ark
contained about twelve square miles, and there were nearly forty
houses for the residence of the emperor's ministers, each of them
surrounded with buildings for large retinues of servants. The summer
palace, or central hall of reception, was an elaborate structure, and
when it was occupied by the French army thousands of yards of the
finest silk and crape were found there. These articles were so
abundant that the soldiers used them for bed clothes and to wrap
around other plunder. The cost of this palace amounted to millions of
dollars, and the blow was severely felt by the Chinese government. The
park is still worth a visit, but less so than before the destruction
of the palace.

In the country around Pekin there are many private burying grounds
belonging to families; the Chinese do not, like ourselves, bury their
dead in common cemeteries, but each family has a plot of its own.
Sometimes a few families combine and own a place together; they
generally select a spot in a grove of trees, and make it as attractive
as possible. The Chinese are more careful of their resting places
after death than before it; a wealthy man will live in a miserable
hovel, but he looks forward to a commodious tomb beneath pretty shade
trees. The tender regard for the dead is an admirable trait in the
Chinese character, and springs, no doubt, from that filial piety which
is so deeply engraved on the Oriental mind.

[Illustration: COMFORTS AND CONVENIENCES.]

[Illustration: FILIAL AFFECTION.]

In Europe and America it is the custom not to mention coffins in
polite society, and the contemplation of one is always mournful. But
in China a coffin is a thing to be made a show of, like a piano. In
many houses there is a room set apart for the coffins of the members
of the family, and the owners point them out with pride. They practice
economy to lay themselves out better than their rivals, and sometimes
a man who has made a good thing by swindling or robbing somebody, will
use the profits in buying a coffin, just as an American would treat
himself to a gold watch or diamond pin. The most elegant gift that a
child can make to his sick father is a coffin that he has paid for out
of his own labor; it is not considered a hint to the old gentleman to
hand in his checks and get out of the way, but rather as a mark of
devotion which all good boys should imitate. The coffins are finely
ornamented, according to the circumstances of the owner, and I ha