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214
EAST ASIA.
THE PROVINCE OF KWEICHEW.
East of the Min and its tributaries, the " Four Rivers," * rise the red sandstone
and carboniferous ranges, all running south-west and north-east, the detritus from
which has been strewn over the surface, imparting to it the ruddy tinge
which has
suggested to Richthofen its name of the " Red Basin." These ranges are connected
with the crests separating the Min affluents from the valley of the Han-
kiang, and which, according to Armand David, attain an elevation of 10,000 feet
south of Hanchung-fu. This water-parting, known as the Lan-shan, falls gradually
eastwards as it approaches
the Yang-tze, disappearing at last in the lacustrine
region, which receives the overflow from the Yang-tze and the Han.
South of the Great River the province of Kweichew presents
in its general
relief a form analogous to that of Sechuen. Thus towards the west it is com-
manded by a highland region, or rather a broken plateau, above which rise the
snow-clad peaks of the Leang-shan, or " Cold Mountains." Southwards it is sepa-
rated by border ranges from the Yunnan tableland, while the chain known to
Europeans as the Nan-ling (Nan-shan), or " Southern Range," forms the water-
parting between the Yang-tze and Si-kiang
basins. In the interior of Kweichew
the parallel ridges, running in the same direction as those of the Red Basin in
Sechuen, have a lower mean elevation, while the waters of the Wu and other
streams, having a less rapid incline, are here and there collected in swampy tracts,
rendering the country very insalubrious. Marsh fevers and civil strife have been
the chief causes of the backward state of Kweichew as compared with most other
provinces of the empire.
In the southern districts war, or rather " man hunting,"
is the normal state of the relations between the Chinese and the aborigines.
THE MIAOTZE.
The Miaotze that is, according to Morrison and Lockhart, the " men sprung
from the soil "
formerly occupied the lowland regions, especially about the shores
of Lakes Tungting and Poyang. Gradually driven by the Chinese intruders back
to the hills, these Nan-man, or " Southern Barbarians," as they were formerly
called, have settled mostly in the Nanling and surrounding valleys. Here they
have been broken up by the intervening plains into numerous tribes, which have
in the course of ages become differentiated to such an extent that it becomes diffi-
cult to recognise their common parentage. The Shu-king of Confucius divides
the Miao into three main groups the White, Blue, and Red. Certain tribes
known by these names are still found in the South Kweichew highlands. But
such epithets, derived from the colour of the dress, are probably no longer applied
to the same tribes as those mentioned by Confucius. To the now scattered nation
of the Miaotze also belong the Chung Miao, Ngnchung Miao, Kilao, Kitao, Tuman
of Kweichew, Tung of Kwangsi, and the "eighty-two" tribes described in a
Chinese work translated by Bridgman. Some of them take the name of the " Six
These are (he Jlin-kiang, the To-kiang, the He-shui (Blck Water), and Pei-shui (While Water) .