Abstract
MAY I, as a New Zealander, make a few comments on Prof. J. S. Huxley's very valuable review of “The Ethics of Birth-Control” (NATURE, September 26, p. 455). Europeans have found it almost impossible to elicit definite information from the New Zealand Maori regarding methods of control, although we have known quite well that control of fertility was exercised, and abortion is prohibited by the Maori Sacred Legends. Very few Maori women have more than four children; many fewer than four. In ancient times there was a betrothal for about eight or ten years, during which time no children were born. This betrothal was really a trial marriage. At the age of from twenty-five to twenty-eight, formal marriage took place between the betrothed lovers or otherwise, and the married woman had as many children as she desired, and by whatever father she desired.
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ROUT, E. Birth-Control among the New Zealand Maori. Nature 116, 575 (1925). https://doi.org/10.1038/116575a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/116575a0
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