in religion and general character, resemble the Birmans. Bankok is the capital city. It is very large and populous. Pop. 400,000.

Tonkin is round the head of the Gulf of the same name, and is 350 miles long and 200 broad. It is separated from China by a lofty chain of mountains, covered with impenetrable forests. It is a flat, fertile country, thickly populated. The inhabitants are similar to the Chi nese in religion.

Cochin China is south of Tonkin, and is a narrow plain, 400 miles in length, between the sea on the east and a chain of mountains on the west. The soil is fertile in a high degree, and yields an abundance of rice and sugar, and other tropical productions. The people are of Chinese origin and religion, are peculiarly courteous to European tra. ders, and remarkable for their commercial activity and enterprise. They export to China vast quantities of sugar, spices, drugs and gold. Cambodia, or Camboja, is south of Cochin China, and has a similar soil. It is watered by the river Cambodia, or Makaung, which is two miles wide, and very deep. Its fields are rich with harvests of rice; its mountains abound in gold and precious stones, and its forests in ti. gers and elephants. The people have little intercourse with other na. tions, and the geography of the country is very imperfectly known.

Laos is north of Cambodia, and west of Cochin China and Tonkin. It is abundant in gold, guin lac, ivory, rubies, and pearls. The inhabitants are said to be mild and inoffensive, and employed principally in hunting and fishing. The Chinese and Tonquinese are the chief conductors of the trade.

The new empire of Annam, which occupies the eastern section of Farther India, comprehends Cochin China, Tonkin, and a part of Cambodia. It is 1000 miles in length, and embraces about 135,000 square miles, and 10 millions of inhabitants. The government is despotic, and the chief instrument in its administration is the rod, which is applied with severity. The person of the emperor is always attended by a guard of 30,000 men; and the ordinary force of the empire consists of 350,000 troops and 800 elephants. There is no established religion. The priests are few, and command but little respect. The temples are unfrequented, and falling to ruins. The common people are worshippers of Budha or Fo; and the worship of the dead, as in China, here assumes a systematic form. The capital of Annam is Hue. Saigon is a large city, with a population of 150,000.

QUESTIONS,

What are the boundaries of the Farther India, or India beyond the Ganges? Its extent and population? What countries does it comprehend? What of the surface, soil, &c.? Of the mountains and rivers? What is the most powerful empire in this region, and how many provinces does it now embrace? What are the length and population of Burmah? What of its climate and soil? What valuable timber does it produce? What river is the principal? What is said of Ava? Of Ummerapoora? Of Rangoon ? How would you describe the Burmans? Their govern ment? Their modes of punishing? Their religion? What Christian mission is established here? What is said of elephants, and the white elephant in particular? What is the situation of the kingdom of Assam ? By what river watered?

What

of its climate and productions? What peninsula is on the south? What are the people of Malacca called? What is their character? What of their language? What is the capital? What college and mission are established there? What strait between Malacca and Sumatra? What isthmus connects Malacca with Siam on the north? Of what does Siam consist? By what river fertilized? Where does it empty? What are the productions? What animals in the mountains? Why are white elephants particularly venerated? What of the religion, character, and capital? Where is Tonkin? How long and broad? What kind of country? What of the people? Which way from this is Cochin China, and how long is its plain and how bounded? What of the soil and products? What is the origin of the people, and for what are they remarkable? What are their exports to China? Where is the country of Cambodia? What river, harvests, and animals are mentioned? Where is Laos? In what does it abound? What of the inhabitants and their employments? What large empire occupies the eastern section of Farther India, and what are its principal provinces? Where does the river Eakaung, or Cambodia, empty? What is said of the extent, population, government and religion of the empire of Annam?

Funeral Ceremonies of the Chinese.
CHINESE EMPIRE.

Extent 5,000,000 sq. ms.-Pop. 350,000,000.-70 per sq. mile. This empire comprehends China, Chinese Tartary, and Thibet, with some smaller territories. It extends more than 3000 miles from east to west, and above 2000 from north to south, and embraces a far greater amount of population than any other empire on the globe.

CHINA.

Extent 1,500,000 sq. ms.-Pop.* 300,000,000.-200 per sq. mile. China is about as large as three fourths of the whole territory of the United States, and its population, according to the most authentic in

*The population of China, according to the official returns to the government, which, in the opinion of Dr. Morrison, are deserving of full credit, is 333 millions; a population not greater by the square mile, however, than that of England.

formation, is more than twenty times as great as ours, and nearly equal to one third of the population of the world. It is divided into 18 provinces. China, for the most part, is a plain country, or moderately diversified. The western and south-western parts are to a certain ex tent, mountainous.

The climate is various. In the south it is peculiarly hot, and at Pekin, on the north, it is very cold for the latitude. It embraces al most every kind of soil, and an extensive variety of productions, so that the wants of China may be supplied chiefly from her own resources. Rice is the most common article of culture, and the principal support of the people. The tea plant and the mulberry tree are very exten sively cultivated. Wheat and barley are raised on the north. The camphor tree and tallow tree are found in the forests. Large quanti ties of silk are produced. Agriculture is industriously and skilfully conducted. All the improveable land is made to contribute in some way to the sustenance of the vast population. Even the steep sides of the mountains are cultivated, being divided into terraces, one above another, where the plants are ingeniously watered by means of a chain pump. Hogs and other domestic animals are numerous, and poultry is very abundant, especially ducks.

