326 POISON TREE. 
was present at the execution of thirteen of the em- 
peror’s concubines, at SoUra Charta, who were con- 
victed of infidelity to the emperor’s bed. It was 
in the forenoon, about eleven o’clock, when the fair 
criminals were led into an open space within the 
walls of the emperor’s palace. There the judge 
passed sentence upon them, by which they are 
doomed to suffer death by a lancet poisoned with 
upas. After this the Alcoran was presented to 
them, and they were, according to the law of their 
great prophet Mahomet, to acknowledge and to af- 
firm by oath, that the charges brought against them, 
together with the sentence and their punishment, 
were fair and equitable. This they did, by laying 
their right hand upon the Alcoran, their left hands 
upon their breast, and their eyes lifted towards hea- 
ven ; — the judge then held the Alcoran to their lips, 
and they kissed it. 
<c These ceremonies over, the executioner pro- 
ceeded on his business in the following manner : 
Thirteen posts, each about five feet high, had been 
previously erected. To these the delinquents were 
fastened, and their breasts stripped naked. In this 
situation they remained a short time in continual 
prayers, attended by several priests, until a signal 
was given by the judge to the executioners ; on 
which the latter produced an instrument much like 
the spring lancet used by farriers for bleeding 
horses. With this instrument, it being poisoned 
with the gum of the upas, the unhappy wretches 
were lanced in the middle of their breasts, and the 
