1

The moral ideas referring to truthfulness are, finally, much influenced by the force of habit. Where lying is frequent it is, other things being equal, more strenuously condemned, if condemned at all, than in communities which are strictly truthful. It is natural to speak the truth. Von Jhering's suggestion that man was originally a liar, and that veracity is the result of human progress, is not consistent with facts. Language was not invented to disguise the truth, but to express it. As Hutcheson remarked long ago, "truth is the natural production of the mind when it gets the capacity of communicating it, dissimulation and disguise are plainly artificial effects of design and reflection. " 2 It may be doubted whether there are any other mendacious creatures in the world than men.3 It is said that "lies are told, if not in speech yet in acts, by dogs"; but the instances reported of canine deceitfulness are hardly conclusive. As a cautious writer observes, the question is not whether there may be "objective deceitfulness" in the dog's conduct, but whether the motive is deceit ; and “the deceitful intent is a piece, not of the observed fact, but of the observer's inference." " is the child, strictly speaking, a born liar. M. Compayré even goes so far as to say that, if the child has not been subjected to bad influences, or if a discipline of repression and constraint has not driven him to seek a refuge in dissimulation, he is usually frankness and sincerity itself." Montaigne remarked that the falsehood of a child grows with its growth. According to M. Perez, useful dissimulations are practised by children already at the age of two years, but generally it is only after they are three or four years old that fear of being scolded or punished will lead

5

1 von Jhering, Zweck im Recht, ii. 606.

2 Hutcheson, System of Moral Philosophy, ii. 28. Cf. Reid, op. cit. vi. 24, p. 428 sqq.; Dugald Stewart, op. cit. ii. 333.

3

Cf. Schopenhauer Essays, p. 145. Spencer, Principles of Ethics, i. 405.

5 Romanes, Animal Intelligence,

PP. 443, 444, 451.

Nor

6 Lloyd Morgan, Animal Life and Intelligence, p. 400. 7 Compayré, L'évolution intellec tuelle et morale de l'enfant, p. 309. See also Sully, Studies of Childhood, p. 263 sq.

8 Montaigne, Essais, i. 9 (Euvres,

p. 16).

replied. But as

strigs become as when

12 2ga are to stand o gur: 2 K A Hind. gentleman of the plans, in the TLET of the Nebudda when asked what made the uncultured people of the woods to the north and south so tha They save but ret learned the file we know bow ready to their soda conditions change, we may conclude that their veracity was due rather to absence of temptation than to Lack of inteligence. In a small community of savages ving by themselves, there is no need for lying, nor much opportunity to practise it. There is little scope for those motives which most commonly induce people to practise falsehood—fear and love of gain, combined with a hope of $uccess Harmony and sympathy generally prevail between the members of the group, and deception is hardly possible since secrets do not exist.

The case is different when savages come in frequent contact with foreigners. To deceive a stranger is easy, and no scruple is made of doing so. On the contrary, as we

have seen, he is regarded as a proper object of deception, and this opinion is only too often justified by his own behaviour. But when commonly practised in relation to strangers, falsehood easily becomes a habit which affects the general conduct of the man. Hamzé, the teacher of the Druses, said, "When a man once gets into the way of speaking falsely, it is to be apprehended that, in spite of himself, and by the mere force of habit, he will get to speak falsely towards the brethren "; hence it is advisable to speak the truth at all times and before all men.* There is indeed abundant evidence that intercourse with strangers, and especially with people of a different race, has had a destructive influence on savage veracity.

This has been noticed among many of the uncivilised tribes of India. Formerly," says Mr. Man, “a Sonthal, as a rule, Perez, First Three Years of Child

hood, s. 87, 89.

jeeman, op. cit. ii. 110.

A CJ, Sarasin, Forschungen aut

Ceylon, iii. 543 (Veddahs).

sq.

