350 SEXUAL SELECTION: MAN. [Part II. 



personal appearance. 13 The very ugly men would perhaps 

 altogether fail in getting a wife, or get one later in life, 

 but the handsomer men, although the most successful in 

 obtaining wives, would not, as far as we can see, leave 

 more offspring to inherit their beauty than the less hand- 

 some husbands of the same women. 



Early Betrothals and Slavery of Women. — With many 

 savages it is the custom to betroth the females while mere 

 infants ; and this would effectually prevent preference be- 

 ing exerted, on either side, according to personal appear- 

 ance. But it would not prevent the more attractive 

 women from being afterward stolen or taken by force 

 from their husbands by the more powerful men ; and this 

 often happens in Australia, America, and other parts of 

 the world. The same consequences with reference to 

 sexual selection would to a certain extent follow when 

 women are valued almost exclusively as slaves or beasts 

 of burden, as is the case with most savages. The men, 

 however, at all times would prefer the handsomest slaves 

 according to their standard of beauty. 



"We thus see that several customs prevail with savages 

 which would greatly interfere with, or completely stop, 

 the action of sexual selection. On the other hand, the 

 conditions of life to which savages are exposed, and some 

 of their habits, are favorable to natural selection ; and 

 this always comes into play together with sexual selec- 

 tion. Savages are known to suffer severely from recur- 

 rent famines ; they do not increase their food by artificial 

 means ; they rarely refrain from marriage, 14 and generally 



13 * Voyages,' etc., torn. ii. pp. 92-95. 



14 Burchell says (' Travels in South Africa,' vol. ii. 1824, p. 58), that 

 among the wild nations of Southern Africa, neither men nor women ever 

 pass their livei in a state of celibacy. Azara (' Voyages dans l'Ameriqua 



