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HISTORY o/<A. MONGOLS
PROM THE QtA TO THE i^h CENTURY.
Part L
THE MONGOLS PROPER AND THE KALMTJKS.
Henry H. Howorth, f.s.a.
WITH
TWO MAPS BY E. G. RAVENSTEIN, F.R.G.S.
LONDON :
Longmans, Green, and Co.
1876.
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CONTENTS.
Preface. -
_V-XIV
Introduction. -•• -- -- - xV_xxvm
Chapter I.
1-25
Hia, or Tangut. — ^
Kara Khitai. — *
Khiiarczm. — "^
Pars. ™ -•- -- - -^
India. •- -•• - ~..."~- — 9
Baghdad. - --•• 10
Mosul. -•- - - - --10
The Crusaders. •«• • 1^
Rum. - - 13
Little Armenia. -^ — 18
Trebizond. — ^^
Georgia. — - - 1"^
The Jsmailites."- - — —15
The Kipchaks. - •• - - IS
The Kankalis. — •• 18
The Karluks. - — ^..-Ift
Mmaligh. ^ - - -Id
The Naimans. - - - -.20
The Uighurs. — - ".-.21
.11
12
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The Keraits. - - - 22
The Merkits. •• •-. - -^
The Kirghises and Kemkernjuks. - —23
The Urasuts, Telenkuts, and Kestimis. - 23
The Uirads, Kuris. Tulas, Tumats, Barguis, and Kurluts. -24
The V\ild Uriankuts. - — 24
Bulgachins and Kermnchins. — -2^
The Jelairs. — 25
Suweit and Kabterun. - 25
The Tartars. 25
The Onguts." - - - 26
Chapter II. The Origins of the Mongols.- 27 — 18
Chapter III. Jingis Khan. - 49-115
Notes. ~ - -.. IW
Chapter IV. Ogotai and his descendants. - 116—183
Ogotai Khan. -- -US
Kuyuk Khan. — - 160
Kaidu Khan. - ~ -173
Chapar. — - 181
Notes. .- -"- - -.•- 182
Chapter V. Mangu and Khubilai. — ....187-283
Mangu Khan. - -18^
Khubilai Khan. -•.. - • - 21«
Notes. ™ - - - - 278
Chapter VI. The descendants of Khubilai. r84— 383
Uldsheitu Khan. ; --- "-••284
Kuluk Khan. - - - 290
Buyantn Khan. - - - - - -2^7
Gegen Khan. •- - • - ...^.300
Yissun Timur Khan. •- - - -- ^^
Kushala Khan. - ~ -^^
30ft
„ JJIO
Jiyaghatu Khan. ~
Rintshenpal Khan. ••- ••
Toghon Timur Khan. -310
Blliktu Khan. -- -340
Ussakhal Khan. .- - .--345
Engke Soriktu Khan. -34«
Elbek Khan. -350
Gun Timur Khan. — -- • 3-52
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Uldshei Timur Khan. —^52
Delbek Khan. -3W
Adai Khan. 366
Adsai Khan. 860
Taissong Khan. -.361
Akbardshi Khan. ■- "•^»62
Ukektu Khan. -^ - ^ SG5
Molon Khan. ••- -'^^»6
Mandaghol Khan. — — -3G8
Dayan Khan. - — ........309
Bodi Khan. — ~ — -376
Kudang Khan. 377
Sassaktu K han. - - -«^378
Selzen Khan. - - •• 378
Lingdan Khniuktu Khan. 379
Erke Khongkhor Khan. - — — 380
Notes. - - ~ - — 381
Chapter VII. The Chakhars and the Forty-nine
Bannars. - - -• -384-464
The Chakhars. - — -384
The Forty-nine Banners. - -388
The Khotshids or Khagotshits. 390
The Sunids. ~ --391
The Wesumutshins. ~ -.393
The Aokhanj.. , 394
The Naimans. ^W
The Dsarods or Dzaraguts. — 396
The Barins or Bagharins.-- - - -^7
Ihe Keshiktens. •- - ■- - 39S
The Baragbon Tumens. — 399
I. The Ordus. ~ 399
II. The Tumeds. - 415
III. The Kharatshins. - 430
The Khortshins. - - ~ -.• ^34
The Khorlos. — - - - •.■.4^i2
The Durbeds. «. - ^443
The Jelaids. - - — 444
A ru K ho rts hi ns . — — - 445
The Durben Keukeds. - - 445
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The Urads. - -4^
The Mao Minggans. •— — -• - - ^^
The Ongnighods. - •- - -448
The Abaghas. 450
The Abaghanar?.— - 451
Notes. ~ - - 452
Chapter VIII. The Khalkhas.- - 455-495
The Western Khalkhas of Jafsaklu Khan. ••- 466
The Eastern Khalkhas of the Inner division. •• 473
The Northern Khalkhas of Tushiyetu Khan. - 474
The Western Khalkhas of the Inner division.- - -183
The Middle Khalkhas of the Sain No3an. - 483
The Eastern Khalkhas of the Setzen Khan. 485
Mountains. - - • - 487
Rivers. - .-...490
Lakes. - - -.493
Notes. - - 494
Chapter IX. The Khoshotes. - — -- - 497^533
Notes. — " 530
Chapter X. The Keraits and Torguts. •- 534—589
Notes. " - «.587
Chapter XL The Chores. 590-680
Notes. - -676
Chapter XII. The Buriats. ...681-C92
Notes, Corrections, and Additions. G9.»-743
Map of Mongolia. /» p cJ:et at end of volvme
Map of the \Iongt">]s. - la pocket at end of lolums
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TO
SIR HENRY C. RAWLINSON, K.C.B., F.R.S.
It was once the fashion for authors to dedicate their works to patrons
from whose bounty some advantage was expected, and few things arc
more humbling in literary history than the servile addresses which
sycophancy under these drcomstances has produced. We now live in
more dignified times; and may place on the threshold of our work
the name of some friend whom we reverence and respect ¥fithoot
degrading our pens to such mercenary uses.
I led it a privilege to be permitted to dedicate this the first-fruits
of not inconsiderable toil and exertion, to one who has raised very high ■
the reputation of Eni^and for wide and cuhnred scholarsh^, and for
brilfiant fortility in discovery. Your kind and considerate notice of my
efforts when a boy enccnraged me to persevere in an arduous task, of
which this is the outcome. It is probable that you will find some-
thing to object to and much to correct, besides the errors inevitable
in such a work ; but 1 shall fod gratified if you condude that I have
in some measure thrown %ht on a difficult and perplexing subject.
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PREFACE.
ONE can conceive few things more melancholy than an author
reading his own w<»k. -A man may easily overrate the virtues
and be blind to the vices of his children, but unless he be
singularly isolated and unaccustomed to the searching breezes of
criticism, he cannot avoid feeling sober and sad as he turns over the
pages of his own book. One can school oneself into treating mankind,
the world, the critics, contemporary opinion, or even posterity with
cynical disregard, but it is hardly possible to be cynieal with one's own
product; and yet, unless steeped to the finger-ends in vanity, even
the most accurate and careful author must feel that many sentences
might have been better written, that mistakes, the results of careless
writing and careless correcting— some due to the author, some to his
unsuspecting friend the printer— feeble logic, slovenly English, and
other faults mar the product at every turn ; and although the
bode itself, has worried him and caused him endless anxiety and
trouUe, he will see the blemishes more distinctly than all the rest
If this be true of most authors, it is assuredly true of those who have to
deal with a vast mass of facts and inferences, to thread their way through
tortuous quagmires in which authorities are at variance, and to march
over some of those arid tracts of human literature in which the heaps of
shingle have few rhetorical flowers to grace them, and yet every pebble
of which has a separate and individual existence, and marks a truth or an
error. It is in such a wilderness that we have been wandering, and we know
that what we have done is very imperfect, and is as remote from our
ideal as the rude efforts of Theodoros from the marbled flesh of Phidias.
We know too well that those who wish to use a critical lash upon us
may find a knot of scorpions in every page. We are not afraid of those,
however, who have traversed the same path. They will know how the
thorns prick and how hard it is to come out with a whole sldn ; and if
they are as candid to us as they would be to their own work, they will at
least do justice to the difficulty of the way. But let that pass. The
book is writ, and who will care to read* it ? It is hard to say. What
excuse then for writing it ? Are there not books enough and to spare in
the huge lumber-room of the world ? Does not the friture groan by
anticipation at the burden we are piling upon it ? Most true ; and yet it is
not merely the cacoethes scribendi, the mania for writing that has stirred
us. Like others, many others whom we know, we have looked along
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VI PREFACE.
that fascinating road which leads back towards the cradle of human
progress. Looked with longing eyes at those great banks of cloud and
mist and darkness behind which the sun of human history first rose, to
try and dispel some of them, and help to solve the riddle of whence it
came, why it came, and whither it hastens. It is a romantic and a
stirring problem, only to be solved, if it evei can be solved, by a dreary
process, namely, that of mapping out accurately the nearer vistas of the
landscape, and from that vantage making a further conquest of the land
beyond. Taking up the intertangled and crooked skein, the thousand
twisted threads into which the story has been ravelled, and foQowing
each one up to the beginning to reach at last, may be, the fountain source
whence Bushman and Englishman, Fetishman and Pope, black and red
and white all came. Like others who have gone before, we too started
ambitiously, our object having been to give a conspectus of ethnological
facts, to write a treatise in which the human race and its various varieties
should figure as it does in Pritchard s great work, with such additions as
fresh discoveries have necessitated. But our purpose fell through ; the
work was too great We next essayed a narrower field, in which our early
reading had delighted, namely, to treat of the nomade races of Asia, a
field very much unexplored and very confused, upon >\hich we have
written and printed sundry papers, some worthless and some otherwise
may be. But our hobby grew bigger as we tended it, it outgrew our
resources, and we had once more to restrain our coat within the limits of
our cloth ; our last resolve has resulted 'm these 800 pages, and more
which may follow. And now as to our fitness for the work, a question
often a stumblingblock to a vain man, who dreams he is exceptionally
qualified to do what he has done, and that none could have done it
better, but no stumblingblock to us, who know how much better it
might have been done by friends whom we could name. The field was
singularly unoccupied. Amidst the myriad volumes which the press
turns out, few indeed touched even the skirts of our question. Like the
Sahara in Afirica, or like the Saharas which occur in large libraries where
ancient folios lie asleep amidst dust and cobweb^ our subject has a
forbidding aspe<H, a dry and arid look which might well frighten any
traveller wh.o looked across it, and will doubtless scare many readers who
are not aware that even the Sahara has some oasSs, and almost every
elephant folio some few paragraphs to lighten. up the rest Dry and
repulsive a good deal of Mongolian history undoubtedly is, but it forms a
vast chapter in human annals, which we may not evade without seriously
marring our historic knowledge. In the absence of better guides, an
inferior traveller may find a great work to his hand, which he may do in
the hope that when he has reduced it somewhat to order, and traced out
its topography rudely, others may follow who shall have the lighter task
of correcting his mistakes, of filling in the canvas with more attractive
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PREFACE. vii
deuily and of oompletiog tht work whkh the pioneer can only begin. It
is because the fiekl was vacant that we took up the mattock^ and if it be
beyond oar power ImpMntly, to do wdl, we may justify our conscience by
doing o«r best
I approach the problen) as aa ethnologist and historian, and
not as a Ungoisty and 1 have to state at once that I h«v« had no
access to the authorities in dietr original language, and <UKly to trans-
ialions and commentaries. Here» therefore, at the very diresbold, I have
to break not a knee but oaly a bodkin widi my friend Sir Henry
Rawlinson. At the meeting of the Oriental Congress in London be laid
It down that a man ought not to write history who cannot read the
original script in which the narrative was pat down, in other words, that
those only who can reach the flowers have a right to use the honey.
This view, 1 humbly submit, is not a reasonalde one. His own brother,
ray old friend the Canon of Canterbury, who has done so much for
Eastern history, is an instance to the contrary, and so are many others ;
but I go deeper than this. Take the history of the Mongols as a
crucial example, and consider the various languages in which the
originai story is enshrined. To be a profound Chinese, Persian,
Armenian, Russian, German, French, and Latin scholar is in itself
an inqiossibility ; several of these langu;^es are so difficult and com-
plicated that a lifetime is required for theb mastery, and no time is left
for the other portion of the work, the comparing and sifting of the
evidence; and of course the argument requires that a man shall have a
profound and not a superficial knowledge, or else his reading of the
or^[inal is very inferior in value to a reading taken second-hand from a
profound master of the language. I hold the two works to be entii^y
ap»rt One man carves the stone from the quarry, and another shapes
it into a iigure ; one man digs out the gold, and another makes the
embossed bowl out of it . It would be as unfair and unreasonable to
forbid the painter to paint hts picture unless he knew how to make his
colours, or the architect to design his palace unless he were the master of
every handicraft necessary to supply the building with materials, as to
deny the historian the ri^^t to build up his story, to fill in his canvas,
unless he can quarry hb own materials out of the rock for himself. It is
not only unreasonable, but it is m fact securing very inferior woik ; it is
the case of the western faram whittling his own chairs and uUes
with his pocket knife, instead of furnishing his hoi«% with objects made
by men specially skilled in their various crafts. How very cagro<^<¥ing
even one language may be, may best be illustrated by a story.
When making inquiiies once about some of the tribes of Cashmere, I
was introduced by a friend of mine, a very distinguished Eastern scholar,
to a German gentleman who had long lived on the borders of Caahmere.
I put my question to him, and he answered that he knew nothing about
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vni PRKPACB.
these tribesi for lie was a pure Sanskritist I was almost appalled by
the reply. The difficulty of Sanscrit was a matter with which I was
more or less familiar, but that it should so eagroas a man's whole life as
to leave him no time or inclination for an inquiry into a not '^f^^^^^y
connected sabfect, which was at his very elbow, was startling. If
this be true of Sanscrit, it is surely douldy tme of Chinese^ a language so
difficult that the quarrels of Chinese Itnginsts as to the meaning of
Chinese words and phrases form a not incuntiderable literature. It
is only once in a thousand years that men of the gigantic powers of
Klaproth, at once a profound linguist and a most acute ethnologist, come
to the sur£ftoe. For these reasons, therefore, I do not deem it an
objection that one who is writing an Eastern history should collect his
materials from secondary sources, but rather an advantage. The only
thing in which he should be carefol is to consult the translations of
scholars and of men of repute, and I trust that in the following pages I
have done so, and to the best of my abihty have ransacked the hteratnre
of Germany, F-ance, and England to bring together my materials. A
more detailed criticism of them will ^pear in the introduction.
There is one pitfall into which I am aware that I have frequently foSen,
and for which my distinguished correspondent Major Raverty will
take me to task, and that is in the orthography of the pn^>er names.
Here I confess to have been met by a difficulty of singular moment,
and one which appears to be almost insuperable until some uniform
scheme of spelling shall have been devised.
There are hardly two authors whom I have consulted who spell
the names in the same way, and very often thek spelling is so
different that it is nearly impossible |o recognise the name under its
various aspects ; I am aware that I have in consequence in several
cases failed to spell the same name consistently. The difficulty is a
profound one. Thus in Erdmann's history of Jingis Khan, an admirable
work, the letter g is used constantly iH^re other writers pot k, and a
friend of mine, a distinguished Kngnist, assures me that with many
Germans known to him the difference between the pronunciation of the
two letters is not an appreciable one. Again, the Chinese orthogra4[>hy
of names so disguises them that it is not always possible to recognise
them. Major Raverty, in hts capital edition of the Tabakat i Nasiri,
lays down certain methods of spelling, and is very severe on those who
differ from him ; but we must remember that in adopting^ the Persian
orthography for Turkish and Mongolian names, we are applying an
Arian orthogrsqf^y to Turanian names, and that such a aolution is really
an arbitrary one. The way in which Mongol names are pronounced at
Shiraz or Teheran is no doubt to be gathered from Persian authors, but
hardly the way in which Mongol names are pronounced in Mongolia. As
a rule, I have foltowed the spelling of Schmidt in his edition of Ssanang
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PREFAOL. tX
Setzen, the native chronicler. In other cases I have followed Erdmann,
who was a professor at Kazan and a good scfacdar ; in the absence of these
authorities I have been guided by what seemed to me the best authority,
but in doing so I have, I am aware, made some mistakes, and can only
do the kow-tow humbly to my readers for them. After all, the spelling
of the names, so long as we are not misled by it, is not a very grave
error, and we can only hope that in due time some settled system may
make the path of my successors a more easy one.
Having said so much about the difficulties of the author, I must now
turn to the work. Jf we wish to enter upon a branch of inquiry which
seems utteriy wanting in unity, to be as disinti^rated as sand, and
defying any orderly or rational treatment, we can hardly choose a better
one than the history of the Asiatic nomades. These tribes which, under
a variety of names, occupy the vast steppe lands, the deserts, moun-
tains, and river valleys which stretch from the frontiers of Hungary
to the Yellow Sea, seem at first sight to be quite imconnected with
one another in history and traditions, and unless we can find some
common element around which to group the story, we cannot hope
to make much headway. In looking round to find a girdle with whidi
to bind these disconnected threads, I have chosen what seems to be the
most convenient one. In the eariy part of the thirteenth century the
Mongols, an obscure tribe of Eastern Asia, headed by their chief Jingis
Khan, succeeded in conquering the greater portion of the nomades of
Asia. Not all of them, but the greater portion ; destroyed or displaced
the many ruling families which controlled them, and integrated imder
one government and one law a multitude of independent tribes. Jingis
Khan left the empire which he had conquered to his son Ogotai, while
he left to his other sons dependent appanages. They were subject in a
kind of feudal fashion to their more fortunate brother. And thus matters
continued for generations, until, as is almost inevitable in vast unwieldy
en4>ires, where intercommunication is difficult and interests are different,
the various appanages broke away and became independent, each one,
however, ruled over by descendants of Jingis Khan. These appanages
in turn were broken into lesser fragments, still, however, ruled by princes
of the same royal stock, until the vast empue was shattered into the many
fragments which make the political geography of Asia so confusing.
The empire of Jingis was anything but homogeneous in its elements.
It consisted of tribes of various languages and origins, the Turks pie-
dominating largely in numbers, while the Mongols, who lived mainly in
their eld homes in Eastern Asia, formed but a ruling caste elsewhere.
What the empire was, its fragments became, very heterogeneous,— some
Tuikish, some Mongol, &c, but all having one common bond in that
they were ruled by princes of the same stock, the descendants of the
Moi^ Jingis Khan. It is this common bond which I have chosen as
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X PREFACE.
my sbeet-anclior; on which to hook on the histories of the various
tribes, and thus give unity and coherence to the story. The history of
the Moi^^ in this sense, therefore, includes not only the history of the
Mongols proper of Mongolia, but 6f all the tribes whose ruling house was
Mongol, and wha could trace descent from the royal stock of Jingis
Khan. In the present volume I shall confine myadf to the history of the
Mongols proper, and leave the variotis Turkish tribes which obey princes
of the Mongol royal stock lor another volume. The Mongote may be
divided into two sections ; the Eastern Mongols, to whom the name more
property belongs, and the Western Mongols or Kahnuks. The former
occupy the first eight chapters of the volume, and the latter the last four.
The history of the Mong<^ is necessarily a ^drum and trumpet
history.'' It deals chiefly with the conquests of great kings and
the struggles of rival tribes, and many of its pages are crowded with
inddents of butchery, and a terrible story of ravage and destruction.
It is in the main the story of one of those hardy, brawny races cradled
amidst want and hard circumstances, in whose blood there is a good
mixture of iron, which are sent periodically to destroy the luxurious and
the wealthy, to lay in ashes the arts and culture which only grow under
the shdter of wealth and easy circumstances, and to convert into a desert
the paradiie which man has painfully cultivated. Like the pestilence
and the famine, the Mongols were essentially an engine of destruction ;
and if it be a painful, harassing story to read, it is nevertheless a
necessary one if we are to understand the great course of human
progress, l^or is the story wholly one of bloodshed and destruction ; far
from it I would commend those who wish to see the other side of the
shield to the concluding pages of the lives of Jingis Khan, and Ogotai,
his toRf and to the lives of Khubilai and his successors. Political
philosophy has mudi to learn from institutions which were founded by a
race of nomade8> and were found capable of redudag to order and to
good government the disintegrated robbers of Asia, and for a while to
make the desert as safe as the Queen's highway. It is assuredly a
valuable lesson to learn what wise and beneficent laws and institutions
could be devised by the ingenuous shepherds of the Mongolian desert,
and what wmidly wisdom and shrewd insight into human character they
were masters of. And it may be that wlule we deplore the terrible
destruction that we shall conclude that what was swept away had
seen its heyday that like the apple which ripens and then becomes
overripe tiil it rots, human society reaches a term at last, when there is
no longer progress, when there is nothing but stagnation, and with it
the products of stagnation, vice, and mental disease. If we cannot
forget that Byzantium was the dauber of Rome, and the rival factions
of the Circus, in some measure, the heirs of the old parties in the
Forum, we shall not be cynical enough to afiirm that the child was as
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PRBPACB. XI
good as tiie pareat, that the scroMoits and xHtaAf base and d^;raded
mofalatOBosplieieortbe mistrest of tiie BotplioniSy with its decrepitude
in the arts, in Uteatitre, in evefytiiing save Yice, was not ready for the
destroyer, nor afiect to depbie the rerohition whidt swept it away.
Greece had been dwaxM in every sense, aad become a poor shadow of
its former sdf when the Romans traa^led it under. The Saxons.had,
for neady two ceatniies, been almost stagnant in literature and the arts
when the Norman heal crushed them and restored new Ife to the
decaying carcase ; and it was so^ to a large extent n^th the victims of die
Moi^ol arms; their prosperity was hc^w and pretentions, their
grandeur very bug^ but outward giittcri and the diseased body needed
a sharp remedy; the apoplexy that was hnpending ceuld probably only
be staved off by much blood letting, die deflmcaltsed dties must be sown
with salt, and their inhabitants inoculated with fresh streams of vigoious
blood from the uncontaminated desert. And then there came, as
diere always comes, a Renaissance— a new lifo. When the wave of
destruction was spent, the reUcs and fragments of the &ld arts and
cukure became the seeds of a mote vigonras growdi. The virgin soi
was speedily covered with firesh green. From China, Persia, Europe,
from all sides, i^ere die hoofr oi Mongol horses had tramped, there was
furnished a quota <tf ideas to the comcoion hive, whence it was distributed.
Europe, iHiidi had sunk into lediaigy under the influence of feudal
institutions and of intestine wars, gsaduafiy awoke. An afflatus of
architectural eneigy, as Colonel Yule has remaiked, qiread over the
world ahnost direcUy after the Mongol conquests* Poetry and the arts
began rapidly to revive. The same ddng occurred in Persia under Ae
Ukhans, die heirs and snoocssors of Khulagu, and in Southern Russia at
Serai, under the successors of Batu Khan. While in China it would be
difficult to point to any epodi of Asiatic history which could rival the
vigorous life and rejuvenescence which marks the reign of the great
Khubilai Khan, whose history I have described in the fifth duqiter.
As the Mongols contrcdled die communications between these various
centres, and protected diem efiectnally so long as they remained powerfol.
Eastern and Western nations were bfXM^t together, and reacted
on one another. I have no doubt mysdf, as I have pointed out in the
f<^lowing p9gts that the art of printing, die marinei^ compass, firearms,
and a great many details of social life, were not discovered in Europe,
but imported by means of Mongol influence from the furthest East.
I must now give a short abstract of die contents of this volume* The
first chapter contains a description of the most important tribes and
nations which the Mongols came in contact with in their early days. Ihave
remitted the controversial questiODS to the notes at the end of the volume,
to which I would commend my etlmological friends for a good deal of
new matter upon the edmography of many of the nomades. Let me
b
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m PRBFACB.
caU attention eqjieciatty to the note on the Keimitt. The Mcond chapter
is devoted to an examination of the Originet of the Mongols and a
critidsm of their timditions, and the accounts we have of them in the
Persian and Chinese authors down to the time of Jingis Khan« This is
dry enough, but will, I hope, be found to be a considerable advance on
any previous venture in the same fidd. The third chapter deals with
Jingis Khan, and traces his history from his early days to his death, with
an account, as far as I have met with it, of his various laws and
institutions. This is more or less well trodden ground. Erdraann,
D*Ohsson, and De la Croix have written largely up<m it. I have added
several Sagas bom Ssanang Setien, the native chronicler, and have
tried to make the narrative more correct I must beg my readers,
however, to consult the notes in reading it, for it is a difficuh part
of the subject, and I have modified my views about certain portions
of it. The fourth chapter is devoted to Ogotai, the son and success^'
of Jingis Khan, and his descendants. Ogotai consolidated the empire
his fruher had won, and largely wid^ied iu borders. The account of
the campaign undertaken during his reign into Central Europe has been
carefully elucidated by Wolff, and his results will be found condensed in
this chapter. Ogotai was succeeded by his son Kuyuk Khan, to whom
the Franciscan missionary Carpini went. On the death of Kuyuk there
was a revolution in Mongc^ia. The £unily of Ogotai was displaced by
that of Tului, but Ogotai*s descendants kept up a struggle for the throne
for a long time, and were de facto sovereigns of a large territory in
Central Asia. I have given their history until they finally submitted to
the rival house. In the fifth chapter I have given the history of the
two brothers Mangu Khan and Khubilai Khan, whose reigns coincide
with the apogee of Mongol power and greatness. During the reign of
the former, the Khaliphate and the Assassins were conquered by his
brother Khulagu, who founded a Ime of Mongol sovereigns in Persia
known as the llkhans. The cotut of Mangu was visited by the
Franciscan Rubruquis, who has left a graphic picture of it Khubilai
was the patron of Marco Polo. He moved the seat of government from
Mongolia to China, subjected the southern half of that empire, and
became the virtual founder of the Mongol dynasty of Chinese Wang tis
or emperors known as the Yuen dynasty. His reign is a brilUant one,
not merely in Mongol history, but in the annab of Asia. The sb^th
chapter is devoted to the history of the Yuen dynasty, the successors
of Khubilai down to their expulsion from China, and continues
their history through the period of depression, when the Kalmuks and
Mongols separated and formed two distinct nations, and down to the
final conquest of the Chakhars, the tribe ruled over by the senior line of
Mongol chiefs representing the old supreme Khans of the Motels.
The seventh chapter contains an account of the topogn^y and history
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mspACi. xiii
of the Childian and of the various tribes constitutifif die so-called
Forty-nine Banners, that is, of the various Mongol tribes who migrated
to the south of the desert of Gobi and became subjects of the Manchus
in the early days of the latter*s prosperity. In this chapter will be found
considerable detaib about the conversion of the Mongols to Lamaisni.
The eighth chapter contains the history of the Khalkhas, whose several
divisions constitute the Mongols who live north of the desert of Gobi,
and who did not become subject to China until much later. As in the
case of the former tribe, my account of fhem closes with their conquest
by China. In this chapter will be found many details about the early
intercourse of the Russians with the Mongols. In the ninth chapter I
commence the history of the Kafanuks, and begin with the Khodiotes or
Kalmuks of Thibet. There will be found, collected from various
sources', an account of the influence of the Lamas upon the Mongols,
and of the rise and growth of the now dominant sect of the Yellow
Lamas, who are presided over by the well-known Dalai Lama. I believe
this is the first account of this interesting story which has appeared in
Ei^lish. The tenth chapter contains the history of the Keraits. When
I wrote it I believed the Keraits to have been the ancestors of the
Toignts, following in this respect the very able lead of Abel Remusat.
As I have sud in the note on the Keraits at the end of the
volume, I no longer think so, and I have given my reasons there
for my change of opinion. In this chapter will be found a detailed
account of that hero of so much romance and fitble, Ptester
John, with a criticism of the latest views in regard to hnn, as wdl
as an account of the most important tribe among the European
Kahnuks, namely, the Torguts. The tenth chapter is devoted to the
Sungars, Deibets, &c., whom I dass under ^e generic name Chores.
In this will be found the history of the rise of the Sungar
royal family, which for a while built up a power in Central Asia that
promised to rival that of tht older Mongols, and to fight upon equal
terms with Ae Manchu conquerors of China. The twelfth and last
chapter deals with the Buriats, the least sophisticated of the Mongol
tribes, and the one about whose history we have the least infonnation.
While nearly all the odier Mongob are subject to Cluna. the Buriats live
under the authority of Russia. In the notes and corrections, &C9 1 have
added such new information as has become accessible to me since the
book was written, and corrected ^e errors which I have found, and
others which have been pointed out to me by my very kind friend
Colonel Yule. Many still remain, and I shall be exceedingly grateful to
any critics who may notice my work, for pointing out to me where I have
gone astray, diat I may add their hints to an appendix, for I hardly
expect that in this generation there will be found another English student
who wiO venture over the same ground.
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xiv PREPACB.
It now remains to thank those who have assisted me. In the intro-
duction I have given a list of the authorities upon which the work it
founded— I hope a fair and tolerably complete one. To that list I
must commend my readers for the sources of my matter. These
I have had very largely to consult in my own library, away in the
Bceotian fields of Lancashire, far from the pleasant book shelves of the
Great National Library ; iUf too, from the companionship of those who
could have helped me in many a crooked comer. I may say, without
exaggeration, that it has been written alone. After it was written and
printed off, the sheets were posted to Palermo to Colonel Yvtit,/acil4
frinci^ in questions relating to Central Asia, and not more widely
known for his great stores of learning and his accuracy than for Ins
urbanity and kindness. Most of the suggestions he has made I have
incorporated in the notes, and I only repeat myself when I return him
grateful thanks for them. To Dr. Rost, of the India Library, I am
specially indebted for loans of books in any number, and still more for
the confidence with which I have been allowed to retain them as long as I
pleased. He also is widely known for his profound scholarshipi and hn
willingness to assist the humblest student ; and I am very proud to be
allowed to call him my firiend. The Librarians of the Asiatic Society of
the Anthropological Institute and of the Geographical Society have also
earned my thanks for their ready loan of books. Lastly there are three
names which I cannot leave out without grave injustice. First, ray dear
old mother, who was the first to teach, and who has never ceased to
encourage me, who was always prodigal in every favour, and who will,
of all my critics, I know, be the most tender to my failings. Secondly,
my friend Georfe Hector Croad, now the honoured Secretary of the
London School Bdard, my old master, whose enthusiasm, whose
thoroughness, and whose integrity I feel it a privilege to have tested
in a hundred ways, and who first gave me a taste for historical inquiries.
I hope he will not deem I have disgraced him* Lastly, my wife, my
ever patient wife, who has sat out many hundred lonely hoars while I
have turned over the dusty pages, who has resisted the importunities
of many kind friends to bum the heaps of dry-as-dust—which I call
my library. She has done iidiat no amount of gratitude can rq>ay ; but
there is one thing she will not dare to do, and that is to read my book. I
have now finished. It is a cold shivering worid that such a wiu-k as this
goes into; the hard names and the dry sentences are not tempting to the
casual reader. Some few, may be, will read it ; others turn to it to verify
a fact, or to find materials for a pedantic sentence ; others may busy
themselves with tearing it to pieces. All are welcome; and to ail I say—
*' ^^re, vak 1 d qiM aOTteti rKtlM isda,
Caadidtt imptrti, si aon, hit iit«re mecttat/'
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INTRODUCTION.
THERE can be no greater mistake than to write history as if our
views were immaculate and not subject to revision. The fact is,
that nearly ail history is tentative, and subject to be modified
by fresh discoveries. We can only raise our ladder to a certain height,
and then look round and describe the narrow horizon which we see
from its snmmit Those who come after us will profit by our work, will
start where we ended, will raise the vantage higher, and will without
doubt secure a wider view, and be able to improve upon oiu- position,
and so on till the whole story is secured. This is not a very encouraging
conclusion. It has one moral, however, which is too frequently foigotten.
If we see further than those who went before, it is because we are
raised higher from the ground by their efforts, we in fact stand on their
shoulders. Where we should have been had they not preceded us is not
easy to say. To throw stones, to cast jibes at them for their mistakes^
is surely very like parricide. We who move the coach an ell, where
they perhaps moved it a mile, are but poor creatures if we cannot gauge
their work, the vast mass of new matter they brought together, without
a perpetual snarl at their small mistakes, or a perpetual cackle over our
own superior wisdom. I hold that the value of a man's work is to be
measured, not by the fewness of his mistakes, but by the number of new
facts and ideas he has brought together. He who never opens hb
mouth will not speak much folly, nor will he add much to the worid's
resources. Orientalists are proverbial for being testy, and for having
many quarrels. They too often crucify a victim who has dug knee-deep
in new matter but who has failed to accept some shibboleth which has
"been ear-marked as essential ; nor do they easily pardon a writer who
has not quite reached their stand-point, and a laige portion of
writing on Oriental matters is not only polemical but bitteriy so. I
feel too much gratitude for the great dead who have cleared my
path to imitate this example. I am not going to throw any stones
at my fether Parmenides^ or at the naany old giants whose work has
made mine possible. I would rather greet them cap in hand on my
knees, as I woold my ancestorsi if they could be summoned and made
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xvi INTBODUCTION.
to go trooping by. If I have corrected some of their mistakes, it is
because I have had advantages which they had not ; and I am well
aware that the digging into historic quagmires is a mere lottery, in
which by some good chance a student may discover a nugget, while his
far superior master dose by will find only barren earth.
I now propose to give a short account of the sources from which the
history of the Mongols in this volume has been collected, and the
authorities to which I have been indebted. I will begin with the native
chronicler. Ssanang Setzen.
SsANANG Setzen was a prince of the Ordus tribe of the Mongols.
He was bom in 1604. His original name was Ssanang Taidshi, and he
was sumamed Ssanang Setzen Khungtaidshi after his grandfather.* He
wrote a work entitled " Mongol Khadun Toghudji| or a History of the
Mongol Khans,** which was completed in i662.t This work was trans-
lated into German, and published with elaborate notes at St. Petersburgh
in 1829, by Isaac Jacob Schmidt, who, I believe, was a missionary of the
Moravian brotherhood among the Mongols, and who was a very dis-
tinguished Mongol scholar. This is the only indigenous Mongol chronicle
which has been made accessible^ It treats of the history of the Eastern
Mongols, from the earliest times to the date when it was written. The
Mongol royal family is traced up to that of Thibet, and the eariier portion
of the work is in fact a history of Thibet, and derived from Lama
sources. That portion which deals with the origines of the Mongols and
their history down to the reign of Toghon Timur Khan is a mutilated
translation from the Chinese, and where it differs from the Chinese
authority is, as has been shown by Remusat and Klaproth in their
criticisms in the Journal Asiatique, not reliable. I have extracted a few
Sagas from this portion* of the work, rather as illustrative of Mongol
habits of thought than as being convinced of their reliability. From the
reign of Toghon Timur to the date of its completion, the work of
Ssanang Setzen is an independent and first-rate authority, and during
this period I have made it the basis of my narrative. I have also to
express my great indebtedness to Schmidt's notes, which are exceedingly
valuable and interesting, although not always to be implicitly foDowed.
Schmidt had a long dud with Klaproth and Remusat on various points
of Mongol history. The controversy riiay be read in the earlier volumes
of the two first series of the Journal Asiatique, and in it Schmidt was
generally discomfited. I have carefully examined these polemical
writings, and used them in my text and notes.
Schmidt also published in the Memoirs of the St. Petersburgh
Academy for 1834, a translation of a Manchu description of the various
Mongol tribes (exclusive of the Kalmuks), which were subject to China,
* ^tf^^^f S«tMa, 26s. t liLt 909, *B^ Journ. AtUt., ii. 193.
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umtODUCTlOM. xvn
witli the litttoiy of thmr dikfii ami of their &nal ftntg^
empire. It is ahaoet the only awtbority we posseas for the subjea it
treats oL This Juts been mu€h used in writing the sevendi and eighth
chapters of t^ wofk. Another of Schmidt's works, to which I have
been sU^rtly indebted is entitled " Forschungen im Gebiete der alieren
ReUgk)5ea Politiichen und Literarischen Bildungsgeachi^te der Volker
Mittd-Aiiens vosu|^ich der Mongolen und Tibeter.** St. Peterdmrgh,
1824.
We win now turn to the Chinese authorities for Mongol history, no
doubt the most in^ortant and vahiable authorities we possess.
De Mauxa.— Joseph-Anne Marie de Moyriac de Mailla was a Fn nch
Jesuit, belongiog to the Peking mission, one of a noble band of scholars
to whom we are under very great obligations. He translated an epitome
of Chinese history, known as the Toog-Kieng-Kang-Mu, which was
published in Paris in 1779, in thirteen quarto volumes, and is the only
general history of China we possess. It has constantly been at my elbow
during the progress of this work, and will be found quoted on almost
every page. The volumes which contain references to the Mongols are
the ei^th to the twelfth. The ninth is devoted almost entirdy to them.
The translation of De Mailla was edited under the superintendence of
M. Deshautesrayes and the Abbe Grosier. As 1 have said, the work
professes to be a translation of the Kang Mu, and is evidently very
carefully done. We are told by the editor that for the period covered [by
the dynasties of the Liau, Kin, and Yuen or Mongols, the Kang Mu was
singulariy deficient in details about the foreign dynasties, and that
consequently De Mailla had recourse to other sources. The Emperor
Shun shi, father of Kang hi, caused the history of these three dynasties
to be transkted into Manchu by Charbukai, Nantu, Hokiton, Liau hong
yu, and many other skilled literates. This history, which v/as written
with the most critical care, has equal authority with the Kang Mu, and
it was tianslated and incorporated by De Mailla in his woric.*
Gaubil.— According to M. Remusat, Gaubii was the greatest of the
French Jesuit scholars who investigated the antiquities of China. He
was bom at Caillac in Languedoc in 1689, became a Jesuit in. 1704, and
went to China in 1723, where he greatly distinguished himself as a
sdiolar. His most celebrated work was the translation of the Shu kii^
into French. He also translated from the Chinese an epitome of the
history of the Mongols, which was published in 1739 ^t Paris, under the
title of ** Histoixe de Gentchiscan et de toute la dynastie des Mongoiis.''t
It is a capital work, and contains many facts not mentioned by De
MaiUa, and is quite an independent authority, I have used it constantly
in the foUowii^ work.
•D%Utiam,iM,i, Holt. t B— Mrt. Komftrnga UtHmtm, tt. lyy, Ite.
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XViii IBTTRODUCnON.
ViSDELOU.-— We owe to a third member of the Jetuh mission «t Paris
a very valuable series of translatiotts (ram the Chinesei rdating to the
history of the various nomades who lived in the desert north of China
and its borderland, namely, Visdelou. He was bom in Brittany in 1656,
and went to China in 1685. His translations are mainly derived from
Matuanlin, the great encyck^Mcdist, who lived in the thiiteenth century,
but he also consulted later authors. His translations are praised for
their £uthfulness by M. Remusat They were published in the supple-
mentary volume to D'Herbelot's Bibliotheque Orientale, of which work
they form the most valuable poition. I have frequently used them in the
subsequent chapters.
De GuiGNSS.— The author of the history of the Huns wrote a history
of the Mongols as a part of his great work. This is largely taken from
Chinese sources, but I liave found nothing in it idiich is not to be found
elsewhere ; nor is this portion of De Guignes's work very satisfactory.
We have considerably advanced in our knowledge of the period since
his day.
PAUTHIER. — In his edition of Marco Polo and elsewhere, M. Pauthier
has quoted largely from the Yuen Si, or the annals of the Yuen dynasty*
His translations are not always trusted by Chinese scholars, but in the
main are no doubt correct. I have used all the materials he has
published which 1 could reach and which elucidate my subject. These
chiefly illustrate the reign of Khubilai Khan.
De la Marpk.— In the year 1865, M. PAbbe De la Marre, attached
to the. Fieiidi missions, pubhshed a translation of a work composed by
the Kmperor Kien lung, entidcd ** Histoire de la Dynastie des Ming**'
It contains many references to the later Mongol history which 1 have
abstracted. Unfortunately the translation is only a fragment, and 1 am
assured it will not be completed. It covers the ground from 1 368 to 1 505.
I have fre<4uently used it, and occasionally quoted it as ''the Ming
annals," which is a somewhat misleading title.
Amiot.— Father Amiot,. another member of the Pddng mission, pub-
lished in 1776^ in the grand collection of materials for Chinese history
known as the '' Memoires Concernant I'Histoire des Sciences, &c., des
Chinois," Volume I., a translation of the inscription put on the monument
erected to commemorate his conquest of the Eleuths or Snngai-s by the
Emperor Kien lung. This lengthy document, with the notes upon it, has
been largely used in the following history. In the same volume is a
similar document relating the wonderful majc^h of the Torguts from
China back to their old homes on the borders of China. This document
was also engraved on stone, and we owe its translation to Father Amiot.
Its contents have been used in writing the ninth chapter.
Hyacinths, a member of the Russian mission at Peking, and a very
profound Chinese scholari translated several inqMntant works from the
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INTRODUCnOH. XIX
Chittete^ bat snfortnMitily he translated them into Russian, a language
ahnost if not quite at inaccessible. InUr aHm, he translated a history of the
fiwt four Moi^l Khans. This, 1 gather from D'Ohsson, is taken from
the same epitomes which were consulted by De Mailla and Gaubil. The
value of the work consist* in the variants he gives us for the proper
names. It has been collated by both Erdmaan and D'Ohsson, and in
their works we probably have all the facts n^ch are of any use in
it. A second of his works, namely, a history of tb« Kalmuks from
Mongol sources, I have not been able to meet with, although I have sent
to Russia for it. I believe it is not to be had. A third.work, namely, an
epitome of Chinese history, with an account of his travels in Mongt^ta,
was translated by M. Boi^g, under the title of ** Denkwurdigkeiten ueber
die MongoleL" It was published at Berlin in 1832, and I have
occasioaaUy used it.
TiMKOWSKi. — M. Timkowski was a savant who was appointed
to accompany the Russian mission to China in ift2o and the following
years. He wrote an account of his journey, which was edited with notes
by Klaproth, and was translated into English in 1827. It is the best
topografdiical account of Mongolia we possess. To the account of his
travels has been appended a very valuable translation from the Chinese
by Father Hyacinthe, consisting of an historical, geographical, and ethno-
graphical description of Mongolia. I have used it very laigely in
composii^ the seventh and eighth chapters of this work.
SCHOTT. — ^Professor Schott, of Berlin, one of my honoured correspond-
ents, has published a number of very valuable papers on the history, &c.,
of the Altaic peoples, in the Transactions ci the Beiiin Academy.
Among these i»oiie I have frequently used in the second chapter of this
work, in i^iich he has examined the question of the Origines of the
Moogds as given by Chinese authors. It is entitled ^ iCheste Nach
richten von Moi^folen und Tauren.*
Bkrgmann.— M. Bergmann was the author of a capital descriptive
work upon the Kahnuks, published at Riga m 1804, under the title
of ** Nomadische Streifereien unter den Kalmnfcen in den Jahren
iSo2 und 1803.* 1 have used it a food deal in treating of the
Kahntfks.
The next audiorities to which I shall refer are unfortunatdy fiot so
accessible as the Chinese ; they still remam largdy locked up in their
ofigtttal kngvage^ and in fiurt inedited. I refer to the Persian histonaas
of the Mongols. They have, however, been dihgently and careiiilly
sifted by snch eqicrienced Eastern scholars as De la Croix, lyOhsson,
Von Hammer, Erthnann, &c, who have distilled for us the essence of
the story in nearly all its details, and criticised in a very sldUul way its
inconsistencies and errors. Before I describe their works it will be weU
to give a short conspectus of the authorities upon which they are bated,
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XZ iNTKODVCTtON.
and wkadk form the basis, although at secondhand, of a kffe potttoa of
our work. The first in date of them was
IBN AL Athir, who was bom at Djezireh, on the borders of the
Tigris, in the year 1160, and died at Motol in 1233. He was thus a
contemporary of Jingis Khan and of his son Ogotai, and wrote a work
entitled ''Kami! ut Tewarikh," f>., '' complete history,'* which begias
with the creation and terminates in 1231 ; under the year laao and those
that follow he gives a description of the Mongol .invasion of TnuMOidanai
Persia, the borders of the Tigris and Euphrates, Geofgia, and die north
<^ the Caucasus., As he lived at Mosul he had special opportunities for
learning what occurred at this time in Western Persia.*
Nessavi.— The next author in date is Shihab ud din Bifuhainmed, son
of Ahmed, styled el Nessavi. He is often spoken of a» Nessavi, Irom the
frface of which he was a native, namely, Nessa. He was of princely family,
and his castle was the wdl known fort of Karendar, between Nessa and
Nishapoor. The work he wrote is known as the " Siret us Sukan, Jelal
ud din Muhammed,* and is a biography of the cdebrated Khuarezm
chief, Jel^l ud din, son of Muhanomed, whose secretary he was. He was
incited to write this book from hacving casually met with the work of Ibn
al Athir, and there read an account of the end of Muhammed and'of the
youth of his son. The book is contained in 108 chapters, and was
written in 1241, and gives the history of Jelal ud din until his death in
1231. His narrative, we are told, is singularly ingenuous and interesting,
and he was also singulariy well-placed for acquiring correct notions on
what he wrote. He only mentions the Mongols occasionally.t
Alai in> DIN Ata Malik Juvsini.— This author was a native of
Juvein in Khorassan, and his work is called " Tarikh* Jihankushai, or
History of the Conqueror of the World." In 1^52 he accompanied his
father, who was in the Mongol service, to the grand Kuriltai hdd at the
accession of Mangu Khan. He accompanied Khulagu in his expedition,
and was by him appointed governor of B^^ad, Irak Arab, and
Khuxistan, a post which he occupied until his death in 1283. His work is
divided into two parts. The first one contains an account of the last ten
years of the reign of Jingis Khan and of the reigns of Ogotai and Kuyuk,
with chapters on the Uighurs and the Khans of Kara Khitai, a detailed
history of the Khuarezm Shahs, and of the doings of the Mongols in
Persia until the arrival of Khulagu there. The second part describes
Khubigu's western campaign, and also conuins a detailed account of the
Ismailites or Assassins. It terminates in i2i;7. His position prevented
Joveini from being anything but a panegyrist of the Mongols, whose
conquests he excuses, and whose western campaign he argues was
* D'OhMOO, i. X. Abel Btmuuit, Nooveftwc Melaogct Aal«tiqu«, i. 434.
t jyOhm^n, V ziii. B«Bi»at« op. dx., 435.
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IMTRODUCnOK. xxi
providentlAlly arranged^ so that by their means the religion of Islam
might be widely disseminated. He praises their tolerance and the way
in vdiich they exempted from taxes the ministers of religion and others ;
but he breaks out occasionally in a different strain. *^ The revolution,''
be says, ** which has overwhelmed the world, has destroyed the colleges,
and slaughtered the learned, especially in Khorassan, which was the
focus of l^ht, the rendezvous oi the learned, as is shown by the words
of the prophet : ' Science is a tree whose roots are at Mecca while it
bears fruit in Khorassan.' All the learned men there have falle
by the sword. The nobodies who have replaced them know only
the Uighur language and writing. The highest offices are filled by the
meanest people, many contemptible folk have been enriched. Every
intriguer has become an emir or vizier. Every braggart has become
powerfiiL The slave is become the patron ; anyone who wears a doctor's
turban deems himself a doctor, and obscure people consider themselves
gentry. In such times, which are a period of fiBunine for science and
virtue, and of a full market for ignorance and corruption, where all
honesty is degraded, where everything bad is held in honour, it may be
guessed what encouragement there is for science and letters.*^
Vassaf.— Abdullah, son of Fazel uUab, styled Vassaf ul Hazret, or the
Pan^;yrist of his majesty, wrote in Persian a woric entitled " Kitab
Tedjziyet ul emssar ve tezdjiyet ul a'ssar ^ (i./., Division of countries and
transition of centuries). It contains a history of the Mongols from 1257
to 1327, and forms a sort of continuati<m to the Jihankushai. It is
divided into five parts, and describes the doings of the Mongols in
Persia, in Turicestan, and Transoxiana, with the contemporary history of
Egypt, Farsy Kerman, and India. He was a proteg^ of the vizier
Raschid ud din, to ndiom I shall presently refer, by whom he was
presented to the Ilkhan Uldjaitu, who gave him the soubriquet of Vassaf
ul Hazret as a reward for an ode he wrote in his honour.
Raschid.— The mo^t valuable Western authority on the history of the
Mongob is ^ '' Jami ut Tewarikh,** or collection of annals written by
Fadhlallah or FazduUah Raschid, son of Abulkhair of Hamadan. Raschid
was a doctor in the service of the Ilkhan Gazan, and was in the year
1500 made governor of Persia*. He continued in the office of vizier
during the reign of Uldjaitu, to whom he presented his woric in 1307, and
was put to death by his successor Abusaid on the 13th of September, 1318.
Thb most valuable history. commences with a conspectus of the various
tribes of Asia at the accession of Jingis Khan, with an account of their
origin and the topography of the districts they inhabited, &c. This portion
of his wotk has been translated by Erdmann, and appeared at Kazan in
the year 1841: It is a very rare work, and I have been happy in having
. •lyOhtMO.Lxvii.toisviii. RemiiiAl, op. ch.. i. 436.
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zxii INTRODUCTION.
had it beside me. The same part of Rasdiid's history is extnctedahnott
verbatim in Erdmann's life of Temodjin, 173-24B. Rasdiid then ghres
an account Of tibe traditions iHiich he had been mbie to collect on the
early history of the Mongols, and continues his story by rdating the
events that happened under Mongol rule until the period nHien he wrote.
He tells us that in the archives of the Persian Mongols were many
authentic papers, written in Mongol, winch had been entrusted to him by
the Ilkhan Uldjaitu, in order that he might draw up a history, and that
to assist him there had been assigned a number of Chinese, Indian,
Uighur, and Kipchak learned men, and especially the great Noyan Pulad
Ching sang, who was generalissimo and administrator of the kingdom,
and was well versed in the traditions and history of the Turkish nations,
and -especially of that of the Mongols. His work is largely based on the
Jihankushai and other works already mentioned^ but contains a great
deal of additional matter.* It is a great pity that it is still inaccessible.
M. Quatremere conmienced a translation of it on a very large scale, with
ample notes, btkt it did not go beyond one. vohime. The work of Raschid
forms the main authority used by Erdmann in his life of Temudjin, of
D'Ohsson's history of the Mongols, and of Von Hammer's Ilkhans, and
we have it abridged in the wdl known work of Abulghazi.
Abulghazi. — He was the son of Arab Muhammed Khan, and a
descendant of Juji, the son of Jingis, was bom in 1605, became cUef
of Slhuarezm in 1643, and died in 1663-64. He wrote a work entitled
" Shedjcri i Turki," the genealogical tree of the Turks. It is writtofi in
Tuiki, and has been recently edited and translated by M. De^maifons.
The earlier portion of it is an abridgment of Raschid, the latter is
founded on original documents otherwise inaccessible. It will be found
quoted frequently in the following work.
Abulparadj. — Gregory AbulfiEuradj, also known as Bar HdNraeus, was
bom in 1336, at Malattia or Melitene, and was the son of a doctor named
Aaron. He became a cleric, and at the age of twenty WM appointed
bishop of Gobos. He was afterwards translated to Aleppo» and became
in 1264 Maphriam or primate of the Jacobites. He wrote a meagre
chronide in Syriac, known as the '' Abridgment of Universal History.*'
What it contains in regard to the Mongols is chiefly derived from
Juteini, but he gives us a good many details about the eastem Christians
not otherwise to be met with.t
These are the chief Eastern authorities for Mongol history.
We will now turn to European authors who have dealt with the same
subject. First in point of date arc the narratives of the missionary
firiars.
Carpini.— John of Piano Carpini wm •o called from a place in the
• D'OhMon, i. mUL to xUr. R«aiHM>«».€it.,43t. t Dt)haM0, i. 4<* ^
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INTRODUCTION. XXlii
temtory cf PcrufU. He was a Fiandacan friar who was sent by Pope
lAOOcent on a iiiisskm to the Mongol Khan. He set oat in April, 1245^
and i^nmed in the anttnnn of 1247. His narrative has been edited by
M.iyAvcac9intfae4thvohiiiieof the Receueil de Voyages et Memotres,
399. It is of great interest and value for the rdgn of Knyuk Khan.*
RUBKT^QUf s.— It has been stipposed that this travdler, who was also a
Franciscan, was a native of Rnysbrok in Brabant, and I have called him
more than once William of Raysbtok, bat Colonel Yule says there is a
place called Rubroock in Frendi Flanders, and its name occurs fre-
quently in old docaments pubUriied by M. Conssemaker, of Lille, in which
we read of a Thierry de Rubrouc in 1 190, a Gaudiier du Rubrouc in 1202
and 1 231, a Jean du Rubrouc in 1250, and a Wootermaun de Rubrouc in
1 256 ; and M. D*Aveiac and Colonel Yule aigue that our traveller was
one of the same stock.t He was sent on a similar mission to Carpini's
by St. Louis, and arrived at the Mongol camp in the reign of Mangu
Khan. He enteied the Black Sea on the 7th of May, 1253. His
narrative has also been published, with valuable notes by M. D'Avezac,
in the work above named. Rubruquis supplies us with many facts
about the reign of Mangu.
HAVTHON,tfae king of Little Armenia, also went to the court of Mangu
Khan, and has left us a short account of his journey, which has been
translated by Kkproth.t
Marco Poixx— The most valual^e of all Western andiorities, however,
from the means he had of acquiring information, fhmi the long time he
lived among the Mongols, and from the length and accuracy of his work,
was Marco Folo. Andrea Polo, of St Felice at Venice, says Colonel
Yule, had three scms, Marco, Nicolo, and MafTeo. The three brothers
were merchants, and had bouses at Constantinople and Soldaia in the
Crimea. In 1260 the two younger of these brothers started on a trading
venture, first to the Crimea, then by way of the Volga to Boldiara, and
thus on to the court of the Great Khan Khubilai. Khubilai received
tbem kindly, made many inquiries about Europe, and eventually
sent them back on an embassy to the Pope. They arrived at Acre in
April, 1269, and iound the Pope dead, Clement IV. having died the year
before. They then went to Venice. Nicolo had two sons, the eldest of
whom was named Marco. He was the subject of this notice. When his
father returned to Venice Marco was fifteen years old. In 1271 the two
brothers set out on their return to the East, taking young Marco with
them. They travdled by way of Baghdad to Hormuz on the Persian
Gal( then tnininf northwards traversed Kerman and Khorassan, Balkh
and Badafcriwn, and leached the Pamir steppe. This they crossed, and
• Cathty ani the Way Thitk«r, oodii.
tTiltIi Marco Polo, iii«B4.,il.99& I Noor. Joan. Atiat, lii. 973. Ac
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XXtv TNTSODVCnOK.
then continued by way of Kashgar, Yaikand, Khotan, by lake Lob and
Tanguty until they reached Khubilai*s court in 1275. Khubilai was very
kind to the young Polo, whom he took into his service. His first mission
was one to Yunnan, and he filled various offices. For three years he
was governor of the important city of Yang chau, on one occasion he
passed a year at Kanchau with his uncle Mafleo, at another time he was
at Karakorum, at a third at Champa or Southern Cochin China, and even
in the Indian seas. The Venetians now wished to return home, but
Khubilai did not like to part with them. In 1286 the llkhan Argun
sent to China for a wife of the Imperial stock. His envoys, who rather
dreaded the return journey by sea alone, asked that the three Feringhis
might accompany them^ and Khubilai at length consented. They set sail
in 1292, and after many mishaps in the Indian seas, arrived in two years
at the Persian court, and having been handsomely entertained there, at
length reached Venice in 1295, and with the wealth which they had
accumulated proceeded to either purchase or build themselves a palace
there, known as the Corte dd MiUioni, of which there are still some
remains. A year or two later Marco appears as the captain of a galley
fighting for Venice against Genoa ; and in the great fight which took
place in 1298, near the Island of Curzola, the Venetians were defeated
and Marco was taken prisoner. While in prison he met a learned Pisan
named Rusticiano or Rustichello, who wrote down from his dictation an
account of the marvellous and unique adventures of the traveller. In
July 1299 a truce was agreed to between the two republics, and Marco
once more regained his liberty. He lived many years afterwards at
Venice, and died in 1324* Such is a bald epitome of the most romantic
life of probably any traveller, as I have taken it from Colonel Yule's
great work. It will be seen into how many strange lands he went, and
considering that in all probability he had taken few notes, it is marvellous
how exceeding accurate his narrative is. It is in every way very
valuable, and I have used it freely. Two recent editions of it have been
before me— one by M. Pauthier, which is accompanied by many erudite
notes from Chinese authors ; and the other by my friend Colonel Yule, a
complete encyclopaedia of mediaeval lore about Asia, a wonderful
collection of illustrative matter from various sources, and a very pattern
of how a book should be edited. I may add that during the progress of
this work Colonel Yule has brought out a second edition. The new
matter will be found incorporated, but it must be noted that the
references are to the first edition, except when the second edition is men-
tioned. Besides Marco Polo, Colonel Yule has brought together a very
interesting series of small notices of China in his work, published by the
Hakluyt Society, entitled " Cathay and the Way Thither." Among these
are the letters of Odoric of Pordenone, a town in the district of Friuli,
who was bom in 1286, and became a missionary friar. He travelled in
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INTRODUCTION. XXy
the eftriier part of the fourteenth century iu India and China, and died in
1331. I have extracted what he says of the Mongols. Besides Odorio
there may be found in the same work the letters of John of Monte
Corvino, the founder of the Catholic missions in China. He was bom
in 1247, And probably reached Khanbalig in 1294, and about 1307 was
created archbishop of that city. His letters are interesting, and I have
used them as well as those of other missionaries in the same collection.
I must not forget to say that Colonel Yule's notes have been as valuable
to me as the text they illustrate. We will now turn to more modem
authorities.
Petis de la Croix. — De la Croix was bom in 16221 and died in
1695, and was a distinguished Eastern scholar, having filled the post of
interpreter to the French king in the Turkish and Arabic languages.
He was the author of several learned works, such as a history of France,
written in Turkish ; an edition of the travels of the younger Thevenot ;
a catalogue of the Turkish and Persian books in the French library, ftc;
but the two works with which his name is chiefly associated were his
history of Jingis Khan and his successors, and of Timur. The former
work he undertook at the instance of the minister Colbert. It cost him,
we are told, ten years' labour, and it was published after his death. It is
a wonderfully able work considering the period when it was written, and
many portions of it may still be read profitably. It is founded on the
Persian and Arabic authorities, and on the narratives of the European
travellers. He gives a list of his sources, which rai^ over neariy the
whole field of Eastern literature, and prove him to have been a very
diligent writer. I have frequently used his work.
Von Hammer. — ^Von Hammer's name is known wherever Eastern
studies are prosecuted. His history of the Ottomans is a gigantic work,
which probably equals the very greatest efforts that have ever been put
forth by a historian in the way of diligent research and of consulting an
imonense mass of authorities. We are iiuiebted to him for two other
works which throw great light on Mongol history, and which have been
constantly at my elbow, namely, his history of the Golden Horde of
Kipchak, an elaborate examination of the history of the Mongol Khanate
fotmded by Batu, the grandson of Jingis, in Southern Russia and the
Kirghiz Kasak country, which is the standard and only work on the
subject, and which I shall use largely in the secoiid vohmie ; and a
history of the Ilkhans of Persia, published at Darmstadt in 1842, and
from which I have drawn largely for my account of Khulagu's campaign,
and shall draw still more in the second volume.
ryOHssOK.— The name of D'Ohsson occurs on very many pages of
this woric. The Baron D'Ohsson was the author of a history of the
Mongols from the time of Jingis Khan to that of Timur, in four volumes,
which was pablished at Amsterdam in 1852. M. lyOhsson was a
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xxvi INTRODUCTION.
skilful Eastern scholar, and his work is a very able one. He has
ransacked almost every authority for his facts, and his book forms the
main pillar upon which I have rriied in lurgp sections of the present
work.
Brdmann.— M. Erdmann, a professor at Kaxani to whom I have
already referred, published in i8^ at Leipxigi a very able and profound
work on the life of Jingis Khan, under the title of *' Temudschin der
Unerschutterliche," with an ample introduction on the ethnography
of Asia, and a great crowd of most useful notes. It is a very perfect and
detailed monograph on the subject, and I have made ample use of it, as
may be seen from my references.
Wolff.— M. Wolfi; a professor at \^enna, has recently puMished a
history of the Mongols from the earliest times to the death of Ogotai
Khan, in which he has examined with great care and skill the various
accounts extant of the campaign of Batu Khan and his companions<in
Russia and Central Europe. He has specially availed himself of the
contemporary narratives of European writers, many of which he has first
brought to bear upon the subject. I have frequently used his woriL
MULLER.— M. MuUer, in 1733 and the following years, published,
under the auspices of the Imperial Russian Academy, a great collection
of materials on Russian history, in eight volumes. This contains many
of the original narratives of the early discoveries of the Cossacks in
Siberia. I have used it largely in writing the history of the Kalmuks.
Fischer. — ^Johann Eberhard Fischer, a professor at Gottingen, pub-
lished in 1768 a history of Siberia in two vohnnes, which unfortunately
does not come down below the third quarter of the seventeenth century.
I have frequently used his work.
Palxas. — Pallas was one of the most distinguished scholars the
Russians have produced. The narrative of his travels through Siberia
and Southern Russia are well known. Besides these he published a
great work on the history, ethnology, leligion, &c., of the Mongols. This
is entitled " Samhmgen Historischer Nachrichten ueber die Mon-
golischen Vdlkersdiaften,'' and it was published in two quarto volumes
at St Peterrtwrgh In 1776. It contains large materials for the history of
the Kalmuks, which I have freely used.
Klaproth.— Among those to whom I bow the most deeply, who, with
aU his feuks of temper and some few mistakes (and who has made so
lewX I hold to have been the greatest giant among the writers on
Eastern subjects, is Julius Klaproth. The vast range of his linguistic
acquirements, his instinct and ingenuity and fertility are astounding.
He was the first to reduce the chaos of Asiatic history to something
like order, and it is astonishing how little real advance has been made
hk many of the subjects he treated since he wrote. I am immensely
indebted to him. I shall never cease to reverence his memory. His
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IKTRODUCnON. xxvn
viriotts papers and euayt are so munerous that it is not convenient to
emnnerate them. Ma&y of diem may be seen in the Journal A^MtUfo^
others in various collections^ while his traveb to the Caucasus and his
Asia Polyglotta axe uaiTersaUy knoum ; but there is hardly a point of
Eastern history which he has not illuminated.
Rkmusat.— Abel Remnsat, the distinguished French Sinologue, the
aaAor of the great work unlbrtunatdy incomplete^ entitled " Les
Langnes Tartars^'' of many essays en Eastern subjects^ and of the three
series of ** Mdanges Asiatiques»* is another author from whom I hare
leacnt muck In the present work I hare chiefly to thank him for the
translated biographies in the first series of the " Melanges Asiatiques.''
I have now given a cursory survey o( my main authorities. There are
many odiers, such as Ishrmnd Ides, d*Auteroche, Gmdin, Georgi,
Du Halde (whom I have quoted from the English edition of i739> ^^ ^^^r
volumes octavoX Gngoric^ Madame de Hen, Ritter, Petermann, Karsmxin,
Oppert, Brunn» Porter $nudi» Vambery, Huc> Ravcrty, &c, whom I have
laid under contribution, and to whom I have given references. I may
say that in every instance, save perhi^M otte> these references have been
taken from the works quoted, and not at secondhand, and they have
been generally verified three or four times over ; and I hope that I
have not appropriated credit for anything which has not been duly
acknowledged.
It is permissible here to express a r^rret that so much of the original
matter relating to the history ^ the Mongols is still buried in HB. or
othenrise inaccessible. That the annals of the Yuen dynasty, otherwise
called the Yuen si, should remain untranslated b perhaps pardonable,
since they are of connderaMe length and In some parts intolerably dry,
but that the great history of Raschid, perhaps the noUest historical
work in the Peruan language, and one also of the most critical
and valuable, should sdU remain In manuscript is deplorable f and one
cannot help feelii^^ it a reproach to French scholars, who hav9 done so
much for the history of the East, that they have not completed the ta^
so nobly begun by Quatremere. It is to be hoped that the school of
Persian scholars presided over by M. Schefer win not only give us this
work but also Juveini and Muhammed of Nessa.
It is another matter of regret that so much that is valuable in the
researches of Russian scientific mtDf »nd espedally of the Ru^sia^
misrion at Pelring, should be lost to nine-tenths of the worid by bekig
written only in Rnssiao. It Is perhaps natural that it should be fo
written, and that the patriotism of Russian scholars should reb^ agaiosi
making a forsign language the medium of publishing their resean^Si
to the world, but it is nevertheless very unfortunate^ for it inevitably
buries a great deal of matter which would otherwise fructify, and it
inevitably makes Russia a very much smaller figure In the scientific
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xxviii INmODUCTION.
world than it merits. Russfcm is an exceedingly difficult Umguage, and
it is hardly to be expected that Western- students who are interested in
Eastern subjects should master Russian as well as German and French
as a preliminary to their inquiries. Russian scholars, on the other hand,
are skilful linguists, and it is. not very long ago that moAt of their
scientific papers were eidier written in German or French, or appeared
in duplicate. We are all very grateful for such publications as the
Melanges Russes and the Melanges Asiatiques, published by the
Imperial Academy of St. Petersbuig» and their value prompts me (and I
know I speak the sentiments of the great majority of Western scholars)
to desire that the same kind of work was done on a larger scale, and that
the results of the profound researches of Hyacinthe, Palladius, Gregorief,
&c, were not entirely buried from us. How much buried one anecdote
will suffice to show. Among the Chinese annals probably the most
valuable and interesting, and also the oldest, are the well-known annals
of the elder Han, of which a small fragment has recently been translated
by my friend Mr. Wylie. Some time ago it was proposed at the
International Congress of Orientalists that these annals should be
translated, and that the work of translation should be distributed among
the Chinese scholars of Europe. One of the foremost Russian scientific
men was approached on the subject, and the answer given was, that the
matter was of small interest to them since the annals had long ago been
translated into Russian by Hyadnthe. This answer was literally true,
and yet how disappointing. Not only are the annals as much buried as
they were before, to Western scholars, but I don't know of any Russian
who has made use of them. I hope sincerely that it may be seen that the
vast work which is annually done by Russian scientific men deserves to
be widely known, and that if it be patriotism to write in Russian, it is
surely also patriotism to make Russia take the very high place it ought
to do in the scientific world, instead of isolating and burying from foreign
eyes the vast wealth of matter which its schc^ars have accumulated.
The maps accompanying this voliune have been drawn by the
practised hand of my friend Mr, Ravenstetn, and incorporate the latest
discoveries. One of them gives a view of that portion of Eur<^ and
Asia which was trodden under by the Mongols in the thirteenth century,
the other is a special map of Mongolia as it is now constituted.
DsRBY House, Ecclbs, i2th April, 1876.
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CHAPTER I.
BEFORE entering t^on the proper Mb}eet of tins work, I hare
deemed it oo&Tenieiit to give in the IdUowiag chapter a general
soTYesr of te various aatlont and tribes of Aria with vhidi the
Moogels came in contact in the beginning of die dyrteenlh centmy.
And I have induded hi it all the tribes mentioned b^ Rasdiid which
theve is reason for believing were odier than Mongol
CHINA.— The most powerful and important neighbour of the Mongob
in Aeir earty days was no doabt the Chinese Empire, which had been for
a long time divided hito two sections. On the fall of riie great dynasty of
tiie Thang, which reigned from 6i6to907, and whldi controlled the whole
of China proper, it broke into ten fragments, ruled over by the govonois
of the varioas provinoes. This divirion gave rise naturally to a great
deal of inteoial dissentkm, and favoured the aml^tious views of die tribes
on the nortfiem frdntier. At this period ^ sontfi-eastem part of
Mongolia and the districts of Liau si and Liau tung were occupied by a
•number of tribes known collectively as Khitan. The exact affinities of
these tribes are among the most puzzling riddles in Eastern ethnology.
Mr. Wylie, of Shan^uu, a very much esteemed Chinese scholar, has
frivoured me with a list of Klntan words, considerably more extended than
that ejected by Kliprodi, and from an examination of these, and from
odier considecarions I am disposed to think* that the Khitans (as is natural
periiaps in a frontier race), were very much mixed and had affinities with
Mongols, Coreans, and Tu]^;uses. I am quite satisfied, at aH events,
that it is a mistake to make them a Tunguisic tribe in the same
sense that the Manchus and dieir ancestors the Juchi Tartars are
Tunguses. The prindp^ tribe among the Klntans was that of die
Shit liu or Thie la, pronounced Ye tin by die Chinese which lived in the
district where is situated the ruined town of Barin m Mongolia. About
the year 907 the chief of this tribe, named JuDji Apaoki, having sub-
dued the other Khitan tribes, made himself master of the greater part
of the borderers on the great desert of Shamo, and in 9f 6 had himself
prodahned Wangti or Emperor. With an astonishing rigidity he
conquered the country from Kasbgar in the west to the mountains Thswi
ting hi the east* Lite Baikal bounded his empim on the north, whOe
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HI8T0RT or THE MONOOLS.
on tbe foiitli lie odoqMnd coniktonible districts in die noctli-east oi
CUna and dM greeter pert efCorea. He estafalislied his court at Lien
yang in Lien tang, and afterwards moved it to Yen in Pdichehti, die
modem Peking.* He died in 927 aj>. His son end successor Tai tstm
assisted a Chinese general who had rebelled and helped him to moimt
the throne. In return for this service the new Emperor, who hdd Us
{xrnrt at Pien, now Kai feog lu, on die southern bank of die Ydlew
River, ceded sixteen distikts in the provbces of Pdidiehli, Shansi, and
T,;^^it^wg to him^ and undertook to pay him annually a subsidy of
500,000 pieces of sOk, and even acknowledged himsdf his vassal in
the letters which he addressed to him, 1^ styling hhnself his grandson
andsubject The successor cf this Emperor having endeavoured to break
these engagements^ Tai tsua marrhed against him, conquered the pro-
vinces north of die YeUew River, o^itured Pien, sieMd the Emperor and
carried him off into Tartary. In the year 937 the Khitan EpiqMror gave
his dynasty the title of Lien, which means iron.t After the fidl of the
Thang, five small dynasties successively occupied Ae metropolitan
throne of Kai foog fou. On their ruins there arose in 960 the c^maaty of
the Soqg^ which once more reunited the greater part of China under its
sceptre. The Sung Emperors fomi^ agamst the Khitans^ but could not
wrest from them the sucteen districts wbdich had been ceded, as I have
mentioned, and at length, in 1004, die Sung Emperor undertook to pay
the Khitan ruler an annual tribute in silver and Mlken goods.t The
power and influence of the Khitans must have been both very great and
very wide spread. They seem to have been obeyed by all the tr9»s of
Mongols, Turks, and Tui^^uses nHio inhabited the country from lakf
Balkhash to the Yellow Sea, and a very good proof of their influence
may be cited in the fact that they gave a name to China by which it
became familiar to the Arabs, Persians, and Turks, and through them
to the mediaeval writers of Europe^ namely, Cathay. The contact of the
Khitans and the Chinese was followed, as seems to be universally die case
there, by the gradual weaning of the race of soldiers from dieir old habits
and the acquirement of the effeminate manners which prevail in Eastern
courts. This change enabled another and more v^;orous race to supplant
them. This was the race of the Juchi or Nmchi^ the ancestors of the
present Mancbu dynasty.in China. The Juchi lived in that part of
Manchuria bounded on the north by the Amur, on the east by the ocean,
on the south by Corea, and on the west by the river Sungari, which
separated their country from that of the Khitans. The leader of this
nvdh was named Aguta. He rebelled in 1114, won several victories
over the Khitans, and the foUowing year adopted the title of Wangti, and
gave his new empire the name of Aijin kurun, in Chinese Kin kuft, Li.,
«KIaprpt1k,TablMiixlllMri«iM.*c,8a,i|. t lyOhMM, I. iif. ZM,ti5.
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OBMJl 3
then romnwmccd a vigoroat ompaign against tke XhiUnSy whom he
sapidly cofiqattraL Hediodttiiaj. Hb tuccenor U Id nai followed
«p his victoriea^ snbdved the empire of Hia» and captured tfaeKhitan
SnperorYelMiY«ifa^whohadilediBtfaatAiectiQa,tiie wndi and last
of his mce who teied in Chhuw A priaoe o£ tiie fiJlen honse and some
of his followers cacaped westwards and Ssonded anottMr enHne, namely,
timt of tfie Kant Khitai, to which 1 Shan prsasnrtyfsfcr.
The mrasion of the Jitcbi was abetted bgr the Song Emperor, who
doiMess hoped bf Uieir means to reoavcr pnsscswon of the lost pro-
irinces in Northern China, bat he soon fonndrsaaon to lepsnt of his policy.
In lias the Juchi invaded Soathcm Chfaia. The year following they
advanced as for as the river Hoaog 1ms ^ui^ ^'^ siege to Kai fong fo, the
capital of the Sang empire. The Saiy Tmpsini went to the camp of the
invaders to ask for terms, but was sent off to Tartary with his fomily.
His brother escaped and was prodahnedEn^eNr by the Chihese. The
Jadd proceeded to conqner te imrthem position of Qdna, penetrated
beyond the river Yang tsi, captured Lin agan, tlw dilef dty of the
province of Clm kiang, and^ after seeming naaagr victetiea^ nude peace with
tiie Smig Emperor in ii43,bytHnch dbe comaests tfiqr had made were
ceded to them, and they were to reoehre an aanaal tribute of 350^000
oaaoes of sihrer and 250^000 pieces of silk^ uMe the Sung Emperor
dedared himself their vassal. The jrivers Haai and Han became the
boundaries of the two empires, die Kin Ea^wrorfuMagofvertiie provinces
of Pehchdili, Shan si, Shai^ tnng, Honan^ and the nortiiem part of
Shen si, wliidi were collectively known as Kkm al to tlie Chinese, while
tiM southern empire was known to them and to Marco Polo as ManzL
The Mongols called it Nangkias. The capital of thtfHrmer was the dty
aadently known as Yen khig or Chun king. When te IQn En^peror in
1153 moved the seat of empire there he gave it the nasae of Tahiagfo,
and the title of Chung tu, or Imperial dty of die contre. It is now
widely cdebrated as Pekfaig,/./.,^ the noctfaem capital" The Mongol
caBed it Khanbalig. The Sung Emperor^s capital was lin qgan, called
also Hang diau in Chi Idang. In the necthcsn section, sub|ect to the
Kin dynasty, there were five dties distinguished as Impedal residences :
I. Liau yang diao in Liaa tung^ called the eastern court ; in Chinese
TUng-king. a. Tai-tung-fo in Shansi, the wistern court, or Si-king. 3.
The present city of Pddi^, then called Chung tit or Chung king, or
centra] court 4. Pien leang or Kai fong fo, on tibe southern bank
of tfie Ydlow River in Honan, whidi was the southern court, or
Nan long. And lasdy, 5. Ta ning fo, on die river Loba in
Nordiern China, then called the northern court, or Pddng,* whkh
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4 HISTORY OF THS MONGOLS.
must of course be carefolly distinguished from the Pddng or
northern coun of our day. Besides their authority in China, the Kin
Emperors were lords paramount in die steppes and deserts beyond, but
their influence there was very much more limited than that of the
Kbitans. It probably extended litde bey<md the immediate borders of
China We know that Sungaria and the towns on either side of the
Thian Shan mountains, which were apparency subject to the Khitans,
were controlled by the enemies and rivals of the Kin, the Kara Khitai,
whUe the Mongols, as we shall see, b^an to act a very independent part
almost immediately alter the Kin conquest of Northern China. Even in
Manchuria we find Juchi tribes acting independent^ of the central
authority in China under their own princes. These independent tribes
were probably the anc«itors of the modem Solons. We may take it,
therefore, that although they w^e no doubt dependent, their dependence
was largely nominal Having briefly pointed out the condition of China,
we will now turn to the adjoining and subordinate empire of Hia, which
was so terribly desolated by Jingis Khan, and where, as one learns frwn
Mr. Morgan, the groans and shri^o of the spirits of those whom he so
ruthlessly slaughtered still haunt the place, and add to the honrors of the
surrounding wilderness.*
HIA, OR TANGUT.— This empire was known in earty tiroes to the
Mongols as Kashin or Kashi, which is a corruption of the Chinese word
Ho-si. This means *^ west of the river,** and designated the great
province of Shen si, whidi lay west of the Yellow River. While Jingis
was undertaking the conquest of Kashi, Ogotai had a son to whom the
name of Kashi was given, bat he died young from excessive drinking,
upmi which the name was dumgedt At first it was changed to Kurik,
and afterwards to Tangut.t A Chinese Uigfaur vocabulary, cited by
Kkiproth, gives Cho si as the synonym of Tangut, and another of
Chinese and Bukharian words gives it as Tanghutf The Thibetans
called it Nimak.| The name of Tangut b derived from the tribe
Thang hiang, ^dio according to Ma tuan lin, were descended from
the primitive inhabitanu of China, namely, the San Miao, and were
driven by the Chinese into Kokonnr and Eastern Thibet They lived in
eariy times in the country of Si chi, west of the depar ment of Liu
thao, in the modem Qunese province of Kan suh ; theit country was
traversed by the very sinuous channdi of the Yellow River. In the third
and fourth centuries of our era the Enqierors of the Chinese dynasties
Wei and Tsra began to abate the power of the Eastern Thibetans called
Khiang. In the sixth century the Emperors of the Chau dynasty
destroyed the power of the tribe Thang chang. Afterwards other
•OMCnphical MAffuine. U. 30S. t D^Mmmo, i. 95- Not*.
XEf4nuuui*ftTtaiiJiA,is5- Notes. f KUpnth, BetoodiUog. *c., 64*
I Scfaaidtt Smuhmc S«Imb, PaMim.
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KARA KHITAl. 5
Thibetans named Teng chi became powerfoL They were m turn 6m-
placed by the Thang hiani^ or Tangut* U ki tsien, the chief of this
tribe, who was ruler of Hia chan and a feudatory of the empire, took
advantage of the anarchy which existed in China at the end of the tenth
century, refused to acknowledge the Chinese rulers and submitted to the
Khitans ; but in 1043 Ins grandson Ohao yuen hao submitted to the
Sung Emperor, nHio granted him the title of Emperor of Hia. At first
their country was rery limited in extent, but they conquered a lar^ft area
in ShensLt At the beginning of the twdftfa century they were in
possession of Hia diau, In chan, Sui chau, Yan chan, Tsing chau, Ling
chau, Yan diau, Hoei chau, Chii^ chau, Koo chau, and Liang chau,
towns situated on the north of the modem provinces of Kansu and
Shensi, and the country of the Oidus. They had conquered the towns
of Sha chau, Kua chan, and Su chau from the Uigurs, and were also
possessed of the fortified posts of Hung, Ting, Wei, and Lui^4 The
topography of Ta^ut is very confiised, as may be seen ham Colonel
Yule's narrativel Klaproth says diat Hing chau, now called Ningfaia,
was the capital of the kingdom. It was situated at a small distance
fitMn the left bank of the Ydlow River, where dkis river leaves the
(MTovince of Kansuh and enters Mongolia. Thb town, accofding to
Raschkl, was called in the Tangutan language Eyiikai, and by the
Mongds Eyiikaya. By Ssanang Setsen it is called IigfaaLU Ssanang
Setsen distinguishes between TUrmegei or Tennegetn, vdiich he calls the
caiHtal of Tangut, and Ifgfaai, but he is an authority of no value for this
period.^ Ifghai seems to be the city called Wuhlahai by the Chinese,and is
to be identified with the Egrigaia of Marco Polo, the Erequir of De la Croix,
and was ciqpturedbyjingis in his second eiqiedition. It and its district are
tentatively identified by Colonel Yule with the principality of Alashan.**
Rasdiid tells us the name of the Emperor of Hia in the time of Jingis
was Lung Shidkgfau, the Shiduxgo of Ssanang Setien ; he adds, there
were many kings in the country. Among the great cities which were
royal residepces he names Kendjan fii, Kamdjiu, Azerdi, Khaladjan, and
An Balik ; besides diese there were twenty-four odier large towns in the
empire. The greater portion of their inhabitants, he says, were
Mussulmans, but the villagers and their chiefs were mainly Buddhists.tt
KARA KHITAL— Having surveyed the chief powers encountered by
the Mongds on the south, we will now do the same for the west. When
the Khitan empire was overthrown by the Kin Tatars in 1 122 or 1 123, as
I have described, a member of the Imperial family of the Liau or Khitan
dynasty escaped westwards with a fdlowiag of about 2,ooo men. His name
was Yditt Taahi, or, according to wesiem writers, Tushi Talgun, and also
* Kkpiolh, No«T. Joora. AaiaL, xL 461. t DX>hMon, i. 96. I Kkproth, op. dt, 461.
f Mafeo Polo, sad Bd., i. 173. | Nonv. Jonrn. Atiat., xi. 463. T Op. dt., toi and 94$,
••Y«le*kl|«rcoPolo,»d£d.»^5. tt Ktapntk. Nooy. Josn. Aakt., si. 4«4. Note.
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6 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
Tushi Taifu.* He was well received by the chiefs of the various Turkbh
tribes who had been dependent on his dynasty, and by means of the contin-
gents they supplied him with, he succeeded in getting together a very con-
siderable anny. He first settled in the valley of the Imil, and, according
to Carpini, built the town there which afterwards became the capital of
the Khanate of Ogotai, and which was situated not far from the modem
Khuguchaky otherwise called TarbagataL At this time the Turkish
Khans of Turkestan, who claimed descent bom the mythical Afrasiab,
had become very feeble, and were constantly threatened by the Karluks,
Kankalis, and other nomades in their neigfaboorhood, and we are told
that Yeha Tashi was called in to the rescue. He speedily occupied
Balasagfaun, their csqpital, and then deposed the descendant oi Afrasiab
firom hit d^nity of Khan, leaving him only the title of Ilk Turkan, or
chief of the Tuiks. He then proceeded to conquer the Karluks, whose
chiefs, the Arslan Khans, apparently dominated over Kashgar and
Khotan, and the country of Little Bukharia. He was acknowledged as
their suzerain by the Idikut or chief of the Uighurs of BiriibaUg ; he
de£»ted the Kankalis and Kirghises, and made himself master ot
Ferghanah and Transoxiana, and then ravaged the country of Khuareim
and made its ruler tributary. He then took the title of Gurkhan, or
great Khan. I have discussed the site of his capiul, Balasaghun« in
some letters in the Geogn^hical Magazine, and have endeavoured
to ^ it at the ruinheaps of It Kichu, on the river Chu, which I
believe represent the Equius of Rubruqius. Thence he governed
a vast territory. The country immediately subject to him was that
watered by the Chu, the Jaxartes, and the great plains that border the
Balkhash sea on the south-east, but, as I have said, the Turkish tribes to
the east were dependent on him. Among these the most important no
doubt were the Kariuks, whose capital was Almahgh, the modem Kuldja,
and who ruled over a considerable territory on both sides of the Thian
Shan range, and the Uighurs, who lived at Bishbalig, /./., UrumtsL He
doubtless also vrzs more or less dominant over the Naimans, about whom
1 shall have more to say presently. He was no doubt the most powerful
sovereign of Central Asia, and his career of rapid conquest was a pro-
totype on a smaller scale of that of Jingis Khan in later days, while the
integration of the various Turkish tribes of Sungaria and Turicestan
under his sceptre made the path of the succeeding conqueror much more
easy, for when he defeated the usurper of the throne of Kara Khitai
named Knshluk, he became at once the master of a regulated and
tolerably orderiy empire, and not of a mere congeries of broken tribes,
and an emigre which stretched from the Oxiis to the great desert of
Shamo, and from Thibet to the Altai
* Tnihi ia ChiMM metsg coamundtr-in-chief. D'ObstoQ, I xfis. Note.
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KHtTARSZIf. 7
KHUAREZM.^Westf or rather south-west of Kara Khitai, and
boffdecing upon k, was the empire of Khuarenny with iMch the Mongols
had a most bloody aad prolonged straggle. This empire, like several
odiers in Sooth-^westem Asia, was lomided by a Turk who had been
originally a slave. The sovereigns of Persia were in the habit of pur-
chasing young Tniks, who were captured by the various frontier tribes in
their mutual strugg^ and employing them in then: service. They
generally had a body guard fonned of them, and many of them wete
cnlifanrhised and rose to posts of high influence^ and in many cases sup-
planted their masters. The founder of the Khuarexmian power was such
a slave, named Nttshtddn, in the service of the Sdjuk Suhan Malik Shah.
He rose to tikt position of a Teshtedar or chamberiain, which carried
with it the government of the province of Khuaretm, that is of the fertile
valley of the Oxus and the wide steppes on either side of it, bounded on
die west by the Caspian and on the east by Bukharia. He was
succeeded by his son Kud>*ud-din Muhammed, whose services to the
Sdjuk rulers, Bufdarok and Sandjar, obtained for him the title of
Khuaienn Shah, a title which was borne by the rulers of that province
before the Arab invasion. He was succeeded by his son Atsiz, who
several times took up arms against his sovereign Sandjar, and became
vRtnaOy independent of him. He was ruler of Khuarexm when YeUu
Tashi, the founder of Kara Khitai, entered his dominion, and having
been defeated by him he was obliged to become his tributary. He was
succeeded in 1156 by his son lyal Ardan, who, on Sandjar's death in
1 157, conquered the western part of Khorassan. He left two sons named
Takish and Sultan Shah, between ^om a long struggle ensued.*
Taldsh was eventually victorious* He also conquered the Seljuk ruler
Togrul, and sent his head to the Khalifat Bagdad. By this conquest
Irak Adjem was added to his dominions. With the deaths of Togrul
and Sandjar, the Seljuk dynasty in Persia came to an end, and Takish
obtained the investiture of their states from the Khalif. Takish was
succeeded in 1200 by his son Alai ud din Muhammed, who by the con-
quest of Balldi and Herat completed the subfecdon of Khorassan to the
Khuarexmian empire. Shordy after Mazanderan and Kirman were
reduced to obedience. He then broke off his allegiance to the ruler oC
Kara Khitai, iriioae dependent in Transoxiana, named Osman, became
his man. He also conquered a portion of Turicestan as far as Uxkend,
where he placed a garrison. Some time after, having quarrelled with
Osman, the ruler of Transoxiana, who had beoome his son in-law, he
attacked and took him prisoner, and afterwards put him to death. He
then appropriated his dominions and made Samarkand his capital. In
1212-13 he annexed the principality of Gur, and three years later attadced
' Brdnaaa^ Ttmvio, 158 sad zCo.
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8 HISTORY or THE MONGOLS.
and subdued the country of GhaznL V/hta he captured its chief town
he discovered prooft that the Khalif had been intriguing against him. He
accordingly determined to depose him. He marched a laige army west-
wards. On his way he received tSie submission of the rulers of Azer-
baidjan and Fars^ and at length entered the dominions of the Khalil^
which at this time were limited to the provinces of Irak Arab and
Khttzistan. Muhammed occupied the former province, and proceeded to
divide it into various military Beb ; but this was the extent of his
aggression in this direction. A terrible snowstorm overtook his troops on
the mountains of Essed abad, and after losing many of them the rest
were attacked by the Turkish and Kurdish tribes and suffered terribly, a
£ate whidi popular superstition naturally assigned as the result of so
unholy a war. Muhammed deemed it prudent to retire, and his retreat
was probably hastened by the approach of the Mongols. He gave Irak
Ajem as an appanage to his son Rokn ud din. The provinces of
Kirman, Kesh, and Mukran were assigned to Ghias ud din ; Ghaxni,
fiasinan, Our, Bort, &c, which formed the old Gur empire, were assigned
to Jelal ud din ; while his youngest son, whom he had fixed upon as his
heir, was assigned Khuarezm, Khorasan, and Masanderan. From this
enumeration it nuy be gathered that Muhammed was a very powerful
sovereign. He controlled an army of 400,000 men, and his dominions at
the invasion of the Mongds stretched from the Jaxartes to the Fersian
Gul^ and from the Indus to Irak Arab and Aserbaidjan. Here also, as
in the case of Kara Khitai, we can see how the work was prepared for
the hands of Jingis by the consolidation of a great number of small states
into one powerful one, on whose fall a vast empire was at once added to
the Mongol dominions.
AZERBAIDJAN.— I have mentioned that Azerbaidjan and Pars were
not actually subject to the Khuarezm Shah bat oxdy tributary. The
former was ruled at the time of the Mongol invasion by the Ataheg
Uzbeg. He was descended from Ild^guiz, who, hke the founder of many
of the petty dynasties of Southern Asia, was a Turkish slave, and
bdonged to the Seljuk Sultan of Irak Ajem. He was a native of
Kipchak, and having been freed rose successively to die hii^iest dignities
in the kingdom, and in 1146 received as a fief the provinces of
Azerbaidjan and Arran, which were separated from one another by the
river Kur. When about forty years later the Sdjuk dynasty of Irak
came to an end, Azerbaidjan remained subject to the family of Ild^guiz.
His fifth successor was the Uzbeg I have mentioned. He had
succeeded to power in 1197, and had about 1216 acknowledged himself
as the vassal of the Khuarezm Sludi. At the time of the Mongol
invasion he was an old man. His capital was Tabriz.*
* D*OhM0fU i« If t tad tfS*
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FARS— LUJtISTAN— IMDIA. 9
FARS was nikd over by the dynasty of the Safgarids, so named from
itt fmiftder Sa)gar» who was the chief of a Turkish tribe and a vassal of
the SdjnkL Sankor, the gcandson oi Salgar, had profited by the decay
of the Seljuki to take possession of Fan* Hiis was in 1148- Sankor's
grandson was named Sid. It was to him the Sheikh Saide dedicated
his Golistan. He became a vassal of the Khuaresm Shah Muhammed,
and it was he idio subsequently submitted to the Mongols.* The capital
of Fars, which was the kernel of the old Persian monarchy, and whose
name still points to its having been so, was Shiraz. A small portion of
Fars, with its cajntal at Darabsherd, was subject to the dynasty of the
Shebankyare of the family Fasluye, but they were of small interest. An
account of them may be seen in Von Hammer^s history of the Ilkhans,
1. 68, 69.
LURISTAN. — Luristan, according to Von Hammer, derives its name
from two brothers of the name of Lur or Lor, who in the third century
of the Hejira ruled over certain nomade Kurdish tribes, which two
centuries later migrated from the mountain Saumal in Northern Syria,
and settled in Luristan.t Luristan was divided into two principalities,
known as Great and Little Luristan. The rulers of the former were
known as the Great Atabegs, and those of the latter as the Little Atabegs.
Hazerasp was the Atabeg of Great Luristan at the invasion of Jingis
Khan. He was a trusted friend of the Khuaresm Shah Muhammed. At
the time of Khulagu's invasion of Western Persia his son Tiklc or T^^e
was the ruler of Great Luristan. He joined the Mongols with a con-
tingent when they marched upon Baghdad, but they afterwards grew
suspicious of him, and he was put to death, and Khulagu put Sliems ud
din Alp Argun on the throne in his place. At the same period Little
Luristan was ruled by Bedr ud din Massud, who conciliated and was
supported by the Mongols.^
INDIA.-~At the date of the Mongol invasion the metropolitan throne
of Delhi was occupied by a dynasty descended from Sultan Kutb ud din
Ibak i Shil, who was a Turkish slave in the service of (he Sultan i Ghazi,
Muizz ud din Muhammed, son of Sam, whence the dynasty was known
as that of the Muizziah Sultans. He became the deputy of the Sultans
of Ghazni in India, where he gained many victories. He was at length
made free and granted the title of Sultan. This was about the year 603
of the Hejira. On his death, four years later, he was succeeded by
Aram Shah, who after a very short reign was displaced by a usurper
named Shams ud din lyal timish, a former slave of Kutb ud din^s, and
also bis son-in-law. The Indian empire was then divided into four sec-
tions. Shams ud din possessed himself of Delhi and the country around ;
Nasir ud din kaba jah, another son-in-law of Kutb ud din, appropriated
* D*Obsioii, i. X9C. Note. HL 361. t Voa Hammer's Ukhaiia, I. 70.
I ]>*Ohssoii, iii. 359-26i. Von HararawHi Ilkhaas, L 71, 72.
B
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lO HISTORY OP THE MONGOLS.
Sind and Multaiii Bhakar and Siwastan, and subsequently the territory
to die nortb-east as fiu- as Sursud and Kuhram. The chiefs of the
Kalladjes or Tuiks assumed independence in Bengal, while Lahore
became the prey of its several neighbours.* Such was the position of
affidrs when the Mongols appeared on the Indus. Let us now travel
considerably westwards beyond the limits of the Kfanarezmian empire.
BAGHDAD.— Irak Arab and a lazge pcntion of Khuzestan were
directly subject to the Khalifs. Besides this local authority they were
the supreme heads of the Moslem faith, and held the highest post in the
hierarchy of Islam, in direct descent from the prophet himself. They
were acknowledged as their suzerains by the various chiefs of Asia who
had been converted, and when they succeeded to their several dignities of
Sultan, or Malik, or Atabeg, they sent to notify the fact to the Khalifs,
who in turn invested them with authority and sent them the diploma of
oflSicc and the various emblems of royal dignity .t They held their court
at Baghdad. For six centuries the Khali&te had been in the possession
of the family of the Abbasides, so named because they were descended
from Abbas, the tmcle of Muhammed. They displaced the Ommiades.
" From an obscure residence in Syria," says Gibbon, " they secretly dis-
patched their agents and missionaries, who preached in the eastern
provinces their hereditary indefeasible right, and Muhammed, the son of
Ali, the son of Abdallah, the son of Abbas, the unde of the prophet,
gave audience to the deputies of Khontssan, and accepted their free gift
of 400,000 pieces of gold.**t The Ommiades were distinguished by their
white garments, the Abassides by their black ones. It was SufTah, the
son of Muhammed ben Ali, who finaUy vanquished Mervan, the
fourteenth and last of the Ommiade Khalifs. This was in 750 A.D.S
Almansor, the brother of Salah, laid the foundations of Baghdad in
762 A.D., which became the capital of the Moslem world. The rule of
the Abassides was a protracted one, and lasted until they were finally
destroyed by the Mongols, as I shall describe in the following pages, but
for a long period their authority was chiefly spiritual, and the reins of
power were in die hands of the several dynasties who ruled in Persia,
the Buyeds, the SulUns of Ghazni, the Seljukian Turks, and the
Khuarezmians. More or less dependent upon the Khalifs were several
small districts governed by various dynasties of Atabegs, a name which
answers to Mayors of the Palace or Tutors, and which was granted in
the early days of the Arabian prosperity to various provincial governors,
who retained this title when they became independent princes. Among
these the chief was
MOSUL.— At the time of Khulagu's invasion its ruler was Bedr ud din
TabskatlNiMriMkdRATOTty'k note, sag* 560. t OX>Imod, iii. 109. ! Op. dt, vs. 39».
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EGYPT. II
Luhiy who had been a slave of Nur ud din Arslan Shah^ of the dynasty of
the Sunkars, chiefs of Diar Bekr, who on his death appointed him Tutor
(Atabeg) to his son Massnd, with the government of the principality of
Mosul. On the death of Massud m laiS, and of his two young sons
who followed him to the grave within the next two years, Bedr ud din
Lulu became iiid^>endent sovereign of Mosul, and was sovereign of it
thirty-seven years later when Khnli^ invaded the country.* Besides
Mosul there were other petty principalities feudally dependent on the
Khalifs. At Diarbdor and Maidin were small dynasties of the family c^
the Beni Ortok, descended from a Turkoman chief named Ortok, who
was in the service of the Sdjuki, and under them had possession of
Jerusalcm.t Other small dynasties dependent on the Khalif ruled at
Erbil and Sindshar.
We will now go farther west again towards Egypt and Syria.
EGYPT was at the time of the Mongol invasion subject to the Benl
Ayub or Ayubits, who were made fiunous in history by the exf^its of
their great chief Saladin. They were descended from the Malek Ayub,
son of Shadi, who was a Kurdish chief. Shadi left two sons, Najm ud
din Ayub and Asad ud din Sher i koh. Ayub*s third son was the
famous Salah ud din, generally known as, Saladin, who, having
been appointed Virier to Nur ud din, the ruler of Egypt, succeeded on
the death of that prince in usurping the throne of Egypt.J In the
sonorous words of Gibbon, ^ He despoiled the Christians of Jerusalem,
and the Atabegs of Damascus, Aleppo, and Oiarbekr. Mecca and
Medina acknowledged him for their temporal protection. His brother
subdued the distant r^ons of Yemen, or the happy Arabia ; and at the
time of his death his empire was spread from the African Tripoli to the
Tigris, and from the Indian Ocean to the mountains of Armenia.*'} On
his death, in 1 193, he was succeeded in Egypt by his son Aziz. Aziz
was succeeded by Adil, the brother of Saladin, about the year 1 20a Adil
was succeeded by his son Kanul, who was the greatest of the family
alter Saladin, and ruled over the greater part, if not all, the dominions of
that conqueror. He died in 1239, ^^^ ^^^ succeeded by his son Salih.
Saladin had a body guard of Kurdish slaves, who were known as
Mameluks. SaHh especially favoured these Mameluks, who from
having their barracks on the river (Bahr) were known as Bahrits. Salih
died in 1249 ^ Mansura, while St. Louis was at Damietta. His son
Muazzam Turanshah was assasdnated by his fiuher^s Mameluks. After
which they swore allegiance to a widow of SalO&'s named Shejer ud din,
and having raised one of their chiefs named Eibeg to the command of
the army, he married the Sultana, who diree months later visigned the
* D'Obsm, itt/^sS. t Von Haaaitr^ IlUitat, i. 73* Gibbon, vii. 177*
:Tb«TabiikalittNatfrl,so7,ftG. i Op. dt., tU. aS).
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12 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
crown to him. He thus became the founder of the first Mameluk
dynasty, namely, of that of the Bahrits. This was in 1250.*
SYRIA. — Saladin was succeeded in Syria, whose capital was
Damascus, by his eldest son AfzaL He was displaced by his brother Ariz,
the Sultan of Egypt, who appropriated his territory, and who was
succeeded, as I have said, by his unde Adil. On Adil's death Syria
became the portion of his second son Muazzam. On whose death in
1230 the throne of Damascus fell to his son Nassir. Nassir was deprived
the following year by his uncle KamQ, the ruler of Egypt, who appointed
his own brother Ashraf to the government of Syria. Ashraf was the
ruler of Syria when the Mongols appeared on its borders in pursuit of
the Khuarezm Shah Jelal ud din Muhammed. After some years the
throne of Damascus was appn^ated by Ashraf's nephew Salih, the
Sultan of Egypt On the assassination of Safih's son Turanshah by the
Mamehiks, Nassir Saladin Yusuf, the prince of Aleppo, seized the
throne. Although he was master of Syria from the Euphrates to the
borders of Egypt, there were several petty princes within its borders who
before his aggrandisement were doubtless his peers, and who belonged to
the Ayubit family. Among these was fiM, the prince of Hims, who at the
time of Khulagu's invasion was named Ashraf, he was the grandson of the
Melik Esed ud din Shirkuh. He had been deprived of his principality
by Nassir about 1248, and had been given in exchange the district of
Tdbashir.t Ashraf was reinstated by the Mongols, and became their
d^uty in Syria. Secondly, The princes of Hamath, who were descended
from Tayeddin, the grandson of Ayub and the nephew of the great
Saladin, by whom he was appointed Lord of Hamath. His son Melik
Mansur the First gained considerablft renown in the war with the
Crusaders, and by his patronage of the learned. He was succeeded by
his son Mansur the Second, who when Khulagu approached Syria fled to
^ffXPU Thirdly, The princes of Karak and Shubdc They were
descended from the Melik AadH Seifeddin Ebubekri who was given this
appanage by his brother the great Saladin. His great grandson Melik
Moghis Fetbeddin Omar ruled over it at the invasion of Khulagu.^
Besides thek possessions in Syria, the Ajubits still retained a small
portion of Saladin's dominions in Mesopotamia. This consisted of the
principality of Maya£irkin. It was gofvemed by a dynasty descended
from Mdikol Aadil, the brother of Saladha. At the time of Khnlagn'a
invasion it was subjea to the Mdik Kami], who was its fifth ruler. He
was killed by the Mongols.]
* I>t>katotw lit tSjHigo.
t D*OliMon, iU, 396. V«o HamiMr*! OlhuM, i. ^4, 75.
I Voa Hjuvintr^ nkhaat, 1. 74. D*OhMoo, iU. 3x1,
^VoaHMniiMr^IUdmt,i.7S. DK>k«OB, iU. ags.
I Voa Haaoier, op. cit., L 74. D'OlwtOD, iii, js^-jST*
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CRUSAI>£&8— RUM— LITTLE ARMENIA. I3
THE CRUSADERS— Whik the greater part of Syria was in the hands
of the Ayubtts the Christiaiis retained a few places on the coast. Saladin
bad taken Jerusalem from them in i 187, but they held Acre or Pokmais
which had been conquered by Philip Augustas of France and Richard the
First of England about 1191. They also held Tyre, Cxsarea» and
Tii^Kih on the coast of Syria.*
RUM. — At the time of the great Mongol invasion the empire of the
Seljuki in Persia and Khorassan had been extinguished and replaced by
that of the Khuarezm Shahs. The Seljuki, however, still retained dieir
hokl upon Asia Minor. The dynasty of the Seljuki of Ruai or Asia
Minor was founded by Soliman Shah, a cousin of Malik Shah, die ruler
of Persia, by whom he was sent westwards at the head of Zopoo tents of
Ghuz Turks or Turkomans, from Transoxiana, to conquer the country
He conquered the central part of Asia Minor from the Byiantines, and
made Nicaea, the chief town of the ancient Bithynia, his capital His
dominions were called Rum by Eastern writers, and were bounded on
the east by Great Armenia and a port of Geoigia, on the north by the
Black Sea, on the south by Little Armenia, a part of Cilicia, and the sea
opposite Cyprus ; and on the west extended as far as Attalia on the sea.
It included the ancient Lycaonia, Cappadoda, Isauria, Phrygia, Bithynia,
Paphlagonia, Lydia, and the country round Trebisond. Soliman died in
io86y after reducing Antioch and its dependent cities. It was these
Sdjukian Turks with whom the eariy Crusaders came in contact In
1096 they captured their capital Nicsea, and so broke their power that
the Gredc Emperor /recovered much ground which had been lost, and
occupied the cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, Sardis, Nic«a, &c., and cut the
Turks off from the sea. It was then that they chose the remote and
afanost inaccessible Iconium as their capital. The seventh successor of
Soliman, named Kai Kobad, occupied the throne of Iconium when the
Mongols in 1335-7 made their first raid upon the kingdom of Rum ; but
it was in the reign of his successor, Ghiadi ud din Kai Khosru, and in
1242, that they made a vigorous efibrt, under the command of Baiju
to conquer it, and in fact succeeded in making it tributary .f
LITTLE ARMENIA.— To the south of the Scljukian kingdom of
Rum, and protected by the Taurus mountains, was a small state which
had considerable intercourse with the Mongols. This was known as
Little Armenia. It comprehended the ancient districts of Cilicia and
Comagene, with many towns of Cappadocia and Isauria. Its capital
was Sis. It originated with Rupen, a relative of Kakig the Second,
the last king of Armenia proper, of the race of the Bagratids. When
their power was finally destroyed, he in 1680 occupied some districts in
Cilicia, where many Armenians had sought refuge from the sword of the
• Petit 4t la Cf«ii,Jlasl«KhaB,iS7. t D^OhMoo, Ui. 78^.
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X4 HinORr OF THE MOMOOIA
S^jiikL The descendants of Rtipen enlaiged their dominions at the
expense of the Gredc empire, and were dosdy allied with the eaxly
Cnisaders in their struggle with the Sdjaks of Rmn. Leo, the ninth
successor of Rnpen, having increased his kingdom, obtained in 1197 the
title of king from Pope Celestin the Third and the Emperor Henry the
Sixth. When the Mong<4 general Baija defeated Kai Kosni, the Sultan
of Rum, Haithon, the third successor of Leo, sent in his submission and
became a vassal of the Mongols.
TREBIZOND.--In the north of Asia Minor, protected by mountains
and the sea, was a small state which was founded by an oflbhoot of the
Greek Imperial dynasty of Constantinople, descended from Andronicus
Comnenus. This was the obscure state of Trebisond, which took its
name from the city of Trebixoad, the ancient Trapesus. When the
Latins tQ<^ Constantinople the continuity of the Gredc empire was kept
up there. It also survived the great intoad of the Seljuld upon Asia
Minor, and by skilfiil diplomacy escaped the Mongol arms also, but it
seems to have acknowledged their supremacy.*
GEORGIA.— Like its neij;fabours, Georgia was terriUy ravaged by the
Sdjukfam Turics, who captured Tiilis and made its long tributary. The
disputes of the various Seljukian princes at lei^^th enabled David the
Second, the Restorer, who reigned from 1089 to 11^ n^o was supported
1^ the powerfrd family of the OipdianSt his deputies in Southern
Georgia, to recapture his capital and to drive the Turks beyond the
Amxes. His succaessors, Demetrius the First, David the Third, and
George Uie Third, gairied coiisiderable successes over the Sdfuki Sultans,
die Atabqg^ of Ajerfaaidjaa, the Turkish Emirs of Asia, and thechiefe of
Kelat In 1174 Ani| the capital of Armenia, fell into their hands.
During die reigns of the fruiv>us Queen Thamar, her.son George Fourdi,
tumamed Lasba, and his 8ister,.the beantiM Rhuzudan, the Georgian
power cendnned to increase. A great number of small Armenian chiefii
who held the fortresses nordi of the Araxes became dependent on the
Georgian kings, and assisted them in their wars with the Mussulmans.
And thus all Armenia north of the Araxes became more or less subject
to them. Ani and the surroundmg district, from the Araxes to the Kur,
north of bke Sevan, was subject to Ivan or John, the Constable of
Georgia, who was sprung from an Armenian family long subject to tbo
Georgians \ a»odier Umly hidd Cham lehor and die districts on the
Kur; another die country of Khatcheo^sbuated west of that river among
the mountains south of Cham lior ; the frunSy of the Orpdians hdd the
country between Sevan, the Kur and the Araxes, a district conquered
from the Mttssufanans, and which was granted to the Opelians in lieu of
their ancient patrimony, in Southern Geori^ia. The Georgian kmgs were
• GUibon, %i. isx ! vU. 169; via. IS. Molt.
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THX ISMAILmS. IS
in £act masters of the country fnm the borders of the Bhick Sea between
the Crimea and Trebixond, as fiur as Derbend and the junction of the
Kor and the Araxes, that is to say, Abkhazia, Colchis, Mingreliay Georgia,
properly so caDed, Northern Annenia, and many sunoonding districts.
When the Mongols made their first invasion of Geoigia in 1226^ it was
ruled over by the George Lasha above named* He was sacceeded by
his sister Rhmndany who ruled it at the time of the great invasion under
Charmaghun ten years later. At the great Kuriltai held on the acoesdon
of Kuyuk Khan, Georgia was divided into two portions ; one was given
to David, the natural son of George Lasha, and tibe other to a second
David, the son of Rhuzudan. The latter was made subordinate to the
former.*
South and south-west of the Qupian were the small districts of
Shirvan, Ghilan, and Mazanderan, whose isolated situation pieseifcd
them for a long time independent under their own princes. Their history
is of local interest, and does not aflect that of the Mongols. Very
difierent is that of their neighbours the Ismailites or Assassins.
THE ISMAILITES.— In the nMontain district of Kuhistan, south of
the Caspian, there was at the time of the Mongol invasion a thriving
power, namely, that of the IsmaiKtcs, known in the west as that of the
Assassins, or that ofthe old man of the mountain. It was the Assassins
whom Khulagu was especially commissioned to attack and root out. The
Ismailites were a sect of the Shias or f<rflowers of AIL In the early ages
of Muhammedanism the infiuence of Gredc philosophy, of the magicians,
&c, created a great number of mystical secu, among these were several
which held the doctrine of metempsychosis, and believed in a modified
system of Lamaism, holding that the spirit of Ali was transmitted to a
line of descendants known as the Imams. When the fifth Imam JafSr
Sadik, having nominated his eldest son Ismail as his successor, afterwards
deposed him on account of his excesses, and nominated Mussa in his
place, many of the Shias, who held that die appointment was irrevocable,
refiised to recognise Mussa, and declared the Imamate had passed to
Muhammed, the son of Ismail, whom they considered to be die eighth
and last visible Imam. The Shias succeeded for a while in raising up a
rival dynasty to that of the Abassides, namely* the Fatimites, with their
seat of empire in Egypt The followers of Ismail, who were merely a sect
of the Shias, then had their head, known as the Da'yi ud Da^at or chief
missionary, lived at Cairo. They rapkily developed a secret and mystical
cuh.t Many of their sect existed in Persia, Among these one of the
principal was named Hassan Sabbah, son of an Arab named Ali, who
had settled at Rei or Ray, where Hassan was bom. Hassan, who lived
at Kazvin, gained great repute and had many disciples, and about 1090
* napradi, Nomr. Joan. Aiiftt., ni. i«3. &c H'Otnoo, H. ao0b t PXlkMoo, iB. 149-iSS.
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l6 HISTORY OP THE IfOVOOLS.
captured the fortress of Alamut from the SeytikL He afterwards con-
quered the surrounding district, which was named Rudbar, and planted
several fortresses there as' well as in Kuhistan. The weakness of the
later Seljuki enabled the Ismailites to increase their power, whidi was
much augmented by the terrible secret assassinations which Hassan
secured. Hassan died in 1 124, after living for thirty-four years at Alamut,
which he only left twice, spending his time there in meditation^ &c. He
was followed by Kia Buzurk Umid, whom he nominated as his successor.
The power of the Assassins continued to increase, and two of the
Abassidan Khalifs were victims of their fuiatidsm. Kia Burzurk was
succeeded by his son Muhammed, and he by his son Hassan. Hitherto
the Ismailite chiefs had merely called themselves the missionaries
or champions of the In\amSy that is, of the Fatimite Khalifs. Hassan in
1 1 64 proclaimed himself the vicar of the Invisible Imam, and broke
away entirely from his alliance to the traditions of the Shias.
Thenceforward the Ismailites were known as Molahids (i.#., the lost).
He introduced a great deal of new mystical teaching. Having been
assassinated by his brother, he was succeeded by his son Muhammed,
who, on the destruction of the Fatimites in Egypt by Saladin, acquired
fresh renown, and terribly punished the orthodox Mussulmans who dared
to denounce his followers as heretics. Muhanuned was succeeded by his
son Jclal ud din Hassan, who professed the orthodox faith and submitted
to the Khalif. When Jingis Khan passed the Oxus he sent him his sub-
mission. Jelal ud din was succeeded in 1221 by his son Alai ud din
Muhammud, who was only nine years old when he succeeded. He was
himself assassinated in 1255, and was succeeded by his son Rokn ud din
Khurshah, with whom Khulagu fought, and who eventually destroyed him.
Among the chief fortresses of the Ismailites were Alamut, Lemsher (also
written Lemhesser), Guirdkuh Lai, and Meimun-diz.*
THE KIPCHAKS.— Having glanced at the various kingdoms with
which Jingis Khan and his successors came into conflict in Asia, we may
now take a rapid survey of the nomadic tribes whom they conquered and
who formed such an important element in their armies, and we may
begin with the most western. The Kipchaks, according to Raschid and
Abulghazi, were one of the five sections into which the Turkish nation
subject to Oghuz Khan was divided. Abulghazi tells us a curious stor>'
about the origin of their name. He says that at the time when Oghuz
Khan lived it was customary for great chiefs and some of their greater fol-
lowers to take their wives with them on their expeditions. On one occasion
one of these chiefs having been killed in a combat, his wife escaped and
joined the camp of Oghuz Khan. She was then great with child| and
being suddenly taken ill where there was no hut, and when the wea^r
« lyohMOB, m, Mi-MS*
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THE KIPCRAKS. 17
was very severe, she took refuge ia a bole in a tree, where she gave btrdi
to a son. Oghnz Khan adopted the boy, his father having died in his
service, and gave him the name of Kiptchak, which he says in the
old Tvuck kftgnage meant a hollow tree. When the boy reached
the age of maturity Ogfauz Khan sent him with a considerable force
towards the Don and Volga. He subdued the country, and from him
were descended the Kipchaks who inhabited the steppes there and who
gave them their name of Desht Kipchak, or the Plains of Kipchak-* I
am disposed to atuch credit to the principal features of this story.
Kipchak is a personal name among the Turks, and it is a very common
practice for Turkish tribes to be named after noted chiefs, /r. /r., the
Uzbegs, Nogays, See. The Kipchaks were called Comans by European
writers. This we know not only from a comparison of the statements
we have about both races, and from the fact that both races occupied the
same area at the same time, but we are expressly told that the Comans
called themselves Capchat The name Coman is derived no doubt from
the river Kuma, the country about which was known to the Persians as
Kumestan, and to the Nubian geographer Edrisl in the eleventh century
as Al Komania ; he adds, ''which gives their name to the Komanians.t
Klaproth has published a Comanian vocabulary and other evidence
showing the Comanians to have spoken a very pure Turk language.
A part of their old country on the Kuma is still called Desht Kipchak,
and the Kumuks, who have been pushed somewhat souUi by the Nogays,
are, I believe, their lineal descendants. Others of their descendants no
doubt remain also among the Krim Tatars. To the early Arab writers
the Kipchaks were known as Gusses, a name by which we also meet with
them in the Byzantine annals.^ This shows that they belonged to the
great section of the Turks known as the Gusses or Oghiiz Turks, whose
eponymous hero was Oghuz Khan. They first invaded the country west
of the Volga at the end of the ninth century, from which time till their
final dispersal by the Mongols in the thirteenth century they were very
persistent enemies of Russia. After the Mongol conquest it is very
probable that they became an important element in the various tribes
that made up the Golden Horde or Khanate of Kipchak. As I
have said, they were called Gusses by the Arabs. This connects them
very closely with the Turks who ravaged Persia so terribly in the
eleventh century, and to whom the Seljuki and Ottomans aflUiated them-
selves, both tribes deriving themselves from the Gusses. They also
formed a large part of the nomades who are known as Turkomans. The
original homeland of all these tribes was doubtless the land where the
Middk Horde of the Kirghiz Kazaks now lived. The Kazaks were also
Gusses, and in fact remain a type of what the other Gusses probably were
* Abttlghmxi, Bd. Detm.^ i8, 19.
t VUk Aiithei't Pspcr on tbt Contns aad Pttdwoogt, Tnuit, Btbnolog. Soc. ii. 14. I'd.
C
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I8 HISTORY or THE MONGOLS.
before they were sophisticated by contact with the Persians. One of the
main divisions of the Middle Horde and a tribe of the Usbegs are still
called Kipchak, and in the country of the Middle Horde may be found a
town Kapchak and a lake KapchL*
THE KANKALIS.-^East of the Yaik, in the wide steppe lands now
occupied by the Kirghiz Kasaks of the Little HOrde, lived the Kankalis.
Like their western nei^boucs, the Kipchaksi they also formed one of the
five sections into which the subjects of Ughuz Khan were divided In
later timtt they were very dosdy connected with the Kipdiaks, as may be
collected from the foct diat one of the four main divisions of the Uzbegs
b called Kankli-Kipchak. But at an eariier date their histories
ran in separate channels. They are called Kangli by RubruquiS| who
tells US he crossed their country after passing die Ydga, or rather the
Yaik. Carpini calls them Kangites^ and Constantino Porphyrogenitus
Kangar. According to Raschid and Abulghazi their name is derived
from the use of wh'wled caxriages or arabas, kandc meaning wheels.t
The Emperor Constantine identifies them with the Pochen^S|| and this
is confirmed by the statement ol AbuUeda, who, citing Ebn Said^ says
that eastward of Comania were the monntain^^ the lake^ and the capital
of the Begjnaky whp were Turka^l Now the country of the Pechenegs
and Kankalis was until the seventeendi century the camping ground of
the NogaySy who seem firom the researches of Levchine to have
extended as far as the river SaiisUy which divided them firom the Kazaks*
We are not suiprised to find, tfaeiefote^ the name Kangli surviving
among the Nogays, who are stfll distinguished as their ancestors were by
the use of wheded cars or arabas, and there aie fow things more certain
than that the Kankalis are now represented by the Nogays. Bendes the
Nogays there are no doubt many Turkomans also descended fitMn them.
According to Abulghasi the Kankalis at the accession of Jingis occupied
the country as fiu: east as the valleys of the dm and the Taras.| In the
time of Jingis the Kankalis were very dosdy connected with Khuarezm.
The Khuarezm Shah Takish^ the fiither of Muhammed, the great rival ot
JinglSy married Turkan KhaCun, the dau^ter of Jinkeshi Khan, of the
tribe Bayauty which, according to Muhammed of Nessa, was a branch of
the Y4mekS| who IVOhsson says were comprised in the general name ol
Kankalts.1| He was apparently a person of very great consequence, and
probably the paramount chief among them.** In the wake of Tlirkan
Shatun niany K^mtaHs embfaoed Islamism and entered the service of
Muhammed. Abulghazi says all her nearest rdativea thus went Among
* ru Cpiii Mi tbt Pttrhiatfi, op. dt. IS> f AlraliriMtfl, 14. Dmi., ly,
tBnay«C«aiiMaBdPttchtat|%op.cit,«k flHvtac,soo. Mot*.
|Op.dtnB4.I>Mnw9S. n Op,€iL,Li^iW
**IatteTaWfaitlNMiriteioc«]MiB om piMO Ikna or Aim Kluui oT Kipcbtk. aad
i»oaotlwrK>drK|wftolW>dMfc.ocooftM<Mof ■o«iooa4<ftittwwhicbi<rtwott*4bcirt
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THE KARLUKS^AUCAUGR. 19
these there are named her eldest brother Khumar Teldn, who was
appomted Darogha, f>., governor of Uin^ndj. There also went Inaljek,
the son of her fathei^s younger brother ; he became a Mussulman, and
was appointed governor of Turkestan, and Muhammed ordered that he
was in future to be no longer styled Inaljek but Ghadr Khan (F a form of
Gur Khan). Another chief named Kuk, one of the principal men
among the Kankalis, also joined him and was appointed governor of
Bokharah, with the title of Khan ; he was styled Kuk Khan. Altogether,
says Abulghazi, there were 50^)00 or 60,000 Kankalis who entered the
service of the Khuarexm Shah ; 1 0^000 fiunilles of them remained on
the dui and Telash (? Taras), but on the arrival of Jingis Khan those who
lived on the Tdash were dispersed,* while those in the service of the
Khuarezm Shah were terribly punished in the ensuing campaign. As
I have said, their descendants still constitute the main portion of the
Nogay Hordes.
THE KARLUKS.— Like the Kankalis^ the Karhiks were dependents of
the Gur Khans of Kara KhitaL They also formed a section of the subjects
of Oghuz Khan. Their name, according to Raschid, means the men of
the snows or snow lords.t Abulghazi says they inhabited the mountains
of Mongoha, and that they were not a numerous race, and adds that the
number of their families did not, at the most flourishing period of their
history, exceed 2,000 families. The accounts of the Kariuks, as given
by Juveni and Raschid, are not quite consistent According to one
account AlmaUgh was their chief town,^ while Juveni makes it the seat
of another Turkish prince. I have small doubt that Juveni b ri^^t, and
he is confirmed by AbulghazL According to his account, when Jingis
Khan returned from his campaign agadnst Tangut in 121 1, Arslan Khan
of the Karluks, who was also Prince of Kayalik or Kabalik, and who
had broken off his allegiance to the Gur Khan of Kara Khitai, submitted
to him, and he gave him a Mongol princess in inarriage.i It was
ordered also that Arslan should no longer be styled Arslan Khan but
Axslan Siriaki, or Arslan the Syrian, that is, the Muhammedan.| He
accompanied Jingis Khan in his campaign against the Khuarezm
ShakK
ALMALIGHw— In the tenth and eleventh centuries the Turks of
Turkestan were dominated over by a Grand Khan, who had his seat of
empire at Kashgar, and who ruled from the borders of China to those oi
the Jaxartes. His power seems to have decayed and to have been much
invaded by the Kankalis and Karhiks, and he at last submitted to the
Gur Khan of Kara Khitai, whose dependent he be^me. When Gushluk
usurped the throne of Kara Khitai the Khan of Almaligh and Fulad was
* AbalghMi, Bd. OtUL, 37. 18. t Bfiaana'ft Bxtracts, x6.
I Erdmaim*t TtiBvgio, 146. | D*Ohnea, L ixx. | ITOhMOs. t« sA Note.
t H^ su. Ibalfluui, Bd. Dmrn., laS.
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20 HISTORY OP THE MONGOLS.
called Ozar.* Erdmann, who confuses this dynasty with that in the last
paragraph, calls him Kunas, and says he was known as Merdi Shudsha
(ue., lion heart or lion man). This latter statement is probably well
founded, for the Khans of Almaligh are doubtless to be identified with
the Lion Khans of Kashgar mentioned by Vi$delou.t It would seem
that Ozar Khan of Almaligh, having refused to acknowledge Gushluk,
the latter marched against him, and having surprisec him when hunting
put him to death. Ozar had acknowledged the supremacy of Jingis
Khan, and on his death his son Siknak Tikin was named his successor
by the Mongol Khan, who gave him a daughter of Juji's in marriage.
He also accompanied Jingis in his Eastern campaign. J
THE NAIMANS.— That the Naimans were Turks, as both Klaproth
and D*Ohsson affirm, I have shown in the notes at the end of this
work. According to Raschid they were nomades. Some of them
were settled in the district of Sehets. (1) The places where they lived
included Egeh Altai (? Yeke Altai or Great Altai); Karakorum,
where Ogotai fixed his residence ; the mountains Alwi Sepras (called
Elui Seras by D'Ohsson), and Gul Irtish, where the Kankalis also
lived ; the Irtish Muran, a branch of the Irtish (by which probably
the Black Irtish is meant) ; the surrounding mountains and districts as
far as the country of the Kirghises on one side, and that of the Uighurs
on the other.} That is, it included the whole of Northern Sungaria
from near lake Saissan to Karakorum. It is important to remember that
Raschid makes Karakorum, which afterwards became the capital of
Ogotai, a chief camping ground of the Naimans. The reading is con-
firmed by Abulghazi, who says that they had their chief camping ground
in the district called Karakorum in Mongolia ;| and in a very independent
authority, namely, a map of the north-western frontiers of China at the
Mongol period, contained in the Hai kue thn chi, a Chinese work cm
universal historical geography, we are told Hdin (t./., the Chinese
name for Karakorum) was situated between the Orkhon and the Timur,
and it is added that the Naimans had formerly their principal camp there.^
Abulghazi says he knew nothing of the former history of the Naimans
except that they had a king named Karkish, who left his dominions to his
son Inat^ At a later date they were ruled over by landj Belgeh Buka
Khan, who divided his kingdom between his sons Taibuka and Buyuruk
Khan. Taibuka reuined possession of his fiEither's residence, le»f Kara-
kor<tm, wh^ Buyuruk went to live at Kizilbashi (? the Kizilbash lake),
near the Altai.tt At the end of his description of the Naimans, Raschid
mentions a people whom he calls Tigin, whose chief was called Kadier
» D'Ohmm, f , 170.
tSoppl«flMttttQiyH«ttlot*iBib.Orien.,so5« tD'Obnoii,Lsx9. Abalfhasi«Bd.DMmoioS.
4 Etdmann*! Extracts from Raadiid, MS. Ttnv^939'
I O^ dt.. Bd. Oesm., 47. f Putiiier'i Uuco Polo, t. xxxfOL
** O^ tUL, Bd. DoHB., 47* tt BrdBUum, TcmiUinf 171* utd Noto 80.
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THSmOHUKS. tl
Buynnik Khin, and mbo fived in doM ilUtnoe with the NabBms. In
regard to these names, Tigin seems to he m foim of the TuddsA title
Tikin, while Kader is expfauned hy Raechid as meampg mighty or stroi%;
It is clearly the Eadr which occors to frequently as the tide of the
Turkish Khans of Turkestan. It is a Tufkish title, and Raachkl
expfessly says it was a name not used hy tht Mongols, who pronounced
it Kadsher.* Ha also mentions another trihe, which he names TehgL
lyOhsson writes the name Sikin biki* he says it was dosdy
cooneoted with the Onguts although h Imd with the Naimans. The
women of the Naimans and of this latier tribe were fiuned for their
beanty.t I know nothing of these two tribes beyond the facu mentioned
by Raschid.
THE UIGHURS.— The Uighurs wete undoubtedly Turks-t They
were known to the Chinese as Hoei-ho. Is the second half of the eighth
century and beginnmg of the ninth the Uighurs were aU^powerfitl in
£astem Asia, and had their ciqiital at lUkakotum. Their princes
entered into matrimonial alliances with the Chinese Emperor, and they
seem to haveoccu{Hed ail the weslesn part of Moi^olia, from Karakorum
to the country of the Ortus. Like the pofwer of most Turkish con*
fedsaraaes, however, theirs was not very long lived. Their possesskms in
the south were overrun and occupied by the Thibetans, and in the nofth
they were mudi harrassed by their western nei^iboua the Hakas, a
name which I have elsewhere connected with Oghuz.} The Utter at
lengthy in 840^ marched against them at the head of ioo/doo horsemen,
deleated and captured their Khan Khaisa, whose head they cut off.
After this defeat a large number of the Uighurs dispersed, many of them
seeking refuge on the borders of Shensi, where they nominated Uhi as
their Khan. At length in the year 84S they were Anally dispersed, many
of their hordes fled to the countries of Sha Chau and Kua chau.l The
Hakas, who supplanted them and 6ccupied their capital Karakorum,
were, as I bdieve, the direct ancestors of the Naimans, who were
encamped there at the accesMon of Jingis. It was these disasters which
led to the U^hurs migrating and yttling largely in an old Turk land,
namely, on the eastern spor^ of the Thian Shan mountains. Their
principal seat was Bishbalik (the five towns), which Klaproth has shown
to be identical with Urumtzl On the north they extended as far as the
river Achuy on the south they had the Chinese principality of Thsiau
thsiuan kiun (the present country of So chaa), on the east they bordered
upon Gundun Gachikia (Visdelou reads it Yuen tun Kia cha), and on the
west upon the Sifans or Thibetans.^ Nestorian Christianity was widely
spread among them, as we learn from many Eastern Uavellers. And it
* Erdmann't Bitncts from Ratcbid, X47. Molt. t ff, 147, 0'OhMor» I. sS Nof«
I Sm Nolet ot tht oa4 of thio Volume. f GeofrMilct) Maftzioe, ti. 150.
I Klsr^^* TableMS Hittoriqutt, uS, ug f D'Ohtson, i. (40.
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33 BmOKW or THB MONGOLS.
was horn tlie Nestoriaas tbqr dDiibCtoii derived their a^Uisbet, irfuch is
Ibimded on Uie Symc. Thex lavgfat letters to the Mongols, and were in
early times the most coltiyated race of Eastern Asia. Like the other
Turks of the Thian Shan ranfe, the Uighurs submitted to the Gur
Khans of Kara KhitaL Their ruler was entitled Idikut, and he became
their tributary, haring a deputy of the Gur Khans in his territory.
When die star of Jiagis rose the Idikut broke off his alliance to
the Kara Khitai and became the proie^ of Jingis, who gave him his
daughter in marriage. At this time he was named Baurchik, and the
Uighurs continued to be ruled by his family until the Mongols were
driven away from China. The eastern neighbours of die Uighurs were
the Keraits.
THE KERAITS.— In regard to the Keraits I hokl very heretical
views. They have been almost, if not quite, universally treated as
Mongds. 1 believe, cm the contrary, that they were Turks, and have
given my reasons at some length in the notes at the end of this volume.
Hie history of the Keraits and of Prestcr John, their celebrated sovereign,
is given in detail in the tenth duqiter, fdiere the question as to their
habitat has been fully discussed, and it has been shown to correspond to
the frontier districts of the Ordus country and the neighbourhood of
KokoKhotan.
THE MERKITS.— The country of the Merkits or Mecrits is well
defined by more than one author. Thus Marco Polo says, when you leave
Karakorum and the Altai, and you go north for forty days, you reach the
country called the plain of Bargu. The people there are called Me&cript*
Raschid tells us the Mericits were called Meiuits by one section of the
Mongols. He says they were also known by the common name of Udut
or Uduyut In another place he says one of their tribes was called
tliC Udut Merkits. This name of Udut Klaproth connects with great
proliability with the river Uda, a western feeder of the Selingat In
1^97 Jingis Khan marched a^unst the Merkits, and we are told he
encountered and defeated the Udut Merkits ivsir the river Mon<1ja, in
the canton Karas Muren, beyond the Kerukm and Selinga. Klaproth
adds that this river still bears the name Mandiia. It springs to the
north of the sources of the Onon and Kerulon, in the angle formed
between those rivers by the Bakha Keolri and the Ik^ Kentei. It crosses
the frontier of Siberia at the post Obur khadain ussu, passes near the
fort of Mandsinskoi, called Manzanskoi in Pozniakof's map, and joins
the Chikoi (one of the main feeders of the Selmga) opposite the village
of Manghir Chuiska4 The following year Wang Khan, the Kerait chief,
delieated the Merkits at a place called Buker kehreh, when their chief
Tukta bigi took refuge in the country of Barkuchin.{ Kehreh no doubt
•YBk'ftliafcePolp,aod£d.,i. tNfl«r.)ovn.A«At..xL45i.
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THE icntcmisEs AND kuckbujuks. as
meutt pkint, asd Baker kdirdi it doabddts the plaint of Bai|^
of Marco Polo, and was titiiated near dM oatUH of die Setinga.
After dM defeat and death of the Nahnan ddef Tayang Khan, Jmgis
marched against the MeildtSy and we are told that the diief of the
Uhnx or Udut MerldU (Erdmann says the Ui|(hitr Meildts) sobmitted
vofamtazily to farai at the river Bar. I aotioe a town called Bor^aya on
an eastern feeder of the lower SeUnga. This tribe having afterwards
revohed, Jingis attacked it m a |dace named Knnikdialy ''near the
Seltnga."* These £uts make it almost cotain that the Meridts lived
upon the lower Sefinga and its feeders and in tiie coimtry sooth-west of
the Baikal Sea. The Meikits have generally been treated as Mongols,
it is not improbable diat as they were a frontier race they may have
been somewhat mixed with Mongol blood. Bnt I bdieve this to have
been trifling, and that tiiey were almost as typically T^uks as the
Uighurs. The proofe of this I must remit to the notes at the end of the
vofaane. The mfer of the Merkits in the time of Jingis was Tukta Bigi,
who wSl ai^pear ftequendy in the foUowmg pages. He had six sons,
naa^, Tngmiy Tuseh, Kudo, Jilaun (who munled a daughter of Wang
Khan of ^ Keraits), Jiyok, and Kultufcan Metgen. AH six came to a
violent end. Tugtm was ki&cd by V/mog IGian; Tnseh, Jilatm, and
Jiynk kH in battle with Jingis Khan; Kudu was put to death when
escaping, while Kultukan was a great archer and fled to Kipchak, where
he was captured and put to deadi by order of JujL Kulan the
daaghter of Dair Ussun, chief of the Metkits, was married to Jingis
Khan, and she was the mother ^f his fifth son KuOcan.t
THE KIRGHISES AND KEMKEMJUKS.—The Kirghises and
Kemkemjuks were two closely alhed Turkish tribes, who lived in the
time of Jingis on the upper waters of the Yenissei and on the Kemjik. A
place at the embouchure of die Kemjik into the Yenissei, is still known
as Kemkemjik Bom. Bom is merely equivalent to stony mountain or
feILt Raschid tells they formed two neighbouring nations, their country
was thickly settled, and their kings were called InaLf The Chinese
aothors who wrote during the Mongol supremacy place them in the
same district, between the lyus, the Ob, and the YenisseL| They
remained in the same district down to ^e seventeenth century, when, as
repoK^pd by Strahlenberg and other Swedish exfles, they left their old
country and migrated towards lake Saissan and the mountainous country
to the south. Here they are still found, and are known as Bumts, Black
Kiighises, or Rock Kirghises. They are in fact the Kiighises proper,
those frequently so called being in reality Kaxaks and not Kirghises.
THE URASUTS, TELENKUTS, AND KESTI MIS. — These
tribes, Raschid says, were also caHed the wood-folk, and he tells that they
I lyotmomi I iQS. lfol«. I KlspisA* OP* dt.« ass*
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24 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS*
lived in the woods in the country of the Kiiglnses and Kemken^uks.*
They were closely bound up with the Kirghises, and were aiq>arently
three sections of one race, as Abulgfaazi says,t and doubtless also their
descendants are the well-known Telenguts, or white Kalmuks of recent
travellers^ who are found scattered in the high country of Northern Sun-
garia. They are otherwise called Teleuts, and their original seat was
apparently the Altan, or Golden lake, otherwise called Tdeskoi. Their
physique and looks are very like those of the Mongols, but their speech
is TuiicJsh. Klaproth suggests that they have chaiiged in the latter re-
spect, aod that originally they were Mongols.; It is curious that Abul-
ghazi classes the Telenguts among the Uirads, that Ssanang Setzen ^>eaks
of them as the Telengud Uirad^ while they are known to the Russians as
White Kahnuks. In regard to tiie Kestimis, I may add that several
tribes of Siberian T^urfcs are still st^ed Kitshi, as Kitshi Taidkge, Kitshi
Kurmachi, Kitshi Aigun, Kitshi Pushku.§
THE UIRADS, KURIS, TULAS, TUMATS, BARGUTS, AND
KURLUTS were various tribes who lived on die east and west of
the Baikal Sea, about the feeders of the Angara, and in the dis-
trict known as Barguchin Ingram. I have now little doubt that they
were Mongols, and were die ancestors of the Western Mongols or Kal-
muks. I have entered into the subject ftilly in the last chapter of this
volume on the Buriats*
THE WILD URIANKUTS.— The name Uriankut, or Uriangkhan,
has given rise to some difficulty. One of the six great divirions of the
Mongols in the time of Dayan Khan was called Uriangkhan. The
tribe which had chaige of die burying^iilace of Jingis was caDed
Uriankut The Turks on the Chulim are called Uriaiq;khai,| and the
same name is applied by the Chinese to the Southern Samoyedes, who
live about the Kossgol Ukt. This variety of application is explained
when we find that the name merely means woodmen.lT Raschid men-
tions one tribe of Uriangknts among the Dari^n Mongds, but he
also names a second tribe, the Wild Uriang^ts. He describes them
as dressing themselves in deerskins ; as keeping neither oxen ndr sheep.
He speaks of then living in birch huts ; as using snow shoes, Ac, and it
is quite clear that he refers to the Uriangkhai of the Chinese aotbon-—
that is, to the Samoyedes, who still have their headquarters close to the
Mongol country and about lake KossagoL**
BULGACHINS AND KERMUCHINS.— Raschid merely names
these tribes, and tells us they were neighbours of the Kiighises. They
are probably to be identified with smne of the brokeA tribes of Turics or
Samoyedes who live on the northern flanks of the Sayanian mountains.
• SrdauuBA*tT«m^iin,i9i. f B4. Dwa., 47. X Aria Pol jglocti.
f ArisPol]rflotts,tS4. |Klaprocfa«A«aPoIyclottft.sa4. fiV.
«• Patvmawi't Minhealanstii, ▼oi. for i86o« p. 9^
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THE J1L4U1S— «UWXIT AND KABT1RUK-- THE TAHTARS. If
THE JELAIRS.— We nam approach a part oi our subject which it
unusually difficult I have stated in a note at the end of this work my
reasons for makfaif the }elairs a Turkish tribe aad not a Mongol one.
They were divided into ten sections, namely, the Jait, Tukraut (Tak-
nun of lyOhsson), Kengeksaut (Kani^kassaim of lyOhssooX Kmntw it,
Uyat, Sdkan (Biikassan of lyOfasson), Knglr, Tuiangkit^ B«ri» and
Shenegknt Dtimg ilie leign of Jingto Khan the aaoat in^wrtant chief
of the Jdairs was Muknli IGwaiig,cf the section Jait Heconaanded the
left wing of the amy of Jingis. Kiwang was a Chinese title, ntramng
great ddef, it was given to him when the Mongols soo^ re<qge at
Karaun Shidnn.* This title was inherited by his son B^ghul, and hb
desoeAdants.t Abulghasiieportsof die }elajis that they were aa ancient
tribe, and very numerous, and that on one occasion when they were at
war irith the Khitai, they att assembled in one place, and their tents
formed seventy kurens (/^^ rti^). These irings have been aptly com*
pared to the ri]^ among the ancient Avars. The Jdair tribe consisted
of many uvniks, which were formed into groups, each one with a separate
chieC Thegreaterpaitofthejelairs were encamped on the Onon.)
SUWEIT AND KABTERUN.— Tikese tribes are called Smut and
Kainm by D'Ohsson. If the reading of the latter be the right one^ we
may have their descendants in the wdl-known tribe of the Sunids, which
belongs to the foctynine banners. These Sonids are probably a very
old tribe, for they and their chief Kiluken Bahadur are named by Ssanang
Setzen in his account of Jingis Khan. This makes the identifica-
tion probable. But as the Suweit are not classed with either the Niruns
and Dariegins. If^ with the two great sections of the Mongols proper, it
is probable that if they were Monjgols they had a distinct history and
traditions, like the Uirads, &C. The Kahtenm are named by Raschid as
a section of the Svweiti
THE TARTARS*— I shall remit iSbt discnssion of several matters
which suggest themselves on reading die name Tartar to the notes at the
end of die volume, and shall here content myself with a short resume
The Chiaese used the name in a general sense, to indode the greater
part of their northern ndghbours, and it was in imitation of diem pio*
bably that the Europeans applied the name to the various nomade hordes
who controlled Central Asia after the Mongol invasion. But the name
properly bdoqged, and is applied by Raschid and other Mongol histo-
rians, to certain tribes living in the north-eastern corner of Mongolia,
who, as I believe, were partially, at least, of Tungusic race,ll «nd whose
descendants are probably to be found among tlM Solons of Northern
Manchuria. Raschid tdls us they consisted of 70,000 families, who lived
* VHi iafra. i Erdmaan't Tmn^io, X7a-i77* D^knoo* i. 4S4.
; Op. dt., Ed. Dmm,, 6z. i Erdmaao't TamigiB, x77-i79* D'OltaMa, 1. 414.
Vids Bot* at thscadof VolanM.
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26 HISTORY OP THB MONGOLS.
oa the borders of China, and had their principal cajoap at Buyur nanr,
that it the wdl-knowB lake Buyur. They were divided into six tribes,
namely^ the Tntnkeltuts, Alj (called AnUi by the Chinese and Ssanang
Setzen), Jaghan, Kuisin (called Kuyin by D*Ohsson), Nesait (the Terat
€d lyOhssonX and Yerkui (the Berkui of I^Ohsson) ; of these the Tuto-
kehats were die most important, whence a male Tartar was ^Pequently
called Tntnkdina, and a female Tutukeljin.* They foi^ht a good deal
with one another, and as I shall show presently, had a laog struggle with
the Montis, after which they were ahnost exterminated. Two of Jingis
Khan's wives, namely, Bisuhm and Bisogat were Tartars ; they were
sisters. A favourite general of hb whom he had adopted as a boy, named
Kntdn Noyan, and who will appear in the following page^ was also a
Tartar.
THE ONGUTS.-— The Onguts, of Raschid, were known to the
Chinese as White Tartars. One section of the Tartars above described
was called J^lfaan Tartar, ^., White Tartars, and it seems pvetty certain
that the Onguts were a section of the Tartars prc^per. We are told that
about tiie year 880 or 883, Chu ye che sin, otherwise called Li kue chang
(wbQ was of the Turkish race of the Sha to), and his son, Li ke yung,
having been defeated by He lien Ao and oUiers, kft China, afraid of being
punished, and retired among die Tha che,t and that he re-entered China
foUowed by the Tha che, and with their help defeated the rebel Hoam
chaa After this he settled with the Tha che between Yun cfaau and Tai
chaa (two towns in the northern part of Shansi).) I have no doubt that
these Tartars, who occur frequently in subsequent history, are the AVhite
Tartars of the days of Jingis. At that time they were in the service of
the Kin Emperors, by whom they were wapUiytd to garrison a portkm of
the Great Wall, whence their name of Onguts, from Ongu a walLf Their
chief, at the time of Jingis (according to Raschid), was called Alakush
Tikin Kuri Alakush is a Turkish proper name, wfak^ means a pled
Inrd ; Tikin is a title borne by diiefe of Turkish tnbes.| GwntSU ndio
caUs him Alausse, says he belonged to tiie ancient race of Kings of the
Thu kiu,Y which exactly agrees with the fed named above^ that the
leader who planted the cdony of Onguts in Nortem Shan si was of the
race of the Sha to Turks, which accounu ferdicr for his ck>se connectioQ
with the chief of the Naimans. I beieve die Onguts, dien, to have been
a colony of Tartars from Manchmia, goviemed by a Turkish dynasty*
• Brdmun, Bxmcts from RMchtd, 41, 43.
tTkitUaaalteniatiTefMBM tktauMTarttir. l\h6aoa,op,tit,^A,
fRMcbId, quoted by D*0bM0ii,].l4. Note. |itf. ^Op.6L,io.
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CHAPTER IL
THE ORIGINES OP THE MONGOLS.
THE name Mongol (according to Schmidt) is derived from die
word Mongy mraning bcave, daring, bold,* an etymology which
is acquiesced in by Dr. Schottt Ssanang Setzen says it was
first iphren to the race in the time of Jingis Khan,| but it is of much older
date than his time^ as we know firom the Chinese accounts, in which we
must be carefi4 however, to discriminate between it and a very nmilar
name, Moho, by whidi die Tungutian tribes of Manchuria were known^
The eariiest mention of the Mongols sa nomine occurs in the official
history of the Thang dynasty (618^^07), which was probably written
ahordy after the latter date. The name, as there given, is Mongu, and it
is mentioned under the heading Shi wei,asif theMoqgu formed a section
of die Shiwei;! and on turning to the great Chinese Topographical
Woik, Hoanyu ki, written in the years 976-984,^ we find Mongu madea
qnalifyii!^ adjective to Shi wd ; the Moi^u and their nei^bours, the
Lotaa, being there respectively called the Mongu Shi wd and Lotan Shi
weL** The Thang dynasty was succeeded in Northern China by the
Khitan, and in the history of that dynasty, written in 1 180 by a Southern
Chinese nankod Ye lung li, who lived at Kia-hing>fu, in the province of
Che IM^g, we have a ^hort description of the tribes to the north-^est of
Mancfanria, and among these he mentions the tribe of the MongknlL
The Khttans were in turn dispossessed by the Kin^ or Golden Tartan,
and in a history of their dynasty^ entitled Ta-Kin-kuo-chi, we find the
Mongktt mentioned with considerable details as to their intercourse
with China.tt These various fiuts prove that the name Mongol is much
older than the time of Jingis Khan, and was not a name first given to his
suljects by that great conqueror. They point further, as die statements
of Raadiid do, to the Mongols having at first been merdy one tribe of a
gnat confiederacy, whose name was probably extended to the whole when
the pnMPaaa of the In^perial House which governed it gained at the supre-
macy* We learn lasdy firom them that the generic name by which the
•toiMac8HMtt,sl«> 8MalioJoin.Aaial.,j,t«9.
ta^llttoMafikfklrtMivoBlfoBColM «a4T«tarM,5* N«te. |0p.eit,7i-
S8^Mlt,o^clt.,<k7« |8dw(t,op.dt..i9,x9. YM.io. **;^,si. \M4.,r;.
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2S HISTORY or THE MONGOLS.
race was koown in early times to the Ounese was Shi wei, the Mongols
having, in fact, been a tribe of the Shi wei. For pointing this out in all
its deamess'we are indebted to Schott, in the paper already cited.
Klaproth, in his Tableaux Historiquet, makes the Shi wei a Tungusic
race, but in this, I believe, he is mistaken. The Shi wei were known to
the Chinese from the seventh century ; they then consisted of various de-
tached hordes, subject to the Thu Idu, or Turks. They were of the same
origin as the Khitans ; like th^n they shaved their head% they used catde
to draw their carts, and lived in huts covered with mats. Like
the Turks they used felt tents, which could be transported on carts.
They used rafb of inflated skins upon which to cross rivers ; instead of
a felt they put a quantity of grass on their horses backs, which serrdd
them for a saddle, and they used cords for bridles. They slept on pigs'
sldns. They used bits of wood arranged in a certain order as a cal-
endar. Their country was very cold. They had no sheep and few
horses, but many pigs and cattle. They prepared a kind of spirit, with
which they intoxicated themselves. The family of the bridegroom paid
the family of the bride a sum of money on her marriage ; widows were
not allowed to re-marry. Mourning was worn for three years for the
richer men. Having no com in their country they got what they needed
from Corca. The Southern Shi wei were divided into twenty-five hordes.
Further north there lived the Northern Shi wei, who consisted of
nine tribes ; and i^rhose chiefs bore the title of Ki-in-mo-ho-tu. This
name may be a corruption of ^ Khan of the Mongols," and I am disposed
to think that the nine tribes of the Northern Shi wei constituted the
Mongol nation proper subject to the dynasty of the Bordshigs, who were
divided in the time of Jingis into nifu military divisions, each one led by
one of the mme Orldks, whence the national standard of die race (Con-
sisted of a Tuk with nin€ white Yak tails.* The country of the
latter was exceedingly cold, and they used sledges there. In the
winter the inhabitants retired to die caverns. They lived on fish, and
made their clothes from fish skins. Sables and their kin were abundant
among them. They wore caps made of the skins of foxes and badgers.
One thousand )i further north than the Northern Shi wei lived the Po Shi
wei, near the mountain I hu pu. They were very numerous. Four days'
journey fiirther west lived the Shi wei of the river Shin mo tan.
Several thousand li to the north-%est lived the Great Shi wef, in a very
mountainous country. Their language dlflered entirely from that ^ die
other Shi wei.t Klaproth adds that in the ninth century, during die reign
of the Thang dynasty, the nine hordes of die Northern Shi wei were
called Shi wei west of the mountians {Khinggan), Northern Shi
wei. Yellow-headed Shi w(;i, the great Yu cbi Shi wei, the little
* 8chaidt*t aom to SMSinc S«Uta, op. dt., j/o. t Ttlitami. Ac., 91, gt.
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THE OUGIKES Of THE MONGOLS. iq
Yu Chi Shi wei» Shi wci of Nu pho wo, Shi wci of Ta mu,
and the Camel Shi weL These extracts seem to show that the Chinese,
whose ethnography was sometimes very faulty, used the name Shi wei
as they sometimes used the name Tartar, as a generic name for the
tribes of Dauria and its neighbourhood, both Mongols and Manchns.
As I have said, the earliest mention of the name Mongol is in the
Tliangshu, or official history of the Thang d)mast>'. In descrilnng the
Shi wei, it is there stated that the nearest tribes of this race lived
3,000, and the most distant 6,000 or more li to the north-east of
Lieu ching, an old fortified town on the site of the modem Chao ten-
hien, in the country of the Eastern Tumeds.* The most westerly of the
race was the tribe U su ku, which lived to the south-west of the Kiu lun
lake, and bordered on the Uighurs (who had their capital at Karakorum).
** To the east of the Kiu lun lake were the I sai mn, and further east
still, on the north bank of the Chuo, also called the Yen chi, lived
the Sai-hu-chi, a very powerful race." *'To the east of the^ lived
the Holdai, the Ulohu and the Noli." Directly north of the
tribe Ling-si (Ling-si means merely ** West of the Mountain pass ^^t
lived the No«pe-chi. And north of them, beyond a great mountain,
were the Ta Shi wei, or Great Shi wei, #ho lived on the banks of
the river Shi ki en. This river flowed from the Kin lun lake^ and
flowed eastwards." The Chinese, whose topography of these parts is not
very profound, confound the Shilka, or Onon, and the Argun, and make
them both spring from the Kiu lun lake. 1 believe the Shi ki en of the
above account to be, in fact, the Shilka, and the Ta Shi wei, the Taidshigods
or Taidshuts. South of the Shi ki en (i,i^ of the Onon) lived the tribe
Mongu, and north of it the tribe Lotan. This is not a bad approxima-
tion to the home land of the Mongols, which we know was on the Onon,
Who the Lotan were I don't know.
The next work which mentions the Mongols is the Topographical
Survey, called the Hoan yu ki, which was written in tlie inter\-al 976-984.J
In this account the Sai hu chi are placed to the south instead of the north
of the river Chua The tribe Ulohu, which is also called Ulo, and
Ulo hoen, is placed to the east of the Holdai, as before, and we are
further told that it lived north of the mountain Mo kai tu (/'./., the
Snake Mountain).| This account adds that the Ulohu paid tribute from
the fourth year of Tai ping, of the dynasty Yuan Wei (/>., 443 a.d.) to
the ninth year of Tien pao, of the dynasty Thang, 720 a.d.|
Two hundred li north-east of the Ulo, and on the banks of the No (i^.^
the Nonni), lived the remnants of the Uhuan, who had been dispersed by
the Hiong nu. They paid tribute under the first two Emperors of the
Thang dynasty. ** North of them and on the north side of a great mountain
■ Scbott, op. cit., 10. Note. f ScboCt> i<>. Nor*. J Schott. op. cit., lo.
I id., ao. Note a. { Not 750 as Scboit sajrs. S?« Woftf, ig. Note ««.
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30 HISTORY OF THB MONGOLS.
lived 4 tribe called Ta die Shi wei, on the banks of a river flowing oat of
the lake Kia lun into the north-east of the land of the Thu Idu. This
river, in its eastern course, watered the country of the Si and the Ta Shi
wei (/.^., of the Western and Great Shi wei). Then it divided the country
of the Mongu Shi wei,' who lived south of it, from that of the Lotan Shi
wei, who lived to the north. Further east it took in the rivers No and
Huhan, and separating the Northern and Southern Hechui, at length fdi
into the sea." By this river, whose description is so baffling, is doubtless
meant the Amur, and its upper streams the Onon and Shilka. By Ta che
Shi wei was meant, according to Schott, the Shi wei with great wagons.*
It therefore answers somewhat to the He che tse of '\^dilou, who lived
in this neighbourhood, and whose name in Chinese meant Black
dariots.t Now Ta che is merely another form of Tata, or Tartar. So
that it may be that we have in these Ta che Shi wei the Tartars who
lived near Lake Buyur and its tributaries. They are periiaps the same
people as the No pe chi of the Thang annals. It would seem from the
confused account of the river, as above given, that the Chinese bdieved
that the Argun was merely the head stream of the Onon and Shilka.
The next mention of the Mongols is in the history oi the Liau dynasty,
already cited. Having spoken of the Moho, this work goes on to
describe the Thie li hi shi klen, a name which Schott splits in two. Thie
li is a race name that occurs frequently4 and is applied to Turkish as
well as to Manchu tribes. Schott identifies the Hi shi Iden with the
obscure Mongol ttibe Kishikten, but it seems to me that it is another
form of the name He che tse, mentioned by Visdelou, and that it
represents the Tartars. We are told they lived 4,000 li north-north-
east of Shang king, and that they paid no tribute, but only traded
with the Chinese. Direcdy north of, and also about 4,000 li distant from
Shang king (Shang king was probably situated near Boro Khotan, in the
district of Barin)§ lived the people called Mong ku U, who lived entirely
by hunting and cattle breeding, without any fixed pastures. They noma-
dixed every year in search of water and grass. Their food consisted of
flesh aiKl sour mitk (/./., kumis). They never did the Khitans any harm,
and bartered with them the hides of their cattle, sheep, camels, and
horses. Here we find the Mongob emerging from the obscurity of a sub-
ordinate tribe, and becoming much more important.
In this account their name no doubt connotes much more than it did
before, and several of the other tribes are included under it We are next
told that further west than the Mongku li, and $,000 li from Shang king,
lived the people Yukiu (no doubt the Usuku of the Thang oflicial history),
who resembled the Mong ku U in everything. In the thirty-second year of
the £n4>eror Shing tsong (1014} the Yukiu made a raid upon Chintt but
*Op.dt.,ai. NoMb t Bibi Oricn., ij5.
4 SdMlt, op. cit., 14. N«l«« fStlMt,i5. Not*.
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THB ORIGINXS OF THE MQilOOLS. 31
wtn to beatmi by the Inqierial anny tlut they had sinoe only come to
the Imperud .court to trade. They dealt in the lame articles as die
Mosg knH. Further to die north-west (f ^outh-west) one came to the
people Pi-ko-li. Next to whom were the Ta ta (? the Onguts or White
Tartars), then some Turkish tribes, and lastly Tangut. In the official
history of the Kin dynasty the Mongols are called Mongu, and aie
described as living to the north-east of the JutjL Dn Schoct says this is
deafly a U^nts piHicUli for north-west Such is the account we
can gather from Chinese writers as to the origin of the Mongol race,
and it justifies us in tracing it up to the Shi wel
I do not propose in this work to oniminc into the very crooked question
of the affinities of the eariter tribes of Nomades, the Huns, and others,
nor to encumber my already difficult subject with such perplexing
questions ; but I may say that on tracing the Mongols to the Shi wci, we
connect them to some extent with the Khitans, who, according to Ma-
tuanlin, the Chinese Encydopaedist, were descexnled from the Shi wei,
and if this be well grounded we connect them further with the Sian pi
and Uhuan, who were of the same stock as the Khitans, and also with the
Yuan- Yuan. This last name is singularly like the mune adopted by the
Mongols for their dynasty in China, namely, Yuen, and as their country
was the same as that of the Uirads, it is more than probable that the
Yuan-Yuaii were the ancestors of the Uirads ; but I must postpone these
difficult questions for another work.
It is enough to say that between the sixth and the twelfth century the
Mongols proper pUyed a very limited rAle in the world's history. They
were during that period confined to the northern part of Mongolia, that
part still held by the Khalkas, and also to the country south-west of the
Baikal Sea. After the fall of the Yuan-Yuan, the Turks, by whom they
were overthrown, acquired the supreme control of Eastern Asia. They
had, under the name of Hioi^ nu, been masters of the Mongolian desert
and its border land from a very early period, and under their new name
of Turics they merely re-conquered a position from which they had been
driven some centuries before. Everywhere in Moqgol history we find
evidence of their presence, the dtles Khakan, Khan, Bigui or Beg,
Terkhan, &c, arc common to both races, while the same names occur
among Mongol and Turkish chiefs * but the most convincing proof, and
at the same time the most embarrassing result of their presence to the
student is the confusion induced in the names of tribes, so that in n^pud
to many of them, such as the Kunkurats, Durbans, &&, it is very difficult
to know whether they were Turks or Mongols, these names having been
borne apparently in later times by tribes and confederacies both of
Turks and of Mongols. This fact of the former predominance of Turkirii
influence in further Asia supports the traditions collected by Raschid,
Abulghazi, &c, to which I shall presently refer, which trace the race of
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33 HISTOHY OF THE MONGOLS.
M<mgol Khans up to the old royal race of the Turks. It has a most
important witness in a notice I have only recently met with. Dr.
Bretschneider, at the end of his very valuable translation of the notices
of Chinese travellers to the West in Mongol times, gives a letter
which was sent by Jingis Khan to Chang chau. In this he refers to the
Shan yu, or ruler of the Hiong nu, as ** our Shan yu.** The translator
adds, this proves that he considered the ancient Hiong nu the ancestors
of the Mongols.* It rather suggests to my mind that the royal stock to
which he belonged was descended from that of the ancient Turkish
Hiong nu.
Having considered the origin of the race, I will now turn to that of the
royal family and examine the various traditions about it.
Ssanang Setzen makes the Mongol royal stock spring from that of
Thibet, and through it from Hindostan. He tells us that Dalai Subin
Am Altan Shireghetu, the king of Thibet, was killed by treachery
by his minister Longnam, who thereupon usurped the throne. The
murdered Khan's three sons fled ; the eldest, Shiwaghochi, to the
land of Ngangbo, the middle one, Borachi, to the land of Bubo, and
the youngest, Burtechino, to that of Gongbo. Burtechino did not stay
with the people of Gongbo, but having taken the maiden Goa Maral to
be his wife, and having settled for a while on the borders of the Tenggis,
he set out once more and at length reached the shores of the Baikal
Sea, near the mountain Burkhan Khalduna, where he met the people
Bede. When they had interrogated him on the motives for his journey
and discovered that he was sprung from the great Indian chief Olana
ergukdeksen Khan and firom the Thibetan Tul Esen, they said one to
another, "This young man is of high lineage and we have no ovcrchief,
we will obey him." Upon which they ranged themselves as his subjects.t
In this account we have a confusion of two legends, neither of which
belongs properly to the Mongols. The story of the usurpation of
Longnam we know from Thibetan sources. The Thibetan accouivt was
translated into Kalmuk, and is contained in a work, ^titled Nom
gharkhoi todorkhoi Tdlli, whence Klaproth and Schmidt have abstracted
it4 In the original Thibetan the three brothers are called Ja thi,
Nia thi, and Sha za thi. Thi, which is written Khri, means throne, and
is^ the surname of all the old Thibetan 'kihgs ; Ja means bird or fowl,
Nia means fish, and Sha za means the flesh eater. The former two are
similar in meaning to the names of the two eldest sons of the dispossessed
Khan in Ssamang Setzen's stor>', namely, Shiw^hochi and Borachi,
which respectively mean the fowler and the fisherman, while the third
brother, the flesh eater, has been converted into Burtechino, which, as
1 shall show presently, means the greyish blue or winter-coated wolf,
* Op. ctt., 121. t Stananf SetMn.ts And $7.
X Klaproth, Tableaux Hutohquet do I'Aiie. 137, 15S. Schmidt. FenckufM. ftc., x^ Ac
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THE OWCINIS OF THE MONGOLS. 33
a very tyfMcal flesh eater. The Thibetan version takes Sha za a§ far as
Gongbo (<>.» the Thibetan province situated north of the upper Brahma
putra), and leases him there, and there is no mention of his journey to
the Baikal, nor of the Bede people. We may safely conclude with
Klaprotli, WoHT, and others that the identifying of Burtecbino with Sha
za 9t2a the work of the Lamas, who, when the Mongols adopted their
religion, desired to flatter them by tracing their reigning house to diat of
Thibet, and through it up to Sakiamuni himseUl The name of
Burtechino and the other incidents of the legend have been borrowed
from other than Thibetan sources, and are common to Ssanang Setsen
and the Chinese historians, to Raschid and Abulghazi, to the Western as
well as the Eastern historians of the Mongds. The legend as it
existed before the additions of the Lamas may be found in the Chinese
accounts. One of these authors says, ^ That the ancestor of the Mongol
royal house was a w<df of a skyeblue colour, named Burtechino," adding,
" a name which means a wolf of the light colour which their fur wears in
winter. This wolf married a white and savage bitch, that is to say, Goa
Maral, for maral is a bitch, and goa in Mongol means lady. This first
progenitor of the race led a wandering life, and having crossed the lake
called Tenghiz, at length arrived at the mountain Buridian at the sources
of the river Onon.*^ As has been remarked by Kbproth and others, the
legend in regard to this wolfish ori|$n of the race b found in the Chinese
annals at a much earlier period related of the- origines of the Thu khi or
eariiest Turks. This legend says that ** The ancestors of the Thu kin
lived near the Si hai lake (probably the Issikul lake is meant). Thdr
reigning house was destroyed by a neighbouring people, and all were
massacred except a child ten years old, whose hands and feet, however,
were cut off. This child was nourished by a wolf. The enemy
having again threatened his fife, a good genius transported him with
the wolf to the east of the lake, whence they went to a mountainoos
country to the north-west of the country of Kao chang (or of the
Uighurs), where they found a cavern bordering on a fertile plain
which was only 200 li long. The female wolf there bore ten
male young .ones, who captured wives for themselves and gave tliehr
names to their families. As Asena was the bravest he became
their chief| his descendants reigned over the people who fiyed there.
They bore wolf *s heads on their standards in memory of their origin.
According to other accounts the name of their royal family was Sena, f>.,
wolf.t This account and that in Ssanang Setzen in regard to the or^m
of the Mongols are assuredly identical. The wolf appears prominently
in both. In both we have a great lake. In both the hem proceeds
eastwards after leaving it.t In both he arrives in a mountainous country,
Klftproth, TaUeaox Hittoriqnes de l*Aai«. 159. t Journal AMmtiqne, xtt S«ri«t. U. tof.
: Schmidt h&a wrongly trftaaUtcd north, m bM been tbown by Abnl RrauMnW Noun Jovrn.
Atiat., Ix. 136.
E
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34 HISTORY OF THE MOVOOLS.
and he becomes the chief of the folk viho lived there. There
is another fact in the two stories n^ch has not been hidieito
noticed, so £u- as I know, and which m^ have saved a good deal ck
hard vrriting by those two somewhat vitriolic persons, Klaproth and
Schmidti anent the term Bede or Bida. Ssanang Setsen teQs us
Burtechino became the chief of the Beda people^ who lived in the
Burkhan Khaldim mountains. The Chinese narrative tells us he went
to the north-west (? a lafisut penicilU to north-east) of the country of the
Kao chang or Uighurs. Now, I have shown in the notes at the end of
this book that the Uighurs were called Bede in eariy times by their
Thibetan and other neighbours, that the Uighurs were a section of the
Turkish race, and that until the middle of the ninth century they lived
in the north-west of Mongolia, close to the Burkhan Khaldun mountains,
with their capital at Karakorum. Abulghasi further tells us that when
Burtechino went northwards he went from the country of Irgene kun, a
valley surrounded with sharp crags. This I take to be the retired valley
of the Issikul, called Timurtu gol, or the iron lake^ by the Mongols, the
seat of the earliest Turkish traditions. The name Irgene kun is probably
identical with the Oiganum, mentioned by Rubruquis. This series of
facts make it very clear that just as the Mongols borrowed their Thibetan
genealogy from their Lama teachers, so they derived from the Uighurs,
who first taught them letters in the thirteenth century, the story of the
descent of their Imperial family from the old Turidsh Khans. Notwith-
standing this, it is more than probable, as 1 have said, that there was
a considerable amount of truth in the latter legend.
Raschid, who had access to the Golden Register of the Mongols, and
whose critical powers were very considerable, connects them with the old
Turkish royal stock. Like a good Mussulman, he begins with the
patriarchs who are such prominent figures both in the Old Testament
and the Koran.
The following table shows the earlier descents according to these
curious genealogists :—
Japbet.
Tork. Klianr. Siklid>. Ras. Ifiog. ChL KhnAri. Tarikfa.
Tntnk. HaLo. Banac^ar. Emlak.
Khaa.
Dib Bakui Xbaa.
K«7ukKhaB.
AUnjttKhM^
r— ^
Tatar Khan. Mofol Khan.
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THE ORIGINES OF THE MONGOLS. 35
MofolKhaB.
Kan khan. Us IQian. KwKhaa. KvKhan.
I
CghiuKlian.
Km khan. Ai Khan: YoldnsKhaa. KokKhaa. Tagh Khaa. TiogoixKhaa.
YoldbxKhaiu
MaagliKlMui.
TiogmU Khan.
Nona*
In this geology we have a curious medley, in which Turks and
Mongols are confounded. The table Is in Uct the legendary uble of the
ancestry of the Turkish tribes, and Kara Khan, Oghui Khan, and II
Khan are famous names in Turkish history. The country where we are
told these princes b'ved was lake Issikul, the Karakum desert, and the
borders of the Jaxartes, that is, the old Tuik land ; and there can be
small doubt that when the Mongob became f^?yvyi% and the Turkish and
Persian historians were at a loss, as the Lamas were at a later date, £0
find a suitably dignified ancestry for thdr princes^ they boldly tacked
them on to the line of old Turkish sovereigns.
We are told that the families descended from Tatar and Mogol Khan
were at constant feud with one another, and at length the latter were
nearly extirpated> The only remaining members of it being the Kian
and Nokuz above mentioned, who with their people took refuge in the
famous valley of Iigene kun. Here their descendants remained for
400 years. We are not told who the princes were who reigned during
this interval and after its dose the story really commences again, and
the statement dearly hides one of the joints in the patchwork, and
is of value only as showing how the incoii^:ruout materials of the
genealogy have been pieced together. At length, afler 400 years, the
Mongols are said to have broken the yoke of the Tartars, and to have
issued from the defiles of Irgene kun. Abulghazi says that their king
at the time when they left was Burtechino, descended from Kian, and of
the tribe of the Kunilas.* This Burtechino and the Burtechino of
Ssanang Setzen are clearly the same person, proving further that we here
have a fresh beginning of the story. The Kumlas were a section of the
Turkish tribe of the Kunkurats, thus the connection with the Turks is
still kept up in the l^end.
According to the Chinese accounts Burtechino had a son Bedetse.t
Ssanang Setzeny who has merely interpolated certain names in the older
lists, gives Bedetse a brodier Bedes, making the former the ancestor of
* Abolitaud, Sa. VmmtJk9A\33* t Jounu Aaiat*, IL 79$; Hi. iza. na.
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36 HISTORY OP THE MONGOLS.
the TftklshuU and the latter of the Mongols, contrary to the much better
authority of Raschid.
The following table shows the succession according to Ssanang Setzen
and the Persian Raschid.*
BarMcUao. Boitechino.
'a*. Bichia Kiiui.
tMk. Tiraaj.f
Afhofim BifharaL Kn4i«m BofbraL
SaH AaldA|fo4
,L
Nice Nidiw (U,, aoe-«ftd). Ycka
SomMiii. 8iun
KliaH Khartrim. Khal
«idan(i/.,largt-e]rad).«
So far the two lists are practically identical and clearly derived from
the same source, but at this point they diverge.
Ssanang Setzen makes Khali be succeeded by Bordshigetei Meigen,
who seems to be merely an eponymos cr^ed to explain the family name
Bordshig. His wife Mergen Mongholdshin Goa seems to be an equivalent
of the Mongol name. Their son he calls Torghaldshin Bayan, who by
his wife Borokchin Goa had two sons, named Doa Sokhor and Dobo
Mergen. The formier is given four sons, namely, Donoi, Dokshin,
Emnek, and Erke, who are made the ancestors of the four Uirad tribes.
All this except the mention of Dobo Mergen is an interpolation, and one
which has been very ingeniously explained. Dobo or Dubun, as he is
called by Raschid, has been identified with Topo Khan, the great chief
of the Turks, who died in 581. He had a brother named Sekin or Sakui,
who is no doubt the Doa Sochor of Ssanang Setzen. We are told that
on the death of Topo Khan the Turks were divided into four sections,
just as Ssanang Setzen makes Doa Sokhor's four sons be the heads of
the four Uirad tribes. The whole is an ingenious adaptation of the Turk
legend, and is of no value. | Raschid, who is a much better authority,
makes Khali Khaju be immediately succeeded by Dubun Bayan, while
Abulghazi interposes the names of Timur Tash, Mingli Khodja, and
Yolduz Khan. M. Desmaison says he does not know where he has got
them from. With Dubun Bayan, or Dubun the Ox,^ we get again on
common ground. Ssanang Setzen tells us that Doa Sokhor was so
called because (like Cyclops) he had only one eye, aud this in the
midst of his forehead. One day as he and his brother were playing on
* Thtt oithography of thaw names it taken from M. B«rczuie*s Edition, as |^vcn in the notca
'^n Deamaiton't Edition of Abalfhaxi.
t Timaj had four other aone, who setUed elaewhere and became the ancestors of the
Durbsns. Durban means four. Erdfflann^ 554.
I This Is doubtless aa interpolation. ^ Schmidt's Ssanang Setxen* 173.
I Wolff* 15. Schmidt's Staaacg Sctoen» 374- Y £rdounn» 169.
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THE oKKsnm or thk mowgols. 37
the flHnmtaia Borkhaii Khiidtin, the elder brother sak!, there cosies a
cmrvwan from the district of Toiriog Ginidi ak»g the river Tungg^k.
(This stream is still caDed the Tiuwhi. It spti&gs on the west side of
the mo«mtaijis fiurkhaa Khakhm, and flows into the KamgoL}* In
one of the wagons there b a girl si^eraatorally boni. We will go and see
heryandshesl^beyoiirwife.t After this the]^ both set out and discovered
that she was bornof Barai^ioddiiQ Goa, die wife of Khocitai Metgen, of the
Khoyar leaned. Raschid says she belonged to the tribe of the KuniUs,
(U,, she was a Tuik)4 ead that she had a spirit for her lather.. Her
name was Ahwg Goa, and Dobo Meigen made her his wile, and b> her
had two sons^ Bdgetd and B^ontei^and then died. After her husband's
death (Abnlgfaasi says some years after) Along Goa one night had a
dream, during which a ray of light penetrated through a hole in die
ceihng into her tent, and took the form of a foir-haiied youth with bhae
eyes who lay by her ; by him At had three sons, Bughu Khataki, Bughu
Saldshigo, and Budantsar Mong Khan.
