Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/124

 110 LAWS. ed by circumstances of the most tragical nature ; for the executioner, unused to his office, and in a state of agitation, inflicted an erring blow, under which the unhappy sufferer lingered for four-and- twenty hours. In cases of enormous crimes the criminal, in Java, as mentioned in another place, was condemn- ed to be devoured by tigers, while his fate was aggravated by the abominable mockery of being made to fight beforehand, for the amusement of a tyrant and his court, with his savage executioner. The Malay laws, in some extreme cases, direct execution by impalement, Suluk, but this abo- minable cruelty, which the Dutch had the im- prudence to borrow from them, is not in gene- ral consonant to the genius of their character. Among the more lawless and turbulent govern- ments, as before noticed, the forfeiture of personal liberty is a frequent punishment of offences, the crime of an individual being often attended by the slavery of his whole family. The increase of this mode of punishment, it is to be apprehended, fol- low^ed the encouragement given to the slave-trade by the European governments. Almost all punishments may be commuted for fine or mulct, and these constitute themselves di- rectly the most frequent of all punishments. The substitution of pecuniaiy fines, as compensation, marks the progress of society as in other situations.