BRITISH BORNEO. 89 
is generally present to the Englishman’s mind when he hears 
of the existence of slavery. The slave gang was an institu- 
tion of the white slave-owner. Slave couples, provided they 
support themselves, are allowed to set up house and cultivate 
a patch of land. 
For such minor offences as laziness and attempting to es- 
cape, the master can punish his slaves with strokes of the 
rattan, but if an owner receives grave provocation and kills 
his slave, the matter will probably not be taken notice of by 
the elders of the village. 
An incorrigble slave is sometimes punished by being sold 
out of the district. 
If a slave is badly treated and insufficiently provided with 
food, his offence in endeavouring to escape is generally con- 
doned by public opinion. If a slave is, without sufficient 
cause, maltreated by a freeman, his master can demand com- 
pensation from the agressor. Slaves of one master can, with 
their owner’s consent, marry, and no drzhan is demanded, but 
if they belong to different masters, the woman’s master is en- 
titled to a drihan of one pikul, equal to $20 or $25. They con- 
tinue to be the slaves of their respective masters, but are 
allowed to live together, and in case of a subsequent separa- 
tion they return to the houses of their masters. Shoulda 
freeman, other than her master, wish to marry a slave, he 
practically buys her from her owner with a drzhan of $60 
or $75. 
Sometimes a favourite slave is raised to a position interme- 
diate between that of an ordinary slave and an anak mas, 
and is regarded as a brother, or sister, father, mother, or 
child; but if he or she attempt to escape, a reversion to the 
condition of an ordinary slave is the result. Occasionally, 
slaves are given their freedom in fulfilment of a vow to that 
effect made by the master in circumstances of extreme dan- 
ger, experienced in company with the slave. 
A slave once declared free can never be claimed again by 
his former master. 
Debts contracted by a slave, either in his own name, or in 
that of his master, are not recoverable. 
