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LANCHOW
Lanchow lies in the valley of the Hwang-ho, closely hemmed in between hills and mountains. In the N mountains come up to it, dipping steeply into the bed of the river opposite thee town. A suburb, about 2/3 of a mile long, has been built on their lowest slope, the houses standing in two rows on either side of the road from Ping fan. At its E end, at the foot of the mountains which are lower here and much less steep, there is a smaller suburb surrounded by a clay wall of insignificant dimensions. In the W, however, the suburb is bounded by a spur of the mountains falling almost perpendicularly into the river. A gate as wide as an arbah has been cut in it - the only ingress into Lanchow from the W on this side of the river. Further E the mountains withdraw from the river, the flat, sandy bank of which forms an open space of 1/3 to 2/3 of a mile in width here. A narrow cleft with steep mountain sides divides the suburb in two. In the E a tilled, flat valley extends, 1-2 miles wide. Close to its NE corner there is a group of impanjes, surrounded by crenellated clay walls. A few single houses, usually surrounded by a few trees, stand further off. The whole of the SE part of the valley is occupied by a cemetery, several miles in length and extending to the foot of the mountains in the S. In the S there are scattered houses on the ground between the town and the mountains from the height of the military school and further W they are built closer and closer to each other until they completely fill the narrow strip of land between the wall and the spur of rock in the SW. Four square towers of brick have been built on the nearest hill. Their size is about 8 fathoms in width and length, 10 fathoms in height, and they are provided with a crenellated parapet and a gun embrasure on each side. The very dilapidated clay wall of the Manchurian town is 3 1/2-4 fathoms high and provided with a crenellated parapet of brick. The E gate is open, the others being walled up. 2 deep clefts come up to the N and W walls of the fortress. The space between the river and the löss hills is well tilled, inhabited and covered with fruit-trees. The road from Ping fan via Sin-cheng follows this bank of the river.
The inner town is densely populated and intersected by many streets and lanes. It is surrounded by a mighty wall of baked bricks which reaches a height of 10 fathoms on the river side. The other sides are slightly lower. The wall and corner projections are inconsiderable. The gate projections are of the usual size. The E gate is protected by two walls, of which the inner wall slightly dominates the outer one. The usual large wooden pagodas over the gates; small clay buildings on the other wall projections, except towards the river. A fosse, 6-7 fathoms wide, with flowing water, runs outside the town, except on the river side. In front of the gates the fosse has been led underground and in other places it is screened by rows of closely built houses. The outer town is enclosed by a wall of beaten clay, 4 1/2-5 fathoms high and provided with a crenellated parapet of brick. Its NW part forms a separate fortress enclosed by a similar wall enveloped by the outer town. The few wall projections are insignificant. The gates have no outer protection. The W, S and both E gates are crowned by brick towers with gun embrasures in 4 storeys, 6 in each row on the sides facing the town and outward and 2 in the two others. See illustration. The S and the southern of the two gates facing E also support similar towers on their corner projections, but with gun embrasures in two storeys, 2 in a row on each of the 4 sides. The space inside the wall is densely populated and has good communications. There are suburbs of small size outside the gates, except those outside the SW and W gates, which form a connected mass which entirely encloses the SW corner and W side of the town. Quite close to the wall there is a fosse, about 3 fathoms wide and about 2 fathoms deep. It deos not, however, enclose the separate NW part of te towm. - Drawn by the author. |
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