CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 THE WASON 
 
 CHINESE 
 COLLECTION 
 
Cornell University Library 
 TC 502.H8F47 
 
 Memorandum relative to the iMfoy.f,™!]!,,?,, 
 
 3 1924 023 951 993 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023951993 
 
Memorandum relative to the Improvement of the 
 Hwang-ho or Yellow River in North-China. 
 
VEREENIGING TER BEVORDEMNG YAN DE UITVOEKING VAN WERKEN 
 IN HET BUITENLAND DOOR NEDERLANDERS. 
 
 Erkend bii Koninklijk Besluit van 30 Januari 1889 N". 21. 
 
 MEMOEANDUM 
 
 relative to the Improvement of the 
 
 HWANG-HO OR YELLOW RIVER 
 
 IN 
 
 :N"OI^Ti3:-OH:I]s^.^ 
 
 BY 
 
 J. G. W. EIJNJE YAN SALVERDA 
 
 Advising Counsellor to the Dutch Government for Hydrotechnic and Railway Affairs. 
 
 Commander and Kniyht of several Orders. 
 'President of the ^Society for the Promotion of Dutch Engineering Works abroad". 
 
 AND 
 
 REPORT 
 
 OF 
 
 CAPTAIN P. G. VAN SCHERMBEEK 
 
 Royal Dutch Engineers 
 
 AND 
 
 A. VISSER 
 
 on their inspection of the Yellow River and its flooded districts in 1889. 
 
 Translated from the Dutch 
 
 BY 
 
 ^1". D. DICKIIVSOIV 
 
 Lecturer on the English Language and Literature. 
 
 THE HAGUE 
 
 MARTINUS NIJHOFF 
 
 1891 
 

 W^ IJ/S' 
 
oon^TEn^TS. 
 
 Preface. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 1. Introduction. 
 
 2. Genera] Description of the Course of the Hwang-ho. 
 
 3. Mountain Kanges in North-China which more particularly influence the Course of the 
 
 Hwang-ho. 
 
 4. General Review of Loess-formations. 
 
 5. Loess found on the Rhine. 
 
 6. On the nature of the Rhine-Loess. 
 
 7. On the Nature of subaqueous Loess in China. . 
 
 8. General Review of the Region throughout which the Loess in China extends. 
 
 9. Elevations of Loess. 
 
 10. Action of the "Water in Land Loess-formations. 
 
 11. Traffic Eoads in the Loess. 
 
 12. Importance of Loess for Agricultural purposes. 
 
 13. Inhabitation of the Loess. 
 
 14. Loess Districts considered from a Strategic point of view. 
 
 15. Origin of Loess. 
 
 16. Loess in the undrained Districts. 
 
 17. Lime Deposits in the Rhine near Constance in Switzerland. 
 
 18. Geological Formations in connection with the variations from Drained to Undrained Regions. 
 
 19. General Review of the Air-Currents in Central -Asia, and of their Influence on the Humidity 
 
 of the Climate. 
 
 20. Rainfall and Evaporation in Central Asia. 
 
 21. Relative Temperatures in Central Asia. 
 
 22. Vegetation in Central Asia. 
 
 23. Chemical Decomposition and Mechanical Decay of the Rocks in Central Asia. 
 
 24. Action of the Wind in the settling down of Decayed matter. 
 
 25. Atmospheric Dust. 
 
 26. Formation of Sand and Gravel Deserts. 
 
 27. Salt-alloy. 
 
VI CONTENTS. 
 
 28. Climatic Change in connection with the infiluenco exerted by the Physical Condition of the 
 
 Sun on the Metereological Condition of the Earth. 
 
 29. General Considerations on the influence of Metereological Conditions in China, Central Asia 
 
 and Mongolia, in connection with Mountain Kanges, Volcanic Action, etc. 
 
 30. Influence of Climatic Change. 
 
 31. The Oases. 
 
 32. Scientific investigation of the Hwang-ho from a Plydraulic point of view. 
 
 33. Dangers to which the great Alluvial Lower Plain of the Hwang-ho is exposed. 
 
 34. South Easterly direction, and proposal for the Construction of Reservoirs along the River. 
 
 35. Proposed Improvement of the River. 
 
 36. Division of Labour. 
 
 37. Division of the River into an Upper, Middle and Lower Part. 
 
 38. Residence of the Stafi^. 
 
 39. Conclusion, 
 
 1*ART H. 
 
 Introduction. 
 
 First Expedition from Tientsin to the Yellow River. 
 
 Second Expedition from Tientsin to the Yellow River. 
 
 The unembanked Yellow River in the Loess district. 
 
 The Embankments along the Lower Yellow River. 
 
 The high Fore shores between the Dikes and the River. 
 
 Mud alloy. 
 
 Fall. 
 
 Velocity. 
 
 Cross-sections and Discharge. 
 
 Depth of the River and Gradual Elevation of its Bed. 
 
 Estuary of the river. Tidal flow. 
 
 The Hwang-ho in Chihli and West Shantung. 
 
 The Crossing of the Emperors Canal or Yun-ho. 
 
 Breaches and Inundations. 
 
 Repair of Breaches. Riverworks. 
 
 Conclusion. 
 
Preface. 
 
 It is now two years ago since the Society for the Promotion of Dutch Enyineering 
 Works abroad was started. 
 
 Its members are the following gentlemen: 
 
 J. G. W. FiJNJE VAN Salvekda, Advising Counsellor to the Dutch Q-overnment for Hydrotechnic 
 and Railway Affairs, Chairman. 
 
 W. F. Leemans , Government Chief Engineer for Hydrotechnics , Superintendent of Rivers , 
 Vice-President of the Royal Institute of Civil Engineers, Deputy-Chairman. 
 
 N. H. NiERSTRASz, Late of the Royal Engineers, now Chief Engineer and Manager of the 
 Holland Railway Company. 
 
 J. T. Cremer , Member of the Second Chamber of the States General , Managing Director of 
 the Deli (Sumatra) Railway Company. 
 
 M. Mees LL. D. , Banker , and Vice-president to the Rotterdam Chamber of Commerce. 
 
 F. S. VAN NiEROP LL. D. , Director of the Amsterdam Bank, Member of the Amsterdam Muni- 
 cipal Council. 
 
 J. J. VAN TiENHOVEN VAN DEN BooGAARD , Burgomastor of Werkendam. 
 
 P. G. VAN ScHERMBEEK , Captain in the Royal Engineers. 
 
 A V^OLKFR \ 
 
 ' 1 Members of the chief Contracting-firnis that have of recent years 
 
 J. C. VAN HaTTUM , / . , • , XT 1 1 1 T. 1 • T-, 
 
 I carried out many important works in the Isetherlands, Belgium, France, 
 
 ' 1 Spain , America , Transvaal and elsewhere. 
 
 J. Kooij, / 
 
 H. J. Hensterman, Engineer, Chief of the Technical Office „Nierstrasz" Amaterdum, Secret arij 
 
 and Treasurer. 
 
 11. J. DE Makez Oyens, Banker. 
 
 The aim of the Society is apparent from its name. Its formation had for its chief object 
 the employment of Dutch capital , engineering and contracting skill on foreign works. 
 
 It is on this ground that the Society enjoys the powerful support of the Dutch Government. 
 
 China has been the first country in which our Syndicate has endeavoured to obtain 
 employment, the direct inducement being the heavy floods along the Yellow River in the 
 autumn of 1887. As a matter of course the tidings of these calamities awakened the utmost 
 interest in the Netherlands, whose inhabitants had to conquer nearly every foot of their 
 territory in a death -grapple with the watery element, and to defend it continually against the 
 constant encroachments of their unrelenting foe, 
 
VIII PKEFACE. 
 
 The Society sent out an expedition to China , consisting of Captain P. G. van Schermbbek 
 of the Royal Engineers and Mr. A. Visser of the Firm of Contractors Volker & Bos, assisted 
 by Mr. B. W. Blijdenstein , Civil Engineer. 
 
 These gentlemen reached their destination in the beginning of 1889, and remained a 
 twelvemonth in China. 
 
 Their instructions were that, supported by our Representatives in China, they should 
 collect as many data as possible bearing upon the condition of the Yellow River and everything 
 connected with it from an engineering point of view. At the same time they were empowered 
 to offer the services of our Society to the Chinese Government. 
 
 I'ixing their headquarters at Tientsin, oiir deputies made thence two expeditions to the 
 Yellow River. 
 
 The first (March 31 — May 28, 1889) comprehended that part of the river, situated 
 between Tsi-nan-fu, the Capital of the Province of Shantung, and Sz-sui-hsien, about 113°15' 
 East of Greenwich. The chief results of the observations of Capt. van Schermbeek and 
 Mr. Visser were drawn up in a preliminary report, which was forwarded to His Excellency 
 Li-Hung-Chang , Vice-roy of the Province of Chihli. Amongst other matters it contained an 
 account of their inspection and appreciation of the remarkable riverworks for the closing of 
 the great breach of 1887. 
 
 The second journey (September 15 — November 6, 1889) extended to the lower part of 
 the river, from Tsi-nan-fu down to the mouth, between which places several breaches had 
 occurred but a few weeks previously. The chief observations resulting from this expedition 
 were communicated verbally to Their Excellencies the Viceroy of Chihli and the Governor of 
 Shantung. 
 
 A more detailed report embodying the results of our researches , based on the observa- 
 tions communicated to us by our deputies , Capt. Van Schermbeek and Mr. Visser , and on other 
 sources of information, has now been drawn up by our President, and is herewith submitted 
 to the approval of the Chinese Government. 
 
 [n an Appendix , by Captain P. G. van Schermbeek , annexed to this Memoran- 
 dum , appears an account of the above mentioned expeditions together with some obser- 
 vations relative to the present condition of the Yellow River and its management under the 
 Chinese System. 
 
Memorandum relative to the Improvement of the 
 Hwang-ho or Yellow river in North China. 
 
 Introduction. 
 
 In Mr. Ferdinand Freiherr von Richthofen's important work on Cliina ') it is 
 reckoned that: 
 
 1 Geographical mile = 3.333 jj ^ 1855 -^_. 
 
 1000 M. = 1.797 h; 1 li = 556.-' M. ; 1 foot = 0.309 M. 
 
 Further, as will be seen in § 2, the length of the Hwang-ho has been 
 reckoned as follows: 
 
 P* From the origin or sources in the glaciers of the Tsi-shi mountains 
 to the Inner Yellow sea kilometers 3760 
 
 2nd From Lan-tshou-fu where the mountain-stream has left the higher 
 range, to the Inner Yellow sea kilometers 2650 
 
 3"^ From the mouth of the Fonn-ho to the sea, being that part which , in 
 view of an improvement of the river, would first require attention kilometers 1060 
 
 To give some notion of the size of the river and of its possible impro- 
 vement in comparison with European streams it may be observed that the 
 length of the Danube from its source at Donaueschingen to the Black sea is 
 
 kilometers 2806 
 
 The length of the Rhine between Basle and the North-sea, i. e. that part 
 which has undergone improvement in the interests of navigation, is: 
 
 a. for one Rhine arm along the Waal, the Merwede, the Noord and 
 
 New Mouse in Holland kilometers 824''-'^'' 
 
 b. and for the two arms, thus including the Lower Rhine and the 
 
 Lek kilometers 978" "^ 
 
 Thus the length of the Yellow river below Lan-tshou-fu corresponds very 
 nearly with that of the Danube, and the length of the Chinese river below the 
 
 1) China. Ergebnisse eigener Reisen und darauf gegriindeter Studien von Ferdinand Freiherr von 
 Richlliofen. Berlin. Verlag von Dietrich Rcimer. 
 
mouth of the Fonn-ho very nearly with that part of the Rhine below Basle, 
 which, according to the treaty of 1815, must be kept in a navigable state. 
 
 The Rhine was then in a neglected state, corresponding to the present 
 condition of the Yellow River, whereas, from insufficient survey and observations, no 
 clear idea could be formed of the required river-improvements; many disbelieved 
 in their efficacy; the most opposite views were expressed on this important subject, 
 and many varied projects of river-improvement were proposed. The Rhine was in a 
 chaotic condition , on which it was difficult to pronounce any opinion , as the theory of 
 the motion of running water was then a science comparatively unknown. This scientific 
 problem was still wrapped in great obscurity, whilst the great economical advantages 
 of river-trade were unappreciated except by a very few men of superior understanding, 
 and were not fully recognised until after the construction of highways, the digging 
 of canals, and especially the construction of railways. 
 
 The present generation have, so to say, grown up in the knowledge and 
 recognition of the benefits resulting from an improved condition of the rivers. We 
 are unacquainted with the former state of things; and it is difficult for us even 
 to imagine the utter misery of some districts so frequently harassed by floods 
 and inundations; the limited navigation with, or the transhipping into vessels of 
 the smallest tonnage, and lastly the very limited commercial intercourse. On the 
 contrary we have identified ourselves more and more with the tranquillity, nay 
 absolute confidence of the inhabitants of districts situated in the lowlands far 
 below high- water mark ; for we feel convinced that the above calamities will now but 
 rarely happen, while they can never prove so disastrous as in former times. Nor 
 are we astonished any longer at the amazing development of the shipping trade, 
 with vessels of from 900 to 1000 tons of 1000 Kilo's, nor at the wide-spread 
 commercial intercourse; a development which is still in progress and which our 
 fathers would have classed among the myths. 
 
 The first rational ideas of river-improvement were carried into effect in 1817 
 in the Upper Rhine below Strasburg, and in the lower rivers in 1825. 
 
 From 1817 to 1852 the river-improvements were limited to the upper part of 
 the Rhine extending to more than 2(jU kilometers below Basle, and, in conse- 
 quence of the important foreshortenings , have given rise to many difficulties and 
 negociations , in which especial consideration was shown for the interests of the 
 lower districts. During that period, httle or nothing was accomphshed in the lower 
 parts of the river; one seemed to be passing through a period preparatory for the 
 execution of those works, which though not begun until 1852, were then vigorously 
 pushed forward and have, on the whole, answered excellently to the expectations 
 which had been formed of them. 
 
 The outlay for these river improvements amounted to: 
 
 Gls. 1) £ Sterl. 
 
 From 1817 to 1851, thus in 35 years, along 260 kilometers 26.008544 2.167379 
 
 or per annum 748000 61925 
 
 or per year per kilometer 2857 238 
 
 ') Diilcli Guldens. 
 
Gls. £ Sterl. 
 and from 1852 to 1885 for all the so called conventional 
 rivers along a total length of 978495 Meters and exten- 
 ding over a period of 34 years 141.415948 11.784662 
 
 or per annum 4.159292 346608 
 
 or per kilometer 144524 12044 
 
 and per year per kilometer 4250 854 
 
 while, the whole improvement of the Rhine from 1817 to 
 
 1885 required an expenditure of 167.424492 13.952041 
 
 or per kilometer 171104 14259 
 
 It should be observed here, that the outlay for embankments is not included 
 in the above figures, as the disbursements for these works in Holland are 
 exclusively defrayed by the landowners , so that they are less accurately known than 
 the state-expenses. 
 
 The great river improvement which must be reckoned as having begun in 1852 , 
 required even during the first year an expenditure of quite Gl. 2.466.000 or, as 
 appeared later on, fully 59 "/g of the average annual expenditure. 
 
 The above figures are purposely given here because the cost of river-improve- 
 ment is generally made too light of, and because it increases in proportion as the 
 river is left to itself, a prey to neglect. The Rhine in Europe affords a very good 
 example of this. The expenditure is found to increase proportionately with the 
 greater or less depth required for navigation purposes. 
 
 On the other hand, the preponderant interests of districts which have been 
 relieved, partly or entirely, by the river improvements, have not met with due 
 appreciation , and the manifold advantages furthered by the development of agriculture, 
 navigation and commercial relations have remained unappreciated, though they have 
 invariably counterbalanced the pecuniary sacrifices they have entailed. 
 
 Meanwliile, the requirements which may be laid down for navigation are 
 dependent on the amount of water, which nature has placed at the disposal of the 
 river; and in this respect we mention that the Hwang-ho has to pass through the 
 undrained part of Central- Asia and to suffer from the vicissitudes to which the 
 surrounding peripheric region is exposed. 
 
 For this reason we shah allude briefly to the distinctive characteristics 
 exhibited by Asian territories, the varied nature of which has caused them to be 
 classed as follows: 
 
 P' Central- Asia or the coherent continental region of the formerly undrained 
 water-basins. The main caracteristics of undrained regions are found here in full 
 development. It extends in its leading features from the highlands of Thibet in the 
 South , to the Altai-range in the JSTorth , and from the watershed of Pamir in the 
 West, to the Chingan range in the East, being also in the West in contact with 
 the undrained Eranian Highlands. 
 
 In this region are found the geological products proceeding from chemical 
 decay , and from the mechanical crumbling away of the mountain stone ; while the 
 
removal of every solid deposit takes place exclusively through the action of the air 
 currents. 
 
 2ndiy_ rpj^^e peripheric region, comprehending the districts of v^hich the water 
 is drained off by rivers, either in an easterly direction to the sea, or westerly to 
 what at one time was the sea, to the Caspian sea, the Ural lake etc. This region 
 has gradually extended around the former to the sea, and liere the removal of 
 geological products is brought about by the action of the water-streams. 
 
 Besides these two principal regions, there is in many places: 
 
 3'^'^'y. A transition-zone, in which of late years districts hitherto undrained 
 have found outlets for their water, or where an opposite process has taken place. In 
 the first case, those parts have still, in the main, retained the characteristics of 
 Central-Asia, and in the second they have not yet entirely lost those of the peri- 
 pheric regions. It would therefore be a mistake to suppose that the hmits between 
 Central-Asia and the peripheric region are everywhere very clearly marked out. 
 
 The materials which in the second region are swept down the rivers tend 
 to change the basins of the lakes into valleys, to the formation of broad alluvial 
 plains, to the raising of the sea-bottom at the river-mouths, and finally to 
 supply those constituents formed in the sea by the action of the rains and of animal 
 life. In consequence of the great difference in height between the source and the 
 mouth of the rivers that empty themselves freely into the sea, the mountain will 
 be cut through by clefts , its rocks become exposed , its dechvities wilder and steeper. 
 Its basins, full of sedimentary deposits, will gradually empty themselves and these 
 deposits will settle down in pretty nearly horizontal layers in the deepest vales and 
 at the bottom of the sea. The difference therefore between mountains and valleys, 
 between the upper and lower course of rivers, will become more and more sharply 
 defined. On the other hand the materials in the undrained . districts will serve 
 exclusively to fill up the cavities and to level the uneven bottom-surface, by which 
 the difference in height between the mountains and the valleys will decrease more 
 and more. 
 
 Thus the soil in the peripheric regions is supplied with the components requisite 
 for vegetable life, whereas in the undrained regions, the decayed matter resulting 
 from the operation of the atmosphere is unsuitable to agriculture and is the cause 
 of the salt steppes with their Nomadic tribes; a region where no trees or shrubs 
 can be developed. 
 
General Description of the Course of the Hwang-ho. 
 
 According to Mr. von Richthofen, the source of the Hwang-ho is situated in 
 Northern Thibet ^or the Khukhunor country, in the glaciers of the Tsi-shi-han 
 mountains, forming a mountain chain of the Kwen-lun system, and according to 
 the Chinese Chwang-fu, in the Hsing-Su-hai or Starry Expanse, so called from 
 the eight or nine springs, which leap up out of the ground and glitter in the 
 moonlight. 
 
 The strongly curving upper course of this river forms along the first 1000 
 kilometers' length, a wild, richly watered mountain stream winding its way 
 through the valleys of the mighty mountain range of the Kwenlun. It quits 
 these high mountains at the little Tsi-shi-shan chain, west of Lan-tshou-fu , at 
 a height as it seems of about 1250 M. , i) streams on thence in an uninter- 
 rupted course through mountain- and steppeland along a length of about 1000 
 kilometers in a north-easterly and afterwards nearly northern direction. By this 
 time it has quitted the peripheric region , and pursues its course along the 
 steppe region of Ordos, whose undrained basins and salt lakes have not yet been 
 brought into connection with the river. In this region the rain is carried off by 
 evaporation, or received into the salt lakes, so that the river, for a long distance, 
 does not receive a drop of water and no doubt decreases not inconsiderably; the 
 more so indeed that its bed, like that of all loess-rivers, is at certain places very 
 broad and frequently divided into shallow arms. This state of things improves 
 somewhat along the foot of the Yin-shan mountains forming the southern mountain- 
 ridge of the Mongolian steppes, which is intersected by wide clefts overgrown with 
 luxuriant vegetation. From these heigths descend several streams which empty 
 themselves into the river, enabling Chinese agricultural populations to settle on the 
 stretch of land between the foot of this mountain-range and the river. Ordos, 
 situated just opposite, seems also at some earlier period to have been a fertile 
 
 ') These heights, and all those that follow, are invariably reckoned above sea-level, 
 
6 
 
 loess- and alluvial plain, but appears at a later date to have been buried under the 
 sand from the north. The Hwang-ho continues its easterly course till it receives 
 the Forkon-gol or rapid river which supplies these districts with an abundant 
 supply of water. At the point of confluence with this river, the Hwang-ho streams 
 straight south the length of six degrees of latitude, along the border- hne of the 
 provinces Shensi and Shansi and, having received on its right the L6-ho and on 
 its left the F6nn-ho, flows on till it is checked in its course at the foot of the eastern 
 prolongation of the above named mountain range of the Ewenlun system , and being 
 unable to break through, it curves sharply to the east and pursues its course past 
 the fortress of Tung-Kwan between the granite mountains Ta-Hwa-shan and 
 Fong-tiau-shan. 
 
 Notwithstanding its length of 556 kils., the Fonn-ho, although the most 
 important river in the province of Shansi, is, in consequence of the swiftness of 
 its stream , and the rocky character of its bed , navigable along but a small part of 
 its course, and that near the mouth. 
 
 The Lo-ho , the principal river of the province of Shensi , is in the same pre- 
 dicament. The water supply of the Hwang-ho is greatly increased by these two 
 affluents, but stfll more so by the Weiho, which, rising in Kan-su in the Kwen-lun 
 range, streams in a northerly direction along the foot of the Kwenlun, and easterly 
 from the Ta-Hwa-shan mountains. It is joined by several streams from the opposite 
 mountain range of Kan-su and from the great loess-plain of Hsi-ngan-fu and flows into 
 the Hwang-ho just above the fortress of Tung-kwan. 
 
 The Hwang-ho rolls on its waters eastward between the mountain range, through 
 the narrow passage of I-Ti-tshu, a distance of about 230 kflometers below the mouth 
 of the Weiho. By the fortress of Tung-kwan, the river, here 773 meters across, is 
 inclosed between two loess walls , which , on the northern bank rise to a perpendicular 
 height of 60 M. and on the southern bank form a terrace 245 meters high. This 
 breadth of 773 meters is considered very narrow, and yet it does not prevent the 
 river from being choked up with shallows and sandbanks. In this mountain region, 
 along its whole length, we meet with loess walls now on the right, now on the left 
 bank of the river while in this part a series of rapids occur making navigation 
 extremely difficult. These rapids result partly from the rocky nature of the riverbed 
 and partly from the sandbanks , which , in spite of the swiftness of the stream , 
 divide the river into numerous arms, so that the shipping cannot reckon upon a 
 greater depth than 0.93, and in many parts only 0.31 M. At the termination of 
 the above mentioned length of 230 kilometers, the northern range of Tai-Hang-Shan 
 recedes in a northerly direction , while the river still pursues its course eastward , 
 first along the foot of the southern range for a distance of about 90 kilometers , during 
 which it receives the Lo-ho on the right bank, and then through the alluvial plain 
 where the Tsin-ho joins it on the left bank, to below Kai-fong-fu, near the spot 
 where the old channel of the river, tiU 1852, curved away to the south-east. Thence 
 the river winds in a north-easterly direction , north of the Shantung range , and fiows 
 with many bends through the great alluvial and sometimes morassy plain, till it 
 reaches the Gulf of Petchili into which it flows. In this alluvial plain, embankments 
 
have been thrown up along the whole length of the river beginning at the termination 
 of the Loess wahs. 
 
 The river thus streams through the districts of Khu-Khu-nor in Thibet, 
 through Kansu and Mongoha; along the border of the provinces Shensi and 
 Shansi ; also forming the border of the provinces Shansi and Honan ; thence through 
 Honan, Tschih and Shantung. Below the mouth of the Tsin-ho begins that part of 
 the Hwang-ho in the above-named , alluvial plain , which has given rise to its surname 
 of China's sorrow. In this plain the river could, so to say, flow in any direction, 
 which indeed in the lapse of time has occurred. In the year 2000 before Christ , the river, 
 according to Mr. von Eichthofen, followed the same course as at present, to within 
 a distance of from 37 to 74 kilometers east of Hwai-king-fu , when it flowed in a north- 
 easterly direction, through the present valley of the Wei-ho. This Weiho is a fine 
 navigable river, not to be counfounded with the affluent of the same name which 
 flows into the Hwang-ho at Tung-Kwan. First, for a distance of 55' kilometers, it flows 
 in a northerly and subsequently in a north-easterly direction, and forms the conti- 
 nuance of the waterway, which, under the name of the Great Emperor's canal, 
 connects Peking with Nanking. The Hwang-ho followed the bed of the Weiho for the 
 first 55-' kils., and then flowed on in a northerly direction, parallel with the Thai- 
 hang mountain range, 185' kilometers further. The numerous rivers that descend from 
 these mountains, flowed at that time into the Hwang-ho, and form at present a 
 network of watercourses, all flowing through the plain into the Pai-ho near Tien- 
 tsin. Further down, the Hwang-ho split into nine arms, the most northerly of which 
 flowed between Peking and Tien-Tsin to empty itself at 39^" north latitude into 
 the sea. These arms traversed the present bed of the Pai-ho, where to this very 
 day the proofs are still to be found, in numerous peculiar and evidently very 
 ancient dikes , whicli , higher and stronger than those of the Pai-ho , run perpendicu- 
 larly from its channel. 
 
 Until the year 602 B. C. the Hwang-ho seems to have followed this course , then 
 taking a north-easterly direction not far from Wei-hwei-fu. Its channel formed then 
 one with that of the Wei-ho as far as Ta-ming-fu, where one arm swept round 
 eastward to Tung-tshang-fu , and stifl further down joined the course of the present 
 Etwang-ho. The connection between this affluent and the main stream is not however 
 particularised. 
 
 From the year 602 B. C. until 1194 A. D. numerous changes took place in 
 the direction of the stream, which had however no influence on the main current. 
 During that period several breaches seem to have occurred through which the water 
 streamed in a south-easterly direction to the Hwai-ho. 
 
 In the year 1194 A. D. this northern direction was changed, and the river's 
 bed became displaced from somewhere about Kai-fung-fu, to stream in a south-easterly 
 direction south of the mountain range of Shantung , so that the river then emptied 
 itself at about 34" north latitude into the Outer Yellow Sea. 
 
 It followed this direction until about 1852. After this it seems gradually to 
 have altered its course, between the years 1851 — 1853, into the present north- 
 easterly direction. Nevertheless it was not until the year 1870, that this fact was 
 
made known through the columns of the „ Journal of the Royal Geographical 
 Society". Respecting the important occurrence which caused this alteration in the 
 stream Mr. von R,ichthofen has nothing to communicate, having received none but 
 indefinite replies to the inquiries set on foot by him in March 1869, respecting the 
 channel forsaken in 1852. On that occasion he had followed the Great Emperor's 
 Canal from Nanking to Hwai-nang-fu and discovered the old river-bed with a 
 breadth of 1300 M. and a flat bottom about the same height or a little higher than 
 the neighbouring landscape. This bed was inclosed between two strong dikes and 
 determined the breadth of the old stream at high water mark, whilst it inclosed 
 moreover a low water channel a)30ut 200 Meters broad and 4 Meters deep. The two 
 extreme outer channels, the one of 2000 years before Christ and the one of 1194 
 A. D, inclose a triangle of which the top is situated about 600 kilometers inland 
 and of which the basis is of about the same length. 
 
 Opinions differ as to the nature of this plain. Some ascribe to it the charac- 
 teristics of an alluvial delta, whilst others consider it as a dejection-cone built up by 
 the Hwang-ho with the loess swept along by it in infinitely fine powder, such as is 
 frequently the case with mountain streams. The difficulties the river had to encounter 
 in getting across this conical plain would account for the periodical removal of the 
 channel. In my opinion however this extensive plain corresponds more accurately 
 with what is generally understood by a delta than a dejection-cone, but no definitive 
 conclusion can be arrived at, till the levels and other scientific observations have 
 been taken. 
 
 It is further stated that the loess carried to this plain by the wind is mixed 
 everywhere with the mud slime brought down by the river. 
 
 The great number of rivers, having formed in this plain formerly delta-branches 
 or arms of the Hwang-ho, have now an independent course. Amongst these are 
 the Pai-ho with its numerous accessory streams, that descend from the Thai-hang 
 range, and the Hwai-ho, no less remarkable for its extensive network of affluents. 
 Both rivers have, by their inundations and alluvial deposits,, contributed to the 
 formation of the great plain, one very peculiar part of which is taken up by the 
 mountainous district of the province of Shantung which , at some prehistoric period , 
 is supposed to have been an island. 
 
 The length of the river, according to measurements from the map may be 
 taken at 3760 kilometers, as has already been mentioned in § 1. The maps however 
 have been drawn on too small a scale for anything like accurate measurements, 
 and do not allow sufficient length for the curves of the river, so that future 
 measurements will doubtless return us very different figures. For the present 
 purpose this is however immaterial, for in the case of really serious river-improve- 
 ments, the length of the river would be considerably shortened, by the cutting off 
 of the curves, so that in any case future measurements would eventually differ from 
 any taken at present. 
 
 For a general survey of the river the distances for certain principal points 
 are given in the following table: 
 
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLACES. 
 
 m 
 
 I- 
 eg O) 
 
 i5 += 
 
 03 © 
 
 s a 
 
 CD '"^ 
 
 Distances 
 in kilometers. 
 
 J3 o 
 S a 
 
 f^ 03 
 
 o 
 M 
 ■6 
 
 f^ 
 
 J3 O 
 o o 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 Sources in the Tsi-shi-range .... 
 
 Lantshou-fu . . 
 
 Ho-K5u at the mouth of the P5rkon-gol. 
 
 Mouth of the POnnho 
 
 Mouth of the Weiho 
 
 Tung-kwan 
 
 Mountain-pass near I-Titshu . 
 Yen-ku-hsien 
 
 Eastern extremity of the northern I'ange along 
 the Hwang-ho 
 
 Perry at Kai-fong-fu 
 Emperor's canal. . 
 Tsi-nan-fu .... 
 
 1110 
 1010 
 580 
 
 J) 
 
 110 
 14 
 
 ;; 
 
 110 
 38 
 71 
 
 185 
 
 J) 
 
 195 
 110 
 227 
 
 Mouth of the Hwang-ho in the Inner Yellow- Sea 
 
 
 
 i; 
 
 1110 
 
 )» 
 
 2120 
 2700 
 2810 
 
 ?; 
 
 2824 
 2934 
 2972 
 
 J) 
 
 3043 
 3228 
 3423 
 3533 
 3760 
 
 
 
 )» 
 
 580 
 690 
 
 11 
 
 704 
 814 
 
 11 
 
 852 
 
 )1 
 
 923 
 
 11 
 
 1108 
 
 11 
 
 1303 
 1413 
 
 1640 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 110 
 124 
 
 234 
 
 )) 
 
 272 
 
 343 
 
 11 
 
 528 
 723 
 833 
 1060 
 
 Between Tung- 
 Kwan and the 
 I-Titshu moun- 
 tain-pass is Shan- 
 tshou at 85 kilo- 
 meters from 
 Tungkwan. 
 
 The river borrows its name from the yellow loess floating in it. According to 
 the above-mentioned Chinese Chwang-fu, the stream is still clear at Shan-tshou (a 
 distance of 209 kilometers down the river from the junction of the F6nn-ho) ; and 
 from here upwards as far as Tung-Kwan the swiftness of the current seems to be 
 sufficient to prevent any deposit of sand or slime so that the course of the river 
 is uninterrupted. On the other hand the river downwards, as far as Mong-tsin-hsien , 
 seems to be impeded by cross mountain ridges which rise up within the bed of the 
 river and are partly covered with loess. Navigation here, in the mountain passes, 
 is not only difficult, but even dangerous. 
 
 2 
 
10 
 
 Moiinlain ranges 
 in North China which 
 more paiticularly in- 
 Uuence the course of 
 the Hwang-ho. 
 
 § 3. The mountain ridges in North-Cliina and Central-Asia, with which 
 Hwang-ho is cliiefly concerned, are in general features as follows: 
 
 a. The parallel mountain ridges running nearly from West to East and 
 forming the Kwen-lun system which constitutes the southern boundary of the Tarym 
 basin. It joins the elevated steppe-country or Highlands of Khor and, in combination 
 with this, extends to the West and partly to the South as far as the high mountain 
 range of the Himalaya system; the whole of this elevated steppe-country being 
 bounded to the South-East by the mountain ranges of the Sinian system. 
 
 The Kwen-lun system also forms in part the south-easterly limit of the 
 Tarym basin. It contains, between the two chief mountain ridges the Hsi-king-shan 
 and the Tsi-shi-shan , the Starry sea or the springs of Hsingsu-hai. Here rises the 
 Hwang-ho which has forced for itself a very winding passage through this range , and 
 having reached Lan-tschou-fu, flows first in a northerly and afterwards in an easterly 
 direction , south of the In-Shan mountain ridge. Streaming in the form of an inverted 
 U, it incloses the districts of Ordos , and then flows on southward tiU it is joined by 
 the Wei-river on the borders of the provinces Shensi, Shansi, andHonan. It streams 
 thence in a nearly easterly direction to Seu-hing, below Kai-fong-fu, from where 
 the river streamed until 1852 in a south-easterly direction to the Yellow-sea near 
 Hwai-ngan-fu. The present river alters its course at Seu-hing and flows in a 
 north-easterly direction until it reaches the Gulf of Pe-tschi-li. 
 
 The Kwenlun system is intersected pretty nearly in the direction of north to 
 south, and thereby divided into an eastern and a westerly part, by the branch of 
 the Hwang-ho, called the Tau-ho, which flows into the main river below Lan-tschou-fu. 
 The eastern continuation of the range comprehends the mighty mountain ridges, the 
 Tsing-hng-shan and the Hsiung-orr-shan , extending southward of the Wei-river and 
 its junction with the Hwang-ho, to the province of Honan above Kai-fong-fu. These 
 mountain-ridges disappear abruptly under the alluvial loess plains, but reappear with 
 the mountain ridges of the Sinian system, in the province of Shantung and to the 
 north-west of Nanking. 
 
 b. The mountain range forming the Sinian system which, extending south, 
 joins the Kwenlun range in a direction very nearly south-westh to north-east, and 
 extends likewise to the province of Honan. 
 
 The eastern Kwenlun or Tsing-ling range forms the division between North 
 and South China ; the watershed between the river system of the Hwang-ho and that 
 of the Yang-tsze-kiang ; and the separation between the loess covered highlands or 
 mountains to the north, and the loess-free mountainous districts to the south. 
 
 The Sinian system with the granite and gneiss formation of the crystalline 
 schiefer range ; the chalky mountains ; and finally the coal deposits form the boundary 
 of the Ordos district on the south-east and of the Hwang-ho on the north. They 
 extei]d eastwards to the great alluvial loess plain through which the Hwang-ho 
 has streamed in so widely different directions. 
 
 General Review of § 4. Looss Is a peculiar kind of soil which is met with in many parts of 
 
 Loess-forrnations. Europe , moro especially in the valley of the Rhine and along the Danube. This 
 
11 
 
 loess attains locally a thickness of from 100 to 200 feet. A formation in some 
 respects similar, but in many very different, covers the surface in China and the neigh- 
 bouring countries, throughout such an immense area, and rises to such enormous heights 
 that its economical significance in Europe can scarcely be compared with that in Asia. 
 
 The information respecting loess and steppe formations in Asia, indispensable 
 to a proper understanding of the Yellow River, is borrowed from the previously 
 mentioned work on China, by JVlr. von Richthofen. 
 
 Loess is a brittle sort of earth of a brownish yellow colour , which is easily reduced 
 to powder between the fingers, and which is found nevertheless, compressed into 
 such solid masses, that its perpendicular walls, even undermined by water, often 
 rise hundreds of feet high, breaking to pieces or falling in as the case may be. It 
 is this peculiarity that has made us acquainted with the inner composition of these 
 mighly deposits. The elements of which it consists are so extremely minute, that 
 on separating the earthy from the sandy components, the former will force their 
 way through the pores of the skin , leaving the fine grains of sand in greater or less 
 quantity behind. What is considered as one of the most remarkable characteristics 
 of loess is the nature of the sand found in it, which is sharp and angular instead 
 of being rounded, and which, by repeated washing, can be separated from the clayey 
 constituents, which are also present in large quantities, tinged a light brownish 
 yellow colour from the presence of iron; finally attention should be drawn to the 
 presence of carbonate of lime which can be shown by treatment with acids, or even 
 be seen, in a measure, with- the naked eye. These easily distinguished constituents 
 get separated by the rivers, which in the loess districts sweep away such immense 
 quantities of the „YeUow Earth" or Hwang-tu, that the mightiest among them, the 
 Hwang-ho, has borrowed its name from it. The stream performs the washing process 
 by which the different constituents are separated, and the sand settles down in the 
 bed of the river, which as a rule is thus rendered shallower, or divides into arms 
 between ever increasing sandbanks, becoming thus more and more unsuitable to 
 navigation. The clayey constituents on the other hand, either spread over the 
 neighbouring districts when the river overflows its banks, thus fertilizing the soil, 
 or are carried downwards with the slowly moving sand to the sea, where they form 
 deposits which cause shallows and a gradual extension of the coast line seaward. In 
 the same way the lime constituents, and the ever recurring and easily dissolved 
 alkalis or, the more strictly speaking chlorate and sulphate are borne down to the 
 sea or partly retained in the rich alluvial soils. 
 
