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 Ex Libris 
 
 C. K. OGDEN
 
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 THE EMPIRES AND CITIES OF ASIA.
 
 ASIA
 
 THE 
 
 EMPIRES AND CITIES 
 OF ASIA. 
 
 By a. GRUAR FORBES, 
 
 AUTHOR OF " PIONEERS OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH, ScC, &C 
 
 WITH A MAP. 
 
 LONDON : 
 VIRTUE AND CO., 26, IVY LANE, 
 
 PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 [The right of Translation is rese/fed.J
 
 LOXDO:? : 
 
 PRINTED BY VIRTUE AND CO., 
 CITY ROAD.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 TT is the design of the following pages to supply a 
 concise record of the History of Asia, that shall 
 be more entertaining, because less ambitious, than 
 historical documents generally ; and at the same time 
 to put before the reader such a view of that great 
 Continent as may contribute to a distinct conception 
 of it in its ancient condition and also in its present 
 state. The latter cannot properly be apprehended 
 without a knowledge of the former. As space would 
 permit, the geographical boundaries and divisions have 
 been traced, and the more note-worthy localities and 
 remarkable events in the history of the various nations 
 which have occupied the soil have been indicated. Tlie 
 dominions of the great Powers at present bearing rule 
 
 iC£0?73
 
 VI PREFACE. 
 
 in Asia have not been so fully dwelt upon, inasmucli as 
 separate books have supplied ample information in 
 respect to each of them. But even of these, and of 
 their several countries, a distinct if not enlarged view 
 has been sought to be presented. Central Asia has 
 more especially been contemplated as not so gene- 
 rally known, and also on account of the importance 
 of present political and military movements in that 
 section of this immense territory. At the latest 
 moment of our writing intelligence reaches England to 
 the effect that Khiva has fallen before the armed 
 menace of Russia ; but the reports are indefinite and 
 confused, and require confirmation. "Whatever the 
 fact may now be, the alleged event is imminent, and 
 may be regarded as accomplished. This was the last 
 remaining of the independent Khanates. If others 
 have the reputation of being self-ruled, their freedom 
 is but nominal. The Khan of Khiva has been a 
 robber-king, and his overthrow and subjection can only 
 be regretted for political reasons. But now Asia is 
 occupied only by wandering tribes, small tributary 
 states, and the great Powers. Such being the fact, 
 intellijj-ent observers cannot but feel that matter is
 
 PREFACE. vii 
 
 being largely and quickly accumulated for the history 
 of the future. 
 
 In the composition of this pictui'e of Asia many 
 authorities have been consulted as to the lands, the 
 people, and the state and prospects of this interesting 
 portion of the world, although it has not been deemed 
 expedient to burden the page or distract the attention 
 of the reader by means of many quoted references. 
 Grateful acknowledgment is hereby made for the 
 assistance which has been obtained from Malte-Brun, 
 Laurie, Ritter, Niebuhr, Botta, Layard, Eatto, Edkins, 
 Legge, Atkinson, and others, as well as from the 
 Journals of the Asiatic Society, and Government 
 Despatches. 
 
 London, June, 1873.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PACK 
 
 Preface y 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Topography, Languages, and Natural History. • 1 
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 Turkey in Asia 72 
 
 CHAPTEE in. 
 Turkey in Asia. — {Continued.) ... . 164 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 Arabia 208 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 Persia 222
 
 X CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 EussiA IN Asia 237 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 The Tartahs 281 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 Beitain in India 299 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 China 327 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 Japan 341 
 
 Conclusion 346 
 
 Frontispiece .... • • Map of Asia.
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Map of Asia Fioitlispicce 
 
 Natives or Arabia fncc p. 208 
 
 Ruins at Petiia ..... . . . „ 220 
 
 Calcutta ,,298 
 
 Delhi .... .....,, 308 
 
 Mauuas ............ 312 
 
 Bombay ............ 320 

 
 ASIA, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY, LANGUAGES, AND NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 rpHERE are many circumstances which make this 
 -^ part of the world an object of special interest. It 
 was here that the Creator planted the Garden of Eden ; 
 it was here that the first sin was committed. The ark 
 was here. It was in Asia that God placed his own pecu- 
 liar people, the Hebrews. The great v/ork of redemp- 
 tion was accomplished in this part of the world. The 
 patriarchs, prophets, and apostles lived and laboured 
 here. The light of the Gospel first shone in this land. 
 The first Christian Churches were here planted, and the 
 truth first sealed by the blood of martyrs. The first 
 great edifices in the world were built here, their ruins 
 being still the wonder of mankind. The first great 
 
 B
 
 2 ASIA. 
 
 empires were here founded, while the rest of the world 
 was but thinly populated by a few scattered barbarians 
 wandering from place to place. In Asia the first asso- 
 ciations of human beings into societies were formed, 
 and the first cities built that men might gather them- 
 selves together for the sake of progress, or manufacture, 
 or defence. Here the light of science first shone ; the 
 seeds of knowledge first sprung up and flourished ; 
 commerce, agriculture, and other useful arts were in- 
 vented ; and from this centre they were transmitted 
 into all the neighbouring countries. On such accounts, 
 as well as for its importance in a political, philo- 
 sophical, and commercial point of view, it must at 
 once be acknowledged that Asia has special claims on 
 our attention. 
 
 The centre of Asia consists of a great plain, or table- 
 land, which extends thousands of miles in every direc- 
 tion. This great tract of upland is probably the highest 
 region in the old hemisphere, and forms tbe largest 
 extent of elevated land in the world. It contains the 
 countries of the Kalmucs, the Mongols, Thibet, and 
 Eastern Turkestan, or the original country of the Turks. 
 From the borders of this tract in the centre of xVsia the 
 great rivers of the continent flow towards the ocean in 
 difierent directions. The Oxus and Jaxartes are on the 
 west, the Amur on the east, the Ganges and Burram- 
 pooter on the south, and the Oby and Janisea on the 
 north. The countries that surround this elevation are 
 naturally inclined planes or slopes, hanging upon it.
 
 TOPOGRAPHY. 3 
 
 On the south are the immense countries of India, 
 gradually coming down to the level of the Southern or 
 Indian Ocean. These are exposed to the fiercest force 
 of the tropicLl sun. They are sheltered from the north 
 winds by the rocky front of the high lands behind 
 them. On the west of this high country are the terri- 
 tories of the ancient Persian empire. On the east is 
 China, with its vast territory, its rivers flowing 
 towards the great Pacific, or Eastern Ocean. On the 
 north is Siberia, sloping gradually down to the Icy Sea. 
 The rivers of Siberia are bound up in ice during half 
 the winter. The rivers which flow towards the south, 
 from the high centre of Asia, through countries subject 
 to periodical rains, have, by carrying down immense 
 quantities of mud and earth, formed great fertile plains 
 near the sea coasts, similar in their nature to the Delta 
 or rich valley of Lower Egypt. 
 
 Therefore, in the southern parts of Asia, from Persia 
 to China, near the mouths of the Indus, the Ganges, 
 and other rivers, there are large tracts of level country 
 w'hich are periodically overflowed, and this, with the 
 heat of the climate, leads to a most exuberant vegetable 
 production, of which, in temperate zones, we can have 
 little conception. 
 
 The great central high ridge of mountains is of much 
 importance as regulating the temperature, and for other 
 reasons. It was called Imaus by the ancients. It is 
 the Indian Caucasus. Its modern name is Hindoo-kho. 
 The northern front, which overlooks Lake Baikal and
 
 4 ASLA.. 
 
 the soutliern parts of Siberia, is of great extent ; it 
 is called the Altaic ridge or chain. 
 
 In all known ages the inhabitants might be divided 
 into the barbarous and the civilised. Those who lived 
 in cities, towns, and villages, and those who subsisted 
 by agriculture, or commerce, or manufacture, were, to 
 a considerable degree, qualified for taking their place 
 among their fellow-men ; but those who depended on 
 their flocks, on the chace, or on depredation, were far 
 otherwise. Selfishness and self-will ruled them, and 
 they were rude in the extreme. 
 
 The ridge known under the general name of the 
 Mountains of Taurus was one of the most remarkable 
 features in the ancient Greek and Roman conception of 
 Asia. To them it was thought of as a line of separation 
 between two worlds — the civilised and the barbarous ; 
 or two climates — the warm and fertile, and the cold 
 and barren. In this chain of mountains there are, 
 however, several breaks. Among others, there is a vast 
 chasm, opposite to the south end of the Caspian Sea, 
 which was of importance with the ancients as being 
 supposed to be in a direct line with Issus and Hhodes. 
 This remarkable passage is now called the Strait of 
 Khoward. Alexander the Great passed through it on 
 his way from Rages towards Aria and Bactria. It is 
 eight miles long, and not more than forty yards in 
 breadth. There are various other ridges of mountains, 
 Araanus, Lebanon, and others. This high country lies 
 to the south, inclining to the west. Having passed the
 
 TOPOGRAPHY. 5 
 
 Mediterranean and the southern border of Palestine, it 
 goes onwards to the E,ed Sea, where it extends and 
 becomes the centre of Arabia, terminating in what is 
 usually named Arabia Felix, on the southern part of 
 the Arabian peninsula. 
 
 Another ridge goes towards the south ; it was called 
 Zagros by the Greeks, and it proceeds towards the 
 Persian Gulf, Between it on the east, and the 
 Syrian ridge of which we have spoken last, and Taurus 
 on the north, is a great valley which formed the ter- 
 ritory of the ancient Assyrian empire. That empire 
 was thus guarded by a wall of mountains on three sides, 
 and by the Persian Gulf and the Arabian desert on the 
 other side. The Tigris and the Euphrates, upon which 
 Nineveh and Babylon formerly stood, water this vast 
 plain. These regions are of great importance in 
 ancient history. They are the original seats of civili- 
 sation and power, though they are now sunk into 
 obscurity — a prey to barbarians, who live in tents, and 
 wander over the sites of empires with their flocks and 
 herds. The eastern part of the countries formerly 
 known as Asia, or as the Persian Empire, still retains 
 that name. To the west of the Euphrates Asia belongs 
 to Turkey, with the exception of the part called Arabia ; 
 to the north and north-east lies the dominion of Russia ; 
 while to the east and south-east stretch the great 
 Empire of China, and the territory of the British rule 
 in India ; there are also different independent tribes 
 in various parts whose localities and characteristics
 
 6 ASIA. 
 
 we shall have subsequent occasion to notice. To 
 enter into particulars : — 
 
 Asia lies between 1° 20' and 78° N. latitude, and 
 between 26° and 190° E. longitude. The greatest 
 length from north to south, in the direction of the 
 meridian, or from Cape Roumania, in Malaya, to Cape 
 Taimura, in Siberia, exceeds 5,300 miles ; and the 
 greatest breadth from west to east, along the 40th 
 parallel of N. latitude, or from Baba Burun, in Asia 
 Minor, to the east coast of Japan, is about 5,600 
 miles. The superficial area is about 17,500,000 square 
 English miles, or four times the extent of Europe, and 
 650,000,000 is the number given as its population. The 
 boundaries are — on the north, the Arctic Ocean ; on 
 the south, the Indian Ocean ; on the east, the Pacific 
 Ocean ; and on the west, the Ural mountains and the 
 river Ural, the Caspian Sea, the range of Caucasus, the 
 Strait of Yenikaleh, the Black Sea, the Channel of Con- 
 stantinople, the Sea of Marmora, the Dardanelles, the 
 Archipelago, and the Levant, all of which separate it 
 from Europe ; and the Isthmus of Suez and the Hed 
 Sea, which separate it from Africa. 
 
 We learn from Homer that, before the war of Troy, 
 there was intercourse between the inhabitants of Europe 
 and Asia. Such intercourse was, however, but restricted, 
 and even the Phoenicians appear to have known but 
 little of Asia as a whole. The establishment of the 
 Persian monarchy, B.C. 550, advanced the knowledge 
 of this part of the world. States which had hitherto
 
 TOPOGRAPHY. 7 
 
 been divided were incorporated under one sovereignty, 
 and their commerce was widely extended. The Persian 
 empire being established, Darius, the son of Hystaspes, 
 seems to have required a geographical and statistical 
 account of his entire dominions to be prepared, and 
 this more distinctl}^ and fully revealed territories which 
 hitherto had been but partially known. Information 
 continued to be extended, as we learn from Herodotus, 
 and from Xenophon's Anabasis, or " The Expedition 
 of the Ten Thousand." The conquests of Alexander 
 enlarged greatly the knowledge of Asia among the 
 Greeks. He attempted, with but small success, to pass 
 the boundaries of the Persian empire to the north and 
 south, gaining some amount of acquaintance, however, 
 with the country and the nomadic tribes beyond the 
 Jaxartes (Sir-Dana, Yellow River), which at that time 
 wandered, as at present, over those extensive deserts. 
 His attempts on the south and east were attended with 
 more substantial results. He crossed the Indus and four 
 of the rivers which traverse the Punjaub, and advanced 
 nearly to the banks of the Jumna and the valley of the 
 Ganges. Returning to Persia, he gave orders to his 
 admiral, Nearchus, to sail along the coast from the Delta 
 of the Indus to the mouth of the Euphrates. The geo- 
 graphical information acquired during the expeditions 
 of Alexander was incorporated in a map by one of his 
 companions in arms, Dica;archus, a pupil of Aristotle. 
 Most of the Greek kingdoms in Asia were overthrown 
 by the Romans. The extreme eastern boundary of
 
 8 ASIA. 
 
 the Koman empire was formed by the Tigris, the 
 Euphrates, and the mountains of Armenia; but the 
 military expeditions of the Romans being conducted in 
 countries previously known, there was but little added 
 by their means to the knowledge of the world respecting 
 those countries. In ancient times the curious and 
 inquiring were indebted for much of their information 
 in regard to the Asian continent to Strabo, Pliny, 
 Ptolemy of Alexandria, Nearchus, and Arrian, as well 
 as to Herodotus and Xenophon. 
 
 Much later there was inaugurated an epoch of greatly 
 enlarged acquaintance with Asia. The Emperor Jus- 
 tinian II., in the year 569 of the Christian era, sent 
 one of his governors to one of the wandering tribes of 
 the Turks in the steppes, on the west and south of the 
 Altaic Mountains, with the view of inducing them to 
 attack their common enemy, the Persians. By this 
 means, these countries came to be better known. An 
 Egyptian merchant, named Indicopleustes, who had 
 long traded with India, and had frequently visited it, 
 composed his " Topographia Christiana ; " in which he 
 gives much information respecting Ceylon and the 
 roads of Upper Asia. The Arabs, by their commercial 
 intercourse with India by the Bed Sea and the Gulf of 
 Persia, did much to unveil the obscurity of these parts. 
 But none have done more in this direction than the 
 Chinese. From the historical records of their empire 
 it is clearly proved, that two hundred years before our 
 era they were anxious to collect geographical knowledge
 
 TOPOGRAPHY. g 
 
 respecting the extensive provinces and tributary king- 
 doms of their dominions ; and they have continued this 
 work to the present day. Europeans began to renew 
 their acquaintance with the countries of Asia, on the 
 shore of the Mediterranean, in the eleventh century by pil- 
 grimages, and soon after by the Crusades (1096-1272), 
 undertaken for the deliverance of the Holy Sepulchre. 
 Marco Polo, a Venetian of great enterprise, resided 
 among the Mongols from 1275 to 1292 ; and, notwith- 
 standing the extremely pictorial style of his writing, he 
 has added to our knowledge of this continent. The 
 Mongol empire is principally the subject of his de- 
 scriptions. After Marco Polo, and the romance of 
 his narrative, the number of travellers in Asia in- 
 creased. Still there was no great extension of the 
 boundaries of trustworthy knowledge supplied by their 
 means. 
 
 Explorations along the coasts of Africa have given 
 us information in regard to Asia. And to this informa- 
 tion additions have been made by science, and travel, 
 and commerce, on the part of the European nations — 
 all which it will be proper to remark upon as we pro- 
 ceed to look in detail on the several countries, and the 
 enterprises and conflicts of different times. From the 
 industry and commerce of the English in modern times, 
 as well as from the success of the British arms in 
 various parts of the continent, our acquaintance with 
 it has been increased. The Russians, also, have so 
 pushed their way into hitherto obscure territory that
 
 10 ASIA. 
 
 we know better ttan before the peculiarities of the 
 countries of Asia. 
 
 Asia is distinguished by mountainous ranges, table- 
 lands, and great valleys or plains. There are many 
 islands which lie near the continent, and which ought 
 to be considered in regarding it or describing it. The 
 Sundas, for example, form the most extensive archi- 
 pelago of the globe. The highlands and lowlands and 
 islands furnish a great variety of natural features in 
 the countries, and of widely diversified character in the 
 populations. Such countries, in the very centre of the 
 civilised world, must have vast influence on the whole 
 human family, and that influence must have told in all 
 past periods of the world's history. 
 
 "When we turn our attention to the Himalayas, and 
 restrict the name to the region which lies between India 
 and Thibet, we are met at once by the fact that not 
 more than a fifth part is well known to Europeans. 
 This portion of the great Himalaya range includes the 
 high country near the sources of the Ganges, the 
 Jumna, a tributary of the Ganges, and the Sutledge, 
 a tributary of the Indus. There are here many 
 varieties of mountain scenes, natural productions, tribes 
 of men, and wider diversities of political constitution than 
 can be found in any other hill country in the world. 
 The length of this range is about 1,300 miles ; and, in 
 Europe, it would cover all the countries between the 
 Pyrenees and the Sea of Azof. The breadth of it is 
 from 250 to 350 miles. The whole chain, reaching
 
 TOPOGRAPHY. 1 1 
 
 from the high pinnacles of the Hindu Coosh, near 
 Cabul, to the most eastern valleys of Assam, near the 
 source of the Brahmapootra, is surmounted everywhere 
 with snow — and this fact is the reason for the Indian 
 name Himalaya, which means " the dwelling of snow." 
 
 The entire range is divisible into three sections. 
 The most eastern is less known than the others. The 
 central part includes the mountains of Nepaul, and the 
 capital of Nepaul, a city situated in one of the valleys, 
 and standing 4,784 feet above the level of the sea. 
 The White Tower, one of the mountain peaks of this 
 division, rises to the height of 25,261 feet. Here, also, 
 is the Dhawalagiri, or the White Mountain, 28,000 
 feet, the highest known pinnacle in the world. The 
 western region comprehends the ridges which traverse 
 the countries of Kamaoon, Gherwall, Bissalin, and 
 Sirmore. 
 
 Along the lowest southern slopes there is a flat 
 country, scarcely a thousand feet above the level of the 
 sea, with bogs and forests, and sultry heat, which make 
 it the continual home of many diseases. This country 
 is called Tariyana. There are numerous hills running 
 across these great mountain systems, though sometimes 
 they lie in the same direction with the loftier eleva- 
 tions; and among these are many deep valleys and 
 ravines. The trade between India and Thibet is car- 
 ried on by means of these mountain passes — the lowest 
 of them being, probably, not much below the height of 
 Mont Blanc — none of them being less than 14,000
 
 12 ASIA. 
 
 feet above the sea-level, and some of them rising even 
 to 18,000. 
 
 There are four great rivers which take their rise on 
 the mountain ranges which surround the table-lands on 
 the north of the Himalayas. These are the Irtish, the 
 Yenesei and the Tuguskas, the Lena, and the Amur. 
 They are, respectively, 2,000, 2,500, 2,000, and 1,900 
 miles in length. The Irtish, with its tributaries, 
 drains upwards of 1,300,000 square miles, the Yenesei 
 about 1,000,000, the Lena nearly 800,000, and the 
 Amur about 850,000 — all taken together, a space much 
 more extensive than the whole of Europe. The greater 
 part of this extended surface belongs to Siberia. These 
 rivers abound in fish, have plenty of water at all times, 
 and are navigable to the extent of two-thirds of their 
 courses. The lower part being northern is, for six 
 months of the year, covered with ice. In the spring 
 the waters in the upper tributaries become swollen and 
 tear off their banks, and great masses of rock and 
 earth are carried down and strewed over the flats 
 below. The navigation on the principal water- courses 
 is, therefore, inconsiderable, but is of greater import- 
 ance in their tributaries running east and west, by 
 means of which a water communication is established 
 through the greater part of the countries lying between 
 the Ural Mountains and Obhotzk. 
 
 From the mountains bordering on the highlands of 
 Eastern Asia there are two terraces, with appended 
 slopes, which descend to the Pacific Ocean. There are
 
 TOPOGRAPHY. 1 3 
 
 besides, many inferior declivities, following the same 
 direction, which are watered by smaller rivers. The 
 two former terraces give rise to the two great river 
 systems of the Ho and Kiang — the former running 
 upwards of 2,000, and the latter more than 2,900 miles. 
 Each of them carries off the waters of a surface of 
 upwards of 700,000 square miles. The Chinese call 
 these the Sons of the Ocean, probably because the tide 
 rises in them for more than 400 miles — by which 
 means they are rendered inland seas, and are navigable 
 for a great distance from the coast. The space between 
 these two rivers forms an immense delta, and the rivers 
 themselves, as a double river system, formed on the 
 most colossal scale, skirt the most fruitful and best cul- 
 tivated country in the world. Central China, which is 
 indebted to these rivers for its commerce, its civilisation, 
 and its canals. 
 
 In Southern Asia the rivers form three distinct 
 groups. In India, east of the Ganges, there are six or 
 seven of these, their course lying from north to south, 
 or S.S.E. The Irawaddy is probably the largest. At 
 some points it is about eighty yards wide. Within the 
 Ganges, the rivers run in quite a different direction 
 from that of the rivers beyond the Ganges. The 
 Ganges and the Indus take a diverging course, and 
 enter different parts of the sea ; but their tributaries, 
 especially the Jumna and the Sutledge, approach one 
 another, and facilitate the commercial intercourse of the 
 nations which inhabit the countries through which they
 
 14 ASIA. 
 
 flow. The advantages which result from the flowing 
 of these rivers into difi'erent gulfs is very great. The 
 Gulf of Bengal brings the inhabitants of the peninsula 
 into communication with the nations of Malay origin, 
 and with the Chinese ; while the Gulf of Malabar opens 
 to them the coasts of Persia and Arabia. It is princi- 
 pally on account of this direction of the rivers that 
 India within the Ganges has enjoyed such opportuni- 
 ties of civilisation over India beyond the Ganges. 
 
 The river system of the Ganges and the Brahma- 
 pootra extends about 1,300 miles in length, and drains a 
 surface of nearly 650,000 square miles. The Ganges rises 
 in the Himalayas, which being covered with perpetual 
 snow, there is always an abundant descent of water, 
 which is carried ofi* by many great rivers, some of which 
 exceed the Rhine, both in volume and in length of 
 course. These rivers enter the Delta of Bengal, which 
 is twice as large as that of the Nile, and presents an 
 extensive and intricate system of rivers and canals, 
 both for irrigation and navigation. By its junction 
 with the Brahmapootra, which descends through the 
 valley of Assam, the river system of the Ganges 
 becomes double, and not unlike that of the great 
 Chinese rivers. The Ganges and Brahmapootra 
 descend from regions difi'erent in natural advantages, 
 of which only that adjacent to the Ganges has attained 
 a high deg'ree of civilisation. 
 
 The river system of the Indus has a special historical 
 interest, in part because it contains the Punjaub, the
 
 TOPOGRAPHY. 15 
 
 country of tlie five rivers which descend from the 
 eastern mountains ; and in part on account of its* 
 geographical position. The sources of the Indus, as 
 well as those of its great tributary, the Sutledge or 
 Satadru, were discovered only in 1812. Both of them 
 rise in the high table-land of Thibet — the Indus on the 
 slopes of the Kailasa Mountains^ and the Sutledge in 
 the sacred lake of Manassarovara. These rivers, not 
 originating on the southern slopes of the Himalayas, 
 but on the north, pierce the range in its entire breadth, 
 and pass through large clefts in the mountain mass 
 before arriving at the low plains of Hindustan. The 
 course of the Indus is upwards of 1,500 miles long, 
 and it drains a surface of more than 400,000 square 
 miles. 
 
 There are, by this arrangement of nature, ten or twelve 
 great terraces in Eastern Asia, differing from each 
 other in many particulars. They are partly divided 
 from one another by passes, and partly flanked by low 
 lands. Sometimes mountains rise in the middle of 
 these low lands, but in no case do they attain to the 
 height of those of Central Asia. In Southern China, 
 there is the mountain region of Yun-nan, Su-Chan, and 
 Kuang-si ; beyond the Ganges, it occupies the country 
 of Laos ; and on the peninsula within the Ganges, is 
 the table-land of the Deccan. The plateau of Deccan 
 rises at an average from 3,000 to 4,000 feet above the 
 level of the sea, the greatest part of the peninsula lying 
 between the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal.
 
 1 6 ASIA. 
 
 In "Western Asia, the highlands are of smaller ex- 
 tent ; but they form a principal feature in the forma- 
 tion and character of this great continent. This part 
 of Asia is not only nearer to Europe, but is also more 
 like it in natural formation, and is more closely con- 
 nected with it. In Western Asia are the hi2:hlands 
 of Iran, flanked by the deep plains called Turan, on the 
 north-east. These elevations and depressions extend 
 from the Upper Indus, throughout the whole of Western 
 Asia to the shores of the Grecian Archipelago. The 
 central portion is occupied by Persia ; over the western 
 parts is exercised the dominion of the Turks ; and over 
 the eastern that of Afghanistan. This division of Asia 
 is materially different from the highlands of Eastern 
 Asia, inasmuch as, generally, it is better capable of 
 being cultivated, and, in reality, exhibits extensive 
 tracts which are under cultivation at the present day, 
 or were so in former times. As to the fact of a 
 former cultivation, there are many ruins of great towns, 
 and other monuments of architecture existing even in 
 those districts which are at present neglected ; as on 
 the north-east in Khorasan, the ancient kingdom of 
 Bactria, towards the south in Karmania and Persis, 
 and also in the western districts, as in Kurdistan, 
 which formerly lay in ancient Media. This is not the 
 fact, however, in the south-eastern corner of these 
 highlands, which include the ancient provinces of 
 Gedrosia and Arachosia, which now form part of 
 Beloochistan, and attain their greatest height in the
 
 TOPOGRAPHY. 1 7 
 
 table-land of Kelat, which rises to 7,000 feet above the 
 level of the sea. The eastern descent, towards the 
 valley of the Indus, is extremely rapid. It is formed 
 by steep rocks, and feeds no rivers. It is entirely 
 without cultivation, and has no roads, except one, 
 namely, that from Candahar, through Pisheen, Quetta, 
 and Baugh, to Shickarpoor. It is inhabited only by 
 stray tribes of Afghan origin, which have no historical 
 records. 
 
 The northern edge of this highland, which extends 
 along the southern shores of the Caspian Sea and the 
 deep plains of Bucharia, is historically famous, as con- 
 taining the Bactrian, Parthian, Hyrcanian, and Caspian 
 mountain passes, which are narrow defiles, affording a 
 passage for the armies of the conquerors descending 
 from Iran to Turan. This country has for man}- cen- 
 turies been the abode of warlike mountain tribes, whose 
 chiefs, by holding possession of the mountain passes on 
 the north, have extended their dominion over the ex- 
 tensive plains of the table-land. This was the policy 
 of Nadir Shah and of Fet'h Ali Shah, who, sensible of 
 this peculiar circumstance, fixed their residence at 
 Teheran, a town built near one of the passes, on the 
 high table-land. The caravans which travel eastward 
 to India and Bucharia, and westward by Tauris 
 (Tabreez) to Armenia and Asia Minor, are obliged to 
 pass along the southern side of this mountain-girdle, 
 and near the openings of the passes. Along the great 
 road, which is invariably fixed to this tract by the 
 
 c
 
 l8 ASIA. 
 
 nature of the surface on the northern boundary of the 
 table-land, there rose great emporiums. Here we find 
 the towns of Cabul, Candahar, Herat, Meshed, Nisha- 
 poor, Teheran, Hai (the ancient Hhagae), Casbin, and 
 Tauris. 
 
 The southern border of the table-land of Iran is still 
 more distinctly marked by nature, separated as it is 
 from the low and narrow coast and the wide plains 
 watered by the Tigris and the Euphrates, by a broad 
 mountain tract, which, beginning at the mouth of the 
 Indus, extends to the point at which the rivers of 
 Mesopotamia break through the rocky masses of the 
 high table-land, and enter the low plains. This moun- 
 tain tract consists of from three to seven ridges, running 
 parallel to each other, and separated by a corresponding 
 number of longitudinal valleys, which sometimes ex- 
 tend many days' journey in length. The ridges them- 
 selves are, like the Jura mountains in France, composed 
 of limestone, and rise like terraces from the low coast 
 higher and higher. Beyond them extend the wide 
 table-lands. There are but few mountain passes lead- 
 ing through this natural entrenchment of Persia, a 
 country which, on this account, may be considered as a 
 fortress erected by nature for the defence of the nations 
 which inhabit it. Among the narrow mountain passes 
 which lead from the sultry low coast, called the 
 Gurmsir (warm region), and through the great stair- 
 case of mountain terraces, to the cool table-land in the 
 interior, called Sirhad, three roads have acquired
 
 TOPOGRAPHY. 1 9 
 
 celebrity in history — the eastern, the middle, and the 
 western mountain road. 
 
 The eastern mountain road begins at the harbour of 
 Bender Abassi or Gambroon, near the entrance of the 
 Gulf of Persia, and leads northward to Kirman, the 
 ancient Karraania, situated on the cool table-land, in a 
 spot which abounds in springs, and is covered with 
 fruit-trees, though on all sides surrounded by desert 
 plains, in which it lies like an oasis in the midst of 
 the Libyan desert or Sahara. The middle mountain 
 road begins at the town of Aboushehr or Bushire, on 
 the shores of the Persian Gulf, and leads first over a 
 lower ridge to Kazrun, near Shahpoor, the residence of 
 the Sassanidae (of king Sapor I. a.d. 240), which is 
 situated in the first valley. From this point it crosses 
 a rocky mountain to Shiraz, the former residence of the 
 Arabian caliphs, which stands in a wider and richer 
 valley. It then proceeds through winding courses 
 among the mountains, and by deep and narrow ravines, 
 to the valley in which are found the deeply interesting 
 ruins of the ancient Persepolis. From these ruins, 
 and in a northern direction, it again lies in narrow 
 passes, among high rocks, which are full of monuments 
 of the early ages of Persia, At last it issues from the 
 mountain region, and enters the extensive table-land 
 on which Ispahan, the residence of the Sufi dynastj', is 
 built. The capitals and great towns of these difierent 
 dynasties are built on the fields of battle where signal 
 victories were obtained, and are placed at the openings
 
 20 ASIA. 
 
 of tlie most difficult mountain passes, full of narrow 
 defiles. The Arabs had to pass through this difficult 
 road on their way to Persepolis, and this has also been 
 the route of modern travellers who have entered the 
 inland provinces of Persia from the Persian Gulf. The 
 Macedonians, under Alexander, and afterwards Timur, 
 passed from the banks of the Karoun to Persepolis, up 
 the valley of the Jerahi, and by the pass of Kalat-i- 
 Sefid. 
 
 The western mountain road, which lies to the north- 
 west of the former, may be called the Median, in oppo- 
 sition to the Persian, which passes through Persepolis. 
 It begins at or near the modern Bagdad, and goes 
 through the Mediae Pylae of the mountain range called 
 Zagros, and passes by Kermanshaw, Besittoon, and 
 the ruins of the temple at Kungavar, terminating at 
 Hamadan, the ancient Ecbatana, in Media. This road 
 also reveals many historical monuments. It crosses 
 the upper course of the rivers which flow through the 
 lowlands of Susiana. 
 
 There is thus a series of towns and cities, the capitals 
 of the ancient kings, and now the sites of interesting 
 ruins, beginning with Kerman and including Perse- 
 polis, Parsagadae (or Parsagarda), Ispahan, and Hama- 
 dan, and terminating again at Tauris ; it lies along the 
 internal slope of the mountain ridges which border the 
 table-land of Iran on the south, and which is analogous 
 to that which forms the northern girdle of these moun- 
 tains. By these towns is marked the boundary which
 
 TOPOGRAPHY. 2l 
 
 separates the region of tlie natural fastnesses, of tlie 
 mountain passes, of the battle-fields, of the pastures, 
 and of the country adapted to the chase, which is 
 formed by the mountain terraces, from the interior 
 table-land, which is more level and uniform in its 
 aspect. But in the table-land itself are some ridges of 
 hills which, lying mostly in a general direction east 
 and west, attain only a moderate height. There are 
 also a few valleys, of no great depth, covered with 
 green meadows, or scanty pasture lands or steppes, and 
 in a few places with sandy deserts, or a soil impregnated 
 "with salt. 
 
 Abushehr is on the shore of the sea in the valley 
 Gursmir, and has a climate favourable to the growth 
 of palms. Kazrun lies on the first mountain terrace, 
 and is 2,772 feet above the level of the sea. The 
 highest point of the pass Desht-i-Arjun, above Shiraz, 
 rises to 7,200 feet. The town of Shiraz itself, which 
 is built on the second mountain terrace, is 4,284 feet 
 above the sea. Its climate is favourable to the vine. 
 Rose-bushes grow to the size of trees ; but the 
 palm does not succeed. The highest point of the pass 
 over the third mountain ridge above Persepolis 
 rises to 6,666 feet, Ispahan, lying in the plain which 
 forms the third terrace, is 4,140 feet above the sea. 
 From this level the mountain passes lying farther 
 north towards Kohrood, rise nearly 2,000 feet higher. 
 Near Koom there is the greatest depression in the table- 
 land. The surface sinks here to the extent of 2,046
 
 22 ASIA. 
 
 feet. In the plain It rises again in the direction of 
 Teheran, which has an elevation of 3,786 feet. The 
 mountain pass which leads to the Caspian Sea past 
 Kishlac, rises to 4,572 feet ; and the entrance of the 
 Hyrcanian pass at Shahrood to 3,414. The Demawend 
 is the highest mountain peak in these parts, and 
 attains an elevation of 10,000 feet, most of the adjacent 
 summits not rising more than 7,000 feet. The slope 
 of this range towards the Caspian Sea is very steep and 
 abrupt, the distance from the crest of the mountain to 
 that immense lake being very short. 
 
 The most remarkable feature in the physical geo- 
 graphy of Persia is the absence of considerable rivers, 
 though this country is at least as large as the whole 
 of Germany. This fact is not occasioned by the want 
 of springs, which are found almost everywhere, at 
 no great depth, rendering the country cultivable in 
 most districts ; but there are no extensive valleys to 
 furnish channels for running waters. This natural 
 characteristic of the country has deprived it of one of 
 the most efficient means of extensive civilisation. The 
 nations inhabiting Iran have never, therefore, quite 
 emerged from the condition of pastoral life, combined 
 with the frequent change of abode, although, from time 
 to time, they have exhibited a considerable amount of 
 mental culture. 
 
 In Iran, at the western extremity, between the in- 
 nermost corners of the Gulf of Persia and of the Caspian 
 Sea, at about the fiftieth meridian, the table-land
 
 TOPOGRAPHY. 23 
 
 narrows to nearly half its former extent, and increases 
 in height. Extensive plains lie beyond towards the 
 east, but to the west the hilly region becomes higher 
 and higher. The elevated region of Persia and Kur- 
 distan begins in this locality ; and here are the sources 
 of the Zab, the Tigris, the Aras, and the Euphrates, 
 with the lakes of Urmia and Van. The table-land is 
 replaced by mountains, which rise to an enormous 
 height, with elevated valleys between them. Azer- 
 bijan, the fire region, is one of these, and is famous as 
 the native country of Zoroaster. The mountain ranges 
 and the table-lands are again united in the mountains 
 of Armenia, Azerbijan in relation to them being only 
 a lower terrace. The Asian countries to the west of 
 Armenia resemble in their structure those of Europe 
 rather than those of Eastern Asia. There are no 
 longer the same compact masses, rising to a great 
 height, and swelling out to large dimensions, the masses 
 are more separated and distinct. There are four di- 
 visions of this kind. 
 
 The first is the highland of Armenia, which, as a 
 triangle, occupies the space between the three seas — 
 the Caspian, the Black Sea, and the Gulf of Alexan- 
 dretta. The plains on which the town of Erzeroum is 
 built rise to 7,000 feet above the level of the sea, and 
 the highest summits of the Ararat, which overtop 
 the plains, attain the height of 17,260 feet. The 
 second great division is formed by the Caucasus, united 
 as it is by hills of moderate height, which in part
 
 24 ASIA. 
 
 cover the Caucasian isthmus. This mountain region is 
 remarkabls for its isolated position and its entire inde- 
 pendence of the table-lands of Asia, and also by the 
 fact of its double descent to the north and the south, 
 which makes it much more like the mountain regions 
 of Europe than those of Upper Asia. It resembles the 
 mountainous region of Switzerland, and, as in that 
 country, it is peculiar in its natural productions and in 
 the character of its inhabitants. But the rivers which 
 rise in these mountains — the Kur, Phas, Kuban, Terek 
 — cannot be compared with those of Europe either in 
 length or in other respects of importance. On the 
 western border of the highlands of Asia is the penin- 
 sula of Anatolia, the third of these elevated masses, 
 which is surrounded by seas, and is joined on the east 
 to Persia by the mountain system of the Taurus. The 
 interior is occupied by a table-land which, on the 
 average, rises to about 2,000 feet above the sea-level, 
 and descends with steep slopes towards the north and 
 the south. The descent is gentle towards the west, 
 and is formed by long fertile valleys with abundant 
 streams. It terminates on the shores of the iEgean 
 Sea in a coast full of promontories and indentations, 
 marking the termination of the ranges which run from 
 east to west in this peninsula. It extends like a bridge 
 for the passage of nations between Asia and Europe. 
 The fourth region is formed by the mountains of Syria, 
 which, running towards the south, contain Mount 
 Libanus, and thence continue to the lofty cone of Sinai,
 
 TOPOGRAPHY. 2$ 
 
 an elevated mountain mass, which is a rare occurrence 
 in Asia. 
 
 Though Western Asia is indented by gulfs and arms 
 of the sea, making peninsulas and headlands, there are 
 no great river systems such as occur on the eastern side 
 of Asia. It presents forms of smaller dimensions, like 
 those of Europe, and better adapted to the use and 
 dominion of man. There is only one extensive river 
 system in this country, and it consists of only two 
 large rivers, a feature which is especiallj^ characteristic 
 of Asia. This is the river system of the Euphrates 
 and Tigris, or of the Shatt-el-Arab. The north branch 
 of the Euphrates comes from the neighbourhood of 
 Erzeroum, and the east branch from the western ex- 
 tremity of the table-land of Iran, where the country 
 rises to a great height, forming a complete mountain 
 system, with lateral hills and intervening elevated 
 valleys. The Tigris rises on the south side of the high 
 range, and along the north side flows the Euphrates. 
 The Euphrates has a winding course of nearly 1,800 
 miles. When these rivers have forced their way 
 through the Taurus, the Euphrates to the north of 
 Eumkala, and the Tigris above Mosul, they begin to 
 converge and to surround Mesopotamia, till they ap- 
 proach the ancient Babylonia, but they do not u^iite in 
 it. Their waters form a great delta, and then enter 
 the Persian Gulf by the same channel. 
 
 This double river system in Asia is one of its most 
 remarkable features. In the valley of the Nile, civili-
 
 2b ASIK. 
 
 sation descended along the banks of the river from one 
 royal city to another, from Meroe to Thebes, and thence 
 to Memphis and Sais. But in the valleys of the 
 double rivers of Asia we meet with double royal resi- 
 dences, double civilisation, and double political systems, 
 as Babylon and Nineveh respectively on the Euphrates 
 and Tigris ; Delhi and H'Lassa, with Brahminism and 
 Buddhism, on the river system of the Ganges ; and on 
 the double river systems of China, the Southern and 
 the Northern Empire, Ma-chin and Khatai. When in 
 the progress of time civilisation descended these 
 streams, and met at their conflux, or where they ap- 
 proach near each other, the different degrees of per- 
 fection which it had attained, and the difierent turn it 
 had taken, must have produced, as the nations came 
 into contact with one another, a beneficial effect. The 
 same is the fact in regard to the fourth great system of 
 double rivers, the Sir and the Gihon, on the banks of 
 which, in the centre of Asia, similar circumstances are 
 repeated in respect to the cities of- Samarkand and 
 Bokhara. 
 
 The highland of Eastern Asia is formed by the 
 Deccan, which is an independent and isolated limb of 
 the mountain system to which it belongs. In like 
 manner the peninsula of Arabia projects from the high- 
 land of Western Asia, and may be considered as entirely 
 independent. As the Deccan is separated from the 
 highland region by the lowland of Scinde, so Arabia is 
 divided from the mountain system of the Taurus by
 
 TOPOGRAPHY. 2^ 
 
 the lowland of Syria, which extends to the south-west of 
 the Eujjhrates. The country again rises to the south of 
 this lowland, and has quite a different character. This 
 forms the highlands of Arabia, which contain the table- 
 land of Nejd, the country of the "Wahhabites — a cold 
 country, connected on the south with the elevated 
 Yemen or Arabia Felix, which descends in terraces 
 towards two seas. The descent towards the west is 
 steep, and formed by parallel mountain ridges, with 
 well-sheltered valleys between them, in which are situ- 
 ated the famous towns of Mecca and Medina. This 
 part of the country is better known than the corre- 
 sponding steep descent towards the south between Aden 
 and Iladramant, and thence to Muscat. The eastern 
 declivity falls with a gentle slope towards the Gulf of 
 Persia, and surrounds the islands of Bahrein, which 
 are noted for their pearl banks. The cold Nejd is the 
 native country of the Arabian horse and the Arabian 
 camel. Coffee grows on the terraces which border it on 
 the west, and the low and narrow coast, with its sultry 
 air, produces also the date-palm. 
 
 In Arabia there are features which entirely differ 
 from those which mark the other parts of Asia. As 
 already indicated by its geographical position, it forms 
 a point of contact between Asia and Africa, and has 
 the distinguishing qualities of both. Even the popu- 
 lation, the original Arabs, resemble no nation so much 
 as the mountaineers of Abyssinia, who occupy the 
 upper country on the opposite side of the Red Sea,
 
 28 ASIA. 
 
 speak a language resembling that of Arabia, are equally 
 well formed, and nearly equal in mental quality. Con- 
 fined to their own territory by the nature of their country, 
 and separated from the rest of the world by seas and 
 mountains, the Chinese feel no inducement to leave 
 their fertile and extensive home. They have, therefore, 
 remained in ignorance of other nations, and formerly 
 excluded foreigners from their soil. The Hindoo is born 
 for his own Indian world, and is fit for no other, and 
 is placed in a country in which all the advantages of 
 Asia are concentrated. Here, in this territory, there is 
 in many particulars an advanced civilisation ; but the 
 Hindoo is not migratory, has seldom left the boundary 
 of his native land, and with stolid indifference has re- 
 ceived foreigners — some as conquerors, others as mer- 
 chants or colonists, or missionaries. The Arabs, whose 
 original country lies between two great divisions of the 
 globe, have assimilated themselves to both of these, 
 and, at one period of their histor}^, extended their 
 dominion to the most western point of Africa, as well 
 as; to that of Asia. In these parts there are still to be 
 found lingering remains of the former occupation. The 
 larger number of Arabs are to be found beyond the 
 peninsula, which is the native country of their nation, 
 but which prepared them for the endurance of every 
 climate. Its sultry coasts resemble the arid deserts of 
 Lybia ; the moderate climate of the terraces approaches 
 that of Iran, the Deccan, and Catalonia ; and the cold 
 Nejd differs little in its character from the highland of
 
 TOPOGR.VPHY. 29 
 
 Central Asia, on which we find the Arabs in many 
 parts at a great distance from their native country. 
 
 The lowlands of Asia are everywhere situated within 
 the highland regions and the valleys which are formed 
 by the terraces which are connected with them. These 
 hills and terraces probably cover a space of not less than 
 4,300,000 square miles, or more than a fifth part of 
 the whole extent of Asia. There must, therefore, be 
 6,000,000 square miles for the surface of the low- 
 lands. These lowlands are spread around the most 
 elevated parts of the interior, and form the countries 
 which lie along the sea, the lower course of the great 
 river systems traversing them with many wind- 
 ings and but little fall. It was in these plains that 
 the great empires of antiquity attained their greatest 
 power, and continued for the longest period of time. 
 These plains are six in number, and, unconnected with 
 each other, are different in their individual charac- 
 teristics. 
 
 The great Chinese lowland is the first, and lies on 
 the eastern shore of Asia, along the Pacific Ocean, 
 beginning at Pekin, and extending along the Yellow 
 Sea southwards by Nankin to the province of Kiang-si. 
 It is south of the fortieth parallel, and reaches nearly to 
 the tropic. The climate is temperate ; the agriculture 
 is advanced in its extent and manner ; the system of 
 canals is most extensive ; and this is the richest granary 
 in the world. 
 
 The second is the Indo-Chinese lowland, Iviu"-
 
 30 ASIA. 
 
 between the Gulf of Tonkin and that of Slam, and 
 which extends from the tenth degree of north latitude 
 to the tropic, comprehending the Kingdoms of Camboja 
 and Siam. It has the advantage of being south of the 
 tropic, and, being plentifully supplied with water, is 
 well suited to the cultivation of rice. There are in it 
 large spaces covered with standing water as well as 
 several lakes. 
 
 The third is the lowland of Hindostan or Scinde. It 
 includes the northern part of India, and lies between 
 the Gulf of Bengal and that of Gujerat. It is bounded 
 by the two river systems of the Ganges and the Indus, 
 and is overlooked by three table-lands, — those of 
 Thibet, Iran, and the Deccan. Situated out of the 
 torrid zone, but near the tropic, it has all the advantages 
 of a tropical climate, with but few of its disadvantages. 
 In the richness and variety of the natural scenes which 
 surround it, it is unequalled by any of the others. It 
 is as populous as the lowland of China, and much 
 exceeds it in the number of the nations which occupy 
 it, and also in that of the great cities and centres of 
 civilisation which it includes, — as Agra, Delhi, Benares, 
 Calcutta, Lahore, Mooltan, Ajmeer and others. The 
 western half, however, is a desert covered with sand. 
 
 Syria and Arabia constitute the fourth of these great 
 lowlands, the boundary being the innermost corner of 
 the Gulf of Persia on the east ; on the west the 
 mountains of Syria ; on the south the table-land of 
 Nejd ; and on the north and north-east Iran. The
 
 TOPOGRAPHY. 31 
 
 northern half only Is watered by the river system of 
 the Euphrates and the Tigris, the southern portion 
 suffering much from the absence of moisture, being arid 
 and desert. 
 
 There are thus two lowknds which may be called 
 maritime, and two which may be called continental. 
 The Chinese and Indo-Chinese lowlands are generally 
 surrounded by seas, exposed to the action of high tides, 
 and frequently drenched by the moisture brought by 
 the winds from the east and south-east. The lowland 
 of Hindostan, and that of Syria and Arabia, on the 
 contrary, only border on narrow bays, and on the south 
 and the north are over- topped by high table-lands which 
 have always a dry atmosphere. It follows, consequently, 
 that in these last-named lowlands there is great dry- 
 ness in the air, as in the former there is much moisture. 
 They are therefore, respectively, distinguished by all 
 the corresponding variations of animal and vegetable 
 life. In China and the peninsula beyond the Ganges, 
 the inhabitants approach in their manners and customs 
 the inhabitants of islands ; but in India and Babylonia 
 they resemble the population of inland countries. The 
 southern half of the lowland of Syria and Arabia re- 
 sembles the African Sahara, and is therefore called 
 the Arabian Desert. It is characteristically tropical, 
 although situated beyond the tropics ; and, divested of 
 many of the peculiarities of Asia, is more like Africa in 
 many of its natural productions, as well as in its climate. 
 
 The fifth of these lowlands is that of Siberia, which is
 
 32 ASIA. 
 
 the most extensive, and occupies more than the half of 
 the area of all the lowlands of Asia, and extends along 
 the Polar Sea the whole length of the continent from the 
 Ural Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. It is traversed .by 
 extensive river systems, but it derives little advantage 
 from that fact, inasmuch as it contains only in the 
 southern third of its surface (between 50° and 60° N. lat.) 
 habitable and cultivable land. In all parts this district 
 has been colonised by Europeans. Here are the most 
 numerous European settlements in Asia. The northern 
 and most extensive division, lying either within the 
 polar circle or near it, is beyond the bounds of cultiva- 
 tion, and belongs rather to the polar regions than to 
 that division of the globe which has been called the 
 East. The lowland of Siberia, though its maritime 
 boundary exhibits no great variety, has, by its eleva- 
 tion above the level of the sea, a great influence on the 
 whole continent of Asia, which no doubt would have 
 presented quite a different aspect if great mountains 
 had occupied the northern shores of Siberia, and formed 
 its boundary towards the Polar regions. 
 
 Bucharia occupies the sixth lowland, and it is entirely 
 continental, without contact with any part of the ocean, 
 and watered by inland seas, the Caspian and the Lake 
 of Aral. Its greatest extent is in the direction of the 
 double rivers which traverse it. Beginning at the 
 innermost angle formed by the western edge of the 
 table-land of Thibet, and the northern edge of that of 
 Iran, this greatest of all the depressions on the surface
 
 TOPOGRAPHY. 33 
 
 of the globe extends to the north-west over the countries 
 adjacent to both banks of the Volga, up to the river 
 Don and the boundary of Europe, between the moun- 
 tain ranges of the Ural and of the Caucasus. It may, 
 therefore, be considered as the means of connection 
 between Central Asia and Europe. Its great plains 
 are but scantily watered, the surface being mainly 
 formed of gravel. Agricultural enterprise has conse- 
 quently but little encouragement. These spaces are 
 commonly called steppes — or plains covered with grass, 
 without trees, and having only here and there a few 
 tracts of cultivated land. In such a country nomadic 
 tribes find a natural home. Although deprived of all 
 the riches of nature, except in a few places in which 
 agriculture is carried on by artificial irrigation and 
 immense labour, this lowland is historically remarkable. 
 As it is in the centre of ver}' extensive countries, and 
 surrounded by various nations, it has been concerned 
 in all the great historical events. It was here that the 
 conquerors, — such as Cj^rus and Alexander, who pro- 
 ceeded from the west, or those of China, who came from 
 the east, the Bactrians, Ghazuarides, and Great Mogols, 
 from the south, and the Russians from the north, — 
 met with a stop to their further progress. 
 
 The country being naturally poor, and the lands 
 surrounding it being comparatively rich, the various 
 political changes in the neighbouring countries have 
 frequently induced its inhabitants to pass beyond their 
 own boundaries, the more especially because thev had 
 
 I!
 
 34 ASIA. 
 
 no fixed abode, but led a nomadic life. The Chinese 
 and Hindoos never left their country, but took root 
 there, and grew into settled nations ; but the inhabitants 
 of this lowland have been nations of change and migra- 
 tion for centuries, and, since the times of the Scythians, 
 Goths, Alans, Uzes, Comanes, Petsheniges, Turks, and 
 Tartars, till nearly our own times, have repeatedly in- 
 undated Europe, destroying and impairing and retard- 
 ing its civilisation. Great changes, meanwhile, occurred 
 in their own country, in regard both to the population 
 and the dynasties which ruled over it. In our own 
 times, it exercises a great influence on political events, 
 by the geographical position which it occupies, and the 
 obstacles which it presents to the progress of the three 
 great Empires of Asia — the Chinese on the east, 
 the Russians on the north, and the British on the south. 
 We thus find that in Asia there are six great low- 
 lands, difierent in their character, and indej)endent of 
 one another. They sjaread below and around two high- 
 lands which occupy an immense space, and which are 
 themselves surrounded by seven or eight less extensive 
 and separated mountainous or table-land regions — those 
 of Southern China, the peninsula bej'ond the Ganges, 
 the Deccan, Arabia, Syria, Armenia, and the isthmus of 
 the Caucasus, each having its own peculiar features. 
 To these must be added ten or twelve intermediate 
 formations, terraces — and, putting all together, we have 
 in Asia nearly a score and a half of great natural 
 divisions, subject to individual natural laws. Their
 
 SOCIAL CONDITION. 35 
 
 mutual connection and reciprocal influence alone can 
 afford us a true view of the great variety and com- 
 bination of the natural phenomena, with the historical 
 events of this great division of the globe. 
 
 The Social Conuition of Asia presents a most varied 
 scene. Peculiar to this continent is the transmission of 
 institutions, usages, and manners unaltered from the 
 earliest ages. The life of the patriarchs, as described 
 in the earliest of existing historical records, is still 
 found unchanged in the Arab tent. The courts of 
 Babylon and Nineveh appear to have been marked by 
 features of pomp similar to those of Ispahan and of 
 Delhi before it fell. Asia, even before the beginning 
 of the historical period, seems to have made consider- 
 able progress in civilisation ; but then she stopped 
 short, and has allowed herself to be far outstripped by 
 the originally less advanced nations of Europe. 
 
 The despotism to which the people of Asia are gene- 
 rally subjected has, no doubt, much to do with this 
 absence of change and of progress. A republic, an 
 aristocracy, a representative assembly, political liber- 
 ties and privileges, regular control of the community in 
 any such mode as we should call constitutional, are 
 ideas altogether foreign to the mind of an Asiatic. 
 Still, although the general principles of government 
 remain the same from age to age, the change of ruler 
 and of dynasty is much more frequent than in Europe. 
 As the ideas of hereditary right and of primogeniture 
 are much less deeply rooted, a younger son, or even an
 
 36 ASL\. 
 
 uncle, of the reigning sovereign, if more able and 
 popular, finds it easv to dispute the sceptre with him, 
 and even to wrest it from his hands. Oriental sove- 
 reigns still maintain the primitive institution, not 
 excepting the greatest of them, of sitting and adminis- 
 tering justice in person. The seat of residence and 
 rule is not usually unalterable, as are the maxims and 
 modes of the administration. Every successive prince 
 may select some favourite city, which he either has 
 originated, or which he means to raise from insignifi- 
 cance by lavishing his wealth upon it in the way of 
 adornment. The abodes of his ancestors are neglected, 
 and hence Asia is covered all over with decayed 
 capitals and ruined palaces. 
 
 In many parts of Asia a system of plunder is sys- 
 tematically carried on. Communities, chiefs, and even 
 princes, do not scruple to share in it. There is 
 nothing clandestine in it. It is avowed, sometimes 
 boasted of, as a calling which is respectable. If, how- 
 ever, they have accepted a composition similar to the 
 old " black mail " of this country, or if they have 
 pledged their faith, they inviolably abide by their 
 agreement. The numerous tracts of mountain and 
 desert afford them holds in which to shelter themselves, 
 and these are seldom far from some rich plain, or great 
 commercial route, on which to exercise their depreda- 
 tions. Arabia, from time immemorial, has been a hive 
 of such plimderers- 
 
 The attire of the Orientals, wc need scarcely say, is
 
 SOCIAL COXDITION. 37 
 
 widely different from that of Europeans. Instead of our 
 short tight garments, they wear long flowing rohes, 
 wrapped loosely round the body. Instead of the hat 
 they wear a light turban, and for shoes have sandals. 
 In entering a house, or when wishing to show respect, 
 they take off the sandal, when we would remove the 
 hat. They do not use chairs, tables, plates, knives, 
 forks, or spoons. At meals, they seat themselves 
 cross-legged on the floor, and eat out of a large wooden 
 bowl placed in the centre, and filled, not with solid 
 joints, but with stews or sweetmeats. This dish is 
 common to the whole company, and each thrusts in his 
 hand without ceremony, and carries the morsels direct 
 to the mouth. They are very scrupulous about washing 
 their hands. They do not use beds. An Oriental 
 going to sleep merely spreads a mat for himself, ad- 
 justs his clothes, and Kes down. The amount of house- 
 hold furniture, for the reasons which have just been 
 specified, is small, and consists of little more than car- 
 pets covering the room and sofas set round it, of which 
 some are of peculiar beauty and fineness. Their gar- 
 ments are also simple, though composed among the 
 rich of fine materials, and profusely ornamented with 
 jewels and precious stones. Their arms and the trap- 
 pings of their horses are objects on which they 
 make a studied display of magnificence. All over the 
 East the beard is allowed to grow, and is regarded with 
 reverence. 
 
 In disposition and Umper the people of Asia are grave,
 
 38 ASIA. 
 
 serious, and recluse. They have no balls, theatres, or 
 large assemblages. They regard that lively social 
 intercourse in which many Europeans delight as weak 
 and frivolous. Except when roused by strong excite- 
 ment, they remain stretched or seated on their sofas 
 and divans, and look with pity on those whom they see 
 walking about for recreation or amusement. We can- 
 not easily estimate their moral qualities as compared 
 with those of Europeans. Their domestic attachments 
 are strong, and they have much reverence for their 
 ancestors. Their ordinary deportment is mild and 
 courteous ; and they show themselves capable of gene- 
 rous and benevolent actions. Yet, among the subjects 
 of the great empires, the obligations of truth and 
 honesty were habitually disregarded. At the present 
 day, the chiefs and principal men are usually designing, 
 treacherous, and inhuman — devoid of honour, and 
 capable of the most enormous crimes. The smaller 
 tribes, although they display greater manliness, as 
 being frequently called upon for self-defence, are rude 
 and coarse. Towards women the conduct of the 
 Asiatics is always degrading. Polygamy is probably 
 the source of this evil. Women are systematically 
 excluded from society. The Mahometan doctrine which 
 declares them to have no souls ; the Hindoo practice of 
 prohibiting them from reading, writing, and being pre- 
 sent at religious services ; are parts of a system which 
 is manifestly intended to reduce them to a lower level. 
 It is true, there is one local example (in Thibet) which
 
 SOCIAL CONDITION. 39 
 
 is of an opposite character. There, there is female 
 sway, and a plurality of husbands ; but this is only an 
 exception to the general rule, and is manifestly the 
 result of mere caprice in former times. 
 
 Religion is professedly in high regard among the 
 Asians. The Divine Name is continually on their lips. 
 But their creeds are all marked by a deep tincture of 
 superstition, such as seems naturally to connect itself 
 with a crude and imperfect knowledge. The most 
 savage and degrading rites are practised in many partj 
 of the continent ; and, in all of them, the favour of the 
 Deity is expected to be obtained rather by munificent 
 donations, costly temples, and elaborate worship, than 
 by purity of heart and life. Christianity, although 
 it was at first revealed in Asia, and spread in parts of 
 it, has not maintained its ground there against those 
 superstitions. There are two systems of faith which 
 divide Asia very much between them. The one is that 
 of Mahomet, which, by the arras of his followers and of 
 the conquering Tartars of Central Asia, has been 
 thoroughly established over all the western parts as far 
 as the Indus. Even in India, it became, for centuries, 
 the ruling religion, and has many adherents even now ; 
 but it was never there the religion of the body of the 
 people. The other is the religion of the Hindoos, 
 which is divided into two great sects — those of Brahma 
 and Boodh ; the former occupying the whole of Hin- 
 dostan, and the latter having its head-quarters, or 
 rather its centre, in Thibet, fiillng the whole of the
 
 40 ASIA. 
 
 east of Asia and Tartary, and reaching northwards even 
 beyond the Altai. 
 
 Agriculture is carried on in many parts with industry 
 and care, though generally with less skill and with 
 ruder implements than in Europe. There is much less 
 capital, particularly in live stock, employed upon the 
 land. The cultivators rise very slightly above the rank 
 of the peasantry. The principal expense is in irriga- 
 tion. Crops without watering would, in many districts, 
 be impossible. There are also several manufactures in 
 Asia which are not equalled in richness and beauty by 
 those of any other part of the world, although they are 
 conducted with small capital and simple machinery. 
 The carpets of Persia, the muslins of India, the porcelain 
 and the lacquered ware of China are unrivalled. 
 Commerce is fettered by the jealousy of the greater 
 rulers, and yet it is not inactive. In Europe commerce 
 is chiefly maritime, in Asia it is principally inland, 
 while, at the same time, there is much accomplished by 
 means of the sea. The interior caravan trade is still 
 large, although it has been diminished since Europe 
 ceased to be supplied in this way. There is a consider- 
 able amount of trade by sea on the southern coasts ; but 
 it has now been partly reduced, so far as foreign 
 exports are concerned, by the direct intercourse of 
 England with India and China. It has been converted 
 in a great degree into a coasting trade. 
 
 The Asiatic Languages are capable of being classed 
 into seven groups : — 1. The Semitic ; 2. The languages
 
 LANGUAGES. 4 1 
 
 of the Caucasus ; 3. The Persian : 4. The languages of 
 India; 5. The languages of the region beyond the 
 Ganges ; 6. The Tartar tongues ; and 7. The languages 
 of Siberia. 
 
 The Semitic languages may be divided into five 
 branches : — 1. The Hebrew ; 2. The Syriac, or 
 Aramean ; 3. The Median ; 4. The Arabic ; 5. The 
 Abyssinian. The Hebrew includes the Hebrew, the 
 Phoenician, and the Punic. The ancient or pure Hehreiv 
 was used up to the time of the Babylonish captivity. 
 The Jews use it for all sacred purposes even now. In 
 this language most of the Old Testament is written. 
 The Chaldee is almost identical with the Syriac ; it was 
 brought with the Jews from Babylon. The oldest 
 work in it is the book of Daniel. This was the 
 language spoken at the courts of Nineveh and Babylon. 
 The Rabbinical dialect is a mixture of the Chaldee with 
 the pure Hebrew. The Phcenician was formerly spoken 
 along the whole coast of Syria ; it dijffered but little 
 from the Hebrew. The Punic, Carehedomc, or Cartha- 
 ginian, was one of the dialects of the Phoenicians. 
 The Syriac, or Aramean^ was formerly used in parts of 
 Persia, and oven in Tartary and Central Asia, where it 
 came to be known through the merchants and the 
 religious sect of the Nestorians. The Median was 
 spoken, as the name implies, in ancient Media. It is 
 the Pehlvi, or Phelvy, formerly in use in Western 
 Persia. The Arabic, one tongue, is yet divisible into 
 three sections : — The ancient Arabic, which has long
 
 42 ASIA. 
 
 been extinct ; the literal Arabic, common to tbe whole 
 Arabian nation. It is tbe written and literary language 
 of most of the nations subject to the vast empire founded 
 by Mahomet. The Koran was written in it. It is 
 still used in the Mahometan worship. The vulgar 
 Arabic is the language spoken in Arabia, and in the 
 greater part of Syria and Mesopotamia, and in part of 
 Khusistan, or Fars, along the Persian Gulf, in the 
 Kingdom of Persia, in some parts of the Malabar and 
 Coromandel coasts, in all parts of Egypt, in Nubia, 
 especially along the Nile, in all the towns of the 
 Barbary States by the Moors and Arabs, and in a part 
 of their plains by the Beduin Arabs, in a part of Beled- 
 el-jereed, and in some of the oases of the African 
 deserts. There are slight diversities of dialect ob- 
 servable in this wide sphere of use for the Arabic, but 
 in all the language is essentially the same, and can be 
 understood by all without much difficulty. The Abys- 
 sinian belongs strictly to the Semitic branch of 
 tongues, but has been much corrupted. 
 
