the globe; from the great variety of nations, civilized and barbarous, by whom it is peopled; and from its intimate connexion with the destinies of Europe, which it has frequently overawed, while the savage tribes of Africa and America can never become formidable to European arts or happiness. RELIGIONS. The religions of Asia are various, and will b* illustrated in the accounts of the several countries. The climate also admits of every variety from the equator to the arctic sea. Seas. Though Asia cannot vie with Europe in the advantages of inland seas, yet, in addition to a share of the Mediterranean, it possesses the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, and Gulf of Persia; the bays of Bengal and Nankin; and other gulfs, which diversify the coasts much more than those of Africa or America, and have doubtless contributed greatly to the early civilization of this celebrated division of the earth. Ren Sea. The Red Sea, or the Arabian gulf of antiquity, constitutes the grand natural division between Asia and Africa; but its advantages have chiefly been felt by the latter, which is entirely destitute of other inland seas; Egypt and Abyssinia, two of the most civilized countries in that division, having derived great benefits from that celebrated gulf, which, from the straits of Babelmandeb to Suez, extends about twenty-one degrees, or 1,470 British miles; terminating, not in two equal brandies, as delineated in old maps, but in an extensive western branch, while the eastern ascends little beyond the parallel of mont Sinai. The Persian gulf is another noted inland sea, about half the length of the former, being the grand receptacle of those celebrated rivers, the Euphrates and the Tigris. The other gulfs do not afford such strong features of what are property termed inland seas; if the Euxine be excepted, which has already been briefly described in the general survey of Europe. But the vast extent of Asia contains seas totally detached, and of a different description from any that occur in Europe, or other quarters of the globe. Caspian. Such is the Caspian sea, extending about ten degrees or 700 miles in length, and from 100 to 200 in breadth. Strabo and Pliny idly supposed this sea to be a gulf, extending from the northern ocean; while Herodotus, many centuries before, had expressed more just ideas. Yet the Caspian seems at one period to have spread further to the north, where the deserts are still sandy and saline, and present the same shells that are found in the Caspian: but the chain of mountains which branches from the west of the Urals, to the north of Oren'burg, and reaches to the Volga, must, in all ages, have restricted the northern bounds of the Caspian. To the east, this remarkable sea, in the opinion of most geographers, extended, at no very remote period, to the lake of Aral; the deserts on that side, presenting the same The form of the Euxine has been greatly improved, from recent observations, in Mr. Arrowsmith's maps; the breadth from the southern cape of Crimea to the opposite Asiatic promontories being found to be far less than formerly supposud. features as those to the north, though there be now an elevated level between the sea of Aral and the Caspian, occasioned, perhaps, by the quantity of sand rolled down by the Gihon, the Sirr, and other rivers, which now flow into the sea of Aral. The northern shores are low and swampy, often overgrown with reeds; but in many other parts the coasts are precipitous, with such deep water, that a line of 450 fathoms will not reach the bottom. This sea is the receptacle of many important rivers, as the Jemba, the Ural or Jaik, and the Volga from the north; the Kuma, Terek, Kur, and Kizel Ozen from the west: those of the south are of small moment; but from the east, the Caspian is supposed, still to receive the Tedjen; and the Gihon, or Oxus of antiquity, flowed into the Caspian, at least by one or two branches, till it bent northward and joined the sea of Aral. Besides herrings, salmon, and other fish, with porpoises and seals, this sea produces sterlet, and great numbers of excellent sturgeon; which last, jn particular, ascend the Volga, and supply kaviar, and other articles of exportation. The birds most generally seen are storks, herons, bitterns, spoon-bills, with many others; particularly a kind of heron of a pure white, while the tips of the wings, the beak, and feet, are scarlet*. The best haven in the Caspian, is that of Baku: that of Derbent is rocky, and that of Ensili, or Sinsili, not commodious, though one of the chief ports of trade. ARAL. About 100 miles to the east of the Caspian, is the sea or lake of Aral, which is about 200 miles in length, and about seventy miles in breadth; receiving the river anciently called Iaxartes, more recently the Sirr or Sihon, and the river Gihon, the Oxus of antiquity; both streams of considerable course, flowing from the mountains of Belur Tag or Imaus. The sea of Aral being surrounded with sandy deserts, has been little explored; but it is salt like the Caspian, and there are many small saline lakes in the vicinity. Baikal. Another remarkable detached sea is that of Baikal in Siberia, or Asiatic Russia, extending from about the fifty-first, to the fifty-fifth degree of north latitude, being about 350 British milts in length, but its greatest breadth is not above thirty-five. The water is fresh and transparent, yet of a green or sea tinge, commonly frozen in the latter end of December, and clear of ice in May. The Baikal is, at particular periods, subject to violent and unaccountable storms, whence, as terror is the parent of superstition, probably springs the Russian name of Svetoi More, or the Holy Seaf. There are many seals and abundance of fish, particularly a kind of herring called omuli. Several islands appear, and that of Olchon has sulphureous springs. The chief river flowing into the Baikal is the Seiinga, from the south; while from the north it emits the Angara, which joins the prodigious stream of the Yenisei. Of the other Asiatic seas a minute account would be superfluous; but a few obseivations may be offered on the remarkable strait which divides Asia from America. This strait, which was discovered by Beering, and afterwards by Cook, is about thirteen leagues, or near forty miles in breadth. Beering, a Dane, was employed by Peter the * Tooke's View of the Russian Empire, i. 239. Great in 1728, and actually passed this strait, probably in the usual fogs of the climate, without discovering land to the east; but our great navigator gave the name of the Danish adventurer to these straits, when