The Dardanelles and the Sea of Marmora form but a small break in the mighty girdle of the old continent, which again appears in immense table-lands passing through the centre of Asia, of such magnitude that they occupy nearly two-fifths of the continent. Here everything is on a much grander scale than in Europe; the table-lands rise above the mean height of the European mountains, and the mountains themselves that gird and traverse them surpass those of every other country in altitude. The most barren deserts are here to be met with, as well as the most luxuriant productions of animal and vegetable life. The earliest records of the human race are found in this cradle of civilization, and monuments still remain which show the skill and power of those nations which have passed away, but whose moral influence is still visible in their descendants. Customs, manners, and even prejudices, carry us back to times beyond the record of history, or even of tradition ; while the magnitude with which the natural world is here developed evinces the tremendous forces that must have been in action at epochs immeasurably anterior to the existence of man.

The gigantic mass of high land which extends for 6000 miles between the Mediterranean and the Pacific is 2000 miles broad at its eastern extremity, 700 to 1000 in the middle, and somewhat less at its western termination. Colossal mountains and elevated terraces form the edges of these lofty plains.