Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-08-11
THE "GREAT WALL"
CHINA'S STRENGTH

Fol 10000 Ii, that is to say, for some
5000 miles, with any number of links,
] additions, and b~lock-houses, the Great
Wall of China. stretches from ohan-hai-
kuan, in the gulf of Liaotung, on the
northeast to a little below Suchau in
| Kansuh, on the west.
To serve as a defense against the Huns
1T was built by a Tsin emperor, named
HWangti, in the early, one might almost
say the semi mythical ages of Chinese
history, more than 200 years before
Christ, and repaired by a great Ming EN-
peror about 1,4SO, A. d. with the aid of
0 1000 soldiers, to secure the frontier
against the growing powers of the Tar
tals.
If it's age is semi-lnythical, it's grandeur
is also semi-mythical. Meandering over
mountain and across valleys, broken by
none of Natures obstacles, and taking
ups n downs of one of the most sterile
ranges in the world as it happened to
strike them, the Great Wall is like no
other building reared by the hand Of man.
At the port of Shanhai-kuan, now con-
Noted with Tientsin, and SO with Pekin,
by railway, the Great Wall dips into the
sea and it's nearest point to the capital
is up the Peiho, due north. The line, or
cross-cut, of the Great Wall, that can be
visited in three or four days from Pekin,
was constructed about 500 years ago by
| lIe AlliNSS dilu IuilS dlllloSl uue SOutH
from a point below Kupeh-tau, branching
south and west not far from Fau-ping-
fu, and 1t can best be seen In all it's ma
jesty some fifteen miles west of the city
of Nankau, through the Nankau Pass,
which admits the great caravans Of Mon
golia and Tibet, to the Pekin plains.
From early morn to deWy eve the
th~oroughfares are crowdeu not only with
the normal traffic afOot, on mule-back,
and in carts, but by the long lines of
Bactrian camels, laden with the raw
products of the western khanates.
CHINESE WARRIORS.
Not far away is the parade ground of
the troops, and no funnier spectacle can
be seen than a Chinese rebiment on the
march. When once the "show piggin' Is
over the order of the day is ego rs you
please" The rank and file. with a color
ed jacket thrown over their coolie clothes,
walk in detached groups or fall out al
together, carrying their old fashioned
Snider rifles in a way unrecognized by
the drill book.
A great difficulty in keeping any rifle
issued in a fit state for use is that the
Chinese soldier will use it as a carry
ing-pole with which he can earn coo'ie
wages, when off duty. 1t is a good
thing no doubt, for a regiment to a
its refreshment on the march without
the necessity of a formal halt, but 1t is
none the less a quaint method Of cleaning
the rifle barrel, after firing, to pour down
1t what remains of the hot tea that as a
substitute for oil may be economical at
: the moment, but must cost the war office
a triie for wear and tear.
Another strange incongruity is to be-
hold the Manchu soldier still practicing
with his bow and arrow at a distance of
about thirty yards. This remains a
necessary and valued part of his training,
and a high proof of military efficiency it
is considered to be when a troop of cav
airy gallops past by single file, shooting
at a target, with hou of excitement.
It is still the custom to choose officers
by this test, and a Manchu general not
long since issued a manifesto deploring
the tendency of young officers to imbibe
modern ideas of warfare, and laying
down the principle that the true trial OF
strength and courage was in the use OF
the bow. Once outside a radius of five
miles the only signs of the neighborhood
of the great camps is the passing of a
military caravan of ponies laden with
stores, and decorated by little yellow
flags, the guns bundled together like fag-
gots.
A picturesque sight was a small camp
of Tibetans with a yellow-coated Llama,
on their way home from Pekin. tumpy
but not unkindly looking people. they
, have much in common with the Mongols