Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/645

] p one  over a belt of country about 12 s in width, struck the of the undefined, and having forced their way into that narrow, clean cut channel, followed it to the. The result of this change has been that the old course of the is dry, and that the muddy dun-coloured s—hence the name undefined, or —after permanently ing a large tract of country, are now leading up to another grand catastrophe by destroying the s of the new channel which they have found for themselves. Already the increased of  has added another obstruction to those before existing to the  of the  by destroying a large   of seven es at undefined, a town situated 210 s from the, the ruins of which have seriously impeded the course of the stream. But the undefined is of little value for purposes. At its lies a  having at its deepest part about from 7 to 9  of  only; further up, about 3 s below undefined, there is a  extending right across its, at the deepest point of which there is about 11  of , while in the passage at the extremity of the sunken  at undefined there is a depth of only about 5.

A far more valuable in every way is the undefined, which takes its rise in the undefined of, and after a course of 2900 s empties itself into the in about 31° undefined. In common with most of the large s of China, the undefined is known by various names in different parts of its course. From its source in to undefined in undefined, it bears the name of undefined, or  of the en s. From undefined to undefined in undefined, its  has gained for it the title of undefined, or the Great ; and from the ancient name of the district through which it thence passes, it is known for the remainder of its course as the undefined, or the undefined River. Chinese state that it has two, the more northerly of which gives birth to the undefined at a point about 1600 undefined to the south-east of the  of the ; and to the more southerly one of the two the undefined, which rises on the south of the , owes its existence. Both these streams twist and turn eastward for upwards of 200 undefined, when they unite and form one stream, which flows in an easterly and afterwards southerly course until it enters the Chinese province of undefined at the undefined, or of  Victory. It then turns northward into the province of undefined, and thence after receiving several important it takes an east-north-easterly course, until passing into undefined it dips south wards to the boundary of undefined in the neighbourhood of the ', the s of which contribute largely to swell its. From this point it makes a curve northwards as far as undefined, receiving on the way the s of the '. From undefined it bends its course again southwards to the. Thence through the province of undefined it proceeds in a north-easterly direction until it reaches undefined, 200 s from the. Here the influence of the begins to be felt, and beyond this point it gradually widens into the great  by which it is connected with the. The basin area of the undefined is reckoned to be about 548,000 square s, and it is for  as far as undefined, upwards of 1,200 s from its. Unlike the, along the portion of the undefined are dotted many rich and populous cities, among which the chief are undefined, undefined, undefined, undefined, and undefined. Beyond this last-named city the becomes impossible for any but light native, by reason of the rapids which occur at frequent intervals in the deep  s through which the  runs beteen undefined and undefined.

Next in importance to the undefined as a highway is the undefined, or, as it is generally known in, the. This magnificent artificial reaches from undefined in the province of Che-keang to undefined in undefined, where it unites with the undefined, and thus may be said to extend to undefined in the neighbourhood of undefined. After leaving undefined it passes round the eastern border of the undefined, or Great Lake, surrounding in its course the beautiful city of undefined, and then trends in a generally north-westerly direction through the fertile districts of undefined as far as undefined on the undefined. , who in 1868 travelled along the Grand Canal from undefined to the new course of the, thus describes the characteristics of this portion of its course:—

