their own export and import trades, so that a constant interchange is everywhere going on, each country purchasing from others what it requires for food or manufactures, and selling in return whatever it has to spare of natural or artificial productions—the resources of its soil, its seas, its mines, or its looms. Full information is given in the succeeding lessons on the resources of all the countries brought under review. Section II.—ASIA. LESSON VIII. ASIA-PHYSICAL FEATURES AND CLIMATE. 1. The Old World consists of a double continent— Asia, together with Europe and Africa-and a vast number of islands, of which Australia is the largest. Asia comprises the main mass of land, and Europe is a great peninsula on its western side. The Arctic Ocean bounds Asia on the north, the Pacific Ocean, with its branches, washes the eastern shores, and the Seas of the Indian Ocean form the southern limit. The eastern and southern shores are broken and indented, and the neighbouring seas of the Pacific are studded with islands. The total area of this great continent amounts to over seventeen millions of square miles, and includes a third of the land on the earth's surface. It has one mile of coast line to every 459 square miles of surface. The longest line that can be drawn across the continent, that from the south-west to the north-east, measures about 6,700 miles. 2. The Russian Empire extends over the whole of the north of Asia; the Chinese Empire occupies the centre and east; and the Indian Empire embraces the great central southern peninsula. The southern-eastern peninsula is occupied by the Kingdoms of Burma, Siam, and Anam; the south-western by Arabia; the western by the Turkish Empire; whilst between the latter Empire and those of China and India lie Persia, Turkestan, Afghanistan, and Beluchistan. A group of islands on the east, corresponding to the British Isles on the west coast of Europe, form the Empire of Japan. 3. Asia is the continent of massive mountain ranges and elevated table-lands, though it is not without extensive plains and great river valleys. The lofty table-land of Central Asia is the most extensive and the highest on the face of the globe. Its height varies from five to fifteen thousand feet. It is bounded on all sides by lofty mountain chains, and intersected by other ranges but little inferior in elevation. The western part-the great Pamir Steppe-is called by the inhabitants "Bam-i-dunia," the roof of the world; and from this centre five great mountain systems radiate. To the west is the HindooKoosh range, which ultimately spreads out into the table-lands and minor ranges of Afghanistan, Turkestan, Persia, and Asia Minor. To the north-east a chain extends for four thousand miles to Behring Straits, which separate Asia from America. Parts of this chain are known as the Altai, Sayan, Yablonoi, and Stanovoi ranges. To the south-east are the giant Himalayas ; whilst between the north-east and south-east ranges two other chains run eastward, the Thian-shan Mountains, and the Kuen-lun range, with its continuation the Nan-shan Mountains. The north-east and south-east ranges are the edges of the great Central Asian plateau; whilst the central chains divide it into three distinct regions. Roughly speaking, this great plateau slopes towards the east as far as China proper, where it ends abruptly in the Yung-ling and Khin-gan mountains. 4. From the north-eastern chain many spurs branch northwards, and between these and beyond them extending to the frozen Arctic sea is the great plain of Russian Asia. This vast plain is only separated from the great plain of Europe by the narrow chain of the Urals, The surface is varied in aspect. Bare swampy levels, called "tundras," where winter reigns supreme during the greater part of the year, occupy the region between the Arctic Circle and the Arctic Ocean. South of this is the great forest zone, and south-west again are great deserts of drift and sand steppes, alternated with pastoral regions. The remaining important lowlands of Asia are the plain of Mesopotamia, through which flow the Euphrates and Tigris, the plain of Hindustan, and the alluvial plain of China. 5. The rivers of Asia all flow outwards from the great central plateau. Most of them have their origin in the surrounding mountains, but some of those flowing to the east take their rise far inland in the plateau itself. The great rivers which flow northwards are the Obi, Yenisei, and Lena: these discharge their waters under seas of ice into the Frozen Ocean. The Amoor, which forms the boundary, for part of its course, between the Russian and Chinese empires, flows eastward into the Sea of Okhotsk. The two great rivers of ChinaYang-tse-Kiang and the Hoang-ho-take their origin in the plateau of Tibet, and empty their waters into the Yellow Sea. The Brahmaputra, the Ganges, and the Indus, drain the northern and southern slopes of the Himalayas into the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. The Oxus flows westward into the Sea of Aral. 6. The greater portion of the continent of Asia lies in the temperate zone, only portions of the southern peninsulas and the islands being included in the tropical belt, whilst a still smaller part lies within the arctic circle. The great highland barrier which stretches across the continent, from south-west to north-east, coupled with the position of the continent with regard to latitude, brings about a threefold division in its climate. The three great belts are the lowlands stretching from the Frozen Ocean to the base of the mountains; the highlands themselves; and the great promontories to the south. "Besides their contrast in temperature, these three divisions of the continent are even more strongly marked in their supply of moisture. During summer, or while the vast area of the continent is beneath the more direct influence of the sun approaching the northern tropic, the winds are drawn towards the heated land from all sides. Thus the peninsular region southeast of the mountain belt combines heat with an abun dant rain supply, brought to it by the monsoons,' or seasonal winds from the Indian Ocean [SW], and from the Pacific [SE]; so that Hindustan, Farther India, Southern China, and the islands which lie beyond, are characterised by luxuriant plant life. 7. "During summer also the winds are drawn in from the thawing Arctic Ocean on the north, from the Atlantic on the west, and the Pacific on the east, to the northern slopes of the continent, and bring the supply of moisture which supports the vast forests of Siberia. 8. "The outer edges and slopes of the central mountain region thus intercept the rainfall which maintains the great rivers that flow from them, north, east, and south, to the sea; but the plateau lands between these encircling heights are screened by them from the rainbearing winds, and are consequently dry and bare, and covered in many parts with sandy deserts." * 9. Another important feature in the climate of Asia is its extreme character. This follows from the enormous size of the continent, and the consequent distance from the ameliorating influences of the ocean. The greatest winter cold in any of the known world is near the mouth of the Lena, yet here the mean temperature of July is as high as that of Paris. On the great central steppes thetemperature varies between 100° Fah., and 45° below zero. 10. Asia was the cradle of the human race; it was also the seat of the great nations of antiquity—the Assyrians, Medes, and Persians-and, until the rise of the Roman Empire, it occupied the first place in the history of mankind. Asia, too, is the native home of our domestic quadrupeds-the horse, ass, ox, sheep, and goat-of the domestic poultry of all parts of the world, and of most of European grains and tree-fruits. The sugar-cane, cotton, rice, indigo, vines, hemp, flax, the garden rose, the tea-plant, the poppy, and various spices, together with the bamboo, ebony, and teak, are all indigenous to the Asiatic continent. *K. Johnston. |