Chapter 73

44Georgi,op. cit.i. 113.

45Ibid.iii. 13. von Struve, inDas Ausland, 1880, p. 796.

46Jessen,Afhandling om de Norske Finners og Lappers Hedenske Religion, p. 72. Castrén,op. cit.i. 118sq.

47Fraser,Tour through the Himālā Mountains, p. 335.

48Lewin,Wild Races of South-Eastern India, p. 256.Cf.Butler,Travels in Assam, p. 94.

49Man,Sonthalia, p. 20.

50Hislop,Papers relating to the Aboriginal Tribes of the Central Provinces, p. 1.

51Lewin,Wild Races of South-Eastern India, p. 341.

52Buchanan, quoted by Elliot, ‘Characteristics of the Population of Central and Southern India,’ inJour. Ethn. Soc. London, N.S. i. 105.

53Cumming,In the Himalayas, p. 356.

54Harkness,Description of a Singular Aboriginal Race inhabiting the Neilgherry Hills, p. 17sq.

55Lewin,Wild Races of South-Eastern India, p. 188.

56Mason, ‘Dwellings, &c., of the Karens,’ inJour. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, xxxvii. pt. ii. p. 146sq.Smeaton,Loyal Karens of Burma, p. 86.

57Woodthorpe, inJour. Anthr. Inst.xxvi. 21.

58Colquhoun,Amongst the Shans, p. 131.

59St. John, inJour. Anthr. Inst.ii. 241.

60Macpherson,Memorials of Service in India, p. 82.

61Man, inJour. Anthr. Inst.xii. 112.

62Sarasin,Ergebnisse naturwissenschaftlicher Forschungen auf Ceylon, iii. 548. Deschamps,Carnet d’un voyageur, p. 385. Nevill, ‘Vaeddas of Ceylon,’ inTaprobanian, i. 192.

63Hartshorne, ‘Weddas,’ inIndian Antiquary, viii. 320.

64Sarasin,op. cit.iii. 549.

In the Malay Archipelago native custom punishes theft with a fine, most frequently equivalent to twice the value of the stolen article,65or with slavery,66mutilation,67or even death;68and in many islands it was lawful to kill a thief caught in the act.69Among the Malays of Perak,70Dyaks,71Kyans,72Bataks,73and the natives of Ambon and Uliase,74theft is said to be unknown or almost so, at least within their own communities.

65Wilken, ‘Het strafrecht bij de volken van het maleische ras,’ inBijdragen tot de taal- land- en volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië, 1883, Land- en volkenkunde, p. 109sq.Crawfurd,History of the Indian Archipelago, iii. 117. Marsden,History of Sumatra, pp. 221 (Rejangs), 389 (Bataks). von Brenner,Besuch bei den Kannibalen Sumatras, p. 213 (Bataks). Junghuhn,Die Battaländer auf Sumatra, ii. 145 (Bataks), 308 (natives of Passumah in Central Sumatra), 317 (Timorese), 339 (natives of Bali and Lombok). Modigliani,op. cit.p. 496; von Rosenberg,Der malayische Archipel, p. 166 (Niase). Worcester,Philippine Islands, p. 108 (Tagbanuas of Palawan).

66Wilken,loc. cit.p. 108sq.Junghuhn,op. cit.ii. 145sq.(Bataks). Raffles,History of Java, ii. p. ccxxxv. (people of Bali). Forbes,A Naturalist’s Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago, p. 320 (people of Timor-laut). von Rosenberg,op. cit.p. 166 (Niase).

67St. John,Life in the Forests of the Far East, ii. 297 (natives of the kingdom of Borneo, formerly). Low,Sarawak, p. 133. Marsden,op. cit.p. 404 (Achinese of Sumatra). Hickson,A Naturalist in North Celebes, p. 198 (Sangirese). Crawfurd,op. cit.iii. 107, 115. Crawfurd thinks (ibid.iii. 107) that the punishment of mutilation was introduced by Muhammedanism.

