exist." Letourneau: _The Evolution of Marriage_, p. 62. The same
author says: "It was also a widely spread custom throughout
Polynesia, and even a special deity presided over it. The Southern
Californians did the same, and the Spanish missionaries, on their
arrival in the country, found men dressed as women and assuming
their part. They were trained to this from youth, and often
publicly married to the chiefs. Nero was evidently a mere
plagiarist. The existence of analogous customs has been proved
against the Guyacurus of La Plata, the natives of the Isthmus of
Darien, the tribes of Louisiana, and the ancient Illinois."

The ancient Hebrews, ancestors of one of the most ancient of the
civilized races of the earth, held it in high honor. Even wise King
Solomon, in the days of his old age, turned from the abstractedly pure
religion of his father "to Astoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and
to Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites."[39] He was guilty of
constructing a "high place" for Chemosh, "the abomination of Moab."[40]
Any good modern biblical encyclopedia will tell the reader about
Astoreth and her worship, and what the "high places" and the "groves"
were.

[39] _I Kings_: chap xi, verse 5.

[40] _Ibid._, verse 7.

Even the "good kings," such as Asa, Amaziah, _et al._, did not remove
the high places and the groves, for we read that, notwithstanding the
fact that these kings did that which was right in the sight of the Lord,
they did not remove the high places. In the case of Amaziah, it is
written:

"And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, yet not like
David, his father; he did according to all things as Joash, his father,
did.

"Howbeit, the high places were not taken away: as yet the people did
sacrifice and burnt incense on the high places."[41] All of the
so-called "wicked kings" were phallic worshipers, and both male and
female hetarism flourished during their reigns. We read of Josiah, a
"good king," "And he broke down the houses of the sodomites
(_kedescheim_) that were by the house of the Lord."[42] Here, in
unmistakable terms (_kedescheim_), the phallic act of the hetara is
specified.

[41] _II Kings_: chap. xiv, verses 3, 4.

[42] _Ibid._, chap. xxiii, verse 7.

Herodotus wrote: "Almost all mankind consort with women in their sacred
temples, except in Greece and Egypt."[43] This is a queer mistake for a