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 individual who presumes to steal in his native village, they encourage depredations upon the other tribes (_Revue d' Anthropologie_, 1874). The cleverest thieves are greatly esteemed, are paid for instructing boys in their profession, and are chosen to lead the expeditions. In India the tribe Zakka Khel is devoted to this dishonest calling, and at birth every male child is consecrated to thievish practices by a peculiar ceremony, in which the new-born infant is passed through a breach in the wall of his father's house, whilst the words "Become a thief" are chanted three times in chorus. Amongst the ancient Germans, according to Tacitus, thefts perpetrated outside the boundary of the tribe itself were by no means infamous. In the midst of a great assembly, the chief called upon those he wished to follow him; they showed their willingness by rising to their feet amid the applause of the crowd. Those who refused to take part were looked upon as deserters and traitors (Spencer, _Principles of Ethics_, 1895). Among the Comanches (Mülhausen, _Diary of a Journey from the Mississippi to the Pacific_) no man was considered worthy of being numbered among the warriors of the tribe, unless he had taken part in some successful pillaging expedition. The cleverest thieves were the most respected members of the tribe. No Patagonian is deemed worthy of a wife unless he has graduated in the art of despoiling a stranger (Snow, _Two Years' Cruise round Tierra del Fuego_). Among the Kukis (Dalton, _Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal_) skill in stealing is the most esteemed talent. In Mongolia (Gilmour, _Among the Mongols_), thieves are regarded as respectable members of the community, provided they steal cleverly and escape detection. CRIMINALITY IN CHILDREN