Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 1 (1876).djvu/257

 tendency to flow to the north being checked by the obstructing Gobi and the In-shan mountains, the river makes another bend to the east, and near the town of Kai-fong-fu the principal channel disembogues in the Gulf of Pechihli, whilst another lesser branch flows into the Yellow Sea. The change in the lower course of the Hoang-ho occurred as recently as 1855, when, after forcing a passage through the embankments near Kai-fong-fu, the river took a new course towards the Gulf of Pechihli, where it now discharges at a distance of 270 miles to the north of its former mouth.

The capricious windings of the Hoang-ho, and the heavy rainfall in summer in the hilly districts on its upper course, occasion frequent and extensive inundations which sometimes cause disastrous losses to the inhabitants.

After crossing into Ordos, instead of taking the shortest diagonal route, followed by Huc and Gabet,