[Footnote 198: Henke, _Grundriss einer Geschichte des deutschen peinlichen Rechts_, ii. 310. Abegg, _Die verschiedenen Strafrechtstheorieen_, p. 117. Du Boys, _Histoire du droit criminel de l'Espagne_, p. 323.] Of the connection between punishment and the belief in supernatural agencies many instances are found already in the savage world.[199] The great severity with which certain {197} infractions of custom are punished has obviously a superstitious origin. In Polynesia, according to Ellis, "the prohibitions and requisitions of the tabu were strictly enforced, and every breach of them punished with death, unless the delinquents had some very powerful friends who were either priests or chiefs.[200] Among the western tribes of Torres Straits, "death was the penalty for infringing the rules connected with the initiation period _i.e._, for sacrilege."[201] Among the Port Lincoln aborigines the women and children are not allowed to see any of the initiation ceremonies, and "any impertinent curiosity on their part is punishable with death, according to the ancient custom."[202] Among the Masai, who believe that the boiling of milk will cause the cows to run dry, "any one caught doing so can only atone for the sin with a fearfully heavy fine, or, failing that, the insult to the holy cattle will be wiped out in his blood."[203] The penalty of death which is frequently imposed on incest or other sexual offences is largely due to the influence of religious or superstitious beliefs.[204] And in various cases of sacrilege the offender is offered up as a sacrifice to the resentful god.[205] [Footnote 199: Steinmetz, _Ethnol. Studien zur ersten Entwicklung der Strafe_, ii. 340 _sq._ The connection between punishment and religion has been emphasised by Prof. Durkheim (_Division du travail social_, p. 97 _sqq._) and M. Mauss ('La religion et les origines du droit pénal,' in _Revue de l'histoire des religions_, vols. xxxiv. and xxxv.). But Prof. Durkheim exaggerates the importance of this connection by assuming (p. 97) that "le droit pénal à l'origine était essentiellement religieux."] [Footnote 200: Ellis, _Tour through Hawaii_, p. 394. _Cf._ Olmsted, _Incidents of a Whaling Voyage_, p. 248 _sq._; Mauss, in _op. cit._ xxxv. 55.] [Footnote 201: Haddon, 'Ethnography of the Western Tribes of Torres Straits,' in _Jour. Anthr. Inst._ xix. 335.] [Footnote 202: Schürmann, 'Aboriginal Tribes of Port Lincoln,' in Woods, _Native Tribes of South Australia_, p. 234.] [Footnote 203: Johnston, _Kilima-njaro Expedition_, p. 425.] [Footnote 204: See _infra_, on Sexual Morality.] [Footnote 205: See _infra_, on Human Sacrifice.]