_Anticipatory Use of the Cross_ (Vol. viii. _passim_).--In answer to
particular inquiry, I have been furnished by a resident in Macao with an
answer, of which the following is the substance:--The cross is commonly
used in China, and consists of any flat boards of sufficient size, the
upright shaft being usually eight to ten feet high. The transverse bar is
fixed by a single nail or rivet, and is therefore often loose, and may be
made sometimes to traverse a complete circle. It is not so much an
instrument of punishment in itself, as it is an operation-board whereon to
confine the criminal, not with nails, but ropes, to undergo--as in the case
of a woman taken in adultery--the cutting away of the flesh from the bosom.
He adds, that he has witnessed such punishment, and he has no doubt that
the cross has been used in this way in China immemorially. Any of your
correspondents will much oblige me by correcting or confirming this
statement from positive testimony.