Oa-TTa OaTIT. 



201 



The following' amount was obtained by me front 

 Battas from Ayyoljan in Sumatra, and especially 

 from a Battese of Toba, a place inland of that 

 district. 



The chief of the tribe collect points of knv<es ? 

 bits of oh! iron, spear-points and the like, from the 

 people. Of <he«?, a representation of a man k con- 

 structed, which is about a c ibit in height. It is 

 called Opow;> and it is distorted in even p-.ssible 

 way in order to exemplify every degree of torture to 

 which man can be exposed. This image is kept 

 in the chiefs house, but it is not worshipped. When 

 any one has td he examined on oath, on any occasion 

 whatever, the image is brought forth, and he is t -.Id 

 that if he speaks falsely, he will, withiatwo months, 

 become as distorted in body as it is. To this he 

 assents; 



Although the punishment Imprecated here, is a 

 temporal §ntv f& this form of adjuration Is deemtfd 

 by these fearta! the most binding, because most 

 feared. Swearing by the earth h, — it should seem td 

 be in Sumatra, by this account— only had recourse to, 

 and allowed, when complainant and defendant airree 

 to rest satisfied with it. Hut the punishment foil >\i . 

 ing" perjury, in this case, is a future one— die oar\h 

 being supposed to reject the body of the perjurer, 

 and to prevent his spirit from resting in peace. 



W hen to the mendacity of witnesses is added the 



difficulty of obtaining 1 able interpreters; a conception 



way be formed of some of l\w IfceftJemU which affect 



the conrse of justice in the Straits of Mala* a. The 



chief lan^uayes current art- F.urnpean, chiefly, of 



course, English; IliudouMuiier, TanmL Arabic, Teloo. 



goo orGentoo^n^alee*; ten at the least distinct dialects 



of Chinese *; -so. Mou or Peg-nan, Siamese, 



• fofiion, rit tt f^frv>, Kviin-cUo, ttirW-fctioo, MacaQ, Sulto. K.hanueeu. 

 Cljoong sun, Shyoug-ttii, ChinjJuiK 1 1 b * 



