PARENT AND OFFSPRING 139 



we will let them live." The lot of the Hindu women 

 is very hard, so that they are willing to drown their 

 daughters in the holy stream rather than that they 

 should grow up to the same life. The British Govern- 

 ment attempted to put a stop to this gruesome 

 custom by the Infanticide Act of 1870. 



Even among people who do not kill the girls, we 

 find that the birth of a daughter is very often con- 

 sidered a great misfortune. Among the Georgians, 

 a woman who has only daughters hardly ventures 

 to let herself be seen, but if she gives birth to a son 

 there is great rejoicing. In Montenegro, if a daughter 

 arrives the father stands on the threshold of his 

 house with eyes downcast, as if he were begging 

 pardon of his friends and neighbours. If several 

 daughters are born in succession, and there is no heir 

 and future soldier, the mother must call together 

 seven priests, who sprinkle the house with holy oil; 

 and the threshold must be replaced by a new one, in 

 order to purify the house that has been bewitched by 

 evil spirits on the w r edding-day. Many races, as, e.g., 

 the Arabs of Algeria and Tunis, celebrate the birth 

 of a boy with many days' festivities ; but the advent 

 of a daughter is quietly passed over. Even among 

 modern civilized people, boys are more wished for 

 than girls. We find an expression of this in the pre- 

 valent custom of announcing the birth of a prince 

 by a greater number of cannon shots than the birth 

 of a princess. 



There are, however, exceptions to this rule, many 

 tribes rejoicing more at the birth of a girl than of a 

 boy. The Dyaks of Borneo pray for a girl first, 

 because she is useful. The inhabitants of the Aru 



