Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1876-1904, 1898-12-03
A CURIOSITY IN PEKING.
An Artificial Hill That Has a Very
Peculiar History.

Peculiar History.
In the heart of Picking. the capita, o,
China, stands hill. the building on
whose crown is the highest point with,
in the city IL is evident that the hill
Is not one of the original marks of the
landscape. for the plain in which Pc
| king lies was at one time the bottom CT
branch of the sea, which, receding,
has now left il $50 miles from the coast.
and the city lies in one of the leveless
/ spots of the sandy plain.
closer inspection of this strange
mound reveals its artificial character.
for il has hone Of those irregularities
with which nature stamps its work
/ The history of its formation is as fol-
/ lows:
/ In the early days of the northern
/ capital, for such is the meaning of the
name Picking (pe, north; ching, cap
ital). the city was besieged for long
time by tribe of Aongols who had
come down through the mountains on
one OF their periodical raids.
They were wild, fearless set Of
men, whose Unkempt hair and ragged
dress, with the characteristic yellow
trimmings which Mongols all affect,
added to their natural savage appear
ance- They ranged throu.s the plain,
numbering and pluudeIing, and finally
brought up before the gates of the city
But the massive walls were ample pro-
lection against the plunderers, who
We're armed with no other weapJn than
their spears and arrows
The city was well supplied with food
TO withstand long siege, SO with :he
great city gates closed and barred the
emperor and people watched with com
placency the gathering hordts without
knowing that they could still be living
well from their immense stores long
after the besiegers had completely ex-
hausted the resources of the barren
plain around.
After trying the various entrances of
the city the Mongois camped about,
knowing the enormous population with
IN would soon exhaust its food supply
On their rough ponies. trained to cours-
ing on the northern plains, the Mon
golian invaders would race about the
city shooting their arrows into the air
at such an angle that they would fall
inside. but the people within only
moved little farther from the walls
The droves of camels waiting 60 be
loaded with pfunder lay in the distance
The siege mad been on for some time
when the people within discovered that
while they had plenty of food and wa
ter their SUPPLY of fuel was almost ex
hausted- This was a very serious mat
ter for them, for they had long known |
that without fuel to boil their water
before using epidemics and fevers were |
sure to riot among them Their build |
lngs were almost entirely of brick and |
stone, so that there was little to be |
CLEANED from that source They care |
fully husbanded their diminishing stock |
of fuel. but it finally disappeared and |
in spite of every precaution fever and |
cholera broke out and carried off thou |
sands But the diseases finally spread |
to the Invaders, who. despairing of tax
ing the city. gathered what plumber
they could from tho villages of the
plain and retired through the mountain
passes to their northern home
The bardships which they had suffer
ed through the siege had Taught the
people a lesson. and the emperor did
not intend that his capital should be
caught in such plight again, so no
sooner had the invaders disappeared
than he began bringing into the city
supplies of coal Month aftei
month rontir aous trains of camels
moved back and forth between the