WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY
marriage. Investigation proves, however, that it is a minor factor, at any rate in polygamy of early ages and among existing primitive tribes.
It is important to note that monogamy has always accompanied polygamy. Obviously, even when women have been redundant, there has not existed a sufficient number to enable each man to possess several wives. Polygamy is the luxury of the prosperous, and it stands for property-ownership. The poor man is bound to practise monogamy. Among some African tribes, the greed of the king and the chiefs, in the acquisition of large harems, actually condemns a part of the male population to celibacy.
"Polygamy," says Starcke, "can never have been the normal condition of a tribe, since it would have involved the existence of twice as many women as men."
It is often assumed that women in polygamic countries are the mere slaves of men, and that they are forced into plural marriage. This is scarcely the truth. Women as well as men have determined the forms of the sexual relationships in communities. Among animals living in polygamy, compulsion on the part of the males is very seldom apparent in their conduct towards the females. The sea lions are a marked exception. But the stag and other polygamous animals, woo and incite rather than impel the hinds
23
