vince "Tiensheng" the country of the "converse streams."

Within the borders of Yuennan there are said to be more than a hundred
tribes of aborigines all more or less akin to those of Kweichau
and Burma, but each under its own separate chief. Some of them
are fine-looking, vigorous people; but the Chinese describe them
as living in a state of utter savagery. Missionaries, however,
have recently begun work for them; and we may hope that, as for
the Karens of
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Burma, a better day will soon dawn on the Yuennan aborigines.

The French, having colonies on the border, are naturally desirous
of exploiting the provinces of this southern belt, and China is
intensely suspicious of encroachment from that quarter.

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CHAPTER XI

NORTHWESTERN PROVINCES

_Shansi--Shensi--Earliest Known Home of the Chinese--Kansuh_

Of the three northwestern provinces, the richest is Shansi. More
favoured in climate and soil than the other members of the group, its
population is more dense. Divided from Chihli by a range of hills,
its whole surface is hilly, but not mountainous. The highlands give
variety to its temperature--condensing the moisture and supplying
water for irrigation. The valleys are extremely fertile, and of
them it may be said in the words of Job, "As for the earth, out of
it cometh bread: and underneath it is turned up as it were fire."
Not only do the fields yield fine crops of wheat and millet, but
there are extensive coal measures of excellent quality. Iron ore
also is found in great abundance. Mining enterprises have accordingly
been carried on from ancient times, and they have now, with the
advent of steam, acquired a fresh impetus. It follows, of course,
that the province is prolific of bankers. Shansi bankers monopolise
the business of finance in all the adjacent provinces.

Next on the west comes the province of Shensi, from _shen_, a
"strait or pass" (not _shan_ a "hill"), and _si_, "west."

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Here was the earliest home of the Chinese race of which there is
any record. On the Yellow River, which here forms the boundary of
two provinces, stands the city of Si-ngan where the Chou dynasty
set up its throne in the twelfth century B. C. Since that date
many dynasties have made it the seat of empire. Their palaces have
disappeared; but most of them have left monumental inscriptions
from which a connected history might be extracted. To us the most
interesting monument is a stone, erected