1 palm, &c., whose leaves curl like plumes, shoot up majestically their bare and even columns above the wood." Although the foregoing description was written for St. Vincent alone, the vegetation of these islands is so much alike, that what is said of one will apply equally to the rest. Potatoes are cultivated, but they are watery, and never attain a large size. The yam grown in the mountains, however, is much esteemed; and the sea-ports are well supplied with potatoes from Britain and America. There are green peas at all seasons, and a plant called callaloo, resembling spinach, is much used in the interior. The plantain, and what is called the garden marrow, are also abundant, and much in request as food. The flowers indigenous to these islands are numerous, and exceed ingly rich in colour; and it frequently happens that fruits and blossoms are seen growing from the same branch. "The culture of the sugar-cane in Jamaica in some respects resembles that of the hop in this country. The ground being cleared, and worked a foot or more in depth, the sets or cuttings of the cane, which are the tops of the shoots cut off about a foot long, are planted in rows, generally five feet distant, and from two to five feet apart in the row, according to the quality of the soil, more plants being allowed for poor than rich soil The ground is kept free from weeds, frequently stirred, and some earth drawn up to the plants. From each hill, a number of shoots are produced: in six months or more, these will generally be from seven to ten feet high; the skin smooth, dry, and brittle, heavy with a of planting cocoa-trees on their estates, which it is hought have been too much neglected. Almost every kind of fruits produced in tropical climates grow in one or other of these islands: the vine, the pomegranate, the pine-apple, the water-melon, tamarinds, oranges, the star-apple, the bread-fruit tree (introduced by Captain Bligh in 1793), and numerous others. The pimento of commerce is also produced in these islands; the avocado pear, the papaw tree, and the banana or plantain, of which Humboldt says that it is doubted whether there is another plant in the world which, on so small a space of ground, produces such a mass of nourishing substance. The best description of the vegetation of the West Indies is that given by the Rev. Lansdowne Guilding in his account of St. Vincent, from which we quote the following:- The ground is overloaded with plants, which have scarcely room for their development. The trunks of the older trees are every where covered with a thick drapery of ferns, mosses, and orchideous plants, Regarding the cultivation of those plants which give which diffuse into the air the richest odours, and almost the West Indies their vast importance, we quote the fol conceal from sight the noble stems that uphold them.lowing from Loudon's Encyclopædia of Agriculture: Their growth is favoured by the great moisture of the air; and these lovely parasites, sheltered from the direct rays of the sun, are seen ascending on every side, even the larger branches. So great is the variety of vegetable beauties that sometimes decorate a single trunk, that a considerable space in a European garden would be required to contain them. Several rivulets of the purest water urge their meandering course through the brushwood; various plants of humbler growth, and which love humidity, display their beautiful verdure on their edges, and are sheltered by the wide-spreading branches of the mango, mahogany, teak, mimosa, and other woods remarkable for their stateliness, and clothed in wild and magnificent pomp. The vegetation every-gray or brown pith and sweet glutinous juice. In this where displays that vigorous aspect and brightness of colour so characteristic of the tropics. Here and there, as if for contrast, huge masses of trap, blackened by the action of the atmosphere, and decayed tremella, present themselves: those blocks, which in colder climates would be doomed to eternal barrenness, or at most would only nourish the pale and sickly lichen, here give The cotton plant is propagated by seed, which is set support to creeping plants of every form and colour, in rows, about five feet asunder, at the end of September which cover with yellow, green, and crimson, the sides or beginning of October; at first but slightly covered, of the sable rock. In their crevices the succulent spe- but after it is grown up, the root is well moulded. The cies are daily renewed, and prepare a soil for larger seed is subject to decay when it is set too deep, espe tenants; from their summits, the old man's beard, and cially in wet weather. The ground is hoed frequently, similar weeds, which seem to draw their nourishment and kept very clean about the young plants, until they from the air, hang pendant, floating at the pleasure of rise to a moderate height; otherwise they are apt to be the winds. At a distance