 The nature of loess varies according to its formation above or below water. 
 Loess in China is chiefly formed above water, in the air. This caused uncertainty 
 as to its correspondence in nature with European Loess, which is always or nearly 
 always formed in the water, and gave rise to various views and theories. 
 
 § g. The loess occurring along the Rhine is met with: ij L^ess found on the 
 
 ptiy_ Upwards, in various places along the river at a height of a 100 meters Rhine. 
 
 1) See part III of my Review of some rivers, including the Dutch rivers. 
 
12 
 
 and more above the present average level of the Rhine. It has here been deposited 
 in the form of terraces, which are found on both sides of the mountain slopes 
 parallel to the axis of the valley. These loess layers have often a thickness of from 
 60 to 70 meters aud contain the bones of mammalia and innumerable land shells, 
 which correspond in all respects with those met with at present, in the cold and 
 damp regions of northern countries. 
 
 The origin of this loess is easily shown, for the constituents of the slate 
 and schist conglomerate correspond with the white lake- loam occurring in the 
 lake of Constance and with that of the Rhine-loess below Constance, so that 
 the formation of both loams from the crushed and worn off remains of the above 
 named conglomerate is beyond all doubt. We must however remark that the carbo- 
 nate of lime in the loess, shows that the Rhine formerly came into contact with 
 other mountains than is the case at present. Thus the loam in the lake of Constance 
 contains 37, the Rhine loess 20 to 25; and on the other hand the actual Rhine mud 
 below Bonn but 8 or 3.64 "/(, of carbonic salts. 
 
 It was formerly supposed that loess could settle down in a lake only ; later 
 on, that it was more readily formed under water, but my own judgment leads me 
 to agree with the acute observations of Mr. Collomb, who has endeavoured to prove, 
 that Rhine loess is nothing else but mud which, being swept down the rivers and 
 streams together with huge masses of ice in the glacial period, has filled up the 
 valleys of the Vosges and of the Schwarzwald. In the opinion of Mr. Collomb this 
 crushed stone, carried down within the ice-bergs, must, in every case where this 
 occurred, have formed moraines, thus making natural basins for the reception of the 
 waters, and offering to the ice-crushed walls of the mountain passes and valleys 
 the opportunity of sinking down in the form of fine mud. This keen observer has 
 further endeavoured to show that there are abundant proofs which bear evidence to 
 the former presence of numerous huge masses of ice, so that the theory of their 
 having been the means by which all the Rhine loess may have been formed is not 
 by any means venturesome. 
 
 2ndiy_ Downwards , where it has been demonstrated that a layer of loess extends 
 beneath very nearly the whole valley of the Rhine: for traces of loess have been 
 found up the river as far as Cologne, on the left bank as far as Straelen in the 
 district of Geldern, and on the right bank far into the Lippe-district. The presence 
 of this loess at great depths justifies the theory of its settlement or formation 
 in water. 
 
 Nature of the Rhine- § 6. The nature of this loess was carefully examined , at the construction of the 
 
 loess. Rhine railway bridge at Wesel, at Hamm near Dusseldorf, and also during the deepening 
 
 of the Rheinpreussen mine-shaft near Homberg, the special object in view being to 
 determine its resisting power and what effect streaming water might have upon it. 
 The borings for this purpose in the alluvial soil below Wesel were carried 
 to a depth of 21.98 M. beneath the surface. Those on the right bank of the Rhine, 
 close to the bank, yielded, down to a depth of 7 M., the usual alluvial matter of the 
 Rhine plain, consisting of a mixture of sand and gravel, and under that a layer of loess 
 
13 
 
 presenting the exact same characteristics down to a depth of 21.98 M. On the left 
 bank of the Rhine this layer was encountered at a depth of 10.13 M. and, at the first 
 river-pier near the right bank, at a depth of 7.57 Meters. 
 
 The masses of loess brought up in the boring-pipes were in a completely 
 dissolved state, which caused some anxiety as to the stability of the bridge-piers 
 which were to reach down into the loess-layer. 
 
 After being carefully cleansed, the loess obtained in this boring, was found 
 to contain 80.9 "/(, of sand, and 19.1 •/„ of a muddy matter. 
 
 The sand consisted chiefly of extremely fine quartz grains, of a small part of 
 clay , oxyde of iron , and the shells of Crustacea. 
 
 The mud contained the same constituents as the clayey deposit which settles 
 down in the Rhine when in a swollen or troubled state, and corresponded in its 
 chemical composition, with clay rich in ferruginous and organic constitaents. 
 
 The trifling alloy of 3.64 "/q of carbonate of lime was partly to be attributed 
 to the shells of Crustacea , and partly to the precipitation of the originally free carbons 
 in the Rhine, from the dissolved bicarbonate of hme. 
 
 Thus, in point of fact, the matter brought up in the borings, was not to be 
 distinguished from the common Rhine deposits, and should be reckoned, chiefly on 
 account of the clayey mud , among the loess-layers , containing but little lime , which 
 occur in the Rhine-valley. 
 
 The loess matter obtained at Dusseldorf and in deepening the mine-shaft the 
 „ Rheinpreussen " has not , so far as is known , been carefully analysed , but would 
 seem to belong to the same layer. It differs from the Wesel deposits only by a 
 different admixture of the quartz-sand and the mud which is easily distinguished 
 from its darker colour. 
 
 The nature of the loess-layer at Hamm , Homberg and Wesel, may be considered 
 as the same; it therefore attracted attention, that the tubes used for the borings 
 at Wesel, encountered no less resistance after reaching the loess-layer, than in the 
 sand- and gravel-layer, though the muddy mass brought to the surface had led to 
 other conclusions. 
 
 Still more remarkable was the difficulty experienced in forcing the screw-tap 
 through the loess. This bore was attached to an iron rod 18.84 M. long, and 0.013 M. 
 thick, moving freely and almost without friction along a length of 17.27 M. in a 
 three inch (0.078 M.) tube. The difficulty recurred at three different borings ; it 
 showed the firmness of the loess-layer, and ceased to be observable when the original 
 layer, having been disturbed and mixed with water, had become softened. 
 
 The firmness of the loess-layer was further demonstrated at the foundation 
 of the two piers for the Rhine-bridge "at Hamm. This was accomplished in both cases 
 by pneumatic machinery, the edges of the receivers being sunk several feet into the 
 loess-layer. 
 
 This presented an opportunity for examining the original nature of the deposit 
 which turned out to be so hard that the lumps could only be broken with axes. 
 
 Later on one of the piers gave way, which was at first supposed to have 
 been caused by the upheaval of the deeper-lying layers in consequence of water- 
 
u 
 
 pressure from below; but it is now, with certainty, ascribed to other causes, the 
 loess-layer not possessing the properties of quicksand and being much better able 
 to offer resistance to water-pressure. This opinion, far from being weakened by the 
 collapse of the pier, has been strikingly upheld by the results obtained in the 
 „ Rheinpreussen " mine. 
 
 The mine shaft „ Rheinpreussen " near Homberg, on the left bank of the Rhine , 
 had been sunk in 1871 to a depth of 136.90 M. below the Rhine level. The sinking 
 was accomplished with pneumatic machinery and the bottom of a loess-layer 58 M. 
 thick had been reached , when the air-shaft burst through the upheaval of the earth 
 below, and the shaft, for the greater part, was filled up. Before the accident the 
 manometer in the air-shaft had indicated a pressure of no more the 2| atmospheres, 
 although the bottom of the shaft, when the ground-water was low, was 71.59 M. 
 under the surface of the water. 
 
 As however under the pressure of a water-column 71.59 M. high, the main- 
 tenance of equipoise requires an overpressure of 7 atmospheres, the preceding goes 
 to prove , that the thickness of the loess layer at the last minute was still sufficient 
 to resist a hydrostatic pressure of 7 h- 2| ^ 4| atmospheres. Here however the 
 resisting power of the loess had been reached >); and the mass below, upheaved 
 by the water forcing its way into it, was converted into mud. 
 
 It is remarkable however that the accident should not have happened until 
 such a depth had been reached, and goes far to prove the toughness of the loess; 
 for the diameter of the walled interior of the shaft was 4.79 M., the upward pressure 
 of the water therefore, over this surface, must have been considerable. It may be 
 concluded from this that the resisting power of the loess-layer was sufficient to 
 support the piers of the Wesel Rhine-bridge, the more so that the under- surface of 
 these piers was three times as large as that of the Rhine-bridge at Hamm. 
 
 At the Wesel inquiry, the question was carefully gone into, as to what 
 resistance exposed loess could offer to a powerful stream, this being an important 
 factor in the system and construction of the foundations. 
 
 The strong cohesion that should exist between a ferruginous clay and quartz 
 sand to explain the above mentioned firmness of the loess, justified the opinion that 
 a horizontal stream (not a somewhat vertical one, streaming from below upwards) 
 would not be sufficient to disturb the coherence of the loess constituents and wash 
 them away, any more than this is the case in the ordinary gravel bottom of 
 the Rhine. 
 
 This opinion was confirmed by the phenomena observed in the Rhine. The 
 Rhine-bed between Cologne and Wesel has in fact, at certain windings of the 
 stream, pools more than 22 M. deep. In like manner at the heads of a few cribs, 
 in that part of the river which streams by Wesel, holes have been formed in the 
 last few -years, more than 12.56 M. deep, at places where the subsoil consisted of 
 sand and gravel. Meanwhile it is scarcely possible to indicate a single point in the 
 river, where the stream conditions are so unfavourable, and the current so given to 
 
 •) The thickness of the layer at the bursting, which might have been of high importance, is not given. 
 
15 
 
 the forming of pools, as in the Budericher Canal near Wesel, and nevertheless, no 
 depths much greater than 10 M. below the Wesel watermark have been discovered. 
 The greatest depth of the pools between the cribs at the Romer Wardt at 
 Wesel is 7.85 M. below the Wesel watermarli, and it is moreover remarkable that 
 the loess-layer in the two last named places is exposed, and not covered by any 
 gravel layer. If then, in such unfavourable parts of the river, the action of the current 
 does not cause the great clefts in the loess-layer, elsewhere observable, it may be 
 safely concluded, that loess offers as much resistance to the assaults of the stream 
 as the Rhine gravel does. 
 
 § 7. Loess in China is chiefly formed above water or in the air; it is charac- On the Nature of 
 terized by its hollow artery system , which occurs everywhere , is observable even in sub-aqueous Loess in 
 the smallest piece and presents the appearace of a tissue of extremely fine tubes 
 or canals interspersed with a few larger ones. These arteries branch out just as 
 the fibrous roots of certain plants, and are usually lined with a thin whitish coating 
 of carbonate of hme. Moreover the chief arteries rise perpendicularly in the loess, 
 the ramifications shooting out from them at sharp angles in a downward direction; 
 so that any piece of loess broken off lengthwise will exhibit the delicate intersection 
 of the tubes or arteries. 
 
 In this hollow artery-system, the loose porous earth has not the consistency 
 which characterizes clay and loam , and these properties are of very great economical 
 significance. In consequence of the capillarity of the vertical fibrous arteries, the 
 water is soaked up as in a sponge , and the heaviest rains do not leave the shghtest 
 trace on the surface. This of course prevents the formation of pools or lakes in the 
 loess bottom. Springs do not occur in great numbers, except where the loess has 
 settled down on a rocky bottom. On the other hand, the roads which have been 
 laid across such bottoms suffer very much from the rains, because the puddle 
 water cannot make its way through the dense sticky mud which covers the ground. 
 This frequently entirely arrests all vehicular intercourse: for the cartwheels 
 destroy the fibrous nature of the loess, which although not easily kneaded, gets 
 reduced to a chalky loam, and this once dry, does not readily absorb moisture or 
 allow of its passing through quickly. The results therefore of Mr. von Richthofen's 
 investigations show the land-loess, or loess formed above ground, to be a sort of 
 fibrous loam, diff'ering in its nature from ordinary loam, and which, through 
 its large calcareous admixture and sharp pointed quartz grains, is excellently suited 
 to the purposes of agriculture. Both soils satisfy the requirements of different 
 branches of agriculture , depending upon an apparently very trifling circumstance viz. 
 the absence or presence of capillary composition. 
 
 The Chinese loess moreover seems to be distinguished from the Rhine-loess at 
 Wesel by the large quantity of lime contained in it. 
 
 The properties of Chinese loess with reference to colour, solidity, consis- 
 tency and composition are readily seen in any little piece taken at haphazard , 
 while the other properties can only be examined locally. Amongst the latter must 
 be reckoned the presence or absence of foreign substances, to which belong: 
 
16 
 
 P'. the firm marlaceous agglomerations or petrifactions of tuberous and many 
 other curiously shaped forms, varying from the size of a pea to a foot in length 
 but seldom larger. They are well known along the Pv,hine under the name of Loess- 
 mannikins, and in China they are called stone-ginger, because they remarkably 
 resemble the ginger roots in form. Sometimes these petrifactions are found in great 
 heaps together; sometimes one will only find slight traces of them; they are seldom 
 altogether absent ; 
 
 2ndiy_ |;];jg angular stony fragments evidently not rounded by the action of the 
 water, generally found in heaps together and forming stone-agglomerates, whose 
 dispersal is always more or less limited; 
 
 3"''''^. the bleached shells of land-snails, which are met with in very different 
 quantities, but observable everywhere; 
 
 4thiy_ ii^Q i3ones of land-mammalia spread disconnectedly through the loess and 
 usually thrown, together with manure, upon the fields. 
 
 The nature of land-loess is moreover characterized by two properties very 
 intimately connected viz. : 
 
 P*'y. the absence of layer shaped divisions; and 
 
 2°'i'y. its aptness to split up vertically. 
 
 Division in horizontal layers is so common in all the great clay and loam 
 formations, that the loess formations in China, 1500 and very likely 2000 feet high, 
 without any trace of a layer-separation, have caused much astonishment. The loess- 
 formation in the province of Honan , south of Hwai-king-fu along the Southern bank 
 of the Yellow River, is broken up into great clefts and does not show a single layer- 
 division. Only an occasional separation between the banks is discernable, consequent 
 on the presence of loess-mannikins which occur in nearly horizontal layers, and 
 interrupt the continuity of the whole. The respective distances of these layers from 
 each other are very different; sometimes but a few feet; generally however 50 feet, 
 and sometimes several hundred feet. Although these marlaceous petrifactions are 
 met with irregularly divided, and in great quantities throughout the loess, still they 
 are usually found in heaps immediately above or below the separating plains. 
 Respecting the vertical splits in loess Mr. von Richthofen refers to the above men- 
 tioned loess formation, to the south of Hwai-king-fu, of which the lower bank, 200 
 feet thick , forms the boundary of the alluvial plain , with vertical walls of equal 
 height, through which the Yellow River winds. Here the vertical sphts are plainly 
 visible and some of them are bounded by perpendicular sherds or fragments of great 
 length and height but of little thickness. These perpendicular sherds or fragments hang 
 to the loess- wall and threaten to fall in , which in fact in some places often happens , 
 where in consequence of the curves and windings of the river, the water streams 
 against the lower side of the tall sherd and undermines it. The front in this way 
 loses its support and a piece spht in a vertical direction works itself loose from the 
 loess; it has frequently a thickness of 10 to 15 feet at the base, a length of 150 
 feet, and to the top, which is wedge-shaped, a height of perhaps 100 to 120 feet. 
 In course of time this fragment falls in , is destroyed by the stream , and, gradually 
 decreasing or wearing away, carried 'lown to the sea. Instead of the former perpen- 
 
17 
 
 dicular wall , there is now on the upper side an overhanging part , which is no longer 
 sustained and, in the course of years , loosens itself from the mass after the formation 
 in it of a succession of vertical splits. Thus sherd after sherd topples over into the 
 stream. The wall does not however become perpendicular again , until the river, by 
 some change in its course , no longer undermines it ; for pieces are continually getting 
 loose and falling in, before the overhanging brow follows them. The impending 
 loess-wall is thus met with wherever it is undermined by streaming water; and the 
 perpendicular wall, which recedes much slower, wherever the undermining influence 
 is absent. The splitting seems to be chiefly caused by the rainfall , by which the pro- 
 jecting parts are successively washed away and the perpendicular outline preserved. 
 
 It is thus proved beyond the possibility of doubt that the origin of these 
 remarkable phenomena is to be ascribed to the peculiar vertical capillary composition 
 of the loess. Yet it is worthy of attention, that at one time the loess-layers 
 lying between the banks on which the loess-mannikins are buried, were considered 
 as separate strata. The inquiries set on foot respecting the correctness of this 
 deduction are of great importance, for they show how the mighty land-loess 
 deposits were formed. In water-formations the layers of sand and of schist which 
 have been successively deposited are always separated by flat layers, very 
 nearly parallel to each other. These are as a rule the result of a periodical change in 
 the deposed matter, and their formation has promoted the splits between the rock- 
 layers. Where however clay and sand have been deposed together, an homogeneous 
 mixture may now and then occur, but nearly always there will be a preponderance 
 of either clay or sand. 
 
 The mica leaves, almost invariably present, lie horizontally, and form by 
 accumulation a layer, from which the loess is easily separated. Great boulders , either 
 flat or elongated in form, he with their greater axes horizontally and occur at regular 
 intervals in the loess without forming separate layers; snail-shells occur frequently 
 but irregularly and not layer- wise. The loess-mannikins alone, ranged horizontally, 
 seem to form a separate layer, in which the petrifactions stand with their greater 
 axes bolt upright, so that they must must have been formed on the very spot where 
 they are found. Their nature is more especially apparent in places, where the loess 
 covers the slope of a rocky mountain-range , and is intersected by a ravine which 
 admits of an examination of the loess at different depths. It has in such places been 
 observed that at relatively small distances many parallel layers of angular mountain 
 gravel extend to a greater or less distance , sloping slightly away from the mountain. 
 It is in such layers that the perpendicular loess-mannikins are found and the gravel 
 gradually decreases in dimension. Some of these stone-layers soon come to and end; 
 others extend pretty far towards the middle of the loess bed ; but it is in every case 
 clearly visible, that this rocky gravel has been washed away from the mountain and 
 carried over the loess with the stream as far as the force of the current could take it. 
 Sometimes the separating- planes extend still further, but only in consequence of the 
 presence of marl-stone. Where however the loess fills up some great basin amid the 
 mountains, these layers are scarcest in the middle of the basin, where the banks of 
 homogeneous loess attain their greatest thickness. 
 
 3 
 
18 
 
 Tliere can therefore be here no question of a strata-Jike loess formation, such 
 as takes place in water-formations. Still it is probable that during the gradual 
 building up of the loess , periodic conditions were entered upon , which brought about 
 a change in the then existing upper surface of these accumulated masses. In this 
 way, later on, the water which had forced its way through encountered resistance; 
 this caused a deposit of the chemically dissolved matter and assisted the formation 
 of agglomerations or petrifactions. 
 
 According to Mr. von Richthofen therefore, the loess in China has as a rule 
 not been built up in strata, so that the layers which divide the banks, and which 
 contain matter foreign to the loess, must be considered as a phenomenon totally 
 distinct from strata-formation properly so called. This occurs only in water-loess, 
 which , though composed of the same constituents as the land-loess , is nevertheless 
 totally distinct from it. 
 
 General review of llie 
 region througliout 
 
 which the loess 
 in China extends. 
 
 § 8. For a general review of the region throughout which the loess 
 in China extends, we shall move from the coast westward, first crossing 
 the alluvial plain about 300 kilometers broad. At the extremity of this plain 
 rises a terrace from 30 to 80 meters high , consisting entirely of loess ; and after 
 that a mountain-wah 750 kilometers long, forming a sharp line of demarcation 
 between the plain and the adjoining mountain-region of Tai-hang-shan with its rich 
 coal deposits, in the provinces of Honan and Shansi. Above the rocky slope of this 
 mountain range extends a plateau ranging from 600 to 1000 M. high, a very large 
 portion of which is covered with loess, and from which arises on the other side a 
 second mountain-wall, forming the boundary of a second plateau from 1500 to 1800 
 meters high. This plateau too, for the greater part of its -breadth, is covered by an 
 immense loess-deposit, and, at its western extremity, adjoins a cup-shaped valley, 
 filled with loess from edge to edge , the surface of which gradually slopes down from 
 the edge to the centre. The F6nn-ho and its affluents have cut their way through 
 here, and by their denudations have shown the loess to be in some places 600 
 meters in thickness. The western edge of this basin adjoins the mountain-range, 
 which at its other extremity bounds the deep incision cut by the Yellow River, 
 which streams here in a southerly direction. This mountain-range extends with 
 varying elevations through the provinces of Shensi and Kansu, and is everywhere 
 covered with loess of unequal thickness, here and there ending against a mountain 
 slope. Further on the mountain-range extends in a westerly direction, the loess- 
 banks only coming to an end where, at a straight distance of about 1560 kilometers 
 from the coast, the region of the undrained basins begins at the last affluent of 
 the Hwang-ho. 
 
 To the north the last incisions which lay the loess bare occur also at the 
 watershed, at the hmit of the steppes of Mongolia. 
 
 To the south the boundary of the loess is in part very sharply defined. The 
 valley of the "Wei river, along the northern foot of the mountain-range Tsin-ling-shan, 
 is inclosed within loess- walls nearly 200 M. high, and the thickness of the loess 
 formation below the valley is probably very considerable. At the mountain declivities 
 
19 
 
 Elevations of Loess. 
 
 the loess rises and the less exposed parts are filled up with it. On the other side 
 of the watershed there are only a few basins in the higher mountains filled up 
 with loess, but here for the rest the formation suddenly ceases. In the province of 
 Sz-Tshwan there is no more loess to be discerned. In the province of Honan however, 
 where the last hills of the Kwen-lun mountains merge into the plain, the loess 
 extends still further south, filling up a great part of the basin through which flows 
 the Hanriver. 
 
 In the provinces of Honan and Shantung the mountains project above the 
 loess, and the vales for the greater part of their surface are covered with alluvial 
 matter, over which the loess-layer has extended as far as the Yang-tsze-kiang, and 
 a few places near Nanking and near the lakes of Po-yang and Tung-ting. No traces 
 of loess are to be met with further south. ') 
 
 § 9. The loess, on the second plateau in Shansi, reaches a height of 1800 M. 
 and in the northern part of this province , on the mountain chain of Wu-tai-Shan , 
 it even attains an altitude of 2400 M. It covers the mountain passes of this 
 wild range, settles on the top of the broad prominent rocks or inclines towards the 
 sheltered parts of the valley slopes, where the rest of the extensive loess-formation 
 has been washed away by the water. To the north, outside the great Chinese wall, 
 immense stretches, 2000 M. high, are covered with loess, and it is probable that to 
 the west, in Kansu and Khukhu-nor, it rises to still higher altitudes. It is therefore 
 astonishing that loess, independent of its elevation above the sea, should grow ver- 
 tically and, except on a few mountain- ridges forming watersheds, should always be 
 met with, where the subsoil and other circumstances are favorable to its formation, 
 and where it is not washed away or covered by other alluvial deposits. It can be 
 demonstrated that, from the period of its formation in North China, its level has 
 undergone but relatively trifling changes, and that broadly speaking the surface of 
 the land has remained nearly unaltered. Loess is thus distinct from other formations 
 in this respect, that it settled down on the heights where it is still found, from the 
 beginning, and that its formation in the deep valleys of the Hwang-ho and on the 
 heights of the Wu-tai-shan took place simultaneously. This now is what we are 
 unaccustomed to admit in other formations of equal extent. 
 
 It is also evident that the loess, by its vast extension, diminished the 
 inequalities of the mountainous regions. It formed gentle bowl-shaped valleys over 
 rocky cliffs , and thereby uniform districts instead of the former abundant diversity of 
 forms. The flat character of these districts is however only apparent. The seemingly 
 smooth surface conceals great obstacles to traffic, such as usually occur in rocky 
 hill-districts, and in order to understand the nature of loess districts properly, it will 
 be necessary to examine the pecuhar action of the water in the loess regions. 
 
 § 10. With this end in view Mr. von Richthofen cafls attention to the before- Action ofthe Water in 
 mentioned second plateau of Shansi, the western ridge of which rises to a height of Laud-Loess formation. 
 
 1) The surface, whicli the loess in China covers, nearly uninterruptedly corresponds in size with 
 Germany; its total area however is at least half as large again, as it extends far beyond the Chinese frontiers. 
 
20 
 
 of 1500 to 1800 M. and whose surface gradually slopes down, on an incline of 50 
 to 1, to the town of Ping-yang-fu , on the river F6nn-ho, about 50 kilometers distant. 
 One hardly realizes that one has descended 1000 Meters , while on the other side too, 
 the ground gradually rises, and the hills with their round forms, which in the 
 distant horizon form the boundary of the bowl-shaped basins in the west, rise in 
 the same way to a height of more than 1500 M. In consequence of prolonged 
 droughts, this surface is sometimes bare and of a uniform yehow colour, and the 
 valley otherwise so fertile presents the aspect of a wilderness , in which the clearness 
 of the atmosphere induces the belief that one can perceive all the unevennesses of 
 the ground. The surface indeed, with the exception of a few near-lying crevices, 
 seems so . even , that it leaves the impression as if one could race across the 
 plain at full gallop. And yet every loess country hke that of Ping-yang-fu , is so 
 inaccessible, that even pedestrians, if they do not keep to the beaten roads, are lost. 
 The difficulties that occur are even greater than those to be surmounted amid the 
 rocks and cliffs of the high mountain range, and are caused by the deep channels 
 which the water has formed in the loess. Leaving Ping-yang-fu which is inclosed 
 within a flat circular-formed basin whose broad bottom, in the middle, is made up of water- 
 loess or lake deposits , one remarks that the walls by which the land-loess slopes down to 
 the water-loess are not high. Along the tributary streams of the F6nn-ho upwards however, 
 the inclosing walls rise higher and higher, the fall of the ground being much smaller 
 at the bottom of the watercourse than at the surface. In the ravines thus formed 
 the loess-walls soon rise to several hundred feet above the bottom of the river-bed, 
 this height being reached by terraces the walls receding further and further 
 from the water-course. It is joined a little further on, at a sharp angle, by a 
 second cleft formed by a tributary of the first, and if this is followed upwards, it 
 is joined right and left by greater and lesser tributaries , each separate one of them 
 being again joined by other streams. Thus, one gets into a maze of ravines, which 
 at their origin are from 30 to 50 feet deep and often not more than 4 to 6 
 feet across. 
 
 If one tries to descend from these terraces , one is checked by the perpendicular 
 walls which descend to the bottom of the cleft, and so every where the difficulties go on 
 increasing endlessly. This system of clefts or ravines may be compared with the 
 trunk of a tree , which is made up of the union of a number of roots ; these main 
 roots divide into larger or smaller ones with innumerable fibres, each fibre represen- 
 ting a deep cleft or split. Along the sides of the loess-basins there are sometimes 
 several of the ravine systems close together , some of which originate at the extreme 
 edge, others starting about the middle of the surrounding mountain ranges. If the 
 loess had the same consistency throughout, from top to bottom, such places would 
 be impassable , for the clefts would then be formed into ravines of often more than 
 1000 feet in depth. Here however the beneficent influence of the marl-petrifactions 
 comes into play, changing the otherwise perpendicular walls into a succession of 
 terrace-like slopes. True, each separate bank terminates in a perpendicular and often 
 overhanging wall, but through the protecting surface-vegetation, the upper surface 
 of the terrace-plains is made even, so that the the next sherd does not fall in for 
 
21 
 
 some time, and then at some distance from the first. The sherds thus get heaped 
 up at the foot and are then divided over the terrace by the rains and also by the 
 peasantry who in furtherance of their agricultural pursuits try to assist nature by 
 dividing their lands into terrace-like fields on a smaller scale. In this way the marl- 
 stones are covered over with a layer of soft arable land. 
 
 In the good season such a terrace , seen from above , offers to the eye nothing 
 but green fields, while from below one sees only the yellow loess-walls 
 devoid of all vegetation, rising straight up one above the other, the edge alone being 
 fringed with a border of grass-blades. 
 
 Loess-landscape is remarkable for its extremely varied forms, so varied as 
 frequently to have made geologists doubt whether they were not viewing a different 
 formation. The eye never tires of gazing on this wealth of forms. 
 
 § 11. The traffic roads are sometimes cut deep in the loess and so near the Tiaffic Roads in the 
 perpendicular edge, that the latter merely forms a natural independent wall of. earth ^°'^^^- 
 
 in which the holes , made to carry off the accumulated rain-water, look like windows , 
 through which one may view a chaos of wildernesses with perpendicular projections 
 of loess of a uniform yellow colour, all of them forming the boundary of inaccessible 
 ravines. These hollow roads are frequently very steep, making it very difficult to 
 transport even an empty cart. All of a sudden these walls on either side come to 
 an end, and the road continues through a narrow cutting, confined between gaping 
 yellow precipices in endless ramifications. Where the cutting rises again, the level 
 surface of a terrace is sometimes made use of. The hollow road however soon begins 
 again, and one enters upon another ravine system, most likely wholly disconnected 
 with the previous one. Here the road has to find its way downwards to reach the 
 bottom, only to rise again through ravines on the other side. The Chinese, with 
 marvellous judgment, have succeeded in choosing, amidst this maze of precipices, 
 the most desirable direction for their traffic roads. In loess-districts intercommunication 
 roads are laid easiest along the fiat bottom of a former lake-basin , such as that of 
 Ping-Yang-fu. Even when one has to climb from here, between two ravine systems 
 opening sideways, up to the edge of the basin, the difficulties are easily overcome, 
 the ascent being as a rule easy. The obstacles, on the other hand, are very great 
 when the road has to pass clefts or ravines, as is the case with the chief traffic 
 road of Shansi over the famous Han-sin-ling pass and with many others. Such roads 
 are exposed to continual change of direction. Mr. von Richthofen observes that these 
 dificulties would be very greatly enhanced, if it ever should be a question of laying 
 a railway across a loess-district. To construct a passage across the ravines, and to 
 master the difficulties attending the changes caused by the falling sherds, consequent 
 on the newly-formed cuttings and the formation of fresh clefts , would be as difficult , 
 as it would be easy to cut a passage through the yellow earth. This cannot be denied. 
 A railway that, like an ordinary road, would be exposed to continual change of 
 direction, may be considered a failure. Its construction would have to be preceded 
 by a thorough study of the ravine system , which would presumably have to be trans- 
 formed, so as to get on either side of the projected way a separate drainage and system 
 
purposes. 
 
 22 
 
 of roads. Undoubtedly this would require the removal of great quantities of loess ; the 
 road would have to be constructed through the lowest parts of the valleys and along 
 the slopes of the mountains, where the loess-layer is thinnest; and presumably too, 
 there would be no question of following the shortest route. 
 
 Importance of Loess § 12. If the loess is an Obstacle to traffic, it is, on the other hand, in many 
 
 glim ma rospects of the greatest value to the population. This observation applies more par- 
 ticularly to agriculture. The climate and the rain-distribution in southern China 
 are so favourable, that two or even three crops are raised on the generally fertile 
 bottom , and a luxuriant vegetation is found even amid the mountains ; agriculture 
 there seldom extends beyond a height of 100 Meters. On the other hand, the land 
 in North China is under cultivation to a much greater height, agriculture in the 
 north of the province of Shansi attaining an elevation of 2000 Meters and sporadically 
 2400 Meters, which, in comparison with Europe, is considerable. In Switzerland 
 agriculture is carried on up to an average height of 1200 Meters only, through in 
 this respect there exist a few very remarkable exceptions. 
 
 On Mount Rosa for instance, rye is still cultivated at a height of 2000 Meters ; 
 on the southern slopes of the Grisons, which are protected from northern winds, the 
 land is cultivated up to a height of 1800 Meters; while in Northern Switzerland 
 on the other hand it extends no higher than 1100 Meters. At Juf, the 
 highest hamlet in this proud mountain country is situated in the wild upper- 
 valley of Avers, 2042 Meters high, the diligent population manage to grow 
 vegetables. On the southern dechvities of Mount Rosa, where the warm humid 
 winds blow, the vine grows at a height of 900 Meters, but in the Canton 
 of St. Galles it is not found any higher than 520 Meters. It should moreover be borne 
 in mind that the forests cover one sixth of the whole area of Switzerland, and the 
 meadows more than one third: the forests as a rule the lower slopes, the meadows 
 the mountain tops. At one time these foi-ests extended upwards till they reached 
 a height of 2200 Meters, this being 1000 Meters above the average height of the 
 lands under cultivation. They have now descended to 1800 M., and probably this 
 denudation of a zone of 400 Meters in height has been in a great measure the 
 work of man, which is much to be deplored, for it is certain that where great 
 forests can hold their own and thrive, single trees cannot stand. 
 
 The elevation at which agriculture is carried on in North China is very 
 remarkable; probably even more so to the West of Shansi. Yet the climate there is 
 very cold, and the rainfall very unfavourable. Most probably a comparison between 
 an agrarian and a geological map of these districts would show that the extension 
 of agriculture keeps pace with that of the loess: wherever the latter extends, we 
 find man and with him the cultivation of the soil; but wherever the loess is not 
 present, agriculture is absent too, except in the valleys in a great measure covered 
 with an alluvium of loess. The full significance of loess appears however when we 
 consider that in Southern China no produce is obtained without rich manuring, 
 whereas the crops in Northern China are harvested with hardly any, and often without 
 any manuring at all; this is the more remarkable because here the husbandman has 
 
tilled the soil from time immemorial. This was the case in the valley ofthe Wei river 
 so early as 4000 years ago. It was at that time the most productive part of China , 
 and throughout all succeeding ages Shensi has been known as the granary of 
 China. During the visit of Mr. von Richthofen in 1872 , the land , notwithstanding the 
 important decrease in population consequent on the ravaging Mahommedan rebellion, 
 was very nearly all under cultivation. Manure however had decreased in the same 
 ratio as the population , and was only used for a few costly fruits and in particular 
 for the opium. Hardly any part of the country was manured," which indeed was 
 unnecessary as the harvest chiefly depends upon the quantity of rain that falls. The 
 phenomenon of a soil, for many thousands of years under cultivation, not being 
 exhausted, is explained by the nature of the bottom. Undoubtedly the principal 
 cause lies in its great porosity which allows the air to penetrate and the gases to 
 be dissolved and more readily absorbed by the plants; then the supply of mineral 
 constituents, which are necessary to the development of field-fruits and every year 
 withdrawn from the soil, is constantly assured by the perpendicular capillary nature 
 of the bottom. In proof of this, attention is called to the salt-springs and salt-crusts 
 on the surface of the loess. These occur chiefly in the valleys and on the declivities 
 nearest to the groundwater, saturated with mineral salts, at the bottom of the 
 loess-layer. Besides this, loess is used for manuring the soil; a clear proof that it 
 contains the constituents necessary for the nourishment of plants. The outer surface 
 of the perpendicular walls, between which the fields are usually sunk, is scraped off 
 and spread in thin layers over the surface of the soil. 
 
 The economical influence of loess on the population must be considered as 
 very important. 
 
 § 13. The manner in which the loess is inhabited is very peculiar. In the northern inhabitation of ihe 
 provinces of China, millions of people live in hollows which have been scooped out at the foot loess, 
 
 of the loess walls or along the terraces. For this purpose, the inhabitants choose the 
 firmest walls, which experience has taught them to distinguish. The digging out of 
 these caves takes place very easily as the material is comparatively soft. Most of 
 these dwellings have different rooms in front, one with a door, and the others merely 
 with windows in the thin loess walls, for communicating with the outer air. The 
 apartments are all vaulted , and connected with each other by means of doors in the 
 loess walls. The inner walls are washed with a coating of cement obtained from 
 crushed marl stone. This cement secures firmness and dryness to the dwellings, and 
 increases their comfort and cleanliness. Many of them have for centuries formed the 
 dwellings of successive generations of the same family. A little fence made of loess 
 tiles, dried in the sun, and adjoining the loess walls on both sides, incloses the 
 garden. The dweUings vary from the simplest caves to real loess palaces. Inns, con- 
 structed for the accommodation of a large number of horses and carts, have sometimes 
 a depth of 100 to 200 feet with a corresponding breadth and height. These dwellings 
 require but little outlay, are warm in winter and cool in summer. They are also 
 durable, when the site has been well chosen. Frequently one sees a perpendicular 
 loess wall which, half way up, or at about sixty feet from the bottom, has been 
 
24 
 
 bored through for a number of apartments. These are the remains of a loess-village 
 inhabited very likely centuries ago. 
 
 On the boundaries of Mongolia , and in the extensive regions of Tshi-li , Shansi 
 and Shensi, such like colonies in the loess- walls are universal. Sometimes in a 
 fertile , richly cultivated valley not one single ordinary house is to be found , and the 
 men who cultivate the soil, all live in their dwellings in the sides of the ravines , 
 whence they may be seen emerging from inside the yellow earth-walls, like so 
 many diligent ants. 
 
 Loess-districts conside- § 14. The Strategic importance of loess in North China is so closely connected 
 
 red from a strategic ^jj.^ j^-g characteristics, that it cannot be passed over without notice. A movement 
 pom Mew. ^^ j^^g^ bodies of troops can only take place by exception across the bottoms 
 of the great valleys, and then only along the roads; and even in that case 
 it is attended with very great difficulties. Thedefenceof a few mountain-passes is there- 
 fore all that is necessary to arrest the course of great invading armies. Should however 
 an enemy succeed in intrenching himself securely, in various lurking holes, it 
 would become a very difficult matter to dislodge him ; and he might ravage the country by 
 sudden unexpected attacks, weaken his opponents in various places, and gradually 
 penetrate further. The policy of the Chinese emperors has ever been directed to for- 
 tifying the principal approaches to the great loess-district. It is from this principle that the 
 great fortress of Tungkwan borrows its significance. Added to this was the great 
 number of roads having little or no intercommunication, which enhanced the difficulties. 
 The independence of the dynasty of Tshow, and afterwards of Tsin in the 
 loess-districts separating Shensi from Kansu; the attacks to which the rich lands of 
 Shensi were exposed from the north of Ordosland, and which were the original 
 cause of the construction of the great Chinese wall; the different phases in the 
 history of Shansi; the temporary establishment of the imperial residence in the 
 loess-bounded valleys of Lo-yang or Ping-yan-fu, and many other historical facts, 
 can all be explained by the character of the loess-districts. 
 
