Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/492

470 is protected by a semicircular enceinte, and is surmounted with a high built in galleries and provided with countless loopholes. The population of Peking is reckoned to be about 1,000,000, a number which is out of all proportion to the immense enclosed within its s. This disparity is partly accounted for by the facts that large spaces, notably in the , are not built over, and that the grounds surrounding the  , private residences, and s are very extensive. Viewed from the s Peking looks like a of s. Few crowded neighbourhoods are visible, and the characteristic features of the scene which meets the  are the upturned s of s, s, and s, gay with blue, green, and yellow  s, glittering among the groves of s with which the  abounds. Enclosed within the  is the Hwang ch&rsquo;ing, or &ldquo; ,&rdquo; which in its turn encloses the Tsze-kin ch&rsquo;ing, or &ldquo;Purple Forbidden ,&rdquo; in which stands the 's. On the north of the Tsze-kin ch&rsquo;ing, and separated from it by a, is an artificial mound known as the King shan, or &ldquo;Prospect .&rdquo; This mound, which forms a prominent object in the view over the , is about 150 high, and is topped with five summits, on each of which stands a. It is encircled by a measuring upwards of a  in, and is prettily planted with s, on one of which the  of the  , finding escape from the  invaders impossible,  himself. On the west of Prospect Hill is the Se yuen, or &ldquo;Western ,&rdquo; which forms part of the grounds. This is tastefully laid out, and is traversed by a, which is mainly noticeable from the remarkably handsome   which crosses it from east to west. Directly northwards from Prospect Hill stand the residence of the Titu, or &ldquo; of the ,&rdquo; and the and the  s, both of which have attained celebrity from the nature of their contents,—the first from the huge  which hangs in it, and the second from the appliances it contains for. The is one of five which the  Yung-lo ordered to be cast. In common with the others, it weighs 120,000, is 14 high, 34 in at the rim, and is 9es thick. It is struck by a en beam swung on the outside, and only at the changes of the night-watches, when its deep tone may be heard in all parts of the. In the  -sticks, specially prepared by the  Board, are kept burning to mark the, in which important duty their accuracy is checked by a. Another of Yung-lo's s is hung in a  outside the north-west angle of the , and is covered both on the inside and outside with the  texts of the Lankāvatāra Sūtra, and the Saddharma pundarika Sūtra. Turning southwards we again come to the Purple Forbidden city, the central portion of which forms the, where, in halls which for the magnificence of their proportions and barbaric splendour are probably not to be surpassed anywhere, the Son of Heaven holds his , gives audience to s from  s, and receives the congratulations of his s at the annual seasons of rejoicing. In the eastern and western portions of this are situated the residences of the highest dignitaries of the ; while beyond its confines on the south stand the offices of the six official boards which direct the affairs of the. It was in the &ldquo;yamun&rdquo; of one of these boards—the Le Pu or board of s—that signed the  at the conclusion of  in ,—an event which derives especial interest from the fact of its having been the first occasion on which a an  ever entered Peking accompanied by all the pomp and circumstance of his rank. Outside the Purple Forbidden city the most noteworthy building is the of, which stands in the outer or. Here at early morn on the 22d of the  offers  on an open  to Shang-ti, and at periods of  or  presents s for relief to the same supreme. The at which these solemn s are performed &ldquo;consists of a triple   terrace, 210 wide at the base, 150 in the middle, and 90 at the top.&rdquo; The uppermost surface is paved with blocks of the same material forming nine concentric s, the innermost consisting of nine blocks, and that on the outside of eighty-one blocks. On the central, which is a perfect , the kneels, &ldquo;surrounded first by the s of the terraces and their enclosing s, and then by the  of the .&rdquo; In the same  stands the  of  for good s, which is surmounted by a triple-ed  structure 99 in height. The s of these s are of  of the most exquisite deep-blue, and add a conspicuous element of splendour to the , which even without their aid would inspire admiration by the grace of the design and the rare beauty of the materials employed in its. The other powers of have s dedicated to them at the  to  on the north of the, the s to the  and  outside the north-eastern and north-western angles respectively of the  , and the  of  inside the south  of the. Next to these in importance comes the , known as the Kwo-tsze-keen. Here there is no splendour; everything is quite plain; and one contains all that is  in the. There the s of &ldquo;the of the most  , ,&rdquo; and of his ten principal disciples stand as objects of  for their countless followers. In one of this  are deposited the celebrated ten  s which bear  inscriptions commemorative of the  expeditions of King Suen (–), in whose reign they are believed, though erroneously, to have been cut; and in another stands a series of  tablets on which are inscribed the names of all those who have obtained the highest literary degree of Tsin-sze for the last five centuries. In the south-eastern portion of the  is the, which was built by order of  in. During the period of the ascendency in the reign of Kang-he (–), the superintendence of this institution was confided to , under whose guidance the  instruments now existing were constructed. Unlike the s in the of central and southern, the s of Peking are wide and open, but, being  and the  being light and , they easily become almost impassable from mud in wet  and ankle-deep in  in dry. The inhabitants of Peking being consumers only, and in no way producers, the of the  is very small, and the article of the an  which prohibits foreign s from  within the s is, therefore, to be regretted only as an instance of the narrow-mindedness of the. (Author:Robert Kennaway Douglas)  PELAGIA,. An ene of this name, a  of fifteen s, who chose death by a leap from the housetop rather than dishonour, is mentioned by  (De Virg., iii. 7, 33 sq., Ep. xxxvii. ad Simpl.), and is the subject of two s by. More famous is