east of the Lena the country is mountainous. Kamtchatka contains numerous volcanoes.

Climate. The climate is peculiarly rigorous. In the north one continued winter reigns; and in the south, though the heat of the summer is powerful, and the progress of vegetation peculiarly rapid, it is but of short duration, and is succeeded by a winter nine or ten months long, of great severity.

This is the more remarkable, as the southern parts are in the same latitude with London, Berlin, and Calais.

Productions.-The most valued productions of Siberia are its minerals and its furs. The richness of its mines has obtained for it the name of the Russian Peru.

The principal gold mines are those of Berezov. At Schlangenburg, between the sources of the Irtish and the Obi, and at Nertchinsk, near the source of the Lena, silver abounds. Copper, lead, and iron, are found both in the Ural and Altai mountains, as well as the more rare metals, platina, arsenic, and cobalt.

The sable, the black fox, and the ermine, yield the furs which are in greatest request.

Commerce. The rivers of Siberia greatly facilitate commerce; their branches approach so nearly to one another, that goods may be carried almost entirely by water from Kiakhta to Europe,-the passage occupies three of their short summers.

A considerable trade exists between Russia and China; the Chinese giving, in return for the furs of Siberia, tea, nankeen, and silk.

The hunters of Siberia, having pursued the objects of their chase too eagerly, are obliged to cross Behring's Strait to supply the deficiency from America.

Provinces.-Tobolsk, Omsk, Tomsk, Eniseisk, Irkoutsk, Yakoutsk, and Okhotsk.

CHIEF TOWNS.-Tobolsk, situated at the confluence of the Tobol with the Irtish; the metropolis of Asiatic Russia, a place of considerable commerce and a great thoroughfare. Pop. about 20,000.

Irkutsk, near Lake Baikal, the most commercial town in Siberia. Tomsk, on the r. Tom, a tributary of the Obi, ranks the third town. Kiakhta, on the common limits of Siberia and the Chinese empire; the only point of communication between China and Russia. Nertchinsk, a place of banishment much dreaded by criminals, who are here employed in the mines.

Population. Probably about six millions.

Government. The government is a military despotism, -the whole of this vast country being kept in subjection by a few undisciplined troops.

REGION OF THE CAUCASUS.

The region to the N. and S. of the Caucasus is inhabited by a number of small nations, each having its own peculiar language. The principal of them are the Georgians on the S., and the Circassians on the N. of the range.

Russia claims the sovereignty of the whole district, but the Circassians have been for some time in a state of revolt.

Natural Geography.-This region presents every variety of climate, according to its elevation. In the centre barren rocks and eternal ice prevail; to the north are hills fertile in corn and rich pastures, and further on are sandy plains; to the south are magnificent valleys, displaying much of the luxuriance of a tropical vegetation.

Mount Elburz, the highest point of the Caucasus, is 17,000 feet high. The principal rivers are the Kuban, on the north of the chain, which flows into the Strait of Jenekali, and the Kur, on the south, which falls into the Caspian. The Aras, or Araxes, joins the Kur.

Commerce.-The incessant wars in which the various tribes engage are destructive of the commerce of this fine country. The beauty for which Circassian females are noted, renders them an object of considerable demand as slaves in the corrupt courts of the east. Numerous naphtha springs in the promontory terminating in C. Aspheron, are a source of wealth to the petty prince of the district.

Towns. The principal are Tiflis and Derbend.

Ancient Name.-Sarmatia, on the north of the Caucasus; Colchis and Iberia, on the south; and Albania, at the eastern extremity.

ARABIA.

Boundaries.-N. by Asiatic Turkey.-E. by the Persian Gulf.-S. by the Arabian Sea.-W. by the Red Sea. Seas.-The Red Sea is about 1500 miles long; its greatest breadth is less than 200. Its navigation is greatly impeded by coral reefs and numerous islands; the entrance to it, the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, (the gate of tears,) is so denominated from the dangers it presents to mariners. The Red Sea differs from all others in receiving no rivers.

Under the Ptolemies this sea was the great channel of intercourse between Europe and the East. After the discovery of the passage round the Cape, its commerce declined. The establishment of a line of steamers between Suez and Bombay has made it once again the highway between the eastern and western worlds. The time ordinarily occupied for performing the whole distance between London and Bombay is 30 days.

The Persian Gulf, which may be regarded as an expansion of the Shat-al-Arab, meets the ocean at the Strait of Ormuz. The pearl fishery is carried on to a great extent along its shores.

