ÀҾ˹éÒ˹ѧÊ×Í
PDF
ePub

demn or abhor theft, at any rate when committed among themselves. And that all of them disapprove of it may be inferred from the universal custom of subjecting a detected thief to punishment or revenge, or, at the very least, of compelling him to restore the stolen property to its owner.

2

The Fuegians have shown themselves enterprising thieves on board European vessels visiting their shores; 1 but, when presents were given to them, a traveller noticed that "if any present was designed for one canoe, and it fell near another, it was invariably given to the right owner." The boys are taught by their fathers not to steal; 3 and in case a theft has been committed, "quand le coupable est découvert et châtié, l'opinion publique est satisfaite."4 In his dealings with the Tehuelches Lieutenant Musters was always treated with fairness, and the greatest care was taken of his belongings, though they were borrowed at times. He gives the following advice to the traveller :-" Never show distrust of the Indians; be as free with your goods and chattels as they are to each other. . . . As you treat them so they will treat you.' Among the Abipones doors, locks, and other things with which civilised men protect their possessions from thieves, were as unnecessary as they were unknown; and if children pilfered melons grown in the gardens of the missionaries or chickens reared in their houses, "they falsely imagined that these things were free to all, or might be taken not much against the will of the owner." 6 Among the Brazilian Indians theft and robbery were extremely rare, and are so still in places where strangers have not settled. We are told that the greatest insult which could be offered to an Indian was to accuse him of stealing, and that the wild women preferred the epithet of a prostitute to that of a

[blocks in formation]

995

[blocks in formation]

thief. When detected a thief was not only obliged to restore the property he had stolen, but was punished with stripes and wounds, the chief often acting as executioner. Among the Indians of British Guiana theft and pilfering rarely occur; "if they happen to take anything, they do it before one's eyes, under the notion of having some claim to it, which, when called to an account, they are always prepared to substantiate." a If anything is stolen from his house during his absence, the Guiana Indian thinks that the missing article has been carried off by people of some other race than his own. Formerly, when the Caribs lost anything, they used to say, "The Christians have been here." 5 In Hayti the punishment of a

thief was to be eaten."

It is known that many North American tribes had a very high standard of honesty among themselves. Domenech wrote "The Indians who do not come in contact with the Palefaces never appropriate what belongs to others; they have no law against theft, as it is a crime unknown among them. They never close their doors." According to Colonel Dodge, theft was the sole unpardonable crime amongst them; a man found guilty of stealing even the most trifling article from a member of his own band was whipped almost to death, deprived of his property, and together with his wives and children driven away from the band to starve or live as best he could. Among the Rocky Mountains Indians visited by Harmon theft was frequently punished with death. Among the Omahas, “when the suspected thief did not confess his offence, some of his property was taken from him until he told the truth. When he restored what he had stolen, one-half of his own property was returned to him, and the rest was given to the man from whom he had stolen. Sometimes all of the policemen whipped the thief. But when the thief fled from the tribe, and remained away for a year or two, the offence was not remembered." 10 Among the Wyandots the punishment for theft is twofold restitution. The Iroquois looked down upon

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

theft with the greatest disdain, although the lash of public indignation was the only penalty attached to it. The Potawatomis considered it one of the most atrocious crimes.2 Among the Chippewas Keating found a few individuals who were addicted to thieving, but these were held in disrepute.3 Richardson praises the Chippewyans for their honesty, no precautions for the safety of his and his companions' property being required during their stay among them. Mackenzie was struck by the remarkable honesty of the Beaver Indians; "in the whole tribe there were only two women and a man who had been known to have swerved from that virtue, and they were considered as objects of disregard and reprobation."5 Among the Ahts "larceny of a fellow-tribesman's property is rarely heard of, and the aggravation of taking it from the house or person is almost unknown ; nay, "anything left under an Indian's charge, in reliance on his good faith, is perfectly safe." The Thlinkets generally respect the property of their fellow-tribesmen ; but although they admit that theft is wrong they do not regard it as a very serious offence, which disgraces the perpetrator, and if a thief is caught he is only required to return the stolen article or to pay its value. Among the Aleuts"theft was not only a crime but a disgrace"; for the first offence of this kind corporal punishment was inflicted, for the fourth the penalty was death.8 According to Egede, the Greenlanders had as great an abhorrence of stealing among themselves as any nation upon earth; according to Cranz, they considered such an act "excessively disgraceful." 10 Similar views still prevail among them, as also among other Eskimo tribes." A Greenlander never touches driftwood which another

[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

iv. 322. Petroff, Report on Alaska, p. 170. Dall, Alaska, p. 416.

8 Veniaminof, quoted by Petroff, op. cit. pp. 155, 152.

Egede, Description of Greenland, p. 124. See also Dalager, Grønlandske Relationer, p. 69.

