angel appeared in the burning bush. These mountains are now inbabited by monks, who pretend to show the very spot where the miracles happened.

Population.] The number of inhabitants is commonly estimated at 10 or 12,000,000. They are almost exclusively Arabs, a part of whom dwell in towns and villages, but the greater number are migratory.

Bedouins.] The wandering Arabs of the desert are called Bedouins. They all live under tents, and migrate with their families and property from place to place in quest of subsistence. Many tribes are notorious robbers, and without a sufficient force, or a passport from one of their chiefs, it is dangerous to pass through any territory occupied by them. The rights of hospitality, however, are held in sacred observance, and an asylum once granted proves a security to the most defenceless. These predatory tribes are dispersed through the deserts in various parts of Asia and Africa, and are dreaded by all the civilized people around them.

Language.] The prevailing language is the Arabic, which is one of the most extensively diffused languages in the world. It is spoken not only in Arabia, but in Syria, Persia, Tartary, part of India and of China, half of Africa, and on all the coast of the Mediterranean.

Mahometanism.] Arabia was the birth-place of Mahomet and is still the centre of his religion. Every true Mahometan believes that there is one God, and but one, and that Mahomet is his prophet. He says his prayers five times every day; at day break, at noon, middle of the afternoon, at sun-set and at twilight; he abstains from pork and spiritous liquors; at one season of the year he neither eats, drinks nor smokes between sun-rise and sunset, for 30 days in succession; and once in his life he performs a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Wahabees.] The Wababees are a new sect of Mahometans, who originated about the middle of the last century, and acknowledge Abdoul Wahab as their founder. They believe in the unity of the Deity and the genuineness of the koran, but reject all the traditions and all the worship paid to saints and the successors of Mahomet. The most memorable era in their history was in 1803, when they entered Mecca and destroyed 80 splendid tombs, In 1804 they erected in honour of the descendants of Mahomet. took Medina, and these two holy cities continued for a long time in their possession. They are now masters of all the interior of Arabia and of parts of the sea coast, and are supposed able to Within a few years, however, muster an army of 120,000 men. the Turkish pacha of Egypt has succeeded in expelling them from Mecca and Medina.

Government.] Arabia is divided among a number of independ ent tribes or clans, each governed by its own chief, called imam, emir or sheich, and confederacies are often formed among these for mutual defence. The city of Mecca and its dependencies, however, acknowledge at present the sovereignty of the Grand

Seignor, and the late rise of the Wahabees has united the whole interior of Arabia under one religious and military head, though it has probably left unaltered the division into clans and the independence of the separate chiefs.

Arts and Sciences.] The arts are universally in the lowest stage. A modern traveller declares that in Mecca, which may be considered the capital city, no person could be found capable of making a lock or a key. Even the slippers and sandals used there, are brought from Egypt and Constantinople. There is not a single man who knows how to engrave an inscription or any kind of design on hewn stone. The sciences also are entirely neglected. Education is limited to reading and writing and even these acquirements extend only to a few.

Caravans.] The inland trade of Arabia, Persia, Turkey, Tartary and Africa is carried on principally by caravans, consisting of large companies of merchants, travellers and pilgrims, who march with their camels over the sandy deserts, carrying their water and provisions with them. They go armed, and travel in company to defend themselves from the wandering Arabs. This mode of travelling and trading has subsisted from the earliest antiquity, for it was to a caravan that Joseph was sold by his brethren.

Islands.] The Bahrein islands in the Persian gulf, near the coast of Arabia, in lat. 27° N. are famous on account of the extensive pearl fishery, carried on upon their shores.

INDEPENDENT TARTARY.

Situation and Extent.] Independent Tartary is a part of central Asia, extending from the Belur Tag mountains to the Caspian sea, and bounded N. by Russia; E. by the Chinese empire; and S. by Cabul and Persia. Very little is known about this country, it having been seldom visited by Europeans in modern times. The area is variously estimated from 600,000 to 1,000,000 square miles.

