Book I. 



AGRICULTURE IN ASIA. 



163 



101ft Thibet, on the other hand, strikes a traveller, at first sight, as one of the least favoured countries 

 under heaven, and appears to be in a great measure incapable of culture. It exhibits only low rockv 

 hills, without any visible vegetation, or extensive arid plains, both of the most stern and stubborn aspect 

 promising full as little as they produce. ' 



1017. The agriculture of Thibet has many obstacles to contend with. Its common 

 products are wheat, peas, and barley. Rice grows only in the southern parts. Turnips, 

 pumpkins, and cucumbers are abundant. The greater part of the plants which travellers 

 have noticed are such as are met with also in Europe and in Bengal. At the foot of the 

 mountains are forests of bamboos, bananas, aspens, birches, cypresses, and vew trees. The 

 ash (OVnus floribunda) is remarkably large and beautiful, but the firs small and stunted. 

 On the snow-clad mountains grows the Rheum undulatum, which the natives use for 

 medicinal purposes. The country contains, both, in a wild and cultivated state, peaches 

 and apricots, apples, pears, oranges, and pomegranates. The Cacalia saracenica serves 

 for the manufacture of chong, a spirituous and slightly acid liquor. 



1018. Thibet abounds in animals, partly in herds and Hocks ; 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 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. The musk 

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

 the country. 



1019. That elegant specimens of civil archi- 

 tecture, both in the construction of mansions 

 (.Jig. 134.), or palaces, and in bridges and 

 other public works, should be found in such 

 a country is rather singular. In Turner's 

 journey through this mountainous region, he 

 found bridges of various descriptions gene- 

 rally of timber. Over broad streams, a triple 

 or quadruple depth of stretching timbers pro- 

 ject one over the other, their ends inserted _Jf\ 

 into the rock. Piers are almost totally ex- — ^.Vc_ 



cluded, on account of the extreme rapidity V - -- '^^^^ JJi T s t;%^^^^^^ i M^# 



of the rivers. The widest river has an iron *~Z — ~~ZS~ ■— s^^rw^^EizStt^^^^ 

 bridge, consisting of a number of iron chains which support a matted platform, 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 himself along w ith 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. Of the present Slate of Agriculture in the Asiatic Islands. 



1020. The islands of Asia form a considerable part of our globe ; and seem well 

 adapted by nature for the support of civilised man, though at present they are mostly 

 peopled by savages. We shall notice these islands in the order of Sumatra," Borneo, the 

 Manillas, the Celebes, the Loochoo Isles, and the Moluccas. 



1021. Sumatra is an island of great extent, with a climate more temperate than that of 

 Bengal, a surface of mountains and plains, one third of which is covered with impervious 

 forests, and a soil consisting of a stratum of red clay, covered with a layer of black mould. 

 The most important agricultural product is rice, which is grown both for home consump- 

 tion and export. Next may be mentioned the cocoa-nut, the areca palm, or betel- nut 

 tree, and the pepper. Cotton and coffee are also cultivated ; and the native trees afford 

 the resin benzoin, cassia or wild cinnamon, rattans or small canes (^rundo Rbtan°), canes 

 for walkingsticks, turpentine, and gums ; besides ebony, pine, sandal, teak, manchineel, 

 iron wood, banyan, aloe, and other woods. 



M 2 



