seven times and runs
off to pick up the arrow; at this instant the suspected person is
obliged to put his head under water, and if he can hold his breath
until the other returns to the bank with the arrow and has again
clapped his hands seven times he is pronounced innocent. If he cannot
do so he is declared guilty and punished. A third form of ordeal was
as follows: The Jemadar and the gang assemble under a pipal tree,
and after knocking off the neck of an earthen pitcher they kill
a goat and collect its blood in the pitcher, and put some glass
bangles in it. Four lines are drawn on the pitcher with vermilion
(representing blood), and it is placed under a tree and 1 1/4 seers
[619] of _gur_ (sugar) are tied up in a piece of cloth 1 1/4 cubits
in length and hung on to a branch of the tree. The Jemadar then says,
'I will forgive any person who has not secreted more than fifteen
or twenty rupees, but whoever has stolen more than that sum shall
be punished.' The Jemadar dips his finger in the pitcher of blood,
and afterwards touches the sugar and calls out loudly, 'If I have
embezzled any money may Bhagwan punish me'; and each dacoit in turn
pronounces the same sentence. No one who is guilty will do this but
at once makes his confession. The oath pronounced on 1 1/4 seers of
sugar tied up in 1 1/4 cubits of cloth was considered the most solemn
and binding which a Sansia could take.

8. Sansias at the present time

At present, Mr. Kennedy states, [620] the Sansias travel about in gangs
of varying strength with their families, bullocks, sheep, goats and
dogs. The last mentioned of these animals are usually small mongrels
with a terrier strain, mostly stolen or bred from types dishonestly
obtained during their peregrinations. Dacoity is still the crime which
they most affect, and they also break into houses and steal cattle. Men
usually have a necklace of red coral and gold beads round the neck,
from which is suspended a square piece of silver or gold bearing
an effigy of a man on horseback. This represents either the deity
Ramdeo Pir or one of the wearer's ancestors, and is venerated as a
charm. They are very quarrelsome, and their drinking-bouts in camp
usually end in a free fight, in which they also beat their women,
and the affray not infrequently results in the death of one of the
combatants. When this happens the slayer makes restitution to the
relatives by defraying the expenses of a fresh drinking-bout. [621]