The record-union., 1892-05-14

soll OF the mountains. 1t would be inn
possible to do this, of course, under or
binary circumstances, but they terrace
the mountains till they appear like the
steps of a stairs, and in this way thew are
able TO make them productive. There is
no man who supplies a want sooner than
the Chinaman. Wherever few foreign
ers are gathered together, the farmer will
learn how to milk and how to make but
ter, just because he sees there is sale for
these articles"
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.
From the habits of eating the doctor
went on TO talk of the peculiarities of ex-
ecution. For the minor ofienses the
punishment is beating on the mouth with
bamboo. 1t is terrible to see the mouths
of women swell as the cane is laid on, and
OF men, too. When sent to Jail they must
supply their own food and that of the
jailer, or they are allowed TO starve. If
they have not sufficient blankets they are
allowed to freeze to death. There are diff
ferent methods of execution. one is what
would correspond to our hanging. But
it is different. The victim is put against
post and rope is thrown around his
neck. Then it is pulled till the breath Of
life departs. Another form of execution
is that of cutting to pieces by inches,
which is done when the sentence of death
is for the murder of father or mother, or
SOIllG QUIET uedI IGldllNS. lfSG one ear
is taken off, then the other, next the
tongue is taken out, and so on. A third
is death by starvation. | have seen man
Gagged ID the public streets and allowed
to end his life by this method, not being
permitted to touch either water or food.
Sometimes small boy will bring him
little opium, which helps to lessen the
suffering and brings about more speedy
death. The most common form is taking
off the head by the sword, and the extraor
binary nerve of these Chinese is shown
in this more than any other. 1 have seen
two men beheaded, one placed before the
other. 1t took three strokes of the sword
to kill the first, and While the operation
was going on the second knelt down
with his neck Outstretched waiting his
turn. Thinking that the process was
slow, he turned to the executioner and
asked If he were going to be much longer
with the first. Then, when the eXecu-
TONER came to him, he stretched his neck
again and waited for the blow which
completely severed his head from his
body"
From this subject the speaker ran on to
visit which he paid to the Chinese
wall. 1.-THE wall is marvelously inter-
esting sight," he said. at is now in a
bad state of repair. On my visit to it l
found the skeleton of man. | brought
four bones home, and have given the last
one away. On top Of the wall are towers
probably several hundred years old, out
of which the Chinese of that time watched
for anything which they might think it
necessary to observe. In those towers
are numbers of old rusty cannon that
seem to have seen many centuries. These
pieces OF cannon have bore of three
inches in diameter. OF course thew would
not serve any purpose Of defense in mod
ern warfare. But the wall is wonderful
relic, with its length of 800 miles. Each
brick is about eighteen inches high, four
inches thick and eight inches wide The
mortar is as firm and solid as it was on
the day when these bricks We're put to-
gether. | have brought home several
of these pieces of mortar with me as
specimens of the firmness of the work of
the wall.
PEOPLE OF POSSIBILITIES.
GAS for the army" the speaker went
on, "a great many of the troops are armed
with nothing better than rusty spears,
You will see them come struggling along,
about a mile from one end to the other
and ten well-armed American soldiers
would put the whole crowd to flight. At
the same time the Chinese Empire has a
great future before it, and if the people
are not ChristianiZed the nations of the
earth will hear great deal from them in
time. Just fancy what it would be to be
attacked by a country 100000 strong,
supposing they were well equipped.
They are not armed now, but they are
quick to learn, and there is no knowing
how in years to come they make them
selves felt. AS to the recent riots. they
are due to several causes, particularly to
the jealousy of the literary classes, who
see the vastly superior quality of intelli-
gence of the foreigner. 1t is also asserted
that some dissatisfied officials who can
not obtain office are using the lower
classes for their own selfish purposes,
with desire TO bring about change in
the form of government. / think q good
many secret societies in China are cred
tied with a good deal of that which they
have nothing to do. l will give you an
example of these societies. One of them
makes pilgrimage yearly to Mount Tel
shan, and there its members burn a stick
OF incense to obtain peace, it may be with
the evil spirit, as they consider it. AS a
matter OF fact the Government of this
country as well as those of Great Britain
and Germany are to blame for the recent
murders. They have been satisfied with
so little that it is no wonder that such
assassinations take place."
The last subject upon which the doctor
touched was the progress of the Gospel in
China. "Within the last five years." he
said, "mOre progress has been made
than in any previous period. The mis-
SlOnarleS now nave dictionaries, and the
Bible is being translated into the differ
ent dialects. Some time ago Lieutenant
Wood of the United States Navy wrote a
caustic article in which he asserted that
one or two dialects were understood by
the preachers of religion. He must have
been very superficial observer, because
l know the Bible has been translated into
the highest classical languages and into
the Mandarin tongue, which all Govern
ment officials are bound to speak before
they are allowed to hold office The Chi
nese are great people," he concluded,
land with a little more of the civilizing
and humanizing influences which follow
in the wake of the teaching of the princi-
pies of Christianity they may surprise
the world"