The country between this city and the sea, a distance of about 150 miles, is as level as a floor; the sea is receding all the time or the land rising. There is a temple in this city called the Hai Song Miao. The sea is said to have covered the ground where it stands in the 'T'ang Dynasty.
A Natural Fertiliser.
An interesting thing through the East country is to sce the people digging a natural fertilizer from the ground. The soil for a depth ranging from to 3 to 8 feet is sandy, as is all the soil lying along the old Yellow River. Below this top soil there is a clearly marked stratum of bluish black clay, about 24 feet thick, which bleaches considerably on continued exposure to the airand sun.—This layer is dug up and is spread over the soil to a depth of 4 or 5 inches. It is as good a fertilizer as ma-unre, though more of it has to be used, is much cheaper, is free from all trash and seeds, and the supply seems almost inexhaustible. I found in it disintegrating sea shells. It is evidently the remains of the vegetable growths, shells, ete., of the swamp lands left by the receding sea. The sea coast now is covered with just such cramps. Being near the sea the Yellow River was evidently allowed a wide range, and gradually covered this sea weed and mud over with its own sand deposit, and after hundreds of years it has become converted into good fertilising material. The chemist of the expedition brought some of the clay homo to analyse it. I have not yet heard the result.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.