CANTON PRISON. 289 



deposited until a suitable burial-ground has been pre- 

 pared outside the city walls, or until the necessary 

 funds for its removal have been obtained. Each of 

 these rooms contains a rude altar, on which flowers 

 and burning- incense are placed, and sometimes an 

 image of Buddha, where the relations of the deceased 

 come to pray. It is difficult to believe that these are 

 the same people who so cruelly punish and torture 

 their prisoners for the slightest offence, and amongst 

 whom infanticide is no crime. 



The prison of Canton is a forbidding sight, — mere 

 kennels and bamboo cages for cells, filthy beyond de- 

 scription, and the prisoners laden with heavy chains 

 and a long iron pole attached to the latter, the very 

 weight of which prevents their moving about beyond 

 a crawl. The torture-chamber contains a collection 

 of instruments none but a most refined cruelty could 

 have invented. Just outside the prison gates there 

 are gambling hells which these wretches frequent, and 

 where many a dark crime is said to be committed. 

 Whilst the poor are tortured to extract truth or con- 

 fession, the rich man is admitted to the oath by 

 decapitating a cock as a symbol, — " May my head be 

 cut off" like that of a cock if I perjure." 



A pleasanter visit is that to the examination hall, 

 composed of a long gallery with rows of cells on either 



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