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and Stephen Braxton - "Seven Men"

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The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex

C >> Charles Darwin >> The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex




We see that the musical faculties, which are not wholly deficient in any
race, are capable of prompt and high development, for Hottentots and
Negroes have become excellent musicians, although in their native countries
they rarely practise anything that we should consider music. Schweinfurth,
however, was pleased with some of the simple melodies which he heard in the
interior of Africa. But there is nothing anomalous in the musical
faculties lying dormant in man: some species of birds which never
naturally sing, can without much difficulty be taught to do so; thus a
house-sparrow has learnt the song of a linnet. As these two species are
closely allied, and belong to the order of Insessores, which includes
nearly all the singing-birds in the world, it is possible that a progenitor
of the sparrow may have been a songster. It is more remarkable that
parrots, belonging to a group distinct from the Insessores, and having
differently constructed vocal organs, can be taught not only to speak, but
to pipe or whistle tunes invented by man, so that they must have some
musical capacity. Nevertheless it would be very rash to assume that
parrots are descended from some ancient form which was a songster. Many
cases could be advanced of organs and instincts originally adapted for one
purpose, having been utilised for some distinct purpose. (36. Since this
chapter was printed, I have seen a valuable article by Mr. Chauncey Wright
('North American Review,' Oct. 1870, page 293), who, in discussing the
above subject, remarks, "There are many consequences of the ultimate laws
or uniformities of nature, through which the acquisition of one useful
power will bring with it many resulting advantages as well as limiting
disadvantages, actual or possible, which the principle of utility may not
have comprehended in its action." As I have attempted to shew in an early
chapter of this work, this principle has an important bearing on the
acquisition by man of some of his mental characteristics.) Hence the
capacity for high musical development which the savage races of man
possess, may be due either to the practice by our semi-human progenitors of
some rude form of music, or simply to their having acquired the proper
vocal organs for a different purpose. But in this latter case we must
assume, as in the above instance of parrots, and as seems to occur with
many animals, that they already possessed some sense of melody.

Music arouses in us various emotions, but not the more terrible ones of
horror, fear, rage, etc. It awakens the gentler feelings of tenderness and
love, which readily pass into devotion. In the Chinese annals it is said,
"Music hath the power of making heaven descend upon earth." It likewise
stirs up in us the sense of triumph and the glorious ardour for war. These
powerful and mingled feelings may well give rise to the sense of sublimity.
We can concentrate, as Dr. Seemann observes, greater intensity of feeling
in a single musical note than in pages of writing. It is probable that
nearly the same emotions, but much weaker and far less complex, are felt by
birds when the male pours forth his full volume of song, in rivalry with
other males, to captivate the female. Love is still the commonest theme of
our songs. As Herbert Spencer remarks, "music arouses dormant sentiments
of which we had not conceived the possibility, and do not know the meaning;
or, as Richter says, tells us of things we have not seen and shall not
see." Conversely, when vivid emotions are felt and expressed by the
orator, or even in common speech, musical cadences and rhythm are
instinctively used. The negro in Africa when excited often bursts forth in
song; "another will reply in song, whilst the company, as if touched by a
musical wave, murmur a chorus in perfect unison." (37. Winwood Reade,
'The Martyrdom of Man,' 1872, p. 441, and 'African Sketch Book,' 1873, vol.
ii. p. 313.) Even monkeys express strong feelings in different tones--
anger and impatience by low,--fear and pain by high notes. (38. Rengger,
'Saugethiere von Paraguay,' s. 49.) The sensations and ideas thus excited
in us by music, or expressed by the cadences of oratory, appear from their
vagueness, yet depth, like mental reversions to the emotions and thoughts
of a long-past age.

