A HUMAN PAIRING SEASON IN PRIMITIVE TIMES
Professor Leuckart assumes that the periodicity in the sexual life of
animals depends upon economical conditions, the reproductive matter
being a surplus of the individual economy. Hence he says that the rut
occurs at the time when the proportion between receipts and expenditure
is most favourable.[123]
Though this hypothesis is accepted by several eminent physiologists,
facts do not support the assumption that the power of reproduction is
correlated with abundance of food and bodily vigour. There are some
writers who even believe that the reverse is the case.[124]
At any rate, it is not correct to say, with Dr. Gruenhagen, that “the
general wedding-feast is spring, when awakening nature opens, to most
animals, new and ample sources of living.”[125] This is certainly true
of Reptiles and Birds, but not of Mammals; every month or season of the
year is the pairing season of one or another mammalian species.[126]
But notwithstanding this apparent irregularity, the pairing time of
every species is bound by an unfailing law; it sets in earlier or
later, according as the period of gestation lasts longer or shorter,
so that the young may be born at the time when they are most likely to
survive. Thus, most Mammals bring forth their young early in spring,
or, in tropical countries, at the beginning of the rainy season; the
period then commences when life is more easily sustained, when prey
is most abundant, when there is enough water and vegetable food, and
when the climate becomes warmer. In the highlands, animals pair later
than those living in lower regions,[127] whilst those of the polar
and temperate zones generally pair later than those of the tropics.
As regards the species living in different latitudes the pairing time
comes earlier or later, according to the differences in climate.[128]
Far from depending upon any general physiological law, the rut is
thus adapted to the requirements of each species separately. Here
again we have an example of the powerful effects of natural selection,
often showing themselves very obviously. The dormouse (_Muscardinus
avellanarius_), for instance, that feeds upon hazel-nuts, pairs in
July, and brings forth its young in August, when nuts begin to ripen.
Then the young grow very quickly, so that they are able to bear the
autumn and winter cold.[129]
There are, however, a few wild species, as some whales,[130]
the elephant,[131] many Rodents,[132] and several of the lower
monkeys,[133] that seem to have no definite pairing season. As to
them it is, perhaps, sufficient to quote Dr. Brehm’s statement with
reference to the elephant, “The richness of their woods is so great,
that they really never suffer want.”[134] But the man-like apes do not
belong to this class. According to Mr. Winwood Reade, the male Gorillas
fight at the rutting season for their females;[135] Dr. Mohnike, as
also other authorities, mentions the occurrence of a rut-time with the
Orang-utan.[136] And we find that both of these species breed early in
the season when fruits begin to be plentiful,—that is, their pairing
time depends on the same law as that which prevails in the rest of the
animal kingdom.
Sir Richard Burton says, “The Gorilla breeds about December, a cool
and dry month; according to my bushmen, the period of gestation is
between five and six months.”[137] I have referred this important
statement to Mr. Alfred R. Wallace, who writes as follows: “From the
maps of rain distribution in Africa in Stanford’s ‘Compendium,’ the
driest months in the Gorilla country seem to be January and February,
and these would probably be the months of greatest fruit supply.” As
regards the Orang-utan, Mr. Wallace adds, “I found the young sucking
Orang-utan in May; that was about the second or third month of the dry
season, in which fruits began to be plentiful.”
Considering, then, that the periodicity of the sexual life rests
on the kind of food on which the species lives, together with
other circumstances connected with anatomical and physiological
peculiarities, and considering, further, the close biological
resemblance between man and the man-like apes, we are almost compelled
to assume that the pairing time of our earliest human or half-human
ancestors was restricted to a certain season of the year, as was also
the case with their nearest relations among the lower animals. This
presumption derives further probability from there being, even now,
some rude peoples who are actually stated to have an annual pairing
time, and other peoples whose sexual instinct undergoes most decidedly
a periodical increase at a certain time of the year.
