ancient seat, obtained permission from the Russian government to occupy the steppe between the Wolga and Jaik. About the commencement of the present century he arrived with a great number of Kirghees frou beyond the Jaik, and submitted himself entirely to the Russian domination. This horde is at present in a very prosperous state, and contains 12,000 kibitkis or tents, and the population of these is estimated at 60,000 males. Supposing the females to be equally numerous, this would give 10 to a kibitka or tent on an average. Some of these tents are very large, and the one in which Eversman was received by the present khan Schangir, could hold 50 men with ease. The wealth of this horde consists, like that of other pastoral tribes, in cattle, and consisted of 4,000,000 sheep, 1,000,000 horses, 500,000 camels, and 200,000 horned cattle. The Kirghees generally dispose of their riches in dress, of which they are very fond, especially of red cloth or velvet, as well as chains of gold and silver, and the women wear corals, pearls, silver plates, silver medals, and manufactured stuffs. These objects are brought to them by Tartar, Russian, and Armenian merchants, who receive cattle in exchange. The khan appeared to be a very intelligent inquisitive person, and had a very competent knowledge of physical and natural science, and was constantly asking questions on natural phenomena; but as he got his education at Astracan, it would be injustice to compare the khans beyond the Jaik with him, as they never enjoyed his advantages. It would appear from Eversman that the sultans, in general, are not loved by the people, and in case of disputes recourse is not had to them, but to the patriarchs, who are instituted by the khan and the people. The sultans, on the contrary, form what we call the aristocracy, and are denominated in their language Ak fiujak, men with white bones.' According to Dr Bolshoi's account, who spent 18 months amongst the Kirghees of the middle horde, as a prisoner and a slave, in 1803 and 1804,—these robbers, for they deserve no better appellation, who dwell at the mouth of the Syr, are poor, ignorant, and cruel, and subjected to great misery for want of food in their inhospitable deserts. The khan of the tribe with whom he sojourned was so poor that he had only 8 ewes, 2 cows, 4 camels, and 1 horse, and Bolshoi himself was reduced to such a degree of hunger amongst them, that he would often tear a piece of horse flesh from a dog, and swallow it half raw, as they gave him no other food but brawn and water, or sour milk, and sometimes chaff and water. The country to the N of the Syr in this part is called the desert of Bursook, and contains nothing but saline plants, and salt ponds. From the Syr N. to the large and bitter lake of Szor-Boolak, the whole country is called Sheeyek-Koom, or 'border of the desert,' and beyond this is the Portshakoom (part of the desert) abounding in many plants bearing small juicy berries. Beyond this is the desert of Karakoom, or black sand.' In the western part of this desert are many lakes containing kitchen salt, and to the east is the large lake of Akssoolbarbii. As there is nothing in the description of a saline waste that can either amuse or edify, we shall pass to the great Kirghisian horde which is more powerful, and possesses more pastures, than all the other hordes put together. This great pastoral community possesses all the tract E. of the Sarasoo river which divides them from the middle horde to the frontiers of Soongaria and Khashghar. They not only possess the whole western face of the great buttress of central Asia to the N. of the Jasper mountains, with their lateral ranges and intermediate valleys, but they also pasture their flocks on both sides of the lofty

