593 



ASIA. 



ASIA. 



'.n 



three continents of the Old World, and its total population is said to 

 exceed 35,000,000. Half the population and very nearly half the 

 area belong to the Asiatic part of the empire. The provinces divided 

 into pashaliks are not in any intimate connection with one another, 

 nor even with the centre of the empire. Many of the nations which 

 inhabit the provinces lying on the boundary, as the Turkomans, and 

 the Kurds, are still more difficult to keep in subjection than the pashas 

 themselves. 



Botany of Asia. With reference to the character of its vegetation, 

 Asia may be conveniently divided into seven regions, namely : 1, the 

 Siberian ; 2, the Tartarian ; 3, the Cashmerian ; 4, the Syrian ; 5, the 

 Himalayan ; 6, the Indian ; and 7, the Malayan or Equinoctial There 

 are certainly no very precise limits between these, but nevertheless 

 they may be taken as representing so many well-marked features of 

 the Asiatic Flora, and as expressing the most important differences of 

 climate which this division of the world exhibits. 



I. The Siberian region comprehends all the northern parts of Asia 

 lying between the Arctic Ocean and Tartary, including Kamtchatka 

 on tin east, and the whole range of the Caucasian and Ural Mountains 

 west ; thus forming a broad belt passing over the whole conti- 

 nent, and limited on the south by the 50th parallel of latitude. In its 

 general features this region is essentially European on the west, and 

 similar to the west coast of America on the east. Its northern portion 

 experiences in many places extremely rigorous winters and short 

 summers, and the earth is perpetually frozen below the vegetable 

 mould that overlies the surface. In the neighbourhood of Eneseisk 

 or Yeneseisk this is particularly remarkable. In that part of Asia the 

 cold is so incredibly intense that, according to Gmelin, 72 below zero 

 of Fahrenheit is not very unusual, and it has been known as low as 

 120 below zero ; birds and animals, as well as man, perish beneath 

 this dreadful temperature, their very blood being frozen in their 

 veins. 



In a country where this degree of cold exists, vegetation must of 

 necessity be of the most stunted description. Accordingly we read of 

 whole districts covered with nothing but morasses of coarse rushes 

 mixed with diminutive birches and arbutus, small willows, and an 

 arctic bramble or two ; cabbages will not exist, and corn is almost 

 unknown in a growing state. In somewhat milder districts, where 

 perpetual sunlight begins to be exchanged for the alternation of day 

 and night and longer summers, the country is clothed with immense 

 forests of birches, larches, and pines, among which the Cembra pine is 

 a noble object, frequently attaining the height of 120 feet; to these 

 are added Tartarian maples, balsams, poplars, and wild cherries, along 

 with many species of C'aragana, which is a genus characteristic of 

 Siberia. Great numbers of Gentians, especially G. algida, with its 

 blue and white blossoms, large patches of the yellow Rhododendron 

 chrytanthum, and the rich purple Rhododendron dauricum, with 

 quantities of dwarf almonds and a great variety of other pretty flowers 

 fill the meadows and open parts of the country. Lilies of different 

 kinds are met with in abundance in the eastern parts of the Siberian 

 region, and their bulbs are used in Kamtchatka for food ; in many 

 places are also found rhubarbs, especially that sort called Klicitm 

 wndulatum, but not the officinal species, the station of which is pro- 

 bably hi the Tartarian region. Among the strong points of resem- 

 blance between this portion of the Asiatic Flora and that of the opposite 

 coast of America may be mentioned the abundance of cinquefoils 

 (Potentilla) found in both, one of which, Polentilla pectinata, appears 

 to be common to both countries ; Pediculari* retupinala, a very remark- 

 able species, is also met with in both. Corn is cultivated successfully 

 only in the southern parts of the Siberian region. In the eastern part, 

 according to Malte-Brun, grain has not been found to ripen either at 

 Oodskoi, which is under 55, or in Kamtchatka at 57", but the south- 

 west parts possess remarkable fertility. On the north of Kolyban 

 barley gives a return of twelve and oats of twenty-fold. Wheat is 

 however raised with difficulty, and as a substitute the inhabitants sow 

 different kinds of buck-wheat (Polygonum), from which an inferior 

 kind of bread is prepared, as in China and some parts of Lombardy. 



II. The Tartaric region, as it is next to the Siberian, so it resem- 

 bles it in most respects ; and it may even be doubted whether it ought 

 to be botanically distinguished, especially as very little is known of 

 the exact nature of any part of its Flora except that of Kunawur. It 

 may however be characterised as being essentially Siberian in its 

 genera, but distinct in the majority of its species ; and so modified by 

 the extreme cold and dryness of the climate in consequence of the 

 great elevation of the country, that most of the Siberian species which 

 are formed to breathe a more humid air can scarcely exist in it. Cut 

 off from the plains of India by the lofty pinnacles of the Himalayan 

 range, it has no gradual communication with a tropical Flora in any 

 of its provinces, but retains to its most southern limits its own pecu- 

 liar aspect. Of the few species which botanists have seen from the 

 most southern part of this region, scarcely any are met with in Siberia. 

 What is colled by travellers Tartaric furze has been ascertained by 

 Dr. Royle to consist of prickly species of Oeniita, Astragalus, and 

 Cararjnn'i ; and the gooseberries, and currants, and willows, and rhu- 

 barb are all of kinds unknown to the north of Asia, starved and stunted 

 by the miserable climate. 



