CHINESE TARTARY 



SITUATION AND EXTENT. 

 Miles. Degrees. Sq. Miles, 



Length 3000 > . J 72anu 145 East longitude.) 



Breadth 1080 J between £ 35 and 53 North latitude. $ y44 > uuu 



Name. ..The origin of the name of Tartary is uncertain ;* but it has 

 been conjectured to be derived from the Chinese, who call all their 

 neighbours, without distinction, Tata or Ta-dse. 



Boundaries. ...Chinese Tartary is bounded on the north by Siberia, 

 or Asiatic Russia; on the east by the sea of Japan, and the channel 

 of Tartary ; on the south by China Proper, and Tibet ; and on the west 

 by Independent Tartary. 



The name of Tartary was formerly given vaguely to all the coun» 

 tries to the north of Persia, Hindoostan, and China, quite to the North* 

 ern Ocean ; and from the Black Sea and the limits of European R«s= 

 sia to the Eastern Ocean. 



Division. ...The only division of this country in general, arises from' 

 the different tribes by which it is inhabited ; of these the principal are 

 the Manchews, or Mandshurs in the east ; the Monguls, or Moguls, 

 in the middle ; and the Eluts, or Calmucs, in the west. The country 

 of the Manchew Tartars, who are more immediately under the autho- 

 rity of China (having given to the latter country the present imperial 

 family) has been divided by the Chinese into three great governments, 

 Chinyang, Kirin, and Tsitchicar; which take their names from those 

 of their chief towns. The Russians call the latter Daouria ; from the 

 tribe of Tajouri, who inhabit a great part of this district. To these 

 jnay be added the province or peninsula of Corea, which has been for 

 several centuries under the dominion of the Chinese. It is conside- 

 rably populous ; and the inhabitants are said to differ in several re- 

 spects, particularly in their language, from the Manchew Tartars. 



Face of the country, mountains. ...A great part of this extensive 

 country is a vast elevated plain, supported like a table by the moun- 

 tains of Tibet on the south, and the Altaian chain on the north. This 

 prodigious plain, the most elevated level land on the face of the globe, 

 is intersected by several chains of mountains ; and by the vast de- 

 serts of Cobi and Shamo, which have been supposed to be the same, 

 the former being the Tartarian, and the latter the Chinese name. To 

 the west of this great country are the mountains of Belur Tag, or the 

 Cloudy Mountains, the Imaus of the ancients, which separate the 



• More properly written Tatary. But custom has so established this orthogra- 

 phy, which, perhaps, was suggested by the pronunciation of the name, that it 

 would appear affectation to alter it. 



