ar, but many times a mayor is removed before his time is out; the
subjects may complain, or some person may bid more money for the
office. When a man is appointed mayor of a city, the lords and counts
of that city, accompanied by soldiers, will go three miles out of the
city to meet the new official. He is greeted with discharges of
artillery. These lords ride on very fine Arabian horses, with
goldbitted bridles, and escort the mayor into the city. The new
governor of the city admires the fine horses of his lords, and
sometimes covets some fine steed, and before his term expires finds a
way to get possession of it by helping the lord out of some trouble.

If the new mayor is a prince all prisoners confined in the city jails
are taken before him as he enters the city. This is to signify that, as
a member of the royal family, he has authority to behead them. The
third day after a new mayor has arrived in a city it is customary for
lords and counts to visit him with presents of money, golden articles,
Arabian horses etc. as presents. A mayor has from one hundred to three
hundred servants. He pays them no salary. Some became his servants for
the name, some from fear, and others from choice. Most of these
servants get their living from fines and bribes. Some of them are
detailed to settle quarrels between men in some village that belongs to
the city. This is their opportunity and they early learn to make the
most of it. The mayor has great power. He is judge, sheriff,
tax-collector, etc. He has things his own way. When there is an
injustice done there is no other local officer to appeal to.

PRISONS.

The prisons are frequently cellars, underground, without windows, damp
and infested with flies. They are seldom ventilated, and there is no
bed nor furniture in them. The government does not feed the inmates.
Friends of the imprisoned ones bring bread and throw to them, and some
of this even, is sometimes picked up by the jailer and kept for his own
nourishment. No men are allowed to visit the prisons, but wives or
daughters are allowed to visit their friends if they pay a fee to the
jailer. The torture of prisoners is regulated according to the nature
of their crimes. The common method of torture for thieves, robbers and
murderers is to put the bare foot of the criminal in a vice and squeeze
it until he cries in agony. If he gives the jailer some money or
promises to give some the next time his friends visit him, the press