With this there is also associated the grazing or
herding over wider or more restricted areas, belong-
ing either collectively or discretely to the commun-
ity, of sheep, cattle, goats, or swine, and almost
always the domestic fowl is a commensal of man in
this life. The cultivated land at least is usually
assigned, temporarily or inalienably, as property to
specific individuals, and the individuals are grouped
in generally monogamic families of which the father

4



THE PAST AND THE GREAT STATE

is the head. Essentially the social unit is the
Family, and even where as in Mahomedan countries
there is no legal or customary restriction upon
polygamy, monogamy still prevails as the ordinary
way of living. Unmarried women are not esteemed,
and children are desired. According to the dangers
or securities of the region, the nature of the culti-
vation and the temperament of the people, this
community is scattered either widely in separate
steadings or drawn together into villages. At one
extreme, over large areas of thin pasture this agri-
culttiral community may verge on the nomadic; at
another, in proximity to consuming markets it may
present the concentration of intensive culture.
