Let us next consider the causes which favor the rise of polygyny. It is highly probable, in countries "unaffected by European civilization," that a surplus of women has exerted an influence in its favor.[447] Thus in India polygyny is found among peoples where there is a plurality of women, and polyandry where the reverse is the case.[448] Among the Kafirs and the aboriginal tribes of North America polygyny usually appears only where the women outnumber the men.[449] This disparity of the sexes may sometimes be due to the ravages of war;[450] but it is more likely, as in the case of polyandry, that it owes its origin to natural selection, abundance of nourishment tending to produce an excess of female births. Polygyny also arises from calculation. According to Wake, "abundance may be said to be the chief inducement to the practice;" and, as a matter of fact, it is usually the wealthier persons among polygynous peoples who indulge in the luxury of many wives.[451] Poverty and the approximate equality of the sexes, Spencer holds, are the natural restrictions of polygyny.[452] Again, "superior strength of body and energy of mind, which gained certain men predominance as warriors and chiefs, also gave them more power of securing women; either by stealing them from other tribes or by wresting them from men of their own tribe."[453] In this way the possession of a number of wives would become a mark of distinction. Consequently polygyny sometimes appears as the special privilege of the ruler or of a class; and, as Spencer suggests, from its association with greatness it may gain popular approbation, just as monogamy may be thought "mean" from its association with poverty. "Even the religious sanction is sometimes joined with the ethical sanction," as among the Chippewayans.[454] [447] This is the view of WESTERMARCK, _op. cit._, 482, as opposed to that of CHERVIN, _Recherches médico-philosophiques sur les causes physiques de la polygamie dans les pays chauds_ (Paris, 1812), 38; and he is sustained by GOEHLERT, "Die Geschlechtsverschiedenheit der Kinder in den Ehen," _ZFE._, XIII, 127. See also SPENCER, _Principles of Sociology_, I, 689, 690; WAKE, _Marriage and Kinship_, 204, 205. [448] WAKE, _op. cit._, 205; WESTERMARCK, _op. cit._, 482; GOEHLERT, _loc. cit._ [449] SPENCER, _op. cit._, I, 684, 689, 690; WAKE, _op. cit._, 205; CATLIN, _North American Indians_, I, 118. [450] SPENCER, _op. cit._, I, 689, 690.