 The languages of the Caucasian region are several : — 
 1. The Georgian, which consists of the ancient and 
 modern Georgian, the Mingrelian, the Suane, and the 
 Lasian ; 2. The Armenian, including the ancient Arme- 
 nian, now extinct except in books and in worship, and 
 the vulgar Armenian, which is the modern language 
 spoken by the Haikans in Turkish and Persian Armenia, 
 in part of Georgia and Shirwan, and in the government 
 of Istchil ; 3. The Lcsghian languages, including the
 
 LANGUAGES. 43 
 
 Awar, the Kazikumuk, the Akusha, and the Kura ; 
 4, The Mizdjedghi, spoken by the people of that name, 
 in Southern Circassia, and comprising four principal 
 dialects ; 5. The Circassian, spoken by the Circassians, 
 or Cherkasses, whose true name is Adije, probably the 
 Zyges of Strabo, and the Ziches of the Byzantine 
 writers; 6. Tlh.e Ahassi, spoken by the Abassi, who are 
 now subjects of Russia. All the languages of the Cir- 
 cassian region are extremely harsh, and are remarkable 
 for an extraordinary assemblage of consonants, and an 
 accumulation of vague and diphthongal sounds, many of 
 them guttural. The Armenian and the Georgian are 
 the only written languages ; those who speak the others 
 use in writing either the Arabic, the Georgian, or the 
 Turkish. 
 
 The Persian langtiages consist of: — 1. The Zend, 
 formerly spoken in Bactriana, where it ceased to be in 
 common use before the Christian era. The Zend-avesta, 
 the sacred book of the fire-worshippers, is written in 
 this language. The Magi, or priests, spoke it ; 2. The 
 Parsi, Farsi, or ancient Persian. This was a language 
 which had surpassed the Zend in copiousness, accuracy, 
 and elegance, long before it became the language of the 
 court and of public business in Persia. It is not now 
 in use ; 3. The Modern Persian. This is derived 
 from the Parsi, and was formed during the prolonged 
 domination of the Arabs in Persia, and is a mixture of 
 Arabic and Turkish with Parsi, It is spoken in Persia, 
 and in part of India, especially among the Mahometans
 
 44 ASIA. 
 
 in Agra and Aurungabad. It had long been tbe 
 language of the court of the Great Mogul. A dialect 
 of it is spoken in Bukharia, in some towns of Asiatic 
 E-ussia, and in some provinces of China ; 4. The Kurde, 
 or Coord, spoken in Kurdistan and Lauristan. The 
 Kurdish differs but little from the Persian in words, but 
 much in grammar. It is harsh, and much less polished. 
 5. The language of the Ossetes, inhabiting the high 
 valleys of the Caucasus. It bears an affinity to that of 
 the modern Arabs. 6. The Pooshto, or Afghan. It has 
 much analogy with the Persian, and but little with the 
 Semitic tongues. Its literature is very poor ; 7. The 
 Beluch is spoken by the dominant nation of Beluchistan 
 and Scinde. It much resembles the Persian. It is 
 written in the Arabic character, with some additional 
 letters. 
 
 The languages of India. India has come to be a great 
 empire in itself. We are not now much accustomed to 
 deal with it as part of Asia ; therefore our notice of 
 its tongues may here be all the more brief. Of 
 the languages of India — 1. Is the SanskriL It is a 
 dead language, though formerly spoken throughout a 
 great part of India. The sacred books are written in 
 it ; 2. The Bali or Magada. It is a sister tongue to the 
 Sanskrit. It is not now spoken ; but is continued as the 
 liturgic, hieratic and literary language of Ceylon, Bali, 
 Madura, part of Java, throughout Indo-China, and 
 Malacca. Among the living languages of India there 
 are many derived from the Sanskrit, such as Hindustani,
 
 LANGUAGES. 45 
 
 the Punjaube, the Cashmerian, thfe Caubal, the Scindee, 
 the Zinganee, and many others ; while there are many- 
 tongues not affiliated with the great parent Sanskrit at 
 all, the Touppah, the Garow, the Chooraeas, the Catty- 
 war, the Gond, the Cottesghur, and the Wadasse. 
 
 The languages of the regions beyond the Ganges are 
 divided into five branches : — 1. The Thibetan ; 2. The 
 Indo-Chinese ; 3. The Chinese, and this last again 
 separates itself into varieties. — 1, The Kou Wen, or 
 ancient Chinese, which is perhaps the most monosyl- 
 labic language in the world, and which contains the 
 greatest number of monophonous words. 2. The Kouan 
 Kou, or modern Chinese. 3. The Ching Chen, spoken 
 by the inhabitants of Fo Kien ; 4. The Corean, spoken 
 in the kingdom of Corea ; and 5. The Japanese, which is 
 in use not in Japan only, but also in the Foo Choo 
 islands, distinguished as being inhabited by perhaps the 
 only people in the world unacquainted with the use of 
 warlike weapons. 
 
 The Tartar languages are divisible into three fami- 
 lies : — 1. The Tungusian. This is common to the 
 ancient and modern inhabitants of Mandshuria, and to 
 several tribes inhabiting Eastern Siberia. There are 
 two languages combined in it, — the Mantschew, spoken 
 in the Chinese Empire by the Tunguses, who have 
 been the dominant nation since 1644, when the ancestor 
 of the now reigning family was placed on the throne ; 
 and the Tungm, spoken by the Tunguses, who live in the 
 Russian Empire, scattered over more than a third of
 
 46 ASIA. 
 
 Siberia, from tlie Yenesei to the Sea of Okhotsk ; 2. The 
 Tartar or Mongol, comprises all the idioms used by the 
 Tartars properly so called, subdivided as they are into 
 many communities dispersed over Mongolia, as also in 
 part of Thibet, in the Chinese Empire, and several 
 parts of the Russian Empire. These idioms form a 
 family composed of at least three languages, the Mongol 
 proper, the Calmuck, and the Bouriet ; 3. The Turk 
 family, including the Turkish, the Yakoute, and the 
 Tchomcache. There are many dialects of the Turkish. 
 The OsmanU, or Turkish proper, is spoken by the 
 Osmanlis, Ottomans, or Turks ; the Kaptchak by the 
 pure Tartars as they call themselves, who live in the 
 Russian Governments of Kasan, Simbirsk, Penza, and 
 Saratov, and by the pretended Tartars of Astrachan 
 and Orenburg ; the Turcoman, which is used by the 
 nomadic nation of Turcomans, split up into many 
 sections ; the Caucaso-Danuhian, which is spoken in 
 three dialects by the Basians, the Koumuks, and the 
 Nogais, who are dependent on the Russian Empire ; 
 the Kirghis and the South Siberian, spoken by various 
 Turkish tribes inhabiting that region ; the Takoutes, 
 who speak the language so named, are the most northern 
 and most eastern of all the Turkish tribes ; the Tchou- 
 waches, called by the Russians the Mountain-Tartars, 
 are most numerous in the governments of Kasan and 
 Wiatka. Their language differs only by many pro- 
 vincialisms from that of the Yakoutes. 
 
 The Siberian languages are several: — 1. That of the
 
 LANGUAGES. 47 
 
 Samoides. This nation is still nomadic, and is to be 
 found principally in the centre of Asia ; but is scattered 
 over the whole of the northern region, from Olensk to 
 the Straits of Warjatz, and in Europe from the Straits 
 to the White Sea ; 2. The Yeneaei, so called from the 
 river Yenesei. The people who speak these languages 
 live in the government of Torusk, and separate the 
 Samoides of the south from those of the north ; 3. The 
 Toukhagire is spoken by the Youkhags, or Adon Dommi, 
 a much reduced nation, few in number, and who have 
 generally embraced the Christian religion ; 4. The Kor- 
 yeke, which includes dialects spoken in the north-east of 
 the government of Irkutsk by several communities called 
 Xoryekes, and some others, comprised under the deno- 
 mination of Tchuktches. These tribes occupy the terri- 
 tory to the east of Youkhagires, and are surrounded by 
 real Tchuktches, by the Kamtchadales, and the Tun- 
 guses ; 5. The Kamtchadale is spoken in the peninsula 
 of Kamtschatka by people who call themselves Itulmen. 
 Small-pox ravaged this district in 1768, 1784, 1800, 
 and 1801. Those who escaped have generally embraced 
 Christianity, and adopted the Cossack mode of living ; 
 the Kurilian includes the speech of the Ainos or 
 Kurilians, the aborigines of the Kurilian archipelago, 
 the isle of Taraiki, and part of Mandshuria. The 
 Imguages comprised in it are the Kurilian proper, the 
 Jesso, and the Tarakas. 
 
 We may divide Asia into these parts : — Southern Asia, 
 which consists of Asia Minor, Syria, and the other
 
 48 ASIA. 
 
 Asiatic parts of the Turkish Empire ; Arabia, Persia, 
 Hindostan, India beyond the Ganges, and China. To tliis 
 division are appended the great Oriental Archipelago, 
 which forms the empire of Japan. Middle Asia con- 
 sists almost exclusively of the vast regions of Tartar}^ 
 divided into Chinese and Independent Tartary. To 
 this may be added the Caucasian territory, situated 
 between the Black Sea and the Caspian. Northern Asia 
 consists wholly of an immense plain, subjected to the 
 sway of Russia, and bearing the name of Siberia. 
 
 Many questions may be asked respecting the Popu- 
 lation of Asia. Was this continent ever more 
 fully occupied than it is at present ? How many of its 
 inhabitants were destroyed during the wars of the 
 Mongols ? How far has its population decreased, 
 owing to the despotism exercised by the Turks in the 
 western countries ? How many nations have already 
 become nearly extinct, or have quite perished, as the 
 Philistines, the Phcenicians, the Parsees, the Baby- 
 lonians, the Lydians, the Bactrians, the Medes, and the 
 Sogdians ? More than forty nations were destroyed in 
 the middle ages by the Mongol wars, according to the 
 statements of the annalists of that time ; and some have 
 become nearly extinct in our own times, as the Doms 
 in the Himalaya range, the Miao-tse in Southern 
 China, the Tata in Northern China, the tribes of the 
 Tunguses, Eastern Turks and Simoicdes in the moun- 
 tains of Sayansk, and others in Mount Caucasus. These 
 questions can be answered only with approximate
 
 POPULATION. 49 
 
 probability. But the people still remaining,, some of 
 tbem in immense multitudes, and otters in smaller 
 numbers are these : the Semites. The Jews are a prin- 
 cipal portion of this section of the human race. They 
 are scattered over a great part of Asia, and are most 
 numerous in the Ottoman territory, and in Persia and 
 Arabia. There are also many of them in India, 
 Turkestan, and China. The Arabs are probably the 
 most numerous of this branch of the world's population. 
 They occupy nearly the whole of Arabia, the greater 
 part of Syria and Mesopotamia, with parts of Khusis- 
 tan and Fars in Persia. They have also settlements on 
 the coasts of Malabar and Coromandel, in Turkestan, 
 and in the regions of the Caucasus. 
 
 The Georgians occupy the country, Georgia, whose 
 name they bear, and are also to be found in Imeritia. 
 The Mingrelians, the Suanes, the Lazes, at the eastern 
 extremity of the Black Sea, also belong to the same race. 
 
 The Armenians are a people who form the great 
 mass of the population of Armenia. They are also 
 numerous in Georgia, Shirwan, and Azerbijan. They 
 are scattered through all the commercial cities of 
 Turkey, Persia, India, Turkestan, and even in some 
 parts of China. Related to them are the Abasses or 
 Absue, who inhabit Abakssethi, or the great Abassic, 
 several tribes of whom are vassals of Russia. The 
 Natoukhashi are also of the same race essentially, and 
 speak a language much like that of the ordinary 
 Armenian. 
 
 E
 
 50 ASIA. 
 
 The name Persian covers several divisions of men. 
 The Persians, Par sees, or Guabers are settled in the 
 largest numbers in and about Gujerat, in India, and 
 in Yezd in Iran. They are also found in Kerman, 
 Moultan, and at Baku in Shirwan. They are better 
 known under the name of Iranee than by that of Persians. 
 These are admitted to be the descendants of the original 
 Arab conquerors who overspread Persia during the 
 most brilliant period of Islam prosperity. They form 
 the great mass of the population of Iran, and are also 
 the most numerous and polished members of this family 
 of nations. The Bnkharians are the indigenous 
 inhabitants of Great Bukharia, and of the principal 
 towns of Chinese Turkestan. In the large towns of 
 Siberia, Central Asia, and China, they are very numer- 
 ous, and many are engaged as merchants. In Kur- 
 distan and Louristan are to be found the Kurds and 
 Lourees. The Affghans or Poushtanch are in Affghan- 
 istan, and the north-western parts of India, and in 
 Pohilcund in the north-east of India. The Belootshees, 
 who possess the south-eastern parts of ancient Persia, 
 occupy also the country of Scinde, on the lower part of 
 the Indus. 
 
 The Hindoos are the most numerous of all the tribes 
 in the world. Their habitat extends over the whole of 
 India to the north of the Tuptee and Godavery. The 
 principal branches of the race are — The Moguls, 
 originally composed of Turks, Bukharians, and Persians 
 who speak the Hindustani language. They originally
 
 POPULATION. 5 1 
 
 formed the leading class in the Mogul empire. They 
 are to be found chiefly in Hindostan or Northern 
 India ; the Silchs are the principal people of North- 
 Western India ; the Bengalees form the mass of the 
 population of Bengal, and of some parts of the bordering 
 provinces ; the Mahratfas principally occupy the western 
 part of the Deccan, and portions of Khandeish, and 
 Gujerat ; the Singalese are in Ceylon; the Maldives 
 also belong to the same race ; and so do the Zinganees 
 or Gipsies, who are spread over Europe and Western 
 Asia, and who are also to be found in some parts of 
 Northern India. 
 
 The MaJahar family comprehends the people who 
 inhabit that part of India which lies between Cape 
 Comorin and the Tuptee and Godavery. The leading 
 branches are the Malahars, the Tamul who inhabit the 
 Carnatic, and the Telinga or Teloogoo, who extend from 
 Palicat to Orissa. The Garrows, the Kathes, the Gonds, 
 the Bheels and other tribes, who have lived from remote 
 ages in India, do not belong to those families which 
 form the great body of the people of the country. They 
 are more or less distinguished by the savage and bar- 
 barous character of their customs. 
 
 As to numbers, the Chinese compete with the Hin- 
 doos. They form nearly the whole population of 
 China. They are settled along the coasts of Hainan 
 and the west coast of Formosa, in Siam, Malacca, 
 Singapore, Penang, Ceylon, Calcutta, Mauritius, and 
 have even found their way to Brazil, and are now to
 
 52 ASIA. 
 
 be met with in newly -discovered parts, and in fresh 
 fields of enterprise opened up by recent gold and 
 diamond discoveries ; the Mianmai, or Miajamma, or 
 Blrmans, are the principal occupants of the basin of 
 the Irawaddy ; the Maons, or Pcguans, inhabit Pegu. 
 The Tai, or Tai-nai, called also Laos, Shyans, Shans, 
 and Siamese, are the ruling people of Siam, and occupy 
 the whole of Laos. Here there are also the Annamites, 
 subdivided into Tongkinese, who are most numerous, 
 and the Cochin- Chinese, who have obtained sway in the 
 empire of Annam ; here too are the Sian-jn, or Coreans. 
 
 The Japanese are spread over the whole empire of 
 Japan, and are almost the only population. In power 
 and civilisation they rank high among Asiatics. The 
 Loochooans are part of the same race. The Miaotees, 
 the Tolos, and the Mientings are numerous tribes found 
 in China ; but they do not belong to the Chinese stock. 
 The savage tribes of Hainan, the Kenioys in the moun- 
 tains which separate Laos from Cochin-China, and the 
 Karens in Birmah are unconnected with the more 
 civilised peoples among whom they live. 
 
 The Tunguse are subdivided into Mantchoos and the 
 Tunguse proper. Since 1664 the former have been 
 the ruling class in China, and, in many particulars, are 
 far advanced in civilisation. Thej- form one-half of 
 the population of Laiotung, and the entire community 
 of the Mandchusia, as far as the confluence of the 
 Oussuri and the Amur. The proper Tunguses are 
 inferior to the others in their civilisation, and are to be
 
 POPULATION. 53 
 
 found cbiefly in the Russian Empire, in whieli they 
 spread over a third part of Siberia, from the Yenesei 
 to the sea of Okhotsk. The Mantchoos furnish a re- 
 markable fact in the history of civilisation. It is only 
 about 250 years since they were nomades, ignorant of 
 the arts of reading and writing, but they now possess 
 a rich literature, especially valuable for its acquaintance 
 with the learning of China, which has been communi- 
 cated through the medium of translations. It is the 
 Mantchew, and not the Chinese, which is the language 
 of the court at Pekin. 
 
 The Mongolians. — This general name includes the 
 Mongols, the Kalmucks, and the Buriates. The Mon- 
 gols, subdivided into Mongols properly so called, 
 KhalkaSy and Skaraigol, or Mongols of Thibet, occupy 
 Mongolia and a part of Thibet, as well as Hohouer in 
 the Chinese Empire. There are also some of them to 
 be found in Chinese Russia. The Kalmucks, or Olet, 
 inhabit a great part of Soongaria. The Buriates are in 
 the government of Irkutsk. 
 
 The Turks. — The Osmanlee, or Othmanlee, or Otto- 
 man Turks, are the dominant people in the Ottoman 
 Empire. They are the principal and most civilised 
 portion of the race to which they belong. They are 
 most numerous in Asia Minor. The Usbecks, or 
 OuzbecJis, or Usbegs, are predominant in Indepen- 
 dent Turkestan. The Turks of Siberia, or Tomalians, 
 who are the pretended Tartars of Siberia, or Tomalian 
 Tartars, are spread over the governments of Tobolsk,
 
 54 ASIA. 
 
 Tomsk, and Jenisselsk. The Turcomans are subdivided 
 into many stocks and branches, and are found in 
 Affghanistan, Turkestan, Ottoman, and Russian Asia. 
 They have for more than a century been very numer- 
 ous in Persia. Here also are the Kirghiz, subdivided 
 into Bourouts, or Eastern, and Kazak, or Western. A 
 part of the Bourouts are tributaries to China ; the 
 greater part of the Kazaks are vassals of Russia ; the 
 rest are independent. These numerous tribes speak the 
 Turkish language. Dialects of the same language, 
 more or less varied, are also spoken by the Sokha or 
 Yakoutes in Jenisseisk and Yakoutsk — these being the 
 most eastern and northern of all such tribes, and 
 also the least civilised. The TcJwuwacJies, sometimes 
 called Mountain Tartars, wander over a part of Oren- 
 burg. 
 
 The Samoiedes. — The Tawghi, a part of this family, 
 extend from the Jenissei to the Lena, and are the most 
 northern people of the old world. The Ouriangkhai 
 are the most southern section of this race. Most of 
 them are found within the Chinese Empire, between 
 the Syanian Mountains and those of Altai and Khangai. 
 The rest are in Russia. 
 
 The Je?iisseians. — These tribes are chiefly confined to 
 the government of Jenisseisk. They are divided into 
 the Denka, the Imbazk, the Poumpokolsk, the Kottes, 
 and the Assanes. 
 
 The Koriaks comprise only the small and savage tribe 
 of this name, and it is found at the north-east of Asia,
 
 POPULATION". 55 
 
 in the districts of Okhotsk, Kamsckatka, and the country 
 of the TshotiJdshi. 
 
 The YoukagJiires are a scattered and scanty race, 
 whose tribes inhabit the country between the Yakoutes 
 and the Koriaks, along the Icy Ocean. 
 
 The family of the Kamschatka are few in number, 
 and occupy the country which bears their name. They 
 are chiefly fish-eaters. 
 
 The Kurillans or Kuriles inhabit the Kurile islands 
 and the southern part of Kamschatka. TheAinos, or Jesso, 
 occupy the island of Jesso. The Tarakai or Ainos, are 
 in Tarakai, or Segkai, or Seghalien ; the Giliaki occupy 
 that part of Mandchuria to the east of the Oussouri, 
 and are called Fiaka, or Kedjen by the Mantchoos. 
 
 The Vrsalians or TscJmdes include the people called 
 Mansi, who are found between Kourgan and Beresov, 
 in the government of Tobolsk, and the Ostiaks, dis- 
 tinguished as the As-Iakh, or Ostiaks of the Obi, the 
 Ostiaks of Kersov, of Jougan, of Narym, and others. 
 
 The Malaisians. — These are the aboriginal inhabi- 
 tants of Formosa, including the Malays, who form the 
 principal portion of the population of the peninsula of 
 Malacca, and the neighbouring islands. We must, 
 however, except the mountains in the interior of the 
 peninsula, which are inhabited by a negro race of an 
 entirely different origin. 
 
 Besides these native Asiatic families, there are many 
 colonies of Europeans in most parts of Asia : Greeks in 
 the Ottoman Empire ; Russians in Siberia ; English,
 
 55 ASIA. 
 
 Scotch, Irish, Portuguese, and a few French and Danes 
 in India ; Dutch in Ceylon, Java, and the Moluccas ; 
 and Spaniards in tlie Philippines. 
 
 Civil Government is traceable, generally, in these 
 nations, to patriarchal and paternal authority. There 
 was a sort of Hepublicanism at first, in most of them. 
 But the great monarchies were formed by conquest. The 
 conquerors ruled over the subjected nations. There is 
 readily observable, in respect to all the nations of Asia, 
 he fact that religion greatly affected their whole 
 polity. The farther back we trace the history of any 
 nation the greater appears to be the influence of 
 religion upon the civil government. In the smallest 
 republics even, the sentiment of a common religion 
 was necessary as a bond of union among the citizens. 
 The bitterest political opponents acknowledged that 
 they were the children of one mother, when they 
 assisted at the customary rites of their gods, and wor- 
 shipped in the temples erected by their ancestors. 
 Religion was, especially, the principle of unity in all 
 the confederations of antiquity, and infused into them 
 a spirit of nationality. Thus the temple of the Tyrian 
 Hercules became the centre of the Phoenician league ; 
 that of Jupiter Latialis of the Latin confederacy ; and 
 the Greeks, notwithstanding their perpetual contests, 
 felt that they were one people, when they were as- 
 sembled to celebrate the festival of the Olympian 
 Jupiter. In the great monarchies, which were com- 
 posed of a mixed multitude of nations of different
 
 GOVERNMENT AND COMMERCE. 57 
 
 religions, religion could not be a bond of union ; still 
 it was of the greatest importance, inasmuch as it inter- 
 posed the only description of legislation which could 
 moderate the despotism of the rulers. It frequently- 
 happened that, among the sovereign people, before 
 they issued as conquerors from their own abodes, pe- 
 culiar veneration had been paid to some sacerdotal 
 caste ; and, though the inevitable eifect of foreign con- 
 quest was to elevate the military order and its chiefs 
 above the priestly order, the priests yet retained suffi- 
 cient influence to act as a wholesome check upon the 
 monarch, and their power might thus be beneficial not 
 only to their own people, but indirectly to the most 
 remote subjects of the empire. 
 
 The Commerce of the ancient nations is an impor- 
 tant point in judging of their civilisation. Modern com- 
 merce is chiefly carried on by sea ; but the ancient 
 commerce was generally by land. The continents of 
 the Old World were contiguous. They made, in 
 fact, but one great continent ; and communication 
 between the most distant parts of them was possible by 
 land. If an inland sea sejDarated some of them, the 
 separation was but a narrow sj)ace, and might easily be 
 crossed. The traffic of the Mediterranean was, in 
 general, only an appendage to the land traffic, which 
 brought to its shores the produce of remote regions. 
 The land traffic of Asia, and such countries, must be 
 regarded in its peculiarities. The merchant must pre- 
 pare himself to encounter the desert, and the dwellers
 
 58 ASIA. 
 
 in the desert. He cannot travel alone. The caravan 
 must be mustered at a fixed place, on a stated occasion. 
 The route must have its springs, its palm-trees, and its 
 islands of verdure, however far these may change or 
 lengthen the course of the journey. Naturally, if any 
 of the resting-places can support a fixed population a 
 town is built, and it grows into a depository of wealth 
 from distant nations, and is one of the centres of their 
 exchange. It may come to be a mighty city, and, 
 when the stream of commerce changes into another 
 channel, the modern traveller marvels at the splendour 
 and the desolation of Palmyra or Baalbec. We have 
 abundant kindred illustrations in the development in 
 England of the railway traiSc, as compared with that 
 of the ancient and neglected roadways. In these Asian 
 commercial journeys the camel was the unwearied 
 servant of the merchant. 
 
 As to Central Asia, of which we would more es- 
 pecially speak, having referred to its topographical 
 outline and physical characteristics, let us look at the 
 habits of the people of its difierent regions. The great 
 empires of Asia all seem to'have been formed or founded 
 by mountaineers or nomade tribes, who issued from 
 their barren fastnesses, and overran the more wealthy 
 and less warlike countries around them. Such was the 
 origin of the Chaldean Empire, the Persian, the 
 Parthian, and the Saracen. It was also so with the 
 conquests of the JVIongol Khans, and such was the origin 
 of the dominion of their descendants in India and China.
 
 GOVERNMENT AND COMMERCE. 59 
 
 In all these instances the nomade conquerors have 
 become settled peoples, and, in large measure, have 
 adopted the manners and customs and habits of the 
 conquered nations. But conquest is not the best of 
 means for the origination of a new community or nation. 
 The essentially military character of the great empires 
 which have succeeded one another in Asia, is a principal 
 reason why despotism has so long reigned in that part 
 of the world. The spirit of political liberty seems 
 everywhere to be crushed ; the people are held in awe 
 and ruled by fear. Yet it must be owned that the 
 temper of self-indulgence, so prevalent everywhere 
 and standing aloof from any recognition of the 
 claims of the community, must have largely contributed 
 to the continuance of such despotism. 
 
 In regard to the commerce of Asia, the inland traffic 
 is carried on by the same routes which have been used 
 in all ages, and the advantages of position which made 
 certain localities the scenes of a busy commerce and 
 the common marts of nations are still the same. Bactria 
 was the point to which the routes converged from the 
 banks of the Indus, from Thibet, and through the great 
 desert of Gobi from the extreme regions of the east, 
 and of Northern China. Babylon was the great 
 centre at which all three united streams met the com- 
 merce of the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf, and 
 from which the wealth which they brought was dispersed 
 in different directions to the countries of the west. 
 Some portion of it was diverted to Asia Minor and the
 
 6o ASIA. 
 
 shores of the Euxine ; but the main stream flowed 
 across the desert to the cities of Phoenicia. It was 
 augmented there by all the commerce of Arabia, by the 
 productions of the peninsula itself, and by the still more 
 precious fruit of its maritime intercourse with India and 
 Southern Africa. From Phoenicia the wealth of the 
 eastern world was spread over all the countries which 
 bordered on the Mediterranean, and distributed to 
 Egypt, to Carthage, and to Greece. Among the 
 articles of this commerce were the cotton fabrics ol 
 Southern India, and the woollens of its northern 
 regions of Cashmere and Belur. Silk was imported 
 from Serica ; furs were also drawn from the central and 
 northern parts of Asia ; spices and aromatic resins, for 
 use in sacrifice chiefly, formed part of the merchandise ; 
 frankincense from Africa ; cassia and cinnamon from 
 remote regions of India, or from Ceylon and the Indian 
 islands — these all had their place in the caravan ; 
 precious stones from the northern parts of India ; 
 pearls from the Persian Gulf, then as now; gold, pro- 
 cured from the African continent, it being used in Asia 
 with magnificent profusion ; all of them were the 
 material of trade at the stations and cities of the great 
 roadways in Asia. 
 
 There is no such interference on the part of the civil 
 rulers in Asia with the personal liberties, the domestic 
 life, and the commerce of the people, as some have sup- 
 posed. If we understand by a despot an absolute 
 monarch, who disposes of the property, the honour.
 
 GOVERNMENT AND COMMERCE. 6 1 
 
 and the lives of his subjects, employing them -with 
 indefinite and uncontrolled authority, we do not find 
 any such governments in Eastern Asia, although many 
 have believed that they existed there. Manners, 
 ancient customs, prevailing opinions, and even popular 
 errors, form everywhere a more embarrassing restraint 
 on rulers than could possibly be imposed by any limita- 
 tions of the statute-book. It is only in some Moslem 
 tribes, and particularly in Persia, that we meet with the 
 despotism and the servility which some have attributed 
 to the whole of Asia. The kings of Asia have been 
 accounted despots because they are approached on the 
 bended knee, and their modes of speech, and the style 
 of their courts, seem clearly to indicate the possession 
 by the sovereign of a power which is unrestrained ; 
 but, with exceptions such as those which have been 
 named, it is not so. The sovereigns do, indeed, assume 
 to themselves the titles of gods ; they are the vice- 
 gerents of Allah, brothers of the sun and moon, and 
 asylums of the universe ; and they have been treated 
 as if all this were true, their pride being flattered, and 
 no opposition being offered to their will ; and yet the 
 most despotic sovereign in Asia understands well that 
 there are means by which the people may relieve them- 
 selves of him, if he should go too far in opposing the 
 cherished customs and sentiments of the community. The 
 Governments of Ottoman Asia, Persia, Russia, Bukharia, 
 and others in Turkestan, India, Chin-India, China, Japan, 
 and some of the islands, are despotisms, differing in degree.
 
 0^ ASIA. 
 
 Besides the ancient republics, established in tho 
 Greek cities of Asia, and in Syria and Palestine, we 
 find, in tlie centre of the continent, tribes whose 
 political institutions are pre-eminently republican. 
 The principal of these are the AtFghans, between India 
 and Persia. 
 
 In Asia there are also many nations whose governments 
 may be compared to those of the European kingdoms 
 of the Middle Ages. Such were the Mahrattas before 
 the downfall of the Peishwa, and the Affghans before 
 the subversion of the Kingdom of Cabul ; and such are 
 still the Belootshees, the Mongols, the Kalmucks, the 
 Mantchoos, several mountain tribes of the Caucasus, 
 particularly the Circassians and Abassians, as well as 
 some Turkee communities. The empire of Japan is, 
 properly speaking, a feudal monarchy, ruled by a 
 prince. Some nations are entirely free, — for example, 
 the Bedouin Arabs, the Kurds, and several sections of 
 the inhabitants of the Caucasus and of Syria. The 
 small nomadic nations of Syria, and many of the Arab 
 tribes have a pastoral and patriarchal form of govern- 
 ment, which is generally hereditary in certain families. 
 Others are ruled by the elders, and, in reality, are re- 
 publics. Thibet, Boutan, and parts of Arabia, have a 
 kind of theocratic government. The Imaums of Sanaa 
 and Muscat are a sort of political high priests, invested 
 with the temporal power. The rulers of Thibet and 
 Boutan are absolute pontifls, bearing the titles of Dalai- 
 lama, Bogdo-lama, and Dharma-lama, and are held to
 
 NATURAL HISTORY. 63 
 
 be emanations of the Deity himself. We may affirm, 
 in general, that Asia affords examples of every possible 
 kind of government, from the freest republicanism to 
 the most absolute despotism. 
 
 Of Minerals there is considerable variety, — Rock- 
 crystal and amethysts in the Altai, Himalaya and Ural 
 mountains; cornelians and agates in India ; onyxes in 
 Mongolia ; jasper in the Altai ; pearl on the shores of 
 the Gulf of Okhotsk ; beryl near the lake of Baikal ; 
 lapis lazuli in the same mountains, and on the banks of 
 the Oxus ; topazes in the Ural mountains ; sapphires 
 in Ceylon ; turquoises in Khorasan ; and diamonds in 
 Deccan, Borneo, and the Ural mountains. There are 
 volcanic products in the Sunda Islands. Various metals 
 are met with in different parts : — Gold in Japan, Thibet, 
 Yun-nan, Cochin-China, Tonkin, Siam, Malacca, Borneo, 
 Assam, Ava, and in the Ural mountains. Many rivers 
 bring down gold in their sands. Silver is found in 
 China, Da-uria, Japan, Armenia, Anatolia, and the Ural 
 mountains ; tin in Malacca, Anam, the Sundas, and 
 in the empire of Burmah ; mercury in China, Japan, 
 and Thibet ; copper in the Ural and Altai mountains, 
 Japan, China, Nepaul, Azerbijan, Armenia, and Mount 
 Taurus ; malachite in China and Siberia ; iron in the 
 Ural mountains and through Central Asia as far as the 
 peninsula beyond the Ganges, as well as in Japan and 
 Persia ; lead in Da-uria, China, Siam, Japan, Georgia, 
 and Armenia. 
 
 There are extensive layers of fossil shell-fish found on
 
 64 ASIA. 
 
 the highest table-lands of Thibet, from 16,000 to 18,000 
 feet above the sea, and the strata of the tertiary forma- 
 tion of Siberia are full of the animal remains of the 
 old world, — as the elephant, mammoth, rhinoceros, and 
 others. 
 
 Of the Botany of Asia we must treat sparingly. 
 There is an irregular line from west to east, beginning 
 at Mogadore, and reaching to the Hydraotes of Alex- 
 ander, and which, in this vast extent, passes along the 
 crests of the Atlas near Cairo, by the summit of Mount 
 Tabor, Bagdad, Shiraz, Kelat, and Moultan. This 
 represents the southern or inferior limit of the zone in 
 which it lies. The olive is here at the northern limit 
 of its healthy and productive growth. Northwards it 
 languishes, and at last ceases to grow. It is said to 
 grow on the coasts of Macedonia, but it is not seen 
 anywhere about the Sea of Marmora. It appears again 
 at Sinope, and along the shores of the Black Sea as far 
 as Gourieh. In lat. 45°, in the southern part of the 
 Crimea, and a degree further down on the western 
 border of the Caspian, it is also to be found. The river 
 Terek marks the limits of its progress. The mean 
 annual temperature of the plains in this zone, from the 
 lower boundary, is 22° to 23° of Beaumur. For the 
 higher boundary it is 14°. In the Mediterranean 
 portions of this district there are at least six herbaceous 
 plants for one of the woody species. The greater 
 number of the trees, shrubs, and under-growths of the 
 equatorial zone are not divested of their foliage at any
 
 NATURAL HISTORY. 65 
 
 season of the year. The temperate zone has only about 
 forty species with continuous leaves, the arctic zone 
 about twenty-four, and the southern limit not more 
 than ten. 
 
 In the Mediterranean, the temperate transition 
 zone, the Compositae and the Leguminoste are most 
 numerous ; they constitute about a fourth of the entire 
 vegetation. Among the vegetable products are the 
 Cruciferse, Gramineoo, Labiatae, Caryophyllacese, and 
 Umbelli ferae ; after them the Scrophulariae, Rosaceae, 
 Boragineae, Ranunculaceae, and Cyperaceae, and, finally, 
 the Liliaceae. The plants which hold the highest rank 
 among the productions of the temperate transition zone 
 are the Amentaceae and the Coniferae ; and, after them, 
 the Rosaceae, Leguminosao, Terebinthaceae, Rhamnaceae, 
 Jasminaceae, Coprifoliaceaj, Cistaceao, Ericaceae, and 
 Labiatae. But the peculiarity which gives the transition 
 zone its distinguishing characters is the combination of 
 the productions of different other parts of the world. 
 From the lowly vegetation which composes the Arctic 
 flora, to the gigantic and generally luxuriant vegetation 
 of the Indian regions, we find in Asia every intermediate 
 kind. The extremes sometimes seem to exist in the 
 same country. For example, the Himalayas present 
 an Arctic vegetation in their higher regions, and not 
 far below is the vegetation of warmer climates in full 
 luxuriance. Still, most of the countries of Asia have 
 a homogeneous and characteristic vegetation of their 
 own.
 
 66 ASIA. 
 
 Of all the productions of the vegetable kingdom none 
 has been a greater favourite than the vine. But it is 
 not a wide- spread plant. The cultivation of it is 
 restricted to narrow limits. Excess of heat is unfavour- 
 able to its growth, as well as too much cold. Its 
 southern limit is where the mean temperature is be- 
 tween 69° 8' and 70° 6' Fahrenheit ; and its northern 
 boundary is 47^° or 48°, and where the lowest tempera- 
 ture at any season of the year is not below 34°. It is 
 only within the middle regions of the temperate zone 
 that the vine comes to perfection, but within those 
 limits it is found throughout Western Asia. The finest 
 grapes are produced in Asia Minor, Syria, and Pales- 
 tine ; but the vine is still found in its wild and native 
 state in the forests of the ancient Colchis (at the eastern 
 end of the Black Sea), climbing to the tops of the 
 loftiest trees. Farther east, the grapes and the wines 
 of Shiraz and Mazanderan have the highest repute in 
 Persia. Native vines are also found along the upper 
 banks of the Oxus, in Kashgar, to the east of the 
 Belur ; in Kunawar, in the British portion of Little 
 Thibet ; and also in Malwah, or Central India. They 
 are also cultivated in the gardens of II'Lassa, in Great 
 Thibet ; and in China, on the shores of the Eastern 
 Ocean, the vine is plentiful. 
 
 Next to the vine in repute is the olive, which is also 
 confined to temperate climates, and is indigenous to 
 Syria, along the eastern shores of the Black Sea, and at 
 Tukh-ti-Suleiman, near the Indus. The cultivated
 
 NATURAL HISTORY. 67 
 
 olive is easily produced in all parts along the shores of 
 tha Levant which are free from frosty winds. 
 
 Tea is produced abundantly in the southern province? 
 of China, The best is grown upon the hills of Foki-en. 
 It is also indigenous in Assam, within the limits of the 
 British territories. 
 
 Rice is the staff of life to the Hindoos, Indo-Chinese, 
 and Chinese, who value it so highly that they pity the 
 Europeans, who grow no rice at home, and wonder how 
 they can do without it. It is produced abundantly in 
 all the well- watered plains of those countries, and 
 requires great heat as well as much moisture to bring 
 it to perfection. 
 
 We shall have occasion to take notice of the vegetable 
 products of the separate countries as those countries are 
 brought under review. 
 
 In respect to the Animals of Asia, it is to be observed 
 that, in the continent there are three zones, and this 
 fact, of course, affects the character and habitat of every 
 description of animal to be found within its bounds. 
 In the central zone we find the Bactrian, or double- 
 humped camel, the tarpan, or wild horse, the jaghatai, 
 another species of horse, very fleet of foot ; several 
 kinds of horse-tailed oxen, antelopes, and other species 
 of the deer family. Panthers are found in the western 
 division — also a singular species of cat, the manal, the 
 original of the Angora cat. The Indian tiger has been 
 seen in Siberia. Tigers abound in China. Troops of 
 dogs of different kinds, jackals, and wolves prey upon
 
 68 ASIA. 
 
 the antelopes, asses, and wild horses. The musk 
 animal is to be found in all the mountains. The Altai 
 are inhabited by the argali, or rock-sheep ; the southern 
 mountains by the egagre, or wild goat ; and Caucasus 
 by the egagre and the chamois. The western prolonga- 
 tion of this zone, which extends through Persia and 
 Arabia, is overrun by antelopes and gazelles. There 
 are also lions, panthers, caracals, and other sorts of 
 cats, jackals, and monkeys. The mountains and table- 
 lands are also inhabited by the onager, or wild ass, 
 beautiful and fleet, and much esteemed in the East, 
 The single-humped camel is native to Arabia only, but 
 is also found wherever the Arabs have settled. 
 
 In the northern zone, on the river banks, and in the 
 vast forests of Siberia, there are innumerable troops of 
 reindeer, elks, brown, blue, and black foxes, bears, 
 gluttons, and several kinds of martins and squirrels. 
 Along the shores of the Arctic Ocean, the great Polar 
 bear preys on every living creature. In the waters of 
 the ocean are found seals and various kinds of Cetacea. 
 ]N"otwithstanding the fact that its water is fresh, and 
 that it is distant from the sea, the Lake Baikal, like 
 the Caspian, abounds in a particular species of seals. 
 
 In the southern zone every region teems with life. 
 In India are several species of antelopes and deer, 
 which, till a few years ago, were unknown in Europe. 
 In Thibet are swarms of blue antelopes, whose hon:s, 
 which fall annually, have more than once reminded 
 Encclish authors of the fabulous unicorn. There are
 
 NATURAL HISTORY. 69 
 
 also found the chitkaru witli four horns. In Bengal 
 is the white-spotted axis ; in the forests of Orissa is 
 found the jungle-cow, the wild original of the domestic 
 beeves of India. There are few lions in India ; but 
 there are numerous tigers, which are very fierce. 
 Over the same regions is spread the black-skinned, 
 half-naked buffalo, with horns turned back, both wild 
 and tame, delighting in the muddy banks of the seas, 
 lakes, and rivers. Between the Ganges and the Indus 
 the forests abound with squirrels, peacocks, pheasants, 
 and jungle-cocks. Several species of bears inhabit the 
 forests among the Ghauts, The elephant and the one- 
 homed rhinoceros live in the forests, but it is in the 
 south-east of India that these animals attain their 
 largest size. There is also found the two-coloured 
 tapir, which ranges from Malacca to the southern pro- 
 vinces of China ; ourangs, gibbons, and various kinds 
 of monkeys are also to be found in these parts. In the 
 Ganges there are 250 kinds of fish described by 
 Buchanan, and these furnish food for the alligators 
 with which its waters abound. 
 
 In every zone the birds are very various. They are 
 generally adorned with rich plumage. Great vultures 
 tyrannise over all other birds on the banks of the Indus. 
 There are also found large numbers of eagles, falcons, 
 buzzards, and screech owls. Swarms of paroquets, of 
 every variety of colour, inhabit the continent and the 
 neighbouring islands. Among the domesticated ani- 
 mals the elephant claims the pre-eminence, and is to
 
 70 ASIA. 
 
 be found chieiBy in the lowlands of India, in Birmah, 
 and in Siam, being seldom seen in the mountainous 
 region to the north. The camel is to be met with every- 
 where over a large extent of country. There are two 
 varieties, as we have already had occasion to mention, 
 one with two humps, and the other with only one. 
 The former is usually called the Bactrian camel. It is 
 more rare than the other, and seems to belong to the 
 great deserts of North-Eastern Asia and the table-land 
 of Pamer. It is sometimes called the dromedarj', but is 
 a true camel, and is spread over Arabia, Persia, Western 
 India, and JN^orthern Africa. The dromedary, or racing- 
 camel, is only a variety of the species. It is generally 
 of lighter form, and is better adapted for travelling or 
 flight. The other domestic animals of southern and 
 western Asia are horses, mules, asses, buffaloes, beeves, 
 sheep, and goats. Of the central and eastern jjarts, the 
 domestic animals are chiefly horses, cattle, goats, and 
 sheep ; there are also the yak of Thibet and Pamer, and 
 the bushy- tailed bull of Thibet. In the severer climates 
 farther north the cattle are stunted in size, and can 
 scarcely subsist. Their place is supplied by the rein- 
 deer, which furnishes the people with food and with the 
 means of transport. Daring part of the year they 
 live upon its flesh and milk. Its skin supplies them 
 with the principal part of their dress, and its horns 
 with various utensils. In Kamschatka, and the other 
 north-eastern regions, dogs are trained to draw sledges 
 in winter over the frozen snow.
 
 NATURAL HISTORY. 71 
 
 In the southern countries of Asia there arc many Rep- 
 tiles, some of which are armed with the most deadly 
 poisons. They are all hideous in their appearance, 
 and some are of great size and strength ; but they are 
 seldom found beyond the Altai'. Mosquitoes, gnats, ants, 
 and flies swarm in the southern regions. Even in the 
 short summer of Siberia, mosquitoes and other trouble- 
 some insects abound. But the locust is the most 
 destructive of all these winged creatures. It appears 
 occasionally in the sandy regions of the north-west of 
 India, and is I'ound in countless swarms in Arabia and 
 Syria. It also abounds to the north of the Altai, at the 
 sources of the Irtish, whence it extends its destructive 
 flight as far as the Crimea and the southern provinces 
 of Russia in Europe.
 
 CEAPTER II. 
 
 TUKKEY IN ASIA. 
 
 rpURKEY in Asia lies between 30° and 42° latitude, 
 -^ and 26° and 49° longitude. It is bounded on the 
 
 'o' 
 
 nortb by the Black Sea and the Russian province of 
 Imeritia ; on the south by Arabia and the Mediter- 
 ranean ; on the east by Persia and Russian Armenia ; 
 and on the west by the Archipelago, the Dardanelles, 
 the Sea of Marmora, and the Channel of Constantinople. 
 There are at least three portions into which this exten- 
 sive region may be divided, and which are distinct the 
 one from the other — Asia Minor and Armenia ; Meso- 
 potamia, and the countries watered by the Euphrates 
 and the Tigris ; and Syria, including Palestine, or the 
 Holy Land. The greatest extent of the Turkish terri- 
 tory in Asia is, from north to south, about 850 miles, 
 and from east to west, about 1,200 ; but measured from 
 Constantinople, diagonally to the mouth of the 
 Euphrates, it is 1,400 miles; and from the southern 
 border of Palestine to the north-eastern extremity of
 
 TURKIEY IN ASIA. 73 
 
 Turkish Armenia, it is about 1,100. But the area does 
 not correspond with a square of these dimensions, the 
 outline bein^^ so much indented by seas on the one side, 
 and by the sandy deserts of Arabia on the other, that 
 the superficial extent hardly exceeds the half of that 
 square, or about 500,000 English square miles. 
 
 Armenia consists of a series of plains and valleys, 
 some of which rise to 5,500 feet above the level of the 
 sea. Overlooking these there are ranges of mountains, 
 several thousand feet higher. But elevated as it is, it 
 is a fertile corn country, and abounds in pastures, 
 though the climate is cold, and in winter is covered 
 with deep snow. It is separated from the low country 
 on the Black Sea, in the eyalet of Trebisond, by a triple 
 range of mountains, which attain their extreme eleva- 
 tion of G,000 or 7,000 feet, at the distance of twenty- 
 four miles from the sea, and which are covered with 
 forests to the height of about 4,500 feet ; but in higher 
 elevations the country is generally bare of trees, except 
 in some recesses of the mountains, in which forests 
 exist even in the more elevated central parts. There 
 are many passes from the coast, but, with the exception 
 of such as follow the courses of the larger rivers, most 
 of them are difficult, and some are open only in the 
 summer. There are two ranges of mountains, which 
 proceed from Armenia westward into the peninsula of 
 Asia Minor ; the one the ancient Taurus, which lies 
 parallel with the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, and is 
 then divided into a number of branches, which inter-
 
 74 ASIA. 
 
 sect the western part of tlie peninsula, and form as 
 many fertile valleys, watered by fine rivers terminating 
 on the shore, or in the islands of the Archipelago. The 
 other mountain chain, the Anil- Taurus, extends into 
 the interior of the peninsula in a south-westerly direc- 
 tion, and is probably connected with Taurus, in the 
 neighbourhood of Kaisariyah, and also with the lofty 
 mountains which, under various names, occupy the 
 country between the Kizil-Irmak and the Sea of Mar- 
 mora. The central part, supported on all sides by these 
 mountains, forms a series of table-lands, nearly destitute 
 of trees, but abounding with pasturage, which afi'ords a 
 plentiful subsistence to the flocks of the wandering 
 Turcomans. The plain of Kutahya is 6,000 feet above 
 the level of the sea, and that of Siras, 350 miles farther 
 east, about 3,900. Some of the valleys are so com- 
 pletely surrounded by mountains that they have no 
 outlet for their waters, which, in consequence, not only 
 overflow large tracts of country in the rainy season, but 
 also form permanent lakes. The south coast presents 
 an irregular outline, with a bold front towards the sea. 
 An almost continuous mass of lofty mountains presses 
 close upon the shore, and at some points forms the 
 coast, terminating in bold promontories. But near the 
 eastern end the mountains are distant from the sea, and 
 leave room for the wide plains of the ancient Cilicia. 
 The outline of the west coast is very irregular, and con- 
 sists of deep bays, with long peninsulas, promontories, 
 and islands. Along the Black Sea the northern coast
 
 TURKEY IX ASIA. 75 
 
 is also lofty and roclsv, witli deep water close to the 
 shore. It is lined with mountains no great distance 
 inland, these being covered with trees — the forests 
 at one place being so extensive that the Turks have 
 given them the designation of Agatch-denrjis, the sea of 
 trees. These mountains seem to be based on granite 
 and other primary rocks ; but in various places these 
 are associated with beds of marble and quartz, hippu- 
 rite, limestone, and schists, tertiary and lacustrine 
 marine deposits, ancient and modern igneous rocks, 
 and recent aqueous accumulations. The micaceous 
 schist and associated rocks occupy, however, a very 
 important place in the geology of Asia Minor, and form 
 nearly all the mountain chains which intersect the 
 western portion of the peninsula. The hippurite lime- 
 stone, the only representative of that vast system of 
 rocks which occupies a large portion of Europe, and is 
 usually termed secondary, is not found in any abun- 
 dance in the north-western part of Asia Minor. Ter- 
 tiary lacustrine formations occur in almost every 
 valley, and marine deposits are found in several places. 
 Volcanic rocks occur frequently ; trachyte is abun- 
 dantly scattered over the western part of Asia Minor. 
 The whole country between Is Nik and Katahya 
 appears to consist of agate or chalcedony, the strata 
 being beautifully varied ; and, in the centre of the 
 peninsula, the lofty peak of Arjish dagh (anc. Argaeus), 
 which rises to the height of 13,000 feet, consists 
 entirely of volcanic rocks and scoriaceous cinders,
 
 76 ASIA. 
 
 having its sloping sides studded all round with nume- 
 rous cones and craters. Hassan dagh, to the south-west 
 of Arjish, is also volcanic, and attains an elevation of 
 8,000 feet ; and 90 miles east of Smyrna, Kulah, a vol- 
 canic peak, rises to 2,780. But the most singular por- 
 tion of Asia Minor is the volcanic district of Katakecau- 
 mene, or the burned-up region, about 90 miles eastward 
 of Smyrna. This region bears a striking resemblance 
 to the volcanic district of Auvergne. It extends about 
 90 miles east and west, and about eight from north to 
 south, and consists of volcanic mounds, which rise 
 partly amidst the lacustrine limestone of the valley of 
 the Hermus, and partly on the slope of the schistose 
 hills, which bound it on the south. The mounds con- 
 sist of scoriae and lava, and are referable to two epochs, 
 indicated by the difference in their state of preserva- 
 tion, and the appearance of the lava-streams. The 
 older cones are low and flat ; their craters have disap- 
 peared, or are marked by a slight depression, and all 
 their prominences seem to have been smoothed by time. 
 They are also covered with vineyards, which produce 
 the Katakecaumene wine, celebrated from the time 
 of Strabo to the present day ; and the streams of basalt, 
 or lava, which have flowed from them are level on the 
 surface, and covered with turf. The newer volcanoes 
 are only three in number. They have been extinct for 
 many years — for more than 3,000 — and yet they pre- 
 serve all their characteristics unaltered ; the craters are 
 perfectly defined, and their lava streams are black, 
 rugged, and barren.
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. 77 
 
 If a line were drawn which would include the elevated 
 table-land of the interior, and the field of burnt or 
 volcanic matter, it would precisely trace the boundaries 
 of the ancient Phrygia on the north, west, and south ; 
 following even the singular forms which it projects 
 into Caria, Lycia, and Pamphylia. From the great 
 elevation of the country, the cold is so severe that no 
 plants are to be seen but such as are found in the high- 
 lands of Scotland, where they sufier less from severity 
 of climate than here. The summer is of very short 
 duration. Descending from this elevated country, every 
 diversity of climate is met with till one reaches the 
 productive valleys of the rivers and the warmer lands 
 on the coast. In summer the heat becomes so intense 
 as the day advances that it could not be endured if it 
 were not for a cool breeze which sets in before noon, 
 accompanied by a shade of clouds, and sometimes by 
 flying showers. The heat again becomes oppressive in 
 the early part of the evening, and the dews are very 
 heav'y. The cold of the winter is intense, so that neither 
 the aloe, nor the cactus, nor any other succulent plant is 
 to be seen in the countr3\ It is with difficulty that 
 orange and lemon trees are preserved in the sheltered 
 valleys. The olive seldom flourishes even in such a 
 situation, and any that live are inferior. The extremes 
 of the seasons are shown by the migrations of animals, 
 which are very extensive. In Lydia and Mysia the 
 scenery is varied and beautiful, the hills being covered 
 with splendid forest trees. The mountains are not so
 
 78 ASIA. 
 
 grand in their forms as they are beautiful. The valleys 
 are so flat that they look as if they had been formed by 
 lakes. The scenery is bolder in Bithynia. Its fine 
 mountain of Olympus gives it a resemblance to Switzer- 
 land ; its valleys are covered with luxuriant woods. 
 The flat-topped hills and immense table-lands of 
 Phrygia, which are often swampy, and which seldom 
 produce a tree, present more of the wild and the dreary 
 than of the picturesque. Pisidia, including the Taurus, 
 partakes of the Alpine character ; the woods, however, 
 not being so fine as those of Bithynia. The extreme 
 beauty of Pamphylia is derived more from distant views 
 than from nearer objects. The marble mountains, 
 which form the distant horizon, shoot their jagged 
 peaks of silvery rock, sometimes capped with snow, 
 against the clear sky, while their bases are washed by 
 the blue sea, which they enclose in their wide-stretched 
 arms. Lydia is more mountainous, and resembles, 
 in the boldness of its cliffs, and the richness of its vege- 
 tation, the scenery of Parnassus. Its valleys, and 
 particularly that of the Xanthus, are of peculiar beauty. 
 Caria abounds in scenery of the most picturesque 
 description ; its coasts being broken into bold head- 
 lands, whose ranges, continued into the sea, rise 
 into rocky islands. The south-east of Lydia is less 
 beautiful, and much resembles Sicily or Calabria ; but, 
 on approaching Smyrna, this district contains valleys 
 equal to those near Salerno or Naples, See Fellows's 
 *' Excursion in Asia Minor," pp. 300-303.
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. 79 
 
 The country watered hij the Euphrates and the Tigris 
 is bounded on the noitli by the table-land of Armenia 
 and by the Taurus ; on the east by the long line of 
 mountains (anc. Zagros), which, under the names of the 
 mountains of Kurdistan, Louristan, Buklitiari, &c., 
 divide it from the table-land of Iran ; on the west and 
 south-west by Syria and the deserts of Arabia ; and on 
 the south-east it barely touches the Persian Gulf. 
 Assyria, including Taurus, is distinguished by its struc- 
 ture, its configuration, and its natural productions into 
 three zones, or districts : by structure into a district of 
 metamorphic and plutonic rocks, a district of sedi- 
 mentary formations, and a district of alluvial deposits ; 
 by configuration, into a district of mountains, of stony 
 or sandy plains, and of low, watery plains ; by natural 
 productions, into a country of forest and fruit trees, of 
 olives, wine, corn, and pasturage, or of barren rocks ; a 
 country of mulberry trees, cotton, maize, sesame, tobacco, 
 or of hardy labiate and composite plants, or barren 
 clay, sand, pebbly or rocky plains ; and a country of 
 date trees, rice, and pasturage, or a land of saline plants, 
 liquorice, reeds, sedges, and rushes. The first of these 
 districts comprises the hilly and mountainous country of 
 Taurus, there being many different chains. The Taurus 
 consists of a nucleus of granite, gneiss, and mica schist, 
 with limestone, diorites, and diallage rocks; also of 
 lateral formations of diallage rocks, serpentines, act- 
 quolite rocks, stea schists, slate-clays, and outlying 
 sandstones and limestones. The Taurus varies in dif-
 
 8o ASIA. 
 
 ferent places from 2,900 feet to 5,650. To the south 
 of the main chain lies the plain of Diarbekr, 2,500 feet 
 above the level of the sea, and separated from the 
 mountainous district of Arghana by ranges of indurated 
 chalk. The climate of Taurus has cold winters and 
 much snow. In March, the almond-tree, the pear, the 
 medlar, and the laburnum are in blossom in the valleys. 
 The most remarkable feature is the abundance of trees, 
 shrubs, and plants in the northern district, while they 
 are comparatively scanty in the south. Among the 
 more useful and cultivated plants may be named the 
 vine, fig-tree, almond, olive, wheat, tricicum spelta, 
 hordeum hexastichon, and hexastichon distichon. Gall- 
 nuts, pears, apples, and apricots, are abundant. The 
 second district, comprising the plains of Syria, Mesopo- 
 tamia, and the countiy to the east of the Tigris, to the 
 mountains of Kurdistan, consists of cretaceous and 
 supracretaceous deposits, interrupted here and there 
 by plutonic rocks. These plains vary in their cha- 
 racter by means of the presence or absence of moisture. 
 The upland field of rocks, which extends from Jezirah 
 to Tel Sakhan, near Nisibin, and which has a mean 
 elevation of 1,500 feet, is a stony wilderness, in which 
 there is little or no cultivation ; but where numerous 
 flocks of sheep and herds of cattle obtain a scanty sub- 
 sistence during a great part of the year. The great 
 plains of Northern Syria, with a mean elevation of 1,300 
 feet, of Northern Mesopotamia, from Urfa to Rakkah, 
 and from Nisibin to El Hathar, and the Chalda^an
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. 8 1 
 
 plain east of Xineveh, that of Arbil and of Altun- 
 Kupri, are all very like each other — a level, almost 
 uniform, with a soil possessing good agricultural 
 qualities, but destitute of irrigation. There are excep- 
 tions to this where the plains are intersected by hills, 
 or in spots at the head and on the banks of rivers or 
 rivulets, which, in consequence, become the homes of 
 agricultural tribes, the seats of cultivation and pros- 
 perity, or the temporary resort of wandering Arabs 
 and Turcomans. There are many fertile districts. The 
 plains of Urfa and Ilarran are watered by numerous 
 streams. The climate is dry, and there are very great 
 variations of temperature. Fahrenheit's thermometer 
 has been seen at 115° in the shade in the month of 
 August, while, in winter, it has fallen as low as 12'^. 
 From the jNIcditerranean to the Tigris, there is an 
 increase of cold in the same parallels from east to M'cst ; 
 but this is not the case in the plains of the Tigris, 
 which, being sheltered by the mountains of Kurdistan, 
 have a more temperate winter. Taurus being clothed 
 with snow for many months in the year, has much 
 influence in reducing the winter temperature, and from 
 the absence of sheltering hills, the plains of Northern 
 Syria and Mesopotamia have a vegetation really less 
 southern than that of Sicily and Andalusia. The long- 
 extent of littoral mountains — Amanus, Cassius, and 
 Lebanon — adds to these unfavourable circumstances by 
 impeding the mild breezes from the Mediterranean Sea. 
 The direct heat of the sun, increased b}" radiation and 
 
 G
 
 82 ASIA. 
 
 the equality of level, is almost without a moderating 
 influence. There is scarcely any evaporation, and, 
 therefore, vt^here the winter temperature is low, the 
 summer heat is intense. On this account there are few 
 annual and tender plants ; woody and tough stems 
 resist better such opposite influences. For two months 
 in the year, October and November, vegetation is 
 dormant — everything is burnt up, and no nev/ forms 
 present themselves. But, after this period, clouds from 
 Lebanon, and changes of temperature from the north 
 and the east, bring down over Mesopotamia and Adiabne 
 moderate and refreshing rains. The brown colour of 
 the ground changes, grasses begin to increase and spread, 
 and the succession of vegetation is maintained by those 
 families of plants which have succulent roots, nodes, or 
 bulbs, which preserve moisture, so as to maintain life 
 even in the driest soil. Dormant during the summer 
 heats, they are quickened into activity by the first rains. 
 But they are soon covered with snow, and blasted by 
 the wintry winds, till early in spring, when the same 
 precocious jolants again present themselves, with all 
 that vivid beauty of colour and variety of form which 
 have lent to the poet and the painter their not always 
 fabulous pictures of the glory of the east. The absence 
 of trees on these great plains is a phenomenon not easily 
 accounted for. The vegetation is ephemeral, or it con- 
 sists of succulent and herbaceous biennials. Willows 
 grow on the banks of the Euphrates, and the Oriental 
 plane, near springs and tombs, rises to an enormous
 
 TURKEY IX ASIA. 83 
 
 size. The desert described by Xeiioplion, extending 
 from Kabour to Rehoboth, bas still the same charac- 
 teristics : — " It is full of wormwood, and if any other 
 kinds of plants grow there, they have, for the most part, 
 an aromatic smell." 
 
 The alluvial plains of Babylonia, Chaldcea, and 
 Susiana, form the third district, and have their northern 
 limit a few miles above Felujah. On the west they 
 are bounded by a line of rock and sand not far from the 
 Euphrates ; and on the east by the Hamrun Hills, a 
 long range composed of tertiary sandstone, with salt, 
 gypsum, and limestone, which crosses the Tigris above 
 the 35° N. lat. In the upper, or north-western portion, 
 the plain has a slight but well-defined southerly inclina- 
 tion, with local depressions above Felujah, undulating 
 in the central part, and then subsiding into marshes 
 and lakes. In the northern part the soil is pebbly, 
 and lower down there are deposits of clay covered with 
 mould, dust, or sand, or the more tenacious clay of 
 recent and frequent inundations. The modern accumu- 
 lations continue to be very great. There are many 
 canals, extending from the one river to the other, which 
 at certain seasons inundate the country, and in some 
 places leave permanent marshes. But the natural level 
 is everywhere altered by artificial works, such as 
 mounds, walls, mud ramparts, and dykes. Elevated 
 masses of friable pottery are succeeded by low plains 
 inundated during the greater part of the year, and the 
 old beds of canals are visible in every direction. There
 
 84 ASIA. 
 
 is still some amount of cultivation and irrigation; flocks 
 pasture in meadows of coarse grass, and the dusky 
 encampments of the Arabs are occasionally met with ; 
 but, except on the banks of the Euphrates, there are 
 few remains of the date-groves, vineyards, and gardens 
 which once adorned the country ; and still less are to be 
 seen the other results of the labour and skill of the 
 population which must have made a garden of such a 
 soil in ancient times. The greater part of the basin, 
 which stretches forty miles along the Euphrates, and 
 extends many miles on each side, is occupied by water 
 or vegetation, with large herds of buffaloes. In some 
 places, during the summer, the mud is covered with 
 luxuriant crops of rice. The vegetation is characterised 
 by saline plants, the river banks being fringed with 
 shrubberies of tamarisk and acacia, and occasionally 
 with groves of poplar. Below Lemlun there is little 
 indication of change from any previous condition within 
 the compass of ordinary history. Below Suk-el-Sheikh 
 the country is occupied by an almost perpetual inunda- 
 tion, and at Omu-el-bak the waters spread out like a 
 great lake, extending to the verge of the horizon, and 
 only here and there interrupted with groves of date- 
 trees and huts. There is a gradual and almost imper- 
 ceptible elevation- of the soil beginning near Lemlun, 
 and leading on to plains of vast extent, only a few feet 
 higher than the marshes and lakes, and which formed 
 the ancient territory of Chalda)a. To the south of these 
 great inundations of which we have spoken, as far as
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. 85 
 
 the confluence of the Euphrates and the Tigris, the land 
 is covered by an aquatic vegetation, chiefly by a kind of 
 agrostis which, like the cane-brake of North America, 
 has the appearance of the true reed of Northern Europe. 
 These tracts present everywhere great uniformity of 
 feature — a boundless growth of plants, of the same 
 kind, interrupted by lakes and ponds, or intersected by 
 artificial canals. The character of the country below 
 Komeh is very similar ; the banks, however, are lined 
 with date-trees, and at times afibrd a rich pasturage for 
 bufialoes. Villages are numerous, but the population is 
 scanty. 
 
