extent. The Mergui district is still more hilly and the valleys are narrower. The geological formation is almost universally granite; coal, iron, antimony and tin, are abundant. The coasts of Ye and Martaban are open and exposed, but those of Tavoy, Mergui, and Tenasserim, are thickly skirted with islands which are all hilly or mountainous. The climate is very moist, and the country is covered with luxuriant vegetation. The natural productions are not different from those of Birmah and Siam. The merest fraction of the country is under cultivation. The coasts of Ye abound with large oysters which cluster together on the rocks in immense numbers.

The population consists of Talains or Peguans, Birmese, Karyens, Chaloms, Passas, &c. The first are the most civilized; the Karyens are less so, and the others are wandering half savage tribes. The Chaloms inhabit the islands. The bulk of the population is Birman. The total amounted in January, 1839, to 112,405 persons.

These provinces came into the possession of the British in 1826, by treaty with Birmah, and are now rapidly improving; and the happier circumstances under which they are governed, are daily attracting large num bers of the Birmese and Siamese to their shores, where they can enjoy a respite from native despotism. The civil establishment of the provinces consists of a commissioner, deputy-commissioner, two assistants, and a police magistrate. The first and two last reside at Moulmein, the second at Tavoy, and the junior assistant at Mergui. The Birmese is the language of the courts, of public transactions, and of general conversation. The military force is two Queen's, and two native regiments of infantry, a company of artillery, and a corps of Peguan light infantry. The revenue in 1839 amounted to 357,746 rupees, and the value of the exports to 1,325,119.

Moulmein, the capital, is a new town on the site of an ancient Peguan city, opposite to Martaban, on the left bank of the estuary of the Saluen. In 1826 it contained only a few huts; it now extends three miles in length, and numbers a population of 26,000, including several Parsees and Armenians, who, like the Jews, are sure to flock to any place that offers a prospect of gain. The city enjoys a good trade with foreign countries, and considerable traffic is also maintained, by means of the rivers, with the people along their banks. AMHERST, 27 miles south of Moulmein, has been fixed upon as a capital; but, though it has an excellent harbor, it possesses inferior advantages to the above, and will probably be abandored. YE, or YEH, (properly Re*) is a small village at the mouth of a river of the same name. TAVOY is a very ancient Peguan town, but is buil: regu larly and compactly. Population, 10,000. MERGUI is a well-built sown of 8,000 inhabitants, and has a fine harbor in the Tenasserin River. TENASSERIM, on the same river, is 38 miles east of Mergui.

2.-PULO-PENANG (Betel-nut Island), called in official documents PRINCE OF WALES' ISLAND, is situated near the northern entrance of the Strait of Malacca. opposite the coast of Quedah, from which it is separated by a narrow strait. It is about 16 miles long, and from 8 to 10 broad. It is of granite formation, with a range of hills extending through its whole length, but on the west side there is considerable level ground. Penang is considered healthy. Georgetown, the capital, is one of the neatest towns in the Indian Seas, with a capacious harbor and good anchorage.

*The Birmese pronounce the r of their alphabet like the English y before a vowel.

"Wellesley Province," the continental dependency of Penang, extends 35 miles along the coast, and four miles back into the country.

The way in which these provinces came into the hands of Britain is most remarkable. In 1785, Captain Light, having married the Rajah of Quedah's daughter, received Pulo-Penang as a marriage portion. He afterwards transferred it to the E. I. Company, who agreed to pay for it $6,000, annually, to the rajah; and they having, in 1800, obtained a further grant of a district on the opposite mainland, now pay him $10,000 a year for both.

3.-MALACCA is a territory on the south-west coast of the Malay Penin sula, extending about 40 miles along the shore by 30 inland, and containing about 800 square miles. The coast is rocky and barren, with detached islets of cavernous rocks; but the interior is mountainous with picturesque valleys. The temperature is equable, ranging only from 720 to 85° Fahr., during the year, and the location is considered healthy.

The city of Malacca stands on a plain, near the mouth of a small river, in 2 14' N. latitude, and 102° 12° E. longitude. It is regularly built, and has an excellent anchorage, but the harbor is bad. Population 6,000. It was here that Dr. Morrison established a college, for the cultivation of European and Chinese literature, in 1818. It is now one of the most valuable institutions of the East, and has several schools attached to it at Malacca, Tavoy, Moulmein, and Ragoon. Malacca was founded by the Malays, after their migration from Sumatra; it was afterwards in possession, successively, of the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the English; and was finally ceded by the Dutch to the English, in 1825, in exchange for Bencoolen, in Sumatra.

4.-SINGHAPURA, or SINCAPORE, is an elliptical-shaped island, about 50 miles in circuit, 27 long, and 15 broad, and situated at the southern extremity of the Malay peninsula, from which it is separated only by a narrow strait. Within a circuit of about ten miles there are about 50 other islands, containing together an area of about 60 square miles, all within the limits of the settlement. The surface of the principal island is beautifully diversified with valleys, plains, and irregular hills; and a more delightful climate is probably nowhere to be found.

