? ? ? ? The capricious operations of the taboo are not its least remarkable feature: to enumerate them all would be impossible. Black hogs- infants to a certain age- women in an interesting situation- young men while the operation of tattooing their faces is going on- and certain parts of the valley during the continuance of a shower- are alike fenced about by the operation of the taboo.
? ? ? ? I witnessed a striking instance of its effects in the bay of Tior, my visit to which place occurred a few days before leaving the ship. On that occasion our worthy captain formed one of the party. He was a most insatiable sportsman. Outward bound, and off the pitch of Cape Horn, he used to sit on the taffrail, and keep the steward loading three or four old fowling-pieces, with which he would bring down albatrosses, Cape pigeons, jays, petrels, and divers other marine fowl, who followed chattering in our wake. The sailors were struck aghast at his impiety, and one and all attributed our forty days' beating about that horrid headland to his sacrilegious slaughter of these inoffensive birds.
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