is seen the trumpet-tree, destroyed by caterpillars. It grows from four to six feet whose leaves seem made of silver plates, as the blast high, and produces two crops annually; the first in eight reverses them in the beams of the mid-day sun. In a months from the time of sowing the seed, the second solitary spot rises a wild fig-tree, one of the gigantic within four months after the first; and the produce of productions of the torrid zone. The huge limbs of this each plant is reckoned about one pound weight. When tree, covered with perpetual verdure, throw down, often a great part of the pod is expanded, the wool is picked, from the height of eighty or ninety feet, a colony of and afterwards cleared from the seeds by a machine suckers of every possible size, from that of pack-thread called a gin, composed of two or three smooth wooden to the vast cable of a ship, without any visible in- rollers of about one inch in diameter, ranged horizoncrease in their diameter, and without a joint; these, tally, close and parallel to each other, in a frame; at reaching the ground, become other trees, still remaining each extremity they are toothed or channelled longitudiunited. At other times, the suckers, blown about by nally, corresponding one with another, and the central the winds, are entangled round the trunk, or some roller being moved with a foot-lathe, makes the two neighbouring rock, which they surround with a net- others revolve in contrary directions. The cotton is work of the firmest texture, as if the hand of man had laid upon these rollers whilst they are in motion, and, heen employed. Above the rocky summit of the hills, readily passing between them, drops into a sack beneath, the tree ferns, which are the principal ornament of our leaving the seeds, which are too large to pass through, scenery, appear at intervals: convolvuli, and other behind. creeping plants, have climbed their high stems, and suspended their painted garlands. The fruits of our country, scattered within our reach, and the green leaves of the bananas and heliconias, planted beneath, serve to minister to our refreshment, and to convey water from the neighbouring spring. On every side, innumerable palins of various genera, the cocoa-nut, date, cabbage state, the canes are cut, tied in bundles or sheaves, and taken to the mill to be divested of their leaves and decayed parts, and then passed through roilers to express their juice, &c. Cane plantations are formed either in May or June, or in December and January, these being the rainy seasons. Indigo thrives best in a rich free soil and a warm situation frequently refreshed with moisture. Having first chosen a proper piece of ground and cleared it, it is made into little trenches, not above two inches or two inches and a half in depth, nor more than fourteen or fifteen inches asunder. In the bottom of these, at any season of the year, the seeds are strewn pretty thick. gen immediately covered. As the plants shoot, they are frequently weeded and kept constantly clean, until they spread sufficiently to cover the ground. Those who cultivate great quantities, only strew the seeds pretty thick in tittle shallow pits, hoed up irregularly, but erally within four, five, or six inches of one another, and covered as before. The plants grow to full perfection in two or three months, and are observed to answer best when cut in full blossom. They are cut with reapinghooks a few inches above the root, tied in loads, carried to the works, and laid by strata in the steeper. In cultivating the coffee, the berries are sown immediately after being gathered, as they are found to retain their vegetative quality only a few weeks. In three months they are fit to transplant, either to a nursery or to a final plantation. In the low lands, they are planted five feet apart, and in the mountains ten feet or more. In three years, the plants will produce a crop, and continue bearing for a number of years. The berries are gathered when they are just about to drop; and are immediately carried to sheds, where they are dried upon cloths, or mats, till the husk shrivels. They are then passed through between wooden rollers turned by a mule, which separates the husk, after which they are winnowed, sifted, cleaned, exposed to the sun for a few days, and then barrelled up for sale." Various European animals thrive remarkably well in some of the islands. Amongst these may be mentioned the ox, which is much used both for food and labour. Oxen never attain such a size in tropical climes as in this country; and from the labour they have to undergo, the beef is not so good. Horses and mules are abundant in Jamaica, they being principally used for riding or drawing light burdens. Sheep are also plentiful, but the mutton is coarse. Pigs, especially such as are fed upon sugar estates, are very highly esteemed as food; their flesh being described as exceedingly