224 THE KEGULATION OF NUMBERS 



mation to the desirable number is in this manner attained, we 

 may note that in order that the system should be effective, some- 

 thing more is necessary. The conception of an optimum number 

 involves the idea of a standard of living. The attainment of 

 the optimum number indicates that the highest standard, which 

 is possible taking all the circumstances into account, has been 

 reached. In order that the standard of living may be maintained, 

 it is not merely enough that numbers should be restricted : the 

 younger generation must become proficient in the skilled methods 

 which make this standard possible of attainment, and in particular 

 it is important that the young men should not marry unless they 

 are both energetic and skilful unless, that is to say, they are 

 both willing to keep up and are capable of keeping^up the standard 

 of living previously attained. There is abundant evidence to the 

 effect that pressure is exerted upon the younger generation. It is 

 commonly recognized that among primitive races the girls marry 

 at or soon after puberty. It is not so often recognized that the 

 young men not infrequently do not marry until some years later. 

 The inefficient and the physically incapable sometimes do not 

 marry at all. In such facts we may see evidence of the pressure 

 exerted by social conditions and conventions. We find also that 

 not only are young men carefully instructed in the skilled methods, 

 but that the parents of the bride anxiously inquire as to the 

 bridegroom's energy and capability of supporting a family. The 

 conditions regarding marriage have been much studied, and in 

 marriage by service and marriage by purchase we can observe the 

 pressure which forces a young man to show himself proficient in 

 the skilled methods which are in use among his people. Obliga- 

 tions on the would-be bridegroom to work and save up the purchase 

 money or to serve his future parents-in-law make it necessary for 

 the young man to learn skilled methods and to exhibit energy and 

 competence before marriage, whereby it is in any case rendered 

 unlikely that new families will be set up which will adopt a lower 

 standard of living than that of the previous generation. At the 

 evidence for these facts we may now glance. 



In Australia betrothals generally take place in infancy and 

 marriage follows later ; these betrothals are usually arranged as 

 exchanges, but the system shows some features of marriage by 

 purchase. 1 Considerable postponement of marriage is often 



1 Malinowski, loc. cit., p. 48. 



