The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1916-10-05

ing all its deviations, was over
10000 "li'' in length; so that the
Huns we're overawed by the maj
esty of the Emperor.
Thus the historian of the Chin.
He is followed by two or three
commentators, who give their
opinions as to the wisdom or 9TH
erwise of the Emperor's act, the
injustice of using up the strength
of his people in attempting to car.
ry out an interminable task, and
the advisability of his relying up
on his subjects rather than upon
wall for the protection of his En-
pire. One suggests that, although
the monarch did wrong in under
taking so great a work, yet if each
sovereign, as he succeeded to the
throne, were to employ a certain
amount of labour in repairing in
the same style as that adopted by
Chin Shih, without commission
from generation to generation, all
subsequent ages would then re-
spect it as a boundary line between
the Chinese and the barbarians.
Some uncertainty appears to exist
as to whether the builder erected
new wall altogether, or simply
united and extended the short
walls which the princes of some of
the northern states had erected on
their frontiers. Of these two al
ternatives the one generally ad-
hered to, and the most probable, is
the latter. The Wan Ii Chang
Ch'eng or myriad mile WALL" the
indefinite term applied to it by the
Chinese, is seen at its best at
Nank ou Pass, and at many of the
passes thence eastward to the sea.
The most complete account of it,
as seen in the neigbourhood of
Kupeik'ou is contained in Staun-
tons Account of Lord McCarthey's
Embassy. WHAT says the
author, the eye could. from
single spot, embrace of these forti-
fed walls, carried along the ridges
of hills, over the tops of the high
est mountains, descending into the
deepest valleys, crossing upon
arches over rivers and doubled and
trebled in many parts to take in
important passes, and interspersed
with towers or massy bastiOns at
almost every hundred yards, as
far as the sight could reach, pre-
sented to the mind an undertaking
of stupendous magnitude. i
The travellers were now able to
determine from their own feelings
that it was not alone the dimen-
sions of those walls, however con-
siderable, that made the impress
sion of wonder npon the persons
who had hitherto seen these in
tended barriers against the Tartars.
Astonishment seldom is excited by
the mere effort of the continuance
or multiplication of labor that may
be performed by common means.
1t was the extreme difficulty of
conceiving how the materials
could be conveyed, and such
structures raised, in situations ap-
parently inaccessible, which prin-
cipalIy occasioned surprise and ad-
miration. One of the most elevated
ridges over which the Great Wall
is carried has been ascertained to
measure five thousand two hundred
and twenty-five feet.
This species of fortification,
for to call it simply by the name
of wall does not convey an ade-
quate idea of such a fabric, is de-
scribed to extend. though not
equally perfected throughout, in a
course of fifteen hundred miles;
for of that length was the boundary
line between the civilized Chinese
and several restless Tartar tribes.
Upon such barriers, indeed, was
| not supposed to depend the fate of