According to Mr. Johnston, the wild Indians of California, belonging to
the lowest races on earth, “have their rutting seasons as regularly
as have the deer, the elk, the antelope, or any other animals.”[138]
And Mr. Powers confirms the correctness of this statement, at least
with regard to some of these Indians, saying that spring “is a literal
Saint Valentine’s Day with them, as with the natural beasts and birds
of the forest.”[139]
As regards the Goddanes in Luzon, Mr. Foreman tells us that “it is
the custom of the young men about to marry, to vie with each other
in presenting to the sires of their future bride all the scalps they
are able to take from their enemies, as proof of their manliness
and courage. This practice prevails at the season of the year when
the tree—popularly called by the Spaniards ‘the fire-tree’—is in
bloom.”[140]
Speaking of the Watch-an-dies in the western part of Australia, Mr.
Oldfield remarks, “Like the beasts of the field, the savage has
but one time for copulation in the year.[141] About the middle of
spring ... the Watch-an-dies begin to think of holding their grand
semi-religious festival of Caa-ro, preparatory to the performance of
the important duty of procreation.”[142] A similar feast, according to
Mr. Bonwick, was celebrated by the Tasmanians at the same time of the
year.[143]
The Hos, an Indian hill tribe, have, as we are informed by Colonel
Dalton, every year a great feast in January, “when the granaries are
full of grain, and the people, to use their own expression, full of
devilry. They have a strange notion that at this period, men and women
are so over-charged with vicious propensities, that it is absolutely
necessary for the safety of the person to let off steam by allowing for
a time full vent to the passions. The festival, therefore, becomes a
saturnalia, during which servants forget their duty to their masters,
children their reverence for parents, men their respect for women,
and women all notions of modesty, delicacy, and gentleness.” Men and
women become almost like animals in the indulgence of their amorous
propensities, and the utmost liberty is given to the girls.[144]
The same writer adds that “it would appear that most Hill Tribes have
found it necessary to promote marriage by stimulating intercourse
between the sexes at particular seasons of the year.”[145] Among the
Santals, “the marriages mostly take place once a year, in January;
for six days all the candidates for matrimony live in promiscuous
concubinage, after which the whole party are supposed to have
paired off as man and wife.”[146] The Punjas in Jeypore, according
to Dr. Shortt, have a festival in the first month of the new year,
where men and women assemble. The lower order or castes observe
this festival, which is kept up for a month, by both sexes mixing
promiscuously, and taking partners as their choice directs.[147]
A similar feast, comprising a continuous course of debauchery and
licentiousness, is held once a year, by the Kotars, a tribe inhabiting
the Neilgherries;[148] according to Mr. Bancroft, by the Keres in
New Mexico;[149] according to Dr. Fritsch, by the Hottentots;[150]
according to the Rev. H. Rowley, by the Kafirs;[151] and, as I am
informed by Mr. A. J. Swann, by some tribes near Nyassa. Writers of the
sixteenth century speak of the existence of certain early festivals in
Russia, at which great license prevailed. According to Pamphill, these
annual gatherings took place, as a rule, at the end of June, the day
before the festival of St. John the Baptist, which, in pagan times, was
that of a divinity known by the name of Jarilo, corresponding to the
Priapus of the Greeks.[152] At Rome, a festival in honour of Venus took
place in the month of April;[153] and Mannhardt mentions some curious
popular customs in Germany, England, Esthonia and other European
countries, which seem to indicate an increase of the sexual instinct in
spring or at the beginning of summer.[154]
By questions addressed to persons living among various savage peoples,
I have inquired whether among these peoples, marriages are principally
contracted at a certain time of the year, and whether more children are
born in one month or season than in another. In answer, Mr. Radfield
writes from Lifu, near New Caledonia, that marriages there formerly
took place at various times, when suitable, but “November used to be
the time at which engagements were made.” As the seasons in this island
are the reverse of those in England, this month includes the end of
spring and the beginning of summer. The Rev. H. T. Cousins informs
me that, among the Kafirs inhabiting what is known as Cis-Natalian
Kafirland, “there are more children born in one month or season
than in another, _viz._ August and September, which are the spring
months in South Africa;” and he ascribes this surplus of births to
feasts, comprising debauchery and unrestricted intercourse between the
unmarried people of both sexes. Again, Dr. A. Sims writes from Stanley
Pool that, among the Bateke, more children are born in September and
October, that is, in the seasons of the early rains, than at other
times; and the Rev. Ch. E. Ingham, writing from Banza Manteka, states
that he believes the same to be the case among the Bakongo. But the
Rev. T. Bridges informs me that, among the Yahgans in the southern
part of Tierra del Fuego, so far as he knows, one month is the same as
another with regard to the number of births. I venture, however, to
think that this result might be somewhat modified by a minute inquiry,
embracing a sufficient number of cases. For statistics prove that even
in civilized countries, there is a regular periodical fluctuation in
the birth-rate.
