174 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XV. No. 371 



In Arabia, as in Persia, mountains follow the line of the coast, 

 and rise from the Red and Arabian Seas and from the Persian 

 Gulf, making the whole interior of Arabia an elevated plateau, 

 — a desert but little known, and with few inhabitants. Such is 

 the dearth of running water, that in the whole of Arabia there is 

 not a single perennial stream. If there is any country which has 

 seemed to lie completely outside the stream of ancient history, it 

 is Arabia. In spite of its vast extent ; in spite, too, of its posi- 

 tion in the very centre of the civilized empires of the ancient 

 East, midway between Egypt, Babylon, and India, — its history 

 has been almost a blank. For a brief moment, indeed, it played 

 a conspicuous part in human affairs, inspiring the Koran of 

 Mohammed, and forging the sword of his followers; then the 

 veil which had covered it for untold centuries was drawn over it 

 again. Yet modem research tells us that culture and civiliza- 

 tion existed there, of which only echoes remain in Mohammedan 

 traditions. Three thousand years ago it was easier to travel 

 through the length of Arabia than it is to-day. It was formerly 

 supposed that our numeral system was devised by the Arabians. 

 Later research shows that it had its origin in India, but came 

 to Europe through the Arabians. 



Asiatic Turkey. 



Asia Minor, Armenia, Koordistan, Mesopotamia, and Syria 

 form the remnant of the Turkish Empire in Asia, misgoverned, 

 and sustained only by the sufiFerance of the European powers and 

 the fear of Russia. 



Much 01 the land is rich and fertile, and capable of supporting 

 a large population ; but, under the misrule of the Turks, some 

 portions have become depopulated, and it is steadily diminishing 

 in population. 



Asia Minor is a peninsula connecting south-western Asia with 

 Europe, and bounded by the Black Sea on the north, and Medi- 

 terranean on the south and west. A range of mountains runs 

 round the coast, and portions of the interior are a desert. Mile- 

 tus, the ancient metropolis, was twenty-five centuries ago the 

 chief centi'e of geographical studies, and here the earliest known 

 charts were planned. The capital of Asia Minor is Smyrna, 

 which has a large trade with Europe. 



The population is composed of Greeks and Turks. The Turks 

 are an indolent, self-indulgent race, while the shrewd and active 

 Greeks are the merchants, lawyers, and bankers of the country, 

 and are steadily supplanting the Turks. 



Armenia is a mountainous country. In the south-eastern 

 comer is Mount Ararat, 17,000 feet in height. Here Turkey, 

 Persia, and Russia meet. 



Lake Van, a large and beautiful salt lake, lies on the border- 

 line of Armenia and Koordistan. It is on an elevated plateau, 

 nearly 6,000 feet above the sea- level. It is the only lake of Asia 

 which is steadily increasing in size. 



The Armenians ai'e nominally Cliristians, — shrewd business- 

 men. They are great travellers, and thousands seek employment 

 in Constantinople and foreign cities. Their numbers are steadily 

 decreasing. 



The Kurds are shepherds, inhospitable and warlike, and rob- 

 bery is with them an honorable occupation. 



Syria will ever be revered as the Holy Land. Pilgrims from 

 every quarter of the world visit the river Jordan, the Sea of 

 Galilee, and Jerusalem. 



The valley of the Jordan, and its mouth, the Dead Sea, are 

 the deepest valleys in the world. At the Sea of Galilee the Jor- 

 dan is 600 feet below the level of the Mediterranean. The valley 

 grows deeper until at the Dead Sea it is 1,300 feet below the 

 level of the Mediterranean. 



Turkestan. 



West and north-west of the Pamir, and north of Persia, is 

 Turkestan. The trend of the country is from the high lands of 

 the Pamir, west to the Aral and Caspian Seas. 



Here is the Aral-Caspian basin, already described. The whole 

 of this country, excepting on the banks of the rivers and a few 

 oases, is a great desert. A recent French traveller says it is a 

 dismal region, where all vegetable and animal life ceases, — the 



domain of death ; formerly densely populated, now inhabited by 

 wandering tribes of Turcomans, until their recent conquest by 

 the Russians living by pillaging each other, or occasionally 

 uniting for incursions into Persia. 



