homage to the British government. The LACADIVES are a cluster of 17 islands, due west of Malabar, between 100 and 120 N. latitude, and 720 and 74° E. longitude. Only eight are inhabited, and the total population is only 6,000. They are of like formation with the Maldives, but produce little of commercial value. South of the Maldives is situated the CHAGOS GROUPE, consisting generally of coral rocks and shoals, and quite uninhabitable, and worthless for any purpose whatever. They are merely worth noticing as dangers to be avoided by the mariner.

FURTHER INDIA.

(INDIA BEYOND THE GANGES.-CHIN-INDIA.) THIS extensive region lies to the south-east of Hindoostan, and soeth-west of China, is possessed by several distinct nations, and divided politically into various independent states and foreign settlements. It forms one geogra phical region, and as such we shall first describe its general physical features, and then proceed to the particular description of the countries which it comprehends.

This region forms a large peninsula, projecting from the borders of In dia and China southwards into the Indian Ocean, and terminates in the long narrow promontory of Malacca. The surface is occupied with severa! ranges of mountains, which extend from north to south, forming between them wide valleys and maritime lowlands, which are drained and watered by large rivers, the remote sources of which are found in the mountain regions between India and China. The principal rivers are the Irawaddy, Saluen or Thaluen, Meinam, and May-kuang or river of Cambodia, all flowing in a general direction, from north to south, and emptying into the gulfs and bays of the southern coast. The shores are very irregular, and being lined with innumerable small islands, some of them very small, the adjacent seas are difficult to navigate. The only islands which deserve particular notice are Tantalem, Junk-ceylon, and Penang. TANTALEM lies at the south-west side of the Gulf of Siam, is about 70 miles in length, and is separated from the mainland by a narrow channel, which, at the northern end, is bare at low water. No part of it is cultivated or inhabited except that which contains a portion of the town of Sungeora. JUNK-CEYLON lies off the western coast of the peninsula, and is the most densely populated portion of this part of the Siamese territory. The island is of granite formation, and possesses very rich lead mines. It is nearly 40 miles long by 12 or 15 broad, and is separated from the continent by a very narrow and shallow channel. PENANG, belonging to the British, lies south of Junk-ceylon.

With the exception of the Malays, who inhabit the southern promontory which bears their name, and the negro tribes who inhabit the interior of the same narrow tract, the whole of this extensive region is peopled by many nations of the same physical type, forming a sort of intermediate variety between the Mongol and Malay races, but more nearly resembling the former. They are in general shorter than either the Chinese or Hin

doos; they are robust, active, and well-proportioned, but not so graceful as their neighbors of the west; their complexion is a light brown; but in this there is great diversity. The face is flat, with high cheek-bones; the hair abundant, black, lank and coarse, but the beard is scanty; and their language exhibits the same simplicity, poverty and deficiency with the monosyllabic languages of China and Thibet. Three distinct languages prevail amongst them the Birmese, which is spoken in Ava and Arracan; the Siamese, in Siam and Lao; and the Anamese, in Tonquin and CochinChina. Pegu, however, is said to have an original dialect, called the Mon, of which too little is known to determine its relation to the others. The sacred language of Birmah is the Pali-the Birmese have also borrowed the Sanscrit alphabet; their legal code is one of the commentaries upon the institutes of Menu; and in these and some other respects they discover their affinity to the Hindoos; while the Siamese, Anamese, and Peguans, bear a more strongly-marked resemblance to the Chinese.

The governments of all the native states are pure despotisms. Even the names of their emperors must not be pronounced during their lives, under pain of death; and these dread names are only confided to a small number of favorite courtiers. In Birmah, Siam, and Anam, every man above twenty years of age, except priests and public functionaries, is obliged to devote not less than every third year of his life to the public service, either as a soldier or as laborer. Emigration is considered as a treasonable offence, and equivalent to a theft of the prince's property. There exists, however, throughout the country, in spite of these despotic acts, a great degree of order and regularity. Civil and criminal justice is administered with remarkable decency, and the enjoyment of life and property is more secure than in other Asiatic states. The administrative forms among the Birmese and Siamese are of interminable slowness; but in Cochin-China the activity of the government is equally vigorous and rapid. The emperors of Anam and Siam acknowledge themselves vassals of China, and as such pay tribute to the emperor; but this is merely formal, for China has never interfered in the affairs of either government. The savage tribes live under their respective chiefs, who are more or less oppressive; but some of them enjoy a considerable degree of liberty.