delicate. Goats are kept in considerable numbers for the sake of their milk, which is thought better than that of cows. Fish are very abundent on the shores of every island, and form an important article of consumption. Their flesh is described, however, as pulpy, and not to be compared to that of the salmon. The most delicate are those caught in the mountain streams; and sea and land turtle are also frequently met with. Oysters are to be seen hanging on the pendant branches of the willow, which grow into the water. The black crab of Jamaica is esteemed as a great delicacy; and is somewhat peculiar in its habits. They burrow in the sand during one season, and at others they are frequently found far into the interior of the country. It is supposed that they migrate across the islands on which they are found annually. The domestic fowls are numerous, comprehending almost every kind known in this country, except geese and the common duck. In place of these, however, the Muscovy duck, the turkey, and the Guinea fowl, thrive remarkably well. The green turtle is very common in many of the West India islands, and is much prized as an article of food. This species derives its name from the fat being green, and is that most esteemed by epicures. There are very few shell-fish in the West Indies which are either useful or ornamental. The most beautiful are the horned helmet, the strombas gigas, and the rare plecocheilus undulatus, which is confined to St. Vincent alone. With such resources, it may be supposed that the inhabitants live in comfort, from the highest to the lowest. The mode of life followed in Trinidad, as described to us by a resident, is to rise at five, get a cup of coffee, and go to business till seven. Breakfast is then served, and business is suspended for two or three hours during the heat of the day, during which time the readingroom is much frequented. Work again commences at four or five in the afternoon, and is given up altogether at nine in the evening. INSECTS, REPTILES, BIRDs. One of the most annoying pests of the West Indies is the myriads of ants that everywhere swarm, as well within as without doors. There are innumerable varieties of them-some black, some brown, some large, and some very small. But, like all the other productions of nature, these little animals, which, by some superficial writers, have been called the " plague of the West Indies," prove of the most beneficial consequence to the health of the island. They are carnivorous, and prevent the accumulation of putrid animal matter. Their scent is remarkably acute, and a dead fly, wasp, or even mosquito, will not lie on the floor for two minutes, before a procession of ants will be seen issuing from some distant corner of the apartment, who drag off the prize bodily to their store-house, to be consumed at their leisure. Perhaps the greatest annoyance experienced by new settlers in those islands is from the bites of the mosqui toes, although these animals are not nearly so formidable there, in size or sting, as on the South American continent. In the latter they are so dreadful a plague, that people obliged to sleep out of doors can only find protection from the smoke of rank and green weeds thrown upon a fire to windward of them. In the islands, however, they are exceedingly troublesome, and a new settler may almost be recognised from the blotched and swelled appearance of his face, hands, and ankles-in short, every part of his person exposed to their venomous probosces. They resemble exactly our British midge, and are in fact of the same family of insects After a short residence, they cease to be any annoyance to Europeans, who become callous to their stings, and whom, indeed, they cease to fix upon after being some time in the country. They do not at all trouble the Negroes, whose oily skins are impervious to their stings. They are most tormenting during the night, and, to guard against their attacks, gauze curtains are hung round the bed of every respectable inhabitant in town or country. The process of getting into bed without admitting any of these tiny persecutors, is one requiring great dexterity, and not a little scientific manœuvring, as will be seen by a most humorous description, given by Captain Basil Hall in the third series of his entertaining "Fragments;" and which, although applying to the eastern hemisphere, is equally applicable to the west. Another of the pests of the West Indies is the chigre, a small invisible insect, which enters the skin, and unless extracted speedily, breeds the most disgusting sores. They abound chiefly on the coffee plantations. After getting into the flesh, they will hatch a colony of young chigres in a few hours. They will not live together, but every chigre sets up a separate ulcer. Their presence is known by a sharp itching of the part. The cockroach is a large and disgusting insect, but harmless. It resembles our cricket in appearance, and abounds in thousands. 