+621+. The despotism exercised by taboo systems over certain Polynesian communities is one of the extraordinary facts of human history. In New Zealand and Hawaii the restrictions on conduct were so numerous and were carried out so mercilessly that life under these conditions would seem to us intolerable.[1022] In addition to a great number of particular prohibitions and to the constant fear of violating the sacredness of the persons of chiefs and trenching on their prerogatives, we find in New Zealand the amazing rule that on the occasion of a great misfortune (as a fire) the sufferer was to be deprived of his possessions--the blow that fell on him was held to affix a stigma to all that he owned. Besides the traditional taboos there were the arbitrary enactments of chiefs which might constantly introduce new possibilities of suffering. Yet with all this the people managed to live in some degree of comfort, somewhat as in civilized communities life goes on in spite of earthquakes, epidemics, bank failures, the injustices of law, and the tyranny of the powerful.
+622+. The duration of certain taboo periods among various peoples in various ages has varied greatly. Taboos relating to foods, chiefs, and the intercourse of the sexes are usually permanent everyday customs; those that relate to economic procedures are in force for the time demanded by each industry. In Hawaii the catching of certain species of fish was forbidden for half the year, and the Borneo harvest taboo (carrying prohibition of other work) lasts sometimes for weeks. There is mention in a Maori legend of a taboo of three years.[1023] According to the later Hebrew law, in every seventh year all agricultural operations ceased.[1024] A portent may demand a long period of restriction, as in the case of the Roman nine-day ceremony (_novendiales feriae_).[1025] As has been remarked above, economic taboos are often dictated by convenience--they are prudential rules to which a supernatural sanction has been attached.
+623+. _Diffusion of taboo._ Polynesia, particularly New Zealand and Hawaii, is the special home of taboo--the only region in which it is known to have taken the form of a well-compacted, all-embracing system. It exists in Melanesia, but it is there less complicated and general,[1026] and the same thing is true of British New Guinea.[1027] In parts of Borneo it is found in modified form: there are two sorts of taboo, one, called _mali_, absolutely forbidding work on certain occasions, the other, called _penti_, allowing work if it is begun by a person not _penti_; before the birth of a child the latter form of taboo rests on both parents.[1028] The Land Dyaks have their _lali_ days and the Sea Dyaks their _pemate_,[1029] these terms being the equivalents of _taboo_.