Sincapore, the town, is situated on the south side, in latitude 1° 17' N., and longitude 103° 31′ E., on the banks of a salt creek which is navigable for lighters. The buildings are substantial, and the streets wide and regular. Its symmetry and beauty, however, are considerably impaired by the uncouth structures of the Chinese, Malays, and Hindoos, who adhere to the styles of their respective countries. The harbor, or road, is commodious, safe, of easy access, and defended by fortifications. The vicinity is splendid: the fertile plain is studded with villas and parks, and intersected by some of the finest roads of India, while an ever-verdant foliage gives life to the landscape.

Singhapura was a very ancient Malay settlement, but had been abandoned since the 13th century. In 1818 it was taken possession of by Sir T. S. Raffles, and the sovereignty confirmed to Britain in 1825, by a convention with the King of the Netherlands, and the Malay princes of Jahore, to whom it belonged. Previous to this it had been the residence of a few Malay fishermen; but so prosperous did it immediately become, that by the census of 1824 it contained 10,683 inhabitants, and, in 1834, 26,349 the trade is rapidly increasing, while the island possesses so many

advantages that it has been called "the Paradise of India," the home of plenty, and the abode of health.

Penang, Malacca, and Singhapura, are dependencies of the Bengal Presidency, and are under the immediate charge of the Governor of Penang, who has assistants at Malacca and Singhapura. By means of these three settlements the British have now the command of the northern passage to China. No duties on exports or imports are charged at any of the ports of these territories, which is the real cause of their prosperity.

MALACCA, OR THE MALAY STATES.

THE peninsula of Malacca is a long, narrow tract, of about 750 miles, and 170 where broadest, but narrowing to less than 60 miles.

The range of mountains which demark the eastern boundary of the British provinces on the Gulf of Martaban, extends without interruption to the southern point of the peninsula, occupying a great part of its breadth. The whole territory is of primitive formation, and produces a considerable quantity of gold, but the staple production of the whole territory is tin. Pepper, and other aromatics, and several kinds of gums, are produced in abundance. Vast forests occupy the greater part of the interior. Vegetation, indeed, is everywhere rank and luxuriant.

The southern

The northern districts belong to the kingdom of Siam. portions are chiefly inhabited by Malays, and are divided into a number of petty states or kingdoms. The independent states, as contradistinguished from those belonging to the Siamese and British, are:-Perak, with a population of 35,000; Salangore, with 15,000; Johore, with 25,000; Pahang, with 40,000; Kemamang, a very small inland district, with 1,000; Tringano, with 30,000; and Calautan with 50,000. The inland mountains are inhabited by savage tribes, some of them negroes, who are in a general state of anarchy and barbarism. Quedah, Ligor, and Patani are subject to Siam, and Malacca to Great Britain.

The Malays, who have given its name to the peninsula, migrated in the 12th century from Sumatra, to escape the subjugation of a king of Java. They seem to be a branch of the indigenous population of that great island, and probably of Java also; but are now settled along the coasts opposite to these islands. They are generally of a ferocious character, and celebrated for their piratical habits. There is, however, something highly romantic, and even interesting, in the national character of the Malays. They are not wholly illiterate, for they possess letters, and as Mahomedans, are acquainted with the Koran. They show great ingenuity in several of the mechanic arts, and in some of the principal settlements they carry on a considerable trade, and can boast of wealthy inhabitants; but nowhere is slavery and slave-dealing more common. "A bull-dog does not differ more in form and quality from a greyhound, than a Malay from a Hindoo;" and their mental dispositions, and other natural qualities, are in equal opposition.

The laws and institutions of the Malays are said to exhibit the worst forms of Islamism, mixed up with certain superstitions of their own. They practice circumcision, and believe in witchcraft. They buy their

wives, and often give so large a price for them that they run themselves in debt, and are kept in slavery by the creditor until the debt is liquidated. They have fines for theft, and even for murder; but, in most cases, the punishment depends on the power of the injured party to exact it.

The government is in the hands of sultans and rajahs, whose power is extremely limited, and is chiefly confined to the precincts of their own residences. Every village has its chief, and as these potentates seldom agree upon any common ground, warfare between and among them is perpetual. Justice is administered according to the caprice of these functionaries. They are honored with high-sounding titles; but it is difficult to conceive a greater caricature of royalty than a Malay sovereign, in his wooden palace, or barn, naked except round the waist, squatted on a mat, and eagerly bargaining for the sale of cattle and fowls, or vegetables.

The Malay towns consist of a group of huts of wood and thatch, heaped together without order or regularity.

THE CHINESE EMPIRE.