 Babylonia, as distinct from the monarchy, com- 
 prised a narrow tract of country between the Lower 
 Euphrates and the Tigris. It also included tracts, more 
 or less extensive, to the east and west of those rivers, and 
 on both sides of their united waters, corresponding to 
 the present Irak Arabi, embraced in the pashalic of 
 Bagdad. This district was the seat of the first inde- 
 pendent kingdom of the earth, and within its bounds lie 
 " the land of Shinar," or the countrj' around Babylon, 
 and "the land of the Chalda^ans," — a portion of it 
 which extends towards Arabia. Upper Mesopotamia 
 was the original country of the Chalda^ans, and it was 
 from it that Abraham came when he was divinely com- 
 manded to go to a land that he " would be told of." 
 
 The site on which the great city of Babylon, the 
 queen of nations, once stood, is now occujjied, in part 
 b}' the modern town of Hillult, and by enormous mounds
 
 85 ASIA. 
 
 of ruins, with low-lying tracts of desert or hollows 
 intervening — the Euphrates spreading its inundations 
 over them. Hillah is built chiefly of materials obtained 
 from the ruins of the ancient capital, and is situated in 
 latitude 32" 31' north, longitude 44" 20' east, about forty 
 miles from Bagdad, to the south, and nearly three 
 hundred miles up the river, following its windings. It 
 lies on both banks, which are connected by a bridge of 
 thirty-four boats, constructed of pontoons — the width 
 at this point being about four hundred and fifty feet. 
 The bed of the stream is here considerably contracted, 
 and the current flows rapidly. Hillah was founded in 
 the year a.d. 1117, and has an Arab population, with 
 some Jews and a few Turkish officials, the total number 
 of the inhabitants being about ten thousand. The place 
 looks attractive as seen from a distance, surrounded as 
 it is by date-groves and gardens. Near one of the gates 
 is the Mesjid-el-Shems, or Mosque of the Sun, which is 
 much reverenced by the Mohammedan population. 
 The town has little about it to excite interest, except 
 its site, which is within the bounds of ancient Babylon, 
 and about mid- way between two of the most remaikable 
 masses of ruins, — the Mujellibe on the north, and the 
 more celebrated Birs Nimroud on the south. 
 
 Strabo, who died about a.d. 25, writing in the Augus- 
 tine age, says that time and neglect had nearly completed 
 the destruction of Babylon. Pliny, who died a.d. 116, 
 who wrote in the time of the Flavian emperors, describes 
 it as unpeopled and lying waste. And, not long after-
 
 TUr^ICEY IN ASIA. 87 
 
 wards, Pausanias says, " Of Babylon, a greater city 
 than which the sun did not formerly behold, all that 
 now remains is the temple of Belus, and the walls of 
 the city." In the twelfth century, Benjamin of Tudela, 
 a traveller in the east, tells us : " The ruins of the 
 palace of Nebuchadnezzar are still to be seen, but people 
 are afraid to venture among them, on account of the 
 sei'pents and scorpions with which they are infested. 
 Twenty thousand Jews live within about twenty miles 
 of this place, and perform their worship in the syna- 
 gogue of Daniel, who rests in peace. Four miles from 
 hence (Ilillah) is the tower built by the dispersed gene- 
 ration. It is constructed of bricks, called al-ajurr ; the 
 base measures two miles, the breadth two hundred and 
 forty yards, and the height about one hundred carina. 
 A spiral passage, built into the tower (in stages of ten 
 yards each), leads up to the summit, from which we 
 have a prospect of twenty miles, the country being one 
 wide plain, and quite level. The heavenly fire which 
 struck the tower split it to its very foundation." 
 Abulfcda, the Arabian geographer, at the beginning of 
 the fourteenth century, after giving the latitude and 
 longitude, refers thus to the site : " Here Abraham, 
 the friend of God, upon whom be peace, was thrown 
 into the fire. At the present day, the city lies waste, 
 and on its site there is a small village. Ibn-Haukal 
 says. Babel is a small village, yet ifc is the oldest 
 place of Irak ; and after it, in ancient times, the whole 
 province was named. Ilere the Canaanitish and other
 
 88 ASIA. 
 
 kings used to dwell. There are here the remains of 
 buildings, Avhich, as I conjecture, formed at a remote 
 period a great metropolis." The tradition is commonly 
 held by the Orientals, that the patriarch, refusing to 
 worship idols, was cast into the fire by order of Nimrod, 
 but came out uninjured. The probability is that this 
 is a confused account of the real event recorded of the 
 three Hebrew captives by the prophet Daniel. Sir 
 John Maundeville gives similar testimony. Eldred, 
 an English merchant on a journey to Bagdad, at the 
 close of the sixteenth century, speaks of passing the 
 " mighty old city of Babylon, many ruins of which are 
 easily to be seen by daylight, which I, John Eldred, 
 have often beheld." In the following century several 
 Europeans visited the locality. Niebuhr, at a less 
 remote period, surveyed these ruins. 
 
 But Mr. Bich, for many years the English resident at 
 Bagdad, was the first to draw up a memoir ujDon the re- 
 mains of the city. Mr. Bich says : "I had expected to have 
 found on the site of Babylon more or less than I actually 
 did. Less, because I could have formed no conception 
 of the prodigious extent of the whole ruins, or of the size, 
 solidity, and perfect state of some parts of them ; and 
 more, because I thought that I should have distinguished 
 some traces, however imperfect, of many of the principal 
 structures of Babylon. I imagined I should have said, 
 ' Here were the walls, and such must have been the 
 extent of the area ; there stood the palace, and this most 
 assuredly was the tower of Bclus.' I was completely
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. Cg 
 
 deceived ; instead of a few insulated mounds, I found 
 the whole face of the country covered with vestiges of 
 building, in some cases consisting of brick walls, sur- 
 prisingly fresh, in others, merely of a vast succession 
 of mounds of rubbish, of such indeterminate figures, 
 variety, and extent, as to involve the person who should 
 have formed any theory in inextricable confusion. The 
 whole country between Bagdad and Hillah is pei'fectly 
 flat, and (with the exception of a few spots as you 
 approach the latter place) an uncultivated waste. That 
 it was at some former period in a far difierent state is 
 evident from the number of canals by which it is tra- 
 versed, now dry and neglected, and the quantity of 
 heaps of earth, covered with fragments of brick and 
 broken tiles, which are seen in every direction, the in- 
 disputable traces of former population." Subsequent 
 investigations have been made by Sir Robert Ker Porter, 
 Mr. Buckingham, Captain Mignan, and othex's — all of 
 which have confirmed Mr. Rich's general accuracy. 
 
 That this is the actual site of ancient Babylon is 
 confirmed by the latitude of the place, compared with 
 the situation of that city as described by the classical 
 writers ; by its vicinit}^ to the bituminous fountains of 
 Is or Hit, mentioned by Herodotus as being eight days' 
 journey from the cit}' ; by the magnitude, extent, and 
 remarkable character of the ruins ; and by the fact of 
 the distiict's having been locally distinguished by the 
 name of Babel from the earliest historical times. 
 
 Taere is no portion of any building in an entire state.
 
 90 ASIA. 
 
 The ruins consist of great masses of brickwork, some of 
 them more or less vitrified ; of mounds of earth, formed 
 by the decomposition of the buildings, channelled and 
 furrowed by the weather, the wind and the rain ; and 
 of fragments of brick, bitumen, and pottery, strewed 
 upon the surface. The bricks are of two kinds, one 
 burnt, and the other simply dried in the sun. The 
 burnt bricks are usually more than a foot square, and 
 three inches thick. The shapes and sizes vary, however, 
 according to the places which they were intended to 
 occupy. They are of various colours. The finest are of 
 a white yellow hue, the coarsest are red, and others are 
 remarkable for their hardness, and, in colour, are dark, 
 approaching to black. The sun-dried bricks are con- 
 siderably larger, some of them weighing as much as 
 thirty- six pounds. They are like clods of earth with 
 which have been mixed reeds and chopped straw, for 
 the purpose of giving consistency to the mass. The 
 same materials are sometimes found in the kiln-burnt 
 bricks. There is reason to believe that the common 
 bricks formed the inner part of thick walls, while the 
 finer kinds were used for an external casing. Three 
 kinds of cement are observable in these remains — bitu- 
 men, common clay, and lime mortar. 
 
 On the fine Babylonian bricks there are frequently 
 to be found inscriptions in the kind of writing which 
 is called cuneiform, arrow-headed, wedge-shaped, and 
 tete-a-clou, nail-headed ; descriptions which refer to the 
 resemblance which is borne by its parts to the barb of
 
 TURKEY IN ASI-^. 9 1 
 
 an arrow, a wedge, or a nail. One face only is occupied 
 by the inscription. It varies from three to ten lines, 
 and is generally enclosed in a small square. These in- 
 scriptions seem to have been stamped by a block while the 
 bricks were in a soft state, so exactly do the same cha- 
 racters resemble each other. When flaws or blemishes 
 occur they are found on many. This near approach to 
 the art of printing was known to the ancient Egyptians, 
 and is of great antiquity in China. The meaning of 
 these records is uncertain. Ezekiel, an inhabitant of 
 the district, was commanded — " Thou also, son of man, 
 take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and portray 
 upon it the city, even Jerusalem," Ezek. iv. 1. In 
 Bab3'lonian inscriptions the name of Nebuchadnezzar, 
 kina- of the land of the Chaldees, has been traced ; and 
 a cylinder in the British Museum has the legend, 
 " Darius, the great King." 
 
 It is on the east side of the river that the greatest 
 amount of remains is found, and the commencement of 
 these is about two miles to the north of Hillah. There 
 are three great masses of them, locally called the 
 MujeUibe, lying detached; the Kasr, connected witli 
 the Amran Hill ; and a long circular mound, like a 
 boundary wall, extending from the south-east corner 
 of the northern mass to the south-east corner of the 
 southern, but making a wide detour towards the desert, 
 the river forming the enclosure on the west. The area 
 included by the rampart and the river measures two 
 miles six hundred yards from east to west, and two
 
 92 ASIA. 
 
 miles one thousand yards from north to south. Besides 
 these great mounds there are many others which are 
 smaller, with various lines of embankment and dykes. 
 On approaching the site of Babylon from the north* 
 or by the road from Bagdad, the first object of interest 
 which presents itself is the grandest and most gigantic 
 of the ruined masses east of the river. The Arabic 
 name, MukaUibe or Mujellibe, signifies "overturned," 
 and suggests the idea of a confused heap. The summit 
 of the Mujellibe is an uneven flat, strewed with bricks, 
 broken and whole, many of them with inscriptions in 
 the arrow-headed character which are remarkably 
 fresh. Pottery, bitumen, vitrified and petrified brick, 
 shells, and glass, are also equally abundant. Regular 
 brickwork may be traced along each front, particularly 
 at the south-west angle, which is faced by a wall, 
 apparently the fragment of a watch-tower or small 
 turret. The Mujellibe stands alone, at the distance of 
 rather more than half a mile from the Euphrates. It 
 is an utterly forsaken site, not marked even by the 
 habitation of a solitary goatherd. The isolation and 
 the abandonment combine to impress the mind with 
 awe and reverence. The summit commands an ex- 
 tensive view of the surrounding country. Buckingham 
 says : " On gaining it we had the first sight of the 
 Euphrates, flowing majestically along through verdant 
 banks, and its serpentine course apparently losing itself 
 in the palm-groves of Ilillah, whose mosques and 
 minarets we could just perceive, about five miles to the 
 southward of us."
 
 TURIvEY IN ASIA. 93 
 
 About a mile to the south of this mass of ruins is 
 another called by the natives Al Kasr, or the palace. It 
 is seventy feet high, very irregular in its shape, and 
 furrowed by deep and broad ravines crossing each 
 other. It forms nearly a square of two thousand one 
 hundred feet on each side, and is composed of the finest 
 furnace-baked brick. The walls are eight feet thick, 
 and face the cardinal points. From the superior cha- 
 racter of the remains at this spot, it is evident that 
 here was the site of some important and magnificent 
 edifice. The Kasr is in all probability the ruins of the 
 new roj^al palace, with which the hanging gardens 
 were connected. There seems to be a trace of these 
 last still extant. These gardens were, in all likelihood 
 stocked with exotics, and not with plants natural to the 
 region. There is still here, then, an ancient tree of a 
 kind quite unknown to the country — an evergreen, a 
 kind of tamarisk, common in the land of the queen, a 
 Median princess, for whose pleasure the hanging- 
 gardens are said to have been formed. 
 
 The Amran Hill is the third mass of ruins, and lies 
 to the south of the Kasr, occupying more ground, and 
 connected with it on the western side by a long mound. 
 The remainder of the intermediate space, rather more 
 than a quarter of a mile broad, is covered with reeds 
 and tufts of rank grass. The soil is very damp, as if it 
 had been submerged. Mignan believes this space to be 
 a deserted channel of the Euphrates ; and if this be 
 admitted, the Ami-an Hill might represent the site of
 
 Q4 ASIA. 
 
 the old royal palace, as the Kasr does that of the new, 
 the two, as we are expressly informed, being placed on 
 opposite sides of the river. But Porter disbelieves this, 
 and considers that the two masses conjointly form the 
 remains of the great imperial dwelling of Nebuchad- 
 nezzar. In itself the Hill of Amran has no great 
 amount of interest, — having been completely ransacked 
 by excavators, for the purpose of obtaining the building 
 materials. The name is derived from a small tomb on 
 the highest part of it, which is traditionally reported to 
 contain the body of a son of Ali, called Amran, who, 
 with seven of his companions, was slain at the battle 
 ofHillah. 
 
 These are the principal remains on the eastern side 
 of the river, where the most recently built, and the 
 most magnificent^ part of the city was no doubt situated, 
 the city of Nebuchadnezzar, Nitocris, and Belshazzar. 
 On the western bank, the adjacent country presents, 
 in various places, abundant evidence of ancient occupa- 
 tion. But there is only one object to which it is 
 necessary to call special attention, — the tower of Nim- 
 rod, — the most remarkable feature of the whole plain of 
 Babylon. 
 
 The Birs Nimroud is a long and venerable pile of 
 ruins, and stands at a distance from those which have 
 been named, being about six miles to the south-west of 
 Ilillah. Niebuhr was the first European who visited 
 these remains, and he says, " Other ruins of Babylon 
 are to be seen, a German mile and a quarter south-west
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. 95 
 
 of nillali, on the west bank of the Euphrates. Here is 
 an entire hill composed of the beautiful bricks formerly 
 mentioned, and on the top stands a tower, the interior 
 of which seems to have been built of these burned bricks. 
 The outer walls are decayed through time. It is per- 
 forated with a number of holes, which had probably 
 been opened for the free circulation of air and the pre- 
 vention of damp. At the period when Babylon was in 
 its glory, and the surrounding country in a state of 
 high cultivation, this tower must have aflPorded an 
 excellent prospect on all sides ; for !Mesched Ali seems 
 to lie at its foot, though it may be at least six leagues 
 distant. After I had read what Herodotus says of the 
 temple of Belus, and its strong tower, I thought it 
 highly probable that this might be the remains of it, and 
 am, therefore, anxious that some succeeding traveller 
 should accurately examine and describe it. I made the 
 journey thither, accompanied only by a single guide, 
 and I had seen but little of the monument, when I per- 
 ceived some Arabs reconnoitring us, and deemed it 
 safest to ride back to the tower. Had I supposed I was 
 so near to the tower of Babylon, I should certainly have 
 risked more for a closer survey." 
 
 The hill of the Birs is of oblong form, 2,286 feet in 
 circuit, rising in a conical figure to the height of 
 198 feet, and surrounded b}- a distinct quadrangular 
 enclosure. In itself it is a ruin, composed of sun-dried 
 bricks, with others of the finer kind, the surface being 
 deeply furrowed by the violence of the wind and rain
 
 96 ASIA. 
 
 to which, for thousands of years, it has been exposed. 
 The tower surmounting the summit is 37 feet high, by 
 28 feet in breadth, and diminishes in thickness towards 
 the top, where it assumes a pyramidal form. It is a 
 solid mass of beautiful masonry, built of fine kiln-baked 
 bricks, so firmly cemented as to be inseparable without 
 damaging them. It has been rifted or sj)lit from the top 
 nearly half way down. At the base of the tower there 
 are several immense masses of brown and black brick- 
 work of irregular shape, changed into a vitrified state, 
 and, at a distance, looking like so many edifices torn up 
 from their foundations. The change exhibited by these 
 vitrified masses shows that they have undergone the 
 action of the fiercest fire, or that they may have been 
 scathed by lightning. It has been contended, and not 
 without apparent reason, that the intense heat mani- 
 fested in these vitrified remains could only have pro- 
 ceeded from lightning. 
 
 It is now generally believed that the Birs Nimroud 
 represents the temple of Belus, with its high spiral 
 tower, the greatest ornament and the most extraordinary 
 erection of ancient Babylon. This ruined memorial 
 corresponds, as Ileeren observes, with that celebrated 
 idol shrine and astrological sanctuary, — first, in form, 
 for of the eight stories which it had originally, three 
 are still discernible ; secondly, in dimensions, for its 
 length and breadth agree with what is stated by Hero- 
 dotus, so far as they can be determined from a moun- 
 tain-heap of ruins; and, finally, it agrees with the
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. 97 
 
 statement of the same historian, that this pj-ramidal 
 sanctuary stood within a square enclosure, for the re- 
 mains of such an enclosure are still verj^ distinctly to 
 be traced. It has been objected to this conclusion that 
 the historian represents the temple of Bel as being in 
 the middle of the two divisions of the city, formed by 
 the intersecting stream of the Euphrates, while the 
 Birs is too far removed from the river to answer to such 
 a description. But in countries with such a soil, rivers 
 frequently change their course, and we know that great 
 changes have actually occurred in the channel of the 
 Euphrates. 
 
 But another and still more remote origin is claimed 
 for the Birs, in accordance with its name, the tower of 
 Nimrod. It has been alleged that we have here the 
 remains of that elevated structure, commonly called the 
 Tower of Babel, which the postdiluvians commenced 
 and partly erected, certainly in this locality, and which 
 was arrested in its progress by the special intervention 
 of the Most High. As Heeren remarks, the site of that 
 edifice may be assumed to have been westward of the 
 river, inasmuch as it was built b}' the descendants of 
 Noah, when they were journeying from west to east. 
 "And it came to pass, as they journeyed eastward, that 
 they found a plain in the land of Shinar ; and they 
 dwelt there." Gen. xi. 2. It was built of the same 
 material as that of which the ruin consists, — " And they 
 said one to another, Go to, let us make bricks, and burn 
 them thoroughl}'. And they had brick for stone, and 
 
 li
 
 98 ASIA. 
 
 slime (bitumen) tad tliey for mortar." Gen. xi. 3. In 
 the sacred narrative there is no intimation that the 
 building was destroyed, or even damaged, at the time 
 of the confusion of tongues. The work was simply 
 brought to an end. It was evidently of vast dimen- 
 sions, — " Let us build us a tower .... whose top may 
 reach unto Heaven " — a hyperbolical mode of describ- 
 ing a very elevated and conspicuous object, common to 
 all languages. Hence, as ancient Babjdon was re- 
 nowned for a stujjendous tower, comparable to the 
 loftiest of the Egyptian p3'ramids, rising up from the 
 enclosure of the temple of Belus, it has been believed 
 by many high authorities that the primeval building 
 erected by the assembly of nations formed at least its 
 nucleus, which, after various vicissitudes, at last 
 assumed the appearance which the ancient writers 
 describe. Of course there can be no certainty on such 
 a point, but the conjecture may be regarded as plaus- 
 ible. It is worthy of remark that though the Scriptures 
 are silent as to any injuries having been inflicted upon 
 the primitive structure, yet tradition says that the 
 original Tower of Babel was rent and devastated by 
 fire from heaven, while, as already mentioned, appear- 
 ances at the Birs indicate the action of intense vitrify- 
 ing heat. 
 
 On the western side of the site of Babylon, the general 
 appearance of the country answers to the description 
 given of it by ancient authors. The quarter of the 
 caj)ital in that direction is said to have been surrounded
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. Qg 
 
 Lv lakes or swamps, whicli formed a natural barrier, and 
 rendered the erection of walls and barriers unnecessary 
 in that direction, — the city not being open to invasion 
 on that side. 
 
 No certain remains of the walls of Babylon have been 
 identified, so as to indicate its precise limits ; but there 
 is no difficulty in accounting for the deficiency. When 
 we consider the perishable character of the materials of 
 which these structures were composed, — sun-dried bricks 
 generally ; the many cities that owe their origin to its 
 ruins ; the ordinary operation of the weather, with the 
 periodical overflow of the Euphrates left to inundate 
 its site, — there is no ground for any surprise, unless it 
 be that such a combination of destructive agencies has 
 not made greater havoc. 
 
 "We have here, then, the ruins of the first-built city 
 of the world, — the most magnificent metropolis in the 
 history of the ancient nations. We may say of them, 
 " Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations 
 He hath made in the earth." Connecting the past 
 with the present, the ruin is most complete and striking. 
 " Babylon is fallen, is fallen." 
 
 Ancient Babylon presents many points of interesting 
 remark. Nimrod was its founder, and made it the 
 capital of his kingdom. At such a period we must 
 remember that at this date was the origin of permanent 
 dwellings, political institutions, and civil society. The 
 metropolis could, therefore, have been only an insigni- 
 ficant town, and the kingdom of its founder only a small
 
 lOO ASIA. 
 
 extent of territory. The occurrence of the confusion of 
 tongues, and the dispersion of the builders of the city, 
 arrested its progress, and possibly induced a temporary 
 decay ; for, with the record of its first appearance, it 
 vanished from the page of history, and did not become 
 a place of importance until many ages had rolled away. 
 Cities in general are of slow growth, and reach their 
 greatness from very humble beginnings. We must not 
 do violence to nature and ordinary fact in the case of 
 Babylon. The germ of London was a stationary camp 
 of Britons on the north bank of the Thames, nineteen 
 centuries ago. Paris has resulted from a few fisher- 
 men's huts, the men being of the tribe of the Parisii, 
 and who were found on one of the islets of the Seine. 
 A band of Phocians voluntarily expatriating themselves 
 to preserve their independence, reached the mouth of 
 the Phone, before the close of Hebrew prophecy, and 
 laid the foundations of Marseilles. "Rome was not 
 built in a day.'^ A village on the Palatine Mount, 
 inhabited by a handful of men, antedated the seven- 
 hilled city. Bringing, then, the natural course of 
 events to bear upon the interpretation of the record 
 respecting Babylon, we can only gather from it that 
 an enterprising chieftain formed a settlement, which 
 gradually expanded into a place of importance, became 
 the capital of a mighty empire, and the mistress of 
 Western Asia. There are three other cities mentioned 
 as having been nearly contemporaneous with Babylon, — 
 " Ercch, Accud, and Calneh," founded by the same
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. 10 1 
 
 chieftam, and also in the land of Sliinar, They were 
 probably in the vicinity of the principal settlement. 
 Erech is supposed to be represented by the imposing 
 mounds of El Assnyah, " the place of pebbles," and is 
 situated on the Euj)hrates, eighty-two miles south from 
 the bridge of Hillah. Accad is identified with the 
 great mound of Akarkuf, about seven miles from Bag- 
 dad, and fifty-five from the site of Bab3"lon. The great 
 resemblance of this ruin to the Birs is very striking. 
 Calneh is not well identified, but is commonly believed 
 to have occupied the site of Ctesiphon, 
 
 The growth and embellishment of Babylon are 
 generally referred to Semiramis, the Ass3'rian queen. 
 There is probably much that is fabu.lous mixed with 
 the history ; but she undoubtedly made Babylon the 
 seat of her government, and adorned and improved the 
 city with numerous great public works. The Chalda^ans 
 as a conquering people effected a complete revolution 
 in the political condition of Western Asia, and founded 
 the Chaldaeo -Babylonian empire in the latter part of 
 the seventh century before our era, or it may be about 
 B.C. 630. The second sovereign of this dynasty, Nebu- 
 chadnezzar, began his reign in B.C. G04. In his time, 
 the metropolis reached its highest distinction. In his 
 pride, the arrogant monarch said, as he probably sur- 
 veyed the city, " Is not this great Babylon that I 
 have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might 
 of my power, and for the honour of my majesty." 
 References are frequently made to the magnificence of
 
 102 ASIA. 
 
 the capital, to its broad walls, its stately palaces, its 
 splendid temples, and its golden idols. Babylon is re. 
 presented as having been in the form of a square. Each 
 side is said to have extended about one hundred and 
 twenty stadia, or fifteen miles, giving sixty miles for 
 the entire circuit. We must not form our ideas of the 
 eastern and ancient from the western and modern — 
 looking at our closely packed towns and condensed 
 jjopulation as samples of the arrangements which 
 obtained three thousand years ago in Central Asia. 
 Xot London or Paris, but Ispahan and Pekin will help 
 us to right conclusions. The dwellings were usually 
 detached. There were large open spaces for pleasure, 
 and for cultivation — there being a sufficient quan- 
 tity of land for the sustenance of the inhabitants in 
 case of siege. With all this space, Babylon, in its 
 most flourishing condition, did not, therefore, probably 
 contain more than 1,200,000, or slightly more than 
 one-third of the present population of London. A 
 broad deep ditch, full of water, surrounded the city, 
 and a high wall of bricks adjoined it, it being formed 
 of the soil taken from the moat, and of such dimen- 
 sions that the top of it was like a roadway. There 
 were watch-towers upon the wall at intervals ; and 
 portals, furnished with gates of brass of immense 
 strength and richness. The Euphrates flowed through 
 the city, lined by a wall on each bank, with smaller 
 brazen gates, from which steps conducted down to the 
 stream. The streets ran in straight lines. The river
 
 TURICEY IN ASIA. IO3 
 
 was crossed by a bridge, and there seems to have been 
 a tunnel under its bed. Two roj'al palaces occupied 
 the opposite sides of the river, near the bridge. On the 
 eastern bank stood the new palace of Nebuchadnezzar, 
 erected on the site of a former royal residence, and tu 
 this were attached the hanging gardens. This con- 
 struction rose to a gi'eat height, and rested on immense 
 buttresses. Each terrace had mould of sufficient depth 
 for the largest trees, and was supplied with water from 
 the river by hydraulic machines. This remarkable 
 work is said to have been undertaken for the gratifica- 
 tion of the queen, a Median lady, who longed to look 
 upon the vegetation of her own land. The imperial 
 residence was defended by triple walls ; and, with its 
 appurtenances, gardens, and pleasure-grounds, included 
 a circuit of little less than eight miles. 
 
 The Kasr being probably a remnant of the new 
 eastern palace, is no doubt the one so frequently 
 mentioned in the Book of Daniel. It was here that 
 the king was smitten with his peculiar madness. The 
 same structure we may reasonably suppose to have 
 been the scene of Belshazzar's impious festivity, and of 
 the miraculous hand and handwriting on the wall 
 which declared his delinquency. It was in this palace 
 that Alexander the Great died. 
 
 AVhatever may be the mound which covers and 
 includes its remains, the Temple of Belus was one of 
 the great wonders of ancient Babylon. It was a quad- 
 rangle, two stadia in circumference. In the middle of
 
 104 ASIA. 
 
 it there was a great tower, eight stories high, these de- 
 creasing in size, and the whole presenting the appear- 
 ance of a pyramid. A spiral staircase led up to the 
 summit. The topmost tower was the sanctuary or 
 temple, the residence of the god, in which there stood a 
 table, and a couch of gold, but no statue. It was 
 never penetrated by the public eye, but was used 
 for vicious purposes by the priesthood. There was a 
 golden image in a lower building, and to that the 
 populace were admitted. Alexander desired to restore 
 this erection, but the ruins were so immense that 
 although he employed his army in an attempt to clear 
 them away, he was obliged to abandon his purpose. 
 The great decree could not be reversed — " Bel boweth 
 down, Nebo stoopeth." Such was Babylon in the time 
 of its greatest monarch, when Jewish captives trod its 
 streets, or mourned their exile by its waters, and a 
 prophet of that race interpreted the dreams of its 
 ambitious sovereign. Probably no people were ever 
 more luxurious. Every description of excess marked 
 their lives. The Chaldaeo-Babylonian empire suddenly 
 appeared like a meteor, to glare transiently, and sud- 
 denly expire. In little more than twenty years after 
 the death of Nebuchadnezzar, the confederate armies of 
 the Medes and Persians, with many auxiliaries, were 
 thundering at the gates of the capital, under the com- 
 mand of Cyrus, a new competitor for predominant 
 authority over the western Asiatic nations. 
 
 The city sustained but little damage from the con-
 
 TURKEY IX ASIA. 105 
 
 quest ; but a rebellion in the time of Darius Ilysta^pes, 
 brought down upon it the vengeance of that monarch, 
 who considered it necessary to dismantle the formidable 
 stronghold. Three thousand of the principal citizens 
 were cruelly impaled, the walls were demolished, and 
 all the gates were removed. After the time of Alex- 
 ander, the new capital of Seleucia, not far distant, was 
 largely built of the materials of Babylon, and multi- 
 tudes of the population were drained off to the new 
 site. Ctesiphon, the capital of the Parthians, and 
 other cities, in the same way contributed to its degra- 
 dation. Thus it gradually verged for centuries towards 
 poverty and desolation, till ultimately the site of the 
 emporium of the ancient world, the great centre of 
 attraction to the Oriental nations, became the solitude it 
 now is, where the stillness is seldom interrupted by 
 any sounds of life, besides the occasional visit of the 
 Bedouin, the cry of the bittern, or the hooting of the 
 owl. 
 
 The Euphrates bears through its entire course the 
 name of Forat or Frat (the same word as the Hebrew 
 Phrat, which means to fructify or fertilise), which is its 
 denomination in the Old Testament. Including its wind- 
 ings it has a course of upwards of seventeen hundred 
 miles. The distance in a straight line, from the source 
 of the river to the Shat-el-Arab, is about five hundred 
 and sixty miles. It proceeds in a direction from west 
 to south, and then from north to south. Long before 
 joining the Tigris, it comes within a very short distance
 
 106 ASIA. 
 
 of tliat river, and afterwards recedes from it. The 
 breadth, of the river is very variable. Xenophon makes 
 it four stadia, or two thousand four hundred feet, in the 
 central part, at the foot of ancient Thapsacus, where he 
 crossed it with the Greeks : but at the bridge of ancient 
 Babylon it was but one stadium, or six hundred feet. 
 The fall from source to mouth is very considerable. 
 The great eastern branch, or the Murad, at the distance 
 of a hundred and twenty miles from its source, is four 
 thousand one hundred and thirty-eight feet above the 
 Black Sea ; at Paloo, it is two thousand eight hundred 
 and nineteen, flowing with a rapid current ; and at Bir, 
 the bed of the Euphrates is only six hundred and 
 twenty-eight feet above the level of the Mediterranean. 
 From this point it has still a distance of one thousand 
 and fifty-five miles to run, which gives it a fall of only 
 about seven inches per mile. Still, the stream is not 
 sluggish till it has fully entered the flats of Babylonia. 
 There is a periodical rise occurring twice in the year. 
 The first is slight and temporary, occasioned by the 
 rains which begin to fall towards the end of October. 
 The other, which is the greater and more permanent 
 flood, commences about the beginning of March, at 
 Avhich time the snows in the highlands of Armenia are 
 melting. It attains its greatest height about the close 
 of May, the waters at Anah averaging from ten to 
 twelve feet of increase. The country is then overflowed, 
 and the ruins of Babylon are flooded so that many parts 
 of them are inaccessible. The Lemlun marshes have
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. IO7 
 
 the appearance of a vast sea. The river continues high 
 for about a month, and its course is very rapid — no boats 
 attempting to ascend it. " thou that dwellest upon 
 many waters," Jer. li. 13, is a description peculiarly 
 applicable to Babylon at this season. A vast amount 
 of sedimentary matter is brought down by the current, 
 forming those great tracts of deep alluvial soil which 
 are to be found in many parts. In ancient times much 
 attention was paid by the inhabitants to the protection 
 of their lands from the flood. This was accomplished 
 by means of artificial embankments, which were re- 
 markable constructions of baked and unbaked bricks ; 
 and by an extensive system of canals, which spread like 
 network over the countr}^, and which have excited the 
 wonder and admiration of the world. The most cele- 
 brated of these was the Nahr Malikah, the royal ditch of 
 Polybius, and the /lumen regium, or royal river of other 
 authors. There seems little reason to doubt the 
 common tradition which attributes this great work 
 to Nimrod. Undoubtedly it dates from the remotest 
 periods of Babylonian antiquity. It had its outlet in 
 the Tigris at Seleucia, and was sufficient for the naviga- 
 tion of merchant vessels. From Suraeiset downwards, 
 through a distance of more than eleven hundred miles, 
 the navigation of the Euphrates is unimpeded, except 
 at a few points where ledges of rocks stretch across, and 
 which at the low season are forded by camels. When 
 the water rises these obstacles disappear, and the 
 ordinary boats of the country can puss at all times, on
 
 loS ASIA. 
 
 lightening their burden. The fleet of Alexander 
 ascended the river from the Indian Ocean to Babylon, 
 and it was descended by the flotillas of Severus and 
 Julian, from the Khabour, both proceeding through the 
 Nahr Malikah to the Tigris. Round coracles, or basket- 
 boats covered with leather or skins, still float upon the 
 stream as in ancient times. 
 
 The Euphrates yields in the interest and importance 
 of its associations only to the Jordan. It was connected 
 with the paradise of unfallen man. After the flood, it 
 was by its banks that the presumption of man dared to 
 defy the Almighty by the attempted erection of the 
 Tower of Babel. The native land of the father of the 
 faithful lay upon its eastern border. Beside it rose the 
 great Babylon. The Jews in their captivity sat upon 
 its brink, and wept as they remembered their own 
 Jerusalem. In this vicinity Daniel's wondrous life was 
 lived ; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego here underwent 
 their fiery ordeal ; Ezekiel saw his visions on one of its 
 affluents ; the battle-field of Cunaxa, in which the 
 younger Cyrus fell, stretched along its banks; 
 Alexander sailed upon its surface, and died upon its 
 margin ; Crassus perished near its waters ; Marc 
 Antony ingloriously retreated across this stream ; and 
 Trajan, Severus, Gordian, Julian, Jovian, and Heraclius, 
 successively appeared at the head of the Roman legions 
 on its channel. 
 
 The sources of the Murad Chai, the eastern and 
 principal head of the Euphrates, are on the southern
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. IO9 
 
 slope of the Ala Tagt, or beautiful mount, which rises 
 to the height of about nine thousand feet, nearly mid- 
 way between Lake Van and Ararat. The western source 
 of the Euphrates is in the mountains on the north-east 
 of Erzeroum, from which it descends to water the 
 elevated plain of the city, but not approaching nearer 
 than seven or eight miles. 
 
 Erzeroum is the capital of Armenia, and is important 
 from its position as commanding the high road from 
 Constantinople to Persia and Georgia. It is the 
 thoroughfare of those countries, whether carried on 
 by the Black Sea or the overland route through Asia 
 Minor, and contains as many as thirty-six khans, and 
 one of the largest custom-houses of the Ottoman 
 Empire. But it has fallen from its former importance, 
 and possesses scarcely the fourth part of the population 
 which it contained in 1827, owing to the great emigra- 
 tion of Armenian families in the train of the Russian 
 aimy. There are consequently many villages only 
 half inhabited. Below Erzigan the river enters a long 
 and narrow defile, and still further down passes through 
 a vast rent in the mountains. Rocks, rapids, and shal- 
 lows encumber its bed till it reaches its junction with 
 the Murad. The Euphrates proper, now formed by 
 the confluence of the two currents, is here about 
 three hundred and sixty feet wide, and is very deep 
 and rapid at the ferry of Keban Maden, five miles 
 below. At Thapsacus, once a large and flourish- 
 ing city, nothing remains but a long line of mounds
 
 no ASIA. 
 
 above Hacca. The river was here usually crossed by 
 the merchants of Egypt and Syria, and by the Persian, 
 Greek, and Roman armies, as in modern times by the 
 Arabs, Tartars, and Turks, either by being forded, 
 which is possible at low water, or by a bridge of boats. 
 The ten thousand waded through it, the water coming 
 up to their breasts. Xerxes here constructed a bridge 
 of boats, one being tied to another ; but it was destroyed 
 by the Persian general on the approach of Cyrus. It 
 was re-established, and again broken down by Darius 
 on his retreat before the troops of Alexander. 
 
 A few miles below Pacca the Euphrates is entered by 
 the Belik, a stream flowing from the north. The course 
 of the Belik is not much known, but within its basin is 
 the City of Orfah, or Urfah, considered by the Jews 
 and all the Orientals as identical with " Ur of the 
 Chaldees," the birth-place of Terah, Abraham, Sarah, 
 and Lot. There is a pool within the walls of the city 
 called Birket ul Ibrahim ul Khaleel, *' Lake of Abraham 
 the Beloved, or Friend of God." A mosque attached to 
 it is similarly designated. The population is estimated 
 at about forty thousand, of which number one half are 
 Christians, Few places have undergone so many 
 changes of name and of masters. This is the Edessa of 
 ecclesiastical history, and here the Christian Church 
 effected one of its very earliest foundations. Here it was 
 that Abgarus ruled, of whom it is alleged, though 
 fabulously, that he had a written correspondence with 
 the Saviour Himself. A tributary of the Belik is the
 
 TURIvEY IN ASIA. 1 1 1 
 
 Khabour, or the Chetar, whicli is of interest in con- 
 nection with the Jewish exile and the prophecies of 
 Ezekiel. Returning to the main channel of the 
 Euphrates, the river flows from the point we have 
 reached through a woody, hilly, and thinly populated 
 country, with an average width of 1,200 feet, and an 
 ordinary depth of 18 feet, there being numerous 
 islands in its bed. The castle of Rahaba, or Eehoboth, 
 stands on the left bank — " Eehoboth by the river " — 
 and is of great antiquity. There is also the town of 
 Anah, presenting a pleasing appearance with its date- 
 trees, pomegranates, and shrubs intermingled with its 
 clay buildings. It is inhabited chiefly by Arabs. Eight 
 islands occupy the channel of the swift-flowing waters. 
 They are covered with a luxuriant vegetation, and 
 ornamented with the remains of a castle, which was 
 built by the Greeks, destroyed by Julian, reconstructed 
 by the Saracens, and reduced to its present state by the 
 Bedouins. The remains of the ancient City of Anatho 
 lie on the opposite bank of the river, and occupy a 
 considerable space. Arab villages, surrounded with 
 cultivated lands, appear at intervals on either bank, on 
 proceeding to Hadishah, the next place of importance, 
 occupying an island, and representing the ancient 
 Iladith. There are here most elaborate works in the 
 form of aqueducts for purposes of irrigation. They are 
 beautiful specimens of art and durability. These monu- 
 ments of other times distinctly prove that the borders 
 of the Euphrates were once densely populated by
 
 1 1 2 ASIA. 
 
 persons far advanced in the application of hydraulics 
 to agricultural and domestic purposes. During the 
 lapse of ages they have suffered, as may be supposed, 
 from partial or entire neglect ; but some have been 
 repaired and used for the grinding of corn or the 
 irrigation of the land. Approaching Hit the country 
 along the river presents lower hilly ranges, with slopes 
 less abrujDt, which occur at a greater distance from each 
 other, and which finally decline into monotonous levels. 
 Hit is the Is of antiquity, and is now an unimportant 
 place. It is one of the border towns of Irak, at which 
 vessels usually touch. There are near it springs of 
 bitumen and naphtha which have remained unchanged 
 for manj^ ages. The remains of aqueducts shortly dis- 
 appear, and are succeeded at a lower point by rocky 
 formations. The high minaret of Mesjid Sandabiyah 
 stands upon almost the last promontory of rocky land 
 that flanks the Euphrates on the western side ; and on 
 the eastern and hilly district there are the Pyl^, or 
 Gates of Xenophon, marking the boundary of the 
 diversified country, and indicating the commencement 
 of the low level plains of Babylonia. Throughout this 
 tract, and down to the plains of Babylon, the river flows 
 over a bed of sand or mud, with much less windino*. 
 The stream is deep, and in its ordinary state the current 
 is dull. Villages of mud houses, reed huts or tents, 
 closely crowded together, are frequent, and there are 
 flocks of goats, sheep, and cattle feeding near them — 
 the inhabitants being busily employed in raising water
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. II3 
 
 for irrigaling- purposes by I'udo yet efficient machines. 
 The black tent of the Bedouin is the commonest kind 
 of habitation. It is formed of strong cloth made of 
 goats' hair mixed with wool, supported on low poles, 
 and always open on one side, that of shade or shelter. 
 Such dwellings have descended from the most primitive 
 times without any alteration in their general arrange- 
 ment. On the left of the river at this part many im- 
 portant events have occurred. It was in this locality 
 that the career of the yovmger Cyrus was arrested, his 
 death utterly extinguishing the hopes of the ten 
 thousand at the moment when their accomplishment 
 seemed certain. This event took place on the field of 
 Cunaxa, but the site cannot with preciseness be iden- 
 tified. It was probably near the present mounds of 
 Mohammed, about half way between the Median wall 
 and Babylon. 
 
 We have thus sought to indicate the course of the 
 Euphrates from its remotest sources to its broad and 
 placid basin in the plains. Under the sway of the 
 Turks a great diminution has taken place in regard to 
 the numbers of the people. Cities and towns, once 
 flourishing, have gone to decaj'', and the traveller comes 
 upon ruined villages in every direction, while a large 
 extent of land has gone out of cultivation. The Turk 
 is fully conscious of his impotence in competition with 
 the European. While the nations of Christendom are 
 rapidly growing in vigour, the Ottoman line is fast 
 verging to complete decrepitude. Even the religious 
 
 I
 
 114 ASIA. 
 
 faith of tlie people sliares the decay of their political 
 power. Mohammedanism is maintained, and its ritual 
 followed, but more from habit and ancestral pride than 
 from any conviction of its truth. Mosques of former 
 ages are to be seen in every part in ruins, but the sight 
 of one undergoing repair is seldom witnessed. Nearly 
 all the costly monuments of Moslem pride are the work 
 of bygone days, and nothing new is rising to be to a 
 future generation what the remains of the old are to the 
 present. 
 
 The Tigris, if inferior to the Euphrates, is still a 
 noble stream. It claims the same connection with the 
 Eden of human innocence, and is closely associated with 
 the names of the mighty kings and kingdoms of the 
 ancient world. The second great city of history rose 
 upon its banks, and became the Nineveh of sacred and 
 secular annals. 
 
 NiNEVp]H. — Both Babylon and Nineveh come first 
 into prominence in their greatness, not in their origin, 
 and, consequently, it is difficult to say which had pre- 
 cedence of the other in respect to time. But Babylon 
 seems to have been the earlier of these great cities. We 
 read, Gen. xx. 8-13 — and this is the oldest historical 
 record — " And Cush begat Nimrod. He began to be 
 a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter 
 before the Lord ; wherefore it is said, even as Nimrod 
 the mighty hunter before the Lord. And the begin- 
 ning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, 
 and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Out of that land
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. I15 
 
 went forth Assliur — or ' he,' Nimrocl, * went forth into 
 Assyria' [marginal reading~\ — and builded Nineveh, and 
 the City Rehoboth, and Cahih, and Resen, between 
 Nineveh and Calah ; the same is a great city." It may 
 be assumed, then, that Nimrod, a bold and energetic 
 chieftain of the Hametic race, having encroached upon 
 the territory allotted to the Shemites, and founded 
 Babylon, commencing there the first recorded instance 
 of independent sovereign rule, extended his sway over 
 a further portion of the country allotted to the other 
 branch of the Noachic family, and originated the four 
 primeval cities of Assyria. It was probably not until 
 several centuries had elapsed that Nineveh exhibited 
 any signs of its subsequent greatness. The monuments 
 of Nineveh would appear to countenance the supposi- 
 tion that a race of powerful monarchs, who were for a 
 lengthened interval the lords paramount of TVestern 
 Asia, and who founded the magnificent buildings at 
 Nineveh, Kouyunjik, and Khorsabad, antedated thiit 
 line of Assyrian kings which the sacred writers had 
 occasion to refer to. The most ancient sculptures are 
 ascribed to a period as early as the thirteenth century 
 before Christ, a date which coincides with the Israel - 
 itish conquest of Canaan. This ancient dynasty would 
 seem to have been overthrown, Nineveh captured, and 
 the then existing Assyrian Empire dissolved at the 
 date mentioned, when the Medes commenced their 
 struggle for independence. 
 
 A new line of kings restored political importance for
 
 Il6 ASIA. 
 
 a season. In the time of the prophet Jonah, about 
 B.C. 800, Nineveh had evidently recovered from the 
 blow inflicted by its misfortunes, and was under regular 
 regal g^overnment and in a flourishing condition. " That 
 great city " is the emphatic indication of its general 
 pre-eminence. " An exceeding great city of three days' 
 journey " more particularly defines its extent. 
 
 There were 1,500 towers, each 200 feet high, crown- 
 ing the walls of Nineveh, rendering its defences so 
 strong that they were deemed impregnable. The walls 
 themselves were 100 feet high, and so broad that three 
 chariots might be driven abreast upon them. In this 
 respect, as well as in others, they resembled the walls 
 of Babylon. The population at the time of the prophet 
 Jonah was " six-score thousand persons that could not 
 discern between their right hand and their left hand." 
 Adding helpless children, we may thus take the 
 inhabitants to have numbered 700,000. In this popu- 
 lation there must have been but few who difiered from 
 the multitude in the possession of qualities of moral 
 goodness. It presented an unmitigated scene of guilty 
 greatness and splendid atrocity, and this was the cause 
 of Jonah's mission to its gates. " Arise, go to Nineveh, 
 that great city, and cry against it ; for their wickedness 
 is come up before me," Jonah i. 2. The message 
 portended a sudden and speedy destruction — " Yet 
 forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown ! " The 
 precise nature of the judgment which impended over 
 Nineveh has not been recorded : but some tremendous
 
 TURICEY IN ASIA. II7 
 
 visitation is implied in tlie warning. Tlie mission of 
 the prophet opens a chapter of human history without 
 a parallel in the chronicle of nations, — a city summoned 
 to hear of a righteous judgment pronounced upon its 
 evil works ; an alarmed and penitent people reforming 
 their ways, and pleading for a respite from the stroke. 
 The successful divine ambassador fails to see his own 
 success in the people's repentance, and, irritated and 
 moody, clings to the hope that the great city would yet 
 and speedily sink under the infliction of a just retri- 
 bution. He waits and watches for such event ; but 
 the divine compassion reproves him — " Should not I 
 spare ISTineveh, that great city ? " There may have been 
 some sincerely sorrowful, but we are not warranted 
 to believe that there were many who renounced their 
 wickedness- Eut there was an extension of forbear- 
 ance. The unnamed king who heard the voice of the 
 rod was probably the last of the sovereigns who pre- 
 ceded those who are mentioned in the sacred record as 
 having threatened and oppressed the chosen people. 
 Pul appeared upon the frontiers of Israel, and compelled 
 the king to purchase peace by an annual tribute. Tig- 
 lathpilcser (Diglath-pul-Assur, Great Lord of the Tigris) 
 made Judah also a stipendiary, carrying into captivity 
 the Trans- Jordanic tribes ; and Shalmaneser, provoked 
 by a breach of faith, terminated the independent ex- 
 istence of Israel, transferring the people to his own 
 territories and putting his native subjects in their 
 place. Inquiry has interested itself in the fate of the
 
 Il8 ASIA. 
 
 ten tribes in consequence of tlieir deportation, and 
 many have refused to admit that they have been fused 
 in the mass of mankind, but have been perpetuated as 
 a distinct body in some remote region of Central Asia. 
 The Affghans and the Nestorian Christians have been 
 considered by different parties to be the descendants of 
 the lost tribes of Israel ; but the objections to such con- 
 clusions are strong and manifold. 
 
 When the next monarch, the bold and impious Sen- 
 nacherib, came to the throne, the empire of Kineveh 
 was at the height of its prosperity and power. Follow- 
 ing the example of his predecessors, he suddenly 
 appeared in the territories of Ilezekiah at the head of 
 an immense army, threatening Judah with the terrible 
 fate of Israel. 
 
 " The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold, 
 And his cohorts were gleaming with purple and gold." 
 
 Pacified by a present of the gold of the temple, the 
 invaders passed on to the conquest of Egypt, but 
 subsequently deeming the possession of Jerusalem an 
 important stronghold, the army returned upon the 
 apparently doomed city, insolently defying the God 
 that had spared Nineveh to save it from their power. 
 The first great blow at the Assyrian power now fell 
 Tipon it, and it shook the empire to its foundations. 
 No spectacle more melancholy ever presented itself to 
 the eye of man. The dead corpses of a hundred and 
 four-score and five thousand of Sennacherib's army
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. IIQ 
 
 slain in the night ; the dispersion of the survivors when 
 the morning revealed the fate of their companions ; the 
 flight of their leader to his own capital ; these are parts 
 of the sad picture. 
 
 " Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green, 
 That host with their banners at sunset were seen ; 
 Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath hlown, 
 That host on the morrow lay withered and strown." 
 
 " "Who hath hardened himself against Him, and hath 
 prospered ? " From the date of the haughty defiance 
 thrown at the God of Jerusalem, the doom of the 
 Assyrian Empire seems to have been sealed. Mis- 
 fortune followed the baffled king in his retreat to 
 Nineveh, where he was slain in the house of his god, 
 B.C. 711, and calamity ensued in the form of revolt. 
 Esarhaddon, probably the Sargon of the prophet, suc- 
 ceeded to the government, but Media became an 
 independent kingdom. Nabuchudonosor raised the 
 empire for a brief period to a pitch of greatness ; but 
 his reign ended disastrously. Sardanapalus 11. was 
 the last sovereign ; he was one of the most abandoned 
 of voluptuaries, thoroughly efieminated by his vices, 
 and yet he struggled gallantly for his throne when the 
 crisis of the kingdom came. For a few years the 
 bursting of the storm was delayed ; but at length the 
 confederate forces of Media and Babylon beleaguered 
 Nineveh, which made vigorous but vain efforts at 
 defence. An ancient tradition that the city could 
 never be taken till the river became its enemy,
 
 120 ASIA. 
 
 encouraged the hopes of the people, such an event being 
 deemed most improbable. But on the morning of the 
 30th of September, B.C. 610, the Tigris rose in inunda- 
 tion, and swept away twenty furlongs of the city wall, 
 thus effectually aiding the besiegers. The king, in 
 despair, perished in the voluntary conflagration of the 
 imperial palace. M uch of the city besides was consumed 
 by fire. The Assyrian territory and the treasures of 
 the kingdom were divided between the conquerors, and 
 the city was razed to the ground, 771. Eotta found 
 at Khorsabad a great quantity of charcoal, portions of 
 burned beams, remains of some half-burned thread ; 
 while in many instances the sculptured slabs of gypsum 
 had been converted into lime, and were quite friable ; 
 plainly declaring that fire had been the agent of the 
 wide- spread destruction. The same appearances pre- 
 sented themselves at Kouyunjik and Nimroud. 
 
 The past and the present are in striking contrast. 
 Instead of embattled walls, palace-temples, and other 
 stately monuments of architecture, uncouth piles of 
 dust and fragments meet the eye, mixed up with groups 
 of miserable huts belonging to the present occupants of 
 the soil ; terraced gardens, artificial streams, and bands 
 of revellers listening to the voice of music, have given 
 place to a large untenanted plain, with scarce a tree 
 or bush upon its surface, the wild winds sweeping 
 over the barren waste which they bury more deeply in 
 sand. 
 
 The city of Mosul occupies the west bank of the
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. 121 
 
 river opposite tLe ruins of Nineveli. Crossing to the 
 eastern side by a bi'idge of boats, there are before us 
 two great mounds, nearly due north and south of each 
 other, Kouyunjik and Nebbi Yunus, separated by level 
 ground and the small rivulet Khauser. They are both 
 cultivated, and occupied by the dwellings of some vil- 
 lagers. The northern mound, Kouyunjik, is also called 
 the Kalaa, or Castle of Ninawe, and is 43 feet in per- 
 pendicular height, and 7,691 feet in circumference. 
 It is of an irregular form, with steep sides and a flat 
 summit. There are traces of building about it ; stones 
 have everywhere been ploughed up, and, when open- 
 ings have been made, sections of sun-dried brick- 
 work have been found, mixed up with the remains of 
 floorings or pavements, with portions of carved columns 
 and other masonry. Fragments of pottery of the finest 
 kinds have also been found, covered with beautiful 
 cuneiform writing, similar to large cjdinders common 
 among the remains of Babylon. Mr. Eich brought 
 away several specimens, with a seal of agate found by 
 his servant, on which was represented a priest worship- 
 ping the sun, with other symbols. Some years pre- 
 viously, when search was being made for stones to 
 repair the bridge over the flood-ground of the Tigris, 
 the workmen came upon a chamber which they 
 explored. Here were found, besides the inscriptions of 
 the place, among bones and rubbish, a woman's khool- 
 kkal, or bracelet for the ankle, of silver, covered with tur- 
 quoise-coloured rust; another, differently formed, of gold,
 
 122 ASIA. 
 
 called a hejil, being without bells ; and a perfect bracelet 
 of gold beads, with pieces of engraved agate. The 
 southern mound, Nebbi Yunus, or the prophet Jonah, 
 was once the site of a church named after the divine 
 messenger, from a tradition that he preached upon the 
 spot. The church is preserved entire, but converted 
 into a Mohammedan mosque. The hill itself is about 
 50 feet in perpendicular height, and extends 431 feet from 
 east to west, by 355 feet from north to south. There 
 is no doubt in respect to its antiquity. Many attesting 
 proofs are found on digging into it, in the form of 
 bricks and pottery, with cuneiform inscriptions. These 
 two eminences are connected on the western side by a 
 rampart and fosse, which run beyond them, turn 
 towards the east, and circumscribe an area having the 
 form of an oblong square. The rampart is composed of 
 sun-dried bricks and earth, and is covered with grass. It 
 varies in height from ten to twenty feet, has in several 
 places been broken through, while traces of continuity 
 still remain ; the whole bearing a striking resemblance 
 to some of the Roman entrenchments which are extant 
 in our own country. The enclosed area is about four 
 miles. In this ready-made entrenchment Nadir Shah 
 encamped his army when he besieged Mosul, pitching 
 his own tent on the mound of Kouyunjik. 
 
 Mr. Rich, who four times visited the spot during his 
 stay at Bagdad as the English resident, finally left it in 
 1820, not much suspecting the treasures which were 
 concealed beneath, and which have been discovered by
 
 TURKEY IX ASIA. 1 23 
 
 sibsequent research, copiously illustrating the history of 
 Assyria, with the forms, religion, manners and customs of 
 the people. Mr. Ainsworth, succeeding Mr. E.ich in his 
 explorations, has done much to identify the site of 
 ancient Nineveh. Every traveller has remarked nu- 
 merous lonely mounds, with traces of buildings and frag- 
 ments of pottery, scattered over the country, on the 
 east of the Tigris, extending to some distance beyond 
 ]\losul. It now appears that those sites are the ruins ot" 
 palaces, halls, and temples, containing works of art in 
 remarkable preservation. Through twenty-five cen- 
 turies, Greek and Roman, Parthian and Persian, 
 Arab and Tartar, have successively trodden them 
 under foot with ignorant indifference, not dreaming of 
 an}" memorials of powerful kings and a miglity empire 
 below them. 
 
 It is easy to explain the origin of these shapeless 
 masses. In a country unprovided with commanding 
 sites, the founders of a palace, citadel, temple, or other 
 public edifice, first laid down a solid compact platform, 
 elevated somewhat to make the structure imposing 
 and strong. The building was erected on this founda- 
 tion, and consisted of thick walls of sun-dried bricks, 
 lined in the interior with slabs of alabaster, upon which 
 the scidptor exercised his skill. When war or fire 
 desolated the building, the ruins of it remained upon 
 the platform ; and the lower parts of the walls, with 
 their sculptures, were buried by the falling in of the 
 upper, and these, with the roof, would be more or less
 
 124 ASIA. 
 
 preserved. Under the action of heavy rains, the sun- 
 dried bricks would become a plastic yet compact mass, 
 and would, from aj^e to age, be increased by the dust 
 and sand carried by the winds from the plains, as well 
 as by the decomposition of the thickly growing herbage 
 which covered the site. In this way, doubtless, have 
 arisen the huge mounds of the Assyrian plain. 
 
 In addition to those which have been already named, 
 they occur at various and distant points — at Khorsabad, 
 Nimroud, Karamles, Baashiekha, Husseini, Yarumjeh, 
 Karakush, and other places. The two former, with 
 Kouyunjik, have alread}^ been explored ; and the results 
 have been most remarkable. In the summer of 1843, 
 the French journals announced the success with which 
 some excavations, conducted by M. Botta, had been 
 crowned. To M. Botta belongs the honour of having 
 found the first Assyrian monument. His letters, 
 detailing a series of discoveries, were originally pub- 
 lished in Le Journal Asiatique, a Paris periodical, 
 exclusively devoted to oriental literature and art. 
 Khorsabad, the scene of his operations, stands on the 
 left bank of the Khauser brook, five caravan hours, or 
 about fourteen miles, north-north-east of Mosul. The 
 name of the village is supposed to be a corrupted form of 
 Khosrauabad, the abode of Khosroes, many villages of 
 the neighbourhood having Persian names from having 
 been formerly under the sway of that power. It occu- 
 pied a mound, for subsequently the site was purchased, 
 and the dwellings removed to the plain. Beginning at
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. I 25 
 
 the top of the hill, and sinking a shaft, the workraon 
 at length reached a chamber, the sculptures of which 
 at once declared to the explorer that the history of the 
 ancient empire was beginning to be unfolded. The 
 French government supplied funds, and a succession of 
 chambers was opened, connected by passages, evidently 
 the remains of a building constructed during the time 
 of a rich and powerful monarchy. Slabs of gypsum 
 marble covered the walls, bearing sculptured repre- 
 sentations of battles and sieges, victors and vanquished, 
 richly caparisoned war-horses and chariots, with lines 
 of cinieiform inscriptions, so placed as to show that 
 they explained the events depicted. There were many 
 remains of articles in copper, but no trace of iron. The 
 Louvre now contains a large collection of these anti- 
 quities ; and a magnificent work, " Monumens de 
 Nineve," has been published, which is devoted to their 
 illustration. 
 
 The success of the Khorsabad excavations strength- 
 ened a desire which had long been entertained by Mr. 
 Layard to open the great mound of Nimroud, situated 
 in a direction opposite to Mosul, or south-south-east, at 
 about eighteen miles distance, and near the Tigris. 
 Embarking in a Itelek to descend the river, from Mosul, 
 one soon reaches the mound of Yarumjeh, on the left 
 bank, the village, inhabited by Turkomans, occupying 
 its south side. The flood-current of the stream has cut 
 down this mass of mound, leaving it like a precipice, 
 and exposing its artificial construction. Where the
 
 126 ASIA. 
 
 soil lias been removed by tbe waters, remains of build- 
 ings are exhibited — layers of large stones, with burnt 
 bricks and tiles. The villagers told ]\Ir. Rich, when 
 he was on the spot, that this was the " Pottery of 
 Nineveh." There is near this point a dam of solid 
 masonry, over which the water of the river flows with 
 great impetuosity. At a short distance below this, on 
 the east bank, rises the pyramidal tower of Nimroud, 
 so called after the name of the adjoining village. It 
 occupies the north-west angle of an elongated platform, 
 traces of ruins being observable in various directions. 
 It is 144 feet high, and 127 feet in circumference. 
 The sides are steep, and the top narrow. The platform 
 connected with the j)yramid is 1,000 feet in length by 
 514 feet in breadth, 
 
 Mr. Layard commenced his excavations in the autumn 
 of the year 1845. He has since published deeply in- 
 teresting accounts of the results of his labours, entitled 
 " Nineveh and its Remains." The chambers of vast 
 buildings were successively opened and explored. The 
 walls were of sun-dried brick, encrusted with slabs of 
 gypsum marble, firmly united by plugs of brass or 
 wood, as well as wedge-shaped cramj)s, like those 
 common in the buildings of ancient Egypt. These were 
 decorated with elaborate sculptures, and inscriptions in 
 the cuneiform character. The bas-reliefs at the south- 
 west palace were in the style of Khorsabad, while par- 
 ticular forms in the characters, observed on the monu- 
 ments there, occurred here also. War and the chase
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. I 27 
 
 were portrayed, Avhile winged human-headed bulls 
 and lions and colossal human figures occupied these 
 sculptures. There were many ornaments in copper, 
 ivories carved with various designs and bearing traces 
 of gilding, white alabaster and glass vases, with portions 
 of iron armour, or of iron inlaid with copper. There is 
 a large collection of these interesting remains, with 
 sculptures obtained from Khorsabad, in the British 
 Museum. 
 
 On opening the mounds at another point, towards the 
 centre, it was found that that part of the structure was 
 composed of materials which had been removed from 
 some older edifice — many of the slabs had been reduced 
 in size, to make them fit into their new position. Here 
 the excavators came upon more than twenty tombs, 
 containing human remains, as well as vases, beads of 
 glass, agates, and amethysts, with other ornaments in 
 the Egyptian style. Carefully removing these relics, 
 at the depth of five feet below them were the remains 
 of a building with bare walls, the slabs with which it 
 had been decorated having been removed. Many were 
 found lying scattered about without anj order, — at one 
 point there were more than a hundred slabs packed in 
 rows as in a stone-cutter's yard. Every slab was sculp- 
 tured, and the whole were arranged in a regular series, 
 according to the subjects, each of which was continued 
 through several of them. These had been removed 
 from the positions which they had originally occupied, 
 preparatory to their being used in some other place.
 
