GEOGRAPHY. 93 



Capua and Nola. The oldest Italian railroad is that from Naples to Portici, 

 opened in 1839. 



In Hungary and Galicia, the following railroads have been constructed 

 since 1840 : from Presburg by Tyrnau to Szered ; from Pesth on the one 

 side to Szolnok, on the other, to Waitzen ; from Odenburg to Katzeldorf 

 (joining on to the Vienna-Gloggnitz road), and from Presburg to Marchegg 

 (joining on to the Kaiser- Ferdinand-north railroad) ; in all about 148 miles) 

 The Galician road from Cracow to the borders of Prussia (called the 

 Cracow^-Upper Silesian road, 32 miles long) has already been mentioned 

 among the German railroads. 



In Poland, a railroad was opened in 1845-1848, from Warsaw to Cracow 

 (the Warsaw- Vienna road), with a branch to Lowicz, in all 198 miles. In 

 Russia, a road of 16 miles was opened in 1836-1837, from St. Petersburg 

 by Zarskoe-Selo to Pawdowsk. Whether the colossal railroad from St. 

 Petersburg to Moscow (now under way for several years) be opened at all, 

 or how far, nothing satisfactory can be learned. 



The railroads constructed on the continent of Europe, up to this time, 

 may be estimated at 7360 miles, more than half of them in Germany ; if to 

 this be added the 5447^ in England, we shall have the large number of 

 12,807^ miles of railroad in the whole of Europe. The number of miles of 

 road opened and in use on the 1st of January, 1849, in the United States 

 of America, amounted to 6117|- miles, and the sum total, by the end of 

 1852, will in all probability reach, if it do not exceed 10,000 miles. 



II. ASIA (Plate 28). 



Having already referred to the principal physical features of this gre.it 

 continent, we shall here confine ourselves to a brief consideration of its 

 political relations. The inhabitants, whose numbers have been estimated 

 at five hundred millions, though not from any very sure data, may be 

 divided into three races : Caucasian, Mongolian, and Malay. Only a small 

 portion belong to the latter. The Caucasian may be divided into the 

 Caucasian stock proper (Georgians, Tscherkessians, &:c.), the Indo-Persian 

 stock (Hindoos, Afghans, Persians, Armenians, &c.), and the Arabian stock 

 (Tartars, Arabians, Turks, and Turcomans). The Mongols are divided 

 into the Mongols proper, Japanese, Chinese (with the inhabitants of Thibet 

 and Further India), and the various tribes in Siberia. Ethiopians occur 

 only on a few of the Indian Islands. The prevailing religions are those of 

 Budha, Brahma, the Grand Lama, and Mohammed ; in addition to these we 

 find Christianity in Asiatic Russia and in the East Indies. In a political 

 point of view, the following lands and states are the most important : in 

 treating of them we shall proceed from north to south 



93 



