Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 03.pdf/342

 The Ordeal in Asia. tween them, are drawn upon the ground. The hands of the accused are first rubbed with rice in the husk, and carefully examined to note any existing marks upon them; seven pippal leaves are then bound with seven threads upon each hand, and the priest gives him a red-hot iron ball to carry as he steps in turn from circle to circle, taking care one of his feet is always within one of them, until, on reaching the eighth circle, he gets rid of his hot encumbrance by throwing it into the last of the circles, so as to burn some grass left therein for the purpose. His hands are then examined, and if the iron has left no marks behind it, he is open to receive the congratulations of his friends. More curious yet is the Hindu water ordeal. The accused stands in water reach ing nearly to his waist, attended by a Brah man, staff in hand. A soldier shoots three arrows from a cane bow, and one man hur ries to pick up the farthermost shaft; as he takes it from the ground, another runs to ward him from the water's edge; at the same moment the accused grasps the Brahman's staff, and dives under the water, remaining there until the two arrow-fetchers return. If he raises his head or any part of his body above the surface of the water before the arrow is delivered to the Brahman, the accu sation is considered proved, and he suffers accordingly. In Pegu, they simplify mat ters, merely driving a stake into the bed of the river, of which accused and accuser take hold, plunging together under water, and he who remains immersed the longer is held to have truth on his side. There are two ways of administering the ordeal by poison; in the one, the accused

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eats a mixture of white arsenic and butter; in the other, a hooded snake is put into a deep earthen pot with a ring or coin, which the accused has to recover without receiving any injury from the potted reptile. In the trial by images, no immediate danger is incurred. Two images — one of silver, called Dharma, or the genius of justice, and one of clay or iron, called Adharma — are placed in a jar; the drawing out of the first being equivalent to a verdict of not guilty. When the images are not procurable, pic tures of them on white and black cloth, rolled in dirt, are substituted; and prove equally efficacious. When disputes arise in Borneo, the Dyaks abide by the decision of their elders; and these, when the evidence is so conflicting as to render it difficult to decide upon which side the right lies, refer the disputants to the trial by ordeal, both complainant and defend ant running equal risk. Sometimes two pieces of salt are placed in water, and the owner of the piece dissolving first loses the cause; or a couple of land-shells are placed on a plate, and lime-juice squeezed over them; the shell that moves first declaring the guilt or innocence of the person it represents, ac cordingly as motion or rest has been chosen to decide the knotty point. Sometimes each provides a wax taper of a certain size; the two tapers are lighted at the same moment, and whichever is extinguished first extin guishes the hopes of its owner. But the method most in favor with the Dyaks is the simple one of the disputants plunging their heads under water together; the first to put up his face to take breath losing the case thereby. — Chambers' Journal.