Works. This gentleman used his official cart and was followed by a mounted retainer, while Dr. Dudgeon and I rode ponies. On the way, near the Imperial Palace, we fell in with a proces- sion of sixty-four men, bearing a huge sedan, wherein sat fourteen friends of Wang, his colleagues at the Board of Works. These gentlemen were testing the strength of the chair, which they had prepared to convey the remains of an Imperial princess to sepulture. Something this, on the principle of placing a railway director in front of every train! A great vase filled to the brim with water had been set up in the centre of the sedan in order to train the bearers to maintain an accurate level. Whether the tea and refreshments and the general hilarity of the party had anything to do with this official investigation, I am at a loss to determine, but at any rate the duties of the Board, apart from their extreme useful- ness, appeared to be far from disagreeable. Further on the road I had a race with a cavalry officer, and I managed to to get ahead of him, but not until the saddle of my trusty steed was nearly over its shoulders.
By four o'clock we had reached the grounds of the palace, and there we found a wilderness of ruin and devastation which it was piteous to behold. Marble slabs and sculptured orna- ments that had graced one of the finest scenes in China, now lay scattered everywhere among the debris and weeds. But there were some of the monuments which had defied the hand of the invaders, or had been spared, let us hope, on account of their beauty. Among these is a marble bridge on seventeen arches, which spans a lotus-lake. This was still in perfect preservation; and in the far distance, too, the great temple on Wan-show-shan could be seen sparkling intact in the sunlight. At the base of this pile were a multitude of splendid statues.