he afterwards explored them with his usual accuracy*. On the Asiatic shore is the east cape, and on the American, that called Prince of Wales. The depth of the strait is from twelve to thirty fathoms. To the north of these straits the Asiatic shore tends rapidly to the westward; while the American proceeds nearly in a northern direction, till, at the distance of about four or five degrees, the continents are joined by solid and impenetrable bonds of ice. In the Asiatic seas there are numerous shoals, or sand banks; but few of them have been described as conducive to human industry. Rivers. The chief rivers of Asia are the Kian Ku and Hoan Ho, the Lena, the Yenisei, and the Ob, streams which rival in the length of their course any others on the globe. The Volga has been named among the rivers of Europe, to which the principal part of its course belongs. Next in consequence are the Amur, and the Maykaung of Laos, if the course be rightly delineated, the Sampoo or Burrampooter, and the Ganges; compared with all which, the Euphrates and Indus hide their diminished heads. A more particular account of these rivers will be given under the respective regions. Mountains. The Asiatic mountains are said not to equal the European in height. The Uralian chain, forming a boundary of Europe, has been already described. Altai. The Altaian chain may be classed among the most extensive on the globe, reaching from about the seventieth to the hundred and fortieth degree of longitude, east from London, or about 5000 miles, thus rivalling in length, the Andes of South America. But as chains of mountains, rarely receive uniform appellations, except from nations highly civilized, the Altaian chain, beyond the sources of the Yenisei, is called the mountains of Sayansk; and from the south of the sea of Baikal, the mountains of Yablonnoy: branches of which extend even to the country of the Techucks, or extreme boundaries of Asia. To the south of the Altaian ridge, extends the elevated desert of Cobi or Shamo, running in a parallel direction from east to west; and the high region of Tibet may be included in this central prominence of Asia. The chain of Alak may perhaps be regarded as a part of the Altaian, branching to the south, while the Taurus, now known by various names in different countries, was by the ancients, regarded as a range of great length, reaching from cape Kelidoni on the west of the gulf of Satalia, through Armenia, even to India; but this last chain has not impressed modern travellers with the same idea of its extent. Other considerable ranges of mountains are Bogdo, Changai, Pennant, Arc. Zool. clxxxix. See Pliny, lib. v. c. 27, who says that the Imaus, the Emodus, and the mountains running through the centre of Persia, including the Niphates of Armenia, and even the Caucasus itself, are all parts of the Taurian chain, which thence spreads south-west along the Mediterranean. But this great southern chain is unknown to modern geography, and seems rather theoretical in reducing mountains of various directions to one series. The northern chain of Natolia was called Anti Taurus by the ancients. VOL. II. Belur, those of Tibet, the eastern and western Gauts of Hindoston; and the Caucasian chain between the Euxine {and Caspian; all which will be afterwards more particularly described. The Asiatic governments are almost universally despotic, and the very idea of a commonwealth seems to be unknown. The mildest systems are perhaps those found in Arabia. In arranging the extensive states of Asia, according to their population and relative consequence, the first and chief rank beyond all comparison, must be assigned to the Chinese empire. But that prodigious domination being estranged from Europe, and having in no age exerted the smallest influence on its destinies, it seems preferable, in this instance, first to consider two powerful states, intimately blended with European policy. The Turkish empire in Asia constitutes a natural and easy transition from the description of Europe; and the Russian empire, though in population far inferior, yet in military and political force transcends that of China. From the Russian empire in Asia, the transition is easy to that of China, a bordering state; after which shall be described Japan, and a new great power, the Birman empire. Hindostan and Persia being now divided into several distinct sovereignties, and Arabia containing many independent states, the scale of political importance becomes transitive and indistinct; and may justly yield in such cases to mere geographical arrangement. Hence the smaller states of India beyond the Ganges, or between Hindostan and China, will follow the Birman empire, to which, or to China, they may perhaps soon be subjected. A western progress leads to Hindostan, Persia, and Arabia: and a short account of the various interesting and important islands in the Indian, and in the Pacific oceans, will close this grand department of the work. TURKEY IN ASIA. CHAPTER I. HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY. EXTENT. BOUNDARIES. ORIGINAL POPULATION. PROGRESSIVE GEOGRAPHY.—HISTORICAL EPOCHS AND ANTIQUITIES. Extent. THIS region extends from the shores of the Egean sea, or Archipelago, to the confines of Persia; a space of about 1050 British miles. The boundaries towards Persia are rather ideal than natural, though somewhat marked by the mountains of Ararat and Elwend. In the north, the Turkish territories are now divided from the Russian by the river Cuban, and the chain of Caucasus; in the south, they extend to the junction of the Tigris and the Euphrates, which last river, for a considerable space, divides the Turkish possessions from those of the Arabs. From the river Cuban to the junction of the Tigris and Euphrates, may be about 1100 British miles. This extensive territory, which in itself would constitute an empire, could it resume its pristine population, is divided into nine or ten provinces. Natolia, the most westerly, is followed by Karaman in the south; and Roum in the north-east. To the north of Armenia are Guria, or Guriel, Mingrelia, and the Abkhas of Caucasus, the ancient Circassians. Armenia is also styled Turcomania; to the south of which are Kurdistan, and Irak Arabi, a part of ancient Persia around the celebrated capital, Bagdad. The ancient Mesopotamia, between the Tigris and the Euphrates, now partly corresponds with the province of Algeziria; and the classical name of Syria or Soria, is still allotted to the celebrated countries along the eastern extremities of the Mediterranean. Some of these provinces are of comparatively recent acqui |