The tropical parts of A. abound in monkeys, of which the species are very numerous. Among them are some with long and some with short tails, but none with prehensile tails, like the sapajous of America. Many are altogether tailless, and among these is the orang-outang, found in the south-eastern islands. A much larger ape, called the pongo, has been said to exist in Borneo, hut it is still a doubtful species. The same warm regions abound in bats, many of which are of large size, and feed upon fruits. not upon insects. The flying lemur or colu
coasts have long been celebrated.—Lizards and other saurian reptiles are very abundant in the warmer parts of A.; and great crocodiles and gavials infest the rivers of the East Indies. Boas, pythons, and other great serpents are found in the tropical regions, which produce also ninny venemons serpents. The cobra cht capello is one of the most dreaded. lint the temperate parts of A. have also venemous serpents, scarcely less dangerous. Some of the East Indian tortoises are remarkable for their great magnitude, and turtles are found in the seas.—Both the salt and fresh waters of A. produce many kinds of fish. The salmonicla3 of the rivers of Siberia supply an important part of the food of its inhab itants. Time goldfish, now so well known in Britain, is a native of China. Some of the fish of the tropical parts of A. have attracted attention from the peculiarity of their form or habits. Insect life is exceedingly abundant in the warm parts of A., as in all other warm countries. Bees are numerous, and honey is produced in great quantities. Of other insects, it seems only necessary here to mention the silk-worm, which was introduced front A. into Europe; and the locust, which sometimes devastates great tracts of the Asiatic countries bordering on the Mediterranean and the Black sea, and occasionally extends its ravages into regions further w. Of molluscous animals, the pearl-oyster deserves particular notice, upon account of the important pearl-fisheries which exist in different places.
whole population, consisting of 800,000,000 people, may be divided into the Mongolian. Aryan, and Semitic groups. The first of these includes all the neople.4 and tribes in the e., n., and s.e. of Asia; the second (Sec ARYAN RACE) embraces the inhabitants of northern India, Afghanistan, Persia, and part of Asiatic Turkey; the third includes the Syrian, Hebrew, and Arabian races (see ETHNOLOGY).
A further subdivision and classification may be made as follows: 1. The East-Asian group, including the peoples of Whet, China, Japan, Coma, and the Indo-Chinese penin sula; all alike in the use of monosyllabic languages. This last people, however, must be subdivided into western and eastern, the former comprising the inhabitants of the Bur man empire, Pcgu, Laos, and Siam, having affinities with the Hindoos; and the latter, comprising the inhabitants of Tonquin, Cochiu-China, and Cambodia, have affinities with the Mongolian of Thibet and China. 2. The Tatar group, including the Threomans, Mongols, and Tungusians, who are spread over the whole table-land of central Asia and the neighboring lands in the n. The Turcoman family is divided into three sections —the first including the east Turcomans, inhabiting Tashkend, Khiva, Balkh, and Usbekis tan ; the second including the so-called Tatars of the Urals and the neighborhood of Astrakhan and Kazan; the third including the Turks or Osmanli. With the exception of a few small tribes in Siberia, all the Turkish varieties are Mohammedans, use the Arabic alphabet, and employ numerous Arabic words in their dialects. 3. The Siberian, group, including the Samoiedes, people of Kamtchatka, etc., speaking languages which have only recently been studied by philologists. 4. The Malay-Polynesian group, mixed with Australasian negritos, are spread over all the islands of Polynesia and the Indian archipelago. The Malayan people of Java, Sumatra, Celebes, the peninsula of Malacca, the Sunda islands, Molaceas, and Philippines, have an incipient literature, which has been formed under Moslem and (since the 16th c.) under European influence. The South sea islanders are clearly divided into two races by physical form, color, and lan guage. One race is allied to the Auwalasian negrito, and the other to the Malayan. In most of the islands, there is a partial intermixture of the twb races, but generally the distinction is obvious. It is probable that all the copper-colored Polynesians belong to the same family with the people of the Indian archipelago. 5. The Deccan group, includ all the people employing the Tamul, Carnatic, Telugu, and Singalese languages, all having a certain measure of civilization and a literature. 6. The Indo-Germanic or Aryan group, marked and subdivided by the three languages. Sanscrit, Persian, and Armenian. About thirty distinct nations, each having a peculiar dialect and literature, belong to the first subdivision : the second includes the peoples of Beloochistan, Afghanistan, Persia, and Kurdistan; the third, the Armenians. All these families have literatures partly written in dead languages—the Sanscrit, Zend, and old Armenian. 7. The heterogeneous tribes inhabiting the Caucasus, whose affinities are not yet settled. 8. The Semitic group, including all the peoples whose languages are related to the Hebrew and Arabic.
Religions.—The same Asian characteristic of variety and wide contrast is found in the creeds as in the countries and tribes of people: the Braluninical religion of India; the doctrines of Buddha, Confucius, and of Lao-tse in China; the worship of the grand lama in Thibet; the creed of Islam in several varieties in Arabia, Persia, and India; the rude heathenism of the north; the various sects of native Christians in Armenia. Syria. Kurdistan, and India; the Greek church in Siberia; these and other forms of faith or religious profession display diversities and contrasts nearly as striking as those of Asian geography. Christianity, now the religion of Europe and America, owes its origin to Asia. For an account of the existing religious systems of Asia, see articles .AIOMULIEE DANISM, INDIA (1Zdigt0/1), BUDDHISM, LAMAISM, etc.