- 



On the ranges to the louth it U not carried above 8000 feet, and seldom | 

 abore 5000 feet. In Tibet a species of barley U grown at an altitude 

 f 15,000 feet. 



The highland of Eastern Asia 'u on every aide surrounded by 

 extensive terraces, through which the great river systems descend to 

 the lowlands bordering on the ocean. 



On the mountain range* which bound the table-lands on the north 

 four great riven take their rise : the Irtish from the lake of /ji^ng 

 joins the Oby and Tobol ; the Tenesei unites with the Angara, which 

 issues from the lake of Baikal, and with the two Tunguakas ; the 

 Lena, with its great tributary the Witim ; the fourth is the Amur. 

 They run respectively 2000, 3200, 2800, and 1750 miles, measured 

 along the course of the rivers. The Oby, with its tributaries, drains 

 1,250,000 square miles, the Tenesei about 1,040,000, the Lena 800,000, 

 and the Amur about 800,000 all taken together, a surface much more 

 extensive than that of Europe, and by far the greatest part of it 

 belongs to Siberia. They abound in fish ; and as they have plenty of 

 water, two-thirds of their courses are navigable, but the lower part 

 is for more than six months of the year covered with ice. This 

 causes in spring-time an excessive swelling of the waters in the upper 

 branches and tributaries, by which their banks are torn off, and great 

 irnmm of rocks and earth carried down and strewed over the flat 

 country along the lower course of the river. The navigation on the 

 principal water-courses from south to north is for this reason very 

 inconsiderable ; but it is much more important in their tributaries 

 running east and west, by means of which a water-communication is 

 established through the greatest part of the countries lying between 

 the Ural Mountains and Okhotzk. 



From the mountain region bordering on the highland of Eastern 

 Asia two extensive terraces descend gradually toward the Pacific 

 Ocean, besidesa great number of smaller ones. The latter are watered 

 by smaller rivers, but the two former give rise to the two great river 

 systems of the Hoang-Ho and Kiaiig (Kincha-kiang, Ta-kiang, or 

 Xantse-kiang), of which the former runs upwards of 2300 miles, and 

 the latter more than 3300 miles, if their great bends are taken into 

 account. Each of them carries off the waters of a surface of above 

 700,000 square mile*. The Chinese call them the ' Sons of the Ocean,' 

 a name probably derived from the tides ascending them upwards of 

 400 miles, by which they are changed into seas of fresh water and 

 rendered navigable to a great distance from the sea. This great 

 advantage of the Chinese rivers arises from their geographical position 

 with respect to the Pacific Ocean, in which the tides rise to the 

 greatest height The sources of these two rivers are not very distant 

 from one another on the table-lands, but in their middle course they are 

 widely separated to the north and south by the ranges which fnrni the 

 borders of the highland ; in the lowlands of China however they 

 converge again, and their embouchures are only about 100 miles 

 distant from one another ; but before they fall into the sea, they ore 

 connected by numerous canals. The tract between these rivers may 

 therefore be considered as one immense delta, and the riven themselves 

 as a double river system, formed on the most colossal scale, between 

 which is situated the best cultivated country on the globe, central 

 China, which to these rivers U indebted for its system of canals, and in 

 some measure for its civilisation. 



The rivers of Southern Asia form three distinct groups, of which 

 those of India cast of the Ganges are little known ; only their mouths 

 and the lower parts of their course have been explored. Those rivers, 

 of which nix or seven run a considerable distance, taken together, 

 contain probably a greater volume of water than all the rivers of the 

 northern half of Africa. Their course lies from north to south, ,,r 

 outhnwuth-eart, and the valley, drained by them extend in a parallel 

 direction between the mountain ranges, which an as uniform as the 

 valleys, and widen towards theBunda Archipelago in the shape of a 

 fan. The rivers of Camboja, Siam, and Pegu, which are the largest, 

 carry off a great volume of water, and are navigable to a considerable 

 distance from the sea ; but they have not yet been explored, except 

 the river of Pegu or the Irawaddy, which in our war with the Birmeae 

 has been navigated by armed vemOs up to Promo, and ascended by the 

 team-boat* up to the town of Ava, 446 miles fmm iU month. It in 

 aid to be navigable for boaU 300 miles higher, to li'hamo. It* upper 

 course was visited in 1827 by Wilcox and IlurH.n. who itcttini? nut 

 from Sadiya in Aiuim traversed the Langtam Mountains, ami had a 

 view of the river in 27 80' N. Int., only about 60 miles from iU ,. 

 which lie in the snow-covered mountains farther north. At this place 

 th Irawaddy is about 80 yards wide. On the map which D'Anvillo 

 made f.,r Du Halite's 'China 1 this river iit identified i 

 ZaogboUu, or Sampoo, the great river of Tibet, which flows to the 

 oiith of H' Lasso. (BBAimiFUTRA ; AAM.J 



J ne rivers of India within the Ganges run in a direction f|iiito 



IBermt from that of the rivers beyond the Ganges, which are parallel 

 one another. The Ganges and the Indus take a diverging course 

 and olCT different parU of the sea; but their tributaries, npacially 



b* Jumna and the Sutlej, approach one nnoth.r. and facilitate the 

 1 intercoune of the nations which inhnl.it the banks of the 

 The advantages which result from these riven 

 >t gulfs are still greater. Tin- trnlf of 

 Intent* of the |-.,,intil inf. romm- 

 nations of Malay origin and with the Chinese, whilst the gulf of Malabar 



opens to them the coasts of Persia and Arabia. It is principally through 

 this direction of its rivers that India within the Ganges has enjoyed 

 such opportunities of civilisation over India beyond the Ganges. 



