had instructed me how to answer this question, if it was
asked me. She taught me on ship-board what to say if I was taken
to court. My mistress was an opium smoker, and she and her husband
had awful quarrels, which made her bad-tempered, and then she
would beat me for no reason. I used to get so tired working hard,
and then she would beat me. She beat me with thick sticks of
fire-wood. She would lay me on the bench, lift my clothes, and
beat me on the back. Another day she would beat me thus with the
fire tongs. One day she took a hot flat-iron, removed my clothes,
and held it on my naked back until I howled with pain. (There
was a large scab on her back from this burn when she came to the
Mission.) The scars on my body are proof of my bad treatment. My
forehead is all scars caused by her throwing heavy pieces of wood
at my head. One cut a large gash, and the blood ran out. She
stopped the bleeding and hid me away. She beat my legs one day
until they were all swollen up. I thought I better get away before
she killed me. When she was having her hair washe