622 LOOT OF THE IMPERIAL SUMMER PALACE AT PEKIN. 



aro tal)los and annchairs for studious visitors, and two small altars, ono 

 to the north and the othor to the south, on \vtiich are still slowly 

 burning perfume incense sticks in honor of Confucius and of Lao- 

 Tzeu, whose portraits are reproduced on large silken banners suspended 

 here and there. 



Here are the grottoes, deep, crooked, and full of statues of gods 

 and animals; some have the entrance curtained l)y hanging vines; in 

 others a crystal cascade falls from an upper basin and loses itself nuir- 

 muring through the turf. Here are the lakes; in the center of the 

 largest is a small palace, which we have neither the time nor courage 

 to visit, but which 1 l)eg the reader to keep in mind; he will soon learn 

 why. This palace, built on an island, whose heaped-up soil scarcely 

 rises a])Ove the surrounding water, seems to emerge from the Itottom 

 of the lake. 



On the border of the lake, to the left, is a large building of carved 

 and precious woods, entirely smothered under the vines twining around 

 it, clim))ing its top, and winding in tlt)wery j)lumes a})out the tails of 

 dragons scaling its roof. It is a coach house, and contains the carriages 

 of gilded and carved wood, with doors covered with Vernis Martin, 

 interiors lined with (irenoa velvet, great carriage lamps of chiseled 

 silver, with thick and heavy cloths like women's dresses at the court 

 of Louis XIV. and ornamented with pendants of gold and of silk — 

 which had been sent to the Eniperor of China by George III, thi-ough 

 Lord Macartney, at the end of the preceding century. In this memor- 

 able embassy, the English, with the object of serving the interests of 

 the East India Company, consented to pay tribute to the Emperor of 

 China. These carriages, their magniticent trappings stretched on 

 wooden horses, were never used; they were covered with dust and 

 could not have been often seen. 



Alongside of the stable was the landing place of the imperial pleas- 

 ure boats, its roof of 3'ellow tiles extended above the lake. There was 

 the bark of His Majesty, one for the P^mpress, others for roj^al princes, 

 and still others for high mandarins. There was the fishing boat of 

 the Emperor, gilded and lacquered, and still furnished with his para- 

 phernalia. "Within this the Son of Heaven gave himself up to iishing 

 among the inninncral)le varieties of iish which the Chinese tish breed- 

 ers, foremost in the world, had created for him, l)ut he can not have 

 abused this sport, for the tish appeared to us to be quite tame, and as 

 they had no patriotic spirit, the}" came to the edge of the lake to gaze 

 at the barbarians and shamelessly ate their bread. There are gold-lishes 

 a foot long, whose name alone describes them. Here are redfish, 

 cousins to those that people the basins in the Tuileries, and here are 

 little marine monsters, all head, with eyes as large as those of a man; 

 while others resemble the sea-horse, a fish venerated by the Chinese 

 under the name of water dragon; to us they are hideous, but to them 

 beautiful. 



