WE have seen in the last chapter
that with all barbarous races
ornaments, dress, and external
appearance are highly valued;
and that the men judge of the
beauty of their women by widely
different standards. We must
next inquire whether this preference
and the consequent selection
during many generations of those
women, which appear to the men
of each race the most attractive,
has altered the character either
of the females alone, or of both
sexes. With mammals the general
rule appears to be that characters
of all kinds are inherited equally
by the males and females; we
might therefore expect that with
mankind any characters gained
by the females or by the males
through sexual selection would
commonly be transferred to the
offspring of both sexes. If any
change has thus been effected,
it is almost certain that the
different races would be differently
modified, as each has its own
standard of beauty.
With mankind,
especially with savages, many
causes interfere
with the action of sexual selection
as far as the bodily frame is
concerned. Civilised men are
largely attracted by the mental
charms of women, by their wealth,
and especially by their social
position; for men rarely marry
into a much lower rank. The men
who succeed in obtaining the
more beautiful women will not
have a better chance of leaving
a long line of descendants than
other men with plainer wives,
save the few who bequeath their
fortunes according to primogeniture.
With respect to the opposite
form of selection, namely, of
the more attractive men by the
women, although in civilised
nations women have free or almost
free choice, which is not the
case with barbarous races, yet
their choice is largely influenced
by the social position and wealth
of the men; and the success of
the latter in life depends much
on their intellectual powers
and energy, or on the fruits
of these same powers in their
forefathers. No excuse is needed
for treating this subject in
some detail; for, as the German
philosopher Schopenhauer remarks, "the
final aim of all love intrigues,
be they comic or tragic, is really
of more importance than all other
ends in human life. What it all
turns upon is nothing less than
the composition of the next generation....
It is not the weal or woe of
any one individual, but that
of the human race to come, which
is here at stake."*
* "Schopenhauer and Darwinism," in
Journal of Anthropology, Jan.,
1871, p. 323.
There is, however,
reason to believe that in certain
civilised
and semi-civilised nations sexual
selection has effected something
in modifying the bodily frame
of some of the members. Many
persons are convinced, as it
appears to me with justice, that
our aristocracy, including under
this term all wealthy families
in which primogeniture has long
prevailed, from having chosen
during many generations from
all classes the more beautiful
women as their wives, have become
handsomer, according to the European
standard, than the middle classes;
yet the middle classes are placed
under equally favourable conditions
of life for the perfect development
of the body. Cook remarks that
the superiority in personal appearance "which
is observable in the erees or
nobles in all the other islands
(of the Pacific) is found in
the Sandwich Islands"; but this
may be chiefly due to their better
food and manner of life.
The old traveller
Chardin, in describing the
Persians, says
their "blood is now highly refined
by frequent intermixtures with
the Georgians and Circassians,
two nations which surpass all
the world in personal beauty.
There is hardly a man of rank
in Persia who is not born of
a Georgian or Circassian mother." He
adds that they inherit their
beauty, "not from their ancestors,
for without the above mixture,
the men of rank in Persia, who
are descendants of the Tartars,
would be extremely ugly."* Here
is a more curious case; the priestesses
who attended the temple of Venus
Erycina at San-Giuliano in Sicily,
were selected for their beauty
out of the whole of Greece; they
were not vestal virgins, and
Quatrefages,*(2) who states the
foregoing fact, says that the
women of San-Giuliano are now
famous as the most beautiful
in the island, and are sought
by artists as models. But it
is obvious that the evidence
in all the above cases is doubtful.
* These quotations
are taken from Lawrence (Lectures
on Physiology, &c.,
1822, p. 393), who attributes
the beauty of the upper classes
in England to the men having
long selected the more beautiful
women.
*(2) "Anthropologie," Revue
des Cours Scientifiques, Oct.,
1868, p. 721.
The following
case, though relating to savages,
is well worth giving
for its curiosity. Mr. Winwood
Reade informs me that the Jollofs,
a tribe of negroes on the west
coast of Africa, "are remarkable
for their uniformly fine appearance." A
friend of his asked one of these
men, "How is it that every one
whom I meet is so fine looking,
not only your men but your women?" The
Jollof answered, "It is very
easily explained: it has always
been our custom to pick out our
worst-looking slaves and to sell
them." It need hardly be added
that with all savages, female
slaves serve as concubines. That
this negro should have attributed,
whether rightly or wrongly, the
fine appearance of his tribe
to the long-continued elimination
of the ugly women is not so surprising
as it may at first appear; for
I have elsewhere shewn* that
negroes fully appreciate the
importance of selection in the
breeding of their domestic animals,
and I could give from Mr. Reade
additional evidence on this head.
* Variation of Animals and Plants
under Domestication, vol. i.,
p. 207.
The Causes which prevent or
check the Action of Sexual Selection
with Savages.- The chief causes
are, first, so-called communal
marriages or promiscuous intercourse;
secondly, the consequences of
female infanticide; thirdly,
early betrothals; and lastly,
the low estimation in which women
are held, as mere slaves. These
four points must be considered
in some detail.
It is obvious that as long as
the pairing of man, or of any
other animal, is left to mere
chance, with no choice exerted
by either sex, there can be no
sexual selection; and no effect
will be produced on the offspring
by certain individuals having
had an advantage over others
in their courtship. Now it is
asserted that there exist at
the present day tribes which
practise what Sir J. Lubbock
by courtesy calls communal marriages;
that is, all the men and women
in the tribe are husbands and
wives to one another. The licentiousness
of many savages is no doubt astonishing,
but it seems to me that more
evidence is requisite, before
we fully admit that their intercourse
is in any case promiscuous. Nevertheless
all those who have most closely
studied the subject,* and whose
judgment is worth much more than
mine, believe that communal marriage
(this expression being variously
guarded) was the original and
universal form throughout the
world, including therein the
intermarriage of brothers and
sisters. The late Sir A. Smith,
who had travelled widely in S.
