midable, and who was besides hated by his own vassals, to the state of a mere dependent of the Mandshoors; and Tyentsong, his son, deprived him of the title of khan, giving him only that of wang or duke. His grandson, Tsongte, became the founder of the reigning imperial dynasty, by his conquest of China in 1644, and extinction of the Ming dynasty.

The province of Shin-yang, or Mookden, has eleven fortresses of the first order, eleven of the second rank, and eight of the third. Some of these of the first rank are said to be as rich and populous as some of the provincial capitals of China; but, on the other hand, we are told that a great number of large and populous cities and towns it once contained are now in ruins, and that, instead of them, the Mandshoors have built a great number of military cities, and fortresses, and castles, to keep the inhabitants under, who are a stout and warlike people, very numerous, and very uneasy under the Tartar yoke. The inhabitants of these fortresses, soldiers as well as others, are grown very rich and powerful, and drive a good commerce with the northern provinces of China; whilst the natives are, for the most part, kept in a state of slavery and subjection under them. If it be considered that the great mass of the Lyau-tongers are perhaps of Keetan descent; and that between them and the Kin, the ancestors of the present dynasty, a constant hatred always prevailed; that they bore a principal hand in the destruction of the Kin by the Mongols, in revenge for past injuries; and that they were well affected to the Ywen and Ming dynasties, as their surest protection against the descendants of these Kin or Nyuche,—it may help to explain the reason why the Lyautongers have been worse treated by the Mandshoor sovereigns of China than the rest of their Chinese vassals. The population of this country is very small, considering the extent, if we admit the statements of 1743 and 1761. By the former it is given at only 235,620, and by the latter at 668,852; and by the latest statement given by Mr Morrison, in the reign of Keea-king, it is made only 390,000; whilst in that given by the mandarins to Lord Macartney, Lyautong is made to have a population of 10,000,000. Nothing can be more stupid, discordant, and unsatisfactory, than such statements as the above. That it should have no more inhabitants, on the one hand, than one tenth or one fifth of that of Scotland, a country equal in dimensions, and lying between 40° and 43° N. lat., is so glaringly improbable as at the very first sight to render it utterly unworthy of all credit; and that, on the other, it should have a population five times that of Scotland, is equally inadmissible. That it should have had a population of 600,000 Keetan families in the commencement of the 13th century is at least possible, not to say probable; but, at the same time, is irreconcilable with a statement given by Fadlallah, which is only 700,000 inhabitants at the same period, unless it be supposed that the males only, fit for war, are intended, which is frequently the case in oriental statements, as is known to have been the custom of the Jews. It is a mortifying circumstance that something must be said on a subject on which nothing but what is discordant can be stated. Respecting the number of the present inhabitants of Mandshooria Proper, we are told that in the province of Tsitsicar, 740 miles long by 600 broad, according to the Jesuits' maps, and which occupies all the N.W. part, there were not above 10,000 families, as the governor told Gerbillon; and we are informed by the Dai-syn-i-toundshee, that the whole of Mandshooria contains only 47,124 tributary peasants, not including the aboriginal natives, and that it furnishes 10,000 Mandshoor sold rs. Nothing in this way can be imagined more unsatisfactory and meagre than this statement, but we have nothing better

to communicate; and it is really a problem worthy of solution, how a country ten times the area of Great Britain, and the major part of it in more southern latitudes, should be allowed to remain almost a tenantless waste, occupied by the beasts of the forest, in the very threshold of China, and how a few thousands of Mandshoor shepherds and hunters should still continue masters of 150 millions of industrious agricultural subjects.

