Comprehensive Book on the Yellow River Dr, Gunter Koehler, of Dresden, accomplished an almost—unwalled feat in geographical survey by bringing out the most reliable and up-to-date account of ithe Yellow "River, together with] maps, without ever having himself been in a thousand miles of this famous mother booklet, published by Julius thes, of Gotha, is a fit lasting tribute' to the work of earlier explorers of th sources of the Hwang-Ho, especially as their jonies and dispatches have been made the basis of Dr. Keehler's How great was the task which) confrenced the Dresden geographer ican be surmised from his. statement that his bibliography on the Yellow River now comprises 422 works, written in more than half a dozen' modern languages, and the first reliable accounts, in his possession of this exceeding eccentric river date from the second century! when Tuan Ying made his powerful advance into the Hwango-Ho territory that lay beyond the Chinese]
Dr. Koehler devotes the first part of is book to the full story of the gradual unveiling of the secrets of the sources of the Yellow River.
Despite thi sweeping advance Tuan Ying's forces, it was left for the expedition of Tu-shih in the year 1280, to discover the upper Yeaches, and fow Marco Polo, at the end of the thirteenth century to bring back word of this discovery to Europe. In 1624, European Jesuit, Antonio Andrad coming from Ind discovered the Kuku-nor region, ist in 1663, [Grueber and Dorville, made the Journey from Hsining-fu to Lhasa, In 1696, and again in the follo ays Dr. Koehler, Father companied the Emperor to Ordos and made a crossing of the Safran River. was the era of great expedition undertaken by Catholic priests, an era which lasted until the middle of the last century, when Hue and Godet journeyed across the Ordos} region in 1844-46.
Twenty years later Freiherr von Richthofen began the first of a long series of scientific explorations.
He was followed in point of time by Colonel N. N. Prshewalski who got through' to North East Tibet and who in 1884- 85, that is, 600 years after expedition of Tu-shi arrived on the shores of the lakes Oring-nor Dsharing-nor.
The American geologist, W. W. Rockhill, who penetrated " to " the source of the Ys ig-tze-kiang in 1889, the Hungarian Count Bela Szechemy, the English explorers Wellby 1 Malcolm, the intrepid French traveller Captain d'Ollone, the Chinese scientist C. C. Wang, Sven Hedin, Filehner, and Tafel as well as a host of Russian explorers, have all in their various ways helped to unlock the secrets of the Yellow River and have thus tributed to the making of Dr. Kochleer's book.
Apart from all the books on the Yellow River, Dr.
Kochler has! studied the geological structure of the whole of Northern China. He began his work several years ago and has been assisted throughout by Dr, E. yon Drygalski of Munich and Professor Merzbacher. In_ his introduction, acknow-indebtedness to Professor Obratschew of Moscow and to Dr. Eng Yi Shen, of Peking. He freely admi that the world would still be sing for a_comprehensive survey of the Fine Yellow river had it not been for the exceedingly important explorations Dr. Albert Tafel, of Stuttagart, in Eastern Tibet.
"The Hwang-Ho, remarks Kochler, "is essentially a geolorriver In the first place, the Toess region through which it flows and which gives it such a distinetive colouring, is the largest of kind in the' whole world, This|fsingchiu-Linshih; reaches is the cause of the frequent changes of river bed."
'OF practical value is the author's)
vestigations of the climatic contions obtaining in the Hwang-Ho valley.
With amazing diligence, he has success fed in compiling table extending over a number Hvears and showing hew far South East Monsoon penetrates into the Asiatic Mainland.—His] conclusions are that the line of the Great China Wall to the south of Ordos marks the limits of the Ufectiveness of the South East regions, (1) The Chinese with a mild temperature. (2) The Ordos Region, with a continental climate and small rainfall (3). Schansi, with a climate that! strikes a mean between (1) and (2) and (4) Eastern Tibet, with an extreme continental climate.
From a morphological standpoint, fied ing the Hwang-Ho Dr. Koehler thinks that he is justi
valley into three distinct area namely, the mountainous area Eastern Tibet, the loess regions, and the arid wastes of Ordos. He gives the length of the river 4470 kilometers (2,906 miles), and prefers to regard it in three' sec-Tons: from the source to Tschungwei, from Tschung-wei to Hwai ky, and from Hwai-ky to its out fall, Giving an explanation of the! great C-like curve of the Hwango-Ho north of Amne-Matschin, Dr. Koehler says that it is determine by an old-pre-pliocene valley, whill the Hwang-Ho Bend itself jeansed by powerful thrusts of the earth's surface during the dilavium whereby the Matschu, in its upper course, was prevented from joining the Yangtze-kiang.
In the course of which at times is very vivid, when he describes the brownish' yellow clouds that give a most weird aspect to the skyscapes of the arid regions of the Hwang-Ho ley, Dr. Koehler makes a strong] plea for a comprehensive geologic cal survey of China, "It has be-Jcome an urgent necessity," writes, "and the sooner it is undertaken the better for all concerned, and these include not only scientists but industrialists, and even the humble peasants."
The maps included in the booklet} are execoedingly detailed, the largest being a complete survey of the Hwang-Ho from source to outfall with all the known former cou of the river inserted. It is noteworthy that most German authori-tics on the subject are of the opin-that both the Hwang-Ho and the Yangtze-kiang, in their upper and middle courses, are in an active stage of bank erosion and jate thereby rapidly gaining in Tength as well a¢ {eaining much more land, especially in the Tibetan High-lands.
Copies of Dr. Kochler's book] have been sent to the geological institutions and geographical societies throughout the world, Although it is by mo means the last word on. the "River of the good and happy Meadow-lands," as the Tibetans call this extraordinary stream, there is little doubt that it will be received as a standard work of, reference and it will be some considerable time before it is replaced by a work written by a geologist working on the spot. Finally, mention should, be made of the photographs, supplied by Dr. Albert Tafel.' They are amazingly clear: and give a vivid impression of that bleak and uninviting country where the Altna-gol (Golden River) has, its souree—Trans-Ocean copyright.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.