1868.] Dwellings, ivories of art, laws, Sfc. of the Karens. 147 



he is sold off into slavery among strangers, so that the village 

 may have no more trouble with him. 



When a man is suspected of theft, and there is no positive evidence 

 to sustain the charge ; if he denies it, recourse is usually had to the 

 water ordeal. 



The accused says to the man who brings the charge. " We will 

 decide this matter ourselves by diving under water. If thou beatest 

 me, by remaining under water longer than I do ; if I have kyee-zees, 

 I will give them unto thee ; if I have slaves, I will give them to thee. 

 If I do not give thee the kyee-zees or slaves, take my body and rip it 

 open, take my head and cut it off. Split me in two from head to 

 foot, and cut me in two across." 



Then the man who makes the charge rises up, and replies : " Thou 

 sayest thou art honest, thou art upright. If I have charged thee 

 falsely, and if I do not beat thee, in remaining longest under water, 

 take my wife and live with her, take my kyee-zee and carry it away, 

 split me in two and cut off my head." 



Then in the presence of the friends of each party they go down 

 into the water ; and a person puts a board over the heads of the two 

 men as they stand together, and puts down the heads of both into 

 the water at the same instant. The man that comes up first to the 

 surface, is regarded as the guilty party ; and he pays a kyee-zee, if he 

 has one. If he has none, his friends pay it for him ; but if he has 

 neither kyee-zee nor friends, he is put to death, as he adjudged him- 

 self before taking the ordeal. 



Another ordeal is to ascend a Steraiilia tree after it has been strip- 

 ed of its bark, and is very slippery. But I have never known it to 

 be used. 



Adultery and Fornication. — When adultery or fornication has been 

 committed, the elders decide that the transgressors must buy a hoo- 

 and kill it. Then the woman takes one foot of the hog, and the man 

 takes another, and they scrape out furrows in the ground with each 

 foot, which they fill with the blood of the hog. They next scratch 

 the ground with their hands and pray : " God of heaven and earth, 

 God of the mountains and hills, I have destroyed the productiveness 

 of the country. Do not be angry with me, do not hate me ; but have 

 mercy on me, and compassionate me. Now I repair the mountains 



