district goes forth in great pomp, carried on men's shoulders, in an
open chair, with gongs beating, music playing, and nymphs and satyrs
seated among artificial rocks and trees, carried in procession.

He goes to the general parade-ground, on the east side of Canton, on the
following day, being Lapchun, the first day of spring, in a similar
style. There a buffalo, with an agricultural god made of clay, having
been paraded through the streets, and pelted by the populace, to impel
its labours, is placed on the ground, in solemn state, when this
official priest of spring gives it a few strokes with a whip, and leaves
it to the populace, who pelt it with stones till it is broken to pieces;
and so the foolish ceremony terminates. The due observance of this
ancient usage is supposed to contribute greatly to an abundant year.

PAWNBROKING.

Is carried on to a very great extent in China. The system seems divided
into two parts; one branch affording aid to those in the very inferior
walks of life, and chiefly confined to very small advances; the other
granting loans upon deposits of higher value, and corresponding with
similar establishments in England. These are authorized by the
government; but there are others, we are informed, that exist without
this sanction, and are directed to the relief of the mercantile
interest. These assimilate very nearly to the late project in London of
an Equitable Loan Company, making advances upon cargoes and large
deposits of goods.

These houses are as conspicuously indicated, by an exterior sign over
the door, as our shops in England are by the three golden balls; but,
whether they indicate the same doctrine of chance as to the return of
property, we will not pretend to say. Three years are allowed to redeem,
with a grace of three months.

TORTURE.

In China, the laws still permit torture, to a defined extent, and the
magistrate often inflicts it, contrary to law. Compressing the ancles of
men between wooden levers, and the fingers of women with a small
apparatus, on the same principle, is the most usual form. But there are
many other devices suggested and practised, contrary to law; and in
every part of the empire, for some years past, there have been many
instances of suspected persons, or those falsely accused, being tortured
till death ensued. From Hoopih province, an appeal is now before the
emperor, against a magistrate who tortured a man to death, to extort a
confession of