late as it is beautiful; awakening the most p indefatigable labor, such complicated ing and unnoticed in the desert, or if noticed, of some ruthless bigot, or ignorant barba feet long from east to west, and 350 from n which space is covered with broken capital fragments of buildings, some of which are or sculptures.

12. HISTORY. The ancient Persian m province under the sway of the Saracen cali centuries agitated by revolutions. The us

Shah in the early part of the 18th century wa degree the national character of the Persian lost territories of the kingdom and gave it tance, but after his death the kingdom was r dismembered. In a recent struggle with R have been completely prostrated, and the kin the mercy of the northern Autocrat.

1. BOUNDARIES, EXTENT, AND DIVISIONS. by Tartary, east by Hindoostan, south by the Ormus, and west by Persia. It extends fro 58° to 67° E. lon., and contains 400,000 provinces of Cabul and Beloochistan, and is general divisions: Afghanistan Proper, Heraut

2. MOUNTAINS. Several ranges of mounta the northern part is almost entirely mountaino tains extend from Persia into the northern par pass north and south toward the shores of the tains of Hindoo Koh are in the north.

3. RIVERS. The Indus passes through the e the sea. The other rivers are small.

4. CLIMATE. The heat of summer, and co The hot winds of summer are very oppressive, Periodical rains, and the monsoons of India pre

5. SOIL, AND PRODUCTIONS. A great part Vast arid deserts like inland seas, are spread ove one of these desolate regions bordering on Persi and 200 broad. In other parts the soil is fertile tobacco, sugar, indigo, madder, asafoetida, and fruit are raised.

6. MINERALS. Iron, lead, antimony, copper, t petre, and marble, are found in many parts.

7. CITIES. Peshawer, about fifty miles west o but has few buildings worthy of notice for their are built of unburnt bricks in wooden frames. T carriages are not used. The city has many m and a citadel. Pop. 100,000.

Cabul, 150 miles west of Peshawer, is an ancie tile plain, and is surrounded by a brick wall. M of rough stones and clay. The city has consider horses.

poignant leng ingernity, stel

-d, be doomed to

arian. The

north to south

Kelat, in Beloochistan, is situated on a high table land on the west side of well cultivated plain. It is defended by a wall. The houses are built of inburnt brick in frames. The streets are broader than common. The city

as a good market, and is well supplied with water. Pop. 20,000.
Candahar, in the north, was once a town of great trade.

shafs of Ghizni, 70 miles south of Cabul, was formerly the capital of a powerful Ornament.mpire, extending from Persia to the Ganges.

Balk, in the north, is the Bactra of the Greeks in Alexander's time, and onarchy s thought by the Asiatics to be the oldest city in the world. It is now quite phs, and the decayed.

surpatay Cashmere, on the branch of the Indus is a large city, but ill built. Most the mesof the houses are of wood, with the roofs covered with earth and planted with ns. The flowers. The streets are narrow and dirty. In the neighborhood are many consideral remains of ancient palaces, built by the Hindoo emperors. Pop. 170,000. ent Heraut, in the northwestern extremity of Cabul, stands in a beautiful valley, ussite sand is surrounded by a high wall. It is a very ancient city, and has been gdens from time immemorial the emporium of the trade between Tartary, Persia, and India. Pop. 100,000.

ANISTAN

8. MANUFACTURES, AND TRADE. Silks, carpets, and fine shawls are the chief manufactures; the wool from which the shawls are made, is imported from Thibet and Tartary. The commerce is carried on by caravans. The exports are horses, shawls, madder, asafoetida, almonds, tobacco, walnuts, fruit, iron, salt, alum, and sulphur.

9. INHABITANTS. The inhabitants of this country are very different from those of Persia. They are chiefly Afghans and Belooches. The The pastoral tribes are warlike, and much addicted to plundering. They have a lofty and martial spirit. If a woman sends her veil to an Afghan, it is an appeal, that like a knight of old he cannot resist. He devotes himself to the redress of her injuries. There is a school-master in every camp, or village, and a house for guests. The guest of today however, may be robbed by his host tomorrow; though the Belooche would die on his threshold to defend him, while a visitor. The Afghans are not deceitful like the Persians; but they are equally fond of listening to tales of love and war. The Eastern Persians produce intoxication by means of a drug called bang. The religion is Mohammedan of the Soonnee sect. The people revere places of burial, calling them cities of the silent,' and believing that the departed sits invisible at the head of his grave, enjoying the odor of the flowers, which his friends cast upon it.

10. HISTORY. The Afghan princes have been known in history for more than 800 years, and were once in possession of the throne of Hindoostan. This country was afterwards a part of the Persian monarchy, and at present is in an unsettled state.

1. BOUNDARIES AND EXTENT. Hindoostan is bounded north by Thibet, east by the Birman Empire, southeast by the Bay of Bengal, and west by the Indian Ocean and Afghanistan. It extends from 7° 57 to 35° N. lat., and from 67 to 92 E. lon., and contains 1,280,000 square miles.

