De Geographie for
September 1873, contains a paper on Peking by the physician to the French
Embassy there. Whatever may be the worth of the meteorological and
hygienic details in that paper, I am bound to say that the historical and
topographical part is so inaccurate as to be of no value.
NOTE 14. - For son, read grandson. But the G. T. actually names the
Emperor's son Chingkim, whose death our traveller has himself already
mentioned.
[Illustration: Yuan ch'eng]
NOTE 15. - ["Marco Polo's bridge, crossing the lake from one side to the
other, must be identified with the wooden bridge mentioned in the Ch'ue
keng lu. The present marble bridge spanning the lake was only built in
1392." "A marble bridge connects this island (an islet with the hall I-
t'ien tien) with the Wan-sui shan. Another bridge, made of wood, 120
ch'i long and 22 broad, leads eastward to the wall of the Imperial
Palace. A third bridge, a wooden draw-bridge 470 ch'i long, stretches to
the west over the lake to its western border, where the palace Hing-sheng
kung [built in 1308] stands." (Bretschneider, Peking, 36.) - H. C.]
[1] Some years ago, in Calcutta, I learned that a large store of charcoal
existed under the soil of Fort William, deposited there, I believe, in
the early days of that fortress.