 128 ASIA. 
 
 At Kouyunjik, where subsequent explorations were 
 conducted, edifices have been found of similar archi- 
 tecture to those at Khorsabad and Nimroud, with the 
 bas-reliefs of warlike and other scenes, but no tombs or 
 sarcophagi. The king whose name has been found 
 here on bricks and slabs, has been ascertained to be a 
 son of the builder of Khorsabad, which throws light 
 upon the relative age of the two places. This same 
 name occurring on tables near Beyrout, at the mouth 
 of the Nahr-el-Kelb, proves that the Assyrian empire 
 extended to the shores of the Mediterranean at the time 
 of the building of the Kouyunjik palaces. Various 
 facts lead to the belief that the edifices at Khorsabad, 
 Kouyunjik, and the south-west palace of Nimroud, 
 belong to the same general epoch ; and that the north- 
 west palace at the latter site was founded by an earlier 
 dynasty of kings, itself being posterior to the central 
 building buried beneath sepulchral soil. Moreover, 
 these earlier edifices betray no evidence of having been 
 destroyed by fire, while the plainest signs of conflagra- 
 tion are observable in the south-west palace of Nimroud, 
 at Kouyunjik, and Khorsabad. Thus there have been 
 recovered the remains of imperial structures at three 
 different sites; and the inquiry is natural whether 
 these sites can be supposed to have been included with- 
 in the limits of one and the same city. It is quite 
 possible to say that they were, without afiirming that 
 they were integral parts of ancient Nineveh ; for though 
 it undoubtedly occupied the locality of these ruins, and
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. I 29 
 
 is certainly represented by some of them, we cannot 
 dogmatically define its range with any great amount of 
 preciseness. Yet the evidence favours this special con- 
 clusion. Diodorus Siculus says that Nineveh was aii 
 immense parallelogram, 150 stadia in length, 90 iu 
 breadth, and 480 in circumference — about 60 miles. 
 The prophet Jonah mentions it as a city " of three days' 
 journey " — the day's journey being certainly not less 
 than twenty miles. A line drawn between the four 
 points, Khorsabad, Kouyunjik, Nimroud, and Karamlei, 
 the latter a mound of Assyrian ruins, will define a 
 parallelogram, such as corresponds with the form 
 ascribed to Nineveh. The longer sides will measure 
 between them about thirty- six miles, the shorter about 
 twenty-four, the total strikingly according with the 
 480 stadia, or 60 miles of the historian, and the three 
 days' journey of the prophet. The coincidence of the 
 measurements is worthy of attention, even if it should 
 not warrant confidently the conclusion that these 
 wonderful remains define accurately the locality of the 
 great city. 
 
 These sculptured marbles are in every way most 
 remarkable, whether considered as works of art, en- 
 graved histories, or corroborations of the truth of 
 Scripture. As embodying the peculiar characteristics 
 of the Shemitic race they are especiall}^ valuable. That 
 race delighted in personal ornaments, in wearing ear- 
 rings and bracelets, in fringed and embroidered robes, 
 long beards, and flowing hair, — a tendency to all this 
 
 K
 
 130 ASIA. 
 
 being discernible even now, wherever we have the 
 opportunity of observing it. The Hametic race, on the 
 contrary, as exhibited in the sculptures of Egypt, have 
 short beards, no ear-rings, short robes, and, often, naked 
 bodies. The Japhetic race, as exhibited in the Greek 
 sculptures, show less abundance of ornament, the fringed 
 and embroidered robe and elaborate beard being un- 
 known in the monuments which have come down to us. 
 These marbles are in a state of extraordinary preserva- 
 tion, many of them being as sharp and distinct as if 
 they had just come from the studio of the sculptor. On 
 several of the slabs the appearance of rich colours was 
 distinctly visible when they were discovered ; but, with 
 slight exceptions, it perished when they were exposed 
 to the light and air. The skill and the spirit with 
 which the sculptures are executed, together with their 
 anatomical fidelity, as displayed in the human form and 
 in the groups of animals, arrest attention. They are 
 vastly superior in such respects to the monuments of 
 the Pharaohs. Sometimes, indeed, there is little regard 
 paid to the relative proportions of the figures, there is 
 carelessness of the laws of perspective, and other 
 blemishes ; but there is an energy in the forms, and a 
 boldness and decision in the grouping, which imj)art a 
 life-like aspect to the subjects, whether they be sieges, 
 triumphal processions, or hunting scenes. It is a re- 
 markable fact, that of these marbles those which are 
 supposed to be the oldest, are equal in design and exe- 
 cution to such as are later. Ezekiel likened the chosen
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. 131 
 
 people in his day to a shameless woman. Speaking of 
 their idolatrous tendencies, and of their admiration of 
 the foreigner, and using that figure, he says : — 
 
 " She doted upon the Assyrians her neighbours, 
 Captiiius and rulers clothed most gorgeously, 
 Ilorsemen riding upon horses, 
 
 All of them desirable young men 
 
 She saw men portrayed upon the wall. 
 
 The images of the Chaldajans portrayed with vermilion, 
 
 Girded with girdles upon their loins, 
 
 Exceeding in dyed-attire upon their heads, 
 
 All of them princes to look to." — Ezek. xxiii. 12, 11, 15. 
 
 This quite accords with the sculptures of the palaces of 
 Nineveh. The probability is, that the prophet had 
 personal knowledge of what he describes, he being con- 
 temporary with the fall of the city, and a captive on the 
 banks of the Khabour, which was not far from it. The 
 images " portrayed with vermilion " are still extant in 
 the sculptured slabs at Khorsabad, Kouyunjik, and 
 Nimroud, on which a red colour was prevalent, some- 
 times a crimson of great brilliancy. The human figures 
 usually represent a loaded adornment, and the horses 
 exhibit the gay trappings which correspond with the 
 attire of their masters. 
 
 Combinations of the human and the animal, as 
 human-headed winged bulls and lions, eagle-headed 
 winged human beings, colossal in their proportions, are 
 among the subjects of these sculptures. There are 
 specimens of all these forms in the Museum. In one 
 there is the compound of a bull, a bird, and a man.
 
 132 ASIA. 
 
 "What was meant by sucli a figure we can only conjecture. 
 The probability is, that such a conception was intended 
 to symbolise certain ideas, — as intelligence by the 
 human face, strength by the body of the bull or the 
 lion, and swiftness by the wings of a bird. Among a 
 superstitious people, such objects may have produced 
 feelings of awe, and served to uphold the prevailing 
 idolatry. One of the monuments from Nimroud is an 
 obelisk, upwards of six feet in height, which was found 
 in a recumbent position. It is composed of black 
 basalt, which is abundant in the mountains of Kurdistan, 
 in the neighbourhood of Jezirah. It bears twenty small 
 bas-reliefs on its four sides, five on each, they being in 
 very good preservation. A king is represented, followed 
 by his attendants ; a prisoner is at his feet ; his vizier 
 and eunuchs introduce men leading various animals, 
 and bearing difierent kinds of tribute. The animals 
 represented are the elephant, the rhinoceros, the 
 Bactrian or double-humped camel, the wild bull, the 
 lion, the stag, and difierent kinds of monkeys. The 
 tribute-bearers carry elephants' tusks, shawls, vases of 
 precious metals, fruit, bars of metal, and bundles of rare 
 woods. Above, below, and between the sculptured 
 figures is an inscription, consisting of two hundred and 
 ten lines, the characters of which are as sharp and avcII- 
 defined as if they had been but recently executed. This 
 obelisk is evidently a memorial of conquest, and, 
 according to Sir Henry Hawlinson, who has given a 
 translation of the inscription, it commemorates the
 
 TURKEY IN ASL\. 1 53 
 
 victories of Teman-bar II. The translation says, — 
 being close to the original, — 
 
 " I took the city ; I assembled my chiefs ; I founded palaces, cities, 
 and temples; I shut Lim up; I took eleven great cities; twenty 
 thousand five hundred of their men I slew in battle, or carried into 
 blaverj' ; their leaders, their cajitains, and their men of war, I put into 
 chains ; Ahuni, with his gods, and his chief priests, his horses, his 
 sons, and his daughters, and all his men-of-war, I brought away to 
 my country of Assyria ; I put Sut-bel-harel ia chains ; I condemned 
 him and his chief followers to slavery ; I took the city of Amia, the 
 capital of the country ; and I gave up to pillage a hundred of the 
 dependent towns ; I slew the wicked ; I carried off the treasures." 
 
 Among the sculptures war-scenes are of the most 
 frequent occurrence. The king and his arm}' crossing a 
 river, horses swimming, and men on inflated skins ; the 
 king followed by warriors, in battle with his enemies 
 under the walls of a hostile castle ; the siege of a castle, 
 with a battering-ram and movable tower ; charioteers 
 returning in triumph from battle ; enemies in flight 
 along the banks of a lake or river. These are some of 
 the subjects represented. The cavalry are shown 
 armed with swords, spears, and other weapons. Upon 
 the bas-reliefs from Kouyunjik, there are castles de- 
 picted with shields hung round the walls, in illustration 
 of some of the allusions of the prophets. The ferocious 
 character of the people is to be seen in these monu- 
 ments. Butchery, preceded by torture or slavery, was 
 the fate of prisoners of war. Soldiers are shown im- 
 paling captives, mangling the bodies of the slain, and 
 bearing away heads that have been severed from their
 
 134 ASIA. 
 
 bodies. Eunuchs appear with scrolls, recording the 
 number of heads that lie at their feet. The prophet 
 Amos uses a most remarkable metaphor when he 
 says,— 
 
 " The Lord God hath sworn by his holiness, 
 TJiat, lo, the days shall come upon j^ou, 
 That he will take you away with hooks, 
 And your posterity with fish-hooks." — Amos iv. 2. 
 
 On a bas-relief from Khorsabad, captives are repre- 
 sented as led by a rope fastened to rings passed through 
 the lip and nose. There is by these means a new and 
 valuable light thrown upon the sacred writings, illus- 
 trating their claims to reverence; while at the same 
 time, extinct races are disentombed in their history and 
 peculiarities, the past and the present generations of 
 men being brought together in a manner which is most 
 suggestive and impressive. . 
 
 Before we leave this department of our subject, it 
 may be proper to state a few particulars respecting the 
 great river of Nineveh, to which as yet we have only 
 incidentally alluded. 
 
 The Tigris rises in Central Armenia, on the southern 
 slope of the Anti- Taurus, which forms the water-shed 
 between its tributaries and those which ascend on the 
 northern slope to the Murad branch of the Euphrates. 
 The western and principal source is situated to the 
 south of the Ghuiljik, or " little " lake, a beautiful 
 fresh-water expanse, also, from its colour, bearing the 
 name of Geukcheh, or " sky-blue." The stream flows
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. 1 35 
 
 in a deep valley, through a region of grand and 
 rugged highlands, to the mines of Arghana, a wild site 
 to which the mineral wealth to be obtained from the 
 mountains has drawn a population of Turks, Greeks, 
 and Armenians. Arghana itself is a small dilapidated 
 town, near the west bank of the Tigris, and at some 
 distance from the mines, which, at Magharat, the 
 principal one, carry numerous galleries into the rock. 
 Great quantities of copper ore are produced, which is 
 sent to Tokat to be smelted. Below Arghana the 
 river, swollen by affluents from the mountains, finds its 
 way across a table-land, 2,000 feet above the level 
 of the sea, a space capable of high cultivation, but 
 almost entirely uncared for. On passing across it in 
 1835 to Diarbekr, a route of nearly forty miles, Mr. 
 Urant did not see a single village, and only some fields 
 of wheat and millet belonging to an encampment of 
 Kurds. 
 
 Diarbekr, " the tents or dwellings of Bekir," stands 
 on the right bank of the river, at some little distance 
 from it. Formerly it contained 40,000 houses or families, 
 and had numerous cotton looms constantly at work ; 
 but the revolt and depredations of the Kurdish tribes 
 in the vicinity, in the early part of the present century, 
 put a stop to its prosperity. Since the re-establishment 
 of the Ottoman authority, the condition of the city has 
 not much improved. Turks and Armenians form the 
 chief part of the population, which is supposed to be about 
 forty thousand. Here are the ruins of a citadel, many
 
 136 ASIA. 
 
 baths and caravanseries, fifteen mosques with minarets, 
 numerous mesjids with domes, and a few churches 
 belonging to the various Christian sects. The Christians 
 have been severely persecuted and oppressed. More 
 recently, there has been some show of toleration 
 towards them ; but there is more pretence than reality. 
 It is long before bigotry and superstition wear them- 
 selves out, and allow of a better state of things. "When 
 Mr. Fletcher visited those parts, in 1843, he was in- 
 formed by the Jacobite bishop, Mar Athanasius, formerly 
 known in London and Cambridge, that the Christians 
 were required to wear dresses of a particular colour, 
 and were forbidden to ride on horseback, and had to 
 submit to many marks of indignity that they might so 
 be known to the whole community, and treated accord- 
 ingly. The finest remnant of antiquity in the place, 
 the great mosque, was once a Christian church, pro- 
 bably the cathedral of ancient Amida, — the square 
 tower being now used as a minaret. Relics of the 
 distant past are few. Occasionally, the cajsital of a 
 Doric column may be seen, or a tablet with an inscrip- 
 tion half erased. A defaced inscription at one of the 
 gates commemorates the emperors Valentinian, Valens, 
 and Gratian, as benefactors to the town. As the Amida 
 of the Romans, the history of the city is a most eventful 
 one. It was strong by means of its natural position, 
 and the Emperor Constantino had it further defended 
 by the addition of walls and towers. It was besieged 
 in the great invasion by Sapor, a.d. 359, and was cap-
 
 TURIvEY IN ASIA. 1 37 
 
 tured after a prolonged and most heroic resistance, and 
 those of the people — soldiers and citizens, with their 
 wives and children — who failed to escape through the 
 gates opposite to those by which the conqueror entered, 
 were subjected to an indiscriminate slaughter. When 
 Nisibin was ceded to the Persians a few years after- 
 wards, many of its citizens, compelled to seek a new 
 home, found shelter at Amida, and helped to restore it 
 to its former importance. In the time of the younger 
 Theodosius, the history of the city was signalised by a 
 great and generous act performed by its bishop, Acacius. 
 Vases of gold and silver, he said, were unmeaning as 
 offerings to the Divine Being ; he therefore sold the 
 plate of his metropolitan church, and with the money 
 redeemed seven thousand Persian captives, abundantly 
 supplied their wants, and dismissed them to their native 
 country to inform the king that this was the true spirit 
 of that religion to which he was an enemy. By a 
 variety of adverse circumstances, in the course of many 
 years, it was captured by Selim, the first Sultan of the 
 Osmanlee, a.d. 1515 ; and, considering all the vicissi- 
 tudes from which it has suffered, no surprise need be 
 felt that Amida the black, the modern Diarbekr, should 
 exhibit few traces of its ancient greatness. 
 
 The Tigris at this point has a breadth of about 750 
 feet in the flood season, but it is not used for any other 
 purpose than occasionally to bring down the floats of 
 timber from the mountains. It flows in a direction 
 nearly due east, sometimes having a rapid descent.
 
 138 ASIA. 
 
 TVhile maintaining this course it is joined by tlie eastern 
 or second great branch of the river. Still lower it is 
 further increased in volume by other two affluents. 
 The Betlis-su, one of them, rises at a short distance 
 from Lake Van, and descends to the town of Betlis, 
 which is 5,156 feet above the sea. The population 
 consists of 2,000 Mohammedan, and 1,000 Armenian 
 families. There are three mosques with minarets, large 
 and well-stocked bazaars, and khans for the accommo- 
 dation of foreign traders, who bring British calicoes 
 and woollens. East Indian indigo, and Mocha coffee, to 
 this secluded spot. This celebrated country is covered 
 in winter with immense quantities of snow, the melting 
 of which swells the torrents, and contributes to the 
 annual rise of the Tigris. Fenik, a small town still 
 lower down, is surrounded with ruins, the remains of 
 an ancient town. Near it are mines of copper and iron, 
 and lead, in the mountains. Layard visited a disused 
 copper mine, nearly blocked up with earth and rubbish, 
 and known only to a few mountaineers. He found the 
 metal occurring in veins, small crystals, compact masses 
 and in powder, and recognised in the powder the ma- 
 terial used to colour the bricks and ornaments in the 
 Assyrian palaces. There are many Kurdish villages 
 with rude forts on the cliffs behind them. There are 
 large and luxuriant gardens, and the whole scenery is 
 beautiful and picturesque. The next place of interest 
 on the river is Jezireh-ibn-Omar, or the island of the 
 sons of Omar, which is formed by the main stream and
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. 139 
 
 a small arm detached from it, which returns to a junc- 
 tion. The island, which is about two miles and a half 
 in circumference, was formerly the site of the Roman 
 municipality of Bezabde, surrendered to the Persians 
 after the death of the Emperor Julian. It is now in 
 utter ruin and desolation. Immense tracts of unculti- 
 vated meadow land, watered by many streams, and 
 occupied only by migratory hordes, mark the course of 
 the river from Jezireh to Mosul, between which places 
 it receives on the left bank, the Khabour, a far inferior 
 stream to the affluent of the same name belonging to 
 the Euphrates. 
 
 Mosul is a walled city, with eight gates, and about forty 
 thousand inhabitants. It is the centre of a considerable 
 caravan trade, and the seat of a pasha, who, though of 
 the second rank, receives investiture of office imme- 
 diately from the Sultan, and is therefore independent 
 of the great pashas of Bagdad and Erzeroum. It 
 stands on the western side of the Tigris, but has no 
 interest apart from its position, contiguous as it is to 
 the site of the once mighty Nineveh, in the country on 
 the opposite bank. In ancient times it was a celebrated 
 commercial mart, and had some important manufactures. 
 Those textile fabrics which first received the name of 
 muslins, including gold tissues, silks, as well as fine 
 cottons, were so called, either from their being made at 
 Mosul in great perfection, or because they held a 
 prominent place in its commerce. Marco Polo, who 
 was there in the thirteenth century, says, that " all the
 
 140 ASIA. 
 
 cloths of silk and gold which are called inosidin,"^ are 
 the produce of Mosul ; but he also denominates the 
 great merchants of the city Mosulin, who imported 
 Indian goods. Orientalists identify the name of the 
 place with the Arabic Mausel, signifying " connection," 
 an allusion to its bridge of boats. The present bridge 
 consists of 21 rude boats, fastened together with iron 
 chains, planks being laid from boat to boat, and the 
 whole covered with earth. It crosses the river where 
 the channel is narrow, but very deep, being as much 
 as 50 feet at the middle of the stream. When the 
 water is low the breadth is only about 300 feet, but 
 during the flood in spring and early summer, it ex- 
 pands to 1,000 feet or more, and forms a noble current, 
 flowing with great impetuosity. 
 
 Mr. George Smith, of the British Museum, who has 
 profitably contributed to the explanation of ancient 
 inscriptions, is at present making explorations among 
 the Assyrian ruins, and he telegraphs from Mosul that 
 he has had very gratifying success on the banks of the 
 Tigris and the Euphrates. He has obtained a large 
 number of inscriptions and tablets. One of them has 
 reference to Merodach-Baladin, King of Babylon, and 
 others are contemporaneous and historical memorials of 
 Esarhaddon, Nebuchadnezzar, and Darius. At JSTim- 
 roud he has explored the north-west palace of Esar- 
 haddon, the temple of Nebo, and some portions of the 
 south-east palace. lie has also discovered a perfectly 
 new text of the annals of Tiglath-pileser.
 
 TURKEY IN ASL\, 141 
 
 The origin of Mosul is involved in obscurity. It was 
 known by its present name under the Caliphs ; and 
 was visited by Benjamin of Tudela in the twelfth cen- 
 tury, who described it as of great extent and very 
 ancient, "mentioned in Scripture as Ashur the Great," 
 ■which it was supposed partly to represent. At that 
 date it was an independent sovereignty. It fell into 
 the hands of Ghengiz Khan, in 1256, the Tigris having 
 been made red with the blood of the inhabitants, and 
 at the close of the fourteenth century it was ravaged by 
 Tamerlane. 
 
 The predominating formation in the neighbourhood is 
 alabaster, commonly called Mosul marble. The remains 
 of Nineveh show slabs of this material lining the in- 
 terior walls, bearing the records of victories and tri- 
 umphs in sculptures and inscri2)tions. Opposite the 
 city, a small rivulet, called the Khauser, joins the river. 
 It flows betW'Cen the tw^o mounds of Kouyunjik and 
 Nebi Yunus, remarkable objects as seen from Mosul, 
 and till lately deemed the only monuments of Nineveh. 
 At a short distance from the springs of the Khauser, 
 near Khorsabad, there are two remarkable localities, 
 contiguous to each other, Eabban Hormuzd and 
 Elkosh. Rabban Hormuzd was formerly an establish- 
 ment of pure Chaldseans, but is now a Roman Catholic 
 monastery. It is approached by a narrow opening or 
 defile in the limestone mountains, which openin'i- 
 widens into a vast amphitheatre. The church is a 
 heavy, square building, of a duskv red colour. The
 
 142 ASIA. 
 
 surrounding rocks are honey-combed with caves and 
 grottoes of artificial construction, which, in ancient 
 times, were probably the abodes of the dead. In these 
 cells the few monks reside, but there are many more 
 of them tenantless. The place is said to date from the 
 fourth century. The market town of Elkosh, called the 
 Kabash, is a little to the west, and is likewise imder 
 the dominion of the E-oman Catholic faith. The prophet 
 Nahum resided and was buried here. There are now 
 no Jews in the place ; but there are the remains of a 
 synagogue, which contains the supposed tomb of the 
 prophet, and many pilgrimages have been made to it by 
 Jews from a remote period. The same connection with 
 the prophet, however, is claimed for a place of a similar 
 name in Palestine. But Nahum styles himself the 
 "Elkoshite," in the introduction to his prophecies, 
 which were written after the captivity of the ten tribes ; 
 and the fact that his predictions apply exclusively to the 
 Assyrian capital, taken in connection with the tradition 
 of the Assyrian Jews, may be regarded as of weight in 
 favour of the Assyrian Elkosh. 
 
 Descending the river, the region between the point 
 just mentioned and Bagdad, a distance of more than 200 
 miles, following the course of the stream, there are 
 some ancient remains of interest on the right bank, 
 with important tributaries entering on the left. The 
 Greater Zab, which marks the southern extremity of 
 the pashalic of Mosul on the eastern side, joins the 
 river about twelve miles below the celebrated dyke of
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. 1 43 
 
 Aawaze, and enters it by two mouths ; its clear blue 
 waters boiling up at the confluence, repulsing the 
 muddy tide of the Tigris. This stream is the Zabetus 
 of Xenophon, and the Lycus of ancient geography. 
 The Zab flows through the heart of the Chaldaeau 
 territory. The Christians have, at difierent times, 
 sufiered much persecution in these parts. Mr. Ains- 
 worth, in 1840, visited one of the villages, Lizan, and 
 found it in itself beautiful and interesting, but with 
 sad traces of the relentless cruelty of the Kurds towards 
 the Christians. Layard visited the same spot in 1846, 
 there having been much cruelty and bloodshed in the 
 interval. lie says, " We reached the village through 
 scenery of extraordinary beauty and grandeur, but ex- 
 hibiting on every hand memorials of dreadful outrage. 
 I need not,'' he remarks, " weary or distress the reader 
 with a description of desolation and misery hardly 
 concealed by the most luxuriant vegetation. We rode 
 to the graveyard of a roofless church, slowly rising from 
 its ruins — the first edifice in the village to be rebuilt. 
 We spread our carpets among the tombs, for as yet 
 there were no habitable houses. The Melek, with the 
 few who had survived the massacre, was livino- duriu"- 
 the day under the trees, and sleeping at night on stages 
 of grass and boughs, raised on high poles, fixed in the 
 very bed of the Zab." Upon the approach of the 
 Kurds the inhabitants of Lizan and of the adjoining 
 villages, hastily collected a few movables, and fled to a 
 locky ledge in the mountains, almost inaccessible.
 
 144 ASIA. 
 
 hoping to escape observation, or, if not, to maintain tlie 
 post. Men, women, and young cliildren, were here 
 crowded together, on ground which even the chamois 
 could scarcely reach. But, their retreat being dis- 
 covered, the Kurds resolved to blockade the place, and 
 to wait the slow but sure working of the effects of 
 famine. Reduced to extreme distress, the unfortunate 
 people offered to capitidate and to surrender their arms 
 and property on terms to which the enemy acceded, and 
 even ratified the agreement with an oath on the Koran. 
 The Kurds having been admitted to the stronghold, 
 the Christians delivered up their weapons, upon which 
 the treacherous Moslems began the work of massacre, 
 until, weary of the toil, they hurled the survivors over 
 the precipice into the Zab. When Layard visited 
 the spot, many melancholy signs of the catastrophe 
 were apparent. There were skeletons almost entire, 
 and heaps of blanched bones intermingled with shreds 
 of discoloured linen, and the long plaited tresses of 
 women's hair. The bridge of Lizan was the scene of 
 a most affecting part of the tragedy. Upon ten Chal- 
 dsean girls being led across it, doomed to slavery, they 
 threw themselves into the river and perished in its 
 waters. 
 
 There is a stronghold of the Kurds, Rowandiz, just 
 before emerging from the mountain region. It con- 
 tains about one thousand three hundred houses, and is 
 defended by a wall with round towers. To the east- 
 ward of the town there is a mountain which rises to
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. 1 45 
 
 the height of 10,568 feet. The Zab is shortly after 
 this increased by the Khazir, or ancient Bumadus, 
 below which it joins the Tigris, which, at the low 
 season, is here 400 feet wide at the narrowest point, 
 and from 12 to 18 feet deep, with occasionally 
 occurring shallows. The banks of the river in this 
 vicinity have been the fields of ancient sanguinary 
 battles, and have oftener than once witnessed the fall 
 and rise of great empires. Wild animals are numerous 
 in such a scene, which affords them all suitable 
 shelter. "Wild boars, wolves, jackals, hares, and foxes 
 abound. 
 
 Enclosed by the jungle, but conspicuous from a 
 distance, is one of the greatest monuments of ancient 
 Assyria, on the right bank of the Tigris, directly 
 washed by its waters. The Arabs call it Kalah Sher- 
 ghat, which signifies the "castle of the earth." It has a 
 circumference of more than 4,685 yards. Its height is 
 about sixty feet. When Mr. Layard commenced ex- 
 cavations here, his workmen ere long uncovered a 
 sitting figure in black basalt of the size of life, but 
 much mutilated, with inscriptions on three sides. It 
 is no doubt the monument of a sovereign, and here 
 must certainly have stood a great Assyrian city. West- 
 ward, about twenty-eight miles from the Tigris, are 
 the ruins of Al Iladhr, the Atra of the Homan cam- 
 paigns. The}^ foi'm nearly a perfect circle, surrounded 
 by a wall of great thickness, which is more than three 
 miles in circumference, with many ruined bastions at 
 
 L
 
 146 ASIA. 
 
 irregular intervals. Outside the wall is a broad ditch, 
 now dry, with a thick rampart. The space inside is 
 everywhere covered with ruins of buildings, public 
 edifices and tombs. Near the centre are the remains 
 of what must have been a palace, a temple, or a citadel, 
 of great extent, and, in the perfection of its style, of 
 surpassing grandeur. Only the ground story remains 
 perfect, and it consists of a series of vaulted chambers 
 or halls, of different sizes, all of them opening to the 
 rising sun, and regularly succeeding one another from 
 north to south. There are many inscriptions, generally 
 of one or two inches in size, either a Chaldaic letter, a 
 numeral, or an astronomical sign. The mirror and 
 handle, emblematic of the planet Venus, are very 
 common. In the chambers there are various sculptures, 
 as human busts carved in high relief, figures of females 
 apparently in the air, having loose flying robes, 
 grifiins, serpents, and other animals — the style of the 
 carving seeming to indicate the peculiarities of Greek 
 or Roman art. Dr. Eoss was the first of our country- 
 men to visit this spot, which he did in 1836. As he 
 approached the ruins, a thick black cloud behind him 
 was darting out vivid flashes of lightning, followed by 
 peals of thunder. The Bedouin who attended him 
 shook his head, saying : " I do not like this, sir ; we 
 should not have come here ; this ground belongs to 
 Iblis." Mr. Layard also visited these ruins in 1846, 
 and was in like manner caught in a thunderstorm. lie 
 says : " It was a fit moment to enter ruins like these."
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. 1 47 
 
 About sixty miles below the mouth of the Greater 
 Zab, the Tigris is entered by the Lesser Zab, which 
 follows a course somewhat parallel to that of its name- 
 sake. This stream is the Caprus of antiquity, and has 
 Its source on the south-west of the lake of Urumiah. 
 Soon afterwards, the Hamran hills abut upon the Tigris. 
 The river forces its way through them, by the pass of 
 El Fatthha, which means " an opening." It is here 
 four hundred and fifty feet broad. Sulphur and naphtha 
 are found in this locality in large quantities. Having 
 cleared the pass, the river again expands into a noble 
 stream, and flows by Tekrit, an impoverished place, 
 surrounded by extensive ruins, the remains of former 
 greatness — the city having been laid waste by Tamer- 
 lane. Below it, on the opposite side is the town of 
 Dur. This place is no doubt the Dura of ancient history. 
 But the distance from Babylon is fatal to the supj)o- 
 sition that it is the Dura on whose plain Nebuchad- 
 nezzar set up h!s great golden image. Before reaching 
 Bagdad, a traveller must pass through a country 
 covered with the ruins of forts, cities, deserted canals, 
 and decayed villages. There is a town of considerable 
 extent in the mountains, near which there are fountains 
 of liquid naphtha. They are usually about three feet 
 each in diameter, and some of them eight or ten feet 
 deep. The naphtha is perfectly black, liquid, and in 
 quantity inexhaustible. 
 
 Bagdad stands on both banks of the Tigris, and is 
 surrounded by a high wall of brick and earth, with
 
 148 ASIA. 
 
 round towers at intervals. The circuit of the walls, 
 including both sides of the stream, is about five miles. 
 There are six gates on the land side, three in each 
 division ; and in addition the Gate of Talisman, the 
 largest and most imposing, through which the Sultan 
 Amurath IV. entered when he captured the city, and 
 which, according to an Oriental custom, was then built 
 up, and has ever since remained closed. Seen from a 
 distance, the appearance of the city is pleasing, sur- 
 rounded as it is with groves of trees, with lofty 
 minarets and beautifully shaped domes rising above 
 them. In its interior the town is mean. It presents 
 a series of narrow streets, a kind of necessity in Eastern 
 cities, affording shade to the passenger from the sun- 
 beams ; but it is mainly a labyrinth of crooked lanes 
 and alleys. The streets are unpaved, full of in- 
 equalities from accumulated rubbish, and rendered 
 noxious by the filth and offal cast into them, which a 
 tribe of half- savage dogs, without owners, alone clear 
 away. The public buildings include a few imposing 
 mosques, extensive khans and bazaars, the latter well 
 stocked with merchandise, but frequently ruinous, and 
 without any pretensions to architectural distinction. 
 There are also open spaces, devoted to the sale of par- 
 ticular kinds of goods, and named after them, as the 
 "thread market," the "muslin market," and the "corn 
 market." The ancient glory of this renowned capital 
 is gone. There are still traces of it, it is true, but one 
 looks in vain for the realisation of his previous concep-
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. 1 49 
 
 tions of the times of Haroun al Raschid. The palace 
 of the Caliphs is no more — even the site of it is un- 
 known. The proud temples of former days, with the 
 far-famed seats of learning, have either entirely 
 vanished or remain in great decay, and in some in- 
 stances are devoted to other purposes. For example, 
 even the celebrated Mcdresseh, or college, founded in 
 the thirteenth century, by the Caliph Moostanser, 
 although it still exists as a building at the eastern 
 extremity of the bridge across the Tigris, is partly 
 transformed into a khan, and partly into a custom- 
 house. 
 
 The two divisions of the city are connected by a 
 bridge of boats, which vary in number according to the 
 state of the river. The surface of the water is covered 
 with crowds of keleks, coracles, rafts, and various 
 kinds of craft, engaged in passenger and goods traffic, 
 which, with the constant throng upon the bridge 
 in the day-time, give a very animated aspect to 
 the stream. In the east, it is a favourite tradition 
 that the spot selected for the building of the city 
 formerly belonged to a celebrated Christian hermit, 
 whose name is given to the place. Bag- Dad, " the 
 garden of Dad." It was founded by Almansor, the 
 second Caliph of the race of Abbas, in the year of the 
 Ilegira 140, or a.d. 763, the materials being obtained 
 from the remains of Ctesiphon and Seleucia. At first 
 it occupied only the western side of the river ; but the 
 renowned Haroun al Raschid adorned it with many
 
 1 50 ASIA. 
 
 noble and stately edifices, and built also on the eastern 
 bank. Through five centuries the capital continued to 
 flourish and increase, but was caj)tured by Tamerlane 
 in 1393. The city was afterwards the object of per- 
 petual contest between the Turks and Persians, and 
 was finally reduced by Aniurath lY., at the head of an 
 army of three hundred thousand men, in a.d. 1638. He 
 signalised his conquest by causing the greater part of 
 the population to be slain by torchlight on the night of 
 the surrender, although they capitulated expressly on 
 condition that life and property should be spared. 
 
 In later years the city has endured much adversity. 
 In 1830, under the government of Daoud Pasha, the 
 population is supposed to have numbered about 110,000 ; 
 but, in the year following, the triple calamit}^ of pesti- 
 lence, flood, and famine swept ofi" more than two-thirds 
 of the inhabitants, and converted the place into a vast 
 sepulchre. The city has not recovered from these 
 terrible visitations, and even now it scarcelj^ numbers 
 half the population which it contained before their 
 occurrence. In connection with the plague especially 
 there were most harrowing scenes ; but all three evils 
 were most disastrous. In its best days the city had a 
 population of 2,000,000. Its chief manufactures at 
 present are red and yellow leather — much esteemed — 
 and silk, cotton, and woollen cloths. It supplies Asia 
 Minor, Syria, and a part of Europe with East Indian 
 goods, which are carried to Bassora, and by the Tigris 
 in boats, and by caravans to Tokat, ConstantiiTDple,
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. 
 
 151 
 
 Aleppo, Damascus, and the western parts of Persia. 
 There is also some trade in jewels. 
 
 Leaving Bagdad, a course of more than twenty miles 
 brings the Tigris to the mouth of the Dij^alah, one of 
 its largest affluents. It is formed by the union of the 
 Shirwan and Holwan rivers. On the lower part of 
 the Shirwan there aj^pears to have been formerly a city 
 of the same name. The Holwan rises on the western 
 slope of the Zagros mountains, about eight miles to the 
 north of " the gates of Zagros," a pass so called, through 
 which runs the great caravan road, which connects Bag- 
 dad with Ilamadan and Central Persia, and anciently 
 a line of communication between Assyria and Media. 
 Holwan Avas a great city, which gave its name to the 
 river. There are still sculptured remains of it. Jewish 
 traditions abound in this part of the country, and David 
 is still regarded by the tribes as their great tutelar 
 prophet. They are now generally Mahometans how- 
 ever. A few miles further down the Holwan receives the 
 Deira, which is crossed by several bridges, and spanned 
 near the point of junction by a natural arch of rock, 
 which bears the expressive name of Puli-Khuda, or 
 " God's bridge." 
 
 Beyond the mouth of the Diyalah, the Tigris washes 
 the sites of two renowned cities of the ancient world, 
 opposite to each other, Seleucia on the right bank, and 
 Ctesiphon on the left. Seleucia was founded bv 
 Seleucus Nicanor, who, on the partition of the empire 
 of Alexander, succeeded to the sovereigntv of the
 
 152 ASIA. 
 
 greater part of his Asiatic conquests. But the city, 
 which was built principally from the ruins of Babylon, 
 flourished long after the fall of the empire of the 
 Seleucidce. It became like Yenice in the Middle Ages, 
 the seat of a powerful independent republic. The 
 citizens numbered 600,000, over whom presided a 
 senate of 600 nobles, distinguished by their love of 
 freedom. But internal division arose among the 
 people, and involved them in destruction. The oppo- 
 site bank of the Tigris had frequently been the 
 camping ground of the warlike and nomadic Par- 
 thian kings, and it became the site of a permanent 
 settlement. This advanced from a mere village to the 
 rank of a capital. This was the origin of Ctesiphon, 
 which, profiting by the party factions of its neighbour, 
 became the superior of the two, and a bridge across the 
 river connected the two quarters of one great city. 
 There is nothing left on the site of the once populous 
 Seleucia to indicate its former magnificence. On the 
 opposite bank, the site of Ctesiphon, the wrecks of 
 remote antiquity are prominent, the stupendous Tank 
 e Kesra, or " Arch of Khoosroo," silently proclaiming 
 the majesty of the edifices it has survived. This great 
 fragment of the past is probably the facade of a large 
 structure composed of two wings, with an immense 
 arched hall in the centre. It is in a state of marvel- 
 lous preservation, and is of these dimensions : Length 
 of the front of the building, 284 feet ; width of the 
 arch at the base, 82 feet ; height of the arch, 101 feet ;
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. 1 53 
 
 thickness of the wall at the base, 19 feet ; and depth 
 or length of the hall, 153 feet. 
 
 The Euphrates and Tigris now shortly merge their 
 waters in the one tidal channel known by the name of 
 the Shat-el-Arab, which generally follows a straight 
 course from Kornah, the point of junction, to the 
 Persian Gulf. It is increased by the Kerrah and the 
 Karoon as affluents, and over the whole space which it 
 traverses the ground is strewed with the remains of 
 ancient times. At Bisitun there are some ruins, with 
 inscriptions of a deeply interesting character. And not 
 far from the Kerrah is the site of the ancient Susa, or 
 Shushan of Scripture, represented by the vast and deso- 
 late mounds of Sus. It was here that the remarkable 
 events recorded in the Book of Esther occurred. The 
 mounds occupy an immense space, extending not less 
 than twelve miles from one extremity to the other. 
 The early course of the Karoon lies through a moun- 
 tainous country. It is a noble stream, but there is not 
 much matter of historical interest presented on its 
 banks, except at Bassora, founded in the year a.d. 636, 
 and which commands an extensive navigation. Thus 
 augmented by large affluents the Shat-el-Arab finds 
 its way to the ocean. No rivers in the world have 
 gathered around them greater interest than these, and 
 it is deeply saddening to find along their whole course 
 principally the mementoes of a greatness which is past.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. — (Continued.) 
 
 17'TJRDISTAN forms the north-eastern portion of 
 ancient Assyria, and extends also into Persia. It 
 is an immense succession of hill and valley, with dells 
 and plains of exhaustless fertility, and having many 
 towering mountains. The summits of the great range 
 of Zagros rise to upwards of 14,000 feet. Their ridges 
 are clothed with forests as far up as 6,000 feet ; above 
 that height the country is less covered, though in some 
 of the recesses there are forests even in the more 
 elevated parts. The climate is cold during the greater 
 part of the year ; and the hills are covered with snow 
 for eight months. 
 
 Taurus, in its progress westward from the Euphrates, 
 sends out several spurs into Syria, the principal and 
 most westerly of which bears the names of Alma-dagh 
 and Jawur-dagh, the ancient Amanus and Pieriiis, 
 which terminate near the mouth of the Orontes, and 
 foi-m the boundary between Syria and Asia Minor. On
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. 1 55 
 
 the soutli side of the mouth of the Orontes, is Jebel 
 el-Akral (Bald-hill), which rises abruptly to the 
 height of 5,318 feet, and is continued to the east 
 by Jebel Chaksinah, and the hills of Antioch, as far as 
 to the southern valley of the Orontes. To the south 
 the hills of Antioch are continued by the Jebel Kraad 
 to the Nosairi mountains, which extend southwards in 
 connection with Lebanon. About 34:^ N. lat. the 
 chain divides into two parts, the eastern and the west- 
 ern ; the former being the Libanus, and the latter the 
 Anti-Libanus of the Greeks, which enclose between 
 them the long narrow valley of El Bakaa, or Hollow 
 Syria. The western branch terminates near the sea- 
 coast, to the southward of Sidon ; while the eastern 
 branch, in nearly the same parallel, divides again into 
 two ridges, the one of which passes into Arabia, along 
 the eastern side of the valley of the Jordan. The other 
 extends along the western side of the Jordan, south- 
 wards, forming the water- shed between the basin of the 
 Dead Sea, and the valleys which send their waters to 
 the Mediterranean. Mount Carmel forms a bold pro- 
 montory on the south-western side of the Bay of Acre, 
 and has an extension south-eastwards till it joins the 
 mountains of Judea. The diverging range of the 
 Libanus, which forms the north-eastern part of the 
 valley of the Upper Jordan, was the Hermon of 
 Scripture ; and farther south were the mountains of 
 Gilead. These mountains form many valleys, most of 
 which extend north and south ; but in addition to these
 
 156 ASIA. 
 
 there are transverse valleys, the chief of which run 
 parallel with the sea-coast and also into the interior. 
 El Bekaa (the KoiXa '^vpia, Koile Suria of the Greeks, 
 Coele Syria of the Latins), is a beautiful valley between 
 the two branches of Lebanon. It is about ninety miles 
 in length by eleven of average breadth, and is re- 
 markably rich and beautiful. The valley of the Jordan 
 extends about a hundred and seventy-five miles from 
 the sources of the river to the southern extremity of 
 the Dead Sea. From the Lake of Tabariah to Ain-el- 
 AruSj twelve miles south of the Dead Sea, where it 
 meets the Wadi-el-Arabah, it is called El-Ghor. On 
 the east side of the valley, between the two lakes, the 
 mountains rise almost precipitously from the river, but 
 on the west there is a narrow strip of land of singular 
 fertility. To the north of the Dead Sea, the country 
 opens into the plain of Jericlio, eighteen miles in length 
 by seven in breadth, surrounded by an amphitheatre of 
 hills, which concentrate the rays of the sun, making it 
 very hot and parched. Still it produces good crops of 
 wheat, barley, and balm. The valley of the Jordan is 
 considerably below the level of the Mediterranean — 
 how far has not been ascertained. The valleys of 
 Galilee are usually small, but beautiful, with an 
 abundance of wooding. Between Galilee and Mount 
 Carmel is the great plain of Esdraelon, which extends 
 from the Bay of Acre to the south-east. It is watered 
 by the river Kishon. In Scripture it is called the 
 valley of Jezreel or Megiddo. It is very fertile, well
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. 1 57 
 
 adapted for corn, but is uncultivated, and merely 
 affords pasture for a few scattered herds. The plain 
 of Haouran lies to the south of Damascus, between 
 Hermon and Gilead and the Jebel Haouran. It is 
 famous for wheat, and contains many scattered hum- 
 mocks, which are the sites of villages. The whole of 
 these hummocks, as well as the round stones found in 
 the fields, and also the mountain of Haouran, consist 
 of black basalt. All the houses are built of this 
 stone, and present rather a sombre appearance. The 
 inhabitants are Turks, Druses, and Arabs. Sometimes 
 in spring and summer the locality is visited by parties 
 of Bedouins. The whole of the rocky wilderness, com- 
 prehending the uneven country which extends along 
 the eastern side of the plain of Haouran, from near 
 Damascus to Bozra, is called El Ludja, and the Jebel 
 Haouran, and is supposed to be the ancient Traclionitis. 
 The plain of Haouran itself is the ancient Auranitis. 
 
 It would be wrong to conceive of the Great Syrian 
 desert as a bare waste of sand. Generally it has a fine 
 black soil, which is covered in winter with long grass 
 and herbs, and peopled with antelopes, wild asses, and 
 boars. In summer the grass is burnt up, and the 
 animals which had occupied it are compelled to 
 take refuge on the borders of the cultivated country. 
 It is true there are sandy tracts in the interior, 
 but even in the midst of them, at various points, 
 there is a scanty herbage. There are numerous 
 hills all along Syria, which divide the country into
 
 158 ASIA. 
 
 small plains. Eastward of Palmyra, tlie desert presents 
 a surface of unbounded level as far as the eye can reach. 
 In summer the soil is parched, and the vegetation is 
 destroyed; but when the winter rains commence the 
 herbage shoots up with amazing rapidity and luxuri- 
 ance. The herds and flocks feed on the dry herbage 
 in summer, and have to be congregated near pools 
 and wells ; but in winter the Bedouins make long 
 journeys with their flocks, there being abundance of 
 food for them everywhere. The Arabs of the desert 
 belong to the great Aenez^ tribe. During the former 
 Turkish dominion in Syria they were quite independent ; 
 but under the later rule they have been obliged to 
 acknowledge the supremacy of the Pasha, and even to 
 pay him tribute. 
 
 There are three climates in Syria. The summits of 
 Lebanon are generally covered with snow, which 
 difi'uses coolness over the interior, while the low-lying 
 sea-coasts are subject to heat and moisture, and the 
 eastern lowland adjoining Arabia is exposed to a dry 
 and scorching heat. The seasons and the productions 
 consequently vary. In the mountains, the winter lasts 
 from November to March, and is shai'p and rigorous. 
 'No year passes without falls of snow, which, for months 
 together, often cover the ground to the depth of several 
 feet. The spring and autumn are agreeable, and the 
 summer is not oppressive. But in the plains, when 
 the sun has passed to the north of the equator, a sudden 
 change takes place which lasts till October. The heat
 
 TURKEY IX ASIA. 1 59 
 
 is overpowering. But the winter is so temperate that 
 orange trees, dates, bananas, and other delicate fruits 
 grow in the open field. Sometimes it seems as if a few 
 hours were sufficient to produce the change from spring 
 to winter. If art were called in to give its help to 
 nature, there might be brought together, within the 
 space of fifty miles, in Syria, the vegetable treasures of 
 the most distant countries. Wheat, rye, barley, beans, 
 and cotton are cultivated everywhere. The hills of 
 Latakia, and indeed all the mountains, produce tobacco. 
 The white mulberrj'- thrives on Lebanon and along the 
 coast, and forms the wealth of the Druses on account 
 of the beautiful silk produced by its worms ; and the 
 vine, raised on poles or creeping, furnishes red and 
 white wines equal to those of Bordeaux. The clusters 
 are remarkably large, and the grapes are often the size 
 of plums. The mountains which diverge from Taurus, 
 in Northern Syria, are richly wooded. There are all the 
 kinds of domestic animals possessed in Europe, with 
 the buffalo and camel in addition. The gazelle takes 
 the place of our deer ; and instead of wolves there are 
 jackals, hyaenas, and ounces. The locust is the great 
 scourge of these countries. They come in clouds which 
 darken the sky, and when they descend every particle 
 of vegetation is consumed. The evil is mitigated only 
 by means of a bird called samarmar, which devours 
 them, and by the south-east winds, which drive them 
 into the Mediterranean. 
 
 Palestine is well known from its associations with
 
 1 60 ASIA. 
 
 the clioson people and the history of the Divine revela- 
 tions to men. The name is supposed to be derived from 
 the ancient Philistine coast, and has been used from 
 the most remote ages to the present time. The country 
 is about 170 miles in length, north and south, and nearly 
 as much in extreme breadth. It is bounded on the west 
 by the Mediterranean. On the north it ranges along 
 the southern skirts of Libanus ; and on the east and 
 south it passes into the Arabian desert, amid long 
 ranges of rocky hills. Judea is a high country, rising 
 from a shore that is in many places bold and lofty. 
 The principal eminences — Carmel, Bashan, and Tabor 
 — do not rise into bleak and rugged peaks, but are 
 covered with villages, rich pastures, and luxuriant 
 woods. On their slopes are vineyards, and in the 
 clefts of the rocks numerous bees deposit their honey. 
 There are still many traces of former occupation and 
 cultivation, in the form of such artificial terraces as 
 are yet to be found in the most advanced parts of the 
 East. But there has been here a busy work of rapine 
 and oppression, extending farther than in many other 
 parts of the Turkish dominion. Acre, under the sway 
 of Daher, of Omar, and of Djezzar, scarcely paid even 
 a nominal submission to the mandates of the Porte. 
 The first-mentioned of these had great qualities ; but 
 Djezzar converted all the countries over which he 
 tyrannized into deserts. But a line drawn from north 
 to south, through Judea, attaches a large portion of 
 the territory to the pashalic of Damascus, which has
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. l6l 
 
 long been perhaps the best-governed part of the 
 Turkish empire. Within these limits, reaching from 
 the Sea of Galilee through Napolose, to the vicinity of 
 Jerusalem, the region displays much of its ancient 
 fertility. Even the declivities of the mountains are 
 forced into terraces, that they may retain the moisture, 
 and be fit for bearing ample crops. But the country is 
 infested by bands of Arabs. Similar to this is the con- 
 dition of the whole territory. Judea in its largest sense 
 was divided into maritime and inland, and again sub- 
 divided into Judea on this side, and Judea beyond 
 Jordan. The most notable division is that which was 
 made among the twelve tribes, by lot, under the Divine 
 superintendence. Of these two and a half were allotted 
 their portion beyond Jordan, and the rest on this side. 
 Solomon divided the kingdom into twelve provinces or 
 districts, each of which was to supply his household for 
 a month, in turn, i.e., each for one month in the year. 
 But another and most fatal division was occasioned by 
 Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, when ten of the twelve 
 tribes revolted, and formed the kingdom of Israel in 
 opposition to that of Judea. The kingdom of Israel 
 took also the name of Samaria from its capital. Under 
 the Romans it began to be divided into tetrarchies and 
 toparchies. The larger were those of Judea, Samaria, 
 and Galilee, Upper and Lower ; the lesser were those of 
 Gilead, Peraca, Gaulonitis, Auranitis, Batanaea, and 
 Decapolis. 
 
 The extent of this country is variousl}'' stated. It
 
 1 62 ASIA. 
 
 may be taken as 170 or 180 miles from north to south,- 
 and 140 in breadth where broadest, though not much 
 more than half of that measurement where it is narro^y-. 
 est. It is partly in the pashalic of Acre and partly in 
 that of Damascus, as we have just observed; but, 
 although the ancient pashalic boundaries are respected, 
 there is one ruler, one pasha, at present in charge of 
 the three divisions of Damascus, Aleppo, and Acre. 
 
 Reaching this country by sea, the usual port is 
 Jaffa, the ancient Jo2)j)a, the only point of communica- 
 tion which David and Solomon had with the Mediter- 
 ranean. At present this is a bad haven, being so 
 encumbered with rocks and shoals that vessels can 
 anchor only at the (^stance of a mile from the shore. 
 But there is an ancient harbour, now choked up, which 
 might be made to contain ships of 300 tons. Great 
 antiquity is ascribed to this port, Avhich gives access to 
 the Holy Land. In the middle ages it rose into fame as 
 the landing-place of the great crusade under Hichard 
 Cceur de Lion and Philip of France. Jaffa continued 
 to be the head-quarters of the Christians in that cele- 
 brated campaign ; and to the south extends the wide 
 field of Ascalon, where the arms of the Crescent 
 sustained so signal an overthrow. Bonaparte captured 
 the place, and there was afterwards a cruel massacre of 
 the prisoners found there. The traveller from Europe, 
 arriving at Jaffa, with the design of exploring Palestine, 
 hastens on his way. He passes by the vale of Sharon, 
 still beautiful, and at the foot of the dark hills which
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. 163 
 
 form the centre of the country, he reaches Rama or 
 Ilamla, the ancient Arimathea. He then arrives at 
 Lydda, and onwards, till the exclamation is made, " El 
 Xods !" (the holy cit}'). But we must enter into details, 
 and speaking generally of the territory of Turkey in 
 Asia, refer to this as a part. 
 
 In Asiatic Turkey there are various Gulfs, inlets 
 and natural harbours, which, from the ocean indent 
 themselves into the land, and furnish the means of 
 intercourse and trade. In the Black Sea, the Gulfs of 
 Samsoun and Sinub or Sinope ; in the Sea of Marmora, 
 the Gulfs of Is-mid and ]\Iondania ; in the Archipelago, 
 the Gulfs of Besiche or Besika, near the entrance of the 
 Dardanelles, — Adramyti, Sandarli, Smyrna, Vourla, 
 Scala-nova, Asyn-Kalcsi, Cos, Symi ; in the Mediter- 
 ranean, the Gulfs of Marmorici, Maori, Satalia or 
 Sadalia, Iskenderoon or Scanderoon, and the Bay of 
 Acre. On the other hand there are many Capes 
 or headlands, projecting themselves into the sea ; 
 Batoun, Kourehlih, Zcphira, Aio-Yasisli, Poslepei, 
 Youa, Jasoun, Thermeh, Tcherchenbeh, Judjeh, 
 Iverempe (anc. Caramtis), Baba, Kirpeh, and Kara 
 Bournon, all on the north coast of Asia Minor. Cape 
 Janisary, at the entrance of the Dardanelles ; Baba 
 Burun, Kara Burun, and Krio on the west coast ; 
 Khelidonia, Anamour, and Karadash on the soutli 
 coast of the peninsula ; and Khyn Zir, Bosyt, Bas-el, 
 Shakaa, and Mount Carmel on the coast of Syria. The 
 Islands are — Cyprus (the Kupros of the ancient
 
 1 64 ASIA. 
 
 Greeks), near the north-east corner of the Mediter- 
 ranean. Its length is 140 miles, and its breadth 63. 
 The population is supposed to amount to about 60,000, 
 of whom two-thirds are Greeks. The towns are 
 Nicosia in the centre of the island, situated in a fine 
 plain, bounded by lofty mountains. It contains about 
 4,000 families. Larnakia, on the south coast, is 
 the chief seat of commerce, and the residence of the 
 European consuls. Famagosta (the ancient Arsi7ioe), 
 the capital of the island when it was in possession of 
 the Venetians, stands on the east coast, and still has 
 traces of its former grandeur. Baffo (anc. PapJios) is 
 on the south-east coast, but is now a mere village, 
 although it contained in former times the temples and 
 groves of Aphrodite-Kupris (the Cyprian Yenus), 
 the goddess of love and beauty. Hhodos {Rhodes) is 
 near the south-west coast of Asia Minor, forty-six miles 
 by twelve. It contains 460 square miles, enjoys a 
 delightful climate, and has the heats of summer cooled 
 by the lofty hills which occupy its centre. Rhodes 
 was renowned in ancient times for its wealth and 
 civilisation, and for the wisdom of its laws — to all of 
 which it owed its prolonged independence. It acquired 
 a new distinction in the middle ages, when it became 
 the home of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. It 
 is now almost deserted. Its chief town, in the north- 
 east of the island, and it bears the same name, is, how- 
 ever, of some importance, and is fortified and used 
 as a place for ship-building. It occupies very nearly
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. 1 65 
 
 tlie site of the ancient Rhodus, which was one of the 
 most splendid of the commercial cities of Greece. 
 There are no traces of the former splendour of the city. 
 The only public buildings are two Gothic castles, and 
 several massive Gothic churches, which have been con- 
 verted into mosques. The population consists of about 
 5,000 Turks and 1,000 Jews. No Christian is allowed 
 to reside within its walls. The rest of the island is 
 inhabited by Greeks, to the number of about 14,000. 
 8amos lies about fifty miles to the south of Smyrna, 
 and is separated from the promontory of Mycale by a 
 channel of only about a quarter of a mile in width. It 
 is about sixty miles in circuit. It was famous for the 
 worship and temple of Juno, who was said to have been 
 born on the island- It is very fertile. But the people 
 have suffered much from the desolating influences of 
 war, and the island is now well-nigh deserted. Scio 
 (anc. Greek Chios, mod. Khio) is a beautiful and 
 fruitful island west of Smyrna, celebrated in latter 
 times for its college, rich library, printing-press, and 
 numerous and industrious population (formerly for its 
 wine, the Chian). It is now deserted and covered with 
 ruins. It was invaded by the Turks in 1822, the whole 
 Greek population being murdered or carried into 
 slaver^', and their property plundered or destroyed. 
 Mytilini (^Lesbos) is north-west of the Gulf of Smyrna, 
 containing 435 square miles, and a population of 40,000, 
 who are principally maintained by a trade in oil- 
 Taushan and Tenedos are small rocky islands near the
 
 1 66 ASIA. 
 
 entrance to the Dardanelles. IMannora is famous for its 
 marble quarries. Kalolimno, Habi, and the Prince's 
 Islands ai'e in the Sea of Marmora. Kos {IstankJdo 
 of the Turks), Astropalaia, Nisyro, Piscopi, Symi, 
 Kbalkhi, St. John, Eskriti, Plaka, Adelphi, Stazida, 
 Cairo, Scarpanto, Kalimno, Levita, Zenari, Lero, Patmo, 
 Gaitharo, Furni, iSTikaria, are all on the south-west coast. 
 The Grambousa and Khelidonia Isles are off Cape Kheli- 
 donia, Provencal is south-west of Selef keh. Kef kem is 
 a small island to the east of Cape Kirpee, in the Black 
 Sea. 
 
 The rivers which drain and irrigate this part of Asia 
 are: — 
 
 The Jorukh, which rises in Armenia, and flows into 
 tlie Black Sea at Batum. The Jekil-Irmak (green 
 river) rises to the south-west of Tokat, flows through 
 the province of Sivas, passes Tokat (where it is called 
 Tokat-Su), Amasia, and Charsambeh, below which it 
 falls into the Dead Sea. The Kizil-Irmak (red river), 
 formed of two branches, the one rising on the frontier 
 of Sivas, the other in the Hassan-dagh, and falling into 
 the Black Sea, between Sinub and Samsoun, after a 
 course of 570 miles. It is the ancient Halys, the 
 largest river in Asia Minor. The Sakaria, rising in the 
 neighbourhood of Angora, and joined by the Pursak 
 from Kutaya, has a course of 250 miles, and falls 
 into the Black Sea. The Kodos rises in Murad-tagh, 
 and falls into the GuK of Smyrna, after a course of 
 190 mUes. The Mendere has a course westwards of
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. 1 67 
 
 1>^0 miles into tlie Archipelago, south of Samos. It is 
 celebrated for its windings, from which all similar 
 windings in rivers have been called meanders. The 
 Sihoon rises near Bostan, and flows south-west past 
 Adana into the Mediterranean. The Jihoon has a 
 nearly parallel course, a little to the eastward, and falls 
 into the Gulf of Scanderoon. The Aazi or El-Asi (the 
 rebel), the ancient Orontes, rises on the east side of 
 Anti-Libanus, north of Damascus, flows north and 
 north-west through a long valley to Antakia, where it 
 turns south and south-west, and falls into the Mediter- 
 ranean, after a course of 225 miles. To the north-east 
 of Antakia the streams which descend the valley of 
 Taurus form a great lake, Aggi, or Oloja-denghis 
 (White Sea), which empties itself by one stream, called 
 the Kara-su, into the Orontes. The Leitani {Leontes) 
 rises at the northern end of the valley El Bakaa, and 
 flows south by west into the Mediterranean, a little to 
 the north of Tyre. The Jordan, Orden, or Sherya, 
 as has already been noticed, rises in a small lake, called 
 anciently Phiela, in Mount Hermon, flows south into 
 the lake Hoolya (the Waters of Merom), and passes 
 onward through the lake of Tabariah [Sea of Galilee), 
 and then flows with a winding course through a 
 spacious valley calle'd El Ghor, and falls into the Dead 
 Sea. In the higher part of its course, the Jordan, after 
 it leaves Lake Tubariah, flows between banks which are 
 often picturesque ; and in spring it fills its deep chan- 
 nel, passing onwards with great rapidity. The Zerka
 
 l68 ASIA. 
 
 [Jabbok) flows from Jebel Haouran westward into the 
 Jordan, nearly midway between the two lakes. The 
 Mandhour flows also from Jebel Haouran to the Jordan, 
 a few miles south of Lake Tabariah. The Kison passes 
 through the plain of Esdraelon into the south side of 
 the Bay of Acre. The Koje, Kasab, Arsouf, Petras, 
 Roubin, Sorek, and Besor, or river of Gaza, all flow 
 into the Mediterranean Sea. 
 
 We have already referred at large to the Euphrates 
 and the Tigris, and therefore need only observe here 
 that, after those rivers have come together, the united 
 stream, as we have observed, is called Skat-el-Arab 
 (river of the Arabs), and flows with a somewhat 
 winding course in a direction nearly south-east from 
 Kornah ; entering the sea by a single channel called 
 the Khore-el-Bussrah, over an extensive bar, which has 
 only a depth of three fathoms at high-water, and a 
 bottom of soft oozy mud. It is described as being 
 everywhere broader than the Nile, and its waters much 
 deeper, while the banks are more thickly covered with 
 groves of date trees, and more nearly approaching the 
 surface of the water, so being more favourable to the 
 purposes of irrigation than the Egyptian river. Ships 
 which can pass the bar may be easily navigated up to 
 Bussrah. The tide ascends the ll^uphrates 60 miles, 
 and the Tigris 35 miles above Kornah. Not far 
 below Kornah the Shat-el-Arub is joined by the 
 Haweeza or Kerkah, a large river from Louristjm ; 
 and below Bussrah it communicates, by the Hafar canal,
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. 1 69 
 
 ■u'ltli the Karoon or Kiiran, and as was supposed, till 
 Chesney's expedition proved the contrary, by the 
 Jerahi also — the three rivers together forming seven 
 mouths. The four eastern mouths belong to the Ka- 
 1 oon and the Jerahi ; the fifth, named Khor6-omeyah, 
 leads directly into the Shat-el-Arab, and is believed to 
 be navigable by ships drawing ten feet of water ; but 
 being so close to the main body of the river its passage 
 is never attempted. "We have already referred to 
 the Khore-el-Bussrah as the principal entrance into the 
 river, and the only stream now navigated by ships ; 
 and the seventh, Khore-Abdallah, is supposed to have 
 once been a mouth of the Euphrates, when that river 
 reached the sea by a channel of its own, before it was 
 united with the Tigris at Kornah. At present it is 
 rather a creek, or inlet of the sea, than the mouth of a 
 river. It is said to be four times as broad from land to 
 land at its entrance as the Shat-el-Arab is at the same 
 point, and it continues to be twice as broad throughout 
 its whole length ; the depth of water in mid-channel, 
 decreasing from ten fathoms at the entrance to five 
 fathoms at the head. 
 
 There are several great Lakes in this country. 
 
 The great Lake of Van, in Armenia, is situated 
 between 38° and 39° N. lat. and 42^* and 43° E. Ion?., 
 extending nearly 80 miles in length from S."W. to 
 N.E. The eastern half has a breadth of only from 
 five to nine or ten miles. In the middle it is 37 miles ; 
 but it contracts again at the ^est end to fifteen or
 
 1 70 ASIA. 
 
 sixteen. It lies at the bottom of a valley, surrounded 
 with lofty mountains. Its waters are bitter, except 
 at the mouths of the rivers which flow into it. There 
 is a species of herring or sardine caught in it at certain 
 seasons, which is salted and exported to all parts of 
 Asia Minor. This lake is very beautifuh It includes 
 two islands of considerable size, with Armenian con- 
 vents, one of them being called Akhtamar, which is 
 also the Armenian name of the lake itself. The Turks 
 call it Arjish. There are a few small vessels plying 
 upon this lake at most seasons. A singular substance 
 is found floating on the water, which the surrounding 
 population gather, and use for washing purposes. It 
 is an alkaline salt, composed chiefly of carbonate of 
 soda and chloride of sodium, or sea salt.* The lake is 
 5,467 feet above the level of the sea. 
 
