8 Hutton Webster 



ceedings, and on occasions may itself be placed under a rigid 

 quarantine. When this happens a period of abstinence and quies- 

 cence is regarded as the surest means of avoiding dangers felt to 

 threaten each and every member of the social group. Nor will 

 the procedure greatly differ where distinctly animistic ideas pre- 

 vail and when the impending danger is specifically attributed to 

 the action of spiritual beings or deities. In the latter case, it is 

 true, the idea of propitiation becomes increasingly prominent 

 since it is often felt necessary to appease by various rites and 

 ceremonies the supernatural powers responsible for the visita- 

 tion. The two conceptions of abstinence and propitiation are not, 

 indeed, always sharply distinguishable in concrete cases, and with 

 advancing culture they tend to become more and more closely 

 conjoined. 



It is highly probable that the origin of some of these communal 

 regulations is to be sought in the taboos observed by individuals 

 at such great and critical seasons as birth, puberty, marriage and 

 death. Comparative studies have indicated how numerous are 

 the taboos which attach to these times of high solemnity and sig- 

 nificance ; and it seems reasonable to suppose that with the deepen- 

 ing sense of social solidarity, observances once confined to the indi- 

 vidual alone, or to his immediate connections, would often pass 

 over into rites performed by the community at large. Some 

 evidence tending to substantiate this opinion will be presented in- 

 cidentally as the investigation proceeds. 



L PERIODS OF ABSTINENCE AT CRITICAL EPOCHS 



I. TABU DAYS AMONG THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDERS 



Our knowledge of taboo in the Pol-ynesian area rests largely 

 on the vague and unsatisfactory accounts by the early mission- 

 aries who were unable to describe much more than its exterior 

 aspects, its origin and inner significance having quite escaped 

 their consideration. Fundamentally the system of taboos formed 

 a religious institution, if religion be understood in its broadest 



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