1 One of the most singular of the animal phenomena peculiar to the West Indies, are the fire-flies. The light emitted from their bodies is phosphorescent, and only glows during the night. "I was in the habit," says a writer of Jamaica, in our Journal, "almost nightly, of enclosing a dozen or more of fire-flies under an inverte glass tumbler on my bed-room table, the light from who bodies enabled me to read without difficulty. They ar about the size of a bee, and perfectly harmless. Thei coming forth in more than usual numbers is the certain harbinger of impending rain; and I have frequently whilst travelling, met them in such myriads, that, be the night ever so dark, the pathway was as plain and visible almost as at noon-day. The light they emit resembles exactly the lustre of the diamond, and I have been told that it is no uncommon thing for the Creole coquettes to insert a few of them, confined in pieces of thin gauze, amongst their hair, and in various parts of their dress, just as our belles at home avail themselves of the ingenuity of the paste-jeweller." There are few poisonous reptiles in the West India islands besides the scorpion, which is very numerous. It lodges principally about old walls and the trunks of felled and decayed trees; its bite always produces fever, and often causes death. There are many varieties of serpents, but they are almost all harmless. The kind most common in Jamaica is the yellow snake, which is frequently found of seven and eight feet in length. It often comes into the houses; and one of them is reckoned an excellent prize by the negroes, from the great quantity of oil it yields. One of the most common of the reptile tribe is the lizard, exactly resembling the alligator in shape. These animals are to be seen frisking about in thousands throughout all the interior, especially about the public roads. Some of them are two feet long; and many of the inhabitants consider them a great delicacy when stewed. Their flesh is white, and resembles that of a chicken or rabbit. Amongst the most destructive of the animals which infest the West Indies, is the rat, which is very large in size. The history of this animal is somewhat peculiar. It was introduced into several of the West India islands about fifty years ago, by Sir Charles Price, for the purpose of extirpating the native rat. This it soon did most effectually, but at the same time overran the island itself, proving by a thousand degrees a greater pest than its predecessors. It annually does great damage to the cane-grounds. One of the first animals which attracts the attention of a stranger in the West Indies, is the large carrion-crow, called by the Negroes the Johncrow." It is a large, heavy, sluggish bird, about the size of a British turkey, the head exactly resembling that of the latter. It is black in colour, and in the interior of the country is seen floating at an immense height above every hamlet. Its sense of smell is so keen that it will discern the effluvia from the body of the smallest dead animal at several miles' distance; and has been known to scent the dead bodies in wrecks when the vessels themselves were out of sight of land. They are found so beneficial to the health of the island, in thus consuming all putrid animal substances, that a fine of a doubloon (£5 currency) is exacted for killing one of them. When sickness prevails in a house, these birds perch upon the roof even in the midst of towns, where they will remain for many days, as if waiting for their loathsome banquet-in the same manner as sharks are said to attend sick ships at sea. CONDITION OF THE NEGRO POPULATION.-TRADE, &c. Previous to 1834, the British West India islands were all cultivated by Negro slaves; but in that year a bill passed the Houses of Parliament by which slavery was abolished, the planters receiving £20,000,000 sterling as the price of Negro emancipation. This bill declared that after the 1st of August, 1834, all slaves should become apprenticed labourers; the apprenticeships to cease in August, 1840. In the interval, disturbances occurred, and much property was damaged, from the Negroes believing that they had now only to work for themselves; but in the course of a few months they returned to their labour This they did, however, with great reluctance; and in many instances the crops were ruined for want of sufficient attendance. The produce of the islands in consequence greatly decreased; nor has it yet reached the amount it stood at before the passing of the Emancipation Act. The island of Antigua totally abolished slavery in 1834, without requiring the stipulated appre ticeship; and it is highly gratifying to know, that the amount of crime greatly decreased in this island since that period. Bermuda followed the example of Antigua, which was imitated by many of the smaller islands, and afterwards by Barbadoes. Jamaica and