Ch. v. the Islands of the South Sea. 85 



societies in Otaheite. But it seems to be stated 

 on unquestionable authority that prostitution is 

 extensively diffused, and prevails to a great de- 

 gree among the lower classes of women ;* which 

 must always operate as a most powerful check to 

 population. It seems highly probable that the 

 toutous, or servants, who spend the greatest part 

 of their time in attendance upon the chiefs,! do 

 not often marry; and it is evident that the poly- 

 gamy allowed to the superior people must tend 

 greatly to encourage and aggravate the vice of 

 promiscuous intercourse among the inferior 

 classes. 



Were it an established fact that in the more 

 fertile islands of the Pacific Ocean very little or 

 nothing was suffered from poverty and want of 

 food, as we could not expect to find among sa- 

 vages in such climates any great degree of moral 

 restraint, the theory on the subject would natu- 

 rally lead us to conclude, that vice, including war, 

 was the principal check to their population. The 

 accounts which we have of these islands strongly 

 confirm this conclusion. In the three great 

 groups of islands which have been noticed, vice 

 appears to be a most prominent feature. In Eas- 

 ter Island, from the great disproportion of the 

 males to the females,^ it can scarcely be doubted 



* Cook's Third Voy. vol. i. p. 401. Vol. ii. p. 543. Vol. iii. 

 p. 130. Missionary Voy. p. 270. 



f Cook's Third Voyage, vol. i. p. 394. 



% Id. Second Voy. vol. i. p. 289. Voyage de Perousc, c. iv. p. 

 323. c. v. p. 336. 4to. 1794. 



