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parallel lines to each other, at distances of from three | tleman who farms this fishery from Mr Martin, the to ten feet: the intermediate spaces, though appa- principal proprietor of the country. There is a very rently but a waste of rock and stone, supply the finest productive salmon-fishery below the thriving town of sheep pasture in the kingdom. Ballina, on the river Moy, from which large quantities of salmon are sent to the London market.

The great central limestone district of Ireland occupies the southern portion of this province, which to the eye forms an exception to the general character of limestone countries, appearing so exceedingly barren, that in passing over tracts of Galway and Mayo, the traveller almost doubts whether he is not journeying over a great cemetery covered with tombstones, rather than over places where the sheep could find pasture or the peasant plant potatoes. There are, however, some exceptions to this prevailing sterility, for nowhere are finer sheep-walks found than in some parts even of the southern counties of Connaught. The tillage of this province is principally confined to oats and potatoes, as best suited to the shallow mountain bog-soil, which so largely prevails in the western baronies. The extreme moisture of the climate is so inimical to the growth of wheat, that except in a few parts of Galway, Connaught cannot be said to grow its own bread-corn. There is a great export of oats and potatoes from the ports of Galway, Westport, and Sligo. With regard to husbandry, though it certainly is improving, it is yet much inferior to that of the other provinces. The landholders pride themselves on the breed of long-wooled sheep, their great source of wealth; and the celebrated Fair of Ballinasloe, where from 80,000 to 100,000 are usually sold, year after year exhibits an improvement in this branch of rural economy. Horned-cattle, and horses, especially hunters, are also bred extensively in Galway. What has been said of Munster applies in a still more aggravated degree to Connaught. The property of an absentee landlord is usually divided into portions ruinously small; and if the proprietors do not quickly interfere, deplorable consequences must result from the subdivision system. The grazing farms are let in large portions, which it is the policy of the farmer not to diminish. Rents vary from £1 to £1, 10s. an acre, except in the vicinity of the towns, where they usually rise to £2 and £3; and wages are from 10d. to 1s. a day in summer, and from 8d. to 10d. in winter.

There have been many attempts to introduce the linen manufacture into Connaught, and markets for its sale were established in Sligo, Castlebar, Westport, and Galway; but though it thrives to an extent sufficient to supply the rural population, there is reason to believe that little if any linen is exported from the province. There is, from the ports above-mentioned, a pretty large export of oats, whisky, and potatoes.

Chief Towns.

Galway, reckoned the capital of the west, and, in point of population, the fifth town in the kingdom, is situated in a valley lying between the bay which bears its name and Lough Corrib. The town is of considerable antiquity, and consists of streets and lanes huddled together without any regard to comfort or convenience. The whole partakes of the appearance of a Spanish town, the result probably of its early intercourse with Spain; and a small open space near the quay retains the name of Spanish Parade. The principal ecclesiastical buildings are the parish church of St Nicholas, founded in 1320, a Presbyterian meeting-house, and the Roman Catholic chapel. The Franciscans, Augustines, and Dominicans have monasteries here. The chief public buildings are the County Court-House, a handsome cut-stone edifice, erected in 1815, with a portico of four Doric columns; and the Tholsel, built during the civil wars of 1641. The schools in Galway are mostly under the superintendence of the Roman Catholic religious orders. There is also one on the foundation of Erasmus Smith, one belonging to the National Board, and about sixteen parish schools. Galway possesses a house of industry, an asylum for widows and orphans, a Protestant poorhouse, and a Magdalen asylum, which is supported by two benevolent Roman Catholic ladies.

