The main valley runs east/west for about 10 miles. The people here call themselves the Sholu. There are four villages, Asut, Puntu and Toncho east and west (I am just transcribing any names exactly as they sound). Asut is the largest village and is the administrative focal point of the valley. Just above the village is a spring which runs north into the main river. The most interesting feature though is a small lake that appears to be man made. It looks artificail - it is shaped almost as a perfect oval. There is one channel running into it from the main river and another running out into the river slightly further downstream. These can be open and shut as needed.
One of the things that at first struck me as odd about these people is how little interest they seem to take in the world outside their valley. You would have thought that on the arrival of a stranger they would be eager for news of the outside world but not at all. If anything, they seem to go out of their way not to know. There is also no desire to explore beyond their valley – again they appear to be actively against it. Their whole culture seems to be deliberately isolationist.
Maybe they fear the pollution of their culture by outside influences if their presence becomes known. If so I suppose I can understand it. Many cultures have been destroyed after contact with modern ‘civilisation’. I am I little concerned what will happen when we want to leave. Will they allow this?
I have been learning about their legal system.
For an act of physical violence punishments are based on an ‘eye for an eye’ principle with compensation for the victim where appropriate. For instance, the penalty for killing someone is death. In addition the perpetrator’s family are obliged to compensate the victim’s family. The penalty for injuring someone is that the guilty party receives the same injury and has to pay compensation to the victim. As one might imagine with these punishments and such a close-knit community this sort of crime is very rare.
The penalty for theft is that the property must be returned and damages paid. If the property is not returned a greater penalty is paid. For damage to property the property must be repaired and compensation paid to the owner.
The most interesting law though, and the one they seem to place most importance on, is that no one should leave the valley.
Any crime is judged and the relevant compensation fixed by a group formed of the leaders of the villages.