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413 



folemn occafion* During the night we 



could fee thefe houfes manners 



illuininatecl, and frequently heard the found of their drums, , 



which are ufed at ■ their dramatic dances,. And in a few days 



: told, that they 



v/ould think of 



afterwards they removed to O-Taha, and we were told, 

 -would even go as far as Bora-boray before they v/oul 



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returning. So that feveral weeks mufl be fpent in thefe feafls of 

 Afreeoys. It is impoilible that , the frequent cohabitation with 



r 



women, fliould not now and then be produdive of an offspring 1 

 "nay fome of the modern Arreeoys, are fo far degenerated, that they 



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regularly keep a miilrefs> which, to all intents and purpofes, is 

 fimilar to a temporary wife, fuch as Muhammedans are ufed to- 



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marry for a certain time only.* But as this cuflom was contrary 

 to the fpirit of the original inftitution of Arreeoys^ .the Sages of the 

 nation made another law, according to which, all infants, the off- 

 fpring of the connexion of the Arreeoys with womea, fliould be in- 

 ilantly killed'.after their birth y becaufe, . the increafe of the Arees 

 was thou<^ht to be detrimental to the ftate, and the original en- 



/ 



gagements of the. Arreeoy 



never to cohabit with women, would 



elfe have been entirely defeated. Boba, the chief- of O-Taha, was 

 an Arreeoy, and neverthelefs kept Teinamaiy as a miilrefs, who was 

 with child by him, at our Ipcond return to the Society-iflands, and 



told 



* Chardm Voyage, vol. ii. p. 261, 263, de 1' edit, in i2mo. dc 1711. Aralleiv 



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