ADULTERY. According to Hebrew law an adulterer must be put to death. In the ancient Egyptian religion it is an offence which excludes the guilty persons when they die from the kingdom of Osiris. The Babylonian Code of Khammurabi decrees that if the wife of a man be found committing adultery with another male, " they shall be bound and thrown into the water, unless the husband lets his wife live; and the king lets his servant live " (Chilperic Edwards, The Oldest Laws in the World, § 129). Brahmanic religion regards adultery as one of the worst sins, a sin against Varuna. A woman must beware of sacrificing with this guilt on her soul: but if confessed, the guilt becomes less." Christianity condemns adultery equally in the case of husband or wife. Adultery is also condemned by primitive folk, though not by ail. The god called Batara or Petara among the Sea Dyaks of Borneo punishes cases of adultery. So do Puluga, the supreme being of the Andaman Islanders; Leza, the supreme being of the Bantu people living between Lakes Tanganyika and Bangweolo, and of the Awemba. Elephant-hunters in
East Africa think that if, during their absence, their wives are unfaithful, they themselves will be killed or wounded by the elephant. An Aleutian hunter of sea otters believes that the same thing will prevent him from killing a single animal. Again it is thought by many of the indigenous tribes of Sarawak that " were the wives to commit adultery while their husbands are searching for camphor in the jungle, the camphor ob tained by the men would evaporate " (J. G. Frazer). The Karens of Burma believe that the crops are blighted and the harvests spoiled by adultery or fornication. The same idea prevails among the Battas of Sumatra and the Dyaks of Borneo. See E. Westermarck; J. G. Frazer, G.B.; E. W. Hopkins, The Religions of India, 1895.