AN ANCIENT CHINESE CAPITAL — BISHOP 577 



was built in five stages, of which the highest, near the northern end, 

 rose some 50 feet above the surrounding fields. It had been con- 

 structed of successive layers of terre pise like those forming the ram- 

 part that we had just been examining, and was now thinly covered 

 with grass save for patches of cultivation here and there, and for a 

 few great stones of which we shall speak in a moment. 



Exactly at the center of the southern end of the rectangle we found 

 traces of an approach or gradual ascent of some kind, apparently a 

 ramp (marked A on the accompanying plan, fig. 2), about 100 feet in 

 width east by west. It extended north, sloping gently upward the 

 while, for some 70 feet, to the level of the top of the lowest terrace 

 (B on the plan). The surface of the latter, aside from the ramp, was 

 practically level and extended for 156 yards until it came to the second 

 stage (C), marked by a sharp rise or step of 2 feet. From this point 

 north, a slight upward slope brought us to another abrupt rise of 2 feet 

 marking the beginning of the third terrace (D). The ground thence 

 continued rising gently until, 95 yards still farther north, it reached the 

 edge of the fourth stage (E). This was a steep earthen bank some 

 10 feet high; from its southern face there projected a somewhat lower 

 platform of earth (F), now much eroded but apparently once rec- 

 tangular in form ; its ends were in exact alignment with the borders of 

 the (unpaved) avenue of approach, which we had been able to trace, 

 intermittently, up to this point. 



The mound culminated in a long, narrow terrace (G) about 12 

 yards wide north and south and extending east by west for some 65 

 yards; its fairly level top stood about 6 feet higher than the preceding 

 stage. Here, at the apex of the mound, was a commemorative stela 

 encased in brickwork (H), erected in the year 1695 at the behest of 

 the great Manchu emperor commonly called by Europeans K'ang-hsi. 



The rearward or northern end of the mound descended to the level 

 of the fields about it in a series of unequal and now much eroded 

 stages — the borders of the successive terraces just described. These, 

 however, projected far less beyond one another here than they did on 

 the south; the total distance from the center of the uppermost stage 

 to the northern edge of the lowest amounted only to some 50 yards, as 

 against about 400 yards in the opposite direction. 



Scattered here and there over the surface of the great rectangle 

 were several large water-worn boulders, already mentioned (these I 

 have not indicated on the plan (fig. 2) as we were too straitened for 

 time to determine their positions even approximately). These were 

 not grouped or arranged in any regular order. They rested directly 

 on the tamped earth of the mound at varying heights above ground- 

 level, and could only have reached their present position through 

 human agency. According to the surmise of our Chinese companions, 

 they may have been ornaments in some garden or pleasance within the 



