Yang-tse-Kiang ( yăng′ tsē-kǐ-äng′), the principal river of Asia, the “girdle of China,” connecting all its central provinces between Tibet and Koko-Nor and the Pacific. Its entire length through all its numerous windings under various names cannot be less than 3,000 miles. To name the cities on the banks and tributaries of this rival of the Mississippi would be to enumerate a large portion of the cities of the empire. It is navigable by the largest vessels for 900 miles from its mouth and by smaller ones for a much greater distance.