The Mandshoors belong to the great race called Tongooses by the Russians and Tartars, and Even in their own language. Their tribes are: 1st, The Mandshoors of Ningouta, the dominant tribe. 2d, The Lyau or Keeans of Lyautong, in subjection to the first tribe. 3d, The Daoorians or Tagoorees, under which are included the Solons near mount Siolki and the Humari on the Amoor, above its junction with the Soonggaree or Chuntungian of the Chinese. 4th, The Diuchari, as they are called by the Russians, above the Humari, removed into the interior by the Chinese government. They seem to be the same with the Han Hala Tatse of Gerbillon, and to have dwelt anciently to the N. of the Amoor, and to the E. of the Hinkan Alin, on the banks of the Han Hala, running E. to the Amoor. 5th, The Mandshoor fishers, called Yupi Tatse by the Chinese. This appellation comprehends the Natki or Fiatta on the Amoor, the Ghilakee or Ketching Tatse near its mouth, the Orotchys on the bay of Castries, the Belchys more to the S., and a tribe of Mandshoors settled in the north part of Saghalien island. There is a tribe who dwell near the Chikiri Oola on the N. of the Amoor, and W. of the Hinkan Alin, called Orochon by the Mandshoors, who may perhaps correspond to the Orotchys of Castries bay; but as it seems to be a hunting tribe, so denominated from the deer which draw their sledges, they must either have removed down the Amoor to the S. side near its mouth, or else that there are two tribes of the same name, the one hunters, the other fishers. The Natki employ dogs to draw their carts, and the Ghiliaks are said to use tamed bears for the same purpose. Whilst these tribes follow fishing and know nothing of agriculture, but are generally a good natured, simple, ignorant race, the Deucharee or Han-Halas, E. of Ningouta, are agriculturists, have both oxen and horses, and raise good crops of grain and pulse, though, like the Yupees, they are clothed in fish skins. Tagoorees, who are a mixed race of Mongols and Mandshoors, submitted to the father of the emperor Kaunghee, whose protection they implored against the Russians: for these latter passing in armed barks out of the Amoor into the Soonggaree, secured all the rivers belonging to both, and became terrible to all the Mandshoors residing on their banks. The Solons, descended from the Kin who escaped the general destruction of their nation, are a stout, robust race, brave, and skilful hunters. Their women ride on horseback, draw the plough, hunt stags, and other game. A great number of Solons reside at Nierghi, a pretty large town, not far from Merghen and Tsitsicar.

The

Language.] The Toorkish, Mongolian, and Mandshoor languages, are radically distinct from one another. That of the last race is written in the character of the Mongols, who in their turn received it from the Oigoors, a Tibetian race, according to Mr Schmidt. It was not till the reign of Kaunghee that this character was adopted; as before that period they had attempted to express the sense and sounds of the Mandshoor language by Chinese characters, which was found impracticable. Kaunghee, therefore, in order to preserve the language of his nation, which was going rapidly into disuse, and in danger of being lost, ordered a special commission of

the best grammarians in Chinese and Mandshoorian at Peking, to compose a grammar and dictionary of the language expressed in the Mongolian alphabet, so as to make a complete repository of the whole language : which was done with great care and diligence, a reward being offered for every old word or phrase, which had become obsolete, that it might be inserted in this dictionary. This dictionary has been successively republished at Paris by De Langles and Klaproth, and the language has been pronounced by the former to be the most perfect of all the nomadic idioms of Asia, not excepting the Tibetian. The alphabet consists of 1,500 groups of syllables, which Langles has attempted to reduce to 29 letters, the majority of which have three forms, corresponding to the beginning, the middle, and the end of a word. The language is elegant, copious, abounds in words imitative of natural sounds, and is noted for its extreme softness of sound, as never admitting two consonants without a vowel between. It abounds in particles capable of modifying the meaning of words by being joined to them; and the verbs have a great number of inflexions like those of the Hebrew and Arabic. So copious is this language that it has not only names for every species of animals, but even words to express their several ages and qualities. The horse, as the most serviceable animal they possess, has twenty times more names than a dog, almost every motion of this animal giving occasion to a new name. How their language, a language of a semibarbarous people, became so copious in names and terms is a problem. It may be presumed that it was the language of their predecessors the Keetan and the Kin, who formerly reigned in Northern China, at which time these people, being very numerous as well as powerful, took care to cultivate and improve their language, the delicacy and copiousness of which the Mandshoors have endeavoured to preserve, by translating all the best Chinese works into their own language, and thereby improving both it and themselves. Yet it is said, that notwithstanding all the endeavours of the Mandshoor emperors to preserve and perpetuate their native language, it is on the decline: the conquerors gradually disusing it and using that of the conquered. It has one remarkable feature, that, though it belongs to the eastern extremity of Asia, it has many radical sounds closely resembling those of modern Europe, as may be seen by consulting the Mithridates of Adelung and Vater.

