374 SEXUAL selection: man. PartIL 



wives. The girls, before consenting to be betrothed, 



compel the men to shew themselves off, first in front 



and then behind, and " exhibit their paces." They 



have been known to propose to a man, and they not 



rarely rim away with a favoured lover. With the 



degraded bush-women of S. Africa, " when a girl has 



" grown up to womanhood without having been be- 



" trothed, which, however, does not often happen, her 



" lover must gain her approbation, as well as that of 



'* the parents." ^^ Mr. Winwood Keade made inquiries 



for me with respect to the negroes of Western Africa, 



and he informs me that " the women, at least among 



" the more intelligent Pagan tribes, have no difficulty 



" in getting the husbands whom they may desire, al- 



" though it is considered unwomanly to ask a man to 



" marry them. They are quite capable of falling in 



" love, and of forming tender, passionate, and faithful 



" attachments." 



We thus see that with savages the women are not 

 in quite so abject a state in relation to marriage as has 

 often been supposed. They can tempt the men whom 

 they prefer, and can sometimes reject those whom they 

 dislike, either before or after marriage. Preference 

 on the part of the women, steadily acting in any one 

 direction, would ultimately affect the character of the 

 tribe ; for the women would generally choose not merely 

 the handsomer men, according to their standard of taste, 



^^ Azara, ' Voyages/ &c. torn. ii. p. 23. Dobrizhoffer, * An Account 

 of the Abipones,' vol. ii. 1822, p. 207. Williams on the Fiji Islanders, 

 as quoted by Lubbock, ' Origin of Civilisation,' 1870, p. 79. On the 

 Fuegians, King and FitzRoy, ' Voyages of the Adventure and 

 Beagle, ' vol. ii. 1839, p. 182. On the Kalmucks, quoted by M'Len- 

 nan, ' Primitive Marriage,' 1865, j). 32. On the Malays, Lubbock, ibid, 

 p. 76. The Rev. J. Shooter, ' On the Kafirs of Natal,' 1857, p. 52-60. 

 On the Bush-women, Burchell, ' Travels in S. Africa,' vol. ii. 1824, 

 p. 59. • 



