preserve their ceremonies and faith. Their sacred who, admitting the divine mission of Moses and Jesus books are the books of the Old Testament, written Christ, and acknowledging the sacred character of the originally in Hebrew; they still expect the coming of Old and New Testaments, claimed to be charged with the Messiah promised by their prophets, and observe new revelations from God. Islamism teaches the imthe seventh day of the week as the Sabbath. Since mortality of the soul, a future judgment, &c.; it pretheir dispersion, they have ceased to offer the sacrifi- scribes prayer five times a day; frequent ablutions; ces prescribed by the law, and instead of their ancient fasting during the month ramazan; yearly alms, to priests or Levites, they have substituted Rabbins or the amount of the fortieth of one's personal property; learned men, who expound the law in the synagogues. pilgrimage to Mecca, and some other rites. The temAmong the Jewish sects are the Talmudists, so called ples are called mosques, and divine service is perbecause they receive the Talmud, a collection of tra- formed in them every Friday. ditions and comments upon their sacred books; the Carites, who reject the absurd traditions and superstitious follies of the Talmud; the Rechabites, who live in the oases near Mecca, and receive only the earlier books of the Old Testament; and the Samaritans, who still offer sacrifices on Mount Gerizim.

Christianity. Although founded on Judaism, and originating among the Jews, Christianity teaches that the Messiah promised by the Jewish prophets has come, and brought a new revelation to men, and that Jesus Christ is this Messiah; the New Testament contains the revelations of this divine teacher.

A Church.

The professors of Christianity, like those of all other religions, are divided by their peculiar creeds into distinct sects. These may be arranged under three classes, the Roman Catholics, who acknowledge the Pope of Rome as their head; the Greek Catholics, who acknowledge a patriarch as their head; and the Protestants, who are subdivided into many hundreds of minor sects.

The sacred book of the Mahometans is the Koran, an Arabic word, signifying The Book; it is written in Arabic. The principal Mahometan sects are the Sonnites, who acknowledge the authority of certain traditions and commentaries on the Koran; the Shiites, including the Nosairians, Ismaelians, Druses, &c., who reject these traditions; the Yezids, whose religious system consists of a mixture of Christianity and Mahometanism; and the Wahabees, an Arab sect, which arose during the last century, and has endeavored to effect a reformation of Islamism, by purging it of human corruptions, and restoring its primitive simplicity.

Brahmanism. Brahmanism recognizes the existence of a supreme intelligence, Brahm, but teaches that he governs the world through the medium of numerous subordinate deities. The principal of these are Brahma, the Creator, who presides over the land; Vishnu, the Preserver, presiding over water; and Siva, the Destroyer, who presides over fire: these three persons are, however, but one God, and form the Trimourti, or Hindoo Trinity. The Hindoos, who profess this faith, have several sacred books, called Vedas, written in Sanscrit, and forming their code of religion and philosophy. They teach the metempsychosis or transmigration of souls, and the immortality of the soul, and prescribe a great number of fasts, penances, and rites. Pilgrimages, voluntary death, selftorment, ablutions, &c., are practised; and the females of the two higher castes are required to burn themselves on the dead bodies of their husbands.

Buddhist Temple.

Buddhism. Buddhism resembles Brahmanism in many points; it is the prevailing religion in Thibet, in Ceylon, the Birman empire, and Annam; and is professed by a portion of the people of China, Corea, and Japan. Buddhism teaches that the universe is inhabited by several classes of existences, partly inaterial, and partly spiritual, which rise by successive transmigrations to higher degrees of being, until they arrive at a purely spiritual existence, when they are

56

HISTORICAL AND CHRONOLOGICAL OUTLINE.

termed Buddhas. These holy beings descend, from time to time, upon earth in a human form, to preserve he true doctrine among men; four Buddhas have already appeared, the last under the name of Shigemooni, or Godama.

Nanekism. Nanekism, or the religion of the Seiks, founded by Nanek in the fifteenth century, is a mixture of Mahometanism and Brahmanism. The Seiks adore one God, believe in future rewards and punishments, and reject the use of images as objects of worship; they receive the Vedas and the Koran as sacred books, but think that the Hindoos have corrupted their religious system by the use of idols.

CHAPTER XXX.

General Historical and Chronological Outline.

THE history of mankind, beginning with the Creation, embraces a period of nearly six thousand years. Taking the received Bible chronology, we fix the creation at 4004 B. C.; since that period nearly 2000 years have elapsed.