The chief manufacture of Galway is flour. There are a bleach-mill and green on one of the islands, an extensive paper-mill, and several breweries and distilleries, in the town. The exports consist principally of grain, kelp, marble, wool, and provisions; the imports of timber, wine, coal, salt, hemp, tallow, and iron. In 1845, the vessels entered inwards numbered 141, of an aggregate burthen of 13,000 tons; while the vessels cleared outwards amounted to 145, with a tonnage of 15,531. In 1840 a splendid dock was opened, from which great expectations are formed of the increase of trade. A steamer in this bay is highly necessary for towing out vessels in adverse winds. In 1845 there were 18 vessels belonging to the port, with a tonnage of 2700; and the gross customs duties amounted to £28,000. In 1831, the population of the town was 27,775; and in 1841, 32,511.

Across the country in a northern direction, and also situated at the head of a bay bearing its name, stands The peasantry in Connaught are as poor as poverty Sligo, a town of a much smaller population than Galcan be without amounting to destitution; and except way, but more important as respects its commerce. It in the mountain districts, their situation is daily be- has carried on for several years a considerable trade, coming worse so much so, that poverty, in times of both export and import, and is still increasing, notwithscarcity, which, on an average, occur about once in standing the bad state of its harbour. The exports are seven years, increases to destitution, and appeals to wholly limited to agricultural produce, and of late years the richer members of the empire to save the labour-have amounted to about 60,000 pigs, worth £200,000; ing classes from actual starvation become unavoidable. 6000 black cattle, worth £60,000; 50,000 firkins The food of those who are the best off is generally dry butter, worth £125,000; 22,600 tons of oats, worth potatoes, with occasionally a herring or an egg. In £132,000; and 12,000 tons of oatmeal, worth £132,000. Connaught, the indigent peasant is reduced to a state In 1845, Sligo had about 26 vessels, with a tonnage of of greater poverty, by grasping at the temporary relief 3000; and the gross receipts of customs' duties was afforded by the system called by the Irish name of £31,000. The retail trade is extensive, articles of every gambeen (exchange), of which the principle is to fur- description in demand being supplied to a large and nish provisions to the poor, allowing time for payment, populous district. The streets in the older part of the but generally charging an exorbitant interest. This town are narrow, dirty, and ill-paved, and badly suited system has led to the most deplorable results. to the bustle of an export trade. But convenient markets have been erected, and the extension of the town, by regularly-built wide streets, is expected to remedy the inconvenience and irregularity of the older parts. Some good public buildings embellish the prominent points in and about the town, and the river Garwogue, which bears the surplus waters of Lough Gill to the bay, and turns several large flour-mills in its course, is a fine feature in the scene. The suburbs are beautiful and picturesque. In 1831 the population was 15,152; but in 1841 it was only 14,318.

There is a good salmon-fishery near the town of Galway, and one for cod, haak, and haddock, which, from the poverty of those engaged in it, prevents them from providing sufficient tackling for their boats, and is thus less productive than it might be. In some years the sun-fish, or basking-shark, are abundant off the shores of Galway, and much excellent oil is produced; but this fish is so capricious, that the fishery cannot be looked to with any certainty. The salmon of Ballinahinch are regularly sealed up in tin cases by the gen

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jections and intervening gulfs which give character to its eastern and southern seaboard. Its greatest length, along the 40th parallel, is 5500 miles; the greatest breadth, from Cape Romania in the Malayan Peninsula to North-East Cape, along the 104th meridian, 5300 miles; and area, at the lowest estimate, 16,152,000 square miles, or nearly four times that of Europe.

SUPERFICIAL FEATURES.

The physical aspect and construction of the continent exhibits every species of diversity-vast mountainchains and elevated table-lands, broad level steppes and sandy deserts, luxuriant plains watered by the largest rivers, tracts doomed to everlasting snow, or to scorching sterility, salubrious valleys of incessant verdure, and noisome jungles of the grossest growth. With such a variety of character, it is impossible to speak of it as a whole, and consequently geographers distinguish the following well-defined zones:

1. Northern or Russian Asia, including the whole of the continent north of the Altai and Iablonnoi Mountains a region traversed by large rivers, bleak and barren, suffering under an intense cold, thinly peopled, and almost physically incapable of improvement. West of the river Yenesei this tract presents a succession of

