CHAPTER 12. CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS.
Laws relative to Deaths and Punishments.
SUPERSTITIOUS REVENGE OF NATURAL DEATH. The natives do not allow that there is such a thing as a death from natural causes; they believe that were it not for murderers or the malignity of sorcerers they might live for ever: hence:
When a native dies from the effect of an accident or from some natural cause they use a variety of superstitious ceremonies to ascertain in what direction the sorcerer lives, whose evil practices have brought about the death of their relative; this point being satisfactorily settled by friendly sorcerers, they then attach the crime to some individual, and the funeral obsequies are scarcely concluded ere they start to avenge their supposed wrongs.
MURDER.
If a native is slain by another wilfully they kill the murderer or any of his friends they can lay hands on.
If a native kills another accidentally he is punished according to the circumstances of the case; for instance, if, in inflicting spear wounds as a punishment for some offence, one of the agents should spear the culprit through the thigh, and accidentally so injure the femoral artery that he dies, the man who did so would have to submit to be speared through both thighs himself.
CONSEQUENCES OF A CRIME COMMITTED.
The first great principle with regard to punishments is that all the relatives of a culprit, in the event of his not being found, are implicated in his guilt; if therefore the principal cannot be caught his brother or father will answer nearly as well, and failing these, any other male or female relatives who may fall into the hands of the avenging party.
When therefore it is known among the natives that any crime which calls for a very heavy measure of punishment has been committed great and widespread consternation prevails; and when it is further ascertained that the culprit has escaped everyone in the remotest degree connected with him becomes filled with anxiety, for it is impossible to tell in what direction the blow will fall. The brothers of the criminal conceive themselves to be quite as guilty as he is, and only those who are jee-dyte, or unconnected with the family of the guilty person, believe themselves in safety. Little children of seven or eight years old, if, whilst playing, they hear that some murder has taken place, can in a moment tell whether or not they are jee-dyte, and, even at this tender age take their measures accordingly.
DUTY OF REVENGE.
The moment any great crime has been committed those who have witnessed it raise loud cries, which are taken up by more distant natives and are echoed widely through the woods. The nature of these cries indicates who has been the guilty party, who the sufferer, and those who are jee-dyte; whilst those who are involved in the guilt direct one another by their calls to what point to repair and muster their several forces: the culprit and generally his brothers and near relatives seek safety in a precipitate flight.
If a native has been slain his near male relations give way to the most violent paroxysms of rage, and are forcibly held by their friends to prevent them doing some injury to the bystanders; they then go and confront the body of those who are the relatives of the murderer, and a stormy altercation takes place; this generally however is terminated in an amicable way, by the parties uniting to go in search of the culprit. It is obviously the interest of every one that he should be caught and punished; for until this takes place the whole of his connexions are in danger.
The holiest duty a native is called on to perform is that of avenging the death of his nearest relation, for it is his peculiar duty to do so: until he has fulfilled this task he is constantly taunted by the old women; his wives, if he be married, would soon quit him; if he is unmarried not a single young woman would speak to him; his mother would constantly cry and lament she should ever have given birth to so degenerate a son; his father would treat him with contempt, and reproaches would constantly be sounded in his ear.
PURSUIT OF A CRIMINAL.
Directly therefore the funeral ceremonies have been performed the avenging parties start in pursuit of the murderer, and follow his footsteps with rapidity and energy fitting so important an occasion; unweariedly and relentlessly they press like bloodhounds upon the track, and perform journeys of a great length with a speed which would scarcely be credited; forgetting in this instance their usual caution, they trespass on other natives' ground, and all other passions and feelings appear to be absorbed in a burning thirst for vengeance. They sleep at night upon the track which they had been prevented by the darkness from following further, and with the first pale light of morning pursue it from the same point.
IMPLICATION OF A MURDERER'S FAMILY IN HIS CRIME.
When such energy is displayed success must of course often follow, and the overtaken criminal then falls, pierced by many spears; but should he elude his pursuers they wreak their vengeance on any native they meet. The murderer has naturally fled to the land of his friends to claim their hospitality; sometimes this is afforded him, and sometimes he is treacherously given up to his foes; but should the criminal escape, the pursuing party rarely return from an excursion of this nature without shedding blood: their not finding the guilty individual only inflames still more their anger, which they wreak on children or any unfortunate individual who may fall into their hands.