THE Empire of China, comprising China Proper and several external territories of vast extent, forms one of the largest, and, in regard to population, civilization, and industry, one of the most remarkable nations to which the attention of mankind has ever been attracted. Separated by a wide interval from any other civilized country, its history, its government and its manners, are peculiar to itself, and date from ages long prior to all extant records. Its civilization has been developed under its own institutions; its government has been modelled without knowledge of, or reference to that of any other nation; its literature has borrowed nothing; its language is unique, and its people essentially peculiar. The examination of such a country and such a people can scarcely fail to be both instructive and entertaining; and-in exhibiting the characters of an isolated nation numbering hundreds of millions, and swayed by one power, progressing in all that is useful and ornamental in life to a high development-prove incontestably that man, wherever he may be, even though unthought-of and unknown to the rest of the world, and unacquainted with foreign progress, is the same creature, and capable, under all circumstances, of adapting himself to the great ends for which he was created.

"China," as a distinctive name, is unknown to the Chinese, and its origin is a matter of discussion. It may probably have been derived from that of the dynasty of Tsin or Chin, whose chief first obtained complete sway B. C. 250. The Malays, Hindoos, Persians, Arabians, and other Asiatic nations, have known the country or its people by no other terms than Jin, Chin, Sin, Sine, Tziniste, and others similar; and it is probably the "land of Sinim," mentioned in Isaiah, xlix. 12. The Chinese have many names to designate themselves, and the land they inhabit. One of the most ancient is

"Tien-Hia," (beneath the sky;) another, almost as ancient, is "Sz'-Hia," (all within ;) a third, and by which they are more commonly known, is "Chung-Kwoh," or Middle Kingdom; and "Chung-Kwoh-jin," or Men of the Middle Kingdom. The terms "Han-jin," and "Han-tsz" (sons of Han,) are now common; and " Tang-jin," (Men of Tang,) is frequently VOL. II.

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heard among the natives; and the phrase "Tang-shan," denotes the whole country. The present dynasty calls the empire "Ta-Tsing-Kwoh," or Great Pure Kingdom; and it is sometimes called "Tsing-Chau," or Land of the Pure Dynasty. The term so frequently heard in western countries for China-" Celestial Empire"-is derived from "Tien-Chau," i. e. Heavenly Dynasty, meaning the kingdom which the dynasty, appointed by heaven, rules over; but the Celestials, for the people of that kingdom is entirely of foreign manufacture, and their language could with difficulty be made to express such a patronymic. The Chinese are also described as "LiMin," or the black-haired race, and their country as "Chung-Hwa-Kwoh," the Middle Flowery Kingdom: as "Nui-Tí," or inner land, and "HwaHia," or the Glorious Hia. Their language is called the " Hwa-Yen," or the Flowery Language.

The limits of the vast territory of the Chinese Empire are not well-defined; but the best authorities place it between the latitudes of 20°, (or if the island of Hai-nan be included) 18° 10′ and 56° 10′ north, and between the longitudes of 70° and 144° 50′ east. The outline is irregular, but the form of the empire is nearly a square. On the east and south-east it is bounded by various arms of the Pacific Ocean; Tonquin and Birmah border on the provinces of Kwang-tung, Kwang-sí, and Yun-nan, in the southwest; the high ranges of the Himalayas separate Assam, Bootan, Nepaul, and the states of India from Tibet, the western border of which is the Kara-Korum Mountains; the state of Lahore, Cashmere, &c., and the Kirghiz Steppe lie upon the western border of Little Tibet, Ladak, and Ilí, as far north as the Russian border, and are separated from the Chinese territory by the Belûr-tag; and thence Russia is co-terminous with China from the Kirghiz Steppe along the Altai and Daourian Mountains for 3,300 miles eastward to the sea. The longest line which can be drawn from the south-western part of Ilí, north-easterly to the sea of Okhotsk, is 3,350 miles, and its greatest breadth is 2,100 miles. The superficies is estimated at 5,000,000 square miles. The circuit of the empire is 12,550 miles. Thus the Chinese Empire includes all the table-land of Eastern Asiaabout a third-part of the whole continent, or a little less than a tenth-part of the habitable globe, and contains within its enormous area the largest amount of population and wealth united under one government, in the world.

The Empire of China exhibits in its physical conformations many of the grand proportions of Asia generally. Within its confines are several large chains of mountains, with peaks of stupendous height, but the ridges themselves generally range below the snow-line. The first is the Tien-shan or Celestial Mountains, extending from 760 to 90° east longitude, and generally along the 220 parallel, dividing Ilí, in their course, into the two circuits of Songaria and Turkestan. The space between the Altai and Tienshan is very much broken up by mountain spurs. Nearly parallel with the Celestial Mountains in part of their course is the Nan-shan, Kwan-lun or Koulkun range of mountains. The Koulkun starts from the Pushtikhur knot, in latitude 36 north, and runs along eastward in nearly the same parallel through the whole breadth of the table-land, dividing Tibet from the desert of Gobi. The large tract between the Tien-shan and Koulkun is mostly occupied by the desert, but on the southern declivities of the former are

* The Middle Kingdom. By S. Wells Williams.