In reference to this l^^end, it may t>e remarked that it is a repetitioQ
of the original story of the iiKamadon of the Buddha Sakiamuni. A
similar story is told about the birth of Apaokhi, the founder of the
Liau dynasty, and also of Aishin Giyoro, the reputed founder of the
Manchu dynasty. The existence of Ahmg Goa is attested by so many
independent witnesses, that it may perhaps be believed. Raschid tells
us that, according to the history of die house of Jingis Khan, deposited
in the Imperial treasury (the same MS. dseiriiere referred to by Raschid
as the Ahan Defter, or Golden Register), and according to the evidence
of very old men, she probably lived four centuries before his time, f>.,
in the early years of the Abbassides and the Saroanids.| This would
answer to the date when the name Mongol first appears in the Chinese
histories. Her descendants were called Bordshig, probably in reference
to the colour of the eyes of their supernatural lather, for Abulghazi says
that the Mongols called a person with light bhie eyes Buijighin.|
Schmidt tells us that Boidshig means with brownish grey eyes. Ssanang
Setzen gives the Moi^rols the name of Koke Mongols or Blue Mimgols,
and the whole has reference, no doubt, to the heavenly or supernatural
origin of the laoe.
The three sons who were supematuraUy bom and their posterity were
named Niruna (children of light)^ to distinguish them from their older
brothers and their descendants^ who were styled Darkgins. According
to Raschid, the Niruns were to the Dar]q;ins as the peari h to the
oysier and the fruit to the tiee4 This distincticm, which is largely insisted
upon by the Peesian historians, is one lull of embarrassment to the
student. The Orientals are very poor ethm^ogists, and their distinctions
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38 msvoitT or the movools.
are ndier political than edmk. We oonaCantiy find in dke accoants
of Arabic and Penian geographer* the greatest cooluaion in regard to
race distinctions. In the present instance the oonteion is profoaiid.
Thus the most important section el the I>ailsgin%nameiyydie Kmyouals,
who fofmed a cooMency of six tribes^ wen, I am convinced, not
Mongob at all but Turlts, a vieir for whose jastiication I must refer to
the notes at die end of the Toinniey where I have also tried to show that
their country was not, as D'Ohseon axgaes^ on the holders of Mancfamriay
bat on the western part of the Shame desert sooth of the liver Oiij^.
Some of the Ninm tribes I also think weee very probably Ttailcs, namely,
the Durbansy the Barins, and the Siikaniit% who lived in the central pait
of the desert, the nameof one tribe still remaining attached to die district
ofBarinorParindtere. There is good reason for believing the Ba3raitts
another Dail^in tribe, to have been abo Torks. They lived on the
western feeders of the Selinga. On die other hand, die Dariegtn tribes
^ the Umauts, Hushins, Suldus, Ikhnldns, and Kingits were probably
Mongols, but not subject to the Imperial fomily to which Jingis Khan
belonged,* and not immediately governed by his relatives, but, like the
Uintds, direcdy* ruled over by aiKither stock. The name Nirun was
pv^tobly confined to those who obeyed immediately the royal family of
the Bordsh^s, and can perhaps best be escplained by the use of the term
^ white bones* among. the Kaaks of our day, a name they apply to those
only who belong to the royal 8to<±. Each of the three sons of Ahmg
Goa who were miraculously bom is made the epomymous hero of a
distinguished stock. The eldest one of that of the Katakins, the second
of the Saljuts, and the third of that of the Borddiigs or Imperial stock
of the Mongols. The two former tribes were among the most inveterate
enemies of Jingis Khan in his early days. They perhaps looked upon
him as only representing the younger branch of the fomily, as he was
descended from Along Goa's third son. We are told that Budantsarhad a
distinguished presence, but that he was simple in his tastes, serious, and
talked litde, which made his relatives diink he had but litde spirit His
mother, however, reassured them, and told diem he would have a
numerous progeny. On her death a quarrd seemed imminent among
the brothers in r^^ard to the division of the heritage. ** Why embarrass
yourself with wealth?" said Bundantsar, ^are not the plans of man
scattered by the will of the gods ?** He thereupon mounted his horse
and went to the country of Palitun alaitt Ssanang Setien says that
whofi the heritage was divided nothing was assigned to Budantsar except
a tawny horse named U#ak Sussuk. This he mounted and hied him
along the river OnQa4 At Palitun ala he found himadf short of pro-,
visions* Mcanv^e he saw a falcon devouring a quarry of the species
- I . \ I I • t m>mm ' • ' ' ■ ' ■ ■ . .... I . I ■■ 1.
«a«aiMtw«ftllw«B4«ftl»t«laflM. t D* lUOk, iic 4» IOa.oil^6t.
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THS ORIGIKIS OP THE MONGCM^ 59
called Khftza. KhoriL He caught it with a lasso and trained it to kill
game fen: bim,ii^ile he obtained drink fitnn a small c<^ony of people who
liTed dose by, separated flvm their race and without anyrukr. His
n^^u he passed ia a thatched hut This account, with slight variations^
is common to Ssanang Setien and the Chinese author translated by De
Mailla. But to continue. After a while Bodantsar was joined by several
families who had left their tribe in the country of Tonkili hulu and had
settled around him. His brother Bughii Khatald went to find him and
retomed with him. On his return home Budaatsar told his people that
with a small Ibrce he could easily sdtMhte the people cf Tunkili huhi.
Having accordingly got together a body of men he set out for that
country, which he conquered;* Hyadnthe has corrected Tunkili hulu
into Tenggeri-Rhura,t ^., the cdestial immparu, by which die chain of
Bnikhan Khakhm is doubtless meant
According lo Raschid and the Chinese authorities Budantsar left one
aon-t I ptefer to follow the orthography of Hyadnthe and to call him
Bagaritai Khahitshi.j According to Raschid he was succeeded by his
son Dntum M enen^ called Minen Dudum by Hyadnthe,! the Mahatudan
of De Mailkyf and Makha Todan of Ssanang Setten.«» His wife was
named Monahui, and by her, according to the Chinese authorities, he
had seven sens.tt Raschid says nine. It is with her that we first meet
with an incident to rdieve the general monotony of the story, and which
is so drcumstantially told that we can hardly doubt its having some
foundation in ftict The story goes that the Jdairs having been defeated
near the river Kerulon by an army of Kin Tartars, seventy of thdr
families took reftige on Mongd territory. These fiigitives, to appease
their hunger, proceeded to dig some wild roots that grew there. The
root, according to Raschid, was called sudnsum, and it has been
identified with great probabifity by M. Beresine with a root still called
sudu by the Mongc^ the sanguisorba camea of botanists, which is used
as a substkute for tea.|t' Monahm, who was of a truculent and irritable
disposition, inquired harshly how they dared to tear up the ground where
her children exerdsed thebr horses, and without waiting for an answer,
she ran over several of them widi her chariot The Jelairs resented this,
made a raid upon the horses of her tribe and captured them. Her sons
•I>«IUaiit.is.4*^ tSMau«S«lMii,8ckaidt'«aoi«,S79>
IHctottUedBokft bythe PwtiaB Mthort, Capitai otep Patm by D« If ailk, ix. 5, aaA
WijiriHl KlMUtaki hf HyBcioth*. Oct of tht lattar flwaMg StttM hm made two aoos,
«lMnl»call»BAglutfiuiKlnaiMghMtoaaAKkAUaUBHNMr;lHlttt^ probiMy
to Uitm aomo of hi« frimds, tint ho ba4 a third ilirfltiin>f tea lUOMd Wadthirtai, tha
— aaatoral tha Ikmily of tha Wadahittai. Ha haa alao grataltooaly iaaartad aaothar genara-
tion ia tha gaaaalofy in tha paraonef Bihar Baghatv, vhon ha nakaaaaoaaf Khahitahi,
aad whose naaM ia douhtlaaa a comptioa of Batharitai. Op. dt., 61.
9 ErdauMa'a Taiii^itB» 5901 Ncta. | D*Ohaaoo, i. 26. Nota. f Op. dt^ ii. 3.
** OpkCit.,61. tt Da Mailla, ix. 5. Brdmaoali Ttmuia, yfik
II Bfdawaa^ Taon^iii, 34X* Hoia.
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40 HISTORY OP THE MONGOLS.
went in pursuit without waiting to put on tbetr tnnour. Their mother,
fearing for the result, sent ofT their wives with carts loaded with aimoar,
but they arrived too late. The chiefs had been killed, and the Jelairs
returned and put Monalun and such of her family as they could lay
hands upon to death.* According to the Chinese narrative^ v4uch I
prefer to follow, there only escaped in this massacre Nachin, the youngest
son of Monalun, who was then living in the country of Bargu, where he
was married, and Kaidu, the infant child of her eldest son, and who was
hid away by his nurse in a bundle of feggots. This Nachin, who no
doubt succeeded in some measure to the chief authority ^nong the
Mongols, is clearly the KKfehi Kuluk of Ssanang Setzen. On hearing of
this disaster he returned to the horde, and plotted his revenge. Having
disguised himself as a herdsman, he went towards the Jelair country
On his way he met two men, father and son, who were hawking, and
some distance apart Seeing his brother's hawk on the younger Jelair's
fist, he first told him he had seen some wild ducks and geese, and would
conduct him to them. Having taken him some distance, he assassinated
him, and returning, also killed his fiaither. He soon after came across a
herd of horses, which had also belonged to his brothers. Having killed
the young people in charge, he returned with the herd, and with the
hawk on his fist. He then removed his father's uluss and the young
Kaidu to the country of Barguchin Tugrum, which from the latter took
the name of Kaidu Chunkm.t When Kaidu grew up his uncle caused
him to be recognised as their chief by the people of Bargu and Tsieku.
He then marched against and subdued the Jelairs, and fixed his residence
at the river KarakuLt Many tribes submitted to hun. He became rich
in wives and cattle. He built many towns and villages on the banks of
the Onon, across which river he also built a bridge, and he was doubtless
the real founder of the Mongol power. Kaidu Khan left three sons, Bai
Sankur, who succeeded him, Jerke Linkum, who became the chief of the
Taidshuts, and Jaujin Urdeki, who became the chief a[ the Sidshuts and
Ertekins.} Of these only the eldest is mentioned by Ssanang Setzen aad
De Mailla. He is called Shingkor Dokshin by the former and Paichongor
by the latter. Ssanang Setzen's is probably the correct orthograi^y, and
I shall follow it.
Shingkor Dokshin had a son named Tumbaghai ; the Tumene Khan oi
Raschid and Abulghazi. On his death ShingkoPs widow married his
next brother Jerkeh Lmgkum, whose name, according to Raschid, Is of
Chinese etymology, Lingkum meaning great prince. I By her he had two
sons, namely, Gendu Jineh and Ulgedshm Jin^, who became the chiefs
of the clans Jines ; and by another wife two others, named Surkul and
* D^htaoQ, i. 27, aS. t BrdmaaB't T«iiii^» 54s* I D'OfaMoo, L 99.
f Akulghaxi, £d. Dmou, 6jr, 68. Brdmano, S44* DOImm, GmMJogioU TaMc. Vol. i.
I ErdiDtiiB*! TcmiuiB, 017.
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THE OUQOiES Ot TSB MOdTGOLS. 41
Lvdsbiiidk Th« son aad tucctts^ ci Smbtd %pm Itanukfti Khan, to
whom I tbatt vevcft pfOMoUy.
TiiwbBcii>i'teft nine tons, who becune the Imiiiders of veiy numerous
tribes. $0 mnch did tbof incveaoe diat wt are told that in
A.D. i3do» but two cofttsries after this time, they nombeted nearly
yotpoo fimiKeii* TTbese sons are thus named :~i. Jaksu, the father
of Ntiyakin» Unity and Mini^t, the respective diiefs of the tribes
beanof tho^e names. 3. Barim Shicatu Khaiju, the chief of a tribe
not named. 3. Kajufi, father of Erdemji Bembs, the chief of the
Bendas» the tribe to which the great Timar bekmged. 4. Sem kadjun,
die chief of the Hederfcins. 5. Raitkuiki, the chief of the Budats. 6.
Kabul Khan» the ancestor of Jingts Khan. 7. Udur Bayan, the chief of
the Jadjcrats or Juriats. S. Bndai^ Dof^ibm (i#., the cripple), the chief
of the Do^ilats. And 9. Jintai, the chief of the Yissvts (called Baisuts
by Erdmann); he was also styled Utcht^j^en, like die other youngest
sons of the Mongol Khans. Utchogen, aocotding to Abulghaa, means
^die maslttr of the hearth,'' and is derired from the fact that while the
other sons were each setdod elsewhere, tlie yomgeet remained at home
and was the heir to his fiather*s yurtt Sdunidt disagrees wHh this, And
says it merely means the youngest or the chikLI
After the great exploits of Timur in the fourteenth century, it became
die fashion of his iatterers to connect his ancestry very dosely with that
of the funily of Jmgis Khan, and he is made to descend from Karachar,
who is styled the hereditary leader of his forces. The story is contained
in several of the later writers. According to Mirkhond the cnigin of this
hereditary position was as follows :— '' One day KajuU, the third son of
Ttoieneh or Tund>agai| dreamt that a star issued from the thigh of his
brother Kabul, but the finnament remained dark ; dien a second one,
and it became twilight ; then a thiid, and it was dusk. Then there came
out a very sparichng star, so that the whole sky was lit up with its rays,
vdiich imparted a greater lustre 10 the other stars. KajuH awoke, and
supposed that only a third of the night had passed. He meditated on
his dream, and went to deep again. Again a series of stars issued, but
this rime from his own thigh. This series consisted of eight stars, of
which the last was again by far the most brilliant. When daylight came
Kajoli betook himself to his father Tumeneh, and related his dream.
He was much pleased with it, called his son Kabul Khan, and had it
repeated to him. The grandees maintained that three princes descended
from Kabul Khan would mount the throne ; that another of his descend-
ants would enjoy the imperial authority, and would conquer the earth from
one end to the other ; and after his death his dominions would remain
for a long time subject to his descendants. That from Kajuli would also
* D'OliMOD, L 30. t Abalffaajd; 70. ; SmuDC SeUen, 375
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4S HISTOKT or THS MOMQOLS.
ipring seven dwcfndantJi who would bear nile^ and the eifhkh wo«ld
£ur eclipse them, and also role the earth. Tnmendi Khan was arach
struck by this dreaaif and with tiie conanrrenoe of his odier sons he
named Kabul Khaahis successor, and appointed Kajoli generalissimo of
his forces, and left it in his will tiiat dine posts should be heceditarf.
Tbi^, will was written hi the Uighur character, was sealed widi his
Tamg^ (or inonogram}» and it was kept in the Imperial treasury.
Kabul Khan aoMfttild the throne, and Kajuli Khan Baghatur faithluUy
performed his oAce **
Kabul was appaxeotly the first Mongol sovereign who ha^ intercourse
with the Clunese Imperial court It is said that having been summosied
to the court of the Kin En^eror, he astonished him by his ingnense
appetite. Qme day^ being very drunk, he so fgur forgot hin^self as to seixe
the Empenx^ beard. When he became sober, he demanded to be
punished^ but the Emperor only laughed ; and to show that he had over^
looked the fimlt, presented him with a gold-embroidered siUten garment
suitaUe to his sixe, n crown, and a golden girdle After his departure,
in;BUgated by his courtiers, the Emperor sent messengers to demand his
return ; and when these messengers tried to take him away forcibly, he
had tiiem put to death.
It is probably to this period that we must assign the events referred to
in the history of the Kin dynasty styled the Ta kin kwo chi, where we
read that during the re^n of the Kin Emperor Tfti tsung, whose
TuQgttsie name was Ukimai, i^ in the interval between Ii23-ii37,a
great number of the Mongols became subject to him, but in the next
re^^ 1158-1140, they were reheUiou8.t This surely points to the sub-
missicm and the subsequent rebellion of Kabul Khan. At this period we
also meet with the Mongds in the pages of De MaDla. He tdls us that
about 1135 they began to be very powerful and a menace to the empire,
and that towards the end of this year the Kin Emperor sent his general
Hushaku against then^t This general was not successful, and
Hushaku was obliged to retire. His retreat was the signal for the
advance of the Mongols* who captured many of his peof^ and followed
hhn as far as the district of Hai ling, ^diere the Kin general ventured a
general engagement, and his army was cut in pieces. Another and
more formidable army was sent against themt. This, was apparently in
"39-8
* Kajoli, we vo told, wm Um iktb«r of ErdtinjU a&d Brdemji of KAnchar. EnUne donbti
tiMflwyiaMBMfaMltkcoiitaiiwdiii Uto aolheritiM NChn If irkhoad, and thiokiitwaa
iBirtntod to flatter TiBtv. D'OImsob mt^ Karacfaar k not aamod by eithar RaMhid or Joveai
(op. dt., ii. X08. Nola), but In thia ha it tiiraljr mistaken, for in the former*! deecription of tko
apportlowmtwt oir fiBifmMhmt*% pMplahaaa|ratlmfnateUofaariCBftd4.oootohi8tonJacati.
TMae were divided ivio fear Ileaatehi, and Berlntal Xarecliar of the Bemlae ia made tb*
cottBumder oCllw flnt Heiarelu Krdmaaa* 453.
t8Gtell.Q».dUt7. XDalfaiIla,viiLsi8. I De MaiUa. Tiii. sa9.
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THS ORIOmSS OF THE MONGOLS. 43
It was in the reign of Kibul Khan that the long feud commenced
between the Motels and Tartars, which ended in the destroction of the
latter hf Jingb Khan. Kabid's wife was named Goa Knlkuay and she
was of the tribe of the Kunloirats. It happened Aat her brother, named
Sain Tildn, fell ill, and a Tartar Shaman named Jeridl Nudui, was
summoned to cure him. Notwithstanding his conjuring^ Sain Tikin died,
and his relatives wreaked their vengeance on the sorcerer, who was
returning quietly home, and killed him. The Tartars took up arms to
revenge him.* A struggle ensued at a place called Bcran Segdan, in which
Kedan Behadur distinguished himself in single combat widi the Tartar
leader Meter Behadur. The struggle was resumed ^e following year,
and led to many fights between the Mongols and tibfeTartars.t One
result of this war was that Hemukai, the chief of the TaidAuts, who had
gone to fetch his wife from among the Tartars, was taken prisoner by
them. He was, as we have seen, a near relative of Kabul Khan. The
Tartars sent him as a prisoner to the Kin Emperor, who, to revenge
himself upon Kabul Khan for the murder of his envoys, had him put to
death in the cruel method adopted in the case at rebels. He was nailed
down to a wooden ass, his skin stripped off, and his body hewn into
pieces.^ Kabul Khan marched against the Kin empire and revenged
himself. Some time after it would appear that the Tartars captured
Ukin Berkak, Kabul Khan's eldest son, and sent him also as a prisoner
to the Kin court. There he was put to death in the same manner as
Hemukai.f
Kabul Khan had six sons, whose impetuosity and vigour fitly gained
them the surname cf Kiat, or Kiyat, >V., torrents. Abulghazi says that the
Mongols call a mountain torrent Kian, of which the plural is Kiat Kiat
or Kiyat, as is well known was the family name of Jingis Khan, and it
seems to be much older than the days of Kabul Khan. The Chinese
form of the name is Kian. Kian and Noguz or Nokus were the two
sections of the Mongols who sought refuge at Irgene kun ; and it is
curious that one of the four main divisions of the Turidsh Uzbegs is
called Kiat Kunghrat or Kiat Kunkurat. Thb is another proof that the
Mongol royal race was descended from that of the Turks. These six
sons were named Uldn Berkak, | Bardam Behadiu-, Khutuktu Munker,
Kadan Behadur, Kutula Khan, and Tudan Utshugen. (I have ibitowed
the orthography of M. Beresine in the notes to the new edition of
Abulghazi.) Of these the most fieunous was Kutula Khan, called Kubilai
by lyOhsson,! and Kutlah Khan by Erdmann.** He was a favourite
hero of Mongol story. His voice is compared to the thunder in the
* Bfdnuutfl^ Bjctfacte fron lUachid, 4a. ZyOhmon, i. 32. t ErdnuAfi'i Teoiujto, 5$$, a|«4
I Erdouum't Bxtiacte from Raachid, 43. Note. ( ErdiiMsn*t Tcmnjln, 317.
t Ho WW tbo hOm of Bidhhth Bigi, who becaac the chief of the Ki >t BofgiBfc VkkMmm
5 Op. oit., i. S2. ** BfdnMum*^ Ttn&iqiiw Sj6,
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44 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
mountains, his hands were strong like bear's paws, and with them he
could break a man in two as easily as an arrow may be broken. He
would lie naked near an immense brazier in the winter, heedless of the
cinders and sparks that fell on his body, and, on. awakening, would
mistake the bums merely for the bites of insects. He ate a sheep a day,
and drank immense quantities of kumis. To revenge the murder of
their relatives the Mongols now entered upon a great campaign against
the Kin empire. Of this expedition Kutula was elected the leader ; with
him also went Yissugei, the grandson of Kabul Khan and the father of
Jingis ; Kadan Taishi, the son of Hemukai, and his son Tuda.* They
defeated the Imperial army and retired with a rich booty. On his leturn
homewards Kutula amused himself with hunting, and got separated from
the rest of the army, with only one foUower and a slave. He was thus
almost alone when he was surprised by the Durbans. On their approadi
he sped his horse at full gallop and drove it into a marsh, where it sank,
but be sprang on the saddle and thence on to the ground. The Durbans,
it is said, disdained to touch him, saying, "What can a Mongol do
without his horse?" and they accordingly left him, upon which he
returned to his horse, seized it by its mane, pulled it out of the quagmire,
and returned homewards. Meanwhile the news of his disaster had
reached his home, where it was thought he had been killed, and Yissugei
had already carried the meats for the funeral feasts to the yurts of Kadan
Taishi, and Tuda, the relatives of Hamukai, and to that of Kutula's
widow. But the latter refused to credit the story. " How can he whose
voice is like the thunder, and whose hands are like bear's paws, become
a victim to the Durbans? Depend upon it his delay is caused by
some other reason, and he will come presently." After recovering
his horse he determined not to return home empty handed, but
having caught a stallion belonging to the Durbans, he drove a herd of
their oxen before him, filled his boots with the eggs of wild geese
which he found on the steppe, and rode home barefoot.f Nothing
of this appears in the pages of Ssanang Setzen, of De MaiUa, or of
Abulghazi, nor in fact is Kutula mentioned by them at alL They all
make Kabul Khan be inunediatefy succeeded by Bartam Behadur, and
if the exploits assigned to him are reaUy his, and not his father's, or
rightly belonging to some other hero of Mongol romance, they must be
credited to him not as the Khan of the Mongol race bat as the bravest
of the six Kiats. Although Ssanang Setzen does not mention him
individually he does refer to the brothers, and has a story which seems to
exclude him effectually from the succession. He says that Kabul Khan
had seven sons, and that Ambai, i#., Hemuki,the chief of the TaidshuU,
had ten, and that a strife having arisen between them, the latter fell on
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THE OKSOIlftS OP TBS MOHOOLS. 45
tbo fbnMr aad IdlUd six of the ttrea tKoditn, pfaadered and subdued
^mr teiritorjr. Tlie seventh, Berdun Ba|;hatar (the Bertam Bdiader of
EfdRuum^, taaiptA with tiuee wounds, escorted hjr four ^ companions,*
whik his ddest sen Yissngei Beghatnr, then tiditeen yean old, speated
n nafled wanrier Arough and through, and hsving seind his horse
loHowed his ftttier. Sain Maral iChayak, the wife of Bardam Baghatur,
hnd meanwhfle escaped on foot with her three younger sons, N^un#
Meagetn, and Utduifen. We do not know how the Mongols revenged
thu defeat We are snnply told by Ssanang Setasn that Kabul Khan
wns succeeded by his son Bardam Baghatur.* De MaiUa says the same,
only he calls him PttdaL Abulghasi also says Aat on the death of Kabul
Khan his son BaitaA waa proclaimed Khan, and we nay take it as clear
that diese authorities are right The difficulty about the exact status of
Ktttula does net aiect the ttuA of the statements about the 6ght with
the Kin empire* This we can counrm from other sources* Thus we
read in De MaiHa, under die year 1147, that the war between the Kin
and the Moagole still oontfaiued, and the son of Talan^ called
g,idM>se country bordered on that of the Mongols, on the
death of hb fadier abandoned the cause of the Kins and went over to
them, a defectkm whi<A proved very vahiable to them, and thegeneral
Uctei, whe^ on his return from Pien leang, was sent against them was
constrained to make peace with them, to surrender twenty-seven fortresses
aetth of the river Si ping ho^ and to promise to pay them annually
n certain quantity of cattle, sheep, and grain. He wished to give their
chief the dignity of prince mOk tbt title of Mongfu-kuewang, but the
chief n fused it and styled himself Emperor of the great empire of the
Mongols, with the title Tsuyuen WangtLt The effecu of this campaign
referred to in the history of the Kin dyxuttty, already
, which 9peak% in more general terms. There we read that
hi li58«ii4Dthe Mongku became rebellious. Since then, it goes on to
say, the Mongku have obtained many Khitan and Chinese boys and
gids, either in war or by way of ransom, who have coalesced with them ;
haeve gradually got eccustomed to the use of cooked meats, and become
m great natkm under the name of Ta Mongu ktt6, f>., the kingdom of die
Great Moiq:ols4 These extracts prove that the Mongols had aheady
a considerable power some time before the days of Jingil
The wife of Bardam Baghatur, according to Ssanang Seuen, was called
Sahi Maral Khayak.{ She is called Sunigd Fudshin by Erdmann, who
teOs us she belonged to the tribe of the Barghuts.! By her he had four
sons, Ytssugei Baghatur, Negun TaishI, Mungdu Kian, and Dariti
»0^dtSt. tDfMdll«^irULs49. I Scbott, tf^ «it lO^c^^
I W§imfmf» T§m4i»,$su
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46 HISTORY OP THE MONGOLS.
UtchufOL* Of these Ykwgei was ^ ittost fiuncNss^ and snccaeded
him on the thfone.
Ssanaiif Setzen has k story that one day Yissagei was Birating in
company witii his two younger brothers, and was fonowing the tracks of
a white hare in the snow. They struck upon the spoor of a waggon, and
foQowing it up came to a spot where a wonan's ymt was pitched.
Then said Ytssngeiy ^Tlus woman will bear a YaEant sen.' He dis-
covered diat she was tibe damsel Ogelen Eke {ue^ the mo&er of nations),
and that she was the wife of Ydce Yilatu, of the Tartar tribe, and was
returning home with him. As the strangers drew near her yurt she sakl
to her husband, ** Don't you see the intention of the eldest of the three
men ?^ With these words she took off her under garment^ gave it to
Jilatu, and sakl, ** Haste you away as quickly as you can.* While this
was going on the three brothers drew near, and Yeke Yilain took to flight
They plundered neither the hot nor its contents, but only carried away
Ogelen Eke. She ceased not to cry until the youngest of the three
brothers. Dariti Utchugen, addicssed her, and said, ** Wa have already
crossed three ri>fers, we already have three mountain ranges behind us.
Pursuit is hopeless. Your cries will not be heard." Upon which our
author says she became quieter. Yissugei made her his wile. De MaiUa
tells us that until his reign the Mongols had been more or less tributaries
of the Liau and Kin dynasties in China, and that he was the first to free
them from that yoke ;t and it is not improbable that we must assign to
him, and not to an earlier Khan, the evenU I have already rdated, when
the Mongol Khan refused to accept a Chmese title and st]^ed himself the
Emperor of the Great Mongols.^ Previously the Taidshuts had apparently
been the chief tribe among the Mongols, but they were induced to obey
the strong hand of Yissugei Baghatur. After the death of Hemnkei, the
chief of the Taidshuts, there was a grievous contention among his
relatives as to who should succeed him, but this was decided, as I have
already described, by the choice of Terkutai Kiriltuk.
In 1 154 and 1155 Yissugei marched with a kurge army against the
Tartars. He overran their country, laid it waste, and aq>tured its two
chiefs, Temujin Ergeh and Kur Buka, and returned home to his encaa^)-
ment on the Onon laden with booty. At this time his wife Ogelen Eke
gave birth to his firstborn son, upon winch they named the boy Temafin,
or rather Temudjin,$ after the defeated Tartar Khan.|
The birthplace of the ftunous chief, who was to be so m^y known in
*8caiuuigS«txeD»€s. t O^ dt., ix. 8. 1 rt^prevknuj^fft.
S Erdmaaa writes the lume Temiidacfain, which according to oar orthography woald be
written Tem^HOf «• I have written it occaaiooally in the notes, bat I find that Visdaloa writes
the name The mad gin (op. dt., aao and 334)7 •^ therefore the spelling Temndjin which has
been adopted in the following duiptMS is probably more corrccu
P Ssanang SeCsen, €3.
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THS CMUGmSS OF THE MONGOLS. 47
later dayaikfortoaatefyeaiy to fix. It is called ^ Delifiin Buldagha, near
the Ononi^by SsaiUMi; Seten, mad Tie U Ytin by Hyadnth.* The place
is atittkn^wn finder the aainenaiiie^ and is mentioned
aaoied Yurinski, a nadve of Nertsrhindr, who describes Dihm Boldak as
a place mi the right btnk of the Onon, seven versts higher than the island
Eke Aral (Lt^ the great island), and three vcrsts from the Kotshuefshian
guard-house.'*' IVOhsson says that Buldi^ in Mongol means hill4 Wolff
explains the name as meaning ** the mole hill.'^ DeUgun Bulduk «ras
doubtless the place ^i^iere Yissugei had hb chief camp and was the
focus of his kiogdom. According to Ssanang Setsen, Temudjin was
proclaimed Khan and tocdc the name of Jingb there^l among the
places whose memory is invoked in the burial dirge composed for his
funeral by Kihiken Baghatur, Ddigun Bulduk on the Onon is specially
apostrophised ;Y and we gather from other sources that the country
of the Onon was in fact the cradle land of the Mongols. It is called
the land of Onon Kerule by Rubruquis. This name has been interpreted
as the land of the Onon and the Kerulon, but I believe it is merely
a corruption of Onon Kiher, the fdains of the Onon. Those plains
are otherwise frequendy referred to as Sari Kiher, or the YeUow Plains.**
The Onon springs in the knot of mountains known as the Kente
chain, and called Burkhan Khaldun by the Mongol histiM-ians, the sacred
peaks to which sacrifices were offered, and whose spirits were looked
upon as the special patrons of the Mongols, as those of the White
Mountains of Manchuria were of the Manchus.
But we must on with our story. According to the Persian authors
followed by De la Croix, the young Temudjin's horoscope was drawn
by the father of Karachar Noyan, the ancestor of Timurlenk,tt
who foretold a bloody career for him. Besides Temudjin, Yissugei had
by his wife Ogelen Eke three other sons, namely, Juji Khassar, Khad-
shiken, and Temugu Utchugen, and by two other wives, named Goa
Abaghai and Doghaskhi, two other sons, named Bekter and Belgutei.
It is quite dear from the subsequent history that Yissugei was obeyed by
all the sections of the Mongol race comprised in the divisions Niruns
and Darlighins.U We do not realise in this statement how very small
the bq^innings were of that vast empire built up by his son, nor do we
do so until we read that the number of families subject to his fother
probably did not exceed 40|QOO^ and that his' kingdom may. therefore be
fitly compared, as Erdmann has compared it, with the dukedoms of
Oldenbuigh or Saxe Weimar Elsenach,iS assuredly a very smaU focus
out of which in so short a time to build up so large an empire. The
D^OhMon, i. 36. Note. t Brdnaaa't TeiMjhi, srx* I Of, eil^ i. jfi. Note.
iOp.€it.,ss- |Op.dW*'7». 5 Sttoang 8btt«i, loy. ** K«l« infru, 53, Ac
tl The SbcI^ Jihca of SMauuiB. Note ao. H Brdnunn*! Temiyiii,
H Op. cit.« 999.
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48 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
astisunce of Yisiugei was sought by the cdebrated Wang Kban of the
Keraits, the Prester John of so many romances, whose sUMry will be tokl
in detail in the tenth chapter. He had been driven away from the throne
by his unde Gur Khan. Yissngei marched to his assistance, drove
Gur Khan into Tangnt, and replaced Wang Khan on the throne. The
latter, cap in hand, swore an eternal friendship to his benefiictor, >>., in
Moi^ol phrase, became anda or sworn friend.* Yissugei died in 117$.
According to the Saga of Ssanang Setxen, he was a victim to the
treachery of the Tartars, who one day asked him to take food ia one of
their tents, and then mixed poison with the meatt He was succeeded
by his son Temadjin, who acquired a wtde-worid fiune under his tide of
Jingis Khan. His history forms the subject of the next chapter.
♦ D'ObMOB. i. i5«. t Op. dt.,.^.
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CHAPTER III.
JINGIS KHAN.*
AMONG Ae men who have influenced the histoiy of the world
Jingis Khan holds a fiwemost place. Poptdariy he b mentioned
with Attihi and with Tfanur as one of the "* Scourges of God.*
One of those terrible conquerors whose march across tiie page of history
is ^ured by the sfanSe of a swarm of locusts or a fire fai a rana^^n
forest ; but this is doing gross injustice to Jingis Khan. Not only was
he a conqueror,a general whose consummate ability made him overthrow
every barrier that must intervene between the chief of a small barbarous
tribe of an obscure race and the throne of Asia, and this with a rapidity
and uniform success that can only be compared to the triumpliant march
of Alexander. But he was far more than a conqueror. Alexander,
Napoleon, and Timur were all more or less his equals in the art of war.
But the colossal powers they created were merely hills of sand, that
crumbled to pieces as soon as they were dead ; with Jingis Khan matter*
were very dif!<^rent, he ox^ganised the empire which he had conquered so
that it long survived and greatly thrived after he was gone. In every
detail of social and political economy he was a creator, his laws and his
administrative rules are equally admirable and astounding to tlie student
Justice, tolerance, discipline, virtues that make up the modem ideal of a
states were taught and practised at his court And when we remember
that he was bom and educated in the desert, and that he had neither
the sages of Greece nor of Rome to instruct him, that unlike Charlemagne
and Alfred he could not draw his lessons from a past, whose eveninif
glow was still visible in the horizon, we are tempted to treat as exag*
gerated the history of his times, and to be sceptical of so nmch political
insight having been bom of such unpromising materials.
It is not creditable to English Uterature that no satisfiictory account of
Jingis Khan «mts in the language. Baron I^Ohsson in French, and
Erdmann in Geroum* have both written minute and detailed accounts of
him, but none such exist in English, although the subject has an epic
*J!Ajiacit,JqJi,aBdothv pfopw musm It |» bt iinniill n m cooiPMnt, n ia Jwfim,
loha, *e^ tfabalMi to th9 OOTBaa DmK
O
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50 HISTORY or THE MONGOLS.
grandear about it that might well tempt some weQ-giouiuled scholar like
Colonel Yule to try his hand upon it We have leeh how he received
the name of Temudjin. According to the vocabulary attached to the
history of the Yuen dynasty, translated from the Chinese by Hyadnthe,
Temudjin means the best iron or sted. The name has been confounded
with Temurdji^ which means a smith in Turkish. This accounts for the
tradition rdated by Pachymeres, Novairi, William of Ruysbrok, the
Armenian Haiton^ and others that Jingis Khan was originally a smith**
The Chinese historians and Ssanang Setaen place his birth in ii6a;
Raschid and the Persians in 1155. The latter date is accommodated to
the foct that they make him seventy-two years old at his death in 1227, but
the historian of the Yuen dynasty, the Kangmu, and Ssanang Setzen
are all agreed that he died at the age of sixty-six, and they are much more
likely to be rightt MaiUa says he had a piece of clotted blood in his
fist when bom, no bad omen, if true, of his future career. According to
De Guignes, Karachar Nevian was named his tutor. Ssanang Seticen
has a story that his father set out one day to find hin^ a partner among
therelativesofhis wife, the Olchonods, and that on tlie way he was met
by Dai Setzen, the chief of the Kunkuzats, who thus addressed him : —
^ Descendant of the Kiyots, and of the race of the Bordshigs, whither
hiest thou i" ^1 Bin seeking a bride for my son,'' was his reply. Dai
Setzen then said that he recently had a dream, during which a white
£sdcon had alighted on his hand. ^ This," he said, ** Bordshig, was your
token. From ancieiit days our daughters have been wedded to the
Bordshigs, and I now have a daughter named Burte who is nine years
old I will give her to thy son.'' ^ She is too young,'' he said ; but
Temudjin, who was present, urged that she would suit him by-and-by.
The baigain was thereupon closed, and having taken a draught of kumiss
and presented his host with two horses, Yissugei returned home.;^
On his father's death Temudjin was only thirteen years old ; an age
that seldom carries authority in the desert, where the chief is expected to
command, and his mother acted, as regent This einabled several of the
tribes which had submitted to the strong hand of Yissugei to reassert
their independence. The Taidshuts, under their leaders Terkutai, named
Kiriltuk, 1./., the spitefiil, the gitat grandson of Hemukai, and his nephew
Kurul Behadur, were the first to break away, and they were soon after
joined by one of Yissugei's generals with a considerable following.
To the reproaches of Temudjin, the latter answered, ''The deepest wells
are sometimes dry, and the hardest stones sometimes split ; why should
I ding to thee?" Temudjin's mother, we are told, mounted her horse,
and taking the Royal Standard called Tuk (this was motmted widi
the tails of the Yak or mountain cow, ot in default with that of a horse;
it is the Tau or Tu of the Chinese, used as the Imperial Standard,
I>*ObtMn.I.a& t irOhaton, i. 39. Not«. T SMnaag Setx«a, 65.
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jmOIS KHAN. 51
and confeirgd ms « token of rojFahy upon their vassals, the Tartar
Prmces*) in ber hand, she led her people in pursuit of the fugitives, and
htoi^tht a good numlier of them bade to their allegiaii€e.t
After the dispersion of the Jelatrs, to which I have previously referred,
i^any of them became the slaves and herdsmen of the Mongol royal
ftmily. They were encamped near Sarikihar, the Saligol of Hyacinthe^
in the district of Ulagai Bolak, whidi DH>hsson identifies with the
Ulengai, a tributary of the lAgoda, that rises in the watershed between
that river and the Onon.^ One day Tagudshar, a rebttive of Chanmka,
the chief of the Jadjerals^ was hnnting in this neighbeurhood, and tried
to M the cattle of a Jelair, named Ju^ Tennele^ wbotiwreupon shot him.
This led to a long and bitter strife between Tenwdi in, who was the patron
of the JelairSy and Chamnka. He was of the same stock as Temudjin,
and now joined the Taidsfaats, with hb tribe tiie Jadjerats. He also
persuaded the Uduts and Nujaldns, tiie Knrulas and Inkifiaoes, to join
them. II
Temodjin struggled in vain against this confederacy, and one day he
was taken prisoner by the Taidshuts. Teikatai&stenedonhlmaAvrfM#,
the instrument of torture used by the Chinese, consisting of two boards
which are fastened to the shoulden, and when joined togetiisr round the
neck form an efiectnal barrier to desertion. He one day fiwnd means to
escape while the TaidslMtts were busy feasting, hid in a pond with his
nostrib only out of water, was detected by a pursuer named Sni^g^ian
Shirdi (by Ssanang Setsen, Totgfaan Sham). He belonged to die Snlduz
dan, had pity on him, took him to his house^ hid him under some
wool in a cart, so diat Ins pursuers failed to &id him, and dien sent him
to his own peoplcf This and other stories ilkistrate one phase of Mongol
character. We sddom hear among them of tiiose domestic murders so
frequent in Turkish history ; pretenders to the throne were reduced to
servitude, and generally made to perform menial offices, but sddom
miadered. They iUustrate anodier fect| fiurours conferred hi distress
were seldom forgotten, and tiie cfaroniclers frequently eiplain die rise of
some obscure individual by the reooltoction of a handaomf tlmig done to
the ruler in his unfoftanate days.
. Another i^iase of Mongol chamcter, namdy, the trea^tery and crtt
with which they attcn^ic to ovcrreadi one another in war may be
fflustrated by a ^nt Saga teki by Ssanang Setxen, and probably rdating
to dtts period of Temndjin's career. It is curious how circumstantial
many of these traditions are. " At that time,'' he say^ ** Buke Chilger of
the Taidshttts dug a pitfell in his tent anc covered it with felts. He then,
with bis brodiers, arranged a grand feast, to which Temudjin was invited
with fulsome phrases. * Formerly we knew not tliine excellence,' he said,
* irOhMoa, k 4». Nott. t Brdauftil, 259* ^ HAiUa. !x. 20. I Brdmaaii. 260.
i D'0hM0B,L4x. Vote. MtM^ Ati«i ii. 971. | Brdmns,t6o. q Smuubc Settcs, ^.
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|3 HIST0I17 OF TRX MONGOLS.
'and lifed m strife widi tiiet. We have now learnt that thoo art
not fiJse, an4 that thoa art a Bogda of the tace of the gods. Oor
old hatred is stifled and dead ; condescend to enter our smaU hoose.'
TeQUu^in accepted the invitation^ but before going he was warned
bjr his mother: 'Rate not the crafty foe too lightly/ she said. 'We do
notdreadavenomousviper die less becanse it is so small and weak. Be
cautious.* He replied, ' You are r^t, mother, therefore do you Khassar
have the bow ready; Bdguteiy you also be on your guard. You»
Chadsbikin, see to the horse, and you, Utsuken, remain by my side. My
nine Orioks* you go in with me, and you my three hundred and nine
body guards surround the yurt.' When he arrived he would have sat
down in the middle of the treacherous carpet, but Utsnken pulled him
aside and seated him on the edge of the felt Meanwhile a woman was
meddling with the horse and cut off its left stirrup. Bdgutei, who
noticed it, drove her out, and struck her on the leg with his hand, upon
which one Buri Buke struck Bdgutei's horse with his sword. The nine
Oiioks now came round, helped their master to mount ^ white mare of
Toktanga Taishi of the Kortshins, a fight began, whidi ended in the
defeat and submission of the enemy.t Once more free^ Temudjin, who
was now seventeen years old, married Burte Judjin, whose betrothal I
have already described.) He was not long in collecting a number of his
men together, and soon managed to increase their number to 13,00a
These hedivided mto thirteen battalions of 1,000 men each, styled gurans
(f ./., riogs ; con^Mure the rings among the Avares), each guran under the
command of a gurkhan.} The gurkhans were chosen from his immediate
rdlatives and dependents. The forces of the Taidshuts xunnbered 30^000^
With this much mott povrerfol army Temudjin risked an encounter on
the banks of the Bakyuna, a tributary of the Ingoda, and gained a
complete victory. Abulghazi says the Taidshuts lost from 5,000 to 6,000
men. The battle-field was dose to a wood, and we are t<^ that Temucyin,
after his victory, piled friggots together and boiled many of his prisoners
in seventy cauldrons. | A very probleroatical story.
Among his neighbours were die Jadjerats or Juriats,ir the subjects of
Chamuka, who, according to De Guignes, fled after the battle with the
Tkddduits, just described. One day a body of the Jadjerats, who were .
tenting, encoumered some of Temndjin's followers^ and diey agreed
to hunt together. The former ran short of provisions, and he
gjmerously surrendered to them a large part of the game his peopfe had
captured. This was fitvourably compared by them with the harsh
bdiavionr of tibeir suzerdgns, the Taidshirt princes, and two of their
* The nine Orlokt wort the nintt orinciu] officers of T«uii4Jin. They an enumerated ia
SB oU iftffa dMeriUaff m fMtt ia which M aad hit niao Orloln were ngaged. BeMiang
■tlM,39i. Koteao.
t SiASftBg SetMft, 8x. I B«m«aK Bcteeo, €9,
I OBtiiiNaaaiMtecardm«a&,T«aiQ4iiB,aoCtSo,«adVon Hammer, Ooldda BMdt, 007.
|Brtauuiii,46x-s. ^ TchwIM •£ Dt XaJlla.
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JUroU KBAX. 53
^ki^ named Ulus^ Behadiir (Um Yulu of Dc MaiUa) aad Thugai Tala,
wUh many of tbc tnbe went to join Temndjln. They weie ahortly after
attacked and diipened by the Taidshuta. This alaxmed or disgutttd
aeveml of the latter's aQieSy who went over to the party of Temudjin,
Amoi^ these were Chanmkai who contrived for a while to hide his
tanconry and the chic£i of the Suldus and BasinU.* Their eian^ was
•QQnlbUowtd fay the defection of the Sarins and the Telenkuts, a branch
of the JdaiiB.t
TeaMMyin's lepute was now considerable^ and De Mailla tcUs us
that wisUng to secure the friendship of Podu, chief of the KieUei, or
or Ykiliesee (Gaubil 9), Is^ the Kurulats^ mho lived on the river £rgon6,
i^ the Aigun^ and iriio was oenowned for his skill in archery, he offered
him hia aister Termulun in marriage. This was gladly accepted, and
the two became fast friends. As a sign of his goodwill, Podu
wished to picsent Temu^jin with fifteen horsey out of thirty which he
possessed, but the latter replied, '' To speak of giving and taking is to do
as merchants and trafi&cker% and not allies. Our elders tell us it is
difficult to have one heart and one soul in two bodies. It is this difficult
^ng I wish to compass, I mean to ea^tend my power, over my neigh-
bours her^ I only ask that the people of Kieliei shall aid me.") Temudjin
now gave a grand feast on the banks of the Onon, and distributed
decorations amon^ his birothers» To this were invited Sidsheh Bigf^
chief of the "Buxf^ or Barins, his own mother, and two of his stq»»
mothers. A skin of kumiss, or ferment^ milk, was sent to each of the
latter, but with this distinction. In the case of the ddest, called Kakurshin
Khalnn, it was for herself and her fiunily 1 in that of the younger, for
hersdf alone. Thisaroused the envy of the fonner, who gave Sichir, the
master of the ceremonies, a considerable blow.. The undignified dis*
tttriMuace was winked at by Temudjin, but the quarrel was soon after
enlarged* One of Kakurshin^s dq^endenta had the temerity to strike
Belgutei, the hal^brother of Temu^lin, and wounded him severely in the
shonldet^ but Belgutei pleaded for him. ^ The wound has caused me no
ttarst It ii not seemly that my ^lanrek should inconvenience you," he
said. Upon this Temn4iin sent and coimseUed them to live at peace with
one another, bnt Sidshdi Bigi soon after ahand^nrd him with his Barins.
Ue was apparent^ a ton of Kakurshin Khatunt and therefore a step-
brother of Temu4jin.| About 1194, Temu^Mn heard that one of the
Taidshnt ^Hffftj caUed Mwtchin Suku, had revohcd against Madagu, the
Kin Emperor of China, who had sent hia Chinsang (prime minister)
Wan-jan-siang; with an arn^ against him. He eageriy volunteered his
services against the old enemies of his people^ and was successful. He
* TIm Urdau tsdBwteli of Von HaiBmer. t Brtena, ^ys* D« lUnis, xt, u
I QaqUI Hilt dtt Hofic.» S< Vote s. i D« lOttla^lx. 14.
f D% Uailla, it. tj, x6. firdaasBi S08.
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54 HISTORY or THE MONGOLS.
killed the chief and captured much booty. Infer alia was a silver cradle
with a covering of golden dssne, such as the Mongols had never before
seen. As a reward for his services he received from the Chinese officer
the title of Jaut-ikori^ written Tcha-u-tu-lu in Hyacinthe, who says it
means commander against the rebels. According to Raschid, on the
same occasion Tului, the chief of the Keraits, was invested with the title of
Wang (i>., king).* On his return from this expedition, desiring to renew
his intercourse with the Barins, he sent them a portion of the Tartar
booty. The bearers of this present were maltreated. Mailla, who
describes the event somewhat differentlyy says that ten of the messengers
were killed by Sidsheh Bigi, to revenge the indignities that had been put on
his £unily. Temudjin now marched against the Barins, defeated them at
Thulan Buldak (Tielito of Mailla). Their two chiefs escaped. According
to Mailla they were put to death.t
In 1 196 Temudjin received a visit from Wang Khan, the Kerait chief,
who was then in distress. His brother Ilkah Scngun, better known as
Jagampu Keraiti, had driven him from the throne. He first sought
assistance from the chief of Kara Khitai, and when that failed him, turned
to Temudjin, the son of his old friend. Wang Khan was a chief of great
consequence, and this appeal must have been flattering to him, he levied a
contribution of cattle from his subjects to feast him with, and promised
him the devotion of a son in consideration of his ancient friendship with
'^ssugei.
Temudjin was now, says Mailla, one of the most powerful princes of
these parts, and he determined to subjugate the Kieliei (/.^., the inhabitants
of the Argun, to whom I have already referred), but he was defeated.
During the action, having been hit by twelve arrows, he fell from his
horse unconscious, when Bogordshi and Burgul (Portchi and MouhoU of
Mailla) at some risk took him out of the struggle. While the former
melted the snow with some hot stones and bathed him with it, so as td
free his throat from the blood, the latter, during the loYig winter night,
covered hun with his own cloak from the falling snow. He would, never^
diekss, have £ued badly if his mother had not collected a band of his
fruher's troops and come to his assistance, together with Tului, the
Kerait chie^ who remembered the favours he had received from
Temudjin's fiither.t Mailla says, that returning home with a few foHowers,
he was attacked by a band of robbers. He was accompanied by a fiunous
crossbowman, named Soo, to whom he had given the name of Merghen.
While the robbers were within ear-shot, Merghen shouted, " There are
two wikl ducks, a male and a female, which shall I bring down.* " The
male," said Temudjin. He had scarcely said so when down it came. This
was too much for the robbers, who dared not measure .jhemsdves against
such victims.1 The MerkiU had recently made a raid upon his territory,
* lyOhsMa, i. 47. Vot*. t Brdmano, t68. De M&ilU, is. 17.
tWoUr,30. (DttfailU,ix.X9-
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JINOIS KHAN. 55
and canied off hit fivrourite wife Burte Judjin. It wu aftor her return
from her captivity that she gave birth to her elder son, Juji, about whose
legitimaqr there seems to have been some doubt in his fiuher's
inind. It waa to revenge this diat he now (1197) marched against
thcm» and defeated them near the river Mundshdi (a river Mandzin is still
to be found in the canton Karas MurenX* He abandoned all the
booty to Wang Khan. The latter, throu|^ the influence of Tonudjin,
once more r^ained his throne^ and the following year (1198) he had an
expedition on his own account against the Merkit% and beat them at a
I^ce named Buker Geheshif but he did not redprocale the generosity of
his aUy.
In 1199 the two friends made a joint eapeditiott against the Naimans,
The latter were now divided between two brothers^ who had quarrdkd
about their frtther's concubine. One of them, named Buyuruk, had
retired with a body of the people to the Kisiltash mountains. The other,
called Baibuka, but generally referred to by his Chinese title of Taiwang,
or Tayang, remained in hls.own proper country. It was the latter who
was now attacked by the two allies, and forced to escape to the country
of Kem Kemdjut (<>., towards the sources of the Yenissei). Chamuka,
the chief of the Jadjerats, well named Satchan, or the crafty, still retained
his hatred for Temudjin. He now whiqsered in the ear of Wang Khan
that his ally was only a frurweather friend. Like the wild goose, he flew
away in winter, while he himsd^ like the snow-bird, was constant under
all circumstances. These apd other suggestions luroused the jealousy of
Wang Khan, who suddenly withdrew with his forces, and left Temudjin
in the enemy's country. The latter was thereupon forced to retire also.
He went to the river Sali or SarL| Gugsu Seirak, the Naiman general,
went in pursuit, defeated Wang Khan in his own territory, and captured
much booty. Wang Khan was hard pressed, and was perhaps only
saved by the timely succour sent by Temudjin, which drove away the
Naimans. Once more did the latter abandon the captured booty to his
treacherous ally. After the victory, he held a Kuriltai, on the plains of
Sari or Sali, to which Wang Khan was invited, and at which it was
resolved to renew the war against the Taidshuts in the following year*
The latter were in alliance with the Merkits, whose chie^ Tukta, had
sent a contingent, commanded by his brothers, to their hdp. The two
frien^i attacked them on the banks of the river Onon.$ Raschid says
in the country of Onon (t./., the great desert of Mongolia).! The
confederates were beaten. Terkutai Kiriltuk and Kududar, the two
leaders of the Taidshuts, were pursued and overtaken at Lengut
Nuraroen, where they were both killed. Another of their leaders, with
the two chiefs of the Merkits, fled to BurghudshinlT (1.^., Burgusin on
Lake Baikal), while the fourth found refuge with the Naimans.
* Brdmann. Kote 75. t Brdmann, 27 %• t D« ICaiUa, ix. as.
i DoMAiUa,ix.2s. | D*Ohwos, l.6z. Note. % Sidmana, 475*
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j^ HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
This victory aroused the jealousy of certain tribes which were as yet
independent of Temudjin, namely, the Kunkurats, DuibanSy Jelaira,
Kataldnsi Saldjuts, and Taidshuts, «nd they formed a confederacy to put
him down. We are told that thefr chiefs met ataplace called Am Bolak,
and sacrificed a hone, a bull, a ram, a dog, and a stag, and striking with
their swords, swore thus : ^ Heaven and earth hear our oaths, we swear
by the blood of these animals, which are tiie chiefii of thefar races, that we
wish to die like them if we break our promises." The plot was disclosed
to Temudjin by his father-in-law, Dai Setten, a chief of the Kunkurats.
He repaired to his ally, Wang Khan, and tiie two marched against the
confederates, and defeated them near the Lake Buyur. He afterwards
attacked some confederated Taidshuts and Meridts on the plain of
Timurkin (/./., of the river Timur or Temir) and defeated them. Mean-
while the Kunkurats, afraid of resisting any longer, mardied to submit to
Urn. His brother, Juji Kassar, not knowing their errand, unfortunatdy
attacked them, upon which they turned aside and joined Chamuka.*
That inveterate enemy of Temudjin had at an assembly of the tril>es,
Inkirasses, Kurulasses, Taidshuts, Katakins, and Saldjuts, held in laoi,
been elected Gtnkhan. They met near a river, caHed Kieiho by Mailla,
Kian by Hyadnthe, and Kem by Raschid,t and then adjourned to the
Tula, where they made a solemn pact praying that ** whichever of them
was unfiiithful to the rest might be like the banks of that river which the
water ate away, and like the trees of a forest when they are cot into
ftggots." This pact was disclosed to Temudjin by one of his friends who
was present, named KuridaL He marched against them, and defeated
them at a place north of the SeKnga, called Ede Kiurghan, /.e., site of the
grave mounds4 Chamuka fled, and the Kunkurats submitted.1
In the spring of 1202, Temudjin set out to attack the tribes Antshi and
Tshagan.1 These were doubtless the subjects of Wangtshuk and
Tsaghan, mentioned by Ssanang Setsen. They were probably Tun-
gusian tribes. The western writers tell us that Temudjin gave orders
to his soldiers to follow up the beaten enemy, without caring about the
booty, which should be fairly divided among them. His relatives, Kudsher,
Darital, and Altun, having disobeyed, were deprived of thefar share^
and became, in consequence, his secret enemies.lT Ssanang Setten has
much more detail, and his narrative is- faiteresting because^ as Schmidt
suggests, it apparently contains the only account extant of the conquest
of the tribes of Manchuria. He says, that while Temudjin was hawking
between the river Olcho (a river Olcoui, rising in the Soyoldji, a branch
of the Khinggan mountains, about the forty^seventh parallel of latitude, is
mentioned by I^Ohsson, i. 64), and the Ula (probably the Nonni Ula).
' BfdmaBii. §79. D*OImmo, L te. t Brdauos. Nott xofll I WoUt 41.
4 D*OhtMQ,i.^. I HfMlatlMqMUdbyBrdMiUk Nol«tx4.'
T Srdmaaa, aSo, jSx.
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jnrOXS KHAM. S7
Wangtshuk Khakani of the Dschurtichid (U., of the Nhitchi Tartan of
Manchuria), had retired from there. Temudjin was angry, and went to
asaemble his army to attack the enem/s capital But as a passage was
forbidden hhn across the river Ula, and the road was blockaded, the son of
Toktanga Baghatur Taidshi, named Andun Ching Taidshi, coupled ten
thousand horses together by their bridles, and pressed into the river,
forced a passage, and the army then began to besiege the town.
Temudjin sent word to Wangtshuk, and said: ** If you will send me ten
thousand swallows and one thousand cats then I will cease attaddng the
town," upon which the required number was procured. Temudjin
fastened some lighted wool to the tail of each and then let them go ;
then the swallows flew to thehr nesU in the houses, and the cats climbed
and jumped on the roofs ; the city was fired, by which means Temudjin
conquered Wangtshuk Khakan, and took hik daughter Salichai for his
wife. He then marched further eastwards to the river Uhegen, but h«
found it had overflowed its banks, wheieupon he did not cross ix but sent
envoys to Tsaghan Khakan Q the tribe Tsagan mentioned in the
western accounts, vid^ suprd) of the Solongos, /.«., of the SoUms. "Bring
me tribute, or we must fight,'' he said ; upon which Tshaghan Khakan
was frightened, sent him a daughter of Dair Ussim, named Khulan
Goa, with a tent decorated with panther skins, and gave him the tribes
of Solongos and Bughas as a dowry, upon which he assisted Tshaghan
Khakan, sO that he brought three provinces of the Solongos under his
authority.*
Ssanang Setxen at this point introduces one of those quaint Sagas,
which however mythical in themselves, are true enough to the peculiar
mode of thought of the Mongols to make them very instructive. The
Saga runs thus :— During a three years' absence of her husband, Burte
Judjin sent Arghassun Churlshi (/.#., Arghassun the lute player) to him ;
when the latter was introduced, he spoke thus:— ''Thy wife, Burte
Judjin Khatun, thy princely children, the elders and princes of thy
kingdom, all are well. The ea^e builds his nest in a high tree; at times
he grows careless in the fancied security of his high-perched home ; then
even a small bird will sometimes come and plunder it and eat the eggs
and young brood: so it is with the swan whose nest is in the sedges on
the lake. It, too, trusts too confidently in the dark thickets of reeds. Yet
prowling water-falcons will sometimes come and rob it of eggs and
young ones. This might happen to my revered lord himseE" These
words aroused Temudjin from his confident air. "Thou hast spoken
truly," he said, and he hied him on his way homewards. But when some
distance still from home he began to grow timid. " Spouse of my young
days, chosen for me by my noble £ather, how dare I face thee home-
tarrying Burte Judjin, after living with Chnlan (f.^., the Chulan Goa
* Suuians &»tMSf 75*
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5$ HISTORY OF THB MONGOLS.
already named), whom I came across in my joimieyy it would be shameful
to seem tmfriendly in the assembly of the people. One of you nine Orloks
hie you to Buite Judjin and speak for me.* Mukuli, of the Jelair
tribe, volunteered, and when he came to her, deliyered this message:—
^ Beside protecting my own lands I have looked around also elsewhere.
I have not followed the counsel of the greater and lesser lords. On the
contrary, I have amused myself with the vari^ated colours of a tent
bung with panther skins. Distant people to rule over I have taken Chulan
to be my wife : the Khan has sent me to tell you this.*' His wife
seems to have understood the enigmatical phrases, for Setzen says, "The
sensible f Burte Judjin thus replied, ' The wish of Burte Judjin and of the
whole people is that the mi|^t of our sovereign may be increased. It
vests with him whom he shall befriend or bind himself to. In the reedy
lakes there are many swans and geese. If it be his wish to shoot arrows
at them until his finger be weary, who shall complain? So also there arc
many girls and women among our people. It is for him to say who the
choicest and luckiest are. I hope he will take to himself both anew wifo
and a new house. That he will saddle the untractable horse. Health
and prosperity are not wearisome^ nor are disease and pain desirable^
says the proverb. May the golden girth of his house be immortal ' ^ (i./.,
may the band that binds the fdts and spars of the yurt never decay, in
other words, may ha ever be prosperous, a favourite Mongol wish).
When he arrived at home he discovered that Aighassun had appro-
priated his golden hite, upon which he ordered Boghordshi and Mukuli
to kill him. They seised hhn, gave him two skins full of strong drink, and
then went to the Khan, who had not yet risen. Boghordshi spake
outside the tent: "The light already shines in your Ordu. We
await your commands, that is, if your effiilgent presence, having
cheerfully awoke, has risen from its couch! The daylight already
shines. Condescend to open the door to hear and to judge the
repentant culprit, and to exercise your favour and demency.* The
Khan now arose and permitted Arghassun to enter, but he did not speak
to him. Boghordshi and Mukuli gave him a signal with their lips. The
culprit then began: "While the seventy-tuned Tsaktsaghai unconcernedly
sings tang, tang, the hawk hovers over and pounces suddenly upon him
and straiigles him before he can bring out his last note Jang. So did
xocf lord's wrath fall on me and has unnerved me. For twenty years have
I been in your household but have not yet been guilty of dishonest
ti Idcery. It is true I love smoked drink, but dishonesty I have not in
my thought For twenty years have I been in your household but I have
not practised kiiavcry. I love strong drink, but am no uickster," Upon
which Temudjin ejaculated, •* My loquacious Aighassun, my chattering
Churtchi," and pardoned hun.
Temudjin now seems to have been master of the country generally
knQwn as £a$tem Dauria. watered by the Qnon, the Ixigoda, the Argun,
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JINOIS KHAN. 59
and also of tbe tribes of Tungusic race that lived on the Nonni and the
Upper Amur. The various victims of his prowess began to gather together
for another effort Among these were Tukta, the ch ief of Merklts, with the
Naiman leader, Buyuruk Khan, the tribes Durban, Katagun, Saldjut,
and Uiraty the last of whom were clients of the Naimans.* Wang Khaa
was then in alliance with him. At the aj^roach of the enemy they
retired into the mountains Caraun Chidun, in the Khinggan chain, on the
frontiers of Qdra, where they were pursued. The pursuers were terribly
harassed by the ice and snow, which MaiUa said was produced by one
of their own Shamans, or necromancers, and which proved more hurtfid
to them than to the Mongols, t Many of them perished, and when they
issued from the defiles they were too weak to attack the two allies. The
latter spent the winter at Altchia Kungur (a small river Kimgur flows
into Lake Taal, about 43 deg. NX.)? Here their two £Emiilies were
imiCed by mutual betrothals; as these, however, broke down ill-
leeling was aroused between them, and Qiamuka had an opportunity
of renewing his intrigues. He suggested that Temudjin had secret com-
munications with the Naimans, and was not long in arousing the jealousy
of Wang Khan and his son Sengun. They attempted unsuccessfully to
assassinate him, but he was warned in time. He now collected an army
and marched against the Keraits. His army were very inferior in
numbers, but attacked the enemy with ardour. Wang Khan's bravest
tribe, tbe Jiridrs, turned their hacks, while the Ttmegkaits were defeated,
but numbers nevertheless prevailed, and Temudjin was fbrcerl to fly.
lliis battle, which is renowned in Mongol liistory, was fought at a place
called Kalanchin Alt Raschid says this place is near the country of
the Ntuchis, not hr from the river OlkuL Some of the Chinese authorities
call it Khalagun ola, and Hala chon, and D^Ohsson surmises that it is
that part of the Khinggan chain from which flow the southern affluents
of the Kalka, one of which is called Halgon in D'Anville's map. Mailla,
however, distinctly places it between the Tula and the Onon, which is
probably right § Abandoned by most of his troops, he fled to the desert
Baldjuna, where he was reduced to great straits (IVOhsson says that
a lake Baldjuna, whence flows the Tura, a tributary of the Ingoda, Is
found in the plateau north of the Onon). Here are still found many
grave mounds, and the Buriats relate that this retired place^ protected on
the north by woods and mountains, was formeriy an asylum! A few firm
friends accompanied him. They were afterwards known as Baldjunas,
a name compared by Von Hammer with that of Mohadshirs, borne by
thecmnpanions of Mahomet's early misfortunes. IT Two shepherds, named
Kishlik and Badai, who had informed him of Wang Khan's march, were
created Terkhans.**
•£rdmABn.s8i. t Dt ICailU, Ix. 26. t D'Ohtnoo, I. ^. Note.
i D« Mailla, op. eit. is. 34. | Wolff 43* Ritter** Ada, ii. 37x179.
f Von Hiunm«r, CMdta Hordo, 09* ** D'OhMon, i# 7a.
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60 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
Having been a fugitive for sometime, Temitdjin at length moved to the
south-east, to the borders of LAke KarS| into which flows the river Uldm,
there he was joined by some Kunkurats, and he once more moved on to
the sacred Mongd lake, the Dalai Nur.* Thence he indited the following
pathetic letter to \Vang Khan:—
^ I. O Khan, my fother, when your uncle, the Gur Khan, drove you for
having usurped the throne of Buyuruk, and for having killed your brothers
Tatimur Taidshi and Buka Timur, to take refuge at Kerum Kiptchak (the
Caravoun Cabdjal of D*Ohsson), where you were beleagured, did not
my father come to your rescue, drive out, and force the Gur Khan to take
refoge in Ho Si (the country west of the Hoangho), whence he returned
not ? Did you not then become Anda (/x, sworn Iriend) with my fiUher,
and was not this the reason I styled >m# fother ?
**2, When you were driven away by the Naimans, and your brother,
Ilkah Sengun, had retired to the hr east, did I not send for him back
again, and when he was attacked by the Meridts, did I not attack and
defeat them? Here is a second reason for your gratitude.
'' 3. When in your dlstreu you came to me with your body peering
through your tatters, like the sun through the douds, and worn out with
hunger, you moved languidly like an expiring flame, did I not attack
the tribes who molested you ; present you with abundance of sheep and
horses? You came to me haggard. In a fortnight you were stout and
weU-favoured again. Here is a third service we have done you.
^4. When you defeated the Meridts so severdy at Buker Gehreh, you
gave me none of the booty, yet shordy after, when you were hard pressed
by the Naimans, I sent four of my best generals to your assistance, who
restored you the plunder that had been taken from you. Here b the
fourth good office.
" 5. I pounced like a Jerfidcoa on to the mountain Jurkmhen, and
thence over the lake Buyur, and I captured for you the cranes with Uue
daws and grey plumage, that is to say, the Duribans and Taidshuts.
Then I passed the lake Keole. There I took the cranes with Mue feet,
that is, the Katakins, Saldjuts, and Xjmkurats. This is the fifth service
I have done you.
^6. Do you not remember, O Khan, my father, how on the river Kara,
near the Mount Jurkan, we swore that if a snake glided between ns, and
envenomed our words, we would not listen to it until we had recdved
some explanation; yet you suddenly left me widiout asking me to
''7* O Khan^myfether, whysttspectmeofambidon? Ihavenotsaid
* My part is too small, I want a greater^ or 'It is a bad one, I want a
better.' When one wheel of a cart breaks, and the ox tries to drag it, it
only huts its neck. If we then detach the ox, and leave the vehicle, the
•Wolff. 44.
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JINOIS KHAK. 6l
thieves come and take the load. If we do not unyoke it^ the ox will die
of hunger. Am I not one wheel of thy chariot?''
^^th this letter Temudjin tent a request that die black gelding of
Mukuli Behadur, with its embroidered and plated saddle and bridle, which
had been lost on the day of dieir struggle, might be restored to him ; he
also asked that messengers m^ht be sent to treat for a peace between
theoL
Another letter was sent to his uncle Kudshir, and to his cousin
Altun.
This letter is interesting^ because it periiaps preserves for us some
details of what took j^ace at the accession of Jingis. It is well known
that the Mongol Khans affected a coy resistance when asked to become
chiell The letter runs thus ^-^ You conq;»ired to kill me^ yet from the
beginning did I tdl the sons of Bartam Bdiadur (/.#., his grandfather), as
well as Satcha (his cousin), and Taidju (his unde). Why does our
territory on the Onon remain without a master ? I tried to persuade you
to rule over our tribes. You refused. I was troidiled. I said to youf
'Kudshir, son of TeknnTaishi, beour Khan.' You did not listen to me;
and to you, Altun, I said, 'You are the son of Kutlnk Khan (the Kubilai
of lyOhsson), who was our ruler. You be our Khan.' You also refused^
and when you pressed it on me, saying, ' fie you our cfaie^' I submitted to
your request, and (mmiised to pttserve the heritage and customs of omr
fidiers. Did I intrigue for power? I was elected unanimously to pievent
tbe country, itded over by our fiddlers near the three rivers^ passing to
stcaagers. As dnef of a numerous people, I thou|^ it proper to make
presents to those attached to me, I csqptured many herds, yurts, women»
and children, which I gave you. I enctosed for yon die game of the
stqipe, and drove towards you die mountain gamie. You now serve Wang
Khan, but you oog^ to know diat he is fidde. You see how he haa
treated me. . He wffl treat you even worse.*^
Wang Khan was di^MMod to treat, but his son Sengun said matters
had gonetoofo,and they must fight it cot Wenowfind Wang Khan
quarrelling with several of Ids dependents^ iNdiom he accused of coQspirinf
against him. Temudjin^s intrigttes were probably at the bottom of the
matter. The resuk was diat Daxiti Utshegin, with a tribe of Mongols^
and the Sakiat tribe of the Kemits, wdat over to Temud|in, iriuk Ahua
and Kudshtr, the lattev^s relations, who had deserted him as I have
described, todc refiige widi die Naimaas.t
Among the companions of his recent distress, a constant one was hia
brother Juji' Kassar^ vdio bad also suffered severely, and had had hia
camp, ^lec, pillaged by the Keraits. Tonudjin had leoowse to a tuat^
He sent two servants who feigned to have omie from Juji, imd who
ofieced his eubmission on condition that his wifo and childfen
• D'ObnoB.i. jfS. t BrtaMS^ais.
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6s HISTORY OF THC IfOH GOL8.
returned to hniL Wang Khan readily assented, and to prove kksinctrky
sent back to Juji Kassar someof his Mood in ahom, which was tobe noiixed
with komissi and drunk when the oath of firiendship was sworn. Wang
Khan was coo^^letdjr put off his guard, and Temn^in was thus 9^bU to
suiprise him. His forces numbered about 4,600^ and he seems to have
advanced along the banks of the KerukHiy towards the heists of Jedshir,
between the Tula and the Kerulon, and therefore towards the modem
Urga,* where Wang Khan was posted. In the battle which foUowed,
and which was fought in the spring of 1203, the latter was defeated; he
fled to the Naimans, and was there murdered. Temudjin was sincerely
afiected by the death of the old man. The Nainmn chie^ Tayang, had
hb riodl encased in silver and bejeweUed, and afterwards used it as a
ceremonial cup; a custom very frequent iu Mongolia. Such cups have
been latdy met with in Europe, one of which was exhibited at the great
eihibition of 1B5 1, where it was shown as the skull of Confucius. Anothen
or peihape the same, which was encased in marvellous jeweller's work,
has been lately destroyed, the gold having been barbarously mdted by
tiie Jews. Dy the death of Wang Khan, Temudjin became die master of
the Kerait nation, and thus both branches of the Mongol race were
united under one head.
He now hdd a Kuriltai, where he was procUimed Khan. There is
some confusion about die period when he adopted the title of Jingis, but
the probabOity is that he did so three years later. The earlier date
(1^., 1^03) is the one however from wfaidi his reign is ofiten reckoned to
have commenced. Having feasted and rejoiced over his good fbrtu&e,he
next turned his attention to the Naimans, whose jealousy had been
aroused by his successes, and whose chief daimed supremacy in Tartary.
He made overtures to Alakush Tigin Kttri,t the diief of the Onguts, or
White Tartars, who then consisted of 4/xx> fiunillesi and lived in the
Inshan mountains, called Ongu by the Mongols. ^ TYiei^ cannot be two
iuns in the sky, two swords in one sheath, two eyes in one eyepit, nor two
kings in one empire ; join me and be my right hand,* was the burden of
his message ; but that prince refused to join hhnand informed TemucQin.
The latter called together a Kuriltai or general assembly. Hcreit was
suggested diat the horses were out of condition and that the campaign
had better be postponed, but this counsel was overruled, and Temucyin
advanced westward, Tayang Khan also left die Altai mountains, and
pitched his camp at the foot of the Khan^^ moontains; with him were
die chiefs of the Merkits, the Oirats, Jadjeiats, some of die Keraita, and
die tribes Durban, T^d^ut, Kataldn» and Saldjut. The battle was
ion^t on a large open plain, and lasted all day. The site was passed by
Can>ino,t who mentions it as the place where the Karakiiitans and Naimans
were defeated by the Mongols. At night-foil the Naimans were wonted.
*Yii]MlCarooFiBl*,M4. t BrtnMinn,«t» | b*Ob«0D, i. 9f .
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JIN0I8 KHAN. 6$
Tayangy despenitdy wounded, was taken to a bill dose by, and was
tended by his fitvoorite wife, Knibassu. In vain he protested that his
soldieis had done enough to prove their valour and fidelity. In vain he
bade them seek safety. They returned again, and throwing themsdves on
the enemy were slaughtered. Tayang Khan was hurried away, but soon
died of his wounds. His son Kushluk took refuge with his unde Buyuruk,
the other Khan of the Naimans. Tukta,'the Merldt ddef, also fled west-
ward. The scattered Naimans who** had sought death so hard and had
not found it,*^ were pursued into the mountains Nakukun, where many of
them were killed. Kurbassu, the widow of Tayang, was added to the
oonqueror's harem. A more important capture was Tata-kun^t the
diancdlor of Tayang ; he was a Uighur Turk. Upon him was found the
goklen sealf with which he was wishful to escape to ddiver it to the
rdatives of his late mastor. Temudjin naivdy demanded its use ; he
lephed that when his master wished to raise a tax in money or grain, or
to empower any one to do anything important, lie used this seal to give it
authenticity. Temudjin ordered him to employ the seal in his name, and
to teadi the language and writing and the laws and customs of the Uighurs
to his sons. Tata-kun proved a faithful servant, and became chancdlor
to Ogotai, the son of Jingis, and on his death was honoured with a
posthumous title. Here we have an interesting fact, namdy, the source
whence the Monggb first drew thdr dvilisation. The Uighurs were once,
as we know from M. Vambery's researches, the most lettered nation in
Central Asia. It is curious to find that long after their power had
vanished, they retained at Bishbalig the moral empire of Turkestan.
After the battle^ the Duibans, Taidshuts, Katakins, and Saldshuts sub-
mitted to the conqueror. The Merkits fled. Temudjin went in pursuit
of the latter. On the way, Thair Ussun, the chief of the Uighur Merkits,
submitted, and offered his daughter Kulan Khatun in marriage to
Temudjin. (Tliis is clearly another version of the Saga already quoted
firpm Ssanang Setzcn, anU page 56.) The offer was accepted ; Thair
Ussun was taken into his service, and his followers were divided into
companies of 100 men, aiid incorporated with the baggage guards. They
soon after revolted, were attacked and beaten, and many of them fled.|
Temudjin now attacked the other Merkits and reduced their three other
tribes, the Moduns, Tudakelins, and Jiims to obedience. Tukta Bigi was
overtaken at the fort of Kuruk Kiptchak, and his forces again dispersed,
he himself fled to Buyuruk, the Naiman chief.
Soon after this Chamuka, the old and deadly enemy of Temudjin, fell
into his power ; D'Ohsson says he would not kill him because he was anda,
il/., sworn friend, but gave hiin as a prisoner to one of his nephews. The
latter was not long in destroying him, which he did by the crud death of
cutting him limb from limb, the philosophic prisoner is said to have
"* BrdoiMii. t Wolff, S3. I Brdmann, 306. D'Ohtson, X90, 292.
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64 HISTORY OF THB MONGOLS.
admitted the justice of this punishmenty which he woold himself have
meted out if he had been successAiL
lyohsson says that Temudjia had now conquered enou^^ of men,
cattle, and pastures, and his eyes turned to the capture of richer booty
in the south, the former hunting ground of many nomade tribes. His
first venture was made upon Tangut, the Hia of the Chinese writers. The
kingdom had been previously known as that of Ho Si, iV., west of the
river (corrupted by the Mongols into Kaschin). When Temu^jin con-
quered it the name Kaschin was given to his youthful grandson, a son
of Ogotai's, who was bom at the time, and on his death the name was
changed to Tangut. The Mongols first captured a strong fort named
Lild (Lairi of Hyacinth's History of the Yuen),* and having rased it to the
ground, took the town of Lung-si-hien (Asagitgdus of Erdmann), and in
it a large booty, with which he returned to the desert.! This expedition
was made in 1205. De Mailla here tells a quaint story, ''As Temudjin
returned from Hia he met a child in charge of some sheep. This child
had put a stick in the ground and his cap upon it, and was dancing and
singing around it Temudjin, whose curiosity was tickled, asked him
why he did thus. 'When one is alone,' said the child, ' having no com-
panion but one's cap, one ought to respect it. If there are two persons
together, the younger ought to pay respect to the elder. As I was alone
I did it to my cap. I heard ywL were about to pass^ and I thought I
would practice the ceremonies due to you when yeu should arrive."'
Temudjin took the child home and had him brought up in his tent.
He had now reached a memorable epoch in his life ; north of the desert
he had subdued all the turbulent and lawless tribes that stretched from
the Irtish to the Khinggan mountains. He had destroyed all }iis
rivals, and we are told that in the spring of 1 206 he summoned a Kuriltai
near the sources of the Onon ; on this spot was planted a standard com*
posed of nine white tuks (i./., Yak-tails, one for each of the nine Orloks)
placed one over the other, around this were collected the chiefs of the
different tribes. A Shaman named Gueukdju, who was sumamed But
Tengri, or Image of God, now came forward and declared solemnly that
having conquered so many Gur Khans, ia^ " chief Khans,* he could not
adopt that humbled title, and that heaven decreed to him the title of
Jingis Khan, or the "Very Mighty Khan." He was therefore saluted
under that name by the different chiefs. He was now forty-four years of
age, or according to Raschid fifty-one.
Ssanang Setsen has a queer tale to tell of ^e origin of the name Jingis.
He says that in 1189, when Temudjin was forty-eight years old, he was
proclaimed Khakan on the banks of the ^ver Kerulon. For three mornings
before the ceremony, a five-colour^ bird, in shiq[)e like a laxk, came
and sat on a squared stone in fr^nt of the royal yurt, and screamed out
* lyOhiiOB, i. 97. N«tt. t Dt Mailla, is. 40.
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JWOIt KKAK. 6$
JuiCiB» JNr^ ^vkkh he tlienapoa ftdoplid at hit middk name, his title
iA Ml hctef SotB Bcvda Jtagis Khekaiu There dien appeeied in the
■ridet of the stone tiie seel celled Chas Boa This seel was e span in
kn^ and breadth. On its lower £ice was a tnrde, and in the back of
tbe letter two drsgons were intedaced. On thb truly Mongol legend
BidBuim has the cjrmod oonmieDt, '^ En Cor Zenodoti en jecur (>atetis.''»
The legend goct on to say that it was now diet Temudjin gave his
people the name of K<SBeMongol»f:#.9Bhte or CdestialMongols.t Saanang
Setsen says they had hitherto been called Bedtf, but, as I have shown, the
name Mongol is of mvch oldor date. Guekdju the Shaman bad
gained great ciedit among the Mongols, and even persuaded them he
aonsetimes moonlad to heaven on a grey horse. He now became trouble-
some to Temudjin, to w^tam he was aggressively impertinent The latter
grew weary of him, and ordeesd him to be killed. }uji Kassar, we are
toldykidcedhimootof the tent and then put him to death. After the
dissohitioii of the Kmfitaiy Jingis (as we shall now call him) marched
against the Mahnans. On the deaft of Tayang Khan, his brother
Boyuruk, who had dhrided the heritage wkh and now succeeded him, was
with his people hyntiag in the Ulug Tag moantains (the Urtu-ola of the
Caiinese— tiiey form the western continuation of the Little Ahai west of
the Balkaah Sea) near die river Sadja. Here he was attacked and killed
by some siqpporters of Jingis, his wife and baggage fell into the victor's
hands, while Ms nephew Gushlak and the irrepressible Khan of the
Merkks fled towards the huMi watered by tbe Irtish. As the people of
Hiahad fidled to send the promised tribute, he ordered a fresh expedition
agamst tttonu This was in isoy. This e9q>edltion captured the town of
WWilahai, and lefrned wkh mnch hooty4 '* WidUahai gave iu name to
one el tiie seten hi of the Mongolian period* inchiding Tangut or
Kansuh. It was probablythe kingdom of Egrfgaia of Marbo Polo/'{
Jm^ Khan now caBed upon the Kirg^nses and Kern Kemdjuts who
fiv«d nosth of tiK Mahnans to do homafSk Their two chiefii are called
I^meraMdAklar by Hyadntbe,! Yetiei YnaU and AUtid by Mailla,
One of the MHBes is wnthig m the MSS. of Raschid. The other is
caMedUfWsIaalbyhhn.f Ssanang Setaen caPs him Oroddm Schiguschi
and his people Oirad Bwriad*** Bnnit is still a wdl-known synonym for
the black or proper Kixghlses. The two diiefe agreed to do homage^ and
sent Jhigis a ptesent of some JerfdooBS.tf
In ^le aotmnaof iao> Jhigii pwined Gwihhik and Tukta in Ae diiection
of the Irtish. On the way die tribe Oirnt, called Ouayk by MaiUa tt
(Oirat is a synonym for the Tdengnts <Mr White Kahnuks of the Irtish),
I to hhn, and tfwir chief fdimteered to gaide his army. The
■ ■ I ■ ■' ■ ' . ■ • » ■
9t%tdHm»t79, |SmWo1S;47* aMaaag 8«tMD, 91.
Sii. D*ll«iBA,ic««i. ^PwttsSiiHk'tVQeabiikfy,^
i,Not«,i«8* f D*OhM0S,i.toj. Not*. •*0p.€it.,7S.
ttD*OlMNe,i.M4. :iOr.citnis.4S.
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66 HISTORY or THE MONGOLS.
fagitives were OTertakea near the Kern, i^.^ ti&e upper Irtkh« Tiikta die
Merldt diief was killed^ GusUuk escaped to Kara Khitai. Soon after he
received the submission of Bardjuk the Idikut or king of the Uighnrs ; he
w^ a tributary of Kara Khitai, but in 1209 had nutrdered the deputy of
that empire, named Shukem ; 'when in expectation of dire punishmeat
he heard of the great successes of Jingis, he hastened to recognise him.
In the fulsome Eastern panegyric he wrote ^ As when die clouds break
and disclose the sun burning with renewed Instre, as the craddag ice
displays the pure blue stream below^ so did thy arrival fill me with
delight and with the hope of deliverance.*^ Jingis Khan received this
message with courtes>, and sent word back that he wished the Idikut to
go to him in person with the richest object in his treasury. The latter
despatched a valuable bag full of pearls and other gifts, but does not
appear to have gone himseUlt
In 1209 be commenced another campaign by penetrating into Kan-su,
then dependent on the kingdom of Hia, whose king, Li-ngaa-tsuen, sent
his son with an army to oppose him, but he was beaten, and Kao-ling*
Kong, his Lieutenant-General, was made prisoner. The Mongols then
captured Uiraka (t^«, the passage through the wall — Rasdiid caUs it
Erica, and in another place Erlaca^ and it is probably the Egrtgaia of
Marco Polo),} they then took the fortress of I^nen, crossed
the Hoangho, and laid siege to Nin hia fu, then called Chui^^
hing, the capital of Hia (the Calatia of Marco Polo— it was for-
merly also called Hwai Yuen),|| but the inhabitants opened the d^ces
of the river and flooded their camp. The Mongols then sent messengers
into the city to treat The kiAg of Hia agreed to acknowledge their
supremacy, and surrendered one of his daughters, idio was sent to the
harem of Jingis,1[ On his return to his yvirt he found the Idikut of the
Uighurs, Arslan Khan, chief of the Kaihks (f>., die Turics <rf KayahkX
and Czar, prince of Almalig, who had come to do hhn homage. Arslan
Khan had recently foUowed the example of the Uighur pdnce^ and had
slain the deputy of his suzereign, the Khan of Kara Khitai. Jingis took
him into his service, invested him witii a gdden girdle, aad gave him a
daughter of his house to wife. The Idikut asked that he might have some
special mark of favour and be treated as hb fiftti son. To this he
assented, and gave him his daughter Altun Bigi in marriage.** Orar,
prince of Almalig, was shortly after captured while hunting, and put to
death by order of Gushhdc Jingis appointed his son Seknak Tddn to
succeed him, and gave him the daughter of his eldest son Jcgi in
marriage, tt
The Khan of the Mongols now Ml himsdf strong enough to undertake
a much more important enterprise, namely to attack the empire of China.
• D'Obtton. no. t Btdaami, 3x4. X !>• X«itta aty* W«li4A.lui. Op. clt.» 4^
D*ObMon, I. ao6. H Porttr Salitl^ op. dl., 5. f D'Ohnoo, S. zoS. *• Erdnuum, jfj.
tt D^ObMOo, i. Btf.
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JIN0I8 KKAV. 67
That country was dhrided into two portwaf^ the sonthem portioiiy witli
its capital at Liii*ngaD (die later HaiigdioWy in Chrirfang ; it was also
called Kinsai, and was so known to Marco Polo),* was under the native
dymaty of the Sunf ; Ae nocthem paction, comprising the {nrovinces of
Pchefadkliy SImumI, aban-tan^ Honan, the sovdiem part of Shen&i, and
tint part of Kiaag Nan north of dit Yelknr River, with its capital at
Ycaidng, near dK nudcm Pddng^ was under the domination
of the Kin emperors, the Tartar dynasty from which the Manchus
C!ventnatty ^Mang; The Kin emperors dominated over Tartary, and
among odiers the Khitans, die previous masters of Northern China, were
dMir tribittariesL Jhigis Khan rdied upon die assistance of these latter.
He was also enooumged by some nAigees,wiio reported to him that the
Qiinese were discontented with die Km dynasty. During the reign of
die emperor Chang tang, 1190-1908, his unde Ta ngan, who held the
fief of Wei in Honan,t had been sent into Tartary to collect tribute, and
had used hb influence lo thwmrt the rise of Jingis.| In 1209 Ta ngan
succeeded his nopkieWf and is known in Chinese history as Chongrhel
In iao9 he sent the usual embassy to Jingis to receive his tribute.
Instead oi knediag to receive the Imperial commands he scornfully told
d» envoy that die "^Son of Heaven'' (the euphemism used by the
Chinese when speaking of their emperors) ought to be an extraordinary
perKm, but an imbecile like this Chong hei, was he wordiy of a throne,
or that he Tenmdiin should abase himself before him ? Up<mwhidihe
momited hb horse and rode away.
Having coBected his officers, he recounted to them die injuries their
ancestors had received at the hands of the Altan Khans, the good fortune
dttt had hitherto attended his arms, which would probably continue, and
his determination to resitt the prelensions of the emperor. This address
was weU received, and it was determined to send one of the principal
Mongols, named Jaftr Khodsha, to the Altan Khan with a haughty
afiessage, reminding hhn diat Jiogis had risen from being a small
chiefratn to be die master of die desert That his fsrces were weU
disciplined and well equipped. That fortune attended his arms in all
dirBcttons, and that he was piepaied for mAm peace <nr war, whichever
the Kin emperor desind, but that he shoidd no longer be his dependent.
To this the emperor, who was nstnrally enraged, replied with some
firmness and scoin,^ and Jfaigis pvqpared iaat war. On the mountain
In-dnm he made a solemn pact with a dnef of the Khitans, in which a
wfaitt horse and a black ox were sacrificed, and an arrow was broken
while the parties foced towards the north. They swore mutual fidelity;
die Khitan tmtotaking to serve die Mongols, while the latter undertook
to restore die Klnians to the sovereignty of Liautung. The chief with
*I^»mrSraflli,op.dt.,Maa4flO. tWoUli;94' I D» OnigaM, hr. fl6.
( Brdnam, 317 uid 318.
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68 HISTORY OF THS MONGOLS.
wixnn this treaty was made was named Ytiia Lndoa. He was a sckm of
the old royal faauly cf die Liau, and lived at Tska-ti, on die nofdiem
frontier.
Before setting out, Jingis dimbed a moontain, aad, having arieosed
his girdle, addressed a prayer to the gods, in which he mentioned the
murder of his rdatives Ugin Deilcak and Hemnloai Khan by die Khi
emperors ; how he was now setting out to daim vengeance for d^ir
blood, and prayed that victory might rest with those who had the r^;ht
on their side.* Having left his trusty commander and son-in-law,
Thugadshar Hoyan, with a corpa of 3,000 men to keep a watdi on the
newly conquered tribes, he set out in March, laxi, from die river
Kerulan. His four sons accompanied hioL He had first to cross die
desert of Gobi, which then Ixndered die Mongol tribes on the south, and
then came to the province of Shansi, whose nordiem firontier was
protected by the rampait of earth attik.bncfcs, with its occaskmal towers,
widely cdebrated as the Great Chinese WalL The Ongiit% who
garrisoned the wall, treacherously went ever to the invaders.. It would
seem that their chie^ Alausse or .ftiaiauh, was die duef influence among
then\ which was favourable to the Mongols, and that the tribesmen were
by no means so well a£feoted.t At all events, we are told that shoidy
after this Alanssewas put to cteadi by his officer^ and his nqihew
Sengun succeeded him4
Chepe Noyan commanded the nght wing; Jingis's three sons, Jujli,
Ogotai, and Jagatai commanded the kft wing; idiile he hhnself
with his youngest son TuU waa hi the centre. Ch^e,widithe^Ku^ofthe
Mongol army, forced several posts of the Great Wall situated to the
north-east and north-weSt of Tai tong fii, dien called Si ldn& or die
western courtf He then advanced and plundersd the ooontry to within
a short distance of the Km capital Tnng king. Jingis himself invaded
the province of PehclidilL AHsr te capture of the town of Fudum, he
advanced to the mrnintaini Ye hu ihig, sitaated seven or eight leagnes
from Siuen-hwarfu.i The Kin generals, widi an army whidi has been
calculated at die absurd number of 400,000, were encanqied dose by.
They deemed it a good opportunity forattacking him white his hotees were
emaciated from haadeervioe, and the troops demoralised by dMieoeat
phmder of Fudum. Jingb was informed of the pbm; he was abo joined
fay Ming-ngan (a Kin genenl in command of the advance guard), who
deserted to him. The Mongols made the necessary arrangements;
attadced and defeated one division of the Kin amy, under the general
Kiukien. The main army, under Wainen Hosho^ upon this retirsd
hastily, and was pursued to the fortress of Hoi ho pu on die river Hd,
where it was attacked and cut to pieces.^ A genecal whose name is not
*Bi4auuui,si9. t DeMailU^si. I D'OhMon, i. ny. Nott. » Dt (hitgmi, jy. ifc
I40.38K.L. ifsB. Porttr Soish, p^ cit., 49^ f Dtyhtton. i. tjo iji.
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jmOIS KHAN. 69
mentioned, but De Quifiict says he was a GoelM or Tixt Worshipper,
noiw attacked the strong fort of Km yong koan, sitoated at the head of a
defile four kagues long, leading to the capital This was abandoned in
a cpwBidly manlier by its commander, and the Mongols to^ possession
of it Meanwhile the third army, commanded by the three sons of
Jingis, overran six districU north of the Great Wall of Shansi, while
aLnother division conquered the frontier country of Pehchehli.* The
list of Mongol conquests in China is monotonous and not very easy to
follow. At length in August 1 2 1 2, Jingis laid siege to Tu-^ong-fu. This
successfully resisted hb attack, and, having been wounded by an arrow,
be retired once moce into the desert. His invasion of China had been
an almost continuous success. He had broken the prestige of the Kin
soldiery and had tested the ddfi of his officers, among whom Cheptf, Mukttli
Subutat and his brother Juji Kassarhad greatly distinguished themsdves.
While the great invasion was going on, his ally Ydin Lhiko, who had
raised a considerable army and was assisted by a contingent of 5fOoo
Mongols, defeated the Kin general Ho-sho, vdio was at the head of
60,000 men« Jingis now sent his aUe officer Chepe to hdp him. He kid
sege to Liauyang (also called Tui^ king, or the eastern residence), the
capital of Liautung, which was shortly afterwards captured. Yelhi Ltnko,
wid\ the consent of Jingis, took die titk of king of Liau, and fixed his
capital at Hienping,
When the Mongob retired, the Kin soldiers reoccupied many of the
towns the ibrmer had captured, but they did not hold them long. In the
autumn of 121 3, Jingis once more entered China and overran a large
part of Pehchdili. The list of his captures occupies a dosely
packed page of lyOhssonfs history (i. 136). It is too monotonous to
extract. But meanwhile a serious revolution occurred dsewfaere. A
general of the emph« caUed Hushaku, who had been an exik and very
destitute, and had been suddenly raised to his present position, conspired
against the emperor, had him seized in his palace, and a few days
afterwards murdered him, and placed Utubu, a brodier of the murdered
emperor and a creature of his own, on the throne. He then fought a
battle with the Mongols, in which he was successful The following day
fliey renewed the combat, and Kaoki, who commanded the Imperial
forces in the absence of Hushaku who had been wounded, was
defeated. Fearmg the vei^^eance of the latter he forestalled him and
had him murdered. Havii^ cut off his head he presented it to the
enq^eror, who rewarded his tmsoldierly conduct by making him
generalissimo of his forces.
Meanwhile the Tanguts of Hia invaded the west of the empire. When
they had been recently attad^ by the Mongols diey had asked
assistance from the Kin emperor^ and as this had been refused they
» lyObnoQ. i. IS*.
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70 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
were pKqted, made terms with the Mongols^ and now attacked the
frontier town of Kia chan in ShensL* Many Chinese had joined the
standard of Jingis, and to conciliilte them he appointed Chinamen to
command them. He also adopted the clever plan of making the wonkeo,
the aged, and the children march in front of his army, so that if attacked
they would be the first victims. Leaving a corps of observation in the
north he divided his army into three divisions, one of which overran
Shansi; a sec<md, the maritime districts of Pehchehli and die
district of Liau si. The third, under his own orders, conquered the
interior districts of Pehchehli and Shan tung.t They ravaged ninety
flourishing towns, compelling the rural population, as they went along, to
construct the siege works. In this war, in which a great part of the
country north of the Yellow river was overrun, the Mongob captured an
immense booty; goM and silken tissues, cattle, horses, and slaves. TThe
Mongol armies were all reunited not &r from Yen Idng^and Jingis sent to
the emperor to offer terms, these were accepted. Utubu gave Jingis one
of the daughters of the deceased emperor Chong hei in marriage, and
with her a great quantity of precious articles, 500 youths, 500 girls, and
3,000 horses, D'Ohsson says that Jingis in retiring from the country
made a general massacre of his prisoners.
The Kin emperor having got rid of his great enemy, proclaimed a
general amnesty, and then removed his residence and court to his
southern capital, Pien king, now Kai fung fti. This aroused the jealousy
of Jingis, and as at the same time a leader of irregular troops in the
Imperial service called Choda (he is called KanU by Gaubil), revolted
and asked his assistance, he once more ordered his Mongols to cross
the frontier. They speedily invested Yen-king, and defeated the armies
sent to its relief. The commander, despairing of success, poisoned
himself, after having composed a monitory address to his emperor, in
which he set out the measures necessary to save the empire. The
commander who replaced him escaped from the city in a most cowardly
manner, and the Mongols entered it. Here they made a general carnage ;
they fired the emperor's palace, which is said to have continued burning
for a month, and then despatched a vast booty to Jingis Khan. Among
the captives was a Khitan whose long beard, great suture, and imposing
voice, are recorded as having impressed his conqueror very much. Jingis
addressed him: "The houses of the Liau and Km have always been
enemies, I have avenged thee." Khu-tsai, such was his name, repUcd.
" My father, grandfiather, and myself have been the subjects and servants
of the Kin Emperors; it is not seemly that I should abuse them.*'
Touched by his fideUty, Jingis took him into his house, made him court
astrologer, and deputed to him especiaUy the duty of consulting the
divination by means of burnt shoulder blades of sheep, a practice stiU
• GiuWI. zu t lyOIUMOB, I. X40.
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JIKOIS KHAN. 71
freqoent «iing Hr Mongols.* He became die trusty ^ovncfllor of Ogotmi,
vidi imfintu TW duef heroes of the capture of the northern capital of the
Kin were aieMaBgoi generals Samuka Bdiadur and Mingan. Jhigiswat
determined to push on his success. He despatched Samuka with lo^ooo
men, widi Ofders to mardi by way of Hia and to force the pass of
Tung kwan, the c«lehnited passage through the mountains which separates
the provinces of Shensi and Honan, and is in i^^ tiie key to the latter.
After attacfchy it in vain he succeeded in turning it, and clambered over
tl^ nvines and rodo— according to De Mailla using lances and boughs
of trees lashed together wldi chains as a roadway for his cavalry.
Having thus crossed die mountains he penetrated into the heart of
Honan, but was there beaten and bad to retire rapidly ; his troops
crossed the Yellow river on the ice. He did not retire ftur, and next year
again tiossed the river, captured the Ibrt of Tung kwan and several
dtiesy and laid siege to th6 capital, but not having a sufficient force he
retired again, and was soon after 4efescted near Pen yan fu, in Shan-sl
Meanwhile the en^peror had sent an army to recover possession of
Liautung, which, from its natural strength, havfaig three sides defended
by the sea, was treated as a place of xeftige, in case of disaster, by the
court This anny had driven out YelittUufco, jw^^tfwii/ long of li^
and captured his capitaL Jingis sent his most trusty general MidcuU with
an army to reinstate his protegl Mnkuli attadced Ttag*king, whidi he
captured, by a ruse. One of die emperors messcngCTS, on his way tfier^ was
captnred and put to dead^ and his patent of office havhig been secured, a
trusty Mongol was siibititnted for him. He presented himself at die dty,
was not suspected, lepoited that Cfciy thing was again quiet at the Imperial
court, and that dK soldiers should be disbanded. Hardly was this done
when Muknli i^»peared with his army, and occupied the town widiout
shooting an arrow. This conquest, says DeMaiBa, secured to the Mongols
several thousand H of tenitocy, 180^000 fomilies, rooyooo soldiers^ and an
immense storo of riches. Qfthirty^twotownsof Liautmig,aUeioqitTU
nhig were captured. Mufculi now advanced into Liau Si« /.#., Lian
West
He was met in the comtry of the Hon tao by the Cn general Intsing^
who had an army of Tnofifoo men. This^ according to GasUl, was
iBed with traitors, and pmtiany dispersed. The Inqperial general was
assassinated, and anodier named Ilduku put in his place. Having
ventured on a battle, he was beaten, and die Peking^ or northern oqHtal,
which dien was the dty of Ta ning fo, fell into the bands of the Moi^Bds.
Ddnku was appointed ito governor. Muki^ put down n feesh rd>d]ioo
and killed its leaders, and havfaif rednoed the two impertant provhices
of IJfl«**w«*g and Lian Si to ordet^ he returned to the camp of Jingis, who
received him with great honour, pronounced an eukgium upon him, gave
* D'OhtMOi i. 140*
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72 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
him the titi^ of Ku^wang, with remainder to his descendants, and named
him his lieutenant-general in China.*
In 1218 Mukuli set out to finish the conquest of the Kin empire. His
army, we are told, consisted of a tuman (f.^, lo^ooo men) of Unkuts, a
Hezareh (f>., 1,000 men) of Menkuts, three Hezarehs of Kunkurats, two
Hezarehs of Jelairs, one Hesareh of Kushikuls, four Hesarehs of Uirats,
two Hesarehs of Angirasses, and two divisions of Klutans and Niutchis,
commanded by their own leaders Oyar and Tughan. The exploits of
this army I shall revert to presently.
The same year Jingis sent another expedition against Hia or Tangut
Li tzun hien, who had succeeded his father as king of Hia, was besieged
in the royal city, and then forced to take refuge at Siloang, the modem
province of Liang chau fu in Kan su. About the same time Corea, which
had been much harassed by the Mongols, acknowledged the supremacy
of Jingis.
The great conqueror now turaod his arms against the empire that
bounded his dominions on the west, where one of his persistent enemies
had recently usurped authority.
The onpire of Kara Khitai had been founded by a fugitive from China,
a scion of the royal race of the Liau or Khitan dynasty, who escaped
when that dynasty was overturned and ejected by the Juchi or Kin. Its
sovereigns were styled the Gur Khans. They ruled immediatdy over the
area known to the older geogra^^iers as Little Bucharia and Soongaria,
the Arslan Kbans of Kashgar and the chiefs of the Uighurs were
dependent upon them, so were the powerful Khuarezm Shahs. In i3o8^
Kushluk, the son Tayang Khan, of the Naimans, took refiige at their
court. The Gur Khan was then a weak prince, the N«man treacherous
and crafty. He asked permission to collect the debris of his father's
army, which was then scattered in the countries of Imil, Kayalik, and
Bishbalik. The Gur Khan allowed him to do so, gave him the title of
Gushluk Khan, and also gave him his daughter in marriage; He speedily
collected an army, was joined by a chief of the Merktts, and then with
monstrous treachery leagued himself with Muhainmed the Khuarezm
Shah, who had lately broken his allegiance, to overturn the power of his
patron and protector the Gur Khan. Gushluk pillaged the treasury at
Uzkend, but was shortly after beaten by the troops of Kam Khitai.. They
in turn were defeated near Taraz by Muhammed, and Gushluk taking
advantage of the dissensions among his generals made the Gur Khan
prisoner ; he left him the tide of sovereign, which he lived only two years
to enjoy. Gushhik then succeeded to the throne. He attacked and killed
the Khan of Afanalig, and ravaged the country of Kashgar, -whose inhabi-
tanu refused to acknowledge his supremacy* I^Ohsson says, that having
been brought up a Christian, he embraced Buddhism on the soiidtatioD
% lyObmem, i. 259.
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J1NOI8 KHAK. 73
of bis wifey a dM^Her of thd Gmr Khaiv Hiviiif conqntted Khoten he
wished iti inhahitaiiti to afajtme Mohammedankmy for which he was
ihaiply attacked by Ae linain, whom he thereupon crucified.
Master of a wide enqxirey he was now in a position to beard the Mongol
Khan, who had so severdy beaten his tether. He first overran the conntxy
of the Uigh«fs»wiioseclrief was absent in China fighting troder the Mongol
banner. Heseattwo of tiie sons of Takta dK Meikit^iflf to raise the
Meiidts and the Kifghises, «mI a brothsr of Tnktafs to te Kobmoor
to do the saaM lor the Tunnds or l\nnats.* Jingis who had, as I
have said, appdmed MidEnIi hb depnty in China, sent messengers to
Mohammed the Kfanarasm Shah to mtk him not to afford Kashhik any
assistance. He dsputed his trasty general Chepd Noyan to attack
GttsUuk. Sabutai Bahadar was sent against the Merldts :--they were
attacked near Lake Kossagol, between the Selii^Ea and the Upper
Jenfaseiy and three of Tidcta's sons were killed, a fourth was capturodand
taken before J«;fi, JingisPs eldest son. He was a renowned archer, and to
show his prowess shot at a maik,aad then sent a second arrow which
shivered die first to pieces* Jv^ wookl have saved the captive^ but his
fiither was incxotahle^ and the young prince was killed. JiqI himself went
to the Ubsa Noor against the hordes of the Use Khan, #>., the original
Ghttses or Easlern Turks, and the Samoyedic tribes of the Sayauian
mountain^ called Kideangukecks or Ukan hai, the Hanasa or Hanho-
nas, and the Tamihoinhkan or Kamnikhan.t
Anodier anny, under the command of Bnighul Noyan, puidshed the
lebdlkMis Tumeds (probably the dhrisioo of the Keraits called Tumauts
or Tmneds)^ who weie lukd over by Tatukk S«daur. They too were
Meanwhile, and during the year laiyy Chq>6 Noyan marfhrd against
Gnshl^ who was then at Kashgar, the sovereign of which he had killed,
and where he was very unpopular. On the approach of Chep^ wlio
proclaimed religious toleration to the inhabitants, die latter seised on
each of Gustduk's oAcem as they could lay hands upon and put them to
deaths Sharply pursued Gushluk fled to the great table land of Pamir, and
took zefoge in the defile of Weradin in Radakuhan. There he was cap*
tnred and taken to Chep^ who had him beheaded* His head was sent on
to Jiogie as a tn^y. By the overthrow of Gu^uk the Mongol
dnminion was eatended over the provinces of Kashgar, Yaricand, and
Khoten, and also over the horde of Kankalis that still encamped in the
old country of the race about the Balkash sea.1
The dominicms of Jingis were now conterminous with those <^
MtAawMncd the Khnareim Shah. This vast empire extended from the
Sihnn to the Persian Gul^ and firom the Indus to Irak ArA> and Azer-
bifidian. Its then ruler, Muhammed, who had succeeded his tather in
•WoU^Si, tWolftat IWsM^fe.
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74 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
the year laoo, bad already extended his dominion by the conquest of
Bolkh, Herat, and all Khorassan* In 1108-9 he broke his allegiance to the
Gnr Kbin» and in the next year he subdued Trans-Oxiana. In 1212-13
he anncxad the principality of Gur, and three years later that of Ghanu.
H ere he discovered diat the cahfh, of Bagdad had been intriguing against
him ; he thereupon marched an anny against him» overran Irak*AdJemy
and was only prevented from taking Bagdad by the seventy of the winter
and the incessant attacks of the Kurds and other nomades.
The mo^erof Muhammed was Tuxkan Khatuna. She belonged to
the Turkish tribe of die Kankalis, who then dominated over the stqipes
north of the AraL On hermarriage many chiefr and tribes of that race
entered into the service of the Khuaretm Shah; they fnraied quite a sepa-
rate element in the population, a land of military aristocracy » like the later
MamelukSy over whidi the Sultana had great infiuence, and throu^
which she had almost equal authwity with her son. On his return from
Iraki Muhammed came to Bukharia, where he received some envoys
from Jingis Khan, who brought him presents of silver bars, musk, jade^
costly dresses of white wool called taikoul (made of white camds' hafar,
and costing fifty dinars each), with thtf message: ** I send daese greeting,
I know thy power and the vast extent of thine empire, I regard thee as
my most cherished son. On thy part, thou must know that I have
conquered China and all die Turkish nations north of it; thou knowett
that my country is a magazine of warriors, a mine of silver, and that I
have no need of other lands. I take it we have an equal interest in
encouraging trade between our subjects.** This good feeling was
apparendy reciprocated by Muhammed, but an unfortunate occonenoe
soon caused a serious quarrel between them ; some agents of Jingis who
had gone ta buy merchandise for him in Trans-Oxiana were seised as
spies at Otrar and executed by Inallzig, the chief of the Kankalis
encamped there^ and with the approval of Muhammed. Jingis sent
envoys to demand that the governor ok Otrar should be handed over to
him, in defoult of which he would declare war. Muhammed's ruthless
answer was to murder Bagra, the diief envoy, and to send the odier two
back with their beards cut off. He then, without declaring war, led an
army into the stqppes north of the Jaxartes. War was now inevitable,
and Jingis havii^ called a Kuriltai, it was determined to prosecute it
vigorously. It would seem that he was encouraged to proceed by the
invitation of the Khahf Nassir, who was a deadly enemy of Mtdiammed,
the latter having attempted to displace him and to put a non^kiee of his
own on the dirone of Baghdad.*
In the spring of iai8 Jingis set out from Karakorum and summered his
cavalry on the Irtish ; with him marched the princes of the Uighun and
die Karluks, and die chief of Ahnalig. From the Irtish the Mongol Khan
*D'Oteaeo,i.tn. Mat*. Dt Qvicset, iv. 41.
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JIMOIt KHAN. 75
directed Qmt Us imy iboald advance upon the Khmirfimlen empiie by
two gruid routes. The northern army under tbecomiiMmd of ius >econd
ton Jagatai marched againtt the Kankalit^ who defended the country
about the Balkash sea and Karatag mountains* The southern army under
his ddest son J^jiy who had rejoined his 6tther after his campaign in die
northof Sungaria, marched by way of Utsh Tttifui and Pidshan, and
drove the broken remnants of Knshluk's former army towards Kasfagar,
and then on tiurough the passes of Akisdc, Terd^ and Tazik in the
Asfera range, and into Ferghana. The ftigitives widied to join a body of
MuhammecPs troops who were in the neighbourhood of Khoirand or
Khodjend. They were overtaken between the river of Ush, also called
Takti Sohmany Kamuksu, or Kamzi, and the river of Keba, both small
tributaries of the Jaxartes, probably near Azdana,and were cut to pieces^
except a few who escaped or were taken prisoners.* Jiuhammed^s
forces amounted it is said to 400^000 men, who were iU-disdj^ined and
disintegrated, while he himself had lost the confidence of his younger
days. The approach of die Mongols from tills side was unexpected; he
put his people in motion and set them out in battle array between Udi
and Sangar. The Mongol chie6 wished to retire and to draw the
Sultan's army into the narrow passes, where a small force mi|^ easily
resist a large one ; but Juji was of a different opini^u He ofdesed the
attack ; a tevage fight ensued, during which in his eagerness he was
nearly captured or killed, and was saved by the timciy succour of Pi ta,
the son ci€ 1^ ht lieu ko, who had been iq»pointed king of Liautung
by Jingis, tih« Khuarexmian aimy was defeated, and if we are
to bdieve the chroaldars wko deal in hybertioUc phrases, die loss in
killed, wounded, and fii^tives was i6o^ooa Muhammed now determined
to avoid meeting the Mowg^ ^ ^^ <'P^>^ 4^ ^^ ^ scatter his army
among the towns of Maivera ul n^ir and Khnaresm, in the vain hope
diat the Mongols would be content with ravaging die <^>en country, and
dien return with dieir booty. He himsdf retired to Samarkand, and his
retirement bndtt down to a large extent die spirit of his suhjects-t
While Juji was invading Txans-Oziana horn the east, the other
sections of the Mongol army were marking down upon the doomed
garden of Asia fix>m the north. Otnur was the mafai point of attack. It
is the key to the fertile province to the south of the Jaaoutes called
Mavera ul nehr by the Arabs, and known in the west as Trsns-Oxiana,
names equivalent to Mesopotamia, Entre Rios, and the Donb in odier
countries, bounded on the nwdi by the Jaxartes or Sihun, on die south
by the Oxns or Jihnn, and on the east and west by the. mowntsini of
Pamhr and the Khorassan sand-wastes reqiectiv^. The MeMfsl anny
was divided into four corps, the first of which commanded by jTafatai and
Ogotai, the sons of Jingis, invested Otrar. Planted as a garriaan on this
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76 HISTORY OF TKX MQN0OL8.
frontier were a body of Kankalis under their chief Inattak, wlio had
been granted the title of Gur Khan by the former chief of Kara
Khitai,* and who had precipitated the war as I have deicnbed by
putting the envoys of Jingis to deadk. His army mustered about 50^)00^
and he was now reinforced by a foriher body of lO^ooo^ who were
sent hhn by Muhammed under Kaxadshar Hadshib^ who was his
viiier.
The army that mardied against Otiar was commaiided4>y Jagatai and
Ogotai, the second and diird sons of Jingis* After a siege of £ve
monUiSy from the end of November, I3i8» to the end of i^pnly 1219^ the
garrison became hard pressed, and as Inaflak lefosed to svrendery
Karadshar, with the iHU d the soldiersi left the town at ni^ and
deserted to the Mongds. They were put to death--the Draconic
sentence of the Mongols being that one who was fitithless to his own
sovereign would prove so to them* lnallrik> with ao^ooo of his fblloweii^
now took refuge in the dtadeiyWliere be held out for two moitths. The
place was then stonned and its ganison put to death. InallsOc escaped
with two men to his hom^ and idien they wcve kilkd the story goes that
be hurled brides at his pursuers, wfakh wefe handed to Inm by his wife.
He was at lengdi captured alive^ and was put to death by having mdted
silver poured into hb ears and eyes, a retribution it is said for his
avarice. The walls of Otrar were razed and the piace was pOkge^ but the
lives of the inhabitants were spared; but the sa^ge had already cost the lives
of loo^ooo soldiers and 200^000 civilians. While this siife was going 00
Juji, who had defeated the Khnaresmian army as I have described^
proceeded to subdue and overrun the country of Eastern Ferghana.
Among its towns most celebrated in later days was Si|^bnak, which Wolff
identifies with the Senderach of Edrisi and the Senkharab or Sengar of
ether authors, which is situated four or five miles south-east of Ush on the
mountain luad to Kashgar.t It was afterwards the capital of the Whits
Horde Jiqi was ocdeied to treat the inhabitants with tenderness. He sent
forward one Hassan Ha^ji, or the pilgrini, who had traded with the
Mongols, to summon the town. Treating him as a traitor, the
inhabitants put him to death. To, revenge this, Juji pressed the attadc
irith vigour, and after seven days of severe figh^i^ captured it and made
a general massacre of its inhabitants. He then captured and pillaged
Uikend, Barishaligloend, and £shna8s4 The strong dty of Jend was his
next goaL Its governor, Kutiuk Khan, deserted it in the night. This
caused great confusion inside, and prevented preparations for defence.
Its high waUs were speedily scaled ; the lives of i$» inhabitanu were
spared, but they were driven into the open country for nine days, while
die town was given up to piUage. Ji^ ^>pointBd Ali Kho4|a of Bokhara
tobeitsgovemoC' Hethenoqyturedthe townofYengigent((>.Newtown)y
•Wolff;6o. tWol^7i- I Schit of Yog Hi— iwr, Qoldta HorSt, 79,
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JUrOIS KHAN. 77
skoated on tiie Jaxartet, at two dayi* journey from its oodet Into the sea
ofAraL
We are now told that the Vha Bede, probably the UightirSy desiring
to return horae^ were sent back to Karakorunii and were replaced by
lOfiOQ Turkomans.* (Von Hammer and IXOhsson say eiquressly it was
i<Vooo Uighnrs who thus returned home.) These Turkomans were sent
widi other troops into Khuarezm, but having killed their commander, they
were attacked by the other Mongols and dispersed. The remnant sought
refiige At Amnyeh and Meru« As a diversion to draw off some of the
troops of Ferghanah from attacking Juji, Jingis had despatched a third
army, consisting of $,000 men, under Suktu Buka and Alan Noyon, who
first captured the okl city of Aksi, formerly the capital of Ferfj^ianah,
they then attacked Benaket which was garrisoned by some KankaBs. After
a short resistance they surrendered, hoping for mercy, but it availed them
nothing. As the town had not surrendered at once the soldiery were put
to death, the artisans were divided as prisoners among the Mongols.
This divisi<m then attacked Khodjend, a beautiiul town on the Jaxartes^
fiunous hr its gardens and fruits, for iu trade, and the bravery of iu
inhabitants. Its governor was an intrepid warrior, called Tfanur-Mdik,
be retired widi 1,000 men to a small island in the Jaxartes, out of reach
of weapons from either bank. The Mongols forced the country people
to carry stones to make a causeway to the island. Meanwhile Timnr*
Melik was indefatigable in destroying the besiegers' woiks. He built
twelve large boats, protected by felts and other coverings from the stink-
pots of the Mongols; with these he made raids on the besiegers and their
workmen, but hard pressed he was at length obliged to fly. Having
embarked his troops and valuables on seventy boats, he trusted hhnsdf
to the river. He broke past Benaket, where a chain had been
stretched across. At Jend a bridge of boats had been buflt as abarrier,
and balistas and other fnrimitive cantton were planted on the banks.
These forced hhn to bmd, he gave battle to the Mongob several thnea,
but his force gradually diminished until he was left abne, and alone he
reached Uigendj. Having cdlected a lew troops, he retumed and
surprised Yengigent, and killed its governor, a nomfaiee of the Mongols.
He afterwards joined his master, the Khuarezm Shah. Hb intrepidity
was long remembered. Oriental historians quote the adage that ^if
Rnstem were still alive he might be his page.**!
While these three divisions were succe^fully overrunning the country
watered by the Jaxartes, Jingis and his younger son Tului advanced with
the main army towards Bokhara. Widi hfan went two bodies of
balisters, the primitive artillery of the Mongols. The towns of
Tashkcnd (not Sertak, as the translator of Abulghazi says)| and Nur
or Nurata surrendered as he approached ; the inhaUtants were wdl
374. t VMBbcffT't BoUmrah, us- I W«aC ^
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78 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
tzeatedy merely paying a lansom axid suf^lying a contingent of young
men to the Mongol army. Jingia ordered the name of the former town to
be changed to Kuthik baligi ui, Lodcy city. At the latter we are
told that the ear-rings of the women collected on the spot made iq> one-
half the amomit of i|50o dimart^ which was claimed as ransom* This is
no bad evidence of the proq;>erotis condition of the inhabitants.
Bokhara was defended by 20^000 soldiers. It was then a very laige
and magnificent city. ^ Its namey according to the historian Alai^ud-din.
is derived from Bokhar, which in the Magian language means the 'centre
of science.'''* In the time of Ibn Haukal it was surrounded by two
walls, the inner, one parastm^ in circuit, the outer, twdve parasangs;
between the two were palaces, parks, gardens, and villages. The river c^
Sogd traversed its Buibourgs. It was on the 19th of June^ 1219, that
Jingis appeared before die dty.t
After several days' siege the garrison despairing of success forced its
way through the Mongol lines, but was subsequently attacked and almost
destroyed. The next day the Imams and great men came to surrender
the dty. The Mongol chie^ we are told, entered it to see ; arrived
at the great mosque, he asked if this was the Sultan's palace ; on being
told it was the house of God he dismounted, climbed the steps, and said
in a loud voice to his followers, ''The hay is cut, give your horses fodder.'t
They easily imderstood this cynical invitation to plunder, and meanwhile
the boxes in which the korans were kept were converted into mangers ;
the sacred books v^ere trampled under the horses' hoo&. As if this was
not enough insult, the floor of the mosque was strewn with wine skins,
singing-women were introduced into the building, and a scene of
debauchery ensued, during ii^ch the Imams, doctors of the law, &C.,
were compelled to hold the horses' bridles. Jingis Khan dien collected
the chief inhabitants in the Mosalla or place set vgmsX, for public prayer,
and thus addressed them, "You have committed great faults, and the
chiefs and leaders of the people are the greatest criminals. If you need
any proof of my statement, I answer that I am the scourge of God. If
you were not great criminals, God would not have permitted me to have
thus punished you." He further bade them disclose all thdr hidden
treasure, and not mind making any return about that that was not hidden,
as-he could easily find that The inhabitants were ordered to leave the
town in a body, with only their clothes, so that it might be more easily
pillaged, after which the spoil w^ divided among the victors. « It was a
fearfiil day," says Ibn al Ithir, "one only heard the sobs and wee|ung of
men, women, and children, who were separated for ever; women were
ravished, while many men died rather than survive the dishonour of their
wives and daughters." The Mongols end^ by setting fire to aU the
* D'Ohaaon, L 219. | Wolfl; ^
2 Vambeiy'i BoUuuiai,a8.
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jmGIS KHAK. 79
wooden portion of the town, and only the great mosque and certain
palaces which which were built of brick remained standing.*
Von Hammer compares with force the accounts of the capture of
Bokhara'giiren by the Mussulman historians with the Byzantine descrip-
tions of the oq^ture of Constantinople. The Kankalis who garrisoned
Bokhara were as usual put to dei^ according to Erdmann to the
number oC^jp^ooo, and the city remained desofaite for a long time. The
young men were sent to do sappers' work at the siege of Samar-
kandy to which Jingis now turned. He advanced along the beautiful
valley of Sogd^ the paradise described so enthusiastically by Persian
authors. Muhammed had somethne before deserted his capital and
retired across the Oxus towards Termedt
Samarkand was not only the capital of Trans-Oxianay but also one of
of the greatest etUrtpoU of commerce in the worid. Three miles in chr-
cumforenoe, it was surrounded widi a wall having castles at intervals, and
pierced by twdve iron gates ; was then garrisoned by 110,000 men, of
wliom 6o/xx> weieTurkomans and Kankalis, and 5o,oooTajiks or Persians.
There were also twenty war elephants attached to the army. Jingis
was jodied by the three armies that had overrun Northern Trans-Oxiana,
which conveiged upon the doomed town, and an immense body of men
invested it The Turidsh mercenaries, who thoughtthey would be treated
as compatriots by the Mongols, deserted in a body with their families and
property. Upon this the Imams and chief men came out and offered to
surrender: The inhabitants were, as before, told to go out of the city
while it diould be plundered ; 30,000 artisans were assigned as slaves to
his several sons, an equal number were set aside for military woiks,
trBnq;M»t service, &c, while 50,000 were permitted to re-occnpy the
ruined dty after paying a ransom of 200,000 pieces of gold, and the
province of Samarirand was almost dqfN>pulated. The hardest late was
tiiat of the Kankalis who had deserted. Having separated them from
tiie Persians, they were lulled into security by being ordered to adopt the
military dress of the Mongols, and then slaughtered to the number of
30^000, frith thdr principal chiefii Barishniaz Khan, Togai Khan^ Sarng
Khan, Ulag Khan, &ct It is hard to divine a reason for this barbarous
act, unless it was a fear of the turbulence of diese mercenaries. Msai^
whiles Muhammed had deserted his richest province. As die Mongols
advanced into Trans-Oxiana he retired to Nakhsheb, his irresdution
being increased by the divergence of his councillors. As be tydred
be recommended the inhabitants to submit, as his soldiers could not
protect them. When he reached BaUch he was joined by one of his
viriers caUed Amad-ul-mulk, who perwiaded hhn to retreat to IrakAcUem.
His Turkish sokliers b^:an to l>e treacherous, and he had to diange
his tent every night to escape assassination. On the eighteenth of April
I - ■ — 1 I ■ — ^— ^
• D'OlMMB,I.^-«94* tSfdiBaaB,39s- I Brtaaaa, Note 174.
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8o HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
he halted at Nishapoor, and on the twelfth of Bf ay, having heard that the
Mongols had crossed the frontier of Khorassan, he hastily left that town
with a small retinue nnder the pretence of a hunting expedition. ^
After the capture of Samarkand Jingis remaned in its fruitful neigh-
bourhood tmtil May, 1220, when having sent on three armies in pursuit of
Muhammed, as I shall presently describe, he himself moved a short
dbtancc southwards, and spent the summer in the beautiful district
of Kesh or Shehr Sebz, f>^ the Green town, situated on the river Koshka
or Kasaban. In the autmnn he broke through the pass in the Karatag
chain, called the Derbend Kaluga or Iron Gate, and advanced upon
Termed, situated on the north bank of the Cxus. Having refused the
summons to open its gates and to demolish its walls and citadel, it was
captured after a siege of nine days. Its inhalntants were ordered to
evacuate it and were all slaughtered.
An incident of the capture is worth repeating, an old woman on the
point of being killed, said she had a magnificent pearl which she would
give them if they spared her, when they demanded it she told them she
had swallowed it, upon which she was diseml>owelled. Jingis ordered
the other corpses to be dealt with in the same way and searched for
similar treasure.
While near Termed he ordered a gpand hunt to be held. Such a hunt
will be described below. This one was on a very large scale, and lasted
four months,* After the hunt he ravaged the districts of Kunkurt and
Saman, and sent an army to conquer Badakshan. He was now master
of the wide country north of the Oxus. All Turan was his, and having
no enemy to dread in his rear, he determined to cross the Oxus. He
first destroyed or dispersed the fieet which defended it by means c^
showers of burning missiles, probal>ly stink-pots, which were supplied
him by one of his Chinese officers, named Ko pao yu.t Having crossed
the river, he advanced against Balkh, the cradle of the earliest traditions
of the Arian race, a very populous and wealthy cit>', then containing
1,200 medsheds or great mosques, besides lesser ones, and 200 public
baths. It was unfortified. The inhabitants sent him presents and sub-
mitted to him, but he was afraid to leave it behind him. On pretence of
numbering its inhabitants he enticed them out of the city and then
slaughtered them; the city itself was reduced to ashes. A fearful treat'
ment for so slight a pretext.
Jingis now sent his son Tului with 70,000 men to ravage Khorassan,
while he himself went eastward to Tokharistan to lay siege to
Talikhan.
While Jingis loitered with his forces in the beautiful meadows of Sogd,
after the capture of Samarkand, he despatched Chep^ Noyan and Subutal
Bchadur, two well-tried chiefs, each with a tuman, ix.^ 10,000 men,
• BrdmnD, 4oa-4« t Wolff. 77.
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JINGia KHAM. 8l
in pttrsoit of Muhanmied.* Erdmann's mention of a third tuman under
Tuktai is, I believe, a mistake. He ordered them to chase Muhammed
wherever he should ga They crossed the Oxus at Pendjab, making
trunks out of branches covered with hides in which they placed their
arms and valuables, and fastening them to the tails of their horses forded
the rivcr.t
Khorassan was then a rich and prosperous province, divided into four
departments, whose chief towns were Meru^ Herat, Nishapoor, and
Balkh.
Balkh submitted at the approach of the Mongols, who appointed a
governor, and hearing that Muhanmied had fled westMrard, they passed
on to Andekuh, and thence advanced to Herat, whose governor, Amin
Malek, sent out envoys offering to hold himself as the slave of the Grand
Khan, and bearingpresents. Chep^ and Subutai upon this again advanced.
A small town in the neighbourhood of Herat, called Zaweh, now known as
Turbut Haidari, dared to beard them, and its garrison reviled them from
the ramparts. Three days sufficed for its capture. Its inhabitants were
put to death.t On the 5th of June the Mongol advanced guard arrived
before Nishapoor. On being sununoned, the governor replied that the
city had been entrusted to him by the Sultan, that he was an old man,
and that he only knew how to use the pen. ** Speed on after him,'' he
said, ''when you have overcome him then will I be your man."
Meanwhile he sent envoys to the Mongol camp with presents. A letter
of Jingis Khan's, written in the Uighur character, and phrased as
follows, was sent to the inhabitants :—'' Commanders, elders, and
commonalty, know that God has given me the empire of the earth from
the east to the west, whoever submits shall be spared, but those who
resist, they shall be destroyed with their wives, children, and dependents.'^
The town was spared on this occasion. Having victualled their troops
there, and having thus warned them the Mongol army, which was joined
by bands of brigands and reh^^e Turks, moved on in pursuit of
Muhammed.1 He had retired from Nishapoor under pretence of a
hunting excursion, leaving a considerable garrison there, and having
placed his wife and his yotmgest son, Ghiazzedin, in the fort of Karendar,
deemed the stronghold of Khorassan, went to Bostan, -on the borders of
Khorassan and Mazanderan and thence to Kazvin. The two Mongol
commanders followed in his wake. They scoured the country effectually;
crossing the mountains they appeared before Thus or Toos, whose
inhabitants were not submissive, and they consequently ravaged the
district terribly.! They then passed through the beautiful wooded district
oi Radegaii to Koochan or Kabooshan, plundering and appropriating
such food and clothing as they needed* and leaving commanders or
* D'OhMoo, i. 240. Voa Hammer*! QoUett Hofdc» 8z. t D'OhMOO, i. S44*
I]>^hM0B,i.245. Brd0Miii,992. fD'OhMoii,i.a45*B* ExdmaBa,99«. I BrdoMUUi, jfS.
L
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83 HItlORY OP THK MOMOOLS.
deputies In eadi town.* ^Tbeirwayled them through Bottan. Tbene
apparently the two commanders separated. Subutai marched through
die district of Knmuss towards Jeferan^ and savagely attacked Sarabad
(? Shah-roodX Dam^ghan, and Semnoon.t Chep6 made a detour
throu^ Masanderan, where he captured the principal city, which was
probably Sari ; } then crossing the Elbnrz chain, through the mountain
rq^ of Banyan, and past die fortress of Ilak, probably the modem fort
of Ask or Asd^y eight or nine miles soudi of AmoL This fortress was
protected fay itt poddon, and the Mongob passed it by, unaware it
would seem that Turkhan Khatun, the Sultan's mother, aafii her young
children were then hiding there. Their next goal was the fortress
of Rudin, the modem Rudehan, not fiu: from Demavendf Muhamined
had meanwhile fled in the direction of Hamadan, and Okep6 set out in
pursuit of him, while Subutai marched upon Kazvin. Both were towns
of Irak A4jem, a province slanted by dMerts from Khorassan, Fars,and
Kerman, and crowded widi moontainSi many of which are snow-covered,
whence its Arab name of JibaL The army of Irak, 30,000 in numberi
was collected under the walls of Kasvin, under the command of Rokn-
ud-din, the son of Mnhammed. Chep< captured Kum, then advanced to
Rudbar and Hamadan ; the latter was a fiunous and rich town ol Irak.
Its governor sent him presents and was submissive, and thus saved its
inhabitants from attack. Chepi now seems to have rejoined Subutai before
Kazvin, which was captured and 50^000 people slaughtered. Bieanwhile
Muhammed escaped to Maradanlat abad, south-east of Hamadan, where
he and his son collected an aimy of from ao^ooo to 30,000 men. This
was attacked and dispersed. Rokn-un-din, the Sultan's son, fled to
Kerman, the Sultan himsdf went first to Kurdistan and then to the strong
fort of Karend, on the road from Kermandshah to Baghdad. There hewas
met by Hezar-Asb, the Prince of Luristan, a skilful commander. He
tried to persuade his suzerehi to retire behind the range that divides Fars
from Luristan, where he might rely on the assistance of the Kurdish
mounuin tribes, but Muhammed was suspicious of this advice and
preferred to make a stand in Irak ; but the Mongols were at his beds.
He passed through Mazanderan and Ghilan, where he arrived afanoet
alone. At length he reached a vOlagt called Istklura by Abulghari,
and Astadad by Nissari. It is now called Astara, and is situated on the
south-western shore of the Caspian* Thence he escaped to a small
island in that sea, which is probaUy to be identified with Abiskhum^ a
day's journey from Astrabad. The Caspian is constantly shallowing, and
it is now a peninsula, and called Gumish Tepe, i^ the Sihrer HilL
Ruins and many silver coins are found there.| Muhammfd was suffering
firom an attack of pleurisy, and feeling his end approach he nominated his
^iKtaMW^M*. tBrdiiumm.393. : Wolf; Sow iWoU^So.
•WoUt^ft.
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JINGI8 KHAN. 83
soa JdalHid<kin as his successor, dedanxig that he was the c^
save the emfme ; he girded his swoid on him and ordered his younger
sons to do him homage ; he died directly after and was buried in the
island. So poor was he that it is said he was buried without a shroud,
and merely in his shirt The date of his death was the loth of January,
I32I.* A date iHiich has a terrible sound in it as it marks the rapidity
with which so mi|^ a potentate as he was, was hunted down and
destroyed*
Persian historians axe nrach divided in their estimate of Muhammed;
some endowing him with many soldierly virtues, others accusing him of
love of luxury and dissipation. There can be little question about his
wavering and decrepit conduct in the presence of the Mongols.
Let us agam revert to Subutai and Chep& Having captured Ardebil,
the chief town of Eastern Aieibaidjan, they followed the Sultan to the
southern coast of the Caspian, and then marched eastward again into
Northern Khorassan, to cut off the retreat of the Khuarezmian princes.
There they suffered some loss from an irregular chieftain named Inandj>
who had assembled some troops in the mountains, at the sources of the
rivers Guigan and Attrek ; f but having been joined by a reinforcement
of 10,000 men, they made him retire to Nessa.
When Muhammed retired behind the Oxus, he sent word to his mother,
Turkan Khatun, who governed at Uigendj (the modem Khiva), and with
whom he was not on very good tenns, to retire into Mazanderan. Jingis,
who knew of the ill-feeling, tried to cajole her into deserting the cause of
her son, and promised her the government of Khorassan. She did not
reply however to his advances, and when she heard that Muhammed had
retreated she murdered the several princes whose dominions Muhammed
had occupied, and who were retained as prisoners at Uigendj ; they were
drowned in the Oxus, among these were two sons of Thogrul, the last
Sdjuk sultan of Irak, the prince of Balkh and his son, the lord of Termed,
the princes of Bamiran and of Vakhsh, the two sons of the lord of Sighnak,
the two sons of Mahmud, the last prince of Gur, and many others4 She
then retired into Mazanderan, where she shut herself up in the fort of Ilak
or Elek, now Al Askr Subutai and Chep^ returned once mare* to Kumnss^
where they found the town of Dameghan deserted by its mhalntants, who
had fled to the mountains. They attackedand plundered in their savage
way Araol and other towns of Taberistan, and at kngth sat down to
besiege the fortress of Ilak.
It was situated in a rainy district, and its builders had not made
provision for a droughty season, which this proved to be; want of water
compelled a capitulation afler a resistance of three months. The Sultana
and the Sultan's harem were sent as prisoners to Jingis Khan, who was then
besieging Talikhan. Two of the princesses became wives of Jagatai; others
•W<tf,8z. tWolftSt. ;irObMoa,i.ts8.
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84 HISTORY or THE MONGOLS.
were given to JMongd officers. A ton of Muhammed, who was still with
the harem, was put to death. Two chests-full of precious stones also fdl
into the hands of the victors.* The rapid, persistent, and ubiquitous
pursuit of Muhanuned and his family, through an unknown and difficult
country, may be read with profit by military critics, and speaks not less
for tiie skill of the two Mongol commanders than for the discipline,
courage, and endurance of their men.
The death of Muhammed and the capture of his harem by no means
completed the woik which the Mongob had prepared for themselves. It
was their aim to tear up by the roots not only the main trunk but also
the subordinate branches of the ruling family of Khuarezm. Several of
Muhammed's sons were still at large and long and successfully evaded
ca4>ture, but they were hotly pursued notwithstanding, and when we read
the frightful chapter of human history which I shall presently shortly
epitomise, and which describes the practical depopulation and destruc-
tion of the beautiful province of Khorassan, we must remember that the
probable motive of it all was the assistance the fugitive princes ever
received in this centre of their f^ith and of their race, and although the
wolfish greed of blood and massacre, which must sicken every reader who
follows the story, cannot be defended, yet it must be allowed that the
treachery, fanaticism, and want of spirit of the Tajik and Turk frontagers
of Persia— their ruling vices still— made the sword of terror the only
means the isolated Mongols had of producing quiet and order, and in
themselves invited at one time or other a fitting retribution. On the death
of his father, Jelal-ud-din, who, as I have said, had been named his
successor, made his way to Mangushlak, on the Caspian, whence he sent
his two brothers Uzlak Sulan and Ak Sultan to Urgendj, where the
Mongols had not yet appeared, to announce his accession. He shortly
after followed. Anarmy of 90,000 Kankalis was assembled diere. These
imruly troops either fbared the strong hand of Jelal ud din, or despised
his youth, or £ivoured some other pretenders, and plotted against his life.
He fled with 300 companions, led by the brave defender of Khodjend,
Timur Melik. Jiiigis, whose forces were now encamped near Naksheb,
sent a laige force under three of his sons to capture Urgendj, the capital
of Khuarezm, and ordered the troops which had traversed Khorassan to
form a cordon round the southern edge of the desert Jelal-ud-din
crossed the desert in sixteen days, and arrived at Shadbash, in the neigh-
bourhood of Nesia.f Here be charged bravdy into a body of Mongols,
and managed to get away, and escaped to GhaznL His two brothers,
who soon after loOowed him, were tos Incky. They were captured and
beheaded, and thdr heads were shown about on spears. With them was
taken mnch valuable booty.
We are told that the peasants of the canton of Vesht were greatly
•W6lfl;S4. DXIlMM^i.s99-S6t. tKidBMUi,408.
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JIKOIS KRAM. 85
bf the munber of ptedout ttones cepturtd from the Kh«a-
renaitotf which tht Mongols, who did not know thoir vahie» sold thsm
at an absurdly small price.
iieattiHiile (itf., ia May, laao) the Mongol anny marched upon
Usgendjy the modem Khiva, the capital of the rich duster of cities that
then bocdcTod the Oxus, a river very like the Nile in forming a strip of
green across two sandy deserts which bound it on either hand The
Kaakahs I have named were then its garrison. The Mongok were led
by Jnji, Jagatai, and Ogotai, the three eldest sons of Jingis, Jvqk having
the si^rcme command* He suaanMned the inhabitants to surrender,
offering them easy terms. His ikther, he told them, had made him a
fyresent of their country, and he wished the city to preserve its beauty
and proqurity. The summens was without avail, and the siege pro-
ceeded. For lack of stones the Mongol catapults were served with balls
made out ctf the neighbouring mulberry trees, hardened by being soaked
in water. Thequarrdsof Juji and his brother Jagatai interfered with die
progress of the siege, disdpUne was h)osened, and die Mongols after six
months' labour had lost a great number of men. Jingis, when he beard
of the quarrelling, appointed a younger eon, Ogotai, to supeiinlsnd the
work. It was new pushed on with vigour; die Mongols at lengdi
assaulted the town, fired its buildings with napdia, and after seven days
of deqieratestseet^ghting captured it This was probably in December,
i»a* They sent the artisatts and skiOed woikmen into Tartary, set
aside the yottng women and ehfldren as slave% and then made a general
massacre of die rest of the mhabitaats. They destroyed the dty, and
then suhmeqied it by opening the dykes of the Oxus.t The ruins are
piolMiUy those now known as Old Urgend|.
Raschid says dmt over loo^ooo artisans and craftsmen were sent into
Mongolia, the rest of the inhabJtaats were divided among the conquerors,
said so namccoua wei« they that tweaty4bur Mussulmans ftU to the lot of
eaeh Mongol The soldiers, as usual, were put to death.} After the
OKf^nn of Ufgendj. the Mongols joined Jingis before Talikhan. That
oberinate fortress resisted die besiegers for nearly seven months. The
Mongols fteely used thtk prisoners in the first ranks of the assaidting
feroe^ and laiseda gitat mound of eaith on a wooden platform, on which
they phmted their siege artillery. The place at length fell Some of the
cavalry esoqied to the mountains ; of die rest of the inhabitants not a
soul escaped slaughter. The town itselfwasnued to the ground.
After the death of Muhammed the Mongols adopted a scientific
stsatcgy to bteak down the power of hie sons. As I have said, one army
uAder the sons of Jingis marched upon Urgently ^r Khuaresm, the capital
of their dominions, it gave its name to the empire of Khuaitxm, of irtnch
• WW tr* t na-Al-BOiir. Mi irObMOS. L m*
;grdaMDt4SS.xs. ITQImmb, L t0s-t9o>
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S6 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
they were tbe rulers. Other Mosigol troops, under Subutai and Cbfoptt
formed a ring round the southern edge of the desert. A third foroei com*
minded by Tuiui, advanced into Khorassan, whose cities had bedi sub*
missiTe enough to the Mongols when in pursuit of the Sultan Muhammad^
as we have already related. Khorassan was then one of the richest and
most proqaerous regions on the earth's sui^ace; its towns were v«ry
thickly inhabited, and it was the first and most powerful province of
Persia. Tbe Mongol invasion altered all tiiis, and the fearihl ravage and
destruction then committed is almost incredible. It was to capture th«
heir of Muhammedt the Sultan Jdal>^id*din, that Tului set out on his
terrible journey. He marched at the head of 70^000 men. This was in
the autumn of 1220. He sent on an advance guard under Tugachar
Noyan, his brother-in-law. As this approached^ Nessa, one of iu
divisioos was assailed by a shower of arrows from the walls^and its leader,
Balgush, was killed. To avengp his death the Mongols attacked the
town.
The siege has been told by one of its conten^orary diiieftams,
Muhammed of Nessa. After fifteen days^ pounding from twenty catapults,
which were served by prisoners, a breach was made, the walls were
stonned, the inhabitants ordered to evacuate the dty, they were then told
to lie down side by side, and were tied together with cords, then the
Mongds destroyed the whole, men, women, and diildieo, with-showers
of arrows. This horrible hecatomb destroyed 70,000 people. The
historian Muhammed, with many logitives, had taken rdage in the
impregnable fort of Kharender. When the Mongols saw they could not
take it they consented to retire on the payment of 101,000 cotton garments.
According to their custom, they massacred the two old men who had
volunteered on the dangerous errand of carrying diis booty to their cxaip.
They then, says Muhammed of Nessa, spread over K&orassan. When
they arrived in a district they assembled the peasants, and marched
them off to the town they meant to attack, to employ them upon the
siege works. The terror and descdation were so general that the captive
was deemed luckier than he who lived at home. The chieftains also were
obliged to assist with their retainers in the siege of the towns. Those
who refused were attacked in their castles, and with thmr clients were put
to the sword.*
From Nessa Tugachar advanced to Nishapoor. This was in
]^ven»ber, laaa, On the third day of the siege, however, he was killed
by an arrow shot from the ramparts. The general who succeeded him
deeming his army too weak to c^»ture the dty, raised the siege and
divided his army into two sections. One laid siege to and captured.
Sebzevar, whose inhabitants to the number of 70,000 were destroyed.
The other ovenan the district of Thus or Toos» and ci^tured the strong-
« P'ObMOB, L tn*
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JIK0I8 ICRAK. 87
holds there. /«a«r dUci tilt foxtt of Kar and Nokan. The inhabitants
were pitilessly slaughtered.* This body of Mongob now seems to have
joined Snbutai and Chep« Noyan.
Meanidiile Tului was adrandng with the main army. He snocesstvely
occupied Andekith and Semkhs and proceeded to attack Meru
Shalijan, f>., Meru the king of the world^f one of the four chief
cities of iCborassan^ and one of the oldest cities in the workL It
had been the capital of the great Sel}uk Sultans Melikshah and Sanfar,
and was very rich and populous. It was situated on the banks of the
Meri el rond, also called the Muijab. It was at this' time troubled bf
internal dissension^ and by the attacks of nei^bouring T^trkomana.
The Mongols first attadrad and destroyed or di^Mrsed the Toikomaas
who camped outside the dty. The utgt commmcfd on the twenty-fifth
of February, 1331. The governor of the town was MojhMil-mnlk. After
attempting two unsuocessftd sorties he sent a vcnerabia nUm as an envoy
to the Mongol camp. He retnmed with such £Mr promises that the
governor himself repaired to the campy and was loaded with ptesents; he
was asked to send for his chief relations and ftiends ; when these were
dBiirly in his power, Tului ordered them all, including the governor, to be
killed. The Mongols then entered the town^ thd inhahitants wttt ordered
to evacuate it with their treasures ; the mournful procession, we are told,
took four days to defile out The Mongol prince was seated on a golden
throne in the midst of the plain, and ordered the principal military chieft
to be decapitated before the people. The rest <^ the captives were dis-
tributed among the army, and a general and frightful massacre ensued ;
only 400 artisans and a certain number of young people were reserved as
slaves. The author of the ykantuskai says that the Seytd Yzz-ud-din, a
man renowned for his virtues and piety, assisted by many people, were
thirteen days in counting the corpses, which numbered i,30oyoaa Ibn al
Ethir says that 700,000 corpses were counted. The town was sacked,
the mausoleum of the Sultan Sanjar was rifled and then burnt, and the
walls and citadel of Meru levelled with the ground.
The ferocity of the massacre can only be iqppreciated by its mere after-
thought, 5/xx> poor wretches had escaped in holes and comers of thecity.
They some time afterwards ventured out and were put to the sword by
the detachments sent to recruit TuluFs army. Tului next advanced upon
Kishapoor, the andenr capital of Khorassan. Its name in Penian means
the city of Sapor. Itissituatedtwehre days' journey from Meru. It had
been twice destroyed in less than a century; in 1153 by the Oj^ws Turks,
who had revolted against the Sultan Saiyar, anil in i3o8 by an earthquake,
lu inhabitanu had not spared the various bodies of Mongol troops that
came their way, and they no w prepared a vigorous defence. Their ramparts
were armed with 3/)ooballisters to shoot javelins with and 500 catj^nilts.
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88 HISTORY or TSB MOMOOLS.
Tukuy wlio was exaipented by tbe iteath of Tugtdutr Guifaii, hit
)»rodier*iii-tew, who had been killed by an arrow from die ranquuts while
laying siege to the town the previous year, collected a great siege train,
3,000 ballistei% 300 catapults, 700 maclunes for throwing napCha (? Greek
fire), 4,000 ladders, and 3,500 loads of stones,* and he proceeded to lay
waste ail the proyinceofwhichNidiapoorwas the capital Theinhabi^
ants began to grow frightened, and sent an caAbassy of Imlms and
notables, having at tiietr head the diief judge of Khorassan, to offer to
surrender the dty, and to pay an annual tribute. Tului refused all tentas,
and ordered the assault ; after two days' cannonade the walls weie
pierced with seventy breaches, and the Mongols rushed in on every side ;
a terrible combat ensued in the street^ the widow of Tugachar, daughter
of Jingis, at the head of 10,000 men leading the avenging force; die
carnage lasted four days. To prevent the living hiding beneath the
dead, Tului ordered every head to be cat off, and separate heaps to be
made of men's, women's, and children's heads. The destruction of the
dty occupied fifteen days ; it was rated to the ground, and its dte was
sown widi barley, only 400 artisans escaped, and they were trmsported
into the nordu According to Mirkhond 1,747,000 men lost their lives in
diis massacre.t The capture of Nishapoor took place in April, i3Si,two
months after die death of the Sultan Muhammed. Four or five years
later the Sultan Jelal-ud-din, who had recovered possession of Persia,
fiuined jont the right to sedc for treasure among the ruins of Nishapoor
ibr 30^000 dinars a year^ and as much as this sum was sometimes recovered
in one day.$
Tului now marched upon Herat, situated five days' journey south-east
of Nishapoor, a beautiftil city surrounded with villages and gardens. On
his way thither a detachment of his forces destroyed, near the town of
Thus, the tomb of the Kaliph Harun d Raschid, and that of All d Rasi,
a descendant of the Kaliph Ali, for whom the Persian Mahometans or
Shias had an especial veneration. Another detachment ravaged Kuhustan.
At length Tului appeared before Herat. After eight days' attack and the
death of its governor, it ofiered to capitulate. Tului promised to spare
the lives of hs inhabitants if they surrendered immediatdy, and he was
so far honest on this occasion that he contented' himsdf with destroying
only 13,000 men, the dependenu and soldiers of the Sultan Jelal-ud-dhi.
He appointed a Mahometan prefect and a Mongol goveraor to the town,
and dght days later received orders to join his father at Talikhin.
The effects of such a devastation of a whole province cannot be property
esthnated in these latitudes. In Khorassan the desert has ever been
encroaching more or less on the cultivated land, and it is only by the
persistent labour of many hands that it is hdd back at many pdnts, and
''D*OaMOii,Lt89.
tSfitBaaa,4*^ I D'Olitwu» I* sii.
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JINOIS KHAN. S9
when these hands axe 4e8troy:ed by the hunchrd thousand, die ruin must
become deplorable.
When the Mongols were oveminning Khorassan a small tribe of
Turkomans called Kayi Kankali fled and took refuge in Asia Minor; they
became the nucleus of the Ottoman Turks.
Jelal-ud-din, after hia flight from Urgendj, had reached Ghazni in
safety. There his partisans hastened to meet hhn. His father-in-law.
Khan Mdik, the late governor of MerU| brought htm 40,000 horsemen,
probably Kankalis ; Seif ud din Agruk, a Turkoman chief; brought his
Turkomans and Kalladjes (the latter a mueed race of Arabs and Turko-
mans who wandered between the Indus and Ganges) ; the governor of
Kabul and Aanm Melik brought their forces; and thus Jelal-ud-din
found himsdf at the head of horn 60,000 to 70,000. When Jingis, who
had captured Talikhan and summered his cavalry in the Kundux
mountains around i^ heard of this he set out fin: Bamian, in the Hindu
Kushy but he found it a more difficult place to capture than he expected.
The inhalMtants had laid waste the country for lour or five miles round|
and also removed the stones fioom itsneighbourhood»sothat the Mongols
might have no missiles. As it was likely that he would be delayed there,
he sent on a contingent of 30,000 men, under Siki Kutuktu and four other
generals,* to attack the young Sultan, who was encamped with his troops
at Peruan or Birwan, one da/s march from Ghazai. A fierce and well-
contested battle was fought for two days between the rival forces, when
the Mongols at length gave way and fled, and most of them were killed
in the broken ground that hindered their retreat They were always
great at ruses, and on this occasion are said to have stufied manikins
made of fdt with straw and put them ax horseback, to increase the
apparent strength of their army. Jingis Khan, like all great commanders,
was very lenient to his beaten generals. He knew too well the fickleness
of fortune in war, and he seems to have contented himself on this occasion
with a homily on the danger of officers who were intoxicated with victory
growing cardess.
The Sultan was prevented from improving his victory by the quaireb
of his subcnrdiiiates. Amm Melik and Seif ud din Agruk diq[>uted about
an Arab horse, part of the captured booty, and the former struck the
latter on the head with a whip, and as he conM not get redress,
he retired with ao^ooo to 30f000 Kankalis into Beloochistan. Amin Melik
shortly after also left Inm, and retired to Herat.t Meanwhile Jingis had
pressed the siege of Bamian and had captured it. Moatugan, son of
Jagatai, and one of his favourite grandsons, perished during the si^^,
and a terrible vengeance was extorted. Every living creaturct including
anhnals and plants as well as human beings, was destroyed, a heap of
shun was piled up like a mountain ; and the site of the desolated town
* Brdounn, 427. t Wolft, 91, 91.
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90 HISTORY OF THB MONGOLS.
was renimed Mobalig, /^.^ tho city of woo. Tlie modier of Moatugan
especially distinguished herself by her ferocity.* It remained a desert
for loo years.t Having captured Baxniaut Jingis piesstd on to retrieve
the disaster which had overtaken his forces near QiaxnL In going over
the battle-fieldi he pointed out to his officers what he considered to be the
mistakes in the conduct of ^le unfortunate battle. He advanced rapidly,
and his troops for two days had not time to cook food. He arrived at
Ghazni fifteen days after the Sultan had left it, and having left a governor
there he marched on towards the Indus. Jdal-ud-din had not yet crossed
the river ; his little army was surrounded by the Mongols, whose forces
were disposed in semicircles round it, having dieir wings resting on the
river, which thus formed a chord. The fighting was desperate, but the
Turks were everywhere beaten. The Sultan made a last desperate ctiarge,
yrtdch, was unavailing ; he then mounted a fresh luMrse, and having taken
off hb cuirass, he jumped with it Into the river, wfaidi flowed twenty feet
below, and with his shield on his back and his standard in his hand he thus
swam across. Jingis Khan could not help admiring the deed from tlte
banks, and pointed it out to his sons for an example. Muhammed of
Nessa tells us that Jelal-ud-din kept his foithfU diaiger till the taking
of Tiflis in 1226 without mounting hhn, in remembrance of his services
on this occasion.
This struggle took place in the month Redsheb of the year 618 of the
Hegira, i./., in August or September, r33i4 The Sultan's harem foil into
the hands of the Mongols, who killed all his sons. He had cast much
gold and treasure into the river, and a portion of it was recovered by
means of divers.
Jehd-ud-din reached die opposite bank of the Indus in safety. There
he was joined by the feeble debris of his army (chiefly Khuaraxmiens)
which had been able to cross the river. He made a raid into the country
for arms and clothes, defeated an Indian prince, and on the news that the
Mongols were still pursuing, he retired towards DdhL Jingis sent his
two generals B^ and Durl>ai in pursuit; diey proceeded to invest
Muhan, but as it held out bravely, and they were afivid of the terrible
sununer weather there^ they retired again to Ghazni, after ravaging the
provinces of Multan, Lahore, Peshawur, and Melikpur.f
Jingis now determined to retire towards the north along the banks of
the Indus, but in order that the Sultan Jdal-ud-din might find no strong-
hold he despatched his son Ogotai to destroy Ghasni. According to
Mongol habit, the inhabitants were ordered to leave the city, and were
ihtxi murdered*
While Jingis retired noHhwards his son Jagatai made a ridd into
Kerman in pursuit of Rokn-ud-din, a brother of Jelal-ud-din. He
* WolS; 99. t BrdoMnn, 413. D'Ohiaon, i. ft94. t Wolfft 93
^ BtdiBtaiii 4Jt>
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JDKH8 KHAN. 91
advaaced at 6ur m Tct, on the borders of the Indten Ocean, patted
tliroi^ Bdoochtttaiiy what he wintered, and where he alto loot a laife
number of hb soldiert, and returned by the numntaln land of die
A^faana, were he wat joined bjr Bela Noyan, who had been tent acrott
the Indut, at I have mentioned. Having made this haxardoot and
difficult excnrtion, he refoined hit &ther fai the early part of I3t2. Of
the vatt dominiont of the Khuatetm Shaht the only portion that had not
Ml the pretture of the Mongol bed wat that comprited in the provincet
of Fart, Lurittan, Knhistan, and Kurdistan.*
I have yet to dtacribe one of the most savage and terrible aas of the
invaders.
When the newt of Jdal-ud-din^s victory over the Mongol Siki Kntuktu
reached Hent it rebelled and iqipointed its own governor^ Jtngis blamed
Tului for not having swept oot its inhabitants when he captured it He
sent his general Udiidai Noyan witb 80,000 men against it, who
blockaded it on aU skies. The defence was kept up with tpirk, and
the bettegers suffered great lost. But, as usual, dissensions broke out in
tbe garrison, and after a siege of a little more than six months Herat was
captured.
ForaiHiolewcd: the Mongols ceased not to kill, bum, and destroy,
and it it said that 1,600,000 people were killed ; the place was entirdy
depopulated and ma^ desert The Mongols then retired. Soon after
they sent back a body of 3,000 to sedc out and destroy any of the inhabit*
ants who had escaped tbe former massacre. Over 3,000 were thus dis-
covered and put to death. After the Mongob had iairiy retreated, forty
pesBons assembled in the great mosque— the miserable remnants of its
once teeming population.t Of the celebrated men who had formerly lived
at Herat only one survived, namdy, KhaHb Mulawa Scheref ud din.|
Mem had been partially reocciq>ied, and had recdved a garrison com-
manded by an officer of Jelal-ud-din. Thit wat enous^ to bring down
upon it the vengeance of the Mongolt ; a detachment wat tent against
it, who tearched itt comert for forty days to find victimt, and tlauf^tered
them mercilesdy. Some of the inhabitants hid away in the ruins ; the
barbarous general ordered die muezzin to be sounded, and as each
Mussalman emerged to go to prayer he was killed; only a few individuals
remained among the ruins, and Meru continued to be a mere collection of
debris until the day of Shah Rukh, the son of Tixafir, who had it
rebuilt
Jingis Khan did not stay long near the Indus, he was afraid the deadly
summer heats mif^t destroy his army. He would seem also to have been
nervous about a revolt near Iiis home land, viz., in Tangut or Hia. He
retired to Peruan, where he spent the summer of 1333 ; diere he began
hit administrative measures by appmnting dvil governors (Darugas) to
* WtMT, M* t Woli; 94* t BrdmtBD. 4^.
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93 HISTORY OF THB MONGOLS.
the various conquered towns ; be wintered about the sources of the
Indus, yihcrt an epidemic attacked his anny. He now determined to
return home to Mongolia, and before setting out disencumbered his army
of prisoners by a general massacre, whose ferocity may be judged of by
the fiict that in each tent there were ten or twenty capthres. Having
crossed the mountains of Bamian, he passed the summer in the district
of Bakalan, where he had sent his principal baggage. In the autumn he
resumed his march, on passing Balkh heldUed the miserable and starving
wretches who had occupied its ruins; he then crossed the Oxus and
advanced to Bokhara ; there he summoned the Muhammedan doctors to
explain to him their faith, of which he generally approved, except of the
pilgrimage to Mecca, saying that the whole world is the house of God,
and that prayers will reach Him wheresoever they rise. On his arrival at
Samarkand he ordered the public prayers to be said in his name, as he
had conquered the Sultan Muhammed. Before he crossed the Jaxartes
he ordered the mother and other membem of the family of Muhammed to
wail a long falrewdl to Khuarean, v^iile the army defiled past
The scene of desolation that must have presented itself in the nordiem
borderland of Persia at this tmie is terrible. From the banks of the Oxus
to Asterabad every town of any importance was reduced to ruins, and its
inhabitants slaughtered Von Hammer has e3rtracted two pathetic
passages from two <^ the lucky authors who escaped the general skiughler,
namely, the celebrated mystic Sheikh Nedshmeddin Daye and the geo*
gcapher Jakut, which describe with all the pathos of the Persian language
the desert created by the Mongols.*
Juji, the eldest son of Jingis, had never forgiven his brother Jagatai
their quarrel before Khuaresni, which led to him, the ddest son, being
supplanted as commander by his younger brother OgotaL He had nursed
his rage in the deserts of Kipchak. Jingis ordered him to join him at a
{dace called Kelan Bashi, and to drive before him a grand battue of
game, that he might enjoy his favourite sport of hunting. He did not go,
but his troops formed a grand circle^ according to the Mongol custom,
and enclosed a vast area of country, the circumference was gradually
drawn in and the game, chiefly wild asses, driven towards the spot fixed
upon by Jingis, where he sported to his heart's content.
About the same time Jagatai and Ogotai went to hunt Kukus and.
Karaguls (t>., wild swans and antelopes), and sent their father a present
of fifteen camel loads of the former.t On the banks of the Imil he was
met by two of his grandsons, afterwards very celebrated, namely, Kubilai
and Khnlagu, one eleven, and the other nine years old. They had killed
their first game, and according to Mongol custom, Jingis pricked their
middle fingers to mix some blood with their food and drink, a kind of
baptism of the chase. Later on he gave his army a f^e, in a place called
*GoMtaBordt,7^78. * t BfdoMBn* 437*
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jnroif KHAN. 93
BukA Suchiku, and itacbed hat Ordu or home ia the month of February,
132$.
Od the way he was joined by his two generals Chepe and Subutai, who
after their pursuit of the Sultan Muhammed had made a daring expedition
into the west, which I must now describe.
We have traced their steps as for as the capture of Ilak, iHiere the
dowi^er Sultana and the Sultan's harem were captuxed. Thence they
mardied against Rai, the ancient Rages, whose ruin-heaps still remain
not fan from Teheran. There they found the inhabitants engaged in one
of those rdigious feuds which disintegrate Muhammedaa society so
seriously. Among the Muhammedans there are four orthodox rites:— i,
That of the Imam Abu Hanefi ; a, That of Ibn Hanbal ; 3, That of Shafet ;
and 4f That of Melek, and they are divided chiefly in regard to the inter*
pretation of the Koran. At this time the Abu Hanefi and the Shafei sects at
Rai were engaged in a great feud. With abominable treachery, the Kadhi
of the town, who was a Shafeit, had two of the gates opened, the Mongols
were let in and let loose upon the rival sect, who constituted one-half of
the inhabitants, and who now perished miserably. The Mongols then
turned on the traitors, arguing plausibly that they could not count on the
fidelity of those who thus deceived their own brothers.* The same feud
led to the same result at Kum, same distance south of Rai. This was cap*
tured by Chep^ who had separated from his companion, and afterwards
continued the l^oody raid iipon the towns of Irak, Dinawar, Sawa, Holwa
Nehawend, and the far-famed capital of the ancient Medes £cbatana.t
Meanwhile Subutai captured Kazvin, and then advanced, plundering,
through the province of Dilem upon Azerbaidjan, which, together with
Arran, were then ruled by the Aubeg Uzbeg,; an old man, and much
addicted to wine ; he bought off the Mongols by a present of silver, rich
gannents, horses, &c.
The Mongols then evacuated Azerbaidjan, and wintered in the rich
plains of Megan on the shores of the Caspian. In the spring of the
following year they advanced into Georgia. Their advance guard was
formed of Turkish and Kurdish auxiliaries, whom they readily enlisted
in a campaign against the Christian Georgians. They advanced as far
as Tifiis, ravaging everywhere, and ending by severely defeating the
Georgian army. They then levied a second contribution upon Tebriz,
and afterwards atUcked the town of Meraga. Here, as elsewhere, they
placed their captives in the front rank of the atUcking party, and com-
pelled them to bear the brunt of the assault. So stupified had the
inhabitants of Persia become by the Mongol successes, that we are told
that in Meraga one Moi^l entering a street where there were 100
individuals, proceeded to kill them all without any resisumce. This was
in March, 1222. §
*SfdaMun,395. Wolff. S5. tWoUt,8S/ J P'Ohwoa. i. 5*5. ♦ Wolff, «6.
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94 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
The Mongols now advanced upon Hamadan, whose inhabitants had
killed the governor they had pkosd there. Headed by the Fakih they
made a brave resistance, but were at length beaten ; the city was taken
and bomty and its inhabitants slaughtered.
The same fate awaited Serab and Bail^kan^ towns of Arran, while the
courage of the inhabitants of Guhja, capital of that province^ and of Tebrix,
was so renowned that it preserved them from a worse fate than the pay^
ment of heavy contributions. Georgia, which was then governed by
Ruzudan, daughter of the celebrated Queen Thamar, was overrun and
terribly ravaged. The Georgian accounts say that the Mongols advimced
into the country with the cross M their head, in the guise of Christians.
This tradition accords well with the ever-ready and versatile strategy of
those conquerors. Having ravaged Georgia, they turned upon Shirvan,
captured Shamaki, its capital, and then Derbend, all except the citadel
where Raschid, the Shah of Shirvan, had taken refuge. He purchased
his independence by furnishing the Mongols with guides in their march
across the Kaukasus.
They cut off the head of one of these p(mr incouragir Us cmtres^ if
they should prove treacherous ; but, notwithstanding this, we are told
they led them into the dangerous defiles of Daghestan, where they were
hemmed in by a combined army of Lesghs, Circassians, and a section of
Kipchaks or Comans. The latter were Turkish nomades, who then
lorded it over the steppes of south-eastern Russia.* Ou^ht as it were in
a trap, the Mongols had recourse to their fox-like instincts. " We are
Turks like yourselves,'' they said to the Kipchaks, ^ and are you allied
against your brethren with these strangers. Make peace with us, and we
will give you gold and rich garments, as much as you list.** Seduced by
these words, the Kipchaks deserted theirallies, who were attacked and
vanquished, and the towns of Tarku (the ancient Semender) and Terki,
now Mosdok, were devastated.t
Kotiak was then the chief Khan of the Kipchaks, Poloutsi, or Comans.
He is called Kotian by the Russians, and Koth&n or Kuthen by the
Hungarians. The section of diem in the Caucasus was commanded by
Jurii Kontshakovitch, his brother, and Danid Kotiakovitch, his son. The
reward of their treachery was the usual Mongol one of being attacked
and dispersed, the two princes just named bemg killed. The Mcmgots
now continued their advance, plundered and partially destroyed Hadshi
Tarkan, the modem Astrakhan on the Volga, and then proceeded against
the main body of the Kipchaks. This was defeated. The invading army
now divided into two sections, one pursued die Kipchaks to the Don, the
other advanced by the sea of Azof^ crossed the frozen Bosporus into the
Krimea, where they plundered Sudak,the Genoese enitipdt in the Krimea,
a rich and flourishing dty ; and then returning by way of Perdcop, joined
'»iMmiUior'iptpwoQtfatCQiBUit.Btiuiolai;|catJoviiid,ii.9|. tSMWolf.
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JIMGIS KHAN. 9S
their bretbrea on the Don. The lOprhakf retired towards Kief and
Chemigof to seek aetistance from their former vicdmt the Roisians.
Russia was then bounded on die south-east by the Oka ; it was divided
into several principalities, of which the diief at this time was that of
Novgorod, whose Grand Duke Yaroslaf was more or less accepted as
feudal lord over the rest
But the most vigorous of the Russian princes, the one who stands out
as a chief actor in tiie many civil wars that at this time desolated Russia,
was Mitislaf, Prince of GaUida, the son-in-law of the Coman Khan
Kotiak.
Kodak reported at Kief the advance of the terriUe enemy. He pre-
sented the Russian princes with camels, horses, buflaloes, and beautiful
slaves, and told them the Mongols had taken Aeir land, and that that of
the Russians would suffer the same £ue. The astonished princes asked
who these strangers, hitherto unknown, were. Some called them Taur-
mains, others Petch^negs, others agam Tartars. The more superstitious
recounted how the barbarians, defeated by Gideon 1,300 years before
Christ, were to reappear at the end of the worid from their deserts and to
conquer the whole earth.* Mitislaf assembled the princes of Southern
Russia at Kid^ and it was determined unanimously to march against the
invaders, much to the joy of the Comans, one of whose princes named
Basti embraced Christianity. They assembled their forces at Zarub and
the isle of the Varagians (places whose exact sites are unknown),t on the
Dnieper. There they received ten ambassadors from the Mongols, iidio
spoke thus: ^We understand that, seduced by the statements of the
Comans, you are marching against us. But we have done nothing against
the Russians, we have not taken your towns or villages, and our sole inten-
tion is to punish the Comans our slaves. For a long time they have been
enemies of the Russians. Side with us, therefore, and take a signal ven-
geance upon these barbaiians, and seize their wealth.'' This message was
accepted, says Karamzin, as a sign of weakness or as a ruse. Doubtless
as the latter, for the recent treachery of the Mongols in the Caucasus
must have been known. At all events, the ambassadors were barbarously
murdered. Others were sent ** You have preferred the counsel of the
Poloutsi, you have killed our envoys. Well, as you wish for war, you
shall have it. We have done you no harm. God is impartial, He will
decide our quarreL"}
The Russians assembled their forces in large numbers from Kie(
Smolensky Pultowa (?}, Kursk, and Trubtchevski The Volhynians and
Gallicians came in a thousand boats, on which they sailed down the
Dniester to the sea, and then up the Dnkptr to the island Chortiza,
called the Isle of St. George by Constantino Porphyrogenitus. There
also came some bodies of PoloutsL The Russians numbered some
•KMtiDsin,Ui.t84r tWoUr,zfl7. : Kannuitt, Ui iSS.
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96 HISTORY OK THS MONGOLS.
82,000 men. Mitislaf, with an advance guard of 10,000, impatient to
meet the enemy, went on ahead, overtook a body of Mongob under
Hamabdc, and defeated them ; their leader was found hidden in a ditch
or hole among the kuigans or mounds on the steppe, and was beheaded.^
The main body now crossed the Dnieper, and after a nine days* march
(Abulghazi says ten and Raschid twelve) arrived at the river Kalka, the
modem Kaleza, near Mariupol, in the government of Ekaterinoslaf.
Mitislaf, ^o was wishful, probably, of monopolising the glory of the
campaigt^ ventured to attack the main body of the Mongols with only one
division. The Russians fought splendidly, but their feeble allies, the
Poloutsi, broke away, and this caused the rest to retire also. The Mongols
pursued them mercilessly. Six princes, a celebrated paladin named
Alexander Popovitch, and seventy nobles perished. Of the contingent
from Kief alone 10,000^ says Karamzin, were left on the field of battle,
while the faithless Poloutsi used the occasion for plundering their unfor-
tunate allies. Mitislaf, to whom reverse was something new, seemed
beside himself.* Having crossed the Dnieper himself, he caused the
boats to be destroyed in order to prevent pursuit. In the general route
one leader held his ground, this was Mitislaf Romanovitcb, Prince of
Kief, who had intrenched himself on the Kalka, and resisted fcr three
days the assault of the Mongols, they at length proposed to allow him to
escape on paying a ransom ; but in their usual fashion they broke faith,
and put him to death and slaughtered all his followers. They smothered
three of the princes under planks and held a feast over their bodies.
The pursuit was again renewed. In vain the inhabitants of the towns
and villages submitted, humbly going to their camp with their crosses,
but no pity was shown. Their grim maxim, surely the most cynical of all
ferocious war-creeds, was that '* The vanquished can never be the friends
of the victors, the death of the former is necessary therefore for the safety
of the latter.^t Luckily for the Russians their foes did not prolong their
stay, but returned to meet their master. Before retiring they appear to
have made a raid upon Great Bulgaria, on the Kama and Middle Volga,
then the Hudson's Bay territory of the Old World, which supplied furs,
honey, wax, and fossil ivory to the luxurious courts, both Christian
and Muhammedan, of the Eastern Worid. Goiged with booty, the two
Mongol generals retired through the country of Saksin, along the river
Aktuba, on whose banks Serai, the capital of the Golden Horde, was
afterwards built De Guignes says that on crossing the Volga they
defeated the Kankalis there, and killed their Khan Hotose.}
The victorious march of Chep^ and Subutai must rank among the most
wonderful military exploits related in history. A hundred years before
Nusitagir Ili, the Gurkhan of Kara Khitai, is said to have performed the
feat of marching round the Caspian, and it was certainly imitated 180 years
** Karunzin, a88. t Kar*auio, «9X. I Dt GuignM, !▼• 61.
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JIMOn KMAK. 97
Iftter by Timnrieiik ; bot in tiiese two cases the conqntror was the master
of a vast empive» and had not half a dozen ei^editions on his hands at
the same time, while Chep4 and Subutai were but subofdinate officers.
