CHAPTER XIV 



THE GREAT PROCREATION FETISH 



The Tapu System — The Procreation Tapu — The Denunciation of 

 Malthus — The Denunciation of Sir James Simpson — 

 Ecclesiastical midwifery — Law and morals — The contagious 

 diseases — Their encouragement on religious grounds — 

 Human sacrifice — The magnitude of the evil — The Con- 

 tagious Diseases Acts — Their repeal — The price — The 

 bearing of the fetish on rational Temperance Reform. 



When first European travellers and missionaries 

 penetrated to the South Seas, they found in 

 existence amongst the island races a widespread 

 system of Prohibition known as the Tapu or Taboo. 

 All sorts of things, places, men, and acts were 

 tapu — sacred or accursed. Women especially were 

 affected ; men in a lesser degree. Many tapus 

 were absurd, but most served the commonweal. 

 All tapus depended on the religious sentiment. 

 The missionaries derided and denounced them as 

 products of barbarism and heathen superstition. 

 They forgot that, though the tapu has not else- 

 where received a name, the system has flourished 

 in every land and in every age. They themselves 



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