future which might lead men to act in accordance with, and not in
opposition to, the eternal fitness of things as seen in the operations
of Nature. Stringent orders were issued accordingly, and many scholars
were put to death for concealing books in the hope that the storm would
blow over. Numbers of valuable works perished in a vast conflagration
of books, and the only wonder is that any were preserved, with the
exception of the three classes specified above.

In 210 B.C. the First Emperor died, and his youngest son was placed
upon the throne with the title of Second Emperor. The latter began by
carrying out the funeral arrangements of his father, as described about
a century later by the first and greatest of China's historians:--

"On the 9th moon the First Emperor was buried in Mount Li, which in the
early days of his reign he had caused to be tunnelled and prepared with
that view. Then, when he had consolidated the empire, he employed his
soldiery, to the number of 700,000, to bore down to the Three Springs
(that is, until water was reached), and there a firm foundation was laid
and the sarcophagus placed thereon. Rare objects and costly jewels were
collected from the palaces and from the various officials, and were
carried thither and stored in huge quantities. Artificers were ordered
to construct mechanical crossbows, which, if any one were to enter,
would immediately discharge their arrows. With the aid of quicksilver,
rivers were made--the Yangtsze, the Yellow River, and the great
ocean--the metal being made to flow from one into the other by
machinery. On the roof were delineated the constellations of the sky,
on the floor the geographical divisions of the earth. Candles were made
from the fat of the man-fish (walrus), calculated to last for a
very long time. The Second Emperor said: 'It is not fitting that the
concubines of my late father who are without children should leave him