 The great Tuzla, or Salt Lake of Koch-Hisar, is near 
 the centre of Asia Minor. It is 30 leagues in circum- 
 ference. It is narrow, but it is nearly 50 miles long. 
 So extremely salt is the water that no fish or other 
 aquatic animal can live in it. Even birds are not 
 disposed to touch it, as their wings soon become stiff 
 with a thick coating of salt ; and anything thrown into 
 the water is quickly covered Math that substance. 
 There are the remains of a causewa}^ across the lake, 
 which is covered with salt, and the bottom is covered 
 with a thick layer of the same materiah The salt is a 
 government monopoly, and is collected for mercantile 
 ♦ Southgate, ii. 306.
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. lyi 
 
 purposes at only four places.* The surface of the water 
 is 25,000 feet above the level of the sea. It is called by 
 the neighbouring population Tuz-choli ("salt desert"), 
 sometimes Tuz-goli (" salt lake "), Agi-gol (" bitter 
 lake "), or Kock-hisar-goli (" Lake of Kerk-hisar ").t 
 
 The Dead Sea is situated in the northern part of 
 Palestine, between 31° and 32^ N. lat. and 3G" E. 
 long. It is called Bahr Lout (" Lot's Sea "), and 
 Bahr Mutneh (" stinking sea"), by the Arabs, and by the 
 Latins, Lacus Asphaltitas, or Mare Mortuum. It is 
 about fifty miles in length, from north to south, and 
 from seven to twenty in breadth. Mr. Costigan, with 
 a Maltese sailor as his servant, made an excursion on 
 this lake in a boat, in 1835. It took him eight days, 
 and he was so completely exhausted by his exertions 
 that he died without having been able to give an ac- 
 count of his voyage. Mr. Stephens found the servant 
 at Beyrout. As a sailor he had carefully observed the 
 coast and the soundings. His information was to the 
 efiect that his master and he had moved in ziffzafr 
 directions, crossing the lake several times ; that every 
 day they sounded, frequently with a line of 175 brachia 
 (each about six feet) ; that they found the bottom 
 rocky and of very unequal depth, sometimes ranging 
 30, 40, 80, 20, all within a few boats' length ; that 
 sometimes the lead brought up sand, like that of the 
 neighbouring mountains ; that they failed but once to 
 
 * Hamilton, Jour, of Royal Geog. Soc, viii. 147. 
 t Jour, of Royal Geog. isoc, x. 298.
 
 172 ASIA. 
 
 find the bottom, and in tliat place they were surrounded 
 by large bubbles for about 30 paces — these they sup- 
 posed to rise from a spring ; that, in one place, they 
 found on the bank a hot sulphureous spring ; that in 
 four different places they found ruins, and could dis- 
 tinguish large hewn stones which had evidently been 
 used for buildings ; that at the south end of the lake a 
 long tongue of highland projects into the water, and is 
 composed of solid salt, which has at a distance the 
 appearance of an island, the extremity being higher 
 than the isthmus. Messrs. Moore and Beke again 
 surveyed the lake in 1837, and found its depth in 
 certain places to exceed 300 fathoms ; and, from several 
 observations on the temperature of boiling water, and 
 by the barometer, they estimated the level of its sur- 
 face to be 500 feet below the level of the sea. Professor 
 Schubert has supposed the depression to be 598 or 
 600 feet by the barometer. M. E-ussegger, also by 
 barometer, has concluded that it is 1,400 feet — so wide 
 sometimes is the difference of calculations. The waters 
 are intensely salt, and most nauseous, — salt, bitter, and 
 sulphureous, and so pungent that the eyes smart 
 severely for some time after having been dipped in 
 them. By analysis, it has been found that these 
 waters contain, in 100 parts 0*920 of muriate of lime ; 
 10-246 of magnesia ; 13'360 of soda ; and 0'054 of sul- 
 phate of lime. The south-western side of the lake is 
 skirted by a long, low ridge of about 150 feet high, the 
 whole mass of which consists of solid rock salt, covered
 
 TURXEY IN ASIA. 1 73 
 
 with layers of soft limestone, marl, and other sub- 
 stances, through which the salt breaks out, and appears 
 on the sides, in precipices 40 or 50 feet high, and 
 several himdred feet long. The salt is often broken 
 off in pieces, which are strewed along the shore like 
 stones, or accumulated at the foot of the precijoices. 
 The extreme saltness of the lake is thus easily accounted 
 for. The Arabs carry salt from the Dead Sea to all 
 parts of Palestine. The principal supply of water is 
 from the river Jordan, which, even two or three miles 
 from its junction with the lake, is impregnated with 
 the salt and bituminous matter ; but, in the rainy season 
 the liquid contents of this inland sea are also augmented 
 from the south ; for not only the waters of the valley 
 El Arabah, but those also of the western desert, far to 
 the south of Akaba, flow north towards it. Nothinjr 
 can be more dreary than the surrounding scenery, the 
 soil is destitute of vegetation, and furnishes food for 
 neither bird nor beast. The water is extremely buoyant, 
 and the air above it has an oppressive weight. As- 
 phaltum or bituminous matter is found floating on its 
 surface.* 
 
 The Lake of Tabariah, or Sea of Galilee, is situated 
 about 70 miles north from the Dead Sea, in a basin 
 surrounded by lofty and naked hills, and is about 500 
 feet below the level of the Mediterranean Sea. In 
 length it is about sixteen miles, and in breadth about 
 nine. It is celebrated by all travellers for its pic- 
 
 * " Stephens' Incidents of Travel ;" Jour, of lluyal Geog. Soc. vol. ix.
 
 174 ASIA. 
 
 taresque grandeur and beauty. The water is greenish 
 in colour. It abounds with fish, some kinds of whic) 
 are to be found only here and in the Nile. It is per- 
 fectly clear and sweet, although it receives several hot 
 salt streams so impregnated with gases that they 
 change the colour of the stones over which they pass. 
 The Jordan flows through the middle of the lake with 
 a strong current. Storms of long continuance are 
 unknoAvn, but the lake is occasionally subject to whirl- 
 winds, squalls, and sudden gusts from the hollows of 
 the mountains. There is not now any navigation upon 
 it — not even a fishing boat. 
 
 The Aggi, or Owja-denghis (" "White Sea"), is formed 
 by the streams which descend from the valley of Taurus 
 to the north-east of Antioch, and it empties itself by 
 one stream, the Kara-su, into the Orontes. It is about 
 ten miles long, by four or five broad, and affords a 
 navigable passage along its west side, to Murad-pasha, 
 on the Upper Kara-su, and through the Lower Kara-su 
 and the Orontes to the sea. 
 
 Besides these, there are in Syria the Bahr-el-Margi, 
 or " Lake of the Meadow," which is the receptacle for 
 the streams which water the plain of Damascus. In 
 summer it is only a marsh ; but in winter it contains 
 a large body of water. The Lake of Horns is formed 
 by the Orontes ; and the Sibkah, or Salt Lake of Geboul, 
 is to the south-cast of Aleppo. In Asia Minor there 
 are many other lakes, the principal of which are : the 
 lakes of Is-nik, Abulliout, and Maniyas, on the south
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. 175 
 
 side of the Sea of Marmora ; Egerdir, a beautiful sheet 
 of water about thirty miles in length, suri'ounded by 
 lofty mountains, which are clothed with wood, and 
 emitting at its south end a copious stream, which is 
 said to fall into another very large lake, 35 or 40 miles 
 in circumference, at the distance of four hours' jour- 
 ney ; Eber, Ak Shehr, Beg-shehr or Kereli, Seidi- 
 Shehr,or Soghla,the Ak-Ghieul (" White lake"),Ochar- 
 dak, a salt lake, from which great quantities of salt are 
 collected ; all to the north of the Gulf of Adalia ; Gheul- 
 jik (" Little lake ''), 50 miles north-west of Diarbekr, 
 between Kharput and Arghana-Maden, twelve miles 
 long by three or four broad, and 4,453 feet above the 
 level of the sea. Some have affirmed of the water that 
 it is salt, but it is not so.* 
 
 As to the Peoples of this great territory of Turkey 
 in Asia, the Osmanlee are the dominant race. They 
 are spread all over the empire, but are most numerous 
 in Asia Minor, which they seem to consider their 
 proper country. There are many other families of 
 Turks besides the Osmanlee. Those who live in Ar- 
 menia, and along the eastern frontier, take the name 
 of Turks, which completely distinguishes them from 
 their western brethren, who spurn it. 
 
 Next to the Turks in number are the Arabs, who 
 form the principal part of the population between 
 Bussrah and Bagdad. Their aggregate number is 
 about two hundred thousand. 
 
 * Jour, of Royal Goog. Soc. vi. 208.
 
 176 ASIA. 
 
 The Annizah and Jerboa are the other great Meso- 
 potamian tribes. It has always been a part of the 
 Turkish policy to foment jealousy among these tribes, 
 and so to preserve a balance of power, as otherwise, by 
 combining, they might drive the Turkish lordship out 
 of the countr\'. 
 
 The Kurds are the descendants of the ancient Car- 
 ducldi or Cordueni. They inhabit the region which 
 lies to the south-east of Armenia, and give their name 
 to it. It is about 300 miles in length, and half as 
 much in breadth, and presents an endless succession of 
 hills and valleys, with dells and plains of great fer- 
 tility, under the shelter of towering mountains. Their 
 language is essentially Persic, with a mixture of the 
 Arabic and Chaldtcan. Thej^ are generally Mahometans, 
 but they incorporate with their religion many super- 
 stitions which seem to be the remains of the ancient 
 Magian faith. About a tenth part of them are Nes- 
 torian Christians, or Chaldaeans. These inhabit the 
 wild mountainous districts to the south of the Lake of 
 Van, round Jumalerk, their chief town. But they are 
 a lawless and uncivilised race, whatever may be their 
 religious profession. From time immemorial, their 
 country has been the scene of turbulence, robbery, and 
 warfare ; and they have seldom, if ever, been more 
 than nominally subject to any of the great empires 
 which have had dominion in this part of Asia. At 
 present, Kurdistan is nominally divided between Persia 
 and Turkey, -without being really subject to either.
 
 TURKEY IX ASIA. 177 
 
 The Kurds are divided into numerous tribes, and also 
 into two social classes — the nobles and gentry, who 
 spend their time in idleness or war, and the slaves, 
 serfs, or peasants, who cultivate the fields, and seem to 
 be of a different race from their haughty masters. 
 There are many Kurds beyond the limit of Kurdistan, 
 scattered through Armenia, Asia Minor, and Xorthern 
 Syria, where they lead a wandering, pastoral life, like 
 the Turcomans, and sometimes prove troublesome 
 neighbours to the inhabitants of the plains. Every- 
 where the name Kurd seems to be considered as neai'ly 
 synonymous with robber. 
 
 The Turcomans are, like the Osmanlee, a branch of 
 the great Tiirkee family ; and, like the Kurds, they lead 
 u pastoral and unsettled life. They are by far the most 
 numerous and most civilised of the nomadic tribes of 
 Asia Minor. They live in tents during the summer, 
 but have frequently settled villages for their winter 
 quarters. They possess large herds of camels, buffaloes, 
 goats, and sheep. They also breed horses, and sell 
 them, with milk, butter, and meat, in the towns and 
 villages, taking in return arms, clothes, and money. 
 Their women spin wool and make carpets. Each 
 camp is under a chief, whose power is regulated by 
 customs and circumstances, the abuse of which is 
 restrained by public opinion. They pay a certain price 
 a tent to the pashas for the privilege of pasturing over 
 the unenclosed and uncultivated parts of the provinces. 
 A large portion also of the Moslem population between 
 
 N
 
 178 ASIA. 
 
 Bagdad and Mosul call themselves Turcomans, and 
 speak the Turkish language. 
 
 The Yorulihs are another nomadic people of Asia 
 Minor, who live in tents all the year round, and almost 
 exclusively in the mountains. When in the neigh- 
 bourhood of towns they generally work as burners of 
 charcoal, and supply the population with that article. 
 They also cultivate small patches of ground. 
 
 The Yezedees are a singular race, who principally 
 inhabit the mountain range of Sinjar in Mesopotamia, 
 between the rivers Euphrates, Tigris, and Khabour ; 
 but they are found also in great numbers in Kurdistan, 
 and near Mosul, and a good many in the province of 
 Diarbekr. There seems to be no doubt that they 
 derive their origin and name from Yezid, the son of the 
 Caliph Moawiyah, who destroyed the race of Ali ; 
 although it is said by some that they are descended from 
 a saint named Yezid, who lived about the same time (in 
 the seventh century). Being detested by the Persians 
 on account of the destruction of the house of Ali by 
 Yezid, and by the Arabs, as worshippers of the devil, 
 they have been driven into the strong and isolated 
 hills of Sinjar, and the rugged mountains and defiles of 
 Kurdistan. Their religion is a strange mixture of 
 devil-worship with the doctrines of the Magians, 
 Mahometans, and Christians. Eeligion and religious 
 ceremony seem, however, to be merely nominal among 
 the Yezedees of Sinjar. Those in Kurdistan, holding 
 the same faith, such as it is^ are more given to the
 
 TURKEY IN ASL\. 179 
 
 practice of religious observances. They admit a good 
 and an evil principle ; and judging that the evil onl}^ is 
 to be feared, it is its representative only that they 
 seek to propitiate. They name him Al-sheikh Almoaz- 
 zem, or the Great Sheikh. They would rather be put 
 to death than curse him. They worship the sun at his 
 rising ; but they hold Christian priests in great vene- 
 ration. Their lives are very simple. Their character 
 is superior to that of their neighbours. They are brave, 
 hospitable, and sober, faithful to their promises, much 
 attached to their native soil, but cruel and vindictive, 
 considering their proper means of support to be rob- 
 bery and theft. They differ from the surrounding tribes 
 in the fact that they are not polygamists. They used 
 to keep the whole country between Mosul and Is isibin in 
 a state of constant alarm ; but in 1837 they were 
 reduced to subjection by the Pasha of Diarbekr, and 
 registered as tributaries of the Sultan.* 
 
 The Armenians constitute one of the most ancient 
 nations of the world. They were the original pos- 
 sessors of Armenia, although now they form only about 
 a seventh part of the population, the rest of the 
 inhabitants being chiefly Turks and Kurds. They call 
 themselves in their own language Haji-IIaji. Beino- 
 constantly exposed to the wars waged by the great 
 neighbouring potentates, they have been forced in large 
 numbers to leave their country ; and though formerly 
 
 • "Forbes'a Visit to the Sinjur Ilills in 1S33;" Jour, of Eojal 
 Geog. Soc. ix. 409.
 
 l8o ASIA. 
 
 a warlike and brave people, they are now distinguisted 
 for their love of peace, and their willing submission to 
 the government of the countries in which they live. 
 Devoted to commerce and manufactures, they have 
 prospered wherever they have settled, finding their 
 way to places not frequented by Europeans. Their 
 scattered colonies are to be found in Hungary, Venice, 
 Calcutta, and even in China. They are also to be met 
 with in many parts between Russia and South Africa. 
 In their own country, as well as elsewhere, they gene- 
 rally live in large families, in domestic peace, under 
 the rule of their oldest member. But this family union 
 and attachment is sometimes found to be quite com- 
 patible with pcrfid}', insensibility, and injustice towards 
 persons of a different race. They form a kind of 
 branch of the Oriental Christian Church. This Church 
 is suj)erintended, in Armenia, by four patriarchs, of whom 
 the chief bears the title of Catholicos of all the Arme- 
 7iians. They acknowledge but few holy days, and con- 
 demn the worship of images. Some of them have 
 acknowledged the Homan Church, and have an arch- 
 bishop at Nashtshiran on the Don, and another in the 
 Isle of St. Lazaro in the lagunes of Venice. There are, 
 moreover, several thousands of them in other parts of the 
 Ottoman empire, particularly at Constantinople, under 
 the superintendence of an independent patriarch. 
 
 Besides these races there are many Greeks spread 
 over the countries which have been named, but chiefly 
 in the towns of Asia Minor in its western part. They
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. • l8l 
 
 are also found along the sonthcrn coasts, and in all 
 centres of population in Syria and Palestine — every- 
 where preserving their nationality and their religion. 
 
 Syria having been successively invaded by the 
 Persians, the Greeks, the Eomans, the Saracens, the 
 Latin Crusaders, and the Turks, has a very mixed 
 population. The aboriginal Syrians form but a very 
 small part of the community anywhere. The Turks 
 are usually found in the towns, and formerly were 
 the only civic functionaries. There are many Arabs 
 throughout the country, chiefly engaged in agriculture. 
 Bedouins are also frequently to be seen. The entire 
 population of Syria is supposed to be 1,250,000, or rang- 
 ing from that to 1,500,000. Two-thirds of them are 
 Mahometans, and most of the remainder are Christians. 
 In the northern provinces or eyalet of Aleppo, are hordes 
 of Turcomans and Kurds ; and the mountains between 
 Aleppo and Damascus are occupied, in great part, by 
 the single and separate tribes, Ansarians, Druses, Maro- 
 nites, and Motoualis. The Ansarians (who are some- 
 times called Neceres, Ensyrians, and Ismailys) live in 
 the mountains which lie between Antakia and the river 
 Kebir. They are usually considered to be Mahometans, 
 and are said to have been founded, by one Nassar, in 
 the seventh century. But very little is in reality known 
 about either themselves or their religion. They were 
 established where they ai'e now found long before the 
 Ottoman conquest, and all that can be said of their 
 religion is that it is a mixture of Mahometanism and
 
 1 82 ASIA. 
 
 idolatry. Their principal centre, and the residence of 
 their emir is Masiat, or, Maszyad, a castle forty miles 
 north-east of Tripoli. 
 
 The Druses number about 150,000. They live 
 among the valleys and in the hills of Western Lebanon. 
 Their origin is uncertain. They are believed to be 
 the descendants of the ancient Ituraei, who possessed 
 the same territory in the times of the Romans. They 
 are under the government of an emir, who resides at 
 Deir-el-Kamar, " House of the Moon," a town which 
 lies about mid-way between Lebanon and the sea, nearly 
 twelve miles E.N.E. of Saide. As to their religion it 
 is involved in mystery. They believe in one Supreme 
 Being, who appeared last incarnate in the person of 
 Hakem, Caliph of Egypt, about a.d. 1030. This pre- 
 tender to divinity was supported by a prophet who came 
 from Persia into Egypt. Both the caliph and his 
 abettor perished by violence ; but their doctrines sur- 
 vived them, and their persecuted followers took refuge 
 in Lebanon. The Druses tolerate differences of opinion 
 among themselves in reference to religion, and there- 
 fore, at various times, have united in a body to oppose 
 Crusaders, the Sultans of Aleppo, the Mamelukes, and 
 the Ottomans. After the Ottoman conquest of Syria, 
 the Druses often descended from the mountains to 
 harass the conquerors. But after the middle of the 
 sixteenth century they became subject to the Porte, 
 and were, by payment of a yearly tribute, permitted to 
 maintain an almost undisturbed independence. In
 
 TURICEY IX ASIA. 1 83 
 
 general, they are fierce, restless, and enterprising — their 
 bravery even approaching to rashness. In extremity 
 they could muster 20,000 men, horse and foot, with 
 firelocks — the larger portion being cavalry. Of their 
 religion we have said that it is a mystery. Many of 
 them have most peculiar notions, but as a body 
 they are indifferent to everything which bears the 
 name — following the Maronites or the Turks just as 
 they find it convenient. On the mountain, their emir 
 is a Christian ; when he visits the towns on the coast, 
 he is a believer in the prophet. He resides in a large 
 and costly palace called Beteddin, near Deir-el-Kamar. 
 Unfortunately this latitude is extended also to essential 
 points of moral duty. The Druse women wear tan- 
 taroos, or horns, on the head, which gives them a 
 singular appearance. From these they suspend their 
 veils. The Fellahs, south of Damascus, are also 
 Druses ; and to the east of Sanamein is a ridge of hills 
 called Jebel-ul-Droos, " the Mountain of the Druses," 
 the inhabitants of which are governed by a tributary 
 prince of their own. 
 
 The hill country between Beyrout and Tripoli 
 is occupied by the Maronites. They live in villages 
 round the convent of Kannobin, the residence of their 
 patriarch. They are divided into various tribes, each 
 cultivating its own small territory. They live frugally 
 and peaceably, and beneath their humble roof the 
 Christian traveller is sure to find a welcome. The 
 sound of bells and the pomp of processions attest the
 
 1 84 ASIA. 
 
 full liberty of conscience here enjoyed by the Christians. 
 Two hundred monasteries rigorously adhere to the rule 
 of St. Anthony, and many hermits have taken up their 
 abodes in the grottoes and caverns of Lebanon. The 
 Maronltes derive their • name from Maron, a saint 
 of the fifth century, whose proselytes, having been 
 stigmatized as heretics, sought refuge here. After 
 long braving the Saracen and the Turkish power, they 
 were reduced by Sultan Murad III., in 1558. They 
 were compelled to acknowledge his supremacy, and to 
 pay a yearly tribute ; but in every other respect they 
 were uncontrolled. They have connected themselves 
 with the Church of Rome, which connives at their 
 retaining some of their former opinions and practices, 
 and particularly at the marriage of their priests. 
 Full of superstition as it is, their devotion is 
 fervent and steady, and throws an agreeable interest 
 over their territory, which is surrounded by the dark- 
 ness of Islam. They number about 150,000. They 
 recognise no distinctions of rank, and have, among 
 themselves, scarcely any form of government. The 
 villages form so many small communities, and settle 
 peacefully among themselves the disputes which else- 
 Avhere would furnish a pretext to governors to plunder 
 and oppress the people. But in personal quarrels they 
 exercise the barbaric right of vengeance. They are all 
 armed, and can muster 35,0u0 men. Their monks 
 cultivate the ground, and practise all the usual handi- 
 craft trades. The priests are supported by their
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. 185 
 
 people ; but the maintenance being insufficient, tliey 
 are obliged to supplement it by secular engagements. 
 Even the bishops have revenues amounting to not 
 more than £60 sterling a-year. 
 
 The Moutoualis or MdwaliSy are Sheahs, or heterodox 
 Mussulmen, who worship the Caliph Ali and his 
 descendants, while they curse Abubekr, Omar, and 
 Othman. They formerly occupied the valley of El 
 Bakaa, and sometimes rendered themselves very for- 
 midable to the Turks. They^are supposed to be ancient 
 Syrians, though as a distinct sect their name does 
 not occur before the eighteenth century. Their name 
 sig-nifies " Sectaries of Ali." The Moutoualis are now 
 very much reduced in numbers, and are chiefly to be 
 found in Eastern Lebanon, and among the Maronites. 
 Their emir resides at Baalbec ; but the lower part of 
 the valley is not under his rule, being occupied by 
 Turks. 
 
 The Arabic language is spoken over the whole 
 country, the old Syrian tongue being used in a few 
 districts only, and those are chiefly in the neighbour- 
 hood of Damascus and Lebanon. 
 
 The Arab and Turkish part of the people are Mussul- 
 men. Of the Christian sects the most numerous are 
 those of the Greek Church ; the Jacobites have also many 
 adherents ; and there are besides some European and 
 American Christians, Armenians, Nestorians, and Jews. 
 No country presents a greater diversity of creeds. 
 
 The Supreme Government of Turkey, which has
 
 1 86 ASIA. 
 
 dominion in all these parts, is an absolute monarcliy, 
 vested in a Padishah or Emperor, of the race of 0th- 
 man, who, by means of a compact made with the last 
 descendant of the Fatemite Caliphs of Egypt is also 
 Khali/, or Yicar of the Prophet, and, as such, Head of 
 the Mahometan religion. His official duties in that 
 capacity are, however, delegated to the Grand Mufti, or 
 Sheikh-ul-Islam. Both in spiritual and temporal affairs 
 his authority is absolute, and his imperial prerogative 
 admits of his putting to death fourteen persons a day, 
 without sin. Hence he is called Unkiar (or Hunkiar 
 or Khunkiar), z'.e., " the Manslayer." He is also called 
 the Sultan ; and in Europe was accustomed to be desig- 
 nated by the Italian title of Grand Seignior. His 
 authority in civil and military matters is usually 
 delegated to the Grand Vizier, as his absolute lieute- 
 nant, who is his Prime Minister, charged with all the 
 affairs of the empire, domestic and foreign. The 
 jjrincipal Ministers of State, according to their rank, 
 are — 1. The Sheikh-ul-Islam ; 2. The Grand Vizier ; 
 
 3. The two Kadi-asters of Roumili and Anadoli ; 
 
 4. The Ministers of the first class, the Minister of "War 
 and Commander-in-Chief of all the regular troops ; 
 the Seraskier, or Commander-in-Chief of the troops of 
 Anadoli ; the Capudan Pasha, or High Admiral ; the 
 Minister of Commerce ; the Captain of the Guard ; the 
 Minister of Finance ; the Minister of Foreign Affairs ; 
 an office formerly held by theE-eis Effendi, or Chief Secre- 
 tarv ; the Chaoushbashi, or executor of the judgments of
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. 1 87 
 
 the Divan ; the Hakimbashi, or Chief Ph3'sician, and 
 President of the Boaixl of Health ; 5. Ministers of the 
 second class ; namely, the Heis EfFendi, or Secretary of 
 State ; the 'J rcasurer of the Sultan's income ; the 
 Beilikshi EfFendi, assistant to the Reis EfFendi in the 
 executive department of his office ; the Master of the 
 Ceremonies : the Director of the WakufFs, or charitable 
 institutions ; the Interpreter of the Porte ; and the 
 Director of the Customs. The Council of Ministers is 
 called the Divan, from the circumstance of their 
 having formerly met in a certain room in the palace, 
 which had no other furniture than a divan, or wooden 
 bench placed along the wall, about three feet high, 
 and covered with cushions. It is in this apartment, or 
 rather its successor, that laws are made, suits decided, 
 firmans issued, troops paid, and the representatives of 
 foreign sovereigns prepared for their introduction to 
 the august presence of the Sultan. The Imperial Court 
 itself is usually called by Europeans by the French 
 designation of the Sublime Porte, a name derived from 
 the Bab-Humayon, the principal port or gate of the 
 outer wall of the palace, from which the Imperial edicts 
 are issued. But the principal oflBcers of the household 
 frequently possess great power and influence, and 
 exercise more control over public affairs than the 
 ostensible Ministers, who are sometimes only their 
 instruments or tools. The Sultan has no legal wives, 
 but he chooses several of the odalisques, or women of the 
 palace, generally three or four, never exceeding seven.
 
 1 88 ASIA. 
 
 who bear the title of Kadine or lady, and liave each a 
 
 separate establishment. She who first bears a son is called 
 Chakessi Sultana ; the mothers of the other princes 
 have the name of Sultana Chassecki. The daughters of 
 the Sultan have the title of Sultana ; and, while yet in 
 the cradle, are married to viziers, pashas, and other 
 great officers. Including the eunuchs, women, guards, 
 and others, the court establishment includes 10,000 
 persons it is believed. At the death of a Sultan his 
 wives are removed to the old palace ; but the Sultana 
 Valide, or Sultan's mother — i.e., the mother of the suc- 
 ceeding Sultan — remains in his palace, and is some- 
 times allowed to interfere and use influence in respect 
 to public business. 
 
 For the purposes of administration, the empire is 
 divided into provinces, which are called eyalets, the 
 larger of which are governed by Pashas of three tails, 
 with the ofiicial title of Vizier ; and the smaller by 
 Pashas of two tails, with the title of Merimiran. The 
 eyalets are subdivided into districts called liras or 
 sandjaks, each of which is under the charge of a Pasha 
 of one tail, with the title of Mira-lira, or Sandjak hey ; 
 the cities and towns are governed by Mutselims. These 
 provinces are usually called pashalics by Europeans. 
 Pasha is not, however, an ofiicial title, but is merely a 
 personal honour, like knighthood in Europe, conferred 
 by the Sultan. There are three ranks of pashas : the 
 first, or highest class, have the privilege of bearing a 
 standard of three horse-tails ; the second of two, and
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. 1 89 
 
 the third of one. The pasha is invested with all the 
 powers of absolute government within his province, is 
 the chief of both the military and financial departments 
 and of police and criminal justice, with the power of 
 life and death, of making peace and war ; in short, ot 
 doing what he pleases, so long as he can procure or 
 purchase the favour of the Sultan and his ministers, or 
 set them at defiance. The provinces have almost in- 
 variably been sold to the highest bidder, and the 
 successful pasha of course makes it his business to re- 
 imburse himself for his outlay by means of every 
 possible extortion, and uses his power in the most 
 tyrannical and reckless manner. Nor is this system of 
 venality confined to the sale of provinces ; corruption 
 seems to pervade every department of the State, civil, 
 legal, and ecclesiastical ; and under its baneful influence 
 the provinces have been made little better than deserts, 
 and the empire again and again brought to the verge 
 of ruin. In later years there have been various attempts 
 at reform ; but the progress has been slow. 
 
 The Government and the Heligion of Turkey are 
 inseparable. The law and the religion of the Moslem 
 being both founded on the Koran, the clergy and the 
 lawyers form but one order, named the Chain of the 
 Ulema {i.e. oi the learned), at the head of which is the 
 Grand Mufti, or Sheikh-ul-Islum, who alone holds his 
 office lor liie. He is the fountain of law, and the repre- 
 sentative of the Khalif or Sultan, in his spiritual 
 capacity ; and as all new laws, and even the question
 
 I go ASIA. 
 
 of peace or war, must haveliis sanction, lie thus partici- 
 pates in the legishitive powers of the Sovereign, and 
 bears a share in all the movements of the Government. 
 The chain of the Ulema consists of various ranks, aDcl ad- 
 mission into it and promotion to its highest dignities 
 are nominally open to all ; but here, as everywhere else, 
 birth, wealth, and official influence, are of more value 
 than the qualifications of the candidates. There are 
 schools or colleges, called miidreses, for the instruction 
 of its members, at all the imperial mosques. The first 
 step of promotion obtained by the student is when, after 
 completing the required term of study, his name is in- 
 scribed in the list of those who aspire to legal offices. 
 If he then acquit himself well in the prescribed trials, 
 he obtains a medrese, or professorship, of the lowest 
 income ; and afterwards advances by regular steps to 
 the highest rank of the medreses, that of the Suleiman- 
 yeh, out of which the senior muderis are promoted to 
 the rank of Mahrej-Molla, or superior judges, a body 
 numbering eight, and holding office only for a single 
 lunar year. The next stop of promotion by seniority is 
 to one of the four superior mollaships of Adrianople, 
 Brusa, Damascus, and Cairo ; the next to the two titular 
 mollaships of Mecca and Medina ; one of whom is 
 further promoted in turn to the rank of Istamboul- 
 efFendi, or Master of the Police of Constantinople. 
 From this office, the next step is to that of Kadi-aster 
 of Anadoli ; then to that of Kadi-aster of Roumili ; and, 
 last of all, to the supreme rank of Grand Mufti. Of
 
 TURIvEY IX ASIA. IQI 
 
 course very few can reach these high ofHces ; and the 
 greater part of the students are content with the rank 
 of simple cadis or judges of Naib, or sub-delegates of 
 the judges in the towns and villages throughout the 
 empire. All these officers, except the Grand Mufti, 
 hold their offices only for a lunar year ; and the price 
 which they pay for them is a principal source of the 
 Grand Mufti's revenues. 
 
 Besides the chain of the Ulema there is the Chain of 
 the Sheikhs. The title of Sheikh is borne by the 
 superiors of monasteries, and the preachers at the im- 
 perial mosques. The ministers of religion are a distinct 
 class from the lawyers, and, having assumed sacred 
 functions, can obtain no further advancement. The 
 privileges common to all the members of the clerical 
 body are exemptions from taxes and arbitrary imposts, 
 and from the punishment of death and confiscation. 
 Their systematic organization gives them a firm co- 
 herence, and makes the ecclesiasticism of the Ottoman 
 Empire the strongest part of it. This class naturally 
 supports the present state of things, and forms an 
 almost inseparable bulwark in opposition to all change. 
 The Ulemas have invariably been concerned in ever}' 
 political revolution in the empire, and have uniforml}* 
 shown themselves the enemies of every reforming 
 Sultan. It is difficult to reform law and religion, even 
 when they are taken separately ; but, when united, they 
 offer an inert, or even an active resistance, sufficient to 
 baffle the strongest efforts of the best-intentioned despot.
 
 192 ASIA. 
 
 The religion of Islam, or Mahometanism, professed by 
 so many of the peoples to whom we have had occasion 
 to refer, and by so many others who shall yet come 
 under our notice — the religion of Turkey in all its 
 provinces — is a pure theism. Its creed may be summed 
 up in the brief formula — " There is no God but Allah, 
 and Mohammed is his prophet." It was founded by 
 Mohammed of Mecca, about the year 611 of the Christian 
 era. Its adherents acknowledge the divine authority 
 of Judaism and Christianity; but contend that Moham- 
 med was the last and greatest of the prophets, and that 
 his doctrine has accordingly superseded that of his 
 predecessors. Islam is the name of the religion itself, 
 and signifies submission to God. Those who profess it 
 are called Moslem, Moslemann, Mossolman, or Mussoul- 
 mann {i.e., true believers) ; but among Europeans, they 
 are generally called Mahometans, from the name of 
 their prophet, which in Homan characters is variously 
 expressed : Mohammed, Muhammed, Mahomet, Mah- 
 moud, Mechemet. The princijial precepts of Islam are 
 — 1. Purification; 2. Prayer; 3. Fasting in the month. 
 Ramazam ; during which every kind of food must be 
 abstained from between sunrise and sunset. This 
 abstinence is amply compensated for by the licence 
 which is given to the faithful during the succeeding 
 festival of Bairam ; 4. Almsgiving, the legal amount 
 of which, without regard to casual charity, consists in 
 giving every year to the poor the fourth part of all 
 movable property; 5. Pilgrimage to Mecca. Every
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. I 93 
 
 Mussulman in good health is required to undertake this 
 at least once in his life. Prayer five times a day at set 
 hours is enjoined, but it may be performed at home, or 
 wherever else the individual may happen to be. The 
 solemn prayer on Friday is the only one that must be 
 made at the mosque and along with the congregation. 
 Friday is the holy day of the Mahometans, and is called 
 gemaat (assembly). On this day all believers must re- 
 pair to the mosque at the hour of prayer ; but, during 
 the rest of the day, they are at liberty to work, or do 
 whatever they please. They have two festivals that 
 require absolute rest, one of which is the feast that 
 succeeds the fast of Kamazan. The Mahometans 
 practise the rite of circumcision. They have also 
 adopted the Mosaic distinction of clean and unclean 
 animals. They believe in good and bad angels, and are 
 persuaded that .while evil spirits pursue men incessantly 
 to draw them into evil, good angels are charged by God 
 to support and guide them in the present state of trial. 
 They believe in the immortality of the soul, or rather, 
 to speak correctly, in a future state. They expect a 
 future and final judgment, in which every man will be 
 rewarded according to his works. Mahometanisra for- 
 bids the use of wine and intoxicating liquors. It permits 
 believers to marry four wives, and, moreover, leaves 
 their female slaves at their disposal. Mahometans are 
 devoted in this world to the gratification of their animal 
 propensities, and in the world to come they expect to 
 lead a life of voluptuous enjoyment, amidst cool groves, 
 
 o
 
 194 ASIA. 
 
 upon the banks of clear streams, or beside sparkling 
 fountains, in the company of the Houris, who, always 
 young and ever-blooming, will be constantly ministering 
 to the pleasures of the blessed. The Mussulman is per- 
 suaded that whatever befals him is predestinated, 
 whether it be good or evil. Their doctrines and precepts 
 are all contained in the Koran {i.e. reading or lesson), 
 of which Mahomet pretended that it was gradually and 
 successively revealed to him by the angel Gabriel. It 
 contains the religious, civil, and military code of Ma- 
 hometan law. It is written in Arabic, and that, there- 
 fore, is the sacred language of the Turks, the Persians, 
 and other Mussulman nations. These nations also agree 
 in adopting as their common era the flight of Mahomet 
 from Mecca, which they call Ilegira, or Hejirah (hedge- 
 rah, i.e. the flight). In all their arrangements their 
 years are lunar, and the first of them commences with 
 the 16th of July, a.d. 622. In the early periods of 
 Mahometanism, those princes who succeeded its founder 
 as the chiefs of his new religion were called Khalifo, 
 or Vicars of the Prophet, and also Emir-el-moumanin, 
 Commander of the Faithful. There have naturally been 
 conflicting claims in respect to the right to the Khalifat. 
 The Sultan at Constantinople is only invested with 
 temporal authority, although he considers himself the 
 chief of the Moslems ; the Mufti, in concert with the 
 Ulemas, judges of all questions of doctrine. The King 
 of Persia stands also in the same relation to this religious 
 system. The Emperor of Morocco is the only prince
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. 195 
 
 who pretends to unite in Lis own person the spiritual 
 and the temporal functions, but his political influence 
 is small. In addition to the ordinary and working 
 clergy, if so we may call them, there are in Mahometan 
 countries persons who pretend to lead pious and retired 
 lives, who bear the appellations oi fakirs and dervishes, 
 names derived from the Arabic, and signifying a state 
 of poverty. Of these there are several orders. 
 
 The adherents of Islamism have always been divided 
 into a number of sects, and their schisms have some- 
 times occasioned destructive wars. So small an amount 
 of union obtains among the Mahometans that some of 
 the Mussulman doctors say that " the Magian religion 
 is divided into 70 sects, Judaism into 71, Christianity 
 into 72, and Islam into 73 ; only one of the latter of 
 which can lead to salvation." These divisions began 
 immediately after the death of Mahomet, who left no 
 son, and having neglected to nominate his son-in-law 
 Ali, to be his successor as the head of the new relio-ion, 
 bis companions-in-arms successively elected Abubekr, 
 Omar, and Osman to the khalifat. The principal sects 
 are the Sonnites and the Sheahs. Their differences have 
 respect chiefly to the true succession of the head of their 
 religion after the decease of the prophet. 
 
 In all parts of Turkey in Asia, the productive in- 
 dustry/ of the people is in a most backward and unpro- 
 mising condition. Agriculture is much neglected. 
 Manufactures are slightly better in the larger towns. 
 In dyeing cotton, silk, wool, and skins, the Turks have
 
 ig6 ASIA. 
 
 excelled. But, generally speaking, there Is a complete 
 stagnation of industry, enterprise, and energy. The 
 principal arts and manufactures of Asiatic Turkey are 
 the silk stuffs of Aleppo, Damascus, Mardin, Bagdad, 
 and Brusa ; the cotton stuffs of Mosul, Damascus, 
 Aleppo, Guzel-hisar, Diarbekr, Smyrna, and Manissa ; 
 the cloth of Brusa, Tokat, Amasia, Trebizond, Rizah, 
 Mardin, Bagdad, and Diarbekr ; the ordinary cloth of 
 Khanak-kalesi, Guzel-hisar, and Hillah ; the camlets 
 and shawls of Angora ; the carpets of Brusa, Kara- 
 hisar, Pergamo, Aleppo, Damascus ; the leather of 
 Konieh, Kaisariyah, Kuskin, Diarbekr, Orfa ; the 
 saddles of Aintab ; the bridles of Hillah ; the tobacco 
 of Latakia ; the opium of Kara-hisar ; the stone- ware 
 of Khanak-kalesi and Hillah ; the soaps of Damascus, 
 Bagdad, and Aleppo ; the cutlery of Damascus ; the 
 copper utensils of Tokat and Erzeroum, and the glass 
 of Mardin and Hebron. 
 
 Few countries in the world are better adapted than 
 Ottoman Asia for being the centre of an immense com- 
 merce. Therefore, from the highest antiquity, and 
 throughout the course of the middle ages, this country 
 was the seat of the greatest commerce in the world ; 
 but from want of safety to traders, the absence of great 
 roads and navigable canals, as well as encouragement 
 on the part of the Government, its present trade is 
 scarcely the shadow of what it was in former times. 
 Still, the central position of these fine provinces, the 
 rich productions of their soil, the results of the industry 
 
 I
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. I97 
 
 of some of tlie great towns, and the convenience of the 
 caravans of Damascus and Bagdad, which are used by 
 the pilgrims to Mecca, contribute to the production of 
 commercial enterprise. The business of the interior is 
 the most considerable, and it is carried on by caravans 
 as in other parts of Asia. The maritime trade is con- 
 ducted almost entirely by Europeans, except at Bussrah 
 — the English, the French, the Dutch, the Russians, 
 and the Austrians sharing it among them. 
 
 Of the Cities and Sp:ats of Population in Asiatic 
 Turkey we can notice only the principal, in addition to 
 those which have already come under observation. We 
 shall first regard those of Asia Minor and Armenia. 
 
 Smyrna {Ismir of the Turks) is in lat. 38° 29' N., 
 long. 27° 11' E. It is situated at the bottom of the 
 gulf of the same name, and is built in the form of an 
 amphitheatre, on the slope of a hill, the top of which is 
 crowned with the ruins of a castle. It has a population 
 of 130,000, 10,000 of whom are Spanish Jews. It is 
 governed b}^ a pasha of three tails. The extent and 
 safety of its road for shipping have made it the general 
 emporium of the Levant. The French quarter is in- 
 habited principally by the English, French, Dutch, and 
 Italian merchants, whose persons and property, with 
 those of their families and European servants, are exempt 
 from Turkish rule ; and who in civil, commei'cial and 
 criminal matters recognise no other judges than their 
 own consuls. The Casino was built by subscription. It 
 is a magnificent structure, and there are in it all the
 
 igS ASIA. 
 
 principal periodical publications of Europe. There is 
 also a Greek college ; and a gazette is published in 
 French. The summer heat is very great ; the ther- 
 mometer in July, in a cool room with the shutters 
 closed, varying from 78° to 83°, and in the shade, out 
 of doors, from 84° to 94° ; but the heat is generally 
 temjiered by a westerly breeze called the inbat, which 
 continues from mid-day till sunset. Hot winds blow 
 occasionally from the south and burn up the country. 
 Manissa (Magnesia) is a large town 25 miles north-east 
 of Smyrna, which has a flourishing trade and extensive 
 plantations of saffron. The population is 100,000. 
 Fokia is 25 miles north-west of Smyrna, and is built on 
 the site of the ancient Phoca3a, renowned for its colonies 
 in Spain and Gaul, one of the most distinguished being 
 Marsilia (Marseilles). Sart (Sardis) is 50 miles to the 
 east, and is a miserable village, inhabited by a few 
 Turks ; but it is the site of the splendid capital of the 
 Lydian kings. The principal ruins are those of the 
 great church, the temple of Cybele, and the tomb of 
 Alyattes, the father of Croesus, which consist of a conical 
 hill of earth 200 feet high, and 4,000 round the base. 
 There are similar monuments of smaller size around it. 
 Ak'hisar (anc. Thyatira) is 60 miles east of Smyrna. 
 Allah-Shehr (anc. Philadelphia), is 85 miles, and is said 
 to contain more than a dozen Christian churches, and 
 the bulk of the population is nominally Christian. 
 Pergamo is 48 miles to the north, and is a large and still 
 flourishing town. There is a magnificent temple to the
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. 1 99 
 
 honour of iEsculapius, and a great library, inferior only 
 to that of Alexandria, and to this place is due the in- 
 vention of parchment [charta pergamena). 
 
 Brusa, or Prusa, is about 63 miles south-by- east in 
 a straight line from Constantinople. The most re- 
 markable buildings are the Oulou-jami, or chief mosque, 
 which dates from the Ottoman conquest of the city. 
 This was formerly the capital of the kings of Bithynia, 
 and was afterwards the seat of the Ottoman empire till 
 the taking of Adrianople. The population is 100,000. 
 Mondania is the port of Brusa. Kutahya is 180 miles 
 east-north-east of Smyrna, and has a population of 
 50,000. Konieh is a large town 300 miles east-by- south 
 of Smyrna. It has a population of 30,000, and has a 
 mosque built on the model of St. Sophia at Constanti- 
 nople. Tokat is a large town of about 30,000 people. 
 Trcbizond, on the coast of the Black Sea, has, since its 
 foundation, been a place of importance. There are in 
 it about 30,000 people, Greeks, Armenians and Ma- 
 hometans. Amasia is the ancient metropolis of Pontus, 
 and the birth-place of Mithridates, and of Strabo the 
 geographer. Sinub (Sinope) still contains about 5,000 
 inhabitants. It was anciently the capital of Pontus, to 
 which the rule was transferred from Amasia. 
 
 Erzeroum is the chief town of Armenia. It is situ- 
 ated in a fertile plain, lat. 39° 55' 12" JST., long. 41° 17' 
 E. The plain is 30 or 40 miles in length, and from 
 15 to 20 in breadth. The pashalic yields in rank and 
 extent only to that of Bagdad, The population is
 
 200 ASIA. 
 
 130,000, but it fluctuates so much by tbe arrival and 
 departure of strangers that it is sometimes as low as 
 25,000. 
 
 Kars, celebrated in recent years for a noble defence 
 against war and siege, is now little better than a heap 
 of ruins. Such is war. It is governed by a pasha of 
 two tails. Formerly it contained about 2,000 families. 
 Only time can restore it to its former condition. Van 
 is a town on the great lake to which it gives its name, 
 and is one of the bulwarks of the Ottoman Empire in 
 its contests with Persia. It is a business place, and has 
 about 12,000 inhabitants. It has always been called 
 the town of Semiramis, and the people of the neighbour- . 
 hood still venerate the memory of the Assyrian kings. 
 
 In Syria and Palestine we have many towns, mostly 
 in ruins, but well worthy of remark. 
 
 Haleb (Khelbon of Ezekiel), Chalybon and Beroea of 
 the Greeks, Aleppo of the Franks, is situated on the 
 banks of the Koikh, and of all the Ottoman cities was 
 inferior only to Constantinople and Cairo in extent, 
 population and wealth. It used to have a population 
 of 250,000, but by two successive earthquakes in 1822 
 more than half the city was destroyed, and its finest 
 buildings ruined or injured. But still there are in 
 Aleppo 4,000 looms employed. The beauty of Aleppo 
 is in its gardens. The town is about 60 miles from the 
 sea on the one side, and about the same distance from 
 the Euphrates on the other. 
 
 Scanderoon, Ishendertm, or Alexandretta, is 60 miles
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. 201 
 
 west-north-'west of Ilalet. Latakia is 90 miles south- 
 west-by-west of Halet. Antakia (anc. Antiochia, or 
 Antioch the Great) is 60 miles west of Aleppo, on the 
 banks of the Orontes. It was once the proud capital of 
 Syria, with 700,000 inhabitants, but is now a town in 
 ruins, with not more than 20,000 people. The ancient 
 Seleucia, the port of Antioch, still retains some stupen- 
 dous relics of its former greatness. Palmyra, the 
 Tadmor of Scripture, is a mass of impressive ruins. It 
 is the residue of a vast commercial city, which was at 
 its greatest in the third century. The present inhabi- 
 tants are a few Arabs, who occupy about 30 mud huts 
 among the ruins. Aintab, 65 miles north-by-east of 
 the great pass leading between Mount Hhosus and 
 Amanus from Aleppo to Scanderoon, is a town of 20,000 
 inhabitants. At Manhe], 56 miles east-by-north, there 
 are still standing walls which attest the ancient great- 
 ness of Mabog or Hierapolis (Holy town), sacred to the 
 worship of the Syrian goddess Astarte, called in Scrip- 
 ture the Queen of Heaven. 
 
 Tripoli, lat. 34° 26', long. 35°, 52', is surrounded by 
 luxuriant gardens, and is one of the finest towns in 
 Syria. The population is about 15,000. Acre ov Akka, 
 or St. John d'Acre, was a place of great importance in 
 the time of the Crusades, and sustained many sieges 
 alternately from the Saracens and the Christians. The 
 harbour is the best on the coast. Acre is the great 
 mart for the cotton of Syria, and the principal com- 
 mercial nations of Europe have consuls here. Mount
 
 202 - ASIA. 
 
 Carmel forms the south-west side of the Bay of Acre. It 
 terminates in a rocky promontory about 2,000 feet high, 
 containing a number of grottoes once occupied as cells 
 and chapels by the austere order of monks called Car- 
 melites. There are still a few remaining, who lead a 
 recluse life, and who have their wants supplied by the 
 Mahometans, who venerate their character. Nazra 
 (Nazareth) is 20 miles from Acre, and is only a village 
 of 3,000 people. But there is a Latin convent, and the 
 church of the Annunciation is the finest in Palestine 
 after that of Bethlehem and the Church of the Holy 
 Sepulchre at Jerusalem. Sur or Tyre, 28 miles north- 
 by-east of Acre, was once the q\ieen of the sea, the 
 cradle of commerce, and the chief city of Phoenicia, but 
 it contains now only about a dozen miserable huts, which 
 shelter a few fishermen. Sidon (Saide), the mother 
 city of Tyre, is 23 miles farther north, and is still 
 a considerable town, though somewhat decayed. 
 
 Beyrout is one of the ancient cities of Phoenicia, and 
 has more commercial activity than any other Syrian 
 port. Baalbec, about 50 miles distant, is now a mere 
 village of 200 inhabitants. 
 
 Damascus (El Sham of the Arabs) is situated in a 
 beautiful plain, on the east side of Eastern Lebanon, 
 watered by numerous streams which flow from the 
 mountains into the desert. The plain is so extensive 
 that the hills which bound it to the north and south 
 can barely be discerned from the opposite sides. The 
 gardens are planted with a great variety of fruit-trees,
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. 203 
 
 which are kept fresh and green by the waters of the 
 Barrada, and many of the streets have rivulets running- 
 along them from the same source. There are many 
 mosques and minarets. The gardens which compass 
 the city extend not less than 30 miles. The principal 
 mosque was formerly a Christian church, and it is 
 now held so sacred that Europeans are rarely permitted 
 to enter it. This jjreat building: is one of the finest 
 which the zeal of the early Christians produced. The 
 architecture, which is Corinthian, is of superior beauty 
 and variety. Next to it in architectural importance is 
 the grand Khan, a large and splendid building, with a 
 very lofty roof supported by granite pillars, and sur- 
 mounted by a large dome in the centre. The popula- 
 tion is about 100,000. The city has lost the manufacture 
 of sword-blades, for which it was formerly famous ; 
 but it has still considerable manufactures in silk and 
 cotton. Damascus is a place of the highest antiquity, 
 and is the point of union for the caravans of pilgrims 
 from the north and east of Asia. These caravans, with 
 the pilgrims who travel in connection with them, greatly 
 promote the trade of the city. The ancient Boszrah is 
 63 miles to the south of Damascus, still celebrated for 
 its vineyards, but now inhabited by only about 
 fifteen families. 
 
 Jerusalem,, in many respects so important, has been 
 so frequently and fully made the subject of description, 
 that we need not occupy space in regard to it. It is 
 called El Khoddes by the Arabs, is situated in lat.
 
 204 ASIA. 
 
 30° 48', long. 35° 14', and stands on four small hills, 
 nearly surrounded by deep ravines, and is enclosed 
 with Gothic embattled walls, about two miles and a half 
 in circumference. The houses are heavy, square masses. 
 The streets are narrow and unpaved. The population 
 is estimated at from 20,000 to 30,000. There are no 
 manufactures except of objects accounted sacred. These 
 holy toys are purchased in large numbers by pilgrims 
 and travellers. The principal support of the city 
 is derived from the numerous pilgrims who resort to it. 
 The greatest and most conspicuous edifice is the mosque 
 of Omar, built on the site of the Temple, and inferior in 
 holiness only to the BeituUah (House of God) at Mecca. 
 It is an octagon standing in the middle of an oblong 
 square area, paved with white marble. The walls are 
 externally covered with painted tiles, adorned with 
 arabesques and verses from the Koran in gold letters, 
 and, altogether, it is one of the finest buildings in the 
 Mohammedan world. It stands on the east side of the 
 city overlooking the deep valley of Jehoshaphat. There 
 are still in its vicinity undoubted remains of the former 
 really sacred edifice, whose position it has supplanted. 
 The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built by Helena, 
 the mother of Constantino the Great, on a site which is 
 supposed to include the scene of the greatest events of 
 the Christian religion — the crucifixion, the entomb- 
 ment, and the resurrection of the Saviour, The original 
 structure having been destroyed by fire, the present 
 building was erected by the Greeks and Armenians, at
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. 205 
 
 an expense of £200,000. Xot many Catholics visit it. 
 Of the many thousands who visit Jerusalem in Lent, 
 the most are of Greek, Armenian, and other Oriental 
 churches. So has died out the spirit of the Crusades. 
 
 Bethlehem, where the Saviour was born, is seven miles 
 distant from Jerusalem. It is still a considerable village 
 of nearly 4,000 inhabitants. There is a fine church, 
 built over the place of the nativit3\ Jericho is a miser- 
 able village, called Rayah, with about fifty huts. Hebron 
 is a cheerful town. Nahlous (Shechem) is one of the 
 most prosperous places in the Holy Land; its inhabitants 
 number about 10,000. Jcjfa or Yafia (formerly Joppa) 
 is one of the most ancient seaports in Palestine. It is 
 the port of Jerusalem. 
 
 Samaria retains its distinctiveness. It is a hilly 
 country, with intervening valleys, productive of wheat, 
 silk, and olives. 
 
 Contemplating Turkey in Asia, Scutari must of 
 necessity be named. It is the ancient Chrysopolis, on 
 the Bosphorus, opposite to Constantinople, and some- 
 times considered a suburb of that capital. It is built 
 on several hills, has a palace and large gardens belong- 
 ing to the Sultan, and about 60,000 people. 
 
 Constantinople, though not in Asia, is the capital of 
 Turkey in Asia, as also in Europe, and, ruling so large 
 a part of Asia, it naturally comes into consideration. 
 The Turks call it Stamboul. It is almost surrounded by 
 water, having the sea of Marmora and the Bosphorus 
 on the south and east, and the Golden Horn, an inlet of
 
 205 ASIA. 
 
 the latter, on the north. On the opposite side of the 
 Golden Horn are the suburbs of Galata, Pera, and 
 Tophana. There are about 300 mosques in Constanti- 
 nople, many of them distinguished by great grandeur 
 and beauty. The largest is that of Suleimania, standing 
 in the middle of a large square, and surrounded by an 
 arcade resting on pillars of granite and marble. Next 
 to it in extent, and of much older date, is the mosque 
 of St. Sophia, the pattern of almost every mosque in the 
 land. It was originally a Christian church. It was 
 afterwards burnt ; but restored by Theodosius the 
 younger in 415. The present building was erected by 
 Justinian. It was less than seven years in building. 
 Ten thousand workmen were employed. The materials 
 were procured from every part of the empire, and com- 
 prised the remains of many celebrated pagan temples. 
 It is rich in its furniture as well as in its structure, 
 there being many vessels of gold employed in the 
 service. It cost £13,000,000. The bazaars and squares 
 of Constantinople are numerous, but in no way very 
 remarkable. The population has been variously esti- 
 mated at the wide range of from 400,000 to 700,000, 
 and is composed of Turks, Arabians, Greeks, Arme- 
 nians, Jews, and Europeans. The streets are dull and 
 ill-paved. The throng in the evenings is in the coffee- 
 houses. Dogs, without owners, infest the whole place. 
 The public is ill-supplied with the means of hired con- 
 veyance. There are " sedan-chairs," but the most 
 ordinary means of transport are caiques, a kind of
 
 TURKEY IN ASIA. 207 
 
 boat, of whicli there are about 80,000, and which may 
 be hired like cabs in a European city. 
 
 Such is Turkey in Asia — a country or series of 
 countries, many parts of which abound in natural re- 
 sources, both above the ground and below it, but these 
 almost universally fail to yield what they might because 
 of the lack of spirit in the supreme government, the 
 cupidity of local rulers, and the absence of industry and 
 enterprise on the part of the people. These were once 
 lands of light, but they are now shrouded in darkness, 
 or in the haze of bewildering superstition
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 AKABIA. 
 
 T^HERE is no country whose characteristics are more 
 marked than those of Arabia. Extending from the 
 mouth of the Nile eastward to the Euphrates, a distance 
 of a thousand miles, and from the Arabian Gulf north- 
 ward to the region around Palmyra, a space of fourteen 
 hundred miles, it may be regarded as one great sea of 
 sand. Its mighty rocks seem like waves, whose tumul- 
 tuous waters had been suddenly arrested in the midst 
 of a storm, and congealed in all fantastic shapes into 
 granite. " Araby the Blest " is the chief of its isles, — 
 rich, fertile and luxuriant. Its islets are innumerable : 
 oases are embosomed in every valley, and surround 
 every fountain ; one being startled to find them so green 
 and beautiful in such a waste. But the general aspect 
 is uninviting, uninteresting, and repulsive. The sun 
 smites it by day, and the moon by night. 
 
 But, with one exception, there is no other land which 
 may be compared with this in historic interest and
 
 ARABIA. 209 
 
 moral power. From one of its desert parts, the region 
 of Sinai, came forth that system of monotheism which 
 shone as a light for ages amid the darkness of heathen- 
 dom, and which involved in it, though obscurely re- 
 vealed, all the peculiar and remedial elements of 
 Christianity. And from another of its desert parts 
 came forth, in a later age, that gigantic system, which, 
 originating in imposture, yet recognising the unity of 
 God and the exclusiveness of his worship as its fii-st 
 principle, at a time when Christianity itself was reduced 
 by those who professed its name to a cunningly- devised 
 idolatry, has been a scourge to many nations, and a 
 blight on their hearts and minds for thirteen centuries. 
 
 We are indebted to this land for our science as well as 
 for our religion. Many of our present names for the 
 elementary sciences are derived from its primeval 
 language. Alphabet and cipher, algebra, alchemy, and 
 chemistry, almagest and almanack, are Syro-Arabian 
 words. And though astronomy, and geography, and 
 navigation, have acquired new names of European 
 derivation, they, no less than astrology, and magic, and 
 divination, were cultivated by the nations which spoke 
 the various dialects of the Syro-Arabian, including the 
 people of Arabia Proper, of which we speak, and prove 
 the energy with which they sought, both to unravel the 
 secrets of the material universe, and to solve those dark 
 and mysterious problems which have perplexed the 
 thinking mind of every age. 
 
 Arabia is divided into two unequal parts by a vallc}-, 
 P
 
 2 10 ASIA. 
 
 which extends from the Dead Sea to the Eastern or 
 Elanitic Gulf of the Eed Sea. On the west this valley 
 is bounded by a lofty line of cliffs, forming an abut- 
 ment of the Desert of Sinai, which has a general eleva- 
 tion of twelve or fifteen hundred feet above its bed. 
 On the east the mountains of Edom rise a thousand feet 
 above the opposite bluffs on the west, and raise the 
 plateau of the great eastern desert to a similar elevation 
 above that of the western. Both the eastern and 
 western mountain boundaries are intersected by in- 
 numerable wadj^s (valleys), but there are none of them 
 made glad by a perennial stream. The occasional 
 torrents which flow down through them are partly 
 lost in the sands of " The Plain," and partly find their 
 way to the Red Sea on the south, and to the Dead Sea 
 on the north. 
 
 The existence of the great valley of the Arabah 
 between the two seas was unknown until the present 
 century. 
 
 The Arabs derive their name from Yarab, said to be 
 one of the sons of Joktan, and the founder of the 
 kingdom of Yemen. The popular opinion has long 
 been that the inhabitants of Arabia are the descendants 
 of Ishmael. This is likewise their own opinion. The 
 earliest inhabitants of Arabia seem to have been the 
 posterity of Gush, who sent colonies across the Red Sea 
 to the opposite coast of Africa, and hence Gush became 
 a general name for both Arabian and African Ethiopia. 
 Dr. Kitto savs, " There can be no doubt that the
 
 ARABIA. 2 1 1 
 
 descendants of Islimael form so large and absorbing 
 a part of the Arabian population as to allow us, in a 
 general sense, to consider him as the progenitor of 
 that great and extraordinary nation." Of Ishmael it 
 was predicted, " He will be a wild man ; his hand will 
 be against every man, and every man's hand against 
 him." This means, in short, that he and his de- 
 scendants should lead the life of the Bedouins of the 
 Arabian deserts. The designation wild is precisely 
 the term by which we should choose to characterize 
 Arabs. The hand of the Arab is now as ever against 
 ever}^ man. Aggression on all the world has become a 
 condition of the existence of these people. 
 
 The scene of the giving of the Law is still a question 
 with travellers and geographers, but the prej)onderance 
 of evidence seems to be in favour of the present Horeb, 
 and the plain of Er-Rahah. The highest summit, on 
 the ridge of which Iloreb is the extremit}', is called 
 Jebel Musa, and is regarded by tradition as the spot on 
 which God appeared to Moses, and where the Ten 
 Commandments were proclaimed in such circumstances 
 of grandeur and awe. In the middle of the third 
 century of the Christian era these mountains were the 
 refuge of Egyptian Christians in times of persecution, 
 where they were sometimes seized as slaves by the 
 Saracens or Arabs. The whole region is most desolate. 
 There is a monastery, and there are the remains of many 
 convents, chapels, and hermitages, with perhaps six 
 or seven thousand monks and hermits dispersed over
 
 2 I 2 ASIA. 
 
 the mountains. The convent of St. Catherine was 
 founded by the Emperor Justinian, a.d. 527. The 
 monks are ignorant and credulous. Their library con- 
 tains 1,500 Greek volumes and 700 Arabic manuscripts, 
 but is entirely neglected. Bibles, presented to them 
 by the Rev. Joseph Wolff, for their own perusal, have 
 been thrown carelessly aside and forgotten. But not 
 so is it with the vain dreams of their superstition. The 
 holy place of the Church of St. Catherine is the " Chapel 
 of the burning bush " behind the altar. It is customary 
 for all who enter' to put their shoes from off their 
 feet ; and all respect is shown to the edifice. 
 
 The rock-inscriptions of the peninsula of Sinai are 
 involved in mystery. They extend along the route 
 from the Gulf of Suez to the very base of Sinai, but are 
 found neither on Jebel Miisa, nor on the present Horeb, 
 nor on St. Catherine, nor in the Valley of the Convent. 
 Not one has yet been found to the eastward of Sinai. 
 The place where they exist in the greatest number is 
 the Wady Mukatteb, the " Written Yalley," through 
 which the usual road passes to Sinai. They here occur 
 in thousands. In the immediate vicinity of the Wady 
 Mukatteb is another valley, famous for inscriptions of 
 another order. It is the Wady Magharah, or "The 
 Yalley of the Cave." The faces of the rocks are every- 
 where cut into tablets, and covered with hieroglyphics, 
 many of them beautifully executed. These are the 
 most ancient sculptures in the world; and yet it is 
 evident that when they were executed the arts were by
 
 ARABIA. 2 1 3 
 
 no means in their infancy, but that centuries must have 
 elapsed since their unknown and remote origin. 
 