Africa, and knew much about the
habits of savages there and elsewhere,
expressed to me the strongest
opinion that no race exists in
which woman is considered as
the property of the community.
I believe that his judgment was
largely determined by what is
implied by the term marriage.
Throughout the following discussion
I use the term in the same sense
as when naturalists speak of
animals as monogamous, meaning
thereby that the male is accepted
by or chooses a single female,
and lives with her either during
the breeding-season or for the
whole year, keeping possession
of her by the law of might; or,
as when they speak of a polygamous
species, meaning that the male
lives with several females. This
kind of marriage is all that
concerns us here, as it suffices
for the work of sexual selection.
But I know that some of the writers
above referred to imply by the
term marriage a recognised right
protected by the tribe.
* Sir J. Lubbock,
The Origin of Civilisation,
1870, chap.
iii., especially pp. 60-67. Mr.
M'Lennan, in his extremely valuable
work on Primitive Marriage, 1865,
p. 163, speaks of the union of
the sexes "in the earliest times
as loose, transitory, and in
some degree promiscuous." Mr.
M'Lennan and Sir J. Lubbock have
collected much evidence on the
extreme licentiousness of savages
at the present time. Mr. L. H.
Morgan, in his interesting memoir
of the classificatory system
of relationship. (Proceedings
of the American Academy of Sciences,
vol. vii., Feb., 1868, p. 475),
concludes that polygamy and all
forms of marriage during primeval
times were essentially unknown.
It appears also, from Sir. J.
Lubbock's work, that Bachofen
likewise believes that communal
intercourse. originally prevailed.
The indirect evidence in favour
of the belief of the former prevalence
of communal marriages is strong,
and rests chiefly on the terms
of relationship which are employed
between the members of the same
tribe, implying a connection
with the tribe, and not with
either parent. But the subject
is too large and complex for
even an abstract to be here given,
and I will confine myself to
a few remarks. It is evident
in the case of such marriages,
or where the marriage tie is
very loose, that the relationship
of the child to its father cannot
be known. But it seems almost
incredible that the relationship
of the child to its mother should
ever be completely ignored, especially
as the women in most savage tribes
nurse their infants for a long
time. Accordingly, in many cases
the lines of descent are traced
through the mother alone, to
the exclusion of the father.
But in other cases the terms
employed express a connection
with the tribe alone, to the
exclusion even of the mother.
It seems possible that the connection
between the related members of
the same barbarous tribe, exposed
to all sorts of danger, might
be so much more important, owing
to the need of mutual protection
and aid, than that between the
mother and her child, as to lead
to the sole use of terms expressive
of the former relationships;
but Mr. Morgan is convinced that
this view is by no means sufficient.
The terms of relationship used
in different parts of the world
may be divided, according to
the author just quoted, into
two great classes, the classificatory
and descriptive, the latter being
employed by us. It is the classificatory
system which so strongly leads
to the belief that communal and
other extremely loose forms of
marriage were originally universal
But as far as I can see, there
is no necessity on this ground
for believing in absolutely promiscuous
intercourse; and I am glad to
find that this is Sir J. Lubbock's
view. Men and women, like many
of the lower animals, might formerly
have entered into strict though
temporary unions for each birth,
and in this case nearly as much
confusion would have arisen in
the terms of relationship as
in the case of promiscuous intercourse.
As far as sexual selection is
concerned, all that is required
is that choice should be exerted
before the parents unite, and
it signifies little whether the
unions last for life or only
for a season.
Besides the
evidence derived from the terms
of relationship,
other lines of reasoning indicate
the former wide prevalence of
communal marriage. Sir J. Lubbock
accounts for the strange and
widely-extended habit of exogamy-
that is, the men of one tribe
taking wives from a distinct
tribe,- by communism having been
the original form of intercourse;
so that a man never obtained
a wife for himself unless he
captured her from a neighbouring
and hostile tribe, and then she
would naturally have become his
sole and valuable property. Thus
the practice of capturing wives
might have arisen; and from the
honour so gained it might ultimately
have become the universal habit.
According to Sir J. Lubbock,*
we can also thus understand "the
necessity of expiation for marriage
as an infringement of tribal
rites, since according to old
ideas, a man had no right to
appropriate to himself that which
belonged to the whole tribe." Sir
J. Lubbock further gives a curious
list of facts shewing that in
old times high honour was bestowed
on women who were utterly licentious;
and this, as he explains, is
intelligible, if we admit that
promiscuous intercourse was the
aboriginal, and therefore long
revered custom of the tribe.*(2)
* Address to British Association
On the Social and Religious Condition
of the Lower Races of Man, 1870,
p. 20.
*(2) Origin of Civilisation,
1870, p. 86. In the several works
above quoted, there will be found
copious evidence on relationship
through the females alone, or
with the tribe alone.
Although the manner of development
of the marriage tie is an obscure
subject, as we may infer from
the divergent opinions on several
points between the three authors
who have studied it most closely,
namely, Mr. Morgan, Mr. M'Lennan,
and Sir J. Lubbock, yet from
the foregoing and several other
lines of evidence it seems probable*
that the habit of marriage, in
any strict sense of the word,
has been gradually developed;
and that almost promiscuous or
very loose intercourse was once
extremely common throughout the
world. Nevertheless, from the
strength of the feeling of jealousy
all through the animal kingdom,
as well as from the analogy of
the lower animals, more particularly
of those which come nearest to
man, I cannot believe that absolutely
promiscuous intercourse prevailed
in times past, shortly before
man attained to his present rank
in the zoological scale. Man,
as I have attempted to shew,
is certainly descended from some
ape-like creature. With the existing
Quadrumana, as far as their habits
are known, the males of some
species are monogamous, but live
during only a part of the year
with the females: of this the
orang seems to afford an instance.
