Ch. viii. different Parts of Africa. 151 



she makes use of is, that their families may be 

 joined together and be strong, and that her chil- 

 dren, by being few in number, may not fall a prey 

 to their enemies in the day of battle.* It is highly 

 probable that this extreme desire of having large 

 families defeats its own purpose; and that the 

 poverty and misery, which it occasions, cause 

 fewer children to grow up to maturity, than if 

 the parents confined their attention to the rearing 

 of a smaller number. 



Bruce is a great friend to polygamy, and de- 

 fends it, in the only way in which it is capable of 

 being defended, by asserting, that in the countries 

 in which it principally prevails the proportion of 

 girls to boys born is two or three to one. A fact 

 so extraordinary however cannot be admitted 

 upon the authority of those vague inquiries on 

 which he founds his opinion. That there are con- 

 siderably more women living than men in these 

 climates, is in the highest degree probable. Even 

 in Europe, where it is known with certainty that 

 more boys are born than girls, the women in ge- 

 neral exceed the men in number; and we may 

 imagine that in hot and unhealthy climates, and 

 in a barbarous state of society, the accidents to 

 which the men are exposed must be very greatly 

 increased. The women, by leading a more se- 

 dentary life, would suffer less from the effects of 

 a scorching sun and swampy exhalations; they 

 would in general be more exempt from the dis- 



* Bruce's Travels, vol. ii. p. 223. 



