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We must be content with a mere glance at other types of wrong-doing which, whilst sooner or later recognized by the law of the community, affect its members in their individual capacity.  Theft and slander are cases in point.

Amongst the ruder savages there cannot be much stealing, because there is next to nothing to steal.  Nevertheless, groups are apt to quarrel over hunting and fishing claims; whilst the division of the spoils of the chase may give rise to disputes, which call for the interposition of leading men.  We even occasionally find amongst Australians the formal duel employed to decide cases of the violation of property-rights.  Not, however, until the arts of life have advanced, and wealth has created the two classes of “haves” and “have-nots,” does theft become an offence of the first magnitude, which the central authority punishes with corresponding severity.

As regards slander, though it might seem a slight matter, it must be remembered that the savage cannot stand up for a moment again an adverse public opinion; so that to rob him of his good name is to take away all that makes life worth living.  To shout out, Long-nose!  Sunken-eyes! or Skin-and-bone! usually leads to a fight in Andamanese circles, as Mr. Man informs us.  Nor, again, is it conducive to peace in Australian society to sing as follows about the staying-powers of a fellow-tribesman temporarily overtaken by European liquor:  “Spirit like emu—­as a whirlwind—­pursues—­lays violent hold on travelling—­uncle of mine (this being particularly derisive)—­tired out with fatigue—­throws himself down helpless.”  Amongst more advanced peoples, therefore, slander and abuse are sternly checked.  They constitute a ground for a civil action in Kafir law; whilst we even hear of an African tribe, the Ba-Ngindo, who rejoice in the special institution of a peace-maker, whose business is to compose troubles arising from this vexatious source.

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Let us now turn to another class of offences, such as, from the first, are regarded as so prejudicial to the public interest that the community as a whole must forcibly put them down.

Cases of what may be termed military discipline fall under this head.  Even when the functions of the commander are undeveloped, and war is still “an affair of armed mobs,” shirking—­a form of crime which, to do justice to primitive society, is rare—­is promptly and effectively resented by the host.  Amongst American tribes the coward’s arms are taken away from him; he is made to eat with the dogs; or perhaps a shower of arrows causes him to “run the gauntlet.”  The traitor, on the other hand, is inevitably slain without mercy—­tied to a tree and shot, or, it may be, literally hacked to pieces.  Naturally, with the evolution of war, these spontaneous outbursts of wrath and disgust give way to a more formal system of penalties.  To trace