Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/129

 LAWS. 115 depredations are committed in the day-time. The Mating and Pandimg steal at night, by breaking open houses, or more frequently by entering them by a mine. The Kechii and Kampak are gang- robbers who attack in the night-time. In award- ing the punishment of theft, the native laws con- sider the hour in which the theft is committed, — the place from which the property is stolen, — the person who steals it, — and the person from whom it is stolen. The usual punishments are mutila- tion, that is, the loss of the offending member, pil- lory, fine, and death. If a thief be caught in the act it is lawful to put him to death, and any body whatever found at night within an inclosure is to be considered a thief, and dealt with accordingly. " If," says an ancient law of the Javanese, " any person enter a village at an improper hour, and is thrice challenged without making any reply, he shall be considered a thief. A person skulking behind a door or fence, and refusing to answer, shall also be considered as a thief.** The different conditions which either aggravate or mitigate the crime of theft are considered in the following laws of the Malay code : " If a thief enter an inclosure^ and the owner kill him on the spot, or, pursuing him, kill him between two villages, he is, in either case, guilty of no offence ; but if he meet him on the following day, it shall not then be lawful for him to put him