The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1888-05-12
THE YELLOW RIVER OF CHINA.
London Spectator.l


The Yellow River, from the enor-
nous rapidity of Its volume, when
swollen by melted snow, is the worst
of offenders. Its new bed, even In
twenty years, has risen far above the
plain, and as the dikes grow from hill.
locks into hills, from mere walls into
ranges of earthworks like fortress
sides, hundreds of miles long, the ef-
fort overtaxes the skill of the engineers
and the perseverance even of Chinese
laborers. The ablest engineers in India
were beaten by the Damoodah, though
it is compared with the Hoang-IIo like
trumpery European stream, and
though the labor available could hard
ly be exhausted. The truth Of the
matter is that in all such cases, the
upper sections of the diKes cost too
much for complete repair, and tend to
be inadequate; and when the Yellow
River, gorged with water from the
mountains till it forms in reality gi-
gantic reservoir averaging a mile
broad, from 800 to 500 miles long and
20 feet deep, all suspended in air by
artificial supports, comes rushing down
in Autumn, the slightest weakness in
these supports is fatal.
On September 81 the river was at
its fullest, its speed was at its highest,
there was almost certainly q driving
wind from the west, a bit of dixie gave
way, the rent spread for 1900 yards,
and our readers remember, for
Charles Read described il, the rush
into Sheffield of the Holmilrth reser-
voir. Multiply that If you can, by
2000, add exhaustless renewals of the
water from behind---fve Danubes
pouring from height for two months
on end-and instead of long valley
with high sides which can be reached,
think of vast open plain, flat as Sal
isbury Plain, but studded with 5000
villages, all swarming as English vii
lagos never swarm, and you may gain
conception of scene hardly rivaled
since the deluge. The torrent, 1t is
known, in its first and grandest rush,
though throwing out rivers at every
moment at every incline of the land,
had for its center stream thirty miles
wide and ten feet deep, travelling pro-
badly at twenty miles an hour---a force
as irresistible as that of lava. No
tree could last ten minutes, no house
five, the very soil would be carried
away as by supernatural plow-share,
and as for man-an ant in broken
stop cock in London street would be
more powerful than he. Swiml AS
well wrestlc with the Holyhead cx-
press. II takes hours in such a plain
to reach hillock three feet high, the
water the while pouring on faster than
a hunters gallop. There is no more
escape from such a flood than there Is
escape from the will of God, and those
Chinese who refused even to struggle
were the happiest of all, because the
quickest dead. Over a territory OF
10000 square miles, or two Yorkshires
at least (for the missionaries report .
wider area), over thousands of villages
5000 certainly, even if the capital l.
not gone, as 1t is belieyed--the sof'
water passed, silently strangling every
living thing, the cows and sheep al
well as their owners and for ourselves
who have seen the scene only on petit.
scale. we doubt whether the abest in
formed European in Pekin" is no
right when he calculates The destruc
| tion Of life at 1900 600 Tho Srccta
| 49,. n ..s..l<>x