The passes to the northern face of the range of stupendous moun- 

 tains which divide the Himalayan region from that on the west, are 

 OBOO. DIT. VOL. I. 



described by Burnes as almost destitute of vegetation ; but the assafo3tida 

 plants grow there in great luxuriance, and form the principal pasture 

 of the flocks which browse on them. An umbelliferous plant called 

 Prangos is also found a valuable winter food for sheep. 



In some places of this Trans-Himalayan region the aridity of the 

 atmosphere is so great that things neither rot nor decompose, but foil 

 to dust in course of time ; the surface of the soil is parched up and 

 baked white by the scorching influence of the sun's rays, so that 

 the face of the hills is actually dead. On the elevated table-land 

 of Tartary the mountains are from 18,000 to 19,000 feet above the 

 sea, and rise from the water's edge without forests or even a bush, 

 clothed with a withered and russet vegetation, and bare of snow. 

 (Hoyle.) In other places however many trees are met with, among 

 which are Tartaric species of ash, hazel, cypress, oaks, poplars, birches, 

 pavias, &c. The Neoza Pine (Pinus Gerardiana), the seeds of which 

 are eatable, like those of the' Stone Pine in Europe ; the Indian Cedar 

 (Abies Deodara), Abies Webbiana, and a few other trees with a northern 

 aspect, straggle on the mountains from the Indian side, and give an 

 air of grandeur to some parts of this otherwise desolate region. Some 

 places in the lowlands, such as Balk, where the climate is less arid, 

 produce fruit of great excellence, and resemble the Flora of the Cash- 

 merian region. In Kunawur, barley, buckwheat, and turnips were 

 seen by the Messrs. Gerard at 13,600 feet; and a little lower the 

 ground was covered with thyme, sage, and many other aromatic 

 plants. At 17,000 feet Tartarian furze still grows. 



III. In the northern districts of Persia and in those provinces which 

 stand between the Indian territory and that kingdom, nature still 

 refuses to assume the tropical features which, as will presently be 

 seen, characterise Asia south of the Himalaya and east of the Indus. 

 In many respects the vegetation of this, which may be called the 

 Cashmerian region, is so like that of Europe that, according to a 

 French traveller in Cashmere, one would fancy oneself on a mountain 

 in Auvergne rather than in an Asiatic province bordering upon India. 

 This arises from the resemblance that exists between the climate of 

 many parts of Persia and that of Europe, which is mainly due to the 

 high level of Iran. Sharp winters and fine warm summers nourish 

 races of trees and flowers far more luxuriant and delicate than can 

 appear in the long-protracted cold and short summers of Siberia, or 

 the dry and inclement steppes of Tartary. It is here that plants 

 which delight in bright light and high summer heat, with a moist 

 atmosphere in their growing season, but which require a long and 

 steady rest in winter, are met with in perfection ; in a word, it is a 

 climate which would suit tropical plants if it were not for the periodi- 

 cal cold. Rice, oranges, and olives, pomegranates, almonds, and fig- 

 trees remind the traveller of Italy ; while grapes, mulberries, and the 

 ordinary European fruit-trees cast a northern aspect over the scenery. 

 All things that require much heat and light to arrive at perfection, 

 such as the fragrant principle of tobacco, the narcotic juice of the 

 opium-poppy, and the tears of the manna-ash, are produced in the 

 Cashmerian region in the greatest excellence. In some places the 

 appearance of a few herbs of tropical forms indicates an approach to 

 the vegetation of India, such as the salep plant, which belongs to a 

 genus otherwise confined to the tropical parts of Asia ; cotton, and 

 here and there the sugar-cane : but there is no trace of the great fea- 

 tures of a more southern vegetation. In Cashmere the most interesting 

 part of the Flora is collected. In this province flourish many of the 

 fruits now cultivated in Europe ; apricots, peaches, plums, cherries, 

 apples, pears, and grapes, all in the greatest profusion, supply the 

 markers. The walnut, which here is wild, is cultivated extensively 

 for the sake of the oil which is pressed from its seeds, and used both 

 in cookery, for burning, and instead of linseed oil for painters' work. 

 " The vine scales the summit of the poplar, and is never restrained by 

 pruning, though, compared with it, those of Europe, either on the 

 trellis or the wall, sink into insignificance." In the forests are found 

 oriental plants and Horse-Chestnut trees (Pavias) truly wild ; in the 

 fields grow most of our European kinds of corn along with rice ; and 

 in the gardens the ordinary culinary vegetables of Europe. The 

 Singhara Nut (Trapa) forms an object of general cultivation in the 

 lakes which surround the city of Cashmere ; one lake alone is stated 

 by Moorcroft to produce from 96,000 to 128,000 ass-loads of this nut, 

 and about 30,000 people are almost wholly supported by it for five 

 months out of twelve. Nothing perhaps is more remarkable in Cash- 

 mere than its floating gardens, formed from the entangled stems of 

 water-lilies covered with earth and planted with melons and cucum- 

 bers, which thustreated arrive at the highest state of perfection, and 

 are produced in great numbers. 



The prangos, already mentioned, a kind of umbelliferous plant, is 

 collected in some parts for the sake of the leaves, which when dried 

 furnish a fodder much esteemed for sheep ; and the saffron crocus, 

 which arrives at a great size, is extensively cultivated, and is a source 

 of considerable revenue. 



IV. Dovetailing as it were with what we have called the Cash- 

 merian region, passing even through southern Persia into northern 

 India, and finding its eastern limits in the Great Indian Desert, of 

 which Delhi may be considered as the extreme point, is a botanical 

 region that requires to be distinguished, and to which the name of 

 Syrian may be conveniently given, from its commencing with Syria 

 on the west. It also comprehends the greater part of Turkey in Asia 



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