70 THE DESCENT OF MAN 



the adjoining districts, and worked for hire. Savages almost 

 always marry; yet there is some prudential restraint, for 

 they 'do not commonly marry at the earliest possible age. 

 The young men are often required to show that they can 

 support a wife; and they generally have first to earn the 

 price with which to purchase her from her parents. With 

 savages the difficulty of obtaining subsistence occasionally 

 limits their number in a much more direct manner than with 

 civilized people, for all tribes periodically suffer from severe 

 famines. At such times savages are forced to devour much 

 bad food, and their health can hardly fail to be injured. 

 Many accounts have been published of their protruding 

 stomachs and emaciated limbs after and during famines. 

 They are then, also, compelled to wander much, and, as 

 I was assured in Australia, their infants perish in large 

 numbers. As famines are periodical, depending chiefly on 

 extreme seasons, all tribes must fluctuate in number. They 

 cannot steadily and regularly increase, as there is no arti- 

 ficial increase in the supply of food. Savages, when hard 

 pressed, encroach on each other's territories, and war is the 

 result ; but they are indeed almost always at war with their 

 neighbors. They are liable to many accidents on land and 

 water in their search for food; and in some countries they 

 suffer much from the larger beasts of prey. Even in India, 

 districts have been depopulated by the ravages of tigers. 



Malthus has discussed these several checks, biit he does 

 not lay stress enough on what is probably the most impor- 

 tant of all, namely, infanticide, especially of female infants, 

 and the habit of procuring abortion. These practices now, 

 prevail in many quarters of the world; and infanticide 

 seems formerly to have prevailed, as Mr. M'Lennan" has 

 shown, on a still more extensive scale. These practices 

 appear to have originated in savages recognizing the diffi- 

 culty, or rather the impossibility, of supporting all the in- 

 fants that are born. Licentiousness may also be added to 

 the foregoing checks; but this does not follow from failing 



" "Primitive Marriage," 1865. 



