PRELIMINARY. 235 



respect for the rights of meum and tuum.&quot; The Marias 

 (Gonds), &quot; in common with many other wild races, bear a 

 singular character for truthfulness and honesty.&quot; Among the 

 Khonds &quot; the denial of a debt is a breach of this principle, 

 which is held to be highly sinful. * Let a man/ say they, 

 1 give up all he has to his creditors. &quot; The Santal prefers to 

 have &quot; no dealings with his guests ; but when his guests 

 introduce the subject he deals with them as honestly as he 

 would with his own people : &quot; &quot; he names the true price at 

 first.&quot; The Lepchas &quot;are wonderfully honest, theft being 

 scarcely known among them.&quot; And the Bodo and Dhimals 

 are &quot; honest and truthful in deed and word.&quot; Colonel Dixon 

 dilates on the tc fidelity, truth, and honesty &quot; of the Carnatic 

 aborigines, who show &quot; an extreme and almost touching 

 devotion when put upon their honour.&quot; And Hunter asserts 

 of the Chakmas, that &quot; crime is rare among these primitive 



people Theft is almost unknown.&quot; 



So it is, too, with the general virtues of these and sundry 

 other uncivilized tribes. The Santal &quot; possesses a happy dis 

 position,&quot; is &quot; sociable to a fault,&quot; and while the &quot; sexes are 

 greatly devoted to each other s society,&quot; the women are &quot; ex 

 ceedingly chaste.&quot; The Bodo and the Dhimals are &quot; full of 

 amiable qualities.&quot; The Lepcha, &quot; cheerful, kind, and patient, * 

 is described by Dr. Hooker as a most &quot;attractive com 

 panion ; &quot; and Dr. Campbell gives &quot; an instance of the effect 

 of a very strong sense of duty on this savage.&quot; In like 

 manner, from accounts of certain Malayo-Polynesiari societies, 

 and certain Papuan societies, may be given instances show 

 ing in high degrees sundry traits which we ordinarily 

 associate only with a human nature that has been long sub 

 ject to the discipline of civilized life and the teachings of a 

 superior religion. One of the latest testimonies is that of 

 Signor D Albertis, who describes certain New Guinea people 

 he visited (near Yule Island) as strictly honest, &quot;very kind,&quot; 

 &quot; good and peaceful,&quot; and who, after disputes between villages, 

 &quot;are as friendly as belore, bearing no animosity;&quot; but of 



