654 THE DESCENT OF MAN. 



sioned orator, bard, or musician, when with his varied 

 tones and cadences he excites the strongest emotions in his 

 hearers, little suspects that he uses the same means by 

 which his half -human ancestors long ago aroused each 

 other's ardent passions, during their courtship and rivalry. 



The Influence of Beauty in Determining the Marriages 

 of Mankind. In civilized life man is largely, but by no 

 means exclusively, influenced in the choice of his wife by 

 external appearance; but we are chiefly concerned with 

 primeval times, and our only means of forming a judgment 

 on this subject is to study the habits of existing semi- 

 civilized and savage nations. If it can be shown that the 

 men of different races prefer women having various char- 

 acteristics, or conversely with the women, we have then to 

 inquire whether such choice, continued during many gene- 

 rations, would produce any sensible effect on the race, 

 either on one sex or both, according to the form of inherit- 

 ance which has prevailed. 



It will be well first to show in some detail that savages 

 y the greatest attention to their personal appearance.* 

 hat they have a passion for ornament is notorious; and an 

 English philosopher goes so far as to maintain that clothes 

 were first made for ornament and not for warmth. As 

 Prof. Wai tz remarks: "however poor and miserable man 

 is he finds a pleasure in adorning himself." The extrava- 

 gance of the naked Indians of South America in decorat- 

 ing themselves is shown " by a man of large stature gain- 

 ing with difficulty enough by the labor of a fortnight to 

 procure in exchange the chica necessary to paint himself 

 red." f The ancient barbarians of Europe, during the 



* A full and excellent account of tlie manner in which savages in 

 all parts of the world ornament themselves, is given by the Italian 

 traveler, Prof. Mantegazza, "Rio de la Plata, Viaggi e Studi," 

 1867, pp. 525-545 ; all the following statements, when other refer- 

 ences are not given, are taken from this work. See, also, Waitz, 

 "Introduction to Anthropolog.," Eng. translat., vol. i, 1863, p. 275, 

 et passim. Lawrence also gives very full details in his "Lectures 

 on Physiology," 1822. Since this chapter was written Sir J. Lub- 

 bock has published his "Origin of Civilization," 1870, in which 

 there is an interesting chapter on the present subject, and from" 

 which (pp. 42, 48) I have taken some facts about savages dyeing 

 their teeth and hair and piercing their teeth. 



f Hurnboldt, "Personal Narrative," Eng. translat., vol. iv, p. 515; 

 on the imagination shown in painting- the body, p. 522; on modifying 

 the form of the calf of the le^ p. 466. 