The former did not long survive, but died shortly after his return home,
with the re{mtation of a great warrior.* The main cause of the Mongol
success was doubdeu the terror and p^nic they created by their
unflinching vengeance whenever reristed*
It is marvellous how miserably decrepit the Tuikish and other
opponenu of the Mongols had become. In 1234 a small body of 3,000
Mongols was able to once more destroy Rayi, to do the same to Kum
and Kashan, and to overrun and pillage the great provinces of Irak
Adjem and Azerbaidjan, although opposed to much more numerous bodies
of Khuaresmians and other Turks. The provinces of mionssan anS Irak
Adjem were made desolate by these continued invasions; according to
Juveni there did not remain one-thousandth part of their old inhabitants,
and he added, that if nothing interfered with the growth of the
population in these two provinces it would not between his day and the
day of doom amount to one^tendi of what it did before the Mongol
mvasion. Tlieir savage mode of war£ire would excuse the tales that
were told at Byzantium that they had dogs' heads and lived on human
flesb.t
Jingis had hardly reached his Ordu before he had to depl<»e the death
of his eldest son Juji. . He left by his various wives and concubines about
forty children, and his descendants, after ruling the Golden Horde for a
long period, are still obeyed by the Kazak% Uzbegs, Nogays, and other
fragments of the Golden Horde.
While Jingis Khan was conquering the countries south of the Oxus, his
great general Mukuli prosecuted the war in China. I have described
how he set out and the troops he was entrusted with.
The former can^Mugn of Jingis in China had only produced transient
results, and the Mongols had to evacuate all their conquests there except
the town of Chungtu and the northern edge of Pdichehli and Shan-si.
The country was everywhere reoccupied and fortified by the Kin soldiers.
During the Mongol attack, the Sung dynasty, which had its seat at
Hangchau, the chief town of Chekiang, and ruled over China south of
the river Hod in Honan, refused to pzy its customary tribute to the Kin
emperors, and to punish this defection the latter, on the retreat of thtf
Moi^<^, sent an army which ravage the northern portion of the Sung
territory. It was at this juncture, and in 12 17, that Mukuli advanced
against the Kin empire* He captured several towns of the province of
PehchehlL The next year he advanced into Shan-si, whose capital, Tai-
tung-fu, he took after a v^orous attack, the governor coromitting suicide
before the surrender. During the year 1218 he took the eight principal
•WoUi;iM. tPMbrmmt»i.l^ D'OlNMii,i.sK*
N
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9S B18TOEV OP TVS MOKOOU.
tomwofShiB-fti^aild die ftiDoifiiig yetr eon^lMd the oonq«aM «l this
gieat pvmnce^ wbilt a renegade Km i^aend e«tjeeted PelwheblL
The Kia caphe wis bebf fRmnd helweea two mUlttooes^ fo whfle
the Mongols weco pwsili^ it so hsxd in the north the troops of die Sung
were hamssfng its southeni ftontier* Utubny the Kin enperoTy now
sent to Mvknli askiaf fo t^nns. The on^ Isnns the Mongol geneod
wouM listen to wcre^ diat Uti6tt dionM ceolent hioisdf with the province
ef Hooan, take the title of Piinee of Hooaa, and resign the rest of his
empire. To this he would not listen* Bo die Mongols contimisd their
attedb They defditad a hutgeannr in die province of Shantungs a great
number of the Kin soldiers behig driven faito die Ydlow River. Thejr
then laid siege to Tnngping^ which rtsirtsd dieir aims for a long dme,
and on^ luiiwidinid in Jme^ 1221. MuknH had now conquered nearly
all the country nordi of die Ydknr River, and he determined to invade
Ho-nan. In order to do eo he required to aqitareeeveral strong i^aces in
Shen-si| especially die fionoos pass of Ttang kuan. In November, laai,
he aeoordim^ croesed the Ydlow River* probably into the modem Ortns
country,* then subject to the empire of Hia or Tangnt He demanded a
contfnfsot of troops from the Taagut sovereign. These were sent to
him, to the number of 50^000 men, and he dien proceeded to overrun
Shen-^ most of whose cities he captured during the year laaa. The
IbOowing year Mukuli died in the midst of his succssses; onhisdeathbed
he is reported to have said: ^ For forty years have I made war and fought
fcr my master in his great enterprises, and I was never defeatied. My
only regret is diat I have not yet captured Nanking.*t' A fow months
afttf his death the Kin En^MTor Utubo followed him to die grave.
The Chinese annals, translated by De MaiUa, ptaiae very hi^dy the
mflitary qualities of MuknS, with three other cf his genends, named
logurdshin, Beifcul, ani T^SUb^ he was styled PoHpankuhn, vdiidi in
their language^ he says^ means die four sageSi The desosndants of these
four Mongols had command of the Inqierial bodyguard. They were
oalled die four Kiesie(f>., die four intrepid coes)4 De Guignes suggests
that it was probably the death of Mokuli that made Jii^gis return home,
In order that he m^ superintend the organisation of his eastern army.
Northern China had been ruined by fifteen years of war, and the Kins
bad entirely abandoned it and concwtrsted dieir forces on the south of
dM Ydbw River to defend the defile and fortress of Tung-kaan, that
commanded the road from Shen-si to Honan. Hero were collected
aoo^ooomen*
Meanwhile let us turn once moro to the doings of Jingis.
He had been seven years away firom his countryi ttid when he returned
be appointed his son Jagatai, and Bi^ the son of Ji^ to govern his
*DfO«fsMs,iv.^. tPlnldBfforK«ifQasfc*wiiicliwMtlMath«NMklBS««
•ottthtTB Mpital 0/ tJM IUb tmpt.on. I Dt ICiUU, ii. tos*
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JIMOIS KHAN 99
toonqueiu. HUothersoiisOifotai tad IHitai mtonMd i»tt)i tern
m did «ko Svbiiui Behtdur, Chep^, Kotmeli, Knba, the prindt* Pltn
ttid Watdwn, Poyibho, ton of Alakush the Oofot dritC and tlie VSHm,
«fdieUiilwn» He sow held a grand reoeptioii.^
What a wettdifM gatheriiif that must have beM. We are mmk
iiiqiitiecd in readfag the hirtory ef the middle afet,wkh the eabet^
Criiiade% wMdi broufht the parodiial-minded diivaltf of Wettera
Europe hitoedBlactwi^ tile knd of so much foigeous romance as the
last, and gavean H^pctnt to thought and action, and an enbrgement ef
iriear Uiat had more than aught else to do peihaps with the social and
menial reroUtioBoftiie revival of learning. But what were tlieCxusades
as an CKperience to the journey of Jtngts and his troops ? Bom and
accustomed only to the dreary steppe-lands of the Gobi desert, and its
girdle of pfaie-covered mountafais, then: triumphant march led tiicm
through tiie very garden of Asia, among ki attest refined and cuhured
lUhabitantSf and thwaigh its most prospeiwm otiest Every slop mnst
have been a new Kapler of romance, su^ as boys in Eni^and find in the
Arabian N4(ht% and tiie vast caravans of treasure Uiat they carried back
with diem must have been objects of intense wonder te the wives and
daughters of die returning warriors, as the tales dwy told of dieir
adventures must have seemed like the romances of ballad makers father
dian die trudilul experiences of ingenuous soldiers* Nor were die crowds
of dsptives^ chiefly ardsans, a less important, if a somewhat less
picturesque, dement in the cavalcade Widi them diere went to Oe
furthest East an the knowledge and crsft possessed by the Muhammedans,
and if we find the period of Mongol supremacy in China to be a period
of revival in art and manufiicture, a period of great litenury eneigy, we
must not foiget what a number of names in the administration of that
period are Persian and Turkish ; and how the rubbing together of two
widely different civilisations, which have crystallised apart, such as those
of China and Persia, necessarily leads to a vigorous outburst of firesh
ideas and discoveries. Being tho most potent example of the law con*
densed for us in the venefaMe proveri>, that iron sharpeneth iron.
The King of Hia had latterly been coquetting with the Kin Emperor,
his ne^hbour on die east, and had refused to send his son as a hostage.
He is called Li te by the Chinese writers,t and is probably the same
person as the Shidurgho of SsanangSetsen. Shidurgho is a Mongol word,
meaning open, straightforward, and answering to the Thibetan Srong4
He had succeeded his father Li tsun hien only two years before, t./.,
in 1223.
The empire of Hia was then very populous and very powetfuL It is
detr from the elaborate preparations of Jingis, and also from the
* D% Ovtsntt, iv« 04* t I>« Mailla, ix. to8. IXOIwaon. i. t/o,
(SeUtn,383
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100 HISTORY OF THC MONOOLS.
traditions preserved by Ssanang SetseOt that he looked upon this hit
last serious campaign as a very imp<Mrtant one. Hia, with Thibet, were
the especial homelands of Northern Boddhism, and had a quasi-sacred
and mysterious surrounding to the Mongols, which is curiously reflected
in the tales that Ssanang Setzen has preserved. Shiduigho's wife was a
great beauty, and her fame had reached the ears of the Mongol Khan,
who seems to have coveted her. He also resented the fiict that the King
of Hia had failed to send his son as a hostage, and he now prepspml to
attack him.
Ssanang Setzen tells us Shiduigho had a brown^oloured dog with a
black muzzle which could prophecy. When war was irapepding it used
to howl; when, on the contrary, peace was in store then it barked. Now
that Jingis returned home the dog began to howl, his master in fancied
security concluded that the beast was growing old and had lost its cAd
power.* I have said that the King of Hia was very powei^
He could muster, according to the western ^mters, 500/xx) men,
splendidly accoutred, and consisting of Chinese^ Turks, Thibetans, &c
Jingis had 180^000 men, which he divided in|o several divisions. 40^000
he gave to his. son Jagatai, 30^000 to Chep4 and Subutai, ao^ooo
Khuarezmians to Ileniku, 20^000 Indians to the Noyan Bda, 30^000 Jetes
and Kipdiaks to Bedr ud din, and 30,000 Khuaresmians to Danishmcnd,
Ogotai remained with the reserve, and Tului went off to see his family.t
The above enumeration gives a good idea of the heterogeneous
character of the later Mongol armies and the great mixture of races that
the conquests of Jingis produced.
He first detached Subutai to subdue the wild Sifan tribes dependent
upon Tangut, and De MaiUa teUs us that the tribes Kintcha-wak> and
the Sessali, which had hitherto been independent, were conqaered.^
Jingis set out from his Ordu in the spring of 1235. Having crossed the
Kbang-hai-Khan chain, he first held a grand hunt about the sources of
the rivers Onghin and Tuigol, which lose themsdves in the sands and
marshes of the Gobi desert.|
The Saga-loving Ssanang Setsen mentions various omens that att^ided
the Mongol hero's last campaign* During ^lis hunt Jingis on6 day
observed : ** In thb district is a. bkie wolf (Burte shino) and a white
hart, catch them and bring them alive to me. Here also is a, blade man
on a blue-grey horse, do the same with him*'' These were found and
broughttohim. He then addressed the num, " Who are you, and ifdiy
are you here?'' "< I am a friend of Shiduigho's,* he saki, *^and he has
sent me for information. My name is Katuraktchi Kara Buditng, and in
all Tangut there is none superior to me. I was o^tored unawares while
I laid my black head down to rest, and while my blue horse Guun Bolod,
* SMoaac a«t«Mi, 97* t Brdaitt,4S9* I Dt MaUla, bt. Xt7*
s WoMi;itt.
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JINOU KfiAK. lOI
a ncerwlKNn no creature that has leet can catch, was tethevad to the
groond by his ^r feet" Jingis saw he was a brave man and ^uoed his
hity and said, ^ People say your master is a Kubilghan (£/^ a regenerate
Buddha). Into what form can he convert himsdf?" The man
answered, ''In the morning he changes himsdf into a black-striped snake;
at noon into a uwny-striped tiger; and at night into a little chikl, so that
man cannot injure him.''
While Jingis marched with his army through the Mona Khan
mountain, which Wolff says was situated on the road from the desert to
Ninghia, north-west of the great bend in the Hoangho, he remarked :
** This would be a capital rallying place for a broken, and a capital camping
ground for a united and peaceable peo^. It b a beautifiil grating ground
for roebucks, and a charming resting-place for an old man.*'* While there
Jiagis noticed an owl shrieking on a bough, and he told his iMother
Kassar to kill it. The latter shot, but the owl escaped ; meanwhile a
magpie came in the line of fire, and the arrow which was aimed at the
owl brought it down. This was accepted as a bad omen, and Jingis was
in a great rage, and had his brother chained and watched by four men.
Then came the Orluk princes to him and said, " Master, the stains of the
vile ought not to foul the purity of the good. The most deserving and
distinguished often have the &te of the worthless. The hu of the
in-omened owl has overtaken the magpie: let thy brother go*t
Jingis would have done so^ but he had become jealous of him ; a sbve
having slandered him by accusing him of intriguing with his wile
Chulan.
He then attacked the em{Mre of Hia, first assaulting the emporium
of Akatshin, otherwise called £tsina.t This he captured in February,
1326. He then fell upon Suhchau and Kan chau, the latter was governed
by Kia-ye-lde-lin, whose son Saha had been brought up at the court of
Jingis. He had persuaded his father to deMver up the town, when the
latter was suddenly attacked and murdered by some rebels who defended
the place for some time. When it at length fell the lives of the inhabit-
ants were spared on the intercession of Saha, and only his father's
murderers were put to death.f In the autumn of the same year, 1226,
he captured Si liang fu, Tsulu, and Hole, districts of the province of
Liang chau fu, that long finger-like western prolongation of Shensi,
which projects into the west between the country of Kokonoor and the
desert He then crossed the country of Sbato to the nine fords of the
Hoang ho, captured Ing li sien,| and overran the country to the Ydlow
River. The land was everywhere covered with bones, and only one or
two individuals in every hundred escaped massacre.^*
De Mailla says that Li te, the King of Hia, now died with grief at
8«lsea, 99. WoUr, ixa. t fwing B«tg«ii, 99, loi. J D« QvigMt, hr. 68.
i D«ltoilU,is.ii7. DtlUiIU,ix.xi7. n lyphtw. I. »h
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I02 HISTORY OP THX KONOOLS.
seeing his conntry thus desolated by the Mongols, and was succeeded bj
bis son, whose Chinese title was Li hien. The narrative of Ssanang
Setzen only mentions one king, and calls him Shidurgho. Jingis Khan
continued his advance. He captured Ling chau, a town on the eastern
bank of the Yellow River,- not far from Ning hia, the capital of Tangut
To ndieve this town a large army of Tangutans marched. It is to this
occasion, apparently, that we must assign the bloody battle described by
Raschid as having been fought on the ice where the Hoang ho had over-
flowed its banks,and where the number of slaughtered Tangutans amounted
to3oo,oooin Three of the corpses stood on thdrheads, says Raschid, and
among the Mongols it is well established diat among every loOiOoo dead
men on the field of battle one body is to be found which stands on its
head.* This tremendous exaggeration of numbers is a proof of the ali^^t
authority of the Persian historians of the Mongols in die accounts they
give of their campaigns on the Chinese borderland.
De MaOla merely says that the King of Hia entrusted all die forces he
could muster to his general Seuming>ling-kong, and told hxm to attack
the Mongc^ but that Jingb crossed the Hoang ho and beat him. The
story of Raschid about the man standing on his head is explained by
lyOhsson, who says that when the Mongds slaughtered a laige number
of people, in order to mark the number of the slain, a census in which
they gloried, they put a corpse on its head on some elevated point for
every thousand killed, and that on the capture of Tiflis in I23i, seven
such monuments signi6ed the death oi 7,000 individuals. The Tangutart
army on this occasion did not probably reach 50,000 men.t De MaiUa
says that after this battle Jingis went and encamped at Yen chau tchuen.
Here he received the homage of Yao^lise, the widow of the late King of
Liaa-tung, who now acted as regent She was received with distinction
by Jingis, who himself offered her the cup to drink out ci, and made a
grand eulogium on the bravery of her eldest son Hiuess^ who had
accompanied him in his western campaigns. On her entreaty he
appointed him King of Liau-tung, and dismissed her with a cosdy present
of nine Chinese prisoners, nine horses, nine silver bars, nine pieces of
silk, and other rich gifts in parcels of nine, which was a sacred number
among the Mongols.
Leavh^ some troops to watch the capital of Tangut, he captured Ki-
shi-chau and Liu tao fu; then turning to the north-west he ruined Tchao
ho chau and Sining. At the fifth moon, says De Mailla, Li hien, the
King of Hia, unable any longer to resist the Mongols, submitted to
Jingis, who carried him away in chains to Mongolia. Gaubil says, on
the contrary, that he was put to death by his own people before he
reached the camp of Jingis. Thus ended another empire with m long
history closely interwoven with that of China, now desolated and covered
» Katddd, in D'OImsob. i. S73. l>*Ohitoa, Ofk cH^ i* S7S-4*
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JIN0I8 KHAK. 103
with nuns, it was appropriated by the very cormorant of conquest tbe
Mongol Khan.
Jingis retired to summer his cattle in the mountains 61 Liupan,
situated twenty li west of Ku yufen chau, a town of Shan*si, in latitude 36
north, and longitude 10 west of Peking.* There he received as a present
from the Kin emperor, a plateau full of fine pearls, niiich he distributed
among those of his grandees who wore ear-rings, others had their ears
I^erced in order to share the prize, while many remained over for a
general scramble* He was there also seized with a fiOal disease. Of his
different sons only Tuhii was with him. He died on the i%Qx of
August, 1227, at the age of sizty-sbc The Giinese and Persian historians
are apparently agreed in making Jingis die a natural death. This is not
the universal story, however. Marco Polo and the Syrian Abttlfiaagius
say he was shot with an arrow and killed. They probably, as Colonel
Yule suggests, confused his death with that of Mangu Khan some years
later. Carpino says he was kiU^ b/ lightning; Haiton, the Armenian^
that he was drowned; but the Mongol historian Ssanang Setzen has the
queerest story*-a story which illustrates well the kind of Sfgas ii^ vogue
amoi^ the Lamaists, He says :—
^ When Shidurgo Khakan (the King of Hia) converted himself into a
snake, Jingis appeared as Garudi, the king of the birds ; and when the
Ibrmerwas dianged intoatigar, the latter became-thekmgof thelbar-
Iboted beasts, the lion; and, lastly, when the former acquired the form of
a boy, the latter became Khormusda, the king of the Tegri or spirits, so
tfiat Shidurgo Hdl into the power of Jingis without any eflbrt Then said
die former to the latter:— ' If you kill me^ it will bring evil upon you. If
you forbear, it will prove £iUal to your posterity.' Jingis now tried to
strike^ but be fimnd he could not hurt Inm. He thereupon said, * With a
common weapon you cannot harm me, but between by boot soles there is
a triple dagger, nuMle of magnet, with which I may be killed/ With these
words he offered him the weapon, saying, ^Now you may loll me. If milk
flows from the wound, it will be an evil token for ytmj if blood, then for
yoor posterity. Let me also counsel you. If you make my wife Kur-
bcldshin Goa your own, probe her previous life diligently.' When
Sydurgo was pierced in the neck widi the dagger he died, and Jingis
af^yropriated his wife and people.
** Every one wondered at the beauty of Kurbddshin Goa, but she said:
* I was formerly much prettier, but am now grimy with dust from your
troops, when I have bathed in the river I shall renew my good looks.' As
she went down'to the Kara Muren to bathe, a bird from her fiuher's house
hovered over her, and allowed itself to be caught She spoke aloud, and
said, ' I am ashamed of bathing before all this company, let them begone.
I will bathe alone.' When they had left she called out, ' I intend to seek
*I>'OhMoo,i.S7S- Dt M*ill*» Is. TS7.
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104 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
my death in the Kara Muren. Let my body be searched for up the
stream, and not down.' She then let the bird escape, and it flew home to
tell her father.
''When she came out of the bath she had become much more beautifiiL
The following night, when Jingis Khan lay asleep, she bewitched him, upon
which he became feeble and ilL She then arose, went down to the Kara
Muren and drowned herself^ whence the Kara Muren to this day is called
Chatun Eke.
** When the bird related to her fattier, who was called Schang-dsa-wang>
Ja, of the tribe of U, he went and looked for his daughter's body. He
found it not, but found only one of her pearl embroidered socks. Over
this he raised a mound of earth, still called Temur Olcho.* Schmidt
remarks in a note that the upper Kara Muren is undoubtedly still called
Chatun Muren, or the maiden's river, by the Mongols, and that he had
found the name in several writings."
The whole story shows the mysterious atmosphere in which the
Lamaist faith surrounds its votaries, and what a peculiar halo attaches
to the memory of Jingis, who stands in Mongd legend much as Theseus
and other demigods did in the traditionary poetry of Greece. To
continue our story :—
'^ As he lay dying on his bed the old hero addressed Kiluken Behadur,
who was beside him : ' Be you a fiedthful friend to my widowed Burte
Judjin, and to my two orphan sons Ogotai and Tului, and be ever true to
them without fear. The precious jadestone has no crust, and the polished
dagger no dirt upon it. The body that is bom is not immortal It goes
hence without home or resting-place. This keep in everlasting memoiyy
the glory d an action is that it should be complete (<>., whatsoever
thine hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might). Firm and unbending
is the heart of the man who keeps his plighted word. Be not guided by
the wbhes of others, so will you gain the goodwill of many. With me it
is clear that I must separate from you and go away. The words of the
boy Khubilai are very weighty. You, all of you, note his words. He
will some time occupy my throne, and he will, as I have done, secure you
prosperity.' "
Such is the story as told by Ssanang Setzen. The western chroniclers
make it out that Jingis collected his children and dependents about his
bed and gave them serious counsel. He bade his duldrenxling together;
we are told he repeated to them the old parable of the bundle of sticks.
In his case, however, arrows took the place of sticks. He added another
fable not so well known in the west, namely, that of the snake with several
heads. One night during an impending frost it set out to sedc shelter in
a hole, but on the way the heads began to quarrel and fight with one
another, and the result was that it was frozen to death ; not so the snake
* StAOftDt Setxtn, 103.
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JINGIS KHAN. 105
with one head and many tafls, this hid evezytfaing evetyway taiidty in
the hok and was saved.* The moral is the same as in the previous
fiible.
He appointed his brother Utshegin with a Ixrgid force to prosecute the
war in China, for which ^ drew out an daborate plan. He divided his
dominions among his sons : to Juji and his family were assigned the
country from Kayalik and Khoarezm as &r as the borders of Bnlghar and
Saksin, wherever the hoofs of Mongol horses had tramped; Jagatai
received the country from the borders of the Uighur country as far as
Bokharia ; Ogotai had a special uhiss north of this in the country of
Imil and Soongaria; to Tului was assigned the home-country of the
Mongols, the care of the Imperial hut and family, and the archives of the
State; but he set Ogotai Khan over the whole, and counselled
his brothers to obey hinu If we are to credit some of the historians of
Timurlenk he maae his sons renew the pact with the ^unily of Kadshuli
Bdutdur, and seal it with their tamghas or seals.t He bade Jagatai,
who was known to be of a severe di:q>osition, see that his will was carried
out, and he lasdy urged his people to exterminate the Tanguts and make
no terms with them.t
His body was secretly conveyed to Mongolia, and to prevent the news
of his death spreading, its escort killed every one they met. They only
published the news when the procession had reached the Great Ordu of
the Khan at the sources oi the Kerulon. The body was successively
carried to the ordus of his various wives, where his many dependents
were summoned from all pacts to do it honour ; some had to come a
journey of three months. After these funeral rites, the coffin was carried
to its burial-place. Raschid telU us that its escort killed all the travellers
met with on the way, ordering them to go and serve their lord in the
other world, and that forty noble and beautiful girls and richly
caparisoned horses were also sent for his service into the land of peace.}
Mandeville thus describes a funeral of one of the Grand Khans : — ** At
the spot where the funeral occurs they erect a tent, in which they place
the corpse on a wooden couch, and arrange before him a table delicately
served ; into this they drive a white horse richly caparisoned and with its
saddle on* They dien place the tent with its contents in a hollow and
cover it over, so that no one can distinguish the place.'' This accoimt
reads very like the accounts given by Arab writers of the Norse funerals
on the Volga in the tenth century.y
Ssanang Setsen describes the body of Jingis, as removed to its
native land, the whole host escorting it, and wailing as they went.
Kiluken Bdiadur, of the Sunid tribe, one of the Khan's old comrades,
Ufted up his voice and sang :—
* Brdnaduit 44t* t Erdauiuiy 443* X Brdouuifii 44s
> Y«le't]Cu«oPote,i.jt9. lyObMOO, i. ste. 3 yOhwoo, Lts pwfUA 4u Ciwww, 9g»
O
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106 HISTORY or THC MONGOLS.
WbtlomtiiMdiditfkoepUlB»aiidcoa; ft nnblteg wtfoa now tfudltt thac ofl^
Omj Klag.
Halt thottiatrathtbeafBraKkwtbj will tad ^ehildrwv and tlieditt of tlqr paoptef
OmyKioff*
Ciftlinc in prida liktta tack wkllom thoa didrt toad at
O my Klag.
Bat now thou bast ataaiUad aad fiUka Uka aa. aabrokaa eolt,*
OngrKinf.
Fior rii aad-afarty yaaw thoa hmk bromht thy paoptopaaoaaadjoy, aad now doit thoa toava
OaiyKiag;*
To such a chaunt did the procession move towards the mountain Mona,
already named. There the wheels of the wagon sank in the blue day so
that it stuck (ast and refused to move on even when the strongest horses
of the five banners were fastened to it The pec^le began to grow
dejected, when the voice of Kiluken Behadur once more arose :—
^' Thou li<m of the celestial T^rL Thou son of the T^rL My own
Lord Bogda, wilt thou leave thy wh«>!^ people here in this quagmire.
Thy vFife so equally matched with thy noble birth ; thy solidly grounded
state ; the authority of thy laws ; thy mudi attached people ; all are at
stake. Thy once bdoved wife ; thy golden palace ; thy state founded on
right ; the assembled clans of thy pec^le ; aU are yonder fer away.
Thy birthland ; the water in which thou wert wont to wash ; thy subjects,
the fruitful Mongol people ; thy many officers^ princes, and nobles.
Deligun bulak, on the Onon, where thou wert bom. They are yonder.
Thy standard made from the black horse's tail ; thy drums, cymbals,
trumpets, and fifes ; thy golden house and all its rich contents ; the
meadows of the Kerulpn, the very place where thou mountedst the throne
as Khakan of the Arulad; aU are yonder. Burte Judjin, the choice wife
ofthyeariydays; Bordiatn Khan^ thy fortunate land, and all thy people;
Bogordshi and Mukuli, thy two trusty friends ; tiiy consummate adminis-
tration ; all are yonder. Thy heavenly^bom partner, Chulan Khatun ;
thy lutes and flutes, and other muncal instruments ; thy two charming
wives, Jissu and Jissuken ; thy golden palace cynosure of wonders ; all
are yonder. Hast thou, because the district of Kargina Khan is still
warm, because so many of the Tanguts are vanquished, and because
Kurbeldshin Khatun was beautiful, really left ^y peoj^ the Mongols,
in this fix. If we may not serve as a sludd to thy noble life, we would at
least bear thy remains, which are fiur as the nol^ jade stone, to their
last home, to show them to thy wife Burte Judjin, and to satisfy the
wishes of all thy people.*
At the dose of this monody, whidi has such a peculiar local odour, we
are told that the wagon once more began to move, and the pro-
cession, amidst cries and words of mourning, at length reached Hs goaL
There they raised a mound over the body, and buih eight white houses as
places of prayer and invocation. The resting-plaoe of the Great Khan
« Oolooai Yato'a lfaKoFilo,i. no.
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JTN018 KHAN. X07
WM called Yeke IJtfk, and it lay between the shadow side of the Altai
Khan and the sunny side of the Kentei Khan.*
Raschid names the place of his burial as Burkan Kaldun (God's Hill)
or Yekek Kuruk (the great sacied or Tabooed place); in another place he
calls it Nuda Undur, near the river Sdinga. Burkan Kaldun is often
mentioned by Ssanang Setsen, and Pallas speaks of Burgin Galdat as the
place where tbt Onon springs.
Marco Pdo names the burial-place of Jingis as the mountain Altai,
situated north-east of Karakorom; Ganbil, from Mongol sources, i^ces
it at a {dace called Han, situated 47.54 north latitude and 9 3 longitude
west of Peking; according to D'Aimlle's map there is ac mountain
Keateyhan on this spot, where the Onon takes its rise. This is clearly
the same mountain as the Khan oola of Pallas and Timkowsky, a lofty
mountain near Uxga, covered with a dense forest It is still held sacred
by the Mongok and guarded from access.t
Erdmann says that Jingis was buried at the Ibot of a tree which he
had noticed onoe while hunting, and had chosen as his burial-place.
This tree was remaricable at the time, but had been overtaken ixt size by
the rest of the woodf and become widistinguishable.!
Many of his descendants were buried on the same mountain, in the
midst of this forest, which was guarded by 1,000 men of the tribe Urian,
exempted from military service. Rich perfumes were burnt without
ceasing before the tablets of the princes. The place was only accessible
to the four great ordus of Jingis.}
Jingis had nearly 500 wives and concubines, among the latter were the
most beautiful captives and the most beautiful girb in the different
tribes, who were always set apart for the Khan and the princes ; each
captam presented the frurest in hb coa^fiaBy to his colonel, the colonel
to his superior officer, &c, and thus the cream of the whole nati<m was
sifted for the choice of the Khan.
Of the wives of Jingis, five hdd a superiinr rank, the first of all was
Burta, who bore the Chinese title of Jodjin, she was the daughter of Dai
Nc^an, chief of the tribe Kunkurat, and was the mother of Jujt, Jagatai,
Ogotai, Tului, and five daughters ; of these daughters, Kudshin Bigi, the
eldest, was betrothed to Sengun, son of Wang Khan, and afterwards
married Huladei Gurgan, son of Butu Gurgani of the Kurulats. Jidjegan,
the second, married Turaldshi Gurgan, of the Urants. The third,
Alakai Bigi, married Jingui, of the Onguts. The fourth, Tumalun,
Shengu Gurgan, of the Kunkurats. The fifth,. Atalukan Jawer Sadshan,
of the 01konods.| By his second wife, Chulan Khatun, he had a fifth
son named Gulgan.f
i have now described the career of the great conqueror, whose renown
" SMiiang 8«tz«a, 107, Z09. f Yak't Ifaroo Poloi i. txt. % I
S D'Ohasoa, i. jSz. | BrdttMui, 445. ^ Briaau,4is.
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108 HISTORY OF THI MONGOLS.
has been so deservedly great in Eastern history and romancei and Western
romance too, for Colonel Yule has shown good reason for identifying
him with the Cambuscan bold of Chaucer.*
He may fairly claim to have conquered the greatest area of the worUf s
surface that was ever subdued by one hand. D^Ohsson has some
judicious remarks on the way in which the result was obtained ; he says^
the Mongols in their original homes were among the most wretched of
mankind, wandering in an elevated r^on of Tartary, and under an
inclement sky, and so poor that Raschid tells us only their chiefs had
iron stirrups. Their army was composed of nomades who constantly
led the lives of sddiers, carrying their hearths about with them ,* they
could live anywhere where their horses and cattle ooukL find pasture* To
this was si^eradded the discipline enforced by Jingis. Each tribe was
divided into sections of ten men, each section with its commander, nine
chiefs of ten men chose the tenth as a centurion, who had besides his
own conunand of ten, supervision of the hundred ; nine centurions simi-
larly chose a battalion commandant, and ten of these latter a divisional
commander, who led a body of 10,000 men, in Maagcl ptixaat a tunum.
No man could change his section or company or r^^iment, and the most
implicit obedience to orders was insisted upon from all, and at the com-
mand of the Khan, the most potent general at once submitted to the bas-
tinado or to execution. This inqplicit obedience was the secret of many
of their successes, as it was in those of Rome, and in our day those of
Prussia. Very different was the conduct of the Turkish hordes as
reported by Alai-ud-din. ^If a slave,** he says, '^acquires ten horses,
his master has to treat him with conwderadon; if he rise to the command
of an army, it is seldom that he does not use it against his benefiictor. If
war be declared, it takes these gentry months to get in motion, and they
must first be supplied liberally with pay.** Among the Mongols, on the
contrary, each warrior has to pay his chief a certain number of horses,
cattle, pieces of £dt, &&, and tf he be absent at war his wife must pay his
taxes. If a commander often was unfit for his post, Jingis removed him
and put anodier in his place, and so through the higher ranks, and he
exhorted his chief commanders to come to him once a year to receive
instruction and advice. He counselled them to instruct their children
well in riding, archeiy, and the art of plunder, as they would have to rely
on their bravery for a livelihood just as merchants rely on thdr merchan*
dise» ^' I give," he said, ^ the command of troops to those -mho join
courage to skilL To those who are active and alert I confide the care of
the baggage ; to the dullards I confide a pole and make them tend the
cattle. It is thus I have won my victories, and my sons will continue
victorious if they follow my example,*^ Each man beside his bow,
arrows, and axe, carried a file to sharpen the points of the arrows, a sieve,
• YoU't lUrco Polo, i. axS. t D*Ohnon, L 99s.
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jntOIS KHAH. 109
an awly needks and thread. The pidoed troops also earned aabros
sli|^y recurvedy and had their heada and body protected by leathern
annour covered with pieces of iron.
Marco Polo tells its that when going on a distant e^^editioa the
Mongols took no gear wi^ tern except two leatfaera bottles ioc milk, a
little earthen pot to cook their meat in, and a little toot to shelter them
(took the rain ; and in cases of great tugency they would ride ten days
on end without Ughtiag a fire or taking a meaL Qn such occasions they
would sustain themsdves OQ the blood of their horsesy opening a vein and
lettfaig the blood Jet into their moudis» drinking till they had bad enoqgh,
and then staunching it* A similar aocount is given by the Persian
historians.
Before attacking a country Jingis summoned its ruler to submit, in a
few stereotyped words. ** If you don't wabaiity" he said, ^who knows
what will happen, God only knows." Submission must be foUowed
by the giving of hostages, the surrender of ooo>tenth part of the produce
of the country, inchiding meUf and the accqptajioe of Moi^ governors.
These latter were generally crud and exacting, and soon reduced a
country which peaceably surrendered to the condition of the conquered.
In Penia the oonsequence of resistance was the general slaughter of
the garrison when captured. In China, probably throui^ the influence of
Yeliu Chntsai, these hecatombs were not fteqoent.
.Each es^Mdition was preceded by a KurikaiyOr general assembly of
princes of the blood and the military ohdefs ; then the time and mode of
attack were arrai^ped. Jingis oiganised a ^fslem of intdUgence and
espionage by whidi he generally knew wdl the internal condition of the
country he was about to attack. He intrigued with the discontented,
and seduced them by Cur promises. On attadcing a province he generally
divided his army into small bodies, invested the towns, and plundered
the country in all directions, compelling the peasants to do the heavy
woik of the siq^es. The Mongob ravaged and laid waste the country all
round the bigger towns, and they generally tried to entice a portion of the
garrison into an ambuscade. They built regular siege»works armed with
catapults ; the captives and peasants were forced to take part in the
assault ; the attack never ceased night or di^ ; relief of troops keepiqg
the garrison in perpetual terror. They employed Chinese and Persians
to make their war engines 1 they did not scruple to turn aside rivers to
overwhelm devoted dties, and supplemented the use of water by that of
Greek fire ; they were also skilled in mines. To ddude the garrison they
sometimes raised a siege, leaving their baggage and valuables behind,
only to return by a sudden countermarch as soon as the garrison was
lulled into security. They rarely abandoned the siege of a place
altogether, and wonki sometimes continue a bk)ckade for years. They
•YiWftMtfW Pols, 1.110.
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T lO HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
were bound hy no oatb, and however solemn their pronife lo the inhabit
ants who would surrender, it was broken, and a general massacre
ensued. It was their policy to leave bddnd them no body of people,
however submissive who might incoiiveniMice Iheir onmwjHnicarioos*
^ They gloried,* says the duonider ^^ncent, ^in the sknghter ef men ;
blood to them was spik as fredy as water. They employed lies and
deception to ddndethebr victims, and then destroyed thsm."* Theyhad
no honour and no chivalry, a rase to them was moie creditable than an
openfigfat. If a desperate enemy resisted btavdydiey would open their
ranks to let him escape^ until the disofder of retreat made the woik el
destruction easy« They generdly attempted to surround their enemies,
and as each man had several horses, could often weary them into defeat
They commenced ^bc attadc widi tiieir bows and arrows, and only used
their side arms to cc«nplete the victory. Their cavaby manoeuvred by
signals, and was very skOfolly handled: the coward and the plunderer
were equally pot to death.
In their expeditions the MongiA fmnamped to rest and recrait .their
horses for a Ibw months every year. Havinf laid waste a wide circle of
country round their camp, they then gave themselvea up to excess and
debauchery, waited upon by theiryovng and beautiltti captives, one of
vriiom, accordfaig to Vincent, ima chosen befofe his deadi by eadi warrior
to be buried alive with him. As die hard and dangerous work was done
by the prisoners and capthres, the lordly Mongols easily kept up didr
strength in the most distant coqpedidons.
In time of peace Jingis counsdled his soldiers to be quiet and gentle as
calves, but in war to rash on their enemies like hungry fidcons Idl on
their prey.
The following reads almost like the military oounsd of Napoleon ; in
speaking of hia generals he said: ^ There does not live a braver man
dian 'Yissutai,. no mardi can fiuigue him^ he feels neither thirst nor
hunger, and he thinks his soldiers ou|^ tK>belike hims^; this » why
he 14 not fit to command. It is aeoessary that ageneral should not be
insensible to either hunger or thirst, lor he oi^ht to be able to fed die
suflMngs of his army. His marches should be moderate^ and he ought
to feed wdl both his men and horaes.'* ^ What is the greatest happiness
hiBfe?^heonedayaskedhisgenerals« One anawutd for the rest : **To
go a hunting on a spring morning BBOunted on a beantiM horse, carrying
on your hand a good felcon and watdiing it seise its prey.* ''No,'*sakl
Jii^, *' the greatest pleasure is to vanquish your enemies, to chase them
before you, to rob them of their wealth, to see those dear to them bathed
in tears, to ridft dieir horses^ to dasp to your bosom their wives and
dau^iten.*t
The chase JingJBi held tobe the adboolof war,and he advised his sons to
«BfQteM»iaia tDX>hMo^i404.
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smon KHAN. Ill
^cndthtdneof peace in hnmiagt The fiMt Ifongal trintar bat was
nnie Uka a military eipiditkm than MytfUng dae^ Oiden vere gmn
to the difimnt tribes a aMmb^s jcmoMy off to cslSDd tfaemidvet mad
join OB to one anoter, luid tiusendoaeahiigeriBf $ tfie whole under
the orders of skiUedgsMfal% and dhrkkd into a lift and rif^wiof and
cantre; thegainewasdriftnhttoaneBdoaafeo£ti»oortfKee leagaesm
drcoit, made cf felt bmf en ceids. The Khan first emsred the rk^ with
his wives and soitcv and when he was toed of killing^ mtfaed to an ami-
acnoe inside the cordon and watdisd the great fbifftains bant; the wbole
concinded by a general ir ramhk of the oommdnalty. When only a &w
victims were kft, the old men came betee die Khan and betted diet
their lives migbt be spared to iHralsb mete spoit the neat year; ei^
days were thns consasMd in the general holiday*
Jii^ organised a postal service en the grand seale% to ft^iitnle tm-
vdleciy couriers^ and pnblic ettcers in their tmvels } the horsfiB»carriag>i»
and food were supplied by the inhabitsntt, and the sai<y of die road wm
protected by severe pottoe v^gnbaiona. For the first thne probsbly in the
history of Asia it wu poesibls to travd with perfoct si^ity actess tbs
steppes of T^irbestan.
l^his codeof bnvsdeadiwas awarded to the homkldi^ te catdt^
thie( die adokerer, and thoee who dealt in unnatural crimes. The
punishment fell upon those who for the diird time lost the
entrusted to their keqrfng^ those who concealed and harboured i^giUte
davesorlost good^dwse who did net retnr%if they feond theB^dle
arms o£ any who bad lost dism in combatydwee who employed witch-
ctaii to harm otherstdiose who intervened in a sii niggle between two
dian^loila Small diefts were punished with the bastinado^ and toftase
was fipsely used to fetce confession* In his code he pieeerved many curious
MipftilitlfWi notiflpi that the popular crsfd bad tanctifttdt Thositwas
forbidden to make water in a stream or on ashe% to have propa or legs to
ahouse^atable^oradiabrytowadi the handa In running waier. Itwas
forbidden to wash dodiesi whidi were to be used till wem eut; cooidng
and domestic vessds were not to be washed, and dils custom stiil pre-
vails, aceording to Ealla% among the Kahnaks/ who always dean these
artidss with dried grass or a piece of fidt Carpino tdb us diey would
nottoodifirewithaknife^ortake dwlr fiMjdwIth the same hnplement
out of a ketd^ or strike widi a hatchet near a fire. To break dieee
rules was to bring misfortune^ or to cause it to diunder, in die popidar
eyee, and no doubt, as IXObsson remarket die origin of the prohibition
was originally a fear of ofiending die dements. In kiOii^ an aalmal it
nust be laid on its bade, an incision made in its beDy, and the heact torn
out or squeexed with the band; this practke is stiU diat of the Kdmuks,
iriK» attribute its introduction to Jin|^ Khanrt Those who killed animah
•Samm. Hilt Nack, List. t lyPhiiBa. i. 4i» Woti. { PiOtt, ap. dU i. tal.
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113 HISTORY OF THE MONGOU.
fai tiM Ifwtahnln wmy iniifC themsehres be killed. The MongoU ivcie
ammdoof to the hut degree, thejr ont^r killed aninals whidi were sick or
wounded; their handty the chroniclers Vincent and Catpino say, were
afainys qpen to take and closed to give. They ate almost anything ; rats
or dogSy dcCf were readily consumed. Jingis enjoined upon them all
hospitality, tad at their feasts it was not permitted to refuse anyone to
join; the host must always taste the food before the guest (surely a
^vahmis notion to have been bom in the deseit)« He set his &ce
strong^ against the Mongol weakness oi drunkenness; ^ If you cannot
refrain, get drunk only three times a month,'' he said. ** It would be
better never to get drunk at all, but,* says the philosophic and ingenuous
pvcacher of temperance, ^idio can abstain altogether?**
Jingis counselled his sons to tolerate all creeds, telling them that it
mattered little to die Divinity how they honoured Him. He himself
believed in a Supreme Being, but he worriiipped the sun, and was like his
compatrioU, a Shamanist. He exempted from taxes the ministers of all
leligions^ the poor, doctors, and other wise men. The princes of the
bk>od addressed the Khan by his name, and in his orders, d^ikiiias, &a,
this name was unaccompanied by any honorary titles. His style was
simi^ and free from the nauseous rotundity and imagery of the Persians.
One of the secretaries of the Sultan Mohammed having entered his
servio^ he ordeied him one day to write to the refractory Prince of
Mosal in these terms: ** God has given me the empfa« of the wcild;
tiiose who submit and let my troops pass will save their lands, their
fet«ai<^^ and goods; the others, God knows what will happen, &c" The
aoeretary tsanslated this into the folsome phrases used by the Persians;
when thb was literally translated to Jingis he turned round in a rage and
said: ** You are a trailor, you have written this letter in such a manner
dttt the Prince pf Mosul will only be more stubborn and audacious,'*
and he put him to death.t
The laws of Jingis were written down by his orders in the Mong<rf
lai^tuage and in the Uighur character, which he had caused the young
Mongols to be taugiht. This code was called Ulang«Yassa. It, doubt-
less, like many other celebnaed codes which gained for their coo^iilers
the character of originators; embodied the gathered and matured wisdom
and rules of life that pcevailed among his people; and whMt he did was
probably little more than to stamp with express authority the traditional
and very ancient common-law code of the desert Copies of it were
preserved in the archives of his descendants, who omsuked them in all
difficult matters (no copy <rf it is apparently extknt, but many of its
clauses have been preserved by Raschid-ud-din, Alai-ud-din, in Macrisi^
^^ Description of Egypt,'' and by the chronicler Vincent). Jingis charged
his son Jagatai, who had the character of severity, to carry out his laws;
• D*QlM«m i. 4i«. t D'OhMOB, i. 4*^
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JIKOIS KHAN. 113
foresaw, aod it needed no very great instinct to see, what would happen
in one or two generations. ** My descendants," he said, "wiHdeck
themselves in brocaded robes, will feed on rich meats, ride splendid
horses, have beantiful wives, and they will not think of those to whom
they owe these good things."
If it be no small thing for any man to leave his footprint in the page
of history, his must surely have had an uncommon power who stamped
his mark so deeply and so lastingly on such a shifting, treacherous quag*
mire as the history of Asia, whose descendants ruled a very large portion
of it for so long, whose memory is still the theme of so many Sagas in
the ionely yurts of the scattered robbers of Central Asia; and whose
institutions, if they were really his, are still the best models for a
nomadic people to be ruled by. It may be that he and his followers
tramped over the fairest portions of the earth with the faggot and the
sword in their hands, forestalling most terribly the day of doom, and
crumbling into ruin many old civilisations. His creed was to sweep
away all cities, as the haunts of slaves and of luxury, that his herds
might freely feed upon grass whose green was free from dusty feet. It
does make one hide one's face in terror to read that from 121 1 to 1223
18,470,000 human beings perished in China and Tangut alone* at the
hands of Jingis and his followers : a fearful hecatomb, which haunts the
memory until one forgets the other features of the story. Yet although
a tabula rasa was created, a fresh story was also writ upon the page«
Nor must we forget, whatever creed we hold to, that whether it be by
pestilence or famine, or by the hands of such as Sesostris, Sennacherib,
Darius, Alexander, Caesar, Attila, Timur, Bonaparte, and their iflc, the
scourges of God seem inevitably to recur at intervab to purge the world
of the diseased and the decaying, the weak and the fisdse, the worn out
and the blas^ the fool and the knave.
That as surely as the winter scatters the leaves, so surely docs a time
come in human history when the fruits of human toil, the fairest it may
be that can be compassed by man, must be trodden under. The pelicans
and the storks that watch over the ruins of Mesopotamia, and a hundred
other such sites, are witnesses of our conclusion ; grim witnesses, too, of
the truth that ^blood and iron** is neither a new creed nor one invented by
Jingis Khan. It may be that in his hands we see the steel more bright
and keen ; that he did not hide his work under the fantastic guise that
he was a champion of freedom, or of tome other fine sounding pretence.
It is natural we should revolt against being worshippers of the wolfish
natures that are tent at times to fill the chamel-hoose of history with
bones ; but if we mete equal justice to the breed, and raeasore them not
so much by the ruin they created as by what they placed in die vDid.
If we measure them by their opportunities, their antecedents, and ti^eir
• Wolff, ni.
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114 HISTORY Of THC UONOOLS.
aimt» ami not by the feeble esthetic standard some poets have created by
which to discriminate between the destroyers of mankind, we shall find
Jingis Khan towering head and shoulders ab«ve most of the rest While
as to his thirst for blood, and the greedy draughts he took of it, we must
wait for an excuse, till the great day comes when men shall know why
suffering and misery are permitted at all, and why it has been allowed
to so many men, who have been styled great by their followers, to put
their heels upon the accommodating neck of humanity, as if it had been
created to become their victim.
tloU: I.— The Nine Orloks.— These celebrated chieftains who
accompanied the fortunes of Jingis from his early days to his da}rs of
prosperity, and whose military talent is as remarkable as that of the bevy
of marshals who were the proUgis of Ns^leon I,, are thus enumerated :
I. Kuluk Bughurdshi, of the tribe Arulad ; he was the captain over the
rest. At first he was a serving man, then rose to be Gesiktu, /.^., captain
of the advanced guard of the archers ; then Emir Gesik, ue.^ commander
of that body; then Emir Tuman, /./., chief of 10,000 men ; and lastly,
Kiwang, or Grand Prince. He styled himself the unerring, and said of
himself : '* When the cry of the raven is &lse and misleading, then am I
not taken in and led astray ; when the grave-bird croaks unmeaningly,
my head and brain remains clear; when the dust rises from the earth, or
the mist comes down from heaven, I don't lose my way. Thence men
call me the unerring.''* 2. Bughurul, of the tribe of Uguskin. 3.
Shurkan Shireh, the Torghon Shaara of Schmidt, of the tribe Suldus; he
saved his master's life when the latter escaped from the Taidshuts {^ide
anU), 4, Mukuli Behadur, the conqueror of Northern China. He is
called Go Mukuli by Schmidt, and was of the Jelair tribe. 5. Giepe, the
pursuer of Muhammed, the Dschebe or Sebe of Schmidt. He belonged
to the Yissud tribe. 6. Subutai Behadur, the companion of Chepe. He is
the Tso Mergen of Schmidt, who says he belonged to the Jurjid tribe.
7. Chelme.Oho, i,e., the bold robber, the con^anion of Jingis's first
expedition, whose two sons were the leaders of the right and left
wings of title body guard. He belonged to the Uriangkuts. 8. Shiki
Kuttu, of the Tartar tribe. And lastly, Kara Kiragho, of the Uirat
tribe-t
Note 2.— The army of the Mongols consisted of very heterogeneous
elements; each conquered nation supplied its contingent, and the Mongol
element proper in the army was probably largely exceeded in numbers by
the Turkish one. The former, however, was treated as the mainstay of
the nation, and in the distribution of his forces among his relatives, by
"> Von Himmtr't UUum, L so.
t SduBidft 8MBaiicS«ts«i,9Si. Von Homnor^ Illdinns, tjo
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JINGIS KHAN. 115
Jingis, this alone b named. The great bulk of it, with the Mongol natl^
a^nd the Mongol country, was left to Tolui, the hearth-chikL The fol-
lowing tabular statement contains an enumeration and account of the
distribution of the Mongol army : •»*
1. The Imperial life guards, called the great Ordu ; this was
1,000 men strong, and was commanded by Utsheghan, a
Tangut by nation, and an adopted son of Jingis. The
various couriers, runners, messengers &c., belonged to
this body • 1,000
2. The Centre, under Tului - 101,000
3. The Right Wing, under Bughurdshi Noyan 47)000
4. The Left Wing, under Mukuli Guyaneg S^iOoo
5. The Contingent of Juji Khan - 49OOO
6. The Contingent itfjagatai Khan 4,000
7. The Contingent of Ogotai Khan — 4f00o
8. The Contingent of Gulgan - 4»ooo
9. The Contingent of Utsuken Noyan ....• 5,000
la The Contingent of the sons of Juji Kassar 1,000
11. The Contingent of Ildshidai Noyan 3,000
12. The Contingent of the Empress Ulun Egeh 3,000
13. Supernumeraries • i>ooo
230,000
N0U 3.— I have followed Ssanang Setzen in calling the first wife of
Jingis, Burte Judshin. I am reminded by Colonel Yule that other
authorities call her Burte Fudshin, and I may add that D*Ohsson
expressly says that Fudshin (or Fou gm, as he writes it) was the title
given by the Chinese Emperors to those of their wives who ranked imme-
diately after the Empress.t
* Brdmanii, 446. t D*Oh«oa, L 417.
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CHAPTER IV,
OGOTAI AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
OGOTAI KHAN,
AFTER the burial of Jingis Khan his sons and descendants
dispersed to their several governments, and during a space of
two years there was no supreme ruler among them. Tului, the
youngest, who, according to Mongol custom retained his father's portion
and ruled specially over the Mongols proper and the Keraits, acted as
regent. But in the spring of 1229 a Kuriltai, or general assembly of the
chiefs, was summoned by Tului to elect a chief Khan. After three days
spent in festivity they proceeded to the business of the meeting. Tului
was pointed out for the post by the suffrages of many, while Tagatai, as
the oldest surviving son of Jingis, was the heir according to Mongol rules
of inheritance ; but the will of Jingis was paramount, and Ogotai had been
named for the post by his father. After forty days' hesitation his reluctance
was overcome. We are told he was conducted to the throne by his
brother Jagatai and his uncle Utjuken, and that while Tului presented
him with the cup, (he rest, both inside and outside the tent, with heads
uncovered, prostrated themselves nine times, according to the ancient
Chinese ceremonial, and saluted him with the title of Kaan. (Kaan is a
contraction for Khakan, a title which Ogotai and his successors bore to
distinguish them from the rulers Of the three other branches of the house of
Jingis.*) Ogotai then came out of his tent and made three solemn genu-
flexions to the sun, in which he was followed by his people ; and the day
concluded with festivities. The oath of allegiance sworn by the other
princes is thus given by the chroniclers, ** We swear that so long as there
remains of thy posterity a morsel of flesh which thrown upon the grass
will prevent the cows from eating, or which put in the fat will prevent the
dogs from taking it, we will not place on the throne a prince of any other
branch.*f
Ogotai now distributed the treasures collected by his fether among the
grandees ; he ordered that during three daysi rich meats should be offered
' ' ' » ■ ■■ I. Ill 1^1 I I I ■■
* D'OhMon op. dt., ii. zx. t D'OhMon. U. xa. Von llammtr*t Golden Hordo. 98.
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OOOTAI KHAN. II7
to M nuiMs, and having chosen forty of the fiuvest daughters of his
sobjecu, he, in die words of Raschkl, sent them to wait upon Jingis Khan
in the other world ; with them perished many richly caparisoned horses.
He tlwn pcDoeeded to organise his vast enqpire, a task in which he was
greatly assisted by YeUu Chutsai, the faithful friend of Jingis Khan,
whose iniuence in dvilistng the Mcmgols was so great that he deserves a
short notice. He was bom in 1 190 in the country of Yan, and belonged
to the royal stock of the Khitans, who founded the Liau dynasty. He
was an able astronomer and composed some tables named Mathapa, in
whidi he followed the Mussulman and not the Chinese system. He was
also a proficient in geography and arithmetic When the Mongols cap*
tured Peking, Ydiu Chutsai was its governor^ and in the great conqueror's
Ufo I have described his honest answer when Jingis attadced his old
•overcign, and how the Mongol chief took him into his service as an
astrologer. He predicted the overthrow of the empire of Khuarenn and
of te Kins, and was consulted by Jingis on many occasions : one
instance will sufike to show the kind of stones told of him. During
Jingis's Indian campaign, he one day saw an animal like a deer, with a
hotse's tail, a green body, and a single horn. This animal could speak,
and cried out to the Emperor's guards that their master ought to retire in
all haste. Jingis consulted Chutsai, who told him the animal was called
Kiotuan ; that it understood all languages ; that it abhorred carnage ;
and its coming was to warn him that if he was the son of heaven, the
peoples were also liia chikiren, and heaven was loth that he should
sfamghter them. Dnriag a great epidemic he is said to have saved
10,000 lives by his knowledge of drugs^ the chief one beii^ the rhubarb sc
much used in Chintse medicine ; and it was by his influence that a more
temperate poMcy began to be inaugurated among the Mongols^ and, in
Eastern phrase, the '* wind of carnage began to abate." He now urged
upon Ogotai that, although his ea^m had been conquered on horseback,
it ooold not be governed so* He anai^ed the etiquette of the court and
dre order of precedence of ^ several princes ; he restrained the absolute
and afbitmry power of the Mongol govemorsi and established fonns of
procedure wfaidi they were bound to folbw. The annual taxes were
fixed; the Chinese wen to pay silver, sUk, and graiiv&c. DeMaUlasays
tiie tax was fiattd at a tithe of wiae^ being a luxury, and a thirtieth of other
mtkles, and custonnhQuses were appointed for collecting it ; Ogotai also
ioihnde die receipt «f presents by si^mor officials iram inieriocs, that
constant source of corruption in the East,* The Chraese paid so much for
eadt house, whik the nomadss paid yeiuriy a hundredth part of their homes
and cattle. In their case the levy wa« not made per house, but so nmdi
for each adult male. Public granaries were establishedf and aho a system
of pasting. At the beginning of 1932 the conquers from the Kin (Ig^
•0»Msiil8,te.tS9.
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Il8 HISTORY or THB MONGOLS.
China north of the Ydkm RtferX i>r«e dhricUd into ten depsrtme&lSi
each with its own administration ; and tins after Uie i»lan of the Chhiese
philosc^her Kungts^.
The Mongols now proceeded to eomfMe the r)Mrolcon<iiiest marked
oat by Jingis Khan. The IQn Emperor had, in 1229^ sent ofienngs for
the mams of that conqaeror, but they were refused. Notwithstanding
the death of Jingis, a dcsukory war had been continned with the Kins.
In I2a8 the Chhiese won tiieir first victory for eii^iteen years over the
Mongds.
The latter had entered the district of Ta-tchang-yuen with 8^000 men.
A Chinese commander named Wanien-tdiin-ho-diang opposed them,
with an advance guard of 400 cuirassiers composed of deserters and
vagabond Chinese, Uighurs, Maneis (/./., the mountameers of Suchuan),
Thit>etans, Thu-ku-hoan, &c Desperate characters, they fought des-
perstel}', and alUiough so greatly outnumbered, they completely
defeated the enemy.* In 1250 the Kin troops again defeated the Mongols
in two email engagements, and a Mongol envoy who had been imprisoned
was sent back with an insulting message. Ogotai and his brother Tului
now determined to press the war against the Kins in person. Having taken
several strongfaokls in Shansi they crossed the Yellow River into Shen^,
where they capture sixty places in which tut Kins had garrisons, and
conquered the country between Tong tcheu and Hoa tche. They
then proceeded to attadc Fong-tsiang-fu, whidi offered a bcave resistance
The Kin Emperor sent two officers to relieve it, and ordered diem to take
a portion of the garrison of the celebrated fortress of Tung kuan with
them. With this they attadrad the Mongols, the result was not decisive;,
but the Kin generals retired. The garrison held out bravely and repulsed
an assault, and the Mongol general Antchar at length converted the siege
into a blockade. He then proceeded to capture Ping leang. Si ho tcheu.
King yang. Pin yuen, ftc, towns of Shen-si, and eventually compdled Fong
tsiangto sunender.t OgOtai, who had remained in Pehchehli, now retired
northwards topiiiss thesommer heau at tiie Lake Ihm Ussun, fifty leagnes
nordi of the Great Wafi, n^iere he held a Kuriltai, to decide upon the plan
of campaign to beadc^ed against the Kin.t
Shensi was now in the power of the Mongols, and the dominion of
the Kin emperors was restricted to the province of Honan--a province
bounded and protected^ die north by the Ydlow River and ea the west
by high mountsins and the fortress of Ttog kuan. On tte south it
was bounded by the Sung empire^ and on tins side it was acoessiUe.
}fa^8, in the pUn that he had sketdied before his death, had advised his
sons to make a wide dftour, turning the northern and western barncn ef
Honan, and to invade that province fbom the south.
•D«ll«mi,lz.S90- DX>k«oa,iLt7. tDtlfiaUa, 140^x41. D'Obnoa, ii. if, m.
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OOOCAI KHAK. II9
Thk pto imcBmHmni ayuchiiif toDngfa a part ol tlie tentocy mbjcci
to tltt Sag djntqr, and ^ Koiifols «dit aa envoy to aik pemiitsMmy
bwtliitiiuwioaiwi>gaipacltd«ttdliewitpqttodc«di This treidieravs
act graady wiipilied the Moflfola, lAow aJfiuiot had beea courted
by tltt Saag aadwtides, aad kwas nadtteptetoct eveatnally for the
dcsUuctkHi Off tiuit eBpin.*
TaM eet oat ftw Pa»4d, a town of Sheoii, niae lei«aet a W. «r FoN^
riani^ widt 50^000 hnffwiwn, to tarn the wettcni drfciwii of Ho-aaik Ho
had learnt fima hb^Hfaer die policy of nidileif dertrndion» and he warn
pot it fai force ■neicneaiiy. Do MaiUa deecribce hoar he liaugfatciod
poof^ by the hondred thonwind.t Ho ndfanced acioet the Hiu
noitntaiBfly whkdi isnn the nalofehed botwoea the riren Han and Hoeif
and weio die boondary between die Kin and die Sang en^piKs« He then
entered npon die wnde 01 die Mtter empiiey captaiod naay citiea ootn in
ioodiem Shend and noftfaem So-^aan. In Janaaryi I359» he appeared
on the river Han, and after a empfiilng mardi through mwintahi defiles
and dangere in die provincoof Sa-cfaaaayhif troops at lengdi paaeed
the gorge of U sin iBoan, and appeared in Soathem Honaii4 MeamHiile
Ogotai advanced agafaist the Km en^^ from thoaerth. He kid siege
to Ho Chung (Pou chau la), a toera sitaated ia the extreme sooth of
Shansi, and close to iSbe Ydkm River. Do MalUa says te Mongob
employed towers 900 flwt hi^ Diade of pine woody ivfaeace dhey could see
the doings of die garrison, and on wUch diqr planird their artfllery,
while their appers broke into the walls. The town was captured in
albitnight» and soon after Ogotai eroased the YoQow River at Baipo^ near
Botsinghien.! Tuhd ooatianed hb mardi. He crossed the river Han«
The Kin generals, widi an amy friuch is pot by s(»ae as high as ifo^ooo,
merdied agsittst him. A fieree fight easoed at the mountain Yo, near
Teag dian, nine leagues S.W. of Nan yaag ft^ in the province of Honan.
Hot only bad the Kin army die advantage of numben and posidoB, but
die Mongob would seem to have boon much harassed and reduced by
their long march. The residt was not tevouiable to them, and they
retired. They would probably have beea annJhitotecl but for the over-
confidence of the Kin generals, who thought they had them in a trap, the
Ydbw Rivernot being ftasea over. Their spies meanwhile veported that
^ Mongob tmd retired behind a wood of Junipers, that they ate and
resled during the day, but were on honebadc and vigilant daring the night.
They avoided a geneml cogageaMnt, hot managed to capture a portioB of
the enemy < baggage. Meanwhile the struggle at die Yu mountain seems
to lovre been exaggerated at the court of the Kin Emperor into a
substantial victavy. "Ae Kmpeixir received congratulations from the
various maadarina, and gave a grand foasti
[, tt. 01. t Ov* cH., ti. t4S. t !>• MaUli. ix. I4S-4.
la'oiHMa^u.is. D«iiiink,iiux4». IyOta«oi^n.fls.
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I20 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
The various armies of the Mongtds were now converging upon the
doomed ci4>ital of the Kin. The army of Tului separated into several
bodies, whidi overran a large portion of Honan, and rendezvoused at
Teng chau, whence it proceeded to rejoin Ogotai. The Kin generals now
gave orders that the sluices of the Yellow River should be cut and the
country round the capital be laid under water; but it was too late, Ogotai
had already crossed the river and cut in pieces the lo/wo workmen who
were sent to sever the dykes.* Tului having rejcHned his bi'otlier at the
mountain Sang fong, near Yu*chau,t the Mongols surrounded the Kin
army, which, seeing itself lost, gave vent to cries like a mountain in
labour. They in despair made a desperate effort to cut their way out,
and many of them succeeded in escaping to Kiun chan, but their respite
iras short ; the town was besi^^, a deep ditch was dug about it so that
none might escape^ and it soon after felL The glory of its capture and
of the defeat of the Kin troops was chiefly due to Tului. Most of the
distinguished generals of the empire were either captured or kiUed ; they
showed the usual dignity and intrepidity which distinguished their
race.
The death of three of them had an heroic character. " Conduct me,"
said Khada. " to Subutai " (the great Mongol commander). '* ThoU| who
hast not a moment to live,^ said the latter ; *^ what dost thou want widi
n^e?** '" It is heaven and not chance," was the reply, ** that creates
heroes. Having seen thee, I die without r^pret ;'' and he was killed.
Wanien Shengho-shang, on being brought before Tului himself^ thus
addressed him : *' I am the victor of Ta-chang-yuan, of Wei-chau, and of
Tao-hoi-goa; if I had perished in the confusion of retreat they would
have called me traitor: they will now see how I dare die.'' No pressure
could humble his phrases : he had his feet hacked off and his mouUi
gagged, but he died like a hero ; and the astonished Mongols drank to
him in kumiss, saying, '* lilustrious warrior, if ever thou retumest to life
again, range thyself with us." The third general, Ira Buka, died equally
constant When pressed to join the Mongds, be said, '^ I am a noble of
the Kin empire. I ought to be faithful to my sovereign.''^ NMuse
oblige assuredly is a fine sentiment at such a crisis. He was also
executed. The Mongols now proceeded to capture various towns of
Honan, among which may be named those of Hiu chau and Sui chau.
The Kin Emperor summoned the various garrisons of the eastern
fortresses to come to his assistance. These now ass^nbled under Tochan
Utten, the commander of Yen Mang, on the Yellow River, to the number
of 110,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry, and marched along the banks of
the Hoang ho, escorting 300 barges with several hundred thousand
measures of grain from the eastern def>6ts; but on die news that the
Mongob were advancing against them they were seised with panic, and
» D« MftllU* ix. x5i. t D« MattU, Ix. 153. : WK»mm, U. fl9-
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OOOTAI KHAM. Ut
retiitdt wkh a vast munber of ftigkiTet» towards the high mountains of
Thie-linf. The old nun and diiklren who lagged behind were
sUoghtered hf die Mongols, while the soldiery, drifcn to ba/ by die firoet
and tuaiuft, were forced to snrrenderi and one of didr generals, Wanien
Cbttnsi, was killed.
To add to the misfortunes of the Kin empire, die celebrated fortress of
Tnng kuan, the buttress and key to Honan on the west, was treacherously
surrendered by its conmiander li ping;* but the Mongols were not
untfocmly successfuL They strove in vain to capture KuM fb, whose
feeble garrison was not to be intimidated into surrender either by threats
or caiolery ; while another town of Honan. namdy, Lo yang, made even
a more heroic defence. Its garrison consisted of only 3,000 or 4,000 men.
After several days' bombardment the Mongols made a breach in the
eastern an|^ of the wall, when the governor, fencying the pkM:e was lost
and anwflling to survive, direw lumself into die ditdi and was drowned,
upon whidi the garrison elected a new commander, a most intiepid man,
named Kiang chin. The garrison was reduced to 2,500 men. He had a
number of standards made and hung over the walls, so as to deceive the
enemy and make-bdieve he was stronger than he really was. He
adopted a system of mutual supports inside the waUs, and mardied himself
at die head of several hundred picked men to repulse the various assaults.
The war cry of die garrison was Han ts^ kiun, $*e., ** Cowards, retire!*
When iron fidled them for arrow heads they made them out of copper
money ; they collected those shot by the Mongok, and made four heads
out of each one they collected. These they shot out of tubes. He also
invented new lands of pao, /.#., artillery, which could be served by a few
men, and fired huge stones for a hundred paces with great precision. The
Mongols were at length wearied out, and after an attack of three mondis*
during which they ddivered more than 150 assaults, they raised the siege,
aldiough their army was 30,000 strong.t
Ogotai assigned to his great general Subutai, the hero of so
many campaigns, the task of capturing Pian-king (now Kai-fong-fu),
dien the Nanking or southern capital of the Kins. This dty yrzs
a vast square, twdve leagues in circumference. Ogotai, who wished
to pass the heats in the desert, sent an envoy to ask the Kin
Enqperor to surrender. The fiKvours he demanded showed the increasing
Culture of the Mongols. He asked for the Academician Cha(^>ii^-wen, a
descendant of Confiidus called Kung-yuan-tsu, and several other learned
men : he bade him send him as hostages girls skilled in embroidery and
men in hawking. These terms were accepted by the Kin Emperor ; but
meanvdiile Subutai ignored the negotiadons: he constructed his catapults,
and thousands of captives— women^ children, and old people— were
employed in filUng the ditch widi fiisdnes and straw. The Emperor
•p«llaiUa.ii.i^ tOMUl,<l-9.
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122 HISTORY OF THB MONGOLS.
wcrald not for a long time allow his people to reply, bat his patience at
length gave way. We are told the cannonade fiom the bamboo catapults
was kqpt up ni|^t and day, and the towers on the walls were reduced to
ruins. The besteged cased these in with hides and straw, upon iHiich the
Mongob made use of inflammable material, thrown by balistas ; but the
wall itsdf was firm as faraau
The stone ballets nsed by tiie garrison were made of stone from the
mountain Ken yo and the lakes Tai hou and Ling-pi, all in the Sung
territoiy; they were made ot the shape of a round lantern. Those of the
Mongols were more irregidar and madeof nullstones,cut in half or in three
pieces. One of their catapults (Tsoantcltu) was built up of thirteen pieces
of bamboo * Their siege works wete on a gigantic scale. They built a
huge rampart or wall about tiie city, 150 U in drcuit, with guard-houses
containing 100 soldiers at every forty paces. On this they planted towers,
&C., of wood, onnresponding to those of tha besieged. The besi^ed
used a land of bombshells called Tchin tien 1^, which they fired from
Mangoneb <xr balistas, and also let tiiem dowi\ with chains upon the
Mongol sappers. They i^so employed a kind of burning rockets called
Fei ho tsiang, which caused terrible wounds.t
After sixteen days* siege, in which a million of men are said to have
perished, Subotai, despabring of capturing the place, offered to retire if the
Kins would come to terms with the Khakap. He did retire as far as the
Ydlow River. In the succeeding Aondi an epidemic broke out in the Kin
ciq>ital: 90p,ooocofflns were comted, without enumeratingthoseof the very
poor who had none t While negotiations were going on for peace, a
Mongol chief was killed in a riot in the city, and the Kin Emperor
foolishly took into his service a Mongol general who had deserted. He
was received with great honour, and created Prince of Yen, but his
treachery was q>eedily rewarded, for the Mongols seized and slaughtered
aU his £unily without regard to age or sex.§ Disgusted by these acts,
Ogotai ordered the negotiations for peace to be broken off and the si^ge
to be once more pressed. The Mongols invested the chief approaches to
the capita^ while the armies that came to the rescue of the Kin Emperor
dispersed at the si^^ of the besiegers. Famine b^^an to appear in the
diy, and Ninldassu, the Emperor, determined to abandon it He left
bdiind him his wives and children, and escaped with some troops beyond
the Yellow River, where he tried to raise the provinces, but his troops
were everywhere beaten or scattered, and the city, whose hopes were
kq>t up by the expectation that the Emperor would speedily inflict a
tdHng defeat on the bedding army, b^an to despair.
Its inhabitants suffered terribly from want ; houses were destroyed to
obtain firewood, while men ate the corpses of their wives and children.
•]>«]CidUa,tA4. tDeMailU,Op.dt.,ix.x66^. J GmWI.TS.
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OOOTAI KUAM. 123
During this teniUe period, a rebd commander, Tsmlit seized upon the
chief authority: he IdUed several of the other generals, and then entered
into nq^tiations with Suhutai. He sent him the Imperial jewds, and the
sUte rohes of the Emperor and Empress: he also bamt the defensive
structures on the city walls, to show his submission. He then ordered
that everybody should surrender his jewels and valuables, and a terrible
scene of pilU^ and slaughter ensued, during which, according to De
Mailla, in less than seven or e^ht days more than a million coffins were
seen to leave the city by its difierent gates. Tsuili ordered the Empress
to write to her husband that all was lost and that he must sutaiit, and sent
the message by the Emperor's nurse. He then placed the two enyresaes
and all the princes and princesses of the Kin Imperial &mily, to the
number of 500, in thirty-two carriages, and sent them to Suhutai, who was
encamped at Tsing-cheng. The princes were killed, while the prinoetses
were sent on to Karakorum: he also sent to the Mongols a descendant of
Confucius, and many jurists, priests, doctors, artists, embroiderers,
comedians, &c. He then <^>ened the gates, and the Mongols marched in.
Subutai demanded from the Khakan that, as the town had not sur-
rendered when summoned, but had cost the Mongols much blood, after
the practice of Jingis it should be given up to pillage ; but the better
counsels of Yeliu Chutsai prevailed, and Ogotai ordei^ it to be spared,
and only those members of the royal funily who bore the soubriquet
Wanien to be killed. Besides the garrison, the number of people
saved by the entreaties of Yeliu Chutsai on this occasion (in which he
urged upon the Emperor the value to him of the artisans, &C., &c, who
lived in Kai fong fii) was 1,400,000 fomilies.*
Soon after this, Temutai, a Mongol general, who was laying siege to
the town of Po-chau, was treacherously attacked by Kuannu, a general of
the Kin Emperor's, when he was having negotiations with the latter.
The Mongols were beaten, and suffered severely ; and Kuaimu was
appointed generalissimo. He seized the reigns of government, and left
the Emperor merely the shadow of authority ; the latter soon grew weary
of the surveillance, and had him assassinated.
Wushan, another of the Kin generab, had assembled an army ai
70,000 men in the south of Honan, where the Emperor Ninkiassu set
out to join him ; but meanwhile Wushan was attacked by the army of
the Chinese Emperor of the Sung dynasty, who had entered into an
alliance with Ogotai against the Kins.
This attack was made with great vigour; Wushan, or Usien as De
Mailla calls him, was forced to take refuge in the mountains of Ma teng,
where he took possession of nine forts. The Chinese troops pressed their
advantage, and with such vigour that seven of these forts were o^ured
in six days. They pursued Usien among the defiles and recesses of the
* DeM«m«,ix. 188.
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124 HISTORY OP THE MONGOLS.
mountains^ and having again fought with him» compelled him to become
a fugitive, and then retired towards Siang yang.*
Meanwhile the Mongols continued their successes ; they captured Lo
yang, which made a brave resistance, but one of its gates was treacherously
surrendered by the officer in diarge. The commander of the town,
Kiang chan, who had so distinguished himsdf the year before, refused
to surrender, and, covered with wounds, was taken before Tachar,
the Mongol commander, who would have gladly enlisted such a
hero in the Mongol ranks, but he refused, and turned towards
the south to salute the Kin Emperor ; he was put to death. Mean-
while Ninkiassu, the Emperor, had been pressed by one of his generals
in the south to march towards him, and to take shelter at Tsai-chau, a
town of Southern Honan. He now set out escorted by only 300 men,
of whom only fifty were mounted. He was well recdved by the people,
and named Wanian Huchahu, a prince of the Royal family, and of great
repute for his wisdom, comnander*in-chief, and first minister. The Emperor
was a weak person, and as the Mongols did not pursue him very closely
he b^an to grow lethargic in his new refuge, collected a harem of young
giris, and made himself a pleasure garden, &c.t His fiuthful general
pressed upon him the indecency of the proceeding, and he altered his
behaviour. Huchahu collected a force of 10,000 cavalry. The presence
of the court and of this force made Tsai-chau the resoit of a vast crowd
of fugitives, and it began to be feared that there would be a famine. The
Emperor thereupon wrote to the Sung Emperor lA tsong, to ask him to
send some provisions. He drew his attention to the fovours he had
during his reign done the Sung, and bade them beware of the Mongols,
that after destroying forty kingdoms, and the empire of Hia, they were
now uprooting that of the Kins, and that their turn would follow, and he
urged upon them the Chinese proverb that when the lips are gone the
teeth are no longer protected from the cold ; but the message was all in
vain«| Meanwhile the Mongols were dose at hand. They invested
Tsai-chau under the command of Tachar, a son of the Noyan Burgul, a
favourite general of Jingis. With them were 20,000 Chinese sent by the
Sung Emperor, who also sent 300,000. sacks of rice to provision the
besieging army. In two months the famine inside was so excessive that
they began to eat human flesh ; everybody, indudihg women, were armed
and did duty, and the defence was continued with great energy.
Near the town there was a deep lake, raised fifty or sbcty feet above the
river Jou ; in its midst was a tower called Chaitan, in which the Kins had
placed a garrison. It was deemed impregnable, not only because of the
depth of the lake, but because it was guarded by a dragon, while its
lower storey was protected by cross-bows. Mong-kong, the commander
of the Song contingent, caused the lake to be drained into the rivtr Jou,
•Dt lf•inl^ix.X94• tDtlCUUA»ix.X97. tD«ICai]la«ix.X99
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OOOTAl KHAN. laS
then making a road with fiudnes acrots its bottom, and amidst a storm of
arrows, the fort was attadced and stormed : 537 prisoners were captured.
This outwork having hXitn, the main siege was pressed. The town was
surrounded by two lines of fortifications ; after a vigorous assault the
confederated Mongols and Chinese captured the exterior one. Ninkiassu
saw that his time was drawing near. He deplored, we are told, the fate
which made him, who had neither great vices nor faults, have to suffer
the fate awarded to the most wicked princes. Death had only one terror
for him, namely, that as he was the last of a dynasty which had flourished
for 100 years, he might be confounded with those princes whose ill deeds
had put an end to their empires. Most of them had mourned in captivity
or suffered from the public scorn ; heaven knew he had a resolution which
would prevent him reaching that depth. The besieged, according to
D'Ohsson, were reduced to the pass of boiling all their leather articles,
saddles, bottles, old drums, Ac ; thty made soap with human bones
mixed trith those of animals and with greens ; they ate the old, the
infirm, the wounded, and the prisoners. The Mongols made an ineffectual
assault, which however caused the besieged a heavy loss. The night
af^er, the Emperor abdicated in favour of Wanien Chinglin, brother of
Wanien Baksan, a prince of the blood, who descended directly from
Horipu. He gave him the Imperial seal, telling him that his own stout-
ness prevented him riding on horseback and escaping, but that he was
more nimble and might be fated to restore the fortunes of the house.
But it was too late, the Mongols and Chinese were already on the walls
while the ceremony of inauguration was going on. Ninkiassu now entered
a house which was surrounded by bundles of straw, and having given
orders that it should be fired, hanged himself. The intrepid Huchahu
said he would not die by a plebeian hand, and now that it was useless to
continue the struggle he woukl drown himself in the ditch. His example
was followed by four other general officers and 500 soldiers; another
examine of that heroic devotion which was so characteristic of the sup-
porters of the Kin dynasty. The attendanU of Ninkiassn had bardy
time to pour the libations on the corpse when the Mongols rushed into
the city ; the body was burnt, and the bones, with such of the Imperial
ornaments as were to be found, were divided between the conquerors.
Chinglin was soon after assassinated by his soldiers. Thus ended the
dynasty of the Kins, which had lasted for 118 years, and daring the reign
of nine princes.
The various towns in Honan, &e^ all now surrendered to the Mongob»
except Kungchangfii in Shensi. The Song Emperor cdebnted the victoiy
with great rejoicings, and ofiered op some of the ashes and the spoUs of
Nmldasstt to the manes of his own ancestors.* The foil of the Kin
dynasty, took place in May, 1234. The Khakan and his bfocber
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126 HISTORY or THE MOMOOLS.
Tttlui had dghtem moaths bdbic retired from China and gone to
Mongolia. There OgoCai feD ill» and we are told by Raachid that
his brother Tuku approadicd tte bed, and ndaing aloft the wooden
vessel in which the Shamans had pkced their consecrated liquor, he
thus addressed his God, ^ Great CM^. eternal being, if thou punishest
according to aun's gmh, thou knowcst that I am more culpable
than he; 1 have killed more people in war, 1 have harried more
women and children, I have made more tears to flow fjnom £iuhers and
mothers ; if thou summonest one of thy servants because of his beauty
or merit, 1 still claim to be more wordiy ; take me in the place of Ogotai
and make his disease pass into me.** Ogotai recovered, and Tului soon
after died, Juveni says, chiefly fttim excessive drinking ; he had been
the iavovnte son of Jingis, and was only forty years old when he expired in
October, laja* According to custom, his name was no longer pronounced
after his death. Tului in Mongol means '^mirror," and the Turkish
synonym for the word, vis^ gtitgugu^ was eradicated from the language.
He was referred to as the Great Novan/
While the Kin empire was being conquered, the Mongols were extending
Ibetr empire in the West. The retreat of Jingis Khan had left Persia
almost a desert Of the three sons of the Kbuarenn Shah Muhammed,
Jdal-ud-din was a fugitive in India; and Roku-ud-dia had been killed by
the Mongola. The third, Ghiath-ud-din, who had taken rehige in Masau*
deran, marched on the retreat of the Mongols upon Ispahan, and was
speedily maHer of hac Adjem, Khorassan, and Mazenderan. Jehd-ud-
chn having won conaderable fiune in India, and married the daaghter of
Ihe Sultan of Delhi^ determined to cross the Indus and recover his
hereditary dominions. On his long march from the Indus many of his
men died from ftoigue^ 4^, and he arrived in Kerman with only 4,000
men. Here he was well received by Bocak, an illustrious man, a Kara
Kitagptn by bMi, who founded ^le dynasty of the KarakiUyens of
Kerman Having married a daughter of Borak and received his sub-
mission, Jekd pasaed into Fait, where an independent dynasty had long
reigned nnder the name of Salgarids. It was now represented by the
Atabcig Saad, whose friendship Jelal secured by marrying his daughter.
He then advanced into Irak, where his brother reigned, or rather made a
pretence of reigning. A weak and voluptuous prince, he was barely
aduM>wled|^ by his dependents, and was at the mercy of his mercenary
troops. He was, however, surrounded by a considerable aimy, and Jdal
teeing no chance of defeating it, had recourse to deception ; he feigned to
be only marching to be near his brother, and without any other ambitioas
motive* Qdath was deoetvedt upon which Jelal proceeded to cecmpt hit
tropps, and succeeded to well that hit brother fled. The aatlnricy «f
Jeiakndrdin wat tpeedily acknowledged* The
ii.«r. OcaM|,n«
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OOOTAI JOUM. IS7
tdvei wMi thtett about tbdr iie^ aad atkod hit paidooi aad Yuiaas
iBdipcndeiit pnncM wbd iitd tpiung 19 dwriin ^tut If M||pot tnntblet In
KlMaMU^ Mttcadenm, aad Ink, an cune aad dkl booM^t.*
JekTs fint exploit irtMi he was tenly tetfltd ontlie Uvow was an
attack on UieKha^ of Bafhdady the enonqrof hie ftthv and fiani-
firther, whom he accased of havinf caled in ^ Mcngob. He knraded
Khmiftan^ which with Irac Aicb Ibnned the appanege of die J
and hiid siege to its diief town^ Tosiler. The JThsHph gave the <
mand of his troops to KiwhrimBr, and sent a pigeon eiptess to the Prince
of Aihil to come to his support J^4 iJthwigh y/my iafcriorin sUmgth,
won a victary; Kiwhfinwr was kffled, and hie troops pmsoed to iHm
nei^boiuhood of Baghdad. Haviag taken the town ef Dakaka, he
tamed aside from his intentions agatest the Khaliph while he subdued
AieriMidjaay dien gorerned by the Atabeg Usb^ a dinhken boor. Jdal
took its capted,Tebris^ and having made the province into an appanage,
he advanced into Geofgia, whose Christian inhabitants havaakvajrs beea
the special objects of hatred to dieir Mussafaaan neighbnws. Having
taken the town of Tovin, he defeated an array of Tmoon Georpan% of
whom ao^ooo were disabled, and his array dien spraad over Georgia aad
ravaged it. The Georgians collected a second army, whMi coniiiied ef
Akns, Lesghs, Kipdiaks, and odier Cancasians» as weB as Aeir own
people. This was also defeated.
The Saltan now, Mardi, I3a6^ advanced upon Tidis, whick he captared,
and kflled an the Georgians who would not accept this rdigion of tlK
Prophet He dien vetnmed to I^whan, where he received ^e renewed
subrntsskm of Boraki the chief of Kerman, who had shown signs ef
turbulence. In October, 1226^ he made aa inoursion into Akkbaziay or
Soudiem Circassia; he only lemained there ten days, wkok he returned
and hud siege to the town of Kbelat,wluch was bravely defended. The
Saltan was called away from here to put down a horde of Tadoomans
who had invaded Axerbaidjan. The next year, Ig^ in laay, he ravaged
the country of the Assariansi and defeated a body of Mongols who kad
advanced as fer as Damc^ian. The feOowing year the Mongols appeared
in greater force, and marrhed fai five divisions,, commanded by their
gcnends Tadji, Baku, AssatQgan, Taimas, and Ts, to within a day^
journey of Ispahan, the head-<iuartera of Jebd.t He was ever a
couageous, bold man, and seemed little afiected by this advance. His
genends, who timidly came to consult widi him in the palace, were enter-
tained with irrdevant matter fer some thne, to show how little the Snhan
was afiected; they eventually swore not to turn their bads on the enemy
or to prefer life to a glorious end, andtheCadhi and Reis, the two chief
ellkialsof Ispahan, were ordered to hold a review of the aimed cttiaens.}
Meamdiile a body of a/xx> Mongols was detached to Laritfui to
»D*OkM0ii.Ui.s. t iy<>teMii,iii.«3* J DXMmm, itt. •«.
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laS HISTORY OF THB MONGOLS.
odiect provisioiis. These were surprised by some of the Sultan's troops,
and 400 were nude prisoners. It b said that Jelal abandoned these to the
fury of the populace, who massacred them in the streets of I^Mhan ; he set
them die example by cutting off some of their heads in the palace yard, their
bodies being given to die dogs.* The day of battle was fixed according
to the predictions of the court astrologer. No sooner had Jelal ranged
his army in battle array than his brother Ghiath deserted with a body of
troops. Notwidistanding this, Jdal engaged the enemy,^and was at first
victorious, but as usual, the Mongob prepared an ambuscade, and ended
by dbpersing the Khuarexmian forces, some of which fled to Fars, others
to Kerman, and others to Aserbaidjan. The loss of the Mongob was
so great, however, that they merely showed themselves at the gates of
Ispahan, and then retreated in all haste by Rayi and Nbchapoor, and
recrossed the Oxus, after losing a great many of their men. Wolff makes
Chin Timur, who had been left as Mongol governor in Khorassan, to
control these operations, and says he retired on hearing the news of the
death of Jingb.t Jelal-ud-din had disappeared in the recent battle, and
arrangements were already being made for the election of another
ruler, but the Cadhi persuaded the people to wait till the feast of Bairam,
when, if the Sultan did not return, they should elect the Atabeg Togan
Taissi in his place. But on the day of the feast he appeared. His
return was the signal for great rejoicings. He promoted those who had
distinguished themselves, and made those who had disgraced themselves
promenade the town with women's veib over their heads.| Meanwhile his
brother Ghiath had gone to Khuzistan to ask assistance firom the Khaliph
in recovering his dominions. He had been insulted by one Muhammed,
a favourite of Jelal-ud-din, and in revenge had assassinated him. This
incensed Jelal, who ordered the funeral procession of the murdered man
to pass twice before the door of his murderer. This public affront was
the cause of the desertion of his brother by Ghiath on the day of the
recent battle.
Jelal having despatched a body of troops in pursuit of the Mongols was
enjoying his ease at Tabriz when he heard that his brother was marching
on Ispahan. He marched to meet him, upon which he fled, and took
refuge, first among the Assassins and then in Kerman, where he was at
length strangled by order of Borak.
Jelal now had to meet a great army of the confederated Caucasian
tribes, Geoigians, Armenians, Alans, Serirs (f.^., Sirhghers or Eubechi),
Lesghs, Kipchaks, Soussans (? Souans), Abkhazes, and Djanites.| He
first detached the Kipdu^ by recounting to them how many of their
people's lives had been saved by his hutercession with his father.
The Kipdiaks havmg retired, he next suggested to the Georgians a
— — -
^D*Ohnott,ULa5. tWoUT, xai. t D^OhtMa, o^ dt, Ui jf.
f iroiMoa,m.ss-
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OOOTII KHAN. 129
trace, daring which dan^ons on each side should fight in view of the
two annies. A gallant Georgian having entered the arena he was met by
the Stthan himsdf and transfixed with a stroke of his lance; three of his
sons who came forward to revenge their £BUher were saccessnrdy killed.
A gigantic Georgian then came forward, who was also killed by the
dexterous Sultan. After whidi, notwithstanding the trace^ h« gave orders
for a general attack^ in which the Geoigians were put to fit|^ Jebtl
now once more Isud siege to Khelat; whik before the town he received the
submission of Roku-ud-din Jehanshah, a relative of the S^uk ruler of
Rum. He also received an embassy from the new Khaliph of Baghdad^
who demanded first that Jelal should not exercise any act of sovereignty
over the princes of Mosulj Erbil, Abouy4^ and Jebal, who were his
feudatories; secondly^ that he would restore the name of the Khaliph
in the public prayers of Persia, from which it had been de£iced by his
Cuher Muhammed. Both requests were granted, and in return the
Khaliph sent him. the robe of investiture of the government of Persia, with
presents for himself and his grandees.
Jelal ordered a splendid tomb to be built at Ispahan to hold his
father's remains ; until this was finished he them placed in sale
custody in the strong fort of Erdehan, on the mountain Demavend,
three days' journey from Rayi. When a few years after, the Mongols
captui^ this place they also captured the corpse of Muhanmied and scDl
it to dte^Khakan, who ordered it to be burnt. We arc toki they did the
same to all the royal remains they came across, fancying they belonged
to Khuarezmian princes, and thus even the bones of Mahmud of Ghazni
were exhumed and burnt. The same year, i^.^ in T239, Jolal proposed an
alliance with Alal-ud-din Kei Kubad, the Seljuk Sultan of Rum, or Asia
Minor, suggesting to him that they two were the bulwarks, one in the
east, the other in the west, of the true faith against the infidds, but the
envoys of Alai-ud-din were so badly and cavalierly treated by the
Khuarezmians, chiefly, as Muhammed of Nessa tells us, because the vixicr
deemed their presents of too little value, that they returned disgosted.
Khelat at length fell, after a siege of six months. Jelal wo«ld have
spared it the horrors of a sack, but his officers insisted that the troops
had sufiered so terribly in the siege that they would desert unless per-
mitted to loot The town was consequently given up to pillage for three
days, and many of its inhabitants perished from torture inflicted to make
them disclose where their riches were hid.*
Khelat belonged to Ashraf, Prince of Damascus. That prince now
formed a confederacy to oppose JelaL He was supported by Kei-Kubad,
Sultan of Rum, and princes of Aleppo, Mosul, and Mesopotamia. Their
joint army assembled at Sivas, and thence marched on Khelat. JeUd
marched to meet them with a very inferior force, and meanwhik tent
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1J» HISTORY or THl m>V0OiS.
L the Guuahcs and PdihtvaaSy aa, tke henldt wiUi red anowt, the
I signal te a rendetTOus. He hoped to Sttade tlie enemf
befell Aey hadnniten dieur fcfoesi but was seiiedwidisicsBessi and before
he recovered dacf had amajgamatied their troops. In die bauie which
followed Jdal was badlf beaten, and fled towards Manaxguerd, and dien
to Khdaty whence he removed aD the ridi tfaiQgs he could tnmsporty and
bonHterestyleaTioghlsTisiertowatditheeneDiy. He retreated through
AieriMklJan, and was deserted bf hit generals. At tins critical pcmit he
leonvod oosrs oi peace fipotn tiie confedecale princesi who were pethaps
afraid to leava the wide empire of Persia at die mercy of the Mongols.
The peace was hnnied on bf thearriralof.a large Mongol annynnder
dm orders of the generals Charmagun and Baidsho^ who had been sent
into Khotassaa at the head of 50^000 men by die Grand Knriltai hddat
the accession of OgotaL* This army speedily traversed Khorassan by
way of Esferan and lUyl Jelal thooght the Mongols woald winter in
^ Irsky so he leisardy retreated to Tdxix; he was, however, nustakei^ for
- they followed dosdy on his beds, and he was obliged to redre hastily to
MttkanyadistrictofArnuiy where he expected to rendesvous his troops.
He fled so hastily that he left his harem behind him. Wht)e waiting for
his troops to concentrate^ and engaged in hunting, he was nearly sor-
prised by the Mongols, and only JQst escaped into AxeriMddjan, whence he
sent to adc assistance of Ashra^ Prince of Damascus. The messenger
was intercepted by Sheref4d Mulk, his own vizier, who had begun to
intrigue against his master. He had conducted the Sultan's treasures
and hb harem into the safe fostnssses of Arran, and had then raised the
standard of revolt ; his mothpe for revolt being the extravagance and pro-
foseaess of the Sultan, whidi left him bare vdien he had to pay his
soldiers. He wrote numerous letters to the neighbouring princes, in
which he described his master as die fidlen tyrant. These ML into the
hands of Jebd, who deprived him of his viziership, and sent messei^(ers
throof^ioat the province with orders to no longer obey his authority. He
shortly after, by fe^^ning to forgive him, got him into his power, bat
dissadsfoction was very wide spread in the newly conquered provinces of
Axerbaidjan and Arran.
A messei^per of the Mongols who was sent to summon BaHecan was
brought to Jelal, who promised him his life if he would tdl him the
strengdi isi the Mongol forces; he told him that when Churtoagun
reviewed the army near Bohhara the muster rolls showed it to be 20^000
strong. Jelal basdy killed him for fear this news mi^^t discourage his
own troops. He then, donbting the sfaioerity of his late Tirier Sheref-ul
Mulk, had him strangled; diis was an aristocradc privilq;e, the com-
monalty were decapitated. He next put down % rdxllion in Ganja, and
pmished the inhabitants for murdering some of his people. Hethentried
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OOOTAl SHAN. 131
iitfflhtiiiltylogetaitiitaactftwntiiePriaceofPanMtfcot or Syita mA
hisbtodiar the Prince of Kheht. Tlie Uftocian MohaaoMd o£ Ntita
was Ids twfof aad tresty fownrillor oa lliete octtsions. MeuiwUe
the Moi^gols cortimied tlMfar advuMt. The hesitating Suhea was
led astiay bf the advice of If easaad, Priace of AbUI» who persuaded
him to try and capCare the htogdoan ef JUub, or Asia Mktor, an
easy task, and that hewoidd then be in a laach better position to resist
the Moagols. While on this iboTs enaad and near Amid he was sur-
prised by the Mongols, and only escaped witti a lew fiallowtis. He was
hotly porsned and his fbQowcis killed; he at length reached the KunSsh
moHwrains. The Kurds, as was their coston, proceeded to strqi him and
his companions. Having made himsdf known to dieirdiie^ he look him
home and left him wiA his wile while he went te search for his horses.
While absent a Kord came into the tent and asked who this Khnaiesmian
was, and how it came that they did not kill him; the hostess replied that
he was the Sultan, upon whidi he said, ** How do you know ? and if it be
true, be killed at Kbelat one of my favothers, a better man than himseli;''
i^n which he killed him. Thus perished the last of the Khuaiesm
Shahs*
Jdal, according to his biographer Nessaui, wasof amiddlestatare,had
a Turkish physiognomy, and a duk complexion, his mother havmg been
an Indian. He was brave to excess, calm, giave, end silent. He spoke
both Turks and Persian.
lyOhsson has made some judicious remarks about his character; he
says he was a true Turkoman, had all the good qualities of a soldier radwr
than of a general or a ruler, withovt prudence or Ibies^t, living by
friDage, profiting by the recite allowed him by the Mongols to attack his
neighbours, given to luxury, drinking, and music ; always going to bed
drunk, even when the Mongols were after him. His tro<^, without pay,
subsisted on plunder. After his death many inqwstors appeared, who
claimed to be Jelal-ud-din.t
After the Sultan's death the scattered Khuaremiian tnx^ were set
upon by the peasants and the nomades (Bedouins, Kurds, Ac), and do-
stroyed. The Moi^ls proceeded to ravage the country in their usual
manner. Two monflis after the dis^ipearanoe of Jehd, says lyOhsson,
they had pillaged the districts of Diari)der, Mesopotamia, Eibil, and
Kbelat, without encountering any resistance, the people seemed stupeftcd.
The htstorian Ibn-al-athir gives some examples of the decrepitude to
which they were reduced: a Moi^l entered a populous vUlage^ and pffo-
ceeded tokill die inhabitants one after another without any one ndsi^ga
hand« Anodier wishii^ to kOl a man, and having no weapon by him,
told him to lie down while he went for a sword, with this he returned
and lolled the man, who in the meanriroe bed not moved. An <
•DX>tetoii,iii.fs. tDVknos,ffi.«s,«|.
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152 HISTORY or THE MONGOLS.
with twenty-seven men met a Mongol, who was insoleati he ordered them
to kill him ; they said they were too few, and he actually had to kill him
himself; having done which all immediately fied.* The flourishing
towns of Sared, Tanut, Mardin el Khabur, Araban, and £1 Munassa were
tacked with revolting cruelty.
The Mongols now advanced upon Azerbaidjan, and approached its
capital, Tebrix, which bou^ its safety by a laige present and the promise
of an annual tribute* Among the gifts was one of a splendid tent of silk
and gold brocade, lined with sable and other furs.t
In 1335 and 1236 they again entered the country of Erbil, took and
pillaged its capital, Erbil, but were compelled to retire from the citadel,
where most of the inhabitants had taken refuge. They then overran the
northern portion of Irak Areb, as far as Zek-Abad, and Sermenrai. The
Kaliph now felt himself threatened, put Baghdad in a state of defence
and preached a holy war. His army met the Mongols at Jebel
Hamrin, on the Tigris, defeated them and rescued a great number
of prisoners, but shortly after, in March, 1238, a body of io/x)0 Mongols
entered Irak Areb for the second time, and this time practised their
favourite ruse of drawing the Khaliph's troops into an ambuscade,
where many of them perished. In the north their armies were no
less victorious. In 1235 they captured Kandzag, now Gandja, in Arran
(the Jehsavetpol of the Russians;, and put its inhabitants to the
8Word.t
The next yjcar diey quitted the plain of Mughan, on the Caspian, and
sacked most of the towns of Albania, Georgia, and Great Armenia, the
Queen Roussudan taking refuge in the fortress of Ousaneth, in the
mountains of Imeritia.§ In 1238 the Mongols conquered the coumry
between the Aras and the Kur, which was divided among a number of
petty princes, feudatories of the throne of Georgia, and for the most part
related to the celebrated Ivan, the Georgian constable. The chief of
these, Jalul, nephew of Ivan, did homage to the Mongols and promised to
pay tribute. They then entered Georgia, where they captured Imaiiise,
Shamshuild^ Tiflis, and other towns, and afterwards turned upon
Armenia ; Ani, its ancient capit^ suffered a terrible siege, many of its
inhabitants escaped to the Mongol camp and were well treated ; this
encouraged others to come, but one day the captives were distributed
among the Mongols and all killed : the town was sacked. Kars, hoping
to escape the same fate, hastened to put its keys in the Mongols' hands,
but the same fate awaited it, only the children and artisans escaped the
general massacre. In 1240 the Armenian Prince Avak, with his sister
Thamtha, went to the court of Ogotai, where they were well recdved ; the
Khakan gave orders that Avak and the other Armenian princes should be
• D*Ofauoa, ul. 68. f D'OhSMa»iii. 7«. I D'Ohstoo, HL »•
^ Sm Joor. Atfstj mm ttlf, xii. soi.
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OGOTAI KHAN. 133
restored to their lands and pay only a moderate tribute. Shortly after*
wards Churmagun, the Mongol commander^ died.*
The Mongols seem to have attacked the Christians of Armonia and
Georgia with peculiar ferocity ; they were perhaps incited to this by the
accusation;; of the Moslems of Persia. According to the Armenian his-
torian Chamich, it was about this time that a Christian doctor of Syria
called Simeon gained some influence over them, persuaded them to
treat the Christians with more consideration, and even obtained the
appointment of administrator cf the Christian populations of Armenia
and Georgia, with letters to the Mongol governors, who were ordered to
obey him. By some of the Mongols he was called Atha, "father," by
others Babdan, i>., doctor. Many of the Mongols were baptised.
Having traced out the military doings of the Mongols, we may shortly
consider their civil administration in Persia, &c. On the retreat of Jingis,
one Chin Timur \vas left by Juji as his representative in Khuarezm, who,
when Churmagun advanced against Jelal-ud-din, was ordered to occupy
Khorassan. Under him were four deputies chosen by the four Khanates
into which the empire was divided. The country south of the Oxus not
having been willed by Jingis was treated as common property. Chin
Timur proceeded to crush out the miserable renmant of the population by
exactions. Jingis did not appreciate the value of coin, he took his taxes
in kind. The new tax-master was not so ingenuous, and he extorted
much hidden treasure by torture. Meanwhile a body of 10,000 Kankaiis,
troops of the Khuarezm Shalis, made raids from the mountains of Kisha-
poor and Thus, in which they killed the Mongol governors and those
who sided with them. They were at length defeated by Kelilat, the chief
officer of Chin Timur, and 3,000 of them who had taken refuge in the
great mosque at Herat were there put to the sword. One Tair Behadur
was now appointed to the post of governor of Khorassan by the Khakan
in the place of Chin Timur, whose exactions had raised up a strong oppo-
sition to him. Chin Timur reproached him with having again ravaged
Khorassan, which was recovering from the effects of the march of Jingis,
and he sent his general Kelilat, who represented the Khakan's special
interests in Khorassan, and was a courtly envoy, to plead his case with
Ogotai. He also sent with him several petty princes of the country, who
went to do homage. This flattered the Khakan's vanity, who contrasted
it with the conduct of Churmagun, the blood-thirsty ravager of Georgia
and the dominions of the Kha^iph, who, although he had been in Persia
so long, had not sent him any of the local princes to make submission.
He renominated Chin Timur governor of Khorassan and Mazanderan,
associating Kelilat with him, and made him independent of Churmagun
and-thc other generals. Chin Timur appointed Sheref ud din, of Yesd,
to be his Grand Master of the Seals, or Chief Chancellor (Ulug Biticudji),
* O'Ohnon* Ui. 79.
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134 BISTORY or THS MONGOLS.
and Befaai nd din Muhammody of Joveni* fiMher of the author of the
History of Jiogis Khan, to be Sahib Divan, or Finance Minister;
eadi of the xtpRsentatives of the thvae other branches of the Imperial
family had an agent in the treasury to watch his master's interest
Chin Timor died in 1235,* and was succeeded by an old man named
Nussal, who directly after gave way to Kuigus, a piotegd of ChinTimur.
Like him and so many other aUe servanu of the Mongols, Kuigus was
a Uighur Turk who had risen successivdy from being tutor and writing
master to the children ci Juji to be secretary of Chin Timur, when the
latter was made governor of Khuaresm. We are told that he organised
the administration of Khorassan and repressed the exactions of a crowd
of small tyrants;t This made him many enemieS| the chief of whom
were Sheref-ud-din and Kelila^ the vizier and general of Chin Timur;
they intrigued at court to get him removed. At length Qgotai despatched
one Aigun to make inquiries on the spot, Kuiguz went to meet him, and
came to high words, in which blood was shed. In the night he despatched
a messenger to Ogotai with his coat marked with blood. This dramatio
stroke had the desired effect, and the different parties were summoned to
the presence of Ogotai to give account of themselves. Th« malcontents
had supported Ungu Timur, the son of Chin Timur, as a candidate for
the governorship of Khorassan. One day the Khakan was cuxtertained
by Ungu Timur, but directly after he left the tent it blew dowq ; Ogotai
had the tent destroyed. A few days after he supped with Kuriguz, who
furnished his tent sumptuously and provided the Khakan ifUer afia with
a coronet adorned with the stones caSXedyarcan (? Jade from Yarkand).
After a few months' deliberation Ogotai decided in favour of Kiuguz,
and condemned Ungu Timur and his followers to be punished as ci^um-
niators, but he added, '' As you belong to Batu I will remit the matter to
him, and he will punish you." Ungu Timur, by the advice of Chinkai, a
trusty councillor of the Khakan, replied, *' The Khakan is the overlord of
Batu ; is a dog Bke myself to be the cause of two sovereigns deliberating ?
The Khakan shall decide." "You speak well," said Ogotai, "for Batu
would not have mercy on his own son if he were to do what you have done."{
Kurguz was made governor of all the country south of the Oxus, including
the conquests of Churmagun ; he fixed his court at Thus, where he sum-
moned the grandees of Khorassan and Irak and the Mongol general, and
held a fete, at which the new Imperial ordinances were promulgated.
The Mongol governors appointed by Churmagun had been most oppres-
sive, and had appropriated much of the revenue, many of them were now
displaced ; he prot^ed the Persians and civilians against the Mongol
soldiery^ and was generally feared and respected ; he rebuilt the city of
Thus, of which only fifty houses remained. Herat, too, by orders of
Ogotai began to rise firom its ruins. It had been almost deserted for
» lyOhiwii, ill. zoS. t JyOhMon, ili. xxo. J D*Oh»aon, iii. 1x4.
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OOOTAl KHAN. 1 35
fifteen years, bat now an Emir named Yzx nd din, who had been trans-
ported to Bishbalig in Uigfaoria by Tuhn, received orders to remm to
Herat with 100 Cunilies. They found the canals choked, and had to
go to A^banistan for ploughs and long tails (i^^ sheep). In a short time
people assembled there once more, and a census made in 1240 showed
there were then 6,900 inhabitants.*
Such was the condition of affairs in Persia during Ogotai's reign. We
will now turn to another comer of his empire, the mysterious peninsula
of Corea. In tai8 Vangtung, the IQng of Corea, had acknovdedged
himself as the vassal of Jingis Khan. In 1231 an ambassador of Ogotai's
was killed there, and the murderers were not punished. Salitai, a Mongol
general, was sent against the rebels, captured forty of their towns, received
the submission of the King, and before retiring appointed seventy-two
Darugas, or prefects, in the different districts. These were treacherously
murdered during the foUowing year. The Corean King with many of his
subjects grew frightened, and kaving^ hb general Hong-fo-yuen in com-
mand of his troops, fled to the island of Tsiang-hna, off the west coast of
Corea. Salitai, who re-entered Corea with an army, was killed by an
archer. It was about this time, namely, in 1235, that Ogotai held the
grand Kuriltai, when three armies for the conquest of Corea, the Stmg
empire, and the country west of the Volga were oiganised. A fourdi body
of troops under the general Hukatu was sent to the borders of Cashmir.
Before attacking Corea, Ogotai wrote to its King a list of his com-
plaints : first, that he had failed to send any one to his court to do
homage ; secondly, that he had maltreated his earof who had gone to
rtmind hhn of his £ault ; thirdly, he accused him of the murder of his
ambassador by the Coreans; fourthly, of having evaded sending a con-
tbgent of troops to assist the Mongols, and of having foiled to send an
enumeration of his people; fifUily, of ha.ving killed his prefects. Ogotai
summoned him to his court to give account of these crim^. He
refused: but Hong-fo-yuen feeling himsdf too weak to resist the Mongdb,
seht in his submission, and was iqipointed governor of Tungking. Soon
afler this a Mongol army overran Corea, defeated the Kjng in several
ehgagements, and forced him once more to become tributary, nnd to send
a hostage to Ogotai. This was in 1241.
When the empire of the Kins was destroyed, it had been agreed
between the confederated Sung and Mongol Emperors that Honan ahoold
be abandoned to the former ; the Mongols now refosed to evacuate their
conquest, except that portion of Honan situated to die south-east of the
towns of Chingchau and Tsaichau (Yu-ning-fo).
The Sung Emperor was easily persuaded by some of his conrtleri to
resent this, and to try and forcibly occupy the three ancient Imperial
residences of Changan (Si-ngan-fo) in Shensi, Loyang (Ho*nan-fo) In
•D*Ohiioa,iU.ix7.
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I^6 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
Honan, and Piankiog, f>., the Nanking, and sent an army of 1 5,000 against
Pianking (Kai fong fu). Here the rebel Tsuili, whom we have ahxady
named, kept up a nominal authority in the palace of the Kin Emperors ;
he speedily disgusted the Mongol prefects who assisted him, and was by
them assassinated. His body was dragged at a horse's tail to the city
court amidst a crowd of people. Li pe yuen, one of his officers, denounced
the crimes he had committed, and when some one interrupted him, a
general cry arose s4>proving his remarks and affirming that he deserved
even a worse fate. His head was fastened to a stake, his body was
cut in pieces, while his heart was torn out and eaten by some of the
barbarous crowd*
The Sung general now occupied Pianking and Lo-yang. These towns
had not recovered the effects of the former sieges, and when reinvested
by the Mongob the Sung garrisons soon felt the effects of want ; they
abandoned them, and the Mongols retook them. The Sung authorities
would now have made peace, but the invasion of their country had
already been decided upon at the great Kuriltai of 1235, at which three
armies were appointed for the task, one under Kutan, the second son of
Ogotai, and the general Tagai, was to invade Suchuan ; the second, under
the generals Temutai and Changju, marched upon Hukuang; the thiiyl,
with the Prince Kutchu, the third son of Ogotai, Prince Khunbuca, and
the general Cbagan, was to act in Kiangnan. Kutan marched through
Sbensi* and received on the way the submission of Kungchangfu, the only
town that still remained faithful to the Kins.t It then, after some checks.
forced the «meaiHains that separate Shensi and Suchuan ; in a month it
c^Hured many of the chief towns of Suchuan, including Mian chau
(Mian hien), whose commander, Kaokia, was killed after a brave struggle.
Tsing ye yuen, considered the bulwark and key of Suchuan, was then
attacked by the vanguard of Kutan. A Chinese conwnander boldly
advanced against the Mongol camp and defeated the Mongqls. He then
raised the siege of Veng shi hien, and, after defeating a large body of
them, found refuge at Sian jin, south-west of Fong hien; but these
were only evanescent victories, the Mongols consolidated their troops,
forctd the mountains between Shensi and Suchuan, and in a month made
tbemielves masters of two*thirds of that province, and massacred many of
Rs inhabitants. The governor of Ventchau poisoned all his family, burnt
their bodies, fired the chief valuables in his custody, including his
diploma as governor, and then stabbed himself * this species of heroism
is cbmmon in Chinese history.^ Having ruined Western Suchuan,
Kutan retired into Shensi, and the Chinese reoccupied some of the
conquered towns. Meanwhile his brother Kutchu had, in March, 1236,
advanced from Tang chau in Honan into Hu kuang, and captured Siang
yang, the foremost city of the Sung. It was given up to the Mon^oU by
*D«li«UU,ix.209>sio. t D'OhtMO, U. 79. t D'Oteaoo, ii. 8x.
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060TAI KhAN. 137
tfeadiery. It thea contained 47,000 inhabitants, 301^000 ts^ of tvetsi^
twenty-four arsenals stocked with armsy and a large stoHB of proiriaionty
which foil into the hands of the Mongols. They also captured Tsao yang
and Te ngan fo.* Abont this time Kutchu died. He was the foirourite
son of Ogotai, and had been named by hia as his successor During the
next two years the MoogcAs fought with varying success, and captured
several towns north of the river Kiang, but no further important conquest
was made in this direction during the reign of Ogotai, and the Sung
empire survived, as is well known, till the reign of the Great Khan
Khubibu.
Let us now turn once more to the western frontiers of the Mongol
empire.
When Jingis returned home again after his great eiqpedition in the West
he left a contingent of troops in Persia; another was i^yparently left in the
stq>pes beyond the Jaik; and so early as 1326 this contii^ent seems to
have attacked the city of Bulgar, for on a gravestone found among its
ruins this year is named as the year of oppre8sion.t Two or three years
later, V(m Hammer says in 1328 and Wolff in 1230^ Ogotai sent Suntai,
the ninth son of Juji, with 30,000 men into the West They atucked the
Saksins and Comana, who took refoge in the country of Bulgar, and in
1232 they a{q>roached that city, which was apparently saved from capture
by the tunely arrival of a Russian anny commanded by the princes of
Smolensko and Kiet^ I have mentioaed that at the* Kuriltai hdd in
1235 it was iletermined to send an anny westward. Ogptai was wishiul
to take command of this anny destined to cross the Volga, and to bring
the greater portion of Eastern Europe under the dominion of the Mongols,
but he was easily persuaded that he ought now to enjoy the fruits of so
much victory, and to leave the arduous task of conquest for his generals;
and he accordingly gave the command of the forces to Batu, the son of
his dde^ brother Juji, who had shown skill in war. This choice was
f^ulated also probably by the foct that the ^>ecial appanage of the
house of Juji lay in the deserts of Kipchak, adjoining the Volga, and that
such conquests as might be made would be an addition to it ; with Batu
went his i>rothers Orda, Sheiban, and Tangut. Baidar and Kaidu, sons
of Jagatai; Kuyuk and Eadan Ogul, sons of Ogotai; Mangu, Burl, and
Budjek, sons oi TuluL Batu, as I have said, had the first command,
and his chief adviser was the great general Subutai Behadur, who had
won renown in so many campaigns. The general rendezvous was fixed
for the spring of 1237, on the borders of Great Bulgaria. One division of
the Blongol army, commanded by Subutai, penetrated into that country ;
twoof its chiefo came to do homagei but were afterwards rebellious. It
dien returned and attacked the capital, Bulgar. Its^inhabttants seem to
* Dt Bf aillft, ix. 316.
t VoB HainaMr, Golden Horde, 99. | Wolff; um, VQi|BaflBmer,op.cit,ioo.
a
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X3S HISTORY or TBB UONOOLS.
h«fe been extormiiiatody and the dty^ wiiidi Im t^
the gveatest mart pethape in Eaetcm Europe for leather, fiizi» ealt fish,
ftc^ waa ao dcatioyed dat itncirer ag^ looked up.^
TheiblloTOif^ring, Manga and liialm>dierBitdydc,i^ commanded
the left whig of the aimy, nardMd against the Kipchaki, or Comans,
idong the nwthem ihorea of the Caqplan. Patchiman, or Patdiimair, one
of their bravest cfaiefr, escaped the general sid>jection of his oountrymen,
and wHh a body of foOoweri hid hi the woods on thn banks of the. Volga,
and made raids npon the Mongols. Manga pr^Miedaoo boats or baii^
anned widi loo men eachy and dividing tiiem into two sections, com^
manded bjr himseif and his brodier, scoarad die woods on each bank
of th6 river. Having come to a deserted encampment, they found an old
woman, who told them Patchmian had taken refii^ on an island in die
river, where die gathered spoil of his forays were stored. There weiv no
boats about, bat a strsng wind blew and uncovered the causeway that led
to the island Tlie Mongols rushed in, captured Patcfaiman, killed or
drowned his fidlowers, and captured dieir wives and a considefable
booty. De MdOa says that PatcUman kin% warned the Mongols that
they had better retire again hastily or tlie way would be once more under
water, and diat diis in iut happened with some inconvemence to the
conquerors.t V^ien bron^ before Manga and ordered to kneel, he
replied widi some dignity, ** Do yon think I am so weak as to ask for my
Ufe? Doyoumistake melbracamd?^! The Taiikb Djihankuschai
says that he asked that he miglit die b^FMangu's own hand, bat that the
hitter handed him over to his biodier Bad|ek. With him also perished
Catdiar Ogola, a prince isi the Ases or Ossetae. The Mongols winteiod
in this country.|
Meanwhile another dtvi^on i3i die army, qnder Batu, Orda, Ber^f
Kadan, Buri, and Knikan, crossed the Volga and subdued the Bokshas
and Burtaase^ ^, the Mokshas and Ertsas, the two ifivisions of die
Mordvins who had lately been beaten, by the Grand Prince Geoige the
Second; tbey also defirtrted die Circassians (? the Oieremisses), and the
Vezofinnaks, t>., the Vesses or Vod.| Carpino mentions that tho
Mongols captured diree towns before they attacked the Russians ; these
he calls Barthra (var Barchin), Jakint (var Sarguit), and Oma, a rich
town, inhalHted by Christians, Ehaxars, Russians, Alans, and others, and
a place of considersble trade, situated near the mouth of the Don.
Seeing that they could not capture it otherwise,' they divert^ die
course of the fiver, and thus overwhelmed it and its oontents.5'
Wolff says that the Mongols w^ guided through the dense
forests of Pensa and Tand)of by the Mordvins, and appeared unez-^
pectedly on the frontiers of Riazan. The small principality of
•Raachid,<motodbjD*Ohawii.U.ais* WoUi; X36.
t D«MaiUft,ix.S«. 2 Do MdllA, is. as4. f RmKhld, ftcn in D'OhMOS, iL 614.
I O*Olin0B, if. zxj and 615. 5 D\>hMOB, U. 1x3. Not«.
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OOOTAX XBAir. f39
lUamit dopendent on the Ciind Dudqr of Vladimir, was then
dhrided hetween the hiodicta Geoige and Roman Igorovitch and diehr
cousina 0kg Wkdomiiovitch and Jaxodaf Davidovitch, who hdd court
at Riaxan, IsteslawctSy Pioaric, and Mmnom re^Mctively; thejr had
canied on a severe chril strife, aad when diejr now appealed to the Grand
Duke for h^ he told them that tfaqr were stnmf enoi^h to resist the
enemy if they were imited. Bata is said, in the Russian chronicles, to
have sent a soroeress, or female angur, widi two officers^ to demand their
sabmission and a tenth of thek goods, to which thity rqplied, that when
dwf no longer lived, then the ICongola might take what diey wonld.
They saw, however, that they could make no head against the invaders in
die open country so they retired to their cities. The Mongols meanwhile
proceededtodevastatedieland. Bislogoiod, IsteslawetSyProndc, and other
towns were reduced to adies. The heantifiil city of Riaian was invested,
a breastwoik of palisades and earth was laised round it, on which the
halistas were fixed, and after five days' bombardment it Idl <m the aut
ol December, 1237. The Prhice, with his mother, wife, sons, the Boyar^
and die inhadxtants, without regard to age or sez, were sfam^deied with
the savage cnidty of Mongol revenge ; some were impaled, some shoe at
with anxyws for sport, others were flayed or had nails or wp&aken of wood
driven unde^ dieir naOs. Priests were roasted ahve, and nuns and
maideitf ravished in the chnrdies before thdr rdatives.* ^No eye
remained open to weep for the dead,' says die dnonider of Kostroma.t
This slangiiter, wiiidi was donhtiess meant to strike terror into the
rest of the Russian princes and to be an eiample to them, was followed
by an advance upon Kolomna. This was also taken, and to revenge
Kslkan, wlio was aeverely wounded there, and shordy after died, a
fidghtfol hecatoinb was slaughtered amidst its ruins-t
The Prince Roman Igorofvitch, who had gone with an aimy to relieve
Kolomna, was defeated and killed. The Mongols now hxvaded die
district of Suidal and attacked Moscow, whkh was as yet an unim-
portant town, the hoJiabitants were eittiBC desttoyed or made prisoners,
and Vladhmr, the son of the Grand JMk Qeoige» irim rommanded
there^ was captured. The Giand Duke now became aiaimed, he left
Vkdimir and posted his army on thebaic of the Sitd, which flows faito
dieMologda,^i«ierehee9q>ectedtobei<miedbylttSfarodiefs. TheMongob
now hxvested Vhidhnir and captured and burnt Suadal^ whose iidiabitanU
BOflbed the common fete of those who c^n^eed the Uaogokif otiif that
dw monks, nuns, and odierrdigiotts were here qwred.} The mhabitanes
%|Vhidimirwere,asttsaalwidi the Russians at tWs date, panic strickn.
Many of the chief men sought refi;^ in d» daudies, where they adopted
the tonsdre^ so diat they mi^ die in monasdc orders. The Mongols ap*
- ' -
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I40 msTORY or the jaokools.
proached the Golden Gftte, showed thdr captive Vladhmr and threatened
to kill him if the city was not surrendered, and as this threat was treated
with scorn, they accordingly killed him. After several days of incessaht
atuck the Mongols at length bn^e into the city at each of its four
entrances, the so-called Golden, Brazen, the Lybedlan, and K<^ian
Gates. This was on Sunday, the 14th of February, during a season
of fasting.* The Inq)aial fiimtly had taken refisge in the choir of
the cathedral, while the nave was crowded wi& other fugitives; the
latter were slaughtered, and thelbnner, to escape the same fate, set fire to
the buikUng, and all perished together : the dty was sacked and burnt
The Mongol army was now divided infto several bodies, which proceeded
to ravage the towns of Rostof, Yaroslaf, Gorodets, Ynrief, Peresla^
Dmitre^ Tuer, Caschin, Votok, Cosniatin, and odiers. The Grand Duke
George was still 00 the river Sitti awaiting enocour from his brother
Yarosb^ Prince of Kiet He was there attadsed by the Mongols and
killed, with most of his troops.
The Mongob now marched towards Novgorod, the northern emporium
of commerce, and a famous member of die Hanseadc league. They had
already reached the Waldai mountains, wiien, according to Wolfl^ athaw
came on, converting ^e country into a huge tnorass. This deterred
them from advancing further, especially as the country behind them
was much wasted by their passage. On their return towards the south,
one of dieir detachments received a notable check before the town ot
Kosdbk, on the Shisdra, ei^ German miles S.S.W. from Kaluga ; 4,000
of their myen and three young princes seem to have perished in the attack.
Their death was nwngpA by Batu, Kadan, and Buri, who brought
another army against it. Its capture was followed by a general ma»
sacre, one of those atrodoia acts well styled a '< carnival of death* by
Von Hammer. Like Bamian, the town was renamed Mobalig, sU, City
of Woe, by its captor8.t
Having returned to the borders of the Don, the Mongols seem once move
to have divided into sevenl sections. One of these marched against the
Qrcassians,aMlduringtfaewinterof 1238 killed their chief, Tukan. They
then laid siege to Mangaas which they captured after an attack of six
weeks, and then sent a division to conquer Derbend and the surrounding
country. Meanidiile Shetban, Budjek, and Bud marched i^iainst the
Marimes^ by which the Mari, or Chetemisses, who live north of the Volga,
are probably meant Thoir nei|^bl>ours, the red-haired Votiaks, were
probably also subd]ied,lbrtte Chinese aocounu mention that the Monies
marched so far north that there was hardly any nighty and subdueda
people with red hair and bhie eyes. )
Another division of the invaders, under Ber^e, attacked the Kipchaloi,
• Wour, 144. t Wolff. 146.
f m^aoluc inwalAtad ky IVOIiMom HiM. dn Mosff., ii nS
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OOOTAX XSAIC 141
tiier were edll fovtrned by Kodal^ irfao had foaght against tliem tonie
years before on the KafloL He was now defeated* Raschid says Bereke
captnredthechieftofdieMdmiUs. Kodak^ with 40^000 femOieSy escaped
westwaxds into MoidaTia, and in 1240 sought reluge in Hungary. Many
of the Klpdiaks were sold as dares by the arnqoeiers. Some of these
were bought by the Egyptian Sultan Maldc as Saleb, and about 1254
became the founders of die Boharit dynasty of Mamduk Sultans.*
Once more did the Mongols advance upon Russia. One division
marched towards the Volga* and. captured and burnt Gorodets on the
Khasma, and Murom on tlie Oka. Anotlier army marched towards the
Dnieper. Pereslavl, with the church of St Midiad, was laid in ashes, and
its bishop, Simon, and a large part of the population destroyed. Chemigof
shared the same htt after a brave resistanooi in yrbich the defenders are
said to have performed the Homeric feat of huriing stones that it took
four men to raise. Glokhof also was destroyedt It was now the turn of
Kie^ the mother of cities^ magnificently placed on the high banks of the
Dnieper, with iu white walls, its beautiful gardens, and its thirty churches,
with their gilded cupolas, which gave it its pretty Tartar name, Altnndash
Khan (^., the court of the Golden Heads) ; it was the metropolitan dty
of the old Russian princes, the seat of the chief patriarch of an Russia. It
had ktteriy, namely, in 1304, suffered fecmi die intenial broils of the Russian
princes, and had been much plundered and burnt It was now to be
for A while erased altogether. 3atu sent his cousin Mangu, who was
afterwards Grand Khan, to explore. He summoned the city to surrender;
lus envoys were slaughtered, but its prince, like several other Russian
princes, lost heart and escaped towards Hungary. Meanwhile the terrible
host of the enemy came on, and the noise of their ourts, the murmurs of
thdr herds of camds, oxen, and horses, and their own ferodoos cries,
drowned the voices of the inhabitants'inside; the attack began and contin-
ued ni^t and day, the walls were at length breached, die defenders retired
to the churches. The great metropolitan church was the diief place of
refuge. Here were collected fugitives of all classes, with dieir various
wealth, who gathered on its flat roo^ this gave way under the waght^
and overwhelmed a vast hecatomb in its ruins. The Mongds rushed in
and slaughtered without mercy; the very bones were torn from the tombs
and trampled under the horses' hoofs.| This was in December, 124a
The magnificent dty, with the andent Byzantine treasures vdiich it om-
tained, was destroyed, as were the bones ci St Vladimir, the tomb of Olga,
and the grand church of the Tithe, a chef d'oeuvre of the Gredc archi-
tects; this was so ruined that its remains were used for the building oi a
fresh cluirch, which still has in its walls some of its stones. The
monastery of Petchersky sufiered the same fate, and its riches, induding
the golden cross upon its cupola, were carried off. The only place ^>ared,
•WoUl^t^. tV«aUwiiMr'iOoldeaHonte.i*7* WollE,i49. |WoMi;i5t.
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14a HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
apparendy, was the tomb of Yaroslaf; <' to teach men,* says the qaaint
Karamxm, ''that the ffiory of legislators is the most solid and durable.''
The dty remained in ruins apparently during the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries, and modem Kief is but a shadow, says the same historian, of its
former sell* It was one of the war mayims of Jingis that those who
o£fered aid or asylum to the opponents of the Mongols should themselves
be treated as enemies, and as Hungary had been very useful to the
Russian and Coman princes, the Mongols advanced against it Their
way led through Volhynia and Gallicia. They apparently annihilated the
towns <tf Kolowgashntu or Koladashun, Gadalitsh, and Cadyshin, for they
are no Icmger to be found. Kremenetz, GaUtch, and Chemovits, which
were also crudly visited, still exist in the district of Bukovina.t
They had now reached the magnificent barriers which protect Hungary
cm the east and north, the Carpathians. While Batu forced their passes
and entered Hungary, he sent another division of his army, under Baidar
and Kaidu, the sons of Jagatai, to make a diverrion in Pdand. P<^and
was dien bounded on the north by Prussia, which was still pagan, and
Pomerania; on the east by Uthuania and the principality of Gallicia;
on the south by the Carpathians; and on the west by the March of Bran-
denbtogh and by Silesia, which was dependent on Prussia without
forming an integral part of it. Boleslaf the Third had in 1139 divided
his dominions into four parts, and this division, like that in Russia, had
produced a terrible civil strife in the country. At the period of the
Mongol invasion there were nine independent princes in Poland.
Boleslaf, sumamed the Chaste, ruled over Cracow and Sandomir,
and had a barely titular authority over the rest, die chief of whom
were Henry the Second, the pious, who ruled in Lower Silesia and
Great Poland, and Conrad, uncle of Boleslaf, who had authority in
Mazovia and Cujavia, with his capital at Plotsk. These princes were
allied with the Hui^;arians or had given refuge to the fugitive Russian
princes, both high crimes in Mongol eyes. They seem first to have
made a reconnaissance. Leaving Vladimir in Volhynia in January, 134I1
they entered the district of Lublin, and ravaged the land as fau: as the
river Vistula, burning the towns of Lublin and Zawichost Then crossing
that river on the ice they- burnt and sacked Sandomir, pillaged the
Cistercian monastery of Koprienidc, and advanced to within a short dis-
tance of Cracow. They returned loaded with booty and driving before them
the flower of the population, tied together in groups. On their renreat
they were attacked by Vladimir, the Palatine of Cracow, and considerably
checked. A number of the captives managed to escape during the
combat, and hid away in the woods. They now rejoined the main
aimy under Baidar, which was encamped near Sendomir.)
* lUrtmsiBw !▼. 14. t WoHT, 154.
} Wolff. 161, i6s. Voa HamflMC*! Oeldea Hm^, X09. D^bttoo, If. xsi.
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OGOTAI KHAK. X43
Baidar detached another division, some authorities say one-tenth of
his forces, others a tuman (t\e., 10,000 men), under his brother Kaidu,
which marched against and devastated Sieradia, Landtia, and Cujavia,
the patrimony of Conrad and his sons. Meanwhile with the main army
he advanced towards Cracow. At a filace called Chmielik or Chmiebiik,
deven German miks from that town, he encoontered the Polish army
under the command of the Palatine <^Sandomu: and Ciacow. Thiswas
defeated, and its chief killed. BoleslaC die Prince of Cracow, fled with
his wife, £unily, and treasures to his &ther*tn-]aw, Bela of Hungary; but
hearing that the Mongols were already in Hungary, he took r^ige in a
monastery in Moravia, and eventually sheltered himself until their with-
drawal in tiie fortress of Pievniksa, in Poland.* Many of the chief
£unilies also fled to Hungary and Germany, while the common folk hid
themsdves in the forests and marshes, so that the Mongols found the
dty of Cracow deserted. They entered it on Pafan Sunday, the a^di of
March, 1341, and having burnt it, continued their march towards Silesia.
Crossing the Oder near Ratibor, some on rafts and some swimming, they
appeared before Breslau. The inhabitants had already removed their
wealth, and had fired ibc town themsdves to prevent its fidling into the
hands of the Mongols, while they retired into the dtadd with their goods.
This the enemy foiled to take, after a dcge of some days. The story
goes that it was saved by the prayers of the Prior of the Dominican
convent of Saint Addbert at Czeslaf, throi^;h which a Ught from heaven
fell on the head of the Prior, and radiated such a j^orious light that the
Mongols were frightened and passed on. This miracfe is rqiresoited in
a painting in the little dmrch of St Martin, formerly the citadd chapeL
It is not mentioned by Matthias of Miecfao^ a canon of Cracow
and author of a woric de Sannatia in Grinad orbis novus Basil, 1555,
&c.,t who has given us a capital account of the proceedings at this
time. Baidar was now joined by the contingent which he had detached
under his brother Kaidu, and advanced plundering and ravaging the
country towards Lignitz, where the army of Silesia, numbering some
20,000 men, was assembled under its Duke Henry the Second. Among
the other chiefs the principal were Mitislaf of Oppdn; Boleshf, son of
Diepold the Third, Margrave of Moravia ; and Poppo of Ostema, Grand
Master of the Teutonic Kni^ts of Prussia with his order. It was con*
sidered an ill omen that as Henry marched out with his forces a stone
fell from the roof of the church of St Mary and nearly hit him. He
divided his small army into four divisions : the first, the contingent of the
gold digging peasants, &C., from Goldberg and its neighbourhood in
Silesia, under Boleslaf Syepiolka ; the second, the omtingent from Cracow
and Great Poland, under Sulislaf, the brother of the laidy slain Palatine
Vladimir; the third,.the contmgent from Oppdn and also the Teutonic
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144 HISTORY or THE MONOOLSU
knij^ under Mititk^ the Prince of Oppdn; and tlie fiiprtfay the {Hcked
troops of Sflesia, Great Poland, and certain meroenaxies, imder his
immediate comntind. Ahofether the army did not number aoyoao, while
that of the Mongols reached loo^ooo^ or nearly so^*^ whidi was divided
into four sections— three of ao^ooo men each, and a main body of 40^000
an support* They adopted their usual ruse of drawing on tiieir enemy into
an ambush, and then fiedling upaa him mercilessly.
Miecho^ whom I have abeady quoted, had a different explanation.
According to him a portion of the Silesian army was thrown into con*
fusion by the first shower of arrows of the Mongolsy but a charge of
the two divisions, commanded by Sulislaf and the Duke of Oppeln,
restored the battle, and caused the three divisions <^ the Mongok to retire.
Upon this, a man (it is unknown, says Dlugkss, whether he was a Tartar
or a- Ruthenian) rushed about on horsebadc, and cried out, *^ Byegayce,
byeg^ce^ (f^, fly, fly). This af^nrition insptrtd terror in the Polish
ranks. The Prince of Oppeln retreated, and with himalaige body of men;
Duke Henry then rushed in with his men and once more broke the enemy
and caused him to retire ; but it was in vain, the reserves of the Mongols
were too strong. The dironider describes how their standard, painted
with a Greek X9 tt the top of idiich was a grey head with a kmg black
beard, was raised aloft. Wolfi'eiqdains this description as the well-known
tuk, having crossed shoulder-blades of sheep and the long black tails of
the Yak attached to itt We are told by iitt chronicler that a smoke or
steam of an unsupportable smdl arose frun it so that it rendered the Poles
impotent and helpless. This also refers to the foul*smeQing incense which
was burnt on such occasions under the standards by the Mongols amid
magical incantations, and which was called YauruntshLt The Mongols
now pressed their advantage^ attacked the Christian army, ard slaughtered
its chiefs most mercilessly. Qenry escaped with lour fi^owers, three of
these were killed; his horse then gave way, and after a most spirited
strugiB^e with his pursuers, he was overtaken and killed. His head was
cut ofL His body was afterwards vecQgmsed by his wife Anna, and with
diat of the Grand Master of the Prussian Knights, and other Polish
diieb, was buried in the Church <^ St Jacobs now St Vincent, at Breslau.f
This fiunous battle, which still lives in the traditums and Sagas of the
people, was fought on the 9th of April, 1241, on a plain watered by the
river Keiss, ^diere was afterwards built the village of Wahlstadt (i^,
Field of Battle). It is situated about a league from the town of Lignitz.
It was a Mongol habit to cut off* an ear from each corpse afterabattle, so
as to have a record of the number slain ; and we are told they filled nine
sacks with these |2^»stly trophies. Seven noble Silesian and Moravian
fimulies still bear the Mongol cap as a memento of their anoestorsf
twtu^xis. iw«iii;tss. Molts). fiiiMiMe;iaw«ui;ii9.
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OGOTAI KHAN. 145
prowess in the figlit Its hero is pictured on the atar-{»ece at Lignits,
its glories kte recounted from the pulpit of Wahlstidt, and it has been
made the subject <^a poem by GottUeb Linder.*
The Mongds now marched upon LignitZy which had been also deserted
and burnt. They held up the head of Henry on a tpeu as a menace
to the inhabitants who had taken refuge in the citadel, which, however,
they did not aq>turey and then marched on. They devastated the country
frightfully, burnt the m<mastery of Heinridiau, not frtf fixxn Munslerbmgy
and then marched to Ottmachau, near which they remained {Sundering
for fifteen days ; then on to Bolads, idiere they loitered Aree days ; and
lastly, about the beginning of May, entered Moravia. Wolff says the
depopulation of Silesia was so terrible that it was largely rqieopled after-
wards by Gennan colonists, who became the nucleus and beginning of
the Germanisation of tiiat province.t The Mongols now entered Moravia
and advaneed upon Th>ppau. Wolff has devoted about fifty pages of hia
work to a criticism of the various Sagas and accounts of the Mongol
campaign in Moravia, especially the centnl one rdating to the attadc
on Olmutz, and he has shown reasons for discrediting them. The great
siege of Ofanuts, when it was so ably defended by Jaroslaf de Steinberg,
instead of having been an incident of the Mongol invasion of la^ was
most probably one in a campaign whidi the Hungarians and Comans
made in these parts in 1353, and Baidar, hx finom being killed there^
was one of the princes who attended the invesUture of Kuyukas Giand
Khan.} The narrative of Von Hammer and lyOhsson therefore requires
eonsidershle correction in this part, and is shorn of mnch picturesque
detail The fitcts we may be certain of in diis Moravian invasion are
fev. The Mongols no doubt remained a month in the country. They
seem to have wasted the neighbourhood of Troppan, as is attested by the
fi^t that the Margrave Przemysl Ottokar, in 1247, granted the town jm
annnal free market to he^ to restore its prosperity.! Frendenthal, Hraditch,
Unciove, not fiur from Olmutz, Littan, Preran, Gevitch, and Bmnn,
are amoi^tlie towns which we are tolerably certain were devastated by
tiie Mongols, from the monuments stOl existing^ which show that that
prince copfbrred privileges and exemptions, or transplanted Aesh inhalu-
tants to enable them to recover. The Premonstatensian mmnesy of
Obirivts, situated near Brunn, was also destroyed, and we have a record
ttat the imns riieltered at Dnbravnik while it was being rebuilt
In frict it would seem that most of the open country and smaller towns
of M<»|ivia were ravaged ; the slaughter of the inhabitants would have
•been^Mpiihmare terrible but for the numeroutjwsodi and caverns which
format hidlog-plaoQir Several of the latterstill retain, In the popular
Sagas, te menery of having proved shdters to the unfortunate ftigitives
iWolCor.«it,sSS. tWoli;ieS440,i«pMialfycH.Ae. 5Wolii;s4S.
T
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I4/S HISTORY or THE MONGOLS.
in their fli|^ HftTing tnnied tlie lunthem flaxik of Hungaryi the c^
tingent under Baidar and Kaidu crossed the mountains to jmn die
xnain aiiny under BatUyidiich was laying waste that country. It crossed
\^ the so-calkd Hungarian Gates, which Wolff identifies with die
Hrasinka Pass, on the road from the valley of Olschawa, to the river
Brosinka.*
Whik this dhrisimi was -turning the iioxthern defences of Hungary, Balu
detached another southward to turn the opposite flank. This marrhed
through Moldavimy crossed the river Sireth into the land of the '^ Bishop
of Kumania* (i^^ Wa]lachia).t Here it seems to have again divided.
One section, under Subutai Behadur, continued its march durough WaUa-
chia ; another; under Kuyuk, the son and successor of Ogotai, and Buri,
grandson of Jagatai, crossed by the Oitosch Pass, over the mountain
Magyaras into the souUi-eastem corner of that land of forests Tran*
sylvania,} called Skbca Burgen by the Germans, from the seven Saxon
towns of Bistrits, Hermannstadt, Klausenberg, Kronstadt, Medevitch*
Muplenbach, and SchiitsbuxK^I Thb district suffered the usual fate of
the lands tiirough which the Mongers marched, and Wolff has cdlected
orach evidence from deeds, &&, to show what places chiefly felt the
scourge. Among these may be menti<med the Castle of Zeuth-Leleuth,
now Zent Ldey, near die Ojtosa Pass, and thje districts about Weisse»-
burgh (Alba Julia), Dolok, Klausenburig^ and Szolnok, Uie districts of
Zeiden and Zeh on the Alt, &c|| He traversed the mountains and forest^
of Transylvania, captured Roudsin, or Rodna, a rich town near the Royal
silver mines, and then advanced on Varadin, where a great body of
refugees was assembled. The Mongols took it; killed all the inhabitants
without regard to age or sex. They committed dreadful sacrilege in the
churdies, ravidied there the women they o^tured, tore down the tombsy
destroyed the rdics, desecrated the holy vessels, and tortured the priests.
The pbce was converted into a desert, which they were forced to
abandon on account of the dreadful effluvia from the corpses.
They then captured and destroyed a German bulwark on the Black
Koros, called Thomas' Bridge (Pontem Thomas). While the army com-
manded by Kuyuk was ravaging Transylvania, that of Subutai had made
the circuit of Walladiia as fer as Orsova, and had crossed the mountains
by the Mahadia Pass, on the road which leads from the Danube into the
Banat of Temesvar, and advanced to the river Maros, where it captured
the town of Czanad. It was probably this division which stormed the
Island on the Maros where a large number of refugees from Agra,
Waydam Geroth, and other towns had taken refuge. A general massacre •
took place here. Those who fled to the woods thou§^ it safe to return
on the third day to search for food among the ruins, but were set upon
•Wp|ft«49. tW^. 155- IWolff, i5d. ^Wolfi;op.cit,3a3.
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OGOTAI KHAN. 147
by some df thepnmding invaders and killed Harii^ spent the winter
in this neighbourhood, the Mongds in the early spring laid siege to
Pei^ (i>., Pecksa*}, where the inhabitants of sixty-nine villages had
taken refuge, and also to the Cistercian monastery of Egres, which was
fortified like a castle. Their army was iargdy increased by Hungarian,
Russian, and Comanian prisoners, whom they forced to do the harder
work for them. When the Hungarians were exhausted diey put the
Russians to the work, and when these were done the Comans. The town
was at length captured and everybody destroyed except two young girif .
The devastation is sickening to describe ; many of the inhabitants had
taken refuge in the forests, these were Induced to return to dieir homes
by the pr«Mnise of the Mongols to wgtat their lives if they caine back by a
certain day. They were allowed to sow and reap the yeax^i^ harvtst|
when they were all collected together and destroyed.
The various contingents which had nardied throogh Moravia, Tran-
sylvania, and WaUachia, seem to have concentrated at Petlh»
Let us now follow the main army under fiatu. This marched direcdy
upon Hungary. Hungary then stretched from the Adriatic to the Black
Sea, and firom the Carpathians to the Balkan rai^^ Bda the Fourth roled
over it, while his brother Kahnany, or Koloman, was dependent
upon him, and had authority in Slavonia, Servia, Croatia, and Dalroatia.
Moldavia and Wallachia, then called Comania; and Besserabia {ig^ the
kmd of the Bessi or Petchenegs), were abo subject to the Hungarian
crown.t Bela was a pious and weak prince, and had to centred a strong*
handed and turbulent aristocracy. At thb juncture there was a tntter
feeling against him, caused by his attempt to restrict their feudal rights
and otherwise. Some of them had secretly intrigued to supersede him
by o£feringthe Htmgarian drown totheDukeof Austria and the Enq>eror
Frederick II., and having been punished, their fiunilies swelled the mnnber
of the discontented. Another cause of discontent was that the Comans
under Kutan, whom we have already mentioned as having sought refiife
b Hungary, were allowed by Bela to setde there on conditkm of
dieir becoming Christians. They had traversed the couitry, and
being robbers, by profession, had laid their hands violently on many
things not their due. And although at a Diet convened in 1240 it was
<kcided that they should be scattered about the country to pasture dw
more desolate portions of it, and their chief had consented to be baptised,
the people were very much irritated against them.
Thus in the face of this terrible scourge, the Hungarian nation was
disintegrated and dissatisfied. Bela sent the Palatine of the kingdom,
Dionysius Mederwary, Count of Zalnuk, with a body of troops to guard
the passes of the Carpathians, and then convened a Council at Gran,
which was attended by his brother Kolcmian and the great civil magnates
*Wolff»3Sz. MotQ. tWoUr,97..
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148 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
of the kingdom, and by the greater prelates of the Giurch ; Matthias^
Archbishop of Gran and Ugolin of Calocza, with a vast following of the
lower deiigy, which in Hungary seems to have been a very warlike
body.*
Meanwhile Batu was advancing. He had, even while in Russia, sent
a lener of warning to the King of Hungary. It was written, says the Monk
Julian, " in heathen characters " (probably Uighur), in the Tartar speech,
so that many in Hungary could read it, but none understood it. Julian
had met a heathen in Moldavia who read it It was to this effect :— ^ I, am
Chaym (Sain), the messenger of the Heavenly King (<!<., of the Khakan),
who has given me authority over the earth, to raise up those who submit
and to crush those who expose me. I am surprised that you, King of
Hungary, should have taken no notice of the three envoys I have sent
you, and that you should have sent me neither envoy nor letter. I know
you are a rich and powerful King, who bav« many warriors and a great
kingdom; this makes it seem irksome that you should submit willingiy to
me, yet it will prove your best course. I have heard that you have taken
the Comans, our dq;>endents, under your protection. I charge you to
cease harbouring them, and to avoid in favouring them making an enemy
of me It will be much easier for them, who have no houses and live in
tents, to escape, than for you who live in houses and are settled in towns.
How can you fly from me ?** t This is probably the letter mentioned by
Matthew Paris, which he says was delivered by an outlawed Englishman,
who had joined the Mongo]s4 ^^^^ ^^^ advanced with 40,000 wariiors
and forced the so-called Ruthenian Gates, i^^ the passes in the neigh-
bourhood of Bereckze^ Munkacx, and Unghwar.| They defeated and
almost annihilated the force which had been entrusted to the Palatine.
This was on the 12th of March, 1241. As usual, they pressed quickly on,
and in three days had advancied,plundering and burning, within half a day's
journey of Pesth. || Bela, having sent his Queen and children into Austria,
ordered a general rendezvous of his troops at Pesth, a German town
on the Danube. By a show of bravado the Mongols attempted to draif
the garrison into a sortie. This irritated Ugolin, the Archbishc^ of
Calocza, who ventured out,and allowed himself to be drawn into a marsh»
where his followers were destroyed, he returned much chagrined, and
annoyed also with the King, who had not supported him.T
We are told that the Hungarians were penuaded tha^ Kutan and his
Comans had invited the Mongols into Hungary, and that they were per-
snarled that Comans and Mongols were the same race : a fresh proof of
how thoroughly Tuikish the army of Batu was. The people at length
attacked the house Vrliere Kutan and his chief men were living; killed
them, and threw their heads into the street. Their innocence was after-
«WoU;a7t* t Wolff, 974. ID'OhsaoOpii.xss. | Wolff, 389.
I Wolff, 390. f Wolff. 29Z-
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OOOTAI KHAV 149
wards fully promt The peasants in the country mnk a fierce attack
on the other Comans. The latter, driven to bay, retoited, and began a
general ravaging of the country. Bulzo, BasOluSy or Blashis, , Bishop of
Czanad, was, with a number of his people, going to the assistance of tiie
King when he was attadced by them at Reiskemet Most of his
people were killed, and he barely esci^ied. They then devastated Stder-
mark, and having plundered the best towns in the land, Fdburg, Stein-on*
the- Anger (the Hungarian Sxombateljr)! &c, they passed with a laige booty
of g6ld, horses, and cattle through Hungary and Sirmium into Bulgaria.*
Another bishop suffered at the hands of the Mongols; This was Benedict
of Varadin. While he was on the march with a body of troops he heard
that abody of Mongols had pillaged the town of Eilau, and carried off
the episcopal treasure. He pursued them. Being inferior in numbers
they dressed a number of puppets and put diem on horseback, as diey
had done at Peruan, in the western campaign of Jingis. Feignmg to be
beaten they retired in the direction of these doUs, who were mistakm for
supports by the Hungarians. The latter turned tail, and lost many of
their number, t
Meanwhile the tfagedy was thidooiing elsewhere. Bdifc had assembled
his forces on the wide heath of MM^ bounded on the east by tiie vine-
dad hills of Tokay, on the west by the dark woods of Dio^yor, and on
the north by the great hills of Lomnitz* The plain was watered by the
Sayo, a tributary of the Theiss4 The Mongols had fixed their camp on
^ other side of this river, in the coiner formed by it, the Theiss, and the
Hemard, where their position was so hidden by brushwood, &c^ that it
could not be recoimoitered from the river side. The Hungarian army
was very djbcontented, and many of the grandees iqiparently looked
forward with complacency to the King being defeated. Several of the
bishops acted as generals, the AxchbislM^ Ugolia being espedally pro*
minent Batu is said to ha:ve pointed out to his generals iht ill-chosen
position of the enemy's troc^M. Like a herd of cattle pent up in a naiiow
stable, there was not room to escape.| The Mongols made their attacjk
in the night ; sent a division to turn one flank of the Hungarian army
while another advanced against the bridge over the Sayo, and as their
passage across the river was somewhat opposed, they cleared the oppotite
bank by a battery of seven catapults. They then advanced and overiapped
the Hungarian army in the form of a half moon. The Hungarians seem
to have been taken by surprise, and were panic-stridden. The Archbishop
Ugdin, Koloman, and a flew brave men, including the Templars, foug^
desperatdy, but the rest refused to leave the camp, and at length btoke
away. As they fled, the Mongols, as usual, assisted the retreat by opening
theirranks; they then pursued them, and overtaking them when overcome
with fotigue^ destroyed a large pwtion of them. A space of two daysT
W«W •94,195. tWolfl;29S« t Von Hamow, op. du, U7. ^Wolff,j|a
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150 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS;
journey wu strewn with corpses. Among the dead were the Archbishops
of Strigonia or Giian, and Calocza, three bishops, and a vast crowd of
lords. ' Bela escaped by the virtues of his horse to the country of
Thurocz in the Carpathians, where he met his relative Bolesla^ the Duke
of Cracow. The King's brother, Coloman, who had fought splendidly,
esci4>ed to his appanage of DalmAtia and Croatia, where he shortly after
died of his wounds. Among the captured boot)" was the seal of the
Hungarian Chancellor. This was used by Batu to prevent a muster of
the inhabitants. A proclamation in the King's name, and signed with
bis seal, was issued: '' Do not fear the rage and ferocity of these dogs ;
do not quit your houses ; we have only been surprised ; we shall soon,
with God's help, recapture our camp. Continue to pray to God to assist
us in destroying our enemies." This had the desired effect of preventing
a general muster, while the Mongols overran the country. In the recent
battle, the slaughter had been the most terrible that had occurred in
Hungarian history. One authority says 65,000 men perished. Thurocz
and the chronicle of Klostenburgh put the loss at 100,000. Riderless
horses, with gorgeous trappii^^s, rushed to and fro, and the Mongols
divided a magnificent booty.* They now marched upon Pesth, which
they captured.t
Pesth was not then what it has since become, the most important city
in Hungary. That position was then filled by Gran or Strigonia, situated
on the right bank of the Danube, and occupying in the commercial
history of the middle ages a correlative position with Kiei^ Novgorod,
Constantinople, &c^ a great emporium of trafiBc where merchants from
distant climes congregated, we are tdd that Frenchmen, Lombards,
Greeks, and Armenians were gathered there ; and a document in which
Bela the Fourth renewed certain privileges to the Armenians after the
retreat of the Mongols, is one of the first evidences we have of the
enterprise of that indomitable race of pedlars in CentnJ Europe. It was
on the 25th of December, 1241, when the Danube was frozen over that the
Mongols crossed the ice to attack Strigonia, or Gran; the old city was
protected by ramparts and towers of wood. They battered it with thirty
caupults, made a breach and filled the ditch with sacks of earth;
the inhabitants set fire to all the wooden part of the town, de-
stroyed large nu^azines of merchandise and buried much of their
treasure. The enraged Mongols took a speedy revenge, they stormed the
town and destroyed its inhabitants, many of whom were burnt over fires
to make them disclose ^diere their buried treasures lay. The citadd,
defended by a gallant Spaniard, the Count Simeon, defied their attacks.
While Batu was engaged in capturing Gran, it would seem that Kadan
was detached in pursuit of Bela. That unfortunate prince had taken
refege with the Duke of Austria, at Presburg. There he was detained and
*WoUi;5Q6»ac t lyObMon, U. X47
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OGOTAI KHAK. 151
compdOed to par a Uxg^ mnsom in nlver and other valuables. Not
satisfied witii this cnid conduct, Frederidc caused the western provinces
of Hungary to be invaded while the eastern ones were being desolated by
die M<mgols. Bda on quitting Anstria took refuge with his family in
Croatia, where he spent the summer. Here he collected the diief
treasures of his kingdom^ whtdi he sent on with his family into Dafanatia,
whose towns were now crowded by Hungarian refugees. Bda widi a
great number of prelates and nobles went first to ^[talatro and then to
Trau.
Kadan first captured Buda, or Osen, the twin town to Pesdi, situated on
the opposite side of the Danube. He then advanced upon StnUweissen-
burg, the burial place of die dd Hungarian kings. They burnt the
outskirts, but the town was saved. Von Hammer says on account of a
sudden thaw, which partially laid the country under water. Some of the
credit was also due to its Italian garrison. At all events the old tonibs
were spared for their later &te wbai die town was attacked by the
Turks 300 years after.* The monastery of St Martin of Pannonia, now
called St. Mardnsberg, situated two and a half German inUes S.E. of
Raab, was so well defended by its Abbot that die Moi^;ols also passed it
by. They were fiunoua pursuers, and seldom gave their victims much,
breathing time. Their way now led diem akmg the shores of the Flatten
See, the great Hungarian lake, and 00 towards Croatia; they broke
throui^ places that were viigfai soil to hostile feet, and whose inhabitants
went for shelter to die mountains and finests.
At a stream or lake called Sirbium by IVOhsson, but collected 10
Vevbhim by WoU^ and identified by him with the Vertiacs or Veibas in
the valley of l^^tshutz and Bditse, thirteen German mOes N.E. of
Spalatro, In consequence perhaps of some act of treadiery^ he eoDected
all his Hungarian ciqydves of both sexes, and made a general sknc^rter.
Leaving the bdk of his army there, he went on with a pordon only to
the coast of the Adriatict
At Spalatro was collected a vast crowd of people with thdr weahh ;
they oveHbwed die houses, and were encamped in die squares and
streets. The list of notabilities has a statdy sound about it Among
die clerics were Stephen de Vancsa, Bishop of Waixen, later Arch-
bishop of Gran, and afterwards distinguished as the first Hungarian
Cardinal; the Bishops of Agram, Funfkirchen, and Vaiadin; die Provost
Benedict ofWeissenburgh,Ardibishop elect of Calocza,&c.,&c. Amoi^
die laymen, Dionysius Ban of Slavonia and the Coastiands, and Count
of Shumegh ; die Paladne, Arnold; die High Steward, Wladislaf ; die
Treasurer, Matthaias ; the Master of the Horse, Oriando ; die Chief Cook,
Roland; the Chief Herald, Tristram ; the Chief Cup-bearer, Manrithis, Ac,
&c., with a vast body of others. Wh^ Bda came near the city die diief
•VoaHiBflMr.Bi4. WdftsiliSSS- tWoUi;iM.
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153 HISTORY or THE ICONGOLS.
inhabitantiy under their Podesta, came out to greet him; but he did not
intend suying there, although it was wdl situated for defence, being built
on a peninsula, like many <^ the strongholds of the old Gredcs and the
Norsemen^ but he took ship and retired to Trau, on the Gulf of Castello.
Kadan approached Spalatro and hovered near it for some days, but did
not attack it. He probably found it too strong. He had also heard of
Bela's flight, so he advanced with his Mongds towards Trau. On the
way he attacked the fortress of Clissa, but was sharj^y answered. The
Mongols prepared to attack Trau with vigour, but seem to have found
it unassailable^ and found also that as Bela had taken refuge on
shlpboardt he was practically out of theur reach. They marched through
Herz^;ovinaa&d Servia into Upper Dahnatia; passed through the district
of Ragusa; laid Cataro in ashes ; entered Albania, and ruined the towns
of Doivach (Suagium) and Drivasto, 42.15 N.L., two Gennan miles
N.E. of Scutari. This was the most southern point reached by
their arms in this expedition. Having been summoned by Batu to
return, they made their way towards the banning of May over the
Glubotin mountains through Servia into Bulgaria.*
While Kadan was sent in pursuit of Bela, another body of Mongols
made sm excursion to the borders of Austria. They weru.met on the
borders of the river March, in the district of Theben or Devin, by the
Duke of Austria, and sustained a defeat, which is mentioned by the
Chinese account in Gaubil, as well as by Haithon the Annenian Prince, and
the Western chroniders-t There is also an account in the narrative of
Ivo of Narbomie, and others, which would make it appear that the
Mongols made another raid into Austria, south of the Danube, and
advanced as for as Vienna ; but that the Duke of Austria collected aforoe
of Bohemians, Carinthians, &&, and this caused them to retire. Among
eight captives whom they secured was a renegade Englishnu^ who
spoke seven langui^;es, namely, his own tongue, Hungarian* Russian,
Gennan, Comanian (? Turici^h), Saracenic (/./., Arabic), and Tartar (/.^.,
Moi^ol).
Banished from En^and for some crime, he had wandered from Tana
eastinuds, and had entered die service of the Mongols as an interpreter.}
IvQ^s narrative seems to be not altogether consistent, but it is in itsdf
highly probable that while encamped in Hungary the Mongols made some
laids upon the eastern marches of Austria. It is more certain that
during the pursuit of Bela, Subntai with another Mongol army made a
terriUe invasion of Southern Hungary, on the left bank of the Danube,
and Tiansylvania. These proceedings were described by an eye-witness,
Roger, a amoa of Varadin, in a work styled misirabiU carmm. At the
sads of Varadin he took shdter in the woods, where he lived for a while
amiserahle fogitive, forttvely returning at night to some ruined village
•WoUr.s65. tWoUi;«59«te. |VMHaaflMr.op.citHM7tn6. Wolff, S4X-34S.
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OOOTAI KHAN. X53
to setrcb ammif the oorpcet for food. When the Mongols offered to
fpare the lives of those who returned to their own viOsges, he preferred
to go to their camp, where he entered the service of a Hun-
garian who had joined the Invaders, and half naked |ie tended his
equipage Here he was in constant fear <^ death, and noticed how the
Mongols preserved the houses and bam% the wheat and. straw, and even
tiie ^urmers when they intended to winter, and how diey destroyed eveiy-
diing as soon as they left They seem to have utterly wasted a laige part
of the country, and to have slaughtered its inhahitants without mercy.
They now received orders to march homewards. Roger tells us diat
they traversed the f(»ests to spy out and destroy everything that had
n^cped their tot mvasion, the captives were fed on the entrails, the
leet, and heads of the cattle, which served for food to the Tartars. At
length, hearing from the interpzeters that after their retreat from Hungary
they proposed to make a general massacre^ Roger and his senwit
esoaped and hid in a hole in the forest lor two days, and then returned
over the desolate country feeding on roots and herbs. After ei|^t days
they arrived at Alba (probably Alba Julia), vdiere they found only human
bones, and the walls of chnrches and palaces red with blood. The cause
of the Mon^ retreat was the death of Ogotai, which occurred on the
iith<^ December, 1241. On hearing pf this, Batu collected his various
contingents together, and prepared to return towards the Volga. Before
returning^ the Mongols poblished in their camp a decree that all strangers,
whether free or ciq^tive, were at liberty to return home. A crowd of
Hungarians and slaves acoordii^y left the camp on a fixed day, but
whether from some caprice or as a part of their general policy, they were
pvsoed and cut to pieces.*
Bela did not return to Hungary until he was well assured of the definite
xetreat of the Mongols. He found his country a desert, in which famine
was coropletii^ the woik of the sword.
The battle of Lignitk, and the subsequent barbarities of the victets
filled the empire with terror, and a crusade was preached against them,
to whidi aU were asked to contribute. Pope Gregory the Ninth issued
letters to the feithful couched in the language of grief and terror: ^Many
things,'' he says, ''the sad state of the Holy Land, and the deplorable
condition 6( the Roman empire, occupy our attenticm ; but we will not
name them, we win foiget than in the presence of the iUs caused by the
Tartan. The notion that they will eradicate the name of Christian
shatters all our bones, dries up our marrow, &&, .... we know not
which way to turn.*
The terrible apparition of the savage hordes gave rise to many hypeiw
boHc descriptions, '^ncent of Beauvais tells us ^that before Batu invaded
Hungary he sacrificed to the demons, one of whom who lived in an idol
•I>*OhMOB,U.i50.
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154 HISTORY or THB MONGOLS.
addressed him and bade him march on hopefully ; that he would send
three spirits before him, before whom his enemies should not be able to
stand;" and that this came to pass, the three spirits beiiig the npmt of
discord, the spirit of mistrust, and the spirit of fear.* Iyo oC Narbonne
has a marvellous account : he tdls us, inter aHa^ that the Mongol {urinces
who had dogs' heads ate the bodies of die dead, learing only the bones fi>r
the vultures, which foul birds, however, despised and rejected these
remnants. The old and ugly women were divided into daily portions
among the common folk ; die pretty young women having been ravished,
had their breasts torn open, and were reserved as tidBiti fer the
grandees, t
These hyperbolic phrases of the European dmmiders may be matched
by those of the Persians. In enumerating the various quahdes of the
Mongols, we are told by Vassaf that they had die courage of lions, die
endurance of dogs, the prudence of cranes, die cunning of foxes, the fax-
sifhtedness of ravens, the rapacity of wolves, the keenness for fighting of
cocks, the tenderness for their offipring of hens, the wiliness of cats in
approaching, and the impetuosity of boars in overthrowing their prey;t
or as Von Hammer says, we may enumerate dieir virtues in condensing
the various qualities of the twelve animals that made up their Zodiac :«-
Thievish as mice, strong as oxen, fierce as panthers, cautious as hares,
artfiil as serpents, firightful as dragons, mettlesome as horses, obedient as
sheep, loving of their offspring as apes, domestic as hens, fiudifnl as
dogs, and unclean as swine.} Gibbon tdb us how the dread of their
hivasion spread to the further comers of Europe, and how through
fear of them the fishermen of Gothia (/./., of Sweden) and of
Frisia, in 1238, failed to attend the herring fishery on the English
coast, and how in consequence the price of herrings was largely
augmented. |
Europe was then so divided, the great feud between the Emperor
Frederick the Second and the Popes being one chief cause of it, and the
extreme development of feudal notions being another, that, as lyOhssoo
says, it is probable that it only escaped the fiste of Hungary by the oppor-
tune death of the Khakan Ogotai. The severe discipline of the Mongols
proved more than a match for the personal bravery of a fow knights,
hampered, if protected, by heavy armour, and an undisciplined crowd of
peasants, their retainers. To their discipline they also added other
soldieriy virtues, fertility of invention, and very able strategy and tactics.
In fact, if we only consider that the Mongols came from an obscure
comer of Asia, had neither maps of the country, nor even any definite
tneans of learning its t<^>ography; that they were complete strangers not
• WoUr, a87. t W«li; S44- : WolC. aa(. ^ Voo lUamcr, liithan». 44-
I Qihbo«» via. 15. Koi*.
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OGOTAI KHAN. 155
only to Europe, but also to western modes of thought, &c; that they did
not prepaxe themselves for a campaign by a long series of expedments,
but rushed ofrer a country like an avalanche; that their commissariat and
transport was adapted to the steppes and deserts of Asia and not to the
very difierent state of things in Europe ; we must consider it as little
short of miraculous, not only that they should have been so successful,
but also that their strategic plans should have been so scientifically laid.
No doubt their terrible system of wholesale slaughter and cruel^ cowed
and unnerved their opponents ; no doubt, also, they were served by
Comans, Russians, ftc, some <^ those vagabond and mercenary spirits
ready enough to act as guides and pioneers to any invader who promises
plunder. But granting this, we shall still not cease to wonder at the
exploit, and to compare it as a military achievement with any in. the
world's history. »
While Batu was absent in Hungary, the Kipchaks attacked the Mongol
reserves on the Volga, commanded by Sinkur, his ninth brother, but
were defeated An army was sent in pursuit of the fugitives under Ilmika.
This advanced into Daghestan beyond Derbend, and even into Shirvan.*
Sinkur himself made a campaign on the Kama against the Bulgarians and
their neighbours. It was probably to this occasion that we must refer the
statement of Torfaeus, who tells us that during the reign of Hakon the
Second of Norway (1217-1365), there arrived in the country many
Permian fugitives who had emigrated to escape the cruelty of the Tartars.
These fugitives were settled about the Malanger Gulf.t Wolff says that
the Mongol arms reached to the Upper Kama and the Wytsh^da, and
as for as Petschova. X Haschid mentions a campaign undertaken by the
Mongol princes against the land of Uriunf^t BadadJ. | Von Hammer
has identified this with the land of the Eastern Urianguts, or
Soyol;| but this seems to me to be altogether wrong, and Raschid's
reference is probaUy to the Samoyedic and Finnic tribes of Permia or
Archangel
Having traced out the progress of the three military expeditioiis
authorised by the Kuriltai of 1235, we will return on^ more to Ogotai,
He proceeded to build himself a palace^ called the Ordu Balik, or the dty
of the Ordu, at Karakorum, where he had fixed his court. The position
of the cdebnited city has been much debated and was discussed
at great length by Abel Rtousat f It is generally agreed that
it was situated near the river Orkhon, or Ozgon. Gaubil, &om data
furnished by the Chinese astronomer Ko-cheou-ldog, who lived in the
reign of Kubilai Khan^ places it in 43.31 N.L. and 10340 EX. of the
meridian of Paris. Rtousat aigues that the calculation is wrongs and
•WWe^sSt. I>X>fanoB,iiCsi. •tD'OhiMii.li.tSS. IOp.«it..39»
4 M«aoJmi«rplQd«iinf^MitioMf«Itthr«sfaiOMgra»liit4«rAtUC«itnlt. Paris,xSa9,
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156 HISTORY or THB MOXGOLS.
idaces it 48.23.50 N.L. and 13.29 W.L., calculated ftom the meridian
of Peking.*
The new palace was elaborately decorated with Chinese sculptures and
paintings, it was surrounded wi^ a park, and had fimr entrances, one
reserved for the Emperor, the second for jmnces of the blood, the third
for the women of the Imperial household, and the fourth the public
entrance. Around it were the houses of the -giandees, and beyond again
the great dty called Ordu Balik by the Emperor, but generally known as
Karakorum. In 1235 it was surrounded with a wall half a league in
circumference. Every day there arrived there fh>m all parts of the
empire, 500 carts of provisions for the Imperial household and for distri-
bution. Relays of posts, thirty-seven in number, connected it with
China.t In 1236 Ogotai ina«]^;urated his new palace with a grand foast,
at which Ydiu Chutsai, who had been entrusted with the administration
of China, was especially honoured, and had the chief toast proposed to
him by the Emperor. I extract from the life of Ydiu Chutsai in
Rtensat's Nouveauz Mdanges Asii^ues and from lyOhsson's, wodc
some of the reforms that minister had introduced.
The Khakan proposed the issue of paper numey; Kiao chaq, his
minister rqdied, the inventor of "ttiis kmd <tf money had amassed a
large fortune, and was known by the soubriquet of Lord Note, then
things came to such a pass by the depredation in value that it required
10,000 notes to buy one cat; this caused mudi sufifering, and the example
ought to be a caution, and if paper money was issued it ought to be
limited to loo^ooo silver ounces wbrth* The administration of atifoirs had
fofien into great confosion during the Mongol supremacy. Ydiu Chutsai
one day thus addressed the Emperor: ^When one sets up a porcelain
foctory, one collects apt workmen for the conduct of afiairs; we must do
^ same, and only lettered pepple axe fit for this work. Ifwedon'tbegiii
to employ such» the race will become extinct'* The Emperor con-
sented, and thus, says JUmusat, the vanquished had the doors of prefer*
ment open to them, and, as they were very superior in culture to thdr
conquerors, tiie first stq> was tsJcen in the long strugi^ by which the
Chinese regained the control of the empire and eventually ousted thev
conquerors. The first appointments made in virtue of this scheme were
those of magistrates and departmental judges. A imifonn system of
weights and measures replaced the arbitrary and iir^gular sjrstems intro-
duced at the caprice of each Mongol govetnor. One of his trusted
fonctionaries having disappeared with, his treasure chest, Chutsai was
twitted by the Khakan : ** You vani^t -^ me the philosophy of Confiidus
and the virtues whidi it puts in practice: is thi&a sample of the men it
pcoduoes?'^ The minister rei%d, ^ The seer has founded his rules on
the Imowladge of virtiM and right, and there is norulerwhose power is
*PiurtUtr»lfa»ooPolo»i.9n* Molt. t D*OhnM» U. «}•
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OGOTAIKHAN. 1 57
simUarly btsed. These virtues axe to the en^Mre what the sun and moon
are to the sky. What sigaily the crimes of a creature who despises the
hws of aU tines and aU countries. Is our GoTemnMot the only one under
which such crimes aie committed ?**
'^ The celebrated Pan chao, who wrote in the time of the Han dynasty,
says, that a roan does less service to the State who brings it an
advantage than he iHio staves off a disaster, and that it is not so credit-
able to do good as to resist evil, and no one leels this note than he who
has been accused of a crime.'^
In a quarrd between two priests, one ol them accused the other of being
a deserter in disguise, upon fHiich the other killed him; the great minister
i^xm this had the murderer put to death. This displeased the Khakan,
who went so far as to order Chutsai to be imprisonedy but he shortly after
ordered his 'release. ^ No,** said the Chancellor, ^ you have made me
administxator of the affiurs of the realm. You have oidered my arrest,
I was therefore guilty; yon ordered my release, I was thenfore innocent:
it is easy for you to make a plpiything of m/, but how am I then to direct
the aibirs of the empire?'' And it required some pcetsurebefinne he
woukl oH^Rnt to be restored to fiivour. By such consummate art, even if
its philosophy were rather feeble, did the learned minister obtain
mastery over the good-natured sovereign of the vast Mongol empire. In
the words of mmusat ;. ** A Tartar by origin, a Chinaman by cultivation,
he stood between the expressed and ^ (^pressors. He stood by the side
of ruthless Jingis like a tenipering providence, and his life was dedicated to
pleading the cause of justice, of order, of civilisation and humanity before
triumi^umt barbarism. Nor can we calculate the millions of lives whidi
he succeeded in saving.** Among his other reforms he arranged the
tribute to be paid by the Chinese. On this subject he had a great quarrel
with the Mongol grandees; he wished the old Chinese custom which
Impnsfd so much tax on each hearth or family to be retained, while they
wanted the tax to be a capitation tax. The Khakan suj^ported him and
had an enumeration made, when it was found that in the' conquered
provinces there were 1,100^000 fiMnilies. In China many fiefs were
created, which were granted to the various meoibers of the Imperial
innily and other grandees; they are thus enumoratod by D'Ohsson torn
Hyadnth's History of the Yuens :—
In the province of Pdichehli : the department of Ta ming fu to the
Khakan's wtm Kuyuk, Sing chau (Shun te fu) to Borotai, Ho kian fu to
Khi4g«^ said Kuang ning fii (Tchang li hien) to Burgutt In the pro*
vmceof Shansi: Ping yang fii to Ordu Batu (? to Ordu and Batu, the sons
of Ji^), and Thai yuen fii to Jagatai. In Su chuan: Ching ting fu to the
Empress Dowager, and Ping chau (Ping hun) and Luan chau to Utsikeo-
Noyan. In Shan tung:apartof I tufu(Tsingdiau)andof Tsinanfuto
ntelMt,NMnrMisMtU0SMAtUititM8,U.64,ae. t Dt IfiOlU, ix. 490.