Several kinds, for example some
of the Indian and American monkeys,
are strictly monogamous, and
associate all the year round
with their wives. Others are
polygamous, for example the gorilla
and several American species,
and each family lives separate.
Even when this occurs, the families
inhabiting the same district
are probably somewhat social;
the chimpanzee, for instance,
is occasionally met with in large
bands. Again, other species are
polygamous, but several males,
each with his own females, live
associated in a body, as with
several species of baboons.*(2)
We may indeed conclude from what
we know of the jealousy of all
male quadrupeds, armed, as many
of them are, with special weapons
for battling with their rivals,
that promiscuous intercourse
in a state of nature is extremely
improbable. The pairing may not
last for life, but only for each
birth; yet if the males which
are the strongest and best able
to defend or otherwise assist
their females and young, were
to select the more attractive
females, this would suffice for
sexual selection.
* Mr. C. Staniland Wake argues
strongly (Anthropologia, March,
1874, p. 197) against the views
held by these three writers on
the former prevalence of almost
promiscuous intercourse; and
he thinks that the classificatory
system of relationship can be
otherwise explained.
*(2) Brehm (Illustriertes Thierleben,
B. i., p. 77) says Cynocephalus
hamadryas lives in great troops
containing twice as many adult
females as adult males. See Rengger
on American polygamous species,
and Owen (Anatomy of Vertebrates,
vol. iii., p. 746) on American
monogamous species. Other references
might be added.
Therefore, looking
far enough back in the stream
of time, and
judging from the social habits
of man as he now exists, the
most probable view is that he
aboriginally lived in small communities,
each with a single wife, or if
powerful with several, whom he
jealously guarded against all
other men. Or he may not have
been a social animal, and yet
have lived with several wives,
like the gorilla; for all the
natives "agree that but one adult
male is seen in a band; when
the young male grows up, a contest
takes place for mastery, and
the strongest, by killing and
driving out the others, establishes
himself as the head of the community."*
The younger males, being thus
expelled and wandering about,
would, when at last successful
in finding a partner, prevent
too close interbreeding within
the limits of the same family.
* Dr. Savage, in Boston Journal
of Natural History, vol. v.,
1845-47, p. 423.
Although savages
are now extremely licentious,
and although communal
marriages may formerly have largely
prevailed, yet many tribes practise
some form of marriage, but of
a far more lax nature than that
of civilised nations. Polygamy,
as just stated, is almost universally
followed by the leading men in
every tribe. Nevertheless there
are tribes, standing almost at
the bottom of the scale, which
are strictly monogamous. This
is the case with the Veddahs
of Ceylon: they have a saying,
according to Sir J. Lubbock,* "that
death alone can separate husband
and wife." An intelligent Kandyan
chief, of course a polygamist, "was
perfectly scandalised at the
utter barbarism of living with
only one wife, and never parting
until separated by death." It
was, he said, "just like the
Wanderoo monkey." Whether savages
who now enter into some form
of marriage, either polygamous
or monogamous, have retained
this habit from primeval times,
or whether they have returned
to some form of marriage, after
passing through a stage of promiscuous
intercourse, I will not pretend
to conjecture.
* Prehistoric Times, 1869, p.
424.
Infanticide.- This practice
is now very common throughout
the world, and there is reason
to believe that it prevailed
much more extensively during
former times.* Barbarians find
it difficult to support themselves
and their children, and it is
a simple plan to kill their infants.
In South America some tribes,
according to Azara, formerly
destroyed so many infants of
both sexes that they were on
the point of extinction. In the
Polynesian Islands women have
been known to kill from four
or five, to even ten of their
children; and Ellis could not
find a single woman who had not
killed at least one. In a village
on the eastern frontier of India
Colonel MacCulloch found not
a single female child. Wherever
infanticide*(2) prevails the
struggle for existence will be
in so far less severe, and all
the members of the tribe will
have an almost equally good chance
of rearing their few surviving
children. In most cases a larger
number of female than of male
infants are destroyed, for it
is obvious that the latter are
of more value to the tribe, as
they will, when grown up, aid
in defending it, and can support
themselves. But the trouble experienced
by the women in rearing children,
their consequent loss of beauty,
the higher estimation set on
them when few, and their happier
fate, are assigned by the women
themselves, and by various observers,
as additional motives for infanticide.
* Mr. M'Lennan, Primitive Marriage,
1865. See especially on exogamy
and infanticide, pp. 130, 138,
165.
*(2) Dr. Gerland
(Uber das Aussterben der Naturvolker,
1868) has collected
much information on infanticide,
see especially ss. 27, 51, 54.
Azara (Voyages, &c., tom. ii.,
pp. 94, 116) enters in detail
on the motives. See also M'Lennan
(ibid. p. 139) for cases in India.
In the former reprints of the
2nd edition of this book an incorrect
quotation from Sir G. Grey was
unfortunately given in the above
passage and has now been removed
from the text.
When, owing
to female infanticide, the
women of a tribe were few,
the habit of capturing wives
from neighbouring tribes would
naturally arise. Sir J. Lubbock,
however, as we have seen, attributes
the practice in chief part to
the former existence of communal
marriage, and to the men having
consequently captured women from
other tribes to hold as their
sole property. Additional causes
might be assigned, such as the
communities being very small,
in which case, marriageable women
would often be deficient. That
the habit 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. M'Lennan has given an interesting
account. In our own marriages
the "best man" seems originally
to have been the chief abettor
of the bridegroom in the act
of capture. Now as long as men
habitually procured their wives
through violence and craft, they
would have been glad to seize
on any woman, and would not have
selected the more attractive
ones. 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 women would
generally have been purchased.
