71 ASIA. 



through Carter and Wallin. As already mentioned in a preceding 

 part of 'this article, our knowledge of the Chinese empire has 

 bat little increased ; Mr. (Jutzlaff has left voluminous but rather 

 undigested material*; Mr. Fortune's explorations of the tea-growing 

 province* are interesting, but do not extend far into tho interior. 

 The travels of the French missionaries Hue and Gabet have given 

 some insight into the interior of this vast empire. Some light has 

 likewise been thrown by French missionaries on the great northern 

 region of China beyond the Wall called Mandchouria. The most 

 recent geographical addition respecting that part of Asia is a com- 

 plete and exhaustive account of the island of Chusan by Sir John 

 Davis. 



IV. General riae of the Estent and Figure of Ana. Asia lies to the 

 east of Europe and Africa ; it is separated from Africa by seas, except 

 at one place where these two great divisions of the globe are joined 

 by the narrow isthmus of Suez. With Europe it is connected by 

 extensive tracts of land under the meridian of the Ural Mountains, 

 which, together with the desert and deep-lying plains that extend 

 along the lower course of the Volga and the northern extremity of 

 the Caspian Sea, ought to be considered as the natural boundary 

 between Europe and Asia. 



The great mass of Asia may be compared to a four-sided figure, 

 whose four unequal angles are placed respectively on the Isthmus of 

 Sues, the innermost angle of the Gulf of Tonkin, Cape Shalatzkoi in 

 Siberia, and on the peninsula adjacent to the gulf of Cora, east of 

 Nova-Zembla. It consequently extends to the south of the Tropic of 

 Cancer, and in some parts stretches north of the Arctic Circle. The 

 northern side of this figure, lying within and parallel to the Polar 

 Circle, i* the shortest, extending only about 2700 miles; that ne .r the 

 Tropic, the longest, measures above 5000 miles. Four-fifths of 

 the whole area of Asia, or about fourteen millions of square miles, are 

 comprehended in this figure; the whole surface amounts to about 

 17,500,000 square mile*. 



From this extensive continental mass, which may be considered as 

 the body of Asia, ita members project on tho east, south, and west, in 

 tho form of [emiunilas and headlands. These peninsulas are that of 

 the Tchuktches jutting out towards America (with an area of 64,000 

 square miles), that of Kamtcbatka (containing 56,000 square miles), 

 that of Corea of equal extent, the curved are of the coasts of China, 

 and the three extensive peninsulas stretching south into the seas of 

 India and Arabia the peninsula beyond the Ganges occupying 

 777,000 square miles, India within the Ganges comprehending 

 upwards of a million of square miles, and Arabia about an equal 

 extent : the three last taken together have an area nearly equal to 

 Europe ; and lastly the peninsula of Asia Minor, which, not unlike 

 a bridge leading to Europe, has served to facilitate the passage of 

 nations and of civilisation. The northern coast alone, though much 

 more indented than any port of the coast of Africa, does not exhibit 

 in its formation peninsulas of great dimensions. These members 

 detached from the main body of the continent contain nearly three 

 millions and a hah* of square miles. 



It may be observed that the extensive tract of land which . 

 the centra of the continent and is beyond the reach of any of the 

 sea* inclosing Asia, is far superior in extent to the members which 

 unwind it ; thi* tract forms what may be called Central Ann, and 

 ha* remained in a state of lasting uniformity in manners and civilisa- 

 tion, whilst its appendages have undergone numerous change* and 

 nude great progress in both. 



If we consider- and we think we ought to do so the islands which 

 lie near a continent as ita insulated members, we may say that no part 

 of the globe equal* the southern part of Asia in the luxuriance of 

 this formation. Here lies the group of the Sunda* with its thousand 

 islands and islets, the most extensive archipelago of the globe, which 

 forme an easy passage to the continent of Australia, and to the Pacific 

 Ocean and ita numerous group*. Thus Asia exhibits the greatest 

 contrasts on the lurface of the globe. Ita interior present* to our 

 view the most extensive uninterrupted continental formation ; and its 

 southern extremity is more split into separate members, and varies 

 more in rapid succession of land and sea, than any other part of the 

 globe of equal extent 



Asia exhibiting inch characteristics in ita outline is no less remark 

 able for the formation of ita surface, on which the climate, and 

 consequently the vegetation and animal kingdom, of its different part* 

 most chiefly depend. lu examining other great divisions of the _',..).. 

 we find that Africa is divided into two nearly equal parts, the 

 southern of which forms an alino t uniform table-land, whilst the 

 northern, with the exception of the Atlas region, may be considered 

 a* a lowland. Europe contains in all parts plains of small extent 

 lying between dispersed mountain group* and ridge*. In America al 

 the highest land lies on one dde, occupying iu western coast from the 

 eilivuM north to the south ; it form* the most extensive system o; 

 mountain chain, on the globe, which inclose within their arms 

 eimteJ plateaus, but of comparatively small extent Asia exhibits 

 "*"' Th * wno ' nM< " * the interior continent rise* to 

 * .?*v" 1 ?^ wevatlon above the sea, and this elevated mass, of 

 which the high table-land* occupy by far the greatest extent, is not 

 placed at one of the extremities of the whole mass, but occupies, ita 



ASIA. 671 



From these table-lands, which occupy the centre, the surface 

 descends in gradual and diversified terraces and slopes to the lcv> 1 

 owlands which surround them. The table-lands themselves are 

 ravened by numerous mountain chains, and are everywhere inclosed 

 by high ranges ; but though these mountains are amongst tho highest 

 and most extensive on the globe, they occupy when compared 

 the table-lands a comparatively small surface. Tl <>-e on 



climate and organic nature cannot therefore be equal to that which 

 he table-lands themselves exercise, and consequently their r. 

 o these latter is only subordinate. This observation applies even to 

 he colossal range of the Himalaya, which forms the son 

 boundary of the extensive systems of table-lands occupying Central 

 Asia. 



