At each gate the wall is doubled by an outer enclosure in a semicircular shape, the entrance to which is not opposite to the principal gate, but lateral, with a view to security and defence. Over both gates are erected towers of several stories, which serve to lodge the soldiers who guard them. At intervals of about sixty yards along the length of the wall, are flanking towers or bastions of the same height, projecting about thirty feet from the curtain. Most of the plans of Peking represent a wet ditch entirely compassing the sides of the city, and it no doubt extends round a certain portion; but when the embassy passed, in 1816, it is quite certain that the north-east portion had not even a dry ditch, and that some of the gentlemen quitted their vehicles to take out specimens of the brick from numerous holes which time and neglect had produced in the face of the wall. The same thing was observed at Nanking, the ancient enclosure of which was nearly as lofty as the present bulwark of Peking, but no remains of a ditch could be perceived at that part which the travellers visited.

The area on which Nanking stood was more extensive than the space enclosed by the walls of Peking, but the greater portion of the surface surrounded by the ancient defence is now devoid of even the traces of buildings; and the city of Keang-ning-foo, as it is at present called, occupies only a corner of the original enclosure. Peking likewise contains so many void spaces of great extent, that it is very difficult, considering the lowness of the one-storied buildings, to imagine how it can hold such a monstrous population as some have attributed to it. A very large portion of the northern or Tartarian city is occupied by the enclosure which contains the palaces and pleasure-grounds of the Emperor; the remainder is studded over with the official or religious buildings,

all of them surrounded by large open courts; and the Chinese city to the south has some very extensive spaces occupied by immensely spreading buildings, and grounds attached, where the Emperor sacrifices to heaven, and performs the annual ceremony of ploughing; with various other rites. There are, besides, large sheets of water, and gardens devoted to the growth of vegetables for the city. With every allowance, therefore, for the extent of area enclosed by the walls, the population of Peking can hardly exceed that which is comprised within the London bills of mortality; though it has been stated at double that amount.

Father Hyacinth, long resident in the capital of China as a member of the Russian mission, has given a very circumstantial account of it, much of which is founded on personal observation, and the rest derived from inquiry or books. The short time which the mission of Earl Macartney passed there admitted of fewer opportunities of investigation; but Mr. Barrow, who was left at Peking and Yuen-ming-yuen while the ambassador attended the Emperor beyond the wall, made very good use of his time, and has given us a graphic description of what he witnessed. The streets of Canton and of most other cities are extremely narrow, admitting of only three or four footpassengers abreast; but the principal thoroughfares of Peking, which connect its different gates, are fully one hundred feet in width. These are unpaved, no doubt in consequence of the difficulty and expense of procuring stone in the immense alluvial flat on which the city stands; and every inhabitant is compelled by the police to clean and sprinkle with water, during the dry months, that portion of the street which fronts his abode, with a view to allay the dust. rainy weather, however, the principal ways are said to

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be in a dreadful state, from the want of proper drains, and in consequence of the perfect level of the ground not allowing the water to flow off.

Sir George Staunton thus describes the appearance of the capital, when it was traversed by the embassy on the way to Yuen-ming-yuen :-"The first street extended in a line directly to the westward, until it was interrupted by the eastern wall of the imperial palace, called the Yellow Wall,* from the colour of the small roof of varnished tiles with which the top of it is covered. Various public buildings, seen at the same time, and considered as belonging to the Em peror, were covered in the same manner. Those roofs, uninterrupted by chimneys, and indented in the sides and ridges into gentle curves, with an effect more pleasing than would be produced by long straight lines, were adorned with a variety of figures, either in imitation of real objects, or more commonly as mere works of fancy; the whole shining like gold under a brilliant sun, immediately caught the eye with an appearance of grandeur in that part of the buildings where it was not accustomed to be sought for. Immense magazines of rice were seen near the gate : and, looking from it to the left along the city wall, was perceived an elevated edifice, described as an observatory erected in the former dynasty by the Emperor Yoong-lo, to whom the chief embellishments of Peking are said to be owing.

"Several circumstances, independently of the arrival of strangers, contributed to throng so wide a street. A procession was moving towards the gate, in which the white or bridal colour (according to European ideas) of the persons who formed it, seemed at first to announce a marriage ceremony; but the appearance of young men overwhelmed with grief showed * The Chinese name is "The Imperial Wall."

it to be a funeral,* much more indeed than the corse itself, which was contained in a handsome square case, shaded with a canopy painted with gay and lively colours, and preceded by standards of variegated silks. Behind it were sedan chairs covered with white cloth, containing the female relations of the deceased. The white colour, denoting in China the affliction of those who wear it, is sedulously avoided by such as wish to manifest sentiments of a contrary kind;† it is therefore never seen in the ceremony of nuptials (met soon afterwards) where the lady, as yet unseen by the bridegroom, is carried in a gilt and gaudy chair, hung round with festoons of artificial flowers, and followed by relations, attendants, and servants bearing the paraphernalia, being the only portion given with a daughter in marriage by her parents. The crowd was not a little increased by the mandarins of rank appearing always with numerous attendants; and still more by circles of the populace round auctioneers, venders of medicines, fortune-tellers, singers, jugglers, and story-tellers, beguiling their hearers of a few of their tchen, or copper money, intended probably for other purposes. Among the stories that caught at this moment the imagination of the people, the arrival of the embassy was said to furnish no inconsiderable share. The presents brought by it to the Emperor were asserted to include whatever was rare in other countries, or not known before to the Chinese. Of the animals that were brought, it was gravely mentioned that there was an elephant of the size of a monkey, and as fierce as a lion, and a cock that fed on charcoal. ****** *

* The Chinese, who are not fond of using ill-omened words, call a funeral "a white affair."

It is avoided as being unlucky, or ill-omened. The colour of compliment or congratulation is red.

"As soon as the persons belonging to the embassy had arrived at the eastern side of the Yellow wall, they turned along it to the right, and found on its northern side much less bustle than in the former street. Instead of shops, all were private houses, not conspicuous in the front. Before each house was a wall or curtain, to prevent passengers from seeing the court into which the street-door opened. This wall is called the wall of Respect. A halt was made opposite the treble gates, which are nearly in the centre of this northern side of the palace wall. It appeared to enclose a large quantity of ground: it was not level like all the lands without the wall: some of it was raised into hills of steep ascent; the earth taken to form them left broad and deep hollows, now filled with water. Out of these artificial lakes, of which the margins were diversified and irregular, small islands rose, with a variety of fanciful edifices, interspersed with trees. On the hills of different heights the principal palaces for the Emperor were erected. The whole had somewhat the appearance of enchantment. ****** From the spot whence an opportunity thus offered to take a glance, through the gates of the palace wall, at part of what was enclosed within it, the eye, turning to the north, observed, through a street extending to the city wall, the great fabric, of considerable height, which includes a bell of prodigious size and cylindrical form, that, struck on the outside with a wooden mallet, emits a sound distinctly heard throughout the capital. Beyond it, but more to the westward, was one of the northern gates, the watch-tower over which rendered it visible above the intermediate buildings. Proceeding on beyond the palace gates, directly to the westward, between the Yellow wall and the northern buildings of the city, is a lake of some acres in extent,