charia, it is probable that many lakes may be discovered, as not unu sual in alpine countries.

Mountains. The principal range of mountains is that of Relur, which, according to all accounts, is a great alpine chain, covered. with perpetual snow. It is to b« hoped that the eye of science will soon explore its recesses, which, as we have seen, will prove very productive in objects of natural history. The chief branches proceed towards the west, for on the east is the high central plain of Asia, full of deserts, as if nature had here performed her earliest operations, when this first and greatest continent emerged from the primeval waters, and its greatest height had afterwards drawn its fertility into the plains of China and Hindostan. Of this extensive table-land the Belur may be regarded as the western buttress, continued by the mountains of Jimbal and Kisik Tag to the Altaian chain, which forms the northern buttress on the south of the sea of Baikal. On the east this plain gradually declines from the sources of the Onon and Kerlon, and the south limit of the desert of Shamo, while the numerous alps of Tibet, to which country there is a gradual ascent from China, from the southern and excresent buttress. Except in some few places, sheltered from the north and east, this extensive elevation is exposed to extreme cold, the reverse of the deserts of Africa. It is intersected with great ranges of mountains, whose height must be enormous superadded to that of the bases; the western parts in particular, between Siberia and Tibet, abound with irregular ridges of naked rocks, presenting as it were the ruins of mountains.

Otrer Mountains.

The chain of Belur, the ancient Imaus, proceeds nearly north and south, and is continued by the mountains of Alak or Alak Oola on the north of Little Bucharia,t which join the great Bogdo, the highest mountain in central Asia, according to the reports of the Monguls and Tatars. On the south the Belur seems more intimately connected with the Hindoo Koh than with the northern ridges of Tibet. The Hindoo Koh, and mountains of Gaur must not be forgotten among those of Great Bucharia, being seemingly an extension of the chain of Belur, without any interruption, except The mountains of Argjun or a narrow pass to the south of Anderab. Argun seem to form one drain with the Kara Tau, though brokenv as not unusual, by the transition of a river; and like the Ak Tau, in the south appear a branch detached from the Belur. In the country of

* The Mus Tag of General Stralenberg's map is a chain running parallel But that map, to the Belur, (also, as he says, called Boiut) on the east. though surprizing for the time, swarms with errors; and even here he says that this part of the Mus Tag is the same with Paropamisus, which is well known to be the mountains of Gaur, running east anH west. Tag is therefore right, as appears from the maps of Wahl and Islenieff, being in fact the Tataric name for the northern ridge of Tibet.

His other Mus

The Alak Oola is the Ula Gola of Strahlenberg, which he confounds with the Ungan Daga; and his Musart is part of the Alak of Islenieff. Wahl and others have taken many names at random from his map, which is valuable, as it gave us the first idea of central Asia; and a comparison between it and the modern maps might afford matter for an interesting geographical commentary. Sarikol, and other names in Little Bucharia, have been rather rashly adopted from Strahlenberg into our English maps.

the Kirguses the Kisik Tag is probably an expiring branch of the great Altaian chain, like the Bugli Tag in the north. To the south of the desert range called Algidym Zano, a solitary mountain, the Ulu Tau, is delineated by Islenieff, probably that mentioned by Pallas, as a singular hill, in the midst of the Tatarian deserts, like that of the little Bogdo in the stepp in the east of the Volga.*

Neither the botany nor zoology of this country have been explored by any intelligent naturalist. We have seen that the alpine regions present many of the animals of Tibet.