68Crawfurd,op. cit.iii. 115 (Javanese) Kükenthal,Ergebnisse einer zoologischen Forschungsreise in den Molukken und Borneo, i. 188 (Alfura of Halmahera). Marsden,op. cit.p. 471 (Poggi Islanders). Among the Bataks (von Brenner,op. cit.p. 212) and Achinese of Sumatra (Marsden,op. cit.p. 404) robbery is punished with death.

69Wilken,loc. cit.p. 88sqq.von Rosenberg,op. cit.p. 166; Modigliani,op. cit.p. 496 (Niase).

70McNair,Perak and the Malays, p. 204.

71Boyle,Adventures among the Dyaks of Borneo, p. 235. Bock,Head-Hunters of Borneo, p. 209. Selenka,Sonnige Welten, p. 19. Ling Roth,Natives of Sarawak, i. 81, 82, 92.

72Low,op. cit.p. 336.

73Marsden,op. cit.p. 389. Junghuhn,op. cit.ii. 148.

74Martin,Reisen in den Molukken, p. 63.

Many of the South Sea Islanders have been described as honest among themselves, and some of them as honest even towards Europeans.75In the opinion of Captain Cook the light-coloured Polynesians have thievish propensities, but the dark-coloured not.76In the Tonga Islands theft was consideredan act of meanness rather than a crime,77whereas in many other islands it was regarded as a very grave offence.78Sometimes the delinquent was subject to private retaliation,79sometimes to a fine,80or blows,81or the loss of a finger,82or the penalty of death.83

75Earl,Papuans, pp. 49, 80, 105. Seemann,Viti, p. 46sq.; Anderson,Travel in Fiji, p. 130. Hale,U.S. Exploring Expedition. Vol. VI. Ethnography and Philology, p. 73 (Micronesians). Melville,Typee, pp. 294 (Marquesas Islanders), 295 n. 1 (various Polynesians). Williams,Missionary Enterprises in the South Sea Islands, p. 530 (Samoans). von Kotzebue,Voyage of Discovery into the South Sea, iii. 164 (people of Radack), 255 (Sandwich Islanders). Lisiansky,op. cit.p. 125 (Sandwich Islanders). Dieffenbach,Travels in New Zealand, ii. 105; Meade,Ride through the disturbed Districts of New Zealand, p. 162sq.; Thomson,Story of New Zealand, i. 86; Colenso,Maori Races, p. 43. Bonwick,Daily Life and Origin of the Tasmanians, p. 9.

76Seemann,Viti, p. 47.

77Mariner,Natives of the Tonga Islands, ii. 162. In Ponapé (Christian,Caroline Islands, p. 72) and among the Maoris (Meade,op. cit.p. 162) thieves are said to be despised.

78Earl,op. cit.p. 80 (Papuans of Dorey). Ellis,Tour through Hawaii, p. 429; &c.

79Turner,Samoa, pp. 278 (natives of Humphrey’s Island), 343 (New Caledonians). Lisiansky,op. cit.p. 80sq.(Nukahivans). Williams,Missionary Enterprises, p. 127 (natives of Rarotonga). Ellis,Polynesian Researches, iv. 420 (Sandwich Islanders).

80Earl,op. cit.p. 83 (Papuans of Dorey). Sorge, in Steinmetz,Rechtsverhältnisse von eingeborenen Völkern in Afrika und Ozeanien, p. 421 (Nissan Islanders of the Bismarck Archipelago). Williams and Calvert,Fiji, p. 22. Turner,Samoa, p. 281 (natives of the Mitchell Group).

81Cook,Journal of a Voyage round the World, p. 42 (Tahitians). Yate,Account of New Zealand, p. 104.

82Williams and Calvert,Fiji, p. 23.

83Gill,Life in the Southern Isles, p. 47. Turner,Samoa, pp. 290 (natives of Hudson’s Island), 295 (natives of Arorae), 297 (natives of Nikumau of the Gilbert Group), 300 (natives of Francis Island), 337 (Efatese, of the New Hebrides). Tutuila, inJour. Polynesian Soc.i. 268 (Line Islanders). Ellis,Polynesian Researches, iv. 421 (Sandwich Islanders). Cook,Journal of a Voyage round the World, p. 41sq.(Tahitians).