All these facts with respect to music and impassioned speech become
intelligible to a certain extent, if we may assume that musical tones and
rhythm were used by our half-human ancestors, during the season of
courtship, when animals of all kinds are excited not only by love, but by
the strong passions of jealousy, rivalry, and triumph. From the deeply-
laid principle of inherited associations, musical tones in this case would
be likely to call up vaguely and indefinitely the strong emotions of a
long-past age. As we have every reason to suppose that articulate speech
is one of the latest, as it certainly is the highest, of the arts acquired
by man, and as the instinctive power of producing musical notes and rhythms
is developed low down in the animal series, it would be altogether opposed
to the principle of evolution, if we were to admit that man's musical
capacity has been developed from the tones used in impassioned speech. We
must suppose that the rhythms and cadences of oratory are derived from
previously developed musical powers. (39. See the very interesting
discussion on the 'Origin and Function of Music,' by Mr. Herbert Spencer,
in his collected 'Essays,' 1858, p. 359. Mr. Spencer comes to an exactly
opposite conclusion to that at which I have arrived. He concludes, as did
Diderot formerly, that the cadences used in emotional speech afford the
foundation from which music has been developed; whilst I conclude that
musical notes and rhythm were first acquired by the male or female
progenitors of mankind for the sake of charming the opposite sex. Thus
musical tones became firmly associated with some of the strongest passions
an animal is capable of feeling, and are consequently used instinctively,
or through association when strong emotions are expressed in speech. Mr.
Spencer does not offer any satisfactory explanation, nor can I, why high or
deep notes should be expressive, both with man and the lower animals, of
certain emotions. Mr. Spencer gives also an interesting discussion on the
relations between poetry, recitative and song.) We can thus understand how
it is that music, dancing, song, and poetry are such very ancient arts. We
may go even further than this, and, as remarked in a former chapter,
believe that musical sounds afforded one of the bases for the development
of language. (40. I find in Lord Monboddo's 'Origin of Language,' vol. i.
1774, p. 469, that Dr. Blacklock likewise thought "that the first language
among men was music, and that before our ideas were expressed by articulate
sounds, they were communicated by tones varied according to different
degrees of gravity and acuteness.")

As the males of several quadrumanous animals have their vocal organs much
more developed than in the females, and as a gibbon, one of the
anthropomorphous apes, pours forth a whole octave of musical notes and may
be said to sing, it appears probable that the progenitors of man, either
the males or females or both sexes, before acquiring the power of
expressing their mutual love in articulate language, endeavoured to charm
each other with musical notes and rhythm. So little is known about the use
of the voice by the Quadrumana during the season of love, that we have no
means of judging whether the habit of singing was first acquired by our
male or female ancestors. Women are generally thought to possess sweeter
voices than men, and as far as this serves as any guide, we may infer that
they first acquired musical powers in order to attract the other sex. (41.
See an interesting discussion on this subject by Haeckel, 'Generelle
Morphologie,' B. ii. 1866, s. 246.) But if so, this must have occurred
long ago, before our ancestors had become sufficiently human to treat and
value their women merely as useful slaves. The impassioned orator, bard,
or musician, when with his varied tones and cadences he excites the
strongest emotions in his hearers, little suspects that he uses the same
means by which his half-human ancestors long ago aroused each other's
ardent passions, during their courtship and rivalry.

THE INFLUENCE OF BEAUTY IN DETERMINING THE MARRIAGES OF MANKIND.

In civilised life man is largely, but by no means exclusively, influenced
in the choice of his wife by external appearance; but we are chiefly
concerned with primeval times, and our only means of forming a judgment on
this subject is to study the habits of existing semi-civilised and savage
nations. If it can be shewn that the men of different races prefer women
having various characteristics, or conversely with the women, we have then
to enquire whether such choice, continued during many generations, would
produce any sensible effect on the race, either on one sex or both
according to the form of inheritance which has prevailed.

It will be well first to shew in some detail that savages pay the greatest
attention to their personal appearance. (42. A full and excellent account
of the manner in which savages in all parts of the world ornament
themselves, is given by the Italian traveller, Professor Mantegazza, 'Rio
de la Plata, Viaggi e Studi,' 1867, pp. 525-545; all the following
statements, when other references are not given, are taken from this work.
See, also, Waitz, 'Introduction to Anthropology,' Eng. translat. vol. i.
1863, p. 275, et passim. Lawrence also gives very full details in his
'Lectures on Physiology,' 1822. Since this chapter was written Sir J.
Lubbock has published his 'Origin of Civilisation,' 1870, in which there is
an interesting chapter on the present subject, and from which (pp. 42, 48)
I have taken some facts about savages dyeing their teeth and hair, and
piercing their teeth.) That they have a passion for ornament is notorious;
and an English philosopher goes so far as to maintain, that clothes were
first made for ornament and not for warmth. As Professor Waitz remarks,
"however poor and miserable man is, he finds a pleasure in adorning
himself." The extravagance of the naked Indians of South America in
decorating themselves is shewn "by a man of large stature gaining with
difficulty enough by the labour of a fortnight to procure in exchange the
chica necessary to paint himself red." (43. Humboldt, 'Personal
Narrative,' Eng. translat. vol. iv. p. 515; on the imagination shewn in
painting the body, p. 522; on modifying the form of the calf of the leg, p.
466.) The ancient barbarians of Europe during the Reindeer period brought
to their caves any brilliant or singular objects which they happened to
find. Savages at the present day everywhere deck themselves with plumes,
necklaces, armlets, ear-rings, etc. They paint themselves in the most
diversified manner. "If painted nations," as Humboldt observes, "had been
examined with the same attention as clothed nations, it would have been
perceived that the most fertile imagination and the most mutable caprice
have created the fashions of painting, as well as those of garments."

