The lad in England who is brought up to thieving, and who is continually
reminded by his parents, that he _must be hung_ before he is twenty goes
to the gallows when his turn comes with much _sang froid_. So it is in
a despotic country, where the people witness the heads of their
companions roll on the ground, and surmise how soon their own turn will
come. I had more than one evidence of this during my stay. In one
instance I wished to obtain information from a prisoner, but could
extract none. He had been sitting between the carronades on deck for
twenty-four hours, and some of the men or officers had given him a bowl
of grog and a couple of cigars, with which he was busy when I
interrogated him. As he professed ignorance, I told him that if he
would not give me the desired information, I should take his head off;
and I sent for the serjeant of marines, who appeared with two of his
party, and with his drawn sword. We called him out from between the
guns, but he begged through the interpreter to be allowed to finish his
grog, to which I consented: when that was done, he was again ordered
out, but requested leave to finish about an inch of cigar which remained
in his mouth. To which I also acceded, not being in a particular hurry
to do that which I never intended to do. During all this the man was
perfectly composed, and did not show the least alarm at his approaching
fate. As soon as the cigar was finished, he bound his long hair up
afresh, and made preparation. I again asked him if he would tell, but
he pleaded ignorance, and stepped forward, went down on his knees and
took off the cloth from about his loins, which he spread on the deck to
receive his head, and then putting his hands on the deck, held it in the
position to be cut off. Not a muscle trembled, for I watched the man
carefully. He was, of course, remanded, and the sailors were so pleased
with him, that he went on shore with more grog and more tobacco than he
had probably ever seen in his life.

The Burmahs have, however, a means of extracting information from spies,
etcetera, which I never saw practised by them, although it was borrowed
from them by us. It was in our own quarter-master-general's office that
I witnessed this species of torture, so simple in its operation, and
apparently so dreadful in its effects. It consists in giving one single
blow upon the region of the heart, so as to stop for some seconds the
whole circulation. The way