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1 58 HISTORY OF TKX MONGOLS.
ndio, and Bin chau and Lai chau to AdjitaL The Prince Kntan, Chdu
(a rdative of OgotaFs), the Princesses Alikha and Gatchtnt the Princes
Chalakhu, Jagatai Tankin, Mongo, and Khantcha, and the Noyans Angui
Tsingy and Khoss kissu received lands in the depaxtxaent o£ Tung ping
fu, in Shantung.*
The princes of the blood had been wont to seise upon as many post
horses as they needed, and to make recpdiition at their will ftur odiar
articles. In 1^37 Ydio Chutsai fixed the number of horses a person of
each rank was entitled to, and prescribed the use of passports or warrants^
which were to be presented when any demand was made. He also
renewed iSbc old examinariims in the various towns, and made proficiency
in them the test of capacity fbr^pubhc appointments. Death was the
penalty awarded to those who prevented their slaves from attending. He
also founded two coU^es, one at Yanldng, the other at Pin Yang, in
Shansi, where theliottgol youth were taught history, geography, arith-
metic, and astronomy.t Such was the teform instituted in the empire by
the Imperial Chancellor. Let ns now turn to his master.
Ogotai, the powerful over4ord of the vast empire, gave himsdf up to
luxury and excessive drinking. He only lived for one month in the
spring at Kajfakorum, the rest of this season he spent at a [dace called
Kertchagan, a day's journey thenoe, where his Persian architects had built
a palace to rival that buik for him at Kaxakorum by the Chinese. The
summer he passed at a place called Ormektua. There is a mountain
and station called Urmukhtui near the river Shara, a tributary of the
Orgon, twenty-two leagues south of IGakhta, on the way to Urga4
There Ogotai lived under a Chinese pavfflon made of white Idt lined
with gold embroidered silken tissue; this tent, which would hold 1,000
people, was known as the Sira Ordu. In autumn he spent a month
near the lake Keuke.| The wfa&ter, the great hunting season, he passed
at Ongki, where he had enclosed a space two leagues in circumference,
with a ramp ofearth and stakes. Into this the game was driven. Ogotai
was an habitual drunkard. In vain his brother Jagatai and his minister
Yeliu Chutsai counselled him of the danger he ran, the latter showing hhn
a piece of iron corroded with wine as a warning of its efifects on the
stomach. In March, ia4Tt he fdi ill, and on his partial recovery he
granted a general amnesty to all prisoners and exiles, but his malady
returned, and he at length died on the ildi of December, 1241, at the
age of fifty-sbc, and was buried in the valley of KinienI {i.e , another name
for the Imperial cemetery, whose ^te we have ahready described smt voc9,
Jingis Khan). He was a benevolent and very generous prince. " Every-
body is a traveller here, it is well therefore to perpetuate onesdf in the
memory of men." ** Money cannot stave off death, and, as we cannot
■D*OhMoa,U.;e. Not*. • t DX>iMWO. U. 71. I IXOhMOft, ii. S4. Nolt.
f Voa HMUBtr^ U Khaai, 1. 95. N«u. | D'ObNoa, ii. 97.
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OOOTAI KHAK. 159
tvlum from the odier worid, we oa|^ to deposit our treasures in the
hetfb of our people^* were amoi^ his £ftvoitrite mottoes. But» Uke all rich
hein^ hb generosity was ^ to be piodifaL Whan Karakorum was
being boilt he entered his txeasury one day and foond it fiiU Of money.
''MQiat use is this money to me,* he said^^it oolycosU me pain to
9mid it»* and he oideied aU w1m> wuMi MisAs (U.^ vtftr coin) to come
and hdp themsehes. He always paid eatoibitantly lor what he bought,
on principle^ because he wished to encourage merchants to come to him,
and boo^t die whole of a merchant's stock to distribute it in kugess. In
a freak of gwiecosity he gave a b^n;ar from Baghdad a thotisand balisks^
lumished him with hones to carry his coin, and also with an escort to
protect him on his kMV journey home; the old man died on the way, and
the Khakan ordered the money to be forwarded lor his daughters.*
One day when huntingi a poor man gave him three mdons, having no
money by him he tokl his wife Monga to give him two great pearls that hung
from her ears, and when she said he did not know their value, and that he
had better return the IbUowing day, the Khakan aaid, ** Can a poor man
wait tin to4u»rrow ?" aud ordered the pearls to be given him at once ;
they were immediately sold lor very little, and the purchaser, who did
not knpw their history, presented them to the Khakan as an act of
homage, by whom diey were returned to Mooga. When an envoy from
Fars brought him a present of two vases lull of pearls, Qgotai produced
a chest lull, and ordered them to be served out in wine glasses to the
guesu at the evening bampiet as a presenu
Ogotai was also very good-natured: by the law of Jingis the punish*
ment awarded to those who bathed in running water in the spring or^
summer was death; one day returning from hunting with his brother
Jagatsu, they found a poor Mussulman bathing; Jagatai would have had
him killed immediatdy, but his brother secretly caused a silver coin to be
thrown into the stream, and the Mussulman was allowed to plead that as
a poor man who had lost his coin in the stream grace might be extended
to him. Ogotai being privy of course to the deception.!
An enemy of the Mussulmans once came to him and said that Jingis
had sent him to tcU him to exterminate the Mussulmans; having thought
a minute, Ogotai asked him if Jingis Khan employed an interpreter, he
said " No.'' " And dost thou know Mongol ?" he said he only knew
Turk- ^ Thou art a liar then, for Jingis only knew Mongol,'' and he had
him pi|t to death4
One day some Chinese showmen were performing before him 4nd
exhibiting their celebrated shadow figures, one of these, a figure of an okl
m^ \rith a white beard dragged by the neck at the tail of a horse,
was somewhat exultingly pointed out by the conceited Chinese as
diowing how the Mussulmana were treated by the Mongol horsemeB.
^ D'Ohtton, ii. 90. t D'OhMOO, ii. fj. I DMDhttoo, U. 94.
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f 6o HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
Ogotai stopped them, and having produced the richest articles in his
treasury of Chinese and of Persian make, he showed them how inferior
the former were ; he said that many of his rich Mussdman subjects had
many Chinese slaves, but no Chinaman had any Mussulman slaves. You
know that by the laws of Jingis a Mussulman's life is valued at forty
boHshSf whSe a Chinaman's is valued the same as a donkey; how dare
you then insult the Mussulmans.
Ogotai was very fond of wrestlifig, and imported &mous wrestlers
from Persia, one of whom, Pil^, was especially celebrated. The Khakan
gave him a beautifol girl for a wife, bot he would not sleep with her; and
on beii^: asked why by the Khakan, he rq>lied that having won such
great fame at his court he did not wish to be beaten, but to retain his
strength and preserve the fovour of the Khakan; the latter replied that
he wished to have more of his race^ and that he would di^)ense with his
trials of strength for the future,*
One anecdote is told which speaks of his severity. It was reported
among the Uhats that the Khakan intended to marry their daughters to
men of other tribes, and they immediately affianced tiiem. When Ogotai
heard of diis he ordered all the girls above seven years old of that tribe,
and those who had been married during the year, to be ranged in a row
to the number of 4900a Having pidced out the fairest for himsdf and
his officers, and sent others to the public brothds, he ordered all the rest
to be scrambled for by his sddiers, and this before their fathers,
husbands, and -brothers, and it is said no one murmured. These
anecdotes give one a good idea of some traits of Mongol life at this
period. The duef wife of Ogotai was Turakinay by whom he had five
sons, Kuyuk, Kutan, Kutchu, Karadjar, and Kashi; his two other sons,
Kadan Ogul and Mdlik^ were by concubines.t
Whether we rank him as a most fortunate conqueror, as a mighty
potentate ruling an empire to which that of Napdeon or Alexander was
very smaD, or as an administrator who managed to ihune rules by which
the vast mass was riveted together for a long period, we mnst concede
to Ogotai the character of one of die greatest monarchs the world has
seen. Nor does it detract from his position that most of the woik was
done for him by other hands, it is in the choice of fit servants that die
masters of large empires oftenest fiuL The great name of Jingis has at
least in En^sh literature almost eclipsed that of his son, nor can this
be other than a very modest attempt to draw more attention to him.
KUYUK KHAN.
OOOTAI had named his third ton Kaidw as his sucoesior, but he
had died in 1256 in China. He next named his "grandson Shirawsmi
the son of Ktttdm; but Ogotai's widow, die Empress T^nakina, wished
»D*0biMmlL9S. tiyOlMM.tt.fl,
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Kmxm KHAir. i6r
dwhoaoor for Xnjnd^lwddetl tern, wliolii^ himidfiii
tile cn^tigii afifaitt tiie Knit and alio under Batu, an4 wlio^ aocoidiiif
ID tiie naiial Moogol nde of tiieoenioB» waa tiie next heir. He bad in
1341 reoehFad oiden to letom to Tartary, and heard of hit fiither't death
m fMMfo. Tmakina now iaeoed a iw«ma«« to the difierent princes of
thehoosotocometoaKnriltai fo tile electioiiofasaocessor. Jagatai
and thoae prinoea who were at hand i^ipcMntod Tunkina recent dnring
the httervegnm. ThU appoiatma&t was the b^innhig of loi^ trcmblea
to the MoQgid djnastjr. The regedt oommenoed bf displacing Chinkai,
who had been layerlairhannfiilor, and one of whose duties it was to take
down dailjr the sayiafs of the Ea^eror. Her next act was more im-
portant. A Mohammedan merchant named Abd-vr-Rahman had gained
her entire confidence. The taaes imposed upon China had been cako-
ktedand levied by the oekbrated Ydin Qnttsai, and on the final con-
qnest of the Kins had been fixed at X|ioo^iooo ounces of silver annually.
Abd-ur-Rahman offered a^aoo^ooo to be allowed to Uxm tiiem, and not-
witiistaading the opposition of Ydhi Omtsait he was appointed head of
the Imperial finances. Ydfai Chntsai died of grief at the prospect of
seeing the firnits of his labours, for the improved condition of his country,
tims sacrificed. This was in June, 1244, when he was fifty-five years okL
It was suggested that one who had been so long Ffaiance Minister must
have accumulated a large fortune. They accoidingly searched his houses
but only lioond there books, nu^ps, medals, stones with ancient inscrip-
tions, and instruments ofmnsic,tiie surroundings in fiu:t of a student One
of OgotaPs successors gave him the posthumous title of King of Kuana
hing, and the style Yen tcheng.* His tomb still remains at the foot of the •
mmmtain Wan Shen, three leagues and a half firam Peking. In 1757
the Government built a new temple on the spot^ and also a monument
with an inacriptjon, the old one being decayed. In it are statues of
himsdf and his wife. His, like tiiat of Moses by Michael Aqgeto^ has a
auyestic beard reaching to his knees.t
The empire soon after lost a very valuable servant in Massudbey, the
governor of Turkestan and Transoxiana, which, thou|^ nominally
attached to the Khanate of Jagatai, now that there was a minor on the
tinooe of that Khanate^ were more hnmediatdy under the In^perial
control. Massttd had been a capital administrator and had restored proa*
parity to those provinces so mndi ravaged by Jinps. He did not trust
the new ligime^ and deemed it pmdent to fly ; he escaped to Batu Khan.
The R^tentalso sent one of her feivourites called Argun into Persia to
uplsu Knrgaz, iu governor, who had kmg been obnoxious to her; he was
hi^cisoned and Axgun placed in his office. We are told that Turakina
waa entirely guided by the advice of one of her feinales, Fatima, a Persian
who had been captured at the sack of Thus.
*lfOkmoa,lLi9t' tiyOtaiOi^Of.€l«.,i«. »«•••
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l62 HISTORY OP THE MONGOLS.
Temogu Utsuken, the youngest brother of JingU, as tiie Ust survivor
of his generation^ had some claims to the dirone. He seems to have
made a feeble effort to obtain it^ but was apparently so little encmiraged
that he converted his Journey in search ci a dironc into one of con-
gratulation.
The general Kurfitai had been summoned to meet at the f^ce near
lake Keukee, where Ogotai generally spent die summer. Its meeting
was delayed until the spring of 1246 by the tardy march of Batu Khan,
who was now the most important prince among the Mongok. He pre-
tended that his horses' feet were bad, but his real reason was his hatred
for the Regent and her son Kuyok. After all he did not attend the Diet,
which was held without him. We are told that the different routes that
converged from all parts of Asia upon Sira Ordu, where the Kuriltai was
held, were crowded with travellers ; there came Utsuken, the brother of
Jingis, with his forty-eight sons ; the widow of Tului and her sons ; the
various descendants of Ogotai, Juji, and Jagatai ; the military and dvfl
governors of the Mongol possessions in China ; Argun and Massud, the
governors of Persia and Turkestan and Transoxiana ; Rokn-ud-din. the
Seljuk Sultan of Rum ; Yarosla^ Grand Duke of Russia ; two rivals for
the crown of Georgia, both called David ; the brother of the Sultan of
Aleppo; the ambassadors of the Khalif of Baghdad, of the Ismailyen Prince
of Alamut, o^ the Princes of Mosul, Fars and Kerman, and Sempad,
brother of Haithon, King of Cilicia, each bearing magnificent presents.
** Among the great magnates two obscure monks were conspicuous by
their humble dress and the greatness of their mission ; * they came from
the Pope and the council of Lyons to convert the Mongols, one of the
two was Du Piano Carpino, who has described for us the ceremonies of
installation.
Two thousand white tents were erected for the grandees, who were so
numerous that they had barely opportunity to bow their heads and pass
on. A vast multitude of the commonalty were camped outside them.
The princes of the blood and great generals met in a lar^ge tent which
would hold 2,000 people, surrounded at some distance by a balustrade
covered with pictures. The tent had two entrances, one for the Emperor
was unguarded, no one would have the audacity to attempt an entrance
tiiere, the other was guarded by soldiers with bows and swords. Each
morning the assemUy spent in discussing the business of the meeting; the
afternoons were consumed ki drinking kumis. Each day the members were
dressed in a different cdour. The first day in white, the second in red,
the third in purple, and the fourth in scarlet. Someof the grandees were
mounted on horses whose harness cost more than twenty silver marks.
Before his election Kuyuk was treated with great deference }* when he
went abroad they sang songs in his praise and bent towards him wands
* CvplBO ^oottd ^ Do MaiIlJ^ ix. 243.
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KUYUK KHAN. 163
lermitukted by bunches of acariet wool When the time of election came
the Refi:ent and the members of the assembly repaired to a tent two or
three leagues away from the Siia Ordu, called the golden tent, because
its pillars were covered with plates of gold fastened with golden studs, cai^
peted with scarkti and covered with drapery, and debated about the
choice of an Emperor. Shiramun was the late £nq>eror's choice, but
the Regent pdnted out that he was still a minor, and persuaded them to
elect Kuyuk. He coyly refused the honour for a whiles according to the
usual custom^ and at length accepted it as Ogotai had dcme^ on condition
that they swore to maintain it in his family. According to Simon de St
Qpentin and the Armenian Haiton, the grandees of the court placed
him and his wife on a piece of square t^ack fdt, and having raised him
aloft proclaimed him Khakan ; this is evidently a very ancient and wide-
spteaud custom.* The members of the assembly did homage by i»os-
tratii^ themselves nine times, and the vast multitude outside at the same
time bent their foreheads to the ground. Kuyuk with his followers then
left the tent and did obeisance three times to the warn. The ceremony
concluded with a feast, during which the newly-elected Khakan was
seated on a throne with the princes on hii right and the princesses on his
left. The repast lasted until midnight, and the haU resounded with made
and martial songs. The banquet was renewed for seven days, and then a
general largess was distributed, each one receiving a present according
to his rank. Kuyuk wished to surpass the liberality of his fadier. We
are told that he bought merchandise to the value of 70,000 balishes, and
paid for it with drafb upon the conquered countries. It was lavishly
distributed among the crowd; even the children and servants received
presents. A second distribution was made, which did not exhaust the
vast stCM-es, and Kuyuk ended by ordering the remains to be given up to
pillage.t Carpino says that there were placed on a hill, not far from the
Imperial residence, more than 500 chariots filled with gc^ silver, and
silken robes, which were all distributed.
The first business gone into by Kuyuk was an inquiry into the conduct
of his great uncle Utsuken, who, as I said, had some pretensions to the
throne. Mangu, son of Tului, and Orda, son of Juji, were appointed to
mvestigate the matter, and it led to several of Utsuken's officers being
punished.t
The election took place in August, 1246. Immediately afterwards the
KuriUai busied itself with repairing many of the breaches of government
which had occurred during the regency^ The Khakan severely repri-
manded the members of the Imporial faxwly who had abused their power,
and given indiscriminately to some, exemption from taxes, to others, the
right to levy them. The family of Tului was excepted from this censure,
* CosHMre the acconats of the election of Attila rad of the kinci of Hwcaty.
t D'Ohieon» ii. X97-*»3* I D'OhMoa, ii. toy
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1^4 HISTORY or THE MONGOLS.
and received a special eologium. He then invested Yissu Mai^a, son oi
Jagataiy with his father's Khanate, contrary to the directions of Jagatai
himadf, who had left it to his grandson Kara Hulagtu Kuyok in altering
the disposition said it was strange the grandscm shonkl be preferred to
the son.* In 1247 he sent an army to Coieay whose King had refused
to pay tribute ; another army, under Subotai and Chagan, was sent
against the Sui^ empire in China; a third, commanded by Utchikadaiy
was sent into Persia. To raise it eadi of the princes of the blood
had to furnish two men out of every ten, and Iltchikadai was
ordered to raise a similar proportion in Persia itself; the king-
doms of Georgia and Rum, and the principalities of Mosul,
Diarbekir, and .Aleppo were placed under his exclusive jurisdio*
tion, with the sole right of fevying taxes ihere» Aigun retained tiit
government of Persia, and Massud that of Ttirkestan and Transoxiaaa,
and each of them had his diploma sealed Irith the lien, as had also the
various petty princes who acknowledged the Mongol supremacy and
retained their independence. Abd-ur-Rahman was put to death;
and die chancellary was apparency divided between Qiinkai and
Kaidak.t
l£z«ud<lin Ki-kavuss, the Sd[juk Sultan of Rum or Iconium, was
deposed and replaced- by his brodier Rdcn-ud-din Kilidjarslan. Geoq^
was divided betweeti the two competitors who had come to the
installation.
The ambassadors of the Khalif and of the chief of the Ismatlyens or
Assassins were sent home with severe threats for their masters, against
whom many complaints were brought by the Mongol generals; the
Kuriltai was then dissolved, and the several princes set out to their
various duties.}
The two Franciscan missionaries who attended the Kuriltai were John
de Piano Carpino and Benedict, they had traversed Bohemia, Silesia, and
Poland; living on alms, diey were ill pr^ared to present themselves at a
court where every one was expected to bring a present The Polish
Duke Conrad and his courtiers supplied them with rich furs as offerings,
they then proceeded to Kie^ and in six days arrived at the Mongol out*
posu on the Dmeptt; the Mongol .general sent them on to the court of
Batu, and he forwarded them on again; they arrived at the Grand Orda
on the 32nd oi July, 1246^ five months after leavihg the Moagol outposts
on the Dnieper. They were admitted to an audience some days after
Knyok's election with a party of other ambassadors, whose names were
announced in a loud voice by the Chancellor <!hinkai> They made the
usual obeisance before entering, were searched to see they had no
weapmis, and instructed on no account to tiead on the wooden tiiredioki
gf the tent. The papal letters were then read; one of them exhorted the
«O'0h|M«,ii.a04. tVoi|H«iiiai«r,IlUMai,i4 9i^ X D'OImm. U. m/.
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mnrvK khak. 165
MoQgiddiieftobecoiMaCliristuuitthe other nrted tiie aatkm aeverelf
for iu cmdtiet to its cpemici^ and in^^ored the Khakan not to molest
the Christiaiis any more. The Khakan dictated an asswei; idiidi was
sealed whh his seal and trsnsUted into Amhic If we are to credit
the version of it conveyed in a letter which the King of Cypms received
from the constable of Armenia and Ibtwaided to Louis the Ninth, it was
not very conciliatory : ''God has fwmainled my ancestors and myself
to send oor people to exterminate the wicked nations. Yooa^iflama
Christian; God knows, and if die Pope wishes to know also, he had
better come and see.**
Turakina died two months after her son's dectoi; her death was
followed by that of her fiivonrite, Fatima ; who was accused by one Shiri
of having by her sorceries caused Kntan; the Khakaa's brother, to be ilL
He himself sent to his brother to complain of her banefol inflnencOi and
wben he shortly alter died, Chhikai reauaded Knyuk of his beothei's
message. She was ordered to be tried, and having confessed underlie
pressure of the hasrinado, her eyes, mouth, ftc, were sewn up; she was
wrapped in a kh and thrown into the river. Her finends were also
ptinishfd with death. It is strange that shortly after, her accuser, Shir^
was himself accused of having bewkched Knyuk's son Khod|a Ogul, and
was put to death with his wives and children.t
Ssanang Setaen has a curious tale about a Kutan, or Godan as he calls
him. He makes him succeed Kuyuk and reign until 1251; t bat it is very
dear that he has mixed up Kutan, the brother of Kuyuk, widi Kntan or
Godan, the brother of KhubUaL The latter was a very influential perno,
as I shall show later, in introducing Lamaism among the Mongols; and
die st<Nry tokl by Ssanang Setzen of his intercourse with the Grand Lama
is in accordance with what we know elsewhere of him. It is quite dear
that Kuyuk was succeeded by his cousin Mangu, as Grand Khan, and
that his brother Kntan died before him.
In die lairing of 1348 Kuyuk set out for the banks of the Imil, his own
special uhiss, where he distributed largess widely. The widow ol Tidd
suspected that the object Of his inarch was an attack upon Bato, and pot
him on his guard, but Knyuk died suddenly at seven daya^ journey fimn
Bish Balig, die a^tal of Uiguria, aged forty-three. He was a great
victun to gout, the result of drinking and dissipation. He abandoned the
conduct of afiairs endrdy to his two ministers Kaidak and Chinkai, both
Christians,! and through their influence a great number of monks from
Asia Minor, Syria, Bagdad, Russia, and the Caucasus were attracted to
hb court; his doctors also were Christians. Carpiao saw before his teat a
Christiaachapd; Raschid, on the other hand, complains of the eeverideo
exercised towards the Muhammedans during his reign. The seal of Kuyuk
*DX)hMae»ii.S07-tX4. tD^>h»omH*cs3.«S4. I Smmmc SctMB, lit.
|D*Oh«omU.SM
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l66 HISTORY OF THB MONGOLS.
boretliesewoids: ^ God in heaTen and Kayak on earth, by tlie power of
God die ruler of all men.''
Carpino describes Koyok as of middle stature, grave and serioos in
disposition, and as seldom langfaing.*
The names of two of his sons are recorded, namely, Kho^ja Ogal and
Nagu, but neither of them socceeded him.
In the life of Ogotai I carried down the Mongol campaign in Persia to
the death of the great general Qrarmagon; he yms replaced by Baiju,
whose first campaign was against Ghiath-ud-din Kei Khosm, Sultan of
Rum or Iconium; with him marched contingents of Armenians
and Georgians. They attacked Erzerum, and after two months'
siege, in' which the walls were broken down by catapults, they
csqitured it, put all the soldiery to death, and reduced the artisans and
women to captivity. The following year the Saltan of Iconium advanced
to meet them with 20,000 men; with him marched 2,000 Frank
auxiliaries under ihe ^Free Lance'' John Liminata from Cyprus, and
Boni&ce de Castro, a Genoese. A curious lesson for the crusades to
teach, that Cnristian soldiers should so early be found domg the work of
mercenaries for die Moslems. The Sultan advanced from Sivas, and
epcountered the M<»gols near the mountains of Alakub or Kussadag;
widi the first flight of Mongol arrows his army was seized with panic and
fled. The Saltan sent his harem to Haithon, the Armenian chief of
Cilicia, for protection, and thai abandoned his camp with the baggage
and treasure. The Mongols at first suspected it was a ruse to draw
them mto an amhnah, and it was only after waiting for a day that they
advanced and pillaged the abandoned camp, marched upon Sivas, which
parchased easy terms by a prompt sulmiission; Tocate and Caesarea
were succeasivdy sacked. Baiju now agreed to make peace upon
the terms that the Saltan should pay the Mongols an annual
tribute of 400^000 dinars, and a certain number of slaves, horses, and other
valuables. This campaign lasted two months. In retiring from Rum
die Mongols demanded a contribution in silver firom the town of Erzenjan,
which being refused, it was taken by assault and its inhabitants murdered^
This campai^ took place in June and July, 1243.!
Meanwhile another body of Mongols had made a diversion into Syria,
where they advanced as far as Aleppo; they levied a contribution and
retired. On their return they appeared before the town of Malattiya, but
we are toldits Prefect having collected a great quantity of money, of gold
and silver vases, having furdier collected the reliquaries of the saints and
other predous objects preserved in the Jacobite cathedral, altogether
worth 409000 pieces of gold, delivered them all to the Mongols, who there-
itpoa retirecL Soon after this Bohemund, Prince of Antioch, and many
* D*Olni0B, ii. 934.
tSMBttHflbrm viotod by D'OhMon, op. dt, ill. 82. Von Hammtr'i UUiAflt, i. iix.
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KUYUK KHAN. 167
Other OirifHin pHnces agreed to pay tribote to the Mongols, Their
example was ii^lowed by HaithMi the F1rst» the King of Little Armenia
or Cilicia, with whmn tlie modiery infe^ and daughter of the Sultan of
Rum had taken refuge; ibt Mongols insisted that they should be sur-
renderedy and Haiflion had to comply ; at the same thne he receited
from them a diploma {altamgd) constituting him a yassil of the Khakan.
This was in 1244. The following year they overran the country north of
4ake Van, and took the town of Ehelatt, which by order of Ogatai
was made over to Thamtha, tiie sister of Avak, who had married the
Prince Achraf (?the Prince of Damas). They soon after oqitured Amid,
and, entering Mesopotamia, occupied Roha, Ni^bin, and other towns,
which were deserted by the inhabitants at thdr approach. This
expedition, according to Chamchean, was made in summer, and die
Mongols lost many of their horses and were obliged to retire.
Their dominion, however, constantly widened, for we find the Prince of
Mosul sending word to the Prince of Damascus that he had conchided a
treaty vnxh, them, by which Syria became tributary. The same year, / ./.,
in 1245, news arrived at Bagdad that the town of Shdierzur, eight days'
journey to the north, had been pillaged by them. In 1246 they advanced
as £ur as Yakuba, but were there beaten by the troops of the Khaliph.*
Ruzutan, the Queen of Georgia, had never submitted to the Mongols ;
she remained in her impregnate fortress of Usaneth, and no cajdery
could make her come out Baiju thereupon detennined to appoint a
fresh ruler who should be more subservient, and chose a nephew of hers,
a natural son of her brother Geoige Lacha, the late ruler of €reoigia ; he
sent an Armenian Vahram to bring him from Caesarea, where he had been
living for some years. The greater part of the Georgian princes^ and tiie
Armenian princes Avak, Chabanchah, and Alpugfa, acknowledged him.
They conducted him to Metskhitha, the ancient patriarchal dty of
Georgia, where he was crowned. They then marched to invest Usaneth,
where the Queen, driven to bay, poisoned herselfl The Armenian historian
I have ahready quoted says that she was very beautiful, and diat she had
received offers of love frx>m Batu, die Khan of Kipchak ; she left her son
to his protection.
At the inauguration of Kuyuk, the proteges of Batu and Baiju appeared,
as I have said, to daim the throne. It was decided to divide Georgia
between them. To David, son of Lacha, was given Georgia proper, with
a certain authority over his cousin who ruled in Imeretia, Mingreha, and
Abkharia, the boundary between die two being the watershed between
the Kur and the Phasis.
At the same Kuriltai, Sempad, the brother of Haithon of CiHcia, who
was sent to do homage, obtained the restitution of certain towns which
had been taken from his brother by the Sultans of Rum.t
^DfOhnoD.fiiiSf. t D^h«oll»o^dt..iU.9X•
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168 HISTORY OP THS MOKGOLS.
At the council of Lyonsy in 1245, it was determined to send some
missionaries into Tartary, and accordingly Innocent the Fourth wrote to
the Prior of the Dominicans at Paris to tell him to choose some siiital^
persons. There were numerous ydunteers, from whom four were chosen,
namely : Anselm of Lombardy, Simon de St. Quentin, Alberic, and
Alexander. They received orders to go to the first Mongol army they
should meet in Persia.* It was in 1247 that they reached the camp of Baiju,
which Simon says was at a place named Sitiens, forty-nine days' journey
from Acre.t They were charged with letters from the Pope to the
Khakan, these were not addressed specifically and merdy to the chief of
the Tartars, which incensed the Mongols : " Does not your master
know," they said, ^ that the Khan is the son of God, that Baiju Noyan is
his lieutenant ; their names ought to be known everywhere.** They then
required the monks to honour Baiju with three genuflections, but supposing
that this would be interpreted into an act of homage, they refused, saying,
they were prepared to pay him the same honour they paid ^eir own
master. The retort was a someidiat protestant one : *^ You who adore
wood and stone ought not to refuse to adore Baiju Noyan, to whom die
Khakan, the son of God, has ordered that the same honours are to be
paidastohimselil'' The whole account is quaint, it is given at length
by D'Ohsson in his second volume, the Pope's letters were translated into
Persian, and from that language into MongoL At length after long delays
the monks were sent back to the Pope with the following answer : '' By
the order of the divine Khan ; Bayu tends you this reply, know O Pope
that your envoys have come and brought your letters. They have spoken
in a haughty tone, we don't know if you ordered them to speak thus.
Your letters contam among other thmgs the following complaint, ' You
have killed many people,' but see the commandment of God and of him
who is master of all the earth. Whoever obeys us remains in possession
of his land, of his water and patrimony .... but whoever resists us shall
be destroyed. We transmit you this order, Pope, so that if you would
preserve your land and water and patrfmoay you must come to us in
person and thence pass on to present yourself before him who is master
of all the earth. If you don't obey. . • .we don't know what will happen,
God only knows,'' &c With this document was sent a copy of the
instructions furnished to Baiju of how he was to deal with those who
obeyed or disobeyed the precepts contained in the letter, which were those
of Jingis Khan. This correspondence is a good instance of die tntoler*
able arrogance of the Mongols. The missionarifSi says Simon (one of
them), were treated as dogs unworfliy of answer, the freedom of their
language irritated Baiju very much, and he three times ocdeved tbueir
fwfffcutionit
Meanwhite die Mongols conffnaad their conquesta. In i2S>3 tbsf
•1>*QlMQ%tt.a0S. tiyOiMOi^o».iit,8»sn. Nsit. ID'OtaMa.sp.cik.li.
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KtJYUK KHAN. 169
entered Mesopotamia, pOlafed Diarbekr and Meyafiukuit and advanced
as fiur as Rees ain and Samdi, in which ej^edition thcjr killed more than
icyooo men, and captured a caravui oa its way from Harran to Bagdad,
/ivJ^ir «iS£s they thus acquired 600 loads of sugar and of Egyptian cotton,
besides 6ooyooo dinars.* The same year another body t^ Mongob
ravaged the country in the neigfabouihood of lda]attya.t
Let us now turn to die doings of the dvil govemon of Persia.
Kuifttf, whom I described as setting out towards the Imperial court,
and as having retraced his steps when he heard of the death of Ogotai,
unfortunatdy, as he was passing through Transoriana, quarreOed widi
an officer of the Uluss of Jagatai. The latter threatened to rqport
him to his mistress, the widow of Jagatai, and as he returned a some-
what saucy answer, which came to her ears, she was much irritated.
On the death of Ogotai, the chieft of theUhissof Jagatai sent Aigun
with orders to Mng Kuxgux alive or dead, he resist^; but was given up
readily by die dqpendents whom his strong hand had controlled. His
leisure was the signal for fresh anarchy in Khorassan and Masanderan.
He was sent on to the Khakan's court where his friends had disappeared,
and thence remitted bade to the Uhiss of Jagatai, idiere after a show of
trial he was put to death by order of Kara Hulagu, son of JagataL He
is said to have abjured Buddhism in his later days, and to have become
a Mussulman4 Aigun was thereupon appointed governor of Persia by
Turakina, the widow of OgotaL He wasa Uirat by birth, and had been
sold by his fidher during a frunine for a quarter of beef to a Jebur officer,
who was tutor to Ogotai As he knew how to write the Uighur character,
he eventually entered the chancellary of Ogotai, and was by him diaxged
with an important commission in China. He was also named com-
missioner to settle the dispute between Ongu Timur and Korguz,
whidi he dedded in frtvour of the latter, and was appointed co-adminis*
trator with him ; but Kurgux prefeired to be supreme and Argun retired
to the court of the Jagatai princes.!
On his return to Persia he asked that Sheref-ud-din should go with
him as Uhig Bitikudji, an office which he obtained throu^ the influence
ofFatima. Originallydiesonof a porter, in Khuaresm, he became secre*
tary to Chin Timur, when he got his appointment in Khorassan.
Aigun at once proceeded to Irak and Axerbaijan to relieve those
provinces from the exactions of the Mongol governors. At Tebris he
recdved the submissioa <^ the sovereigns of Rimi or Iconium, and of
Syria, and sent commissaries to those countries to receive their tribute,
^lerif-ud-din was an arbitrary, cnid man, whose eiacticms were pressed
by torture and osher means. He was equaUy hard on the Moslem
mininers of religioqi^ and on the widows and orphans, who had been
'O'OliMM.Ui.91. .lIXOh«oft,Ui.9s. J IXOiMMa, Ui. isx.
f ly CNmmb, iii. us.
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lyo HISTORY OP THE IfOMGOU*
tenderly treated by Jingis ; parents told their children to pay the taxes,
and where nothing else was to be had, the sheet was taken from the dying
man«
At Rayi, the various treasures that had been collected by his agents
were taken to the mosque into which the sumpter beasts were diiven, and
their loads were covered with the sacred caxpets. Fortunately his reign
was short, and he died in 1244.*
In 1246 Aigunwas summoned to the Kunltai, where Knyuk was elected
Khakan. He went with many rich presents, and we are told the most
acceptable of these to the court was a collection of the warrants, ftc.,
which had been unlawfully granted during the interregnum, which
exempted some from taxes and gave others the right of levying them,
covering the country with petty tyrants. Argun was confirmed in the
government of Persia. On his return he was met at Mem by a great
number of grandees, and held a grandf^ On the death of Kuyuk fresh
anarchy ensued, warrants for exemption and collection of taxes were
again indiscriminately granted.
On the death of Kuyuk, Batu, who had set out and had gone as fiur as
tiie Alak Tak mountains on his way to do homage to the Khakan, halted.
Pending the assembling of a Kuriltai, Ogul Gaimish, the widow of Kuyuk,
was appointed Regent with the amsent of Batu. During the interregnum
there arrived at the court an embassy from Louis the Ninth, who was
then engaged in his crusade, and who like the rest of the worid looked
upon the Mongol chief as the great Prester John, who had been sent to
assist him in his campaign against the Muhammedans. Thts embassy
took with it some magnificent presenti) Including a tent fitted up as a
cha^>el, made of scariet doth, embroidered with the chief events of the
life of Christ ; with it were sent chahces, books, and the vessels used
in the service. He also sent a portion of the true cross. The two envoys,
who were Dominicans, travelled through Persia and Trsnsoxiana. They
were well received by the R^:ent ; but the whole afEur was misunderstood
by die Mongols, who looked upon it as an act of homage, and afterwards
considered Louis, much to his chagrin, as one of their dependents.t
I have now to describe a revolution which caused very great mischief
to the Mongols, and which led eventually in a large degree to the dis- •
integration of their empire.
On the death of Kuyuk, measures were taken as usual to prevent the
news spreading until the heads of the house had been infonned of it ;
travellers were stopped, conmranications intercepted, and messengers
sent ojff to tell Batu and Siurkukteni, the widow of Tuhii. I have already
said that Batu, who was on his way to the court, halted at Alaktak, seven
days' journey from Kayalic. There he called a general Kuriltai. The
£unSly of Ogotai objected, and said that it ought to have been summoned
*iyOhtMm,iU.n5. tD'OtaMi,ii.a3«,*c.
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KUYtJK KUAN. 171
ill tbe ancient country of tiie MoQgols, bat they sent Timor Noyan,
gMpemor of Kankoranit to assent in their name to whatever was done.
Tte nsalt was somcfwhat nneaqpected*
dlnoa Jx^ had quancQed widi his brothers Ogotai and Jagatai, there
seems to have been a constant fend between the fiunilies. Tului and Jv^
had married two sisteiSy so that their children were doafaty cousins, and
natorally ohmg together. The Moi^ world was divided into two sec-
tioBSy to each of which two of the great houses bdonged. It is probable
abo that the fiuosily of Jujiy tiie eldest son, never quite acquiesced in the
appointment of the younger son Ogotai and his £unfly to die headship
of die whole house. At all events Batu did not disguise his dislike
lor the descendants of Ogotai ; a good opportunity was now ofifered of
putting them aside. At the Kuriltai, the general Ikhikidai reminded the
assembly that they had pnmiised never to elect a member of any other
house dian that of Ogotai so long as a morsel oi his flesh remained.
Khubilai, a son of Tului, replied that the wishes of Ogotai had already
been contravened. Had they not put to death Altalun (the favourite
daughter of Jingis) without trial, against the laws of Jingis, which forbade
the killii^ of any of the royal house until he or she had been tried in the
general assembly of the princes. Again, had they not raised Kuyuk to
die Khakanship, against the will of Ogotai, who had named Shiramun as
his successor.
The general Mangussar was the first who in the general assembly pro-
posed that Mangu, the eldest son of Tului, should be raised to the throne.
He spoke of his valiant deeds both in China and in the West under Batu.
He was suppmted by Batu himself and afto the usual coy resistance
was elected. Batu offered him the cup, a^d the assembly greeted him as
Khan; the Kuriltai then adjourned till the spring following, when it was to
meet again in the ancient territory of Jingis Khan, where all the princes of
the house were to assemble to confirm the election. Meanwhile Ogul Gai-
mish, the widow of Kuyuk, and his two sons Khodja Ogul and Nagu were
to continue Regents. They spent the interregnum in disposing in advance
of the revenues of the empire, which was given up to anarchy. Khodja
and Nagu disavowed the. act of their d^uty Timiu- Noyan, and with
Yissu Manga, the son of Jagatai, who now ruled over his horde, refused
to attend the new Kuriltai or to surrender the rights of the house of
QgotaL After vainly trying persuasion of different kinds, Batu at length
ordered his brother Bereke to proceed with the installation of Mangu, and
direatened those who disturbed the State with the loss of their heads.
There can be no doubt that this was a very arbitrary proceeding, and
that it involved a complete departure from Mongol traditions. The
princes had sworn to retain the chief Khanship in the family of Ogotai,
and if Kuyuk usurped the throne which had been left to Shiramun by his
grandfather, that excuse could not cover the additional injustice of
exchtding him from the throne now. It is not surprising that he and his
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172 HISTORY OP THE MONGOLS.
couiuts, &c«9 should have objected to Mango's pretensions, and should
have conspired against him. During the festivities that succeeded thi
elevation of Mangn, a tnan entered the Imperial tent who said he had been
in search of a strayed mule and had met vitfa a caravan of carts Men
with concealed arms. Having dexterously examined the drivers, he had
ascertained that they were on their way to the Ktuiltai with the princes
Shiramun, Nagu, and Kutuku, of the house of Ogotai, who intended to
take advantage of the feast to displace Mangu and his supporters ; and
that he had come with great haste to warn them. Upon this a force was
sent out to meet the conspirators. When surrounded they pretended to
be coming to do homage, and on 1)eing conducted before Mangu oflfered
him nine presents, each consisting of nine articles, according to Mongol
custom, which especially regards the number nine. They were ordered
to dismiss their troops and were treated for some days with courtesy and
took part in the feast, but were then put under arrest. When broiq^fat
befc»e Mangu himself for interrogation they stoutly denied the plot, but
a special commission was appointed to examine the whole alfoir. This
satisfied Mangu of their guilt Hesitating about the punishment to be
awarded he consulted an old. counsellor of the family, Mahmud Ydvaje,
who repeated to him the advice given by Aristotle to Alexander under
similar circumstances, when he took Alexander into the garden and tore
up the deeply rooted vigorous trees and 1^ the saplings remain, namdy,
to destroy the prhidpal conspirators and spare the others.
Seventy of Hie chief conspirators were put to death, among them were
two sons of Ilchikidai, the governor of Persia. The £eUher was arrested at
Badghis in Khorassan, and being conducted to Batu, was also put to death.
While tbe Imperial princes were generally put to death by being fiutened
in lelts and then rolled and trampled, the Noyans were choked by havii^
earth or stones forced into their mouths.* The three princes were saved, we
are told, by the intercession of Siurkukteni, the mother of Mangu,
whose good offices had been secured by Katakush, the mother of
Shiramun.t
The foQowing year, ^., in 1252, a Kuriltai was summoned at Kara-
korum for the trial of the princes, &c. Mangu was especially irritated
against the dowa^^ers Ogul Gaimish and Katakush, who refused to admit
his daimsy and who were accused of doing him harm by their sorceries.
On being disrobed, the former reproached the judge Mangussar with
having unveiled a body which had never been seen except by a soverdgn*
They were found guilty, fiutened up in sacks of felt, and drowned.
Kadiak and Chinkai, the principal coundllora of Ogul Gaimish, were
put to death, and Buri, a grandson of Jagatai, was handed over to Batu,
who had a private grudge against him, and had him killed.^ The
princes of the house of Ogotai were distributed in different parts of the
•YoiiH«aaMt^IIUMoa,i.Sr, t Von BAsaMHft lUdMoa, i. Si. t D'OhMoa, ii. 169.
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KAXDU KHAN. I73
tm^ktt. Khodja Ogul was given a yurt on tbe Sdinga ;* Nagn and
Sfairanmn joined the armyT The latter acoompuiied Khubflai in his
expedition to China, and was eventually killed there to satisfy the
jealousy of Mangu. Those members o€OgoCai's£unily who had Temained
fidthfnl to Mangu, namdy, Kadan, Melik, and the sons of Kutan, not only
retained their commands, but were each granted <mt of the Ordus and
a widow of OgotaFs.t During the remainder of Mangu's leign the famify
of Ogotai seem to have acquiesced in his supcemacy.
KAIDU KHAN.
TSB distribution of the empire of Jingis among his sons has not been
property understood. Among nomadic races^ territorial provinces are not
so well recognised as tribal ones. A potentate distributes his dans, and
not his acres, among his children. Each of these has of course its
camping ground, but the exact limits are not to be definitdy measured.
We thus find in the legacy of power left by Jingis, which is given at
leog^ by Erdmann in his Temudjin des Unerschutteriiche, that nearly all
his rdatives were remembered. Eadi of them has a certain number of
Mongols assigned to him. The same rule was probably applied, to his
sons. Thus Juji, the eldest, received as his heritage the various tribes
that formed the old Turkish Khanate of Kipchak. Jagatai received the
various tribes of Kariuks, &c., that formed the great empire of Kara KitaL
To IVihxi, the youngest, the homechikl, were left the tribes of Mongol
blood. While Ogotai,who was made Khakan or Grand Khan, had, besides
his superior power, a special antliority over the ttibcB diat formed the
powerfol confedenu7 of the Naimans, and probably also of the ancestors
of tbe modem Kahnuks. His Khanate was bounded cm die sou^ by die
long diafat of mountains commencing near lake Balkash, and successively
called the Kabyrgan, Taiki, Bogdo Oda, and Bokda Thian Shan ranges;
having on its south the countries of Kayalic, Aroalig, and Bishbahg,
whidi bdoi^;ed to Jagatai; on the west it was conterminoos with
that portion of the Khanate of Juji subject to Orda and his
descendants, and known as the White Horde; on tbe east and north-east
It was probably bounded by the river Jabkan and the Kooke Sirke Ula
mountains; on the north its boundary was uncertain, but probably
mdoded the mountains where tbe headwaters of the Irtish and the
Obi spring.
It duss induded a laige portion of Sungariat or that portion of the
Chinese province of lU known as TUan Shan Pdu, a land very litda
known, of whidi the river Imil, the Blade Irtish, dM lakes Saisan, Kara
Noor, Kisil Bashi Noor, and tbe Ayar Noor, with thehr confluent
•VQaHMMBtr,I]kiMMt,iSai t D*ObiM», ii. 170.
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174 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
Streams, form the chief water system. This was the special mppmsiMgit td
Ogotai and his family, or rather, to be more strictly correct, the *^«wptTi^
ground of the various tribes that fonned his nhiss. These he held inde-
pendently of his Imperial authority, and they passed no doubt to his sons
and grandsons. I have said that after the arbitrary accession of Manga
and the punishment of the refractory descendants of Ogotai, that there
was internal peace among the Mongols until that iOian's death.
On the death of Mangu, Khubilai was absent oa an expedition in China,
and his brother Arik Buka, who was governor of Karakorum, thinking it
a good opportunity, raised the standard of revolt He was joined by
several of the discontented and dispossessed princes of the house of
Ogotai, of idiom Kaidu, the son of Kashi, the fifth son, was the most
conspicuous. I ri&all describe the struggle between the two brothers in
the next chapter, and merely say here that it ended by the suppression of
Arik Buka.
When he submitted in 1264, several of the princes of the blood refiised
to recognise Khabilai, among whom Kaidu was conq>icttOOS. Heretiredto
the country watered by the Imil, and b^(an to assemble some troops.
lyOhsson says that he was crafty and fertile in resources, and he gained
the £riendshq> of the princes of the house ol Jiyi, with whose assast-
anoe he mad^ himself master of the country about the Imil, the aadent
patrimony of Ogotai and Koyuk. Summoned to the presence of
Jghwhilai he evaded the call, urging the usual Mongol pretext that his
bofses were too thin to bear the journey. Aftor three years of evasion,
and no doubt also of preparation, he felthimsdf strong enough to attadc
Khttbilai as a rival for die Over Khanship of the Mongol empire^ idiich,
according to the will of Jingis and the oaths of his successors, was the
special heritagje of his fiunily.
In 1265 Borak was appointed Khan of Jagatai, by Khiibilai, to make
headagainst Kaidu, but instead of this he made terms with him. The
ftunilies of Ogotai and Jagatai being very dosefy connected, and haviog
kept up the friendship which had existed between the stemiathers of their
nces, the two Khans who headed these two hordes now made an
arrangement. Turkestan and Transoxiana were not attached to any of
the four great hordes, but were governed immediately by an Imperial
deputy, and formed an appanage of the Khakanship. As such, Kaidui
who claimed to be Khakan, exercised a special authority therci The
territory of Borak was n^ged and barren, and in consideration probably
of his alliance he was permitted to have a joint occupation of the rich
pastures of Transoxiana. Kaidu encamped a force between him and
Boldiarah, as a precaution against further usurpations. He was called
away to make head i^ainst Mangu Timur of the Golden Hordes who
had marched against him, and meanwhile Borak seized upon Bokharah.
Kaidu made peace with Mangu, and a battle ensued between him and
Borak on the Oxos, in which Katdn was surprised'^ an ambuscade
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KAIDU KHAN. 175
and bcBteiL Upon tbis Muigu Tumir supplied him with a ooiitiiit[«nt of
Sovooo troops; the battle was renewed, and Borakdd«ate^ Thebtter
ntiicd to Trussoodanay which ha threatened to ravage, and nuMle a
xeqnisition upon Boldiarah and Samarcand. At tbis stage he received
pnipossds of peace from Kaidti, through the intervention of Kipchak
Ognl, a gcandson of Ogotaiy and a common friend. Peace was established,
tiie two princes met, and hdd a grand ite hi the spring of 1268 in the
open coontry of Talas and Kun^^uk, east of the Jaxartes. In the
Kurihai hdd here it was decided that Borak shoidd hold twp-thirds of
Transoxtana, while the remaining third shouki belong jointly to Kaidn
and Hangtt Timur. It was decided that Borak shouki hivadeKhorassan,
and that meanwhile all three princes should refrain from ravaging the
mined territory of Tkansosdana, should impose no taxes on the inbabi*
tants, and should pasture their flocks at a distance from the cultivated
ground. The peace was confirmed by rinsing gold in the cup in which
tbey drank their nratual TOWS.* The most important portion of die treaty
for Kaidn, however, was probably the confession it implied, that he was
ri^itM Khakan of the Mcmgols, and from this time on for many yean
we find him and his son treated a^ their sovereign by the Khans of
J«gatai
Abaka, die Hkhan of Persia, acknowledged Khubilai as the ri^itfol
Khakan, and naturally excited the wrath of Kaidu, who e^;erly joined in
tiie plan of Borak for occupying Khorassan. He sent a laxge contingent
with that prince. The invasion and its disastrous end will come property
in the history of the Khanate of JagataL
On his return home with the ddbth of his forces Borak was re-
proached for his want of skill by Kaidu, and excused himself by the
misoondnct of sooae of the younger princes ^dio had deserted him,
Borak was paralysed and had become a Muhammedan« He asked his
sovereign to as«st him with troops in taking vengeance on the wrong*
doers. Kaidu went id person with two tumans, i^^ with 90^000 men,
and arrived at the camp of Borak, but before they could have an inter-
view the latter died. Mobarek Schah and the duef men of the horde
of Jagatai, npon this, took the oath of a]l^;iance to Kaidn, who thus
became more than ever the superior Khan of the horde of Jagatai, and
controlled a most dangerously powerful force as the rival of Khubilai He
appointed in rapid succession Nikbey, Toka Timur, and Dua to the
vacant throne of Jagatai.t
Marco Polo enlaiges in many chapters on the long strug|^ that took
place between Kaidu and Khubilai Rasdnd teUs us a desert of forty
dayif extent divided the States of Khubilai fimn those of Kaidu and Dua ;
this firontier extended for thirty days fi»m east to west Along this line
were posted bodies of troqfis at intervals, under the orders of princes of
* lyObMOB, iU.4a»-4Si. t D'ObMon, iu 4SX.
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176 HISTORY OP THS MONGOLS.
the blood and gaietils. Five of these corpt were encuaptd on the edge
of the desert ; a sixth in the territofy of Tangut, near the Chagan Nur
(ndiitelake), situated in lat 4545 and £• km* 96; a seventh in the victnity
of Kankhodja, a city of the Uighon, which lies between the two States
and maintains neittiality.* It may be concluded that Kaidn's authority
extended over Kashgar and Yarkand, and all the cities bordering the
south side of the Thian Shan, as for east as Karakhodja, as well as the
valley of the Talas river and all the cduntry north of the Thian Shan, from
lake Balkash to the Chagan Nur, and in the further north between the
Upper Yesseini and the Irtiskf Marco says of Khoten^ " lis sont sen
grand Kaan.*
Khubilai was too much afraid of the power of his rival, and the terrors
of his .land, or too much engaged in oiganising hit Chinese dominions^ to
interfere much with Kaldu, Many battles vrtte no doubt fought on the
frontier, but they were very indecisive. At length Kaidu commenced a
more active pdicy. In 1375, in alHance with Oua, he entered the country
of the Uii^urs with loc^ooo men and besieged the Idiknt in his capital;
he vranted him to ally himself with him against Khut^lai, but he refused,
and soon afiter receiving succour was able to resist the forces of Kaidu ; t
this succour seems ta have been the army which was sent in that year by
Khubilai under the command of his son Nnmugan, with the general
Ngantung or Antung, a descendant of Mukuh. With them also went
Cukd|u, brother of Numugan, Shireld, son of Mangu, Inktimur, and
other princes. Numt^pm received the title of govemor>genend of the
country of Almalig, i.e., the very heart of the enem/s country. In 1277,
Tuktimur> discontented with KhubHai, proposed to Shireld, son of Mangu,
to place him on the throne ; to this the latter agreed, and in the
mf^ the conspirators seised the Khakan's two sons and the general
Ngantung. The two princes they handed over to Bftangu Timur of the
Golden Horde, and the general to Kaidu, whose party they joined with
Saxban, son of Jagatai, and other princes of that horde and that of
OgotaLf De Mailla, however, makes the princes fight a battle near
Ahnalig, in which the party of Kaidn was successfid, and then march upon
Karakorum.|| Marco Polo describes this batUeat some length. His
description is rather graphic of the MimgoL system of tactics. He says
that die practice of the Tartars in goii^ to batde is to take each a
bow and sixty arrows; of these, thirty are light with small diaip points
for long shots and following up an enemy, while the other thirty are
heavy with broad heads, which thiey shoot atckMe quarters, and with
which tibey inflict gnat gaahea on the fiioe and arms, and cot the enemy's
bow sfedags and commit great havoc This everyone is ordered to attend
to^ and when they ha;ve shot away ti^ arrows dwy take to diefar swords,
flMibUterMtkiw'tlfMMPttlQ^ii.yiS. iyOhnoB,ii.49s. '|D«lfoOls.lx.asiw
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KAID0 KHAM. 17/
and maoesi and UnceSyWhidi also they ply Stoutly** The threatenii^ state
of things on the frontier induced Khubilai to withdraw BayaO) his most
trusted general, from China, to place him in command of the western
army. He found the enemy tticampcd on the banks of the Oigon, and
after some manoeoviing Shirdd was beaten and driven towards the Irtish,
and Tuktimur among the Khirgises. Here he demanded assistance from
Shireki, which was not forthcoming. He thereupon quarrelled with him,
and set up Sarban, the son of Jagatai, as Khakan, so that there were now
four pretenders to the high dignity, Khubilai, Katdu, Shireki, and Sarban,
Shireki was to weak to resist, and had to join the other princes in
annoimdng the election of Sarban as Khakan to Kaidu and to Mangu
Timur.
Tuktimur soon after met his end, he was trying to force Yubukur, the
eldest son of Arikbuka, to recognise his nominee Sarban. This he refused,
raised an aimy, attacked Tuk timur, who was deserted by his troops, and
given up to Shireki, by whom he was put to death. He was celebrated for
his bravery and his skill in archery. He rode a white horse, sayin^^
men generally chose coloured ones so that the enemy should not see the
blood from their wounds, but he thought that as women ornament them>
.sdves with red, so ought the bkxxi of the horseman and bis horse to
form the parure of a warrior. Sarban, Yubukur and Shireki had several
mutual struggles, in which they were altematdy deserted by their soldiers.
At length Shirdd was handed over to Khutnlai, and was transported
to a desert island, where he died. De Mailla, Gaubil, and the
Chinese authorities cited by Pauthier make Shueki be killed after an
engagement with Bayan, by the latter's lieutenant Li ting. Sarban
submitted to the Khakan, and was by him granted both men and lands.
Yukubur also submitted to Khubilai, and Numugan was set at liberty.t
For ten years we hear of no decisive actions between the two great
rivals Kaidu and KhubilaL The former continued to grow in power,
and was undiluted master of the Khanates of Ogotai and Jagatai. He
at last succeeded in forming a very powerftd league against Khubilai.
Among his allies the chief were Nayan, Singtur^ and Kadan, whose
a{q>anages were situated north of Liau Tuqg in Mandchuria.
Jii^ Khan had divided Tartary into two sections, eastern and western,
the former was apparently partitioned anK>ng his brothers and imdes, and
was divided into twenty departments. Of these Utsuken had nine, and
his territory was ccnnprised between the rivers Liau, Torro^ and Kueilai,
and also a part between Liautung and the river of Liau.}
I have mentioned how at the accession of Kuyuk, Utsuken raised some
pretensions to the crown and was apparently overawed by the strength of
the q>position. He was succeeded by his son Jintu, he by his son
•Yalt*«MMCoPolo,si». tDX>bM0A,ii.4dS.
{GA«ba,fliii D«ifaiU«,ix.4SX.
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178 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
Tagajar, Tagajar by his son Agul, and he by his son Nayan, who, we are
told, had gready enlarged his heritage, and had gained great infloenoe in
Tartary. Those departments of Eastern Tartary which were not
controlled by him were ruled over by the chiefs of the Tdialar (Jdair),
Hoiigkila (Kunlnirats); Mangon (Manguts), Gooloo (?), and Ykiliasse
(Kurolas).
Singtor was descended from Juji Kassar, and Eadan from ffadshiun,
brothers of Jingis Ehan. Nayan collected 40,000 men, with whom he
awaited the arrival of Kaidu. He was to have jomed him with 100,000,
but Ehubilai ordered Bayan to repair to Karakormn to hold Kaidu in
check, while he himself marched against Nayan. He ordered a fleet of
transports to sail from Eiang Nan for the river Lian with provisions.
His army was divided mto two divisions, one composed of Chinese under
the order of the Nintchi general Li Ting ; the other of Mongols imder
Yissa Tfmur, grandson of Bogordshi, the chief of the nine Orioks. He
found the army of Nayan encamped on the river Liau and protected by
a Ime of chariots. Having consulted his astrologers, who promised him
a signal victory, he advanced rapidly and quite took Nayan by surprise.
Marco Polo has a graphic account of the battle, from which, and from
IVOhsson's account, I shall quote. The aged Khakan was mounted on a
great wooden bartisan, whidi was borne by four well-trained elq)hants,
widi leather harness and housings of cloth of gold. Over this tower,
which was guarded by ardiers and crossbowmen, floated the Imperial
standard representmg the sun and moon. His troops were ordered in
three divisions of 30,000 men each, and the greater part of the horsemen
had each a Ibotaoldier armed with a lance set on the crupper behind hiniy
the whde plain seems to be covered with his forces. When all were
in battle array on both sides, then arose the sound of many instruments
of various music, and the voices of the whole of the two hosts loudly
singing, and playing on a certain two-stringed instrument in the Mongol
foshion, and so they continiied until the great naccara of Ehubilai
sounded, then that of Nayan sounded, when the fight began on both sides.
The naccara was a great kettledrum formed like a brazen cauldron, tapering
to the bottom, covered with boffido hide, often three and a half or four feet
in diameter.* It is said that Nayan was a Christian, and that he bore the
emblem of the cross on his standards. After a severe struggle he was
completely defeated and taken prisoner. Ehubilai ordered him to be
sewn up in folt and to be beaten to pieces, the usual way of putting royal
prisoners to death, so that none of their Idood should be spilt The
defeat of Nayan caused great jeering among the Jews and Muhammedans,
who cast jibes at the Christians for fighting under such an emblem.
The defeat of Nayan did not conclude the strife in the furdier
East Tlie princes Eadan and Singtur (De Mailla says Hadan
«8MY«MICw€0PQhHi.309.
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mxanj khan. 179
and Huluhomiy tnd Gaubil, Hatan, Tieko^ Arlu^ and Talakan)
ooodnued the stnig^ for tome time. They encamped on the river
Liauy and threatened Liautung. Bayan received ordttt to watch Kaidu,
and to prevent him joining his forces to those of the confedetates.
Against the latter Khubilai sent his grandson Timur, with the generals
l^ssn dmur, Tutnhai li ting, and PolduMm.* The confederates were
attacked on the river Knelieiy and after a fierce battle, yMdk ksted
for two days, were utteriy routed. A great number of chiefo and officers
among the confederates perished. Timor was much praised by his
grandfather, and by his affipibility gained the good opinion of the various
tribes encamped on the rivers Loan, Toro, Kudiei, &c.t This battle
was fought in 1288. The eastern confederates of Eaidu were thus
dispersed.
Let us now turn to his own doings. Khubilai had recalled his best
general, Bayan, from China, and ordered him to take command at Kara-
korum to oppose his great rival, but before he coukl arrive there^
Kanmala, the son of Khubilai, who commanded the Imperial forces on the
western frontier, was defeated by Kaidn, near the Selinga. The young
prince was almost captured, and was only lescoed by the bravery of
Tutuka, a general of Kipchak descent, who had gained great renown at
thisthne.| It is quite dear that Kaidu gained a substantial advantage 00
tfiis occasion, and Khubilai, notwithstanding his great age, thou^ it
necessary to go to the frontier in person. He set out from Changtu^ and
we are told that Tutuka was the first general who had the honour of com-
manding under the Emperor.f Therewasno battle however, for Kaidu
had meanwhile retired
Khubilai died in 1294, and was succeeded by his grandson Timur.
During the last years of the former's reign we hear of no engagement on
the frontier, although the strife apparency continued, for we are told
that Kaidu had occupied the country of Parinyll i-^', the camping ground
of the Mongol tribe of Barin in South-Eastem Moi^dia. The Imperial
general Chohangur, son of Tutuka, marched against him, and found
him encamped on the river Taluhtt;^ his camp was defended by
stockades of wood, behind which his troops were dismounted and
on their knees, with their bows drawn ready to fire a volley. Not-
withstanding this, Chohangur charged with such vigour that he captured
the camp and drove the enemy out, and captured or killed most of them ;
he then retired, and encamped on the river Alei.** This advantage was
balanced by a decided victory gained by Dua; as I have said, the
western frontier was protected by a cordon of troops posted at intervals
who might support one another. Taking advantage of the fact that
three Gi these post commanders had met together at a feast and got
* GanbiliSog. t G4nbil,ao9. X De MaUla, to. 44<. 0«iibi].aii.
iOnbH^tU. |DeMai]]«,ix.4^ IT Do II«Uk, is. 4^9. •• De iUilU, ix. 470>
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iSO HISTORY OP THE MONGOLS.
drunk; a divition of Dua't anny attacked the frontier. Eurgur, who
commanded at that point, was overpowered, the usual assistance not
beings foithcoming, and barely escaped with his li^ Dua was now
deserted by some of his troops, who joined the Imperial standard, and
by whose assistance his army was in its turn defeated. While Kaidu
and Dua were thus strugi^g with the empire, they had also carried
on a war on their western frontier against the Golden Horde. D^Ohsson
says they fought fifteen battles there. *
In 1 301 K^du invaded the empire with a very large force in conjunction
whh Dua and forty princes of the hordes of Ogotai and JagataL They
were met between Earakorum and the river Tamir by Ehaischan, Timor's
nephew, and acconUng to the Chinese accounts were defeated.! Vassaf
says that Eaidu was victorious, but as he fixes tiie site of the battle in
the neighbourhood of Eayalik, he probably refers to some previous
engagement, t Shortly after this Eaidu died. He was regretted, says
D'Ohsson, by his subjects for his humanity and by Ids troops for his
bravery, and during his rogn Transoxiana flourished« He had fought
forty-one battles against the Ehakan and other enemies, in most of which
he had been victorious. We must never forget that he represented,
according to the Yassa of Jingis Ehan and according to all the sacred
customs of the Mongols, the legitimate heir to the Ehakanship, and this
probably accounted for the breadth of country which acknowledged his
authority. He not only had to struggle against Ehubilai and his grandson,
but also on his western frontier against the Golden Horde ; the eastern
portion of which was the heritage of Orda, the ddest son of Juji, and his
fiunily. It had descended to his great grandson Nayan, vrho carried on a
vigorous fight with both Eaidu and Dua, and with them he fought fifteen
battles in which he was much weakened. § It was this war no doubt to
which lyOhsson refers,| where he says that in the long struggle between
the hordes of Jagatai and Juji the troops on both sides sold their captives
into Persia, where many Mongols were in consequence reduced to slavery*
Marco Polo tdls a quaint story about a daughter of Eaidu's, who was
renowned for her fame in wrestling. She had sent challenges in all
directions, offering to marry any man who should throw her, while he
should forfeit 100 horses if he foiled. In this way she had won 10^000
horses. He goes on to describe how a prince came from a distant land
where he was renowned for his skill and strength, and was determined to
win her or lose a thousand horses ; that both Eaidu and his wife tried to
persuade their daughter to allow herself to be beaten ; that she refused;
that the match came off in the presence of the royal pair^ she dressed in a
Jeridn of sarcenet and he in one of sendal; and that after a long struggle
she threw him on bis back on the palace pavement; he lost his horses and
•D^bMoii,U.siS* fDf llAilHix,4f9. OwMuo. liyO]MSio,U.si6. Hots.
^DH>liaiOD,U.siS» |D'Obit<m,iv.4|tt.
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CHAPAR. l8f
hit wUe, for the wotdd n<H have him, and he had to retitm h^^
fallen. She was aftenrardt employed in his fights by her fiuhcr, and gave
htm great assistance.t Besides this daughter, Kaidu left fourteen sons ;
some accounts say forty.t
CHAPAR.
Havikg rendered the funeral honours to Kaidu, Dua, whom the latter
had made his confidante, proposed to the princes collected round his
corpse to appoint his eldest son ChqMur, who was then absent, as his
successor. He was under obligations to Chapar, for the latter had, on
the death of Borak, uiged upon Kaidu the dahns of Dua for the vacant
timme, and it was by his influence that he obtained it Every one agreed
with Dua's nomination. Each of the princes present sent deputies to
accompany the corpse to its burial; and Qu4>ar soon after arriving, the
different princes, with Dua at their head, did homage to him. When he
was mstalled, Dua suggested to him to recognise Timur as Khakan, and
thus to put an end to the struggle which had for thirty years divided the
fiunily cf Jingis Khan. This was agreed upon, and the princes of the t#o
bouses of Ogotai and Jagatai sent envoys to the Imperial court ofiering
thehr submission ; t but this solHnission was apparently only feigned on die
partofGiapar. The following year he quarrdledwidr Dua, who probably
wished to assert an hidependenoe inconsistent with his suzerrign rights.
Dua thereupon sent to Timur to offer him an alliance against his rival, and
dien proceeded to engage him. A battle was fought between the armies
of the two hiM^esof Ogotai and Jagatai in 1506^ between Samarinnd and
Khodjend, in which Chapar was defeated; but in a iecond struggle his
brother and general Shah Ogul revered the result of the previous
struggle. Dua then sent word to Chapar that the war had been caused
by the in^Mitience of some of the younger people, and that he wished for
peace; and he suggested that a joint council should meet to decide who
were the authors of the strife, and to punish them. Chapar consented,
and fixed upon Tashkend as the place of meeting. Shah Ogul upon
this diqwrsed his troops, but the envoy of Dua came with an anny,
attached and defeated him. He had been encamped in the eastern
part of the territory of the Golden Horde, iriiich pertained to Kendshi,
the son of Ordu, with whom Chapar was on good terms. The victorious
troops now proceeded to ravage that territory, and to sack and ruin the
towns of Taraz, B^ntfd, Kundjuk, and TchekeL At the same time the
army of the Khakan Tteur broke thtough the Altai to attack Chapar
himsd^ who, ^rith loo/xo men, was encamped in the neighbourhood of
the river Irtish and the Ak tag mountains, and who did not know of the
aOiattce between the two princes. On the eve of the battle Chapar was
•Y«U1ilfsiMMs,U.S«. tYsW%ICMC»PMs,aalsi ID'OhMOS.asti.
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l8a HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
deserted by the greater part of his army, and bad to escape with ^9o
bonemen to the territory of bis oiemy Dua. The latter zeotivfd him
with bonouTi but be also accepted the homage of bis chief vassals, and
appropriated the greater part of bis territory.
Dua died directly after, in 1306, and was succeeded after an interval
(i>., in 1308-9) by bis son Guebek | be was hardly installed before be
was attacked by Chapar, in concert with the other princes of the hooso
of Qgotai, who no doubt deemed this a good opportunity for regaining
their lost power. Chapar was beaten in several fights, and forced to
escape beyond the Hi, and into the territory of the ir*«>ifan Timur. This
victory finally broke the hopes of the bouse of Ogotai.* During the
reign of his successor, Kuluk Khan, Chapar and other Mongol princes
repaired to the Qiinese court, where they did homage : t thus sur-
rendering effectually the claims of Ogotai and his descendants to the
supreme Ebanship of the Mongols. With this notice apparently ends
the material we possess for the history of the bouse of Ogotai Its wide
domains were appropriated by the BLhans of Jagatai, while the clans who
obeyed it were scattered, the greater part became the subjects of the
same Khans; others joined the horde of Kipchak, and became
renowned in after times as the main strength of the confederacy of the
Uzbegs.
The family of Ogotai was however by no means extinct, but became
only unimportant and obscure, and it is a curious fact that when the great
Timur lenk had conquered the greater part of Central and Southern
Asia, and he like other great conquerors wished to preserve a decent
show of humility, that instead of entirely displacing the Khans of Jagatai,
whose servant he had been, be retained the tide and office of Khan as a
mere puppet, a rci fain/ani^ while be himself like the Merovingian
mayors of the palace had all the authority. It is more curious to find
that he displaced the family of jagatai from the position, and put on the
titular throne a descendant of Ogatai's named Siurghatmich, who was
apparently succeeded by his son and grandson^ thus restoring once more
to the family of Ogotai, in name at leasts the honours that had been so
loag appropriated by others.
Ncte I.— Karakorum.—- The position of the capital of Ogotai has
recently been a good deal discussed. It must be remembered that
Ogotai did not found the city. It was there long before his day. It had
been the capital of the old Uighur empire before it was destroyed by the
Hakas and before the Uighurs migrated to Bishbalig, and we are expressly
tokl that Ogotai found ancient ruins there when he began to build, among
which was an inscription stating that there had stood the palace of Buku,
*iyOhM0D,U.9Si. tD*Obtlon,U•5S^ I EnkiiM't Hittoiy of ladia, L 66 ud »•.
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CHAPAR. 183
KhanofUieUighartin the eighth century.* I myself bdierediat the Hakas
who overthrew the Uighur empire were the ancestors of the Nafanans,
and that at the accession of Jingis, Earakorum was within the Natman
teniiory and probaUy one of their chief places. Since I wrote this diapter
andquite recently some lighthasbeen dirown on the very crooked question
by the Russian traveller Paderin, whose account has been analysed by
Colonel Yule. He tells us that besides the ^thorities used by Rimusat
and by Ritter, Paderin also used the itinerary of a Chinese named
Chang Chun, who in laaa travelled from Nord& China to Tokharistan,
passing by Karakorum ; and that of another Chinese travdler n^bned
CbjandeKhoL They afford some important data. Among these ar^ the
following : i, Karakorum was more than 100 11 to the south*west ot'the
lake Ugd Nor, tfiis beinga lake of dear water about 70 li in circuit ;
3) that it stood in a valley wMdi had a drcumlierence of 100 liy surrotinded
by hills, and having the river Khorin running throu^ it ; 3, that in going
from it to the river Tamir, the traveller passes a hill called Horse's Head
On Chinese, Ma-tu; in Mongol, Morintokgoi), and another called Red-ear
(in Chinese, Khun-er ; in Mongol, Ulan Chihi) ; 4, that north of it there
was a palace near a lake called Tsagan G^gen. During his stay at Uiga,
M. Paderin had ascertained that the names Kara Balghassun, Ugei Nor,
Morintologoi, Ulan Child, and Tamir were all yet extant
The nth of March brought the traveller to the Ugei-Nor. This hke^
about eight miles from east to west, and a little less from north to south,
lies towards the north side of a wide valley enclosed by low hills. The
valley is called Toglokho Tologoi ; it is some forty-five to fifty-five miles
in length from east to west, and twenty>five to thirty-five miles in breadth.
The Oikhon River, fordable stirrup-deep, traverses the valley, and the lake
dis^aiges into it by a stream called Narin. The ground near the river is
swampy^ and west of it there is a series of saline lakes called Tsagan-
Nor (White Lakes). Some willows and pq[ilara grow on the banks of the
river.
The hills loaning the western boundary of the valley are called Ulinto,
Obotu, and Ulan Khoshu. On the south and south-east are the
Khadamtu HiDs, sprinkled with clumps of trees havii^ leaves like pines.
The hills on the east and north are insigaifirant, only one having a namc^
viz., Khityin-Khada, *' Monastery HilL" This is so called from a kmrm
or fortified enclosure at the north-west end of the lake Ugei-Nor con-
taining a Buddhist temple, the residence <^ the Khntuktu Orombyin
Gegen. This little kuren is of ronarkable construction, and looks as if it
might have been the palace of a Khan in days of yore. The basement of
the temple, both in materials and in style, resembles the ruins near the
river Kamkha.
M. Paderin diverged from the post track at Ugel-Nor station to visit
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1^4 HISTORY OF THS MONGOLS.
the ruins of Kara Kharam or Kara Balgfaaisun (for it is known by both
names), and rejoined the track at the next station westward^ called Uhui-
Khoshu.
Poor hours' smart riding, estimated at thutyi-five to forty miles, brou|^
him to the ruins, lying in the same valley,* and some four or five mOes
from the west bank of the Orkhon, with a fine grassy plain interveningi
which, in places, rises into frequent hillocks. The remains consist ci a
rampart enclosing a quadrangular area of about 500 paces to the sid^
and still retaining traces of indented battlements. The rampart is of
mud, and in some places apparently of sun-dried bride Inside the area,
on the eastern side, is a tower or mound rising above the wall; the
general height of the latter bdng about nine feet There are traces of a
small inner rampart running parallel to the north and south sides of the
square. Besides these there were to be seen no monuments or relics of
antiquity.
Mongol traditions, M. Paderin observes, rardy preserve any memory
of andent thnes. They do not in general go beyond a vague statement
that sudi a spot contains the bones or the treasure of Cesser Khan (as is
commonly saidof the tumuli scattered over the southern Kalkha country);
or that such another is the rdic of a fine monastery, or of the palace of
Jingis Khan. Of this phice^ the Mongols, with M. Paderin, could
only say that it was very old, and that probably Jingis Khan had lived
there; but one sharp Lama came forward saying it was the dty of Togon
Temur Khan. Now it is a foot (already alhided to) that at least the son
of this last of the Jingixkle Emperors did, shortly after their eiqwlsion
firom Cambahic, establish himself at Kaiakorum.
But the dhnensions, distances, geognphtpal position, and a^MCt
correspond with the old data. Thus, die place does lie southward of the
Ugei-Norfirom 100 to iaoli;t the traveller leaving it for the westward
does cross a river Ondeed two rivers) called Tamir, and on his way todiat
river does pass hills called Horse^s Head and Red Ear. It answers all
the looser conditions collected by Abd R^nnisat (see Ocean Highways
for July, 1873, P* 170); the most definite tradition met with by M.
Paderin connected it with Togon-Temur Khan; and the place is stiU
known as K^ra Balghassun (Black Town) and Kara Kharamt (Bkdc
Rampart), both which seem to invohre memories of the ancient and
proper name.
•TlMorifiMltfaadatloBMyt'nMtflyintlMtoatli'eastMidortfMtraUejr.'* TUtitaUttto
Aflcalt to nooocUe with tht other indicmtioM, iododinf tho ChinoM aotieot mad tht Jomiit
aap. But hi aaothtr pMttf* ^^ tho trmveUor ttyt ho rodo ftom Ufoi-Nor to tbo rvlM
ttoorif Math-aovtb-OMt, M I hftvo triod to accoouBodftte the tketch nap to thia. Y«le,or.cit
Note.
t The Chioeee travtUer quoted by Mr. Paderin Mgn eoath-weet iadeed, whUet hi laja tooth*
eoath-eait, aa we have already noted.
IThe traaecviptioa fron theJUHiaa ieKherem. Bat I pretame that, as oftea in F/eneh
ipelllnf, the « hart repreaeata the tttatral vowel— the abort a In America.
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CHAPAR. ,85
M. Paderin fuppoMt the old name Kacakorum to have been merely a
comq)d(m of Kara Khanun, with the meaning just given * But the
Archimandrite Palladius, probably the best authority, in a short impended
note, does not assent to this, observiiig that in the transcription of the
Mongol text of the biography of Ogotai Khan the name of the city is
rendered Khara Khorum,t whilst the Chmese authors of the Mongd
period are unanimous that the chief ortki of the Mongol Khans got its
name from the nearest river.} On the other hand, Kara Kharam, or
Black Rampart, is evidently applicable, in that form, only to tiie deserted
8ite.$
I have taken the liberty of extracting this account almost verbatim
from Colonel Yule's graphic narrative. I would remark, that the doubts
he throws out in one of the notes about the existence of a range of
mountains called Earakorumy in the neighbourhood of the Mongol
capital, are hardly justified.
Alai ud din says, ''the Uighurs believe that their nation inhabited,
originally, the banks of the river Orkon, which rises in the mountains
called Karakorum, whose name has been given to the town recently
founded by the Khan (Ogotai). . . . These are in the Karakorum
mountains. There is an ancient ditch, said to be the ditch of Pijen, and
on the banks of the Orkon are the vestiges of a town and palace
formerly called Ordu Balik (t>.j the Town of the Ordu), and now Mau balik
(!*.#., Bad Town, or Ruined Town).''|| Alai ud din died in 1284, and this
last phrase makes it dear that the city of Ogotai had already become
ruinous.
Again, Raschid says that in the Uighur country there are two chains
of mountains, one called Bucratu Turluk, the other Uskun-hik-tangrim
between which are the mountains Karakorum, whose name was given to
the town which Ogotai Khan built, and near these mountains is another
called Kut*tag.Y
Again, Klaproth, in his criticism of Schmidt's views about the Uighurs,
gives an extract from the Su chung kian lu, from which I take, this
sentence, ''Iduchu is the title of the ruler of the Kao tchang, who
formerly lived in the land of Uighur. Here are found the mountains
Giorin; two rivers flow from them called the Tuchula (Tula) and Siding
ga(Sdinga)."*»
* A rinilar snggwtioo it mmde by llr. Ney EUu, J.R.Q.S., xUii. ua.
t At in the WeitMn Asiatic writsrtt ac^ Wwlriilnddin and Ita Batvta.-
I Sm OoMn Higliway*, u quoted above. M7 remarks there are d»it oorrober«ted. But I
have found a paeaage which laay be the orifia of Mr. Orant and Sir H. Rawlfanon't aiaoeiatioa
of the name of Rarakoram with Bonataiae. D'Ohaeoa dtee from Raahiduddin a paaaage
which cpeain of •* the grwt Altai and the KarakoroB If onntaioe.** And If. d'Avenc. joat
alter qnotine this, asemnee that the town waa called lo from being at the foot of the Karakomm
If onnutnt. (Rte. de Veyafee, ftc, ir. 518, 519.)
f Colonel Ynk,0«icnpi»icallfagasitte,i. 138. | D^hnen i. 430. IT D*Ohsaoo, i. 41S.
^ Klaproth Beleochtnng and widerlegonc der FonchuieB neber die Gesehichte der If ittel
UiatiKhcn Vctker dee Herrro Schmidt. Paris, iSsi- P«S«4S*
lA
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l86 HISTORY OP THX MONGOLS.
These eitncts teem to show tint tlie Kentei Khta chain ^vas other-
wise known as Eankoram, and that it was probably from it that the
dental city of the Uighurs and of Ogotai was named.
NaU 3.— The following short table will clear up somewhat the relation-
diip of the several Mongol princes mentioned in this chapter.
JiBgitKban
Ji^i JagBtai Ogotai Khaa T«L IcJlna
KmkKhan Kntan Koteha Kanuljar Kadii KadanOgnl lieUk
bSJIm ChaparKhan
f * J Shifinini Xaida Khan Kipdiak Ogol
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CHAPTER V.
MANGU AND KHUBILAL
MANGU KHAN.
IN the previous diapter I haire described the drcomstaiices iHiich
led to the choice of Manga as the successor of Euyuk It seems
strange^ that with the well known laytlty of the Mongols, no
rebellion should have broken out among the tribes in fitvour of the
dispossessed princes. It was probably prevented partially by the
renown Mangu had already gained in his various wars, by the higfi
character of his mother, and by the further £iet, that nearly aQ the
Mongol army proper was die heritage of Tului, and that he cookl
therefore rely on its feudal attachmmt to hhSAsdf, as Tului's ddest
son. I have described how Manga was chosen. His inanguratltm
took place on a day marked as a prapitioos one by the astrologers.
The day fixed was the ist of July, 1351^ and while the princes cast
then: sashes over their shoulders and bent the knee nine times, their
euunple was followed by lo^ooo warriors outside. Manga ordered that
this day all should forget their quarrels, should leave their worig and give
themselves \tp entirely to pleasure. The general holiday was to extend
to the rest of the world as well as to men ; horses were not to be ridden,
nor cattle wodoed ; animals were not to be killed for food ; these should
be no hunting nor fishing ; no disturbing of the earth, nor troubling the
calm and purity of the water.
This was followed by a feast, which lasted for seven days, during which
the guests each day wore a differently coloured costume^ Each day 300
horses and cattle, s/x» sheep, and 3,000 cartloads of wine and kumis
were consumed.
Mangu now appointed his chief officers: Mangussar was made chief
judge ; Bolgai, a Nestorian Christian, was made chancellor, and given
charge of the finances and of the department of home afGdrs The
chanoellary was divided into many dq;>artments, with Persian, Uighur,
Chinese, Tibetan, Tangutan, and odier secretaries charged with the
correspondence. Kunkur, son of Juji Kassar, was made governor of
Kankonim. Mangu's brother Khubilai was made iietttenant-general
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1 88 HISTORY OP THE MONGOLS.
in the country south of the desert Chagan commanded the troops on
the frontiers of the Sung empire ; Dandar in Suchuan and Khortai
in Tibet A Buddhist named Khai*yuan was given charge of the
Buddhist afiJEurs in China, and one Tao-li-cheng of those of the Taotse
sect The Tibetan lama Namo was made chief of the Buddhist faith in
the empire, and given the title of Hoshi, or Institutor of the monarch.
Mahmud Yelvaje was made administrator of the Mongol possessions
in China, and his son Massud, who had restored the prosperity of
Transoxiana, was confirmed in his government Argun was also con-
firmed in his vast authority. The latter made a fresh report on the
miserable condition of his provinoey induced by exorbitant taxes. The
state to which Persia was reduced may be gathered from the fiaict that
while in China and Transoxiana the poorest could afford to pay a gold
piece annually, and the richest fifteen ; in Persia, the minimum had to be
reduced to one dinar and the maximum to seven. Mangu confirmed the
law of Jiagit and Ogotai, mtdch exempted the priests and monks of the
Christians, Muhammedans, and idolators, as well as the (M and the very
poor. IVOhsson says that the rabUs were not included in the exemption,
to the great mortifiaition of the Jews.*^ He also restricted the powers of
tiie minor governors to exact taxes, and withdrew the many illegal
warrants for their collection that had been issued smce the death of
Jiogis. The extravagance of Kuyuk had left the empire laigdy indebted
to the merchants who flocked to the Mongol court Mangu ordered diis
debt to be paid, and it amounted to 500,000 silver balishs.
In February, 1353, Mangu lost his mother, to whom he had given the
titie of Empress. She was a Christian, but very tolerant, and had given
a thousand golden balishs to found a Muhanmiedan college at Bokharah,
where 1,000 students were taught, and had endowed it handsomely. She
had been very much respected by the Mongols, especudly by Ogotai*
She lived with her fourth son Arikbuka, near the Altai, and on her death
was buried near her husband and Jingis Khan. Mangu had raised his
fruher Tului to the rank of Emperor, and given him a title in the
temple of his ancestors.
About tills time the IdOeut of the Uighurs, who was a Buddhist, was
folsely charged by a dave wHh the intention of killing all the Mussulmans
at Bish Balig and in Uighuria. He was summoned before Mangu, and
under the influence of torture said he was guilty ; he was sent back to
Bish Balig, and there beheaded by his own brother in the presence of an
immense crowd, and to the great satisfitction of the Mussuhnans. Two
<tf his principal officers were also put to death; a third escaped death by
the clemency of Mangu, but his wives and children and all his goods
were seised by tlie exchequer, and he himself sent on a mission to Egypt
It was the Mongol custom, mhen a criminal's life was spared, either to
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If AKGU KHAN. I^
send hhn to the army, where his life might be made useful, or oa a
mission dangerous in itself or to some iosalabriotts country. Okenje,
the brother of the executed prince, ivfao had also been his encutioner,
was iq[>pdnted tosttoceed hhn.
OnhisarriYalfaiChfaia,IChiMai began to seardi out and try and cure
^ abuses that had everywhere sprang up. He had recourse to a
learned Chinaman named Yao-chu, who composed for hhn a moral and
political treatise in which the ditties and obligatioBs of princes, and the
abuses tint prevailed in the country, were set out. He becanie the
oopstant adviser of KhubQaL
Since the days of Ogotai, the Mongols encamped on the firontier of the
Song empire had made no fttA conquests, but had made many invasions
into Suchuani Hukuang, and Kiangnan for the sake of pillage^ in wtiidt
they had taken several towns, and having sacked them retired with their
booty. In this way they had caused great ravage, and the provinces on
the border of the two enquires were marked by deserted towns and
uncultivated fidds. Khubilal made his sokUers culthmte these provinces,
supplying them with cattle and ploughs.
In 1152 Khubilai leoehred Honan and the province of Kung-chang-fii
in Shensi as an appanage^ with orders to macdi upon Yunnan ; anodier
general was assigned acampaign in Corsa. The same year Mangu made
a solemn sacrifice to tiie sky on the summit of a mountain, after receiving
instruction from the Chinese in the ceremonies used on such occasions.
Early the next year he published a general amnesty, and at a Kurihai
assembled at the sources of the Onon it was decided to send an army
into Persia under the orders of Khulagu, te btodier of Mangu. At the
same time a body of troops was sent to the frontiers of India. The
Mongob had two years before taken and sacked Lahore, and some time
after made an incursnm into Sonde.
At the end of 1253 the friar William of Ruysbrok (otherwise known
as Rubruquis) and his companions arrived at the court of Mangu. I
will transcribe his account where he adds to what I have prevkmsly taken
from Carpuio's narrative. The tent where die Ehakan sat was hung
with goklen tissues and warmed by a chafing dish, in idiich were bunt
the thorns and rooU of wormwood, the fire being made of dried dong.
The Ehakan was seated on a small couch, robed in a rich fur dress, vi^iich
shone like the skin of a sea calf* He was of middle stature, with a some-
what flat turned up nose, and was about ftrty-iive years <^ His in£e,
who was young and good*looking^ was seated by him with one of her
daughters caHed Cyrina. Several children were on another couch dose
by. The Ehakan adeed the friars iHiat they would drink, wine or terasiae
(made of rice), or kumis, or bafl (hydromd); they rq>lied they woukl
drink whatever the Kludnn pleased* He gave them some terasine, of
whidi thQT drank a little to please hhn ; their interpreter, they naivdy
conplainf drank too mudi, got drunk, and forgot himadf. TheKhakan
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I90 HunroRYorTnifoiiooLS.
next had lus£ikoMfatoi«glitaiit» and pbced them on hiafist,]
dwp for aame time; hathMtaidiPtdthe friari to ipeak. Thdraddrev
was Inn of fwiiwctdcd flattvy^Mir 4A«|tbeysaid that according to
die statutes of their order they were bound to tdl men how they ought to
Uve according to the laws of God; that they had come to ask pemuiiion
to settle in hk territory in fiutherance of Iheir duty, and to pray for
Umsdfy his wives, and cbadien. If he did not wish them to settle,
theybsgged diait he wonid at leati: aDow them tost^ until they bad
rscruited 6om the electa of dieir long journey* After a whUe the inter-
preter got too dnmk to be inteOigibley and Uie ftiars suspected that
Mangu himuif waa rather maudlin i He proved, however, very gracious^
gave them Uhmf to slay two moathsiand to go to Karakorum if they
Rttbniquiii noticed that Mangu and hia family took part indiscrimi-
nately hi tiio services of tiie Christhms, the Muhaamiedans, and Buddhists,
tamake sure of Ae blessings pffrisiid by each religion. The Christ
tianity was that ofdie-Iiestorlans, and to what depths this form of religion
had sunk may be o^ected fiom some very graphic anecdotea related by
our tmvdler. Ott one foast day Mangu's chief wife with her diikben
smered the Ncstorian chapel, kisoed Ae right liand of the saints, and
then gave her rigltt httid to be kissed, according to the fittfaiQii of the
Nestorians. Mangn was also prsaent, and with hia q>ou8e sat down on
a gik throne before the altar, and made Rnbruquis and his omipanion
sing; they chanted the Vmi strncH spMius. The Emperor soon after
retired, but his wife stayed behind and gave preecnta to die Christians,
Terasine, wine, and knmia were then brought in ; she took a ciqv knek
down, demanded a hhsiingi asd while she drank the priests diantod ;
di^ then drank ami they wme drunk. Thus they passed the day, and
towards evening the Empress was dnad: 19m the rest She went home
in a carriage escorted by the peiests, who contkmed chanting and
holding.
On another occasfon Rubruquts with the Nestorian priests and an
Armeidan moidc went fa piuiussiun to Mangu's palace ; as they went in
a servant was bringing out 9ome of die smoked shoukler Uades of sheep,
used in divination by the ^lamans ; they carried in a censor, with
which they censed the Enqieror, and then Uest his cu^, after which all
drank. TheothermenibersOf the family were successively visited. The
Nestorian notion of Christian wordiip was to place a cross on a fuece of
new sUk on an elevated piace, and then to prostnUe before it.
The three secu before mentioned were always proselytising, and their
great ambition was to win over the lOiakan, but he was neutral and
urged tctaation on all. He one day tdd Rubruquis that everybody at
his court worshipped the same God, the one and eternal, and they ought
to be allowed to adore him in their own way, and that by dis^ibuting his
fofours among men of all sects he showed that all were acceptable to
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UAHW UUK. 191
IdBL Tlw UfUiifu Alai'vdHliii would pemitde ut he cbMy finronstd
MidiuRttitdaDtf wliik Haidion and Stephen Orphelian intift tluiit he
fiivoured tiie Christians the most.
But all three reKgkmSi Christian, Muhammedan, and Boddhist, were
iroiy luxuries indulged In by die court; the Mongol nation ccntinued to
practise Shamanism, wbldi remained the State rdlgioa. Rubrnquis
mentions that the chief of the Shaman priests lived at a stone's duxm
from tiie Emperor^s pateoe, and had diaige of the carriages iHiicb carried
theidols.
These aamaas prasttsed astroiegy and iwetokl ed^ses^ they pointed
out piopitious and m^topitioQS days. They purified with fire everything
destfoed iw the use ef die court as wdl as the pieseim oAered to the
Khakan, of which they had a certain portion. They were summoned to*
hMis to draw horosoopeSy and to sick beds to cure diseaoes. If they
wisied to rain anyone they had only to accuse him of causing any mis>
lovtune AaX should happen. They summoned demons, while they beat
their drums and elicited diemsehres until they got into a stale of ecstasy.
They pretended to receive finom dieir tenOlars answeiu, whld^ they pro-
claimed as omdes.*
At Easter, Rnhrnquis Mowed the Khakan to Karakornm, wUdi seemed
to him lees than St Denis in France, whose monasteiy he tdls t» was ten
limes as large as Uie palace of Mangu. In Karakonun weie two prin-
ce streets: in one, styled oftheMuhammedaasyfidrs and maikets were
hdd; the odier,st3^ed of the ChhMse, was occupied by arOsans. Thedty
contained several public buildings, twehfe pagan temples of dififerent rites,
two mosques, and a dnirch. It had an eardien rampart pierced by four
gates ; near the gates were hdd maricets; at Uie eastern bae^ millet and
other kinds of grain were sold ; at the western, sheep ; at the northern,
horses; and at the southern, oxen and carts. The pahice, surrounded by
a brick wall, stretdied north and south. Its southern side had thme
doors. Its central hall was like a church, and consisted of a nave and
two aisleiy separated by cohmms. Here die court sat on great ocoasrans.
In fitmt of the throne was placed a silver tree, having at its base four
silver lions, firom whose months there spouted into four silver basins
wine, kumis, hydromel, and terasine. At the top of the tree a silver
angel sounded a trumpet when the reservoirs that supfdied die fiMir
fountains wanted replenishing. Thb curious piece of silversmith's work
of the thirteendi century, Rubruquis tdb us, was made by a Parisian
silversmith called William Boucher, who had been captured at Belgrade
in Hungary; 3,000 marics of silver were spent in making it Beside this
silversmidi, Rubruquis met many Onistiaii Himgarians, Akms, Russians^
Geoigians, and Armenians at Kasakorum. After a stay td five months
he prepared to return, bearing with him the Khakan^ answer to the
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19S RinOJtY 09 TRB MONOOLS.
letter of LoHk the Nindiy which was oondied in nodevate teimt, but
ended up as lisual by bidding him put no trust in the remoteness or
strength of his country, but to submit
The friars were seventy days in readiing die court of Batu. Travelling
along the pubUc way and bearing the Khakan's letters they were
iumiahed both with oonveyances and food gratis, but the road was
a deserted one; Rubruquis tells us he did not see a sin^ village on
the way where bread might be boui^t, and for two or three days
lived on kumis alone. He at length recrossed the Caucasus, and reached
htt monastery at Acre, whence he sent an account of his voyage to
About the same time Mangu received a visit from Haithon, d&e King
of Little Armenia, which comprised Glida, Comag^ie, and several towns
of Cappadoda and Isanria. He also travelled by way of the Caocasus,
calling upon Bdtu and his son ScrUk on the way. He was well received,
and by his persuasion die Mongol enctions in the two Armenias were
restrained.
We may now turn our attention onoe xaote to Persia.
On the death of Kuyuk fresh anarchy had ensued ; warrants for
eiemption and coUecticm of taxes were again indiscriminately gran^
In 1350 Aifun, with the chief ftmcHonaries of Persia, repaired to the
Kuriltai, where Maagu was elected Khakan. He reported the confusion
that was caused by the mai^iraotioes just named. The Khakan required
that the governors of each province dKNdd report on its condition. They
all agreed that extortionate taxatko was the cause of their ruin, and that
k would be well to introduce a capitatkm tax, graduated to the wealth of
the inhabitants, like there was in Transoiiana. This was decided
upon, the towest limit being one dinar, and die hii^iest ten. The
proceeds of the taxes were te pay the soldiers and to organise the
qrstsm of posting on the pubfic ioads» so carelUly looked after by the
Mongols.
Argun was again confirmed in the govenmsnt of Persia, and reoeived
a new diploma, madosd with a lion's head. Persia was divided into fbor
provinots, each under a Melik, who all had separate diplomas, as had also
die lesser ftmctionaries. Each one reoeived from the Khakan robes of
Chinese silk.
The 'Mdik Chems-od-din Mohammed, Prince of Gur, and connected
with many of the old princely families of Persia, was assigned the govem-
msnt of Eastern Persia. He was present at the decdon of Mangu, and
was received by him with great ceremony. He gave him the government
of the country of Herat and iu dependencies, which extended from the
OxHs to the Indus, and comiarised the provinces of Meru^ Cabal, and
Afghaniatan. Beade a robe of state and three fmu or diplomas, he
gave him 10^000 dinars, an Indian sabre^ a lanoe of Alkhatt (a district
of Yemama or Bahrein, where the lance poles are made vdiich come
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MAMOU KUAN. Z93
from IndiaX amace with the head of a bull on its mxaasatt a battloHuce^
and a dagger.*
At the great Kimttai held in 1353, at the accession of Mango, it was
determined to send an e]q>edition into the West, under the command of
Mangu's iMrother IQralagu, to punish the Ismailites, &e. Each of the
princes of the blood was ordered to furnish one man in ten out of his army
to form an army for Khnlagu, each contingent being commanded by the
near relations of the prince who furnished it ; a tugan or 100 mens of flour
and an utre or fifky mens of wine were provided for each man. Besides
these there were 1,000 engineers to work the war machines. Kitubukawas
sent on with an advance guard of 13,000 men in the autumn of 1352 towards
Kuhistan. Kbulagu himself set out in February, 1254. Leaving Kaza-
korum he marched lor seven days over'the snowy range of Khanggai to
the river Hoen Muren, on which he proceeded in boats to the Arungu,
which £sUs into lake Kizilbash ; thai by larch-covered mountains to a
town called Pfuhle in the Chinese narrative of the expedition, ''near which
is a mountain where the wind blows so hard that travelers are sometimes
bkywn into the lake ;** then through a narrow pass to Almalig, where he
was lieted by the princes .of the house of Jagatai, and especially by
Oigana, the widow n£ Kara Hulagu. On his arrival in Turkestan he was
similarly feted by its governor, Massud, the son of Yelvaje. Having
swnmered his horses, he encamped in the beautiful district of KianiguL
M^, the Mine of Roses, near Samarkand,! where he spent forty days, and
fieatted in a magnificent tent built 19 of gold and silken tissue, where he
gave himself up to drinking and dissipation. The feast was somewhat
marred by the death of Suntai, his brather4 Khulagu was com*
missioned by the Khakan to extenninate the Imail/ens or Assassins, and
tfien to pass on to subject the Khalifl Having arrived at Kesh, the
patrimony of the ancestors of Timurlenk, he received the submission
of Aigun, the governor of Khorsssan, and of the various grandees
and noUes, and issued a summons to the sovereigns of Western Asia.
^ We have come,* he said, '* to destroy the Molahids, i>., the heretics. |
If yott come m person with your troops you will save your country and
fiunily, and you shall be rewarded. If you hesitate, I will| with the help
of God, after I have destroyed this people, return and treat you in the same
way."* After crossing the Oxus he organised a lion hunt, and as the
horses were terrified widi this new game^ he mounted his hunters on
camds. Ten lions were killed.
The Ismailites or Assassins irera a particular sect of that division of
the Shia Muhammedans known as Ghilats* They were distinguished
mainly by a secret cultus, a peculiar hierarchy, and an implicit obedience
to the Imam. This most implicit obedience was aggravated by the
•iroiNHa,iii.isi.
tV«iHMUMr^nttut,L88. t V«oBadBW^nkhuM.tSS. lirOteoa.iH.xsa,
IB
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194 HISTORY OP TRB MONGOLS.
system of assassination wliich they oi^g^anised, and which became the
terror of Western Asia; the chief officers and more prominent men of its
various courts wearing coats of mail under tiieir clothes as a precaution,
and still suffering decimation. The long struggle and intercourse they
had with the Khuarexm Shahs is detailed by IVOhsson, but it fcurms no
part of our present subject*
Leaving the Oxus, Khulagu advanced to Sheburghan, south-west of
Balkh, a fruitful district famed for its water melons. There he spent the
winter, and held another reception in another sumptuous tent, presented
to him by Argun.t
Kitubuka had been sent on, as I have said, with an army of 15,000,
and had invaded Kuhistaii, the (hief seat of die Assassins. There he
had laid si^^e to Girdkjuh (1.^., the Round Mountain), a fortress situated
in the district of Kumus, three parasangs from Damghan.} He in-
vested it after a new &shion ; having made a ditch and rampart round
it, he placed his army behind it, and behind this again another ditch and
rampart, so that he had a protection both in front and rear. He
apparently made this camp his base, and sent out columns to attack the
other fortresses of the country ; among these were Shahdis, Turim, Rud-
bar Shirkiuh, Shir, and Sirkiuh.} Girdkjuh still held out One of the
garrison escaped, and sent to Alaeddin, the Grand Viner, to ask for help.
He sent two leaders, each with no troopers ; one to escort three mens
of salt, the other three mens of Henna. The latter was needed not to
dye the nails and beard with, but as a preservative against a disease then
prevailing there, it having been discovered that those who drank of water
in which Henna had been infused would escape the disease.] They
succeeded in getting in.
Khulagu sent the Lord of Herat, Shems-ud-din Kest, to sunmion the
fort of Sertacht It was surrendered by its governor, who was invested
with a seal with a lion's head, and was then sent against Tua, one of the
finest cities of Kuhistan, situated two days' journey from Meshed, on the
road to Kerman, with a moated castle in the centre, surrounded by
houses and a maxket-place, and outside these cornfields and melon
gardens. Kitubuka and Kuli Ilkai were ordered there with their bat-
tering machines. In twelve days it was captm^lT The inhabitants
were put to the sword, except the children and young women, and the
besiegers then joined Khulagu at Thus.** At Thus he was again magni-
ficently entertained by Argun, and then went on to Radegan, where food
and wine were poured upon him from the rich districts of Meru, Yesrud,
and Dahistan. As he passed by Kabuskan, which had been laid waste
* D*01istcm, Ui. t4X-i89. f Von Hamirer, op. dt. I. 91. IVOIusod, iil. 240.
I Von Hammer't IlkbAM, I. 93. | Von Hammer't Ilkluuit. i. 93, 94.
\ Von Haamor* op. dt., i.^ 94. f Voa Hammtr, op. tit., L 95* ** D'Ohatoo, i^* 190.
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MAMoa BBAir. 195
bf tine pitvi6iit Mongol iavaakiiiy be ordered omals to be dng , tbe
mosqae to bb restored, and a besaer to be built, and bade ^bc Vma
Seifeddin mpetutfeiid the wotk. He then moved on to Boetanv one o£
the three main towns of Knmnss.
Kuhistan was the dikf seat of the power of the Ismailttet. Khnlagn,
cnhisairiva]yOrderedittobeo^rerra\^ At Thus he rsoeived Shahimhsh,
the brother of the Ismaime diie^ fdio oune to offv his submission.
Khulagu ordered him to dismantle several of his fortified places, to receive
a Baskakor Mongol governor in his domimons, and to come in perMn
andsubmit The chiefofdie Assassins began to dismantfetiie walls and
gates of someof hisfotuesses^as Meinmndii, Lcmsh> and Alamuu The
latter demand was evaded Khuhigu sent a special embassy to renew it,
which returned with many promises and some hostages, but with no
definite ofier oT submission. At length his paticpce was worn out, and
he ordered his troops to advance. They took the fort of Shahdis. The
diief of tiie Assassins still prevaricated. Instead of sending his son as
a hostage, he tikd to palm off a natural son he had had by a Kurdish
sbve upon die M<mgol conqueror. His object was dday,4ii the hope
that winter would intervene and stop the operations of the Mongds; but
Khukgu was not to be detained. He ordered all tiie different contingenu
to enter the province of Rndbar, and laid immfdiatft siege to the
strongly fortified town of Mcimiindix.<^ Catapults were phiced on die
various commanding heights, and die atta^ was proeecuted with Tigour.
Kokn-ud-din, the chief of the Assassins, now proposed terms to Khulagu.
He himself wished to surrender; but a tumult in the town prevented him.
Both the vigour of the attack, and the unusual miMness of the season,
disappdnted the besieged, and they at length agreed to giye in. Rokn-
ttd-din, with his chief ministers, went to the Mongol camp and sur-
rendered an his treasure, and the town was evacuated. He was
wdl treated by the Mongols, but was obliged to give oitlers for the
surrender of all the fortified pbces in Rudbar, Kumuss, and Kuhistan*
More than forty casdes were thus surrendered, and then destroyed.
Alamnt and Lemsser, two of the strongest, alone remained. Alamut
(^, the Falcon's Nest) was situated on a craggy height, north-east of
Kasvin. A large circuit of ruined walli and towers still attest its former
grandopr. It resisted fi>r a wlille, but iu garrison at length grew frightened,
and ofiered terms. The Mongols entered the place^ so strong firom its
situation among high and scarped mountains. Its library was celebrated,
containing the gatherings of the various IsmaHite princes. The copies
of the Koran, the astronomical, works, and ^h>ria of value were preserved;
but the service and the theological works of the sect were mercilessly
dettroyed.t The fortres%, which dated 6tmi the year 860^ was demolished
*D^Obn0a,iU.t94« t D*ObtMS, iu. ift Voe HanuMf^ IUkteai» I. ns*
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196 HISTORY OP THS MONGOLS.
With great trooble. Soon after thcf fortreties of Kuliittaii, to the number
of fifty, were surrendered and demolished ; and this was followed by die
submission of the Ismailite fortresses in Syria* Rokn-ud-din was now
poweriess and useless to the Mongols, and diey b^^ to treat him badly.
So long as his strongholds hdd out it was easier to cajole him into sw-
lendering them than to spend blood and treasure in their capture. He
had latdy married a Mongol woman of low extraction, and Khnlagu
would not have scrupled to put him to death but for his solemn promises
to him. He relieved him from anxiety by eipressing a wish to visit die
camp of Mangu Khan. He went, and was badly received, the Khabm
refusing him an interview, and he was murdered on his way home again.
His subjects were distributed among the Mongd soldiery, and were put
to the sword as directed by the Grand KuriltaL Even the chOdren in
the cradles were slaughtered. Only a few escaped m the recesses of
Kuhistan, where their descendants still lived in the beginning of the
sixteenth century, when they are mentioned by Mohanmied of £sf<Siar,*
but practically they were exterminated. The princes of Asia Minor, Syria,
and of the Franks were relieved from their levies of black mail, and
Muhammedanism e8csq>ed a daI^;erous schism; but the terror they
inspired survived long enough, and the word assassin in Western
languages (a corruption of Hashishin, by which the Ismailites of Syria
were known) still bears witness to their anci^it renown.t
Khulagu now went to Kazvin, far hmtd for its mekms and its handi-
craftsmen, where he heki a grand feast in honour of his victory, and
rewarded his faithful dependants. He then turned to the next object
of his expedition, namdy, the subjecdon of the Khali£ In this he
was seconded by the learned astronomer Nassir-ud-din, of Thus,
a follower of Ali (i>., a Shia). From his &sap in the environs of
Kazvin, Khulagu marched to Hamadan, where he met the Mongol general
Baiju, who came to do homage. He was received with the scornful
aunt, ^ Since you took the conunand from the hands of Giurmagun,
what enemies have you conquered, what country have you subjected?
What have you done, except to frighten the Mongol troops, with the
grandeur and power of the Khalif ?* He replied, on his knees, that he
had done what he could, and had subjected the kingdom of Rum (/./.,
the Setjuk sovereignty of Asia Minor), and that he had not ventured to
attack Baghdad because of its strength and p<^>uIadon, and the difficulUes
of the way4
Khulagu despatched an embassy to summon the Khalif to submit. The
latter was a pious man, but wanting in energy. He claimed as his dele*
gates all the sovereigns who professed the Moslem faith, and who re-
ceived investiture at his hands. Mostassim was the then Khah^ and the
princes who owned his supremacy were the Sultans of Egypt and
•iyOlMtOB,iEaM. tDX>teMa,iii.saB. t DX>hMB, iii. mS.
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MANGU KHAN. 197
Rami the Atab^s of Fan and Kennaii| the Princes of Eibil and Mosul,
and several others of less account ; but the rulers of Rum, Pars, and
Kerman had already submitted to the Mongols. The Khalif had besides
this a more serious domestic difficulty. He had recendy persecuted,
and treated with great indignity, certain Seyid captives, descendants
of Ali. His viziefy who was a Shia, was much scandalised at this,
and entered into correspondence with Khulagu. At the same time he
dissembled his animosity, and tried to persuade his master, the Khalif,
that as all the Mussulman princes were his feudatories, and were ready
to sacrifice both their troops and their wealth in his service, there was
not much use in a large standing army. The luxurious Khalif meddled
little with affairs of State, and allowed the virier to scatter the considerable
army his father had left him, and it was in this condition when the news
of Khulagu's inarch arrived. At the same time the so-caUed Little
Devatvar (/./., vice-chancellor) made a cabal with many other chiefs to
replace the Khalif by another prince of the house of Abbas, and to
undermine the influence of the vizier. News of this conspiracy came to
the Khalifs ear, and although matters had proceeded to great lengths,
he wrote the vice-chancellor an autograph letter, in which he told him he
considered the charges to be calumnies, and that he retained the highest
confidence in him. His letter brought a submissive answer, and on the
Devatvar presenting himself he was well received. His justification was
proclaimed in the city, and his name was inserted in the Khutbd imme-
diately after the Khalif's.*
The letter of Khulagu complained that the Khalif had not furnished him
with a contii^ient in his war against the Ismailites. It went on to
remind him of the great empires that had already succumbed to the Mon-
gols, that each of their rulers was always welcome at Baghdad, as he also
egqpected to be. He urged that the moon only shines in the absence of the syn.
Do not strike a nail with- your fist, he said, nor mistake the sun for the
puff of a candle, or you will repent ; but the past is past. He then bade
him raze the walls and fill the ditches of Baghdad, and go to hhn in
person, or else to send his vizier and chancellor to do homage. He told
him that if he obeyed his behests, then he should preserve his states and
troops; but if he preferred to fight, or refused to obey, they would see what
was the will of God.t According to Raschid, the Khalif replied that
Khulagu had been seduced by the good fortune of ten days into supposing
himself the ari>iter of the world. He, too, reminded him of the vast power
of the Mussulmans, of which he was the head. He did not wish for war^
as he did not want his people to suffer from the march of armies, and he
counselled him to listen to the voice of peace, and to return to Khorassan.)
The envoys who bore this message were accompanied by the Mongol
envoys. The latter were maltreated by the people, who awaited them
»D*Oh«oa,iii.sx5. tD*0lMMo,m.ti5. X D*Olm<Hi, iU. ttS.
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198 mnoRY or thb komgols.
outside the gates cf Baghdad. When Khulagn heard of it, he is said to have
remarked, the Khalif is a^ tortuous in his poliqr as this bow, but with the
help of God I will chastise him until he becomes as straight as an arrow.
He dismissed the envoys with the message that God had given the emplie of
the earth to Jingis Khan and his descendants, and as their master rtfiised
to obey, there was nothmg for it but to prepare for war. The vizier now
counsdled the Khalif that he should appease the Mongok by magnificent
presents ; the Devatvar advised a difoent policy. With Suleiman-
shah, the generalissimo of his forces, and some othen» he reproached die
Khalif with his weakness and debauchery, reminded him of the terrible
£ate of the cities already ravaged by the Mongols, and begged that troops
might be at once raised. The Khalif consented* and the visier gavo
orders for a levy, but he secretly added that there was no hurry, and die
thing might be done leisurely. Meanwhile the Khalif addressed another
note to Khulagu, in which he enumerated the many disastrous expeditions
wtddtk had set out with the object ol taking Baghdad, and warned him to
avoid the same fate.*
Khulagu's march lay through the snowy mountains idiich sqMrated the
two Iraks, the defiles of ndiich were guarded by the fortress of Deriteng (^.,
narrow defile) f The Mongols, according to their usual policy^ seduced
the governor by fair promises into their power, and then persuaded him
to march out thegarrison^ when they completed their perfidy by ageneral
massacre4 Before marching, Khulagu consulted Hossam-ud-din, an
astrologer, who had been sent with him as his adviser by the Khakan,
his brother, Hossam was probaldy a Muhammedan. He foretold that
grave disasters would fcdlow upon the expedition ; among other things,
that the sun would not rise ; tiiat there would be drou^t, earthquakes^
pestilence, &c. He was rash enough to fix a date for the occurrence of
these misfortunes, and to oSa to risk his head on the result Khulagu
waited for the day. Hossam's prophecies were fidsified, and he
was put to death on the 23rd November, I362.§ The Bakshis or
Buddhist doctors of the Mongols counselled a confident advance, and
this advice was strengthened by that of Khulagu's fiivourite astrdoger,
Nassir*ud-dln, who was a follower of Ali, and who toki him that
he should replace the Khalif on the throne. Khulagu now de**
termined to advance, and he ordered the different Mongol armies
to converge upon Baghdad. . Baiju, who with his Mongols had
been engaged in Asia Minor in reducing to obedience certain towns
of the Seljuk Sultan Rokn-ud-din, who was a protege of the Mon-
gols, crossed the Tigris at Mosul, and joined a second body of
Mongols under the command of Boka Timur, of the Noyan Sugunjal^
and die three princes of the house of Juji, who commanded the special
*irOhMon,iU.ttz. tVoaH«mm«'tattMs,i.t45* 1 D'OlMMfl.iiL SS4.
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MANOU KHAH. 199
amthigent of tiiat horde. They fonned together ibt right wing of the
attacking force. The army idiich had been on the fronden of Luristany
imder Kitubuka and Kudussun, formed the left wing; while Khnlago,
with the chief dignitaries of Persia, took command of the centre. Having
once more summoned the Khali^ who now offered to pay tribute^ but
would not go in person, and leaving his heavy baggage at Hamadan,
Khulagu marched through the Kurdish mountains, taking tnd sacking
the town of Kermanshahan on the way.* He halted for thirteen days
on the banks of the river Holvan, while Kitubuka overran the greater
part of Luristan*
A conference was hdd between Khulagu and some of his generals at
Thak kesra, and it was noticed that when diey left him they consulted
the fissures in burnt shoulder blades of sheep, die usual Mongol mode of
divination, to see what ipould betheresultf They commanded the right
wing, and now crossed the Tigris at Tacut,and so great was the hurry
and panic of the inhabitants to get across the river and take reftige in
Baghdad, that the boatmen received golden bracdets, tissues of gold, and
large sums of money for the passage. This Mongol army was attacked
by one of the KhaliTs divisions, under the vice-chancellor, whom I have
previously named. The Mongob retired as usual, and then succeeded in
flooding the country bdiind tiie Moslem army, which was attacked and
utterly defeated. The vice-chancellor readied Ba^idad with a handful of
men. He was ordered to repair the walls and to barricade the streets.
The vast dty was now invested by die Mcmgols ; they surrounded the
town with a rampart and ditch, the ditch being on the inside. This work
was constructed in twenty-four hours. Out of the bricks which strew
the neighbourhood, probably the debris of the old Mesopotamian empires,
they constructed mounds upon which to place the battering engines.
The bombardment commenced on the 50th of January, at all points, and
a great breach was effected in the tower A'djemi, a tower flanking one of
the gates. The Khalif sent one of his favourites, and the patriarch
of the Nestorian Christians, to offisr the terms formerly proposed by
Khulagu, but these were now refused, and the attack was pressed. Palm
trees were cut down to fiimish projectiles, while stones for the catapults
had to be brought from a distance of three or four days' journey to the
north, from Jebel hamrin and Jelula.^ Letters fastened to arrows were
shot into the town, stating that demcncy would only be extended to the
Kadhis, the Muhammedan doctors, the Sheikhs, Alevis, and non-com-
batants. On the 1st of February, the Mongols captured, by assault, all
the wan on the eastern side of the dty. The vice-chancellor and a body
of lo^ooo men tried to escape down the river, but the Mongds were
expecting and repulsed them with a shower of stones and pots of naptha,
and they were forced to return to Baghdad. The Khalif now saw that
•D*OkMoii,iil.fliS. tD*Ohnoa,iil.MB. X D*OlMMa. UL «S4»
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200 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
resistance was hopeless, and he sent several deputations offering terms ;
but Khulagu refused to see thenu He demanded that Suleiman Shah,
the generalissimo of the Kbalifs troops, and the vice-chancellor, should
be sent to him, and on their arrival he ordered thcra to return and bring
out all their forces. Under pretence that they were sending them into
Syria, they persuaded many of the soldiery and others to come out ; but
they were distributed among the Mongol companies, and as usual put to
to the sword.* Eibeg, the vice-chancellor, and Suleiman Shah shared
in the common fate. The latter was first jeered at by Khulagu. You,
an astrologer, who know the forecast of the stars, why did not you warn
your master ? The Khalif, was the pathetic answer, followed his destiny,
and listened not to the counsel of his servants. With the latter also
perished 700 of his house. The heads of three of the chief victims were
cruelly sent to the Prince of Mosul, an old friend of Suleiman Shah, with
oiders that they should be exposed on the walls of his palace ; t an order
that he was forced to obey. The Khalif, with his three sons and 3,000
grandees, now repaired to the camp of Khulagu. He was followed by a
vast crowd of his people, who were massacred as they left the gates. On
the I3tb of February the sack of Baghdad was inaugurated. The Mongols
entered from every side, fired the houses and slaughtered the inhabitants,
except the Christians and a few strangers. On the 15th, Khulagu entered
the dty, and gave a grand feast in the Khalif s palace, where he ironically
treated his captive as his host. The latter produced 3,000 rich robes,
10,000 dinars, and many precious stones ; but Khulagu pressed for the
hidden treasure, when a basin filled with laige gold coins, each of the
weight of 100 miscals, was produced. The Mongols, we are told, found
in the kitchens^ &c, many vessels of gold and silver, which they valued
only as if they had been copper or tin. In the harem were found 700
women and 1,000 eunuchs. Mostassim begged to be allowed to keep
those wives upon whom neither the sun nor moon had shone, and he was
allowed to select loa D'Ohsson tells us that Khulagu returned to his
camp, where were collected the vast ntunber of precious objects which
had been amassed by the Abassides during their rule of five centuries.}
The sack of Baghdad lasted seven days, during which the greater part of
the mosques were fired. At length Khulagu ordered the massacre and de-
struction to cease. The number of the dead, we are told by Rascfaid, was
800,000, a frightful hecatomb when we consider that Baghdad was then
tiie eye and centre of the Muhanmiedan world ; that there its riches,
its literature and culture had then: focus ; at a time when the Christian
world was almost barbarous, and when the Mussulmans were without
doubt the foremost of civilised communities. The Christians escaped
the massacre under the instructions of the Nestorian patriarch, and had
taken refuge in a church which was spared. This clemency was probably
*D*Ohnoft,iii.s37* f Voq Baiim«r>t IIUmm, L 15s. I D*Obnaa, iiL S4A.
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MANGU KHAN. aoi
doe to the influence of Khulagu's chief wife Tokusy iHio was a Nestonan
Chxisti«n.« We are told that among the aisailants the fiercest probably
were the Geoigiansi who enlisted in the Mongol armies, and who had
many old scores to pay off against the Muhammedans. On the 20th of
February, Khulagu left Baghdad because of its tainted air. The Khalifs
fisite is diiierently reported : Raschid and Novairi relate that he was put
to death with his eldest son and five eunuchs near Vacaf, by being sewn
in a sack and trodden under foot by hones until he died, because, as
the latter says, the Mongols never shed the blood of sovereii^ and
princes.f The Persian historians, Nikby and Mirkhond, agredng in
this with die Armenians, have a more romantic story. They tell us that *
Khnlagtf placed before Mostassnn a seat covered with gdd pieces, and
ordered him to eat them. ^ But you cannot eat gokV he said. ' Why
then have you kept it," said the Utilitarian conqueror, ^ instead of dis-
tributing it to your troops? Why luive you not converted these iron
gates into barbs for your arrows, and advanced to the banks of the
Jihun to dispute my advance?' ''It was the will of God," said the
Khali£ ''What will hajqsen to you is the will ofGodalso,** said Khulagu;
and he left him to starve befofe his dishes loaded with gold and precious
8tones4 Thus perished Mostassim, at die age of forty-six, after a reign
of fifteen years. He was thethirty-seventh of the Abassidan Khalift
and his death caused a tenriUe gap in die Muhammedan world. For
three years the Moslems remained without a ^iritual head. Founded in
763 by Al BCansur, the second Abassidan Khali^ Ba^^ad became not
only a spiritual and literary metropolis, but also a commercial one. From
Bussorah it received the producdons of India and China, idiile those of
the north came to it by way of the Tigris and Eiq^hrates.
Khulagu appointed governors to take charge of the captured city, Ibn
AUcamiyi, the vizier, reined his post. He is accused of treachery by
^e majority of the Moslem historians. Of the sect of the Rafisis, it was
natural that he should delight in the overthrow of the Abassidan dynasty
and the reinstatement of that of Ali; and the proverb which was inscribed
on the books used in the Muhammedan schools, " Let him be cursed of
God who curses not Ibn ul Alkamiyi," had probably a good justificadon*
He died three years after the capture of Baf^dad, and was succeeded by
his son Sheref-ud-din.§
BendesAli Bahadur and thevisier Ibn Alkamiyi, other Mussulmans
seem to have won the confidence of Khulagu, and weare toki that Fakhr
ud din of Damghan was made Sahib Divan, Ahmed ben Amram prefect
of die districts east of Baghdad, and Nizam ud din Abd ul Muemin
was made chief judge. A curious story is told oi Ben Amram by
Mirkhond. A slave of the governor of Yakuba, he was one day employed
♦
« Vco H«mn«r'a nUiani, i, 132. t D*OlMton, Hi. 943. Note. I D'OlMioa, ia 943. Nott
% D*OhNoo, tii. 049.
IC
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202 HISTORY Or THB MONGOLS.
(about twelve months before Khnlagu's arriral) in the menial office of
tickling the soles of his master's feet when asleep (a common form of
luxury in the East), when he himself fell asleep. On awakening he tdd
his master that he had dreamt that the Khalifitfe and Mostassim were no
more, and that he himself was governor of Baghdad. This ridieulous
pretension was rewarded by a kick from his master. During the siege of
the town, the Mongols having begun to run short of provisions, Ben
Amram sent anote£astened toan arrow into Khulagu's camp stating diat if
he were to ask for him to come to his camp he would hear of something
nsefiiL The Ehalif vrza applied to and made no difficulty. Ibn Amram
when taken before Ehulagu said that if he so ordered, provisions should
be forthcoming. He took one of the Mongol officers to a place near
Yakuba, where there were underground granaries Containing enough to
supidy the besieging army for fifteen days. His reward, in accordance with
the dream, was the government of Baghdad, says Mirkhond ; in reality he
was governor of the districts east of the city.* When the main part of
the Mongol army, evacuated Baghdad the Noyan Ilga and Kara Buga
remained behind with 3,000 horsemen to re-establish order and to bury
the dead.t The Friday after the cs4>tur«, the preacher who read the
Khutb6 in place of the usual prayer for the Ehalif pronounced the fol«
lowing words ; a curious proof surdy of the intensity of meaning the Mus-
sulmans attach to the duty of submission to the will of God, ** Praise be to
God who has destroyed by death great beings, and has condemned to
destruction the inhabitants of this place ; *' condudiiig thus, ^ O, my God,
hdp us in our calamity than which Islamism and its children have not
felt their equaL But we came from God and we return to God.'' When
master of Baghdad Khulagu proposed this question to the Muhammedan
doctors : ** Which is preferable : A just sovereign vdio ban unbeliever, or a
true believer who is unjust ; " they agreed that the just infidel was pre-
feral^e to the unjust Mussuhnan.) During the siege of Baghdad the
inhabitanto of die town of HilM, who were Shias, sent envoys to him
stating that, according to the tradition of their ancestors, the twelve
Imams and the Khalif AU, he was fiatted to conquer Irak Areb and its
sovereign, and ofiered their submission. Khulagu detached Buga Tiraur,
his brother-in-law, with a Mongol force to visit them. The people of
Hill^ thiew a bridge across the Euphrates and went out to meet him with
some pomp. This shows how bitter the hatred of the two great rival
sects must have been, for this occurred during the siege of the metropolis
of Muhammedanism. XSeven days after leaving HiD^, Buga Timnr
appeared before Vassith, which, having shut its gates, was tal^en by
assault and sacked. This was followed by the submission of Shuster
BussMah and other towns of Khuzistan* At the desirig of his first minister
Seif>udrdin Betikji, Ehulagu posted a guard of 100 Mongols at the tomb
*D*0hit0B,iiLa47* Note. t D*Ohtioii, ifl. 148 I DXIhMon, Si. S5S-
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AfANOU KHAN. 303
of AU to protect it from s«crilq;e.* During the8i^:e of Baghdad Khulaga
had di^Mtdied Oroktu Noyan to o^itnre Erbil, a flouriahing city situated
between the two rivers Zab^ two days' journey ftom MosuL Its com-
mander came to his camp to oAer his submission^ but the Kurdish
garrison would not allow hh» to re-enter it The unlucky governor was
put to death by the Mongc^ ifho then Uid si^^e to the town. They wers
assisted by a eontfaigent sent by the Prinoe of MpsuL The garrison
fought wdl, but the place was at length oqptured, and its walls rased.t
On the 17th of April Khn]ag^ rejoined his A^iriks (i^, the camps where
the bagipigey women, ftc, were left) at Hamadan. He was master of a
vast booty collected from Baghdad, the Ismailite fortresses, and tht
towns of Rum, Georgia, Armenia, Kurdistan, and Lur, and he built a
strong §on as a treasure house on a scarped island in the midst of the
lake Urmia in A]erbai4)an. He sent his brother, the Khakan, a portion
of the booty, and announced to him his intention of maxdnng upon Syria
and £gypt4 At Mtfraga, he received the homage of Bedr ud din
Lulu, Prince of Mosul, who came to him with ridi presents. He was a
diplomatic and wily old gentleman, and flattered Kholagu mlich by taking
the ear-ringa out of his own ears and £utening them on those of his
sniereign. He died shortly after his return to MosuLl Lnristan was then
divided into two provinces, the greater of whidi was governed by the Atab^
TdedhL Having eaqaressed his grief at the &te of Baghdad, he became
an ol^fect of suspicion to Khulagu and fled. His brother set out with
some companions to ai^ease the MoQgol% but was hnprisoned and his
cortege destroyed. T^kM^ the Prince of Lur, was seduced by ftur
promises to caf^tulate. Khulagu actually sent him his own ring as a
token of his nnoerity, but, like many others who had trusted to Mongol
promises, he was puttodeadL The Prince of the lesser Luriatan was more
hicky. He took part in the a^tnre of Baghdad, and was rewarded by the
investiture of his estates. At this time ^ Princes of Fars and the two
rival Sdjuk Sultans of Rum, Roknrud-din Kili^ Arsbn, and Ii-ud-din
Kdt Kavus, came to do homage. The latter, who had reason to dread
the receptkm he should meet with, was very diploftiatic. He had his
own pcMtrait painted on the sdesof a pair of socks^ which he presented
to the Mongol chief as a token of his humility, at the same time,
{tfostrating himself and b^ging that Khulagu would honour him by
placing his august fieet on the head of his servant The partition of the
emphe between the two brodiers was confirmed, and they returned home
widi rich presents, part of the booty from Baghdad.! Nassir ud din, a
fronous astronomer, was ordered by Khulagu to build an observatory in
the most convenient position. He had impressed upon Khulagu the
•D*0liM0ii,iii.tS5»tsS. Von Hmbbmi^ Dkhtat. 1. IS&
t V<mHnHiMr,op.«iSLi98. DX>liMoo,Ui.«97- | 0'01l«oa,lii•«Slr•
| I>X>liM0ii,liI.«S9. |D*OlMMa,iU.«te. VoaHMUMf'tllkbwM.i.ifio.
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304 HISTORY OF THB MONGOLS.
necessity of fonning new astronomical tables^ and that observations should
be continned for at least thirty years, as .Saturn's tenn ai terdbtion
was of that length. He compared the different ancient tables t the earliest
of these were those of Enerdjese^ then fourteen centuries okL Alter
these came those of Ptolemy. There were also the observations made
at Baghdad hi the reign of the Khalif Meimnn ; those of Tebani, In
Syria; and, lastly, those of Hakemi and Ibn al Alem, in Egypt^
made 250 years before. Nassir od din chose a site near the town of
Meraga, with him were associated four fomous astronomers, namdy,
Mueyed ud din Ben Uny from Damascus, Nedjm ud din Katib from
Kazvin, Fakhr ud din, a nathre of Mevaga, from Mosul, and a second
Fakhr ud din, a native of Akhlatt, from Tiflis. The observatory was
furnished with armiDary spheres and astrokbes, andwidi a beantifnlly
executed terrestrial globe showing die five climates. IThe tables that
were calculated at thb observatory were published in die next reign
under the name of Zidj IlkhanL They showed an error of forty minutes
in the previous calculations of tlie sun's place at the beginning of the year.
It is a curious proof of the interchange of Eastern and Western thou£^
under the influence of the Mongols, that Nassir-ud-din studied the era
and astronomical rules of the Chinese for the compositioa of these tables,
from the Chinese doctor Fao Man Dji, otherwise known as Sing Sing or
learned^ one of the Chinese learned men Khuli^ had brought ^^th him*
Ehulagn was somewhat frightened at the oacpmse of the observatory, the
instruments of which alone cost ao,ooo dinars. He was convinced of its
utility by a curious experiment Standing on a hill, beside his astronomer,
die latter rolled a copper bowl to the bottom. The noise <^ this gready
frightened those who did not know its cause, while the astronomer and
his master were perfecdy at easoi ^ See the use of the stars,*^ said
Nassir ud din, '' they announce what will happen, and those who knowcan
take precautions, and are not panic-stridcen like those taken by surprise.**^
Aigun, the governor of Persia, had m the latter part of 1258 gone to
the Ehakan^s court to defend lumsdf from the chaiges of his intrigjofaig
enemies. These he completely answered, and his answer was confirmed
by the Armenian Prince Sempad, vdio happened to^ be dien at die court*
He returned to Persia when Mangu set out on his Chmese expedition,
and when diere i^q^uiated the taxes on a new principle, the maximum for
the richest being 500 dmars, while the minimum for the poorest was one
dinar. He repaired to Geoigia, where David, the son of the Queen
Rnzudan, whom we have previously named, had revolted against the
Mongols, they had sent an army against them. The Georgians
were beaten. Argun was present on this occasion, and reported to
Ehulagu how matters stood there. By himhewas entrusted with an army
with which he returned to Tiflis.
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MAMOU KHAK. I05
Itoswliflt manycf tlie QaMaaM^ eipedallf those of Tacrit, who had
beoi wdl ticated after the ai^ge of Bfei^idady were aocoaed by the
Mmaaiiiiaiia o£ ooBoeafini^ tfeaame^ aad the chafge proving correct^ tiiey
were metdfessly killed, and we axe told ^ Mnaanhnanit reoccupied die
cathedfal of Tacrit But notwithalanding this their cooditioii was ytaj
nmch impfoved by the Bloogol oooopatioiL By the Modems they were
treated with great indignity, the many restrictians and insults they had
to bear are enomented in some detail by lyOhssoii.* Like the
Cnisadcn, the Eastern Christiaas saw in iOndaga aod his Mongols the
ayeogers of tiieir many wioogSi and diey wdcomed diem accordingly.
In the year^dien Baghdad £dl a tenftle £amine and pesdknce de-
vastated the provinces ot Irak AxtSb, Mesopotamia, Syria, and Rum,
doubtless caused by the Mongol ravages.!
Syria was at this time ruled over by Nassir Saladin Yusso^ a great
grandson of die great Sala^Un. He had inherited the princqfiality of Aleppo
in 1236^ at the age ofsiz years, and in 1350 had takmpossessMnof diat
of Damascos, which bdooged to the Egyptian Sultan* Ina subsequcm
strugi^ with the ktter he was defeated* The KhaUf intefpoeed as
mediator, and he agreed to surrender ta die Sultan, Jemsakm, Gasa, and
the coast as fiu: as Nablus. He had sent a riddy laden Embassy to the
court of Mangu, but had not yet done homage to Kfaulagu. Alter the
terrible campaign against Baghdad he dared no longer dday, and sent iris
son with the visier and other officers, whotook presents and a letter to the
Frince of Mosul to intercede for him. He excused himsdf for not gcung
in person by representing the danger his country was then in fimnthe
attacks of the crusaders. The young prince was detained during the
winter, and returned to his fother, bearing a long letter, which is interest-
ing as an example of arrogant and offinnve language.
The stii^ of the letter was increased by having some of its enqihatic
phrases taken directly fimn the Koran, and die astronomer Nassir ud din
had the credit of its cgmpoddon. I take die letter and its answ^ from
IyOhssol^ wiariring as he does die extracts from the Konn by italics.
^ In the name of God, Creator of heaven and earth. Be it known to
you, Prince Nassir, diat we arrived at Baglidad ki the year 655, and that
we have made its sovereign prisoner. He had bdiaved badly towards us.
He rq>ented,.and confessed that he deserved to <fie. Greedy of weakh
he has ended by loong everything; His avarice has made hhn lose hii
precious heritage. According to the adage^ A# wk^ km rmickdd kUJkU
higim to tUclitu. Our proqwrity, on the contrary, is increasing.
^ O Prince Nassir, Sdf nd di% son of Yagmnr, Alai od dfai £1 Kaimaii,
and you chiefr and warriors of Syria, be it known to yon that we are
God's troops on earth. That he created us in his wra^ and that he has
given us authority over those who have incurred his anger. That yon
* D'OhtMo, lit i74, ct ■•«. tI>*Ofcnoa, UL <yi*
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2o6 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
ought learn from the iate of other countries* and find a lesson in odiers'
misfortunes. Submit befon the veil is rent asunder^ for we are not
touched by tears nor moved by entreaty. God has erased pity from our
hearts Woe to those iHio are not with us. You ki\ow how niany nations
and peoples we hare conquered and destroyed. To you, flight ; to us,
pursuit ; but whither will you fly ? V/hat land will protect you ; nothing
Shan save you from our arms. Our steeds are like flashes of lightning,
our swords thundeifooltSy our breasts hard as rocks, our warriors nume-
rous as the sand« Those who resist us rq>ent it Those who ask our
£9ivour find it. Our enqiiie is respected and our vassals are safb If you
receive our laws then evesything is in common between us. If you resist
us you will at best have but your own. He who warns is justified;
fortresses are no barriers to us, nor will armies stay us. Your curses
against us will not be fitvourably listened to, lor you use fbttndden meats.
Youkeep not your wQfd. You break treaties, and you betray the fiuth. You
are heretics. You love impiety and rd)eIlion. Note that you are doomed
to misfortune and to faSL Tkt day is coming when you shall receive ik$
ignoffdnioms fuftiskmeni of your arrogance^ your ill deedsy and your
wickedtusu You believe we axe infidels ; we know you are bad. The
Almif^ has subjected you to our doinmion. Those whom you most
lumour are vile in our eyes. Mislbrtune and woe to those who set them*
sdves against us. Grace and safety to those who come near us. We
have conquered the earth from the east to the west, and spoiled those
who possessed its wealth. We have captured all the ships. Choose then
the safe path, and submit before war lights its fires and throws their
sparks over you, for you will meet.with terrible calamity. In the wink of
an eye your land will become a desert, and you wOl find no refiq^e. The
angel of death will be able to proclaim^ Is thire one among them who
still has the least sign o/ltft^ or whou voice can utter the least murmur^
We are chivalrous in warning yotu Be quick then and confess your fear
that you be not taken unawares. Be on your guard, and when you have
received our letter read the commencement of the Boss and the end of
the Sad. We have scattered tiie diamonds of our words. It is for you
to reply; and safety tP hun who fbUows the padi of safety.''*
To this tetter, in which the arrogance of the Mongols is mixed up \eith
th^ bhter hatred of a ^lia fer a Sunni MuhamxnedaAi ftnd which we
are tdd by Vassaf is a model of Amtbic stylep Nassir responded with
scornful and incisive i^irases. His answer ran thus >^
*^ Oh^ my God^ master ^ empires^ thou givest dominion to ^ham thou
wiliest. Assist us. Praise be to God the ruler of the universe. Blessing
and greeting to the Coryphseus of his messengers, the last of die prophets,
Muhammed, the untaught, and aU his fiumly.
* The B«M And tha Sad art Um title* of two diaptera of the Korea. The ConMr eom-
meocee wHh the words, Divine ttngiOHCs U coming ; do not hatUn U, The other ends with
^h9wor6^.Tki9tefipti» a warning to mortak, Ymt will tu on* 4ay that it PfophuOs tmly.
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MANOU KHAN. 307
^ We have noted the letter of your Illdianian and Saltaman highness
(whom may God teach the right €uth and make him love the truth),
annooncing that yon were created by the wrath of God, and sent against
those who have incurred his anger. That you are not affected by
entreaty, nor softened by tears, and that God has eiased pity 6rom all
your hearts. Here- indeed you confess your greatest infiuny, for this is
the character of devfls, and not of sovereigns. This impromptu quota-
tion shall confound you. Oh, infidels^ I do not adore that which you
adofe. Yon are cursed in all the sacred books, you have been described in
atrocious colours. You have been pointed out by all the heavenly
aposdes, and we have known you since you were made. You are infidels
as you have suspected, and the curse of God is it not m^on the infidels?
You say we are heretics, that we have betrayed the luth, that we
are g^ven up to rebellion and wickedness. We are reminded of those
who are cardess of consequences. It is as if Pharaoh, he who denied
the true faith, had exhorted men to obey God. We are the true faithfuL
Men caimot impute any transgressions to us ; we axe open to tio suspi^
cions. It was to us the Koran was sent from heaven. It is our God whp
is eternal We believe in the revealed wc»d, and know how it ought to
be interpreted ; but as to you, the fire was created for you, even to con-
sume your ddn. Whgn the skies shall break in fieces^ the stars he
dispersed, the mighty deep be confounded^ and the tomhs overturned^ then
the soul shall see the whole panorama of its Ufe. Is it nor strange to
threaten Uons with blows ; tigers, hyaenas, and heroes with the vengeance
of ragamuffins ? Our horses are firom Barka; our swords fix>m Yemen ;
our prowess is known from the east to the west ; our horsemen spring
like lions, and our horses overtake all whom they pursue ; our swmds cut
in pieces, and our blows are like thunder peals ; our skin is our coat of
mail ; our chests are our cuirasses. Insults do not vex our hearts, nor
wiD menaces frighten us. Obedience to God implies resistance to you.
If we kjn you our duty will be done. If we are killed paradise awaits
us. You say, OkT breasts are like rocks^ we are numerous as the sand.
Is the butcher then afiaid of the sheep, because they are so numerous ?
Win not a small spark fire a big house of logs? We shall not shrink
fit>m death in order diat we may survive in ignominy. If we live we shall
be happy ; if we die we shall be martyrs. Is it not thus that the
soldiers of God triumph f You demand firom us the obedience we owe
to the chief of the fiuthfnl, the vicar of die prophet We shall not obey
fOtt. We prefer to go and join him. You ask that we submit to you
btfore the veil is tom^ and that you await our coming. The woids of
tMs phrase are in assorted. If the vdl is to be destroyed, if our firte is
to be acctmqilished, it win surely be when we adopt the winsh^ of idob
in the place of the true God. Yon have indeed advanced such stnmge
arguments that it wouki not be strange if die skies should break asunder^
the earth should open^ and the mountains should fall down. Tdl your
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lo8 HISTORY or THE MONGOLS.
senile, he «to wrote yoor letter, you hAve exceeded «U de^^
standing your drcvmciskm ; but we make as little account of your prose
as of the sound of the rabab (^.y a kind of Pefsian violin), or of the buzsmg
of a fly. Yoo hate xtpaiid your bene&ctors with ingratitude, and you
deserve your punishment Truly W4 noU tkdr spiidi^ and w€ will npay
them wUh inUrisi. You sport with us with your m^>fffl^ng pimues.
You were ambitious of exhibiting your rhetoric. It b to you it may be
said, you have followed one thing so ck)sely you have forgotten the rest*
You have written, The wicked shall on$ day be overtaken by their destiny.
Such is your apostrophe. Here is our answer : The commandment of
God shall be fulfilled; do not hasten it The Prince Nassir Seif ud din
ibn Yagmur, Alai ud din el Kaimeri, and the other chiefe and warriors of
Syriap they do not refuse the challenge ; thev await impatiently th» n#^giiit^g
of the hoTKS and the charge of the warriors, for they have sworn to meet
you. It is not necessary to jump into hell, for it is a bad resting-place ;
nor to strike a hehnet-phime with a sword, they all bid me tell you. If your
arms are eager for the fight there ia no need of v^ses, of writing letters,
or of composing histories. We await you. God grant the victory to
whom he wiH We shall not scatter diamond words, but we say ^diat
comes to our lips, and we excuse him who stammers. Greeting." *
There could only be one issue to such a correspondence, and that one
came speedily.
Ehulagu set out firom Tebris ; with him wait Salih, the son of the
Prince of Mosul, who had married the daughter of the l^hiarwrn Shah
Jelal-ud-din. Kitubuka commanded the advance guaid, Sinkur and
Baiju the ri^t wing, Sundjar the left wiog, and Khulagu himself the
centre. He set out on the I3th of September, 1359, and went by way of
Alatagh, whichlies between Ararat and Erseerum. He then marched to
Akhlath, north of Lake Van, a town famous for its apples. The Kurds
of the tribe of Hukkiari who garrisoned it were slaughteredf F.n^^ytg
Diarbekr he took Jexirat, while his son Yashmut laid siege to Bdaya&ridn.
The Mongols had a long score to wipe ofif in the case of ito prince.*
Notwithstanding that he had been invested by the Khakan Mangu hhn-
self with his principality, he had proved very treacherous; he was charged
with having crucified a Syrian priest who bore a yarlig (pas^)ort) from
the Imperial ChaaceUary; of having driven away from his country
the Mongol commissaries or prefecU; of having sent some troops
to assist the Khali£ He had more lately been to Damascus to ask
Nassir to fight the Mongols. Roha (the ancient Edessa), Harran, and
Nisibin were successively occupied, and the inhabitants of Sarudj, idw
had sent Khnhigu no envoys, were put to the sw(»d4 He wintered his
army near Rc^ and there hekl a recqition, which was attended by the
rOlMoa.iU.9M-90S. tTirn rfimBM'i nMuaj.L 1J4.
iyoaHaMMr>inihiM,Li74. D*0hMim,iU 349.
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MAMOUKSAM. 8O9
kiQg> of Armenia, tiit SiQuk tovtraigiis of Run, kcfi liotawhik
Naisir colisted in his Mrvico the variom bondt of ftgitivet ulio now
took tefi^pe in Syria. Ht potted his army at Btni, a little north of
Damascus. It was a tmbolent and dis|ointod body of Arabs and Turks,
and so little attached to him that a portion of it tried to murder him. He
sent his wires and treasures for safety into Egypt, and was imitated in
this by many of his soldiers. Underpretenceof escorting them, many of
them fled and did not return again, such was the terror inquired by the
Mongols. The army of Nassir was practically disbanded. He applied
to the Sultan of Egypt for succour* That country after many revobtioos
was now governed t^ Kuttus, who had once been a slavey had risen to
the rank of general, and then usurped the supreme authority : he agreed
to assist Nassir in any way he would suggestt
Khulagu, who was master of Mesopotamia, continued his advance and
marched in the q^nring towards Aleppo. He crossed the Euphrates at
four fiunous fords— Malatia (the ancient Mditene), Kalaatol Rum (ij;,
the Roman Castle), Bire (the ancient Birtha), and Kirkesia (andenHy
Kirkesion}. He o^pturod certain forts on the river, namdy, Menbedsh,
Medshm, Rakka, and Jaabei^ and shmghtcmd their inhabitaats4 Havhig
left garrisons thexe^ he advanced towards Aleppo. A division of his am^
made a diversion ; received the submission of Maaretnaaman, Hama,
and Hims ; the sultans of the two hUfeer towns finding refiige in Egypt!
As the Mongols drew near to Aleppo a good many fogitives escaped to
Damascus, where a pestilence was raging. The garrison made a
sortie and the Mongob adopted their ordinary ruse of a feigned retreat,
which led the Mussulmans into an ambuscade, where many of them
perished. Khulagu now arrived in person and summoned the command-
ant to surrender, in a conciliatory but probably treacherous letter; the
only reply he received was : ** Between us there is only the sword.*^ The
besiegers threw up works of contravaUation, and in a stngle night
surrounded the town with a rampart and ditdi. Twenty catapults were
placed in position, and after an attack of seven days the city was taken
by assault and given up to piUage for five days; iriien the carnage ceased,
the streets were cumbered with corpses. Those who had taken reftige in
the Jews' synagogue, in one of the Mnhammedan convents, and in the
housesof four grandees, who were probahly traitors, escaped. It is said
that loo^ooo women and children were sold as slaves. The walls of
Aleppo were rased, its mosques destroyed, and its gardens ravaged. The
citadel held out for a month : in it were o^ptured manj distinguished
prisoners and a vast booty. Several of the Bfongol chiefs were wounded
inthefece,and Khulagu cnmplimented them, saymg, ^Ared gownisa
woman's iMride : so is blood the warrior's bti|^test ornament*
•V«iHMMMi^UkhMi»Li9sf t I>K>lMMa, Ui. SIS* I V«i Hammt*! UkhtM, i. sSi.
r 4 Vm Hmus«» 9p. cit» L sat.
ID
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3IO ailTORT or THX MONGOLS.
Bar Hebneosy wImm history is so vM known, was at thb time the
Jacobite patxiaxchof Aleppo^ but he was absent at the time ofUiesiefe,
ha^^ gone to pay his respects to Khnhign.* Afterthelall of Aleppo,
Hftfn^fii tmrendered its keys and leceifed a commissary from Khakgu.
Nassir, who was still at Bers6 when Alq>po M, by the advice of his
generals now retired towards Gftsa to await asdstanee from the Egyptian
Sultan. He ordered the dUef men of Damascus to fly and take rsfiige in
Egyp^ They generally obeyed, ahd sold thdr possessions at a great
sacrifice. Snch was the scarcity of transport however, that Macrisi tdis
us a camd wM for 700 silver drachmas. The inhabitants of Damascus
now sent a deputation to Khulagu with rich presents and carrying the
keys of tlie dty. He caused the Kadhi Mdhayi ud dii^ the diief of
this deputation, to be dressed in a state robe of golden tissae and named
him Chief Justice of Syria. He returned to Damascus and read out a
decree of Khulagu, promising their lives to the inhabitants. Khulagu
sent two commanders, one a Mongol the other a Persian, to take chaige
of Damascus, with orders to spare the inhabitants and to obey the
counsds of Zein-ul-Hafissi, iu governor. Shor^ afterwards Kltubuka
and abody of Mongob garrisoned the town, and after a short nege cap*
tared the eitadd, wlddi had refused to submit, and killed its commandeif,
Kitubuka was a Kerait and a Christian, and we are told that he very
much ftvoured the Christians, who b^^an to be very independent in their
manners towards tiieir receitt masters the Mussuhnans. TheypubKely
drank wine even in the great §sat of Ramaxan ; they sprinlded with holy
water the dress of the Muhammedans and the doors of the mosques ;
they made the fbDowers of the prophet stoop to the cross in their proces-
si<ms; they sang psalms in the streets, and proclaimed that dieirfidth
was the only true fisith, and even destroyed mosques and minarets in the
neighbourhood of their dntrdies ; all this under the patronage of the
Mongol general Khukgu named the Eyoubit Prince Ashra^ who had
been deprived of his patrimcmy of Hima by Nassir, Lieutenant-genera)
of Syria.
After the fall of the citadel of Aleppo^ Khubigu summoned Haran,
situated two days' journey on the way to Atttioch, to surrender, promisiflt
their lives to the inhabitants. They replied that they did not know his
rdiglon and how ftur he was bound by a promise, but that if he would send
them a Muhammedan vrkh at^iodty to swear on Uie Koran to spare
them, they would surrender. Khulagu thereupon sent them Faldurud din
Saki, the late commander of the citadel of Aleppo, when they suneii-
dered ; but piqued by their want of fidth in his wocd he had them all
destroyed, m)twitfistanding the premise ; even ^ children at the bitast
were killed. We are toM that only an Annenian artificer of some fiune
*D*0lMMO,iii.3ti. VoBH«aiMt^IlkhuM,i.z84.
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uAnnm xRAir. tii
Khukgii reeeiiped at Aleppo the news of tte dtatii o£ the Khehen
HeagOy bit biotfaei^ ead he aet out en his meich eettm^ leeviag Kita-
bulai ia oonmnid of the Mongol Ibicet ia Syria; he nmed Faldar ud
dia goremor <^ Akppoy and Beidera governor oC DesuMone.
Haithon, the Aimeniaa king aad dmaider, tefle as tiiat Khnhigo's
dqMutiire took pku» joat as he was moditafing a canpeign against die
Satacensy who occupied Jerusakm, wfaidi he ialeaHed to restoie to the
Christians.* In measnring the success of die Meagsl anas under his
banner we must not forget what several tets aheady meatdon^df aad
many others whidi I have not named, aydoe quite cieac^ aasiely, that dw
Mongols were assisted at every turn by die treachery of the Mussafaaaas.
The bitter strtfe betwees SUa and Snnni often made the Meogel a
welcome visitor when he came to destroy the hated livaip and caused as
mi^ disaster to the common cause as the internecine $^ between the
Jesuits and Dominicans in China did at a kter day. These mrlanchnly
exhibitioas repeat themsehreshi the histories of nearly att ifligieas, but
themord^of their tak is sddesa so bitleriy pointed as in the case we
have descr&ed.
KhulagUy as is well known, received the inveslitoie of his conquests and
ofthe country foodi of the Otas. He fismided an empire there, known
asthatof the UUiaus. Like the Khans of the Golden Horde^ the sue-
censors of Batu, they for a tongtiaie acknowledged the soieteignty of the
Khakan of the Mongob in the East, bat their fecial history is not a part
of our present subject I have traced oot Khtdagu's campaign in sooae
detail, inasmudi as he waa lii^Uiag as the general of the Kbakan Mango
his hfother, and enlarging his empire by the conq^oests he made in the
West The internal history of his dominions, after he became their sove>
reiga, I may peihaps treat ia a socceediag volume. Now we must retam
to the East, and continue the story of MaoguKban.
I have already said that Khidittai had hesn commissioned in 1253 to
mardi into Yunnan, a country divided into several petty kingdoms whidi
had not been subdued by the Sung emperors. lU prinutive tribes stfll
peeserve a peculiar culture and idiosyncrasy in art which has been recently
iHttstrafeed at Soudi Kensington, and of which very interesting specimens
were presented to the Christie MusennL Hiese tribes are divided by die
Chinese into the Pe man, #>., white barbarians, and U maa, t>., black
baibadaas, the tetter were called Kara 4iaag, #^., black people, by the
Mengola.f
XhuhiteiassemUed his main army in Shensi in 1153. With him went
Urieng^oulBi, the son of the great general Subutai, as director of die
mmtary qieradons. They travecscd aociiuaa and its ahnost inaoceskible
moaataias, and reached the river Kindia whi4i waters the northern
portion of Yunnan. This they crossed on rafts, and received the .
•DH)hMOo,Ui. jil. N9^ t D*OhM0O,iu3i7.
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2f 2 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
sabmitsion of the diiefii of the Mussu man and Pe man barbarians.*
They then marched against Tali, the capital of Nanchao. Having iKord
that a general of the Sung dynasty had once taken a town without Idlling
a man or even disturbing its trade, Khubilai was piqued to try and
fanitate him. He unfurled his silken banners before the town and forbade
hit sokliers to kill any one. Presently the town surrendered The two
commanders vfbo had caused the Moi^l heralds which summoned it
to be killed, alone lost their lives. Khubilai now left the army to
Rjoin his brother, the Khakan.t
Uriangkadai continued the campaign. He fought several successful
battles against the Eastern Thibetans, who are described by De MaiUaas
a watiike and powerful race.} Having defeated and incorporated their
troq>8 in his army, he found them very useful in his struggles widi the
neighbouring tribes. In the end of 1354 he rejoined Mangu apparently
at Kokonoor, and gave an account of his campaign. In 1256 he returned
and subdued the Kue man and U man tribes. The Ldos and die King
of Ava now submitted, and he proceeded to defeat the tribes of the
kingdom of Alu, by whose conquest he won five large towns, four arsenals,
eight departments, lour provinces^ and thirty-seven hordes.!
Towards the end of 1257 the Mongols attacked the kingdom of Annam
or Tungldng (Tonquin), they advanced to die river Tha, which flows
through it, and where the Tonquincse army was encamped with a great
number of elephants. Having crossed the river on rafts the Mongols
attacked their enemy, who fled. They then took Kiaodii, the capital of
Tonquin, they there found then: envoys, who had been grossly ill-treated
and almost stranded with bamboo cords ; in punishment €or this conduct
the town was given up to pillage. Havii^ rested his amy for nine days
he returned northwards to the coort of Mangu to escape the summer
heats. The previous year a Kuriltai had been hdd, at which largess had
been finedy distributed, the fesdvides lasting for two months. The same
year, le.^ in 1256, the King of Corea went in penon to Mangu's court to
dohomi^e.1
In 1257 Mangu began to be jealous of his brodier Khubihd, yihose wise
and generous measureshadwon the respect of the Chinese He removed
him from the governorship of Honan, which he gave to Atemdar, a
Mongol in high office at Karakorum. Khubilai was naturally irritated,
but his Chinese counsellor Yaodra toki him the first subject of theenqiire
ought to set an example of obedience. He advised him to return with
his fomily to his brother^ court. The bttter was deeply touched by die
submission, and revoked the commissioa of Akmdar. At a Knrihat
summoned in 1257 at Kabur Kabukcher, in the cemre of Mongolia,
Mangu declared his intendon of marching in person against the emphe
h
* De UtAfU, Ix. tsa. t D^OhMMi, U. $16.
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MANGV KHAN. 21 3
of tlie Stmg, wbkk ImmI given gmt cause of oSmot to Uie Mongols.
Seme of their envpys having been kept in prison for many years and
only released as a fitvoitr after their nnsnccessfiil siege of Hodiau,
die SuQg authorities wishing thus to show their anxiety for peace.
Before settii^ ont, Mangu visited the ancient ordu of Jingis Khan
and made a sacrifice to the colours and kettle-dmms, his old gauges
of victory there collected. He also appointed one Kitat governor of Russia,
and dismlasnd him with a present of 300 horses and 500 sheep.*
He set out lor China in 1357, leaving his brother Arikbitica in com-
mand of Kaiakorum with Akmdar as his coa4Jutor. Having sacrificed
to the sky and Mcetved the renewed homage of his brother Khubilai and
his other dependants^ who then returned to their several posts, he crossed
tile Yellow River on the ice, entered Shensi, and encamped near the
mountain liupan where Jingis died. There he gave audience to the
various officials of that great province, and received news from Khulagu
of his successes in the West He thereupon invested him with the
government of the country south of the 0»is.t Havingpassed the three
summer months there, and also left bdund his heavy baggage, he
advanced with 40^000 men (which number was imrposdy exaggerated to
100,000) in three divisions upon Suchuan ; he himself went towards
San kuan, by way of Lu chau ; his brother Muke Ogul towards Mi
tsang kuan, by way of Sian chau ; and Burtenak, the commander of the
third division, towards Mian chan, by way of Yui koan. Two other
armies made diversions in Kiang nan and Hu kuang. Khubilai was
at the head tsitht former and Thugatshar, son of Utsuken, of the kitter.
Uriangkadai was ordered to mardi from Timking and join Khubilai at
Vu dnng fu. The campaign commenced with a doubtful struggle in the
netghboarhood of Ching tu fu, in Sudiuan, in which both sides gained
successes. Niuli, who commanded the Mongol advanced guard there,
at length compelled his adversary to retire. He received the submission
of several towns in the district of Ching tu fu, and was raised to die
rank of a general for his conduct.^ He now rejoined his master, who
was laying siege to Khu chu yai. After an attack of ten days one of iU
gates was opened and the Mongols entered by stealth ; Yangli, the
commander, was killed and his army fled. The treadierous officer who
had opened the gate was rewarded witha State robe and the command of
a small town in the district of Pao-nmg-fu. The troops were rewarded
with presents of wine and meat, and the general Vang-teH:hettg vnth a
belt of jade.| ^
Mangu now captured the defile of Chang-nmg-shan, and was soon after
joined by the other divisions of his army, which had overrun considerable
districts of Stichiian. They then proceeded to take many impottant
' ' — . — __ ^
* D*Ohtaoo, iu 324. t D'OhMOft,H.3t5. D« MaKU. fx. 466.
: D'OhMQO* if. 31HC i D'OhMOO, ii. 317.
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114 HISTORY OF TRB MONGOLS.
towns of that province. The first day of the Mongol year (Fdmiary
i8th) ia59 was celd>rated m the Imperial can^ pttdied at the loot of
the Cfating-ku€ mountains, with a great iete^ at whidi it was discussed
whether they should bra:ve the summer heats in diese southern latitudes
01 return northward. It was determined to remain, and they proceeded
to lay 8i^:e to Hochan, a great town situated at the confluence ol tiie
rivers Kialing and F^ During March and April the town rq[ralsed
several assaults. In May there happened a terrible stxmn, during which
it rained for twenty days. Outside the town the Sung troops also fought
bravdy, ^hey destroyed the bridge buih across the river F^ by the
MongdSi and having collected a thousand boats at Chnng^king-iii they
advanced along the river Kia-ling; this flotUU was however attacked and
dii^ersed by the Mongols. The si^^ lasted for two montfis longer, but
it was unavailing. It had already cost ^ besiegers very dear, their
army was suffering from dysentery, with which Mai^ hhnself was
attacked. He determined at length to raise the siege, and to merely
hincinule the town. A few days after he died of dysentery, aggravated
probaUy by the Inq>erial vice of the Mongols, that of drunkenness.
This account of his death, which is that given in the Tong kien kang
mu, is perhaps this correct one. The official history of the Yuen dynasty
says he died at the mountain Tiao yui| one league to the east of Ho-chan,
while Raschid tdls us he died of dysentery.* De Guignes and Ganbil both
assert that^uringthe siege of Ho-chau the Khakanorderedagenesalassault,
andhimsdf Qrew near to scale the walls, iriien there came on a great stoim,
iriiich caused the ladders to Mi The Mongols lost a large number of
men, and the Emperor's body was afterwards found pierced with many
wounds.t The Syrian chronicler Abulfaragius says he was killed by an
arrow ; while the Armenian Haithon says that while besiq;ing an idand
in the Chinese seas, divers made holes in the bottom of his ship, wfaidi
sank, and with it the Khakan,t The Khakan's brother, Moku Ogul,
determined to raise the siege, and to retire into Shensi with the corpse of
Mangu. The other Mongol generals who were in Suchuan did the same.}
The Kang mu says the Imperial corpse was carried on two asses s
while Marco Polo 'tells us that the inhuman custom of slaughtering the
people met with on the way was carried out in his case, and that ao/X)o
thus perished.l For four days funeral honours were paid to the corpse
in the tents of Mangu's four wives, where it was placed on a throne,
where the attendants broke out into tears and groans. He was buried at
Burkan Kaldun, iM^r his father and grandfather. By his first wife,
Kutuktai, he left two sons, Baku and Orengias ; and by two concubines
two other sons, Shireki and Assutai. He is described as of a severe
^ * D'OliMOB, ii. S32' t GaiiMi tsi. D« OttifMO, iv. X36i
t Y.ii«*t Marco Mo, i. axe. D« MatiU, ix. 974, 195* Not*. | Qanbil, ux.
2 D*Ohnooy il. 333> Noi*.
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UANGU KHAN. 215
character, speaking Htde, and eschewing extravagance and display. The
chase was his fiivourite amusement, and he often avowed that he pre-
lenred the simple life of his ancestors to the hixiuy of southern sovereigns.
He was very superstitious, and much under the influence of the Shamans
and others at his court* With the usual Moi^l toleration, he also
patronised the other religions. Several anecdotes are told which
illustrate the vicious influence and power of the Shamans.
Rubruquis was tdd at Karakorum by a lady of Meu, named Paquette,
who had been o^ured in Hungary and was in the service of one of
Mangu's wives, that one of Aese princesses having received a rich
present of lurs, these were purified by fire. According to custom the
Shamans had retained a portion. One of the waiting women thou^^
they had kept too ranch, and txM her mistress, who was very wroth with
fSbtOL Some time after the latter Idl iD, and the Shamans revenged
themadves by declaring she had been, bewitdied' by the maid who had
denoonoed their theft. She was seised and subjected to torture lor seven
days. MeanwhOe the princess died. The accused maid then pegged they
would kill her too, saying she wished to follow her mistress, to whom she
had done no harm ; but the Khakan would not consent, and she wai.set
at liberty. The Shamans then chose another victim. They accused the
nurse of her child of having killed her. She was the wife of one of the
principal Nestorian preachers. Put to the torture she confessed that she
had. used a charm to gain the good-will of her mistressi but that she had
never done her any harm. She was nevertheless condemned to death
and executed. Some time after, one of Blangu's wives having given birdi
to a son, the Shamans who drew his horoscope predicted a long life for
him, and that he would become a great and prosperous monarch. The
prince having died in a fisw days, his mother summoned and severely
reproached the Shamans. They excused themselves by laying the blame
on the magical arts of the nurse who had been put to death. The
princess was furious, and wished to wreak her vengeance on her
children. She had left a son and daughter, and orders were given
that Uie tomer should be killed by a man and the latter by a woman.
Ifangu was much annoyed by these executions ; he ordered his wife to
befanprisoned for seven days, and dien banished from the court for a mondu
He also ordered that the man should be executed who had killed the
boy,aad that his head should be suspended about the neck of the woman
iriio had killed the girL She was then beaten with hot firebrands and
put to death.t The Nestorians, as I have said, were litUe better than the
yift«ifln« in their superstitious practices. They attended with the
,^ma«« at the great annual feast of the 9th of May, when white cattle
were consecrated. They recited the offices m Syriac, which they did not
UBdeistaad. They are accused by Rubruquis of being corrupt, liars,
•I>tM«i]te,ix.979* tD'Obitoa.ii.siM. Note.
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2l6 HISTORY or THE MONGOLS.
usurers, practising simony, and great drunkards. Some of the sect were
polygamists. Their patriarch lived at Baghdad, but they had a special
bishop in China. As he only made his visitatioQ very seldom, hardly
more than once in fifty years, they profited by his arrival to have their
young sons ordained; even in the cradle, so generally too, that nearly all
the men were priests ; and Rubruquis confesses that the Mongol bonxes
were more respectable thai; they.*
Mangu was a severe disciplinarian. In the campaign in Suchuan he
forbade his troops to pillage, and having learnt that his son Assutai had
in hunting overrun a field of grain, he severely reprimanded him, and had
several of his companions beaten. A soldier was put to death for having
taken an onion from a peasant He, on the other hand, distributed
largess freely among the soldiers.!
In this account I have adopted the fonn of the name Mangu, which is
well known in the West, but according to Sdimidt it is die Turkish
form. The.native form, which is found in Ssanang Setsen and on Cnfic
coins, is MSngkd ; in Arabic mthography, Mungka.| The name in
Turkish means eternal ; in Mongol, silver.}
KHUBILAI KHAN.
The death of Mangu was most unexpected, and as the Mongol habit
was not to name a successor until after the Khan's death, it is hardly to be
wondered at that the death of the sovereign under such circumstances in
such a vast empire was a very serious matter. The custom seems to have
been to call a Kuriltai as soon after the chief's death as possible, and
there to choose a successor ; a custom well adapted to a small pastoral
tribe, but pregnant with confusion when applied to a great heterogeneous
empire. In the present case the difficulty was greater, inasmuch as
Mangu's brothers, to one of whom the succession would devolve according
to the Mongol theory of succession, were scattered far asunder. Ehubilai
was prosecuting his campaign in China, Rhiilagu was busy in Syria, while
Arikbuka was in command of Karakorum, the Mongol capital, and
probably also of the main body of troops of Mongol blood, and was in
this position no doubt sorely tempted to displace his elder brother
Khubilai fix)m the succession.
"- - -■ ■ ■ -•
* De Mftilla. ix. 193. 1 D^Ohtson, !i. 333. 2 Stamag Scutn, 394. Hvu n,
% D'ObtsoD, ii. 333. Note.
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KXUBILAI XHAK. 317
ICaaga liAd awigned to Khuhilri the district of Honan chaa, north of
tlie Great Wall, for a stunoMr xeaidenoe. There in 1256 he built himself
a palace^ some temples, &c^ on a spot chosen for }am by a Chinese
astrologer. This new town, sitnated some twenty-two leagues N.£. of
the most northern gates of the Great Wall, was widely known as Shangtu
or Kai ping fii. Thence he set oat in the ktter part of 1258 to take his
part in the war against the Song empire. He marched leisurdy through
' Honan, and having divided his army into two bodies he captured several
fortresses near Ma ching, in Hukuang, where he received news of the
Khakan's death.* He determined, notwithstanding this, to advance. We
are told he climbed the mountain Hianglu, whence he surveyed the course
of the river Kiang. He noticed how the river was crcwded with Chinese
shqps beaudfiilly appointed, and was reminded by one of his generab
named Tong^wen-^jnag that the Chinese were abundantly confident that
the Kiang was an insurmountable obstacle which heaven had planted there
as a barrier to hin)sd£ He volunteered to force the passage. With his
brother and a body of de^rmined men he boarded some large barges,
crossed the river amidst a terrible din of drums, and pressed the troops
on the other side so vigorously befctte their fleet could come to the rescue^
that the Chinese abandoned the further bank, and Khubilai with the
main army crossed over and proceeded to lay siege to Wu chang fiiy the
eapital of Hu kuang.
The Sung Emperor now began to be fi%htened, and sent a large force
under the general Kia-se»tao to dierelief of Wu chang. The new general
was no soldier bat a liteiary character, who disgusted the army by his
appointments. He made secret advances to Khubilai, and promised that
his master woidd become die vassal of the Mongol Khakan if he would
raise the siege and reture. Khubilai at first revised, but messengers
arrived at his camp with news that intrigues were in progress at Kara*
koram to ]^ace his brother Arikbuka on the throne. This news prevailed
with hfan. He agreed to retire on condition that the Sun^^ Emperor
acknowledged himsdf his vassal, and paid him an annual tribute of 200,000
ounces of silver and 2,000 pieces of silk. It was further agreed that
the river Kiang should be Uie boundary between the two empires.
Khubilai set out with his cavahy, and left his in£uitry to await the
arrival of UriangleadaL The latter general had been ordered after the
campaign in Tanking to march and meet Khubilai before Wu chang. He
matched victoriously from one town to another until he arrived in
Northern Hu kuang, iriien the convention concluded by Khubilai
caused him to lethe behind the Kiang. His rearguard was treacherously
attacked by Kia-se-tao as it was crossing the river ; the latter hid from
his master the humiliating conditions of peace, and persuaded him his
valour had caused the Mongcd retreat.t
•GmU1,is3. f D« lUillft, hu iSi.
IS
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ai8 HISTORY OP THE IIONOOLS.
iHyi^^ia^ pitdied his camp under the walk of P^ldng and aent to
hit brother for men, provisions, and money; these he received, as also very
reassuring messages. Arikbuka had summoned a Kuriltai in the great
Ordu of Mangu, in the Altai, to do the last honours to the deceased
Khakan, and to this he invited Khululai, who excused himself. It is
probable that he had some ulterior object* Either he had secured the
votes for himsdf or wished to get Khubilai into his power. At all events
the latter and his friends called a special Kuriltai at Shangtu. There
assembled his brother Muktf ; Kadan, son of Ogotai ; Togatshar, son of
Utsuken noyan, and others. Neither Khulagu nor the descendants of
Juji and Jagatai were summoned, the excuse being that they were too far
aSf and all agreeing that the circumstances admitted of no delay, they
proceeded to elect Khulnlai to the office of Khakan. He was then forty-four
years old. The election was followed by eight days' feastii^ when as usual
largess was distributed among his supporters. This election was the
beginning of a long strife among the Mongols, which ultimatdy crumbled
tbdr power. It was no doubt against the whole theory of their
hierarchical government^ tiiat the Khakan should be elected by only a
section of the Royal house, and although Khubilai bodi by his age and
his acquirements was entitled to die position, and it would seem to have
been allowed by both Khulagu and Berdce, it gave a colound)le excuse to
both Arikbuka and the descendants of Ogotai and Jagatai to oppose him.
When Arikbuka, who was at Karakorum, heard that Khubilai had had
himself proclaimed Khakan of the Mongols, he sent Alemdar to coUect an
anny among the northern hordes, and sent him considerable sums of
numey and silk to distribute among the soldiers. He also ccdlected large
stores of grain in the country of Koan chong.* Knntnkai, who had
6o/30o men in the country of Lupin, having been placed there by Mangu,
declared for him, and persuaded the Mongol commanders stationed at
Ching tu, the capital of Suchuan, and at Ching Ion to do the same.
Arikbuka finding he was so wdl supported had himself proclaimed
Khakan at Karakorum<t Among his 9iq>porters were the chief widow and
three sons of Mangu, the late Khan, and the grandsons of Jagatai*
Khubilai had appointed Apisga, son of Bun, to the khanship of
Jagatai, and sent him home with his brodier, but they were intercepted in
Shensi and handed over to Arikbuka, who shortly after had them both
killed.
Meanwhile Khubilai was not idle, he appointed one of his best
generals, called Lien hi hien, a Uighur by birth, to be governor of
Shensi and Suchuan. Kadan, son of Kuyuk, asked to be allowed to
serve under him. He went at once to Si ngan fii, the capital of Shensi,
where he proceeded to counteract the influence of the partisans of Arik-
buka. He published the decrees by which he had been named governor;
•DtllamA,ix.a^ tD«lfailU,i3ca89»s84- OMbU,i33.
