GEOI.OGY — WII.US. 215 



ARTESIAN WATER CONDITIONS AT PEKING. CHINA.* 



By Bailey Willis. 



THE SITUATION OF PEKING. 



Before entering upon the investigation, of which the results are 

 stated in the following pages, the writer deemed it improbable that 

 a supply of good water could be obtained at Peking by a deep well. 

 Accepting von Richthofen's theory that the Plain of Peking was com- 

 posed of material chiefly carried and deposited by wind, he saw no 

 opportunity for the occurrence of strata of coarse and fine material, 

 such as are favorable to artesian conditions ; but the facts observed 

 are convincing evidence of the fluviatile formation of the plain and 

 of its heterogeneous bedded character. Good water is found by wells 

 200 feet deep, and all the desirable conditions of an artesian fountain 

 may probably be secured by a well 1,000 to 2,000 feet deep. In the 

 absence of any supply of wholesome water, such a well is of vital 

 importance to the American lyCgation, and, as demonstrating the 

 resources within reach, would be a boon to the entire city. 



The Bay of Peking. — The great plain of eastern China, in latitude 

 40° north, reaches into the mountains in the form of a bay, which 

 is 45 miles across at its mouth on the southeastern side and extends 

 30 miles in a northerly direction. It lies across the trend of ridges 

 whose opposed sections form parts of otherwise continuous ranges, 

 and the level plain is related to the mountains about it as an arm of 

 the sea is to lofty shores. This embayment is aptly called the Bay 

 of Peking, as the city of that name is situated at the mouth of it. 



Rivers. — Two large rivers, the Pei and Hun, together with several 

 smaller ones, enter this bay, flowing in general southerly courses. 

 The Pei and the Hun have wide branching headwaters in the moun- 

 tains. They are subject to floods and carry large volumes of sediment. 

 The Hun is said to be the larger stream in the rainy season, though 

 it is considered a tributary of the Pei. The relative altitudes of the 

 two show that the Hun has deposited more sediment than the Pei. 



Peking is situated between the Pei and the Hun, 14 miles west of 

 the former and 10 miles east of the latter, the American Legation 

 site being taken as a reference point in the city. It is about 12 

 miles southeast of the base of the Western Hills and from 25 to 40 

 miles distant from mountains on the north, northeast, and east. 

 The open plain slopes very gently away to the south and southeast. 



*The investigation on which this report is based was made on request of 

 Hon. E. H. Conger, United States Minister to Peking, for the State Depart- 

 ment, by authority of the Carnegie Institution. The report was submitted to 

 and is here published by permission of the State Department. 



