KASHMIR TO CHINA 223 



which overlooks the whole great city, and there tif- 

 fined, and in the afternoon visited the execution- 

 ground, one of the municipal courts, the prison, and 

 the great Examination Hall. Concerning the first, I 

 had expected to find in the famous " Potter's Field" 

 of Canton a large open public execution-ground, sur- 

 rounded by a wall, and great was my surprise when 

 our guide led us to a little alley-way, no different 

 from the rest, where the children of the neighbor- 

 hood were playing on a heap of rubbish in the centre, 

 in the midst of a conglomeration of earthen pots, 

 the stores of some potter near by. And this is 

 the spot where hundreds of criminals are led out to 

 die by strangling or beheading, or, if less fortunate, 

 by the Ling Chee, or death by the thousand cuts, 

 which is now practically abolished. The old exe- 

 cutioner came out of a house near by, showed us the 

 heavy sword which he used in his work (it had not 

 been cleaned), and wanted sixty cents to have his 

 photograph taken, which we did n't give him. He 

 was evidently used to tourists. 



No execution was set for that day, perhaps for- 

 tunately for us, for morbid curiosity is a failing of 

 the race of man. So we proceeded to the prison. 

 It was not an agreeable place. There was a single 

 courtyard packed with prisoners, all shackled but 

 doing no work, a group of jailers playing cards 