Face of the Country.] The northern part of the country is an immense desert extending into Russia; the western part, lying between the Oxus and the Caspian, is also a desert called the desert of Karasm. The district in the S. E. extending from the Belur Tag mountains to the sea of Aral and watered by the Oxus, the Sihon and their numerous tributaries, was well known to the

ancients for its delightful climate, its fertile soil, and dense population. The Arabian geographers describe it as the paradise of Asia, and are never weary of expatiating in its praise. It is represented as filled with splendid cities, and the populousness is said to be such, that an army of 300,000 horse and the same number of foot could be drawn from it, without the country suffering by their absence. This tract is now called Great Bukharia. It has been touched by modern travellers only at a few points, and even the names of most of the cities mentioned by the Arabian geographers are wholly unknown to the moderns.

Rivers.] The Oxus or Amu rises in the S. E. part of Great Bukharia, and flowing in a N. W. direction, receives numerous tributaries and falls into the sea of Aral after a course of 1,200 miles. It has been generally believed that this river fell anciently into the Caspian sea, and was turned artificially into its present receptacle, but this opinion seems now to be abandoned by the best geographers. The Sihon or Sir, the ancient Jaxartes, falls into the sea of Aral on its eastern side after a N. W. course of 600 miles, during which it receives numerous tributaries.

Chief Towns.] Samarcand, an ancient and celebrated city, once the residence of the famous Tamerlane, is on the Sogd, a branch of the Oxus. It is famous among the Mahometans as a seat of learning, and is resorted to from all the neighboring countries. It has manufactures of leather, cottons and silks, and carries on an extensive commerce with Persia, Hindoostan and the Chinese dominions.

Bokhara, also on the Sogd, 50 miles from its mouth and 100 W. of Samarcand, has a celebrated school for the study of Mahometan theology and law. It is said to contain 100,000 inhabitants.

Inhabitants.] The number of inhabitants is variously estimated from 2,000,000 to 5,000,000. They consist principally of two nations of Tartars, the Kirgees or Kirghises in the north, and the Usbecks in the south. The Kirghises are divided into three hordes, called the Little, the Middle and the Great Horde. The Kirghises of the Little Horde occupy the most westerly position, and wander over the plains east of the river Ural, and between the Caspian and the sea of Aral. They bring their flocks in summer to the Steppes between the Ural and the Volga. The Middle Horde live farther to the east, in vast plains to the north of the Aral. These two hordes subsist entirely on their flccks: The Kirghises of the Great Horde are established in the country east of the Arai, on the banks of the Sihon and its tributaries. Some of them are pastoral, but the greater number, inhabiting fertile, mild and well watere countries, devote themselves to agriculture. The Little and Middle Hordes acknowledge themselves subjects of the emperor of Russia. The Russians, however, do not exact from them even the smallest tribute; on the contrary they pay regular pensions to all the principal chiefs, to prevent them from plundering on the Russian frontier. This, however, has not proved sufficient, and Russia has been obliged to construct

a chain of fortresses,fromthe Ural along the Tobol and the Issim as far as the Irtish. TheKirghises of the Great Horde have few connections with the Russians.

The Usbecks are the ruling people in Great Bukharia and all the southern part of Tartary. They are reputed the most civilized of the Mahometan Tartars. Still, however, they are devoted to a pastoral life, and are generally more addicted to warfare and predatory habits than to agriculture and the arts.

PERSIA.

