the
accused sank, he or she was held criminal, and allowed to drown. If
the person floated, it was regarded as a proof of innocence, and the
lucky one was drawn out of the water to be set free.

Mr. Forbes, in his _Oriental Memoirs_, says that, among the curious
circumstances connected with his administration of justice at
Dheeborg, he was sometimes obliged to determine causes by ordeal
trial. In one instance a man was accused of stealing a child wearing
many jewels. Circumstances were against him, on which he demanded
trial by ordeal. Mr. Forbes was at first averse to adopt such a
measure, but, at the request of the Hindoo arbitrators, who sat on the
carpet of justice, and especially at the request of the child's
parents, he consented. A vessel full of boiling oil was brought into
the durbar, and, after a short ceremony by the Brahmins, the accused
person, without showing any anxiety, plunged his hand to the bottom
and took out a small silver coin. He did not appear to have sustained
any hurt, or to suffer the least pain. The suspected person's
innocence being thus established in the eyes of the arbitrators and
parents, he was set free.

Another instance of trial by ordeal is mentioned by Mr. Forbes. The
coolies of a village in the northern part of Guzerat were accused of
having seized and imprisoned a Bohra, and, of extorting a bond from
him for 450 rupees. The chief, a Khemaria coolie, named Wagajee,
denied the charge, and, for proof of his innocence and that of his
people, offered to submit to trial by any kind of ordeal. The Bohra
agreed to this mode of proof, and it was determined that the coolie
should immerse his hand in a vessel of boiling oil. A large copper-pot
full of oil was put on a fire in the market place, and a pair of
blacksmith's bellows applied to blow the fire until the oil became
very hot. A rupee was then thrown into the pot. The accused, when
requested, came forward, stripped himself, said his prayers, and
protested his innocence. He resisted every attempt to dissuade him
from the trial. A crowd of people, impressed with the awfulness of
such an immediate appeal to the deity, prayed devoutly that, if he
were not guilty, he might pass through the test unhurt. Wagajee walked
up to the boiling oil, dipped his hand into it, and laid hold of the
rupee. He then held up his hand, that the spectators might satisfy
themselves of his veracity. His hand appeared as if it had been merely
put into cold oil