In one part of Africa the eyelids are coloured black; in another the nails
are coloured yellow or purple. In many places the hair is dyed of various
tints. In different countries the teeth are stained black, red, blue,
etc., and in the Malay Archipelago it is thought shameful to have white
teeth "like those of a dog." Not one great country can be named, from the
polar regions in the north to New Zealand in the south, in which the
aborigines do not tattoo themselves. This practice was followed by the
Jews of old, and by the ancient Britons. In Africa some of the natives
tattoo themselves, but it is a much more common practice to raise
protuberances by rubbing salt into incisions made in various parts of the
body; and these are considered by the inhabitants of Kordofan and Darfur
"to be great personal attractions." In the Arab countries no beauty can be
perfect until the cheeks "or temples have been gashed." (44. 'The Nile
Tributaries,' 1867; 'The Albert N'yanza,' 1866, vol. i. p. 218.) In South
America, as Humboldt remarks, "a mother would be accused of culpable
indifference towards her children, if she did not employ artificial means
to shape the calf of the leg after the fashion of the country." In the Old
and New Worlds the shape of the skull was formerly modified during infancy
in the most extraordinary manner, as is still the case in many places, and
such deformities are considered ornamental. For instance, the savages of
Colombia (45. Quoted by Prichard, 'Physical History of Mankind,' 4th ed.
vol. i. 1851, p. 321.) deem a much flattened head "an essential point of
beauty."

The hair is treated with especial care in various countries; it is allowed
to grow to full length, so as to reach to the ground, or is combed into "a
compact frizzled mop, which is the Papuan's pride and glory." (46. On the
Papuans, Wallace, 'The Malay Archipelago,' vol. ii. p. 445. On the
coiffure of the Africans, Sir S. Baker, 'The Albert N'yanza,' vol. i. p.
210.) In northern Africa "a man requires a period of from eight to ten
years to perfect his coiffure." With other nations the head is shaved, and
in parts of South America and Africa even the eyebrows and eyelashes are
eradicated. The natives of the Upper Nile knock out the four front teeth,
saying that they do not wish to resemble brutes. Further south, the
Batokas knock out only the two upper incisors, which, as Livingstone (47.
'Travels,' p. 533.) remarks, gives the face a hideous appearance, owing to
the prominence of the lower jaw; but these people think the presence of the
incisors most unsightly, and on beholding some Europeans, cried out, "Look
at the great teeth!" The chief Sebituani tried in vain to alter this
fashion. In various parts of Africa and in the Malay Archipelago the
natives file the incisors into points like those of a saw, or pierce them
with holes, into which they insert studs.

As the face with us is chiefly admired for its beauty, so with savages it
is the chief seat of mutilation. In all quarters of the world the septum,
and more rarely the wings of the nose are pierced; rings, sticks, feathers,
and other ornaments being inserted into the holes. The ears are everywhere
pierced and similarly ornamented, and with the Botocudos and Lenguas of
South America the hole is gradually so much enlarged that the lower edge
touches the shoulder. In North and South America and in Africa either the
upper or lower lip is pierced; and with the Botocudos the hole in the lower
lip is so large that a disc of wood, four inches in diameter, is placed in
it. Mantegazza gives a curious account of the shame felt by a South
American native, and of the ridicule which he excited, when he sold his
tembeta,--the large coloured piece of wood which is passed through the
hole. In Central Africa the women perforate the lower lip and wear a
crystal, which, from the movement of the tongue, has "a wriggling motion,
indescribably ludicrous during conversation." The wife of the chief of
Latooka told Sir S. Baker (49. 'The Albert N'yanza,' 1866, vol. i. p.
217.) that Lady Baker "would be much improved if she would extract her four
front teeth from the lower jaw, and wear the long pointed polished crystal
in her under lip." Further south with the Makalolo, the upper lip is
perforated, and a large metal and bamboo ring, called a pelele, is worn in
the hole. "This caused the lip in one case to project two inches beyond
the tip of the nose; and when the lady smiled, the contraction of the
muscles elevated it over the eyes. 'Why do the women wear these things?'
the venerable chief, Chinsurdi, was asked. Evidently surprised at such a
stupid question, he replied, 'For beauty! They are the only beautiful
things women have; men have beards, women have none. What kind of a person
would she be without the pelele? She would not be a woman at all with a
mouth like a man, but no beard.'" (49. Livingstone, 'British
Association,' 1860; report given in the 'Athenaeum,' July 7, 1860, p. 29.)