Among the natives of Herbert River, Northern Queensland, there is “considerable respect for the right of property, and they do not steal from one another to any great extent…. If they hunt they will not take another person’s game, all the members of the same tribe having apparently full confidence in each other.”84When a theft does occur, “the thief is challenged by his victim to a duel with wooden swords and shields; and the matter is settled sometimes privately, the relatives of both parties serving as witnesses, sometimes publicly at the borboby, where two hundred to three hundred meet from various tribes to decide all their disputes. The victor in the duel wins in the dispute.”85So also among the Dieyerie tribe, “should any native steal from another, and the offender be known, he is challenged to fight by the person he has robbed, and this settles the matter.”86Of the Bangerang tribe of Victoria we are told that, amongst themselves, they were scrupulously honest;87and, speaking of West Australian natives, Mr. Chauncy expresses his belief that “the members of a tribe never pilfer from each other.”88In their relations to Europeans, again, Australian blacks have been sometimes accused of thievishness,89sometimes praised for theirhonesty.90From his own observation Mr. Curr has no doubt that they feel that theft is wrong.91Of the aborigines of West Australia we are told that they occasionally speared the sheep and robbed the potato gardens of the early settlers simply because they did not understand the settlers’ views regarding property, having themselves no separate property in any living animal except their dogs or in any produce of the soil. But “only entrust a native with property, and he will invariably be faithful to the trust. Lend him your gun to shoot game, and he will bring you the result of his day’s sport; send him a long journey with provisions for your shepherd, and he will certainly deliver them safely. Entrust him with a flock of sheep through a rugged country to a distant run, and he and his wife will take them generally more safely than a white man would.”92

84Lumholtz,Among Cannibals, p. 147.

85Ibid.p. 126.

86Gason, in Woods,Native Tribes of South Australia, p. 266.

87Curr,Recollections of Squatting in Victoria, p. 298.

88Chauncy, in Brough Smyth,Aborigines of Victoria, ii. 278.

89Supra,ii. 2, n. 1.

90Howitt, in Brought Smyth,op. cit.ii. 306. Fraser,Aborigines of New South Wales, p. 90.

91Curr,The Australian Race, i. 100.

92Chauncy, in Brough Smyth,op. cit.ii. 278.

”The Arab,” says Burckhardt, “robs his enemies, his friends, and his neighbours, provided that they are not actually in his own tent, where their property is sacred. To rob in the camp, or among friendly tribes, is not reckoned creditable to a man; yet no stain remains upon him for such an action, which, in fact, is of daily occurrence. But the Arab chiefly prides himself on robbing his enemies.”93This, however, seems to hold true only of Bedouin tribes inhabiting rich pasture plains, who are much exposed to attacks from others, whereas in more sheltered territories a person who “attempts to steal in the tents of his own tribe, is for ever dishonoured among his friends.” Thus among the Arabs of Sinai robberies are wholly unknown; any articles of dress or of furniture may be left upon a rock without the least risk of their being taken away.94According to Waháby law, a robber is obliged to return the stolen goods or their value, but if the offence is not attended with circumstances of violence he escapes without further punishment, except a fine to the treasury.95Among some Bedouins of Ḥadhramaut theft from a tribesman is punished with banishment from the tribe.96Lady Anne and Mr. Blunt state that, with regard to honesty, the pure Bedouin stands in marked contrast to his half-bred brethren. Whilst the Kurdish and semi-Kurdish tribes of Upper Mesopotamia make it almost a point of honour to steal, the genuine Arab accounts theft disgraceful, although he holdshighway robbery to be a right. In the large tribes persons of known dishonesty are not tolerated.97

93Burckhardt,Notes on the Bedouins and Wahábys, p. 90.

94Ibid.p. 184sq.Wallin,Första resa från Cairo till Arabiska öknen, p. 64.

95Burckhardt,op. cit.p. 301.

