
SOCIETY 151 
which they stand to the offender, and irrespective of 
their degree of participation, husband and wife are 
not reckoned as kin among the Ifugao, and in fact may 
be parties to suits against each other. 
Oaths are taken and witnesses heard, but when 
testimony is insufficient, recourse is had to ordeals, 
especially in minor cases, such as theft. Some form of 
trial by ordeal was at one time practised by every people 
in the Philippines and the pagans universally retain the 
institution. Almost invariably both parties were com- 
pelled to submit to the same test, such as plunging the 
hands into boiling water, handling or being touched with 
hot irons, and the like. In other cases, they threw eggs, 
sweet potatoes, or reed stalks at each other, the one hit 
being adjudged guilty. Sometimes the ordeal developed 
into a duel with lances. In other instances a wrestling 
match decided the issue, and so strong was the con- 
viction of the innocent contender that he usually was 
the victor even over an opponent who was physically 
stronger. 
The ordeals were always of a ceremonial nature and 
represent the same appeal from mundane to super- 
natural justice which characterized our own mediaeval 
ordeals. They possess a semi-civilized flavor rather 
out of keeping with the generally primitive attitude of 
the pagan Filipino. They are not practised in aboriginal 
America nor in certain outlying regions of the Old 
World, but prevail chiefly among those peoples of 
Europe, Africa, and Asia who are in the condition of 
culture that is sometimes described as barbarism. 
There is thus a considerable probability that the concept 
of the ordeal originated only once in the history of 
civilization at some point which cannot at present be 
determined, and spread from this center to those peoples 
of the three continents whose general level of civiliza- 
