KINSHIP IN POLYNESIA. 393 



castes in India : marriages between the different classes are not 

 absolutely forbidden. 



The position of a child born from a marriage between persons 

 of unequal rank may be decided in several ways. The child may 

 either be always assigned to the superior or inferior class, or al- 

 ways either to the father or mother. Polynesia offers us examples 

 of all kinds. 



If the father or mother alone belongs to the ruling class, the 

 child is, in the Caroline Isles, assigned to that class.* In the Tonga 

 Isles, the highest class — the Egi, or nobles — inherits rank and 

 property through the mother ; the children of the common people 

 (Mataboulas and Tuas) inherit from the father, but belong to the 

 mother's class, f In Otaheite, the children of a marriage between 

 a noble (Hui-Arii) and a woman of a lower class are set aside, un- 

 less numerous ceremonies are performed in the temple at the time 

 of the wedding, so as to raise the rank of the inferior person. J 

 Both among the nobles and in the intermediate class of land- 

 owners the father abdicates in favor of his new-born son, because 

 the son has an additional ancestor, and is therefore of higher rank 

 than his father. 4 * 



Marriages are dissolved in the Sandwich Isles at the wish of 

 either party ; only in the case of the chiefs there is no divorce, 

 but they form a connection with other women, and their wives 

 take other lovers. These are usually of inferior rank, and the 

 children begotten of such marriages are almost always put to 

 death, probably by the kinsfolk of the higher class, in order that 

 their own importance may not suffer from intermixture with an 

 inferior rank. || When we are told that in Hawaii the dignity of 

 chief is inherited through the mother, it must be understood that 

 preference is given to those of the chief's children whose mother 

 is of the highest rank. A " The wife does not share her husband's 

 rank. The rank of the child is decided by certain definite laws, 

 generally by that of its mother, but also in some cases by that of 

 the father. A woman of noble family who marries one of the 

 common people loses her rank in the event of bearing children to 

 him, in which case she and her children are degraded to her hus- 

 band's class. The right of inheritance is not decided by priority 

 of birth, but by the fact that the mother is of higher rank than 

 the other wives." Q 



This is also the case at King's Mill and in New Zealand. J In 



* Chamisso, vol. ii, p. 241. 



f Martin, vol. ii, p. 101. Kienzi, vol. iii, p. 45. Morgan, "Systems," p. 559. 

 % Ellis, vol. iii, p. 98. 



* Ibid., vol. iii, p. 100. Cook, vol. i. Hawkesworth, vol. ii, p. 243. 



| Ellis, vol. i, p. 256 ; vol. iv, p. 411. A Varigny, p. 14. 



Chamisso, vol. ii, p. 275. % Wilkes, vol. v, p. 85. Rienzi, vol. iii, p. 142. 



vol. xxxv. — 25* 



