[K] Masculine hetarism is still in vogue among many primitive peoples, and is distinctly a religious rite. "The Kanats of New Caledonia frequently assemble at night in a cabin to give themselves up to this kind of debauchery.... In the whole of America, from north to south, similar customs have existed or still exist." Letourneau: _The Evolution of Marriage_, p. 62. The same author says: "It was also a widely spread custom throughout Polynesia, and even a special deity presided over it. The Southern Californians did the same, and the Spanish missionaries, on their arrival in the country, found men dressed as women and assuming their part. They were trained to this from youth, and often publicly married to the chiefs. Nero was evidently a mere plagiarist. The existence of analogous customs has been proved against the Guyacurus of La Plata, the natives of the Isthmus of Darien, the tribes of Louisiana, and the ancient Illinois." The ancient Hebrews, ancestors of one of the most ancient of the civilized races of the earth, held it in high honor. Even wise King Solomon, in the days of his old age, turned from the abstractedly pure religion of his father "to Astoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and to Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites."[39] He was guilty of constructing a "high place" for Chemosh, "the abomination of Moab."[40] Any good modern biblical encyclopedia will tell the reader about Astoreth and her worship, and what the "high places" and the "groves" were. [39] _I Kings_: chap xi, verse 5. [40] _Ibid._, verse 7. Even the "good kings," such as Asa, Amaziah, _et al._, did not remove the high places and the groves, for we read that, notwithstanding the fact that these kings did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, they did not remove the high places. In the case of Amaziah, it is written: "And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, yet not like David, his father; he did according to all things as Joash, his father, did. "Howbeit, the high places were not taken away: as yet the people did sacrifice and burnt incense on the high places."[41] All of the so-called "wicked kings" were phallic worshipers, and both male and female hetarism flourished during their reigns. We read of Josiah, a "good king," "And he broke down the houses of the sodomites (_kedescheim_) that were by the house of the Lord."[42] Here, in unmistakable terms (_kedescheim_), the phallic act of the hetara is specified. [41] _II Kings_: chap. xiv, verses 3, 4. [42] _Ibid._, chap. xxiii, verse 7.