250 MESSES. SKEETCHLY AND KINGSHIEL OS [May 1 89 5, 



From Hwang Hyien westwards the same story was repeated, and 

 to describe in detail every separate exposure would be unprofitably 

 tedious. 



While accepting with all its concomitant consequences a marine 

 origin for that loess with which the authors are most intimately 

 acquainted, and, as a necessary corollary, for the entire loess of Asia, 

 it would be an error to suppose that the loess as it at present exists 

 owes its formation universally, or even generally, to submarine 

 conditions. Nothing is more marked, especially in Shantung, than 

 the enormous amount of denudation and subsequent redistribution 

 to which it has, under subaerial conditions, been subjected, and it is 

 this fact which has led to so many erroneous conclusions. We 

 have spoken of the loess after crossing the strait at Sin Ho as 

 k degenerate,' in this sense, that it is the remains of a former thick 

 covering, now reduced in dimensions, and in great part re-arranged. 

 This indeed is the characteristic feature of the formation in the 

 prefectures of Lai-chow, Ts'ing-chow, and part of Tsi-nan-fu (lat. jST. 

 36°-37°, long. E. 117°-119°), north and west of which it descends 

 under the Marine Sands of Wu-ting (lat. K". 37°, long. E. 118°), 

 Tung-chang (lat. N. 36° 40', long. E. 116° 20'), and the north of 

 Tsi-nan-fu. Its former greater extension is shown there by the 

 remains of roiled pebbles formed of the characteristic nodules, 

 which are to be found strewn over the hillsides to a height of 

 upwards of 500 feet, and by the occurrence of patches of loess 

 remaining in sheltered nooks, as in a patch by the side of the gap 

 above the K'ai Yuen temple, a few miles south of Tsi-nan city, at an 

 altitude of 600 feet. 



If marine shells are absent from the loess, we are not without 

 some slender evidence of their former existence. The rocks about 

 the K'ai Yuen temple bear evident traces of Phola s-borings wherever 

 the loess has been denuded and the rock laid bare ; and a ledge of 

 hard limestone (Carboniferous) about 7 miles south-east of Tsi-nan, 

 some 500 feet above sea-level and protected by a projecting ledge 

 from weathering, might have been exposed but yesterday, so fre*h 

 are the borings. From a specimen taken awa) T , what appeared to 

 be a small papery fragment of the original shell was obtained. 



II. The Basement-geavels. 



Wherever the base of the loess is exposed it is seen, almost in- 

 variably, to repose upon sands, gravels, and shingle, as we have 

 observed over an area of about 600 by 700 miles, in the provinces 

 of Kiangsu, Anhwei, Honan, Shanse, Shantung, and Pe-chi-li. 



We have then, in this as in other observations connected with 

 the loess, to deal with no isolated fact, but with phenomena 

 extending over a great continent; and it is this that has rendered 

 generalization so difficult. If the marine origin of the loess be 

 conceded, many of these gravels will be seen to be remains of 

 beaches of the old loess sea. 