96von Wrede,Reise in Ḥadhramaut, p. 51.

97Blunt,Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, ii. 204, 225.

In Africa honesty between members of the same tribe is no uncommon characteristic of the native races, and some of them have displayed the same quality in their dealings with European travellers.98Andersson, for instance, tells us that the Ovambo, so far as they came under his observation, were strictly honest and appeared to entertain great horror of theft. “Without permission,” he says, “the natives would not even touch anything; and we could leave our camp free from the least apprehension of being plundered. As a proof of their honesty, I may mention, that, when we left the Ovambo country, the servants forgot some trifles; and such was the integrity of the people, that messengers actually came after us a very considerable distance to restore the articles left behind.”99A few African peoples are said to look upon petty larceny almost with indifference.100Among others thieves are only compelled to restore stolen property, or to return an equivalent for it,101but at the same time they are disgraced or laughed at.102In Africa, as elsewhere, theft is frequently punished with a fine.103Thusamong the Bahima,104Wadshagga,105and Tanala of Madagascar,106thieves are made to pay twice the value of the stolen goods; among the Takue,107Rendile,108and Herero,109three times their value; among the Bechuanas double or fourfold.110Among the Taveta, if a man commits a theft, he has to refund what he has robbed, and five times the value of the stolen property can be claimed by the person who has suffered the loss.111Among the Kafirs, “in cases of cattle stealing, the law allows a fine of ten head, though but one may have been stolen, provided the animal has been slaughtered, or cannot be restored.”112Among the Masai, according to Herr Merker, the fine for stealing cattle is likewise a tenfold one;113whilst, according to another authority, “if a man steals one cow, or more than one cow, all his property is given to the man from whom he has stolen.”114Among the Basukuma all thieves, it seems, are punished with the confiscation of everything they possess.115Other punishments for theft are imprisonment,116banishment,117slavery,118flogging,119mutilation,120and, especially under aggravating circumstances, death.121In some African countries a thief caught in the act may be killed with impunity.122

98St. John,Village Life in Egypt, ii. 198. Tristram,The Great Sahara, p. 193sq.(Beni Mzab). Nachtigal,Sahara und Sudan, i. 188 (inhabitants of Fezzân). Dyveyrier,Exploration du Sahara, p. 385 (Touareg);cf.Chavanne,Die Sahara, p. 188. Munzinger,Ostafrikanische Studien, p. 531sq.(Barea and Kunáma). Scaramucci and Giglioli, ‘Notizie sui Danakil,’ inArchivio per l’antropologia e la etnologiaxiv. 25. Baumann,Durch Massailand zur Nilquelle, pp. 165 (Masai), 179 (Wafiomi). Thomson,Through Masai Land, p. 64 (Wakwafi of the Taveta). Baker,Ismailïa, p. 56; Petherick,Travels in Central Africa, ii. 3 (Shilluk). Macdonald,Africana, i. 182 (Eastern Central Africans). Mungo Park,Travels in the Interior of Africa, p. 239; Caillié,Travels through Central Africa to Timbuctoo, i. 353 (Mandingoes). Ward,Five Years with the Congo Cannibals, p. 93; Tuckey,Expedition to explore the River Zaire, p. 374. Johnston,Uganda Protectorate, ii. 590 (Wanyoro). Kolben,Present State of the Cape of Good Hope, i. 326; Hahn,The Supreme Being of the Khoi-Khoi, p. 32 (Hottentots);cf.Fritsch,Die Eingeborenen Süd-Afrika’s, p. 307. Tyler,Forty Years among the Zulus, p. 191sq.

99Andersson,Lake Ngami, p. 197.Cf.Idem,Notes on Travel in South Africa, p. 236.

100Monrad,Skildring af Guinea-Kysten, p. 6, n.*; Reade,Savage Africa, p. 580 (West African Negroes). Ellis,History of Madagascar, i. 144.

