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and his restless intellect soon turned to the question of chief interest at that time in his university -the controversy between the Church of England and the mother Church of Rome. The arguments of an able Jesuit, known by the name of John Fisher, at length convincing him of the necessity of an infallible living judge in matters of faith, he embraced the Romish communion with an incredible satisfaction of mind.' In 1630 he went to Douay, and here being urged to write an account of the motives of his conversion, a fresh examination of the whole questions at issue, and a series of letters from Laud, at length brought him from doubt of the soundness of his recent conclusions to

a complete renunciation. But although he had become convinced that the claims of the Church of Rome to an infallible judgment on matters of faith had no real foundation, he adhered alone to Scripture as interpreted by the light of reason, and for a time declined to take orders in the Church of England, regarding her Articles as themselves a needless 'imposition on men's consciences.' Meantime he had become involved in a succession of controversies with John Lewgar, a Catholic convert; Floys, a Jesuit, who went under the name of Daniel; and White, the author of Rushworth's Dialogues. His papers in answer to these-mere preliminary studies for the great work that was to follow-are contained in his Additional Discourses, published in 1687. Another Jesuit, known as Edward Knott, having published in 1630 his Charity Mistaken, &c., which was answered by Dr Christopher Potter, provost of Queen's College in Oxford in 1633, rejoined in 1634 with Mercy and Truth, &c. This second book Chillingworth undertook to answer, and with that view retired to the quiet of Lord Falkland's house and library at Great Tew in Oxfordshire. Meantime, Knott hearing of his intention, hastened to take an unfair advantage of his antagonist, by an attempt to prejudice the public mind beforehand. In 1636 he issued in a forty-two page pamphlet a series of mere scurrilous insinuations, the main drift of which was that Chillingworth was a Socinian, whose opinions tended to the overthrow of all supernatural religion no less than of Catholic doctrine. At length, in 1637, appeared Chillingworth's famous book, The Religion of Protestants a safe Way to Salvation or an Answer to a Booke entitled Mercy and Truth, &c. This great work suffers from its being necessarily to some extent an answer to a now completely forgotten book, and being thereby weighted with a great mass of extraneous matter. Indeed, it is only after the author has demolished the arguments of his temporary antagonist that he is at liberty to follow the unembarrassed course of his own thought, and it is evident that only a writer of consummate talent could so have surmounted the disadvantages of such a form, as to make a book of enduring interest and value. Yet it is all this and more, for we have here not only a masterly demonstration of the sole authority of the Bible in the essential matters relating to salvation, but an assertion of the free right of the individual conscience to interpret it, laid down once for all with perfect confidence and fullest plainness-the freedom of religious opinion and the right to toleration for honest difference of opinion placed on its true basis, and this two centuries and a half ago. The great question at issue is that of the basis of religious certitude, or the means whereby the truths of revelation are conveyed to our understanding,' whether this is to rest on the infallible authority of the Church, or ultimately on the authority of the Scriptures alone.

Here Chillingworth's conclusion is, in his own oft-quoted words: The Bible, I say, the Bible

only, is the religion of Protestants." The great principles of religion, and everything of faith essential to salvation, are herein clearly revealed patent to the right reason' and judgment of every man. Religious certitude can thus be reached by every honest mind, from the plain interpretation of the Bible, which is necessarily itself intelligible and sufficient, without need of any medium to transfer it or judge to interpret it. Indeed, the ineasure of the responsibility of faith is just the measure of the clearness and simplicity of the divine revelation. Scripture and the candid mind acting together, under the quickening grace of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, are thus the sole factors of religious certitude, which is necessarily based on rational personal conviction. The simplest creed is the best creed, and the only possible basis on which to reconstruct the divided church is such a simple, assured, and accepted religious minimum as the apostles' creed, with full freedom to individual opinion in everything supplementary and unessential. For why,' he asks, should men be more rigid than God? Why should any error exclude any man from the Church's communion, which will not deprive him of eternal salvation?' It may be that Chilling. worth's ideas carried out would have made any kind of church polity or even successive organised religious life impossible, but at least they would have preserved something perhaps quite as precious an intellectual conception of toleration, that would have saved England years of misery and blood; and which need not necessarily have eliminated also the religious enthusiasm of the individual, together with his confidence in the absolute infallibility of his own opinions.

