Many minor offences are punished with flogging. The man's hands and feet are loosely fastened to a bamboo framework, and he is then thrashed on the bare back, with a rattan rod. Deserters from the army are thus punished. But in all cases a timely bribe will lighten the weight of the descending rod, the guilty man meanwhile not forgetting to howl and groan his loudest, so that the official who superintends the execution of the punishment may not discover the fraud. The late king is reported to have been very fond of this method of punishment, and to have ordered frequent chastisement of his chief officials in his own presence whenever he had cause, or thought he had cause, to be seriously offended with them. The punishment for murder is death by decapitation. Those who are reprieved through the mercy of the king, lose their titles, rank and property, and are branded on the arm. They are then condemned to the degrading office of cutting grass for the king's elephants. They are not allowed to hire anyone to perform their duties for them, but are obliged to do the work set them until death puts an end to their tasks. The execution of the death penalty is an impressive if barbarous ceremony. Such occasions are very rare, and constitute about the only events that are not attended with merry-making. The laughing, joking, merry-hearted native forgets for once to chatter and be glad. The interior of a court, a palace, a gaol, or a temple exercises no restraining influence upon the voluble tongues of the people. But in the presence of the executioners a deathly silence falls upon the whole of the spectators, which is all the more intense and real by reason of its rare occurrence. At the break of day, near a lonely temple on the banks of a lonely canal, some distance from the city walls, the prisoner is led to the spot where he must pay for life with life. His feet and wrists are firmly manacled, and the clink-clank, clink-clank of the chains in the still morning air is the only sound heard as the vermilion-robed executioners bring their victim forth. Presently the sound of chanting arises, and the brethren of the yellow robe intone the prayers for the dead. The man's neck is fastened to a bundle of bamboos, but he realises very little of what is taking place, for the executioners, with a merciful consideration worthy of much imitation in other walks of life, have thrown their victim into a state of stupor by means of a powerful drug. Into his ears they have rammed plugs of soft clay or mud, so that in case the drug should fail, the wretched creature shall not hear their steps when they come behind him to deliver the fatal blow. The executioners next plead to Buddha for forgiveness, for they are about to break the well-observed law, "Thou shalt not kill." They plead the command of the king and the requirements of justice, and prostrate themselves on the ground. Their prayers over, a silent signal is given, the red-robed figure