Directory_and_Chronicle_1850 — Page 543

1850.

Topography of the Yellow River.

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The Wei ho is the largest affluent of the Yellow river, tak- ing its rise in the mountain-masses of the Pel-ling in the south of Káusuh, in a peak called Niáu-shú shán É¡ (Bird-rat Mt.) not far from the district town of Wei-yuen (i. e. Fountain of the Wei) in lat. 35° and long. 104°, and draining the northern acclivities of this range, after a course of over 400 miles, pours its contributions into the main stream, and with those of the R. Loh, almost doubles its volume. The upper valleys of the Wei are fertile, and several im- portant cities are found in them, as Kungcháng fú, Tsinguing chau, and Tsin chau, besides scores of smaller places, all in Kansuh. These streams are probably more useful for irrigation than navigation. At Páukí in Shensí, the valley widens, and from thence to Tung- kwán it is one of the most populous and richest districts of northern China. Below Si-ngin fũ, the provincial capital, the Wei receives the waters of the R. King flowing in from the N.W., and of the R. Tanju, from the S.E. The R. King rises in Kansuh in the Ki-t'au shan, and has a devious run of about 300 miles through a fertile and populous region. In its course the R. King becomes very turbid, and when it unites with the clear waters of the R. Wei, the two flow on together for many miles without mingling, like those of the Arve and Rhone at Geneva. This circum- stance is alluded to in the Book of Odes, where a wife complains, that because she has become old and wrinkled, her husband casts her off as the pure Wei rejects the dirty King.

After entering Honán, the Hwáng ho does not immediately leave the hilly country, but rolls along in a fine valley for about 150 miles to the junction of the R. Loh and R. Tsin jo near Hwai- king fi; the bottom lands in this region are alluvial, and support a large population. As the stream flows on, its deposits increase, and when it receives the two abovenamed confluents, its waters begin to rise to the adjoining country, and the banks serve only partially to con- fine them when they swell from the rains and melted snows.

A vast morass occurs in the prefecture of Hwáiking, through which many wa- ter courses flow, making the whole country very fertile, but dangerous to the inhabitants when the river overflows. A considerable stream, called the R. Wei proceeds from this marsby depression north- easterly to Lintsing chau in Shantung, where it unites with: the Grand Canal-or rather, the canal there flows in the old bed of the R. Wes. There are many reasons for supposing that the Yellow river once flowed through the Wei ho, into the gulf of Pechele, and that the

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VOL. XIX. NO. IX.

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