The reasoning throughout the great work of Chillingworth is marked by strong and clear intellect; singularly simple but direct and straightforward style, warming at times into a suppressed but vehement eloquence, and informed throughout with an honesty, an earnestness, and, above all, a fairness but rare in controversial literature. Locke, in his Thoughts concerning Reading and Study for a Gentleman, commends the constant reading of Chillingworth, who, by his example, will teach both perspicuity and the way of right reasoning better than any book I know.' Chillingworth left little besides his masterpiece-nine sermons, the 'Additional Discourses' already referred to, and a brief fragment on the apostolical institution of episcopacy forming the whole. The rest of his life is soon told. At length he found himself able to give a general assent to the Articles, and in July 1638 he was made Chancellor of Salisbury, with the prebend of Brixworth in Notts annexed, and soon after master of Wigstan's Hospital in Leicester. In 1640 he was elected proctor to convocation by the Chapter of Salisbury. At the outbreak of the Civil War he accompanied the king's forces, though his heart sank within him to see publicans and sinners on the one side, against scribes and Pharisees on the other.' He was with the royal army before Gloucester, where, we are told, he devised an engine for purposes of assault after the pattern of the old Roman testudo. At Arundel Castle he was taken ill, and when the garrison surrendered to Waller, being too ill to be carried to London, was lodged in the bishop's palace at Chichester, where he died, 30th January 1643. His last hours were pestered by the ill-timed and cruel exhortations of one Cheynell, an ignorant and rabid Puritan preacher, who, at his burial in Chichester Cathedral, flung a copy of the noblest theological treatise of the age into the grave, that it might rot with its author and see corruption.' The Chillingworthi Novissima, &c. (1644), in which this Westminster divine did such dishonour to

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himself, is one of the most melancholy monuments that exist of fanatical and unchristian bigotry. It was Chillingworth's fate to be assailed with 'great asperity and reproaches' all his life, and throughout to be misunderstood by blind Papist and blind Puritan alike.

See the Life by Des Maizeaux (1725), and that by Rev. Thomas Birch, prefixed to his edition of the works (1742). Of these the best edition is that published at Oxford in 3 vols. in 1838. See chapter v. (vol. i.) of the late Principal Tulloch's Rational Theology in England in the Seventeenth Century (2 vols. 1872).

Chillon, a celebrated castle of Switzerland, at the eastern end of the Lake of Geneva, 1 mile SSE. of Montreux. It stands on an isolated rock, 22 yards from the shore, and connected therewith by a bridge, though the strait between them is dry. Dating perhaps from the 8th century, it seems to have been partly rebuilt in 1238, by Amadeus IV. of Savoy, and it long served as a state prison. Here for six years (1530-36) Bonivard (q.v.) endured the captivity immortalised by Byron's Prisoner of Chillon (1821). Among the thousands of names inscribed on the pillars of the dungeon are those of Byron, Georges Sand, and Victor Hugo. The castle is now used as a magazine for military stores.

Chiloé, the insular province of Chili, consists of the island of that name on the west coast, which is separated from the mainland by a narrow strait on the N., and by a gulf 30 miles wide on the E., and has a length of 115 miles, and an extreme breadth of 43 miles, and of a number of neighbouring islets, mostly uninhabited; total area, 3980 sq. m.; pop. (1885) 73,420, almost all Indians living on the principal island. Chiloé proper is hilly in the interior, and everywhere covered, except immediately along the shores, with nearly impassable forest. The climate is mild and not unhealthy, although inordinately wet. The Indians belong to a subdivision of the Araucanian family; they are a gentle and honest race, mostly engaged in fishing and in lumbering, timber being at present the chief export from the island, although immense deposits of coal have been reported. The capital, Ancud, on the north coast, has a good harbour, but is meanly built; it is the seat of a bishop, and has a population of 6000.

