TREATMENT OF FEMALES. 171 



of Cook,) " I must in justice declare, that they 

 are usually gentle and kind, and by no means 

 so changeable and volatile as the Tahaitians, 

 nor so reserved and melancholy as the Friend- 

 ly Islanders: they live on the best possible 

 terms with each other, and in peace and kind- 

 ness in their families. We have often admired 

 the care and tenderness with which the women 

 treated their children, while the men assisted 

 them in their domestic occupations with a rea- 

 diness and good-will which did them great 

 credit. 



" If however we should pronounce on the de- 

 gree of civilization to which they have attained 

 by the estimation the female sex enjoys among 

 them, they would rank but low in the scale. 

 The women are not only forbidden to eat with 

 the men, but the best kinds of food are denied 

 them. They are not allowed to eat pork, turtle, 

 or several kinds of fish and bananas ; and we 

 were informed that a poor girl had been severely 

 beaten for having tasted of these prohibited 

 viands on board our ship. The females seemed 

 indeed almost to live in a state of separation 

 I 2 



