REMBAU HISTORY, ETC. 73 
ebts known as debts-of-custom (wtang adat). A man holding 
an office under the tribal constitution {orang beradat,) 
exposes himself, as has been shown in the chapter dealing 
with the constitution, to customary fines for actions and 
omissions connected solely with his official position. * Failure 
to meet the fine involveg his deposition, and casts a slur on his 
family. A like taint (chachat) on the family results from 
failure to carry out, in full detail, the prescribed ritual at the 
funeral of a constitutional official.” The holder of the ances- 
tral property is therefore bound to step into the breach and 
save, by payment of these debts, the official life of the peccant 
bachelor, or maintain by means of the ancestral property the 
inherited rights (pesaka) of the family. 
Again, in execution of the same principle, alive inheritor 
of the ancestral property is bound to provide a home for the 
males of the family before marriage, on divorce, or in sickness. 
The tribesman may wander afar secure in the knowledge that 
his ancestral swamp will be tilled, and the garden tended by 
his mother and sisters, to whom he can always return for 
shelter, maintenance, and assistance. If he comes back only 
to die, he has still the cold assurance that his funeral, and all 
contingent feasts, will be duly provided out of the family estate. 
But the duties which the possession of ancestral property 
entails on the holder are not confined to the preservation of 
the © life and blood”’ of the males. 
She is responsible also for the expenses known as the 
debts of inheritance. (Utang persaka). These fall under 
the following headings :— 
(1) Expenses of marriage, or fineg incurred in connection 
with marriage. All forms of irregular marriage entail on the 
groom the payment of a fine to the tribal chief, or the 
provision of special garments, and presents. 
(2) Expenses of burying the late holder of the property and 
of feasts in connection therewith. 
~— 
(1) vide chap. II. section 2 , 3 and 4. 
(2) vide Appendix VI. 
R. A. Soc., No. 56, 1910, 
(4) debts of 
custom(utang 
adat). 
Responsibi- 
lity of holder 
of ancestral 
property for 
maintenance 
of the males 
of family. 
Kou t heer, 
duties of the 
inheritor — of 
ancestral pro- 
perty. 
Satisfaction 
of the debts 
of inheritance 
(utang peé- 
saka). 
