t. The city is indeed divided, but the division dates more than a
thousand years back. It is something like this, I should say [see
diagram]".[1]

[Illustration:
|------------|
| |
|---| |---| |
| B | | C | A |
|___| |___| |
| |
|____________|

A. The Great City.
B. The Little City.
C. The Imperial City.]

"The Imperial City (_Hwang Ching_) was the residence of the monarch Lew Pe
(i.e. Liu Pei of p. 32) during the short period of the 'Three Kingdoms'
(3rd century), and some relics of the ancient edifice still remain. I was
much interested in looking over it. It is now occupied by the Public
Examination Hall and its dependencies."

I suspect Marco's story of the Three Kings arose from a misunderstanding
about this historical period of the _San-Kwe_ or Three Kingdoms (A.D.
222-264). And this tripartite division of the city may have been merely
that which we see to exist at present.

[Mr. Baber, leaving Ch'eng-tu, 26th July, 1877, writes (_Travels_, p. 28):
"We took ship outside the East Gate on a rapid narrow stream, apparently
the city moat, which soon joins the main river, a little below the An-shun
Bridge, an antiquated wooden structure some 90 yards long. This is in all
probability the bridge mentioned by Marco Polo. The too flattering
description he gives of it leads one to suppose that the present handsome
stone bridges of the province were unbuilt at the time of his journey."
Baber is here mistaken.

Captain Gill writes (l.c. II. p. 9): "As Mr. Wylie in recent days had
said that Polo's covered bridge was still in its place, we went one day on
an expedition in search of it. Polo, however, speaks of a bridge full half
a mile long, whilst the longest now is but 90 yards. On our way we passed
over a fine nine-arched stone bridge, called the Chin-Yen-Ch'iao. Near the
covered bridge there is a very pretty view down the river."--H.C.]

Baron Richthofen observes that Ch'eng-tu is among the largest of Chinese
cities, and is of all the finest and most refined. The population is
called 800,000. The walls form a square of about 3 miles to the side, and
there are suburbs besides. The streets are broad and straight, laid out at
right angles, with a pavement of square flags very perfectly laid,
slightly convex and drained at each side. The numerous commemorative
arches are sculptured with skill; there is much display of artistic
taste; and the people are remarkably