The boy travellers in the Far East : adventures of two youths ... - Library

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THE BOY TRAVELLERS.
THE HILLS NEAR CHAN-KIA-KOW.
Mountains of America wliicli is so shut in tliat the sun does not rise
there until about eleven o'clock next day ; and wo thought it might pos-
sibly bo a relative of Chan-kia-kow. There is an odd sort of population
here, as the merchants who trade with the Iliissians are from all parts of
China; and then there are Mongols from the Desert of Gobi, and a very
fair number of I'eal Russians.
" One curious article of trade consisted of logs from the country to the
north. They are cut in lengths of about six feet, and are intended for
coffins for the people of the southern part of the empire. Wood is scarce
in the more densely inliabited portions of China, and must be carried for
great distances. It is six hundred miles from the C4reat Wall to where
these logs are cut, and so they must bo carried seven hundred miles in all
before they reach Pekin. Tlie carts on which tliey are loaded are very
strong, and have not a bit of iron about them.
" We are now at the Great Wall, which comes straggling over the hills
that surround the city, and foi-ms its northern boundary. It is very much
in ruiTis, but at the town itself there is a portion of it kept in good repair,
and one of the gates is regularly shut at night and ojiened in the morning.
Some of tlie old towers are still in their places ; but the weather is slowly
wearing them away, and in time they will all be fallen.
" The Great Wall is certainly one of the wonders of the world, and it
was very much so at the time of its construction. It was built two thon-