256 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
lar gods of the order, that no child should be per¬ 
mitted to live. Another cause was the weakness 
and transient duration of the conjugal bond, 
whereby, although the marriage contract was 
formed by individuals in the higher ranks of so¬ 
ciety, with persons of corresponding rank, fidelity 
was seldom maintained. 
The marriage tie was dissolved whenever either 
of the parties desired it; and though amongst their 
principal chiefs it was allowed nominally to re¬ 
main, the husband took other wives, and the wife 
other husbands. These were mostly individuals of 
personal attractions, but of inferior rank in society. 
The progeny of such a union was almost invariably 
destroyed, if not by the parents themselves, by the 
relatives of those superior in rank, lest the dignity 
of the family, or their standing in society, should 
be injured by being blended with those of an infe¬ 
rior class. More infant murders have probably 
been committed under these circumstances, from 
barbarous notions of family pride, than from any 
other cause. One of my Missionary companions* 
states, that by the murder of such children, the 
party of inferior birth has been progressively ele¬ 
vated in rank, and that the degree of distinction 
attained, was according to the number of children 
destroyed,—that by this means, parties, before 
unequal, were considered as corresponding in 
rank, and their offspring allowed to live. 
The raatiras , or secondary class of chiefs, and 
others by whom it was practised, appear to have 
been influenced by the example of their superiors, 
or the shameless love of idleness. The sponta¬ 
neous productions of the soil were so abundant, 
that little care or labour was necessary to provide 
* Mr. Williams. 
