Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 2.djvu/36

name. Every one that has read anything about China is acquainted with the Yellow River,—"China's Sorrow," as it has been well termed,—for, owing to the unscientific creation of restraining dykes along its lower reaches, the natural levels have been disturbed, and not only has the river been constrained to excavate for itself new channels, entering the sea now on the south, now on the north, of the promontory of Shantung, but also its waters frequently burst out and distribute themselves over vast areas of country, carrying devastation and destruction far and wide. The loss of thousands of lives and millions of dollars may be attributed, every year, directly or indirectly, to floods caused by this most mischievous river. It long ago escaped the control of a nation which nevertheless produced engineers capable of building the Great Wall and planning the Grand Canal. Only the upper reaches of the Yellow River are sufficiently navigable to be useful for trading purposes. It there offers a much employed route for salt junks and for boats that carry iron and other metals from the mines of Shansi. But so soon as it enters the lowlands (near Honan city) it ceases to be serviceable for navigation, and becomes mainly remarkable for the devastation its periodical floods produce, and for the great sums of money fruitlessly squandered by the Chinese Government every year on attempts to control its overflow.

The Yangtse is a greater river than the Hwangho, having a length of some 1,900 miles from