80 COLONEL T. HOLBEIN HENL'LEY, C.I.E., ON EESEMBLANCES 
(about 1120 B.C.), illustrated in the Museum catalogue, are 
figured as eternal witnesses of the grant and of the horrors 
attached to a breach of it. Such witnesses are commonly 
carved on the stones which are the memorials of satis or of 
the immolations of faithful wives of Rajputs. They are to be 
found outside the villages or in the Mahasatis or “ abodes of 
bliss,” that is, the cemeteries of great chiefs. 
Political officers are frequently employed in settling disputes 
which occur between places on the borders of two states 
regarding the boundaries of estates or of villages. Crops are 
sown, it may be, on disputed lands, in consequence of which 
quarrels arise, ending too often in bloodshed. In former times 
a raid or a war between the two powers concerned might 
probably have followed ; in these days the Paramount Power 
steps in and defines the border. The settlement is not always 
easy. Sometimes the evidence of the village elders suffices. 
At others, after solemn oaths are taken by such persons, the 
bounds are walked, but, in whatever way the final conclusions 
are arrived at, it is necessary to erect boundary stones which 
from that time are recognized. Removal of such pillars is not 
unknown, but in these days of accurate maps is not very 
judicious. 
The gate sockets of ancient Babylon, some of which date as 
far back as 4500 b.c., though not exactly boundary marks, 
serve as records of the dates of erection of the buildings of 
which they form part. As a proof of the antiquity of practices 
in the East, I might note here that some of the doors of the 
old Garden House of a former Prime Minister, the Kathani- 
ka-bagh, in which I resided in Jeypore, moved on such sockets as 
that which supported the gate of Entemena, Governor of Shirpula 
or Lagash in ancient Babylonia about 6,400 years ago, and which 
is now in the British Museum. The most common cases of 
litigation amongst villagers in Malwa, says Sir John Malcolm, 
are about boundaries and claims to land. “ Oaths, ordeals, and 
every mode is resorted to, to accommodate or decide these 
disputes.” An account is given of a boundary settlement. 
Each side in turn had driven cattle to graze over the disputed 
fields. Each chief had piled up small heaps of stones at the 
most distant line from his own village to indicate the tract he 
claimed. It was agreed that each side should produce five men 
acquainted with the local merits of the case to decide a true 
line by taking a solemn oath. Each side walked its own line. 
After this failure the parties agreed to accept as the line that 
which should be traced by a respectable man wearing the hide 
