Page:Scented isles and coral gardens- Torres Straits, German New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies, by C.D. Mackellar, 1912.pdf/397

Rh Genii," or the "City of Rams." The great bell, weighing 5 tons, and cast five hundred and fifty years ago, is the largest in China. When this bell strikes of its own accord a calamity befalls the city.

A strange place was the Examination Hall [no longer existing], where the triennial examinations for the degree of "Bachelor of Arts" takes place. It is entered by the Dragon gate, covers 20 acres, and consists of rows upon rows of stone or brick cells each 5 feet 6 inches long, 3 x 8feet broad, and 6 feet high, all open in front. Every male of any position, from the age of eighteen to eighty, may compete for the examination. They must spend two whole days and nights shut into these cells, by a wooden grating placed in front, preparing their essays or poems, all their doings watched from a tower. At the far end are apartments for the Viceroy and Governor, and the two chief and ten junior examiners, who come from Pekin, and whose arrival is met with much noise, state ceremonies, and great fêtes. It was a most interesting place, and the idea is curious. Our next halt was in a small open space about 25 yards long by 10 broad, ending in a point at one end, whence it is called the Ma'Pan, or Horse's Head, from a fancied resemblance in form to the latter. This turned out to be the execution ground, one of the sights for tourists, used as a pottery-drying ground when not otherwise in use. I was half injured, half relieved, to find no execution was in progress. Except some skulls under a heap of rubbish, and some signs of the execution of two victims the previous day, nothing was to be seen. Other strangers have often been more "lucky."

The prisoner is brought suddenly in a basket carried by coolies. The magistrate sits at a red-covered table. The victim kneels down, and 20