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Show 32-l SEXUAL SELECTION: 1\I.\N. J'AI~T H. server, Hearno,21 says :-"It has over b2,n t.J1o custom " among these people for the men to wrestle for any "woman to whom they are attached; and, of course, the "strongest party always carries off the pdze. A weak "man, unless he be a good hunter, and well-beloved, "is seldom permitted to keep a wife that a stronger "man think worth his notice. This custom prevails "throughout all the tribes, and causes a great spirit "of emulation a.mong their youth, who arc upon all " occasions, from their cbilJ.hood, trying thch- strength "and skill in wrestling." ·with the Guanas of Rontl1 America, Azam states that the men rarely marry till twenty or more years old, as before that age they cannot eon!]UCr their rivals. Other similar facts could be gi ,·en; but even if we had no evidence on this head, we might feel almor-t sure, from the analogy of tho higher Quadrnmana,22 that the law of battle had prevailed with man during the early stages of his development. The occasional appearance at the present day of canine teeth which project above the others, with traces of a dia. tema or open space for the reception of the opposite canines, is in all probability a case of reversion to a former state, when the progenitors of ma11 were provided with these weapons, like so many existing male Quadrumana. It was remarked in a former chapter that I!S man gradually became erect, and continually nsed his hands anti arms for fighting with sticks and stones, as well as for the other purposes of life, he would have used his 21 'A Journey from Prince of Wnles Fort.' 8vo. edit. Dublin, 1796, p. 101. Sir J. Lubbock ('Origin of Civilisation,' 1870, p. 69) givrs other and similar cases in North America. For the Guanas of R. Amcrit•a sec Azara, 'Voyages,' &:c. tom. ii. p. 9-1. 22 On the fighting of tl10 mnl gorillas. see Dr. Snvnge, in 'Boston Journal of Nat. Hist.' vol. v. 1847, p. 423. On P1·esbylis entellus, see the 'Indinn Field,' 1859, p. HG. CHAP. XIX. LAW OF BATTLE. 32:3 jaws and teeth less and less. The jaws, together with their muscles, would then have become reduced through disuse, as would tho teeth through the not well understood prim:iples of correlation and the economy of growth; for we evcTywhel'e see that parts which are 110 longer of service are reduced in size. By sueh steps the original inequality between the jaws and teeth in the two sexes of mankind would ultimately have been quite oLliterated. The case is almost pnrallel with that of many male Huminants, in which the canine teeth have lJeon reduced to mere rudiments, or Lave disappeared, apparently in consequence of the development of homs. As the prodigious difference between the skulls of the two sexes in the Gorilla and Orano· stands in clo::;e relation with the development of tl~~ immense canine teeth in the males, we may infer that the reduction of the jaws and teeth in the early male progenitors of man led to a most striking and favouraLle change in his appearance. There can be little doubt that the greater size nnu strength of man, in comparison with woman, together with his broader shoulders, more developed muscles, rugged outline of body, his greater courage and pugnacity, are all due in ehief part to inheritance fi·orn ::;orne enrly male pTogcnitor, who, like the existing anthroroid apes, was thus characterised. These characters will, however, have been preserved or even augmented during the long ages whilst man was still in a barbarous condition, by the strongest and boldest meu hnsing succeeded best in the creneral strno-o-le for . o bo l1fe, as well as in securing wives, and thus having left a large nnmber of offspring. It is not probable that the greater strength of man was primarily acquired thrmwh 1he inherited effects of his having worked ha.rdcr th~n woman for his own subsistence and that of his family |