"So far, all was plain enough; but now another question presented itself that puzzled me not a little; and that was, What became of the house? That there had been one, the arrangement of the numerous post holes plainly showed; but the large earth mound above the tumulus or grave was perfectly solid above the original surface, giving not the slightest evidence that the posts or any part of the house had ever reached up into it. I incline to the opinion that the great fire near the middle of the house had been made from the timbers composing it; that the upper timbers had been torn down, and the posts cut off at the surface, the whole being a kind of votive offering to the dead. At any rate, it is plain that a house stood there until the time the mound was built; and it was not there afterward. "For the purpose of covering the grave, sand was brought from a ridge a short distance away. There was no stratification, either horizontal or curving. Earth had been piled up first around the black mass forming the grave mound, and then different parties had deposited their loads at convenient places, until the mound assumed its final conical arrangement. The lenticular masses through almost the whole mound showed that the earth had been carried in skins or small baskets. The completed mound was thirteen feet high, and about one hundred feet in diameter. "Two and a half feet above the original surface was an extended skeleton, head west. It lay just east of the black earth over the grave. Sixteen feet south of the grave, on the original surface, and within the outer row of post holes, were two skeletons extended, heads nearly west. It would seem that the flesh was removed before burial, as the bones were covered with a dull red substance, which showed a waxy texture when worked with a knife blade. "No relics of any description were found with any of the skeletons; but a fine copper bracelet was picked up in a position that showed it was dropped accidentally." * * * * * A CHINESE IMPERIAL CEMETERY. By Lieut. Hon. H. N. SHORE, R.N. Some ten miles north of Peking, in a valley where silence reigns supreme, is situated one of the most remarkable and imposing burial grounds in the world. Here, nestling along the slopes of the inclosing mountains, which form a natural amphitheater, are a series of vast mausoleums where lie buried the emperors of the last Chinese dynasty. This was the celebrated Ming dynasty, which continued from 1366 till 1644, when, after a sanguinary struggle lasting for twenty-seven years, it succumbed to the Manchu Tartars, who, under the title of the Tsin dynasty, have occupied the throne to the present time. [Illustration: THE AVENUE.]