THE ETHNOLOGY OF TUH INDIAN A1UU1IPKI.AUO. 29 



the great eastern one of the Yang-tse-Kinnt*. The lalter Li in- 

 timately connoted with thnt oi the H<u:i<j-ho, and forms with k 

 the twin hnsin to which the most advanced and powerful eastern 

 civilisation owes its development. 



The Tibetan, district* unites nil the preceding ones, connects them 

 with the great plateau of Mid Asia, and abuts on the eastern ex- 

 tremity of the primitive Iranian reffion./ 



The next ethnic region of the Indian Oceanic basin is that of the 

 \> of Bengal or kulo-Mnlnvan Sea which unites the western mar- 

 gin of the China-Malayan hasin with the NNM sea l>oard of India. 

 As the rivers of the Indian P«siiiisula connect it closely with the 

 western marginal districts, the watershed beini* near the Indo- 

 Africansea, while the basin of the Ganges has its head nearly in the 

 Minn longitude, we may consider the whole of India as a portion 

 virion. It contains therefore the district of the Malacca Straits, 

 the marginal districts of the northern part of the MaKy Peninsula, 

 and the basins of the Salwin, Irawndian>t Koladan all which appertain 

 also to the eastern region. The districts that ore peculiar to the 

 lndo-Malayan basin, some however being common to it with th>: 

 I ndo- African basin, are those of the Brahmaputra, Ganges, Goda* 

 very, Kishna aud Nerbudda, with the acondary districts between 

 t he Granges on the one side and the Nerbudda and Godavery on 

 the other, the grent Dckban and Siiejaleye pruj, cti.»r. I the 

 western marginal districts. India is connected with the Tibeto- 



I udunesian region, landward by the passes of the Himalaya, the 

 Asamese valley, and the eastern margin of the lower Brahmaputra 

 basin, and oceanically by the coasts and winds of the Bay of Bengal. 

 By the latter it has also a direct and independent connection with 

 the insular portion of the first region. 



The next region is that of the Indo- African sea,+ with the districts 

 of the Indus-basin, tlie marginal district of Beluchistan, the great 

 longitudinal one formed by the Persian Gulf and the basin of the 

 Euphrates, the southern Arabian district, that of the Red Sea, and 

 the marginal or Trans-Nilotic one of K. Africa, Of these the 

 Euphrates and tlie Red Sea are of especial importance, for by 

 them the ancient civilisation of the Mediterranean and the Nile 

 spread their influence into the Indian region, while the former 

 was itself the seat of a great archaic development of intellect 

 aud art By the Indo- African sea and its winds all these 

 rilitriets are connected, directly and indirectly, with each other 

 and with the western coast of India. The Indian Peninsula, enter- 



* The rv.ktions of this important district (central ethnically a» well o* geoirra- 

 jihiotUy) to all 8. E. Asia and to Atlanta will be considered in iui wtirty 

 l>.',j»<'r. 



t That portion of the Indian Ocean extending from Its N. W. boundary to the 

 Mowunhlk Channel and including- the Persian li all", Arabian Sea and Red Sea. 



I I huA hud much influence on the ethnology of Eastern .4 fries The oorrwpoml Jn« 

 r:mittern portion of tbo Indian Ocean tuny be termed the Indo-Auihralian *>'* 

 Inil-'rinnt ethnic coMlderatious relating to the tkeanic wtadi, make ii necca&ary 

 to dbtingubh these two rrgions from the mid Ik one. 



