poetic muse.—The Tae-hoo, though it is also connected with the Yang-tsze-keang, does not, like the two preceding lakes, discharge its waters into that river; on the contrary, it seems probable that the lake is chiefly supplied by the river, in its approach towards the sea. It is situated in the beautiful and well-watered plain which lies between the cities of Soo-chow-Foo in Keangsoo and Hang-chow-Foo in Chekeang,—a district considered by the Chinese as a perfect terrestrial paradise. The borders of the lake are skirted by very romantic scenery of hill and dale, and the broad expanse of water is broken by several hilly islets.—The Hung-tsih-hoo, in Keangsoo, is greatly inferior in beauty of scenery to the other lakes. It receives the waters of the Hwae river before entering the Hwang-ho; and is closely connected with so many lakes of smaller size, as to render the surrounding country the most marshy district in the Empire. The situation is near the junction of the Grand Canal and Yellow river, a place of considerable importance, owing both to its being a great thoroughfare, and to the large quantities of salt that arc obtained from the neighbouring marshes.—Besides these four principal lakes, there are also several large lakes in Chihle, Shantung, and Ganhwuy; and one or two of considerable extent in Yunnan.
Mountains. China is generally speaking a mountainous country. The only very flat Provinces are Chihle, Keangsoo, and part of Ganhwuy. Chihle is low and sandy; Keangsoo is almost an entire plain, intersected in every direction by rivers, lakes and canals; and Ganhwuy has but few mountains. The province of Keangse is adorned with many beautiful vallies. In China there are two principal chains of mountains, one in the S. E., the other in the N. W.—The south-eastern range extends in broken chains over the provinces of Yunnan and Kweichow: thence it stretches eastward, separating the provinces of Kwangse and Kwangtung (or Canton), on the south, from those of Keangse and Hoonan, on the north. From Kwangtung the chain takes a north-east direction, through Fuhkeen and part of Chekeang, in the latter of which it terminates.[1] This range is difficult of access; and frequently surrounds elevated and comparatively level tracts of land, occupied from time immemorial, by an uncivilized but independant race of men, known under the general name of Meaoutsze. These people have their chief seats between Kwangse and Kweichow. Some are scattered over those two provinces, as well as over Yunnan and
- ↑ Malte-Brun, whose variety of collected matter respecting China we have found very useful, though blended also with a large portion of error, says that this chain is called the Mangian from Mangi the name of southern China. The words here meant, we suppose to be Man-e, southern barbarians, a term which might have been still sometimes used by the proud Mongols, in the time of Marco Polo (who first spoke of the Manji); but which has been long since disused in this country, and applied only to the inhabitants of the Indian archipelago.