 On the east of the valley of the Arabah there is a 
 country of vast extent, and of interest only inferior to 
 that of the peninsula of Sinai. The first part of this 
 great territory, if one travels from Sinai, is a border of 
 mountains — the mountains of Edom. This part of 
 Arabia is commonly called " Stony." The chief town is 
 Petra, which name itself means a rock. Arabia Deserta 
 lies eastward of Arabia Petraea, and extends on the 
 north to Syria, on the north-east to the Euphrates, and 
 on the south-east to the Indian Ocean. The third 
 division of Arabia, Arabia Felix, feels the efiects of its 
 proximity to Arabia Deserta. It forms the coast of the 
 Hed Sea, which bounds it on the west, and of that part 
 of the Indian Ocean which terminates Arabia on the 
 south. This is called the Hedjaz, or "Land of Pil- 
 grimage." It is the birth-place and cradle of the 
 Mahometan imposture, containing both Mecca, where 
 the prophet was born, and Medina, where he was buried. 
 It is the holy land of the Moslems, whither they resort 
 from all parts of the East. It is in this country that we 
 must look for the Sheba, whose queen was attracted to 
 Jerusalem by the fame of Solomon. 
 
 It is proper to remark here on the permanence of 
 Arabian customs. The Arabians are now what they 
 were at an early period of their history, and the lapse 
 of time which has broken other nations to pieces, and 
 scattered them from land to land, still finds these people
 
 2 1 4 ASIA. 
 
 the same. There have been changes. It is morally 
 impossible for any people, even of one blood and of one 
 land, to pass through a long series of ages without 
 some change. Mahometanism itself was a great change, 
 the effect of which, in modifying the habits of the people, 
 has never yet, perhaps, been truly estimated by 
 European writers. But in all the ordinary customs 
 of life the people remain the same. The Arabs are 
 physically a fine race of men. Mr. Layard says, " The 
 Shemite possesses in the highest degree what we call 
 imagination. The poor and ignorant Arab, whether 
 of the desert or town, moulds with clay the jars for his 
 daily wants in a form which may be traced in the most 
 elegant vases of Greece or Home ; and, what is no less 
 remarkable, identical with that represented on monu- 
 ments raised by his ancestors three thousand years 
 before. If he speaks, he shows a ready eloquence ; his 
 words are glowing and apposite ; his descriptions true, 
 yet brilliant ; his similes just, yet most fanciful. 
 These high qualities seem to be innate in him ; he 
 takes no pains to cultivate or improve them ; he knows 
 nothing of reducing them to any rule, or measuring 
 them by any standard." But the moral condition of 
 the Arabs is not good. The spirits that dwell in the 
 well- formed bodies of the Arabs are godless and unholy. 
 This country was the scene of a very early civilisation. 
 Of this we have abundant illustration in the recent 
 discoveries which have been made on the plains of 
 Assyria. The book of Job is probably the oldest in
 
 ARABIA. 2 1 5 
 
 existence. The scene of its events was Arabia, and as 
 illustrated by the remains of Nineveh we see a life- 
 like picture of the state of Arabia. The art of writing 
 was known there, as we see, at a very early period. 
 The allusions of the book exhibit a familiar acquaintance 
 with metals, and their origin and uses. The history of 
 the introduction of the Christian religion into Arabia 
 Petraea is involved in obscurity. Paul " went into 
 Arabia " from Damascus at a very early period after 
 his conversion (Gal. i. 17). The invasion of the 
 Crusaders shed a few faint rays of light on the dark- 
 ness of this land ; but it was short-lived. It melted 
 away before the victorious arms of the Sultan Saladin, 
 and in a.d. 1188 ceased to be. Burekhardt was the 
 first European who, in modern times, penetrated into 
 this region. He visited it in 1812. But the publica- 
 tion of the great work of Laborde and Linant, in 1830, 
 forms quite an era in our knowledge of Arabia. Dr. 
 Pobinson and his fellow-travellers arrived in "Wady 
 Musa on the 30th of May, 1838, and they have made 
 us familiar with the country as we previously were not. 
 Dr. "Wilson followed in the track of Dr. Robinson. 
 Captains Irby and Mangles were the first Europeans of 
 modern times to ascend to the top of Mount Hor. 
 Here is the reputed tomb of Aaron, which is nothing 
 more than a small Mahometan mosque. 
 
 The races which now possess this territory belong in 
 general to that great family of tribes which are scattered 
 over the entire region lying between Egypt and Assyria.
 
 2l6 ASIA. 
 
 In the part called Jebel, whicli is the northern portion 
 of Idumsea or Arabia, and in Esh-Sherah, the southern, 
 are the Fellahin, or tillers of the ground, who are half 
 Bedouin in their manners, inhabiting the few villages, 
 but dwelling likewise partly in tents. The chief tribe 
 of Bedouins in the district of Jebel are the Hejaya. 
 Besides these there is also a branch of the Ka'abiuch, 
 who dwell in the region of Wady-el-Ashy, and sow 
 near a well called El-Malih. In the district of Esh- 
 Sherah, the Bedouins are all Haweitat, with a few allies. 
 This is an extensive tribe, broken up into several sub- 
 divisions, and dwelling in various and distant parts of 
 the country. 
 
 Like the patriarchs of old, these people live in tents. 
 The wealthy among them have two sets of tent-cover- 
 ings — one new and strong for winter, the other old and 
 light for summer. They encamp in summer near wells, 
 where they frequently remain for a whole month at a 
 time, their flocks and herds pasturing all around, at 
 a distance of several hours, under the care of slaves or 
 shepherds, who bring them every second or third day 
 to the well for water. It is on these occasions that one 
 tribe of Arabs makes an attack upon another ; for it be- 
 comes known that certain people are encamped near a 
 particular well, and may be easily surprised. If anything 
 of this kind be apprehended, the men of the encamp- 
 ment are in constant readiness for defence, and each 
 keeps a saddled camel before his tent, so that all may 
 hasten the more quickly to the assistance of their
 
 ARABIA. 2 I 7 
 
 shepherds. Most wells in the interior of the desert are 
 exclusive property, either of a whole tribe or of indi- 
 viduals whose ancestors dug the wells. If a well be 
 the property of a tribe, the tents are pitched near it 
 whenever rain water becomes scarce in the desert, and 
 no others are then permitted to water their camels 
 there. But if the well belongs to an individual, he 
 repairs it in summer time, taking the assistance of his 
 tribe, and receives presents from all strange tribes who 
 pass by the well or encamp at it, and refresh their 
 camels with its water ; and these presents are par- 
 ticularly exacted if a party should pass on its return 
 home after plundering an enemy. The property of 
 such a well is never alienated ; and the Arabs say that 
 the possessor is sure to prosper, inasmuch as all who 
 drink of the water bestow on him their benediction. 
 
 It is the practice, whatever may be the form of en-* 
 campment, to place the chief's tent always outermost, 
 on the side from which either friend or foe is expected. 
 The Syrian Arabs expect their enemies and their guests 
 from the west, and it is even disgraceful for a great 
 man to pitch his tent on the eastern side. The custom 
 must have been the same in the time of Abraham. 
 
 The law of blood-revenge is universal throughout the 
 whole Arabian family. The Arab regards this blood- 
 revenge, which extends to the fifth generation, as one 
 of his most sacred rights as well as duties, and no con- 
 sideration would induce him to relinquish it. The two 
 tribes of Omran and Heywat act upon a rule which
 
 2 1 8 ASIA. 
 
 forms an exception to the general Bedouin system of 
 blood-revenge. When one of their people is killed by 
 an unknown hand of a known tribe, they think them- 
 selves justified in retaliating upon any individual of 
 that tribe, either innocent or guilty ; and if the afiair 
 be compromised, the whole tribe contribute to make up 
 the fine in proportion to the respective property of each 
 tent. For this reason, the Arabs say that " the Omran 
 and Heywat strike sideways," — a practice which is 
 much dreaded by their neighbours. 
 
 The property of an Arab consists almost entirely of 
 his horses and camels. The profits arising from his 
 butter enables him to procure the necessary provisions 
 of wheat and barle}^, and occasionally a new suit of 
 clothes for his wife and daughters. His mare ever^'- 
 spring produces a valuable colt, and by her means he 
 may also expect to be able to enrich himself with booty. 
 No Arab family can exist without one camel at least. 
 A man who has but ten is reckoned poor. Thirty or 
 forty place a man in easy circumstances ; and he who 
 possesses sixty is rich. There are tribes originally 
 poor, among whom, from the possession of ten camels, 
 a man is reckoned wealth}'. There are other tribes the 
 Sheikhs of which have as many as 300 camels. But 
 wealth among the Arabs is extremely precarious, and 
 the most rapid changes of fortune are daily experienced. 
 The bold incursions of robbers, and sudden attacks of 
 hostile parties, reduce the richest man to beggary in a 
 few days.
 
 ARABIA. 2 1 9 
 
 Tlie position of the women is very degraded. To 
 them are assigned all the menial offices of the tents. 
 They are regarded as much inferior to men, and, although 
 seldom treated with neglect or indifference, they are 
 always taught that their sole business is cooking and 
 working. "While a girl remains unmarried, she enjoj's 
 much more respect than a married woman ; for the 
 fathers think it an honour to possess an unmarried girl 
 in the family, and expect to derive profit from the 
 presents anticipated when she shall become a wife. 
 Once married, a Bedouin woman becomes a mere 
 servant, busily occupied the whole day, while her 
 husband is stretched out in his own apartment, com- 
 fortably smoking his pipe. He says his wife ought to 
 work at home, since he undergoes so much fatigue on 
 journeys. The fetching of water is the most toilsome 
 part of the work of the Bedouin women. The tents are 
 not often pitched close to a well ; if this should be but 
 half an hour's distance from the camp it is not thought 
 necessary that the water should be brought upon camels, 
 and the women must carry it every evening on their 
 backs in long water-skins. 
 
 The women do not eat with the men. They take 
 what is left. There is thus a painful degradation of the 
 one half of the human kind. 
 
 Those are the races which now possess the mountains 
 and fastnesses of Arabia — ancient Edom. This land, 
 naturally possessing " the fatness of the earth, ^' in many 
 parts of it, was the abode of civilisation from the very
 
 2 20 ASIA. 
 
 dawn of history, and rose to a high condition by culti- 
 vation and commerce ; but it is now " a land of barren- 
 ness and of the shadow of death." Laborde says, 
 " Every one that passeth by Edom is astonished at it." 
 " Its present aspect would belie its ancient history," 
 says Dr. Keith, " were not that history corroborated by 
 the many vestiges of former cultivation, by the remains 
 of walls and paved roads, and by the ruins of cities 
 still existing in this desolated country." 
 
 The Arabs are of the Caucasian or white race of 
 mankind, and they speak various dialects of the Semitic 
 language, which are all classed under the general name 
 of Arabic. 
 
 The character of the country keeps the Arabs divided 
 into petty tribes, and nowhere admits of large bodies 
 being consolidated into powerful states. The Arab 
 governments are therefore of the simplest kind, and 
 their princes have very limited powers. 
 
 Mecca is situated in the Holy Land of Arabia, in a 
 barren valle}-, N, lat. 21° 36', E. long. 40^^ 20', and is 
 two days' journey from Jiddah on the Red Sea. Ishmael 
 and his mother took refuge here after having been 
 driven from the house of Abraham. The Arabs say 
 that Abraham visited Ishmael several times at Mecca, 
 and built the Kaaba, which has ever since been an 
 object of religious veneration. Mecca is a handsome 
 town, built of stone. The population, probably, is about 
 30,000. The people are an idle and desolate race, 
 depending upon the visits of the pilgrims, who number,
 
 ^ 
 
 3 f 
 
 
 
 RUINS AT PETRA.
 
 ARABIA. 2 2 I 
 
 on tlie average, about 100,000 a year. It used to bean 
 independent state, but is now under tlie dominion of 
 Turkey. 
 
 Medina is about 250 miles N. by W. of Mecca. It 
 is a small town. The great object of attraction is the 
 mosque which contains the tomb of Mahomet, and of the 
 first two caliphs, Abukehr and Omar. In Yemen, Saana 
 is the capital of the Imamat of Saana, which is one of the 
 most powerful states of Arabia. It occupies a beautiful 
 valley about 4,000 feet above the level of the sea, and 
 has 40,000 inhabitants. Mocha is 160 miles S.W. of 
 Saana, and is a decayed town with 3,000 houses. This 
 was formerly the port from which all the exports of 
 Yemen were dispatched — coffee being among them. 
 Zehicl is 60 miles north of Mocha, a town of 8,000 
 inhabitants. Aden, on the coast of the Indian Ocean, 
 was once a great emporium of commerce, and has still 
 a good harbour ; but its trade has been lost, and the 
 town is in ruins. The English government has taken 
 possession of Aden, and the population is rapidly in- 
 creasing. 
 
 In Oman, Muscat is a large town in N. lat. 23° 38', 
 long. 58^^ 42' E., in the gorge of an extensive pass. 
 It is somewhat mean as a town ; but it is the principal 
 seaport of Oman. The common language is Hin- 
 dostanee. The population, including the suburb of 
 Matereahj is estimated at 60,000.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PERSIA. 
 
 rriHIS was formerly a very extensive kingdom. But 
 Russia has pressed it down, and its Turkish 
 neighbour has also limited its sway. It still rules, 
 however, over a territory of from about eight hundred 
 to a thousand miles square. It lies between 26° and 
 40° north latitude, and 44® and 59° east longitude. 
 The present population may be estimated at ten millions. 
 The provinces of Persia are Fars, Irak, Laristan, 
 Kuristan, a portion of Kurdistan, Azerbijan, Ghilan, 
 Mazanderan, and the western sections of Khorasan 
 and Kerman. The capital at present is Teheran, in 
 the province of Irak, which is in the northern part 
 of the kingdom. Elam is the ancient Scriptural 
 name of Persia. Iran is the designation given by 
 the people themselves to their country. The general 
 aspect of the towns and villages of Persia is very un- 
 inviting. The houses are of three orders, corre- 
 sponding in appearance and expense to the higher, the
 
 PERSIA. 223 
 
 middle, and the lower classes of the people. The 
 outsides are plastered with a mixture of mud and cut 
 straw ; but, in those of the better class, the rooms 
 internally are tastefully covered with white gypsum 
 much firmer, harder and more dazzlingly white than 
 anything we possess, and the floors are covered with 
 rich carpets. What may be called the middle-class 
 houses are frequently plastered inside with a material 
 which corresponds with that of the outside, and, of 
 course, the decorations and furnishing are also inferior. 
 The roofs are flat. The lowest class of dwellings is of a 
 very inferior order. 
 
 As soon as it is light a Persian performs his morning 
 devotions. After an early meal, which varies according 
 to circumstances, but in which fruit and coffee always 
 have their place, there comes the business of the day. 
 In the evenings the people are given to visiting. 
 
 The Persians have but little sternness or firmness of 
 character. They are supple and intriguing under the 
 cover of great politeness. As to Religion, the ancient 
 Persians were not worshippers of images. Their idols 
 were the natural elements, and in particular fire, as 
 the purest and most characteristic symbol of God. This 
 superstition is not yet extinct. But the Moslem religion 
 now prevails in Persia, and is there much like what 
 it is in other countries. It must be understood that 
 the law and doctrine of those who may be called the 
 orthodox Moslems — as the Arabians, Turks, and others 
 — are derived from the Koran, in the first instance,
 
 2 24 ASIA. 
 
 but are supplemented by traditional sayings, and tbe 
 two became consolidated into one general belief. There 
 came to be a schism ; a section was called the Sunnee. 
 The four sects or schools founded by them have been 
 denominated the four pillars of the Sunnee faith, 
 and each of them has a separate oratory in the temple 
 of Mecca. The parties are, however, disposed to act in 
 unison in defence of the common faith. 
 
 The Sheahs have for three centuries and a half been 
 predominant in Persia. The name Sheah means 
 heretic. But the heresy lay not in any essential 
 difference of doctrine. The question was who should 
 and who should not succeed to Mohammed. Into 
 these controversies we need not enter. The Persians 
 hold the unit}'- of God in such a sense as precludes 
 them from acknowledging a plurality of persons in the 
 Godhead. In 1806, the Baptist missionaries at Seram- 
 pore began a translation of the Scriptures into the 
 Persian language, but only the Book of Psalms was 
 ever published. Henry Martyn published two of the 
 Gospels in Persic. In 1821, Meerza Jaffier, a native 
 Persian, accomplished a translation of the Pentateuch. 
 The Rev. Dr. Glen did work in the same direction, 
 at Astrachan, where he was a missionary. There has, 
 by such means, been much accomplished in favour of 
 Persia, for these books have been widely circulated. 
 
 The Mohammedan law requires prayer at five times 
 of the day ; but, practicall}', the number has been 
 reduced to three — " morning, noon, and night," accord-
 
 PERSIA. 225 
 
 ing to the Jewish custom. The prayers, and the 
 usages connected with them, are much the same as 
 among other Moslems. The principal difference is in 
 posture — the Sunnee spreads forth his hands, and the 
 Sheah folds his. To us this seems to be making religion 
 small. The Sunnee places before him as he prays a 
 small bag containing a portion of the sacred soil from the 
 Kaabah at Mecca ; and the Sheah is usually content with 
 a little mould from the tombs of the martyrs at Kerbelah. 
 The prayers are in Arabic, learned by rote, and not 
 understood by the body of the people. Like other 
 Moslems a Persian will apply himself to his prayers, 
 when the appointed tiiue comes, wherever he may 
 happen to be ; but he generally shows by the move- 
 ment of his eye or head that he is discharging a 
 merel}'^ mechanical duty, while he is fully awake to all 
 that is passing around him. Almsgiving is general 
 and liberal — it is a means of salvation. But it is osten- 
 tatious. Ilamazan, the ninth month of the year, is u 
 time of fasting among the Persians as araoug all 
 other Mahometans. The months being lunar, of course 
 this occurs at different seasons in the course of the 
 solar years. The fast is very strictly observed by the 
 Persians. Judgment, mercy, and truth are not usually 
 so much cared for as religious ceremony by such people. 
 The Mohammedans are all required to make a 
 pilgrimage to the Kaabah at Mecca ; but the Persians 
 frequently do this by deputy, obtaining, by the hands 
 of the persons who have gone the journey on their 
 
 Q
 
 226 ASIA. 
 
 behalf, certificates from the Sheriff of Mecca, which are 
 quite sufficient for every purpose. Personally, the 
 great body of the Persians rather go to Bagdad, 
 where Ali established his government, and where he 
 lost his life. Kufah, in this region, is the sacred 
 locality. It is about thirty miles from the ruins of 
 Babylon. There are splendid mosques at Kerbelah, 
 Meshid Ali, and Kathem, all in the same district, or 
 not far removed, built and enriched by the gifts of 
 pilgrims, and by costly presents from Persia and India. 
 
 Sooffeeism has taken a strong hold of the national 
 mind. The term Sooffee means " wise " or " pious." 
 It may have been originally adopted from the Greek 
 2o0oi, so})hoi, or " wise men." It is the common 
 belief of the Sooffee, that every man is an incarnation 
 of the Deity — all, at least, are partakers of the Divine 
 principle. And this idea may be traced in the whole 
 literature of the people. The Sooffees pay but little 
 respect to the outward forms of worship, and rigid 
 Moslems accordingly despise them. These principles 
 are on the increase in Persia. 
 
 In the tillage of the soil the means employed appear 
 to be those which have been in use from the 
 remotest ages. The Persians devote much attention to 
 their gardens, and with successful result. 
 
 Many of the manufactiires of the people of Persia 
 are especially beautiful, particularly their gold and 
 silver brocades, their silks, and their imitations of 
 Cashmere shawls. They work skilfully in iron and
 
 PERSIA. 227 
 
 steel, and are tasteful in enamelling upon gold and 
 silver. Chemistry, as known in Europe, is not in 
 possession of the Persians, alchemy being the favourite 
 pursuit in that country. In medicine their practice is 
 just as they derived it from the ancient Greeks. They 
 arc wholly unacquainted with the anatomical structure 
 of the human form, the Mohammedan religion not 
 permitting dissection. The Moslems forbid represen- 
 tations of animate objects, but the Persians so explain 
 the interdiction as to admit of their having many 
 paintings of human and animal figures in their houses. 
 Many of the Persian painters excel in the accuracy of 
 their likenesses, and in the truth of their colouring. 
 Generally, tlie rules of perspective are disregarded. In 
 the higher branches of science they have made but 
 little progress, their mathematics, their astronomy, and 
 their geography being very defective. 
 
 Kingly power and the usages of royal courts in the 
 East are in all essential respects the same now as in 
 ancient times. The people exult and glory in the power 
 and splendour of their king. In the books of Ezra, 
 Nehemiah, and Esther we have a picture of the Court 
 of Persia as suitable as if these compositions had been 
 written but yesterday. "Whatever sentence is pro- 
 nounced by the King of Persia, whether of the basti- 
 nado, of mutilation, or of death, is inflicted on the spot 
 in his presence. And, indeed, as we have said, so it is 
 in all respects as we find in the ancient records. 
 Enlargement is therefore unnecessary.
 
 2 28 ASIA. 
 
 The Iranee, or Persians, are divided into two great 
 classes, the fixed and the erratic, called respectively the 
 Eilauts and the Sheherees. Jews are met with in all 
 the great towns, as are also Armenians and Nestorians, 
 and a few Sabeans, or Star-worshijipers. The Persians 
 received their arts and sciences originally from the 
 Arabs. A spirit of liberal inquiry begins to afiect 
 society, and the Shah even speaks of visiting Europe. 
 The stolidity of the national character, however, is 
 indicated in the fact that a whole year from the time of 
 the resolution was intended to elapse before the visit 
 should be performed. European patience could not last 
 so long. 
 
 As these pages pass through the press, the Shah, 
 the " King of kings," has left Teheran on the first 
 stage of his journey westwards. The first stage of 
 the royal progress was very short, and his Majesty was 
 expected to remain at Kaad till the first of May, to 
 make arrangements for the administration of affairs 
 during his absence. Nasr-ed-Din is accompanied by 
 his Prime Minister, and in a few weeks will be in this 
 country. The present Shah is the fourth sovereign of 
 the Kadjan dynasty, with whose accession to the 
 throne, eighty years ago, the modern history of Persia 
 may be said to have commenced. Born in 1820, 
 Nasr- ed- Din is now in his fifty- third year, and during 
 his reign has been known as one of the most progressive 
 among Oriental sovereigns. It was during the first 
 Napoleonic era that Persia may be said to have entered
 
 PERSIA. 229 
 
 within the domain of European politics ; and the 
 Crimean war brought her more prominently forward. 
 In 1 855 the Shah concluded a treaty with the Czar, the 
 object of which was supposed to be the abandonment of 
 the neutral policy hitherto pursued by Persia. Mis- 
 understandings between England and Persia in 1856 
 have never been fully explained ; but the result was 
 not hurtful, if it has not proved the opposite, to both 
 parties. Since 1857 there has been no reason presented 
 by Persia for any anxiety on the part of England in 
 respect to her Indian territory. Within his own 
 dominions the present ruler of Persia has maintained 
 peace and order such as have not been usual in the 
 annals of the State. He has encouraged the introduction 
 of foreign capital and enterprise, and has reorganized 
 his army upon an European model. But what effect 
 this visit to Europe may produce, who can tell ? As to 
 Orientals " their waj's are not our ways." Nasr-ed- 
 Din will return to Persia, very probably, with the con- 
 viction that " there is no place like home." 
 
 With the introduction of railroads, telegraphs, and 
 commercial enterprise, Persia is now entering on a new 
 era, if she can avail herself of the opportunity. Even 
 as it is, she is the chief Oriental State which could offer 
 any serious resistance to the advance of Russia towards 
 India ; and ever since the Court of St. Petersburg 
 entertained the idea of extending the Russian dominion 
 to the ninialayas, the arts of corruption, intimidation, 
 and cajolery have been employed to induce the govern-
 
 230 ASIA. 
 
 ment of Teheran to " make one purse " with that of Its 
 colossal neighbour. This policy has been favoured by 
 the intense jealousy with which the Turks and Persians 
 regard each other as rival sectaries, not less than as 
 neighbours whose frontiers are disputed. Much depends 
 upon the " moral " effect produced by the Shah's visit 
 to England. Her greatness and her power must im- 
 press him one way or another ; and will affect, favour- 
 ably or otherwise, our security in the East. 
 
 Ispahan contains the largest and most important 
 university. There is also a university at Shiraz, and a 
 third at Meshid. Besides these there is a school which 
 furnishes learning for a certain class of mollahs at Ker- 
 belah, where there is also a seminary for the study of 
 law and philosoj)hy. 
 
 The government is an unmitigated military despotism. 
 The nomadic tribes are ruled by their local chiefs. 
 
 For the purposes of justice Iran is divided into large 
 provinces, under the surveillance of great lords, who 
 are called heghlerheghs, who, under them, have governors 
 of districts, hakim, and darogas, or governors of towns. 
 But the limits of these provinces do not always com- 
 prise the nomadic tribes. 
 
 Persian Kurdistan, or Ardelan, is situated to the 
 north-west of Iran, and is about 160 miles in length by 
 100 in breadth. It is composed of hills and table-lands 
 and narrow valleys, in which are many villages. The 
 soil is good in many parts, but the Kurds content them- 
 selves with raising grain sufficient only for their own
 
 PERSIA. 23 1 
 
 maintenance. The country is inhabited by various 
 tribes of Kurds, the principal of which acknowledge the 
 rule of a chief who is under the supremacy of the King 
 of Persia. Azerbijan adjoins the north-western frontier, 
 and is one of the most fertile and productive of the pro- 
 •vinces, but is high, and rugged, and cold. Ghilan, 
 Mazanderan, and Astrabad occupy a low tract which 
 lies between the shores of the Casjoian Sea and the 
 table-land of Iran. Khorasan is a large province of 
 uncertain limits, forming the north-eastern portion of 
 Iran. Irak Ajemi, or Persian Irak, is one of the most 
 valuable provinces of the kingdom. It is almost everj^- 
 where intersected with valleys of indefinite length, 
 seldom exceeding ten or fifteen miles in width. 
 Khuzistan is the ancient Susiana, and a large portion 
 of it lies along the eastern or left bank of the Tigris 
 and Shatt-el-Arab, at the head of the Persian Gulf. 
 Fars, or Farsistan, is the original Persia, and lies along 
 the north-eastern side of the gulf, extending towards 
 Irak and Kerman. There is scarcely a human inhabi- 
 tant, haristan is a small province on the northern side 
 of the gulf. Kerman lies to the east of Fars and 
 Laristan. It is mountainous and barren, destitute of 
 rivers, and dependent for water on springs in the hills. 
 Kerman, the capital of the province, has a population 
 of about 30,000. It is celebrated for its manufacture 
 of shawls, felts, and match-locks. Seistan is a small 
 province in the eastern border of the kingdom, and is a 
 complete desert of sand and rocks, through which flows 
 the River Helmund from Aifghanistan.
 
 2:^2 ASIA. 
 
 The Persians are temperate In eating, and use little 
 animal food, pilau, rice, and fruit being their favourite 
 dishes. They luxuriate in baths. Almost the poorest 
 among them endeavours to possess a horse. Women 
 of rank never appear in public without long veils. Arts 
 and sciences are professedly held in esteem, but are by 
 no means in a flourishing condition. The study of the 
 Koran, divination, astrology, a sort of ethics, medicine, 
 and poetry, are the chief parts of education. The archi- 
 tecture is simple, sculpture being almost unknown. 
 The music is very inferior. The last great Shah, or 
 head of the nation, estimated his income at £2,250,000 
 a year. The nomadic tribes live in a kind of inde- 
 pendence. So it is generally with tribes, or clans, 
 all over Asia. 
 
 Affghanistan. — This is the north-eastern portion 
 of Persia, and is bounded on the north by the ridges 
 of the Himalayas and Hindoo-koh, and the Paro- 
 pamisan mountains ; on the south by Beloochistan ; on 
 the east by the river Indus ; and on the west by 
 Khorasan and Seistan. It measures from west to east 
 about 630 miles, and from north to south, 450 ; and 
 contains an area of 240,000 square miles. 
 
 This point is of great importance, politically. If 
 ever it were to occur that Britain and Pussia were 
 again to go to war, it is here that Pussia could most 
 easily effect an entrance into our Indian possessions, 
 and the entrance would by no means be difficult. 
 Affghanistan is a congeries of high valleys and table
 
 PERSIA. 2^T, 
 
 lands, wliicli are separated by lofty mountains. The 
 Hindoo-koh and Himalayas, which bound it on the 
 north, appear in some places to form four distinct 
 ranges, the most northerly of which is always covered 
 with snow. It is not of equal elevation throughout. 
 In some places the range is surmounted by peaks of 
 great height and size, rising at once from their bases 
 with great boldness and grandeur. The height of some 
 of these peaks is 20,493 feet. The secondary ranges 
 decrease in their elevation very greatly ; their sides 
 being: covered with wood of various kinds, with ferns 
 and other varieties of plants, making them ever ver- 
 dant, while there are also clear streams constantly 
 flowinf? to refresh the herbage. The summits of these 
 mountains are all bare. In the lower portions the 
 summer heat is sometimes excessive. 
 
 The Affghans have all the appearance of Jews, and 
 many believe them to be really the descendants of the 
 captive tribes of Israel. They are divided into a 
 number of sections, which have distinct territories. 
 The chief of every tribe bears the title of Khan, and 
 is generally elected by the people, who pay some small 
 amount of respect to primogeniture, but more to age, 
 experience, and character. 
 
 The ordinary government of the tribes is conducted 
 by the Khans, who meet in assemblies called jirgas. 
 Such an assemblage of many commonwealths is the 
 Aifghan nation. 
 
 After the death of Nadir Shah, in 1747, Ahmed
 
 234 ASIA. 
 
 Abdallee fought his way to Candahar, where he 
 established a kingdom, which subsequently included 
 the whole of AfFghanistan and Beloochistan. He was 
 succeeded by his son Timur Shah, and he, successively, 
 by two sons. The latter of these, Shujah, was de- 
 posed, but recovered his rule by means of the British 
 forces in India, in 1840, after which date AfFghanistan 
 was virtually annexed to the English dominion. So 
 turbulent and independent a people as these tribes 
 compose cannot well be left to the unaided command 
 of their own prince. Foreign allies seem to have to 
 keep their king on his throne. 
 
 Cabul is a chief city of AfFghanistan. The popu- 
 lation numbers about 60,000, of many races, but who 
 all converse freely in Persian as their mother tongue. 
 The Pushtoo, or AfFghan, is spoken in the neighbouring 
 villages. The gardens and the fruit are celebrated. 
 CandaJiar is the western capital of AfFghanistan. It 
 also has a population of about 60,000. It is said to 
 have been founded by Alexander the Great, but the 
 present city is comparatively modern. Gkuznee, which 
 was once a great town, is completely in ruins. 
 Peshawer stands in a large plain, which is watered 
 by the river Cabul, and which extends westward from 
 the Indus. The town is five miles in circuit, but 
 beyond this there are many gardens and orchards, 
 more or less cultivated. There are about 105,000 in- 
 habitants. The Kyber Pass is about 30 miles in length, 
 lined with precipices, and completely commanded by
 
 PERSIA. 235 
 
 those who have possession of the upper ground. This 
 pass is of painful historical interest, as having, not 
 many years ago, been the scene of a bold and defiant 
 advance of the English troops against their enemies, and 
 of their cold-blooded massacre in the helplessness of their 
 position, those who opposed them being on the cliffs above. 
 
 The principal river of Affghanistan is the Indus, 
 which forms its eastern boundary. The others are the 
 Aboo-Seen, with its tributaries ; the Lundye ; and the 
 Ilelmund. The Furrah-rud, or river of Furrah, runs 
 into the Lake of Zunah after a course of 200 miles. 
 The Gomul is lost in the desert, after flowing a similar 
 distance. The only lake is the Ab-i-Standeh {i.e. the 
 still water), about 60 miles east of Ghiznee ; about 
 three or four miles diameter in dry weather, and twice 
 as much after floods. 
 
 The importance of Afighanistan to England, in 
 respect to the securing of an undisturbed possession of 
 her Indian territory, cannot -be over-estimated. If 
 England keeps this country of passes and defiles well 
 defended, she will secure the quiet which is necessary 
 in order to the promotion of the welfare of the 
 immense multitudes which have in India come under 
 her sway ; but if these are neglected, any great power 
 which can command a large army of land soldiery, 
 whatever may be its resources at sea, would be able, 
 by entering through these great natural gateways, to 
 embarrass, if not to overthrow, a rule which has already 
 proved in many ways so beneficial.
 
 236 ASIA. 
 
 Beloochistan, the remaining division of Persia, lies 
 between Affghanistan on the north, and the Indian 
 Ocean on the south, and has an area of about 150,000 
 square English miles. The greater part of the country- 
 is mountainous, or occupied with table-lands. A large 
 portion of it is desert. Not a hundredth part of it is 
 cultivated ; but where it is so, all the grain products of 
 India grow there. 
 
 The people, to speak generally, are divided into two 
 nations, the Beloochees of the west, and the Brahoes of 
 the east. The former profess to be Arabs by descent, 
 but they do not, in physical conformation, resemble that 
 race. They are a rude, nomadic, pastoral people, 
 moving from place to place with their flocks and 
 herds. Their language is a corrupt dialect of the 
 Persian. The Brahoes are inferior in person to the 
 Beloochees. Their habits are still more unsettled. 
 Formerly these territories were under the rule of the 
 Khan of Kelat. There is still a nominal lordship perr 
 mitted to the more local authority ; but the welfare of 
 the whole country has been promoted by the influence 
 of the British. Tillages are numerous. Gundara is the 
 capital.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 RUSSIA IN ASIA. 
 
 rpnE next great power in Asia is Eussia. There are 
 ^ other and independent kingdoms or tribes, lying 
 close to the countries of which we have spoken ; but to 
 these we shall subsequently invite attention. 
 
 The Russian Empire in Asia comprehends several 
 countries and provinces of vast extent, which may be 
 arranged in two distinct portions, — the Caucasian 
 Provinces and Siberia. It is to the former of these 
 that we shall more particularly refer, inasmuch as the 
 latter is in many respects more Polar than Asiatic, 
 although it is included in the Asiatic boundary. 
 
 Russia in the Caucasus. — This country has a 
 very irregular outline, and forms a kind of isthmus 
 between the Black Sea and the Caspian. Its northern 
 boundaries are the rivers Kouma, Mantyoh, and 
 Kougoi- Jeia ; the western, the Sea of Azov, the Strait of 
 Yenikaleh, and the Black Sea ; the southern, Turkish 
 Armenia, the river Aras, and Persian Azorbijan ; the
 
 233 ASIA. 
 
 eastern, the Caspian Sea, — this space comprising an area 
 of more than 200,000 square English miles. The most 
 prominent feature is the mountain chain of the Caucasus, 
 which reaches across from near Anapa on the Black 
 Sea to the peninsula of Abcheron on the Caspian, a 
 distance of more than 700 miles, with a breadth vary- 
 ing from about 60 miles to 120. The highest part of 
 the chain is to the east of Mount Elbiirz, 43° E., and 
 contains many summits, which rise above the snow- 
 line ; but in the peninsula of Abcheron the elevation 
 sinks down to that of ordinary hills. The loftiest 
 pinnacle is Elburz or Elborus, according to usual 
 European nomenclature ; but such a name is applied 
 by Circassians to all snow-capped mountains, without 
 being distinctive of any. The proper Circassian name 
 is Oska-makhua (or "mountain of happiness"). The 
 Arbassians call it the "heavenly mountain," or the 
 " mountain of the Great Spirit," while the Tartars 
 style it the " mountain of stars." * Westwards from 
 Elburz the chain extends to the north-west, parallel to 
 the shores of the Black Sea, at a distance of 20 or 30 
 miles, presenting in its eastern portion a series of 
 granitic and jiorphyritic summits to the height of 
 7,000 or 8,000 feet. Further west the summits decline, 
 and there are low, rounded, wooded hills, cut into 
 valleys, with many perennial streams. 
 
 The Western Caucasus is called Kuschkaa by the 
 Circassians, but by the Russians is named Chernigor 
 * Spencer's Western Caucasus, i. HI.
 
 RUSSIA IN ASIA. 239 
 
 ("black mountains "), covered as they are with dense 
 forests. Towards the banks of the Kouban the moun- 
 tain valleys open into a plain, a great part of which 
 is covered with forests, the acclivities, glens, plains, 
 and river banks being embellished with cypresses of 
 the growth of centuries, palm-trees, plantains, maples, 
 elms, firs, alders, and poplars. The right or northern 
 bank of the Kouban presents a scene widely difierent, 
 and contains a tract as wild, desolate, and woodless as 
 can be imagined. The soil of the mountain valleys is 
 rich and well watered, and needs only human industry 
 to render it highly productive. To the north of the 
 Kouban and the Terek extends a wide plain, the 
 western part of which is unadorned by a single tree, 
 but is botanically interesting, being luxuriant with 
 grass and many varieties of beautiful flowers. To the 
 east of the Terek, reaching to the Volga, is a saline, 
 sandy, and barren steppe, occupied by a few wandering 
 Tartars, and presenting the appearance of having been 
 formerly occupied as part of the bed of the Caspian Sea. 
 The southern slopes of the Caucasus subside into two 
 great valleys. Through one of these flows the river 
 Kur, and through the other the Rioni. These rivers 
 are fed from mountains, most of which are of ordinary 
 height, but some rise to an elevation of 10,000 feet. 
 The great lake Gukcha or Sivan is formed by this 
 mountain country, on the southern side of the Kur. 
 Ali-Ghuz, one of these mountains rises to the height of 
 12,000 feet.
 
 240 ASIA. 
 
 The whole of this great region, with the exception of 
 a comparatively small portion to the north of the 
 Kouban, forms one general government of Russia in 
 Asia. The Governor- General resides at Tiflis, the 
 capital of Georgia. This government includes several 
 ancient kingdoms, states, and provinces, whose names 
 and peoples formerly acquired historical celebrity : — 
 viz., 1. Georgia; 2. Shir wan ; 3. The E-ussian portions 
 of Armenia and Azerbijan ; 4. Imeritia, Mingrelia, and 
 part of Guriel ; 5. Abassia ; 6. Circassia; 7. Daghestan 
 and Lesghistan ; and, 8. The old Russian province of 
 Caucasia. To speak of them in this order : — 
 
 1. Georgia. — The country comj)rises the basin of the 
 Kur, and is about 240 miles in length by 120 in 
 breadth. The natural features are agreeably diversified 
 with hill and dale. The temperature is mild, and the 
 people cultivate wheat and millet, and a variety of 
 fruits. The vine is abundant and of good quality. The 
 Georgians boast of their management of bees. They 
 have horses and cattle and sheep equal to the best 
 European breeds. The language is radically different 
 from every known tongue, but those who sjseak it 
 affirm that they are descended from the same stock with 
 the Armenians. The beauty of their women is not less 
 celebrated than that of the Circassians, though their 
 skin is not so fair. Unhappily many of them are ex- 
 ported to Persia and Turkey for the supply of the 
 harems there. The men are well-made and active. 
 Many of the inhabitants of the countiy live in huts
 
 RUSSIA IN ASIA. 24 I 
 
 lialf-concealed in the ground, but in more advanced 
 districts the houses are better ; though, even then, 
 generally inferior, and constructed of wood. In almost 
 all the villages there are towers built to serve as places 
 of shelter for the women and children against the 
 attacks of the Lesghis. About two-thirds of the 
 ])opulation are proper Georgians, and are attached to 
 the ritual of the Greek Church. Armenians and Jews 
 are also numerous. Georgia was formerly a feudal 
 monarchy, subdivided among princes and nobles, the 
 former of whom paid no taxes, but during war were 
 obliffcd with their vassals to follow the kins". Their 
 lawsuits were all dc^cided by the king. The nobles paid 
 certain dues to both the king and the princes ; and 
 although they dwelt in thatched cottages, their pride 
 was equal to their poverty and their ignorance. Under 
 such lordship the mass of the people lived in deep 
 degradation. They were sold, given away or pledged, 
 like domestic animals. All who were capable of bear- 
 ing arms were soldiers, each noble commanding his 
 own vassals, and the king being commander-in-chief. 
 The king's revenues consisted of the fifth part of the 
 produce of the vineyards, fields, and gardens ; with 
 duties on all exports and imports, as well as on the yield 
 of the mines, which were but little worked. Being 
 protected by mountains, Georgia escaped the gj-eat Tartar 
 devastations ; but for the last three hundred years it has 
 been the scene of almost constant warfare. Though 
 now under the regular government of Russia, it is a 
 
 R
 
 242 ASIA. 
 
 most unquiet country, and so poor in its unsettledness 
 that its public revenues are not sufficient to pay neces- 
 sary expenses. Tiflis, the capital, stands nearly in the 
 centre of the country, on the right bank of the Kur. 
 It is the residence not only of the Governor- General of 
 Caucasus, but also of an Armenian and a Georgian arch- 
 bishop respectively. It publishes four newspapers in 
 the languages of Russia, Georgia, Persia, and Armenia. 
 The inhabitants, including the Russian garrison, 
 number about 30,000. The cathedral is remarkable 
 for its antiquity, its extent, and its architecture, and 
 the ancient citadel is an imposing mass of ruins. The 
 other principal towns are Doueheti, 27 miles from Tiflis ; 
 Gori, 45 miles ; Ganjah, 90 miles ; Telavi, 35 miles ; 
 Si(jnahh,^Q vojles; andi Ahhaltsike, 1\0 vcn\.eQ. Beyond 
 the last-mentioned town, which has a population of 
 13,000, — much less than formerly, — the country is 
 quite volcanic, and miles further on there is a great 
 fortress which was formerly occupied in the interests 
 of Armenia, which is a complete city, and is hewn out 
 of volcanic stone ; there being, among other works, 
 three large churches, entirely cut out of the rock, as also 
 Queen Thamar's summer and winter palaces, some of 
 the apartments having finel}^ executed sculptures. 
 
 2. Shinvan. — This used to be a province of Persia ; 
 but is, and has always been, of uncertain limits. As 
 restricted in the acceptation of the name it comprises 
 1 he lower part of the basin of the Kur, between that 
 river and the mountains. The climate resembles that
 
 RUSSIA IN ASIA. 243 
 
 of Georgia. It produces cotton, rice, grapes and fruits 
 of various kinds. The inhabitants are chiefly Maho- 
 metan Persians. The soil is saturated with naphtha, 
 black and white, — its chief sources being near Baku. 
 This being a region of fire, the ancient fire- worshippers 
 of Persia found their way to it in large numbers, ex- 
 pecting that the pilgrimage would purify them from 
 sin. The chief town is Baku, in which there is an old 
 palace of the Kings of Persia. It stands on the shore, 
 and exports naphtha, and other products of the country. 
 In itself the town contains about 4,000 inhabitants, and 
 the district not more than 19,000, of whom at least a 
 thousand are Turcomans. To the south of Shirwan, 
 and divided from it by the river Kur, the Russian 
 territory includes a portion of the former Persian pro- 
 vince of Ghilan ; but it is of small importance in any 
 sense. 
 
 3. The Russian dominion in Armenia and Azerbijan. 
 extends between Georgia on the north, and Mount 
 Ararat on the south, being about 200 miles from north- 
 west to south-east, and 130 in breadth. It is a great 
 mass of mountains crowding upon each other, and filling 
 up the whole space between the Black Sea and the 
 Caspian. In the midst of these is the great lake Sivan, 
 about 5,300 feet above the level of the sea. In breadth it 
 varies from 6 miles to 21 miles, and to travel round it is 
 47 miles. There is an island in it called Sevan, whicli 
 contains a monaster}-. The western border of this 
 region is the boundary of the Russian territory, formed
 
 244 ASIA. 
 
 by the Arpa-CJiai (" bailey river ") ; and, according to 
 trustworthy testimony, it presents as little obstruction 
 to the passage of an army as does the Tweed between 
 England and Scotland — happily not now reckoned a 
 barrier. It is therefore, to be hoped, that a wise policy, 
 like the times We live in, will preserve peace between 
 Russia and her neighbours. Erivan, lat. 40° 9' 30" N., 
 long. 44° fVS E., is the capital of Russian Armenia. It 
 is situated in a rugged valley, on the eastern bank of 
 the Zengue, which is the outlet of Lake Gukcha. It is 
 a small cit}^ without walls, but good houses, having 
 about 12,000 inhabitants, including 1,800 Moslem and 
 700 Armenian families. About 12 miles west of the 
 city is the convent of EtcJtmiadzin, the ecclesiastical 
 capital of the Armenian Christians. 
 
 4. Imeritia, Mingrelia, and the part of Guriel which 
 is within the Russian tei'ritory, occupy the basin of the 
 Rioni, — the northern border being formed by the 
 Caucasus, the eastern by the mountains of Kartalini, 
 the southern by those of Akhaltsike, and the western 
 by the Black Sea. The soil is fertile but not much 
 cultivated. The lower part of the countr}' is a dead, 
 unvaried flat, full of swamps and marshes. The people 
 are of the Georgian race, and number about 150,000. 
 Imeritia is directly under the control of the Russian 
 government, but Mingrelia and Guriel are possessed of 
 princes of their own, who acknowledge the supremacy 
 of the Czar Yet their countries are filled with Cossack 
 ix)lice stations. The state of the peasantry has been
 
 RUSSIA IN ASIA. 245 
 
 considerably improved since the Russian ascendancy, 
 and the sale of slaves has been discouraged. ICIioid/t- 
 aissi, the capital, standing on the Rioni, is an unhealthy 
 town near the centre of the province. There are only 
 about 2,000 people — half of them being Jews. The 
 heights above the town are covered with the ruins of a 
 former better state of things, in the remains of temples, 
 churches, bridges, aqueducts, and towers. The ancient 
 name of the city was Cyta or Cutasium, and it was the 
 birth-place of Medea, celebrated in classic mythology. 
 
 5. Abassia or Abkhaz lies along the north-east coast 
 of the Black Sea, between the shore and the summits of 
 Caucasus. It is about 260 miles in length and 30 iu 
 breadth. It is possessed by wild independent tribes, 
 who set Russia at defiance, although their territory is 
 authoritatively claimed as part of the empire ; but the 
 Czar has command only as far as his soldiers can reach. 
 The Abassians were formerly well known as pirates of 
 the Black Sea. The chief towns and forts are Anapa, 
 from which the Circassian girls, along with others from 
 Abassia, used to be exported to Turkey ; Soujouk-Kaleh ; 
 Ghelevjik ; Vadran ; and Pitzounda ; at all of which 
 the Russians have small forts for the purpose of over- 
 awing the population. 
 
 6. Circassia occupies the north side of the Caucasus, 
 from the Sea of Azof to the Upper Terek ; but, by 
 the gradual progress of Russian encroachment, the 
 independent Circassians are now restricted to the com- 
 paratively small region which lies between the Kouban
 
 246 ASIA. 
 
 and the tops of tlie mountains. The rule of the Russian 
 empire is here very imperfectly defined. The Circassians 
 call themselves Adeckes, but their neighbours, the Nogai 
 Tartars, call them Tcherkesses, a name which signifies 
 " to cut off the head," and which they have gained for 
 themselves by the ferocity of their lives. From this 
 word is derived their name of Circassians. They 
 are divided into about a dozen tribes, whose habitat 
 fluctuates by frequency of change from place to place. 
 It is believed that they number about 272,400 males. 
 There is much animosity among the tribes against one 
 another. In religion they profess to be Mahometans ; 
 in morality, they are unscrupulous plunderers, who 
 respect only those who are of their own tribe or lineage. 
 In external appearance, however, the Circassians are a 
 remarkably fine race, and their women are reputed the 
 most beautiful of the Caucasians. They so harass and 
 rob and murder the peacefully disposed all around them 
 that it is the interest, if it be not the duty, of the 
 Russian government to completely subdue them. 
 
 7. Daghestan o^ndiLesghistan comprise the mountainous 
 country which lies between the west coast of the Casp'an 
 Sea, and the summits of the Eastern Caucasus, as far 
 west as the Koisou ; and extends into Georgia as 
 far as the Alazan, an afiluent of the Kur ; along the 
 coast reaches from the Terek to Abcheron, a distance 
 of 260 miles, while its greatest breadth between the 
 sea and Mount Teresh is about 100. The north-eastern 
 portion of Lesghistan is included in this measure-
 
 RUSSIA IN ASIA. 247 
 
 mont, but its southern portion extends beyond it, 
 down to the northern slopes of the mountain. As 
 its name implies, Daghestan is the country of 
 mountains ; yet the soil is fertile, and the climate 
 mild. Daghestan abounds with rivers, — the Koisou 
 being the principal, and its banks and the surround- 
 ing country very beautiful. The lowlands are in- 
 habited by a mixed race, descended from Persian, 
 Arabian, Syrian, Turkish and Tartar colonists, in- 
 termingled with the aboriginal Caucasians. The 
 mountains are inhabited by the Les<jJiis, the most pre- 
 datory and ferocious of all the Caucasian nations. 
 They were conquered by Nadir Shah, and driven by 
 his victorious arms in 1742 to seek the protection of 
 Hussia. Their language is peculiar, and has few 
 analogies with any other tongue. They are Soonee 
 Mahometans. Derhent is the principal town of Dag- 
 hestan, and has 20,000 inhabitants. It was once 
 larger, being an ancient city, and formerly was the 
 key city commanding the side of the Persian empire on 
 which it lies. 
 
 8. The old province of the Caucasus includes the 
 whole territory to the north of the Terek and the 
 Kouban, lying between the Caspian Sea and the eastern 
 border of the government of Tauridia, and bounded 
 on the north by the rivers Kouma and Manytsh. It is 
 almost entirely a sandy steppe. It is occupied by 
 various tribes whom Russia has not been able to 
 subdue, but whose country they claim, and from whom
 
 248 ASIA. 
 
 they exact sucli acknowledgment of supremacy as they 
 can procure. Even official dispatches which have to be 
 carried through these tribes require an escort of at 
 least 150 men. In only a few villages in the valleys 
 of the Terek on the military road to Georgia, is there 
 anything like an acknowledgment of the power of the 
 Czar. The Russians first took possession of this country 
 in the time of Peter the Great, who extended his 
 dominion along the Caspian Sea into Ghilan ; but in 
 the reign of the Empress Anne the military establish- 
 ments were withdrawn to Kislar, and a line of forts 
 was carried along the Terek, for the defence of the 
 frontier. Mozdok was built in 1763, and from that 
 point the line was extended gradually westward to the 
 Sea of Azof, along the northern bank of the Kouban. 
 In the history of the wars in which the Russians have 
 been engaged with Persia and Turkey we find that 
 they have been led again and again to the south of the 
 Caucasus, anxious to establish their authority over the 
 intervening tribes, who, when not reduced to subjection, 
 are always troublesome neighbours. In the course of 
 time such subjection may be accomplished, but hitherto 
 the progress has been very slow. The towns in this 
 province are, Stavropol, the capital, — a neat fortified 
 town near the Kouban ; Karass, a town at the " foot of 
 the five mountains ; " Bech-tau, remarkable for the 
 presence in it of a colony of Germans and Scotch ; and 
 Kislar, an important fortress and a large town of 9,000 
 inhabitants, the greater part of whom aj'e Armenians.
 
 RUSSIA IN ASIA. 249 
 
 Some of these are very wealthy, and have built for 
 themselves the finest church in the region of Caucasus, at 
 an expense of £24,000 sterling. 
 
 2. Siberia. — Siberia is the name of that part of 
 the Russian dominion which extends in length from 
 the Ural mountains, on the borders of Europe, to 
 Behring's Straits and the Northern Pacific Ocean, which 
 separate it from America ; and in breadth from the 
 Arctic Ocean to the Altai mountains, which form the 
 borders between the Russian and the Chinese Empires. 
 Its extreme length is more than 4,000 miles ; and its 
 breadth is about 1,870. Originally, Siberia was a small 
 Khanat, or kingdom, founded by the Tartars in 1242, 
 on the banks of the Irtish and the Obi, and which was 
 called Siberia, from Sibir, its capital. The Russians 
 invaded this khanat in the sixteenth century, and 
 though vigorously opposed, conquered it by force of 
 numbers, and annexed it to their own territory. As 
 the Russian discoveries and conquests extended to the 
 eastward, the name was vaguely applied to all the 
 newly acquired countries, till at length it reached the 
 farthest limits of Asia on the Arctic and the Pacific 
 Oceans. It was even for a time extended to the 
 kingdoms of Astrakhan and Kazan, on the west of the 
 Urals ; but it is now definitely restricted to the country 
 east of those mountains. 
 
 Siberia is a vast plain, sloping upwards from the 
 Arctic Ocean to the Altai Mountains and the Urals ; 
 but the rise is so gradual that it is scarcely perceptible.
 
 250 ASIA. 
 
 The Urals extend along Its western border from near 
 the Gulf of Karskaia to the Eiver Ural, in few places 
 exceeding an elevation of 5,000 feet. Immediately to 
 the east is the basin of the great river Irtish. So low 
 is this tract that at Tobolsk, 500 miles in a straight line 
 from the Gulf or Sea of Obi, the lower portion of the 
 town is only 128 feet above the level of the Arctic 
 Ocean. Even the basin of the Upper Irtish, on the 
 south side of the mountains, 1,750 miles from the ocean 
 in a straight line, has been found not much to exceed 
 1,900 feet. The plain of Siberia consists almost entirely 
 of steppes and marshes, intersected by large sluggish 
 rivers. The steppes are different from each other in 
 character and appearance. In some places they are 
 like the American savannahs, covered with tall grass ; 
 in others, the soil is saline — the salt being mixed with 
 the earth, or existing in ponds or lakes of salt water ; 
 but in general they consist of very loose soil, with many 
 lakes, inasmuch as the waters stagnate from want of 
 declivity or fall. This supposes that such spaces are 
 not arid, as the name steppe would seem to imply. On 
 the contrary, many of them are full of lakes, morasses, 
 and rivers. In some parts the plain is a bog as level as 
 the sea — here and there covered with grass or weeds, or 
 patches of poplars and birches. Many of the smaller 
 lakes are salt. In some of these regions a death-like 
 eilence obtains. In the neighbourhood of Irkutsk the 
 country is agreeable, the soil fertile, and the agriculture 
 iiood.
 
 RUSSIA IN ASIA. 25 1 
 
 The rivers are the Obi, the Venesei, the Lena, and 
 the Ural, which is the boundary between Europe and 
 Asia. 
 
 The great lake Baikal is about 360 miles in length, 
 and from 20 to 52 wide, being thus about 1,200 in cir- 
 cumference. Its depth varies from 20 fathoms to 100, 
 and at certain points is even 200. 
 
 The climate of Siberia is peculiar. It is not entirely 
 that of a cold and frozen latitude, although it is such 
 in no small measure, being a plain, and without shelter 
 from the winds that reach it from the polar quarter. It 
 is also excluded by the high mountains of Central Asia 
 from the warmer breezes which would otherwise reach 
 it from the equator. The winter lasts for nine months. 
 It is thus a cold country for much of the year. But the 
 summer heat, though short and sudden, is powerful. 
 The growth of vegetables is almost visible. The ani- 
 mal and vegetable productions are, generally speaking, 
 semi-polar. 
 
 Up to the year 1822 Siberia was under the rule of 
 military governors, but at that date civil magistrates 
 were appointed, and the country was divided into the 
 provinces or general governments of Western Siberia — 
 Omsk, and Tomsk, and Tobolsk, being included in that 
 arrangement ; and Eastern Siberia, to which belong the 
 governments of Irkutsk, Yeniseisk, and Yatutsk, with 
 the addition of the two governments of Okhotsk and 
 Kamschatka, under slightly different arrangements. 
 
 The riches of the country consist chiefly of mines of
 
 252 ASIA. 
 
 gold, silver, platina, copper, and iron. It will have 
 been observed by tbe reader that the southern parts of 
 Russian Asia yield little material profit to the empire. 
 They are mere dominions, or alleged dominions, or the 
 means and helps to aggression on other lands or other 
 empires, or a protection from the encroachments of such 
 empires on Russia proper. Such an instrumentality for 
 the protection of great kingdoms is not to be despised. 
 But while it is so in respect to the southern provinces, 
 it is far otherwise with the northern and Siberian por- 
 tion of this dominion in Asia. Siberia is largely used 
 by Russia as a penal settlement, and to some extent 
 such a settlement for such a nation may be a necessity, 
 but it is also a source of abundant revenue. There are 
 large forests of great trees in particular districts, so 
 thick that the woodman has scarcely room to wield his 
 axe, and from these much wealth is obtained. The 
 yield of the precious metals is variable and precarious, 
 though in some years considerable and even great. The 
 copper ore is liberally productive, and the iron is spread 
 over so wide a field that it must take many ages to 
 exhaust it, while it lies so near the surface that the 
 expense of procuring it is but small, and especially so 
 when it is remembered that much of the labour is 
 unhired, and exacted at the hands of persons sentenced 
 to a penal servitude. There is an annual exportation of 
 iron to the extent of 132,000 tons. 
 
 Till recently — the treatment of political offenders and 
 criminals in Russia being now less severe — there were,
 
 RUSSIA IN ASIA. 253 
 
 on the average of every ten years, 70,000 persons sent 
 to Siberia into exile. Except for crime, none, it is true, 
 could be sent without their families. The lowest class 
 are condemned to the mines ; others are distributed 
 among the distilleries ; and a third section receive 
 grants of land, for which a small sum is paid to the 
 government. A strict police surveillance is placed 
 over all. 
 
 In liussian Asia the population is about 7,000,000, 
 in the Caucasian provinces 3,000,000, and in the Sibe- 
 rian division 4,000,000. The population of liussia 
 altogether is about 75,000,000. 
 
 The government in all parts of the empire is an abso- 
 lute and hereditary monarchy. The Emperor rules of 
 divine right, and acknowledges no fixed law but his 
 own will. Hound his diadem is wound the pontifical 
 tiara — for he is Head of the Church as well as Kinjr of 
 Russia — and the titles which he bears, to speak M'ith 
 moderation, would at least fill one of these pages. He 
 is now styled the Emperor most usually ; in former 
 times it was the Czar, or, more strictly speaking, the 
 Tzar. Princes of the blood, and their sisters, are 
 called Grand-Princes and Grand-Princesses, and amonj? 
 them the heir to the throne is designated the Cziirowitz. 
 Czjiriua is a title of the Em2:)ress. Princes, counts, and 
 barons are the only titles of nobilit3^ The orders of 
 knighthood are seven in number. The cfiicials in the 
 service of the government are all classed as of certain 
 tchins or ranks, and, noniinall}', there are fourteen.
 
 254 ASIA. 
 
 There is, for the maintenance of the authority of the 
 government, a Council of the Empire, which was esta- 
 blished in 1810. The number of members is not 
 limited, but it generally amounts to thirty-five or 
 thirty-six. This council is divided into five depart- 
 ments — 1. Legislation; 2. War; 3. The Church and 
 Civil Afiairs ; 4. Internal Political Economy ; 5. The 
 Affairs of Poland. The Emperor himself is the real 
 president, but the council has a permanent presiding 
 member appointed by the Emperor for life. Each 
 department has its own president and secretary, and 
 the whole together have a common grand Secretary of 
 State, who is the principal director of the Chancery, and 
 the organ through whom the council makes known its 
 decisions to the monarch. On receiving the Emperor's 
 confirmation of the council's decisions, this grand secre- 
 tary communicates them to the respective authorities 
 upon whom their execution devolves. There are thir- 
 teen "Ministries" for the administration of justice and 
 affairs. The religion of the State is the Greco-Russian 
 — more popularly, the Greek Church. In Russia, 
 however, there are certain peculiarities which distin- 
 guish it from what is usually styled the Greek Church. 
 Here the Emperor is the head. This religion is pro- 
 fessed by 49,0U9,717 souls. This Church separated 
 from the Roman in 1054, and from the Byzantine 
 patriarchate in 1587. 
 
 The army in 1822 consisted of more than 1,000,000 
 men ; but since that time has not by any means been
 
 RUSSIA IN ASIA. 255 
 
 80 large. The fact of its former immensity shows, Low- 
 ever, what is possible in a case of emergency. At pre- 
 sent it is supposed to number not fewer than 800,000, 
 there being no special reason why it should be more. 
 The navy has its principal station on the Baltic. It is 
 not large. The principal naval station is Cronstadt, 
 Sebastopol having been dismantled. There are some 
 ships of war on the Caspian. 
 
 St. Petersburg, the capital of this great dominion, 
 both European and Asiatic, — for Russians claim that the 
 empire is one, — occupies more space than any other city 
 in Europe, with the exception of London and Moscow. 
 It is situated at the mouth of the Neva. It is 485 
 miles north-west of Moscow, and about 1,400 miles 
 north-east of Paris and London. It is the seat of the 
 court, of the senate, the holy synod, of a university, and 
 of many public bodies besides, and for beauty and 
 splendour surpasses every other city in Europe. The 
 stranger wanders with admiration through the broad 
 regular streets, surrounded with the most magnificent 
 palaces, churches with gilded toAvers, and other massive 
 and colossal structures, his eye resting everywhere on 
 masterpieces of architecture. The Czar Peter the Great 
 laid the foundations of the city in 1703, when he 
 constructed a fort on an island in the Neva. Around 
 this the city has grown. There are many most gor- 
 geous palaces, marble without and with elaborately 
 costl)'' decorations within. But our purpose is not a 
 history of European Eussia or its capital. We name
 
 ?55 ASIA. 
 
 the capital because of its relation to the Asiatic provinces 
 of the empire. Petersburg contains 115 churches for 
 the established worship, and, other denominations being 
 tolerated, 33 for other rites. The most sj)lendid of 
 these are Isaac's Church, and that of our Lady of 
 Kazan. The latter is of great dimensions — the nave 
 and cupola are supported by fifty-six granite columns, 
 with bronze capitals ; the pavement is of different kinds 
 of marble ; the steps to the choir of porphyry, with a 
 silver balustrade. Among the towers, the most remark- 
 able are that of the admiralty, and that of the fortress, 
 of a pyramidal form, more than half being covered with 
 plates of pure gold. Public worship is conducted in 
 fifteen languages, and according to eleven different 
 rites. There is no instrumental music in the Russian 
 churches, neither are there seats in them. The wor- 
 shippers come and go at pleasure. The climate is very 
 severe, and sleighing continues nearly five months. 
 The population is about 600,000. Such is the capital 
 of the great empire of which Russia in Asia is a part. 
 
 In recalling the beginning of the connection of 
 Russia with Asia, it is right to remember that this 
 northern empire, now so great, sprang from a small 
 nucleus, and in respect to Asiatic countries and nations 
 was not the first aggressor. The nation originated in 
 the union of a number of nomadic tribes, under the name 
 of Scythians and Sarmatians, and inhabited the countries 
 lying between the Don and the Dnieper, They were 
 joined by others, and, from the fifth century, Alans,
 
 RUSSIA IN ASIA. 257 
 
 Huns, Avars, and Bulgarians, made war with them 
 and possessed their country, or joined them in a friendly 
 manner, and thus there was formed a nation. In the 
 north of what is now called Hussia lived the Finns, 
 wandering herdsmen and hunters; and these also, in the 
 course of time, and after conflict, became incorporated. 
 They built in their united state the two cities of Nov- 
 gorod and Kiev ; which, at a later period, became 
 powerful b}^ means of their commerce. At the first they 
 suflered greatly from the Chazars. The various com- 
 munities of which this one nation was composed became 
 divided among themselves, and the surrounding rulers 
 took advantage of their dissensions to invade their 
 country. From 1223 the Mongols were the most 
 dangerous of these neighbours. After a devastating 
 war of fifteen years the Mongols occupied all Russia, 
 Novgorod only being excepted by treaty. The Russians 
 were, at that time, in a low state of civilisation, partly 
 on account of the variety of tribes of which they were 
 composed. Their military organization was also infe- 
 rior. Commerce was chiefly in the hands of German 
 merchants, who, since 1200, had entered the country. 
 While the Mongols oppressed the Russians, the Livo- 
 nians, Teutonic knights, and Swedes attacked them on 
 the other side, and an annual tribute had to be paid to 
 the Mongols. 
 
