336 IN TIBET AND CHINESE TtTI?KESTAN.
their necks day and night for the prescribed time, in one case which I knew for thirty days.' Old offenders are sometimes punished by having an iron bar chained to their neck and one leg for life. A man whom I met wandering about with a bar 5 feet long and 42 lbs. in weight was said to be an incorrigible thief, and he had certainly the most villainous face I ever saw.
On either side of the main entrance to the courtyard of the Yamen in Yarkand are two wooden cages, about 7i feet high, and about 2 feet square at the top, but wider at the base. The top consists of a board so constructed that it can be fitted about the neck of a prisoner. These cages were not used, so far as I could learn, during my stay in the town ; but I was informed of their purpose by one who had seen criminals tortured in them. If a prisoner is to be tortured to death he simply hangs by the neck, a public spectacle till he dies. If the sentence is less severe, the supports are gradually withdrawn from under his feet till his toes can only touch them, and then he is left hanging by the neck to meditate for the prescribed time on the hard fate of transgressors.
In districts where crime is very prevalent, there are two Begs, one of whom attends exclusively to magisterial work. In large towns there are a few " darogas," or police under a Beg. At the gates of towns men are stationed ; those at the main gate levy an unauthorised octroi duty ; but for the maintenance of those at other gates each householder has to make a small payment.
Of serious crime the most common form in the winter of 1898-99 was robbery, and measures had to be adopted for the ' suppression of this nuisance. The orders issued by the Chow-Kuans of Yarkand and Karghalik seemed, however, even to the natives of the country, more troublesome to honest men than to robbers. All travelling after dark was prohibited, and if any wayfarer endeavoured to
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