BRAND MARKS ON CATTLE. 



61. 



The laws and usages relating to cattle were universally 

 the same in the East. Those of the Sinhalese were partis 

 cularly identical with the Institutes of Maim. 



The principles, as laid down in that primeval law, are 

 briefly as follows : — If cattle, fed and kept in one's house, 

 trespass, by day, the blame falls on the herdsman ; if by night, 

 on the owner. But, if the place in which they are secured be 

 different, the keeper alone is responsible for any damage. 

 He, too, is responsible for the loss of a beast, which, for want 

 of due care on his part, has strayed, has been destroyed by 

 wild animals, or has died by falling into a pit. He is ex- 

 empted from all responsibility when a loss is occasioned by 

 vis major ; but, even in such a case, he is required to give 

 prompt notice to the owner, and to make diligent search 

 soon after the loss. So great seems to have been the 

 jealousy with which the acts of herdsmen were watched 

 over, that he was required, upon the death of any cattle in 

 his charge, to produce to his master their ears, hides, tails, 

 limbs, &c. — a practice still rigidly observed in all parts of 

 Ceylon, by the production of the hide containing the familiar 

 " brand-mark '* of the owner. — Manu viii. 299. et seq. 



The punishment for violence against cattle was the same 

 as if the injury was inflicted on man. The offender received 

 punishment as severe as the presumed suffering ; and, where 

 such injury resulted in "hurting a limb, wounding, or 

 fetching blood," the offender was also to make good the 

 expense of a perfect cure. — lb. viii. 236, 7. 



Besides punishment adequate to the offence, which was 

 inflicted in ordinary cases of cattle-stealing, thefts of cattle 

 belonging to temples, &c, were punished more severely. — 

 lb. 324, 5. 



These regulations were not less salutary in a moral point 

 of view— putting cattle-stealing beyond all temptation — 

 than in the promotion of agriculture. Even after the 