 But, in course of time, the tide, which had been at 
 its ebb, began to flow. Ivan I. succeeded, after a 
 struggle which continued from 1477 to 1481, in setting 
 
 s
 
 258 ASL\. 
 
 Eussia free from the Tartars. The wife of Ivan (Zee, a 
 Greek princess, through whom the double-headed eagle 
 came into the Russian arms) did much good in Russia. 
 Ivan established a standing army, made wars, met with 
 many reverses, but began a career of conquest which 
 has never since been abandoned. 
 
 Russia since it became great has ever been an aggressive 
 and encroaching power. Even at the accession of the 
 present dynasty to the throne of Russia, in 1613, the 
 Russian dominions were very large. They included a 
 map-space greater than that possessed by any contem- 
 porary power. From the time of Ivan the history of 
 Russia has been one of uninterrupted encroachment, 
 east, west, and south. At the north, her back was 
 already against a wall of ice. Her first advance was 
 along the northern latitudes of Asia. When Peter I. 
 found himself sole Czar of Russia, in 1689, his 
 dominions were immensely larger than those which, 
 .seventy-six years before, had come into the possession 
 of his grandfather, Michael Romanoff ; but he inherited 
 the spirit of aggression which had already distin- 
 guished this empire. In him, however, this spirit of 
 aggression developed itself in such a colossal degree, 
 and was associated with such original force of intellect, 
 Ihat it is not uncommon to date the encroachments of 
 Russia from his accession. His spirit has been bequeathed 
 to his successors, and it has now come to be a common- 
 place of historical observation that Russia is, par 
 excellence, the encroaching Power of the world. It has
 
 RUSSIA IN ASIA. 259 
 
 been truly said that, in regard to Russia, " Histoi y 
 famishes no other example of equal pertinacity in prose- 
 cuting, per fas et nefas, a predetermined course of 
 aggrandisement. The crown of Russia has been trans- 
 ferred, by open violence or by secret crime, from one 
 head or one family to another ; but each successive 
 sovereign, with hardly an exception, has made some 
 progress towards the attainment of the hereditary 
 objects." And there are reasons for this. It is natural 
 in men who are poor to seek to become rich ; it is 
 natural in men who dwell in cold and barren regions 
 of the north to. press southward into warmer lands, of 
 whose beauties they have heard, or which they have 
 seen, and whose luxuries they may ha^ e tasted. 
 
 Peter made attacks on four out of the six Powers 
 conterminous with Russia — namely, Sweden, Turkey, 
 Persia, and Tartary. But it is not our present purpose 
 to speak in general of Russian aggression, so much as 
 of Russian aggression in Asia. There was, in 1717, an 
 armed mission to the Khan of Kliiva in Tartar}', with 
 a view to the establishment of relations with the Tartar 
 natives, and, if possible, to seize a fabulous gold mine in 
 those parts. The Khivans outwitted the mission, the 
 members of which were got into separate parties, and 
 cut to pieces. There was, thus, nothing gained. But the 
 defeat has never been forgotten ; and present complica- 
 tions with Khiva may not unreasonably be regarded as 
 one of the results of it. In 1723-1725 there were 
 aggressions made on the Caspian provinces of Persia,
 
 260 ASIA. 
 
 during tlie convulsed state of that country. These were 
 in part successful, and temporary possession was gained 
 of the whole western coast of the Caspian. In the 
 reign of Catherine I., 1725-1727, and Peter II., 1727- 
 1730, the Russians never ceased from interfering in 
 Persian affairs, and continued to hold the Caspian pro- 
 vinces which had been seized. In the reign of Anne, 
 1730-1740, the Russians continued to prosecute their 
 designs against Persia, and even came to an under- 
 standing with Turkey for the partition of the posses- 
 sions of Persia lying between the Black Sea &nd the 
 Caspian ; but the genius of the great Nadir Shah 
 restored the prowess of Persia, and both Turks and 
 Russians were compelled to give up what they had 
 gained. The accession of Catherine IL, after the 
 reigns of Elizabeth and Peter III., forms an epoch in 
 Russian history. She boldly carried into practice what 
 had been in the mind of Peter I., and communicated 
 to Russia that impulse which has ever since carried 
 her forward in a career of aggrandisement which, it is 
 to be feared, is not yet terminated. 
 
 In 1768, six years after the accession of Catherine, 
 Russian troops overran Crim-Tartary, Moldavia, and 
 Wallachiaj and prepared the way for encroachment and 
 domination in more central and advanced parts ; and in 
 1774 there was a carrying out of this policy by incessant 
 intrigues with the small states and principalities south 
 of Mount Caucasus, and in the country between the 
 Black Sea and the Caspian, with the view of inducing
 
 RUSSIA IN ASIA. 261 
 
 those states to throw off their allegiance to Persia, 
 and to come under the protectorate of Russia. These 
 endeavours were successful so far that, iu 1783, 
 Mingrelia, Imeritia, and Georgia, submitted to the 
 Russian protectorate, thus enabling Russia to dominate 
 south of the Caucasus in the important isthmus between 
 the two seas. In 1795-1796 there was war with 
 Persia, arising out of an attempt by Aga Mahommed 
 Khan, the Persian king, to recover Georgia and the 
 other trans- Caucasian provinces. In this war the Rus- 
 sian victories in these regions greatly extended the 
 Russian sway along the Caspian. 
 
 Paul I. came to the throne in 1796. At first he 
 took part with the coalition against Bonaparte (1798), 
 but afterwards sided with him (1800), and constituted 
 himself the head of the northern union of states against 
 British commerce, going so far as to project and fit out 
 an expedition at Orenburg for an overland march to 
 India through Tartary and Persia. About this time 
 Georgia was formally incorporated with Russia, and 
 ceased to be spoken of as under " protection." 
 
 Alexander I. became Emperor in 1801. There was 
 continued and desultory war with Persia, carried on in 
 the trans-Caucasian provinces, and the new territories 
 in that region were all occupied by Russian generals. 
 The war ceased, at the instance of the British, by the 
 "Peace of Gulistan," in 1814, and Russia retained all 
 her conquests from Persia, including Mingrelia, 
 Imeritia, Georgia, Ganja, Derbend, Badkov, Kara-
 
 2 62 ASIA. 
 
 baugh, Sheki, Shirwan, Daghestan, and parts of Moghan 
 and Talish. Persia at the same time surrendered the 
 right of having ships of war in the Caspian. The 
 effect of the treaty, as a whole, was to advance the 
 Russian frontier along the whole Caucasian isthmus to 
 the most southern point of the Caspian, leaving no 
 population in that isthmus unsubdued except the brave 
 Circassians inhabiting the mountains along the Black 
 Sea from the Sea of Azof to Mingrelia. 
 
 Nicholas I. began his reign in 1825. There was 
 again war with Persia in 1826, arising out of disputes 
 as to the interpretation of the treaty of Gulistan, which 
 was concluded by the " Treaty of Turcomanchai " in 
 1828, by which were ceded to Russia the rich provinces 
 of Erivan and Nukchivan, the frontier of Russia towards 
 Persia being thus extended to the river Arras or Araxes, 
 while, by keeping possession of parts of Moghan and 
 Talish, Russia retained a portion of the Caspian coast 
 beyond that river, thus violating the boundary for 
 Persia. In 1839-40, there was another expedition 
 against Khiva, which failed. 
 
 Russian "aggression" has, during the time since the 
 accession of Peter L, been without parallel. " The 
 acquisitions of Russia fi'om Sweden are greater than 
 what remains of that kingdom ; her acquisitions from 
 Poland are equal to the Austrian empire ; her acquisi- 
 tions from Turkey in Europe are of greater extent than 
 the Prussian dominions, exclusive of the Rhenish pro- 
 vinces ; her acquisitions from Turkey in Asia are nearly
 
 RUSSIA IN ASIA. 263 
 
 equal in extent to the whole of the smaller states of 
 Ciermany ; her acquisitions in Persia are equal in 
 extent to England ; her acquisitions in Tartary have 
 an area not inferior to that of Turkey in Europe, 
 Greece, Italy, and Spain. The acquisitions she has 
 made within the last sixty-four years (prior to 1836) are 
 equal in extent and importance to the whole empire she 
 Lad in Europe before that time. ... In these sixty- 
 four years she has advanced her frontier 850 miles 
 towards Vienna, Berlin, Dresden, Munich, and Paris ; 
 she has approached 450 miles nearer to Constantinople ; 
 she has possessed herself of the capital of Poland ; and has 
 advanced to within a few miles of the capital of Sweden. 
 Since that time she has stretched herself forward about 
 1,000 miles towards India, and the same distance 
 towards the capital of Persia (Teheran). The regiment 
 that is now stationed at her farthest frontier post on 
 the western shore of the Caspian has as great a distance ' 
 to march back to Moscow as onward to Attock on the 
 Indus, and is actually farther from St. Petersburg than 
 from Lahore, the capital of the Punjaub."* 
 
 Is the aggressive tendency of Russia exhausted? 
 Has she reached the utmost limits of her spontaneous 
 expansion ? The man is absolutely fatuous who will say 
 80. Russia is at present more aggressive, more voracious 
 than ever. And her process is always the same. It 
 invariably begins with disorganization, by means of cor- 
 ruption and secret agency, pushed to the extent of 
 • Sir John Macneill, " Tho Progress of Eussia in the East," 1836.
 
 264 ASIA. 
 
 disorder and civil contention. Next comes military 
 occupation to restore tranquillity ; and in every instance 
 the " protection " has been followed by incorporation. 
 Such have been the means by which Poland, the two 
 Kahardas, Georgia, Imeritia, and Mingrelia, have been 
 added to the Russian dominions. A careful observer 
 will find that along the whole line of the present 
 frontier of the Russian dominions, and even beyond 
 that line, this preliminary process is just now, and has 
 been for years, going on, and the fact which is 
 indicated is that Russia has marked more victims and 
 still more. 
 
 But why ought this to be allowed to go on un- 
 checked ? It is not for the interest of humanity at 
 large that any great Power should go on ever enlarging 
 its empire, and constantly absorbing into it new popula- 
 tions. The extension of Russian ascendancy beyond 
 its present limits is not safe for the British Empire. 
 Even if she cannot hope to dominate over Europe and 
 dictate to England at home, there is still the possibility 
 of a Russian invasion of India. The Eirst JSTapoleon 
 understood such possibilities, and he pronounced a 
 Russian invasion of India to be not only practicable 
 but one day almost inevitable. Speaking to O'Meara 
 at St. Helena, in 181 7, he said, "I do not think that I shall 
 live to see it, but you may. You are in the flower of 
 your age, and may expect to live thirty-five years 
 longer. I think that you will see that the Russians 
 will either invade and take India, or enter Europe with
 
 RUSSIA IN ASIA. 265 
 
 400,000 Cossacks, and other inhabitants of the desert, 
 and 200,000 real Russians. When Paul was so violent 
 against you English (in 1800-1), he sent to me for a 
 plan to invade India. I sent one with instructions in 
 detail. From a point on the Caspian Sea he was to 
 have marched on India." O'Meara observed that the 
 distance to India was great, and that the Russians had 
 not money enough for such a grand undertaking ; but 
 Napoleon answered, "The distance is nothing; supplies 
 can be easily carried on camels, and the Cossacks will 
 always secure a sufficiency of them. Money they will 
 find when they arrive there. The hope of conquest 
 would immediately invite armies of Cossacks and 
 Calmucks without expense. Hold out to them the 
 plunder of some rich cities as a lure, and thousands 
 will flock to their banners. '^ 
 
 But even on the supposition that the invasion of 
 India by Russia is impracticable, it might be in the 
 power of Russia to cause infinite trouble and expense to 
 Britain by the extension of her sway in the East. Sir 
 John Macneill says, "Every approach of Russia 
 towards India lessens the difficulties, and, if once Persia 
 were conquered, or became friendly, Herat would 
 become the frontier, and there would no longer be any 
 insuperable impediment. [Persia is in friendship 
 with Russia now. Preparations are being made at the 
 present moment for a visit of the Shah to the Court at 
 St. Petersburg.] But were Russia established at 
 Herat, the influence she would exert in India, even in
 
 2 66 ASIA. 
 
 time of peace, would be sucli as to render the govern- 
 ment of that country much more delicate and difficult 
 than it now is. Kebellions would become much more 
 frequent and formidable. The revenue would in many 
 places be collected with difficulty. The minds of all 
 men would become unsettled, and every movement on 
 the Indus or beyond it would assume a new character, 
 from the connection it would or might have with the 
 new and powerful neighbour to whom all the disaffected 
 would have recourse." * 
 
 There are two modes by which Russia might pene- 
 trate to India ; first, by the subjugation of Turkey, which 
 would give her, as from a central citadel, the command 
 of both Europe and Asia ; and, second, by traversing 
 the countries which lie directly between her Asiatic 
 frontier and the north-western boundary of India. 
 
 As to the former of these we need here say but little 
 — the point is not in present question. The great 
 Lord Chatham said, " With the man who cannot 
 appreciate the interests of England in the preservation 
 of the Ottoman empire, I will not argue." The 
 possession of the Dardanelles would give to Russia the 
 means of acquiring an almost unlimited marine force. 
 It would enable her to prepare her armaments in the 
 Black Sea without the probability of interference, or 
 perhaps of the knowledge of any European Power. 
 Constantinople once in the possession of Russia, the 
 passage to India is no longer a matter of difficulty. 
 ♦ "Progress of Russia in tho Easf," pp. 103-10.5.
 
 RUSSIA IN ASIA. 267 
 
 The voyage from London to the ports of the Indian 
 j)eninsula, and such as war ships and transports 
 must take, is estimated at about sixteen or eighteen 
 thousand miles ; from Constantinople to Bombay or 
 Surat, it is, at the utmost, three thousand, including a 
 land carriage of four hundred miles from Trebizond 
 to Mosul, through a country abounding with cheap 
 means of transport, with the advantage of having 
 Erzeroum lying directly in the route. And authority 
 has declared that " there is no place, east of Constanti- 
 nople, better calculated for assembling a large force 
 than the plain of Erzeroum." * 
 
 The invasion of India by the traversing of the 
 countries which lie between has been supposed by some 
 to be impossible, because of the distance. But look at the 
 matter. The coimtries known under the general appel- 
 lation of Central Asia, and lying between Russia and 
 England, are divisible into four — Persia, Khiva, or 
 Kharesm, Bokhara and Cabul. Besides these there 
 are vast regions which acknowledge no authority 
 whatever. These countries present two lines of ap- 
 proach from the Hussian frontier to India — the one by 
 the subjugation of Persia, the other by the conquest of 
 Khiva and Bokhara. It is a task of much difficidty for 
 any foreign power to establish itself cither in authority 
 or good grace with the Uzbeks. But Russia has 
 diligently laboured, sometimes by flattery, and some- 
 times by means of power, to be beforehand with the 
 • Colonel Kinncir, British Envoy at the Court of Persia.
 
 2 68 ASIA. 
 
 other European Powers in the attempt. " The Rus- 
 sians," says Burnes, " have impressed the whole of the 
 Uzbeks with high notions of their power, to the detri- 
 ment of all other nations." 
 
 If Persia could be subdued matters would become 
 much more easy, and every tyro knows how much 
 Pussia has hemmed in and narrowed the dominion 
 and weakened the power of Persia during the course of 
 recent years. Persia conquered first, or Khiva and 
 Bokhara first subdued, the principal aim would 
 then be to take possession of Herat, which is of all 
 points on the frontiers of the AflFghan country the 
 most favourable to prepare for the invasion of India. 
 
 But even if Persia withstood all attempts at her 
 overthrow, and resisted all endeavours even to draw her 
 into an alliance with the northern empire against 
 English rule in India, there are still other means of 
 approach which are not impracticable. The possible 
 routes are these : 1. From Orenburg, through the 
 steppes of Khirgis to Bokhara, and thence by Balkh to 
 Cabul ; 2. From the Caspian at Manghishlak to Khiva 
 and the Oxus ; from the Oxus to Kilif near Balkh, 
 from which to Cabul is only 250 miles. In both of 
 these routes successive conquests might be necessary ; 
 but some have been accomplished, and others may be 
 contemplated; 3. A coup de main from Astrabad 
 through Khorasan to Herat, from which there are 
 three practical roads to Kandahar, and from thence to 
 the Indus. The entire distance is about 2,000 miles ;
 
 RUSSIA IN ASIA. 269 
 
 4. A rapid descent of the Euphrates to the sea on rafts 
 from below Erzeroum, in the flooded season. Recent 
 investigations have moreover proved the practicability 
 of a passage along the banks of the Euphrates for the 
 march of an army to the Persian Gulf. 
 
 Groimdless alarm is weak ; provision for an evil day 
 is wise. Our great territory in India, ours now more 
 than ever, though at great cost of life and treasure, 
 must be sedulously shielded from the threatening of 
 harm if that be possible. To " lock the door of the 
 stable after the steed has been stolen " is not com- 
 mendable policy. In this question all that affects the 
 condition of Central Asia is of vast importance. The 
 question may some day be, shall England encounter 
 Russia with all Asia at her back, or oppose Russia 
 with all Asia at her side ? 
 
 Various attempts having been made by Russia against 
 Khiva, and those attempts at the moment of our 
 writing succeeded by another, which has been the 
 subject of negotiation between Russia and the British 
 government (such expedition being, indeed, already 
 on its way), it may be well for us to refer to 
 that country more particularly. Khiva, Kharesm, or 
 Orgunje is an independent Khanat of Turkestan, in 
 Central Asia. It properly comprises only a narrow 
 strip of fertile land along the Oxus, in the lower por- 
 tion of its course. It is but of late years that it has 
 established a supremacy over the wandering Tartar 
 hordes, and been able to hold Merve (Muiu) with its
 
 270 ASIA. 
 
 territory, which lies on the road between Khorasan 
 and Bokhara. The dominion of the Khan extends 
 between the 36th and 44th degrees of N. lat., and 52nd 
 and 64th of E. long., having to the east the Karakalpac 
 territories and Bokhara ; to the south, AfPghanistan and 
 the Persian province of Khorasan ; to the west, the 
 Caspian ; and to the north, the Khirgiz Steppe and the 
 Sea of Aral. This territory had, for a lengthened 
 period, been a sort of " no-man's land ; " it was occu- 
 pied by the Tartars, and was claimed by both Persia 
 and Bokhara, and the claim was disputed by neighbour- 
 ing great Powers, the tribes themselves maintaining 
 their independence till but recently. The Oxus is the 
 great fertiliser of the district through which it passes. 
 The climate and products greatly resemble those of 
 Bokhara. The summer is hot, the air dry, and the 
 evaporation rapid. The winter is short, and lasts only 
 a few days at a time. Various kinds of grain are culti- 
 vated. The vine thrives ; but the inhabitants being 
 Mahometans, little wine is made. The distillation of 
 brandy, however, has been introduced by the Persians, 
 and, except in the capital, is freely used. An intoxicating 
 liquor made from hemp has also been brought into the 
 estimation of the people, to their hurt. Many of the 
 fruits are good. Wood is abundant ; but all over the 
 desert, as distinguished from the wooded parts^ there 
 are only a few stunted bushes. There are not many horned 
 cattle ; sheep, and goats, and horse-flesh forming the 
 principal animal food of the peopla Agriculture and
 
 RUSSIA IN ASIA. 27 I 
 
 cattle-breeding mostly occupy the settled population ; 
 but some cotton and silk stuffs and shawls are made by 
 the women, and exported to the neighbouring countries. 
 Camels are the ordinary beasts of burden, and almost 
 every Khivan possesses one. 
 
 The most numerous race in the population in Khiva 
 is Uzbek, as it also is in Bokhara. The Khan belongs 
 to it. The rest of the people are Tartars of various 
 tribes, Jews, Armenians, and Persians. The Tartars 
 are altogether nomadic and live by plunder. The 
 Uzbeks constitute the chief portion of the Khan's 
 army. Many inroads are made by both Tartars and 
 Uzbeks — it being sometimes difficult to distinguish the 
 two — both into the Russian and the Persian territories. 
 
 According to Burnes, the Khivans are little better 
 than an organized banditti, protected by the natural 
 strength of their country. There are from thirty to 
 forty thousand slaves ; and many prisoners of war, 
 taken in the constant broils of the Khanat with its 
 neighbours, are detained in the utmost misery. 
 
 Travellers in the country generally express the 
 opinion, some the hope and some the fear, that Russia 
 will gradually take possession of Khiva. If it were for 
 its own sake, and for the purpose of helping its people 
 to a better civilisation, that Russia desired this posses- 
 sion, one could not but wish it success ; but the history 
 of Russia, which so much shows one point to have been 
 coveted as a help to the reaching of another, is a lesson 
 which tells the neighbours, nearer or more remote, of
 
 2 72 ASIA. 
 
 this great Power, to beware. The country is at a 
 manageable distance, by no means a difficulty, from what 
 is now the British frontier in India ; and, moreover, it 
 is strong as a means of defence if an attacking army 
 were compelled to retreat. 
 
 The trade of such a country it is not difficult to describe. 
 There are four routes for communication with E,ussia — 
 one through the Khirgiz Steppe, west of the Aral Sea, 
 to Orenburg ; a second by way of Sarachak, on the 
 Ural, also to Orenburg ; a third through Sarachak to 
 Astrakhan ; and a fourth from Khiva to Karaghan, on 
 the eastern shore of the Caspian, whence goods are sent 
 by sea to Astrakhan. About 2,000 camels go annually 
 to Orenburg, Astrakhan, and some towns of Cabul and 
 Persia, with wheat, barley, silk, and cotton fabrics, and 
 yarn; and about a dozen large boats come annually 
 from Astrakhan to Karaghan and the Grulf of Manghis- 
 lak, with the products of Russia and the West, to be 
 exchanged for those brought by the caravans from 
 Khiva. The chief imports are slaves, coin, iron and 
 copper — wrought and unwrought — handkerchiefs, wax, 
 honey, sugar, tea — which, as in Bokhara, is a favourite 
 article — cochineal, spices, and hardware. The com- 
 merce with Persia is insignificant. The trade of Khiva 
 is solely in the hands of Turcomans, Khivans, and Per- 
 sians — none but Mahometans being allowed to transact 
 business within the Khanat. No foreign merchant can 
 go into the country with safety ; when not openly 
 robbed of a large portion of goods, the caravans are
 
 RUSSIA IN ASIA. 273 
 
 delayed by the Khan's officers, the bales of merchandise 
 are opened, and much property has, at times, been 
 extorted. The commercial duties realised by the Khan 
 amount to, perhaps, half his revenue, which is roughly 
 estimated at 2,000,000 roubles, the remainder of this 
 sum being made up of one-fifth of the produce of every 
 predatory excursion of his subjects, a family tax of three 
 ducats a year, taxes on war-horses, and on land culti- 
 vated bj' slaves. 
 
 The government is despotic. In each town there is 
 a judge, and in the capital a central court of justice as 
 a last resort. The Khan can raise a force of 10,000 
 men, and ten pieces of ordnance. His troops are 
 mostly cavalry. There are in the Khanat, besides 
 Merve, only two towns worth notice — Khiva, the capital 
 and seat of government, and Orgunje, the chief com- 
 mercial town. 
 
 KJdva is a picturesque town. The population is esti- 
 mated at from ten to twelve thousand. These are very 
 much mixed. The houses, even the palace, are of mud, 
 the only stone buildings in the place being three mosques, 
 a school, and a caravansery. The chief trade of the 
 capital is in slaves. The way in which slaves and 
 prisoners of war are brought into Khiva is described by 
 a recent intelligent traveller, whose language presents 
 a painful picture :* — " Next morning I reall}' did see 
 about a hundred horsemen arrive from the camp 
 covered with dust. Each of them brought at least one 
 
 ♦ "Travels in Central Asia," by A. Vambcry, London, 18G4. 
 T
 
 2 74 ASIA. 
 
 prisoner with Lim, and amongst tlie number, children 
 and women, bound to the tail of his horse or the pommel 
 of his saddle. Besides, he had buckled behind him a 
 large sack containing the heads of the slain. On 
 coming up, he handed over the prisoners to the Khan 
 or some other great personage, and then, loosening his 
 sack, seized it by the two lower corners, as if he were 
 about to empty potatoes, and then rolled the bearded or 
 beardless heads before the accountant, who kicked them 
 into a heap consisting of several hundreds. Each hero 
 had a receipt given him for the number of heads 
 delivered, and a few days later came the time of pay- 
 ment." For its own sake, such a country is not worthy 
 of much consideration. If its possession is coveted, 
 that may be from reasons of reprisal or revenge, or 
 State policy on account of its position and natural 
 features. If it be defended and its independence pro- 
 tected, neither can it be for its protection as a nation, 
 60 called ; it must be, again, for State reasons, as arising 
 out of its position and the character of the country. In 
 judging of questions which connect themselves with the 
 occupation or defence of any such people or territory it 
 is needful to take into account the antecedents and 
 probable motives of the States negotiating. 
 
 Sir Henry Rawlinson delivered a lecture on " Hussian 
 Advances in Turkestan," in the lecture theatre of the 
 University of London, on the evening of the 24th of 
 March, 1873; the Prince of Wales was in the chair, 
 and the fine hall was filled to overflowing. The lecturer
 
 RUSSIA IN ASIA.. 275 
 
 pointed to the fact that the Khanat of Khiva was the 
 original seat of the great Aryan race, and that there 
 was reason for believing that the astronomical science 
 of Eastern Asia arose in Khiva, passing thence to China 
 and India. In relation to Russia and Khiva, he stated 
 that the great value of Khiva to the Russians would be 
 a connection with the prolongation of the Oxus with 
 the Caspian, the eastern shores of which were receding. 
 Such connection might easily be formed. The atten- 
 tion of Russia had first been directed to Khiva at the 
 beginning of the last century by exaggerated reports of 
 the auriferous sands of Kara Su, which was spoken 
 of as a sort of El Dorado. The Kara Su was a branch 
 of the Oxus running north to the Sea of Aral. 
 
 The history of the intercourse of Russia with Khiva 
 may be given in few words. The first expedition, to 
 which we have referred in a former page, as having 
 occurred in 1717, was practically destroyed. The next 
 was, if we speak only of serious attempts, in 1839-40, 
 and this also resulted in retreat with heavy loss. Since 
 that date four Russian officers have visited Khiva, with 
 the purpose of inducing the Khan to release his Russian 
 prisoners and to conclude a treaty of friendship. Ten 
 years later, when the Russians began their advance up 
 the Jaxartes, they again came into collision with the 
 Khivans. In 1854 a commercial treaty with Russia 
 was concluded, but did not work smoothly. In 1859 
 Russia set forth a manifesto of the grounds of her 
 quarrel with Khiva, complaining that her commerce
 
 276 ASIA. 
 
 was impeded, her merchants plundered, and her sub- 
 jects imprisoned. In the spring of 187] war was com- 
 menced, and all subsequent outrages by the Khivans 
 must be contemplated in the light of retaliation on 
 account of the Russian invasion of the country. 
 
 Count SchouvaloflF, during his recent official visit to 
 this country, assured her Majesty's Ministers that 
 the design of the Emperor was merely the punish- 
 ing of the Khivans for injury inflicted on Russia 
 and the subjects of Russia ; that that once done 
 he would evacuate the country. Our government 
 was satisfied, and so was the envoy. The force to be 
 employed is said to be four columns, 4,000 men, with 
 forty pieces of artillery ; but the probability is that 
 the force is larger. The length of the march will 
 vary according to the points of departure and the 
 points of attack on Khiva, from 480 to 1,000 miles. 
 Khiva, altogether, contains only 500,000 people. If 
 Russia retire after conquest the Orientals will despise 
 her. Such a thing they cannot understand. If she 
 remain, in opposition to her assurances to the contrary, 
 her so doing must be at enormous expense, and cannot 
 but lead to misunderstanding with neighbouring Powers 
 and with England in particular. The plan of the 
 campaign is — General Kauffman being in command — 
 that each division shall be large enough to act inde- 
 pendently, and that the chief force will skirt the north 
 side of the Mura Tau, within the limits of Bokhara, 
 and will cross the Oxus at Tiinuklii. Once at Khiva
 
 RUSSIA IN ASIA. 277 
 
 success is certain, but the results only time can show. 
 In Parliaraent, her Majesty's Ministers declare that 
 " no difficulty is likely to arise." But these people 
 have successfully resisted their enemies down to the 
 present day. So that, if now, all that is said bein<> 
 believed, there be no threatening of difficulty, prolonga- 
 tion of hostilities may change the aspect of affiiirs, a^ 
 may also a great success and a crowning victory. 
 
 It has been reported in this coimtry that, at the 
 eleventh hour, the Khan has suddenly abandoned his 
 hostile attitude, and changed his policy of resistance 
 into one of deprecation, and desires to make peace with 
 the Czar, having executed his Prime Minister, and im- 
 prisoned some of his own relations and other members of 
 the war party, sending the so-called Russian prisoners 
 on their way to Orenburg. There is nothing improb- 
 able in the report, but it requires confirmation. Such 
 a proceeding would be quite compatible with the 
 politics of Central Asia. The Khan is not an amiable 
 potentate, and woidd readily adopt any measures, how- 
 ever severe, which might seem to him likely to serve 
 his present purpose. But if ho has succumbed, his re- 
 lenting has come too late. Russia has gone to great 
 cost, and been at much trouble for years in the planning 
 and organizing of the expedition. A march on Khiva 
 has been the cherished dream of half a century. It has 
 been the object of special preparations ever since the 
 seizure of Samarcand made the Czar virtual master of 
 Bokhara. To that end the Caspian coast was occupied,
 
 278 ASIA. 
 
 and tlie Russian frontier moved south to the borders of 
 Persia. In order to find a way to this Khanate, which 
 trusted in the remoteness and the breadth of the desert 
 lying between a formidable enemy and his prey, Russian 
 officers have ridden along and surveyed the practical 
 routes, and continual activity has been manifested on 
 Lake Aral. It is therefore not likely that such per- 
 sistent ambition \vill permit itself to be easily frustrated. 
 The grievances complained of are not new — they were 
 formally stated more than thirty years ago. Muscovite 
 griefs, aims and professions are precisely what they 
 have long been. Will the Khan sign any instrument 
 binding himself to a different line of conduct ? Will 
 he pay such indemnity as must be required even on 
 account of money already spent? No. But even if 
 he had changed his policy, Hussia will not abate one 
 jot of her designs. The independence of Khiva piques 
 Muscovite self-love, and places an obstacle in the way 
 of ulterior objects. Russia wants free admission to the 
 Oxus and a material guarantee insuring its permanent 
 freedom. The military party passionately desire con- 
 quest, and the harvest of honours its achievement will 
 enable them to reap. They have so far had their 
 way. Military opinion counts for something in all 
 countries — in Russia for much, especially in all that 
 relates to the remote regions of Central Asia. 
 
 In the House of Commons attention has again been 
 called to these movements of Russia, and the note of 
 warning sounded by members of that House whose
 
 RUSSIA IN ASIA. 279 
 
 opinions are of authority and weight. On the part of 
 the Government assurance is once more given that no 
 danger to the rule of England is at all apprehended. 
 
 The Khan has sent ambassadors to Fort No. 1, on 
 the mouth of the Jaxartes, with power to make the 
 best terms with Ilussia they can. lie has done so 
 under the advice of Lord Northbrook. But the Khivan 
 commission was too late to find General Kauffman, and 
 messengers were dispatched to await him at the rendez- 
 vous. This intelligence comes with authority from St. 
 Petersburg. But no change has been made in the 
 Russian plans ; neither could there well be any — there 
 has not been time. General Kauffman, accompanied 
 by two Russian princes, was making his way, with a 
 strong force, along a track never before traversed by 
 any European soldiery ; the Aral flotilla was steaming 
 south towards the Delta, in order to prepare the means 
 of crossing the river ; and the troops from Orenburg 
 had crossed the Emba, and were pushing onwards. By 
 the time we write the junction of forces has been 
 effected, and the general in command is in a position to 
 say whether he will halt on the frontier, or not rest 
 satisfied with anything less than an armed occupation 
 of the offending Khanate. Much must depend upon 
 his own discretion. General Kauffman is a highly- 
 trusted servant, and no doubt his orders were framed 
 in large terms. Much will depend on the concessions 
 made by the Khan. At the same time, the princes and 
 the general may feel that, having come so far, an entry
 
 280 ASIA. 
 
 into the city is absolutely desirable to exalt Russian 
 prestige and gratify themselves. But if they can be 
 satisfied by the concessions made the troops would be 
 spared part of an arduous journey, and the question of 
 withdrawing from Khiva, after it had been occupied, 
 would be evaded. As we have said, much depends upon 
 the concessions. 
 
 But the army of India is in good condition. Eng- 
 land is mistress of the seas, and there are fleets of gun- 
 boats on the Indus. Affghanistan in the north-west is 
 a kind of bulwark against any hostile approach from 
 Central Asia, and beyond Affghanistan are countries as 
 savage as their scenery, whom it has been the policy of 
 England to regard and uphold as independent border- 
 lands. The most important of these are the three 
 Khanats of Bokhara, Kokan, and Khiva. Hence the 
 importance to us of the present movement. Bokhara 
 is the most important of these provinces, and joins on to 
 that of Khiva. 
 
 Bokhara is a portion of the ancient Bactria, whose 
 history runs back to the most remote periods. Its 
 capital, Balkh, has frequently been named in connection 
 with the expedition of which we have had occasion to 
 speak. Balkh is one of the oldest of cities. Its ruins 
 occupy a circuit of twenty miles. They consist chiefly 
 of fallen mosques and decayed tombs. Of the territory 
 and the capital of Khiva we have already spoken.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE TARTARS- 
 
 TNCIDENTAL references have been made in the fore- 
 ffoins observations to the Tartars and their various 
 tribes ; but they constitute a race so peculiar and 
 remarkable, that it seems necessary in order to a correct 
 conception of Central Asia and its people, that those 
 tribes and several of their peculiarities should be more 
 distinctly contemplated. 
 
 The old geographers were accustomed to speak of 
 European or Little Tartary, and Asiatic or Great 
 Tartary. The former, in their arrangement, comprised 
 those countries round the Black Sea which were in- 
 habited by the Nogai Tartars, and the Budshiac Tartars 
 or Bessarabians, with part of the country lying between 
 the Dnieper and the Dniester. But since these districts 
 have been annexed to Bussia, the name has gone out of 
 use. Besides Tartars, the Russians have now in the 
 governments which they have formed in these localities, 
 Greeks, Germans, and Jewish colonists among their
 
 282 ASIA. 
 
 population. Asiatic Tartar}^, called, from its extent, 
 Great Tartary, used to include part of what are now the 
 Asiatic provinces of Russia, the herders of Persia, 
 Thibet, and the Chinese Empire, But all this has heen 
 changed by time and conquest. The northern part of 
 what some style Zagatai, or Independent Tartary, is 
 partly governed by separate khans or princes, being 
 occupied by nomadic tribes, differing considerably in 
 their character and manners, being generally claimed, 
 with their native rulers, as subject to E^ussia. The 
 southern part is called Great Bucharia, in which, among 
 other commercial cities, is Samarcand, once the resi- 
 dence of Timour. Little Bucharia is subject to China. 
 The whole of Central Asia, to the west of Zagatai, is 
 often styled Chinese Tartary, which is an error, and it 
 has resulted from the confounding of the Mongol and 
 Mantchoo tribes, who roam over those regions with 
 the Tartars, but with whom they have no natural 
 affinity. 
 
 The proper Tartars, or Tatars more correctly, are 
 divided into many branches, and, under different names, 
 occupy a large extent of territory, both in Europe and 
 Asia. Their true name really is Turks or Turcomanns, 
 7 a tor being supposed to be a Chinese name for all the 
 nomadic tribes of Central Asia ; some, however, contend- 
 ing that it is the proper designation of a Mongol tribe. 
 Once the terror of their neighbours, they are now for 
 the most part subject to foreign masters, while a few 
 tribes insist that they are still independent ; most of
 
 THE TARTARS. 2S5 
 
 these latter occupy in ^^ regions too barren to offer any 
 tcmptation to conquerors, or too remote to be easily 
 accessible. The Tartar part of the population of Russia 
 amovmts to about three millions, residing chiefly in the 
 southern Asiatic provinces — many of them dwelling in 
 stationary habitations, and occupied with agriculture. 
 There are also some Tartar colonies distributed among 
 the Russian villao'es in the governments of Orenburg, 
 Kasan, and Tobolsk, and several hordes besides who 
 claim to be merely the independent allies of Russia. 
 The Russian Tartars, as we have already had occasion 
 to mention, consist of several branches. The Tartars 
 proper, the Nogais, the Bashkirs, the Kirghises, Yak- 
 outes, and Teleutes. The Tartars proper are descendants 
 of the two great hordes which the successors of Genghis 
 Khan established in Siberia and on the Volga. About 
 one-fifth of these Tartars have embraced Christianity, 
 the rest are JMahometans. The Nogai Tartars are 
 Mahometans or heathens. The Bashkirs are wanderers. 
 The Kirghises breed cattle and cultivate ground, though 
 settled as their life is they live in tents ; they are 
 Mahometans. And the Yakoutcs and Teleutes, who 
 are fewer in number, arc in a purely nomadic con- 
 dition, and worship idols. The Bucharians, under the 
 protection of Russia, live in cities and villages, and are 
 industrious workmen. 
 
 These people, being dispersed throughout the countries 
 of "Western and Central Asia, are widely different from 
 the pastoral tribes of the desert (the Bedouins), and are
 
 284 ASIA. 
 
 more than equally removed from resemblance to the 
 ordinary inhabitants of the towns. 
 
 Persia is largely occupied by tribes of this character ; 
 indeed, their chiefs are the princes and nobles of that 
 country. These tribes, now inhabiting Persia and 
 Turkey, are the descendants and relatives of those war- 
 like pastoral races formerly and now inhabiting the 
 regions beyond the Oxus, and who have been great 
 conquerors at former periods of their history, having 
 placedtheir chiefs on thrones in all the countries from 
 the Ganges to the Adriatic Sea. The descendants of 
 these chiefs are still sovereigns, really or in name, 
 throughout the same extent of country. The great 
 Mogul and the principal inferior princes of India were 
 of Tartar descent. So are the kings of Persia, and the 
 great lords of their empire ; and so is the Sultan at 
 Constantinople. 
 
 Many tribes of them have entered Persia at different 
 times, and under various circumstances. These seem to 
 a stranger to be one people ; and, as distinguished from 
 the other inhabitants, such they are ; but, among them- 
 selves, they are divided into distinct tribes, each of which 
 has a name of its own, and which has little connection 
 with any other, except when several tribes take the 
 same side in cases of civil war. The tribes differ greatly 
 in numbers and power. Each has its own chief, who 
 has the title of " khan," or lord. But this designation 
 is not restricted to the chiefs of tribes ; in fact, there 
 are no precise rules in regard to the use of this title. On
 
 THE TARTARS. 285 
 
 iLe one hand, it is a title which kings have been content 
 to bear, the great Genghiz Khan, for example ; and on 
 the other, it is frequently bestowed at the present time 
 on persons of no great consideration. The king may 
 bestow it. The title descends from father to son, 
 except in the case of the chief of a tribe, who is khan 
 not merelj' because his father was khan before him, but 
 because he is chief. The designation "lord " is sometimes 
 used equally loosely among ourselves ; others than 
 peers of the realm — all the sons of dukes, and the eldest 
 sons of marquises being so styled. The dignity of cliief 
 of a tribe generally, however, does descend from father 
 to son. But even the king himself, who is a Tartar 
 chief, knows that if any considerable number of tribes 
 were to unite for the purpose, they could deprive him 
 of his crown, and confer it upon another of their chiefs. 
 Although for a thousand years Persia, when inde- 
 pendent, has never been governed except by a native 
 king, yet those kings have always been either native 
 Tartars or Arabian princes. Every chief of a powerful 
 tribe feels that he has about as good a right to the 
 throne as the reigning sovereign. Hence, when an 
 opportunity occurs, some chief either seizes the throne 
 and declares himself king, fighting with the actual 
 ruler, or with other chiefs who also desire the crown. 
 In the end the strongest obtains the coveted position. 
 The Persian king reigning at present is but the third 
 monarch of his family. 
 
 For a number of years past the Tartar tribes have
 
 286 ASIA. 
 
 been lield in moderate check by fhe government, but 
 they have not forgotten their own old exploits in robbery, 
 and are fond of reciting those of their ancestors. True, 
 all the tribes are not alike in this particular ; but most 
 are actuated by the same spirit. Those who are in the 
 neighbourhood of large towns are obliged to be more 
 orderly than those who are distant from the control of 
 the government. Travellers can nowhere go far from 
 their camps if they would not lose their horses and their 
 goods. Those who are hired as escort or guard are 
 generally faithful to the trust reposed in them. Some 
 tribes are considered robbers, but not thieves ; some are 
 thieves and not robbers ; and others are both. Gene- 
 rally speaking, they like better to be considered robbers 
 than thieves. 
 
 The great lords do not generally live with their 
 people, or move with them from place to place. The 
 explanation is this: — Among the expedients of the 
 kings for the keeping of the tribes under control, one 
 is, the requiring of certain young men, usually of the 
 families of the chiefs, to be sent to the capital, as 
 hostages for the good behaviour of their fathers. These 
 young men acquire habits less rude than they would 
 otherwise have possessed, and are not, therefore, dis- 
 posed to resume the life of the tribe ; besides, as they 
 advance in years, they obtain appointments in the 
 military and civil services of the country, and so also 
 are detained in the city. 
 
 A tribe does not continue to live in the same place.
 
 THE TARTARS. 2S7 
 
 One place would not afford sufficient pasture for their 
 cattle. Moreover, for this and other reasons, the tribe 
 is divided into sections ; and while the chief is over the 
 whole tribe, each of its branches is presided over by a 
 person called an "elder." This is a designation of 
 office, not of age, and usually descends from father to 
 son. As a rule, the elders are related, more or less re- 
 motel}', to their chiefs ; and they are the officers of the 
 tribe in time of war, and its magistrates in peace. 
 When the chief does not reside with his tribe, he 
 appoints one of these elders to act as his deputy. Chiefs 
 and their deputies have very great authority in their 
 several tribes. In ordinary cases which call for 
 judgment, the chief or his deputy decides the matter 
 according to his own individual judgment. In graver 
 matters the whole of the elders of the tribe meet as a 
 council, and the decision is given by the majority of 
 their number. A criminal is seldom put to death by 
 the mere sentence of the chief ruler, even when he 
 deserves to die. If it be thought that he ought to be 
 capitally punished, he is given up to the party he has 
 wronged, who may either kill him, or require him to 
 redeem his life at a price, or pardon him. In order to 
 preserve the peace of the tribe, the chief and council 
 always endeavour to persuade the party who has been 
 wronged to make up the difference for a price. Where 
 life is exacted for life lost or taken away, great and 
 fierce feuds frequently occur among the survivors. 
 Such a case is not frequent, but it sometimes does
 
 288 ASIA. 
 
 happen that one who has committed murder throws 
 himself upon the mercy of the murdered man's family. 
 In such circumstances, the murderer ties a sword to his 
 neck with a black cord, and goes to the nearest of kin 
 to the deceased, and tells him that he has come to 
 receive his doom from him. The avenger may kill him 
 if he choose ; but it is a point of honour among the 
 tribes — and it is seldom violated, — that a man is not to 
 be put to death who sues for mercy in so humble a 
 manner. 
 
 We have spoken of the Tartars as "wandering" tribes; 
 at the same time we have referred to them as occupy- 
 ing particular districts, and as being under the authority 
 of recognised chiefs. There is no contradiction in these 
 statements. Each tribe has a large space which it 
 holds as its own, and within which it moves from place 
 to place, and beyond this territory they are not expected 
 to go. How they severally came into possession of 
 these lands is not always apparent. It seems as if each 
 tribe, when it came into the country, had an allocation 
 of land made to it, on M'hich it might graze its flocks. 
 It may not have been intended that these should be re- 
 tained as an absolute and perpetual property ; but long 
 possession came to be held as a right of prescription with 
 which others must not interfere. There is abundance 
 of room for the whole of these tribes in a country so 
 large and so thinly peopled as Persia, and many of 
 them have a range which includes much land, extend- 
 ing over several valleys and mountains. Disputes
 
 THE TARTARS. 289 
 
 between tribes in regard to boundaries, or particular 
 springs, or wells, or murders, sometimes lead to much 
 bloodshed, and are maintained for generations. The 
 right to these lands is not that of owners. The tribes are 
 at liberty to feed their flocks, to cultivate ground where 
 it has not been cultivated by others, and even to build 
 villages and towns within their districts. For such 
 privileges they do not pay money ; but are obliged to 
 furnish a certain number of horsemen to serve the king 
 in his wars. They also pay a small tax on their flocks. 
 This is paid in sheep, butter, cheese, and such other 
 produce as their mode of life supplies. The wealth of u 
 chief consists in his flocks, and in contributions from 
 his people, which contributions, being voluntary, vary 
 according to his popularity or his power. 
 
 A tribe changes its particular place of abode when 
 the flocks have consumed the grass in the previously 
 occupied locality. The change must, of course, be 
 always within the prescribed domain. The elder 
 appoints the time of removal ; and the distance of the 
 next settlement is regulated by the facility or difficulty 
 which may be experienced in the finding of suitable 
 pasture. It is also afiected by the season of the year. 
 Some tribes remain in tents all the year round. These 
 are easily moved. Others occupy small wooden houses, 
 which may be carried almost as readily as tents ; 
 while others build huts to which they return in the 
 winter. In the last-mentioned instance, a certain 
 amount of grain is sown previously to the summer migru- 
 
 u
 
 .2gO ASIA. 
 
 tions, and a few aged persons are left behind to attend 
 to it. In the removals camels are sometimes employed, 
 but, more frequently horses, mules, or asses. The 
 sheep, goats, and other cattle are driven separately and 
 by short stages that they may feed by the way. They 
 are led, rather than driven — led by well-known shep- 
 herds who are followed by sagacious members of the 
 flock, familiar with the shepherds, and these are fol- 
 lowed by the great body. The people generally go on 
 foot, with the exception of the infirm and weak, 
 or those who have the care of little children, and for 
 the use of these advantage is taken of unladen beasts of 
 burden. The men on foot are well armed, with guns 
 at their backs, daggers in their girdles, and sticks in 
 their hands, ready to defend their families and pro- 
 perty from danger. 
 
 They generally form their encampments near some 
 rivulet or stream, and, if they are not strong, they 
 pitch their tents near the foot of mountains, that they 
 may be within the reach of a place of safety when 
 danger arises. The tents are usually pitched in 
 squares. When the party is large, and there are 
 many tents, they do not pitch them all together, but 
 form them into groups at a short distance from 
 each other. They can thus keep their individual flocks 
 separate, and each obtains its due proportion of forage. 
 At the same time, the diSerent parties are within call 
 of each other in case of danger. 
 
 They live almost entirely on what their flocks
 
 THE TARTARS. 29 I 
 
 produce, for the animals themselves they very rarely 
 kill. They weave a coarse cloth for their own use ; 
 and when they want anything which they cannot 
 provide from their flocks, they take cheese and 
 butter, or sheep, goats, kids, cows, horses, asses, or 
 camels to the towns for sale. They thus supply the 
 cattle which the settled inhabitants require, and 
 receive in return corn, cloth, money, and articles of 
 hardware. 
 
 The men spend their time in riding, military 
 exercises, and the chase. One of their chief pleasures 
 is derived from sitting in the shade, smoking their 
 pipes, and listening to songs and tales, or in witnessing 
 the tricks, grimaces, and practical jokes of looties, or 
 buffoons. These looties are sometimes well skilled in 
 their art, and take pains for the purpose of making 
 themselves so. The women are most frequently engaged 
 in their domestic duties, in making butter and cheese, 
 or in weaving cloth and carpets. These women never 
 complain of the hardness of their work. But this 
 practice of making drudges of their women is com- 
 mon among all wandering peoples, and all savage 
 nations. 
 
 The chiefs and other great men have more than one 
 wife as a rule ; but they are obliged to be careful in 
 their whole conduct, lest they should give ofience to 
 the principal wife. It is a pitiful picture of domestic 
 life where a man must show respect to one wife by 
 slighting the others, and where a father is afraid to
 
 292 ASIA, 
 
 notice his own son, he being the child of a mother 
 whose rank is secondary. 
 
 The marriage ceremonies among these people are 
 almost identical with those which are represented in 
 the Sacred Scriptures. In religion they are professedly 
 Mahometan, but their consciences are not particularly 
 burdened. There are no stated religious teachers 
 among such tribes. Occasionally, a priest finds his 
 way from one village to another, and calls the people to 
 prayers ; but there is no regular or systematic instruc- 
 tion among them. There is no point of their religion 
 as to which they are particular, unless it be in the 
 matter of restriction in regard to certain kinds of 
 animals as to food. Hares and pigs, and all beasts which 
 do not chew the cud, and also divide the hoof are pro- 
 fessedly abominated, and yet the practice is far from 
 strict. 
 
 There are Tartars whose winter encampment is in 
 the plains of Antioch, and who have habits of their 
 own. They are a nomade people, and yet, to a certain 
 extent, they have become agriculturists. It is said 
 that the attention of this tribe was drawn to agri- 
 culture by a chief whose acquaintance with other 
 nations enabled him to see the advantages which were 
 to be derived from the cultivation of the soil. Still, 
 their principal riches consist in cattle. These people 
 do not pay the usual miri, or land-tax, to the State for 
 the ground which they occupy, nor is there any direct 
 rent. But they render a tribute to the governor of
 
 THE TARTARS. 293 
 
 the province for the occupation of their lands. And 
 besides, they are subject to the obligations of military 
 service. 
 
 They are divided into minor tribes or clans, and 
 each has its own chief. The head of the most impor- 
 tant of these is, in a certain sense, the head of the 
 whole tribe ; but he does not interfere in the internal 
 affairs of the other clans. Much depends upon his 
 personal character. Where he is respected, his 
 influence is great. The ties of tribal connection are 
 seldom strong. This renders a chief more cautious 
 and studious of popularity. These Rhyaulu Tartars do 
 not pitch their tents in any large number together — only 
 to the extent of five or six. They are frugal in their 
 habits, having usually but two meals in the day, 
 and these very moderate. The women do not hide 
 themselves even before strangers. They are indus- 
 trious like those of all the wandering tribes. They 
 marry at fourteen or fifteen, the girls at about thir- 
 teen. They are robbers like their kind. They also 
 profess to be Mahometans. 
 
 There are also bodies of Tartars occupying positions 
 in the region of the Caucasus. They are not all Maho- 
 metans. Within the Ottoman territory these people 
 are everywhere treated with at least ordinary modera- 
 tion. Their professed Mahometanism is a kind of 
 protection to them. But the strong arm of Russia is 
 against them wherever they are found. Between E-ussia 
 and them there is no bond of common faith, and their
 
 294 ASIA. 
 
 utter extirpation seems to be the aim of the policy of that 
 Power. Doubtless, the same spirit is the animus in the 
 present Khivan expedition. With respect to the Tartars, 
 and the matter here in hand, it may be observed that the 
 Emperor himself, bent on his purpose, visited Caucasus 
 in 1839. In 1840 Schamyl became conspicuous. He 
 was born in 1797, of Tartar blood, in a family of 
 obscure condition, as well as in a province not dis- 
 tinguished, Dargbestan, on the S.E. of the Caucasus, 
 along the Caspian. Schamyl in earh^ life gave no 
 signs of distinction. Under one Shelal Eddin he 
 studied Arabic philosophy. In that he found a 
 resource from which he drew a new religion. That 
 resource was Sufism. According to the doctrine of 
 the Sufis, man has to reach four stages in order to rise 
 to celestial blessedness. The first step is set by those 
 who follow the outer law of the faithful (Sharyat), and 
 observe its instructions respecting prayers, fasts, pil- 
 grimages, almsgivings, seif-purification, the love of 
 truth, honour. Then comes the second stage, another 
 step on the way of perfection (Tarykal), when, in con- 
 trast to externalities, he diligently and reverently 
 worships God in the depth of his heart. When this 
 adoration becomes so habitual and deep as to carry the 
 worshipper by rapt meditation and intimate com- 
 munion with nature into the essence of things, so as to 
 o-ive him extatic intuition of what is heavenly, then he 
 has ascended to the third stage, which bears the name 
 of truth (Hakykal). In the fourth and last stage of
 
 THE TARTARS. 295 
 
 knowledge (Maarifal), the condition has been so 
 sublimed that man enters into immediate personal 
 union with God. This old mystical philosophy has 
 been revived by Scham^-l, under whose hands it has 
 received the following practical application ; the lowest 
 stage is occupied by the common people, who, not 
 sufficiently cultivated to guide themselves, require a 
 governor who may lead them to the outward and cere- 
 monial observance of the law. The second stage is 
 occupied by the better sort of people, the disciples, or 
 murids, for whom the outer law is superfluous, since 
 every one who seeks truth is good, because he knows 
 that goodness only leads to truth. A higher class 
 stands on the third step to the heavenly temple, and the 
 murshid alone reaches the fourth. The murshid is the 
 Caucasian Pope. The chosen ones of the second degree 
 are his naibs, princes, or cardinals ; then come the bishops 
 of the third class ; and, finally, the people whose prin- 
 ciple is passive obedience, and whose only duty is to 
 observe the commands of religion, and to defend and 
 promote its interest by the sword. 
 
 The ground of this spiritual despotism was laid by 
 Kasi Mullah, who prepared the way for the hero of the 
 Caucasus ; but Schamyl gave it consistency and practical 
 application. In particular, he applied it to two great 
 purposes. He made it the bond of union, and so gained 
 unity, after others had striven for it almost in vain, 
 Mid in which lies the inexhaustible and unconquerable 
 strensrth of the Caucasians. He also made it othtjwise
 
 296 ASIA. 
 
 a source of power. Here was a new religion to figlit 
 for ; a religion neither Christian nor Mohammedan, 
 though partaking of qualities found in both, and which 
 consequently could be enforced against all the'populations 
 of the Caucasus, that sympathized with Russia, no less 
 than against Russia itself. The time in which Kasi 
 Mullah put forth his system was one of danger. Jer- 
 molo w, one of the best Russian commanders, had obtained 
 so much power that the final conquest of the country 
 seemed imminent. In 1824 the new Sufism began to 
 spread. The cry "Moslem, war against the infidels, 
 and ruin on the Giaours," ran like wild-fire from aul to 
 aul (village), until in Daghestan it fell on the ears of 
 the Russian. When the movement reached the north, 
 Schamyl was living as a priest at Hinery. He attached 
 himself to the side of Kasi Mullah. The Russian 
 sent an army and carried the apparently inaccessible 
 pass which led to Hinery, and besieged Kasi Mullah. 
 All fell. Kasi Mullah was killed. Schamyl fell, pierced 
 with two balls. He appeared covered with blood in 
 the council, as it met to deliberate on the choice of a 
 new leader. He was elected, and he drove the Russians 
 back. Subsequent events showed in this man great 
 nobility of character ; but the enemy was more than 
 able to cope with him, and, after a prolonged struggle, 
 he and his fellows were compelled to succumb. The 
 massacre of 1860-62 was a deep disgrace to its 
 agents. 
 
 We have thus before us a people, scattered over a
 
 THE TARTARS. 297 
 
 wide space, distinguished by many peculiarities ; in 
 former times having great qualities, but characterised 
 by many evil habits and customs, and who, in many 
 parts, are being driven from their fastnesses, and whose 
 power for good to their fcllow-meu is but small.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 BRITAIN IN INDIA. 
 
 ~ORITAIN in Asia — India — is so large a subject that 
 ^^ in any general work it cannot be written upon 
 exhaustively. This is to be regretted the less as many 
 books exclusively devoted to this one theme are within 
 easy reach of the reader. But, even if our notices be 
 but few and cursory, Asia, with its peoples, cannot be 
 fairly judged of without including India. 
 
 India lies between l"" and 35° N. lat. and 67* and 97* 
 E. long. The greatest length from north to south, or 
 from the Himalayas in Cashmere to Cape Comorin, is 
 1,870 miles ; and the greatest breadth, from the Hala 
 mountains to Scinde to the eastern extremity of Assam, 
 nearly along the 27* N. lat., is about 1,800 miles. 
 The superficial area comprises about 1,250,000 square 
 English miles, with a sea-coast line of 3,622 miles. The 
 boundaries of India are remarkably well defined. The 
 origin of the name is uncertain. The general aspect of 
 the country includes great varieties. The Himalayas
 
 ''^V'Srt'
 
 BRITAIN IN INDIA. 299 
 
 extend along the whole of the northern and north- 
 eastern frontier, with a continuous series of snowy 
 peaks. These are extended by a region of mountains. 
 To the south of them are the great plains of Ilindustan. 
 But the most remarkable region is the Great Desert. 
 This extends to a distance of 350 miles, from the 
 western base of the Hala mountains to the western 
 base of the Aravulli, and from the Runn of Cutch to 
 the Sutlej, upwards of 450 miles. The surface has no 
 covering of turf, nor any closely contiguous roots ; but 
 there are various kinds of plants whose berries, leaves or 
 fruit are fit for food. 
 
 The Gulf of Cutch, the Gulf of Cambay, the Gulf of 
 Manaar, and the Gulf of Bombay, are the principal 
 inlets from the sea. 
 
 The distance between Ceylon and the Continent 
 is 62 miles ; and the sea-passage is narrow and 
 difficult. 
 
 The great rivers are the Indus and the Ganges. 
 The Indus is formed in Balti, or Little Thibet. 
 The prineii)al affluent is the Cabul river. 
 
 The Gamjes is reckoned the principal river of India. 
 At a distance of 500 miles from the sea the channel is 
 30 feet deep, when the stream is at the lowest. 
 About 200 miles from the sea begins the Delta of the 
 Ganges. The branches of the river are here called by 
 different names, the two which are most westerly being 
 known as the Cossimbazar and the Jellinghy rivers, 
 which unite and form the Hooghly, which passes
 
 300 ASIA. 
 
 Calcutta, and is the only branch commonly navigated 
 by sea-going vessels. 
 
 The history of British dominion in India reads like a' 
 romance. " The fair land of the East " was to our fore- 
 fathers, even from the time of the Crusades, like a gorgeous 
 dream, and, in their imaginations, that was a country of 
 marvel, and mystery, and untold wealth. Sir Thomas 
 Myddelton, and the Shirleys, and Sir Thomas Roe 
 returned from it with glowing descriptions of Eastern 
 magnificence and glory. In the steady progress ot 
 British trade with India much of the hope which was 
 excited was realised. Reckless adventurers, portionless 
 younger brothers, went forth, and after years of absence 
 and silence returned with wealth so vast, that our 
 sober, plodding great-grandfathers were absolutely 
 bewildered. 
 
 But the progress of British power in India was, 
 nevertheless, very slow ; and we cannot repress our 
 astonishment when we find that, not a hundred years 
 ago, the representatives of that power were borne with 
 on mere sufferance. It is to Clive that we owe the 
 foundation of our mighty empire in the East, and there 
 was much of romance in his career. And romantic 
 incidents, often of the wildest kind, have marked almost 
 every subsequent event in the history of British India. 
 The story of the late war, connected as it was with 
 intrigue, and massacre, and stern retribution, is a 
 strange and exciting tale, but solemn and complete as 
 a Greek tragedy. In recent years, and not many
 
 BRITAIN IN INDIA. 3OI 
 
 before tte Sepoy outbreak, the public mind at home 
 was startled by the intelligence that the British troops 
 had been defeated by hordes of barbarians, and an army 
 utterly annihilated in the terrible Koord Cabul Pass ; 
 and then, in a few years only, there came after the war 
 in Affghanistan what was even more appalling, in the 
 form of the wide-spread rebellion. 
 
 The history of that event throws light on the esta- 
 blishment and character of British authority in India. 
 The story of the greased cartridges no doubt connects 
 itself closely with the outbreak; but we find in that 
 only one of many occasions of dissatisfaction on the part 
 of the people and the native soldiery. For many 
 years that dissatisfaction had existed, even if it but 
 smouldered. A handful of Englishmen had obtained 
 the mastery of a vast empire through their indomitable 
 courage. They trusted confidingly in their legions of 
 native soldiers, and discovered when it was too late that 
 little reliance is to be placed in hirelings. These mer- 
 cenaries were the dupes of a few designing men, who 
 had filled their minds with suspicions, and by their 
 tales and whisperings had worked them into a state of 
 frenzied panic. It is true, many innovations were con- 
 stantly being introduced ; the ancient landmarks were 
 being one by one broken down and destroyed, and all 
 classes were disquieted and perplexed by fear of 
 change. 
 
 Lord Hardinge had defeated the Sikhs, and had 
 annexed the Cis-Sutlej Provinces. Henry Lawrence,
 
 302 ASIA. 
 
 acting as Colonel of the Bengal Artillery, accomplished 
 much in most difficult circumstances connected with 
 these operations and changes. A great, good man, 
 and u good soldier, Sir Henry devoted himself to the 
 task of conquering the turbulent and troublesome, but 
 he also sought to regenerate the country. It was, how- 
 ever, too much for his strength. He was obliged to 
 relinquish his post in 1847. Lord Hardin ge also 
 quitted the shores of India at the same time. He was 
 succeeded in the early part of 1848, at which time Lord 
 Dalhousie commenced his brilliant career as Governor- 
 General of India. Everything seemed to promise per- 
 manent peace. The country wanted railroads, and the 
 people education, and there was good hope that Lord 
 Dalhousie would provide both. But before May war 
 had broken out in the Punjaub. The murder of two 
 British officers at Mooltan, and the rebellion of the 
 Dewan Moolraj, formed the appropriate prelude to the 
 second Sikh war, and led to the annexation of the 
 "Land of the Five "Waters." Lord Dalhousie was not 
 to blame for this war. He could say with truth, " I 
 have wished for peace ; I have longed for it ; I have 
 striven for it. But if the enemies of India determine 
 to have war, war they shall have ; and on my word 
 they shall have it with a vengeance." And he kept his 
 word. The Government put forth its power. After a 
 lengthened campaign, and a struggle severe and 
 anxious, the Sikhs were utterly defeated, the Aifghans 
 were driven with ignominy through passes of the moun-
 
 BRITAIN IN INDIA. 303 
 
 tains, and the Punjaub became a British province. But 
 this success was like the first taste of blood to the lion's 
 whelp — the ambition of territorial aggrandisement set 
 in. Hostilities with the Court of Ava occurred, and the 
 province of Pegu was annexed. There were disadvan- 
 tages connected with these annexations. True, they 
 eradicated hostile powers which were in the midst of 
 the British territories ; but they dissatisfied the Sepoy 
 soldiery, inasmuch as they were by this means 
 frequently removed far from home, and had imposed 
 upon them the irksome tasks of a military police. 
 
