t in the year (A.D.
1279). In the centre was the _Tze-wei_[13] Palace, inside of which were a
pair of scrolls, and a cross inscription, by the imperial hand. Formerly it
contained the _Hwan-t'ien-e_ [B] 'Armillary Sphere'; the _Keen-e_ [D?]
'Transit Instrument' (?); the _Tung-kew_ [A] 'Brass Globe'; and the
_Leang-t'ien-ch'ih_, 'Sector,' which were constructed by Ko Show-king under
the Yuen Dynasty.

"In (1673) the old instruments having stood the wear of long past years,
had become almost useless, and six new instruments were made by imperial
authority. These were the _T'ien-t'ee_ 'Celestial Globe' (6); _Chih-taoue_
'Equinoctial Sphere' (2); _Hwang-taoue_ 'Zodiacal Sphere' (1); _Te-p'ing
kinge_ 'Azimuthal Horizon' (3); _Te-p'ing weie_ 'Altitude Instrument' (4);
_Ke-yene_ 'Sextant' (5). These were placed in the Observatory, and to the
present day are respectfully used. The old instruments were at the same
time removed, and deposited at the foot of the stage. In (1715) the
_Te-ping King-wei-e_ 'Azimuth and Altitude Instrument' was made;[14] and in
1744 the _Ke-hang-foo-chin-e_ (literally 'Sphere and Tube instrument for
sweeping the heavens'). All these were placed on the Observatory stage.

"There is a wind-index-pole called the 'Fair-wind-pennon,' on which is an
iron disk marked out in 28 points, corresponding in number to the 28
constellations."[15]

+ Mr. Wylie justly observes that the evidence is all in accord, and it
leaves, I think, no reasonable room for doubt that the instruments now in
the Observatory garden at Peking are those which were cast aside by Father
Verbiest[16] in 1673 (or 1668); which Father Ricci saw at Peking at the
beginning of the century, and of which he has described the duplicates at
Nanking; and which had come down from the time of the Mongols, or, more
precisely, of Kublai Khan.

Ricci speaks of their age as nearly 250 years in 1599; Verbiest as nearly
300 years in 1668. But these estimates evidently point to the
_termination_ of the Mongol Dynasty (1368), to which the Chinese would
naturally refer their oral chronology. We have seen that Kublai's reign
was the era of flourishing astronomy, and that the instruments are
referred to his astronomer Ko Sheu-king; nor does there seem any ground
for questioning this. In fact, it being once established that the
instruments existed when the Jesuits entered China, all the objections
fall to the ground.

We may observe that the number of the anci