THE LAST FRONTIER 



boy. The chances are your porter will leap to his 

 feet, crack his heels together and depart with a 

 whoop of joy, grinning from ear to ear. Or he may 

 draw himself up and salute you, military fashion, 

 again with a grin. In any case his "soul" is not 

 "seared" a little bit, and there is no sense in your- 

 self feeling about it as though it were. 



At another slant the justice you will dispense to 

 your men differs from our own. Again this is be- 

 cause of the teaching long tradition has made part 

 of their mental make-up. Our own belief is that it 

 is better to let two guilty men go than to punish one 

 innocent. With natives it is the other way about. 

 If a crime is committed the guilty must be punished. 

 Preferably he alone is to be dealt with; but in case 

 it is impossible to identify him, then all the members 

 of the first inclusive unit must be brought to ac- 

 count. This is the native way of doing things; is 

 the only way the native understands; and is the only 

 way that in his mind true justice is answered. Thus 

 if a sheep is stolen, the thief must be caught and 

 punished. Suppose, however it is known to what 

 family the thief belongs, but the family refuses to 

 disclose which of its members committed the theft: 

 then each member must be punished for sheep steal- 

 ing; or If not the family, then the tribe must make 

 restitution. But punishment must be inflicted. 



170 



