Page:To the Court of the Emperor of China - vol I.djvu/30

Rh himself on the point of falling into the hands of the Manchoo Tartars, he hung himself with his own girdle, within the walls of the Imperial palace, after having given his daughter a sabre wound, of which Duhalde (vol. i. page 478, of the octavo edition) says she died; but from which the Histoire Générale de la Chine, par Mailla, vol. x. octavo edition, page 492, affirms that she recovered. At the time of this event, which took place in 1644, the unfortunate monarch was thirty-six years of age. (Fr. Ed.)

This relates to the young men who devote themselves to the study of the sciences. There are generally four thousand in the Academy, or Gymnasium, at Canton.

The Chinese attach the highest importance to the examinations they undergo, because those who get through them successfully are destined to fill the different posts in the Administration, even the most eminent.

Very curious details concerning these examinations, and the attendant formalities, are to be found in the Lettres Edifiantes, page 125. (Fr. Ed.)

This is the governor of a great city, and of a portion of territory forming the district round. Four of the provinces of China have Fou-yuens for their immediate Chiefs.

Those which mark the separation of the provinces, and of which the author mentions one in the course of the work, are great and heavy gates of wood, with their hinges let into the rock. They are carefully guarded, and shut during the night.

The Gongom is a copper bason suspended by a cord, and struck with a very large stick. This instrument, which is very