No. 67.

steppes; that is, level countries with a sandy, gravelly, or clayey bottom, destitute of trees, unless along some of the river banks, and covered partly with low shrubs, and partly with coarse grass, which affords in summer a scanty pasture. Here also there are numerous swamps and salt-marshes, and only the first stage of the ascent towards the Altai is capable of a rude cultivation. Between the Yenesei and Lena the country has more of an undulating character, is covered with forests of pine and birch, has finer pastures, but, in consequence of the cold, offers no facilities for agriculture. Eastward of this the surface becomes high, bleak, and only in sheltered situations affords a stunted growth of birch, willow, and pine; while all north of the Arctic Circle the country is one flat bog-moss or tundra, interspersed by lakes, frozen for ten months of the year, and even during summer the thaw does not penetrate beyond eight or ten inches.

2. Central Asia, lying principally between the 30th and 50th parallels having the Altai and Iablonnoi Mountains on the north, the Himalaya and Hindoo Koosh on the south, the Khing-Khan and Yun-Ling ranges on the east, and the Highlands of Tartary on the west. This region comprises Mongolia, the Desert of Kobi, Thibet, and part of Tartary, and consists of a series of

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ascending plateaux, diversified by mountain ridges, and intersected by valleys. That of Mongolia and Kobi, for example, is supposed to have an absolute elevation of not less than 3000 feet, with its ridges rising to 10,000 feet or upwards; that between the confines of China and Thibet is still more elevated, and more diversified by ridges; while that of Thibet consists of several steps, the lowest of which is said to have an absolute elevation of not less than 10,000 feet, and the highest from 12,000 to 14,000 feet. On the Tartary side the country again begins to fall, and is more diversified by sandy steppes, lakes, hill-ridges, and fine fertile valleys. The whole of the central table-land, however, must not be considered as bleak and monotonous desert; for although the higher ridges are covered with perpetual snow, and much of it is rugged and sterile, yet there are many plains affording good pasture, and sheltered valleys which produce grain, cotton, wine, and various fruits.

3. Eastern Asia, consisting of Mandshuria, China Proper, and the adjacent island of Japan; upon the whole, a low-lying and somewhat arid region, though traversed by several of the largest rivers in the world. Mandshuria is rather hilly and desert, particularly the parts towards the west and north; and the eastern coast is fenced by a rugged ridge which descends abruptly to the sea; but the interior is well-wooded, and though enduring a severe winter of four months, is capable of producing rice, cotton, and silk. China, on the other hand, is more uniform in surface, if we except the western provinces, which are intersected by numerous ramifications from the Yun-ling, Pe-ling, and other mountain-ranges. Eastward, towards the embouchures of the Hoang-Ho and Yang-tse-Kiang, the country assumes the character of an alluvial plain, extending from the 30th parallel to the Great Wall, a length of 700 miles, and ranging in breadth from 100 to 150 and 300 miles. Though part of this great plain is soft and marshy, yet, upon the whole, it is in a high state of cultivation and fertility, yielding rice, wheat, sugar, cotton, tobacco, and other produce.

4. Southern Asia, including Hindoostan, or India within the Ganges; and Birmah, Siam, Laos, Annam, and Malaya, or India without the Ganges. This is decidedly the finest region of Asia, is diversified by minor hill-ranges and well-watered valleys, enjoys a high, though not an oppressive temperature, has only a rainy season for its winter, and except during long droughts, presents in every district an unfailing verdure. India without the Ganges consists of a curious alternation of parallel ridges and valleys-the former rising to no great height, unless in the north; and the latter rather narrow, but of great fertility, though liable to inundations during the rainy season. India within the Ganges exhibits greater diversity: the plains of the Indus and Ganges (including the Punjaub, or district between the five tributaries of the former, and the sunderbunds, or alluvial delta of the latter) exhibit wellmarked features of tropical verdure and fertility; but there are also large sandy or gravelly deserts between those plains doomed to utter barrenness. South of those plains the country becomes hilly, and passes in the Deccan, or peninsular part, into a high dry table-land, fenced by the Eastern and Western Ghauts, and rendered irregular in surface by the Nilgherry and other hills.

