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Lyttelton Times, Volume CXX, Issue 15124, 13 October 1909, Page 9

How the word ''taboo" came to bo adopted in England has been explained by Dr W. H. B. Rivers at the Royal Institution. The inhabitants of tho Banks Islands. Melanesia, he said, who belonged to tho secret or "ghost" 60cieties, protected their property without the aid. of the law by placing a taboo mark upon it, and it was then left alone for fear or consequences of a supernatural character.