The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1898-12-15

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 II
dignity of the occasion and gives rise
to smothered laughter on h part OF
the younger diplomatists.
Colonel DENLY reads a brief speech
Of congratulation of less han 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 lett
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 punctuated by a~postrophlc
"che, che's" IN 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
ministers and staffs then retire back
wards in a necessarily awkward man
ner, and return to their respective lega-
tions, 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 it's lengthy history known
three capitals in different parts of it's
extent. The first capital, which held
its own for a space of ove a thousand
years, was the city of Si-gnan-fu, the
present capital of the province of Shen-
81. 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 Pckin, 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-
fu, 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 APP
preached, take form as a grim gate with
a wonderful su~perstructure.
The first impression caused by the
exterior of the city lis one of magnifl-
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 fee
wide at the base.
Pekin comprises three separate cities
each hemned in by its wall, each dis
tirct 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 mile
in circuit, constituting the imperia
demesne of the Emperor and his court
The walls between the Chinese anC
Manchu cities are even stronger thai
those already passed, being fifty fee
high and propcrtionately broad. Alon: