TO THE COURT OF AVA. 
153 
stances. This will be the case, whether the claim 
be ultimately substantiated or not.* 
In some parts of the country it happened occa¬ 
sionally, that when no evidence of a debt existed, 
the parties agreed to have recourse to the watery 
ordeal. The litigants were in this case immersed, 
and the person who continued longest under water 
gained his cause. The loser here paid the regular 
judicial charges ; but previous to immersion, each 
party had to pay the following bill:—thirty ticals 
in one hundred on the amount in dispute, in this 
case called Ati; three in one hundred for a charm, 
consisting of a few cabalistic words, written on a 
palm-leaf, and suspended about the neck of the 
litigants; one and a half in one hundred to the 
officers holding the ropes attached to the waists of 
the parties; one and a half in one hundred to the 
persons who fasten the poles which the parties lay 
hold of in diving ; one and a half in one hundred 
to the persons who press the bamboo poles on the 
backs of the parties, to ensure their due immer¬ 
sion ; one and a half in one hundred to the per¬ 
son in charge of the timekeeper; two and a half 
in one hundred to the chief under whose direc¬ 
tion the ceremony is performed, and one in one 
hundred for messengers and tea.f 
On the institution of any civil suit, the party 
began by paying one tical to the writers, and half 
a tical to the messengers. When an appeal was 
* Captain Alves’ Report. 
t Ibid. 