 Origin of Loess. § 15. It is remarkable that attention was not called to the loess formations 
 
 until 1864, when Mr. Raphael Pumpelly discovered a great basin near the Southern 
 edge of Mongolia, which was filled with a pecuHar perpendicular-spUtting yellow 
 earth, which afterwards turned out to be loess. He assumed this earth to have 
 settled down in a terrace-hke form in a great fresh- water lake, being brought 
 there by the Yellow River, which at a former period probably streamed in a nearly 
 straight line from Ning-hia-fu to Peking. This theory was generally accepted, and 
 borrowed by the deserving missionary Alexander Williamson to explain the equally 
 large loess-filled basin he had discovered in the province of Shansi. European loess 
 too , and that in the Rhine valley, was assumed to be a mere fresh water deposit or 
 at all events, one originating within the sphere influenced by some great river. 
 
 The invariable character of loess at any height, rising to several thousand 
 feet above the level of the sea, proved that this formation could not have existed, 
 before the mountainous regions situated below had assumed their present surface. 
 
25 
 
 This precludes the theory of its having been deposited in fresh water lakes , 
 for it would be impossible to explain the extension of such lakes along the sea, 
 and that the loess at the same time should have covered plateaux 6000 feet 
 high, and inclosed even higher mountain-crests. The theory of its having settled 
 down in the sea is equally untenable; for in that case the sea, at a recent 
 period, must have extended over all the mountain-ranges of Northern China, and 
 we should have moreover to suppose that the eastern part of China first sank 
 and then rose 2400 feet in modern times. There is however not the least indication 
 of anything of the kind. If moreover the sea had played such an important part in 
 the formation of loess, it would be impossible to explain the absence of sea-animals 
 and sea-shells, and the exclusive presence of land-mammalia and land-snails. No 
 traces of a former glacier-covering, such as are discernible along the Rhine, are 
 to be found; so that no crushed glacier-material can have settled on these high 
 plains. 
 
 There remains therefore only the hypothesis that the loess has settled down 
 from the air, although aeolic deposits of this nature and such size have not been 
 observed anywhere else. No other formation seems possible, and in further evidence 
 of it we have: 
 
 P*. The way in which the shells or houses of land-snails, exclusive of fresh 
 water snails, occur. Mr. Pumpelly alone mentions having found the latter in lake 
 Te-hai, but observes emphatically, that they were met with in a layer of loam. 
 We will not however refer to this sedimental loam at present; the layer of lake- 
 loess which will be explained in an other part of this memorandum being of a totally 
 different formation. 
 
 The bleached snail-shells are met with everywhere, right through the thickness 
 of the deposit, sometimes in trifling quantities, and sometimes close together in heaps. 
 In spite of their delicacy and fragility, they have been , almost without exception , 
 well-preserved. We might either assume that the animals died on the spot 
 where their undisturbed houses are still found, or ascribe their presence to the 
 peculiar habit of certain kinds of slugs, of leaving their shells and burying them- 
 selves underground for the winter-months , during which time many meet with their 
 death, and a number of shells remain over the spot where they died; but 
 these views alone do not sufficiently account for the presence of so many 
 snailshells at a depth of several hundred feet. The only deduction to be drawn 
 is, that the loess increased in height very gradually; that during the time 
 of its formation it contained the humidity necessary for animal and vege- 
 table life; and that the dryness of the cUmate favoured the preservation of the 
 snail-shells. 
 
 2ndiy_ The bones of land-mammalia, if their situation and distribution could be care- 
 fully observed, would necessarily lead to the same conclusions. These animals too died 
 probably near the spot where their remains have been found and point therefore to dry land. 
 3rdiy_ The traces of vegetation observable all through the loess from top to 
 bottom, not consisting of the remains of plants, but, as has already been shown, of 
 millions of tubes of all sizes, which have retained the form and ramification of 
 
 4 
 
Districts. 
 
 2G 
 
 the roots of plants and correspond exactly with those still made by living plants 
 and on their decay left behind. Each of these tu1)es points, in the vertical 
 section of the loess-bank, to the place occupied by what was then the surface of 
 the deposit at some former period, and which, during its gradual growth, was 
 continuously covered with vegetation. 
 
 This gradual raising of the bottom may have taken place in three ways : 
 
 P'. by rainwater which, flowing from the upper to the lower districts, would 
 wash down with it from the neigtibouring mountains all those constituents which 
 time or weather had freed from the rock ; 
 
 2ndiy_ ]^j -v^rinij^ whoso extraordinary power may be judged constantly from the 
 dense dust clouds in these regions ; 
 
 3'''^'y. by the mineral constituents which the plant-roots, from the capillary form 
 of their tubular systems, were enabled to draw up from a great depth and absorb, 
 Ijut which on their decaying remained. 
 
 These various and finely divided solid constituents are in a great measure 
 cemented together by the surface vegetation , and after this but a very trifling quantity 
 is removed by the wind. 
 
 Loess in the iindrained § iQ_ The formation of loess may still be observed in Central Asia and Mongolia , 
 
 where one finds the same form at the surface as is presented by the loess in North China, 
 without the more recently formed ravine-system which issocharacteristicofthelatter.Here 
 aU the conditions for the continual formation of loess are still present. The huge rock-masses 
 of the mountain crests, which form the margins of the basins, are uncovered, exposed 
 to decay by damp, heat, the action of vegetable growth in summer, and by that 
 of frost in winter. During the heavy rains, the great blocks slowly slide or get 
 washed down, without losing their sharp edges, to the borders of the filled basins; 
 and on the recurrence of the periodical heavy rains, the fragments of these rocks 
 are swept sometimes very far into the basin, the sraafler going farthest; there, 
 during the dry season they get covered up by earthy formations , which occur between 
 the loess-banks in the intersecting layers already mentioned. With every rainfall 
 the finer constituents get washed further away, till they finaUy extend to the 
 middle of the basin. This process can be easily observed. To this must be 
 added the salt-springs which the rain causes to rise from the depths below ; and 
 finally the fearful duststorms, which leave a deposit that, in the course of years or 
 centuries, forms no unimportant factor in the raising of the bottom, being in the 
 undrained basins for a great part fixed by the vegetable growth of the steppes. 
 The surfaces of these districts have a natural slope which assures the flow of the 
 water along a flat bed to the central salt-lake, and although the nature of the 
 steppes in the undrained regions is almost unknown , stifl their likeness to the loess 
 region in North-China has been shown especiafly in those places where the formerly 
 undrained region has found a channel for itself either by the Yellow river or by the 
 Pei-ho to the sea. Such places are often met with along the edge of the steppe-lands 
 to the North of the great Chinese wall in Shansi and Tshili. A drainage like this is no 
 doubt caused by a i)oriod of heavy rains, when the water, rising above its usual 
 
27 
 
 level, reaches a crevice in one of the surrounding mountains and escapes through it. 
 This opening forms itself into a channel through which the salt lake discharges 
 itself; thus the water-supply is assured even with a later increasing dryness of 
 climate , the channel in course of time getting deeper, as the water in the soft steppe- 
 bottom and in the principal and tributary streams gets lower. The stream flowing 
 hitherto exclusively into the lake has now found another outlet, by which other 
 channels are formed which in their further progress split into endless sub-divisions, 
 all of which serve more or less to lay the loess bare. This is constantly to be observed 
 near the springs that rise up at the edge of the steppes ; and even when the cutting 
 does not reach more than a foot in depth, the unmistakeable loess-character of this 
 bottom becomes evident. 
 
 This makes it a matter of certainty that on the one hand the steppe-basin 
 of Mongolia , with the exception of that in Han-hai , where the sea-formation occurs, 
 consists of land-loess , containing at the sides many deposits of sharp, angular blocks 
 of stone, but of pure nature in the middle; and on the other that every loess-basin 
 was at one time an undrained saltsteppe-basin. If this theory is correct, the salt- 
 lakes in the centre of each basin must have left behind them the evidence of their 
 previous existence in the loess-districts. The lakes, undrained, must have been 
 situated in the lowest parts of the district, and when therefore we admit that the 
 loess matter is removed from the sides, some of it would settle down on the dry 
 bottom , but another part would be carried along with the stream and eventually sink 
 down in horizontal layers in the lake. Should the bottom in the whole basin gradually 
 rise, these horizontal layers will invariably be limited to the lowest or middle part; 
 while the surrounding part outside the water will be vertical. Thus a layer-shaped 
 kernel will occur in the unstratifled masses, and according to the greater or less 
 abundance of water occurring at different periods , the horizontal layers wiU be more 
 or less extensive. The basin being afterwards laid dry, this loess-formation becomes 
 exposed, and as the flow of water along the lake-layers must be the most powerful, the 
 kern-layer will be more ploughed up than the surrounding loess. Nevertheless we should 
 be able to perceive this kernel pretty easily in every loess-basin. In contradistinction 
 to the land-loess , it consists of lake- or water-loess which does not exhibit the porosity 
 and capillary-vertical structure possessed by the former in consequence of the vegetation 
 in it. Where however the land-loess has penetrated to the lake-loess, the two sorts 
 will be difficult to distinguish, although the lake-loess may always be recognised 
 by its layer- shaped formation as opposed to the bank-shaped form of the land- 
 loess; by its pale yellow tint; and by the want of capillary fibre- system ^ which 
 makes it rather impermeable to the water. Consequently the water flowing into the 
 basin collects into lakes which remain above the loess. Moreover all the water within 
 reach of these lakes being strongly impregnated with salt, is undrinkable, and the 
 loess, wherever it rises above the bottom of the valley, is encrusted with salt, 
 though a considerable lixiviation must have taken place in the course of time. As a 
 general rule however, the upper surface of the earth in these regions has been 
 washed away , and we find the deepest parts of the loess-basins there , where formerly 
 the salt-lake extended. The alluvial loess however does not occur at the surface only, 
 
28 
 
 but is also found lower down in the valley-bottom rendering the soil useless for 
 agricultural purposes and frequently forming a great salt waste. In such places, 
 and they are numerous, coarse kitchen salt and natron or soda are obtained from 
 the ground. 
 
 In consequence of a temporary diminution of the water surface, in former 
 days, the land-loess sometimes settled down upon the water loess, and is still 
 discernable in the valley of the Wei-river above and below Si-ngan-fu. The lake 
 formerly here was of great area , extending to the steep granite mountain range 
 of the holy Hwa-shan. From this, and from the Fung-tiau-shan range on the 
 other side of the Hwang-ho , the masses of gravel which have collected in the ravines 
 get washed away as round pebbles, on the occurence of heavy rains, down to the 
 lake. Thus the layers of coarse boulder-stones, gravel and sand occur alternately 
 with the extremely hard and fine loess-mud, which occurs almost exclusively in 
 other more distant lakes. The water-loess is here, probably, very calcareous ; if carbonate 
 of lime is frequently present in land-loess in quantities of no less than 20 or 30 per 
 cent, it must occur in far greater quantities in the salt-lakes, whose constituents 
 being the first that are freed , and sink to the bottom as soon as the water evaporates. 
 This not only afi'ords an easy explanation of the pale yellow colour of the fine earthy 
 water-loess, but also of the agglomerates of sand, gravel and shale, and hardened 
 bodies or petrifactions varying in size from that of a pea to that of a nut, which 
 are heaped up here in great quantities, and easily converted into tufaceous limestone. 
 
 Limo deposits in the 
 
 Rhine near Constance 
 
 in Switzerland. 
 
 § 17. These peculiar petrifactions appear to correspond pretty closely with 
 those found near Constance in the so-called Altrhein, which forms the eastern 
 boundary of the irregular rather narrow inlet along the south shore near Constance, 
 and extends to between the hghthouse and the Rhine-bridge. The banks in this 
 Altrhein are formed of lake-loam and covered over by a thin surface-layer consisting 
 of small and large gravelstones , shells, bits of shells, little reed-pipes, pieces of 
 wood etc., all of them more or less covered with a lime deposit not seldom three or 
 four times the size of the kernel, and showing in its intersection different layers 
 resembling the annual circles of trees. This lime-deposit drops off at the shghtest 
 touch, and when dry, is very fragile. .Some stones measure 0.20 M. in thickness, 
 and contain a round pebble being altogether about the size of a man's fist. On 
 the banks by Constance the size of these pieces including the crust varies from that 
 of a bean to that of a man's fist and the thickness of the envelopes, from a few 
 millimeters to about 0.03 M. The more recent crusts are porous, of a dirty brown 
 colour, and those under water are covered with a mossgrowth or with algae; the 
 elder ones are more compact, of a white colour in their intersection and frequently 
 difficult to separate from the kernel. The presence of the algae is attributed to 
 the lime or tufaceous formation. They are equally met with between Constance 
 and the Untersee and still further down, and borrow for their growth a portion 
 of carbonate from the bi-carbonate of lime which is dissolved in the water; the car- 
 bonate of lime is at once precipitated and envelops the algae which have caused 
 the resolution. This petrifaction breaks off and while the lime continues to form on 
 
29 
 
 the surface, the kernel inside rots and disappears without leaving any trace behind 
 it in the Umestone. 
 
 The lime or tufaceous formation goes on, imperceptibly, but continuously. 
 Whenever it comes into contact with the air and frost however, it cannot withstand 
 them long. The shoals which frequently get flooded in the summer, and thereby 
 increase their height, rise at length above low- water mark, which in winter, lasts 
 while the cold remains severe. The product of the combined action of vegetable 
 and animal life becomes disturbed; the tufa breaks up first into small pieces, and 
 then into a light brittle powder, which, when the spring floods come, is washed 
 away by the stream giving to the water a troubled milk-white colour. Thus a limit 
 is imposed on the surface growth of the tufa-banks which for their formation require 
 a certain amount of bi-carbonate from the water with a certain velocity in the 
 bottom-stream. 
 
 The chemical process of the building up and crumbling away of these tufa- 
 banks is repeatedly disturbed, for though the banks are flooded every year, they do 
 not emerge above the water every winter, and thus acquire greater resisting power 
 to the air and the frost. Another tufa-formation takes places below low-water mark 
 at places where the water is shallow, and where another destroying force, probably 
 the ground ice formation, must come into action temporarily, as this tufa-layer 
 consists at the surface of single bits and of a layer of soft lime conglomerate from 
 0.20 M. to 0.30 M. thick. 
 
 The banks before Constance have of late years undergone no change; in 
 evidence of this we may mention the so-called women-posts to the north of the 
 harbour , and the other posts , placed along the eastern extremity of the inlet between 
 the lighthouse and the Rhine-bridge , which for centuries have pointed out the limits 
 to which the deep channel extends. 
 
 variations froraDrained 
 to Undrained Regions. 
 
 § 18. The lime-stone formations mentioned in paragraph 16 extend from the Geological Formations 
 fortified mountain-pass of Tung-Kwan to the walls which bound the valley far above in connection with the 
 Si-ngan-fu. On the broad terraces of these loess-deposits many great towns have been 
 built, among others the ancient capital Si-ngan-fu; whilst on both sides the land-loess 
 has settled down on the water-loess. Therefore the period when the great lake- 
 extension occurred, must have been followed by a period of drought, which caused 
 the withdrawal of the water and the gradual extension of the dry steppe region. 
 The land-loess so got the better of the loess-deposit in the water; and just at the 
 separation-plains between these two different sorts of loess-formations , the water-springs 
 occur ia abundance , which shows clearly that the former allows a freer passage to water. 
 
 The salt-lake lye residuum which occurs at the bottom of a loess-basin , leads 
 also with certainty to the conclusion that North China, at a former period, when 
 the Yellow River either did not exist or was too insignificant to be of any conse- 
 quence, must have been a steppe-country resembling the present Central Asia in 
 every respect, and must, in a great measure, have consisted of several undrained 
 basins of very different dimensions, in which the streams collected into salt-lakes; 
 the evaporation exceeding the rainfall, and the climate being a continental one. 
 
30 
 
 From the thickness of the slowly increasing loess, some idea can be formed 
 of the dm-ation of this period; but it cannot possibly be gauged with any degree of 
 accuracy, as there exist only conjectures as to the causes of the great variation of 
 the former climate, and no safe data. It is generally supposed that the eastern side 
 of Asia lay higher and extended further into the sea than is at present the case; 
 that after the subsidence of the land and the advance of the sea, the damp sea- 
 winds were caught up by the mountains, and that to this may be ascribed, for a 
 part at aU events, the gradual change from an undrained to a drained or peripheric 
 region; this change is supposed to have begun in the east and gradually extended 
 westward. 
 
 Without any important relapse into its previous condition, the climate is 
 supposed to have remained unchanged, as also the drainage and the river system, 
 with the Hwang-ho or Yellow River as chief stream, until the latter attained its 
 present important compass, and will, very probably, extend in the future still further 
 into the steppes. 
 
 On the other hand it is supposed that thismighty change need not of necessity 
 be considered a lasting one. No doubt, oven if an extraordinary diminution of 
 rain should occur in North China, the Yellow River would still continue to flow 
 and still receive a fair amount of water from its affluents ; but if the diminution of 
 rain should work together with other circumstances, it has ?jeen thought by no 
 means improbable that a well-drained stream-region might be transformed by climatic 
 variations into a salt steppeland. Be this as it may, the former change of the steppes 
 into loess-land was a blessing to the country-and the foundation of its later greatness. 
 
 In the preceding review the natural resemblance between the steppes and 
 the loess-lands has been deduced chiefly from a comparison drawn between the 
 two regions immediately bordering on each other. Central Asia however is sur- 
 rounded by steppe-basins in which mighty loess formations, mixed with great 
 pieces of crushed rock, occur and which , with the exception of the district of Han-hai 
 with its sea-sedimentary deposits, are supposed to cover a mountainous country of 
 great variety of elevation and of form. 
 
 General Review of the 
 Air-cui'ients in Central 
 Asia, and of tlieir In- 
 lluencc oil theHumidity 
 of tlie Climate. 
 
 § 19. In considering the above-mentioned formation one must not forget the 
 uninterrupted poor, nay barren region extending through the northern hemisphere from the 
 Barabinzian steppelands across the Sahara desert to the Atlantic Ocean, and across 
 which blows the North-east trade-wind. This powerful cold wind current, which rises 
 in the Polar circle, streams first in a southerly direction, but on reaching a less 
 northern latitude, bends more and more to the west and, with increasing 
 swiftness and without absorbing any moisture , changes into an easterly wind , makes 
 the Sahara torrid and reaches the Atlantic Ocean. 
 
 The ruling directions of the winds in MongoUa are insufficiently known, but 
 in Central Asia the local air-currents caused in the interior by the differences of 
 temperature in summer and in winter maintain the upper-hand. In consequence of 
 the barometric maximum in the north, the almost uninterrupted icy-cold wind from 
 the north-west blows across the steppelands during the winter half-year. In the summer, 
 
31 
 
 on the other hand, the heated air over the heated bottom of the same region rises, 
 so that a barometric minimum is attained, and air currents from all sides stream 
 in that direction with prevailing vyinds from the south and south-east. 
 
 In Thibet and Yarkand , like the Fohn in Switzerland , the wind seems to blow 
 down the valleys in the daytime and in the opposite direction at night. In cloudy 
 weather however, the wind, during the months of August and September, blows 
 continually to the north east and the violent dust periods occur, with a northwesterly 
 wind, chiefly in the months of April and May. In this respect however the observations 
 which have been taken are by no means sufficient, and we should direct our attention 
 to the counter-streams in East Turkestan, which arise so frequently and are also 
 subject to laws of periodical change. Our information on this head will not warrant us 
 in drawing general theoretic deductions. Still from observations in North China , in the 
 Japan Sea and Siberia, it has been concluded that: when the hot air rises, the 
 attraction-zone, in the beginning of the summer, in consequence of the rarefaction 
 of the air, advances to a point further and further north, while the southern air- 
 currents extend in the same direction; meanwhile on the polar side of this heated 
 zone or air-space, northerly, and especially north-westerly winds prevail, and on the 
 withdrawal of the heated outline to the south, the region of the northern winds 
 follows the sun and thus causes periods when the wind changes its direction every 
 day, as has been observed in the valleys of Thibet. The operation of these two 
 air-currents with respect to the distribution of rain has been observed most accu- 
 rately in Mongoha. True the eastern mountain chain of China robs the southwinds 
 of a portion of their moisture, but in consequence of their slow condensation north- 
 wards , they disburden a considerable part of their water upon the steppes , although 
 there are no mountain chains to reduce the aqueous vapours to rain. 
 
 Radiation however favours the dispersal of the clouds, so that the humid 
 vapours do not get compressed into rain-clouds until they reach the northern extremity. 
 In winter too, very little snow falls, as the air current in colder zones loses by 
 its motion the power of condensing moisture in the warmer ones. Moisture is moreover 
 present in small quantities only, as the mountain chains of Sirke, Khangai and Saijan 
 protect this region from the northwesterly wind , so that only their northern declivities 
 and not the protected district are covered with a deep layer of snow. 
 
 After overcoming this obstacle the air-currents proceed to warmer districts, 
 but first on the high mountain-range of the eastern Kwen-lun do they disburden 
 themselves again of great masses of snow, on the Mongolian side. 
 
 In the western Shamo-region , considering the Tarim basin, a southern wind 
 ought to bring rain, if the steppes lay free and exposed instead of being separated 
 from the south by a colossal mountain wall. On the other hand there would be hardly 
 any rain in this region if the Himalaya only existed, to the exclusion of the 
 Karakorum, Kwen-lun and Tien-shan ranges. The part of Central Asia west of 
 Eastern Mongolia would then be a wilderness. The Himalaya attracts the moisture 
 of the southern winds, thus receiving an abundance of rain for its southern 
 declivities, and snow and firn for its glaciers. From these not only the southern but 
 also the northern mountain-streams get their water supply. Besides this the high 
 
mountain range of the Karakorum with its prolongations in East Tibet, the Kwen-lun, 
 the Pamir and the Tien-shan also receive , still in the form of snow, a part of the 
 moisture of the south winds, and in this way immense quantities of water, chiefly 
 during the summer, are gradually distributed among the rivers. On the other hand 
 the great mountain plateau between the two mountain ranges gets but a small 
 portion of the rainfall, and, in consequence of the snowfalls, less in summer than in 
 winter. This fact is explained by the opposite course taken by two windcurrents 
 reaching just over each other, the southern stream passing across the northern. The 
 former envelops the iceberg- tops, which take from the air whatever moisture may 
 remain in it, so that no abundant water supply can be expected upon the plain; 
 and it would not even receive any, if the two opposite streams were placed with 
 absolute regularity above each other. Where however these two streams come 
 into contact, the moisture of the one becomes condensed by the coldness of the 
 other, so that both clouds and a trifling snowfall occur, particularly near the 
 mountain-range. 
 
 If in summer the air rises above the surface of the steppes , causing southern 
 air-currents, the radiation from the heated bottom prevents the formation of 
 clouds. 
 
 The high mountain ranges must therefore be considered as having contributed 
 to the drought in the western part of Central Asia. They are however absent in 
 eastern Mongolia, which tends to prove that the dry air together with other agencies 
 of like nature are powerful enough , even when the south winds have a pretty free passage, 
 to maintain the undrained state of the region of the salt-lakes. Various circumstances 
 however so cooperate in Central Asia, that this region obtains but a small portion 
 of the vapours borrowed from the sea. The Ocean on the other hand receives but a 
 trifling portion of the floating dust with which Central Asia overloads the neighbouring 
 peripheric lands, a very small part only being carried down to the sea by the 
 rivers. 
 
 Rainfall and Evapora- § 20. It is impossible to determine the annual rainfall. In East Mongolia, if 
 
 tion in Central Asia, a number of ralngaugos were used , these might give us a fairly average result ; in the 
 west on the other hand, this would give rise to many difficulties , as , in consequence 
 of the diversified conditions,. many places, sometimes beyond reach, would have to 
 be taken into consideration as influencing the results of the observations. For the 
 present then, we must confine ourselves to a general review of the rain distribution 
 according to different zones, which would supply us with sufficient results, if the 
 relation between rainfall and evaporation were everywhere the same; for in that 
 case, the sizes of the lakes would be in a fixed relation to the areas of the 
 basins. This is however by no means the case. The relation differs for instance 
 very considerably in the extensive Tarim basin with the httle Lop-nor and some 
 smaller lakes of trifling importance; in the high mountain-land of Khor with the 
 Tengri-nor; in the district of Khu-khu-nor etc.; so that the only thing to be 
 deduced with certainty is thai the average rainfall in the Tarim basin is less than 
 in the other basins of Central Asia. 
 
33 
 
 § 21. It is further necessary to bear in mind the relative temperatures in so Relative Temperatures 
 far as they affect the distribution of rain , the chemical decomposition of the rocks '" Central Asia, 
 and vegetation, and especially the direction and force of the winds and air- currents. In 
 consequence of the great distance from the seas, the differences in temperature 
 are not reduced as is the case on the coast ; and therefore over the whole immense extent 
 of the territories, the influences described above will be felt everywhere in the same 
 way and thereby add to each other's effect. There are great changes in tempera- 
 ture, both in the low Tarim plain, and on the high plains of Tibet; in eastern 
 MongoHa and in the great plain and basin of Dsungarei. Milder climatic conditions 
 may occur locally, as for instance in the northern part of the Tarim basin, which is 
 protected from the cold northern winds by the Tien-shan mountain-range. 
 
 § 22. The character of the vegetation is dependent on the salt-alloy which vegetation in central 
 
 prevents the growth of trees and shrubs; on the rain and on the greater or less 
 degree of moisture. In Central Asia trees are only found sporadically along some 
 rivers; in places where the salt has been washed out and where there is moisture; 
 in the oases where these two conditions are artificially superinduced; and finally in 
 a few crevices near the northern inclines of the mountain-range , where the salt-alloy is 
 trifling and the northern winds bring moisture or the bottom borrows it from the 
 springs, and where even pine- wood occurs. Without the salt-alloy, the woods would 
 have extended along the rivers and lakes, and contributed to the gradual development 
 of a milder climate. The Maralbashi forest, where the trees favoured by a moist 
 subsoil have been enabled to take root , consists only of wretched poplars and willows. 
 It has been clearly demonstrated in Mongolia, what an influence the greater or less 
 salt-alloy has on the growth of vegetable life in the steppes. Though the climate is 
 very favourable to their -growth , woods are altogether wanting. 
 
 Asia. 
 
 § 23. In entering into an explanation ofthe decrease of the mountain-ranges and 
 the aeolic loess-masses formed in the undrained regions , we shall first devote our attention 
 to the chemical decomposition and mechanical decay of the rocks. The decomposition 
 is fastest, where rain occurs in the warm season. The mechanical decay, where, 
 during the wet season, the temperature falls so low as to admit of the formation 
 of accumulations of snow, and where the firn for the glaciers can collect in sufficient 
 quantity; or in places where no ice-coverings occur and the temperature suddenly 
 rises above or falls below freezing-point. 
 
 In the west, during the rainy months, the weather is cold; in winter, 
 when the clouds disperse, the sunrays, at least on the lower ranges, cause the 
 snows to melt; whereas in spring occur the sudden changes of temperature we 
 mentioned above. These extend further and further along the heights, till they pro- 
 bably reach a spot where in summer the thermometer no longer falls to freezing 
 point in the lowest valleys, but where there is snow in abundance on the highest 
 mountains , and the temperature undergoes a very great change twice every day. The 
 decaying effect of the dripping water penetrating into the seams and crevices of 
 the rocks, and that caused by the night-frosts must not be overlooked, least of all 
 
 5 
 
 Chemical Decompos 
 
 tion and Mechanical 
 
 Decay of the Rocks 
 
 in Central Asia. 
 
34 
 
 in the high mountain-range, where during the warm season the humidity still pre- 
 vails and is accompanied by the destructive action of gravel-laden glaciers. The high 
 temperature in the summer may, in consequence of the dryness of the atmosphere, 
 cause apparently but little chemical decomposition at each point, but in consequence 
 of the previous rock-decay its sphere of action is much extended, and thus the 
 trifling effects on each point will accumulate so as to form a considerable amount 
 of detritus. 
 
 In East Mongolia, where the spring is dry, the night and day changes of 
 temperature during that season do not find a sufficient supply of moisture to cause 
 any decay of the mountain-rock. On the other hand, chemical decomposition is 
 greatly favoured by the conjunction of the greatest heat with the heaviest rainfall. 
 This decay penetrates deep into the rock, causing it to assume a rounded shape. 
 
 Thus as a rule where there is rock, decayed matter becomes exposed and 
 is carried away by wind or water. The wind will only carry off the most finely 
 divided particles, whereas the water not only washes away these, but also the 
 coarser ones and the dissolved matter. 
 
 Action of the Wind in 
 
 the settling down of 
 
 Decayed Matter. 
 
 § 24. Everywhere and at all times the wind has had an important share in 
 the settling-down and deposing of the produces of atmospheric decay; especially in 
 those regions, where the rainfall was insufficient to carry off the matter washed 
 off the mountains, or where the matter once deposed was protected from further 
 removal. Clefts, chasms and dales, the ruins of vast buildings, even cities have 
 been buried beneath the dust showers. This is now beyond all doubt as regards 
 Niniveh, Babylon, and several architectural remains along the Mediterranean sea. 
 Thousands of years however had to elapse before these dust showers could accom- 
 plish their work. The clays and sands gradaaUy accumulate till they have forined 
 a layer sufficiently deep for vegetation. Afterwards the plants help to hold back 
 the matter which falls among them and to protect it froin further removal, 
 while the portion which settles upon them is washed to the ground by the 
 next shower. Such places must of necessity gradually rise; and the accumulations 
 of dry atmospheric dust fulfil a weighty part in nature's woi'k, by the influence 
 they exert on vegetation. The inorganic earthy constituents of the humus, which 
 cover the sandy soils, owe in a great measure their existence to this cause. It should 
 meanwhile be borne in mind, that the natural or artificial watering of the sand enables 
 it to retain the fertile clayey matter requisite for the nourishment of plants , and 
 which is not present in sand. With the faintest signs of vegetable life the further 
 detention of fertilizing floating matter from the atmosphere increases, until some 
 climatic change causes these elements to disappear. 
 
 In the steppe-lands the mountain-ranges are bare. On these extensive gravel- 
 covered rocks, no forests have grown, and what Uttle vegetation there is, is poor 
 and scanty. The wind has full play therefore on this surface and sets the decayed 
 matter in motion. The heavier substances soon subside into the vales, while the 
 finer matter, after being conveyed to great distances, settles down. 
 
 Here, if the vegetation happens to be pretty dense, they are thereby in a great 
 
85 
 
 measure retained; but Jn the absence of this, or where the plants have withered 
 for want of rain, the storm winds sweep them farther away in part or entirely, 
 according to the nature of the ground. 
 
 The dispersion of this matter is favoured wherever the ground has been 
 loosened by out-flowing salt, by frost, or even by the footsteps of caravans and of 
 wild animals. This can be distinctly seen in loess-lands, where the roads have been 
 loosened by cartwheels and by the hoofs of beasts of burden. In this way, the dust 
 being continually blown away, hollow roads are formed, which in course of time 
 reach a depth of 50 to 100 feet, and are then abandoned. 
 
 Often the road slopes steep down on a hard bottom to such a hollow way, where 
 it continues for some thousands of steps, to rise again just as suddenly. Ploughing," 
 when the operation is not speedily followed by rain, often gives occasion to dust 
 clouds, and the foundations of many a Chinese fortress are laid bare, because the 
 ground in which they were laid has been blown away in dust. 
 
 § 25. All these causes and others of similar nature in Central Asia, and Aimospberic Dust, 
 particularly in loess-regions , call into being the characteristic dusty atmosphere. Even 
 at times when the wind is nearly at rest, the air is often for days yellow and opaque ; 
 the view is hazy in every direction , while the sun is only just visible as a dull 
 blue disc. This is more particularly observable in the sand storms that harass Tien- 
 tsin, Peking, and chiefly the interior of the north western provinces of China. The 
 wind then blows from Central Asia, and as soon as the storm abates, everything is 
 covered with a layer of yellow dust. In Shensi, where the air is but seldom clear and 
 transparent, the whole landscape is coloured yellow. To the Chinese, yellow is the 
 holy colour : it is the symbolic of the earth , and is the distinguishing mark denoting 
 Imperial Power over all that is upon the earth; it is moreover the colour of loess 
 and of the loess-lands, where the nation entered upon its first development. The 
 loess-atmosphere is, in consequence of increased denudations, more characteristic of 
 north China, than of Central Asia, where however it is a common occurrence, the 
 powerful steppe-winds causing the same conditions in places less denuded. In Khotan, 
 according to the description of Johnson, the bottom is very sandy, free from stones 
 and yet fertile, which is owing to the fine dusts conveyed by the winds of the 
 desert, that settle down on the plains. Even when there is no wind blowing, the 
 atmosphere is here so thick with dust , that one has to use a light to read large print in 
 the afternoon. The dust settUng down is of extremely fine nature and of a bright 
 colour ; it corresponds most nearly with powdered clay , and is regarded as indispen- 
 sable to vegetation. The reports regarding East-Turkestan and East-Mongolia entirely 
 agree here. 
 
 This atmospheric steppe-dust being borrowed from the bottom, would cause it 
 to sink, if the hollows were not continually re-filled by the material from the rocks , 
 which have served and serve to build up the whole formation. 
 
 On the settling of the loess-dust, part will be retained by the plants of the 
 steppe- lands , and thus raise the surface; part will settle down on spots whence 
 it is subsequently washed away by the rain, either to be spread over the steppes, 
 
36 
 
 or to be carried by the brooks to the saltlakes; finally part will settle down in the 
 desert or on the rocks, to be carried off again by the first wind that blows. 
 
 Formation of Sand § 26. The wind, as well as the water, has the power of separating the different 
 
 and Gravel Deserts, constituents of loess from each other. Wherever it attacks the bottom, the 
 different constituents are separated according to their size and brought into greater 
 or less rapid motion. The pale clayey constituents spread like clouds, and maintain 
 their hovering condition even when the wind is still. The sand on the contrary rolls 
 on steadily in determined directions, a fearsome stream; and as it is continually 
 spinning round and sifted by the wind, it loses the last remaining traces of the 
 clay that was in it. This sand, being thus unfitted for any kind of vegetation, 
 covers the fertile loess-bottom and forms the foundation of a sand desert. The bigger 
 pieces which occur in the midst, are left exposed by the moving sands, and get 
 worn or rubbed away by the hard, sharp quartz grains, violently driven against 
 them; so that, the softer parts being swept away in dust, there remains nothing 
 but quartz. A gravel-steppe is thus formed which is not again displaced. Successive 
 rains however force the settling loess-dust into the interstices of the gravel and 
 form the grass-plains characteristic of this kind of steppes. 
 
 The way in which the formation of loess-steppes, sand-deserts or gravel-steppes 
 is brought about by the wind, depends on the compositionof the bottom, the rainfall, 
 the steppe - flora , and many other circumstances. There is no steppe-basin of any 
 importance, that not contains some small sand-deserts, and as a rule they occur 
 frequently, whereas the gravel-steppes are not found beyond the Shamo-basin. 
 
 The water is. formed into channels in the undrained basins and performs there 
 a very important part. The rain carries away the materials which the wind has left 
 upon the rocks; it thereby fills up the little unevennesses of the ground and forms 
 everywhere sloping planes, along which the rocky material glides further down. As 
 a rule however the rain is not sufficient for the saturation of the bottom, and the 
 streams lend but ineffectual assistance, so that their action is but local. Still, 
 however slow may be the downward motion of the rock material, the results in 
 course of time are considerable. The composition of the loess too points to a periodically 
 recurring rajufall , which sometimes lasts a long time. This is the only way to explain 
 the action of the crushed rock which slowly collects along the edge of the loess, at 
 the foot of the mountain slopes, spreads itself several thousand paces over the steppe- 
 plains , and modifies the nature of the loess-surface towards the centre , so as to give 
 rise, at a later period, to the formation and growth of marl-petrifactions, such as 
 occur in the loess-basins. Each of these periods of accelerated motion of the rock 
 debris, is followed by a renewed growth of the loess, which points to the commen- 
 cement of a dryer climate. 
 
 The streams that rise in the mountain slopes perform a comparatively sub- 
 ordinate part; for the water, on leaving the mountain side, flows over the surface 
 of the steppes, without receiving any additional supply, except from other streams 
 which have been formed in the same way along the ridges of the mountains. The water 
 in the streams thus decreases, by evaporation and filtration, till there is none left. 
 
37 
 
 The constructive role performed by the water when streaming down from high 
 mountains is of more consequence. It then carries down with it broken rocks , glacier- 
 sand and glacier-slime, in great quantities; and these substances subside either in 
 the central lake or on the way to it, and before the stream is completely dried up. 
 
 § 27. The accumulation of salt is also occasioned by the flowing water. Though 
 in its passage down the declivities of the mountain the salt leaves traces of its 
 presence throughout the whole basin, yet the water will carry the principal part to 
 the centre. On this subject however, further investigation would be desirable, since 
 the nature of the salt depends on the decayed produce from which it is obtained by 
 lixiviation, and must be very different for lime, calcareous sandstone, carbonated 
 sandstone mixed with a trifling amount of hme, hard quartz, basalt tuffstone or 
 crystalline schist. If moreover the basin is very large, and surrounded by different 
 sorts of rocks, we may assume that the salt collected in it will be made up of pretty 
 well the same components as are found in that which the great rivers of Europe, 
 the Rhine and the Danube, carry with them to the sea. All the salts washed down 
 to the sea seem to be present in the steppes; particularly the carbonate of lime 
 referred to in § 16 , which also occurs in all large rivers. Just as in the sea this 
 salt is precipitated, by mollusca, corals and other animals, so much so that but 
 little remains in a soluble state: in the same way, in the lakes of the undrained 
 basins, this carbonate of Ume is the first to settle to the bottom, and it does so 
 in vast quantities. On the steppes it forms a crust round the roots of the plants, 
 similar to that formed round objects in the bay of Constance (see § 17). This carbonate 
 of hme is of great importance in the land-loess. It guarantees the maintenance of 
 the fibrous system and the consistency of the bottom, which admits of the formation 
 of perpendicular walls of several hundred feet in height. 
 
