hasty survey of the globe." It has been estimated that there is more than
seventy times as much material in the wall as there is in the Great
Pyramid of Cheops, and that it represents more labor than 100,000 miles of
ordinary railroad. It was begun in 214(?) and finished in 204(?) B.C. It
is twenty-five feet wide at base, and from fifteen to thirty feet high.
Towers forty feet high rise at irregular intervals. In some places it is a
mere earthen rampart; in others it is faced with brick; and then again it
is composed of stone throughout.]

From the strong reign of Che Hwang-te to the end of the period covered by
ancient history, Chinese dynastic records present no matters of universal
interest that need here occupy our attention.

CHINESE WRITING.--It is nearly certain that the art of writing was known
among the Chinese as early as 2000 B.C. The system employed is curiously
cumbrous. In the absence of an alphabet, each word of the language is
represented upon the written page by means of a symbol, or combination of
symbols; this, of course, requires that there be as many symbols, or
characters, as there are words in the language. The number sanctioned by
good use is about 25,000; but counting obsolete characters, the number
amounts to over 50,000. A knowledge of 5000 or 6000 characters, however,
enables one to read and write without difficulty. The task of learning
even this number might well be hopeless, were it not that many of the
characters bear a remote resemblance to the objects for which they stand,
and when once explained, readily suggest the thing or idea represented.
The nature of the characters shows conclusively that the Chinese system of
writing, like that of all others with which we are acquainted, was at
first purely hieroglyphical, that is, the characters were originally
simply rude outline pictures of material objects. Time and use have worn
them to their present form.