From this summary it will be seen, that, while two-thirds of 

 the population of the world is in Asia, only about one-flfth of 

 its area is thickly inhabited. Much the largest part is a desert. 

 Beginning in eastern Mongolia, almost within sight of the Pacific 

 Ocean, this desert runs through Mongolia and Thibet, crosses the 

 Pamir, to appear again in Turkestan and Persia. 



It occupies all Arabia. The Red Sea does not stop it ; for on the 

 other side the Desert of Sahara begins, and only stops when it 

 reaches the Atlantic Ocean, — a desert extending from the Pacific 

 to the Atlantic, across Asia and Africa. 



The earliest civilization of Asia was in Mesopotamia. Its au- 

 thentic annals are over four thousand years old. Here the proud 

 emjjires of the Old World — Chaldea, Assyria, Babylon, and 

 Persia — rose and fell. Here stood the ancient cities of Nineveh, 

 Babylon, and Bagdad. 



Now the traveller finds only ruins, and scarce inhabitants suf- 

 ficient to aid in the explorations. The Tigris and Euphrates 

 run through the whole length of the country, and are both navi- 

 gable several hundred miles from their moutlis. The waters of 

 the Euphi-ates rise within 80 miles of the Mediterranean. The 

 valley of the Euphrates was the great trade-route of the ancients, 

 and the English have made surveys for a railroad through it. 



The Commerce of Asia. 



The commerce of Asia has for four thousand years given wealth 

 and power to the cities and countries that have monopolized it. 

 The men of Tyre and Sidon, the seaports of Phoenicia, were once 

 the merchant princes of the world. They gave to the Greeks 

 their alphabet, their weights and measures, and their ships. 

 They established colonies all along the coast of the Mediterranean. 

 They traversed all the known seas, and circumnavigated Africa. 

 six hundred years before the Cln:istian era. They brought the 

 gold and silver of Tarshish from Spain, tin and copper from Eng- 

 land, and carried the products of India and Babylon to every 

 part of the world. After the conquest and decay of Tyre and 

 Sidon, the commerce of Asia passed to Greece, and from Greece 

 to Rome. 



The Grecians introduced new methods of exchange, and de- 

 veloped a true coinage where the dealers of Tyre and Sidon had 

 been confined to a cumbrous system of barter. 



In the middle ages, Venice and Genoa sent their ships to every 

 part of the Mediterranean. They founded colonies in Asia Minor 

 and in the Crimea. They controlled the commerce of Asia ; and 

 its wealth poured into these oities, making them the richest in 

 the world. It was the commerce of India that Columbus sought 

 in his Western voyage ; but where Columbus failed, the Portu- 

 guese succeeded, by sailing around the Cape of Good Hope, and 

 thence north to India. For a short period Portugal was the 

 richest country of Europe. 



The ships of England and Amsterdam quickly followed this. 

 new route, and the commerce and lands of the Orient passed into 

 their control. 



But again the route changes. The Suez Canal was built by 

 the French, notwithstanding the opposition of the English. The 

 canal was opened by the Emperor of Pi-ance, but it was English 

 steamers that used it. England obtained a conti-oUing interest 

 in the canal, and further strengthened its hold by acquiring at 

 first joint control with the French in Egypt, and then the ex^ 

 elusive conti'ol, and for a time secured the canal, and with it the 

 commerce of Asia. 



The French, Italians, and Austrians found it cheaper to bring 

 the products of Asia to Marseilles, Venice, and Ti-ieste than to 

 buy them in London ; and their steamers now sail through the 

 canal to India and China. They have obtained a small but daily 

 increasing share of the commerce of Asia, formerly monopolized 

 by England. 



A few years ago, Russia crossed the Caspian, and was defeated 

 by the Turcomans. To aid them in the second campaign, the 

 rails and materials collected in the Crimea for a railroad across. 



