登陆注册
5290900000029

第29章 LETTER IV(11)

Then the procession starts, the criminals, of whom there are usually several, being carried in open baskets in the following order:--Some spearmen, the malefactors, a few soldiers, a chair of state, bearing the ruler of the Naam-Hoi county, attended by equerries; and another chair of state, in which is seated the official who, after all is over, pays worship to the five protecting genii of Canton, a small temple to whom stands close to the potter's field, and who have power to restrain those feelings of revenge and violence which the spirits of the decapitated persons may be supposed hereafter to cherish against all who were instrumental in their decapitation. Last of all follows a herald on horseback, carrying a yellow banner inscribed "By Imperial Decree," an indispensable adjunct on such occasions, as without it the county ruler would not be justified in commanding the executioner to give the death stroke. This ruler or his deputy sits at a table covered with a red cloth, and on being told that all the preliminaries have been complied with, gives the word for execution. The criminals, who have been unceremoniously pitched out of the dust baskets into the mud or gore or dust of the execution ground, kneel down in a row or rows, and the executioner with a scimitar strikes off head after head, each with a single stroke, an assistant attending to hand him a fresh sword as soon as the first becomes blunt. It is said that Chinese criminals usually meet their doom with extreme apathy, but occasionally they yield to extreme terror, and howl at the top of their voices, "Save life! Save life!" As soon as the heads have fallen, some coolies of a pariah class take up the trunks and put them into wooden shells, in which they are eventually buried in a cemetery outside one of the city gates, called "The trench for the bones of ten thousand men." It is not an uncommon thing, under ordinary circumstances, for fifteen, twenty, or thirty-five wretches to suffer the penalty of death in this spot; and this number swells to very large dimensions at a jail delivery, or during a rebellion, or when the crews of pirates are captured in the act of piracy. My friend Mr. Bulkeley Johnson, of Shanghai, saw one hundred heads fall in one morning.

Mr. Henry says that the reason that most of the criminals meet death with such stoicism or indifference is, that they have been worn down previously by starvation and torture. Some are stupefied with Saam-su.

It is possible in some cases for a criminal who is fortunate enough to have rich relations to procure a substitute; a coolie sells himself to death in such a man's stead for a hundred dollars, and for a week before his surrender indulges in every kind of expensive debauchery, and when the day of doom arrives is so completely stupefied by wine and opium, as to know nothing of the terror of death.

We had not gone far into this aceldema when we came to a space cleared from pots, and to a great pool of blood and dust mingled, blackening in the sun, then another and another, till there were five of them almost close together, with splashes of blood upon the adjacent pots, and blood trodden into the thirsty ground. Against the wall opposite, a rudely constructed cross was resting, dark here and there with patches of blood. Among the rubbish at the base of the wall there were some human fragments partly covered with matting; a little farther some jaw-bones with the teeth in them, then four more crosses, and some human heads lying at the foot of the wall, from which it was evident that dogs had partially gnawed off the matting in which they had been tied up. The dead stare of one human eye amidst the heap haunts me still. A blood-splashed wooden ticket, with a human name on one side and that of the Naam-Hoi prison on the other, was lying near one of the pools of blood, and I picked it up as a memento, as the stroke which had severed its string had also severed at the same time the culprit's neck. The place was ghastly and smelt of blood.

The strangest and most thrilling sight of all was the cross in this unholy spot, not a symbol of victory and hope, but of the lowest infamy and degradation, of the vilest death which the vilest men can die. Nor was it the solid, lofty structure, fifteen or twenty feet high, which art has been glorifying for a thousand years, but a rude gibbet of unplaned wood, roughly nailed together, barely eight feet high, and not too heavy for a strong man to carry on his shoulders. Most likely it was such a cross, elevated but little above the heads of the howling mob of Jerusalem, which Paul had in view when he wrote of Him who hung upon it, "But made Himself obedient unto death, _even the death of the cross_." To these gibbets infamous criminals, whose crimes are regarded as deserving of a lingering death, are tightly bound with cords, and are then slowly hacked to pieces with sharp knives, unless the friends of the culprit are rich enough to bribe the executioner to terminate the death agony early by stabbing a vital part.

These facts do not require to be dressed out with words. They are most effective when most baldly stated. I left the execution ground as I left the prison--with the prayer, which has gained a new significance, "For all prisoners and captives we beseech Thee to hear us, good Lord;" but though our hands are nationally clean now as regards the administration of justice and the treatment of criminals, we need not hold them up in holy horror as if the Chinese were guilty above all other men, for the framers of the Litany were familiar with dungeons perhaps worse than the prison of the Naam-Hoi magistrate, and with forms of torture which spared not even women, and the judges' and jailers' palms were intimate with the gold of accused persons. It is simply that heathenism in Canton is practising at this day what Christianity in Europe looked upon with indifference for centuries.

