The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-02-10

the widely diverse elements of the
Chinese Empire.
We have in America only the Chinese
of Southern China, and our idea of the
Chinese people is derived solely from
them. Here at Peking are the Tribe
tans, the Mohammedans, the Tartars
and the Mongoliaus, and the round
faced Celestial rubs his pigtail against
the big hats of the Koreans as he Wades
along the streets. The Chinese Empire
| is represented, and one here sees what
might be called cosmopolitan Asia.
The sjrangest sights 10 me on first en-
trance were the nomadlc Mongolians
who rode into the city on great camels
or dromedaries, as unlike the camels of
the Egyptian desert as the fellaheen of
| the Nile are different from the coolies
of the Yellow River. They are larger,
and they have two fat humps on their
backs instead of one. They are covered
with wool instead of hair, and this long
curly coating appears in all the various
shades of tan. They come here from
the cold regions of Mongolia or Siberla
by the thousands. and during my visit
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each of which numbered hundreds of
these camels marching in single file led
by ropes fastened to sticks thrust
through the thick flesh Of their noses,
and bringing great loads of furs from
the north for the use of the dilletanti
mandarins of Peking, and carrying
back brick aus! itea, and coal 10 the
Tsrtars and Russians. Some of them
- h.r hroUn-fono6
women, who, in coats. pantaloons and
fur caps, ride astride, and the men are
clad in sheepskIns with fur caps pulled
well down over their fierce Tartar eyes.
! see the Thibetan lamas in their gorge
Gus robes, and we have here large
lama tenn ole or monastery where these
men have ons of the two living Bud
dhss of the world. He is worship ed as
god, and when he dies, another
Buddha will be chosen, and the great
spirit will inhabit him, and continue
the spiritual reign. Thibet, Korea,
Siam, Burmah, Mongolia, Manchuria
and parts of Afghanistan are all
tributary to China, and their repre-
sentatives are here. This city is the
capital of nearly one-tenth the cnltiva-
table surface of the earth, and from one
third 10 one-fo nth of the people of the
earth are governed from it, and pay
homage to it. The great Empire OF
China has a Territory much larger
than that of the United States. and its
population is greater than that of the
United States and Europe added to-
gether.
What a capital for such country,
and such people. It is made up, you
know. of three great walled cities, and
the walls aboutit are more than twenty.
seven miles in length. There is the
Tartar or Mauchu City in the interior of
which is the forbidden city inside whose
| walls is the home of the sacred EN-
peror, and where the great palaces are
| located. There is the Chinese City out
side. where the most of the business of
North China is done, and where the
sights and buildings do not differ much
| from those OF the narrow streets ami
low buildings of other Chinese cities.
There are, in the Tartar city, the thou
sands of residences OF the great off,
Gals of the government, and here are
| the great government departments
which look for all the world like q set
of western cattleyard stables rooted
with b. avy tiles, and ranged around
harvard courts which are no cleaner
nor better kept than our stables them
selves. From the walls. the whole
great city looks like an immense
orchard, sparsely filed with trees
which rise high enough to shut out the
view of the low, one-story buildings
composing its houses. In one corner
rises the great temple of heaven, q
round lowered pagoda-like structure
where the Emperor periodically watches
the slaughter of oxen, and burns them
as sacrifices upon big marble altar.
In another direction you can see the
walls of the forbidden city with its
many yellow tiled palaces shining in
the sunlight. and all around standing
out against the sky are the great towers
which rise story above story over the
gates which lead through the walls.
They are, to me, the most wonderfu]
thing I have yet seen in city architec.
ture. Picking is said to be the finest
walled city in the world. 1t is made
up of the three cities, all of which are
surrounded by walls. the greater part OF
which are as firm to- day as when they
were built hundreds of years ago.
These walls must have cost many mil
lions of dollars, and though useless
now, they once made Picking fortified
city. The wall of the Tartar City is the
strongest. 1t is as high as city house
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