could be spread out upon it and leave enough room around the edges for half the states of the Union.
Asia is a land of mountains and plains. It has the loftiest plateaus, and the highest peaks known to man. Mount Everest, in the Himalayas, is over twenty-nine thousand feet high, its top being often hid in the clouds at a point almost six miles above the Indian Ocean which lies just below it. The continent has many mighty rivers, such as the Ganges, the Amur, and the Yangtze; some of its regions are among the best-watered parts of the globe, and many of our journeys will be upon boats. It has also vast deserts; and upon the high dry wastes of Mongolia, Tibet, Persia, and Arabia we may travel on camel-back for thousands of miles and be in sand and rock all the way.
This wonderful country has all sorts of climates. Its northernmost parts are hidden by ice, while the lands farthest south lie not far from the Equator. Northeastern Asia extends out into Bering Sea, almost touching Alaska. On the Siberian tundras we shall need furs and sleeping bags to keep out the cold; and in the south shall almost roast in the thinnest of cottons. In the north we may use dogs and reindeer to drag us over the snows; while in Siam and Burma, elephants will carry us on our way through the jungles.
A country of so many climates and soils should raise all kinds of crops. In northern Asia and on the highlands of India, wheat and other hardy grains are produced in abundance, while lower down are to be found cotton plantations. Asia is a land of tea and silk. It has sonle of the richest of rice fields; and it yields fruit of every description from the pears, apples, and peaches of the north to the bananas, pineapples, and mangosteens of those regions which lie in the tropics.
