Directory_and_Chronicle_1842 — Page 185

1842.

Topography of Chekiang.

167

the low lands unite and from the river Ngau. Upon the north bank of this river, and a little northward from the centre of the depart ment, stands its capital, which is also the residence of the magistrate of the district Líshui. Northeast from this site, is the town and dis- trict of Tsinyun; on the southeast is Tsingtien; on the south and southwest, are Kingning, Yunhò, and Lungtseuen; far beyond them, towards the southwest, is Kingyuen; on the north and northwest, arc Suenping, Sungyáng and Suicháng.

The eleven departments and seventy-eight districts, into which the province of Chekiáng is divided and subdivided, have now been all enumerated and their situations indicated. On the north are Wúchau, Kiíhing, and Hángchau; on the east Shauhing, Ningpo, and Tái chau; on the south Wanchau and Chúchau; on the west Küchau and Yenchau; leaving Kinhwá in the centre.

The rivers of the province are next to be described; in doing this the principal mountains and hills will be named, and the general features of the country indicated. On the maps before us, published by imperial authority, the rivers are drawn with great minuteness and apparent accuracy. They do not, in their number and courses, dif- fer much from those given in Du Halde's work. We intend to follow that published by imperial authority, it being the most recent, and probably the most accurate. According to Du Halde, not one of the nuinerous rivers takes its rise beyond the boundaries of the province : according to the other map, one does, and only one-the Sin'án kiáng. And only three rivers of Fukien, and one in Kiángsí havc branches which take their rise in Chekiáng. Hence the boundary of the province must, for the most part, be formed by elevated ground, from whence the streams flow in each direction. By a glance at the map it will be seen that most of the rivers of Chekiáng flow in an easterly direction.

In the following list, the principal rivers are indicated by their naincs being placed the space of one type further to the left of the page than the names of the tributary and lesser streams. The word kiáng usually means a large river, and hò a smaller one; the two, however, are used interchangeably. The word kí generally signifies a rivulet. It sometimes happens that one and the same river is known by two, three, or even more names, different parts of it being named from the hills, vallies, &c., near or through which it passes. Thus the great river of the province, called Tsientáng at Hángchau, is known by se- veral other names in its winding course from the western frontier of the province