162 CAPTAIN TUCKEY'S NARRATIVE; 



crime, it would appear, being punished in proportion to the 

 rank of the husband. Thus a private man accepts two 

 slaves from the aggressor ; but the son of a Chenoo cannot 

 thus compromise his dishonour, but is held bound to kill the 

 aggressor ; and if he escapes his pursuit, he may take the 

 life of the first relation of the adulterer he meets ; and 

 the relatives of this latter, by a natural re-action, revenging 

 this injustice on the other party, or one of his relations, is 

 one of the grand causes of the constant animosities of 

 the neighbouring villages. If a man poisons an equal, he is 

 simply decapitated ; but if an inferior commits this crime 

 (the only kind of secret murder) on a superior, the whole of 

 his male relations are put to death, even to the infants at the 

 breast. 



When a theft is discovered, the gangam kissey or priest, 

 is applied to, and the whole of the persons suspected are 

 brought before him. After throwing himself into violent 

 contortions, which the spectators consider as the inspirations 

 of the kissey or fetiche, he fixes on one of the party as 

 the thief, and the latter is led away immediately to be sen- 

 tenced by a palaver. Of course the judgment of the priest 

 is guided either by chance, or by individual enmity : 

 and^ though (as our informer assured us) the judgment 

 was often found to be false, it derogates nothing from 



