“Passing through cities and villages and other inhabited places, we always found, upon one of the chief public streets, a small place, encompassed with grates, for the supreme will, as the usual way of speaking is in this country, that is, for the imperial orders and proclamations. The lord or governor of every province publishes them in his own name for the instruction of passengers. They are written, article by article, in large, fair characters, upon a square table of a foot or two in length, standing upon a post at least twelve feet high. We saw several of these tables, as we travelled along, of different dates and upon different subjects. The chief, largest, and oldest contain the edict against the Roman Catholic religion, setting forth also proper orders relating to the image-trampling inquisition, and specifying what reward is to be given to any person or persons that discover a Christian or a priest. The lords or governors of provinces put up their own orders and edicts in the same place. This is the reason why there are sometimes so many standing behind or near one another, that it is scarce possible to see and to read them all. Sometimes, also, they have pieces of money, in gold or silver, stuck or nailed to them, to be given as a reward to any one who discovers any fact, person, or criminal therein mentioned. These grated proclamation-cases are commonly placed, in great cities, just at the entrance, and in villages and hamlets in the middle of the chief streets, where there is the most passing. Along the road there are some other orders and instructions for passengers put up in the like manner, but upon lower posts. These come from the sheriffs, surveyors of the roads, and other inferior officers, and although the things therein ordered or intimated be generally very trifling, yet they may involve a transgressor or negligent observer in great troubles and expense. “Another remarkable thing we met with, as we travelled along, were the places of public execution, easily known by crosses, posts, and other remains of former executions. They commonly lie without the cities or villages, on the west side. [Illustration: A DRY-GOODS SHOP]