misphere originate in this region. The edict of the emperor Kaunghee, published in 1721, and given by Klaproth in his memoir on the sources of the Brahmapootra and Irrawaddy, published at Paris in 1828, affords a very curious and particular description of the Tibetian rivers, according to accurate data furnished by the superior Lamas. The origin of the Whangho is, in this document, said to be without the frontier of Sining. The real name of the incipient stream is Altun-kol, or Golden river,' as it is denominated by the Mongols. It is about three feet deep, and rises two degrees W. of the Tsing-soo-hai lakes. It has much gold mixed with its sands. The source of this small stream, the commencement of the Whang-ho, is in 35° N. lat. and 21° W. of Pekin. The tract watered by its upper course is called Moma in Tibetian, and Thokan in Chinese. The Whang-ho enters Shinsee, near Hochew, 10 days' journey from its source in direct distance, by a very narrow pass between two vast steep rocks. The next river of Tibet mentioned by Kaunghee is the Min-keeaung; but it is not a Tibetian but a Chinese river, its course being almost wholly within Sechwen.-The Yalong-keeaung forms, for 400 miles in a S.E. course, the S.W. frontier of the Seefaun, and, for 140 more, the western frontier of Sechwen, dividing it from Tibet; and after a course of 160 more, through the S.W. angle of Sechwen, it finally joins the Kincha-keeaung, coming N.E. from Yunnan; thus accomplishing a comparative course of 700 British miles, receiving in its broad and deep channel the waters of the Seefaun at the west of Sechwen. From its source

to its entrance into Sechwen, in 29° 54′ N., it bears the appellation of the Sachoo-Tsitsirhana, and then of the Yalong. The Keeaung-koo, according to the emperor's memoir, rises in the N.E. of the states of the Dalai lama, and runs S.E. into Tibet, and then enters Sechwen. Farther on, the Keeang passes Kwei-chow-foo, enters Hookwang, waters King-choo-foo, and joins the Han-keeaung before Woo-chang-foo.-The Han-keeaung comes from the Po-chung-shan mountain—a mountain of Shinsee in the district of Nin-keang-chow, and bears at its source the name of Shih-yang-shweey; it runs to the eastward, and at Nan-ching-hun enters Hookwang, and joins the Great Keeaung near Han-yang-hun: the joint streams are called Hankeaow. In the map of the Lamas, the Kincha-keeaung rises in Ngari, or Upper Tibet, (not in the Seefaun,) in 35o N. lat. and 90° 27′ E. long. from a lake called Pahaton Kol. Its name at the source is not given in their map. It runs E. to a place called Hurha, or the Custom-house,' where it is joined by a stream from the S. Two degrees E. of its source it receives the Pitee Muran, a large stream from the S., and a little beyond, a still larger, called the Aktam. In 4 degrees E. of its source, where it is separated by Mount Koolkoon from the parent stream of the Whang-ho, it turns to the S. and S.E., passing by Cocosay, a customhouse, and Tsitsirkhana, a ruined city, and is called in this part of its course the Porsic-ho. In 31° N. lat. it enters the country of Laton, and runs almost due S. till at Tachinquan, in 27° 32′ N. and 16° 40′ W. of Pekin, it enters Yunnan, after a comparative course of 1000 British miles through Tibet; and its course through China is at least double that distance. For volume of water, it is the largest in the Eastern hemisphere, being calculated at 464.400 cubical feet of water, per second of time, discharged into the sea. Including sinuosities, its length, of course, is to that of the Thames as 21 to 1, or as 3,780 to 180 British miles; and its basin to that of the Thames as 138 to 1, or 760,000 British square miles, as it comprehends all the central part of China and the eastern part of

