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about the execution: he did not seem to like talking about it and at last in order to avoid any more he made some excuse to us and went down stairs and waited there.
At about 9.30 a.m., C. got tired of waiting and left for Shameen, and about the same time A. and W.† started off on a voyage of discovery intending to come back and report how matters were looking.
Soon after we saw them on the roof of a house which overlooked the Execution Ground. This we thought would be a much better place than the ground itself, to see the affair from, giving us, as it would, a chance of not being obliged to look if we did not feel inclined to do so. We were none of us, I fancy, very sure how we would stand the sight, especially after the guide had told us that he did not intend to go on to the ground with us but only to show us in and then leave us until it was all over. We therefore started off and joined A. and W., and right glad we were afterwards that we had done so. The owner of the house—a rice-pounding shop—received us civilly and sent some stools on to the roof for us to sit on.
The Execution ground is merely a "blind" alley about 10 or 12 yards wide and 70 or 80 yards long, having a dead wall on one side and some "shanties" on the other, these being the workshops of pottery makers who use the alley for drying their ware. Yesterday when we were here the ground was covered with clay pots being sun-dried but now, in one spot, these had been cleared away and two rudely constructed crosses 5 or 6 feet high had been erected quite close to each other. One end of this alley is crossed by a street but the passage can be blocked on either side by gates. The rice shop on the roof of which we were stationed was at one corner of this wall, so that we looked down on one gateway and across the alley at the other one. When we got on to the roof we found about 200 people assembled in the ground, this number comprising many children—there were also a few people on the neighbouring house tops. In answer to our rather importunate enquiries we were now told that "it" would soon take place, that all was ready, and only waiting for the final orders to be given by the Viceroy.
Soon after 10 o'clock there was some confusion at the nearest gateway and then 3 or 4 Mandarins with about a dozen soldiers arrived. The crowd at the same time tried to rush in, but they were
† not identified.
NOTES AND QUERIES
141
about the execution: he did not seem to like talking about it and at last in order to avoid any more he made some excuse to us and went down stairs and waited there.
At about 9.30 a.m., C. got tired of waiting and left for Shameen, and about the same time A. and W.† started off on a voyage of dis- covery intending to come back and report how matters were looking.
Soon after we saw them on the roof of a house which overlooked the Execution Ground. This we thought would be a much better place than the ground itself, to see the affair from, giving us, as it would, a chance of not being obliged to look if we did not feel inclined to do so. We were none of us, I fancy, very sure how we would stand the sight, especially after the guide had told us that he did not intend to go on to the ground with us but only to show us in and then leave us until it was all over. We therefore started off and joined A. and W., and right glad we were afterwards that we had done so. The owner of the house-a rice-pounding shop- received us civilly and sent some stools on to the roof for us to sit
on.
The Execution ground is merely a "blind" alley about 10 or 12 yards wide and 70 or 80 yards long, having a dead wall on one side and some "shanties" on the other, these being the work shops of pottery makers who use the alley for drying their ware. Yesterday when we were here the ground was covered with clay pots being sun-dried but now, in one spot, these had been cleared away and two rudely constructed crosses 5 or 6 feet high had been erected quite close to each other. One end of this alley is crossed by a street but the passage can be blocked on either side by gates. The rice shop on the roof of which we were stationed was at one corner of this wall, so that we looked down on one gateway and across the alley at the other one. When we got on to the roof we found about 200 people assembled in the ground, this number comprising many children-there were also a few people on the neighbouring house tops. In answer to our rather importunate enquiries we were now told that "it" would soon take place, that all was ready, and only waiting for the final orders to be given by the Viceroy.
Soon after 10 o'clock there was some confusion at the nearest gateway and then 3 or 4 Mandarins with about a dozen soldiers arrived. The crowd at the same time tried to rush in, but they were
† not identified.
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