Page:Maury's New Elements of Geography, 1907.djvu/123

 chairs, because there are none. We sit upon the floor on a mat. If we dine with our friend, we do not go to the table; dinner is served on a tray, Eating is hard work for us. It is done, as in China, with chopsticks. When we wish to leave the house of our friend, he orders a jinrikisha (Jin-rik'-ish-a), or hand-carriage. This is a comfortable chair mounted on two wheels, and drawn by a man. (See picture, page 118).

The chief exports are silk, cotton goods, matches, coal, and camphor.

3. Cities.—Tokyo is the capital. More than a million people live in it. Yokohama is the port where most of the foreign trade is carried on,

4. Indo-Cina is the southeastern peninsula of Asia. It lies in the Torrid zone, and is one of the hottest parts of Asia. It contains French Indo-China, Burma, and the kingdom of Siam.

Maury Geography 119C Burma.jpg Traveling in Burma

Rice and sugar-cane are the great crops. In the dense forests are found the valuable ship timber called teak, and the fragrant sandalwood, which is burned as incense in the temples. As in China, so here, the bamboo grows in abundance, and many of the people live in bamboo boats on the rivers, or in bamboo huts which rest on piles.

Threshing rice in Japan.

Large quantities of rice are exported to China and Japan and teak logs are floated down the rivers and sawn into lumber, which is exported.

A tea plantation in Japan.

Like the Chinese, the people of Indo-China have the custom of shaving their heads, leaving only a single tuft; they use no knives or forks, and live chiefly on rice.

The country is famed for its elephants. When a white one is found, he is honored and is not allowed to work. All the dark-colored elephants are compelled to work.

5. British India.—Leaving Indo-China, we cross the bay of Bengal and land at the port of Calcutta.

British soldiers mounted on camels.

We are now in India. This country consists of tho great peninsula lying west of the Bay of Bengal, with the region of Burma on the eastern side of the same bay, and the island of Ceylon (see-lon'). India is a part of the British Empire, and is therefore called British India. Many English people live here, but most of the inhabitants are natives. Those of the peninsula are mostly Hindus. Some are dark olive in color, others light brown, others again are nearly black.

India, like China, swarms with people. The land in many parts is almost covered with villages, towns, and cities. Though only about