1 APPENDIX — BOUNDARY DISPUTES. 203
2 contiguous and rival states, are of daily occurrence, and
3 the right and title to the smallest slip of land is contest-
4 ed with an obstinacy quite disproportionate to its intrinsic
5 value. Little attention is paid by the Chiefs or their
6 subjects to the justice or reasonableness of a case ; it is
7 quite sufficient, according to Sikh notions, that a claim be
8 advanced and presented, as something may be obtained,
9 and nothing can be lost by the reference to a Punchayt,
10 which will use its endeavours to please, and harmonize its
11 decision to the wants and wishes of those by whom it has
12 been selected.
13 Bloodshed between Zumeendars in a boundary dispute,
14 is sometimes atoned for by giving a nata, or daughter, in
15 marriage to a relative of the deceased, or commuted to
16 the payment of 150 to 200 rupees, or 125 beegahs of
17 land. In general, however, revenge is sought, and the
18 Khoo7i-buIia, or price of blood, deemed insufficient satis-
19 faction, particularly when a mother has to lament the
20 loss of a favorite child, or a wife with a family, the
21 bereavement of a husband.
22 Claims to islands in a river flowing between two
23 Manors, and to alluvions, are determined by what is
24 called the Kiichmuch, or KisJitee-hunna, which practice
25 or rule assigns the land to the proprietor of the bank, or
26 main, upon which the alluvion is thrown, and from which
27 the water has receded. If the island be formed in the
28 centre of the river, and there be depth of water on each
29 side of it, sufficient for boats to ply, in this case it be-
30 comes the joint property of the Chiefs on both banks.*
31 * This appears a very ancient custom, being mentioned by Blackstone,
32 who derives bis information from Bracton.
33 2 B 2