[19] Klaproth, _Mémoires_, Tome III., p. 312 _sqq._ De Guignes’ _Voyages à Peking_, Tome II., p. 195. Davis’s _Sketches_, Vol. I., _passim_. [20] _Voyages à Peking_, Vol. II., p. 214. Compare the letter of a Jesuit missionary (_Annales de la Foi_, Tome VII., p. 377), who describes houses of rest on the wayside. These singular road-gullies of the loess region have been very thoroughly examined by Baron von Richthofen, from whose work the cut above is taken. [21] _Penny Cyclopædia_, Vol. XXVII., p. 656. [22] _Chinese Repository_, Vol. XIV., p. 105. _Shanghai Journal_, No. III., 1859. _Journal of Indian Archipelago_, 1852. _Missionary Recorder_, Vol. III., pp. 33, 62, 149, etc. T. T. Cooper, _Travels of a Pioneer of Commerce_, passim. [23] For observations on the Chinese as compared with other nations, see Schlegel’s _Philosophy of History_, p. 118, Bohn’s edition. CHAPTER II. GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE EASTERN PROVINCES. The provinces of China Proper are politically subdivided in a scientific manner, but in the regions beyond them, these divisions are considerably modified. Manchuria is regarded as belonging to the reigning family, somewhat as Hanover once pertained to the kings of England, and its scanty population is ruled by a simple military organization, the higher officials being appointed by his majesty himself. The khans of the Mongols in Mongolia and Ílí, the Mohammedan begs in Turkestan, and the lamas in Tibet, are assisted in their rule by Chinese residents and generals who direct and uphold the government.