Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/155

ASIA. gions, but are less numerous limn in the tropi- cal parts of South America. The cocoanut is one of the most common palms in the vicinity of the sea. Some of the Asiatic palms are valuable for the sago which they yield. The natural order Dipteraceæ is one of those peculiar to India and southeastern Asia, and includes some of the noblest timber trees, including teak, so valuable for ship-building. The flora of the Indo-Chinese peninsula, and of the southeastern part of Asia generally, differs from that of India, and exhibits, if possible, a richer variety. The change from the Indian flora is still greater in the islands, and a resemblance to that of Polynesia and of Australia begins to appear. The bread-fruit takes the place of its congener, the jack of India. These regions produce nut- megs, cloves, and other spices. The Lauracese are abundant, yielding cinnamon, cassia, and camphor. China and Japan have many plants peculiar to themselves, and are remarkable for the prevalence of the Ternstrœmiaceæ, the natural order to which the tea-plant and the camellia belong. The Himalaya Mountains possess a Hora very different from that of the Indian plains, and in some of its most character- istic features, particularly in the prevalence of large rhododendrons and magnolias, it has been found to agree remarkably with the flora of the southern parts of the United States; while at still greater altitudes there is a strong resem- blance to that of more northern regions; forests of pine appear, and along with them the deodar, a cedar resembling the cedar of Lebanon. The mountains of Java also produce oaks and other trees resembling those of the temperate zone, although the species are peculiar. An important element in the flora of the lowlands of southern and eastern Asia is the bamboo, which often at- tains to gigantic proportions.

Many of the cultivated plants of Europe are known to be natives of Asia, and others are supposed to be so. Among the economic plants are rice, wheat, barley, oats, rye, maize (intro- duced), potato (introduced), beans, peas, buck- wheat, millet; and in the south banana, plan- lain, yam, cacao, sugar-cane, tobacco, spices, cot- ton, poppy, hemp, flax, and corchorus.

Fauna. Sclater and Wallace divide Asia into two great regions. North of the Himalaya range lies the great Palæarchis region, while to the south of it is the Oriental zone. The climatic extremes of the former, with its long and in- tensely cold winters, and its warm, short sum- mers, are not favorable to animal life. Mam- mals, of which there are forty-one families, are found throughout the region. Birds, of which there are fifty-eight families, are common, and most of the genera of northern and central Eu- rope are iound here. Partridges and grouse are plentiful; the most northern birds are the Alpine ptarmigan, the snow bunting, the raven, the gyrfalcon, and the snowy owl. Reptiles (25 families) and amphibia (10 families) are com- paratively scarce, especially in the northern section. Of fresh-water fishes there are thirteen families. The insects as a whole are of European character, butterflies being especially numerous. The Oriental region, while it is comparatively limited in extent, has an exceedingly rich fauna, which is isolated from the Ethiopian fauna on the west by oceanic and desert barriers, and from the Palæarctic on the north by mountainous and

desert barriers. In this region are found 35 families of mammalia, 71 of birds, 35 of reptiles, 9 of amphibia, and 13 of fresh-water fishes. The warm climate of this region is especially con- ducive to the sustenance of animal life in great numbers. This is especially noticeable as re- gards birds, reptilia, and insects, which are found in great numbers.

Among domesticated animals belonging to Asia, the most important are the ox, reindeer, and buffalo, the sheep, the goat, the horse, the ass, the camel, and the elephant. A number of species of ox and buffalo are natives of Asia. Very distinct from all the others is the yak of Tibet, which is to the inhabit.ants almost what the reindeer is to the Laplander. The sheep and goat, the horse and ass, are natives of the moun- tainous parts of central Asia. The camel is al- most indispensable as a beast of burden and of ' food in the deserts. It is used principally in central and southwestern Asia. The elephant is a native of the tropical parts of Asia, and is of a different species from that of Africa.

To attempt to deal moi-e particularly with the Fauna of so extensive and diversified an area as is covered by the title Asia would be impractic- able and is unnecessary in view of the fact that under the titles of its subdivisions, such as India; Persia; Himalayas; Siberia; etc., the local faunal characteristics will be treated in detail.

Within the limits of the Asiatic continent are included all the five great races of man. The number, however, of Amerinds, or Red Men, is so inconsiderable, and the absolute proportion of the negroid peoples so small, that, roughly speak- ing, the entire population of Asia and its islands may be said to consist of the three great races. the white, the yellow, and the brown, or, as they are commonly known, the Caucasian, the Mon- golian, and the Malay.

The White Race. The white inhabitants indigenous to Asia, as opposed to white Europeans who have but recently entered the continent, constitute about one-tenth of the total population, and are found in Arabia, Asia Minor, the region of the Caucasus and Siberia, Persia, Afghanistan, Baluchistan, the great Indian Peninsula. Though it is possible that the Semite branch of the great white race came originally from Northern Africa and the Aryan branch from Europe, it nevertheless is true that from remote antiquity these families have been found on Asiatic soil, and that it was in Asia they acquired those physical characteristics and developed the peculiar form of genius which mark them to the present day. This race presents within itself a wonderful diversity of type, both mental and physical; in color of skin' in shape of the head, and in the general stnicture of the body, there is a great difl'erence l)etween the Arabians, for instance, and the inhabitants of the Caucasus region. So, too, the race embraces peoples in various stages of civilization, ranging from the agricultural Hindus, with their great cities and highly developed political institutions, down to the nomad tribes of the Arabian deserts or the mountain-dwellers of Afghanistan. Of the three subdivisions of the white race, the Aryans, the Caucasians in the narrow sense, and the Semites, the two former seem to have been the original