Evening star., 1925-12-05
PALACE At AMMAN
MARVEL Of BEAUTY
French ndo-China's Capital
Noted for Gorgeousness of
Home of Its Kings.

Hue, capital of AMMAN, where an
emperor recently died and another was
crowned. may be considered the heart.
though not the metropolis. cs Erenci
1ndo-China, says a bulletin from the
Washington headquarters of tue ..Sa-
tional Geographic Society.
AMMAN Is less completely under
French control, Officially, than anv
of the ether states with which il is
associated in the territorial group
known as French Indo- o-China," con
tinues the bulletin, but AMMAN and
the 100000 people Of Anramese
blood really constitute the chief fac
tor in this region of French influence
In few places are the old forms of
oriental magnifcence maintained as
completely as in the imperial estab-
lishment AT Hue. Until recently the
palace was forbidden ground, and It
Is still far from easy 10 obtain ac-
cess to.
Like Fairy Palace.
Inside the palace walls is q rich.
ness and an elaborateness seldom en-
Countered outside fairy tales, and the
settings of extravagant stage presen.
tations. There are picturesque gardens,
paved courts. where on occasion the
10000 mandarins of AMMAN strike
their foreheals in unison on the
ground before the emperor; dim corri-
doris of countless columns with their
huge perfume burners sending up
continual clouds of incense, and eX-
quisite rooms of intricately wrought
ceramics and gold and silver Open
ing into the emperor's state rooms is
the great golden door, through which,
in addition TO the sovereign. only the
extra ordinary Ambassadors may pass.
Lavish festivals and displays take
place within this fairyland of luxury.
The most charming and Chara cteristlc,
perhaps. are the children's ballets, in
which scores of dainty. costumed
youngsters go through elaborate steps
and postures with bright fans in their
hands and a lighted, colored lantern
attached to each youthful shoulder.
Outside the palace inclosure Hue is
less appealing. The metropolitan
area of the city is in large part col
lection of native villages clustered IN
the shadow of the great palace-citadel
walls Across the river is the French
residency, with its Gallic-wes;ern at
mosphere. For long time Hue was
little known. and as the seat OF I'M
portant country, its size vas Gag
serated. Its population is only about
SO, 900.
The town is in a tropical region in
a latitude corresponding TO the south
ern extremity of Mexico. II lies near
the midpoint of the long double-curV.
Ing coast of French Indo-China, 2 few
miles from the sea on the Hue River.
Built on a fat, the city itself has lit
tie beaeuty Of form or setting, but II
would be difficult TO find in the tropics
more beautiful environs than IL pos
sesses Only few miles away rise the
mountains from which the Hue River
flows, and even closer are lower
villages are all but hidden in a mantle
of green. palms, bamboos and scores
of tropical vines and shrubs. Carefully
kept paddy fields alternate with wild
regions of underhrush, and scattered
about the countryside are inrumerable
graceful pagodas.
"Tombs" Are Gardens.
The most remarkable feature ot
Hue are the famous tombs of the
kings. which lie in the charming pine
and banya valleys and hills
a few miles from the city-true cities
of the dead, far more attractive in set
ting than that OF the living. For each
departed ruler OF the past several cen
turies a large area has been developed
a a resting place and memorial for
himself. his wives. children and serv-
ants. These developed areas are in
two parts. One is = beautiful grou1
of gardens, lakes, Sl''~.'~- ~ -OUssz q "
a memorial hall
with the furnitur>
emperor's apartr
part is vast
usually a series o
gardens, in some L
which the body of the emperor les.
The reigning emperor visits each Of
these graden-tombs of his ancestors
annually and makes obeisance TO
their spirits.
The notable structures and gardens
extend from the end OF the eighteenth
century to the present. The earlier
of these are exceedingly elaborate, and
have much in them 10 remind one OF
Fontainebleau and Versailles. 1t is
likely that their builders were infiu-
enced by French officers then in the
employ of the Annamese. The later
tonbs are of native architecture. Both
types are striking and artistic, and
make up one of the most beautiful
groups of royal tombs in the world"
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