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part of them were drowned.

They had set foot upon a huge slumbering whale, which had subsequently waked up when the first incursions had been made on his body by the newly arrived occupants.

"This is a fable, but I fear it may become history when it is applied to the mistaken calculations of the European powers as to the occupation of China."

Thus Cesare Lombroso in a recent contribution to The Evening Star (Washington, D. C.) describes the Chinese problem. He believes that the Chinese are a different, not an inferior, race; that they are now lazily dormant, but will soon be exasperated by European oppression and excited to fearful rebellion that will wreck everything foreign in the empire. He agrees with M. De Bloche, the famous Russian advocate of international arbitration and the inspirer of the Peace Conference, that there is a still greater peril, namely, that when the Chinese have been badgered and harassed beyond even Chinese patience, as a last resource they will throw themselves into the arms of Japan. Such an alliance would menace the rest of the world, for Japan loves Europeans only so long as she can learn from them.

The Manchurian Railway the Russian Government hopes to complete during the current month, states the American consul at Moscow. Working trains are already running between Onon, Harbin, Vladivostok, and Port Arthur. Thus in a few weeks trains will run from St. Petersburg to Port Arthur with only. one small break-the few miles around Lake Baikal, where heavy boats ferry the cars across the lake. A map showing the route of the Manchurian Railway was published in No. 8, vol. xi of this Magazine.

The Survey of Greece, which has been interrupted since the Greco-Turkish war, is to be resumed this spring under the

direction of Heinrich Harti, a professor at the Vienna University. Professor Harti was summoned to Athens last autumn to inspect and take charge of the topographical bureau which he founded some years ago. It is feared that the cadastral survey by communities which has been ordered will not be successful, as the people object to the demarkation of boundaries. Professor Harti, however, hopes to be able to make a general survey of sufficient accuracy to make a map of the whole kingdom on a uniform system.

Explorations in Alaska.—The U. S. Geological Survey will send this summer three important expeditions for exploratory work in Alaska. The first, under W. J. Peters, will start from Bergman, nearly 1,000 miles northwest of Sitka, and proceed to the Arctic Ocean. The party hopes to advance eastward as far as the British boundary, and then will turn westward again and proceed toward Point Barrow. second party, led by W. C. Mendenhall, the geologist, will work around Kotzebue Sound. The third party, led by Mr. Gerdine, will continue previous explorations in the region of the Copper River.

The

The War Department sends no expedition to Alaska, as its resources are fully occupied by Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippines.

The Biological Survey of the Department of Agriculture will send this summer parties to the region of Athabasca Lake and the Great Slave Lake to determine the zones of distribution of the fauna of that country. Mr. Preble, who so successfully led the party from the Survey to the Hudson Bay country last year, has charge of the work. Dr. C. Hart Merriam, the chief of the Survey, continues his study of the zones of distribution of the fauna of California.

The new director of the Geological Survey of Canada is Dr. Robert Bell,

formerly the senior member of the staff of the Survey. Dr. Bell, since he joined the Survey, in 1857, has made surveys, both topographical and geological, in almost every section of Canada.

Three expert geologists of the U. S. Geological Survey are now engaged in making an examination into the mineral resources of Cuba. The work is very important, and may result in much economic value to the island. It was undertaken at the suggestion of Governor-General Wood, and all of the ex

penses will be met by the Cuban government.

The U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey has five parties in Porto Rico charting the coast of the island. This work has now been in progress for two years, and great advance has been made in obtaining accurate charts of the coastline. Several local harbor charts of the Hawaiian Islands are being published by the Survey, the result of surveys made in 1899 and 1900.

GEOGRAPHIC LITERATURE

Where Black Rules White: A Journey Across and About Haiti. By Hesketh Prichard. Illustrated. 8vo, pp. [i−xi +]I−288. New York: Chas. Scribner's Sons, 1900.

Made attractive by a tasty symbolic binding, clear type, thick and large paper, fair half-tone reproductions of photographs, and excellent press-work, this book is a convenient outline of its writer's knowledge concerning one of the most interesting portions of the western hemisphere-the only considerable portion which has ever reverted from Caucasian rule to the dominion of an alien race.

