THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA.

Kumara Times, Issue 417, 26 January 1878, Page 2

THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA.

The great wall of China was measured in many. places by Mr Unthank, an American eugineer, lately engaged on a survey for a Chiuese railway. His measurements s»ive the height at 18 feet, and a width on top of 15 feet. Every tew hundred yards there is a tower twjerijky-lburffet square, and from twenty to'twenty-five feet high. The foundation';of [ the wall is of solid granite. Mr tTnthank brought with him a brick from the wall, which is supposed to.have been made 200 years before the time of Christ. In building this immense stone fence to keep «ut the Tartars, the builders never attempted to avoid mountains or chasms to save expense. For 1,300 miles the wall goes over plain and mountain, and every foot of the structure is solid masonry. In some places the wall is built smooth up against the bank, or canons, or precipices, where there is a sheer descent of 1.000 feet.- Small streams ate arched over, but in the

larger streams the wall runs to the water's edge, and a tower built on each side. On the top of the wall fcere are breastworks or defences, fencing in and out, so that defending forces can pass from one tower to another without being exposed to an enemy from either side. To calculate the time of build* iug or cost of this wall is beyond human still. So far as the magnitude of the work is concerned, it surpasses everything in ancient or modem times of which there is any trace. The pyramids of Egypt are nothing compared to it—London News.