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

CHINA, MONGOLIA, AND JAPAN. 49
Hwang Ho within its bed has been the constant care of the rulers of China, both
when the country was united under one man, and when it has been subdivided into
petty states. In the latter case in the treaties between states bordering on the
Hwang Ho, the clauses regarding the regulation of that river appear to have been
the most important and the most sacredly observed.
One of the most striking results of the official corruption that becomes general
during the decay of a dynasty is the breaking loose of this great stream, as soon as
the means for maintaining its embankments are misapplied.
The devastation caused by these overflows is awful beyond description. The
loss of life is very great, and the destruction of the crops that form the means of
support of millions, produces famine and the overrunning, by starving hordes, of
the more fortunate districts of the adjacent country. The anarchy that rules in
this struggle for life is almost beyond the conception of those who inhabit lands
where the population is much below the capacity of the country, or which are
easily reached by foreign supplies.
Within the last fifteen years one of these great changes has taken place, apparently
from the same cause and with the same effect as above indicated. Instead of emptying into the Hwang Hai, or Yellow Sea, the Hwang Ho now has its mouth in the
Gulf of Pechele, which it enters through the Tatsing river. The old mouth of the
river was found to be dry in 1858.
According to information furnished to the Rev. Mr. Edkins, by officials of the
Board of Foreign Affairs at Peking, the principal break occurred at Fungpeh (ting)
in Siichau (fu), the waters flowing away to the N. E. In Tsinan (fu), the capital
of Shantung, the waters of the Tatsing river are increased to six times their original
volume by the contributions of the H-vang Ho.
In 1863 the river had not yet determined a channel, but its waters were spread
over large tracts of country, and the city of Wuting (fu), nearly sixty miles north
of Tsinan (fu), was almost inaccessible.
The present course of the Hwang Ho is indicated, so far as known, on Map
No. 10.
Owing to the great quantity of material brought down by this river, and to the
absence of great oceanic currents, that might, if present, interfere with its deposition, the delta is rapidly increasing in size, and the adjoining seas are becoming
shallower 1
Probably nowhere can the rate of growth of deltas be better studied than in
China. Cities that were built on the delta plain of the Hwang Ho several thousand
years since are still in existence, together with the archives of their history. In
the cases of those that were built near the sea, the distances from this are given;
and frequent mention is made of towns, mounds, and natural hills, washed by the
sea, within historical times, which are now far inland.
Thus, in B. C. 220, the town Putai is said to have been 1 li west of the sea-shore,
while in A. 1). 1730 it was 140,i inland,2 a yearly increase of 100 feet, more or less,
1 Barrow estimated the hourly discharge of sediment at 2,000,000 cubic feet.
2 Fangyuchiyau; Chihli.
7 May, 1866.