76 RESEARCH IN CHINA. 
As we approach the mountains from Tsi-nan-fu, or elsewhere from 
the flood-plains, we first encounter isolated hills of hard rock, which rise 
abruptly from the surrounding alluvium like islands from the sea. These 
outliers east of Tsi-nan-fu are 4 miles from the foot of the larger mountain 
mass behind the city. Advancing among the hills, we find that all the 
valleys, even the smaller ones, are filled with alluvium, which often extends 
not only to but across a divide, and thus connects the drainage basins 
of different streams. Irregular mountain masses of considerable height 
and extent are thus completely isolated in the accumulations of loess. 
This characteristic is well shown in the special topographic map of the 
Ch’ang-hia district (Plate XIII). 
The route from Tsi-nan-fu to T’ai-an-fu passes through this district, 
up the valley of the Shan-ho or Yti-fu-ho, directly toward the great T’ai- 
shan. One might expect to find a sharp and perhaps elevated divide at 
the head of the stream, on the line of the T’ai-shan ridge, but the valley 
maintains its width, and the divide is across a broad alluvial plain, largely 
made up of granite sand washed down from the ravines of the adjacent 
mountains. The descent to the flood-plain of the Wé6n-ho is very gradual. 
The valley of the W6n-ho in the vicinity of T’ai-an-fu is about 15 
miles, 25 kilometers, wide, and extends as an intermontane plain far to 
the eastward toward the head of the stream. Isolated hills rise from it, 
and toward the head waters become more numerous and larger, till the 
branches of the stream wind among mountain groups; but even there 
the valleys are still low and have relatively wide alluvial floors, as is illus- 
trated in the northern part of the Sin-t’ai district (Plate XIV). 
The divide crossed by the highway leading southwest from T’ai-an-fu 
is also broad and low, but toward the summit there are outcrops of gneiss 
and limestone. On the head waters of the Siau-w6n-ho, in the vicinity of 
Sin-t’ai, there is a very broad valley, partly floored with alluvium, partly 
a plain eroded across strata of various ages. 
The railway line between Wei-hién and Ts’ing-t’au crosses the penin- 
sula from the northern to the southern plain, in a broad depression without 
notable divide. This lowland through the central section divides the 
mountainous peninsula into two large masses, each of which is in turn 
divided, by many wide and branching valleys, into smaller mountain 
groups. 
Description of the mouwntains.—It has already been said that continu- 
ous mountain ranges are exceptional in Shan-tung, the characteristic 
placing of the heights being in groups which are generally without sys- 
tematic arrangement to one another. Nevertheless, there are instances 
in which the distinct mountains are ranged in lines and appear to be 
