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280 ten thousand cells to be occupied by those who come to Pekin to be examined as to their qualifications for public office-holding. Many of the streets of the Tartar City are broad, but unpaved, and lined with one-story shops, huddled one against another and painted in almost all the colors of the rainbow.

To the south of the Tartar City, and joining it by three large gateways, is the Chinese City, about half as large as the other, and enclosed by a wall thirty feet high and fifteen to twenty feet broad. This is the heart of the real Chinese trade, and here are also located the theatres and the public execution grounds. The streets literally swarm with people, and are in activity day and night. Nothing is ever cleaned up; and to the babble of noise, which is nerve-wrecking, is added a smell which to a new-comer's nose is almost unbearable. Beyond the walls of Pekin as a whole are many suburbs, of more or less importance, chiefly devoted to agriculture.

The American, British, and other legations in Pekin are located closely together, on Legation Street, midway between the southern wall of the Forbidden and Imperial City and the northern wall of the Chinese