For the history of events between the creation and the deluge, a period of 1656 years, we are indebted entirely to the Bible. This is called the antediluvian age. After the flood, Noah and his descendants estabDoctrines of Confucius. The Doctrine of the lished themselves in the valley of the Euphrates, Learned, or the Religion of Confucius, is the re- where, aided by a genial climate and a fertile soil, the ceived religion of the educated classes of China, An- human family rapidly increased. Some remained nam, and Japan; it uses no images, and has no stationary, founding kingdoms and building cities; priests, the ceremonies being performed by the civil while others migrated into other lands. Asia was magistrates. The rites, such as the worship of the first peopled, and here society and civilization had its heavens, stars, mountains, and rivers, genii, and souls beginning.

of the departed, are esteemed merely civil institutions.

At a very early date, however, mankind spread Magianism. Magianism, or the religion of Zoroas-themselves into Africa, and Egypt took the lead in ter, teaches the existence of a supreme being, Zer- learning and the arts. Many centuries subsequent to van, or the Eternal, subordinate to whom are Or- this, but still more than 2000 years before Christ, bands muzd, the principle of good, and Ahriman, the princi- of emigrants had reached Europe; and at a somewhat ple of evil, who wage a perpetual warfare; numerous inferior deities and genii take part in this struggle, in which Ormuzd will finally prevail. The sacred books of the Magians are called the Zendavesta. The ceremonies consist chiefly in purifications, ablutions, and other rites, performed in the presence of the sacred fire, the symbol of the primeval life; hence the Magians are erroneously called fire-worshippers.

The numbers of the adherents of each religious system have been estimated as follows:

Christianity.

Judaism,

later date, the civilization of Asia and Africa were carried to Greece, which soon eclipsed all the rest of the world by its advances in learning and philosophy. Other portions of Europe were gradually peopled, and while Asia and Africa remained nearly stationary, this quarter of the globe became the seat and centre of civilization. America was wholly unknown to the ancient world.

We have already alluded to the division of history into ancient and modern. The great states that attract the attention in ancient history are, 1. The 4,000,000 Assyrian, which begun 2221 B. C., and ended 876 96,000,000 B. Č. 2. The Persian, which begun 538 B. C., and 60,000,000 ended 331 B. C. 3. The Egyptian, which begun .220,000,000 2181 and ended 525 B. C. 4. The Grecian, which Other Religions, . 210,000,000 begun 1456 B. C., and terminated 146 B. C. 5. The Roman, which begun 763 B. C., and ended A. D. 476.

Brahmanism,
Buddhism,

Roman Catholics, 139,000,000 Mahometanism,
Greek Catholics, . 62,000,000
Protestants,
Total,

. 60,000,000
260,000,000

In a historical point of view, the religions of mankind are subjects of the greatest importance, because religious rivalries have been the occasion of most of the wars which have desolated the world for the last twelve centuries; and because nearly every kingdom and empire has employed some religion as the main instrument of its support. Wherever there has been a state religion, the priest, for the most part, has become the tool of despotism; and thus history will show that some of the greatest promoters of a particular faith have, at the same time, been among the sternest and bloodiest of tyrants.

State of Society in respect to Civilization. In the reading of history, it is important to bear in mind that nations are distributed into three general classes, or conditions, savage, barbarous or half civilized, and civilized.

Savages are those nations which are destitute of the art of writing, and whose vague and unsteady ideas are attached only to objects which strike their senses. Barbarous nations are those which have emerged from their savage state and have not yet reached a civilized condition. Civilized nations are those which have arranged their knowledge in the forms of sciences; which practise the fine arts, have books and literature, with a fixed system of legislation and policy.

In modern history the great events are, 1. The rise of the present European nations, during what are called the dark ages, or middle ages. 2. The discovery of America, which led to a vast expansion of human knowledge and enterprise. 3. The Reformation of Luther, in the sixteenth century, which burst the thraldom of mankind to papal despotism. 4. The American Revolution, which set a conspicuous example of free government. 5. The French Revolution of 1792, which dispelled the charm of divine right, by which kings had hitherto claimed to rule. Finally, that amazing progress of knowledge in the present century, which has been the immediate result of two great causes-the use of a just philosophy in the pursuit of truth, and the application of science to the useful arts. It will be our purpose, in the following pages, to notice these topics in detail, and unfold the means and instruments by which such results have been produced.