In the eighteenth century Wargentin showed that, in Sweden more
children were born in one month than in another.[155] The same has
since been found to be the case in other European countries. According
to Wappäus, the number of births in Sardinia, Belgium, Holland, and
Sweden is subject to a regular increase twice a year, the maximum
of the first increase occurring in February or March, that of the
second in September and October.[156] M. Sormani observed that, in the
south of Italy, there is an increase only once in the year, but more
to the north twice, in spring and in autumn.[157] Dr. Mayr and Dr.
Beukemann found in Germany two annual maxima—in February or March, and
in September;—[158]and Dr. Haycraft states that, in the eight largest
towns of Scotland, more children are born in legitimate wedlock in
April than in any other month.[159] As a rule, according to M. Sormani,
the first annual augmentation of births has its maximum, in Sweden, in
March; in France and Holland, between February and March; in Belgium,
Spain, Austria and Italy, in February; in Greece, in January; so that
it comes earlier in southern Europe than farther to the north.[160]
Again, the second annual increase is found more considerable the more
to the north we go. In South Germany it is smaller than the first
one, but in North Germany generally larger;[161] and in Sweden, it is
decidedly larger.[162]
As to non-European countries, Wappäus observed that in Massachusetts,
the birth-rate likewise underwent an increase twice a year, the
maxima falling in March and September; and that in Chili many more
children were born in September and October—_i.e._, at the beginning
of spring—than in any other month.[163] Finally, Mr. S. A. Hill, of
Allahabad, has proved, by statistical data, that, among the Hindus
of that province, the birth-rates exhibit a most distinct annual
variation, the minimum falling in June and the maximum in September and
October.[164]
This unequal distribution of births over the different months of the
year is ascribed to various causes by statisticians. It is, however,
generally admitted that the maximum in February and March (in Chili,
September) is, at least to a great extent, due to the sexual instinct
being strongest in May and June (in Chili, December).[165] This is the
more likely to be the case as it is especially illegitimate births that
are then comparatively numerous. And it appears extremely probable
that, in Africa also, the higher birth-rates in the seasons of the
early rains owe their origin to the same cause.
Thus, comparing the facts stated, we find, among various races of men,
the sexual instinct increasing at the end of spring, or, rather, at the
beginning of summer. Some peoples of India seem to form an exception to
this rule, lascivious festivals, in the case of several of them, taking
place in the month of January, and the maximum of births, among the
Hindus of Allahabad, falling at the end of the hot season, or in early
autumn. But in India also there are traces of strengthened passions in
spring. M. Rousselet gives the following description of the indecent
Holi festival, as it is celebrated among the Hindus of Oudeypour. “The
festival of Holi marks the arrival of spring, and is held in honour
of the goddess Holica, or Vasanti, who personifies that season in the
Hindu Pantheon. The carnival lasts several days, during which time the
most licentious debauchery and disorder reign throughout every class of
society. It is the regular saturnalia of India. Persons of the greatest
respectability, without regard to rank or age, are not ashamed to take
part in the orgies which mark this season of the year.... Women and
children crowd round the hideous idols of the feast of Holica, and
deck them with flowers; and immorality reigns supreme in the streets
of the capital.”[166] Among the Aryans who inhabited the plains of the
North, the spring, or “vasanta,” corresponding to the months of March
and April, was the season of love and pleasure, celebrated in song by
the poets, and the time for marriages and religious feasts.[167] And
among the Rajputs of Mewar, according to Lieutenant-Colonel Tod, the
last days of spring are dedicated to Camdéva, the god of love: “the
scorching winds of the hot season are already beginning to blow, when
Flora droops her head, and the ‘god of love turns anchorite.’”[168]
We must not, however, infer that this enhancement of the procreative
power is to be attributed directly to “the different positions of
the sun with respect to the earth,”[169] or to the temperature of
a certain season. The phenomenon does not immediately spring from
this cause in the case of any other animal species. Neither can it
be due to abundance of food. In the northern parts of Europe many
more conceptions take place in the months of May and June, when the
conditions of life are often rather hard, than in September, October,
and November, when the supplies of food are comparatively plentiful.
