Page:The Pamphleteer (Volume 8).djvu/98

94 mount for which he is disposed of is appropriated to repay his creditor; the surplus being divided between the prince, the Jaxa, and the creditor, as a recompense for their trouble: the man sold in this manner becomes a rowang. This state of servitude embraces every feature of slavery, excepting that the rowang cannot be sold, put to death, nor sent out of the country. If a rowang wishes to marry, he may do so on receiving his master's consent, but the woman becomes a rowang also. But the rowang possesses this advantage, that he may redeem himself at any time, by paying the amount of the debt, or the money may be advanced for him; so that his condition is that of a debtor bound to serve his creditor until the amount of his debt is discharged. In the event of the debt not amounting to ten dollars, the party cannot be sold; but the jaxa will order the goods and property of the debtor to be disposed of, and an obligation to be given for the payment of the remainder whenever his circumstances may admit. A person indebted to another, and unable to pay, may make over his wife and children to the creditor, who, in such case, will become rowangs; and, on eventual payment of his debt, he may demand back his family.

In marriage, the dowry established by custom, for all persons of equal rank, is forty dollars, to be paid to the parents of the bride; but, as it happens, in many cases, that the husband is unable to pay this sum, he becomes indebted to the parents for the amount, and this constitutes a third branch of slavery, under the term Tatung'gon. The man and wife reside in the house of the bride's father, and the man performs service in attendance on the family, or in assisting in the cultivation of the land. When the husband is enabled to pay the dowry, he is then at liberty to quit the father’s house, and to maintain an independent establishment, under the term of "Orang Merdika," or free man. If the new-married man, however, behaves to the satisfaction of his wife’s family, it often happens, that after a certain time, the father-in-law consents to remit the whole or part of the dowry, according to the circumstances of the parties.

The punishments for crimes are death, confinement, and selling into slavery; neither torture to obtain confession, mutilation, nor even corporal punishment are used. Theft and robbery are punished with death; and, for murder, treason, and gang robbery, in aggravated cases, the punishment of death is inflicted by breaking the limbs with a hatchet: this, though it assimilates to the manner of breaking on the wheel, does not appear to have been adopted from Europeans, the practice being of ancient date. The party is left to linger, sometimes for several days, before death ensues. All executions are in public. Other capital punishments are usually performed with a creese. Open robbery by daylight is punished by death;