The table-lands in the interior of the continent form two separate 

 sytems, different both in extent and in elevation : they are as it were 

 ,wo terraces, a higher and a lower one. The eastern system of these 

 table-lands comprehends tho plateau of Tibet, and that of the great 

 desert of Gobi, and the countries lying between them ; it rises from 

 4000 to 10,000 feet, and in some parts still more, above the sea : the 

 western, containing the plateau of Iran (Persia), does not generally 

 attain the height of 4000 feet The latter may occupy an area of 

 about 1,700,000 square miles ; the former more than thrice as large 

 in extent contains about 7,600,000 square miles, and both taken 

 together more *han two-fifths of all Asia : the remainder of the 

 continent i occupied partly by tho terraces, by tho intervention of 

 which the table-lands sink gradually toward the lowlands, and partly 

 by the lowlands themselves. The length of both systems of table- 

 lands token together and measured from west to east, from the Black 

 Sea and the Persian Gulf to the sea adjacent to the coasts of Corea, 

 is upwards of 5500 miles. Its breadth from south to north varies con- 

 siderably : it occupies in ita greatest extent on the east, between ita 

 southern boundary in the Chinese province of Yunnan, and the 

 northern in the country of the Mantchu Tungusea, from 1800 to 

 2000 miles ; but on tho west, between the coasts of Carmania and 

 a in Beloochistan, and the steep slopes to the lowlands of 

 Bucharia, less than 700 miles. 



The boundary of these plateau regions is marked by the Taurus and 

 the Caucasus at the north-western extremity, and by Mount Elhura at 

 ita slope toward the deep depression of the Caspian Sea: ii 

 wards advances farther north in the Altai range in Silierm, and on the 

 north-eastern extremity is bounded by the alpine region of Da-urio. 

 On the east the boundary is indicated by the mountain ranges in 

 western China, which have no common name, but extend from the 

 western extremity of the Great Wall to the Snow Mountains 

 (Siuete Shan) in Kuang-si and Yunnan northward, to the innermost 

 angle of the gulf of Tonkin. The southern boundary is formed by 

 the Himalaya range and ito branches, extending eastward and west- 

 ward, the latter of which are known by the name of the Ilindu-Koosh 

 or Hindu-Kiin. Farther to the west, where the plateau of Iran 

 projects towards the 7 south, the table-land region is separated from 

 the Indian Sea by the mountains of Beloochistan, and thence from 

 the Gulf of Persia by the steep Persian mountain range (in ita 

 northern course called Zagros), which extends along the coast of the 

 gulf and bounds the Tigris valley on the east : it afterwards joins the 

 chains of Taurus and Amanus, where the Tigris and the Euphrates 

 issue from the mountains. Here the boundary between tho lowland* 

 of Mesopotamia and the table-land is very distinctly marked; and 

 from this point the range proceeds westward, under the name 

 of Mount Taurus, and fills, together with the table Ian. Is inclosed 

 between its arms, the greatest part of the peninsula of Anatolia. 



Both systems of table-lands are so connected, that properly Kpoak- 

 ing they form only one elevated and continuous protuberanee on the 

 surface of the earth, but they decrease considerably in breadth where 

 they join one another; and exactly at this point of junction nun 

 high masses rise and form an extensive mo where the 



ranges of the Himalaya, Ilindu-Koosh, Tsungling, and Bolor meet one 

 another ; thus these table-lands are at the same time joined and sepa- 

 rated in a very characteristic 



From the extremity of these table-land systems, especially on the 

 south-east and north-east, south-west and north-west, there issue seve- 

 ral separate mountain chains, not connected with one another, but 

 I lie 1 1 form more or leas a part of the table-lauds themselves. By this 

 .rity the highland of Central Asia, as far as regards ita surface 

 and ita extremities, appears not less indented and cut into several 

 divisions and member* than the whole continent of Asia on its shore* 

 and it exterior figure ; the valleys which by this indentation are pro- 

 duced on the border* of the table-lands, afford peculiar advantages for 

 the progress of civilisation : for as we have already observed th% 

 highland of Asia doe* not sink on one side only, but on all sides and 

 l every point of the compass; towards different oceans also, 

 which are everywhere separated from the highland by exic 

 plains, varying greatly in magnitude and form. This circumstance, 

 added to the valleys formed by the indentations in the exterior n 

 of the highland*, has given rise to numerous .md in 

 systems, which descending through the intervening terraces direct 

 their winding c o,,rso towards the north, south, went, and east, and thus 

 the internal countries of this continent an open communication 

 with the ocean. 



