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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



© Underwood & Underwood 



ASTRONOMICAL INSTRUMENTS IN THE OLDEST OBSERVATORY IN THE WORLD, 

 FOUNDED BY KUBLAI KHAN, AT PEKING, IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY 



Most of the bronze instruments of today were made by the Jesuit priest Verbiest from the 

 original Chinese models. When Peking was looted in iooo. some of the finest of these instru- 

 ments were >eized by the Germans and sent to the imperial gardens at Potsdam. By a provision 

 of the Treaty of Versailles. Germany undertook "to restore to China, within twelve months 

 from the coming into force of the present treaty, all the astronomical instruments which her 

 troops in 1900-1001 carried away from China, and to defray all expenses which may lie 

 incurred in effecting such restoration, including the expenses of dismounting, packing, trans- 

 porting, insurance, and installation in Peking." 



