On Sunday representative of this paper, accompanied by a foreign friend, and s Chinese who bad so acquaintance in durance vile, paid a visit to the City Yamen. After traversing the spacious courtyards that lead to the guest-hall, and tarning down a narrow alley, a wooden gate, through the bars of which number of eager faces were peeping, came into view. Here some haggling ensued s to the possibility of permitting foreigner to enter the prison, but eventually the door was enlocked with a" "silver key," and we stood inst It took but afew minates to see all that was to be sean of the unprepossessing quarters in which we found ourselves. Seven or eight small rooms, facing on two narrow courtyards, housed upwards of two handred prisoners, who were under ing sentence. It was love that so large a namber of men could find room in such jwarters, until we were informed that thirty men occupied each small room. When we entered, most of the prisoners were stripped to the waist. Some were indulging in baths in wooden tabs containing at the most two inches of dirty water. Many of the men wore leg-irons, which distinguished them from others who were charged with leas grave offences. I noticed one small boy, thirteen years of age, shackled in this manner, and found that he was charged with killing a apprentice, while they were together.
The distrib aroong the prisoners forth many eager hands, the recipients doubtless using the "cumshaw" to supplement the day's rations of two bowls of plain rice. One prisoner, who was wearing two pairs of letters, explained that the second pair had been riveted on because he had threatened the Magistrate. Herded together, idle, id half-fed, the lot of the remanded prisoners during the hot weather must be far from pleasant.
The primary object of our visit being to see how convicted prisoners are treated, we now made our way to the other side of the yamen, where we came to. stout wooden door, with a sliding panel covering the peephole rough which the prisoners commu their friends. Essaying to enter part of the prison, we were at once confronted by three angry runners, who not only refused to admit us, but
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.