The fifteen brief chapters are based mainly on the observations of a single visit; although interesting historical details are interwoven here and there, there is nothing in profession or performance to indicate that the author was inspired by the instincts of the historian, and much to indicate that he was not geographer or geologist, naturalist or artist, ethnologist or sociologist, economist, or even serious student-but just a tourist bent on writing a book. So the chapters are light if not frothy, the expressions youthful if not flippant; yet the vocabulary is remarkably rich and the word-painting singularly vivid, and

the narrative smacks of the soil throughout. The author pays tribute to Toussaint L'Ouverture as the one noble figure in Haytian history, but shows that the bloodthirsty Dessalines is the local hero; he summarizes the history of black rule as one of steady lapse from civilization to barbarism if not to savagery, and is correspondingly pessimistic as to the future of the island; he ascribes the progressive degradation partly to the incompetence of the masses, partly to the corruption of the classes, but mainly to the persistence of the Vaudoux cult with its depressing beliefs and ghastly ceremonies running down to serpentworship and human sacrifice. The book is material for knowledge of Haiti-material rather meager and tenuous, perhaps, but direct, useful, and happily dressed. W JM.

China. By James Harrison Wilson. Third edition. With map. 8vo, pp. xxxvii + 1–422. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1901.

For many years General Wilson's work on China has been a standard authority. The, third edition includes an account of the Boxer War and of the diplomatic conferences of last fall.

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General Wilson believes that Japan will be forced to follow the lead of the three great European powers-France, Germany, and Russia-in all Chinese questions. Russia occupies an impregnable position, and will dictate her policy to France, and thus indirectly to Germany. A few hundred years from now, General Wilson believes that "universal empire will have its nucleus and seat" in China, as her "coal measures and iron deposits are commonly believed to be the most extensive and the most enduring in the world." That it will be an empire of white men and not of yellow men is the author's unhesitating conviction.

The Land of the Moors. By Budgett Meakin. Illustrated. 8vo, pp. 464. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1901. Mr. Meakin was for some years editor

of the Morocco Times, and is the author of a number of reliable books relating to the Moorish Empire-" The Moors," "The Moorish Empire," etc. The present volume deals more especially with the geographic features and the history of the exploration of Morocco. There are good chapters on the Physical Features, Mineral Resources, Vegetable Products, and Animal Life. The book is timely, as "the land of the Moors" will probably be the center of much diplomatic warfare during the next decade. The apparent alliance between Italy and France undoubtedly has some bearing upon the ultimate fate of the country. The author believes that "France is the normal heir to Morocco whenever the present empire breaks up," and thinks that England should make up her mind to the inevitable fact.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL

Meetings.

GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY

April 12, 1901.-The annual reception of the Society was held in the parlors of the Arlington Hotel. Mr. Paul Mr. Paul Du Chaillu was the guest of honor of the Society, and gave some interesting reminiscences of his life. The official, diplomatic, and social life of the Capital were the guests of the Society during the evening.

April 19, 1901.-President Graham Bell in the chair. The new by-laws for the Society, submitted and recommended by the Board of Managers, after a full discussion were unanimously adopted. The by-laws and the reasons for their adoption were published at length in the April number of this Magazine (pp. 167-'8).

Announcements.

The President announced at the meeting April 19 that the plans for the building which is to be the headquarters of the Society are advancing, and that it is hoped in a few weeks active work will be commenced.

THE ANNUAL EXCURSION ANd Field MEETING of the Society will be held at Brandywine, Del., Saturday, May 18.

As the fiscal year of the Society will hereafter begin the first of January instead of the first of June, the Board of Managers have voted to fix the dues of members for the seven months which intervene between the end of the present fiscal year, May 31, 1901, and the beginning of the next fiscal year, January 1, 1902, at $1.

