ole north of China along the frontiers of three
provinces. It was built by the first universal Monarch of China, and
finished about 205 years before Christ: the period of its completion is
an historical fact, as authentic as any of those which the annals of
ancient kingdoms have transmitted to posterity. It was built to defend
the Chinese Empire from the incursions of the Tartars, and is calculated
to be 1500 miles in length. The rapidity with which this work was
completed is as astonishing as the wall itself, for it is said to have
been done in five years, by many millions of labourers, the Emperor
pressing three men out of every ten, in his dominions, for its
execution. For about the distance of 200 leagues, it is generally built
of stone and brick, with strong square towers, sufficiently near for
mutual defence, and having besides, at every important pass, a
formidable and well-built fortress. In many places, in this line and
extent, the wall is double, and even triple; but from the province of
Can-sih to its eastern extremity, it is nothing but a terrace of earth,
of which the towers on it are also constructed. The Great Wall, which
has now, even in its best parts, numerous breaches, is made of two walls
of brick and masonry, not above a foot and a half in thickness, and
generally many feet apart; the interval between them is filled up with
earth, making the whole appear like solid masonry and brickwork. For
six or seven feet from the earth, these are built of large square
stones; the rest is of blue brick, the mortar used in which is of
excellent quality. The wall itself averages about 20 feet in height, 25
feet in thickness at the base, which diminishes to 15 feet at the
platform, where there is a parapet wall; the top is gained by stairs and
inclined planes. The towers are generally about 40 feet square at the
base, diminishing to 30 feet a the top, and are, including battlements,
37 feet in height. At some spots the towers consist of two stories, and
are thus much higher. The wall is in many places carried over the tops
of the highest and most rugged rocks; and one of these elevated regions
is 5000 feet above the level of the sea.

[Illustration: MILITARY MANDARIN.]

[Illustration: THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA.]

Near each of the gates is a village or town; and at one of the principal
gates, which opens on the road towards India, is situated Sinning-fu, a
city of large extent and population. Here the wall is said t