trade to which the British India steamers run regularly from Bombay celebrated as the capital of the eastern Caliphate. Haroun-al-Raschid was here in the ninth century.

(7) Bassorah, population 60,000: the chief port of the Persian Gulf, near the mouth of the Tigris.

(8) Jerusalem, population 20,000, of whom it is supposed one half may be Mahometans, one quarter Jews, one quarter Christians.

(9) Erzeroum, population 40,000, is the chief town in Turkish Armenia.

(10) Mosul, population 30,000, on the Tigris, is a trading town, whence came originally to Europe the fine cotton texture named thence muslin. Hard by once stood Nineveh.

Sect. XXII. TURKESTAN.

419. EXTENT AND BOUNDARIES. Turkestan is here understood to extend from the main watershed of Asia in the south to 53° N.L., and from the Caspian Sea and the river Ural to the mountains connecting the Karakorum with the Altai. Thus defined it is the area often marked Western Tartary, or Turcomannia, in maps, but it does not represent any political state: the greater portion of it has of late years been annexed by Russia, and in the rest different Khans rule as far as each can.

Turkestan thus means a vast area, more than thrice as large as France, but in general very thinly peopled.

420. CLIMATE. In the low-lying part of Turkestan and along the rivers the climate is very warm in summer, and not excessively cold in winter: it is essentially a dry climate, the country being largely either steppe or desert, with very few trees anywhere. At a moderate elevation the climate becomes intensely cold in winter. Everywhere the climate is continental, that is the difference when the summer and winter temperature is excessive.

421. MOUNTAINS AND PLAINS. The northern part of Turkestan generally lies low

western and on the south

the level ascends to the line of the Elburz and Hindoo Koosh, on the east the land rises rapidly to the table-land of Pamir (alt. 16,000 feet), and to the spurs of the Thian Shan. These spurs run out a long way westwards, and divide the country into its river-basins. The Hindoo Koosh is 18,000-21,000 feet high.

422. RIVERS. The two rivers are the Amu (anciently called Oxus) and the Syr (anciently called Sihon), which both flow into the Sea of Aral. The chief population of Turkestan is collected near these rivers, the country being very fertile where irrigation is attainable.

423. COMMUNICATIONS. Turkestan lies open on the west and north in the south-east, owing to the enormous height of the Hindoo Koosh and the Karakorum, there is no route into India practicable for more than a handful of men. There is a pass over to Mushed, whence the trade route passes to Herat and Cabul; and the Bamian pass, elevation 8,450 feet, to Cabul, is the most easterly route across the great watershed that is practicable for laden beasts.

424. RACES OF MEN. Turkestan is so named as being the original home of the Turks. The population is largely of nomad Mongolian tribes who practise pasturage. In the valleys, however, there are large towns where the people speak Persian, and may be of Aryan descent, or partly so. All are Mahometans and fanatics, who exclude the Kafir, i.e. infidel, from the country, or murder him if he attempts to travel in it.

However, the Russians have now advanced as far as Tashkend; and even beyond their own boundary are able to restrain the Khan of Bokhara, the most powerful Khan left.

425. TOWNS (with their population). Bokhara, population, 150,000; a place of trade, is in the basin of the Amu. Tashkend, population 90,000, an advanced Russian post. Samarcand, population 15,000, the capital of Timour in ancient times, now ruinous.

Khokan is an advanced Russian post on the Syr.

426. EXTENT AND BOUNDARIES. Under this head is considered the vast territory which lies between Turkestan, Siberia, China proper, and India. Its area is larger than that of all Europe except Russia, and is very imperfectly known.

427. CLIMATE. A very large portion of Mongolia is many thousand feet above the sea: the climate is dry and coldthe winter and the nights in summer being very cold. It is a matter of course that in the deeper valleys the climate is greatly ameliorated, as also it is in Chinese Mantchuria, which is on a lower level, and near the sea: but even here the climate is continental in character, and intensely cold in winter.