BREACHES OF THE LAWS OF MARRIAGE. STEALING A WIFE.
Stealing a wife is generally punished with death. If the woman is not returned within a certain period either her seducer or one of his relatives is certain eventually to be slain.
BREACH OF MARRIAGE LAWS.
The crime of adultery is punished severely, often with death. Anything approaching the crime of incest, in which they include marriages out of the right line, they hold in the greatest abhorrence, closely assimilating in this last point with the North American Indians, of whom it is said in the Archaeologia Americana:
They profess to consider it highly criminal for a man to marry a woman whose totem (family name) is the same as his own, and they relate instances when young men, for a violation of this rule, have been put to death by their own nearest relatives.*
(*Footnote. Volume 2 page 110 quoting from Tanner's Narrative page 313.)
And again: According to their own account, the Indian nations were divided into tribes for no other purpose than that no one might ever, either through temptation or mistake, marry a near relation, which at present is scarcely possible, for whoever intends to marry must take a person of a different tribe.*
(*Footnote. Ibid.)
The same feeling was remarked by Dobrizhoffer in South America; for, speaking of an interview with a native tribe to whom he was preaching, he says:
The old man, when he heard from me that marriage with relations was forbidden, exclaimed, "Thou sayest well, father, such marriages are abominable; but that we know already." From which I discovered that incestuous connexions are more execrable to these savages than murder or robbery.*
(*Footnote. Account of the Abipones Volume 1 page 69.)
PUNISHMENT OF SECONDARY OFFENCES. ORDEAL AND PUNISHMENT FOR OTHER TRANSGRESSIONS.
Any other crime may be compounded for by the criminal appearing and submitting himself to the ordeal of having spears thrown at him by all such persons as conceive themselves to have been aggrieved, or by permitting spears to be thrust through certain parts of his body; such as through the thigh, or the calf of the leg, or under the arm. The part which is to be pierced by a spear is fixed for all common crimes, and a native who has incurred this penalty sometimes quietly holds out his leg for the injured party to thrust his spear through.
When a native, after having absconded for fear of the consequences of some crime which he has committed, comes in to undergo the ordeal of having spears thrown at him, a large assemblage of his fellows takes place; their bodies are daubed with paint which is put on in the most fantastic forms, their weapons are polished, sharpened, and rendered thoroughly efficient; at the appointed time young and old repair to the place of ordeal, and the wild beauty of the scenery, the painted forms of the natives, the savage cries and shouts of exultation which are raised as the culprit dexterously parries, or by rapid leaps and contortions of his body avoids the clouds of spears which are hurled at him, all combine to form a singular scene to which there is no parallel in civilized life. If the criminal is wounded in a degree judged sufficient for the crime he has committed his guilt is wiped away; or if none of the spears thrown at him (for there is a regulated number which each may throw) take effect he is equally pardoned.
But no sooner is this main part of the ceremony over than two or three duels take place between some individuals who have quarrels of their own to settle; after these combatants have thrown a few spears some of their friends rush in and hold them in their arms, when the etiquette on such occasions is to struggle violently for a few minutes, as if anxious to renew the contest, and then to submit quietly to superior force and cease the combat.
NATIVE APATHY UNDER COMMON WOUNDS. ANECDOTE.
The natives pay but little regard to the wounds they receive in duels or which are inflicted on them as punishments; their sufferings from all injuries are much less than those which Europeans would undergo in similar circumstances; this may probably arise from their abstemious mode of life, and from their never using any other beverage than water. A striking instance of their apathy with regard to wounds was shown on one occasion in a fight which took place in the village of Perth in Western Australia. A native man received a wound in that portion of his frame which is only presented to enemies when in the act of flight, and the spear which was barbed remained sticking in the wound; a gentleman who was standing by watching the fray regarded the man with looks of pity and commiseration, which the native perceiving, came up to him, holding the spear (still in the wound) in one hand, and turning round so as to expose the injury he had received, said, in the most moving terms, "Poor fellow, sixpence give it 'um."