[49] Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes of Central Australia, p. 46.
[50] Mariner, Natives of the Tonga Islands, ii. 159, 163.
[51] Buchanan, Sketches of the History, &c., of the North American Indians, p. 158.
Of many savage and barbarous peoples it is directly affirmed that they have a sense of justice. Mr. Man says concerning the Andaman Islanders, “Certain traits which have been noticeable in their dealings with us would give colour to the belief that they are not altogether lacking in the sense of honour, and have some faint idea of the meaning of justice.”[52] Colonel Dalton states that, among the Korwás on the highlands of Sirgúja, when several persons are implicated in one offence, he has found them “most anxious that to each should be ascribed his fair share of it, and no more, the oldest of the party invariably taking on himself the chief responsibility as leader or instigator, and doing his utmost to exculpate as unaccountable agents the young members of the gang.”[53] The Aleuts, according to Veniaminof, are “naturally inclined to be just,” and feel deeply undeserved injuries.[54] Kolben, who is nowadays recognised as a good authority,[55] wrote of the Hottentots, “The strictness and celerity of the Hottentot justice are things in which they outshine all Christendom.”[56] Missionaries have wondered that, among the Zulus, “in the absence for ages of all revealed truth and all proper religious instruction, there should still remain so much of mental integrity, so much ability to discern truth and justice, and withal so much regard for these principles in their daily intercourse with one another.”[57] Zöller ascribes to the Negro a well-developed feeling of justice. “No European,” he says, “at least no European child, could discriminate so keenly between just and unjust punishment.”[58] Mr. Hinde observes:— “One of the most marked characteristics of black people is their keen perception of justice. They do not resent merited punishment where it is coupled with justice upon other matters. The Masai have their sense of justice particularly strongly developed.”[59] Dieffenbach writes of the Maoris, “There is a high natural sense of justice amongst them; and it is from us that they have learnt that many forbidden things can be done with impunity, if they can only be kept secret.”[60] Justice is a virtue which always commands respect among the Bedouins, and “injustice on the part of those in power is almost impossible. Public opinion at once asserts itself; and the Sheykh, who should attempt to override the law, would speedily find himself deserted.”[61]
[52] Man, in Jour. Anthr. Inst. xii. 92.
[53] Dalton, Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal, p. 230.
[54] Veniaminof, quoted by Dall, Alaska, p. 398.
[55] Theophilus Hahn remarks (The Supreme Being of the Khoi-Khoi, p. 40) that Kolben’s reports have been doubted by European writers without any good reason.
[56] Kolben, Present State of the Cape of Good Hope, i. 301. Cf. ibid. i. 339.
[57] Quoted by Tyler, Forty Years among the Zulus, p. 197.