The Descent of Man

support a wife; and they generally have first to
earn the price with which to purchase her from
her parents. With savages the difficulty of obtaining
subsistence occasionally limits their
number in a much more direct manner than
with civilised people, for all tribes periodically
suffer from severe famines. At such times savages
are forced to devour much bad food, and
their health can hardly fail to be injured. Many
accounts have been published of their protruding
stomachs and emaciated limbs after and
during famines. They are then, also, compelled
to wander much, and, as I was assured in Australia,
their infants perish in large numbers. As
famines are periodical, depending chiefly on
extreme seasons, all tribes must fluctuate in
number. They cannot steadily and regularly
increase, as there is no artificial increase in the
supply of food. Savages, when hard pressed,
encroach on each other's territories, and war is
the result; but they are indeed almost always at
war with their neighbours. They are liable to