The _Hwang ho_, or ‘Yellow River,’ rises in the plain of Odontala, called in Chinese _Sing-suh hai_, or ‘Starry Sea,’ from the numerous springs or lakelets found there between the Shuga and Bayan-kara Mountains, in lat. 35-1/3°, and about long. 96° E., and not a hundred miles from the Yangtsz’. The Chinese popularly believe that the Yellow River runs underground from Lob-nor to Sing-suh hai. In this region are two lakes--the Dzaring and Oling, which are its fountains; and its course is very crooked after it leaves them. It turns first south 30 miles, then east 160, then nearly west about 120, winding through gorges of the Kwănlun; the river then flows north-east and east to Lanchau in Kansuh, having gone about 700 miles in its devious line. From Lanchau it turns northward along the Great Wall for 430 miles, till deflected eastward by the Ín shan, on the edge of the plateau, and incloses the country of the Ortous Mongols within this great bend. A spur of the Peh ling forces it south, about long. 110° E., between Shansí and Shensí, for some 500 miles, till it enters the Great Plain, having run 1,130 miles from Lanchau. Through this loess region it becomes tinged with the soil which imparts both color and name to it. At the northern bend it separates in several small lakes and branches, and during this part of its course, for more than 500 miles, receives not a single stream of any size, while it is still so rapid, in descending from the plateau, as to demand much care when crossing it by boats. At the south-western corner of Shansí this river meets its largest tributary, the Wei, which comes in from the westward after a course of 400 miles, and is more available as a navigable stream than any other of the affluents. The area of the whole basin is less than that of the Yangtsz’, and may be estimated at about 475,000 square miles; though the source of this stream is only 1,290 miles in a direct line from its mouth, its numerous windings prolong its course to nearly double that distance.