The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-07-01

is that they are broken up by deep ruts
and cavities. which testify to the enor-
| nous length and weight of the traffic that
has passed and to the inanimate stupidity
and corruption Of the authorities In letting
| the mischief go so far. Apart from the
flags, the roads and lanes are formed and
| maintained with a composition that Is
enough to bring MacAdam from his grave
| On the Chinese principle of waste not,
want not" the roads are made up and re-
! paired with the contents of the drains and
| cesspoois, and in the dry climate of Chilli
| the dust Is ankle deep[I had almost said
knee deep-of SO delightful a mixture.
| This does not exhaust the ingenuity of
| the local authority. In order to keep the
! dust within the bounds of respiratio On the
roads are plentifully watered with the
liquid contents Of the sewers ladled out
at every hour OF the day In enormous
wooden spoons. The sort of smell ema-
mating from this road material would re-
quire the pen Of NJ. lola adequately to de-
scribe.
OF a grand Chinese house of the old
style the English Legation. formerly q
princely palace. is not a bad example. and
its tiled pavilions are kept In condition
of repair and spick- and-span order which
mark the extraordinarily better even
than foreign flag. In the compound live
not only the Minister and the subordinate
officials. but also some twenty student in
! terpreters. who spend two years in learn
ing the elements Of the Chinese language
before they can enter the consular service
To obtain any real knowledge Of the Ian.
guage is said to take an intelligent Eu-
; ropean at least ten years, but 1t Is pos
sible tn pick up some three thousand OF
the characters in a shorter time. The
other odd ten thousand must be left to
chance and circumstance. OF the tones,
information conveys different meaning, 1t
is not wonderful that in the conversation
of half-baked Chinese scholars hailing from
Europe there occur mistakes Of pronuncia-
ton at which the Chinese are hugely
amused. Every vowel has four tones. and
TO the untutored ear three are very much
the same. There is theory abroad that
too much Chinese learning makes men a
little mad. and among our Consuls It Is q
standing Joke to echo the talk of their fell
low-countrymen and say: "Of course, we
are all lunatics: you see. We talk Chinese"
One wonders how far the isolation OF the
Chinese has contributed to the extraordi-
nary difficulty Of their language, and how
far their isolation Is due to it-clearly .
case of action and reaction.
Where Strangers Are Not Allowed.
In the Forbidden City, which contains
the imperial palaces. no foreigner ever set
foot, except when the STATS Of the lega-
tions carry their congratulations to the
Emperor on the New Year Day-the 9Th
of February Of the Chinese calendar-and
in the rare cases Of special audience, one
of which took place when Prince Henry OF
Prussia was personally received by the
Emperor at the very door. This question
of audience has for the last hundred years
been of the highest Importance. First came
the demand for the performance Of the
katow; then the right of audience. COM
pletely conceded In 1873; lastly. the place
of audience toward the satisfactory solu-
ton Of which much was done when Sir
Nicholas O'Conor was received. not, a.
formerly in the Hall of Tributary Ma
tions. but at n palace within the Forbidden
City. Chinese prejudice never disappears
before the light but 1t Ii daily being
broken down by Its own weight under e1-
ternal pressure. In years to come even
the horrors Of the Pekin cart may be dis
carded by foreign residents In favor Of tho
foreign rickshaw, but this depends more
on the mending OF Chinese roads than on
the mending Of Chinese manners. How
long will the dry bones livef But for tho
interfering hand Of the barbarian certainly
would they live In saecula sasculorum.-
The London Telegraph