324 SEXUAL selection: man. PaetIL 



server, Hearne,^^ says : — '^ It has ever been the custom 

 '' among these people for the men to wrestle for any 

 " woman to whom they are attached ; and, of course, the 

 " strongest party always carries off the prize. A weak 

 " man, unless he be a good hunter, and well-beloved, 

 " is seldom permitted to keep a wife that a stronger 

 "man thinks worth his notice. This custom prevails 

 " throughout all the tribes, and causes a great spirit 

 " of emulation among their youth, who are upon all 

 " occasions, from their childhood, trying their strength 

 '* and skill in wrestling." With the Guanas of South 

 America, Azara states that the men rarely marry till 

 twenty or more years old, as before that age they 

 cannot conquer their rivals. 



Other similar facts could be given ; but even if we 

 had no evidence on this hea'^l, we might feel almost 

 sure, from the analogy of the higher Quad rum ana,^^ 

 that the law of battle had prevailed with man during 

 the early stages of his development. The occasional 

 appearance at the present day of canine teeth which 

 project above the others, with traces of a diastema or 

 open space for the reception of the opposite canines, is 

 in all probability a case of reversion to a former state, 

 when the progenitors of man were provided with these 

 weapons, like so many existing male Quadrumana. It 

 was remarked in a former chapter that as man gra- 

 dually became erect, and continually used his hands 

 and arms for fighting with sticks and stones, as well as 

 for the other purposes of life, he would have used his 



-^ 'A Journey from Prince of Wales Fort.' 8vo. edit. Dublin. 1796, 

 p. 101. Sir J. Lubbock ('Origin of Civilisation,' 1870, p. 69) gives 

 other and similar cases in North America. For the Guanas of S. 

 America see Azara, ' Voyages,' &c. tom. ii. p. 94. 



22 On the fighting of the male gorillas, see Dr. Savage, in 'Boston 

 Journal of Nat. Hist,' vol. v. 1847, p. 423. On Preshytis entellus, see 

 the ' Indian Field,' 1859, p. 146. 



