October, 1912.] 



313 



A SOLOMON'S JUDGMENT. 



The Native Court was in a grave quandary. It had gone down one 

 lane of evidence and found that it ended in a cul-de-sac aud up another 

 only to find that it opened out into a trackless jungle. Wherefore the 

 Court heaved a deep sigh, pushed its spectacles into its forehead and 

 slowly scratched its head. And whether it was this that gave birth to 

 inspiration or not, I cannot tell (although 1 like to think it was, for indeed 

 it is upon such little things as these that our lives depend); but anyhow 

 light came, and Solomon in all his wisdom might well have envied. 



The case was a dispute as to the ownership of a young buffalo ; I have 

 tried more than one myself and know that it might well have puzzled an 

 abler and more legal mind than Orang Kaya Museh's. Procedure is usually 

 as follows : the plaintiff calls six unimpeachable witnesses who swear 

 imperturbably that they have been on intimate terms with the calf since 

 its birth, that they have seen it every day of its life and that owing to its 

 having a wart under the left ear it is undoubtedly the plaintiff's. The 

 defendant then produces half a dozen equallay veracious (and no less 

 imperturbable) witnesses who have known the buffalo even more intimately 

 and from a small scratch on the off foreleg can swear positively that it is 

 (and always has been) the defendant's. And as I knew that the evidence 

 of all these excellent gentlemen never broke down in any particular I 

 wondered a little at the light I had seen dawning in Museh's eyes. 



For a moment it seemed as though the case was going to end literally 

 in a Solomon's judgment, for Museh arose and commanded that the young 

 buffalo should be brought ; " And," said he to the plaintiff and the defen- 

 dant, "bring each of you the buffalo that you say is the mother of the 

 calf ;" and they, wondering, obeyed. 



Museh the chief came to me in great glee with all the triumph of 

 genius in his smile and my question " Was he going to cut the calf in two?" 

 put him into a higher good humour still, for he regarded it (I was rather 

 relieved to see) as a very good joke on my part. Museh, you see, has 

 never heard of Solomon. 



Then the lady buffaloes arrived and I watched proceedings. The 

 whole Kapong had turned out by now and amid much shouting and 

 laughter the two mothers were tethered in front of the Court, about 50 

 yards apart, the calf being placed half way between. Then I realised 

 that the old saw " It's a wise child that knows its own father " (if father, 

 why not mother) had some counterpart in Malay legislation. The calf 

 was let loose, ambled about for a little, and then made a bee-line for the 

 plaintiff's buffalo. The test was, however, that it should chium or kiss 

 its mother and we all held our breath. '' Belum lagi tentu," said Museh, 

 "It is not yet proved." 



Now in the name of all that is art I would fain end my story here but 

 truth prods me on. I should like to tell how the defendant was put to 

 shame, and the six veracious witnesses run in for perjury, by the calf know- 

 ing and kissing its own mother, but that is just what it did not do. The 

 devil entered into the heat of that baby buffalo and he went systematically 

 40 



