NOTE 1. - SIJU can scarcely be other than Su-t'sien (Sootsin of Keith
Johnston's map) as Murray and Pauthier have said. The latter states that
one of the old names of the place was Si-chau, which corresponds to that
given by Marco. Biot does not give this name.
The town stands on the flat alluvial of the Hwang-Ho, and is approached by
high embanked roads. (Astley, III. 524-525.)
[Sir J.F. Davis writes: "From Sootsien Hien to the point of junction
with the Yellow River, a length of about fifty miles, that great stream
and the canal run nearly parallel with each other, at an average distance
of four or five miles, and sometimes much nearer." (Sketches of China,
I. p. 265.) - H.C.]
[Illustration: Sketch Map, exhibiting the VARIATIONS of the TWO GREAT
RIVERS OF CHINA Within the Period of History]
NOTE 2. - We have again arrived on the banks of the Hwang-Ho, which was
crossed higher up on our traveller's route to Karajang.
No accounts, since China became known to modern Europe, attribute to the
Hwang-Ho the great utility for navigation which Polo here and elsewhere
ascribes to it. Indeed, we are told that its current is so rapid that its
navigation is scarcely practicable, and the only traffic of the kind that
we hear of is a transport of coal in Shan-si for a certain distance down
stream.
