258 GEOGRAPHY AND ASTRONOMY. The Danube and the Volga are the largest rivers in Eu-. rope, the Danube running through all Germany and Turkey into the Euxine or Black Sea ; and the Volga, (which some writers attribute to Asia, because) though it runs through a great part of Moscovy, yet it empties itself into the Caspian Sea. SECT. XIV. Of Asia, and its several Countries and Kingdoms. ASIA may be divided into these five parts, (viz.) Turkey, Persia, India, China, and Tartary. The dominion of the Turks in Asia contains several coun- tries in it, (viz.) Natolia, Palestine, Arabia, Georgia, &c. 1. Natolia, or Asia Minor, which is a Peninsula, between the Euxine sea and theMediterranean, where lay he ancient countries of Galatia, Cappadocia, Pontus, Bythynia, Lyconià, Pamphylia, Phrygia, l &u. through which the apostle Paul travelled and madè many converts there. Here were the seven famous churches of Asia, to which the epistles were writ- ten in the second and third chapters of the Revelations, (viz.) Ephesus, Smyrna, Sardis, &c. Many of them are now called by different names : But Smyrna is one of the chief cities in the whole country. 2. Palestine, or the Holy Land, and all the ad- jacent countries of Syria, Chaldea, Mesopotamia, &c. The chief towns in it now are Aleppo, Scanderoon, or Alexandretta, Bagdat or Babylon, Damascus, Jerusalem, &o. 3. Arabia, which anciently was divided into Arabia the Happy, Arabia the Desert, and Arabia the Stony, lying all between the Persian gulf, and the red sea : The chief towns of it are Mecca, Me- dina, &c. 4. Georgia and Turkomania, formerly called Ar- menia Major, are northern provinces belonging to the Turks, that lie between the Euxine and the Caspian sea. Persia, a large empire, lies eastward from Turkey between the Caspian and Indian seas : Its capital city is Ispahan. India is divided into two parts by the river Ganges. India, on this side the Ganges, contains the biggest part of the Empire of the Great Mogul, whose chief city is Agra. In a peninsula or large promontory in this part of India, are various settle- ments of the European nations, as at Fort St. George, Tranque- bar, Goa, &e. Beyond the river Ganges lies another large Peninsula, which contains the countries of Pegu, Siam, Tue. quim, Cochinchina, &c. - Eastward of all these lies the empire of China, a large and a polite nation, whose chief city is Pekin. These countries last named are called in general the East -Indies. Great Tartary takes up all the northern part of Asia. That which borders upon Moscovy is often called Moscovy in Asia :
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