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Show . 372 SEXUAL SELECTION : MAN. PAln II. men. They borrow tho plumes of male bird:, with which nature decked this sex in order to charm the females. As women have long been selected for Lcauty, it is not surprising that some of tho successive variations should have been transmitted in a limited manner; and consequently that women should have transmitted their beauty in a somewhat higher degree to their female than to their malo offspring. Hence women have become more beautiful, as most persons will admit, than men. Women, however, certainly transmit most of their character~, including beauty, to their offspring of both sexes; so that the continued preference by the men of each race of the more attractive women, according to their standard of taste, would tend to modify in the same munner aU the individuals of both sexes belonging to tho race. With respect to the other form of sexual selection (which with the lower animals is much tho most 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 the progenitors of man. Man in all probability owes his beard, and perhaps Homo other characters, to inheritance: from an ancient progenitor who gained in this manner 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 Leen expected. As this is a point of some importance, I will give in detail such evidence as I have been able to coUect. Hearne describes how a woman in one of the tribes of Arctic America repeatedly ran away from her husband and joined a beloved man; ancl with the Cbarruas of S. Americn, us Azara states, the power of CIIAP. XX . MANNER OF ACTION. 373 divorce is perfectly free. With the Abipones, when a man chooses a wife he bargains with the parents about the price. But "it frequently happens that the ''girl rescinds what has Leen agreed upon between the " parents and the Lridcgroom, obstinately rejecting the ".very mention of marriage.'' She often runs away, 1udes herself, and thus eludes the bride()"room. In tho Fiji Islands the man seizes on the w;man whom he wishes for his wife by actual or pretended force; but " on reaching the homo of her abductor, shoulcl she not " approve of the match, t:;he runs to some one who can "protect her; if~ however, she is satisfied, the matter is "settled forth~vith." In Tierra del Fuego a young man first obtam~ the consent of the parents by doing them some ~ervJCc, and then he attempts to carry off th.e girl; "but if she is unwilling, she hides herself "m the woods until her admirer is heartily tired of "looking for her, and gives up the pursuit; but this '' seldom happens.'' vVith the Ka1mucks there is a regular race between the bride and bridcO'room the former having a ft1.ir start; and Clarke "~as as~urecl " that no instance occurs of a girl being caught unless " s1 1 0 h as a part1.a I ity to tho pursuer.'' So w' ith the wil~ tribes of the Malay archipelago there is a similar racmg mutch; and it appears from M. Bourien's account as Sir J. Lubbock remarks, that "the race 'is not t~ :~' the swift, nor tho battle to the strong,' but to the · young man who has the good fortune to please his " intended briLle.'' . Turning to Africa: the Kafirs buy their wives, and gll'ls are severely beaten by their fathers if they will not accept a chosen husband; yet it is manifest from many fac~s given by the Hev. Mr. Shooter, that they have considerable power of choice. Thus yery un-ly though rich men, have been known to fail in gettin~ |