502 The Descent of Man. Pari 111. 



gays : — " It lias ever been the custom ameng these people foi 

 " the men to wrestle for any woman to whom they are at- 

 " tached ; and, of course, the strongest party always carries oft 

 " the prize. A weak man, unless be 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 through- 

 " out all the tribes, and causes a great spirit of emulation among 

 w 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 years old or more, as before that age they cannot conquer 

 their rivals. 



Other similar facts could be given ; but even if we had no 

 evidence on this head, we might feel almost sure, from the 

 analogy of the higher Quadrumana, 23 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 gradually 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 

 jaws and teeth less and less. The jaws, together with their 

 muscles, would then have been reduced through disuse, as 

 would the teeth through the not well understood principles of 

 correlation and economy of growth ; for we everywhere see 

 that parts, which are no longer of service, are reduced in size. 

 By such steps the original inequality between the jaws and teeth 

 in the two sexes of mankind would ultimately have been oblite- 

 rated. The case is almost parallel with that of many male 

 Euminants, in which the canine teeth have been reduced to 

 mere rudiments, or have disappeared, apparently in consequence 

 of the development of horns. As the prodigious difference 

 between the skulls of the two sexes in the orang and gorilla 

 stands in close relation with the develojoment of the immense 

 canine teeth in the males, we may infer that the reduction of 

 the jaws and teeth in the early male progenitors of man must 

 have led to a most striking and favourable change in his 

 appearance. 



23 On the fightiag of the male p. 423. On Pre-bytis cntellus, sec 

 gorillas, see Dr. Savage, in 'Boston th) 'Indian Field,' 1859, p. 146. 

 Journal of Nat Hist' vol. v. 1847, 



