The sources of infanticide may, in general, be traced to necessity, superstition, the love of pleasure, and shame. Mothers in Japan, it is affirmed, do not scruple to suffo cate children at the breast, on finding themselves too poor to bring them up. Infanticide is said to be common in China exclusively from that cause. The women of the Knisti neaux, whom we have already named, frequently put their daughters to death, to spare them the miseries attached to a life of continual pain and labour, which is their own con dition. According to Gumilla, the South American wo men on the river Orinooko are so keenly alive to the un fortunate condition of their sex, that, to spare their daugh ters from it, they cut the navel string too close, that they may perish. A missionary having reproached a woman with the cruelty of this practice, " Would to God," she replied, " that my mother, when she brought me forth, had shewn as much compassion and regard for me, as to have preserved me from the pain 1 have endured and must en dure until the end of my days. Had she buried me alive when I was born, I should not have felt death, and it would have saved me from all I am indispensably subjected to, as well as labours more cruel than death is terrifying. Would to God, father, I repeat, would to God, that she who gave me life had shewn her affection by deprhing me of it at my birth my heart would have had less to suffer, and my eyes less to weep !" In most countries, it is the female offspring which is doomed to destruction, while the males arc spared : thus, if the twins of the New Hollander be of a different sex, it is the daughter alone that perishes. Dobrizhoffer relates, that he has known mothers among the Abipomans, a South American tribe, who destroyed the whole offspring as soon as they were born ; but others more commonly spared the males than the females. The ancient Arabians, especially those of the tribes Koreish and Kendal), were accustomed to bury their daughters, from the apprehension of inability to provide for them, as also, it is said, from the grief which would be felt on their becoming captives, or from their immoral conduct. But most probably the first was the i leading cause, which, as well as the fact itself, is proved by various passages in the Koran : " Verily the Lord will enlarge the store of whom he pleaseth, and will be sparing unto whom he pleaseth : kill not your children, for fear of being brought to want ; we will provide for them and for you : verily the killing of them is a great sin." By this, M i and other injunctions of ahomet, the practice is it ed to have been abolished in Arabia. Prohably t never was universal there. But it has been reserved for modern times to discover the existence of a numerous tribe, which seems to have destroyed almost the whole female offspring without exception. As the British dominions extended to the north-west of the Indian peninsula, a certain race called Jarejahs, was found in the province of Guzerat, and the district of Cutch, where civilization had made considerable advances, and where the nature of the country removed all apprehensions of want. Here there are different grada tions of rank, and the members of this tribe are far supe rior in point of refinement to those in savage life. The Jarejahs destroy all their daughters at the moment of their birth, just as the result of an ordinary custom, which ex cites no concern, and induces no reproach. But if the deed is not perpetrated immediately on birth, it becomes crim inal : It is also done in obedience to the will of the father, who may direct the life of the infant to be spared. The birth of a son among these people is a scene of mirth and festivity ; that of a daughter passes unnoticed. As Ma hornet writes of the ancient Arabs, " and when any of them is told the news of the birth of a female, his face be cometh black, and he is deeply afflicted : he hideth himself from the people, because of the ill tidings which have been told him, considering within himself whether he shall keep it with disgrace, or bury it in the dust." On the birth of a daughter, it is said that the attendants of the mother re pair to the oldest man in the house, who desires them to go to the father of the infant, and obey his orders. They do so, and he merely enjoins them to act as is customary, and so to inform the mother. On their return, she is told to proceed in conformity to their usage. It seems doubtful, however, whether all this ceremonial truly ensues, for ceremonies are generally obliterated in matters of frequent occurrence ; but the death of the infant undoubtedly fol lows, and more commonly by the hands of the mother. Yet here there is much mystery preserved, somewhat simi lar, as we shall see, to the customs of that society which is instituted exclusively for the purpose of infanticide. The deed is committed in private, though not with the design of concealment, for neither shame nor punishment is its consequence. Ladies of rank, who may have slaves or servants, arc said sometimes to charge them with this cruel office, but they are usually the perpetrators them selves. As to the mode of destruction, it is figuratively expressed by the Jarcjahs that the infant is drowned in milk ; but it rather appears, that when the mother is ap prised of the paternal sentence, she puts opium on the nipple of her breast, which being absorbed along with the milk, speedily extinguishes life. When destroyed, the in fant is put into a basket and carried out for interment. The extent to which female infanticide is carried in Cutch and Guzerat is surprising, not fewer than 3000 females perish yearly in the former, and it is affirmed 20,000 in the latter. It will appear strange how the race can be preserved under such a system of depopulation ; but natural children are not within its sphere ; wives are obtained by the men from other tribes, and there are, besides, a few exceptions in pa rents sparing their daughters. No account of the origin of the custom can he given by the Jarejahs, who affirm that it subsisted among them for 5000 years. Fortunately for the natives of Guzerat, the British influence extended to that province, and the resident, Lieutenam-Colonel Walker, (who now resides on his property of Bowland in Selkirkshire,) conceived the possibility of abrogating a custom so revolting to humanity. He endeavoured, with admirable skill and perseverance, not only to divert the chief men of the country from this horrible practice, but to gain the support of the female part of the inhabitants in promoting his views. Many difficulties opposed his wise and benevolent exertions ; but he had at last the felicity of seeing them crowned with complete success. The chiefs
renounced a practice, which they defended as having been interwoven with the existence of their tribe for thousands of years ; mothers soon brought their offspring, thus saved from premature destruction, to the arms of their preserver; and the very first lesson they were taught was to pronounce his name. It must certainly appear singular, that pre judices so deeply implanted, and passing, as it were, by inheritance, could be rooted out by the efforts of one in dividual, and thus admit a benefit of such magnitude be ing conferred on humanity. But when reflection is awak ened to the welfare of our offspring, it is nature which begins to plead, and whose voice will surmount almost every obstacle.
