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THE SHỦ KING.
PART III.
confined within its proper limits. The (waters of that of) Ko were led to (the marsh of) Măng-ků.
The soil of this province was mellow; in the lower parts it was (in some places) rich, and in others) dark and thin. Its fields were the highest of the middle class; and its contribution of revenue was the average of the highest class, with a proportion of the very highest. Its articles of tribute were varnish, hemp, fine cloth of dolichos fibre, and the boehmerea. The baskets were full of chequered silks, and of fine floss silk. Stones for polishing sounding-stones were rendered when required.
They floated along the Lo, and so reached the Ho.
9. The south of (mount) Hwa and the Blackwater were (the boundaries of) Liang Kâu ?.
The (hills) Min and Po were made capable of cultivation. The Tho and Khien streams were conducted by their proper channels. Sacrifices were offered to (the hills) Zhâi and Mâng on the regulation (of the country about them).* (The country of) the wild tribes about the Ho was successfully operated on.
i Liang Kau was an extensive province, and it is a remarkable fact that neither the dominions of the Shang nor the Kâu dynasty, which followed Hsia, included it. Portions of it were embraced in the Yü and Yung provinces of Kau, but the greater part was considered as wild, savage territory, beyond the limits of the Middle Kingdom. It is difficult to believe that the great Yü operated upon it, as this chapter would seem to indicate. The Hwa at its north-eastern corner is the western mountain of Shun. The Black-water, or 'the Kiang of the Golden Sands,' is identified with the present La. The province extended over most of the present Sze-khüan, with parts of Shen-hsî and Kan-sû. I can hardly believe, as many do, that it extended far into Yün-nan and Kwei-kâu.
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