[4] Sarasin, Forschungen auf Ceylon, iii. 541. Cf. ibid. iii. 542 sq.; Schmidt, Ceylon, p. 276.
[5] Sarasin, op. cit. iii. 543.
Other instances of extreme truthfulness are provided by various uncivilised tribes in India. The Saoras of the province of Madras, “like most of the hill people, … are not inclined to lying. If one Saora kill another he admits it at once and tells why he killed him.”[6] The highlander of Central India is described as “the most truthful of beings, and rarely denies either a money obligation or a crime really chargeable against him.”[7] A true Gond “will commit a murder, but he will not tell a lie.”[8] The Kandhs, says Macpherson, “are, I believe, inferior in veracity to no people in the world…. It is in all cases imperative to tell the truth, except when deception is necessary to save the life of a guest.”[9] And to break a solemn pledge of friendship is, in their opinion, one of the greatest sins a man can commit.[10] The Korwás inhabiting the highlands of Sirgúja—though they show great cruelty in committing robberies, putting to death the whole of the party attacked, even when unresisting—“have what one might call the savage virtue of truthfulness to an extraordinary degree, and, rightly accused, will at once confess and give you every required detail of the crime.”[11] The Santals are noted for veracity and fidelity to their word even in the most trying circumstances.[12] A Kurubar “always speaks the truth.”[13] Among the Hos “a reflection on a man’s honesty or veracity may be sufficient to send him to self-destruction.”[14] Among the Angami Nagas simple truth is highly regarded; it is rare for a statement to be made on oath, and rarer still for it to be false.[15] In the Chittagong Hills the Tipperahs are the only people among whom Captain Lewin has met with meanness and lying;[16] and they, too, have previously been said to be, “as a rule, truthful and simple-minded.”[17] The Karens of Burma have the following traditional precept:—“Do not speak falsehood. What you do not know, do not speak. Liars shall have their tongues cut out.”[18] Among the Bannavs of Cambodia “severe penalties, such as slavery or exile, are imposed for lying.”[19]
[6] Fawcett, Saoras, p. 17.
[7] Forsyth, Highlands of Central India, p. 164. Cf. ibid. p. 361; Sleeman, Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official, ii. 109; Hislop, Aboriginal Tribes of the Central Provinces, p. 1.
[8] Dalton, Ethnology of Bengal, p. 284. Cf. Forsyth, op. cit. p. 155.
[9] Macpherson, ‘Religious Opinions and Observances of the Khonds,’ in Jour. Roy. Asiatic Soc. vii. 196.
[10] Macpherson, Memorials of Service in India, p. 94.
[11] Dalton, op. cit. p. 230.
[12] Elliot, ‘Characteristics of the Population of Central and Southern India,’ in Jour. Ethn. Soc. London, N.S. i. 106 sq.