Account of a Chinese traveller
who visited Shangtu about two hundred years ago, when probably the
whole inscription was above ground. The inscription is also mentioned
in the Imp. Geography of the present Dynasty, quoted by Klaproth. This
work gives the interior wall 5 li to the side, instead of a li,
and the outer wall 10 li, instead of 4 li. By Dr. Bushell's
kindness, I give a reduction of his sketch plan (see Itinerary Map,
No. IV. at end of this volume), and also a plate of the heading of the
inscription. The translation of this is: "Monument conferred by the
Emperor of the August Yuen (Dynasty) in memory of His High Eminence
Yun Hien (styled) Chang-Lao (canonised as) Shou-Kung (Prince of
Longevity)." [See Missions de Chine et du Congo No. 28, Mars, 1891,
Bruxelles.]
[3] Ramusio's version runs thus: "The palace presents one side to the
centre of the city and the other to the city wall. And from either
extremity of the palace where it touches the city wall, there runs
another wall, which fetches a compass and encloses a good 16 miles of
plain, and so that no one can enter this enclosure except by passing
through the palace."
[4] This narrative, translated from Chinese into Russian by Father
Palladius, and from the Russian into English by Mr. Eugene Schuyler,
Secretary of the U.S. Legation at St. Petersburg, was obligingly sent
to me by the latter gentleman, and appeared in the Geographical
Magazine for January, 1875, p. 7.