1 POPULATION, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS. 89
2 decision to a punchayt of the same class as the
3 disputants. If the complainant and defendant
4 happen to reside in separate jurisdictions, and
5 either of the chiefs persevere in evading a com-
6 pliance with the rule in such cases, or reject the
7 award of a punchayt, gaha, or self-indemnifica-
8 tion, is adopted by the opposite party, and the
9 subjects, property, and cattle of his neighbour
10 are picked up and detained until satisfaction be
11 ofiered and procured. The other side issues its
12 letters of marque ; and this pernicious system is
13 frequently carried to the commission of serious
14 outrage, and to infractions of the public tran-
15 quillity. It is not a rare occurrence for a parent
16 or a guardian to be convicted of marrying a girl
17 to one man after her betrothment to another.
18 The chief, or a punchayt, in general m such cases
19 gives a verdict that the plaintiff is entitled to a
20 female from the family ; and if there be not one,
21 the parents or guardian must find a substitute, or
22 as a dernier expedient, to which the injured party
23 very unwillingly assents, the money he may have
24 expended, or a trifle in excess with interest, is
25 decreed to be restored to him, that he may find a
26 spouse elsewhere.
27 " Amongst all the J^t families, and some others
28 of the lower classes in the Punjaub, a custom
29 prevails, on the demise of one brother leaving a
30 widow, for a surviving brother to take his sister-