row limits an epitome of the climate and productions of all nations; the balmy atmosphere of Greece has been celebrated for many ages; the soil is in many parts very fertile, but is badly cultivated.

TOWNS.

The principal towns in the northern part are-Athens, the renowned capital of ancient Greece, the seat of government; it contains many interesting remains of antiquity, the chief are the Acropolis or citadel, and the Parthenon or Temple of Minerva ;-Negropont, the capital of the island of that name; a bridge here crosses the channel, uniting the island with the main land;-Thiva or Thebes ;-Livadia, the capital of the province;-Salona ;-Lepanto ;-and Missolonghi, where Byron died.

In the Morea are Napoli di Romania, for some years the capital of modern Greece, a strongly fortified town ;—Argos ;—Corinth, now a mere village ;-Tripolitza ;-Mistra, near the site of the ancient Sparta;-and Hydra, on a rocky isle of the same name, off the eastern coast; it was the centre of those gallant operations, by which the modern Greeks achieved their independence.

POPULATION, GOVERNMENT, RELIGION, AND LANGUage.

The population is about 900,000.

The Greeks are a rude and unenlightened people, but active and enterprizing. Their language is the Romaic, which does not differ essentially from the ancient Greek.

Greece till lately formed part of the Turkish dominions, but is now erected into a separate kingdom, under the protection of Great Britain, France, and Russia. Its government is a constitutional monarchy; the present king is Otho, a Bavarian prince. The established religion is that of the eastern or Greek church.

QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION.

The foregoing surveys of the different States of Europe may be made the subject of examination by converting the heading of each article into a question: as, What are the boundaries? Between what parallels of latitude and meridians of longitude is it situated? What is the length, breadth, and the number of square miles it contains? What is the natural geography;—as rivers, lakes, mountains, and the face of the country? What is the nature of the climate, &c.

ASIA.

GENERAL VIEW.

Boundaries.-Asia is bounded on the N. by the Arctic Ocean.-E. by the Pacific.-S. by the Indian Ocean.W. by Europe, the Black Sea, the Archipelago, the Mediterranean, and the Red Sea.

It is thus bounded naturally on three sides, and in part on the fourth. It is extensively connected with Europe on its western frontier, it is joined to Africa by the isthmus of Suez, and on the E. reaches to within 40 miles of the other great continent, America.

Extent. It lies between 10 and 77° N. lat., and between 27o E. and 170° W. long. Its length from Bab-elMandeb to Bhering's Strait, is 7,000 miles, and its breadth from N. to S. 5,400. It is supposed to contain 17,500,000 square miles, being the largest of the great continents of the earth, and having an area above four times that of Europe.

Coast.-Asia presents, in proportion to its size, a solid and compact figure; but though its outline does not exhibit the numerous and extensive limbs of Europe, it is not so destitute of them as Africa.

On the north, an extensive projection of Siberia terminates in Cape Severo Vostotchnoi; on the east, there are the peninsulas of Kamtchatka and the Corea; on the south, Camboja, Malaya, southern India, and Arabia; and on the west, Asia Minor stretches far into the Mediterranean, separating the Black Sea from it.

Seas. By these extensive promontories several minor seas are formed.

The sea of Okhotsk is divided from the great ocean by Kamtchatka; the sea of Japan is enclosed by the Japanese islands; Corea forms the Yellow Sea; the Chinese sea is separated from the Pacific Ocean by Borneo and the Philippine Isles. The gulfs of Tonquin and Siam communicate with the China Sea. India has the

Bay of Bengal on its east, and the Arabian Sea on its west coast; the Persian Gulf on the one side, and the Red Sea on the other, peninsulate Arabia.

Mountains.-The centre of Asia consists of an immense and lofty table-land. The mountains of Altai and Yabloni bound this region on the north, and the Himalaya on the south. On the east, it descends by a succession of terraces not fully explored; the principal ranges on the west are the Taurus and the Caucasus.

Lakes.-Inland seas form a characteristic feature of Asia. The Caspian Sea is 750 miles long and 270 broad.

Its level is about 100 feet below that of the Black Sea. Should any convulsion of nature depress the low sandy tract which now separates the Sea of Azof and the Caspian, the waters of the Black Sea, the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, would inundate an enormous extent of the sandy steppes of Asia, and entirely change the climate and face of that portion of the earth. The waters of the Caspian are brackish, it has no tides, but gales of wind raise a heavy sea; it abounds in fish.

The Sea of Aral is separated from the Caspian by a low sandy isthmus, 150 miles across.