Kynder Tau from its western termination to where it joins the Kichuk Tagh and the Alakoola, whilst to the S. of Kokun the slopes of the Jasper mountains are pastured also by the same horde, and likewise to the E. of the same khanate, beyond Oosh and Uzkend, their flocks, their tents, and their camps, are to be found all the way up the northern and southern branches of the Syr to their remotest sources in the crest of the Beloor or Thsoungling, and even beyond it, to within three days' journey of Khashghar. Whilst the eastern parts of this extensive pastoral region are abundantly supplied with wood, grass, and water, except toward the crest of the great range which is beyond the limit of vegetation, the western part is as sterile and desert as that to the W. of the Sarasoo. To the E. of the Sarasoo is the desert of Jity Kongoor, so called from the sandy hillocks thrown up by the wind. Here are found rocks of alabaster, transparent glass, and of chalk. This desert extends 8 caravan journeys E. to the Tchooi, a river whose course is erroneously laid down in our modern maps. It issues from the western angle of the great lake of Tooz-Kol (a salt lake), denominated by the Eluths Timoortoo- Noor, or the lake of iron.' It directs its course to the N.W., and receives a considerable number of small streams. In this direction it runs as far as 46° N. lat., when it turns wholly to the W., forming a succession of lakes, and ends by discharging its waters into the lake of Kabak-Koulak (Pig's Ear), also called Khochi Kol, or Beile Kol. This lake lies in the little Boorsook desert N. of the great Boorsook. The upper part of the Tchooi, as given in the maps, is not that river, but the Adji-Bak- Boulan, or KharKhaitooi. From the Tchooi to the district of Turkistaun there is nothing but a succession of dry and sandy deserts, where there is neither food nor water for men nor animals. Farther E. towards the mountains are fertile lands and excellent meadows, dense forests and wooded hills; but as this extensive region has never been explored by European travellers, we cannot pretend to describe what has not been seen. Whilst the little and middle hordes are now to be regarded as dependent on Russia, the great horde is usually stated as tributary to China, ever since the conquest of the Eluths in 1759, and not only so, but the khanate of Khokaun itself is also represented as dependent on China, together with all its conquests. Whether this be the case at present in respect of Khokaun we cannot determine, as we have no information to enable us to decide. We are told by Nazaroff that while he was at Khokaun ambassadors from China were then at that capital: Klaproth, however, thinks that these were not deputed by the emperor of China, but by the mandarins of Khashghar on subjects connected with the government of that province. Izzet Oollah also says, that all the Kirghees to the E. of Khokaun and towards Khashghar are subject to the khan of Khokaun. This is not very like dependence on China, whether in respect of the Kirghees or Khokaunese. One thing is certain, however, that the moment the frontiers of Bokhara are passed, a most marked difference is to be seen in the manners of the people, and particularly amongst the Kirgeesh Eels. All is peace and tranquillity; there is neither robbing nor pilfering, and although caravans are used for the transport of goods, yet the road from one place to another is perfectly safe, even for the smallest parties or for individuals. This security increases the nearer you approach the Chinese frontier, and when once there, all risk ceases, and a child with gold in its hand might travel without fear. Now, as the Kirghees are well known to be notoriously addicted to plunder and pillage-as the Russian caravans have found to

their cost in going from Orenburg to Bokhara-it is not easy to account for this difference of conduct in the great horde, but on the hypothesis, that they are under the strict surveillance of the Chinese government, and that by virtue of some convention between Omar Khan and the Chinese government, he is made responsible for the safety of caravans and travellers in their route through the Kirgeesh Eels to Khashghar. It is also known that the Kirgeesh tribes, amongst whom the rebel chief of Khashghar had taken refuge in 1827, after his defeat by the Chinese troops, were compelled to deliver him up to the Chinese government. As the manners and habits of the Kirghees have been already concisely delineated in the description of Asiatic Russia, there is no occasion to resume that subject. Respecting the name, origin, and history of this erratic nation, little can be said, as nomadic tribes have no annals. The Kirghees in the time of Jenghis Khan dwelt far to the E. of their present seats, for they then wandered on the banks of the Jenisei. They belong to the great Turkish race, and speak a dialect of their language. Though they are commonly called Kirghees in all our modern works, and are so called by Abulghazi, yet they do not call themselves so, but denominate themselves Kaisacs, robbers,' and Sara Kaisacks, or 'robbers of the desert,' and Kuzzauks; and the Usbecs, in order to distinguish them from the Cossacks of the Jaik and Wolga, call these latter Kuzzauk Ooroos, or Russian Kuzzauks; yet modern writers in spite of this make the Kaisaks or Kuzzauks a different tribe or horde from the Kirghees, when they are in truth one and the same. In old maps they are denominated Kosacci Horda, and Kasatschai Horda, and sometimes simply the Kassats. But their more modern name is Kirghee Kaisaks. According to Klaproth they are called Kanak by the Chinese in the great geographical work of the Daisyn-y-tundshi, whilst he himself calls them Booroots. That work divides them into two great divisions, the Kanak of the right, or the eastern Booroots, who inhabit the mountains of the Kynder-Tau to the N.E. of the Syr, and the Kanak of the left, or the western Booroots, who inhabit the mountains of the Khashgar Divan, or the Jasper mountains to the S. of Khokaun. Like the other Kirghees the great horde are Mohammedans, but they have neither korans, nor moollahs, nor mosques.

6

Respecting the population of the great horde, we have not the smallest information on that head; but considering the great range of mountain pasture they possess, extending at least eight degrees from N. to S., and at least as many from E. to W., including level steps, it must be numerous for a nation of nomades. For 350 miles of his road from Khashghar to Oosh, the frontier of Khokaun, Izzet Oollah continually met Kirgeesh encampments. On these grounds, and considering that their pasture grounds are much better and far more extensive than those of the other two hordes put together, their numbers cannot be less than 1,000,000, whatever they may be above it.

