The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1898-11-19

French minister on his left. The min
listers all bow simultaneously when
about fifteen feet from the throne, the
crowd of attaches behind indulging in
a marionette-like bobbing of heads
which detracts considerably from the
dignity of the occasion and gives rise
to smothered laughter on the part of
the younger diplomatists.
Colonel DENLY reads a brief speech
of congratulation of less than two
minutes duration, which is interpreted
into Chinese by NJ. Popoff, of the Rus
sian Legation, the senior interpreter
present. Prince Kung then advances
to the platform on the emperor's left
and, kneeling, renders the message into
Manchu (the language of the COURT.
The emperor lazily acknowledges it
in a brief speech of a dozen sentences,
which are p~unctuated by apostrophic
che, che's" on the part of Prince
kung. The latter translates the EN-
peror's speech into Mandarin, M. Pop
off re-translating it. into French for
the benefit of the "barbarians." The
llllhloLSlo anu oJdIS lu6h ItIllS JAIN
wards in a necessarily awkward man
ner, and return to their respective lega-
tons, and the emperor once more with
draws into the most mysterious court
circle that the world contains.
The Celestial empire has in the
course of its lengthy history known
three capitals in different parts of its
extent. The first capital, which held
it's own for a space of over a thousand
years, was the city of Si-gnan-fu, the
present capital of the province of Shen-
ST. This was evacuated early in the
rule of the Min dynasty in favor of
Nankin, On the Yang-tse-Kiang, which
in the then turbulent condition of the
empire was deemed safer for the ready
means of escape it offered by means of
it's network of water communications.
Nankin, which signifies Court of the
South" remained the residence of the
court until the fifteenth century, when
the series of risings which occurred in
the southern provinces caused another
fitting, this time to Pekin, the North
ern Capital" which has remained the
imperial city to the present day, but
which, rumor says, is destined to be
shortly evacuated in favor of Si-gnan-
flu, because of the inroads of Russia.
The first appearance of the city is dis
appointing. Nothing meets the eye but
a suggestion of battlements with loop
holed walls, which, as they are ap-
preached, take form as a grim gate with
a wonderful superstructure.
The first impression caused by the
exterior of the city is one of magnifi-
cence Everything is on so big a scale.
The walls are fully thirty feet high,
and the highest roof of the attendant
gateway twice as much. They extend
as far as the eye can reach on both
sides, their total length being twenty
one miles, and they are twenty-five feet
wide at the base.
Pekin comprises three separate cities,
each hemmed in by it's wall, each dis
tinct from the others. These are the
Chinese City, the Manchu, or Tartar
City, and the innermost, or Purple For
hidden City, two and a quarter miles
in circuit, constituting the imperial
demesne of the Emperor and his court.
The walls between the Chinese and
Manchu cities are even stronger than
those already passed, being fifty feet
high and proportionately broad. Along