risoner's arm is unsealed and washed in the presence of
his judges and accusers. During this part of the ceremony the
attendant Brahmins supplicate the Deity. On receiving their
benediction, the accused plunges his hand into the boiling
fluid, and takes out the coin. The arm is afterwards again
sealed up until the time appointed for a re-examination. The
seal is then broken; if no blemish appears, the prisoner is
declared innocent; if the contrary, he suffers the punishment
due to his crime."... On this trial the accused thus
addresses the element before plunging his hand into the
boiling oil:--"Thou, O fire! pervadest all things. O cause of
purity! who givest evidence of virtue and of sin, declare the
truth in this my hand!" If no juggling were practised, the
decisions by this ordeal would be all the same way; but as
some are by this means declared guilty, and others innocent,
it is clear that the Brahmins, like the Christian priests of
the middle ages, practise some deception in saving those whom
they wish to be thought guiltless.

As regards the water-ordeal, the same trouble was not taken. It was a
trial only for the poor and humble, and, whether they sank or swam, was
thought of very little consequence. Like the witches of more modern times,
the accused were thrown into a pond or river; if they sank, and were
drowned, their surviving friends had the consolation of knowing that they
were innocent; if they swam, they were guilty. In either case society was
rid of them.

But of all the ordeals, that which the clergy reserved for themselves was
the one least likely to cause any member of their corps to be declared
guilty. The most culpable monster in existence came off clear when tried
by this method. It was called the _Corsned_, and was thus performed. A
piece of barley bread and a piece of cheese were laid upon the altar, and
the accused priest, in his full canonicals, and surrounded by all the
pompous adjuncts of Roman ceremony, pronounced certain conjurations, and
prayed with great fervency for several minutes. The burden of the prayer
was, that if he were guilty of the crime laid to his charge, God would
send his angel Gabriel to stop his throat, that he might not be able to
swallow the bread and cheese. There is no instance upon record of a priest
having been ch