d, first, there are gigantic monoliths crowned with twelve
stones placed perpendicularly, and surmounted by five roofs in varnished
and gilded tiles; next, a monumental triumphal arch in white marble,
with three immense gateways; through the central one may be seen a
double row of gigantic monsters in enamelled stone, painted in dazzling
colours; finally, you pass into an enclosure with a gigantic tortoise in
front of it, bearing on its back a marble obelisk covered with
inscriptions. At the time of Madame de Bourboulon's visit the entrance
was closed, and while the Ting-tchai went in search of the guardians,
she and her companions dismounted, seated themselves on the greensward,
in the shadow of some colossal larches, and enjoyed a pleasant repast,
the sepulchral stones serving as tables.

"'Oh,' she exclaims, 'ye old emperors of the ancient dynasties, if any
of your seers could but have told you that one day the barbarians of the
remote West, whose despised name had scarcely reached your ears, would
come to disturb the peace of your manes with the clinking of their
glasses and the report of their champagne corks!'... But at length the
keys are turned in the rusty locks, the guardian of the first enclosure
offers us tea, and we distribute some money among the attendants.... In
China, perhaps more even than in Europe, this is an inevitable formula:
the famous principle of _nothing for nothing_ must have been invented in
the Celestial Empire. Out of respect, or for some other reason, the
guardians left us free to go and come at will, dispensing with the
labour of following us. At first we traversed a spacious square court,
paved with white marble, planted with yews and cypresses, cut into
shapes as at Versailles, and peopled with an infinite number of
statues; then we climbed a superb marble staircase of thirty steps,
which led to another square court, planted in the same style, and shut
in on the right and left by a thick forest of huge cedars, which
conceals eight temples with circular cupolas, crowned and ornamented by
the grimacing gods of the Chinese Trinity, with their six arms and six
heads. Now another staircase, leading to a circular platform in white
marble, in the middle of which rises the grand mausoleum. It is of
marble; a great bronze door admits to the interior. We pass under a
vault, the niches of which enclose the bones of the Ming emperors; a
spiral staircase, with sculptured balustrades, very handsome i