The Chinese administer justice with great strictness, in all their tribunals. When any person commences a suit against another, he sets down his claim in writing, and the defendant writes down his defence, which he signs, and holds between his fingers. These two writings are delivered in at the same time; and being examined, sentence is pronounced in writing, each of the parties having his papers returned to him, the defendant having his delivered first. When one party denies what the other affirms, he is ordered to return his writing; and if the defendant thinks he may do it safely, and delivers in his papers a second time, those of the plaintiff are likewise called for; and he who denies the affirmation of the other, is warned, that if he does not make out what he denies, he shall undergo twenty strokes of the bamboo on his buttocks, and shall pay a fine of twenty _fakuges_, which amount to about two hundred dinars. And the punishment of the bamboo is so severe, that the criminal can hardly survive, and no person in all China is permitted to inflict it upon another by his own authority, on pain of death, and confiscation of his goods; so that no one is ever so hardy as to expose himself to such certain danger, by which means justice is well administered to all. No witnesses are required, neither do they put the parties upon oath. When any person becomes bankrupt, he is immediately committed to prison in the governor's palace, and is called upon for a declaration of his effects. After he has remained a month in prison, he is liberated by the governor's order, and a proclamation is made, that such a person, the son of such a one, has consumed the goods of such a one, and that if any person possesses any effects, whatever belonging to the bankrupt, a full discovery must be made within one month. If any discovery is made of effects belonging to the bankrupt, which he had omitted to declare, he suffers the punishment of the bamboo, and is upbraided with having remained a month in prison, eating and drinking, although he has wherewithal to satisfy his creditors. He is reproached for having fraudulently procured and embezzled the property of others, and is chastised for stripping other people of their substance. But if, after every inquiry, the debtor does not appear to have been guilty of any fraud, and if it is proved to the satisfaction of the magistrate, that he has nothing in the world, the creditors are called in, and receive a part of their claims from the treasury of the Bagbun. This is the ordinary title of the emperor of China, and signifies the Son of Heaven, which we ordinarily pronounce Magbun. After this, it is publickly forbidden to buy of or sell to the bankrupt, that he may not again have an opportunity of defrauding his creditors, by concealing their money or effects. If it be discovered that the bankrupt has any money or effects in the hands of another, and that person makes no disclosure within the time limited, the