618 LOOT OF THE IMTEKIAL SUMMER PALACE AT PEKIN. 



The one against which I leaned. i\w only one of which I have a dis- 

 tinct recollection, pictured the life of the god of wine, whose skull is 

 as high as the rest of his body. He is traveling, peacefully seated 

 upon a l)urtal(). with a curved stick in his hand, and before reaching 

 the top of the pillar he must pass precipices, enchanting landscapes 

 and ctn'crns where monsters lie in wait, and finally go under a tri- 

 uniplial arch surrounded by pretty women. It is a lively sort of a 

 journey for the good deity and a s3"mbol of the imaginary \-oyages 

 which his followers make after too copious libations in his honor. 



On the shafts of these columns all the surface of the wood not 

 removed l)y chisels is covered with lacquer of dazzling colors; on the 

 ca})itals the im])(MMal dragon twists and rolls himself into all possible 

 shapes, holding in his claws escutcheons covered with mottoes. 



From these columns, where our gaze has been agreeably arrested, it 

 ascends to the roof, and there it meets a magnificent spectacle. The 

 roof is covered with those shining yellow tiles made in the little vil- 

 lage where we spent last night, the ridges and the eaves being of green 

 tiles as brilliant as the yellow ones, pi'oducing an elegant and majestic 

 combination of colors. At the four low'er angles of the roof immense 

 dragons of green faience are crouching, inestimable products of the 

 city of llangtchoufou; the enormous beasts appear to be clim])ing 

 up the ridges of the roof; they gaze at each other in pairs, their jaws 

 open and their eyes staring. 



Finally, at the two ends of the coping a maiine monster in green 

 and black faience springs at another monster facing him, and gajdy 

 raises heavenward a three-meter long tail, ending in a pinion which 

 serves as a colossal double crest to the whole building, and gives to it 

 a swaggering air, if one can apply such a word to a house. 



In the sunlight, whose golden arrows are reflected in blinding 

 array from these brilliant and gaudy surfaces, throwing its sparks 

 into the eyeballs of the monsters, and its shadows into the aln'sses of 

 their gaping jaws, the super!) and magnificent l)uilding arises like an 

 enormously magnified jewel. 



Everything is clean and clear and intact in this masterpiece, over 

 which the l)lue sky seems at the coming of night to close like a jewel 

 case with a ]>lue velvet lining. And the care of its preservation and 

 maintenance is carried so far that wherever a wandering ])ird might 

 place its tiny feet, it would find an invisible iron wire which would 

 remove his desire to rest there. 



The throne room is entered b}'^ a great' opening without a door. 

 The interior might be seen from without were the view not inter- 

 cepted by a screen of teak wood, as big as the rood-screen of a cathe- 

 dral — carved, inlaid, cut out like lace, and representing gods, and 

 bounding men and horses — a room 160 yards long, 22 j^ards wide, and 

 17 yards high, such are its temple-like dimensions. 



