OF THE SOUTH SEAS 409 



imaginative, active, ambitious Tahitians, to whom it 

 gave opportunities to display varied talents, to form 

 close friendships, to rise in rank, to meet on evener terms 

 those more aristocratic in degree, and, above all, to 

 change the monotony of their existence by eating, drink- 

 ing, and being merry in company, and all at the expense 

 of the other fellow. But — and the more you study the 

 Polynesian, the subtler are his strange laws and taboos 

 — the main provision in the Arioi constitution was un- 

 doubtedly conceived in the desire to prevent over-popu- 

 lation. 



Pepe, the woman of Tuatini, had returned to the ways 

 of the Arioi because her husband had adopted the white 

 convention of jealousy and monogamy. Only Tahi- 

 tians like Tetuanui now knew anything about the order, 

 and so many generations had they been taught shame of 

 it that the very name was unspoken, as that of the mis- 

 tletoe god was among the Druids after St. Patrick had 

 accomplished his mission in Ireland. 