4 Churchill, Mount Lebanon, iii. 225

"2

disdained to tell a falsehood, but the influences of civilisation, transfused through the contagious ethics of his Bengali neighbours, have somewhat impaired his truthfulness. In the last four or five years a great change for the worse has become evident, although even now, as a people, they are glorious exceptions to the prevailing idiosyncrasy of the lower class of natives in Bengal. With the latter, speaking the truth has been always an accident; with the Sonthal it was a characteristic principle."1 Indeed, the Santals in Singbhúm, who live much to themselves, are still described by Colonel Dalton as "a very simple-minded people, almost incapable of deception." The Tipperah, "where he is brought into contact with, or under the influence of the Bengallee, easily acquires their worst vices and superstitions, losing at the same time the leading characteristic of the primitive man-the love of truth." 3 Other tribes, like the Garos and Bhúmij, have likewise been partly contaminated by their intercourse with Bengalis, and acquired from them a propensity to lie, which, in former days, was altogether foreign to them. The Kakhyens are at the present time lazy, thievish, and untrustworthy, "whether their character has been deteriorated by knavish injustice on the part of Chinese traders, or high-handed extortion and wrong on the part of Burmese."5 The Ladakhis are, in general, "frank, honest, and moral when not corrupted by communication with the dissolute Kashmiris." 6 Of the Pahárias, who according to an earlier authority would sooner die than lie, it is now reported that "those who have most to do with them say they cannot rely on their word, and that they not only lie without scruple, but are scarcely annoyed at being detected." The Todas, whilst they call falsehood one of the worst vices and have a temple dedicated to Truth, seem nowadays only too often to forget both the temple and its object; and we are told that the dissimulation they practise in their dealings with Europeans has been brought about by the habit of paying them. for every insignificant item of information.10 According to an

Indian civil servant quoted by Mr. Spencer, various other hill tribes, originally distinguished by their veracity, have afterwards been rendered less veracious by contact with the whites.1

Of the Andaman Islanders Mr. Man observes :—“ It has been remarked with regret by all interested in the race, that intercourse with the alien population has, generally speaking, prejudicially affected their morals; and that the candour, veracity, and self-reliance they manifest in their savage and untutored state are, when they become associated with foreigners, to a great extent lost, and habits of untruthfulness, dependence, and sloth engendered." Riedel makes a similar

remark with reference to the natives of Ambon and Uliase.3 Mr. Sommerville believes that the natives of New Georgia, in the Solomon Islands, learned their practice of cheating from European traders.*

Among the Ostyaks increasing civilisation has proved injurious to their ancient honesty, and those who live in the neighbourhood of towns or large villages have become even more deceitful than the colonists. A similar change has taken place with other tribes belonging to the Russian Empire, for instance the Tunguses and Kamchadales."

We hear the same story from America. Among the Omahas “formerly only two or three were notorious liars; but now, there are about twenty who do not lie." The old men of the Ojibwas all agree in saying that before the white man came and resided among them there was less lying than there is now.10 The Indians of Mexico, Lumholtz writes, “do not tell the truth unless it suits them." 11 But with reference to some of them, the Tarahumares, he adds that, where they have had little or nothing to do with the whites, they are trustworthy, and profit is no inducement to them, as they believe

North-East of Siberia,' in Collection of Modern and Contemporary Voyages, v. 67.

8 Domenech, Seven Years' Residence in the Great Deserts of North America, ii. 69. Cf. Hearne, Journey to the Northern Ocean, pp. 307, 308, 310 (Chippewyans); Morgan, League of the Iroquois, p. 335 sq.

9 Dorsey, Omaha Sociology,' in Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethn. iii. 370. 10 Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes of the United States, ii. 139.

11 Lumholtz, Unknown Mexico, ii. 477.

that their gods would be angry with them for charging an undue price.1

The deceitfulness of many African peoples is undoubtedly in some degree a result of their intercourse with foreigners. In Sierra Leone, says Winterbottom, the natives on the sea coast, who are chiefly engaged in commerce, "are in general shrewd and artful, sometimes malevolent and perfidious. Their long connection with European slave traders has tutored them in the arts of deceit."2 The Yorubas, according to Burton, are eminently dishonest only "in and around the cities."3 Among the Kalunda those who live near the great caravan roads and have had much to do with foreign traders are suspicious and false. And the Hottentots, of whose truthfulness earlier writers spoke very highly, are nowadays said to be addicted to lying.5

It has also been noticed that mendacity is favoured among children by much intercourse with strangers, when "first impressions" are consciously made, as also by frequent change of environment, or of school or residence, as such changes give rise to a feeling that "new leaves" can be easily turned."

When a social unit is composed of loosely connected sub-groups, the intercourse between members of different sub-groups resembles in many respects that between foreigners. Social incoherence is thus apt to lead to deceitful habits, as was the case in the Middle Ages. The same phenomenon is to be observed in the East; perhaps also among the Desert Arabs and the Fuegians, who live in small parties which only occasionally meet and soon again separate.

Another factor which has favoured deception is social differentiation. The different classes of society have often little sympathy for each other, their interests are not infrequently conflicting, deceit is a means of procuring advantages, and, for the inferior classes especially, a means of self-protection. As Euripides observes, slaves are in