CABLEGRAMS

Inangahua Times, Issue 16, 23 September 1878, Page 2

CABLEGRAMS

REUTERS' OA.ULEGUUMS. [I»EE PRKSa AOBNCY.] SPECIAL. London, Sopfc. 10. Englitn 1 anJ Gormnny have sent idon« tioal insvruotions to their naval comman*dors v»ith rognrd to putting a stop to Chinoso acts of piracy. Tho Bnndisi mail has been dolivorod. Tho departure of tho Austrnlinn crickotora brought together an onthusiastio crowd, cheering with warm fcoling. Tho Quoon has invested tho Marquis of Lorno with tho Grand Cross of St Miohaol and Goorgo. Obituary—King of Burmuh. New Yomk, 19. Tho Canadian olootions havo resulted in placing tho Government parly in tlio miniority. Tho elections aro a signal auoooss for the protectionists. VIMNNA, 10. A rogimont of Bosnian insurgonts at Bihaos Burrondorod unpondilionally. OATHS AMONG SAVAGES, Among tbo Nomnd raoo of thn norih, three Kinds of oalhs aro said to bo U3unl, tho first and least fiolcmn ono being for Iho acc\;3vd tp face Iho sun with a knifo,

protonding to light against it, and to cry aloud : Mf I nm guilty, may tho mm onus* sickness to rago in my body like this knifo 1" Tho sooond form of oath is to cry aloud from tho tops of oortain mountains, invoking donth, loss of children and oattlo, or bad luck in hunting, in oaeo of guilt boing roal. But tho moat solemn oath of all is to exclaim, in drinking somo of tho blood of a dpg, killed cxprossly by older* nnd burnt or thrown away : ' If I dio, may I pprish, dociy, or burn away lileo this dog.' Vety similar is tho oath in Sumatra, where, a beast; having boon shin, tho flwenror anys :— * If I break my oath, may I bo slaughtered as this boast, and swallowed as this heart I now consume.' Tho most solemn oath of tho Bedouins, thftt of tho orosssiinos, is also characterised by tho somo belief which op* poars in the caso of tho slain boost affect* ing with sympathetic decay tho mnn guilty of porjury. If a Bedouin cannot convict n man he sus|ioots of thoft, it is usual for him to takn tho suspected before a sheikh or kady, and to call on him to svvoar anv oath domandod of him. If tho dofondant agrees, ho is lod to a certain distonoo from tho camp, ' becauso tho magical natnro of (ho oath might provo pernicious to tho general body of Arabs wero it to tako plaoo in their vicinity.' Then tho plaintiff draws with his skein, or crooked knife, a lnrgo oirclo in tho sand with many crosslines iusido it, causes tho defendant to do tho same, nnd makes him say after himself ; • By God, and in God, and through God I swoar I did not tnko tho thing, nor is it in my possession.' To mnko tho oath still moro solemn and binding tho accused often puts also in tho circlo an ant and a hit of oamol's skin, tho ono exprossivo of a hopo that ho may nover be dostituto of camol's milk, tho othor of n hopo that ho may novor lnok tho winter provisions of an ant. Firm, however, as is tho savago boliof that tho consequences of perjury aro doath or disoaso» a boliof which shows itself not unfrcqucntly in actually inferring tho fact of porjury from tho foot of death, oscapo from tho obligation of an oath is not unknown among savages. On tho Guinea Coast recourse was had to tho common expodiont of priestly absolution, so that when a man took a draught-oath, imprecating death on himself if ho failod in his promise, tho priests woro somolimos compelled to tako an oath too, to tho offeot that they would not employ their absolving powers to vo» loaso him. In Abyssinia a similar process seems to bo in voruo ; for tho King, on ono occasion having sworn by across, thus addrosscd his servants : ' You seo tho oath I have lakon ; I scrapo it clean away from my tonguo that made it.' Thoroupon ho sornpod his tongue and spat away his oath, thus validly releasing himaelf from it,— Gentleman's Magazine.