PKIMITIVE AGEICULTURAL RACES 191 



• 



Caroline Islands ^ (with the exception of Pelew). It was appar- 

 ently as common in the Sandwich Islands as in Tahiti. ^ It was 

 also practised in Fiji, but girls were destroyed in preference to 

 boys.3 Glaumond states that it is ' very common ' in New 

 Caledonia,* and this is confirmed by Bernard ^ and Moncelin.^ 

 The last named mentions that girls are Idlled in preference to 

 boys. It is moderately common in the New Hebrides, and again 

 more girls are killed than boys ; ' according to Meinecke it is 

 not so frequent in Tala as in Fate.^ Infanticide is ' very common ' 

 in Banks's Island,^ in Radack,i" in Vaitapu,^^ and in the Mar- 

 quesas .^^ It would not seem to be very prevalent in the Solomon 

 Islands, except in Ugi, where both Elton ^^ and Guppy ** report 

 it to be common. Otherwise, in the rest of the group it seems to 

 be rare,!^ and is absent in San Christoval.^^ It was formerly 

 common in the Bismarck Archipelago.^' There is evidence of the 

 existence of the habit in various parts of New Guinea : according 

 to Seligman it is ' common ' among the Southern Masaim ; ^^ 

 among the Northern Massim it is practised if there is a large 

 family of girls.^^ The same is said of the Mafulu people.^" Otherwise 

 it would seem, generally speaking, that infanticide is somewhat 

 rare in New Guinea. Murray suspects its existence among the 

 Baru tribe,2i and Erdweg among the inhabitants of Tumleo.^^ 

 Newton says that he only knows one district in British New 

 Guinea where it is frequently practised.^^ So, too, among the 

 Dyaks it is decidedly uncommon.^* Lastly, it may be noticed that 

 there exists ' in some parts of the Solomons and New Hebrides 

 a most remarkable state of things, all the children are killed, chiefly 

 by infanticide, it would appear, and substitutes purchased '.^^ 



1 Kotzebue, Voyage, p. 211. ^ EUis, Narrative, pp. 324 ff. ; Angas, Poli/- 



nesia, p. 144 ; Dumas, loc. cit., p. 19. The last-named author says that it 

 was undoubtedly more prevalent before the arrival of Europeans than later. 

 ' Waterhouse, loc. cit., p. 328. * Glaumond, loc. cit., p. 79. * Bernard, 



loc. cit., p. 288. * Moncelin, loc. cit., p. 3.57. ' Somerville, J. A. I., 



vol. xxiii, p. 4. According to Paton, ' Infanticide is systematically practised ' 

 (New Hebrides, p. 452). * Meinecke, Z. G. £'., vol. ix, p. 340. * Codring- 



ton, Mdanesians, -p. 22Q. " Kotzebue, loc. cit., p. 173. " Turner, iSa»»oa, 



p. 284. " Hale, U.S. Exploring Expedition, vol. vi, p. 15. " Elton, 



J. A. I., vol. xvii, p. 93. " Guppy, Solomon Islands, p. 42. '* Elton, 



loc. cit., p. 93 ; Somerville, J. A. I., vol. xxvi, p. 393 ; Parkinson, loc. cit., p. 8 ; 

 Ribbe, loc. cit., p. 144. '« Verguet, Rev. d'Eth., vol. iv, p. 206. " Brown, 



Melanesians, p. 36 ; Pfeil, loc. cit., p. 18. " Seligman, Melanesians, p. 568. 



" Ibid., p. 705. 20 Williamson, Mafulu People, p. 176. " Murray, 



loc. cit., p. 194. ^'' Erdweg, Mittheilungen der anthropologischen Gesellschaft in 



Wien, vol. xxxii, p. 281. " Newton, New Guinea, p. 189. ^* St. John, 



Forests of the Far East, vol. i, p. 48 ; Brooke, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 337. -^ Ratzel, 



loc. cit., vol. i, p. 268 ; Romilly, Western Pacific, p. 68. 



