224 SPORT AND TRAVEL 



and smoking at the gate, and in the corners of the 

 yard those men who had been sentenced to wear the 

 wooden collar, a great heavy block of wood some 

 three feet square, locked about the neck, which pre- 

 vents the wearer from lying down during all the 

 months that he wears it. 



Across the yard was the court of justice, where 

 the magistrate arrived as we entered. We were able 

 to stay but for two cases, and saw only one of them 

 throughout. The accused was led in with a chain 

 about his neck, and this was thrown upon the 

 paved floor, where he knelt before the judge. Being 

 of a different province, the judge could not under- 

 stand a word of the prisoner's dialect: the inter- 

 preter did all the talking, while the judge gazed at 

 us and about the court-room. It appeared that the 

 charge was of stealing a woman's hairpin in the 

 street, which the interpreter, who apparently acted 

 as prosecuting attorney as well, brought out with 

 many scowls directed at the unfortunate man on 

 the floor, the prisoner meekly maintaining his inno- 

 cence. He was finally sentenced to wear the wooden 

 collar for two months. 



I must mention also the great Examination Hall, 

 where the students of the province come to take 

 their second degree for the civil service, before 

 going up to Peking for the third. There are eleven 



