Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1899-04-24
THE OATH:
VARIOUS METHODS THAT PREVAIL N
 CERTAIN COUNTRIES.

Tn Some Instances Solemn and in Others
 aughable-substitute for the Bible
 Tsed in India-Tbe Terrible Norwegian
 Oatb-Reverenee of the Mohammedans.
 There is more than 8 touch of the grotesque, as well as of the solemn, ih the modes of administering Oaths in certain countries. When a Chinaman swears to tell the truth he kneels down and q china saucer Is given to him This he proceeds to break in pieces, and the following oath is then admin istered: You shall tell the truth ana the whole truth. The saucer is cracked and if you do not tell the truth your soul will be cracked Ike the saucer.
 Other symbolic variations Of the Chinese oath are the extinguishing of a candle. or cutting off of cock s head, the light of the candle repre- senting the witness's soul and the fate of the cock symbOlizing the late of perjurer.
 In certain parts of India tigers and i lizards skins take the place of the Bible of Christian countries, and the penalty of breaking the oath is that in one case the witness will become the prey of q tiger, and in the other that his body will be covered with scales like a lizards.
 One of the most terrible of European oaths k that administered in Norweg- ian courts Of law. The prelude to the 1 oath proper is a long homily on the sanctity of the oath and the terrible consequences of not keeping it. Part of this lengthy sermon takes this form; 1 If you swear a false oath tEe good ness and mercy of God will Lot avail i you, but you will be punished eteFn- ally in hell as a peryerse and hardened sinner II you swear falsely all your 1 possessions will be cursed; your land ] and meadows. so that they will yield l you no fruit: your cattle and sheep i will be barren, and all that you enjoy in this world will become q curse to i you
 When the witness fs duly crushed by l the sense of his fearful responsibility. i the oath is administered, while be l holds aloft his thumb and fore and middle fingers, as an emblem of the Trinity.
 It is q little curious that the expres- sion the truth. the whole truth and nothing but the truth. ;. in very slightly varied forms. runs through almost all l tbe paths administered in European courts.
 In an Italian court the witness. with l his right hand resting on an open Bible. declares, T will swear to tel the truth the whole truth anG nothing but the tfuth"
 The Mohammedan takes the oath with his forehead reverendy resting on the open Koran. He takes Lis bible in his hands, and, stopping low. as if in the presence of a higher power slowly bows his head until fl touches the hook. which to him is in= spired. Ia the reverence of lis acts and the unsWerving loyalty to an oath many Europeans have much to learn from q follower of MOhammed.
 In certain parts of Spain the witness when taking an oath crosses the thumb of one hand over the forefnger of the other. and kissing this symbolic. if primitive, cross, says. By this cross swear to tell the truth. "
 In the more usual form of admins tering the oath in Spain, the witness kneeis solemnly before the Bible and places his right hand reyenentlv upon It. The Judge then asks hIm will you swear, in the name of God and His holy Book, to speak the truth in answer 10 all questions that may be asked you?" The witness answers. q swear The Judge then concludes. .'If you do this God will reward you."
 An Austrian takes his oath in front of a crucifX, fanked by lighted can dles. With upraised right hand he says, T swear by the all powerful and all wise God that I will speak the whole and clean truth. and nothing but the truth, in answer to any quess tions that may be asked in this court
 No Colds in the Arctfes.