CHAPTER IV.

GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF MANCHURIA, MONGOLIA, ÍLÍ, AND TIBET.

The portions of the Chinese Empire beyond the limits of the Eighteen Provinces, though of far greater extent than China Proper, are comparatively of minor importance. Their vast regions are peopled by different races, whose languages are mutually unintelligible, and whose tribes are held together under the Chinese sway rather by interest and reciprocal hostilities or dislike, than by force. European geographers have vaguely termed all that space lying north of Tibet to Siberia, and east of the Tsung ling to the Pacific, _Chinese Tartary_; while the countries west of the Tsung ling or Belur tag, to the Aral Sea, have been collectively called _Independent Tartary_. Both these names have already become nearly obsolete on good maps of those regions; the more accurate knowledge brought home by recent travellers having ascertained that their inhabitants are neither all Tartars (or Mongols) nor Turks, and further that the native names and divisions are preferable to a single comprehensive one. Such names as Manchuria, Mongolia, Songaria, and Turkestan, derived from the leading tribes dwelling in those countries, are more definite, though these are not permanent, owing to the migratory, changeable habits of the people. From their ignorance of scientific geography, the Chinese have no general designations for extensive countries, long chains of mountains, or devious rivers, but apply many names where, if they were better informed, they would be content with one.

The following table presents a general view of these countries, giving their leading divisions and forms of government. They cannot be classed, however, in the same manner as the provinces, nor are the divisions and capitals here given to be regarded as definitely settled. Their united area is 3,951,130 square miles, or a little more than all Europe; their separate areas cannot be precisely given. Manchuria contains about 400,000 square miles; Mongolia between 1,300,000 and 1,500,000 square miles; Ílí about 1,070,000 square miles; and Tibet from 500,000 to 700,000 square miles.

GENERAL VIEW OF THE COLONIES AND THEIR SUBDIVISIONS.

----------+-----------------+--------------------------------------+ COLONIES. | PROVINCES. | DIVISIONS. | ----------+-----------------+--------------------------------------+ |{Shingking |{Two fu departments and 15 districts;}| |{ |{ and 13 garrisons }| |{ | | MANCHURIA.|{ | | |{Kirin |{Three ting departments, or 8 }| |{ |{ garrisoned posts }| |{ | | |{Tsitsihar | Six commanderies | | | | |{Inner Mongolia |{Six corps, subdivided into 24 }| |{ |{ tribes and 49 standards }| |{ | | |{ | | |{Outer Mongolia |{Four khanates, viz.: Tuchétu, }| MONGOLIA. |{ |{ Sainnoin, Tsetsen, and Dsassaktu }| |{ | | |{Koko-nor |{One residency, having 29 standards }| |{ | | |{ |{Cobdo, having 11 tribes and 31 }| |{Uliasutai |{ standards. Ulianghai tribes }| | |{ under 21 tso-ling }| | | | | | | | | | |{Northern Circuit|{Ílí | |{ or Songaria |{Kur-kara usu | |{ |{Tarbagatai | |{ | | ÍLÍ |{ | | |{ |{Ten cities, viz.: Harashar, Kuché, }| |{Southern Circuit|{ Sairim, Bai, Ushi, Aksu, Khoten, }| |{ or Eastern |{ Kashgar, Yangi Hissar, }| |{ Turkestan |{ and Yarkand }| | | | | |{Wei and Kham, divided into }| |{Anterior Tibet |{ eight cantons and 39 feudal }| |{ |{ townships }| TIBET |{ | | |{Ulterior Tibet |{Tsang and Nari, divided into six }| | |{ cantons }| ----------+-----------------+--------------------------------------+

