THE INTEGRATION OF THE SEXES MARRIAGE 277 



analysis of census data according to age. However, our 

 present interest is as to whether plural marriages result 

 from an excess of women. Or, to state the case in general 

 terms, can it be shown that an excess of one sex over the 

 other determines the form of marriage? 



On logical grounds, assuming that every sexually mature 

 individual will seek a mate, a system of monogamy could 

 be followed only when the number of mature females 

 approximates that for males. Otherwise, the enforcement 

 of monogamy would meet with resistance on the part of 

 the minority. Should there be a marked excess of females, 

 then polygyny would be the most probable social adjust- 

 ment. If, however, the males outnumbered the females, 

 polyandry might be the solution. While, at first reading, 

 such a causal relation may seem obvious, the weak point 

 in it is that the regulation of marriage is a social matter, 

 and there are still other solutions. For example, a monog- 

 amous community may be reasonably successful in pre- 

 venting plural and random matings; another may be 

 polygynous, without excess of females, the minority of 

 unmarried males living cehbate or in irregular polyandry. 

 Merely casting up the possibihties will not help us here; to 

 find to what extent, if any, the sex ratio influences marriage, 

 we must approach the question empirically. One obvious 

 procedure is to compare sex ratios among monogamous, 

 polygynous, and polyandrous peoples. 



Such a comparison is rendered difficult for want of data, 

 since good statistics are available for monogamous countries 

 only. Nevertheless, we have some information worth 

 considering. Buxton reported for the New Hebrides island 

 population a marked excess of males, amounting in one 

 island to more than lo per cent. Similar reports come from 

 New Guinea and other islands in the Melanesian area, 

 suggesting that whatever may be the sex ratio at birth, 

 Melanesia as a whole tends to a marked excess of male 

 survivals. The marriage systems for these islands vary 

 somewhat, but on the whole tend to be polygynous, the 

 older men claiming the young women. On the other hand, 

 the Navajo Indians of the United States are also largely 

 polygynous, but the females are in excess. The best known 



