was a good hunter11. Tasmanian fathers took care to give their daughters to the best hunters12. Among the Dumagas (a Negrito tribe) a man who wishes to marry must show his skill in shooting13. Ojibway parents tried to give their daughters to good hunters. If the husband was lazy the wife had a right to leave him14. In Western Victoria “if a chief is a man of ability, exhibiting bravery in battle or skill in hunting, he is often presented with wives from other chiefs”15. Among the Andaman Islanders social status is dependent “on skill in hunting, fishing etc. and on a reputation for generosity and hospitality”16. Le Jeune tells us of a Montagnais, who was laughed at because he was a bad hunter. This was a great disgrace among the savages; for such men could never find or keep a wife17. A describer of Kamchatka says of the dangerous sea-lion hunting: “This chase is so honourable, that he who has killed most sea-lions is considered a hero; therefore many men engage in it, less for the sake of the meat, that is looked upon as a delicacy, than in order to win renown”18. In W. Washington and N. W. Oregon “a hunter is, in fact, looked upon with respect by almost every tribe in the district”19. An ancient describer of the Indians of Paraguay tells us that skill and bravery were the only qualities they valued. A would-be son-in-law had to bring game to the hut of the girl’s parents. “From the kind and the quantity of the game the parents judge whether he is a brave man and deserves to marry their daughter”20. Among the Northern Athabascans “none but a successful hunter need aspire to the hand of a chief’s daughter”21. Among the Attakapas, if a young man aspired to the hand of a girl, her father asked him whether he was a brave warrior and a good hunter and well acquainted with the art of making harpoons22. Even among the pastoral Colonial Hottentots those who had killed a savage animal were highly respected by their countrymen23. Personal qualities, among such tribes, are the only cause of social differentiation. Wealth does not yet exist24; and hereditary nobility is unknown. So a good hunter cannot be regarded by public opinion as a slave, the more so as a good hunter is also a good warrior, and without the aid of public opinion the master is not able to keep him subjected. And a bad hunter would be of little use as a hunting slave25.