The Mandshoors are more robust in their make, but have less expressive countenances than the Chinese. Their women have not their feet cramped and distorted like those of China, and their head-dress consists of natural and artificial flowers. Their general dress is much the same with the Chinese.

CHAP. III.-CITIES AND TOWNS.

WHERE the population is scanty the cities must be few and small. Lyautong, being the most populous province, has the most cities, towns and villages. Shen-yang or Mookden is the capital, and was the residence of the Mandshoor schwandees or princes immediately previous to the conquest of China. It contains several temples, and one in particular where the monarch prays alone on the first day of the year. It is composed of an inner and outer city: the wall inclosing the whole is 11 miles in circumference. There is nothing about this place that deserves particular description. It is the residence of a Mandshoor governor, and about 4000

troops are usually stationed here. It has four public tribunals, in which none but Mandshoors are employed, and their acts are all written in the Mandshoor tongue. The Chinese inhabit the outer and the Mandshoors the inner city. The former carry on almost all the commerce of this province.-Inden, rather a village than a town, contains nothing remarkable but the tomb of a Mandshoor monarch.-Fong-whang-ching is the best and most populous city of this province, and enjoys a very great commerce, being the key to the peninsula of Korea, which has drawn to it a very considerable number of Chinese, who dwell in the suburbs. Its chief manufacture is cotton paper, very strong and durable, but neither white nor transparent. Lyau-yang is also a considerable city.-The chief places in Mandshooria Proper are Kirin Oola Hotun or Ooanlin, the largest town of the country; Naun Kotun on the Nonni; Ningoota, the capital of a military government; Merghen, and Saghalien Oola-Hotun, or city of the black river;' Petune, and Pootay Oola Hotun. These are all the places of note in this desolate and extensive region, and are mostly peopled with soldiers and exiles, the country seemingly being used for no other purpose but that of banishment. The principal Mandshoor families have all left the country, and followed the court to Peking, so that it has been materially injured by the conquest of China. The cities above mentioned are all very ill built, the houses and the walls surrounding the towns being constructed only of mud. The Jesuit fathers, who traversed this region to the S. of the Amoor, found numbers of ruined towns, and several antique remains, as several great stone stair-cases at Odoli Holun, a ruined city, with the vestiges of a royal palace, the like of which is no where else to be found here. These seem to have been the work of the Kin in the 12th century when their power was dominant in Central Asia. Above Saghalien Oola Hotun on the north side of the river are the ruins of Aykom, a Chinese fortress, built by the succesors of Hong-voo to repress the incursions of the Tartars. However, 20 years after the death of that vigorous emperor Yongloo, they re-crossed the Amoor and destroyed Aykom.

