The plain of Yurnichiti is separated from Lake Poyang by a rocky mountain tract called Li-shan. The lake extends nearly 90 miles from north to south, with an average width of 20 miles. It contains many islands, most of which are cultivated and populous. Both on the west and east it is inclosed by high hills where it approaches the Yaug-tse kiang, hut a large low plain surrounds its southern shores, and this plain is traversed by numerous arms of the river Kan-kiang, which is I the largest of the rivers that fall into tho lake. This river and the country surrounding it are crossed by the great road from Canton to Peking. The course of the river is about 300 miles in a straight line, but with its bends it probably exceeds 400 miles. It rises near the Meiling Pass, through which the great road leads to Canton, and becomes navigable at the foot of the pass, where the town of Nun-gan is built, though at this place its width does not exceed 15 yards. Small river-barges ply between this place and Kau-tshcou-foo, where the river receives a largo supply of water by several tributaries which join it near this place. Hence it has sufficient water for large river boats, but about 10 miles below the last-mentioned place are the Shepotan, or rocks with the 18 rapids, which however do not inter rupt the navigation. South of the rapids begins a wide, fertile, and very populous valley, which extends to the town of Nan-shang-foo, the capital of the province Kiangei, which is large, well-built, and contains many edifices as large as palaces. Below this town the country extends in a low and level plain, which is traversed by the different arms into which the Kan-kiang branches out before it enters the lake. In the hills contiguous to the low plain of Lake Poyang, on the east, the best porcelain clay is found, and the china-ware made in the vicinity of lao-tsheou-foo is considered the beet in the empire. There is the village King-te-shing, which is said to have a million of inhabitants and 500 large manufactories of china-ware. It is called shiog (village) because it is not inclosed by walls.
After uniting with the channel which issues from Lake Poyang, the Yang-tee-kiting is always from 2 to 4 miles wide, and contains a great number of islands, most of which are low and formed by alluvium , but a few are rocky and elevated. The country on both sides consists of low hills, composed of sandstone or clay, which terminate ou the river in steep declivities. It is of indifferent fertility, but well culti vated. In a depression of this hilly country, forming a considerable basin, is the town of Ngan-king-foo, or Gan-king-foo, a place of great commerce and manufacturing industry. The hilly country ceases where the river Tshao-ho-kiaug falls into the Yang-tse-kiatig. This river brings down the waters of the large lake Tshao-ho, and a little lower down the Yang-tse-kiang is joined, near the large town of Tai ping-foo, by several small rivers. These, as well as the Tehao-ho-kiang,
are navigable to • considerable extent. Farther down the Yang-tse kiang flows through a rather level country and between high banks, so as not to have a bottom along its bed. This conntry is of consider able fertility, and extends below the town of Nan-king to the vicinity of Tshing-kiang-foo, or the Great Canal.
About 45 miles below Nan-king the Yang-tarkiang is joined on the north by the western branch of the Great Canal, and about 10 miles farther down, at the town of Knadsheon, by the eastern branch. Both branches unite near the town of Yang-tsheou-foo, one of the largest and most commercial towns in China, „whose population is stated to be two millions by the Jesuits. From Yang-teheon-foo the canal runs directly northward along the borders of Lake Kao-yeou to the Mang ho. Opposite the island which is formed by the two above mentioned branches of the Great Canal, north of the Yang•tse-kiang. is the entrance to the southern portion of the Great Canal, at the town of Tehing-kiang-foo. By these two canals the navigation of the Yang tse-kiang is continued over the eastern and northern provinces of China proper.
At the junction of the canals the width of the river is about two miles, but farther down it increases considerably. Juuks of the largest kind find no difficulty in sailing up the river to Toog•taheon-foq a large town on the northern shores of the estuary, and even to Tithing kiang too. Aocording to the maps the month of the river seems to form an opening more than sixty miles wide.
In this opening, but much nearer to the southern shores of the estuary, is the alluvial inland of Tsung-ming, which is traversed by numerous canal', and dikes for the purpose of irrigation. The island is 60 miles long, 15 to 18 miles wide, and has a population of half a million. It is very fertile, and produces abundance of rice, millet, cotton, and vegetables.
The depth of the Yang-tse-kiang, as far up as the tides ascend, that 'el, to Lake Poyang, is very great, and is expressed in the Chinese pro verb. The sea has no boundary, and the Ta-kiang no bottom." Such a depth is not found in any other river, except in the Amazonas, below the Strait of Obydos. The tide of course affects only the surface water of the river, and below it the natural current carries the river water to the sea. This river-water however is pressed to the bottom by the superinaumbent tide-stream, and thus confined it scoops out a much deeper bed than It does in other circumstances where each a pre war. does not exist.
(Da Heide ; Staunton's Britiolt Embassy to China ; Barrow, Trards is China; Ellis, Journal of Lord Amherst's Embassy Co China ; Abel, Narrative of a Journey in China; Klaproth; Ritter.)