The Brunswick times-call., 1900-09-04
eon OF TIE LOWER WORLD.

Sbb bf 1ftfs LOW fsh NOhLh,
torial charts with which every Chi
nese Is familiar. An examination of
one OF these religious charts is most
Interesting,
1t Is because the Christian mission
aries preach that these torments do not
exist that they have aroused the anger
Of the Chinese, and especially Of their
priests. Th@@m@Ssent troubles are
therefore directly connected with these
pictures.
The Chinese love of cruelty and In
genuity in lnfiicting torture are wildly
shown here For every offense COM
mitted there Is some different and pc
euliar way Of tearing a man to pieces.
Life on earth does not differ much
from this imaginary purgatory. The
Chinaman puts his enemy to the tor
ture at every opportunity, and bears
1t himself with wonderful equanimity.
lie must suffer somewhat from 1t or
he would not take SO much trouble TO
infiict It, but the fact that he can con
ceal his feelings at all shows that they
are very different from those Of white
men. This custom Of torturing makes
the danger Of Europeans and Ameri-
cans falling into Chinese hands during
the present outbreak very alarming.
They are clearly MS bad as Apaehes.
An explanation furnished by an edu-
Gated Cbinaman Of tho various tor
meuts Illustrated on the charts gives
onSa clear idea Of the Chinese concep-
ton Of purgatory
The human bodies which have been
impaled upon the sharp limbs Of bare
trees viii at once arrest the attention
These are the bodies OF women who
have been guilty Of the murder of their
husbands. This is very dreadful
crime In China, much more so than the
murder of a wife by a husband.
On the top Of an ornamental bridge
is pictured an unfortunate creature
with his hands bound behind his back,
while the cxecutloner with a deyilish
| expression, pulls the eyes out Of his
/ face with an enormous pair Of tongs
! After the victim has been operated
| upou his body is handed over to The
! assistant executioner, who tosst
into q lake. This IS the punishuN
inflicted upon man for the murder "
his brother The sightless body floats
for a hundred days in the lake, after
which it is fshed out for further dis
position.
A very curious scene Is where tiger
Is used as a chopping block while
man Is bound across his back and an
eXecutloner Is IN the act of cutting the
SIAN IN two with an enormous knife.
A Chinese authority explains that the
tiger plays a very important part IN
Chinese religion. He is supposed to be
animated by an intelligent spirit and
to eat up only wicked men. This par
ticular tiger has misbehaved himself
By eating up good men, and for punish
ment he Is to be used as a chopping
block IN purgatory for certain period.
The man tied across his back, who is
being divided in two has been guilty
Of dlsrespect to a priest
In one case an cXecutioner with an
enormous sword is engaged IN dismem-
boring a human body lying on the
stump Of a tree. As he cuts of the
head, n leg, etc, he sticks It on the
sharp limb Of tree. The body before
him has lost every limb but one arm.
This is the punishment inflicted on a
blasphemer, or one who said that there
was no shin" or soul, in a man. 1t
IS the most dreadful punishment that
can be inflicted, for this Is the greatest
OF all crimes against religion.
Two torturcrs are engaged IN putting
man head downward into a re-
ccptacle which looks like a large orna-
mental 1owerpot. His legs are still
sticking up IN the air, while his body
and head are already out Of sight This
vessel is filed with boiling water, and
the victim Is suffering thus for having
spoken III Of mandarin
In several places on the chart there
are pictures Of animals They play an
extremely important part In Chinese