3. Thereupon followed the invasion of the blonds from northern Europe who, though completely assimilating with the Kabyles, settled chiefly upon the heights of the Atlas, where they have preserved the purity of their race to the present day. 4. There followed then the invasions of historic times: The Phenician, Greek, Roman, Jewish, Vandal, Byzantine, Arabic, Turkish, Spanish, and French. In the face of all these invasions, the Kabyles on the heights of the Rif, the Jurjura, the Aurès, and in Enfida have preserved the purity of their race to the present day. CHINESE ARCHITECTURE AND ITS RELATION TO CHINESE CULTURE.1 [With 10 plates.] By ERNST BOERSCHMANN. I left Germany in August, 1906, to make an extended exploration in China. The route was via Paris, London, and America, where I saw treasures of Chinese art in the museums, thence via Japan, to acquire a fleeting impression of that branch of oriental culture; and finally I arrived at Peking early in December. In the summer of 1909, upon completing my work in China, I returned, via the Siberian Railroad, to Germany, after an absence of exactly three years. Dr. Bachem had discussed the importance of a study of the Chinese before the Reichstag in 1905, and the late Baron von Richthofen, then secretary of the foreign office, as well as a large number of other high officials, so interested themselves in the proposed journey that the German Imperial Government, with the approval of the Reichstag, provided the necessary means. I owe profound thanks to all who aided this exploration, first for the effectual development of the idea of endeavoring to solve the important problems of the Far East from a purely scientific point of view, and also personally for their confidence in assigning me this important duty. My commission bore the title: "An investigation of Chinese architecture and its relation to Chinese culture." I could not have desired a more comprehensive designation of this task for such a country as China, with its 18 Provinces, covering an area seven times greater than Germany, and with remarkable coincidence exactly seven times its population. A solution of the problem appeared to be possible by confining myself to the northern part, especially around Peking, which, from a previous residence there for two years, I knew to be the center of 1 Reprinted by permission from Zeitschrift für Ethnologie. Organ der Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte, Berlin. 1910. 42d year, parts 3 and 4, pp. 390-426. a specific culture, and which would also serve in many respects as typical for all China. I gradually, however, extended my travels to cover a large part of the entire country. I spent the first months in Peking in making preparatory studies of China. As soon as the weather permitted I made short excursions to the imperial tombs of the Ming dynasty, and to the eastern imperial tombs of the present dynasty, two days' journey from Peking, where the late Empress-Dowager was recently buried. I then visited the ancient summer residence at Jehol, five days' journey from Peking, where in the midst of a wild mountainous region a number of important Lama monasteries are scattered around a famous imperial hunting park. The summer was passed in the charming neighborhood of Peking, especially among the western hills, with its numerous magnificent temples, of which Pi-yün-sze, the temple of the Blue-black Clouds, is regarded as one of the most beautiful in all China. Then followed a seven months' trip to the western imperial tombs of the present dynasty, where the remains of the deceased Emperor will be buried. Thence to Wut'aishan, the sacred mountain, which is visited chiefly by the Mongolians. On this occasion, the only one during all my travels in China, I was for some weeks accompanied by a friend. At all other times I traveled alone with my Chinese followers, that at times numbered 30, including the burden bearers. The train carried us south over the bridge across the dangerous Yellow River to K'aifêngfu, the capital of Honan; thence a four days' trip down the Yellow River, at a time when the dam had just been broken and when the river in places was so broad that the farther bank could not be seen. In Shantung I visited the sacred mountain T'aishan, then K'üfu, the birthplace of Confucius and the site of his tomb. The winter drove me southward. I spent Christmas in Ningpo and in January, 1908, I dwelt alone, remote from the world, on the island Pů-to-shan, the sacred island of Kuanyin, the goddess of mercy. Upon returning to Peking by sea, I prepared for a long 12 months' journey, to extreme western and southern China, that carried me overland across the whole of China; first to T'aiyüanfu, capital of Shansi, then diagonally across that Province to Lu ts'un, where there is a large salt marsh, that provides salt for the four northwestern Provinces. Shansi, like Shensi, is a dry Province. In some years there is almost no rain at all. A mild famine is expected with considerable certainty every 5 years and a serious one at 10 year periods. This aridity favors the manufacture of salt, which is accomplished by simple evaporation in the bright sunshine. This ceases in rainy weather. Wheat is then grown. The salt Mandarin expressed the conditions impressively by comparing Shensi to a balance, with salt in one scale and wheat in the other. As one rose the other fell. It was best when they balanced. Perfection lies between these two extremes. I entered the Province