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KHUHLAI KHAK. 319
took rigofOM stops to pttt down tiie asscent rebdUon; snd seixed tome
sftlMBioieiBqKMtaiitctbcls. Khnhiisi hmd pabiished a gcneial amnesty,
batUsnldluenwasdctenniaedti^theducfofib^
so he hastanffd to have Lias ti ping and Halakai kflkd in prison, and
lintn with Toridsh unction, and according to custom, he walked in front
of the mciitngcri who brou^ the amnesty and had it prodauned*
Knntiikai finding it was not possible to possess himsdf of Si ngan fii»
crossed the Hoang ho, captured the town of Kan chau, and having been
joined by Alomdar with a body of troops from Karakorum he mamhed
southwards towards .Sochuan, which he hoped to secure, but he was
attadced to the east of Kan chau by the Prince Kadan,who had posted
hanself so as to cut off the enemy's retreat to Kaiakonun, a ckwd of dust
assisted the bitter, but aker a fierce and kng sustained struggle they
were surreimded and completely beaten. Both Kuntukai and Alemdar
were kiUed, and Shensi and Su-chuan were effectually secured for
Khttbibu.*
After several ineffectual attempts at conciliation, Khubilai marched in
die end of 1261 with the Princes Kadan and Togatshar into Tartary.
They encountered the forces of Arikbuka at a place called Simutu. In a
sanguinary battle the latter were defeated with the loss of 3,000 meru
Arikbuka fled towards the Kirghises, and Khubilai subdued several of
tibe refractory tribes in the north.t In his distress Arikbuka had
appointed Algu, the son of Baidar, Khan of Jagatai, which was still
governed by the widow Oigana. He bade him send him arms and pro-
visions, and to guard his eastern frontier so that neither Khulagu nor the
Gokien Httde riiould send assistance to KhubilaL But being hard
pressed in the country of die Kiighises he sent to Khubilai, saying that
his horses were worn out, and that he only waited until Khulagu, Bereke^
and Algu cameto do homage, to c<miehimsel£ Khulnlai replied, that if
sincere, he need not wait, and having left a body of troops at Karakorum
to escort him if he should go, he himself returned to Kaii[nng-fru
The influence of Chinese culture upon the Mongol sovereigns begins
to b^very marked in the reign of KhubilaL He was a great patron of
learned men, and the annals contain many anecdotes of his intercourse
with them. He had at his court a distinguished Chinese literate, named
Chai^ hoeL He one day asked him, ** Is it true that the Liao dynasty
fell through the Ho chang, and that it was the literates who broug^
down the Kin ?** '' I can^t speak foe the Liao,' said Changt€, ''but in
regard to the Kin it was not so ; among their ministers they had but few
literates. Most of the ministers, and these too the all powerful ones,
were miHtaiy men. Of thirty suggestions made by the literates, hardly
one was adopted. The good or ill government of a country depends on
those to whom power is intrusted. Can the &U of the Kin then be
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220 HISTORY OP THB MONOOL8.
ascribed to the literates ?** The Emperor acceded to diis aifuaieiit* Ott
anodier occasioQ the Emperor inquired how it*was that those who
practised agriculture, notwidistandtiig thdr conttaat toil and teal, wera
always so very poor. It b not surprising^ was the reply^ AgricuHore
has always been encouraged by the State ; it draws its chief weldth from
it; but the labourers are constantly harassed by the exactions of diose
under whom they work, and the best part of the crop goes to pay the
taxes and the cost of collecting them.
Yesterday, Khubilai once said to one of the literates, there was an
earthquake. The princes do not sufficiently attend to these things; can
you tell me why they are ? There are ^vt causes, was the answer. First,
because the princes permit low and bad people to be about them, who
sacrifice everything to their own interests ; that they have too many
women in their palaces ; that intriguers and cheats combine against the
public interest ; that justice is too severe in its punishments ; and, lastly,
that war is made too rashly, without inquiring properly into its justice*
One only of these reasons would suffice. Heaven loves a king on
lus throne like a father his son. It causes the earth to quake as a
warning of impending punishment ; but if kings put away flatterers,
tolerate only sincere and truthful people, limit the number of dieir wives,
drive away intriguers, &c., soften the rigours of justice^ and only under-
take war tremblingly and when compded, and ¥rith the assent of heaven
and their subjects, they will have nothing to fear from sudi presages.
Khubilai appointed Se tien ch^ a man of great repute lor probity and
integrity, who had a command in Honan, tp be Minister of State. He
also ordered the literates who had been captured by the Mcmgds and
reduced to slavery to be released. There were several thousands of
them.* He was the first of the Mongol Khakans to definitdy
abandon Shamanism and to adopt Buddhism as the State religion, an
example which was followed by many Mongols. The Buddhist priests
were called Laftias by the Mongols, and in January, 1261, Khubilai pvo«
moted a young Lama, called Mati Dhwadsha, more widely known by
his title Pakba Lama, or Supreme Holy Lama. He was bom at Sasghia,
in Thibet, and belonged to one of its best frunilies, that of the Tsukoans,
who had for more than six centuries fhmished ministers to the kings of
Thibet and other western princes, and by his wisdom, &c^ won the
confidence of Khubilai, who not only made him Grand Lama, but also
temporal sovereign of Thibet, with the title of King of the Great and
Precious Law and Institutor of the Empire. Such was the mgin of the
dignity of Grand Lama.t Khubilai divided China and Liao tung into
ten departments, each with its officers and mandarins. He also ordered
that the head of each bureau should be a MongoL
Wang ch6, the King of Corea, after a long resistance had submitted to
* D« Mftinftjit. 29Z. t QftaMI» xjjr.- Do Ifmflim, is. 187.
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KHVBILAI KHAN. 321
the Khakan Mangu, and had sent him his son Wangtien as a hostage.
He was now dead, and Waogtien asked Khabilai for his fiitther's kingdom
and was duly invested widi it The turbulent Coreans at first refused to
receive him and were determined to break the Mongol yoke, and it was
only when Wangtien agreed to assist them in this that they would accept
him. When the revolt was reported to Khubilai he wrote Wangtien a
ccmciliatory letter, in which he represented to him the vast power of the
Mongols, that of all the kingdoms of the earth the Coreans and the Sung
akme bearded his authority, that the latter had trusted to the strong
country of Ha kuang and Suchuan and their brave inhabitants to protect
them, but that most of their strong places had been ciq>tured, and they
were now lUce fish out of water and like birds in the fowler's net He
recalled how he had granted hiin his Other's throne, spoke of the folly of
resistance^ and tht ingratitude hr had shown him. He said he did not
wish to ravage his country, and that he was willing to pardon the offenders;
At the same time he released the Corean prisosiers taken in the last war,
and sent back those who had emigrated on account of the trouble* of
their country, and forbade the soldiers on the frontier to molest the
Coreans. This conciliat(»y policy had its due effect, and for the future
Wangtien sent an annual embassy to Khubilai to congratulate him
on the New Year/
Arikbuka having recmited his hoiftes in the latter part ol 1261, again
marched against his brother; the latter collected his forces, and the two
armies met on the borders of the great desert of Gobi, in a place called
Ahchia Kungur, near the mountains Khudja Buka and the lake
Simidtai.t Arikbuka was completdy defeated ;* but Khubilai forbade a
pursuit, saying, that reflection would bring repentance, but misinteipieting
this action, which he thought showed weakness, he returned and was again
defeated; this time on the boiders of that portion of the defert called
Alt, near the hills Silguilk.^
Arikbuka now had to fieice another enemy, namdy, his proteg^ Algu,
the Khan of Jagatai, who quarrdled witb him and espoused the cause of
Khubttai. He at once naarched against his new enemy, leaving instruc-
tions with the spiritual chiefs of the Christian, Buddhist, and Moslem
rdigions at Karakorum, whose courage he doubted, to surrender that city
on the aqiproach of Khubilai, idiich they accordtngty did. Khubilai
coi^rmed the privileges granted them by Ogotai and Mangu. Arikbuka
now had a considerable struggle with Algu and occiq>ied a large part of
hit dominions, but his cruelties so disgusted his soldiers that they went
over to Khubilai, and stripped of troops and resources he determined at
length in 1164 to submit to his brother. He prostrated himsdf, as was
customary, at the door of the Imperial tent Having entered, and being
bathed in tears, he wa» addressed by Khubilai. ^ Well, my brother, which
* D« Midllm X. S9i-«94* t lyObtMB,^ aSi- X DX)hw<», U. 351.
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232 HISTORY OF THl MONGOLS.
of wetwohare Jutdceonoorside?'' ^ Fonneily it was I, now it is you,*
was the reply of Arikboka. The noctdaywa»iq;>pointcd for biatrial of the
latter and his chief supporters. He then confessed diat he had been
tempted to usurp the supreme authority by some of his generals, who
represented to him the remoteness of his brothers Khubilai and Khnlagu
from the centre of audiority, and the ease with whidi it mi|^ be usurped.
Ten of the generals were put to death, but the lifoof Aiikbukawas spared
at die solicitation of his brother, a Judgment friiich was acquiesced in by
Khulagu and Bereke. Arikbuka then did homage, but died a month
after, and was buried with his fitther Ttihii and his grsndliidier Jingis.
This was in 1266, and was followed directly afterwards by die deaths of
Khulagu, Bereke, and Algu, the chiefii of the three gieat dependencies of
theempire. Khnlnlai appointed Abaka to succeeded his flither Pmlagu in
Persia; Mangu Timur, the grandson of Batu, was giren the khanship of
the Golden Horde ; while the Horde of Jagatai was given to llobarek
Shah, the son of Kara Hulagu**
On the submission of Arikbuka, Kaidu, the representative d die house
of Ogotai, still held out, as I have already described in the former
chapter, and provoked a long and severe strugg^ in the north. Mean-
while Khubilai determined to subdue the portion of China still governed
by the Sung dynasty^ We have already mentioned the treaty by which
Kia-se-tao, the Sung minister, agreed that his master should be tributary
to him, a treaty which he did not disdose to his master, and managed to
keep secret by having everybody put to death who was aware of it In
1260 Khubilai sent an envoy to notify his accession to the throne, and to
announce that he wished the treaty folfilling. This envoy was im-
prisoned ; upon which the Mongol chief issued a proclamation calling
attention to the bad foith of the Chinese and bidding his troops make
ready. His scheme was ddayed by his war with Arikbuka and by the
revolt of one of his generals named Li-tan.t
Li-tan was a Chinese ^f considerable repute, and had been appomted
viceroy of Shang tung and the conquered parts of Kiang nan, with the
title of King of Thsi Idun, by the Mongol Khakan. He murdered the
Mongol soldiers who were with him, recalled his son, who was a student
at Kai ping fii, and having repaired the fortifications of Thsi nan and
Itu (Thsing chau fu), in Shang tung, he declared for the Sung. The
Mongol general Apichi was sent i^ainst him, and besi^ned him in Thsi
nan. The siege lasted for four months, during a portion of which the
garrison fed on human flesh. In despair Li-tan killed his wife and
concubines, and then threw himself into a lake adj<Mning the city, but
was taken out alive and killed^
* D'ObMon, ii . 3S I -359* t !>• M«iU«, ix. igS.
I Yale*t Mmrco Polo, ii. lOo. Pftiithi«r'« Marco Polo, 44t. ITott. D*OhMOB, if. sSt.
OavbU* 199.
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KBVBILAI XHAV. 22$
Euly in 1963 Khnbifad built a Tai miao, or Hall of Ceicmoaies, at
Yenkiiig. This was meant for the ancestor^worship prescribed by^
Chinese custom. He gave honorary titles to each of his ancestors,
bq^inning with Vissugeit who was styled Liei-tsu ; Jii^ was styled
Tat-tsa; Ogotai, Tai-tsong ; then Tului was interposed, with the title of
Jnei-tsoiig. Although he had not occupied the throne, he was deemed as
the legal successor. Kuyuk came next, with the title of Ting*tsoBg ; and,
kstly, Mangu, with that of Hien-tsong. Each of them had a tablet,
with his name upon it| set up in a separate chamber^ while the Lama
priests were onleied to recite prayers before them ior seven days and
seven nights. This afterwards took place annually.*
The MoQfols hitherto had used either the Uig)iur or the Chinese
characters in writing their language. Khubilai ordered the Lama Pakba,
whom he had so nrach honoured, to omstruct a special alphabet, so that
his people m^fat be like those of the Liao and the Kin dynasties, who
esd& had a writing of their own. The Lama acquitted himself well, and
the new character was publiihed in 1269, when Pakba received the title
of Tapao h, wang.1- About this time Lien hi hien, a £udiful officer of
KhobOai, was di^paced. He had been required to submit to
die precepts of the Lama religion. He objected, saying that he had
always been a fiuthful disciple of Confuciusy two of whose ^pnceptM were
directly at issue with the teaching of the Lamas, namely, that which pre*
scribed that subjects should be fiuthful to their sovereign, and another
that children should be obedient to their parents. Khubilai did not
gainsay diis. SometimeafteraLama magician claimed to have discovered
a specific for immortality. He was encoumged by KhubilaL Lien hi
hien, on the other hand, raised strong objections to encouraging such
hnpostofs, who, he said, had brou^ much evil on the State, and injured
the health of those Emperors iHio had been misled by them. Khubilai
was displeased with his frankness, and it became easy for those who had
become discontented through his integrity to intrigue against him. He
was exiled from the court The chief of his enemies was one Ahama
(Ahmed), a native of the West, who had by his address raised himsdf to
considerable authority at the Mongol court He was at the head of the
Imperial finances, and is destribed as a shrewd, artfiil, and crafty man,
with a persuasive manner and address. Under his control the treasury
was lull, but the people were of^fvessed, and he became almost supreme
in the en4>ire. Khubilai was served by others, however, of greater
integrity. One of them called Hiu heng, was appointed head of the
Imperial coU^e. He is praised for the tact and skill with which he
filled his office, in which he treated the opinions of the young
scholars with a respectful demeanour, as if they were older men, and
iaught the young Mongols the various duties and ceremonies pre-
• Dt Mailte. is. 90Z. t D« If ailU, ix.'szi, 3tt.
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324 HISTORY OF THfi MONGOLS.
cribed bf the Chinese moral dajtics ; the behaviour iacumbent upon
intercourse with superiors, equals, and inferiors ; the precepts of
charity and humanity, &c. So famous did his system become that
his scholars were picked out for the more arduous duties of the Slate.
In 1 27 1 Khubilsu gave his dynasty the Chinese name of Yuen, that is,
original or chief; he also chose a calendar name for the years of his reign.
He surrounded himsdf with learned men, founded a central academy for
the empire of the first literati, and schools for the young in all the
provinces. He appointed a commission to write the history of the empire
and to reclaim the Mongols; he had some of the Chinese classics and an
abridgment of Chinese liistory and chronology translated into Mongol*
This was done by Hiu heng.* He encouraged the learned men of every
nation and creed. Jemal ud din, a Persian astronomer, drew out a
calendar and presented the £n^>eror with beaudfiil astronomical instru*
ments. Gaisui, from the kingdom of Fu-lin, ue.^ the Byzantine emphne,
was the chief physician, while one of the chief mandarins was put at the
head of the bureau of mathematics. Khubilai appointed oommissioners
to regulate the number, rank, and pay of the mandarins and the principal
offices of State, such as the Imperial censors, the ministers of rites, of
justice^ of public works, of war, &c.
Let us now turn once more to the Sung empire, against whidi, as I
have said, Khubilai had long meditated a campaign. The Sung Emperor
Li tsong died in 1364 and was succeeded by his nephew Chaold, who took
the name of Tu tsong. It was not till 1267 that Khubilai &irly began
his attack. The phn of the campaign was entrusted to a very noted
Chinese general called Liau-ching, who had deserted the Sung cause
and been i^>pointed governor of Kuei chan, a town on the frontier of
Hu kuang and Su chuan, by KhubilaLt He advised that they should
commence with the siege of Siang-yang, called Saianfu by Marco P<^o,
situated on the river Han, in Honan, and commanding the great
military road from Shensi, decribed by Bilarco Polo as a very great
and noble city, ruling over twelve other large and rich cities. On the
opposite side of the river was the city of Fan ching. In October, ia68,
an army of 60,000 men sat down befbre and invested it, the lines
embraced a mountain three leagues from the city, while tots were buih
on mountains to the south and east of it ; but meanwhile ^ river
was open, and a flotilla of Chinese vesseU managed to re-victual the
place, a good many of the ships were afterwards captured and destroyed.
After a blockade of twelve months, it was found necessary to extend the
Uodnde to Fan ching, which communicated with Siang yang by several
bridges. The besieged were left to their own resources for some time by '
the listless Kia-s^tao, who kept the Sung Emperor ignorant of what was
gohkg on. At length he sent an army under Fan-wen-hu to relieve
• Do Mafllm ix. sao. t D'OhMoa, ii. 583-
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KHUBILAI KHAN. 225
it. Its advance guard was cut to pieces by the Mongols^ and the rest
of die army disbanded and iled. Khnbilai also reinforced the besieger^
and, according to Raschid, opened the prisons, and marched 20^000
criminab to assist in the siege. After an investment of four years the
city still hdd out, but they began to need salt, straw, and silk. A brave
plan of supplying these things was suggested by the Chinese governor
of Ngan lo; he sent a flotiUa of boats, three abreast, die centre one laden
with these articles, the outside ones filled with armed men: this broke
through the Mongol barriers and arrived safely.* Gaubil says the
Chinese took advantage of ailood, by which the Han overflowed its banks,
to re-victual the place, but that the relieving fleet was severdy defeated
<mits retum.t
After the siege had lasted three years, Khubilai by the advice of a U ighur
general called Alihaya, sent to his nephew Abaka, in Persia, for some
engineers skilled in making catapults, called mangonels by Marco Pola
Two such engineers were sent to him, and they constructed machines which
threw stones of 125 Chinese pounds, or 166 pounds avoirdupois.^ These
were placed before Fan ching, and made holes of seven and eight feet
deep in the walls ; a practicable breach was soon efiteted, an^ the city
was taken by assault after a stubborn defence, in whidi the Chinese
generals, as on many other occasions, died heroically. The defence was
carried on from street to street, and the victors captured little more than
a pile of ruins. Gaubil has the quaint rencrk, that the long catalogue of
Chinese officers who distinguished diemsdves, may be interesting to
Chinese or Tartar genealogists, but would be dreary to a European.}
The catapults were now ranged before Slang yang, and the besieged were
terrified at the terrible pounding they gave the towers and walls, and
began to get diicouraged. Khubilai offered them terms and praised
their gallant defence. Upon this they surrendered, and their brave
commander Liu-wen-hoan was made governor of the district of Siang
yang. Soon' after this, in August, 1274, Tu-tsung, the Sung Emperor,
died, and was succeeded by his second son Chao-hien, who was only
four years dd. KhulMlai now issued another manifesto, in which he
recalled all his endeavours to preserve peaces and the constant bad faith
of the Sung authorities. He then organised two armies, one under
Tolohoan, and some subordinate officers were ordered to march towards
Yang chan, in Kiang nan ; while the other under Bayan and some other
generals was given the duty of conquering Hu kuang. The two armies
probably numbered 200,000 men. Bayan was the son of Gueukju, of
the Mongol tribe of the Barins; he had passed his younger days in Ponia,
and had accompanied some ambassadors from Abaka a few ^lears
previously. Khubilai was charmed with his merits, an4 in 1265 named
* I>« If ailla, is. 319^ s«5* t Op. dt., 149.
JGMbilfXSS. Y«l«'toll«rcoPolo,iLzai,tt.Mq. ^Op.cit., xs&
IF
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226 HISTORY GF THfi MOMGOLS.
him Minister of Stftte.* Bayan advanced with a luge flotiMa along the
river Han as &r as Ngan-lo, which was capitally fortified, the river
being blocked by chains and anned vessels. Seeing that he could no^
capture it without great loss, he landed his boats, dragged them
overland to the lake Teng, and re-entered the Han bdow Ngan-lo, thus
eiiectuaUy turning it The Chinese army which was sent to oppose him
was defeated at Tsiuen tse hu, and its commander killed. The Mongols
then summoned the city Cha-yang, but their messenger was killed, and
his letter, written on yellow paper, ignominiously burnt Bayan then
brought up his fire balistas, called Kintchipaos, and favoured by a high
wind he set fire to the town, which was stormed and its garrison put to
the swoid. The heads of the decapitated sokUers were ranged in view
of Sin hiag chao, the sister dty of Cha-yang, on the other side of die
river, which was next attacked, and bcavdy dcfended.t When it was
at length taken, its commander stabbed and then threw himself into
die flames ; with him perished 3^000 of his soldiers, whose courage was
admired by Bayan. He was distinguished amoi^ successful Mongol
commanders by his humanity, and he ordered them to be buried. This
happened in Decembei, 13744 Bayan assembled a council at Tsai tien
to ddiberate on the best method of crossing the Kiang, and officers were
sent to inspect the place where the Han fells into the JEUang, f.«.,Hankan.
Hia ku^ the Sung general, had fortified the stronghoMs on the river,
especially Chafiikeou, whichseems to have been die key to the position, and
had collected a considerable fleet in the river. It was determined to cross
the river there, but to hid6 the design a feint was made against Han yang,
and while the Chinese general marched quickly towards this {dace, Bayan
despatched one of his commanders, who by forced marches suddenly
^ypeared before Cha fu kai, which he surprised, and thus gained a footing
for his army on the banks of the Kiang. The MoQgols then laid
siege to Yang lo, which they attadoed with great vigour. While Bayan
was engaged there and keeping the Chinese general Hia ku6 employed
in watching him, he despatched Atchu with a flotilla to make a descent
on the further bank of the Kiang; he 0Qii^>letely defeated the
general Ching pong fei, and forced him to retreat into Wo-chau. Whea
this news reached Hia ku6 be fled towards the East in his bosits, and
having burnt them, escaped to Liu chau. The Mongols were now in
their usual hick ; they speedily captured Yang lo and Han yang^ and
Bayan, having crossed the Kiang with the main army, rejoiaed the
intrepid Atchu. Together they hud siq;e to Wo-chan (Wu-tdbang-fu)*
Its garrison were dispirited by the recent defeat of their companions, and
terrified by a conflagration on die river, m which 3,000 boats were fired
by the Mongds, and after a short deUy surrendered the town. Two of
the officers who counselled resistance wouM have been killed by the
•iyQlMMB,iLss7- tQaabU.199. Not*. tOMbiUxiOb Do ICiilk, Ix. 340.
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KHtTBILAI HHAK. 317
Mongols but for Bayan, who pnited their Integrity. The coonmanderi
of several towns on the Klaag, who had formerly been subordinates of
Liu>wen-hoan, whose defection I have already mentbned, now sur-
rendered their charges. The Mongol policy was genendly to reinstate
them in their commands. Kia-t^tao^ the chief minister of the Song
empire, grew more and more impopolar, and it was out of contempt and
hatred for him that several of the Sung officers went over to the Mongols.
He now saw that a desperate effort was necessary, withdrew 100,000 tads
ef gold and' 500^000 of silver (ran d&e treasury, and proceeded to tax
everybody, even the princes, the Ho-chang and the Tao-se, to equip his
army,* and after a short delay he advanced against the enemy. He also
prepared an immense fleet laden witfi sHk, silver, Src, which occupied a
spaceofjooU. This fleet entered the Kiang by the mouth of Sm ngan
chi, and was ranged in order at Wu hu hkn, in Kiang nan. He now
tent envoys to Bayan with oranges, the Chinese fruit lutchi, and other
southern fruits, and offered to conclude peace on the terms formerly pro*
posed. Atchu, who was present, advised his leader not to listen to the
advances of the treacherous Chinese minister. Bayan sent word back
Aat he should have sent the envoys before he crossed the Kiang, and
that if he desired peace he had better come in person. Thisheof coune
did not The surrender of the town of Chi chan, which now fdlowed,
is memorable for an act whidi ought to be recorded by those who would
raise die repute of women for heroic conduct ItscommanderiChaomao
la, was pressed to surrender by one of hisr subordinates ; he refiised.
Some time after, suspecting that his subordinate was carrying on secret
intrigues with the enemy, and feeling that resistance could not be
prolonged, he assembled his relatives and friends at a feast, and told
them that he could not survive the disgrace of surrendering the city. He
bade his wife Yong dii seek a place of reftige somewhere. She replied
that she €dt enou|^ of courage to show hertdf worthy of him. He
Uughedybut helaug^ied In vain, for having distributed his goods among
his rdatives, she retired with him, and they committed suidde together*
Bayan was much touched by this act of heroism, and himself performed
the funeral ceremonies for them on his knees, amidst the praises of the
Chinesct
Kia-se-tao now ordered a general rendexvous of his boats at an island
on die Kiang, situated near Chi diau. They assembled to the number
of 2,500, while he and the main army were dose by. Bayan advanced on
bodi banks of the river, and when oppodte the island, poured in such
a volley of missiles, while at the same time a sharp attack was made by
a flotilla of boats, that the Chinese were thoroughly beaten, and the river
dyed with their blood. The Mongols captured an immense booty4 This
•DtlUlUa,ix.544. tD«lCaak,lx.349. GasbO.iSs.
X Dt Mtilta, is. 9S0. QftmbiJ,xtf4.
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asS HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
defeat greatly discouraged them, and was followed by the surrender of
many towns of Kiang nan and Che kiang. Among other towns surren-
dered was Kien kang, the modem Nan kuig. Its governor, who wished
to die in the service of the Sung» took poison at a feast where he had
collected his friends and rdatives. One of the Mongol officers found in
his house a memoir, addressed to Kia«se-tao, containing an elaborate plan
for opposing the Mongols. When this was shown to B'ayan, he was
surprised, and said, '' Is it possible the Sung had such a sage councillor
among them. If they had followed this advice we should not have been
here ; " and he ordered his family to be treated with respect, as that of a
faithful subject He prohibited the pillaging of his goods, and his body
was buried with those of his ancestors.*
The hot season was now at hand, and Khubilai wished Bayan to stop
operations till the autunm, but the latter rq>hed that it is not prudent to
allow your enemy breathing time when you have hold of his throat, a
sound piece of philosophy, which was justified am{4y ; for the successes
of the Mongols had created quite a panic among the governors of the
neighbouring fortresses, several of which, and among them the arsenal
of Kwang ti, in Kiang nan, were surrendered.t
The Empress Regent now issued a stirring prodamation, which
aroused the spirit of several military chiefs, and a few towns were retaken.
Hao king, the ambassador who had been sent to the Sung court to notify
the accession of Khubilai, had been all the while imprisoned. He was
now, at jthe demand of Khubilai, released with his suite^ but he fell ill
and died on the way. He was the author of several esteemed ChiAese
works4 Khubilai sent another embassy, consisting of two of the digni-
taries of his court ; this was treacherously attacked near the fortress of
Tu-song, one of the envoys being killed and the other wounded The
Sung court disavowed and promised to punish the assassins, and offered
to recognise the susereignty of the Mongols. Bayan doubted the
sincerity of the proposals, and sent an officer under the pretext of treating
for peace, the real object being to survey the condition of Lin ngan,
the capital He also was assassinated on the way. Bayan was naturally
enraged at so much perfidy, but be was recalled at this juncture to go
and make head against Kaidu.§
The Chinese now made an effort to recapture Wtt-chang*fu, and
collected a laige flotilla for the purpose, but Alihaya, the Mongol
governor of the town, a general of consummate ability, whose renown
was only second to that of Bayan, and who had done his duty admirably
during the late can^Mugn, attacked them sharply, defeated them,
and captured their general, who had been governor of Yo chau. His
head was carried on a lance under the walls of that city, which surren-
dered at the first summons. Alihaya then attacked Kian ling, the chief
•D«lf«ilk,ix.S54. tD«llidU«.iB.3S5« t Dt MaiJIa, is. SS3. iVidsi^fhi.
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KHUBILAI KHAK. 229
town of a large district in K^vang sL Its governor thought he had been
slighted by the Sung, surrendered the town, an example whidi was
followed by fifteen others m his jurisdiction. According to the usual
policy in such cases, the various Chinese governors retained their posts.
AUhaya was much complimented upon his success by the Emperor,
itbo wrote him an antograph letter to thank him.*
The southern part of Su chuan was then suliject to the Sung ; its
governor was attacked and defeated by the Mongols ; and his capital Kia
thig mvested. He then surrendered, and sent to them a detailed
account of the different places in his department, for which he was
rewarded by being reappointed governor. The final conquest of this
province was not efiected, however, until 1278. Instead of profiting by
the absence of Bayan, the Chinese now proceeded to try their chief
minister, the notorious Kii-se-tao, to whom they owed so many misfor-
tunes. He was found guilty ; his goods were confiscated, and himself
transported to a place in Fukien, but he was murdered on the way by
one of his escort, who had an old grudge against him. He jeered him
for his cowardice in surviving his disgrace, instead of putting an end
to himself like a brave man. He put him to great inclignity on the way,
made him walk in the scorching sun, and scattered his harem, sending
its members to their various homes. He pressed him hard to drown
hhnself in a river which they passed, and as he would not he at length
kQled him. For this he wtas himself executed.t
A brave Sung general named Chang chi ki6 having equipped an immense
fleet of 10,000 vessels, proceeded with them aloi^ the Kiang, intending to
attadc the Moi^^ who were stationed near Yang chau under the com-
mand of Atcfau. The latter surveyed the flotilla from the summit of the
mountain Chd kong, north of Chin kiang, and made up his plans. He
placed 1,000 balistas on s(»ne of his heavy boats and ordered them to
fire burning arrows into the enem/s fleet These set fire to the ships and
caused a general panic. Atchu captured 700 ships, and the greater part
of the Chinese force was dispersed.
Bayan now returned, af^r having been raised to the rank of minister of
State,! and arranged d firesh plan for the campaign. Atchu was to con-
tinue the war in Hoai nan, Alihaya in Hu nan, three other generab were
sent into Kiangsi, white he himself advanced upon Lin ngan, the Sung
capital On the way he attacked Chang chau, a famous town called
Chinginju by Marco Polo. Tliis was early in 1275. Having beaten the
armies that came up to try and raise the siege, he destroyed the fisuibourgs
and then raised a rampart as high as the wall, and took it in that way.
Marco Pdo mentions that in the Mongol army was a body of Christian
auxiliaries; they were Alans, and no doubt came from the Caucasus. The
inhabitants were spared, but the Alans having got drunk after they had
• De If aIUa, ii. 359- OanbU, 167. t De MailU, ii.3 61. I D« M«!lt», ix. 361.
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230 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
taken the city, were treadierously attacked and killed by the Ghiaeae.
Bayan sent another army which destroyed the inhabitants without pity.*
Bayan had in vain summoned it to surrender. He collected alaige
number of people from the neij^ibourhood, whom he ccwnpelled to build a
vast rampart about it The Chinese history makes him put a latge
number of these people to death, use their fat to grease the battering
engines with, and bum their bodies. The defence was vigorously kept
up, and Bayan encouraged his soldiers by his presence. The town was
attacked on all four sides at once. It was captured, and, as I have said,
its inhabitants were slaughtered. The commander showed the usual
Chinese intrepidity, and refused to escape.t Colonel Yule remai^ that
this use of human ht may have another explanation, for Caipino says
the Mongob mixed it with Greek fire, which then burnt qneirtinguishably4
The victorious Mongols captured one position after another, and the
Chinese court b^;an to be very frightened. At Lin ngan, the capital, a
general call to arms was made for every one over fifteen, while a fresh envoy
was sent to Bayan with apologies for what had occurred to the envoy,
the whole being h^d at the door of the perfidious Eia se tao, who had
been punished, and to the inexperience of the Emperor, who was only a
boy. J An offer was made that the Emperor would consider himsdf a
Subject of the Khakan, and would pay an annual tribute of 250^000 ounces
of silver and the same number of pieces of silk. These terms were
refused, and Bayan continued his advance. Meanwhile the other armies
were equally successful. Ailhaya, who was in Hunan, £^ that part of
Hu kwang south of the great lake Tong ting hu, laid siege to Tan-chau
(Chang ch^). Some of the garrison wished to surrender, but its
governor, Lifu, answered that he had not been put in a position of trust
in order to resign it at the first crisis, and that he would without fiul make
an end of those who spoke of surrendering. When the Mongols stormed
the walls, a Chinese officer who was there, brought out his two young
sons and made them imdergo the ceremony of takii^ the bonnety
equivalent to adopting the toga or the symbol of manhood (this is done
at the age of twenty). He then threw himself with them and with his
servants into the flames* lifu ordered a libation of wine to be poured
out on the ground in their honour. Having made sure of the
constancy of his officers, be summoned a slave, gave him a bag of money,
bade him save his, Lifu's, family from base servitude, and ordered him to
kill them and then to kill him, Lifii, himselfl In vain the slave protested
against the revolting deed. He insisted. He thereupon made them
drunk and performed hb duty. After which Lifu offered his own head,
which the slave cut offi The latter then fired the palace, returned home,
destroyed his own £unily, and ended by stabbing himself. The greater
• Yttlt't M«RO Polo. u. 141.
tPftttthitr^ Marco Polo, 485. I Yale's Marco Polo^ U. 141. (Do MaiUa, ix. 3fiS*
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KHtJBILAI KHAN. 33I
part of Uie gaxiison and inhabitanu followed hU example^ the w^ were
choked with ooipaesi others hanged, others again poisoned themsdves,
and the Mongols entered an almost deserted city* There is sorely
something terribly faithlkd to a sense of duty and hononr in sudi an
example. Object as we may to the code ^diich prescribes such a test of
courage and devotion, enlarge as we may on the indifierence to Ule
that is tiie snpposed heritage of some races, we cannot refuse a respectful
ndmiralVm for the feelii^ which wiU not survive disgrace and dishonour.
It would surely be a good discipline to our Western notions of duty if,
instead of bowing before and licking the dust from the feet of successful
villainy under whatever pretei^ous name it lives,if we were to preach
that dishonour is not condoned by success, and can only be survived by
cowards and contenqptiUe people.
The ciqiture of Chang chtf was f (^owed by the surrender of the other
towns of Hu nan.
Meanidule the M<mgols were no less successful in Kiang si. Town
after town was surrendered or captured. One of them, Hoang wan tan,
was rcmaikable for the bravery of its commander. Mi yan. De^>e*
rately wounded by four arrows and three lance thrusts, he still insisted in
rushing upon the enemy, but in cro6«ng a bridge a plank bnkt under
him and he was captured^ The Mongols wished him to enter their
service^ and offered him one of their official seals. His son too pressed
him, recalling to him the miserable condition in whidi he himself wouM
be left Appear only, said the hero, in the public square and say you are
the son of Mi yau, and every one will be eager to assist you. He then
disrpbed and insisted upon beJogput to death* ThisMongoI army, widi that
of Alihaya now converged upon Lin ngan, where Bayaa also arrived with
his troops. The Empress Regent sent him the Imperial seal as a
sign of submission. Bayan sent it on to the Khakan. Repeated
embassies were sent out to treat for terms, who did not forget the reminder
that the southern provinces of the empire were still uncooquered, and that
the issue of war was not always certain. It would seem that the city was
quietly occupied. Bayan appointed a council of Mongols and Chinese to
govern it, and extracted from the Empress R^^t an ofder to the various
provincial governors to submit to the MoQgols. They all obeyed except
Kiarhiuen-hong, whom no threats could intfanidate. Four Mongol
officials were ordered to collect the seals of the various departments, and
the books, re^psters, historical memoirs, geographical, and charts, dcie^
found in the archives. Having placed guards in di0erent points of the
city, Bayan at the head of a splendid cort^^ preceded by the gvMt
standard and drums, and followed by his general^ made an entry in stale.
The Emperor and Empress asked to see him^ but he excused himeeif by
saying he did not know what ceremony he ought to observe, and left the
•D«lfailU.is.si8,309'
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232 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
following day. We are told that while in the city he liad the curiosity to
go to the banks of the river Tsien-tang-kiang to watch the tide rise,
which it did so violently that it was mistaken for a white waU shattered
by a cannonade of aitiller>'.* Marco Polo has left us an dabocate
account of the great capital. It has been most admirably noted by
Colonel Yule, from it I shall extract freely.
He makes the circuit of the walls to be one hundred miles ] Odorie
makes the same statement, while Vassaf makes it twenty-four parasangs,
which is nearly the same. Ibn fiatuta makes its length to be three days'
journey. Raschid says its enceinte had a diameter of eleven parasangs,
and Colonel Yule shows that the circuit of the walls has progressively
diminished, and that it is probable that in the days of Polo its circuit,
exclusive of the suburbs, was one hundred li. Polo says that it contained
1 3,000 bridges. Colonel Yule calls this number a mere popular saw.
Vassaf makes the number 36a As the city was buih amidst lagunes,
like Venice, the nomber may well have been 1,20a The size of the
bridges there is noted by modem travellers. Barrow, quoted by Marsden,
says some have the piers of such an enormous height that the largest
vessds of 200 tons sail under them without striking their masts. Polo
says there were twdve guilds of different crafts ; each guild had 12,000
houses in the occupaticm of its workmen. Each house contained
twelve, twenty, and even forty men. He also reports that every man was
bound to follow his fathoms trade, even if he owned 100,000 bezants, a
custom which Colonel Yule remarks is nowhere now found in China,
where it is very rare for a son to fbttow his father's trade. Inside the
dty was a great lake, thirty li in circumference (the cefetaited Si fu, or
Western Lake, described by Abulfeda, and by Barrow and others, who
all describe it as a Chinese paradise). It was surrounded mih palaces
and grand mansions, having islands on it on which were pleasure-houses,
ftc., where the inhabitants hdd their marriage feasts ; silver-plate,
tvendiers and dishes, napkins, Sec,, being supplied to order. Sometimes
there would be a hundred parties there ; some holding a banquet, others
a wedding, ftc Most of the houses were built of timber, with stone
towen to store artides of value in, and thus protect them from the
frequent fires. The people dressed very gaily, most of them in si&.
(The inhabitanto are still celebrated for their dandyism, everybody but
the lowest labourers and codies wearing silk.) The Mongols placed a
guard up<m each of the bridges ; each guard had a hollow stick, a metal
basin, and a time-keeper. With the stick he struck the basin at every
hoar, one for the first hour, two for the second, &c. A section oi these
watchmen patrolled about, arrested those wandering at unlawful hours,
and reported to the magistrates all lights and fires burning after lawful
hours. They removed cripples and others to the hospitals, of which
•DtlUilla, is. S7S.
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RHUBILAI XRAH. 153
tiMre «xe itill DMny tliere^ as Mr. Gndaer rqxHrU. They also acted as
fireuMB at fires, iot no dtiten except the watchmen and the owners of the
property dare go out at ni^t or approach a fire. There was also a high
watchfower hi the dty, in which a mm heat violentiiy on a slab of wood,
which resounded for and wlds^whra fires or other alarms brolee out All
its streeu were paved with stone or brick, except the sides, idiich were
k^ unpavedfor the Imperial couriers to gallop along. Large covered
drains ran down the centre of the streets, and ea^ed themselves
into the canals. There were three thousand baths in the city,
hoge enough for one hundred persons to bathe together. They
were supplied with hot water. (Mr. Gardner says the natives ahvays
take hot baths, but that only the poor go to the pubUc baths, the
tradesfolk, &&, having them siq^phed at home.) The port was situated
twenty-five miles bom the city, and was called Ganpu. This was
most probably the Xanfu firequented by the early Arab traders. The
Emperor's pidace is described by Polo as the faurgest in the world. It
was surrounded by a demrsne of the compass of ten n^es, girdled
with embattled walls, inside iriiich were beautiful gardens with fountains,
and lakes full of fish. The palace itsdf contained twenty great halls,
the largest of which was used as a State dining room, all painted in gold,
with histories and representations of beasts and birds, of knights and
dames, sustained by columns painted and wrought in gold, and thefinest
asure. Besides these great halls, the palace contained 1,000 large
chambtts, all painted in gold and colours. Altogether the city comprised
1,600,000 houses, among which were many palaces^ and one Nestorian
church. Every burgess wrote at his door the name of each person, and
the number of animab inside^ so that a census could be collected at once.
Every hostler was bound to raster the inmates of the house, so that
information could be found about all the travellers in the country. These
regulations are a sarcasm on our Western progress and civiliration«
There were ten principal markets, besides avast number of lesser ones^
the former all half-a-mile square ; akxng their front was a street forty
paces widci which traversed the dty from end to end, having a great
market at every four miles. Parallel with this street, and at the back of
the market, ran a canal, whose banks were lined with the merchants'
stores, ficom India, &c. Three' days a week 40^000 or 50,000 assembled
at each of these markets, supfdymg abundance of roebucks, red
deer, Mows, hares, rabbits, partridges, pheasants, firancolms, quails,
fowls, capons, ducks, and geese. For a Venice groat of sihrer you might
buy a couple of geese and two couple of dudes. There were shambles
where balves, beeves, kids, and hunbs were daughtered. Among the
fruits displayed were enormous pears, wei^^g ten pounds each, with a
white and fragrant pulp, and yellow uid white peaches of very delicate
flavour. No grapes were produced there, but very good raisins and wine
were imported. Their fish were of sundry kinds, and owing to the
IG
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a54 HlSlt)RY OF THE MONGOLS.
impurities of the city, which passed into the lake, were remarkably hx
and savoury. The chief beverage drunk was nuule of rice and spices.
Some streets were occupied by handicraftsmen, others by physicians and
«strok>gers. In each great square were two palaces for tiie officers, who
superintended the traffic* To give a notion of the consumption of
provisions in this vast city, Polo mentions the article pepper, of whidi
focty-three loads, each of 223 lbs., were daily introduced. The lake was
covered widi beautifully furnished flat bottomed boats, having nice cabins,
vdiUe the streets were supplied with vehicles shaped like palanquins, each
holding six. Colonel Yule says these public conveyances were generally
disused in China about the thne when they were introduced into Europe.
Vassaf tells us that the salt excise brought in daily 706 balishs, in paper
money. The number of craftsmen may be guessed from the number of
dyers, which was 32,00a There were 700 temples. Polo calculates the
sah dues as bringing in yearly eighty tomans of gold, each toman being
worth 70^000 saggi of gold. Colond Yule niakes an elaborate calculation
of this amount, and values it at ;£2,633,333 sterling annually, while the
iriiole revenue of the province is put down at £i^jfloofioo. He
condudes that the account of Polo is a great exi^;geration, due
probably to his calculating the revenue in gokl instead of paper money,
which would enlarge it by one-hal£*
Lin'Ugan is the modem Hang diau fb, the capital of the province of
Ch^ kiang ; it was also called King ts^ ^., Iiiq)erial residence, because
the last nine Emperors of the Sung dynasty had lived there.t Having
described Lin<-ngan, we wiU now conthme our history.
The Empress Regent was not allowea to continue her parade of royalty
very l<mg. Atahai, with several officers, entered the palace and
stopped the ceremonies whidi were practised in presence of the Emperor»
her grandson, who with his mather and a great company of grandees,
comprising the chief persons about the court, were despatched north-
wards to the court of Khnl^lai* Before leaving, the EAiperor and his
mother, £eicing the nor^ went throi^ the prescribed and humiliating
ceremony of prostating themsdves seven times, and thus saluting their
conqueror, the Khakan.t
Some ^thftd adherents of the Sung dynasty mised a body of sddiers,
and attacked the Mongol escort in the' town of Kua chau, but were
defeated. The Emperor was wdl received by Khubilai, but was deprived
of his rank, and given that of a Kong, or a prince of the third ordieri
with the title of Hiao-kong.f The title of Engross wasalso erased from
the names of the Emperoi^ modier and grandmother. We are told that
Khubilai's chief wife treated dwse ladies with great attention and
humanity. The gold and silver and other treasures captured in the
*Yiito*t Marco Polo, a 135-174. r D*OlNMa, ii, 41& Nott.
: OAObil, 17S. DoMKillai,ix.|06, 4 Do Malllt, is. 37<<
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KHUBILAI KHAN. 335
Emperor^ palace were conveyed by sea to Ta-tu or Peking. When the
EmfHrest (the wife of Ktmbifad) saw it all laid out, she wept, and aald
with some pathos she was blinking titat die empire of the Mongols would
one day also oome to an end.
Two of the Stmg Princes, brothers of the Emperor, had, on the siege
of Lin ngan, been sent for safety into die Soath. On arriving at
Wen diautiiey passed the rains of a temi^ caKed Kiang sm, and in It
the throne where the Emperor Kaotsong had been seated when he, Bke
them, had been forced to find shelter in the SoudL The chief attendants
about the yomig princes caused the elder to moont this, anddedaredhim
Governor Geneial of the Empire.* The chief dties of Fu-kien were at
this rime cm the point of snnendwring to the Mongol general Hoang wan
tan. The arrival of the princes raised the spirits of the iidiabitants.
They rose and drove them out, and soon after I wang was prodaimed
Emperor at Fu chau, the capital of the province, whose name was
changed to Fti ngan fa. He was then nhie years old. The title of Toan
tsQOg was given to him, while that of his captive bcodier was chai^;ed
horn Knang wang to Wd wang.t A great levy of troops was made, and
the chief command given to Wen tien siang, who had escaped from the
Mongols.
Yang chan, one oi the diief towns of Kiang nan, still hdd bravely
out. In vain the Mongols sent tbdr sommonses to surrender, counter-
signed by the Empress Rtgcnt Its intrepid commander replied that the
only order he knew was to defend'the place which had been confided to
him^andhe put to death the successive envoys who buxiu^t him promfee!;
of pardon and offers of good terms. Havii^ heard that I wang had
been prodaimed Emperor, he quitted the dty with 7|000 men for Tai
diau, intending to embark there fer Fu dian. No sooner was he gone
than the town surrendered. He and his men were sharply pursued, lost
1,000 of their number, and were again invested in Tai chau. The
commander of the latter town treacherously admitted riie Mongols, and
the intrepid Lt-tmg-tdii, who waa prostrated by a tumour in his leg, was
captured. As he rdused to submit or to pass into the service of Khubflai,
he was put to deadL Atchn, die Mongol commander, was now recalled
to fin some post at the Moogol court, and Bayan, his superior officeri
published an eulogium on hinut
Kue lin ftif the capital of Kwang si, was governed by Ma-ki, a man of
similar courage to Li-ting-tchL Its walls were protected by rfven,
except on one side, where the garrison concentrated its defence. The
Mongols ibUowed an old plan ; they turned aside tiie rivers, and radMd
across their dry beds upon the dty. Ma-ki defended the toivm ctraet by
street, but it was at length captured, and its infaalntants put to the -sword.
The Mei^ols divided into various bodies, and eaptmed tile diierent
•D*lliUllt,is.|79> tntlCi01ft,i<.3Bo> lQMKl,tfi^
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a3S HISTORY OP THE MONGOLS.
towns of Kwang si.* Meanwhile diey had beeo equally sacoesdul in
Kwang tang, where a wealthy Chinese named Hiong4ei had raised an
army. The Mongol commander Alihaya sent some troops against him; he
made a show of submission, and was entrusted with the command of the
two towns Chao chau and Hoei chau; but he profed treadierous, rejoined
the side of his old masters, was defeated^ and shdtered himsdf in Chao
chau, which having been surrendered to the enemy, he loa|^ his way
Irom street to street, and ended by drowning himsdf. Otiier disasters
followed.
Among those who deserted the Sung at this crisis was Pu-chau-keng,
who for thirty years had superintended the merchant shipping at Siuen
chau, and who had amassed a considerable fortune. The Sung Emperor,
with the Imperial fleet, having arrived in that port, the merchants refused
to supply them with provisions, upon which a raid was made upon their
ships, in which raid some of the property of Pu-chan^keng was captured.
He collected a body of his foUowers, attadced the pillagers, and even
compelled the Imperial fleet to set sail again. Fearful of being punished,
he retired to Chao chau, in Kwang tung, and soon after joined the
Mongols.t
Bayan had been recalled by Khubilai to make head against his enemies
in the North. A laige portion of the Mongol army now followed his steps.
Those who remained bdiind were left in command of Li heng. The
Sung employed the opportunity in recapturing several towns in the
southern provinces. Khubilai oiganised a fresh campaign, and early in
i378severalofthesetownswereagainrea4>tured. Amongthenewsuccesses
was the capture of Camen and of Chao diau. The young Emperor,
Toan tsong^ had not a port vdiere he could land. He wandered about
with his fleet from one place to another, and at length died on the desert
island of Kang diau, in May, 1378, at the age of deven. His chief
officers now proclaimed his younger brother Wd-wang, Emperor ; under
the titb ol Ti ping, and saluted hhn on tfadr knees.
The Chinese fleet, wliich is said to have been manned by aoo^ooo
combatants, vms anchored at the istond of Yid, in die Gulf of Canton.
They bulk a wooden palace on the island lor the EmperoTi and worked
assiduously at refitting their ships, receiving supidies, &c, from Canton
and other dties, even from those subject to the Mongols.
Chang-hong-&n, the son of the celebrated general Chang ju, now
pressed upon Khubilai the necessity of a vigorous campaign in Kwang
tung to terminate the war. Having been girt with a jewelled sword and
nuuie conunander-in-chief, he attacked the Sung army, which had latterly
recovered several positions in that province, and finally crushed it The
redoubtable Wen tien slang was among the captured. He had tried to
poison himself; unsnccessfhUy. A subordinate general had shown even
*IHIUUl8,sa7,cC.Mq. tDtllidlta,la.)«7. | Dt Mtilia, ix. 394-
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KHtmiLAI KHAN. 237
greater fortitude, and bad tried to pass himself off as Wen tien siang,
hoping that the Mongols would txecute hlm^ and that his fiiend would
thus escape; but his deception was discoveredt and he was broiled over
a slow fire. Wen tien siang hinsdf demanded to be put to death, but
the generous Mongols spared him, and aldioi^ he would not enter their
service they set hhn free.* Chang hong fim now collected a fleet and
proceeded against the Chmsse flodlla, wfaidi was anchored at the estuary
Chao Yang.t He first tried to bum it by means of fire ships, but the
Chinese commander protected his ships by covering the hulls and rigging
with mud and putting out beams whidi staved off the fire boats. The
Mongob then made a ntg^t attack with their fleet This was not
successfiily nor was a second venture of a similar kind ; but at length a
more determined effort was made. The Mongd fleet was divided into
several divisions, which made a simultaneous attack to the sound of
martial music, and assisted by a high tide and a stoim, the crowded
Chinese armament was thrown into confiision. The young Emperor was
on board the largest ship, whidi was jammed in by the rest, and too big
to swim over the shallows. Seeing no hope of escape, Lu siu fit, one of
the two chief ministers, having thrown his wife and chikhen overboard^
seised hold of the Emperor, and saying that a Sung Emperor ot^t to
prefer death to capitulation, he jumped ovetboard with him. Both were
of course drowned. The greater part of the Chinese officers foOowed his
example. More than 800 ships fell into the hands of the Mongds, and
the sea was laden with corpses.}
The Emperor'sbody was eventually found and upon itthe Imperial seal.
Chang chi ki^ the co*regent of the empire, escaped ; having joined the
Empress mother, he pressed her to choose some member of the family
of Chao (Chao was the femily name of the Sung Emperors) to put upon
the throne, but she was so overcome with grief by the news she threw
herself into the sea. Having buried his mistress on the shore he went
towards Chen ching (Ton kin) J where he got some forces together with
which he set out to return to Canton. He was overtaken by a storm,
refiised to land, and mounting the deck, he burnt some incense, and
addressing the heavens, said : ** I have done my best to support the
throne of the femily of Chao ; on the death of one of its princes I pro-
claimed another ; and, do I still survive, O heaven .' have I acted contrary
to thy will in seddng to pkce on the throne another prince of this femily ?^'
The wind still rossy the ship foundered, and with it the faithfiil officer,
whose body was afterwards recovered and buried on the shore.| Thus
ended the dynasty of the Sung which had been on the throne for alto«
gether a period of 330 years, and thus the Mongols, after a struggle of
half a century, became masters of all China.
*DtMtiIK>ii*M5- GMbiUtfS^. t Do MallU, ix. 596. : D« ll«ilh, ix. 393-^9^
OMbiI,iit. ( De Mailk, is. 399. i' Do If ailla. ix. 399. 400. OtvUl, 189.
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33^ HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
Aher the great naval fight near the island of Yai, the Mongol admiral,
Giang hong fan, gave a banquet to the varions officen, to whidi Wen
tien siangwat invited^ '^ the Sung empire is destroyed; yon who have been
its bravest general and^most fiuthful minister may now employ the same
zeal in the service of our sovereign.* He refused, and was respected for
doing so by the Mongol, ^dio sent him to Yen king. The Mongol
minister there pressed him to join his master's service; he replied that the
oath of fealty bound a subject for ever to the cause of his sovereign*
When told that he had forsaken his Emperor when imprisoned, and
helped to replace him by his brothers; he replied, in effect, that necessity
knows no law, that it was better to choose the lesser of two evils, and
that it was necessary above all things in the crisis they were passing
through to preserve the Sung dynasty, whose continuity and existence was
destroyed when the young Emperor was captured ; a subject ought to
fed for his sovereign the affection of a son for his faher ; one cannot
control events always ; what heaven decrees must be ; and he demanded
to be put to death. Chang hong £ui, who was irritated by his continued
constancy, asked for his death ; but Khubilai intervened to save him,
truly a perfect model of fiddity.*
In 1280 Alihaya had captured a great number of prisoners in the
southern provinces of King nan, Kiang si, Kwang si, &c These had been
sold as daves, but Khubilai set them at liberty. He now despatched the
mathematician Tuchi to trace the great river Hoang ho to its sources.
He accomplished the task in four months, and on his return presented a
memoir on its course, which is given by Mailla.t
The Mongol Khakan now turned his arms against the Japanese* Japan
is a Chinese name, derived from the position of the island towards the
rising sun. J^ meaning sun, and pen origin or rising4 So early as
1366, Khubilai had sent the following letter to the Japanese sovereign.
'' The most powetiul rampart between small countries and their strong
neighbours is peace between their sovereigns. This political axiom,
supported by long experience, becomes most certain when it refers to the
weak neighbours of an empire sudi as I have received from my ancestors,
which is espedally favoured by heaven. I am now master of China. A
crowd of kingdoms filled widi fear and respect by the renown and virtue
of my ancestors, have submitted to my laws, notwithstanding thdr
distance. When I mounted the throne the Coreans were suffering from a
disastrous war that had lasted for a long time ; the cries of a crowd of
innocent victims having reached me, I caused hostilities to cease, restored
the land which the Mongds had conquered from them, and
retcnmed the prisoners they had captured. The Corean King, whom we
number among our subjects, toudied by our generosity, came to the foot
of our throne to do homage. I in return covered him with favours,
•Dt ICtnia,lK.4t4* tO^eit..ix.404*4i9- I Dt lUilte, ix. 404.
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KHVMLAI KHAK. 339
dottrmined to ttmx him imtber •• a fitther tluui as an eroparor and
master. You and y^wr ptofle have study hesid^this. Com is dose to
Japan. Sinca the fouadation of your htngdom you havo constantly
tfaffidcffid with China. H6w is it yon have nercr sent any one to my
ooort siaoe I came to the throne. Have you not heard of my accession.
I have sent yon two officers to remind you of this and to secare a nnstaal
friendship and a rqnular correspcmdencCy which wiH be the bond of a
testing peace. The wise men who are about me tdl me that all men are
brothers^ the universe consists of but one family^ and how can usefiil rules
or good tews be upheld in a £unily where there te discoid? Woe to
those who love conhision and wish for war ; O King, think of this, you
and your people."
The envoys who bore this letter proceeded to Corea» when they reached
the coast the Coreans enlaiged so much upon the dangers that were
before them that they determined to return to China.* Two years later,
i^., in 1368, Khubilai began to prepare for a descent upon Japan, he
ordered the Coreans to furnish a ilotiUa, and made inquiries as to the best
route for his troops.t
In 1274 he sent a fleet of 300 ships and 15,000 men, which was defeated
near the island of Tsiusima with heavy loss. He again sent envoys in
1280, but they were put to death.} The Sung empire having been
destroyed, the Mongols now had leisiure to prepare on a larger scale to
punish thdr relractory neighbour ; 100,000 men were collected, and the
command given to Alahan or Argan, Fan wen hu (the Van sain chin of
Marco Polo), &c Aigan died at the port of embarkation and his place
was taken by Atahai or Atagai (Abacan of Polo).
These troops were embarked at Zayton and Kinsay.§ Zayton is
Thsiuan chau fii, or Chin chau in Fukien ; I and Kinsay (in Chinese Kin
sse, or the court) is the town oi Hang chaii fu, in Ch6 kiang.f They first
proceeded to Corea, where they were joined by a contingent of 900 ships
and 10,000 men. The combined forces sailed for the island of Goriosan,
where the troops landed and overran the open country. Marco Polo
refers to a quarrd between the two generals in conmiand, which much
impeded the campaign. Meanwhile the fleet was driven by a fierce storm
upon a small island called Ping hu.** The greater part was destroyed.
The Japanese account says that '' the general (t»e., Fan wen hun) fled
with the other generals on the vessels that had least suffered ; nobody has
ever h^ard what became of them.** By one writer, who has written a book
to prove his marvellous theory, this last army is made the founder of the
Peruvian monarchy of the Incas. Mongo Capac being identified with the
Mongol general ! ! I ft The army left upon the island was attacked and
defeated and y)poo captives were put to death.}}
•I>«MaUI«,ix. 3^9.305. tD0lfailia,3o8,9O9. ; Vult'k M areo Pdlo^ U. M5.
iYol«^MwGoPolo,ii.«>o. I Yoto^ Ifatco Polo, U. 188. f Dt MiiiUft, iz. 410. Noct.
^ De If alllih ix. 4P9- tt RuUot*t Conqunt of Peru. U Yolt^ Marco Polo, U. 007.
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J40 HISTORY OF THK MONGOLS.
The Venetian traveller has a story, which is doubted by his learned
editor, to the effect that the Mongob surprised and captured the Japanese
fleet, on which they sailed to the capital, which Uiey also captured ; and
says that it was after being besieged there in turn for seven mon^ that
they at length surrendered. This story is unconfirmed, and looks mudi
like a Chinese invention to throw a halo round the disaster.
Gaubil makes the invading force to consist of 70,000 Chinese and
Coreans and 30^000 Mongols. He saya the former were all put to death,
while the latter were reduced to slavery.* The Chinese annals in De
Mailla state that only i3/»o or 13,000 Southern Chmese were spared,
and they were reduced to slavery.t
Khubilai determined to send a second eipedition to revenge this
disaster. He appointed Atagai to its command. Vesseb were built
and sailors pressed at the difierent ports, and the King of Cdrea was
ordered to furnish a contingent of 500 ships. The eiqiedition was very
unpopular. The men deserted in bodies and took to brigandage^ and it
had eventually to be abandoned, t
Notwithstanding the overthrow of the Sung dynasty, several rd)eb
arose, especially in Fu-kien, under pretence of sustaining its caase.
These were vigorously put down.|
At the end of 1280, a commission, headed by a cddvated astronomer
named Kochauldng, issued a grand work on astronomy. Already
in the reign of Jingis, Ydim chutsai had profited by that monarch's
expedition in the west to acquire many new notions, and had pub-
lished a new astronomy, and at the banning of Khubilai's reign,
the western astronomers (probably Persians aro meant) puUished two
astronomies, one according to the western method, the other according
to the Chinese. Eochauldng and his assistants, who had deeply studied
western methods, reconciled the two systems. A great number of new
instruments, astrolabes, armiOary spheres, gnomons, &c., wero mannfiio-
tured. Fresh observations wero made at twenty-seven stations ; the
meridians were revised and reduced to one standard ; and other reforms
were made. The rosults were then presented to the Emperor with a
memoir. I
In 1381 Khubilai lost his fovourite wife Honkilachi. She was of a
tender disposition, and doubtless tempered considerably the weight of
the Mongol arms. When the yotmg Sung Emperor was taken in triumph
to the court, she was much depressed ; Khubilai was somewhat piqued,
and asked the reason. From eariy times, she said, then has been no
Imi>erial funily iriiich has lasted 1,000 years, and who dare say that I
and my children may not have to sufier the fitteof this boy. When the
Imperial treasures of the Sung were spread out, she only peeped at them
OmW1,i95. tDtMftfna,{x.4e9. J Dt lUiUa. is. 4Si aad 4ta.
I Do Mftllte, Ix. 406, 407. 9 Dt Mftflla, ix. 40a. 0«lWl,i99.
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KHUBaAI KHAN. 241
and then retired. The Smg^ 9kt taid^liave broogfat these together for
their detoettdaatt. We hcve got tiiem only because those descendaMs
could not protect them. How dare I tidoe the least tbhig. Shealsobooied
herself bmnrshig the Eo^inress R^e&t of the Sttng» whose health sufimd
from the severity of the Mongol climate.*^ Laterin the year, the assessor
of the Emperor's Privy Council presented a petition against the sect of
Tao se. Kfaulnlai, who was much atuched to the Baddhist rdigion,
easily granted permission to have the Tao se botikn burnt.
The greed of conquest with which the Cluaese historians charge
Khubilai was stifl upon him, iye perlu4>s rather, as tiie Russians have
found in our day, there are few boundaries in Asia, and con^piest leads
to fnrtiier conquest, so long as the mardk-hmds of the empire are
occupied by turbulent tribes.
(n 1271 the Mongol commander in southern Yunnan had seat envoys
to the King of Mien (f.r., of Burma), caUhig upon him to become
tributary.t Some n^otiations ensued, his letters to the Emperor bemg
traced, we are told, on golden leaves ; they also employed paper and the
leaves of trees for thb purpose.
The issue of this correspondence was not pacific, for the Burmese
crossed the frontier of Yunnan in 1277, in order to fortify the posts d
Theng yue and Tung chang (the Vodan of Marco Polo)4 which probably
commanded the approach to their country. The Chinese commanders
in Yunnan, amoi^ whom Nitsir-ud<lin, mentioned by Marco Polo, was
one, although he did not fUl the first position,! ordered an attack to be
made on certain frontier tribes as yet unsubdued, namely, the Kmchi
(tribes with golden teeth), the Ho chang, Fu piao, and Theng yue,
whose country lay west of Yung chang. The Burmese forces under their
general Olio, were assembled in the country of Nan-tien, on the frontiers
of Thibet, and west of Yung chang, and consisted of from 4o/xx> to 50,000
men, 800 elephants, and lo^ooo horses. The army of the Mongols is
said in the official annals of the Yuen dynasty to have been only 700
strong. This is clearly a mistake, and ought probaUy to be 7,00a
Marco Pok>, who describes the battle, makes the Mongols 13,000 strong,
and their opponents 60^000 cavalry and infontry, with 2,000 elephants,
each carrying sixteen men, so that the disparity is equally great. He
cans the King of Burma King of Mien and Bangala. Colonel Yule has
shown that the Burmese dynasty probably claimed to rule in Bengal after
the Muhammedan invasion, and that they were descended from a Bengal
stock.1 The Mongols were encamped in the plain of Yung chang. and
the troops of Burma came to attack them, the cavalry advancing first,
then the elephants, and lastly the foot soldiers.^ Marco Polo relates how
*De]iaUlA,{x.4o8. t Paothier^t Maito Polo, 415. Mott.
I Pavtbiar, op. cit, 410. i Yal«*a Marco Polo, U. 6g,
a Yole*a Mmco Polo, ii. 64, 69. f Tht Ya«i to, qnoiod by Panthior, op. clt, 4tt.
IH
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243 HISTORY OP THX MONOOL8.
the lioogol hones were fiig^iteoed at the elnphet^ and coeld not be
made to fiice them. ** But their captain acted like a wise leader; who had
considered everything beforehand. He immediatdy gave orders that
every man. should dismount, and tie his horse to the trees <tf the focest
that stood hard by, and that they should take to thefar bow8» a weapon
that they knew how to handle better than any troops in the world. They
did as he bade them, and plied their bows stoutly, shooting so many
shafts at the advancing dephants, that in a short space they had
wounded or dam the greater part of them, as well as o£ the men they
carried. • • • . When the tkpbaxstM fch the smart of these arrows that
pdted them. like rain they turned and fled, and nothipg on earth would
have induced them to turn and fooe the Tartars. So off they qped, with
such a noise and uproar, that you would have trowed the world was
coming to an end ; and then, too, they plunged into the wood, and
rushed this way aM that, dashing their castles against the trees, bursting
their harness, and smashing and destroying everything that was on Uiem.
.... The Tartars then got to horse at once^ and charged the enemy.
And then the battle b^an to rage furiously with sword and mace."* The
Mongols at length won, and pursued the troops of Burma a long way, and
captured soo elephants. The Chinese account says the carnage was
terrible, that the limbs of the elephants and men who had been slain
filled three large ditches, and that seventeen forts which the Burmese had
built for the defence oi their territory were captured.t In this campaign,
which was fought in 1277, Nasir-ud-din advanced as far as the town of
Kiang thu, on the Irawadi, which offered a stout resistance; the
intense heat of the climate at length compelled him to retreat} Nasir-
ud-din having reported at the court that the conquest of the kingdom of
Mien would be easy, an army was fitted out in 1283, under the command
of Siang taur, a prince of the blood, who, as Colonel Yule says, was
doubtless the Sii^;tur who some yeais later took part in the insurrection
of Nayan. The army set out from Chung khing, (>., Yun nan fii, the capital
of Yunnan of our day. They embarked in boats on the river Oho (? the
Bhamo river), and arrived at Kiang thu (probably the Kaun taung of the
Burmese). § This they captured, and there perished there more than
jo^ooo men.||
The Mongob then summoned the King to submit He refused ; upon
which they laid siege to his coital, Tai kung,^ f>., Tagaung^ traditionally
the most ancient royal city of Burma.** The Burmese annals, which are
much given to exaggeration, say the Eii^ had pulled down 6,000 ttinples
to furnish materials for the fortifications : ** But after all he lost heart,
and, embarking with his treasure and establishments on the Irawadi, fled
• Yult'a Mtfco Polo, U. 06 tad 68.
t PavUiiar, op. dt., 411 . I PtvUiior, op. dt, 4x5* i Yolo's Marco Polo» U. 69 and 74.
|PMttlii«r,4s0* i Paotbior^ Morco Polo. 40s. ** Yolo, op. dt., U. 7C
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KHUBIUI KHAK. 243
down tlttt river to BaiMiii, in tte Ddta.* Harii^r captured die Burmese
capital, the Mongoie condaued the pnraiiit till they reached the pbioe
now called Tarokmau, or the Chineoe Point, thirty miles bdow Prome.
Hera they were fotced by want of provisioiis to return.* De Mailla says
fimher, tiiat the people of Kfai-dii, who had hitherto been prevented
by the Bormese fern edowirtedgingtiie Mongols, now did so. Kin-dii,
or^c^denteeUi, is the Chinese name of the Zardandan ofMarcoPoto»
and probably connotes Hie Singphos, a tribe of Yhnnan and Assamut
The Pegv annals also mentkm a ndd made into tiieir territory by the
Mcmgds, and the c^itiire of sevend towns at this time.)
The old Venetian traveUer has a very romantic story about Ae
conquest of Burma; he would have us bdieve that it was effected by the
Itleemen and jng^^ers at iChubilai's court, of whom he had a great number.
** He said to them one day that he wanted them to go and conquer the
aforesaid province of Mien, and diat he would give them a good captain
to lead them, and other good aid. And they replied that they would be
delighted. So the Emperor caused them to be fitted out wiUi all that an
army requires, and gave them a ciq>tain and a body of men-at*arms to
hdp them ; and so they set out and marched until they came to the
country and province of Mien, and they did conquer the whole of it*§
This is one of the few paragraphs which would be nautically described
as yams that enliven the pages of the very trudiful old traveller.
At his accession Khubihu had intrusted the Imperial finances to a
Muhammedan, a native of Bokhara, named Seyid £dj^ He had died
in 1370^ leaving a high reputation for honesty. He was replaced by
Ahmed, a native of Fenaket, on the Jaxartes. He had been attached to
the household of Khnbilai's chief wife before she married him, and by his
insinuatittg manners and tact had won the confidence of the Khakan.| I
have already mentioned his oppression of the people. As he kept the
cofiers fiill Khubilai was satisfied, and we are told that no person, however
high in rank, dare cross him, nor was any woman of considerable beauty
safe firom his advances. If she was unmarried he forced her to be his
wife^ otherwise he compelled her to submit to his desires. Marco Polo
quaintly describes his manner of procedure. ** Whenever he knew of any
one,** he says, ''who had a pretty dau^ter, certain ruffians of his would
gotothetiwtherandsay, 'What say you? Here is this pretty daughter
of yours ; give her in marriage to the BaHo Achmath (ibr they called him
'the Bailo,' or as we should say the 'vice regent 0, and we will arrange
fior his giving you such a government, or such an office, for three years.'
And so theman virould surrender his daughter. And Achmath would go
to the Empeior and say ; such a government is vacant, or will be vacant
on such a day. So and so is a proper man for the post, and the Enqieror
• Yale, up, dt, ti.70. t Yate*k ll«rco Polo, it. sC
tYoVallMMPolo^lLTS. i Yttl0*t ICm«o Polo» ii, ;$• liyOlraMm, II. 4^.
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344 HISTORY OF THB MONGOLS.
would reply : ' Do as you think best,' and the fiUher of the gitl war
hnmediately appointed to the government Thus either thiough anibitkm
of the parents, or through fear of the minister, all the beantiful women
were at his beck either as wives or mistresses.'' His twenty-five sons
occupied places of high trust, and he had amassed a vast fortune from the
black mail he levied on place hunters.* But his enemies were increasing
£ut, and his day was nearly over. Tsui yu, one of the mandarins who
governed in Kiang nan, who was also a lieutenant of Alihaya, was brave
enough to present a report to the Emperor against him. Ahmedinange
accused him of embesxling more than two millions, and of having wrongs
fidly deprived mandarins of their offices. A commission was sent to
inquire, wfaidi found hhn innocent. Ahmed sent a second, composed of
his own creatures, who convicted and executed him. This judicial mur^
der caused nmch dissatisfitction at the court, in the army, and the pco-
vinces.t Among his enemies was Ching kin, KhubUai's son, who went
the length of kicking him in his ^either's presence. At length one Chen
chu, a commander of a thousand, whose mother, daughtef, and wile had
been dishonoured by Ahmed, entered into a plot with Wang chu, the
commander of a tuman, »>., lo^ooo men, and determined to destroy him.
They chose the time when the Emperor was at Shangtu, and the Prince
Chtng kin absent dsewhere, and when Ahmed remained in charge of the
city. They communicated their intention to their friends in various cities»
stating that they had determined, on a certain day, at a signal given by a
beacon, to massacre all the men with beards, and that the other cities
should stand ready to do the like on seeing the signal fires. The reason
beii^, that the Chinese had no beards, while beards were worn by the
Tartars, Saracens, and Christians, ^ and you must know," says Polo, ^thc
Chinese detested the Grand Khan's rule, because he set over them gover-
nors who were Tartars, or still more frequently Saracens, and these they
could not endure, for they were treated by them just like slaves. . . .
On the dayappointed, the two, Chen chu and Wang chu, entered the palace
at night. Wang chu sat down and caused a number of lights to be
kindled before him. He then sent a messenger to Ahmed, who lived in
the old city, as if to summon him to the presence of Ching kin, who (it
was pretended) had arrived unexpectedly. Ahmed obeyed the summons.
As soon as he got inside the palace and saw all the illuminations, he
bowed dowh before Wang chu, supposing him to be Ching Idn, and Chen
chu, who was standing ready with a sword, straightway cut his head off*
The captain of the guard, who was standing at the door, shouted treason,
and instantly discharged an arrow at Wang chu and shot him dead as he
sat, at the same time he ordered Chen chu to be seised, and sent a pro-
clamation through the city that any one found in the streets would be pot
to death. The Chinese saw that the plot was discovered, and having
* Volt's Marco Polo, 'u37t' t Oa«bil, X93* !>• lUiHSt is* 4tx«
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KmniLAf KiUN. 345
lofltlieirleadiriiteiiiaiMdqtfSet MmMacen were tent off to KhubUai,
who ordered an investigatioQ, wlridi ended in sovtrilofthe ringleaders
being put to dmXti.^ I haive ibOowod te nocoont, and partially tlie
language of the Venetian travdkr iHiooe nanat&te of tli0 event is very
drcomstantial. His Chen dm is dirabdess the Chaqf*^ of the Chinese
annals, wbo name a diiid coo^nrator, a socoerer ctWod Kao-Hoshang.
They also say Ahsied was killed by a blow from a copper mace. They do
not mentioo any plot to the nnttder of foitigntrsy aldiovi^ from what we
know of them in later times, this is a very probable event Neitiierdothey
mendon that Wang dm was killed on the spot They say, on the contrary •
that he died heroically; saying that he had done the State great service
and woiOd yet be rewasded. IQmbilai gave a large swn towards paying
for AhmeiFs funeral cefemoniesr^ but his regret was soon converted into
resentment When he retained from Shang tut^ he sumnMmed Pdo, the
assessor of the privy council^ our dd friend Marco PdOi and asked him
why Wang dm had committed the murder. Polo ^okn bmvdy out, and
when Khnbilai learnt how avaridous his servant had been, and had even
appropriated lor the use of one of his wives a huige diamond which some
merdiants had bcoogtit to his court lor him, he ocdersd the corpse to
be exhumed, th6 head to be cut off and eqK)sed, and the body to be left
to the dogs. Two of his sons and some of his widows were put to death;
others, to the number of forty, with 400 concubines, wero distributed as
prescnts4 Two hundred mandarins, who had been Ahmed's accomplices,
were derived of their offices, and altogether 700 persons were more or
kss implicated and punished accordingly. Polo concludes his chapter by
saying that these discoveries greatly irritated KhulMlai against the
»Saraocns, da^ the Mohammedans, and he prdiibited them doing many
things which their rdigion required. Thus he ordered them to regulate
their maniages by the Tartar law, and focfoade them killing animals by
cutting their Uiroats. This partial revival of one of Jingis*s laws is also
referred to by Raschid. It was revoked seven years later, when it was
found the Mohammedans gave over making dieir visits, and trade
accordingly sufiered.! Ahmed's place was given to a Uighur named
Sanga, whose brother had succeeded Pakba as Gnmd Lama.|
One of Sanga^s chief advisers, who was also a favourite of Khubilai's,
was a mandarin of Tai ming fri, named Luchiymig ; he had obtained his
post by bribery, from Ahmed. He penmaded the Emperor that he could
largely increase die revenue, and those who inveii^ against him and
his plaas were punidied. His suggestions were at least curious : he
pn^posed that a large number of copper pieces should be coined, that
these should be distributed to dM inhabitanu of the great ports of Hang
diau and Tsuen diau, to be used in traffic with the foreign merchants,
•T«U^lfanoPolo,i.s?B^4. t D'OhMomlL^yo. D* M ailta, is. 41s.
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a46 HISTORY <XP THX MOirOOLS.
and diat seven-tenths of the pcofit shoold go the Stitc^ idkiie thiee-tenths
were retained by tiie peo|^ The gnadees, it would seem, had some
kind of monopoly in the mannfiicture of aims ; thb he ptopoecd to
abolish, and to let the State take possession of the Ibfges, the profit to be
used in filling the granaries, so that food ooukl be sold at a cheaper rate..
He wished to abolish fiee trade in wine, and make the vendors take out
Ucenses, for which they were to pay heavily. He proposed to exchange
on a large scale, die silks and stii£Bi of China for the horses and sheep of
the Mongols, and ammged that the Imperial studs and herds should be
taken chai^ge of by the Mcmgds, who should be paid one-fifth of the
profit accruing firom the sale <^ the hides, wool, horns, and milk, &C. These
plans do not seem very extravagant, but they were very unpopular,
especially so, perhaps, as dieir author reinstated a good many oi the
creatures of Ahmed in their old i^aces. The heir to the throne took part
against him ; several mandarins accused him of exacdons and cmdty,
&a, and he also was tried, condemned to death, and torn in pieces.*
Cochin China, called by the Chinese Chen ching, and by Marco Pdo,
Champa, comprised at this time the whole coast between Tung king and
Cambodja. It was conquered by the King of Tung king in die fifteenth
century; but in the dme of Khubilai was an independent kingdom. In
1278, So-tu, the military governor of the Canton district, sent an
envoy to demand the submission of its King. This was rendered,
and for some years he sent his tribute. Marco Pdo says the tribute
consisted of twenty elephants. When,in 1282, So-tu sent a resident and
Chinese official, to receive tribute, &c., the heir to the throne resolutely
opposed the proceeding ;f but the Mongol officers were content with the
submission of the father, until he drew a large party over to hirosdf. It
was then thne to interfere. So-tu therefore sent an army, iriiidi captured
the capital The prince took refiige in the mountains, and cajoled So-tu
into delay by his envoys. Meanwhile he was fortifying himself, while
one of his officers fell upon a body of Mongols and killed several
hundred of them. So*tu fouj^t several engagements in which he was
successful, but while he was besieging an almost inq>regnable fortress,
the prince of Cochin China cut off his retreat So-tu raised the si^e
and managed to retire, but only with severe loss.} Khubilai was much
pained by this defeat, and in 1284 he ordered his son Togan, who
commanded in Yunnan, to inarch against Cochin China; the general So-tu
received orders to co-operate with him. Between Yunnan and Cochin
China lay Tung king, which had for some time been tributary, and had sent
every three years a tax of gold, silver, precious stones, medicinal drugs,
ivory, and rhinoceros^ horns. This tribute was found very onerous, and
a new Idn^^ who mounted the throne in 1277, determined to resist the
^ * D« Maniftt ix> 4^ 4i4* OaqUI, tot, Mt*
tV«k'iMavcoPolo,U.si4. I Dt Malik, is. 415. GftiibU,x04«
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KHUBILAT KHAN. 247
passage of the Mongol army. Togan crotsed the mer Fu kang oa
rafts, and the army of Tung king diqf^ened, but they xallied again the
summer following; The heat and heavy rains caused a pestilence among
the Mongxds, who nere forced to retire into Yunnan. Liheng^ Togani
ddef generaly was killed by a poisoned arrow, and So-tu, who had gone
some distance ahead with his army, shortly after lost a battle on the
Kien moan, in whidi he was killed.*
Astrdogy was much fttvoured by Chinese philosophers. A regular
c6acgt of astitik>gers existed, in which the various con|unctians of the
planets, edipses, Ibc., were studied and inteqneted In the end of laSa,
a bonxe of the province of Fu-kien pabliriied intelligence that the pbnet
Saturn was very near a star called Ti-tso, which was the particular star
preriding over the empire. This was apparently inteqwreted to mean
that a revolt in fiivour of the Sung dynasty was imminent, and at this
thne an impostor did appear, who collected moie Aan loo^ooo adherentSi
called himself Emperor of the Sung, and issied seditious placards.t
These things troubled the Enqperor, who assembled at Chang tn the
young Sung Emperor, his ftusdly, and his minister Wen-tien-
siang, who had been kept so long in restraint, and who was
especially suspected. He was again pressed to join the Mongol service^
but he remained Inflexible. He had received finrours much exceeding
his deserts ftom the Sung family, and he would not new abandon it in
its distress. He was therefore condemned to death» and received the
pews joyfully, went laughmg to the place of ofiecution, hxxd die south,
stooped his head several times to the ground, and offered his neck to
the axe; He was only forty«4even years okl, and was endowed with
many graces and virtues. The remaining members of the Sung ftunily
were transported into Tartary.t His first wife having died, as I have
mentioned, Khnbilai now raised another of his wives, who was of the
stodc of die Kunkurat, to be his Empress ; she, too, bore the name of
Honkibidu.
In the same year Khubilai sent a commissioner to the islands of the
Eastern Archipelago, to report upon their producu and riches. Some
time after ships ftt>m ten of these states arrived at Tsiuen chau, the
cdebrated port of Fu kien. These were the kingdoms of (i) Mapar, $^
Mdbar or Malabar; (2) Samundra, identified by Colonel Yule with the
kingdom of the Bilal Rajahs north of Malabar, and omstantiy coupled
with it by Muhammedan writers;! (3) Sumenna, i^^ Sumnath; (4)
Sengkili (the Shinkali of Abulfeda, the Singiugli <^ Jordanus, the CynkaUi
of MarignoUi), i>., Cranganor, one of the old Malabar principalities;! (5)
Malantan, ^., the Tana Makyu of De Barros, one of the Sumatran
•I>tM«illii,ii.44e-4Ji. Otiibil,«>s.
tDeiUIUft,iz.4i6. Qmibll, 19S. I Dt ICiulla. ix. 4x7. GMbU,X9l.
i CathAf tad th* Waj Tkithtrp ;/. j| Cathay and the Waj Thither, 75.
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34S HISTORY OF THS MONGOLS.
kingdoms;* (6) Snmutu, Sanuttni; (7) Liiki (Lo^ or Lo hott\ i^
Southern Siam;t (8) Navang (?), Tinghor (?)^ and Kd«idtai?t
In 1287 a lecoiMi expedition was fitted out against l\in king^ of wliich
the command was again given to Togan» iHiile a flesi was oideied to
co-operate with the anny. The Tungfcii^ese were defeated in seventeen
combats, and their capital, Chen dien, with a very rich booty, was
captured. The King escaped by sea.| Not satisfied with his victory,
Togan rashly letomed again daring the hot SMSon of 1288. The King
of Tung king threatened a descent on the coast,and he there upon ordered
the ports to be fortified; but the hot weather was a more diffiouh enemy.
Once more it proved fMal to the Mongols, who were forced to retire
towards Kwang vL They lost many men and two ol their chief com*
manders in encoanters with the natives. Togan was deprived of the
government of Yunnan, and forbidden to appear at court. Meanwhile
the King of Tung^king submitted, and sent Khubilai a present of an image
of solid goki.| #
While Khubilai i»as stretching his hands out 'towards the south and
east a terrible rdbdtion on his northern frontier was sapping the influence
of the Mongol Khakans in Mongolia. It was headed by Kaidu, bis
nephew. I have already traced it out in the former chapter, and
described its different phases, and how it was more or.less controlled by
the skill of KhubilaFs generab, who defeated both Kaidu and his con-
federates, and also put down the very serious rebdlion of Nayan, in
Eastern Tartary. In the end of 1287 Atchu, who had won sudi renown
in the conquest of the Sung empire, died, and was honoured with
the posthumous title of Prince of Honan. In the q>ring of the following
year Khubilai was periuaded by his minister Sanga, mndi to die
chagrin of his Chinese subjects, to convert the various pakces of
the late dynasty into Buddhist temples;f and later on in the year the
imprisoned Sung Emperor was sent to Putuk, in Thibet, to learn the
Buddhist doctrines. The Chinese literates, who cordially despised the
Buddhists, were very angry with the young prince for not haviiig put an
end to himself radier than survive such an indignity.^ The cruel exac*
tions of the Mongol governois gave rise this year to several rebellions
in the southern provinces. A judge of Fu kien, named Wangiun, made
a report to the Emperor, in which he called attenticm to them. His
representations were wdl received.tt
Various public works were also carried on at this time with energy, the
grand canal called Hoeitong, running from Tsining chau, in Shantung,
to Ling tsing chau, in the same province, was opened, at least so wKf the
narratives of De Mailla and Gaubil, but the latter^s editor, in a note^ says
» Yale*! Mareo Pole, U. 04. t Yolt'^ Maroo Pdo^ fl. tit. I Dt Maltlt* is. 4S9.
I D« MaUU, is. 430. Oa«bil,ao7. | De lltills, Is. 435-437* GmMI, SoS.
^I>elljaUe,iz.435. *« De Mailla, is. 499. QanMl,fl09. tt De MaiUa, is. 437-
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SHUBtLAX XRAK. 349
the canal waa not openad tin Ae daya of the Ming dynaaty. Khubtku
abo built two magnificent coU^es at Ta tu, id^y the Mongol part <^
Peking. He encouraged literary work of varioua kinds, and especially
the fiterature of Bnddhiam, and we are told that in 1390, a copy of the
Thibetan sacred books was written in large golden letters.* This year a
census of those liable to pay tribute was made. It showed there were
13,196,206 famitiesy ceniprising 58^34,71 1 persons, not counting fugitives
andrd^ds.f
Meanwhile, Sanga, the Imperial treasurer, f(4k>wed in the
steps of his predecessor, and his exactions caused great suffering and
complaint in the empire. Like Ahmed, he also gained the confidence of
Khubilai so well that it was dangerous tospeak against him. At length,
after a career of lour years, his turn arrived for punishment An
olRcer named Che li, who was mndi in the company of Khubilai, went
with hha on one of his hunting excursions, and there ventured to disck)se
to him the malpractices of Sanga. The Emperor was in a rage and
ordered him to be chastised. This was done soefiectuaUy that the blood
streamed from his noae and mouth. He was now asked to confess that
what hehadsaid was a calunmy. '^ Ihave no special grudge against him,''
said Ch6 li. ^ It was only in the interest of your Majesty and of the
empire that I spol^ If the fear of punishment had stopped my tongue
I should have been unworthy of being in your service," &c. The Emperor
<miered an inquiry, When this was instituted quite a crowd of
accusations poiured upon the head of the devoted minister. Khubilaj was
much enraged, in that the accusers had kept back information about
his ill doing, and left it to the Imperial censors to determine what
pumriunent they deserved ; most of them were dismissed. Che li waa
sent with 300 soldiers to make an inventory of Sanga's goods.} The
Khakan had one day asked for some pearls ; he said he had none ; but
two boxes foil were found in his house. These, he said, he had received
as presents from the different provincial governors. The Emperor was
naturally enraged at the efirontery of the minister, who retained the rich
presents for himself, and passed off mere bagatelles upon him. He was
condemned to death, and his goods were confiscated. With him perished a
large number of his creatures. He had had the impertinence to put up
a monument, with an eulogium on himself ; this was now broken down.)
His place was given to Wan tse, who alone, among the employes of that
chancellary, iq>peared, from the papers found in Ahmed's house, to have
obuined his employment without bribery.
The tombs of the Sung Emperors were situated near the tonm of
Chao hing, in Che kiang. A Lama of Thibet, who had an important
appointment in the southern provinces, and was exceedingly avaridous,
•OMbU.>xa. tI>«liailU,i3U444.
IDtlfwUmix.447* i]>tlfftiUi4ix.447. Ganbil^uj.
I I
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250 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
proceeded tliis year to rifle these tombSy and to rob them of diehr gdden
and jewdled ornaments. He took the bones out of the tombs, and
mixinir them with those of oxen, kc^ made pyramids of tiiem. One
cannot easily find an explanation lor this senseless indignity, whidi seems
to have been, and peihaps was, done expressly to irritate the Chinese^
who had an especial ant^athy to the Lamas. The mandarins had him
anested and imprisoned, but the Lama influence at the court was so
strong that he was afterwards released, and even retained his lugubriously
acquited booty.* The Chinese historians blame Khubilai very much for
his conduct on this occasion, and on others, in which he allowed himsdf
to be made the plaything of the Lama priests.t
In the end of the year 1291, a fleet was fitted out for the exploration and
conquest of the Luchu isknds, east of Fu-kien, but the commander
having been killed on the way, the ships returned.) The first day of the
year is a grand festival in China ; the mandarins then severally do
homage according to the prescribed ceremonial ; this day is the first of
that month, when the sun alters the constellation of the Fishes.} An
eclipse of the sun at anytime is held to be a bad omen. If it occur on
the first day of the year, it is put down in the Chinese astrology as fore-
boding some impendii:^ disaster. The calculations showed that this
would happen on the first day of 1292, and the day was ordered to be
solemnly observed. Hie judicious Chinese did not fail to remind their
Emperor that he should see to his conduct, to discover if there was
anything in it, or in the a£Gurs of State that needed reform. The eclipse
happened as foretold, and was observed with becoming seriousness.|
About this time a new code of laws was issued. Previously the country
had been governed by the laws passed during the Kin dynasty, but
these had been found to be too exacting.lf
Khubilai was constantly sending envoys to the islands of the Eastern
Archipelago, whose ships brought to the port of Tsuen chau, the rare
products of the Spice islands. Marco Polo, in describing the island of
Java, says the great Khan never could get possession of it because of its
great distance. Soon after Polo wrote this he tried with but scant success.
His envoy, a Chinese mandarin called Mengld, returned home with his
face branded ; the punishment there awarded to highwaymen. Khubilai
was furious, ordered a great fleet to rendezvous in the ports of Fu*kien,
under the command of a general and admiral who had been in the Indian
seas, and knew the language of Java. This armament consisted of 1,000
ships of all kinds, 30,000 soldiers, besides sailors, &c., and provisions for
a year. It set out in January, 1293, and coasted along the shores of
Cochin China. Having entered the great ocean, they came to the
mountains (P islands) Kanlan, Yukia, Limata, and Keoulang.
•OMdba,n4. t Dt ICanU, iz. 448.
tOell«<ll«.ijL449. ^QrabiUaxs. Note. |Ga«bil,*iS. f Dt Mallliw Ix. ijo*
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KMUBILAI KHAN. 25 1
There thejr landed to cut tisiber for makiog traaqxvts. The King of
jAva (called Koava bf die MoagoU) pretended to sahmit, and persuaded
the Chineie commander to attack Kolang, a Mighh«trh>g kingdom with
which he was at war. The King of Kolang was defeated in a battle which
lasted from sunrise to mid-day, and in which his forces numbered loo^ooa
He submittedt but was put to death with his fionily.*
The Javanese having thus revenged themselves on the peof^ of
Kolang wished to be rid of the Mongols, and notwithstanding that he had
sent in his submission, acknowledging Ehubilai as his sttxerdgn, andsur*
rendered his royal seal, the King niaidied against the Mongol troops, and
planted a force in an ambuscade, causing them much loss in their retreat
to the coast The eipedition returned to China after losing 3,000 meiL
Itwassixty-eii^tdaysontheway. It took back with it an immense booty
in gold and precious stones, but Khubilai was much dissatisfied with its
partial success, and also with the fact that instead of punishing ; his officers
should have made terms with his enemies. The chief officer instead of
being rewarded was severely bastinadoed, and a large quantity of hu
possessiims were confiscatedt Meanwhile the struggle on the northern
frontier with Kaidu and his supporters continued more or less v^^ously.
In 1393, two hundred Juchis or Nhichis brought Khubilai a tribute of
fish. Fishing was their sole occupation. Khubihii wished them to adopt
a more settled life, and fomished them with cattle and agricultural
implements, and sent officers into time country to furnish the same
assistance to theurcount]7men.$
Meanwhile Bayan, who commanded at Karakorum, and who for his
wonderfrd successes and experiences wias unrivalled among the servants
of KhuUlaii became the objea of envy to the coortiers of the Emperor,
who, succumbli^ to their advice, recalled him, and rqiboed him Ji^liis
own grandson and heir Hmur. He was app<Hnted commander of die
Imperial guards, and of the troops in the neighbourhood of the c^itaL
In the latter part of 1293 there appeared a comet, a great event in
Chinese astrology ; and the Emperor betook himselt to the learned
mandarins to consult them as to his conduct They as usual advised
him to be warned by the a]^>arition to reform the administration of the
ensure. At this time, curiously, Khubilai fell ill and died. This was
early in 1394, in the eightieth year of his age and the thirty-fifth of his
reign. In the hall of the ancestors he is styled Chi tsu. The Chinese accuse
him of an excessive devotion to the Lamas, a love of women and of
money, and of being very superstitious. They accuse him of having
wasted his resources in ill-devised and fll-executed expeditions to
Japan, Cochin China, &c., and of having employed too many strangers.
This last has always been a source of great jealousy to the Chinese.
• Oaabil, tS7-ax9. De llaiU», ii. 4SXt 4Sa* tOubiUai9* De lUillm Is. 4S^
:DtlUina,ix.4$5-
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2$! BISTORY or TBt MOMQOLS.
The Mongolf and wettttra writers have fMmed a dl£fistent estimate of
him. His rdgn is the most glorious epoch in Mongol historjri and he
was certainly, as Gaubil says, learned and fond of learned men,
courageous, enterprising, and magnificent*
Khubilai was the sovereign of the laigest empire that was ever controlled
by one man. China, Corea, Thibet, Tung king, Cochin China, a great
^ portion of India beyond the Ganges, the Turkish and Siberian realms
\^ from the eastern sea to the Dnieper obeyed his commands ; and although
the chiefs of the Hordes of Jagatai and Ogatai revised to acknowledge
/ him, the Ilkhans of Persia (whose empire bordered on the Mediter-
/ranean and the Greek empire) were his feudatories ; in foct, as D'Ohsson
says, nearly all Asia was subject to him. This was in difierent ways. Thus
while the great Khanates of the Ilkhans and of the Golden Horde owed
him allegiance, probably sent him laige quantities of riches as tribute,
while their chiefs received investiture at his hands, their internal govern-
ment was controlled entirriy by their speciid rulers. Their history was
probably similar to that of Canada. At first an integral part of the
empire, then having a substantive government of theur own, and owning
only a mediate allegiance to the central Imperial authority. This was no
doubt immense so loi^ as the Mongol Imperial fiunily was united ; but with
the rebellions of Arikbnka and Kaidu, and with the removal of the
capital from Karakorum to China it became weaker, until a few reigns later
• it snapped altogether. The supreme Khan had immediate authority
only in Mongolia and China, and it will be interesting to inquire how he
administered this vast area.
To assist him, Khubilai had a council or cabinet of twdve officer^
whom Marco Polo calls the twelve barons. Pauthier has found the
same number mentioned in the Chinese annals. Of the first rank were
two, styled Chin sang ; one, minister of the right ; the other, of the left.
They had the appointment of the various functionaries of State, and also
the control of their disoipline.t Pauthier adds in a note that the number
of these first ministers varied. At the accession of Khubilai in 1260
there was only one, who was named Mahmud, and who was a Muham-
medan. From 1261 to 1265 there were two, and in 1265 and 1266 there
were four, among them being Khandu and Bayan. This last statement
agrees with the enumeration of Raschid, who says there were four Ching
sang. Next to these were four Ping chang ching se, ministers of special
departments ; they had special control of military matters. They answer
to the four Fan chan of Raschid, who says they acted as inspectors on
behalf of the council Thirdly, were four assessors : two of the right,
Yau-ching ; and two of the left, Tso ching ; which correspcnded to the
Yeivjing, and Ur or U jing of Raschid ; they answered to our under^
secretaries of State. And lastly, two reporters on public affanrs, Thsan
ching ; the San jing of Raschid.
*OMbU.tts. t Th« Ynta w, PMthier*t If arco Polo, 319. Note.
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KUUBILAI KHAN. S53
I riiall now extract Rasdiitf s account of how the work of the council
was done.
^ As the Kaan generally resides at the o^ital,*' he says, ^he has erected
a place for tiie sittings of the Great Council, called Sing. According to
established custom a lieutenant is appointed to the inspection and
charge of the doors, and examines all the drafts of memorials that are
presented.
** The name of the first tribunal is In. All the proceedings are cc^ied
and sent with the memorials to the tribunal called Lusah, which is of
higher rank than the other. Thence all is carried to the tribunal called
Khalyiin, and thence to the fourth, called Kuijun. This is the board
wiiich has charge of all that relates to the posts and despatches. The
three first mentioned tribunals are under the orders of the last ; and ftom
it business%b transferred to the fifth, which bears the name of Rusniyi,
and which has everything that concerns the army under its charge.
Lastly, the business arrives at the sixth board, which is called Sittshtah.*
All ambassadors and foreign merchants when arriving and departing
have to present themselves at this office, which is the one which issues
orders in council and pasq^rts. In our days this office is entirely under
the management of the Amir Dishiman.
** When matters have passed these sue boards, they are remitted to the
Council of Sute, or Sing, where they are discussed, and the decision is
issued after being verified by the Khat Angusht or ' finger-signature' of
all who have a right to a voice in the counciL This 'finger-signature'
indicates that the act, to which it is attached in attestation, has been
discussed and definitively approved by those whose mark has been put
i^Km it.
** It is usual in Cathay, when any contract Is entered into, for the outline
of die fingers of the parties to be traced upon the document. For
experience shows that no two individuals have fingers precisely alike.
The hand of the contracting party is set upon the bade of the paper
containing the deed, and lines are then traced round his fingers up to the
knuckles, in order that if ever one of them should deny his obligation
this tracing may be compared with his fingers and he may thus be
convicted.
''After the matter has thus passed through all the boards, and has been
decided on by the supreme authority, it is sent back to the tribunal before
which it first came.
** The dignitaries mentioned above are expected to attend daily at the
Sing, and to make themselves acquainted with all that passes there. And
* ** TbcM «• tiM tix boardt of admlniftntioB which ttill exUt in ChiM, imder th* Munet of
KiBff-Pv, Hinc-^ ac. Tht titles fiTeo by Rtscbid do not Mtm to Attampt any imitation of
tha Chinaaa nanntfa, and afa prabaUy tboM in um among the Muhammadana. The tUrd boart
from tha tcft oallad Piagpn by the Chinaea, baa atill authority orer military MSaitu'' Yiila*a
Cathay and lhaWqrTbither«a06. NoCa.
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354 HISTOlty OP tHX MONGOLS.
as the buttnett to be tnuuacted is very extensivi^ tiie Chingtaiig take
their part in die writing that hat to be done as wdl as the other meinben
of the cooncU iHiose positions we have detailed. Each takes his plaoe^
acooidbg to his degree^ with a kind of table and writing materials before
him. Every great officer has his seal and distinctive bearings. It is die
duty of certain of the deiks to write-down the names of all who attend
dailyi in order that a deduction may be made from the aUowanoes of
those who are absent If any one is habitnaliy absent from the council
without valid encase^ he is dismissed.
'^ It is the Ofder of the Kian that the four Chingsang make all reports
tohim.
^ The Sing of Khanbidigh is die most eminent, and the buikUi^ is very
large* All the nets and rq;isters and records of proceedings of several
thousands of years are there preserved. The officials en^doyed in it
amount to some two thousand.*^
Suchis Raschid's account of the coundland its work. In the Yuen Se,
or Imperial annalsi we have further details about the administration of
the empire. We are told that at his accession Khubilai ordered Htu
heng and Liau kien chung to seardi out precedents^ and to arrange
the administrative machinery of the empire. This was done. There
were diree classes of officials of the first rank. Those who had to
do with the genend administration, Chung chu sing; those who looked
after military matters, Chu mi yuen; and die board of Imperial censofs,
who had to do with promotions, &c., Yu se thai.
Bdow these in rank were certain officers belonging to die interior
management of the Court (nei). These included the officials about the
Court (se) : the superintendents of the Palace (kian) ; those charged with
the Imperial guard (wei) ; those attached to the Treasury (fu).
Secondly, those who had to do with external matters, aa(tlie hing
sing) direct<Mrs of the provinces; hing thai, financial directors; stnenwei
sei, those charged with the public peace (!>., the police); andUenfrmgs^
the bureau of intelligence.
In imitation of the ancient dynasties there were also created three
great departments, styled san kung (the three dukes). The gnmd
preceptor of the empire, taistf; the grand reporter, taichuan; and the
grand conservator, tai p4o. There was also a grand du«ctor of the
armies, tasethu; his lieutenant, sethu; and the grand chief of police, tai
wei (i>., the great tranquilliser). Above all these was the president of the
secretariat of State, chung chu ling. He had a silver seal, and derived
his orders immediately from the Emperor.
We will now turn to the administration of justice. Pauthier says the
number of judges of the Supreme Court varied a good deal. In ia6o
there were sixteen; betow whom were thirty-one magistrates. Iir 1269,
* Calbay and tht Way Thithtr, a^-a6]r.
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KHUBILAI KHAN. 2$$
levemecn'and thirty-foor magiitoitei. In 1370^ di^itoen and diirty-fiTe
magistrates. In 1371 they began to use seals. In 1390 they were
dtyided mto two provinces. In 1391 there were thirty-six aeoetaries
attached to the grand court Two more were added in 1394. These had
a president and a first and Mcood deik over them. Attached to tiie
grand court were also two Mongol secretaries; twdve chief historian
graphersy or keepers of the rolls, also Mongob ; one keeper of the roUs^
who was a Ui|^ur, and a Mussulman, and two inteipieters of the Uighur
language; two officers chaiged with the seals, eight reporters, and a chief
of police.*
Such was the central administration. We will now pass on to the
government of the provinces. The part of the empire immediately under
the control of Khubilai was divided into twdve great prefectures or
governments, each controlled by a college or tribunal, styled Sing in
Chinese.
I. The central province, upon which the rest were more or less
dependent, comprised the present provinces of Shan tung, Shan si,
Pehch^ Honan north of the Yellow River, and part of Mongolia. It
was also known as the entrails of the empfae. Its chief dty was
Khanbaligh or Pddng. It included 39 lu (drcuits) and 8 chau (arron-
dissements). On it were also dependent 3 fii (departments), 91 chau, and
346 hien (cantons).
3. The province of Uie Northern Mountains (^., of Mongolia proper).
It indnded the lu of Honing, whose chief town was Kamkorum. It was
ruled by a military governor.-
3. The province of Liau yang (including Liau tung, and probably
Manchuria). It consisted of 7 lu and i fii, and had dependent upon it I3
chau and 10 hien. Its capital was Liau yang.
4. The province of Honan and the country north of the Kiang,
including I3 lu, 7 fu, and i chau; on it depended 34 chau and 183 hien.
Its capital was called Tung kmg during the Sung ; Nan king under the
Kin, and until 1388, when it was styled Plan lang. It was afterwards
known as Kai fung fu.
5. The province of Shensi and other districts. In 1363 Shcnsi and
Stt chuan were fonned into one administrative province, with its capital
at King diau (Si ngan fit), whose name in 1379 ^"^^ changed to Ngan sL
In 1386 Su chuan was constituted a separate province. That of Shensi
then comprised ^ modem province^ with the greater part of Kan su
to the right of tiie Yellow River, and part of the Ortns country. Its
capital was in 1313 named Fong yuen (Si ngan fu). It indnded 4 lu, 5
fii, and 37 diau, and had I3 chau and 88 hien dependent upon it.
d The province of Su dnian, included parts of Hu kwaag
and Kwd duot, and comprised 9 hi and 3 fh. On it were dependent
•Pcaiytr*ilfarotPoie,»i8ui«sst. NotM.
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3S6 HlSTOltY or THB IC0N00L8.
3 iU, 56 dura, I Uan (milittry cainp)i and 81 himu It alio ccmtained
tome wild tribes named Man i, d^.^ barbarous strangen, ^ die Miaotze^
who still remain there. Its capital was Ching tii«
7. The province of Kan so. It was constituted in 1281, and conir
prised all the country west of the Ydlow River, known as Ho-sL It
included 7 lu and 2 chau. Five others were dependent on it. Its chief
town was Kan chau.
8. The province of Yun nan. It inchided the modem province widi part
of Kwei cheu and parts of Thibet and Burma, uul inchided 37 lu and 2 fit.
There were dependent on it 54 chau and 47 hien, besides several Idun
or military encampments. Its capital was Chung-khing (Yunnan fit).
9. The province of Kiang che and other places, embracing Che kiang,
Kiang nan, south of the Kiang, and the eastern part of Kiang si. It com-
prised 30 hi, I fit, and 2 chau, and on it were dependent 26 chau and 133
hien. Its capital was Hang chau, which when the Sung made it their
capital in 1129, was named King se (the Quin say of Marco Polo).
10. The province of Kiang si and other places. It comprised 18 lu and
9' chau, and on it were dependent 13 chau and 78 hien. Its capital was
Lung hing, now Nan chang f\i.
11. The province of Hu kwang and other places, comprising 30 lu, 3 fii,
and 13 chau, and having dependent on it 15 ngan fu se {t^^ boards of
pacification), 3 kikn, 3 fu, 17 chau, and 150 hien. Its capital was
Wu-chang.
12. The province of Ching tung and other places, which comprised the
kingdom of Corea. It included 2 ling fu>(/V., superior departments) and
I se. lu capital, the residence of a viceroy, was Fan Yang.
This enumeration is taken from the Yung se or Mongols annals,
and I have abstracted it from Pauthier's Notes;* and also from
Yule's Cathay and the Way Thither.t The chief towns of these
provinces were seats of the tribunals styled Sing, and Raschid tells us
that that of Khanbaligh alone had Ching sang among its members. The
others had dignitaries bearing the title of Shijangi to preside over them,
aided by four Fanchan and other members of council who had titles
according to their dignities.
Besides the provincial councils there were local governors in the
various cities, towns, villages, &c. In regard to these Raschid says :
" In this empire of Cathay there are many considerable cities, each has
its approimate title marking a particular rank in the scale. ' The relative
precedence of governors is indicated by that of the cities which they
administer, so that there is no need to specify their dignities m the
diploma of appointment, or to enter into curious questions of precedence.
You know at once (by the rank of the cities to which they are attached)
which ought to make way for another or to bow the knee before him.
• P»vtU«r'ft llmrw Polo, SSJ-SSS* Notts. t Opb dt, 970. Holt.
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KHUBILAI KHAN. 357
These ranks or titles are as follow :— i. King (s.^., Imperial residence, as
in Peking) Nanking, &c.) ; 2, Du orTu (Court or Imperial residence, as in
Tatu, Sbangtu, &&) ; 3, Fii (a city of the first class, or rather the depart-
ment of which it is the head, as in Wu chang fii, &c) 4, Chan (a dty of the
second class, or district of which it is the head) ; 5, . . • (this is a blank
in Khaproth's original); 6, Kiun, a chief military garrison; 7, Hien, a
city of the third order, or sub-district of which it is the head. Chin, a
small town ; Tsun, a district.* Colonel Yule adds that the custom of
naming a dignitary by the title belonging to the class of district under
him still prevails in China.
The chiefs of the different prefectures, &c., were generally Mongols^ or
strangers from the west ; Muhammedans, Christians, and Buddhists.
Many Muhammedans from Persia, Transoxiana, and Turkestan settled
in China under the administraticns of Abd ur Rahman, Seyed Edjell, and
Ahmed, and the Chinese historians who praise hia reign make it a' cause
of complaint against him that he did not employ Chinese officials instead
of these double-dealing and crafty Turks and Persians to superintend hb
(nances. Before the invasion of the Mongols, the literates, who had
passed very searching examinations, were alone employed in the pul^e
offices. This class had greatly decayed. Khubilai restored tiie old
Imperial college at Yen king (Peldn), which had fallen into decay ; tiie
ablest professors in China were placed there, and the children of the best
^unilies studied at the same place. He also founded a second college
under the direction of the Mussulmans at Ta tu.f
The communications between different parts of the empire were kept
up by an elaborate post service. This post service was admirably
managed. It is well described by Marco Polo.^ He tell us Khanbalik,
or Peking, was the focus where there met many roads ; along each of
these roads at intervals of from twenty-five to thirty miles were situated
post houses or hostelries, splendidly furnished, called by the Mongols
Yambs (a Mongol word which Colonel Yule says the Tartars carried all
over Asia). To some of these hostelries were attached 400 horses, 200
in use and 200 at grass. At others there were fewer. Where the mes-
sengers had to pass through roadless tracts, where neither house nor
hostel existed, still there the station houses had been established,
except that the intervals were greater, and the da/s journey was fixed
at thirty-five to forty-five, instead of twenty-five to thirty miles. 300,000
horses were employed in this service, and there were lo^ooo stations.
There were two kinds of State messengers, the foot and horse couriers; bodi
wore broad belts with bells attached, and were stationed at intervals o£ three
miles. The bells sounded the runner's arrival, and prepared a firesh maa to
take his place, and Polo says, that by this means news travelled a t&k dayiT
* SAMhid, in Ynlt^fe Ctih»f and the Way Thither, 282. t D*OheMB» ii 480^
I Colonel Yule*ft ed., i. 38S.
IK
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258 HISTORY OP THE MONGOLS.
jotimey in a day and a night, and the Khakan could eat fruit that had
only been gathered twenty-four hours before at a distance of ten days*
journey. The horse couriersi by the same system of relief did from
400 to 500 miks in a day and night He thus describes the method
of procedure. He says, "the postmen take a horse from those at the
station, which are standing ready saddled, all fresh and in wind, and
mount and go at full speed, as hard as they can ride, and when those
at the next post hear the bells, they get ready another horse and a man,
equipt in the same way, and he takes over the letter or whatever it be,
and is off full speed to the third station, where again a fresh horse is
fiound all ready, and so the despatch speeds along from post to post,
always at full gallop, with regular changes of horses, and the speed at
which they go is marvellous. By night, however, they cannot go so fast
as by day, because they have to be accompanied by footmen with
torches, who could not keep up with them at full speed* These men
are highly prized, and in order to keep up they have to bind their
stomachs, chests, and heads with strong bands, and each of them
carries with them a gerfalcon tablet, in sign that he is bound on an
urgent express, so that if his horse breaks down on the road, or he has any
other mishap, he can i^ropriate that of any traveller he meets, and
make him dismount*
This daborate system of posting which the Mongols so nmch
patronised is referred to by nearly every traveller of the period. Similar
expedients were used else^idiere, thus Colonel Yule says the Burmese
kings used to have the odoriferous Durian transmitted from Tenasserim
to Ava by horse posts, but he adds, ** the most notable example of the
rapid transmission of such dainties, and the nearest approach I know of
to their despatch by telegraph, was that practised for the benefit of the
Fatimite Khalif Aziz (latter part of the tenth century), who had a great
desire for a dish of cherries from Balbeck. The Wazir Yakub ben Kills
caused 600 pigeons to be despatched from Balbeck to Cairo, each of which
had attached to either leg a small silk bag containing a cherry.*^
The capital of the Khakan, after the accession of Khubilai, was a new
city he built dose to the ancient metropolis of the Liao and Kin dynas^
ties, which was formerly known as Yen king. Khubilai's city was called
Tatu (<*./., great court), corrupted by the Mongols into Taidu^ or Daitu.
It was separated from the ancient dty, from which it was about half a mile
distant, by a small river, and was also known as Cambaluk, f ./., Khan
baligh, the city of the Khan.{ It is now known as Peking. It had in
Polo's time, a circuit of twenty*four miles, and was in the form of a
square. Its ramparts of earth fifty feet in width and fifty feet high were
vdiitewashed and loopholed all round. A recent French account, cited
• Ytlt*t Marco Polo, i. 990. t Yalo*t lUrco Polo, I 39«.
i Pavthkf^» Mtveo Polo, o^.
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KHUBILAI KHAN. 359
by Yule, mentions that the tame waUs are still forty-five and a half feet
high, and forty-seven and a quarter feet thick, the top forming a paved
promenade, unique of its kind, and recalling the legendary walls of
Thebes and Babylon.
Raschid tells us that in order to make these ramparts they built a
framework of planks, between which they placed the damp earth, which
they battened down with wooden rammers until it was solid and firm,
when the planks were removed. It was necessary to make them thus
because of the great quantity of rain that fell there* At each comer was
a great bastion, and on each side three gates over which palaces were
built Each gate was garrisoned by 1,000 men. The streets were straight
and parallel with the sides, and the whole was thus divided into
rectangular blocks of buildings like a modem American city. Outside
each gate was a suburb inhabited by strangers and merchants. Besides
the river a splendid canal communicated with the Golf of Peh che li and
Ibrmed a great highway for produce.
In the middle of the city was a great watch tower furnished with a
water clock and a bell This latter struck three times at night, after
which no one must leave the city save to attend the sick or attend women
in labour. The clock tower mentioned by Polo and a very elaboratt
water dock of the Mongol period still exist at Peldng.t Khubilai lived
at Tata during the winter. His palace was a square building, enclosed
by two walls, and each side of the outer one was a mile long ; thb wall
was whitewashed and loopholed. At each comer, and in the centre of
each side, was a large building used as an armoury, one stored with bows,
a second with saddles, &c One gate was only opened for the passage of
the Emperor. Inside this enclosure was another enclosure with eight
stores corresponding to those in the outer wall ; these, according to
lyOhsson, were treasure houses. The walls were painted in bright
colours, with battle scenes, dec In the centre of this second enclosure
rose the palace, '' this consisted of a basement of masonry with a super-
structure of timber, sculptured with beasts, birds, knights, idols, &&, and
gilt" The same kind of palace, as Colonel Yule says, is still found in
Burma, Siam, and Java. He supposes that the palaces of ancient Asokas-
and Vikramadityas of India were similarly built4 On each of the four
sides a great marble staircase led to the top of the marble walL In the great
hall 6,000 people could easily dine. The outside of the rocf was painted
with vemiillion, and yellow, and green, and blue, &c, and varnished until
it shone like crystal Between the two walls were parks and pleasure
grounds, where fidk>w and white deer, gazellet and roebucks, musk deer
and squirrels were kq>t In one comer diere was a lake stocked
with fish. The eaitii excavated in making this lake fora&ed a mound
planted with evergreens of different kinds, and onfamented with blue or
•D'ObNoo.U.6i5. Noti^ t Yal«'t iCareo PMo^ i. S3S> : M moo Foto, i. jat*
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26o HISTORY or THE MONGOLS.
green rock work ; this mound was a mile in compass and a hundred
paces in height. Polo says that wherever a beautiful tree existed, and the
Emperor got news of it, he sent for it, and had it transported bodily^ with
all its roots and the earth attached to them, and planted on that hill of
his. The larger ones were moved by elephants.
The parks he tells us were covered with abundant grass, and the roads
through them being all paved and raised two cubits above the surface,
they never became muddy, nor did the rain lodge on them, but flowed off
into the meadows, quickening the soil and producing their abundance of
herbage.*
Such were the winter quarters of the great Khan. We will now turn
to his summer dwelling. Raschid says that " there were three routes
between Peking and Kai ping fu, or Shan tung. One, forbidden to the
public and reserved for the chase, probably passed by Chagan nor.t A
second passed by the town of Chou chou, and followed the banks of the
Sanguin ; near that town were planted vines and other fruit trees, and
near a neighbouring town named Semali, chiefly inhabited by people
from Samazkand, were orchards like those found at Samarkand. The
third route went by the defile named Si king (? the pass of Chu yung
kuan), beyond which there was open country as far as Kia ping fu.
Formerly the court passed the smnmer near the said town of Chou chou.
Khttbilai then built a palace east of Kai ping ^ nanied Leng ten, but
abandoned it in consequence of a dreaoL The architects and others
who were consulted suggested that a lake surrounded with meadows,
near Kai ping fu, would be a good site. There was a kind of stone there
used instead of wood ; they collected a quantity of this, and also of wood,
and they filled up the lake and its sources with lime and pounded bricks,
above which they poured melted lead and tin. These foundations rose to
the height of a man. The imprisoned water broke out into various
streams, and produced fotmtains. On this foundation was built a palace
in the Chinese taste,'' &c
This palace was similarly built to the former one, painted in bright
colotu^ and adorned with grotesque and other animals. About it was also
•a park stocked with game. The Mongols were always great patrons of
falconry, and we are told the Khan kept there alone 200 gerfalcons,
besides others. " He went every wedc to see his birds sitting in mew,
says Polo, ^ and sometimes he rode through the park with a leopard
(probkbly a chetah) behind him on his horse's croup, and if he saw any
animal that took his fancy he slipped the leopard at it, and the game
wksa taken was made over to feed the hawks in mew. At a spot in the
paik where there was a charming wood tiie Khan had another palace
boilt of cane. It was gilt all over, and most elaborately finished inside.
It was stayed on gik and lacquered oolunms, on each of y/hxch was a
''Yvle'tlfarM Polo, i. 321. Widtimffm, ; D'OhMon. ii. 633, 696. Note.
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KHUBILAI KHAN. 261
dragcm all gik, the tail of wfakii wat attached to the column, vfYdUe the
head aupported the aidutectttie. The roof, like the rest, was formed of
canesy covered with a vamish so strong and excellent that no amount of
rain would rot them. These canes (bamboos) were a good three palms in
girth, and from ten to fifteen paces in length. They were all cut at each
knot, and then the pieces were split so as to form from each two hollow
tiles, and with these the house was roofed. Every such tile had to be
nailed down to prevent the wind from lifting it" This bamboo palace
could be easily put up and taken down again. When erected it was suyed
hymore than aoo cords of silk.* Such were the luxurious suitoundSngs of
the great Emperor, the grandson only of the simple chief of Nomade
shepherd of the Gobi. It was, says Colonel Yule, whilst reading this
passage of Marco's narrative in old Purchas, that Coleridge fell asleep
and dreamt the dream of Khobilai's paradise beginning.
In X»a«d« m KlmMa Kkui
A ttaetlf pleMtnt dom* dtcfM,
Wb«r« A^ph, the tacrtd river ru*
Bjr caverns meatoreleee to nua,
Down to A eoaleet eea.
80 twice ftire mUee of fertile grooad
With velJt nni tower* were nirdled tomU ;
Aa4 there were f erdeus, bri^t with Attmeron rilla.
Where Monemed en iooease-beeriaf tree ;
Aad here were foreete, andeat ae the hill*,
Bnfoldiag mumy ei^u «f frteaery.t
The site of Shangtu has been recently visited by Dr. BushelLt On the
route between Peking and Shangtu, Khubilai had another palace which
is called Chagan Nor by Polo. It is no doubt the Arulun Tsaghan
Balghassun, which Ssanang Setzen states that Khubilai built about the
same time as Shangtu.|
Dr. Bushell, in his recent travels beyond the Great Wall, menUons
having seen its ruins ; they are known by the Chinese name of Pai cheng
ttu, or white city, and are on the borders of the lake Chagan Nor.f It
was doubtless merely a hunting seat, and Polo remarks it was attractive
to the Emperor on account of the lakes and rivers in the neighbourhood,
the haunt of swans, and of a great variety of other birds. Five different
kinds of cranes are specified by the oM traveller as being found in the
adjoining plains. Dr. Bushell thus speaks of the same country. He says
''it is filled with lakes and pools of water, the haunts of innumerable
waterfowl .... At the Icldnor, one of the largest lakes in the
district, we found the water black with waterfoid, which rose in dense
flocks, and filled the air with discordant noises. Swans, geese, and ducks
predominated, and three difierent species of cranes were distinguished."^
The court apportioned its period of residence at the various palaces
* Yiile*a Marco Polo, i. a6j» 264. t Ya}e'a Marco Polo, i,t6% I VoU ooe iaira.
iSaaaaaf Setaeo, 1x5. f Proeeedinfe Royal Oeocraphital Society, xrfil. 154.
f Op. dt., 134.
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262 HISTORY OF TUX ICOHGOLS.
witk great capillarity.. Polo tells us that it renuMod at Shangtii during
the months of June, July, and August^ leaving there on the aSdi of the
last month, when the cane palace was taken to pieces.*
The Khakan kept a great number of whitemares. Polo says more than
lo^oooofthem. These were looked upon almost as sacred. Their milk was
reserved for the members of the Imperial fiunily and of the tribe of the
Oirats, to whom the privilege was granted by Jingis. When the Emperor
set out on his return on the aSth of August, as I have said, the milk of
these mares was sprinkled on the ground, so that the earth, the air, and
the false gods should have a share of it» and that everything belonging to
the Khakan should be blessed. This is a wide-i^read custom, and still
found among the Yakuts, Khirgises, &c.,t only at a different season.
Colonel Yule suggests that the season was changed to correspond with
the Festival of Water Consecration by the Lamas.)
Polo relates that ^when these mares passed across the country, and
any one fell in with them, although he may have been the greatest lord in
the land, he must not presume to pass until the mares had gone by ; he
must either tarry where he was or go a half day's journey round if need
so be, so as not to come nigh them, for they were to be treated with the
greatest respect'^i
Khubilai*s reign was a heyday for necromancers and medicine men of
various kinds. There were weather sorcerers who claimed the power of pre-
venting clouds or storms from passing over the spot on which the Khakan's
palace stood. They came chiefly from Thibet and Kachmir. These
weather conjurors are found nearly everywhere in Central Asia. Their
nostrum is the jade stone. I Polo says that when a man was condemned
to death, these people, apparently referring to the conjurors, cooked and
ate his body, but not so if he died a natural death.^^ These conjurors
also performed Daunous tricks, one of them, well known according to
Colonel Yule among Buddhists old and new, is that of moving dishes,
ftc., on the table. Polo thus describes it : ^ When the great Khan is at
his capital and in his grand palace, seated at his table, which stands on a
platform some eight culnu above the ground, his cups' are set before him
(en a great buffet) in the middle of the hall pavement, at a distance of
some ten paces from his table and filled with wine or other good spiced
liquor, such as they use now when the lord desires to drink; these
enchanters by the power of their enchantments cause the cups to move
from their place without bemg touched by anybody, and to present them-
sdves to the Emperor, This every one may witness, and there are often
more than loyooo persons then present" This and a great deal more of
the necromancy practised by the Shanmns maybe profitably compared
with the similar exhibitions of modem spiritualism. Polo goes on to say
YoU'tlUrMPabii.aSf. tY«lt.i.S93fe lYnta,*^ i Yiito<to Ifweo Polo^ i. a^.
|ColoQtIYMl«*tc»piulao<M,lfARoPolo,i» fl7a>J74. f Op. dt^ i. 266.
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KHUBILAI KHAX. 363
that these conjtiron would go to ^ Khan whm dM idol leaiu were at
hand, and tell him tiiat dM god, if he leoeived no offerings, would
send bad weadier and spoU the seasooi, &e. Thej then asked for so
asany bladc-fiiocd sheep, such a quantity of incens^ of lign-aloes, &c, to
perfoxm the sacrifices. These they obtained and thenmade a great foast
in h<«eur of their god, and held ceremoBies with giand illuminations and
incense of various odoois, nuide fimn diteent aroBiatic ^cet» cooked the
■Mat and set it befoco the kbto and sprinkle die btothUAer andthidier,
saying that in this way the idols got their beSy fufl.*
From the first of Biarch to the middle of May die court was occupied
in the great annual hunt whidi was organised on agigantic scale. Pdo
has much to say about the hunting establishment of the Khakan. They
were presided over by two chief hontsmen called Chlnuchi ( ? Chong*It-
chiXt or keepers of the big dogs. Each of them had 10,000 men
under him, one body dressed in red, the odisr in bhie. Each time he
went out for a hunt, one of these bodies widi $fiOO dogs went towards
the right, the other to the left, formfaig a great dide to endoee the game
as in the earlier Mongol fiuhion. The two chief huntsmen were bound
to supply the court with ipoo head of game eadi day, from October to
the end of March. Chetahs, lynxes, and also tigers were used in hunting
wild boars, wild cattle, bears, wild asses, stags, i^ and like die modem
Khirgises, the Mongols succeeded in training even the golden eagle, and
used it in their Imperial fiJconry to catch wohres, foxes, deer, and wild
goats.)
The great hunt generally set out on die first of March. The Khakan
took with him 10,000 falconers, with 500 gerfalcons, besides peregrines,
sakers, and other small hawks and goshawks, to fiy at the waterfowl
These were distributed over a great space of country, 100 or 300 at the
most ii| a place. Each of the Emperor's and die grandees' hawks had a
label attadied to its leg, with the name of iu owner and keeper upon it.
AH lost hawks, dogs, &c., were taken to a high official styled Bulargucht,
or the keeper of lost property.
The Khakan travdled in a palsn<iuin carried by four el^hants. It
was lined inside with gold plates, and outside with lions' skins ; from this
vantage he made his casu at the cranes, Jbc., that came by him. So that
gouty and decrepid as he was, he could ei^y his sport without much
exertion. At last he arrived at die can^>, consisting of lo^ooo tents.
The Khakan's tent is thus described by Polo. *" The tent in which he
holds his courts is large enough to give cover easily to a thousand souls.
It is pitched with its door to the south, and the barons and knights
remain in waiting in it, whilst the lord abides in another dose to it, on
the west side. When he wishes to speak with any one, he causes the
* YoU't Ifsico Pok>, i. s^.
Yvle't Marco Pcto,i. 397* I Yvk'a Marco Polo, i. iSJt M aaq.
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364 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
per$(Mi to oe summoned to the other tent Immediately behind the grett
tent there is a fine laife chamber where the loid sleepSi and there are
also many other tentt and chambers, but they are not in contact with
the Great Tent as these are. The two audience tenu and the sleeping
chamber are constructed in this way. Each of the audience tents has
three poles, which are of spice wood, and are most artftdfy covered with
lions' skins, striped with blade, and white, and red, so that they do not
sutler from any weather. AU three apartments are also covered outside
with similar skias of striped lions, a substance that lasts for ever ; and
inside they are all lined with ermine and sable, these two being the finest
and most costly furs in existence. For a robe of sable large enough to
line a mantle, is worth 3,000 besants of gold, or 1,000 at least ; and this
kind of skin is called by the Tartars, ^the king of furs.' The beast
itself is about the sise of a martin. These two furs of which I speak
are applied and inlaid so exquisitely that it is really something worth
seeing. AU the tent ropes are of silk.'^
The hunt continued till May. All the time, as Polo says, the Khakan
did nothing but hunt about the cane breaks, and along the lakes and rivers.
The country was strictly preserved for twenty dayai' journey round. From
March to October was a close season for hares, stags, bucks, and roes,
while from October to March anybody might hunt. In the middle of
May the court returned to Ehanbaligh, and after spending three days there
in feasting, went on to the summer palace at ^langtu.
The luxury and pomp that were prevalent at the Mongol court after the
accession of Khubilai were most remarkable. I will now give some
examples.
At his great feasts Ehubilai's table was elevated above the others.
These were probably rows of small tables, each accommodating two
persons, as in modem Chinese fashion. He faced the south, i^th his
chief wife on his left ; on his right the different princes of the Imperial
stock, but lower, so that their heads were on a levd with the Emperor's
feet. Lower still, according to their ranks, sat the chief officers. The
princesses and grand ladies were similariy ranged on his left The great
body of the soldiers and humbler guests seated themselves on the carpet
Near the Khakan's table was a great buffet or coffer, several feet each
way, exquisitely wrougbt with figures of animals, carved and gih. In it
was inserted a great gold vessel of the capacity of a butt, fiOed with wine
flavoured with spices ; and at each comer a similar but smaller vessd.
Besides these were many vessels of gold, each containing enough for
nine or ten persons. Similar cups were scattered about the tables, one
for every two persons, besides smaller ones with handles attached, widi
which the liquor was drunk. Various chamberUins walked about to see
that the servants did their duty. Two very big men stood at the
* Yal«'B Mareo Pob, L jSs.
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JUfUBIUU KHAM. tS$
entnmce^ to punidi thoie who trod on dM dmtbold of the dooTy a
practice careftdly goardod by the Mongols, at I hanre ptovkmsly italed.
Those who oOended were 8trii»ped of their clothes or beaten severdf «
Those who waited on the Khakan had their mouths and noses covered
with fine n^ikins of silk and gold, that Uieir breaHi ndgbt not offnadhiny
and whenever he drank the music pUtyed, and the grandees west down
onooeknee. Colonel Ynle says these were ptobabty foniisHisi oapiad
from the old Chinese ccnmoniaL After the repast Jiq^liia and other
performers were introduced to amuse the company.*
The 38th of S^tend>er was SMbUai's birthday, and was celsbrated
with great festivity. The Khakan was dressed hi hii best robes,
embroidered with strips of beaten goki, and was attended by i3/)00
grandees in siUc and gold, similaily but not <|Qite so ricUy dressed, each
one wearing a golden girdle. Some of there soits were so oorersd with
jewels that they were vaioed, says Maroo Folo^ at loyooo golden
bezants. A present of one of there soits, togeHwr widi a pair
of boots made of Borgal, i>., Bulgarian or Rnssian leather, embroidered
with silver threads, was made to each of his grandees three times
a year, when all the courtiers wore dresses of the same colour as
the Khakan^ On his birthday the Khakan hdd a grand reception,
when the repiesenUtives of difierent countries made him presents, and
die priests of the difierent religions oiEtnd up spedal prayers for him.
The odier great feasts wi»e on New Year's Day and the Feast of Herdaf
At the former the Khakan and all his subyects were dressed in white, and
the Mongols stitt call the first month of tht year Chagan, or Chagan
Sara,!./., white, or i!^ white month. (This was purdy a Mongol custom.
White was the mourning colour of the Chfaiese, and forbidden to be
worn.)} Rich presents were on this day presented to the Khakan.
If possible, a multiple of nine, the sacred number, was chosen for
the number of articles ; and P(^o telb us Khnbibii received nu>re than
100,000 white horses richly caparisoned on one of these feast days. On
the feast of the New Year his 5,000 dephanu were also eadiibited,
covered with their housings of ii^id doth, representing birds, beasts, &c
(Similar housings of cut doth are stin used in Indiai) The dephants bore
coflfers containing the Imperial plate and fomiturei There were followed
by camds, also ridily housed, and laden widi things needfol for the feast
The grandees assembled in the hall, and the other peof^ outside in view
of die Enq^eror. When aU were seated, a great prelate arore and cried
out, '^ Bow and adore." Then all stooped down with their fordieads to
the ground and worshipped the Khakan like a god.} This prostratimi was
repeated four times, and then the obeisance was repeated before a highly
decorated altar, on which was placed a vermillion tablet with the Khakai^s
* Yale's Marco Polo L 338-341. t YvM't Marco Polo i. S4S* I Yilo*i Marco Pdo, i. 348.
fTUt it tbtiPiakaowo Kowtow of UwCUaoio cwoaonlil.
XL
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a66 taarcmx or the momooia
aaiiie on it^ aiid * ceittor of gold in ik^oat of hy widi vlikh tiie w^^
€ueiL As I hsvo Mid, BlmbOai introdnced the caitom of tronbipping
the taUett of his anceston in 1363. On the greet test days Polo
mentions that a tndned Hon was led into the Khakan^ piesenu, and
made to do ^^^^"^g't entiiiely mdiainbd*
The aoooonts that Polo and other weetem writers gift ol tiie ponqp and
cofcinony practised at the Mongol coot woold ^ipear Tory exaggerated^
oould we not oorroborste them fimn other aooroes. The following
account, for which I am inddited to Pandiiec^ is a translation of the
general ceremonial to he used at receptions at the Mongol ooQrt« as con-
tained in the Yuen se, and dry as it is, it IsstiUawonderliilplctQreofthe
lengths to which obeeqnioas deference to a sovereign was then cairied*
Three days before the ceremony, it was to be redted in the tenqile of die
longevity of the Emperor, and of the ten thousand tranquillities^ which
was in consequence known as the temple of the education whidi raises the
intdligenoe. Two days before, the throne room and its vestibiile were
to be put in order. At eariy dawn on tiie day of reception^ die chamber*
lains (aidet dts cenma$tus) were to introduce those invited, and conduct
them to dieir places. The oqMafais of die guard dressed in dieir special
robes were to enter the grand guardroom called the Hall of Repose; diey
were to take their ivory tablets and make the prescribed genuiexiotts.
The r^orters of external affiurs and the fntendsnfs of interior affidrs
were then to describe die details of the proposed ceremonial They were
to bow, ptx)stnae themsdves, and dien rise. . The 'Eaapem was then to
come out of his private apartments and mount the Imperial chariot, upon
whidicries(of greeting^ and the cracking of the wh^ of the orderlies
who exacted a respectful behaviour, were to be heard. Three chamber^
kins, with die interpreters of the palace, were then to conduct dw
assisrsnts by the hand, ri^t and left, to their phices. The procession
was then to enter. First, the captains of the guard preceded by heralds,
the latter bearing axes (? halberds). They were to mardi to the door of
the Han of Great Li^ and standing there with their fiu^es to the nordi,
were to mdke the crowd prostrate themsdves, and then scatter themselves
about the roomsi to the right and left, and cover the bronae vases with
screens to protect diem. The diambeilains were then to take the borate
and chariots to their temporary resting-pkoe. The introducers, with the
commandant of the interior of the pcdace, were then to conduct the
employ^ of the palace to posts idience th^ could r^ulata the crowd.
They were to go as fiur as the stairs of the palace of the Empress, and
take their ivory tablets in both hands, and make the prescribed genu*
flexions. The reporters of the exterior were then to go to the EmpcesSy
and inform her of their commission to bring her to the palace. She was
then to mount her diariot ; the Emperor's messengers and introducers
were to conduct her throu^ the crowd, as for as the eastern gate of the
Emperor's palace^ and make the crowd foil back to the enclosing wall.
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KHUBILAI KHAir. Tfyf
The fiffipevor and Empress having mounted their coaches, cries and
etiddng of whips were again to be heaid. Three heialds were to open a
waythroQi^ tiie crowd.
The director of agricohore hai^ anaouAoed diat the hour had arrived
when the codt finished crowing (Paulhier adds that the Chhiese are irerf
early rissn, and the Emperor reochree his ndnistars between four and
fite ajn.X the first introdnoer was to take the valets of the palace^
dressed in their proper dress, to the Inpeiial paTflioQy whese they were
to divide to the right and M; and enter by te daers knsiwn as ^
Essence of the Son and die Flowers of tiM Mooa» Those who were in
the room were to rise, fiws one another, and make a passage. The
valets of the palace were then to sheol with a loud voice: ^Totheiig^
and left; make way lor the Imperial coitlife.* The cooDonander of the
troops meamdiile having aU tout doofs gnaided. AH being ready, the
mandarins and odjCKS there were to rise, aad at the command of thefi<sr
introdncer^ bow, and rise again. They were then to go ai fiur as die
Vermillion vestibole (^ ^at of the Eo^eror), aad make obeisance
bcfisrs die throne. The first oidedy having annonnrnd diat all was
ready and wdl done, the chief, tipstaff was to shoot in a loud vQsce»
"^SaUite profinmdly.'' The odisr tipstafls were to take op the cry and
say^^'Bow.* "* Sahtte profoimdly.* ""Rise.* "^ Sahue again prolbuiidly.*
^Rise.' Hie chief tipstaff was then to shout, ''The Sn^eror, whom
miqr ten diousand jo3fa attend, has arrived.' The odier t^atafi were
then to shoot, ''Rci^ yoor pbces.* ^Sahtte profiMndly.'' ''Rise.''
''Salute again profinrndly." "Rise.* <'Bow.« "Reidaoe your ivory
Ubleu hi your girdles.* "Bow.* "< Strike die eardi dvee times widi
your leet* "Touch the groond diree times widi yooc iueheads.''
"Take your tablets from yoor girdles.* "Sahite pfofoondlyv* "Rise.*
"Salute agam profoundly.* "Rise.* "Once more sahite.'^ "Rise.*
"Stand strait^ up.* The diief tipstaff was then to shout, " Each ods
has peifocmed his acts of respect* Tlie two commissaiy inspectoes^ die
banner bearers, and die commanders of the troops befaignnged in two
ranks, right and left, were now to enter die Imperial chamber; the
infoior ofificexs remaining outside. The master of the stables had a
^lectal post, while the chief standard-bearer stationed hhnself so as to
oflBer die Empress and the ladies about her whatever they needed.
This part of the ceremony over, the grand inastrr of die ceiemonies
was to mtroduoe the minister of States and dM odier functionaries of die
empire in dieir State robes, cattriqg them to enter by the gates of the
EesenoeoftheSunandtheFk>wersoftheMoon. Tliose vdio were seated
were then to rise. The intendant of the palace was then to shoot hi «
loud voice, " Civil and military officers of aU ranks, open the ceremony
with the three grand directors (Sense): the war minister, die inspector
general of instruction (morsl, literary, and religious), and the mfadstsrof
Ustoryof die ri|^* AU diese lutvhig risen, the grand master of As
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368 HISTORY OF THB MONGOLS.
oeiemoiueswasto ihoutina]oiidvoice,''Bow.'' ^Rise.** << Go to the
VenniUion pavilioa to salute the throne.* The first orderly having
announced that all was in order and well done, the chief tipstaff and
his assistants were then to repeat the various orders they had given to
the preceding section^ as I have related. A master of the ceremonies
was then to o£for the ministers a glass of wine. They were then to
be conducted two and two into the hail, before the throne room, where
was a laige company of musicians playing and singing, whik young boys
and girls were dancing. They were then to mount the staircase to the
grand hall of the throne, where the most cdebiated songs were to be
sung, the airs being i^;ipn)priate to the particular season. Having
listened to these, the mmisters were to go over an open gangway, to
a place wherethey might recline on cushions ; the orderlies were to stand
there with their faces turned towards the north, awaiting orders. Merry
music, &c^ was to be performed before them. The under tipsta£& were
then to shout that the music was to cease. A chamberlain was then to
conduct the ministers by the soudi-east gate of the palace ; the first
chamberlain receiving them, and conducting them close to the Imperial
coodi, before which the ministers were to bow the knee. The music
having ceased, the ministers were to recite the following prayer in a loud
voice:
''Vast heaven which eactends 80 fiur; earth which follows its will ; we
invoke thee, and we supplicate thee to cover the Emperor and Empress
with blessings ; grant that they may live ten thousand times a hundred
thousand years."
The first chamberlain was to reply that it should be as prayed for. The
ministers were then to pcostrate themselves, rise^ and resume their aeats»
and to take some wine. They were to re^ace their tefalets in thehr
girdles, take the cup offered them in bcth hands, and stand foctng the
north. Music was to be again resumed. Tiie ministers were to drink
to one another, the Emperor also taking the cup and holding it up. The
chief tipstaff was once more to bid all present salute profoundly, the
order was to be given in detail by the other tipstaffs nearly as before.
The ministers were to take three dnui^^ts frmn the cup, which they were
then to put down again. They were then to retire, conducted by the
proper officials, and the music was once more to stop.
The tipstaffi were then te cry out, ^ Get yourselves in order again.''
Upon this the fonctionaries of the minister of rites were to carry the
fonmda of prayer (li pu kuan), as also the two tables having on them
thetUngs used in the celebration of the rites, and to go bdow ''the
tiaasverae steps,' where a formula of prayer was to be read. Certain
mandarins were then to go to a vpedaX projectii^ wing of the palace,
whetc everytiking was to be ready, and bow. The formula of prayer was
then to be distributed, read, and cheoqoed. All were then to return and
Mslett to a lecture on tiie ceremony of the rites. Mounting the st«p% they
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KHI7BILAI KHAN. 269
were to go througb a process of genuflexioa, and cf reading the fonniila
and redring, &&, idiich is most tedious to read, and which ended by the
series of sahitations idieidy described* After whidi the older Buddhist
priests thft tao s^ and tiie foreign guests were to be ranged in order to
present their oomplinients. After the ceremony all were to join at the
banquet,* which is described graphicafiy enough in Polo's narrative
already quoted. This punctilious ceremonial wfts no doubt taken from
the old regulations of the Chinese court Some of its details may be
better learnt from the plates attached to the travels of Ysbrand, Ides, and
odier old travellers^ tinn from a mere description. Other detailed
instructions were drawn up for other court ceremonies, as those practised
on die Emperor's birthday, the annual reception of the great dignitaries
of State, and the various sacrifices to the sky, the earth, &c ; butwemust
proceed widi opi narrative.
The iOiakan had a body guard of la/xx) horsemen, called Keshichan,
le.f ^knig^ts devoted to their lord." Kishik was the term used f<»* the
palace guards of the great Mogul in India, and also for the matchlodcs
and sabres, which were dianged weekly from Akbar's armoury for the
royal use. The royal guaxds in Persia who watch the King's person at
night are called Keshikchi.t They are doubdess the same as the
Kalakchi or Kalchi of Hmur's Institutes. The name has probably a Mongol
etymology4 This body guard was divided into four corps of 3,000 each,
who watched the pakoe in turn for spaces of three days and three nights.
The captains of these sections were no doubt the descendants of the four
champions of Jingis Khan, referred to by Gaubil and De Mailla, and by
them called Kxie sie or Kiesie. I have referred to the suits of clothes
presented to his body guards three times a year by the Emperor. I will
now extract the following account of the Imperial official wardrobe (taken
from the Mongol annals) from Pauthier.
^ I. The head-dress and robes of the son of heaven. These were made
of fine silk and dyed Mack. The State cap was covered with a flat
piece surrounded with the same stuff (this piece was oblong and stiff and
placed on the round cap which fitted the head like the top of a college
aqs see Maillafs plate quoted bdow), from which hung strings. The upper
fobewasofskybhie. It was lined with flesh-coloured silk. Four bands
with dragtms and clouds surrounded it. The cap wao surrounded with a
border of fine pearls. Before and behind were twelve pendants, each
fbrmed of twdve pearls. Right and left were two bows of yellow silk,
to which were hung fringes, with ear-rings in jade and other precious
stones htmg from them. Threads of raw yellow silk threaded with pearls
were fixed round this cap of ceremony, while dragons and clouds were
embroidered upon it in pearis. Here and there also were semee swallows,
little willow trees, and bands of pearls meandering like a river, done in
*PMaU«*tltofOoPilo,99i-«90- tY«l«*«MMeoP«lo, 1.337. I ¥«!•*• Mafco Polo,!. 537.
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a/O HISTORY OF THS MONGOLS.
pevis. Either end of the fbtUereftched to the gmnid. Thkaltowas
embroidexed in peaxls ^rith flowers, swallows, willow trees, ftc To two
srOoBa bands were fostened pint, to which were attadbed the fringes that
fell from the crown. Jade pins were also used to fitftei^ the coiJfkr$.
" The blue upper robe was decorated in bright colours, heightened by
gilding, with the following ornaments :--One Imperial constellation, one
sun, one moon, four ascending dragons, four dragons with double
bodies, thirty'^gfat mountains, fbrty-dght fires, fbrty-ei^t wild birds,
forty-eight tigen, and monkeys with long tails.
''The underrobe was made of scarlet. Its shape tiiat of an i^Mron. It
was ornamented with sixteen rows of embroidery. In each row were two
water plants, one rice plant, two hatchets, and two of the characters
calkdfrL
*^ The ordinary robe was made of a light white siDc, widi a border made
of straps of yellow leather and silk. The garment that covers the knees
(/x, a kind of kilt) was made of red silk, that which went round the legs
being an dastic web. Its form was that of a short petticoat On its
upper part was embroidered a double-bodied dragon. From this garment
hung an ornament in jade, another in precious stone named hing, anodier
in jade resembling a precious stone, an ivory brooch, two pieces of the
precious stone called hoang, ivory brooches from whidi were hung pieces
of the hoang and hing stones. Bdow were animals' heads in silver,
mned with spani^ in gold. Other precious stones were hung on eadi
side in a second row, and on each side, attached to ivory brooches,
were pieces of jade that made a noise in walking.
^The grand girdle was made of a piece of red silk and two of white.
Its jade rings were set in gold^ chisdled and burritshed. Above were
three jade rings ; bdov a species of purses in sky blue silk. The
stockings were made of red silk in their upper part, while the shoes were
alsomadeofsilkanddecorated with various raised ornaments in gdd.*^
These State robes, again, were no doubt adopted from die old Chinese
court dress. The cap of State just described was a very old institution,
and has survived ^^>arenliy to our own day. One of the same kind is
figured by De Mailla.t He also describes how the Emperor Tao Tsao
had one made as early as the year A.D. 218, and adds the fr>llowing
note:—
*' Navarette describes having seen the Imperial State cap several
times. He says its shape had a mysterious meaning. It was slightly
oval in 8luq[>e. Of twelve strings of pearls attached to it ibvr hung
over the eyes, to signify that the Emperor ought to have his eyes closed
over those who brought any business before him, ia^ that he should view
what they had to say impartially. The four strings that fell over dw
ears meant that he should be deaf to the wiles of the rich or the entreaties
•l>MiHii«T'tM«icoPfllo»sl5,a8S. Mom. tVAt^.
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KHUBILAI KUAN. a?!
of the poor, and be only open to law and justice. The four strings that
fell behind signified with what a combination of judgment, insi|^
reflection, and care princes ought to rule their conduct, and how wdl
informed they ought to be of the affiurs of gc/emment This cap was
worn on State ceremonies* The grandees of the court wore similar ones,
differing only in the number of strings or bands^ The judges of ancient
Egypt also had a gold chsda with a precious stone attached hanging
behind them, which they called die truth.*^
The size and shiq>e of the Imperial garments were subject to prescribed
rules, which are set out in die Yuen se^ which also specifies the particular
costumes proper to the various State ceremonies. It also describes the
various Imperial equipages— the chariot of jade, of gold, of ivory, of
leather, and of wood| so called from the material that predominated in
its construction, t
These luxurious surroundings were no doubt borrowecl, as similar
things have &en borrowed by the Manchus of our day, from the Chinese.
Lake them, neverthdess, the Mongols kept up a special organisation, that
of their army, wldch proves better than ought else that their position in
China was that of a huge encampment ; that they were strangers there,
and fiuled to assimilate with the indigenes. At the head of each
province was placed a commander of a tuman, or io/xx> men, who
collected the taxes, and accounted for the same to the exchequer. The
army, consisting of Mongols and Chinese, was divided between the town
and country. The soldiers enlisted for six years. The Mongol portion
were all cavalry, and retained their nomade habits, bartering their cattle
for the provisions they needed. As a symlxd of his authority, each officer
of rank had a silver or gold plate given to him. These plates were
called Paizal^ probably from die Chinese Pai-tseu, a tablet| A captain
of 100 men. Polo tdls us, had a tablet of silver ; the captain of i/xx>,
a tablet of gold or silver gilt ; while the commander of a tuman, or
10,000 meuyhad a golden tablet widi a lion's head. Several silver
paizahs have been found in die Russian dominions, one of which is
figured by Colonel Yule. One found in the government of Yenisei is
13*2 inches long and 3*65 inches broad. Schmidt has read its inscription
thus :— ^By the strength of the eternal heaven may the name d the
Khakan be holy. Who pays him not reverence is to be slain and
must die.'' M6it of these inscriptions are in the Mongol language and
the Baspa character. One has been found in die Uighur character. A
general who commanded 100,000 men was endded to a gold paisah,
weighing 300 saggi (D'Ohsson says fifty ounces), marked with the figure
of a lion bdow the sun and moon. This entitled him to a golden
umbrdla, carried on a spear above him, and to sit on a silver chair or
dmme. Polo adds, ^ that to certain very great lords there was also given a
«I>tU«au,liN69.7o. tPattthitr,op.dt,iiS. | Ynl«*t Maito Po?o, L 1x5.
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37a HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
tablet with gerfalcons on it ; this being only to the rtty greatest of the
Khaki's baronsy and it conferred on diem his own fall power and
authority, so that if one of these chiefs wished to send a messenger any
whither, he could seize the horses of any many be he even a king, and
any other chattels at his pleasure.''* Colonel Yule says that the shonkar
or gerfalcon occurs on certain coins of the Golden Horde struck at
Serai, otherwise he has not fotmd other reference to its use as a State
symboLf Pauthier compares very s^ptly these official tablets with the
bullae used by the Byzantine Emperors and other mediaeval sovereigns.
These also were made of gold, silver, and lead, the golden bullae being
only used on important occasions4
There was little coin used for currency, except paper money ; this was
made fipom the inner white bark of the mulberry tree. The notes of different
sizes represented different values. Colonel Yule says that Ehubilai made
an issue of such notes in the first year of his reign, t^,, in 1260, and
continued to issue notes copiously till the end. In 1287 he put out a
complete new currency, one note of which was to exchange against five
d the previous series of equal nominal value. In both issues, the paper
money was in official valuation only equivalent to half its nominal value
insilven The ^per money was called tchao. Of his first issue there were,
ist, notes of 10, 20, 30, and 50 tsien or cash ; and, notes of 100, 200^
and 500 tsien ; and 3rd, notes of strings or thousands of cash, in other
words, of liangs, tads, or ounces of silver. The Chinese liang is valued
KWghly at Sod. in silver, or I2pd. or 10 shillings in gold ; the latter
metal being then of greater nominal value. The nominal value of the
whole of the notes issued in the thirty-four years of Khubilai's reign
was ;£i24,827,i44. The credit of these notes constantly diminished, so
that in 1448, in the reign of the Ming dynasty, a note of 1,090 cash
was only worth three.|
Each note was signed and sealed by several officials, and finally
stamped with an official seal in vermillion. A note which has survived
60m the days of the Ming is figured by Colonel Yule.| All foreign
merchants who had gold, or silver, or gems for sale, had to dispose of
them to the Imperial mint, which paid liberally for them. Any one
needing these commodities to make into plate girdles, &c, had to bi^
them from the mint. Old notes could be exchanged for new ones by
payii^ a discount of three per cent These notes were for awhile intro-
duced into Persia by the Ilkhan Kaikhatu. Colonel Yuk has the shrewd
commentary that block printing was practised at least for this one
purpose^ at Tebriz, in 1294. This was very far on its way to
Europe. With Khubilai, as with his predecessors, religion was treated
as a pditical matter. The Khakan must be obeyed ; how man shall
* Yule*! Marco Polo, i. sxf. t Op. dt, i. 3x7* I PaatU«r*» lltreo Palo, ss7
^ Yale's Marco Polo, i. S7S-389« Marco Polo, y^ U $fS,
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KUUBILAI KUAN. 273
worship God is indifferent* He however professed himself a Lanuust,
to which £uth he was converted by the Empress Jambui Khatun. This
was very distasteful to the Chinese grandeesi who were for the most part
followers of Confucius, a philosophical sect, which has always contemned
Buddhism as a system of idolatry. The Khakan was, however, very
catholic; he counted Christ, Muhammed, Moses, and Sakyamuni
or . Buddha, as the four great prophets of the world, and addressed
IHaycrs to them alL He also took a part in the great festivals of the
various rel^pons. The only sect which was persecuted was the curious
sect of Ascetics, known as Tao-s6, whose books were ordered to be
burnt throughout the empire in 1281. The Nestorian Christians had a
BBsident bishop in China. In 1378, Nicholas III. sent some Franciscan .
missionaries to the court of KhubilaL In 1289, John of Monte Corvino,
with some other monks, set out on a similar errand ; he afterwards
became Archbishop of Peking. There were also many Muhammedans
at the court I have already mentioned that they for awhile lost the
favour of Khubilai. D*Ohsson says that the Christians had aroused
iQuibilai's hatred of the Muhammedans by quoting to him the cdebrated
passage from the Koran. *^ Kill those wlio adore many gpds.*' Having
assembled the Mussulman doctors at the court, he asked them if their
sacred book contained the passage. They could not deny it ''And you
beUeve,'' said KkttbUai,'' that the Koran came from God?" ''Wedon't
doubt it,** was the answer. " If God then has ordered you to kill the
infidds, why don't you obey him?'' ''Because the time has not come;
we are not yet able,** was their reply, " But I am able todestroy^^/'and
he ordered them to be executed. The Mussulman employ^ about the
court begged for a reprieve, and that he would susunon some one better
instructed in the law. They went for the KadhL " It is true," he said,
" that God has ofdered us to kill those who worship many gods, but by
this is meant those who don't accept a deity supreme over all, and as you
put the name of God at the head of your ennctminits, you cannot be
placed in this class." Khubilai was satisfied, and set the other doctors at
liberty.t Some time after #ome Muhammedan merchants having taken
some white eafgitB and falcons from the Khixgises as a present to the
JChakan, the latter sent them a present of some food from his own
table. They refused to eat because the animab of which they were
conqfKMied had not been killed in the orthodox fashion. Annoyed at this,
and instigated by the Buddhists and Christians, he revived the ordinance
of Jingis, forbidding the killing of animals in the Moslem fashion, and
offering rewards to informers. For seven years there was a shaxp per-
secution, and many poor people grew rich by the discreditable art of
accusing theunhidcy Muhammedans. The edict wai withdrawn at the
rq;>resentation of the Chancellor of die Exchequer, Sanga, who assured
•Ynlo't Marco Polo. Lsix. t D*ObuoB, iL 49a, 493.
XM
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274 HISTORY or THE MONGOLS.
the Khikan that Mahaniinedanmerdiants would no loi^r visit his court.
Marco Polo mentions that Khnbilai employed as many as 5,000 astrolo-
gers at the court, Christians^ Muhaminedans, and Chinese ; and that he
had an astrohtbCy on which the planetary signs, and the hours, and
critical points of the year were mariced. By means of this, die different
aspects of the moon and planets were examined by the Christian,
Muhammedan, and Chinese astrologers, and disease, munain, thunder^
storms^ or tempests were predicted ; the results being qualified by the
eacpression that '' It lies with God to do less or more according to his
pleasure." The results were written down by difierent observers, and
those whose predictions were the most correct, naturally gained great
■ credit Printed almanacks have long been a mariced f<eature among the
Chinese. In 1328, as many as 3,123,185 copies were printed,' of three
different sizes, besides a special one for the Muhammedans. In these
calendars, lucky and unlucky days were mariced ; also gcod day» for
marrying, or undertaking a journey, making dresses, buying or
building, Sec*
Among the public worics canied out by Khubilai none was more
magnificent, and none has proved more lasting and valuable than the
Grand Canal which joined the capital with the more fertile districts of
China, and which to this day supports on its waters an almost incredible
population. Its origin and construction have been described by Raschid,
and I shall take the liberty of eattracting Colonel Yule's translation of the
passage.
'* Two important rivers pass by Khy^baligh and Daidu. After coming
from the direction of the Khakan's summer residence in the north, and
flowing near Jamj&], they unite to form another river. A very large
basin, like a lake in fact, has been dug near the city and furnished with
a slip for launching pleasure boats.t The river had formeriy another
channel, and dischaiged itself into the gulf of the ocean, which
penetrated within a short distance of Khanbaligh. But in the
course of time this channel had become so shallow as not to admit the
entrance of shipping, so that they had to discharge their cargoes and
send them up to Khanbaligh on pack-cattle. And the Chinese engineers
and men of science having reported that the vessels from the provinces
of Cathay, from the capital of Aittchin^ and from the cities of Khingsai
and Zaitto no longer coyld reach the metropolis, the Khan gave them
orders to dig a great canal, into which the waters of the said river and of
* Yv)«*t Marco Polo» i. 40Z.
t Tbt two riven ar« the 81ia4io asd P«bo. which nniu below PeUag, efterwarde bearing
the Utter name. The lake ia that called Thai-i-tchi or Si-hal-ttOf to the east (wctf) of the
ImperUl palace.
I H«r« %re find the " capital of Machin ** distinct firom KingMi. It it probablj Chlnkalan or
Canton fh»i in meant. The author rates here to die extension of the Great Canal towards
PeH'ing hyKArfai.
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KHUBILAI JUIAV. 275
seveial othen shookl be i&tcodoocdi Tbis auud eKteodsibr a distance
of forty dayt* navlgatioDL 60m Khanbaligh to IQhlngiai and Zaitd% die
pons freqtiented by tbe sbqps tbat come fiom India and from the oqiital
of Michin.* Tbe canal is pfovidad with many shiices intended to
distribute the water over the country ; and when vessds arrive at these
sluices diey are hoisted up by means of madunery, whatever be their sise,
and let down on the other side into the water. The canal has a width of
more than thirty dls. KhubUai caiued the sides of the embankments to
be revetted widi stone in order to prevent the.^arth giving way.t Along
the side of the canal runs the high road to Michin, extending for a space
of forty days' journey^ and this has been paved throughout, so diat
tntViUers and their animals may get along during the rainy season
withaut sticking in the mud. The two sides of the road are planted with
willows and other shady treesy and no one is aUowed, whether soldier or
otherwise^ to break branches of those trees or to let cattle food on the
leaves. Shops, taverns, and villages line the road on both sides, so that
dwelling succeeds dwelling without intermission throughout the whole
qiaoe of forty days' journey.* t
I have menti<med the enterprising expeditions Khubilai sent to die
islands ctf the Eastern Archipelago in search of rarities, &c. Marco P<^
expressly says he sent to Ceylon to try and buy the celebiated ruby, for
whidi he offered the ransom of a dty^ but the King would not surrender
iti He also sent there for much more precious objects, namely, for some
rdics of Buddha. This was in 1284.
^The ambassadors,'' says Marco Polo, ''with a great con^any,
traveUed-on by jea an4 land until they arrived at the ishmd of Seihm,
and presented themselves before the Kmg. And they were so urgent
with him that they succeeded in getting two of the grinder teeUi, which
were passing great and thick, and diey also got some of die hair, and the
dish from which that personage used to eat, whidi is of a beautiful green
porphyry."! This story of the embassy in search of the sacred alms dish
and the teeth is confirmed by the narrative of Ssanang Setxen,
and by a Chinese narrative fomished by Mr. Wylie to Sir Emerson
Tennant, and quoted by Cokmd Yule;Y but the MongolEhan's mes-
sengers went even forther. They got as for as Madagascar, whence they
brought him a foather of the fiunous roc, which was stated to measure
ninety spans, while the quillpart was two palms in drcnmforencel ! ! They
»Iltr«w«SadltlM«'aa9ii«lolli«ddn*diitiactlranKiflCN<. IlitptokiiM7Cliifikalni«r
Canton Hut UmMBt. Tbt ftothor rtltn bcr« to tb« utmiat of th* Ofsat Cuwl towaidt
r«kii«brB«blBL
t Tho oarthi omWitwirti !■ tMo partof thocoalifiifSPtmtyfoUiiainwaltool
coono ciqraaitio ait into Itifo Uocki,oa4 cwBontodtofttlMrl^ a UbS of mortar. Thoaa
waUi voMoboirt twolvo fMt is tUokaaoa, aad tbo largo ttoaea 00 Ibo top tmt bosid toiiliitr
'WitiidHBfSoficQa. |aiaHMoa,U.sst^
ICaUMjtiAtte WajThhhor.tsliSSib
iTuk*aMartoPolo»ii.i94. |0^dt,U.«59' ^(h>.eit.,s«4'
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3/6 HISTORY OF THE MONOOL8.
also brought two botes' tusks which weighed more than fourteen pounds
apiece. Colond Yule identifies with great prolMliility die loc with the
aepyomiSi and the great boar widi the hippopotamus.*
Gaubii says that Khubilai had five principal wives ; Von Hammer that
he had seven ; Marco Polo ttat he had four^t Of these^ the chief one,
who seems to have had a markedly higher position^ was Jambui Khatuni
Polo says diat each of the chief wives had a special court, very
grand and ample, none of them having fewer than 300 damsels,
besides many pages, eunuchs, &c., so tiiat each of them was
attended by not less than lo^ooo persons. Among the Mongols^ the
Kunkurats were celebrated for the beauty of their women, and supplied,
most of the wives to the IDiakan. Commissioners were regularly sent into
the north, who selected several hundreds of young girls, whose points of
beauty they discriminated, estimating some at sixteen, others at seventeen,
eighteen, or twenty carats ; and whatever standard die Khakan may have
fixed, whether twenty or twenty-one carats, diese were selected, a price paid
to their parents, and they were sent to the court, where a fipesh selection
took place by a council of matrons ; ^ and these old ladies,* says Polo,
"muke the girls sleep with them in order to ascertain if they have sweet
breath (and do not snore), and are sound in all their limbs.'' The few
who passed these competitive examinations attended upon the Khakan,
relieving each other by sixes. The rejected were employed in the palace,
in the kitchen, about the wardrobes, &c. They generally married the
officers about the court, and received a dof from the Khakan.
Khubilai is described by the Venetian travdHer whom I have so often
quoted, as of good stature, neither tall nor short, but of a middle height,
with a becoming amount of flesh, and shapely in all his limbs. His
complexion white and red, his eyes black and fine, the nose well foimed
and well set on. He was of a benevolent and kindly disposition. Polo
says he sent messengers about the empire to relieve those who had
suffered from bad seasons, who had lost dieir catUe by murrain, &c So
punctilious was he that, we are told, if a chance shot from his bow struck
any flock or herd, whether belonging to one person or to many, and
however big the flock might be, he took no tithe of it for three years. If
an arrow struck a boat fuU of goods, that boat-load paid no duty,
for it was thought unlucky that an arrow should strike anyone's property,
and the great Khan said it would be an abomination before God were
property that had been struck by the divine wrath to enter into
his treasury. § He had the highway planted with rows of trees, a few
paces apart, so that people might not lose their way, and he was encou-
raged in this by his astrologers, &c., who told him that he who plants
trees lives long. Where trees would not grow, he had pillars or
•Op.cit^ii.347-3S4' t Yvla't Mtreo Polo. L sft>. X IXOhNoa, U. 500.
^ Yale's Maivo Polo, i. 399.
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KHOBILAI KHAJf . 377
set QfK* Ptiblic gmaiiet w«re fBl«Mlihfd| in iriiich gmin was
storad in abundant hanrestSy where it woald keep for three or foor yearsi
and was sold cheap in times of dearth. Pdo also describes the Khan's
nranificent ahns and geneiuaity* A large number of poor pensioners
were in receipt of idieat, ftc* ; while at the public almshouses any one
m^t daily get a loaf hot from tike baking. He says 30^000 people aTaiied
themselves of this. He also su]^ed the poor with clothes, levying a
tithe upon all wool, hemp, &&, for the purpose ; and as the artisans
were bound to give a day's work weefcly, tiiese were easily made. In a
sanilarmanner the army was clothed. This benevolence was no doubt
due to the influence of Buddhism. P<do says, befoe they were
converted the Tartars.never practised aknsgiving. Indeed, he says, when
any poor man b^Qged of them, they would tdl him, '' Go, with God's
curse^ for if he loved you as he loves me, he would have provided for
you."t
In reviewing the life of Khulnlai, we can hardly avoid the Conclusion
which has been drawn by a learned authority on his reign, that we have
before us rather a great Chinese Emperor than a Mongol Khan. A
Chinese Emperor, it is true, wielding resources such as no other Emperor
in Chinese history ever did, yet sophisticated and altered by contact with
that peculiar culture which has vanquished eventuaOy all the stubborn
conquerors of China. Great as he was in his power, and in the luxury
and magnificence of his court, he is yet by no means the figure in the
worid*s history that Jingis and Ogotai were. Stretching* out their hands
with fearful eflfect over a third of the human race, their history is entwined
with our western history much more than his. Big as the heart of the
vast empire was, it was too feeble to send life into its extremities for very
long, and in viewing the great Khakan at the acme of his power, we feel
that we shall not have long to wait before it will pass away. The long*
doms that had been conquered so recently in the West were already
growing cold towards him, and were more in form than in substance his
own. This #as no doubt inevitable, the whole was too unwieldy, its races
too heterogenous, its interests too various. Yet we cannot avoid thinking
that the process was hastened by that migraticm from the desert to the
luxurious south, from Karakorum to Tatu and Shangtung which Khubilai
effected, and which speedily converted a royal race of warriors into a race
of decrepit sensualists.
In tiie next chapter we shall trace out this process. Meanwhile it
toust not be forgotten how very much the West was indebted for the
revival of culture to the Mongol conquests. Many of the ideas and
notions which we have learnt to believe were intuitively discovered in
Europe in the fourteenth century, were brought there by those traveUers
whose voyages to Cathay wtre made possible by the firm hand with which
• Yile^k Mirco Polo, 1. 394. t Yv)e*8 Marco Polo, i. 398.
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37^ HISIOItY OP THB II0N00L8.
die desert robbers wexe controlled bjr the Moogols. Block ptintiiii^ bank
notesy gunpowder^ the matinei^ conqmss; good roods, postkig anange-
mentSiwheded carriages, and a number of other discoveries that suok a
revirfation in the arts of life, were, I bdieve, made known in the West
entirdy by the Mongol conquest Those notions of rdigious toleration,
of orderly govemmcBt, of equality of justice^ and of political sagadty that
bqpsn to infiiter into £ur^>e dirough the Italian universities came thither,
I believe^ from the fitf East, where they were both known and practised.
And if we have learnt to be hypercritioal of that most ancient dvilication
y/thote rules and metiiods have become crystallised and formal, we
must allow that in the thlrtoenth century at least there was life and vigonr
enoughinit,andthatifwewoukl point the student of the history of the
thirteenth century to the area wbett he may best gatiier political, sodal,
and artistic lessons, we must point to the realms of the Mongol Khakans,
and in doing so shall bid him occupy himself veiy largdy with him
whom Marco Polo styles ^the Great Khan,'' the generous patron of
the wise and the good of all creeds and tongues, Khubilai Khan.
Noii I.— Shangttt. The ruins of Khnbilai's sununer residence have
been lately visited by Dr. BnsheH, and I shall extract his account of
them.* He says th^ are situated 80 li to the north-west of Dolonnor,
and are now known t^ the Mongol name of Chao naiman sume hotun,
the city of 108 temples. ''The city has been deserted for centuries, an^
the site is overgrown with rank weeds and grass, the abode of foxes and
owls, which prey on thenumerous prairie-rats and partridges. The ground
is but slightjy raised aH^ovt the bed of the river, which flows past the
south-east at a distance of four or five li from the dty wall, while itis over-
shadowed on the opposite side by the Hingan range of mountains, trend-
ing south-west, north-east, and rising into lof^ peaks fiuther n<Nrth. The
walls of the city, built of earth, faced with unhewn stone and brick, are
still standing, but are moie or less dilapidated* They ferm a double
enceinte, the outer a square of about sixteen 11 with six gates— a central,
northern, and southern, and two in each of the side walls ; while the
inner wall is about eight li in circuit, with only three gates^in the northern,
eastern, and western faces^ The south gate of the inner city b still
intact, a perfect arch 20 feet high, la feet wide. Hiere is no gate in the
opposite northern wall, its place being occupied by a large square
earthen fort, fiaced with bride; this is crowned withan obo or cairn,
covered with the usual ragged streamers of silk and cotton tied to sticks,
an emblem of the superstitious rq;ard which the Mongols of the present
day have for the place, as evidenced also by the modem legendary name—
''the dty of 108 temples.'' The ground in the interior of both indosures
* ProcMdiflgi of tli« Rof«l Otegnphiciil Sodvlgr, tsS^iSf*
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Kwomxja KBAK. 279
is iMwA with btocJM of mtitJi tnd oAtr litniHii of Uu|^ t
palioei^ d» oolliiie of tlM lbiid«llow of ioiie of whidi
vliSle biokm Hobs, dzafoo% aad tlwTtnMiBt of oth^
lie sbouK in every diraedoo, htlf hidden ^ tlie thldc sad tai^^over^
growth. Scarcely one stOM leoMdns above snodier, and a mofe com-
plete state of rain and dganiailon could hardly he imagined, hot at the
same time everydiing testifies to tiie former eiistenoe of a po|MikNit and
flonrishtng dty. A broken memorial tablet was fomd, lyhig witbin the
north-east angle of the outer city amid many other rdics»ona raised
piece of groimd^tiie site evidenUy of a large tangle. The upper portioB,
ptojealag above thesor&ce of te gremd, contained an faiscription of
the Ynan dynasty, in ananckntlorm of the Chinese chsrarter»snrnwhded
by a border of dragons boldly carved in ds^ r^kl This tablet was
erected by die Empemr Shih-tsa (Knblai KhanX ^e founder of the Ynan
dynasty, hi memory of a Btaddhistdiief priest of high rank, head of tiie
monastery. The knier half of the mamivr marble sha> liesdonbtiem
buried beneath tbe grass, bat we were unable to get at itfiorwantof
proportools. Outside die dty proper, as described above^ there is yet a
thiid wall, smaller tiian eidier of te odwrs, but continttous with the south
and east sides of the outer dty walL Thb b now a mere grassy mound,
endosingan area estimated at fire square mfles, to the north and west of
dKdty. This must be the paik described by Marco Pda"
'Nat0 2.— The Ho dnnig and Tao s& I have used these texms two or
three times without explanarion. The former b the Chinese name for the
f-ama Buddhlsts. The latter has been shown to connote the
curious sect otherwiK called Bonpo, and whidi seems to be a kind of
leformed Shamanism. Its great apostle and saint was Lao tse ec
Lao kiui^ 1^ was bmn in the reign of Tii^ waqg of the Chen dynasty.
It is a curioos mixture of asceticism and fotishisoL* I shall have more
to say about both sects in a future chapter.
