r both parties;
question, if necessary; and decide--and from this decision there is
no appeal. One only condition I insist upon; and that is, that in
any intricate case, or whenever I dread confederacy, I do not allow
the witnesses to hear each other. The laws of evidence, in a _free
country_, prohibit any leading questions being put to witnesses: here,
for the purposes of justice, it is indispensable; for the people, being
ruled by fear, and apprehensive of consequences, often falter before
the face of the accused, and their testimony has to be wrung from
them. To decide also according to the technicalities of construction
would be here ridiculous, and defeat the ends of justice. The people
are rude and uncivilized; their oppressors crafty and bold, who have
no hesitation about lying, and bringing others to lie for them. Oaths
are a farce to them. The aggrieved are timid, vacillating, and simple,
and cannot readily procure even necessary evidence; for their witnesses
are afraid to speak. Under these circumstances, I look at the leading
features of the case, the probability, the characters, the position of
parties, and determine according to my judgment. It is not, indeed,
a very difficult task; for the disputes are generally glaring, and,
when bolstered up, usually fail in their most important links; and
at a touch of cross-questioning, the witnesses, resolved to tell
the same story, fall into opposite ones. In one case, about a slave,
three witnesses had resolved on the sex; but, questioned separately
as to size and age, all disagreed. They were not prepared. One
represented her a woman grown and marriageable; another, as high as
my walking-stick; the third, a little child.

"I have now on hand a serious matter, of robbery to a large extent,
and three of the rajah's followers are implicated. Would it were over
and well!--but done it must be. How little can those at a distance
know my difficulties--alone, unaided, the unceasing attention by day,
the anxiety and sleeplessness by night, the mountain of doubt upon
mountain piled, and the uncertainty of necessary support or assistance!

"The Pangeran of the Lundu Dyaks lived with me three weeks, and
I was able to do him substantial justice; and hope for the future
that his life, and that of the remnant of his tribe, may be rendered
more endurable.

"His residence with me was doubly advantageous, as it enabled me to
ascertain his character, and him to see something of ou