considerable, gold, silver, copper, and iron occurring in the mountains, with many precious gems, rubies, sapphires, and amethysts.-Most of the large quadrupeds of India are found among the native animals.

333. The Indo-Chinese peninsula comprehends various political divisions, the boundaries of which are not very clearly defined, nor can the population be given otherwise than as the result of probable conjecture:

1. The Burmese empire occupies the north-west, and comprises considerably more than one-fourth of the peninsula, extending from Assam southwards to the mouths of the Irawaddy. The southern part of this district, consisting of alluvial plains bordering the sea-coast, is inhabited by the Peguese, and was included in the kingdom of Pegu before its dismemberment; the northern part, a hilly country, is the seat of the dominant race, or Burmese; but no fewer than eighteen different tribes and nations have been enumerated in the empire, all Buddhists in religion, very low in the scale of civilization, grossly sensual, and under a perfectly despotic form of government. 2. The kingdom of Siam stretches around the head of the gulf of that name, and embraces a large tract of the interior of the country, with the upper portion of the narrow peninsula of Malacca. The character of the people, their political institutions, religion, and habits, correspond to those of the Burmese; but scarcely half the inhabitants are Siamese, the remainder consisting of races found in other parts of the peninsula, with Hindoos and Chinese. 3. The empire of Annam extends along the eastern coast, and consists of three principal divisions, formerly separate kingdoms, Tonquin in the north, Cambodia in the south, and CochinChina intermediate. Besides the indigenous races, who closely resemble their neighbours, there are colonies of strangers,-Malays, who retain Mohammedanism, with

Portuguese emigrants from Malacca, who profess Christianity, and many Chinese. 4. The country of the Laos is a mountainous inland region, inclosed by the preceding states, with China in the north. The race is widely diffused beyond its bounds in a subject state; but in this district the free Laos form a number of independent tribes, under chiefs whose government is patriarchal. They are a peaceful people, if left to themselves, industrious in their habits, honest in their dealings, exporting raw silk and mining produce, and exhibiting a striking contrast to the adjoining communities in manliness and morality. 5. Malaya, the southern portion of the peninsula of Malacca, is held by a number of petty Malay tribes, Mohammedans in religion, barbarous, ferocious, and piratical. 6. The British possessions consist of the provinces on the west coast ceded by Burmah in the year 1826; the island of Penang and Wellesley province on the adjoining mainland; the small detached territory of Malacca; and the island of Singapore.

Ava, the Burman capital, on the left bank of the Irawaddy; Sagaing, on the opposite bank; Amarapoora, "town of immortality," immediately contiguous; and Rangoon, a port near the mouth of the river, the chief towns of the empire, consist mostly of low thatched dwellings.

Bankok, the capital of Siam, on the Meinam, near the sea, with its suburbs, comprises a population estimated at 100,000, residing in junks on the river, or in bamboo huts.

Hue, the capital of Annam, is small but strongly fortified, on the coast of Cochin China. Kesho, in the province of Tonquin, the largest town of the empire, is supposed to number 150,000 inhabitants; and Saigon, in the province of Cambodia, the most commercial place, has at least 100,000.

Throughout the peninsula, excepting royal residences and temples, the buildings are very poor, chiefly of wood, one storey high, thatched with reeds.

The British provinces of Martaban, Yeh, Tavoy, and Tenasserim, form a continuous strip of territory along the coast, south of the Gulf of Martaban, and are included in the presidency of Bengal. Moulmein, the capital, on the river Saluen, the boundary from the Burman empire, consisted only of a few huts, with stupendous ruins, in a vast forest, when the country came into the hands of the British, in 1826, but numbered 17,000 inhabitants in 1839.

The island of Penang, officially called Prince of Wales' Island, off the west coast of Malaya, was acquired by the East India Company in 1785; and the small province of Wellesley, on the mainland, was obtained in 1800. The island derives its name from the magnificent betel-nut (Penang) palm. Georgetown is the capital.