map, as Rennel justly suspected, being in 27° 58′ N. lat., and 89° 1' E. of Greenwich. The pass ascends steep for 12 miles up the southern face of the dreary Soomoonang till its summit be scaled. On this is a long row of small inscribed flags, fixed in rude cairns of stones, and fluttering in the wind. These mark the boundary between Tibet and Bootan. To the N.E. of this a few miles, is the noted peak of Chumularee, visible at a direct distance of 232 British miles. At the foot of the pass is the sterile vale and fortress of Pharee. The road goes to Tushooloomboo almost due N. along the banks of the Painomchoo, by Tueena, Sumdta, Chaloo, Nainee, and Jhansee Jeung, the distance from Pharee about 70 British miles direct. E. of this we hear of no other passes through the Himallah to Tibet. E. of the Langtang mountains, which separate Assam from the valley of the Seree Serhit, all the way to the frontiers of Yunnan and the course of the Lookiaung, a distance of 100 British miles at least, in the parallel of 27° 30', the range continues an unbroken course, of tremendous elevation, and skirted at its base by a large tract of rugged subalpine country, impracticable even for the hardy mountaineers themselves, and all communication is apparently barred to the N. The range seen from the summit of Mount Cambala is that of Koiran, esteemed the highest in Tibet, and runs to the S. of the lake of Terkiri. The only reason assigned for its superiority of elevation to the other chains is merely the circumstance of its central position, but it is no conclusive proof. The range to the W. is perhaps equally elevated, and communicates with the Moos Taugler to the N. and the Himmalah to the S. It is called Kentaisse and Kanteshan. The names Malaya and Kelasch, signifying snowy mountains,' are corruptions of the Sanscrit Himalaya, and Kailasa, or Khaillas. The Sanscrit Rimola, applied to the dividing range between Tibet and India, has been corrupted by transcribers into Moriul, as appears in the geographical maps of the 17th century. Respecting the other interior ranges, we can say nothing as to their elevation, or whether they are groups or ranges, as the maps present us with nothing but a confused assemblage of mountains, lakes, and rivers, which it is impossible to describe in words.

Lakes.] This very mountainous region contains a host of lakes, a great number of which have no outlet, especially in the northern part. The Terkiri is 70 miles long and 25 broad, and contains a superficies of 2,300 square miles. Malte Brun observes, that if one line be drawn from the Terkiri lake 220 miles N., and another W. of the same 470 miles, we shall find 23 other lakes, which have no outlet, or which flow the one into the other. These masses of stagnant water are the result of the configuration of the Tibetian plateau, which is itself a collection as it were of smaller plateaus, encircled by mountains, or so many concave basins, whose waters, having no outlets, descend to the bottoms of their respective hollows, where they either form lakes, or find them already prepared for the reception of their waters. Fifteen days' journey from Tushooloomboo is a lake 20 miles in circumference, that produces lincal, or crude borax, which is formed or deposited in its bed, near the bank; from the deeper parts rock-salt is procured; and during one-half of the year this expanse of saline fluid is covered with a smooth sheet of ice.

Rivers.] Though many of the streams which arise on this most elevated of all terrestrial convexities are lost in the numerous lakes which here and there Occupy the hollows of the circular depressions of the mountainous surface, yet several of the longest and largest rivers of the Eastern he

Tibet, including the Seefaun. The Lantsan-keeaung rises in 34° 30' N. lat. and 22 W. of Pekin, according to the Lama's map, and enters Yunnan under the name of the Lak-choo, whence it proceeds to the country of the Northern Laos.-To the W. of this river runs another called Kara-oossoo, the modern Loo-keeaung of Yunnan; and to the W. of this is the Longchuen-keeaung. We cannot say that we are exactly of the same opinion with Klaproth respecting the geographical merits of the edict above referred to. He appears to have got it up mainly for the purpose of contradicting our learned countrymen of Calcutta, and the German journalists of Weimar who have happened to coincide with them in their opinion, that the Seree Serhit of the Bor Khainpti country is the genuine Irrawaddy of Ava; whilst the Sanpo of Tibet on the one hand, and the Nou-keeang of Yunnan on the other, are both denied to be the Irrawaddy. From modern geographical ignorance of the region between Tibet and Ava, and to the W. and S.W. of Yunnan, it has been found hitherto impossible to delineate the lower courses of the Tibetian rivers W. of the Lantsan-keeaung, and identify them with those streams that intersect the countries of Ava, Pegu, and Siam.

