Shensy, bordering on Thibet, has been enlarged and divided into two, of which the westernmost is called Kân-so. Both this country and the adjoining province of Shansy, towards Peking, abound in symptoms of volcanic action, as the connection of salt-water lakes and springs, with jets of inflammable gas and hot-wells. These may be traced towards the south-west, through Szechuen and Yun-nân, to the Burmese country, where they also occur in abundance, and are seemingly a continuation of those volcanic traces which extend up through the Malay peninsula from Sumatra and Java, both which islands contain numerous volcanoes in full action. In Shensy, near the city of Yen-gân-foo, there distils from some rocks an inflammable substance, which the Chinese burn in lamps, and call She-yew, or stone oil, being probably, what its name imports, a kind of petroleum.

Although not precisely included in our plan, which is confined to China Proper, it may not be amiss to take some notice of the countries immediately contiguous. The region of Manchow Tartary, formerly the territory of the Kin, whence the present rulers of China proceeded, has been generally described as consisting of three provinces. Mougden, or Shingking, the birth-place of the reigning family, commences just at the eastern extremity of the Great wall, and is bounded on the south by the gulf of Pechele. Here it is that the Emperors are buried, and their family mausoleum established. The country is surrounded on the north-west and north-east by a stockade of timber, about eight feet in height, which has been incorrectly inserted in some European maps as a continuation of the Great wall. At Mougden is erected a sort of epitome of the Imperial Government of Peking, with various tribunals for the regulation of all parts of Tartary immediately dependent on the Emperor, whose subjects in this part

are called Bogdois by the Russians. To the eastward of Mougden, and bordering Corea on the north, is the second province of Manchow Tartary, called Kirin: it is here that the famous wild plant ginseng, to which the Chinese attribute wonderful properties, is gathered as an exclusive monopoly of the Emperor. Not long since, however, the same plant was brought to Canton by the Americans, having been discovered in their northern states, in a climate and situation very similar to that of Eastern Tartary. The missionaries, who constructed the map for the Emperor, were at a loss to explain the extremes of heat and cold prevailing in these regions;-" why countries which lie near the 40th degree of latitude should differ so much from ours (in Europe), in respect to the seasons, and the productions of nature, as not to bear comparison even with our most northern provinces. The cold begins much sooner in these parts than at Paris, notwithstanding the latitude of that city is almost 50°." A small English vessel, which went up to the gulf of Pechele in the winter of 1832, was nearly frozen up there; and yet, during the month of August, in 1816, we observed that the fishermen on the coast went stark naked, on account of the excessive heat, and their skins were burned almost black by the sun. Nothing can prove more strongly that the climates of places are not influenced by their latitude merely. The third province of Manchow Tartary, of which the inhabitants are the Tagours, bordering on the Russian territory, is that of Heloongkeang, or "the river of the Black Dragon," otherwise called the Saghalien, or river Amûr.

The Western or Mongol Tartars, commencing from the Great wall, extend as a distinct race even to the borders of the Caspian. They are distinguished by their nomadic habits, dwelling in tents, driving their flocks to pasture from place to place, and accoutred

with the bow for sport or war. Of those dependent on China, but governed through the medium of their own Princes, or Khans, the most considerable are the Kalkas, lying to the north of the Shamo, or sandy desert called Cobi*. They are all Budhists, and the wandering priests of that persuasion are styled Shamans, in Chinese written Sha-mun. The Ortous are confined between a bend of the Yellow river and the Great wall, which in this part is a mere earthen mound, about fifteen feet high. The principal seat of Chinese rule in Mongol Tartary is at Ee-ly, a place to which criminals from China (sometimes Hong merchants from Canton) are occasionally exiled they are generally condemned to military service, and in some cases become slaves to Tartars. It is likely, however, that money serves to mitigate their treatment, for a former linguist of Canton, banished thither for conveying presents to Peking from the chief of the English factory to a minister of state, returned, after a banishment of fifteen years, in very good case, and by no means dissatisfied with his residence.