The district of Malacca is a maritime portion of Malaya, on the western side, about the size of the county of Leicester, ceded by the Dutch to Great Britain in 1825. The town of Malacca, the capital of the settlement, is of interest for the Anglo-Chinese College, founded in 1818, by Drs. Morrison and Milne, for the cultivation of European and Chinese literature.

The island of Singapore, divided by a very narrow channel from the south extremity of Malaya, bears the native name of Ujong Tanna, or Land's End. The town of Singapore, which gives its name to the island, is termed by the Malays Singapoora, meaning the "city of the lion." Obtained by Great Britain in 1818, it has become one of the most important commercial sites of the east. Penang, Malacca, and Singapore, completely command the Strait of Malacca, which separates the continent from the Island of Sumatra, the best and most frequented commercial route from India to China.

The languages of the Indo-Chinese countries are monosyllabic, allied to the Chinese, with polysyllabic terms engrafted from Hindoo and other sources. The Burmese is remarkable for the same objects and actions being denoted differently in relation to the higher classes and ordinary individuals. The boiled rice of the common people is ta-men, but a priest's is denoted by soone. The ordinary term for eating is tsah, but in the case of a priest, the word is pong-bay. The principal exports are various kinds of timber, scented and ornamental woods. raw cotton and silk, sugar, betel-nuts and peppers, gamboge, caoutchouc, gutta-percha, and precious stones. Gamboge, or camboge, a gum resin, derives its name from Cambodia, or Camboja, where the best kind is obtained, from the bruised leaves and tender branches of a tree growing there. Gutta-percha, or more properly, gutta-taban, is the concrete juice of a large forest tree, indigenous to Malaya and the adjoining countries. In the first three and a half years after the knowledge of the article was acquired, 270,000 taban-trees were probably felled.

CHINESE EMPIRE.

334. The Chinese dominions are inclosed by Asiatic Russia on the north, Turkestan on the west, India and the Indo-Chinese peninsula on the south, and the arms of the Pacific Ocean on the east. These limits comprehend an area very far exceeding that of the whole of Europe, amounting to not less than 5,000,000 of square miles, equal to nearly one-third of the Asiatic continent, and to one-tenth of the entire habitable globe. Hence the empire has the native designation Teen-hea, "Under Heaven," in allusion to its extent. The oceanic boundary of this vast tract consists of a number of close seas and gulfs formed by the continent and its archipelagoes, and by openings into the main-land. Of these, proceeding from north to south, the Gulf of Tartary divides Mantchonia from the island of Saghalien or Tarakai; the Sea of Japan separates the peninsula of Corea and the Japanese group; the Yellow Sea, and its northern extremity, the Gulf of Pechee-lee lies between the north of China Proper and the Corean peninsula; the Chinese Sea extends between the south of China Proper and the Philippine Islands; and the Gulf of Tonquin is situated between the extreme southern province of the empire, the territory of Annam, and the island of Hainan. The Yellow Sea is so called from the colour of its waters, which are charged with a vast amount of sediment brought down by the rivers, and deposited in its bed, rendering it extremely shallow. The Chinese Sea is remarkable for its typhoons, or tremendous hurricanes, which are the occasion of dreadful destruction and ruin. They seldom occur, however, oftener than once in three or

four years, are limited to the interval from June to November inclusive, and have their approach indicated by the threatening appearance of the sky, and a fall of the barometric column.-China Proper, as distinguished from the empire, comprises only about one-fourth of its extent, the south-eastern region, but is still an immense tract, stretching 1,500 miles from north to south, by 1,100 from east to west. It has a coast-line of 2,500 miles, a land-frontier of 4,400 miles, and an area estimated at 1,300,000 square miles. The important islands are Formosa, Hainan, Chusan, Hong-kong, and Heang-shan.

Formosa, "beautiful," so called by the Portuguese, from its rich and beautiful appearance, lies off the east coast, and extends about 250 miles in length, by 80 in breadth. Aboriginal Malay tribes occupy the eastern side of the island, divided from the Chinese on the western by a chain of mountains rising about 10,000 feet, and reaching the snow-line. Coal, in abundance, and of good quality, has recently been discovered.

Hainan, a large island contiguous to the south coast, is inhabited partly by Chinese, and partly by rude native tribes in the interior.

