THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 2692, 12 October 1889, Page 6 (Supplement)

THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA.

The great Willi of China, is after all, only n wall. And it was built with the same object fis every other wall—to keep people from coming , whore they wore not wanted. Mr Toole's famous account of it is as historically accurate as any. ' The must important building in China,' he is accustomed to say, 'is the Chiue.se Wall, built to keep tho Tartars out. It was built at such an enormous expense that the Chinese never got over. But the Tartars did. And the way thay accomplished this feat was as follows : One ■went first und t'other arter.' It differs from other walls in only two respects—its ago and size. Tho former is 2402 years, tho latter is such that it is the only work of human hands on the globd visiblo from the moon. (I take no responsibility for either of these statements) Tho Chinese name for it is ' Wan-li-eh-isng-eb'cng' (the wall is 10,000 li long.) And the gate on tho highway is called ' I'a a-Liug,' and is about fifty miles north west of I'ekin, and 2000 ft above tho soa. Boyond if. lies Mongolia. The gateway by which I ascended tho wall is ii largo double one, with it square tower upon it, pierced with oblong openings for cannon, of which a dozen old ones liu in n heap, showing that at one tiinu tho road was seriously defended at this point. A rough stairway leads to the top, which is about twenty feet wide, with a crenellated parapet on each side, and you can walk along .'is far ns you can see, with here and there a scramble where it has fallen in a little. On the whole it is in excellent repair, having of course, been mended and re-built many tunes. Every half milt , or so is a little squaro tower of two storeys. The wall itself varies a good dual in height, according to the nature of the ground, averaging probably about forty feet. On one side Mongolia as you see it, is a vast undulating brown plain on the other side China is a perfect ht-:i of brown hills in nil directions, and across these stretches the Great Wall. On the bill top through tho valleys, up and down tho sides, it twists in an unbroken Hut , , exactly like a huge earth-worm suddenly turned to stone. \<\>r many miles it is visible in brt.'i directions, and when you uau mi lunger (rat:.-! its entire length you cnii still discover it topping the hills one after another into tho remote distance. And whi-n you reflect that it is built of bricks, in almost inaccessible places through uninhabited countries, that each brick inn—t have boon transported on a man's shoulders enormous distances, and that it extends for 2000 miles, or onetwelfth of the circumference of the globe, you begin to realise that you aro looking upon the most colossal achievement made by human hands. The bricks are so big and hoavy that I had to hire a little donkey to carry oft two of them. This is the only piece of 'Vaindoliem to which I plead guilty on this trip, but tho temptation was irrcsitible, and ' they never will be missed.' Nowadays, of course, the walls serve no defensive purpose whatever, and is not guarded in any way. Not a soul lives within miles of it at most points, and it is but a laud mark for tho Mongols, camel trains, a stupendous monument to the. great, past of Chiun, and an evidence of Celestial greatness and enterprise gone, never to return. — I'ull Mall Gazette.