forests in Arabia, although groves and scattered trees are by no means unfrequent among the mountains. Of the palms, it possesses the date, the cocoa nut, and the great fan palm. The sycamore fig, the plantain, the almond, and apricot, the papaw, the bead tree, the mimosa nilotica and sensitiva, and the orange, nearly complete the catalogue of its native and cultivated trees. The list of shrubs and herbaceous plants does not contain many that would be interesting to the general reader: among these however may be particularized the ricinus, the liquorice, and the senna, all used in medicine; and the balsam, the globe amaranth, the white lily, and the greater pancratium, distinguished for their beauty and fragrance.

Zoology. The horse is the glory of Arabian zoologyi According to Zimmerman this animal is found wild in the extensive deserts on the north of Hadramaut*; at least such may have been the case in ancient times, if it be not rather probable that the wild horse of Tatary has passed through Persia, and only been perfected in Arabia. They are here divided into two great classes, the Kadishi, or common kind, whose genealogy has not been preserved; and the Kochlani, or noble horses, whose breed has been ascertained for two thousand years, proceeding, as they fable, from the stalls of Solomon. These will bear the greatest fatigues, and pass whole days without food, living on air, to use the Arabian metaphor. They are said to rush on a foe with impetuosity; and it is asserted that some of this noble race, when wounded in battle, will withdraw to a spot where their master may be secure, and if he fall they will neigh for assistance. The Kochlani are neither large nor beautiful, nor is their figure at all regarded; their race, and hereditary qualities being the sole objects of estimation. They are chiefly reared by the Beduins, in tne northern deserts between Persia and Syria. The preservation of the breed is carefully and authentically witnessed; and the offspring of a Kochlani stallion with an ignoble mare is reputed Kadishi. The Arabian steeds are sometimes bought at excessive rates by the English at Mocha. There is also in this country a superior breed of asses, approaching in form and qualities to the mule, and sold at high prices.

This region of Africa, seems also the native country of the camel, emphatically styled by the orientals the ship of the desert; being, by the expansion of its feet, the faculty of bearing thirst and hunger, and other qualities, peculiarly adapted by the author of nature to peram, bulate the sandy wastes, which would otherwise remain unpassable, Niebuhr observed camels of different kinds, and seems to decide the question concerning the dromedary, by saying that this animal in Arabia and Egypt has always one hunch only, and can otherwise scarcely be distinguished from the camel, but in being more light and speedy. "As to dromedaries with two hunches I never saw any, except three in a town of Natolia, and they had been brought from the Crimea: they were so big and heavy that they might rather be ranged under a particular species of camels, than of dromedariesf."

The buffalo seems unknown, being an animal Which delights in mud and water, but the cattle have generally a hunch on the shoulder.

Zoologia Geographic*, 1777, 4to. p. 143 from Lao Africa

Nicbuhv, 145.

The breed of sheep has not been particularly Illustrated; but it would appear that both the wool and mutton are coarse. The rock goat is said to be found in the mountains of Arabia Petrea. The other animals are the jakkal, or chacal; the hyena towards the Persian gulf; numerous monkies in the woods of Yemen; the jerboa, or rat of Pharoah in Neged: there are also antelopes, and wild oxen, with wolves, foxes, and wild boars, and the large panther, called in Arabic nemcr and the fath, a small panther. The tiger seems utterly unknown, and the lion only appears beyond the Euphrates. Among the birds may be named the pheasant, common in the woods of Yemen, as the grey partridge is in the plains; while the ostrich is no stranger in the deserts. The birds of prey are eagles, vultures, falcons, and sparrowhawks. A bird of the thrush kind, venerated because it destroys the locusts, is thought to come annually from Corasan. Land tortoises abound; and are eaten by the Christians in Lent. A little slender serpent, called baetan, spotted with black and white, is of a nature remarkably poisonous, the bite being instant death. The locust is too numerous; and the natives esteem the red as a fat and juicy food, and view it with no more aversion than shrimps, or prawns are beheld by us.

