ring part of its course it forms the boundary between Bucharia and Korazan. Its whole course is computed at 900 miles.

The Sirr or Sihoon, anciently Laxartes, taking its rise in the northern part of the Belur chain, is joined by several streams from the Argun mountains and the Ak Tau, after which it flows north-westerly through the country of Shash, and finally makes its way through unknown deserts to the eastern side of the sea of Aral. A large river named Sarasu from the northern deserts either joins this, or runs separately to the same sea. There are other considerable rivers in the wide country of the Kirguses, but their course through obscure and barbarous regions has been traced with no accuracy.

One of the great features of this country is the salt-lake, or sea of Aral, or of Eagles. This expanse of water is about 200 miles from north to south, and 70 miles from east to west. It lies parallel to, and about 100 miles eastward from, the Caspian sea, with which it is supposed formerly to have communicated. Its situation amidst sandy deserts has caused it to be little explored. The names imply its being frequented by the large birds of prey which make their abode in mountainous wilds, undisturbed by human resort. Several salt-lakes occur in the adjacent solitudes. On the eastern side of Turkestan,

between it and the Kalmuc country, is a large lake called the Palkati Nor, which ranks next to those of Aral and Baikal among the Asiatic lakes. Other lakes exist in the intervening

district, but they are not deserving of particular notice.

These regions, so different in their soil and climate, of course differ greatly in their productions. The Kirguses and other Tatarian tribes have probably, like the rest of the Tatar nation, been led to their pastoral wandering life by the fitness of their country for rearing the domestic animals, rather than for the culture of vegetables. They abound in horses, camels, beeves and sheep, which find plentiful sustenance in the long grass which clothes the plains after the rainy seasons, and the verdant meadows which border the rivers. The steppes offer numerous wild animals to the chase, such as antelopes, deer, hares, foxes, wolves, &c. The products of Great Bucharia are those of similar latitudes in the cultivated countries of the

The

east, and grain of different kinds is raised with success. alpine parts afford some of the animals of Tibet, as the musk, the Tibet ox, and wild sheep. Gold, silver, quicksilver, copper, and other metals are found in the mountains, with lapis lazuli, and a particular gem called the balay, or pale-rose ruby.

Of the inhabitants of these countries, the Kirguses, divided into the Great, Middle, and Lesser Horde, are a people of undoubted Tatarian origin, distinguished by the features and manners of that race. They dwell in tents of felt, which they carry with them in their migrations from the banks of the Sirr to the steppe of Issim. Their flocks and herds are numerous, and some individuals among them possess a great share of pastoral wealth. They feed chiefly upon the flesh of their sheep, and their favourite drink is koumis, or fermented mare's milk. Each horde is ruled by a khan or prince of its own. They are not accounted valiant, yet they make occasional predatory incursions into the neighbouring countries for the sake of procuring slaves, the mutual fraternity which they profess among each other not permitting them to employ their countrymen in servile offices. Their religion is mahometanism, but of a lax kind, and intermixed with idolatrous superstitions. With the Russians they carry on a traffic by way of exchange, in which their sheep and cattle, skins and camels' hair are bartered for clothes and furniture. With Bucharia they make a similar exchange for weapons and armour. They have no towns of their own, but frequent the towns of Siberia and those upon the Sirr for the purposes of traffic.

The country of Kharism, or Karasm, extending from the Caspian sea to the river Jihoon, was once the head of a considerable kingdom, comprising Khorasan and part of Great Bucharia. It is now chiefly in a desert state, but possesses some walled towns, of which the principal are Khieva and Urjentz. The former is now the capital, and the cultivated district lies chiefly around it. Its commercial products are raw silk, cotton, and lamb's furs. The government of Kharism is absolute, under an independent khan: the religion is ma

hometan. The country on the eastern shore of the Caspian is very little known.

Great Bucharia, the remaining, and beyond comparison the most interesting part of Independent Tatary, was anciently a portion of the Persian monarchy, and was peopled from the same Scythian stock. It was known to the Greeks and Romans by the names of Bactriana and Sogdiana, and was for some time the seat of a Grecian kingdom. It was a part of the Kharismian empire when conquered by Zingis in the 13th century. Timur made it his principal residence and seat of royalty. A descendant of his was expelled in 1494 by the Uzbek Tatars, who established a powerful monarchy in Bucharia, This came in time to be divided into several sovereignties under their respective khans, in which state it continues at the present day. The population consists of the Uzbeks and the proper Bucharians. The first live after the Tatar manner, dwelling in tents in the summer, and in towns and villages in the winter. The latter inhabit towns and cultivate the land. The religion of both is the mahometan, of the Sunni or orthodox sect, and the government is despotic.

Of the provinces of Bucharia that of Sogd is the most fertile, and its valley is described as a kind of paradise, rich in the finest fruits and the products of agriculture. Its capital is the famous city of Samarcand, which seems to have been in its greatest lustre when Timur held his court in it. This city was distinguished throughout the east as a seat of learning, and possessed the most famous of the mahometan universities. An appropriate manufacture for which it was remarkable was that of silk paper. Its present condition is little known, but it has apparently much declined from its pristine splendour. Bokhara, situated in the same vale with Samarcand, is still a large and populous city, with a considerable trade. It manufactures soap and calico, and deals in cotton, rice, and cattle.

Balk is the principal city of the country south of the Jihoon, and is said to be large, populous, and well built. It manufactures silk from the produce of the vicinity, and is the chief seat of the commerce between Hindostan and Bucharia. Badashan is a small well-built town near the Belur mountains, the inha

bitants of which are enriched by the mineral product of that region. There are other towns in the province of Bucharia, but little known. It is to be lamented that this fine country is so little in the track of intelligent travellers; for Europeans seem to be less acquainted with it than they were some centuries ago. The Bucharians, however, carry on a considerable trade, and caravans pass regularly between their country and Persia, Hindostan, China, and even Russia.

PERSIA.

THIS celebrated country has been subject to so many disorders and revolutions that it has become difficult to treat of it as a whole, in which view it has at present rather a geographical than an actual existence. Its whole western side is contiguous to Asiatic Turkey, as far as the entrance of the Euphrates into the Persian gulf, and then follows the eastern shore of that sea; the Indian ocean is its southern limit to the river Amba on the frontier of Hindostan : that river, and an indefinite line running across mountains and deserts, form its eastern boundary on the confines of Multan, Kandahar, and Great Bucharia: to the north it has the country of Kharism and the Caspian sea, the shores of which it accompanies round to nearly its north-western extremity, where a ridge of Caucasus separates it from the Russian dominions. Persia, thus bounded, extends from about the 25th to the 42d degree of N. latitude, and may be estimated at a length of 1200 miles by a breadth of 1000.

The face of country and soil within this space are extremely various. The northern provinces about the Caspian sea are richly clothed with vegetation, and have many situations of extraordinary beauty and fertility. The more southern parts are chiefly divided between lofty mountains and wide plains, both inclined to nakedness and sterility. The valleys, however, display the luxuriance of a southern latitude when supplied with a sufficiency of water; but of this element, the necessary fertilizer of a warm climate, Persia is more destitute than almost any country, except Arabia. Hence a great portion of its surface is wasted in sandy deserts; a circumstance particularly observable in the extensive tract on the shore of the Indian ocean, and the border adjoining to Hindostan. This was