TAN 



32 



TAN 



rnit. It has some very good manufactures of carpets and through which the road run-. Tin- road leave* ihr vall,-y 



and a coi: < ommerce with the nomadic of the Houug-ho ;it the town of Lai, ' HINV. Mil. 



ho wander about in the country west of the Holang vii.. ji. so], the capital of Kansi, and runs 1:1:1 noil I 



Shan. IMow the town of Nmg-hia the valley of the west ilireetioii ov er a stony and hilly country to the town 



:nws voider, ust!. the Holang-nhan re- of Liang-tcheon, a considerable place, of which however 



vest, but its fertility decrMMa, About eighteen nothing is reported, exeepl that the district in \vhieh it is 



miles from Ning-hia the canals cease and no rice is cul- 

 tivated. Other gram is still grown about :) miles farther 

 north, where the country gradually changes into a sandy. 



situated is fertile, and contains a great niimher of ullages. 

 From Liang-tchcou the road runs north-west to Kan-ti i 

 fix), a large' and woll-liuilt town, which has many ma- 



arid desert, interspersed" with hills, swampy tracts, and tures of woollen stuffs and felts, which nr ;i giciit 



part urea. 



The lateral valley of Si-ning-tcheou opens to the Hoang- 



ho from the west above the town of I^ui-tchcou hi' 



demand among the nomadic tribes of the Olilth Tsl 

 who inhabit the contiguous part of the (iolii, anil In: 

 the place their wool, 1: le, and sheej). I 



the Kilian Shan and the most elevated portion of the Sine also large quantities of rhubarb from the Kill: 



:. The \allev is not extensive, hut appears to be fer- From Kan-tchcoi:-foo the road continues in a north 



tile: it contains the town of Si-ning-tc.hcou, which is not direction to So-tchcou, a large and well fortified town, 



quite as large as Ning-hia. but a much more commercial j with numerous bazars, well provided with prov i 



place, as the road which connects northern China with manufactured articles. The town is divided into 



Hlassa in Tibet passes through it. This road leads from t ions, one of which is occupied by the < 'hincse, and the. 



Si-ning-tcheou westward over a chain to the lake of other by the foreign merchants from liokhara and Turkis- 



Khookhoo-nor, which is ol great but unknown extent. It tan. l*he latter is di\ ided from the formei 



i alpine la 1 . i by Inch mountains, and has no wall, the nates of which are shut at night: in other re- 

 outlet. The remainder of the road lies partly over nu- cpcct.s foreigners do not experience any different 1; 

 merous large mountain-masses, furrowed only by narrow mcnt from natives. As So-tcheon is the last 

 glens and ravines, and partly over rocky and sandy table- place through which the caravans pass before they enter 



lands, and the whole is described as a desert, in which only 

 a small number of nomadic mountaineers are met with, and 

 where the traveller for forty days' journey finds no other 



i modal ion than the tents of the poor mountaineers. 

 In spite of the difficulties, the road, as it appears, is much 

 travelled, and the bazars of Si-ning-tcheou are well pro- 

 \ ided with provisions and articles of luxury. Even coffee 

 and dates may be got there. This town is also the depot 

 of the Turkish rhubarb, which grows, as it appears, onlv on 

 the more elevated parts of the Siue Shan and Kiliau 

 Shan, and is sent from Si-ning-tcheou to all parts of tin- 

 world. Before the commerce between China and Siberia 

 was established, this article was brought to Europe through 

 Turkistan, Persia, and Turkey, and therefore is still called 

 Turkey rhubarb, though at present it comes through 

 K iaehta and Russia. When the Jesuits, who had been sent 

 to these countries by the emperor Kang-hi. were at Si- 

 ning-tcheou, they we're astonished at seeing the quantity 

 of rhubarb which, during the months of October and No- 

 vember, was daily Drought from the adjacent mountains 

 to the town. 



The northern part of Tangut, with the exception of the 

 valley of the Hoang-ho, is occupied by a wide desert plain, 

 which constitutes a portion of the Gobi. [Gom, vol. xi., 

 p. 280.] The steep declivities of the Kilian and Nan Shun 

 however do not come close to the desert, but are separated 

 from it by a hilly tract from 30 to 50 miles wide, which 

 contains some extensive tracts fit for cultivation, and 

 in which some large towns have been built, as the great 

 commercial route which connects China with the coun- 

 tries of Western Asia runs longitudinally through this 

 hilly tract, and is confined to it by the extensive sandy 

 dcs."-rt on the north, and the still less practicable mountain- 

 desert which bounds it on the south. According to our 

 be-t information, the ranges of the Kilian Shan, am! 



