Emperor's Throne in the Forbidden City _Frontispiece_ French Cavalry Orderly with Despatches _Facing Page_ 11 Transports on the Pei-Ho " 21 The Great Wall surrounding the Outer City of Pekin " 57 Chen-Mun Gate to Pekin " 73 The Temple of Heaven " 79 Marble Bridge over Moat before Southern Gate of the Forbidden City " 85 The Big Tower or Wall Entrance of Tartar City " 103 The Executive Palace of the Emperor in the Forbidden City " 145 An Imperial Palace " 167 Priceless Porcelains and Bronzes in the Third Palace, Forbidden City " 181 The Mouth of the Pei-Ho " 202 Chinese Village Carts, the only Vehicle used in the North of China " 230 Non-commissioned Officers and Men of French Artillery and Marines " 235 Chinese Peasants cultivating Rice Fields with Native Plow " 246 The Lake and Southern View of Summer Palace " 275 The Last Days of Pekin I THE ARRIVAL IN THE YELLOW SEA MONDAY, Sept. 24, 1900. Very early morning, on a calm sea and under a starry sky. A light on the eastern horizon shows that day is about to break, yet it is still night. The air is soft and moist.--Is it the summer of the North, or the winter of a warm climate? Nothing in sight on any side, no land, no light, no sail, no indication of any place--just a marine solitude in ideal weather and in the mystery of the wavering dawn. Like a leviathan which conceals itself in order to surprise, the big iron-clad advances silently with determined slowness, its engines barely revolving. It has just covered five thousand miles almost without pausing to breathe, constantly making forty-eight turns of the screw to a minute, accomplishing without stopping and without damage of any sort, and without much wear and tear of its substantial machinery, the longest journey, at the highest rate of sustained speed, that a monster of its size has ever undertaken, thus defeating in this important test ships reputed to be faster, and which at first sight might be thought superior in speed.