ie6 



HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. 



Pakt 1. 



1010. Thibet abounds in animals, partly in herds and flocks ; but chiefly in a wild state. 

 The tame horses are small, but full of spirit and restive. The cattle are only of middling 

 height. There are numerous flocks of sheep, generally of a small breed ; their head 

 and legs are black, their wool fine and soft, and their mutton excellent ; it is eaten in a 

 raw state, after having been dried in the cold air, and seasoned with garlic and spices. 

 The goats are numerous, and celebrated for their fine hair, which is used in the manu- 

 facture of shawls; this grows under the coarser hair. The yak, or grunting ox, fur- 

 nished with long and thick hair, and a tail singular for its silky lustre and undulating 

 form, furnishes an article of luxury common in all the countries of the East. Tlie musk 

 ox, the ounce, a species of tiger, the wild horse, and the lion, are among the animals of 

 the country. 



10 11. That elegant specimens of civil archi- 

 tecture, both in the construction of mansions 

 (^g. 159. ), or palaces, and in bridges and other 

 public works, should be found in such a' 

 country is rather singular. In Turner's jour- 

 ney through this mountainous region, he found 

 bridges of various descriptions generally of 

 timber. Over broad streams, a triple or 

 quadruple row of timbers project one over the 

 other, their ends inserted into the rock. Piers 

 are almost totally excluded, on accoount of 

 the exreme rapidity of the rivers. The widest 

 river has an iron bridge, consisting of a num- 

 ber of iron chains which support a matted platform {fig. 160. ), and two chains are stretched 



above parallel with the sides, to allow of a matted border for the safety of the passenger. 

 Horses are permitted to go over this bridge, one at a time. There is another bridge of a 

 more simple construction, formed of two parallel chains, round which creepers are loosely 

 twisted, sinking very much in the middle, where suitable planks are placed for a path. 

 Another mode of passing rivers is by two ropes, of rattan, or stout osier, stretched from 

 one mountain to another, and encircled by a hoop of the same. The passenger places 

 himself between them, sitting in the hoop, and seizing a rope in each hand, slides him- 

 self along with facility and speed over an abyss tremendous to behold. Chain and wire 

 bridges, constructed like those of Thibet, are now becoming common in Britain ; and it 

 is singular, that one is described in Hutchinson's Durham (Newcast. 1785.) as having 

 been erected over the Tees. 



SuBSECT. 10. Present State of Agriculture in the Asiatic Islands, including also those of 

 Australasia and Polynesia, 



1012. The islands of Asia and Australasia form a great and important part of our globe ; 

 and seem well adapted by nature for the support of civilized man, though at present they 

 are mostly peopled by savages. Some European colonies have been made, especially in 

 New Holland and Van Diemans Land, which will probably after at long and indefinite 

 period, civilize the whole. The immense population, agriculture, commerce, power, and 

 refinement, which may then exist in these scarcely known regions, are too vast and various 



