The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1861-01-15 00:00:00

A CHINESE JUGGLER.

And here—and we stopped to see him, his invitation
to do so was so polite—we came upon a juggler, a man
whom had Barnum once seen, he wo-Jld have been
bought up on the spot and carried to England or -America
to astonish you at home, as he certainly did us. As soon
as he had cleared a circle with the old "string and balls,"
he spread the contents of his wallet on the ground, and
stripped himself to the waist. He was a poor thin fellow,
who seemed to suffer from the effects of the tricks he per-
formed. He first of all spoke for about five minutes with
all the volubility of Charles Mathews, evidently saying
something witty, for the people round laughed heartily.
In the midst of his harangue, however, he was seized
with a fit of choking, and after an effort of trying
to get something out of his throat drew forth a little
slip of bamboo, like a Lisbon toothpick, then another
and another, then he sneezed, and out they came from
his nostrils, then from his eyes, until he completed the
number of 37, by making one appear half-way out of
each orifice at the same time, and then threw the lot on
the ground for any one to examine. He then took three
glass balls, about an inch in diameter, aad, placing them
singly between his lips, sucked them into his mouth and
swallowed first a red one, then a blue, and last of all a
white one ; here was a little interlude of toothpicks
and talking, after which he went gravely round the
ring, stopping four times ; each time he gave himself

a shake and a jump, when the balls were distinctly
heard to jingle inside him. On completing his
round, after several efforts, he spat the balls out on
the ground in the same order he had swallowed theme
the red first, the white last. He then took- two more
balls, one of polished steel about the size of a hen's egg,
and another of glass the same size. These he first let
fall on the ground to show they were solid, then, placing
them between his lips, swallowed them. like the smaller
ones, but with difficulty, the ball swelling the throat as
it went down; here more toothpicks and talking, while
he prepared two swords, about, an inch wide and twenty
long, very like pelislied hcieji4i4oti, yashed theta together
to show they were real and passed both down his throat
at once, until they struck the balli with an audible click
withdrawing these, he placed his hands behind him, and
after several , apparently painful trials each ball yose in
the throat, and fell from his mouth to the ground with a
.heavy thump. Other tricks he did, "only suited to a
Chinese audience, which I cannot tell you of; but after
his exertions he appeared quite satisfied with the trifle
. each threw him, The shops on either side the street
are only dne storey high, and, amid all the hind and filth,
Ate Made as gaudy aS gilt arid the primitive colours can
make theth. 't'he'y haVe nd
.the dal, light
being given by the door, which in windy weather
closed by a curtain of matting to keep out the diisi;
which, by the way, is very peculiar. Outside the chi
it is common brown mud, but inside the walls the
ground is black like powdered coal, and on hot windy
days, blows about in clouds. The day the treaty was
signed, the whole of the Embassy, and those who accom-
panied Lord Elgin to see the ceremony, were like as
many sweeps.

THE PUBLIC BUILDINGS OF PEKIN.
Pekin is not nearly so large or so demiely populated as
we have always been led to believe. It has little or no
suburbs, and, judging ftoni a tide through both Tartar
and Chinese portions, I should say it Ivas not much
larger than Manchester or Glasgoil. The inhatitanta
certainly pack very closely, but then the liefiteg are only
one storey, and every one has some pretensions td a Or=
den behind it, The grounds of the Winter Palade and
the beautiful park round the Temple of Heaven are eatii
several square miles in extent, while the different
yamuns, or houses, of the numerous nobles and man-
darins take up acres upon acres each, so that the
ground occupied by the general population is com-
paratively small, and I should estimate the latter as a
little more, perhaps, than that of Glasgow. The
Winter Palace no one has been allowed to see, and the
only two other redeeming points about Pekin which
save it from being contemptible to a stranger are its
walls and the Temple of Heaven. As you approach the
city, the walls have a very imposing and grand effect ;
they are built of a gray-looking brick, and rise 62 feet
high ; large square bastions stand out about every
quarter of a mile at the top ; the walls are 17 paces
thick, with a parapet pierced with loopholes for gingals,
but not for guns. Over each gateway there rises a
massive structure, with four tiers of portholes, like a
man-of-war, 48 in front and 16 on each gable. At the
four corners of the walls these towers have only two
faces, with 64 portholes in each. There are no guns
in them, however, the holes being filled up with a
shutter, on which the muzzle of a gun, -is painted.
Indeed, there are only three or four on the walls alto-
gether. The view from the top over the city is very
striking. Owing to your elevated position you see little
more than a forest of trees, a few straight lines of
streets, the tops of joss-houses, the pagoda of the
Temple of Heaven, and the Winter Palace, built upon
a high artificial mound, with the walls running all
round. When once a place is built in China, it seems
as if it was supposed to take care of itself for ever
afterwards, no attempt being nude to repair the ravages
of time or use, and the consequence is thjst these fine
walls are fast falling into ruin. The Temple of Heaven
is a magnificent structure, situated in the centre of the
Chinese city, and surrounded by a walled park as large as
• Hampton Court and Bushy Park together, and very like
them, too, with its avenues of old trees grossing in all
directions; one leads directly from the entrance-gate for
about a mile to the foot of an inclined plane, which
takes you to a terrace hidden by the trees until you are
• upon it. It is about half-a-mile in length, 17 paces
wide, and about 20 feet high, and paved with slabs of
white marble. On reaching the top, on your right
stands the Teinple of the Earth, a beautiful building in
itself, but completely eclipsed by that of Heaven on the
left. For some reason or other the doors were closed,
and we were obliged to content ourselves with only
walking round the earthly building, but a good-
natured priest opened the gateway of that of Heaven
for us. You enter its portals of beautifully-
sculptured marble, and come into a large enclosure, in
the middle of which is a raised platform, approached all
round by steps. From this the temple, or pagoda, rises
in all its beauty. It is about one hundred and fifty feet
high, and has three steps of roofs, exquisitely propor-
tioned to its sire. Inside it forms one octagonal room
about sixty feet in diameter, containing the altar and
chairs of state for the Emperor and his family, no one
else being supposed to worship here. The walls inside are
composed of brilliant blue and green enamel and gold; eight
very graceful pillars, carved in bas-relief, support the first
roof, and the whole is lighted by windows, which are
scarcely seen from the floor: The outside is encased in blue
and green enamel tiles, a•id is a perfect picture of quiet
and repose. There is no joss or figure inside the temple,
but in some houses round its enclosure there are a
great many. The Emperor visits this temple once a
year, especially to plough and sow grain, to show he
still retains the simplicity of. life of his ancestors. He
is very lame, having nearly rat the use of both legs ; in
all his apartments at the Summer Palace pairs of crutches
were found. The Summer Palace is about seven miles
north of Pekin, situated in grounds many miles in extent,
laid out with artificial lakes and canals, crossed by
fantastic bridges of the old willow pattern, mounds on
which pagodas and Lama temples are built, and the
whole beautifully wooded. It must, indeed, have been
a lovely place 'in its pride ; but now nothing remains
but the bare walls and blackened timbers of forty-two
palaces that were burnt.