Chilog'natha, Chilop'oda. See MYRI

Chiltern Hills, the southern part of the low chalk range which runs north-east, about 70 miles, from the north bend of the Thames, in Oxfordshire, through Bucks and the borders of Herts and Beds. In Oxford, Herts, and Beds the Chiltern Hills are 15 to 20 miles broad, and the highest point is near Wendover (950 feet). In his sketch of John Hampden's home, Mr Green paints finely 'the quiet undulations of the chalk country, billowy heavings and sinkings as of some primeval sea suddenly hushed into motionlessness, soft slopes of gray grass or brown-red corn falling gently to dry bottoms, woodland flung here and there in masses over the hills. A country of fine and lucid air, of far shadowy distances, of hollows tenderly veiled by mist, graceful everywhere with a flowing unaccentuated grace, as though Hampden's own temper had grown out of it.'

Chiltern Hundreds. In former times the beech-forests which covered the Chiltern Hills were infested with robbers, and in order to restrain them it was usual for the crown to appoint an officer, who was called the Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds. The hundreds in question (see HUNDRED) are those of Bodenham, Desborough, and Stoke, in Buckinghamshire. The stewardship, which has long ceased to serve its primary purpose,

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now serves a secondary one. A member of the House of Commons cannot resign his seat unless disqualified either by the acceptance of a place of honour and profit under the crown, or by some other cause. Now, the stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds is held to be such a place, and it is consequently applied for by, and granted, usually as a matter of course, to any member who wishes to resign, though it has been refused in a case of bribery. As soon as it is obtained, it is again resigned, and is thus generally vacant when required for the purpose in question. When the Chiltern Hundreds are not vacant, however, the same purpose is served by the stewardship of the manors of East Hendred, Northshead, and Hempholme. The practice of granting the Chiltern Hundreds for the purpose above described began only about the year 1750; the gift lies with the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Chimæra, a fire-breathing monster, described by Homer as having a lion's head, a goat's body, and the tail of a dragon. In Hesiod's account a daughter of Typhaon and Echidna, she devastated Lycia until killed by Bellerophon. Gigantic carvings of the chimæra on rocks have been found in Asia Minor, representing the monster as a lion, out of the back of which grows the neck and head of a goat. It is frequently depicted on shields as a heraldic charge. The name is used figuratively as a word denoting any monstrous or impossible conception, the unnatural birth of the fancy-Tennyson's chimeras, crotchets, Christmas solecisms.'

Chimæra, a genus of cartilaginous fishes, and type of a distinct order, Holocephali, which is often ranked along with the sharks and rays, or Elasmobranchs. The chief distinctions are the presence of a fold of skin covering the (4) gill-clefts, the nakedness of the skin, the fusion of the upper jaw to the skull, the separation of anal, urinary, and genital apertures. There are no 'spiracles,' nor spiral-valve.' Except in the above particulars, and a few others of a more technical nature, the members of this small order agree with the ordinary Cartilaginous Fishes (q.v.). There are only two living genera-Chimæra and Callorhynchus. The best-known species of chimera (C. monstrosa) is often called the King of the Herrings, and is occasionally taken in herring-nets in British seas.

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It is found on the coasts of Europe and Japan, in North Atlantic, and at the Cape of Good Hope. In the United States it is called Sea Cat. It is an ugly fish, seldom over 3 feet in length, of a whitish colour, spotted with brown above. The males have clasping organs; the large eggs are inclosed in a leathery case. The C. Colliei is found on the west coast of North America; and the C. Affinis on the coast of Portugal. In the other genus, Callorhynchus, in the South Pacific, the snout bears an appendage, and the tail is not symmetrical as in the above, but slightly shark-like.

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Chimaphila. See WINTER-GREEN.

Chimbora'zo, a conical peak of the Andes, in Ecuador, 20,517 feet above the sea, but only about 11,000 above the level of the valley of Quito, to the north. The silver bell' of perpetual snow and glacier was long erroneously regarded as the loftiest mountain not only in America but in the whole world. From 1745, when La Condamine ascended as high as 16,730 feet, numerous only partially successful attempts had been made to scale the mountain before Whymper in 1880 twice reached the summit. The peak gives name to the province of Chimborazo, to the south, with an area of 5523 sq. m., and a pop. (1885) of 90,782, exclusive of the uncivilised Indians.

Chimere, a bishop's upper robe, to which the lawn-sleeves are attached. That of Anglican bishops is of black satin, that of English Roman Catholics is of purple silk.

