52 
Wild Life in Southern Seas. 
attended by a troop of what may be termed 
camp-followers, who, as Ellis observes, “ at¬ 
tached themselves to the dissipated and wander¬ 
ing fraternity, prepared their food and their 
dresses, and attended them on their journeys 
for the purpose of witnessing their dances and 
sharing in their banquets. These people were 
called Fanaunau (/'.<?., propagators), because they 
did not destroy their offspring, which was in¬ 
dispensable with the regular members of the 
whole seven classes.” Curiously enough, while 
steeped in every imaginable wickedness, there 
was with the Areoi a rigid code of morality 
among themselves. “ Each Areoi, although 
addicted to every kind of licentiousness, brought 
with him his wife, who was also a member of 
the society. And so jealous were they in this 
respect, that improper conduct towards the 
wife of one of their own number was some¬ 
times punished with death.” At Tahaa, in the 
Society Islands, a young girl, wife of one of 
the class called “ Harotea,” who had miscon¬ 
ducted herself with a lad at Fare, in Huahine, 
was taken before the assembled band of Areois, 
and deliberately slain by the leader, who was 
her uncle. Her husband, who begged for her 
