The first slaves in China were felons deprived of their liberty. Later the very poor with their families sold themselves to the rich. Although slavery has never been largely prevalent owing to the patriarchal nature of society, all modern writers agree that it exists in a loathsome form to-day. Parents sell their children and girls bring a higher price than boys. Who does not know of the peculiar sufferings and wrongs inflicted for so many generations on the gentle peasant in the proud land of the Pharaohs, of whom it is said “that the dust which fills the air about the Pyramids and the ruined temples is that of their remote forefathers, who swarmed over the land, working under the fiery sun and the sharp scourge for successive races of task-masters--the Ethiopian, the Persian, the Macedonian, the Roman, the Arab, the Circassian and the Turk.” During the reign of Ismail Pasha we hear of 150,000 men, women and children driven forth from their villages with whips to perform work without wages on the Khedive’s lands or in his factories. It is a heartrending picture. In earlier times the administration of the country districts was in the hands of governors appointed by the Pasha and charged by him with the collection of taxes and the regulation of the corvêé, or system of enforced labour, at one time the universal rule in Egypt. The present system established by Great Britain is in striking contrast to past cruelties. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. PRISON SYSTEM IN INDIA 9 II. THE CRIME OF THUGGEE 42 III. CEREMONIES OF THUGGEE 70 IV. DACOITY 82 V. CHARACTERISTIC CRIMES 124 VI. THE ANDAMAN ISLANDS 148 VII. PRISONS OF BURMAH 170 VIII. CRIME IN CHINA 205 IX. ENLIGHTENED METHODS OF JAPAN 229 X. THE LAW IN EGYPT 243 XI. TURKISH PRISONS 269 List of Illustrations A PRISON IN TANGIER _Frontispiece_ EXECUTION IN INDIA _Page_ 124 CHINESE PUNISHMENT “ 217 PRISONS OF INDIA CHAPTER I PRISON SYSTEM IN INDIA Lord Macaulay’s work--Commission appointed to look into state of prisons--Appointment of an inspector-general of gaols--Charge of district gaols given into the hands of civil surgeons--Treatment of juvenile offenders in India--Prison discipline--The employment of convict overseers--Caste--Ahmedabad gaol--Prison industries--Alipore Gaol in Calcutta--Ameer Khan, the Wahabee--Description of the Montgomery gaol--The prison factory--Convict officials--The gaol of Sirsah--A native gaol of Orissa.