taste, and enjoyeth not the advantage of siri (betel), for such a man doth not shine in the world, however fair may be his appearance." "It is the duty of the chief of the nation to inquire into every thing which can affect his subjects; and know whether they are prosperous or not, if every one attends to his duty, if they are skilful in the execution of it or not, and in all cases to take measures accordingly, never losing sight of justice. He must, as far as possible, be lenient in the punishment of the guilty, and liberal in the reward of the deserving." "The most formidable enemy of a man is his own conscience, which always brings his crimes before his eyes, without leaving him the means of avoiding it." No man can be called good or bad until his actions prove him so." 'It is well known that a man cannot take the goods of this world with him to the grave. Happy is the man who divides his property equally between himself and the indigent, who feeds the poor, and clothes the naked, and relieves all who are in distress; he has hereafter to expect nothing but good." "Riches only tend to torment the mind of man, and sometimes even to death, they are therefore, with justice, disregarded and despised by the wise. They are collected with pain and troubles in afterwards administering them; for if we neglect to watch them properly, thieves will come and steal, and the loss occasions as much grief as the point of death." These maxims, relics of a bygone era, have probably as little influence over Javan manners as the teachings of Confucius over the moral conduct of the Chinese, and probably not so much. Perhaps, however, they express pretty nearly the ideas still entertained as to woman, who is accredited with much the same character throughout most parts of the East. The Javan book of ethics says, indeed, that "a woman, however low her birth, if her manner be amiable and her person good, may without impropriety be made the wife of a great man." But a good wife would seem to be difficult to find. After showing that woman was the first cause of war, it is said, even as the roots of trees and the course of rivers cannot run straight, but wind here and there, so cannot a woman be upright for the saying is, that a raven can sooner turn white, and the tanjangplant (a water lily) grow from a rock, than a woman be upright." The qualities necessary to constitute a good housewife are:-She must be well-made and wellmannered, gentle, industrious, rich, liberal, charming, of good taste, and humble. But, says the Javan maxim, a man must, on no account, listen to the advice of a woman, be she ever so good; for the end of it will be death and shame: but he must always consult his own mind in what he has to do or not to do."1 We have seen that the moral ideas which govern the conduct of peoples of a low degree of culture are very different from those which are recognised by man in his most advanced stage. Such actions as murder, adultery, and theft, are, indeed, not wholly uncondemned even by the most uncivilized peoples. It may be considered quite proper to rob or kill an enemy, or one who is a stranger to the tribe. But for those who are closely united by social ties thus to act towards one another, is differently estimated. A life for a life is the almost universally recognised rule, but until a considerable degree of culture has been attained the punishment is left to be inflicted by the persons more immediately concerned, the friends of the murdered individual. 1 Raffles, op. cit., i. p. 256, seq. Hence the law of retaliation" of all peoples among whom the state has not taken the place of the individual as the avenger of injuries. Doubtless a relic of that primitive system is to be seen in the custom, still met with among the Abyssinians and certain other peoples, in accordance with which the accused, if found guilty, is given up to the friends of the deceased to be put to death. But murder is not the only crime which is punished with death. Theft is as severely recompensed. Thus, among the South Sea Islanders, the thief, if detected, might be killed on the spot, and if found out afterwards, was often either killed or severely wounded. Sometimes, adds Ellis, "they bound the thief hand and foot, and putting him into an old rotten canoe, towed him out to sea, and there left him adrift, to sink in the ocean, or become a prey to the sharks.” 2 The most frequent punishment for theft and other offences, however, among the lower class, was the seizure of all the property of the culprit, the injured person going to his house and carrying away every article worth possessing, and destroying the rest.3 So also among the Madecasses, until a very recent date, persons detected in the act of stealing in the public markets, by cutting off the lamba in which money is usually tied up, were mobbed by the populace and killed on the spot. Similar punishment for theft is inflicted, as we have seen, by uncultured peoples in other parts of the world, and we shall meet with it again when speaking of races more advanced. Adultery, also, is usually treated as a crime. Fear is said to restrain the Kafirs from the act, as, according to Mr Isaacs, it is punished by "instant dismissal of the unfaithful wife, if not by 1 Parkyn's "Life in Abyssinia," p. 344, seq. 5 3 Do., p. 126. Supra, pp. 170, 179, &c. her death, the latter fate invariably befalling the erring wife of a chief. As for the other culprit, the aggrieved husband has him at his mercy, and sometimes puts him to death, but sometimes commutes that punishment for a heavy fine." 1 Mr Grout says, however, that among the Zulus a few head of cattle will generally settle any case of adultery, rape, arson, homicide, or assault.2 In the South Seas, notwithstanding the moral laxity of the natives in other particulars, "the least familiarity with the wife, unauthorized by the husband, even a word or a look from a stranger, if the husband was suspicious or attributed it to improper motives, was followed by instant and deadly revenge."3 The offending woman was often punished by death. The Australian aborigines also, although, like the natives of America, they do not object at times to lend their wives, yet can be very jealous, and they object to have them taken away without their consent. The recognized punishment for stealing or running off with another man's wife, is spearing in the calf of the leg,5 or being made the target for the spears of the offended tribe, a shield being, however, allowed as a protection, and it is usually an efficacious one. The woman is dealt with at the discretion of her husband, and sometimes, says Oldfield, "she is delivered up to the tender mercies of the other women of the tribe, who, seizing and throwing her down, sit upon her body, which they scarify in a dreadful manner with sharp flints." Among most uncultured peoples, indeed, unfaithfulness of a wife to a husband is treated as a crime, and punished with more or less severity. 7 It would be a mistake, however, to suppose that 1 Wood, op. cit., i. p. 86; Shooter, op. cit., 2 86. p. op. cit., p. 120. 3 Ellis, op. cit., iii. p. 124, seq.; Turner, op. cit., p. 185. As to the New Zealanders, see Dieffenbach, op. cit., ii. p. 37. Oldfield, loc. cit., p. 250. 6 Wilkes, op. cit., ii. p. 195. 8 See Index," Adultery." 7 loc. cit., p. 250. actions which such peoples declare to be punishable as crimes, are so treated because they are thought to be "immoral," as we understand the term. This is evident from the general character of the people themselves, which, as appears from the preceding pages, is in most cases such as entirely to preclude any such idea. Mr Ellis, speaking of the Tahitians, says :-" Awfully dark, indeed, was their moral character, and notwithstanding the apparent mildness of their disposition, and the cheerful vivacity of their conversation, no portion of the human race was ever perhaps sunk lower in brutal licentiousness and moral degradation, than this isolated people."1 Bishop Williams declares that the New Zealanders could not understand the doctrine that it is wrong to indulge in evil propensities.2 Probably, however, the aborigines of Australia must be given the preeminence in general depravity, their conduct showing that the moral nature is with them as yet almost in its earliest stage of development. The treatment to which the women are subjected, which in itself goes far towards proving the truth of the statement, confirms the conclusion to be deduced from the facts detailed in the preceding chapter. By both their husbands and their relatives, the native Australian women are "beaten about the head with waddies in the most dreadful manner, or speared in the limbs, for the most trivial offences."3 Woman is in fact a mere chattel among the Australian natives, and no one thinks of taking her part, however severe her punishment, although it may be for an imaginary offence. A man may even beat the wife of another without retaliation on himself, but his own wife may expect in her turn to receive a beating at 1 Op. cit. vol. i. p. 97. Much the same same testimony is borne by the Rev. Geo. Turner, op. cit. pp. 184, 188. 2 Op. cit. p. 21. 3 3 Eyre, op. cit. vol. i. p. 322. |