m the first figure, his bow bent, and his
finger on the string. The signal being given, he puts his horse to a
gallop, and discharges his arrow at the first figure; without checking
his horse's speed, he takes a second arrow from his quiver, places it in
the bow, and discharges it against the second figure, and so with the
third; all this while the horse is dashing at full speed along the line
of the figures, so that the rider has to keep himself firm in the
stirrups while he manoeuvres with the promptitude necessary to avoid the
getting beyond his mark. From the first figure to the second, the archer
has bare time for drawing his arrow, fixing, and discharging it, so that
when he shoots, he has generally to turn somewhat on his saddle; and as
to the third shot, he has to discharge it altogether in the old Parthian
fashion. Yet for a competitor to be deemed a good archer, it is
essential that he should fire an arrow into every one of the three
figures. "To know how to shoot an arrow," writes a Mantchou author, "is
the first and most important knowledge for a Tartar to acquire. Though
success therein seems an easy matter, success is of rare occurrence. How
many are there who practise day and night? How many are there who sleep
with the bow in their arms? and yet how few are there who have rendered
themselves famous. How few are there whose names are proclaimed at the
matches! Keep your frame straight and firm; avoid vicious postures; let
your shoulders be immovable. Fire every arrow into its mark, and you may
be satisfied with your skill."

The day after our arrival at the military town of Koukou-Khoton, we
repaired on a visit to the mercantile district. Our hearts were
painfully affected at finding ourselves in a Mantchou town, and hearing
any language spoken there but the Mantchou. We could not reconcile to
our minds the idea of a nation renegade of its nationality, of a
conquering people, in nothing distinguishable from the conquered, except,
perhaps, that they have a little less industry and a little more conceit.
When the Thibetian Lama promised to the Tartar chief the conquest of
China, and predicted to him that he should soon be seated on the throne
at Peking, he would have told him more of truth, had he told him that his
whole nation, its manners, its language, its country, was about to be
engulfed for ever in the Chinese empire. Let any revolution remove the
present dynasty, and the Mantchou will be