ghly
valued." (_Travels in America_, 1835.)

The Carthaginians had originally the custom of offering the noblest and
most beautiful children to Kronos (Moloch), but later victims were
always bought and bred for the purpose. After their defeat at the hand
of Agathokles they sacrificed two hundred children belonging to the
noblest Carthaginian families, in order to appease the Divine wrath.

Phoenicians, Egyptians, Cretans, Cypriotes, Rhodians, and Persians had
similar practices.

Among the Lydians, the sacred courtesans were so numerous and wealthy
that their contributions to the Mausoleum of Alyattes exceeded those of
the artists and merchants combined (Herodotus, Book I.); in Armenia
(Strabo XII.) the priestesses alone were permitted to practise
polyandry, and in Media, a woman boasting of five husbands was greatly
honoured, which shows that polyandry was not only allowed, but esteemed.

In Thibet, the eldest male of a family shares his wife with his
brothers, the whole family live in the bride's house and the children
inherit from her. Among the _Todas_, the wife espouses all her husband's
younger brothers as they attain their majority, and they in their turn
become the husbands of her younger sisters (Short).

Among the _Nairs_, a noble negro caste of Malabar, it is customary for
one woman to have five or six husbands, the maximum number allowed
being ten.

In Egypt, the business of thief was a recognised one. Those who wished
to exercise this calling inscribed their names on a public tablet,
collected all the stolen goods in one spot and restored them to their
owners in exchange for a certain coin. The ancient Germans encouraged
the youthful portion of the population to make raids on the property of
neighbouring peoples, so that they should not develop habits of
idleness. Thucydides states that the Greeks, as well as the barbarous
peoples inhabiting the islands and along the coasts, were pirates, and
the calling was a noble one.

Amongst Spartans, as is well known, theft was allowed, but the unlucky
marauder who was caught in the act, was punished, not for the deed
itself, but for his want of skill. In East Africa, according to Burton
(_First Footsteps in East Africa_, p. 176), robbery is considered
honourable. In Caramanza (Portuguese Guinea) in Africa, side by side
with the peaceful rice-cultivating Bagnous dwell the Balantes who
subsist upon the chase and the spoils of their raids. While they kill
the in