Every year, a list was made out by the street officers of all the inhabitants in each street, with their religion, shortly after which came the ceremony of _Yebumi_[155], or _figure-treading_—that is, trampling upon the crucifix, an image of the Virgin Mary, and other saints—a ceremony which appears to be observed, at least at Nagasaki, down even to the present day. The images used in Kämpfer’s time were about a foot long, cast in brass, and kept in a particular box for that purpose. The ceremony took place in the presence of the street officers. Each house was entered by turns, two messengers carrying the box. The images were laid upon the bare floor, and, the list of the household being called over, they were required, one by one, to tread upon them. Young children, not yet able to walk, were held in their mothers’ arms, so as to touch the images with their feet. It has been asserted that the Dutch were obliged to submit to this ceremony; but the fact was not so. To prevent smuggling, whenever the foreign ships or junks set sail the street gates of Nagasaki were shut, and kept closed till the ships were out of the harbor, strict searches being made, at uncertain times, on which occasions every inhabitant of the street was obliged to report himself. The same thing took place when criminals were searched for, or other investigations, sometimes very frivolous ones, were made. On these and other occasions of alarm, no one could go from one street into another, except with a written pass, and attended by an officer; nor could an inhabitant of Nagasaki at any time leave the city without a similar pass and an undertaking on the part of his neighbors for his return within a specified time. Accused persons were often made to confess by torture. Capital punishments were either by beheading or crucifixion. Other punishments—and this class was often inflicted for the misdemeanors of others—were imprisonment, for longer or shorter periods, banishment to certain desolate spots, and islands, and forfeiture of property and office. Punishments were prompt and severe; yet great regard was had to the nature of the offence, the condition of the person who committed it, and the share of guilt to be reasonably laid to the charge of his superiors, relations, or neighbors. The practice of making young children suffer with their parents was possibly intended as much in mercy to them as to aggravate the punishment of the real offenders[156]. It is by this same motive of humanity, that the Japanese justify their practice of exposing such infants as they have not the means or inclination to support and educate.