ack Continent, among the Monbuttu
and Akka; and since it is practiced very commonly in Australia, in many
islands of Melanesia, in Polynesia, universally, in some parts of
America, in Yucatan, on the Orinoco, and among certain tribes in Rio
Branco in Brazil;"[64] and since most of these people wholly or
partially hide their nakedness, it cannot, necessarily, have had its
origin in the desire for ornamentation. Again, since the rite of
circumcision among these peoples always takes place at puberty, when
_vita sexualis_ begins, and is always accompanied by other rites and
ceremonies of deeply religious significance, it must be a religious
observance and phallic in its nature. Girls, also, at puberty, among
many tribes of Africa, among certain races of the Malayan Archipelago
and South America have an operation performed upon them. "_Sunt autem
gentes, quarum contrarius mos est, ut clitoris et labia minora non
exsecentur, verum extendantur, et saepe longissime extendantur_."[65]
Surely such a peculiar and uncalled-for performance has a deeper
significance than mere ornamentation, and does not warrant the
expression "_atque ista etiam deformatio insigne pulchritudinis
existimatur_."

[V] Abraham was a Chaldean, and, in instituting circumcision, was
undoubtedly influenced by the religious beliefs of his people.
Circumcision, however, was, with him, a new and special phallic
rite, and one not in vogue among the Chaldeans. _Vid._ Genesis,
18:10.

[63] Westermarck: _History of Human Marriage_, p. 202 _et seq._

[64] Westermarck: _History of Human Marriage_, p. 201 _et seq._
See, also, Wallace: _Travels on the Amazon_, p. 117 _et seq._

[65] Westermarck: _op. cit. ante._, p. 106.

Tattooing, among certain races, is a phallic rite, and in the Tahitians
the priapic origin of this procedure has been preserved in an
interesting myth. Hinaereeremonoi was the daughter of the god and goddess
Taaroa and Apouvaru. "As she grew up, in order to preserve her chasity,
she was made _pahio_, or kept in a kind of inclosure, and constantly
attended by her mother. Intent on her seduction, her brothers invented
tattooing, and marked each other with the figure called Taomaro. Thus
ornamented, they appeared before their sister, who admired the figures,
and, in order to be tattooed herself, eluding the care of her mother,
broke the inclosure that had been erected for her preservation, was
tattooed, a