Supplement to the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Editions of the Encyclopædia Britannica/Arreoys
ARREOYS. Among the more singular Secret Societies which mankind have formed, is one in Otaheite and the neighbouring Islands, for the destruction of their own species, called Arreoy, Arehoe, or Earowie; and it is not a little remarkable, that it should subsist among tribes distinguished for courteousness and humanity. We read in the older authors, that there is an absolute prohibition against the females of Formosa rearing children before the age of thirty-six, though if does not appear that there is any limitation as to the age at which their espousals may take place. But, in the event of pregnancy, it is necessary, that abortion should follow, which is accomplished by the aid of the Priestesses of the Island. Among the Arreoys, however, extirpation of the infant being constitutes the leading feature of their ordinances.
Whether Mendana, Quiros, and the earlier navigators of the South Pacific Ocean, discovered this society, does not appear; it has, at any rate, been reserved for those of later date to unfold its principles and peculiarities; though, indeed, its constitution is still enveloped in much mystery, the members being bound to the strictest secrecy.
The society of Arreoys consists of hundreds or perhaps thousands of both sexes, who engage to destroy their own offspring at the moment of birth. It is chiefly composed of persons distinguished by valour and merit, and hence, one or more individuals of each family of the chiefs are of the number. It has been remarked, that all the men profess themselves warriors, and are in general stout and well made; that the greatest trust and confidence are reposed in them; and it rather appears, that the women consist of the higher ranks only. There are different gradations in this community, which are to be recognised from the mode of tattooing; the more profusely the men are tattooed, the higher is their rank in the society; the first are called Ava bly areema tutowe; 2. Areema bly; 3. Ahowhoa; 4. Harrotea; 5. Eote ole; 6. 7. Po; and youths training up are designed Mo; but the meaning of these names is not explained. By the fundamental laws of the society, the offspring must be destroyed; yet it is not known with certainty by whom or in what particular manner; the murder is always perpetrated in secret, probably by strangulation; all the attendants are excluded; for it is said, were they to witness it, they would be adjudged guilty of participation, and themselves be put to death. Sometimes the mother, animated by natural affection, tries to preserve her infant, and resists the persuasions of her husband, and his brother Arreoys, who wish to consign it to destruction. But in general the enormity of the crime does not appal the females, though they are described to be affectionate and tender. We find a dancing girl pregnant by an Arreoy, expressing herself thus to the English navigators: “Perhaps the Etooa or deity of England, might be offended with the practices of the Arreoys, but her own was not displeased with it. However, she promised, if we would come from England for her child, she might perhaps keep it alive, provided we gave her a hatchet, a shirt, and some red feathers.” That the rules of the community are very strict, may be inferred from an instance given by Captain Bligh. A chief, a member of the society, married a sister of the king of Otaheite, by whom he had eight children, and the whole were destroyed at their birth! Nor did this enormity seem to originate from any other source, as the parents afterwards adopted a nephew as their heir.
It may here be observed, that there are other practices among these people regarding infanticide, which, though we want materials for positively affirming the fact, may perhaps be connected with the institutions of the Arreoys. When an Otaheitan chief has a child by a woman of the lower orders, it is never suffered to live, and the like seems to take place reciprocally among the higher ranks of females. The King and Queen of Otaheite having ceased to cohabit, he had taken another wife, and she associated with one of her attendants of low rank. When pregnant, the missionaries endeavoured to persuade her to spare her child, which she said she would have done, had it been her husband’s, but now it would be base born, and must perish; and she resisted all entreaties to the contrary. Afterwards, having visited them, she excused herself for having put the infant to death; stating that it was the custom of the country to murder all base-born children, and hers being by a low man, she had only complied with the usual practice. Indeed, it is affirmed by the Missionaries who visited that Island in 1797, to be a common proceeding among all ranks, to strangle infants the moment they are born. “A perpetrator of this horrid act,” the narrator observes, “was among these whom curiosity attracted to visit us. She was.a good-looking woman, and esteemed by the natives a great beauty, which I suppose to be the inducement that tempted her to murder her child; for here the number of women bearing no proportion to the men, those esteemed handsome were courted with great gifts, and got so accustomed to change their husbands, to go with them from place to place, and run after the diversions of the Island, that rather than be debarred these pleasures, they stifle a parent’s feelings, and murder their tender children.” Thus many hundreds born into the world are never suffered to see the light; and so little criminality in the opinion of the natives is attached to the deed, that many women disclose the number they have put to death, without scruple. It has been calculated, that at least two-thirds of the births on the Island perish in this manner.