Chimes. See BELL.

Chimney, a flue constructed in the thickness of a wall or in a separate 'stalk' for the purpose of carrying off the smoke from a fireplace or furnace. The heated air being lighter than the atmosphere which maintains the fire, presses. the smoke upwards, and rises with a rapidity proportioned to the difference in weight, assuming that the chimney is of proper construction and size. It has been found in practice that a diameter of from 9 inches to 12 inches is suitable for the fireplaces of ordinary rooms, but in the case of kitchens and other large fires a greater width is required. In olden times it was usual to build fireplaces of great size, with very large chimneys, but as these admit a great quantity of air at the ordinary temperature, the draught is thereby checked, and the chimneys are apt to smoke. Experience has taught that the 'throat' or entrance to the chimney from the fireplace should be made as small as possible compatible with its task of carrying off the products of combustion from the fire. A proper draught depends also on the height of the chimney, which ought to be sufficient to be above the interference of swirls of air caused by surrounding buildings or other objects. The higher the chimney, the greater the draught.

Chimneys are of comparatively modern origin. Only traces of them are found in classic antiquity; but there must have been some such means of discharging the smoke from the fires which heated the hypocausts of the Roman baths. In medieval times, the earliest examples of fireplaces with chimneys, such as those in the Norman castles of Rochester and Castle Hedingham, erected in the 12th century, have only a short flue ascending a few feet, and discharging by an oblong aperture in the outer face of the wall. These were no doubt found very smoky and inconvenient, and ultimately the chimneys were carried to the roof. In Gothic buildings they are often detached, and the outlet is ornamented with trefoil and other openings. In the English halls the centre hearth was long retained, without any chimney, the smoke being allowed to find its way out through an opening in the roof called the Louvre (q.v.). In Scottish mansions and castles the fireplace was an invariable feature in every apartment from the 13th century. The hall has always a large fireplace and capacious chimney, while those of the

Chimney, Tisbury,
Wilts.

(From Parker's Glossary.)

CHIMPANZEE

bedrooms are smaller.

In the late Gothic and Elizabethan styles the chimneys are amongst the most striking features of the design, being carried up in lofty and highly ornamented stalks, frequently built in brick.

In modern times the external appearance of chimneys has been greatly neglected, to the sad disfigurement of our houses, but a better taste is now beginning to prevail. In one direction, however, modern chimneys have received a great development in connection with furnaces and steam-enIn order to create a gines. draught, and so cause the fire to burn with intense heat, these chimney-stalks are carried to a great height. The difference of pressure of the atmosphere between the top and bottom, added to the lightness of the air caused by the heat, acts as the motive power to the 'draught,' which thus increases with the height of the stalk. Amongst the highest existing chimneys may be mentioned the following: (1) the Townsend shaft, Port Dundas, Glasgow, which is 468 feet in total height, and has a diameter of 32 feet at base, and 13 feet 4 inches at top; weight, about 8000 tons. (2) St Rollox shaft, Glasgow -total height, 455 feet 6 inches; diameter at base, 50 feet; at top, 13 feet 6 inches. (3) Mechernich shaft, Cologne-total height, 441 feet; diameter (square) at base, 39 feet; at top (round), 11 feet 6 inches; weight, about 5459 tons.

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Chimney, Thornbury Castle, Gloucestershire, 1514.

(From Parker.)

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An act to regulate chimney-sweeping was passed as early as 1789; and in 1842, to prevent the fearful cruelties practised on young chimney-sweepers, it was rendered penal to compel or knowingly allow any person under the age of twenty-one, to ascend or descend a chimney or enter a flue for the purpose of cleaning or curing it; and no child under sixteen could be thereafter apprenticed to the trade. The act was extended and made more stringent in 1864 and 1875.

