A pamphlet has lately been published in Paris by the
Abbd Larrien, formerly a missionary in China, in which he seeks to demonstrate that the Great Wall of China does not exist, and
never has existed. According to the Abb6, the popular notion of a wall wholly constructed of cut stone, 30 cubits high by 12 cubits broad, running straight on—down valleys and np mountains—regardless of obstacles, like a Roman road, is a mere delusion, founded, perhaps, on the fact that a Chinese Emperor once constructed a chain of square towers of earth, something in the nature of our Martello towers, and that these still exist, scattered at considerable distances from each other, along the line of the alleged Great Wall. Oar readers will be relieved to learn that this bold attempt to relegate the Great Wall to the position of "Printer John" or "The Three Impostors" has been firmly met and overthrown. In a letter to the Standard, Mr. William Simp- son, an artist, explains that he has actually seen and sketched part of the Great Wall, and that it is, in fact, all our fancy painted it,—i.e., "about 20 feet high and 15 feet wide on the top, with square towers every two or three hundred yards." A drawing from Mr. Simpson's sketch, to be found in the illus- trated London News of February 1st, 1873, shows the Great Wall and its towers crossing a range of hills, and running up and down their sides in the most satisfactory manner possible.
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