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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1880 Excerpt:...gouramis and carps with scales of gold and silver disported on the surface of the water, and leaped from it ever and anon to seize the shining flies which hovered in whirling and restless groups. From time to time, a turtle, affrighted by our approach, would let himself deep into the lake, with a splash like that of a great stone; little birds warbled on the long branches of the drooping willows and silvery poplars. The spectacle of this enchanting landscape produced a great impression upon me, and I do not think I have seen in any other country in the world a garden where Nature, seconded by Art, has presented itself to my eyes under more attractive aspects." The Summer Palace of the Chinese emperors (Youen-Ming-Youen) struck with admiration the European soldiers who plundered it. It was the most extraordinary aggregation imaginable of palaces, pavilions, kiosks, lakes, rocks, hills, and artificial valleys ever created by the hand of man. The site was chosen by Yung-Tchin, at the advice of his father Kanghi, in the seventeenth century. The design was carried out by Khien-Loung, who died in 1796, after a reign of threescore years. A Chinese Album, drawn and painted in 1744, has preserved for our edification all the arrangements and all the splendours of this immense domain, which covered a wider area than Pekin itself. This Album is--or was, before the war--in the Imperial Library of Paris. At a distance of nine miles from the West Gate of Pekin extended the double enclosure, which contained forty Chinese palaces, and twenty others constructed on the European model. 122 A CHINESE VERSAILLES. In front, in the village of Hai'-tien, were lodged all the courtiers and officials. It was, in truth, a Chinese Versailles. Besides the Palace of the Serene Sea, s...