----------+-----------------+-------------------+---------------------- COLONIES. | PROVINCES. | CAPITALS. | FORMS OF GOVERNMENT. ----------+-----------------+-------------------+---------------------- |{Shingking |Mukden or Fungtien |{Manchuria is ruled by |{ | |{ military boards, and |{ | |{ generals at the MANCHURIA.|{ | |{ garrisons. |{Kirin |Kirin ula hotun |{Under three generals |{ | |{ at the prefectures. |{ | | |{Tsitsihar |Tsitsihar hotun | Under six generals. | | | |{Inner Mongolia |No common capital |{Each tribe has its own |{ | |{ chieftain or general, |{ | |{ and is governed by the |{ | |{ Lí-fan Yuen in Peking. |{Outer Mongolia |Urga or Kurun | Four khans under the MONGOLIA. |{ | | Kutuktu. |{ | | |{Koko-nor |Síning in Kansuh | Under a Manchu residency. |{ | | |{ | | |{Uliasutai |Uliasutai | By an amban over the | | | chieftains. | | | | | |{Ruled by a military | | |{ governor, 2 councillors, |{Northern Circuit|Kuldja |{ and 34 residents in the |{ or Songaria |Kur-kara usu |{ cities. |{ |Sui-tsing ching |{Under residents subordinate |{ | |{ to the governor. ÍLÍ |{ | | |{Southern Circuit|Yarkand |{Each city under a resident |{ or Eastern | |{ amenable to the governor |{ Turkestan | |{ at Ílí, and native begs. | | | | | | |{Anterior Tibet |H’lassa |{Ruled by the Dalai-lama and |{ | |{ his hierarchy, overseen |{ | |{ by Chinese residents. TIBET |{ | | |{Ulterior Tibet |Shigatsé |{Ruled by the Teshu-lama, | | |{ assisted by a resident | | |{ from Peking. ----------+-----------------+-------------------+----------------------

~EXTENT OF MANCHURIA.~

_Manchuria_ is so termed from the leading race who dwell there, the _Mandjurs_ or _Manchus_; it is a word of foreign origin, the Chinese having no general appellation for the vice-royalty ruled from Mukden. It comprises the eastern portion of the high table land of Central Asia, and lies between latitudes 39° and 52° N., and longitudes 120° to 134° E. These points include the limits in both directions, giving the region a rectangular shape lying in a north-east and south-west direction; roughly speaking, its dimensions are 800 by 500 miles. It is bounded on the south by the Gulf of Pechele, and the highlands of Corea on the north bank of the Yaluh River; on the east by a line running from the Russian town of Possiet northerly to the River Usuri, so as to include Hinka Lake; thence from its headwaters to its junction with the Amur. This river forms the northern frontier; its tributary, the River Argun, together with the large lakes Hurun and Puyur, lie on the west; from the latter lake an artificial line stretching nearly due east for six degrees in lat. 47° strikes the town of Tsitsihar on the River Nonni. The rest of the western border follows the rivers Nonni and Songari to the Palisade. This obsolete boundary commences at Shan-hai kwan on the Gulf of Liatung and runs north-easterly; it nominally separates the Mongols from the Manchus for nearly 300 miles, and really exists only at the passes where the roads are guarded by military.

But a portion of this region has yet been traversed by Europeans, and most of it is a wilderness. The entire population is not stated in the census of 1812, and from the nature of the country and wandering habits of the people, many tribes of whom render no allegiance to the Emperor, it would be impossible to take a regular census. Parts of Manchuria, as here defined, have been known under many names at different periods. _Liautung_ (‘East of the River Liau’) has been applied to the country between that river, Corea, and the Sea of Japan; _Tungking_ (‘Eastern Capital’) referred to the chief town of that region, under the Ming dynasty; and _Kwantung_ (‘East of the Pass’), denoting the same country, is still a common designation for the whole territory.

Manchuria is now chiefly comprised in the valleys between the Usuri and Nonni Rivers, up to the Amur on the north, while the basin of the Liau on the south embraces the rest. There are three principal mountain chains. Beginning nearly a hundred miles east of Mukden, in lat. 43°, are the Long White Mountains[95] (_Chang-peh shan_ of the Chinese, or _Kolmin-shang-uin alin_ of the Manchus), which form the watershed between the Songari and Yaluh Rivers and serve for the northern frontier of Corea as far as Russian territory. There it divides and takes the name of Sih-hih-teh, or Sihoti Mountains, for the eastern spur which runs near the ocean, east of the River Usuri; and the name of Hurkar Mountains for the western and lower spurs between that river and the Hurkar. One noted peak, called Mount Chakoran, rising over 10,000 feet, lies south-east of San-săng on the Amur. On the plain, north of Kirin, numerous buttes occur, sometimes isolated, and often in lines fifteen or twenty miles apart; most of them are wooded.

