s, in giving the dowry. Thus, if the man
should, contrary to the woman's desire, break his pledge and annul the
marriage, he would lose the dowry, and she would retain it, free from
him. Likewise, if the wife left the husband she was obliged to return
him the dowry. If she committed adultery and the husband therefore
left her, she returned him double the amount of the dowry. If the wife
left the husband in order to marry another, the second husband was
obliged to repay to the first husband the dowry which the latter had
given to the woman, and to pay a fine, more or less--such an amount
as the judge should order him to give. If the husband were a chief,
and caught his wife in the act of committing adultery, he had the
right to punish her with death, and the adulterer also, and could
slay them with impunity. If he killed one and the other escaped,
there would be open war between the two families until the other
adulterer died. If both escaped, they must pay for their lives with
a certain weight of gold. If they were chiefs, the penalty was one
hundred taes, fifty for the woman and fifty for the adulterer. This
done, they were pardoned, and remained friends. If they were timaguas,
they incurred a lighter penalty.
_Wars_. In wars and slavery among the Moros, they observed the same
customs as did the Pintados.
_Thieves_. There was among the natives a law concerning thieves. It
was a petty theft if the amount were less than four taes (that is,
twenty pesos); but if more than that sum, it was a serious offense. He
who committed the former must return the gold, and then be sentenced,
at the will of the judge, to pay a fine in money. If it were the
greater theft, involving an amount of four taes or upward, he incurred
the penalty of slavery. But if the goods stolen amounted to a cati
[catty] of gold, the penalty was death, or the enslavement of the
culprit and his children and all those of his household.
It was also a law that for the first theft the penalty was a fine
in money, and for the second, slavery; for further offenses, it was
death. Or if pardoned, as described above, he was made a slave,
with his wife and children. This punishment did not apply to the
son who proved that he was outside the house--whether he dwelt in a
house of his own or lived with relatives on an independent footing;
and therefore he was free. Only those who lived in the house of the
delinquent were liable to punishment, because they all were
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