For the purpose of presenting a general view of the great events of history, and as a guide in the reading of the subsequent pages, we give a chronological table of leading events, dividing them in such a manner as to show at a glance, which belong to one quarter of the globe and which to another.

58

CHAPTER XXXI.

Ancient Geography.

ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY.

will be necessary to keep in view, not merely the extent of geographical knowledge at that time, but the political divisions of the earth, and the names they then bore.

As a preliminary view, on this point, we give a map of the World as known to the Ancients, remarking generally that it embraced the north of Africa, the whole of western Asia except the northern extremity, and the southern and central portions of Europe. In ancient geography the terms Asia and Africa had a much more restricted application than at present.

Physical Geography remains the same from age to Beside these, there were other small territories, age, or if there be change, it is unimportant in a gen- which need not be particularly mentioned here.

ANCIENT DIVISIONS OF AFRICA.

eral view. The seas, the mountains, the rivers, the
coasts, of those portions of the earth embraced in the
map, therefore, present the same prominent features at
the present day as those which marked them in the Ancient Names.
times of Cæsar, of David, and of Moses. Particular Egypt.
Ethiopia.
portions of the earth, also, in many cases, bear the
same names now as in ancient times, notwithstanding Numidia.
the fluctuation of political boundaries, and the muta-
tions and revolutions of human society. The follow- Carthage.
ing table will be convenient for reference in the reading
of the ensuing pages:

ANCIENT DIVISIONS OF ASIA.

Mauritania.

Ancient Names.
Greece.
Italy.

Modern Names.
Greece.
Italy.

Ancient Names.

Modern Names.

Helvetia.

Sarmatia.

Hispania.

Spain and Portu

gal.

Scandinavia.

Gaul.

France.

Arabia.

Arabia.

and Independ't. Britain.

Britain.

Hindostan.

Hibernia.

Ireland.

Belgium.
Batavia.

Babylonia.

Pt.of Irak Arabi.

Sinæ.

ASIA.

CHAPTER XXXII.

and millet, are all indigenous to this quarter of the globe, and are largely cultivated. Tea is produced Introduction-Geographical Sketch-Civil and only in Asia, and the finest coffee in the world is the

career.

Social State.

ALL ancient history, whether written or traditional, points to Asia as the region in which man began his Here our first parents dwelt; here cities, kingdoms and nations, were first founded, and here many of the most wonderful events on record have transpired. In its whole aspect, whether historical or geographical, Asia presents features of the most striking character.

The extent of Asia is nearly equal to that of Europe and Africa united. It is surrounded by sea through the greater part of its outline, having the Frozen Ocean on the north, the Pacific on the east, and the Indian Ocean on the south; on the west, it is bounded by the Red Sea, the Isthmus of Suez, which connects it with Africa, the Mediterranean, and Europe. Its length may be stated at 6000 miles, and its width 4000. Its extent is sixteen or seventeen millions of square miles; its population is estimated at from four to five hundred millions. It probably contains about as many inhabitants as all the rest of the world.

product of Arabia.

The Cypress Tree.

Stretching from the Arctic regions almost to the equaIn tor, Asia has still but two distinct climates. In the Russian possessions, or Siberia, the cold is extreme. Independent Tartary, the Chinese empire, and Japan, the climate is more mild. In the southern regions, it is hot. In general, the climate of Asia may be divided The animal kingdom is no less varied. Here are into hot and cold, the temperate being hardly known. The vegetation of Asia is greatly diversified, from the creeping lichens of the north to the splendid prod- not only the beasts and birds common to Europe, but ucts of equatorial regions. Many of the finest fruits the elephant, rhinoceros, tiger, yak, nyl-ghau, gazelle, cultivated in Europe and America had their origin and ostrich, are natives of Asia. Here, also, is the here. The forests abound in useful woods, including original home of the horse and the camel, the pheasant the far-famed cedar of Lebanon, the teak, the cypress, and peacock, as well as of our common barn-yard fowls. &c. Among the aromatic plants and trees are the cinnamon, camphor, and cassia. Among fruits, besides able. In the centre is an immense plateau, consisting those common to our climate, are the orange, fig, lemon, pomegranate, tamarind, &c. A large portion of our choicest garden-flowers are also from Asia. The grape, sugar-cane, cotton, wheat, rye, oats, barley,

The physical features of Asia are grand and remark

of naked mountains, enormous rocks, and vast deserts and plains. In these elevated regions, the great rivers which flow north into the Arctic Ocean, or south and east into the Indian and the Pacific, have their source.