Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/144

 130 LAWS. continue the same laws, *' a man carries off a wo- man with her own consent, juid is willing either to pay her price at once hjjitjur, or marry her by se- mando^ as the father or relations please, they can- not reclaim the woman, and the marriage takes place.'* " If a man carries off a virgin against her incli- nation, he incurs a fine of twenty dollars and a buffalo ; if a widow, ten dollars and a goat, and the marriage does not take place. If he commit a rape, and the parents do not chuse to give her to him in marriage, he incurs a fine of fifty dollars." In all this, it will be seen that there is hardly any thing considered but the value of the girl's person to her relations, as a mere vendible commodity. Among all the tribes, adultery is considered as among the most heinous offences, except among the Javanese, whose manners, in this particular, more resemble those of the nations between Hindustan and China. The ancient Javanese, however, to judge from their laws, appear to have been not less puncti- lious than their neighbours. The crime of adultery is viewed, we may remark, at once as an injury to a man's honour and to his property. The husband may put the adulterer and adulteress to death on the spot, without incurring any penalty. The little confidence which the islanders repose in the sex is evinced in those laws, which punish freedoms, appa- rently the most innocent, taken with them j nay the