OF THE SOUTH SEAS 361 



Before Christianity was forced on them, the Tahitians 

 married in the same rank, and with considerable right 

 to choice. The tie might be dissolved by the same au- 

 thority binding it, the chief or head of the clan. In- 

 equality of rank, or near consanguinity, were the only 

 obstacles to marriage. Rank might be overcome, but 

 never the other. It was as in China, where Confucius 

 himself laid down the law: "A man in taking a wife does 

 not choose one of the same surname as himself." And 

 in one of the Chinese commentaries the following rea- 

 son is given for this law: "When husband and wife are 

 of the same surname, their children do not do well and 

 multiply." The prohibited degrees were more distant 

 than among us. It was a horror of incest that had led 

 to the general custom all over Polynesia of exchanging 

 children for adoption. Only this explanation could rec- 

 oncile it with the almost superstitious love the Poly- 

 nesian father and mother have for children. Their feel- 

 ing surpasses the parental affection prevailing in the re- 

 mainder of the world, yet adoption is a stronger bond 

 than blood. No child was raised by its own genitors. 

 The Tetuanuis had brought up twenty-five, all freely 

 given them at birth or after weaning. The taboo was 

 strict. 



Illegitimate children were as welcome as others. The 

 husband might have been so jealous as to meditate kill- 

 ing his wife; but when her child was born, although he 

 knew it to be a bastard, he gave it the same love and care 

 as his own. There were exceptions, but one might cite 

 on the opposite side innumerable cases where, despite 

 the most open adultery, the husband has taken his wife's 

 offspring for his own. It was well that this was so, for 



