ABSTRACT
Prehistoric and primeval times were succeeded by the Early Tribal phase of human development. This lasted from the discovery of fire till the invention and utilization of artificial sources of food. Therefore those primitive hunters who are still ignorant of stockbreeding and agriculture, but live on the products of the chase and on such edible plants as grow wild, are in this stage. While the geneonomy of really prehistoric times is enveloped in mystery and corresponds to the prenatal and foetal stages of human life, the Early Tribal or Kinship phase is at least illumined by a certain faint glimmer. According to the anthropologist Tschudi, the Botocudo hordes number between 80 and 100 individuals. According to Martius, 10 to 60 adult males, and Keane says from 10 to 20 “families”. And the dividing-lines between horde and horde are not only spatial and local: to regard them as such is superficial.