The incessant crossing, however,
between tribe and tribe, which
necessarily follows from any
form of this habit, would tend
to keep all the people inhabiting
the same country nearly uniform
in character; and this would
interfere with the power of sexual
selection in differentiating
the tribes.
The scarcity of women, consequent
on female infanticide, leads,
also, to another practice, that
of polyandry, still common in
several parts of the world, and
which formerly, as Mr. M'Lennan
believes, prevailed almost universally:
but this latter conclusion is
doubted by Mr. Morgan and Sir
J. Lubbock.* Whenever two or
more men are compelled to marry
one woman, it is certain that
all the women of the tribe will
get married, and there will be
no selection by the men of the
more attractive women. But under
these circumstances the women
no doubt will have the power
of choice, and will prefer the
more attractive men. Azara, for
instance, describes how carefully
a Guana woman bargains for all
sorts of privileges, before accepting
some one or more husbands; and
the men in consequence take unusual
care of their personal appearance.
So amongst the Todas of India,
who practise polyandry, the girls
can accept or refuse any man.*(2)
A very ugly man in these cases
would perhaps altogether fail
in getting a wife, or get one
later in life; but the handsomer
men, although more successful
in obtaining wives, would not,
as far as we can see, leave more
offspring to inherit their beauty
than the less handsome husbands
of the same women.
* Primitive Marriage, p. 208;
Sir J. Lubbock, Origin of Civilisation,
p. 100. See also Mr. Morgan,
loc. cit., on the former prevalence
of polyandry.
*(2) Azara,
Voyages, &c., tom.
ii., pp. 92-95; Colonel Marshall,
Amongst the Todas, p. 212.
Early Betrothals and Slavery
of Women.- With many savages
it is the custom to betroth the
females whilst mere infants;
and this would effectually prevent
preference being exerted on either
side according to personal appearance.
But it would not prevent the
more attractive women from being
afterwards stolen or taken by
force from their husbands by
the more powerful men; and this
often happens in Australia, America,
and elsewhere. The same consequences
with reference to sexual selection
would to a certain extent follow,
when women are valued almost
solely as slaves or beasts of
burden, as is the case with many
savages. The men, however, at
all times would prefer the handsomest
slaves according to their standard
of beauty.
We thus see that several customs
prevail with savages which must
greatly interfere with, or completely
stop, the action of sexual selection.
On the other hand, the conditions
of life to which savages are
exposed, and some of their habits,
are favourable to natural selection;
and this comes into play at the
same time with sexual selection.
Savages are known to suffer severely
from recurrent famines; they
do not increase their food by
artificial means; they rarely
refrain from marriage,* and generally
marry whilst young. Consequently
they must be subjected to occasional
hard struggles for existence,
and the favoured individuals
will alone survive.
* Burchell says (Travels in
S. Africa, vol. ii., 1824, p.
58), that among the wild nations
of southern Africa, neither men
nor women ever pass their lives
in a state of celibacy. Azara
(Voyages dans l'Amerique Merid.,
tom. ii., 1809, p. 21) makes
precisely the same remark in
regard to the wild Indians of
South America.
At a very early period, before
man attained to his present rank
in the scale, many of his conditions
would be different from what
now obtains amongst savages.
Judging from the analogy of the
lower animals, he would then
either live with a single female,
or be a polygamist. The most
powerful and able males would
succeed best in obtaining attractive
females. They would also succeed
best in the general struggle
for life, and in defending their
females, as well as their offspring,
from enemies of all kinds. At
this early period the ancestors
of man would not be sufficiently
advanced in intellect to look
forward to distant contingencies;
they would not foresee that the
rearing of all their children,
especially their female children,
would make the struggle for life
severer for the tribe. They would
be governed more by their instincts
and less by their reason than
are savages at the present day.
They would not at that period
have partially lost one of the
strongest of all instincts, common
to all the lower animals, namely
the love of their young offspring;
and consequently they would not
have practised female infanticide.
Women would not have been thus
rendered scarce, and polyandry
would not have been practised;
for hardly any other cause, except
the scarcity of women seems sufficient
to break down the natural and
widely prevalent feeling of jealousy,
and the desire of each male to
possess a female for himself.
Polyandry would be a natural
stepping-stone to communal marriages
or almost promiscuous intercourse;
though the best authorities believe
that this latter habit preceded
polyandry. During primordial
times there would be no early
betrothals, for this implies
foresight. Nor would women be
valued merely as useful slaves
or beasts of burden. Both sexes,
if the females as well as the
males were permitted to exert
any choice, would choose their
partners not for mental charms,
or property, or social position,
but almost solely from external
appearance. All the adults would
marry or pair, and all the offspring,
as far as that was possible,
would be reared; so that the
struggle for existence would
be periodically excessively severe.
Thus during these times all the
conditions for sexual selection
would have been more favourable
than at a later period, when
man had advanced in his intellectual
powers but had retrograded in
his instincts. Therefore, whatever
influence sexual selection may
have had in producing the differences
between the races of man, and
between man and the higher Quadrumana,
this influence would have been
more powerful at a remote period
than at the present day, though
probably not yet wholly lost.
The Manner of
Action of Sexual Selection
with Mankind.- With
primeval man under the favourable
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, &c. The strongest
and most vigorous men- those
who could best defend and hunt
for their families, who were
provided with the best weapons
and possessed the most property,
such as a large number of dogs
or other animals,- would succeed
in rearing a greater average
number of offspring 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 Zealand 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.
* Anthropological Review, Jan.,
1870, p. xvi.
