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EAST ASIA.
khara, or at least from its eastern extension, the Min-shan. This is the "Wen, or
Min of our maps, which also flows parallel with the other watercourses of the
province of Kham. There can be no doubt that the Min must be regarded as an
affluent of the Kinsha-kiang, to which it is greatly inferior in volume and length,
while its valley is merely a lateral trough in the great depression traversed by the
waters of the Yang-tze.
Nevertheless most Chinese authorities have considered the
Min as the main branch, a fact which must doubtless be attributed to the common
culture prevailing
in the valleys
of the Min and Lower Yang-tze. The great river
coming from the upper regions inhabited by wild and hostile tribes seemed to the
civilised Chinese to belong to another world. They considered, in fact, that the
Kiang, or " River," pre-eminently so called, should flow altogether within the limits
of their domain. In the Yukung, the oldest Chinese geographical work, the Min
is already described as forming the upper course of the " Great River," and Marco
Polo, who lived in its valley, also gives it the name of " Kian." On the eld maps
all the upper course of the Kinsha-kiang is suppressed, while an exaggerated
importance is assigned to the Hoang-ho, whose valley had been the first to be
settled. Since Marco Polo's time the Min has shifted its bed in the plain where is
situated Chingtu-fu, capital of Sechuen. It flowed formerly through the heart of
the city in a deep channel half a mile broad, whereas now it no longer traverses the
place, and ramifies into several branches, of which the one nearest to the town walls
is only 330 feet wide. This change in its course has been largely caused by the
irrigation canals constructed in the surrounding plain, which is one of the most
fertile in China.
During the inundations the Min is navigable as far as Chingtu, but at other
periods the boats cannot get beyond Sintsin-hien, the converging point of all the
natural and artificial channels in this basin. Here begins, at a distance of 2,000
miles from the sea, the vast and unbroken water highway by which the whole of
China proper is intersected from east to west. One-tenth of this navigable artery is
formed by the Min, whereas above the confluence the Kinsha-kiang would appear
to be only navigable for some 60 miles by ordinary craft. At the same time the falls
spoken of by the boatmen of Pingshan are probably mere rapids which might
easily be overcome, and the solitude of these waters should perhaps be attributed to
the terror inspired by the surrounding Miaotze wild tribes. But even below the
junction of the Min the navigation of the main stream is not everywhere clear of
rapids and other obstructions. According
to Blakiston's measurements the total
full of the Yang-tze below Pingshan is about 1,500 feet in a distance of 1,760 miles,
or little more than an average of 10 inches in the mile, but very unevenly distri-
buted. Below the junction the river, here flowing north-east, follows the direc-
tion of the rocky ranges which fringe both its banks, but which at intervals present
gaps, through which the stream rushes in an abruptly winding bed. The projecting
bluffs are here crowned with strongholds and entrenched camps, which offer a
refuge to the peasantry of the surrounding districts during
civil war. At their
foot are rich deposits of coal, carbonate of lime, and here and there of iron ores,
while a little gold-washing is done along the more level banks.