640 THE DESCENT OF MAN. 



Qnichuas of tlie Cordillera are remarkably hairless, yet in 

 old age a few straggling hairs occasionally appear on the 

 chin. The men of these two tribes have very little hair on 

 the various parts of the body where hair grows abundantly 

 in Europeans, and the women have none on the corre- 

 sponding parts. The hair on the head, however, attains 

 an extraordinary length in both sexes, often reaching 

 almost to the ground; and this is likewise the case with 

 some of the North American tribes. In the amount of hair 

 and in the general shape of the body the sexes of the 

 American aborigines do not differ so much from each other 

 as in most other races. * This fact is analogous with what 

 occurs with some closely allied monkeys; thus the sexes of 

 the chimpanzee are not as different as those of the orang 

 or gorilla, f 



In the previous chapters we have seen that with mam- 

 mals, birds, fishes, insects, etc., many characters, which 

 there is every reason to believe were primarily gained 

 through sexual selection by one sex, have been transferred 

 to the other. As this same form of transmission has ap- 

 parently prevailed much with mankind, it will save useless 

 repetition if we discuss the origin of characters peculiar to 

 the male sex together with certain other characters com- 

 mon to both sexes. 



Law of Battle. With savages, for instance, the Aus- 

 tralians, the women are the constant cause of war both 

 between members of the same tribe and between distinct 

 tribes. So no doubt it was in ancient times; ' ' nam fuit ante 

 Helenam mulier teterrima belli causa." With some of the 

 North American Indians the contest is reduced to a system. 

 That excellent observer, Hearne4 says: ''It has ever 

 been the custom among these people for the men to wrestle 



*Prof. and Mrs. Agassiz ("Journey in Brazil," p. 530), remark 

 that the sexes of the American Indians differ less than those of the 

 negroes and of the higher races. See also Rengger, ibid., p. 3, on 

 the Guaranys. 



fRiitimeyer, "Die Grenzen der Thierwelt; eine Betrachtung zu 

 Darwin's Lehre," 1868, s. 54. 



{"A Journey from Prince of Wales Fort.," 8vo. edit., Dublin, 

 1796, p. 104. Sir J. Lubbock ("Origin of Civilization," 1870, p. 69), 

 gives other and similar cases in North America. For the Guanas of 

 South America see Azara, "Voyages," etc., torn, ii, p. 94. 