Although it receives numerous rivers, its waters are supposed to be diminishing; the southern extremity is studded with islands.

Baikal, a fresh-water lake on the southern confines of Siberia, is about 400 miles long, and 53 miles broad.

The surface of the lake is subject to violent agitations, even during a calm,—the hidden cause is probably of a volcanic nature.

Rivers. The principal rivers of Asia have their origin in the table-land of the interior.

The Obi, the Yenisei, and the Lena, flow into the Arctic Ocean; the length of each is upwards of 2,000 m. The Amoor, 2,200 miles long, the Hoang-Ho, 2,900 and the Yang-tse-Kiang, 3,200 miles long, flow into seas communicating with the Pacific.

The Mekon, or river of Camboja, the Irawady, the Brahmaputra, the Ganges, the Indus, and the Shat-al

H

Arab, formed by the junction of the Tigris and Euphrates, are the principal rivers of southern Asia.

Climate. The greater part of Asia is situated in the north temperate zone, but owing to the elevation of the central part, its climate is generally cold. The Himalayan range protects India from the cold blasts of the north,it accordingly feels the full influence of a torrid clime. The eastern side is colder and more moist than the west.

States. The principal countries of Asia are,-Asiatic Russia, in the north; Tartary, Mongolia, and China, in the central region; Turkey in Asia, Arabia, and Persia, in the west Hindostan', and India beyond the Ganges, in the south.

Population.-Asia, the cradle of the human race, is still the most populous of the four great divisions of the globe; including Australasia and Polynesia, it probably contains 600,000,000 inhabitants.

Religion.-Though the light of divine revelation beamed for centuries from Asia, when the other parts of the world were in utter darkness, and though the Redeemer of mankind lived, and died, and rose again within its precincts, the millions of its present population, with but few exceptions, are under the yoke of Mahometan superstition or heathenish idolatry. As a necessary consequence, vice and immorality prevail; polygamy is generally allowed, and the female character is universally degraded.

Natural Productions.-There is no precious or useful mineral which is not found in this continent. Vegetation is extremely rich and various. In the temperate regions the vine attains perfection. Syria is the native region of the olive. Tea is peculiar to this continent, and is produced abundantly in the southern provinces of China. The sugarcane flourishes in many regions. Rice is the chief support of the Hindoos, Chinese, and other races, who value it so highly that they pity Europeans for having no rice at home, and wonder how they can exist without it. The date is the staff of life, in Arabia and the neighbouring countries, the inhabitants of which in their turn pity the rest of mankind.

Asia teems with animal life. The reindeer in the north, and the camel in the arid plains of the south, are of essential service to man. These animals, unlike the other domestic tribes, will not bear removal from their native home. The varieties of the ox-tribe are numerous, and differ from those which are peculiar to Africa and America in being capable of domestication. The natural result of this distinction has been the distribution of the common ox, the most important of the Asiatic species, over the whole world, while the buffalo of S. Africa and the bison and musk-ox of N. America are confined to their native wilds. The elephant, rhinoceros, horse, and ass, have their home in the forests and plains of Asia. The sheep and the hog, as in every other region, abound. The lion is becoming rare; he is now found only in the deserts of Mesopotamia, Persia, and India. The tiger and other feline animals here attain their greatest perfection. The principal Asiatic species of monkeys are the orang-outang and the gibbons. As a general fact, the Asiatic monkeys are inferior in structure and intelligence to the African, but much superior to the American.

In birds, Asia is less abundant than some other regions, but it yields the original stocks of those most valuable to man, the common fowl, the pheasant, the partridge, and peacock. Alligators are very destructive in the rivers of India. Of serpents, the most dangerous is the Indian python, which is often confounded with the boa constrictor of America.

TURKEY IN ASIA.

Turkey in Asia consists of Asia Minor, Syria, and the region watered by the Tigris and Euphrates.

These countries are connected together by a system of mountains, of which Mount Ararat may be considered the centre. The Taurus proceeds westward through the whole of Asia Minor, and terminates in the celebrated summits of Ida and Olympus; a corresponding range runs eastward through the north of Persia; a southern branch proceeds to the borders of the Persian Gulf. A subsidiary chain springs from the Taurus, at the source of the Euphrates, and running for some distance parallel with the Mediterranean, terminates in Lebanon. The whole of the countries of Asiatic Turkey have been nearly desolated by Turkish despotism and Mahometan delusion ; the chief interest of them consists in the remembrance of what they have been,. and the anticipation of what they may again become.