244 THE LION KILLER. 



safety of travellers, and it has brought to light a crowd of mur- 

 derers who otherwise would have remained for ever unknown. 



What I have just said about the law of murder, is only- 

 applicable to the tribes under the military government. The 

 civil courts apply the French laws to the natives living under 

 their jurisdiction, but the district governed in this manner is 

 so small, that it is useless to speak of it except in terms of 

 comparison. Is it better to apply to the Arabs the laws we 

 found in force with them, or to bring them under subjection 

 of the laws of our country ? 



This is a question of much importance in connection with 

 the moral conquest of Algeria. There are so many things to 

 be said on each side, that I will leave the question to those 

 who are more interested in it than I, only referring in passing 

 to the difficulties that must ever be experienced in Africa in 

 punishing crimes against the person and property, when the 

 whole people are so thoroughly nomadic. How is it possible 

 to get at the truth of an affair of this kind, when its causes, 

 as well as the deed itself, took place among a people whose 

 customs and language are so little known to us ? 



The government should require of all its agents who are 

 charged with these duties in Africa, a perfect knowledge of 

 the language, customs, and habits of the people in their own 

 homes, and under their very tents. This qualification should 

 be the more strictly enforced with the military and civil 

 officers, whose duty it is to be the intermediaries between 

 the people and the government. There are men whose long 

 residence in Africa has left them nothing more to acquire, 

 but I am sorry to say that they are so few that one could 

 readilv enumerate them. 