 Salt-alloy. 
 
 § 28. From the preceding paragraphs it has become evident that the nature 
 of land-loess points to periodically recurring rain periods, lasting sometimes for a 
 considerable time, and to subsequent periods of drought and regular growth of 
 the loess. 
 
 This alternation of dry and wet periods corresponds with what has been 
 observed in Europe, and has been ascribed to the important influence exerted by 
 the sun on the meteorological conditions of the earth. 
 
 The sun is not only the cause of the movement of the earth and the planets ; 
 of the phenomena of day and night; of the seasons and cUmates ; it not only occasions 
 the winds, sea- currents , etc., but exercises far greater influence over everything 
 in our world than was formerly supposed. It is, in short, the only source of motion 
 and of force , in whatever form that we know of. It has been shown that every change 
 in the physical condition of the sun is of immense influence on the meteorological 
 conditions of the earth (see the interesting communication addressed to the Dutch 
 periodical „De Tijdspiegel" of 1888, by Mr. A. J. C. Snijders). 
 
 There exist at present only hypotheses as to the source of the sun's heat, 
 but they have already acquired a high degree of probability. The sun was formerly 
 
 Climatic Change in 
 connection with the 
 Influence exerted by 
 
 the Physical Condition 
 of the Sun on the 
 
 Meteorological Condi- 
 tion of the Earth. 
 
38 
 
 supposed to be a burning globe; this theory is evidently unsound, for were it so, 
 the prodigious amount of heat which it has been throwing off for centuries, would 
 of necessity have caused a great consumption of fuel and thereby a gradual dimi- 
 nution of temperature. Observations from the most ancient times down to the present 
 do not confirm this. 
 
 The cause of the sun's heat is best explained by the hypothesis of Sir William 
 Siemens: that no heat in space is lost, but that it constantly reappears under 
 different forms and finally returns to the sun itself. 
 
 This theory is based on the maintenance of energy, one of the most important 
 principles of modern physical science; and although objections may be started, and 
 the theory not supply us with a complete solution of this difficult problem, still it 
 may be considered as a first and important step towards it. 
 
 Mr. Siemens further supposes space to be filled with a rarified atmosphere of 
 hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen, which are continually reproduced by the action of 
 the sun's rays, causing in this gaseous mass a continual stream to the sun. 
 
 From the spectral investigations of the German natural philosophers Kirchhoff 
 and Bunsen, and from a comparison of the spectrum of the sun's hght with that of 
 the glowing vapours and gases of the elementary substances of this globe, it has been 
 demonstrated that the same elements are present in the sun as on the. earth. Even 
 the condition of these gases in the sun has been gathered from the nature of the 
 spectrum, together with other phenomena, especially the rotation of the sun and 
 its eclipses. 
 
 According to these investigations, the sun, at its surface and probably to a 
 great depth, consists of glowing gases and metalline vapours which are fluid or 
 gaseous, and therefore not very luminous; so that the light of the sun is supposed 
 to arise from its cooling down, by which the vapours on the surface condense to a 
 haze of fluid and solid parts, and the luminous outer envelope of the sun or 
 photosphere is formed. The rays of the sun which perform such immensurable labour, 
 as to be difficult for the human mind to apprehend, proceed from the photosphere. 
 
 In this photosphere appear the sun-spots which are of two kinds , viz. : 
 
 a. the stationary spots, which alwa\'s reappear, whenever that part of the 
 sun in which they are situated is turned towards the earth; and 
 
 b. the transitory, which are spread over difl'erent parts of the sun's surface 
 and , after appearing for a few days only , vanish. 
 
 These sun-spots form irregular figures, and are generafiy considered as funnel- 
 shaped openings in the gaseous mass of the sun , the depth of which is considerable 
 and reckoned sometimes at from 2000 to 6000 kilometers. They are distinguished 
 by their darker hue, which arises from their contrast to the brightly Imninous surface. 
 Sometimes they burst asunder and form a great number of spots; and sometimes they 
 are partly covered by loosened portions of the photosphere. 
 
 It has further been shown that immense streams of hydrogen and glowing 
 metalline vapours, caused by the great rise of temperature, ascend, in consequence 
 of their lightness, with great velocity to above the photosphere, and there, in an 
 atmosphere of glowing hydrogen , called the chromosj)here , appear as protuberances of 
 
39 
 
 magnificent red-coloured masses. These protuberances, which appear as eruptions of 
 hydrogen gas, are caused by violent disturbances in the glowing gaseous mass of the 
 sun and are closely connected with the spots. 
 
 The spots and protuberances differ every year in number, and maxima- and 
 minima-periods recur at intervals, influencing the action of the sun on the earth. 
 
 We would further direct attention to the influence which the sun exercises : 
 
 1. On the electricity of the air. By its action on our atom-laden atmosphere 
 it causes electric discharges , characterized by thunderstorms and by magnificent light- 
 phenomena such as the Aurora Borealis, whose connection with the sun-spots has 
 been proved. The atoms must be considered as the principal bearers of electricity 
 and as indispensable to the phenomena which it presents to our view. Further 
 the sunspots, which are caused by violent disturbances and eruptions in the gaseous 
 mass of the sun , may be supposed to give rise to different tensions in the sun-gases, 
 by which the electricity of the earth is variously influenced. 
 
 2. On the magnetism of the earth, evident from the connection between the 
 deviations and disturbances of the magnet-needle and the sun-spots and protuberances. 
 
 3. On the temperature, which in the periods of the smaller number of sun- 
 spots is higher than in the maxima periods. 
 
 4. On the meteorological conditions of the earth in connection with : 
 
 a. The quantities of rain and snow. These are about Va more in the period 
 of the maxima than in that of the minima; which is explained by the fact that an 
 increase in the radiation of the sun must cause a greater evaporation of water, whereby 
 the quantity of rain, snow etc. must augment. So the height of the water in the 
 rivers must depend on the maxima- and minima-periods. This connection has been 
 shown by Proffessor Reis -of Mainz in his inquiry into the causes of the inundations 
 in the Rhine-basin. 
 
 b. The hurricanes and cyclones , which are more important during the maxima- 
 periods of the sun-spots than during the minima-periods. 
 
 Meanwhile the protracted and indefatigable researches of Mr. Schwabe of Dessau 
 have proved that the increase and decrease of the number of sun- spots succeeded each 
 other alternately, and that the maxima- periods were successively reached after 9, 11, 
 12 and 10 years, thus on an average after 10 Vi years, and the minima-periods 
 after 10, 13 and 11 years, thus on an average after 11 Vs years. 
 
 Likewise a periodicity has been observed in the protuberances, so closely 
 connected with the sun-spots, being for the successive maxima-periods about 11 years, 
 not however concurrent with those of the sun-spots. 
 
 The periodicity of the sun-spots does not seem to be explained yet; but it increased 
 in importance, when, through the researches of Mr. Fritz of ZurichandofMr. Loomis 
 in North- America, it was shown , that the Northern-Lights vary in number and brilliancy , 
 reaching a maximum every 11 years, corresponding with that of the sun-spots. 
 
 The Northern-Lights have drawn attention in China from the earliest times; 
 and it is not improbable that, had regular observations been taken, they might 
 have led to some connection between the wet and dry periods during the loess- 
 formations, and the sun-spots. 
 
40 
 
 The maximum number of sun-spots is reached once in 11 years, but is 
 not always equally great; there are greater and lesser maxima, which after a certain 
 duration return regularly. 
 
 In proof of this Mr. Snijders gives the following review of the maxima 
 recorded during the last two centuries. 
 
 Years 
 
 
 
 Years 
 
 
 of 
 
 Relati' 
 
 /e 
 
 of 
 
 Relative 
 
 laxima. 
 
 number of 
 
 spots. 
 
 maxima. 
 
 number of spots. 
 
 1705 
 
 49 
 
 
 1804 
 
 73 
 
 1717 
 
 52 
 
 
 1816 
 
 46 
 
 1727 
 
 90 
 
 
 1830 
 
 71 
 
 1738 
 
 85 
 
 
 1837 
 
 138 
 
 1750 
 
 83 
 
 
 1848 
 
 124 
 
 1769 
 
 86 
 
 
 1860 
 
 96 
 
 1778 
 
 154 
 
 
 1870 
 
 139 
 
 1789 
 
 132 
 
 
 1882 
 
 59 
 
 This review shows that the greatest maxima, called principal maxima, and 
 the smallest minima recur on an average once in 55 years ; i. e. the maxima in the 
 years 1727, 1778 and 1837, or after 51 and 59 years , that is on an average 55 years ; 
 and the smallest minima in the years 1705, 1750, 1816 and 1860 or after 45, 66 
 and 44 years, that is on an average once in 52 years. These great periods of the 
 recurrence of the greatest maxima and smallest minima correspond remarkably with 
 those found for the Northern-Lights, according to the statistics made up by 
 Mr. Fritz which go back 1900 years and point to great periods of 55 years. 
 
 The review shows further that the principal-maxima as well as the smallest minima 
 are variable , and that , once in 55 years , a lesser principal-maximum, or minimum is 
 exchanged for a greater, the principal-maxima during the above named years having 
 been successively 90, 154 and 138 and the smallest minima 49, 83, 46 and 96. 
 One may thus divide the chief maxima and least minima into two orders. 
 
 The two successive chief maxima and least minima of the same order would 
 then be separated by a period of 110 or 111 years, or ten times the 11 year 
 period shown by the observations of Mr. Schwabe for the maxima and minima of the 
 sun-spots. 
 
 Mr. Snijders further inserts, on the subject of these great periods, a calcu- 
 lation going 1900 years back, of the dates when the principal-maxima may be 
 assumed to have occurred, starting from 1778 and reckoning periods of 111 years. 
 
 These dates areO— 112— 223— 334— 445— 556— 667— 778— 889— 1000— 1112— 
 1223—1334—1445—1556—1667—1778—1889 and 2000. Here between the years 
 and 112 and between 1000 and 1112, a period of 112 years is taken, because the 
 period is properly 10 X HVg = IUVd years, so that one year in every nine 
 periods or thousand years has to be added to. 
 
 It is moreover very remarkable that the high water periods and the inundations 
 
41 
 
 inundations of the Rhine-basin always, as Mr. Reis has proved historically, follow or 
 precede the 110 year periods of the sun-spots. 
 
 These floods have taken place during the time of minima following on the 
 years of maxima, thus always about 6 years or less after such a maximum. They 
 seem too, which is remarkable, to stand in connection with these maxima as to 
 their height, which the following table will show. 
 
 Dates in which 
 the maxima occurred. 
 
 Relative number 
 of sun-spots. 
 
 Years of the 1=* 
 minima following. 
 
 Height of water above Amsterdam mark 
 
 Cologne 
 M. 
 
 Emmerik 
 M. 
 
 Nymegen 
 M. 
 
 1778 
 1870 
 
 154 
 139 
 
 1784 
 1876 
 
 48.33 
 44.61 
 
 17.69 
 17.59 
 
 13.53 
 18.21 
 
 According to the theory of Mr. Reis, the years of greatest maxima, preceding 
 those of 1778, must be reckoned at 1667 and 1556, which dates differ but slightly 
 from those which history proves to have actually taken place. 
 
 Thus the year 1558 was rich in Northern-Lights, which were observed both 
 in Europe and in China; while it may be found recorded that in the year 1547 
 the sun repeatedly displayed great spots; and it is remarkable that this year differs 
 11 years with 1558, and thus the last year must presumably be reckoned as a 
 chief maximum. 
 
 The maxima of 1547, 1558, 1569, 1580 and 1591 were also followed by 
 the minimum-years 1553, 1565, 1573, 1583 and 1595, during which high floods have 
 been historically proved, or may be easily gathered by the water-marks of the time. 
 
 Especially note- worthy for its high watermark is the minimum year 1565, 
 which succeeded the great maximum year 1558, though the watermarks of 1573 
 were still higher. 
 
 In the 14* century the highest maximum-year was 1336, differing thus but 
 little from the theoretically reckoned year, which was 1334; while in the following 
 minimum-year 1342 the greatest inundation in the Rhenish provinces occurred, that 
 is on record. 
 
 Mr. Reiss has in this way examined the high watermarks for a period of 
 1000 years, and has been able to prove from trustworthy sources, that all the great 
 maxima of sun-spots and Northern-Lights have been followed by heavy floods, 
 and that these have been heavier in accordance with the figure of the maximum 
 of sun-spots. 
 
 § 29. We have shown that the high watermarks in the European rivers General Considerations 
 
 are chiefly affected by the meteorological conditions of the earth and that these are MSeoroiog^cafcondi 
 
 ruled by the physical condition of the sun. Undoubtedly this is also the case in China, *i°?^ '"^ 9^'P^' Central 
 
 ■^ 1^ ■' •) 1 Asia and Mongolia, m 
 
 in Central Asia and in Mongolia, in a modified form, but still very evident; but for connection with Moun- 
 
 „, ,. i_- c 1 i ,. ■,,,.. ■,., tain-Ranges, Volcanic 
 
 want of observations, no satisfactory account can be given ; and this is rendered more Action, etc. 
 
42 
 
 difficult by the extraordinary conditions tiiat occur here, which have not all of them 
 been properly investigated. Thus the influence of the high mountain-range along the 
 southern boundary of Central Asia is very important, and one of the principal causes 
 of the dry climate, from which the undrained region has borrowed its character. 
 
 It is difficult to determine the age of this mountain-range with any degree 
 of exactness. The Kwenlun and Karakorum are reckoned to have existed from 
 prehistoric times; while the Himalaya has reached its present elevation gradually. 
 The presence of Eocene formations , at an elevation of more than 3500 Meters, proves 
 that the mountain cannot have reached that height before the tertiary period ; and 
 if this cannot be laid down with absolute certainty, we may at all events assume 
 that it acquired its present form and height at about the end of this period. Now, 
 rain being always brought by southern winds, it would, from this period, be caught 
 up on the southern side of the range, tiiereb\- causing a paucity of rain on the 
 northern side. In consequence the Middle Sea , which at one time extended in Middle 
 Asia throughout the district of Han-hai, is quite dried up; and it would be of 
 importance to know its exact boundaries, and to fix the age of the deposits found 
 in it. At the end of the Chalk period, this lake still extended in Han-hai, and the 
 materials brought to it by the rivers, more especially sand and boulders, settled 
 down in layer form; later however, at some undetermined period, it withdrew 
 leaving an inland sea, which, by evaporation, gradually diminished in area, 
 or split up into a number of water- basin s , whose area also gradually diminished, 
 some of them completely drying up, while others still remain as small salt-lakes. 
 
 The retrogation of the Middle Sea however, was probably not caused only by 
 the meteorological conditions of the earth acted upon by the physical condition of the 
 sun, but also by the periods of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, which in the 
 Tien-shan and East Mongolia have left unmistakeable traces, though nothing is known 
 about the period when they began nor of their subsequent development. 
 
 This volcanic action has not altogether ceased and has modified the height of 
 the land at a later period. In the southern Tien-shan, for instance, the motion of the 
 earth's crust has caused several displacements of the surface. Not only have the 
 most recent sea deposits been raised, so as to stand upright against the Tien- 
 shan, but the layers bend even under the Trias-rock, which forms the front of the 
 first mountain-range ; whereas the Trias-formation occurs under the Paleozoic. The facts 
 however are too isolated for drawing general deductions. Nevertheless StoUczka has 
 come to the conclusion, that at all events the northern part of the Tarym-basin has 
 subsided very much at a later period. He thereby explains the conjunction of the 
 valley-basins , situated between the parallel mountain-ranges fif Tien-shan, which are 
 filled up with mountain-debris and have a steppe-covering. This conjunction has been 
 produced by the river Toyan, which has bored its way almost straight through the 
 mountain-ranges. 
 
 It would seem too, that the presence not only of loess-steppes, but also of 
 intersections in the loess, are to be ascribed to subsidences or upheavals of the bottom 
 in connection with climatic changes. 
 
 Meanwhile the earlier conditions are still a matter of uncertainty ; the more so, 
 
43 
 
 as it is well nigh impossible to examine the mineral remains of organic life in the 
 loess and steppe formations , because one cannot penetrate to the bottom or underlying 
 mountain-range. Only when a thorough inquiry into the nature of the water-loess of 
 these districts becomes possible, will one be enabled to consider the period when the 
 land was last covered with water, and when the conditions of life for aquatic 
 animals were still present. Likewise an examination of the remains of mammalia in 
 the land-loess of China would probably furnish important additions to our knowledge 
 of loess-formations. 
 
 It would lead us too far to dilate further on the domain of the steppe 
 formations. It is however evident that, if in a damp climate a lake-basin is brought 
 within reach of rivers , they will in a greater or less degree fill it up with sediment ; and 
 when this happens in a dry climate, whether hot or cold^ it leads to the formation of an 
 undrained region. Upheavals or subsidences of the bottom may assist in various 
 ways in bringing this about. 
 
 Landslips, whether resulting from volcanic action or not, displacements, and 
 the other dynamic processes, may work a like influence on the form of the surface. 
 Moreover at the time when the loess began to settle down in North China, an 
 extensive mountainous country with valleys and ravines, and the chief features 
 of the present valley of the Hwang-ho, seems to have existed. The river, 
 even then, found its way to the sea, though many changes of elevation have taken 
 place since and the sources of the river extend now much further into the mountain- 
 range. As however, at a later period, many undrained basins entered upon its former 
 domain, there must have been causes for this, and among them, the change to a 
 dry climate may well have been one of the principal. 
 
 § 30. For a due appreciation of the influences of chmatic variations, we will influence of ciiiijaUc 
 suppose, for the sake of simplicity, the present climate to change into a period of Change. 
 
 drought. The Hwang-ho is now, in consequence of the increased rain-fall, constantly 
 advancing from its source upwards. Should a period of drought occur, the streams 
 which bring the supply of water to the main-river, receiving less from the sources, 
 would gradually dry up; the vegetation be modified, and in some places disap- 
 pear, and the wind have full play to ravage and desolate the dry land. It would 
 separate the two principal constituents of the bottom , carrying the earthy parts to 
 districts more favourably situated, there to assist in building up the bottom; while 
 the sands could only produce deserts, which the winds would carry further and 
 further, thereby increasing the dryness of the climate. The materials brought by 
 the wind would settle down everywhere, thus also in the bed of the river, already 
 partly dried up. Where this bed is inclosed between mountains, the sand and 
 gravel would be carried down with it and perhaps form a dam. Numberless 
 impediments would gradually cut off the streams from the basins, which, as soon as 
 their water-supply became less than the evaporation, would become undrained. The 
 loess would enter upon a period of growth and, whenever the former course of a 
 stream became narrower , by mixture with the gravel , rise quicker than at 
 other places; the bottom would get soaked through with salt, and the surface be 
 
44 
 
 changed into a steppe. This process would be repeated , at the same time, in all the 
 tributaries; and thus sooner or later lead to the cutting off of their basins, the 
 same phenomenon also extending downwards along the river. In consequence of the 
 weakened force of the river-current, the sand would be borne down at a constantly 
 slower rate, form banks of great depth to be blown up into downs in times of 
 drought ; which would at length impede the course of the river even in rainy periods. 
 The larger vegetation which gives shade to the bottom would disappear ; the radiating 
 heat from the bottom increase; and the process described above extend through the 
 greater evaporation. Finally, simultaneously with the changes on the surface, the 
 geological underground action might increase the depth and isolation of some basins, 
 while preventing the formation of others. 
 
 The influence of a change of cUmate which, causing a period of drought, 
 favours the conversion of wliole districts into salt-steppes, is most to be dreaded. 
 On the other hand, the conversion of undrained into drained basins and of 
 salt-steppes into loess-lands is chiefly to be ascribed to the conversion of a dry 
 period into a wet one. As has already been shown, a shght increase of rain might 
 fill a few of the basins, and cause the lakes to overflow; supposing that the water 
 had not found for itself an outlet through some crevice. Researches into the formation 
 of loess have shown what great changes the character of the landscape, the con- 
 ditions for the existence of men, and the development of their agriculture have hereby 
 undergone. Considering the phenomena in loess-districts, with this end in view, one 
 must first of all call attention to the characteristic growth of the loess-ravines, 
 from the mouth upwards. As has been shown in § 10, no inchnes will be formed 
 in the loess, but wherever a stream has cut its way in, the distances between the 
 topmost edges of the terrace-like walls will increase in proportion to their height. 
 The rainwater sinking into the bottom cannot form ditches or gullets, but great 
 ravine-systems with ramifications, from whence after heavy rains the water flows 
 away in brooks. These ravines have been formed from the mouth upwards, which can be 
 seen best in the outshoots, where the clefts have as yet only a depth of 30 or 40 
 feet and a width of 4 to 6 feet, and where these dimensions remain the same for 
 several hundred paces, till they widen by uniting with other clefts. The bottoms of 
 these clefts are formed by the planes of marl-petrifactions which separate the banks, 
 and the termination of each cleft is hollowed out in a semicircular form. Here the 
 bottom is generally dry and if any rain falls, the tendency to vertical splits in the waUs 
 is at once developed, which tendency occurs in the same way throughout the whole 
 length of the cleft. Through invisible splits the water pierces deeper and deeper till 
 it reaches the dividing plane, forming the bottom of the ravine. Here the water 
 which has penetrated into the loess-bottom begins its destructive work, by changing 
 into streams and undermining the loess- mass. Parts of this break off and fafl in. The 
 ravine does not however increase so much in breadth as, in consequence of the 
 vertical splitting, it does in height, till the surface of the loess-plain has been reached. 
 At ten or twenty feet from the end of the ravine a cylindrical weU is formed of 
 about the same depth. It seems, from repeated observation of this phenomenon , that 
 the devastation then sets in from the separation-wall between the well and the 
 
45 
 
 termination of the ravine ; and , advancing from below , forms a vault which 
 
 also crumbles away from below gradually. At last the separating wall falls in, while 
 
 the undermining process goes on in the opposite direction. Often a traffic road is 
 
 laid across some of such wells , which in course of time forces its way right into the 
 
 cart-ruts , so that the road is cut through , and becomes useless. Sometimes there is 
 
 not room enough to lay the road along the new end of the ravine ; it has to climb up 
 
 along side-terraces, and often a new road has to be constructed. The action caused by 
 
 the vertical splittings is also further developed along the sides of the cleft or ravine. 
 
 Sometimes at the foot of one of the two perpendicular walls, a vaulted cave gets 
 
 formed, and at the back of it appears a loess- spring. This generally causes 
 
 the formation of a side-ramification, which may develop into importance. 
 
 Thus may be formed a labyrinth of ravines, and where tlie undermining process 
 
 advances most rapidly, the ravine system thereby brought into existence comes 
 
 nearer and nearer the roots of another system that progresses more slowly. Both 
 
 will continue to grow in size till they meet. Then great portions of the loess may 
 
 become entirely separated from the rest and inaccessible on all sides. Thus are 
 
 formed the isolate columns, which have often served as a place of refuge to which 
 
 the inhabitants have retreated in timesof commotion, as into a fortress. In the interior 
 
 was made a spiral-formed staircase, which was the only entrance, and on the top 
 
 a temple was built, which in the course of centuries, through the progress of the 
 
 devastating action of the water, must fall in. These natural strongholds are often 
 
 several hundred feet high. In other places however the operation has been less 
 
 complete and there remain, between a few widened ravines, quite a number of these 
 
 strongholds or castles. 
 
 The complication of the ravines goes on increasing infinitely, in consequence 
 of the slightly inclined or horizontal separation planes, which occur in numbers at 
 the edge of the basin, and whose presence is indicated by the angular stones 
 and the marl-petrifactions. Towards the centre these separation-planes diminish; 
 sometimes the mountain-gravel then disappears, so that the separation-planes 
 only contain the petrifactions; while each of these planes forms the bottom of 
 a ravine-system, in which the ravaging process has eaten its way upwards from 
 below. 
 
 If such a loess-basin is intersected by a river, the various ravine-systems 
 open up into it from the side. Thus the stream-bed in the lowest bank is bounded 
 by perpendicular walls along the river or along its alluvial domains. The ravines 
 which have been formed by union with other branches, open into this sideways, so 
 that the topmost oufer edge of the lowest bank incloses them all. Above this bank 
 is a plain from which rises perpendicularly the second loess-bank, in the form of a 
 terrace, or somewhat drawn back. In many places this plain is large , in others small, 
 and where the lower bank runs to a point between two ravines, the upper one 
 follows exactly the same pointed form, and the separation at the projection can only 
 be recognised by the heaps of petrifactions. 
 
 In this upper bank appear a number of branch ravines, which do not occur in 
 the lower bank. The third bank retires in the same terrace-like form as does the second. 
 
46 
 
 It contains the continuation of tiie ravines of the first and second banks, besides many new 
 ones whose number in the higher banks continually increases , thus forming the labyrinth 
 which in the topmost bank, especially near tlie edge of the loess-basin , occurs with dimi- 
 nishing heights. At the edge^ contrary to the centre wliere the greatest dimensions are met 
 with, occur the greatest number of ramifications. One has here to reckon too with the 
 action of the water which, when it rains, streams down the ravines. This water 
 deepens the bottom and rushes partly along the side-walls, which are tlius undermined 
 and spht off perpendicularly. These rendings are however much more powerful when 
 the stream rises in the mountain-range that surrounds the basin, running farther 
 towards the river in the centre of the basin. Then the streams hollows out for itself 
 a passage along the edge of the mountain-range to such a depth in the loess that 
 the water finds only a difference in level just sufficient to reach the main-stream 
 with moderate swiftness, while aU along side-cleft systems open out into the 
 deep cutting. 
 
 It has now been clearly shown that the ravine-system develops from the mouth 
 upwards, and that the watersheds occurring in it can but very seldom be determined 
 by the form of the surface, which is contrary to what usually takes place in the 
 drainage of mountain-regions. The watersheds in the loess are therefore entirely 
 dependent on the way in which the single systems have formed their last fissures 
 in the loess. The water falling into a gently inclined loess-plain, may for instance 
 be drained off in an exactly opposite direction. A stream rising in a basin in the 
 liigher deposits, where there is a steppe-lake, may flow not towards the lake, but 
 in an opposite direction. This explains how in North-China dams are frequently 
 pierced by apparently harmless little streams, which rise just behind them in 
 a loess-basin, and which might have been supposed to have found a much easier 
 outlet in other directions. This is much more remarkable when a great loess-basin 
 is inclosed within different mountain-ranges, with only one side left open. The water 
 does not then always stream from the sides to a central channel leaving the 
 basin at the open side, but often finds for itself several, frequently quite unexpected 
 exits. It finds these exits, through the loess-basin's being independent of tlie original 
 form of the mountain-range, and being divided into a number of ravine-systems, all 
 of which have their own separate drainage; in consequence of which it forces for 
 itself a channel through different clefts in the mountain-range, and flows into different 
 rivers. This characteristic drainage of loess-districts may frequently be seen on a 
 small scale. In the loess territory in Northern Shansi, which from the Tshing-tshwan- 
 kou gate, in tlie great Chinese wall, extends with numerous ramifications towards 
 the north, and is bounded on the east by a mighty gneiss range, the loess rises 
 against the mountain slopes to a great height. In ordinary mountain-regions all the 
 water in this basin would stream down to the valley- river. Here on the contrary the 
 drainage takes place in the highest part of the loess, on the other side, in a small 
 stream, which has cleft for itself a narrow passage through the gneiss mountain. 
 Just such another phenomenon may be seen in southern Shansi, and though these 
 phenomena may be chiefly of local importance, still as they repeatedly occur, not 
 only on a small but also on a very large scale, they must be considered as of great 
 
47 
 
 importance •). It is also evident tiiat the drainage collected into channels in an 
 impermeable soil could never exhibit 5 stream-systems in the same limited basin, 
 as does actually occur in the loess. Still the porous character of the loess does not 
 offer a satisfactory explanation of this; for if a basin is encircled by a wall of 
 mountains, we must assume, in the absence of exceptional causes, that the rain 
 will fill it up as high as the lowest edge of the mountain brim, and by further 
 increase of water, overflow and gradually hollow out that part of the mountain-ridge, 
 till it has made for itself an efficient channel. This however does not occur, nor 
 does it in any sense correspond with the nature of the loess-basins. Before such 
 quantities of water could gather together, or in other words, before the basin could 
 be filled up, a considerable time would have to elapse. During that period 
 a water-loess deposit would settle down in the water-filled basin, and thus, the 
 land-loess would not occur at its actual height. During the protracted period of the 
 astmospheric loess-formation, when the decay and crumbling of the rock was also 
 in active progi-ess, rocky clefts must have been formed in the mountains, through 
 which the water could find its way. Very probably these clefts are in some degree 
 connected with the mighty upheaval of the Himalaya mountain-range. Except in a 
 few favourable cases they would be of no service to the rivers which flow down 
 the mountains into a rich aUuvial clay- valley; but when the mountain-range protects 
 immense land-loess formations, which let the water completely through them, and 
 the loess is saturated with water down to its lowest depths, then, where there is 
 a cleft in the mountain and the water has reached up to it, it will immediately be 
 drained off through the opening. Thus the water in the depths of a steppe-basin, 
 far beneath the present surface, may be drained off, without perceptibly affecting 
 the salt-lake, which extends on the surface and above the water-loess. 
 
 When such a basin , in consequence of different depths , consists of several 
 divisions, each part may be drained off through a separate cleft, and such drainage 
 once established, will, especially by increased rainfall, be lasting, and be characterized 
 in the loess-region by the formation of perpendicular splits and ravines. At the 
 same time the mountain-sphts or clefts will be widened by the action of the water , 
 retaining however the character of a rocky cleft. 
 
 When the conditions for the formation of such drainage systems are absent 
 from want of mountain clefts, two cases are possible. 
 
 In the first, the steppe-basin belongs to a former river-system, as must have 
 been the case in the region of the loess-steppes of the Hwang-ho, when it was still 
 undrained. If thus many separation-ridges, even now, are formed by the loess, and 
 if formerly the drainage gradually extended over these ridges from a deeper to 'a 
 higher part, the latter will thereby also be included in the river domain, without the 
 level of the salt-lake within it being raised to any appreciable extent. 
 
 The second case presents itself, when a basin is surrounded by mountains in 
 
 I) The Indus and the Bramaputra, whose upper reaches are in the loess-districts, have forced their way 
 tlirough the Himalaya mountains. The Poprad and the Arra which stream straight through the Karpathian- 
 range helong likewise to a developed loess-region. 
 
48 
 
 which no clefts or spUts occur. The drainage then can only take place when, by an 
 increase in the rainfall, the water in the salt-lake has risen so high as to overflow at 
 the lowest point of the mountain edge. That this occurs but seldom, is evident from 
 the fact that the layer-like deposits of water-loess are scarcely ever found on the 
 land-loess, as however is said to be the case at present in the basin of the Khukhu- 
 nor and of Is-syk-kul. 
 
 The necessary consequence of a restored drainage is the lixiviation of the 
 salt above the water-level of the draining-channel. The lixiviation will progress 
 slowest in the water-loess, as the water cannot easily force its way through it. 
 Below the water-level of the restored drainage, the salts in the bottom remain as 
 before, except what is absorbed by the plants for nourishment. Thus the peculiar 
 forms and bottom of the peripheric region of Central Asia are developed ; the vegetation 
 undergoes a similar modification and consequently also the animal kingdom. Man now finds 
 sheltered spots, and this leads him, in his fear of local isolation and of the difficulties 
 resulting therefrom to travellers, and in his appreciation of the fertility of the bottom, 
 irresistibly to the establishment of settlements. Now arise in these regions towns 
 and states, and thus the Chinese have penetrated so to say with the plough to the 
 very sources of the Hwang-ho and other rivers. On the other hand the restless 
 Mongols with their flocks had to retreat before the slow advance of swarms of 
 husbandmen, and this process goes on till the villages and commercial centres they 
 have established have reached the outmost limit whence a drop of water is conveyed 
 to the ocean. Only the steppes are left to the Nomads, who live in the strictest 
 isolation. 
 
 In other loess countries, observation has shown the same relations to exist, 
 though not so sharply delineated as in China, where the inhabitants will never 
 neglect advancing as far as possible towards the places, which allow of the agricul- 
 tural industry necessary to their existence. 
 
 The Oases. § 31. Finally the condition of the steppes undergoes important modifications 
 
 resulting from the labour of the population. The fresh mountain-streams which rise 
 in the snow-plains and glaciers of the Tien-shan, the Pamir, the Karakorum and 
 Kwenlun, the Kilien-shan, and other mountain-ranges, are diverted from their course 
 as they leave the mountains, and spread in numerous channels over the surface of 
 the steppes. The bottom is thus hxiviated, and being furnished with a regular 
 supply of water, is changed into fertile agricultural land. These artificial oases awaken 
 universal admiration, both on account of the system of irrigation, and the rich 
 produce which the diligent inhabitants have managed to obtain from the soil, instead 
 of the former scanty vegetation. The culture of fruit-trees, of the vine, of mulberry- 
 trees, vegetables, grains, pulse, and olive-trees is abundantly sufficient for the sustenance 
 of a numerous population, and leaves enough over for exportation, to supply 
 them with the means of purchasing such requirements, particularly tea and sugar, 
 as their own soil does not produce. Now follows however the dark side of the picture. 
 The water which nature had appointed for its own purpose could not be diverted 
 from the steppelands with impunity. The more fertile the oases become, the more 
 
49 
 
 barren the lower course of the rivers. Formerly they could bear their waters to 
 a great distance, ceding a portion of them to supply the central lake. Now however , 
 one has to reckon with a greater evaporation, in consequence of the extended area 
 of the oases canals, and to take into account the great quantity of water, required 
 for irrigation purposes, which gives to the porous soil an opportunity it does not 
 fail to avail itself of, of absorbing the moisture. The slight natural fertility of 
 the steppes is thus turned into great barrenness on the one hand and great 
 fertility on the other. The joint produce of these two factors however is much the 
 same as it used to be. This division characterizes too the changes brought about 
 by the formation of the oases Hami, Pidjan, Turfan, Earashar, Ku-tshe, Aksu, 
 Kashgar, Yarkand, Khotan, and many more. The great fertility of the oases however 
 is not always lasting. Many flourishing oases of former days, especially along the 
 southern edge of the Tarym-basin, have not been able to maintain themselves; and 
 the banks of the streams, in former times the home of the nomads, are now 
 covered with sand. The withdrawal of the water from the steppes necessarily causes 
 the decline or cessation of vegetation there. Gradually the sands cover the loess- 
 bottom; the wind begins its ruining sifting process; an enemy to all agriculture, 
 it has now full sway, and advancing further and further, at last reaches the oases, 
 which have helped to bring it into being, and, unhindered in its destructive course, 
 utterly destroys them. After the destruction of the oases however, the rivers do not 
 regain their former power but disappear or are transformed into sandy-deserts, as 
 soon as their banks are forsaken by the inhabitants. This probably coincides with an 
 increased evaporation, for according to Chinese history; the Lop-nor, 4000 years ago, 
 was still an extensive lake, from which the Si-hai or Western-Sea borrowed its 
 name. This name was afterwards transferred to the Caspian Sea with which the 
 Chinese did not become acquainted until the second century of the Christian era. 
 But even at that time the Lop-nor had shrunk to the size of a pool between saltish 
 loam-plains, where the wild camel still roamed, but which was no longer a resting- 
 place for the caravans. 
 
 § 32. In the preceding review the geological conditions of China have been Scientific investigation 
 considered in their chief features, only in so far as they immediately concern the of the Hwang-ho from 
 general condition of the Hwang-ho, and serve to make it intelhgible. ^ Hjdrauiic point 
 
 . • of view. 
 
 Meanwhile it is noteworthy, that since many years attempts have been 
 made to examine carefully into the geological conditions of China and of Central- 
 Asia; and although this inquiry, particularly in the wild and inhospitable steppes, 
 has been very far from complete, still the latest travels and observations of 
 von Richthofen, Prejevalsky, Potanin and Szechenyi have reduced many diverse 
 subjects to clearness and simplicity. Such as may wish to become better acquainted 
 with these important subjects, may consult the writings of these explorers and 
 especially Mr. von Richthofen's work with advantage. 
 
 On the other hand our hydrographic knowledge of the rivers in China, thus 
 also of the Hwang-ho, is still in a very unadvanced state. During their sojourn in 
 China in 1889, our fellow-members Messrs. P. G. van Schermbeek, Captain in the 
 
 7 
 
50 
 
 Royal-Dutch Engineers, and A. Visser were enabled to convince themselves of this, 
 and to give us some valuable hints as to the information we stand most in need of. 
 
 From their observations it has become at once evident that, as it is possible 
 and even desirable to take the river improvements of the Hwang-ho in hand without 
 delay, and as this may be done without incurring the risk of ineffective labour, 
 provided the work is carried out with proper caution, the first matter for consider- 
 ation should be a hydrographic investigation into the general state of the river. It 
 might keep pace with part of the most indispensable riverworks, provided due care 
 be taken that the connection between them should not be lost sight of. This is the 
 more recommendable as being the best guarantee of economy; and the inquiry, 
 extending through several years, would allow too of the most favourable periods 
 being selected for the observations, and place their accuracy beyond all doubt. 
 
 The scientific inquiry we have here in view, as being indispensable both for 
 a proper understanding of the river and as a basis for definitive projects, should 
 include : 
 
 1. The placing of temporary level-gauges on which the water-levels from the 
 highest to the lowest may be read at different places along the river and on the 
 the coast. These level-gauges must be sufficiently protected from injury. 
 