When a foreign breed of our
domestic animals is introduced
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 or less amount of change
whenever the means of comparison
exist. This follows from unconscious
selection during a long series
of generations- that is, the
preservation of the most approved
individuals- without any wish
or expectation of such a result
on the part of the breeder. So
again, if during many years two
careful breeders rear animals
of the same family, and do not
compare them together or with
a common standard, the animals
are found to have become, to
the surprise of their owners,
slightly different.* Each breeder
has impressed, as von Nathusius
well expresses it, the character
of his own mind- his own taste
and judgment- on his animals.
What reason, then, can be assigned
why similar results should not
follow from the long-continued
selection of the most admired
women by those men of each tribe
who were able to rear the greatest
number of children? This would
be unconscious selection, for
an effect would be produced,
independently of any wish or
expectation on the part of the
men who preferred certain women
to others.
* The Variation of Animals and
Plants under Domestication, vol.
ii., pp. 210-217.
Let us suppose the members of
a tribe, practising some form
of marriage, to spread over an
unoccupied continent, they would
soon split up into distinct hordes,
separated from each other by
various barriers, and still more
effectually by the incessant
wars between all barbarous nations.
The hordes would thus be exposed
to slightly different conditions
and habits of life, and would
sooner or later come to differ
in some small degree. As soon
as this occurred, each isolated
tribe would form for itself a
slightly different standard of
beauty;* and then unconscious
selection would come into action
through the more powerful and
leading men preferring certain
women to others. Thus the differences
between the tribes, at first
very slight, would gradually
and inevitably be more or less
increased.
* An ingenious writer argues,
from a comparison of the pictures
of Raphael, Rubens, and modern
French artists, that the idea
of beauty is not absolutely the
same even throughout Europe:
see the Lives of Haydn and Mozart,
by Bombet (otherwise M. Beyle),
English translation, p. 278.
With animals in a state of nature,
many characters proper to the
males, such as size, strength,
special weapons, courage and
pugnacity, have been acquired
through the law of battle. The
semi-human progenitors of man,
like their allies the Quadrumana,
will almost certainly have been
thus modified; and, as savages
still fight for the possession
of their women, a similar process
of selection has probably gone
on in a greater or less degree
to the present day. Other characters
proper to the males of the lower
animals, such as bright colours
and various ornaments, have been
acquired by the more attractive
males having been preferred by
the females. There are, however,
exceptional cases in which the
males are the selectors, instead
of having been the selected.
We recognise such cases by the
females being more highly ornamented
than the males,- their ornamental
characters having been transmitted
exclusively or chiefly to their
female offspring. One such case
has been described in the order
to which man belongs, that of
the Rhesus monkey.
Man is more powerful in body
and mind than woman, and in the
savage state he keeps her in
a far more abject state of bondage
than does the male of any other
animal; therefore it is not surprising
that he should have gained the
power of selection. Women are
everywhere conscious of the value
of their own beauty; and when
they have the means, they take
more delight in decorating themselves
with all sorts of ornaments than
do men. They borrow the plumes
of male birds, with which nature
has decked this sex, in order
to charm the females. As women
have long been selected for beauty,
it is not surprising that some
of their successive variations
should have been transmitted
exclusively to the same sex;
consequently that they should
have transmitted beauty in a
somewhat higher degree to their
female than to their male offspring,
and thus have become more beautiful,
according to general opinion,
than men. Women, however, certainly
transmit most of their characters,
including some beauty, to their
offspring of both sexes; so that
the continued preference by the
men of each race for the more
attractive women, according to
their standard of taste, will
have tended to modify in the
same manner all the individuals
of both sexes belonging to the
race.
With respect to the other form
of sexual selection (which with
the lower animals is much the
more common), namely, when the
females are the selectors, and
accept only those males which
excite or charm them most, we
have reason to believe that it
formerly acted on our progenitors.
Man in all probability owes his
beard, and perhaps some other
characters, to inheritance from
an ancient progenitor who thus
gained his ornaments. But this
form of selection may have occasionally
acted during later times; for
in utterly barbarous tribes the
women have more power in choosing,
rejecting, and tempting their
lovers, or of afterwards changing
their husbands, than might have
been expected. As this is a point
of some importance, I will give
in detail such evidence as I
have been able to collect.
Hearne describes
how a woman in one of the tribes
of Arctic
America repeatedly ran away from
her husband and joined her lover;
and with the Charruas of S. America,
according to Azara, divorce is
quite optional. Amongst the Abipones,
a man on choosing a wife bargains
with the parents about the price.
But "it frequently happens that
the girl rescinds what has been
agreed upon between the parents
and the bridegroom, obstinately
rejecting the very mention of
marriage." She often runs away,
hides herself, and thus eludes
the bridegroom. Captain Musters
who lived with the Patagonians,
says that their marriages are
always settled by inclination; "if
the parents make a match contrary
to the daughter's will, she refuses
and is never compelled to comply." In
Tierra del Fuego a young man
first obtains the consent of
the parents by doing them some
service, and then he attempts
to carry off the girl; "but if
she is unwilling, she hides herself
in the woods until her admirer
is heartily tired of looking
for her, and gives up the pursuit;
but this seldom happens." In
the Fiji Islands the man seizes
on the woman whom he wishes for
his wife by actual or pretended
force; but "on reaching the home
of her abductor, should she not
approve of the match, she runs
to some one who can protect her;
if, however, she is satisfied,
the matter is settled forthwith." With
the Kalmucks there is a regular
race between the bride and bridegroom,
the former having a fair start;
and Clarke "was assured that
no instance occurs of a girl
being caught, unless she has
a partiality to the pursuer." Amongst
the wild tribes of the Malay
Archipelago there is also a racing
match; and it appears from M.
