sprinkling ashes on the head as a sign of penitence. The ashes are those of the palms consecrated on Palm Sunday. This custom was probably established by Gregory the Great (590-604). It is observed by the Roman Catholic church. The day, but not the ceremony, is observed in the Church of England.
Asia (ā'shĭ-ȧ) is the largest continent of the globe. Its name comes probably from an Assyrian or Hebrew word meaning "the rising sun." It has the Arctic Ocean on the north, the Pacific on the east and the Indian Ocean on the south. On the west is Europe, the boundaries being the Ural Mountains, the Caspian Sea, Caucasus Mountains, the Black, Mediterranean and Red Seas. It is joined to Africa on the southwest by the Isthmus of Suez and on the northeast is separated from America by Bering Strait. The immense coast line of 35,000 miles is very irregular. The Red Sea, bordering Arabia, has becomes by the building of the Suez Canal, a highway of the first importance. The Arabian Sta and Bay of Bengal are wide, open divisions of the Indian Ocean. The Persian Gulf is shut in by deserts and mountains. The archipelagoes of the Pacific form the two China Seas, which, with their three gulfs, Siam, Tonquin and the Yellow Sea, constitute the Mediterranean of Asia. It is these seas that are visited by the dreaded storms called typhoons. In the north are the seas of Japan, Okhotsk and Bering.
Area. The length of the continent from north to south is about 5,300 miles and from east to west over 5,500 miles. The area, including islands, is estimated at 17,256,000 square miles, one-third of the dry land of the globe. The peninsulas of Asia occupy one fifth of its area. On the south arj the three greatest peninsulas, Arabia, India and Indo China. On the west, Asia Minor projects Europe-ward, and all but closes the waters of the Black Sea from the Mediterranean, In the east, are Kamchatka, Korea and the peninsula of Tchukt-ehis. The islands ot Asia cover one sixth of her area. In the south and east they form a dotted line running parallel to the coast.
Surface and Drainage. Central Asia has been called the roof of the world. It is a region of lofty mountain ranges and wide plateaus, the highest in the world. North of this elevated region lies the great plain of Siberia, extending to the Arctic, while east and south are narrower plains extending to the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Extending northeast and southwest are mountain ranges and high plateaus. The great mountains of Asia are the Himalayas, the Highest in the world. They are 2,000 miles in length, and from 100 to 500 in breadth, rising along their whole length far above the line of perpetual snow. There are several peaks 20,000 feet high or more the loftiest that has been measured, Mount Everest, being more than 29,000 feet. The Ural and Caucasus ranges are on the border of Asia,
There are two great tablelands: that of western Asia, stretching from the Black Sea to the valley of the Indus, and the higher and larger tableland of eastern Asia, stretching from the Himalayas to the northeastern point of Asia, where it meets the great central tableland of North America. The plain culminates in Tibet, the highest tableland in the world, its lowest valleys being higher than Mont Blanc. These great plains separate the lowlands of Siberia and the Aral-Caspian region from the lowlands of India and China. Across the mountains to the north of Tibet is a swamp, Lake Lob-Nor, which once was a huge sea, and whose rapid drying up was probably the cause of the westward migration of the Huns and Mongols.
Drainage systems are numerous, but only those of importance demand enumeration. They include continental and oceanic drainage. The first, 4,900,000 square miles in area, includes rivers emptying, as in Gobi desert, Syro-Arabia or Tibet, into the Aral, Caspian or Dead Seas, Lakes Baikal, Kalk-hash or Van, or the numberless lakes, sinks or swamps of Persia, Siberia, Turkestan. The oceanic systems drain to the Arctic, Pacific and Indian Oceans and the Mediterranean. The Arctic area covers 4,367,000 miles, the Pacific 3,641,000 and the Indian 2,873,000. The Lena, Ob and Yenisei flow into the Arctic, these rivers and their tributaries, when unfrozen, giving navigation throughout Siberia. China and Tibet contribute the Amur, Hwang-Ho, Si-Kiang and Yang-Tsi-Kiang to the Pacific Ocean. Indo-China gives the Mekong, Salwin and Irawadi to the Indian Ocean; India the Brahmaputra, Ganges and Indus j Armenia the Tigris and Euphrates
Climate and Rainfall. On the tablelands and north of the main mountains the climate is very dry and there are great extremes of temperature, long severe winters and hot, short summers. South of the mountains and on the Pacific the climate is tropical but modified by altitude and the monsoons or rain-winds from the southern seas. The mean temperature ranges from nearly zero in Arctic Siberia to nearly 90° in Arabia. The lowest temperature is 100° below zero, the highest 120° above. Rainfalls vary from five inches annually over the Aral to 550 on the Khasiya Mountains near Calcutta.
Animal and Vegetable Life. Animals of Asiatic origin include the ass, buffalo, camel, cobra, crocodile, dromedary, dugong, dolphin, elephant, goat, horse, leopard, lion, ox, pheasant, reindeer, sheep, silkworm, sturgeon, tiger, yak, zo and others. Among indigenous plants, the flora of southeastern Asia numbering 12,000 species, are the
