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The Continent of Asia: British

POLITICAL DIVISIONS.-The chief of the existing political divisions are the Empires of China, Japan, Russia, Turkey, and British India; the Kingdoms of Persia, Siam, Burman, and Anam; the Khanates of Khiva, Khokand, and Bokhara, and the native governments of Afghanistan, Herat, and Beluchistan. More than a third of the Continent is ruled by Great Britian and Russia, and another third is subject to the Emperor of China. Arabia is divided into several petty kingdoms with ill-defined boundaries, and Corea, Mongolia, Tibet, and Mantchooria are dependencies of the Chinese Empire.

INDIA.

The peninsula of Hindoostan, extending from the 36th to the 8th degree N. lat. and from 66° 44' to 90° 30′ E. long. is the richest and most populous dependency of Great Britain, its 271,077,086 inhabitants—1888—are all either directly subject to the British Crown, or, as in the northern provinces, are governed by native princes, who are feudatories of the empire. Hindoostan is bounded on the N. and N.-W. by the great range of the Himalayas, E. by Burmah and the Bay of Bengal, S. by the Indian Ocean, and W. by a mountain range separating it from Afghanistan and Beloochistan and by the Arabian Sea, The Ganges, Jumna, and Brahmaputra drain the N. and N.-W., and the Indus and its tributaries the N.-E., and the lower part of the peninsula is watered by numerous large rivers, of which the chief are the Mahanadi, Godavari, Kistna, and Nerbudda. Mountain ranges, known as the eastern and western Ghats, run down either coast, and terminates in the S. in the Neilgherry hills which contain peaks of considerable height. The great plains of the Punjab in the N.-W., the Ganges in the N.-E., the highlands of Central India, and the elevated plateau of the Deccan in the S., form the chief physical divisions. The existing political arrangements include the Provinces of Bengal, the North-west, Oudh, the Punjab, the Central Provinces, Berar, Madras, Mysore, Coorg, Ajmere, and Bombay, including Sindh; and on the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal, British Burmah, Assam, and Pegu. The Government of British Burmah is now having added to it the rest of Burmah proper. The entire coast line of India is about 3000 m., and is singularly regular. Nepaul and Bhotan in the Himalayas are independent, but Cashmere acknowledges British supremacy, and the sovereignty of other native rulers is limited in all cases. The French still hold Pondicherry and Karical on the Coromandel (eastern) coast, and Mahe on the Malabar (western) coast, but their entire possessions only cover about 200 sq. m. The Portuguese hold Goa, in Bombay, and one or two small seaports and islands. The native States or fuedatories, more or less under the control of the Indian Government, number over 450, with an area of 573,516 sq. m., and a population of over 50,000,000. Many of the frontier States merely acknowledge British superintendence, while others pay tribute or provide military contingents. The most important of these native princes, with the mileage, population, and revenue, are :- PRINCES.

Nizam of Hyderabad.

Maharaja of Gwalior. " of Mysore. ..

Gaekwar of Baroda.

Maharaja of Jaipur " of Travancore 6. of Cashmere. " of Jodhpur. " of Indore. " of Patiala. " of Oudipur " of Bhurtpur. .. ..

Square Miles. Population.

Revenue.

Rx* 81,807 9,845,594 4,000,000 29,067 3,115,857 24,723 4,186,188 857 1,120,000 1,020,000 8,570 2,185,005 1,890,000 14,465 2,534,357 535,000 6,730 2,311,379 557,000 80,000 1,534,972 800,000 37,000 1,750,403 398,000 8,402 1,055,217 624,000 5,887 1,467,433 470,000 12,670 1,494,220 267,000 1,974 645,450 274,000 6,874 954.901 268,000 Begum of Bhopal... * Rx., ten rupees, nominally equivalent to $5.

New States are gradually drawn within the circle of British supremacy-as Thibet is destined to be either for the consolidation or protection of existing boundaries. The present total of British India-including Cashmere, Manipur, Upper Burmah, and the Shan States is 1,648,944 sq. m. The late census has the following table:-