 The readings from these level-gauges, where there is no appreciable ebb and 
 flow, should be taken at least once a day and at the same hour. Where however 
 sudden changes may be expected, from the presence of tributary streams, rapids or 
 other causes, the observations must be taken several times a day according to 
 circumstances. 
 
 Where there is an appreciable ebb and flow, both the highest and lowest 
 levels must be taken, and the times when they occur. 
 
 AU these observations must be carefully entered in monthly and annual 
 registers of fixed models. 
 
 The definitive level-gauges must not be placed until after the conclusion of 
 the levellings; and then all the observations taken on the temporary gauges must 
 be reduced in accordance with the definitive datum-hne. Self-registering level-gauges 
 are needed wherever the tides are appreciable , and also at the chief points along the 
 upper river. These chief points however can only be determined definitively later on, 
 and will depend on local conditions. In reference to the system on which these level- 
 gauges should be arranged, we caU attention to those at Ostend, because they are 
 very convenient and their diagrams may be multiplied to any extent. 
 
 The placing of some level-gauges along the chief tributaries must not be 
 neglected either. 
 
 The observations of the water-levels cannot begin too soon, and once begun 
 should never cease. They may be exclusively entrusted to Chinese officials. Tire 
 statistics of the water-levels and the diagrams should be made up quadruply: one 
 copy for local use, and the others for the managers in China or Europe and for 
 publication. 
 
 2. The general levelUngs and length measurements. These must be taken along 
 both banks, because the level-gauges will be placed along both banks, and it is 
 
51 
 
 necessary to determine as accurately as possible the heights etc. of the two embank- 
 ments and the hydrographic details of the district on either side of the river. 
 
 At least one of these leveUings must be taken with more than common care and 
 attention, so that the heights being once determined may never have to be measured 
 again afterwards. The levellings along both banks should then be brought into 
 connection across the stream and connected also with the levels of beacons, which 
 might consist of pillars in masonry, constructed according to a fixed system. 
 
 These pillars, placed at regular distances of 1000 or 2000 Meters, may at the 
 same time be made serviceable for the length measurements, and be numbered for 
 this purpose; they might also further serve for fixing the main lines along 
 which the soundings have to be taken. 
 
 For datum-line the average low-water level at the mouth seems the most 
 recommendable, the difference in .height between average flood and ebb being , accor- 
 ding to the China Sea Directory, 3.19 M. during spring tide and 2.43 M. during 
 neap tide. Probably this average could not be fixed at once; a provisional level 
 however can be adopted and the observations from this may be reduced as soon as 
 the accurate level has been got at. 
 
 3. The general soundings of the river between the fixed beacons, extended 
 by levellings right and left, in the prolongation of the sounding lines. 
 
 These soundings must wait, until the level-gauges are placed and the obser- 
 vations of the water-levels take place regularly. 
 
 4. The observations relating to the discharge of the river both at high and at 
 low water-mark. The discharge of the tributaries must be determined at the same 
 time, to enable one to examine their infiuence on the main-stream. These measure- 
 ments as a rule require much time and, especially when the river is in flood, give 
 rise to great difficulties. 
 
 5. The surveying , measuring and mapping out of the river on a sufficient scale, 
 which, according to the nature of the regions to be surveyed, might be 1 to 500 up 
 to 2500, the scale of 1 to 1000 being as a rule the fittest. 
 
 The stone columns or beacons constructed for the levellings may be made 
 serviceable to the secondary triangulations , while some other system will have to 
 be arranged for the sines of the primary triangles, for which temples or pagoda's 
 may be of use or else the construction of larger columns must be taken into consi- 
 deration. 
 
 6. The observations respecting the mud-alloy and the displacement of the 
 sand over the bottom at different water-levels. 
 
 7. The observations on the rainfaU and the evaporation, in connection with 
 their influence on the loess-basins, and the ravine-systems occuring in them; the 
 thermometric and barometric observations, the direction and force of the 
 
 winds. 
 
 8. Observations concerning the loess-districts in direct connection with the 
 river, their ravine-systems, terrace-heights, watersheds; including also indications 
 as to how the different parts of the loess-basin are drained. 
 
 9. The chemical analysis of the dissolved matter, with special reference to 
 
52 
 
 the salts which may cause the dissolution of carbonate of lime. This inquiry ought 
 to extend to the water at its various levels. 
 
 Thus the rivers in the steppe-land must carry down with them many dissolved 
 salts of which the chief would seem to be kitchen salt. If, in a moderate tem- 
 perature, this salt, in a state of solution, comes into contact with carbonate of 
 lime, decomposition sets in; and the latter forms itself with the salt into carbonate 
 of soda and calcium of chlorine, both easily dissolved in water. There seems therefore 
 to be a possibility that, where the river water comes into contact with the land- 
 loess, the carbonate of lime which causes the petrifactions within the fibrous or 
 veinous system of the loess is dissolved and disappears. If this is the case, the 
 entire fibrous system and therefore the whole character of the land-loess may be 
 altered, and the latter change either into loam; or, if the separation of the sandy 
 and clayey parts is favoured, one will have to deal with a loamy substance or with 
 a kind of quicksands. 
 
 10. The accurate survey of the coast-line to a sufficient length on both sides 
 of the mouth of the Hwang-ho, and also along the southern coast of the Gulf of 
 Petschili, together with the requisite levellings of the coast and soundings in the sea 
 to a sufficient distance from the shore. 
 
 Whereas the scientific inquiry should extend over the whole region in direct 
 connection with the river, either through drainage or by material brought down in 
 the water, there are some subjects claiming special attention, viz. 
 
 1. The observations necessary for the choice of a general datumplane, on 
 which the currents in the Yellow Sea, occasioned by the ebb and flood, may exer- 
 cise great influence; so that it would be desirable to begin by placing provisional 
 level-gauges at T6ng-tshou-fu , at Lai-tshou-fu , at the mouths of the Hwang-ho, the 
 Pei-ho, and the Lwan-ho, and also at the south-western extremity of Liautung 
 opposite Tong-tshou-fu. It will then most likely prove advisable to extend the obser- 
 vations further outwards to various points along the Hwang-hai or Outer Yellow 
 Sea; but this must remain a matter for after consideration. 
 
 At all events the temporary level-gauges will have to be replaced as soon as 
 possible by definitive self-registering ones. 
 
 2. That part of the river extending from Shan-tshou to the ferry of Mong- 
 tsin-hsien, with the mountain-pass of I-Titshu and the rapids. Accurate knowledge 
 as to the cross-sections, the flood-levels and the velocity of the stream in this gorge 
 is of great importance for a proper consideration of the river ; whilst the construc- 
 tion of well chosen bottom-dams, together with the use of explosives, may be of 
 great assistance in getting rid of the rapids. The placing of these ground-jetties must 
 depend upon the accurate soundings, referred to in a foregoing paragraph. 
 
 Thus at the very beginning very important and very desirable improvements 
 may be planned; taking into due consideration the peculiar character of the water- 
 loess , to which is referred in § 6 , viz. that it is not easily worn away by the action 
 of the current; the chief guide here must be experience. 
 
 In this part of the river one of the most important considerations is how to 
 
53 
 
 prevent the current from undermining the loess-walls along the banks, and carrying 
 the loess-materials, which are thereby made to fall into its bed, downwards to the sea. 
 
 3. The river from the mouth of the Wei-ho or from Tung-kwan to Shan- 
 tshou. For if it eventually appears that there is no settlement of mud or sand in 
 this part, it will be possible to draw many valuable deductions for the improvement 
 of the river, from the velocities and the sections found here, considered in relation 
 to the fall of the river in this part. 
 
 I have thought proper, for the present, to limit the river improvements as 
 also the observations and surveying upwards as far as the mouth of the F6nn-ho, 
 because above the mouth of that river there is no navigation worth mentioning. 
 
 This need not prevent a later extension of the observations and surveying 
 further up the stream ; but an opinion as to whether this would be desirable , can be 
 formed only after the river has been provisionally inspected, up to the glacier-regions. 
 
 For all the above mentioned observations, surveys, etc. the cooperation of 
 Chinese officials must be considered as being of the highest importance, to famiharize 
 them with the method on which this kind of work is carried on in Europe. 
 
 § 38. From the general review in § 2 it will have become evident that the Dangers to which the 
 
 improvement of the Hwang-ho is most directly connected with the dangers to 
 which the great alluvial lower plain is exposed. They result from the bed of the 
 river being gradually filled up with mud or sand; from the neglected state in which 
 the bed and the embankments are left; and, as many suppose, from the slow rising 
 of the southern coast-line of the Gulf of Petschili. 
 
 These dangers , according to Mr. von Richthofen , assume a threatening character 
 at the eastern extremity of the loess-walls along the right bank, where the southern 
 embankment begins. Experience confirms these views. In 1868 the Yung-tso-hsien 
 dike gave way , and 6 districts were flooded. The new works were distroyed again the 
 next year, the whole costing nearly 600.000 £ in repairs. It was then asserted that the 
 dikes thrown up at the prolongation of the loess- wall were made of sand, and that the 
 bed of the river, as it crosses the plain, pent in between embankments, was rising 
 higher and higher through the sedimentary deposits. 
 
 These breaches have caused the most awful calamities, have destroyed towns 
 and villages, and cost the fives of hundreds of thousands of people. The latest 
 calamity however, in 1887, surpassed all the preceding ones. According to the 
 reports from China, an area of no less than 1.942.400 hectares was severely affected 
 by it; it caused more or less damage over an area of 3.107.850 hectares; innumerable 
 people perished in the inundation; nor could the number of those who lost their 
 whole property be estimated. 
 
 It has been observed that, when the river after such calamities could not 
 bring its bed into correspondence with its discharge, the most fertile districts were 
 transformed into lakes , which remained for dozens of years, until by embankments 
 the new river-bed had acquired renewed durability. 
 
 The calamity of 1887, just as the one that took place in 1868, occurred 
 in the district pointed out as dangerous by Mr. von Richthofen. The inundation spread 
 
 great alluvial Lower- 
 Plain of the Hwang-ho 
 is exposed. 
 
54 
 
 over the great plain that extends over the eastern part of Honan and the northern 
 part of Ngan-hui. Its area includes 11 towns. The whole district within which these 
 towns are situated was flooded to a considerable depth, and was described 
 as an inland sea with httle or no outflow, into which the Hwang-ho, having left 
 its old bed below the breach to dry up, discharged itself. It had forced its way into 
 the bed of one of the tributaries of the Hwai-ho, probably that of the Sha-ho. The 
 great city of Kai-fong-fu, before on the right bank, was thus for a time virtually 
 on the left. 
 
 Various opinions were expressed as to the nature of the water, which by 
 some was asserted to be quite as baneful to the soil as others declared it to be 
 beneficial; and as to whether the Chinese would ever be able to dam such an 
 immense dike-breach. As a proof of the fertility of the water however, it may be 
 stated that the husbandmen would not devote their time to the cultivation of the 
 soil in the flooded districts if its nature had become as barren as some writers have 
 asserted. Also this would be contrary to the universal law of nature, for the gravel 
 and sand swept down by the torrents, settle down successively to the bottom soon 
 after the stream has left the mountains, only reaching the lower part of the river 
 in exceptional cases of high water and rapid currents. In this part of the river only 
 such sediments will be found as do not impoverish the land but fertilize it. Still it 
 remains a fact that the sand forming the river-bottom is frequently scoured out to a 
 great depth, by the bursting of the dike, and spread over the neighbouring lands 
 burying them over a great area. 
 
 As to the Chinese being able to dam the breach, I have never for one moment 
 doubted of its accomplishment; for however indifferent their theoretic knowledge 
 of river-engineering may be, they show indefatigable perseverance in overcoming the 
 greatest difficulties, and they have a practical knowledge that rests upon the expe- 
 rience of centuries. As Capt. P. G. van Schermbeek and Mr. Visser, both experts, 
 have testified, the extremely difficult damming of the breach has been accomphshed 
 in a most meritorious and clever manner, and the sinking- works at a great depth in the 
 last part of the breach are unequalled in Europe and merit the highest appreciation. 
 If, on the one hand, the desire of the Chinese Government for the maintenance of the 
 present direction of the river is to be respected, we may on the other be quite sure 
 that the present difficulties can be surmounted, provided all measures in that direc- 
 tion are preceded by a careful theoretic study of the river. These difficulties, 
 however, should not be underestimated, nor the river left any longer to itself; 
 and though this may entail great pecuniary sacrifices, still these are not to be 
 compared to the disasters, misery and pecuniary losses caused by the inundations. 
 There exist moreover encouraging examples in Europe, which may be taken advantage 
 of. The difficulties attending the training of the Rhine were in 1817 no less serious 
 and , though of a different kind , still they corresponded in many respects with those 
 to be encountered in China; while the European experience and knowledge, not 
 acquired until after 1817, may serve as an example for China. The truth of the 
 proverb „ happy the man whom another's loss makes wise" may serve China here 
 in good stead, and is of still higher value when we reflect that the heavy expenses 
 
55 
 
 of the Rhine improvement, as compared with its beneficial results, are quite insig- 
 nificant. ' 
 
 § 34. Before the closing of the breach was accomplished, various opinions South-easterly Direct- 
 were expressed about the contemplated river-improvements. These opinions were '°" ^"'^ proposal for 
 partly prompted by a diversity of interests, the question being whether the river "^T^ ir"'^ ion" 
 
 should be made to take a north-eastern or south-eastern direction. The Chinese the River. 
 
 Government declared itself in favour of the first-named direction and, in conse- 
 quence of this resolution, accomplished with extraordinary vigour and at great cost 
 the closing of the breach, so that for the present the question resolves itself into 
 an improvement of the river in a north-easterly direction. It must nevertheless be 
 acknowledged, that many important commercial interests have been adduced in favour 
 of the south-eastern direction, and there are thus good reasons for taking this 
 direction into serious consideration in case the improvements should be undertaken 
 for purely commercial interests. Without disregarding the decision of the Chinese 
 Government, this can only be accomplished by splitting the river into two arms, so 
 that it would first have to be conside'red whether the water supply and the incline 
 in the great alluvial plain are sufficient for both arms to hold their own. The 
 scientific inquiry, which cannot be too highly valued, would then have to undergo 
 a considerable south-easterly extension. At aU events, the observations in the 
 present direction of the river will have to be completed as pointed out in § 32 
 before the important principle of separating the river into two arms can be taken 
 into consideration. 
 
 On the other hand one will have to take into account the disquieting 
 phenomena observed in the Gulf of Petschili. According to the communications of 
 Captain Ferlie of the Pioochi the southern coast must have risen considerably during 
 the last thirty years, which is attributed to the continual mud deposits of the 
 different rivers streaming into the gulf. This seems to me beyond dispute, but the 
 importance of this deposit can only be duly appreciated when its extent has been 
 properly inquired into. The observations required for that purpose have been pointed 
 out in Nr. 10 of § 32. 
 
 Attempts have also been made to show the desirability of constructing 
 reservoirs, and for that purpose it has been proposed to build a dam round several 
 districts lying lower than the river. The river-water would be made to flow into 
 these, thus giving the sediments an opportunity for setthng. This has given rise 
 to much strife, not remarkable for the clearness of the arguments used on either 
 side, so that I have not always been able to understand what was proposed. 
 What I presume is meant, is a purification of the river, such as is exampled 
 by the Swiss Rhone, which, entering the lake of Geneva in a troubled state, 
 re-issues 70 kilometers further on, freed of its sediment. 
 
 No decision can be come to in a question of such importance, based on mere 
 supposition. The mud-alloy of the Hwang-ho has been shown by the observations of 
 Captain P. G. van Schermbeek to be very considerable. The subject however requires more 
 study. Under these circumstances, it was going too far to assume , as was actually done : 
 
56 
 
 1. That, notwithstanding the powerful current, judging from the appearance 
 of the river, one half of the sedimentary d'eposits settle down in its bed, and the 
 other half is carried down to the sea. 
 
 2. That the water would reach the sea in a fairly clear condition, if the 
 area of the reservoirs were double that of the river-bed. 
 
 3. That the function of rivers is not to sweep great portions of the earth's 
 crust down to the sea, although it was doubted whether this natural process could 
 be arrested. 
 
 To determine the mud-alloy from the outward appearance of the river, is to 
 form an opinion from an incorrect standard. The comparison of the Swiss Rhone 
 with the Hwang-ho, and of the Lake of Geneva with the proposed reservoirs, seems 
 to be rather venturesome and at all events inaccurate. 
 
 The Rhone in Switzerland is chiefly a mountain-river for a length of about 
 120.4 kilometers below Brieg, where its character of a glacier stream ceases, with 
 a discharge at Geneva of 270 cubic Meters per second and a maximum discharge at the 
 highest watermark known of 900 cubic Meters per second. The breadth of the river is 30 M. 
 just above Brieg and 42 M. by the Lake of Geneva at low watermark, and from 
 66 to 96 M. at high watermark. This makes the area at low-water 433,44 and at 
 high water 975.24 hectares. 
 
 In point of significance, a comparison between this mountain stream and 
 the Hwang-ho may be looked upon as an absurdity. 
 
 Moreover the lake of Geneva covers an area of 57786 hectares and contains 
 great depths. These are of 145 to 210 M. in that part, comprehended between Vevey 
 and the opposite shore , a distance of 389 M. ; of 300 to 350 M. at Meillerie ; of 
 194 M. at an hour's distance from Evian; of 162 M. by the Castle of Chillon and 
 at the very most 97 M. between Nyon and Geneva. Without taking into account 
 its great depth and consequent vast volume of water, the relation between the 
 area of the lake of Geneva and that of the Pthone at low- water is 133 : 1 , and at 
 high water (a rare occurence) 51 : 1. 
 
 On the other hand the relation considered necessary for the area of the projected 
 reservoirs to that of the Hwang-ho , at an unknown and consequently uncertain water- 
 level, is given as 2:1. 
 
 The two relations differ so considerably , that they admit of no comparison. 
 This is also the case with the matter in suspension in the Hwang-ho and that in 
 the Rhone; comparison between the two is out of the question. 
 
 Besides this, there are, along the lower Hwang-ho, no valleys of any 
 considerable depth. At best there are a few districts, outside the mountain regions, 
 which might be utilized for the settlement of the river-mud ; but being of trifling 
 depth below the bed of the stream they might rise to a level with the usual water- 
 mark within comparatively few years. These smaller mud-reservoirs might be 
 rendered serviceable in strengthening the embankments or maintaining the river- 
 bed. The possibility however of making use of valleys on the upper part of 
 the stream, as reservoirs on a larger scale, will require special investi- 
 gation. 
 
57 
 
 § 35. It is evident from what precedes tliat no improvement of the Hwang-lio Pi-opo'^od improve- 
 can take place until the river has been methodically made to correspond in dimen- '"""* "^ ""^ '''""^''' 
 sions with its discharge and fall. 
 
 The first thing to be settled is to determine the cross-section, which will not 
 by any means be the same at different parts of the river, but will have to be 
 constantly modified down the stream in accordance with its fall and increasing 
 discharge. It is therefore impossible to determine these cross-sections at once. 
 Nevertheless it is not superfluous to observe here that the determination of cross- 
 sections constitutes a main principle of all river-improvements; but to simplify matters 
 not the cross-sections themselves, but so called normal-lines indicating the normal 
 breadth of the rivers are drawn on the map. 
 
 Attention should also be called to the following rules. 
 
 1. When the difference between the usual and the maximum discharge of a 
 river is comparatively small, as is the case with the Swiss Rhone, it will be sufficient 
 to make use of a sectional area on single lines and to determine -. 
 
 a. The breadths of the river at average, high and low water-mark. 
 
 b. The heights of these water-marks. 
 
 c. The heights above these water-marks which may be judged necessary for 
 the grounds between the embankments and the river as also for the projected 
 river- works either longitudinal or transversal. The sloping summits of these works, 
 forming jetties , river-piers or cross-dams , are thus determined by these heights. 
 
 d. The heights of the highest water-marks and of the embankments above them. 
 Where the river curves, the shallows which the passing of the current from 
 
 one bank to the other occasions, may be obviated by narrowing the stream. 
 
 2. Whenever the difference between the common and maximum discharge 
 increases, the relation between the sectional areas at the corresponding water-marks 
 will increase in like proportion. The application of the principle described in rule 
 n'. 1 would enlarge the sectional area by increasing the river's breadth and 
 therefore by the construction of long cross-dams or piers with gently sloping tops. 
 These would occupy a great breadth of the river ; would not guarantee the undisturbed 
 flow of the water at high floods; and would cause difficulties in the execution 
 of the works, without its being possible to determine how much time would be 
 necessary for the gradual covering of the foreshore by alluvion or sand deposit. Another 
 objection is that the construction of slightly inclined cross-dams would, in consequence 
 of the limitation of the sectional area at high water-mark , very probably raise the 
 water-level, and thereby necessitate the construction of high dikes, the execution of 
 these works not being always immediately followed by a scouring of the river-bed, 
 while on the other hand high floods may occur at any moment. 
 
 These difficulties are very much increased when, as generally happens, the 
 sectional area downwards, in consequence of decreasing fall and thence decreasing 
 velocity, must become larger. It should also be borne in mind that, as the discharge 
 increases, so will the floating matter increase too, and require a proportionately 
 larger area, which, as long as the amount of material present in the stream is an 
 unknown quantity, cannot be accurately determined. The section however can only 
 
58 
 
 be enlarged either by increasing the breadth or by raising the water-level, so that 
 the longitudinal section of the river and the heights of the soil would require 
 very careful examination, before it can be determined whether a higher water-level 
 would be advisable. 
 
 In the sectional area on single lines too, the great difterence in the discharge of 
 the stream leads to the formation of banks, which convert this section into an 
 irregular double-lined section with a separate low-water channel within the bed of 
 the river. In other words, the river cannot deviate from the universal law of all 
 watercourses, which raises the bed of the stream with every change of direction 
 of its current. This is visible upwards of every bank , or near the lower part of the 
 one immediately preceding it; it increases the fall downwards and, in that case, leads 
 to an increase of the depth and a diminution of the breadth. It is evident therefore 
 that a diminished breadth of the low-water channel, provided it be consistent with 
 the capacity of the stream at flood-time, will be the only mean to diminish the winding 
 course of the stream, giving it a more regular fall suitable to the purpose in view. 
 It is obvious then that a section on a double-lined system becomes unavoidable, 
 with a narrow river-bed, with secondary embankments limiting the breadth of the 
 sectional area up to a certain height, but getting flooded when the water is higher, 
 and finally with high embankments destined to prevent the river from overflowing 
 at exceptionally high floods. 
 
 The determination of this sectional area would depend on the results obtained 
 from the following observations of the water-levels. 
 
 a. The average low- water and lowest water-mark, because this makes it possible 
 to consider the depth of channel at low-water requisite for navigation. 
 
 b. The probable water-level i. e. the water-mark, above which the water 
 rises as often as it falls below it; because it exercises a preponderant influence on 
 the r6gime of the river, and the dimensions of the river-bed must be kept in 
 close relation to it. 
 
 c. The water-level which interferes with the drainage of the district. 
 
 d. The usual high-water level. 
 
 e. The highest water-level. 
 
 These water-levels will differ in wet and dry periods. This has not however 
 called for any special attention in Europe. The differences however in the regions 
 traversed by the Hwang-ho will in all probability be greater, because the drainage 
 during the dry periods, in consequence of the steppes and loess-regions, diminishes to 
 such an important extent. Very likely a sectional area on a double or even triple hned 
 system wiU be required , but on this subject no definitive conclusion can be arrived at, 
 until we are in possession of further data. 
 
 The question of normal breadths cannot be discussed at present. On the other 
 hand there need be no hesitation about determining at once the improvements that 
 may be judged necessary for the high-water dikes. As a rule they will have to be 
 kept a more than sufficient distance apart. To strengthen these embankments, to 
 provide them with the necessary fascine- or stone-works for their general preser- 
 vation, to harden the summit, so that they may serve as traffic-roads, — bestowing 
 
59 
 
 especial attention on the southern dike in the great alluvial plain, - is a work which 
 should be proceeded with without any delay. Wherever the high loess- walls have been 
 undermined or washed away they must be protected, for instance by embankments, 
 so that, isolated from the river-bed, they cannot increase the material in the stream. 
 
 The right-bank too, especially in the alluvial plain, may in many places, according 
 to the necessities of the case, be brought into a normal condition ; the banks which 
 have been eaten away by the action of the water must be repaired; and some 
 reaches will have to be dredged to a sufficient depth. It is impossible at present 
 to state accurately the depth which will be required to render these channels nagivable. 
 The requirements cannot however be very great, as no great depth is necessary for the 
 transport of agricultural products. Still the developing industry of the coal and mine 
 districts should not be lost sight of, which will require later on a deeper channel for ships 
 of greater tonnage; and this materially increases the importance of the matter in sus- 
 pension and the necessity of combating it successfully. The limits ofthe ultimately required 
 sectional areas are therefore not to be gauged ; they must indeed remain for the present 
 unknown quantities. Even in the river, in its present condition, they have never been 
 properly observed, and we are still in uncertainty as to the fall of the stream and its 
 velocity ; we do not even know with certainty how far the tide is felt up the river. After 
 this many arms which are out of place in a regular river may be dammed and the necessary 
 steps taken to have them filled by the settlement of river deposits. Where strong curves 
 render cuttings desirable, these may be begun at once by digging a channel and 
 counting on the force of the current to widen it bye and bye. The ground excavated 
 from these cuttings should as far as possible be used for filling up the condemned 
 arms, in order to diminish the downward flow of matter in suspension. 
 
 Meanwhile the necessary works must be planned for raising the surface of the 
 marshes and other low-lying districts along the Hwang-ho, by alluvion; for which 
 purpose, wherever it may be judged necessary, mud-reservoirs might be made. These 
 might be filled at the upper end with water from the river, by means of sluices or 
 overflows in the embankments. After a sufficient period of rest, during which the 
 greater part of the sediment would settle down, the water might be allowed to flow 
 back into the stream from the lower extremity of the reservoir. 
 
 At the same time , in view of the improvement of the river , no opportunity 
 should be allowed to pass of utilizing the mud in it, for strengthening the embankments 
 or for levelling or raising the land outside the actual bed of the river. 
 
 By regularizing the depth and constructing ground-jetties, the difficulties caused 
 by the rapids in the mountain-pass, might soon Ije considerably diminished; while 
 at the same time, by constant soundings and measurements, the condition of that 
 portion of the river should be carefully observed for subsequent operations. 
 
 The power of the stream to wear away the loess, more particularly the water- 
 loess, should be carefully noted, since, as we have seen in § 6, it was able in the 
 Rhine near Wesel to withstand the wear and tear of a powerful stream; and in 
 view of this it is of importance to obtain as much information as possible as to the 
 nature of the loess and of the river-bottom. 
 
 At this stage of the works, the above described improvements will already 
 
60 
 
 have borne fruit, since in tlie meanwliile tlie scientific inquiry described in § 82 and 
 tlie uninterrupted inspection of the works already executed, will have familiarized 
 the staff with the state of the river. This will enable them to determine the 
 normal breadth of the river at some of the more favourably situated parts and to 
 regularize the opposite or left bank. Thus the works may be steadily proceeded with, 
 while the information gained at every step will serve as a basis for the further 
 determination and development of the general plan, the object finally to be attained 
 becoming more and more clearly defined. 
 
 This only completes the first period of river-improvement, without considering 
 the contractions and widenings of the stream incident on its changes of direction; 
 something may be done to get rid of them even at this stage, but they can only be 
 understood and rectified after a thorough study of the regime of the river. They are 
 however, for the present, but of minor consequence. 
 
 Nor have we bestowed any further attention on the dreaded dust-storms, as 
 they can only be kept in check by extensive forest plantations. In consequence of the 
 salt-alloy in the soil, and of the protracted droughts, the steppes, which are the centra 
 of these storms, admit of no forest-growth, and vegetation of any kind is scarce. 
 
 There are moreover no sufficient indications that might help in answering the 
 difficult question as to whether, without injuring the all-important agricultural 
 interests which are indissolubly bound up with the loess-formations, it would be 
 possible to protect the river up to a certain degree from the dust-storms by tree- 
 plantations along its banks. For the present we merely call attention to this ; it must 
 remain a matter for after consideration. 
 
 Division of Labour. § 86. Meanwhile the observations and surveys require so much care, that it 
 
 would be necessary, as far as possible, to have the technical staff constantly on the 
 spot. It should consist of Chinese and foreign experts, in order that the former may be 
 enabled to master the difficult knowledge connected with the rivers, and become 
 accustomed to apprehend with exactness the European methods of working. In the 
 case of river-works, it is of the utmost importance to foUow the lines once laid 
 down with the strictest exactitude; for should the connection between the general 
 plan and the river-works be broken, the soundness of the latter would be greatly 
 impaired. Nevertheless the practical execution of the works, as well as the choice of 
 materials etc., might take place as is customary in China, as the advisabihty of the 
 Dutch method of making osier-works, can only be gauged during the progress 
 of the works. The presence of stone of great hardness in close proximity to the 
 river will greatly facilitate the execution of the works. 
 
 The general tendency of the training-works must proceed upwards from the 
 mouth of the river. This admits however of exceptions , some of them even necessary. 
 The works intended to strengthen the right-bank, from the eastern extremity of the 
 loess- wall as far as Kai-fong-fu, must be reckoned as among the first and most necessary. 
 The scientific inquiry into the state of the river below Tung-kwan must however, 
 for a distance of 85 kilometers up to Shan-tshou, take place simultaneously with the 
 rest of the inquiry, because this part of the river seems to be in a normal state, 
 
61 
 
 and would therefore be of great value in forming an opinion as to the regime of 
 the river. 
 
 Throughout the whole extent of the alluvial plain the following points should 
 never be lost sight of: 
 
 1. How the later definitive works may be prepared by temporary ones. This 
 requires the utmost caution. 
 
 2. How to diminish the quantity of mud in the river and, as far as possible, 
 give it a better destination than that of raising to an alarming extent the bed of the 
 stream within the dikes, thus rendering it less and less suitable for the conveyance 
 of its waters. We stand here, no doubt, before a difficult problem, whose solution 
 will become more and more difficult every year that the river remains in its present 
 neglected state. The consequences of this neglect if not speedily remedied may be 
 incalculable ; and if such a powerful country as China does not take immediate steps 
 to check the deterioration of this important river, she will very surely have reason 
 to regret it later on. 
 
 The staff would thus have to consist of five chief divisions according to the 
 following division of labour. 
 
 Division I : The placing of provisional .level-gauges ; 
 
 the construction of bases for the fixed beacons and, after consultation with 
 division II, also those for the triangulations ; 
 
 the arrangements for the reading and booking of the water-levels on the level- 
 gauges; 
 
 the general levellings and longitudinal measurements , and the observations and 
 calculations relating to the discharge. 
 
 In this division the Engineering element must be strongly represented. 
 
 Division II : The triangulations ; the survey and mapping out of the river, the 
 measurements being confined at first to the river and to a limited part of the 
 country on either side of it, but afterwards, when a more correct judgment can be 
 formed, they would have to extend to the loess-districts, wherever they come in any 
 way into direct contact with the Hwang-ho; the soundings. 
 
 These operations being concluded, the tributaries must be attended to in the 
 same way, together with the loess-basins, with which the labours of this division 
 come to an end. 
 
 Division III: The observations of the rainfall; evaporation; direction of the 
 wind ; force of the wind etc. ; the barometrical and thermometrical readings ; 
 the exploration of the loess-formations and ravine-systems in connection with 
 division II; the mud-alloy and the chemical analyses. 
 
 Division IV : The measurements of the sea-coast line and the soundings along 
 it; and 
 
 Division V : The execution of the works. 
 
 The staff of division II and of division III have each a separate field of opera- 
 tions, and though under the same management and frequently in contact with the 
 other divisions, they must in most respects bring their task to independent 
 completion, when they have after consultation with division I proceeded as speedily 
 
62 
 
 as possible in the placing of the bases or piers for the beacons and the sines of the 
 triangulations. 
 
 The staffs of the other divisions will form so to say, one whole of engineers 
 and sub-engineers or foremen whose duties will vary according to the requirements of 
 the work in hand. Chinese officials will be placed with these to be instructed, that 
 they may learn to manage for themselves, taking a more and more active part in 
 the works. 
 
 Division of the River § 37. The rlver may, for the above purpose, be considered as divided into the 
 
 into an Upper, Middle* following parts. 
 
 and Lower Part. rpj^^ ^pp^j. p^^.,. ^ ^^ ^^^ p^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^ eastern extremity of the northern 
 
 mountain-range along it , which according to § 2 is at a distance of 3043 kilometers 
 from the source. In this part the works first of all to be completed must be those 
 between Shan-tshou and Tung-kwan, a distance of 85 kilometers, in order that 
 advantage may be taken of this apparently normal part of the river. The continuation 
 of these works, either first up the river towards its junction with the Fonn-ho, or 
 downwards, must de determined later on according to circumstances, though their 
 continuation down the river seems preferable. Here the importance of with- 
 drawing the loess-walls from the undermining action of the stream should not be 
 lost sight of. This may be begun at once without awaiting the results of the scientific 
 inquiry, provided a regular channel of more than sufficient breadth at high water- 
 mark be assured. 
 
 The Middle Part, extending from the eastern extremity of the above named 
 northern range to the Great Canal. 
 
 In this part the works must, first of all, begin at some distance, say 3000 M., 
 below the breach of 1852 i), proceeding upwards to its beginning; and then from 
 the Emperor's canal proceeding upwards to its junction with the first-named. 
 
 Here, it should be borne in mind, the works for strengthening the southern 
 banks and the southern dike should be begun as soon as possible, and where necessary 
 and practicable the river-bed straightened, and brought into a normal condition. 
 
 The division of the river into two principal arms , though likely to be of 
 great service in promoting great commercial interests, is still an open question. 
 
 1) The old south-eastern course of the Hwang-ho is mentioned as such in the maps till 1852. With respect 
 to this however, the investigations of Mr. Noy Elias in 1867 at Tsin-kiang-] u have demonstrated that the chantje 
 from the old to the present bed was a gradual one, and took place between the years -ISSl and 1853. The 
 first breach in the northern embankment occurred at hiyh water during the '.ummei' of 1851, near Lan-Yang- 
 hau in Honan. Only a portion of the water then streamed through the opening of the breach over the northern 
 and eastern plain. The high state of the water in 18.5-2 so much increased the size of the opening that the flow 
 of water in the old bed constantly diminished. Finally in 1853 this process had so widened the breach, that all 
 the water of the Hwang-ho streamed over the lowlands to the north and east, till in the present river-bed it 
 had formed for itself an outlet through the Tatsing-rivei- (now the Hwang-ho) into the Gulf of Petchlli. 
 
 This occasioned great poverty in the deserted districts of the Hwang-ho, and the wretched inhabitants 
 in their struggle for existence, betook themselves to rebellion ami plunder. It may be judged from this, what 
 misery the neglect of the Hwang-ho gives rise to. 
 
63 
 
 The examination required for this purpose must be conducted with understanding 
 and great accuracy. In a river like the Hwang-ho, containing such a large proportion 
 of sediment, the division of the stream into two branches is a very serious question ; 
 it should not therefore be undertaken without serious consideration of the consequences 
 it might lead to. Should however the inquiry show that the Emperor's Canal cannot 
 be made to answer to the commercial requirements and that the capacity 
 and fall of the Hwang-ho permit of a division of the river into two arms, 
 the extension of the works to an inquiry into the south easterly direction would be 
 justified. This inquiry however must absolutely guarantee the soundness of the 
 decision and include also the sea- deposits. 
 
 The Lower Part, extending from the Emperor's Canal to the sea. The works at 
 sea undertaken with a view of forming a correct judgment of the sea-deposits must 
 be reckoned under this head. The settling of the mud in the marsh-lands should be 
 an object of special consideration, as also the straightening of the river-bed, and the 
 closing and filling of the side-branches. 
 
 § 38. For each division it will be necessary to fit up large vessels for the Residence of ttie staff, 
 residence of those employed on the works, with suitable apartments for office-work 
 whicli at this stage could not be permanently fixed at chief places, as efficient 
 dweUings must first be erected corresponding with the requirements which, though 
 at present unknown, wih evidence themselves with the development of the works. 
 This question cannot be finally settled until the views of the government have been 
 made known. This however is of no consequence as quite this number of vessels, 
 and even more, will be necessary for the prosecution of the works later on. The 
 outlay for the staff in comparison with that required for the execution of the works 
 is of minor consequence ; it would be exaggeration to endeavour to economize in this 
 direction. Moreover the value of the scientific inquiry cannot be over-estimated. 
 Every expenditure in this direction is but an extra guarantee for the execution of 
 the works without disappointments. The money laid out in an inquiry of this nature 
 will be repaid a hundred fold in the diminished expenditure in ways and means. 
 
 For the general management ; the tugging of the great vessels ; the communi- 
 cation with the banks where the works are going forward; the transport of materials 
 in boats or barges; and finally for the observations at sea, three or four steamboats 
 would be required at once. The power and size of these steamboats would have to 
 depend upon the state of the river; upon the places where the vessels would have 
 to retreat during the ice-drifts, a subject on which there is not yet sufficient infor- 
 mation to-hand; and upon the more or less broad view of the works taken by the 
 Chinese government. This makes it impossible to come at once to any definite 
 conclusion. 
 
 The smaller vessels for the soundings and other works are matters inseparable 
 from the general installation and need not be discussed here. 
 
 The whole economy of the management and execution of the works depends upon 
 the annual sum available for this purpose , together with the working-power that can 
 be obtained. Every thing has still to be settled. One matter for careful consideration 
 
is the supply of materials, and the working of the stone-quarries, it being of great 
 financial importance that these should be worked on a definite system, with good 
 communication roads , or temporary railroads. To ensure due economy in the execution 
 of river- works, it is necessary to allow to the technical staff, while holding them 
 strictly responsible, a very great deal of discretion in taking advantage of circumstances, 
 as they present themselves, for this very freedom may frequently result in great 
 savings. It leaves the members of the staff free to choose favourable moments 
 for the execution of the works which might otherwise suffer from want of foresight. 
 It should also be remembered that a vigorous prosecution of the works is in the long 
 run the most economical, provided it is preceded by the necessary prehminary works, 
 and the due superintendence of the technical staff, and that a proper balance be 
 maintained between the working power and the materials employed by it. This last 
 is a matter which may, in China, be pretty confidently depended upon. If however 
 this scourge of China is to be removed; if a condition of the river is to be attained, 
 by which the future will be secured from the calamities which have afflicted the 
 past, which will fulfil the requirements of a good river, and of commerce, agriculture 
 and industry; a serious, energetic scientific conception wifi ever be infinitely less 
 costly, and more beneficial to the general development of the region. 
 
