Though Asia cannot vie with Europe in the advan tages of inland seas, yet its coasts are much more diver sified by gulfs and bays than those either of Africa or America ; a circumstance. which doubtless has contri buted in a considerable degree to the early civilization of that celebrated division of the globe. In addition to a shore of the Mediterranean, it possesses the Red Sea, or Arabian Gulf, which constitutes the grand natural division between Asia and Africa; and extends from the Straits of Babelinandel to the isthmus of Suez, in length of 1470 English miles ; the Persian Gulf, another noted inland sea, about half the length of the former, the grand receptacle of those celebrated rivers the Eu phrates and the Tigris ; the bays of Bengal and of Nan kin, with many other bays and gulfs of inferior im portance.
But besides these just mentioned, the vast extent of Asia contains seas of a different description from any that occur in Europe, or other quarters of the globe ; seas totally detached, having no communication with other seas, or with the ocean, and which in propriety indeed can be considered only as immense lakes. Of these the chief is the Caspian, which is situated be tween the empires of Russia and Turkey, the kingdom of Persia, and the country of Independent Tartary, and extends about 700 miles in length, and from 100 to 200 in breadth. Some of the ancients supposed it to have been a gulf extending from the Northern Ocean ; and it seems at one period to have spread farther to the north than it does at present, where the deserts are still sandy and saline, and present the same shells that are found in the Caspian : but the chain of mountains which extends from the Urals to the river Volga, must in all ages have restricted the northern bounds of this sea. In the opinion of most geographers, this remarkable sea, at no very remote period, extended to the lake of Aral ; the deserts on this side presenting the same fea tures as those to the north, though there be now an elevated level between them, occasioned perhaps by the sand rolled down by the Gihon, the Sin) or other rivers which now flow into the sea of Aral.
This sea or lake of Aral is situated about 100 miles to the east of the Caspian, extending 200 miles in length, and 70 miles in breadth. Being surrounded with sandy deserts, it has been but little explored.
Another remarkable detached sea is that of Baikal, in Siberia, or Asiatic Russia, extending about 380 British miles in length, but at the greatest breadth not above 35. Its water is fresh and transparent, though of a green or sea tinge. The Baikal is at particular periods subject to violent and unaccountable storms, whence, as terror is the parent of superstition, probably springs the. Russian name of the Holy Sea. The scenery around those lakes, situated amidst the Altaian mountains, is peculiarly grand and sublime. The chief river which flows into it is the Selinga from the south, while from the north it emits the Angara, which joins the prodi gious stream of the Yenisei.
The rivers of Asia rival, in the length of their course and magnitude of their streams, any other on the face of the globe. Of these the following are the most im portant: The Hoan-Ho, which rising in the mountains of Thibet, after a winding course of 1800 miles, dis charges its immense stream into the Chinese Sea. The Kian-Ku rises near the sources of the Hoan-Ho, and after washing the walls of Nankin, falls into the Chinese Sea about 100 miles to the south of the former. These two rivers are considered as the longest on the face of the globe. The course of the latter, in the late embassy to China, is estimated at 2200 British miles. They equal the famous river of the Amazons in South Ame rica, and the majestic course of the Ganges is not half the length.
The Ob, Oby, the largest river of the Russian empire, issues from the lake of Altyn, and after tiit versing the frozen regions of Siberia in a course of 1900 miles, discharges itself into the Arctic Ocean. The
Yenisei, rising near the foot of the Altaian mountains, waters the country of the Tonguse Tartars, and falls into the Icy Sea, after a course of 1750 miles. The Lena, which takes its rise near the sea of Baikal, and after running in a north eastern direction about 1800 miles, discharges itself into the Frozen Sea. The Amur, which is deservedly classed amongst the largest rivers, takes its rise near the Yablonnoy mountains, where it is first known by the names of Kerlon and Ar goon ; and, after pursuing an easterly course of about 1850 English miles through the country of Chinese Tar tary, where it is augmented by many tributary streams, the most considerable of which is the Songari, it emp ties itself into the sea of Kamschatka. The celebrated and sacred stream of the Ganges, which fertilizes the plains of India, and dividing itself into two branches, falls into the gulf of Bengal. It receives so many im portant tributary streams, that its magnitude exceeds what might have been expected from the comparative length of the course, which is estimated at about 1400 miles. The source of the Ganges still remains a curi ous subject of investigation ; for though geographers have endeavoured to trace them on the authority of the Chinese lamas and catholic missionaries, yet the ac counts of both are so evidently defective and erroneous, that the source of this famed river must be considered as still unexplored. The Burrampooter, or, as it is called by the Thibetans, the Sampoo, is the noblest tributary stream of the Ganges. It takes its rise in the same lofty mountains of Thibet that are supposed to give source to the Ganges ; and after proceeding 1400 miles in a southern direction, it loses itself in the es tuary of the Ganges. This noble river flows 400 miles through the British territory, and for the last 60 miles, before its junction with the Ganges, it is from four to five miles in breadth. The source of this river, and its junction with the Ganges, were first ascertained by Major Rennel, surveyor-general in Bengal, in 1765. The source of the Indus, which waters the western parts of India, as the Ganges does the eastern, is, like that of the Ganges, unknown. After a course which is estimated at 1000 English miles, it discharges itself by many mouths into the Indian Sea. The Euphrates, the principal river in the south-west of Asia, takes its rise in the mountains of Armenia, and chiefly pursues a south-west direction to Samisat, where it would flow into the Mediterranean, but is prevented by a high ridge of mountains. There that river assumes a south easterly direction, and after receiving the Tigris, falls by two or three mouths into the gulf of Persia. The course is estimated at about 1400 miles. These Asiatic rivers just now enumerated, with many others, and some of them equally important, will be minutely de scribed under their respective articles. We shall here remark one feature common to most of the Asiatic ri vers, which descend towards the south. Taking their rise in the high central region, and flowing through countries subject to periodical rains, by carrying down immense quantities of mud and earth, have formed vast fertile plains near the sea coasts, similar in their nature to the Delta, a rich valley of Lower Egypt. Accord ingly, in the south of Asia, from Persia to China, near the mouth of the Indus, the Ganges, and other vers, immense tracts of level country are found, which are periodically overflowed ; and which, aided by the warmth of the climate, exhibit a degree of fertility in all the productions of the vegetable world, of which, in our temperate and colder regions, we have little concep tion.