ARREOYS. Among the more singular secret societies which mankind have formed, was one in Otaheite and the neighbouring islands for the destruction of their own species, called Arreoy, Arhoe, or Earowie.
Whether Mendana, Quiros, and the earlier navigators of the South Pacific Ocean, discovered this society, does not appear: it was, at any rate, reserved for those of later date to unfold its principles and peculiarities, though its constitution is still enveloped in mystery, the members having been bound to the strictest secrecy.
The society of Arreoy consisted of hundreds or perhaps thousands of both sexes, who engaged to destroy their own offspring at the moment of birth. It was chiefly composed of persons distinguished by valour and merit, and hence one or more individuals of each family of the chiefs were of the number. All the men professed themselves warriors, and were in general stout and well made; the greatest trust and confidence were reposed in them; and it rather appears that the women consisted of the higher ranks only. There were different gradations in this community, which were recognized by the mode of tattooing: the more profusely the men were tattooed, the higher was their rank in society; the first were called Araiby arema tatoué; 2. Arceumby; 3. Ahouhoa; 4. Haretoe; 5. Ete ole; 6, 7. Pe; and youths training up were designated Mo; but the meaning of these names is not explained. By the fundamental laws of the society, the offspring must be destroyed, yet it is not known with certainty by whom or in what particular manner; the murder was always perpetrated in secret, probably by strangulation; all the attendants were excluded; for it is said, were they to witness it they would be adjudged guilty of participation, and put to death. Sometimes the mother, animated by natural affection, tried to preserve her infant, and resisted the persuasions of her husband and his brother Arreoy, who wished to consign it to destruction. But in general the enormity of the crime did not appal the females, though they are ascribed as affectionate and tender. We find a dancing girl pregnant by an Arreoy expressing herself thus to the English navigators: "Perhaps the
Arrest. Etica or deity of England might be offended with the practices of the Arrecoys, but her own was not displeased with them. However, she promised if we would come from England for her child, she might perhaps keep it alive, provided we gave her a hatchet, a shirt, and some red feathers.1 That the rules of the community were very strict, may be inferred from an instance given by Captain Bligh. A chief, a member of the society, married a sister of the king of Otaheite, by whom he had eight children, and the whole were destroyed at their birth.2 Nor did this enormity seem to originate from any other source, as the parents afterwards adopted a nephew as their heir.
Probably the murderous practices of the Arrecoys in the South Sea Islands originated in some religious principle; but it is the mission and the glory of Christianity to abolish the enormities of heathenism. Through the patient labours of Christian missionaries in Otaheite and other islands of the Pacific, many of the natives have been converted to Christianity; and such has been the influence on society at large, that the revolting practices of the Arrecoys, with the monstrous and cruel rites of idolatry, have been banished from the islands which have been visited with the purifying light of the gospel.—See Ellis's Polynesian Researches, vol. i.