766 THE DESCENT OF MAN 



The Manner of Action of Sexual Selection with Mankind. 

 — With primeval men under the favorable conditions just 

 stated, and with those savages who at the present time 

 enter into any marriage tie, sexual selection has probably 

 acted in the following manner, subject to greater or less 

 interference from female infanticide, early betrothals, etc. 

 The strongest and most vigorous men — those who could 

 best defend and hunt for their families, who were pro- 

 vided with the best weapons and possessed the most prop- 

 erty, such as a large number of dogs or other animals — 

 would succeed in rearing a greater average number of off- 

 spring than the weaker and poorer members of the same 

 tribes. There can, also, be no doubt that such men would 

 generally be able to select the more attractive women. At 

 present the chiefs of nearly every tribe throughout the world 

 succeed in obtaining more than one wife. I hear from Mr, 

 Mantell that, until recently, almost every girl in New Zea- 

 land, who was pretty, or promised to be pretty, was tapu to 

 some chief . With the Kaffirs, as Mr. C. Hamilton states," 

 "the chiefs generally have the pick of the women for many 

 miles round, and are most persevering in establishing or 

 confirming their privilege." We have seen that each race 

 has its own style of beauty, and we know that it is natural 

 to man to admire each characteristic point in his domestic 

 animals, dress, ornaments, and personal appearance, when 

 carried a little beyond the average. If, then, the several 

 foregoing propositions be admitted, and I cannot see that 

 they are doubtful, it would be an inexplicable circumstance 

 if the selection of the more attractive women by the more 

 powerful men of each tribe, who would rear on an average a 

 greater number of children, did not, after the lapse of many 

 generations, somewhat modify the character of the tribe. 



When a foreign breed of our domestic animals is intro- 

 duced into a new country, or when a native breed is long 

 and carefully attended to, either for use or ornament, it is 

 found after several generations to have undergone a greater 

 " "Anthropological Eeview," Jan. 1870, p. ivi. 