Mineralogy. The mineralogy is not so obscure, though the Monguls and Tatars, who may be said to have possessed this country for a thousand years, have not industry for the proper pursuit of metalurgy. The alpine heights in the south-east contain gold, silver, and a peculiar production, the balay, or pale rose-coloured ruby; not to mention lazulite, or lapis lazuli. In the tenth century, before the native industry had expired under long oppression, Fergana produced sal ammoniac, vitriol, iron, copper,t gold, and turkoises: and quicksilver is added, a rare and valuable product. In the mountain of Zarka there were springs of naphtha and bitumen, and "a stone that takes fire and burns," which must imply coal. In the country of Setrushteh, D'Anville's Osrushna, there was a cavern, whence a vapour arose, which in the night seemed fiery, and from which sal ammoniac was procured. On digging the ground a similar vapour would arise, as we are told, of the fires near Baku. In the mountains of Ailak or Ilak, the most northern province around Otrar, there were mines of gold and silver. This venerable father of Arabian geography has compensated for the penury of his information respecting natural history, by an animated character of this country and its people, which may be here introduced, as a relief from the dryness of some of the details, unavoidable in describing a country highly celebrated, but the geography of which unaccountably remains the most defective of any hi Asia, with the single exception of interior Arabia.

Craracter. "Such are the generoisty and liberality of the inhabitants, that no one turns aside from the rites of hospitality; so that a person contemplating them in this light, would imagine that all the families of the land were but one house. When a traveller arrives there every person endeavours to attract him to himself, that he may have opportunities of performing kind offices for the stranger: and the best proof of their hospitable and generous disposition is, that every peasant, though possessing but a bare sufiiciency, allots a portion of his cottage for the reception of a guest. On the arrival of a stranger they contend one with another for the pleasure of taking him to their home, and entertaining him. Thus, in acts of Imspitality, they expend their incomes. This author of the work says, I happened once to be in Sogd, and there I saw a certain palace, or great building, the doors of which were fastened back with nails against the walls. I asked

* From this mountain Timur beheld the vast stepps, waving like a sea of grass Cherefeddin, ii. 81. edit. 1"22.

f Ebn Haukal. He adds, p. 272, lead; and says that the chief mines of Fergana were in the mountains of Ashehreh, perhaps the Chechalith of Goe/, two days from the province of Sarchil.

1

the reason of this, and they informed me that it was an hundred years and more since those doors had been shut, all that time they had continued open day and night, strangers might arrive there at the most unseasonable hours, or in any numbers, for the master of the house had provided every thing necessary both for the men and for their beasts; and he appeared with a delighted and joyful countenance when the guests tarried awhile. Never have I heard of such things in any other country. The rich and great lords of most other places expend their treasures on particular favourites, in the indulgence of gross appetites, and sensual gratifications. The people of Maweralnahr employ themselves in a useful and rational manner: they lay out their money in erecting caravanseras, or inns, building bridges, and such works. You cannot see any town, or stage, or even desert, in Maweralnahr, without a convenient inn or stage-house, for the accommodation of travellers, with every thing necessary. I have heard that there are above two thousand rebats, or inns, in Maweralnahr, where as many persons as may arrive shall find sufficient forage for their beasts, and meat for themselves.'

"The author of the book further says, 'I have heard from a respectable person who was with Nasser Ahmed, in the war of Samarcand, that of all his immense army the greater part were men of Maweralnahr; ami I have heard that Motasem wrote a letter to Abdallah ben Taher. The answer of Abdallah was, that in Maweralnahr there are three hundred thousand Kuiabs: each Kulab furnishes one horseman and one foot-soldier; and the absence of these men, when they go forth, is not felt, or is not perceptible in the country. I have heard that the inhabitants of Chaje and Ferghaneh are so numerous, and so well disciplined, and furnished with implements of war, that they are not to be equalled in any region of Islam. And among the lower classes there are farmers who possess from one hundred to five hundred head of cattle. Notwithstanding all this, there arc not any people more obedient to their kings; and at all times the Turk soldiers had the precedence of every other race, and the Khalifs always chose them on account of their excellent services, their obedient disposition, their bravery, and their fidelity.'

"Maweralnahr has produced so many great princes and genarals, that no region can surpass it. The bravery of its inhabitants cannot be exceeded iA any quarter of the Mussulman world. Their numbers and their discipline give them an advantage over other nations, which, if an army be defeated, or a body of troops lost at sea, cannot furnish another army for a considerable time; but in all Maweralnahr, should such accidents happen, one tribe is ready to supply the losses of another without any delay.