Climate.] In this respect to reason analogically-Eastern Tibet must bear a great resemblance to Western Tibet; and our actual knowledge of its climate is confined to that part which lies to the S. of the Sanpo. In the temperature of the seasons a remarkable uniformity prevails in Tibet, both in their periodical duration and return. The same division of these takes place as in Bengal. The spring is from March to May, with a variable atmosphere and heat, thunder-storms, and occasional showers. From June to September is the humid season, when heavy and continued rains swell the rivers. From October to March a clear and uniform sky succeeds, seldom obscured by fogs or clouds. For three months of this season a degree of cold, far greater than is known in Europe, prevails. On the southern confines of Tibet its extreme severity has been felt by such as have crossed its mountainous frontier, whether to Tushooloomboo or Lassa. On this rest eternal snows and permanent congelation; and its vicinity is at all times remarkable for the violence and dryness of the winds. Soil and Productions.] In such a lofty region, and in a climate where the inhabitants are obliged to seek for refuge in the valleys and hollows, -and where, from the glare of light reflected from the snow, they are subjected to ophthalmia and blindness, we cannot expect much fertility of soil, or abundance of vegetable and farinaceous produce. Yet in some of the valleys grain is abundant; as in that of Jhansee Jeung, where, as Turner passed on his way to Tushooloomboo, abundant crops of ripe corn bordered the road, and numerous clusters of villages on both sides delighted the eye. The autumn being clear and serene, the farmer spreads his corn on the ground to dry, then employs oxen to tread it. If Bootan seems to possess the pabulum of vegetable, in Tibet we find a superabundance of animal life. The variety and quantity of wild fowl, game, and beasts of prey, are astonishing. In Bootan, on the contrary, except domestic animals, nothing of the sort is to be seen. Turner met with no wild animal in Bootan but the monkey, and amid all his travels through it, he saw no game except a few pheasants near Chuka. It is not till near the source of the Patchieu, at the foot of Somoonang, that wild animals begin to appear.

Inhabitants.] Such a large and mountainous region must contain a number of distinct tribes, all classed under the common name of Tibetians,

but of which very little is known. Besides these properly so called, as the aborigines of the country, we know but of two other classes, the Thorpo and the Hor.

The former of these tribes dwell to the N. of this region between the Yarkea Sanpo on the S. and the Cobi on the N., and to the W. of the sources of the Keeang Koo, between the eastern frontier of Khotaun and the tract through which the road passes from Lassa to Sining. They speak a distinct language both from the Kalmucks and the Tibetians. Moorcroft has confounded them with the Eluths who are themselves Kalmucks, though at the same time he distinguishes them from the Hor or Sogpo, who are an Eluth tribe. Klaproth calls them a tribe of Nomadic Toorks, called Ka-tche by the Tibetians (or Big mouths) and Katsi by the Chinese They are the descendants of the Oigoor tribes, who dwelt in the same tract during the time of the Ywen dynasty in China, and who then bore the name of Kara Oigoors, or Black Oigoors. These then are the longlost and sought-for Oigoors, who made such a figure in the history of Jenghis Khan, and who seemed, from our ignorance, to have vanished quite out of sight, like their ancient neighbours the Hyongnoo. Their country is called Kara Tibet, and they are divided into two classes, the Upper and Lower Oigoors. They were subdivided in 1573 by Altun Khagan, one of the Mongolian chiefs, to the N. of the Great Wall, as we are informed by Schmidt, out of the Mongolian history, which calls them Tibetians as well as Oigoors, as being a Tibetian tribe, and also calls them Boodhists, which completely overthrows Klaproth's notion that they are a Turkish tribe and Mohammedans.

The Hor are a branch of the Eluth stem, who roam to the N. of the Kara-Noor. Hor, or Hor-pa, is the Tibetian name for the Mongolian race generally, who are called by the appellation of Gheea Hor, or Gheea of Hor, or the people of Hor, whilst the name of this tribe in Mongolian is Siraigol, or Karagol. They are also called by the Tibetians Sogh-po, or wanderers, and Gheea Sogh, or the people of the prairies, because they wander in the Steppes, In Carey's Tibetian lexicon the names Hor and Sogh-po are rendered by the word Tartars, and their country, Sogh-tool, is rendered Tartary. These Hor or Sogh-po are the Kala Soogpa Tartars of Kirkpatrick, who inhabit the country N. of Joongah, reckoned the highest ground in Tibet.

Besides the Thorpo or Oigoors of the district of Kara Tibet and the Hor or Sogh-po, we know of no other distinct tribes in Tibet, though doubtless there are more, as several languages, or at least dialects, are spoken there. Whether the priesthood are a different stock from the shepherds and goatherds is impossible to determine, but there is ground to suspect so, and that they are of Hindoo origin; that they came from Hindoostan, and imported hither the system of Boodh, and by means of it and their superior learning and science, obtained a complete ascendancy over the simple and ignorant aborigines, who are a poor harmless race, with little else to employ them than the care of their flocks. Mr Manning— who staid long on the frontier with a design of entering the country and of gaining access to Lassa, but who was prevented from obtaining his purpose by the ever-watchful jealousy of the Chinese-found the natives like the Afghauns, strongly marked with Jewish features, and a race totally distinct from the Mongols, Chinese, or Hindoos; and in fact they have a tradition that they came originally hither from the W.

Language and Literature.] Whatever might have been the spoken