THE

NATIONAL
GEOGRAPHIC
MAGAZINE

CHINA: HER HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT

BY JOHN BARRETT, FORMERLY MINISTER TO SIAM

M

YTHOLOGY plays an important part in the ancient history of China, as it does in that of the older European nations. Going back to the fabulous times of 500,000 to 1,000,000 years, it first begins to tell a story of some truth about thirty-three centuries before Christ. Fuh-hi, who reigned 2900 B. C., is commonly regarded as the first real man whose name stands out in the long dim line of ancient kings. Before him as a human monarch were ages of supernatural giants. There was Pwan-ku, who formed cosmos from chaos. For 18,000 years he labored chiseling into definite form the rude, shapeless earth. He was followed by three sovereigns who, during another . period of one hundred and eighty centuries, prepared the earth for ordinary life. Under the suggestive and appropriate names of the Celestial, Terrestrial, and Human, their deeds are sung in Chinese legends. In these tales we are told how they evolved the relations of the sexes, government, and order, and taught men to eat, drink, and sleep. They enticed fire from heaven, and with

it cooked the raw food of the soil for the better support of their protégés who were populating the valleys and plains and mountains they had created. There are no more interesting myths in the poetry and song of the ancient Greeks and Romans than can be found in the fanciful narratives of the Chinese romancers; and, if we investigate carefully the relations of China in the remote past to western Asia, we may be even convinced that the legendary lore of the former antedates the latter in its inspiration and first rehearsal to charmed and credulous ears.

EIGHT GREAT EMPERORS

Fuh-hi, the first landmark of history, and his seven successors held sway for nearly eight hundred years, an average of a century each. The atmosphere of myth still remains here, unless in the repeated songs of their achievements some lesser lights of their dynasty are forgotten. From the number stands out Hwangti, "the founder of China," as he is often portrayed, although the same

honor is given to many others and claimed by more. Hwangti's capital was in Honan, and he is described as extending the empire from Pechili to the Yangtze, while his son even extended the boundaries into Manchuria on the north and Tonkin on the south.

He is given the credit of originating the famous "Cycle of Cathay," the arbitrary period of sixty years, in honor of the sixty-first year of his reign; and he established a regular calendar. But a greater deed was the regulation of weights and measures according to the decimal system. He carried the same principle into the government of his kingdom, making ten towns one district, ten districts one department, ten departments one province, and ten provinces one empire. He built highways upon land, and boats to navigate the rivers, and generally was a wise and progressive monarch.

He was following in the footsteps of Fuh-hi, who instituted the laws of marriage and methods of agriculture and fishing.

The lyre and lute were invented by him to make his people cheerful and content. Chinese characters were devised and family names were then first known.

While all these stories of providing the necessities and of adapting the realities of life suggest a degree of truth, there is woven in with them a large measure of romance that colors their historical value. Fuh-hi attributed all his successes and glorious achievements to the dragon-horse that came out of the Yellow River bearing a scroll on its back, and possibly in this fable we have the crystallization in legendary history of the dragon conception, which plays so important a part in contemporary Chinese romance and reality—which adorns their flags and clothing, is the central figure of their art, and is remembered in their prayers.

is overshadowed by the renown of that galaxy of Chinese heroes, the Emperors Yao, Shun, and Yu, whom Confucius and Mencius, China's two greatest sages, have made immortal. Yao and Shun reigned approximately B. C. 2350-2200, and their names and deeds are known to every Chinese boy and girl. The child of mandarin or coolie will glibly describe their greatness, as the son of millionaire or pauper in America will tell you about Washington or Lincoln.

It is well to note in this connection that the characters which are admired and remembered in China today as in the past are generally men of highest attainments and lofty motives. The sterner records of history tell of evil as well as good men, but the popular narratives, songs, and poems, together with the deep philosophic works of China's wise men, give little consideration to other than the great and good. Thus has there been a continuous and notable influence for the development and betterment of the Chinese peoples from the earliest times, which has had a marked effect upon effect upon the life of the empire through its ups and downs of the past centuries. It elevates the Chinese far above and beyond any position as barbarians. It demonstrates the existence of a powerful civilization more years before the birth of Jesus of Nazareth than have elapsed since that chief event in all history startled and amazed the pagan world.

After Yao and Shun came the mighty Yu, during whose reign were two events that will never allow it to sink into entire oblivion. The first was the terrible inundation of the greater part of the then inhabited empire by China's sorrow, the Yellow River. The second was the discovery of the manufacture of wine. Which has been the worst for mankind might be difficult to determine! Yu, after he had enjoyed his first experience with the beverage, sagely re

But the glory of Fuh-hi and Hwangti marked, "The days will come when

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