Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-03-16


Tientsin you begin to ask how far it is to Picking
and how You can get there. You are told 81
miles by road and 40 by river, and
there are three methods Of travel open tc
you, cart, horseback aud boat I chose the
second, hired couple Of ponies and Mafoc
(groom), and thankfully left the noisy. narrow
and nasty streets of the native city of Tientsin
behind me at O'Clock one bright Sunday
morning. Then 40 miles of jog-trot and canter
along narrow path across a landscape of dry
mud. and night at a Chinese inn-a series OF
small cold, bare guest-rooms surrounded by a
hollow square Of stalls. To bed at 8, up again
al IN order that the cart which carries the
baggage and bedding and food might start and
reach Peklng before the gates are closed at
O'Clock. Once up, il is e"sier to ride than to
SIT twlddilng ones thumb. n q brick bed. so
We jog cautiously forward in the dark. and bv
and by dramatic sunrise rewards and warns
Us.
TRIP TO PEKISa
IL good for two moments OF interest and salts
factiOn-two real sensations of travellers
delight. The first is at first sight of the walls
of the great city, after the second dull ride of
40 miles. You enter through gate of no pro-
portions or pretentions, you ride for a quarter
ofan hour among novels and pigs, and then
suddenly on climbing q bank striking
sight bursts upon You. A great tower OF
&,
from each of its stories a score of cannon mouths
yawn; for a mile or more the wall stretches in
perfectly straight line. pierced with thou
sand embrasures, supported by hundred but
tresses. Then You halt your pony and
Sit and try to realize that another
of the desires OF your life is gratifed;
that yOu are at last really and truly before
the walls of the city that old centuries
before the wolf and the woOdpecker found
Eomulus and Remus; in the wonderland OF
Marco Polo. father of travellers; on the eve OF
exploring the very capital and heart of the
Celestial empire. This is the first of your two
precious moments. When You ride on you dis
cover that the cannon-mouths are lust black
and white rings painted on boards. and the
swinde-fortunatelv You do not know it vet
Is Your whole visit TO Peking i'll a nutshell The
place Is
A GIGANTIC DISAPPOINTMENT.
Yes. although the temptation is great to
write marvels about place one has come far
80 see-to play polo, so to speak, on ones own
account. the truth is that Picking is not worth
the trip. 1t is worth coming to study, but
sense appealed to by the capital of China.
1t Is not half picturesque a place
as Seoul nor a quarter as interesting as San
Francisco. Moreover you cannot see nearly az
much of it to-day as you could five years
ago. One by one the show-places have been
closed to foreigners. and the Marble bridge,
the Summer palace, the Temple of
Heaven-to mention onIy the first that
come to mind-are now hermeticallv
closed against the barbarian, and neither rank
nor money nor impudence can force an
entrance. Even the ascents to the top of the
wall-the only place where a foreigner can
walk in comfort and decency-are now barred,
and you must find bribable sentry And if by
reason Of strength or luck You do get into one
Of the forbidden spots you are very likely TO
have a narrow escape-as l and friend from
the legation had at the great Llama temple-of
never getting out again.
RUINS.
The history Of Picking is TO be read in the
walls which surround it in ruin or in preserva-
tion, and if you trace them within and without
the city q did not they will show you where
lay the "Nankink' of the Khitan Tartars in
ESQ; how the famous "Golde Horde" of Kin
Tartars laid out their capital Of Chung-tu in
1l5l; what Jenghiz Khan and his mon
gols thought great city should
be in l2l5; how the immortal
khublai Khan constructed Khanbalik 1.-The sity
OF the hhan." century later-Polo calls il
Cambaluc; and much more interesting history
down TO the advent OF the present Manchus in
1874. And il is the walls in excellent preser-
walton. that mark the divisions of the Picking
Outer City, more properly the Southern
city; adjoining 1t the Inner or Tartar
City" properly called Northern; in
side this the Imperial City" and inside
this again, like the Utmost pill box in a
nest. the Forbidden CITY the actual imperial
residence itself. The chronological distinctions
CT Chinese and Tartar practically effaced;
the only distinction for the flying visitor is
that the shops are in the Chinese city. most of
the temples. public buildings and sights a." to-
Yether with all the foreign residences. are in
the Tartar city, and that the wall of the latter
Is much the larger and more massive structure
The ground plan OF Picking is supposed to rep
resent human body, the palace being the
haa Int iSh att "A -. Ill
out on the chess-bOard plan Of American cities
west of Chicago.
PENSG STREETS AND HOUSES
There are two great streets which intersect
at central point. and from all parts of these
other streets, lanes and alleys run in straight
lines. Every corner in Peking seems to be
right angle; there are no winding thorough
fares The houses are all very low with
Fat roofs, and l did not see a sim
in the whole city. But il is the streets
of Peking that strike the observer first
and fade fast from his recollection Whether
wide or narrow, dark alley or main artery. they
are entirely unpayed-the native alluval soil and
the native sewage form every Pekingese path
way. From this state of things spring several
curious consequences. The roads are so uneven,
the holes IN them so numerous and deep, the
ridges so high and steep. that no vehicle with
springs can navigate half mile The only con-
yeyance, therefore is the famous Picking cart
an enormously strong and heavy square two
wheeled, covered vehicle, drawn by a mule the
passenger squatting tailOr-fashion inside and
the driver sitting on the shaft IL YOU go out
10 dinner, or your wife goes to church, this is
practically your only vehicle, as there are very
few chairs In Peking. But to be rolled about
and iolted in one OF these is simple torture and
II you do not hold on close to the hand-rails
inside you run no little risk of having your
brains dashed out. After good shower of rain
IN Peking you cannot set foot out of doors; the
mud IL often three feet deep and the center of
the street sometimes a couple OF feet higher
than the sides. But, on the other hand if no
rain comes there is the dust, and Peking dust
storm, once experienced, Is dreadful memory
forever. After drought the mud is ankle
deep; every night at sunset il is watered with
the liquid sewage OF the city, and so il has
come 10 be composed OF dried pulyerized earth
and dried pulyerized filth in about equal pro-
portions. And when the storm comes you are
blinded and choked by it; il penetrates your
clothing TO the skin; windows and doors and
curtains and covers do not stop il for an in
slant; people say il even fights its way into air
tight boxes. SO, whether the barometer indi-
Gates rain" or fair" you are equally badly
OF.
LEGATION STREET.
The foreign legations in Picking are in street
near the chief gate of the Tartar city, and
known among the foreigners as Legation
street" II is half mile long, either mud or
dust. as level as q chOpping sea, with here and
there its monotOny Of blank walls or dirty ma