INFANTICIDE. 



119 



fBfaMiridr. poisonous medicine*, wherein they are assisted by >kil- 

 ' -~ tut old women. M-Kenzie, the late traveller tcri 



rt!0a N ttinent, ;!}irms that the women of 



faL'abor^* l neaux frequently procure abortion to avoid 



'. the distress consequent on taking care of, and muintuin- 



their children. The K^kimaux, inhabiting the 

 shores of Hudson's Bay, according to Ellis, constrain 

 their wives to obtain frequent abortions for the same 

 cause, by means of an herb common in that country : 

 and an older, author, Deny*, say*, that if a woman of 

 North America became pregnant while suckling her 

 child, she obtained abortion; alleging, that n 

 one at a time was enough. Other examples might In- 

 given ; for procuring abortion is common over the 

 t, anil must to a certain extent prevail where mis- 

 fortune or disgrace attend the birth of the offspring. 



There i? ihene mo- 



tives as the oiu-e of infanticide whe-re the child i-i 

 actually born. The instance* of it are innumerable, 

 though arising also from different causes. Among the 

 inhabitants of the Kurile islands, it is customary to 

 ffMirH-rM destroy one of twins. The American Indian-, in tf.e 

 neighbourhood of. Berbice, are said to do so, from be- 

 .t the birth of two children proves the infide- 

 lity ot tin- mother. Kolben informs us that the i 

 of Hottentot femalet wins is put to death, under t' 

 text that a mother 'cannot suckle two females at once. 

 ait one of twins was wont to t 1 with 



-chadales ; and in New Holhnd, the weakest 

 and lightest is quickly suffocated by the mother. 

 IsfrslliUi A there is greater difficulty experienced in snpport- 

 w"> ing feeble and sickly children, or those labourin 

 J*'"J W *' der prominent personal imperfections, so the in 



have had less hesitation in bereaving them of exist- 

 iiodorus relates, that all deformed children 

 tprobana, which we suppose is Ceylon, were put 

 to death. Quintnt Curtiu* says the same of those in 

 the kingdom of Sophhus. Promising children were 

 reared in Sparta the others were destroyed ; nor 

 ipare those whom they chose ; a* they 

 were submitted to the examination of certain person*, 

 ik or deformed, were thrown into a cavern. 

 11i Careri was told in I'.-irsgoa, one of the 1 

 that children bora with imped. 

 which would apparently dial>le them from w 

 were put alive into a hollow cane, and burr. 

 cruel expedients must be viewed as the result of neces- 

 mther than of choice ; because in countries where 

 each has to depend on his own personal exertion for a 

 precarious subsistence, there is no room to provide for 

 the helptr**. i "H been seen, that, by a barba- 



rous custom, originating from a similar source, when a 

 perished .w and orphans were put to 



'it from the desire of shedding blood, but be- 

 anrivors had no means of supporting them. 

 ' md, when the mother of an infant at the 

 i- child a burird along with her, if the 

 father and relations could not find a nurse. At the 

 present day. it seems an invariable practice of the ta- 

 nking infant in 

 ante grr- <l< parted mother ; nay, the fa- 



'ie first to heap the earth over the Ho 

 both. No concern i* te*tined by the rrl.itivr* for itt 

 Tnry seem satisfi' t to be 



; for their own helpless con> rive* thi-m 



of the means of providing for a being still more help- 

 lew than themvlvev. 



The source* of infanticide may, in genera), be traced 

 ls*sukiJ. to necessity, superstition, the love of pleasure, and 



shame. Mothers in Japan, it is affirmed, do not scruple Infanticide 

 to suffocate children at the breast, on finding themselves s ~*~.~" 

 too poor to bring them up. Infanticide is said to be com- 

 mon in China exclusively from that cause. The women of 

 theKnistineaux, whom wehavealready named, frequent- 

 ly put their daughters to death to spare them the miseries 

 attached to a life of continual pain and labour, which 

 is their own condition. According to Gumilla, the 

 South American women on the river Orinooko, are 

 so keenly alive to the unfortunate condition of their 

 sex, that, to spare their daughters from it, they cut the 

 navel string too close, that they may perish. A mU- 

 sionary having reproached a woman with the cruelty 

 of this practice, " Would to God," she replied, " that 

 my mother, when she brought me forth, had shewn as 

 much compassion and regard for me as to hive pre- 

 served me from the pain 1 have endured and must en- 

 dare until the end of my days. Had she buried me alive 

 when I was born, I should not have felt death, and it 

 would have saved me from all I am indispensably sub- 

 jected to, as well as labours more cruel than death is 

 terrifying. Would to God, father, I repeat, would to 



i it -he who gave me life had shewn her affection 

 by depriving me of it at my birth: my heart would 

 have had less to suffer, and my eyes less to weep !" 



In most countries, it is the female offspring which is Females sre 

 doomed to destruction, while the males are spared: thus, more u*"* 1 - 

 if the twin, oftK- NYw 1 lollander be of a different sex, V***** 

 it is the daughter alone that perishes. Dobrizhoffer re- 

 lates, that he has known mothers among the Abiponians, 



li American tribe, who destroyed the whole off- 

 spring as soon as they were born ; but others more com- 

 monly ipared the males than the females. The ancient 

 Arabians, especially those of thetribes Koreish and Ken- 

 dah, were accustomed to bury their daughters, from the 

 apprehension of inability to pro\ idr for them, as also, it 

 is said, from the grief which would be felt on their be- 

 coming captives, or from their immoral conduct. But 

 most probably the first was the leading cause, which, as 

 well .-< the fact iUelf, is proved by various passages in 

 the Koran : " Verih will enlarge the store of 



whom he pleaseth, and will be sparing unto whom he 

 pleaseth: kill not your children, for fear of being 

 brought to want ; we will provide for them and for you : 

 vrrily the killing of them is a great sin." By this, and 

 other injunctions of N! ' lie practice is supposed to 



hare been abolished in Arabia. Probably it never was 

 universal tin-re. Hut it has been reserved for modern 

 times to ditcover the existence of a numerous tribe 

 which *eemi to have destroyed almost the whole female 

 offspring without exception. A* the British dominions 

 extended to the north-west of the Indian peninsula, a 

 certain race called Jarejahs, was found in the province Female in- 

 ,j!rrat, ami tin- district ot Cuu-h, where civilization fan'icide ' 

 had made considerable advances, and where the nature 

 of the country removed all apprehensions of want. 

 Here there arc'different gradationsof rank, and the mem- 

 bers of this tribe are far *ii|MTi(>r in point of refinement to 

 thine in savage life. The Jarej.ihs destroy all their daugh- 

 ter, at the moment of their birth, just as the result 

 of an ordinary custom, which excites no concern, and 

 induce* no reproach. Hut if the deed is not perpetrated 

 liirth, it becomes criminal : It is also 

 done i n to the will of the father, who may 



direct the life of the infant to be spared. The birth of 

 a son among these people is a scene of mirth and festi- 



that of a daughter passes unn-.tn i-il. As Ma- 

 homet writes of the ancient Arabu, " and when any of 

 them is told the news of the birth of a female, his face 



