678 ^HE DESCENT OF MAN, 



being 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 hap- 

 pens in Australia, America and elsewliere. The same con- 

 sequences with reference to sexual selection would to a 

 certain extent follow, when women are valued almost 

 solely as slaves or beasts of burden, as is the case with 

 many 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 must greatly interfere with, or completely stop, the 

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

 ditions of life to which savages are exposed, and some of 

 their habits, are favorable to natural selection; and this 

 comes into play at the same time with sexual selection. 

 Savages are known to suffer severely from recurrent famines; 

 they do not increase their food by artificial means; they 

 rarely refrain from marriage,* and generally marry while 

 young. Consequently they must be subjected to occasional 

 hard struggles for existence, and the favored individuals 

 will alone survive. 



At a very early period, before man attained to his present 

 rank in the scale, many of his conditions would be differ- 

 ent from what now obtains among savages. Judging from 

 the analogy of the lower animals, he would then either live 

 with a single female, or be a polygamist. The most pow- 

 erful and able males would succeed best in obtaining attrac- 

 tive females. They would also succeed best in the general 

 struggle for life, and in defending their females, as well as 

 their offspring, from enemies of all kinds. At this early 

 period the ancestors of man would not be sufficiently ad- 

 vanced in intellect to look forward to distant contingencies; 

 they would not foresee that the rearing of their children, 

 especially their female children, would make the struggle 

 for life severer for the tribe. They would be governed 

 more by their instincts and less by their reason than are 



*Burchell says (" Travels in S. Africa," vol. ii, 1824. p. 58), that 

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

 ever pass their lives in a state of celibacy. Azara (" Voyages dans 

 I'Amerique Merid.," torn, ii, 1809, p. 21) makes precisely the same 

 remark in regard to the wild Indians of South America. 