some other islands, however, held out till August, 1838, when slavery was finally abolished in the British West India islands. It was anticipated that this event would lead to a considerable degree of social disorganization, but nothing of the kind occurred; and the conduct of the emancipated Negroes, who now may be termed the peasantry of the West Indies, has been peaceful and orderly; and on all occasions they have manifested a desire to work at fair wages, and to improve their moral and intellectual condition. Mr. Gurney (a member of the Society of Friends,) who travelled through the West Indies in 1840, and has published the result of his inves tigations, corroborates all official information on this subject, and describes the improvement of habits and desires among the peasantry as most remarkable. The only dispeace that has occurred in the islands, has, it seems, been caused by employers exacting heavy rents for cottages and provision-grounds; but this source of disquietude, we believe, no longer exists, and tranquillity and industry everywhere prevail. In Dominica, he found the Negroes manifesting great anxiety for instruction—a thing that cannot be said of English peasantry. One day, he observes, "The people gathered around us, and a woman came forward on behalf of the company, to beg for a school. We are hungry for a school,' said she; we are tired of waiting for it.' Nor were these idle words; for the people on this and a neighbouring property had agreed to subscribe eight dollars per month in part payment of a teacher. Nothing, indeed, can be more eager than the desire of the Negroes of Dominica for education-they seem deter mined to obtain it; and it is gratifying to know that the efforts now making for the purpose are at once considerable and successful. There are nearly 700 scholars in the four Mico schools, which are ably conducted, and being quite clear of any peculiar religious bias, are acceptable to the whole population." This forms an agreeable piece of information. In Dominica, a majority of the lower house in the legislature is composed of coloured persons, and the same class of persons are now eligible as jurors, both in this and other islands: it be comes absolutely necessary that the people should, by means of instruction, be prepared for performing these functions with propriety. Another circumstance which fell under Mr. Gurney's notice at Dominica deserves to be made widely known. During slavery, it was below the dignity of any free person to labour in the fields; and all who could do so preferred to live in idleness rather than work. The abolition of slavery has removed this detestable plea for living in a state of slothful indulgence. It is now quite respectable to work-labour in the fields is not discreditable. This indicates an important social improvement. In speaking of Jamaica, Mr. Gurney shows, that a coffee estate which he visited is now conducted at a much cheaper rate than during slavery, when the planters were obliged to support not only the actual workers, but all the young, old, sick, and idle. The owner of the estate in question described the two different conditions of affairs as follows:-"One hundred and seventy slaves, or apprentices, used to be supported on this estate. Now, our friend employs fifty-four free labourers, who work for him four days in the week, taking one day for their provision-grounds and another for market. This is all the labour that he requires, in order to keep up his former extent of cultivation. And willingly did he acknowledge the superior advantage which attends the present system. The saving of expense is obvious. "I understood our friend to allow that the average cost of supporting a slave was £5 sterling per annum. 170 slaves, at £5 per annum. is Saving under freedom, 6 £850 00 607 10 0 £242 10 0" In the course of another journey, Mr. Gurney offers the following useful fact:-"Do you see that excellent new stone wall round the field below us?' said the young physician to me, as we stood at A. B.'s front door, surveying the delightful scenery. That wall could scarcely have been built at all under slavery or the apprenticeship; the necessary labour could not then have been hired at less than £5 currency, or 15 dollars per chain. Under freedom, it cost only from 34 dollars to 4 dollars per chain-not one-third of the amount. Still more remarkable is the fact, that the whole of it was built under the stimulus of job-work, by an invalid Negro, who during slavery had been given up to total inaction.' This was the substance of our conversation; the information was afterwards fully confirmed by the proprietor. Such was the fresh blood infused into the veins of this decrepid person by the genial hand of freedom, that he had been redeemed from absolute uselessness-had executed a noble work-had greatly improved his master's property and, finally, had realized for himself a handsome