was quite a pretty country place of one-story houses built of
brick, which were very neat and clean as are most of the houses in
the northern part of China. The children trouped out to see the
procession pass, and I heard one remark to another: "Those ladies
are going to the Palace to become Empresses," which amused me very
much.

Soon after leaving Hai Tien we came to a pai lou (archway), a very
beautiful piece of old Chinese architecture and carved work, and
from here got our first view of the Palace gates, which were about
100 yards ahead. These gates are cut into the solid wall
surrounding the Palace and consist of one very large gate in the
center and two smaller ones on each side. The center gate is only
opened when their Majesties pass in and out of the Palace. Our
chairs were set down in front of the left gate, which was open.
Outside of these gates, at a distance of about 500 yards, were two
buildings where the guard stayed at night.

Just as we arrived I saw a number of officials talking excitedly,
and some of them went into the gate shouting "Li la, doula" (have
come, have arrived). When we got out of our chairs, we were met by
two eunuchs of the fourth rank (chrystal button and feather). This
feather which is worn by eunuchs of the fourth rank, comes from a
bird called the magh (horse-fowl) which is found in Szechuen
Province. They are grey and are dyed black, and are much wider
than the peacock feather. These two eunuchs were accompanied by
ten small eunuchs carrying yellow silk screens, which they placed
around our chairs when we alighted. It appeared that Her Majesty
had given orders that these screens (huang wai mor) should be
brought to us. This is considered a great honor. They were ten