Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 172, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 July 1916 — Where Stamina Wins. [ARTICLE]

Where Stamina Wins.

In some parts of Borneo it is customary, when a dispute arises concerning the ownership of a cow, for example, for both the contestants to take their positions, in the presence of the witnesses and a throng of spectators, in a pool of water about four feet deep, each praying that the birds and animals and the water may bear him. witness. Two sets of crosssticks are then driven into the mud at the bottom of the pool. At a given signal each disputant puts his head under the cross-stick, and keeps it in the wateqffcs long as he can, a friend holding his legs to pull him out at the first signs of fainting. The man who can keep his head under water the longer time is declared to be the rightful owner of the property in dispute.