Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 09.pdf/82

 Oaths. large fishes devour me; or may the winds or the waves overwhelm me, or may the dread of such evils keep me during life a prisoner at home, estranged from every pleasure, or may I be afflicted by the intol erable oppressions of my superiors; or may cholera cause my death; after which may I be precipitated into hell, there to go through innumerable stages of torture among which may I be compelled to carry water over the flaming regions in open wicker-baskets to assuage the heat felt by the head Wetsoowan when he enters the infernal hall of jus tice, and thereafter may I fall into the low est pit of hell, or if these miseries should not ensue may I after death migrate into the body of a slave, and suffer all the hard ships and pains attending the worst state of such a being during the period ofyears meas ured by the sands of the four seas; or may I animate the body of a beast five hundred generations; or be born an hermaphrodite five hundred times; or endure in the body of a deaf, blind, dumb, houseless beggar during the same time, and then may I be hurried to narok, there to be crucified by Phreeavom (one of the kings of hell). (Siam, by Sir J. Bowring, p. 179.) To balance the zoological oaths aforesaid we will give some botanical ones. A Bedouin picks up a straw and swears by Him who made it grow and made it wither. The ancient Franks, also, were wont to swear holding straws in their hands. Max Muller tells us that in most of the villages in India there is a sacred tree, a pipal tree, and the gods are supposed to delight in sitting among its leaves and listening to the music of their rustling. The deponent takes one of these leaves in his hands and invokes the god, who sits above him, to crush him, or those dear to him, as he crushes the leaf in his hand, if he speaks any thing but the truth. He then plucks and crushes the leaf and states what he has to say. In some parts, the Hindus are sworn upon the leaf of the sweet basil, which is placed by a Brahman in the hollow

59

of the hand with some water of the Ganges; the leaf and the water are swallowed by the swearer. This oath, however, is not deemed very efficacious. The old lonians swore at times by the plant colewart, at times by cabbages; Socrates, occasionally, by the plane tree. Both in the old and modern world oaths by rivers are most sacred. Nothing is more binding upon the conscience of a Hindu than swearing by the waters of the Ganges, for he believes that the goddess of the river will take most awful vengeance upon him and his children should he lie. In ancient times — before Mr. Bangs launched his "House Boat" — men swore inviolably by the Styx. The Syracuseans (those of old Sicily, not of New York State) sware laying their hands on lighted torches. In New Guinea they invoke the sun to burn them, or the mountain to crush them, if they swear falsely. Many of the ancient warriors swore by their weapons. The Bedouin of the desert grasps the middle tent-pole and swears by the life of the tent and of its owner. While the Ma hometan takes the Koran in his right hand and holds it in front of him, then presses his left hand over his heart, and bending down until his forehead touches the sacred book, remains in meditation for a few moments, then straightens up and tells his tale. As befits the people of such a mighty empire, the Chinese have a variety of ways of swearing. We have already mentioned one or two; now for some others. In one case, in Missouri, it was stated that the jossstick burning was the true oath among the Chinese : they take the joss-stick in their hand and swear to it; some burn a candle (36 Alb. L. J. 142); others write sacred characters on paper and then burn it, pray ing that the witness may be so burnt if he swear falsely. Another plan is to break a saucer, praying that so the deponent may perish if he errs from the truth.