The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1870-07-19
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Al the cit.es ii China are surrouud
ca by high, strong walls, whose mas
slye proportions a stranger has 10 adj
dequate idea OF until be secs them r
The walls surrounding tbe city 81
pokin are from twenty two 10 twenty
five miles ia leugth aud on an average
fifty feet high THIS wall is siXiy-si1
ieot thick at The bottom, and fifty four
1t the top, and once IN few yards
tsere are immense buttresses 70 give TO
i; greater strength. AT every ftth
buttress the wall, for the space Of one
hundred and tweuty-six feet in leugth,
is two hundred and 6fly-six feet in
thickness In several places the ioun-
dation OF this wall is Of marble, aud
when the ground is uneven immense
quantities Of cement, as durable nearly
as granite, and about ms hard. have
been used TO levelup the ground. The
main body Of this wrll is made of bricks
each twenty inches long, ten inches
wide, and FIVE inches thick These
bricks are burned very hard, and have
precisely the appearance Of stone.
On the inside of this wall, as well as
on others in our cities, there are es-
planades, OF stairways, with gates TO
them for ascending them. And over
all the gateways there are immense
towers, az large as the great churches,
and much higher, constructed of these
great burnt bricks On the top Of this
immense wall there is railing, both
on the outside and inside, coming up to
a mans waist, which railing itself is
wall, thus giving sense OF security to
person walking on the top. The out
side railing is made into turrets, for
the use OF cannon, in case OF attack.
The entire top of the wall is covered
with strong burned brick twenty inches
square, resembling the tagging Of our
sidewalks in large cities, only, as have
said, these walks are fifty -four feet
wide
There is no way Of getting into the
city only to so through this immense
wall And wherever there is gate for
the purpose of getting through there is
another wall built inclosing a square
space compelling all persons who 60 in
to the city to go through two walls by
passages at night angles to each other
The walls are SO immensely thick, that
these passages through them, arched
over with cut stone, remind one exactly
Of our railroad tunnels in the United
States. At each Of these great arch
ways there is au enormous gate made
Of strong timbers, everywhere as much
as ten inches thick and covered on both
sides with plates Of iron. like the sides
Of our war ships. These gates are shut
early in the evening, generally before
sundown, and not allowed to be open
ed during the night for any purpose =
They are fastened on the inside by
means of beams Of strong timber.
have been somewhat particular in
describing this wall, because the qep-
eral construction of all walls in China
are similar to this one, although they
are not so high nor SO thick But there
are probably thousand walled cities
in China, whose walls will average TWEEN
ty-five feet high and twenty feet thick,
and another thousand whose walls
may be somewhat less. Then there
is the great Tarter Wall little
north of Pekn, one thousand
five hundred miles long, and older thaa
the Christian era, thicker and higher
than any OF the rest There are said
to be one thousand five hundred per-
fectual cities in China. All these are
surrounded by walls built by :he gov
ernment, besides the great expense Of
the city government alone. And when
we have spoken Of the walls surround
ing the cities, we have by no means
done with the subject. For example,
in Pekin, inside the incasing wall, there
is another Of miles in extent surround
ing what is called the Imperial City
Then, again, inside Of this is another
immense wall surrounding what ii
call the Prohibited City. Within this
inner enclosure is the residence Of the
J Emperor, and all the other building.
connected with royalty. And so the
Altar and Temple Of Heaven are sur.
rounded by two concentric walls oi
great extent and magnitude, which
must be passed by means OF immense
gates Then there is the great wall
covered with dry thorn brush, surround
ing what is called the Place Of Punish.
ment, where criminals are behcaded
aud their heads exposed in cages for a
terror to eyil-doers. aud where other
: criminals are crueifed, and yet others
starved 10 death, amid the most piteous
moaning aud insane rawlings for food,
Again, the Hall of Literary Examina-
ton where forty Thousand men com
pete for literary degrees, aud where
the longest purse is more successful