Yalu, the most important river of the province is the Ta-tong or Ping-an, which discharges a great volume of fresh water annually into the sea. A number of large towns and cities are situated on or near its banks, and the high road follows the course of the river. It is the Rubicon of Chō-sen history, and at various epochs in ancient times was the boundary river of China, or of the rival states within the peninsula. About fifty miles from its mouth is the city of Ping-an, the metropolis of the province, and the royal seat of authority, from before the Christian era, to the tenth century. Its situation renders it a natural stronghold. It has been many times besieged by Chinese and Japanese armies, and near it many battles have been fought. “The General Sherman affair,” in 1866, in which the crew of the American schooner were murdered—which occasioned the sending of the United States naval expedition in 1871—took place in front of the city of Ping-an, Commander J. C. Febiger, in the U. S. S. Shenandoah, visited the mouths of the river in 1869, and while vainly waiting for the arrest of the murderers, surveyed the inlet, to which he gave the name of “Shenandoah.” By official enumeration, Ping-an contains 293,400 houses, and the muster-rolls give 174,538 as the number of men capable of military duty. The governor resides at Ping-an. There is considerable diversity of character between the inhabitants of the eight provinces. Those of the two most northern, particularly of Ping-an, are more violent in temper than the other provincials. Very few nobles or official dignitaries live among them, hence very few of the refinements of the capital are to be found there. They are not overloyal to the reigning dynasty, and are believed to cherish enmity against it. The government keeps vigilant watch over them, repressing the first show of insubordination, lest an insurrection difficult to quell should once gain headway. It is from these provinces that most of the refugees into Russian territory come. It was among these men that the “General Sherman affair” took place, and it is highly probable that even if the regent were really desirous of examining into the outrage, he was afraid to do so, when the strong public sentiment was wholly on the side of the murderers of the Sherman’s crew. THE YELLOW-SEA PROVINCE.