NATURAL HISTORY OP COMMERCE. 



145 





ASIA : CLIMATE, BOIL, HAW PBOI>UCK. 



General Description Climate Mineral, Animal, and Vegetable Pro- 

 ducePlant* peculiar to Africa mid A*ia. 



IOri<oiT. arid Asia aro strictly but one continent, lying 

 . in the same latitudes, and having many features 

 union. While, however, Europe barely trenches 

 on the region of palms, A 'ids through the sub- 



tropical /.one, mid has one-seventh of its surface within 

 Compared with 10 u rope again, the climate 

 colder than the latitude would indicate; the 

 I ' in- of permanently ;:b-soil descending in the 



[arts of the interior to latitude 60, which is 20 

 lower than on the west coast of Europe. Similarly, the 

 limits of cultivation of the useful plants, by which we 

 divided Europe into botanical zones, are modified in 

 A<ia, yielding to the tendency to descend. The vine, 

 which flourishes at 50 in inland parts of Europe, 

 nowhere ripens beyond 45 in Asia, its native soil, where 

 lil grape is a common plant, and sinks to 35 on the 

 Pacific C(I;IM. The region of palms, which includes Sicily 

 in the west, waves downwards at Canton to the Tropic 

 of Cancer. Bearing this tendency in mind, we may 

 trace the zones and sub-zones of growth, descriptive of 

 Europe, across the continent of Asia, allowing for a 

 variable descent ef from five to ten degrees of latitude. 



The climate, of the northern, eastern, and central 



mrts is subject to great extremes of heat and cold in 



immer and winter respectively; but only in the 



.nd in the islands can it be described as variable. 



It is very dry and cold in the north, and upon the 



central table-lands ; but hot and humid in the south, 



where there aro only wet and dry seasons, without any 



winter. 



Various causes produce the peculiarities of tempera- 

 ture thus adverted to. The magnitude of the surface 

 of Asia gives it a true continental as contrasted with an 

 insular climate. The land absorbs and radiates heat 

 more readily than the ocean. In summer, therefore, the 

 spacious table-lands and plains of Asia accumulate a vast 

 store of heat which they give off again in Winter, and 

 between the two extremes there is a great range un- 

 qualified by any of the equalising influences of the sea. 

 The approximation of the land to the pole is another 

 cause of low temperature. The flatness of the northern 

 regions interposes no barrier to the cold blasts from 

 the icy ocean, while the Himalaya range and its 

 adjuncts effectually shut out the hot and the moist 

 winds of the tropics. One result of the dryness of the 

 northern atmosphere is that the snow-line of the 

 Himalayas is 3,000 feet higher on the northern slope 

 than on the southern counterslope. The district of the 

 greatest cold is in Siberia, where a mean winter tempera- 

 ture of 40 below zero is met with on either side of the 

 lower course of the Lena, from Yakoutsk to the sea. 

 The district of the greatest heat is in Arabia, where a 

 mean annual temperature over 90 is met with on either 

 side of the Tropic of Cancer, and extending across the 

 Red Sea and Nubia into the interior of Africa. Thus 

 in every way, Asia is the continent of extremes. The 

 cold of Siberia is so intense and permanent in its effects 

 that the greatest heat of summer cannot thaw uiore than 

 four or five feet of the soil. As an example of climatic 

 extremes, W3 may take China. Pekin the capital, in 

 about the latitude of Naples, has an Egyptian summer 

 and a Russian winter ; and the summer of Canton, in the 

 south, is hotter than that of India, being less favoured 

 with sea breezes, and being less elevated. 



" Nature," says Malte Brun, " has given to each of 

 these regions a physical character, which human industry 

 will never succeed in changing, or even in modifying in 



114 N.E. 



a sen Bible degree. An long as the present equilibrium 

 of the globe shall continue, the ice will pile ithelf up in 

 the mouths of the o!,i and Lena, the wind* will whittle 

 in the deserts of Sharao, and Thibet will not see the 

 snows of its Alps disappear before the rajs of the son, 

 which at HO little a distance scorches the tropical regions. 

 Thus the Tartar in called to the agricultural and pastoral 

 life, as the Siberian is to the chase. appearance 



more fortunate, owes in great part to its climate that 

 effeminacy, that indolence, which invites foreign robbers 

 and dome tic tyranny." 



Soil South of the Himalaya range, and in China, the 

 soil may bo described as very fertile. In the north, 

 steppes, and tundras or frozen bogH, prevail. Much of 

 the central table-land, and the countries in the same line, 

 are deserts, generally saline. In fart, the great desert 

 region of the world, unbroken except by fertile strips of 

 sou near rivers, such as the Tigris and Euphrates, or 

 by a mountain chain, may be traced from the Atlantic, on 

 the western coast of Africa, nearly to the Pacific, on the 

 east of Asia. 



Produce : Mineral, Animal, Vegetable. 



The expanse of Asia is so vast that every geological 

 condition is represented, and consequently minerals of 

 every kind are found. Diamonds and other precious 

 stones are found in Hindostan and Siberia, whence have 

 come almost all the svorld-fjjmed jewels. Borneo and 

 the East India islands produce precious stones. Gold 

 is found in Siberia, India, the Chinese empire, and 

 Japan. Silver is found in the same countries, and 

 in the Turkish dominions. Siberia also produces plati- 

 num. Tin is obtained in large quantities at Singapore, 

 and is also met with in China. Copper, iron, and 

 lead are found in many parts. Quicksilver is obtained 

 in Japan, the Chinese empire, and in Ceylon. Coal is 

 worked in China and Hindostan, and exists, as yet 

 unworked, in adjacent territory. Salt is the common 

 product of most parts of Asia, though scarce in some 

 countries; in Hindostan it becomes one of the chief 

 commodities imported. 



Animal Produce. 



Asia is the probable centre whence came our domestic 

 animals, all of which are represented in the several 

 faunal zones. Besides these, there are domestic animals 

 whose types have not become diffused through Europe. 

 Thus, in the desert regions, the horse is displaced for 

 draught by the camel, and by the elephant in the 

 south and south-east, where the large quantity of 

 rich succulent vegetable food required by this enor- 

 mous beast abounds. The one-hunched Arabian camel 

 or dromedary ranges across Africa, Arabia, Persia, to 

 the great central table lands. The two-hunched or 

 Bactrian camel then takes its place, and extends ar 

 far north as the latitude of 50. The Siberian reindeer, 

 on the other hand, descends from the north as low 

 as the same latitude, and the representatives of the 

 hottest and coldest climes meet along this line. The 

 stock of elephants is constantly recruited by snaring 

 and taming wild ones, the tame animals seldom breed- 

 ing while in subjection. Horses abound over these 

 parts, but the domesticated varieties are almost solely 

 used for riding and war. The ass of Asia is a beautiful 

 animal, chiefly found in the south-west countries, both 

 in a wild state and reclaimed. The Brahmin ox is a 

 sacred animal amongst the Hindoos, and treated with 

 scrupulous reverence. The Angora goat of Asia Minor 

 and the Thibet goat aro celebrated for their long and 

 silky hair. The pig is favoured by the Chinese, but 

 is abominated as unclean in the Mohammedan parts of 

 Asia. Horses, cattle, sheep, asses, and elephants live in 

 herds or flocks in a wild state, and furnish the kips or 

 small hides, the skins, wool, horn, and ivory so largely 

 exported. Other animals never yet subjugated are stiU 



