Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1859-11-24
From Russia to Pekin.

|
A French traveller communicates to the
North China Herald a rambling account of
al overland trip from the Russian frontier to
the city of Pekin, in China, which furnishes
some interesting, though not altogether salts
factory, information concerning that region of
country aud the great Chinese capital The
writer selected Kiahkat, which lies due south
! from Lake Bakal, ia Russia for his point Of
! departure, instead of Nertchinsk, some dis
tance to the northeast, where the postal road
from St Petersburg terminates, but for what
reason does not appear. From Kikat to Urga
the capital of the Chinese province to Mongo-
| liza, and which is located near the northern
| border of that province, the country is very
mountainous from Urga to the frontier of
China proper is level, hard, sandy desert,
without a drop of water, or house, but peo-
pied by hoSpitable Mongols, who live in tents,
! furnish horses, camels. mutton, aud water pre-
served in cisterns, aud will divide all they have
with the weary traveller. Here the cold in
winter is terrific, the wind blowing in hurri-
canes, while during the short summer the heat
is quite African, and the sand storms Mill tear
the skin of and blind the traveller. OF the way
thenceforward to the imperial city, and of the
city itself, we have the following animated
sketch
At the frontier of China proper, 900 miles
from kiakta, the desert stops short in such an
! extraordinary manner as to make this one of
! the most remarkable spots on the earth. After
4 a gradual ascent OF 1000 feet from Urga it is a
suddenly broken like cliff facing the south an
immense amphitheatre of mountains rivers,
trees, and farm houses suddenly bursts upon
the view, all bathed in sunlight, and smoking
as it were, with heat at great depth below,
but twenty miles off and not yet visible lies
the great town of Ciouan HuaIou, called Call
gan by the Russians, and beyond it bound
! ing the horizon on the south, four-fod range
of precipitous mountains rise far into the air :;
the first range of a chocolate color, the two
next have violet and scarlet hue, aud the
last scarcely visible, and overhanging the plain
of Pekn on the north is of light and hazy
! blue Here, where we now stand, is a large
wall built of loose stones and kind of monu
ment wuch marks the actual frontier of China
| and this is most enormously marked upon all
maps as the " great wall" although the latter
is one hundred miles further south and is cross
! ed at twenty-five miles from Pekin. From
| Callgan to Pekin the country may be called
chaos of mountains and wherever a house
can stand, an agglomeration of towns, all sur
rounded by high walls, some of which nave be-
gun to yield under the weight Of twenty cen
! turies, and others have been buried to the top
under the sand of the Mongoan desert
! After passing under the Great Wall, whence
| the view is truly magnificent, the road sudden
! y goes down into a deep and narrow gorge,
! all checked With huge blocks of granite fallen
! from the broken mountains above, and here
! the descent for eight miles is SO PERCEPTIONS
/ that the MongoIs themselves have to dismount
/ Five or six minor walls are now passed and
they might equally be called work of giants
for no matter what the slopes of the mountains
NAV he, they rise from the bottom of preci-
pices to their very Sumnts and are still fast
ened to them like so many serpents. When
the traveller energies from this gloomy defIe,
his heart must beat within him as he directs
his eyes towards the great and mysterious city
Of PeSin but there he will see nothing but a
boundlesS plain of sand, with u few scattered
farms, woods of cypress, little rivers and not a
! patch of green, whilst every other point of the
! horizon is shut up by an uubroken and majeS
! tic range of blue and dreary peaks, rising like
! a barrier between two worlds, to the height of
! five thousand feet. However, as you approach
! the city, of which nothing at all can be seen
until You have passed under its very wall, the
buzz;ng, Kissing moaning of men, asses, camelS,
gongs, and birds of prey, Of monster kites, and
pigeons with melodiouS instruments attached
to them, and carrying back to heaven the ex-
travagant inspirations of Chinese musicians in
fact all the noises and smells that come float
ing upon the wind over this great wall, as if
| all the animal creation were breathing within
it, are things SO strange to a traveller, just ar
rived from Paris, that he cannot describe them.
Once he has passed under the ponderouS
northern gate measured the thickness of the
stupendous wall, and is fairly in Pckin, he will
be entirely bewdered all before him is a con-
fused and dusty mass ofcolors, men, mules, cabs
hundreds of cames, with the weary Mougols
in their once red gown, enthroncd aud fast
asleep on their highest summit and mmensity
of wide, perfectly straight, and endless streets;
a living ocean of the most degraded beggars OF
cooks, BARRIERS, blind men beating upon kittle-
drums, brilliant shops, cafes and hotels, sur
mounted by long poles of all colorS, wooden
walls beautifully carved and gilt all over; in
fact it is a scene so unique in the world, that
no dream could ever be so eccentric.
After travelling due south for four miles
leaving on the left the splendid gien-Tsin
street and its noble gate, towering like another
Babel in the misty horizon, and on the right
the eastern wall of the Imperial city, shutting
it out from profane eyes, but over which the
imperial hills, lakes, kiosques, temples and ced
ars may he seen at intervals, we come at length
to the northern limit Of the Chinese town