In an old country like this, with a live of forty dynasties and about three hundred and thirty recognized emperors, there must be a very large number of mounds which contain the remains of men who have borne the title of Huang-ti, All these men possessed the power of life and death; and a crowd of officers, eunuchs, and slaves trembled in their presence, recognized them each as the divinely appointed Son of Heaven, and, as euch, regarded them as Viceroys daring their natural life on behalf of the Supreme Ruler over the whole or part of China as the onse might be, Before all these tires hundred and more individuals the ceremony of knocking the forehead on the ground was performed daily by those who approached them, as a tribute of respect, and_no_one ventured to speak in their
80. It is the Emaperor's lot' to live' in an atmosphere of enforced respect, and never to appear before others divested of the outward signs of his dignity.' When he dies he is placed ina vault strongly' built of hewn stone, and a mound of earth of vast dimensions is heaped up toa great height above and round the vault. When the coffin has been borne into this vault, the entrance is closed for with stonework rendered' as far as possible indestructible. In the official language of the occasion, the door of the sepulchre is said to be closed for ten thousand years. The feelings of those hundreds of privileged attendance, relatives, and high officers who witness an interment of this kind are wrought up toa very high pitch, as was shown at the last Imperial faneral a fow yeara since, when suicide was committed by a Censor on account of a sentiment of loyalty to his young Imperial master. The Chinese mind has not yet awaked to the recognition of the equality of men, and, as things are now, noti can equal the solemnity of the fan ofan Emperor to those who witness it, As a rule, the tombs of Emperors have been near the Capital city in a well-chosen valley facing the south. Bat this could not always be carried out. In. communication which we lately printed from Dr. Macgowan, some interesting allusions were made to the tomb of the Emperor Yi, who died near the city of Shao-hsing on the road between the cities of Hangchow and' Ningpo. The genealogical record, Ohia Pu, is preserved, and is in charge of descendants of the Emperor who live close the tomb and under whose superintendence it is placed, Thoro were blake in this book in the third and fourth centuries before the Christian era, The names of the generations before this time are, it is to be feared, not to be relied upon, for if there had been a genealogical register of the Emperor Yii's' family existing through' all the intervening centuries, from B.C, 2,000' to the time when these occur, it would be meutioned by Chinese authors, in their accounts of this ancient hero. Yet the tradition of the tomb may be an. thetic, Near the tomb of Confucius in Shantung there is an ancient mound which is stated to be the burial place of Shao-hao, who mounted the throne BE 2597 on the death of his father Huang Ti. He is said to have moved his capital to the city of Chu-fu, and this was the reason of his being buried there. The tomb is two miles from the modern city. The mound ie about twenty feet high and a hundred feet round. In front of it is a pyramid made of limestone stabs out equate and smooth. On the flat top of the pyramid is miniature temple, containing a emall image of Shao-hao, On the south is an avenue of more than 400 trees, constituting a noble entrance. At the, capital of Shenai the number of imperial
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.