Bourien's account, as Sir J.
Lubbock remarks, that "the race,
'is not to the swift, nor the
battle to the strong,' but to
the young man who has the good
fortune to please his intended
bride." A similar custom, with
the same result, prevails with
the Koraks of north-eastern Asia.
Turning to Africa:
the Kaffirs buy their wives,
and girls are
severely beaten by their fathers
if they will not accept a chosen
husband; but it is manifest from
many facts given by the Rev.
Mr. Shooter, that they have considerable
power of choice. Thus very ugly,
though rich men, have been known
to fail in getting wives. The
girls, before consenting 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 run away with
a favoured lover. So again, Mr.
Leslie, who was intimately acquainted
with the Kaffirs, says, "it is
a mistake to imagine that a girl
is sold by her father in the
same manner, and with the same
authority, with which he would
dispose of a cow." Amongst the
degraded bushmen of S. Africa, "when
a girl has grown up to womanhood
without having been betrothed,
which, however, does not often
happen, her lover must gain her
approbation, as well as that
of the parents."* Mr. Winwood
Reade 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 difficulty in getting the
husbands whom they may desire,
although 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." Additional
cases could be given.
* Azara, Voyages, &c., tom.
ii., p. 23. Dobrizhoffer, An
Account of the Abipones, vol.
ii., 1822, p. 207. Capt. Musters,
in Proc. R. Geograph. Soc., vol.
xv., p. 47. 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 M'Lennan, Primitive
Marriage, 1865, p. 32 On the
Malays, Lubbock, ibid., p. 76.
The Rev. J. Shooter, On the Kafirs
of Natal, 1857, pp. 52-60. Mr.
D. Leslie, Kafir Character and
Customs, 1871, p. 4. On the bushmen,
Burchell, Travels in S. Africa,
ii., 1824, p. 59. On the Koraks
by McKennan, as quoted by Mr.
Wake, in Anthropologia, Oct.,
1873, p. 75.
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 they
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
handsomest men, according to
their standard of taste, but
those who were at the same time
best able to defend and support
them. Such well-endowed pairs
would commonly rear a larger
number of offspring than the
less favoured. The same result
would obviously follow in a still
more marked manner if there was
selection on both sides; that
is, if the more attractive, and
at the same time more powerful
men were to prefer, and were
preferred by, the more attractive
women. And this double form of
selection seems actually to have
occurred, especially during the
earlier periods of our long history.
We will now examine a little
more closely some of the characters
which distinguished the several
races of man from one another
and from the lower animals, namely,
the greater or less deficiency
of hair on the body, and the
colour of the skin. We need say
nothing about the great diversity
in the shape of the features
and of the skull between the
different races, as we have seen
in the last chapter how different
is the standard of beauty in
these respects. These characters
will therefore probably have
been acted on through sexual
selection; but we have no means
of judging whether they have
been acted on chiefly from the
male or female side. The musical
faculties of man have likewise
been already discussed.
Absence of Hair on the Body,
and its Development on the Face
and Head.- From the presence
of the woolly hair or lanugo
on the human foetus, and of rudimentary
hairs scattered over the body
during maturity, we may infer
that man is descended from some
animal which was born hairy and
remained so during life. The
loss of hair is an inconvenience
and probably an injury to man,
even in a hot climate, for he
is thus exposed to the scorching
of the sun, and to sudden chills,
especially during wet weather.
As Mr. Wallace remarks, the natives
in all countries are glad to
protect their naked backs and
shoulders with some slight covering.
No one supposes that the nakedness
of the skin is any direct advantage
to man; his body therefore cannot
have been divested of hair through
natural selection.* Nor, as shewn
in a former chapter, have we
any evidence that this can be
due to the direct action of climate,
or that it is the result of correlated
development.
* Contributions
to the Theory of Natural Selection,
1870, p.
346. Mr. Wallace believes (p.
350) "that some intelligent power
has guided or determined the
development of man"; and he considers
the hairless condition of the
skin as coming under this head.
The Rev. T. R. Stebbing, in commenting
on this view (Transactions of
Devonshire Association for Science,
1870) remarks, that had Mr. Wallace "employed
his usual ingenuity on the question
of man's hairless skin, he might
have seen the possibility of
its selection through its superior
beauty or the health attaching
to superior cleanliness."
The absence of hair on the body
is to a certain extent a secondary
sexual character; for in all
parts of the world women are
less hairy than men. Therefore
we may reasonably suspect that
this character has been gained
through sexual selection. We
know that the faces of several
species of monkeys, and large
surfaces at the posterior end
of the body of other species,
have been denuded of hair; and
this we may safely attribute
to sexual selection, for these
surfaces are not only vividly
coloured, but sometimes, as with
the male mandrill and female
rhesus, much more vividly in
the one sex than in the other,
especially during the breeding-season.
I am informed by Mr. Bartlett
that, as these animals gradually
reach maturity, the naked surfaces
grow larger compared with the
size of their bodies. The hair,
however, appears to have been
removed, not for the sake of
nudity, but that the colour of
the skin may be more fully displayed.
So again with many birds, it
appears as if the head and neck
had been divested of feathers
through sexual selection, to
exhibit the brightly-coloured
skin.
As the body in woman is less
hairy than in man, and as this
character is common to all races,
we may conclude that it was our
female semi-human ancestors who
were first divested of hair,
and that this occurred at an
extremely remote period before
the several races had diverged
from a common stock. Whilst our
female ancestors were gradually
acquiring this new character
of nudity, they must have transmitted
it almost equally to their offspring
of both sexes whilst young; so
that its transmission, as with
the ornaments of many mammals
and birds, has not been limited
either by sex or age. There is
nothing surprising in a partial
loss of hair having been esteemed
as an ornament by our ape-like
progenitors, for we have seen
that innumerable strange characters
have been thus esteemed by animals
of all kinds, and have consequently
been gained through sexual selection.
