I, with this gentleman and another, made an ex cursion on donkeys up the mountains to see the Great Wall. After passing through the city we found there was only a track, very bad through the recent rains. We had quite a narrow escape ; we had to pass under an arch way through a spur of the Great Wall, and, having been there before, I remarked to my friends that it was partly fallen in. We had hardly got through when there was a loud crash. We did not wait to see what it was ; but on our return journey found the whole arch had fallen in, and we had to make our way round and over the wall.
It is quite a long ride up the hillside ; and after going as far as the donkeys could take us, we dis mounted, went on foot farther up, and were able to see and appreciate what an amount of patient labour must have been spent on this wall.
At this point the first few feet above the ground show solid stow masonry, above which are large bricks ; and on picking up pieces of this brick I found it was not hard, and yet there it had been for all these centuries At short intervals, and wherever there was a bridge over a stream, are watch-towers solidly built with battlements.
No precipitous mountain-side stops the wall. It goes on and on, built up in a most marvellous manner ; and away above us, on quite a pinnacle, there was an outstanding tower from which the country could be watched for miles. I was told that the method of getting the bricks to the top was this : many goats were kept and fed on the hill-tops and then driven down and loaded, each with a brick or two. They slowly made their way back up to their feeding-ground. On the outer or Manchurian side of the wall, at some little distance, are forts prominent positions ; some of which, judging by the ruins remaining, must have been of considerable extent.
What a magnificent view one has from this moun tain-side ! Away down the hillside can be seen the city, with its old walls and towers and gateways, a temple perhaps showing out from the other buildings because of its distinctive roof and pink-coloured walls. Beyond this you see the railway, the steel rails of which run in one continuous line to the other side of Europe—crossing two great continents, joining the old and the new. Beyond that shines the blue sea ; away to the west are the Chang-lee mountains, with here and there a sparkling river yet full with flood water, and therefore more noticeable. Looking up the wild and steep sides of the mountains, one sees the grand old wall winding. Browsing peacefully at our feet are herds of goats, descendants perhaps of those which bore their burden up to build the wall that still stands.
The city of Shan-hai-kwan, which I think may be taken as a fair example of a northern provincial town, is laid out in squares, and intersected by a main street from south to north and another from east to west. There are gateways in the walls at these points ; and all roads meet at and under the old Drum Tower, the centre of the town. This quaint and picturesque
old building stands up arching over the junction of the main streets of the city, and seems to dominate all around it. It contains in the upper portion the remains of the drums and other noisy instruments, now no longer used.
The streets are fairly wide, but quite hollow and gully-like in form. This is caused by the great wash of water from the hills behind, in time of flood, when the streets become a tearing racing torrent ; while in dry weather the dust is very trying.
Hardly a building is over one storey in height, and the roofs are almost flat, with wide eaves projecting far over the frqnt, and forming almost a shelter in themselves. The houses, however, have sun-blinds. The streets being so hollow, the backs of the mules walking along the centre are just on a level with the shop floors. There is no footpath, but the pedestrian gets along on the sloping sides of this road as best he can in wet weather ; in dry, he may venture to walk in the dusty track.
The colour of the soil is a rich golden yellow, and in dry weather, with the sun full on it, is very dazzling.
The shop signs are very varied, of beautiful design and full of colour, each being distinctive of the trade. The shoemaker shows wonderful designs of boots and shoes. The druggist has a tall stone, covered with characters no doubt setting forth and emphasising the virtues of all the wondrous cures he sells. The fronts of such shops as need not display their goods—the fronts that with us would be windows—are covered with very beautifully made shutters of open woodwork.
The military camp being near, the natives are accus tomed to foreigners ; but I found, when I sat down to work in the street, that I attracted a great deal more attention than I wished for, and for a time I feared that I should again have trouble with the authorities, as in Shanghai and other cities. Fortunately I escaped this, and the few police in the place aided me by keeping back the crowd. When it was found that I was making a picture of their street and shops, the shopkeepers seemed very pleased, and quite glad to help me in any way.
Having sent off my boy to Pei-tai-ho, I found it rather awkward. It would have been worse still had the police been troublesome, as I had no means of interpreting. I hired a coolie from the hotel ; but he could speak no English, and apparently talked largely to the people about me, probably inventing all sorts of wondrous tales about his foreign master. When I was painting a picture which shows the sign of a hotel, and on which there is a lantern which is let down, lighted, and hauled up at night, this coolie left my side ; and, walking to the sign, let the lantern down and hauled it up again, apparently to explain to me its use. At first appearance it looks like a railway signal ; but I can assure the reader it is a hotel sign, and drawn as exactly as I could do it.