168 GEOGRAPHY. 



Persia, lies east of Turkey, between the Persian Gulf, and Mare 

 Caspium, or Caspian Sea. It contains the ancient Persia proper, in 

 the centre and south ; part of Susiana, in the west-south-west, ex- 

 tending to the mouth of the Euphrates ; Media, in the north-west ; 

 Hyrcania and Parthia, in the north ; and Carmania, in the south- 

 east. The ancient Persepolis, was in the southern part of Persia 

 proper. Ispahan, the ancient Aspadana, is the largest city ; but 

 Teheran, farther north, is now the capital. Eastward of these two 

 cities lies the Great Salt Desert, extending to East Persia. Shiraz 

 is a large city in the south ; Tabreez in the north-west ; Meshid in 

 the north-east; and Yezd lies eastward of Ispahan. The religion of 

 Persia is Mohamedan ; learning and the arts are in a low state ; and 

 the government is monarchical; the Shah having despotic power. 

 East Persia, comprehends the ancient Aria, since called Khoras- 

 san, in the north and north-west ; and Gedrosia in the south. On 

 the north, it has the ancient Paropamisan mountains, now called 

 Hindoo Koosh; and it extends eastward to the river Indus. It is 

 usually divided into Afghanistan, in the north ; and Beloochistan, 

 in the south ; so named from the Afghan, and Beloochee tribes ; both 

 of which are subdivided, under independent chiefs. The chief cities 

 are Cabul, between Candahar and Peshawur, in the north-east ; 

 Herat, in the north-west, and Kelat, in the south. The sovereigns 

 are tyrannical ; but the whole country is in a very unsettled state ; 

 the fortress of Ghiznee, which was the ancient capital, called Ghazna, 

 not far south of Cabul, having been taken, in 1839, by an English 

 and native army from Hindoostan. 



2. The Indies, or East Indies, so called for ages past, com- 

 prehend Hindoostan, and the peninsula east of it, now named Chin 

 India. They are the land of sugar and rice, cotton and silk, coffee 

 and spices, which have long been objects of commerce to more 

 western nations. The elephant is there a beast of burthen ; and the 

 tiger and anaconda prowl in the luxuriant groves of the bamboo, 

 banyan, or palm. The religion is Paganism, and the people are 

 degraded by gross superstition ; but numerous missionaries are there, 

 striving to diffuse the light of science and of Christianity. 



Hindoostan, was called from remote times, India within the 

 Ganges ; extending on the east to the Sinus Gangeticus, or Bay of 

 Bengal. Its chief rivers are the Ganges in the east ; and the Indus, 

 or Sind, on the western frontier. The Himmaleh or Himalaya 

 mountains, on the north, are the highest known ; Choumalarie, the 

 loftiest peak, being nearly five and a half miles high. Ceylon, south 

 of Hindoostan, is its principal island. The eastern and southern 

 parts of Hindoostan are subject to the British ; and the other parts 

 are under separate chiefs, most of whom are tributary to Great Bri- 

 tain ; so that nearly all Hindoostan is under British control ; acquired 

 through the agency of the East India Company, which has an army 

 of 200,000 men, and a revenue of about $100,000,000. Among the 

 cities subject to it, are Calcutta, the capital ; Patna, and Benares, 

 on the Ganges; Madras, in the south-east; and Surat, and Bombay, 

 in the west. Delhi, towards the north, is the capital of the Great 

 Mogul, who is now a petty prince : Lucknow, farther east, belongs 