Hardly any part of the body, which can be unnaturally modified, has
escaped. The amount of suffering thus caused must have been extreme, for
many of the operations require several years for their completion, so that
the idea of their necessity must be imperative. The motives are various;
the men paint their bodies to make themselves appear terrible in battle;
certain mutilations are connected with religious rites, or they mark the
age of puberty, or the rank of the man, or they serve to distinguish the
tribes. Amongst savages the same fashions prevail for long periods (50.
Sir S. Baker (ibid. vol. i. p. 210) speaking of the natives of Central
Africa says, "every tribe has a distinct and unchanging fashion for
dressing the hair." See Agassiz ('Journey in Brazil,' 1868, p. 318) on
invariability of the tattooing of Amazonian Indians.), and thus
mutilations, from whatever cause first made, soon come to be valued as
distinctive marks. But self-adornment, vanity, and the admiration of
others, seem to be the commonest motives. In regard to tattooing, I was
told by the missionaries in New Zealand that when they tried to persuade
some girls to give up the practice, they answered, "We must just have a few
lines on our lips; else when we grow old we shall be so very ugly." With
the men of New Zealand, a most capable judge (51. Rev. R. Taylor, 'New
Zealand and its Inhabitants,' 1855, p. 152.) says, "to have fine tattooed
faces was the great ambition of the young, both to render themselves
attractive to the ladies, and conspicuous in war." A star tattooed on the
forehead and a spot on the chin are thought by the women in one part of
Africa to be irresistible attractions. (52. Mantegazza, 'Viaggi e Studi,'
p. 542.) In most, but not all parts of the world, the men are more
ornamented than the women, and often in a different manner; sometimes,
though rarely, the women are hardly at all ornamented. As the women are
made by savages to perform the greatest share of the work, and as they are
not allowed to eat the best kinds of food, so it accords with the
characteristic selfishness of man that they should not be allowed to
obtain, or use the finest ornaments. Lastly, it is a remarkable fact, as
proved by the foregoing quotations, that the same fashions in modifying the
shape of the head, in ornamenting the hair, in painting, tattooing, in
perforating the nose, lips, or ears, in removing or filing the teeth, etc.,
now prevail, and have long prevailed, in the most distant quarters of the
world. It is extremely improbable that these practices, followed by so
many distinct nations, should be due to tradition from any common source.
They indicate the close similarity of the mind of man, to whatever race he
may belong, just as do the almost universal habits of dancing,
masquerading, and making rude pictures.

Having made these preliminary remarks on the admiration felt by savages for
various ornaments, and for deformities most unsightly in our eyes, let us
see how far the men are attracted by the appearance of their women, and
what are their ideas of beauty. I have heard it maintained that savages
are quite indifferent about the beauty of their women, valuing them solely
as slaves; it may therefore be well to observe that this conclusion does
not at all agree with the care which the women take in ornamenting
themselves, or with their vanity. Burchell (53. 'Travels in South
Africa,' 1824, vol. i. p. 414.) gives an amusing account of a Bush-woman
who used as much grease, red ochre, and shining powder "as would have
ruined any but a very rich husband." She displayed also "much vanity and
too evident a consciousness of her superiority." Mr. Winwood Reade informs
me that the negroes of the West Coast often discuss the beauty of their
women. Some competent observers have attributed the fearfully common
practice of infanticide partly to the desire felt by the women to retain
their good looks. (54. See, for references, Gerland, 'Ueber das
Aussterben der Naturvolker,' 1868, ss. 51, 53, 55; also Azara, 'Voyages,'
etc., tom. ii. p. 116.) In several regions the women wear charms and use
love-philters to gain the affections of the men; and Mr. Brown enumerates
four plants used for this purpose by the women of North-Western America.
(55. On the vegetable productions used by the North-Western American
Indians, see 'Pharmaceutical Journal,' vol. x.)

