The boy travellers in the Far East : adventures of two youths ... - Library

THE BOY TRAVELLEKS.
and Las no money to pay for liis food, lie will die of starvation, as the jail-
ers are not required Ly law to feed the prisoners under their chai'ge.
There were men chained, with iron collars around their necks ; and others
tied, with their hands and feet brought close together. The suffering was
terrible, and M'e were glad to couie away after a very few minutes. It is
positive that we do not want to see another prison as long as we stay in
this country.
''In the Chinese prisons they torture men to make them confess, and
also to compel them to tell if they have money, or any relatives or friends
who have it. One of these cruelties is called 'putting a man to bed,' and
consists in fastening him on a wooden bedstead by his neck, wi-ists, and
y/ -
A liED OF TORTURE.
aidvles in such a way that
he cannot move. He is
compelled to pass the
night in this position ;
and sometimes they give
him a coverlet of a sin-
gle board that presses on
his body, and is occasion-
all}' weighted to make it
more oppressive. The next morning he is released and told that he can
be free until night, when he will be again tied up. Generally a man is
willing to do anything in his power rather than pass a second night on
such a bed. If he has mone}', he gives it up ; and, no matter how reluc-
tant he may be to call on his friends, he does so, sooner or later, and throws
himself on their generosity.
" They suspend men by the wrists and ankles ; sometimes by one wrist
and one ankle, and at others by all four brought closely together. Then
they place a victim in a chair with his arms tied to cross-sticks, and in this
position he is compelled to sit for hours in the most terrible pain. An-
other mode is by tying a man's hands together beneath his knees, and then
jjassing a polo under his arm and susjjending him from it. This is called
'the monkey grasping a peach,' and it is frequently employed to compel a
rich man to pay heavily to escajje punishment. How it got its name no-
body can tell, unless it was owing to a supposed resemblance to the posi-
tion of a monkey holding something in his paw.
" Just as we were coming out of the prison-yard wo saw a man stand-
ing in a cage with his head through a board in the top, while his toes just
touched the bottom. Unless he stood on tiptoe, the weight of his body
fell on his neck ; and evei-ybody knows how difficult it is to remain on