A QUARREL 311 



request was not granted, and, in the end, the headmen of various 

 villages succeeded in reconciling the two, and obtained from 

 Kuhangta a promise of good behaviour. Such cases, however, 

 do not always end so tamely as in this instance. 



2. " About noon, Offandi, the headman of Mus, came to my 

 hut with a paddle in his hand which he was trying to break, 

 muttering at the same time, * I am a very rich man. All this 

 land and everything in it is mine. You were a very poor man, 

 and I gave you land, gardens, houses, and many other things. 

 You now call me a liar, and so I am angry, and am going to 

 dig up a grave.' He repeated this over and over again, and 

 would not say anything else. I was quite puzzled, and could 

 not understand what he meant. I asked him if he was angry 

 with me, and he said, ' Yes, I am angry, and there is another man.' 



" While this was going on, his wife and a number of men 

 and other women came running after him from the village. As 

 soon as he saw the crowd, he hastily broke the paddle in my 

 hut and ran off with the handle to the burial-ground, and 

 began to dig at the grave of his late father. 



" The crowd ran off to the burial-ground, caught hold of him, 

 and tried to drag him out of the place. A regular struggle 

 commenced, and the women began to cry out, some, ' We fear, 

 we fear,' others, * Don't pollute us.' The Burmese and other 

 traders looked on from a distance with great surprise. 



" As the matter began to grow serious, I went across and 

 ordered Offandi in a commanding tone to leave the place and 

 come away at once. He came away quietly enough to my 

 hut, and the crowd with him. After some inquiry, he said 

 that ' Friend of England ' had insulted him, and, therefore, he 

 wanted to open the grave of his (Offandi's) father and throw 

 the bones into the sea, adding, ' This man was a very poor 

 man once. My dead father patronised and gave him land, 

 garden, and everything, but now he calls my father a liar, and 

 so he must be punished.' I then sent word to all the chief 

 men of the village, and told them to come over to my place 

 that night. 



"Accordingly, at about seven o'clock, all the people, including 

 the parties of the dispute and the Kahokachan (village judge), 

 assembled, and as this was a family quarrel, I asked the judge 



