Untitled

TOPOGRAPHY.
places, and palanquin bearers for old and infirm pilgrims. Between these western
hills and the peninsula proper a broad depression, stretching from the Gulf of
Pechili to the Yellow Sea, was formerly traversed by a navigable canal traced like
a river on the old map of the Jesuits. Here also the Peima-hu, or " Lake of the
White Horse," would seem to be a remnant of the strait which formerly flowed
along this depression from sea to sea.
Nearly
Fig. 77. OLD SHANTDNO STKAIT.
all the forests have disappeared from the hills, and the indigenous
vegetation has almost everywhere yielded to the useful plants introduced by man.
The wild animals have also been mostly
exterminated, and little room can even
be spared for live stock in this fer-
tile and highly cultivated region. It
abounds also in coal-fields, iron ores,
gold, and other metals, besides precious
stones, including diamonds of small
size. The climate, as elsewhere in
North China, is characterized by the
extremes of heat and cold. But the
transitions are effected very gradually
and regularly, thanks to the warm
marine waters and the shelter afforded
by the neighbouring Manchurian and
Korean uplands from sudden polar
winds. The typhoons also spend their
fury in the Yellow Sea before reaching
the Gulf of Pechili.
*
TOPOGRAPHY.
The largest towns are naturally
found on the western alluvial plains,
watered by the Hoang-ho and its
tributaries, and traversed by the Yun-
Scale 1 : 2,000,000.
ho, or " River of Transports," which
was till
recently navigable. But
many of these places are exposed to
. 80 Miles.
destructive floodings, while others have been plundered by the Ta'iping rebels and
Nienfci brigands. However, they rapidly recover from such disasters, and TunyrJiany,
on the Grand Canal, amongst others, has already resumed its place as one of the
great industrial centres of the empire. Farther north Liiifsfng and ChingkJa-kew,
which also suffered
severely during the late insurrection, are now flourishing towns,
carrying on a large trade with the central provinces, Pechili, and even Mongolia.
Txiii'iii, the Chinangli of Marco Polo, and the present capital of the province, also
lies west of the mountains in a fertile alluvial district, dotted over with isolated
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