In the north-western provinces of Germany, as well as in Sweden, the
latter months are characterized by a minimum of conceptions.[170] Among
the Kaffirs, more children are conceived in November and December than
in any other month, although, according to the Rev. H. T. Cousins,
food is most abundant among them from March to September. And among
the Bateke, the maximum of conceptions falls in December and January,
although food is, as I am informed by Dr. Sims, most plentiful in the
dry season, that is, from May to the end of August.
On the other hand, the periodical increase of conceptions cannot
be explained by the opposite hypothesis, entertained by some
physiologists, that the power of reproduction is increased by want
and distress. Among the Western Australians and Californians,[171]
for instance, the season of love is accompanied by a surplus of food,
and in the land of the Bakongo, among whom Mr. Ingham believes most
conceptions to take place in December and January, food is, according
to him, most abundant precisely in these months and in February.
It seems, therefore, a reasonable presumption that the increase of the
sexual instinct at the end of spring or in the beginning of summer, is
a survival of an ancient pairing season, depending upon the same law
that rules in the rest of the animal kingdom. Since spring is rather
a time of want than a time of abundance for a frugivorous species,
it is impossible to believe that our early ancestors, as long as
they fed upon fruits, gave birth to their young at the beginning of
that period. From the statements of Sir Richard Burton and Mr. A. R.
Wallace, already quoted,[172] we know that the man-like apes breed
early in the season when fruits begin to be plentiful. But when man
began to feed on herbs, roots, and animal food, the conditions were
changed. Spring is the season of the re-awakening of life, when there
are plenty of vegetables and prey. Hence those children whose infancy
fell in this period survived more frequently than those born at any
other. Considering that the parents of at least a few of them must have
had an innate tendency to the increase of the power of reproduction at
the beginning of summer, and considering, further, that this tendency
must have been transmitted to some of the offspring, like many other
characteristics which occur periodically at certain seasons,[173]
we can readily understand that gradually, through the influence of
natural selection, a race would emerge whose pairing time would be
exclusively or predominantly restricted to the season most favourable
to its subsistence. To judge from the period when most children are
born among existing peoples, the pairing season of our prehistoric
ancestors occurred, indeed, somewhat earlier in the year than is the
case with the majority of mammalian species. But we must remember that
the infancy of man is unusually long; and, with regard to the time
most favourable to the subsistence of children, we must take into
consideration not only the first days of their existence, but the
first period of their infancy in general. Besides food and warmth,
several other factors affect the welfare of the offspring, and it is
often difficult to find out all of them. We do not know the particular
circumstances that make the badger breed at the end of February or the
beginning of March,[174] and the reindeer of the Norwegian mountains
as early as April;[175] but there can be no doubt that these breeding
seasons are adapted to the requirements of the respective species.
The cause of the winter maximum of conceptions, especially considerable
among the peoples of Northern Europe, is generally sought in social
influences, as the quiet ensuing on the harvest time, the better
food, and the amusements of Christmas.[176] But the people certainly
recover before December from the labours of the field, and Christmas
amusements, as Wargentin remarks, take place at the end of that month
and far into January, without any particular influence upon the number
of births in October being observable.[177] It has, further, been
proved that the unequal distribution of marriages over the different
months exercises hardly any influence upon the distribution of
births.[178] Again, among the Hindus the December and January maximum
of conceptions seems from the lascivious festivities of several Indian
peoples to be due to an increase of the sexual instinct. According
to Mr. Hill, this increase depends upon healthy conditions with an
abundant food supply. But, as I have already said, it is not proved
that a strengthened power of reproduction and abundance of food are
connected with one another.
