Japan and the Japanese

EXECUTION OF SMUGGLERS. 255
they pleaded. I ray self crowded \vithmy Japanese servant as near
one of the malefactors as possibly \ve could. While they were
waiting for the rest of the Dutchmen I overheard a very extraordi-
for as the
elderly man
nary discourse between the two criminals ;
was gambling between his teeth his Quanwonjo, or short prayer
to the hundred-hand idol Quanwon, the other, to whom I stood
'
'
nearest, rebuked him for it.
! Fy
thus frightened out of your wits! '
said he. ' For shame, to appear
r
'Ah, ah!' sa} s the other, 'I
only pray a little.' 'You have had time enough to pray,' replied
'
the first ; it serves no purpose now, but to expose yourself and to
'
show the Dutch what a coward you are ! and this discourse so
wrought upon the other that he actually left off praying.
" The minute that the Dutch were all assembled at the place of
execution, a signal was given, and that instant both executioners
cut off each his criminal's head, with a short cimeter, in such a
manner that their bodies fell forward to the ground. The bodies
were wrapped up, each in a coarse rush mat, and both their heads
together in a third, and so carried away from Desima to the ordi-
nary place of execution, a field not far from Nagasaki, where, it was
said, young people tried their strength and the sharpness
of their
cimeters upon the dead bodies, by hacking them into small pieces.
Both heads were fixed upon a pole, according to custom, and
exposed to view for seven days. The execution being over, the
company marched off from Desima without any order. Our
director went to meet the two commissioners and afterwards
the two clerks upon the street, as they were returning home,
thanked them for the trouble they had been at on this occasion,
and invited them to his house to smoke a pipe ;
but he had nothing
in return for this kind invitation but a sharp reprimand, with an
admonition to take care of his people, that no more such accidents
should happen for the future. This was the first time criminal
blood was shed upon our island."
The proceedings at the Chinese sales, and the articles imported
and exported by them, were, according to Kiimpfer, much the same
as in the case of the Dutch, except that they were not allowed to
take away an money, but merchandise only.