[24] Elphinstone, Kingdom of Caubul, i. 296.
[25] Hitopadesa, Mitralâbhâ, 60, 62.
[26] Grimm, Deutsche Rechtsalterthümer, p. 400. Weinhold, Altnordisches Leben, p. 441. For other instances of hospitality towards enemies, see James, Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, i. 322 (Omahas); Bartram, in Trans. American Ethn. Soc. iii. pt. i. 42 (Creeks and Cherokees); Lomonaco, ‘Sullerazze indigene del Brasile,’ in Archivio per l’antropologia e la etnologia, xix. 57 (Tupis); Krauss, op. cit. p. 650 (Montenegrines).
[27] Mills, History of Chivalry, p. 154.
To protect a guest is looked upon as a most stringent duty under all circumstances. “Le Kabyle qui accorde son ânaïa doit, sous peine d’infamie, y faire honneur, dût-il s’exposer à tous les dangers…. La violation de leur ânaïa est la plus grave injure que l’on puisse infliger à des Kabyles. Un homme qui viole, ou, suivant l’expression consacrée, qui brise l’ânaïa de son village ou de sa tribu, est puni de mort et de la confiscation de tous ses biens; sa maison est démolie.”[28] Among the Bedouins a breach of the law of dakheel “would be considered a disgrace not only upon the individual but upon his family, and even upon his tribe, which never could be wiped out. No greater insult can be offered to a man, or to his clan, than to say that he has broken the dakheel.”[29] Among the Aenezes, according to Burckhardt, “a violation of hospitality, by the betraying of a guest, has not occurred within the memory of man.”[30] In Egypt, “most Bedawees will suffer almost any injury to themselves or their families rather than allow their guests to be ill-treated while under their protection.”[31] Among the Kandhs, “for the safety of a guest life and honour are pledged; he is to be considered before a child”; in order to save his guest a man is even allowed to speak falsely, which is otherwise condemned by them as a heinous sin.[32] Vámbéry tells us of cases in which the Kara-Kirghiz have preferred being harassed with war by the Chinese to surrendering to them such Chinese fugitives as have sought and received their hospitality.[33] Among the Ossetes the host not only considers himself responsible for the safety of his guest, but “revenges the murder or wounding of the latter as he would that of a kinsman.”[34] In Albania it is considered infamous to leave an injury inflicted on a guest unavenged.[35] Among the Takue, though a man would accept compensation for the murder of a relative, he would in all cases exact blood-revenge for the murder of his guest.[36] On the other hand, in Sierra Leone a guest “is scarcely accountable for any faults which he may commit, whether through inadvertency or design, the host being considered as responsible for the actions of ‘his stranger.’”[37]
[28] Hanoteau and Letourneux, op. cit. ii. 61 sq.
[29] Layard, Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon, p. 317.
[30] Burckhardt, Bedouins and Wahábys, p. 100. Cf. ibid. p. 192.
[31] Lane, Modern Egyptians, p. 297.
[32] Macpherson, Memorials of Service in India, pp. 65, 94.