The

the extreme cold of the polar regions. whole of Asia to the north of the Himalayas is characterized by the intensity both of the heat of the summer and of the cold of the winter. The countries to the south experience extreme heat and humidity, and have no real winter, but only wet and dry seasons.

238. SOIL.-The surface of Asia is as varied as its climate. The greater part of Hindostan, Further India, and China is extremely fertile. Siberia and Independent Tartary form a vast plain, only the southern part of which is fit for cultivation, while the northern parts are interspersed with lakes, steppes, and morasses, which in winter are buried under ice. The central parts of Asia consist of a succession of sandy deserts extending almost uninterruptedly from the Mediterranean and Red Seas to the Pacific, the greatest of which is the Desert of Gobi, forming the eastern portion of the great central plain.

239. PRODUCTIONS.-The natural productions of Asia are unequalled in any other division of the world. It contains all the natural families of plants, and almost all the families of the animal kingdom. Asia is the native country of all the important cereals, of most of the European fruit-trees and garden-flowers, and of almost all the European domestic animals.

240. MINERALS.-Minerals of every kind are found in Asia, and it is particularly rich in precious stones and metals. Diamonds are found in India, and the Ural and Altai Mountains; gold, most abundantly in the Ural Mountains; and coal, iron, tin, copper, &c., are widely diffused.

241. PEOPLE.-The races inhabiting the

Asiatic continent include the Caucasian in the west, and the Mongolian throughout the other parts. Hindostan and China are the most densely peopled countries. Mohammedanism is the prevailing religion in the west, Brahminism in Hindostan, Buddhism in Further India and central Asia, and the religion of Confucius in China. Christianity has adherents in Turkey and in Asiatic Russia.

The figures given in the above Table are according to the latest authorities.

TURKEY IN ASIA.

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243. BOUNDARIES. The dominions of the Turks in Asia extend over some of the most delightful and productive countries in existence, once the seat of most populous and flourishing empires, but now ill peopled and poor, in consequence of incessant and exterminating wars, and long-continued oppression. They are bounded on the north by the Black Sea and the Russian and Persian dominions; on the east by the Caspian Sea, the Russian and Persian dominions,

and Arabia; on the west by the Mediterranean, Archipelago, and Sea of Marmora.

Extent, 672,000 square miles. Population, 16,000,000.

244. DIVISIONS.-The principal divisions are, 1. Asia Minor; 2. Syria; 3. Armenia; 4. The Mesopotamian Provinces. These are governed by Pashas, great officers, appointed and displaced by the Turkish Sultan, but possessing, during their government, nearly independent power, subject only to the supply of a certain number of troops and amount of money.

245. MOUNTAINS.-The principal mountains are Olympus, in the north-east, Taurus, in the south-west of Asia Minor; Lebanon, in Syria; Tabor and Hermon, in Palestine; Ararat, in Armenia.

246. RIVERS.-The principal rivers are the Tigris and Euphrates, which rise near each other in Armenia, diverge to a great distance, and after a long course unite before they fall into the Gulf of Persia; the Kizil Ermak, anciently Halys ; the Jordan, running from the lake Gennesareth, or Tiberias, and falling into the Dead Sea.

247. LAKES. The principal lakes are Lake Van, in Armenia; in Palestine, the Lake Gennesareth, or of Tiberias; the Asphaltites or Dead Sea, the water of which is much salter than that of the ocean, and is moreover very remarkable as being depressed about 1,312 feet below the level of the Mediterranean Sea.

248. The principal islands are, Mitylene, Cos or Stanco, Samos, and Rhodes, formerly celebrated for its commerce, its colossus and other splendid works of art, and as the residence of the knights of St. John of Jerusalem, who

heroically defended it for a long time against the power of the whole Turkish empire; Cyprus, a large and very fertile island, but nearly depopulated by Turkish misrule; and Crete or Candia, south of the Morea, a large and fertile island, formerly celebrated for its hundred cities, but now poor and ill-peopled.

249. ASIA MINOR is in general mountainous, but fertile, and has one of the finest climates in the world, causing the goats of the territory of Angora to have a peculiarly soft and silky hair. Here are rich mines of copper. The seven churches of Asia, now ruined, were at Smyrna, Ephesus, Pergamus, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea. The exports are grain, fruits, rhubarb, wine, oil, silk, carpets. Smyrna is a large town, with 150,000 inhabitants. Scutari, on the Bosphorus, Brusah, Konieh, Tokat, Kaisariya, and Sivas, are also considerable. Trebisond is the chief seaport. Of the antiquities discovered here, the Xanthian marbles are the most noted.

250. SYRIA is in general very fertile. The climate is sultry, so that the productions have a tropical character. Damascus and Aleppo are populous and thriving towns, celebrated for their commerce and manufactures. The other principal towns are Antakia, formerly Antioch, and Beyrout. The splendid ruins of Tadmor or Palmyra, and Baalbec or Heliopolis, give an idea of the astonishing excellence to which the Syrians carried architecture. The Druses and Maronites, independent tribes, dwell in the district of Lebanon, each governed by their respective chiefs, but subject to the Pasha of Syria.