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."