35G SEXUAL SELECTION : MAX. [Part II 



namely, when the females are the selectors, and accept 

 only those males which excite or charm them most, we 

 have reason to believe that it formerly acted on the j)ro- 

 genitors of man. Man in all probability owes his beard, 

 and perhaps some other characters, to inheritance from an 

 ancient progenitor who gained in this manner his orna- 

 ments. But this fonn of selection may have occasionally 

 acted during later times ; for in utterly barbarous tribes 

 the women have more power in choosing, rejecting, and 

 tempting their lovers, or of afterward changing their hus- 

 bands, than might have been expected. As this is a point 

 of some importance, I will give in detail such evidence as 

 I have been able to collect. 



Ilearne describes how a woman in one of the tribes of 

 Arctic America repeatedly ran away from her husband 

 and joined a beloved man ; and with the Charruas of South 

 America, as Azara states, the power of divorce is perfectly 

 free. With the Abiponcs, when a man chooses a wife he 

 bargains with the parents about the price. But, " it fre- 

 quently ^happens that the girl rescinds what has been 

 agreed upon between the parents and the bridegroom, 

 obstinately rejecting the very mention of marriage." She 

 often runs away, liides herself, and thus eludes the bride- 

 groom. In the Fiji Islands the man seizes on the woman 

 whom he wishes for his wife by actual or pretended force ; 

 but " on reaching the home of her abductor, should she not 

 approve of the match, she runs to some one who can pro- 

 tect her ; if, however, she is satisfied, the matter is settled 

 forthwith." In Tierra del Fuego a young man first obtains 

 the consent of the parents by doing them some service, and 

 then he attempts to carry off the girl ; " but if she is un- 

 willing, she hides herself in the woods until her admirer is 

 heartily tired of looking for her, and gives up the pursuit ; 

 but this seldom happens." "With the Calmucks there is a 

 regular race between the bride and bridegroom, the for- 



