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26 remember that this was written previously to the Hoang-ho altering its bed to the northward.

There are many other rivers of minor importance, chiefly affluents of the great arteries, but two may be mentioned which are independent — the Chu-kiang, or Pearl, with its branches the North, East, and West Rivers, on the latter of which is situated Canton; and the Peiho, by one of whose northern tributaries large junks are almost enabled to reach the walls of Peking.

It may be said that China is almost hemmed in by mountains, whose alluvia has contributed wonderfully to the fertility of the soil. They enclose her territory on the north; in the east they separate the Great Plain from the elevated lands of Mongolia. Further west a range, running from north-east to south-west, almost reaches the southern bend of the Hoang-ho; whilst two great chains, continuations of the Himalayan and Kuenlun mountains, extend from west to east nearly across the Empire; the northern, named Pe-ling, entering about latitude 34, and the southern, named the Nau-ling, traversing China in about latitude 25 N.

There are several lakes in China, some of them being of great dimensions. The principal is Tung-ting-ho, which measures 220 miles in circumference, and forms one of a chain extending north and east, and occupying a considerable portion of the Yang-tsze-kiang basin. The next principal lakes are the lake Po-yang, 90 miles long and 20 broad, which lies midway between Tung-ting-ho and the sea, and the lake Tahu, near the mouth of the Yang-tsze.