674: THE DESCENT OF MAN. 



that the habit of marriage, in any strict sense of the word, 

 has been gradually developed; and that almost promiscu* 

 ous or very loose intercourse was once extremely common 

 throughout the world. Nevertheless, from the strength of 

 the feeling of jealousy all through the animal kingdom, as 

 well as from the analogy of the lower animals, more partic- 

 ularly of those which come nearest to man, I cannot 

 believe that absolutely promiscuous intercourse prevailed in 

 times past, shortly before man attained to his present rank 

 in the zoological scale. Man, as I have attempted to show, 

 is certainly descended from some ape-like creature. With 

 the existing Quadrumana, as far as their habits are known, 

 the males of some species are monogamous, but live during 

 only a part of the year with the females; of this the orang 

 seems to afford an instance. Several kinds, for example 

 some of the Indian and American monkeys, are strictly 

 monogamous, and associate all the year round with their 

 wives. Others are polygamous, for example the gorilla 

 and several American species, and each family lives sepa- 

 rate. Even when this occurs, the families inhabiting the 

 same district are probably somewhat social ; the chimpanzee, 

 for instance, is occasionally met with in large bands. 

 Again, other species are polygamous, but several males, 

 each with his own females, live associated in a body, as 

 with several species of baboons.* AVe may indeed conclude 

 from what we know of the jealousy of all male quadrupeds 

 armed, as many of them are, with special weapons for bat- 

 tling with their rivals, that promiscuous intercourse in a 

 state of nature is extremely improbable. The pairing may 

 not last for life, but only for each birth; yet if the males 

 which are the strongest and best able to defend or other- 

 wise assist their females and young, were to select the more 

 attractive females, this would suffice for sexual selection. 



Therefore, looking far enough back in the stream of 

 time, and, judging from the social habits of man as he now 

 exists, the most probable view is that he aboriginally lived 

 in small communities, each with a single wife, or if power- 

 ful with several, whom he jealously guarded against all 



*Brehm ("Illust. Thierleben," B. i, p. 77) says Cynocephalm 

 liamadryas live;; in great troops containing twice as many adult 

 females as adult males. See Rengger on American polygamous 

 species, and Owen (" Anat. of Vertebrates," vol. iii, p. 746) on Amer- 

 ican monogamous species. Other references might be added. 



