ce between. Pekin and the Nankow pass, a
rocky defile twelve or fifteen miles long. The huge boulders and
angular fragments of stone have been somewhat worn down and smoothed
by constant use, though they are still capable of using up a good many
mule-hoofs annually. With an eye to business, a few traveling farriers
hang about this pass, and find occasional employment in setting shoes.
Chinese shoeing, considered as a fine art, is very much in its
infancy. Animals are only shod when the nature of the service requires
it; the farriers do not attempt to make shoes to order, but they keep
a stock of iron plates on hand, and select the nearest size they can
find. They hammer the plate a little to fit it to the hoof and then
fasten it on; an American blacksmith would be astonished at the
rapidity with which his Chinese brother performs his work.

The pass of Nankow contains the remains of several old forts, which
were maintained in former times to protect China from Mongol
incursions. The natural position is a strong one, and a small force
could easily keep at bay a whole army. Just outside the northern
entrance of the pass there is a branch of one of the "Great Walls" of
China. It was built some time before _the_ Great Wall. Foreigners
visiting Pekin and desiring to see the Great Wall are usually taken to
Nankow, and gravely told they have attained the object they seek.
Perhaps it is just as well for them to believe so, since they avoid a
journey of fifty miles farther over a rough road to reach the real
Great Wall; besides, the Chinese who have contracted to take them on
the excursion are able to make a nice thing of it, since they charge
as much for one place as for the other.

The country for a considerable distance is dotted with old forts and
ruins, and the remains of extensive earthworks. Many battles were
fought here between the Chinese and the Mongols when Genghis Khan made
his conquest. For a long time the assailants were kept at bay, but one
fortress after another fell into their hands, and finally the capture
of the Nankow pass by Che-pee, one of Genghis Khan's generals, laid
Pekin at their mercy.

[Illustration: NANKOW PASS.]

There is a tradition that the loss of the first line of northern forts
was due to a woman. Intelligence was transmitted in those days by
means of beacon fires, and the signals were so arranged as to be
rapidly flashed through the empire. Once a lady induced the Emperor to
give the sign