To extinguish a chimney on fire, it is only necessary to hang over the fireplace a piece of wet carpet or blanket: some handfuls of salt thrown into the fire at the same time will greatly aid the extinction. It is also recommended to scatter a handful of flowers of sulphur over the dullest part of the burning coals, the vapour arising from which will not support combustion, and will consequently extinguish the flames. Throwing water down from the top is a clumsy expedient, by which much damage is frequently done to furniture; so also is stopping at the top, by which the smoke and suffocating smell of the burning soot are driven into the apartment. If every fireplace were provided with a damper, or shutter of sheet-iron, sufficiently large to choke it thoroughly, fire in chimneys would become of little consequence, as it would only be necessary to apply this damper to extinguish them. All good modern grates are furnished with such dampers. To set chimneys on fire with a view to clean them is highly objectionable, even where there is no danger of fire to be apprehended, as the intense heat produced rends and weakens the walls. For other connected subjects, see SMOKENUISANCE, VENTILATION, WARMING.

Chimpanzee (Troglodytes niger), one of the highest of the anthropoid or more manlike apes,

CHIMPANZEE

belonging to the same genus as the gorilla (T. gorilla).

History. The first historical notice of the chimpanzee seems to be that given in an account of a Carthaginian exploration of the north-west of Africa, conducted by Hanno in 470 B.C. Along with other anthropoid apes, it was known to the Romans in their varied communications with Africa. The first thorough investigation of the anatomy was made by Tyson in 1699. Various travellers gradually gathered information in regard to its habits, and captured specimens were known in France and England by the 18th century. The structure of the animal has been studied by several famous anatomists, such as Owen, Duvernoy, Bischoff, and Huxley; and much information, both historical and anatomical, will be conveniently found in Professor R. Hartmann's Anthropoid Apes (Inter. Sc. Series, 1885). To this naturalist much of our knowledge as to the exact anatomy of the chimpanzee and related forms is due. For more general considerations, Huxley's work entitled Man's Place in Nature may be profitably consulted. See also his Anatomy of Vertebrate Animals.

Characteristics. As the general features of Anthropoid Apes (q.v.) have been already sketched, it will be enough to sum up the more striking characteristics of the chimpanzee. The animal stands about four feet high, has very dark, all but black hair, a broad, leathery, reddish-brown face, small nose, large mouth, protruding lips, large browridges, and small ears. The face has an angle of 70 degrees. The head hangs down upon the chest.

Chimpanzee (after Hartmann).

There are no cheek-pouches. The arms are very long, and reach the knee; their span is about half as much again as the height. The hand is narrow, but as long as the foot. The sole of the foot can rest flatly on the ground, and the animal readily stands or walks erect. But his favourite attitude is leaning forward, and supporting himself on the knuckles of the hand. The backbone begins to exhibit the curves characteristic of man, and the chimpanzee is alone among anthropoids in having the spine of the second neck vertebra bifurcated as It has one pair of ribs in addition to the twelve possessed by man. There is of course no tail, nor are there any sitting-pads or ischial callosities. The volume of the brain is about half the minimum size of a normal human brain. All the gyri (ridges) of the human brain are represented

in man.

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in the cerebral hemispheres of the chimpanzee; but they are simpler and more symmetrical, and larger in proportion to the brain.'

Habits.-The chimpanzee is found on the coast of Guinea and farther inland. It occupies a wider area than the gorilla, and is even said to have been found in East Africa, to the south of Abyssinia. It lives in forests, is an adept climber, but keeps a good deal to the ground. The diet consists mainly of wild fruits; but animal food seems to be occasionally eaten. The chimpanzees live in families or in small societies. They construct pent-houses in the thick forest darkness, and the males are said to pass the night below the family nest. They make a great deal of noise, of a dreary and horrible character, especially when provoked by other monkeys. Though they generally flee at the sight of man, they can with hands and teeth make themselves in extremity most formidable antagonists. The natives shoot them with arrows or javelins, or in recent days with firearms. The flesh is eaten by the natives of some parts of Africa; the skulls may serve as fetiches.

There is considerable dispute as to the species or varieties of chimpanzee. Hartmann discusses the question at length in the work already referred to, describing one distinct variety in addition to the typical Troglodytes niger, and admitting the possibility of hybrids. Chimpanzees are occasionally brought to European zoological gardens, but rarely stand the climate for more than two or three years. They are known to exhibit great cleverness, and admit of some education.

China. The Chinese Empire, consisting of China Proper and Manchuria (q.v.), with its dependencies of Mongolia, I-lî, and Tibet (q.v.), embraces a vast territory in Eastern Asia only inferior in extent to the dominions of Great Britain and Russia. The dependencies are not colonies, but subject territories; and China Proper itself, indeed, has been a subject territory of Manchuria since 1644. It will be convenient, however, to confine ourselves in this article to the former.

