CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



Afghanistan, and the western Desert of Gobi ; and 

 the eastern section is again subdivided, in a more 

 conventional manner, by the chain of the Hima- 

 laya, into the Chinese and the Indian countries. 

 The great divisions of Asia, with an estimate of 

 their populations, are as follows : i. Northern Asia, 

 8 millions ; 2. Chinese region, 375 millions ; 3. 

 Indian region, 260 millions ; 4. Western Asia, 47 

 millions. 



NORTHERN ASIA. 



The Siberian countries, as has already been 

 setn, are traversed by a mountainous tract, which 

 bounds the great Mongol desert on the north. 

 It includes the Altai and the Yablonoi Mountains. 

 These sink on the north to the great plain which 

 is drained by the rivers Obi, Yenisei, Lena, and 

 Kolima, descending to the frozen plains of the 

 Arctic Sea. Siberia is not an unproductive 

 country ; it abounds in mineral wealth, the 

 great mining districts being those of Barnaul, 

 in the Altai, and Nerchinsk, in the Yablonoi 

 Mountains. The middle valley of the Yenisei 

 is the most favoured agricultural district ; and 

 there, rye, oats, and wheat are successfully culti- 

 vated. The countries recently annexed in Man- 

 churia, on the banks of the Amour, have a warmer 

 climate, and when colonised, will probably become 

 the most productive of the Russian settlements 

 in Northern Asia. The Siberian rivers are admi- 

 rably suited to inland navigation, and have been 

 connected along their upper courses by canals, so 

 that it is possible to convey the products of the 

 middle Yenisei to the confines of European 

 Russia and the peninsula beyond the Lena. A 

 great highway also traverses Siberia, along which 

 Chinese products are brought from Katchta, 1 50 

 miles south of Lake Baikal, to Moscow. The 

 length of the road between these places is 4452 

 miles. Politically, Siberia forms a province of 

 the Russian empire. Its towns are unimportant. 

 The largest is Irkutsk (pop. 28,000), on the Angara, 

 north-west of Lake Baikal. Tomsk (pop. 21,000) 

 depends on the mines. Although Siberia formed 

 part of the empire of Genghis Khan, Europeans 

 were ignorant of its existence as late as the end 

 of the i6th century. In the year 1580, a Cossack, 

 an absconded criminal, named Yermak, at the 

 head of a crowd of wild adventurers, crossed the 

 Ural, and conquered Western Siberia. In 1584, 

 he was drowned in the Irtish ; but the Russians 

 continued their conquests. They founded Tomsk 

 in 1604, and Irkutsk in 1661. To their conquests 

 in Turkestan, we shall refer below. 



WESTERN ASIA. 



This region lies west of the Indus and the 

 Desert of Gobi, and south of the Siberian steppes. 

 It is Asia Proper, the Asia of history, and the 

 ancient abode of the Arabian and Persian races. 

 We have seen that it is covered from east to west 

 by the lofty table-land of Iran ; bounded on the 

 north by the plains of Turkestan ; on the south, by 

 those of the Tigris and Euphrates. Arabia, south 

 of the latter, forms an independent table-land. The 

 whole region is characterised by its arid climate, 

 the hills by which it is traversed shutting out 

 all the winds which might bring rains to the 

 parched soil. Its lofty summits, however, are 

 reached by vapour-laden clouds; and two river- 



276 



systems, that of the Oxus and Jaxartes, on the 

 north, and the Tigris and Euphrates, on the south, 

 of the Iranian table-land, were made the means, 

 in ancient times, of irrigating countries which 

 supported a vast population. 



Three races inhabit Western Asia the Aryans, 

 chiefly Persians, the central table-land ; the 

 Semites, chiefly Arabs, Arabia, and the southern 

 plain ; and the Mongol Turks, the plain of Turke- 

 stan. The contest between these three races has 

 lasted since history began. The most powerful 

 governments of Western Asia are now those of 

 Turkey and Persia, representing rival Moham- 

 medan sects, the Sunnites and Shiites, who are 

 bitterly hostile to each other ; and they, like all 

 eastern states, are constantly weakened by the 

 interminable strife and feuds which, on the death 

 of a monarch, are sure to break out among the 

 members of his family, owing to varied and ill- 

 understood rules of succession. 



Western Asia lies between the two most popu- 

 lous regions of the globe, Europe and South- 

 eastern Asia. In all ages, great commercial 

 routes have existed between them. One passed 

 from the Black Sea across Northern Persia into 

 India. The traffic on this line has been interfered 

 with by Turkish banditti in Northern Persia, 

 and by Afghan civil wars farther east. It has 

 been also, and more seriously, interfered with by 

 steam-navigation in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. 

 There is still, however, a great necessity for a direct 

 route overland from Europe to India. A network 

 of railways connects all parts of Europe, and a 

 similar system has just been completed for India. 

 The importance of connecting the two is evident. 

 Various schemes are suggested. One is to connect 

 the Mediterranean with the Upper Euphrates, and 

 to make that river and the Persian Gulf the line 

 of a railway to India. Another is to connect Con- 

 stantinople with Angora, Sivas, Diarbekir, Mosul, 

 and Kermanshah ; and to cross Persia by Ispahan 

 and Kerman to Bender-Abbas, thence proceeding 

 along the coast to Kurrachee. One reason for 

 promoting this scheme is, that it would continue 

 Turkish lines already in process of construction. 

 A third scheme is proposed by M. de Lesseps. 

 It would connect Orenburg with Samarcand, 

 Balkh, Cabul, and Peshawur, on the Indian 

 frontier. The proposal seems wild, but not more 

 so than American undertakings recently com- 

 pleted. That any of these lines would confer in- 

 calculable benefits on the countries through which 

 they pass, it is impossible to doubt Western 

 Asia may be divided as follows : 



Population. 



Turkestan 10,000,000 



Afghanistan. 4,000,000 



Beloochistan 2,000,000 



Persia 5,000,000 



Armenia (with Caucasia) 6,000,000 



Asia Minor. 1 1,000,000 



Syria, and Mesopotamia. 3,000,000 



Arabia. 6,000,000 



Total 47,000,000 



Turkestan was said, till recently, to be bounded 

 on the east by the Bolor Mountains ; but a better 

 knowledge of the geography of these countries 

 has shewn that no such chain exists. In Europe, 

 mountains and uplands form the boundaries 

 between states ; but it is different in Central 

 Asia, where the best cultivated tracts often lie 

 along the mountain-ridges, and wastes surround 



