YUEN-MING-YUEN. 
108 
outside of the walls, all the skill of the coachman was required 
to prevent its overturn. The danger arose from the narrowness 
of the ways, being only suited to the short axles of the Chinese 
carts. We first passed through a lane having a high bank on 
one side and a deep ditch on the other, and when clear of this, 
entered upon a succession of bridges, overhanging deep ravines, 
and formed of planks without parapets, and with scarcely sufficient 
width to admit the wheels of the carriage. Beyond these, we gained 
a road passing between the walls and a ditch, which seemingly en- 
circled the city. This road being rather good, we were congratu- 
lating ourselves upon a termination of our difficulties, when the carri- 
age became fixed in a deep mire. All the efforts of the mules could 
not for some time move it, although assisted by several Chinese, 
who put their shoulders to the wheels. Whilst we were thus circum- 
stanced, Mandarins continually went by, without paying any attention 
to our unpleasant situation. The Commissioners having alighted, 
the carriage was at length drawn out, and proceeded without further 
obstacle, till it reached at the dawn of day the celebrated gardens of 
Yuen-Ming-Yuen. 
The morning was fine, and opened to us a scene of novelty and 
beauty. After travelling, since leaving Ta-koo, through an uninter- 
rupted flat of two hundred miles, remarkable neither for its pro- 
ductions or cultivation, we beheld unusual charms in the hills, 
trees, and flowers which surrounded us. Fields of Nelimibo rearing 
high its glossy leaves and gorgeous flowers, edged by trees with 
the foliage of the Cassia, spread at our feet, whilst the Tartar 
mountains approximated by the haze of the morning rose in the 
distance. All the descriptions which I had ever read of the 
paradisiacal delight of Chinese Gardens occurred to my imagination; 
but in imagination only was I allowed to enjoy them. Acts of 
fraud, tyranny, and violence speedily effaced the first rising of 
pleasurable emotion. 
Arrived within a short distance of the imperial palace, the 
Ambassador’s carriage was stopped by some Mandarins in their 