The Arreoys enjoy great privileges, and are everywhere united by the reciprocal ties of friendship and hospitality. When they visit different Islands, they receive presents, and are entertained with feasting and dramatic exhibitions; and all this they seem to expect rather as a matter of right than of courtesy. Their clothes are of the finest materials. They pass their time in luxurious idleness, perfuming their hair with fragrant oils, singing and playing on the flute, and passing from one amusement to another. “Wherever they go,” says Forster, “the train of sensual pleasure awaits them.” They feast on the choicest vegetables; and an abundance of dogs flesh and poultry are liberally provided by the lower classes for their entertainment. They are copiously supplied with kava, and for them are performed nocturnal sports of music and lascivious dances, to which no other spectators are admitted. Their presence seems to enliven the whole country; and among the various entertainments to which it gives birth, is one called hopowpah, of a dramatic nature, in which they themselves act a part. As soon as one Arreoy visits another, though a stranger, he immediately has his wants supplied and his wishes gratified; he is introduced to other members, who vie with each other in loading him with courtesies and presents. They are of all others the most luxurious and profuse, often consuming the whole provisions of a district. When Captain Cook lay at Huaheine, no less than 70 canoes were observed crossing over to another Island, with 700 Arreoys on board; and thus they keep great meetings at appointed times, and travel in companies from one Island to another. It has been affirmed, but perhaps without sufficient foundation, that a promiscuous intercourse of the sexes prevails in their society; however, they are permitted great latitude in their amours, except in times of danger, as almost all are fighting men. Sufficient inducements are therefore held out to be admitted into this mysterious community.
Any one may withdraw at pleasure from the society; and an example is given of a chief who had killed his first-born child, but preserved the second, having withdrawn in the interval. A woman who ceases to be an Arreoy, incurs a reproachful name, signifying “bearer of children.” Thus, while in most other countries the name of parent confers honour and respect; among the Arreoys of Otaheite, it is used as a term of contempt and reproach. A Chief of some repute, hearing that the King of Great Britain had a numerous offspring, he declared that “he thought himself a much greater man, because he belonged to the Arreoys.”
With respect to the origin of this society, Forster was the first to offer any conjectures. “In a country,” says he, “which has emerged so lately from barbarism as Otaheite, we cannot suppose that such a community, which is evidently injurious to the rest of the nation, would have maintained itself to the present time, were not its advantages so considerable as to require its continuance.” There are two causes, he adds, which favour the existence of the Arreoys: first, the necessity for entertaining a body of warriors, to defend their fellow-citizens from the invasions and depredations of enemies. Secondly, it was necessary by such an association to prevent the too rapid increase of the number of their chiefs. “Perhaps,” he remarks, “some intelligent Otaheitan lawgiver might foresee, that the common people would at length groan under the yoke of such petty tyrants, whose number was ever multiplying.” The ordinary practice of infanticide is ascribed by Mr Wilson, who visited the South Seas in 1801, merely to the love of pleasure and avarice, which latter passion had gained great ascendancy since the intercourse of the Islanders with Europeans; “being well aware,” says he, “that the beauty of females rearing families experiences an earlier decay, it is anxiously preserved for their visitors, by destruction of their offspring, or even by procuring abortion.” Before offering any opinion on this point, we shall notice a custom in the North West of India, somewhat analogous, which also is attended with mystery.
