[184] This is a cliff over which sinners are hurled, to alight upon the upright points of knives below. The branches of the Sword Tree are sharp blades which cut and hack all who pass within reach.
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[185] A crime by no means unknown to the clergy of China.
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[186] That is, when the lictors had returned his soul to its tenement.
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[187] See No. VI., [note 52].
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[188] In A.D. 1621.
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[189] According to the Yü-li-ch‘ao, this potion is administered by an old beldame, named Mother Mêng, who sits upon the Terrace of Oblivion. “Whether they swallow much or little it matters not; but sometimes there are perverse devils who altogether refuse to drink. Then beneath their feet sharp blades start up, and a copper tube is forced down their throats, by which means they are compelled to swallow some.”
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[190] And such is actually the prevalent belief in China to this day.
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[191] [Note 178] to No. CVII. should be read here. To save life is indeed the bounden duty of every good Buddhist, for which he will be proportionately rewarded in the world to come.
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[192] Salt is a Government monopoly in China, and its sale is only permitted to licensed dealers. It is a contraband article of commerce, whether for import or export, to foreign nations trading with China. In an account of a journey from Swatow to Canton in March-April, 1877, I wrote:—“Apropos of salt, we came across a good-sized bunker of it when stowing away our things in the space below the deck. The boatmen could not resist the temptation of doing a little smuggling on the way up.... At a secluded point in a bamboo-shaded bend of the river, they ran the boat alongside the bank, and were instantly met by a number of suspicious-looking gentlemen with baskets, who soon relieved them of the smuggled salt and separated in different directions.” Thus do the people of China seek to lighten the grievous pressure of this tax. A curious custom exists in Canton. Certain blind old men and women are allowed to hawk salt about the streets, and earn a scanty living from the profits they are able to make.
It may interest some to know that in the cities of the north of China ice and coal may only be retailed by licensed dealers, who retain such authority on the condition of supplying the yamêns of the local mandarins with these two necessaries, free of all charge.
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