65 ©N THE INHABITANTS OF THE 



Should a girl be compelled by her parents to 

 marry a man whom she dislikes, and should she be 

 unhappy, and leave her husband, and, in despair put 

 an end to herself, the parents get a court appointed, 

 to enquire how their son-in-law behaved to their 

 daughter. If it should appear that he treated her 

 cruelly, he is considered guilty of murder, and lined, 

 but not so heavily as is common for the commuta- 

 tion of blood. If, on the contrary, it should appear 

 that he behaved well to her, it is deemed suicide. 



Should a married woman elope with a man, and 

 the party be pursued, seized, and brought back, 

 judges are appointed to try the man ; who is generally 

 fined one or two score of rupees. The husband may 

 or may not receive his -wife, and the seducer has to 

 pay the fine. 



A man convicted of having committed adultery, 

 is fined twenty or thirty rupees : he is also obliged 

 to furnish a hog, the blood of which, being sprinkled 

 on the adulterer and adulteress, washes away their 

 sin, and, it is believed, will avert divine vengeance : 

 the ceremony ends with a feast, and, the parties thus 

 purified, the husband and. friends are reconciled. 

 The adulteress in general reveals the secret ; as a 

 superstitious idea is entertained, that, if concealed, 

 the inhabitants of the village will be visited by a 

 plague, or that a tiger or venomous animal will 

 destroy them. When any of these happens, it is 

 religiously believed to proceed from the immorality 

 and evil doings of some individual, and as a punish- 

 ment for some concealed sin ; to discover which they 



have 



