Note 1416 — X HISTORICAL RACES

Infanticide was practised by the extinct Guanches of the Canary Islands (Ploss, Das Kind, vol. ii, p. 259). Dasent says of the Norsemen that it was the father’s right to rear his children or not at his will. ‘As soon as it was born the child was laid upon the bare ground; and until the father came and looked at it ... its fate hung in the balance’ (Story of Burnt Njal, vol. i, p. xxv).