were the chief or dato aided by some old
men of his own barangay, or of another barangay if necessary. Or
they themselves appointed a judge-arbiter, even if he were of a
distinct barangay or village. If there were a suit with rival parties,
they tried first to come to an agreement. If they would not agree,
an oath was taken from each one, who declared that they would do
as the judges should sentence. Having done that, witnesses were
examined summarily. If the testimony was equal for each side, then
the litigants were reconciled. If the evidence were in favor of one
of them, the suit was sentenced in his favor, and the defeated one was
notified. If he would not admit the sentence willingly, the judge and
all the others proceeded against him, and by way of execution deprived
him of all the gold to which he had been sentenced. The greater part
of it went to the judges of the case, and to pay the witnesses on
the victorious side; while the poor litigant had the least of all,
being content with only the glory of victory.

481. Criminal cases were judged according to the rank of the murderer
and the murdered. For if the murdered man were a chief among them all
his relatives went to the house of his murderer, and the houses of his
relatives, and they had continual wars one with the other until--the
old men stepped in and acted as mediators, with the declaration of the
amount of gold that ought to be given as a payment for that murder. The
judges and the chief old men took one-half that sum, and the other was
divided among the wife, children, and relatives of the deceased. The
penalty of death was never adjudged except when the murderer and
his victim were so poor and so destitute that they had no gold for
satisfaction and expenses. In that case either his own chief or dato
killed the criminal, or the other chiefs speared him after he had been
fastened to a stake, and made him give up the ghost by spear-thrusts.

482. In the matter of thefts in which the thief was not known with
certainty, and those under suspicion were many, they made a sort of
general purgation performed in the following manner. Each one was
obliged to bring in a bundle of cloth, leaves, or anything else in
which the stolen article could be hidden. Then the fastenings were
unwound, and if the stolen goods were found in any of them, the
matter ceased, and no investigation was made as to whom the bundle
belonged, or who had stolen it. But if the stolen goods