101Munzinger,Ostafrikanische Studien, pp. 389 (inhabitants of Saraë), 494 (Barea and Kunáma). Arbousset and Daumas,op. cit.p. 66 (Mantetis). Cunningham,Uganda, p. 293 (Baziba). Rautanen, in Steinmetz,Rechtsverhältnisse, p. 343 (Ondonga). Warner, in Maclean,Compendium of Kafir Laws and Customs, pp. 65, 67. Post,Afrikanische Jurisprudenz, ii. 84.

102Munzinger,Ostafrikanische Studien, pp. 386 (inhabitants of Saraë), 531 (Barea and Kunáma). Arbousset and Daumas,op. cit.p. 66 (Mantetis).

103Scaramucci and Giglioli, inArchivio per l’antropologia e la etnologia, xiv. 39 (Danakil). Nachtigal,op. cit.i. 449 (Tedâ). Bosman,Description of the Coast of Guinea, p. 142 (Negroes of Axim, on the Gold Coast). Ellis,Tshi-speaking Peoples of the Gold Coast, p. 303.Idem,Ew̔e-speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast, p. 225.Emin Pasha in Central Africa, p. 86 (Wanyoro). Cunningham,Uganda, p. 322 (Manyema). Steinmetz,Rechtsverhältnisse, p. 52 (Banaka and Bapuku). Beverley,ibid.p. 215 (Wagogo). Lang,ibid.p. 259 (Washambala). Wandrer,ibid.p. 325 (Hottentots). Post,Afrikanische Jurisprudenz, ii. 85sq.

104Cunningham,Uganda, p. 20.

105Volkens,Der Kilimandscharo, p. 250.

106Richardson, ‘Tanala Customs,’ inAntananarivo Annual, ii. 95sq.

107Munzinger,Ostafrikanische Studien, p. 208.

108Chanler,Through Jungle and Desert, p. 317.

109François,Nama und Damara, p. 174.

110Holub,Seven Years in South Africa, i. 395. Casalis,Basutos, p. 228.

111Hollis, inJour. African Soc.i. 123.

112Dugmore, in Maclean,Compendium of Kafir Laws and Customs, p. 36.Cf.ibid.pp. 112, 143.

113Merker,Die Masai, p. 208.

114Hinde,The Last of the Masai, p. 107.

115Cunningham,Uganda, p. 304.

116Mademba, in Steinmetz,Rechtsverhältnisse, p. 90 (inhabitants of the Sansanding States).

117Chavanne,Die Sahara, p. 315 (Beni Mzab).

118Bowdich,Mission to Ashantee, p. 258, n.* (Fantis). Petherick,op. cit.ii. 3 (Shilluk of the White Nile). Post,Afrikanische Jurisprudenz, ii. 87.

119Reade,Savage Africa, p. 261 (West Equatorial Africans). Ellis,Yoruba-speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast, p. 191. Volkens,op. cit.p. 250 (Wadshagga). Velten,Sitten und Gebräuche der Suaheli, p. 363. Campbell,Travels in South Africa, p. 519. Post,Afrikanische Jurisprudenz, ii. 88.

120de Abreu,Discovery and Conquest of the Canary Islands, p. 27 (aborigines of Ferro). Ellis,Yoruba-speaking Peoples, p. 191. Beltrame,Il Fiume Bianco, p. 280 (Dinka). Casati,Ten Years in Equatoria, i. 163 (Mambettu and Wanyoro). Wilson and Felkin,Uganda and the Egyptian Soudan, i. 201 (Waganda). Holub,op. cit.i. 395sq.(Bechuanas). Post,Afrikanische Jurisprudenz, ii. 87sq.

121Ellis,Yoruba-speaking Peoples, p. 191; Burton,Abeokuta, i. 304 (Yoruba). Ellis,Tshi-speaking Peoples, p. 303. Bosman,op. cit.p. 143 (Negroes of Axim). Cunningham,Uganda, pp. 69 (Banabuddu), 102 (Bakoki), 346 (Karamojo). François,op. cit.p. 175 (Herero). Andersson,Lake Ngami, p. 197 (Ovambo). Casalis,op. cit.p. 228 (Basutos). Shooter,Kafirs of Natal, p. 155. Tyler,op. cit.p. 192 (Zulus). Kolben,op. cit.i. 158 (Hottentots). Post,Afrikanische Jurisprudenz, ii. 88sq.