China is not known among the people themselves as the designation of the country, and the use of the term is spreading among them only through its all but universal employment by other nations. In the oldest classical writings the country is called Hwa Hsia, The Flowery Hsia.' Chung Kwo, 'The Middle State,' or kingdom, grew up in the feudal period as a name for the royal domain in the midst of the other states, or for those states as a whole in the midst of the uncivilised states around them. The idea of its being in the middle of the earth' did not enter into the designation, though the assumption of universal sovereignty, de jure if not de facto, that has been so injurious to the nation, appears in the very ancient names T'ien hsia, all beneath the sky,' and Sze Hai, 'all within the four seas.' the treaties with western nations concluded in the present century the empire is called by the title of the reigning dynasty, the Kingdom of the Great Pure (dynasty);' and this is in accordance with the practice of Chinese writers, who are fond of calling their country the Land of Han,' and 'the Hills of T'ang,' from the two great dynasties so named.

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Serica, Sera, and Seres, in Ptolemy and other ancient geographers, indicate China and the Chinese as the country and people producing silk, being taken from sze (silk), originally the pictorial symbol of a packet of cocoons.

Cathay, a poetical name with us, and still apparent in the Russian name for China (Kitai), came into use as a designation for the northern part of the empire through Marco Polo and other medieval writers. It was the Persian designation of the Tartar K'itan tribes which contended with

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the Sung dynasty for the supremacy of the empire, then merged in the dynasty of Chin (Kin), and were extinguished by the Mongol conquest. The country south of the Yang-tsze River was then styled Manzi or Manzy, from the old name of Man for all the southern aboriginal tribes.

The name China has come to us from India through Buddhism. In a conversation (apocryphal probably), related by Nien Ch'ang in his History of Buddhism, between the Han emperor who welcomed them to his capital and the first two of the Buddhist missionaries, there appear the names of Chi-na and Chin-tan ('the Land of Chin'). We do not know how long before our first century the name had obtained in India, nor how it originated. If it had begun with ts instead of ch, the view of many that it was derived from the great state of Ts'in, whose fortunes culminated in the first but short-lived imperial dynasty (221-209 B. C.), might have been considered as certain. This question must be left as hardly capable of determination; as also how it is that we find the empire called by other Asiatic peoples Sin, Tsin, Tsinistan, and the inhabitants Tsinistä. 'The land of Sinim,' in Isa. xlix. 12, should be added to these denominations.

CHINA PROPER was divided in the K'ang-hsî reign (1662-1722) into eighteen provinces; and since the recent separation of the island of Formosa from Fu-chien, and its constitution into an independent province (as T'âi-wan), we may say that it now consists of nineteen. These form one of the corners of the Asiatic continent, having the Pacific Ocean on the south and east. They are somewhat in the shape of an irregular rectangle, and lie, if we include the island of Hâi-nan, between 18° and 49° N. lat., and 98° and 124° E. long. Their area has been given at 1,297,300 sq. m., being more than twenty-five times that of England, but that estimate does not include large additions to Chih-lî on the north-east, and Kan-sú on the north-west, made since the K'ang-hsî reign. Including these, the area is at present not much, if at all, short of 2,000,000 sq. m. (The whole empire, without Corea, has an area more than twice as large.)

On the north there are four provinces-Chih-lî, Shan-hsî, Shen-hsî, and Kan-su; on the west, twoSze-ch'wan (the largest of all) and Yun-nan; on the south, two-Kwang-hsî and Kwang-tung; on the east, four-Fu-chien (Kien-the initial ch used to be pronounced k), Cheh-chiang, Chiang-sû, and Shan-tung. The central area inclosed by these twelve provinces is occupied by Ho-nan, An-hui (Gan- and Ngan-hwei), Hû-pei, Hu-nan, Chianghsî, and Kwei-châu (a poor province, but with parts of it largely occupied by clans or tribes of aboriginal Mião-tsze). The island of Formosa, lying off the coast of Fu-chien, 90 miles W. of Amoy, is about 235 miles in length, fertile, and rich in coal, petroleum, and camphor-wood. The first settlement of a Chinese population only took place in 1683, and the greater part of it is still occupied by aboriginal tribes of a more than ordinarily high type.

