In the civil administration of the empire, the chief work was to dispense justice, punish offenders, collect taxes, and settle disputes. After the rude surveys of those days the boundaries of provinces and departments were marked by inscribed posts of wood or stone. Before the days of writing, the same end was secured by charcoal buried in the earth at certain points, the durability of which insured the mark against decay.
The peasants, after the rice-harvest was over, brought their tribute, or taxes, with joyful ceremony, to the government granaries in straw bags, packed on horses gaily decorated with scarlet housings, and jingling with clusters of small bells. A relic of this custom is seen in the bunches of bells suspended by red cotton stuff from the rear of the pack-saddle, which dangle musically from the ungainly haunches of the native sumpters.
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From General Nelson A. Miles
Thrilling Stories of The Russian-Japanese War, 1904
