Page:Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China.djvu/794

786 a brass rod, which rises out of the lowest of these as the vessel fills with water received in a uniform trickle from those above it. The old Examination Hall, in which the students' quarters resembled so many sentry boxes, has now been demolished, and in its stead a large technical college is being erected to accommodate seven hundred boys. The many public halls belonging to guilds in Canton prove that trade unions are not merely the product of modern civilisation; indeed, it is doubtful whether the principle of combination, specialisation, and boycott is anywhere carried to greater perfection than in China. The Execution Ground, which most visitors to Canton include in their tour of inspection, is merely a potter's yard in which, when capital sentences are not being carried out, the gamin of the neighbourhood are wont to disport themselves. The bodies of the victims are often left lying on the ground exposed to the gaze of the morbidly curious for some hours before they are removed. For a small consideration, the executioner, a sinister looking gentleman, will produce his trade implements and a few skulls which he keeps in stock for the edification of the visitor.



After the heat and squalor of Canton proper, it is a refreshing change to cross