The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-25 00:00:00

HORRIBLE PUNISHMENTS.

" They led us out into a field surrounded by a high iron
wall. A vague feeling of horror crept over me when I saw
this place, for I knew at once that it was the execution-
yard. The executioner, who was a negro man, approached
and first singled out the old man who told me we should see
the stars, and I soon saw what he had meant by these words.
The negro sat him down and drew his dagger. The poor
old man cried out, I thorn,' which is, I will speak the
truth;' but the executioner plunged his dagger into his
heart, saying, It is now too late.' He drew his dagger
out reeking with blood, and cut the man's throat to make
sure of his death. Oh, horror ! the poor wretch's eyes
started half out of their sockets, and his tongue lolled out
of his mouth, which was covered with foam. A camel was
brought, and the body was laid on it and carted away. I
shivered with fright ; my blood froze in my veins, and the
rest of the prisoners stood like dead men, witnessing the
fearful commencement of horrors. The first being thusdis-
. posed of, they took a second man. Him they hung and a
third was seized. He was laid flat on his face on the ground,
,a large sharp stake was then driven through his back, peg-
-ging him, writhing with agony, to the ground. He of
course soon died. The nine other prisoners were then set
down on zinc blocks of wood. The executioner then went
to one of them, and with his knife made a gash in his arm,
and he thrust a candle in under the skin—this he did
again and again, till the man was covered with
candles. When the nine poor wretches had all
been served thus, all the candles were lit. Then the exe-
,nutioner told a man who stood by, with a paper in his
ha.ud, to read out the list, who these men were, and what
were their crimes; and he read—The first was a spy. The
man who had been hung was a robber who had killed a
man and taken his horse. The nine men were murderers ;
and the man who was staked down was a fornicator who
had defiled his own daughter. They were all Mahomme-
dans. Who can imagine the state I was in when all this
was over ? My turn was come at last. A man told me to
follow him; I obeyed with a sickening feeling in my heart.
Ile lead me to a large stump in the ground, through which
were put planks of wood like see-saws, but so high up as to
be quite out of my reach. I was tied by my hands to one
end of these, my legs hanging down, but far from reaching
the ground ; a weight was put on the other end of the plank
to balance me, and I was left swaying in intolerable, and
every moment increasing, agony. Oh, the torture I endured
that dreadful day ; often I almost regretted ever having left
Aflihanietan, but even then I could not wish myself back
among 'the Affghans. No, I thought, this trouble I have
brought on myself by my own hot rashness. I was left on
this rack all day, and in the evening I was taken down."
THE MAGICIANS OF THE JUNGLE.
" In the evening, to my great surprise, I came suddenly
to a queer-looking little hut, outside which I saw some naked
people squatting on the ground, with their faces buried be-
tween their knees, which they were clasping with
their arms. There was something weird and ghastly
in their appearance, so that I felt an in sti nctive dread, and laid
hold of my sword. At this the creatures lifted up their heads,
and said, What are you about, young man ?" Who are
you,' I asked. ' And what do you here ?' Without heed-
ing my question, they merely said, Come down and take
rest.' I dismounted, and approached these strange beings,
wondering who they could be, for their nails were like great
claws, and, long hair was on their bodies. They had hidden
their faces again, and
,they sat motionless, hugging their
knees. I half doubted their humanity, and again took hell
ot rey sword, just to try if they knew what pain was ; but
tholtgh they could not possibly see me do this, their faces
being turned away, they immediately lifted up their heads,
and_, Young man, what are you about ?" What sort
"` -Pe°l)le are you?' I asked, You squat there, and won't
speak.' Then they said, Sit down and rest;' and again
resumed theire extraordinary position. I sat down,
waited to ea
what they would do. I was very hungry, 1
and honed
Y would offer me food. When it got quite dark
they rose, the
and I followed
n More.
them into the house, where they
:ore. Presently a man brought in
aalclasnadt
ldeo.wnThakeiis felmle
I had seen for some time
as a proper human being, the first
, and he had clothes on. Suddenly i
he fell down before one of the
naked men, crying aloud, and
kissing his feet. Then he arose, wiped his eyes, took the
light and motioned me to follow him. I went after him,
and he led me to a room in which was• carpet and various
:att3aith,ere, and went into
household things. The servant left
it little garden near the house, and
some vegeta-
:l noticed a fire
b.tes or herbs. In the middle of the roc)
bet u'een four large stones. The servant,
round shallow iron pan. As put over this
fl a: socut as this
heated, put the herbs in, having ?hop
)ed was
d he fried theta with butter', peplpe the,
up, and
ho ho brought flour and water and r'miaxnecid
salt ; and
which lie cooked in. the pan with the herbs.
set it before When
a cake,
brought it and
all was done, —ahe refused to do so. I was too hun-
him to eat with me, vu,,
vr,ts made of, so I began ,
gry to stop to ask What the. food
tasted anything 1
I asked where I should keep
eating directly, and „never in my life, se
good. When I had finished,b
would take charge of him.
my horse, and the man said
a animal, I left him
I said I would go too, and lookeafter him so we went, and
as I felt sure no one would touch t e
I.ay
in
tied up outside the house, and went
lf alone in the
-doors to rest. 1
down to sleep, and ; sdon found my se
without say-
room; the men had goneawey with
the light•but
, to my
ing a word.' I rose and Iried to ppen the door, and
went
astonishment, it was fast locked ; so I lay down
to sleep. I dreamt that a beautiful girl was by my side,
I looked at her face, she was very lovely, and I kissed her;
but the moment I touched her lips, a sudden pan: shot