222
Topography of Kiangsú
APRIL.
it, as well as the islanders. It is pretty difficult to account whence it is that certain portions of land, scattered here and there over the whole country, shonld be impregnated with salt to such a degree as not to produce a single blade of grass; while at the same time the lands contiguous to them are very fertile, both in corn and cotton. It often happens also that the fertile lands, in their turn, become salt, and the saline lands fit for sowing."
Probably no territory in the world, of similar extent, is better watered than the province of Kiángsú. The Yángtsz' kiáng, the Yellow river, and the Great canal, a vast number of lesser streams and branches, with several extensive lakes, afford easy communica- tion by water through almost every part of the whole province. The list of rivers, if made complete, would far exceed that given for Che- kiáng. But we shall not, in this article, attempt to give an account of them in detail. The entrance of the Yángtsz' kiáng was quite unknown to European navigators, previously to the surveys which were published in the last volume. We trust that all who may have the means of acquiring additional information, will kindly communi- cate such for our pages. The embassies of Macartney and Amherst traversed the province, and both on the same course from the fron- tiers of Shantung to the Great river; there Macartney's turned to the left, and passed on to Hángchau; while the second turned to the right, and proceeded up the Yangtsz' kiáng. To the several volumes written by the members of those two embassies, our readers are refer- ed for many valuable notices of men and things seen in their jour- neys. Staunton, vol. II. p. 398, &c.; Ellis, p. 194; Abel, p. 148; and Mr. Davis's new work, noticed in a former number.
There are no mountains, and but few hills, in Kiangsú, the whole province being for the most part one unbroken plain.
The productions are quite the same as those already enumerated as found in Chekiáng,―certainly they are no less in number nor inferior in quality. To Europeans the province presents a rich field for research and observation, regarding the country and its products, the people and their manufactures. Dreadful indeed must be the desolations in this province, if it becomes the theatre of war, as very likely it may in the coming season. Most of its large cities, and they are many, can be approached by small vessels and steamers; whilst vessels of the largest class can, it is believed, move up the Great river quite across the province; and those of the middling class, with the steamers, will probably have no difficulty in reaching the great Jake Poyáng.
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