TURANIANS AND ARIANS. 471 



them lies the Great Plain of China, watered by two 

 majestic rivers, the Yang-tse Kiang, and the Hoang Ho. 

 The people of the steppes and the mountains poured 

 down upon this country, subdued the savage aborigines, 

 covered the land with rice fields, irrigated by canals, 

 and established many kingdoms which were afterwards 

 blended into one harmonious and civilised empire. 



To the right hand of the Tartar steppes as you 

 travel towards China, is a lofty table-land, the region 

 of the sources of the Oxus and Jaxartes. Thence de- 

 scended a people who called themselves the Aryas, or 

 " the noble ; " they differed much in appearance from 

 the slit-eyed, smooth-faced, and fleshy-limbed Mon- 

 gols ; and little in appearance, but widely in lan- 

 guage from the people of the table-land of the Tigris 

 and Euphrates. They poured forth in successive 

 streams over Persia, Asia Minor, Greece, Italy, and 

 the whole of Europe from the Danube and the 

 Rhine to the shores of the Atlantic. They also de- 

 scended on the Punjaub, or country of the Indus, where 

 they established their first colony, and thence spread 

 to the region of the Ganges, and over the Deccan. 

 They intermarried much with the native women, but 

 divided the men into servile castes, and kept them in 

 subjection, partly by means of an armed aristocracy, 

 partly by means of religious terror. 



These then are the elemental lands ; China, India, 

 Babylonia, and Egypt. In these countries, civilization 

 was invented ; history begins with them. The Egyp- 

 tians manufactured linen goods, and beautiful glass 

 wares, and drew gold, ivory, and slaves from the Sou- 

 dan. Babylonia manufactured tapestry and carpets. 

 These people were known to one another only by their 

 products ; the wandering Bedouins carried the trade 