5. Western Asia, which, with a few minor exceptions, may be said to consist of high sandy plains, studded with salt lakes, very inadequately watered by rivers, and, on the whole, a hot and arid region. It embraces Arabia, Turkey, Persia, Beloochistan, Affghanistan, and South-Western Tartary; the minor exceptions to the general character being the hilly districts of Affghanistan, Georgia, and Western Turkey. The desert steppe of Western Tartary is of no great elevation, skirts the whole of the Caspian, and passes insensibly into that sandy tract already described under Russia in Europe, p. 208. The table-land, or rather tablelands of Persia, are of varied character-high (5000 feet), rugged, and cold in the north-east; descending to 3000 feet a little farther south; and in the central

and southern parts spreading out into sandy, gravelly plains, from 1200 to 2000 feet high, only partially intersected by narrow valleys in the west, and stretching into the arid moving deserts of Beloochistan in the east. Turkey is more diversified than any other part of Western Asia; has several high ranges, the peaks of which are above the snow-line; a number of fertile valleys; a few rather bleak and elevated table-lands; some sandy and brackish tracts in the south; and the large low alluvial valley of the Tigris and Euphrates in the south-east. Arabia is altogether a high isolated table-land, consisting principally of arid, sandy desert, interspersed with hilly ridges and narrow shrubby valleys-unknown to all save the wandering tribes, who find a scanty subsistence on its plains.

GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE.

The geology of Asia is very imperfectly known: nothing like a general sketch of the succession and relation of its formations has been, or indeed can yet be, attempted. All that we know for certain is, that most of its great plains are of very recent formation; that active volcanoes are still within its limits; that its tertiary and post-tertiary deposits have, at no very distant date, been subjected to volcanic forces; and that almost all the older formations have been noticed at isolated points by successive travellers. Thus the great plain of Siberia consists of post-tertiary clays, gravels, and sands, in which the remains of elephants, rhinoceroses, and other huge animals, no longer existing there, are found in abundance; the great plain of China is strictly alluvial, and still in course of formation; so likewise are those of the Ganges and Indus; and the sandy tracts of Arabia and the west, with their petrified woods and nummulite limestones, point to a comparatively recent elevation from the waters of the ocean. The depressions of the Dead Sea, Caspian, Cutch, &c. point also to recent geological changes; while the mountain-ranges and table-lands-already described under PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY, vol. i., p. 57-seem to have been cold and permanent for ages.

Economically, coal is found in the north of China, in Syria, and in Hindoostan; salt in China, Hindoostan, West Siberia, Persia, Arabia, and Turkey; marble in Turkey; asphalte in Syria, Persia, and the Caspian; gold in Japan, China, west borders of Siberia, Birmah, and the Malayan Peninsula; silver in China, Japan, West Siberia, and Turkey; tin in China, Birmah, Siam, and the Malayan Peninsula; quicksilver in China, Thibet, Japan, Hindoostan, and Ceylon; copper in Japan, West Siberia, Thibet, Turkey, India, and Persia; iron in the Oural, India, China, Siam, Japan, Turkey, Persia, and Affghanistan; lead in China, the Cural, Turkey, Georgia, Persia, Siam, and Japan; and precious stones, including the diamond, in India, the Oural, Chinese Empire, and Persia.

HYDROGRAPHY, &c.

