204 SURGEON-GENERAL C. A. GORDON. 
archaic Chinese settled themselves in the land, and called it Siz, 
which we have called China,” the fact being that the Chinese 
do not yet call it Stn or China, except as they are learning to 
conform to foreign custom by doing so. 
II. As to where the first Chinese settlers came from I will say 
very little, because I have got very little to say. All that Dr. 
Gordon has brought together on the point is necessarily specula- 
tion. I cannot call to mind a single hint about it in Chinese 
literature. 
About 2,300 years B.C. the settlers occupied a small extent of 
territory on the east and north of the Ho or Yellow River, the 
more southern portion of the present province of Lhan-hsi. 
Thence they directed their course eastwards, southwards, and by- 
and-by westwards also, and we can hardly come to any other 
conclusion but that they had come into China from the north- 
west. From what western region, and by what route they came, 
we do not know. There is a wide field for speculation to choose 
from, but I have not yet read any theory that has to my mind the 
semblance of probability, or is supported by arguments grounded 
on ancient monuments or words in which a thoughtful inquirer 
can rest. 
Nearly, one might rather say fully, 2,000 years elapsed before the 
rule of the Chinese race was extended to the limits of the present 
eighteen or nineteen provinces that form the present ‘China 
Proper.” 
III. As to how long ago the earliest Chinese settlers entered 
China there is more to say. I have said above that about 2,300 
years B.C. we find a monarchy, which appears to have been elective, 
on the east and north of the Ho. I say this on the authority of the — 
best historical documents which the literature of China supplies. 
We have the twenty-four dynastic histories, the earliest of which 
is the ‘ Historical Records of Sze-ma Ch-ien,” who died in or near 
the year B.C. 85. He was grand historiographer to the dynasty of 
Han, the dynasty which dates from B.C. 206. His materials were 
all the classical literature before his time, and all the historical 
documents contained in the archives of the Empire. His work 
embraces the long period of time from the ancient Hwang Ti to 
rather more than 100 years of the dynasty of Han. 
According to the best chronological Chinese tables, the first year 
of Hwang Ti’s reign was B.C. 2697, so that Ch-ien’s history would 
seem to cover a period of nearly 2,800 years. But let it not be 
