Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Achehnese - tr. Arthur Warren Swete O'Sullivan (1906).djvu/144

 Nay more, this facile method of peusah panchuri is frequently resorted to even when there is no question of theft. Suppose for instance that a man has detected his daughter, who is unmarried or whose husband is away, in the act of illicit intercourse, and has slain her lover. According to Achehnese adat he would now be exposed to blood-vengeance unless he had also killed his daughter, and if he admitted the true nature of the case, he would subject her to the penalty of death by strangling and drowning combined (cheukiëʾ) by command of the ulèëbalang. For a moderate consideration, however, the latter may be induced to recognize as true the "tokens" of theft brought forward to suit the case of the homicide, accompanied by a story that harmonizes with the circumstances, and which is upheld by the unanimous voice of the fellow-villagers of the slayer, who are not likely to leave their comrade in the lurch.

Even ordinary murders attributable to no such circumstances as the above, but merely to hatred and the desire for revenge, are sometimes settled by the peusah panchuri through the venal connivance of the ulèëbalang.

For the tracing of the criminal in case of a theft established by proofs, various methods are furnished by the adat; and these, while especially applicable in case of theft, are also employed in detecting those guilty of other crimes.

When strong suspicion rests on a particular individual, and it is desired to extort confession, recourse is had to the method called wéng or sréng baʾ pha siblaïh. This consists in fastening a strip of rottan round the thigh of the suspect, and tightening it by twisting the ends together while the interrogation proceeds. Various other similar tortures are also employed.

When a thief chances to be captured instead of slain, his relatives are given opportunity of ransoming him. In theory the blood-price or diët has to be paid in such cases, but in practice a sum proportioned to the resources of the family is accepted. Such ransoms are especially customary in the highlands, where theft is very common. Elsewhere, for instance in the XXV Mukims, thieves are more usually put to death on the spot.

The following methods serve to identify the thief from among a number of persons one of whom is believed to be the guilty party.

Peutasaʾ or peuklòʾ minyeuʾ ("the boiling of oil" or "the plunging