[585] Mr. Forbes tells of a custom, in Sumatra, of taking a binding oath, above the grave of the original patriarch of the Passumah. An animal is sacrificed, cut into small pieces, and cooked in a pot. “Then he who is to take the oath, holding his hand, or a long kriss of the finest sort, over the grave-stone, and over the cooked animal, says: ‘If such and such be not the case, may I be afflicted with the worst evils.’ The whole of the company then partake of the food” (A Naturalist’s Wanderings, p. 198 f.). This seems to be a vestige of the primitive custom of eating on the witness-heap of an oath.
[586] Gen. 31 : 44-54.
[587] 1 Sam. 18 : 1-3.
[588] See pages [14], [24], [28], [35] f., [62], supra.
[589] 1 Sam. 18 : 4; 20 : 1-13.
[590] 1 Sam. 19 : 1-7.
[591] 2 Sam. 1 : 26.
[592] See pages [10], [53], supra.
[593] 1 Sam. 20 : 13-17.
[594] 2 Sam. 7 : 1; 9 : 1.