The people have made but little progress in the useful or fine arts. They excel, nevertheless, in gilding; in a kind of varnished work, ornamented with rich mosaic; in mother-of-pearl; idols, from the smallest size to the most colossal; in certain kinds of gold and silver work; in common pottery, and in the building of ships and boats. The Cochin-Chinese are adepts in naval architecture and navigation; and in everything pertaining to the military art, in which they have been encouraged by the French. In all other respects they are inferior; they cannot make cotton cloths, like the Hindoos; porcelain, like the Japanese; or silk, like the Chinese. They, however, make coarse cotton cloths for their own use; also light silk stuffs, which formerly, in the infancy of European manufactures, were eagerly sought for in the markets. The large towns are the principal seats of industry. In Birmah agriculture is chiefly conducted by the Karyan, the Khyan, and other tribes, who do not congregate in towns and some of whom have not even ceased to be nomadic.

The commerce of this region has of late years been rapidly developing itself, and its connection with foreign states has become much closer than

formerly. The commerce of Siam has long been monopolized by the Chinese, who are the merchants, navigators and seamen, of the empire; 140 or 150 junks, of 35,000 or 40,000 tons burden, sail yearly to China; and 40 or 50 to Sincapore, which is also frequented by junks from CochinChina. Besides the commerce carried on in Birmah by European ships, the Birman boats trade to a considerable extent along the coast of Arracan and Calcutta. Commerce of some importance is also carried on by land between the British and Birman territories, between Birmah and China, and between China and Tonquin. But with Siam the Birmese have no commercial relations; an implacable hatred and continual warfare exists between the two states. Their respective frontiers have the appearance of a desert, and slavery awaits the unfortunate adventurer who passes his own limits, and has the misfortune to fall into the snares which these people respectively lay for each other. The principal articles of export are cotton, silk, tea, hard woods, gums, drugs, sugar, oil, ivory, pepper, bird's-nests, precious stones, iron, and varnished works. The imports consist of European and Chinese manufactures generally, and the agricultural products of China and other native states. The inland trading-places are Ava, Prome, and Bhamo, in Birmah; and Ketsho, in Anam. The maritime ports are Sincapore, Georgetown, Ragoon, Bankok, Chantibou, Saigon, Huehan or Faifo, and Touron or Hansan.

Further India may be divided into six political regions, the names, extent and population of which are exhibited in the annexed table:

THIS Country lies between 15° 45′ and 27° 20′ north latitude, and between 930 and 99° east longitude, being about 800 miles in length, and 300 in breadth, and containing an area of about 200,000 square miles. The southern portions of the country are low and champagne, the middle region elevated and hilly, and further north it is decidedly mountainous. It is watered by the Saluen, Setang, Irawaddy, and Kyen-duen, all of which have a southerly course, marking the character of the country as a plain, inclined from north to south. Birmah has a sea-coast of about 240 miles, extending from Cape Negrais to the mouth of the Saluen. It contains a large number of lakes, but the most extensive are situated at the north.

Geologically, Birmah may be divided into three regions, viz. the low alluvial tract of the south, the secondary and tertiary formations, between 180 and 220, and the primary mountain district of Ava on the north. The first is remarkably destitute of minerals; but the two last contain limestone, marble, gems, iron, gold, silver, copper, tin, lead, antimony, amber, coal, petroleum, nitre, natron, and salt. The petroleum is used everywhere by

the Birmese, in place of oil, for their lamps. The forests furnish a number of valuable woods and gums. Birman agriculture embraces rice, maize, millet, wheat, pulse, palms, sugar-canes, tobacco, cotton, and indigo. Rice is the great object of industry throughout the kingdoin. The useful animals domesticated are the ox, the buffalo, the horse, and the elephant. Wild animals and game are numerous. The most remarkable quadrupeds are the elephant, rhinoceros, hog, deer, ox, buffalo, bear, otter, tiger, leopard, wild and civet cats, &c.

Birmah is inhabited by many distinct nations and tribes, of whom so many as eighteen have been enumerated. The most considerable of these are the Birmese Proper, the Peguans, the Shans, the Kathey, the Zabaing, the Kareans, the Kyans, the Ys, and the Lawa, which are respectively numerous and civilized, nearly in the order in which they are mentioned. Though differing in language, customs, and religion, they have the same physical type, which is common to all the tribes which possess the country between Hindoostan and China. The practice of tattooing obtains among the Birmese and Talains. With respect to dress the Birmese are well and not unbecomingly clad, but much of the body is left naked. The priests wear no hair on their heads, and are clad in a yellow garb, which for the laity to assume would be considered as nothing less than sacrilege: so peculiarly sacred indeed is this color, that it is not unfrequent to see a Birmese pay his devotions to an old garment of a priest hung out to dry, after undergoing a washing. A superficial education is general, and there is probably not more than one man in ten who is unable to read, an accomplishment indeed which is required by their religion. Science, however, is in its lowest state of development, and alchymy usurps the place of prac tical knowledge. Among the Birmese there may be said to exist seven classes of society, distinguished by their privileges and employments, viz. : the royal family, the public officers, the priesthood, the merchants or "rich men," the cultivators and laborers, slaves and outcasts. The only hereditary class are the Thaubwas, the tributary princes of the subjugated countries. sure.

