[157] Bosman, op. cit. p. 125.
[158] Bowdich, Mission to Ashantee, p. 267.
[159] Wilson, Western Africa, p. 225 sq.
[160] Dapper, Africa, p. 405.
[161] Volkens, Der Kilimandscharo, p. 249.
Among the Hawaiians, in the ordeal called wai haalulu, “prayer was offered by the priest” while a large dish of water was placed before the culprit, who was required to hold his hands over the fluid; and if it shook, his fate was sealed.[162] Among the Tinguianes in the district of El Abra in Luzon, if a man is accused of a crime and denies it, the headman of the village, who is also the judge, causes a handful of straw to be burned in his presence. The accused then holds up an earthern pot and says, “May my belly be changed to a pot like this if I am guilty of the crime of which I am accused.” If he remains unchanged in body, the judge declares him innocent.[163] The following ordeal is in use among the Tunguses of Siberia. A fire is made and a scaffold erected near the hut of the accused. A dog’s throat is then cut and the blood received in a vessel. The body is put on the wood of the fire, but in such a position that it does not burn. The accused passes over the fire, and drinks two mouthfuls of the blood, the rest whereof is thrown into the fire; and the body of the dog is placed on the scaffold. Then the accused says:—“As the dog’s blood burns in the fire, so may what I have drunk burn in my body; and as the dog put on the scaffold will be consumed, so may I be consumed at the same time if I be guilty.”[164]
[162] Jarves, History of the Hawaiian Islands, p. 20.
[163] Lala, Philippine Islands, p. 100.
[164] Hartland, Legend of Perseus, ii. 85 sq.
The “trial of jealousy” mentioned in the Old Testament involved a curse pronounced by the priest to the effect that the holy water which the woman suspected of adultery had to drink should cause her belly to swell and her thigh to rot.[165] In India the ordeal was expressly regarded as a form of the oath, the same word, ṣapatha, being used to denote both.[166] We have seen above that in the Middle Ages every judicial combat was necessarily preceded by an oath, which essentially decided the issue of the fight and the question of guilt.[167] So also at the moment when the hot iron was raised and the accused took it into his hand, the Deity was invoked to manifest the truth.[168] The ordeal of the Eucharist involved the following formula recited by the victim:—“Et si aliter est quam dixi et juravi, tunc hoc Domini nostri Jesu Christi corpus non pertranseat gutur meum, sed hæreat in faucibus meis, strangulet me suffocet me ac interficiat me statim in momento.”[169]