260 S. E. Peal — Communal Barracks of Primitive Races. [No. 3, 



Whether the segregation of unmarried youths is seen in the island 

 of Nias, and among the Tagal and Igorotte of Luzon, and the forest 

 nomadics of central Sumatra I cannot say, but over the whole of 

 Polynesia it seems to have co-existed with a stage of complete sexual 

 liberty which now appears shocking to us. 



For many years one of the greatest difficulties met with by the 

 Missionaries over this region was the absence of terms in all the 

 languages, denoting virtue, modesty and chastity. The attempts to ex- 

 plain these terms to old or young alike, were met by shrieks of laughter, 

 as they were utterly incomprehensible. 



In all cases this universal and naive immodesty seems to have co- 

 existed with the communal barracks sacred to men only, whether among 

 exogamic or endogamic communities, and even among those as in "Taipi" 

 of the Marquesas, where marriage, as we understand it, had not been 

 fully developed, or hardly begun. 



In the " Narrative of a four months' residence in the Typee Valley 

 of NuTcuMva, one of the Marquesas, in 1847," Mr. Hermann Melville 

 fully describes the "Ti" or bachelors' hall, "at least 200 feet in length, 

 though not more than 20 in breadth ; the whole front of this structure 

 was completely open. Its interior presented the appearance of an im- 

 mense lounging-place, the entire floor being strewn with successive 

 layers of mats. Thus far Ave had been accompanied by a troop of 

 the natives of both sexes, but as soon as we approached its vicinity, 

 the females gradually separated themselves from the crowd, and stand- 

 ing aloof, permitted us to pass on. Inside, muskets, rude spears, and 

 war clubs were ranged around." 



This is an almost exact repetition of Mr. Needham's description of 

 the Abors' "bachelors' hall", or "Mosup" (Proceeding, B. G. S. May, 

 1886, p. 317.) "80 yards longand 10 yards wide," and is entirely open 

 along the whole of one side. In this house all the single men warriors 

 reside, and it is also used as a council room, and the arms are also 

 stored in it as in the " Ti," of the " Marquesas." 



The most remarkable feature in regard to Typee is that while in 

 that instance the sexual liberty was unusually complete, and the 

 " bachelors' barracks " seen in its purest form, the institution of " mar- 

 riage " was yet in its infancy and from the very nature of the conditions 

 was developing on endogamic lines. 



The "capture of wives" appears in that case to have been practi- 

 cally an impossibility, as a rule, and hence it may be one of the rare 

 instances where monogamy or polyandry arose by endogamy. But the 

 marriage tie, or "nuptial alliance " seems to have been of a very simple 

 nature, and easily dissolved. 



