Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan, Volume 1.djvu/9



UROPEANS understand by the East-Indies all the countries and empires, which lying south of Tartary, extend from the eastern frontiers of Persia, to the eastern coasts of China. The islands of Japan are likewise included in this denomination; as are all the Malay islands, in which the Dutch have such valuable possessions, and which extend to the southward, as far as the coasts of New Holland, and eastward to lands unknown.

BUT the name of India can only with propriety be applied to the country which is distinguished in Asia as well as in Europe by the name of Indostan.

THAT part of the western side of Indostan, which is not bounded by the sea, is separated from Persia and the Usbeg Tartary by desarts, and