Place gives the orientation 37° N. of E. in one plan and 39° in another. Botta and Flandin give 31½° in one plan and 32° in another! Now, the change in the magnetic variation between 1849 and 1867 will not explain this difference, nor indeed can it be accounted for by supposing that the magnetic north is in question in one set of plans and the true north in the other;[13] and it is clear that no perfectly certain conclusion can be arrived at till this work has been done over again. But it is known that M. Flandin was a skilled surveyor, and we have the remarkable fact, that if we take his value, _we have the amplitude of the sun at the summer solstice in the latitude of Nineveh_! I certainly think the temple may be accepted as a solstitial solar temple provisionally; and if so, the question is raised whether the structures in Assyria, supposed to be oriented so that the _angles_ face the cardinal points, are not all of them oriented to the sun at a solstice or to some other heavenly body. Certainly we must have more definite measures before the statement generally made can be accepted as final. When we leave Assyria we find other countries, it is true still farther afield, in which the existence of solstitial temples of a great antiquity of foundation is fully recognised. The great temple of the sun at Pekin is oriented to the winter solstice. The ceremonials which take place there are thus described by Edkins:-- "The most important of all the State observances of China is the sacrifice at the winter solstice, performed in the open air at the south altar of the Temple of Heaven, December 21st. The altar is called Nan-Tan, 'south mound,' or Yuenkieu, 'round hillock'--both names of the greatest antiquity. "Here also are offered prayers for rain in the early summer. The altar is a beautiful marble structure, ascended by twenty-seven steps, and ornamented by circular balustrades on each of its three terraces. There is another on the north side of somewhat smaller dimensions, called the Ch'i-ku-t'an, or altar for prayer on behalf of grain. On it is raised a magnificent triple-roofed circular structure 99 feet in height, which constitutes the most conspicuous object in the _tout ensemble_, and is that which is called by foreigners the Temple of Heaven. It is the hall of prayer for a propitious year, and here, early in the spring, the prayer and sacrifice for that object are prosecuted. These structures are deeply enshrined in a thick cypress grove, reminding the visitor of the custom which formerly prevailed among the heathen nations of the Old Testament, and of the solemn shade which surrounded some celebrated temples of ancient Greece." The Temple of Heaven is thus described:--