The south-west monsoon (or periodical wind) prevails in the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean from April to October; the north-east monsoon blows during the remaining half of the year.

Face of the Country.-Arabia consists of an elevated table-land, declining towards the sea, where it is encircled by a belt of flat sandy ground. Arabia is destitute of rivers, and hence is little more than a great desert.

Mount Hor, where Aaron was buried, and Mount Sinai and Mount Horeb, famous in sacred history, are situated in that portion of Hedjaz which corresponds with the ancient Arabia Petræa.

Climate. The air of Arabia is peculiarly clear,--the

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climate is warm, especially in the south. The nights are generally cool in proportion to the heat of the day, and the stars shine forth with a brilliancy unknown in other regions. The high grounds enjoy a rainy season, but the low lands are sometimes destitute of rain for several years.

Productions.-Arabia has long been celebrated for the abundance of its odoriferous plants, as frankincense, myrrh, and cassia. The coffee plant is a native of Yemen, and Arabian coffee is superior to every other.

Commerce. Its trade has much diminished. For a long period Europe was supplied with the products of the east through Arabia; this is no longer the case. The concourse of pilgrims to Mecca was also a source of great wealth; this, too, has greatly declined.

Most of the commerce of Arabia is carried on in caravans, consisting of large trains of camels, merchants and armed soldiers.

The Arabian coffee which reaches Europe is sent by way of Bombay. Provinces.-Hedjaz, Yemen, Hadramaut, Oman, Lahsa and Nedjed. The low ground of Yemen bordering on the Red Sea is called Tehama. TOWNS.-Mecca, the capital of Arabia, the birth-place of Mahomet, and the metropolis of the Mahometan faith, is about forty miles inland from the Red Sea. The chief attractions to pilgrims are the

Kaaba, or temple, a black stone, and the well of Zemzem. Its population, once 100,000, is now about 28,000.

Medina contains the tomb of the impostor.

Saana, Yemen, a place of great trade, chiefly in coffee.

Mocha, near Bab-el-Mandeb, formerly the chief sea-port of Arabia. Aden, near the entrance of the Red Sea, belongs to Britain; its harbour is excellent; is a station for the steamers plying between Suez and Bombay.

Muscat, and El Katif, are sea-ports on the east.

Population. The amount is exceedingly uncertain, probably about 12 millions.

The Arabs consist of two grand classes, those who dwell in towns, and the Bedouin, or wandering Arabs, who dwell in tents.

Character and Religion.—The character given in Scripture of Ishmael, is exactly that of the present Bedouin

Arab, who is a robber by profession; he is, however, hospitable, and faithful to his word.

The form of government is patriarchal. The Arabs have never been subdued; when one tribe is attacked, all unite in its defence. The religion is Mahometan.

The Arabic language is peculiarly copious.

Animals.-The camel, "the ship of the desert," is as valuable to the Arab as the reindeer is to the Laplander; the horses of Arabia are noted for fleetness and spirit.

The Arabian camels are of the one-humped species; the Bactrian or two-humped camel is chiefly used in central Asia; it is larger and stronger than the Arabian species, but not so well fitted to endure thirst and the privations of the desert. Those trained for riding, whether of the one or the two-humped species, were called by the Greeks dromedaries, (racers,) from whom we have borrowed the term. The ass of Arabia is a fine animal, and so spirited that it is common to say of a person of great vivacity that he is as brisk as an ass. Myriads of locusts are produced in the deserts; they are used for food, and are exposed for sale in the markets of all Arab towns.

PERSIA.

Boundaries.-The term Persia is usually understood to comprehend the region bounded on the N. by the Caspian Sea and Tartary; on the S. by the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea; and lying between the Tigris on the W. and the Indus on the E.

This region consists of three independent states. Iran, or Persia Proper, forms its western portion; Affghanistan', or the kingdom of Cabul; and Beloochistan', the eastern.

Mountains, &c.-Regarding Mount Ararat as the starting point, a range, denominated in one part the mountains of Elburz, skirt the north of Persia, to meet the Hindoo-Coosh mountains, as the Himalayan mountains west of the Indus are called.

Another range, which may be called the mountains of Louristan, runs nearly parallel with the Tigris and the Persian Gulf to the entrance of the gulf.

The Soliman mountains on the east separate Cabul and Beloochistan from Punjab and Sinde.