Infanticide is of common occurrence in many of the South Sea islands. In Radack, on account of scarcity of provisions, no woman is allowed to bring up more than three children; if she has more than this number, she is herself obliged to bury them alive; the families of chiefs only are exempted from this horrible necessity. Among the warlike inhabitants of New Zealand, boys are of course prized more highly than girls; and when mothers have several daughters in succession, they do not hesitate to destroy them as soon as they are born. When a chief is very ill, it is customary to strangle the infant child of some female slave, or inferior person, from the idea that it will propitiate the gods. Mr. Mariner relates an instance of this kind that occurred while he was in the Tonga islands. The mother, having some forebodings of what was to be done, hid her babe. But it was discovered, and carried off by some men, who ordered the poor woman to be held back by force, to prevent her from following them. When the child heard her voice, he began to cry; but when arrived at the place of execution, he was so much pleased with the bright band of _gnatoo_ about to be tied round his neck, that he looked up and laughed with delight. This excited so much pity, that even the executioner could not help saying, “Poor little innocent!” Two men pulled the cords, and the smiling little victim was soon deprived of life. In some instances, mothers whose children have been thus destroyed have become crazy, and never recovered their senses. In the Marquesas and Caroline islands, infanticide is a thing unknown. Even in New Zealand, and in other places where this shocking custom prevails and is justified, the children they do rear are cherished with the most indulgent tenderness, and no difference of treatment is observable toward sons or daughters. Mr. Ellis thus describes the conduct of a chief named Tetoro, whom he saw at the Bay of Islands in 1816: “Before we set out on our short excursion, an incident occurred, which greatly raised my estimation of Tetoro’s character. In the front of the hut sat his wife, with two or three children playing around her. In passing from the hut to the boat, he struck one of the little ones with his foot; the child cried, and though the chief had his mat on, and his gun in his hand, and was in the act of stepping into the boat, where we were waiting for him, he no sooner heard its cries, than he turned back, took the child up in his arms, stroked its little head, dried its tears, and giving it to the mother, hastened to join us.”