258 



The Descent of Man. 



Pabt II 



amount to 36,272, and the females to 33,128, or as 109-49 tc 

 lUO. The males under seventeen years amounted to 10,773, and 

 the females under the same age to 9593, or as 112"3 to 100. 

 From the census of lb72, the proportion of males of all ages 

 (including half-castes) to females, is as 125*36 to 100. It must 

 be borne in mind that all these returns for the Sandwich 

 Islands give the proportion of living males to living females, 

 and not of the births ; and judging from all civilised countries 

 the proportion of males would have been considerably higher il 

 the numbers had referred to births.^ 



From the several foregoing cases we have some reason to 

 believe that infanticide practised in the manner above explained, 

 tends to make a male-producing race ; but I am far from sup- 

 posing that this practice in the case of man, or some analogous 

 process with other species, has been the sole determining cause 

 of an excess of males. There may be some unknown law leading 

 to this result in decreasing races, which have already become 

 somewhat infertile. Besides the several causes previously 



" Dr. Coulter, in describing 

 (* Journal R. Geograph boc./ vol. 

 V. 1835, p. 67) the state of Cali- 

 fornia about the year 1830, says 

 thiit the natives, reclaimed by the 

 Spanish missiouaries, have nearly 

 all perished, or are perishing, al- 

 though well treated, not driven 

 t'rom their native land, and kept 

 from the use of spirits. He at- 

 tributes this, in great part, to the 

 undoubted fact that the men greatly 

 exceed the women in number; but 

 he does not know whether this is 

 due to a failure of female offspring, 

 or to more females dying during 

 early youth. The latter alternative, 

 according to all analogy, is very 

 improbable. He adds tJiat " in- 

 " fanticide, properly so called, is 

 " not common, though very fre- 

 " quent recourse is had to abor- 

 " tion." If Dr. Coulter is correct 

 about infanticide, this case cannot 

 be advanced in support of Col. 

 Marshall's view. From the rapid 

 decrease of the reclaimed natives, 

 we may suspect that, as in the 

 cases lately given, their fertility 

 has been diminished from changed 

 habits of life. 



1 had hoped jO grin some light 



on this subject from the breeding 

 of dogs; inasmuch as in most breeds, 

 with the exception, pei'haps, of 

 greyhounds, many, more female 

 puppies are destroyed than males, 

 just as with the Toda infants. Mr. 

 Cupples assures me that this is 

 usual with Scotch deer-hounds. 

 Unfortunately, 1 kuow nothing o( 

 the proportion of the sexes in any 

 breed, excepting greyhounds, and 

 there the male births are to the 

 female as 110*1 to 100. Now from 

 enquiries made from many breeders, 

 it seems that the females are 

 in some respects more esteemed, 

 though otherwise troublesome ; and 

 it does not appear that the female 

 puppies of the best-bred dogs are 

 systematically destroyed more than 

 the males, though this does sometimes 

 take place to a limited extent. There- 

 fore 1 am unable to decide whether 

 we can, on the above principles, ac- 

 count for the preponderance of /tiale 

 births in greyhounds. On the other 

 hand, we have seen that with 

 horses, cattle, and sheep, which arc 

 too valuable ibr the young of eithet 

 sex to be destroyed, if there is any 

 difference, the females are slightl} 

 i? excess. 



