Page:To the Court of the Emperor of China - vol I.djvu/20

Rh is so particular, that every street is distinguished, and the elevation of every edifice delineated. I easily recognized those of such streets as I had passed through in a carriage, and found out also the four gates or triumphal arches which I had remarked in a cross-road on my return from Yuen-ming-yuen, as mentioned in my Journal under date of the sixth of February 1795. I was thereby convinced of its perfect accuracy.

The Imperial residence, however, was only, in a manner, indicated without any thing to mark its limits. This defect I remedied, as far as my own judgment authorized me to do it, after having seen and gone through more than three-fourths of the palace. The suburbs were also wanting, but I borrowed them from the work of, in which the plan of the city is conformable to that of my great map.

Thus it was that I contrived to render my topography of Pe-king more exact than in the Chinese original. It was not, however