ÖÖI 8x 3 ^c- 0 - Acehbooks.org

S U M A T R A . 205
little other than voluntary ; efpecially of the men of influence, who are
held in fubjection rather by the fenfe of general utility, planted in the
breafts of mankind; attachment to their family and connexions ; and
veneration for the fpot in which their anceltors were interred, than by the
apprehenfion of any fuperior authority. Thefe confiderations, however,
they would readily forego, renounce their fealty, and quit their country,
if in any cafe they were in danger of paying with life, the forfeit of their
crimes : to lefler punifhments thofe ties induce them to fubmit; and to
ftrengthen this hold, their cuftoms wifely enjoin, that every the remoteft
branch of the family, fhall be refponfible for the payment of their judgement,
and other debts ; and in cafes of murder, the bangoon, or compenfation,
may be levied on the inhabitants of the village the culprit belonged
to, if it happen that neither he, nor any of his relations can be
found.
The equality of punilhment, which allows to the rich man the faculty
of committing, with fmall inconvenience, crimes that bring utter deftruction
on the poor man, and his family, and which is in fad: the
greateft inequality, originates certainly from the interefted defign of thofe
through whofe influence the regulation'came to be adopted. It's view was
to eftablifh a fubordination of perfons. In Europe, the abfolute diftindtion
between rich and poor, though too fenfibly felt, is not infilled upon in
fpeculation, but rather denied or explained away in general reafoning.
Among the Sumatrans it is coolly acknowledged, and a man without
property, family, or connexions, never, in the partiality of felf-Iove,
confiders his own life as being of equal value with that of a man of
fubftance. A maxim, though not the practice, of their law, fays,
" that he who is able to pay the bangaon for murder, muft fatisfy the
relations of the deceafed; he who is unable, muft fuffer death." But
the avarice of the relations prefers felling the body of the delinquent
for what his flavery will fetch them, to the fatisfaclion of feeing the
murder revenged by the public execution of a culprit of that mean defcription.
Capital punifhments are therefore almoft totally out of ufe
among them ; and it is only par la kt du plus fort, that the Europeans
take