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Topography of Shenst.
APRIL,
VI. The department of Yen-ngán comprises the largest area of of the departments, reaching quite across the province ; it lies south of the Great Wall, and north of Tungchau fú. The chief town lies on the bank of the Liú hú, or Willow Lake, a small sheet of water not far from the Choh-kin river, a tributary of the Yellow river. This extensive region is thinly peopled, the surface of the country quite mountainous, and its productions-peltry and furs of various kinds, cinnabar, marble, petroleum, game show that the inhabitants look to other means than agriculture for a livelihood. That part of the pre- fecture along the Great Wall is partly inhabited by Mongols.
VII. The department of Yülin, or Elm Forest, occupies the ex- treme northeast of the province; the chief town was formerly a mili- tary post, but the increase of population caused it to be erected into a separate prefecture. The Great Wall and the Yellow river form its limits on the west and east ; it is not as rough as Yen-ngán fú, and the greater accessibility to most of its towns by means of the Wúting and the Yellow rivers, and the roads across the north of Shánsí, has attracted a denser population. These is no impediment put in the way of the Mongols beyond the Great Wall settling down in the towns, and they are found in many places.
VIII. The inferior department of Sháng is a small region in the southeastern part of Shensí, set off from Singán fú, and comprising the valley of the Tán hoor Carnation river, a confluent of the R. Hán, and several smaller stre.ns.
IX. The inferior department of Kien lies between Síngán and Fungtsiáng fú; its chief town is situated on the Hán-kuh ho
P, and its two district towns are also found in the same valley.
X. The inferior department of Pin lies north of the preceding, on the R. King, near the confines of Kánsuh, and like that was set off from the prefecture of Singán. The chief towns of both these departments are ancient towns, having been numbered among the numerous vil- lages around the metropolis in the days of Confucius, and like most of the cities of Shensí, having received many names, and undergone many changes during the intervening centuries.
XI. The inferior department of Fú is situated between Singán and Yenngán fú, in the valley of the R. Loh; it formerly belonged to the latter, and resembles it in its productions and inhabitants.
XII. The inferior department of Suitch also belonged once to Yenngán fú; it lies along the banks of the Wúting and Yellow rivers, one of its towns being close to the latter. Very little is known con- cerning the productions of the land, or civilization of the inhabitants
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