The Idaans and Biadjoos are the slaves of the most dreadful idolatry. It is one of their religious tenets, that their fate in a future life depends on the number of human beings whom they shall have slain in their combats, or in their ordinary quarrels, and that their happiness or respectability will then be proportioned to the number of human skulls which they have in their possession. The bloody heads which they have been so fortunate as to obtain in their skirmishes, are sus pended over their doors as the most honourable tro phies. In order to increase their number of these trophies, they frequently make secret excursions to the river, Banjar, and surprise some small vessel belonging to Banjar fishermen.. One or two of their unfortunate captives are then sacrificed to their dismal superstition. When they return with a head, all the inhabitants of the village in which they reside, men, women, and- children, exhibit the most extravagant demonstrations of joy. Gongs, or musical instru ments of copper, are beat by those who conduct the Conqueror to his own house, where the women dance around him, and receiving from him the head, fofce into the mouth some meat and drink : this ceremony is followed by a banquet and dance, after which the head is hung up at the door. The arms of these sa vages are long knives, and the soompihan which is a sarbacand or trunk of wood, across which they shoot -small arrows poisoned at one end, and charged at the other with a small bit of cork, just thick enough to fill the tube. If one of these arrows only cut the skin, the wound brings inevitable death, unleis there be immediately applied an antidote which they ge ' nerallT carry about with them, and which is said to be quite efficacious.
Among the Biadjoos, as in most other savage na '• tions, a person who is inclined to marry, makes it his first object to obtain the consent of the parents with out once consulting the inclinations of his intended bride. Before he can succeed in his suit, he must have proved his courage by cutting off the head of an enemy; and when he is accepted by theparents, he carries to his bride a present, which generally con sists of a male or female slave, two dresses, and a water-pot, adorned with some favourite figures. On the wedding-day both the parties give a feast at their respective houses; after which the bridegroom, in his best apparel, is conducted to the house of the bride, at the door of which is stationed one of her relations, who smears him with the blood of a cock, killed on purpose, and the bride is smeared, in like manner, with the blood of a hen. They then pre sent to each other their bloody hands, and. the so lemnity is closed with a second entertainment. Po lygamy is unknown among the Biadjoos; and when a wife dies, the husband cannot contract a second marriage till he has again cut off the head of an ene my as an expiation for the death of his wife. If the husband wishes to get rid of his wife, on account of any delinquency, he retains her clothes and ornaments, and makes-her pay a fine, amounting to about thirty rials ; and each party is then at liberty to marry.
When a married woman has committed adultery, the husband, instead of taking vengeance on the adul terer, puts to death or three of his slaves, 'and his ignominy is thus removed ; the woman is in general punished only With' words, though some husbands, more irascible, or more jealous of their honour, pro ceed to blows. Among the inhabitants of the coasts, the laws relating to marriage are quite different. Like all other Mahometans, they are allowed to marry several wives, though they rarely form al liances with strangers. The punishment of adultery is instant strangulation. The powerful and the wealthy, indeed, set this law at defiance ; but it falls with extreme rigour on culprits in the middle or lower classes of the community.
e. The funeral ceremonies of the Biadjoos partake of the same bloody character as the rest of their su perstitious rites. When one of them dies, his body is put into a coffin, and kept in the house until the remaining males in the family have conjointly pur chased a slave. When the body is burnt, the slave is beheaded, that he may attend the ,deceased. in the other world ; and before he is put to death, lie re ceives strict injunctions to be faithful to his master. The ashes of the deceased, together 'with the head of the slave, are put into a watering pot, and deposit ed in a small edifice, or tomb,' constructed for the purpose.
Scarcely any regular form of government prevails among these barbarians. They have no sovereigns ; but are ruled by chiefs, whose authority appears to be very circumscribed, and is supported by no writ ten code of laws. Their trials bear a strong resem blance to the trials by ordeal which prevailed in Eu rope during the dark ages. If a person happened to be accused of theft, and no sufficient proof can be alleged against him, the culprit and the accuser are carried before one of the oldest inhabitants. An earthen pot, containing ashes and water, is placed on the ground ; across the pot is laid a piece of wood, on winch are put two small copper buttons. An oath is then adiiiinistered,to each party, and the piece of wood is turned round, so that the buttons fall in to the water ; the accused and the accuser take each one of the buttons, and he is deemed to have suc ceeded whose button appears as if scowered and ' whitened by the ashes.
The Biadjoos acknowledge a Supreme Being, 1 whom they worship under the name of Det•atta ; and to whom, as the creator, preserver, and ruler of the universe, they utter prayers for prosperity in this world, and happiness in the next. if it be consider ed part of their religious duty to resemble this deity in character, he must be a very gloomy and terrible being ; for no nation on earth can equal the Biadjoos in their thirst for blood, and their propensity to re venge. Though they have no kings of their own, they recognise the sovereignty of the sultan of Ban jar-massin, to whom they pay annually a tribute in gold dust to the value of 20 dais.