Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 1.djvu/445

Rh Eight, was composed of the nohyons, under the presidency of the Khan. In this supreme tribunal were judged all criminal affairs of every nature. Murder was considered as the gravest of crimes. In the eyes of the Calmucks it was a frightful sin, and absolutely unpardonable. For murder committed for the first time, the offender paid a fine, judicially decreed to the parents of the person killed, in the manner of a retribution. Besides which, he was obliged to renounce every kind of enjoyment during a certain time, to carry a red scarf round his shoulders, and to do penance during some time near a temple. For a second murder, the fine and the penitence were heavier, and, further, the criminal was marked on the face. Lastly, he who had committed a homicide for the third time was marked on both sides of the face, and expelled forever from the midst of the people. In case the condemned had not the means of paying the fine, he was surrendered in person to the disposal of the relations of his victim, who had the full power to employ him in any kind of labor, as well as to sell him, or to exchange him for a flock of sheep.

In the case in which there was no confession on the part of the accused, or of failure of sufficient proof to establish the crime, the tribunal had recourse to the oath of justification. To accomplish this appeal, the accused might choose an adversary, who was generally reckoned an honest man. For the accomplishment of this act, they prepared a tent, in which, upon an elevation, an idol was exposed, before which they lit a perfumed taper. On the two sides of the idol they raised the images of punishing beings, under which were arranged the priests with their musical instruments, employed in divine service. Upon the floor of the tent they spread the skin of a cow, quite black, recently skinned, and moistened with the blood of the immolated beast. Above, and to the right of the door, inside the tent, they suspended the head of the same cow. Its eyes were opened wide, the tongue drawn out and turned to one side. On the left of the door they suspended a human skull, and below this last they placed a loaded gun with its lock tied up. Outside the tent, on the two sides of the door, were placed the judges, the accusers, and the accused.

All these preparations being made, the person chosen by the accused for an adversary was first obliged to persuade the parties to be reconciled, in order to avoid the necessity of so great and solemn an oath. If this exhortation had no success, then they proceeded to accomplish the shakhan, which took place in the following manner: The accused who has to swear, being undressed to his shirt, placing himself upon the bloody skin of the cow, after making three profound bows, ought to jump over the threshold of the tent. Scarcely has he made the first movement to advance, than the priests begin to sound their trumpets, little bells, and metallic plates, to blow into shells, etc. These solemn sounds accompany the oath at the table upon which the idol rests, and this music is only interrupted by the slow recitation of