so 



MALAYAN ISLES. 



<• judge palTed fentence upon them, by which they are doomed 

 « to fuffer death by a lancet poifoned with Upas. After this the 

 " Alcoran was prefented to them, and they were, according to 

 " the law of their great prophet Mahomet, to acknowlege, and 

 « to affirm by oath, that the charges brought againft them, 

 " together with the fentence and their punilhment, were fair 

 " and equitable. This they did by laying their right hand upon 

 " the Alcoran, their left hands upon their breafts, and their eyes 

 " lifted towards heaven; the judge then held the Alcoran to 

 " their lips, and they killed it. 



*' These ceremonies over, the executioner proceeded on his 

 " bufinefs in the following manner : — Thirteen polls, each about 

 *' five feet high, had been previoully eredted, to thefe the de- 

 *' linquents were faftened, and their breafts ftripped naked. In 

 " this fituation they remained a fhort time in continual prayers, 

 *< attended by feveral priefts, until a fignal was given by the 

 <' judge to the executioner, on which the latter produced an in- 

 " ftrument, much like the fpring lancet ufed by farriers for 

 " bleeding horfes. With this inftrument, it being poifoned with 

 *< the gum of the Upas, the unhappy wretches were lanced in 

 " the middle of their breafts, and the operation was performed 

 *' upon them all in lefs than two minutes. 



" My aftonilhment was raifed to the higheft degree, when I 

 " beheld the fudden efFeits of that poifon, for in about five mi- 

 ** nutes after they were lanced, they were taken with a tremor, 

 " attended with -^Jubjultus tendinum, after which they died in 

 " the greateft agonies, crying out to GOD and Mahomet for 

 *' mercy. In fixteen minutes by my watch, which 1 held in 

 " my hand, all the criminals were no more ; fome hours after 



" their 



