In Tunisia all death sentences must be confirmed by the bey in person, the condemned man being brought before him as he sits on his great gilt and velvet throne in the Hall of Judgment. Until quite recent years the condemned were put to death in the grounds of the Bardo, a hanging being one of the sights offered to European visitors, but of late this barbarous custom has fallen into desuetude, executions usually being carried out in the barrack-yard of the Beylical Guard at La Marsa. In the days of the present ruler’s father the murderer was suddenly brought face to face with the members of his victim’s family in the presence of the bey, for such things are always done dramatically in the East. The bey then inquired of the family if they insisted on the murderer paying the death penalty, or if they were willing to accept blood-money, a sum equivalent to one hundred and forty dollars, which in theory was paid by the murderer to the relatives of the deceased as a sort of indemnity if he was permitted to escape with his life. If, however, he did not possess so large a sum, as was frequently the case, the bey made it up out of his private purse. Nine times out of ten, if the victim was a woman, the blood-money was promptly accepted—and praise be to Allah for getting it!—for in Africa women are plentiful but gold is scarce. In case the blood-money was accepted the murderer’s sentence was commuted to imprisonment for twelve months and twenty-seven days (which is a considerably severer punishment than murderers usually receive in certain American cities; say, Chicago), though I have never been able to ascertain the reason for adding the odd twenty-seven days. But it may have been that the victim was an only son, or the father of a large family, or a person of political importance, in which case the relatives invariably demanded the extreme penalty of the law. “Do you insist on his blood?” inquired the bey, a portly, easy-going Oriental who was known to have a marked aversion to taking human life, even in the case of murderers. “We do, your Highness,” the spokesman of the family would reply, salaaming until his _chéchia_ tassel swept the ground. “Be it so,” said the bey, shrugging his shoulders. “I call upon you to bear witness that I am innocent of his death. May Allah the Compassionate have mercy upon him! Turn him toward the gate of the Bardo,” which last is the local euphemism for, “Take him out and hang him.” * * * * *