394 THE ASCENT OF MAN 



of the period during which Father and Mother kept 

 together meant double protection for the little ones ; 

 and the more they kept together for the first few 

 days or weeks, and the more the Father helped to 

 defend mother and child, the more chance for all 

 three in the end. The picture which Koppenfells 

 draws of the female Gorilla and her young en- 

 sconced in a nest upon the fork of a tree, while 

 Gorilla pkre sat all night at the foot with his back 

 against the trunk to protect them from the leopards, 

 is a fair object-lesson in the first or protective stage 

 of the Father's Evolution. When Man passed, 

 however, as he probably did, from the frugivorous 

 to the carnivorous state, the Father had the addi- 

 tional responsibility of keeping his family in food. 

 It would be impossible for a Mother to hunt lor 

 game and attend to her young ; and for a long time 

 the young themselves were useless in the chase, 

 and must be entirely dependent on their parents' 

 bounty. But this means promotion to the Father. 

 He is not only protector but food-provider. It 

 is impossible to believe that in process of time 

 the discharge of this office did not bring some 

 faint satisfactions to himself, that the mere sight of 

 his offspring fed instead of famished did not give 

 him a certain pleasure. And though the pleasure 

 at first may have been no more than the absence 