Gerbillon, in the account of his expedition in 1688, gives a miserable history of the Mongol and Kalka Tartars. Entirely devoted to their Lamas, whom even the Emperor of China honours, on ac count of their influence over the various tribes, the Mongols live in tents of coarse felt, eat nothing but flesh half raw, and exchange their sheep and cattle for a few of the necessaries of life, having no value for money. Timkowski states that the usual medium of exchange is tea, made up into the shape of bricks. As late as the reign of Kanghy, the Chief of the Kalka Tartars styled himself Emperor, but becoming

*In the Shamo desert, no water is to be had except in pits dug in the sand, and that of the worst quality. The surface is strewed with the bodies of animals, victims to thirst.

tributary to China, in return for protection against the Eleuths, he submitted to the rank of Wâng, or King. At the time, however, when Gerbillon visited Tartary, the brother of the Kalka Khan told Kâng-hy's envoys, that he expected to be treated as the son of an emperor, and was so treated accordingly. The most westerly of the Mongol Tartars are the Calmucs, or Eleuths, stretching towards the Caspian. They waged war with Kâng-hy, in 1696, but were defeated; and these victories of the Emperor's army were, as we have before stated, painted by the Jesuits, and engraved in France.

On the western side of China, bordering principally on Seehuen province, are the Sy-fân, or Toofan, who, according to the Chinese, call their country Too-pě-tě (Thibet), and, like the other Tartar races, are worshippers of Budh, or Fo, and under the dominion of Lama priests. Their inaccessible mountainous retreats make them pretty independent of Chinese control, though they are counted among the subjects of the Emperor. They appear to have made some show in Chinese history, previous to the dynasty of Yuen, or that of the Mongol Tartars, and their Princes even compelled the Sovereigns of China to yield them their daughters in marriage; but the arms of Zenghis Khan involved them in the common subjugation, and they have since remained very quiet within their hilly country, contented with the exercise of their superstitions. There is a Chinese resident at Lassa, the capital of Thibet, the high road to which from Peking lies through Sy-ning, in Kân-so province.

To the south, bordering on the western part of Yunnân province, are the Lolos, the original inhabitants of a portion of Yunnan, and very similar in habits, religious observances, and language, to the Burmese, or people of Ava. The Chinese exercise but a doubt

ful control over them, for though the Emperor is said to confer titles on their principal rulers, they appear to be entirely subject to their native chiefs in all matters of consequence. On the outskirts of the empire, towards the west, are a number of towns or stations called Too-sse, or 66 native jurisdictions," where the aborigines are more or less independent, and where there is, in fact, a kind of divided authority, each party being immediately subject to its own chiefs. This is particularly true of the Lolos.

The Chinese affect to consider all countries tributary that have once sent an ambassador; but those which really have been so, and whose tribute is periodically forwarded to Peking, are Corea, Cochinchina, Lewkew (or Loo-choo), and Siam. Corea (called Chaousien by the Chinese) is said to have become a kingdom about 100 years before our era. it is entirely ruled by its own Sovereigns, but the investiture of a new King is obtained from the Emperor of China, who, whenever there is a vacancy, deputes two officers to confer on the next in succession the title of Kuo-wâng. To prevent contests after his death, the reigning King sometimes names his heir, and applies to the Emperor to confirm him. The Coreans use the Chinese character, but have a syllabic alphabet of their own. The coasts of

Corea are very far from being correctly laid down in the maps, nor is it surprising that the ships of the embassy in 1816 should have found them so erroneously represented; for P. Regis states that no European had ever entered the country, and that the only authority for the missionaries' map of Corea was a native map, brought back to Peking by a Chinese envoy, and adopted for want of a better. He expressly says "There should be some farther observations on the south and east sides, which would complete the account of Corea as a part of the general geography