 Conclusion. § 39. If we reckon that during the period extending between 1852 and 1885, 
 
 the Rhine improvements cost annually an average sum of Gl. 4.159292 or about 
 346600 £, it does not seem advisable to fix a less sum for those of the 
 Hwang-ho. During the first three or four years however an annual outlay of 
 1.5 million Gl. or 125000 £ may be sufficient, until, with the knowledge taught 
 by experience, the annual grant can be determined with closer accuracy. By that 
 time the great importance of these works will be universally recognized. 
 
 Should these views meet with approbation, a good organization of the staff 
 and preparations for the works may at once be proceeded with, and advance 
 with firm tread, that the manifold advantages connected with the improvement of 
 the Hwang-ho may be speedily recognised. It will then appear that the object 
 our Society aims at will confer a lasting benefit upon China. The improvement 
 of the Yellow River wih open up many sources of prosperity to Chinese commerce and 
 industry. The technical knowledge available in Holland will find an outlet which 
 will no doubt soon meet with due appreciation. The enterprizing spirit of the Society 
 and its endeavours to promote the welfare of China will become more and more 
 evident. It cannot but be acknowledged , that one of the most important though at 
 present almost unused factors in the development of this mighty country may thus 
 be made to answer to its destination. 
 
 Whoever understands the interests of China cannot but agree with these views. 
 Here we may refer to a past such as history rarely presents to us, when 4000 years 
 ago, the Emperor Yao and after him the Emperor Yu-shun, took in hand the 
 management of hydraulic and river-works, and by their extraordinary energy and 
 abiUties, restored to the husbandmen those fertile regions which had been flooded 
 for more than thirty years. These two emperors who set such high value on the 
 
65 
 
 knowledge of hydraulic architecture, were regarded as the saviours and founders of 
 the Chinese Empire. The later emperors, even the princes of the Mongol Tartars, 
 who conquered China in 1280, were compelled to keep up and continue the great 
 engineering-works begun before the conquest, in order to maintain themselves upon 
 the Imperial throne. 
 
 The gigantic labour and marvellous perseverance, which distinguished the 
 Chinese in the past, is no less characteristic of them in the present, as witness the 
 damming of the breach. These characteristic traits of the Chinese, which have enabled 
 them to turn constantly flooded lands into the richest and most fertile provinces, 
 may be depended upon now in the present, as in the past. Beyond all doubt the 
 present generation will uphold the glory of their forefathers, nor be behind hand 
 with Europe, which in the improvement of the Rhine has given such a strong 
 proof of development and of a just appreciation of its true interests. It may therefore 
 be assumed that the truth of the foregoing remarks will become more and more 
 generally recognised and assist in bringing this important question to a useful issue. 
 
 J. G. W. FIJNJE. 
 
Part II. 
 
 Introduction. 
 
 We give in the following pages an extract of the written and verbal accounts 
 of our delegates, Captain P. G van Schermbeek and Mr. A. Visser, concerning their 
 researches in China, with especial reference to the Yellow River. 
 
 The last part of Mr. Fi/jnje's Memorandum shows clearly what prolonged and 
 comprehensive labour will be required, to aiTive at any plan, worthy of the name, 
 for the improvement of the Yellow River. Nor did we ever imagine that the data 
 which our delegates might collect during a few month's stay in the districts of the 
 lower Yellow River, would enable us to lay before the Chinese Government anything 
 like an elaborate plan of river-improvement ; or to make it any such offer as : „ for 
 so many millions we will put your river to rights for you. " Charlatanism would be 
 the only epithet by which to stigmatize such a proceeding; and we value our repu- 
 tation too highly to suffer any imputation of that nature to be cast upon it. 
 
 The despatch of Mess''^ Van Schermbeek and Visser to China had a threefold 
 object. 
 
 First : to call the attention of the Chinese Government to our Society, and 
 to enter into provisional negociation with it, in case it expressed any desire to 
 secure at once the services of foreign engineers or contractors and to acquire 
 machinery, for the survey and improvement of the Yellow River. 
 
 Secondly: we wished to know whether the task of confining the ever recurring 
 floods of the Yellow River within reasonable bounds, presented such insuperable 
 difficulties as the assertions of foreign experts and Chinese authorities had led us 
 to believe. This subject has been discussed of late years in various instructive works 
 on China and Central- Asia , among which Mr. von Richthofen's excellent book calls 
 for especial recognition ; but besides that we desired to have the evidence of reliable 
 experts, who should personally examine the river and its appurtenances and help us 
 to solve certain questions which have been left unanswered in the above-mentioned 
 volumes. On the return of our experts to Holland, we carefully discussed with them 
 the details of their communications , and compared their data closely with the above- 
 named writings of Mr. von Richthofen and others. The conclusion we came to was: 
 
67 
 
 that we might loyally and confidently advise the Chinese Government to have the 
 river accurately surveyed and mapped out, to collect all further data for an elaborate 
 plan of river-improvement, and to proceed at once with the execution of certain 
 works whose utility is unquestionable. Mr. Fijnje has fully discussed this in his 
 Memorandum. Further we declare emphatically that the improvement of the Yellow 
 River, on an elaborate and finished plan, does not seem to us, in any respect, a 
 hopeless task; and we venture to express our absolute conviction, that the names 
 of the rulers or functionaries who should be the means of bridling , and after a few 
 unavaiUng struggles, bringing under effectual and lasting control, the monster sur- 
 named China's Sorroio, would be respectfully and gratefully remembered in after ages. 
 
 Thirdly : Mess''^ Van Schermbeek and Visser were instructed to collect the 
 economical data we might require for our estimates, in case our Society should be 
 requested to conclude contracts with the Chinese Government. 
 
 We may mention here that the stay of our delegates in the province of 
 Shantung led to an order by the Governor, for a dredger fitted with a mud-press. 
 This machine is to be delivered in the Summer of 1891, and is primarily destined 
 for regularizing the new mouth of the Yellow River, formed in 1889, by the breach 
 on the right bank of the Hwang-ho, just above Tie-monn-kwan (about 37° 42' N. Lat. 
 118° 29' E. Long). 
 
 After this short preface, we now proceed to the following extract from the 
 reports of Mess"^^. Van Schermbeek and Visser. 
 
Extract of the Accounts of Captain P. G. Van Schermbeek 
 
 and Mr. A. Visser, relating their travels in China and 
 
 the Results of their Inquiry into the State of the 
 
 Yellow River. 
 
 On our first expedition from Tientsin to tlie Yellow River, we were accompanied 
 
 First ExpcdiiioH by the Civil Engineer B. W. Blijdenstein, who was subjoined to us on our departure 
 
 from Tientsin to the from Holland, by Mr. W. G. CoUingridge Bing , who was to serve us as interpreter, 
 
 jeUow River. g^^^j ^^ ^-^q Chinese Secretary Wu Ta Liang. Our party consisted in all of 22 men, 
 
 5 saddle-horses, 20 mules and 10 carts. 
 
 We shall briefly describe the route we followed and the chief places we visited. 
 1889 
 March 31. — Departure from Tientsin. 
 April 7. — Arrival at Lin-tsing-chow (36° 52' N. lat. 115° 52' E. long »). 
 Inspection and survey of the locks at the junction of the Emperor's 
 Canal and the Weiho. 
 April 15. — Passage of the Yellow River at Lin- Yuen, about 12 kilometers 
 north of Kai-fung-fu (34° 47' N. lat. 114° 32' E. long.), the capital 
 of the province of Honan, where we arrive on the same day, 
 and on the 16? wait upon the Governor of the province, the 
 Commissioner of the Yellow River Wu- Ta- Cheng , and the two 
 Taotai's of the river. 
 April 19—22. — Stay at Lai-t' ung-chai (34° 55' N. lat. 114° E. long.) where we 
 visited and surveyed the works for the closing of the great breach 
 of September 1887. 
 April 24—26. — Stay at Sz-shui-hsien (34° 58' N. lat. 113° 20' E. lat.) the highest 
 (western) point of the Yellow River we reached, and where, on 
 the right bank, it streams past high loess-walls. From here our 
 route lay down the river (eastward) along the right bank. 
 May 1 — 6. — Stay at Lan-i-hsien , about 10 kilometers south of the great lireach 
 of 1852 (34° 52' N. lat. 114° 40' E. long.), where we survey tho 
 river, determine its discharge etc. 
 
 >) These and the following longitudinal and latitudinal measurements lay no claim to accuracy, but are 
 given merely with the purpose to assist tho reader of this account in consulting the map. 
 
69 
 
 1889 
 May 10. — We cross the Emperors Canal at Chining (35° 28' N. lat. 116» 30' 
 E. long.). 
 May 11 — 12. — Visit to Chu-fu-hsien , birth-place and burial-place of Confucius, 
 
 about 40 kilometers east of Chi-ning. 
 May 17 — 21. — Stay at Pei-tien-tzu, on the right bank of the Yellow River, opposite 
 Tsi-ho (36° 45' N. lat. 116° 50' E. long.), where we survey the 
 river, determine its discharge etc. 
 
 On the 18*'' of May, at Tsi-nan-fu (36° 40' N. lat. 117° I'E. long.), 
 the capital of the province of Shantung, we wait upon the Governor, 
 who has us conducted back in his steam-yacht from Lo-koio, the 
 harbour of Tsi-nan-fu, to Pei-tien-tzu. 
 
 On the 2P* of May we cross the Yellow River and begin our 
 
 return-journey to Tientsin. 
 
 May 23. — Arrival at Techotv on the Weiho (37° 28' N. lat. 116° 22' E. lat.), 
 
 where we send off our carts and horses and embark in house-boats. 
 
 May 28. — Return to Tientsin. 
 
 The distance covered during this expedition was from 1900 to 2000 kilometers. 
 
 During our second expedition, we had no other companions but the Chinese 
 
 Secretary and Interpreter Mr. Shih, and our attendants. 
 The principal places we visited, were as follow : 
 1889 
 
 September 15. — Departure from Tientsin in house-boats up the Weiho. 
 
 September 21. — Arrival at Techoiv (37° 28' N. lat. 116° 22' E. long.), where we 
 leave the boats , and continue our journey in carts. The road from 
 Techoiv to Tsi-nan-fu, being impassable in consequence of the recent 
 breaches, we have to make a considerable detour to the west, 
 and even then suffer much inconvenience from the water. 
 
 Septeimber 25. — We cross the Yellow River at Kwan-Ghuang (36° 31' N. lat. 
 116° 38' E. long.) 
 
 September 26. — Stay at Tsi-nan-fu (36° 40' N, lat. 117° 1' E. long.), the capital 
 October 6. — of the province of Shantung, where we wait upon the Governor. 
 His Excellency receives us with the utmost courtesy, and offers 
 us an opportunity of inspecting the stream from Tsi-nan-fu to its 
 mouth, and witnessing the recent breaches. From Tsi-nan-fu, 
 we visited on the 29"" of September the breach of North-Lokoio 
 (36° 44' N. lat. 117 E. long.), on the right bank, opposite the 
 capital. 
 October 6. — We start downstream on board a sailing gunboat, and on our way, 
 October 7'\ visit the breach on the right bank (37° 3' N. lat. 
 117° 15' E. long.), between Tsi-Yang and Tsi-Tung. 
 
 October 11-13.— We lie moored at the mouth of the Yellow River. Soundings, 
 measurements, and tide-observations. 
 
 Second Expedition 
 
 from Tientsin to the 
 
 Yellow River. 
 
70 
 
 1889 
 October 14. — Returning from the mouth, we arrive at Tie-monn-ktoan (37° 42' 
 N. lat. 118° 29' E. lat.), where we leave our gun-boat and continue 
 our return-journey to Tsi-nan-fu, in carts, along the left embankment. 
 The land is flooded in consequence of the breach of North-Lokotv. 
 October 18. — We cross the Yellow River at about 7 kilometers above Tsl-Yang 
 (36° 58' N. lat. 117° 11' E. long.). 
 October 19-27. — Stay at Tsi-nan-fu, where we deliver to H. E. the Governor a report 
 of our inspection and discuss various river-interests with him. 
 October 27. — We return in carts from Tsi-nan-fu to Tientsin. 
 October 29. — We cross the Yellow River at Kivan-Chuang (see September 25). 
 October 31. — Arrival at Techoto, whence we set out in a house-boat for Tientsin. 
 November 6. — Return to Tientsin. 
 
 The unembaiiked 
 
 Yellow River in the 
 
 Loess district. 
 
 The highest or most western point of the Yellow River we reached , was Sz-shui- 
 hsien (about 34° 53' N. lat. and 113° 20' E. long.), where we remained from the 24"" 
 to the 26*'' of April that we might see the river where it streams , as yet undi- 
 ked, along the high loess-banks. 
 
 Sz-shui-hsien is situated on the right bank of the Yellow River, in the valley 
 of the Sz-ho, about 1^ kilometers above its junction with the Hwang-ho. 
 
 The valley of the Sz-ho, a mountain-stream which in the latter part of 
 April 1889 had but a very small discharge, is at its lower end but a few hundred 
 meters wide and is confined between steep loess-walls which attain an elevation of 
 from 50 to 80 meters. A terrace formed of the highly fertilizing clayey sedimentary 
 deposit of the river, which floods it at high water, extends by way of foreshore 
 on both sides of the stream. The terraces are irrigated by means of wells, in which 
 the water is on a level with that of the adjacent river, and are extremely fertile. 
 
 The little town is situated on the terrace of the right bank of the Sz-ho, 
 and at high water is sometimes flooded. The inhabitants are then obliged to take 
 refuge in the cave-dwellings hewn out higher up in the loess-walls. Through the 
 rich alloy of carbonate of lime in the loess, which answers th6 purpose of cement , 
 the walls and arches of these casemate-like dwellings endure for many years. They 
 are usually white-washed or plastered with a mixture of loess and lime. In the 
 front waU, as in a casemate, there are openings often supplied with doors and 
 windows; and the loess being easily worked with spade or knife, one finds in these 
 cave-dwellings all sorts of queer niches, cupboards, fire-places, benches, couches etc. 
 all carved in the loess. 
 
 The Yellow River, in this region, streams on its right bank past steep loess- 
 walls which at Sz-shui-hsien rise to a height estimated at from 50 to 80 meters 
 above the surface of the water and are incessantly undermined and eaten away by 
 the action of the stream. On the opposite side, gently sloping down to the river, is 
 the fertile plain of Hioai-kiwi-fu, the „ garden of China", a prolongation, from 25 to 
 40 kilometers wide, of the detritus-slope of the opposite-lying mountain-range, 
 the Tai-hang. 
 
71 
 
 During our stay at Ss-shui-hsien , we found the breadth of the river at the 
 surface to be but little more than 300 meters. When Vo7i Richthofen crossed it in 
 the spring of 1870 , he reckoned it to be 4000 meters broad ; and the Toatai (mayor) 
 of the town told us that at high floods its width was from 14000 to 15 000 meters. 
 
 At low-water, one finds on the left bank first a sandy river-bed, then a 
 pretty fertile strip of sandy clay, and finally the gently rising fine clay-bottom in 
 which all sorts of crops and fruit-trees thrive luxuriantly. This sloping terrace is 
 artificially irrigated by a system of irrigation-canals, of which the embanked mountain- 
 streams rising in the Tai-Hang range to the north, whose bedding lies higher than 
 the surrounding districts, form the main arteries. According to Von Bichthofen's 
 map, the strip of land between the river and the foot of the Tai-Hang range, 
 opposite S-x^shui-hsim , is | about 38 kilometers wide. Starting from the river, the 
 land rises in the first 15 kilometers 8 meters, and in the next 15 kilometers 
 108 meters, so that at 30 kilometers from the river the inchned plane at its summit, 
 would be 111 meters above the stream. The Yellow River itself is not embanked 
 at this height. From rather indistinct communications concerning the embankments 
 in the plain of Hioai-king-fu, between the river and the Tai-Hang range, we might, 
 we think, decide upon partial embankments in connection with the above-named 
 irrigation-works, viz. upon town and village polders, such as are found in great 
 numbers both along the Yellow River and the Wei-ho. 
 
 As the Tai-Hang range is covered with loess to a great height (Von Richthofen 
 met with it as high as 2000 meters above the level of the sea), and a number of 
 mountain-streams flow down its southern declivities, it is no wonder that the 
 detritus-slope with its gently sinking prolongation, continually overflowed by water 
 full of fertilizing deposit, should spread wider and quicker than the dejection-slope 
 of an ordinary mountain. This forces the river below Mong-tsin-hsien , opposite 
 which the northern loess- wall retires from the stream and the action of the detritus 
 slope begins, into a southerly direction. This pressure towards the south makes 
 itself felt to a few leagues below the mouth of the Tsin-ho (35° 2' N. lat. 113° 36' 
 E. long.), the left tributary on which Hwai-king-fu is situated. From this point the 
 detritus slope of the Tai-Hang range deviates to the north, and the Yellow River 
 streamed, with short intermissions, till 1194 A. D. northwards. If we are rightly 
 informed, the regular dikes on the left bank begin here, and thus join the detritus 
 slope or the left dike of the Tsin-ho. 
 
 Evidently the right bank, exposed to the onslaughts of this ever advancing 
 slope, has much to withstand. It is formed, from about 112° 30' to 113° 40' E. long., 
 by the above-mentioned high loess-wall, which further adjoins the right embankment. 
 Apart from local dangers, this embankment remains, in so far as it lies within 
 the influence of the slope of the Tai-Hang range, a critical water-board which 
 has frequently been burst through. 
 
 Before the Yellow River had penetrated so far, the whole basin between the 
 southern slope of the Tai-Hang, and the northern slope of the Sung-Shan mountains 
 must have been filled with loess, whose surface, as is generally observable in loess- 
 basins, presents the appearance of a canvass loosely drawn across from one mountain- 
 
72 
 
 slope to the other. Getting farther and farther from the Tai-Hang range , the riyer stiW 
 cleaving its way southward , has passed the lowest part of the loess-basin, and now creates 
 for itself a right bank, which grows higher as it advances. The evil consequences, to the 
 regime of the river, caused by the continual wear and crumbling away of this bank, 
 although not veiy obvious at first sight, get worse and worse. The undermining 
 process goes on at the same rate, whilst the fragments falling into the stream 
 increase in size, in proportion as it penetrates farther south into the thickening 
 loess-layer. 
 
 At places such as Sz-shui-hsien , where mountain -streams join the river, a 
 projection or promontory of rocky fragments is formed, which affects the main river 
 nearly in the same way as a breakwater, and in conjunction with the adjoining 
 valley, usually marks out the spot for a ferry. The action of the stream upon the 
 loess-bank of the main river is hereby locally diminished ; and it struck us that the 
 loess- wall at Sz-shui-hsieti, instead of inclining forward, deflected backward. This in 
 our opinion leads to the conclusion that the action of atmospheric influences, rain 
 and dust-storms, in these places, exceeds that of the stream. A projecting outline is 
 as we have stated the rule with loess-banks exposed to the fullactionof the current. 
 
 Neither at Sz-shui-hsien nor anywhere else, did we get reUable answers to 
 our questions concei-ning the annual progress of the corrosive action of the river 
 on the southern loess-bank. We refrain therefore from any estimate of the quantity 
 of loess swept away every year by the river in that part comprised between 112° 30' 
 and 113° 40' East longitude, being more than 100 kilometers. Even reckoning the 
 average height of the loess- wall at 50 meters, and tJie corrosion very trifling, we 
 still come to a respectable figure. 
 
 It was our intention to determine the discharge of the Yellow River at 
 Sz-shui-shien ; but the stream was . so swift , and the vessels, cables, grapnels etc. 
 at our disposal were so defective , that after repeated attempts we had to abandon our 
 plan. On this occasion the civil engineer Blijdenstein and two coolies came in for 
 a ducking. 
 
 The river was divided by a sand-bank into two arms. The breadth at the 
 surface, at about 100 meters below the mouth of the Sz-ho, was: 
 
 Southern arm 235 Meters. 
 
 Sand-bank 15 „ 
 
 Northern arm 60 „ 
 
 Total ... 310 Meters. 
 
 Close to the southern bank, although it formed no hollow curve, the current 
 was very strong: at 3 or 4 meters from the shore, the velocity at the surface 
 was not less than 1 meter per second, and rapidly increased to from 1.90 to 
 2 meters throughout the middle part of the stream, to within 20 meters of the 
 sand-bank. In the shallow northern arm the velocity was much slighter. 
 
 As we could not possibly take with the boats etc. at our disposal , the 
 necessary soundings for determining the discharge of the stream, we made no further 
 attempts to gauge its velocity more accurately. 
 
 The soundings showed that the bottom along the southern bank sloped pretty 
 
73 
 
 regularly on an incline something less than 1:2, to within full 20 meters of the 
 water-line, where the depth was fully 9 meters. In the middle of the river, with 
 our sounding-line 45 meters long, to which was attached a weight of 3.5 kilo- 
 grammes, in experienced hands (Mr. Visser's), we found no ground. The boatmen 
 whose vessels we had hired, declared unanimously that at 80 to 120 meters from 
 the southern bank the water was from 45 to 50 meters deep. This would point to 
 a continuation of the bottom-incline we had found , something less than 1:2, to 
 about 100 meters from the shore. The northern arm was shallow and fordable except 
 across a breadth of 10 meters. 
 
 We regret very much that the wretched boats, cables and grapnels we had, 
 together with the swiftness of the current, made it impossible for us to carry out 
 our plan of ascertaining the depths, velocities and discharge of the stream at 
 Sz-shui-hsien with succes, as we did at other points. At other places too work of 
 this kind was always attended with great difficulty. 
 
 According to our boatmen, and also according to the Taotai (mayor) of the 
 townlet, the water-level during our stay (April 24—26 1889) was „ rather low," 
 and at high-water in summer rose 2.50 to 2.80 meters above what was the water- 
 mark at that time. The marks of the latest floods on the loess-walls had of course 
 been long obliterated through the combined influences of rain, decay, dust-storms, etc. 
 We asked some of the people how high, up the loess-wall, the water generally rose 
 in summer, and they showed us a point 3.10 meters above the water-level. 
 
 The mud-alloy of the water at Sz-shui-hsien, near the bank, at a depth of 
 1.75 meter, and 0.50 meter from the bottom, was 8708 grammes per cubic meter. 
 
 In conclusion we add our opinion about the protection of the high loess-walls 
 from the destructive action of the water. It is, we believe, beyond all doubt that 
 the inclined plane of about 1 : 2 of the river bottom consists of firm virgin loess , 
 and not of the fragments of the loess-walls that topple over into the stream. It is 
 quite certain that the force of the current very soon melts or rather decomposes 
 these masses, converting them into mud, which remains in suspension in the water, 
 and sand that sinks to the bottom or is swept down it with the stream. The loess- 
 wall runs nearly vertically to a Uttle above or below the low- water line, and sinks 
 down in a rather faint incline to the bottom of the river. Should it be asked, 
 which is the vulnerable part of the loess-wall, to which the river directs its assaults, 
 we should answer: the vertical strip between the lowest and highest water-levels, 
 which at Sz-shui-hsien, according to the reports of the inhabitants, is about 3 meters 
 high. This part therefore must be protected. 
 
 A covering of natural stone beginning a little. below the lowest water-level 
 and extending to about 1 meter above the highest — thus in the case under 
 consideration, about 4 meters high — seems to us to be the most desirable. The 
 nature of the loess would allow of a steep covering ; the gradient need never be less 
 than 4: 1. The less loose earth there is behind the stones the better; where 
 this is possible, they should be sunk into the solid wall of the loess. The foot of 
 the upright covering should be protected by rough stonework on an incline of 
 about 4:5; experience must teach how high it should rise and how far it should 
 
 10 
 
74 
 
 project; but we surmise it need not as a rule be higher than 1 meter above low- 
 water. Should the bottom-incline be locally steeper, it may be necessary to extend 
 the outwork or support it by osier-works, made of millet-stalks or of willow twigs 
 such as are much used for this purpose in Holland i). 
 
 In the region of the high loess- banks, there are quarries on the river, of which 
 the stone, among other purposes, was used for the closing works of the great 
 breach of 1887 and for jetties in the neighbourhood. The stone was brought 
 in immense quantities from quarries about two days' sail up the river, thus from 
 just above Sz-shui-shien. 
 
 It would certainly be desirable, after the completion of the above-mentioned 
 covering, for the loess-wall above it to be dug away to a breadth of from 6 to 
 10 meters. This would be tantamount to laying a road along the upper end of the 
 covering, which in these regions, where the traffic-roads wind up and down the 
 loess-mountains for miles into the interior, would be an immense advantage. But 
 this would give too great a compass to the works, and moreover it would be a 
 difficult question to dispose at once of the whole amount of waste earth. To throw it 
 in the river would be hazardous. Nature however will co-operate through atmos- 
 pheric influences in decreasing the loess-wall above the stone covering. A footpath 
 is all that would be necessary at first, and this might be widened gradually as the 
 loess-wall got worn away by decay, rain, dust-storms etc. 
 
 We expect that a trial-experiment for a short distance with the aljove- 
 described stone covering would give very satisfactory results. 
 
 The Einhanhmenix As we Said before, the embankments of the Yellow River begin at about 
 
 aiomj ihe Lower n^o ^q' ^^ ]Qjjg_^ extending from there to its mouth. Between 116° 2U' and 116° 50' 
 E. long., the river flows past the foot and through the detritus slope of the Tai-shmi 
 mountains. Here we came across a part where the right bank of the river was 
 undiked : the ground sloped gently upward towards the mountain. Very likely there 
 may be partial embankments on this side, but at all events there is no uninterrupted 
 system of dikes at this part of the river. 
 
 The embankments are generally double, consisting thus in two dikes on each 
 bank, an outer and an inner one. Below Tsi-ncm-fu this is the rule, and above it, 
 for instance at tlie Kwan-chuancj ferry (36° 31' N. lat. 116° 38' E. long.), we also 
 found on the left bank double dikes. According to the assertion of an official at 
 Tsi-nan-fu, the Yellow River must have double dikes right through the province 
 of Shantung. 
 
 Towns or villages lying between the inner and outer dike are often inclosed 
 within a separate embankment, thrown up at the expense of the parties interested. 
 For the same purpose, both dikes are sometimes connected by cross-dikes, having as 
 far as we could see no locks, culverts or overflows. Finally the dikes of the tributaries, 
 
 ^) The whole district of the lower Hioany-ho is rich in cxcellpiit willow- woorl. In the Iooss-moiint;iins 
 around Hz-shxd-shien poplar, nut-trees, date-trees and mulberry-trees grow also in considerable nimibers. The 
 leaves of the willow are eaten as greens. 
 
75 
 
 falling into the main-river on its right bank, cross the ground lying between the 
 inner and outer dike i). This district must therefore be considered as divided into 
 different polders. Below Tsi-nan-fu we found the distance from the outer to the inner 
 dike to be 1500 to 4000 Meters. Here and there we met with outer polders with 
 dikes almost as high as the main-embankment. Thus there may be — and we have 
 seen it with our own eyes — four successive big dikes along the same bank, all 
 parallel to the river. 
 
 Higher up, in Honan, we saw the double dikes only where towns (as Kai- 
 fung-fu) and their dependencies had been separately embanked ; along former breaches ; 
 or where , as a matter of precaution, a new dike had been made before or behind an 
 ill-conditioned part of the embankment. 
 
 The river- or inner dike runs along the left bank to about 20 kilometers, and 
 along the right to about 10 kilometers below Tie-monn-Jman (37° 42' N. lat. 118° 29' 
 E. long.). The point where the double-embankment ends, and the outer dike joins the 
 inner, lay on the left bank two kilometers above Li-tsin (37° 80' N. lat. 118° 23' E. long.). 
 If therefore the river-dike is broken through at the doubly embanked part, the water 
 cannot find any outlet either to the sea or to the plain until the outer dike has given 
 way too. This however generally takes place, as we witnessed ourselves in three 
 places. If one pictures to oneself the rush of the waters through the breach on to 
 the outer dike only 1.5 to 4 kilometers distant, one can guess tliat its powers of 
 resistance are soon overcome. A very gentle inchne on this side would be a means of 
 preventing this ; the outer dikes we saw however had the usual incline of 2 : 3 
 or 1:2. 
 
 Both the properties of the soil of which the dikes are made, and their 
 dimensions and elevation, differ considerably. 
 
 As a rule the dikes are made of such ground as is available in the neighbour- 
 hood, and, generally speaking, their composition is sandy, whereby they are unable 
 to offer much resistance to the action of the water. Thus, for instance, we saw in 
 the dikes below Tsi-nan-fu channels made by the rain-water often more than a meter 
 deep; and at other places too, for instance by the breach of 1887, the rhaterial of 
 the dike was decidedly of bad quality. Nearly everywhere along the dikes we saw 
 mounds of earth in the shape of big mud-pies, to serve for repairs in times of flood, 
 which did not seem to be suitable for such a purpose. 
 
 It is very easy to say : the dikes along the Yellow River ought to have been 
 made of less sandy ground ; yet, although this is indisputable, it should not be forgotten 
 that the earth available generally contains a strong admixture of sand, and appeared 
 to us less suitable for dike-making than for instance the average Dutch clay. This 
 evil can be remedied by giving the dikes bigger dimensions, but especially by protecting 
 
 1) A small tributary, a few kilometers below Tsi-nan-fu, was undiked. It fell into the mainstream through 
 a bridged stone lock in the inner dike. This was dammed up with earlh on account of the high water in the 
 river. The sluice-boards (one row) were not let down in the grooves of the stone piers. There was probably a 
 similar vent in the outer dike. 
 
76 
 
 the exposed dike-planes by a solid covering, and by keeping them well in repair. ^). 
 
 As to the first point, we are able to assert that many embankments 
 we saw along the Yellow River were of solid dimensions. We will mention a few 
 examples among many. Close to the breach of 1887 the dike was 18 meters across 
 and about 2 meters above the highest water-mark. Some 15 kilometers further down 
 a new dike had been recently thrown up, as a protection for another dike a few 
 hundred meters further from the river. The new dike had a breadth at its crest of 
 from 23 to 25 meters , inclines of 1 : 2.5, and rose 8 meters above the water-mark 
 of April 28, 1891, i. e. 3 meters above the highest water-mark. The outer incline 
 was as good as eaten away by the water, and stood very nearly perpendicular 
 to its full height of eight meters. 
 
 They had been obliged — and here we come to our second point — to protect 
 the dike against the stream by means of jetties. We give a short description of these 
 works further on; at present we merely wish to call attention to a peculiarity in 
 the control of the Chinese rivers , which we unhesitatingly pronounce to be faulty : 
 viz. the course of the river-bed is not regulated, nor the dikes where necessary 
 properly protected. The river is suffered to wind or modify its course at will, within 
 the strip of land between the two dikes, and nobody thinks of setting to work until 
 the river, having reached the foot of one of the dikes, places it in imminent peril, 
 or has actually injured it. Then under difficult circumstances costly fascine-works 
 and jetties ai-e constructed ; executed it is true, in a praiseworthy manner, but which 
 would have been unnecessary, if the river-bed proper had been kept in check by the 
 construction in due time of smaller and simpler jetties. The works too, more imme- 
 diately directed towards the preservation of the dike against the current, which 
 consist almost exclusively of millet-fascines behind stakes, are only resorted to when 
 the dike has already been damaged. We never saw a new or a recently repaired 
 dike either protected by fascines or its declivities placed in comparative security at 
 the outset by a covering of loose stones or debris. Might we venture upon a simile it 
 would be this : a warrior should not wait until he is wounded before putting on his armour. 
 
 In the third place a few words regarding the means of keeping the dikes in 
 repair. None of the dikes we saw were in any degree grass-grown. For want of this 
 natural covering, to which in Europe so much importance is rightly attached, the 
 dikes suffer worse not only from the stream , but also from the rains and the violent 
 dust-storms so frequent in North China ^). In Europe infinite pains and trouble are 
 
 1) Wherever we saw dike-making, the ground was always carefully rammed down. The number of men 
 employed in ramming down the ground, in proportion to the other workmen, is always greater than with us. The 
 ground is stamped down with a ram of freestone attached to four or six ropes. The ram lying on the ground 
 is drawn up a couple of meters by 4 or 6 men who haul at at the ropes in a circle; they then suddenly let 
 go and the ram descends with a heavy thud on to the ground. 
 
 2) On the 29"" of April, at Tung-Chang, to the west of Kai-fung-fu, we had a good opportunity of 
 observing the results of a dust-storm which had taken place the day before, upon the northern slope of the dike. 
 A sheep or some other quadruped had been walking on the bare slope just before, and the ground under its 
 feet having been firmly kneaded together, resisted the force of the wind which blew away the loose soil around. 
 The little mounds which had remained wherever the animal had stepped were from 6 to 10 centimeters high. 
 The wind therefore must have carried away a layer of that thickness. 
 
77 
 
 taken to lay down turf and sow grass- seed, in order to obtain what we consider to 
 be an indispensable protection for the dikes. We could therefore hardly believe our 
 eyes when, on arriving at the Yellow River, we saw along all the declivities of the 
 dikes people engaged in plucking and tearing out the last grasshalms and other plants 
 to serve as fodder for their cattle. 
 
 The same observation applies to the wanton cutting of ways and paths in 
 the dikes by the population. To mention one instance only in many , we draw attention 
 to a spot, a few kilometers above the breach of 1887, on the right dike , which measured 
 15 meters across its summit, and on the river side had been gnawed away till it 
 rose almost perpendicularly. In this, and as if from choice at a very dangerous 
 point, a cart-ascent had been cut, which locally diminished the summit-breadth from 
 15 to 8 meters. 
 
 What would be done with a man on board a ship, who should saw the ship's 
 side half through and thus expose his fellow travellers to great danger? In very 
 truth, the ordinary maintenance of the dikes in China should be much stricter. 
 Finally it should be noted that the height of the dikes above the highest water- 
 marks varies considerably. Referring to the figures mentioned above (about 2 and 
 
 3 meters) we may state tliat the opposite-lying dikes of Tsi-ho lay 6 to 6.2 meters 
 above the watermark of May 18, i. e. about 1 meter above the highest watermark >); 
 and that about midway between Tsi-nan-fu and the mouth of the river, we found 
 on the northern dike, within a few kilometers' distance, a difference in height from 
 crown to water-level of I'/j meter. 
 
 We were assured that the double dikes, inner- and outer, were about the 
 same height. At one point we were enabled to convince ourselves that this was 
 a fact. 
 
 In default of regular datura-observations of the river , the variable and alternating 
 fall of the Hwang-ho makes it difficult to determine the proper height for the dikes. 
 Especially from this point of view the want of the said observations must be regretted. 
 
 From the rather contradictory information we managed to obtain, we came 
 to the conclusion that the main dikes along the rivers are considered as domains, 
 and are administered, by the Provinces or their dependencies the Districts. The requisite 
 moneys come out of the general provincial fund , to which is added , if necessary , 
 a government contribution. As we were told, this subsidy in 1889 amounted to 
 
 4 millions of taels for the province of Shantung and to 6 millions for Honan. 
 Local embankments, as those of towns or villages, are thrown up at the cost of the 
 community. Many parts of the secondary dikes or the double embankments also seem 
 to have been originally raised at the expense of the districts more immediately 
 interested in them. H. E. Shang-yao in his Memorial on the Yellow River (1890) 
 mentions that, some time after the breach of 1852, the idea of constructing proper 
 
 1) On September 30, the water was 3.27 and the mark lelt by the recent flood on the slope of the dike 
 was about 4.30 meters higher than the water-level on May 18. 
 
 We have been obliged to fake our flood-levels from local information, which we have checked as much 
 as possible, but which nevertheless varied in some places to the extent of 2 to 3 feet. 
 
78 
 
 embankments to supplement the dikes built by the people, was given effect to by 
 the Government. We were further told that the Provinces take charge of the building 
 of jetties etc. for the protection of the dikes, and of the repair of breaches. 
 This is all the information respecting the ownership and management of the 
 dikes, we were able with more or less certainty to acquire by reiterated questioning 
 and cross-questioning. 
 
 The hi,jh Fore-shores In consequence of its great mud-alloy, the alluvion of the Yellow River, under 
 
 bciwecn Ike Dikes certain conditlous, is enormous. As an example of this we mention that between 
 October 15 and 19, on our return-journey along the left bank, from the mouth to 
 Tiii-nan-fu, we saw a number of fore-shores — partly flooded outer polders — • upon 
 which , during the high water of the previous two or three months, a mud-layer had 
 been formed, which at various places measured 0.80 to 1 meter thick. Amongst 
 others we had one particularly good opportunity for observing this, on a fore-shore 
 where a brick-kiln was being built and the walls of the trench clearly marked the 
 thickness of the mud-layer. The fresh mud was rapidly shrinking. This appeared in 
 the first place from a network of dry bursts, at the surface 8 to 15 centimeters wide, 
 and elsewhere from a tent-shaped coating of mud round all the tree-trunks, which 
 was 0.25 to 0.80 meter high, giving the vertical height of the shrinking down to that 
 period. Although the mud-layer had not anything like completely subsided, and one 
 sank down into it here and there on trying to walk upon it, one could cross it for 
 instance easily by the brick-kiln, and at another place it was already ploughed. At 
 the last place the mud was mixed with more sand, but the bursts in it were still so 
 wide, that the horses before the plough sometimes stumbled into them. The shrinking 
 . of this alluvion must in its entirety be very considerable. Not only is it compressed 
 downward in proportion as it dries; but as soon as it is again trodden upon or 
 ploughed , a great deal of the surface splits up into the dry clefts which we estimate 
 to cover from 15 to 20 per cent of the surface. These dry clefts frequently penetrated 
 deeper than the bottom of the new mud-layer, as might be seen from the walls. 
 Where, for instance, the thickness of the layer was only 2 feet, the dry bursts were 
 often 8 feet and even deeper. A new mud-alluvion therefore does not only compress 
 the existing bottom vertically, but cleaves to it so firmly as to strike its clefts right 
 into it, thereby also increasing the density of the subsoil horizontally. Such being 
 the case, the solidity of the fore-shores, and their resistance to the action of the 
 stream , may be greater than , judging from their rapid formation , one might be 
 inclined to suppose. 
 
