348 SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF 



Miai' or brolien, the wliole was rendered unavailable; he must prepare 

 other victims, and repeat his prayers over from the commencement." 



Again, in Feejee, which is inhabited by a totally different race, we 

 are told that i)nblic business was conducted with tedious formality. 

 Old forms are strictly observed and innovations opposed. An abun- 

 dance of measured clappini? of hands, and subdued exclamations, charac- 

 terize these occasions. Whales' teeth and other property are never 

 exchani^ed or i)resented without a tedious ceremonial. 



But little consideration is required to show that this is quite natural. 

 In the absence of writing, evidence of contracts must depend on the tes- 

 timony of witnesses; and it is necessary, therefore, to avoid all haste 

 which might lead to forgetfulness, and to imprint the ceremony as much 

 as possible on the minds of those present. 



Among the lower races of men the chiefs scarcely take any cognizance 

 of crime. As regards i)rivate injuries, every one protects or revenges 

 himself. Thus, among the North American Indians, even in cases of 

 murder, the family of the deceased only punish the aggressor if they 

 can. The chiefs and rulers do not feel called on to interfere. Indeed, 

 it would seem that the object of legal regulations was at first not so 

 much to punish the offender as to restrain and mitigate the vengeance 

 of the aggrieved party. 



The amount of legal revenge, if I may so call it, is often strictly regu- 

 lated, even where we should least expect to find such limitations. Thus, 

 in Australia* " crimes may be compounded for by the criminal appear- 

 ing 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 jiierced 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." So strictly 

 is the amount of punishment limited, that if, in inflicting such spear 

 wounds, a man, either through carelessness, or from any other cause, 

 exceeded the recognized limits, if, for instance, he wounded the femoral 

 artery, he would in his turn become liable to punishment. 



Such cases as these seem to throw great light on the origin of the idea 

 of property. As soon as any rules were laid downi regulating the nature 

 or amount of revenge for disturbance in possession, or when the chief 

 thought it worth while himself to settle disputes so arising, and thus, 

 while increasing his own dignity and influence, to check quarrels which 

 might otherwise prove injurious to the tribe, the natural effect would be 

 to develop the idea of mere possession into that of proi)erty. 



Since, then, crimes were at first regarded as mere personal matters, 

 in which the aggressor and his victim alone were interested, every 

 crime, even murder, might be atoned for by the payment of a sum of 

 money. 



Among the Anglo-Saxons every part of the body had a recognized 

 value. Thus, the loss of a front tooth was valued at six shillings; that 

 of a beard was reckoned at tw^enty shillings; while the breaking of a 

 thigh was only i)ut at twelve, and of a rib at three; facts which show 

 both the high value of money, and also the importance attached by our 

 ancestors to their personal appearance. JMoreover, these payments had 

 reference to the injury done, and had no relation to the crime as a crime. 



This is, no doubt, the origin of the great difference in the penalties 



* Sir G. Grey's Australia, s. 2, p. 243. 



