1850.
Topography of Shenst.
221
for extensive agricultural pursuits, though so far as is known, not for habitations. In the south, the Tai-peh shán✯É or Great White Mt., Chung-nán shán or South-Limit Mt., Tái-hwá shán
and Sháu-hwa, or Great and Little Flower Mts., and Sháng shán 商山 are the most noted peaks of the Tsin-ling. In
the extreme southwest of the province is Po-chung shán or Grave Mt., a noted eminence; and north of the Wei, in the depart- ment of Fungtsiáng, are Lung chán. Wú shán 1, and Kí shán
all of them well known in the history of the region.
The rivers of Shensí, north of the Tsin ling, are all tributaries of the Yellow river; those on the south flow into the Yangtsz'. The Wei hop, and its principal branch the King, are noted for their clear and turbid waters, which run in parallel lines like those of the Missouri and Mississippi, long after their junction. These two streams have their source in Kánsuh, and flow east and southeasterly till their junction near Singán fú, from whence a short channel car- ries their waters into the Yellow river; the two have many tributaries, but none of much note or size. The Loh ho joins the
Yellow river just above the R. Wei; this stream rises in the north- west, near the Great Wall, and receives in its course through the province the drainings of the western districts. Proceeding north, above the R. Loh, the Choh-kin ho, the WG-ting ho
and the Kiuh-yé ho
F
are the largest tributaries of the Yellow river; the two latter have their sources in Mongolia. South of the Tsin-ling, the Hán ho drains all the country, while the Kiá- ling kiáng, a large branch of the Yangtsz', forms the southwestern boundary of the province. Most of the rivers of Shensi are too rapid for safe navigation, and this is particularly true of the Yellow river, whose waters rush down from the table-land of Mongolia with a force which almost defies all the skill of the Chinese boatmen to oppose them.
The province of Shensí is divided into twelve departments, and eighty-five districts, as given in the following list.
I. Síngán fú, or the Department
of Síngán, contains eighteen districts,
viz., two ting, one chau, and fifteen hien.
1 咸寧 Hanning,
3藍田Lántien,
2
Chángngán,
4
Hiáu-i ting,