but stealing, by confinement only: robbery by night invariably by death. All offences are punished in the jaxa's court which consists of two jaxas and two kancha or registers; the perbakal being the prosecutor. The sentence of the court must be confirmed by the prince, previous to execution, his warrant or lontar, is necessary in all cases; in civil cases, the confirmation of the prince is only required when persons are sold into slavery. A regular table of fees, in civil as well as criminal cases, is exhibited in court; and the amount divided between the members and the prince. In criminal cases, when the punishment is capital, the property is confiscated, and divided in like manner; but, in other punishments, the parties retain their property. Adultery is punished with death to the man, and the woman becomes a slave to the prince. Theft is the most prevalent crime. Adultery is uncommon; perhaps not twenty cases in a year. The husband has the power, by law, to kill both parties at the moment, if he detects them in the fact, but not otherwise.
In their domestic relations, however, the conduct of the Balinese appears unexceptionable; and there is indeed a superior delicacy to what might be expected, and their tenderness towards early age speaks strongly in favour of their natural disposition. The parental authority is exercised with such tenderness, that it is peculiarly striking when taken in the same view with the apparently rude character of the people. They seem to evince a careless indifference to the rod of despotism which hangs over their head; and an air of good humour and general satisfaction prevails throughout. Temperate in their diet, and strangers to drunkenness, the ruling passion is gaming, from cockfighting to an inordinate and unprincipled desire for conquest.—Such is the energy of the character, that it must find some powerful vent; something on which to discharge itself; and, not being subjected to a form of government calculated to repress their energies, they evidently feel no inclination to stand still in the scale of civilization. As a nation, they are certainly invincible, as to any native power in the Eastern Seas. Still maintaining a high and noble independence of character, they perhaps exhibit in a concentrated spot as much of human nature, checked by regulation, and yet not lowered or refined by it, as is to be found in any part of the universe.
Ancient Population of the Islands.
If we contemplate the various nations and tribes which inhabit the southern peninsula of India, and the innumerable islands composing that portion of the globe which is comprehended within Polynesia and Austral Asia, our attention is arrested by the striking uniformity in habits and language which prevails throughout; and which induces the inference, either of one common origin, or of early and very general intercourse.
