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beaten back by the soldiers who had bunches of rattan in their hands which they used pretty freely, and both the gates were now closed.
The Mandarins having put on some official robes seated themselves under a shed at the street end of the alley and 40 or 50 yards from the spot where the crosses had been erected. Gradually the people began to increase on the house tops and the crowd in the enclosure was "rattaned" into a ring round the crosses, leaving a gangway open for the passage of the culprits when they should arrive. In the front row of the ring were several quite young children, also on the house tops.
A more than usual noise at the gate now warned us that something was coming and soon, with a row and a rush of the crowd, the unfortunate men were brought in. They were each carried in a basket by two coolies, they had fetters on their feet and their arms and hands were firmly bound behind them, and a strip of wood with some Chinese characters on it was stuck in the clothing at the back of their necks. This, we were told, proclaimed their crime and the punishment to be inflicted. Both were young men apparently under 30 years of age. The first was crying in a sort of idiotic manner which made me think there might be some truth in what we were told, that sometimes they were “drugged” before execution. If this was so, however, the second man had not been affected by his dose: he had a wild defiant look about him which he carried to the last. Arrived at the crosses, the baskets were set down and the men helped out and placed one up against each cross.
We now knew that instead of being beheaded they were to undergo the horrible death of being cut to pieces—called "Ling Chih"—one for killing his father and the other—the determined one—for killing some female relation; the latter case being from what we could gather, manslaughter according to English ideas. I forgot to mention that shortly before their arrival on the scene the executioners came each carrying, wrapped up in an old cloth, a bundle of swords and knives which, when unwrapped, were left out on the nearest convenient pots. The process of lashing them to the crosses took a long time, and the wretched men were very roughly handled. They had to be so placed on stones that their shoulders reached just below the cross pieces. Then they were bound to the crosses
142
NOTES AND QUERIES
beaten back by the soldiers who had bunches of rattan in their hands which they used pretty freely, and both the gates were now closed.
The Mandarins having put on some official robes seated them- selves under a shed at the street end of the alley and 40 or 50 yards from the spot where the crosses had been erected. Gradually the people began to increase on the house tops and the crowd in the enclosure was "rattaned" into a ring round the crosses, leaving a gangway open for the passage of the culprits when they should arrive. In the front row of the ring were several quite young chil- dren, also on the house tops.
A more than usual noise at the gate now warned us that some- thing was coming and soon, with a row and a rush of the crowd, the unfortunate men were brought in. They were each carried in a basket by two coolies, they had fetters on their feet and their arms and hands were firmly bound behind them, and a strip of wood with some Chinese characters on it was stuck in the clothing at the back of their necks. This, we were told, proclaimed their crime and the punishment to be inflicted. Both were young men apparently under 30 years of age. The first was crying in a sort of idiotic manner which made me think there might be some truth in what we were told, that sometimes they were “drugged” before execution. If this was so, however, the second man had not been affected by his dose : he had a wild defiant look about him which he carried to the last. Arrived at the crosses, the baskets were set down and the men helped out and placed one up against each cross.
We now knew that instead of being beheaded they were to un- dergo the horrible death of being cut to pieces-called "Ling Chih” -one for killing his father and the other-the determined one- for killing some female relation; the latter case being from what we could gather, manslaughter according to English ideas. I forgot to mention that shortly before their arrival on the scene the execution- ers came each carrying, wrapped up in an old cloth, a bundle of swords and knives which, when unwrapped, were left out on the nearest convenient pots. The process of lashing them to the crosses took a long time, and the wretched men were very roughly handled. They had to be so placed on stones that their shoulders reached just below the cross pieces. Then they were bound to the crosses
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