Page:The Chinese Empire. A General & Missionary Survey.djvu/383

 ("Yellow River"), and after losing some of its volume there it turns south into. The principal affluent is that called by the Chinese the Inner Liao, the combined waters of the Hun and the Taitze, which enters it a few miles west of the Chinese Newchwang. Below this it is a tidal stream a quarter of a mile wide, with a sluggish current. The head of navigation for junks is Tung Chiangtze, beyond which traffic is forbidden; boats also go up the affluents to Liaoyang, Moukden, and Kaiyüan.

The Yalu rises in the Changpai Shan, but the principal feeders in the upper section come from Corea. The largest tributary is the Hun Kiang, which rises due east of Moukden and flows south by Tunghwa and Hwairen. The volume of the Yalu is probably greater than that of the Liao, its basin receiving a larger rainfall. Junks ascend some thirty odd miles above Maoerhshan, but the Hun is barred by a rapid below Hwairen, and its course is often through rocky gorges.

The Taling Ho is the chief river in the western section of the province.

The most important and most populous section of the province is the great central plain of the Liao. West of this, from above Kwangning to the Great Wall, is a hilly country with bold heights rising to 3000 feet. East of the plain is a vast sea of mountains, rising in places to 5000 feet, and pierced by many fertile valleys. These mountains bound the plain as far as 44° N., and form the backbone of the Liaotung peninsula, ending at Port Arthur on the south. Eastwards they connect with the Changpai Shan, whose highest peak (8000 feet) gives rise to the Sungari; the name is applied to the whole chain dividing that river from the Yalu, and a high offshoot (5000 feet) runs down between the Yalu and the Hun. These ranges are covered with an impenetrable forest of elm and pine, which is being rapidly thinned as far as the means of transport will allow. The logs are floated down to the Yalu, where they are made into rafts, which again are sent down to the mouth at Antung and Tatung Kow.

Products.—The staple crop on the plain is the tall