OATHS — XATIVK 1NDTPPEREXCE. 



2J7 



day and one night in the Dmtsida Savan; and four 

 iliniisaniJ years hi thin tofe arte trifl ed eqfaiy*teMi»t> 

 one day and one night in the Korooiva, or portion of 

 hell alluded to. How many masses would be re- 

 quired to get a soul out of such a purgatory, when? 

 a day an*! night comprise the mmdier of 5,840,000,000 

 ordinary jear* ! 



As belief is inappreciable by, ami iul audible to, 

 human laws, where these are not cruelly inquisitorial— 

 ami even occasionally where they are so— it would lie 

 important could an approximation to the required 

 knowledge, in cases where natives arc concerned, be 

 made. By the legislative enactments for these Scttle- 

 menrs, the natives are to be sworn in such manner as 

 shall |je most binding on their consciences. Now, if it 

 be assumed, as I fear il must, that mendacity — having 

 perjury for a while nut of thequestion — is, amongst the 

 majority, secretly deemed but a venial offence, ami that 

 the dread, if any tlure be, is of the oath, not of a dere- 

 liction of the truth — -can we feel assured, that .amount 

 the followers of so many conflicting creeds, there are 

 not too many who, by professing a religion thej 

 do not believe in, gain the advantage f»f swearing by 

 what is not, in the smallest degree, binding on their 

 consciences? The law is nerveless here. It has no 

 check at command It must proceed to try and eli- 

 cit a certainty through the medium ol an uncertainty. 



It has not mi frequently occurred in the inferior 

 Courts here, that a witness has hesitated for a moment 

 as to the peculiar creed to be sworn by, and this often 

 perhaps from nit re want of reflection — not from I Kid 

 intention. Women, more frequently than men, exhi- 

 bit this glaring indecision, where lh« \ have married 

 out of their own pale, Vet what can more >trnnuly 

 exemplify the slender hold which religion here hits 

 at afl on the minds of the people; 



