CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



highland of Nedjed, in which rain falls at certain 

 seasons and fertilises the soil. This district is 

 bounded on the north by the Syrian Desert. The 

 Nedjed was, until recently, when it was visited by 

 Mr Palgrave, supposed to be as sterile as the 

 coasts of the Red Sea. This has been found to 

 be a mistake. It is a fertile and well-cultivated 

 country, inhabited by a numerous population of 

 settled inhabitants. It is the seat of the empire 

 of the Wahabis, described as a sect of warlike 

 Mohammedan Quakers, who do not recognise 

 the claims of the Turks to any suzerainty over 

 Arabia. Their chief city is Riad (pop. 40,000), 

 and their territory includes a large number of 

 towns with populations of from 10,000 to 30,000 

 inhabitants. The Turks exercise a nominal sov- 

 ereignty over Yemen and the Hedjaz. The former 

 is a fertile country, which seems at a remote 

 period to have been better cultivated than now, 

 by means of reservoirs and irrigation canals. 

 It produces coffee, which has a high reputation. 

 Its capital is Sana (pop. 40,000); and its chief port 

 is Mocha (pop. 7000). Aden (pop. 20,000), the great 

 English packet-station on the route between Suez 

 and India, stands on a peninsula of the Yemen 

 coast. The Hedjaz is chiefly important as the 

 country in which is situated Mecca (settled pop. 

 45,000), the birthplace of Mohammed, and the 

 seat of the Kaabah, an inclosure which contains 

 the famous black stone which all pilgrims must 

 kiss. Upwards of 100,000 men still assemble 

 annually at Mecca from all parts of the Moham- 

 medan East The state of Oman, in Eastern 

 Arabia, is populous. Its chief town is the seaport 

 of Muscat (pop. 60,000). The ruler is the Imaum, 

 who has a considerable navy, and, till recently, 

 exercised great power on the shores of Persia 

 and Beloochistan, and the east coast of Africa. 



INDIA. 



In dividing Asia into its great regions, we used 

 the name India to describe the countries which 

 lie south of the great mountain-wall of the Hima- 

 laya, and the mountains which continue it east- 

 wards into Southern China. It consists of the 

 two great promontories of Hindustan and Indo- 

 China, and the Malay Islands. For an account 

 of the last, we refer to AFRICA OCEANIA. 



HINDUSTAN. 



It is often said that no country is so completely 

 isolated from the rest of the world as Hindustan, 

 by great natural barriers ; but perhaps the state- 

 ment has been exaggerated, for in the East it is 

 difficult to say whether Bhotan and Assam belong 

 properly to it or to Tibet or Indo-China ; and in 

 the west, Beloochistan is as much Indian as it is 

 West Asian. We have already briefly referred to 

 the great natural features of Hindustan. South of 

 the Himalaya is an elevated terrace, which slopes 

 towards the low plain of the Ganges. To it 

 belong the hill-countries of Nepaul, and Bhotan, 

 and Assam, which are separated from the low 

 plain on the west by the great pestilential swamp 

 or forest of the Terai, and on the east by tie 

 forests which clothe the Garrow Hills. The Vin- 

 dhyan Mountains bound on the north the long 

 and narrow valley of the Nerbudda, which falls 

 into the Gulf of Cambay. The table-land of the 



280 



Deccan lies south of them. It forms an undulat* 

 ing table-land, 2000 feet above the level of the 

 sea. The Western Ghauts bound it on the west, 

 leaving between them and the sea a narrow plain 

 30 or 40 miles in width. They are 2000 feet high 

 in the north ; but in the south, at the Neilgherries, 

 have an elevation of 9000 feet. The Eastern 

 Ghauts have a lower elevation, and are situated at 

 a greater distance from the sea. The table-land 

 of Malwah, 2000 feet above the level of the sea, 

 extends from the Deccan towards the Aravilli 

 Hills. Farther north, extends the plain of India. 

 The Thur, or Indian Desert, separates the basin 

 of the Indus from that of the Ganges, and the 

 Upper from the Lower Indus. North of it lies 

 the Punjab ; south of it, Sinde, separated from 

 Gujerat by the Runn of Cutch. The basin of the 

 Ganges is divided into two parts at a point east 

 of Benares, where the plain is contracted by a 

 ridge running eastward from the plateau of the 

 Deccan. West of this line, the plain is described 

 as that of Hindustan proper ; east of it, is that 

 of Bengal. 



The soil of India is fertile in almost all these 

 districts where it is well watered. The Deccan, 

 like other table-lands, does not support great 

 forests ; but its soil and climate are favourable to 

 the growth of cotton and the grain plants. The 

 great plains of the Indus and Ganges, where 

 watered, are very productive, and it has been found 

 possible by irrigation to increase their fertility to a 

 wonderful extent, and, accordingly, the greatest 

 efforts are now being made by the government 

 to encourage the formation of irrigation canals, 

 especially on the Indus and Western Ganges, and 

 the plateau of the Deccan. The consequence has 

 been, to avert to a great extent the recurrence 

 of those famines which from time immemorial at 

 intervals depopulated India. 



Hindustan is rather a continent than a country, 

 in the European sense of the term, and its inhab- 

 itants are in every stage of civilisation. In the 

 most inaccessible districts, protected by dense 

 forests, tribes linger in the first stages of human pro- 

 gress; but generally the natives are agricultur- 

 ists, remarkable for their contented, sober, and 

 industrious habits. A description of the lower 

 classes in Bengal probably gives a tolerably correct 

 impression of the general condition of the Indian 

 population. It is stated that, in Bengal, the ordin- 

 ary habitations of the people are built of mud, or of 

 brushwood plastered over with mud. The frames 

 consist of bamboos tied together, and the roofs 

 are constructed of two sloping sides, which meet 

 at the top in a ridge. There is no window or 

 aperture except the doorway. Each hut is con- 

 cealed by thick vegetation, to keep off the sun, and 

 each has a patch of ground in which vegetables 

 are cultivated. These, rice, and occasionally fish, 

 supply the ordinary food. The only dress of the 

 men consists of a turban, and a cloth fastened 

 round the waist, and reaching to the knees. The 

 dress of the women is more elaborate and elegant, 

 and even the poorest of them have armlets of 

 silver or brass. Of course, this description does 

 not apply to all the people of India, or to the 

 landlords of Bengal, who are often enqrmously 

 rich. The position of the peasantry in different 

 districts of India has been very much influenced 

 by the systems of tenure of the land which pre- 

 vail in them. These may be classed under three 





