RROWN 



Strong enough and not too high. Along that path so bordered 

 and so diversified, a man might march for 1200 miles and no 100 

 yards of what he trod on should differ from another 100 yards. 

 So ' t is said. 



Up over mountain and down through valley runs that mar- 

 vellous obstacle. CaiTied by main force across rivers and over 

 gorges which it thrills a man's imagination only to think of 

 gazing on. Continuous from end to end. 



And all to keep at arm's length a lot of whirling, horse- 

 riding, niare-milking, koumyss-swilling, skin-clad Tartars. 



When a cloud of these ugly, pig-eyed, flat-nosed, broad- 

 mouthed, tireless, cunning fiends in human shape was seen 

 approaching, the watcher on the wall who first descried them 

 gave alarm at once. Then all defenders of their countiy's 

 glory rushed along the safe path prepared for them until they 

 reached the threatened point, and then — consulted what to do. 

 If the assailant seemed to be weak, they shot an'ows at him 

 and drove him off; if strong, they gave him much money, and 

 he turned away well satisfied. 



All for this, and all in vain. For the Tartar rules in China, 

 and the tail which we see cherished with so much stubborn 

 pride has, if history say truly, been worn for 200 years by 

 order of the conquerors. 



These Huns, for Huns they were, did not find a wall to 

 stop them until 650 years later; when, under Attila, the 

 " Scourge of God," they were shattered against a living ram- 

 part of Gothic Romans under the qi-eat Theodoric, at Chalons 

 in Gaul. 



I well remember the look of the surrounding countiy. It 

 was lonely and wind-scourged as if it were a terrible place in 

 the winter time. But that can hardly be, for the latitude is 

 our own latitude and the Pacific Ocean is close at hand to the 

 eastward. 



Dreadfully depressed and miserable was the look of the few 

 persons we saw around us. We set out to follow the parallel 

 generally, westward, moving, hcnvever, first northwardly, inland 



