Asia

Asia is the oldest populated part of the world; it is the cradle of mankind. It is also there that science and civilization fisrt showed their good influence upon men. If you look at the chart, you will see that it is, after America, the largest of the four parts of the world. From Malacca, which is the southernmost point, to its northern end, Asia is more than thirty seven hundred miles long, and there are a little less than five thousand and eight hundred miles from the Dardanelles, in the west, to the Eastern end of Kamchatka.
Asia covering such a huge area, we can naturally expect a wide variety of climates; cold is excessive in the north, and heat unbearable in the southern regions.
It is near the equator, where heat spreads its empire, that the biggest and the most terrible quadrupeds, elephants, rhinoceroses, lions and tigers, are to be found. It is also in these regions that we find coconuts, palm trees, and a quantity of other beautiful trees unheard of in our climate.
To tidy things up a little, let us see Asia as a whole.
Up north, in the sad lands of snow and ice, we find the Samoyeds, Asian Russia, the Russian Tatars, Kamchatka.
In the east, we enter a more beautiful country, the land of the Chinese Tatars, a vast region sparsely populated, and China, covered with a dense population, educated with the greatest care.
In the south, we finally find the rich and beautiful Asia; it is there that we discover magnificent coutries, Asian Turkey, India, so famous for their wealth, Persia and Arabia.

Extract from Little journey around the world by P. Blanchard, 1846.