 On some of the flooded outer polders and fore-shores the mud-layer reached 
 to half-way up the doorways of the houses. At others an unfavourable direction or 
 the force of the current had on the other hand scoured out the bottom, and in a 
 great measure destroyed the houses. 
 
 At a few hundred meters above the breach which we visited on October 7, 
 the houses between the outer and the inner dike were buried to their roofs, and 
 the fruit-trees to their very tops, under sand or mud. The upper surface of the 
 new bottom consisted in sandy mud, on which, though the breach had occurred but 
 
79 
 
 three months before, grain had already been sown, and was shooting up luxuriantly. 
 As the dry bursts did not occur here, in anything like they same proportion as on 
 the fore-shores, the mass of it probably consisted of sand either covered or mixed 
 with mud at the surface. 
 
 This clearly shows that the alluvions of the Yellow River may, in a short 
 period of time, reach heights which make those of European rivers sink into insigni- 
 ficance. Where favoured by circumstances then, the fore-shores speedily rise to the 
 level of the high watermark, which as a rule is from 1 to 2 meters below the crest 
 of the dike >). They are then, especially along the lower part of the river, diked in, 
 or sometimes houses are built upon them, safe from the water on raised mounds. 
 Not seldom too there is a sudden local fall in the river, which leaves the fore-shore 
 high and dry; then villages gradually grow up on the fore-shore, and the dike 
 becomes useless. 
 
 That part of the river just above the breach of 1852 (114° 40' E. long.), which 
 we surveyed, offers a remarkable instance in point. Through this breach the water 
 found an outlet and flowed across a relatively low-lying region to the north-east, 
 thence through the bed of tlie Ta-tsing-ho to the sea. The water flowed down this 
 new course at a much stronger rate than down the old one below the breach which 
 was choked up with mud. The water-level above the breach must undoubtedly have 
 considerably fallen, and the bed have become much deeper ; and our measurements on 
 both sides of the river proper, in the first days of May, showed a high fore-shore 
 1 to 2 kilometers in breadth, 6.50 meters above the then rather low water-mark, 
 and quite 2 meters above the highest water-marks of the previous years. The 
 old dike which rose 2 or 3 meters above this high fore-shore, was not kept in repair 
 either; and at places where the roads crossed it, was dug away to a level with the 
 fore-shore. 
 
 In reading that the high southern loess-bank terminates at about 113° 40' 
 E. long., and that the river pursues its way through the plain to the sea, it should 
 not- be forgotten that, especially above the breach of 1852, it streams- between pretty 
 high steep banks of alluvial loess, which is incessantly loosened by the current into 
 which it crumbles. So long as neither the dikes nor the villages are threatened, the 
 river is left undisturbed to its own devices. 
 
 It requires no demonstration to show that this alluvial loess will yield more 
 readily to the action of the water than the actual virgin loess-mountains. In reference 
 to this we quote the following lines from our journal of May 4, the last day but 
 one of the survey we have just spoken about: „0n the northern bank of the northern 
 arm we observed an incessant wearing away of the bank. The bank was steep and 
 a full meter above the water. We sailed along something less than half an hour, 
 and saw incessantly, on an average every 10 seconds, great pieces of the bank fall 
 
 1) Along the Weiho, there was occasionally an. alluvion upon the foreshores as high as the crest of the 
 dike. This gave the whole the very uncommon appearance of a heavy dike 200 or 300 Meters broad, through 
 whose surface the river had cut itself a narrow deep bed with steep walls. 
 
80 
 
 into the water. It was a continual splashing; and this with a slow velocity of the 
 current , low water, and in a dead calm ! " 
 
 We are referring here to a shoal in the broad river-bed, containing compara- 
 tively much sand; but the action of the water upon the bank of the fore-shore, 
 6.5 meter high, was not slight either. 
 
 From this point of view also, the policy of leaving the river to its own 
 caprices, unless it assaults the dikes, cannot but be disapproved of; and one feels 
 the necessity of training the river-bed that it may satisfy the requirements of its 
 own discharge and those of navigation; its banks, where necessary, being properly 
 protected by jetties and other works. 
 
 Mud-alloy. In Conjunction with the preceding remarks, we append the following obser- 
 
 vations concerning the mud-alloy of the Yellow River. 
 
 Our own measurements gave the following quantitiesof dried mud in ^rmwmes, 
 per cubic meter of water. 
 
 Close to the bank at Sz-shui-hsien (113° 20' E. long.) — April 26, 1889 — 
 drawn up from a depth of 1.75 meter under water and 0.5 meter above the bottom : 
 3T08 grammes. 
 
 In mid-stream above the breach of 1852 (114° 40' E. long.) — May 3, 1889 — 
 drawn up as before : 4491 grammes. 
 
 In mid-stream at Tsi-ho (116° 50- E. long.) - May 21, 1889 - drawn at the 
 surface : 5639 grammes. 
 
 Mr. Kingsmill, engineer and architect at Shanghai, found the following quantities. 
 
 Near Tsi-nan-fu (117° E. long.) - April 28, 1887: 1750 grammes. 
 
 At Taocheng — May 4, 1887 : 184S grammes. 
 
 At Shi-li-pu (116° E. long.) — May 16, 1887: 3360 grammes. 
 
 At Shi-li-pu — June 6, 1887 : 3640 grammes. 
 
 It is striking to find that the results obtained by Mr. Kingsmill in the same 
 season that we obtained ours, show results so much lower. He describes the manner 
 in which he set to work as follows : „ the deposit was carefully dried over a stove 
 at a temperature of about 180° Fahr. and weighed. In this operation I was assisted 
 by one of the most marked peculiarities of the stream. However muddy the water 
 may be when taken from the stream, it rapidly settles if permitted to stand, and in 
 about an hour a large jar will have become perfectly clear." — This leads us to 
 suspect that Mr. Kingsmill allowed the water to settle during an hour, then poured 
 it off, and then dried and subsequently weighed the remaining mud. We gradually 
 evaporated the water in a glass bowl, with a cotton cloth stretched over it to prevent 
 the intrusion of dust, and placed in a sand bath, kept at a temperature of 180° Fahr. 
 The latter method must give higher results than the former, especially in view of 
 the salts in solution in the water. 
 
 In consequence of those unavoidable little accidents, which invariably occur 
 during such prolonged journeys in carts, we have no figures to communicate concerning 
 the mud-alloy in the months of September and October, when we made our second 
 trip to the Yellow River, and the water was pretty high. We mention however that 
 
81 
 
 the Secretary of the Tientsin Municipality A. J. M. Smith, on August 10, 1888 - 
 that is to say in the time of rain and high water — found in the water of the PctAo, 
 near Tientsin^ drawn out at about 2 Isilometers below the mouth of the Weiho, 
 105S3 grammes of dried mud per cubic meter. We have every reason to place the 
 utmost rehance on this figure arrived at by Mr. Smith, who amongst other things 
 lent us his fine scales, and with whom we had more than one discussion as to the 
 best means of determining the mud-alloy. 
 
 To assist our readers in forming an opinion on the above figures, we add 
 further that during his observations on the Loioer Danube, between the years 1862 
 and 1871, Sir Hartley found the greatest mud-alloy to be 3151 and the smallest 
 354 grammes per cubic meter. 
 
 On the Lower Rhine, in Dutch territory, between the years 1879 and 1885, 
 it was found amongst other things that, at Pannerden near the German frontier, 
 the greatest mud-alloy was 310^ and the least 3|- grammes; and at Gorinchem, 
 midway between the German frontier and the sea, the maximum was 1174 and the 
 minimum 10 grammes per cubic meter. 
 
 Before quitting this subject be it mentioned that on April 20, i. e. just three 
 months after the closing of the great breach of 1887 was accomplished, just behind 
 the dike in the deep pool formed there, we found on sounding a depth of more than 
 20 meters, while on the other side of the dike, in the river, the water was only 
 7.75 meters deep at the most, and on an average about 5 meters. Four months 
 before the vent, which then measured 120 meters across, was closed, Mr. J. Morrison, 
 Civil Engineer at Shanghai, sounded it, and found a depth of 27 meters, which no 
 doubt still increased in proportion as the hole became narrower. Thus in 3 months the 
 river before the dam had been reduced 20 meters in depth, by alluvion. 
 
 The Yellow River in its course' through the alluvial plain, a length of about F'^V- 
 
 800 kilometers, exhibits so many irregularities and sudden changes in breadth, velocity, 
 depth, direction etc. that the diagram indicating the fall along its course, must no 
 doubt show great irregularities. As soon "as the Chinese Government come to the 
 wise conclusion of having the river surveyed according to its requirements, this 
 will become apparent from the common results of the levellings along the 
 river, in connection with the observations respecting the watermarks at different 
 points, 
 
 It requires no demonstration to show what must be pecuUarly true of such 
 an irregular river: that it would be hazardous to come to any decision concerning 
 the fall of the whole river, or even of any considerable reach, from observations 
 extending along a portion of its length only. 
 
 Let us hope that a proper survey of the river will soon become an accomplished 
 fact, and be contended provisionally with the following figures, which will at any 
 rate give a general idea of the fall of the lower part of the Yellow River. 
 
 Mr. Kingsmill found by levelling, in West Shantung in 1887, an average fall 
 of 0.333 meters per kilometer. 
 
 In 1888 Mr. Morrison visited the great breach of the previous year, and 
 
 11 
 
82 
 
 found that the river below it had pretty nearly run dry. „ Careful levelling , un- 
 doubtedly correct, for a very considerable distance" showed the fall of the river-bed 
 below the breach to be as nearly as possible 0.19 meter per kilometer. 
 
 At the same place , about three months after the closing of the breach , 
 we found 0.48 meter fall on 2200 meters, or 0.31$ meter per kilometer i). 
 
 We mention here the elevations of certain points on the river above sea- 
 level, giving at the same time their 'distances along the stream to its mouth. 
 
 Mr. Kingsmill gives the following „ approximate heights deduced from past 
 
 observations": Mong-tsin-hsien (840 K. M. from the mouth) 183 M. 
 
 Ferry of Kai-fung-fu (680 „ „ „ „ „ 131 M. 
 
 According to Morriso7i, the river where it enters the province of Honan 
 (930 K. M. from the mouth) is about 153 M. above sea-level. 
 
 According to vo7i Richthofen's estimate, Sz-shui-hsien (800 K. M. from the 
 mouth) would be 133 M. above the sea. 
 
 Fritsche mentions in his „ Geographische , Magnetische und Hypsometrische 
 Bestimmungen an 27 im N. 0. China gelegenen Orten " that Tsi-ho (340 K. M. from 
 the mouth) is about 3T M. above the sea. 
 
 These heights have not been arrived at by levellings, but are estimated or 
 deduced from barometric observations. Mr. Fritsche calculated his heights from the 
 differences in his barometric observations with simultaneous observations of the 
 Russian Observatory at Peking whose height was fixed at 87.5 meters above the 
 sea. His aneroid, after and before his journey, was compared with the standard 
 barometer of the observatory, the correction for reading and temperature being 
 carefully determined. Thus for instance, the height arrived at for Tsi-ho (36° 45' N. lat. 
 116° 50' E. long.), lying about 360 K. M. in a straight hne from Peking, was 
 37 meters. 
 
 During our whole journey along the Yellow River, and also during our three 
 days' stay at Pe-tien-tzu, which lies exactly opposite to Tsi-ho, we took a series of 
 observations with the Naudet Aneroid , in the hope that later on , by comparison 
 with the observations taken daily (8 a. m., noon and 4 p. m.) at Taku, by the 
 Custom House Service, we might determine the heights of the various points on 
 our route. Taku lies at the mouth of the Peiho in the Gulf of Petchili, 270 kilometers 
 in a straight line from Tsi-ho and Pe-tien-tzu. 
 
 As soon as possible after our return from the Yellow River, we compared 
 our barometer during some days (June 1—5), at Taku, with the aneroid of the 
 Custom House Service, and, after a series of simultaneous observations, succeeded 
 in compihng a formula for the correction of the readings at Taku at the then 
 existing temperature, which gave very satisfactory results. In accordance with these 
 formula we corrected the readings at Taku on May 17 , 18 and 19, the days of our 
 readings at Pe-tien-tzu and arrived at the results hereunder. 
 
 1) The notes of a levelling at Pei-tii'n-tzu (-1-10° 50' E. long.), where we surveyed a part of the river, were 
 lost, su that we cannot commnnicate the results with certainty. The distance levelled was only 1600 meters. 
 
88 
 
 Date and 
 
 Corrected Readings 
 
 m. M. 
 
 Difference 
 
 hour 
 
 Pe-tien-tsu 
 
 Taku 
 
 m. M. 
 
 1889 
 
 
 
 
 May 17*" 
 
 
 
 
 8 a. m. 
 
 762.1 
 
 766.8 
 
 4.7 
 
 Noon 
 
 760.6 
 
 766.3 
 
 5.7 
 
 4 p. m. 
 
 758.7 
 
 763.4 
 
 4.7 
 
 May 18* 
 
 
 
 
 8 a. m. 
 
 759.3 
 
 761.7 
 
 2.4 
 
 Noon 
 
 758.2 
 
 760.2 
 
 2.0 
 
 4 p. m. 
 
 756.0 
 
 758.1 
 
 2.1 
 
 May 19"' 
 
 
 
 
 8 a. m. 
 
 759.2 
 
 761.1 
 
 1.9 
 
 Noon 
 
 757.8 
 
 760.0 
 
 2.2 
 
 4 p. m. 
 
 756.7 
 
 758.6 
 
 1.9 
 
 If one wished to deduce from the above differences the height of the Yellow 
 River at Pei-tien-tzu , above the sea at Taku, there would be a difference in the 
 results of more than 40 meters, according as one took the 5.7 or 1.9 miUimeter 
 difference in the barometric reading. This is of course caused by the difference in 
 atmospheric pressure between the two places, which cannot be reckoned, because 
 one has not as in Europe a number of observation points between and around, 
 but only Taku and Pe-tien-tzu. 
 
 It is evident from what precedes, that barometric heights obtained in this 
 way are too crude and uncertain to be of any service in determining the fall of the 
 river. For this purpose greater accuracy is necessary, and this can only be obtained 
 by levellings. An exact knowledge of the fall being of great importance, the neces- 
 sity of carefully and completely surveying the river becomes here again apparent. 
 
 It would be of the greatest importance to know accurately the difference in Velocity. 
 
 height, between the mouth of the river, and a point more than 800 kilometers 
 higher up where it enters the plain, since the velocity of the river will chiefly 
 depend upon its fall on that part. A sufficient velocity is the one thing indispensable 
 to prevent the settlement of the solids in the river-bed and the consequent 
 shallowing of the river. 
 
 Though with respect to these differences in height we must confine ourselves 
 to guesses and estimates, the results of Mr. KingsmilVs levelhngs (0.222 M. per K. M.) 
 of Mr. Morrison's (0.19 M. per K. M.), and our own (0.218 M. per K. M.), cannot 
 be called unfavourable, bearing in mind that they are merely local measurements of 
 the fall. The fact however that at a time when the water was comparatively low , we 
 observed everywhere such great velocity must be looked upon as a very favourable 
 circumstance. 
 
 According to accurate measurements, the maximum surface velocity 
 was: 
 
84 
 
 at Sz-shui-hsieu (800 K. M. above the mouth) 1.93 M. 
 
 above the breach of 1852 (640 „ „ „ „ „ ) 1.96 „ 
 
 at Tsi-ho (340 „ „ „ „ „ ) 1.93 „ 
 
 at Putai (120 „ „ „ „ „ ) 1 87 „ 
 
 These accurate statements are confirmed by numerous estimates and rough 
 measurements; and on our expedition from Tsi-nan-fu to the mouth, the river being 
 at that time in flood, we witnessed at various places velocities greater even than 
 2 meters per second. 
 
 Above the breach of 1852 and at Tsi-ho, where we surveyed river reaches 
 and determined the discharge, we measured the velocity in a number of places in the 
 sectional area, and then, in connection with the depths, calculated the discharge. 
 By dividing the figure thus obtained for the discharge, with that of the surface of 
 the sectional area, we get tJie mean velocity at that place. 
 
 Average velocity 
 Names of Places. Discharge in cubic Sectional area in in sectional area 
 
 meters per sec. square meters, in meters per sec. 
 
 Above the l Northerly riverarm 348 406 0.86 
 breach of [ 
 
 1852 1 Southerly riverarm 528 867 1.44 
 
 Tsi-ho 1288 992 1.30 
 
 A comparison between the above figures respecting velocity and fall, and the 
 known data of other rivers '), proves in our opinion that any projects for the 
 improvement of the Lower Hioang-ho will not be checked by an insufficient fall. 
 This is a matter of very great importance; for the fall must so to say yield us the 
 force necessary for the river-improvement. Another favourable circumstance is that 
 the fall seems to be pretty evenly divided along the whole river-reach of more than 
 800 kilometers; in other words, the faU is comparatively not very rapid at the 
 upper end and very gentle at the lower. Finally the velocity is good, without being 
 so uncontrollable as to impede or prevent navigation. 
 
 Under these circumstances we do not consider the improvement of the 
 Hioang-ho in any sense a hopeless task. 
 
 1) From 700 to 300 kilometers above its mouth, the Rhine has a fall of 97 meters, which gives a mean 
 fall of 0.24 meter per kilometer. From the last named point to the mouth, the fall is 36 meters, or on an 
 average 0.12 meter per kilometer. 
 
 The Iron Gate lies 955 kilometers above the Sulina-Outfall of the Danube, and only 35.6 meters higher 
 which makes the mean fall 0.037 meter per kilometer. 
 
 According to Kingsmill, the fall of the Lower- Yangtze along 1000 geographical miles, is only 163 feet, 
 i, e. a mean fall of 0.027 meter per kilometer. 
 
 A comparison between the velocity of the Hwang-ho and that of other streams, leads also to conclusions 
 favourable to its fall. 
 
85 
 
 We have already referred more than once to the river-reaches we surveyed Cross-secUons and 
 above the breach of 1852 and near Tsi-ho. The drawings of these surveys are not Di-schanjc. 
 
 included in this extract; we confine ourselves to the following description more 
 particularly concerning the cross-section of the river. 
 
 Our survey above the breach of 1852 (114° 40' E. long.) made it at once 
 evident, that the general water-level had considerably fallen since, presumably because the 
 water had found a better outlet than through the old bed which was choked up 
 with mud. On either side of the river extended a high fore-shore, a couple of miles 
 broad, and 6.50 meters above the river ^ which was then (May 2—6), as we were 
 told, „ rather low." According to the boatmen, the river at high floods rose to nearly 
 2 meters below the surface of the fore-shore. The old dike^ which lay 2 or 3 meters 
 higher than the fore-shore, was therefore of no further service. 
 
 Following the cross-section from the right bank to the left, we mention that 
 the high fore-shore rose steep above the waterline (3:1 or 4 : 1) and was much worn 
 away by the water. At 1.80 meter above the water was a small berm or flat, 
 presumably the work of a recent flood which had remained some time at that level. 
 Below the waterline the bank descended along an incline of 1 ; 6.5 to the point of 
 lowest depth (2.40 meters). 
 
 The river, or rather the southern arm, measured 273 meters across at its 
 surface, its greatest depth being 2.40 meters and its mean depth 1.34 M. The 
 sectional area covered 367 square meters, the greatest velocity at the surface was 
 1.96 meter, the mean velocity 1.44 meter, the discharge 538 cubic meters per second. 
 
 Between the northern and southern arm lay a shoal, 1414 meters wide, of 
 which J- lay about 0.15 meter under water, and *- about 0.20 meter above. About 
 the middle was a channel with a sectional area of more than 10 square meters, 
 and an estimated discharge of 4 cubic meters per second. 
 
 The northerly arm, with a surface breadth of 409 meters, had a maximum 
 depth of 1.80 meter, and a mean depth of 0.99 meter. The sectional area which was 
 very irregular, included 406 square meters, the maximum surface velocity was 
 1.96 meter, the average velocity 0.86 meter, the discharge 348 cubic meters per second. 
 
 After this came a bank of muddy sand, 2320 meters broad, which it was 
 evident had recently been under water. The maximum height was 1.23 meter, the 
 minimum 0.15 meter, and the mean height 0.80 meter above water. North of this 
 bank was also a broad fore-shore, 6.50 meters above the river '). 
 
 The whole sectional area, including that part of the shoal below the water- 
 line, measured 816 square meters, and the total discharge 880 cubic meters. The 
 breadth of the bed between the two high fore-shores was 4430 meters. 
 
 The highest water-level, according to local reports, reached a point 4.30 meters 
 above what it was during our survey. Assuming this to be correct, it would give 
 for the whole sectional area at that level a surface of more than 17700 square meters. 
 
 1) On the very edge of the unprotected steep bank of the fore-shore stood a Httle village, part of which 
 had evidently been ah-eady destroyed and swallowed up by the river. 
 
The reach we measured between May 17* and 20* near Tsi-ho (116° 50' 
 E. long.), was much more regular than the one just described. 
 
 The section here was fairly regular ; the breadth at the surface was 328 meters, 
 the greatest depth 4.65, and the mean depth 3.02 meters. The sectional area was 
 993 square meters, the maximum surface-velocity 1.92 meter, the mean velocity 
 1.30 meter, the discharge ViSH cubic meters per second. 
 
 The right dike, 7 meters broad' was in the middle 6.21, and at its summit 
 6.07 meters above datum line ; its slopes were about 1 : 2.5. The fore-shore was 
 at -\- 3.84; and the land on the other side at + 3.44. The fore-shore measured 
 133 meters across, and sloped down regularly along that length to + 2.69. 
 Here it descended suddenly at -j- 0.90, and thence the bank sloped gently down to 
 the water-line 34 meters further on. 
 
 The left dike, 7 meters broad, was in the middle at + 6 and its summit 
 at + 5.87; its inclines were about 1:3; the land inside the dike lay at -\- 2.57 
 to + 2.17; and the fore-shore at -\- 3.14. The fore-shore was 33 meters broad, and 
 sloped along that length to -|- 0.80 down to the river side. From there the bank 
 descended along an incline of 1 : 3 down to the water-hne. The outer slope of this 
 dike was provided with a covering of millet-fascines secured behind stakes, 1 meter 
 high, with the top at -|- 4.14. 
 
 The distance in the section between the crests of the two opposites dikes was 
 513 meters, and 200 meters higher up the river, only 500 meters. 
 
 According to local information, confirmed by His Excellency the Governor of 
 Shantung, the highest water-level of late years was about 5 Meters above datum- 
 Une. The sectional area at that level is 4100 square meters. 
 
 Between these two measures of discharge, which differ about 400 cubic meters, 
 lies a period of 2 weeks. At Tsi-ho, the only answer we could get to our repeated 
 inquiries about what the water had done during that period, was that it had become 
 „a little higher." 
 
 Both cross-sections, and especially the high steep incline of the fore-shore on the 
 river-side, showed clearly that the river had quite recently stood for some time at a higher 
 datum. At the reach near the breach of 1852, this water-mark was 1.80 meter above 
 water, and at Tsi-ho, 0.80 to O.tiO meter. Very probably these marks may be taken to 
 indicate the fall line of the river during the higher water of a little time before. To 
 bring the two measures of discharge together therefore , the Tsi-ho one ought to 
 have been taken at a water-level about 1 meter lower. The discharge of the two or 
 three little rivers that fall into the Hwangho between these two places, cannot be 
 of any importance at this time of the year. 
 
 The above described measurements, observations, and calculations have been 
 worked out with the utmost care and, whenever necessary and possible, regularly 
 checked. Though we had many difficulties to contend with, among which the force 
 of the current takes a foremost place, still we managed at length to overcome 
 them, and have therefore obtained results, which we can without hesitation declare 
 to be reliable. 
 
87 
 
 As we sailed down the river (October 6—11) to its mouth, we took a number Depth of the river 
 of soundings in the fair-way. The greatest depth we found to be 9, and the smallest and gradual elevation 
 2.20 meters. "^ '" '""■ 
 
 Ney Elias also (October 21—27, 1868), took a great many soundings on the 
 lower part of the river, and found for greatest depth in the fair- way 18 meters 
 and for the smallest 3.80 meters. 
 
 Though it would be premature to draw absolute deductions relative to the 
 silting up of the river-bed, unless being better informed about the water-levels, and 
 the exact spots of the soundings both in October 1868 and October 1889, yet a 
 comparison between our own complete figures and those of Ney Elias show that the 
 mean depth of the deep channel of the Yellow River below Tsi-nan-fu has conside- 
 rably decreased during the last 20 years. 
 
 At Tsi-ho, where we found a depth at high water of 9.65 meters, Ney Elias, 
 on October 2P' 1868, found from 9.15 to 10.98 meters in the fair-way. Here the 
 depth has not decreased in any appreciable degree, and this is certainly a very 
 remarkable fact, when one remembers that the river-reach by Tsi-ho is, comparatively 
 speaking, strikingly regular in its course and its embankments. On seeing this, one 
 is inclined to say of the river as of somebody else : „ that, if fairly treated, he's not 
 so black as he's painted." 
 
 The considerable decrease in depth of the fair-way of the Lower Hwang-ho is 
 not in our opinion to be ascribed to its much discussed mud alloy. What are the 
 actual facts? After the breach of 1852, the water of the Yellow River at Yil-Shan 
 (116° 30' E. long.) flowed into the bedding of the little river Ta-temgr-fto and streamed 
 down it to the sea. Between the breach and Yii-Shan the river formed a great 
 unembanked marsh or lagoon. Thus the Ta-tsing-ho had a much less discharge at 
 first than it had afterwards, when the newly-formed river was completely embanked. 
 According to Morrison, these embankments were not completed until 1878. At first 
 the bedding of the Ta-tsing-ho was presumably much deepended, and this was still 
 distinctly observable in 1868. Gradually, and particularly after the completion of the 
 embankments, the narrow bed of the Ta-tsing-ho acquired a breadth more in proportion 
 with its greatly increased discharge , while the excessive depth diminished. This is 
 our view of the state of affairs and, if correct, it is no wonder that our soundings 
 returned us much lower figures than those of Ney Elias; but this fact should not 
 be adduced as evidence that the improvement of the Yellow River would be a 
 bootless task. On hearing that the Engineers of the Dutch Syndicate found on sounding 
 the river, in 1889 that its mean depth in the fair- way had decreased from 4 to 5 
 meters on an average, as compared with that found by Ney Elias in 1868, one is 
 so inclined to exclaim : the new bed of the Hioatig-ho has risen 4 or 5 meters in twenty 
 years and, though only dating from 1852, must already have reached a level above 
 that of the adjacent country. 
 
 Nothing could be further from the truth, as is shown by our river-section near 
 Tsi-ho and by other measurements along the Lower Hicang-ho, taken on purpose. 
 For instance at Tsi-ho the land within the inner dikes was found to be on one bank 
 more than 2 meters and on the other more than 3 meters above the level of the 
 
88 
 
 water, i. e. 6|- to 7|- meters above the deepest point of the river-bed, and 5 to 6 
 meters above the mean bottom hne. These figures point to a good scour of a regular 
 bed of sufficient depth, rather than to a silting up of the bottom and, in connection 
 with the short distance (540 meters) between the opposite lying dikes at Tsi-ho, show 
 plainly that limitation in breadth may be a desirable means of preventing the 
 accumulation of silt in the river-bed. And this result is obtained without any excessive 
 current, as the navigation on this part of the river during the greater part of the 
 year shows. There can however be no doubt that, if the new river is left to itself, 
 the breaches only being dammed as they occur, and the dikes protected only where 
 they come into direct contact with the river, slowly but surely the bedding will rise 
 exactly in the same way as it did in the old river above the breach of 1852. If 
 therefore some efficient plan of river-improvement be not speedily carried out, then 
 indeed the case way become critical, nay hopeless; and this is why it is of such 
 overwhelming importance to set about the improvement of the river, while the Lower 
 Hwang ho, along 600 kilometers of its course is still, as regards the silting up of its 
 bedding, under the influence of comparatively favourable circumstances. Every year's 
 delay makes the task which, by hook or crook, one day must be accomplished, more 
 difficult, protracted and costly. 
 
 As we have shown in a previous paragraph, the breach of 1852 resulted in 
 a lowering of the water levels and a greater scour of the bottom of the upper portion 
 of the river. In 1888 Mr. Morrison found that the bottom of the river by the breach 
 of 1887 was 1 to IJ meter above the embanked lands, and our observations there 
 agreed closely with his. In consequence of the breach however, the bottom there must 
 have been somewhat raised by the sand brought down by the current; and we believe that, 
 generally speaking, though the bedding of the Yellow River above the breach of 1852 
 must have risen more before that period, it is now certainly not worse circumstanced. 
 The breach has done the upper river good : at first the scour of the bedding must 
 have improved, the general water-level lowered and the velocity increased. Should we 
 be asked whether this scouring of the bottom is still going on, we should return a 
 negative answer. The river has, if we may so express it, gradually equalized the 
 sudden downflow from the raised bed into the lower plain, and is now most probably 
 in the same condition as it was before 1852 ; in other words, the river-bottom is 
 again slowly rising. Still our measurement of the reach above the breach shows that 
 these advantages are not yet forfeited. What a pity it would be to sacrifice the whole 
 benefit so dearly bought! 
 
 Assuming a bottom-breadth of the channel of only 400 meters, one meter's scour 
 of the bottom represents no less than 1 million cubic meters for every 2| kilometers, 
 which in case of river-improvement might have to be removed if one allows the 
 river to silt up again. But this advantage being forfeited, the improvement of the 
 river will become a much more difficult question. 
 
 We have, we trust, shown that the time for the improvement of the 
 Yellow River is also favourable as regards this compartment; and that evei-y 
 year's dflay will surely bring its harvest of bitter fruit. 
 
89 
 
 On October the Q''', when we had reached a point four or five kilometers Estuary of the Rive,-. 
 above Tie-monn-Jman (118° 29' E. long.), we were delayed three hours through the Thiai flow. 
 
 shallows; and indeed it was for some time doubtful whether our further progress 
 would not be stopped altogether. A few months before a breach had occurred here 
 through which fully 90 per cent of the water flowed eastward to the sea. At many 
 points, between this place and Tie-monn-kwan , the river-bed at the water-line 
 measured no more than 20 or 80 Meters across, and was so shallow that, though 
 our gun-boat had only a draught of two feet , it was with the greatest difficulty 
 we got her through.- To effect this a number of sailors had to strip, and tow us 
 through the narrow channels. 
 
 We should have liked very much to survey the new outfall, but objections 
 were raised to the gun-boat's venturing through the breach. A Chinese surveyor 
 engaged in the neighbourhood informed us that the new outfall measured 4^ kilo- 
 meters across, with a depth at its upper end near the breach of 19 feet. According 
 to the Memorial of the Governor of Shantung on the new outfall, its depth, in the 
 latter part of 1889, varied from 8 to 16 feet. 
 
 We saw from this Memorial, an extract of which we received on our return 
 to Holland , that His Excellency very wisely recommends the damming up of the 
 old silted up bedding, and the construction of dikes along 15 kilometers of the new 
 outfall. The last 5 kilometers were to remain provisionally unembanked. The new 
 outfall has therefore a length of 20 kilometers. The new dikes would be 10 feet high, 
 with a summit breadth of 20 feet and inclines on either side of 1 : 3. The outlay 
 was estimated at 98000 Taels, of which 12 000 Taels were required for the damming 
 of creeks and holes. 
 
 On our return to Tst-nan-fu, we were received in audience by the Governor, 
 when of course the new outfall came under discussion. His Excellency Shang-Yao 
 quite agreed with us as to the necessity of giving a good depth and width to the 
 new outfall, so as to allow as much water as possible to flow in from the sea at 
 flood. When the ebb sets in there is an accumulated mass of water, the product of 
 the up-stream from the sea and the down-stream arrested by the former; this, 
 flowing down with double impetus , deepens the bedding and sweeps all the solid 
 matter in it out to sea. The old winding lower portion of the river, down which 
 we sailed to the bar, is quite unadapted to any such improvement, and we approve 
 most highly of the training and embanking of the new outlet. Should this work be 
 properly carried out, and the new outfall, in case shoals should occur, be kept at 
 the requisite depth by dredging, the measures carried out by His Excellency the 
 Governor of Shantung will prove eminently useful to the Yellow River. 
 
 One great advantage is that the dikes along the new outfall, both as regards 
 their direction and relative distance, will incontestably be laid on a better system 
 than those along the old mouth. In the latter case, the gradual prolongation of the 
 embankment takes place as a rule , without sufficient inspection , by the owners of 
 salt-pans along the river; and it is evident that these people set to work on no 
 regular system, but merely with a view to their own interests, leaving those of the 
 river to care for themselves. 
 
 12 
 
90 
 
 It is for this new outfall that His Exc. Shang-Yao ordered the dredger with 
 mud-press we have already referred to. The length of the vessel is 118', its breadth 
 21' 4", its hold 8' 2^" and its draught, without coals and water, 3 feet. The maximum 
 dredging depth is 28 feet, and it should raise at least 2500 cubic feet of average 
 ground per hour. The machine is of 140 H. P. and the mudpress should be of sufficient 
 strength to press the dredged material through 250 meters of tube, 1 foot wide, 
 partly floating, and rising on shore to a height of 16 feet above the water-level. 
 
 The trial of the dredger on March 11"" 1891, on the river Lek nea.v Rotterdam, 
 was very satisfactory. It showed an amount of 3955 cubic feet, of sand mixed with 
 a little blue clay, dredged and pressed per hour through 250 Meter length of iron 
 tube, of which the first 50 Meters were afloat on small rafts, the extremity of the 
 last tube being at 16' 3" above the water-level. When dredging and pressing 
 less sandy material, the dredger can master without any doubt 5000 cubic feet 
 per hour. 
 
 In 1868 Ney Elias estimated the distance between Tie-mmn-kwan and the 
 bar, measured along the river, at 28| kilometers, whereas according to our estimate 
 the distance in 1889 was quite 12 kilometers more. The figures relative to the 
 gradual growth of the coast-line through the mud-alluvion of the Yellow River 
 differ considerably. In the above-mentioned Memorial of the Governor of Shantung 
 for instance, it is stated that, since 1852, the distance from Tie-monn-Moan to the 
 bar had increased from 50 to 120 li, that is 70 li or nearly 40 kilometers. In an 
 other writing we found that the coast-line advanced on an average 35 meters 
 a year. 
 
 Between the breach and Tie-mdnn-kwan, and also below the latter place, the 
 river was very shallow. The depth increased again as we approached the bar. At 
 Tie-monn-kican we were shown on a pole, notched across at regular intervals, the 
 level of the water at the time of the breach; it was only 2 meters above the water- 
 line. At the outfafl, and a little higher up, the unembanked mud-flats lay something 
 like 1 to 1| meter above the water-level. It may be pretty safely asserted that 
 these lands lie a little lower than the high water-mark of the river at a period 
 antecedent to the breach, when the whole water-volume was discharged through 
 this outlet. 
 
 On October 11 and 12 our boat lay off the coast, about 2| kilometers above 
 the bar, and here we took a few measurements and observations of which we give 
 a short description. 
 
 The last river-reach but one above the bar extended in a direction West- 
 East, bending at about 3 kilometers above the bar round to the south-east. The 
 course of the river from this bend down to the bar was North-west — South-east 
 i. e. parallel to the general direction of the coast-line. At about 21 kilometers 
 above the bar, the river-bed was very regular; here we took two cross-sections, 
 at 40 meters' distance, measured the stream- velocities in this reach at different 
 hours, both at ebb and flood, and read off the level of the water every hour 
 or half-hour on a level-gauge whose datum-line was about 1.50 meter below the 
 level of the mud-bank. 
 
91 
 
 
 ^ S 
 
 
 
 ^H 03 
 
 
 Date 
 
 0) a ^-v 
 
 Velocity of 
 
 Date 
 
 0) n ,-^ 
 
 Velocity of 
 
 and 
 
 ^:i§ 
 
 current 
 
 and 
 
 ^t^ a 
 
 current 
 
 hour 
 
 03 o O 
 
 meters p. second 
 
 hour 
 
 
 meters per second 
 
 October llt^ 
 
 
 
 7i A. M. 
 
 lO 
 
 
 10| A. M. 
 
 35 
 
 
 8 
 
 11 
 
 
 IH » 
 
 40 
 
 
 H r, 
 
 15 
 
 
 Noon 
 
 43 
 
 
 H « 
 
 22 
 
 
 \2\ P. M. 
 
 44 
 
 
 9 
 
 29 
 
 9h.3»A.M. Flood-tide 0.152 
 
 1 n 
 
 43 
 
 
 10 „ 
 
 36 
 
 
 H » 
 
 38 
 
 
 11 . 
 
 46 
 
 10h. = « A. M. 0.203 
 
 2 „ 
 
 35 
 
 
 Noon 
 
 55 
 
 llh.5 5 A. M. 0.247 
 
 3 „ 
 
 28 
 
 
 121 P- M. 
 
 60 
 
 
 4 „ 
 
 22 
 
 
 1 
 
 63 
 
 lh.i5 P. M. 0.11 
 
 5 » 
 
 20 
 
 
 H . 
 
