Chap. XX. 
IXTERFEEIXG CAUSES. 
365 
women from other tribes to hold as their sole property. 
Additional causes might be assigned, such as the com- 
munities being very small, in which case, marriageable 
women would often be deficient. That the habit of 
capture was most extensively practised during former 
times, even by the ancestors of civilised nations, is 
clearly shewn by the preservation of many curious 
customs and ceremonies, of which Mr. McLennan has 
^iven a most interesting: account. In our own inar- 
riages the best man ” seems originally to have been 
the chief abettor of the bridegroom in the act of cap- 
ture. Now as long as men habitually procured their 
wives through violence and craft, it is not probable that 
they would have selected the more attractive women ; 
they would have been too glad to have seized on any 
Avoman. But as soon as the practice of procuring wives 
from a distinct tribe was effected through barter, as now 
occurs in many places, the more attractive Avomen Avoutd 
generally have been purchased. The incessant crossing, 
ho AA' ever, between tribe and tribe, Avhich necessarily 
follows from any form of this habit would have tended 
to keep all the people inhabiting the same country 
nearly uniform in character ; and this Avould have 
greatly interfered Avith the power of sexual selection in 
differentiating the tribes. 
The scarcity of women, consequent on female infanti- 
cide, leads, also, to another practice, namely polyandry, 
Avhich is still common in several parts of the Avorld, and 
Avhich formerly, as Mr. McLennan belieA^es, prevailed 
almost universally ; but this latter conclusion is doubted 
by Mr. Morgan and Sir J. Lubbock.^^ Whenever two. 
12 t puinitive Marriage,’ p. 208 ; Sir J. Lubbock, ‘ Origin of Civilisa- 
tion,’ p. 100. See also Mr. Morgan, loc. cit., on former prevalence of 
polyandry. 