The seas, bays, and gulfs which indent and intersect the surface of Asia are in many respects peculiar, but in noway so remarkable as those which give character to Europe. On the north the Gulf of Obi, a large shallow basin, for ten months in the year covered with ice, is the only important inlet. On the east the large and little-known sea of Okhotsk; the island-surrounded Sea of Japan, with its volcanic coasts; the basin of the Yellow Sea, and its subordinate Gulf of Petchili, so shallow, that there is scarcely six fathoms of water 100 miles off shore; the Gulfs of Tonquin and Siam. On the south the Gulf of Martaban; the large open Bay of Bengal, terminating in the numerous navigable mouths of the Ganges; the Persian Gulf, celebrated for its pearl fisheries, about 550 miles long, and 150 in breadth, connected with the Gulf of Oman by a strait 30 miles across; the Red Sea, with its numerous islets and reefs, 1420 miles long, average breadth 135-terminating in the small Gulfs of Suez and Akaba; the former 180 miles by 22, the latter about 120 by 13.

The principal straits are those of Bab-el-Mandeb,

forming the entrance to the Red Sea, less than 20 miles across; Palk's Strait, between Ceylon and the mainland of Hindoostan; Straits of Malacca, forming the highway between the Indian and Chinese Seas, about 520 miles long, and from 25 to 180 broad; the Channels of Fokien and Formosa, on either side of that island; the Straits of Corea and La Perouse, running between Japan and the mainland of the continent; and Behring's Straits, separating Asia from America, at its narrowest part not exceeding 36 miles.

The islands more immediately connected with Asia are the Liakhov group in the Arctic Ocean; the Aleutians in the Sea of Kamtchatka; the islands of Japan; Saghalien, Formosa, Hainan, and Chusan off the coast of China; Ceylon, the Andaman and Nicobar Isles in the Indian Ocean; and Cyprus in the Levant. The Japan Isles, forming the empire of that name, consist of Niphon, Yeso, Kiusiu, Sikoke, and the Kuriles, altogether occupying an area of 266,600 square miles, of volcanic origin, subject to destructive earthquakes, of average fertility, rich in minerals, and peopled by a busy and ingenious people. The fine island of Ceylon, now a free colony, has an area of 24,500 square miles, and whether as regards its vegetable, animal, or mineral produce, is one of the most valuable of the British possessions. [The large islands of Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Celebes, &c. generally known as the East India Islands, are treated under the head MALAYSIA in a subsequent number-68, p. 281.]

CLIMATE.

The climateric effects have been already adverted to, in a general way, under the description of the respective regions; but there are certain specialities which require consideration. As a whole, the continent of Asia does not enjoy the same modifying and mollifying influences as Europe. A large proportion is situated on the confines of the Polar Circle; a still larger section raised to an enormous altitude: it lies comparatively unbroken by intersecting seas; it has no burning sandy tracts on the south to send warm breezes, as Africa does, to Europe; while even its southern tropical districts are cooled by currents from the snow-clad central plateaux. It therefore suffers what Humboldt calls an excessive climate-that is, excessively hot in summer, and excessively cold in winter, or differing greatly dur ing these seasons from the mean annual temperature. Thus excellent grapes come to maturity on the borders of the Caspian, and yet the thermometer in winter falls to-28° Fahrenheit. At Tara in Siberia the temperature of the air in July and August rises to 82°, and yet a few inches under the surface the soil remains perpetually frozen. The snow-line in the Elburz is found at 11,000 feet, on the south side of the Himalaya at 12,000 feet, and yet in Thibet the mountains are clear at an elevation of 16,000 feet. In Arabia, after a night of hoar-frost, the day-heat is often as high as 114°. At Bombay the mean annual temperature for 1844 was 814-being in January 75°, February 76°, March 794°, April 84°, May 86°, June 854°, July 82°, August 811°, September 805, October 834, November 80, and December 79°; the greatest cold experienced being 55° in January, and the greatest heat 923 in May. The wet season in the same year-that is, June, July, August, and part of September-yielded, by raingauge, upwards of 66 inches of rain.

BOTANY AND ZOOLOGY.

