Directory_and_Chronicle_1850 — Page 541

1850.

Topography of the Yellow River.

503

over three or four miles wide. The Great Wall runs along its eastern declivity, which in its southern part at least is overgrown with forests. As the Hwang ho enters the desert, its bed lies in a valley greatly depressed below the surface; its appearance here is more like that of a canal than a natural stream, and its current is probably sluggish, for this part of Gobi is reckoned to be very high.

The course of the Alá-shán turns the stream nearly due east about lat. 41° N., and near this turn it flows through a depression similar to that about Ninghia, the waters finding their way by a large number of channels; in one place, they collect into a good sized lake called Tengkiri-nor, but as most of our information respect- ing this part of its course is derived from Chinese maps, it is impossible to give any account of the size of this lake, or the character of this depression. Further east, towards Sárártsí, some small tributaries flow in; but the remarkable fact that froin above Ninghiá to this town, more than five hundred miles, not a single affluent above a rivulet of ten or fifteen miles long increases its volume of water, shows the barrenness of the region, and indirectly too the depth and power of the river. Within this Great Bend, as this part is sometimes called, tribes of the Ortous obtain a precarious subsistence by tillage and grazing; several isolated lakes and streams occur in it. It is in this part of its course that the water becomes so loaded with the yellow mud which tinges it until it is lost in the Pacific.

Below Sárártsí, in lat. 41° N., the R. Targhuen or Urhkan

flows in from the NE., and the river's width is about 800 feet. The stream has now fairly turned to the south, and keeps on a direct course in long. 111* E., for seven degrees, the current for this whole distance being very rapid for boats to stem. At the borders of Shánsí, it re- crosses the Great Wall, the towns of Pienkwán and Hokiuh lying not far from its banks. Páuteh chau, in lat. 39°, is the largest town in this region; here the Hwáng ho is from 1200 to 1400 feet across, and so rapid that Kánghí required three days to cross it with his court, though great preparations had been previously made for the purpose. From this town to the junction of the R. Wei, according to the map, thirty. six affluents pour in their contributions on both sides, on nearly every one of which one or more towns are situated. The R. Kiuhyé (Environing-desert river) about fifty miles below Pauteh, and the R. Wúting

(Uncertain river), about a hundred miles further down, both derive their headwaters from the Desert beyond the Wall, and each of them are over 200 miles long. Just above the junction of the R. Fan, in lat. 35', at a place called Lungmun or Dragon-gate,

1