Hearne (56. 'A Journey from Prince of Wales Fort,' 8vo. ed. 1796, p. 89.),
an excellent observer, who lived many years with the American Indians,
says, in speaking of the women, "Ask a Northern Indian what is beauty, and
he will answer, a broad flat face, small eyes, high cheek-bones, three or
four broad black lines across each cheek, a low forehead, a large broad
chin, a clumsy hook nose, a tawny hide, and breasts hanging down to the
belt." Pallas, who visited the northern parts of the Chinese empire, says,
"those women are preferred who have the Mandschu form; that is to say, a
broad face, high cheek-bones, very broad noses, and enormous ears"(57.
Quoted by Prichard, 'Physical History of Mankind,' 3rd ed. vol. iv. 1844,
p. 519; Vogt, 'Lectures on Man,' Eng. translat. p. 129. On the opinion of
the Chinese on the Cingalese, E. Tennent, 'Ceylon,' 1859, vol. ii. p.
107.); and Vogt remarks that the obliquity of the eye, which is proper to
the Chinese and Japanese, is exaggerated in their pictures for the purpose,
as it "seems, of exhibiting its beauty, as contrasted with the eye of the
red-haired barbarians." It is well known, as Huc repeatedly remarks, that
the Chinese of the interior think Europeans hideous, with their white skins
and prominent noses. The nose is far from being too prominent, according
to our ideas, in the natives of Ceylon; yet "the Chinese in the seventh
century, accustomed to the flat features of the Mongol races, were
surprised at the prominent noses of the Cingalese; and Thsang described
them as having 'the beak of a bird, with the body of a man.'"

Finlayson, after minutely describing the people of Cochin China, says that
their rounded heads and faces are their chief characteristics; and, he
adds, "the roundness of the whole countenance is more striking in the
women, who are reckoned beautiful in proportion as they display this form
of face." The Siamese have small noses with divergent nostrils, a wide
mouth, rather thick lips, a remarkably large face, with very high and broad
cheek-bones. It is, therefore, not wonderful that "beauty, according to
our notion, is a stranger to them. Yet they consider their own females to
be much more beautiful than those of Europe." (58. Prichard, as taken
from Crawfurd and Finlayson, 'Phys. Hist. of Mankind,' vol. iv. pp. 534,
535.)

It is well known that with many Hottentot women the posterior part of the
body projects in a wonderful manner; they are steatopygous; and Sir Andrew
Smith is certain that this peculiarity is greatly admired by the men. (59.
Idem illustrissimus viator dixit mihi praecinctorium vel tabulam foeminae,
quod nobis teterrimum est, quondam permagno aestimari ab hominibus in hac
gente. Nunc res mutata est, et censent talem conformationem minime
optandam esse.) He once saw a woman who was considered a beauty, and she
was so immensely developed behind, that when seated on level ground she
could not rise, and had to push herself along until she came to a slope.
Some of the women in various negro tribes have the same peculiarity; and,
according to Burton, the Somal men are said to choose their wives by
ranging them in a line, and by picking her out who projects farthest a
tergo. Nothing can be more hateful to a negro than the opposite form."
(60. The 'Anthropological Review,' November 1864, p. 237. For additional
references, see Waitz, 'Introduction to Anthropology,' Eng. translat.,
1863, vol. i. p. 105.)

With respect to colour, the negroes rallied Mungo Park on the whiteness of
his skin and the prominence of his nose, both of which they considered as
"unsightly and unnatural conformations." He in return praised the glossy
jet of their skins and the lovely depression of their noses; this they said
was "honeymouth," nevertheless they gave him food. The African Moors,
also, "knitted their brows and seemed to shudder" at the whiteness of his
skin. On the eastern coast, the negro boys when they saw Burton, cried
out, "Look at the white man; does he not look like a white ape?" On the
western coast, as Mr. Winwood Reade informs me, the negroes admire a very
black skin more than one of a lighter tint. But their horror of whiteness
may be attributed, according to this same traveller, partly to the belief
held by most negroes that demons and spirits are white, and partly to their
thinking it a sign of ill-health.

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