In  a  primitive  and  unstable  state  of  existence,  men
are  chiefly  occupied  in  the  absorbing  duties  of  war
and  the  chase.  As  the  position  of  a  tribe  and  its
means  of  subsistence  become  more  assured,  the  men
are  enabled  to  lay  down  their  weapons  and  to  take


INTRODUCTION.  II

up  women's  implements,  and  specialise  women's  in-
dustries. Thus,  as  Professor  Mason  points  out,^  the
primitive  woman  handed  her  ulu  over  to  the  saddler,
teaching  him,  apparently,  how  to  work  in  leather;
the  saddler  of  ancient  Egypt,  as  depipted  on  monu-
ments, used  the  ulu,  and  the  saddler  of  to-day  still
uses  it.  It  may  thus  have  happened  that,  as  we
sometimes  find  still  among  races  which  have  passed
from  savagery  into  the  earlier  stages  of  barbarism,
and  among  whom  war  happens  to  occupy  a  small
place,  various  industries  are  fairly  divided  between
the  sexes.  Thus,  among  the  Melanesians,  a  horti-
cultural people  who  show  great  skill  in  such  work,
"  the  respective  share  of  men  and  women  in  garden
work  is  settled  by  local  custom."  ^  But  an  equality
of  this  complete  kind  rarely  seems  to  have  been  the
rule.  Women  invented  and  exercised  in  common
multifarious  household  occupations  and  industries.