Mineralogy. The mineralogy of Arabia is of small im portance. Having no natiTe gold, the people are still addicted to the infatuation of alchymy. Nor is silver found, except mingled as usual, in the lead mines of Omon. There arc some mines of iron in the district of Saade, in the north of Yemen; but the metal is brittle. As most of the noted vegetable productions of Arabia the Happy are now known to have heen imported from Hindostan, so the best precious stones are from the same quarter. Those agates containing extraneous substances, which from the town are called Mocha-stones, are brought from Surat, which also sends great quantities to China*. The best carnelians also come from the gulf of Cambay. But Arabia produces onyxes in the province of Yemen; and the brown stone found near Damar seems a sardonyx. Rock salt appears near Loheia. Niebuhr also observed in Ajemen pentagonal pillars of basalt; with bluish alabaster, selenite, and various spars. Not one of the gems appears to be produced in Arabia. Near Hamada, in the district of Yemen, called Kaukcban, there is a warm spring of mineral water.

Natural Curiosities. Several of those uncommon appearances which geographers style natural curiosities, may, no dyubt, be found in this extensive country, when more thoroughly explored. Niebuhr mentions that several springs, which in other countries would become rivulets, here flow for a short space, and then sink into an unknown subterranean course. Amidst the deficiency of water, it is not surprising that the grand reservoir near the ancient city of March, though in a small part a work of art, was regarded as a singular exertion of naturef, Mareb is still the chief town of the province of Jof, about seventy-five British miles north-east from Sana, containing about three hundred mean houses, with a wall and three gates. In an adja

Niebuhr, 125. He here remark* that tkc Turks have mines in the county of DiarUrkr and of Sivas

Niebuhr, 240.,

cent vale, about twenty British miles in length, were united six or seven rivulets, running from the west and from the south, partly from Yemen; and some said to be perennial streams full of fish. The two chains of mountains, inclosing this vale, approach so near at the east end that the space might be walked over in five or six minutes; or was about a quarter of a mile. This opening being shut by a thick wall the water was retained, and imparted particular advantages to agriculture. But the wall, constructed of large masses of hewn stone, to the height of forty or fifty feet, was neglected after the fall of the Sabean kingdom; and burst in the middle, leaving only the ruins on both sides, so that the water is now lost in the desert on the north of Hadramaut.

ISLES.

Besides several isles of little consequence in the Arabian gulf, there are two isles which deserve particular notice.

seas.

SOCOTRA. Socotra, about 240 British miles from the southern coast of Arabia, appears in all ages to have belonged to that country, and to have been celebrated for the production of aloës, still esteenied superior to any other. Niebuhr says that it belongs to the Sheik of Keschin, a town of Hadramaut, as it did when the Portuguese made discoveries in this quarter; and the author of the Periplus observes that it was subject to the country which produced incense, that is Hadramaut. The inhabitants are clearly of Arabian extract. There are two bays, and some secure harbours; and the isle is also said to produce frankincense, while ambergris and coral are found in the neighbouring The isle of Bahrin is in the Persian gulf, near the Arabian coast, and remarkable for the great pearl fishery in its neighbourhood, but the revenue thence arising to the Sheik of Busheer, was diminished by the pretensions of the Houls, a strong Arabian tribe between Gomberoon and cape Bardistan, who refused to pay for the permission. The name Bahrin signifies two seas, being seemingly an absurd modern appellation; for Abulfeda, as well as the Arabs of Lahsa, call the large isle Aual, a name transferred by D'Anville, who in Arabia seems rather unfortunate, to the peninsula of Ser, about 360 British miles to the east. The inhabitants of Aual, and the smaller isles, are Arabs of the Chia persuasion. In the large isle there is a fortified town; and in the whole group there may be forty or fifty mean villages.

ASIATIC ISLANDS.

INTRODUCTION.

GENERAL ARRANGEMENT OF THE ASIATIC ISLANDS, INCLUDING AUSTRALASIA AND POLYNESIA.

