Directory_and_Chronicle_1842 — Page 456

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Zapography at Chil

Arg

ART. V. Topography of Chili: boundaries and situation of the province; its area and population; its subdivisions, rivers, lakes, mountains, plains, productions, &c.

SINCE the publication of the maps which accompany the work of Du Halde, the northern boundaries of Chili have been greatly ex. tended, so as to include almost as much territory on the north of the Great Wall-its former limit in this direction-as there is on the south of it. As formerly the shape of the province is triangular Starting from a point in latitude 35° N., longitude 1o W. of Peking, where the provinces of Shantung and Shánsí unite on the border of Chili, run a line northeast to 43° 30′ N., longitude 5° 30′ east of Peking, and it will form the longest side of the triangle. From the last named point, run another line to longitude 3o west of Peking in latitude 42° 30′ N, and it will mark the second side of the triangle ; while another, from the last to the first named points, will make the third side. Such is the general configuration of the province. Start- ing again from the same point as before, and following closely the line of demarkation, you will find the boundary between Chili and Shantung running in a very zigzag course to the sea, forty or fifty miles southeast of the Pei ho. The seacoast forms the boundary from Shán- tung to the Great Wall, which for a short distance divides Chili from Shingking; and then a palisade is the separating line, until near, or at, a river which is called the

Hwang hò. This river marks the northern boundary of the province from the palisade to its source among the peaks of the Inner Hingán. Thence, for the remainder of the distance there is no natural or artificial object ex- hibited on the map to indicate the boundary, running nearly due east and west in latitude 42° 30′ N. The western boundary, running nearly north and south, stretches over more than seven and a half degrees of latitude, and divides Chili from Shánsí and Hónán.

The area of the province, as given by Staunton, is 58,949 square miles; and the population, as given by the Chinese, 27,990,870, being an average of 475 inhabitants to the square mile, showing a sparser population than some of the provinces to the south of it. It will compare in size with the states of Michigan, Illinois, or Arkansas, in the United States; with England and Wales united; and with Nipal, as that kingdom is usually delineated.

The subdivisions of the province, as exhibited in the following tabular view, are numerous-some of them differing from those in the other provinces