the ethnological notebooks of karl marx - Marxists Internet Archive

developed sm all tribes with villages here and there... ihre rude energies andruder arts chiefly devoted to subsistence; noch nicht the village stockade(Pfahlwerk) fo r defence, no farinaceous food, still cannibalism. - D er progresswas immense “potentially” , trug in sich d. rudiments o f language, govern ­ment, fam ily, religion, house architecture, property; ditto the principalgerm s o f the arts o f life.Property o f savages inconsiderable; rude weapons, fabrics, ustensils, apparel,implements o f flin t, stone, and bone u. “personal ornaments” their chief items ojproperty. W enige Gegenstände des Besitzes, keine passion für Besitz;kein Studium lucri, n ow such a com m anding force in the human mind.Lands owned by the tribes in common, w hile tenement-houses owned join tly bytheir occupants.D . passion o f possession nourished its nascent pow ers upon articles purelypersonal, increasing w ith the slow progress o f inventions. T hose esteemedmost valuable deposited in the grave o f the deceased proprietor fo r their continueduse in spirit-land.x Inheritance: its first great rule came in w ith the institution of the gens, whichdistributed the effects o f a deceased person among his gentiles. Practically theyw ere appropriated by the nearest o f kin ; but the principle general that theproperty should remain in the gens o f decedent,69 and be distributed among itsmembers. \Blieb in civilisation70 v. Greek, Roman gentes\. Children inheritedfrom their mother, but took nothing from their reputed father.II) Property in the Lower State o f Barbarism.Hauptinventions: art o f pottery, finger weaving and the art o f cultivation inAm erica w hich gave farinaceous food (mai^e) u. plants b y irrigation [inEastern hemisphere bginning as equivalent: domestication o f animals),keine great inventions. Finger weaving w ith warp and woof (K ette u.Einschlag) scheint dieser Periode anzugehören, ist eine der greatestinvention s; but it cannot be certainly affirmed that the art was not attainedin savagery.T h e Iroquois u. other tribes o f Am erica in the same status manufacturedbelts u. burden straps with warp and woof o f excellent quality and finish; usingfine twine made offilaments o f elm and bass wood bark, (basswood americ. Linde).Principles dieser Erfindung, w hich since clothed the human fam ily, wereperfectly realised; but sie w ere unable to extend it to the production o f thewoven garment.Picture writing seems to have made its first appearance in this period;wenn früheren Ursprungs, erhielt es jetzt sehr beträchtliche E ntw icklung.D . series o f connected inventions in this department:i) Gesture Language or language o f personal symbols, 2) Picture writing, or22 idiographic symbols. 3) verte/ | 3) Hieroglyphs, or conventional symbols.4) Hieroglyphs o f phonetic power, or phonetic symbols used in a syllabus. 5)Phonetic alphabet or w ritten sounds.128