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

STANDINU IN A CAGE.
THE BOY TKAVELLERS.
on persons accused of ci-iines against the
government. It is too liorrible to be pop-
ular, even among the most cokl- blooded
people in the world.
"A good many of these punishments
precede a much more nieix-iful one, that
of decapitation. The victim who is to suf-
fer tlie loss of his head is carried to the
place of execntion in a sinall cage of bam-
boo, with his hands tied behind him, and
the crime for which he is to suffer -written
on a piece of stiff paper and fastened to
his hair. In one cornei- of the cage is a
bucket, which is to hold his head after the
executioner has cut it oft'; and frerpieutlv
the pail with the head in it is hung near
one of the gates of the city or in some other
public place. "When he reaches the execu-
tion-ground, he is required to kneel, and the executioner strikes his head off
with a single blow of a heavy sword. The poor fellows who are to suffer
death rarely make any opposition, and some of them seem C[uite willing to
meet it. This is said to be due partly to the calmness of the Cliinese, and
partly to the fact that they have been so tortured and starved in their im-
prisonment that it is a relief to die. In most of the Chinese priscms the
men condemned to death are usually
kept until there are several on hand ;
then a general execution is ordered,
and the whole lot of them are taken
out to the place of decapitation.
During the time of the rebellion
they used to have executions by
wholesale, and sometimes one or
two hundred heads were taken off
in a single morning.
" Very great crimes are punished
liy cutting the body into small pieces
before decapitation, or, rather, by
cutting it in several places. All the
tlesliy parts i:)f the body are cut with
the sword of the executioner before IlOT-AVATtU SNAICli.