The lakes or inland seas of Asia constitute one of its peculiar features, most of these being salt or brackish, having no visible outlet, and in some instances considerably beneath the general level of the ocean. The largest of these is the Caspian, having a length of 760 miles, with an average breadth of 200, receiving the rivers Wolga and Oural, but with no outlet; its waters brackish, and of unknown depth, and its surface-level fully 116 feet beneath that of the Black Sea. Next is the Sea of Aral, about one-fifth of the size of the Caspian, with brackish or bitter water, receiving the The vegetation of Asia, as might be expected from its streams of the Jyhoun and Sihon, but having no river varied climate, soil, altitude, and other physical causes, of discharge. Of the same character are the smaller is more abundant and diversified than that of any lakes Tenghiz, Khasselbach, Oubsa, Koko, Bosteng, other region. The general features have been already &c.-all in the high central plateaux; and Van, Ouru- adverted to under the different regions into which we mia, Koch-Hissar, the Dead Sea, and others in West divided the continent; but in addition to these we may Asia-the last being not less than 1312 feet beneath notice the following as more especially characteristic: the level of the Mediterranean. Of fresh-water lakes Of forest trees-the teak, cedar, sycamore, cypress, with outlets, the principal are Baikal in Siberia, 400 miles long, and from 40 to 60 broad, abounding in seals and fish; Tchang, formed by the Irtish; Erivan in Armenia; Tongting, Poyang, and Hai in China; and Tabaria in Syria, 328 feet beneath the Mediterranean. Of the rivers which water the continent, a large number are of the first class; and others, though of minor volume, become interesting from their historical associations. The bleak regions of the north are traversed by the Obi, with its large tributaries Irtish and Tobol, by the Yenesei, the Lena, and Indigirka-all of which fall into the Arctic Ocean, and, from being frozen for so many months, are of little use to internal communication. In Eastern Asia we find the Amour, Hoang-ho, Yang-tse-kiang, and Hong-kiang, all of which are slow flowing rivers, and navigable for a long way into the interior. India without the Ganges is Of the animals characteristic of Asia, we may enumewatered by the rapid but little-known rivers Camboja, rate among the mammalia-the apes and monkeys of Meinam, Thaleain, and Irawady; and Hindoostan by the south; the elephant and rhinoceros of India; the the Brahmapoutra, the sacred' Ganges, and not less lion, tiger, leopard, panther, ounce, and other feline celebrated Indus, with its classical tributaries Sutluj, in the south and west; the wolf, jackal, blue and black Ravee, Chenab, and Jelum. The Ganges, though sub-fox, and numerous varieties of the dog; the horse, ass, ject to annual inundations, and to a very rapid and and dziggetai of Arabia; the common ox, buffalo, dangerous tidal bore, is one of the most valuable rivers auroch, yak, and musk ox; the elk, reindeer, axis, in the world, being, with most of its tributaries, navi- argali of Siberia, Angora goat, ibex, moufflon, and fatgable to the very basis of the mountains. The same, tailed sheep; porcupine, jerboa, curious bats, marmot, however, cannot be said of the Indus, which, though lemming, beaver, ermine, &c.; bears, badgers, gluttons, of ample volume, has an obstructive and shifting delta, sea-otters, seals, morses, manati, and other cetacea. which renders it of little avail, unless to small steamers. Among birds--the peacock, pheasant, white partIn Western Asia are the Tigris and Euphrates the ridge, and innumerable pigeons; eagle, vulture, falcon; latter, as has been recently proved, navigable for flat-parrots, paroquets, macaws, &c.; stork, heron, corbottomed steamers so high as Bir. morant, pelican; birds of paradise, and others of gay

savin, mangrove, bamboo, banyan, plantain, cocoa, and a variety of other palms, besides aloes, ebony, ironwood, rosewood, sandalwood, and other ornamental hardwoods. Of fruits-the grape, orange, shaddock, lemon, lime, tamarind, mangosteen, mulberry, olive, pomegranate, walnut, almond, cocoa, bread-fruit, cashew, betel, banana, pine-apple, melon, quince, date, apricot, and all the garden fruits known in Europe. Of spices and kindred trees and shrubs-cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, camphor, cassava, tea, coffee, cotton, sugar-cane, sago-palm, &c. Of grains, cultivated roots, &c.-rice, wheat, dhourra, maize, barley, pease, beans, lentils, and other leguminosa; potato, yam, lotus, arrowroot: of plants yielding drugs and dye-stuffs-indigo, arnatto, saffron, gamboge, galls, poppy, rhubarb, castor-oil, sarsaparilla, ginseng, and many others.

