When any of our people
made an overture to any of their young women, he was given to
understand that the consent of her friends was necessary, and by
the influence of a proper present it was generally obtained; but
when these preliminaries were settled, it was also necessary to
treat the wife for a night with the same delicacy that is here
required by the wife for life, and the lover who presumed to take
any liberties by which this was violated, was sure to be
disappointed." (Hawkesworth, op. cit., vol. ii, p. 254.)
Cook found that the people of New Zealand "bring the prepuce over
the gland, and to prevent it from being drawn back by contraction
of the part, they tie the string which hangs from the girdle
round the end of it. The glans, indeed, seemed to be the only
part of their body which they were solicitous to conceal, for
they frequently threw off all their dress but the belt and
string, with the most careless indifference, but showed manifest
signs of confusion when, to gratify our curiosity, they were
requested to untie the string, and never consented but with the
utmost reluctance and shame.... The women's lower garment was
always bound fast round them, except when they went into the
water to catch lobsters, and then they took great care not to be
seen by the men. We surprised several of them at this employment,
and the chaste Diana, with her nymphs, could not have discovered
more confusion and distress at the sight of Actaeon, than these
women expressed upon our approach.
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