sum of money. This single fact is admirably and undeniably illustrative of the principles of the case, and for that purpose is as good as a thousand." Of the condition of Jamaica generally, Mr. Gurney observes-"The imports of the island are rapidly increasing; trade improving; the towns thriving; new villages rising in every direction; property much enhanced in value; wellmanaged estates, productive and profitable; expenses of management diminished; short methods of labour adopted; provisions cultivated on a larger scale than ever; and the people, wherever they are properly treated, industrious, contented, and gradually accumulating wealth. Above all, education is rapidly spreading; the morals of the community improving; crime in many districts-disappearing; and Christianity asserting her sway, with vastly augmented force, over the mass of the population. Cease from all attempts to oppose the current of justice and mercy-remove every obstruction to the fair and full working of freedom-and the bud of Jamaica's prosperity, already fragrant and vigorous, will soon burst into a glorious flower." Notwithstanding the symptoms of industry and improvement which prevail, it happens that the West Indies suffer from a general deficiency of labourers, and to relieve this serious difficulty various schemes have been adopted, though without any important result. Whether from this deficiency or from the effects of the seasons, the produce and trade of the islands have not kept pace with the improvements in their social condition. We have been unable to find any official statement which can furnish a view of the export and import trade during late years. In 1833, the exports from the West Indies amounted to £8,008,248, and in 1834 they were only £5,410,113. The exports of these colonies are considerably greater than their imports, and consist of four leading articles-sugar, rum, molasses, and coffee. In 1835 they sent out 3,524,209 cwts. of sugar, 5,453,317 gallons of rum, 507,627 cwts. of molasses, and 14,866,580 lbs. of coffee. Much the largest export from any individual colony was from Jamaica. The imports from the United Kingdom in 1838 amounted to £3,393,441, a sum so inferior to the value of the exports, that there must be a great payment to the planters in cash. The principle on which the trade with the West Indies is conducted, like that of all our colonies, is pernicious in the extreme. It consists in our obligation to prefer buying from them instead of from Brazil, or any other foreign country, which could supply us at a cheaper rate. While we now write, for example, sugar could be imported into Britain from Brazil at less than half the price we are paying for it to the West Indies. The people of the United Kingdom are in this manner, as it is calculated, losing several millions per annum, exclusively of civil and military expenses. It is needless, however, to dilate on this absurd system of trade, as at present certain plans are in contemplation for revising the tariff of import duties, which leads to such decided injury to the mother country, and which is compensated by no commercial advantage whatsoever. The currency employed in the West Indies is an imaginary money, and has a different value in different colonies. The following are the values of £100 sterling, and of a dollar, in the currencies of the different islands: DESCRIPTION OF THE EAST INDIES. GEOGRAPHICAL BOUNDARIES. INDIA, or Hindostan, or the East Indies, as it is called, to distinguish it from the West India Islands, is a large country in Asia, forming, as may be seen by the prefixed map, an extensive triangular-shaped te.ritory, pointing with its narrow peninsular extremity south ward to the Indian Ocean. India is nearly comprehended between the latitudes of 8° and 35° north; its extreme length from north to south is about 1900 miles, and from east to west about 1500; its superficial area measures 1,280,000 miles. The northern boundary of this extensive region is formed by a range of mountains running from east to west, which are higher than any other on the surface of the globe, some of them reaching 25,000 feet above the level of the sea: they are called the Himaleh Mountains, from an Indian word, heem, signifying snow-some of their peaks being perpetually clothed with ice and snows. From the extremities of this mountain chain flow two large rivers, which form on either side the boundary of India; that on the east is called the Brahmaputra, and that on the west, the Indus-a river from whose name the whole country has derived its present designation. Each of these streams with its tributaries water an immense tract of fertile country, and afford excellent means of internal trade to the people situated on the banks. From the mouths of these rivers the coast stretches both ways to the southward, the eastern and western side inclining to the same point, so as to meet at Cape