ACGOUNT Of: BOOE S, 
every houfe is hung up a tablet of 
the anceftors of the perfons then 
refiding in it. References are of- 
ten made, in converfation, to their 
attions. Their example, as far as 
it was good, ferves as an incitement 
to travel in the fame path. The 
defcendants from a common ftock 
vifit the tombs of their forefathers 
together, at {tated times. This joint 
care, and indeed other occafions, 
collect and unite the moft remote 
relations. They cannot lofe fight 
of each other; and feldom become 
indifferent to their refpeCtive con- 
cerns. The child is bound to Ia- 
bour, and to provide for his parents 
maintenance and comfort; and the 
brother for the brother and fifter 
that are in extreme want; the fail- 
ure of which duty would be follow- 
ed by fuch deteftation, that it is not 
neceflary to enforce it by pofitive 
Jaw. Even the moft diftant kinf- 
man, reduced to mifery by accident 
or ill-health, has a claim on his’ 
kindred for relief. Manners, ftrong- 
er far than laws, and indeed inchi- 
nation, produced and nurtured by 
intercourfe and intimacy, fecure 
affiftance for him. Thefe habits 
and manners fully explain the fact 
already mentioned, which unhap- 
pily appears extraordinary to Ku- ~ 
repeans, that no {pe¢tacles of dif- 
trefs are feen to excite the compaf- 
fion, and implore the cafual charity 
of individuals. 
that this circumftance is not owing 
to the number of inftitutions of 
public benevolence. The with, in- 
deed, of the Perfian monarch is not 
realized in China, that none fhould 
be in want of the fuccour adminif- 
tered in hofpitals; but thofe efta- 
blifhments are rendered little ne-’ 
ceflary, where the link which unites 
ali the branches of a family, brings 
wis 
It isto be added, 
469 
aid to the fuffering part of it with- 
out delay, and without humiliation. 
_ The prefents and heavy baggage 
of the embafly were te be conveyed 
beyond Pekin to the Emperor’s au- 
tumnal palace. On calculating the 
means neceflary to this end, the 
mandarins ordered ninety fmall 
waggons, forty fmall hand-carts, or 
barrows, 200 horfes, and 3000 la- 
bouring men to ferve in different 
capacities, befides thofe modes of 
conveyance which were neceflary 
for themfelves and their attendants, 
The road forms a magnificent ave- 
nue to Pekin; and the central part 
of it, to the breadth of twenty feet, 
is paved with flags of granite. 
Pekin exhibited, -on the en+ 
trance into it, an appearance con- 
trary to that of European cities, in 
which the ftreets are often fo nar- 
row, and the houfes fo lofty, that 
from one extremity of a ftreet, the 
houfes appear at the other to be 
leaning towards and clofing upon 
each other, Here few of the 
houfes were higher than one ftory ; 
none more than two; while the 
width of the ftreet which divided 
them was confiderably above one 
hundred feet. It was airy, gay, 
and lightfome, / 
‘The firft ftreet extended in a 
line directly to the weftward, until 
it was interrupted by the eaftern’ 
wall-of the imperial palace, called 
the yellow wall, from the colour of 
the fmall roof of yarnifhed tiles 
with which the top of it is covered, 
Various public buildings feen at the 
fame time, and confidered as be- 
longing te the Emperor, were co- 
vered in the fame manner. Thofe 
roofs, uninterrupted by chimnies, 
and indented in the fides and ridges 
into gentle curves, with an effect 
mare pleafing than would be pro- 
Geg3 duced 
