New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-07-30

IN immense sns ssnSs i pavilion open
its entire front, and composed inside
wooden columns. iacquered red AID adorned
with golden dragons. the Emperor sits upon z
carved chair of scarlet and gold, winch Itself
stands upon a triple das, and is overriding by
richly embroidered canopy. At bis side serva1ti
wave huge feather fans. No subjects except tus
princes of the royal family and the Court at
PENDANTS admitted to the hall, whose distant
arcades are plunged in gloom. A stiffness that
can be felt prevails Motionless are. the 900
figures without. and the Emperor on his throne
within maintains an equally hieratic immobility:
Suddenly, at the sound Of bizarre music ana
q chant, the entire body of mandarins In unison
heads bring them down with sweep to the knees
bow, knecl, and touch the ground with tleli
forheads. Seven times is this prostraton, tlN
ai of Anamite observance, repeated. Seven
times in rhythmic cadence the tiaraed ranks rise
and sink again, field Of ripe corn bowo
its head before the wind. The entire ceremony
occupies nearly. ten minutes. 1t il well nigh the
last surviving relic of majesty as it has toi
centuries been understood and honored In the
East
Scenery more BEAUTIFUL than that in the environt
Of Hue can scarcely be imagined On the banks
Of the river elegant and tanciful temples peep
from behind screen of palms ana oalno2os.
Native villages buried IN clumps OF waving
green. The lOwands, where not partltioned II
rice plots, in whose soaking surface brown puma
loes wallow are oyersrown by wealth OF mower;
10 their SUBMITS with pines, indarnooer trees
and banians. At a little distance up the river IL
dislsed arena. or ciIcnlar structure, like di
minutlve Spanish bull ring, where comlats OF wild
animals were held as recently as IN the days OF
tn Due. But the most remarkable OF tine
envirOns Of Hue are undoubtedly the fombs Of
the sOvereigns of the reigning dynasty, from Ola
Long to Dong khanh, which are situated at
distance Of some miles to the southwest OF the
| capital In wooded valleys on either bank OF the
river The scheme Of the finest Of these structural
| upon which tens of thousands of wOrkmen were
engaged for ycars-the entire face Of nature being
| mctamorphosol to suit the caprice Of the royal
architect-ronsists of gardens. lakes, and summer
houses where the Emperor could retire for recrea.
| ton in the sumner heats and where a memorial
| hall, sanctuary. receives tho FURNITURE OF he
private apartments his wardrobe. the altar con-
viving wives after his death and. tccondarlly, OF
a vast inc!osnrc usually constructed in successive
terraces rising from the banks of serpentine
ponds ard eliminating either in timfered mound
or in walled enceinte, wherein some secret nook,
known TO none but select few, conceas the royal
CORPSE Every year the reigning Emperor must
visit each of these tombs. offer the prescribed
sacrifices. and perform his las or solemn obei
sance TO the names of his ancestors. IL would
appear from the character of the landscape garden
ing with which these tombs have been adorned,
so utterly un-Oriental in style, that the earlier
soveregns of the century must have received from
the French officers in their employ the plans OF
French gardens Of the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries Of Versailles or of Fontalnebeau. with
! the accession Of ru Due more strictly native
style was pursued and the tombs Of that mon
/ arch and OF Dong Khanh have In them nothing
of the European. Amid the gracious and orna-
mental surroundings Of tall pine woods and WIND:
| ing lakes. planted with rich Towering trees ana