18A | 
other refreshments were served, 
and mutual civilities had passed, it 
was announced by a legate to the 
Ambassador, that the Emperor was 
at his country residence, at Zhe- 
hol in Tartary, where, on the 17th 
of September, the Emperor in- 
tended to celebrate the anniversary 
of his birth-day. ‘The embassy, it 
was added, after reaching Tong- 
shoo by water, within twelve miles 
of Pekin, would proceed by land 
directly for Zhe-hol, together with 
all the presents. The English en- 
gagedin thisexpedition, hadscarce- 
ly seen a cloud m oving in the sky 
since their arrival in China; nox 
was there a hillock on any side be- 
tween them and the horizon, until 
the 4th day of their departure from 
Tien-sing, when some high blue 
mountains were seen rising from 
the north-west. They indicated 
the approach to Pekin, beyond 
which they weresituated. Two days 
afterwards, on the 16th of August, 
the yachts came to anchor within 
twelve miles of that great capital ; 
beyond which, the Pei-ho was no 
longer navigable, unless for boats ; 
so that the company travelled about 
twelve miles by land, and the 
greater part on foot, or in waggons. 
There is in the vicinity of Pekin 
an autumnal palace, belonging to 
the Emperor, called Yuen-min-yu- 
en, or garden o: perpetual verdure, 
where such of the presents as could 
not with safety oe transported to 
Zhe-hol, were to be deposited; and 
close to which, at Hoong-ya-yuen, 
an imperial villa, the Ambassador 
and his suite were to be accommo- 
dated; while preparations were 
made for the journey into Tartary. 
On a calculation of the necessary 
means for conveying all the bag- 
gage and presents from Tong-choo- 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 
1792. 
foo to Hoong-ya-yuen, the man- 
darins were obliged to order near 
ninety small waggons, forty hand- 
carts, or wheel-barrows,. upwards 
of 200 horses, and within a very 
few of 5000 labouring men, to serve 
in different capacities. Such of 
the presents as were liable to be in- 
jured by the rough movement of 
carriages without springs, were en- 
trusted to men only. As the road 
to Hoong-ya-yuen lay through Pe- 
kin, the travellers had a glimpse 
of the celebfated capital of China. 
From so slight and cursory a view, 
they could not, they confessed toone 
another, form a judgment of it; but 
what they saw, except the imperial 
palace, did not come up to the idea 
they had formed of Pekin: and they 
imagined that a Chinese, could he 
be impartial, would feel a greater 
satisfaction inthe sight of the ships, 
the bridges, the squares, several of 
the public buildings, and the dis- 
play of wealth in the capital of 
Great Britain, Pekin is merely 
the seat of the government of the 
empire. Itis neither a port, nor a 
place of inland trade nor manufac- 
tures; yet its population, on a mo- 
derate calculation, amounts to 
3,000,000. On the flags, pendant 
from the land carriages, as well as 
the yachts that carried the embassy, 
there was written, in large Chinese 
characters, AMBASSADOR BEARING 
TRIBUTE FROM THE COUNTRY OF 
ENGLAND, 
From Hoong-ya-yuen the Am- 
bassador was permitted to re- 
move to Pekin, where preparations 
might be made with more conve- 
nience for the journey to Zhe-hol. 
The articles to be carried into 
Tartary were brought from Hoong- 
ya-yuen to Pekin, as well as the 
baggage of the embassy. Amons 
the 