122Hübbe-Schleiden,Ethiopien, p. 143 (Mpongwe). Cunningham,Uganda, p. 333 (Lendu). Burton,Zanzibar, ii. 94 (Wanika). Macdonald,Africana, i. 162, 183 (Eastern Central Africans). Macdonald, ‘East Central African Customs,’ inJour. Anthr. Inst.xxii. 109.Supra,i. 289.

The condemnation of theft, in one and the same people, varies in degree according to a variety of circumstances. It is influenced by the value of the goods stolen, as appears from the different punishments inflicted in cases where the value differs.123Thus, when the penalty consists of a fine, its amount is often strictly proportioned to the loss suffered by the owner, the thief being compelled to pay twice, or three, or four, or five, or ten times the worth of the appropriated article.124Among the Aztecs a petty thief became the slave of the person from whom he had stolen, whilst theft of a large amount was almost invariably punished with death.125According to the Koran, theft is to be punished by cutting off the offender’s right hand for the first offence; but a Sunneh law ordains that this punishment shall not be inflicted if the value of the stolen property is less than a quarter of a deenár.126Ancient Scotch law proportioned the punishment of theft to the value of the goods stolen, heightening it gradually from a slight corporal to a capital punishment, if the valueamounted to thirty-two pennies Scots, which in the reign of David I. was the price of two sheep.127In England a distinction was made between “grand” and “petty larceny,” the line between them being drawn at twelve pence, and grand larceny was capital at least as early as the time of Edward I.128Among various peoples custom or law punishes with particular severity the stealing of objects of a certain kind, such as cattle, horses, agricultural implements, corn, precious metals, or arms.129The Negroes of Axim, says Bosman, “will rather put a man to death for stealing a sheep, than killing a man.”130The Kalmucks regard horse-stealing as the greatest of all crimes.131The ancient Teutons held cattle-lifting and robbery of crops to be particularly disgraceful.132According to Roman law, people who stole an ox or horse from the pastures or from a stable, or ten sheep, or four or five swine, might be punished even with death.133The natives of Danger Island, in the South Seas, punished with drowning anyone who was caught stealing food, “the most valuable property they knew of.”134In Tahiti, on the other hand, those who stole clothes or arms were commonly put to death, whereas those who stole provisions were bastinadoed.135Among other peoples the appropriation of a small quantity of food belonging to somebody else is not punished at all.136The Masai do not punish a person for stealing milk or meat.137Among the Bakoki “it was not a crime to steal bananas.”138In ancient Mexico “every poor traveller was permitted totake of the maize, or the fruit-bearing trees, which were planted by the side of the highway, as much as was sufficient to satisfy immediate hunger.”139Among the Hebrews a person was allowed to go into his neighbour’s vineyard and eat grapes at his own pleasure, or to pluck ears in his field, but the visitor was forbidden to put any grapes in his vessel or to move a sickle into the standing corn.140It is said in the Laws of Manu that “a twice-born man, who is travelling and whose provisions are exhausted, shall not be fined, if he takes two stalks of sugar-cane or two esculent roots from the field of another man.”141According to ancient Swedish laws, a passer-by could take a handful of peas, beans, turnips, and so forth, from another person’s field, and a traveller could give to his fatigued horse some hay from any barn he found in the wood.142However, whilst the punishment of theft is commonly, to some extent, influenced by the worth or nature of the appropriated property, there are peoples who punish thieves with the same severity whether they have stolen little or much. Among the North American Indians described by Colonel Dodge “the value of the article stolen is not considered. The crime is the theft.”143Among the Yleou, a Manchurian tribe mentioned by ancient Chinese chroniclers, theft of any kind was punished with death.144The Beni Mzab in the Sahara sentence a thief to two years banishment and the payment of fifty francs, independently of the value of the thing he has stolen.145

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