Chap. XX.] INTERFERING CAUSES. 349 



esting account. In our own marriages the " best man " 

 seems originally to have been the chief abettor of the 

 bridegroom in the act of capture. Now, as long as men 

 habitually procured their wives through violence and 

 craft, it is not probable that they would have selected the 

 more attractive women ; they would have been too glad 

 to have seized on any woman. But as soon as the prac- 

 tice of procuring wives from a distinct tribe was effected 

 through barter, as now occurs in many places, the more 

 attractive women would generally have been purchased. 

 The incessant crossing, however, between tribe and tribe, 

 which necessarily follows from any form of this habit 

 would have tended to keep all the people inhabiting the 

 same country nearly uniform in character ; and this would 

 have greatly interfered with the power of sexual selection 

 in differentiating the tribes. 



The scarcity of women, consequent on female infanti- 

 cide, leads also to another practice, namely, polyandry, 

 which is still common in sevei-al parts of the world, and 

 which formerly, as Mr. McLennan believes, prevailed al- 

 most universally ; but this latter conclusion is doubted by 

 Mr. Morgan and Sir J. Lubbock." Whenever two or 

 more men are compelled to marry one woman, it is certain 

 that all the women of the tribe will get married, and 

 there will be no selection by the men of the more attrac- 

 tive women. But, under these circumstances, the women 

 no doubt will have the power of choice, and will prefer 

 the more attractive men. Azara, for instance, describes 

 how carefully a Guana woman bargains for all sorts of 

 privileges before accepting some one or more husbands ; 

 and the men in consequence take unusual care of their 



" ' Primitive Marriage,' p. 208 ; Sir J. Lubbock, ' Origin of Civiliza- 

 tion,' p. 100. See also Mr. Morgan, loc. cit., on former prevalence of 

 polyandry. 



