Page:Album of photographs of Peking and its environs.pdf/34



This is a fine specimen of art and the desolation of its surroundings show it up to much advantage; it is needless to say this bridge is strictly Chinese, for where else can we find the eccentric, and the curious, if not in the Central Kingdom, and amongst the sons of Han. There is nothing in this view we would like to see altered, and could not spare even the solitary celestal whose figure is the apex of it all, nor the little tuft of grass, nor the water lily, that relieves the smooth if not clear water of the lake; it is these trifles of nature to which art attaches so much importance as best suited to show up, and ornament, its best works ; the bridge is called Lu-kow, and is in the plain close to Wan-shou-shan.