428. MOUNTAINS AND PLAINS. Mongolia is the largest plateau in the globe, the great table-land of Asia. Its highest edge is on the south: its boundary being the Karakorum and Himalayan ranges: the bottoms of the valleys here are 8,000-10,000 feet above sea-level. The general height of this plateau from the Karakorum northwards to the Kuen-lun is supposed to be 14,000 feet, and it has been described as the windiest, bleakest, barrenest wilderness on the face of the earth.

The vast district lying west of China, north of Birma, and shown in the maps as the upper basin of the Yang-tse-kiang, is untraversed by any modern traveller, and is one of the largest unknown areas left on the map of the globe: but it must be very elevated, and probably is like Tibet, but the climate ameliorated and the soil better watered.

North of these regions, from the Karakorum and Thian Shan to Chinese Mantchuria, extends the great desert of Gobi, or Shamo. This is supposed to be in general absolutely barren, sand or rocks; a few streams ending in small lakes or slipping away in the sand, occurring, where a small population is maintained, all intercourse across this desert

being by marches from one such inhabited spot to the next. The Yarkand river is believed the largest example among these streams. This Gobi desert is bounded on the south by the Kuen-lun mountains, and is marked in modern maps only 5,000 feet above sea-level, but the western portion of it is probably higher.

This great Gobi desert is bounded on the north by the Altai mountains; from these the rivers descend regularly to the Arctic Ocean.

429. RIVERS. The headwaters of most of the large rivers of Asia lie within the limits here assigned to Mongolia, viz. :

The Yang-tse-kiang and Hoangho flowing eastward.

The Tsanpoo, which is almost certainly the same river called in India the Brahmapootra.

The Indus and Sutlej flowing south.

The Obi and Yenesei flowing north.

The Yarkand river is a river entirely contained within Mongolia, and is probably six hundred miles long.

430. RACES OF MEN. The population is generally Mongolian; being mostly Tartar Mahometan in the west, Chinese Buddhist in the east and south-east.

431. DIVISIONS. (1) The Yarkand river-basin in the west contains the towns of Yarkand and Kashgar, now governed by Tartar Mahometan Khans. It has lately been penetrated from Kashmir by Europeans. The country and people resemble those of Turkestan.

(2) Tibet, of which Lhassa is reckoned the capital, is completely subordinate to China. It is regarded as the headquarters of Buddhism. The country is exceedingly high, cold, and barren, the population being clustered along the Tsanpoo.

(3) The upper basins of the Yang-tse-kiang and Hoangho, which country is so entirely unknown that many geographers carry the headwaters of the Irrawaddy and May-kiang hundreds of miles up into it.

(4) The desert of Gobi.

(5) The wide margin from the desert of Gobi to the little

Altai (on or near 50° N.L.) ; a fairly watered series of valleys with a climate resembling but superior to that of South Siberia. This has all been practically annexed by Russia. It contains a large area well able to produce wheat, and is a valuable territory.

(6) Chinese Mantchuria. Northern Mantchuria having been taken by Russia, only a strip of Mantchuria remains to China between the Great Wall and the basin of the Saghalien. It is a valuable territory, though with a cold winter; Mukden, the capital, was estimated to contain a population of 200,000 by an Englishman who reached it.

(7) The Corea, a peninsula of Mantchuria, is a separate Mongolian state, paying tribute to China, but keeping all foreigners out. Nothing consequently is known about it: it is reported populous, and has been guessed to contain eight to ten millions of people, who are half-way between Mantchoo Tartars and Japanese.

Sect. XXIV. CHINA.

432. EXTENT. China Proper is equal in area to all Europe (excluding Russia), and contains about double the population of all Europe (excluding Russia).

433. BOUNDARIES. China Proper is bounded by the sea on the East; Mongolia on the North and West; Birma, Laos and Tonquin on the South. The boundary lines (except the sea on the east) do not follow any natural features.

434. ATTACHED ISLANDS. Formosa, Hainan, Hongkong (an English possession).

435. GULFS. (1) The Gulf of Tonquin, between Hainan and Tonquin.

(2) The Chinese Sea washes the coast about Canton.

(3) The Formosa Channel is the sea or strait between Formosa and the mainland.

(4) The Yellow Sea washes the coast about Nankin. (5) The Gulf of Petcheli is opposite Pekin.