Tou Ch'eng is two days' march west of Kwei-hwa Ch'eng,
"On the loess hill behind this place are the ruins of a large camp,
Orch'eng, in all likelihood the site of the old town" (l.c. 18). M. Bonin
(J. As. XV. 1900, 589) shares Mr. Rockhill's opinion. From Kwei-hwa
Ch'eng, M. Bonin went by the valley of the Hei Shui River to the Hwang Ho;
at the junction of the two rivers stands the village of Ho-k'au (Ho-k'ou)
south of the small town To Ch'eng, surmounted by the ruins of the old
square Mongol stronghold of Tokto, the walls of which are still in a good
state of preservation. - (La Geographie, I. 1901, p. 116.)
On the other hand, it is but fair to state that Palladius (21) says: "The
name of Tenduc obviously corresponds to T'ien-te Kiun, a military post,
the position of which Chinese geographers identify correctly with that of
the modern Kuku-hoton (Ta tsing y t'ung chi, ch. on the Tumots of
Kuku-hoton). The T'ien-te Kiun post existed under this name during the
K'itan (Liao) and Kin Dynasties up to Khubilai's time (1267); when under
the name of Fung-chow it was left only a district town in the department of
Ta-t'ung fu. The Kin kept in T'ien-te Kiun a military chief, Chao-t'ao-
shi, whose duty it was to keep an eye on the neighbouring tribes, and to
use, if needed, military force against them. The T'ien-te Kiun district was
hardly greater in extent than the modern aimak of Tumot, into which
Kuku-hoton was included since the 16th century, i.e. 370 li from north to
south, and 400 li from east to west; during the Kin it had a settled
population, numbering 22,600 families."
In a footnote, Palladius refers to the geographical parts of the Liao
shi, Kin shi, and Yuen shi, and adds: "M. Polo's commentators are wrong
in suspecting an anachronism in his statement, or trying to find Tenduc
elsewhere."
We find in the North-China Herald (29th April, 1887, p. 474) the
following note from the Chinese Times: "There are records that the
position of this city [Kwei-hwa Ch'eng] was known to the builder of the
Great Wall. From very remote times, it appears to have been a settlement
of nomadic tribes. During the last 1000 years it has been alternately
possessed by the Mongols and Chinese. About A.D. 1573, Emperor Wan-Li
reclaimed it, enclosed a space within walls, and called it Kwei-hwa
Ch'eng."
Potanin left Peking on the 13th May, 1884, for Kuku-khoto (or
Kwei-hwa-Ch'eng), passing over the triple chain of mountains dividing the
Plain of Peking from that on which Kuku-khoto is situate. The southernmost
of these three ridges bears the Chinese name of Wu-tai-shan, "the mountain
of five sacrificial altars," after the group of five peaks, the highest of
which is 10,000 feet above the sea, a height not exceeded by any mountain
in Northern China.