I of the Nan Shan, are covered with eternal snow, and 



one would imagine that they give origin to rivers which 



bring down a great volume of water, but that is not the 



The volume of water is very moderate : a part of it 



isumed in irrigating the adjacent fields, and the re- 

 mainder is absorbed by the sandy soil, as soon as it readies 

 the plain, after having left the hilly tract. This evidently 

 shows that the watershed of the mountains must be at a 

 distance from the Gobi. The surface of 

 the hilly tract consists of an alternation of high lands and 

 il depressions, running from the mountains northward to 

 the border of the dc-ert. The high lands are of considera- 

 ble extent, their upper surface broken and rocky, and only 

 occasionally covered with a thin layer of earth unfit for the 

 growth of tree*. In general the rocks are bare. Tl< 



ins between these high grounds an- hs> extensive, 

 nut exhibit a eonsidcrahl. of fertility where they 



are irrigated. Kven in those parts which are beyond the 

 reach of irrigation, they are chiefly cultivated. To protect 

 this hilly region, and the great commercial road which 

 .11 it. against the nomadic tribes of the Gobi, the 

 Chim-e have continued the Great Wall along its northern 

 bonier westward to 98 B. long., and along the wall arc 

 built the fortre*ie which protect the line and the towns 



the desert, between Tangut and riiian-shan-nahr : the 

 commerce is M' pecially in provisions. About 



50 or GO miles west of So-tcheou is the most western gate 

 of the Great Wall, called Kia-yu-kooan, or the gale of the 

 'one (jasper , through which the caravans pass to 

 enter the desert of llan-hai. which r, d in 



orderto reach Hanii in Thian-Shan-Nan'm. The last-men- 

 tioned town is 'JGO li, or :>2t) miles, from the gate of Kia- 

 yu-kooan, and that is the width of the Gobi at this place, 

 which is considered the narrowest part of it. 



The towns hitherto noticed lie along the great caravan- 

 road, but farther west the Chinese geographers mention 

 other places of importance. The la. 

 Ngan-si-lbo. n town of the first rank, anil the capital of the 

 whole district. North-west of it, and on the border of the 

 desert, is the town of Yu-mcn-kiang, which is built near 

 a pass between high hills, through which a road leads 

 northward to Hanii. of which we have no information. 

 South-west of Ngan-si-tbol are the towns of Toong-ho. 

 kiang. and Sha-teheou. The last-mentioned place, v 

 name means Sandtown. -ecms to be the la-t inhabited ; 

 towards the west. It has not been visited by Europeans. 

 except by Marco Polo, who describes it as rather a large 

 place : he says that the inhabitants live on the prod: 

 their fields and orchards, and have little commerce. From 

 his account, and that of a Chinese traveller, it is evident 

 that two roads run north-west and west from this i 

 Marco Polo reached it after traversing the desert of Lop, 

 by a thirty days' journey, having departed from the town 

 of Lop, (Rued is on the banks of the lake of the same 

 name. The intermediate tract was mostly covred with 

 sand, but in some places the - vd of bare and 



broken rocks. A Chinese traveller departing from 

 tcheou. and taking the western route, seems to have tra- 

 il worse country, until he reached the town of 

 Khotan. [Tui v - Sn v N ,\ \ N i.u.] 



That portion of the Gobi which lies north of the < 

 Wall contains many tracts which are covered with : 

 and supply pasture to the Oliith Tshoros. but others have 

 a sandy or stony soil, and are quite barren. In some 

 places there are extensive swamps, especially where the 

 .ire lost, which descend from the Kilian Shan, among 

 which the Etzina probably runs more than 'JOO miles. Milt, 

 the Han Hai. or that portion which lie's between tin 

 of Kia-yu-kooan and Haini. is nearly uninhabited, as water 

 is rarely met with, and the gra.-sv ti 



(juent. The sand with which the SUIT. . ed is very 



line, and frequently raised into the air by -.hong winds. 



Our information respecting the climate of Tangut is 



anty. The cold in winter is intense, and la-' 

 several months. Tin i,>nnd the ' near 



4O" N. hit., at the end of November, covered with thick 

 ice, so that the caravan was able to pass ov er it, 11. 

 the river was more than .'> yards wide. At Ning-hia a 

 heavy tall of snow was experienced in the middle of April. 

 In summer the ' >ut much less than in the 



low countries of China: the climate is con- 

 extremely healthy. 



We are no better acquainted with the productions of 



