592 THE DESCENT OF MAN. 



selected for beauty, it is not surprising that sam« of their succes- 

 sive variations should have been transmitted exclusively to the 

 same sex; consequently that they should have transmitted beauty 

 in a somewhat higher degree to their female than to their male 

 offspring, and thus have become more beautiful, according to 

 general opinion, than men. Women, however, certainly transmit 

 most of their characters, including some beauty, to their offspring 

 of both sexes; so that the continued preference by the men of 

 each race for the more attractive women, according to their stand- 

 ard of taste, will have tended to modify in the same manner all 

 the individuals of both sexes belonging to the race. 



With respect to the other form of sexual selection (which with 

 the lower animals is much the more common), namely, when the 

 females are the selecters, and accept only those males which 

 excite or charm them most, we have reason to believe that it 

 formerly acted on our progenitors. Man in all probability owes 

 his beard, and perhaps some other characters, to inheritance from 

 an ancient progenitor who thus gained his ornaments. But this 

 form 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 afterwards 

 changing their husbands, than might have been expected. As 

 this is a point of some importance, I will give in detail such evi- 

 dence as I have been able to collect. 



Hearne describes how a woman in one of the tribes of Arctic 

 America repeatedly ran away from her husband and joined her 

 lover; and with the Charruas of S. America, according to Azara, 

 divorce is quite optional. Amongst the Abipones, a man on 

 choosing a wife, bargains with the parents about the price. But 

 "it frequently happens that the girl rescinds what has been 

 "agreed upon between the parents and the bridegroom, obstinate- 

 "ly rejecting the very mention of marriage." She often runs 

 away, hides herself, and thus eludes the bridegroom. Captain 

 Musters, who lived with the Patagonians, says that their mar- 

 riages are always settled by inclination; "if the parents make a 

 "match contrary to the daughter's will, she refuses and is never 

 "compelled to comply." 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 unwilling, 

 "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." 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 protect her; if, 

 "however, she is satisfied, the matter is settled forthwith." With 

 the Kalmucks there is a regular race between the bride and bride- 