In the western part of Tsitsihar lies the third great range of mountains in Manchuria, called the Sialkoi Mountains, a continuation of the Inner Hing-an range of Mongolia, and separating the Argun and Nonni basins. The Sialkoi range extends over a great part of Mongolia, commencing near the bend of the Yellow River, and reaching in a north-easterly direction, it forms in Manchuria three sides of the extensive valley of the Nonni, ending between the Amur and Songari Rivers at their junction. These regions are more arid than the eastern portions, and the mountains are rather lower; but our information is vague and scanty. As a whole, Manchuria should be called hilly rather than mountainous, its intervales alone repaying cultivation.

~THE AMUR AND ITS AFFLUENTS.~

The country north of the Chang-peh shan as far as the Stanovoi Mountains is drained by one river, viz., the Sagalien, Amur, Kwăntung, or Hehlung kiang (for it is known by all these names), and its affluents; _Sagalien ula_ in Manchu and _Hehlung kiang_ in Chinese, each mean ‘Black’ or ‘Black Dragon River.’ The Amur drains the north-eastern slope of Central Asia by a circuitous course, aided by many large tributaries. Its source is in lat. 50° N. and long. 111° E., in a spur of the Daourian Mountains, called Kenteh, where it is called the Onon. After an east and north-east course of nearly five hundred miles, the Onon is joined in long. 115° E. by the Ingoda, a stream coming from the east of Lake Baikal, where it takes its rise by a peak called Tshokondo, the highest of the Yablonsi Khrebet Mountains. Beyond this junction, under the Russian name of Shilka, it flows about two hundred and sixty miles north-east till it meets the Argun. The Argun rises about three degrees south of the Onon, on the south side of the Kenteh, and under the name of Kerlon runs a solitary north-east course for four hundred and thirty miles to Lake Hurun, Kerlon, or Dalai-nur; the Kalka here comes in from Lake Puyur or Pir, and their waters leave Lake Hurun at Ust-Strelotchnoi (the Arrow’s Mouth) under the name of the Argun, flowing north nearly four hundred miles to the union with the Shilka in lat. 53°; from its exit as the Argun and onward to the entrance of the Usuri, it forms the boundary between China and Russia for 1,593 versts, or 1,062 miles.

Beyond this town the united stream takes the name of the Amur (_i.e._, Great River) or Sagalien of the Manchus, running nearly east about 550 miles beyond Albazin, when its course is south-east till it joins the Songari. Most of the affluents are on the north bank; the main channel grows wider as its size increases, having so many islands and banks as seriously to interfere with navigation. The valley thus watered possesses great natural advantages in soil, climate, and productions, which are now gradually attracting Russian settlers. In lat. 47-1/2° the Songari River (_Sung-hwa kiang_ of the Chinese) unites with the Amur on the right bank, 950 miles from Ust-Strelotchnoi, bringing the drainings of the greater portion of Manchuria, and doubling the main volume of water. The headwaters of this stream issue from the northern slopes of the Chang-peh shan; quickly combined in a single channel, these waters flow past the town of Kirin, scarcely a hundred miles from the mountains, in a river twelve feet deep and 900 wide. Near Petuné the River Nonni joins it from Tsitsihar, and their united stream takes the Chinese name of Kwantung (‘Mingled Union’); it is a mile and a half wide here and only three or four feet deep, a sluggish river full of islands. Then going east by north, growing deeper by its affluents, the Hurka, Mayen, Tunni, Hulan, and other smaller ones, it unites with the Amur at Changchu, a hundred miles west from the Usuri. All accounts agree in giving the Songari the superiority. At Sansing, it is a deep and rapid river, but further down islands and banks interfere with the navigation. The Hurka drains the original country of the Manchus.[96]

The district south-east of the desert, and north of the Great Wall, is drained and fertilized by the Sira-muren, or Liau River, which is nearly valueless for navigation. Its main and western branch divides near the Ín shan Mountains into the Hwang ho and Lahar; the former rises near the Pecha peak, a noted point in those mountains. The Sira-muren runs through a dry region for nearly 400 miles before it turns south, and in a zigzag channel reaches the Gulf of Liautung, a powerful stream carrying its quota of deposit into the ocean; the width at Yingtsz’ is 650 feet. The depth is 16 feet on the bar at high tide. The Yaluh kiang, nearly three hundred miles long, runs in a very crooked channel along the northern frontiers of Corea. But little is known about the two lakes, Hurun and Pir, except that their waters are fresh and full of fish; the River Urshun unites them, and several smaller streams run into the latter.

