JELEBU CUSTOMARY SONGS AND SAYINGS, 27 



Custom may be split into three branches : — 



Custom clear as the triangular rush in a rice-field, 

 Custom strong and round as a pillar, whereon all men 



agree, 

 Custom laid down in God's book, the law of the Koran. 

 It is for custom to suppress the wrong, 

 To bring the good to pass. 



It is for religious Law to command righteousness 

 And bid men eschew evil. 



Customary law hinges on religious law, 

 Religious law on the word of God. 

 If custom is strong, religion is not upset; 

 If religion is strong, custom is not upset. 

 Eeligious law is the offspring of covenant, 

 Customary law also the offspring of covenant. 



Customary law requires signs of guilt, 



Eeligious law calls for witnesses. 



When customary law deals with circumstances obscure, 



It throws a wide net to catch the offender; 



In clear cases it has a sure footing; 



If the problem be high, it uses a ladder, 



If it be hard, it cleaves into it, 



If it be soft, it ladles. 



' There is a clear case ' says custom, 



When there is evidence of guilt and information laid, 



When a man is chased from the scene of the crime and 



is found panting; 

 W 7 hen there are hacks and cuts ; 

 If evidence be at hand, it requires to be shown it, 

 If it be not at hand, it requires it to be related. 



By the laws for theft 



Twelve circumstances are forbidden : 



To set a strut against a house-pillar, to rip open a 

 partition ; 



To be chased and caught panting; 



To be found with booty snatched or stolen by force ; 



To be found wounded and hacked; 



To be found with fluttering heart or trampled foot- 

 prints ; 



To be convicted of swindling and cheating; 



To have transplanted and to give a crooked story, 



For 3 x 4 = 10 + 2, 



(And these twelve signs are circumstantial evidence). 



2 Cf. "AdatrechtbundeP' VI, p. 398. 

 3 , 4 The translation is doubtful. 



R. A. Soc, No. 78. 