2. MOUNTAINS. The chief mountains are those which separate Hindoostan from Thibet, and are called by the natives Himalaya, or the abode of snow, with which they are constantly covered. This stupendous chain, it is said, exhibits a continued well-defined line of white cliffs, extending through two

3. RIVERS. The Ganges (ganga or river, by the principal river of Hindoostan, but one of issues from Kentaisse, one of the vast mountain course, enters Hindoostan at the defile of Kupe be its source. Hence this great river, which veneration, believing that its waters have a vi from every moral transgression, flows through de navigable stream from one to three miles wide, into which it falls by two large, and a multitude o and intersect a large triangular island, the base 200 miles in extent. The whole navigable cours trance into the plains of Hindoostan to the sea, above thirteen hundred miles, is now possessed by tributaries. The western branch, called the Little is navigable for large ships. The Ganges receive are equal to the Rhine, and none inferior to the T

The Burrampouter or Brahmaporter (that is, th rior to the Ganges both in length of course and i head of the latter river, in the mountains of Thib the same ridge, and takes its course in a contrar miles distant from it, having proceeded to within a the most western province of China, when it retur near the sea. During the last 60 miles, it forms a from four to five miles wide. In Thibet it is called joins the Ganges, the Megna.

Another considerable river in this part of Hindo rises in the mountains of Serinagour, and pursuing to that of the Ganges for 500 miles, falls into this riv

ie-t summit of the

the distance of The Indus, called by the natives Sindeh, is the western boundary of India. aks of this chin, it derives its origin from ten streams springing at a distance from each other, ut of the Persian and Tartarian mountains, one of which originates in above the level da Cashmir. In its course to the Indian Sea, it receives the Behut or the ancient Gherts (though hydaspes, and four other streams, which form the Punjab, or the country of om the river of She five rivers. The Indus is also called the Nilab, or the Blue River, and he Attock. Its whole course is about 1000 miles.

nghaut, ord

a quarter

enrele

seen eight va

war of en

he pales i

of The

suppesadi

In southern Hindoostan, the principal rivers are the Nerbudda, which falls nto the Indian Sea, after a course of about 600 miles, and is considered as orming the northern boundary of the Deccan; the Godaveri, which falls into he bay of Bengal, after a course of nearly the same extent; the Kistna or Krishna, which is the boundary of the Deccan to the south; and the Caveri, which surrounds the city of Seringapatam. The two last rivers fall into the bay of Bengal, after a course of about 450 miles each.

4. CLIMATE. The winds in this climate generally blow for six months from the south, and six from the north: April, May, and the beginning of June, are excessively hot, but refreshed by sea breezes; and, in some dry seasons, the hurricanes, which tear up the sands, and let them fall in dry showers, are extremely disagreeable. The English, and consequently the Europeans in general, who arrive in Hindoostan, are commonly seized with some illness, such as flux, or fever, in their different appearances; but when properly treated, especially if the patients are abstemious, they recover, and afterward prove healthy. Hepatic complaints are not uncommon among those who have resided long in the country; and, some years ago, the cholera in particular, was very prevalent, not only among the troops serving against the Mahrattas and Pindarris, but also in many of the towns. It has been less fatal, however, to the Europeans, than to the sepoys and other natives.

ward

The monsoons are generally ushered in by furious storms which deluge the country with rains, blow down the trees, destroy the crops and houses of the inhabitants.

In the southern part of Hindoostan, the mountains, running from north to south render it winter on one side, while it is summer on the other. About the end of June a southwest wind begins to blow from the sea on the coast of Malabar, which, with continual rain, lasts four months, during which time all is serene upon the coast of Coromandel. Near the end of October, the rainy season and the change of the monsoons begin on the latter coast; and, as it is destitute of secure harbors, ships are then obliged to leave it. The air is naturally hot in this division of India; but it is refreshed by breezes, the wind

CHAPTER CV.-PE

1. BOUNDARIES AND EXTENT. Persia is bo the north; by the river Oxus or Gihoun on th east; by the Indian Ocean, and the gulfs of Per and by the Turkish territories on the west. I lat., and from 46° to 66° E. lon., and contains

2. MOUNTAINS AND RIVERS. Ararat, Cauc mountains called Taurus, and their divisions r country from Asia Minor to India. No country few navigable rivers as Persia. The most consi Cyrus; and Aras, formerly Araxes; which rise Ararat, and, joining their streams, fall into the falling from the mountains water the country; b siderable, that few of them can be navigated ev of this deficiency, water is scarce; but the defe rably supplied by means of reservoirs, aqueducts,

3. CLIMATE. Those parts of Persia which bo the Caspian Sea are in general cold, as those he with snow. In the midland provinces of Persia, exhilarating; but, in the southern provinces, it is ious blasts, which are sometimes mortal.

4. SOIL, AND PRODUCTIONS. The soil is toward Tartary and the Caspian Sea; but with abundance of corn and fruit. To the south of abounds in corn, fruit, wine, and the other nece It affords oil in plenty, senna, rhubarb, and the fin of excellent silk are likewise produced in this count formerly furnished great part of Europe and Some parts, near Ispahan especially, produce all valued in Europe; and from some of them, part waters of a salubrious and odorific kind, which fo trade. Few places produce the necessaries of lif perfection than Shiraz; and a more delightful spo conceived, than the vale in which it is situated, ei air, or for the profusion of everything necessary to agreeable. The fields yield plenty of rice, whea generally begin to reap in May, and by the middle pleted. Most of the European fruits are produce are superior in size and flavor to what can be rais the apricot, grape, and pomegranate. The last Persians, in their pompous style, call it the fruit o

5. MINERALS. Persia contains mines of iron turkois-stones, which are found in Khorasan. mony, are found in the mountains. Quarries o have also beep red near Taurus.

6. CITIES.

now conside

ence, situate nished with some or well external mag borhood, that for two or thre the rest of the