The fact that no element of ideal morality enters into the question is shown by the usual absence of any demand for ante-nuptial chastity in the husband.
It must not be supposed that when, as is most usually the case, there is no complete and permanent prohibition of extra-nuptial intercourse, mere unrestrained license prevails.

That has probably never happened anywhere among uncontaminated savages.
The rule probably is that, as among the tribes at Torres Straits (_Reports Cambridge Anthropological Expedition_, vol.v, p.

275), there is no complete continence before marriage, but neither is there any unbridled license.
The example of Tahiti is instructive as regards the prevalence of chastity among peoples of what we generally consider low grades of civilization.

Tahiti, according to all who have visited it, from the earliest explorers down to that distinguished American surgeon, the late Dr.Nicholas Senn, is an island possessing qualities of natural beauty and climatic excellence, which it is impossible to rate too highly.

"I seemed to be transported into the garden of Eden," said Bougainville in 1768.