The river of Cambodja has the longest course of any in the peninsula: it is supposed to be the Lantsan-Kiang, which rises in the high land of K’ham, in eastern Asia, not far from the sources of the great Chinese river, the Yang-tse-Kiang. After transversing the elevated plain of Yun-nan, where it is navigable, it rushes through the mountain barriers, and, on reaching a wider valley about 300 miles from its mouth, it is joined to the Menam by the natural canal of the Anan-Myit. More to the south it is said to split into branches which unite again. The ancient capital of Annam is situate on the Cambodja, about 150 miles from the sea; a little to the south its extensive delta begins, projects far into the ocean, and is cut in all directions by arms of the river, navigable during the floods; three of its mouths are permanently so for large vessels up to the capital. The Saüng, more to the east, is much shorter than the Cambodja, though said to be 1000 miles long, but Europeans have not ascended higher than the town of Sai-gon. Near its mouth it sends off several branches to the eastern arm of the Cambodja. All rivers of this part of Asia are subject to periodical inundations, which fertilize the plains at the expense of the mountains. The parallelism of the mountain-chains constitutes formidable barriers between the upper basins of the Indo-Chinese rivers, and decided lines of separation between the inhabitants of the intervening valleys; but this inconvenience is in some degree compensated by the natural canals of junction and the extensive water communication towards the mouths of the rivers. Four great systems of rivers take their origin on the eastern declivity of the great table-land of central Asia, and running from west to east, traverse the Chinese empire:—the Hong-Kiang, which, rising in the province of Yun-nan, empties itself into the bay of Canton; the Yang-tse-Kiang, or Son of the Ocean; the Hoang-Ho; and the great river of Amur. The length of the Hoang-Ho is 2000 miles, that of the Yang-tse-Kiang 2900. Though near their sources they are widely separated by the mountain-chains that border the table-land, they approach as they proceed on their eastern course, and are not more than 100 miles apart when they enter the Yellow Sea. From a map constructed by the Jesuit missionaries in the 18th century, it appears that the mouth of the Hoang-Ho or Yellow River has shifted to the enormous distance of 126 leagues from its former position. The Yang-tse-Kiang and the Yellow River, in the lower part of their course, are united by innumerable canals, forming the grandest system of irrigation and of internal navigation in existence. The Hoang-Ho brings down so large a quantity of earthy matter to the sea, that, like the Tiber of old, it is called the “Yellow” River.