Situation and Extent.] The name of Persia has been commonly applied to the whole country included between the Tigris on the west and the Indus on the east, and extending from the Persian gulf to the Caspian sea and the Caucasian mountains; but the eastern part of this territory has for some time been included in the new kingdom of Cabul and the independent state of Beloochistan, while Russia has conquered several of the Persian provinces lying at the foot of the Caucasian mountains, and the Turks and Curds occupy a narrow tract on the east of the Tigris. Persia, therefore, is now bounded N. by the Russian provinces in the Caucasus, the Caspian sea and Independent Tartary; E. by Cabul and Beloochistan; S. by the Persian gulf and W. by Turkey in Asia. It extends from 26° to 41° N. lat. and from 44° to 61° 40′ E. lon. The area is estimated by Hassel at about 480,000 square miles.

Divisions.] Persia is divided into the following provinces ; 1. Azerbijan. 2. Erivan or Persian Armenia. 3. Ghilan. 4. Mazanderan. 5. Irak. 6. Khuzistan. 7. Fars. 8. Laristan.

9. Kerman. 10. Khorasan.

Mountains.] A range of mountains, called by the ancients Zagros and by the Turks Tag Aiagha, leaves the Mount Taurus chain a little west of lake Van, and running in a S. E. direction through the western provinces of Persia, terminates on the Persian gulf near the straits of Ormus. Another range connected with the Caucasian and Mount Taurus chains, proceeds under the name of Elwind or Elbruz along the western and southern shores of the Caspian sea, and then taking an easterly direction connects itself, it is supposed, with the Parapomisan mountains, and through them with the Hindoo Coosh and Himmaleh. Both these ranges are very lofty; Mount Demavend, the loftiest peak in the El-. bruz chain, rises to the height of more than 10,000 feet above the level of the sea.

Face of the Country. The northern and western frontiers are skirted by lofty chains of mountains, as already mentioned, but the interior consists of an immense, dry, salt plain. Persia suffers for want of water. There is no considerable river in the whole country; the streams which rise in the mountains, after a short course, either falling directly into the sea or losing themselves in the desert.

Soil and Productions.] The mountain streams produce all the fertility of which the empire can boast, and render the plains and vallies through which they flow beautiful and luxuriant in an extraordinary degree. The plain of Shiraz is the pride of Persia and almost of the east; that of Ispahan is also celebrated. The provinces on the Caspian, watered from the great chains of Caucasus and Elbruz, are of very remarkable fertility. The principal productions are the vine, the mulberry, the sugar cane and fruits and grains of various kinds. The wine of Shiraz is considered superior to any other in Asia, and that produced on the declivities of the Caucasian mountains is also highly esteemed. A large portion of the empire, however, is abandoned to pasture, and tenanted by wandering shepherds, like those of Tartary and Arabia. Territories which were formerly distinguished for fertility, are now rendered wholly unfit for culture, in consequence of those artificial canals which supplied them with the necessary moisture having been suffered to dry up. The salt with which the soil and waters are everywhere impregnated, has often accumulated and formed a species of crust on the surface of the ground, so as to render it capable of producing only soda and other saline plants. The province of Khuzistan, in the S. W. which was formerly the seat of powerful dynasties, is now scarcely distinguishable from the desert tracts by which it is surrounded. The centre and south of Persia are entirely destitute of trees, a defect arising from its aridity, and having a constant tendency to increase it.

Climate] The climate is very various. In the mountainous districts the winters are very severe, while the inhabitants of the southern plains suffer in summer from excessive heat. The mildest districts are the provinces on the Caspian where the southern fruits grow in perfection, which are rare in other parts of Persia. The most unhealthy districts are along the shore of the Persian gulf, where the simoom blows over the parched fields.

Chief Towns.] Ispahan, the largest city and long celebrated as one of the most splendid in the east, is situated on the river Zenderoud in lat. 32° 25' N. lon. 52° 50′ E. When visited by Chardin at the beginning of the last century it was estimated to contain 600,000 inhabitants, and there were numerous superb edifces, particularly the royal palace, which was five miles in circuit including the gardens, and is said to have surpassed every thing of the kind which is to be found in Europe; but the city is now merely the wreck of what it formerly was, and a person may ride for miles amid its ruins. It is still, however, a great