CHAPTER II

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.