616 LOOT OF THE IMPERIAL SUMMER PALACE AT PEKIN. 



honor as somi-sovorcij^ns at Pekin until 1773, when their order was 

 suppressed l)y Clement XIV; the Jesuits, as clever in administration 

 as they are great in mathematics, who had in their order men having 

 all talents and knowinji" all sciences, were in some sort the architects of 

 the sunnner palace and the designers of the beautiful gardens. 



At that epoch Louis XIV had sunk so manv millions in Versailles 

 that when he received di^tailed l)ills he ordered tluMU to be paid and 

 l)urn('d. ii()])ing to conceal from posterity as well as from himself his 

 royal folly. The echo of these splendors created by the (rrand Mon- 

 arch reverl)erate(l from country to country, transmitted by word of 

 mouth throughout the world, and tinally I'eai'hed the ears of the 

 Em|)eror of China. 



The Son of Heaven found it stninge and ina])propi"iate that there 

 sliould be on the (Mirth a king who took the sacied emblem of the sun 

 and who allowed himself treasures which he. the true Son of Heaven, 

 had not secured. And what sort of a king^ A mei'e kinglet, a man 

 who go^'erned a ])altry handful of human Ix'ings, 25, (MM), ()()() souls, who 

 was con.se(|uently only one-thirteenth of his own importance. And in 

 this way. strange as the thing appears. \'ersailles gave birth, in some 

 measure, on another continent, to the richness and magniticence of 

 Yuenmingyuen. The palace was a long time in construction, and the 

 Jesuits were succeeded by other missionaries, as artistic as them- 

 selves, who had )>ut to endndlish the oiiginal plans. But this is history 

 enough; let us pi-oceed. 



At the end of th(> Hrst court arose on thive granite steps an immense 

 hall, its naked walls unornamented save b}' a few inscriptions and hav- 

 ing no furniture but high-l)acked wooden benches. It was here that 

 his subjects awaited tlu' honor of approaching His Majesty. Behind 

 the hall on the same level stretches a second court, which separates it 

 from the audience chamber; this court is furnished with vases of old 

 porcelain four or five feet high, which serve to hold a ([uantity of little 

 trees, each queerer than the other. * * * Take, for example, an 

 oak. It is 200 years old; it does not resemble a young tree; on the 

 contrar}', it is an exact photographic reduction of a huge and venerable 

 oak of the forest, but it is only three feet high. It is a perfect dwarf, 

 and ])y the side of it is a group of six trees of different species, growing 

 a few inches apart, in a single vase, which are united at the height of 

 three feet into a single trunk, which branches out a little higher, pro- 

 ducing leaves impossible to classify — and observe — the Chinese are 

 not acquainted with grafting. These tricks are reproduced in all the 

 large pots in varying forms. Generations of learned men have devoted 

 their lives to the study of processes for cultivating these vegetable 

 monstrosities, and presently, continuing our visit, we shall find on the 

 shelves of ancient libraries the results of their studies, in well-labeled 

 volumes. 



