The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-25
THE STORM CENTRE OF THE WORLD
(By Dr. R. Warren Conant.)
ARTICLE II.

ARTICLE II.
 FROM TEEN TSIN TO PEKIN. The political center of the middle kingdom is Pekin, but this name is also unknown to the Chinese, for they call 1t Fetching, one of many names which they use. and which means northern capital. The name was adopted to dis tinguish it from Nanking--southern capital-which was the seat of govern ment centuries before the United States was born. Pekin became the capital in 1421, A. D. But Pekin is as far from being the geographical and commercial center of China as Is Washington of the United States. The two cities resemble each other strikingly in being both in the northeastern part. both on a river a short distance from the coast, and both having no importance apart from the requirements of government. But there resemblance cease.
 The plain in which Pekin Is situated has been thickly populated for centuries so that 1t is even more cemetery than a dwelling place of the living. Millions of corpses have been barely put under ground and their mounds are every where to be seen. The living popula- ton Is $50 to the square mile, even more dense than that of England, As 1t is the height of sacrilege and impiety to disturb the resting place of the dead the encroachment of graves upon the area of arable land is a serious mat ter. But this Is but one instance out of many of the supremacy of death in this land of the living dead, as will appear later in this series.
 Roads in our meaning of the term do not exist. As Pekin is only 100 feet above sea level. the rainy season in August often converts the intervening plain into a great lake. The country of the lower Peiho was once. a marine tssin and has been gradually filled in by the alluvial deposits of that and other rivers. The cutting down of the forests on the hills northwest of Pekin and the consequent failure of vegeta- ton is responsible for the tremendous freshets which frequ ently convert the Peiho into a torrent and the whole lfain into lake.
 After this deluge has slowly drained off the scorching sun soon converts the alluvial mud into the finest kind of dust. Then appears another evil result of the wholesale destruction of hill for ests. the whole plain and the streets of Pekin are swept by furious winds which drive the irritating dust in clouds. Of course the Chinese them- selves do not mind little thing like that. but to a Christian it Is doubly irritating since much of it is the dust of defunct heather.
 All these things are important to know in order to understand the diffi- entities of all kinds which beset any hostile force which attempts to oper- ate against Pekin. All transport must be by wagons. or by boats on the treacherous Peiho. which increases the land distance of 90 miles to about 135 miles. But suppose all these obstacles overcome and the invading army to have arrived under the walls of the capital, a new set of difficulties con- front It.
 The conditions which determine the first founding of a city on the site of Pekin are even more mysterious than those which gave location to Chicago. A more utterly unsuitable place for a great city could scarcely be found. The explanation may be that in that re- mote period the sea was so near as to make the site highly desirable.
 But now everything conspires to make Pekin to the eyes of the Cau- casian seem unsanitary, unlovely and inconvenient. Strange to say, how ever. there are those who give enthusi- astic accounts of their impressions of the city. The explanation of this para