Directory_and_Chronicle_1850 — Page 540

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Topography of the Yellow River.

SEP.

Yellow river has been compared with that of the Adige in Tyrol; near Pajenyunk, there is an important post called Tsí-shí kwán, which though within the limits of Kánsuh, is still considered as the outpost of the Mongolian tribes.

蘭山

Middle Course. At Lánchau fù, in long. 104° E., the Hwáng ho turns, running near the Great Wall, and keeping on in a northeasterly course through five degrees of latitude for a distance of not less than 430 miles, along the eastern side of the Alá-shán, or Holán shán

a range of mountains forming a continuation of the Kilien Mts., and constituting the eastern side of the Central Plateau. When the river has passed lat. 41° N., it is turned east by the Ín-shán (a continuation of the Alá-shán) and flows about 180 miles eastward along their base, till it meets the mountains of Shánsí near Sárártsí in lat. 40° N., where it is forced to the south.

In the distance between Lánchau and Sárártsí, the Yellow river receives very few tributaries, and for a good part of this length its waters flow through a wild tract, sparsely inhabited by the Ortous Mongols. The level gradually descends from Lánchau to the junc- tion of the Tsingshwai ho

(or Clear-water R.), just before reaching Ninghia fú, until the mɔuntains disappear, and are replaced by a hilly region, in which tracts of cultivated land are intermixed with sandy hills. The town of Tsingyuen lies at the junction of the Tsúlí ho

just south of lat. 36° N., where the river is defended on both sides by the Great Wall; and another town,

called Chungwei, is situated between it and Ninghií fú, both of them small places. Proceeding north, the extent of fertile ground decreases, and the erec- tion of the Great Wall through these inhospitable wilds shows the energy and power exerted by its builder.

Ninghiá fú lies in lat. 394° N., in a wide valley, through which the river runs in a great number of channels both natural and arti- ficial, rendering it one of the few fertile spots in this region; the small district town of Ling lies east of Ninghiá, and several villages also occur in this spot. Rice and fruits are extensively cultivated in these bottom lands, and the town itself is a mart of considerable trade. Beyond Ninghiá commences the steppe of the Ortous, a desert whose surface is mostly covered with sandhills, destitute of wood and nearly of vegetation, but in the numerous depressions between them are ex- tensive meadows and pasture grounds, intermixed with tracts covered with thick bushes, the haunt of numerous wild animals. On the west of the river, extending for about three hundred miles, is the mountain range of Alá-shán, rising 3000 to 4000 feet above its bed, and not

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