TOWNS.-Calcutta, the capital of India, r. Hoogly, about 100 miles from the sea; 122 British soldiers perished in the Black Hole of Calcutta in 1756. Pop. 500,000.

Benares, r. Ganges, the holy city of the Hindoos, and the chief seat of Brahminical learning; a place of considerable trade.

Madras, on the Coromandel coast; the surf forbids the approach of common boats; ships lie in the open roads and discharge their cargoes by catamarans. The British obtained the Madras territory in 1639; it was their first acquisition on the continent of India. Bombay, on an island of the same name; is one of the best harbours

in India, and has extensive wet docks; many ships are built here. In the neighbouring island of Elephanta is a celebrated temple excavated out of the side of a rocky mountain.

Tanjore, the native capital of southern India: its pagoda and college are celebrated.

Trichinopoly, famous for the siege of 1755.

Seringapatam, the capital of Mysore, under Hyder Ali and Tippoo Sultaun; taken by storm by the British in 1799.

Surat, r. Tapty, a large and ancient city; its commerce is injured by the vicinity of Bombay.

Delhi, r. Jumna, the ancient capital of the Mongul empire.

Serampore, r. Hoogly, late a Danish settlement; the principal station of the Baptist missionaries.

Juggernaut, notorious for the abominations of idol worship, stands on the sea coast of Orissa.

Population. The whole population is 134,000,000; of these 123,000,000 are under the British government.

Manners.-The Hindoos are divided into four different castes or grades of society; the Brahmins or priests; the Cshatriyas or soldiers; the Vaisyas, who are husbandmen and merchants; and the Sudras, who are devoted to menial offices; but the most abject of all are the Pariahs, or those who have lost caste altogether. The Hindoos are inoffensive, but indolent and regardless of the truth; the women are in a degraded state.

The Hindoos are gross idolaters; their chief deities are Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva; they believe in the transmigration of souls; penance and self-torture are thought essential to holiness; and the burning of widows on the

pile of their husbands has but recently been abolished by British interference, and is still secretly practised.

Besides the native Hindoos, there are many Mahometans, who are of foreign extraction, and some Parsees.

Government. The whole of India, with the exception of Punjab, Nepaul, Bhotan, and Malwah, is in the possession of the British or is under British influence. English laws have to a considerable extent been introduced, though the Mahometan and Hindoo codes, out of regard to the prejudices of the natives, are observed in some places. For the purposes of government, India is divided into the three presidencies of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay.

Animals.-The elephant ranges wild in the forests and is domesticated throughout the peninsula; and its rival the rhinoceros is met with. The lion is found chiefly in the northern provinces; the tiger abounds in the jungles. The ox and the cow are treated with veneration by the natives. Serpents swarm in the gardens, and even intrude into the houses. Alligators frequent the rivers, and sharks infest the coasts.

INDIA BEYOND THE GANGES.

Boundaries. The countries classed together under the general title of India beyond the Ganges, are bounded on the N. by Tibet and China.-W. by India and the Bay of Bengal.-S. by the Straits of Malacca and the Gulf of Siam.-E. by the China Sea.

Coast. The gulfs are, Martaban, Siam, and Tonquin. The Strait of Malacca separates Malaya from Sumatra. The three remarkable peninsulas of this region severally terminate in C. Negrais, Point Romania, and C. Camboja.

Rivers. The Irawady, flowing past Ummerapoora and Ava, enters the Gulf of Martaban by several mouths. The Saluen or Thaluan flows into the same gulf. The

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Menam joins the Gulf of Siam at Bang-kok. The Mekon or Camboja river is one of the great rivers of Asia; it rises in Mongolia, and falls into the China Sea.

Productions. All the ordinary products of a tropical clime flourish here. Burmah abounds in petroleum wells, Malaya abounds in tin, Camboja yields the gum which bears its name (gamboge). The elephants of these countries are admired for their beauty and sagacity.

States. The most powerful of the Trans-Gangetic States is Burmah. Aracan and Lower Assam, with the region between, the British obtained by conquest from the Burmese in 1826. Upper Assam and Munnipoor lie between the British possessions and Burmah. Laos, to the east, is a feeble state, scarcely able to maintain an independent existence. To the south of Laos is Siam, the western portion of which is in the possession of the British; the Siamese have, however, added to their territory on the east by the conquest of half of Camboja. The empire of Anam consists of the States of Tonquin, Cochin China, and Camboja, east of the Mekon, united in one general confederacy. The Malayan peninsula consists of a number of petty sovereignties. The British have settlements at Malacca and at Singapore.