Amongst certain tribes called Jarejahs, which are more particularly disseminated in the peninsula of Guzarat, the whole females are devoted to death at the moment of their birth. But this is in consequence of general custom, not of any special association. The immediate death of a daughter is viewed as the inevitable consequence of its birth; and the innocent beings falling a sacrifice to this barbarous ordinance, yearly amount to many thousands. When a woman is delivered of a daughter, the event is communicated to the father by the female attendants, who desires them to do as is customary; an injunction said to be followed by the mother applying a tittle opium on the nipple of her breast, which is sucked in by the child. More usually it is strangled by herself, of drowned in a basin of milk; but women of rank, who have attendants, never perform the office themselves. However, from the mystery observed, it is, as among the Arreoys, difficult to obtain correct information. In some districts, any of the female attendants may put the infant to death; in others, a kind of domestic Priest becomes the executioner; and the infant being placed naked in a small basket, it is carried out to be interred; for which he receives a trifling fee. Among the Arreoys, those who preserve their children seem to suffer a degree of degradation, and they plead as an apology for their destruction, that it is necessary to preserve the privileges of their tribe. With the Jurejahs, the father is obeyed on signifying his desire for preservation; but if he continue silent on receiving the intelligence, the usual custom must be complied with. The mother is generally averse to the sacrifice, but her scruples to preserve her offspring are seldom attended to; should a short interval elapse, however, before the bloody deed is done, it then becomes unlawful, and the child must be spared.
In India, it is said that mothers who had been long barren, offered their first born as a sacrifice to the gods, either by leaving it in the woods to be devoured by beasts of prey, or by throwing it into a river. But, in progress of time, a commutation took place, by devoting the victim to the service.of some temple, from which it might be redeemed. The ancients were profuse of human blood to gratify their Deities, and even without the particular cause just alluded to, children were especially doomed to be offered in sacrifice. In times of public calamity, an only child was deemed the most acceptable sacrifice: as being more precious to its parents, its death was supposed of greater efficacy in purchasing expiation. “And when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too hot for him, he took with him seven hundred men that drew swords, to break through even unto the king of Edom; but they could not. Then he took his eldest son, that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall.” Nothing can be more precise than this passage of Scripture, as to the fact of a parent sacrificing his eldest child, in case of a grievous extremity; and there is also another passage, though more obscurely expressed, to the came purport, where the offering is in atonement. “Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” The barbarities which have been inflicted by mankind to allay their superstitious fears, seem to have no bounds or limitation. It is horrible to reflect, that the most painful death which the mind can figure, burning alive, has been alike the sacrifice of the moderns for erroneous religions tenets, and of the ancients to gain the favour, or to avert the wrath of their Deities. The Moloch of the Phenicians, the Kronus of the Greeks, the Kali of the Hindoos, were all sanguinary Deities. Children sacrificed to the two former, were precipitated into the arms of an idol, heated red-hot in a furnace; and thence, by a particular mechanism, fell into the fire. Hamilcar, on receiving sinister intelligence, attended with alarming circumstances, immediately seized on a boy, and sacrificed him to Kronus. On another occasion, the enemy being at the gates of Carthage, two hundred children of the first citizens were offered as a public sacrifice to avert the danger. “Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood.” But farther, we are told, that the mother herself, who offered her child in sacrifice, never uttered a sigh, lest its efficacy might be impaired; and while this innocent blood was flowing from hundreds of victims, their screams were drowned in the noise of clarions and tabors, provided by the priests for the ceremony. “Tell me,” says Plutarch, “were the monsters of old, the Typhons, and the Giants, to expel the Gods, and rule the world in their place, would they exact a duty more horrid than such infernal rites?”
Perhaps, therefore, the murderous practices of the Arreoys in the South Sea Islands, may have originated in some religious principle. At the same time, it appears, that, in the ordinary destruction of infants by the Islanders of the South Pacific Ocean, there is nothing of a sacrificial nature; for, though they do not suppose that their displeasure is thereby incurred, they do not pretend that the practice is acceptable to any of their Divinities. Mr Malthus, we may add, ascribes the origin of the Arreoy institutions to a superabundance of population, and the necessity of adopting some forcible expedients to bring it within the limits of subsistence. Of late years, much exertion has been made by the Missionaries to root out this sanguinary practice, but hitherto without producing any material effect. See Forster’s Voyage, Vol. II.—Cook’s First and Second Voyage.—Bligh’s Voyage.—Missionary Voyage.—Hamilton’s Account of the Loss of the Pandora. (S.)