1850.
Topography of the Province of Kansuk,
555
The total area is computed at 400,000 square miles, of which one third lies within the Great Wall, and the remainder includes the De- sert and the department of Barkoul. Probably one half of Kánsuh is a wilderness, unsusceptibie of cultivation, and traversed by caravans and wandering hordes of Sunites and other Mongols.
It is bounded on the north by the Great Wall, which separates it from Inner Mongolia, by the Dzassaktu khanate, and by Kúr Kara- úsú, a part of Ílí; east by Shensí and Mongolia; south by Sz'chuen and Koko-nor; and west by the latter and Harashar, a district of the Southern Circuit of Ílí. It is probable, however, that these limits are much better defined on the Chinese maps than they are in these wastes themselves.
The mountains in Kansul comprise the lofty ranges of the Peh-ling and the Kilien, in the eastern part, and the Tien-shán in the western. The Peh-ling is a name applied by foreigners to
北嶺 the range which extends from the Bayankara eastward through the south of Kánsuh into Shensí, forming the watershed of the Yellow and Yángtsz' rivers, and which bears many names among the Chinese. Some of its peaks rise above perpetual snow. The Kilien is a well de- fined range, inclosing the valley of the Azure Sea on the north, and se- parating this vast depression from the Desert, and the shut up valley of the R. Edsinei. Many of the conspicuous peaks of both these ranges bear particular names. The Tengkiri
Mts. (Tokty or
Erin-kabirgan Mts.) constitute the eastern portion of the Tien shán or Celestial Mts., no part of which rise as high as the peaks further west. Arable tracts exist in some parts, and a vast number of small streams flow through their valleys, and lose their waters in the desert on the east side.
The rivers of Kánsuh are numerous; all of them are tributaries of the Yellow river, or else inland streams having no connection with the ocean. The Yellow river enters the province at Kweiteh ting, and flows in an easterly and northeasterly course to Ninghiá fú, a distance of about 600 miles. Its confluents during this part are the Tátung and Chwángláng ho on the north, and the Táhiá and Táu ho on the south, all of which join it within fifty miles west of Lánchau. Be- sides these four, the Tsúlí ho and Tsing-shwui ho, which flow in be- tween the capital and Ninghiá, are the only branches of the Yellow river in Kansuh. The southern departments are watered by the nu- merous branches of the King and Wei rivers, which drain off the su- perfluous waters of the Peh-ling into Shensí; the Kushwui (Bitter-water R.) and Málien ho 馬連河 are the largest of these
headwaters.