Chusan, at the southern entrance to the estuary of the Yang-tse-kiang, is comparatively small, but fertile and populous, surrounded by a great archipelago of lesser islets. Ting-hai, its capital, was taken by the British in 1840, but subsequently abandoned.

Hong Kong, "sweet waters," at the mouth of the estuary that leads to Canton, is a rocky islet about 15 miles in circuit, important as a British possession, the seat of the trade with China, obtained by Great Britain in 1842. The island is about 100 miles from Canton, and 40 from Macao. The strait which separates it from the mainland is in some places barely a mile in breadth. The bay is one of the finest in the world for commodious and safe anchorage. The population, scarcely 1,000 in 1842, amounted to 20,069 in 1847. The capital of the colony has received the name of Victoria.

Heang-shan, a considerable island in the river of Canton, contains on a peninsula the Portuguese town of Macao, called in Chinese Aou-mun, “the entrance to the bay.' The site of the settlement was given by the emperor to the Portuguese in 1586, in return for assistance rendered by them against pirates. Near the town, a cave and garden are shown, as the favourite haunt of Camoens, where he wrote the greatest part of his poem "The Lusiad."-Population 30,000. The following descriptive terms are of common occurrence in the geography of China:

Pe, north; nan, south; tung, east; see, west. Hence with king, court, we have Pe-king, the north-court; Nan-king, the south-court; Tung-king, the east-court, as having been, at different periods, imperial residences.

Shan, mountain. Thian Chan or Shan, Celestial Mountains; Shan-tung, east of the mountains; Shan-see, west of the mountains.

Hoo, lake. Hoo-nan, south of the lake.

Ho, river, and kiang, river. Hoang-ho, yellow-river; Si-kiang, pearl-river; Yang-tse-kiang, river of the son of the ocean.

The provinces are distributed into three classes, denominated foo, chew, and hien, terms of rank. Their capitals are denoted in like manner; those which have foo appended to their names being cities of the first rank; chew, of the second; and hien, of the third.

335. China, properly so called, has a large extent of mountainous surface, especially on the western side, where there is a considerable number of snow-capped summits, and from that quarter several ranges branch off eastward,

approaching the shores of the Pacific Ocean. One of the best known of these lateral ranges is the Nan-ling, or southern chain, which interrupts the water communication between Canton and Peking, and gives employment to an immense number of porters transporting goods through the passes. Only the loftier parts of the highlands are uncultivated, their declivities, and the lower mountains, being carefully planted with timber-trees. The hills in various districts are covered with camellias, or crowned with orange-trees, while their sides are largely converted into terraces, planted with rice, and watered from reservoirs in which the rain is collected at the top. But a vast portion of the surface is an alluvial plain, which stretches from the north of Peking, along the Yellow Sea to the south of Nanking, and comprehends upwards of 200,000 square miles, equal to seven times the size of the plain of Lombardy, to which its general aspect corresponds. This extensive tract is variously low and swampy, furnishing valuable rice-grounds, or dry and firm, but carefully irrigated, and so fertile as to form the richest and most populous granary in the world. It is intersected from west to east by the two great rivers of the country, the Yang-tse-kiang and Hoang-ho, which have their sources not far from each other in Thibet, and, after separating for more than a thousand miles, are very little more than a hundred miles apart at their entrance into the Yellow Sea. The former river is the largest in the empire, about sixty miles wide at its mouth, but divided there into two branches by an island, formerly styled "the tongue of the river," and used as a place of banishment for criminals. The capacities of this magnificent stream for navigation were fully proved during the British campaign of 1842, when it was ascended by a fleet of more than seventy vessels as far as Nanking, a distance of 225 miles. The Si-kiang, in the south, which passes by Canton and the Pei-ho, in the north, which falls into the Gulf of Pe-chee-le, are the other principal rivers, besides which irrigation is promoted, and internal communication maintained by an extensive system of canals, of which the Grand or Imperial Canal is the largest ever constructed.

336. Among mineral productions the precious metals occur in small quantities. There are rich mines of copper,