The sacrificial utensils, the drums, the gongs and the medical instruments, were all in their proper place, and after the President performed the specified ceremonial ablutions he signed the prayer tablet, a blue paper bearing ver-million characters, and it was conveyed to the prayer table, Then he ascended the Altar on the southern side, being accompanied by picturesque retinue. Four bows: were solemnly made in response to a cry from a master of ceremonies, strains of music filled the air, and bearers carried to a table a tray containing the blood and hair of a bullock slaughtered as a sacrifice on the previous day, the bonfire being simultaneously lighted. Silk was offered as a sacrifice, being for the time placed on a table on the Atlar, and meat was offered. A howl of steaming soup was tendered the President who had advanced to the first circle of the Altar. Ho raised it to the height of his face and return it to an assistant who poured—the contents upon the meat in the tray on the table near by.
Music again struck up, goblets were filled, and the President raised a goblet to the height of his face and returned it to the attendant. contents were poured on Advancing to the prayer table President stood before it while an official chanted a prayer on behalf of the people of the Republic. Incense ascended to the ambient at mosphere. The President retired, knelt and prostrated himself four times, the old style of kowtowing having been abolished. Other offi-Is likewise prostrated—them: selves, and then second and third prayers followed. The reception of the blessings from Heaven—then tonk place. The function was sym-polic, the President, on be the citizens of the Republic, ing a cup of wine and a how!
from one attendant, reverent-raising it, and then passing it to another. ain the—Pre sident, fallow by other offici times, an'
Was a sacri 19 fice. Music was played while the President and his retinue repaired to the altar of the burnt offering near by. The silk, the wine, the grain, and the meat are placed the firewood. It was lighted; burned. The burning of a bullock was dispensed with. The President watched the ceremony from the west of the altar, and after the fire was well lighted repaired to the rest house, where he changed his attired and left for his Palace.
The ceremony was not of lengthy duration. It was completed in just a little over an hour, and is now but a memory, though it constitutes a precedent unique in China's history. It is the first time, too, that the sacrifice has been offered since the abdication of the Manchus, The return journey of the Preident to the Palace was without incident. The troops still held the thoroughfare, and only dispersed and permitted traffic to resume when the Presidential party was well inside the Palace.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.