TABOO AND GENETICS 131 



where the boys begin to go with the father at 

 ten, the daughters with the mother at nine. 

 (39). In Korea boys and girls are separated at 

 seven. From that time the Korean girl is 

 absolutely secluded in the inner court of her 

 father's home. Mrs Bishop says : " Girl child- 

 ren are so successfully hidden away that . . . 

 I never saw one girl who looked above the age 

 of six . . . except in the women's rooms." 

 (36). Among the northern Indian girls are 

 from the age of eight or nine prohibited from 

 joining in the most innocent amusements with 

 children of the opposite sex, and are watched 

 and guarded with such an unremitting attention 

 as cannot be exceeded by the most rigid discipline 

 of an English boarding-school. (40). Similar 

 arrangements are reported among the Hill 

 Dyaks (41), certain Victorian tribes (17), and 

 many others. As already instanced, the separa- 

 tion of the sexes extends even to brothers and 

 sisters and other close relatives. Thus in Fiji 

 brothers and sisters are forbidden by national 

 and religious custom to speak to each other. 

 (9). In Melanesia, according to Codrington, the 

 boy begins to avoid his mother when he puts on 

 clothing, and his sister as soon as she is tattooed. 

 (42). In the exclusive Nanburi caste of Travan- 

 core brothers and sisters are separated at an 

 early age. 

 Women are more often than not excluded 