~NATURAL RESOURCES OF MANCHURIA.~

The larger part of Manchuria is covered by forests, the abode of wild animals, whose capture affords employment, clothing, and food to their hunters. The rivers and coasts abound in fish; among which carp, sturgeon, salmon, pike, and other species, as well as shell-fish, are plenty; the pearl-fishery is sufficiently remunerative to employ many fishermen; the Chinese Government used to take cognizance of their success, and collect a revenue in kind. The argali and jiggetai are found here as well as in Mongolia; bears, wolves, tigers, deer, and numerous fur-bearing animals are hunted for their skins. The troops are required to furnish 2,400 stags annually to the Emperor, who reserves for his own use only the fleshy part of the tail as a delicacy. Larks, pheasants, and crows of various species, with pigeons, thrushes, and grouse, abound. The condor is the largest bird of prey, and for its size and fierceness rivals its congener of the Andes.

The greater half of Shingking and the south of Kirin is cultivated; maize, Setaria wheat, barley, pulse, millet, and buckwheat are the principal crops. Ginseng and rhubarb are collected by troops sent out in detachments under the charge of their proper officers. These sections support, moreover, large herds of various domestic animals. The timber which covers the mountains will prove a source of wealth as soon as a remunerative market stimulates the skill and enterprise of settlers; even now, logs over three feet in diameter find their way up to Peking, brought from the Liau valley.

~THE PROVINCE OF SHINGKING.~

Manchuria is divided into three provinces, _Shingking_, _Kirin_, and _Tsitsihar_. The province of SHINGKING includes the ancient Liautung, and is bounded north by Mongolia; north-east and east by Kirin; south by the Gulf of Liautung and Corea, from which latter it is separated by the Yaluh River; and west by Chahar in Chihlí. It contains two departments, viz., Fungtien and Kinchau, subdivided into fifteen districts; there are also twelve garrisoned posts at the twelve gates in the Palisade, whose inmates collect a small tax on travellers and goods. Manchuria is under a strictly military government, every male above eighteen being liable for military service, and being, in fact, enrolled under that one of the eight standards to which by birth he belongs. The administration of Shingking is partly civil and partly military; that of Kirin and Tsitsihar is entirely military.

The population of the province has been estimated by T. T. Meadows[97] at twelve millions, consisting of Manchus and Chinese. The coast districts are now mostly occupied and cultivated by emigrants from Shantung, who are pushing the Manchus toward the Amur, or compelling them to leave their hunting and take to farming if they wish to stay where they were born. The conquerors are being civilized and developed by their subjects, losing the use of their own meagre language, and becoming more comfortable as they learn to be industrious. But few aboriginal settlements now remain who still resist these influences. The inhabitants collect near the river, or along the great roads, where food or a market are easiest found.

The capital of Shingking is usually known on the spot as Shin-yang, an older name than the Manchu Mukden, or the Chinese name Fungtien. As the metropolis of Manchuria, it is also known as Shingking (the ‘Affluent Capital’), distinguished from the name of the province by the addition of _pun-ching_, or ‘head-garrison.’ It lies in lat. 41° 50-1/2′ N. and long. 123° 30′ E., on the banks of the Shin, a small branch of the Liau, and is reckoned to be five hundred miles north-east from Peking. The town is surrounded by a low mud wall about ten miles in circuit, at least half a mile distant from the main city wall, whose eight gates have double archways so that the crowd may not interfere in passing; this wall is about three miles around, and its towers and bastions are in good condition. It is 35 or 40 feet high, and 15 feet wide at the top, of brick throughout; a crenulated parapet protects the guard. But for its smaller scale, the walls and buildings here are precisely similar to those at Peking. The streets are wide, clean, and the main business avenues lined with large, well built shops, their counters, windows, and other arrangements indicating a great trade. This capital contains a large proportion of governmental establishments, _yamuns_, and nearly all the officials belong to the ruling race. Main streets run across the city from gate to gate, with narrow roads or _hu-tung_ intersecting them. The palace of the early Manchu sovereigns occupies the centre; while the large warehouses are outside of the inner city. Everywhere marks of prosperity and security indicate an enterprising population, and for its tidy look, industrious and courteous population, Mukden takes high rank among Chinese cities. Its population is estimated to be under 200,000, mostly Chinese. The Manchu monarchs made it the seat of their government in 1631, and the Emperors have since done everything in their power to enlarge and beautify it. The Emperor Kienlung rendered himself celebrated among his subjects, and made the city of Mukden better known abroad, by a poetical eulogy upon the city and province, which was printed in sixty-four different forms of Chinese writing. This curious piece of imperial vanity and literary effort was translated into French by Amyot.

