THE " SEXUAL SEASON " OF MAMMALS. 37 



January. Among the lower castes of tlie Panjas in Jeypore 

 a festival in January is kept up for a months during wliicli 

 promiscuous sexual intercourse is allowed. The KotarSj a 

 tribe in the Neilgherries, have a similar feast marked by 

 similar licence and debauchery; and the same may be said 

 for the Keres in New Mexico^ the Hottentots, and some 

 tribes near Nyassa. 



In New Caledonia November (that is late spring) used to 

 be the time when marriage engagements were made, and 

 among the Rajputs of Mewar the last days of spring are 

 dedicated to the god of love. 



Among the Kaffirs of Cis-Natalian Kafirland more children 

 are born in August and September than in any other mouth, 

 and it seems probable this is due to certain feasts during 

 which there is unrestricted intercourse between the un- 

 married people of both sexes. 



Among the Bateke — Stanley Pool — most children are born 

 in September and October — the season of the early rains, — 

 and it is said the same is the case among the Bakongo. 



In Chili the maximum of births occurs in September. 



Dalton (1872) gives an account of the Miris, an Indian 

 hill tribe, which shows that at one season of the year 

 sexual relations between the unmarried are specially counte- 

 nanced and indulged in. 



My friend Mr. Caldwell tells me that the Queensland 

 natives with which he was brought in contact have a distinct 

 sexual season in September (that is spring), and that they 

 cannot be prevailed upon to do any work for some weeks at 

 that time of the year. 



Cook (1894) records that the Esquimaux which inhabit the 

 country lying between the seventy-sixth and seventy-ninth 

 parallels, exhibit a distinct sexual season, which recurs with 

 great intensity at the first appearance of the sun, and that 

 little else is thought of for some time afterwards : an account 

 which is in agreement with statements made by Bosquet 

 (1885) regarding other Esquimaux. 



Finally Man (1882J notes that the children of the natives 