"In all the regions of the earth there is not a more flourishing or a move delightful country than this, especially the district of Bokhara. If a person stand on the Kohendiz (or ancient castle) of Bokhara, and cast his eyes around, he shall not see any thing but beautiful and luxurient verdure on every side of the country: so that he would imagine the green of the earth and the azure of the heavens were united: and as there are green fields in every quarter, so there arc villas interspersed among the green fields. And in all Khurasan and Maweralnahr there are not any people move long-lived than those of Bokhara.

It is said that in all the world there is not any place more delightful (or salubrious) than those three: one, the Soghd of Samarcand; another, the Rud Aileh; and the third, the Ghutah of Damascus.' But the Ghutah of Damascus is within one farsang of barren and dry hills, without trees; and it contains many places which are desolate, and produce no verdure. A fine prospect ought to be such as completely tills the eye, and nothing should be visible but sky and green.' The river Aileh* affords, for one farsang only, this kind of prospect; and there is not in the vicinity of it any eminence from which one can see beyond a farsang; and the verdant spot is either surrounded by, or opposite to a dreary desert. But the walls, and buildings, and cultivated plains of Bokhara, extend above thirteen farsang, by twelve farsang; and the Soghd, for eight days journey, is all delightful country, affording fine prospects, and full of gardens, and orchards, and villages, corn fields, and villas, and running streams, reservoirs, and fountains, both on the right hand and on the left. You pass from corn fields into rich meadows and pasture lands; and the Soghd is far more healthy than the Rud Aileh, or the Ghutah of Dameshk (or Damascus); and the fruits of Soghd are the finest in the world. Among the hills and palaces flow running streams, gliding between the trees."t

* From the editor's preface, p. xv, it appears that this is the Ablah, or Ubbulah, near Bafra or Bassaro, about sixteen miles to the east of that city. t Ebn Haukal, by Sir Wm. Ouseley, p. 234,

ARABIA.

CHAPTER I.

•OUNDARIES. POPULATION. PROGRESSIVE GEOGRAPHY. HISTO

RICAL EPOCHS. RELIGION.--GOVERNMENT.--MANNERS AND DRESS.--LANGUAGE.--EDUCATION.--CITIES AND EDIFICES.-—-MANUFACTURES.--PRODUCTS.---COM

CUSTOMS

TOWNS.
MERCE.

THE last remaining country of the wide Asiatic continent is Arabia, a region also more highly celebrated than precisely known. By the ancients it was divided into three unequal portions: Petræa, or the Stoney, a small province on the north of the Red Sea, between Egypt and Palestine, so called from the number of granitic rocks and mountains, the most remarkable of which is Sinai: Arabia Deserta was the eastern part, so far as known to the ancients; while Arabia the Happy comprised the south-west on the shores of the Red Sea.

Bounnaries. The boundaries on the west and south are marked by the red sea, or Arabian gulf, and the Indian ocean; while the Persian gulf extends a considerable way on the east, and this boundary is considered as continued by the Euphrates, or rather by the deserts towards the west, for the ancient Chaldea, a part of Babylonia, comprised the western shores of that river. The northern limits are less strongly marked, but both in ancient and modern times rise to an angle about a hundred miles to the east of Palmyra, which is not included in Arabia. Thence the line proceeds south-west to the south-east angle of the Mediterranean! a northern boundary of Arabia Petnea.

From the cape of Babelmandeb to the extreme angle on the Euphrates, the length may be not less than 1800 British miles; while the medial breadth may be about 800.

The central part of Arabia is filled with the vast province, or rather desert, called Neged, occupying almost the whole country, except a few small portions towards the shores, as Hejaz on the Red Sea, which contains Mecca and Medina, Yemen on the south towards the straits of Babelmandeb; Hadramaut on the shores of the Indian ocean, and