Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/119

 LAWS. ' 105 a wantonness which shocks the humanity of civiliz- ed men. When a criminal is apprehended, the first thing always done is to deprive him of his kris. He is then secured by being bound with a rattan, or filament of bamboo cane, which places him " rather in a state of constraint than of pain." perate character, they bind him, hands and feet, and sling him on a pole." As the same accurate observer remarks, '* pain is never wantonly or un- necessarily inflicted." The punishments vary con- siderably with the character and habits of the dif- ferent tribes. Fines and death are by far the most frequent, and corporal punishment the rarest. Whippingy as a punislnnent for minor offences, is directed by the Mahomedan law, but seldom car- ried into effect. As I have mentioned in another place, among some of the tribes, as the Malays and inhabitants of Celebes, the very meanest of the people are as impatient of a blow as any modern • European gentleman. In the Malay code, a blow or an afiVont is prescribed by law as the punish- ment of what are considered as offences of much aggravation. I shall quote a few curious examples of this. " The persons," says one law, " who may be put to death without the previous knowledge of the king or nobles, are an adulterer, a person guil- ty of treason, (^Maharaja lela,) a thief who cannot otherwise be apprehended, and a person "vchoojfcrs
 * If," says Mr Marsden, " the offender be of a des-