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CHAPTER XII. 



THE PHYSIOGRAPHY OF THE YANG-TSE VALLEY. 



Length and fall — Advance of the delta — Direction of river's course 

 — The gorges and rapids — Absence of roads — Coal-fields — The 

 flora and fauna — Mineral wealth. 



The Yang-tse River, which is known to the Chinese as the 

 " Kiang," i.e. "The River" par excellence, the "Chang 

 Kiang," or the " Long River," and more commonly still as 

 the " Ta Kiang," or " Great River," has a course of about 

 3000 miles in length. It traverses the country from west 

 to east, and may be said to divide the Chinese Empire 

 into two nearly , equal portions, — eight provinces being 

 situated on its left bank, with the same number on the 

 south : two only, Ngan-hui and Kiang-su, lying partly on 

 both banks. For two-thirds of this distance, it runs through 

 mountain land in a continuous ravine, the valley being 

 nowhere wider than the river-bed. In' the lower portion of 

 its course, which forms the remaining third of the distance, 

 the valley widens out, and the stream flows through an 

 alluvial plain, following generally the southern boundary of 

 the valley, except where it forces its way athwart the lime- 

 stone range, which forms the division between the provinces 

 of Hu-peh and Kiang-si, above the port of Kiu-kiang, past 

 the vertical cliffs called Split Hill and Cock's Head in our 



