The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-02-24

tries are far more savage than the Chi
nese, and the Mongolians live largely in
tents. The trade of all these people,
however, comes north from Picking and
passes over the mountains and through
the great wall at the gate which l visit
ed. The wall was built originally to
keep them out, but they have swarmed
through in hordes again and again. and
it is a Manchurian emperor that now
sits upon the Chinese throne.
What wonderful str loture it is. 1t
would extend more than half across
America and it must have consumed
years in building. ASH stood upon
its ramparts could see it climbing the
mountains and going down the valleys
as far as my eyes could reach. It did
| not diminish in strength nor size at the
various points l visited and its masonry
would have been good work for the
American builders of to-day. It is
| about twenty-five feet high and at the
top it is so wide that two CARRIAGES could
drive abreast along it and the hubs of
one would not touch those of the other.
Its exterior walls are of blue brick of
such size that they look like massive
stones, and these are filled in with earth
and paved with brick at the top. The
grass and the moss has now grown over
the top OF this great wall. No archars
now euard it, and il stands amid the
! snowy mountains a monument of the
almond eyed men who thus, two thous.
and years ago, sought to protect their
homes and those of their defendants
for all time to come. No one can stand
upon the ramparts of this great struct-
ure and not be impressed with the great.
ness of the Chinese nation. It is
greater monument than the pyramids
Of Egypt. built by selfish kings for roy
al tombs, and its purpose was nobler.
It is monument also of the great truth
that while man dies. his work remains,
centuries ago exist to day as does the
hand that carved the Venus di Medica,
the pen that wrote Shakespeare and the
Aeneid, and in q humber, though no
less effective way, the muscle that dug
out the marble from the mines, of which
the builders and architects constructed
the mighty cathedral of Milan.
This wall is right IN the mountains.
There are no villages to speak of nearit
and the surroundings are the picture of
desolation. The road to it, which was
once paved highway, is now mount
ain path filled with boulders and pud-
dies and it is impo ssible to get through
with anything else than mule filters,
camels or donkeys. We passed camels
by the hundreds and our mule litter and
two donkeys, which made up the outfit
of the party. had often to stand aside
for herds of black Chinese hogs and
droves Of fat-tailed sheep which were
being driven from the wild pasture lands
Of Mongolia down to Picking. Ponies
and horses can no more travel this road |
than they can the passes of the Andes. |
and the roule litter, in which my wife |
rode, is fair sample of Chinese interior |
travel. 1t was a cloth covered box |
about five feet long and four high, |
swung between two of the rawest, man |
glest mules have ever seen. 1t was |
hung upon shafts, and these mules, one |
in front and two behind, carried it in |
single file up the hills and through the |
mud. In passing through 1ne of the |
villages they slipped and the whole out
fit came to the ground. The muleteer |
was Mobammedan, as are many of |
these norm Cinnamon. He was as |
Stub corn as his mules and he decidedly |
objected when proposed putting two |
people into the litter during rain. We |
carried our own cook and bedding with |
us and slept at Chinese inns on dirty |
lodges of brick heated from beneath by |
hues. These Lodges are about two feet |
high and they constitute half of the
bed room of a Chinese hotel. The inns
were much the same, Judge, as those
of Palestine in the days of the Saviour.
Low, one story, brick buildings ran
around an open court in which droyes
Of hogs and csmels slept. the doors of
the building all opened into the court
and half of them were open at the front
and were assigned to the donkeys and |
mules of the travellers. These brayed
The livelong night and their muncaing
IF straw could be distinctly heard
through The walls separating them from
IS.
l paid some calls yesterday in COM
oany with Colonel DENLY, our minister
% Peking. We went in the minister's
Chinese cart, preceded by his mafoo or
groom on horseback. The Chinese cart
s the only carriage known in Peking
outside of the elephant carts, on which
the emperor goes out to sacrifice at the
temple of heaven. Ii is the rudest, cru