10 Cranz, History of Greenland, i. 160.

11 Nansen, First Crossing of Greenland, ii. 335. Idem, Eskimo Life, p. 158. Rink, Danish Greenland, p. 224. Hall, Arctic Researches, pp. 567, 571. Richardson, Arctic Searching Expedi tion, i. 352. Parry, Second Voyage for the Discovery of a North-West Passage, P. 522; Lyon, Private Journal, p. 347 (Eskimo of Igloolik). Seemann, Voyage of "Herald,” ii. 65 (Western

has placed above high-water mark, though it would often be easy to appropriate it without fear of detection.1 Parry states that, during his stay at Igloolik and Winter Island, a great many instances occurred in which the Eskimo scrupulously returned articles that did not belong to them, even though detection of a theft, or at least of the offender, would have been next to impossible.2

3

13

Among the Chukchi it is held criminal to thieve "in the family and race to which a person belongs"; and incorrigible thieves are sometimes banished from the village. In Kamchatka, if anybody was found to be a thief he was beaten by the person from whom he had stolen, without being allowed to make resistance, and no one would ever after be friends with him.” The three principal precepts of the Ainu are to honour old age, not to steal, not to lie; theft is also uncommon among them, and is severely punished. Among the Kirghiz "whoever commits a robbery on any of the nation must make restitution to nine times the value." 8 Among the Tunguses a thief is punished by a certain number of strokes; he is besides obliged to restore the things stolen, and remains covered with ignominy all the rest of his life." The Jakuts,10 Ostyaks,11 Mordvins,12 Samoyedes,1 and Lapps,14 are praised for their honesty, at least among their own people; and so are the Butias,15 Kukis, 16 Santals, the hill people in the Central Provinces of India,18 and the Chittagong Hill tribes. 19 The Kurubars of the Dekhan are of such known honesty, that on all occasions they are entrusted with the custody of produce by the farmers, who know that they would rather starve than take one grain of what was given them in Eskimo). Nelson, Eskimo about Bering Strait,' in Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethn. xviii. 293. Among the Point Barrow Eskimo, however, "men who were said to be thieves did not appear to lose any social consideration (Murdoch, Ethnological Results of the Point Barrow Expedition,' in Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethn. ix. 41).

Nansen, Eskimo Life, p. 162. 2 Parry, op. cit. p. 521. 3 Georgi, op. cit. iii. 183.

4 Dall, op. cit. p. 382.

5 Steller, Beschreibung von Kamtschatka, p. 356. See also supra, i. 311 sq.

6 von Siebold, Die Aino auf der Insel Yesso, p. 25.

7 Ibid. pp. 11, 34 sq. See also supra, i. 312.

8 Georgi, op. cit. ii. 262.

9 Ibid. iii. 83 sq. Cf. ibid. iii. 78.

17

10 Ibid. ii. 397. Sauer, Expedition to the Northern Parts of Russia, p. 122. 11 Castrén, Nordiska resor och forsk ningar, i. 319.

12 Georgi, op. cit. i. 113. 13 Ibid. iii. 13. von Struve, in Das Ausland, 1880, p. 796.

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

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

16 Lewin, Wild Races of SouthEastern India, p. 256. Cf. Butler, Travels in Assam, p. 94.

17 Man, Sonthalia, p. 20.

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

19 Lewin, Wild Races of SouthEastern India, p. 341.

charge.1 "Honest as a Pahari," is a proverbial expression. In fact, among these mountaineers theft is almost unknown, and the men "carry treasures, which to them would be priceless, for days and days, along wild mountain tracks, whence at any moment they might diverge, and never be traced. Even money is safely entrusted to them, and is invariably delivered into the right hands." 2 Harkness says of the Todas :- "I never saw a people, civilised or uncivilised, who seemed to have a more religious respect for the rights of meum et tuum. This feeling is taught to their children from the tenderest age."3 Among the Chukmas "theft is unknown." 4 Among the Karens habitual thieves are sold into slavery. Among the Shans theft of valuable property is punishable with death, though it may be expiated by a money payment; but in cases of culprits who cannot pay, or whose relatives cannot pay, death is looked upon as a fitting punishment even for petty thefts. At Zimmé, "if a theft is proved, three times the value of the article is decreed to the owner; and if not paid, the offender, after suffering imprisonment in irons, is made over with his family, to be dealt with as in cases of debt."7 Among the hill tribes of North Aracan a person who commits theft is bound to return the property or its value and pay a fine not exceeding Rs. 30.8 Among the Kandhs, on the other hand, the restitution of the property abstracted or the substitution of an equivalent is alone required by ancient usage; but this leniency extends to the first offence only, a repetition of it being followed by expulsion from the community. The Andaman Islanders call theft a yubda, or sin.10 Among those Veddahs who live in their natural state, theft and robbery are not known at all. They think it perfectly inconceivable that any person should ever take that which does not belong to him,12 and death only would, in their opinion, be the punishment for such an offence. 13

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]
« ¡è͹˹éÒ´Óà¹Ô¹¡ÒõèÍ
 »