Comorin. Beyond this, the adjoining Island of Ceylon extends a little farther outward, and reaches to within about six degrees of the equator. The first sight of India to European voyagers has little which can please or interest. The coasts ar remarkably flat, and frequently dangerous to approach through the raging surf; the shore is only discernible by the tall cocoa-trees which surround the villages of temples. This extreme flatness of the shores of Inda is one of the peculiar distinguishing traits of the cour try, and is exceedingly disadvantageous in a maritime commercial point of view. The southern district of this magnificent valley is called Bengal, and extends along the sea from Chitte gong to Balasore, about four hundred miles, and reaches about the same distance northward. The sea-coast is not the most fertile or useful part of this territory; great part of it towards the centre being composed of marshy ground, or of mud islands, among which the branches of the river are spread like net-work. These islands are covered with a rank vegetation of reeds, which are sometimes twenty or thirty feet high; or with trees and underwood so tall and dense that it is impossible to penetrate them. They afford shelter to tigers and other wild animals, but the air of the whole of them is per nicious to health. About 150 miles upwards, the soil becomes higher and less marshy, so as to afford good ground for cultivation; and the country is here fertile and thickly peopled. It is in this district, immediately above the mouths of the Ganges, that Calcutta. the capital of British India, is situated. The inundations level country near the river, while others more remote of the Ganges cover and fertilize immense tracts of the procure the same advantages from an artificial irrigation. Luxuriant fields, divided by groves of tall trees, with lation beyond any thing that Europe can show, form the villages under their shelter, and swarming with a popegeneral features of the vast alluvial plain of Bengal DIVISIONS OF THE COUNTRY. The modern territorial and political subdivisions of India may thus be specified:-First, NORTHERN INDOSTAN, an extensive and rugged territory, hending 1. The country between the 4. Kemaoon. impre 3. Sources of the Ganges. 7. Dominions of feepaul. Second, HINDOSTAN PROPER, which is the most com prehensive division. It stretches across the centre of India, and obtains the most prominent place in the history of the old Mohammedan empires of India. It reaches south to the Nerbudda river, where the Deccan commences, and includes the following thirteen large provinces: This large country presents a great variety of surface, being diversified in some places with wide sandy deserts; in others with fine undulating hill countries, well watered and fertile; a third portion consists of flat, high-lying regions, called table-lands, which, from their height above the sea, are cool and temperate; and a fourth division consists of immense fertile plains, watered by the large rivers of the country, and their numerous tributaries. A considerable portion of the low-lying country is of a marshy, shrubby character, called jungle, and unfitted for cultivation. Each of these divisions of India pre-2. Gurwal or Serinagur. sents an aspect peculiar to itself, and all of them are distinguished by natural productions, both plants and animals. Besides the Indus on the west, and the Brahmaputra on the east, there are other large and important rivers descending from the outskirts of the Himaleh Mountains, or from ranges of hills called Ghauts, and descending to the sea both on the east and west coasts. The principal of these streams is the Ganges, which, with its tributaries, drains a large portion of the north-east division of the country, and enters the sea in the province of Bengal, along with the conjoined waters of the Brahmaputra. The valley of the Ganges, and the valleys of its tributaries, form the fairest and richest portion of India. This district, in its largest extent, may be described as a semicircle, with its base extended along the line of the Himaleh Mountains, and its curve running along from Soodiana on the Indus, to Delhi, Gualior, Punnah, Sumbhulpoor, and Balasore, where it meets the sea and the mouths of the Ganges, thence along the coast to Chittagong, and north by Silhet and Rungpore, to include the country of the Brahmaputra. 790 8. Cashmere. 9. Ajmeer. 10. Mooltan. 11. Cutch. 12. Guzerat. 13. Malwa. 1. Bengal. 2. Bahar. 3. Allahabad. 4. Oude. 5. Agra. 6. Delhi. 7. Lahore. Third, THE DECCAN.-This division lies next, in a southerly direction, to the above, extending from the Nerbudda river on the north, which flows into the sea on the west coast, to the Krishna, a river flowing into the sea or Bay of Bengal on the east coast. Between these rivers lies the Deccan, a much less fertile division of India than the preceding; Bombay, a small island on |