242 Sir Joun D’Orty’s Sketch of the 
But since that period the general belief in the possession of such diabo- 
lical powers seem to have declined. 
If the proof, as usually happened, was only presumptive, the accused 
was directed to swear by oil ; and if convicted, he, according to ancient cus- 
tom, suffers death, or becomes an outcast, and his land is confiscated or 
assigned to the injured person. 
But within the last fifty or sixty years no one has suffered execution for 
this crime ; the convictions have been very few, and in no more than one 
or two instances have the lands been assigned to the adversary. 
Of late years, complaints of Huniyam are not frequently made, or still 
more rarely brought to trial. The accusers can seldom furnish proof of 
the fact, and the case is usually settled by the chief forbidding him to 
repeat the imputation. 
Slander affecting Caste. 
The infamy which attaches to loss or degradation of caste among the 
nations of India is well known. 
This may be occasioned by two distinct acts in the person of high caste. 
First, By eating in the house of people of low caste. 
Second, By a female having criminal connection with a man of low caste. 
The connection of a man of high caste with a woman of low caste entails 
no such disgrace. 
The first is considered of no great importance, and is easily overcome 
by denying or falsifying the slander, and by an order of the chief; and, if 
necessary, by receiving a pingo from the people. 
But not so the second. 
It is said that, according to ancient usage, the disgraced family had only 
one resource left for wiping away the stain, viz. by putting to death the 
offending female, which was sometimes carried into effect, and the homi- 
cide was deemed justifiable. 
But this barbarous custom was forbidden by subsequent kings, who di- 
rected that, upon such an occurrence, the parties should seek redress from 
the crown, since which time the practice has diminished ; and in several 
cases brought to the King’s notice, when the fact was notorious and unde- 
niable, the female was consigned as a slave of the crown to the royal 
village of Gampala, and the family was ordered to deliver some provision 
to the royal store, and by this act became purified. 