NfiU 3.— The Balisiu This term occurs frequently in Mongol historyt
and a few wofdsou^ to be said about it The balish was the Mongol
money of account, its vahie is not very weU ascertained. Theauthorof
the Tartkfajihankushai(i#., Aland din AttaMulkJuveni) says that the
baOsh of gold and the balish of siber represented a weig^ in g^ or
silver equivalent to iiomiskals. He adds that the silver balish was
worth m Persia, in his day, 75 rokni dinars. Each dkar of the weight of
fourdanks. Vassaf says the gold balish was worth 3,000 dinars, the silver
bafish 200 dinars, and the paper balish 10 dinars; while the author of
the Rauxat ul Jsnnat says tiie gold balish was wortib 500 dinars. Lastly,
Ododc, the Franciscan tmvdler in China, says that in 1330 tiie paper
balish was worth one and a^ialf Venetian florins. As I^Ohsson says, it
is impossaile to reconcile these statements, except by the condttdon that
• Tim's lUfCO Polo, i. 9»$-n^
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380 HISTOKY OF THB II0II00L8.
the rahie of tiie baliah waffertd great wiatioiis.* The Anbic muiod,
according to Mn Masketyne, was a miifiit eqwvalent to aevent)r-lbQr
grains troy, the dinar and besant were coins ef about the vahie of half a
sovereign.t
^<7/f 4.— Khubilai, according to Von Hammery left twdye sons, of
whom seven bore the title of Wai^y or King. Theirmameswere,i,Jurjior
Doije. 2, Ching kin (in the Chinese authorities Yutsung, Wang of Yeny
le.y old Peking). 3, Mankx^ Wang of the Pacified West ; Pok> says he
was King of Kenjanfo or Shensi. 4, Nomukan (Pacifying Wang of the
North). 5yKuridaL 6, Hukodu, Wang of Yunnan; Pok> calls him King
of Carajan. 7, Aghrokji Uknruji or Gaohichiy Wang of Siping or
Thibet. 8, Abaji (? Gaiyachi). 9, Khcddiochu or Gukju, Wang of Nii^
or Tangut. 10, Kutuk-tinwr. 11, Togan (Wang of Chinnan); he
commanded on the frontier of Tung Idng, and having £uled in his
campaign there in 1288 was disgraced. 12, Tenkan.}
Naie 5.— Since writing the account of Khuhgu's campaign I have met
with an account of his march by one of his companions, the Giinese
commissary Liau Van. This account, which I had overlooked, is given
at length in the introduction to Pantfaier's Marco Pdo^and as it describes
in some detail the route that must have been foUowed by most travellers
from the West, I have abstracted it and made some observations. The
latter are contained within brackets. From Holin (Kaxakorum) we
travelled through a country watered by rivers towards the north-west for
about 200 11 (twenty leagues). Our way was sensibly uphiO. We then
halted; afterwards we crossed the Han hai (f>., the mountains of
Khanggai). These were very high and cokl, and although the sun was
sometimes very hot there, yet there was always snow. These mountains,
full of rocks, were partially covered with pines, which formed their only
ornament Turning to the south-west for some seven days, tiiey crossed
the frozen desert of Khanggai. After a distance of 300 li the level of the
country sensibly lowered. There was a river several li in width, called
the Hoen mu Uen, /./., Hoen muran (doubtless the Jabkan). This
swells considerably in winter. They traversed it in boats. After several
days they reached the river Lung ka (The Chinese editor says thb is the
Ulung ku, which flows 500 li south-west of Ko putu. It is doubtless the
Arungu, the feeder of the Kizilbash lakey along whose banks the road
still passes.) Marching again towards the north-west, they joined the
southern route to Pi chi pa H (Bishbalig). This is, in hct, the present
route from Tarbogatai to Kar karasu and Bishbalig. In this neighbour-
hood diey grew com and millet The river splits into several channeh^
which fell into a lake with the circumference <^ 1,000 11, which was called
Khi tse li pa se (/./., Kizilbash). In this were many fishes good to eat,
and also good natural weirs of stone iHuch assisted the fishermen.
•iyOlMoa,ii.fi4i«Vott. tYiae*ilUzQoPokHU.asandx79. 2 Yiilt*t If arco Polo» 1 3IS
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KSUBILAI KHAK. 2%l
In tmvdliiif a Httk to the iMtt tktre w»s a town caQed Mi«Bam* A
fhrcr Naa is mentioned tn tlie map before me as linsated in this very
plaoe^ a Hide nertli o< the Ayar aooTy and separated fromlske Kkilbash
hf die Olkbotshor mountains otOj. More afsin to the south-west
was the town of Polo or Boro (this in the text of the idxnre chapter has
been writMn Hafak, as erroneously given by Von Hammer), where only
millet and fioe were sown. The mountains were covered with larch trees.
Other trees could not take root there. Stones which had rolled down
beitrewed the land. In the town were many houses and great markets.
There were gardens, in wUch were houses built of earth, in diese metal
washing and the polishing of precious st<mes was carried on. The doors
and windows were all furnished with g)ass. North of the town was the
nsountsin Haithie {ia^ the iron mountain cm the sea). The wind there
blew so violently that travelers were blown mto the sea. (This sea and
the boisterous wind are mentioned by Carpino and William of Ruy^Mrak.
A recent Russian traveller, Potimstefl^ triio mentions the same phe-
nouMnon, and descr&es die place almost in the terms of Carpino, has
identified the lake with lahe Alakul, and Colonel Yule, whose opinion is
almost decisive on such a point, agrees with him. The Chinese narrative
says the wind came from the mooxtfain Haithie, which is undoubtedly
the Ala-tag range that forms the watershed between lake Alakul and lake
Sairam. It says further, that Hiathie lay north of his town of Boro.
Now I find on the map before me, immediately south of the Ala*tag
moimtain, and close by lake Sairam, a place still called Borotala, ^., die
plain of Boro, which exactly coincides with its position in our narrative.
It would seem that while Ruysbrok and Carpino went north of tlw
Ala-tag mopntains that Khulagu's mardi lay south of them. But to
continue our narrative.) Having marched twenty li to the south-west
they came to the defile Thie-mu-rh chan-cha^ which defile was guarded
by Chinese. The road was very steep and difficult, and they had to pass
over a wooden bridge suspended on the mountain side. (This defile is
undoubtedly the well-known passage in the Kabyrghan mountains.) The
road, on leaving the defile, went to the town of A li ma li {O^ Almaligh,
now called 111 or Kuldja). The weUs of the markets of this town were all fed
with running water. They had all kinds of fruits, but the gourds, grapes,
and pomegranates were especially remarkable for their beauty. The
Hoei he (<>., Turks), mixed with Chinese, inhabited it The manners and
customs of the latter had insensibly altered, but they still resembled
iomewhit those of the inhabitants of China. To the soudi was the dty
of Chi mu rh, whose populadon was very mixed. (I can make^'nothing of
this town.) In this country there was a savage animal like a tiger, whoee
fiir was thidc and of a gokkn cokiur, bus without stripes. It was very
dangerous to man. There was also an insect resembling a spider. If
it bit a man it caused him mndi pain and to have a great thirst If he
IK
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a82 HISTORY or THl UONOOLS.
drank te quendi this he instantly died. On the other hand, if he got
drank with wine and was then side he recorered.
West of Poks all the mountains weve of gold, sihrer» or copper; bearing
written diaiacters, but not pierced with square holes, like tiiose in China
(query, the meaning of tiiis). Then you came to the Mao, where
carriages were used drawn by horses, in which the people rode. There
also were men who carried great loads on their backs, and who notwidi-
standing travelled very quickly. They were called Khi li khi se.
(Khirgjiises or Buruts, who are still found in this country.) They used
dogs and not horses. (This paragraph seems to be a digression, and the
narrative then continues.)
On the a4th of the second mocm they passed throiq^h I^, a land between
two mountafais, with a peaceable population engaged in trade. Canals
nMandered about the plain and were pleasant to the eye. There were
many ruins, M walls and ramparts, and fortilied places in this place. It
was anciently ^ the home of the Khitans.'' (This is no doubt the valley of
Ae Chu, stQl noted for its ruins. The Khitans are the wdl known Kara
KhitaL On the map before me I find a ptoLce on the Chu marked Sari
Kurgan, /./., ? White Motmds, witk the alternative name of It Kiyn,
which is surely the parent form of the I-tu above named.) The narrative
goes on to say that the place was about 5,000 li from Karakorum, near it
was a krge river named I yun ; the noise produced by whose rapids in
flowing eastwards was very marked. The inhabitants said it was the
source of the Hoang ho. (Notwithstanding the confusion here as to its
direction, we cannot well be mbtaken in identifying this river with the
Chu. There is, in fact, in this neighbourhood, no great river flowing
eastwards, north of the Thian Shan range.)
On the a8th of the second month, our travellers passed the Thala se
(f>., the Talas). The ist of the third month they reached the town Sai
Ian (/./., Sairam), where the Hod he, who professed Buddhism, went to
worship. The 3rd day they went by Pie chi Ian (? Tashkend), where the
Hoei he had a considerable trade, and also practised their ceremonies as
just mentioned. On the 4th day they crossed the river Uu khien. They
crossed it in boats shaped like quivers. According to report, the source
of this river was among great mountains, where much jade was found.
(The river is no doubt the Jaxates or SihuiL) We need not follow oar
traveller any further. It would seem that with small deviations the route
he travelled was that travelled by most of the pilgrims to the Mongol
court, until that court was moved from Karakorum, when a different
route was diosen. The dty called Itu (which name in its other form of
It ki yu is suerely the Equius of Rubruquis, whose site seems to have
baffled Cdonel Yule^s researches) seems to have been a meeting-place of
the routes from Persia and Kipchak. Thence travellers might either go
through the dd country of the Kariuk Turks, along the northern slopes
of the AhUag mountains, and thus by Uke Alakul ; or, keeping to the
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KHUBILAI KUAN. 2$3
taudiy ftoM throu|^ Almaligh, tbe andent capital of the Lioft Khans
«f Kaahgar. On the suhj^ct matter ot this note^ see Pattthier's Marco
Pob, cxxxiu<3cxxvn, and Yule's Cathay and the Way Thither,
CCXT-CC3WV.
Xoti 6.— The followiiig table epttomizes the relationship of the chief
maubas oi the Mongol Imperial family mentioned in this cluster.
JinfitKlua.
Ji^ JafiUai Ocotal TxM
Maspi Khkbilai Kholagv Arikkdn Mokaogil SmL
1 1 1 i YtLsisi r
OnaciM ShinU Asanui M«lik Timor
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CHAPTER VI.
THE DESCENDANTS OF KHUBILAI.
ULDSHEITU KHAN.
OF the twelve sons of Khubilai, four, who were the sons of his
chief wife, namely, Dordji, Cbingkin, Manghala, and Nomnkan,
held a superior rank. Dordji means noble stone, and is the
designation of the dumb-bell-shaped sceptre, the symbol of office
amorj^ the Lamaist priests. He seems to Have died young, for we find
Chingkia from an early part of Khubilai's reign treated as the heir
appaimt. Vassaf tells us that when Khubilai was nearly seventy he
wished !o have him declared his successor. The chiefs to whom he
applied for counsel declared it contrary to precedent, and to the Yassa of
Jtngis Klian to invest him with Imperial authority during his fother's life-
time. They, however, consented to execute a solemn document, securing
him the Khakanship, and pledging themsdves life-long obedience and
allegiance to him.* He unfortunately died in 1285, at the age of forty*
three. He had from early years exhibited great promise, and had shown
considerable proFrtency in the military art, in the science of government,
histiMry, mathematics, and the Giinese classics. He was well acquainted
with the condition and numbers of the inhabitants of Mongolia and
China, and with the topography and commerce of the empire. He was
much bdoved except by some of his father*s ministers, who were not all
exemplary. He had married a princess of the Kunkurat tribe, named
Kokochin, and by her had three sons and several daughters.t
These duree sons were named Kamala, DharmabaU^ and Uldsheitu.t
According to Vassaf the eldest squinted, and the second was of a ricketty
constitution. | Ssanang Setsen merely says that the Khan having tested
the three, chose Uldsheitu as his sucossiQr« His official title in Chinese
history was TimuT Khan. We are told that In 1993, e^t years after the
death of Chingkin, Bayan, urged by the latter's widow, pressed upon the
aged Khakan that he should point out his successor, and that he named
Timur. He had shortly before, as I have described, given him the
government of Karakorum, displacing Bayan from that position. |
* Volt'i Marco Pob, i. j>a. t Ganbil, S04* I Ssaaaiif 8«tfcii. 119.
i Yule • Marco Polo, i. jsa. | D'OhMoa, U. sqj.
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ULDSUKITU KHAN. 0S$
Rasdiid tays that during the intefngnum Timiir's moUier acted as
icgeiit« At the diet that assembled after Khubilai's death, sh^ declared
Hie throne belonged, according to the wish of the late Khakan, to him,
among his descendants who best knew the precq[>ts of Jingis Khan, and
called upon the assembly to decide for itself; Timur, who was a ready
speaker, had no difficulty in putting his brother Kamala, who was some-
what embarrassed, in tlie shade, and he was unanimously dedared the
^est* Kamala was not satisfied and still aspired to the soveieignty,
and a section of the Mongol chie£i was disposed to support him. Bayan,
Khubilai's renowned general, soon sohred the difficulty. Sword in hand, he
dedared he would not permit anyone to mount the throne but he who
had been named for it by the late Khakan. Thereupon the refractory
gave way, and Timur was duly proclaimed Khakan. He raised his father
and mother to the Imperial rank, and ordered monuments to be set up
in honour of his father, of Khubilai, and of the Empress Jambui.
Kamala, who was Timur's eldest brother, was appointed governor-
general of Karakorum ; while to Gukju and Kuxgux, his brothers-in-law,
was given the command of the troops on the western frontier. Ananda,
his cousin, was made viceroy of the country west of the Yellow River^
which post his father Manghala had previously hekL Bayan F^itchan
remained financial minister. He had eight colleagues, and together
they controlled the financial dqMutment.t
The very beginning of Timur's reign was marked by the death of one of
the greatest of the Mongol heroe8,namdy, Bayan. He died much rqpretted.
He was fifty-nine years old. When he marched against the Sung;
says De Mailla, he kd aoo^ooo men with the same ease and coolness as
if be had been leadii^ one. His officers looked upon him as a prodigy,
and had isq[>lidt confidence in him. His modesty was not less remark*
aUe than his intrepidity, and he generally assigned the glory of his
successes to the inferior oSuxn^ whose smallest actions he extolled. He
was remarkable also among Mongd generals for his humanity. |
The young Emperor at his accession did not wish to settle down at his
capital. Yen long. He was persuaded to do so by one of the courtiers
who used the quaint argument, most acceptable to a Chinaman, that the
Emperor was the polestar of the political system, and like it he ought to
be stationary, and allow the other stars to circle round him in the
heavens.| Accounts of portents fbrm a considerable part of Eastern
chronicles. We now read that an earthquake was followed by a curious
efiect in the Hoang ho, which was usually muddy and turbui, and now
for a considerable distance flowed dear and bright. This was accqyted
asagoodomcQtbot was nevertheless followed bya dreadful fomine in
• D'ObaMD. ii. so6. Not*. t D'Ohnon. U. 907.
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386 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
SIiensL Tlie Emperor at this time issued an order forbidding the
grandees of the court to exercise their former rights of capital punish-
ment over their vassals. This was forbidden except under the Imperial
sanction. We are struck in reading the dry and monotonous annals
of China by occasional anecdotes which illustrate the extraordinary
fidelity and trustworthiness of Chinese officials. Thus we are told that
llmur's first minister, named Puhu chu, was a very austere and strict dis-
ciplinarian, and became unpopular with the mandarins. He knew of his
infirmity and asked to be relieved of his office. The Emperor consulted
him about his successor, and he suggested To an chin< The retiring
minister praised him, saying he had qualities in which he himself was
deficient, and that he could combine the ^fortiterinre'' with the ^suaviter
in modo'' without sacrificing his duty to his amiability. To an chin was
appointed. The Emperor gave Pu hu chu the title of inspector-general
of troops and administrator of the important affairs of the empire, but he
modestly objected, and urged that this title had been instituted for a
much abler predecessor of his, named Se tien se, and only accepted it
when the word important was erased.* The £unine and the exactions
of local mandarins caused considerable distress, and this led to die
country being troubled by bands of robbers, and as in so many other
cases m China, these aggregated into a large body ; they collected
near Kan chau, in Kiang si, and became somewhat dangerous. An
officer named Tong se siuen volunteered to put it down, and succeeded
in doing so, not as usual in such cases by marching troops against the
rebels, but by taking care that the chief culprits among the local adminis-
trators were sharply tried and decapitated. At the sight of their heads
the rebels came to terms and submitted.t
The stirring times of Mongol conquest had passed away, and the annals
are now chiefly occupied with the internal reforms, Ac, of the empire. We
hear that Timur established an Imperial college at Tatu, which gave
great satisfaction to the Chinese. They were even more pleased when he
had a magnificent palace built there in honour of Confucius, which still
remains at Peking. A great number of Muhammedans continued to be
employed in the public service in accordance with the policy inaugurated
by Jingis Khan.
The exemption from taxes which had been secured by the followers of
the Ho chang and Tao se sects from the generous hands of Khubilai,
led to considerable abuses ; a vast number of rich people^ under pretexts
of various kinds, enrolled themselves in their ranks and evaded the tax-
collector. Orders were given that this abuse was to be remedied.
A census c^ the two sects was taken, and it was found to be
enormous ; in the province of Kiang nan alone more than 500,000 people
* De MaiUft, iz. 463. t De Mailia, ix. 467.
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ULDSHSITU KHAN. 3S7
were ejected from the Muu>% and once more became mere laymen.*
Honkilachi, the widow of KhubUai, died early in 130a She was much
sespectedy resigned her appanage in order that its revenues might
replenbh the needy treasttry, and lived a qoiet, retired life.
Later in the year an envoy from Mien tien (Burma) npotttd that
die King had been dethroned by his brother^ and diat his son,
who had been promised the kingdom, appealed to the Emperor for
assistance. The Mongol troops in Yunnan were ordered to cross the
border and to punish the murderers.
Meanwhile the Emperor was persuaded that he might rival, if he would,
the fame of Ehubilai in his foreign reUtions by attacking the kingdom
of Papesifu, one o£ the independent States west of Yunnan, which had
refused to adopt the Chinese calendar.t The Emperor was persuaded,
and despatched an army of 30,000 under the generals Lieuchin and
Halatai upon this foolish expedition. The climate was bad, and people
barbarous and crueL There was great distress and loss among the
soldiers, and requisidons for their sapgfy and the hard transport service
caused great mortality among the poor inhabitants, who were Miaotse.
These wild mountaineers of Yunnan are generally supposed to be the
primidve stock out of which the Chinese race was constituted. More
than 100,000 of them perished, and they revolted, phuang Songlongtsi
at their head. They found a second leader in an intrepid woman,
the wife of a mandarin of those paru vqpoo, whom the Mongds had made
very heavy requisitions. They assembled a considerable army, captured
the forts the Chinese had built there, as weU as the important town of
Kue-chau, whose commander was killed.
Mean¥4iile the troops which had invaded Mien tien returned by way of
the kingdom of the Kintchi, i>., of the golden teeth. These latter feXL upon
it, destroyed a large number of men, and then allied theinselves with the
Papesifii. Their neighbours were encouraged to break off their allQ;iance
to die empire, and killed the officers sent to coUeet tribute. TheEmperor
was much annoyed at his ill success; two of the commanders were pot
to death, others were cashiered.
Troops were sent to die rescue from Hu kuang, Su chuan, Shen si, and
Yunnan, and Hoko, son of Khubilai and viceroy of Yunnan, was ordered
to assist, and just arrived in time to save the general Lieudiin, who had
been surrounded.^
Various barbarous tribes in the south-west of die cmphe, the Usan,
die Umcmg, the Tongtchnen, the Mang, the Uteng, the Wetchu, Pnngan,
^tc, most of them probably tribes of Miaotse origin, divided into various
bodies, had made raids upon the Chinese towns. Lieu kne kie, who was
sent with the auxiliary troops, being joined by a reinforcement, advanced
■ ■ ' ■--■-■■-
* !>• If alUa, iz. 474.
tOanbtt.117- |OellaUli,it.47S. OttabU^sir.
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288 HISTORY OF THB MONGOLS.
into their ooontiy by different routes. He ordered Ms soldiers when
atucked to feign to retire, and to threw down their backlen. When the
enemy pursued, their horses stumbled over these imi>ediments, and when
they dismounted they were sharply attadced by the Mongols, who
retraced their steps. The rebels were badly beaten. They were again
beaten at Metetchuen, where tiie heroine, Chetsid, was killed on the
battle-field. Shortly after the other leader, Songlongtsiy suffered the
same fktt. The rebels now submitted, and a general amnesty was
proclaimed.*
This year the officials diarged with drawing up the Imperial annals
presented the Emperor with the annals of Jingis Khan, Ogotai, Kuynk,
Tului, and Manga. This historical work is known as the Tsienpien, and
is much valued. It has the usual characteristic of Chinese annals of
accuracy and fiddity.t
Meanwhile the long and desultory war on the north-western frontier
continued with varying success. At length Dua gained a victory in
which Kurguz, one of Timur's generals, was captured and only owed
his life to hb being a member of the Imperial house. This victory was
won by a surprise, caused by the drunkenness of three of Timur^s
commanders, who should have been guarding three points of a long line
of conumaication, and were instead drinking. Soon after, three generab
deserted Dua, and took with them 12,000 men. They had deserted from
the Khakan in the previous reign. They now demanded that their
fidelity might be tested by having the command of an army given them,
against Dua. With this they pursued his retiring and unsuspecting
army, overtook it as it was crossing a river in disorder, and gave it a
severe beating. Dua's brother-in-law was captured, and he proposed
to exchange Kurguz for him, but with true Mongol duplicity he had
him killed, and then said he had died while on his way to the camp
of Kaidu.
In 1 301 Kaidu invaded the empire in conjunction with Dua, with forty
princes of the houses of Ogotai, J^^tai, and an immense army.
Khaissan, Timur's nephew, gave them battle between Earakorum and
the river Tamir. The Chinese historians say Kaidu was defeated.
Vassaf, on the other hand, says he was '* successful as usual'' Both agree
that he retired to his own coimtry and died on the march. He had been
a redoubtable enemy to the Khakan, and during a long life controlled the
central position of the Mongol dominions, in which Khubilai was not
even the nominal ruler, although he was acknowledged by the two great
Khanates beyond those of Persia and the Golden Horde. Under the
patronage of Dua, Kaidu's son Chapar was dected head of the Horde
of Ogotai, as I have related in a previous chapter. Dua proposed
to him to recognise the supremacy of Timur, and to conclude the bitter
«D«Mail]ji,iz.4Si.48s. fOMba,«9i.
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tTLDSHUTU CHAN. 389
Strife which had for thirty years divided the hmHy of Jingis Khan.
This was agreed to by Chapar and the other princes.
Ambassadors were sent to Timor, and the vast conquests of the
Mongols were once more united under one head, and this, too, at a time
when they had attained their utmost limits. China continued to be
troubled with earthquakes, in which serious suffering was caused to the
inhabitants. There was an especially severe one in 1303 in Ping yang
and Tai yuen, which took place in the nig^t. The Emperor distributed
relief to the distressed. A wise regulation, that might be imitated in
more western climates, provided that those who had reached the age of
seventy should retire from the public service, except those belonging to
the tribunals of Hanlin and of Mathematics.* There was another earth-
quake at Ping yang in 1304, and the following year a very severe frost,
which destroyed the mulberry trees in the districts of Pan yang, I-tu,
and Ho-lden ; and we are told that 3,410,070 trees then perished.t
The chief religious cultus favoured by the Chinese literates is the
adoration of the sky. The Motels, in a rude way, had a similar cultus.
The Emperor issued orders that the records should be examined, and an
appropriate ceremonial drawn up from the precedents. J This was done;
but, with the accommodating tolerance of the Mongols, we find the
Emperor at the end of the year offering sacrifices to Shang ti, according
to the Nan Idao rite. He then sacrificed a horse, two black cows, nine
sheep, nine pigs, and nine stags. Nothing was spared to make the
ceremony solemn and imposing. Again we read of portents, hurricanes,
and hailstorms, in which the hailstones were as big as hens' eggs, and
which cut down the apricot trees and destroyed the crops. In another
province a terrible drought. In another a fatal earthquake. These
portents, according to the Chinese annals, presaged something serious^
and were fitly followed by the death of the Emperor. During his illness
a decree was issued forbidding the killing of any animal for forty-two
days, but he died nevertheless. He was forty-two years old, and had
occupied the throne for twelve years. He is much praised by the Chinese
for his clemency and wisdom. In early life he had been addicted to
drunkenness and gluttony, for which he had been reproved by his grand-
iather, and had even been bastinadoed three times. After he mounted
the throne we are told that he mastered his love of excessive drinking,!
but he became an invalid, and in his latter years left much of the
government to those who abused their trust, and would have caused
much mischief but for the wise measures of his predecessor Ehubilai.||
We hardly realise in reading the history of one whose name is obscure
and unfamiliar, and whose deeds are unrecorded by those who have dealt
with the great currents of history, that Timur on his throne at Ta-tu was
•DtlfftOk, 11.485. tDtlC«iIU,is.4l5.
iGaoUl, »sa. I D'Ohuoo, U. 524* I Dt MtiUt, iz. 487.
xo
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290 HISTORY OF THE MONOOLS.
acknowledged as supreme sovereign by almost all Asia, and that in mere
breadth of territory his dominions probably exceeded those of Russia,
while in population, wealth, and geiMial retouicet they were immensely
greater.
KULUK KHAN.
Tim ur's accession to the throne was clearly an usurpation, for Kamala
was his elder brother. His other brother Dharmapala was also older
than he, but he had died during the reign oi Ehubilai, and as the unde
generally succeeded to the exclusion of the nephew, Timur's claims were
paramount to those of his children. Kamala, however, was undoubtedly
an aggrieved person. He died in 1302, much regretted for his fidelity,
courage, and other good qualities.* Timur had had a son and a
daughter, the former of whom had been declared his successor, but died
before him without issuer and he did not declare anyone to be his heir.t
The sons of Dharmapala were dearly entitled to the throne. Of these
there were two : Ehaissan, corrupted into Habchan by the Chinese, who
was also styled Kuluk, or the inde&tigable ; t and Ayur bali batra, the
Aiyulipalipata of De Mailla and Gaubil. §
Bulugan, Timur's widow (she is called Bulugan by Vassal Peyuchi by
De Mailla, Pfyan by Gaubil, and Buyut by Hyadnthe),! had gained
great influence in the latter part of his reign. She wished to put Ananda,
son of Munghala and grandson of Khubilai, who was viceroy of Kansuh,
on the throne, and during the last illness of Timur she had sent him
messengers bidding him hasten to the court She wished to exclude the
two sons of Dhahnabala, with whose mother she had quarrelled, and
had had her exiled to Hoai king fu, in Honan. Khaissan had distin-
guished himself in the war with Eaidu. Batra was with his mother.
Bulugan was appointed Regent according to custom, several chiefs
entered into her project, and troops were posted on the route to Mongolia
to intercept Khaissan, should he attempt to come. Other chiefr, among
whom Karakhass was the leader,espoused the cause of die sons of Dhannar
bala, and wrote for Ehaissan to come with all speed, but by another route,
and also invited Batra to return to Tatu, which he did with his mother.
Meanwhile the partisans of Ananda had fixed a time for his inanguration,
•OmiU1,sso* t Do Mania, ix.4S8. 2 8chmidtfaanaiiic80ls«i,S99.
iiyOhmim,U.s^. Ot Mailla, ix. 488. Oaabil.ns- I DXHmms. U. 5«. Nola.
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KxnAm KHAM. a9i
and prompt metauret were reqnisitek Mdik Tbaor, ton of Arikbuka,
and one of tlie chief conq>IratorS| nas aeiied (he had been a fuppotter of
Chapar, but had qoaneOed with him and toofht lefbfe in China). He
was taken in chains to Shangto. Agotai and other ministers of Anaoda
were also anestedt wittte Ananda and tiie Enqness Rqient were coiifined
tothepalace. The princes of the blood now proposed to prodahnBatca,
but he revised, saying Ae crown bdonged to his dder brother. He sent
Ehaissan the In^>erial seal, and pendmg his arrival took die title of
regent*
Ehaissan was near the Khaqggai monntains at the western extremity
of the empire. When he heard of the death of Hmnr he hastened to
Karakorum, and thence to ShangtOi die northern residence, where he
had summoned his mother and brother to meet hhn.
Batra had behaved very well during his short tenure of power. He
had imprisoned Ananda and Mdik Timor, and had £utened a cof^gm^
ontheoLt Khaissan was received with great rejoicing at Shang tu, whidi he
entered, escorted by the Imperial guards, and went to the palace. The
two brothers embraced, and Batra was lauded for his zeal and enetgy.
They then went to pay their respects to their mother.
Khaissan was now proclaimed Khakan at a grand EurikaL The
ceremony is thus described by Vassaf. Four of the first princes of the
blood raised him aloft on a white felt ; two others supported him ; and
a seventh offered him the cup. Meanwhile, while the Shamans ofieied
up prayers f<Mr his prosperity and saluted him by the title of KulukEhan,
carts full of gold pieces and rich tissues were brought out and dis-
tributed. So many pearls were spread on the ground that it resenibled
the sky. The feast lasted a wedc, during each day of which 40 oxen
and 4,000 sheep were cimsumed. libations of mUk from 700 sacred
cows and 7,000 ewes were sprinkled on the ground. The whole environs
of the Ordu were thus strewn. These sacred animals, called ongus^
were kept in sacred herds, and were white in colour ; their flesh was not
eaten, nor were the white horses ridden except by the Ehakan.}
After his dection Ehaissan raised his £tther to the rank of Emperor,
and his mother to that of Empress, and to reward his brother
Batra he named him his successor, although he had sons of his own.
Ananda, the Empress Bulugan, and Melik Timur were executed. {
Ananda had been a zealous Muhammedan, and had spread that &idi very
much in Tangut ; he knew the Eoran by heart, and was skOful in writii^
Arabic, and it was probably therefore the Tuiks^ Persians, and other Mo-
hammedans at the court who were his chief supporters. It was reported
that a portion of the troops in his command had adopted Muhamme-
danism. A complaint was laid before Tlmur that he spent his tfantin a
«]yOfaMOB,tt.st7*9A tDeM«iUa,Ix.49a. I D^nuMi, tt. fH.
f Dt MftiUa, is. 494.
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J92 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
mosque^ reading the Konm ; that be caused Mongol children to be
drcomcised and was busy in a propaganda. Timur sent two officers to
try and induce him to conform to Buddhism, and when they failed he
summoned him to the court ; as he was still obstinate, he was imprisoned.
He was set at liberty on the request of the Empress Gukjin, who feared
an insurrection of the inhabitants of Tangut, who were much attached
to Ananda.*
After his inauguration Khaissan went to the Temple of the Ancestors
at Tatu, and there went through the ceremonies. The tablets of the
ancestors ought to be arranged in a prescribed way, and Gaubil's
authorities have a grievance against those in authority on this occasion
in that they placed the Ublets of some individuals honoured with the
posthumous title of Emperor before those who had actually been
Emperor^ and that, contrary to rule, they built special chambers for the
former as wdl as the latter.t
Soon after his accession the Hiaoking, a treatise on filial obedience, one
of the works attributed to Confucius, havhig been translated into the
Mongol language, was distributed in the empire. Fresh honours were
decreed to the memory of the (^ sage, and the characters Ta ching
were added to his titles. Kara Hasun, the son of Lildsili, who was an
Alan and a favourite of Jingis Khan's, and Taigai were Khaissan's chief
ministers. The Emperor was much addicted to women and to drink, two
vices upon which men seldom listen to homilies patiently. He did so,
however, and we are told rewarded one of his officers who rebuked him
fyr his fJBulings with the title of Slang kue koog.}
The Giinese make their usual complaints about Khaissan that he
greatly favoured the Lamas. By his orders the Lama Choigji Odzer
translated the greater part of the sacred books o£ the Buddhists into
Mongol. The Lamas became very insolent in consequence of this
patronage. One of them, who had forced a nmn to sell him an article,
attacked, illtreated, and put under restraint the judge who was to try him.
The Lama was imprisoned for this, but easily got respited at the court.
Another Lama disputed with the Princess Hoipala as to who should give
way on the footpath, and as she would not, pushed against and overturned
her, and although the Emperor heard of this he failed to punish him.§ A
law was passed that whoever struck a Lama should have his hand cut
oSy and whoever slandered one should lose his tongue ; but this law was
repealed by his brother as entirely contrary to precedent.] Notwith-
standing this partiality, he was the first to tax the lands held by the
Buddhists and the foUowers of the Tao se faith, hitherto exempt^ Kara
hasun, who had been so fiuthful to hun, was appointed governor of
Katakoffum, and ptoved himself an able administrator. He Imported
*I>^>bstoa,iLd3**S3S. tOubiUnS. Do MaUUi, ii. 494.
:D«M«ill«,k«49S* «!>• Mains, Ix. 497. |Qtnbil»S4o. f Dt lfailla,is.50z.
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KULUK KHAN* 393
labouicn, utttans, aad dioie tk^led in maldiig canals, &c^ from Chiii%
and impioved the agiicultore and the roads of the province. He
eicooraged the ACongob to utUiie their many rhrtrs and lakes stored iK^th
fish, hy becoming fishermen. He built granaries, and so improved the
condition of the land, that there were at intervals of thirty leagues in it
depto of provisions, of carriages, and escorts.* A wonderful state of
things in the very focus of Mongolia I In other parts of the em^ie
famine, pestilence, and dron^^ made sad havoc with the population.
The year 1508 was marked by the severity of these disasters. In Kiang
hoai the people were reduced to feed on roots and the bark of trees. In
Honan and Shang tung fathers ate their children, while Kiang si and
Che kiang were nearly depopulated. The mandarins in charge were
terrified, and fancying that heaven had an especial quarrel with them,
resigned their cbaiges. The Emperor urged them rather to exert greater
seal in their duties.t The days prophesied by Jingis had already arrived,
and we now hear that the Mongol court employed messengers, who
had a distinguishing mark in their dress, who sooured foreign countries
for jewels, pearis, precious stones, and other rarities. These messengers
were chiefly Turks. They are called merchants of Si yu. Under cover
of their commission, they were in the habit of exacting relays of horses,
&c., on their expeditioas.t
In 1308 the Kin^g of Corea died, and the Emperor sent letters patent
for his successor, and the same year Chapar, the eldest son of Kaidu, and
other princes came to the court with their submission.} Tula, a
descendant of Jagatai, was a drunken and dissipated person. He had
been a partisan of Ananda, and had latterly been insolent to the Emperor.
On one occasion, when drunk, he threw down his girdle, saying, '* Take
back a gift which I despise; it is all I etver recced from you.'' This was
said in a rage. The Emperor suspected that he had a further object, and
had him tried and put to death.| Through exemption from taxes and
other causes, the inhalutants of Kiang nan had become very wealthy ;
some had as many a$ lo^ooo slaves. It was suggested that so much
wealth WBM dangerous, and fai consequence decreed that whoever
harvested more than 50^000 measures of grain should surrender lo^ooo of
them to the State-H)ne half to feed the troops, the other half to go into
the public granaries ; and that such rich fomilies should enrol one of
their children in the army as a guarantee for their good behaviour.^
I have already described with what profusion paper money was
issued in the reign of Khubilai. I ought to add that Pauthier says
that during his rdgn no metallic currency of any kind was issued.**
The paper became so depreciated in value that in 1309 there was
D0MaiUa.ix.499. tD«IUilU,ix.498. IDtlI«llla,is.498. GaiibU,a4i.
De MailU, ix. 500. | Dt If aflla, ix. soe. f De llaUla, is. 501.
** Pauthict^ Mateo Poio, sat.
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i9i HISTORY OP THB MONQOLS.
a liredi issue, made to replace that wbkh ivas ib» discredited
Iiaper« but this also sank rapidly in Taloe, and at length the
Emperor Uhi tsong, f>^ ffhaisssn, determined upon a recurrence to the
ancient money, and accordingly, in 1310^ there were struck two kinds
of copper coins, having Mongol characters upon them* Some with the
inscription Chi ta thung pao, f>., precious money of the Chi ta period ;
and others with this ]^j:end, Tai yuen thung pao^ ^, predoos money ol
the Great Yuen (1^, Mongob).* These coiner coins were of three sises: i,
of the value of one li; 2, of the vahie of ten li; and 3, of coins worth several
of those of the dynasties Tang and Sung.t Ten lis made one fen, ten
fens one tsien, and ten tsiens one ounce.| In 1509 the wild frontager
tribes of Yunnan broke over the border. The Chinese annals accuse
the r^rm^^^^^ who marched against them of having been bribed. He
was at an events beaten by thenu They afterwards letirod. {
In 1310^ Kbkokchu, a son of Tula, in concert with Alanachett and a
number of Lamas, conspired against the Emperor ; but their plans were
divulged, the Lamas were duly executed, and Kokokchu was eidled to
Coiiea. I Shortly after, Arslan, the governor of Tatu and commander
(tf the Imperial guards, was accused of a similar conspiracy, and was
executed with several of his connexions* He was a fevourite with the
people^ and when his head was cut off they shouted out that he was
innocent, which afterwards turned out tobetnie^Y Khaissan died in
February, 131 1, aged thirty-one. The Chinese give him the posthumous
title of Wtt tsong. It was probably during the latter part of the reign of
Timur, and during the whole of that of Khaissan, that Jphn of Monte*
corvino hdd the exalted post of Archbishop of Kbanbaligh or Peking.
The bull nominating him is dated in 1307. Two of his letters are extant,
describing for us hb operations for the conversion of the Chinese.
As in recent times Christianity in China has been chiefly distinguished by
the savage feud between the Dominicans and the Jesuits, so we find the
aichbishop complaining of the constant sknders which he suffered at
the hands of the Nestorians, which led to his being much persecuted*
He had lived there, he says, since 1295, and had built a church with a bell
tower to it containing three bells, and had baptised 6fioo persons. He
had bought 150 boys, varying from seven to eleven years old, who had
never learnt any rdigion ; he had baptised them, and taught them Gredc
and Latin, and written out Psalters^ Hymnaries, and Breviaries for them*
Out of these boys he had raised a choir. He had converted a certain
Kii^ George of the frmily of Prester Jdm, who had built a splendid
chnrch in China, and given it the name of the Roman Church. He had
learned the Tartar language, into vfhldk he had translated the New
* Paokhici't Matco Pole. jsj. t Ghnbil. S4S.
|GMibil,fl4a» | Ds MailU, is. 5CI. | D« llailk, ii. soS.
f D€ M ailU, ix. S04* OAttbU,«4a. Do OnieBM, hr. 199*
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KULUK KHAK* 395
Tettamflnt and die Paaher. This letter was dated at Cambald^ ia 1505,
two yean before his appointment as arditohop. In a second letter he
mentions harinf^ boilt anodier church, dose to die Khakan's palace. I
will extract a portion of his naive account from ColoDel Yule^s edition.*
^In that same year of the Lord 1305, 1 began another new place before
the gate of the Lord Cham, so that diere is bat the width of the street
between his palace and oar placet and we axe bat a atone^s throw from
hia Ms^etkfa gate* Master Peter of Lucolongo^ a fidthfal Christian man
and great merchant^ who was die companion of my travels from Tauris,
himself bought the ground for the establishment of a^iich I have been
speaking, and gave it to me for the love of God. And by thedivine
favour I think diat a more suitable poaition for a Catholic churdi could
not be found in the whole empire of his Majesty the Chaau lathe begin*
sing of August I got the ground, and by the aid of sundry benefeictors
and wdl-wishers it was completed by the Feast of St Francis with an
enclosure wall, houses, offices, courts, and cbspt^ the htter amiable of
holding 300 persons. On account of winter coming on I have not been
able to finish the chnrch, but I have the timber coUecled at the house,
and please God I hope to finish it in sunmier. And I tdl you it is
thought a peffoct marvel by all the people who come finom tlie city and
elsewhere, and who had previously never heard a word abowt it And
when they see our new building^ and the red cross planted alofr, and as in
our chapel with all decorum chaunting the service, diey wonder more
than ever. When we are singing, his Majesty the Cham can hear our
voices in his chamber ; and this wonderful fact is spread for and wide
among thelieathen, and wOl have the greatest efiect, if the divine mercy
so disposes matters and fulfils our hopes.
''From the first church and house to the second church which I built
afterwards, is a distance of two miles and a half within the city, which is
passing great And I have divided the boys into two pardes, potting one
of them in fhe first chuich and the other in the second, and so eadi party
performs the service by itsel£ But I act as chaplain and celebrate mass
in each church on alternate wedcs, for none of those boys are priests.'*
These extracts prove that Christianity had more than a merely nominal
footing in China during the domination of the Moi^ Khans, and makes
it interesting to inquire what its organisation there was. I shall abstract
a Yery valuable summary of it from one of Colonel Yule^s works. The
mission was founded by John of Montecorvino, akeady mentioned, who
was bom in 1247. He was a Franciscan, and had been a good deal in
the East, whence he brought hack news that the Moqgol princes were
fovourshly diq>oied towards Christianity, and he was sent by the Fope
ctt* spedal missSoii to the farther East, to the great Khan Khobilai, to
Ui great rival Kaidt^ to the Hkhan Argun, to the King and Queoi of
•CalhairMidtlieWliorTbitlMr.MS. '
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396 HISTORY OF THX MONGOLS.
Lesser Armenia, to the Patmrch of the Jacobites, and the Bishop of
Taiiris» He travelled by way of India, and accofding to Colonel Yule,
probably reached China after Khubilaf s death. Two of hb letters are
extant The accounts that reached Rome of his diligence led to his being
nominated Archbislu^ of Khanbaligh. This was probably in the spring
of 1307. About the same time seven other Franciscans were appointed
8uffir2^;an bishops under his authority. *' The powers conferred on the
archbishop,* says Colond Yule, ** were unusually ample, empowering him
to rule like a Patriarch over all bidiops and prelates of those parts,
subject only to his recognition of the superiority of the Roman See, and
to the reception of the paDiom from it by hhnself and his succcssofs.
The suffiragans dras nominated for Cathay were Gerard, Peregrine of
Castello, Andrew of Perugia, reader in theology; Nidiolas of Bantra or of
Apulia, minister (in the order) of the province of St. Francis ; Andrutras
of Assisi, Ulrich Sayfustordt, and VTilliam of ViUeneove. Of these
only the first three reached their destination. They conaecnited die
archbishop,' and in course of time all three succeeded as bi^iops of
Zayton. In 1313 the Pope nominated three more bishops to serve under
Archbishop John, by name Thomas, Jerome, and Peter of Florence. The
last is heard of as presiding over one of the convents at Zayton, whilst
Andrew of Perugia ruled the other. John of Montecorvino died about
1338. We are told diat both Pagans and Christians followed him to the
grave with demonstrations of the deepest grief and veneration; Colonel
Yule says ""he was the first and last Archbishop of Khanbaligh." In
1333) ^^ the news of John's death had reached Avignon, one Friar
Nicholas was appointed to the aee, and was sent forth accompanied by
tweaty friars and six layman, but it is not known whaX became of the
party. Their arrival at Almallg and dvil treatment there were heard
of, but nothing beyond. There is no indication of their having ever
reached the court of Cathay«*
Wadding has a story that John of Montecorvino converted the Khan
and his mother, and that shortly after the Khan died, and was buried
with Imperial solemnity in the convent dturch, and that thirty years later,
when the treubles broke out and the firiars had to quit Cathayi they
removed the body to Serai, and when taken up it was found all fresh as
when just buriedt Colond Yule identifies this Khan with Ayur ball
batra, who, he says, died m 1311 ; but this is a mistake, that Khan, in
£ftct, amounted the throne in that year, which was the year of Khaissatfs
death; and if the story, which is very imprebable, have any truth in it,
it refers to Khaissan and not to Ayur ball batra.
»CiUtey«iidtb«W«y'niiUMr,i«s-S7'« t CMtay and tiM Wagr TUlkv, 171.
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BVYAirrU KHAN. 297
BUYANTU KHAN.
Khaissak left two soot) Kuthak and Tu Tlmnr, or Du Ununr, but ihey
did not imnacdirtely succeed him. As I have said, he named his brother
Aymr ball batra as His successor. TfaiSy as Scihmidt snggests, is probably
a Sanscrit and not a Mongol name^ and was given him by the Lamas. He
is called Boyantu Khan by Ssanai^ Setsen.* Vassal in descnbtog his
inauginatioi^tells tts the Kurihai was con4N>sed of i4/»o princes^eadiof
whom employed relays d from 700 to 1,000 horses. Tlus shows ikt
extravagant way in which the revenue was squandered. The feast lasted
a week. Forty oxen and 4,000 sheep, besides a great number of animals
uAiose flesh b forbidden to the Mussulmans, were eaten daily. At the
hour fixed by the astrologers, the new Emperor seated himself on his
throne, his face turned towards the south, in the Karshi^ which was hung
with sOk and brocade. The descendants of Jii^ Khan were on the
right, and the descendant of his brother Juji Kassar on the left of the
throne. The Khatuns, or princesses, were seated on stools. The
Findians, or numsters, and Ae generals, wore ranged according to their
tank. In front of the throne sparkled a great number of vases and ctqNi,
decorated with precious stones. The inauguration was conducted with
tiie usual cteemony, and die Khakan was saluted under die title of Bui
Yantuc Kaan (t>., the Buyantu of Ssanang Setsen).t
At die commencement of his re^ a census was made of the old people
living at Ta-tu, and in that dty alone there were found 11,331 who were
iqi%aids of ninety years old, and 8,331 of upwards of eighty. The
Emperor ordered two pieces of silk to be given to each of the fbnner, and
onetoeachofthelatter-t He was evidently of a kindly disposition. On
one occasion five brothers were condemned to death for some crime*
He inquired if theh: father had any more sons, and on hearing that
he had not, be ordered that the least culpable of the ^ift shouM be
reprimanded and set at liberty to go and look after his parents.!
After his accession he proceeded to punish those officers who had been
led in the weak reign of Khaissan to commit abuses. Among the
tributary princes to whom he notified his advent to the throne are named
those of Chen ching (Cochin China), Ngan nan (Annam), Pap4 sifo (a
kingdom on the borders of Yunnan), Ta Chdi (?), Chao cheli (?), Mapon
Q Malabar), and Hien (an island near Japan). He reminded them of
his accession, and told them to remember and send their tribute at the
proper time, and assured them that however distant they were he carried
•0p.d^ul. tI>t)liMoa,ii.5i<». {I>tlltilla,ix.s^
IP
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39^ HISTORY or THE MONGOLS.
tliem in his heart The tribotary kings tent hhn ambassadors with
presents. The IQng of Chen ching sent him elephants and rhinoceroies.
Those of Pap^siftt and Ta cheli sent him tame elephants tau|^ to
perform various tricks.*
Vassaf relates that among his other envoys lie sent Ayadji Chinsang
and Devlet shah to the Ilkhan Uldjaito. They arrived at Bai^idad,
where he was passing the winter^ in Febniary« 1313, taking with them
presents and friendly letters. They were well received, and Uldjaita
presented tiiem with robes of golden tissue and jeweQed ghrdles. Each
of these envoys took with him &x) posting horses. The lUdian sent an
embassy in reply, which we are told was charged widi collecting the
anears of income which were owing to their master from the possessions
he held in the East as one of the descendants of Jingis Khan.t This
curious &ct proves that the Ilkhans still looked upon Mongolia in some
measure as their home, still considered themsdves members of the
Khakanfs fiunily, and claimed to share in the distribution of the ancestral
patrimony.
The chief posts in the various bureaux had been previously filled by
Mcmgols. The Emperor now doubled the nuoiber of these offidals, and
appointed an equal number of Chinese and MoQgds. He also increased
the strictness of the examinations, and arranged a kind of hierardiy <rf
scholars. Commissjoners were appointed to make confidential reports
on the condition of the variotts provinces of the empire, and to distribute
relief among those who had sufiered firom die terriUe earthquakes and
other misfortunes that troubled this reign. A Muhammedan governor in
Kiansi, named Jemakddin, caused a revolt by his exactions. This was
put down, and its leaders pimished, but with equal justice the cause of
the mischief was also tried, deprived of his office, and bruided in the fice
with a hot iron as a public thiefl
Buyantu was of a studious di^Kisition, very much encouraged the class
of literates, and revived the public examinations whidi had been partially
disused since the days of Khubilai, and in 1313 he transported to Pddn
some ancient stone monuments in the shape of drums, of the time of the
Emperor Suenwang, 827 B.C They were originally ten in number, and
vrerc three feet in height and one foot in diameter, and were made of
marble. They had verses inscribed on them in the characters Ta diuen.
These drums have been considered among the finest monuments in
China. One was lost in the various revolutions that have overtaken the
country. The nine others still remained in De MaiUa's day, and were
preserved in the Kui tse kien or Imperial College at Peking.} Buyantu
caused the names of the most distinguished literates to be set up in tiie
Hall of Confucius. Among those so honoured the historian Semakuang,
*OeMaUU,ix.so7. tirOhMM,fl.S35.
XX>eBlallU,ix.^x5. G«iM,a46. f D« Mtltlft, be. s«7i jcS. Kotar
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BcnrAim; KHAN. J99
andu» Chaokanftsie, Nanhien, Chautnig, Cliingf&o, Chaiigtsar»
Lustukien, Hiohen|^, axe tpedally named.* A Mohammedan named U
meddinconttnicted a calendar to lenre for 10/900 yean. Ini3i4Buyantn
forbade the employment of eunuchs in the public service, but the very
next year he created one of them chief mandarin, to the vexation of die
Chimse.
Kushala, the son of Khaissan, was now grown up, and b^an to be dia-
contented that his undo should occupy the throne, and to keep him out
of harm's way, he was i4>pointed goreniorof Yunnan, a post which was
generally chosen when a mild exile was needed for a troubksome relative^
This was in 1316. Kushaki resented diis appointment He was
supported by several genemls, who gained over the troops of Kwang*
chuqg, and even got possession of the fomons fortress of T^mgkuan, but
Tatchar, the most important of the rebels, shortly after submitted, and
Kushala was deserted by most of his odier officers. He had to escape to
the Altai mountains, to the Khans of Jagatait The Jagatai Khans had
apparently continued the rebellion of the Ogotai princes, and we now
hear of a war which Buyantn carried on on his western frontier against
Issenbuka, die Khan of Jagatai, over whom his genend Kipchak
Choanggor won two victories, and pursued him to the country of Chair^
near the defile called the Iron Gate.}
He encouraged learned men to setde at his court* Among diese, De
Guignes mentions especially a Muhammfdan named Chahan, a native
of Balkh, and one of the most learned men of his tlme^ who composed
a history of China in Mongtd. He fixed the Chinese chronology,
generally fiiUowed by the better Chinese historians, and wrote a history
of the wars of Ogotai with the Kins. The Emperor's dder son,
Chotepala, who was now seventeen, was a great fovourite of his fiuhec's,
who wished to resign the empire to him, but he was dissuaded firom it,
and appointed him lieutenant-governor of the kingdom instead*! The
tutor of the young prince was one Temudar, against whom the Imperial
censors presented a report, demanding his death,for various malpractices
and extortions, and for his de^>otism. The Emperor ordered his trial,
and removal from office but his part was taken by the Empress mother,
who so tormented hereon the Emperor, that he fdl IIL His life was
despaired of. Shutepala offered the six day^ sacrifice, and invoked
heaven to preserve his ftther's life^ and distributed alms among the
poor and prisoners, but it was unavailing, for he died in February, 1320^
and received the posthomoos dtle of Gin tsong. The oourt^ Kang mu
annals assign his illness to his mother's shrewish tongue^ but Ganbil has
tmnslated for us a more natural explanation. Under the year 1317 I
find it stated, ''The Emperor diis year b^an to have a love for wine^ and
•0«lbil,tM. tD«lfaU]«,ix.5t6. |G«iibll,S49. Not*. D*OtaiOa, U. SS7.
I Oaibil, 84S.
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lOO HISTOIIY or THE MONGOLS.
he hO, several times into this evfl hsl^t*'* We can hardly dAohti
therefore, that like many other Mongol sovereigns, he fett a victim to
dissipation. The Chinese praise him highly for his Itteraiy tastes and
patronage of learning.
The annals of Buyantn's reign are diieily occupied with accoimts of
terrible fires, earthquakes, droughts, pestilence, &c, and by what the
astrologers no doubt thought equally unfortunate, namdy, the appluition
of a comet, and the happening of a solar eclipse on the first day of the
year, and by die measures he adopted to alleviate the condition of the
sttfierers. He took an interest in sodal matters, very unusual in Eastern
Sovereigns. Thus, in 131S die d^fMitment of pubUc works presented a
treatise on the cultivation of the mulberry, and the best way of rearing
silkworms ; this was written by one Miao-hao-kien. The Emperor
read the woric himsd^ paid for illustrations to it, and had a large
number of copies printed and diitributed.t
The control of barbarous tribes widitn die Imperial fironder b^gan to
bring with it, as it so often does, trouble and anxiety, and we are told that
in 1319 the ministers proposed, on die deadi of the governor of a mounr
tain district of Yunnan, to make the government hereditary in some
fiunily of the country, so that it should pass to the ddest son on his
being scpprovtd of by the Emperor. It was urged that these tribes were
savage and numeroa% and that they could best be controlled by some
one who was savage also^ and understood diefa: mode of life. This was
accordingly done.t
Karakorum is called HoHn in die earlier Chinese annals. Holin being
the transcripdon into Chinese, which has no letter r, of the Moogd
Kdin or Korum, city. We are told that in 1300 the name of the city was
changed from Ho lin to Ho ning^ meaning peace and concord.}
GEGEN KHAN.
As I have said, Temudar was a >rW^ of the Dowager Empress, and
also of Buyantufs son and heir, Shtttepala or G^ien, the latter haviug been
his pupil, and on the death of Buyantu he was specially protected by
them*
The young prince was mudi affected by his fether's death} day and
night he watched by his coffin in his habits of mourning, fested largely,
and dispensed large sums in diarity.l The return to power of Temudar
was signalised by fresh excesses, and by die execution of several of those
*OMibil,t48. tDtMBUla.lx.518. JD«Maillii,lx.5«o^
i PaotlilOT't Mmoo Polo annril. | Dt MaHU, ix. s<4<
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QMOMM KHAK. $01
wbam he suspected of having been the came of his late tiud. At length
the yoong inrince b^;an to fed the leading strings of the Eaqnress and
Temndar rather irksome^ and determined to ^|>eed on his inaugaiation.
This took i^ace in the third month of 1390. Meanwhile hMi^ the
Gommender of the Imperial guard, who was descended from MukuU, the
renowned general of Jingisy and was a man of high eharactery gained
great influence over the Emperor, aad displaced that of Temudar. He
instructed hun in the cuhns of the ancestors, and we are told that the
young Emperor summoned the various princes and grandees, and in
grand ceremonial robes went in stately procession through the streets,
amidst great rejoicing; to the teoqde of hb ancestors to perform the usual
rites. He was the first of the Mongol sovereigns to go through this
ceremony. The various mandarins and literates congratulated Bai4ia
for having recommended the Emperor, and the commonalty were equally
delighted with a general amnesty that was published about the same
time.* The Chinese were not so well pleased at the patronage extended
by the young Emperor to the Buddhists. In the beginning of 1321 he
built a Buddhist temple on the mountains west of Peking, and when the
censors reproached him he had several of them put to death ; among
them a very distinguished officer, named Soyaoelhatimichi, whose
ancestors had been faithful dependents of the Mongol Imperial house.
We are told the Emperor destroyed a temple built by the Hoeihu, i^^
the Turkish Muhammedans, at Shangtu, and prohibited these Turks
from buying slaves firom the Mongols and selling them again to the
Chinesct
About 1323 there was published the Tai Yuen tong chi, i^ the code
of laws of the Yuen dynasty. This was drawn up by Wanien*nadan
and TsaopekL It was a revised code of all the laws that had been
passed since the accession of the dynasty, and consisted of 3,539
articles.}
The growing influence of Baidju greatly disgusted Temudar, who
absented himself £com the court The former now went to Loan tung to
put up a monument to his ancestors, on which was graven an eulpgium
written by the Emperor himself^ Temudar thought this a £ivoorable
opportunity of r^;aining his influence at court, and presented himsdf at
the palace^ but was refused admittance, and died shortly after of vexation.
The Empress, his patron, died about the same time.{ The dead minister
was now bitteriy attacked by his victims; his goods were confiscated, be
was deprived of his titles, and his tcmib was overthrown. A plot was
formed among his siq)porter8, who were afiaki of vengeance over-
taking them. It was headed l^ his adopted son Tekchi, and it was
determined to assassinate the En4>eror and his chief minister, Baidju,
•OMMl»i5f,S5t- tOmbO^ssS* N«tf. I Dt Mftilla, is. SSS^
f Dt IftOK far. SSB*
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yaz HISTORY OF THE IIONOOU.
and messengers were sent to Yissun Timur, the son of Kamala, who
commanded on the riYer Tula, and WM probd)ly governor of Karilu^^
to Inprise him of this and to offer him the crown. The envoy who was
sent was named Wahis. Tekchi, who held the offioe of inspectoriieneral
of the empire, had great iaflaence with die aimr* Beside him the chief
conspirators were the Princes Haasan and Yesien Thnur.
Yissun Timur caused Wahis to he seised, and sent notice of the plot
to the £mperor. But the messengers arrived too kite. Fearing
that they would be discovered, the conspirators sp^ their work. They
won over the escort which accompanied the Emperor from Shangtu, and
at a place named Nanpo they entered tiie teutof Baidju and killed him
there, and then went to thftt of the Emperor, who was assassinated in his
bedbythehandof Tdcdiihimsd£* He was only twenty-one, and kft
nochikiren. Quick and shrewd, he inherited the good quaUties of his
fiither. He had a ready ear for those who would correct him. He was
diaigeable only with too great severity, a fear of whkh aroused the
conqiiracy against hhn.t His death, the first instance of assassination
in die Imperial annals since the foundation of die empire by Jingis,
masks a stage to which such empues tend, when the Prastorians, whose
office it is to guard the throne, begin to treat their Sovereign as their
Pr^t^i and betray him when it suits diem.
YISSUN TIMUR KHAN.
Gegen Khan left no children, and Yissun Timur, who commanded in
the north, and who was the son of the Kamala who was wrongfully
excluded from the throne by Timur Khan, was his successor. He was
proclaimed Khakan on the banks of the Longku^ probably the Arungu,
which flows into lake KizUbash, and is caUed Ulungku by the Chinese.^
He began his reign by rewarding the late conspirators and promoting
them to important mandarinates, but, on having it represented to him
that by this he would incur the suspicion of having been a party to the
murders, he suddenly reversed his policy, and ordered Tekchi and others
to be put to death. Others again were ezHed to Yunnan, Hainan, and
other distant places. During the first year of his reign there occurred
an earthquake, an eclipse, great floods, and drought, &c., supplemented
by a plague of locusts. | The literates declared that heaven was wroth with
the nation, and by their advice a distinguished scholar was ordered to
prepare a memoir on the evils that caused this divine displeasure. He
•DeM«ma,ix.53i,S33* t D« XdUa, ii. 53a, SSS*
TGaubii, ass. D« MailU, Ix. SS3* f Paothkr^ Karoo Polo, cnxnr. Notet.
|DoMaUl«,iz..S)S»
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YlStim TOfVR KHAM^ 3C»S
began by i-epreicntiiig that many of the rdatkms and aeatnrct d the
mmderer Tdcchi were stfll at Utife^ uiqmniahed, and their goods qdcqii-
fiacatedf while the Imperial princes who had been fanplScated were merdy
exiled. He denounced the extravagance of the court in buying ooedy
predoii9 stones, imported by teeign merdiants, and sold for ten thnes
dieir Yahie, while the poor were starving. He denounced die conduct of
the Prince Toto^ the viceroy of l.iamwng, wto had pat many peopk to
death and seized dieir goods; he also denoonoed, like a good CUnese
literate^ the vast army of bonaes and Lamas iriK) were riding about the
countryy and die crowd of eunndiSi astroHgen^ doctors, and women about
the court The empirei he said, is a fionily of which She Emperor
is the ftther, and it is pitifiil that heahonldbeso engrossed in luxury as
not to hear the cries of the wrstdied; he bade him see to the condteioa of
the oppressed and the poor everywhere; to cansedie dead to be carried
to their own provinces so that their relatives might look after them, lad
to ibfbid the pearl fishery at Canton inidiich so many perished hi seaidn
ing the bottom of the sea for usdess trifles. The Emperor read the
memoir, but the fear of ofifending die Mongob and the Lamas prevented
him doing anything efiectuaL* Another report was sometfane after pie^
sented on the condition of the province of ShensL Tlib was also loll of
comi^ainu of the Lamas idiq, armed wiA their golden seals, rode about
the province makii^ eaactkms and lording it over the people in a 8ham»>
ful way. They put up at private houses, drove out their masters, and
debauched their wives, and did pretty much as they wished. De MaOU
tdls us that on hearing this rqport the Emperor forbade die Lamas to
enter Chma.t Beskks these grievances the CUnese had another, in that
Yissun Temur neglected the ancient worship of the sky.
The Emperor divided the empire into eighteen departments. It had
formerly been divided into twehe. These were controlled by a board
called ''the Lords of the Provinces.^t The succession of bad seasons
caused a great scarcity of grain among the poor, notwithstanding diat a
considerable amount was hoarded l>y the grandees. To get at this it was
proposed to ofler them, not money, but mandarinates in enchange for it^
and this distribudon of honours was very successftill The annals aie
crowded with rslsmH^ In 13S7 some thieves stole the sflver tablet of
Khaissan from the Temple of the Ancestors. During an earthquake
that happened this year a mountain disappeared. Such disastrous
revohitions in the earth's crust seem to have been very numerous at this
pertodi The Mongols were rapidly acquiring a Utemture, chiefly, it is
true, r^fift*«g d translations from the Chinese and Thibetan, and wu
read that in this year the great history of China, by Sema kuang^ was
translated into HongoL1[ The Chinese officials have a custom that on
|Dtlfiaila.i&5l7»ftSS* |D«liailU,340. fGobU.ate.
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304 HISTORY OF TTHB MONGOLS.
the death of foher or mother ibey wear momning for three years, and
retire faito sedosion. At the beginning of "^nasunThnm^s reign this rule
was extended to the Mongols, but was apparently found most irlcsome,
for in 1338 it was decreed that mooming might be worn, but that the
mourners should continue to ezerdse dieir fonctions.* Yissun Timur
died at Shang tu, where he had gone to pass the summer heats, in
August, 1338, in his thkty-oizth year, and his posthumous title was
Tai ting. He was little Skilled in government, and had only mediocre
talents. He was more fitted to head an army than to occupy a throne,
and left his empire a prey to fiictions and trouble8.t
According to Cdond Yule it was between 1332 and 1328, that 1%
dnrmg the reign of Yissun Timur, that Friar Odoric, of Pordenone, was
in China. He has left us a fow notices whidisu{q>lement those of Marco
Polo,and I shall eztmct some of tiiem. Describing the Khakan's palace
at Tatu, he says, its basement was raised about two paces from the
ground, and within, there were twmty^bur columns of gold, and all the
walls were hung with skins of red leather, said to be the finest in the
wodd. In the midst of the palace was a great Jar, more than two paces
in height, made of a certain precious stone called merdacas ; t its price,
be was told, exceeded the value of four great towns. '*It wasall hooped
round with gold, and in every comer of it was a dragon, represented in
the act of striking most fiercely. It had fringes of networic of great
pearls hanging tarn it, and these fringes were a span in breadth. Into
this vessd drink was conducted by certam conduits from the court of the
palace, and beside it were many golden goblets, from whidi those drank
who listed. In the hall of the pidaoe were also many golden peacocks,
and when any of the Tartars ^dshed to amuse thdr lord, they went one
after another and clapped thehr hands, upon which the peacodcs flapped
their wings, and made as if tiiey would dance."| He tells us that ^wfaen
the Khakan sat on his throne, the Queen was on his left hand, and a step
lower two others of his women, while at the bottom of the steps stood
the other ladies of his family. All of these, who were married, wore
upon their heads the foot of a man, as it were a cubit and a half in length,
and at the top of the loot there were certain cranes' feathers, the whole
foot being set with great pearls, so that if there were hi the whole world
any fine and large pearls, they were to be found in the decorati<ms oc
those ladies/ 1 Colonel Yule quotes several authorities in regard to this
head ornament, which are very interesting ; thus, Ricold, of M<mtecroee,
after telling a story of how the Tartar women helped to gain a great
victcnry, adds, ''In memory of this victory, the Tartars granted leave to
thehr wives to wear lofty crowns to the height of a cubit or more. But,
«DeM«Ula,lx.540. t D« M •illl^ ix. 540.
t Colootl y«k li«t» I thinks pi«vtd Umt it was n«do of Jado, calM Uut by tlM MoQ^
ICatbayMidtiM Way Thither* 150, X3t. I Cathay aai tha Way Thithar, tsi.
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YISSUN TIMTTK KHAN. 30$
l«8t tiie women ^ould wax over proud, thereupon they determined that
these crowns should take the form of a foot, and, in tactf at the (opof
such a great crown, there is, as it were, a foot over it, as if to maintain
a testimony that the women did not win the victory alone, but by the help
of their husbands, who came to their rescue ; ami, as if it were said to
them, crowned though ye be forget not that ye be under the power of
your husbands, and so by a kind of natural reason, they seem to have
divined that wliich is written in the law of God. * Sub viri potestate
eris."** Whatever the truth of this quaint sage, the hd of some such
ornament being worn is also attested by otherSi Thus Rubruquis,
speaking of the headdress of the Tartar wcmien, says, ''they have an
ornament for their head called Bocca. This was made of the baik of
trees or similar light stuff, round, and large enough to require both hands
to span it It was more than a cubit high, and was square above, like
the capital of a pillar. The whole was covered with silk, and on
the top or capital, there was put in the middle a thin tuft of quills
or slender canes, also of a cubit or more, and this tuft was adorned
at the top with peacocks' feathers, and round about with mallards'
feathers and precious stones.'' t Women of a certain age among the
Circassians and Ossetes still wear a headdress called Bogtac«t Odoric
describes the court of the Khakan in much the same way that
Polo does. He tells us he was three years at Khanbaligh, and often
prc^ient at the festivals, for the minor friars had a place assigned them at
court, and were in duty bound to go and give the Khakan their benison.
He made diligent inquiries, and learnt that his players numbered thirteen
tumens, f>., 130,000 ! ! ! Of those who kept the dogs, wild beasts, and
fowls, fifteen tumans ! ! ! of leeches, 400 idolators, eight Christians, and
one Muhammedan. When the Khakan rode from Khanbaligh to
Shangtu, or vice versa^ he was escorted by four armies on horseback ;
one went a day's march before, one a day's march behind, and one on
either hand, so that he travelled in the centre of a cross. His palanquin
was made of lign aloes and gold, covered with fine skins, and ornamented
with precious stones. The four Cuthe, ue^ Kuesie,^ keq>ing guard tyy
him.ll
The following story is so quaint that I have been tempted to eictract
it from Odoric*s travels. ''When I was still in the province of Manii
(f>., Southern China), I passed by the foot of the palace wall of a certain
burgess, whose manner of life is thus :— He hath fifty damsels, virgins,
who wait on him continually, and when he goeth to dinner and taketh hb
seat at table the dishes are brought to him by fives and fives, those virgins
carryii^ them in with singing of songs and the mnsic of many kinds of
* PeragriofttoresQttUttor, isS» qnottd in Csthaj aadthe Way ThKbtf, tja.
tC«t]uiy«adtlMWiqrThitlMr,x3t. t/<l*.<S<- (FMfMlt^
t CatlMgr and the Way TkhKor, 195.
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306 HISTORY or THE MONGOLS.
instruments. AndtheyalsofeedhimaaifheiiteieapettpaRoWyP^
the food into his mouth, singing before him continuaUy until those diishes
be disposed of. Then other five dishes are brought by other Sve
maidens, with other songs and kinds of music, while the first maidens
retire, and thus he leadeth his life daily until he shall have lived it out"*
This story illustrates the luxury and wealth which abounded in China
during the Mongol supremacy.
KUSHALA KHAN.
YissUN TiMtnt had hardly closed his eyes when the Empress Regent
sent to have the seals of government seized. Her eldest son Rad-
chapika,t called Asukipa by De MaiUa and Ganbil, was then nine years
old, and had been declared his heir by his finther; but there were
some about the court who deemed that otibers had a better claim to it
When Batra succeeded his brother Khaissan, it was on condition that the
latter's children should succeed him, but Batra had violated this agree-
ment, and put his own son on the throne.
Khaissan had left two sons, of whom Kushala had a command in the
north, while the other, called Tu Timur, had been long in exile, first in
Hainan, and more lately at Kienkang or Nanking.
The chief partisan of the family of Khaissan was Yen Timur, the
governor of Peking. He assembled the mandarins, recited to them the
wrongs of his proUgiSy and imprisoned Upetula, the first minister,
Tiemuku, the first censor, and certain influential mandarins, and
effectually overawed the discontented. We are told that the officers
whom he appointed were at a loss to know which of the two brothers was
to be proclaimed, and only found out that it was Tu Timur when they
were ordered to face the south and do homage in the prescribed form.
Several princes and others who threatened a revolt were put to death.
Meanwhile the Empress Regent caused her son to be proclaimed at
Shangtu, and Wanchen, Prince of Leang, was named his first nunistcr.
Tach^ Timur was given command of the troops, and ordered to march
against Tu Timur. Tu Timur having arrived at Tatu, he ordered several
of those who had been imprisoned by Yen Timur to be executed.
The latter now pressed him to take advantage of the popular enthusiasm
and have himself proclaimed Emperor. He replied that the crown
belonged to his elder brother, who had performed very arduous services
in the north. He at length,* however, consented, but in hb proclamation
he declared that he intended to resign the dignity on lus brother's arrival
The division in the Inqwrial £unily was already begmning to bear
*C«l]uiytadt]MW«rTUtliw^ts». t SMMOff 8«tow, xax.
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KUSHALAKHAN.
w
fruit. We are told that Nankiattiy governcur of Suchoaii, made bimaelf
indqiendent, and created bis province into a. separate kingdom. He took
the title of Prince, put to death those who opposed his usurpation,
appointed officers^ and devastated Chen taa He is treated as Emperor
in the history of the Mongols.* His rebdlion is interesting as die first
token ^ that break-up of the empire which was so dosdy impending.
The party of the young prince, who is numbered among the Khakans
by Ssanang Setxen, was by no means contenqitible, and besides many of
the princes of the blood and provincial governors, it also induded the
greater pari^ the western troops. Having been declared his heir by
the late Sovereign, he was, according to Chinese usage, the legitunate
Sovere]gn.t Yen Timur marched against the partisans of the young
prince in Liau tung. He defeated Wanchen, who had captured
Kin yong koan. Meanwhile the officers of Asukipa occupied the
£unous fortress of Tung kuan, and even marched upon Pddng. They
were defeated. An end was at length put to the war by the successful
march of Buka Timur, an unde of Yen Timur, with several commanders
from Eastern Tartary, who marched upon Shangtu, where the young
prince held his court| Its commander made several inefiectual sorties^
and deserted with the Imperial seal and the jewels of Asukipa. Meanwhile
that young dahnant disappeared: no one knew how. His disappearance
was the signal for the disint^ration of his forces, which were completely
dispersed. He was styled by the Chinese Tien chun.$ Tii Timur sent
moitd to Kushala of what had happened. Meanwhile the latter advanced
ieisurdy. He caused himself to be proclaimed Emperor at Karakoruniy
and there recdved Yen Timur, who came from his brother, and bore the
imperial seal and other insignia of office.!
Yen Timur was wdl received by Kushala, who appointed several of his
Other's dd officers as his ministers, and named his brother Tu Timur as
his hdr. Tu Timur sent messengers to NanHatai to recall him to his
allegiance, promising him that the past should be forgotten ; but, as usual
in China, such promise was not kept His submission was followed by
his execution and the confiscation of his goods* Kushala continued his
march, and met his brother near Shangtu. The meeting was cordial
enough on his part, but Tu Timur showed signs of jealousy, and Yen
llmur complained of having been slighted by the Mongol grandees.
The same evening, at a foast, Kushala was suddenly sdzed with iUness.
He died a few days after, not withoitf suspicion of poisoning. This
was in the latter part of 1339. He was only thirty years old, and
recdved the posthumous title of Mii^ tsong. His body was removed
to Shangtu.
•i:)«lfaUto,U.547. tQ«abiI,9^. I Do If tiOt, ik. 549-
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yaS HISTORY or the mohools.
JIYAGHATU KHAN.
Tu Timor, who is called Jiyaglutu Khan by Ssanang SeUen, now
had himself proclaimed afesh, with greater ceremony than before.
He was much attached to the T4imaistS| and spent immense sums
upon them. He summoned Nienchinkilas, a famous western Lama,
whom he called his master, to his court, and sent the grandees
of the court to meet him and do him honour. They obeyed,
and offered him wine, while he treated them in a very cavalier
manner. The president of the Imperial College, who was much piqued
at this conduct, said to him, when pres^ting the cup^ ''You are a
disciple of Buddha and master of all the Hochang, and I am a disciple
of Confucius and head of idl the literates <^ China. Confochis was as
great as Buddha. Between us there is no need of so much ceremony.'^
The Lama smiled, rose firom his seat, and received the cup which the
president offered him in the same attitude, standing.* The young
Emperor ordered the college of Han lin to draw up a collection of the
Mongol customs, similar to the works styled Hoei yao of the Thang and
Sung dynasties. In imitation of Khubilai, he wished to have only one
nunister. He accordingly suppressed the rest, and appointed Yen TImur
to the post After his appointment» he became tyrannical, insolent, and
very unpopular.t
Eaily in 1330 there was a revolt in Yunnan, where the Prince Tukien
declared himsdf independent. Troops were sent s^nst him, and were
ordered to march by the country of Pa fiuu Tukien was supported by
the Lolos and other tribes of Miaotse, on the borders of Yunnan. The
Khan's army, under the command of Timur buka, was defeated, and
sent for reinforcements. Upon which the Prince Yuntu Timur was
ordered to withdraw ao/x)o men fix)m die provinces of Kiangnan, Honan,
and Kiang si, and to lead them by way of Hu kuang towards Yuniian4
These successful outbreaks at the extremities of the empire were doing a
good deal, no doubt, to break the prestige of the Mongols. The court
also was growing demoralised, and we are told that die Empress
Pvtacfaeli having a grudge against her sister-in*law, the widow of the late
Khan, had her asfaftsinatfd by an eunuch.$
In Older to gain the esteem of the literates, whose influence with the
Chinese (at this time distressed by inundations and £unine) was very
great, ficeshhooomrt were decreed to the &ther and mother of Confucius.
These inundations are aaid to have entirely ruined 5,180,000 arpens of
land in the provinces of Kiang nan and Hu kuan& and to have reduced
to poverty more than 400,000 fiunilies.||
•Dtlfailk,ix.590. t D* MaOU. ix. 55a. I De VaiUa, iz. 553. fOnibU,aSS.
I D« MaUlA, ix. 555.
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JIYAGHATU KHAN. 509
In die latter part of 1330 the Emperor went in person to perform the
great tacrifice to the sky. Previously it was done by deputy.* This was
followed by a general amnesty, and by the proclamation of his young son
Alatenatala as heir; he» however, died the next year.t The following
year the harvest was still worse, and in the provmce of Chekiang there
were 800,000 fomilies who harvested nothii^ of either grain or rice. The
war in Yunnan continued with doubtful success, but the Imperial genera!
Alatenacheli having collected an army of 100,000 men, defeated the Lolos
and other mountaineers, and killed two of their chiefs. He seems to
have quelled the rebellion and pacified Yunnan and Suchuan4 It is a
remarkable custom in China that the Imperial annals are not published
or even seen by any one, save the officials of the College of Historians,
during the Emperor's life. In the latter part of 1331 Tu Timur went to
the college and ordered the bureau containing the account of his own
doings to be opened. The chief officials were cowed, but a subordinate
had the courage to throw himself at the Emperor's feet, and to declare that
it was impossible the tribunal could continue to be independent; could
pronounce judgment on the good and bad actions of the Emperor and his
officers unless protected by secrecy. That it was indispensable that they
should write the truth and omit nothing. That hitherto no Emperor had
violated the sacred memoirs of his dynasty, much less of his own reign,
and that he hoped the Emperor would not insist on doing so. Tu
Timur, after some hesitation, assented to this reasoning, and praised the
official for his intqprity.f
Lo yu, one of the rebd chiefs in Yunnan, had escaped to the
mountains; he collected a body of his peqde, and dividing them into
sixty small parties, overran the country of Chun yuen, where they
comfnitted frightful devastation. A force marched against them, under
the orders of the general Kidi^ who stormed their chief stronghold. Five
hundred of them perished. Three sons and two brothers of Prince Tukien
were made prisoners, while a third brother drowned himself rather than
M into the hands of the Chinese. Lo yu himself escaped. | We are told
that Tu Timur was so occupied with his pleasures that he hardly deigned
to show any interest in this distant campaign. Yen Timur possessed his
entire confidence, and pandered to his tastes. So infatuated was the
Emperor with him that he caused his own son Kulatmna to live with him
and recognise him as his father, wishing him even to change his name.
Asonof Yen Timur'Sy called Taigai, was brouf^ up in the palace hi the
place of Kulatana.
The conduct of the Emperor caused much discontent, and Yudu
Hmur, son of Ananda, in conjunction with the heads of the Lama rd^ion
in China, formed a plot to displace him; but this was discovered, and
they were duly punished.
•OMkll,t68. t D« MaiUa, it, 554* I Dt M«Uk. is. 554* <HtibiI,t66.
iDaM«illa»U.555. IW.557.
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310 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
He however survived only a short time, and died at Shangtu in the
latter part of 1332.* His death occurs in the annals amidst the accounts
of earthquakes and ojjier disasters, that presaged so well the coming
disasters to Mongol dominion. He was twenty-nine years old when he
died; his posthumous title was Wen-teong.
RINTSHENPAL KHAN.
I HAVE said how infatuated Tu Timur became with his minister Yen
Timur, and how he had sent his son to be brought up in his house. This
son was named originally Kulatana, but he then took the name of Yen
tikusL On the death of the Emperor, Yen Timur naturally wished to
place this young prince on the throne, but the Empress R<^nt declared
that Tu Timur had nominated the second son of Kushala as his successor.
He is called Ilintshepan by De Mailla and Gaubil, YWchcbe by Hyacinthc,
and Rmtshenpal by Ssanang Setzen. He was only seven years old.
She caused hun to be proclaimed, and declared herself Regent; but he
was of a delicate constitution, and died two months after. His title in
Chinese history is Ning-tsong.t
TOGHON TIMUR KHAN.
On the death of Ning-tsong, Yen Timur made another effort to put his
protegk on the throne, but the Empress Regent agam intervened in favour
of Tt^hon Timur, the elder brother of Ning-tsong, urging that Yentikusi
was too young, and that Tu Timur had promised to place a son of
Kushala on the throne.
There were grave doubts about the legitimacy of Tpghon Timur. His
father had escaped westwards, as I have described,! and had married a
descendant of Arselan, who had submitted to Jingis (deariy the Arslan
yKafi of the Kariuks, to whom I have sheady referred). Toghon Timur
was the product of this marriage. His mother had died many years
before, and he himself had been exiled to an island on the Corean
coast As the rumour spread that Uus exile was prompted by Tu
Tmwr's desire to remove a dangerous rival, who was clearly entitled
to succeed him if he was the eldest son of Kushala, he published
• D* llaiUa, is- S5>> X>*Obnos. iL i54* t D* Mama, ix. 559. GAiibil,270.
lyOknoo, a. 551*554. . t K«« miI#
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TOOflON TUiUR KlfAN. 3IZ
the news that Kududa had had ik> soot doriii^ his oxOe, and that
Toghon Timur was not l^^khnate ; he alio itmoved hhn to
Tsing kiang (Kaei lin fa) in Kwang^« Theve he was on the death
of his brother. Yen Unmr wenC with a large cortege to hring him
to the capital He was cokUy reoeivedy and grew suspicious. Toghon
Timur, bowever, married his daughter. He shortly after died froni
his debauchery and excesses. He had been suspected, aoC witboot
reason, of the deadis of Kushala iChan, and also of Tu Timar« aad it
was deemed fortunate for the new Khan that he should have died when
he did. He is styled audacious and perfidious by De Mailku He was
extraragant and debauched. In his feasts he killed as many as thirteen
and fourteen horses. On the death of Yissun llmur he forced his widow
to marry him. Among his coAcubiaes were mmbered forty princesses of
the Imperial blood, whom he took up one after another, retaining some of
them only three days. The yoUng £nq>eror was only thirteen, of limited
capacity, and of a feeble and timid character.
He left the affiurs of State in the management of his chief officers,
wlwm he chose mainly from the family of Yen Timor. Bayan, a Merkit,
and Satun, a brother of Yen Timur, were created chief ministers. De
Mailla says that on the day when the former was ajq^KHnted there was a
dreadful earthquake at Tsin chan, as if to show how much heaven
disapproved of the choice.* This was fbUowed by other prodigies* A
rain of bk>od, which disc<4oured the clothes of those it fell upon, in
Kaifbng fii; a shower of green threads, like hairs, in the district of Giang;
while rain and drought devastated other districU ;t and lyooopoo people
are said to have died in the southern provinces. Bayan and Santun did
not agree. The latter shortly after died, and was succeeded l^Tangkichi,
the eldest son of Yen Timur^ who^ jealous of his colleague, determined to
rebel and to place Hoanho Timur, son of Shhreki and grandscm of the
Khakan Mangu, on die throne. Bayan having heard of die conspiracy,
caused the rebels to be arrested. Tangldchi was killed. His brother
Targai took rduge in the apartments of his sister, the Enqiress, but was
sabred in her presence. She herself was also executed, while Hoanho
Timur committed suidde. Thus perished, says D^Ohsson, the illustrious
house of Yen Timur.f
The Emperor was given up to frivolity. While fiunine and disaster
were ov^taking his people he engaged in hunting and other amusements,
and when the Imperial censors blamed him, he endeavoured to bribe
them into silence by presents. After some pressure, we are toU, these
were accepted, but the remonstrances were not discontinued.! We need
not be cynics to doubt the efficacy of remonstrances when thus rewarded.
Meanwhile revolts occurred in various provinces. A peasant, named
•D«Maitli,hr.503. t De M «iUm, ix. 5<S. I Dt MiUHa «^ ht «ai Sangtoi^ fon, ix. 564.
S Op. cit, ii. sio> I Dft yM\M, Ix. 567.
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312 HISTORY OF THB MONGOLS.
Chtt koang king, with some companions, raised a rebellion at Cheng chin
in Kwan tung, erased the dynastic title of Yuen and set up that of Kin.
Other similar rebellions lock phice at Hoei chau, in Kwang tung, and in
Uonan. These were put down, but the discontent was not eradicated.
The Emperor having remarked that the rebels were mainly Chinese, began
to suspect that the mandarins had only an official, and not a real attach-
ment to his dynasty. It was determined to deprive them of their horses,
and to forbid them, on pain of deaths to carry arms. The use of the
Mongol language was also interdicted theoL* The year 1337, like the
preceding one, was marked by natural phenomena of a serious aspect to
a race afraid of omens. A comet, heavy rains, hail (of which some of the
stones were shaped like children and others like lions), and an earthquake.
The last of which overturned the Temple-of-the- Ancestors of the reigning
dynasty.
The following year a rebellion broke out in Fukien, the Imperial troops
were beaten, and it was not till two yean later that it was suppressedt
Another revolt broke out the next year in Honan. Everywhere,
apparently, the people were growing weary of the exactions of the
Mongols and the weakness of the court To this was added the cruel
and imperious conduct of Bayan. He was a Merldt by origin, and
descended from the great Bayan of the days of Jingis; he had been
governor of Honan, and rose to great &vour during the reign of Tu
Timur. After the death of Gegen Khan he monopolised almost all autho-
rity, and used it badly. With his own hand he had killed the Empress
P^yau, and in 1339, for some unexplained reason, proposed to the Emperor
to put to death all those with the surnames Chang, Wang, Lian, Li, and
Chao. This did not come about, but it created him many enemies ; and
his conduct is set down as one of the main causes of the final ejq>ulsion
of the Mongds from China.t He even took up6h himself to have the
prince Tan wang executed, and the princes Timur buka and Koan-che-
buka exiled without the Emperor's authority. Bayan had a brother,
Matchartai, equal to him in talent but without his vices. He and his son
Toto or Toktagha, fearing that Bayan's misconduct would lead to the
ruin of the whole frunily, and 'mindful of the Chinese maxim that a
faithful subject ought to sacriiice his frunily to his Sovereign and country,
determined to make « Representation to the Emperor. Toktagha
accordingly did so, toA ^lans were laid for deposing him. One day when
Bayan absented himsdf from the city for the purpose of himting, the
gates were dosed against him. He was deprived of his honours
and exiled to Honan, hut died on the way there of disaqppointment.
On Ms >iray he halted at Ching ting fii, and some old men brought
hitti out some wine. He asked them, referring to what Tokta^^ had
^dbkie, if they had heard the news of a son who intended to kill his fiuher.
«DeM«ma,iics<9. t De MaUUw ix. S7^ I IH llaiUa, ix. 37X.
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TOGHON TIMVE KHAII. 313
Tliey replied thai Oiey had not, but ^Mt th^ had heaid of mibjfcts 1A0
wMhed to kUl their Sovereign. Confuaed by this aaaibagiuma aauwer,
Bayan, we arc told, held down hU head and passed on withont reply.*
His brother Matcfaartai, the ^aher of TokUf^ who had won nmdi
fitvour. at court for his exemplary coadoct, succeeded him. This was In
134a The same year TogfaoaTtmiur caused the name eCTuTimvr to be
erased from ^tablets of the ancestors. Theaetabletsaie made of wood
or silver, five or six inches wide and aloot cr mote kwg^ and haive the
name and title of the person and the year of his birth and death iaseribed
oathem. The Chinese beliere that die ^irit of the deceased resides in
them, and pay adoration to them. The name of TuTimnrwas erased for
the part he took in the murder of Kushak Khan, the lather oi Toghon
Timiir,t the exikof himself to Corea« and the indignity of sugi^stinf that
he was a bastard. At the same time the Empress Putacheli, who had
prefcrred his yonager brother to himsdl^ was exiled to Tong ngan chau,
where she shortly after died, iHiUe Yentikosi, the son of Tu Timur,
was sent to Corea. He was put to death on the way by the mandarin
who escorted him.} To escape responsibility for these events, which
were against hb counsel, Matchartai resigned his office of chief mmister,
and was succeeded by his son Toktagha. Toghon Timur now caused to
be complded a great historicalworic, which had been in progress since the
days of Khobilai Khan, namely, the history of the dynasties of the Liau,
Kin, and Sung. Accoidiag to Gaubil, this work contains calendais,
astronomical (dtssrvations, biographies of celebrated men, bibliogiaphies
of the various reigns, aad many details on the neii^bouiing countiies.|
It is somewhat scandalous to oar age that it has not yet been translated.
About the same time was published the King chi u tien, a Chinese
work containing the customs of the Mongols, and die political and
other precepts of the diiferent Emperors. This was a kind of sequel
to a work published in the reign of Gegen Khan, with the title Tai Yuan
tong chi, containing the Mongol htws. The year 1342 was marked by
revolts in Hu kuang and Slum tung. These were qudled, the hrtter with
some diflliculty.l The following ycai* there arrived— as a piesent to the
Enq>eror-*some horses fom the coui^ry of Fu kng (fU., <rf the Franks).
They were of a bceed hitherto uidmown in Chma. One of them was
deven foet and a half k>ng, and she foet and a half high. 1 1 was black aU
over, except the hind feet, viiich were white. It is curious to meet widi
audi a notice among the vaiioos accounts of disaster that occupy dM
annals. But these big western horses were doubtless very wondeifol to
the Chinese, who only knew the little breed of Mongolian ponJes.
The particular horses are of greater interest to us, however, for they
introduce us to anodier of diose intrepid medieval travellers whose
^DsMsBh^faLSTS. tFOtMic I D* lUiJlA, is. vt. | D*OhnoB. U. JC). Q«BUl,t79.
|D«IUiU«,i]US7t.
la
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314 HISTORY or THE IIOHOOLS
audacity and enteiprise have hardly been equalled in later times. The
traveller who is brought into our notice by the horses above named was
MarignoUi, a Franciscan, who was probably born about 1290.* In 133!^
sa^'s Colonel Yule, there arrived at Avignon an embassy from the greflt
Khan of Cathay, consisting of Andrew, a Frank| and fifteen other persons.
They brought two letters to the Pope ; one purporting to be from the
Khan himself, the otlier from certain Christian Alans in his service, it
is possible that this Andrew was the Andrew, Bishop of Zayton, already
named. Colonel Yule is disposed to accept the Khan's letter as
genuine. It is thus phrased :—
''In the strength of the Omnipotent God, the Emperor cC
Emperors commandeth :
^ We send our envoy, Andrew the Frank, with fifteen others, to the
Pope, the Lord of the Christians, in Franldaiid, beyond the seven sotf
where the sun goes down, to open a way for the fieqnent exchange of
messengers between us and the Pope ; and to request the Pope himself to
send us his blessing, and always to remember ns in his holy prayers ; and
to commend to him the Alans, our servants and his Christian sons. Also
we desire that our messengers bring back to us hones and other raritieff
from the sun setting.
'* Written in Cambalec, in the year of the Rat, in the 6th month, on the
3rd day of the Moon.''
Whether the letter be from the Kiian himself or no, there cannot
be mudi doubt about the arrival of this embassy, which was ** graciously
received by the Pope, Benedict the Twelfth, one mark of his (avour
being to create one of the Tartar envoys sergeant-at^arms to him**
9elfl*t Shortly after he appointed legates to return the courtesies of the
Khan, and also to further the cause of the fiuth. His letters to the great
Khan, and to the Alans in reply, were accompanied by letters to the
Khans of Kipchak and Jagatai, and to two Christian ministers of the
latter Sovereign. With these letters the Eastern envoys departed from
Avignon in 133S, bearing recommendations also firom the Pope to the
Doge and Senate of Venice, and to the Kings of Hungary and Sicily.
The legates who were named were Nicholas Boneti, S.T.P., Nicholas of
Molano, John of Florence (f.«., MarignoUi), and Gregory of Hungary.
MarignolU's notices of his recollections were found during the last
century in a Bohemian chronicle. The mission went by way of Con-
stantinople, Kafia, Serai (the capital of the Golden Horde), where they
passed the winter of 1339 ; Almalig, where they suyed till 1341; Kami!,
and finally arrived at Cambalec in May or June, 1342.^
There they sUyed three or four years, and returned to Europe by way
of India. MahgnoUi expressly metitlons horses among the presents he
• C«thay sod Ctkc Way Thithtr, $Jt, t CaUm^ and tli« Way ThiUwr, 31*.
I Opt dt. lit.
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JOGROy TIMUR KHAN. ^t$
took with him. One of tuese, which he presented co Uzbek, the £han of
the Golden Horde,heeall8''a great war hone.'' This was no doubt simikr
to the one be took with hhn to China. He says that " when the grand
Ehan beheld the great horses, and the Pope's presents with his letter, and
King Robert's too, with their yolden seals ; and when he saw them (the
envoys) also, he njoiced greatly, being delighted, yea exceeding^
deligitted with everything, and treated them with the greatest honour ;
and when he (Marignolli) entered the Kaam's presence it was in full
festival vestments, with a very fine cross carried before him and candles
and incense, while Cnd^ in tmum Dmrn was chaunted in that glorious
palace where he dwelt. And when the chaxmt was ended he bestowed
a full benediction, which he received with all humility.*'* He tells us
they were treated very liberally, not only in regard to meat and drink,
iMit even down to such things as paper for lanterns, and the necessary
servants wore detached from the court to wait upon them, and this for
nearly four years. They also kept him and his establishment clothed in
costly raiment. He calculated that, considering there were thirty^two
persons, it must have cost the Khan more than 4,000 marks to entertain
them. ''And," he adds, ''we had many and glorious disputations with
the Jews and other sectaries, and we made also a great harvest of soub
in that empire." When he left, the Khan sent presents by him to the
Pope, and also gave him an allowance for three years' e.'q|>enses ; he also
sent a request that either he or some one else should be speedily sent
back with the ranlc of cardinal, and with full powers to be bishop there ;
that he should be of the Minorite or Franciscan order, because they were
the only priests whom they were acquainted with, and because Pope Giro-
Vamo, who sent them John of Montecorvino, whom they so much revered^
was one of them.t The horses which our traveller took form a most
curious link between Chinese and European history, inasmuch as they
are mentioned in the Imperial annals of the former, and also in a
contemporary Western chronicle, written by our traveller, who was the
chaplain to the Emperor Charles the Fourth in the latter.}
Gaubil tells us in his translation of the Chinese Chronology, 186^ that
there was preserved in the Imperial palace a picture in wluch Shunti {i^^
Toghon Timur), the last Emperor of the Yuen dynasty, was represented
on a fine horse, of which all the dimensions were detailed, and also that
it was presented to Shunti by a foreigner of the kingdom of France.
(Rather, as Colonel Yule suggests, of the kingdom of the Franks,
Europeans in China, as in the East generally, being known as Franks.!;
But we must proceed with our narrative.
* Cathay and tho Way Thither, 339, 340. t Catbay and the Way Thither, ^u
I IfariSBoUi, after hii retsni to Eoropc, wa6 cfe»ted Bithop of Bingo^^i^Ja Calabria, an«l
in S3S4 ^^v* *I^ m%Ac one of hie domestic chaplains by the Emperor. Cathay aad iHc Way
TJOther.aaS.
i Ca^ay and the Way Thither, 340*
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3l6 HISTORY OP THB MONGOLS.
In I344y Tokiagha weary of his office resigned it, and received die
title of Chii^ wang. He was succeeded by IladiOy a descendant of
Btighurdshiy* one of Jingis Khan's £inroinite chleft. He is called Aluta
by De Mailla.f
In 1346^ some thieves stole the silver taMets of the Emperors from the
Temple of the Ancestors, a foct which, as De MaiUa says, riiows the
unsettled ccmdition to which things were fittt tending. The weakness of
the Emperor kd to constant intrigaing for place among the ministers*
Ilacho grew disgusted. One Pierke buka, son of Uie Agutai who had
been put to death by Khaissan, gained the Emperor's ear and persuaded
him to exile Matchartai, who was so mudi esteemed for his integrity.
His son Toktagha having failed to get this decision reversed, followed his
£auher, Matchartai was sent to Kan chau> in Shen si, where he shortly
after died.i
Ilacho also determined to resign, especially as some of tlie Imperial
censors supported Pierke bnka in his intrigues. I am a great grandson
of Bughurdshi, he said, and I am not very proud of being a minister. I
only accepted the office to please die Emperot*. He pressed me and I
could only obey, but as the censors have thought me guilty I submit
to their judginent, and resign with pleasitre a post I only fflled with
repugnance, t
Pierke buka succeeded to the vacam office, his incapacity or imiscon*
duct led to his being superseded by the Prince Tteitchi, who asked that
he might have Tar ping as a colleague. This was gtuited, and they
applied themselves with vigour to various reforms. One of their inspectors
luuined Hanyong proceeded to found schools in die various departments,
and to appoint special costumes for masters and pupils. He also ordered
several temples to be destroyed^ and the land they occupied to be brought
into cultivation. The people who had suffered so mudi from die recent
bad seasons were much pleased widi diese reforms. The Emperor was
also interested and paid a visit to the Imperial College, to which he
had not been since he mounted che throne. He gave a silver seal to a
descendant of Confucius, who bore the title of Yen ching kong, and raised
the mandarins who were there in charge to a hi|^ier rank.|
At the end of 1 34S, the Imperial censor Chang diin presented a memoir
on the fact that so many of Bayan's relatfves were still at large, and that
this encouraged the pirates and robbers on the frontier of the
empire, who deemed themselves safo from Justice, and he warned the
Emperor that he was thus tempting t'ne fete wfaidi overtook the dynasty
of the Tang.T About this thne T<dcti|^a i^as recalled at the instance
of Tai ping and. recovered his influence at court. He was not on good
terms however with his benefiictor, and even joined in the chorus of voices
• SsftMBf ^tfl«n, Ui. t Of Maait. Ix. s8o. ( OmUl. aSx. | Dt MaiS^ l«. 5<|.
I De MftUtaifo. 5S5. ^ D« Mal11«, Ix. $$7,
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TOGHON TIWR KRAN. 317
thit depredated him. Tmi ping tectnt to have lost his positioa, asd hit
friends suggested that he shoold commit suidde^ rather dian^mtlhre the
disgrace. He refused, saying he was not oooscioiis of any fimk, and that
he shonkl only he conftrmfaig the judgment of his enemies if he killed
himself. He redrsd to Fong yuen, his birthplace.
Toktagfaa was now appointed talor to the heir apparent, AyuchiUtahu
The lessons were given in the hall called Toan pen tang, at the bottom of
which was placed a Aronc updn which the Emperor intended to «it some^
thnes. The young prince and his masters were ranged round the room.
One Li hao ven was app<^ted to teach him statecraft, and composed for
him several worics on history, the duties of princes, &c., but his
scholar was impatient of restraint and learnt little. He had a leaning
towards Buddhism, and one day, when he gave an audience to
some Coreans and Lamas, he caused mudi chagrin to the CWnese, by
sayhig that he could not understand the doctrines contained in the
Chinese books, which Li hao ven had tried so carefully to teach him, but
that he understood perfectly the Btiddfaist doctrines.*
The Chinese discontent was increased by the favour riiowA to
foreigners, especially to Amaf and Sue,t two Turics f^m the Kip
disk, who were the Khakan's confidantes, and without capacity or talents.
Meanwhile, the condition of China was growing worse. The straw that
eventually crushed the camel's back was not an important onob The
banks of the Hoang ho, which has a reputation for changing its course,
were constantly breaking down and causing inundations. In 1348, a
mathematician named Kla lu made a report upon it, and suggested that the
course of the river should be dianged and turned bade into an andent
channel, which was now deserted. In this opinion he was supported by
Toktagha, and opposed by others, includfaig the superintendent of public
urorksy who declared the new course to be impracticable. It was decided
to be made notwhhstanding. It involved the cutting of an immense ditch,
twenty-dght leagues long, and for this wbik a forced levy of 70,000 men
was ordered from the people on the banks, and large taxes were levied
to pay for the same. These causes led to a revdt, headed by one Han
chan tong, who at first declared himself a Buddha, but his Chinese
supporters deftly found a new excuse for him, in proclaiming that he was
a sdon of the andent house of the Sung Emperors. He was joined by
a large body of insurgents, who swore allegiance to him, and sacrificed a
white horse and a black one, and adopted a red cap as their symbol.
Han chan tong was shortly afterwards cs^;>tured by the Mongols, but
his wife and son escaped. This was in 1351.I Meanwhile, a pirate
named Fang ku chin pillaged the coasts of Ch^ldang and Kiang nan,
entered ^bt river, and captured much booty. The grandees kept the
matter secret, and thepnate and his brother were even rewarded.1
* Of Mallta, Ub 5>9> t TW Kiou of SMaaac IclMfl. op. dt., t^ 2 ? Tb« Ji«i «r tfat
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3l8 HISTORY OF THB MOBTOOLS.
Liau fu tODg, a supporter of Han chan tang; contmued to stmg^
after the latter^s capture. He captured several tonns in Eiang nan, and
entered Honan. Another rebel, named Siu chaa hoci, alto appeared in
Hu kuang. He had himself proclaimed Emperor at Ki chai, and gave
his dynasty the title of Tien wan, and afterwards captured Yao chan and
Siuchau. The Mongols fled before him. He descended the river Eiang
with a numerous fleet. Meanwhile Li fu, one of the Imperial generals,
threw several thousand beams whose ends were armed with hooks and iron
points, into the river. Upon these the rebel fleet was forced, and while
they were thus entangled he fired their ships by means of burning arrows.
Many of the rebds thus perished. They were, however, still strong enough
to attack Kiau kiang. Li fu marched to the rescue, but they had already
forced a gate. He fought his way from street to street, and at length fell
pierced widi many wounds. He was a Chinese, and not a Mongol, and
is specially nanted for his fidelity to the foreign dynasty by De Cuignes,
and was granted many posthumous titles of honour by the Emperor.*
At this time the Mongol army, commanded by Yesien Timur,
Toktagha's brother, which had marched against the rebels in Honan, and
was encamped at Cha ho, was seized with unaccountable panic and
dispersed. The blame was laid upon its commander, but he was
sui^x>rted by his brother, who even punished the mandarin who had
declared against him. The court b^gan to grow nervous about the state
of affiurs, and determined to send a descendant of the Sung Emperor's,
named Chao wan pu, in favour of whom many of the rebels pretended
to rise, into Tartary.
Meanwhile Siu chau hoc! continued his successes, and with the peculiar
policy that animated the Tai ping rebels of our day, he allowed his
soldiers to plunder the towns which he captured.
He now attacked Hang chau, the ancient capital of the Sung Emperors.
The Mongol troops which were sent to rescue it, having arrived too late to
save it, their intrepid commander, Tong pu siao, notwithstanding inarched
on. The rebels speedily evacuated the dty. Hiey were attacked when
in a state of disorder. A portion of them took shelter in a miao or temple,
Tong pu siao fired it, and not one escaped. Hang chau was recaptured
Its fall was followed by that of several other towns.t Another rebellion in
Hu kiang and Kiangsi was also put down at this time. The rdiels were
assisted, we are told, by a Tao si, who could by his magical arts cover a
space of twelve li with storms. He was captured with his books. His
head was cut off in presence of the army, and his books were burnt.}
Meanwhile Fang ku chin, tl^e pirate, continued his ravages, and Tia
buka, who had occupied some of the most important places of trust in
the empire, and was a man of considerable resources, was sent against
him. He was then at the mouth of the Kiang. Tai buka, instead oi
* De MmU«> Ix. SS^' t Pe Maillii, ix. 5«9i 600. 1 Dt M«iU^ if. 609,
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TOOHON TIMim KHAN. 519
atuokmg him^ tent him propotaU of peace. Fancying that some
treachery was intended, he seised the envoy, mounted the Kiang with 300
boats, and pillaged the district of Mangan and its neighbourhood.
Td buka, seeing that his {dans had foiled, determined to coUect a laige
force and to exterminate the pirates. Fang kn chin now made orertures
lor gttbmisaion, but these were treacherous ones ; and Tai buka Jiaving
triMM his fleet too dose to the enemy, he was captured after a hard
resistance and was killed.*
Toktagha seeing how matters were going, determined to march himself
against the rebels, notwithstanding the dictum of the grandees that the
ministers are to the Sovereign what the hands and feet are to the body,
and that all afAurs ought to pass through their hands. He marched against
those who were assembled near Pe siu chau. They were defeated,
and the town was destroyed for having harboured Ihem. This victory
was balanced by a severe defeat sustained by the Imperial general Singki
near Hu keau, in Kiang si. He had been sent against the arch rebel
Siu chau hoei, with orders to recover Kiang diau. He gained several
small successes, and posted his forces in the defile of the lake of Po yang to
protect his recent conquests. There he was attacked by the rebels with
great vigour. He himself was killed, and his death secured the victory
to the enemy.t Gaubil says he was only wounded, and vras captured
afive^ and that the rebds, who respected him as a hero, kndt down
before him and gave him something to eat, but that he died of his.
wounds seven days afVer.t
On the advice of Toktagha, Toghon Timur now, namdy in 1353,
nominated his son Aiyuchditala,! as his successor.
The pirate Fai^ ku chin condmied his ravage, and intercepted the
merdiandlse and grain that was sent from the southern provinces to the
capital by sea. Another attempt to induce him to submit was made by
the promise that he and his brothers should be appointed to certain
iii^KVtant mandarinates. They suspected this lavish generosity, and
continued their inpursions and ravs^, at the head of 10,000 ships i
Siu dum hod, the arch rebd, had fixed his court at KichuL There he
%vas attacked by the Imperial generals Puyen Timur and Yahancha. He
waa defeated and 400 of his supporters captured.
While the empire was distracted by rebdlions and other calamities,
the Emperor was indulging in debandiery and extiavagance. Toktagha
had nominated Kima or Ama, to fiAom he was under oUigations, as a
minister. He gained the good opinion of the Empress Ei, and corrupted
Hie Emperor's mind. He in^ortcd Lamas fesm Thibet, who introduced
into the palace various vohqitoous amusements. One of these games was
called Yendier, whidi in Mongd means pleasure It was accompanied
• Dt Mtm, ix.«ot. f De Mtilla, is. 604. I Canbil, tf x.
|I>flfeUlA,ix.to5. IIHMaUlmur.600.
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330 HlSTOItV OF THB MONQOLS.
bjr certain dances called Tien me. These were periormed 1^ sizieea
you&g girisy whose hair, divided into many tresses, fell loosdy over their
shoulders. Their heads were covered with ivory caps, decorated with
delicate open work. Their dresses had wide sleeves, and their petticoats
woe of red damask embroidered in silk. Over them was a kind of jacket,
called a spirit dress. These were ornamented with a fringe that ioate4
about gracefully wbxLc they danced. In thdr hands they held a kind of
Idubalapan or sceptre. One of the party had a castagnette or littk beO,
with which she marked the time. In another kind of dance dieie were
eleven girls» whose hair was n^ligently tied with very pretty handker-
chie£i. They wore the ordinary dress, only that their caps were of the
style worn during the dynasty of the Tang. Each one had a musical
instrument One a German flute, another a little drum^ a third a
guitar, &C. These musicians, under charge of the eunuch Antie buka,
chiefly pUyed when the Emperor worshqvped Buddha. During the secret
cultttSy De Mailla says that only the eunuchs were admitted, and he
suggests that various orgies were carried on.
As a reward apparently for providing the Emperor with these amuse-
ments, Kima was named chief minister, and the wamii^ and advice of
his better subjects and of his son were alike disregarded by the Empeior.*
Meanwhile the &ithflil Toktagha was making head against the rd>eb. In
1354 he recovered several towns of Kiang nan, and defeated the rebel
leader Chang se chii^, who had recen^ won a battle over the Imperial
general Tachd Timur.t These good services availed him little at the
court, where the ungrateful Sima intrigued against him, and charged him
with misspending the State's resources in the war, and with doing very
little. A memoir on the sutject was presented to the weak En^eror,
through the censors, and TogfaonTimur consented to the exile <^his faithful
minister. He was sent to the country of Hoai nan, and his brother Ye^en
Timur to Ning hta. The order reached him at the camp. Although coun*
selled te resist, he received ft on his knees, and told the office- who to^ it»
that he recognised himself as unworthy of the Emptor's favours, and
thanked him for having relieved him of responsibility. He distributed
his armour and horses among the officers. He bade them be faithful
to their new commander. He then mounted his horse and went away
with his servants.
Toghon Timur continued his frivolous conduct. He now had a state
barge built, ef which he furnished the model It was from lao to 130
feet long, and from 20 to 25 feet wide. It was rowed by twenty-four
rowers, magnificently dressed, and was used on the canal joining the
summer and winter palaces. This barge was called the dragon. It wasof
the shape of that animal, and when it mofved its head, eyes, tongue, daws,
and tail were set in motion. In the midst of the boatwas a kind of tower
•I)tyftili«.ut.te^ tDttftilk,ix.609.
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« TOOHCm TIMOR KHAN. y2 1
ix or seven feet hlf h, at the t^ of which were placed the two characters,
Sandttnftien(f>^ Han of the Three Saints), in golden letters. Inside
it was a statue oi the goddess Y«initt« iHiich marised the hours. At each
hour water flowed fiom a liasin. On eadi side of the goddess was
the figure of a qpirit, dressed in golden tissues; one held a bell; the
other, an instrunwnt made of bamboo, to strike the watches of the night,
which were marked by a finger, while at every hour statues of lions and
phceniws respectively jumped and flapped their wings. On each side of
the tower was tiie palace of the sun and moon, in front of whijch weiv
figures of six tasmortals. At six and at mid-day they walked two and
two, crossed the brkige, called the Bridge of Spirits, entered the flail of
the Three ffaints, and returned to their places. This machine was made
with extmrdinary deiterity, and the Emperor had the credit of its
inventimi.*
In 1355, Sfai chau hoei, 1H10 had adopted the Imperial title, sent
his genoal Ni wen tshm to capture the country of Biien yang. He
severdy defealed the Mongols,and burnt a portion of their fleet. The
court was little moved by these defeats in the south of the empire, but
began to be more nervous when die rebds ventured across the Hoangho,
and made raids into Honan. The troops in that province were
reprimanded, and reinforoementa were sent tiiere, which for a while kept
it firee from invasioo.t Lianfttteog, the chief of the red caps of Honan,
now proclaimed Han lin ulh, a son of the Sung £nq>eror Han chan tong
under the title of Ming waog, and estahlishcd his court at Foduui, in
Hpnan. After some indedsive batdes, he and his /r^^^ were forced to
take refuge towards Ngan. t IGma now prosecuted his designs against
Toktagha. He changed his place of exile to Yunnan, but had him poisoned
on the way. Toktagjia is* desciibed as tall and majestic in person, of
an aflable and kind disposition, austere in virtue and disinterested, the
companion of wise men, and he was very frdthfiil to his Sovereign. De
Mailla says his disgmce is an external reproach to the courtiers of Togiion
Timur. He blames him, however, for his patronage of his brother Yesien
Ttmur, and for his promotion of Kinuul
This year, namely in 1355, there comes upon die scene a very important
individual named Chu yuen chang, who became the fi>under of the Mi^g
dynasty. Origiaally a Buddhist priest, he had joined the rebd Ko tse
hing as a private soldier, was promoted to the rank of officer, and ended
by leading a band of his own. He oqitured Hoyan, which he protected
from befaig plundered. Tliis clemency gained him many adherents. He
then crossed the Kiang and secured Tai ping, which he would not allow
to be ravaged. We are told that an old literate named Tao ngan, at the
head of some venerable men, wont out to welcome hinu He described die
•vutaiHiit.§f. tiHAf«iai,it.eu; iD«iUiiit,ii.siy.
is
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332 HISTORY OP THE MONGOLS. ^
empire as being troubled like a sea tossed with a violent wind, and said
that those who were working to make themselves masters of it at the
point of the sword, gained only a pasnng success at the cost of ruined
provinces and pillaged people. He hoped that he would do otherwise,
and in following the dictates of heaven would also gain the affection of
the people. He was received in the dty with a cordial wdcome.*
The empire was in a dceadfiil state. The first minister Kima began to
dread the consequences of his policy, which had reduced the Emperor to
the vergt of imbecility. He knew how he was disliked, and to reinstate
his reputation determined to depose Toghon Timur, and tq rq^laoe
him by his son. He made his own £sther a party to the plot The plot
was disclosed by his sister, who was married to one of the Emperoi^s
boon companions, ^dio reported it to him. Kima and his brother were
exiled, but were strangled on the way.t This was in 1356.
The rebel Chang se ching, who had been defeated by Toktagha, had
recruited his forces, crossed the Kiang, and captured several towns of
Eastern Che kiang. At the same time, Chu yuen chang, ndiom De Mailla
calls "the destroyer of the empire of the Mongols,** advanced firom one
success to another. Tsi long (now called Nanking), Chin kiang, and
Chang chau were among his important captures. His policy was entirely
different to that of tiie other rebels. As he allowed no plundering, he was
welcomed by the inhabitants as a saviour, nor would he make common
cause with the oUier disturbers of the peace.!
However different their policy, the rebels in the north were not less suc-
cessful The troops of the revived Sung Enqseror there ciq>tured Shang
tu, the fortress of Ukoan, pillaged Tung hoa, and ravaged the country.
That their success was due to the feebleness of the govenunent is shown by
the £etct that when the Mongol general Chaghan Timur chose to exercise
a little vigour, he managed to disperse them with only 500 coirassiers.f
Further east Liau fu tong, the chief patron of die pretended Sung Emperor,
was more successful, and overran a laige part of Shang tung and Honan.
The Emperor, who concluded that the unpractised and undisciplined
rebels only made head against die imperial troops because of the want
of sldU and weakness of his commanders, sent them strict orders to
attack diem vigorously. The rebds, who heard of this, £uined the feelhig
by so dropping a letter, offering the general Tach^ Timur a high command
among them, that it came into official hands. The general was so
affected by this, that he fell ill and died. The Emperor, who was assured
of his innocence, gave his command to his son Polo Timur,| but it was
of small avail Tsinan and Hokien successively fell into the hands of die
Sung pretender, and the Imperial troops were badly beaten near the
village of Wei kia chuang, and dicir commander Tong toan smo,a brave
•DdMtUto.ix.ScC tlHM«IUa,is.6x8. I D* lf«iJliu ix- 6«o.
timftiUii,l%«u. |DftM«|]]«,ix.6as.
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TOGHON TIMU& KHAN. 323
and resolute officer, \vaskiUed. TJiia was 1111357. The rebel commander
on this occasion was Maokud, and he followed up his success by makiiig.
raids as £u: as the environs of Ta tu. The Emperor was cotmselled by
some to seek refuge in Tartary, by others tiiat he should «o to the country
ci Koan chen. Thb was opposed by the minister Tai ping. He sum-
moned a skilled general, who defeated Maokne, but his defeat was balanced
by the victory of Liau fa tong, who took possession of Pien ling, or Kai
fong fii, the capital of Honan, which was basely deserted by its com-
mander. He took his /r^/^ there and made it his capital The other arch
rdMl Siu chau hoei, who had set up the dynasty of Tien wang, was master
of nearty all Hu kuang and Eiang si. He had secured the services of
an able Chinaman/ named Chin yeou lang, who rose from being the
son of a fisherman to a post of confidence, and to the conamandof alarge
force.* He descended the river Eiang, both by land and in boats, and
proceeded to attack the strong fortress of Ngan king. The Imperialists
opposed him, fought bravely but ineffectually for four days and n^hts^
and had to retire. The Kiang being now free, the rebels advanced as
far as the waUs of Ngan king. It was well defended by its commander
Yukiu^, but was as bravely attacked. There was a severe carnage.
Yukiu6 was badly wounded and committed suicide. His wife and
children threw themselves into the ditch, while the greater part of the
garrison preferred to perish in the flames, rather than submit to the
rebels.t This was in 1358. During the same year, the troops of the
revived Sung dynasty, whose capital, as I have said, was Kai fong iii,
made a crud raid into Shan si, and desolated the country beyond the
Great WalL Another division made a kmg detour ; entered Liau tung ;
piUaged its capital, Liau yang ; and advanced as far as the borders oC
Corea ; and on its return, burnt the magnificent palace which Khutplai
had built at Shangtu. We are tokl this caused the Emperor more pain
than all his other disasters, and so feeUe was he that he ordered it to be
rebuilt at once, and had to be reminded that in the distracted condition
of the empire, it was impossible to raise the necessary funds.
The progress of Chu yuen chang, the founder of the Ming dynasty,
was, if slower, more seaired, as he gained the goodwill of the districts
which he occupied by his moderation. The pirate chief. Fang ku chin,
who saw that the Mongol power was crumbling, and that Chu yuen chang
was their most promising successor, determined to submit to him, and
sent his son aa a hostage. He returned him to his fiuher, urging that
iiostages were only needed by those who could not trust each other^s
vrord. Shortly after, Fang ku chin sent him a magnificently caparisoned
horse. He refosed, saying he merely wanted to serve the State^ and
needed grain^ doth, and silk to clothe his soldiers with, and had bataste
for jewels. A large part of Che kiang fell into hit handst
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334 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
The generals of the Sung pretender soon after engaged in qtnurrels
and mnrdered one another. The court of Shi chau hoei, the other
Imperial pretender, was also the scene of vidence. His troops attacked
the important town of Sin chau. Twice they were beaten ofi^ hot the
third time they succeeded, after a siege which De MaUla says was one
of the most remarkable in history. The garrison did not scnqple to
feed on human flesh, and even to kill the old people and the useless
inhabitants for food. It was at length csq[>tuied after a subterraneous
attack, and several distinguished officers who defended it perished sword
in hand. * After the capture of Long hing and Sin chan, the pretender
wished to move his capital to the former town, but was resisted by his
chief general. Chin yeou leang. As he persisted, the latter determined
to suppress him, arranged an ambuscade, into which he fell with his
escort. He spared his life and left hfan his title, but put him under
restraint, and himself took the title of Prince of Han. He marched
against Tai ping, taking his prisoner with him. When he had captured
the town, he had him murdered, ami then had himself proclaimed
Emperor, giving his dynasty the name of Han.
The Moi^l general, Chaghan Timur, determined to take advantage
(d this disunion. He marched rapidly with three divisions upon Kai
fong ft], and having blockaded it for some time, assaulted and aqptured
it, but Lian fo tong and his pr0Ugk^ the Sung Emperor, dnded pursuit
and escaped. The Mongol court continued to be the scene of intrigue
and dissipation. Ayuchtflitala, die heir to the throne^ in concert with his
mother Ki, tried to induce the minister Tai ping to persuade Toghon
Timur to abdicate. Tai ping refased, and was supported by the grandees.
The young prince revenged himsdf by having several of thtm poisoned,
and others condemned to death, and Tai ping, seeii^ that his authority
was vanishing, resigned his office. This was in the eariy part of 156a
He was succeeded by two scoundrelSy the eunuch Pa pu hoa and Chosse
kien, "grand seigneur'' of Eu^li^t Thehr chief object was to enrich
themselves, and heep the £n^)efor ignorant of the grave position of
afftiiTS.
Meanwhile the proverlHal disdf^eof the Mongds began to give way,
and to join in the general decay of authority.
Chaghan Timur, who had been so successftil hihis campaign in Honan,
quarrelled with Polo Timur, as to their respective authmties in the
district of Tsin Id. The Emperor tried to settle matters by making a new
division, but he afterwards fevoured Polo Tfannr, and ordered Cba^an
to surrender the district of Ki nhdg to him. He reftued, crossed the
Yellow River, and marched against his rival, but retired on the perenq[>tory
orders of the Emperor, that each of the two generals should retue to his
own goveminent4 This was in 1360^ and about the same time Aluhoei
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TOOHOM TmUR KHAN. PS
Timur» a detcflndant of Ogotai, in tlie ei^itti generation^ hanring col-
lected a foice o£ several hundred tboniand tnx^a, marched towards the
frontier with the intention of diipladng the Emperor, whom he chatfed
with not being aUe to defend the heritage he had received from his
anoeslorsy and with having already lost half of it. He defeated the
Impeiial general who was sent against him. The court was natnraUy
afinddy bat misfortunes may sametimes be turned to advantage. The
Emperor^ son thoujg^ that if his enemy, the minister Tai ping, was sent
against the rebd, he would necessarily frul» and as certainly be disgraced,
but there was in the rebel army, an o^jhvt^ of Tai prng's, who, out of
consideration for his fbnner patron, surrendered his new master. He was
sent on tothe Emperor, was tried, and put to death.* The founder of
the Ming dynasty continued to strengthen his position, and now marched
against die Han pretender, wbo had so basely killed and displaoed his
mastor, Shi chau hoei. He defeated him and captured several towns of
IGangsi. This was in 1361. Atthis time, the vigour of Chac^ianTimur
seemed to promise that the Mongol authority might yet be everywhere
restored. He had recovered Honan, and now entered Shang tung, crossing
the Ydlow River. He captured one city after another, and was further
encouraged by die invitation of one of the rebels, Tien fbog, who joined his
army. So successfid was he, that at the beginning of 1362 there only
remained in the province of Shan tung the town of Itu which had not
surrendered* He proceeded to lay siege to it, when his career and the
reviving hopes of the Mongc^ were shattered by his assassbatioiL
This was effected by Wang se ching, a friend of Tkn fong's,
who had gone over with him, and had latterly {dotted in con*
cert with him against the great Mongol commander. The two
confederstes took refoge within the city, and Kuku Tiniur, die
adopted son of Chaghan Timur, was granted the latter's dignities and
command. He continued the siege vigorously, and entered die town by
means of galleries undcnninii^ the waUs. He sent the chief priiooers to
the court, reserving only the two murderers for his own vengeance*
These he took to his father's corpse, and having torn out their hearts
offered them to his manes.
A revolt now broke out in Corea. The Empress Ki was a Coraan
She persuaded die Emperor to depose the tributary King of that secluded
kingdom, and to appoint one of her relatives in his place. To this die
Coreans refbsed to submit, and die Mongol army which was sent against
them suffered a terrible defeat Of 10,000 men, of which it consisted,
only seventeen escaped. Another revolt took i^ace at the other end of
the enquire. One of the officers of Siu chau hoei, who had been sent to
conquer Sudraan, having heard of his master's death, occupied a laign
part ef du* province, where he had himsdf dedared Emperor, and gave
•D«lfeiIlA,ix.«38.
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336 B181XMIY OP TIU MOHCOIA
his dynuty the name of Hia.« Chin yeoa leang (the murdoer of Siu
chan hoei)i whom I lunre described ai foaading a new dynastsr called
Han^ had, as I have said^ been defeated by Chu ynen chaiq^ and deprnrtd
of his capital He now raised a fresh fbro^ and made a furiona- attadi
by water and land upon the csqptured city, with a force of aoo^ooo men,
bat after a three days' struggle between the fleets he was killed by an
arrow. His fleet diq>ersed, and his son Chin chlui uBi» who bad been
appohited his successor, was taken prisoner. Another ton, Chin li,
escaped, and was prodaimed Emperor; but he was speedily forced to
surrender, and the whole province of Hu koang became subject to die
conqueror Chu yuen chang, whose moderation in victory was as
remarkable as his prowess in fight He now advanced against Ngan
fong, where die revived Sung Emperor had latdy retired.
Meanwhile the Mongol court was the scene of constant dissensions.
Polo Timur, the old rival of Chaghan Hmur, became the rival also of his
son Kuku Tinmr, and sent an envoy to get possession of the coveted
district of Tsinki, which had aroused his envy originally. This, however,
was defeated.
The heir to the throne, or dauphin, was a turbulent and ambitious
prince. His great object, which was much pressed by his Corean
mother, the Empress Ki, was to persuade his fother to abdicate in his
fovour. The young prince was persuaded by his fother's two disreputable
ministers that some of the grandees who of^fiosed themselves to die
intrigues of the court were plotting against him, upon which be had two
of them put to death. The evil councillors of the prince were afraid
that Tukten Tnnur, a friend of the two victims, might revenge their
death, determined to ruin him also. They charged him with malpractioek
He was supported by his friend P<^ Timur, upon which the young prince
got the hitter's commission as general of Tai tongcancdled,and gave it to
his rival Tuku Timur. He in turn supfdied some troops to Tnkien Timor,
with which he seized the fortress of Kiu yong koan and they determined
to sweep the court of its crowd of intriguers and scoundrels. Tukien
Timur defeated the troops sent against him, and advanced to the river
Tsing ho, while the young prince thought it prudent to escape to Tartary
with his guards. Polo Timur insisted that the two obnoxious ministers
should be surrendered to him, and that he should be reinstated in Ids
command ; and afrer some parleying, in ^ich he was very firm, his
terms were agreed tat The En^eror now sent a peremptory order to
his son to return. He did so, but at the head of 120^000 men, and at the
tame time ordered Kuku Timur to attack Polo Timur in his appanage of
Tai tong. The latter, leaving a strong force to protect Tai tong, tt^rfi,^^
upon the capital At his approach the troops of the young prince melted
away, and he was constrained to retire^ and went to Ta ynen fo, ^
•I>eM«Uft,is.6«». tD«Mami^U.tf4&
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T0O8ON mnnt khak. 337
caiHoa of SbansL* Polo Timur now entered Peking, went to the paUcc»
threw himedf on hit knees helbie the Emperor, and asked for pardon for
irtMt he had done, mging the strong excuse he had for his conduct The
Emperor appointed him generalissimo of die Imperial forces and first
minister. He had Tolo Tmntr, one of the Emperor'a companions in
debauchery, put to death, and deaved the palace of its crowd of eunuchs,
Lamas, dec And at his instance the Emperor once more summoned the
prince to return. This was in 1364. Chagrined at die miluence of his
enemy Polo Timur, the prince determined at all hazards to punish him,
and collected a laigo force, with which he again marched towards the
capital
Pok) Timur sent an army against him ; but either his discipline or his
haughtiness had disgusted the soldiers, and they refosed to fight He
was foriousy and killed several officers without discrimination, and gave
himself up to wine and debauchery. A conspiracy was formed against
him, to which the Emperor was apparently a party.t and one day as he
was entering the palace his head was cut off with the stroke of a sabre.
The Emperor sent it to his son, who now returned, and appointed Kuku
timur to his office.
In 1366^ Ming yu chin, who had taken the title of Emperor of Uia, died,
and was succeeded by his son Ming ching, a boy of nine years old, while
his mother was appointed R^;ent The history of China at this period is
curious to a Western student. Each rebel, as soon as he had a decent
Mowing, and had conquered a smaU territory, had himself proclaimed
Emperor, and adopted a dynastic title for himself and his successors.
So that beside the Yuen Emperors at Pekmg, there were two or three
others in various parts of the empire, each with a stately dynastic title.
The most important of them, of course, was the founder of the Ming
dynasty. He had lately occupied the towns of Kao yeou fo, Hao chau, Se
diau, Pe siu chau, and Ning chau, and those of the southern district of
Hoai, almost without opposition. He fixed his court at Kien kang, where
he collected a great number of Chinese literates, and guided his conduct
by their advice. He promoted only those who were distinguished for their
talents, and was as affiible to the poor as he was strict vrith the grandees.
In 1366^ his geneials Suta and Chang yu chun marched against Chang
se ching, who had set up an independent sovereignty in a portion of
Che kiang and Kiang nan. They defeated his armies and captured Hu
chau, one of the richest and most beautiful towns of Che kiang, and
afterwards occupied Hang chau, the capital of that province. At the
end of the same year, i/.| in 1366, Han lin ulh, the representative of the
revived Sung dynasty, died, and his party dispersed.}
Chang se ching, after his late defeat, had taken refoge at Ping kiang.
There the Ming generals followed him. They captured the town and
*Oaibi)»sio. rOtiMUltt. : D* MaiUi, it. «9«.
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338 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
took him prisoner. He was sent on to Kien kang, vrhttt ht wfti mSMj
received by the Min]? £mperor> but he was to mudi dejected by his fiUi
that he went and hanged lumsdf.* While die Ming Emperor was
gradually and surdy subduing the country south of the Yang tse kiang^
conlusioQ continued to reign at the Mongcd court The dauphin txied
once more to persuade his feeble fitther to abdicate. Euku Timnr
disapproved of tfiis, and as a consequence gained the princess HI
will Shortly after, he was ordered to march at the head of the
troops agamst the rebels in the country of Hoai, with the intention,
no doubt, of getthig lum out of die way. He evaded the order, and had
the temerity to Idll a person whom the Emperor had sent to him to try
and heal his differences with the yotmg prince. The Emperor was
naturally enraged, nominated his son commander-in-chief of the enqibe,
and agdn ordered him to march against die rcbds in Kiang hoaL He
i^;ain evaded the order, to the disgust of his officers, and was dien
deprived of his office, and exiled him to Yu diau ; Gaubil says to
Tche chu, in Shansi. His brother Toin Timur was also disgraced.
The pirate chief Fang ku chin had only nominally submitted to die
Ming Emperor. He refused to go in person to his court or to send the
pron^sed tribute of grain, and had even allied himself with Kuku Timur
in the north, and Chin yeou ting (who had occupied a pordon of Fukien)
in the south. The Ming Emperor sent an army, idiich captured his
three chief strongholds of Wen diau, Tai chau, and King yuen, ^i^iile the
pirate sought refbge on an island off the coast. Thence^ having repented
of his conduct, he sent his son with ofiers of submission and offering to
become a filithful subject of the Ming, and shordy after went in person
with his principal officers, and made his peace with the founder of die
dynasty. The latter, having nothing now to fear in the south, which
was almost all in his power, determined to attack the Mongols in die
north.t He ordered Suta, his first general, and Chang yu chun to
march at the head of 350,000 troops, upon the district of Chong
yuen, while Hu dng chui went with the troops of Ngan Id and Nii^ koe,
secured the provinces of Fukien and Kuan tong, and another general
that of Kuan si. Chongchitcheng and nine princes of the blood were
captured. They were sent to Kien kang, but the former died on the way.
The latter were courteously received, and a mandarin was ordered to
escort them to the Mongol court! The main army of 250^000 men^
under the command of Suta and Chang yu chun, marched towards the
north ; they speedily conquered the country between the rivers Hoai and
Hoang ho, and having entered the province of Shan tung, they issued
a proclamation, setting out that it was the Chinese who ought to rule the
barbarians, and not that the latter should rule in China. That die
Mongols had not conquered China either by their strength or courage, but
•D«lftni«,U.63t. t D« Mdlla, ix. «54. tOMiM].3Z4.
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TOOHON TUIUR KUAN. . 339
l>y die lavour of heaven* That now this same heaven dq)rived them of
it on account of theur crimes. Since the days of Jingis the order of
succession had been disturbed, brothers had poisoned brothers, and sons
had taken thdr Others' wives, all subordination had been destroyed,
thelaws of China despised, and heaven had sent Chu to restore them.
Eveiywhere they were gladly received* They speedily occupied Shan
tung, and Honan followed its exan^ ; its cities opened their gates at
their approach.
The Emperor sent for Kuku Timur to go to the rescue with all his
troops. He went at the head of a large force, but instead of covering the
threatened court, he encamped near Ta yuen, in ShansL Hitherto Chu
yueh Chang, whom we have named the Ming Emperor by anticipation,
lia^ only taken the title of Prince of U. He now, namely, on the first
of February, 1568, being the first day of the Chinese year, had himself
proclaimed Emperor at Kien kang. He gave his dynasty the name of
Ming (^., light), and to the years of his reign that of Hung wu (i.^.,
fortunate war). In Ai:^;ust, 1368, he set out from Nanking and marched
towards the Imperial capital At the same time, Suta and Chang yu
cjran entered the province of Pehchehli smd captured Tong chan,
defeating and kiUing the Mongol general Puyen Timur. The Chinese
army now appeared at Tatu or Pekrog. At this critical momeat, one Qie
lie men took the tablets of the Mongol En^mrors from the palace, and went
north to Mongolia, with the heir to the throne. Toghon Timur decided
to follow them^ left Peking by the gate Kien U men, and retired to
Shangtu. The o^pital did not loi^ resist the Chinese, although, we are
told, that Timur Buka, the prince of Hoai ; the minister, King tsong,
and many others tatvdy died in its defence.*
In the foregoing narrative of the gradual sapping of the Mongol power
in China, and of its eventual overthrow, I have followed the Chinese
account, as given by De Mailla and GaubiL If we turn to the native
chronicler SsanangSetzea, we find a very different .story. There we have
little confession of dearepitnde at the court and of the general decay of
pubtic virtue and authority. There it is treason, the machinations of evil
men, and the more potent working of fete which caused the disaster.
For the reigns that intervene between Jingis and Toghon Timur he
fomishes hardly any material, except indeed in the case of Khubilai,
whose conversion to Lamaism was a notaUe event in Mongol history,
and upon which I shall enlaige in a future chapter, and his account is little
more than a mere list of the Khans, with the dates of their lurth,
accession, and death. With the reign of Toghon Timur he begins to be
much more detailed, and as his story is interesting as a picture of
Mongol modes of thought, I shall abstract it
I may say im iimtiti that he seems to have made a curious error,
*I>«MAi]U,ix,«S7.
IT
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330 HISTORY OP THE MONGOLS.
wtddi was not detected by Sdimidty and which prevents ys account as
it stands from being reconciled with that ci the Chinese. He has con-
founded Chti| the ibonder <^ the Ming dynasty, with Sue, or Suesu^ as
he is called by De Mailla, the companion and assistant of Kima or Hama,
in the administration which broogfat min on the Mongols. Rdling both
these personages into one, he applies the name Jage to him, and has told
the continuous story as if it all affiled to the supplanter oi Toghon
Timur.
Premising this, we are in a position to examine his narrative. He
tells us, then, that in 1344 <ui o]d man named Jui, of the fiunily Ju» had
a son who took the name of Juge. At his birth there radiated from his
house a 6ve-tinted rainbow.
At this time there lived a great grandson of Boghordshi Noyan, of the
Anilads, named Ilacho Ching sang, son of Hla. He spoke to the
Khakan as follows : ^ When this happens at the birth of a common
person it is not without meaning. He is of a foreign family. It were
well to make an end of him while yet a boy." The Khakan, however,
blamed this warning and let the boy live. Then spake Ilacho once more:
'' You will not heed my advice now. In the end it may be your power
shall tremble before him. It seems to me that this boy when grown op
will bring upon us many calamities and troubles.'' When the boy had
grown up, and showed uncommoin sharpness and intelligence, the
Khakan grew very fond of him. He then issued the following order :
'^Toktagha and Kharatsang, £Btther and son, I appoint over the western
provinces ; while the eastern ones I place under Juge and Bugha, sons
of old Jui.^ Thus Juge obtained the chief authority in the eastern
provinces. Shortly after this Juge Noyan and a Chinese minister named
Kima Bindshing (f>., the Hama of De Mailla), much trusted by the
Khakan, made a plot against him. They began by suggesting that
Toktagha Taishi was indisposed towards the Khakan and meant to make
himself independent and to rule over the foreign peoples. This sug-
gestion was apparently sent to the Khakan by the hand of Kima.
About that time the Khakan dreamt that a wiki boar with iron tusks
rushed into the city and wounded the people, who were driven hither and
thither without finding shelter. Meanwhile the sun and moon rushed
together and perished.
The following morning the Khakan demanded the meaning of this
dream from the Chinese Wang Sangtsang. He replied : ** This dream
is a prophecy that the Khakan will lose his empire." As an antidote to
this lugubrious interpretation, the Khakan sought a fresh interpreter in
Ilacho Ching sang, of the Arulads, who replied : *^ I fear the dream may
not betoken much happiness. Have I not said it before ? Shortly there
will rise smoke in this place and dust in that.* The Khakan now had
recourse again to Toktagha Taishi, of the Kunkurats, who spoke out
thus : "The swine with iron tusks signifies a man of the family Ju who
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TOOHON TIMUR KHAN. 331
has hostile intoitiotts. The strife between the sun and moon betokens
that the Khakan and his subjecu will quarrel'' ''What is to be done,
then ?* said the Khakan. Toktagha rqilied that the former counsel of
Ilacho was very good, and that he could give no better, and he bade him
kill the men of the family Ju. The X3iakan thou|^t that Toktagha was
jealous <^ Juge, who had been promoted over him, and that this prompted
his advice. He accordingly allowed Juge to live on. The latter heard of
what had passed. He drew more and more people into his plot, and
meanwhile Toktagba's warnings were neglected by the Khakan. Juge
was naturally suspicious of Toktagha, and had him watched by spies*
The latter heard of this, and on one occasion when he knew such an one
was coming, he placed a basin of water at his door. This he covered
with shreds of felt, and placed a knife and some hair on it When the
9gj saw this he returned home and reported it to his master. The very
enigmatical riddle was thus interpreted by Juge : ^ The water in the basin
represents the whole people, 'the worid's ocean/ The shavings offeh
signify the Khakan, the Taishi, the princes, and lordiings who sail on
the sea like steered ships. The knife and hair signify the power of the
empire, sharp as a knife and fine as hair. I must get rid of this
dangerous man in some way. So long aS he lives I cannot carry out my
design. He knows everything.'' Having arranged hb plan, he sent the
Khakan the following notice through Kima Blngdshing : '' There is no
k>nger any doubt that Toktagha Taishi has evil designs against the
person of the Khakan. He can satisfy himself of this by summoning
him to appear before him. He will certainly not go.'* This was told to
the Kliakan by a third person. Upon which Kima Bingdshing received
orders to go to the Taishi and fetch him to the court
He set out, but retraced his steps when he had gone part way, and
rqK>rtcd that although he had invited the Taishi to come, yet he had
refused. Then spake the Khakan : '^ If 4ie were faithful and innocent,
what reason is there why he should not come ? It seems made out that
he has some evil designs."
He then ordered Kima Bingdshing to take troops with him and to loll
Toktagha Taishi. Kima Bingdshing accordingly collected some troops,
which he stationed at the city Siro Khakan. Meanwhile he himself sent
to Toktagha Taishi and announced to him that he was the bearer of
secret despatches. During the conversation that followed he said, "Some
(me has tokl the Khakan you have evil designs against him. To disprove
this he has sent mc to summon you, so that he may speak with you.*
The Taishi was suspicious of the whole afiair,but ''as his time had come"
he was obliged to go» even against his will ; and as he had been the most
faithful of the Khakan's servants, he went on in the hope that the invitation
possibly was genuine. On their departure Kima Bingdshing said : " I
will speed on to arrange that the posthorses shall be ready. Delay and
negligence will bring upon us the Khan's rebuke.'' Upon this he went os
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333 HISTORY or TBI MONGOLS.
abeady cdleeted his troops together, surrounded the TsishI, and killed
him. Such is Ssanang Setxen's account of die destruction oftiie hiMtA
Toktagha. It wiH be remembered that in the Chinese account he was
the victim of Ama^s or Kima's jealousy, while nothing is said about
Suesue ; and as to Chu, the founder of the Ming dynasty, he only
appears for the first thne in the Chinese accounts in the year of Tok-
tagha's death.
But to continue the story as told by the Mongol prince.
>Vhen Kima Bingdshing, on his return^ gave an account of his doings,
the Khakan ordered that Juge Noyan should be promoted to the govern-
ment of the eastern as well as the western provinces, and that Kima
should have the direction of all internal affiurs. At this time Juge Noyan
made the fdlowing remonstrance to the Khakan : ^ As my lord has
raised me to such a distinguished position, it is unbecoming in me when
I ^ to my house that I should seek repose. If the small governors (in
the provinces) are zealous men, the people will be oppressed. I wish
myself to overhaul their doings, and would go and superintend their tax
collecting.'* The Khakan consented, with the words ^ Be this so also.**
Juge Noyan thereupon set out on his tramp, but had not returned in
three years. Upon which the Khakan was very angry, and gave the
following order: "As Juge Noyan has stayed so long away he shall not
be received in the city when he returns." TV guards were ordered to
see that this was carried out strictly.
About this time the Khakan had the following dream -.—There
appeared to him an old hoary man, who addressed him with angry mien
and voice : ** Thou thyself hast killed thy fiuthful watchdog, and now the
strange wolf comes into thy indosure, and by what means canst thou
hope to keep him off?" With these words the vision disappeared.
The Khakan was much disquieted by this dream, and said to himself,
** The watchdog was surely Tokugha Taishi, whom I have killed, and the
wolf that comes from without is surely the approaching Juge." The
Khakan tokL the dream to Ananda Madi Lama. The latter, after a while,
answered him, and said : " In one of the Shastirs (S'astras) called Sain
i^^etu Erdenin Sang, written by our former leader, the Bogda SAkia
Pahdita, who attained to the furthest limits of all wisdom, it is said, * It
is well not to yield to one's closest friends in everything, but to wish to
make a friend of an alien enemy is rubious.' The meaning of your dream
is, that having killed your faithful watchdog Toktagha Taishi, that you
then gave your confidenoe to an alien wolf, namely, Juge, and it has
shown* you the unfiuling end of this poDcy." When the Khakan asked
what was the best to be done^ the Lama replied: ** In the time of your
ancestor, the Bogda KhubOai Setxen Khakan, it hi^ipened that the sublime
chief of the &ith, Fagpa Lama, spent three days in crying and lamen*
tatkm." "Wherefore, my Lama," said the Khakan, "dost thou weep so
distressingly?" P'lgpa Lama answered: "Neither in your nor in my
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TGMioir Toiruft khah. 333
time^ but in aiae or tea fmratioas hnctf there will be bom a Kbakan
lunned Teflon. In hit day will our religion go under, and this is the
reason of my griet" '' Hew canst thou, who ait so young, my Lama,"
stad the Khakan, ''know what will hMp^ea so ftr off in the future?"
" Khakan," said P'agpn Lama, ^ I know diat kmg afo there onee Mi te
seven days a rain oi bkiod." The Khidun then ordered tiie ancient
books to be examined* In one of these it was found that in tiie reign of
the Chinese £mpen>r Tai tsong, of tiie Tang, there fdl in China during
seven days a rain of blood. Upon this a learned Clunese phildogist
naased Tang Wang tsang, an assistant of Snnitu Bakshi, a younger
brother of tiie Indian Tiicbel 1^ BaUbi spake to tbe £Rq>eror as
follows : '' This is a forewarning that not ki your time, but in the tenth
generation fiom you, when the Emperor IngsU Ting, of the Tang,
shall be bom again m your fomily (jU^ by Metemptsychosis), a
vieiasitude will unpend over your dynasty " When the Khakan (Kbu-
bilai) had this pawage panted out in die book he became more than
ever attached to the foith. The Lama Ananda Madi then delivered
the foUowing not very cnntollng homily to Togben Timnr: ''The
prophecy of the Bogda will snrdy happen when its time has arrived,
and who can prevent its issue? Ncvertkdess it wiH conduce to
your good if you will invoke the sublime Lama, if you will trust in the
three superior disciples, and keep foidifol to your tutelary gentos."
The Khakan, ii^ose mind was excited by the Shimnus {U^ the evil
spirits)i turned upon the Lama in a rage, and said : '' Lama, make thy
way homewards." The Lama, who was much rejoiced with this answer,
replied : ^ The order of the Khakan tfut I should return home while the
golden girths of hb house are still tight and his noble realm is still
powerfol is not a suggestion of his own. It ^eomes directly from the
Lama." With these words he took his departure homewards.
In this Saga we have the characteristic features of Mongol notions as
to the moral government o>f the world. The influence of an unswervmg
fate, the curious faith in dreams and thehr interpretation, and a ready
excuse for disaster in the predestined and not to be averted coarse of
events, rather than in the decrq>itude of the ruler and his servants*
But to condude Ssanang Setzen's story. He goes on to say that
Jitge Noyan remained three years in the city of Nanking,and confirmed
a pact with the eight hundred and eighty thousand Chinese by a solemn
oath. Then he set ont, and sent the Khakan the following note : ** Con-
fonnaUy to the decrees of the all powerful and of the Khakan, I have
taken hold of the mdder, which I stiilhokL" He had tampered with the
guards of the varioua forts, whom he had gakied over by bribes and
presents, and he. everywhere matched with a fdUowii^ of 90^000 two-
wheeled waggons, on which were stowed all lands of costly objects, whi^
he could distribute; 50^000 waggons were filled with merely ridi objects, a
second 30,000 with all kinds of weapons and war stores, and a third vrith
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334 HISIOEY OP THI MOWOOLS.
food and prcnritloiit. With these he feems to have approached ihe dty^
whexe the waggons with cottlyobjecu were fimimhuleB. In the waggons
of the other two divisions lay concealed completely armed and equipped
men. Besides these diere were also three large cannons covered with wax,
wluch it was pretended were torches to he used if nij^t should come
on before die first section was unladen. The warriors in the odier
waggons were tokl that tiie tfane for them to rise would be when the
wax had burnt down to the thMicr sponge and the fire tfueatened to bum
diestmes.
Such» according to the Mongol prince, was the treacherous caravan
that approached the city« When the first lo/xx> waggons were miladeni
the camions were fired ofi^ the aimed men qirang from their retreat aoMl
occupied the ptace, where tiie panic was too great for them to think of
defence. The Khakan, seeing the fulfilment of the fotai dream at hand,
hid away die great seal, Chas Boo/ in his sleeve, and fied with Us wives
and children, under die guidance of Iladui Chlng sang, of die Arulads;
Bttcha Chittg sang, of the Naimans; and Toghokho Raghattir Taidshi, a
descendant of Kassar, the brother of Jingi% widi seven coo^ianions, who
cut a passage for him.
Thus did Toghon Timnr Uchagatu iChakan loae his capital, Daitu,
and his kingdom, and while he was given up to pleasure and debauchery
he was fooled by die wily plotting of his hostile snb}ects.t I will now
add the curious Jeremiah-like wail wUdi Setzen says diat die Khakan
uttered as he left the dty by the gate Mohoshi, amidst cries of distress
and woe.
** My great a^tal, myDaitu,dedced with various sheen. My delidous
cool summer seat, Shangtu Keibung Kurdu Ralgiiassnn. Yellow plains,
the pleasant playground of my God-like sves. How ill I've done to lose
my kingdom thus.
*0h, my Daitu,boih in die ydknr serpent year with sixfidd ddlL My
Shanttt Keibung, union of the nine and ninety perfect things. My
fortune founded <m benign religion and my statdy power. My great
name and feme as the Almij^ty Khakan.
^When I arose betimes and looked fordi, how die firagrance blew
towards me;. Before^ behind, wherever I looked was grace and beauty.
My noble Daitu^ built by the migjiky Setttn Khakan, where neither
summer nor winter brou|^ duH ennui. My Daitu, where my fiithers
dwelt in joy and gladness, my foidifid lords and princes, and my dear
paoirie. Oh, that I had followed die sage words of Ikcho Ching sang.
That I had not nursed die wily treadiery of Juge Noyan. What fetal
error to exile my wise Toktagha TaisU ; to send die noble Lama to his
home again. Alas for my Imperial feme and aU my hi^py days. My
Daitu, made cynosure of art by Khubilai Setzen Khakan. Ye are all
*FMi M«t«»^t«MOTjiaci«. t SiMMf Sctna, 14S-SS$.
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TOOHOH mrUR KRAV. 335
torn from mn^ ^ad even mj good name it gone. Thou treacherous
ChinamaH| J«go Noyaa."*
When the Emperor escaped fron hit capital, lie went first to Shangtn,
and not ftdiog safe tiiere, aftemwds cootfawed his flight to Ing chai^^
fa, which Tfankomid deacrJbei as a town now destroyed, in tiie district
of Kichikten, on the north east o£ tiie Dolonnor.t It is, according to
Sdnnidt, the sane iHudi Ssanang Setaen calk Bars Chotan, i>., T^
dty, wlddi he says is feund oa some of the Jesuit maps4
Notwithstandhig the M of the oqiital, the great Western provinces
st9 held out Kdm Thnor had a strong force in Shansi, and Li se chi,
who commanded in Shensi, seemed disposed to set up an independent
sovereignty thercf After the capture of Yen king, the Ming En^ieror
ordered Sutu and Chang yu dnm to conquer the former province ; tiiey
were assisted by other generals, who entered it at several points, and
captured the town of Hoai king. Ta yuen was then die capital of
ShansL Upon this dty Suta marched at the head of the main army»
Knkn Trarnr had set out to attadt Pet pin, but he now retraced his
steps to save his capital He was attached suddenly in his caaap^
during the night, by the Giinete forces. He was occupied in writing
despatches by candle 1^ ; he managed to escape on a horse without
a saddle, with but one boot on, and in tiie company of only ten fol-
lowers ; but his army, 4<Nooo strong, with the second in command, Ho
pi ma, had to surrender*! Besides other booty, Suta ciq>tured 40/100
horses. Kuku Tlmur was pursued towards Kan su. Ta yuen submitted,
and the Chinese army was divided into several bodies, whidi rapidly
subdued the remaining towns of ShansL The Ming Emperor busied
himself, meanwhile, in destroying tiie luxurious surroundii^ of the late
court, and in introducing greater shnplicity. The magnificent chariots
of the Mongol Emperors, decorated with gold and sihrer work, were
exchanged for copper ones, and we are told, that one day he noticed
a celebrated tower, buOt by the same luxurious sovereigns, which was
of a very rich structure. In it were two figures, that sounded a
ben and beat a drum at each hour, and having examfaied it for a while
in silence, he remarked that the Yuen dynasty would still have bfta
flourishing if the Emperors had busied themselves widi the improvement
of the people rather than with these trifles, and he ordered it to be
destroyedir In the seccmd month of 1369 an edict was published,
ordering the composition of the history of tiie late dynasty. The first
minister Li chan chang was charged with revising it.
* Smomc ScUen, 137. Scbott bM givM • timoslattoa difftring tom«wbat Irom Schmidt*!
la tb» truuactioiu of the B«rlin Acidemy lor iSio, but I fancy it it not m Httrnl m Schaidt't.
which I have foQowed.
f Timbovraki't Travolo, ii. Ml . t SsnaMg SetMn, 139. Schott in BtrUn
TrtaMCtioa* for 2849* 50S*
f D« llaillft, X. 10. I DeUmarrt'i Ming Aanala, 16.
f DeliAiUa.x.2«.
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336 HlfflOKY OF TSB M0M00L6.
While 8uU was coniMtriiig ShiOiiy £to, a cUpendoBl of the Moofol
Emperor, made a diversum towaxdt Pet pm. Its gairifoa was weak^
batitscomflAaadorhavuif coOectedakigiejitimberof b^ tfaeshrer
Pm, extending fior almost a league^ placed red flagi oathem,aad made
suck a noise with dioflds and cymbals, that £stt was aftaid to rentnre an
attack and retired.* Sota now prepered to cross the Hoangho,and to
reduce Skeasi, wbere maay of the Moagob who fled finom Shansi had
joined the forces of Li se chL Uis passage over the river was not
disputed ; the town of Tsin yuen submitted at his approach, and its
gaifisen fled ; at Koan Ida tang there was considerabie resistance, and
its oommaoder lather than sanender killed himself and his fiunily, and
hb eaample was followed by several other officers, t Other sucoemes
fottowed. Foag tsvea^h where Li se chi had taken refuge, submitted, and
he was forced to fly, while the towns of Long chau, Tsin Chau, and KoQg
chang Ibllowad its eiample. Li se chi, pressed on every side, at length
deteonined to surrender, and was well received by the Chinese generaL
His submission was followed by the sunrender of Lin tbao, and that
of several other towns.^
While Sttta's progress was everywhere a triumphant march, the other
gieat Ming geneial, Chang yu chun, was alao most successfiil further
east He defeated the Mongol general Wen tshin at Kin chau, and Esu
at Titsuen nin, and proceeded to attack Ta bin, about \duch he hid i,ooo
horsemen in eight ambuscades. The garrisoxi, which tried to cBCsqpt
during the night, were all captured. He then became master of Ehai
pin, and pursued the fallen Emperor towards the nortii, captured Prince
Khin a^n, who was a member of the Imperial family, and the genend
Tin chau, and. decapitated them $ he also took i<vxx> prisoners, as many
diariots, 3/xx> horses and 5,000 cattle, and the province of Ky pet
(Pddng) was entirdy subdued, } The brave general, Chang yu chun,
died in his camp at Liau ho choan $ he was a great loss to the Ming
Emperor^ for he had acquired much skill and power, and boasted that at
the head of iix>poo men he would undertake to traverse China from end
to end^ whence he was.cafled Chaag-hundred-thousand.| Hjg^ command
was given to Li wen chongi who received orders tq^ aMich against the
flnntier town of Ta tox^, which the Mong(4s still hdd, and which would
make a good base whence they could attack the eB:ipire. The new
general egeouted his part bmvely; neither die snow nor rain that foil in
tacrwts availed the garrison much, he forced his way into the town, and
captured or killed lo^ooo of its garrison. Its command^ Tho liepat,
wasamoi^theprlsonerB.T He was taken to the court, where ^Emperor
presented him with a State robe.** The fugitives were pursued as for as
Mang kotsang. Meanwhile the town of King yang made a most
• Dtlamarrt, op. dt.. 18. t De UtUU. x. a6. : De MtilU, x. 17, 16. i DeltmAm, «z,
I DtUnurre, 22. ^ X>«I«iiiarrf « aa. ** Ds MftiUt, x. 3 c.
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TOOHON TIMUK KHAN. 337
Ldefiuioe. Ito comimuMkr wi named Chang lang chin. The
Ckinete bdeagued il on every akle, bat he made deQ>ente lortief, and
he tent for aid to hia brother and to die Mongol general Kuku Timnr,
who were at Ninghia, for h^ They sent a body of troops under
Hantchar, to make a div€nian» nHudi captnicd the town of Yuen diau ;
and another toc^ Pang yuen, but neither readied their goal, the
beleagured dty. Seven of the Mongol genemls at this time were known
from their intrepidity aa the seven lances. These were Chang se tao,
Chang sang chin^ Wang pao pao (ut^ Eaka ThnnrX Ho tsong che,
Hantdiar, Yao hod» and Kong hing.
Chang sang chin, finding that hia deq>crate efibrts were of little avail,
now sent out to treat with Sata; but the latter said he mnst pay the
penalty of rdDellioa and die. He twitted him with the sonbriquet jlist
mentioned, and said that he waa determined to show diat the golden
shidds (U^ the Ming troops) were mean than a match far the nmch>
vannted seven lances. At length his soldiers were wearied ovt, and began
to plot with die besi^^ers; one of the gates was opened, and the Chinese
marched in. Chang sang diin and his ftther threw themsdves into the
ditch, but were taken ottt and executed, aa were also thdr diief svpp<Mrter8,
. while others who escaped were pursued beyond the Hoai^ ho. The
province of Shensi being pacified, Sota returned to hb master, and left
the army in command of Fong tsong y.*
The Mongols, although broken and disintegrated, still continued to
make intermittent efforts to regain a footing in their old empire. Thus,
we are tdd that no sooner was Suta gone than Kukn Timur advanced
by way of Suchau and laid si^e to Lan chau. This he pressed very
hard. He defoatedYukuai^, who came to rescue it, and having captured
him, took him up to the dty and bade him teU die garriaon that their
hoped-for succour had vanished. He, on die contrary, bade them take
BO heed of his defeat, and that Suta was at hand with a laige force.
The M<mgols, in a rage, cot him in pieces. The rcdstance was so
bravdy continued that the Mongob Imd at length to laise the siege.
Chang wen was much landed at the court for hia defence of die dty, and
the Emperor read htm and Suta a very proper homily, m which praise
and connsd were judiciously combinedt About this time the Mongols
also hdd siege to Fohg tsiang. They emj^oyed a kind of hood made of
basketwork phiited widi thonrs, shaped like half a boat, and reminding one
of the similar shidds used in the siege operations of the Romans. Eadi
of these hoods was carried bysbcmen. They were impervious to dther
stones or arrows, and the besieged employed hooks to tear them asunder,
and also set fire to them. Besides this mode of approad^ the Mongols
also tried to enter the town by an underground excavation, but their
efforts (ailed; their good fortune had gone.}
*DtlUilla,s.4a. tD« K«tttetS*34* : Dsbmtrrc, h.
lU
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338 HISTORY OP THE IC0900LS.
The Mongol Emperor itffl remained, it wouki •ppear, in the ncigjiboniv
hoodoftheGi^at Wall, while hb chief genefalKnkaTimur, called Wang
pao pao by De Mailla, was encamped to the north-wtst Suta was now
ordered to march against him, and Li wen chong to march against
To^n Timur, and to enter the deseit of Shamo, as if hunting^ by
the gate En yong koan.
Siita set out in the second month of 1370 to take command of his
army. He advanced as fiu: as Ping si, idienoe he sent on a detachment
under Teng yu to reconnoitre theenemy's position. He found him in a
camp protected by several strong ditches, at a i^ace called Chen erh ku^
and having attempted to storm it, was beaten off and lost many men.
When Suta himself arrived the attack was renewed, the camp was forced,
and a terrible slaughter followed. The Mcmgol princes of Khin than and
Wen tsi, the Chinese Prince Yen tsi hiao, several generals, 1,800 officers
and grandees, and 80,000 soldiers fdl into the conqueror's hands* (De
liaiUa would make it out that 85,000 men were slanj^tered), besides
15,280 horses, and a laige number of camels, mules, and baggage.
Kuku, with his wife and ten followers, esci^>ed and fled, first to Ning
hia, and afterwards to Karakorum. Suta now detached a division of his
troops, under Ten yu, to overawe the Tu£uis or Thibetans, who were
more fEivourably disposed to the setting than the rising dynasty.
Their King, Holananpu, with several grandees, came to his camp and
submitted. Ten yu continued his march for 1,000 li beyond Kan su,
and secured the submission of the people west of the Hoang ho, while
his subordinate Wei ching went to occupy Ho chau. Here he found only
ruined houses and heaps of corpses. The inhabitants having shown some
desire to welcome the Ming dynasty had been slaughtered by the Mongols*
The soldiers were much depressed by the sight, and wished to leave the
place, but Wei ching reminded them their duty was to lace such evils and
not desert them, and he bade them make themselves everlastii^ly famous
by rebuilding the ruined town. They set to work with a will, and with the
assistance of the neighbouring peasanu and the strangers they attracted
there, swept away the traces of the revenge of the Mongols.
Soon after this prosperous campaign Suta returned once more to the
court Let us now follow Li wen chong, who, as I have said, had been
sent against the Yuen Emperor. He despatched one division towards
Yun chau, where Horuta and Halai, two Mongol leaders, with all the
garrison were captured. Other divisions took Tong ching chau, U
chau, and Su chau. Li wen choQg, with the main army, went by way
of the mountain Ye hu ling, and captured Ch^u chin, who defended the
defile there. At the numotain Lo to khan he met the Mongol army,
commanded by Mantse cha pi^ng and Turchipala. He attacked them
and captured their baggage, and then nuurched on to Shangtu, whose
* Dtlftnarrt, ^. X>« If aUU, x. 41.
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TOGHON TIHUR KHAN. 339
commander suRenderecL He then advanced towatds Ing chang, where
the Yuen Emperor had taken refuge. He learnt on the march that
he was dead.*
He was fifty-one years old, and had reigned for thirty-five years. His
title in Chinese history is Chun-ti.
It is curious to read that in this very year Pope Urban the FifUi, who
was probably far removed from any news of these revohitions in the £u:
eait, nominated the Fi«nciscan William de Prat, a doctor in theology at
Paris, Archbishop of Khanbaligh. He left with twelve con^Mmions,
bearing letters to the Emperor of China and the Tartar princes on his
way.t
In reviewing the life of Toghon Timnr we must be struck by the ease
and nqpidity with idiidi the Mongol dominion in China was shattered to
pieces, and we must condnde that its strength was but of a hoQaw
character, and more a pretence than a reality. Its history is curiously
rqpeated in the history of other Chinese dynasties, in which we find an
equally surprising decay of authority. One other thing is very remarkable
m these dynastic revolutions, so often caused in China by an invasion of
barbarous tribes from without, and that is the very little immediate eSect
they have had in modifying the customs, laws, or habits of the people.
The conquest comes and destroys a great deal, like the invasion of a
locust swarm does, but in a few years all is green again, and the greenness
is pretty much the same greenness as before. If the Chinese have
been so often conquered by their neighbours, they have at least the
cynical satisfaction that they have also rapidly conquered their con*
querors. Have imposed upon them their idiosyncrades and have forced
them to assimilate themselves to them. In most cases they have
borrowed little from the invaders, who have had their national peculi-
arities demoralised by contact with the exacting Philistinism that is so
laigely the heritage of Chinamen. And apparently these invaders have
afiected the immoveaUe race as little as the choughs who make such a
noise about the Cornish cliffs have affected M/m. In the case of the
Mongols this was not altogether so. It is true that they adopted the
Chinese civilisation, and that in reading their annals after they settled in
China, we do not feel that we are dealing with a different folk to those
who founded the Ming empire. Yet there can be no doubt that their far-
reaching enterprise^ their widely-extended empire, the vast number of
western people whom they had at their court, must have introduced a great
mass of fresh ideas and notions, and made their period an epoch of
renaissance in the arts and literature. In the words of D'Ohsson, we
find bodies of Alans and Kipchaks employed in the war in Tungldng,
while Chinese engineers were found in the Mongol armies on the Tigris,
and Persian astronomers and mathematicians compared notes with those
*0«Maitta.x.3flL t D'OlMof), u« (07.
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340 HISTORY or THE If OMOOLS.
of Oiiiuu* Thci Mongol Soveieignt controlled the destinies and com*
manded the resources of so many peoples, that their court might well be
described as a microcosm of the known world.
When we come to inquire what were tiie immediafy causes of dietr
downfisdl, we shall not have £u: to go. The later period of the Mongol
dominion was marked by extraordinary natural phenomena, such as
earthquakes, droughts, floods, &c These in a densdy-peopkd country
cause wide-spread misery and distress, and in most cases the government
which has not provided the remedy is visited with blame for the disaster.
These evils, in many cases local no doubt, caused many of the local
outbreaks that gradually sapped the Mongol power. They were doubtless
supplemented by the harsh conduct of the local Mongol governors, by
the outrageous exactions and ill-conduct ol the Lamas, who, as a sacred
caste, deemed themselves privileged to do almost as they pleased, even
where they were so hated and despised as in China. The depreciated
currency, to which I have already referred, no doubt brought great
distress upon the poor. Meanwhile the court was extravagant and
profligate. Independence and honesty were not virtues that a minister
could practise long and retain his post Adventurers and intriguers
surrounded the thione, and their creatmies were placed in positions of
reqxmsibility. Discipline broke down in the army, and the officers, so
famous two or three generations before for their strict observance of duty,
quarrelled with one another and with die court Lastly, there was the
oveipowering fedfaig, fostered no doubt everywhere by the literates, that
these Mongols were mere barbarians whom it was an indignity to obey ;
Aat they ought to be die servants and praUgh of die Chmese and not
dietr masters ; and that the sooner they were rid of them and the better.
BILIKTU .KHAN.
As I have said, the Ming general Li wen chong heard of the death of
Toghon Timur as he was marching against Ing chang fu, where he had
taken shelter. Having sent word to his master, he continued his march,
and having severely defeated a body of Moi^h who would have disputed
his passage, he appeared before the city, which opened its gates. Ayu-
chdipata, the heir to the throne, managed to escape towards Karakorum,
but his son Maitilipalat was captured, as were also the late Emperor's
harem and several princes and grandees. They were sent off as prisoners
to Giina. Li wen chong continued his advance to Hingchau, where 37»ooo
•D'OlHiOQ.ti.SlI.
t Schott«ayttlitiiaaMttS«»cf<t,«Ddfii>toMjf ■w—Steof IUte<y«,op.clt.,5<4
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BIUKTU RHAN. 541
Mongds subQMtted ; thence he marched to Honglo Idian, where 16,000
more submitted. The power of the Mongols was iairly brokai, and the
Emperor received the congratulaticms of his court on this event In his
reply he said inter alia that he had not taken up arms against the Yuen
dynasty, but merely to put down the rebels who desolated the empire,
and if the Yuen Emperors had only behaved decently, he would not have
displaced them. The grandees demanded that the captive Prince
Maitnipala should be imolated in the hall of the Emperor's ancestors* The
Emperor refused : he said that there were precedents ibr such a course,
but he would not follow them. The princes of Yuen had been masters of
China for neariy a hundred years, while his own ancestors had been their
Kibjects, and he could not bring himself to do such a thing. He merely
ordered that the young prince should take off his Mongol dress and that he
should dress himself in the Chinese fashion. After which he created him
a prince of the third rank, with the title of Marquis of Thsen^ (f>., who
respects politeness),t and gave him and the princesses a palace and
attendants. Meanwhile the heir to the throne retired to Karakonun^
where he was shortly afterwards joined by Kuku Timur, by whom he was
proclaimed Emperor^ He is catted Gaiucheritala in the Ming annals;
Ngai jeoucbili pala by De Mailla;| A^ fu li tha la by Remusat;!
and Ajur shiridara by TimkowskLIf This name, as Schmidt says, appears
to be Sanscrit, and to be properly Ajusri-Dara. Petis de la Croix and
De Gvignes call him Bisurdar. The form of the name in the Muham-
medan accounts is apparently a corruption of Biliktu Khakan, which
is the name he bears in Ssanai^ Setzen. Biliktu means ** the wise,"
which makes it probaUe that it is a dlle.** Setzen says he was bom in
1338, and mounted die throne in 1371.
The great province of Liau tung still held out for the Mongols, but
eariy in 1371 it was surrendered by its governor Liau y, who sent to the
Ming Emperor an enumeration of the soldiers, inhabitants, and towns
there. The Emperor kept him in his employment^ but he was shortly
af^er assassinated by some officers who were faithful to the fisdlen
dynasty^ namely. Hong pao pao and Ma yen hoei. The latter was
afterwards csq»tured, but Pao pao escaped to Naha chu.
The Mongol general Kao Ida nu still controlled the mountain fortresses
of Liau tung, while Naha diu had a strong force in the King ghan range
on its borders, ft The latter constantly threatened Liau tung, and its
inhabitants sent for idd to the Mmg Emperor, who de^>atched two
armies, one by sea, the other by land. The latter captured several
fortresses and prisoners, among these latter were the Princes Petu buka,
Beyen buka, and Manpe timUr. They were taken to the Ming court,
where the Emperor gave them houses, 9cc,\X
*I>«ICaiU«»s.4A. t DfbuBftm, i. 19. I De If ailla, x. 4a. f/if^x.42.
I Rech«rchat rar U Tille im Kaakorami 33. f Trtvtlt, ao8.
••Sdiffiidft8wiitacS«t«B«403* tt D« MiOllft, x. 50. H <>• Malllt, x. 54.
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343 HOIOKT or TBI MmiOOLS.
Meaiudiile tlie Ming Eli^tior had anodier canptifii oa hit buidi ai
the odiEer Old of tiie Mpire The great proffince of Sudiuim has always
been a centre of rebdUon; its isolated position and great wealth and
resources doubtless b^ing the oaose. When the Yuen dynasty felV the
Chinese officers there did not submit to the M^ Mt once, but set up
an Independent authority, and H required a shaip campaign, which is
described by De MaiOa, to bring it to terns** lu history is, however,
nopartofoursubfect IC«« eoonected with It is the submission of the
remoter province of Yuman. Its governor Patsahiaxmi, the Prince of
Leang, remained fiuriiful to the Mongols, After they had been driven
beyond the Great Wall he cnntinwed to send them cmhassirs whidi
evaded the Ming troops, but after die subn^ssion of Suchuan, and after
the capture of Su wi one of these envoys, tiie Miqg En^eror tiKwc^ H a
good opportunity to send an eodMssy to hinu He acootdingly sent
Wang-y, who was weD received by the Prince of Leang; At tills time
there happened to be a mesaenfer ef the ex-£mperoi^ in Yminan, who
had gone there to raise a contribution. His name wasThotho. He
was enraged at the reception Wang-y received, and was very insolent to
lum, wishing him to prostrate himseIC The Ming envoy replied with
some spirit: '' Heaven has put an end to the Yuen dynasty* And is it
seemly that the expiring spaxfcs of a torch should dispute the bri^itness
of the sun and moon. It is yon who oq|^ thus to sahite me.* It wouM
seem that the Prince of Lnng waa intimidated by Tho tho, far we are
told that Wang-y committed the hi^py despat^t De MaiUa says he
was put to death with his soite.^
At the beginning of die fifth year of hia reign the Ming Emperer
presented each of his ftuthlnl generals, Sttta,'Ii wen chong, and Feng
diing, with ilfty bows of Kiao chi and a huadied red bows, wliich princes
alone had the r^^ to use.
Meanwhile Biliktu and Kidm Tfanur eoUected a fcmnidabk Ibroe hi
Mongolia, with which to invade China» and die Ming En^ieror deter*
mined to forestal thenv and in 137a despatdied Aoopoo men in diree
divisions, over which Suta was fenerahssimob He marched byway of
Yen men, and stra^ht for HoUn or Kamkosom, with one divisiott ; a
second division went to the east, under Li wen chong^ by way of
Ku yong torn ; while a third entered Kansu, under Foi^ chmg. The
first of these annies advanced to the T^da; there it encountered the
Mongob under Kuku Timnr, in alliance widi another body under
Hottongdu. The Chinese were badly beaten, and lost more dian
10,000 men, and were only saved aanlhihiHon by the strength of the
intrenchments behind which diey were pooled. They seem to have
retreated saiely, but we are not told how. The army under Fogg dtfag
was more ludqr- Beyond Si leang its advance guard encountered a body
^D#lfoiamfrr«it.,z.S«4t. tl>tii«tm,4aw |0|h«|b,a.l^
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UUXZU KHAV. 343
Ok Itonfolsi fonmiiiMUd hjr QwtiiH«» and drav» dwm towards Yong
dMuif. Afewdaysaftarit •acomUfd — oAer bodyt UMmv under
Toichipa, and caplufed many camdi and omn. Haviaf been joined bf
the inaiA annyt ^ey again advanced agateat anolber lloogol forces vader
Boka, hat it fled, and Boka was kiOed hf m amnr. Four hniidiod
ICoi^okiiiaredliis&te. Another bo4r»ooaristingerS«Dfiui^tiei,«nder
Sonaikia and Koan chu, anmndeied. Advancing to Yotiinaiy Puyen
Timnrandkispooflosiibaiitfeed* Thence towaidi Pie kincban^wbere an
Imperial prnice named Totchipaqg wai encaayet The latter fled, and
thoChineao caftmod ooecfUaoAcoisand mototkan loo^ooo head of
bones, camels, and sboepb Thence he turned back towards China,
cantaibig on dM way iofioo more cattle*
The third army, iridcb w^t by 4o cast towaids the Tub, attacked the
Mongols under Hatochan^ but was defiMted, and lost aeverefy. The
C3iineso history rbetoficallyooivors die idioat widi some minor advanp-
tagesybot it is very dear that the In^eHal fiotces were anything bat
sttccessluL
We are told that in their retroat they Amad the nods across the desert
obliterated by the roiling sand, and that many men and liocses died finom
thirst. At $pai fcoima the boraea trsn^pled in the sand and discovered a
springs adiich saved the army. They now divided thier amy into two bodies.
One under Kuchi encountered a Mongol force, and although the men
were much fmaristnd by theb: recent hardsh^ they showed such a bold
front that the Mongols fled and abandoned their catde and horses, which
proved a very seasonaUe siqpply. The other body, under Li wen chong
himself, marrhrd through a better country further eas^ beat several
bodies of Mongols, and captured 1,840 of their leaders with their fiunilies.
