not at all
uncommon, especially in poetry. The name we use comes to us from India,
when two Buddhist missionaries, who came from 'the land of Chin,'
called it China and Chintan.

"As stated before, the native Chinese line of rulers, the Ming dynasty,
conquered China in 1644, and placed the first of the Tsing monarchs on
the throne. I will not tangle up your intellects by following out the
individuals of the succession any farther than to say that the present
emperor, or Hwangti, of China is Tsait'ien, who was proclaimed as such
in January, 1875. The ruler may name his successor, for the descent is
not hereditary to his eldest son; and if he fails to do so, the default
is made good by his family. He is the ninth emperor of the Manchu or
Tartar dynasty.

"As I said, China has nineteen provinces, including the island of
Formosa, all of which are represented on the map before you. The
divisions of the country are immensely populous; though the average of
the whole to the square mile is less than that of Belgium by nearly
one-half, several of whose provinces are more densely peopled than any
in China. It is also less than the State of Rhode Island, and but a
little above that of Massachusetts,--the two States the most densely
inhabited in our own country.

"Many say that the population of China has been exaggerated; and it is
variously given at from 282,000,000 to 413,000,000, a very great
difference, and you suit yourselves with the figures if you can. Dr.
Legge thinks that 400,000,000 is not an over-estimate. The area of the
eighteen provinces is 1,336,841 square miles, to which about 15,000 may
be added for Formosa; but the area of the whole Chinese empire is
4,218,401, while that of the United States, including Alaska, is
3,501,409.

"If you look at the map, you will see that there are numerous chains of
mountains in the countries lying west of China, especially in Tibet,
while China proper has but few of them. The land generally slopes from
the several ranges to the sea, but I will not perplex you with the names
of them. The rivers, of course, flow from the mountains, and you can see
that they have space for a long course. They are generally called _ho_
in the north, and _chiang_ or _kiang_ in the south. The Ho, Hoang-ho, or
Yellow River, and the Chiang, known to us as the Yang-tsze-Chiang, must
be over three thousand miles long. I will not follow them from source to
mouth. Canton, or _Choo-Chiang_ River, which mea