I. L. B.

同类推荐
  • 霍乱门

    霍乱门

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 晏子春秋集释

    晏子春秋集释

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 新修本草

    新修本草

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 续医说

    续医说

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛说大般泥洹经

    佛说大般泥洹经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 文笔要诀

    文笔要诀

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 与身体相疏远

    与身体相疏远

    《与身体相疏远》是新散文代表作家庞培先生的散文结集。其中包括创作于早年的《低语》选章以及近作《五种回忆》《旧事记》等。作者通过深度回忆将时间深处的影像一一复原。作为一个地处江南的家庭的点滴在作者温婉优美的文辞中对外曝光。无论手足之情,父母之爱,师长之谊都在他堪称精湛的文笔底下感人至深。
  • 道德會元

    道德會元

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • NBA之第一后卫

    NBA之第一后卫

    2014夏天的NBA这个时候,詹姆斯酝酿着把天赋带回克利夫兰,保罗乔治成了那个东部唯一能和詹姆斯PK的男人,西部马刺再次获得冠军,三个老家伙4-1干掉了如日中天的三巨头,杜兰特依旧是万年老二,库昊已经开始日天,哈登的造犯规技术慢慢浮现,卡哇伊的死亡缠绕渐渐打出名声......就在这时,徐向悄悄的来到了2014年NBA的选秀赛场,这个身高191公分,模样清秀的中国小伙子究竟能不能立足于NBA呢?请跟随我来一步步观看徐向在NBA挥洒热汗,叱咤风云!
  • 青少年心理健康课

    青少年心理健康课

    怎样去除心理阴影?怎样给自己一个快乐的心情?本书针对青少年生活中的性格培养、情绪控制、对自我和身边世界的认识、青春期特殊心理、常见心理症结,以及交往和学习中的心理问题等,采取故事和说理相结合的形式,以鲜活的案例进行深入剖析,给出各种有效的方法。给予你一定的启发,帮助你解决成长道路上的迷惑,带给你更多的快乐和关于成长的思考。
  • 苏浅活命记

    苏浅活命记

    一朝穿越成有医术的古代女子,为昏庸皇帝治病才能活命。遇各种稀奇古怪的事,被拉扯到一场夺权中,加入一个组织后被迫到青楼暂居,实则暗地里收集情报。在过程中找到又失去了唯一的亲人,九死一生与他一同患难。上战场、跨雪原只为帮他抢回皇位。她的师兄惨死在她封后的前一晚,同时她也知道了许多,亲人的惨死,数次九死一生,一身的伤疤,都是那个枕边人做的!她还能原谅他吗?她会杀掉他吗?只是可惜了从始至终都维护她的师兄……只不过由于女主光环,一切也许还不晚。(此文不虐,看起来不费脑子,女主角不是被虐狂,不是圣母心)
  • 表小姐驾到

    表小姐驾到

    无虐,一对一的狼宠!现代警花,执行缉毒任务遇难,穿越到前世——大将军的孤女。有比她更悲惨的前世了么?四岁丧父、八岁母亡、九岁本尊死翘翘。寄人篱下无所依,庭院深深无人诉!悲剧会继续上演?不可能!现代表小姐,看我如何逆转乾坤!复仇不是她本意,上门挑衅她就不客气了。石头再漂亮也不能搓揉,何况是表小姐这块硬石头?所以赐婚……拒绝!钱包再憋屈也不能抢啊,表小姐口袋里的钱尤其动不得,谁要动了,表小姐会十倍欺诈回来!王爷来求婚,休想!第一公子要上门,没门儿!妖孽腹黑男求表白,滚……慢着,表小姐的目光直直停在腹黑男身上,心下直骂这妖孽,一定是缺乏女人爱!干脆算替世人收妖吧!出来祸害人世,不收天理不容!经典对白:某男伸手一拉,表小姐猝不及防摔进池塘,他笑:“你跟我可真是珠联璧合。”表小姐怒道:“臭不要脸的狐狸求雌性,来人,给我赏他百只母狐!”小输一回,表小姐有肚量往下咽。——某女抱胸看着被过肩摔的腹黑男人,“你说珠联璧合是吧?让我想想你这颗黑珍珠是做面膜好呢?还是下锅送过我舅母做美容药呢?”某男面不改色,美气不减,“那是个误会。”跟表小姐一起古代爱,请大家多多收藏,妖孽打包到家门哦!泱泱掩面飘走……
  • 动物世界2

    动物世界2

    大千世界,精彩纷呈。面对五彩缤纷的动物世界,孩子们睁大了惊奇的双眼。鸟儿为什么会飞?大象的鼻子为什么那么厉害?鱼怎么会放电?数亿年前,动植物的出现叩响了沉默。也许,它们有的只是一个细胞,渺小得似乎可以忽视,但它们却宣告了一个不平凡的开始——地球上从此有了生命。经过几亿年的进化繁衍,地球上变得日益充盈。从浩瀚的海洋到广阔的天空,从葱翠的平原到荒芜的沙漠,从赤日炎炎的非洲内陆到冰雪覆盖的南极大陆……到处都有动物的踪迹。它们或披着鳞带着甲,或裹着厚厚的皮毛,共同演绎着这个世界的五光十色和盎然生机。
  • 风吹过的脚步

    风吹过的脚步

    无论发生了什么,错过了什么,我们都是向前走的,谁也不例外。
  • 梦回唐朝做宰相

    梦回唐朝做宰相

    既然穿越过来,那就要有个穿越的样子,大唐我来啦!!!!