[213] See supra, ch. xxiii., vol. [i. 526 sqq.] Among the Eskimo about Behring Strait (Nelson, in Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethn. xviii. 294) and the Greenlanders (Rink, Eskimo Tales, p. 29 sq.), if a man borrows an article from another and fails to return it, the owner is not entitled to claim it back, as they consider that when a person has enough property to enable him to lend some of it he has more than he needs.
[214] Marx, Capital, p. 661.
CHAPTER XXX
THE REGARD FOR TRUTH AND GOOD FAITH
THE regard for truth implies in the first place that we ought to abstain from lying, that is, a wilful misrepresentation of facts, by word or deed, with the intention of producing a false belief. Closely connected with this duty is that of good faith or fidelity to promises, which requires that we should make facts correspond with our emphatic assertions as to our conduct in the future. Within certain limits these duties seem to be universally recognised, though the censure passed on the transgressor varies extremely in degree. But there are also many cases in which untruthfulness and bad faith are looked upon with indifference, or even held laudable or obligatory.
Various uncivilised races are conspicuous for their great regard for truth; of some savages it is said that not even the most trying circumstances can induce them to tell a lie. Among others, again, falsehood is found to be a prevailing vice and the successful lie a matter of popular admiration.
All authorities agree that the Veddahs of Ceylon are models of veracity. They “are proverbially truthful and honest.”[1] They think it perfectly inconceivable that any person should say anything which is not true.[2] Mr. Nevill writes, “I never knew a true Vaedda to tell a lie, and the Sinhalese give them the same character.”[3] Messrs. Sarasin had a similar experience:—“The genuine Wood-Wedda always speaks the truth; we never heard a lie from any of them; all their statements are short and true.”[4] A Veddah who had committed murder and was tried for it, instead of telling a lie in order to escape punishment, said simply nothing.[5]
[1] Bailey, ‘Wild Tribes of the Veddahs of Ceylon,’ in Trans. Ethn. Soc. N.S. ii. 291.
[2] Hartshorne, in Indian Antiquary, viii. 320.
[3] Nevill, in Taprobanian, i. 193.