Other instances may be given of that infanticide which is not restricted to females. Krascheninikow says, that there are some of the Kamtschadale women so unnatural as to destroy their children when born, or throw them alive to the dogs. The missionaries affirm that the Bosjesmans, or Bushmen, an African tribe, whose history is little known, " take no great care of their children ; that they kill them without remorse on various occasions, as when they are ill-shaped, or when they are in want of food. When the father of a child has forsaken its mother, or when obliged to fly from the Dutch boors, or from others, they will strangle them, smother them, cast them away in the desert, or bury them alive." Should there be no exag geration here, the barbarity of these savages is greater than that of any other tribe whose name is preserved in his tory. lint the even seem to assert, that a lion comes to their dwelling for the express purpose of devour ing infants. " There are instances of parents throwing their tender offspring to the hungry lion, who stands roar ing before their cavern, refusing to depart until some peace offering be made to him." Mr. Barrow passes a strong censure on this sentence; but, when stripped of its appa rent extravagance, it may be resolved into what a later missionary, Mr. Campbell, expresses with greater sim plicity, " the Dutch boors affirm, that the Bushmen often throw their children to the lion to preserve themselves, which has greatly increased the desire of these animals after human flesh, especially the flesh of Bushmen, so much so, that were a lion to find a white man and a Bush man asleep together, he would take the Bushman, and leave the white man." The same author mentions, that. the bushmcn are very kind to their own offspring, " though there are frequent instances of those who have had children murdering them, if the father refused to pro-, vide for them." It is generally agreed, that infanticide is universal in China, being either immediately committed by the hands of the parents, or resulting from exposure to the influence of the elements. The exposure of children was a privilege commonly sanctioned among the ancients : it was so pre valent, that Elian celebrates the humanity of the Thebans, who decreed capital punishment against it : nevertheless, where the parents were in poverty, they might offer the child for a price to the magistrates, who, having brought it up, were entitled to sell it for a slave. Almost all the children exposed in China are females; and the number, though it be difficult to approximate the truth, is certainly very great. Mr. Barrow computes, from the most au thentic data which may be deduced from the statement of the missionaries, that it is not less than 9000 in Pekin, the capital, and as many in the provinces. It is part of the duty of the police, to carry away in carts, early every morning, those who may have been exposed during the night. No inquiries are made : many are dead, but some still survive, and all are conveyed to a pit without the walls, wherein they are thrown promiscuously. Here the Roman Catholic missionaries attend, selecting the most lively among the infants for future proselytes, and adminis tering baptism to others before they are left to expire. The causes of exposure and infanticide are sought in the necessities of the parents, as with the ruder nations ; for those least capable of providing for themselves are com pelled to abandon their offspring. Infanticide is well known to be connived at by the Chinese government, and never the subject of punishment.
Instead of awaiting that period, however, when even by exposure an infant may have the chance of survivance, we find the Arreoys forming a mysterious society, ex pressly for the purpose of destroying their whole off spring at the moment of birth. This society is peculiar to the islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of both sexes, and is chiefly composed on the one part of persons distinguished by valour or merit ; whence some of the families of the chiefs are always of the number. The greatest trust and confidence are reposed in its mem bers; and it appears that the females are principally of the highest rank. The whole enjoy great privileges, and are every where united by the tics of reciprocal friendship and hospitality : their clothes are of the finest materials ; they feed on the choicest delicacies. They pass their time in the enjoyment of luxuries, and travel about in great com panies from island to island, where nocturnal sports.are held for their amusement, along with lascivious dances, to which no other spectators are admitted. They are consi dered a class separate from the other inhabitants, entitled to every distinction and gratification. Different gradations subsist among them, which are externally demonstrated by the mode of tattooing their bodies. By the fundamen tal laws of the Arreoys, their whole offspring must be de stroyed ; and it is to be.inferrecl that the murder is perpe trated in solitude, and immediately after birth. None must be present, or behold its commission, otherwise they would themselves be deemed participators in the crime, and lia ble to forfeit their lives. The ordinances of this society seem absolute and imperative ; and although any member may withdraw, while the association subsists, the offspring must perish. A woman who does so, however, incurs a reproachful name, signifying the bearer of children." An instance is quoted of a chief who killed his first born child, but preserved the second, having ceased to be an Arreoy in the interval. Another chief married a sister of one of the kings of Otaheite, by whom he had eight chil dren, and the whole, without exception, were destroyed ; yet the parents afterwards adopted a nephew as their heir.