Tbcae were sent on to the court*
Tliis campaign, indecisive as it was, probably did mudi to disintegrate
the Mongols, and to weaken the central authority at KariUconua The
foUowiog year some of the Mongols made a raid as £ur as the gate of
Leang chau, but were defeated and pursued to the district of Yetainai.
Tbcir chief Yesor, with many of his followers, were killed. Another
leader called Ubatu surrendered.t
The attacks on the frontier continued, and in 1374 fresh armies were
sent under SOta and Li wen chong ; they advanced to Peteng, where
they captured PoloTimur and his suite. Many smaller detachments
were also captured along the frontier. The Emperor ordered them to be
set at liberty, and cncoursged them to settle on the frontier by offers of
land I Some time after, Todochely, a Mongol prince caught plundering
in Kao chau, was beheaded. Several other chiefs were also captured
dkere,iiia^4i/M the Prince of Lu, they were put 10 death. During the
same year the Ming Emperor called together his council and addressed
•0«MaiUfi,i.«l tD«M«illa,s.<l. ;DtlC«Uta,s.|<a.
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344 HISTORY or THE MONGOLS.
them : ^ Plants and trees grow in spring and die in aotunin, other tfa&^
are subject to the same vidssitiideSy and man himself is not exempt ftom
them. Maitilipak, grandson of the last Emperor of the Yuen, has now
been here five years ; he is no longer a child ; his father and mother
seem to have abandcmed him ; we had better send him back to diem
with the presents I am despatching." The young prince, we are told,
was by no means wishful to gO| but he was sent, notwithstandii^, under
the chaige of two eunuchs, who were bidden to take especial care
of him.*
In 1375 there came news to the Ming court that Kuku Timur, the great
Mongol general, was dead. He had retired to the King ghan mountains,
to his palace at Halanahai, and there died. His wife, Maochi, would not
survive him and went and hanged hersdf. The Ming Emperor having
assembled his generals, asked them to name an extraordinary hero, they
all replied Chang yuchoen. ^ He was no doubt a hero,'' said the Emperor,
^ but if you would name an extraordinary one, it w^is the Prince Pao pao, ^/.,
Kuku Timur.^^t In the latter part of this year, Nahachu threatened the fron-
tiers of Liau tung with a considerable amy. The Chinese commanders
Ma yun and Ye wang marched against hhn. His pmnt of attadc was the
dty of Kiai chau. The Chinese commanders, we are told, cut slabs of
ice with which they built a wall, upon which they poured water until it
was all frozen hard. This wall formed a fortification some distance from
the town, and close to the river Tsu ho. A short distance from this again
they placed a number ai fascines, &c., on the river and covered them with
earth, so as to make it appear it was solid ground instead of a mere
floating mass. Having planted his people in ambuscade about the town,
they so frightened the Mongols by their hidden voices that they fancied
a large army was there, and retreated. They mistook the ice walls for a
strong fort, which they allowed to divert their march, and lastly, in their
hurry, they trusted themselves on the floating fiucines, &&, through which
their horses sank, and the Chinese massacred a large number of diem.
Nahachu escaped with a few followers northwards.! In 1 376 Peyen Timur
made a raid upon the district of Yen ngan, in Shensi, but the Chinese
cut off his retreat, captured nearly all his men and also a large quantity
of cattle, and constrained him to surrender.} These continual disasters
could not, however, entirely eradicate that peculiar toyalty which is such
a beautiful trait in the character of the better Chinese. Thus we are told
that Tse yu,who had been trusted with several employments by the Mongols,
had retired to Lan chau after the great defeat of Kuku Timur, in the
previous reign. The Ming Emperor sent messengers to bring him to the
capital ; he escaped, and was recaptured. As he passed by Lo yang, in
H<man, its commander wished him to prostrate himsdf, but he remained
* De MailU, x. 71. t DeUmarre, 55. I Da MailUi x. 73-76. DeUraarrt, 56, 57.
( Dt Mailm, x. 77.
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USSARHAt. KHAN. 345
imtnoveftMe, even when they burnt his beard, nor would he see his wife
who came to him. Oh his arrival at the court he was offered a place, but
refused it in these terms : " Your Majesty, honouring my mediocrity
instead of putting me to death as I expected, has increased my shame by
giving me a uniform and a banquet, and ?rould now promote me to
further digaity. Your Majesty's greatness of soid is as wide tA the
heaven and die earth. I cannot suffidently avow it. It is not Uiat I am
unwilling to perform the meanest office, but I am bound by sacred oaths.
I cannot change my old affection so rapidly. Aldiough a simple * bouigeois'
of but small parts, I was permitted by my late master to ride on horse*
back, and to receive a public salary for fifteen years. I blush to have
done nothing worthy of so much honour. Although its servant, I
have been witness of the fidl of the Imperial fiunily. If I added to this,
infidelity, how could I meet the gaze of the functionaries of the empire.
Since my arrest I have not ceased to wish that I had died long ago.
It is true I want to gain no meretricious fame by my death, yet if you
would regard my simplicity and my inextinguishable affections, and put
me to death, the day wiH be the chiefest day of my life.*
The Emperor was much touched with this address, and ordered the
magistrates to conduct him beyond the Great Wall, so that be might go
and join lus old master at Karakorum.* Biliktu Khan died in 1378. In
this both Ssanang Setzen and the Chinese authorities agree. His reign
added a painful chapter to the later Mongol annals. The list of their
disasters was much lengthened ; they were excluded from Liau tung, and
wherever they tried to force a way into the borders of the en^>ire, they
were beaten back. They were once more confined to the great desert,
whence they originally sprang.
USSAKHAL KHAN.
Biliktu Khan was succeeded by his brother UssakhaLt He is called
Yuthokusthiemor in the Ming annals, | and Tukus Timur by De
Mailla. I The last named author says he was the son of the late Khan,
and that he was preferred to Maitilipala, without it causing any trouble.
Ssanang Setzen is no doubt right. In Mongol history the uncle is
generally preferred to the nephew. In fact, when the nephew was young
this was the recognised succession, and the words of the Chinese writer
£Bivour this conclusion. Ussakhal Khakan was bom in 1342, and
mounted the throne in 1379, He was recognised without opposition, and
the Ming Emperor sent him an envoy to congratulate him on his acce^
• DeUmuTt, 61, 6t. f SsMuoif Stina, 13^ I DtUsuuttto 6S. i Op. dt, x. 78.
IX
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346 HISTORY or THE MONGOLS.
sioDy* tod hft also composed a memoir in honoiir of the deceased Khan.
In 1380 the Mongol general Hotochi or Thohotchi, who was encamped
at Itsilailu, was making preparations to attack the Chinese borders.
The Emperor sent his geaenl Ma in against them. He advanced
within fifty li of the enemy saeietty, wfid then invested the army of
Hotochi on all four sides at oiioa. Baflad by this manoeuvre the latter
ordered his people to lay down their aims, and submitted. Thus the
Chinese general won a considerable ttiumph withoitt striking a blow, t
The next year Arbuka or Naurbuka, m Mongol officer, threatened
the country 1^ the Yellow River. The Chinese troqts advanced to
meet him. He retired, but was body pursued and overtaken near
the mountain Si hod khan, where an engsgment followed, in which
Pieli boka and Wen tong, with a large quantity of baggage, were
captured.
Meanwhile^ the Prince of Leang still riiled in Yunnan on behalf of the
Mongols, and the Ming Emperor appointed Fu yeou te^ who had com-
manded in the expedition against Arbuka at the head of 300^000 troops,
to march into that remote province. . Havii^ assembled his forces in Hu
kuang, he marched by two routes, one entered Yunnan by way of Su chuan,
theotherbytheprovinoeof Kueichau. The main army speedily captured
Pttting and Pu ngan^and received the submission of the mountain chiefs,
who only wore very loosely the yoke of the Prince of Leang. The latter
sent an army of loo^ooo^ under hb general Talima, to guard the defiles
of Kio tsing. The Imperial army crossed the river Long kiang at night,
and attacked the troops of Yunnan, which then as in our own day were
obstinately brave. At length, after great efibrts» they defeated them.
Talima and ac^ooo of his soldiers were captuoed. The Prince of Leang,
on hearing of this defeat, abandoned his capital, fled to the mountain Lo
tso khan, and ended by drowning himself and his Cunily in the lake
Tienchi4
The Chinese now marched upon the capital of the province, which
was surtendered by its Mongol governor Koan in pao, and the following
day Yesien Timur^ an officer of the late Prince of Leang, gave up bis
official seal The thorough subjugation of the country still cost a good
deal of blood and trouble, the mountain tribes being very impatient of
restraint The details of the campaign are given by De Mailla.| At
length the work was done, and the more important prisoners were sent
on to the court. Among these were Pepe, son of the Mongol prince
Chunwang; Koan in pao; Chelibuka; 318 members of the fioiiily of
the Prince of Leang ; and 160 others. They were provided with houses,
and generoQsty treated by the £n^Mror. The conquest of Yunnan
deprived the Mongols of their last foothold in China. Let us now
turn to the north.
* t>« MaUi, s. 7S. tI>«ICliaiSfS.SQ. D«lraMn«.7t.
t Dt MiOUa,!. H. thhmam,7^n* i Op. tH., x. H-^s.
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USSAKHAL RHAN. 347
There they were by no means comi^etely cowed. Nahacha or
Narachu had again collected a large force in the Kin shan moim^
tuns, and made raids upon Lian timg. The Chinese Emperor deter^
mined to punish him, and sent a formidable army under the command
of Fong chin. A body of Mongols encamped at King chau was
attacked by a Chinese general named Lan yu, under cover of a heavy
show stoim, and dispersed. Kolai, its commander, was killed, and his
son Pulangfai captured. Meanwhile, a Mongol general named Laila%
who had been captured by the Chinese and well treated, was sent on to
Nahachu to bring him to terms. He in return sent the Ming genend a
present of some horses, and ofiered to submit He eren asked for an
interview. At this he presented the Chinese commander with a cup lull
of wine. The latter, not to be ontdone in potitenessi took off his dress
and asked Nahachu to put it on. A rivalry ensued aa t6 who shouki
take the offer of civility first, and as die Chinese coihmander would not
give way, Nahachu lost his temper, muttered something between his
teeth, and hastened away. The Chinese tried to stop hhn, and in the
mel^ that ensued, he was wounded in the diouldei:. When the news
of this reached, the Mongol camp it caused confusran there. Most of
the Mongob dispersed. Out of 100,000 40^060 at atkct submitted. Their
herds were so numerous that they occupied 100 lis of country. Two
nephews of Nahachu, who attempted to collect the debris of theur unde^s
dans, were persuaded also to submit The officer who offered them
terms brtaking his bow in their presence As a token of his sineerity.* This
had a great effect on their followers, many of whom marched towards
the south and admowledged the Ming, and we are tokl that at the seventh
month of X387 the whole horde c£ Nahachu, called by De MaiUa,
Inuanchelapafu, entirely submitted. This hoide 6f Nahachu, which
seems to have had an independent and substantive position of its own,
probably comprised the various tribes which had been assigned as their
heritage to his brothers Juji Kassar and Utsuken, by Jingis, and which
had obeyed Nayan, the celebrated rebel in the reign of Khubilai.
Fong chin, the Chinese commander, was now accused of malpracdoes,
and was recalled, and Lan yu, one of his subordinates, was appointed
generalissimo of the armies of the north. He proposed that they should
attack the Mongols in their head quarters at Karakorum, and thoroi^hly
scatter them. Pcrmissipn was granted him, ai^d with more than ioo/)po
men he advanced towards the north.
Ussakbal was encamped near the lake Buyur, so ftiU of reminiscences
of the glorious days of Jingis. The Chinese advanced stealthily, lighting
no fires and marching in the ni^t, the last #tage o{ tl)elr joun^nbeing
covered by a doud of sand.t They seem to have completely i^riscd
the enemy, who raised their camp and fled after a fhort reiist||^iQr*
* De Mailla, X. 9t. t Ditonarft, 1. 91.
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348 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
Ussakhal and his son and heir Tien pao nu, with Honkilai and
Cheliemen, fled. Ti pao nu, his second son, sixty-four persons of his suite,
Pilito, the wife of the prince royal, many princesses, and fifty-nine of
their cortege were captured. Besides these, Torchi, the Prince of U ;
Talima, Prince of Tai ; Palan, one of the hest Mongol generals ; 2,994
officers, and 77,000 soldiers were made prisoners. One hundred and fifty
thousand head of cattle, the Imperial seal, and an immense booty of
gold, silver, and valuables fell into the hands of the conqueror. Ti pao
nu was taken to the court, and shortly nfterwards exiled to the island of
Luchu.
After dividing their country into several departments, the Emperor
^pointed Mongol officers over them, and allowed them to administer
according to their own customs. This terrible catastrophe, which is
not mentioned by Ssanang Setzen, b told in detail by the Chinese authors,
relied upon by De Mailla, x. 92, et seq. j Timskowski, ii. 208 ; and
D'Ohsson, ii. 599. It effectually destroyed the power of the Eastern
Mongols for a long tune, and allowed the Western Mongols or Kalmuks
to become supreme in Mongolia.
After his defeat the Mongol Khan fled, intending to take refuge with
his minister Gniaochu at Karakorum, and had gone as far as the Tula,
when he was suddenly attacked by one of his relatives called Esutiel,*
his troops were dispersed, and he was left with only sixteen horsemen and
Gniaochu, who had reached him ; as he fled he was overtaken by a snow-
storm. The soldiers of Esutiel now came up and- killed him, together
with his son Tienpaonu.t Both Ssanang Setzen and the Ming annals
agree in placii^ his death in 1388, although the former says nothing
about his violent end, and in fact barely gives us the dates of his birth,
accession, and death.
ENGKE SORIKTU KHAN.
According to Ssanang Setzen, Ussakhal left three sons, the eldest of
whom, named Engke Soriktu, the Ayke of Petis de la Croix, succeeded
him. It would seem that Esutid or Yessutier is the dinese corruption
of this name, and that Engke is to be identified with the assassin of
Ussakhal, and it is ver)' probable that he was not the son, but either the
nephew or grand-nephew of Ussakhal, being the son or grandson of
Toghon Timur. We are acquainted with two of Ussakhal's sons in the
Chinese narrative. One of them was captured by the Chinese, the other
was killed with his fether ; and while it is highly unprobable that a
Mongol Khan would be murdered and supplanted by his son, it is very
* Dt llailta tftiU hia Ynsatitr, & 94. t D«lwPftrre« 1. 97.
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BUCKS ICMUKTU KBAM. 349
probaUe that the descendants of Toghon Tiniur would covet their fiidier's
thione ; and I am disposed to make Enj^ a son of the MaitiripaU^
aheady named, who was set aside by UstakhaL
The usurpation of Engke or Ejnitiel was not at all grateliil to the
Chinese court, which had hoped that the Mongols would have submitted
on tiie death of UssakhaL An army was accordingly sent nofdiwaids,
under the orders of Fu yeou ti* He divided it into two sections ; one of
these marched by way of Kii pe keou towards Todu, where the Bifongol
general Nairbuka was encamped. When its commander drew near he
sent Koan tong, an old friend of Nairbuka% to persoade him to submit.
On meeting one another they embraced, and the Mongol gieneral
was persuaded to go to the Chinese camp. There he was well received
and entertained. Orders were given not to molest his camp, and
Nairbuka was left in command of it He was much toudied by this
generosity, and declared that the Emperor had no more ^thful subject.*
The other division of Fu yeou ti's army advanced as fiir as the north of
the Shamo desert, but returned without havii^ seen a Mongol or done
anything. There can be no doubt that the idiole nation was disintegrated
and scattered. Whatever authority Engke had was very local, and other
chie6 in other neighbourhoods seem to have set up an independent
authority of their own, their main bond of union being the plundering of
the Chinese frontier. Thus wo read that in the bq^inning of 1591 one of'
these lo<^ chiefs, who belonged to the Imperial fiunily and was named
Hotachacheli, marched to attack the MoQgols who had submitted to the
Ming. The Imperial troops marced against him as £u: as the fiver Tor,
near the mountain Helinia, but £guled to find hioLt He is probably the
Unorchiri mentioned by Tlmkowski, who tells us that he fixed his camp
at a place called Ehe Emil (? Khamil), to the west of KarakonmLt
In the latter part of 1391 the Mongols had captured Khamil, to the west
Kansu. The Chinese stormed the place, put to death all who resisted,
and tock prisoner Pielieki, who had taken the title of King, and
Sanlicheko, both of them of the Mongol Imperial fiunily ; with Yochan,
minister of State, and 300 soldiers.| The northern firontier was wdl
protected, and it was chiefly in these western parts of the empire Uiat
these disturbances occurred, in 1592 another invasion took jdacediere, in
which the Mongol Prince Yudu Timur was the chief actor. He fortified
several strongholds in Han tong^ but they were recaptured, and after
several defeats he was forced to surrender. His fdlowers were set firee,
but he and his son were sent on to the court, where they were beheaded
as rebels who had once submitted and tiien broken fiuth.|
According to Ssanang Setsen, En^^ Socikta mounted his somewhat
shad^ywy throne in 1389, and died in 1^92. He was succeeded by his
brother Elbek Khan. Y
•I>tll«flk,s-95.96. tDelCai]k,x.9S. j Tlwliwiifcrt Tmydi, il> soj.
I De Ifailto, s. 17. | D« ICaiOa, S..98. ^ Sfuuuif StUM* 139.
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35D HISTORY OF THX IfOWGOLS.
ELBEK KHAN.
Elb£K| we are told, was bom in 1361. His full name, as given by
Setzen, is Elbek Nigulessukshi Khakan. He mounted the throne in
1393, and was killed in 1399. During this period I find only one
lefoence to Mongol afi^urs in the Chinese annals. This is in 1396, where
we are told the Emperor sent the Prince of Yen to inspect the frontier.
That he went beyond the boundary as far as the mounuin Checher,
where he had a fierce struggle with the Mongols, and captured their
general Soiin Hmur. He then marched towards Nielanhatu, where he
met and defeated another body of them commanded by Niela and
HichaL* Ssanang Setzen has a very quaint Saga referring-to this
Khan. He says that he was one day out hunting and killed some
hares. As their blood trickled out on the snow he exclaimed: ''Give
me a wife with a face as white as this snow and cheeks as crimson as
this Wood." Upon which Chuchai Dadshu, a Uirat, replied, "Khakan,
the beauty of Uldsheitu Chung Goa Beidshi, the wife of thy brother,
surpasses this by far." Then spoke the Khakan, '' My Chuchai Dadshu, if
thou wilt acciHnplish my wish and contrive that I shall see her, I will
raise thee to the dignity of Ching^sang, and will give thee authority over
the Durben Uirat." Chuchai waited until the husband was absent on
the chase, when he hastened to the wife and told her the fame of her
beauty had spread widely, and that the Khakan wished to see her. She
replied in scorn and anger: ''Was ever such a custom known that heaven
and earth should meet together, and that exalted princes should see
their sisters-in-law. Does the Khakan wish the death of his younger
brother, or has he become a raving dog ?" When this was reported to
the Khan he was furious, had his brother murdered, and made his
sister-in-law his wife. Soon after Chuchai Dadshu repaired in Sute to
the Khan while he was hawking, to demand the dignity of Ching sang,
which had been promised him. When Chung Goa Beidshi heard that
he was waiting outside for the arrival of the Khakan, she sent the servant
of her former husband to sununon him in, as she wished to show him
every courtesy and distinction. She offered him fermented butter in a
silver bowl, and thus addressed him : " To thee I owe it that I have been
raised from a lowly to an exalted position, that my title of Beidshi has
been changed to that of Begi Taigho. While formerly I was only the
Beidshi of an insignificant Taidshi, I am now the Khatun of the lofty
Khakan. I am not unmindful of thy deserts; the Idgbtt recompense I
must leave to the Khakan, thy master, but as an acknowledgment I present
thee with this bowL* Hereupon she presented him with the bowl, which
* De MailU, x. 109.
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ELBEK KHAN. 351
he accepted without suspicion. The draught made him unconsdoos.
Leaving him lying on her bed, she then dishevelled her hair, scratched
herself in many {daces, and by her cries summoned a crowd of pec^ile;
She despatched a servant to summon the Khaksn, and on his arrival she
sobbed and cried. He asked why she wept She told him how she had
given Chuchai Dadshu the bowl and what she had said to him, and then
she said **he got drunk with the drink I offered him, began to qpeakin an
unseemly manner, pulled me about, and when I resisted reduced me to
this plight." Chuchai Dadshu, when he heard this, rushed out, took to his
horse, and sought to escape. Then said the Khakan, '^The flight of this
Chuchai proves his guilt," gave chase, and overtook him. They fought ;
he shot at the Khakan and wounded his little finger, but was notwith-
standing overpowered and killed. He was then flayed and his sldn was
taken home by the Khakan to show his wife. She was not satisfied with
the sight only. ^ Let us try," she said, ''how human hide tastes.''
Thereupon she licked the fat from the dripping sldn, and she sucked the
blood from the Khan's bruised finger, and said, ^ Now I have licked the
blood of the cruel Khakan and the fat of his instigator ChuchaL I have
long wished to avenge the death of my partner. If I myself new die I
shall be free again. Let me, Khakan, return speedily to my home."
The Khan, infatuated with the beauty of Chung Beidshi, was not even
angry with her. But he spoke to Batula, the son of Chuchai : " I have
killed thy fatiier wrongfully." He then gave him his daoghter Samur
Gundshi to wife, gave him the title of Ching sang, and conferred
upon him the headship of the Durben Uirat*
This narrative is very interesting. Its details are probably fabulous,
but they illustrate very remarkably the point of view of Mongol morality
and the kind of heroism which they patronise. Cruel and stem and
Draconic, and yet not without its lessons for our decrepid times. It is
interesting also because its chief characters ar^ imdoubtedly historical
persons, and it clears up somewhat a very hazy period of Asiatic history.
Chuchai Dadshu is named by Pallas among, the ancestors of the Royal
house of the Sungars.t Pallas is a very independent authority, as he had
never seen the narrative of Ssanang Setzen, and collected his information
from the European Kalmuks. He gives only a bare list of names, and
for some time Ssanang Setzen's narrative is invaluable. We now
proceed: "When Ugetshi Khaskhagha, of the ICergud (i.e., the Keraits),
heard of all this he was very angry, and said the reign of this Khakan is
most unrighteous. First he kills his brother and makes his widow his
own wife; then, at her instigation, he puts his minister Chuchai to death
without right or justice ; and at last, ashamed of his injustice to him, he
gives the lordship over the Durben Uirat to Batula, my subject, while I,
the prince, am still living.' When the Khakan heard of the hatred and
• Smumbc S«ts«a, I39-I4S*
tH»c»ltoltfmOooclMai)ijoo>l>mlwifwhistn»acli.,ii»<NdtolfqBg.Voilu,S5«
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3^2 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
rauicour of Ugetshi Khaskhagha, he suggested to his smi-in^law Batula
Chmgssang that he should be killed. Warned of his danger by the
Khakan's chief wife, Ugetshi, without loss of time marched against him,
and killed him ; took his wife Uktshei Chung Bddshi to his own tent;
imd subjected the greater part of the Mongol people.*** This revolution
was of considerable importance in Mongol history. The chief of the
Keraits became, as he was before die supremacy of Jingis, the over lord
of the Mongol race. I shall refer to him again in treating of the history
of the Keraits, in a later ch^>ter. Aldiough he became supreme, the
line of Khakans of ibt Mongols proper was still preserved.
GUN TIMUR KHAN.
SSAKANG SnzKN tells us that the violent deposition of Elbek caused
much confusion, but at length Gun Timur, the eldest son of Elbek, who
was bom in 1377, mounted the throne in 1400, and died in 1402, without
children. He is also mentioned in the Ming annals, which say that
after Tokus Timur (f ^^ Ussakfaal Khan), there were five reigns until
tiiat of AVmt Timur. The names of these kings they say were not
known, but they were all assassinated.t I know nothing recorded of
his reign, which was probably a merely nominal one, Ugetshi having all
the real power.
ULDSHEI TIMUR KHAN.
SSAir AUG SiTZBN tdls us that Gun Timur was succeeded by his younger
bradier Uldshei Thnur,} who was bom in 1597, and became Khan in
1403. Schmidt unhesitatingly identifies him with the Gultsi of Tim-
kowski and the Kulichi of De Mailla. I believe this to be entirely
wrong. The Kulichi of De Mailla and Kuilichi of the Ming annals
was an usurper who violently possessed himself of the throne, and who
would not take the dtle of Khan of the Mongols, but only that of Khan
of the Tartars, for fear of arousing against him the members of the
Imperial £unily of Yuen. That is to say, he was not a member of that
fiunily, but an interloper, and his whole history shows that he was no
other than the Ugetshi of Ssanang Seizen, of which name Gultsi and
Kulichi are comq>tions. On the other hand I believe that Uldshei
Thnur is to be identified with the Eltshy Timur Khan mentioned by
Peds de la Croix,| and abo with the Peniachdi of De Mailla and the
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VLDSKSt TfMUR KHAK. 555
Ming annals, the Bmiiadiiri of Thnkowski. It ^fould appear that ibr a
short time alter the death of Gun Timur there was an interregnum in
the Khanate, and that Ugetshi the usurper had the supreme anthority,
and we find accordingly, that in 1404 the Chinese Emperor sent him an
ofiidal seal and presents. Meanwhile Batula Ching sai^, who I bdieve
was the Mahamu of the Chinese writers,* reigned over the Kalmuks or
Durben Uirat. When the Emperor sent presents to Ugetshi, he also
sent others to Marhapa, Yesuntai, and Halutai, three chieftains who were
impatient of obeying one who did not belong to the legitimate Imperial
stodct Of these Hahitai was the chief. He is called the minister of
Knilicht in the Ming annals, which name his companions Fahul and
Chahantaluha.!
In concert with Mahamu, Halutai and his companions attacked the
usurper and drove him away. They then sent their homage to the
Chinese court § Sdimidt is disposed to identify the Halutai of the
Chinese authors with the Aroktai of Ssanang Setzen. We are told by
the Chinese authors that Halutai having dispossessed Kulichi or Ugetshi,
nominated Penyacheli, who was sprung from the Imperial fiunily, as
Khan. This took place at Piechipali.| We are further told tiiat be
had been abandoned during the times of trouble, and deprived of the
means of supporting his dignity. f This agrees with the account Petiii de la
Croix gives of Eitshy Timur, / ./., of the Khan Uldshei. He tells us tiiat
he had gone to the court of the celebrated Timurlenk, where he stayed till
that conqueror's death. He then returned home again, and mounted the
throne in 1405, which is very nearly the same date as that given by
Ssanang Setzen. This passage from Petis de la Croix is very interesting.
It recalls to us the fact that while the Mongol power in the East had
crumbled away : in the West the heir of the Mongol authority and
traditions,.the gieat Timurlenk, raised up a mighty empire, which rivalled
the splendour, if not the renown and wide authority of that of Jingis
Khan himself.
In 1409, the Chinese Emperor sent Liau Timur buka into Tartary
with despatches addressed to the Mongol Khan, with these he also sent
seals and patents of promotion. These symbols of subjection, which the
Chinese authors call favours, were neglected by Peniacheli, i>., Uldshei,
who contrived to detach Patu Timur, his son Talan, Lunturiioei, and
his son Pieliko, from the allegiance they had promised the Chinese many
years before.
Two months later Kintaputai and Koki were also sent into the north
with presents for Halutai, Marhapa, Tohorchi, Hachi Timur, and many
others. These were also rejected : Koki was killed, and KinUputai was
sent home again. These chieftains then went and joined PeniachelL The
* On tlui q«Mtioa, Mt bdow, in tl» chapter on U19 Sunfnn.
t Dt Mnilla, X. 1S3. X DoUmarre, 133. f De MaUU* x. i|s.
I Delnmam, liz. H Tiakowtki, op. dU ii. 109,
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3$4 HISTORY OP TniKWOOLS.
Empaotf who wis nrach irritated, detefmined appiftttfy to topyort tlieir
rivalsi aad named Mahamu (i^^ Batula Ching aaiif ) Prince of Qnn ning.
Tliai pin waa made Prince of Hicn-y, and Padm pula Prince of Ganlo.^
An army waa alao lent north to ponish the contumadoiit princes. Its
command was given to Kiau iu« When he had passed the Great WaU
he detached a body of 1,000 to ipSoo cavalry, whidi defeated a small
body of Mongols to the south of the river Lokuho, and captured its
coDunander. From Urn they learnt that Peniacheli had Retreated further
north. Kiau fa dsteimined to pursue him» although only a poftion of
hb army was with him, and in fiiot when he had only 10,000 men*
The Moi^olsy who heard of this, planted an ambuscade, into whidi the
Chinese fell Kian in, with the greater number of his officers, perishedt
The Emperor sent emissaries into Mongdia to examine the conduct of
the generals, and the guilty were punished with extreme severity* t He
detennined to march himself against the Mongols. His army was
50CVOOO strong,S and he set out early in 1417. He traversed 10,000 li of
country without meeting the enemy, and advanced as far as the sea of Ko
loan hai (i>^ the Baikal), which is more than ao^ooo li in circumference,
and into which flow the rivers Hazman (i>., the Onon), Luku, and five
others.| When he arrived at the Luku, he found that Peniachdi had fled
towards the west, and Halutai towards the east. The former first
reached the river Niekurtcha and then the Onon. The Chinese pursued
him with a flying column. He was overtaken on the basics of the
Onon, where Jingis Khan had taken the title of Emperor. A panic
seized the Mongol anny, which began to disperse. Peniachdi then
abandoned his baggage, and fled with only seven companions.ir
Halutai having lallied the deMs of the army of Peniacheli and
incorporated it with his own, had the temerity to encounter the
Imperial forces. He, too, was beaten, and after being unhorsed and
losing 200 of his best officers, fled, and the Chinese Emperor returned in
triumph to Peking.^ The imfortunate Mongol Khan was shortly after
murdered by Mahamu, the chief of the Uirats.tt This is dated by the
Chinese in 1412. Ssanang Setzen places the death of Uldshei in 141a
The former authorities are no doubt right
DELBEK KHAN.
SSAKANG Setzbn tells US that Uldshei was succeeded by his son Delbek.
Schmidt says he could not find him mentioned dsewhere, but we
* De MaiUa. X. 167* Dtlunarrt, xM. t De MjJIU, x. x68. I TimkowaU, ii. «to.
I Ddtmam, t69. f De ICaUla, s. 171. f De M«ilU» x. X7X.
**De1lalllii,x.x7t. Dalaauure, 170. ft Dc ICaiUa, x. 17*. Dtiamam, x8e.
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OBLBIK KHAN. 3SS
eertaMy fiad him aioBBd bodi in the Ifiiig annals and by De Maiila,
wkmt we are told that Mahanra having aisaasinated Peniacheli^ of hia
own au&oiity made Talipa Khakan.* Tahpa is certainly the Ohinese
oomtption of Delbdcy and this ooinddenoe increases th^ certainty that
Ukbhei and Eeniadieli ware the same person. Ssanang Setien tdls us
Ddbekwaaboniini395andmoQnled thethronein 1411. This is only
a difference of a year from the Chinese account, whidi dates Talk's
accession in 1413.
Ssanang Setsen malces DelbdL a son of Uldshei, but here again it
seems hardly probable that Mahanm would murder the fother, who was
tbt^rategi of Halutai, and put the son as his own praU^fi on the throne.
Whoever he was it is dear he was a mere puppet in the hands of his
patron, who held the reins of power. De Mailla says the Chinese
Emperor was pleased with Mahamu for his conduct in the supplanting
of UldsheLt Mahamu seems shortly after to have defeated Ualutai, and
compelled him with the dtbris of his horde and his l^nily to find refoge
on the Chinese frontier, and appeal to the Emperor Uk succour. The
latter appointed him Prince of Honing (^.i of Karakomm), and assigned
him a camping ground north of the desert of Shamo. Thiswasini4i44
Mahamu was naturally enraged at this, and withhdd his tribute. The
Ming Emperor determined to march in person into Tartaiy to see
how matters stood. He was accompanied by a large army and by his
grandson, whom he had nominated, as his hdr. When they arrived at
Saiihor § they heard that the Mongols were only 100 lis distant, and
shortly after they came upon them under Talipa (m^ Delbek), Mahamu
Taiping^ and Polo, at the head of 30^000 men.| The Ming annals state
that the advance guard of the Imperial army, under Liau king, first
encountered the enemy at Khanghalihai,f and killed several of thcnit
after which the Emperor hastened on by forced mardies until he reached
Hulanhuchauen. He goes on to say the Mongols were utterly routed^
that ten sons of princes and several thousand soldiers were killed. The
Chinese went in pursuit, broke through the motmtain Yukao^ and pene-
trated as fir as the river Tula. Mahamu had fied ; the Emperor wished
to pursue him, but was persuaded to return Xsff his followers*** A good
deal of this seems to be mere courtly rhetoric, for in the more sober
narrative of De Mailla we are told that the Emperor having /»ftt«^ilrfii
to crush the enemy by a decisive coup, attacked him, that it cost him
more dearly than he ejq>ected, for the Mongols fought bravely all day,
the number of killed was about the same on both sides, and that althoi^
the Mongols were inferior in number, they only retired from the battle-
*OduMnt,t8o. Dt IfAUlif 1. 179.
t Dt llaillt, X. 17a. \ D« Mailk, x. 173.
S 7 The SriUlur mentiontd in th« tar^f wan o( Jiocia. ViAt unti, sx.
f I>« MftillAf X. Z74« % DeUmirre, xSs. ** DelMuurt, i8<.
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356 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
£j^ at nii^» when they crossed the Tula and went no^^ Halntai
sent to the Emperor to excuse htmsetf lor not having come to his assis-
tance, on the gi«Mind that he was ill The Emperor ftigned to believe
hhn, and sent him loo measiues of rioe, lOO nuiles» and lOo sheep^'and
also sent tpoo measures of grain to be distribmed among his followers.
He then retired homewards.* It would appear probable that Deibck
perilled in this battle, which was fought in 141 5, for ive do not i^;ain
hear of him in the Chinese annals, while Ssanang Setsen telk ns he
died in 141 5. t
ADAI KHAN.
We now enter upon a period during which the Mongdb passed under the
yoke of the Uirsts, a y<^e which pressed upon tiiem very heavily for
nesriy fifty years. Mahamn was the chief of these Uirats.
It would seem from the Chinese accounts that he was not entirely
supreme, however, for we find constant references to Halntai as the leader
of at least a portion of the Mongols proper. It becomes an interesting
thing to discover who this Halutai was. Schmidt is disposed to identify
him with the Aroktai of Ssanang Setzen, but this is very improbable*
Aroktai was a slave during a l|urge part of die period when the Chinese
annals show that Halutai was an active party leader. Aroktai never
rises above a subordinate position, while we are expressly tdd that
Halutai usurped the office of Khan. Again, Aroktai is a mere nickname,
and is hardly likely to have been adopted in the Chinese annals. A close
reading of Ssanang Setzen's narrative will, however, enable us to identify
Halutai with a person mentioned by that chronicler, and to reconcile the
two narratives completely. Ssanang Setzen, after des<Mbing the way
in which the Mongols became in great part subject to the Uirats, says,
^ At that time Adai Taidshi, of the Khortshins, a descendant of TJtsuken,
ruled over the rest of the Mongols."' I am convinced that this Adai
was no other than the Hahitai of the Chinese authors. We have seen
several times in the course of this history that the tribes assigned to
Utsuken in Eastern Mongolia, filled a particular r61e of their own,t and
on the several occasions in whidi tiiey occur, it is as a semi-independent
portion of the Mongol community, both powerful and aggressive. It
would seem that while the greater portion of the Mongol community
Um under the authority of the Uirats, these eastern tribes remained
independent under their leader Adai, a worthy successor of Nayan and
Marachu.
* Dt Mania, x. 174, 17$. t SMoaag SctMa, 145* t Stasftog SttMH, 147*
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ADAI KHAN. 557
Accoiding to Ssanaag Setzen, Batula Chingsaog (that is, Mahamu)
was murdered by Ugetshi, his old rival, and this may be so, for in the
Chinese accounts we only read of the defeat and ^ht of Kuilichi in
1404, and not of his death. It may be therefore that he continued to
rule over the Keraits, and that he did murder Mahamu. Ssanang Setzen
dates this in 141 5, but the Chinese authoritiesi who aie probably right,
fix Mahamu's death in 1418.
According to Ssanang Setzen, he had in 1599 taken prisoner a man
named Ugudeleku, 11^ belonged to die tribe of Assod. He made a
skve of him, &steiied a basket on his back, and made him collect dry
dung, whence he got his name of Aroktai (Arok being the basket used by
the Mongols for collecting dung for fuel).* Aroktai was still in his service
when be was murdered by Ugetshi. Soon after this we are told the
Durben Uirat held a great assemUy, on the termination of which, three
of its members returning home met Aroktai going to his usual employ
ment of collecting dm^ When they approached him he demanded
what business had been transacted at the meeting. ** Who would have
thought,** said one of them, ^that this creature dragging about his dung-
basket would have been trouUed about affairs of State ; why,** he said
conteaytuously, ''it is determined to rebuild the city of Chorum khan"
(Karakorum, which had probably been destroyed by the Chinese) ;
'^to raise Adsai Taidshit to the dignity of Ehakan, and that fellow
Aroktai to diat of TaishL' Throwing away his basket, Aroktai arose
and shouted, ''These are not your words. It is a command of the gods.
For me ahumble subject it is a small matter, but as for Adsai, he is a
son df the gods. Thou Almighty Father hast done this." With these
words he bowed himself adoringly before the gods, t
When Ugetshi murdered his rival, Aroktai also fell into his hands. It
win be remembered that the widow and posthumous son of the Khan
Elbek were both under his control |
On the death of Ugetshi, which followed dos^ upon that of his
victim, he was succeeded by bis son Esseku. The latter married Samur
Gundshi, the widow of Batula. He reigned until I435*l Meanwhile the
three distinguished prisoners whom I have named continued to live at his
court. On his deaths his widow Samur Gundshi, who, it will be remem-
bered, was a daughter of Elbek Khan, determined to set free the three
prisoners and to send them home to their people the Mongols. It would
seem she was anxious to revenge her former husband's death, and she
therefore sent them word that Esseku was dead, that his people were
without a head, and that if the Mongols would march quickly against
their oppiessors they would succeedif The three prisoners w^e there-
* Sclmidt** SMaaag S«Uta, 14s aad 404. t H« was th« potthomoM woa of Elb*k Kbaa.
1 Saaaafig 8«tMii. 147. 1 V^ «•<'• 39t. I Smimbc Setzaa, 147.
% SiMBg SeUm, 147-
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35S HISTORY or THE MOHGOLS.
upon ideated and went home, and we are t<M that tfaey joined Adai
Taishi, who had not yet prodaimed himsdf Khan. Let us now tnm
once more to the Cldnese narrative.
Accordmg to the Ming annalt, Halutai (/^., Adai) had become verjr
arrogant in consequence of his increasing wealth and power. He had
retained tht Imperial envoys who had been sent to Urn, and had pasted
and rq>assed the Great Wall for the purpose of plunder. In 1422, he had
penetrated as fiur as Hhiho^ and killed the major-general Khy.* I>e
Mailla says merely that being rid bf his rival Blahamu, he had determined
to make himtdf independent Not to outrage the fedings of his subjects,
he reappointed Peniachdi to the nommal post of Khan* This must be a
mistake, for Peniachdi was killed by Mahamu long before. Perhaps a
son of Peniachdi is meant Seeing that this a{^intment displeased the
Emperor, he determined to be before him, and to Ibrestal punishment by
invading the bocders of China, and advanced as &r as the gates of Ning
hia.t The Emperor thereupon deteimined once moreto invade Mongolia,
and left Peking at the festival ofthe new year. He divided his army into
several bodies, which enclosed a large area of country, by detachments
that could mutually support one another. Hahitai was disconcerted by
this movement, and retired towards the Knhm lake. The En^Mior sent
an army in pursuit whidi fiuled to overtake him, but his baggage and
herds, which were left on the Nideang lake, were captured.^ The army
then returned to Peking. This was in 1422. Two years later Halutai
determined to displace ^prvtcgi Peniachdi (?), who is described as an
indolent and weak prince. He not only took away his ranlc, but shortly
after had him killed, and caused himsdf to be recognised as Khan by
the aihny.l
The three State prisoners who were sent hcmie, as I have said, by
Samur Gundshi, were Uidshdtu Chung Beidshi the widow and Adiai
tiie posthumous son of the Mongol Khan Elbdc, and Aroktai. We are
told by Ssanai^ Setzen that Adai married Chung Beidshi, and then had
himself proclaimed Khan before the Ordus or eight white houses <rf'Jingis
Khan, /./., in the very arcana of Mongol sovereignty. He at the same
rime ai^Kkinted Aroktai to the rank of Taishljl Ssanang Setsoi dates
this in I4a6> tdiich is only two years later than the date wlien the Chinese
authorities make Halutai mount the throne.
According to De Mailla, Halutai, when he took the title of Khaui
marched towards the Chinese frontier as £ur as Suen fa. The Emperor
once naore advanced in person against him. At Cha diing (Ddamarre
says on the river Si yang), on his way, he recdved the submission ot
Hoche Timur and Ku Natai, of the Mongol Imperial family, and learnt
from them that Halutai had been completdy defeated by the Uirat chief
* DelMBine, 196. t Dt Hull*, x. 179. I The ICiag aiiiuJs otB it MaU»
I Dt ltoiUa« X. x8o. I SfUMtag Sttseoi 14^ sad 404-
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ADAI KHAN. 359
Toghon Timur, the successor of Mahamu, and that he had been
abandoned by many of his people. The Chinese army advanced as far
as Wei chan kiau, where it received the submission of the Prince Yesien
tukan, whom the Emperor created Prince of Chong yong, and changed
his same to Kin-chong, and also honoured his relative Pokantai, as weU
as Chapu and six odier chiefo of his horde, with military ranks. He
tiien returned with his army to Peldng.
The Ming annals tell us that Kin choog was constantly urging upon the
Emperor that he should overwhdm HalutaL He offered to lead a flying
cohnan and to bring him bound hand and ibct to die Emperor. The
Emperor hesitated, but at length consented when it was reported to him
that the indefotigahle chieftain had madearaid into the district of Tai
tong and carried off a rich booty. He set out with a large army, giving
command of the flying column to Ching miau and the Mongol prince
Kin chong. On arriving at Sie ming, he heard that Halutai had hastily
rethed, that he had lost a laige number of men and cattle in the
snow, which was ten fot deep, and that he had reached the river Talan*
namur, vliere he hoped to recruit* The Emperor, we are told^ was
weaiy of the war, and offered terms to those who would submit The
road was strewn widi bones, the miserable monuments of former
ciqteditions. He caused these to be buried, and himself composed
an epitaph over thenut On arriving at Talan«namur he sent
detachments in vaiioas directions to search for the Mongols. For
a month they traversed the vast steppes to and fro, but found
noting but ruts and footmarks in the sand, which seemed many
daya okL Afiaid of being overtaken by the winter, he at length ordered
hb dtx^ to retire, but before doii^; so he had a pyramid erected, with
an inscription upon it telling posterity how far he liad penetrated, t He
ahoctly after died. Tiinkowski says his death was caused by vexation at
not having succeeded in revenging himself upon the reftactory Halutai.
This campaign was fought in 1424 or 1425.
Halutai had gained a practical victory, and for many years the Chinese
did not disturb the Mongol dominions. But the strife between Mongols
and Uirats still continued there, and we read that in 1426 news arrived
at the Chinese court that Toghon, the chief of the Uirats, had raised
Toto Timur to the dignity of Khan. I know nothing more of this
personage, who was put up doubtless as a rival to Adai or Halutai.|
Let us now turn once more to Ssanang Setzen, whose narrative at this
point I cannot confirm by that of the Chinese authorities. He tdls us that
when Adai was joined by Adsai and Aroktai the three marched together
against the Uirats, whom they defeated, capturing then* chief, the son of
Batula ching sang. When he was brought in, Adsai said, ^ Let us now
•Dtlfainft.x.tSi. tZ>d«inftfrt,ieo. I De lUUU, 1. i8a
fDtlfailta,x.iS6.
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3^ HISTORY OP THE MONGOLS.
imitate the generosity of my elder sister Gundshi, and allow this her son
to depart freely." Upon which Aroktai answered, ** It is dangerous to
let loose the brood of a savage beast. We ought not to cherish the son
of oar enemy. Heed not the imprudent counsel of this young man that
we should let our prisoner go." Adai approved the advice of Aroktai,
and handed his prisoner over to him. '< In former times thy fiuher
BatulaTching sang," said the fortune-fevoured dung collector, " (astencd
a basket on my back, called me Arokui, treated me with contumely, and
reduced me to slavery. Now that our fortunes are reversed, I will treat
his son in a similar fashion to that he treated me." Upon which he
fastened a great iron kettle (called a Toghon) on his back, and called
him Toghon. For some time he remained a sl%ve in the service of
Aroktai. After a while he escaped, and repaired to the chiefe of the
Dorben Uirat, told them that confusion reigned among the Mongols,
whose alliance was very much divided, and persuaded them to march
against them. The Mongol Adai Khan was at the time hunting in
company with two young Uirats, named Saimutshin and .^Imi^tthin; to
whom he had entrusted his bowcase full of arrows, while he hunself had
gone on with only four great arrows in his quiver. When the yom^ men
deserted, the Khan, we are told, killed four pursuers with his four arrowf
and then escaped to the Imperial Ordu, where ht hid himself; he was,
however, discovered, captured, and put to death.* Ssanang Setien dales
his death in 1438, when he was nine-and-fbrty.t It is probable that Aroktai
shared his fate. According to the Ming annab, Hahitai was surprised
and killed by Toghon at the mountain Una, in the seventh month of
I434.t De Mailla adds, after mentioning the appointment of a successor
by the victor, that the Halachan (<>., the Khortshins, the special tribe of
Adai) and other tribes submitted. | This is a very conclusive proof; if
the many other facts were not sufficient, that I am right in identifying
Adai Khan with the Halutai of the Chinese authors.
ADSAI KHAN.
The Ming annals tell us that after the death of Halutai his subjects
elected Athai in his place. He is probacy the Adsai of Ssanang Setzen's
narrative. He was clearly a very small person, the real Khan being the
nommee of the Uirat chief Toghon. We are told he was persecuted by
him, and took refuge beyond Itsilailu, under the name of Nakhuan,
whence he made incursions towards the towns of Kan and Leang. He
was defeated by Chen miao and driven towards the mountain Su u. This
* SMUUuig SetMB, 130, Z5Z . t SMnaag Stts«ii, 153.
I Ddamarre, S35. i De MtUla, x. 196.
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TA1880NO KBAM. 361
WIS ia 1435.* '^^"^ y^""** ^"'^^f ^"^ ^^ ^^ ^ renewed his inoorskms in
company with Torchq>e» in the provinces of Kan chan and Leang
chan. He was again attadcedy and fifty of the Mongol chiefr were decapi-
tated and their (iribes were subjected. We are told Torchepe fied beyond
He thstten.t As Athai is not again mentioned^ it is probable he was
killed in this fight, and it may wdl be that Ssanang Setien has confused
his reign with his predccessoi^Sy and made Taissoog Khan moont the
throne only on his deadi.
TAISSONG KHAN.
Ssanang Setzin tells us that Adsai Khan left three sons, of whom the
eldest was Taissong, who was bom in 1422, and mounted the throne in
1439. He is, as Schmidt has said, the Totobuka of the Chinese authors.
De MaiHa says he was put on the throne by Toghon, the Uirat chie^
after he had killed Halutai in 1435. Toghon died in 1444, and was
succeeded as chief of the Uirats and patron of the Mongols by his son
Yesien.; Yesien is the Essen of Ssanang Setzen. He was clearly the
autocrat of the desert, and the Khan his prote^ was probably of little
more consequence than the later Merovingians in the hands of the two
Pepins. I have described in a later chapter his war with China, in which
he captured the Emperor himsel£ Here it will suffice to say that hb
invasion was made in conjunction with Totobuka, who, as the Ming
annals say, although he was Khakan, had fewer soldiers than he. |
According to the Ming annals, Totobuka's wife was the eldest sister of
Yesien or Essen, the latter wished that his sister's son should succeed to
the Khanate, and Totobuka having refused, Yesien assassinated him and
sent his wife and son to the Chinese. This was in 145 1.| De MaiUa
dates the same event in 1454,1 but the former is doubtless right, and
agrees very closely with Ssanang Setzen, who dates Taissong's death
hi 1452.** According to him the tyranny of Essen Khakan had caused
great dissatis£u:tion among the Mongols, many of whom gathered round
Taissong. At length, with his brother Akbardshi, whom he had appointed
Ching sang, and a younger brother named Mandoghol, he marched at
the head of his army against the Uirats. A fierce fight, which I have
described later on,tt took place between the rival sections in the land of
Turufanu Khara (i^e^ of Tur£&n). Taissong was deserted by several of
the leading Mongols, including his brother the Chin sang Akbardshi, who
* D«Uflurrc, 240. t Dctamarre, 344. X ^^ MaillA, x. 105. S DelaoMtfrt, S77.
I Dtlaourro, aSg. V Op. dt., s. ass* ** Sumaog Sttsta, 159.
tt KMf Md focMi Dttrbea Uint.
\Z
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363 HISTORY OP TKB MONGOLS.
had appazentiy been sedooed by the Uk prondscs of Esaen, and raftced
a severe defeat. He fled on his swift grey hone towaids the Kentei Khan
moantaios and the river Kerulon, but on the way he was arrested by
a man named Tsabdan, of the Khorlad tribe. Tniasong Had married his
daughter, but had afterwards divorced her and sent her home. When
the flying Khakan came in sight, he shouted, ^Our enemy is in a strait»
let us kill him ;" but his dau^^ter pressed him not to do so, saying the
£iult was on her side. ^' To lay hands on one of the Bonhhigs would be
an evil act," she said. *^ If we kill him in his urgent distress it will
surely go hard with us someddie.* Notwithstanding his daughtei^s
warning, he put him to death.* As I have said, the Mongol chronicler
dates this in 1452.
AKBARDSHI KHAN.
After Akbardshi had joined the Uirats and deserted his brother, he
thus addressed their chief ; " Yesterday my meddlesome son Kbaighotsok
Taishi remarked, it were better to drive away or to hack in pieces an
alien than to put confidence in him and to appease his iilwill. Annoyed
at this, I ordered him to be quiet" The Mongols and Uirats present
smiled derisively at this ingenuous frankness of the Khan, and they
agreed that he was "a donkey."
The Uirat chief, who discussed the matter afterwards, remarked that
although Akbardshi was as stupid as an ox, yet that his son Eharghotsok
Taishi was a very different person, that he was evidently determined to
keep alive the feeling of revenge which the Mongols naturally had for
their oppressors the Uirats, that it vras imprudent to nurse such a fox in
one's bosom, and that it would be well to put both father and son to
death. Essen Taishi, who wished to save his son-in-law Khaighotsok,
argued that although Akbardshi was a stupid person, yet he had deserted
his own brother to join them, and that the son was a man of parts who might
be useful to them. AbduUa Setzen argued on the contrary in this wise :
'^ How can the father, who is his brother's heir, who is a slanderer of his
own son, and a despiser of his nearest kin, be a fnend to us, who arie
strangers to him and his natural enemies. And as to the son, has he not
disclosed what his intentions are ? Has he not already used inimical
phrases towards us ? " In this all were agreed, and a plot was formed to
ruin the Jinong.
Accordingly, AbduUa Setzen went to him and said : '* We all, the
Mongols and the Uirats without exception, are thy subjects. Consent, O
* Suaaag Sttsw, X99.
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AEMARXamtMAXf. 3^3
Jisoog^ our ntfter, to occupy die thione of die Khakan, and to raite oar
Esaen to the lank of Jiaoog." He consented, but when AbdaBa had gone
Khaii^iotiokTaiahiaddfetaedhts&dier^aiidflaid: <'AboYe in die blue
inak of heaven the ton and moon rule. Below on earth the Khakan and
die JinoBg do the same ; but the titles of Taishi and Ching sang are
resented for the sods of die gods (f^., for those of royal blood). How
can youydMrefore^soRender your title to another?'' This rebuke was
not weE received by his fioher, who shaiply rqirimanded him. Upon
which he answered again: ** I know it to be against law and custom for
one to answer his ptinoe or his fiither. What I said, however, I said for
the best and for your own sake^ but it would seem you Mxt determined to
ruin youndf and to Und the Mongols to their yoke.* He thereupon
departed, and Akbardshi, who assembled the Forty and the Four (^^.y the
Mongols and the Uirats), occupied the throne of the Khakan, and raised
Essen to the rank of Jinong.
The Uirat chiefs meanwhile conttnued their plot. They invited
Akbardshi to a grand foast, which was prepared in two adjoining tents,
one being built over a deep jnt covered with felt ; and it was arranged
that tlic Khan and his dq)endants should enter the tent according to their
raulc, each one escorted by two men, and that under cover of
shouts of greeting, when they took their cups, they should be seized.
The in^tation was accepted. As soon as the Khan and hb followers
entered the tent a song was sung, which was followed by a loud shout.
They were seised and put to death, and then buried in the detp hole
already prepared in die adjoining tent.*
Meanwhile Kharghotsok Taidshi had stayed in his yurt, but his
servant Inak Gere had gone secredy to spy out what was being done.
He returned with the news that none of the guests were to be seen, but
that Mood was flowing from the lower part of the other tent Kharghotsok
upon this remarked that there was nothing for it now but a speedy flight
or death, and he set off with his servant Inak Gere. He was pursued by
a body of Uirats, but at length reached the craggy mountains of
Ongghon Khaya, where he hid himself; but Tsalbin Baghaturi Turin,
and a third Uirat clambered up the rocks. The first had a double suit
of armour on. As they drew near Inak Gere shot him through and
through, and when he fell he knodced the other two into the crevasse.
After this Chalak Turgen,of the Toxguts, essayed to clamber up. He had
protected himself with threefold armour, and also carried a javelin.
Inak shouted out that he could not hurt him where he was, and bode
the Taidshi shoot. The latter thereupon made a deqierate effort,
and shot him through and through, so that the arrow went through
his back and killed him. The rest of the pursuers then turned
and fled. The Taidshi and his henchman being relieved from their
* SMBMff Smms, iso*t6a.
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364 HISTORY aw THX MOHOOIA,
anxiety, waited until nightM, when the latter luitively retmned and stole
Essen Khakan's black hotse called Baghua iOiabsaii, and his light-
coloured mare called Enndc ShiiUatshlny with which he returned in
saietjr. The Taidshi mounted the hone and his servant the mare. They
set out intending to take refuge with the Khan of Togmak,* who was a
descendant of Jujl On their way they put up at the house of a rich
man of Togmak, called Ak Mdngjce, with whom the Taidshi finrmed a
friendship.
There he stayed for some time, and sent the £uthfol Inak Gere back to
Mongolia to inquire whether Essen Taisld still lived, and howit fared with
the Forty and the Four, and told him to return with his wife^ if he found it
feasible, and if she were still fi:ee. About this time Ak M8n^ arranged
a hunt, in the course of which ten steppe antelopes were started, of which
the Taidshi killed nine, and only missed one. This aroused the envy of
Yakshi Mongke, the younger brother of Ak M^xngjce^ who killed the
Taiddii, and then gave it out that his death had happened by accident
from the glancing of an arrow. When Inak Gere returned^ he inqubned
about his master from the horse-herdsman of Ak Miingke, and when he
heard of his faite he killed the herdsman, drove off a portion of the herd,
and returned to Essen Khakan, to idiom he reported his master's fiite.t
Khaighotsok Taidshi had married Setsdc Beidshi, the dau^iter of Essen
Khakan. Her frither meanwhile wished her to marry anotiiier husband,
but ^e replied she would not do so until she learnt of the death of Khar-
ghotsok, and she told him further that she was enaintt^ and had been so
for seven months. The Khakan, her fother, gave orders that if her child
should prove to be a son he was to be put to death, but if a daughter she
was to be spared. The child proved to be a son, and was bom in 145^
The mother succeeded in decdving those deputed to emrniine the matter
by substitutmg the little daughter of Odm Emegen, of the Khulabad cbm
of the ChaUiar tribe^and sending her boy to its grcat-great-grandmother
Samur GundshL It wiO be remeinbered that she was the dau^ter of
Elbek Khan, and had been married to BatuU Ching sai^ and was
therefore Essen's gnmdmodier. She received him kindly, named him
Bayan Mongke, and gave him Kharatshin Taibotshin, the wife of
Sangkhaldur, of the S<dofigos, for a nurse.
Essen Khakan, when he heard of thn, wrote to his grandmother,
asking her to put the boy to death. This she refused, sayhig : " Do you
already begin to fear that the boy when he has grown up will take
vengeance on you? Is he not the son {U^ the descendant) of my brother
as well as of your son-in-law? If my son Toghon were alive, he mi^
well say why did you permit your grandson Essen to live?'
* ToftBik wat ft BftOB* glveii bjr tbi Moafolt to Kipchak, tlw coiatry of tiM OoMm Hord*.
SchmMt't'Staaftag Sattaa, 4«7<
t liaaanc Stteaa, i^
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UKKKTU KHAN. 365
Euen was diioonccrted by hi» grandmothcr^i dflcisioiu He said nothinf
at the time, but afterwards confessed to his friends that he had Biade up
his mind to eradicate the family of the fioidshigSy and that as his
grandmother objected, they must waylay the boy secretly. Inak Gere
overheard this, and reported it to Gundshi, who replied that she would
send the boy to the Mongols if she could only find a trusty man to take
chaxge of him. Inak said that he knew of a discontented Uirat
named Ugetai Daibo^ who had told him his grievance, and had com-
plained that althous^ he had commanded a Khoskhigo (ia^ a banner)
when he was only thirteen years old, and had employed all his powers in
the service of Essen, yet he had not received the slightest reward from him.
Inak said that he would prove him, and then try to induce him to eater into
their plan. Upon which he sought Ugetai and told him that Essen had
determined to wa]day the three-yearK>ld son of Setsek BeidshL ^ If you
would gain sone honour for youtseli^'' he said, ^you may do so by
imdffrtaking a commission for Gundahi, and escoitiag the boy sa£dy to
the Mongols. Not only will you gain honour for yourself but you will also
secure ampk remuneration and glory for your ftmily.'' Ugetai Daibo
willingly accepted the proposal, and the young treasure was accordingly
sent away to the Mongols. Besides Ugetai, who bdonged to die G6I
MInghan of the Unats, there also went with him Buku Taishi, of the
Kharatshin Mongols; Bayantai Meigen, of the Sartaghd; and Esselei
Daibo^ of the Kunknrats.*
This Saga, which I have taken ahnost verbatim from Ssanang Setsen,
shows how thoroughly the Mongc^ were at this time subject to the yoke
of the Uuats. There is nothing to confirm the story (which is, however,
no doubt perfectly reliaUe in its main bicXs) in the Chinese annals.
UKEKTU KHAN.
DtnUMO his usurpation, Essen seems to have appointed two chieft to
superintend the two divisions of the Eastern Moiq^ols ; Alak Chiag-
sang over the Baraghon Gar or left division, and Timur Chingsang
over the S^;on Gar or right division. The former is the Ala of die
Mhig annals,t and the Hala of Mailla. He is mentioned as semUag
tribute to the Chinese court in i45'-t 1^^ same year the Chineit
Emperor sent envoys into Mongolia, bearing two seals of office and
patents of rank, conferring the title of Khan upon both Hala ami Essen,
thus treating the two on an equality, i Timur may be the Peyen Timor
so often mentioned in the history of Essen. I cannot trace the origin of
'* Stuianff BttsM, 199-169.
t Dttoaatn 199. 2 Df MailU, x. ass. I De lldU^ s. ss4.
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3(56 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS-
either Alak or Timur. According^ to Ssanang Setzen, the two one day
went to the court of Essen, and demanded that as he was Khakan of
both the Four and the Forty, i./., of theTJirats and the Mongols, he should
grant the title of Taidshi to Alak. Essen replied he had already granted
it to his son.* His visitors reproached him bitterly, and told him that
he fiincied it was his own prowess which had raised him to his present
position, while it was really the skill of his dependants, and led in a rage.
They soon alter returned with an anny. Essen was forced to fly : his wife,
children, cattle^ and riches fell a prey to the Mongols. In his flight he
was overtaken by one named Bagho, whose father he had killed ; he
seized him and put him to death, and hung his body on a tree in the
mfMintain Kugei Khan.t Setzen puts his death in 1452. The Ming
annals date it in 1454.
Ssanang Setzen tells us that soon after Essen's death, the young widow
of Taissong Khan took his son Metgus Khas in a box on horseback, and
marched off with a considerable force, some riding on horseback, some
on the bndcs of bollocks, and others on foot, and fell upon the Uirats in
the mountains Khangghai Dsabkhan. There a great booty was captured.
On her retmiiy Mergus Khas was placed on the throne with the title of
Ukektu Khan. He was not obeyed, however, by the greater part of the
Mongols, and was murdered by Dogholang Taidshi, of the seven Tumedsy
when he was only eight years old, and after a reign of scarcely a year.)
MOLON KHAN.
Taissong Khan was murdered, as I have said, by his father-in-law
Tsabdan, because after marrying his daughter he had sent her home
again. This daughter, when she returned to her father, took her son
Molon Taidshi, who was then three years old, ivith her. He remained
with his grandfather till he was sixteen. Tsabdan was then (s.r., in 1453)
murdered by Khubtshir, of the Khorlad tribe, who carried off Molon
and made a slave of him. Upon this there came ill luck upon the tribe.
When the sorcerers and other wise men were consulted about it, they
gave it as their opinion that it was duo to their neglecting the Bordshigs,
«>., the sacred Imperial family. This opinion was generally endorsed,
and they sent off the young Taidshi with an escort to Molikhai Ong, of
the Ukligud tribe. On his arrival he was received with acclamation, and
they cried out, ^ Through thee will the people once more be reduced to
order. . Mount the throne of the Fhakan." Upon which they mounted
* The Ming uauih ml/ he not only rcfoaed Alak the place, but alw kfllad hit two mim.
t fliwiMitu Setsea, 169. I BsAnang BctM» 171.
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MOLON KUAN. 567
him on a dappled grey horse, put a gotd:^ sceptie in his hand, took him
before the god. and placed httn on the throne. This was in 1453.*
Mokm Khan is, no douht, the Maeulh of the Ming annals. They tell
lis that after Alak Ching sang had kitted Essen, he was in his turn put
to death by Puilai, who then sought out Maeulh, the son of Totobuka
(i>., of Taissong), and put liim on the throne with the title of Little
King. Thenceforwardi they say, Puilai and his officers Madihai, &c^
became influential chieftains among the Tartars.t I have not found any
one mentioned by Ssanang Setien who answers to PnUaiy but MaoUhai
b dearty the Molikhai of that author.
Mok>n Khan had not a very long lease of power. Khodobagha, who
belonged to the Solonghos tribe, hinted to the young Khali that Molikhai
was intriguing with his wife, and was also marching with an army against
him. The Khan was loth to believe this, and said that it was hardly
possible that his benefactor should do it, but he sent out a messenger
to see. Molikhivi then happened to be hunting. The messenger seeing
the dust raised by the hunt did not wait for further evidence, but
returned with his report. Tiie Khakan thought he had better forestal
Molikhai, and marched against him. Khodobagha now repaired to the
latter, and told him the Khan was marching against him to overwhehn
him. He also was credulous, saying he could hardly be marching against
him who had only been his benefactor and never had any evil designs
against him. ** If you think that I lie, send out messengers to inquire^"
said the crafty Khodobagha. Molichai said he would go and see for
himself, and went with his people to a hill, whence he saw the advancing
army. He then girt on his armour, sprinkled an offering before the
gods, and thus addressed them : '' Sublime and everlasting Tegri, (/>.,
supreme gods), ye are witness ; Lord Bogda, you are witness also, that I
have been faithful to the son of your race, but he has repaid me with evil.
Judge ye between the offspring of your golden race, Molon Khakan, and
me, Molikhai Ong, vfho am his subject. Your favourable or unfavoiu'able
sentence shall decide between us.'' Molikhai then advanced against the
Khan at the head of his men, and killed him. He was only eighteen
years old. This yrjkig in 1454.} When Monggutsar, the chief wife of
Molon, heard the news, she broke out into wailing and sobbing, and said,
'* O Khodobagha, it is thou who hast befouled the good name of my
husband, and hast wrought a divorce between him, my lord and Khakan,
and me. O Khodobagha, it is thou who hast disturbed the resettled
condition of the State, hast parted the subjects from their Khakan,
and hast sown discord between him and Molikhai Ong.*' When Molikhai
Ong heard this wail, he repented of what he had done, had the tongue of
the treacherous Khodobagha torn out, and then had him put to death.
*Snaaog 8«tseo. xtz. t DeUun«rr«, 300. I Ss«nao|f ScUmi, xtj.
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368 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS,
MANDAGHOL KHAN.
After the death of Molon Khan, there seems to have been an iaterreg*
num. Ssanang Setzen does not name any Khan between the death of
the former in 1454, and the accession of Mandaghol Khan in 1463. It
is very probable that the Mongols continued to be more or less subject
to the Uirats, and that any Khan they had was purely a nominal one.
During this interval, namely, in the year 1460, 1 find it stated in the
Ming annals that Puilai, Maolihai (t.^., Molikhai), and others made raids
upon the Chinese frontier.* This Puilai, 1 believe, to have been the diief
of the Uirats, for he is mentioned several times prominently in the
Chinese history, while he does not appear in Ssanang Setsen, who con-
fuses himself very much to the history of his own peo|de, the Eastern
Mongols. I
Molon Khan left no sons, and according to Ssanang Setsen was suc-
ceeded in 1463 by his great-uncle Mandaghol, the youngest son of Adsai
His mother was a Uirat To revenge the death of Ukektu Khan, he
marched against Dogholang Taidshi, a descendant of Khadshikin, killed
him, and subjected the seven Tumeds to his authority.t Like the other
Mongol Khans of this period, Mandaghol no doubt bore the title of Siao
vang tsu or Little King.
It will be remembered that Akbardshi Khan lefl a grandson named
Bayan Mongke, who was protected by the aged Samur Gundshi from
the jealous spite of Essen. He was now produced and taken to the
court of his great-uncle Mandaghol Khan. Thcf latter was greatly
rejoiced, he expressed a wish that he might prove a fruitful branch
of the Bordshigs, and he changed his name from Bayan Mongke to
Bolkho Jinong. Mandaghol seems to be the Tui mentioned by Do
Mailla. } He says that in the sixth year of Ing tsong, /./., in 1462,
Maolihai (/>., Molikhai) invaded the districts of Ku yuen, Leang chau,
and King chau, having been assisted by Holochu and Monko, who were
enemies of Pohai (? Puilai). He attacked the latter and killed him, and
caused Tui, the brother of Siao wang tse, to be nominated as Khan
This description and the date make it pretty certain that Tui is no other
than Mandaghol. The three confederates, finding the country fertile,
settled there and sent their submission to the Imperial court. Their
country was more than 100 lis from east to west, from Pien tiau koan in
Shensi as far as Ninghia ; on the south it bordered on the Great Wall ;
and on the north was watered by the Yellow River for a ^ace of 800 li
We are told by Ssanang Setzen that to revenge the death of Molon
Khan, Mandaghol marched against Molikhai and killed him. We are
* DtUaiarrc. 32! t Ssaokng Setzen. 173. I De Mtilla, x. 301.
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DAYAN KHAN. 369
told further, that at this time he lived on good terms with Bolkho Jinoogy
and reigned with strictness and authority over the six Tumens.
We now hear of another piece of treacherous intrigue iriiich nearly
caused a fresh revolution among the Mongols. A dependant of Bolkho
Jinong tdd die Khan tiie latter had evil designs against him, and meant
to rob him of his wife. The Khan refused to believe him, and told his
nephew what he had said and when he found it was all a slander, ho
ordered his nose and lips to be cut off, and then had him put to
death. A second Mongol named Issanui Taishi shortly after took up
tiie same scandal, and a| the same tfane he poisoned die mihd of Bolkho
Jinong against his unde. The repetiti<m of the story aroused the IChan's
suspicions, and after a somewhat ill-tempered exchange of messages,
he ordered an aimy to mardi against BoQdio Jinong, who fled, and his
people and catde were harried* Mandagfaol Khan died in 1467 and left
two daughters, but no son. Hb nephew BoUdio Jinong was murdered
three years later by five conspirators of the tribe Jungdiiyabo.*
DAYAN KHAN.
Bolkho Jinong left an infiuit son named Batu Mongke. His widow mar-
ried Issama, the slanderer, who had caused the quarrel with his uncle. The
young prince remained however with hb nurse Bakhai. From her he was
taken by force by a Mongol named Timur Khadak. But the boy had
received such rough treatment that he had grown up humpbacked. Ssanang
Setzen telb us that the wife of Timur Khadak tried to straighten it by
rubbing it with a silver bowl. He then goes on to tell a quaint story of
how Mandughai Ssetsen Khatun, the young widow of Mandaghol, was
wooed by Unebolod Ong of the Khortshins. She said that if there had
not been a descendant of the Imperial house in existence she would
have listened to him, but that such an one did exist in the person of
Batu Mongke. She also consulted two of her friends as to what she
should do. One of them said it would be better for the people if she
married Unebolod at once, and did not wait until the boy grew to maturity.
Her other friend, named Saghan Agha, ai^gued differently. She toki her
that if she married the descendant of Khassar she would darken her path,
divorce herself from the people, and lose the title of Khatun ; while if
she protected the boy, she would in turn be cherished by the gods ; she
would rule over the whole people, and would retain with honour her title
of Khatun. Thb last aigument commended itself to Mandughai Ssetsen,
and she punished her former adviser by hitting her on the head with a
bowl full of tea.
* Scanaog BetMo, 177 and 179.
2A
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370 HISTORY OP THE MONGOLS.
«
Thereupon she took the then five-yeardkl Batu Mongke by the hand,
and led him before the great Goddesa-mother of the Royal House,
Having made an offering, she said, ''I have wiuidered nnconsciottsly
into a place where one cannot distinguish black from white. The family
of the Bordshigs is nearly extinct Unebolod, the descendant of Khassar,
has wooed me. For this reason I now appear before thee, mother of
princes. My distracted vision can hardly recognise a piebald horse.
When the descendant of Khassar suggested that the boy was too young
and insignificant, I began to be nervous about him, and fearing for his
life, I came here. If I should be guilty of despising thy noble gates, or
of contemning thy sublime threshold ; or if I should accept Unebolod as
my husband, then, mother of princes, punish me, thy daughter-in-law and
slave. If, on the contrary, I sincerely fulfil my promises, and protect thy
little descendant Datu Mongke, and m due time become his housewife,
then be thou compassionate towards u^ and grant that from our union
there may be bom seven sons and only one daughter If thou wilt grant
my wish, I will name my seven sons the seven Bolods (/>., the seven
men of steel), and will fan the flames on thine altar.*' When Mandughai
returned home, Unebolod heard of what had taken place, reconciled
himself gracefully to circumstances, and ceased his wooing.
Mandughai Ssetzen Khatun, who was then twenty-three years old,
was thereupon married to tlie five-year-old Batu Mongkd. This was in
1470. Having seated him before the goddess on a throne, she gave him
the name of Oayan Khakan, and expressed a hope that he would rule
the united people.
Upon which the wise Mandughai Ssetzen Khatun loosened her hair
and collected it in a bunch on the crown of her head (? the distinguishing
mark of a married woman), and putting Dayan Khakan in a waggon,
she marched with him at the head of the army against the Durbeu Uirat,
from whom they captured much booty.*
It is very clear that at this time the Monghol Khan had but a titular
authority, and that other chiefs held sway elsewhere. Thus we read in
the Ming annals, under the year 1473, that Mantlu, Puilohu, and Kiao-
kiaslan made a raid into China. These raids had been very firequcnt of
late years, and from 1470 there had been three or four each year. The
result being that several millions ! ! ! of men and cattle had been carried
off. The frontier commanders had not opposed them, or had merely
attacked their rear guard in retiring, and killed some of the old and help-
less people. Their great aim was to be able to report a sufficient number
of heads decapitated, upon which there was an ad valorem system of
recompense. If they were beaten, the only punishment they suficred
was a degradation in rank.
The three chiefs already named made a raid in 1473, »n which they
• S«anang S«trea, 179-1 ^3.
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DAYAN KHAIf. 37 1
penetrated as for as Thsin chau and Gan tin. Wang yue, governor of the
military division of Yen sui, having collected a large force, mardied against
them, and hearing that the enemy had placed their old people, wives,
and children near the Red Salt lake, he planted ten ambuscades. Mean-
while, with the main army he attaclced their camp, burnt thehr yurts and
huts, and destroyed the old people and children, the catde and baggage*
This terrible harrying, that reads so like a Scotch raid on the borders, had
its effect. When the Mongols returned and discovered the fate of thehr
fionilies, they wept bitterly. They retired towaids the north, and deserted
the country enclosed by the elbow of the Yellow River, and known as
the country oi the Ordus. For many years they were content merely to
phmder the remote frontier, and even sent liieveral embassies with their
submission.*^ In 1475, Mantlu and'Kiaokiaslan sent such an embassy
with offers of homage.t This Manthi is doubtless Mandulai Agboikho,
a chief of the Ordus, mentioned by Ssanang Setzen.t
The notices of the Mongols in ^he Chinese annals now become v(;ry
scattered. We read that in 1483 the Siau wang tsi or ^ Little Prince''
made an incursion into Tathong at the head of 30,000 men, and
Ctt{mued a great booty. They burnt the town of Fit pao. |
Under the year 1488, 1 find it sUted in De Maiila that news arrived
at die court of the death of Patu Khan, of the Mongols, and of the
election of Peyen in his stead. | This is clearly a mistake, which has
probably arisen from the confusion between the name Batu and the title
Dayan. Ssanang Setzen's narrative, which at this time is very dream-
stantial, is entirely at issue with any such occurrence, nor is De Mailla's
statement confirmed by anything in the Ming annals. Returning to the
native chronicler, we find that in 1482, her husband being then seventeen
years old, tf andughai Ssetzen Khatun gave birth to Tore Bolod and
Uhis Bolod, who were twins. In 1484 she had a daughter called Toroltu
Gundshiy and a son Barsa Boiod, who were also twins ; while in 1490
she had a son Arsu Bolcd, and afterwards again two twins, Altshu Bolod
and Watshir Botod. While she was pregnant with the latter two, the Four
Utrats made a raid. She put herself at the head of the army, but fell
off her horse. Upon this, four chie£i planted themselves around her,
remounted her <m a horse called Sain Khongkhor, belonging to one Sai*
khan, of the Bayaghod tribe, and brought her out of the miUt in safety.
This mention of the horse's name, which occurs so frequently in the
Mongol Sagas, is surely a very characteristic trait of a race of nomades.
whose perpetual life on hoiaeback entitles them almost to the character of
centaurs. After her adventure, the Khatun bore the twins aheadynamed^
and shortly after had another son named Ara Bolod. Thus was Mandu-
ghafs prayer answered, to the great joy of the pe<^le. Besides these
* DtUmarrt, S57i SSS. r Dolaouure, 3^. t0^ett*,sl5»«'ii«^
I DalaatTM, 981. I B« lUiUSt >• asj.
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372 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
seven sons, Dayan Khsn had four oUiers by two other wives, namely,
Gere Bolod Taidshi, Gere Sanda Taidshi, Ubshightm Ching Taidshi,
and Geretu Taidslii.*
The Biing annals tdl us that in 1497 '*the Little Prince '^ (^., Dayan
Khan) invaded Chao ho choan, and that Liaudien was killed in opposnig
him. Two years later, another chief named Hochai t inTaded Ta thoi^
with 7/xx> men. They completdy defeated the Chfaiese border com-
manders, and killed one of them named Hong and 800 of his people.
In 1500^ Hochai made a fresh raid hito the same district Troops were
sent against him, but apparently without any residt, as none isreoofdedt
In 1501, Hochai with ^ the Uttle Prince 'again made an incorrioii. The
iriiole Chinese frontier from Lian ttmg to Uie borders of Thibet seems to
have been more or less attacked. The Ming annals sardonically note diat
one Chinese commander actually succeeded in killing three of the enemy,
and reported this at court as a victory. Meanwhile ^ Uie Little Prince '
and Hochai, dividing their army of ioo/xk> men into several bodies,
pillaged on all sides the country of Ku yuen and Nin hia.) The
conduct of the bonier commanders caused great dissatisfaction at court.
The expenses of the war, in whidi no fruits seemed to be gathered, were
immeuse. A bitter complaint was lodged against the generals by Khu
chen, wjio said that the campaign had cost 1,600^000 taels, and the
result was the death of three enemies only, that is, 500^000 tads for each
head, while the officers and soldiers who had been reported as worthy
of reward were lo^ooo in number. In 1504 Hochai made another
incursion into Ta thongs while in 1505 ** the Little Prince" again crossed
the border. | Unfortunatdy this year is the last in which we can rely
upon the Ming annals, which have not been translated further, nor,
I am told, is there much prospect of thdr bdng sa Revettii^^ once
more therefore to Ssanang Setien, it would seem that Issama Taishi,
who had married his mother as I have already described, conqpired
against Dayan Khan, who thereupon sent Toghodshi Shigushi, of the
Khorlats, at the head Of some troops. Issama having been killed by
Toghodshi, the latter ordered his wife Shiker Taigho, iriio was Dayan's
mother, to mount on horseback and follow htm. She was in great grief
at her husband's fiUe and refused, upon which Toghodshi addressed her
in a rage and said, ^Was the noble Jinong (i>., Bolkho Jinong, %fide
^^^^9 3^) your lawful husband too base for you ? Is your son Dayan Khan
too insignificant for you? Do you despise your people the Chakhar
Twnen? Do you rq;ard the traitor Issama as better than these? Sairing
this, he put his hand on his sword, upon which Shiker Taigho was afraid,
and set out on her journey; nevertheless her conduct had g^ed her the ill
* Stanang Sttsra. 183.
t PerhApt th% Togherishi Bhifashi of StasMg Stuea, who was a eantral of Dajran Khan*t,
9kU op. cit., 183.
I Dtlamam, 4a5f 4^ i Delamarfv, 417. ? Dtlaaarrf , 4a9-438-
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DAYAN KHAN. 373
will and scorn of everybody.*' Toghodshi married Khulntai, Itsama's
daughter, and escorted Shiker Taigho to the Khan, her son.*
Meanwhile three of the Mongol dnefs, of the Baragfaon Tiimen or left
division of the Mongols, approached the Khan with the foHowing prayer.
** You sit on the throne as oar Iq^timate ruler. You have vanquished
and subdued your enemies and those who envy you. By your wile, and
in answer to her pcayeryouhave had seven sons, the seven Bolods. Thus
have you lighted a bright glowii^ lamp and created a sweet smdling
incense in the eight white houses of the Lord Bogda. It is onfy now
requisite that you should collect dues equally from all the great race of
the Jiigughan. We have come therefore to beg that you will appoint
one of your sons to the dignity of Jinong, and let him go with vs.*
The request was acceded to by the Khan and his wife, and those who
were present, and Ulns Bolod was appointed Jinong over the dnee
Baiaghon Tumens, and was duly installed in the presence of the gods.
This appointment was not pleasing to some of the other chiefe, who
had doubtless long been practically independent, and eq[>ecially to Ibiri
Taishi, of the Jungshiyabo, and Mandulai Agholkho, of the Ordus tribe.
'* Why should we have a ruler over us," they said, *^ we can rule car
states without assistance, we must waylay this AbaghaL" f They drew
a Mongol named Boklshumar into the plot, and instructed him that on a
certain day when the people came to prostrate themsdyes, he was, under
pretence that it bdoi^ed to* him, to seise the horse of the Jinong, and
to raise an altercation, when the rest would come to his rescue. TThe
following day, accordingly, Boldshumar approached the Jinong and
seised his horse by the bridle ; the latter bade him leave loose, and when
he did not do so, hit him aver the head with a strap. Upon this Ibiri
and Mandulai raised an outcry. A fierce struggle ensued, during iHiich
the conspirators pressed round, and although Ibiri was wounded in the
breast, and Abaghai succeeded in cutting down one bf his foHowers, he
was himself shot from behind and IdDedl
De Mailla has a reference to this event He says, '^ Siao wang tsi
(fx, the Little Prince) had three sons, Horhin, Hotchu, and Mankoan-
chin, of whom Ye pula was the guardian." He elsewhere tdls us Ye
pula was the chief of the tribe Inchaopoa, that is, he was the Ibiri chief
of the Jungshigabo of Ssaitang* Setzen. He says that Yepula, discon-
tented with serving these princes, killed Horlun, and having passed die
Yellow River he retired to the country of Sihai (i./^ the country of
Kokonoor), where he began to grow m power.f Ssanang Setzen says
diat to punish the murder of his son, Dayan Khakan set out against
the Baraghon Tumen. On his way he came to a narrow pass called
* SMoaaf 8eU«B, 183 and 195.
t Ab«fk«ii accordiof to Schoiidt* ktm OMd m a nicltnanit, aad «m probably approfriaitd
to tho Moood wo of tb« Khon. It mtaot uncle. SMoaox S«ueo, 408.
I SMiiaac Sttseo, 183 aad i|;. f Da llaiUa, 1. )oi.
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374 HISTORY OP THS MOMOOLS.
Ongghonu Sube. As he was passing it a Monfol came up, driving
a vast herd of cattk, and to announce his approach blew loudly on his
hom. The echo of this, and the noise of the txamping herd was
mistaken fay scmie of the MoQgols for an advene amy. A panic seised
them and they fled. In the flight Dayan Khakan was thrown from
his horse called Eber Khossa head focemost into the mud, from
iHiidi be was released by his companions. Meanwhile night came on,
the fiigitives lost their way in the pass, the army was forced to pick its
way over the rou|^ monntain, and many slipped off theur saddles and
were lost, whence the place was called Jingkhortsagun Dabagha.
In reference to this incklent Baghafnr Nfgorekei conqposed a scomiol
song about the Khan. ^ Instead of staying at home^" he said, ^ the three
Segon Tumens (U^ the right-hand Tumens) marched hither. They
determined to win by £adr means or foul, bill the gods have prevented
them. Have caused the Khan to folly and scattered his wives and
iamilies in ail directions." When Dayan Khan returned from this
expedition, the three Baraghon Tumens (i*€^ the three left-hand Tumens)
with Ibiri and Mandtilai at their head, marched against him. He had
notice sent him by iChossai Tabunang, who happened to be in their
camp, and the Khan had time to overtake the tribes Keshikten and
Kendshigody who had loitered on their march, and whom he overtook at
a place called Gakhai Eleawin, and to attack them. "When he was
told of the scomfol song of Bagfaatur N^ot^cei, he was greatly excited*
and prostrating lumself before the gods, he said, '*They have suddenly
given expression to anger, and commenced hostilities. Ibiri and Man-
dttlai have murdered the innocent. They aroused suspicions against
Uhis Bolod, and have befooled Baghatur Negorekei into using such
mettlesome phrases. Be yon my witness, and judge great god, my
fother.** Having made an offering, he assembled the three right-hand
Tumens, and their near allies, the Khortshins, and marched against the
enemy. They did not refose to meet him, and the two armies drew near
one another at the mountain Dalan Terigun. Before the fight, the Khan
thus addressed his men : ** The Ordus, as the guardians of the eight white
houses of Jingis Khan, are a fortunate people ; but you, Uriyangkhans,
who were a{q[>ointed guardians of the noble remains of Jingis, are also a
very fortunate feaglt. Join yourselves with the Khortshins— cousins with
cousins. The twelve tribes of the Khalkas shall fi^ with the twelve
Tumeds, and the eight tribes of the Chakhars with the Jungshiyabos.''
From this address we may gather that the Ordus, Tumeds, and
Jungshiyabos formed the three Baraghon Tumens ; and the Chakhars»
KhaikaB, and Uriyangkhaxu the three SegonTumenjk The strugi^ was a
very severe one» and at one time a general charge of the «nem/s troops
tineatened to defeat the Khan's forces. At this juncture, Barsa Bolod,
the Khan's son, who saw the danger, collected forty of his bravest
followers and charged at their headi cut his way throu^ the ranks of
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DAYAM KHAN. 375
the Tnmedsy aaid retched those of the Ofdm, There he was recognised
by the etandard-bearer of the Ordusi who shouted to hhn, ^ Here is the
Bfaick Standard of the Khakaa. I return ittohis descendant." Giving
him the standard, the two stood dose together, upon which the Ordns,
who were pursuing the Uriyangkhans and were deceived by the manoeuvre,
rallied bade to thdr standard, iiHiere they were badly cut in pieces. A
portion of the enemy now submitted. The rtst were pursued by Dayan
Khan as for as the Kokonoor lake, where he was acknowledged by all the
threcf sections of the Baraghon Tumen. Mandnlai AghoQdio, the Ordus
chie^ was killed in the mountain Adshinu Tsaidam, which thence was
renamed Agholkho Tsaidam. l\m Tabhi, the other chief rebel, was
deserted by his people, and fled^o Khamil, where he was assassinated.*
Hitherto Dayan had apparently not been properly installed, for we are
tokl that having now restored order in the six Tumensy he solemnly took
the tide of Khakan before the eight white houses of Jingis,. and ks
such did homage tiiere. He then a|^inted his grandson Bodi, the son
of Toro Bolod, who had died in ip3, to be his successor; and lo reward
Barsa Bolod for his brave conduct in the late war» he appomted him
Jinong over the three Baraglion Tumens. He then rewarded the various
people who had £uthluUy served him and his chQdren. They are speci-
ficaliy mentioned by Ssanang Setten. Some he appointed Dai Darchans.
To others he gave salaries ; to others, golden tamghas or seals ; and to
others, titles. His only daughter T5rQltu Gundshi was married to
Baghassun Darkhan Tabunang of the San^;hod tribe. Some time after
a rebellion took place among the Uriyangkhans. This was suppressed.
One of their tribes called Sorghol was neariy destroyed, and the
rest made prisoners. The Uriyangkhans were then moorpoiuted widi
the remaining five Tumens.
Ssanang Setsen dates the death of Dayan Khan in 1543. This seems
hard to reconcile with the scattered notices of De MaiMa, which show
■ Anda and Kisiaiig, other Mongol chiefs, acting very independently hmg
before this, and says further, that as early as isaS they had becooM so
powerful that they no longer obeyed ^ the Little Prince." This can only
be reconciled on the supposition diat Dayan Khan lost his oontn^ over
the Baraghon Tumens in his later days.t
His reign was a memorable one in Maogo^ history. The long series
of minorities of civil wars, Ac, had disintegrated the nadonvery con-
siderably. He once more united it According to Ssanang Setsoi his
successor in ^t rank of Over Khan was his grandaon BodL
Barsa Bokid became Jinong over the grtater part of the three Banghoai
Tumens; Anu Bolod MergenKhnngtaidshi, prince of the seven Tumeds;
Altso Boiod of the middle five tribes of the Khalkas ; Gere Sandaa
over the seven further tribes of the Xhalkas; Wadshir Bolod over the
*8M&ftafSttiiBit8»-zg3* t D*lfttta»s.soS.
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376 HISTORY OP THE MONGOLS.
eight tribes of the Keshikten of the Chakhars ; Ara Bolod over the
Khotshid of the Chakhars ; Gere Boiod over the Aokhan Naiman of
the Chakhars ; and Ubassandsa over the Assod and Jungshiyabo.* This
diviikm led to the eventual breaking to pieces of the Mongol power.
The tribes of Mongol proper were practically divided into two great
sections, the Segon Gar section, to which the Imperial Ordus bdonged ;
and the Barai^n Gar or Eastern section, over which the Jinongs ruled.
I shall here follow the main. line.
BODI KHAN.
Dayan's eldest son Torobolod died in his iather*s lifetime, and Bodi
Taidshi his son was, on the death of Dayan, raised to the position of
Over Khan. His auth&ity over the Baraghon Tumens was purely nominid.
For many years the tribes forming that division had under the leadership
of Anda and his brother raised the renown of the Mongol arms to a very
high pitch. Bodi Khan succeeded his grandfather in 1544. He is
probably the Puchi of De Mailhut
Soon after his accession Baghatur Molosai of the Khortshins tried to
persuade him to march against the Baraghon Tumens to destroy their
oiiganisation, and to incorporate them with the Scgon Tumens. This
advice would have been carried oat but for the eloquent counsel of his
mother. She said : ^ You speak of breaking the union of the three Bara-
ghon Tumens and of subjecting them. After the great battle at Dalan
T^r^gun, Surtukhaya Ong of the Khortshins gave your noble grandfather
the following advice : ' If you leave these three Baragbons united, our
posterity will be harassed and harried by them; but we shall have perpetual
peace if you unite together the two main stems of the Chakhars and
Bayars, tiie numerous Jungshtyabo with our 200^000 Khoruhins, and the
twelve dans of the Tumeds with the twelve dans of the KhaUcas.' To
this advice your noble grandfather thus answered : ' My intention was to
pursue my son's murderers, and to revenge mysdf upon theih, and I have
taught the people the consequence of the crime of Ibiri and MandulaL
What further advantage should I have gained if I had become the Lord
and Khakan of the whole people, merdy to divide still more the
vemaiiiing 60^000 which were left out of the noble 400^000?' In this
wise did your noble grand&ther oppose such counsd. Will you now do
coBtnuy to his advice and presume to judge better than he? In
your case thore remains further reason agamst destroying the three
Baraghons. How can it have ever entered your mind to wish to
undo the noble bond of union etubli^hed by your grandfather, by which
* Bmuuuic S«ts«B, m;. t Oe MaUto, «. 301.
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KUDANO KHAK. 377
peace has been assured to these great peoples ? The middle son of Gun
Bdik, eldest son of Barsa Bolod, is Buyanggholai Toghar Daitshing.
If this man sees an enemy he can't restrain his dd&ire to measure
himsdf against him. He is a hero who unarmoured throws himself
into a miUe with men protected by armour. The son of Ilete Altan,
who was the son of Barsa Bolod, is Senge Dugureng Timur, and he is
so strong and active that he is accustomed to jump over a camel when
armed cap-a^ in complete steeL One of the sons of Gun Belik Mergen
Jinong is Nom Tami Goa Taidshi. Hb son is called Khutuklai Setzen
Taidshi ; of him men report that he not only knows the past but also the
future thoroughly. Another son of Mergen Jinong is Buyanggholai
Toghar Daitshing. The son of this man^ named Belgei Daibuog Taidshi,
is so strong that in stretching his bow he pulls until his shoulder blades
overiap one aiu>ther, so that he is obliged to put a cushion between them ;
he can cut off any joint of the tail from a running fox which any one
may choose. His younger brother, called Borsai Khatan Baghatur,
shoots, as one hears, with such force that his arrow passes through three
wooden shoveto when put together. If it happened that you should carry
out your plan and bring them under your yoke, then it might be well ;
but if your plan miscarried, then you would have brought upon yourself
and others irrtparable injury.''
Bodi Alak Khan agreed with his mother's advice and desisted from
his plan. He ruled the whole pe(^ in peace and quiet, and died after
he had reigned for four years in 1547**
KUDANG KHAN.
Bodi Khan left three sons, Daraissun Taidshi, Eulgutai Taidshi, and
Oi^hon Toghar. Daraissun was bom in i sao, and mounted the throne
before the white houses in 1548, on which occasion he made a treaty of
peace and friendship with the Baraghon Tumens. On his return home
he was met by Altan Khan, a celebrated chieftain of that section,! who
thus addressed him, '* Thou hast taken the title and dignity of Lord and
Khakan, and thereby hast given stability to the State. The title of Sutu
Khakan, which carries with it the duty of defending the State, was
formerly granted to the subordinate princes. I pray that thou wilt invest
me with this title, and I will promise thee to protect thy rights." This
petition was acceded to, and Altan received the titte of Sutu Khakan.
On his return home Daraissun adopted the title of Kudang Khan, by
which he was universally known. He secured peace and piospeilty to
the State, and died in 1557, after a reign of ten years. J
* SMUUkBg Stun. 199* t Sm ntxt chapter. I SiaBaof SttMO, 199 aad 201.
3B
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378 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
SASSAKTU KHAN.
KUDANG Khan left three sons, namely, Tumen Taidsbi, Darai Bagha
Darkhan, and Daitshing Taidshi. The first of these, who was bom in
1539, succeeded hun. The history of the main line of the Mongol Royal
house is at this time much overshadowed by the collateral branches who
ruled in the Baraghon Gar or left wing, and especially by the great
Altan Khan, who had been latterly converted to the Lamaist faith. It
would seem that either the Mongols had, after their expulsion front
China, entirely relapsed into their ancient practices of Shamanism, or
that they were adherents of the Red sect merely, and that their conversion
refers to their acceptance of the reformed doctrines of the Yellow sect.
In 1576 Tumen Taidshi was himself converted by Ilduni Sanggidu&tshi
Garma Lama. On this occasion he assembled the six Tumens, and gave
them a code of laws. He appointed Amutai Khungtaidshi of the Cha-
khars, and Oisang Subnkhai of the Khalkas, both of the Segon Tumens,
and Ehutuktai Setsen Khungtaidshi of the Ordus, Nom Dara Khulatshi
Noyan of the Assod, and Tsuruge Khungtaidshi of the Tumeds, to carry
out these laws. Thenceforwards he was called Sassaktu Khakan, by
which name he became widely celebrated. He ruled his people with
authority and skill, and compelled the three tribes, Jurgid, Eligud, and
Dagighur, " who spoke another language,'' to pay tribute.* Two of these
tribes are assuredly the Jurji, Juji or Niuchi, and the Daurians of Man-
churia ; the Eligud are perhaps the Yehe or Y^^ another Tungusian tribe
which figures largely in the history of the founding of the Manchu
dynasty.t Sassaktu Khan died in 1592.
SETZEN KHAN.
Sassaktu Khan had eleven tons, of wliom the eldest was called Buyan
Taidshi. He was bom in 1555. He mounted the throne in 1593, and
was afterwards known as Setzen Khan. He ruled the people in accord*
ance with justice and rdigion, and died in 1603. |
* Sttoaag S«ts«i, tM.
I Stt Ui« author*! piptr on th« orif ioM of the llajichw in ths Journal of the Aautie Society
: Stanang Betsen, 209.
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LINGDAN KHUTUKTV KHAK. 379
LINGDAN KHUTUKTU KHAN.
Setzen Khan left three sons, namely, Mangshuk Taidthi, Kebker
Taidshi, and Magho Kitad Taidshi. The eldest of these, named Mang-
shuk Taidshi, died in his faither's lifetime, leaving two sons, Lingdaa
Baghatur Taidshi and Sangghardshi Odshan Taidshi, The former of
these, who was bom in 1592, succeeded his grandfather in 1604, under
the title of Kbutuktu Khan, a name he owed to his zeal in promoting
the spread of Lamaism. During his reign the bKa-a Giur or Gand-
shur, one of the encyclopaedic works on Buddhism often mentioned in
Mr. Hodgson's papers, was translated into Mongol ; a fresh revision of
this translation by Jangja Khutuktu appeared one hundred years latp:.*
In 161 7 he erected one of the great Buddhist statues called Ju
Sakiamuni, and built many temples and monasteries, which were all
completed in one summer. Meanwhile the various Mongol tribes had
been gradually emancipating themselves from the control of the Senior
family, whose authority, especially north of the desert, had become very
nominal. Divided among the sons of Dayan Khan, as I have described,
Mongolia was what Russia was in the thirteenth century, a disintegrated
body of units, whose mutual jealousies -were not diminished probably by
their rulers being so near akin. It is hardly to be wondered at that
Khutuktu, or Lingdan Khan as he is more generally called, should have
desired and made some effort to reconquer the position filled by his
ancestors as supreme Khan of Mongolia. His proceedings however
were of an arrogant and brutal character, and their effect was to throw
the various tribes over whom he claimed to rule into the arms of the
rising Manchu dynasty. Ssanang Setzen, who was a prince of the Ordus,
and was hardly a ^r judge therefore of his proceedings, reproaches him
for having scattered the six Tumens, and emphasises his homily by
quoting the old Mongol proverb. " A raging Khan (Khakan) disturbs
the State, and a raging elephant (Saghan) overthrows his keepers." In
which the point consists mainly in the play upon the words Khakan
and Saghan.t
We first hear of Lingdan's unruly conduct in 1415, when, we are told,
he made some raids into Liau tung.} This was doubtless caused by his
jealousy of the rising Manchu dynasty. The Mongol tribes on the
frontiers of Manchuria, among whom the Khortshins were pre-eminent,
had been a good deal mixed up in the revolutions of that country, and
had marriage connections with its princes. This could not but be
' Sebaiidft SniiAOff Sttzen, 411. t SMiitiigr Set;en, Joy Schtaidt't note, id., 4Xt.
IThDkow«ki,».lis.
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38o HISTORY OF THE MOMOOLS
distasteful to Lingdan, and we accordingly read that in 1434, when (he
Khortshins definitely allied themselves with the Manchus, T.ingdan
inarched against them and ravaged their lands. They thereupon turned
for assistance to the Manchus, with whose aid the Chakhars were beaten/
In 1636 the chiefs of the Naimans and Aokhans, who were vassals of
the Chakharsy abandoned TJng^on and submitted to the Manchus.t
The Barins and Dsarods at the same time fled to the Khortshins,} while
the Usumutshins and Aba^^as escaped beyond the desert to the
Khalkas.!
In 1627, the Ordus, Tumeds, Khortshins, Abag^ias, and several dans
of the Khalkas formed a league, and fought a severe battle against
Lingdan and the Chakhars. The latter numbered 40^000 men, and the
battle was fought at a place called Ju Tseng, in the country of the
Tumeds. The Chakhars were defeated. On their return home, the
confederates encountered another body of 3,000 Chakhars, who were on
their way to ask for rewards and presents from the Ming Emperor. They
were dispersed.1 In 1628, Lingdan defeated the tribe Khantshin, and
the Taidji Bain Bostu.f More and more of the tribes fell away from
him and submitted to the Manchus, and he now attacked Ta thung and
Siuan hua fii, and at the same time required an annual tribute from the
Chinese court** He seems to have been partially successful to have
subdued the Tumeds, tt and to have compelled Ssanang Setzen Khung-
taidsji, chief of the Ordus, to find shelter in the desert |t But his days
were numbered, the Manchus marched against him, and compelled him
to fly. He fled towards Tangut, but died on the way in the steppe of
Shira talas. i$ Ssanang Setzen dates his death in 1634. 1 1
ERKE KHONGKHOR KHAN.
On the death of Lingdan Khutuktu Khan, his widow, named Shodai
Taigho, who was of Royal Manchu descent, went with her son, Erke KhoQg-
khor, int6 the country of the Ordus to a place named Toll. The Manchu
Emperor seems to have received them kindly, he gave his daughter Erke
Gume Gundshu in marriage to the young khan, while the second wife of
Lingdan jomed his own harem, Erke Khongkhor and his brother Aba-
ghaiweie treated as his own sons.^^ It was after his successes in Mongolia,
and also very largely by the assistance of the Mongols who had joined his
" Schmidt " Die VoUutamme der If otigoUn,** M tmoin Bt Pttertburg AcMdmaj, U. 404.
t Schmidt, op. cit , ii . 430. 431. I Schmidt, cp, cit., iL 439 and 434*
4 Schmidt, op. cit.,ii. 439*0^444. | S^aridt, op. cit., 11. 4*8 and 444.
f Timtkowdii, ii. 215. «* TintkowtU, 11. aif. It Schmidt, op. cU., 4$4*
n8Miuiac8etstn,s8i. ii Sohmldt, op. dt., tt. 454- n SMUUWff BotaoD, 403.
ff Staaang SatMBv Jl^.
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ERKX KBOMOKHOR KHAN. 3^1
iMiiiierBy that the Mtnchu Enq^eror marched yictorioitsly torn one end of
China to the other. Ihavenowtracedthehistmryof the main line of the
Imperial house o£ the Mongols from.the times of iu supremacy to a time
when it became a meie vassal of the Manchu empire. Its fiirther history
is not known to me, nor would it be within my present province to detail
it if it were. With the history of the Manchusy of whidi it forms a sub-
ordinate part, we have not at present to do. In the next chapter I have
set out the history of the other tribes whose chiefe daim descent from
Dayan Khan, and jJso described their boundaries and the topography of
the districts they inhabit
J^if/;^ I.---A census of the population of China during the Mongol rule was
several times taken, and it is interesting to note its rapid increase. I
abstract the foflowing facts from Pauthier, ^dio has taken them from
Chinese sources. In 1235 the population of Yen king and Chun tien
(thetftfoqnartersof Peking), together with that of 56 In or administrative
circles, was found to be 873,781 famifies and 4»754»975 mouths.
In 1252 there was another census, when the number of fomilies
had increased by 2oo^ooa
In 1270 a fresh omsus disclosed a further increase of 300/300 families.
In 1290, afrer thesttbJQgation of the Sung empire, there were found to
be 11,840^000 doors or fiunilies, this number was afterwards raised
by the addition of many families in the north and south of the empire to
13,19^206 finnilifs, comprising 58,834,711 souls. This did not include
the fhgitivesi ftc, who had taken refuge in the mountains and retired
districts.
In 1330 the number of families who paid taxes in money or land was
found to be 13,400,899.
It is interestiDg to compare these figures with those of the recent
estimates of the Chinese population. We must remember, as Pauthier
remarks, that the above enumeration was taken after 74 years of bloody
carnage, which must have dedmated the pe<^le terribly. If we are
to credit one Chinese author, Khubilai Khan, alone, in gaining and
maintaining his throne slaughtered mme than 18,470,000 people.*
Neie 2.— -In r^;ard to the names of the Khans contained in the fore-
going chapter, I have adopted their official titles as given by Ssanang
Setsen, which are probably more reliable, and certainly, as native names,
more appropriate than many of their Chinese titles and names as contained
in the Chinese annals. I am aware that I have not been quite consbtent
in the other chapters. Khubilai, for example, being referred to by
Ssanang Setxen as Khubilai Ssetzen Khakan, and sometimes merdy as
Setsen Khakan, but the earlier Khans are so widely known by the names
* Pmrtiiiw^ Mtfvo Polo» ti ids.
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38a msTOltY of the mokools.
I have adopted in the text that consistency must bend to common usage.
It U most difficult to adq»t an unifonn practice in Eastern nomendatuxe.
Cdonel Yole reminds me that Hulagu, and not Kholi^, is the ordinary
mode of spelling the founder of the dynasty of the lUdians, who occupies
such a prominent place in chapter V, but Khnlagu is the form used
by Schmidt,* and if we are to say Khubilai and not Hupilai, as the Chinese
say; we ought to say Khulagu instead of Hulagu, just as we say Khan and
not Han, &c. I find that Pallas gives two lists of the Mongol Khans,
which confirm the nomenclature of Ssanang Setsen by independent
testimony, for his lists were collected among the European Kalmnks.
The following abstract, he tells us, he copied from a Kalmuk work,
giving a history of Buddhism. ''From the time when Sakiamuni
migrated from earth to heaven, to the birth of Jingis Khan, there were
3,250 years Jingis' sou, Ogotai, ruled for six years. His sod
was Guba Khan (f>., Kuyuk), who only reigned six months. Monko
Khan, the grandson of Jingis by his son Otshon Toli» then ruled for
nine years. His successor was Khubilai Setzen Khanw .... Khubilai
mounted the throne in his 46th year, and died in fais 82nd, when he
had reigned thirty-six years The son of Khubilai was
Ulsohu Khan, who had the kingdom for thirteen years. He was suc-
ceeded by Buyantu Khan, who reigned nine years. Then Gegen Khan
ruled for three years. Then Yessun Timur Khan for five years ; Arasabuk
Khan for forty days ; Gushila Khan for a month ; Sayatu Khan for
fifteen years ; Radua Shira Khan for a month ; and Toghon Timur
Khan for ci^^bt and twenty years, under whom the Mongol empire
ended.'' t Another work from which Pallas quotes, entitled Gerelien
Zotzo, also contains an account of Jingis and his descendants. It makes
Jingis be succeeded by Ogotai, he by Khotton Khan, who is credited
with the first conversion of the Mongols to the faith, and no doubt
answers to the Godan of Ssanang Setzen. After reigning for nine
months, he makes him be succeeded by his brother Kubos Khan (f>., by
Kuyuk Khan) ; he by Monkho Khan (i>., Mangu) ; Monkho by his
brother Khubilai, entitled Zazan Khan ; he by Timur Khan, the eldest
son of Chingen, Timur by Ulsoh, styled Orrota Khan ; he by Chingcn's
younger son Dirma Kalla, whose son was Khaishan Khan ; who was
succeeded by Kulluk Khan, also styled Ogoota.t This document does
not carry the list of names any further.
Note 3.— I failed to mention in the account of Radshapikal that
Ssanang Setzen makes him the son of Kuluk Khan and not of Yissun
Timur. I have preferred to follow the Chinese annals, which on such a
point are of paramount authority. I have also followed the Chinese
authorities in making Jiyaghatu Khan the son of Kuluk Khan, and not
• Schmtdf t note to Snnang Betsen* 394. Note zo,
t Pftllas BmiI. hilt H nch uebM-dir Ncmc VoQt, 19, ao. I PaUm, op. dt., st, jb.
f AnUt 306.
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ERKE RHONGKHOR KHAN. 383
as Ssanang Setzen makes him the son of Buyantu. The Imperial
registers during the Yuen dynasty were much too carrfully kept to allow
of there being a blunder on such a point in the Chinese account. In the
account of Adsai Khan* I have made hini the son of £lbek Khan : in
this I was mistaken. Elbek Khan having had his brother Kharghotsok
assassinated, appropriated his widow Khung BeidshL He was himsdf
murdered four months later. Ssanang Setzen says that Khung Beidshi
was enceinte at the latter date, and had been so for seven months^t so
that the child, who was no other than Adsai, was not the son of Elbek,
but the son of his brother Kharghotsok, as I have made him in the
following table. ,
Note 4.— The following is a genealogical tabic showing as nearly as
we can the relationship of the various Khans mentioned in this chapter
down to the reign of Dayan Khan, with the dates of their accesskm.
Yistim Timor Khan 13S3
DordjI Chinskjii Maoghala Nnmalain
naU DharmabaU Uldabeitu Kbma 1294
I ,_J
. Khan 1313 J f
I KahdK Khan 1307 Bajrantu Khan 131 x
Koan I3»8 | (
I J Oagtn Khan 13M
Knahala Khan Z339 Jiyagtatu Khan 1329
Toghott Tiautf Khan 2334 Rintthanpal Kbaa 1339
BOiktn Khan 1370 Uaaakhal Khan 1376
BnclM Sonkto Khan 1381 £lbak Khan zjs* Xharfotsok Duguraag Taidshi
T \ Adaai Khan T4S4
Oan Tianr Khan 1400 Uldabt! Tinnr Khan 1403
Dalbtk Khaa 2411
raiaaonc
Khan 1439 Akhardahl Khan 145* Mandaghol Khan 1463
j i KhartffbotaokTaidahi
UfcditM Kbaa 1433 Molon Oiaa 14S3 1
BoUchoJtno&f
Dayan Khan 1470
* Vii» anu, 398 aol 360. t Skanaof S«iftn, 143.
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CHAPTER VIL
THE CHAKHARS AND THE FORTY-NINE BANNERS,
THE CHAKHARS.
WHEN the Mongds were driven oat of China by the Ming
Emperon, they were forced apparently to abandon not <»ily
China proper^ but also all the frontier districts that lie
between the Great Wall and the desert of Shamo. No part of that
country^ now so characteristically Mongol, viz.: the ooimtry of the Forty-
nine Banners, where the Chakhars, Sunides, Barins, &c, have theur
camping ground^ was apparently left in their possession. They were
relQ^oed back once more to die rivers Kemlon, Orlijion, &a, and to the
vast territory now occupied by the KhaDcas, their court being held
probably in the neighbourhood of the modem Urga. On the south and
south-east they were roughly bounded by a frontier line, apparently
occupied by a row of palisades, whidi traverses the soirthem part of the
Shamo desert, and is named in the Jesuits' maps ''the Carou or Limits."
As the Ming policy became more distinctly a policy of non-interventiOn
with the frontier tribes, and as the BCing authority grew weaker, the
Moi^ols began to drift back into the fertile country south of the desert,
and as I have already mentioned, they had already settled largely as ftr
south as t*he Ordus country in the latter part of the fifteenth century.
They settled 2q>parenlly in distinct tribes, whose names were new,
althouf^ their organisation was probably very ancient We fail to find
many of the tribal names that wdre used in the days of Jingis. Many
of them were doubtless local "iiii^mes, and when a tribe moved from its
habitat it acquired a fresh name from its new quarters. I have described
the various revdetions Irhidi caused the disintegration of the Mongol
community, and ^c revival of a central authority among them under
Dayan KhMK It taiust be remembered that this authority was bounded
by the limte^f the Mongol country proper, and did not extend over the
Kalmttkik When Dayan Khan's patrimony was divided among his
8on% &e central tribes fell to the eldest. They were now to be
kftOim as the Chakhar Tumen, and indnded, besides the Chakhars
proper, certain others to which I shall refer presently, and which were
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THB GHAKHAR3. 385
iiiotvtimiiedktely dependent opcm Ilia Khak^ Atprescnt
we wffl consider tlie ChakluffB proper, who ivere the spedal pitrimony
of die later Khakans.
Cfaakhar, as Hyacinthe sajrs, is not an ethnic name, but the name of a
district which stretches along tiie north side of the Great Wall, from the
Shandtt Gol to the borders of the Tumeds.* This district was called
Tsaghan or Chagaa in the days of the Ming dynasty.t Of this name^
Tsidcfaar or Chakhar seems to be the Moi^ol form. Klaproth says it
means adjacentt It was apparently some time after a settlement had
been made in the Ordus country that the Khakan finally settled
there. The first to do so having been Bodi Khan, the Budii of
Tin^owski, who was the successor of Dayan Khan,{ and thenceforward
his subjects were known as Chakhars. I have rdated dieir history in
the former chapter down to tiieir submission to China. It would seem
that they afterwards rebelled, for we are tdd that in 1675 Bumi (their
chief), with his brothers, having revolted, they were aU put to death.!
They afterwards greatly assisted the Manchu Emperor in his campaign
against Galdan.
The country of the Giakhars is bounded on the east by the tribe
Keshikten, on the west by the Tumeds of Koku Khoto, on the south
by the Imperial studs and the province of Shansi, and on the north
by the Sunids and the Durban Keukeds. It is 1,000 Hs in length.^
Hyacinthe says it is properly divided into two parts, of which the western
portion forms the pasture ground of the Manchu Imperial herds, while
the eastern is occupied by the tribe itself.** With the exception of some
lugh mountains on its western and eastern frontiers, the country of the
Chakhars consists mainly of small valleys, separated by wolds. Th^e is
little or no wood, but plenty of capital meadow land and pasture, tt
The Chakhars, like the rest of the Mongols who submitted to the
Manchus, were divided into military sections called Kochuns orbaimers,
consisting each of a certain number of Nurus or Companies. The
number of companies in a banner is not the same, but every company
ought to consist of 150 families, tt
These banners are divided into three main bodies. First, die Forty-
nine Banners, including all the Mongols setded to the south-east of the
desert, except the Chakhars. Secondly, the Eighty-six Banners of the
Khalkas, which include three Uirat banners ; and lasdy, the Eig^t
Banners of the Chakhars. These last are treated apart, probably on
account of the importance of their ruling family. They, in fact, formed
one of the eight banners into which the Manchu conquerors of China were
divided, and are classed among the Manchu troops.}) They are under the
* Borg*! tnuMlttios of HjtcintlM*t Memoirs on MoogoUa, 55. t Timkowtki, iL «S7.
X TimkowaU, iL U$» | Op. cit, ii. 157, | Timkowild, ii. 258.
% Timkowtki. op. cit.» U. 257. ** 13orc. op. dt.» 98. tt Borf, op. dt., $$.
XI Da HaldOt W, ZJ5. H TiAlmwtki, L nx and 25a.
2C
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586 HISTOItY or TRX MONGOLS.
immediatft jumdktioD of die Gusai Amban or InspectKM^General, wIm>
lives at Ka^:an.* Kalgaa derives Hs name from Kalga, wbkh means
gate or pass in Mongol It is an important frontier town, buih in 1439,
and restored in the middle of the sixteenth century. Its Chinese name Is
Chang kia keou.f The Gusai Amban superintends the subsidy paid
to the Chaldiars. An Ukherida or Divisional Commander gets 120 Ian
or ounces of silver annually; a Osalan or Colonel, 115; a Sumun
dsanghin or Commander of a Squadron, 100 ; a Kavan or Kun^t, and
a Juannida (f ./.» Lieutenant and Comet), each 60 Ian ; lastly, a Boshko
or First Seigeant, 34 Ian.} Everybody is paid, even the youths, who
receive one Ian per month. At Kalgan there is a special school for the
Chakharsy while the Chinese keep a garrison at Koku khoto (Kuei hua
ching in Chinese), to overawe the once very turbulent head tribes of the
Mongds. Ttmkowski says that it was oaly among the Chakhars that
he saw the tents divided into Ulus, i^ several tenu standing together,
the other Moogols living diqi^ersed on account of the scaidty of pasture
except some of the superior officers, who with their families and soite^
occupied about fifteen or twenty tents. The Chakhars breed many oxen,
which diey either sell in China, or employ in carrying nankfen and
Imperial tea from Kalgan to Uiga, and even to Kiakhta. The Emperor
has laige cattle farms of sheep, horses, and oxen in the Chakhar country,
iriiose pastures are excellent, and covered with the grass called vostrets
by the Russians.} Grosier describes the number of cattle kept in these
royal fimns as enormous, and he adds, that the herds of the princes
amounted to 190^000 sheep, divided into 325 flodcs, and to an equal
number of oxen, divided into herds of 100 each ; the number of stallicms
being not smaller. I
The mountain Nogon-niru (green mountain), separating the Chakhars
and Sunids, is held in great veneration by the fixmer. They never
venture to pronounce its true name.T According to Hyacintbe, the
Chakhars are governed by a Chantshun (Chantsun is derived from the
Chinese words chan chnn, and means divisional leader commander-in-
chief), and two Moir-changins.** The Eight Banners of the Chakhars
are disdngmshed as ^ |dain yeDow, red, white, and blue^ and the
bordered yellow, red, white, and Uue banners. The foOowiqg details
about diese banners I abstract from the account of Mongolia i^ipended
to Timskowski's travels, tt
I. The encampment of the plain yellow banner is at Mount Musun
tek^ola, above po li north-east of Kalgan. Its territory is no li from
east to west, and 280 from north to south. It is bounded on the east
by the Chakhars of the bordered yellow banner, on the west by those of
the red banner, on the south by the right wing of the studs of Thai phao,
•Tiiiikoirdd,i.i6x-S77- t Timkimtld, i. aSl t TimhMnki, I. s6o.
iTimkamMtLaa. I nakowai. i. a6s. f Timkowild, i. J55.
••Boig,oritH.,g8 ttTimkoir«kl»iLss8.flb.
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TRS CHAKHARS. 5I7
and on die nofth by the mountains of Khaim wnaghgn, j%^ distance to
Pddng by way of 'Kalgan is 730 H.
The most considerable mountains aie tiie Mason td:^ Eigfalnak,
Uridw tologoiy Kholbodsiny Khingan, and Uliassutai, iHuch is very
Ms^ Khan kitaty and Sham kitat
The river Dtiul^ or Taokha, rises in a pkin, 60 tt to the soutii-east
of the cDcan^mMnt of this banner, flows to the sootfi, receives the
UfttgolyCutheron the Mongntsi, a srnaU river comhig fiom the west,
and the Sordia, which comes from the north-east It enters the
Chinese frontier nenr the fort of Sin phing pu, passes near fort Clud
Idieoo poy and diere takes the name of Yang ho. It was formerly called
Ynyandmi.
2. The boidered yellow banner eaomps at die rodcs of Samin
khada, and above 340 li from Kalgan. Its territory is 160 litrom east
to west, and 190 fttm north to sondL To the east it joins die Chakfaars
of the bhie banner, to the west the ydkm banner, to die notdi the
Sunids, and to the soodi die stods of die bordered ydlow baanes. It
is 750 li to Pddng by way of Kafgan.
The principal momlains are Khancrtu, Dodo^ Bono Khan, Ulan
Khttn,Aga]ak,Kheibottcnhi(it was near thb last diat li weaduing,
geneml of die Ming, delsated the army of the Yuen), Godju goaatai,
Bukota, or Bnhnr. There are no riven^ but several springs, one of
which.is salt It b called in Mongol Dabastn bnlak, lao li to the north-
east, towards the frontiers of the Sunids of the left wiag.
3. The can^ of the Chakhars of the red banner is to die west of the
ydlow, near Mount Gurban tologoi, 570 11 north-west of &algan.
The territory of this banner is 55 li from east to west, and s&> from
north to south. On the east it has the Chakhars o; the y^ow banner, on
the west the bordered red banner, on the north the Duiban keuked,
and^ die sondi the right wmg of the studs of Thai pu.
4. The bordered red banner encamps at the spring Burin bulak,
430 li north-west of Kalgan. Its territory is bounded on the east by the
Chakhars of the red banner, on the west by those of the bordered blue
banner, on the south by the district of Ta thuag in the province of Shan
si, and on the north by the Durban Keuked.
The following banners of the Chakhars are encamped in the country
to die north of the gate Tu dii kbeou.
5. The camp of the white banner is at Burgatai, 290 li north-west
ofTuchi kheou. The territory of this banner is 78 li from east to west,
and 395 from north to south. On the east and north it joins the
Chakhars of the bordered white banner, and to die west and south those
of the bordered yellow banner. It is 830 li to Peking, passing by Tu
chi kheou.
6. The bordered white banner is near to Buya akhai sum^ 245
leagues north of Tu chi kheou. Its territory is 56 li from east to west,
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588 HISTORY OP THS MONGOLS
and 97 ftom nortii to tomh. On tiie east and south it joins the
pasturages of the studs of Thai phao, on the west the white banner, on
the north the blue banner. It is 770 li to the capital by Tu chi kheou.
7. The Chakhars of the blue banner dwell near lake Jakhassutai,
360 h north-east oi Tu chi kheou. Their territory is 265 li from east
to west, and 95 from north to south. On the east it adjoins the Kechik*
ten, on the west the bordered white banner, on the south the Imperial
studs, on the north the left wing of the Abagha. Passing by Tu du
kheou, it is 890 li to Peking.
8. The bordered blue banner is at mount Abakhan khara, 90 ii to the
north-east of the banner of Sha hu kheou. Its territory is 150 li from
east to west, and 160 from north to south ; to the east it is bounded by
the Chakhars of the blue banner ; on the vest, by the Tameds of Eoku
Uioto ; on the south, by the Great Wall which bounds the district of
Ta thung ; and on the north, by the Ouriian keuked. It is i/xx> li to
Peking by way of Sha hu kheou.
The country occupied by these Chakhars is in general mountainous;
it is watered by several small rivers and sprii^^ has good pastnrage,
and b even suscq[)tible of tillage.
There was formeriy in the territory of thb banner a salt laksy into
which the river Vu shui emptied itsdfl This lake was 30 li in length
from east to west, and 20 in breadth from north to south. At present
neither lake nor river are to be seen.
In various places in the.territory of the ei|^t banners of the Chakhars
there are still vestiges of ancient Chinese towns, sack as Ven yang, Liang
tcheou, and Thsan ho.*
THE FORTY-NINE BANNERS.
The Forty-nine Banners comprise^ as I have saki, the various Mongol
tribes north and east of the desert, who submitted to the Manchus in
the first half of the seventeenth century. The banners are themselves
organised as brigades or corps ; of these^ tfieve are six in the inner
division, or that of the Forty^nine Banners.
I. The corps Cherim, consisting of ten banners, and of the trBMs
Khortshin, Jelaid, Durbed, and Khorlos.
a. The corps Dsossoto, comprismg five bannefs, and the tribes
Kharatshin and Tumed.
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TU£ FORTY-MINE BANNERS. 389
3* The corps Dso Uda (tbe hundred willow trees), comprising eleven
banners, and the tribes Bagharin, Naiman, Aokhan, Ongnighod, Am
Khortshin, Dsarod, Keshikten, and the tribe of Eastern Khalkas, which
has crossed the desert, and bdongs to the inner division.
4. The corps Silingfaol, consisting of ten banners, and the tribes
Wesumutshin, Sunid, Abagha, Abaghanar, and Khotshid.
5. The corps Ulaghan Jab, consistii^ of six banners, and the tribes
Durixn Kenked, Urad, Mominggan, and the tribe of Western Khalkas,
belonging to the inner division.
6. The corps Yeke Ju, comprising seven banners, and the tribes of the
Ordu%, and the Tumeds of Koku Khoto.*
This division into brigades is a purely Chinese administrative division,
and is not coincident with the relations of the various tribes to one
another. In describing these tribes in detail, I shall follow another
plan. First, describe certain tribes which were closely bound up with the
Chakhars, and formed a part of the laigcr division of Chakhan, called
the Chakhar Tumen ; then others which I hypothetically identify with the
tribes of the Uriangkhan Tumen ; then the three Baraghon Tumens, and
conclude the chapter with the* Khortshins and their allies.
As I have already stated, the Mongols in their later history were
divided mto six principal sections, called Tumens, and die whcHt nation
is referred to sometimes by Ssanang Setzen under the cdlecrive title of
**the Jirgugban Tumens,* or the six Tumens; literally, the *six ten
thousands.** t These sue Tumens formed two divisions, the right and
left. Of the right Tumens, two still survive in considerable vigour,
namely, those of the Chakhars and of the Khalkas. llie third, namely,
that of the Uriangkhans, no longer sul)sists. I have described how
this Tumen vras rebellious in the latter days of Dayan Khan, and how
its clans were dispersed among the other five Tumens.} The Uriang-
khans bore a very old name, and one as famous as it was old. Subutai,
the great general of Jingis Khan, belonged to the tribe, and we ai« told
by Raschid, that after the burial of Jingis, one thousand men of the tribe
Uriangit were appointed guardians of his resting-place. $ As Schmidt
says, the Uriangkhans are doubtless the tribe referred to by De Mailla
under the name Ouolanhan. He tells us they lived north of the camping
ground of the •* little prince,** to whom they had been formerly subject
He mentions this under the year 1522. | The various clans that formed
the Uriangkhan Tumen were, as I have said, dispersed, and I have no
means of knowing what names they bore. It is very probable that some
of the followinf tfibet, which afterwards became attached to the Chak*
hart, &c, may have belonged to it.
• Schmidt*! Mem. 8t. Ptter. Ac«|l., iL4f9*^
t Vidt cf, dl., 175 tad S83» and Sdunidf t note, 4»s. I Vidt ante, 375.
f lyOfanoo. i.dS;. Sdutudtl Note ta Staaaaf SftxcD, 408. | Da HalIJa, s. 30s.
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390 HISTORY OP THE MONGOLS.
THE KHOTSHIDS OR KHAGOTSHITS.
TuM name oL this tribe means okL^ It formed a section of the Chakhar
Tomen* According to Ssanang Setzen it was assigned as the portion of
Ara Bolod, the youngest of the seren Bolod8.t He inrobaUy died young
and childless, for he is not named in a second list of Dayan Khan's
sons, given on page 1974 and we presently find the tribe in other
hands.
It is mentioned as in the hands of Kudang Khani the son of Bodi
Khan, by the author, tranflated by Schmidt| We next hear of it as
being governed by Kudang's grandson Delekei, swmamcd Erdeni
Khttugtaidslii. He had five sons, named Kitad Sagfaan Dugureng
Tushiyetu, Baibong TushiyetUy Tsersng Ilden Tushiyetu, Kiteid Kun-
dulen Erdeni Setzen Tsokor, and Mookhai Mergen. When Lingdan
Khan tried to subdue them, the Khotshids fled to the north of
the Gobi, among the Khalkas. In 1633, one of their Taidshis
named Erintshin, with a portion of the tribe, abandoned the Khalkas
and submitted to the Manchus, by whom they were well received and
rewarded with presents. In 1634, when the Manchus had defeated the
Chakbars, Tsereng Ilden Tushiyetu, in alliance with the dnefr of the
Wesurautshin, sent a letter of submission to the Manchus, accompanied
by presents. The next year Eaibung Tushiyetu accompanied the Sunid
princes when they submitted. In 1636, Bolod, the son of Kitad Kundulen
Erdeni Setzen Tsokor, also submitted. Lastly, in 1651, Garma Seweng,
the son of Kitad Saghan Dugureng Tushiyetu, went with his people and
completed the voluntary subjectwn of the tribe to the Manchus.| Their
country is bounded on the east and north by that of the Wesumutshins ;
on the west by that of the Abaghas ; and on the south by that of the
Keshiktens. It is 1,815 1» f^ok Peking^ and 685 lis north-east of Tu chi
kheou. It is 375 lis from north to south, and T70 lis ft-om east to west.
** The right wing is encamped near the welt of Tugurik, about 690 lis
north*east of Tu chi kheou ; from east to west it is 75 lis, and 375 from
north to south. The left wing is 685 lis north-east of Tu chi kheou. It
is 95 lis tem east to west,, and 320 from north to south. There are
numerous lakes in this country." 5
* Timkovtld, ii. asr. t Op. ctt.. 205. J Vtd$ op. cit., 197.
f MMSoirt St. Petertbnrffh Acadtl&y, ii. 439.
I Sdimidt. If emoira St. Peter. Acad., H. 441. ^ Tiakowiki, ii. 251.
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THE SVNIDS. 391
THE SUNIDS.
Tin. Sunids form a section of the Chakhar Tumen. They are evidently
a very old tribe, and appear under thu name in Stanang Setien's account
of Jingis. Tlieir diief Kihiken having been one of Uie great Khan's
main supporters, and composed the funereal aoog that I have quoted in
die thhrd chapter *
The Sunida, on the dMsion of Dayan Khan's empire, lell like the
Chakhars to His eldest ^on Tocobolod, and afterwards to Bodi Khan, the
son of Toro Bolod. Bodi Khan had three sons, the eldest of whom,
Kttdang, became Over Khan of the Mongols, while the second, Kukdshitu
Meigen Taidshi,'was placed over the Sunids. He had four sons, named
Buyan Khungtaidshi, whooe eldest son Tsofghon became the chief of the
western section of the Sunids ; Buima Meigen Ildutshi aad Buyantai
Setaen Buiri Soriktu, whoee descendants are unknown ; and Burkhai
TsokOT, whose son Dabakhai Darkhan Khoskhotshi, became the chief
of the Eastern Sunids*
To escape from the tyranny of Llngdan Khan, the Sunids fled beyond
the desert and aettled among the Khalkas. In 1634, Seosse, the eonof
Taorghon, in concert with one of ^le Khatka chiefs, sent some of the pro-
dnciS of hts countryas a present to the Manchu Emperor. In i636,Tenggis,
the son of Dabakhai, with some lesser chiefs, sent envpys to die Emperor.
They were presented with the objects the Solongas had taken to the
Manchu court as presents. In the winter of 1638, Tenggis and Seosae,
with their people, left the Khalka country and settled in theh- present
lands. Both were in 1640 raised to the rank of Wang, the former was
made chief of the western, and the latter of the eastern wing of the Sunids.
In 1646, Tenggis, with several other chieft, at the instigation of the Khal-
kas, broke dieir allegiance and once more went beyond the desert The
Manchu Emperor sent tro<^ in pursuit of them, with wham marched
some faithfbl Mongols. They followed the fugitives to the river Kerulon,
and then onwards to the mountain Utek and the river Tula, flieir
harems were captured. Some of the chiefo were killed. Tenggis and
his brother Tangitai escaped. In 1648, they asked permission to
submit (moe more» wiien they were not only forgiven but also reinstated
In their M posts.t
Their country, like that of the Chakhars, is only a recent habitat of
the Mongols. '^ Under the Han it formed the northern frontier of the
principalities of Shang ku and Tai. Under the younger dynasty of Han
it was inhabited by tribes of U huan and Sianpi ; under die Tsin by the
* FirffuM, los. X0& t ithnidt^ Men. 81. P«Iot. Acad., ii. 44ai 443-
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398 HISTORV OF THE MONGOLS.
Tho pa ; under the Sui and the b^inning of that of the Thang, the
Thukiu became masters of it. The Khitan or Liao formed in it the
district of Fu chau, which wzs confirmed by the Xin djmasty, who placed
it under the jurisdiction of Si kinglu. Under the Mongols it depended on
that of Hing ho lu, and it was only under the Mmg that the Sunid
Mongols settled in it"*
It is bounded on the east by the Abagha tribe, on the west by the
Durban keuked, on the south by die Chaldiars, and on the north by the
great desert, and it is 960 lis distaait from Peking.
" The right banner is encamped at Sumin Khada, 550 lis north of
Kalgan. Its territory is 246 lis from east to west^ and 280 from north to
south. The left wing encamps at Orintu chabtai, moce than 170 lis noith
of Kalgan ; it is 160 lis from east to west, and 300 from north to southl
" The mountains in the country of the Snnids are the Sumin khada, the
Kolbodzin, the Nokhun, the Tsagan botok, the Ukerjinige ola, the
Dsara, the Bayan tek^ the Bain tologoi, and die Bairi ola.
^ The river Urtu, in Chinese Chang Chui, issues from mount Khorko,
runs south-east and crosses die frontier of the Sunids- The Nukeht, in
Chinese Thn yuan chui, rises in the country of the Chakhars of the blue
banner, crosses mount Bairi ola, and faUs into lake Kbur.
** The lakes are the Khur, KuUxssutai, Shabartai, and Khara ostn." t
As I have said, the Sunids are divided into two banners. The baamer
of the Eastern Sunids is divided into four regim^its (dzalan), eadi
r^;iment into five squadrons (somun), and each somnn consists of 200
families. The Western Sunids form a banner of two regiments, one of
seven squadrons, the other of six.}
Timkowski remarks that the Chinese officers behave in a much more
arbitrary manner in the country of the Sunids than they do in those of
the Khalkas and Chakhars, and that they esteem them less.S The reason
probably is that they are vreaker. Their country is for the greater part
barren and poor, a large portion of it consisting of ** stony desert, either
quite bare or covered with buduiguna. In other parts, which are sandy,
there grows a tall green plant called Suhi, which is very dangerous for
cattle This frightful track continues for seven stations or
150 versts. Till you reach the Chakhar country, you see nodung but a
sea of land and flints.'' I . Timkowski mentidns passfaig a weU in a clayey
valley, oveigrown with high feather grass, and onamented round the rim
with an appropriate border of horses' skulls. Much of the water there is
brackish, and the country is strewn with salt lakes. TimkowM crossed
their country twice, and in his travels there is a detailed ctiary of his
doings. He telk us that * aming the Sunids there are a great number
of taidxi or nobles, who by their poverty and their pride at the jgreatness
' Timliowski, ii. 233. t TimkowikI, op. dt., ii. 153* 154. J Timkowtki, i. 92s.
> Op. oit., i. ati. I Timkowski, i. nj.
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tBt wisuiiUTSHnrs. 395
of dieir anoest<Mn, may be comptied in some measure with descendants
of some flhtstrions European famifies. Beskles the lands assigned to
diem, the banners give a taidri of the first dass eighteen labourers ; to
one of the second dass, twehre ; of the dihd, dgfat ; and of tiie fonrdt,
four. The taidzi of the fifth dass bdoi^ to an infaior order of nobility,
and are ranked widi die common Mongols. According to a reguladon
still in force in China, when the taidad arrive at Pddng, they must present
to the Emperor live sheep, which diey often hire in the market When
the Emperor condescends to accept them, he gives to each of these
taidxi ten liang of silver out of the public treasury (the best sheep is sold
for no more than five liang)» two measures of rice, and four pieces of
nankeen. If the ofer is reftised, the taidd obtains only five Hang in
silver, and one measure of rice. This custom, established when China
still feared the Mongob, is daily fidHog into disuse."*
niE AVESUMUrSHINS.
This tribe comprises two banners, and is ruled by a prince of the first
rank, another of the third, and two lesser chiefs. It was subject to
the Chakhars, and to their chief Bodi Khan. He had three sons,
the ddest Kudang Khan;t the second, Kukdshitu Meigen Taidshi,
named in the last paragraph ; and thirdly, Ongghon Dural, who
became the chief of the Wesumutshins. He had five sons, namdy,
Tsoktu, styled Batur Noyan; Beye^ styled Sain Bingtu Noyan ;
Nayantai, styled Ilden Noyan ; Dsanggin, styled Darkhan Noyan ; and
Dordshi, styled Setzen Jinong. The four first died one after another.
To escape hom the harsh hands of Lingdan Khan, Dordshi and
Sereng, the son of Tsoktu, fled to the north of the desert, and took shdter
with the Khalkas. When in 1634 Lingdan had been overthrown by the
Manchu forces, Dordshi, in concert with the Setzen Khan Shului (one of
the Khalka chiefe), and with the chiefs of the Sunids, KhaghoUhids and
Abaghas, sent a letter to the Emperor, in which they ofiered their sub-
mission, and sent some of the products of their country as presents.
The next year the Manchu Emperor commanded them to send
messengers to him with tribute. Six such messengers were sent, and in
the following winter Dordshi and Sereng, with all their followers,
migrated from the banks of the Kemlon, and finally submitted to the
Manchu8.t The country of the Wesumutshins extends for 360 li from
east to west, and 425 fi-om north to south. It is bounded on the east by
the Solons, on the west by the Ehaghotshids, on the south by the Banns,
and on the north by the desert of Gobi. It is 1,163 ^ ^'^^^^ their principal
encampmcftt to Pddng.
TtmlMwtld, U. 394* 1 VidfUt^ J Scfanidt, M«a. St. P«t«ra. Acad., iL 439t 440.
2D
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594 HISTORY OF TH£ MOKOOLS.
<<Tbe right mng is at mount Bakesur Khatai, 923 li nortli-east of Ku pe
kheou ; and the left wing near Kuisun tologai, 1,160 li north-east of the
same barrier of the Great Wall The river Khulugur (in Chinese Thn ho)
comes from the country of Keshikten, and bears for 300 li the name of
Alatn ; it afterwards takes that of Khului^rur, nms to the north, and is
lost in the sands. The Sharakholoi,.70 li north of the left wing, after a
coarse of above 40 li, is also lost in the sands. Lake Gurban nor, 33 li
louth'^west of the left wing, produces salt."*
THE AOKHANS.
AOKHAN in Mongol means firstborn, t This tribe forms one banner,
and is governed by a prince of the second r&nk and four lesser princes.
It was also subject to the Chakhars. Ssanang Setzen tells us that die
tribes Adchan and Naiman were assigned as the portion of Gere Bolod,
^btsoaci Dayan Khan,| but they must have passed away from him,
for in the account of Mongolia translated by Schmidt, both tribes are
mentioned as ruled by the family of Torobolod.
Torobolod had two sons, Bodi E^han and Namik, the latter had a son
named Boima Tushiyetu, who had two sons, the elder, Daitshing Duren^
was the chief of the Aokhans, and the younger, Essen Waidsang of the
Naimans. Daitshing Dureng had two sons named Sonom Dureng and
Setien Soriktu. In 1626, these princes, in conjonetion with the chief
of the"Nall»(jins,"ab2mdoned Lingdan Khan and submitted to the
Manchus.S
** The Aokhans encamp at mount Gurban turga ola, 600 li north-west
of Hi fling kheou. Their country is 160 li from east to west, and 280
from north to south. It is bounded on the east by the Naimans, on the
west by the Karatshins, on the south by the Tumeds, and on the north by
the Oniuds. It is 1,100 li from Peking to their principal encampment'^l
THE NAIMANS.
Naiman means seven in Mongol, and this tribe has nothing to do with
the Naimans of the days of Jingis, who were Turks. It forms one
banner, ruled by a prince of the second rank. As I said in the last
paragraph, the Naimans became the portion of Essen Waidsang, the
second son of Boima Tushiyetu, the grandson of Torobolod. He was
* Timkdwiki, ii. 249. 350. t TimkowtU, ii. t49* IO^cit.,S05.
^ Schmidt, Mtra. Sc Petert. Acad., 4S9, 430. | TimkowtU, ii. 349-
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THE HAIMANS. 395
succeeded by his tern Gantsok, mho took tbe title of Bighefitr TaidshL
L&e others in die same difficulty, he abandoned Lingdan Khan when
the latin's condnct became unbeanble^ and sobmttted to die Manchos.
This was in 1696.* ''The Naiman banner encamps 700 li north-east of
Hi fang kheoa; its territory is 95 li from east to west, and aio from
north to south. It is bounded on the east by tbe left wing of the £hal-
ikasy on the west by Aokhan^ on the south by the Tumeds, and on tbe
north by die Onhids. The distance to Pddng is 1,110 U. Among die
rivers in this province are the Tuigen (in Chinese Tlw ho), iduch comes
from mount Tabnn tdogai, and the Lokha.*t
The preceding five tribes ol the Khagotshids, Sunids, WesmmitshinSy
AoUians, and Naimans, were with the Chakhars assigned as the heritage
of Torobolod, the eldest of the seven Bolods, and werl therefore
probably an integral part of die Chalrhar Tumen proper, whUb some of
those that follow may perh^w have formed part of the Uriangkhan
Tomen. To explain the rdadonship of dietr dnefe, I here add a table
• of tbe dder line of the descendants of Dayan Khan«
DiyMKkMi
Tonlolod UMoM findnloi Aimlolod AimJnlni Wttihlrbolod AimbiJoi G«nLolo4
1 ""■ '
1544
SMWktaEbMiissS Dmi Bi«ha DvUms DtHiyacMMH
SttsM Kkas 159s mMMOtbat CUef oftlM Khit(tetib«ii
— I _ J
Msafchttk Tftidshi Kebker Ttidihi Mafbo Kitad Taidilii
LiofLa KkotokM XhMix604 SttOlMrdalii OdklitB Ttiddi:
I
m^KhUtio^Kk^H^ Abjw cSS^bss. ch5rsiiffia«
"8«taUviC«B.6t.Fetert.AM<UiL4tt. Tiay«mki, IL 14".
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39^ HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
THE DSARODS OR DZARAGUTS.
The name of Ms tribe means sixty in Mongol* It is divided into two
banners, under two princes of the third rank, and two lesser diiefs.
The fifth son of Dayan Khan of the Mongols was Altsnbolod, whose son
was named Kholshotshi Khassar. He had two sons, Ubashi and Sabakhai
Ubashi became the chief of the Dsarod. He bore the title of Waid-
sang Noyan ; he had two sons named Bayandar Ilden and Dural Noyan.
Ilden had five sons, namdy, Songtu, Kenggen, Songnun, Ehulnhu, and
Angkhan. The eldest of these was chieftain of the tribe, and was suc-
ceeded by his son Naitshi. Dural Noyan had two sons, namely, Sabun
and Mani. In the days of the Manchu Wang-ti Taidsu, and in the year
1614, Naitshi, the chief of the Dsarod, gave his sister in marriage to the
Manchu prince MangoltaL In the spring of 1619, when the Manchus
defeated the Ming troops at the mountain TiaUng Dabagha, Sabun and
his relative Bak went at the head of lOfioo men to the assistance of
the Ming troops. They were however beaten and taken prisoners, and.
the following winter Naitshi, with some other chie£s, sent envoys to offer
to submit to the Manchu Emperor, who sent one of his nobles to accept
their terms, and sent back the captured Sabun and Bak, with their
followers, to their homes. In 1623, Bak revisited the Emperor, and
asked him to allow his son Otshirsing, who had been retained as a
hostage, to return with him. This had little effect on some of the other
princes, and we are told that Songnun and Angkhan plundered the Manchu
envoys, as also the presents of clothes, catde, and horses, which the
Ehortshins were sending to the court. Troops were sent against them,
by whom Angkhan and several of his followers were lolled, and the wife
and children of Sangtit, son of Songnuni were taken prisoners^ but they
were released by order oi the Emperor. Other chiefs were not cowed
by their £iUe, but continued very turbulent, plundered the Manchu envoy
Kushi and caused disturbances, especially on the river Loocha, a feeder
of the Shira Muren. Fresh troops were despatched against them in 1626^
and many of their chie£i to the number of fourteen were captured. They
were set at liberty by order of the Manchu Emperor. When Lingdan
Khakan, of the Chakhars, attacked his various neighbouxs, the Dsarods
took refuge with the Khortshins. In 1627, many of them finally took
service under the Manchus, and in the struggle with the Chakharsy it is
mentioned that one of them named Khabakhai, killed the Chakhar
TaidshiGartUii^ captured 700 of his followers, lor which he was raised
to the rank of Waidsaag.t
»TiMko«Ski.U.««r. tlclmiSdt.lCwkStfiMn.Ast4.,4SMM*
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TUB BAEIMS OR BAOHAKUfS. ^97
Tbocottiitryof the Dsaiod trB)e is 135 li from cast to west, and 460
from north to south. On the east it borders on that of the Khortshin%
on the west on diat d the Am Khortshtns, on the south on that oi the
Eastan Khalkas, and on the north on that of the Wesumntshins.* ^The
left wii^ is to the north of mount Chichningfchua Tologoi, 1,100 li to
die north-east of Hi fung kheou ; the right wing to die soudi of mount
Tur, ipoo li from the same passage through the Great WaU. The 8hira
Muren flows through the territory of diis tribe, and die liltle rivers called
the north and south Kundulun rise in it. There are two lakes, the great
and the HtUe JagasutaL The valley of Khaihttntai and dM beautifnl
forest of Atani khara modo (forest of pines in the |4ain), whkh is very
thick, and eactends above ao IL A temple of Bviddha, built in 1675, is
90 li to die nordi of the left wing.'^
THE BARINS OR BAGHARINS.
Th£ Sarins form two banncni, under a prince of the second and another
fii the fourth rank* This tribe is one of the fow in Mongolia which
survives under the same name as it existed in the days of Jingis. One
of the Nirun tribes, as I have stated in the first chapter, having borne
this name. Like the Dsarods, the Barins were the portion of Altsubolod,
and of his son, Kholshotshi Khassar. The latter, as I said in the
previous paragraph, had two sons ; Ubashi, who became the chief of
the Dsarods; and Subakhai, with the title Darkhan noyan of the Barins.
Subakhai was succeeded by his son Bagha Batiuv who had three scms,
Ebugetei Khun Bagliatur, Khotos^or Angkha, and Sadar. They were
vassals of the Chakhars. In 1619, Ebugetei,in concert with some of the
Khalka chiefe, allied themselves with the Manchus. In the ^ring of
1626, they Ixoke this alliance and joined the Ming* A large army was
sent against them, in which expedition the Taidshi Nangnuk was killed.
In the winter following the Manchus commenced their campaign against
the Dsaroda, and in consequence divided their army into two sections.
One section marohed to the Dsarod frontier, and created terror there
by the ravage it committed. Lingdan now commenced to plunder the
lands of the Barins. Many of their princes in consequence fled to the
Khortshins* In 16^9, Sabtan, the son. of Sadar ; Sereng, the son of
Ebiqietei ; and Mandshushiri, the son of Khotoghor, with their followers^
left the Khorrshins and submitted to the Mandius.}
The limits of the two-banners of the Banns are not determined* The
encampment of dM fight witag is near mount Tobun 01% 720 li northeast
ofKupekheoo. The left wing about the hOlAtshatn tdogai,friither to
* Schmidt, op. dt, 4SI. f Tinkoinki, il. 247. 2 Sduaidt,op.citi4St.
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398 HISTORY OF Tm MONCOLS.
the north-east. The territory of the whole tribe it 351 ii Drom eJiit to
west, and 253 li fiom north to south. It is bounded on the east by the
Am Khortshins, on the west by the Keshiktens, on the south by the
Oniuts; and on the north by the Wesunratshins.
The country of Barin is ^Eunous in Chinese history. " Mount Bardan
was die birthplace of Puthu, one of the ancestors of the dynasty of
Uan. He is buried in these parts. 200 li to the south-east of Khing
diaut the Kara muren issues fiom the chain of the Eoirlduui mountains,
runs to the south-west, then to the south-east, jomar the Burgultd ussu,
and (alls into the Shira muren.
*' The ancient city of Lii^ huan ching or Changking, fonneriy the
residence of ^e Emperors of the Lian dynasty, was probably on the
right bank of the Chono ussu, opposite the little town of Bon> khotO| now
m rums,
»»
THE KESHIKTENS.
Thb KeshUctens form one banner, under the command of a Taidshi of
the first rank. In Ssanang Setzen they axe mentioned in conjuaetims^
with a tribe Kemtshigod,t whidi no loiter exists as a separate Mongcd
section. This latter tribe is mentioned as early as 1453, when DnUiatai
of the Kemtshigod is mentioned as one of the persons who eseorted the
boy Mokm Taidshi, on his way to Molikhai Ong.t The Eeihiktens are
first mentioned by the same andior, in his account of Dayan Kluuf s
campaign against the Bara^mn Tmnens. )
On the division of the Mongols nnong Dayan Khan's sons, the
Keshiktens fell to Wadshirbolod. | His grandson wu called Sharalta,
and took the title of Mergen Noyan. His son Dharma had three sons^
named Sonom, Bebun, and Dukl They were vaasals of die Oiakhars.
In 1633, Sonom, with his subjects, submitted to Ae Manchus.^
*'They encamp about mount Ghirabas Khoda, 570 li north-east of
Kn pc khecik Thdr country ia about 334 M from east to west, and 357
flrom north to south. It it bounded on the east by the Onhids, on the west
by die Chakhars of tiie blue banner, on the aou^ by the Oniudii and on the
noMlibytheWesumutshms. llieir country is SioH distant firom Peking.
Its diief river is the Shira mures, one of those wUdi form die Liau*
chtti ; it rises in mount Boifo Kotkon. After running to the noith-eaat.
It joms several other smaU itven, and flows by die north frontier ci the
country of the Barins. Further to the east it enters that country, passes
diiough the soudi part of Am Khortshin, and then to the nofdi of the
TUAmnkUiLMSfM^ t0^eit.»i9i. X 8«Mas Stiiw* XTX. Ftfitatcj
|8MBaagSelsea,i9t. Aatt 374. IImbmi
^ SduBidt, li«a. St. Ptttra. AohI.. iL 4ai7,
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THI BARAOHpy TUMENS. 599
Oniuds. Turning to die north-cist it vecetres the Lokha ; from the
south-west flows through the south of Dsarod and the north of the
Khalkas, turns to the south'-east, flows through the south part of the
right wing of the Khamtshins, jobs further to the south tiie Liau-chin,
enters China, and empties itsdf into the gulf Liau-tung. This country
contams a great many bkes, and 190 li to the n<»th there aie warm
springs, which give rise to the KhaiksutaL There is also a laxge foest
catted Daxkan modo, 30 li to the south-west of the encampment of the
princesof this tribe.**
THE BARAGHON TUMENS.
I. THE ORDUS.
As I have said before, the Mongols were formerly divided into six
sections called Tumens, and these were distributed into two divisuons or
wings, the Segon gar or the right wing, and the Baraghon gar or left
wix^. Schmidt makes the right wing correspond to the eastern sec-
tion, and the left wing to the western, but in this he is dearly mistaken.
As Koeppen says in his history of Lamaism, the terms right and left
are to be understood not in r^;ard to Mongolia, but to the sacred land of
Thibet, and we know as a fact that the Baraghon gar was rituated to the
west of the Segon gar.
While the Segon gar was governed inmiediately by the Khan, the other
wing was ruled by an officer appointed by lum, called the Jinong, which
answers to our title of Viceroy. The position was generally filled by a
brother or second son of the Khakan, and was in some respects paraUd
to that of the Dauphin in French history. Sdmfldt derives Uie name
from the Chinese title Tsinwang. The office is probaldy as <rfd as die
days of the Hiong Nu.t It is first mentioned by Ssanang Setsen in
'4399 when we are told Taissong mounted the throne as Khan, and
appointed his brother Akbardshi as Jinong. t
On the death of Taissong Khan, his brother Akbardshi succeeded him,
and Setzen describes the visit of a d^mtatton from the Uirads, who went
to him to ask lum to appoint their chief, Essen, to the dignity oi Jinong
which he accordingly did. | When Essen usurped the tkrone^ the tide
of Jinong seems to have fallen into abeyance.
Ssanang Setsen mentions Alak Ching sang of the Baraghon gar, and
Timur Ching sang of the Segon gar, as having authority during his reign,
* TlakswsU, ii. 45a. t Schmidt's Ssaaftng SttMO* 406.
I Smsus Setzen, 15$. Aate, 361, wfaert I lunre by iniaidbe written dUof laof nielMid
of Jiaooff.
i Staaeiic Setsen, t6i. Vide ante, 363.
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400 HISIOIIT or THS MOWGOLS.
and on page 365 I have written as if ^eae wsre divisioBs analagotts to
die Baraghon and Segon TumenSy bat the £eict is, Chfaig sang vras a title
given to the diief ministers of State during the Moog<d dominion hi
Chma, and we are expiessly told tiiat there were two Oung sangs^one
minister of the right and Ae other ci the left,* and it is no doubt their
functions that were filled by Alak and Timur just named.
Soon after Mandaghd became iChan, which was in 1463, he dianged
the name of his grandnephew* the yondilal Bayan Mongfce to Bolkho
Jmong. He doubtless had authority over the Baraghcm Tumens, and
we are expressly told he was murdered in 1470^ by three conspirators of
the tribe Jungshiyabo^ which formed one of the Tumens of that section.
Dayan Khan, the son of Bayan Mongke^ mounted the throne in 147a
Soon after his accession three chieftains of the Baraghon Tumen, namely^
Baintsokhor Darkhan of the Ordus, Jirgughatui Meigen of the Jung-
shiyabo, and Togholan Ag^lkho of the Tumeds, went to him, and
having declared their devotion to him and his wh, b^sged that he would
raise one ci his sons to the dignity of Jinong. This he agreed to do, and
accordingly named his second son Ulusbolod to the post, and he was
duly installed in the presence of the gods.t I have described how this
^^ointment was displeasing to some of the chiefo, especially to Ibiri
Taishi of the Juagshiyabo, and Mandulai Agholkho of the Ordus ; ho^
they incited a plot against the young prince's life, and had him assassinated,
and also how Dayan punished the ofrenders4 Ulusbolod left no children,
and to reward his third son Barsabolod for his braveiy in his war of
vengeance against the Baraghon Tumens, he appointed him on the con-
dusion of that war to tiie office of JinoQg. He was entitled Sain Alak.{
On the division of Dayan Khan's empire among his sons, Barsabdod
letained his position as overchief of the Baraghon Tumens, two of his
brothers, namely Arsubolod and Ubassandsa, each having a Tumen, the
ibrmer that of the Tumeds and the latter of the Jungshiyabo, but they
seem to have been early displaced,! and the Baraghon Tumens remamed
finally in the hands of the descendants of Barsabolod. Barsabolod was
appointed Jinong in 1512, and died in 1531.1 The office, which had been
previously administrative, was now made hereditary, and Barsabolod
was succeeded as Jinong by his eldest son Gun Bilik Meigen, iriio is
called Kisiang by De Mailla, x. 302, and Dienung by Timkowski, ii 214,
besides his oveilordslup of the three Eastern Tuniens. Gun Bilik was
also immediate chief of the Ordus. Barsabolod's second son was the
wdl-known Altan Khan, and he ruled over the twelve Tumeds, Labuk
Taishi over the Ugushin of the Tumcd Tumen, Bayas Khal over the
mtarti^^lwfi of the JttflgshiyalxH Bayandara over the Tsaghan Tartar ef
the Chakhars, while Bodidara, as I shall show presently, violently
possessed hhiMelf <^ the control of the Jungshiyabo and Assod.
•r«#tiite.i5«. t SMatng8«to«i,if5. t Fitff mite, S7S-373-
I VUU iofn. I Smiuiis 8«lsea, 207. % Stanaag Sttnn, 293.
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THS O1U0178. 401
As I have said, Banabolod was tiie imme^ate ruler over die Ordus
Tumen, and to Hs history we shall now limit ounelvesy remqnberiag
always that its chief was overlord also of the odier two Tomens.
The felt tent in which a Moqgol fives is callod a Ynrt A coOectlon of
several yurts b known as an Ordu or camp, the camp of the chief heing
disdngnished as die Sir Ordu, that is to say, the golden camp»* Karac
konuh was known pre-eminently as Orda hal& or the cky of dM Ordn.
It would seem that the Ordo of Jingis Khan, prohabty hb stadonary
camp in the winter, became a centre of sacred interest to the Mongols.
It is referred to frequency in the pages of .Ssanang Setaen as the ^ei|^t
white houses* of Jingis Khan, or of ** the Lord.* Itwasdiere that die
several lOians who succeeded had their andiority ceotoned. Widi the
horial place of die Khan% this ^K)t divided a anpfeme interest to tie
Mongols. As in the case of die latter, ao in that of the fionner, abody of
Mongols had the special duty of its protection. We are told by Ssanang
Setsen that the Ordus had this special diity,t and Sdimidt conjectures,
and I think most reasonably, that it was fiom this oiloe that the trfte
received its name, t
The name first appears in die reign of Dayah Kha% when the ddaf
ci the Ordus was one of the depotadoft to ask him to name one of his
sons as Jhiong of the Bara^^ion Ttanens^i and it was donbtleas dnring
his reign that the Ordus, like the Chiddutfs and the Forty-nine Banners
in general, left die country north of the deaert and aettled m thdr preaent
quarters. Previously they had probably lived about ^ the Ordus,'' whence
they took their name^ the ancient home of Jingis Khan.
* « 4^ Maflh^wridng under the year 1 528, says Kisiang and Yenta, the sens
of Hochu, lU., Gun Bil& and Altan, the aona of Baraaboiod, had made
themaehres fonnidabl^ and were almost ind^endent of ^the Litde
Prince^* althoui^ they acknowledged his aupremacy« IQstang had diosen
for his dwelling-place the country of Hotao (or of the Ordus), whidi is
surrounded on three sides by the Hoang)M^ and had planted his canq> In
ita midati This invasion was no doubt made In die reign of their
fiither Barsabolodf who did not die till 1531, and we find it stated hi the
narrative translated by Sdimidt, already often quoted, that it was Barsa-
bokxL who first took his abode in the land ilf Ghohm toll, and became
Jinong of the Ordna. Schmidt suggests that the name of this place
should be written Qiokm tori, which would in Mongol mean ''the river
bounded,'^ a very appropriate designation of the country of the Ordus,
whidi is bounded by the great elbow of the YeHowRiver.f Barsabdodis
made^ as I have sidd, to die in 1531 by Ssanang Sistsen, but this date is
piobably too late, for we read in De MaiHa's narrative that in 1530 his
* Voa Hammer^ QoUm Horde, 31. t StatMnf S«tsta, Xf z.
t Sc1iniidt!a SMtuuif Sttstiu 408. f Smiuuic Sctzea, 185. | Do If tnit, x. jaa
Y ScbnMt, op. dtn «. 431- NoCt.
SB
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403 HISIXMIY or Tm MONGOLS.
eidest son and successor Kisiang, t>., Gun Bilik, in alliance wtdi Altan
Khan made a raid upon China.
The two brothers passed the Hoangho and ravaged the country of
Ning-hia ; recrossiog the river, they overran that of Suen hoa fu. In
1531 De Maiila relates how Altan Khakan ravaged the borders of Shen si
and Shan si, committing great devastation. This must be the same
expedition dated in 1 53a by Ssanang Setxen, who relates that in that year
Gun Bilik, the Jinong, in conjunction with Altan, marched with the three
Baraghon Tumeds against China. They encountered the Chinese army
in the defile called Dsendej^ and a fierce struggle ensued. The sons
of the two Mongol leaders distinguished themselves and broke through
the Chinese lines three times. After this struggle the Mongols returned
home.* In 1540 the Jinong, with Altan and another leader named Kilo
entered China at the head of twelve hordes, and killed many of the inha-
bitants They wefe met and defeated, and driven away by the Chinese
generals PeUio and Yun chang.t The following year they returned
and were guided by a Chinese Buddhist, who had some grievance against
the Mandarins on the borders, and made an extensive raid into Shan si.
In 1542 the Jinong invaded China with one army, while his brother
Altan invaded it with another. The former was much given to pleasure
and debauchery, and ruined his health. His death is placed in this year by
De Maiila. t By Ssanang Setsen, who is probably here mistaken, in 1 5So.
The former author tells us that Hoangtaild, one of his sons, undertook
the transport of his body to the home country of the Ordus, and that
his several sons divided his dans among theuLj The eldest of them
named Noyandara, who was bom in 1522, now became Jinong, with a
special authority over the four Khoriyas ; Baissanghor, the second, had
the. Keuked Shibaghotshins and the Urad Tanghuds of the Baragbon
gar ; Oidarma, the third, had the Dalad Khangkins and the Merged
Bakhans of the Banghon gar ; Nom Tami, the fourth, had the Bassod
Uishins of the Basaghoa gar; Buyangholai, the fifth, the Betdcin
Khalighotshins of the Baraghon gar ; Bandsara, the sixth, the Rhotshid
Genes of tlie Segon gar ; Badma Sambhava, the seventh, had the foor
clans, Tsaghad, Minghad, Khortshin Khoin, and Ghutshin of the
S^on gar ; Amudara, the eighth, had the four dans of the Uighurtshins
of the Baraghon gar ; Uklekaa, the ninth, the three clans of the Amakhais
of the Baraghon gar.
Among the Mongols, as I have remarked, a chief is inunediatdy suc-
ceeded in authority by his eklest living unde or brother, the succession d
his children being postponed* And it was so now ; although Noyandaca
became Jinong, he was a merely titular ruler. The>real authority passed
to his unde, the great AHan Khan, of whom I shall have more to say in
the account of the Tumeda. Here it will suffice to say that he became
•8MiiansS«U«B.«>T. t D« MaUb, «. jf j. J Dt ICailto, s. st4* 1'^
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THE OKDUS. 41O3
d$ faOo ruler of the Btraghon Tumensi and commanded their joint
forces hi their varkms campaigns against China. His most able seconder
was Khtttuktai Setsen Khangtaidshi, the son of Nom Tami and
nei^ew of Noyandara. He fills a nouble place in Ssanang Setzen's
narrative, and was especially conspicuous in the reconversion of the
Mongols to the Lamaist faith. He seems further to have been an active
leader in the Ordus tribe, and to have put his uncle Noy^dara somewhat
in the shade. In 1562 he marched against the four Uirads, and
defeated one ci their tribes, the Toigagods (the modem Torguts), on
the Ertshis (f>., the Irtysch). As a token of their subjugation he
killed a black camel, and planted its skin at the royal hearth, while he
took a number of the Torguts and Sinbis with him as prisoners.* In '
1566 Khutuktai Setzen matched against Thibet, and pitched his camp
at the confluence of the three rivers of the Silimji Thence he sent mes-
sengers to the great Borsa Lama, to the Tsansi Lama, and the Darkhan
Lama, also to Ussungdur Sanjin and Altan Sanjin with the message, " If
you submit to us we will adopt your religion, but if you will not submit we
will treat you as enemies." l*hese threats put the Thibetans in great
fear. In a few days the Lamas above named went to the Mongol camp.
Setzen asked one of them if there was not among his kinsmen a certain
Mcrgen Sanggasba with the name of Wadshra Tonmi. They replied
they knew no such man. He said, ^ He is now entering the house, collect
your peof^ and bring him here and no barm shall happen to you.'' He
then left them. The following morning as Wadshra Tonmi Sanggasba
tended his herd there appeared suddenly a man riding on a panther from
whose beard and eyebrows fire sparkled ; he followed him to th^ entrance
of his house where he disappeared. Wadshra Tonmi told this to several
people, among others to his uncie the Darkhan Lama, who replied, '* The
Setzen Noyan we saw yesterday seems to be no ordinary man. It was
this Prince who i^peared to you thus transformed. As it is impossible
you should hide yourself from him, so it i^ necessary that you should go
with us to him." Upon this he took him to the Mongol camp when he
at once recognised Setzen as the man he had seen riding on ,a panther
in the morning. He thus addressed him, as if he had long known him,
" Ah, Sanggasba, why have you trusted yourself heve ? Unless you can
convert yourself into a white ganidi you must without hop^ of escape fall
into my power." Thus, says Ssanang Setzen, did Setze* Khungtaidshi
subdue the Thibetians of the three rivers. He took with him on his
return home the bLaigin Lama, Astok Sain Bandi, and Astok Wadshra
Tonmi Sanggasba. He gave the latter the title of On Guntshin and
made him his first minister.t
In 157a the two brothers of Setzen Khungtaidshi, named Buyandaim
Khttlatshi Baghatur and Sain Oara Ching Baghatnr, marched at the
S«Csa, sxi. t Stuuac Smmc^ taj.
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404 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
head of an anny against Tpgmak» m., the Eaitem KtptchaL On Hie
Shiramuran they encountered its ruler Aksar Khakaa, and captuiwl
many prisoners and cattle. Among the former was Chioki, a wife of
Aksar Khakan. As they returned home they were in turn attacked by
Aksar, who had meanwhile assembled an army of lOQ^ooo men. Afieice
battle ensued at the mountain Nitsi^un Khassolak. The Mongols at
first broke the e^y's ri^t wing. Khulatshi Bagfaator, one of their
two chieft, attacked the centre ; his horse was killed under him, and
idiile dismounted he was hit in the knee by an arrow, so that he leU and
was over-ridden by his own men. His brother came to his assistance
and suflered the same £ste. Most (tf tbe chief Mongds were dismounted
and their army was entirely defieated.
The next year Setsen Khungtaidshi marched to revenge the deaths of
his brothers. . He encountered the army of Togmak at a place called
Essen Daibo. Setzen, we are told, put on his harness made of the hkU
of the elephant and overiaid with gold, bestrode his horse called Boro
Khutsain Sari As^ola Sarbai, and marched at the head of his army
against the enemy* Althou^ their chie£i shot out fire from their beards
and eyebrows (P if this means they used firearms) and sparks came firom
the hoo& of their horses, yet he seveidy defeated them, recovered the
harness of his dead brother Ching Baghatur, and captured three
sultans, sons of Aksar.
As he returned home he heard that Buyan Baghatur Khungti^dshi and
his brothers, the sons of his susereign the Jinong Noyandara, had gone
on an expedition against the Ukads. Leaving his baggage at Bars kul
(now called Barkul 44 N. lat and 94 £. Ioq.), he hastened to join them.
They attacked one body of the Uirats and scattered their tribes* For
three mcmths they |NUined them.* The other body of the Uirats was
governed by a crafty and politic ruler called Esselbei Kia. He lured
Baghatur KhnngtaJdshi into his power and then killed him.t
Noyandara Jinoag, the overcbief of the three Baraghon Tumens
and of the two sttooessfiil princes Altan Khakan and Setsen Khongtaidshi,
died in 1574. His ddest son Buyan Baghatur had been killed by
Esselbd IQa, as I have related. Bushuktu, the eldest son d Buyan,
thereupon succeeded his grand&dier as Jinong. His power was probably
merely nominal, the real authority being in the hands of his great
dependents, Altan Khakan and Setsen KhungtaidshL We now arrive at
a memoraUe epoch in Mongol history, namdy, at their conversion to
T^imaism We have lew means of knowing how iu this form of
Buddhism had spread among them at an eariier day, especially in the
golden times of Khtibilai Khakan, who was such a firm supporter of the
Lamas. I believe it was chiefly coi^ned to the courtiers and to the
aristocracy, the bulk of the peofde retaining the religion which they had
•KuTtMlfipifUint. t Ssaaaac S*tMo, 917. iBfrmehifftm xo^ii.
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IHB ORDUS. 405
Idlknred in the days of Jiogb Khan. It would i^tpear that even this
had aftenraxds disappeared. In the times we aie approadiing,
Lmiffl^ffTi became the national religion of the Moi^;ols and wideqf»read
among theoL In 1576^ Setsen Khnngtaidshi paid his relative Altan a
visit; during which he reminded him of hb great successes against
China and the Uhats, that he was now growing old, and that wise men
declared that religion was necessary for the good of this life and also of
Uie future. That the all powerful and merdlul Khoogshim Bodhisatwa
had appeared in pers<m in the country to the south, and then he wmt to
ask him if it would not be well to make a journey thither, and to restore
once more the rdigion which had been favoured by his great ancestor
Khuluku Khan. The successful iskue of this visit, and the curious story
of die adoption of Lamaism as the religion of the Ordus and Tumeds,
I*have rdated further on.*
According to Ssanang Setsen, Setien Khuogtaidshi had contributed
largely to the condusion of peace with China in 1571, for which he had
been promised the title of Lung Chu Chang Yun, a seal of chas or jade,
and the right of using a ydlow handwriting. As this promise was
nq^ected, Setsen iChungtaidshi marched against China, plundered the
town of Iigai, and thence marched to Temegetu.t In this expedition,
which I do not find named by De Mailla, he plundered twenty-one
Chinese towns and carried off an immense treasure.} Altan Khan died
in 1583.1 His title of Chungwas apparently conferred on Setsen Khung-
taiddii, who De lifaillaby mistake makes a son (tf Altan.! He no doubt
also succeeded to Uw ruU andiority among the Ordus. In 1584, Wad-
shradhara Dalai Lama commenced a tour among scnne of the Mongol
tribe% vaxtKg whom he was wekomed with great ceremony. The next
year he arrived at the camp of Setsen Khungtaidshi, which was at a
place called Ydoe Shabar. ^ He rested for three months at the sources of
the river Mangruk, leading die sednded Ufe of a hermit, and dioi openly
displayed ymself in the form of the BogdaKhayanggiriwa. He bestowed
upon Setien Khnngtaidshi his wife Tockhan Sula Setsen Khatun, and
aH the di^iensers of rdigious alms his beneficent and infinitely predous
OQiisecration,as wen as mudi wholesome instruction.* Y This probably
means that the Ordus wakf^fX to Setien Khnngtaidshi were then definitely
received into the Lama communion. The Dalai Lama now pcoceeded
northwards, and recdved many princely gifts on his way. When he
arrived at the camp of the Jinong Boshuktu Setsen, he pointed out to
him a place where a temple shouki be built. ^During his stay at Kcte
Bor, Bushuktn Jhiong, Setsen Khnngtakiahi, and Setsen Daitshmg
reoeised the liMirfold consecradon of the sublundy periect Kd Wadshra,
* Vii9Wtih V0MNI Tvned.
tProbabljtobeidutifltdwhhNiBchia. BMnancSctMB. BchmidftBotat,3^^And4x6.
I8«Mas60tMO,t4a. SSMDaacS«tMB,t47. D« M ailliw >• 944*
t D« IfaiOA, JU M4* YSttiMasS«tMO«t49*
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406 HISTORY or THE MONGOLS.
and dMy swore m his presence a treaty, to be mututtty peacefol towards
one another.* The Lama then passed on to the Tumods.*
Setxen Khtmgtaidshi died in 1586. When the usual prayer offerings
were taken to the Dalai Lama he was much troubled at the news, and
said, ** He has secured the s^ory of sanctification as he desired, but you,
what good luck you have lost in committing the precious Sharal (Sarira
or holy rdic), this worthy object of worship to the earth." The Lama
then pronounced his blessing and the prayers to secure for thein the
happiness they desired, and to secure also that they should see their master
once more in his second birth.t
Setzen Khungtaidshi was succeeded in his honours by his son Oldshei
Ildtttshi Darkhan, who is styled Chilek^ by De Mailla. He was invested
with his father's dignity of prince of Chun y.} His prowess in his
father^s campaign against Togmak had gained him the title of Baghatur
Setzen Khungtaidshi He died two years afterwards in 1589. Mean-
while we must not forget that the titular overiord of the Ordus all this
time was Bushuktu Jinong. In 1592, the latter marched at the head of
the Ordus Tumen against China, he plundered and captured much booty
in the country of the river Shingshigu and then retired. He was pursued
by the Wang Tsunbing, governor of Irgai, and a battle ensued, in which
the Ordus under four redoubtable leaders forced a way throu^ the
enemy's rank. In this charge, a son of Oldshei Ildutshi, named fiatu
Taidshi, greatly distingubhed himsel£ Although only thirteen years old,
he captured a prisoner, and got the title of Darkhan Baghatur, which
had been held by his fiither. § De Mailla probably refers to this invasion
K^en he tells us that in 1592, the Tartars having caused a disturbance
on the Yellow River, Chinglo was sent there with the title of Inspector.
