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SEXUAL SELECTION: MAN. 
Part II. 
wives. The girls, before consentiDg to be betrothed, 
compel the men to shew themselves off, first in front 
and then behind, and exhibit their paces.” They 
have been known to propose to a man, and they not 
rarely ran away with a favoured lover. With the 
degraded bush-women of S. Africa, ^^when a girl has 
grown up to womanhood without having been be- 
trothed, which, however, does not often happen, her 
lover must gain her approbation, as well as that of 
the parents.” Mr. Winwood Keade made inquiries 
for me with respect to the negroes of Western Africa, 
and he informs me that the women, at least among 
the more intelligent Pagan tribes, have no diflSculty 
in getting the husbands whom they may desire, al- 
though it is considered unwomanly to ask a man to 
marry them. They are quite capable of falling in 
love, and of forming tender, passionate, and faithful 
attachments.” 
We thus see that with savages the women are not 
in quite so abject a state in relation to marriage as has 
often been supposed. They can tempt the men whom 
tliey prefer, and can sometimes reject those whom they 
dislike, either before or after marriage. Preference 
on the part of the women, steadily acting in any one 
direction, would ultimately affect the character of the 
tribe ; for the women would generally choose not merely 
the handsomer men, according to their standard of taste. 
Azara, ^ Voyages,’ &c. tom. ii. p. 23. Dobrizlioffer, ‘ An Account 
ot* the Abipones,’ vol. ii. 1822, p. 207. Williams on the Fiji Islanders, 
as quoted by Lubbock, ‘ Origin of Civilisation,’ 1870, p. 79.' On the 
Fuegians, King and FitzRoy, ‘ Voyages of the Adventure and 
Beagle, ’ vol. ii. 1839, p. 182. On the Kalmucks, quoted by McLen- 
nan, c Primitive Marriage,’ 1865, p. 32. On the Malays, Lubbock, ibid, 
p. 76. The Rev. J. Shooter, ‘ On the Kafirs of Natal,’ 1857, p. 52-60. 
On the Bush-women, Burchell, ‘ Travels in S. Africa,’ vol. ii. 1824, 
p. 59. 
