n has been asked
again and again at the various villages we have visited and the same answer
obtained. This answer is given freely and apparently without any idea that
the practice is wicked, until they are taught so by us. The result of this
one practice on the morals of the people may readily be imagined. It
accustoms the mind to acts of cruelty and it prepares the way for impurity
and wickedness in forms that are never dreamed of in Christian countries."

In this connection an extract from Dr. David Abeel's[*] diary may be of
value.

[Footnote *: David Abeel was the founder of the American Reformed Mission
at Amoy in 1842.]

"Today had a conversation with one of the merchants who come to Kolongsu
for trade, on the subject of female infanticide. Assuming a countenance of
as much indifference as possible, I asked him how many of his own children
he had destroyed: he instantly replied, 'Two.' I asked him whether he had
spared any. He said, 'One I have saved.' I then inquired how many
brothers he had. 'Eight,' was the answer. I asked him how many children
his eldest brother had destroyed. 'Five or six.' I inquired of the
second, third and all the rest; some had killed four or five, some two or
three, and others had none to destroy. I then asked how many girls were
left among them all. 'Three,' was the answer. And how many do you think
have been strangled at birth? 'Probably from twelve to seventeen.' I
wished to know the standing and employment of his brothers. One, he said,
had attained a literary degree at the public examinations; the second was a
teacher; one was a sailor; and the rest were petty merchants like himself.
Thus, it was evidently not necessity but a cold inhuman calculation of the
gains and losses of keeping them, which must have led these men to take the
lives of their own offspring.

"Mr. Boone's teacher's sister with her own hand destroyed her first three
children successively. The fourth was also a girl, but the mother was
afraid to lay violent hands on it, believing it to be one of the previous
ones reappearing in a new body."

"The names of the five districts in the Chinchew prefecture are Tong-an,
An-khoe, Chin-kiang, Hui-an and Lam-an. Amoy is situated in the Chin-chew
prefect.

"From a comparison with many other parts of the country, there is reason to
believe that a greater number of children are destroyed at birth in the
Tong-an district than in any other of this department, probably more