72 ON THE COLORATION OF THE CHINA SEA. 



to be found in it. It appears, then, probable that the island 

 of Tsung-Ming, formed entirely of deposits of mud and sand, 

 is of recent origin, and that it only existed as a shoal at the 

 period when Marco Polo wrote the curious recital of his voy- 

 ages. If, as might be thought, the mud of the Yellow Sea 

 were almost entirely formed by the decomposition of our 

 microscopical Algae, we should have a new instance of geolo- 

 gical formations due to microscopical oi'ganisms, the know- 

 ledge of which forms one of the most curious discoveries of 

 our times, and one of those which will contribute the most to 

 immortalize the name of M. Ehrenberg. 



These are only conjectures, but they appear to me to possess 

 a certain degree of probability. I hope that our increasing 

 relations with China will give us before long the opportunity 

 of clearing up all these questions. 



One more question presents itself : one of the largest rivers 

 in China and in the world, the Yellow River, or Hoany-Ho^ 

 which empties its waters into the Yellow Sea, and the over- 

 flowing of which has played such an important part in the 

 liistory of China, since the earliest periods up to the present 

 day, is itself of a yellow colour. 



I have looked, in works treating on the geography of China, 

 for some remarks on this coloration. The only important 

 ones are to be met with in the following exti'act from the 

 Geography of Asia, by Carl Ritter : — 



" The evident meauing of the word Hoang-Ho is that of Yellow Eiver. 

 It is found ah-eady 200 years a, c. ; for in the Chou Kiwj, this river is 

 called Uoang {yellow), emblem of the earth ; and Hoamj-Ti, the God {Ti) 

 upon the earth ; or, in other words, the Sovereign Master, one of the titles 

 of the emperor of China, as Lieutenant of the God of Heaven, Shaiig-Ti. 

 In the upper part of its course, as far as the place where it leaves the wall 

 of China, above Lautscheon, in the Kanson, the river has, like all alpine 

 currents, perfectly transparent waters. When it washes the country of 

 Ordos, it becomes muddy, of a thick yellow colour like the Tiber or the 

 Maine : it is from that, that it takes its Chinese name Huang, yellow 

 or yellow-saffron (the missionaries call it Saffron Eiver), as well as its 

 Mongolian name Karamoran (from hara, dark, thick), under which it is 

 described by Marco Polo. It sometimes happens, under extraordinary 

 circumstances, that the water in the middle region of its course changes 

 its nature. It is reported in the Annals, that" in the year 1295, after a 

 violent earthquake, the waters of the Jloang-llo, which even at Lautcheon, 

 usually begin to be thick, became during three days perfectly clear and 

 transparent over an extent of 300 li, Which was considered a happy 

 jirestige, and caused many congratulations to be sent to the court. But 

 six months afterwards there was a great famine wbich cost the lives of 

 many people." 



However incomplete these documents are, they indicate the 

 existence of a natural phenomenon. But what is the cause of 

 it? Ought we to trace in it the record of n)icroscopic?l vege- 



