Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/106

 9^ LAWS. Obtaining evidence by torture, though practised occasionally in the wantonness of tyranny, can hardly be said to belong either to the character of the Indian islanders, or the spirit of their institu- tions. The trial by combat or duel, and the appeal to the judgment of God by various descriptions of ordeal, are not unknown. The Malay laws direct that the combat or ordeal shall be had recourse to in the absence of evidence, in the following words : " If one accuse and another deny, and there be no witnesses on either side, the parties shall either fight or submit to the ordeal of melted tin or boiling oil. The latter consists in extracting with the hand, at a single dip, from the boiling liquid, a slip of paper with a verse of the Koran written upon it. If the accusation be that of taking a man's wife, and the accuser won in the ordeal, the ac- cuser shall be put to death ; if the accused be successful, then the accuser shall suffer death, or jtay ajine of ten iahils." Having rendered this account of the modes of administering justice, I shall proceed to give a sketch of the character of the Civil taxes of the In- dian islanders. Where poverty excludes frequent or large exchanges of property in moveables, and where the proprietary right of the soil is usurped by the sovereign, the compact of purchase and sale are sufficiently simple. Goods are by custom sold