L I E U 208 T E N A N T C O O K ’ s V O Y A G E
, ' 769- , upon the fpot. This however is comparatively nothing. If
any of the women happen to be with child, which in this
manner o f life happens lefs frequently than if they were to
cohabit only with one man, the poor infant is fmothered the
moment it is born, that it may be no incumbrance to the father,
nor interrupt the mother in the pleafures of her diabolical
proftitution. It fometimes indeed happens, that the
paffion which prompts a woman to enter into this fociety, is
lurmounted when Ihe becomes a mother, by that inftinc'tive
aflcdtion which Nature has given to all creatures for the pre-
fervation of their offspring; but even in this cafe, Ihe is not
permitted to fpare the life of her infant, except ihe can find
a man who will patronifc it as his child: if.this can be done,
the murder is prevented; but both the man and woman!
being deemed by this act to have appropriated each other,
are ejected from the community, and forfeit all claim to the
privileges and pleafures of Arreoy for the future; the woman
from that time being diftinguifiied by the term Whannovmo-w,
“ bearer of children,” which is here a term of reproach $
though none can be more honourable in the eftimation of
wifdom and humanity, of right reafon, and every paffion
that diftinguifhes the man from the brute.
It is not fit that a practice fo horrid and fo ftrange Ihould
be ltqputed to human beings upon flight evidence, but I
have fuch as abundantly juftifies me in the account I have
given. The people themfelves are fo far from concealing
their connection with fuch a .fociety as a difgrace, that they
boaft of it as a privilege; and both myfelf and Mr. Banks,
when particular perfons have been pointed out to us as members
of the Arreoy, have queftioned them about it, and received
the account that has been here given from their own
lips. They have acknowledged, that they had long been of
this
r o u n d t h e w o r l d .
this accurfed fociety, that they belonged to it at that time, »769-
and that feveral of their children had been put to death.
But I mull not conclude my account of the domeftic life of
thefe people without mentioning their perfonal cleanlinefs,
If that which leffens the good of life and increafes the evil
is vice, furely cleanlinefs is a virtue : the want of it tends to
deftroy both beauty and health, and mingles difguft with
our beft pleafures. The natives of Otaheite, both men and
women, conftantly wafh their whole bodies in running water
three times every day; once as foon as they rife in the
morning, once at noon, and again before they fleep at night,
whether the fea or river is near them or at a diftance. I have
already obferved, that they wafli not only the mouth, but
the hands at their meals, almofi: between every morfel; and
their clothes, as well as their perfons, are kept without fpot
or ftain; fo that in a large company of thefe people, nothing
is fuffered but heat, which, perhaps, is more than can be faid
of the politeft affembly in Europe.
C H A P .