The town of Hingking,[98] sixty miles east of it, is one of the favored places in Shingking, from its being the family residence of the Manchu monarchs, and the burial-ground of their ancestors. It is pleasantly situated in an elevated valley, the tombs being three miles north of it upon a mountain called _Tsz’yun shan_. The circuit of the walls is about three miles. Hingking lies near the Palisade which separates the province from Kirin, and its officers have the rule over the surrounding country, and the entrances into that province. It has now dwindled to a small hamlet, and the guards connected with the tombs comprise most of the inhabitants.

Kinchau, fifteen leagues from Mukden, carries on considerable trade in cattle, pulse, and drugs. Gutzlaff[99] describes the harbor as shallow, and exposed to southern gales; the houses in the town are built of stone, the environs well cultivated and settled by Chinese from Shantung, while natives of Fuhkien conduct the trade. The Manchus lead an idle life, but keep on good terms with the Chinese. When he was there in 1832, the authorities had ordered all the females to seclude themselves in order to put a stop to debauchery among the native sailors. Horses and camels are numerous and cheap, but the carriages are clumsy. Kaichau, another port lying on the east side of the gulf, possesses a better harbor, but is not so much frequented.

~TRADE AND CLIMATE OF MANCHURIA.~

Since the treaty of 1858 opened the port of Niuchwang or Yingtsz’, on the River Liau, to foreign trade, the development of Shingking has rapidly increased. The trade in pulse and bean-cake and oil employs many vessels annually. Opium, silk, and paper are prepared for export through this mart, besides foreign goods. Fung-hwang ting, lying near the Yaluh River, commands all the trade with Corea, which must pass through it. There are many restrictions upon this intercourse by both governments, and the Chinese forbid their subjects passing the frontiers. The trade is conducted at fairs, under the supervision of officers and soldiers; the short time allowed for concluding the bargains, and the great numbers resorting to them, render these bazaars more like the frays of opposing clans than the scenes of peaceable trade. There is a market-town in Corea itself, called Kí-iu wăn, about four leagues from the frontier, where the Chinese “supply the Coreans with dogs, cats, pipes, leather, stags’ horns, copper, horses, mules, and asses; and receive in exchange, baskets, kitchen utensils, rice, corn, swine, paper, mats, oxen, furs, and small horses.” Merchants are allowed not more than four or five hours in which to conduct this fair, and the Corean officers under whose charge it is placed, drive all strangers back to the frontier as soon as the day closes.[100]

The borders of the sea consist of alluvial soil, efflorescing a nitrous white salt near the beach, but very fertile inland, well cultivated and populous. Beyond, the hill-country is extremely picturesque. Ever-changing views, torrents and fountains, varied and abounding vegetation, flocks of black cattle grazing on the hillsides, goats perched on the overhanging crags, horses, asses, and sheep lower down in the intervales, numerous well-built hamlets, everywhere enliven the scene. The department of Kinchau lies along the Gulf of Liautung, between the Palisade and the sea, and contains four small district towns, with forts, around whose garrisons of agricultural troops have collected a few settlers. On the south, toward Chihlí and the Wall, the country is better cultivated.

The climate of Manchuria, as a whole, is healthy and moderate, far removed from the rigor of the plateau on its west, and not so moist as the outlying islands on the east. In summer the ranges are 70° to 90° F., thence down to 10° or 20° below zero. The rivers remain frozen from December nearly to April, and the fall of snow is less than in Eastern America. The seasons are really six weeks of spring, five months of summer, six weeks of autumn and four months of winter; the last is in some respects the enjoyable period, and is used by the farmers to bring produce to market. If the houses were tighter, their inmates would suffer little during the cold season. Huc speaks of hail storms which killed flocks of sheep in Mongolia, near Chahar. Darwin (_Nat