The Descent of Man

servations apply to the whole archipelago, remarks:—"Numbers
of women are to be found,
who confess to the murder of from three to six
or eight children," and he adds, "females from
being considered less useful than males were
more often destroyed." From what is known to
occur in other parts of the world, this statement
is probable; but must be received with much
caution. The practice of infanticide ceased
about the year 1819, when idolatry was abolished
and missionaries settled in the Islands. A
careful census in 1839 of the adult and taxable
men and women in the island of Kauai and in
one district of Oahu (Jarves, p. 404), gives 4723
males and 3776 females; that is in the ratio of
125.08 to 100. At the same time the number of
males under fourteen years in Kauai and under
eighteen in Oahu was 1797, and of females of
the same ages 1429; and here we have the ratio
of 125.75 males to 100 females.