Nor is it surprising that a slightly
injurious character should have
been thus acquired; for we know
that this is the case with the
plumes of certain birds, and
with the horns of certain stags.
The females
of some of the anthropoid apes,
as stated in a former chapter,
are somewhat less hairy on the
under surface than the males;
and here we have what might have
afforded a commencement for the
process of denudation. With respect
to the completion of the process
through sexual selection, it
is well to bear in mind the New
Zealand proverb, "There is no
woman for a hairy man." All who
have seen photographs of the
Siamese hairy family will admit
how ludicrously hideous is the
opposite extreme of excessive
hairiness. And the king of Siam
had to bribe a man to marry the
first hairy woman in the family;
and she transmitted this character
to her young offspring of both
sexes.*
* The Variation of Animals and
Plants under Domestication, vol.
ii., 1868, p. 237.
Some races are much more hairy
than others, especially the males;
but it must not be assumed that
the more hairy races, such as
the European, have retained their
primordial condition more completely
than the naked races, such as
the Kalmucks or Americans. It
is more probable that the hairiness
of the former is due to partial
reversion; for characters which
have been at some former period
long inherited are always apt
to return. We have seen that
idiots are often very hairy,
and they are apt to revert in
other characters to a lower animal
type. It does not appear that
a cold climate has been influential
in leading to this kind of reversion;
excepting perhaps with the negroes,
who have been reared during several
generations in the United States,*
and possibly with the Ainos,
who inhabit the northern islands
of the Japan archipelago. But
the laws of inheritance are so
complex that we can seldom understand
their action. If the greater
hairiness of certain races be
the result of reversion, unchecked
by any form of selection, its
extreme variability, even within
the limits of the same race,
ceases to be remarkable.*(2)
* Investigations
into Military and Anthropological
Statistics
of American Soldiers, by B. A.
Gould, 1869, p. 568:- Observations
were carefully made on the hairiness
of 2,129 black and coloured soldiers,
whilst they were bathing; and
by looking to the published table, "it
is manifest at a glance that
there is but little, if any,
difference between the white
and the black races in this respect." It
is, however, certain that negroes
in their native and much hotter
land of Africa, have remarkably
smooth bodies. It should be particularly
observed, that both pure blacks
and mulattoes were included in
the above enumeration; and this
is an unfortunate circumstance,
as in accordance with a principle,
the truth of which I have elsewhere
proved, crossed races of man
would be eminently liable to
revert to the primordial hairy
character of their early ape-like
progenitors.
*(2) Hardly any view advanced
in this work has met with so
much disfavour (see for instance,
Spengel, Die Fortschritte des
Darwinismus, 1874, p. 80) as
the above explanation of the
loss of hair in mankind through
sexual selection; but none of
the opposed arguments seem to
me of much weight, in comparison
with the facts shewing that the
nudity of the skin is to a certain
extent a secondary sexual character
in man and in some of the Quadrumana.
With respect to the beard in
man, if we turn to our best guide,
the Quadrumana, we find beards
equally developed in both sexes
of many species, but in some,
either confined to the males,
or more developed in them than
in the females. From this fact
and from the curious arrangement,
as well as the bright colours
of the hair about the heads of
many monkeys, it is highly probable,
as before explained, that the
males first acquired their beards
through sexual selection as an
ornament, transmitting them in
most cases, equally or nearly
so, to their offspring of both
sexes. We know from Eschricht*
that with mankind the female
as well as the male foetus is
furnished with much hair on the
face, especially round the mouth;
and this indicates that we are
descended from progenitors of
whom both sexes were bearded.
It appears therefore at first
sight probable that man has retained
his beard from a very early period,
whilst woman lost her beard at
the same time that her body became
almost completely divested of
hair. Even the colour of our
beards seems to have been inherited
from an ape-like progenitor;
for when there is any difference
in tint between the hair of the
head and the beard, the latter
is lighter coloured in all monkeys
and in man. In those Quadrumana
in which the male has a larger
beard than that of the female,
it is fully developed only at
maturity, just as with mankind;
and it is possible that only
the later stages of development
have been retained by man. In
opposition to this view of the
retention of the beard from an
early period is the fact of its
great variability in different
races, and even within the same
race; for this indicates reversion,-
long lost characters being very
apt to vary on re-appearance.
* "Uber die Richtung der Haare
am Menschlichen Korper," in Muller's
Archiv. fur Anat. und Phys.,
1837, s. 40.
Nor must we overlook the part
which sexual selection may have
played in later times; for we
know that with savages the men
of the beardless races take infinite
pains in eradicating every hair
from their faces as something
odious, whilst the men of the
bearded races feel the greatest
pride in their beards. The women,
no doubt, participate in these
feelings, and if so sexual selection
can hardly have failed to have
effected something in the course
of later times. It is also possible
that the long-continued habit
of eradicating the hair may have
produced an inherited effect.
Dr. Brown-Sequard has shewn that
if certain animals are operated
on in a particular manner, their
offspring are affected. Further
evidence could be given of the
inheritance of the effects of
mutilations; but a fact lately
ascertained by Mr. Salvin* has
a more direct bearing on the
present question; for he has
shewn that the motmots, which
are known habitually to bite
off the barbs of the two central
tail-feathers, have the barbs
of these feathers naturally somewhat
reduced.*(2) Nevertheless, with
mankind the habit of eradicating
the beard and the hairs on the
body would probably not have
arisen until these had already
become by some means reduced.
* On the tail-feathers of Motmots,
Proceedings of the Zoological
Society, 1873, p. 429.
