The cold north.-The Arctic region is cold and dry. Siberia is a continental area of great extremes of climate. Verkhoyansk is the cold pole of the earth, with a temperature ranging from sixty degrees Fahrenheit below zero in winter to sixty degrees above in summer, and with the ground frozen all the year to within two feet of the surface. Nevertheless crops of many kinds, even watermelons, grow here.

The varied central region. The arid regions of Central Asia are of great extent. The lofty plateaus, as in Tibet, are affected more by cold than by drought. The lower plateaus of Arabia and Iran are arid because the winds, which are the great water carriers of the earth, have blown so far from the ocean that they have lost their moisture before they reach this region. A large part of Asia has temperate climate like that of North America and Europe.

The warmer regions. The climate is warm in the southern lowlands of Asia, for they lie south of the tropic of Cancer. The southeastern portion is wet and hot. Its fertile plains and climate, with its rivers and seacoast, which are avenues for trade and outlets for the abundant products, help make it the most densely settled region on the globe. The 700,000,000 people of this region represent about four fifths of the population of the continent.

1. Name the chief causes of climate variation. Tell which part of Asia illustrates each cause (as distance from the sea affecting Persia, etc.).

2. Temperature decreases with elevation of land at the rate of three degrees for 1,000 feet; so, roughly speaking, a mile in altitude would equal fifteen degrees in latitude when considering the temperature of a region. Tibet should have a climate similar to that along what parallel in North America where it runs through a low plain?

3. Can you think why the "cold pole" of the world is not on the Arctic Ocean instead of about 300 miles inland in the forest belt of Siberia?

4. Close your eyes and put your head down on your desk and make a mental picture of the desert region around the Caspian Sea. When your picture is formed lift your head and describe to the class what you saw. Try to picture the landscape, plant, animal, and human life there.

PLANT AND ANIMAL LIFE

Climate concerns light, heat, and moisture-three elements upon which living things depend. Hence climate affects plants, animals, and man. Animals and man can move to find climatic conditions suitable to their development; plants cannot.

Reasons for variety of plant and animal life.-Great bodies of water, deserts, and mountain ranges act as barriers to the movements of animals or men. Surrounding waters cut Asia off from the other continents on all sides except the northern plain on the west. This plain is a continuation of northern Europe, and has similar plant and animal life in the tundras, forests, grain belts, and steppes. It has a central mountain barrier and a great variety of climates, so we should naturally expect to find many different animals and plants.

Regions, and the life found in them. The northern tundras, where the reindeer is the beast of burden and source of food and clothing supply, gradually shades into the forest belt. Here we find the dark forest, which furnishes a supply of lumber and fur-bearing animals. Farther south are the steppes, covered, after the early summer rains, with bright flowers and waving grass. The major part of these steppes will probably be devoted to agricultural uses as soon as railroads open it to Russian, Chinese, and Japanese settlers.

The animals found here are cattle, sheep, goats, and horses. The barren deserts lying south of this region are made habitable for man by the camel. This animal has been widely used in drier parts of Asia for thousands of years. The Bible speaks of the capture by the Israelites of 50,000 camels from one tribe in

southwestern Asia after a brief war (1 Chron. 5. 21). The meat of the camel was considered unclean by the Hebrews, who did not use the camel and its milk for food as did many of the other nations. In the high plateaus of Tibet, where the grass is scanty, there are herds of sheep and goats, but the yak is the beast of burden as well as the source of wool.

The region bordering the Mediterranean Sea is favorable for growing oranges, lemons,

Copyright by Underwood & tinder wood.

HERD OF CAMELS IN THE VALLEY OF
THE UPPER JORDAN, PALESTINE

eastern Asia, with their dry winters and wet summers. The .plant growth here is rapid and luxuriant, because there is an abundance of rain during the summer. Rice, sugar cane, indigo, opium, cotton, tea, timber, dyewoods, resinous woods such as lac, coffee, cacao, and coconuts are found in profusion. Animal life too is abundant, many wild animals being found here. The elephant has been domesticated and is set at work in the forests and lumber yards, as is the water buffalo in the swamps. Poultry, swine, dogs, cats, and other domestic animals are common, as they are in many other parts of Asia and the islands off its

eastern coasts.

PEOPLE

More than half the human race, or 870,000,000 people, which is over eight times the population of the United States, live in Asia. Geographic conditions have caused an uneven distribution of people. The highland regions, steppes, deserts, forests, and tundras affect trade and transportation, so the large centers of population in Asia are always found within 500 or 1,000 miles of the sea.

Eleven-twelfths of this immense population live near the coast, especially on the river flood-plains and deltas of the south, and east from India to Japan. Here the favorable climate and abundant vegetation enable large numbers of people to make a living. In order to do this they must cultivate almost every foot of land. They even carry soil to boats, which they use as gardens on the river. Millions of people live and die on house boats, sometimes without ever setting foot on the land.

Try to imagine your small brother living on one of these house boats and playing about its deck with a little round barrel a foot long and six inches in diameter tied to his back. This barrel is a life-preserver, and will keep him afloat until his father or mother can pull him into the boat if he falls into the river.

Races. About sixty per cent of the population of Asia belong to the yellow, or Mongolian, race. The Mongolians live in China, Japan, Indo-China, parts of the East Indies, and Turkey. In Europe, the Lapps, the Finns, the Magyars in Hungary, the Kalmucks in southwestern Russia, and the Turks are Mongolians. The white, or Caucasian race, comprises about twenty-five per cent of the population, and includes the Jews, Syrians, Arabs, Hindus, and Persians. Some Europeans have gone into Siberia in recent years. With this exception most of the Caucasians live in the southern and southwestern parts of Asia. The Malays live on the peninsula that bears their name,

and also on the large islands southeast of Asia. About 50,000,000 of the black race are found in southern India. The blacks are not like our Negroes or the Negritos of the Philippine Islands, but are a very ancient people who were driven into southern India by the Aryans long before the time of David, perhaps even before the time of Joseph.

1. In what part of the United States have many Mongolians settled? Why?

2. Why are so many of the Japanese forced to emigrate?

3. Make a list of the cities of one million or more people and check those that are in Asia. Why are there so many of them? In what part of the continent are they and why?