44 
TRAVELS IN 
town, are in general well fed, well clothed, not much expofed to 
the weather, nor put to hard labor. Others in the country, whofe 
principal food confifts of black fandy bread, and the offals of 
butchers' meat, who labor from morning to night in the field, 
and thofe alfo who follow the arduous and daily tafk of gather- 
ing wood on the expofed fides of the mountains, or in the 
hot fands, are fubjed; to bilious fevers of which they feldom 
recover. 
Few die by the hands of juftice. In the lafl eight years no 
have been fentenced to death, 33 of whom were publicly 
executed, and thefe were chiefly flaves. The reft were con- 
demned to labor during life at the public works. The confef- 
fion of a crime, where ftrong and concurring evidence could 
not be produced, was fometimes extorted by the torture ; and 
breaking on the wheel was a capital punifhment. Thefe were 
faid to be feldom put in pracStice ; yet at the time they were 
abolifhed, by order of His Majefty, the Court of Juftice urged 
the neceflity. of their continuance, as proper engines of terror 
for preventing the commifTion of capital crimes, which, they 
thought, fimple ftrangling with a cord would be infufficient to 
effeft. Contrary, however, to the opinion of the Court of Juftice, 
there have been fewer executions, fmce the abolition of the 
rack and torture, than had taken place in an equal period for 
many years before : So much fo, indeed, that one of the public 
executioners made an application for a penfion in lieu of the 
emoluments he ufed to receive for the breaking of legs and 
arms. The fate of the other hangman was fingular enough : 
On hearing that the abolition of the rack and torture was likely 
to 
