692 THE DESCENT OF MAN. 



however, been shown that the races of man differ fiom 

 each other and from their nearest allies, in certain charac- 

 ters which are of no service to them in their daily habits 

 of life, and which it is extremely probable would have 

 been modified tlirough sexual selection. We have seen that 

 with the lowest savages the people of each tribe admire their 

 own characteristic qualities the shape of the head and 

 face, the squareness of tlie cheek-bones, the prominence or 

 depression of the nose, the color of the skin, the length of 

 the hair on the head, the absence of hair on the face and 

 body, or the presence of a great beard, and so forth. Hence 

 these and other such points could hardly fail to be slowly 

 and gradually exaggerated from the more powerful and able 

 men in each tribe, who would succeed in rearing the largest 

 number of offspring, having selected during many genera- 

 tions for their wives the most strongly characterized and 

 therefore most attractive women. For my own part I con- 

 clude that of all the causes which have led to the differ- 

 ences in external appearance between the races of man, and 

 to a certain extent between man and the lower animals, 

 sexual selection has been the most efficient. 