The Ganges is 1940 miles iu length, and drains a surface of upward* 

 of 400,000 square miles. It rises in the Himalaya Mountains, in one 

 of the most elevated region) of the globe, covered with extensive masses 

 of snow, from which abundance of water continually descends, and is 

 carried off by a dozen great rivers, many of which exceed the Rhine 

 in volume and in length of course. These rivers enter the Delta of 

 Bengal, which is twice as huge as that of tin- Nile, and presents a 

 most extensive and intricate system of rivers and canals for irrigation 

 as well as for navigation. By its junction with the Brahmaputra, 

 which descends through the valley of Aram, the river system of the 

 Ganges becomes double and not unlike that of the great Chinese 

 rivers. The Ganges and the Brahmaputra descend from regions 

 different in natural advantages, of which only that adjacent to the 

 Ganges has attained a high degree of civilisation. 



The river system of the Indus has the highest historical interest, 

 partly from containing the I'aujab, the country of the five rivers 

 which descend from the eastern mountains, and partly from its 

 geographical position. Flowing along the cavtern edge of the table- 

 land of Iran, with a general course from north to south, the Indus 

 forms the true boundary between Eastern and Western Asia. India, 

 that country which more than any other has attracted the admiration 

 of the philosopher, the cupidity of the conqueror, and the speculations 

 of the merchant, is accessible from the west only by two roads, one 

 of which leading along the valley of the L'abul River passes through 

 Attock on the Indus to the Panjab ; the other which has been less 

 used leads from Herat through Candahor to Shikarpoor near the 

 Indus. The track which leads from the table Ian. 1 of Inn through 

 Cabul to the narrow terrace on which IV-hawur is built, andthenceto 

 Attock, is the high-road along which the nations of Asia for many 

 generations descended iu their passage to India, but which never was 

 ascended by the nations of that country. The sources of the Indus 

 were discovered only in 1812, as well as those of its great tributary 

 the Satadru (Sutlej); both of them rise on the high table-land of 

 Tibet, the Indus on the slopes of the Kailasa Mountains, and the 

 Satadru in the sacred lake of Manasarovar. These riven therefore do 

 not originate like the Ganges on the southern slopes of the Himalaya 

 range, but on its northern descent and the high table-land itself; a 

 fact which till lately was not known. From this circumstance it 

 follows that these rivers pierce the range in all its breadth, and paaa 

 through immense clefts in the mountain mass, before they arrive at 

 the low plains of Hindustan. Below the Punjnud (or Pancha-nada, 

 that is, the t n, which receives all the waters of tin I' 



the Indus, like the Nile, is not enriched by any conaiderabl 

 and iu delta which was once so famous fur it* civilisation is at 

 present in a neglected state, and has partially been chauged into an 

 uncultivated desert. The whole course of the Indus amounts to 

 upwards of 2300 miles, and it drains a surface of more than 400,000 

 square miles. 



i are the ten or twelve extensive terraces of Eastern Asia, which, 

 differing in their forms and geographical position, and traversed by 

 large river systems, display a great diversity of natural productions, 

 and have given a different turn to the progress of civilisation among 

 the nations which inhabit them. They are partly divided from one 

 another and partly surrounded by the lowlands. But these latter are 

 not flat level countries. Mountain ridges and table-lands often rise 

 in the middle of them, though they do not attain such a height as 

 those of Central Asia. Such a table-land is found in southern ' 

 where it constitutes the mountain region of Yun-nan, Su-chuon, and 

 Kuang-si; in India beyond the Ganges, where it occupies Loon; and 

 on the peninsula within t lie Ganges, where the table-land of Deccan 

 is >!< 'iibtless the most remarkable and at the same time the best known 

 of these subordinate highlands. 



This plateau of Deccan ococupie* with it* elevated plains, which at 

 an average rise from 2000 to 8000 feet above the level of the sea, the 

 greatest part of the triangular peninsula between the Arabian Sea and 

 the Bay of Bengal. The mountain range known by the name (.f the, 

 Ghauts forms the western edge of the table-land, and descend* rapidly 

 to the narrow, rocky, sqne coast of Malabar, which is 



characterised by it* numerous harbours. On the northern side, where 

 the Vindhya Mountains stand, it sinks in M , . si. n.lne.' 



through the provinces of Malwa and Bundelkund, till it terminates in 

 the flat plain of northern Hindustan. Towards the oast its descent 

 i< formed by gentle slopes and terraces, as the course of all its rivers 

 shows, which run off from the high plains to the flat and broad, but 

 sultry and arid, coast of Coromandel. This table-land < 

 much favoured by nature. Its insulated position is quite independent 

 of the hiahl. d Asia ; it is placed between two seas and in 



the conflict of the monsoons, and cooled by sea breezes. M< 

 its surface being formed by a series of terraces which lie witl 

 tropics, it enjoys nil the advantages of tropical countries without 

 partaking of their disadvantages. On tho sultry coast the luxuriance 

 of vegetation is displayed in the cocoa-palm, th' 

 cinnamon-laurel, and the pine apple ; it. i 



of teak -trees to thn ric,- li.-ld on that:' 1 <"1 Htiil 



higher on tho cool summits of the mountains it offers to the observer 