of Shensi at the bend of the Yellow River, visited the sacred mountain Huashan, the capital Hsinganfu, crossed the Tsin ling mountains, and then descended to the exceedingly luxurious, charming, and fertile Szech'uan. This Province has an area and population somewhat larger than Germany. As a whole it is a poem, and its perfect beauty has been accomplished by gods and men. From the capital, Ch'êngtu, I pushed on to the most western point as far as Yachoufu, and before me to the westward and northward lay the snow-capped mountains that magically lure the traveler to Tibet. It is an imposing mountain panorama whose sublimity is already realized in its spurs near Ch'êngtu. The Viceroy Chao Erhfêng just then set out with a military force en route to Lhassa; but unfortunately my plans did not permit an acceptance of his cordial invitation to accompany him. I spent three weeks on the sacred mountain Omeishan. The Chinese say that one here feels the pulse of K'un-lun. Then I went down the Min River in a small boat. I made a short excursion to the salt district of Tze-liu-tsing, where are the self-spouting wells, over 4,000 in number, with an average depth of 1,000 meters. From these are extracted salt essences that are boiled and evaporated with natural gas from underground. This district furnishes salt for all the Provinces as far as the midYangtze. The frameworks of the wells are 20 to 30 meters high. As natural gas is used, there is no smoke in this industrial region where 700,000 people are employed. The salt is transported with ease by boats through the numerous canals of this charming Province. The hidden and mysterious force and the benefit thus derived from the interior of the earth gave the Chinese the motive for the development of their peculiar religious ideas. In China one observes everywhere that industry and trade serve to strengthen and deepen the religious sentiment, because everything is brought into relation with the forces of Nature which are then personified as gods. My little boat carried me farther down the Yangtze River, and then for several days I had the pleasure of traveling in our German river gunboat, the Vaterland. We passed by lovely and then again by mighty banks on either side, often at high speed, then by many densely populated cities, over famous rapids, and through romantic gorges, where the echoing voices of the sailors made the great solitude the more impressive. The Yangtze gorges, as they are generally known, are most imposing at the entrance to the Province of Hupeh. From the Tungt'ing Lake one reaches, by way of the Hsiang River in the Province of Hunan, the capital, Ch'angshafu. With a short excursion into the Province of Kiangsi I spent the Christmas festi val of 1908 in the company of the German engineers who superintended a Chinese coal mine. I passed the first days of the year 1909 on the sacred mountain Hêngshan, then journeyed overland to Kueilinfu, the capital of Kuangsi, and down the Kuei River, passing over 300 rapids in 10 days, to the West River, by which I reached Canton, the imposing, populous, and gay city. Going by sea I reached Fuchow, the capital of the Province of Fukien. I celebrated Easter in Hangchow, the capital of Chekiang, on the much celebrated beautiful West Lake. Then I hastened back to Peking, where I arrived after an absence of over one year, on May 1, at the time of the funeral of the deceased Emperor. In all my travels, which took me through 14 of the 18 Provinces of China, I followed the main highways, the ancient, much-traveled roads, and was constantly in the midst of Chinese life in densely populated and mostly the richest regions. The sacred mountains, annually visited by millions of pious pilgrims, belong to these regions, as also do the imposing industrial and cultural centers and great cities where an enormous commerce is carried on through the countless waterways and lakes where boats constantly follow each other in rapid succession, and the seacoast with its busy traffic from harbor to harbor. Industry, contentment, and order everywhere prevail among this 400,000,000 people, whose joy of living and contentment is apparent in their art. Nothing is more erroneous than to speak of China as fossilized and ready to fall to pieces mentally, morally, or even politically. The unity of the culture of yesterday and yet of to-day has welded the people and keeps the nation strong. This observation may account for the fact that no problems of archeology, art, religion, or general history will be discussed here, interesting as they may be, but the China as it is to-day will be described. The means should not be given greater importance than the end. To introduce our subject: We stand in China contemplating a unity of culture which can only be dreamed of in the days of ancient Greece or of some other ideal period. One imposing conception of the universe is the mainspring of all Chinamen, a conception so comprehensive that it is the key defining all expressions in life-trade, intercourse, customs, religion, poetry, and especially fine arts and architecture. They exhibit in nearly every work of art the universe and its idea. The visible forms are the reflex of the divine. They behold the divine in the various forms which they fashion to express it; in short, in the microcosm is recognized and revealed the ma crocosm. This method of thinking and acting on a grand scale gave rise, and rightly so, to the favorite expression "China, the land of great |