ride to the Great Wall through the Nankow Pass. The long processions of
guides and chairs were very picturesque, and there were also extra
attendants as a necessary relay. The road was rather rough and very
dusty, and our progress was therefore slow. Our roadway wound along,
sometimes near a mountain, which lay on one side, with the valley on the
other. The first gateway or arch we passed through was profusely
decorated, having as a frieze a row of six Buddhas to right and left,
and large Chinese figures below. Farther on, we came to another gateway,
and then to another, the Pa-ta-ling, thirteen miles from Nankow and the
top of the Nankow Pass. From every side long vistas could be seen; then
portions of the Wall winding in and out, and ever and anon a massive
watch tower looming forth.

We left our chairs and walked a considerable way up the mountain side to
the ruined watch towers; the one I entered was a large oblong building,
with six windows and two doorways; farther on was another similar watch
tower, and, at a greater distance, another. These add greatly to the
picturesqueness of the wide massive wall--wide enough for two or three
persons to ride abreast. Taken altogether, the view from the Nankow Pass
is one of the most magnificent I have ever seen, and, of course,
entirely unlike any other. It was a glorious day, and all the elements
seemed to conspire to make it a perfect occasion.

[Illustration: _Nankow Pass_]

Resuming our chairs, we proceeded to retrace our steps; and in about an
hour we stopped at a little hamlet for an afternoon collation furnished
by our very thoughtful Director. The shades of night were beginning to
fall when we resumed our journey, and erelong darkness overtook us. We
were all more or less separated, as the guides made no attempt to keep
together; and the sensation of being propelled by natives who did not
speak one word of English was very peculiar and uncomfortable.

We arrived at the hotel about nine in the evening; a late dinner
followed, and we separated with the expectation of meeting in the
morning at five, for the departure to the Ming tombs. This is a distance
of eight miles, or sixteen there and back to Nankow. The cavalcade left
in the same fashion as on the day previous. Our way led us over the
hills,--an irregular roadway, first through a field and past two little
villages. We then came to a magnificently carved pailow of white marble,
fifty feet high, eighty feet wid