Vol. 51.] THE LOESS AND OTHEE DEPOSITS OF SHAXTTTNG. 241 



Explanation op the Map of Part op North China (fig. 1). 



This map has been drawn to illustrate the lie of the superficial deposits, 

 hence no attempt has been made to divide the Paleozoic rocks, save into 

 Carboniferous Limestone and Archaean, vvhich form the mountain-masses ; the 

 igneous rocks are also omitted. Boundaries of provinces are shown and num- 

 bered as under : — 



I. Shanse. V. Anhwei. 



II. Chihli. VI. Kiangsu. 



III. Shantung. VII. Hupeh. 



IV Honan. VIII. Chehkiang. 



In order not to complicate the map, very few names are inserted in it, but the 

 approximative positions of all the important localities, rivers, lakes, etc., referred 

 to in the paper are given in brackets when first mentioned. The system of 

 transliteration used in the paper is that of Giles. 



Most maps of China indicate the River Hwai as here flowing out 

 by Hwai-an-fu from the Hung Tsze lake (lat. N. 33° 30', long. 

 E. 119°) to the sea, and indeed, prior to the 13th century such was 

 its course. When, however, the Yellow River took possession of this 

 channel the Hwai, which had. before the Christian era been con- 

 nected by artificial channels with the Kao-ying lake (lat. N. 33°, 

 long. E. 119° 10'), was entirely deflected into this latter course, and 

 has since the 13th century discharged its waters by Sien-mu-miao 

 into the delta of the lower Yangtse. 



Remains of these old watercourses exist some few miles north of 

 Ts'ing Kiang-pu (lat. N. 33° 40', long. E. 119° 40'). The general 

 surface of the land is here some 70 feet above the sea-level, and 

 the old streams have cut valleys, showing sections of the beds, some 

 40 to 45 feet deep. They consist of fine sands and gravels, and 

 in the few hours available the writer found the ordinary marine 

 shells Cardium, Ostrea, Bulla, etc. Without a break these beds 

 extend the whole way to the north of Pe-chi-li, their summit-level 

 being near Kai-fung-fu, in Honan, whence they spread out like a fan, 

 reaching to near Tientsin in the north, and below Yang-chow in the 

 south, the fall of the surface averaging 1-38 foot per mile, or 0*260 

 per 1000. The highest level in the strait through which the Yiin- 

 liang-ho has been carried is the Shu-shan-hu (lat. N. 35° 15', 

 long. E. 117°), an artificial lake intended as a reservoir to supply 

 the canal north and south, the surface of which is about 135 feet 

 above sea-level. This disposition will explain the unstable nature 

 of the lower course of the Hwang-ho, which has at times oscillated 

 between Tientsin, where it was found at the earliest dawn of 

 Chinese history, and Sien-mu-miao, where for more than a year 

 (1887-88) it found an exit and mingled its waters with those of the 

 mightier Yangtse. 



These marine sands, which for convenience may be provisionally 

 called the ' Yang-chow * Marine Sands,' though younger than the 

 loess (upon which in fact they often lie), are older than the alluvial 

 plain of the Yangtse, under which they disappear. The junction of 



1 From the ancient division of Yang-chow, one of the twelve provinces of the 

 Great Yii. 