HINDOSTAN.

Of the name, India. ] The classical appellation, India, seems to have been anciently given to the whole of that vast region which stretches from Persia and Bactria on the W. to the country of the Sine, or Chinese, on the E., and from the Scythian desert on the N. to the ocean on the S. Within these stupendous limits were included the lofty mountain-ranges of Tibet, the romantic valley of Cashmere, all the rugged domains of the old Indo-Scythians, the countries of Nepaul, Bootan, Camroop, and Assam, together with Siam, Ava, and Arracan, and the bordering states as far as the China of the Hindoos and the Sin of the Arabian geographers, the island of Ceylon, and the whole western peninsula. The name is generally supposed to have been derived from the river Indus, which waters the western extremity of this region. The words Hind, Hindoo, Hindostan, India, and Indian, were designations all equally unknown to the ancient natives. Under the appellation of India beyond the Ganges, some writers have comprised the whole groupe of countries lying between the bay of Bengal and the Chinese sea. This is the Lesser India of Marco Polo, which he distinguishes from the Greater India extending from Cape Comorin to Sinde; and, besides these two Indias, he mentions a third, which he calls Middle or Second India, comprehending Abyssinia and the Arabian coast as far as the Persian gulf. In the early part of the 15th century we find the definition of India made to comprehend nearly the same portion of the globe as that on which we so vaguely bestow the appellation of East Indies, the islands of the Indian archipelago being included.

Of the name Hindostan.] The modern name Hindostan (Hindusthan) is a Persian appellation, composed of the words hindu, 'black' or 'swarthy,' and stahn, a place;' and therefore signifies the black or swarthy country.' By Mahommedan writers, this term was applied to the countries immediately subject to the Mogul sovereigns of Delhi, or the eleven provinces lying to the N. of the Nerbuddah river, while the tract to the S. of that stream was denominated the Deccan, or 'south country.' By the Bramins the country is denominated Medhyama, or 'central,' and Punyab'humi, or the land of virtues'-appellations vague and unmeaning in geography. Some modern geographers consider the limits of Hindostan as co-extensive with those of the Hindoo religion. "This delineation," Hamilton remarks, "has the advantage of being singularly well-defined on three sides by strong natural barriers. According to this arrangement, Hindostan is separated, on the north, from the table-land of Tibet, by the lofty chain of the Himalaya mountains, which commences at the Indus, about the 35° N. lat, and, passing Cashmere in the same parallel, extends thence in a southeasterly direction to an unascertained distance beyond the limits of Bootan. To the S., Hindostan is every where bounded by the ocean, and on the west by, the course of the river Indus. To the E., its limits are more difficult to define; but the most distinct are the range of hills and forests that skirt the Bengal districts of Chittagong and Tiperah, and stretch N. to the Brahmaputra, near to where that immense river, after having long flowed almost due W., makes a sudden sweep to the S. In this northeastern corner the Hindoo religion is irregularly diffused, as it extends, far beyond the limits assigned, into Assam and Cassay, while that of Buddha prevails in Bootan, and protrudes into the Brahminical regions on the banks of the Teesta."

Boundaries and Extent.] Hindostan, then, is bounded on the N. by the southern front of the Himalaya, which, commencing near the Indus, and confining Cashmere on the N., runs in an uninterrupted line, with a southern inclination, beyond the utmost eastern extremity of the country; on the E. by Arracan, Cassay, and the Langtang mountains on the S.E., by the bay of Bengal; on the S. and S.W. by the Indian ocean; and on the W. by the course of the Indus. According to these boundaries, the extreme length of India from N. to S. is 27 degrees of latitude-viz. from Cape Comorin, in 7° 57', to the crest of the Himalaya, in 35° N. lat.—or 1,620 geographical miles, which are equivalent to 1,880 B. miles. Its length from E. to W., or from the mountains which, in 92° E. long., separate the circar of Silhet from Cassay, to the most N W. mouth of the Indus, in 67o E. long., is 25 degrees, which, in that latitude, are equal to 1,400 geographical, or 1,620 B. miles. These boundaries comprise an area of 1,100,000 geographical, or 1,280,000 English square miles, according to Arrowsmith's large map of India, and Hamilton's 'Statistical Description of Hindostan.' We apprehend this approximation must be very near the truth; but, until a trigonometrical survey shall be extended over the whole, we cannot speak with perfect assurance on this point.

Table of Superficial Extent and Population.] The following table, originally formed, in 1820, by Mr. Hamilton, must be regarded as a mere approximation, but is, nevertheless, as correct an estimate as we have any means of furnishing :