II. CENTRAL ASIA.

Boundaries and Extent.] Next to Siberia this is the most extensive region of the Asiatic continent. It is bounded in its whole extent by Siberia on the N.; on the E. by the region of the Mandshoors and Lyautong; on the S. by China, the Indo-Chinese States, Northern Hindoostaun, and Afghanistaun; and on the W. by Badakshaun, Great Bukharia, and Northern Toorkistaun. In its greatest length it extends from the 72d to the 125th degree of long. E. of Greenwich, or 2,625 British miles, and from the 27th to the 52d degree of N. lat., or 1,750 British miles in breadth, containing a surface of 3,266,500 British square miles. But the length and breadth are exceedingly various in various places, the much larger portion lying to the N. of the Mooz-Tagler and the wall of China, and comprehending a surface of 2,500,000 square miles. The tract to the S. of this vast range is chiefly comprehended in Western and Eastern Tibet, the Tartary of Kokonor, and the country of the Seefan or Toofan. This southern portion gradually diminishes in length till in the latitude of 28° N. it does not exceed 915 British miles. The whole of this immense region, excepting a small portion beyond the Siolki mountains on the confines of the Mandshoors, is an immense mass of elevated land rising like the boss of a shield from the centre of Asia, inclosed on all sides by lofty mountain-ranges, which serve as so many buttresses to this vast upland,

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whilst its interior is traversed in every direction by wide plains and enormous ridges rivalling in altitude those which form its barrier. It is incontestably the highest region of the globe, as far surpassing the elevated uplands of the Andes, or the lofty table-land of Mexico, as these excel other tracts of a similar description whether in Europe or Africa, so far as the latter is yet known. The elevated platforms of South America are confined to the ridges of the Andes which are generally-the elevated upland of the lake of Titicaca excepted-from 2 to 3 degrees in breadth. These ridges skirt the eastern shore of the Pacific, and with the exception of the elevated platform mentioned above, and a few lateral ridges projecting westward from the main range, and of those which separate the numerous branches of the Oroonoko from those of the Maranon, and of that high belt which parts the waters of the latter from those of the Parana and Paraguay, all the rest of South America consists of immense plains, presenting nothing to the eye but a vast expanse of wood and water. With the exception of the Apalachian and Rocky mountains, and the tableland of Mexico, North America is almost one vast level, which, instead of being covered with immense forests traversed by ocean floods, is, for the most part, a treeless saline expanse, studded to the N. of 45° N. lat. with innumerable lakes. This singular configuration of the American continent sufficiently accounts for the immense magnitude and length of course of its rivers. The configuration of the Asiatic continent is widely different. Though large and extensive plains exist in different parts of its surface, as in the vicinity of the Persian gulf and Caspian sea, yet its aspect is exceedingly diversified, presenting multiplied and successive combinations of all that is beautiful, magnificent, and sublime in nature. Contrary to what takes place in America, the chief elevations of Asia are in the centre. From Central Asia, as from the very heart of the continent, all the grand rivers of Asia flow in every direction to the surrounding and subjacent regions, which circumstance of itself proves its vast elevation. As the bounding ranges of this vast convexity have been concisely described in our general view of the Asiatic continent, we shall proceed to the present political divisions of this region, which is sometimes divided into the two great general divisions of Northern and Southern Central Asia. The former of these contains Mongolia, Soongaria, and Eastern Toorkistaun,-and the latter, the upper basins of the Indus and Sutlej, commonly denominated Western Tibet, Tibet Proper, the Seefaun or Toofaun, and the Eluths of Kokonor. Having in the preceding chapters described the region of the Mandshoors, order requires that in the description of Central Asia we begin with Mongolia, the most eastern division.

I. MONGOLIA.

This extensive region has the Mandshoors and Lyautong on the E. and S.E.; the wall of China on the S.; Siberia on the N.; and Soongaria and the great desert of Cobi or Shamo, which separates it from the eastern extremity of what is absurdly denominated the Lesser Bukaria on the W. We must here, however, premise that for want of distinct and precise information, we are not able to determine the western boundary of Mongolia, especially on the S.W. angle.

5

5 It is admitted on all hands that on the side of Soongaria the boundary is the great range of the Bogdo, which is said to run from N. to S., and to join at its southern extremity the eastern termination of the Alak Oola or Alak Tagh. The misfortune in this case, however, is that we have not a single observation whether of longitude or