des the works of
this kind executed in Syria, Egypt, Media, and on the continent of
Europe, there was, by order of the Emperor Septimus Severus, a great wall
constructed in the northern part of Britain. No other nation, however,
ever effected anything of the sort on so grand a scale as the Great Wall,
commenced by Tsin-Chi-Hoang-Ti, A.D. 214. The Chinese call it
_Wan-li-Tchang-Tching_ (the Great Wall of ten thousand lis.) A
prodigious number of labourers was employed upon it, and the works of
this gigantic enterprise continued for ten years. The Great Wall extends
from the westernmost point of Kan-Sou to the Eastern Sea. The importance
of this enormous construction has been variously estimated by those who
have written upon China, some of whom preposterously exaggerate its
importance, while others laboriously seek to ridicule it; the probability
being, that this diversity of opinion arises from each writer having
judged the whole work by the particular specimen to which he had access.
Mr. Barrow, who, in 1793, accompanied Lord Macartney to China, as
historiographer to the British embassy, made this calculation: he
supposed that there were in England and Scotland 1,800,000 houses, and
estimating the masonry work of each to be 2,000 cubic feet, he propounded
that the aggregate did not contain as much material as the Great Wall of
China, which, in his opinion, was enough for the construction of a wall
to go twice round the world. It is evident that Mr. Barrow adopted, as
the basis of his calculation, the Great Wall such as he saw it north of
Peking, where the construction is really grand and imposing; but it is
not to be supposed that this barrier, raised against the irruptions of
the barbarians, is, throughout its extent, equally high, wide, and solid.
We have crossed it at fifteen different points, and on several occasions
have travelled for whole days parallel with it, and never once losing
sight of it; and often, instead of the great double turreted rampart that
exists towards Peking, we have found a mere low wall of brickwork, or
even earth work. In some places, indeed, we have found this famous
barrier reduced to its simplest expression, and composed merely of
flint-stones roughly piled up. As to the foundation wall, described by
Mr. Barrow, as consisting of large masses of free-stone cemented with
mortar, we can only say that we have never discovered the slightest trace
of any such work. It is indeed obvious