 A new law was framed which gave great ofience. It 
 was enacted that if a prince died without a male heir, 
 his dominions, " by right of lapse," should be declared 
 and held as forfeited to the paramount power. This 
 was held to be a great grievance. Both Hindoos and 
 Mahometans attach much importance to the having of 
 a son, natural or adopted, to perform the funeral obse- 
 quies of his father. The right of adoption is, therefore, 
 held to be a most sacred privilege. The new law 
 abolished this ; and, as there could not, it was believed, 
 be any resurrection to eternal blessedness without the 
 suitable funeral rites, it may readily be supposed that 
 the change was received with much disfavour. Sattarah 
 was, by this means, annexed. So also the principalities 
 of Nagpore and Jhansie passed under the British rule. 
 The two titular sovereignties of the Carnatic and Tan- 
 jore also became extinct during Lord Dalhousic's tenure 
 of power, adequate pensions being, however, settled on
 
 304 ASIA. 
 
 the two families of the deceased princes. The Govern- 
 ment also resumed, on the death of the ex-Peishwar, the 
 enormous stipend that had been guaranteed to that 
 fallen prince; but this act bore the bitterest fruits. 
 The deceased Badjee Rao left three adopted heirs, one 
 of whom was Dooadoo Punt, afterwards notorious as 
 the Nana Sahib, the instigator of the massacre of Cawn- 
 pore. This man never forgave the wrong which he 
 believed had been done him. The kingdom of Oude 
 was subsequently appropriated. That it was shame- 
 fully misgoverned is true, but the British connection with 
 it was in part the occasion. On the 4th day of Feb- 
 ruary, 1864, Wajid Ali was deposed, and the annexation 
 of Oude was completed. Not a blow was struck in 
 defence of the native dynasty. 
 
 New arrangements were made everywhere in regard 
 to the collecting of the revenue. The revenue was 
 farmed. The peasants were ground down to the dust, 
 and an upstart plutocracy suddenly became rich. A 
 social revolution of the most sweeping description was 
 thus accomplished. Many small and poor proprietors 
 of land were ruined. 
 
 Among the sufferers were the Brahmins, who had 
 been in a great measure supported by revenues from 
 lands which the English Government now resumed and 
 taxed. This excited the enmity of these priests towards 
 the Government. Besides, there were other causes 
 combining to raise their hostility against the unbeliev- 
 ing foreigner. By means of the influx of Western
 
 BRITAIN IN INDL\. 
 
 0^0 
 
 learning and ideas, " a new generation was springing 
 up, without faith, without veneration ; an inquiring, 
 doubting, reasoning race, not to be captivated with ab- 
 surd doctrines or by grotesque fables." If this spirit 
 of scepticism and inquiry were permitted to spread, not 
 only would Brahminism be overthrown, but the Brah- 
 mins themselves would be reduced to destitution. The 
 spread of secular education, the introduction of railroads, 
 electric telegraphs, and other scientific improvements, 
 the emancipation of women, and the re-marriage of 
 Hindoo widows, were all heavy and fatal blows directed 
 against the exclusivism and monopol}^ of idleness. Every 
 monstrous lie exploded, every abominable practice sup- 
 pressed, was a blow struck at the priesthood. The 
 murder of women on the funeral pile, the murder of 
 little children in the Zenana, the murder of the sick 
 and the aged on the banks of the river, the murder of 
 human victims, reared and fattened for the sacrifice, 
 were all religious institutions, from which the priest- 
 hood derived either profit or power, or both. Nay, 
 even the wholesale strangling of unsuspecting travellers 
 was sanctified and ceremonialised by religion. But all 
 the foul superstitions which nurtured the Brahmins 
 were fast disappearing from the land. A stand must 
 therefore be made. 
 
 They had still the means supplied them by caste. 
 The great institution of caste was an ever-present 
 reality. It entered into the commonest concerns of 
 life. It was intelligible to the meanest understanding. 
 
 X
 
 3o6 ASIA. 
 
 Every man, woman, and child knew what a terrible 
 thing it would be to be cast out of the community of the 
 brotherhood, and compelled to live apart, condemned of 
 men and forsaken by God. If, then, the people could 
 only be persuaded that their English rulers entertained 
 an insidious intention of depriving them of their caste, 
 and of sinking them to their own pariah level, a 
 universal uprising might be counted upon almost to a 
 certainty. The Brahmins, therefore, were on the watch 
 for a fair and plausible opportunity. At length they 
 found one. It had been the practice to allow prisoners 
 to cook their own food, but the liberty was abused, and 
 was therefore abolished. Prisoners were then divided 
 into messes, then rations issued to them, and cooks 
 appointed to prepare their meals at stated times. If 
 the cook chanced to be of a lower caste than the prisoner 
 the food was contaminated, and all who partook of it 
 were defiled. There were, therefore, riots in several 
 gaols. An attempt was made in some prisons to 
 remove the lotahs, or drinking- vessels of the inmates, 
 but so great was the excitement that it was deemed 
 expedient to yield and restore them. The Mahome- 
 tans have no caste to lose, but among their customs 
 none are more dear to them than circumcision and the 
 seclusion of females. A report was spread that the 
 Government was about to prohibit both. The lie was 
 readily credited, and thus Moslem and Hindoo were 
 joined in an unholy alliance against the common enemy 
 of their respective faiths.
 
 BRITAESr IN INDIA. 307 
 
 Sagacious men, therefore, expected an outbreak. 
 " There stands our future enemy," said the Hon. James 
 Thomason, one day in 1852, pointing to a Sepoy, 
 "There is no doubt," wrote Sir Henry Lawrence, 
 " that whatever danger may threaten us in India, the 
 greatest is from our own (native) troops." 
 
 Fancied slights and injuries were supposed to be 
 inflicted on both Hindoos and Mahometans. As we 
 have said, the latter had no caste to lose, but his beard 
 was sacred in his eyes, and his ear-rings had been given 
 him at his birth, and dedicated to his patron saint. To 
 both the hat was an abomination ; for it was in part 
 made of leather prepared from the skin of the cow or 
 the hog. These changes, the hat for the turban, and 
 the abolition of ear-rings and beards gave much 
 umbrage. Fakeers became numerous. They went 
 about the forts jeering the soldiers, and telling them 
 that they would soon be Christians to a man. Looking 
 at a stock, they would say, " "What is this ? It is 
 leather ! Well I " Then they would look at his belt 
 and tell him that it made a Christian's cross upon hiv. 
 person. Within the forts and outside of them men of 
 all classes were to be found talking about the forcible 
 conversion to Christianity which threatened them. 
 Another story was that Christian churches were to be 
 built in every town and village in the land ; that all 
 worshipping of images was forbidden ; and that no one 
 was to be permitted to enter a pagoda. 
 
 The whole story of the greased cartridges took its
 
 3o8 ASIA. 
 
 rise in a careless blunder in tlie Ordnance Department. 
 The mixture of wax and oil which, had been previously 
 used to lubricate the cartridges for the two-grooved rifle, 
 not being found suitable for the new Enfield rifled ammu- 
 nition, a mixture of stearine and tallow was substituted 
 in its place. But sufficient care had not been taken 
 that only mutton fat should enter into the composition 
 of the tallow, and there is no doubt that beef fat was 
 sometimes used, though it does not appear that hogs' 
 lard was ever employed for that purpose. But these 
 new cartridges were being made in the first instance for 
 the European troops only, and in no case were ever 
 given out to the native Sepoys. While these fabulous 
 cartridges were exciting terror and disgust among the 
 native regiments, fables of similar import were dili- 
 gently circulated among the industrial classes. It was 
 said and believed that the officers of the British 
 Government, under command from the ComjDany and 
 the Queen, had mixed ground bones with the flour and 
 the salt sold in the bazaars ; that they had adulterated 
 all the ghee (clarified butter used for cooking purposes) 
 with animal fat ; that bones had been burnt with the 
 common sugar of the country ; and that not only bone- 
 dust flour, but the flesh of cows and pigs had been 
 thrown into the wells to pollute the drinking-water of 
 
 the people All classes, it was believed, were to 
 
 be defiled at the same time ; and the story ran that the 
 " burra sahibs," or great English lords, had commanded 
 all the princes, nobles, landholders, merchants, and

 
 BRITAIN IN INDIA. 3C9 
 
 cultivators of the land to feed together on a particular 
 day upon English bread. 
 
 The mysterious circulation of the chupatties increased 
 the excitement. So little was known about these moans 
 of communication that the mere absence of knowledge 
 was an additional reason of apprehension. A messenger 
 woidd arrive in hot haste at a village, deliver one of 
 these cakes to the headman, desiring him to make 
 others like it, and send them to the other villages in his 
 neighbourhood. For a time, these chupatties were 
 flying in all directions. Strange events were mani- 
 festly at hand ; and, no doubt, political intrigues were 
 rife ; and there is good reason to believe that Doondoo 
 Punt (Xana Sahib) and the adherents of the King of 
 Oude were especially busy. 
 
 The first mutiny of the Bengal army dates as far 
 back as 1761, when it was barely seven years old. 
 Thirty of their leaders were condemned to death, and 
 blown away from the guns. A far greater danger 
 threatened the British Government when the Army 
 of Retribution was about to enter the Passes of Affghan- 
 istan after the disasters at Cabul. Both Sikh and 
 Brahmin emissaries took advantage of the hesitation of 
 the Sepoys, and tampered with their fidelity. The 
 AfFghan war was followed by the annexation of Scinde, 
 and this led to the mutiny and disbanding of the 34th 
 Regiment of Native Infantry. And various individual 
 regiments have mutinied from time to time. But the 
 great rebellion, latest and greatest, over which so many
 
 310 ASIA. 
 
 families at home mourn because of their loved ones left 
 cold and stiff on the Indian plains, seems to have led to 
 such a mastery of the land by the British as to induce 
 the hope that now the rule of England is at last firmly 
 established. 
 
 Once begun, the rebellion rapidly spread throughout 
 the Bengal presidency. In Oude, at Delhi, Lucknow, 
 Jhansi, Cawnpore, and other places, the mutineers rose 
 upon the Europeans and perpetrated the most horrible 
 atrocities, murdering all whom they encountered under 
 circumstances of the utmost cruelty and ferocity. At 
 Cawnpore, on Jxine 27, 1857, there was a most melan- 
 choly episode, and yet it was not permitted to stand 
 alone ; the massacres at Jhansi, Delhi, and elsewhere 
 were not much behind it. 
 
 There were immediate and heroic efforts to check and 
 suppress this mutiny. But the European soldiers in the 
 country were few compared with the rebellious troops. 
 Still they had indomitable energy. It was but a small 
 force that was commanded by Sir H. Lawrence ; but 
 they defended themselves until Sir H. Havelock, with 
 a mere handful of men, captured Cawnpore, and fought 
 his way to their relief, which he effected in conjunction 
 with Sir James Outram, though the siege was not 
 raised. Sir Colin Campbell, afterwards Lord Clyde, 
 being appointed commander-in-chief, arrived at Cawn- 
 pore, and in November advanced against Lucknow, 
 stormed and captured the approaches, and opened a 
 communication with Sir James Outram. The besiejred
 
 ERITATX IX IXDIA. 311 
 
 and exhausted garrison were then liberated — there 
 being many women and children — and were removed to 
 Cawnpore ; but the good and gallant Sir Henry Have- 
 lock died on the 25th of that month — November — 
 suffering from anxiety and from his wounds. 
 
 In the year 1858 there were many successful opera- 
 tions of the British forces, by means of which the 
 rebellion was thoroughly subdued. 
 
 In 1858 the Government of British India was com- 
 pletely transferred from the East India Company to the 
 Queen. By the terms of the Act of Parliament, all the 
 powers of the Company are exercised by her Majesty, 
 and all revenues and tributes are to be received and 
 discharged in her name. The Executive is invested in 
 a Secretary of State for India, with a Council of fifteen 
 members, seven of whom arc elected by the directors of 
 the East India Company' from their own body, and 
 eight are nominated by the Crown, vacancies among 
 the nominated members being filled up by the Queen, 
 and other vacancies by election of the Council. It is, 
 however, provided that the major part of the Council 
 must consist of persons who have resided ten years 
 in India, and have not left it for more than ten 
 years before their election. There is a salary of 
 £1,200 a year for every member, payable, as is also 
 that of the Secretary of State, out of the revenues of 
 India. 
 
 The Government is administered by the Governor- 
 General and a Supreme Council of eleven to fifteen
 
 3 1 2 ASIA. 
 
 members at Calcutta, under direction, or at least appro- 
 bation, of the Secretary of State. 
 
 Under the new form of government affairs have 
 prospered in every way ; education has been promoted 
 among the natives ; railways have been constructed ; 
 electric telegraph lines opened ; roads improved, and. 
 new roads made. Trade and commerce have also greatly 
 increased. In 1863 there were 10,566 miles of Govern- 
 ment telegraph line in the country, worked by 2,973 
 persons. In 18 Go there were ten railway companies 
 guaranteed by Government, and one not guaranteed. 
 In addition to these there are other lines designed or 
 executed, the expense being more than £100,000,000. 
 
 From the earliest times, the commercial enterprise of 
 Europeans has been directed to India. Yasco da Gama 
 landed in Hindostan in 1498. The earliest East India 
 Company was that of the Portuguese ; but they were 
 not successful. The next was Dutch, and their com- 
 mercial enterprise and perseverance gained for them 
 establishment and profit ; and after them the English. 
 The history of the English East India Company may 
 be divided into four sections. Daring the first fourteen 
 years its members were in a great measure independent. 
 In the following ninety-five years they were restricted 
 in their operations by the superiority of the Dutch in 
 the Indian seas, by the. civil wars at home, and par- 
 ticularly by the calling in question of their exclusive 
 privileges, which were extended to them by a Royal 
 grant, ar.d not by Act of Parliament. For the next forty
 
 ^L_
 
 BRITAIN IN INDIA. 313 
 
 years their privileges were undisputed, and based on 
 Parliamentary authority. And, finally, during the 
 subsequent seventy years, in which time they possessed 
 political power as well as commercial rights. 
 
 1. The first period extended from 1600 to 1613. 
 The original capital was £30,133. Their profits were 
 large, amounting on eight voyages to 171 per cent. 
 
 2. The second period extended from 1613 to 1708. 
 Their trade was chiefly with the states of the Great 
 Mogul, and it was most successful. Cromwell attempted 
 to make the East India trade free, but this was found 
 to be impracticable. During the wars of the Eevo- 
 lution, such were the embarrassments occasioned that 
 the company was not able to meet its liabilities, and 
 Parliament granted a charter to a new company in 
 1698. Great contentions ensued between the two com- 
 panies, and it was found necessary to vmite them in 1708. 
 
 3. The third period ran from 1708 to 1748. The 
 business of the company was now managed by twenty- 
 four " directors." The affairs in India were very 
 much entrusted to three Councils in Madras, Bombay, 
 and Calcutta. It was needful to have the charter 
 renewed in 1732, and this was obtained with difficulty. 
 The Company therefore deemed it advisable to advance 
 £1,000,000, at an interest of three per cent, for the 
 service of the Government, in consideration of an 
 extension of their charter till 1780. 
 
 4. The fourth period. The political power of the 
 British in India began in 1748. The French had ali-eady
 
 314 ASIA. 
 
 set the example. In 1740, a French battalion had 
 destroyed the army of the Nabob of the Carnatic, and 
 soon after the French officers succeeded in training 
 Indian troops according to the European method. The 
 Company imitated their neighbours ; and by-and-by 
 complaints were heard in respect to violent oppressions 
 of the people, and of ambitious projects against the 
 princes. A partial reform was accomplished. Burke 
 was prominent in the impeachment of Hastings, who 
 was hanged, justly or unjustly. The great orator alleged 
 of the Company " that it had sold every monarch, prince, 
 and state in India, broken every contract, and ruined 
 every prince and every state who had trusted them." 
 The high oflScers in India were all blamed. After an 
 incomjolete reform in 1773 there came the famous 
 East India bill of Fox. Pitt introduced another mea- 
 sure, and a Board of Control was established. The 
 Company's charter expired in 1813, but an extension of 
 time was obtained ; while the trade was also opened to 
 the public on certain conditions. The Company's com- 
 mercial character ceased on the 22nd of April, 1834, 
 and after that date, closing its accounts as speedily as 
 possible, its functions were to be wholly political. Up 
 to 1854 this arrangement had effect, but in that year it 
 was enacted that, time being permitted for discharge of 
 obligations, all the property of the Company should 
 become vested in the Crown. A dividend of 10^ per 
 cent, was guaranteed, but this might be redeemed by 
 Parliament any time after April, 1874.
 
 BRITAIN IN INDIA. 315 
 
 The population of such a country can only be guessed 
 at with probability. Under the direct rule of Britain, 
 and of the few remaining princes who still claim a kind 
 of nominal sovereignty, but who are under British con- 
 trol, there are about one hundred and forty millions ; 
 Europeans, about fifty thousand. 
 
 The French, Danish, Dutch, and Swedish establish- 
 ments in India never were of great account in any way 
 in regard to the country. They have ceased to exist 
 with the exception of the Swedish Company, which 
 restricts its trade to China. 
 
 The Government revenue in British India is greater 
 than that of any European State, unless France and 
 Britain be excepted. The particulars of the budget have 
 just reached this country by telegraph, and from these 
 it appears that the past year has been financially the 
 most prosperous since the present form of government 
 was established. It was necessary to impose extra taxes 
 on account of the expenses of the war ; but Lord Mayo 
 had begun the task of remission and retrenchment before 
 his lamented death, and Lord Northbrook is disposed 
 to carry out the same policy. The revenue for the year 
 is about £50,000,000, which last year left a considerable 
 surplus. We are informed that " no great public works 
 have suffered by means of the disturbances and taxation 
 incident to the war." In further prosecution of the 
 system of late j^ears, it is intended that, in 1873-74, 
 the Government shall spend £4,000,000 on new rail- 
 ways.
 
 3l6 ASIA. 
 
 Calcutta is the capital of Bengal, and of the whole of 
 British India. It is situated on the Hooghly, a branch 
 of the Ganges, on which the largest East Indiaman 
 may come quite up to the city. The place was formerly 
 an insignificant village, but rose in the course of last 
 century to be a great city; the population has been 
 estimated very variously at from 500,000 to 1,000,000. 
 The probability is that, at present, it may number about 
 800,000, "Within a range of twenty miles the country 
 is very populous, and in all likelihood is not less than 
 2,500,000. The British occupy a separate part of the 
 city. Their houses are of brick, generally comfortable, 
 many of them elegant like palaces. They are separate 
 buildings, with verandahs for shade, and lofty and airy 
 apartments within. With this quarter the " black 
 town," which is the district of the native population, 
 forms a striking contrast. It has extremely narrow 
 and crooked streets, interspersed with gardens and 
 innumerable tanks. The houses differ greatly from 
 each other, some of them being built of brick, some of 
 mud, and others, the majority, of bamboo or straw mats. 
 Fort William is in the neio-hbourhood. It is a mao-ni- 
 ficent work, was begun by Lord Clive, has bomb-proof 
 roofs, and can accommodate 10,000 men. It is too large 
 for purposes of defence, and would require GOO pieces 
 of cannon for the works. There is a great plain between 
 Fort William and the city, and there, as on a vast pro- 
 menade, Hindoos, Europeans, equipages of all sorts, and 
 palanquins, mix together in a motley crowd. On the
 
 BRITAIN m INDIA. 317 
 
 western side of this stands the new palace, built by the 
 Marquis of Wellcsley, at a cost of £1,000,000. The old 
 fort is now a custom-house, and the infamous " black- 
 hole " has been converted into a warehouse. An obelisk 
 fifty feet high stands at the entrance, and bears the 
 names of the unfortunate captives who, in 1756, when 
 the city was taken and plundered by Suraja Dowla, fell 
 victims to the most inhuman cruelty. There are eleven 
 places of Christian worship, with many mosques and 
 pagodas. 
 
 Barrackpore is ten miles above Calcutta, and, as 
 its name signifies, is the head-quarters of the troops. 
 There is here a country-house for the Governor- 
 General. 
 
 Patna is a large city on the Ganges, 400 miles 
 north-west of Calcutta, and it contains about "300,000 
 inhabitants. 
 
 Benares is the sacred capital of Hinduism, and is 
 a great city on the left bank of the Ganges, 53 
 miles east of Allahabad, which is 475 miles west- 
 north-west of Calcutta in a straight line, 820 by the 
 course of the river. Benares has a population of 
 400,000. It is surrounded by many villages. In the 
 city itself there are scarcely any inhabitants besides 
 Hindoos, of whom many are Brahmins. The principal 
 place of worship is a pagoda, called Visswisshor, whicli, 
 though small, is elegant, and contains a stone, black and 
 cylindrical, which represents Siva, the Mahadeo or Great 
 God. There are numerous mosques and temples besides.
 
 3i8 ASIA. 
 
 The number of pilgrims who come to worship this idol is 
 very great. 
 
 Agra, which gives its name to the government or 
 province, stands on the Jumnah, 830 miles from Cal- 
 cutta. It was formerly one of the capitals of the 
 Mogul empire, and still contains 96,576 inhabitants, 
 two-thirds being Hindoos, and the rest Moslem. 
 
 Delhi was for long the capital of the Mogul empire. 
 It is 137 miles from Agra. It is one of the most 
 ancient cities of India. It used to occupy a space of 
 twenty square miles, but great part of its area is now 
 covered with ruins. This city was the scene of some of 
 the saddest events of the late war. The king was 
 sentenced to perpetual banishment, having been guilty of 
 the most barbarous cruelties, and the city itself was dis- 
 mantled, but not ruined. There are still contained in 
 it many remains of its former rude magnificence and 
 splendour. 
 
 Ajmeer is a beautiful and flourishing city, in Raj- 
 pootana, and was formerly the capital of one of the 
 provinces of the Mogul empire. 
 
 Madras is the capital of the province whose name it 
 bears. The principal part of the city is Fort George, 
 a handsome and strong fortification. The population 
 of the city is estimated at 450,000. 
 
 Bombay is the capital of another province, a pictur- 
 esque city of 230,000 people. 
 
 Surat is situated on the Tuptee, with a population of 
 600,000.
 
 BRITAIN IN IXDIA. 319 
 
 Poonah Is occupied by 70,000 people, contains a col- 
 lege, and is in many respects an important town. 
 
 Allahabad, 820 miles from the sea, by the course 
 of the Ganges, Is a large city, which bears an unenviable 
 name for turbulence and insubordination. The popu- 
 lation Is 80,000. 
 
 Nagpore is a town of about 80,000, 
 
 Trevandrum is the capital of Travancore, and is a 
 large town. 
 
 Of Districts and Provinces we can furnish only 
 the names, — Assam, Arracan, Agra, Madras, Bom- 
 bay, Bengal, Hyderabad, Nagpore, Travancore, My- 
 sore, Sikim, Oude, Bundelcund, Bhurtpore, Dholpour, 
 Bhopal, Ilolcar, Gulcowar, Cutch, Rajpootana, Scinde, 
 Daoudpootra, Lahore, Nepaul, Bhotan, and others. Of 
 the beautiful island of Ceylon we cannot speak, — " the 
 jewel of the Eastern seas." And there are other islands 
 besides. More or less under British influence are also 
 the Birman empire, the kingdom of Siam, the empire 
 of An-nam, the country of the Laos, and the Malay 
 States. It will thus be seen how vast is the territory 
 of Britain in Asia, in India, how enormous is the popu- 
 lation which is under the rule of England, and how 
 deeply interested this country must ever be in all that 
 affects the welfare of Asia. 
 
 The possessions of France In India are very small, 
 and form the single government of Pondicherry ; the 
 Danish territory is restricted to the narrow limits 
 of two small establishments at Tranquebar, on the
 
 320 ASIA. 
 
 Coromandel coast, and Serampore in Bengal ; and the 
 Portuguese have only Goa on the west coast, Damaun 
 in Gujerat, and the island of Diu on the south coast of 
 Kattiwar. All besides is under the control of England. 
 The responsibility is immense, — the vigilant defence of 
 the frontier should be unflagging, — and the care of so 
 many millions having been placed in British hands, the 
 welfare and progress of the people ought to weigh 
 heavily on the parent State at home. It had been well, 
 while we watch the encroachments of other Powers on 
 territory which is not theirs, if our own hands had 
 been clean in respect to every fresh enlargement of our 
 own dominion in India. 
 
 About nine-tenths of the people are professors of 
 Brahminism ; but with many shades of difference and 
 in numerous sects. There are five sects, each of which 
 worships only a single deity, and one which recognises 
 all the five deities which are worshipped by the others. 
 The Saivas^ who worship only Siva ; the Vaishhavas, 
 who worship Vishnu ; the Sauvias, Surya, or the Sun ; 
 the Ganapatyas, who worship Ganesha, the god of 
 wisdom and policy ; and the Sactis, who worship 
 Bhovani or Parvati, the wife of Siva. The sixth sect 
 is the Bhagavatis. Vishnu and Siva are the most 
 common objects of worship ; while Brahma, the first of 
 the triumvir of gods, has only one temple, — at Poshkur, 
 near Ajmeer. Vishnu is believed to have frequently 
 appeared on earth, but the most deeply venerated in- 
 carnations are those of Krishna and Rama-chandra.
 
 K:M
 
 BRITAIN IN INDIA. 32 I 
 
 "We need not enter into the follies of these idolatries. 
 Bishop Heber says, " Of all the false worships which I 
 have heard or read of, the religion of the Hindoos 
 appears to me to be the worst in respect to the de- 
 grading notions which it gives of the Deity, the endless 
 round of its burdensome ceremonies, which occupy time 
 and distract the thoughts without instructing or in- 
 teresting its votaries ; in the filthiness of its acts of un- 
 cleanness and cruelty, not only permitted but enjoined ; 
 and in the total absence of any system of morals, or any 
 single lesson by which the people may be taught to live 
 virtuously, and to do good to each other." With the 
 Hindoos everything is mixed up with their religion ; 
 their sciences, their arts, are all revealed from heaven. 
 Their doctrines and precepts are contained in Scriptures 
 called the Puranas, of which there are eighteen. Bud- 
 dhism appears to have once been extensively prevalent 
 in India. This is pre-eminently the religion of reason, 
 while Brahminism depends entirely on tradition and 
 authority. The Maghs of Arracan and the inhabitants 
 of Bootan are now the only Buddhists on the continent 
 of India ; but this is still the religion of Ceylon. The 
 Jains are to be found in Central and "Western India 
 and Mysore, — a numerous sect, professing to believe in 
 one God, having little respect to the Hindoo gods, and 
 hating the Brahmins. The Mahometans number about 
 15,000,000, and are spread over the northern and 
 central provinces. In Malabar and the Carnatic there 
 are about 220,000 Sijrian Christians. Armenian 
 
 Y
 
 322 ASIA. 
 
 Christians are to be found in most of tlie great towns. 
 The Portuguese are all Roman Catholics. The Euro- 
 peans of other nations are all professedly Christian, and 
 most of them Protestant. The hill tribes, if they are 
 anything, — the Bheels, Ramoosies, and Koolies, — are 
 Brahmins. The Brahminical religion is very accom- 
 modating, and can admit of various customs in different 
 circumstances. India is infested by religious devotees, 
 who prey upon the community. They are a numerous 
 class of sturdy beggars, being both Hindoo and Maho- 
 metan. The festivals of the Hindoos in honour of their 
 gods are numerous. The European officers are expected 
 to do honour to the great public occasions of the natives, 
 of all classes. There is a great festival of the Maho- 
 metans, Alohurrum, which they must regard ; and 
 also the Hindoo festival of Durja-puja ; both of these 
 being specially religious seasons, each lasting ten days. 
 This is felt to be a severe tax on the patience of those 
 who have no sympathy with the celebrations. During 
 the last seventy years efforts have been made by various 
 societies in England to convert the people to Christianity, 
 and, although unpromising at first, such efforts are now 
 being crowned with much success. There were many 
 most noble specimens of Christian character exhibited 
 in the history of the late great war. 
 
 Coal extensively occurs in the southern slope of the 
 Himalayas. Fossil salt is to be met with in large 
 quantities in the range of hills which crosses the bed of 
 the Indus, extending from Suffeid-koh to the Jhylum, —
 
 BRITAIN IN INDIA. 323 
 
 and elsewhere, as in Rajpootana, by evaporation. Iron 
 is worked in the Carnatic, and with considerable profit. 
 Talc exists in such abundance in the Mahabaleshwar 
 hills that it is used instead of glass. 
 
 The vegetable productions of India are cotton, indigo, 
 sugar-cane, cajeput oil, caoutchouc, rice, wheat, barley, 
 pepper, ginseng, sandal-wood, spikenard, and gigantic 
 bamboos and palms. The wheat grown is good. 
 Potatoes have been introduced and thrive. The grape 
 is healthy in most parts. Culinary vegetables as at 
 home now crowd the bazaars. Coffee, tobacco, hemp, 
 and opium are luxuriant in many districts. Timber is 
 everywhere abundant, the forests being numerous and 
 covering a large extent of country ; the woods for 
 export are teak, ebony, and other kinds. The most 
 remarkable vegetable production of India is the banyan 
 tree {Jicus Inclicd), the branches of which send out 
 shoots, which fall to the ground fixing themselves 
 there, and in time becoming large trunks, forming a 
 grove around the parent stem. A famous banyan tree 
 is mentioned as growing on an island in the Nerbuddah ; 
 and one in Mysore is said to cover an area of 100 yards 
 in diameter. 
 
 Of animals India produces many varieties. The 
 elephant is domesticated, but in some parts is to be 
 found in large herds, wild, — in Assam particularly. 
 There are also the camel, the deer — of many varieties — 
 antelopes, wild boars, hyenas, jackals, foxes, hares, 
 squirrels, and others. Bears abound in the wooded
 
 324 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 mountains ; wolves in the northern provinces ; wild 
 dogs in the Himalayas ; the bufialo in large herds ; and 
 several descriptions of beeves, the most common of 
 which is the sacred humped species ; the wild ass exists 
 in several varieties ; the native horse is small and 
 vicious ; the goat of Cashmere has long been celebrated 
 for its wool. There are several varieties of sheep. But 
 of all the animals of India, those of the feline tribe are 
 the most remarkable ; lions, tigers, leopards, ounces, 
 panthers, in great beauty and strength, abound in the 
 jungle, and are the great objects of pursuit with 
 European sportsmen. 
 
 Birds are, in many cases, splendid, and they are 
 numerous. Reptiles abound. Serpents are frequently 
 to be found in the gardens, and sometimes even in the 
 houses. Some are innocuous ; but the bite of others is 
 quickly fatal. Alligators are not rare either in the 
 rivers or on the banks. The shark infests the mouths 
 of all the rivers. There is a large variety and an abun- 
 dant supply of fish in the rivers and on the coast. The 
 insect tribes are innumerable, and many of the varieties 
 are most troublesome. 
 
 The exports from India to the United Kingdom 
 average £50,500,000, and the imports of home pro- 
 duce/r(9»e the United Kingdom, £20,002,241, annually. 
 
 For the sake of security there has been a large aug- 
 mentation of her Majesty's forces in India. There were 
 at the last computation, 79,174 Europeans, and 126,713 
 native soldiers.
 
 ERITAIX IX INDIA. 325 
 
 Agriculture has always been inferior in India, and 
 the celebrated manufactures of former times are rapidly 
 being superseded by British production. Yet, on the 
 whole, the industries of the empire increase rather than 
 otherwise. 
 
 Borneo is a large island, 800 miles long, and 600 
 broad, with a population estimated at from three 
 millions to five millions. It forms part of the great 
 East Indian Archipelago, and is situated long. 109'^ 
 to 118* E. ; lat. l"" N. to 4«^ 20' S. The territory is in 
 part mountainous, and in part marshy, while there is a 
 large extent of cultivable ground, yielding grain and 
 other produce. The population consists of Malays, 
 Javanese, and Arabs, subject to many despotic princes, 
 Mahometanism is the prevailing religion. But of 
 religion or morality there is little. The Dutch have 
 endeavoured to form settlements on the island, and 
 have partly succeeded ; but Sir James Brooke, or Rajah 
 Brooke, has done more for the good of the population 
 than had previously been accomplished by any European. 
 He has had the countenance and encouragement of the 
 English Government. The coast population used to be 
 much addicted to piracy, a tendency which of late years 
 has been largely repressed. 
 
 Sumatra is another great island in the same seas. It 
 is about one thousand miles long, and, on the average, 
 one hundred and sixty-five broad. The surface is 
 varied as to height and depression. There are two 
 large and beautiful lakes. The soil is generally fertile.
 
 326 ASIA. 
 
 The population is thin. The Malay is everj^where 
 spoken. The English have settlements ; but the 
 power of the Dutch is paramount. Attempts have 
 been made at various times by the latter-named Power 
 to subdue the whole island, but the native chiefs have 
 resisted. Even in the new circumstances which 
 political changes in Germany have thrown around the 
 Netherlands and all neighbouring countries, it has still 
 been the effort of the Dutch to subdue Sumatra, No 
 doubt the end will be success ; but while we write, the 
 population of Acheen, a province and capital, are in 
 revolt, and special means are required to keep the 
 island in subjection. The people are devoted to their 
 native chiefs, and are jealous of the interference of 
 foreigners.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 A S in regard to India, so also it may be said of China, 
 -^ that its immensity forbids us from entering into 
 minuteness of detail. The empire is so large, and, in 
 its characteristics, is so peculiar, that one is apt to think 
 of it as standing by itself, and as not to be included in 
 any formal geographical division of the world. And, 
 indeed, it is so important a section of the earth's 
 surface, and contains so many millions of people, that 
 it can be fully dealt with only when taken by itself. 
 Still, as constituting so large a portion of Asia it is 
 desirable that we present a general idea of this empire 
 and its population. 
 
 The Chinese Empire, including the tributary states, 
 and those under its protection, consists of about 
 5,250,000 square miles, and 420,000,000 inhabitants.* 
 China proper, " the centre of the world," contains 
 1,298,000 square miles (lat. 18° 37'— 41° 35' N.) with 
 
 * North China JleraU. Customs Keturns.
 
 328 ASIA. 
 
 146,280,000 inhabitants, of wliom 2,000,000 are sup- 
 posed to live on the water. There are 31,000 sailors, 
 822,000 foot-soldiers, 410,000 horsemen, and 7,552 
 military and 9,611 civil officers. Subject to China are 
 Mantchou, 726,800 square miles, Mongolia, 1,935,910 
 square miles, and Tourfan, 578,275 square miles. 
 Under the protection of China are Thibet, Bootan, 
 Corea, and Loo-choo, containing together 726,202 
 square miles. This empire has extended its conquests 
 over the greater part of what was formerly called 
 Independent Tartary — the inhabitants of which, how- 
 ever, are not Tartars, but Calmucks and Mongols, — 
 while Russia has advanced on the other side into 
 Siberia, and thus Russia and China have come into 
 contact, on a line extending from Lake Palcati to the 
 mouth of the river Amur. "While the Chinese dominions 
 extend to the confines of Asiatic Russia, they reach 
 over the immense regions of Thibet, and almost join the 
 English territories in Bengal. Thus the greater and 
 stronger empires have been enlarging their spheres of 
 rule, and annexing and absorbing the smaller kingdoms 
 and tribes all over Asia, — and the process still goes on, 
 if not on the part of one, most surely on that of some 
 of the others. 
 
 The great cities of the empire are, — PeJdn, the capital, 
 about twenty miles in circumference. There are really 
 two cities, the Tartar and the Chinese towns. The 
 streets are long and wide. The city is walled, and 
 some of the gates are lofty and strong. There is a
 
 CPIINA. 329 
 
 large assortment of fine shops. The finest buildings 
 are the temples, which are spacious and magnificent, 
 adorned with columns and stairs of white marble. 
 There are probably 2,000,000 of population. In the 
 neighbourhood of the city is the imperial summer 
 palace, which consists of a large number of buildings, 
 and is gorgeously splendid. The gardens extend to 
 about sixty thousand acres, diversified with artificial 
 hills, valleys, lakes, canals, rocks, and islands. 
 
 Nankin, by its walls, encloses a larger space than 
 Pekin. It was formerly larger than it now is. It is the 
 seat of considerable manufactures, and also is known as 
 the patron of learning. 
 
 Canton is a very ancient citj'. The European factories 
 have long established themselves here. GutzlaflF says 
 that these are unquestionably the most elegant buildings 
 in the empire. There are about six hundred streets in 
 Canton, but none of the houses are imposing. The 
 population is about 1,000,000. 
 
 Hong-Kong is a sort of British colony in China. 
 It was ceded to England b)'- the "Elgin" Treaty 
 in 1858. It is an island, and, since the date of 
 the treaty, large additions have been made to the 
 original grant. It is healthy, and many natives are to 
 be found mixing and preponderating in the population. 
 
 Shanghai. This is really a foreign settlement on the 
 mainland of China, adjacent to a city which bears the 
 same name, but which is perfectly distinct. The name 
 signifies " upon the sea/' but the settlement is now
 
 330 ASIA. 
 
 25 miles from the coast. Nowhere in China have the 
 natives such faith in foreigners as in Shanghai. It is 
 a great mart of foreign trade. On the average there 
 are imports to the extent of £18,000,000, and exports 
 reaching £8,441,557 a year. The principal mission 
 establishments are at Shanghai, and here is an hospital 
 supported by the London Missionary Society for the 
 gratuitous cure of poor patients. There are two daily 
 newspapers, one twice a week, two weekly, and one 
 fortnightly. The oldest of these is The No7^th China, 
 Herald, a reliable authority in all matters that affect 
 the empire. 
 
 There is nothing specially characteristic in the 
 physical aspect of China. It is not what we should 
 call Oriental, neither does the scenery resemble our 
 own. It has a character peculiar to itself. It bears 
 the appearance in many places of a well- watered plain. 
 Green rice-fields form the main feature, with here and 
 there hills and trees, the fields being without hedges, 
 walls, or any boundary line, except what may be 
 afforded by streams of water, ditches, or sign-stones. 
 There are no meadows or pasture-lands covered with 
 flocks; no country mansions, pleasure-grounds or parks. 
 Pagodas appear instead of the tall church-spire ; and 
 water-communication, by means of numberless streams 
 and canals, supersedes the use of high roads and coaches. 
 Forests and waste places are rarely seen. Every avail- 
 able part is cultivated by the hoe and the plough for 
 the exclusive use of man. The people cannot afford to
 
 CIIIXA. 331 
 
 consume flesh, except in small quantities ; hence the 
 absence of pasture and graminivorous animals. Pigs, 
 geese, ducks, and fowls are brought up in the farm- 
 yard. Bufiiiloes and sheep are fed in stalls with grass 
 cut from the hill- sides. The energies of the agricul- 
 turist are chiefly given to the cultivation of rice, maize, 
 cotton, and wheat. By the most careful manuring and 
 irrigation two crops of rice and one of vegetables may 
 be obtained from the soil every year. The success of 
 the rice crops depends upon the supply of water from 
 the tropical rains ; if that is deficient there is a failure ; 
 if absent, a famine — a famine to such multitudes ! The 
 Chinese are industriously laborious, and yet the living 
 which they obtain is usually but scanty, — two or three 
 basins of rice twice or thrice a day, with a little pork, 
 fish, and vegetables. The rivers and streams are ordi- 
 narily well-stocked, and supply the principal article 
 of animal food. But nothing comes amiss ; everything 
 that can be used for food is so used. All animal life is 
 spared of course by Buddhists ; but, with the exception 
 of priests, nuns, and women who have taken vows not 
 to touch animal food, there are not many who are strict 
 vegetarians. Such being the diet of the Chinese, the 
 estimated number of the population need not be con- 
 sidered as exaggerated. The Coolies shipped by private 
 parties for South America and other places have usually 
 been the very refuse of society. The Chinese are 
 fond of making money, and they do not spend it in 
 display of any kind. Their houses do not exceed two
 
 OJ- 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 storeys, and are close and uncomfortable. The female 
 apartments are always separate from the others ; and 
 the women even take their meals apart from the men. 
 Young unmarried women are guarded with the greatest 
 care. Young persons are betrothed while they are yet 
 children ; indeed sometimes an agreement is made 
 before they are born ; but, in any case, they are entirely 
 passive, and quietly submit to any arrangement of the 
 kind which is made for them. The parties do not 
 meet till their marriage. Polygamy is permitted by 
 the law, and is practised by many, especially by the 
 mandarins or magistrates. The funeral ceremonies of 
 the Chinese are most expensive, and a kind of worship 
 is presented by children at the tombs of their parents. 
 Education is cheap, but inadequate. Mathematics, 
 the natural sciences, and the languages of other nations 
 do not form any part of the curriculum of even the 
 more advanced, and there are no examinations such as 
 correspond to those which are requisite in this country 
 for the B.A. and M.A. degrees. There is no school 
 supported by the public funds for the education even of 
 boys, and women are precluded from learning. It has 
 been said that " the Chinese are the most reading 
 people in the w^orld." They are not so. Any good 
 knowledge of letters is confined to the literati, who are 
 a small class ; and among the busy and labouring por- 
 tions of the community there are few to be found with 
 education sufficient to the understanding of the com- 
 monest book. Yet books are both abundant and cheap.
 
 CHINA. 333 
 
 The usual subjects are the history and topography of 
 China, comments on the writings of the ancients, ethics, 
 poetry, novels, medicine, astrology, agriculture, and 
 military tactics. No books of great age are to be 
 found in the country. The paper is very perishable, 
 and, being exposed to worms and insects, whole libraries 
 of Chinese books are soon eaten up. Standard works, 
 therefore, require to be reproduced from time to time. 
 The printing is from square blocks of the wood of the 
 pear tree. The language is monosyllabic. Every word 
 consists of one syllable only ; but words may be com- 
 bined, as in English, e.(/., welco77ie, welfare ; exerj syl- 
 lable, however, is significant, and is itself a word. The 
 difierence between the oral and the written language is 
 so great that they can be acquired and used separately. 
 The Chinese cannot be called a moral people, and yet 
 they are in advance of many pagan nations. 
 
 The common crimes are treason, piracy, street brawls, 
 housebreaking, swindling, forgery, and debt. Deliberate 
 murder is not frequent. Poisoning on a large scale 
 was attempted a few years ago at Hong-Kong ; but 
 that was a rare act of fanaticism and retaliation on 
 account of the destruction of life and property by the 
 British forces at Canton. Capital punishment is in- 
 flicted by the sword or scimitar, and when many 
 criminals sufi'er at the same time the scene is most re- 
 volting. The bodies are buried, and the heads fixed in 
 cages as a warning at various points throughout the 
 city. Much crime escapes detection.
 
 33]: ASIA. 
 
 There is nothing more remarkable in the social state 
 and moral condition of the Chinese than the wonderful 
 influence which the writings of Confucius have exerted 
 upon them for upwards of twenty centuries. They are 
 the basis of its laws and institutions, and they have 
 moulded the mind and character of the whole nation. 
 ^VTio was Confucius ? He was born in the northern 
 province of Shan-tung, about 650 years before the 
 Christian era. One of the literati says "he taught on 
 four great subjects: 1. Polite literature; 2. Conduct, 
 or the practice of virtue and benevolence ; 3. Fidelity, 
 or the discharge of every duty ; and 4. Sincerity, or 
 strict integrity without deceit." His writings compose 
 the famous ancient books known as the ''Five Classics." 
 His immediate followers composed four other books, 
 which are, in the main, digests of the works of their 
 master, and which are called the "Four Books." 
 These nine volumes have been explained and amplified 
 by many commentators. 
 
 Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, are names familiar to 
 every school in Europe. The moral legislator of China 
 and the surrounding countries, though born only a 
 little earlier than these great men, is regarded with but 
 little interest. Yet in his own country his writings 
 are revered with a respect similar to that which is 
 paid by Christians to the Sacred Scriptures. He seems 
 to have been considered too good to be placed among 
 the gods whom the people feared ; but his image, or 
 some representation of him, is found in every school of
 
 CHINA. 335 
 
 the empire, and every scliolar performs an act of 
 obeisance before it daily. Probably his great influence 
 is to be accounted for — 1. By the adaptation of his 
 teaching to man's moral instincts of right and wrong, 
 and his showing that the course of virtue is the best 
 and wisest, and that the root of all virtue is the 
 practice of filial piety ; 2. A family is a prototype of 
 the nation ; the patriarch of the family represents 
 the emperor, and the well-ordered famil}'-, the empire ; 
 and the principles of dependence and subordination of 
 children to their parents, and inferiors to their 
 superiors, is the moving spring of his whole system.. 
 This last-mentioned principle of Confucianism has 
 strongly commended it to all the governments of 
 China. The supreme rulers saw that the adoption and 
 prevalence of such doctrines would give them sway. 
 They therefore early embodied them in their laws and 
 institutions, and had them instilled into the minds of 
 the young, so that they have become the basis of the 
 moral sentiment of the Chinese empire, and have 
 served to hold together tho largest associated popula- 
 tion in the world. Benevolence, uprightness, politeness, 
 wisdom, fidelity, and the duties of the human relations 
 are strongly enforced by the Confucian ethics upon all 
 classes. But it is much as if the tale of bricks were 
 exacted without the necessary straw — no help is pro- 
 vided by the system for poor human nature ; neither is 
 there any scheme of rewards or punishments to stimu- 
 late to virtue and to deter from vice. Confucius
 
 336 ASIA, 
 
 taught a phllosopliy entirely practical. He was a state 
 officer and a state reformer, and his teachings are such 
 as might be expected from such a man. With this he 
 has united much misty speculation about the origin of 
 the world. More than two thousand years have passed 
 since his age ; but he has never ceased to live, nor 
 ceased to rule ; people, nobles, and emperors of China, 
 to this hour, submit to his undisputed authority. A 
 noble principle of this philosophy is that every man is 
 regarded as merely one of a vast community, and for 
 that community he must live — the child for the parent, 
 the elder for the younger, the subject for the sovereign, 
 and the sovereign for the sake of the sublime law of 
 order ; society is to be perfected whether the individual 
 members of it be happy or not, this is a great principle 
 — that personal happiness is to be sought in minis- 
 tering to the welfare of others. That were a poor 
 patriotism which should not be strong to suffer. Even 
 in our schoolboy-days we are taught to feel that 
 
 " Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori;" 
 
 and surely such a sentiment as this among the 
 Chinese gives good promise of the success of a better 
 faith among them, and inspires the hope that this 
 people will, by-and-by, favourably receive the Divine 
 confirmation of the teachings of their own sage — 
 " Look not every man on his own things, but every 
 man also on the things of others" — " none of us liveth 
 to himself."
 
 CHINA. 337 
 
 On tlie origin of our own war with China we cannot 
 enlarge. The result has been the opening up of the 
 empire to Western and Christian influences to a much 
 wider extent than before, and can lead only to much 
 good in the end. Opium is the bane of the people, 
 and one cannot wonder at the exasperation which, on 
 the part of the Chinese, goaded them on to such 
 atrocities as they inflicted on the European merchants, 
 whom they regarded as the agents of an illicit trafiic in 
 an article which they saw to be so much abused and so 
 deleterious. England felt, however, that humanity 
 has its claims ; but it would have been to her honour if 
 she had been called to espouse a better cause. Still, as 
 we have said, great good has been the result. 
 
 The late Chinese rebellion or revolution was charac- 
 terised by strong and remarkable peculiarities. From 
 the earliest times the peace of the empire had been open 
 to disturbance from without. There were frequent hostile 
 inroads made by the Tartar tribes to the north and the 
 west, and in such inroads originated that remarkable wall 
 which extends over eighteen hundred miles of territory, 
 crossing mountains and rivers, and furnished at intervals 
 with gates and towers. It was built about two hundred 
 years before the Christian era, by the founder of the 
 Tsin dynasty ; which is supposed to have originated the 
 name Chin, or China. It is related of this emperor, 
 that having resolved to make his dynasty last from the 
 beginning to the end of time, he not only caused the wall 
 to be built, which demanded the labour of every third 
 
 z
 
 338 ASIA. 
 
 man in the empire, but that he also " collected together 
 and burned all the records of past ages, and buried 
 alive 460 learned men, desiring to make posterity 
 believe that the dominion of the world commenced with 
 himself as the first universal Emperor of China." The 
 internal history of the country presents little that is 
 interesting. A succession of contests for the sove- 
 reignty, and frequent changes of dynasty, make up 
 nearly the whole from the earliest times down to the 
 last conquest, and the establishment of the present 
 reigning family, about two hundred years ago. 
 
 But the late rebellion, which has faded away and 
 resulted in very little, was as much a surprise to the 
 ruling powers in China as it was to all the rest of the 
 world. It was something entirely new in the ex- 
 perience of all. And although it has subsided it was 
 but feebly met. The Pekin journals first noticed the 
 rebellion in August, 1850. Discontent and a cry for 
 reform had been widespread for years before, and a sort 
 of freemasonry among the disafi'ected had enabled 
 them to mature their plans without suspicion or 
 hindrance. The leader of the insurgents, " the Prince 
 of Peace," professed to have revelations from Heaven, 
 and the whole movement presented a sacred aspect, 
 many Christian doctrines being professed, and New 
 Testament phrases being employed in all the proclama- 
 tions which were issued by the party. This fact can 
 be accounted for only by recollecting the earlier and 
 later Gospel instructions which have been attempted
 
 CHINA. 339 
 
 among the Chinese. Every difficulty seemed, at first, 
 to give way before the rebels ; but they paid little 
 regard to the places which they subdued, and took no 
 measures either to retain them or defend them. There 
 was much fanaticism in their entire proceedings. 
 Greater wisdom and an ordinary amount of proper 
 policy would have made a wide difference in the history 
 of China for all time to come. In the course of 1851, 
 more than seven hundred of them were executed in. 
 Canton alone. 
 
 Allusion to the religious character which was borne 
 by this movement makes it natural for us to revert to 
 the subject of religion in China. Confucianism is not 
 so much a religion as a morality — not so much a 
 theological creed as a system of ethics. The ancient 
 religion of the Chinese seems to have been a pure 
 theism, soon perverted, however, by human traditions. 
 After that came a kind of polytheism, which is only a 
 particular expression for pantheism — God is every- 
 thing, the sun, the moon, the stars, all nature idolised 
 and worshipped as emanations of Deity. Buddhism 
 was later, and was introduced as an importation. The 
 former two are ancient and contemporaneous. The 
 Confucian sacrifices are thank-offerings rather than ex- 
 piations. The incarnations of Buddha were not for the 
 purpose of atonement, but for instruction and example. 
 
 The Roman Catholics have done much to introduce 
 the knowledge of Christian truth — so far as they 
 retain it — to the Chinese. Since the days of the
 
 340 ASIA. 
 
 Apostle Paul, no man has been found more capable of 
 " forgetting the things that are behind " than Francis 
 Xavier. It was he who planned the missionary expe- 
 dition of the Jesuits to China, and, although he died 
 within sight of its shores, the work which he con- 
 templated has been prosecuted by others down to the 
 present time, and, notwithstanding many interruptions 
 and much defect, it continues its operations. The 
 efforts of Protestants in behalf of the Chinese are com- 
 paratively recent. The agents of the London Mis- 
 sionary Society have, fur the most part, been men of a 
 high order of ability. The names of Morrison and Milne, 
 as the first in the field, and those of Medhurst and Legge, 
 as their successors, are worthy of special honour. 
 Others have followed such examples — various Christian 
 denominations both in England and America ; and 
 their efforts, combined with those of the British and 
 Foreign Bible Society, which has distributed millions 
 of copies of the Sacred Scriptures, cannot fail to affect 
 the minds of this vast multitude. These, with the 
 breaking up of old forms of thought incident to the 
 insurrection, taken in connection with the late war with 
 England and France, and the freer intercourse of the 
 people with the West, must tend to the accomplish- 
 ment of many changes, and to the introduction into 
 China of a still higher civilisation, and a true and 
 spiritual religion. " The land of Sinim " was not 
 unknown to the inspired prophet, and the time may not 
 be remote in whicli his visions shall be realised.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 JAPAN. 
 
 A T the eastern extremity of Asia, between 31° and 
 -^^ 49^ N. lat., is the empire of Japan, which 
 consists of a number of islands. Three of these are 
 very large : 1. Niphon, which is 700 miles long, but 
 which is so narrow that its breadth in the centre 
 is only 48 miles. It is divided into forty-nine pro- 
 vinces, of which the principal cities are Meaco, the 
 residence of the dairi, or spiritual chief, and in which 
 all the coins are struck, and all the books printed ; 
 Jcddo, the capital of the secular emperor, or cubo, 
 whose palace is five leagues in circumference, and forms 
 of itself a considerable city ; and Osacco, a rich com- 
 mercial city : 2. The second island is Ximo, or Kiusiu, 
 180 miles long and 66 broad, consisting of nine 
 provinces : 3. And Xicoco, or Sicop, 84 miles long and 
 46 broad, containing four provinces. Surrounding 
 these great islands there are many others which are 
 smaller, some being fertile and others bare rock, and
 
 342 ASIA. 
 
 which have the appearance of having been separated by 
 some convulsion of nature. The superficial contents of 
 the whole islands is estimated at 266;500 square miles, 
 and the population at 45,000,000. 
 
 The islands of Japan are mountainous, like the 
 opposite coasts of the continent. The principal summit, 
 called Fusi, is covered with snow the whole of the 
 year. There are also many volcanoes. It is only the 
 great industry of the people which has made the 
 sterile soil productive ; but that indvistry is so diligent 
 that even the steepest mountains are cultivated. Agri- 
 culture is prescribed as the principal employment by 
 the laws of the State. Goats and sheep are banished 
 from Japan, the former being regarded as prejudicial to 
 agriculture. Cotton and silk supply the place of wool. 
 Swine are to be found only in the vicinity of Nanga- 
 sacki, one of the large cities. In general there are but 
 few quadrupeds, with the exception of dogs, which are 
 abundant. The whim of a sovereign, with whom dogs 
 were favourites, has prescribed the breeding of them by 
 a law of the empire. They are supported at the public 
 expense. 
 
 Japan was not much known to the ancients. Chris- 
 tianity was introduced by the Jesuits, and it is alleged 
 that about the year 1616 one half of the population 
 were nominally Christians. The Portuguese had esta- 
 blished a trade with the country, and they favoured the 
 work of the Jesuits ; but the Dutch supplanted the 
 Portuguese, and both Portuguese and Jesuits were
 
 JAPAN. 3^3 
 
 banished "for over" from the empire in 1G37. There 
 was a long-continued persecution of the Catholic 
 religion, and it is believed that seven millions of 
 persons were sacrificed. The Dutch and the Chinese 
 were afterwards, for many years, the only nations whose 
 ships were allowed access to Japan. The Dutch were 
 subjected to many restrictions, and yet they found the 
 trade profitable. 
 
 There is but little trade between England and 
 Japan. Russia has repeatedly of late years tried to 
 form a commercial connection with the country, but 
 with small success. The Japanese are well situated 
 for commerce. Formerly their ships covered the 
 neighbouring seas. Their silk and cotton cloths, their 
 porcelain wares, and their lacquered tin ware, with 
 raised figures (japanned ware), are well known, and in 
 much demand, and their steel work is superior. The 
 recent visit of the Japanese ambassadors to this and 
 other European countries is an indication of the desire 
 of the nation to enlarge its knowledge of humanity, 
 and the promise of competition by the Japanese at the 
 Vienna Exhibition is a proof of self- consciousness in 
 respect to those arts in which the people excel, which 
 must procure for them the respect of more privileged 
 communities. 
 
 The Japanese are a mixture of the l\ralay and Mon- 
 golian races, like the Chinese, from whom they have 
 probably derived their civilisation. Their language is a 
 dialect of the Mongolian — the Chinese is the learned
 
 344 ASIA. 
 
 language. They are the most civilised and refined nation 
 of Asia, a noble, proud people, intelligent, docile, and 
 desirous ^of instruction. They are active, cleanly, and 
 laborious, cheerful and contented, but sensual and 
 revengeful. 
 
 The government is despotic and severe, and the 
 laws very strict. The people in general are poor, the 
 landlord exacting from the peasant a most inordinate 
 portion of his earnings. The law holds every one respon- 
 sible for those with whom he is connected — the father 
 for the children, the master for the servant, and even a 
 neighbour for his neighbour. All crime is punished, 
 not in any case by fine, but by imprisonment, and 
 banishment, or loss of limb or life ; and every punishment 
 is inflicted with inexorable rigour on high and low. 
 
 The high priest of Japan is still called dairi, which 
 was the title of the emperors, while they possessed 
 spiritual and temporal powers united. A revolution in 
 1185 deprived them of the secular power, and Yori- 
 Tomo was appointed supreme ruler of the nation. The 
 dairi is visible only to those who wait upon him. He lives 
 in a fortified palace. Where he was born there he lives 
 and dies, and never goes beyond the precincts of his 
 residence. All orders are issued in his name. He has 
 a rich income. The secular emperor resides at Jeddo. 
 Under him are the princes, who are responsible to him. 
 He acknowledges the superiority of the dairi, but he 
 himself, the cubo, rules the empire with the assistance 
 of a council ol^tate consisting of six aged men.
 
 JAPAN. 3 15 
 
 The religion of the Japanese is of Hindoo origin, and 
 in adherence to it there are many sects. They worship 
 many inferior divinities, whose statues are placed in 
 the temples of the great deities. There is a numerous 
 priesthood, with many monks and nuns who live in a 
 multitude of monasteries, under the superiority of the 
 dairi. The Hindoo religion has nowhere been more 
 oliangcd by superstition and additions of various kinds 
 than in Japan. The Sinto, or Confucian sect, is philo- 
 sophical, like the sect of the learned in China, and 
 despises the folly of the popular belief. There is free 
 toleration granted to all religions. Christian mission- 
 aries have laboured with considerable success, and there 
 is at present a large addition being made to their 
 number. 
 
 In the time of peace the army of Japan consists of 
 100,000 men, besides 20,000 horsemen. Their arms 
 are bows, muskets, sabres, and daggers. They have 
 very heavy cannon. Besides this imperial arm}' the 
 separate provinces maintain, in the aggregate, a force 
 of 368,000 infantry and 33,000 cavalry. The navy, 
 which formerly consisted of large vessels in large 
 fleets, is now insignificant.
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 A SIA has been the battle-field and the grave of great 
 •^-^ nations. The most gorgeous displays of kingly 
 grandeur have been, and even now are, to be found 
 within these territories. If Asia were taken out of the 
 map of the world, all history would be rendered enig- 
 matical. And the future of the history of man is 
 largely dependent upon the position of this great 
 central continent. 
 
 The great mental conflicts of the informed and 
 reflective classes have here had their field. In certain 
 instances they have not originated in Asia ; but it is 
 on this ground that ancient controversies have fought 
 themselves out, and have most widely affected the 
 population. Judaism and Christianity here contended. 
 Gnosticism, Arianism, Pelagianism, did not take their 
 rise within these bounds ; but in this limit they all had 
 their fiercest struggle. The diversity of opinion, in 
 regard to ceremonial observance, which separated the 
 Greek Church from the Roman, more deeply affected
 
 CONCLUSION. 347 
 
 Asia than any otlier part of the world, and, indeed, 
 was the means of alienating multitudes from the Chris- 
 tian faith altogether. And now there are perpetually 
 being carried on here, in one part or another, the 
 battles which are natural and inevitable between 
 Christian truth and the ancient systems of the idolatrous 
 and mythological races. 
 
 The question, politically, is important — what shall 
 become of Asia 'i The great Powers which rule the 
 world have been more, and still more nearly approach- 
 ing each other on this field. Trace the history. Who 
 can give assurance that there shall be no collision ? 
 The prospects of Asia are as those of a troubled sunrise. 
 No man can forecast the day. Turkey can scarcely 
 hold its own ; Persia is eflete ; China, mighty as it is in 
 extent, cannot cope with European arms ; Russia 
 gradually goes on to increase of territory, and so docs 
 Britain. If the mighty enginery which moves along 
 the same line from opposite termini should one day 
 meet, the collision cannot fail to be disastrous. There are 
 great battle-fields, in this continent, almost as if pre- 
 pared, by the absence of all but wandering tribes, to be 
 the arena in which shall be settled the world's destiny. 
 Some say that, as here the Gospel of peace was first 
 proclaimed, so here also shall be first and most distinctly 
 manifested its most conspicuous results — that here is 
 preserved the sacred and fertile land sanctified by the 
 tread of the Pedeemer's feet ; but into such theories we 
 cannot enter — theories they are, and nothing more.
 
 348 ASIA. 
 
 Tlie look of tilings in Asia seems to say that, as in the 
 past, so in the future, for some little time to come, the 
 weak and the scattered must give way to the strong 
 and united, and that the great Powers shall thus 
 possess the entire land. What the result of such pos- 
 session may be none can predict. It is better to 
 espouse another's quarrel than one's own. Hence 
 the importance of preserving the independence of the 
 small border kingdoms. If the boundaries of vast 
 empires were closely contiguous, it might, as expe- 
 rience has elsewhere shown, be less easy to preserve 
 the peace. Yet this partition of its soil seems to be 
 the prospect of the " unappropriated " parts of Asia. 
 
 The religious " faiths " of Asia are dormant if not 
 dead. The force of the Christianity which, in this con- 
 tinent, took its rise, is exhausted as indigenous to the 
 country, and if any good end would be reached in the 
 Christian name, the means must be imported. Judaism 
 is a dead letter; Brahminism and Buddhism do not 
 master and dominate the people ; and Mohammedanism 
 is equally inefhcient. The great temples and mosques 
 are all old. There is no freshness of life or enterprise 
 in any of these religions. The future of Asia must 
 therefore be moulded and characterised by Western 
 and Christian modes of thought. In order to succeed 
 in this work, the great Christian nations are especially 
 called upon for consistency of policy and conduct with 
 the principles which they profess to honour. England 
 and America appear to be the great civilising and
 
 CONCLUSION. 349 
 
 evangelising Powers of the world. Both are zealous in 
 seeking the good of Asia ; and their efforts have not 
 been unsuccessful. In China, among the Caucasian 
 tribes, and in India, the people have been taught, in 
 large numbers, to understand their relation to the 
 human brotherhood, and many have been led to a true 
 belief in respect to Him who is the Father of all. 
 Keshub Chunder Sen, the well-known leader of the 
 Brahmo Samoj, in India, notwithstanding the peculiarity 
 of his own views, says, in one of his recent addresses — 
 " The spirit of Christianity has already pervaded the 
 whole atmosphere of Indian society, and we breathe, 
 think, feel, and move in a Christian atmosphere. 
 Native society is being roused, enlightened, and reformed 
 under the influence of Christian education." When 
 this state of things really prevails in all parts, then will 
 have arrived the day of emancipation for Asia. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 VHISIED BV VlBTUt AKD CO., CITY BOAi>, LOKDOH.