Marco Polo in the latter part of the 13th century, and Friar John of Montecorvino, afterwards archbishop of Cambaluc, in the beginning of the 14th, speak of the descendants of Prester John as holding territory under the great khan in a locality which can be identified with the plain of KukuKhotan, north of the great bend of the Yellow river and about 280 m.
The next succeeding parallel range, the Koko-shili, which is continued eastwards by the Bayan-khara-ula, between the upper headstreams of the Hwang-ho or Yellow River and the Yangtszekiang, belongs orographically to the plateau of Tibet.
In the account of Lord Macartney's embassy, which crossed the Yellow river in 1792, it was calculated to be 17,520 million cub.
The southern chain bears the names of Karaadzirga and Burkhan-ola, and terminates in about 99 0; but the northern range, the principal names of which are Artsi-bogdo and Saikhat, extends probably most of the way to the great northward bend of the Hwang-ho or Yellow River round the desert of Ordos.
The city, which lies in the valley of the present channel of the Yellow river (Hwang-Ho), and about 4 m.
