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. (14. Primitive Marriage, p. 208; Sir J. Lubbock,
Origin of Civilisation, p. 100. See also Mr. Morgan, loc. cit., on
the former prevalence of polyandry.) 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. (15. Azara,
Voyages, etc., tom. ii. pp. 92-95; Colonel Marshall, Amongst the
Todas, p. 212.) 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.
EARLY BETROTHALS AND SLAVERY OF WOMEN.
With many savages it is the custom to betroth the females whilst mere
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