652 The American Naturalist. [July, 
General Notes. 
GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. 
Asia.—The Great Central Trade Route.—Mr. Mark S. Bell 
(Proc. Roy. Geog., Feb., 1890) contributes a lengthened and inter- 
esting account of his journey along the Great Central Trade Route, 
which leads from Peking to the remote province of Kashgaria. Two 
routes connect the east of China with Kashgaria, viz: The Alashan 
route, along which Mr. Younghusband was the first Englishman to 
travel, and the above-mentioned Great Central Trade Route, traversed 
y Mr. Bell in 1887. The latter route was gone over in 1874-'75 by 
Colonel Losnoffsky, who reported that it represented all conditions for 
becoming the most important artery between Russia and China. It is 
by no means the straightest route possible, since it first trends consider- 
ably to thesouth to the Wei valley, and then proceeds northwestward to 
the line of Chinese towns of the province of Kansu. From Peking to 
Paw-Ting-Fu (218 miles) the road passes over an alluvial plain ; thence to 
Khavailu (157 miles) it lies upon the hills between Chili and Shansi ; 
rises to a height of 4500 feet, and then descends to Tai-Yuen-Fu, the 
capital of Shansi. The road is entirely on metal, and from Khavailu 
to Si-Ngan-Fu, the capital of Shensi, consists of nothing more than 
ruts at the bottom of a gully in the pliable loess of the district. Tai- 
Yuen-Fu hasa population of 5,000, and its nearest port is Tientsin. 
From Tai-Yuen-Fu to Ping-Yong-Fu (185 miles) the road passes down 
the valley of Fuen-Ho. Ping-Yong-Fu has a population of about 
20,000; between it and Si-Ngan-Fu, the capital of Shensi, intervene 
253 miles, still over the loess. The last-named city was the capital of 
China for more than 2,000 years, from 1122 B.C. to 1127 A.D. The 
Yellow River is crossed at Tung-Kwan,93 miles before reaching Si-Ngan- 
Fu. Tung-Kwan is a very important place, since it is situated on the 
main line of traffic between the east and west of China at the point 
where that line is crossed by the chief route from the southeast to the 
northwest of the kingdom. No commercial route of importance 
crosses the Hoang-Ho north of Tung-Kwan. With such roads as have 
been described, and no railways, it may well be conceived that land- 
carriage in China is very costly&in practice, 30 miles upon land is in 
expense equal to 600 to 800 milés of water-carriage. The province of 
