1 88 CHANGES OF BED IN NORTHERN BEND. 



The channels marked in the map on the right 

 bank of the northern bend of the River (west of 

 the Munni-ula) have ceased to exist, owing to the 

 change in its course, which has deviated 33 miles to 

 the south of the former channel. The old channel, 

 called Ulan-khatun by the Mongols, is well pre- 

 served, as we saw on our return journey from 

 Ala-shan to Pekinof. The Mono^ols told us most 



о о 



positively that there were two channels between 

 the old bed and present channel of the River, 

 Avhich continue to the western extremity of the 

 Munni-ula, where some other branches again divide 

 from the River. In all probability these two channels 

 are those which some maps show as on the south 

 side of the Hoangf-ho. But in fact the main stream 

 now flows in the third, i.e. the southernmost of the 

 three. 



This important change in the course of the River 

 probably occurred at no very remote period. In 

 support of this presumption I should mention that 

 the Ordos country is reckoned to extend, beyond 

 the present course of the River, as far as the old 

 channel. There is a tradition among the inhabi- 

 tants that one year the Hoang-ho, after unusually 

 heavy summer rains, changed its former for a more 

 southerly direction, when a dispute arose between 

 the Urutes^ and the Ordos about the boundaries of 

 their respective territories. A commission was sent 



* The Uri'tt or Orat form a tribe of three banners on the north of 

 the Hoang-ho, about 120 miles west of Kuku-khoto. (See Timk. ii. 

 263.)-Y. 



