Geological researches in China, Mongolia, and Japan, during the years 1862-1865.

CHINA, MONGOLIA, AND JAPAN. 47
in the article on Kichau in the Yukung it is said that " the Lo (plateau) was
drained."'
The fact, also, that in historical times none of the arms of the Hwang Ho have
approached the western mountain border of the plain, both north and south of
Kaifung, within a less distance than from ten to fifty miles, seems to point to the
existence of a recent sea margin, which would be perhaps due rather to the detritus
brought down by local streams than to the delta deposit of the Hwang Ho.
All the important changes in the lower course of the Hwang Ho have been recorded from early times by Chinese historians, and their documents and maps form
the most complete history we possess of the wanderings of any river.
The Yukungchuchi (Peking, 1705), written by Chin Hu Wei, contains a series
of maps in which these changes are laid down for a period of more than 3000 years.
M. Biot has given the substance of that part of this work that relates to the Hwang
Ho, in a carefully prepared paper.2 I have, however, thought the subject to be
one of sufficient interest to warrant the reproduction of the maps of Chin Hu Wei,
with such explanations as will render them intelligible, without going beyond the
limits of a work that is intended to give only my own contributions to the physiography of Eastern Asia. For farther information I must refer the reader to M.
Biot's paper, of which I shall make use in explaining the maps.
In the Yukung, a chapter of the Shuking classic of Confucius, it is said that the
course of the Hwang Ho was regulated by the Great Yu. Whether the works of
Yu are to be understood as the labor of a single man, or as the results of the enterprise of a rising colony during several generations, there seems to be little doubt
that more than 2000 years before the beginning of the Christian era the Chinese
had brought this turbulent river under their control, by an immense system of dykes,
and had begun to cultivate the extensive marshes of the delta plain.
Map No. 1 of the series, on plate 4, represents the course of the Hwang Ho
as it existed, in the main, from the time of Yu down to 602 B. C.
Map No. 2 represents the course resulting from the first great change, that of the
fifth year of the reign of Ting Wang (Chow dynasty), 602 B. C.
Map No. 3 serves to illustrate a passage in the writings of the poet Sse Ma Tsien,
recording a diversion to the east and southeast. The easterly course, forming the
Pien river, seems to have been the earliest recorded tendency of the river to follow
its recent course. The opening of the first channels in this direction is given as
occurring in 361 and 340 B. C.
The diversion, indicated on this map, through. lake Yungtse to the southwest,
happened, according to Sse Ma Tsien, towards the end of the Chow dynasty, during
the third century before Christ.
Map No. 4 represents changes that occurred under Wutih (Han dynasty), about
132 B. C., when a great overflow toward the northeast took place, the river trending
toward Kai (chau) in Chihli. At this time several arms were formed between
1 E. Biot, Sur le chapitre Yukung, Journ. Asiatique, 1842.
g Sur les changements du cours inferieur du fleuve Jaune, Journ. Asiat. 1843.