The population of these provinces is immense, but the various censuses that have been adduced by inquirers vary and fluctuate so much that the writer entirely agrees with the late Dr Williams in holding that, until there has been a methodical inspection of the empire' published and guaranteed by the government, questions concerning the population must be held in abeyance (The Middle King dom, 2d ed. preface, p. 10). The Almanach de Gotha for 1888, basing its conclusions on reports of the imperial maritime customs, gives for all the provinces a total of 381 millions. The late ambassador in England, however, the Marquis T'săng, writes in the Asiatic Quarterly Review of January

1887 of the awakening of 300 millions to a consciousness of their strength!' Our own impression is that 400 millions is not an overestimate of the population of the Chinese empire. Of the twentytwo ports open to foreign commerce, only five have a population under 50,000. That of Canton is estimated at 1,600,000; of T'ien-tsin at 950,000; of Han-k'au at 750,000; of Fu-châu at 630,000; of Shang-hâi at 355,000; of Ning-po at 240,000.

As to the physical features of China Proper, the whole territory may be described as sloping from the mountainous regions of Tibet and Nepal towards the shores of the Pacific on the east and south. The most extensive mountain-range in it is the Nan Ling or Southern Range, a far-extending spur of the Himalayas. Commencing in Yunnan, it bounds Kwang-hsî, Kwang-tung, and Fu-chien on the north, and, passing through Chehchiang, enters into the sea at Ning-po. It thus forms a continuous barrier, penetrated only by a few steep passes (of which the Mei Kwan is the best known) that separates the coast-regions of South-eastern China from the rest of the country. This great chain throws off numerous spurs to the south and east, which, dipping into the sea, appear above it as a belt of rugged islands along the seaboard. Of this belt the Chusan Archipelago is the most northerly portion.

North of this long range, and west of the 113th meridian, on to the borders of Tibet, the country is mountainous, while to the east and from the great wall on the north, to the Po-yang lake in the south, there is the Great Plain, comprising the greater part of the provinces of Chih-li and Shan-tung, Ho-nan, An-hui, and Chiang-sú-an area of about 210,000 sq. m., estimated to support a population of 177,000,000.

In the provinces west from Chih-li-Shan-hsî, Shen-hsî, and Kan-sú-the soil is formed of what are called the loess beds, which extend even to the Koko-nor and the head-waters of the Yellow River. The name loess is adopted from that of a Tertiary deposit which appears in the Rhine Valley-a brownish coloured earth, extremely porous, crumb. ling easily between the fingers, and carried far and wide in clouds of dust. It covers the subsoil to an enormous depth, and is apt to split perpendicularly in clefts which render travelling difficult. yet by this cleavage it affords homes to multitudes of the people, who live in caves excavated near the bottoms of the cliffs. Sometimes whole villages are so formed in terraces of the earth that rise above

And

one another. But the most valuable quality of the loess is its fertility, the fields composed of it hardly requiring any other manure than a sprinkling of its own fresh loam. The husbandman in this way obtains an assured harvest two and even three times a year. This fertility, provided there be a sufficient rainfall, seems inexhaustible. The province of Shan-hsî has borne the name for thousands of years of the Granary of the Nation;' and it is no doubt to the distribution of this earth over its surface that the Great Plain owes its fruitfulness.

The rivers of China-called for the most part ho in the north, and chiang (kiang) in the south, are one of its most distinguishing features. Two of them stand out conspicuous among the great rivers of the world; the Ho, Hoang-ho, or Yellow River, and the Chiang, generally misnamed the Yang-tsze. They rise not far from each other; the Ho, in the plain of Odontala, called in Chinese the 'Sea of Stars-i.e. of springs or lakelets, in 35° N. lat., and 96° E. long.; and the Chiang (Kiang), from among the mountains of Tibet. The Ho pursues a tortuous eastward course to Kan-sû, and the Chiang with a southern inclination enters China at Batang, in Sze-ch'wan. From the prefecture of Lan-châu the Ho flows north-east more or less along the Great Wall, till it arrives

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