*(2) Mr. Sproat has suggested
(Scenes and Studies of Savage
Life, 1868, p. 25) this same
view. Some distinguished ethnologists,
amongst others M. Gosse of Geneva,
believe that artificial modifications
of the skull tend to be inherited.
It is difficult
to form any judgment as to
how the hair on
the head became developed to
its present great length in many
races. Eschricht* states that
in the human foetus the hair
on the face during the fifth
month is longer than that on
the head; and this indicates
that our semi-human progenitors
were not furnished with long
tresses, which must therefore
have been a late acquisition.
This is likewise indicated by
the extraordinary difference
in the length of the hair in
the different races; in the negro
the hair forms a mere curly mat;
with us it is of great length,
and with the American natives
it not rarely reaches to the
ground. Some species of Semnopithecus
have their heads covered with
moderately long hair, and this
probably serves as an ornament
and was acquired through sexual
selection. The same view may
perhaps be extended to mankind,
for we know that long tresses
are now and were formerly much
admired, as may be observed in
the works of almost every poet;
St. Paul says, "if a woman have
long hair, it is a glory to her";
and we have seen that in North
America a chief was elected solely
from the length of his hair.
* Uber die Richtung, &c.,
s. 40.
Colour of the Skin.- The best
kind of evidence that in man
the colour of the skin has been
modified through sexual selection
is scanty; for in most races
the sexes do not differ in this
respect, and only slightly, as
we have seen, in others. We know,
however, from the many facts
already given that the colour
of the skin is regarded by the
men of all races as a highly
important element in their beauty;
so that it is a character which
would be likely to have been
modified through selection, as
has occurred in innumerable instances
with the lower animals. It seems
at first sight a monstrous supposition
that the jet-blackness of the
negro should have been gained
through sexual selection; but
this view is supported by various
analogies, and we know that negroes
admire their own colour. With
mammals, when the sexes differ
in colour, the male is often
black or much darker than the
female; and it depends merely
on the form of inheritance whether
this or any other tint is transmitted
to both sexes or to one alone.
The resemblance to a negro in
miniature of Pithecia satanas
with his jet black skin, white
rolling eyeballs, and hair parted
on the top of the head, is almost
ludicrous.
The colour of the face differs
much more widely in the various
kinds of monkeys than it does
in the races of man; and we have
some reason to believe that the
red, blue, orange, almost white
and black tints of their skin,
even when common to both sexes,
as well as the bright colours
of their fur, and the ornamental
tufts about the head, have all
been acquired through sexual
selection. As the order of development
during growth, generally indicates
the order in which the characters
of a species have been developed
and modified during previous
generations; and as the newly-born
infants of the various races
of man do not differ nearly as
much in colour as do the adults,
although their bodies are as
completely destitute of hair,
we have some slight evidence
that the tints of the different
races were acquired at a period
subsequent to the removal of
the hair, which must have occurred
at a very early period in the
history of man.
Summary.- We may conclude that
the greater size, strength, courage,
pugnacity, and energy of man,
in comparison with woman, were
acquired during primeval times,
and have subsequently been augmented,
chiefly through the contests
of rival males for the possession
of the females. The greater intellectual
vigour and power of invention
in man is probably due to natural
selection, combined with the
inherited effects of habit, for
the most able men will have succeeded
best in defending and providing
for themselves and for their
wives and offspring. As far as
the extreme intricacy of the
subject permits us to judge,
it appears that our male ape-like
progenitors acquired their beards
as an ornament to charm or excite
the opposite sex, and transmitted
them only to their male offspring.
The females apparently first
had their bodies denuded of hair,
also as a sexual ornament; but
they transmitted this character
almost equally to both sexes.
It is not improbable that the
females were modified in other
respects for the same purpose
and by the same means; so that
women have acquired sweeter voices
and become more beautiful than
men.
It deserves attention that with
mankind the conditions were in
many respects much more favourable
for sexual selection during a
very early period, when man had
only just attained to the rank
of manhood, than during later
times. For he would then, as
we may safely conclude, have
been guided more by his instinctive
passions, and less by foresight
or reason. He would have jealously
guarded his wife or wives. He
would not have practised infanticide;
nor valued his wives merely as
useful slaves; nor have been
betrothed to them during infancy,
Hence we may infer that the races
of men were differentiated, as
far as sexual selection is concerned,
in chief part at a very remote
epoch; and this conclusion throws
light on the remarkable fact
that at the most ancient period,
of which we have not as yet any
record, the races of man had
already come to differ nearly
or quite as much as they do at
the present day.
The views here advanced, on
the part which sexual selection
has played in the history of
man, want scientific precision.
He who does not admit this agency
in the case of the lower animals,
will disregard all that I have
written in the later chapters
on man. We cannot positively
say that this character, but
not that, has been thus modified;
it has however, been shewn that
the races of man differ from
each other and from their nearest
allies, in certain characters
which are of no service to them
in their daily habits of life,
and which it is extremely probable
would have been modified through
sexual selection. We have seen
that with the lowest savages
the people of each tribe admire
their own characteristic qualities,-
the shape of the head and face,
the squareness of the cheek-bones,
the prominence or depression
of the nose, the colour of the
skin, the length of the hair
on the head, the absence of hair
on the face and body, or the
presence of a great beard, and
so forth. Hence these and other
such points could hardly fail
to be slowly and gradually exaggerated,
from the more powerful and able
men in each tribe, who would
succeed in rearing the largest
number of offspring, having selected
during many generations for their
wives the most strongly characterised
and therefore most attractive
women. For my own part I conclude
that of all the causes which
have led to the differences in
external appearance between the
races of man, and to a certain
extent between man and the lower
animals, sexual selection has
been the most efficient. |