Page:Through China with a camera.pdf/343

 robes of their ancient sages than the less costly cotton fabrics of Manchester, or whether the constantly recurring floods of the Hwang-ho or Yellow River, have so impoverished the inland districts as to materially damage trade, is a difficult point to determine.

Since the Yellow River has changed its course and now flows to the north of the Shan-tung mountains, a great portion of the Grand Canal has been rendered useless. The change of course to which I refer, took place in 1852, but in 1889 it again changed and forced its way to the south where it joined the Yangtzse. The Chinese, however, breaking away from their modern policy of squandering money on armaments and defences, found scope for their energy and perseverance in turning back to its northern channel the waters of the Hwang-ho. This they eventually suc- ceeded in doing by the aid of foreign appHances, a task which may be fairly accounted a triumph of engineering skill. In many places the banks had been carried away, and an eye-witness has described the scene in the following words:* — *^For dreari- ness and desolation no scene can exceed that which the Yellow River here presents; everything natural and artificial is at the mercy of the muddy dun-coloured waters, as they sweep on their course towards the sea."

But we shall see as we pass through Pei-chil-li, how these floods actually affect the people. Thus, while a considerable extent of country suffers from the withdrawal of the great river from its old channel, parts of Shan-tung and Pei-chil-li come in for a superabundant share of its waters. Notwithstanding this there are some portions of the former province which are as productive as any soil in the world, and where the nature


 * Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. xl, p. 5.