HAVING thus completed the description of the wide continent of Asia, so far as the limits assigned to this work would admit, a difficult field of investigation opens in the innumerable Asiatic Islands, and those situated in the Pacific, or more properly Great Oriental Ocean. The topics about to be treated will become more clear from the inspection of Arrowsmith's chart of that ocean, or the Planisphere on Mercator's projection, with that prodigious expanse of water towards the middle. Hence it will appear that, though modern enterprize have failed in the discovery of a supposed Austral continent, (a hope and idea now dismissed from geography) yet the discoveries may be said to constitute a fifth part of the world; which accordingly Fabri, and other foreign writers of skill in the science, have admitted, under the name of Austral Lands, Southern Indies, and other denominations, including New Holland, New Guinea, New Britain, New Ireland, New Caledonia, New Zealand, the friendly Isles, Society Islands, the Marquesas, and even the Sandwich Islands in the north.

These regions are, however, of so wide and distinct a nature, consisting of almost a new continent in the south of Asia, and scattered groups of isles in the Pacific, many of them nearer to South America than to Asia, while they are chiefly not above twenty degrees to the south of the equator, that the name of Austral Lands seems very objectionable, and that of Southern Indies ridiculous. Nor indeed can they well be blended under one denomination, as was long since observed by the learned president De Brosses, who, nearly half a century ago, proposed that the countries to the south of Asia, namely New Holland, New Guinea, and New Zealand, &c. should be styled Justralasia, and the numerous isles

in the Pacific Polyneria, from a Greek term implying many islands.* Th. denominations proposed by this learned author have appeared uwexceptionable to most men of science; but the absurd names imposed by the ignorant seamen and map-makers of all countries have, as usual, prevailed, whence we have new countries which bear not the most distant resemblance of the old, and New South Wales has become a part of New Holland! It is deeply to be regretted that scientific works must continue to be disgraced by names imposed by whim and caprice, and that a Board of Nomenclature was not added to the Board of Longitude, to fix with due deliberation the appellations proper to be conferred. If there be a native name it ought, in every instance, to deserve the preference, as length may be abbreviated, and roughness smoothed; but where a general appellation is unknown to the small savage tribes, the names of monarchs, and other great encouragers of discovery, and those of eminent navigators, may be imposed, with a Latin termination, so as to pass into all European languages, with as little change as possible. It is to be wished that even now a board of this kind were instituted, to be held in London, but attended by learned deputies from Portugal, Spain, Holland, and France, that the claims of prior discovery may be fairly investigated, and the name of the first princely protectors or navigators imposed, to the lasting preservation of their memory. Amidst the choice of denominations, that of New should be dismissed, as of all others the most absurd and improper, and calculated to infer resemblances where none exist.

As the name of Australasia has been adopted by many men of science, in various extents and applications, it may be proper first to listen to the original inventor.†

"But in this immense extent of regions, which are to form the object of the researches about to be detailed, how numerous are the different countries, climates, manners, and races of mankind! The sight would be dazzled and confounded if care were not exerted to relieve it, and fix its attention, by divisions marked from distance to distance. These ought to be distinguished with regard to the progress of our knowledge, and at the same time with regard to the natural disposition of the objects. Our globe is composed of three large extents of land, Asia, Africa, and America; and of three large extents of water, the Ethiopian, or Indian ocean, the Atlantic, and the Pacific. In like manner the Austral world may be divided into three portions, each to the south of the three above-mentioned. The first in the Indian ocean to the south of Asia, which may in consequence be named Auatralaja : the second in the Atlantic, which I shall call Magel/ancia, from the name of the discoverer, begins at the southern point of the American continent, and comprehends all that may thence extend under the southern point of Africa, where a long undiscovered coast is supposed to exist. 1 shall comprise in the third all that is contained in the vast Pacific ocean, and shall give to this division the name of Polynctiu, on account of the great multitude of islands."

Histoire des Navigations aux Terrcs Australes. Paris, lr56, 2 vols. 4to. f De Brosses, ib. i. 79.

Europe seems here considered bv the learned President at a mere elongation of the continent of Asia.