slaying of a robber also is
dealt with in like manner.

The punishment of adultery was imprisonment for life (_ka sah dain
mur_), or a fine of Rs. 1,100, and one pig (_ka khadwei spah wei
doh_). Whether such a heavy fine was ever paid is perhaps doubtful,
and probably some other form of punishment was substituted for it. A
husband finding his wife and a man in _flagrante delicto_ could,
as under the law of the ancients, kill both adulterer and adulteress
without punishment for murder. He was, however, bound to deposit Rs. 5,
and the conventional pig in the Siem's durbar. The punishment for rape
(_kaba khniot tynga_) was imprisonment for life in the case of the
woman being married, and a heavy fine and one pig if the woman was a
spinster. Arson was punishable with imprisonment for life, or a heavy
fine. The punishment for causing people to be possessed by devils
(_ka ba ai-ksuid briew_) was exile (_pyrangkang par_); but if a person
so possessed died, the sorcerer was hurled down a precipice (_pynnoh
khongpong_). The punishment for robbery and theft was the stocks (_ka
pyndait diengsong_), the imposition of fetters, or a punishment known
as _kaba s'ang sohmynken_, by which the culprit was compelled to sit
on a bamboo platform under which chillies were burnt. The result of
such torture can be better imagined than described. Incest, or _sang_,
which amongst the Khasis means cohabiting with a member of a man's or
woman's own clan, was punishable with exile or a fine of Rs. 550/-
and one pig. It is believed by the Khasis that the evils resultant
from incestuous connection are very great; the following are some of
them: being struck by lightning, being killed by a tiger, dying in
childbirth, &c.

Decision of Cases by Ordeal.

Water Ordeal.

In ancient times the Khasis used to decide certain cases by means
of water ordeal (_ka ngam um_). Yule, writing in 1844, mentions a
water ordeal, and one of my Khasi friends remembers to have seen one
during his boyhood. There were two kinds of such ordeals. The first,
called _ka ngam ksih_, was as follows:--The two disputants in a case
would each of them fix a spear under water in some deep pool. They
would then dive and catch hold of the spear. The man who remained
longest under water without returning to the surface was adjudged
by the Siem and durbar to have won the case. Colonel Maxwell, late
Superintendent of the Manipur State, witnessed a similar ordeal in
the Manipur Stat