wares; India for her silk, cotton, rice, indigo, opium, coffee, and other raw produce, her bandanas, crape shawls, and similar manufactures in silk; Cashmere for its exquisite shawls; Persia for carpets; Arabia for its coffee and spices; Turkey chiefly for her abundant and varied raw products, and in less degree for her sword blades, damask silks, and interior caravan commerce.

plumage; but very few songsters. Reptiles-alligators | trade; the Japanese are celebrated for their lackered in the Indian rivers; boa constrictor, python, and a number of deadly serpents in the jungle; edible turtle; lizards, toads, and frogs. Fish, of every kind and hue, in all the rivers, lakes, and seas, including sharks, sturgeons, flying-fish, &c.; shells of the rarest beauty and elegance; and insects in innumerable species-some useful, as the silkworm, bee, and those producing cochineal, gall-nuts, lac, &c.; and others destructive and poisonous, as the locust, scorpion, and mosquito.

POPULATION INDUSTRY, &c.

COUNTRIES AND GOVERNMENTS.

The native governments of Asia are generally despotic, tempered, however, by their religious creeds and patriarchal customs. The political divisions are exceedingly unstable; for which reason we merely exhibit the countries, with their areas, population, and chief towns, devoting the remainder of our sheet to an account of the East Indies, that section of Asia in which the British reader is more especially interested :

Countries.

Siberia,
Chinese Empire,
Japan,

The inhabitants, usually estimated at 400,000,000, belong to the three great varieties-Caucasian, Mongolian, and Malay; but these, in the course of time, have broken into a number of distinct families, races, and tribes, which are extremely puzzling to the ethnologist. Without attempting any formal division, the first variety may be regarded as including the Circassians, Georgians, Armenians, Syrians, Arabs, Persians, Affghans, and Hindoos in the west and south; the second, the Tartars, Turks, Kalmucks, Mongols, Thibetans, Mandchoos, Japanese, Chinese, Birmese, and others of the central and eastern countries; and the third, the Malays, Macassars, &c. chiefly in the southeastern peninsula. Or, more generally still, the Hindoos, Chinese, Tartars, Arabs and Persians, may be said to divide among them the continent as an inheritance, giving to it languages, religions, laws, customs, and civilisation. Besides the Asiatics Proper, there Farther India, are a considerable number of Europeans located in different countries-as Russians in Siberia, Greeks in Turkey, British, French, Portuguese, and Danes in India. The prevalent religious creeds are-Mohammedanism in Turkey, Arabia, Persia, Affghanistan, Beloochistan, and parts of India; Brahminism and Bhuddism in India; Bhuddism in the Chinese Empire, Birmah, Siam, and the East; Idolatry or Feticism in Eastern Siberia; and Christianity in several forms in Turkey, Western Siberia, and European India.

