138 SEX-LORE 



also expose their children, granting them life if they 

 survive. The same explanation, that no weakling 

 should be allowed to exist, is given by them. The 

 Maoris expose the newborn child for a certain time 

 under the shadow of a tree. In many tribes it is 

 watched and guarded during this time; in others it 

 is left to chance. No one may touch the child, for it 

 is made tapu (taboo) ; a carved or painted pole, hung 

 with flax, rags or bones, is stuck in the ground near 

 it to warn intruders. If the baby survives, it is taken 

 to the mother's breast and is at once recognized as 

 a member of the tribe. 



Many instances of infanticide, however, are more 

 in the nature of religious sacrifices. We have seen 

 that the custom existed in Rome. A relic of it is 

 seen in the story of the intended sacrifice of Isaac 

 by Abraham. It was sometimes the firstborn son 

 that had to be sacrificed to the gods; but this custom 

 later became mitigated, the eldest son being bought 

 off, at first by the sacrifice of animals, and still later 

 by other offerings. 



Remembering what has been repeatedly said before 

 as regards the depreciation of woman, it will not be 

 surprising to find once more that frequently less 

 value is attached to the life of girls than to that of 

 boys, so that the infanticide of girls is much more 

 prevalent than that of boys. Boys are always 

 needed to increase the number of warriors when they 

 grow up, and also to continue the tribal religious 

 worship, whilst girls cannot fight and may need 

 dowries. Some Hindus, on being reproached by 

 Europeans for their cruelty in burying alive their 

 newborn girls, replied: " If you pay us their dowries 



