The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-06-17

famous beggar king. He was buried
under Purple Mountain. about five miles
away from here, and his mausoleum must
have been one of the most magnificent
ever made by man. 1t comprised in its
burial lot an avenue through the country
overlooking his city more than a mile in
length, and this avenue was lined with
gigantic elephants. camels, lions and tigers
OF marble, which still stand in solemn
grandeur facing each other in the open
field. There are, in addition to these.
giant warriors carved artistically from
solid blocks of marble. and each of these
warriors is. judge, twelve feet in height
l stood beside one and reached upward.
My finger-nalls just touched the elbow of
the stone warriors folded arms. The ele-
plants are as big as was Barnum's Jumbo,
and they are cut from solid blocks of mar
BILE. Their broad backs are covered
with bushels OF stones, and the people
have superstition that the man who can
throw stone and have 1T remain there
will have luck from that time forth. At
the beginning of this avenue there is a
great tower, with four arched gateways,
and in the center of the interior of this sits
turtle of black marble. 1t Is so large
that it would fill the average American par
lor, and it is made from single block of
stone. 1t is the Chinese emblem of loDgev-
ity, and from its back springs a marble
tablet twelve or fifteen feet In Insight,
upon which are inscribed the Chinese
characters commemorating the great
ness Of the Emperor W no lies buried at the
other end of the funeral highway. l did
not count these immense animals and war
riOrs, but they stand at short intervals
along the avenue leading to the tomb in
closure. They must each weigh many
tons, and must have been brought from
far in the interior to Marking. Some of
the carving upon them Is beautifully done,
and the figures of the elephants and men
are well executed. One of the stone horses
has been thrown over, and it lies half
sunken in ditch. The figures of others
are somewhat broken. but the most of
them are as perfect to-day as when they
were first erected four or five hundred
years ago. The tomb, however, is In ruins.
1t covered several acres, and at Its end
there are the remains of a great tower of
solid masonry, pierced in the center by
tunnel walled with marble, which runs
from the ground upward at an angle of 45
degrees. This tunnel is so nigh and wide
be run through it without touching
the walls. and these walls are of
stone. with dado of marble artls-
tically carved. There was, l judge, origi-
nally a temple on the top of this fort-like
mausoleun; the four thick walls of some
such building still stand. making you
think of the grass-growD, moss-covered
Auiho VI A4hhOPo' avg NY luuCu NlIUl0
them. sitting on stone, with my feet
among the blue wild flowers which wee
springing out of the crevices between the
stones of the grass-Rrown floor. As I did
so l could look out through one of
the great arched doorways upon the
thousands of grave mounds of the Nan
king of to-day. and the cries of a poorly
clad woman who sat and walled at one Of
them fioated up to my ears. 1t was the
mourning of the present amid the grandest
tomos Of the past, and / again realized that
OF all things death alone is the king who
rules from age to age. and who, with his
mighty hand, makes all men Of one size.
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