OF KAMAON. 173 



the test of truth is the absence of marks of burning on the hand. Sd, 

 " Tarazu ha Dip," in this the person undergoing the ordeal was weighed, 

 at night, against stones, which were then carefully deposited under lock and 

 key, and the seal of the superintending officer j on the following morning, 

 after a variety of ceremonies, the appellant was again weighed, and the sub- 

 stantiation of his cause depended on his proving heavier than on the preced- 

 ing evening. 



The " Tir lea Dip," in which the person remained with his head sub- 

 merged in water, while another ran the distance of a bowshot and back, was 

 sometimes resorted to. The Gorkha governors introduced another mode of 

 trial by water, in which two boys, both unable to swim, were thrown into 

 a pond of water, and the longest liver gained the cause. Formerly, poison 

 was, in very particular causes, resorted to as the criterion of innocence : a 

 given dose of a particular root was administered, and the party, if he 

 survived, was absolved- A further mode of appeal to the interposition of the 

 deity was by placing the sum of money, or a bit of earth from the land in 

 dispute, in a temple before the idol, either one of the parties volunteering 

 such test, then with imprecations on himself if false, took up the article in 

 question. Supposing no death to occur within six months in his immediate 

 family, he gained his cause ; on the contrary, he was cast in the event of being 

 visited with any great calamity, or if afflicted with severe sickness during that 

 period. 



The collection of rents from the assigned lands was, as already stated, 

 left to the commanders, and as these, from their military duties, could seldom 

 be present for any length of time in their respective assignments, they were 

 under the necessity of employing deputies, and as the most simple and 

 economical plan, entrusted the details of assessment and collection to some 

 one of their principal landholders, whom they made responsible for the amount 



u u 



