leave the remains uninterred about old hills or hedges; not in all cases very well coffined. On the 3rd inst., government issued an order to all such, directing them, either to inter these remains within a limited time in places of their own, or bring them to the charity burial ground,—the golgotha, or Calvi capitis area, the calvary of Canton,—that they may be there buried.
"An angelic remedy for opium-smoking"—Among the many doctor's placards pasted against the wall of the Company's landing-place, there is one with the above title. This "angelic" intimation was received by means of the Ke (see Morrison's Dict., 5300) or pencil, suspended above a table, having sand strewed on it. After certain incantations were performed the angel came, and moved the pencil, so as to write the secret prescription. The materials of which the medicine is compounded, is the secret; the mode of using it, is fully explained in the placard, and is rational enough. It is to diminish the quantity of opium daily; and beginning with a little of the substitute, to increase it daily, till the opium is left off altogether. Then to begin and gradually leave off the substitute, taking nothing instead, till it is altogether disused, and the patient is happily freed from any desire or necessity either for the one or the other.
Hookwang.—A case of adultery and murder having occurred in this province has been carried before the Emperor. The wife of Heewantseang, apparently a person of respectability, carried on an adulterous intercourse with Keayingfang and a servant Lemo, who is already dead,—in consequence, probably, of the treatment he received since the affair was discovered. The master wished the wife to quit her husband, and abscond with him; which she refused to do. It was therefore resolved on by some of the parties to poison the husband. This diabolical plot succeeded. He was poisoned with arsenic. The Courts of Hoonan concluded their trials by reporting to the Board at Peking, that Lemo, now dead, was the sole agent of committing the murder; (hat the other two persons were innocent of this; they even knew nothing at all about it. The Board and the Emperor will not believe this. Dissolving the arsenic required time; it could not be done in a moment; the deceased servant may merely have done what he was commanded to do by the master. It is, therefore, decreed that the trial shall be renewed, and the witnesses and parties be questioned by torture to elicit the truth.
Asylum for the blind.—The Pwanyu magistrate has issued a proclamation concerning this government institution, requiring all the blind to appear in person, and shew their tickets, and be examined. According to his account, there are 2394 blind people, both men and women, who received a monthly allowance. The amount is said to be 4 or 5 mace a month, under a shilling a week. This is insufficient for food, and they are allowed to beg, to sing, &c., for the additional means of subsistence. There is no useful work, such as basket-making, contrived to keep them employed. Nor is there any asylum supported by voluntary subscription. The magistrate suspects that tickets are handed to those to whom they were not originally given, and that people only "half-blind" impose on the government. He threatens such in case of detection.
Thieves.—In another public proclamation he complains, that since the autumn has set in, he has been annoyed by numerous applications on account of petty thefts. These arise, he says, from the district constables and night watch-men receiving bribes to connive at, and protect, opium hotels; gambling houses; and abodes of ill-fame, where stolen goods are received, and thieves and vagabonds "nestle." He calls upon landlords, who may have. "by mistake" let their houses to such people, to expel them; in doing which he will lend his assistance. If they do not, and are afterwards found out, he threatens to confiscate their houses, and punish their persons.
Punishment requested.—The Governor of Peking has requested the Emperor to punish him severely, for failing to detect Yinlaouseu, who had formed a plot to rebel, and obtained thousands of associates in three provinces. The Emperor has granted the governor his request.