I am far from venturing to express any definite opinion as to the cause
of these particular phenomena, but it is not impossible that they also
are effects of natural selection, although of a comparatively recent
date. Considering that the September maximum of births (or December
maximum of conceptions) in Europe becomes larger the farther north
we go; that the agricultural peoples of Northern Europe have plenty
of food in autumn and during the first part of winter, but often
suffer a certain degree of want in spring; and, finally, that the
winter cold does not affect the health of infants, the woods giving
sufficient material for fuel,—it has occurred to me that children born
in September may have a better chance of surviving than others. Indeed,
Dr. Beukemann states that the number of still-born births is largest in
winter or at the beginning of spring, and that “the children born in
autumn possess the greatest vitality and resisting power against the
dangers of earliest infancy.”[179] This would perhaps be an adequate
explanation either of an increase of the sexual instinct or of greater
disposition to impregnation in December. It is not impossible either,
that the increase of the power of reproduction among the Hindus in
December and January, which causes an increase of births in September
and October—_i.e._, the end of the hot season and the beginning
of winter—owes its origin to the fact that during the winter the
granaries get filled and some of the conditions of life become more
healthy. But it should be remarked that September itself, according to
Mr. Hill, is a very unhealthy month.[180]
Now it can be explained, I believe for the first time, how it happens
that man, unlike the lower animals, is not limited to a particular
period of the year in which to court the female.[181] The Darwinian
theory of natural selection can, as it seems to me, account for the
periodicity of the sexual instinct in such a rude race as the Western
Australians, among whom the mortality of children is so enormous
that the greater number of them do not survive even the first month
after birth,[182] and who inhabit a land pre-eminently unproductive
of animals and vegetables fitted to sustain human life, a land where,
“during the summer seasons, the black man riots in comparative
abundance, but during the rest of the year ... the struggle for
existence becomes very severe.”[183] The more progress man makes in
arts and inventions; the more he acquires the power of resisting
injurious external influences; the more he rids himself of the
necessity of freezing when it is cold, and starving when nature is less
lavish with food; in short, the more independent he becomes of the
changes of the seasons—the greater is the probability that children
born at one time of the year will survive as well, or almost as well,
as those born at any other. Variations as regards the pairing time,
always likely to occur occasionally, will do so the more frequently on
account of changed conditions of life, which directly or indirectly
cause variability of every kind;[184] and these variations will be
preserved and transmitted to following generations. Thus we can
understand how a race has arisen, endowed with the ability to procreate
children in any season. We can also understand how, even in such a rude
race as the Yahgans in Tierra del Fuego, the seasonable distribution
of births seems to be pretty equal, as there is, according to the Rev.
T. Bridges, “such a variety of food in the various seasons that there
is strictly no period of hardship, save such as is caused by accidents
of weather.” We can explain, too, why the periodical fluctuation in
the number of births, though comparatively inconsiderable in every
civilized society, is greater in countries predominantly agricultural,
such as Chili, than in countries predominantly industrial, as
Saxony;[185] why it is greater in rural districts than in towns;[186]
and why it was greater in Sweden in the middle of the last century than
it is now.[187] For the more man has abandoned natural life out of
doors, the more luxury has increased and his habits have got refined,
the greater is the variability to which his sexual life has become
subject, and the smaller has been the influence exerted upon it by the
changes of the seasons.
Man has thus gone through the same transition as certain domestic
animals. The he-goat[188] and the ass in southern countries,[189]
for instance, rut throughout the whole year. The domestic pig pairs
generally twice a year, while its wild ancestors had but one rutting
season.[190] Dr. Hermann Müller has even observed a canary that laid
eggs in autumn and winter.[191] Natural selection cannot, of course,
account for such alterations: they fall under the law of variation.
It is the limited pairing season that is a product of this powerful
process, which acts with full force only under conditions free from
civilization and domestication.
If the hypothesis set forth in this chapter holds good, it must be
admitted that the continued excitement of the sexual instinct could not
have played a part in the origin of human marriage—provided that this
institution did exist among primitive men. Whether this was the case I
shall examine in the following chapters.