The mound on which this tomb is placed is half a mile in
circuit, and, though artificial, looks natural, being planted with
cypresses and oaks to the very top. The emperors used to come in the
Spring and Autumn to sacrifice at these ancient graves, but for two
centuries this duty has been left to a descendant of the Ming emperors.

There were different features to each of the Ming tombs, but, having
seen the representative one, we were content to return to Nankow, as we
were to take the afternoon train for Peking. While the trip to the Great
Wall and the Ming tombs is somewhat fatiguing, the interest is so great
as to reward one for the exertion.

We went our individual ways the last day in Peking, I to the Chinese
City in pursuit of a mandarin coat for a friend. After passing through
block after block in a chaotic condition, dirt and debris of all kinds
flung everywhere, I left the chair and walked quite a distance through
lane-like passages to the place designated, where I found that the
dealer had transferred all his embroideries to the hotel in which we
were staying, and that the said coat was probably in the collection I
had looked at the previous evening. Having devoted two hours to the
pursuit, I was somewhat discomfited. I then hurried to some of the
streets leading off from Beggars' Bridge, a place which is, as its name
suggests, the headquarters for beggars. Strange as it may seem, there is
a guild of beggars in Peking, with an acknowledged king; their
profession in the East is a fine art. There are interesting
thoroughfares leading out from this bridge,--one, a Curio Street, where
every conceivable article can be found, and the other, Bookseller
Street. This last was a disappointment, as I was told that rare editions
could be had; but through the interpreter, I learned that the conditions
of the city had been altered since the Boxer Rebellion in 1890. Indeed,
that fearful event was the cause of many changes in Peking and of great
suffering as well. The story of the conflict as related by an eyewitness
was very thrilling. Certain portions of the city at the present time
consist of naught but ruins, such as the foreign mission buildings and
the eastern and southern cathedrals, one of which was in process of
renovation. The Legation quarter has been mostly rebuilt.

[Illustration: _Emperor Yunglo's tomb_]

The cause of the Boxer Rebellion was everywhere given in Peking as
having been instigated by the Dowager