 60 
 
 
 6 „ 
 
 16 
 
 
 2 
 
 54 
 
 2h." P. M. Ebb-tide 0.37 
 
 7 
 
 14 
 
 
 3 
 
 42 
 
 3h."' P. M. 0.44 
 
 8 „ 
 
 25 
 
 
 4 
 
 35 
 
 4h.*« 0.379 
 
 8i „ 
 
 30 
 
 
 5 
 
 30 
 
 5h.5= 0.359 
 
 Octo6er 12*" 
 
 
 
 6 „ 
 
 25 
 
 
 6 A. M. 
 
 14 
 
 
 7 „ 
 
 31 
 
 
 7 „ 
 
 11 
 
 
 7^ „ 
 
 30 
 
 
 On October ll**" between 1 and 2 p. m. we took two cross-sections. The sectional 
 area of the first was 370 square meters, the breadth at the water-line was 127 , the 
 greatest depth 3 and the mean depth 2.13 Meters. The area of the second was 
 367 square meters, the breadth at tlie water-line 138, the greatest depth 3, and 
 the mean depth 1.93 meter. The sections were very regular in form. The right bank 
 sloped down very gradually. The stream was strongest along the left bank. We 
 measured the velocities by dipping in a pole 1.4 meter deep at 40 and 80 meters 
 from the left bank. 
 
 On October the ll'i" the wind blew faintly from the south, fell at 5 p. m., 
 and veered round 6 p. m. by north-east to east. On the 12*i' it blew from the west 
 till a little after noon, then got round to the north and by 2 p. m. had pretty well died away. 
 On neither day was the wind of much consequence. It was strongest in the evening 
 of the ll**" and on the morning of the 12*. 
 
 According to the China Sea Directory, vol. Ill, 1884, published by the Enghsh 
 Admiralty, the rise at the outfall of the Yellow River, outside the bar, is at 
 springs 10, and at neaps 7 feet. Fifteen miles to the north westward Lieut. Bullock 
 R. N. recorded in 1860 the rise at neaps, by tide gauge, as 8 feet, and the spring- 
 rise, by tide-gauge also, as 10^ feet. It is high water, full and change, before the 
 mouth of the Peiho at IIP''" 30"""-, and before the mouth of the Hioang-ho, at 
 lyhrs 10™'°- Outside the bar of the first the flood sets N., the ebb S. S. E., ordinary 
 springs rising about 10 feet, neaps 7^ feet; outside the bar of [the Hwang-ho\, the 
 
92 
 
 flood sets N. W., the ebb S. E. In the Gulf of Petchili, especially on the coast, the 
 tides are subject to great irregularities. 
 
 The periods and heights of ebb and flood observed at Taku, at the mouth of 
 the Peiho, on October 10, 11 and 12, are noted in the following table; and from 
 these, by adding 30 minutes, we get the periods of high water before the bar of 
 the Hwangho. In the same table are included the observations, taken by us, of the 
 high and low water periods of the river at 2-^ kilometers above the bar. 
 
 Dales 
 
 Low water at Taku 
 
 Hig'h water at Taku 
 
 Time ofH. W. 
 outside the 
 bar of the 
 
 Yellow River 
 
 Time of H. W. 
 or end of Hood 
 
 in the Yellow 
 River 
 
 '2| kilometers 
 above the bar 
 
 TimeofL. W. or 
 beginning of 
 
 Height in 
 feet above 
 Taku da- 
 tum-line 
 
 Time 
 
 Height in 
 feet above 
 Taku da- 
 tum-line 
 
 Time 
 
 Hood in Yellow 
 
 River 
 2^ kilometers 
 above the bar 
 
 October 10 
 October 11 
 October 11 
 October 12 
 October 12 
 
 4' 
 
 3' 6' 
 3' 6" 
 
 lOh.'Oa. m. 
 
 llh.is a.m. 
 Noon 
 
 11' 6" 
 
 12' 
 
 12' 6" 
 11' 6" 
 
 4 p. m. 
 (4h.i'a. m.) 
 4 h.'op. m. 
 
 4 h. * "^ a. m. 
 
 5 h. ' •'^ p. m. 
 
 (4h.*5 a.m.) 
 5 h. p. m. 
 5h.'5 a.m. 
 5h.^* p.m. 
 
 Oh. 3 p.m. 
 1 h. p. m. 
 
 7h. p.m. 
 7h.3» a.m. 
 7h. p.m. 
 
 This proves that the water of the YeUow River inside the bar did not begin 
 to rise until l-J- to 2\ hours after the period of high water in the sea, outside the 
 bar, and that the river did not reach its high water-level until 7| hours later. The 
 difference between ebb and flood, which must have been about 2-1 meters outside 
 the bar, was 0.30, 0.42 and 0.53 inside, or an average of 0.42 meter. 
 
 From these differences in height and time, it is evident that only the topmost 
 crest of the tidal wave from the sea reached the river, and that even this water 
 could not stream in quickly or easily, but had to cover a comparatively longer 
 distance and overcome much resistance. The development of the floodwave, whose 
 easy and powerful ingress to the river is of such vital importance, is thus absolutely 
 unsatisfactory. 
 
 In 1860, at low water, the soundings returned from 2 to 3 feet of water at 
 the bar; in 1863, at high water, 10 feet; and in 1868, at high water, 4 feet. The 
 great extent of the bar; the irregularities and the softness of the bottom and the 
 presence of creeks; such were the reasons which led us to give preference to 
 hydrometric measurements inside the bar, to the uncertain soundings on it. We 
 believe that our figures give a more correct notion of the tremendous obstruction , 
 which both the flood and the ebb stream have to encounter in the mouth of the 
 river through the extensiveness and height of the bar. 
 
 The breach of 1889 above Tie-monn-kwan, by which the river has made for 
 itself a new outfall through an uninhabited district, must indeed be considered as a 
 true blessing to the Hivang-ho. The great question now, is not to lose this advantage. 
 A good outfall is of the highest value, and to maintain it, the formation of a bar 
 must be checked as much as possible. This may be effected by getting the matter 
 in suspension in the water to be carried out to sea so far and so vigorously that 
 
93 
 
 it reaches a point where the flood- and ebb-tide along the coast are powerful 
 enough to sweep it away. With this end in view, we should recommend that the 
 dikes along the new outfall, planned by His Excellency the Governor of Shantung , 
 should not terminate at 5 kilometers from the coast, but be extended even for 
 some distance into the sea with heads of millet or osier- and stone-work. Further 
 most river-mouths, and certainly the Yellow River, require constant dredging to keep 
 in check the ground deposits, which occur from exceptional circumstances such as 
 storms, very great discharge, etc. 
 
 Should any attempt be made to carry out these works, and to determine their 
 distance, direction and height, without previously measuring the discharge of the 
 river at its different levels, and collecting accurate data respecting the height, direction 
 and force of the tidal currents, they would lead to inevitable miscalculations and 
 disappointments. The data necessary for forming a good plan of embankments and 
 piers along the new river-mouth might however be got together within a few months, 
 independently of the systematic general survey of the river. 
 
 As regards the outfall too, forming such an important compartment of the 
 river, the present time is most favourable and seems almost to be pointed out for 
 the measurements and observations required for the proper application of the most 
 recent principles of river-engineering. 
 
 It was our intention after inspecting the breach of 1887 and visiting 
 Sz-shui-hsien , to sail down the river from Kai-fung-fu, the capital of the province 
 of Honan, to Tsi-nan-fu, the capital of the province of Shantung. This would have 
 afforded us a view of the important compartment below the breach of 1852 (114° 40' 
 E. long.) where for years the river streamed across the plain, a distance of 250 
 kilometers, forming a vast marsh to Yu-shan, where it found the bedding of the 
 Ta-tsing-ho, which it followed thence to the sea. 
 
 During our first stay in Kai-fung-fu (April 15—18) we had been told that 
 we might continue our journey by water, and we had already ordered our boats for 
 Tsi-nan-fu of the mandarin of the ferry at Cheng-chin, the harbour of Kai-fung-fu. 
 On our return to Kai-fung-fu on April 29, we learned however much to our disap- 
 pointment, that in consequence of the lowness of the water, the trip down the river 
 had become impracticable and that, if we wanted to go to Tsi-nan-fu at all, we should 
 have to travel by land. Any departure from the usual route in order to follow the 
 river, with such a large caravan as ours, was out of the question; we had therefore 
 to confine ourselves to measuring two river-reaches: near the breach of 1852 and 
 
 by Tsiho. 
 
 As regards this part of the river we refer our readers to Ney Elias' „ Notes 
 of a Journey to the New Course of the Yellow River in 1868" pubhshed in the 
 Journal of the Royal Geographical Society during the year 1870; and borrow a few 
 concise details from the accounts and reports of various reliable experts. 
 
 After the breach of 1852, the water streamed out of the raised bedding across 
 the plain in a north easterly direction, without a channel deeper than 3 feet even 
 in the season of inundation, but ever moving with a swift onward current. An 
 
 The Hwang-ho in 
 
 Chihli and West 
 
 Shantung. 
 
94 
 
 insignificant canal, called the Chun-hwang-ho , which at that time connected the 
 Emperor's Canal with the Yellow River, formed the basis for the present bedding, 
 itself still in an unsatisfactory condition, as is evidenced by our fruitless attempt 
 to accomplish our journey by water. 
 
 In 1868 Ney Elias found the river between the breach and the Emperor's 
 Canal in a most deplorable condition, a tract of country some 20 miles wide being 
 practically given up to the river. During the first two or three years after the 
 catastrophe fruitless attempts were made to close the breach, and then only this 
 plan was given up in favour of converting the new course into a regular river by 
 means of embankments , and closing up the old channel below the breach. In 1868 the 
 river, for a distance of 150 kilometers upwards from the Emperors Canal, was divided 
 into two chief arms, of which the southern, the Sunkiang-Canal , is now closed and 
 dried up, the stream now following the northern. Just here a great marsh ') was 
 formed, no doubt greatly increasing the difficulty of building the dikes. 
 
 Mr. Morrison, whom we learnt to know as a very able and reUable expert, 
 describes his visit in May 1878 as follows ; 
 
 — When I visited this place in 1878, great changes had been 
 effected in the upper portion. 
 
 — Close to the breach it is true, the scene was still one of the utmost 
 desolation. The river consisted of a network of channels, where deep holes 
 were followed by shallows of such slight depth that my boat, drawing 
 little more than a foot of water, was often aground, on two or three 
 occasions for hours at a time, while the banks of the river were unrecognis- 
 able and probably really out of sight. After about twenty miles however 
 there was a great change for the better; the officials had been at work, 
 and the immense marsh intersected by channels of various sizes had given 
 way to a river confined to one low water channel , and with embankments 
 along both sides at a moderate distance, apparently just sufficiently wide 
 apart to take the flood waters. Below Pa-li-miao (at the junction of the 
 Emperors Canal) as far as Tsi-nan-fu, the river was in the same condition 
 as at the time of Mr. Ney Ellas' visit. 
 
 — It appears, therefore, that as soon as the officials discovered that 
 they could not close the breach, they set about conserving the new channel. 
 The portion between the Canal and Tsi-nan-fu presented no difficulties, but 
 the upper portion was little but a marsh and had to be converted into a 
 river by the construction of embankments ; and, as giving some idea of the 
 time occupied by such works, the length between the breach and the 
 Grand Canal, measuring about 100 miles, had been nearly but not quite 
 brought under control in some 25 years after the breach had occurred. 
 
 — The whole of the new course from the great breach of 1852 
 downwards appears to be below the general level of the country immediately 
 adjacent to the river. 
 
 1) The ancient Yukung-Qivoracles, which date 5 centuries before Christ, make mention of the Ko 
 Marsh which must have existed at this place. 
 
95 
 
 On his map of this part of the Yellow River, which Mr. Morrison kindly 
 allowed us to look at, we read: „ Surveyed May 1878; water nearly at its lowest." 
 
 Mr. Kingsmill, who surveyed the Emperor's Canal and part of the Lower 
 Rwang-ho in 1887, and by special command communicated in writing the results 
 of his researches to the Governor of the Province of Shantung, mentions in his 
 interesting report that in 1887 the river had established a fairly defined channel , 
 occupying approximately the northerraost of the two ill-defined channels or lagoons 
 through which it made its way in 1868. The southern by Tai-miao and by An'shan 
 were effectually closed, and no remains were apparent of the Sunkiang Canal. At 
 some distance from the river embankments had been thrown up and were improved 
 in direction and strengthened. 
 
 Bearing in mind that the new course of the Yellow River below the breach 
 of 1852, along a length of about 640 kilometers, has had to be nearly entirely 
 embanked; that the embankments are for the greater part double; that the dikes 
 along 150 kilometers of the river had to be laid through a marsh, and for over 
 200 kilometers through a tract of land which had suffered severely from the inun- 
 dation, and was nearly unpeopled, — one cannot help respecting the perseverance 
 with which this work has been carried on and accomplished, despite the devastations 
 of the annually recurring high floods. True, in his Memorial of 1890 the Governor 
 of Shantung names the Lin-ho, the Chin dikes, the private dikes between Tunga 
 and Litsing, and between the Yiifu-ho and Machuang and the main embankments 
 between Litsing, the Ghi-ho and the Yilfu-ho, as standing in sorry need of repair; 
 yet for all that, the embankment of the Lower Hwang-ho, from its enormous extent 
 and the difficult circumstances attending its construction, is a very striking work. 
 
 The works carried out on the Lower Hwang-ho consisted in the laying of dikes, 
 the damming of breaches, and the protection of the dikes against the action of the 
 current. The river was left to do the scouring of its own bed and has done this 
 fairly well along that part of its bedding formerly occupied by the Ta-tsing-ho ; but 
 between the breach and this is a part still in a very undesirable condition. A few 
 dredging machines, such as the one about to be delivered by our Syndicate for the 
 outfall, might here doubtless be of great service, especially if they were not used in 
 dredging anywhere or anyhow, but set to work on a definite plan of river-impro- 
 vement. 
 
 Whe shall treat here of the Great Emperor's Canal only in so far as it is The crossing of the 
 directly connected with the Yellow River. Emperm-s Canaior 
 
 The summit-level of the canal lies about 35° 43' N. lat., by the Lung-wang 
 temple at Nan-toang, just where the Wonn-ho, the chief feeder, falls into the canal 
 on its eastern bank. From here it runs northward to Lintsing (36° 52' N. lat. 
 115° 52' E. long.), where it is connected with the Wei-ho by means of a sluice-gate. 
 The distance from the summit-level to Lin-tsing, measured along the canal, is 
 202 kilometers, and the Wei-ho mean water-level at Lin-tsing is 8.25 meters lower 
 that that of the summit-reach of the Canal. This was the figure arrived at, by 
 levelling, by Mr. Kingsmill in June 1887. 
 
 Yiin-hn. 
 
96 
 
 The canal between Nan-wang and Lin-tsing was at one time a free streaming 
 river , whicli was afterwards , in the interests of navigation , divided by locks into 
 reaches, and burst through in 1852 by the new course of the Yellow River. From 
 that moment it fell into decay, and at present the traffic is carried on under great 
 difficulties, as witness the following account of the voyage of more than 1200 junks, 
 each containing 1000 to 1500 piculs (60 to 90 tons of 1000 kils), which meet together 
 every year in the beginning of April at T'smg-Mang-pu, where the Canal intersects 
 the Yangtze, to caiTy the rice-tribute to Peking. 
 
 From the very beginning the numerous locks {cha) which have no gates, 
 but only a row of lock-boards let down in grooves in the stone piers, give a deal of 
 trouble. No fewer than 200 men are often required to pull one ship through. If there 
 is little water, a few ships are allowed to pass through and then the lock is shut 
 and the others have to wait. The Yellow Puver is so little below the summit-level 
 of the Canal •) that the latter is carried out to its edge with huge embankments 
 of millet stalks. As a rise of a few feet in the river-level might divert its course , 
 and lead it to open out a new channel for itself through the Canal, the heads of 
 the embankment are kept closed by a permanent dam which has to be removed 
 when the rice junks arrive. Should the river be too high, it dare not be opened for 
 fear of flooding the lower country; should it be too low, the junks must wait till 
 it has risen sufficiently to permit them to enter its stream. When haply this has 
 taken place, the fleet has to drop down some fifteen miles till the western entrance 
 is reached, when the same process has to be repeated. Here the state of affairs is 
 even worse. There is absolutely no supply of water available *) except what is 
 taken from the Yellow River itself This is so overloaded with sediment that only 
 a body just sufficient to float the junks is admitted at a time. By dint of exertion 
 and aided to a certain extent by the flush of the river, the boats in about 5 weeks 
 more arrive at Lintsing. They reach Tientsin end July or beginning August, and 
 Peking as a rule in the beginning of September. Entering on their way back the 
 canal at Lintsing, the deposit from the Yellow River is found to have nearly filled 
 up its channel, and it is only by repeated flushings that the junks get back to the 
 summit-reach Lung-toang-miao. From there southward they get along easier, but 
 anyhow it takes them eight months before they are back at Tsing-kiang-pu. The 
 section of the canal between Lintsing and the Yellow River, depending nearly wholly 
 on the latter for its water supply, has to be dug out afresh each year, while the 
 dams have to be replaced three or four times and extensive repairs made to the 
 embankments. 
 
 The above shows in what evil condition the Grand Canal has been since the 
 breach of 1852. To effect any improvement it would be necessary to construct good 
 sized and solid locks in the dikes of the Yellow River, where the latter is intersected 
 
 i) In June 1887 Mr. Kingsmill found the watermark of tlie Yellow River by Shilipu, which was then 
 below its ordinary flood-level, to be 1.15 meter above the bedding of the summit-reach of the Canal. 
 
 2) In May 1878 Morrison found the bed of the Grand Canal north of the Yellow River to be dry, and 
 its bottom 5 feet above the water of the Hwang-ho. 
 
97 
 
 by the Canal. The locks would have to be furnished with two sets of gates forming 
 a chamber. By means of slides in the gates the water could be raised alternately 
 up to the level of the Canal or of the river. A ship might then easily pass through, 
 without having to be tugged up against a strong current. The locks might easily 
 be fitted with suitable cleansing apparatus for getting rid of the mud. The channel 
 of the Canal on either side of the river might be kept free of mud by making wide 
 basins on the Canal side of the locks; in these the water, before flowing into the 
 Canal from the river, on the passage of a ship, would remain for some time at rest 
 and the mud sink to the bottom. These basins would have to be kept at the proper 
 depth by dredging. If the water-supply for the Canal can be obtained without drawing 
 it from the Yellow River , it would be advisable to remove the crossing point lower 
 down in order that the mean level of the water in the canal be higher than in the 
 river. By this means, the streaming of the river-water into the Canal would be 
 almost entirely stopped. 
 
 It is obvious, and experience has frequently confirmed it, that breaches in the Breaches. 
 
 dikes of the Yellow River above the breach of 1852 , where the bottom of the river 
 is on an average 1 to 1.5 meter higher than the land inside the dikes, are much 
 more serious in their consequences , and more difficult to close, than the dike-breaches 
 in the provinces of Chihli and Shantung where the bottom has not risen so high. 
 
 Concerning the breaches that occurred in the above named part of the river, 
 before the breach of 1852, we have no figures to go upon. During our expedition 
 along the southern embankment however , we saw at various places and repeatedly 
 the traces of breaches through it. After 1852 , there is mention made of a breach in 
 the southern dike by Yang-kiau (about 114° 5' E. long.), which occurred in July 1868 
 and was closed in February 1870. It resembled closely the breach in the same dike 
 at about 114° E. long., which took place in September 1887, and was closed in 
 January 1889. This we visited three months later. We shall not expatiate on the 
 desolation and misery caused by the latter breach, but merely mention that the 
 water spread over a vast extent of the flat southern plain, and, entering different 
 left tributaries of the Hwai-ho, found its way into that stream, to the Hungtze-\ake, 
 the ■ Pauying-lake , the Grand Canal eastward of it , the Yangtze, and through the 
 sluices of the eastern canal-dike to the sea. The inundation was worst shortly after 
 the breach, and during the high water period of 1888; at other times it was not 
 deep. Standing upon the recently constructed dam, and looking southward, one 
 beheld a measureless barren plain which, according to our measurements near 
 the dike, lay about 1| meter below the water-level of the river. Just behind the 
 middle of the new dike a pool had been formed , covering a surface of more than 
 6 hectares, in which the water was 2| meters below the level of that in the river. 
 On sounding we found the maximum depth to be 20| meters. From this pool a small 
 shallow creek a few meters wide meandered southwards through the plain, the 
 beginning of a broader and deeper bedding which no doubt the stream would have scoured 
 out for itself if the breach had not been closed. The sandy surface soil was so 
 mixed with clay, that it might be said to be suitable for agriculture; it was also 
 
 13 
 
98 
 
 made use of on the new embankment, and for filling up the crevices between the 
 millet-stalks of which the latter was made. 
 
 Our opinion on the disputed question as to the advisability of closing the 
 breach of 1887 or allowing the river to follow its new course, is decidedly in favour 
 of damming the breach. Mr. Morrison justly observes that the embankment's being 
 assailed and giving way just at that point was quite a matter of chance. This might 
 for instance just as well have happened somewhere along the northern dike; and to 
 speak, as has been done, of the river's forcing for itself a natural way, is sheer 
 nonsense. 
 
 If the breach of 1852 had never occurred, and the river still followed its 
 century old bedding, choked with the sedimentary deposits of such a prolonged 
 period, down to the sea, the training and making durable of the temporary south 
 eastern course of the river after the breach of 1887, might well have been a matter 
 for serious consideration. But if one remembers with what prodigious exertions and 
 sacrifices the present Lower Hwang-ho was diked after the breach of 1852; how 
 greatly the general state of affairs has been thereby improved; what treasures and 
 time it would take to form and embank a new river of several hundred kilometers 
 length, one cannot but applaud the determination of the Government to close the 
 dike at whatever cost. 
 
 The breaches of 1852, 1868 and 1887 along the old, elevated course of the 
 Hwang-ho were not caused by overflow of the dikes, but because nothing was done 
 to put a stop to the incessant changes of the bedding of the river, till at length it 
 reached the dike and undermined it till it succombed. Especially this part of the 
 river, where the breaches are followed by such terrible and far-reaching consequences, 
 that they partake of the character of a national calamity, should be vigourously 
 taken in hand without any delay. The threatened banks and dikes (here as a rule 
 the southern) must be effectually protected ; and as the works need not for the present 
 be carried along both banks but only along one of them, they may be begun with 
 at once, without waiting for the proposed survey etc. and the normal breadth and 
 other hydrometric data to be deduced from it. Without the least danger of making 
 bank lines or other works unsuitable to the later general plan of river-improvement, 
 very useful works might, after a rapid survey, be planned and carried out, which 
 would retain all their usefulness after the systematic training of the river had been 
 accomplished. To make sure of this however the works would have to be determined 
 and projected by experienced engineers, who have seen and studied many trained 
 rivers. The question to be considered is not the protecting of a part of the dike here 
 or of the bank there, a matter not very difficult of accomplishment ; but to keep up 
 a connection between all these partial works, as subdivisions of one great plan as 
 yet indeed only in conception, but whose chief outlines nevertheless must be clearly 
 impressed upon the minds of the projectors of the partial works. 
 
 On the 600 kilometers of river lying between the mouth and the breach of 
 1852, breaches in the dikes are much less dangerous and much easier dammed than 
 those described above. This is because the river does not flow here through a raised 
 bedding, but has a low water channel lying below the surrounding districts. 
 
99 
 
 Through the kind exertions of His Excellency Shang Yao's Son and Private 
 Secretary we obtained on our request a statement of the breaches on this part of 
 the river , of which we append a translation. For want of accurate maps we are 
 unable to give the latitude and longitude of the undermentioned places: 
 
 List of Inundations in the Province of Shantung , and in the Province of Chihli 
 
 lohen affecting Shantung. 
 
 0. = Overflow 
 Locality B. = Breach Remarks 
 
 (chuang, etc.) B. = Repaired 
 
 District 
 
 (hsien) 
 
 Yiin Cheng 
 
 Ho Tso 
 
 Li Ching 
 
 Hui Min 
 
 Li Ching 
 
 Li Ching 
 
 Chi Tung 
 
 Li Ching 
 
 Li Ching 
 
 Chi Ho 
 
 Tung Ming 
 Chi Ho 
 
 Chang Chin 
 
 Chi Ho 
 
 Li Ching 
 
 Li Ching 
 
 Ching Cheng 
 
 Ho Hsia Lin 
 
 Chia Chuang 
 
 Tao Yuen 
 
 Ching Ho Tun 
 
 Shih Ssu Hu 
 
 Pi'en Chia Chuang 
 
 and Hsiao Li Chuang 
 
 Hsiao Chia Chuang 
 
 Ho Chia Lin 
 
 Ho Tao Chuang 
 
 Li Chia An 
 [Hung-Miao) 
 
 9 
 
 Chen Hsia Lin 
 Mao Chia Tien 
 Chao Chuang 
 Tsao Kou 
 Ten Toio Chen 
 Yang Chia Chuang 
 
 B. 
 
 E. 
 
 B. 
 
 B. 
 
 B. 
 
 B. 
 
 0. 
 
 B. 
 
 0. 
 
 B. 
 
 0. 
 
 B. 
 
 B. 
 
 B. 
 
 0. 
 
 B. 
 
 B. 
 
 B. 
 
 0. 
 
 B. 
 
 B. 
 
 0. 
 
 B. 
 
 B. 
 
 B. 
 
 0. 
 
 B. 
 
 0. 
 
 B. 
 
 0. 
 
 B. 
 
 0. 
 
 B. 
 
 Aug. 1872 
 Febr. 1873 
 July 1874 
 March 1875 
 
 ) Small dike make by 
 i people themselves 
 
 June 1882 
 
 Small dike only 
 
 Small dike made by 
 people themselves 
 Febr. 1883 
 March 1883 
 B. May 1883 
 April 1884 
 B. Jan. 1884 
 May 1884 
 June 1884 
 Oct. 1884 
 B. June 1884 
 Aug. 1884 
 June 1884 
 Sept. 1884 
 July 1884 
 March 1885 
 
 ? Repaired by the Chihli authorities 
 
 B. March 1885 
 May 1885 
 April 1885 
 June 1885 
 B. June 1885 
 Jan. 1886 
 B. June 1885 
 Jan. 1886 
 B. June 1885 
 June 1885 i 
 B. June 1885 
 June 1885 
 
 [ Sudden breach. Large dike 
 
 I Repaired in a couple of days 
 I Repaired in a couple of days 
 
100 
 
 District 
 (hsien) 
 
 Chang Chin 
 
 Chang Chin 
 
 Chi Yang 
 
 Hui Hin 
 
 Shou Chang 
 
 Chi Ho 
 
 Kai Choio 
 
 Chang Chin 
 
 Li Ching 
 
 Pu Chou 
 
 Chi Ho 
 
 Locality 
 {chuang , etc.) 
 
 Kuo Ghia Chai 
 
 Ho Wang Chuang 
 
 Wang Chia Chuang 
 
 Tao Chia Koto 
 
 Hsu Ghia and 
 
 Sha Wo 
 Chu Ho Chuang 
 
 Ta Chin Chuang 
 
 Ta Chai 
 
 Chih Tang 
 
 Liu Liu Tsun 
 
 Chang Tsun 
 
 0. = Overflow 
 B. = Breach 
 B. = Repaired 
 
 0. B. June 1885 
 n. April 1887 
 0. B. Febr. 1886 
 n. Nov. 1886 
 0. B. April 1886 
 B. Oct. 1887 
 0. B. April 1886 
 n. Dec. 1887 
 
 O.July 1886 U,th sides 
 
 E. Oct. 1886 J 
 
 0. B. Jan. 1887 
 
 E. Jan. 1888 
 
 0. July 1887 \ 
 
 R. 2 I 
 
 0. B. July 1889 
 
 R. 2 
 
 0. B. July 1889 
 
 R. 2 
 
 0. Aug. 1889 
 
 R. 2 
 
 0. B. Aug. 1889 
 
 R. 2 
 
 Remarks 
 
 Government's dike 
 
 Both sides. Splendidly repaired 
 by the Chihli authorities. 
 
 These breaches were still in 
 
 repair when the list was 
 
 drawn up. 
 
 For a proper consideration of this hst, two things should not be lost sight of: 
 first that the complete embanking of this river-compartment was not finished until 
 about 1880 ; and secondly that, in consequence of the breach of 1887 higher up the 
 river, the Lower Htoang-ho discharged from September 1887 to January 1889 but 
 very little water. This explains why there were no breaches during that period. 
 
 Although these inundations are in no sense to be compared with the breaches 
 along the higher part of the river, their results should not be underestimated. We 
 have personally witnessed the misery and devastation which they cause, and are 
 able to form some sort of idea of the immense sums required every year for the 
 dam works and for the support of the wretched inhabitants. Since our departure 
 these calamities have, according to the newspaper reports , been repeated during 1890 
 on a very serious scale. 
 
 Truly, if we consider the hst of breaches and reflect upon all this, the 
 necessity of at once taking decisive measures forces itself more and more upon us. 
 This is the more necessary , since , as we have shown , the state of affairs gets worse 
 every year. Our frank appeal for a scientific survey of the river as a preliminary to 
 a complete plan of river-improvement does not arise from self-interest or presumption. 
 
101 
 
 We think it a sad pity tiiat the inhabitants of the shores of the Yellow River should 
 be systematically deprived of the fruits of the experience in the department of river- 
 improvement, acquired in Europe during the last fifty years. We do not pretend to 
 be infallible ; but we are convinced that our own dearly bought experience might be 
 of incalculable service to the Hwang-ho, and that a scientific inquiry such as we 
 have in view, would open up many new and probably astonishing fields of inquiry. 
 If it were here a question of introducing railways, which might interfere 
 with the pecuUarly conservative policy of the Chinese Empire, we could understand 
 the Government's hesitation. But no doubt, we should do it wrong, to assume that 
 it withheld, on mere political grounds, a measure intended to save a part of the 
 people from great misery. We rather think that European methods of river-impro- 
 vement based on surveys, observations etc., are still insufficiently appreciated 
 in China. And this is indeed regrettable. 
 
 Various places we visited afforded us the opportunity of viewing , in actual Closing of Breaches. 
 progress, the Chinese method of closing breaches. The works excited our wonder 
 and admiration in a very high degree. This was especially the case with the breach 
 of 1887 by Lai-fung-cfmi , which, during a three days' stay, we both surveyed and 
 mapped out. The following extract from our provisional report to His Exc. Li-Hung- 
 Chang is , if anything , an under statement of the truth. „ Considering the unfavour- 
 able conditions of depth and velocity under which the last part of the dike had to 
 be repaired, we may, without flattery, express our admiration of the sagacity and 
 perseverance with which this truly grand work has been accomplished." No less 
 favourable was the impression made upon us by the closing works along the Lower 
 Hwang-ho, which we visited during our second expedition. The order and rapidity 
 with which these works are carried out is truly exemplary. 
 
 As no drawings are printed with this report, we must content ourselves 
 with a short description of the Chinese methods of closing breaches, constrrtcting 
 jetties and other riverworks. 
 
 In North China these works are made chiefly of millet-stalks (Chin. Kaoliang , 
 Lat. Sorghum vulgare) , either alone , or mixed with earth. The stalks of the millet- 
 plant, which is very extensively cultivated, are from 3 to 5 meters long and correspond 
 closely in appearance with our reeds. The bark however is less brittle, and the 
 stalks are I4 or twice as thick, and not hollow ; but filled with pith resembling that 
 of the elder-tree. Although there is abundance of excellent willow-wood in North 
 China, we saw nothing else but Kaoliang used for river- works. We beheve the 
 osier would be more durable, both under and above water; but bearing in mind 
 what prodigious quantities of millet-stalks remain over after the harvest , which could 
 otherwise only serve for fuel , and how cleverly the Chinese know how to use them, 
 we must admit them to be a very cheap and serviceable material. 
 
 The chief peculiarity of Chinese river- works is the frequent use of heavy cables , 
 made of hemp, bamboo or other plant fibres, by which the newly made work of 
 millet-stalks , — f. i. a. jetty or a new dike in a breach — is brought into connection 
 with the bank, the old dike, or the completed work. 
 
102 
 
 Let us, for example, take a breach through which part of a dike has been 
 washed away. In China the new dike is generally made just where the old one lay ; 
 they begin at the same time at both sides and go on gradually approaching each 
 other till they meet and the opening is thus closed. Let us now imagine one of the 
 extremities of the old dike shortly after the closing works have begun , and we shall 
 see it lengthened for some meters by a dam of millet-stalks and earth , with vertical 
 inclines. Very firmly anchored at about two metersfrom the head of the dam, with her 
 bows facing the rushing stream that flows from the river through the breach , lies a ship ; 
 and at the extremity of the old dike, both along the surface plane and the inchnes, 
 the men are busily engaged driving in wooden stakes to which are attached strong 
 cables stretched tight along the dike in the direction in which the works are proceeding. 
 If we follow these cables with the eye, we shall see them disappear in the 
 water at the head of the dam and reappear again about two meters further on 
 against the ship. Here they are wound round a windlass by which they can be 
 tightened or loosened. They hang loosely in the water between the head of the dam 
 and the ship, and thus form a kind of network, in which layers of miUet-stalks 
 are constantly placed right across the direction of the embankment , the surface plane 
 being kept about half a meter above the water. The men who bring the bundles of 
 millet, stamp the stalks firmly together; other workmen cover them with a layer 
 of earth, which they bring up in wheel-barrows; and the men on board the ship 
 keep loosening the ropes a little , so that the net filled with earth and stalks gradually 
 sinks to the bottom and rests there. Then the ship is towed on a couple of meters; 
 new cables are fastened, and the work proceeds in the same way. It is remarkable 
 how orderly and rapidly the work is thus carried on. Considering that the depth of the 
 water in the breach of 1887 was about 30 meters, while the current through it must 
 have been extremely strong, it must, we think, be admitted, that no other known 
 method would successfully have dammed the breach. The dam was 2200 meters long, 
 had a maximum thickness of 120 and minimum thickness of 40 meters ; its minimum 
 height above the level of the river at the time of our visit was 5.20, its maximum 
 height 10.30 meters. The old dike was at the upper end 6.50, and at the lower end 
 7.20 meters above that level. When such great damworks are being carried on, of 
 course more than one ship lies at the head. As the works advance , the cables are no 
 longer fixed in the old but gradually fastened on the new dike. 
 
 Evidently these millet-stalks , especially at first , are compressed to a large extent 
 and let a great deal of water through. The dike hy Lai-t' ting- chai, three months after 
 the closing of the breach , during our visit , was still being raised constantly and shook 
 pretty strongly under our feet. As far as we could judge , the dike let very little 
 water through. This will be easily understood when we consider the great mud alloy 
 of the water which at first oozes through and must certainly contribute gradually 
 to fill up the interstices between the millet-stalks. 
 
 From many contradictory answers to our questions , we think it reasonable to 
 conclude that such like closing-dikes of millet and earth are sometimes only provi- 
 sional , being replaced during the season of low water by earthen dikes. This however 
 seems to be the exception rather than the rule; generally, as the millet- stalks rot 
 
103 
 
 and give way, the dike is constantly raised higher by fresh layers of earth which 
 gradually transform the millet dike into a solid earthen one. 
 
 In making jetties and other constructions of millet for the protection of banks and 
 dikes, no cable-ship is used, but the cables are fastened to wooden crosses; millet 
 and ground or stone are then brought up, and the cables are fastened firmly to 
 wooden stakes which are driven into the bank or dike. When a height of about a 
 meter has been attained, a new row of wooden crosses with cables attached, is placed 
 against the outer face of the millet- work, the cables being passed through the millet , 
 drawn taut and fastened to poles. The millet-works formed in this way often showed 
 gaps or crevices at their starting point from the bank or the dike. 
 
 During our first expedition we saw a few jetties recently constructed on a new 
 system : stone and earth , covered on the outside with a thin coating of bricks and cement. 
 They looked very well, but we could not help observing to one another, that we 
 should like to see how they would look after sustaining a flood and a winter. 
 
 This short account of the principal Chinese river-works seems to us 
 sufficient for the present purpose. We wish in conclusion to state that all mate- 
 rials requisite for river-works, such as stone, clay, millet and rubbish, are 
 present along the Yellow River, in abundance and of good quahty; and that the 
 workmen and overseers, generally speaking, made a very good impression on us. 
 We are therefore convinced that, whatever difficulties river- works in this region may 
 present, their successfull accomplishment under reliable superintendence, the men 
 and materials being both to hand on the Yellow River, cannot be doubtful. 
 
 Before setting out on our voyage to China, the first undersigned. Captain Conclusion. 
 
 P. G. van Schermbeek, together with our Vice-President, Chief Engineer W. F. Leemans, 
 on December S""* 1888, hadthehonour ofwaiting at BerZm upon His Excellency the then 
 Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of China to the Dutch Government. 
 
 On this occasion we had the honour of presenting to His Exc. a Memorial 
 clearly setting forth the object of our Society. 
 
 We cannot, we think, better conclude our Review of the Yellow River than 
 by quoting the following words which occur at the end of the above named 
 Memorial. 
 
 „ We should consider it a salutary measure and one of great importance , if 
 „ the Chinese Government could approve of, and in due time commission our Syndicate 
 „ with the technical preparation of a plan for the thorough improvement of the 
 „ Yellow River, with whatever appertains to it; on this understanding that Butch 
 „ technici should be adjoined to Chinese experts to give the latter practical advice 
 „ and assistance. " 
 
 Thus the hydraulic experience of Chinese experts might go hand in hand with 
 the knowledge of Dutch engineers; and it would indeed be astonishing if such 
 a confederacy should not succeed in metamorphosing China's Sorroiv into a blessing 
 to the region through which it flows. 
 
 P. G. VAN SCHERMBEEK. 
 A. VISSER. 
 
ERRATUM. 
 
 Page 6, lines 19 and 20 from above, 
 for : Streams in a northerly direction along the foot of the Kwenlun , and easterly 
 
 from the Ta-Hwa-Shan, 
 read : Streams in an easterly direction along the northern foot of the Kwenlun and 
 Ta-Hwa-Shan.