As regards civilisation, whatever may have been the condition of Syria, Persia, India, and other celebrated nations of antiquity, the continent of Asia is now, with a few fractional exceptions, in a state of semi-barbarism and stagnant imbecility. Siberia has yet reaped little from Russian influence, and is for the most part physically incapable of doing so: Tartary, Thibet, Mongolia, and the whole of Central Asia, are occupied by nomadic races, whose flocks and herds constitute their sole wealth and subsistence; China and Japan, though possessing a literature, laws, and religion, though their people dwell in cities, cultivate the soil with exactitude and care, and exhibit considerable skill in the domestic arts, are little, if anything, in advance of what they were several centuries ago, being destitute of that elasticity and adaptive capacity essential to a progressive civilisation; India without the Ganges is still far from being entitled to be ranked with civilised nations; Hindoostan, with its numerous races, and once independent states, is morally and industrially, as well as politically, dead-all that British influence has yet effected being trifling in comparison with the field before it; the Affghans and Beloochees are rude, halfpastoral, half-agricultural, warlike races, only as yet in the second stage of civilised existence; Arabia and Persia have been dormant, if not retrograding, for centuries; and even Turkey, with its fertile soil, fine climate, and varied produce, is by no means entitled to be ranked with the European section of the empire of which it forms a part.

The industrial and commercial pursuits of a continent so little advanced in civilisation must necessarily be of a humble and limited description-directed more to the rearing and collecting of raw produce for export, than to the arts and manufactures. Mining constitutes the chief industrial feature in Western Siberia; the Chinese rear tea, cotton, silk, and rice, manufacture silk and cotton stuffs, porcelain, firearms, gunpowder, books, and toys, and carry on a considerable coasting

Tartary,
Turkey,
Arabia,
Persia, &c.
Affghanistan,
Beloochistan,
Hindoostan,

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The European powers having possessions in Asia are Russia, occupying the whole of Siberia, partly as a mineral and trading region, and partly as a penal settlement: Britain, which has acquired the ascendancy, if not the actual possession, of the most of Hindoostan, Ceylon, Assam, Chittagong, various settlements on the Birmese and Malayan coasts, the valuable little island of Sincapore in the Straits of Malacca, the islet of Hong Kong at the mouth of the Canton river in China, and the rocky peninsula of Aden in Arabia: France, which owns the small districts or factories of Pondicherry, Villenour, Chandernagore, Gonjam, Carical, Mahé, &c. on the coasts of Hindoostan: Portugal, which still possesses the maritime districts of Damaun, Diu, Goa, and Margaon and Denmark, which, since the British purchase of Serampore in 1846, has only the small territory and seaport of Tranquebar in the Carnatic.

Note. The following descriptive words are of frequent occur. rence:-In China the termination foo denotes a town of the first class; tcheou, one of the second; hien, one of the third; hou, lake; ho, river; kiang, river; keou, mouth. In Hindoostandroog, fort; gur, ghur, castle; bazar, market-place; cherry, abad, dwelling or city; poor, pore, puram, town; pałam, town; city; nagore, nuggur, town; serai, inn; cot, colta, fort; war,

warra, region; stán, a country; giri, mountain; gherry, hill;

In

ghaut, mountain-pass; ab, aub, water or river; jecl, shallow lake; maha, great; nil, blue; diva, dive, island. In Persia and Arabia-jebel, hill; nahr, river; ras, cape; hissar, fortress; meshed, mosque; deh, village; kasr, castle; gherd, fortress; koh, mountain-peak; bostan, garden; tagh, dagh, mountain. Palestine ain, en, fountain; baal, temple; bahr, sea or lake; beth, house or dwelling; kirjath, city; ramah, high ground; wady, valley. In Turkey-dagh, tagh, mountain; koom, desert; denghiz, dengis, lake; chai, river; pol, poli, city; grad, grade, fortress; shehr, town; serai, palace; kelissa, kelisch, church; khan, inn; hissar, castle; koč, koi, village; bazaar, bazar, market;

eski, old; novi, neo, new; yeni, young; bala, upper; buyuck, great; jik, kutchuk, little; ak, white; kara, black; kizil, red.

other Asiatic nations, is proved by their extensive exportation *The superior industry of the Chinese, as compared with of manufactured articles. To those above enumerated we may add-alum, white and red lead, brass leaf, zinc, glass - beads, paper-hangings, table and floor mats, &c. Besides exporting native productions, China is also an entrépôt for those of the adjacent countries, and occasionally even for those of Europe.

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