TOWNS.-Ava, the ancient and again the present capital of Burmah. Ummerapoora, prior to 1819 the seat of the government of Burmah. Rangoon, the principal sea-port of Burmah.

Bang-kok, the present capital of Siam, is built upon a swamp; there is little intercourse but by water.

Singapore, on an island of the same name, south of Malaya, is an important British possession; the channel to the south of it being now the grand route of the commerce between the eastern and western portions of maritime Asia.

Character.-The Burmese are a nation of soldiers; the Malays are a nautical people, and many of them are addicted to piratical practices.

ISLES OF THE PACIFIC.

The immense Pacific, which stretches between Asia and America, a distance of more than 10,000 miles, contains a vast number of islands, some of which are of great extent. They are divided into three great groups, the Eastern Archipelago, Austral Asia, and Polynesia.

EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO.

Borneo, next to New Holland, the largest island in the world, is 750 miles long and 620 broad.

This island, which is traversed by the equator, is rich in metals. The orang-outang is a native of the forests of Borneo and Sumatra. Sumatra is crossed, about its middle, by the equator. Pepper and camphor are its most important products. Bencoolen, which belongs to the Dutch, is the principal European settlement. The isle of Banca, off its eastern coast, has very extensive tin mines.

Java, divided from Sumatra by the Straits of Sunda, is a fertile island, and possesses the trade of nearly all the Archipelago.

Batavia, the chief town, is the capital of the Dutch possessions in the East. Among the interesting products of this island are the sago palm, the pitcher plant, and the upas tree. The edible nests of the seaswallow are a valuable article of export to China. The island of Sumbawa contains the volcano of Tumbora; the ashes ejected in an eruption of this volcano in 1815, fell to the thickness of eight inches at the east end of Java, 240 miles from the volcano.

Celebes, an island singularly indented by bays, and crossed by the line, is separated from Borneo by the Strait of Macassar.

Philippine Islands; the largest are Luzon and Mindanao; chief town Manilla, whence the Spanish galleon was annually despatched to Acapulco.

The Moluccas or spice islands lie between Celebes and New Guinea.

The largest are Gilolo, Ceram, and Booro. Amboyna, near Ceram, is the second in importance of the Dutch settlements.

This group derives its celebrity from its valued productions, cloves, nutmegs, and mace. The clove of commerce is the unexpanded flower of the plant; mace is a covering which envelops the nutmeg.

AUSTRAL ASIA.

New Holland, or Australia, is the largest island in the world; it is 2,400 miles long, and nearly 2,000 broad, and it contains 3,000,000 square miles.

Torres Strait separates New Holland from New Guinea, and Bass's Strait from Van Diemen's Land.

Cape York is the most northerly, and Wilson's Promontory the most southerly point.

The Blue Mountains are parallel with the western coast, and divide the eastern and western waters.

The Darling, which runs west, is the largest river yet discovered; its principal tributary is the Murray.

The soil of New Holland is not rich; it is better fitted for a pastoral than an agricultural country.

The most important export is wool, which is increasing rapidly; the southern whale fishery is advantageously prosecuted.

TOWNS.-Sydney, on the spacious islet of Port Jackson, is the capital of New Holland, and is a place of great trade.

Hobart Town is the capital of Van Diemen's Land; situated on a most spacious harbour.

The largest quadruped of Australia is the kangaroo, an animal not elsewhere met with; the ornithorynchus or duck-bill is a peculiar animal, having the bill and webbed feet of the duck, a body resembling that of the mole, and the internal formation of a reptile.

New Zealand consists of two large islands, separated by Cook's Strait.

It produces excellent flax, which is exported to Europe. The natives were, till a recent period, cannibals, but the persevering labours of Christian missionaries have produced a most beneficial effect upon them. The principal English settlements are Auckland and Wellington. The whale fishery is extensively prosecuted in Cook's Strait.

Papua or New Guinea, New Britain, New Ireland, Solomon's Islands, the New Hebrides and New Caledonia, are also classed under the title of Austral Asia.

South Victoria, the most southerly land known, was explored in 1842, by Captain Ross, as far as 78° S. lat.

POLYNESIA.

Polynesia (or the "many isles") consists of the following groups and other smaller ones.

1st. The Ladrone or Marianne, the Caroline, and the Sandwich islands, north of the equator.

Hawaii (Owhyhee), the largest of the Sandwich isles, is about 100 miles long and 70 broad. Here Captain Cook was killed in 1779.

2d. The Friendly, the Society, and the Marquesas, south of the equator.