Juniata sentinel. [volume] (Mifflintown, Pa.) 1846-1873, 1873-07-23
The Chinesa

Inc pEIVate iiIc OF tho Ontueoc ID, oD-
pecially at PekiDg, SO profound a mys-
terry for Europeans that there is nothing
to interest them in the city except Its
architecture and ornamentation, which,
though most curious and ingenious, does
not appeal to any of the tastes or sentl-
ments of western people. There is al
ways food for Imagination in the contem-
plation of the outside of objects whose
interior is forbidden, and thus the travel
Ter looks lonsingly at the inclosure OF
the sacred city. which he must never pass
and dreams Of the treasures it is said to
contain-the golden columns, silver mats
the furniture iucrusted with fine pearls
but what he sees is very rude case for
such jewel. As for the famous Me-
chau, very third rate pagada in Siam
is more splendid than the sacred dwell
ing of the Son of Heaven. AT Peking.
external ornament, or even d,cency, is
not regarded as desirable. The city is
sedulously divided into the noble and
military. the trading and the poor quar-
tiers, and in the former it is etiquette to
conceal all curiosity concerning strangers.
After a while the traveller learns to rec
ognize the rank of the mandarins by the
arrangement OF the movable wheels of
their carriages. The more blue button"
or "red button" a mandarin is, the further
the wheels are removed from the centre
of the large machine. The palanquin is
far easier vehicle than the jingling,
jolting carriage, but the use of it is se
dulously restricted to princes aud minis
ters.
The middle class and poor quarters of
the town have something picturesque
about them in the midst of much which
is horrible. They consist of one inter
minable winding street, with an impossi-
Bile name, in which there are three hun
dred shops with scarlet boards hanging
upon poles before them, covered with
gilded inscriptions, and where only ami
nation exists in Peking. The motley
scene is crowded with carts, palanquins,
camels, mules, coolies, Cinnamon. buying
selling, poking about and examining all
sorts of merchandise, myriads Of children
and old men pushing their way to the
waste grounds near the walls, that they |
may. proudly fly the kites whose cords
they hold in their hands. Absurd as the
notion of kite flying as national pastime
seems to u.s.. it is interesting to learn to
what pitch of perfection the manutac-
ture of the familiar toy has been carried.
NJ. D. Beauvoir says Il have seen in
numerous instances a kite which becomes
a flying dragon, fly ing eagle, a flying
seven yards iu circumference,
lighted, and given motion and gesture
They construct these wonderful things
without tails. popularity which implies
art, and SO dexterously
manage their equilibrium, so that they
Use calmly, steadily without any Of the
erke of our kite fly ing, and float, glitter
ng like stars, vertically above the head
If the cord holder.
They fit kind Of Eolian apparatus
o them, almost imperceptibly small,
which initiates the songs of birds or the
voices of men, and, when the air is crow
led with kites, produces a tremendous
noise and they send messengers up
he cords with an iucomprehensible dex
lerity. Another singular musical inven-
ion deserves special notice. They make
tiny Eolian harps, hardly heavier than
soap bubbles, bat beautifully worked,
and affix them to the tails Of doves and
pigeons, fastening them to the two cen
trail feathers as the birds strike the air,
it resounds through their harps, loudly
Or pathetically, according to the speed of
their flight. Nor are these tiny triumphs
Of ingenuity merely mechanical inutili
lies, like SO many Chinese curios. They
serve to save tie birds from the claws of
the vultures which swoop in ominous
Rocks above the bastions.
Outside the trading quarter commence
The horrors of the ancient capital and
the unwary traveller, following the mul-
titude peacefully pursuing their way, en-
tirely Indifferent themselves, and uncon.
scious that strangers may not be so en-
viably constituted, finds himself in the
avenue of executions, which is simply
the junction between the two main thor
oughfares. The whole apparatus of jus
tice consists of a shed and a bench, in
front of which groups of condemned
criminals are ranged, whose heads the
executioner strikes off, each with one
blow of his sword. There is no ceremo
ny, no guard, no solemnity the people
pass by unconcerned /; and when the
daily batch of victims has been dispatch
ed. butcher takes the place of the exc
cutioner, and exhibits joints of beef and
mutton on the bench still wet with hu
man blood.
A little beyond this barbarously sim
pie slaughter house the decapitated heads