CHINA, MONGOLIA, AND JAPAN. 49 



Hwang Ho within its bed has been the constant care of the rulers of China, both 

 when the country was united under one man, and when it has been subdivided into 

 petty states. In the latter case in the treaties between states bordering on the 

 Hwang Ho, the clauses regarding the regulation of that river appear to have been 

 the most important and the most sacredly observed. 



One of the most striking results of the official corruption that becomes general 

 during the decay of a dynasty is the breaking loose of this great stream, as soon as 

 the means for maintaining its embankments are misapplied. 



The devastation caused by these overflows is awful beyond description. The 

 loss of life is very great, and the destruction of the crops that form the means of 

 support of millions, produces famine and the overrunning, by starving hordes, of 

 the more fortunate districts of the adjacent country. The anarchy that rules in 

 this struggle for life is almost beyond the conception of those who inhabit lands 

 where the population is much below the capacity of the country, or which are 

 easily reached by foreign supplies. 



Within the last fifteen years one of these great changes has taken place, apparently 

 from the same cause and with the same efi"ect as above indicated. Instead of empty- 

 ing into the Hwang Hai, or Yellow Sea, the Hwang Ho now has its mouth in the 

 Gulf of Pechele, which it enters through the Tatsing river. The old mouth of the 

 river was found to be dry in 1858. 



According to information furnished to the Eev. Mr. Edkins, by officials of the 

 Board of Foreign Afi"airs at Peking, the principal break occurred at Fungpeh (ting) 

 in Siichau (fu), the waters flowing away to the N. E. In Tsinan (fu), the capital 

 of Shantung, the waters of the Tatsing river are increased to six times their original 

 volume by the contributions of the H-Cvang Ho. 



In 1863 the river had not yet determined a channel, but its waters were spread 

 over large tracts of country, and the city of Wuting (fu), nearly sixty miles north 

 of Tsinan (fu), was almost inaccessible. 



The present course of the Hwang Ho is indicated, so far as known, on Map 

 No. 10. 



Owing to the great quantity of material brought down by this river, and to the 

 absence of great oceanic currents, that might, if present, interfere with its deposi- 

 tion, the delta is rapidly increasing in size, and the adjoining seas are becoming 

 shallower.' 



Probably nowhere can the rate of growth of deltas be better studied than in 

 China. Cities that were built on the delta plain of the Hwang Ho several thousand 

 years since are still in existence, together with the archives of their history. In 

 the cases of those that Avere built near the sea, the distances from this are given ; 

 and frequent mention is made of towns, moimds, and natural hills, washed by the 

 sea, within historical times, which are now far inland. 



Thus, in B. C. 220, the town Putai is said to have been 1 li west of the sea-shore, 

 while in A.D. 1730 it was 140 ii inland,^ a yearly increase of 100 feet, more or less, 



' Barrow estimated the hourly discharge of sediment at 2,000,000 cubic feet. 

 ~ Fang5'uchiyau ; Chihli. 

 7 May, 1866. 



