Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/104

 90 LAWS. and, were the suit to be dismissed at once, as with us, for want of such proof, numbers of innocent persons would lose the debts really due to them, through the knavery of the persons indebted, wlio would scarce ever fail to deny a debt." 'The Javanese administer an oath on the same principle, though not so often in civil as in crimi- nal cases. A murder, for example, has been com- mitted, and the relations prosecute J:he person sus- pected to have committed it. If there be either no evidence, or but inadequate evidence, the prisoner will be directed by the court to swear to his own innocence. When we are sufficiently aware of the character of the inhabitants of these countries, the practice will not appear so unreasonable as it seems at first view. There are no people who have a more sacred regard for the sanctity of an oath. In a court of justice their character appears to great ad- vantage. Truth and simplicity are the decided characteristics of their testimony. — There is gene- rally no legal punishment among them for perjury, which is left to the vengeance of the invisible powers. The laws of the Malays alone punish this offence, and the code of Malacca describes the kind of punishment in one case as follow : *' If a person give false evidence before the Intendant of the Port, his face shall be streaked with charcoal and turmeric, and he shall be publicly exposed ; or be fined to the amount of two tahils" Among