—J.S., in Knowledge

A man ordered for execution in Sarawak is not told where the sentence will be carried out. Lady Brooke (the Ranee of Sarawak) writes in the Woman at Home for June :

Having been found guilty of murder by a jury of Dyaks, Chinese and Europeans, the man is sentencd to death, the sentence to be carried out upon the following day. The place of execution is never known. The man walks perhaps for miles, quite calmly and contentedly, smoking cigarettes the whole day, and laughing and chatting with the two gaolers and the executioner who accompany him. Arrived at the place of execution, he sits down by his grave, and in a moment all is over. It is a ery dreadful, but somehow or another they never seem to heed it in the least. The executioner, I must tell yon, like the executioner in “ The Mikado.” is a very high official with us, and it is his privilege to carry the great umbrella of state over the Raj ui.