The Chinese excel in many manufactures, particularly in silks, satins, and cottons, porcelain, and ornamental articles. The internal ravi. gation of the empire is unrivalled. The numerous rivers are connected by canals of various dimensions, so that there is a general circulation of boats and barges over the country, conveying passengers, and inter. changing the products of the different provinces of the empire. The imperial canal, 500 miles long, from Pekin to the river Kiang-ku, is one of the greatest works of the kind in the world. By means of it, an almost uninterrupted water communication of 1,500 miles in length is opened between Pekin and Canton.

The artificial curiosities of the Chinese, and the monuments of their national industry, are truly astonishing. They have mountains raised by art and crowned with temples and other edifices. Their triumphal arches are magnificent and beautiful, erected with vast labor and ex. pense, to the memory of the great. They have bridges constructed principally of massy chains, interwoven with incredible firmness, and extending from mountain to mountain. But the great wall on the north, between China and Tartary, is particularly celebrated. It was built about 2000 years ago, as a rampart for defence against the Tartars. It extends 1,500 miles, over rivers, vallies and mountains, being gene. rally 25 feet in height, surmounted with numerous towers, and it is said to be broad enough at the top for six horsemen to ride abreast.

The Chinese are of the middle size, with a yellow complexion, square, broad faces, small black eyes, and short noses. The beauty of the females depends essentially upon the smallness of their eyes and feet. The Chinese have a mechanical talent, and a genius rather for imitation than for invention. They are patiently and perseveringly industrious, very temperate, of a mild disposition; but generally destitute of truth and honesty, and notorious for their skill in cheating. The dress and modes of living of the different ranks and classes are in a great measure regulated by law, and the fashions change but little from age to age.

Their language is very singular, both that which is written and that which is used in conversation. The written language of their books, consists of eighty thousand hieroglyphical or symbolical characters, or pictures. These are reducible to 214 radicals, each one being design. ed to represent a particular word, or idea. Their vernacular, or spoken language, consists only of about 330 words, all of one syllable; but each word has a great variety of significations, according to the very different ways of modulating or pronouncing it.

The Chinese, compared with Europeans, have made no figure in true learning and science; yet learning is highly venerated among them, and regarded with peculiar honors. They have many books, on a great variety of subjects. Their most learned men are called mandarins, and they are the only nobility in the realm. They are of nine different orders, and are employed in the administration of government. Any individual youth in China, by acquiring learning suffi. cient, may become a mandarin, or a noble, even of the first rank. The bonzes, or priests, are exceedingly numerous. The common religion is gross idolatry, consisting in the worship of the supreme idol Fo, or Boodha, with other inferior divinities. Some of the inhabitants are

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Mahometans. A kind of adoration is paid, especially by the learned, to the departed spirit of their great ancient philosopher Confucius, and to the manes of their ancestors. The government is patriarchal, but despotic. It is connected with all the pompous forms and ceremonies of oriental despotism. The emperor assumes blasphemous titles, and requires of his subjects little less than divine honors. He is styled Holy Son of Heaven, Sole Ruler of the Earth, Great Father of his people." The officers ofhis court bend the knee before him, and listen to his commands in profound silence and obsequiousness. When he rides abroad, an army of 2000 men must escort him; the houses and shops must be closed before he passes, and the populace that are to meet him must take care, as they value life, to be in the attitude of prostration.

The cities of China are large and numerous; but of many of them little is known, because foreigners are not admitted within their walls. It is said to contain nearly 2000 walled cities, the chief of which are Pekin, Nankin, Canton, Vout-chang-fou, Han-chou-fou, and Sin-gan-fou. It also embraces about 1,200 fortresses, 2,800 temples, and 32 imperial palaces.

QUESTIONS.

Of what extent and population is the whole Chinese empire? What countries are included in it? What is said in general of this empire? Of what extent and population is China Proper? How does it compare with the United States, and with the world? What are its latitude and longitude? Its boundaries? What kind of surface has it? What parts are most mountainous? What of the climate? Of the soil and productions? What crop is the most common? What plants and trees are specified? What of agriculture? Of the improveable land? Of the steep sides of the mountains? What of manufactures? Of internal navigation? By what are the rivers connected? What are the principal rivers? How is the imperial canal described? What is said of the artificial curiosities, &c.? Of the mountains raised by art? Of triumphal arches? Bridges? Of the great wall? How long, high, and broad is it? What of the persons of the Chinese? Of their talent and genius? Of their character? Of their dress? Of their language? Their written language? Their vernacular tongue? What is said of their learning? What are the learned men called? What of the bonzes, or priests? Of the common religion? What is the name of their great idol, and of their most celebrated philosopher? What is said of the government? Of the emperor? How is he styled? How must he be treated by the people? What of the cities, and which are the chief?

PART SECOND.

Pekin is the residence of the emperor, and the metropolis of the whole empire, and is accounted one of the most populous cities in the world, though not the most magnificent. Its situation is on a fertile and beautiful plain, about 40 miles from the great wall. It is an oblong square, 16 miles in circumference, and is surrounded by a wall 60 feet in height, and broad enough at the top for sentinels to be stationed on horseback. The walls of the city are crowned with towers, and fur. nished with nine lofty gates, of magnificent appearance. Pekin is di. vided into two parts, one called the Tartar and the other the Chinese city. The main streets are four miles long, broad, straight and clean,