Constitution of the Kandyan Kingdom. GAT 
Sometimes, with a view of rendering the trial more solemn and certain, 
at the season of cultivation a small portion of the field is selected, which 
both parties plough and sow together; and when the paddy ripens, pro- 
ceeding to the spot with a head man or messenger, reap and thrash it toge- 
ther, and perform the other processes in the manner above described. 
3d. By earthen vessels. 
With the authority of their chief both parties repair to the disputed 
field ; the person in possession sets an earthen vessel upon a frame raised on 
three cross sticks, and places a cocoa-nut on it, calling the gods to witness 
that the field belongs to him and not to his adversary, and imprecating a 
calamity, if bis words be false, in seven or fourteen days. 
His adversary removes the vessel and cocoa-nut, casts away the former, 
breaks and eats the latter, repeating the like imprecations, or sometimes the 
cocoa-nut is divided between them ; and the case is judged (as in the oath by 
paddy) by the misfortune which may be proved to have befallen either 
party within the term prescribed. 
4th. By drawing white olas. 
This is practised in case of dispute regarding the limits of two adjacent 
lands. ‘The litigants repair to the spot by order of the chief, and accompa- 
nied by his messenger, or a head man. One of them hangsa string of white 
cocoa-nut leaves upon two or three stakes planted on the line which he 
asserts to be the limit, and proceeding along it, cuts a furrow in some parts, 
and imprecating misfortune within seven or fourteen days if his words be 
false; or sometimes the string of o/as is laid on the ground along the whole 
length of the limit. The other follows him immediately and removes the 
white o/as, denying that it is the true limit, and lays or plants them upon his 
own asserted boundary with the like imprecation, and the case is decided as 
in the second and third modes 
5th. By striking the earth, casting mud and water. 
Sometimes without the authority of the chief, and by mutual consent, both 
parties repair to the field, and together strike the earth three times with both 
hands (or cast up mud or water into the air, and sometimes at each other), 
each calling the gods to witness that the land is his, and imprecating mis- 
fortune in seven days if his words be false. 
If a signal misfortune befall either, he will sometimes resign his claim 
without further complaint. 
Vo. III. 2K 
