SLAVE DEBTORS. 301 



against one of the chiefs of their tribe, for having 

 disturbed the peace and prosperity of their village by 

 marrying his own grand-daughter! his wife and the 

 girl's mother, his own child, being still alive. The 

 chiefs who visited me, said, that since the occurrence of 

 the above event, no bright day had blessed their terri- 

 tory ; but that rain and darkness alone prevailed, and 

 that unless the plague-spot were removed, the tribe 

 would soon be ruined. 



I told them that I had no power to interfere, but 

 that I would lay their complaint before their Rajah, 

 and in the meantime advised them to follow their 

 own customs in the punishment and degradation of 

 the offending chief; knowing that it was not Mr. 

 Brooke's wish to interfere in the internal disputes of 

 the tribes, when their own established usages were 

 sufficient to restore order. They accordingly fined him 

 heavily, and degraded him from the rank of Orang 

 Kaya ; but I do not know whether the girl was separated 

 from him, although I believe not. They described the 

 ludicrous scenes between the young wife who was 

 said to be about thirteen years of age and the old 

 one, as of very frequent occurrence ; and that the whole 

 village was disturbed by their altercations ; as the young 

 one wished her grandmother, on all occasions, to do 

 the heavy work, to which the old lady would by no 

 means quietly assent. 



Though slavery, in its degrading form of trading 

 in the liberties of our fellow creatures, is not practised 

 by them, the system of slave-debtors is carried on, 

 though to a very small extent. In scarce seasons, 