The rest of the chief officers are appointed and dismissed at pleaAny subject, not a slave or outcast, may aspire to the first offices. The priests, called Phungyi or Ra-han, are bound to a rigid celibacy, and are interdicted from intermeddling in politics and state affairs. As a body they are virtuous, and extremely simple in their mode of life. The priests form an important and numerous order, and along with them may be classed the Thi-la-shau or nuns, who are generally old women. The temples and monasteries are splendid structures, being covered profusely with carvings and paintings, varnished and gilded, but the materials consist principally of brick and mortar.

The Birmese Empire consists of two great divisions-PEGU, which comprises all the sea-coast and the mouths of the rivers; and AVA, or Birmah Proper, which comprehends the upper country, and is the seat of the dominant people. For administrative purposes the empire is divided into provinces or viceroyalties, of very variable extent. The most frequent civil division appears to be that into " myos" or townships, which are reckoned to amount to 4,600. The number of cities, towns, and villages, together, does not exceed thirty or forty.

AVA, (Angwa, Awa, Ratnapoora,) the capital, stands on the left bank of the Irawaddy, and is surrounded by a brick wall 15 feet high, 10 feet

thick, and 5 miles in circuit. The houses are generally mere huts, thatched with grass. Some of the dwellings of the chiefs are of wood, and tiled, and there are probably not more than half a dozen of brick or stone. The town has many temples, the tall, white and gilded towers of which give, in a distant view, a splendid and imposing appearance. The capital is not confined to Ava alone, but includes Seraing, on the opposite bank of the river, and Amarapura, with large districts attached to each, making together 288 square miles. The whole was levelled by a tremendous earthquake on the 28th March, 1839; but comparatively few people perished, their safety being owing to their living chiefly in huts and wooden houses. Population of the whole capital, 354,200.

It

RAGOON stands on the north bank of the eastern branch of the Irawaddy, 25 miles from the sea. It is the chief port of Birmah. About two miles from the river is the great temple of Shwe-Dagong, of the shape of a speaking trumpet standing on its base, which is built of brick, and richly gilt all over. Its height is about 278 feet, and it is really a noble object. This temple is the most famous religious edifice in the empire, a celebrity which it owes to the legend which supposes it to contain eight true hairs of Gautama, brought as a trophy from Western India many centuries ago by two merchants. It is in fact what is not common in this country, a place of pilgri mage, and is frequented by many strangers. Population about 12,000. About 15 miles east is SYRIAM, formerly one of the chief ports of Pegu, and the seat of a great trade before its harbor was shut up by its Birmese conquerors. PEGU, the ancient capital of the country when a separate kingdom, is nearly 60 miles further north, but is now almost entirely deserted. contains the famous temple of Shoemadoo, or the Golden Supreme, a structure of the same kind as the Shwe-dagong, and 331 feet high. PROME, (Pri,) stands on the left bank of the Irawaddy, about 155 miles N. N. W. of Ragoon, is a very_ancient city, having been founded according to the Birmese, 443 years B. C. It is a thriving place, and has a population of 8,000. TANGO, or Tanou, is also said to be a place of great traffic and population. BASSEIN is a port on the left bank of the western branch of the Irawaddy, 70 miles from the ocean. MARTABAN, on the north bank of the Saluen, is an old town, and the houses generally built on posts erected in the ground. It has many monasteries, and several temples. BHAMO, on the Irawaddy, 180 miles Ñ. N. E. of Ava, contains about 14,000 inhabitants, many of whom are Chinese. The surrounding country is one of the most prosperous and wealthy portions of the empire, and a great trade is carried on with China. MO-GOUNG, a large fortified city, on the Irawaddy, about latitude 25° 20′ N., is chiefly inhabited by Shyans, Chinese, and Singphos. In the vicinity are famous amber mines, which attract merchants from Yunnan, Munipore, and other places.

THE KINGDOM OF SIAM.

(THAI, OR THE free country!)

THIS kingdom is composed of Siam Proper, a portion of the country of Laos, a part of Cambodia, and the Malay States of Quedah, Patani, and Ligor. It is situated between 50 and 29° N. latitude, and 97° and 105