Tonghiang was then governor oi Ninghia. He counselled a rigorous
campaign against the robbers, but his opinion was overruled by that of
Popai, originally a Tartar, who had by his skill raised himself to high
command in the Chinese service. He said that the 3,000 men in hb
command would amply suffice for the work. The viceroy refiised to
mount his soldiers, or to supply him with food, &c, and took advantage
of some youthful indiscretion to imprison and bastinado his 8<mi. Some
of the Chinese officers were highly indignant at this conduct A revolt
took place among the troops, during which the viceroy's palace was
burnt, and the town of Nin^ia was partially plundered. They put to
death several obnoxious mandarins, and seized the forts on the Yellow
River. The rebels invited the Tartars of Taoho (? an inversion of Hotao,
le^ Ordus) to join them, and to advance with them towards Ling chan.
They assented, and went under their chiefs Cholito and Ta cMng,
&c., with 3,000 horsemen. They essayed to take the town-of Ling chau,
but failed, and had to raise the siege. Elsewhere the rebels were
• Swaaag SMtco, 249* t SMoang S«tteiu 233* X IX MallK s. 34S*
4 SMaaae SfUto, tS9>
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THE ORDUS. 407
genentty victoriout and beat the Imperial troops, and their successes
attracted a nmch laiger ntmiber of Taoho Tartars, of whom we are taUd
50^000 now joined them toshare their i^ory and booty. The Imperial
authorities now collected a force of neariy 300^000 men from Shen si,
and the fortresses of Kan chau and Su chau* &c They attacked Ninglua
with great rigour and lost a great number of men in its siege. Popai,
who was the rebel commander, then sent for aid to Cholitu, the Tartar
chief, who thereupon set out with 30,000 men, and ordered Taching to
advance with 10,000. The latter was too eager, was met on the way by
a Chinese army and defeated. Meanwhile Cholitu continued his
advance, but he did not feel himsdf strong enough to attack the Chinese
army, whidi was very numerous. He captured several forts on the out'
skirts of their position, and even defeated one of their generals, but the
latter was reinforced, and alter a fight which lasted until night, finding it
impossible to force his way into the town he retired, abandoning to the
Chinese a portion of his horses and camels, and Nin|^ soon after fell*
The Cholitu of De Mailla.is probably the Bushuktn Jinong of Ssanang
Setzen, who by-the-by does not mention the result of the campaign in
1592. Two years later, he tells us the Jinong again marched against
China, by the way of the Alak mountains. They were attadsad by
Magha Tsunbing, of the town of Temeghetu, and after a partial success
were deflated by the Chinese, who turned the Mongol position,
captured their city of Khara Khotan, and reached Ulaghan Olong
before them.t
The Mongols now appointed Batu Darkhan Baghatur, who had gained
bis title in the previous war and who had not taken part in this fight,
their conmiander. He made a vigorous attack on the enemy, and won
some successes and considerable renown, for which he was rewarded
vrith a great title, namely, that of Baghatur Setzen Khungtaidshi, whidr
his father and grand&ther had previously held. In 1596, Bushuktu
Jinong marched against Thibet and defeated the Shira Uighurs, and
made their chief, Gum bSod-r Nam-r Gyal, submit, t
In 1602 the Dalai Lama died, and was succeeded by another, whose
incarnation is the only one which ever occurred out of Thibet Schmidt
says shrewdly that if this birth was generally arranged and depended on
political considerations, that it proves how allpowerful the Mongdb had
become when a Dalai Lama was bom among them.}
In 1607, Bushuktu Jinong erected a costly statue of Sakiamuni, of the
size of a twelve-year-old boy, and made of gold, silver, and precious
stones. It was very richly endowed witii various offerings, and was
completed in 161 3, upon which he appealed to the great fosterer of
souls, Maidari Khutuktu, at the iiill moon of the month of the gieat
Rlti Khubilghan, to provide a shower of fiowers for the day of conse-
* D« IfallU, s. 348-355- t Sianang Setzen. 259. J Stmnaoff S«tseB, atfj.
I Schmid't SMmaof S«tzen» 4x7.
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406 HISTORY or THB MONGOLS.
cntioii. Tbis in fiict hqipenedi and besides a lain of flowers then
were many other hicky nurades.* This and many oUier of the super-
natnal scnroandings of T^mmlsm are precisely what the modem
European ^nritnidists daim to prodnoe^ a rain of joocpdls or violets
being one of tlie very ordinary cfrents at dieir seances.
** In hoQOur of the festival and of the happy meetings the Jinonf ordered
Wadshra Tonmi Gong Guyurshi (Gurus ri), ding Wa Yeke Guyushi,
and the son of Yof^doH Oisang, named Rashi Oisang Taidshi, to rise
from tiieir seats» and to greet Maidari Khutuktu with the title Ydcede
Assamktshi Nomun Khakan. Arik Tsordshi received the tide of Dalai
Tsoidshi ; Gong Gayushi, of Gonting ; Dai Wang Gnyushi and Enfl^
Goynshiy of Yc^gatsbari GuyushL At the same time the two latter were
ndsed to the same rank as Tsordshi, with the privikige of sitting
on an equal throne. The remaining members of the priesthood were
grantad tides according to their rank and deserts, and in condnsion
Bqriwktn took the blessed vow that all his fetnre births should coincide
widi those of Nomun Khakan.^'t
TheDalaiLamanowinvestedhispatron with the title Akan Knrduni
Eigiguluknsbi Chakrawartin Setzen Jinong Khakan. Other titles were
also conferred on his wives and relations.
Batu Darkhan Baghatur meani^iile a^^Murendy died, for we find that
in 1615 his son Ssanang Taidshi was invested with the title of his
grandfiofaer, i^ Ssanang Setsen KhnngtaidshL Thb was the great
historian of the Eastern Mongols, from whose narrative so much of my
later account has been taken. A few years after he was iqi^cnnted one
of his chief i^ficers by Bushuktu Jinong, by whose fevour he rapidly
rose in rank.
In 1621, Bushuktu Jinong sent mxty env<^ to make a treaty of peace
with China. These wefo mnrdered in the Chinese town Temeghetu. To
revenge this wrong he mustered tfie tribes of the Baras^n Tumens,
marched with looyooo men against China, which was at this time dis-
tressed by internal rebels as wdl as by an attack of the Manchus in
Liautung. ^ They drew near the city of Yangchun and invested it for
three days, upon which the commanders of the town sent a letter int6
their camp^ addng them to desist horn their attack and promising to
arnmge the diflerenoes with the Sufamg ToUang. Bushuktu Jinong
thereupon drew off his forces." This seems to me like a confession that
it was found impossible to take the town, and a rhetorical excuse for the
feihuv. We are told that as the Mongols approached the town of Pokhan,
they encountered a Chinese army sooyooo strong, under the orders cf
die Tsunbings, or cmnmanders of the towns of Iii^iai and Temeghetu.
.Ssanang Setsen relates an anecdote which goes to show that the Mongols
were retreating, wbftn the Chinese seem to have been seised with panic,
* Sttnanc Sttito, stf$. t SMoanir Sttttn, 365.
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THE ORDUS. 409
aWndoned tlfetir camp and left much booty ^but^ sat easy ptey to their
enemies, who so well practised the Parthian tactics of avoidiiigeiicoanters
with large annies in the open field.*
In the following year, namely in 1622, a treaty waswade between die
Chinese and Bushuktu Jinong, hy which the fonner receifcd 3ak>
Sidshirs of silver annually, by monthly inatalmenta of 2^ each, besides
a lump sum of 6,000 Sidshin for the murder of the envoys. The various
princes, ^, who negotiated the treaty, received at die same time ndi
presents.
The foUowing year the tnmscription (^ die gieat Lamaist body of
^vinity, the bKa-gjur (Gandrimr) was completed under the super-
vision of Arik Dalai Tsordshi, and was consecrated amidst strewing of
flowers. Bushuktu purposed having dw companion work, the bs Tai^jur
(Dandshur), also transcribed, but he died before it could be aooom-
plished. This wasin 1624. His widow, after she had pesfotmed the
appointed ceremonies for 100 days, erected a ssicred pyramid on lihe
spot where her husband had been converted, and cfese by where
he had erected the Ju Erdeni or statue above-named, and spent
1,000 Sidshirs and many costly articles in its decoration ; upon whidi
the greater and lesser princes of the Ordus Tumen assembled together and
proposed to send an embassy to ^ the Southern Snow-realm,* to entertain
the dergy, to distribute akns, and to receive blessing firom die Bogda
Erdeni and the allwise Dalai Lama, near the Ju Sakyamnni (jU^ the
statue of Buddha), and in odKrmemoraUei^aces. TUs proposition was
unanimously assented ta
Bushuktu Jinong left four sons, namely, Seieng Erdeni Khunglaidshi,
Rintshen Eyetshi Daitshing, Toba Taidshi, and Tsoila TaidshL Of
these the thmi, namdy, Toba Taidshi, begged to be allowed to repay the
kindness oi his noble &ther, and to be the bearer of die sacred ahns
above-named. Mis modier approved of this, and he accordhic^ set out
die same year.t
Buduiklii was succeeded as Jinoi^ by hb ddest son Seieng, who was
then 36 years old This was in 1^6^ but he died six mendis afterwards^
When Toba Taidshi arrived at ^the four eternal hmds'' he prostrated
himself in die presence of the Bogda Bantshin Erdeni and die allwise
Dalai Lama, visited the Ju Erdeni and the other holy plaoes, mid
dispensed rich alms everywhere. One day when in die Chridan
Monastery he heard from the Bogda Bantshin Erdeni the Idstory of the
great reforming Lama Tsongkaba. Tlds is set out at some lengdi by
Ssanang Setsen, but I riudl reserve it for another vohime where I sfaafl
relate the later history of I>amaism. Toba received cooseccation i
die Bogda Bantshin Erdeni and received instruction from him in
of the deeper mysteries of the fiuth.|
• 9mam9Ukmm,t^aad9fi9^ t SMMSf S«t«fo,4»v. | Stts>BS Stma, iy|.
2F
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4IO HISTORY or THB MONOOLS,
In 1625 he with the Lamae and laymen who had accompaoied him went
to the Dafau Lama, who was then nhie years old^ and received lirom hin
mitiation under the protection of the aU-obstadenremoving 8ix«handed
Mahakak. All pteaent were astonished as they heard him speak with
so mach ease and adroitness about the attributes and prindf^es of the
fiudiy and agreed togedier that he was in truth a new manifestation of
Ae Kbongshim Bndhtsatwa.* The Mongol pilgcims during their stay
assisted at the inagnratioo of the tomb of the last Dalai Lama named
Yondan rGyamtso, idilch took place at the monastery of Brasboog.
On this occaston Tobft Taidshi was honoured wiA the tide of Taissong
KhungtaidshL His companions were similarly decorated ; their various
new styles are set out by Ssanang Sctsen.t
When the time far his retiurn home drew near he addressed the Dalai
Lama through an interpreter, saying^ '*The afiwise Bpgda Wadshradhara
Dalai Lama caused the sun of religion to rise in the gloomy land of the
Mongols. He was our first benefector. Afterwards the Dalai Lama
Yondan rGyamtso was bom m the family (tf one of our princely housesi
and as the conservator of rdigion was also our bene&dor. Would not
the present Dalai Lama also have pity on us and condescend to visit the
Mongol land?^ The Bogda spoke not, but bqpm to cry. Then spoke
sDaba Nangsu to him and said, ^ Why criest thou, Bogda Lama. Ait
thou displeased at the praises we have utbaeed in regard to the two
Bogdas thy ancestors, or hast thou a dislike to the long jomney from thy
farheriand, or dost thou fear tibat the Moqgob might forcibly retain
thee?'' As he made no reply to these questions, those piesent said one
to anodier, ^ This seems to be some prsgnostication. It is oertatnfy not
a mere accident*
As diey were about to depart they were called together and received
from Ae AUwiae, besides various admonkigoa, also prayers for a happy
meeting together again in their fiatnre metempsychosis ornewbirtii.
In 1635 Toba Taissong set out on his return home. While on Us
pilgrimage he dki not foqret his fetfaer's iatentfoo, and he piocved a
copy of die bsTan aGjor written in siher characters, with whidi he
arrived safdy among his people^ On his airival his mother assembled
the princes and nobles of the OrdusTumen, at vdiich Maidari iOiutnktn
Nomun Khakan was asked to consecrate the sacred vohme widi a
shower of flowers.
I have described how the Jinong Sereng Erdeni died after he had
been on the throne for only six months. He was succeeded by his neit
brother Rintshen Eyetahi Daltahing, who connnenced to re^ in 1617,
and waar prodaimed as Khan by die prince historian Ssanang Setseiif
who hhnsdfrecords the feet t WKmwumm^ hn^K /%f »Ii^i> #i|t^ «« gfc^Vfp
die other as Tushimel, recdved consecration ftom Maidad Khntnkto.
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THE ORDUS. 411
Ac this time there was considerable confusion among the people, says
Ssanang Setzen. Schmidt says in his notes, on account of the Manchu
conquests, but these came later, and the confusion complained of was
doubtless that caused by TAigrian Khan, the chief of the Chakhars, in his
endeavours to lecover supreme authority in Mongolia. It would seem
that Rintshen allied himself widi the chiefs of the Kharatshins, Abaghas,
and other tribes, and defeated the Chakhars at a place caDed Ju Tseng,
in the land of the Tumeds.* It wolild seem that Ssanang Setsen, the
prince historian, was not quite faithful to his people at this time. He
tells us he headed a force and allied himsdf with three Chaldiar chief-
tains, with whcm he went towards the desert This was in 1634. He
returned the same year, sent word to the Jinong, and said it was their
wish to have him once more for their leader. The Jinong assented,
and on a lucky day Ssanang Setsen was restored to favour. This was
at a place named Yeke Shibar. Thence Ssanang Setsen accompanied
the Jinong to his people. On his return the latter performed his
devotion before the statue of Buddha. ** About the same time^ through
the intervention of the Saissang Sereng Bodonud of die Chakhars, the
golden pyramid, and through that of Toba Taissong Khungtaidshi, the
white house of ^the Lord,' with its appurtenances, were taken and set
up in the land of the recently pacified princes." ''The Lord** is tke
expression generally used by Ssanang Setsen when iTeferring to his great
ancestor Jingis Khan. The golden pyramid, as Schmidt says, doubtless
means the golden vessel of pyramidal shape, in which his ashes were
preserved, as those of the Thibetan princes and the high Lamas are,
and are then placed in the temples and become objects of adoration .t
The white house was doubtless his royal yuit, whidi was preserved and
became a kind of palladium of the race, and was in the special charge
of the Ordiis. It would appear that during the civil strife in the tribe,
these things were removed for safety, and were brought back when peace
was once more restored among them. When Rintshen was again at
peace with his family, we are told he remounted the thrcme and took
the title of Chakrawartin Setzen Jinong. He granted that of £rke
Noyan to Bhodhitai Tsokegur, while he dignified the prince historian
Ssanang Setzen with that of Erke Setzen Khung. He also gave him
the command of the advance guards, and of the centre in the great
hunts ; while the other princes who had been faithful to him were also
advanced in rank, t
We have now arrived at the period when the Ordus, like the rest of
the Forty-nine Banners, became subject to the Mandms. We are told
that when in 1634 the latter had pursued Edshei. the atm of Lingdan
Khan, as far as the land of Tolitu, cm the west of the Khatungol (diat
is, to the Ordus country west of the Kara Muren), Rintshen forestalled
• Sckmidt* Mem. St. F«e«. Acad., ii. 4SS- t Sdwidt't noto to BtaoMC SetMO. 4*0.
t SuuMuif S«tso«, a9B«
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4ia HISTORY OP THS MONGOLS.
them in his CMpbaxty gave shdtar to Eldihei, let him swear aDegiance to
him, and then diridod his sol^jects with him. On the axrival of the
Mandm troops Rintshen took alarm, and seat them more than a
tiumsand finnilies of the Chakfaars as a piesent From this time, says
tiie author translated by Schmidt, the Ordus were nmnbered among the
trfbes of the Inner dii^sion, i^., were treated as Mancha subjects.* In
1649 the Ordns were divided into six banners, and the dignity of their
princes was declared to be hereditary. A seventh banner was added in
1731. Their tribute is sent to Pekmgby way of Cha hu kheou.t
The Ordns are now divided into seven banners, subject to a jmnce of
the second rank, another of the third rank, four princes of the fourth
rank, and two Taidshis of die first rank. Their chief camp is 285 li
west of Koko Khotan. Their land on the east borders that of the
Tumeds of Koko iChotan, on the west the Khalkas, on the north the
Unds, and on the south die province of Shan a. On the east, north,
and west it is bounded by the Ydlow River. The distance from Pddng
is 1,100 li. Theambitof the country is more than SyOoolLt They are
divided into two wings. ^ The left wing has three banners, of which the
first is to the south-east of the principal camp^ 145 li west of Kutan
Khodio ; the second, or centre, to the south of the valley of Chara ; the
third to the north-east, near lake Balkhaasun-nor. The right wing is
also composed of three banners. The first is encamped at lake Baga
nor ; the second in the western part of the country, near lake Shara
buritu ; the third to the north-west, near lake Oighitu nor. The
principal mountains of the country of the Ordns are the Khoior khara
tolagai, Khara Khotho, in Chinese He-chan, Tuinok, Baitu, Bain ola, &c
''TheHoai^hoissiissby the Great Wall, near the village of Paofiing
hian, fimn the district of Ninghia fii, flows north-west, turns to the east
and fonns die boundaries of the Urads. When it reaches the ancient
eastern frontier of Chii^ chau, it turns to the south, runs along the
east side of die land of the Ordus, vddch it divides from that of the
Tumeds, and then enters China. The Khugaridi^ the Dki-to^utu, the
Baga-tosutu, the Uxlan burlak, and many other rivers also water the
country of the Ordns.
^ The ancient city of Su fiamg, built under the Han dynasty 128 years
before the Christian era, was situated in the territory of the third banner
of the r^^ wing, near the banks of the Hoang ho, above 500 li fix)m the
point where it turns to the east. The ancient dty of Un-ho-ching was
to the north-west of Su ia^g. The palace of Yu lin kung was in the
centre of the city of Ching chau. It was built in the year 607 by die
Emperor Nganti, of the dynasty of Sui"!
* Under the dynasty of the Thsin, the Ordus country bore the name
of Sin disin chung. Under that of the Han it bekmged to the Turks
••riiaMl,lC«B.St.P«tn».Aaid^ii«49C t TimkNraU, ii. 067.
; Sclunidt, If ta. St. Ptttrt. Am/L, sL 490, 43 1. i Timkowdu, U. 967-^.
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THE ORDUS. 413
Hkng N«L In the yeir 127 B.C tbe Enoperor Vupti ettabHshed there
the principality of Su foag, which he put under the juriidiction of the
dty of Ping <dia«i. In the sequel it fell into the hands of vaxiotts con-
qneron. Towards the end of the ninth century Szu-ldung settled in
this cottntry, which was assigned him as a recompense for the services
he had rendered the Emperor in the war against Huang chao. During
the tenths eleventh, and twellth centuries this country remained subject
to the kings of Hia. When the Mongols or Yuan conquered the
kingdom of H«a or Tangut in 1209, it became a province of their
empire. At the commenoement of the Ming dynasty garrisons were
placed in it and agriculture was introduced.'' *
The Abbe Hue and his companion M. Gabet traversed the countiy
of the Ordus on their journey to Thibet. He describes the land as very
unatuactive. " Wherever you turn," he says, " you find only a soil bare
and without verdnre, rocky ravines, mariy hills and plains covered
wt^ a fine moving sand, blown by the impetuous winds in every directioiL
For pasture you will oi^y find a few thorny bushes and poor ferns, dusty
and fetid. At intervals only, this horrible soil produces some thin sharp
gTMs, so firm in the earth that the animals can only get it up by diggii^
die sand with dieir muxsks. The numerous swampe i4dch hnd been so
heavy a desolatkm to us 00 the borders of the Yellow River, became
matter of regret in the country of the Ordus^ so veiy rare here is waier.
Not a single rivulet is theve^ not a spring when the tsweller can quench
his thirst ; at distances only are there ponds and cisteas filled with fetid
mnddy water." t ''The steppes of the Ordus, thoi^ so destitvte of
good pasture^ have nei been quite abaniioned by tyiki ^n'^^f. You
often find there grey squinets, agile yeUowgoats (^ Mongolian antelQpes)i
and beautifiiHy phunaged pheasants. Hares are in abundance, and are se
fer firom shy that they did not even take the trouble to move at our
nppnMCk; they merdy rose on thdr hind legs, pricked up their ears,
and looked at us as we passed with the utmost incSfierence." t This is
the nsnalaspea of tbe country, but here and there are aechided valleys
wiifek contrast 1^ their fertility with the ffoneial barrenness around.}
Tbe chief topogn^^hical feature of the Ordus country is the great salt
Jaise of Dabaun-Nur, wbkh M. Hoc aays siqnplies with salt x^ only the
a4ieoei^Tutars, but also seve«lprmnces of the Chinese empire. ''For
nday's journey,'' he says, 'befeie you reach it» the soil chaAges by degrees
in fonn and aspect; kising its yelletw tint, it becomes insensA^ white
m ibamftk thinlr covered wkh snow. Tbe earth swelling in every
dfapsolkm forma innpDMrable faOodBS, cese-shaped, and of a rqgulMity
St perfect that you night suppose tiiem tn haare been cenetnicl»d
by Ae kend of man. Seowrimse they are gw^yei io JmfBpPmm
^ other Ike pears pled en • piatt ) tbajr art of ail siits^ eopne but
^ Hoc, op» dt, L iSf mS «x.
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4 14 HISTORY OP THE IfONOOLS.
just created, others dd, exfaaustedy and fiUMng to decay. Around tl^ae
earcresceiioes grow aeeping thorns, long pointed, widK>ot flower
which intertwining spirally surmount them widi a sort of iietwoile cap.
These thorns are never found dsewhere than ^xmt these hiDocfcs.
Upon those of more recent growth they are fimiy vigorous, and lull of
dioots. Upon the elder elevations they are dried up, calcined by the
nitre, brittie^ and in shreds. . . . Springs, generally so rare in the
Ordus country, are here of frequent occurrence, but the water is lor the
most part excessively salt Here and there however, by the very side
of a braddsh pool, there is a spring of soft, sweety ddidous water. These
are indicated by small flags flutterii^ on the ends of poles.* Dabsun»Nur
is not so much a lake as a reservoir of nofTheral salt, mixed with nitrous
efflorescence. It is about 20 li in circumference. The caravans cross
over it wkh impunity, but have to avoid places where water is seen
babblmg, which mark deep pits. This ha led the Abbe Hue to con-
jecture that it is really a lake covered with a thkk eocmstatkm, wbach
lbims« roof over it Its ii^oence seems to pervade the whole Ordus
district, which throughout has brackish water and so£l,and a sorfiioe
encrasled with saline matter.* ''Theherdsof the Tartars of the Ovdusi"
says oar traveller, ^are not very iwmerous, and are quite diflerat fnm
theae whkh feed on the rich pastures of the Chakhars and of the Keshik*
lens. The cattle and horses appeared very miserable ; the goats, riiesp,
and caifeMb, however, looked very well, which is undoubtedly the conse-
quence of thek predilection for plants impvq^nated widi saltpetre.
'^The Mongols of the Ordus are very nmch afected by the wretchedness
ef the soft upon wfaldi they five. .... Most of them Uve in lents
made of some rugs of €^ or goat skins, firamed on a wretdied woodwmk.
BveryAing about these tents is so old and dirty, so tattered with time
and storms that you would with difficulty suppoab they coukl serve as
idKKles lor human beings. Whenever,* says Hue, *• we pitched onr
tent near these poor habitaUons, we were sare to be visited by a crowd
of wretches who prostrated temsehes at our leet, rolled on the earth,
and gave us the most magnifioent titles in order to extract sonMthia^-
Irom our charity.'t I wifl conchide my account of Ae Ordus widi a
passage from the letter whkh the Emperor Khan^ sent to his aeo,
when in 1696, in his campaign i^^anut dM Elsuths (to wych I shall rsiNr
in another chapter), he raided for sooae time in the Ordus country. He
says, ^Till now I never had at all an accurate idea reqiectinf the Ofdns.
They are a very civilised nation, and have lost nothing of the <M mannifs
of the true Mongols. AB their princes live in perfect union anaong
themsdves, and do not know the chfference between $mm and Mm^.
No one ever heard of a thief among them» althomEh they lake not the
sGgfatest precaution for guarding then- catde and hoiaea. If by chance
* Hue. i. J04^ao6. t Hoc, i. 169.
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THR TUMBD& 415
cut of thcM animals goes astray, it is taken cave of by him who finds k
till ha has diacdmod iu owner, to fdiom he restores it without the least
pa]Fment. The Ordns are extrtmdy skilfitl in breeding cattle. Most of
their iKNraes are tame and tractable. The Chakhars north of the Ordns
en}oy the reputatkxi of training them with more care and success ; never-
thdess I believe Aat fht Ordns excel them in this point. Notwith-
standii^ these advantages, they are not at aU so rich as the other
Mongols."* This showa that the sterility of their country has been
like that of some odwr coantries noted for hardy virtues^ a cradle of
honesty as well as poverty.
II. THE TUMEDS.
Thb T^mAods form one of the sections of the Baraghon Tumen. They
are often referred to by Ssanang Setaen as ^ the seven Tnmeds," and
afterwards as the twdve Tumeds» They are now divided into two tribes,
one known as the Tnmads of Koko Khotan, oncainped in the nei^iboar-
heod of thai c&y, and the odier on the borders of Mandmria. The
Tumeds answer to the Mankoantien of De MaiDayt who tefls as that
they obe^red Yenta {$^^ Altan Khan). He speaks of them In one place
as tiie sax, and in another as the eight encampments or clans of the
Mankoantien.t This name is probably connected with Mankoandiin, i
whom he makes a son of Dayan Khan, and may be the same as Amu
bolodif^^y^^yw.!
The seven Tomeds are first named in i453» when their duef Dof^bolang
Taidshi murdered the Mongol Khan UkdEtu. % He was himsdf put to
death some years after by Mandaghol Khan*** I have previously
described how UhisBolod was appointed Jinong of the Baraijion
Tumens,tt and how he was murdered by some di the pdnoes who were
jealous of his intrusion upon them. It is carious that the chief con-
spirators mentioned are the chieft of the Ordus Tumen and of the
Jungihiyabo Tumen, but the Tumeds and their chief arc not named as
taking part in the con^iracy and murder, tt
Ibiri Taishi of the Jungshlyabo seems to have been the head con-
spirator, and when the Baraghon Tumens were punished by Dayan
Khan, we learn fimn De MaiUa that his dans dispersed the Halation,
i,i,f the Kharatshins alone remaining in their okl posts. I believe that
on this occasion several of the clans bdonging to the Jungshiyabo
* OroMtr, cited bj Hoc, op. du. i. x66. t Op. ciu, x. 30s and 308.
X /i., 903 and 308. 4 /if., 301. ^Vidtlnft%. .
5 Swwang Sotxen, 171. Ante, 366- ** W., 175. tt irid§ utt, 373.
t: Stanuif Setzea, 1^5-1^'
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4l6 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
Tumen were added to the Tumeds, for one division of die Eastern
TumedSy as I shall show presendy, is still governed by princes of die
same race as those of the Khamtshins. It was this accession wMch I
believe increased the number of dans among the Tumeds, so that from
about this time Ssanang Setzen often refers to them, not as the Seven
but as the Twelve Tumeds. On the division of the Mongols amon^ the
sons of Dayan Khan, the Tumeds fell to Arsa Bolod Mergen Khtmg-
taidshi * probably the Mankoantien <^ De Mailla. He seems to have
died early and childless, for we hear no more of him, and his portion
fell like the rest of the Baraghon Tumeds to Barsa Bolod.
While Barsa Bolod's eldest son Gun Bilik succeeded him as Jinong,
and also as immediate overchief of the Ordus, his second son Altan
Khan became the chief of the greater part of the Twelve Tumeds.t He
was bom in 1507, and was destined to fill a very notable place in the
history of the Mongols. In company with the other Baraghon Tumens,
the Tumeds seem to have migrated from the north of the desert about
the time of Dayan Khan, and they settled with the Ordus in the land of
Gholun tori. I have already described the desolate and foiiom condition
of this country, and we are not surprised that when commanded by an
enterprising chieftain they should have left it, and we are tdd in Ibe
treatise translated by Schnudt, Mem. St Peters. Acad., ii. 453, that
Altan Khakan left the land of Gholmi tori and setded in a place caBed
Fung chau, and biiilt a town there which he called Baishing, and
made it his capital. X This is the same town which die Chinese call
Ban Sheng. De Mailla says he was master of the country of Kal
yuen and Chang tu.| It was when he had made peace with China
after his long struggle with that power that he removed his residence to
Koko Khotan. Most of Altan Khakan's Ufe was spent hi his wars
with the Ming empire. He seems to have eaify acted independendy of his
suxereign the }inong, for we read that in 1529 he made a raid upon the
district of Taitong with a body of cavahy^ and retired with a rich booty.
The next year he returned, crossed the YeOow River, and in conjtmcdon
with the Jinong plundered the province <A Ninghia and the district of
Sucn hoa. fu. Never, says De Mailla, had die Tartars so much harassed
China as under his leadership. He was constantly on die move. Earty
in I $31 he plundered the neighbourhood of Taitoi^, later in the year he
ravaged the frontier of Shen si, and later still tiiat of Shan si, kaiing
many of the inhabitants. \ The latter days of the Ming dynasty of
China were not far off, and die empire was troubled with many rebels.
During these troubles, says De Mailla, the Tartars did not cease to
attack the frontier. In 1540 Ahan Kilo (?) and Jinong formed a Vaq^
and attacked China at the head of twelve hordes. They killed many
people before they were driven away by the Chinese generals Petsio and
'^ S«uiii0g Seue&,jos. t SMnangS«tt«D,MS* I Schmidt, op. dt., 11.453. TSinkowdd,4t4.
I Op. cit, X. 308. I D» MftilU, X. 3oS, 309.
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THB TUMIDt. 417
Ynb change iHmi dife>tcd dwm «t Onri ul tinf and Lien yim pta Later
fai Hie year tiiejr were again in Chinay where Uiey were condocted by a
treafilMrocia Boddbiat ptieat. They entered by way of TaS tong, Tu
ynen and Yen men, and forcing the defile of LingHi-koan, they broke into
Shan aiy and phmdered several districts there.*
In 1542 Altan again invaded China, while the Jinong did the same
from ano^er side. The latter now died, and Altan's authority became
greatly citandcd. His age and prowess made him supreme com-
mander of die army of the Baraghon Tumens. After the burial of his
brother he returned with Tsingtaiki, Cheulat and Halalahan,} each
althe head of so^ooo to 30/»o men« and once more ravaged Shan sL
The Mandarins began to grow frightened, and offered a reward of i,ood
inds and the grade of Mandarin of the third ranlc to whoever would
bnng them the head of the Mongol chie£ As an answer to this menace,
Akan ODoe more entered the empire with a lai^ge Ibrce^ pillaged the
district of Tai yuen, and encamping on the banlcs of the Fen dmi, made
incursions upon the districu of Lu ngan and Ping yang, in ^lan si.
The amies of the provinces of ^umg tung and Ho nan were ordeied
to march against him« but before they combined, AHan croased the
mountains hitherto deemed impassabiOp fell suddeidy upon them in
succession, and most severely defeated them. He now ravaged Shan si
at his leisure, made captive more than aoo^ooo men and women, beudes
tnasure, and a/»o,ooo bead of cattle, horses, &c., and with dus booty
he returned home. In 1544 he entered the province of Pehchehli, and
advanced ahonost to the gates of Peking, ravaging everywhere.^ The
Chinese general Tsiao pong^ and the viceroy Chu £uig, were imprisoned,
and their goods confiscatedibr not having aippoaed him better. He was
now quiet for a short time» and apparently aspired to become a Chmese
grsndee, for in 1547 Hong wan ta, an assessor of the Imperial tribunals
on the frontier, wrote to say that Altan wished to do homage and pay
tribute. Wlttle the eoundl was deliberating about this, he once
more crossed the Hoangha| The following year he renewed his
request. This was refused. Piqued at the refusal, he made another
profitalile raid upon Tai tong and Suen boa fa. The following year
he gained two victories over Chinese armies, but these were folfowed
by a defeat, in which he lost many of his followers and the booty
he had captured. It was long, says De MaiUa, since the Chinese had
had ouch a decided success over the Tartars. lu effect was however
very transient, for in 1550 Altan agam marched with the largest
army he had yet assembled. He OHptured many towns, and oftco
moie moved in the direction of Peking. Near die capital he
• Dt llaUlii. X. SM-
t Chiiig B«cbfttttr and KlMilAtaU BaghAtw. broUNft ai S«CMa KlMnfUidihi. S«mmic
Sumo, ^s u^ aiS*
I Frobably tht Kilo aboft-oaiii i Dc MmUii, m. siS- I De MaUla, x. 316.
SO
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4l8 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
took some Chinese prisonersy vdio were atorwavdi releated. Tki^
related that they found Altan seated on a foU. He lent a letlsr
back with them addressed to the Emperor. He aalnd thai he mffiA
be considered a tributary of die empire, and that each time hia envoys
went they shoold be permitted to have an escort of 3,000 men. While
the Imperial council was deliberatii^ on this letter, a vast fire wm seen
in the northern horizon. These were the flames of the towns, doc^ the
Blooi^ were then filing They made a dreadful devasiatien hi the
district of Loang hiang hien, and reduced that of Pao ting fe to a
desert
Meanwhile the Emperor summoned troops from the various provinces,
especially from Liautung^ but beforo they could arrive Altan Khan
retired and took his booty with him. The otherwise eccentric demands
of Altan are explained by De MaiUa on the ground that the Mongob
who had been isolated for a long time from the outside world, and had
few means of disposing of thetr pastoral wealth, desired very mudi to
have some fairs appointed on the Chinese borders where they coukl sett
their horses. A demand for the institution of such €urs was beii^
constantly renewed. The Emperor at length agreed. Certain foua wero
fixed, with a pdl tax for the horses.* Altan attended one of the fieurs in
person, and took as tribute two rare horses. The Chinese wefe apparently
not quite pleased with the concession and fancied that Ahan had some
ulterior object. It was noticed that he sent laige herds of cattle and
sheep to the markets rather than horses, and that he made demands for
other Ceuts in Liau tung, which makes it probable that he then contrcdled
the whole force of the Mongols of the Inner division (i>., of the Forty*
nine banners). The fiurs were apparently foilures. The tenor caused
by the recent Mongol ravages frightened away the Chinese dealers. This
faihure irritated Altan, who recommenced his assaults upon the district
of Tai tong at the head of from 35,000 to 30^000 men. The viceroy on
the frontier recomoMnded that the foirs shouki be abolished, as they
afforded means of easy access to the empire on the part of the Mongols.
They were accordingly abolished in 1552, and thto Chinese were forbidden
to attend them. Altan renewed his demonstrations in 1553 and i554«t
Let us now turn once more to his doings nearer home.
On the death of the Khakan Bodi Ahik, he was succeeded by his son
Kudang, Altan acknowledged hb d^endence upon him, and asked
that he hunadf might be invested witii the title of Sutu Khakan.!
Schmidt siqrs he was alto known as Gegen Khan.| Thb was agreed to
by the young Khakan. In 1552 the same author describes a campaign
undertaken by Akan against the DorbenUirads. He encountered them on
the mountain Kunggei Sabkhan, killed the chief of the Khoits, took his
wife and two sons prisoners, and subdued the whole people. He also
* De MailU. x. 5x9. t Dc Bf aiUa, x. 340, sai. I Vid$ ante, 377- Ssiauic Setcen, aoi.
i If «m. St. Pttm. AouL, tt. 439.
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THE TUMEDS. 419
occupied Khooing, the ancient Karakonun, which had been seized by
the Durben Uirads.*
In 1557 Altan again invaded China. He captured Ing cbau as well
as forty small places, but he was attacked and forced to retire by Yang
chun, the Chinese border commander. Tao song chai, one of his wives,
and his son Singai abandoned him and submitted to the Chinese.t
Except an ununporUnt raid in 1558, Altan Khakan now ceased to molest
China for some time. On the death of the Emperor Khi tsong in 1566
he thought the opportunity favourable, and entered China with Hoang
Uiki, whom De Mailla caUs his son, but who wi
Khutuktai Setzen Khungtaidshi, and after a
plundering its neighbourhood, retired. In 1570,
of Altan, Haliko, and some others submitted
invested the former with the Mandarin title, a
ptesents of silk. In is/o Altan demanded th
which was granted on condition that he alsc
deserters. He was much pleased at this, and once nnore sent envoys,
asking to be admitted as a tributary of the empire, so De Mailla says.
The Mongol dironider, on the other hand, tells us that after fighting the
Chinese for nineteen yearsj he pressed them so hard that they granted him
the title Sim wang4 and a golden seal, upon which he made peace with
the Kin Emperor Long tshing (Mn tsong of De Mailla), and forbade the
other Mongol princes to make war upon China. This was in 1571- i
In 1573 Altan Khakan marched against Khara Tibet, ue., Black
Thibet He subjected both divisions of the upper and lower Shira
Uighurs, and took three of the chiefs of the latter prisoners ; he also
carried away Arik Lama, sGumi bShoga Hakshi, and many Thibetans.
Through the influence of Arik Lama, Altan Khakan became mndi
attached to the Lama religion, and b^an to use the celebrated Buddhist
six*syllable prayer formula. |
In 1572 Altan sent 250 picked horses aa tribute to the Imperial court.
His messengers were well treated, and took back with them two of their
companiona who had been prisoners for twenty years. In 1573 the
In^erial authorities of China, then under the control of the R^ent,
caused several gdd and nlver seals to be engraved and sent to Altan
and the other chie&.ir
The fi^wing year Pinto, AUan's son, having applied to the Chinese
authorities to allow ban to hold a fair to the west of the Hoang ho, was
lefoaed ; he accordingly migrated to the Koko noor lake, and commenced
an attack on the w«atem borders of Shensi, and practically ibrced the
adoption of his deoMUld upon the Chinese authorities. A large fair was
•8niunffSeUeii,«9. f De MaiUa, z. 323.
I Chun i waog, an obedient and just Idaf. Timkowiki, ii. ax$.
SttJeimxt. Dt MaHfe« X. 334. r* SMntuigSets a«sxi«
^ De Mailto, x 33».
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420 HISTORY OF THB MONGOLS.
authcMTised to be held at Kan chau and a small one at Chuang tfang.*
In 1576 a Mongol named Intingtaishi, having molested the Chbese
frontier, was ofdeied by Altan to pay a fine of i/xx> sheep, 200 horses,
and two camds. The same year Altan Khakan was visited by his great
nephew Setzen Khungtaidshi of the Ordus, and was urged by him to
make a journey to the south, and once more to restore the religion which
had prevailed among them in the days of Khubilai Khakan and the
Khutuktu Fagpa Lama. Altan assented, and after taking counsel with
the chte6 of the Baraghon Tumens, sent an embassy to invite the Allwise
Bogda Sodnam rCyamtso Khutuktu to go to him. This embassy was
welt received, and the Bogda sent the Khakan a letter in reply, with
presents, promising to follow directly. He then built a temple at Tsab
chiyal, a district of Koko noor. The following account of what
happened as nearly as I can understand it I take from Ssanang Setzen.
In 1577 Altan Khakan and the three Baraghon Tumens set out to
meet the Bogda. A large party went ahead with costly presents to
announce their approach. When these arrived in his presence near ihm
Ulaghan Muren, they asked him to show them some sign of his power,
upon which he put his hand in the stream, and the water which previously
ran one way turned and ran in the reverse way. This miracle converted
the party at once.t As a second party also bearing gifts drew near, a
spring suddenly spouted out in a dry and barren place. They were also
converted.
While they were passing the night at Ulaghan Muren, Bogda Khayan-
giriwa (one of the eight terrible Buddhist gods) at the request of the
Pancha Mahakala, who begged him to become the protector of the Faith,
sent his messengers to capture and put under restraint the dragons and
evil spirits m Mongolia. As the procession neaied Gun Ergi (^., the
Irgene Kun of the Muhammedan writers},^ and at night, all the dragons,
evil spirits, and onggh^xls, which lived in Mongolia, and which had the
heads of camels, oxen« sheep, cats, hawks, and wolves, and many other
forms, were driven before the Bogda, and by means of powerful exor*
dsms were expelled and subjected against their wills.
At the head of the third detachment went Khutuktai Setzen Khung-
taidshi of the Ordus, and Dayan Noyan of the Tumeds« With them they
had 3,000 men, and they carried many costly presents of mOt, gold and
silver, camels and horses, with their saddles decorated with gdd and
jewels. As Khutuktu made obeisance, the Bogda dtsdosedhtmtetf to Mm
in the form of the incarnation of the Khongshnn Bodhissatwa with foor
hands. Another miracle is rd&ted by Ssanang Sctten, as lumng been
witnessed by the bystanders, namdy, that the hone on winch the Bogds
rode left in the impressions of its hoofo prints of the six sacred syOaMeik
It was in 1578 die Allwise Bogda first showed himsdf hi Mongolia, At
* Df Mtflta»jb siS. t SttiMSfl 8tif9Bt j0f . I UkmUifM att f tiw—g Stwa, m
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THE TUMEDS. 4^1
their first interview with him the Khakan and the Khungtaiddii stated
at him with astonishment On his inqairing why they did to, Altan
first answered. ** For a kmg time I had a disease in my foot known as
TolaL I was advised to thrust my foot into the open breast of a recently
killed horse. I did this. The pain increased in aainsufierable manner.
I looked up involuntarily, when there appeared in the sky a nhite man
who thus addressed me, * Khakan, how can you commit such a great
sin ? ' whereupon he disappeared. After that time I was constantly filled
with fright, until the Tangutan Ashik Lama (elsewhere called Arik
Lama) made me learn the six ^Uables, and recommended me to pray
diligently. From Gumi Bakshi 1 learnt the use of the rosary, and with
it I have daily repeated the six syllables io8 times. I recognise you as
the man who appeared to me, and this is why I stared with wonder.'^
Then also spake Setzen Khakan. "As I formeriy sat in the presence
of my mother, playing at chess, she gave me a (at piece of horseflesh
to eat As I ate, my knife slipped fix>m my hand, raised itsdf in the air,
and in falling to the ground passed dose to my knees. As I looked down
to find my knife, 1 saw a young man in black dothes, who spoke to me
with cross and threatening k>oks, saying, * Why eatest thou horseflesh ? '
upon which he also became invisibte. Since then I have not eaten
horseflesh. 1 also looked with astonishment because I saw you were
the man who had rebuked me.'*
The AHwise Bogda replied ^^ that this was all true. That this was not
the first time they had met. When Altan Khakhan had been previously
bom in the person of Khubilai Setzen Khakan, he himself had also
lived in the person of Madi Dhwadshawa Fagpa Lama, the nephew of
S'akya Pandita Ananda Dhwadshawa S'ri Bada. At that tune when I,
at tlie instigation of your wise wife Chambui Khatun, bestowed tipon
you the four consecrations of the exalted Kei Wadshra, and disseminated
the faith by word and thought, and produced many proo£i of my
assiduity and zeal, you rewarded me with the Chinese title of Sang
Sing Dai Wang Guyusri, a costly seal, and a yeflow signature, put me
at the head of the religious administration, and promoted me to places
of confidence. Setzen Khungtaidshi was m the days of our exalted
Buddha (/./., of Sakiamuni himselQ the mightiest of sovereigns, namely,
Sokchan Shingbo, king and ruler of the people of Magadha, the
protector of Buddha, and the dispenser of gifts. His younger brother
Setzen Daitshing was at the same period king and ruler of the people
of Kosala, under the name SartshaL This first interpreter, Waddura
Toimu Gundshin, was at the period of one of my eaily appearances
the interpreter and teacher of Irguk, under the name Lungdan
Sharab. He vras bom again and fulfilled the same office between the
Khakan Khubilai and myself, under the name of Khara Moritu of the
Amng. He is now acting in the same capacity after a third birth.*
After this conversation Altan Khakan went to his couch. As a token
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422 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
of the new era in which light was about to penetrate the darkness of that
region, he put on a white dress, mounted a white horse, and once more
went to the Bogda, accompanied by his wife and 10,000 men, to accom-
pany him to the newly>buih temple at Tsabchiyal. On this occasion
the Khakan took his salutation-presents, consistmg of the seven noble
precious things, adorned vdth the eight objects of sacrifice, 500
Sidshirs, in weight ; a golden bowl, thirty Sidshirs in weight, tilled with
precious stones ; silken stuffs of untold worth and beauty, ten pieces of
each kind ; other silken stuffs of five different colours, 100 of each
colour ; ten white horses, with their saddles decorated with gold and
precious stones ; besides 5,000 head of cattle of various kinds. This
presentation took place amidst great festivities, during which Setzen
Khimgtaidshi delivered the following speech, which was translated by
the interpreter Wadshra Tonmi Gun Gundshin. "As harbingers of coming
blessings, we have here the Lama as the true object of worship, and the
Khakan, the chief almsgiver ; to us like the sun and moon when they
mount the blue sky together. At the command of the god Khormusda,
did our great ancestor Sutu Bogda Jingis Khakan subdue the five
banners of his own people and the four related nations. His two grand-
sons, the Khubilgan of the Bodhissatwa, Godan Chan, and the Chakra-
tuming Khubilai Setzen Khakan, placed the profound inquirer into the
depths of all knowledge S'akya Pandita,and the belief-enlightenerofthe
breathing-essence, the king of science, Fagpa Lama, at the head of
the religious institutions, and following their example, appointed believing
princes of the Mongols, Lamas of the Sakyas, and gratified the breathing-
essence to the highest d<^ee by the lawful admitistration of both
governments (? temporal and spiritual). Since then and from the time of
Uchaghatu Setzen Khakan until now, the condition of religion and the
adnunistration of justice among us have fallen very low. We shed the
blood and eat the flesh of living beings. Now from this day, when
Sakiamuni has in the revolution of time reappeared in the person of the
Bogda Lama, and the Lord of the earth Khormusda in the person of the
very mighty Khakan, shall the piled up waves of the tempestuous blood
stream be transformed into a deep, peaceful sea of milk. If we trust in the
Khakan and the Lama, and walk in the bright ways of our forefathers, so
will it be well with us."
** Uke tho voice of the cuckoo in the first month of summer," says
Ssanang Setzen, "so sounded these words in the ears of the vast assembly
of more than ioo,opo men, including Chinese, Thibetans, Mcmgols, and
UighuiSi piiests and lay^fotk**" The whole assembly heard them with
gx«at astonishment* Thereupon the following proposals were made by
the Khakan and the Lama, and accepted unanimously by the religious,
the priests, and commonalty.
It was the custom of the Mongols on the death of a man, and
according to his wealth, to slaughter a number of camels and horses.
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THE TUMBDS. 423
whidi were buiri«d with bim, and were oUled KhoUgha. From this time
it wae ordained that this custom should cease, and that the catde
appoiiited for the hecatomb should be given to the priests.
The yeaziy aiid monthly fasto and days of devotion^ as abo the
fast called Naiman GeshjgutUy were to be kept
The priesthood was divided into four ranks. If a comnum person
lay his band on a Tsordshi, slandered or iusuhed him, this shouU be
counted as if it were an o0encc against a Khungtaidshi. TheRabJimba
Gabdshu shouhi be similarly counted asTaidshis; the Gelongs as
TabunaagSy Gundshins, Taishis, Mogtd Saissangs; and the clerical
CMbaig^iantsas, Ubaehts^ and Ubeanntsas as the Ognigods.
During the three mosthly Cast days, die slaui^ring of cattle and the
chase of wild animals was to cease altogether.
If anybody of tiie leligiotts dass violated his vows of chastity or
married, be was to be thus puniihed. His 6ice was to be blackened with
soot, and he should make a three-fold circuit of the temple badcwatds, that
is, be made a laughmg stock to the worshippers. He should (hen lose his
status xmd be driven away. If a Ubashhi or a Ubassantsa should injure
the cause of religicm, of which he ought to^ be the protector, or kill any-
thing, he should suffer the punishment of eaqwlsion in the above
described manner, and besides become subjea to pay taxes. The
Ubashis were to be punished in a similar way if they got drunk. These
and other things written of old, under the three Thibetan Chakrawartins,
and under Ktmbilai Setien Khakan, the Mongol, were collected together
and propounded imder the title, ** The Uws of the sdenoe of the ten
raeritodous wori».*
Upon this the Khakan gave the Allwise Bogda the titk of Wadshra-
dhara Dalai Lama, and raised him to the same post of honour which
Fi^pa Lama fonneriy bdd. The four dasses of religious were relieved
fiom paying taxes, fom Ibikmiag the army» or attending the great hunts
and other burdens, and the administration of justioey rdigions and civile
was duly established.
Thereupon the Dalai Lama conferred on Ahan Khakan the title of the
Thousand Golden Whed-turaing Chakmwaitin Setsen Khakan ; upon
Setzen Khnngtaidshi that ef Guga Garfai Setaen Kbongtai^shi, and
simifau- new titles were cootered on die lesser chieft. The Dalai Lama
promised to erect the statue of Maklari (Mairqra} at NUom^ Tabu
Altan Khakan also promised te raise at Koko Khotanrthe dud city
of the Tumeds, a statue of Budidia, made ef gold, sihfer, and predpus
stones. Bushuktu Jmeng Taidahi promised to have a transcript of the
ro8 voUunes of the bKa aGjur, mnde in gsld and siver letters^ and
Saftol Setsen Daitshing to build a tem|rfe.* Akmi Khan now retunied
home agam, tOdng vnth him Dongkor Manddhnsii KhuAikni, who may
be looked upon as the evangelist of the Mongols.t
^SnmmiiHaM^nf' '- t Bchi&idt^ aoU to Smaamt^PUcm, 416.
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424 HISTORY OP THE MONGOLS.
The events I have described, and wliidi were of such suptone
importance in Mongc^ history in diat they led to the conversion ei Che
wfaoie race to Lamaisniy are described in Pallas^ great wotk from Kalmiik
authorities. His account is not always accurate, and it varies in some
of die details from the other. According to him Altan Khakan suffered
greatly from the gout When he consulted the Shamans tliey recom-
mended him to have a live man, not a hone as in Ssanang Setzett's
story, slit open, and to bury his foot in the warm entrails. This horrible
remedy was to be repeated on the evenings when there was a full moon,
and as the moon was setting. When he was one day practisii^ this
remedy, he fell into a dream, and fancied he saw in the full moon the image
of a Lama dressed in full panoply. This addressed hfan thus, ^ iChaui,
we win heal your para without putting a man to death. Cease this
barbarous practice.'' The Khan then ordered the corpse to be removed,
washed his feet, and summoned two Lamas, who were then at his court,
one of die Yellow sect and die odier of the Red. He told them the
vision, and asked them whose image it was he had seen. One of them,
named Samtshan chok, answered that it was the image of Dalai Laaia
Yondon jamsu.*
Ahan then despatched Setsen Kfaui^;tttdshi and Sukshinbo Khan to
TMbet, to fetch diis Lama on a mule to him. They accordingly went
and brought hinLt
Altan Khan had latteiiy been on pretty good teems with the Chinese.
In 1577 he renewed the n^odations for hokling a fair for die sale of tea
and horses, and asked for a gdd seal for one of his dependents^
doubtless Khutuktu Setsen Khungtaidshi is meant, but his overtures
were declined^
In 1582 we are told he had a curious illness, in vrfaich his body seemed
to die while his spirit remained sound. The Mongol duefe grew
discontented, and were heard to ounplain to one another, and say,
" What is the use of this rdigion if it cannot save our noble Khan's
life," and they threatened to drive the Lamas away, upon which Mand-
shusri Khutuktu called them together, and explained to them that nothing
could avert death, and that everything woridly is as transient as the
moon's riiadow in the pool, car thereOecdons in a minor ; that even the
divhie Buddha was subject to it He then went on to say that he could
not avert death idien the sickness was mortd, but if not mortal his doll
was equal to curing the Khan. Ssanang Setsen goes e« to say that he
diereopon put sane medidae in die Khakan's nostrils, repeaUng mean-
wlule thiee times the formuk^ *< Khakan, for the sake of religion con-
descend to rise," upon whic^ the oki man gradually recovered. After
his recovery he summoned his felk>wers about hhn, and sharply rebuked
them fbr their feithkssness. He inquired from them how many of his
»TlibbtniMite> that LaiawMO0ttlM& born. r«# Schmidts note, SMsang SttMO, 41^.
tP»UM,Svid.Hlit.Nach.mb.««.ilOi«.Vo]lMncii,u.4if. t D« MnHA, s. 9961
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7HS TUMXDtw 425
•acettors bad betm permitted to readi hb age. Asked i^ while tbej
condaved the wocili^^pert of the Onggods and Tsatfks (^^^ the Msh
godaof Shamanim), they had ever kaoim a man to aecore immortality.
''Who among eidier my anoeetoctor yoonwas immortal?* he laad.
'^ Whidi of them even readied one handled yean ? I am nearly eic^
yean okt, and have readied the teem of my life. Did not Saldamnai
Imneelf give the example of Nirwana to ehowni how inevitable is death?
Did not the Allwise Bogdateadms this? You know it to be true. If
Setscn Khungtaidshi were here he woold fni'fftirt matten better than I
do."* Some time after this» Altan lOian and Setxen Khnngtaidshi
assembled the diiefii of the twdve Tumedsy and they entered into a solemn
agreement to support and extend the feith. Altan Khan only survived
illness for twdve months.t Palks, in the work already dted, also
mentions this second illness of the Khan. He however makes it out
that the Khan actually died, and that when the people became discon>
tented, the Lama Dongkor Manshnsri by his prayen and exorcisma
brou^t him to life again, and that he remained alive fer seven days4
Altan Khan died in 1583 at the age of seventy-seven. ( The Imperial
Chinese authorites sent Mandarins to ofier presentSi and to perform the
prescribed ceremonial about his corpse. Thus passed away the greatest
Mongol who had lived since the golden age of the entire, and his reign
is a memoraUe epoch in the annals of the race^ connected tfs it is with
the npnad of I.amaism in Mongolia, where it b probable that it now
flourishes more than anywhere else.
Altan Khan was succeeded by his son Senge Dugureng Timnr. This
was in 1584. The same year, after taking counsd with the three
Baraghon Tumens, he sent the ftmeral offioi^gs due on the death of
Altan Khakan to the Wadshnidhara Dalai Lamai and alto sent him a smn-
mons to go to him, which he at <mce obeyed. On his journey he passed
the Chinese town of Khamsu, idiere he was feasted. During the feast,
the ashes of the incense pastils that were being burnt before the Dalai
Lama arranged themsdves in the shape of the letten Ju, and then
hardened. This mirade had a great effect on the people of Khamsu, and
the feith was much tpttad there. From Khawtsu the Dafad Lama
proceeded to Irgai, wbere- he was also very wdl recdved. There he
manifested himself to the people as Buddha with one fece and four
hands, two of which were dMsped over his heart, and the other two hdd,
one an Udpala flower and the other a white crystal rosary. He sat
cross-lqgied with all his emblems about him, dressed in statdy attire
and with jewelled ornaments on, while there streamed upon him a five
cokmred light (1^., a rainbow). ThiSi says Ssanang Setsen,. was seen by
many and did much to convert them. In 15S5, as I have described,!
' Swaanc 9eUeii, 343. t Staaang Bauen, 447. I I>I1m. op. ctt^ ii* 436>
^ Smuuuic SeUto, 247. De HaiUa, x. 344. | Ptf» Mtt^ 4C9«
aH
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4a6 HISTORY OP THE MONGOLS.
Hie Dalai Lama readied tbc camp of Setxen Kbnngtaidihi. After
staying with him for lome time, and also visiting Btiahukta Jinong, he
proceeded to the encampment of the tweive Tomeds. On arriving there
he blamed them for h&vii^ buried the body of Akan Khan. He had it
exhumed and burnt In the ashes were found a great number of Sharils
and other predous relics.*
Ssanang Setzen now goes on to teQ a story ^diich crystahses for us a
very curious phase of old Mong<d manners. Altan Khakan had a son
called Tubet TaidshL The young man died, and his modier deter^
mined to kill lOO boys and too foals of camds, which were to be buried
with him, and to accompany him as an escort to the other world. She
had killed over forty boys, when a tumult arose among the people.
As she was about to slay the son of one Shineld Orlok, Kia
Taidsbi opposed it, and said that she must kill him in heu of the
boy, but as it was impossible to kiU kim, the murders ceased. The
Khatun was laid out after her death, but because of her crimes, Eriik
did not leave her body, but found means to reanimate it and to
raise it up.t
^ To tame and expd him the Bogda Lama made use of the formidable
power which the firigfatiul Tsoktu Wadshra Yamantaka has in the cirdc of
flames of the chastening avenger. He dug a triangular grave and put in
it the upper garment of the Khatun. The Bogda Lama then declared
the great truth to the spirit, seized with his four hands the Eriik, which was
floating around and cast him into the grave. Upon this there appeared
a lizard, which crept through the left arm of the doak as far as the collar,
and stuck its bead out When the Bogda Lama bad spoken about the
happiness of salvation, about the meaning of the recurring of birth, and
about the inevitability of death* the lixard bent its head three times as
if it bowed itself before him and then died Then the Lama, by
means of Samadhi Dayan, placed fire in the grave, and while he offered up
gifts for the world, and the priests who had left the world, the dress
together with the lizard were consumed by the fire. From the unbear-
able stench caused by this, some swooned, others who were stronger
kept their consdousness, saw a white column ascend up out of the
smoke that was rising, and on the top of it there floated away a
Tegri-son^ in the form of a Wadshrasatwa. All present who saw it were
amazed, and were still more confirmed in their feith. Just as the rising
sun follows upon the first streaks of dawn after a dark night and difluses
bright light, so did the light of religion break through the fogs of
unbelief." t
* Stananf Seuea. M9-
t Eriik is tiM Mongol namo of tbo moMoiifer of tbo jadce of h«ll Eriik Khan or NoM«a
Khaa. the Suiakrit Yama or Dharmaradiha. Hla daty is to conduct tbe sonli of living beiofs
boibre his nastor's jadcnio&t-Mat for jodgment. Ssanang Seueo, Schmidt's note, 417.
I BflUMBg SetMO, 291.
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THE TCTMEDS. 437
Senge Dugereng was succeeded by his son Ghartu, He removed with
one section of the Tumeds from the neighbourhood of the Chakhars, and
went eastwards close to the Kharatshins, idiere he settled. This division
of the Tumeds consists of two banners, one of them obeys princes of the
royal family of Kharatshin. The latter probably, as I have said before, once
formed part of the Junshiyabo Tumen. Its princes are however doubtless
subordinate to those of the other wing, over which ruled Ombo Tsokor,
probably a son of Ghartu. In i6a8 Ombo Tsokor the chief of the
western wing, and Shamba, the chief of the eastern wing, with their
subjects, submitted to the Manchus.*
This branch of the Tumeds, which migrated from its old quarters,
now comprises two banners, ruled by a prince of the third rank, another
of the fourth, and a grandee of high rank. Thdr country is 1,000 K
from Peking. It is 460 li in breadth from east to west, and 310 li from
north to south. To the east it joins the frontier of Yang ching mu. On
the west it is bounded by the Kharatshins, on the south by the province
of Mukden, and on the north by the eastern section of the KhalWs
belonging to the Inner division, and by the Aokhans.t
** The left wing is at mount Khattakha, above Sao li north-east of Hi
fimg kheou ; the right wing at mount Bayan Khua, above 590 It from
the same barrier.
^ Thirty li to the west of the left wing is mount Gurban Subuigan ola.
On its summit are three pyramidst erected in the times of the Liau and
the Kin, and in the vicinity are the ruins of the ancient city of Hing
chung. On the same side is the lofty Mokhui boro ola, in Chinese,
Thsing che chan, 48 li north-east of the left wing. The river Ussin rises
above 290 li to the south-west in mount Obotu tsagan ohu It runs to the
south, and entering the district of Kin pian, turns to the south-east and
falls into the Siao ling ho.'' |
" When Ghartu, the grandson of Altan Khan, moved as I have described
in the last paragraph with one section of the Tumeds to the neighbourhood
of the Kharatshins, another section stayed in its old quarters in the
neighbourhood of Koko Khotan. They were ruled by Busfauktu Khan,
who was fourth in descent from Altan Khan. When the Chakhars
commenced their violent proceedings against their neighbours Bushuktu
allied himself with the Kharatshins, and defeated the ChakharSy who were
40,000 strong, at a place named Ju Tseng, situated within the borders
of the Tumeds. On the death of Bushuktu, Ungdan Khan of the
Chakhars revenged himself upon the Tumeds, and violently conqpdled
them to submit to him. "When in 1631 he had been defeated
by the Manchus, and was forced to take shelter in Tangut, Mandia
troops were also sent to Koko Khotan, upon which Ombo, the
• Sctaidt, Mem. St. Peter*. Acad., ii. 4*8 tod 433- t Schmidt, ©p. dt.. ii. 4*8.
I TimkowaU, U. ns» ^5^*
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438 HISTORY OF THt IfONOOLS.
son of BushnktOy as wtXL as hit guazdian and proxy Gnluge, and the
subjects of Khanggub and Dolok, submitted to them. When news
arrived in 1633 that Lingdan Khan had died in die steppe of Shiim talas,
a messenger was sent from Koko Khotan to Tangut, and besides hin^
by supreme ofders, a subject q£ this tribe with a proper escoct This
was probably sent to see if the news were true. In 1634, Meigen Ching
Wang T<»gfaon set off towards die hmdof Tolita {l£^ the Ordus country),
to capture Edshei, the son q£ Lingdan Khan, and he kft Koko Khotan in
dyugeoftheBeile Yodo. Meanidiile a false rumour was spread by one
q£ the TumedSy that a rerolution had broken out in the town. Mookhai,
the husband of Omb(/s nun^ had in frict secretly made a pact with the
commander of a nei^bouring Chinese fort, by idiidi Ombo was to be
proclaimed as Lord of the West, while the KhalkaSy who had been
informed by a messenger of the Ming^ were to march to his assistance.
Jodo having sent out a messenger to inquire the truth about the matter,
returned with the intelligence that the KhaUcas were really in motion
upon which he had Mookhai executed and Ombo imprisoned. After tlii%
in compliance with the orders o£ the Khakan (i^^ of the Manchn
Emperor), the administration of the town and district of Koko Khotan
was distributed among Gukge, Khanggub, and Dobok. In 1635 this
arrangement was modified, and Guluge and Khanggub became chiefii of
banners, uriiik Dobok was dedaied to be thrheir of Khanggub."*
'^The Tumeds of Koko Khotan are divided into two banners. Their
chief town of Koko Khotan, die Kuei hua ching of the Chinese, is 220
li north-east of die gate of Sha hn Uieou. Their territory is 403 li
from east to west, and 370 fixim north to south* It is bounded on die
east by that of the Durban Keukeds, on the west by that of the Ordus,
on the south by the wall which forms the boundary of Shan si, and on
the north by die hmd of the Khalkas. It is 1,160 li distant from
Padng.
'< Thirty-fire U to the north of Koko Khotan lies that part of the In
chan mountains called in Mongol, Onghin ohu This chain begins on
the north of the country of die Ordus, to the west of the Urads, and
extends above 500 li to the north of Koko Khotan. It has several very
lofty peaks, which have particular names. The Yellow River, coming
from the country of the Urads, flows south-east and then south. It
receives on the left the Tuigfaen, washes the ruins of Khutan Khosho^
receives also on the left the Ulan Muren, and then enters China^ Its
course in the country of the Tumeds is 160 li.'' t
There is a silent revoludon now going on on the northern frontier of
China which is effiscting very marked changes in the ethnography of
diis area« During the last 150 years the population of China has
increased at an enormous rate, and in consequence has overflowed the
•Schmidt, Mm. St. P«««t.AauL, 11454. 455. t Timkoirrid, tt. «0S.
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TRB TUICSDS. 4^
borders of die dd eminfe verjr mudi. What we fee in a small way at
Singapore^ at St Fhmdsco, and in Australia, we may see on an
enqrmoos scale in Manclmria, and Mongolia soadi of the desert The
whole country is being thickly ookmised by Chinese immigrants, and this
influx is rai^dly effiunng the old landmarks of die country. Mandms
and Mongols are not only being sopbisdcated and changed in costyme,
and in manners and habits, but also in language. Mandm is rapidly
becoming extinct as a distinct language^ and it would seem diat among
the Forty-nine Banners there is a prospect of a similar cfaangew The
husbandman of the soiith is rapidly possessbig himsdf of the more
fertile ^Bstricts of that paradise of Nonades, so w^ deKribed by
Hue as the '^land of grass,* the prahrie couatiy of Soudiem Mongolia.
Vast colonies of Chinamen now live in districts fofraeily hdd by
the Mongol herdsmen, and nowhere probably is this moie oqn^icuoiis
than amcmg the 'Hmieds of Koko Khotaa. I extract some sentences
about this district from Hue's travel^ which have been so ruSj
translated into Knglish.
Koko Khotan (Le.^ Bfaie Town) is a bustling city duefly htibabited by
merchants. It is a great mart for camds, and most of die merchants
are Chinamen. It contains five great Lamaseries and more than 2,000
Lamas, besides fifteen smaller ones, and die number of ngoiar Lamas
resident in the dty may be fiurly set down at ao^ooa* Hue describes
die town as an Jmmense mass of houses and shops huddled confusedly
together, without any order or anangement whatever, the Lamaseries
alone rising above them. The ramparts of the old town still exist in
aU their integrity, but die increase of the pt^uladon has compdled the
people by degrees to pass this barrier. Houses have risen outside the
waBs one after anodier until large suboibs have been formed, and now
the extramural dty is larger than the intramuraLt There is a Chinese
garrison there to keep in order the ndghbouring tribes. This does not
live in the dd town, but hi the so-called ^ New Town * or military town,
whidi was built by the Manchu Emperor Khanglii, and is half an hour's
walk hem the dd town, and is described by Hue as having a noble
appearance^ encircled with lofty embattled walls of brick. Its interior
in contrast to the okl or commercial town is very rq^ulariy built, and
has a beautiful street running througli it firom east to west Thegarrison
consists of lofioo men under a Kiang Kian. These soldiers are Manchus.
Hue tdls us that the Mongols of Western Turned have given up their
pastoral lifo, and now cultivate their lands. They have lost the stamp
of their original Mongol character, and become taore or less Chinese ;
many of them do not even know a word of the Mongd language.
^ Some indeed do not scruple to express contend for their brothers
of the desert who refuse to subject their, prairies to the ploughshare.
* HBcft TrAYtb» i. I8X. t M.t U xo
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430 HISTORY OF THB MONGOLS.
They say how ridiculous is it for men to be always vagabondisiiig about,
and to have merely wretched tents wherein to shelter their heads, when
they might so easily build houses, and obtain wealth and comfort of all
kinds from the land beneath their feet*** But. the £ftct is that habits of
the gipsy and TV?l>f«»<ft" type are not always adopted firom choice but
from necessity. It is dear that if the Mongok are to continue living
in their old quarters, they must be a pastoral people and little dse. The
Gobi desert and most of its girdle is quite unfiUed for ploughing. The
land of the Tumeds is not in fact properly a part of Mongolia at all,
but a piece of the empire of China settled by Mongols. ^ It contains,*
according to Hue, ^magnificent fdains, wdl watered, fertile, and £ftvourable
to the production q£ all kinds of grain crops. Everything in the country
bears the inqpress of affluence. Nowhere, go where you will, do you see the
wretched tumbledown houses that disfigure the highways and byeways
of China. Nowhere do you see the naiserablei half-starved, halPdothed
creatures that pain the hearts of travellers in every other country. AD
the peasants are wdl fed, well lodged, and well dothed. All the villages
and roads are beautified with groups and avenues of fine trees, whereas
in the other Tartar regions cultivated by the Chinese no trees are to be
seen. Trees are not even planted, for everybody knows they weidd be
puUed up next day by some miserable pauper or other for lueL* t
A good deal of this prospeiity is however very recenti and GerbiUoo,
who accompanied the Manchu Emperor into this part of the country in
1688, describes it in different cokmrs. He describes Koko Khotaa
as situated in a large plain three or four leagues broad, whidi plain was
then cultivated in many places, and here and there in it were hamlets,
each consisting of seven or eight soMdl houses of earth. He describes
the town itsdf as being very smaB| most of the houses being but huts
of earth, those in the suburbs being somewhat beUer. The Lama
temples were however remarkable, finer and more ornamented than the
greatest part of those he had seen In CKNuLt
III. THS KHAIUTSHtNS.
I HAVE now described two of the three Baraghon Tumens, namdy, those
of the Ordus and the Tumeds. The third will not detain us so long.
It was formerly known as the Jungshiyabo Tumen, corrupted by Do Mailla
into Ynchaopoa.! The name is often linked with that of the Assod, and
* H»c i. 97* 9S* t H«c, i. 98. I Da Hnlde, ocuto ed. rw. 243.
i Op. «it., X. jot.
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TRC UUKAT8RIN8. 451
they were apparently very neariy connected in some way. Aroktai, who
filled a notaUe place in Mongol history in the fourteenth century,
belonged to the Assod dan, and was' doubtless its chiet* AHma
Chingsang of the Assod, son of Aroktai, is mentioned as the subject
of a dream of Essen Khan's about 141 y.t Shortly afteri Buke Sors<»i
of the Jungshiyabo is mentioned as one of Essen Khan's victims,
having been hanged on a tree by him4
We are told that the Chinese En^peror Ingtiong (Daiming Chingtai of
Ssanang Setsen), whom Essen Khan had taken prisoner, married a
daughter of AHma Chingsaog of the AbwmI, naiaed Mdlo^ and dianged
her name to Tsa^^ian Shiossa. At that tfanei according to Ssanang
Setzen, this tribe was sorely ailected by cattle plague, llunine, and all
kinds of epidemics and diseases. It lu^ppened that one night, as
Tsaghan Shiossa lay asleep on her bed, that as a maidservant of Alhna
Chhigsang went out early in the morning to mUk the cows, she saw a
yellowish red beam of Ifght stream out of Tsaghan ShiotHi^s yurt. She
told this at once to her mistress Akha Dalai Ag^ who tot convinced
herself and then the whole neighbooriiood, of what the meaning of the
vision was. This man (jU^ the Ming Emperor), she said, is of a noble
nature and birth. It is not ri^t to keep one any longer a prisoner who
has proved by these signs that he is distinguished beyond oidinaiy men.
We will take him back to his own land and to his people. Upon
which it was determined to send him home again, and he dianged die
name of the district Jirghugah Utshiyad into Daitun Ydce Shan, and
distributed gifts and rewards to the people.
Chingtai Khakan by his wife Molo had a son named Ju Dakhagha.
From whom sprang the fiunily Dalbai Tabunang whidi bekmgs to
the Assod tribe.| Issama Taishi of the Jungshiyabo is named as the
lago, who whispered slanders into the ears of Mandaghol Khakan, and
brought about the destruction of his nephew, Bolkho Jinong.| He
married Bolkho's widow, Shiker Taigho^ and by her had two sons, named
Babutai and BoruldiaLf Issama Taishi formed a conspiracy against
Dayan Khan, who sent an army against him. He was kiUed and his
widow Shiker Taigho was carried off**
Shortly after thb we read that Jiigughatai of the Jungshiyabo tribe, in
conjunction with two chiefs of the Ordus and Tumeds, went on a depu-
tation to Dayan Khan, to ask him to appoint one of his sons, Jinong of
the Baraghon Tumens. These chiefs seem to have been only of
subordinate rank, and we find that when Ulusbolod was appointed as
requested, that it was displeasing to some of the other chieft, and, as I
have described, Ibiri Taishi of the Jungshiyabo, and Mandulai A^olkho
* rti<« aaU, 3S7 tt ttq. Sttoaac SeUfn. 145 Mi 147- t Siatunf Sttm, 1S3*
t U., 1}$. i SMaaac S«tMa. 169 Mid 171. I Smuuusc StUen, 177. Kttff Mita, 169.
,179. ••/rf.jiSs. ^ni%37i'
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433 HISTORY or THE MONGOLS.
of the Onhiiy c(mq»lred afaihft and succeeded in having hhn
nated.* Dayan Khan took a q>eedy revenge upon hit son's mtuderers.
In the battle which ensued, the Jungshiyabo are named as one of die
three sections of the Baraghon Tuinen.t* Dayka was victorious, as I
have said,} and we are told that Ibiri, deserted by everybody, fled in
despair and escaped to tiie town of Khamil, belonging to the White Caps
(? the Mussulman Turks), where he was put to death by an obscure
person4 Ibiri is no doubt the Ye pula of De MaiUa, who tdls us that
after the murder of Horlun (i^,f of Ulusbdod), he crossed the Yellow
River, went to encamp in Sihai, and began to grow powerful He tells
us that he was chief of the Ynchaopoa (fV., of the Jungshiyabo), which
then comprised ten hordes, but when he migrated to Sihai they
dispersed; the Halatien (jU., the Kharatshins) alone remaining in their
old country.] On the division of the Mongol tribes among the sons of
Dayan Khan, we are told that Ubassandsa, otherwise called Ubshi^^iun,
became the over-chief of the Assod and Jungshiyaba Ssanang Setxen
tells us that when he was a boy, Bodidar% son of Barsabolod, was
accustomed to say, jestingly, when at play, '^ If Atshi and Shira kill one
another, I shall obtain the government of the Assod and Jungshiyaba"
Now it came to pass that Ching Taidshi, otherwise called Shiia, the son
of Ubassandsa, hada quarrel with his younger brother Atshi, and kiUed
him. As Shira afterwards died without children, Bodidara was appointed
chief of the Assod and Jungshiyabo, and his playful prophecy was thus
fulfilledir
The name Jungshiyabo as that of the Tumen, now apparently gave
place to that of Kharatshin. The Kharatshin Tumen is mentioned by
Ssanang Setzen ** in a way which shows that it deariy connotes at this
later period the same thing as Jungshiyabo. At a previous period the
Kharatshins form one section of the Jungshiyabo Tumen, as when
Ssanang Setzen qieaks of the seven ckms of the Kharatshins of the
Jungshiyabo.tt It may well be that the change of name arose as De
MaiUa suggests, namely, that on Ibiri Taishi's flight the Tumen was
broken up, and the Kharatshin section alone remained behind. The
Kharatshins perhaps derive their name from the district of Kharatshin
Shatu, at the sources of the Kerulon, where they probably once lived.
They are distinguished from all other Eastern Mongols by one pecu-
liarity, in that they alone are now subject to princes who do not belong
to the fiunily of Jiogis Khan. It would seem Bodidara's descendants
must have died out, for we read in the work translated by Schmidt^t that
their princes are descended from a contemporary of Jingis Khan's called
Dsartsutai, who^ son Jilme was very devoted to the great conquenv.
•KMl«Mte,373- t SMittBff SetsMi, igx* tAiite»374* I Smbaiic ScUen, 199.
gDolUUU,z.SOx,soa. f Simuuic Setxto, 9Q5. **Op.dt,jisx*
tt Op. dt, flos* II UiKu St, Pettrt. iUad., ii. 4J7.
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THE KHARATSHTMS. ^ 435
and did him mich good service. Seven generations firom him, his
descendant with 6^eoo £yiiilies migrated to Khotong, and took up his
residence near the river Etshin. He was succeeded hy his son Gere-
bolod, who had two sons, namely, Gerdtei Saissan<c and Torobator.
From the former were descended Guruidshab and Gerel, each of whom
ruled over a banner, and from the latter, Sereng, who controlled a third
banner. One section of the Kharatshtns joined the Eastern Tomeds, of
whom they composed one banner, and in 1628 with their chief Sharoba,
descended in Uie thurteenth generation from Jilme, submitted to the
Manchus. The main body of the Kharatshins remained behind. They
took part with other confederated tribes in the battle at Ju Tseng, wbere
the Chakhars were severdy defeated, and shortly after apparemly
submitted to the Manchus.*
The Kharatshins proper now form three banners, ruled by six princes
and chiefs of high rank. Their country is situated outskle the gate
Bayaskholang Khadatu, li^ Hi feng kheou, and is 760 11 distant from
Peking. It is $00 li from east to we8t,and 450 from north to south. On
the east they are bounded by the TUmeds and Aokhans, on the west by
the Red banner of the Chakhars, on the south by the Great Wall, and on
the north by the Ongni^»od8.t
''The right wing is on the left branch of the Sib^ 390 li north of Hi
lung kheou, and extends to the south as frur as the pasturage of the
Imperial (locks. The left wing is at mount Bayanjiruke, 3^0 li to the north
of Hi ftmg kheou. The third banner is between the two others. The
country of the Kharatshins is travei'sed by a river caBed in Chinese, Lao
hi ; in Mongol* Lokha. It issues from mount Mingan ola, runs north-
east, receives 'several small rivers, waters the northern part of the
territory of the Aokhans, and the south of that of the Onints or Oagni-
ghods. It passes through die country of Naimans and the Eastern
Khalkaa, and after a course of above 500 li, falls into the Shaim mtren.
"Among the antiquities of the country of Kharatshin, the Chinese
writers reckon the remains of the ancient cities of Taniog or Ta ting,
formerly inhabited by Chinese; of Thsing chan, in Mongol, Kara
Khotan (or black city) ; of Hoi. dian, in Mongol, Tsaghan KhoCaa
(white city) ; and of U chau, the ndns of which cover a piece of
ground three li in circuit To the west are three subuigjians or
obelisksi for which reason this place is called by the inhabitants Gorban
Sttbuighan Khotan."}
•Schmidt, op. dt.,iL 4^, 419- t Schmidt, op. cit.. U. 4^. TtehowiU, ii. ts6.
I TimfcowaU, ii. ts6, 357.
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4S4 HISTORT OF THl MONGOLS.
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theMongola
THE KHORTSHINS.
The tribes we have been hitherto considering belonged to one or other
of the Six Tumensy and, as I believe, represent very fairly the kernel of
the Mongol nation in old times, that portion of the race distinguished
as ^Nhrans, or Children of Light.** The Khalkas, to whom we shall
turn in die next chapter, also fotmed a part of the same section ; but in
order that we may complete oar view of the Forty-nine Banners, it is
necessary we should now consider some tribes which were not included
in the Six Tvnens, and were classed apait as the Khortshin Tumen or
Khortshin division. They indnde the Khortshins proper, the Am
KhortshinSi Durbeds, Khorios, Dnrben Kenkeds, Maominggans, and
Urads. These tribes are united together by one bond, namely, that they
are all ruled over by princes who claim descent from iChassar, the brother
of Jingis Khan.
He is called Jnji Kassar by lUschid and Abulghasi, whence IVOhsson
and Erdmann have taken the name ; by Ssanang Setzen he is called
simply Khassar ; by Hyacinthe^ Khadsjar ; t and by PaOas, Chabutu
Chassar4
Erdmann says that Jnji was hb real name, and Khassar only a by-
name,! but this can hardly be^ for the name Juji is not known to the
Chinese or native historians. IChassar, he says, means lion. Schmidt
tells us the by-name of Khabutu, which the Kahnnks gave him, is derived
from Kharbutus^ and means archer, and came from his skill in using the
* Vid$ ante, chap.* I. t Erdmann^ TemadHn* Note aj.
t Saml. Hist.. Nach. ueb. die Xong. Volk. i. 24- i TcmadKhia der uawnhmUiBcha, sfr-
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THE KHORTSHINS. 435
bom.* Thty leportad of him that hit sboukiert aad breast were so im-
conunonly broad and his waist so fine that when he lay asieep on his
side a dog could creep under him. His strength was so great that when
he seized a man he could break him in twain like breakuig a wooden
arrow.t
He was of a turbulent disposition. The first event recorded of him is
characteristic. One day, says Ssanang Setsea, Temiidjin and Khaasar
complained to their mother thus, '' Bekter and B^getei (f>.» their half-
brocheis) a short time ago took the fish which we caught This very
day again^ when Khassar shot a lark with a small arrow, they also
took that We wiU kiU them both."
Their mother rebuked them and said, ^* Why do you speak like the five
sons of a former princess of the Taidshuts ? The body (of an animal ?) is
certainly smaller than its shadow, yet it is stronger than its tail (says the
proverb), therefore live at peace with one another. Will you not need
each other's help in the future?'' They made no reply but went out,
ck>sing the door after them, and having Ibund Bekter they j^ him to
death. Their mother ina rage thus addressed them, ** How could you do
such a thing and kill one another ? 1 had hoped and flattered myself
that my sons, who were bom and nurtured in hatred of our enemies,
n^ould have proved themselves renowned men. How shall this be if you
go and loll one another like a wolf which hides its fangs it its own
ribs, or like abird of prey which strikes at Hs own shadow, or like a
great fish which scouiges itself with its own tail. It will assuredly come
to pass that whichever of you is delicate will become a creeping serpent,
while the grosser one will become a toad." |
Ssanang Setsoi has preserved one or two stories of him which I quote,
because they aptly ilhistrate Mongol ways of thought ^ About this time,"
he says (/>., in 1 189), '* Khassar Essen rebdled and alhed himsdf with
Dologhan Khoi^khoun; Jingis appointed Subutai Behadur to com-
mand the army that was to pursue him, and thus addressed him, * My
fiuthful oaker who, when at the head of an army, art like the chief jewel
of a panire, the pink of honour, inflexible as stone, and you, my anny,
who environ me like a wall, and whose files are like a forest of
reeds, hear my words : in times of peace be united as the fingers of a
hand. In those of war, ponnce down like a fislcon on its quarry, in
times of sport and amusement, rove about like flies ; but in the day of
battle, rwsh at the foe lUce a hawk at iu victim.' Then answered Subutai
Behadur : ' What we can do the foture will tell what we shall do,
the tutelary geahis of our rukr may tell him.' Upon this he went
after Khassar £ssen» and when he had overtaken him, he sent him
the followmg message. * He who breaks with his rdatkms will onfy
* S«nM«8tt«ea, SchmMl^ aete, ^ 387. t Eriteuum. «». dt., 96I.
t SMUMOg S«tje«, 67.
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436 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
have a small share in the tpoil If kinsmen fidl out, they will be as
strangers when dividing their booty. You may get together a party, but
not tied to you by blood. Yoo may secure followers, but not brothers.'
These words had their effect, and Khassar was reconciled to his brother."
On another occasion Khassar and his half-brother Belgeiei con-
spired against Jingis and had the following conversation. ** This ruler
is unjust and violent without measure. It was only by thy ability
Khassar, and thy strength Belgetei, that the many tribes were subdued
and his harshness softened. Whom bat omrsdves and our assistance
has he to thank for being the ruler of the five4Mnnered (i>., the Mongob,
the Mongols and Kalmuks united were called the nine-bannered) ?" When
this was reported to Jingis, he determined to coiieci their boastful
language in a curious way. He di^uised himself as an (M man, and
then went about from house to house to sell a long bow. The two
brothers Khassar and Belgetei, when he came to them, jeered him and
said, ^ Ah, old man, your bow would do well enough as a snap bow to
kill moles v/ithJ' He replied, ^ How can you young people be so
scornful before you have tried it, the old man may teach yon different."
Upon this Belgetei took the bow with derision and raiUery, but his
strength was not even equal to stringing it So die old man strung it
and handed it to Khassar, but he was not strong enough to bend it.
Then the old man once more changed himself into a hoary and decrepit
man, who rode on a blind mule, took the bow and shot an arrow at a
piece of rock, which he dove in pieces. Then he turned to the two
young men. ** Boasting stinks,* says die proyeib. ^ Truly die did man
knows it not better than you.* Then spoke die brothers to one anodien
** This was no ordinary man. It was an incarnation of the Khubiigan,
our ruler," and thenceforward they were afraid, and were finthfid to
their lord.
About the year 1200 Khassar made a raid upon the Naimans. He
met them at the mountains Htdassan, and gave them a severe defeat.
After the disastrous battle of Khalantshin Alt, Jingis Khan and
his brother became separated. The Keraits had captured the hitter's
harem. He was driven to great stiaits, but at length rejomed Jingis
in his place of refuge at Bakijuna. Jingis now practised a rase
upon the Kerait chief Wang Khan. He sent him a note in the name
of Juji, saying, " I don't know where my elder brother is, but 1 know
that my wife and children are in your hands. Oh Khan, my Neither, for
a long time I have slept alone, havmg nothing to shdter me but boughs,
and only the earth for my pillow. I wish to rejoin my fiunily, but dont
know how you would recdve me. If you wouJd pardon my former
ofiences I will come back to you with my heart full of submission."
Wang jChan was deceived, sent a messenger with a horn containing a
drop of his blood to be mixed with drink, and when qiia£fedt to be a
pledge of honesty. Jingis had time to mardi rapidly and to attack his
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THX KUOETOnNS. 437
rivtl QMifftrit.* In tte giMt fi^ agMnsfc the Ntinuuiiy ia wUch
T^fMif Khan was kUtod, Jnji Kbasttr conmanded the centre of the
Mongol anny.t He behaved to wefl on thb occasion that Jingit gave
hhn pwcedice over aU hit other rdativet*) In the esqpeditkm against
China in 1914, Khaitar commanded the left wing of the army, mid
ravaged the maritinie diitricti of Pehchebli, and die country west of
the Uan river called Liau sL| Khaasar is not mentiooed in the account
of the campaign of Jingis in the west, and it is very probable that he
was left in charge of the Mongols at bmne.
We next hear of him in the campaign against Tangut^ durii^
idiich Ssanang Setsen reports the following occurrence. He says that
during die campaign, a alave informed Jingis that at a banquet
Khassar had taken the hand of his wifo Khulan. Upon which Jingis,
to test his good feeling towards him, sent the slave to his brother with
the message. ''Send me the heron's leather which you possess.''
Khassar replied, ''It is weU, my lord. I will let you have the
heron's foadxar," and theretqxm gave him the desired feather. The
treacherous slave however would not take it, pietoiding it was dirty.
Soon after he returned with the order, " Kill me aliawk." Just then
Khassar noted a hawk flying by, and asked the slave where he should
hit him. The slave replied, " Between the black and the yellow stripes
cm its head." Khassar shot and shattered the hawk's head. Upon which
the slave said, he " desired herons' feathers, such as princes wear, but
these were not such, this was only a hawk," and he refused to take it,
sayii^, it was fouled with blood. Ssanang Setzen then goes on to tall the
story I have already abstracted, about Khassar^s shooting the ill-omened
magpie, in the Mona Khan mountains.) These several events aroused
the jealousy and ill-humour of Jingis, who had his brother put under
arrest When the army reached Tangut, it encircled the town of
Tttrmegeiy with triple lines of drcumvallation. During the siege an old
witch named Khara Khang was accustomed to mount the walls of the
town, and to pronounce horrible curses and exorcisms over the besiegers,
by which disease was scattered among them, and numbers both of men
and horses perished. Upon this Subutsu, the great Mongol generali
approached his master and said, " Is it your pleasure that the men and
horses of the army should be swept away. If not, then release Khassar
from confinement, and let him shoot down the old woman." Jmgis
consented, and lent him his own hone Jigurtu Khula. Khassar then
approached the town and split the old woman's kneecap with an anow,
so that she tumbled down and was killed.f Khassar seems to have died
beforo his brother, for he is not named among those who assisted at the
inauguration of Ogotai, and his sons and not himself are named in the
* Vids me, 61,62. t jyObmoUt i. 86. ; M i. 90. i D'OhsMM, I. X40.
I VitU aatt, 101. f Sniwiiff Seuw, xoi.
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43S HISTORY OF THE MOKGOLS.
distribution of JingU Khan's clans among lus relativies. As i have said,
his splendid services did not go unrewarded. He was raised to a rank
co-ordinate with that of his own sons by Jingis, and much higher than
the letter's toothers.* The very higli position which he took may be
gathered from the fact, that beside the tribes abeady mentioned as
associated with the Khortshins, the Khoshotes of Thibet, and the tribes
of Koko noor and Alashan are still ruled by his descendants. In tracii^
out the very crooked history of the various Mongol tribes, we are here
met with a difficulty which has not, I believe, been hitherto noticed, and
whose solution mi^t throw some light on the entire question.
Although a Mongol chief inherits clans and not acres from his Cstheri
those clans are not broken and separated into isolated fragments, but
have a camping ground dose together. Among a race of Nomades such
principalities as those of mediceval Germany, consisting of scattered
fr;^[ments here and there, are hardly possible. When we meet there-
fore, as in the present case, with two sets of tribes, one on the borders
of Manchuria, the other in Thibet, separated from one another by
the whole breadth of Mongolia, yet both claiming one prince as their
former chief, we may be sure that there has been a disruption or
revolution somewhere which has rent the two asunder, and that once
they camped close togetlier. In regard to the Khoshotes, we know that
they only invaded Thibet in the eariy part of the seventeenth century,
as I shall show in a future chapter, and they probably came from the
Koko noor and Alashan districts. In regard to the Khortsbins and
their associated tribes, vre must remember that until the reign of Dayan
Khan, the Chakhars and Baraghon Tumcns probably lived north of the
desert, in part of the present country of the Khalkas. As I have
afready shown,t Adai Khan was the chief of the Khortshins in the
eariy part of die fifteenth century, and we know that he was the victim,
not only of the Chinese but also of the Uirads.} Now, in the work
translated by Schmidt,} we read that in the time of the Ming Emperor
Khoi^hi (i>., Gun Tseng, who reigned for ten months in 1425-1436),
the Khortshins were attacked and dispersed by the Uirads, and that
they then fled to the neighbourhood of the Nagfaim Muren (i>., the
Noimi river), where they settled. There they are stiU found. Here,
then, we have an explanation of the difficulty. Before that they doubtless
lived in contact with the Khoshotes, and formed one principality. Where
was this situated? Raschid tells us that the patrimony of Khassar
was situated in the north-east of Mongolia, near the river Erguna (le.,
the Argun), the lake Kul^ or Guleh (/./., the Kulun), and the river
Kailar (? the Kalka pira).| That is in the old country of the Taidjnts
and their confederates, the early enemies of Jingis Khan. Among
* IVOhason, ii. 7. Note t Ante, 356. t Ante, 356>36o.
§ Mem. St. Pctert. Acad, ii. 4x2. | D'OImmu, ii. 7. Mote. I imana, 569.
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THB KH0RT8KIMS. 459
these confederates the Uiads» and the DnriMOis are spedally named.
These are still tribes closely attached to the fChortdilas and raled
by princes of the same hadky^ and it may wdl be that the tribes
wfakh formed the portion of the iron^bted Khassar were in fiict
\bc Taidjuts and the others.* The Khoshotes bear only a recent
name. According to the traditions collected by PaUas, they acquired it
durii^ the reign of Toghon Taishi,t tiiat i% dnriaf the reign of the
Uirad chief who dispersed the Khortshhis, and it may wdl be that
before that they bore a name which would, if recorded, be a fomilar one
to those who have read of the eaily struggles of Jingis Khan. Before
that dl^iersal^ adl tiie tribes subject to the fomily of Khassar probably
lived in contact with one another in the north-east of the desert : but we
must on with our story. Khassar left forty sons4 Of these we only
know the names of sfa^ namely, Bigu, Tnko, Yeson^fuh, or Bisunegefa
Malikudar, and Kharaldshu and are mentioned by Brdmann, apparently
irom Raschid,! while EnkaSomnrTaidshi is named by Pallas.1 The first
and third of these were alone named in Jingis Khan's willylT by whom
they were granted a hesareh, or 1,000 men, made up of various clans.
Bigu, we are told, was small tn sbe. Tuku was smaOer, while Yesuneguh
was a big man with a red face and a long beard. Khassar was succeeded
by Bigu, he by his son Harkesun. Hailcesun, or Haridsun, was suc-
ceeded in turn by his uncle Yesunq;un, who is possibly the same as
the Cuncur of D'Ohsson.** We are tM that he greatly distinguished
himself during the reigns of Mangu and Khubilai Khan, and won their
favour.tt The former Emperor appointed him governor of Karakorum.
He had the superintendence of the palace and the treasury.)} In the
war between Khubilai and Arilcbuka, he took the side of Khubiki. On
his death he was succeeded by his son Amgan, and he again by his son
Sigtur,i| the Singturof D^Ohsson.!! He was probably the Siangtaur,
who in 1282, was sent in command of an army against Burmah.f5
In the great rebelhon of Kaidu Khan, the chiefs of the tribes of
Eastern Mongolia, who were descended from Jingis Khan's brothers,
sided with him, and Singtur is especially named among them, the other
two principal leaders being Nayan and Kadan.*** They formed a league
which was to act in concert with the forces of Kaidu in Western
Mongolia. Nayan was severely defeated, captured, and put to death, ttt
Meanwhile Kadan and Singtur contmued the struggle. Khubilai sent
an army against them commanded by his grandson Timur. A battle
* See more on thit tut^tct btknr ta tiM chapltff OB tht Khodiotts.
tPdtaa,SaiiU. HiM.N«ch.,ftc.,Ls5- XErdmMm'tTtBra4iin,sM. D*0hM0D,ii.7. Note.
fOp.dtn4S4aB'5SS. | ftml. HaU Nach. nob die Monff. Volk, L as-
f Brdfliaiia,4S4. •• Op. dt., ii. J60. ft Bfteam, 8«^
UI>t>lMOB.U.aSo. HBrtaaBB.«».eit,stt.s6». ||Op.dt,ii.49«.
ff »'Wf«ate,84a. Yttlt*i Marco Polo, ii. 74. '*^ O^OhtaoB, H. iS** Aam,ty%,
tttD*OllN08,U.4SS
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440 HISTORY OF TH« MONGOLS.
which lasted all day^ but was not very decisive, was fou^t between the
rival forces. The two allies now seem to have separated. Siogtufy who
I believe is the Kinkianu of De Mailla,* retired, and the Imperial troops
harried the country of Kadan, and compelled its tribes to submit.t
Siogtur also seems to have eventually fallen a victim to his treason, and
was executed amd his tribes distributed.)
There is now a gap in my authorities. When we once more read of
the tribes which belonged to Khassar, it is after the Moiqcol dynasty in
China had been expeUedt and when the greater part of the Mcmgols
were under the yoke of the Uirads. lliere was sqiparently an exception
in die case of the Khortshins and their associated tribes, who were tiien
ruled over by Adai Taidshi, whom Ssanang Setaen makes a descendant
of Utsuken, but in this he is surely mistaken^ the Khortdiins not having
belonged to his aluss.1 I have already told the story of his life and
how he became the chief Khan of the Mongols, and shall not repeat
it I He ended his days unfortunately, having been killed by
the great Uirad chief Toghon TaishL According to Ssanaag Setsen
this was in i43S«1ii It was at this time, I believe, that the various
tribes belonging to this section were finally torn asunder, the Khortshins
and others being driven towards the river Nonni, while the rest under
the name of Ehoshotes, became a part of the Durben Uirads, as I have
already described
When we next meet with the IChortshins, they are nnder the authority
of a chief named Unebolod ong. Ssanang Setzen tells us he was the son
of Baghatur Shigussutai of the Oroghods (? the Urads, one of the tribes
closely associated with the Khortshins). We are also told by him that
Unebolod was the descendant of Khassar.*^ That he was a very con-
siderate personage we may gather from the fact of his having been a rival
of the young Khan Dayan for the hand of Mandughai Setxen Khatnn,
the quaint story about which rivahry I have already toldtt He was-doubt-
less the most important Mongol prince next to the head of the house. In
the great civil strife between the Segon Tumens and the Baraghon Tumens
in the reign of Dayan Khan, the Khortshins are mentioned as having
sided with the former, and Ortoghokhai Noyan of the Khortshins
is named as one of Dayan Khan's generab in the war.U I must now
lake up the broken thread of the history of the Khortshins from Schmidt's
acGoynt He says, *' Fourteen generations from Khassar, Kui Mongke
Daskhara was the chief of the Khortshins. He had two sons, Bodidara,
sumamed Tsoighol Noyan, and Nomundara, styled JChaldshigo Noyan.
Bodidara had nine sons. The eldest of these was called Chitshik, styled
Baghatur Noyan. From hhn sprang the Tushiyetu Khan Ooba and the
•0^cit.,ix.49i- Melt. t D*OhMOB, IL 461. Dt lUUla, ix. 431. 0Mifeil,M9.
:BiiI«iiib,s69' f 8«Baaa8MMiwt47* I Ktfi aBlt,Jsi«tit«.
f Fa#o^eit,lS8. **Op.cit.,t7sndttt. ft KM»afllt,9f#.
n Suntf flttmn, 191.
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THB KHORTSHIMS. 44t
JassaktQ IQyim WaiigBodatslii,eachof whom wasat tlieliaulof abttu^
The second son was named Namsai. From hkn sprang tiie DaiUian
Chin Wang Mandshushbi, the Bingta Kiyun Wang Khongkbor, and
theBeOe Dooi^dior, each of whom abo was at the head of ahaaner.
Hie thifd son Ubashi wiH appear again in the account of the Khorios.
The descendants of the fourth, fiftti, sixth, and seventfi sons Mrt
unknown. The eighth son AinaUia wiQ appear agaiii in the history of
the Dmbeds, and tiie nindi son Bagfaa Noyan in that of the Jelaads.
Noinnndant had a son named S^pertei, from whom sprang die htter
Tushiye Gung Lamadiigi, who became the chief of a banner.
In 1593, Ong^iotai, the son of Chitshik Taidshi of the Khortshins,
together with Manggus and Minggan, the sons of Namsi, in concert with
Bosai, die Taidshi of die tribe Dsege or Yege, the tribes Khada, Ula,
Khoipa, Khgahsa, DsoUiari, and others,*^ banded diemsehres togedier
against the founder of the Manchu empire Taidsu WangtL They
attacked witt^tvp^^csolt the town Gedshige, and itemed dieir camp on
the moui|t)/)p Gure. The Wangd marched against diem, and as he drew
near them he sent the foOowing message to his many chieftains.
** l^otwitfastanding the numbers of the enemy we shall defeat diem if
we succeed in overthrowing one or two of their Taidshis.* In conlbnnity
with diis instruction, the brave Eitu placed himsdf at the head of one
hundred picked warriors, and having incited their courage led them
against the enemy. As soon as the Dsege people saw this, they desisted
from their attack on the town, and marched against this troop. In
attempting to capture Minggan, his horse stumbled and fell, and he
escaped on foot. The main body of the Wangti's fcnrce now advanced
and pursued the enemy to a hill fort of the tribe Khada, completdy
scattered them, and captured much booty. In 160S the Manchu troops
marched against the tribe Ula, and captured its main fertress, and
Ongghotai, in alliance with Buyantai, the chief of the Ula tribe,
was defeated in an engagement by the Manchu troops, upon which
Manggus, Minggan, and Ongghotai, one afrer the other, sent envoys
for peace and to form an alliance. In 1624 Ooba, the son of Ongg^iotai,
with all his subjects, submitted to the Manchus, being the first Mongols
to do so. This brought upon them the vengeance of the Chakhars
who invaded their borders. The Manchus came to their assistance
and drove die invaders away. In 1637 Ooba joined with the Manchus
in a campaign against the Chakhars, and in 1628 assisted them in their
war with die Ming empire. He conquered Tsun choa jeu, and €ig;»tuied
its capital He rendered similar services in 1630 and in 1633, in the
struggles with the BCing.
In 1633 the Tushiyetn Jhiong Badari, with the Taldslns Unaskhanj
Manshushiri, Bodatshii Khongkhmr, Lamashigi, and Doni^dior, and
* That iib tkt triktt lonitaf tiM t&rt* kaova to tto CUaitt M Uw Nisdrf flf
as
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442 HISTORY OF THB MONGOLS.
the chiefs of the tribes Jelaid, Durbed, Khorios, Khmtshin^ Ttnnedf
Aokhmn, Naimmn, Baghahn, Diarod, Aru Khortshin, and Ongnighod
formed a union for the purpose of swearing allegiance to the Manchn
Emperor, who had then vanquished the Chakhars. They sent an
invitation to the Wang of the Solongos.* It was couched in these terms.
<^ The virtues and merits of the Mmnchu Wangti* are recognised by alL
It would be a proper and opportune diing to place him on the throne."
Early in the summer of the same year they sent a joint note to the
Wangti, in which they proffered hhn the title of over-chie^ changed
the names of the year (/.«., the dynastic year name as is customary in
ChinaX and declared the year 1635 to be the fiiit of Degedu £rdemtu.t
The Khortshins form six baanefs, under seven princes, of whom two
are of the highest rank (<>., Khoshoi Chin Wang, one of them with the
title of Tttshiyetu Khan). The other aie of the second, third, and
lower ranks. Their country lies outside the gate Bayaskhdang
Khadatu (i.^.. Hi fiing kheou), and is 1,280 li distant Iran Peking. It
is 870 li from east to west, and 3,100 11 from north to south. Their
eastern nei^ibours are the Jelaids, their western the Dsarods. On the
south they border on the great wall of Mukden, and on the north
are bounded by the coontiy of the Solons4 By some inadvertence the
Khortshins are excluded from the topographical account of Mongolia
appended to Timkowski's travds, to which I have frequently referred.
THE KHORLOS.
Khoeloho, according to Klaproth, means frtmtier of evil.} This tribe
consists of two banners, which bdong to the left wing of the Khortshins.!
They are under a prince of the fifth rank and a Taidshi of the first
rank.^ This tribe is a very M one, and appears frequently in the
history of Jingis, under its name Keruhu int Khorlos. It then formed
one of the confederacy which was named collectively Kunkurat, with
several other tribes that were apportioned to Khassar. It was found
several times in alliance with the Tartars, and their ndgjibours in
opposition to the great Mongol Khan. Ssanang Setzen tells us that in
I303 Jingis Khan marched against them to punish them. Their chief
Nanm Khakan went to meet him at the head of 30,000 men.** The
two annies hiet at Keriya Kubker. A fierce fight foUowed, in which
Naran Khakan was taken prisoner, and his people, were subduedtt
*?TlM8oloosaiid otbvttibMof lCuieteri«,{Bdipw4iittof tbt Kaacbat, or ptrlwyt the
COTMIU.
t Schmidt, Mm. St. Ptt«n.AcAd.,ii.43x-4a4. I Schmidt, Mem. St Pttm. Acwi, H. 4ti.
iTiako«l«ki.iLa4^ I Timhowtld. il. 343. V8ehmidt.Mem.8t Peters. Acad., iL 426.
'^SchnUt^aoletoSMMiifSetgea.sls. tt Smumbc SetstP. a^ and I9.
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THt DURBIDS. ^j
Taissong Khan of die Mongols was assassinated by Tsabdan of the Khor-
los tribe in 1452, as I have mentioned.* He was himself assassinated
by Khubtshir of the same tribe the year foBowing.t Multai of the same
tribe is mentioned about the same time as one of those who befriended
the young Molon Taidshi4 When Dayan Khan sent an army against
the rebel Issama Taishi of the JungshiyabOy he put Toghodshi Shigushi
of the Khorlos at its head.}
i have already said that the KhorloSi like the Khortshins, formed a
portion of the heritage of Khassar. Ubashi, the third smi of Bodidara,
mentioned under the last heading, became the chief of the Khorios. He
was succeeded by his son Maaggo. In 1624 Bumba, the son of
Manggo, in concert with Ooba, the Taidshi of the Khortshins^ sent
envoys to the Manchu Wangti with ofiers of friendship.! Like the
Khortshins they shortly alter finally submitted to him.
** The Khorlos tribe occupies the country formerly inhabited by the tribe
of Khitan. It is encamped 1,487 li to the north-east of Hi fung kheou,
one of the gates in the Great Wall lu land is 450 li from east to west,
and 660 li from north to south. On the east it borders on the territory
of Yui^f ki chau, on the west and north on that of the Khortshins^ and
on the south on that of Liau tung. It is 1799 li from Peking. The front
banner occupies the environs of the Gurban tsagan, 1,487 li north-east
of Hi frmg kheou, and the rear division the envii-ons of mount Chin tsu
lu^> i>57o li from Hi fung khoou. The principal river is the Ghirin^
which coming from the north-west, from Yung ki chau, enters the territory
of the Khorlos, runs north-east through that of the rear division, and fiUls
into the Amur. Lake Dabusutai produces salt* %
THE DURBEDS.
This name means four in Mongol. It is the same word as Durban, the
t or d being a Mongol termination found in Keignd, Burial, Toignt, &c«
This tribe forms one banner under a prince of the fourth rank. It must
be dearly distinguished from another tribe of the same name among
the Kahnuks, to which \ve shidl refer presenUy. Under the name
Durban, this tribe spears in the days of Jingis allied with the Tartars,
&c., in antagonism to the great Mongol chief in his earlier wars. It was
one of the Nirun tribes, and was by him assigned with othors whidi had
not proved very faithful to Jingis, to his brother Khassar.
" Vidt ante. 362. t Sunang SeUcn, 171- I ^^» >7J- f Z'' . *^h
I Schmidt, op. dt., li. 4*7- ^ Timkowtki. U. 243. MA-
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444 UISTORY OF THS MONGOLS.
Th« ti(^ MO of BoiUdnm mentioiied n the kit pangnph was
Ainakha, styled Setien Noyau. He became the chief (d the Dnibeds.
In 1624 his son Atutshi, in alliance with Ooba, the Taidshi of the
Khortshinsy made tenns with the Manchus.*
** The chiefii of the Diuhed tiibe inhabit the heights of Dokdor, ifi^
ii north-east of Hi fimg kheou. lU territory is 170 11 from east to
west, and 340 li from north to south. From the camp of their diiefs
to the frontier of the military government of the Amur is 140 IL This
government bounds the Durbed country on the east, on the west it is
bounded by that of the Jdaidsy southwaids by the Khoilos, and on the
north by the Solons. The camp of its prince is 2,050 li from Peking.
The river Nonni, vdiich comes from the north, out of the government of
the Amur, divides the Duibeds from the Jelaids." t
THE JELAIDS.
Here again the termination d in the name of the tribe is an ordinary
Mongol one, and it seems more than probable that this tribe represents
the Jelairs of the time of Jingis. It forhis one banner, governed by a
prince of the third rank. Like the tribes previously named, the Jelaids
formed a portion of the heritage of Khassar, and became as in the case
of the previous tribe the portion of his descendant Bodidara. On the
division of his clans the Jelaids fell to his youngest son Atnin. In 1634
Mung^un, the son of Amin, in conjunction with Ooba, the chief of the
Khortshins, and his other relatives, sent an embassy to the Manchus,
and made peace with them.;
'' Their chief camp is on mount Tubesin tsagan, above j,6oo li to the
north-west of Hi fung kheou. Their territory is 60 li from east to west,
and 400 li from north to south. On the east they are bounded by the
Durbeds, on the west and south by the Khorios, and on the north by
the Solons.
^* Their country is watered by the river Nonni, which comes from the
government of the Amur and enters the frontier of the Khorios. The
Choi, coming from the north-west from the chain of Khinggan, also
passes through it. After a course of 500 li to the south, it divides into
several anns, makes a bend to the south-east, and fisdls into the Nonni.'^i
' Schmidt, Mtm. St. Ptim. Ac^ li. 4t^ t TimfcawiM, ii. 244.
: SclMiiUt, Mem. St Pttm. Acad., iL 415. i TimlB01rald.ii.24S.
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THE DUKtEN KEUKXDS. 44S
ARU KHORTSHINS.
This tribe forms one banner, and U governed by a prince of the third n^
The third son of Tomai Niakhatshi, the father of Daskhara, whom I
mentioned in the history of the Khortshins, was called Burkhai, and settled^
as I have said^ with his clans on the Kuhm lake. His second son Begon
Noyan was named Kundulen Uaitshing. He separated himself definitdy
from the main body of the Khortshins, and formed his people into a sepa*
rate tribe, to which he gave the name of Am Khortshins, which Klaproth
translates Northern Khortshins, and Schmidt " The Khortshins who
remained behind."* The Am KhorUhins, Durben Keukeds, Urads,
Maominggans, Ongnighods, Abaghas, and Abaghanars, as well as the
inner and outer sections of the Khalkas, all go by the name of Am
Mongols.! Wbether this has something to do with Amladi a race>name
among the Mongols in the days of JingiSy I don't know. The ddesl
son of Kundulen Daitshing was named Dalai or otherwise Tsokor. He
succeededhisCiUheraschief of the Am Khortshins. They were vassals of
the Chakhars, but in consequence of the oppresuon of Lingdan Khan, they
in 1629^ with their leader Modsang, the son of Dalai, submitted to the
Manchu8.t
^They are encamped 1,100 li north of Ku pe kheou, one of the
gates of the Great Wall. Their country is 130 U from east to west,
and 420 from north to south. They are bounded oa the east by
the DsarodSi on the west by the Barins, on the south by the left
banner of the Khalkas, and on the north by the Wesumolshins.
From their chief encampment it is 1,340 li to Peking. The Shara
Muren or Shim Muren, which runs 200 li to the south of their piindpai
encampment, comes from the province of Barin, and enters the territory
of Dsarod.*!
THE DURBEN KEUKEDS.
The name of this tribe means four brothers. It forms one banner under
a prince of die second rank. B^^oo Noyan, as I have said, had three
sons. The third of these was Noyantai, who had four sons who divided
their father's clans among them aad lived in clo«r alliance. Thence
these dans were styled Durben Keuked ; I in Chineset Ssu tsu pu lo ;
and in Manchu, Duin Djus6 (the four sons).^ In 1639 tbey submitted
to the Manchus.
•Tim]wwiki,ii.M*. 8ciunMl.«^ck..tt.43$* f MmMi. tp. cil., tt. 43».
|^rt^^i<^,^^clt.^.4^S.43g. « TImlMmdd. is. a4S. | Schnrfdl. om dt., ii. 447.
tTlMk0wrtA.a.JtM.
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44)6 HISTORV or TUft MONGOLS.
^ Their tribe forms <me banner, and encamps at mount Ulan ei^lii
tologai, 550 li north-west of Kalgan. Their coontry is 335 li fimn east
to west, and 240 from north to south. On the east and north thejr are
bounded by the Sunids, on the west by the Tumeds of Koko iOiotany
on the south by the Chakhars of the red banner.* *
TH£ URADS.
Klaproth says thb name means artisan in MongoLt It is a very old
tribe, and appears with the Taidjuu, &c«, in the history of the early
days of Jingis as ftghting against him. They are generally found m
alliance with the Manguts and Huyakins, and the three were probably
closely connected. They now form three banners, under two princes
of the second rank and one of the sbcth. These three banners perhaps
correspond to the three tribes just named. The thhd son of Tomai
Ntakhatshi above-named was called BurkhaL He settled on the lake
Kulun. His people were styled Urads. He had five sons, Laikha,
Buyanggho, Arsagho, Burutu, and BarsaL The tribe was eventually
divided into three sectkms, one of them ruled by Lakhai's grandson,
named Ombo ; the second by Sereng, grandson of Khanin Ching
Taid^i, die second son of Barsai ; and the third by Toba, son of
Khanitu Bingtu Taidshi, the fifth son of Barsai. In 1632 they all sub-
mitted to the M anchus, and took horses and camels as presents.}
** The Urads occupy the extensive valley of Khadamal, which conunences
360 li to the west of Koko Khotan. Their territory is 215 li from east
to west, and 300 from north to south. On the east it is bounded by the
Mao Minggans, on the west by the Ordus, on the south by the Yellow
River, and on the north by the Khalkas. Their principal encampment
is 1,500 li from Pddng. Their mountains are Khundulin, Ghiran
tologoi, Bartu, Egud^ and Egui-undur. This last is lofty and steep, and
resembles a kiln f>r drying com, from which circumstance it derives its
name. Khadjar Khosho is the name of a chain of mountams which
extends from the north-west of the encampment of the Urads to Koko
Khotan, Ibllowing the left bank of the Yellow River, which waters the
southern districts of this tribe. The rivers Buigattt» Khaliatu, and
Shara issue from this chain and fall into that rivtr.**!
The account of MongoKa, to which I am so largely indebted, was trans-
lated by the Russian Hyaeinthe, and Is appended to Timkowski's travels.
Kbproth adds a note that Hyudnthe has omitted. The two Inghest
mountains of the Urad country, are those called in Mongol, Chastai
* Timkofwdd, U. a35> t THnkewyci. ii. 463. t Schmidt, •p. dl., 44s-
i Timkovriki, ii. 464.
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THE MAO MINGGANS. 447
ola, and in Chinese, Sina Shan, that is to say, mountains of snow. The
one is 90 li north of the principal camp of the Urads, the other 205 li
north-west, both on the north of the Kara mtiren, which comes firom
and fans into the YeDow River * In many places in the Urad country
the ruins of ancient cities are still to be seen. Among the celebrated
temples in their country is the Fo yun ru, on the mountain of the same
name, called in Mongol, Udjur Tsayan khada, 190 li north- west of the
principal encampment.t
THE MAO MINGGANS.
This tribe forms one banner, under a Taidshi of the first class and a
chieftain of high rank.
Minggan means a thousand. The meaning of Mao or Magho, as
Ssanang Setzen writes the word,t is unknown to me. With the other
tribes just named this formed a portion of the very large heritage of
Khassar. ^His tidrteenth descendant was named UMunei Buyantu.
He had a son named Shira Kitad, with the surname Tushiyetu Khail.
Shira had three sons, named Dordshi, Kumu Baghatur, and Sanghardshi
Khongkor. They lived near the lake Kuhin. Dordshi, with the title of
Buyantu Khan, became the overdiief of the Mao Minggans, and was
succeeded in that position by his son Tsegen. In 1632 Kumu Baghatur^
with about 1,000 fiunilies, jmbmitted to the Mandins, taking presents of
camels, &c In 1633 several other chiefs of tiie tribe followed his
example, were received with considerable rejoicings, and were handsom^
entertained. In 1634 several of these chiefs broke thek allegiance and
went over to the Khalkas. Troops were sent after them, which overtook
them near the river Ono,and killed more than a thousand of them. The
troops continued their pursuit into the land of the Khanmikha (<>., of
the Tunguses), and made many of thcfm prisoners.!
*The Mao Minggans are encamped at the source of the Chetubulak,
above 800 H nordi-west of Kalgan. Their country is 100 ii from east to
west and 190 from north to south. It is bounded on the east by the
Khalkas, on the west by the Urads, on the south by the Tumeds of
Koko Khotan, and on the north by the desert It is 1,240 li from
PMng.
''The most remaricable mountains there are the Kharatologoi, Khar-
gaitn, Kharatek^, Khorko, and Gnrban Khanu The chief rivers are the
Khtmdulen, the Bulur lokhoi, and the Aibukha.'' |
This completes the description of the tribes subject to the descendants
of Khassar.
•Tifld»waU,iufl04* Note. t/i.,li.a&h I Op. dt, 18$.
$ Schmidt. Mem. St Piten. AcuL. tt. 448. I TimkoweU, ii. afo.
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44^ HISTORY or THE MONGOLS.
THE ONGNIGHODS.
The Ongnigfaods form two barnien, under a prince of the second class,
another of the third class, and two chie£i of high rank. This tribe is
apparently the only fragment of the very large empire once controlled
by Utsuken, the brother of Jingis, and by his descendants, which still
remains in his toiily. I have described in previous chapters the stroi^
influence which this section of the Mongol dominions had upon the
nuun course of Mongol history^ It was probably in consequence of the
revolutionary character of its successive rulers diat the fiunfly was
eventually deprived. However this nuiy be, it is very certain that among
the various Mongol tribes, this one alone is named as still obeying his
Cunily.
Tenragen Utsuken was the youngest of the brothers of Jingb Khan,
who was of the full blood, and was apparently that one who survived
the longest, and in consequence of his patriarchal diameter acquired
great influence during the reigns of his sons. There was another brother
named Khadshikin or Kadsbiun, irfio is named by Ssanang Setaen,
between him and Ehassar,* but his descendants have apparency died out
Utsuken seems to have been of a brave and impetuous character. In
the great campaign against the Nahnans, when mott of the officers of
Jingis counselled delay until his horses should be in better condition, he
urged on the contrary, that those of the enemy were equally thin, and
he urged that they should not allow the enemy time to recruitt On the
partition of the empire, Utsuken's portion lay on the frontiers of
Mandiuria, in the okl country of the Inkirasses, about Kalantshin Alt
and the river Olkui^ and it is probable that he not only ruled over the
Mongol tribes in that district, but also over the broken shreds of the
Tartars, whom I have identified with the Daurians. He was a great
fiitvourite with his brother, who assigned him a special army of s/wo
warriors, namely, a/x>o Umauts, i/x)o Basiuts, and 2,000 of mixed dans.
Utsuken assisted at the inauguration of his neftew Ogotai, and held
one of his hands as he was conducted to the throne.| On the death of
Ogotai, Utsuken, who, as the ddest of the &mily had some dakns to
the dirone, made a feeble attempt to gain it, and approadied the capital
with his troops. When he found he woukl not be generally supported,
he Uandly said he had gcme co offer his congratulations,! and with his
forty-eight sons he assisted at the inauguration of Kuyuk.ir He was
afterwards tried, and although he was not punished, several of his
offioers were put to death.**
. •SMBanf 8«taMi,«s« t De ICailk. ix. 37.
lBrdaunrtTMM4te,aS4.««iNotta0. XrOhMoii; tt. 7. Note. f ITOliaton, ii. 10.
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THE ONGNIOHOOa. 449
Utsuken wm a great builder, and where be liv^d, palaces pleaawe
gaidensy&c^wereamstmcted. His chief wife wae called Send Fndihin,
and was of the tribe of the OIkhonodi.* He was succeeded in his anthority
by his son Thugadshar Noyan. He became very powedal, com-
manded Chubilai's troops in his war with Arikboka, received many
&voars from Khubilaiy and lived to an old age.t He was succeeded by
his son Aguly and he by hb son Nayan. I have described, at some
length ahneady, the great rebellion which Nayan headed against
Khnbilai Khan in his later days, nor shall I repeat wkU I then
said4 Marco Polo says he coold bring 400^000 men into the fidd4
whidi, as Colonel Yule sqr% was no doubt a great emggemtiop.
He also describes the district governed by him as a icaote wilder-
ness, more than lliirty marches from the court,! and ht tdls us diat
he had four provinces, under h is control, namely : Chofcha, Cauly,
Barscd, and Sikintinju, a very great dominion.^ Cokmel Yule
has some judicious remaiks on these names. He says C3iofcha is tiie
Manchu country, the Nyuoh^ of the Chinese; by Kauli was probably
meant a portion of or a district on the borders of Corea. Barskul or
Leopard lake was doubtless some pUoe in Manchuria, perhaps the great
lake of Hinka, while Sikintinju is probably a corruption representing
Shangking-Tungking, eqiressiog the two aqutals of the Khitans in tfiis
district** According to the Chinese authorities, Nayan's territory was
mainly watered by the riveis Liau, Toro, Kudiei, &G,tt which answers
tolerably to the same area.
Nayan, like many odier Eastern princes, is said to have been a
Cliristian.|t As I have described, he was severely defeated by KhubifaU,
was captured and put to death.H
His defeat ^qparendy to a laige extent prostrated the power of Nayan's
femily. It is not unHkely that several of the Danrian tribes still obeyed
his family, even at the accessi^m of the BCanchu dynasty, but among the
Mongols its anthority seems to have decayed. The Khortshins and
other tribes fonning the confedemcy ruled by Khassar apparently suc-
ceeded to the vacant power, and I believe that the Nahachu who opposed
the Ming troops with such vigour in this area about 1386II was a
descendant of Khassai's, and it is remarkable, as I have said, that the
only tribe whose princes daim descent from Utsuken at this moment is
that of the Ongnighods. In the narrative translated by Schmidt we
read that one of Utsuken's descendants had two sons, the dder of whom
named Bayantai Khongldiar Noyan became the chief of the Ongnighods,
while the second son Badai SetKn Nayan and his dans took tiie
name of Kara Chirik. The descendant of Bayantai hi the second
* Erdmann't Tomn^MB* SS4* t BrdauuB, op. dt., 571. I Vii$ aoAt, tf$, Ac
iYole^ Marco Polo, i.S99- Hd^UyA ^Id^Lyo;. •• Ynlt^ Iforco Palo^ L jiS.
ttOmbi],M9. rM«tnto»i79. H Ydo*k Mwoo Polo. i. jot. H FM» aal*. i A iTS.
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450 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
generation was Tulan, idio took the name of Dugereng Khtn. He had
seven sons, of whom Sim Dureng and Dun^ Daitshing were two. llie
descendant of Badai in the third generation was Nassai, who had two
sons named Carma and Nomtai Daitshing. During the disturbances
caused by lingdan Khan, Sun Dureng, Dung Daitshing, and the Taidshi
of the Csmily Kara Chink, named Garma, with all their subjects, sub-
mitted to the Manchus. This was in 1631, and they took part in the
Manchtt campaign against the Chakhars.*
*The coontry of the Ongni^iods extends for 100 li from east to west,
and 160 li liom north to sooth. On the east it Is bordered by that of the
Am Khdftahlns, on the west by that of Yeho, on the south by that of
the Khaiatahins and Aokhans, and on the nofth by that of the Barins
and Kechikteiis. It is 760 li from Pddng.
''.The right wing encamps at Indzir khogotshit, 520 li north-east of
Khtt pe kheou, and the left wing 680 li from die same place. The
principal rivers of their country are tiie Lbkha, which runs 100 li towards
the south-east of the left wiftg, it comes frxmi Adkhan, and running to
tlie north-east joins the Khurduhin ; and the In^in 150 li to the notth-
west of the right wing, which rises in the mountains of Hia ma fing ;
after having run to the south-east it receives the Chang ho and falls
farther to the east into the Lokha.'^t
THE ABAGHAS.
The Abaghas form two banners, under a prince of the second class, a
Taidshi of the first class, and two chiefs of high railk. Besides his
brothers of the whole blood, JIngis Khan, as I have stated, had two
half-brothers named Bekter and Be^;etei. Bekter was killed, as I have
already described.} Belgetei occurs several times in the account of
jingis as given both by Ssanang Setzen and De Mailla.
His descendant in the seventeenth generation was Bayaskho Burkud,
who had two sons. The eldest of these named Tarni Kudung became
the chief of the Abaghas, and his brother Nomi Dcmektu of the
Abaghanars, Tarni Kudung had two sons, namely, Sussenge Waidsang,
who had a son named Erdeni Tumen, with the title of Jassaktu Noyan,
and Dsangghotai Soriktu, who had a son Dordshi, sumamed Etriiige
Noyan. The Ab^has were vassals of the Chakhars. When Lingdan
Khan began his violent proceedings diey fled to the north^of the desert
to the banks of the river Kerulon, and sought protection from Shiilui,
the Setzen Khan of the Khalkas.
• Schmidt, Mem. St. Peter*. Aoul., ii. 436, 437.
tTiiid»wtid,U.a47.34«. Sctaiidi. op. oil.. 436. I Ki«<# ant^ 435.
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THE ABAGHANARS. 45 1
In 1637 they formed a portion of the confederacy which defeated the
Qiakhars at Ju Tseng. In 1631 Kitad Tsokhor, one of their chieft,
submttted with 500 men, and hi 1634, after the great defeat of the
Chakhaxs, Tu^er, the grandton of the Erdeai above-named. Joined
with the Sctzen Khan Shuhti in writing a submissive letter to the
Manchus and in sendit^ products of his country as presents In 1658
Etshige Noyan Dordshi, with many of his followers^ separated from the
Khalkas and placed himself under Manchu protection. On this occasioii
Dioidsht changed his name to Amitai and took the title of Daikhan
Noyan. In 165 1 his submission was followed by that of Tusker. Both
were raised to the rank of Kun wang. The former was made chief of
the eastern, and the latter of the western wing of the Abaghas^ At the
same time pasture grounds, ^c, were assigned them on the frontier.
When in i66^the Abaghanars also submitted to the Manchus the latter
occupied these iiewly granted lands, and the Abaghas moved, into fresh
quarters, between the Khaghotshids and Sunids.*
" Their hmd is 200 li from east to west« and 300 li from north to south.
It joins on the east the frontier of the Abaghanars, on the west that of
the Sunids, on the south that of the Chakhars of the blue baimer^ and on
the north the great desert. The right wing is encamped at the Sprii^
Kobur, and the left wing about Bain olu. The distanee to Peking is
1,000 li.»t
THE ABAGHANARS..
Abaghanar means grand£ither in MongoLt This tribe forms two
banners, under a prince of the third rank and another of the fourth rank.
In the last article I mentioned how the Abaghas and the Abaghanars
were divided between two brothers, of whom the chief of the Abaghanars
was called Nomi Demektu. This tribetwas under the Setzen Khan
Shului, and was settled on the banks of the Kemlon, and its original
home was north of the desert. About 1641 several of its chiefe sub-
mitted to the Manchus, and in 1641 the Taidshi Arana Garma whh a
large following crossed the desert and settled on the frontier of the
empire. This migration was not naturally very pleasing to the Khalkhas,
but they were too weak to oppose the rising Manchu power. In 1665
and 1666, when the Khalkhas themselves, had submitted, many other
chiefs of the Abaghanars joined their countrymen south of the desert.
As I have said, the tribe was settled in th* CttwhtfyrecenUy. occupied by
the Abaghas, for whom new seats were formed |
• Schmidt, Mem. St. Petert. Acid., it. 444* 445- ^ Timla>w«kl. U. 9St.
I Timkowiki. ii. aso. Kl»proth*t Not*. f Sdmiidt^llem. St. Peim. Acad^ ii. 445. 44««
01
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452 HISTORY Of THE MONGOLS.
^ Hieir land is i8o 11 fhmi east to west and 560 li from north to south.
It is bounded on the east by the Khaghotshids^onthewest by the Abagfaas,
on the south by the Chakhars of the bhie banner, and on the north by
die desert The distance to Peking is 1,500 IL Their principal camp is
640 li north-east ot the barrier of Chai^*ki»4dieoa or Kalgan.
''Under the Yuen dynasty this and the adjacent countries made part of
a Chinese province, but under the Mii^ it was occupied by the Mongols,
as we have rdated, and was under die Setsen Khan of the Khalkhas.
The right wing is sibout Changtu (in Chinese, Yung ngan dian), 640 li
nortb^ast of Kalgan, it is 60 li jfimm east to west and 310 li from nocdi
to south. The left at Mount UrUni tologai, 582 li noidbeast of Tn
chy kheou ; it extends no li from east to west and 318 li from north
to south.''*
Besides the tribes enumeralied in thift diapter there are two fragments
of the Khalkhas who long ago aettled to the sooth of the desert andfoim
two of the Forty-nine Banners. These are the so*<alled Eastern and
Western Khalkhas of the Inner division. Theur history, Ac, will come
mora properly in the nesct diapter, where I shall tieat of the Khalkhas.
NoU t.— I hardly insisted with sufficient enq;>liasis, in the account of
the Chakhars in this clu^>ter, upon the very separate oiganisadon which
distinguishes them. Originally the Manchus consisted of seven tribes
orbanner8,as we learn from the narrative of Martini and others. When
the Chakhars were conquered, they were given co-ordinate rank with
the Manchus and formed into an eighth banner, and are now treated as
Bannermen, and lodoed iq;>on as the reserves of the Manchu army. As
I have said, they are divided into eight banners. Hue describes these
as the red, lAue, yellow, and white, pink> light blue^ light yellow, and
French white. He says each oi the Chakhar banners has its own
tribunal, " named Nuru Chain, having jurisdiction over all matters that
may occur in the banner. Besides this tribunal, there is in each of the
eight banners a chief named U Gurdha. Of the eight U Gurdhas, one
is sdected to fill the post of Governor-General of the dght banners.
They are all nominated by the Chinese Emperor. In order that they
may be at all times ready to march at the first signal, the Chakhars are
severely prohibited from culdvadpg the ground. They must live on their
pay and the produce of their flocks. The entire soil of the eight banners
is inalienable. It sometimes happens that an individual sells his portion
to MMne Chinese, but the sale is always declared null and void if it comes
in any shsqpe before die tribunals." t In the Chakhar country are found
the vast Imperial herds. There are 360 herds of horses alone, eadi
t Tlmkomki. ii. 9$u * Hoe, i. ^
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THE ABAGHANAHS. 453
xuuabenBg 1,300 horses. A Chakh^ Tartar decanted with a white
bottoa has charge of each herd. At intervals they are visited by the
Inspectors, when the chief herdsman has to make up defidendes out
of his own pocket They nevertheless manage to cheat thear Imperial
master. ^ Whenever a Chinese has a brofaen-winded horse or a lame ox,
he takts it to the Imperial herdsman^ who for a amaU consideration
allows him to select what animal he pleases in exchange from among
the Imperial herds. Being thus always provided with the actual number
of animals they can benefit by their fraud in perfect security."*
In regard to the rd)elli<m of the Chakhars widch I mentioned,t I find
that I overiooked a passage in De MaiUa. He tdls us in 1675 the
rising Manchu empire was threatened cm several sides at once. The
princes of Kuang tun& Fu kien, and Tai-wan or Formosa, made a pact
with the rebel Usankueiy and with the Mongols against the ooomum
enemy. The latter were led by a chief named Satcliar, who doubtless
deemed it a favourable opportunity for recovering his independence.
Having persuaded several of. the neighbouring prinoes to join him, he
prepared to march into China at the head of loo/xio men. Being
in£cmned by spies of the tempest that was brewing in the north, the
Manchu Emperor at once ordered the troops of liau tung and a
detachment from the garrison of Pddng to mardi ^;ainst the Mongols.
They marched rapidly, before the Utter could coooentrate their forces.
Satchar forced to fig^t at a disadvantage was defeated and captured with
his brother and childrcn4 This is no doubt the same event mentioned
by TimkowskL He calls the diief Barin, and tdls us he was the chief
of the Chakhars.1
Note 3.— The Abb^ Hue tdls a quaint story about the Barins which I
overlooked in the account of that tribe^ which illustrates iordbly the kind
of intercourse whidi is carried on between the Imperial court and the
dependent Sovereigns. He says that ** although tibe Mongol Sovereigns
think it their duty to prostrate themsdves once a year before the Son of
Heaven, Lord of the Earth, they nevertheless do not concede to the
great Khan the ri|^ of dethroning the reigning fomifies in the Tartar
prindp^ties. He may, they say* cashier a King for grave misconduct,
but he is bound to fill up die vacant place with one of the superseded
prince's sons. The sovereignty belongs, they contend, to such and such
a funily by a ri|^ which is inalienable^ and of which it were a crime to
dispossess the owner.' He then goes on to say that "^ a fow years ago
^ King of the Barins was accused at Pddng'of having conq[Mred a
xdieDion against the Emperor. He was tried by the Supreme Tribunal
without beiiig heard, and was condemned to be 'shortened at bqdi ends,'
the meaning of the decree being, that his head and foet shouU be cut
oft The King made enmrmous presents to the officials who were to
«0^dt.,i.46. tAalt,|«9. :DfM«lliw«2.73.73. » Op. dt, ii. ast.
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45i HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
superintend the execution of the Imperial edict, and they contented
themselves with cutting off his braid of hair and the soles of his boots.
They reported at Peking that the order had been executed, and no more
was said about the matter. The King, however, descended. Cram his
throne, and was succeeded by his son." •
Nafe 3.^1 am conscious that some of the expressions in the preceding
account of the conversion of the Mongols to Lamaism in the thne of
Altan Khan are very jejune, and in some cases not very inteDigibie, but
I preferred to follow the text of Ssanang Setzen as nearly as I could
understand it, to making a paraphrase upon a subject profoundly difiicttit
and obscure. I hope in another volume to give a short conspectus of
the system of Lama Buddhism as it is followed in Mongolia.
NoU 4. — In this and preceding chapters I have constantly used the
Chinese term li for a measure of distance without explaining its noeaning.
The li is a very variable distance, like the Spanish le2^e,v which, as
those know to their cost who have been in out-of-the-way comers of that
country, expands where there are no official posts to mark the distance.
De Mailla says that the li in most ordinary use, and which may therefore
be taken as a mean standard of its length, is one-tenth of a French
league, so that 200 li form a geographical mile or degree.t Hue's editor
says the Chinese It is about equivalent to the quarter of an English
mile.} Timkowski says, according to information given by persons
acquainted with the subject, the Chinese li contains 285 Russian fathoms,
and consequently 35 fathoms more than half a verstS Hyacinthe
says the Chinese li is equivalent to 1,800 Chinese Engineer feet, 1,897}
English feet, and 27i,»4 Russian sashens or .fathoms. Ten li are equal
to 5 versts 2 id sashens. |j From these varying authorities, De Mailla's
mean calculation may perhaps be accepted as the safest.
* H«^t Traveii, i. 170. t Dt MaOU, op. dt., i. 74. ; Travels, i. 16.
^ Travels, 1. 6s ^ I Borg** Hyacinthe, i. i. Note.
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CHAPTER VIIL
THE KHALKHAS.
IN the previous chapter I have described the various tribes wliicb
are classed by the Chinese as of the Inner division^ and which are
comprised in the divisions of the Chakhars and the Forty-nine
Banners. They occupy the south and east of the desert, and have
been subject to China since the first half of the seventeenth century.
I now proceed to describe those tribes which are classed by the Chinese
as of the Outer, division, and which arc comprised in the generic name
KhalUuu They live for the most part to the north of the desert, and
temniacd independent of the Chinese to a considerably later date. Tliey
are now divided into eighty-six banners, exclusive of the two Khalka
banners I mentioned in the last chapter as now attached to the Inner
division, and comprise four general brigades or divisions. First, the
brigade of Khan Aghola, consisting of the twenty banners subject to
the Titshiyetu Khan ; secondly, the Brigade Kerulun Bars, consisting of
the twenty-three banners subject to the Sctzen Khan ; thirdly, the brigade
Waidurya Naghor, comprising the nineteen banners subject to the
Jassaktu Khan ; and lastly, the brigade Tshitshirlik or Tsetscriik,
comprising the twenty-four banners subject to the Sain Noyan.* The
name Khalkha is generally derived from the river Kalka, a tributary of
the Buyur lake in north-eastern Mongolia. It is a new name like that
of Chakhar, and does not apparently appear before the days of Dayan
Khan, when the KhaTkhas are mentioned aS forming one of the six
Tiimcns or grand divisions into which the Mongols were then divided.t
For the greater part of the reign of Dayan Khan, the Mongols seem to
have been cooped up in the districts north of the desert, watered by the
Keriilon and other rivers, which had been their homeland before the
adventurous career of Jingis Khan carried them hither and thither,
through the breadth of Asia. To this confined district they had been
driven by the early Min^ Emperors after their expulsion from China.
In the liitter part of Dayan Khan's reign (or perhaps it was after his
death), the decrepitude of the Ming Emperor, or some other tempting
reason led to the expansion of the Mongol quarters. They once more,
* Schmidt, Mem. St. Peters. Acad., n. 476. t Ssananf Setsen, 291, ftc.
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456 HISTORY OP THE MONGOLS.
as 1 have described in the last chapter, overflowed the southern borders
of the desert and occupied the frontier districts of China, and there
formed several principalities under his various sons, all more or less
subordinate to that of the Chakhars. The tribes who remained behind
were apparently those encamped about lake Buyur and Kuhin and their
feeders, and especially about the river Kalka. On the division of Dayan
Khan's patnmony they fdl to Geressandsa Jelair Khuntaidshi, his
youngest son,* the hearth or home-child, who like Tului, the youngest
son of Jingis, was richly endowed with dans. Geressandsa left seven
sons, named i, Ashikhai Darkhan Khuntaidshi ; 3, Noyantai Khatan
Batur ; 3, Waidsang Noyan Unugho ; 4, Daldang Kundulen ; 5, Amin
Dural ; 6, ( ? ) ; 7, Odkhan Noyan. Among these sons the KluiDdias
were apportioned, so that they were divided into seven sections.t
These sections were ranged according to thQ usual Mongol practice
into a right wing and a left wing. The sixth son of Geressandsa apparently
died without issue, for he is not named in the account abstracted by
Schmidt, where we read that the western wing comprised the clans
subject to his first, second, fourth, and seventh sons, while the easteni
wing comprised those kibject to his third and fifth 8ons4 The eastern
wing took up its quarters on the mountain Khan Ula, while the western
wing had its court on the Biduria Noor, a lake of north-western
Mongolia, and on the sburces of the river Dsak,S bordering upon the
Kalmuks on the east These two sections eventually became divided
into four, each of which, had an indepencfent position, and I shall treat
each separately.
THE WESTERN KHALKHAS OF JASSAKTU KHAN.
As I have said, this branch of the Khalkas are encamped on the Biduria
Noor, the rivers Dsak, Jabkan, &c Now in the accounts of the early
Russian intercourse with Siberia, we find the Russians sending embassies
and exchanging envoys with a Mongol chief, whose camp was on the
Ubsa Noor lake, and who is styled AlUn or Altyn Khan. Details in
regard to these embassies are contained in the first volume of Fischer's
Sibirische Geschicte. I have no doubt myself that the Altan Khan of these
accounts was one of the chiefs of the western division of the Khalkhas.
Altan Khan is merely Golden K^an, and Fischer tells us that this was
not his real name, but was a title given to him by the Kirghises, who
lay between his country and the Russian frontier, and were more or less
* Schmidt, op. cit.» u. 455. f Schmidt, op. dt., U. 456 aad 46O.
I Schmidt, op. cit., ii^ 4S6 and 466. ^ Klaprokh'a Attm, PdygloCtft, 169.
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THE WESTERN KHALKHAS OP JA8SAKTU KHAN. 457
dependant on him, and that the Russians translating this snmame calkd
him Solotm Tiar, fV.> Golden King.*
It was dcnhtkss the same Kirgfaises who gave die neigfabomring
Teleskoi lake its title of Altan Noor or Gold^ sea.t This identification
I believe to be new^ and it greatly sirni^ifies an obscure comer of Mongol
history. As I have said, the western wing of the Khalkhas consisted of
four secti<ms, ruled by Aihikhai Darkhan Khungtaidshi, Noyantai Khatan
Batur, Daldan Kundnkn, and Odkhan Noyan, the ddest, second, fourth,
and seventh sons of Geressandsa, one of the seven Bolods. AmoQg these
Ashikhai doubtless occupied the nominal superiority given to the ddest
son. He had two sons, named Buyandara and Tumendara Daitshiqg.
Each of them became the founder of an important branch of the
Weston Khalkhas. Buyandara succeeded to the chief authority among
them and became the ancestor of the Jassaktu Khans, while Tumendara,
as I believe^ moved with his people to the sechided country about lake
Ubsa and the river Kemtshik, and there founded the power of the Alun
Khans. We are told he had a son named Shului Ubashi Kkungiaidski.
I identify him with the Kunkantshei of the Russian narratives menticmed
below. Shuhii's eldest son was Ombo ErdenL} He can be no other
than the Irden Kontaischa who b mentioned as the Altan Khan by
Fischer about 1652.I As Ombo Erdeni was the 6uher of Lobdsang
Taishi,! so was the Altan Khan Irden the father of Lousan, who
succeeded as Altan Khan in 1657. This chain of evidence is conclusive
that the above identification is correct.
Buyandara had a son named Laikhor. At first he was merely one of the
various princes amongwhom these Khalkhas were divided, with pwAablya
nominal supremacy among the others as head of the famfly,but like Altan
Khan of the Tumeds, he seems to have carved out a much more inqxMtant
position for himsdfl At first the title of Khan was not in use among the
Khalkhas, who deemed themselves dependants of the Chakhars, but we
are told that the subjects of Laikhor raised him to the rank of Khan.f
At the beginning of the seventeenth century the Kalmuks were divided
into several petty principalities, and were sharply attacked by their
neighbours the Mongols, who were reasserting their old supremacy.
They were very unfortunate in several encounters with them, and were
obliged to recognise their supremacy. The Mongol Khan 1H10 defeated
them at this timc^ we are told by Pallas, was Laikhor Khan, to whom fbra
while the Kalmuks became tributary.**
Let us now turn to the account of the Altan Khans given by
Fischer. He tells us that about 1609, the tribes on the Yenisei, the
Tartars about Abakanskoi, the Mati •(<>., the Motors), the Tubinzi,
* FlMhar^ Siberia, 969. Notes4< f Kl«protk*k AtU, Polyglotte» 140.
JSckmldt«M«m.8t.PeMn. Acad.,iL438. I Op. dt., 704.
I ielMnidt, op. dt., 469. ^ SdunUtt* op. cit, U. 4^7.
•* PallM, SamL Hnt. NKb. ueb. die. If oog. VoIk.« i. 36.
an
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45$ HISTORY OF THK MOKGOLS
and Jesari were his tributaries.* These tribes seem to have been
seduced from their allegiance to him and became subject to the
Russians. In 1616 an embassy vras sent, in the name of the Czar
Michal Feodorovitch, to the AlUn Khan. For this duty Wasilei
Tumenezy a Cossack Ataman from Tara, and Ivan Petrof, a Desatnik or
commander of ten men from Tumen, were named. They took with them
for presents various articles of male and female attire, doths of various
Idnds and colours, cloth flaps for caps, silken curtains decorated with
gold and tinsel, tin bowls and plates and rods, kettles, knives, large
and small mirrors, metal buttons, great coral beads (mulchaki), writing
paper, raisins, honey, butter, groats, kef This enumeration is interesting
as a sample of the objects bartered by the Russians with their neighbours
in Siberia at this time, and also as showing the kind of thing that was
then deemed a welcome present among the Mongols. Tomsk was then
the Russian frontier city. The Voivode of Tomsk despatched a Cossack
to the Kii^ghises, with orders to them to send on a message to the Altan
Khan apprising him of the envoys' journey, and asking him to send some
of his people to meet them. The account of the journey of the embassy
was taken by Fischer from the archives at Tomsk. From it we learn
that on arriving among the Kiighises the envoys were met by Taibin
Mursa,a messenger of the Altan Khan's, with thirty men, who conducted
them to the camp of the Golden King KunkantsheL| They took the
Kirghiz chief Kora with them as interpreter. As they passed through
the Sayanian mountains they were taken to the chief prince there, named
Karasakal (tl^., black beard), who inquired from them who they were and
from what king they came. When they told him he presented them with
victuals and relays of horses. Thence they went to the land of the Maci,
whose chief received them wdl and escorted them to the camp of the
Golden King. The latter sent the prince Kaltai tetsha with several nobles
to meet them. They were supplied, according to Mongol fashion, with
meat and drink, and a tent was put up for them near the royal tent.
On the following day they were granted an audience. This audience
was held in the tent of the Kutuchta (i>., the Lama patriarch), in
the presence of the grandees of the court, and of the aforesaid Koshut-
shin and Taibin Mursa.) The object of the mission was to persuade
the Mongol chief to become a Russian tributary. The envoys proceeded
to read the titles of the Russian Czar, upon which the Golden Khan
raised his cap a little, and was imitated by the prince Koshutshin
and die rest of the princes. They however lifted their caps off entirely.|
The Golden King then rose and said he was ready to serve and be
• Fitchtrt Sib«rui, 3i«. t Fischer, op. cit., 367.
I This name tssflu to n>e to b« • corrnptioa of the Mongol title Khungtsidsbi.
i Fischer, cp, dt., 370, 371.
I So ssys the Cosssck narrative, hot In his note Fischer questions the ceresBony as not
1 to Moifoi hahjts.
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THE WESTERN KHALKHAS OF JASSAKTU KHAN. 459
faithful to the Russian Czar with all his people. The envoys pressed
for more concessicm, and urged that he and his people should acknowledge
themselves as dq>endants of the Czar. This the Golden King and the
prince Koshutshin undertook to do, and thereupon, according to their
custom, took the oath of fidelity, while they held a sact«d idol of Buddha
in their hands and raised it aloft The Gdden King explained to the
envoys the nature of the Kutukta, who lived at his court. He told them
that^hewas k>oked upon by his people as a saint, that he had been sent to
them from the country of the Lamaa (<>., from Thibet), and that he coult)
vead even from his birth. He had died when he was three years old,
and after lying in the ground dead for five years he had come to life
again. He could read either backwards or forwards, and recognised all
the persons whom he had known in his previous state." * This is a good
picture of the stones which are current among the Mongols in regard
to their Lamas. The envoys reported that during the audience the
Golden King was dressed in golden satin, the prince Koshutshin in
golden damask, while all the grandees were dressed in their State robes.
The envoys having distributed the presents which they took were again
feasted, and orders were given that when they left the country an escort
should accompany them to see them safely to the borders of the king-
dom, and to provide them with necessaries on the way.t While at the
court the envoys heard particulars in regard to the empire of China and
kingdom of Topa (? Thibet), and also of a king of the Khalkhas named
Kondelct Shuker,! whom I cannot identify, but he probably belonged to
the eastern division. They reported that it was a month's jotumey on
horseback from the land of the Kirgfaises to the court of the Altan Khan^
and they travelled for ten days over rocky mountains, among iduch they met
with high stone buildings which were unoccupied. These were doubtless
the small Lama temples called Suburgans, and known to the Russians as
Kamenc Metsheti or stone temples. The envoys sUyed eight days at
the Mongol court, and on their return passed by three mountains covered
with snow. They reported that where the Golden King lived there was
neither snow nor winter. They seem to have travelled from Tomsk
eastward to the Yenisei, crossing, as the narrative says, the rivers Yaya,
Kiya, Urup, and lyuz. They then followed the Yenisei valley by the
rivers Askis, Abakan, Kant^r, and Kemtshik, and found the Golden
King encamped on lake Ubsa.| On their return they were accompanied
by two envoys from the Altan Khan to the Czar, called Kayan Mtrgen
and Kitshin Bakshi, who went on to Moscow to convey to die Emperor
the submission of their master. In 1619 another embassy from the
Altan Khan arrived at Moscow and returned well pleased with the result
of their journey. Meanwhile the Jassaktu Khan, his suzereign, was
extending his authority nearer home. He hud, early in the century, as I
• Fiicbcr, op. a*t, i. 37 J, 373. t FlKher, op. cit., 374- J Fitcber, op. dt., 375-377.
i Fischer, op. cit., 379.
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4^ HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
have previously mentioned, defeated the Sungarian Kahnuks.* Before
1619 Khaiakolla, the founder of the Sungarian empire, liad been forced
to f}y and to escape to Siberia,t and he would seem to have been master
of the greater part of the modem province of Kobdo, and of the country
north of the Sayanian mountams. It was hardly likely that under these
circumstances the Altan Khan would be a very subservient prot^ of the
Russians, and we accordingly find that in 1619 a misunderstanding arose
between them. The Kirghises went to him and offered to acknowtec^ie
hun as their suzereq^ if he would protect them against the Russians.
He undertook to do this, and also took the tribute from them which they
fonnerly paid to the Russians. The latter did not choose to make
reprisals, and the chief result of the (quarrel was that the n^otiatioos
between the two powers was interrupted for many years.) The date of
Laiidior Khan's death is unknown to me. He was succeeded by his son
Sdsati, wOko first iook the title of Jassaktu Khaa.| The authority of the
Altan Khan extmded some distance into Siberia, and the Tulnni, who
lived between Krasnoyarsk and the Sayanian mountains, were among
his subjects. In 1629 we find his people claiming authority over a small
tribe on the river Kan (a tributary of the Yenisei) called Kotowi, and
plundering them of their wealth.) In 1632 intercourse was once more
renewed between him and the Russii^is. He sent envoys to Tomdt to
say that he and his subjects were willing to acknowledge the supiemacy
of the Russians, to pay tribute, and to engage to fight the enemies of the
Emperor, and asked that an embassy mi|^t be sent in return to whom
he might in person perftmn the ceremonies of acknowledgmentf The
motive of this offer was probably fear of the rising power of the Manchns.
In i6g4 an embassy was accordms^ sent off fi'om Tomsk, consisting of
the nobleman Yakof Tugatshuskoi, and an official of the ChaneeUary
at Tomsk named Drushina. The Khan hagt his word except as to doing
homage in person. This was undcirtaken for him by his cousin Dural
tabun and two of his brothers-in-law named Biyun tabun and Taitshm
tabim. On this occasion th^^Khan offb«d some prt^tnts^ but tfiegr ^tve
considered so t>oor that they were rejected, and the Khan, IBk m^fher
the widow Chetshen, and Dural tabun werfe soundly abused--%y tie
much-expecting officer of the Chancellary.**
In 1635 the Russians requested hun to use hb influence widi the
Khii{^iiaes to revert <mce more to their all^;iance to the Russians. This
he undertook, and sent a Lama named Dain Meigen Lansa to them, but-
they were obdnrate.tt He also sent envoys whb were to proceed to Moscow
with tribute. This consisted of aoo sable skins on his own account and
100 on account of the Lama. They asked for presents in return. Fortfae
Khan, gold, siver, great beads, conl, precious stones of various colours,
* Fbcber, op. dL, 3x4. t PaUu, Hist. Nsch.* Ac, 37. Fncber. op. dt., 443.
I Piacber, op. cit., i. 38a. % Sdunidt, Ifem. St. Pet«t. Acad., ii. 467.
|FiKlMf,409>4X«- TFiKher,^ •* FtKfatr, 669. tt FiMber, 65a-€^
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THE WISTBRN KHALKHAS OF JASSAKTU KHAN. 461
a good suit of armour, a swotd, a firearm with six bands, gold brocade,
fine doth, a Turkish or Persian horse (argamak), a beU, a drum, musical
instruments for t)ie service of the temple, a telescope, and a striking
ck>ck, togithir with a monk who had bun to JemsoUm thai ho weight
Uachtktmkowtki CkrisHtms prayed^ txk interpreter who understood the
Russian and Mongdian speech and writings a doctor with medicines, a
dWersmith, a gunsmith, and a tanner. On behalf of the Lama, great
beads, gold, silver, five pieces of doth of vUous colours, two different
kinds or tents, gold brocade, damask ornamented with sihrer, red coral,
&c ; t a very modest list of requirements ! ! ! Nevertheless the Czar
was good enough not only to send the greater part of what had been
asked, but also to richly reward the envoys. He also sent letters to
their master bidding him do homage in person, bidding htm also send
tribute r^ulariy, to send back any Russian messengers whotnight go to
his court without delay, and properly escorted. As the Khan and Lamm
had complamed of the rude conduct of the Drushtna, he was ordered to
be beaten in their presence, and to be then remitted to prison. The
Khan's envoys were accompanied on their return home by some Russian
officials, headed by one Stephen Gretshanin, who went to receiye his
hcmiage. One of these was dq;>uted to visit the Lama, ndio did not
generally live witii the Khan, but with his brother Dain Noyan. They
found the Khan encamped on a river called the Kustm takai. They
were received by his l»x>thers Dain Noyan and Mergen Noyan and other
chie^ and conducted to the tent which had been prepared for them. A
few days after they were granted an audience. The Khan was seated
in his tent He asked after the Czar's health by die mouth of one ot
his tabuns. The chief envoy insisted that this question must be put by
the Khan in person, standing. When this had been done and die envoy
had replied, be handed the Czar's letter to him and afterwards the
presents. These the Khan received standing, thanked him for them,
and then had the letter interpreted. Amoi^ other things, it contained
complaints about the unrulinrss of the Khtzghises, and desired the Khan
to punish them. The Khan promised to consult the Lama Dain Mexgen
Lansa, his mother Chetshen Katun, and his brothers on the subject
When it came do doing homage, he objected to the word Kholopstwo
(servitude) in the envoys' instructions, nor would he do homage in person.
He said that servitude was hdd degrading among the Mongols, nor was
it thdr custom for a chief to do homage in person. There the nuitter
renymied, and the envoys returned to their tent A week after Dural
tabun communicated to them that his master would not d^prade
himsdf as they desired. He had promised to pay tribute and to be the
faithful ally of Russia, but a servant he would never be, nor would he do
homage in p^son, but if they pleased the Lama would perform this in
* 8«rd|]r • most auioas request for a Lamaist in the Sayanian mountaioa to make,
t Fitcber, 667.
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462 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
the Khan's presence, and it would be as valid as if he had done it
himself. Six or seven weeks having elapsed^ Gretshanin at length took
leave of the Khan. As the latter was still obdurate, he at last consented
to change thetenn kholop (servant) to poddanny (subject) ; he also agreed
to accept the oath of allegiance from the Lama and the minister Dural
tabun instead of from the Khan in person, with the condition diat he
however should subscribe it and should be present at the ceremony.
The Khan then swore that he would be a faithful subject of the Czar Michael
Feodorovicb, and of the princes Alexis and Ivan Michaelovitch. This
was further confirmed by a drau|^t <tf spirits in which gokl was mingled.
The Khan also promised to punish the refractory Kiighises.*
The Queen-mother Chetchen now invited them to a feast in her tent,
and on her suggesting whether they were going to make her any
presents, the envoy gave her eight aishins of English doth, two
pieces of red leather, two tin cups, eight ' silver rings, a set of cotton
bed hangings,.and a black fox skin. Hardly had they reached their
tent when they were f<dlowed by the Lama who said the Khan also
desired presents, and that they ought to prove themselves generous and
not to forget the Khan's wives. Although he did not name himself^ the
envoys saw what he meant, and g^ve him a gown and mantle, both of
English doth. He was also given a pearl embroidered cape whidi he
seemed to covet very much. The Khan's treasurer was presented with
two long gowns with gold bands, two short gowns oi English doth, two
skins of Morocco leather, three pieces of red leather, and eight arshins
of English cloth. Each <3i the Khan's three wives received four arshins
of EngUsh cloth and some silver rings. The Khan's brothers, Dain
Noyan, Taitshi Noyan, and Yelden Noyan (the latter two lived on the river
Kemtchik), also sent messengers to ask for presents, and to ask further
if they sent an embassy to the Csar, whether they would be as graciously
rewarded as their brother had been.t They were also rewarded with
gifts. Gretshanin now thought that the demands upon him were
exhausted, but he had not measured the depths of Mongol cupidity.
The Khan begged that they would give him their arms, both flint guns
and swords, as he needed them against the Kalnraks. These were
accordingly surrendered, but they received soVne horses in exchange.
At this time there happened to be at the Khan's court envoys from the
Jas'saktu Khan, from the Khalkha Khan KaUn Baghatur, and from
Borchan Kutuchta, die son of Altan Khan. They also were rewarded
each with a piece of English doth4 This narrative is not less amusing,
as showing the wonderful acquisitiveness of the Mmigote, than for the
proof it gives of the economical way in which the border princes of
Russia were at this time rewarded. On their return home the envoys
were accompanied by Dural tabun, who when they passed through the
coirofry of the Kirghises assembled some of the latter and urged them
* Fischer, 67^. t FitcUr, 673. l Fitclmr, 675.
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THE WESTBRN KHALKHAS Or JAMAMTV KHAK. 463
to be fiuthfol to the Rnssumt. This had Ihtk effect^ and indeed idieft
Dnrtl tmbun errived tX Tomdc a treacherons Kirgiut shot him with an
arrow and neaity killed him. When he recovered he went on to Moscow.
There he presented letters from his maater and his brother. The chief
burden of these letters was begging for largess and presents, and that
they might not be misonderstood the articles needed were specified.
One brother asked for i/)oo ducats, 1,000 great beads, a cloth tent to
hicAd 1,000 persons, 108 great red coral beads, a black fox sldn, a good
snit of armour, and a swofd. Another asked for 30D great coral beads,
a,ooo great beads, 300 pieces of amber, a sword, 10 pieces of cloth of
different colours. Another asked for 108 precious stones of many cohwrs,
5 pieces of doth, 10 gilt cups, a saddle and bridle decorated wiA ^ver«
3 good swords, 2 pieces of gold and silver brocade, 100 black fox skins,
and 100 ordinary foxes. It is surely a curious picture of the kind of
diplomacy in vogue in Central Asia that such letters should be sent.
The envoys were well recdved and rewarded. On their return home
they were accompanied by two Russian officials, namely, WasOei
Starkof and Stephen Newierof; one as an envoy to the Khan and
the other to his fomily. They set out from Tomsk in 1658. In
some weeks they reached the Khan's camp. The ninth of November
was fixed upon for the audience, diis being a hicky day. At first
there was a long pause, neither party beginning to speak. On
previous occasions the Khan had broken the ice by asking afber the
Czar^s health, but the Mongols now insisted that the envoys should first
inquire about the Khan's health, and urged that this was due to him as
the descendant of the great Jingis Khan. The Mongols proceeded to
tiureats and even to violence. The envoys went back to their tent, and
die Mongob removed the provisions which they had supplied.
DuriBf the night they heard a great noise in the Khan's camp, and
in the morning learnt that he had raised it and gone to his winter
quarters on the Kemtshik. They were put to great straits for food, Dural
tabun refosing to supply it without his master's consent After five days
of suflering this was at length supplied. Messengers came from the
Khan and his mother, asking for the Czar's presents. These the envoys
refused to surrender except at an audience. They also appealed to the
Lama, but he did. not wish to compromise himself by opposing the
Khan, the Mongols were too recent converts to be very obedient
Shortly after, Stephen Newierof set off to the camp of the Khan's
brother, Yeklen Noyan, to deliver the presents which were meant for
him* Hardly had he set out when the Lama, Dural tabun, and some
others went to Starkofs tent and forcibly carried off the presents meant
for the Khan, while they left him the Czar's letter to deliver in person.
Two days later Starkof received a message from the Lama bidding him
send some presents out of his own property to the Queen mother, as
•FiKber,68i.6S6.
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4fi4 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS
it vms according to their customs that envoys to the cooft should to do»
This he did The following day other presents were demanded for the Shan
andhiswives. He took them to his tent, but he was not admitted, and they
were distributed among the dependants of the court Nor did the Lama
foiget himself amcmg these extortionsi and cajoled the envoys mto
making him presents under |»etence that he would use his influence with
his master to do the Czar's bidding.*
It would seem that the Lama was as good as his word, for a lecood
audience was arranged, to which Starkof was with some difficulty
persuaded to go. It was held in the tent of the Lama. At this the
Khan commenced by addng after the Czar's health, but he did so sitting
and with his cap on. This led to sharp remonstrance, but as Staikof
feared the audience might end as b^ore, he at length submitted and
handed in the Czar's letter. The Khan in his letter had asked the Ciar
to send him a body of troops, so that he might subject some of the
neighbouring tribes to him, and had also asked him to send envoys to
open up a communication with China. Starkof now inquired who the
neighbours were whom the Khan wished to subdue. He also complained
that the Khan had not punished the Kiighises, and be bade him send
scnne of his own people to the Chinese frontier to explore. To this last
remark it was replied that his people knew the Way well, and that their
caravans went there to trade and exchanged cattle for silver, damask,
and cotton.t In his narrative Starkof conii^ains of having been
meanly entertained, and of having had to buy his food by presents and
bribery. Having finished his commission at the Khan's court he went
on to visit his brothers Taidshin and* Dain Noyan, for whom he also
had letters from the Czar. The former lived two days' journey down
the Kemtshik, on a small river called the Akta, and vras there engaged
in solitary devotions, but on hearing of his arrival he left them to
receive the Czar's presents. Starkof then went on to the other
brother, who was at the Khan's favourite residence. TraveUing up the
Kemtshik, he turned to the left to the river Barla (doubtless a
small feeder of the Kemtshik). Having mounted this to its source, he
crossed a mountain and came to a lake named Urutsbu (probably a
mountain lake).| Then crossing another range he arrived at lake
Alatori (i>., chequered sea, a name applied to lakes with islands). This
Fischer and Ritter identify with the lake Ubsa.| StaHc6f describes it as
a large lake, fed by many streams and surrounded by beautifully wooded
banks, backed up by high mountains. One of the streams that fell into
this lake was situated neu- the Khan's favourite quarters called Altan
Kadusun, fV., the Gokien Meadow. The Russians called it Saimiitshe
(i./., a place surrounded with woods, abutting on a river or sea on one
side, and on mountains on the other).! It is very probable as Fischer
•rNdwr,o^cit.«flM.687. t PisdMr, 689. I Ihtw^ Alia. 1071.
«FiKlMr.69t« Ndt* Mtitf. X07S. S Filter, op^ dt., 69s* Naiafl^.
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THE WISmtN KHALKHAS OF JASIAKTU KHAN. 465
snggests that it was t^s residence from wbidi iht Altan Khan got his
name. At thdr audience with Dain Noyan the same difficulties as
hefore arose as to the proper ceiemonia], and that chief expressed himself
oflfensively about the Csar^s presents. Starkof had been rained by his
companion Newierof, who had completed his mission to Yelden Noyan,
and had afterwards been to see another brother of the Khan named
Kadusun*
Starltof describes how they were supplied with tea, widch he says was
an unknown drink. ''They caU it tchai,^ he says, ** I know not whether
the leaves of which it is made come from a tree or from some herb. They
put them in water and then add milk to it* Surely a very nidfve statement
to our ears. They were plundered of nearly everything they had and
once more returned to the Khan's court, where they were again phm-
dexed.* Starkof now had his final audience. The Czar's letter was read
out and interpreted, and the Khan expressed himself dissatisfied in tiiat
several of the things his envoys had asked for as presents, such as a
doctor, a monk from Jerusalem, &c, had not been sent him. He sug-
gested that a dep6t should be formed t^here Russian and Mongolian
merchants might meet and exchange commodities, and suggested Tomsk
for the purpose, and lastly he bade them forget any indignities they
may have undergone at his court and not to report them. At the audience
they were entertained by the Khan in the Mongol fashion, that, is, says
Starkof, scantily and parsimoniously. The vessels from which they
drank, like those used by the Khan himself, were made of wood. As a
special favour they were given tea three times, whereas pre^ously they
drank merely the broth from the meat which they ate. Before their
departure the Khan sent the tribute which they were to take on his bdialf
to the Czar. This consisted of a piece of black satin, embroidered with
gold and silver ; a piece of green damask, worked with gold ; three pieces
of red, yellow, and blue damask, each eight arshins long (these were
doubtless Chinese articles) ; 200 sable skins, two beavers', two Irbitzs* (? a
kind a( otter), and 200 bakhtshas of tea, which was worth among the
Mongols 100 sable skins more. Starkof declared this latter article to be
unknown and valueless in Russia and desired the sable skins instead,
but it was not changed. When the envoys set out on their return in r639,
the Altan Khan went to pay a visit to his elder brother Kalantshin Noyan,
who lived twenty days' journey to the east pn their return home
they were attacked and plundered by a body of Mongols, who seemed
to cai« little for the Khan's r^resenutives who accompanied them.
It was some time before the Russians again had diplomatic mtercourse
with the Mongols. The tribute which the latter Knt was doubtless a
mere blind under which to extort presents from the gratcfid Russian
court The greed and stinginess which is so often comphuned of in the
envoys' reports were old Mongol Mings, as we know from the accounts
•Fiadicr,6M,695.
2N
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466 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
of the early travellers to Karakorum, but it is questionable whether they
be not failings natural to a race which leads a life of hardships and
poverty, and among whom realised weahh is very scarce.
Let us now turn once more to the elder line of the family, namely, the
Jassaktu Khans. 1 don't know when Laikhor Khan died, but he was suc-
ceeded by his son Sabati, who first took the title of Jassaktu KHan. He
was the first <tf this section of the Khalkhas to enter into friendly relations
with China, In 1637, however, he marched against Koko Khotan to
attack it. The Manchn Emperor sent an army against him which
defeated him. To make peace with his suzereign he sent him a present
of horses, a one-humped camel, and a sheep without a tail, upon which
the Emperor sent him the following message, ^ As on the one hand I
punish the guilty severely and on the other I rule gently over the innocent
and protect tnem, therefore has the Tegri (/>., the God of Heaven ?)
been generous to me^ and has given the Chakhars and other Mongols
into my hand. If you are not disposed to be quiet, mind you guard your
frontier carefully. As you have presumed to act unfriendly towards me
and to plunder my borders, you probably fancy that the north is so far
removed from the south that I shall not be able to reach you. Let me
warn you for the future not to attack Koko Khotan.*' In 1639 the
Emperor sent him a similar warning.*
These complaints of the Manchu court were no doubt well grounded,
and it was probably on some expedition of plunder that Altan Khan, the
Jassaktu's dependant, set. out, when we are told that immediately after
the departure of the Russian envoys in 1639 he went to pay his elder
brother Kalantshin Noyan a visit, and afterwards went on an excursion
to the Chinese frontier, in which he was absent for three years.t On his
return from this expedition in 1642 he marched at the head of a thousand
men against the Khirgises, and advanced as far as the river Abakan.
He made them tributary, and they remained so until 1652.} In 1647 the
Jassaktu Khan wrote a letter to the Manchu Emperor, which he sent
by Ombo Erdeni (/./., by the Altan Khan), offering to mediate between
him and the Mongd tribes which had recently rebelled, but as this letter
was unsigned, and its contents were obscure and dubious, the Emperor
sent him a sharp reply. In 1650 Ombo Erdeni (/.r., the Altan Khan),
with his dans, made another excursion to Koko Khotan under pi^ence
of hunting, and made a cattle raid there. The Emperor sent a messei^g^
to demand the surrender of the plunderers.| About this time Subati
died, and was succeeded as Jassaktu by his son under the title of
Biskhireltu Khan, his proper name being Norbu. He sent envoys to
the Manchu court with tribute. To them the Emperor replied that ho
had from the first striven to be friendly with them and had overlooked
foimer offences ; he desired them to retiun the robbers (already complained
• Schmidt, Mem. St. Pt^ert. Acad., ii. 4«7. t Fi«ch«r, op, cit., 701.
: 14., 70Z, 792. ^ Sdmidg op. di., U. 4C8.
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THE WESTERN KHALKHAS OF JASSAKTU KHAN*. 467
of), and bade them ttot trust too much to the remotex&ess and inaccessibility
of tbehr country.*
In 1652 the Altan Khan of his own free will made over the Kiighises,
who had been his tributaries^ to the Russians. Fischer says that as he
did not wish to iqipear as acting badly towards his former subjects, he
arranged with his cousin Meigen Taishi, that under pretence of a family
quarrel with the Khan, he should mardi with 700 men as if escaping
from the Moi^ob into the Kii^^uz country. This he accordingly did,
and under the .plea that he ¥rishcd to protect the Kiighises, he occupied
an old Tartar fort that existed at the mouth of the Syda, one of the
tributaries of die Yenisei. The Kifi^iises were not at all satisfied. The
more innocent the transaction looked and the more they suspected it, and
they sent word to the Russian authorities at Krasnoyarsk. The latter sent
off a messenger to inquire more fiiUy from the Taishi as to the motive of
his coming. Hardly had he reached the Kiighiz frontier, when he
heard that the Akan Khan and his son were ahready in the country, and
were encamped with 4/x>o men at the mouth of the Verba (one of the
tributaries of the Yenisei), and had besieged his cousin the Taishi there.
The suspicious Kirghises were assembled oa the river Iyus» where they
were speedily summoned by the Khan's messengers to submit to him
as his subjects, proving how hollow his pretences had been. The
Kirghises were scared ; 1,500 of them retired towards Krasnoyarsk to
the river Indsol (a tributary of the lyus), where they, intrenched them-
selves behind wooden palisades. Thence they sent to Tomsk and
Krasnoyarsk for help against Irden Kontaishi (<>., Ombo Erdeni, the
Altan Khan). The Russians collected what forces they could at Tomsk
and Krasnoyarsk, and also sent for aid to Yeneseisk and Rusnetz, and they
despatched a messenger named Kolowskoi, to ask explanations from the
Khan. He however was too much afraid to go in person, and contented
himself with letting the Khan know that a mighty army was coming to drive
him away. This had its effect The Khan assembled the Kirghises, of
whom a large number were by him, around him, and told them he never
meant to fight them, reminded them of their old r^^ard for him, and told
them that as he was now growing old he proposed to resign one-half his
kingdom to his son Lousan (f>., Lobdzan), that he had come to intro>
duce him among them, and hoped they would show him the same r^^ard
they had shown to himself. The Khan then took his departure homewards,
his cousin Mergen, ^o had become reconciled to him, followed him on
foot, while the Kiighises returned to their okl quarter8.t But this
cheerful condition of diings did not last long. The next year the Khan
sent twenty-five Mongols to the Kirghises, to insist upon their paying
tribute to him, and such terror was created in the land that the Kirghises
were greatly scattered. Some fied to the chief of the KalnrnVs The
Tubini asked for an ostrog or settlement, and for a Rusdan garrison,
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468 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
but this was not assented to. A large section of the Eiigfaises took to
the more congenial employment of manuiding.*
In 1656 the Jassaktu Khan Norbn and the Altan Khan Ombo Erdeni
each sent a son to make their peace with the Mandm cooft, and two
years later two of tlieir relatives named Setzen Jinong and Kundulen
Toin were sent cm a similar errand.t The next year, namdy in 1657, Ombo
Erdeni the Altan Khan died, and was succeeded by his son Erintshin,
under the style of Lobdzan TaishLt About the same time Noibu was
succeeded as Jassaktu Khan by his son Wangshtdc Lobdxang fills an
important 6gure in the later Mongol history, and was the prime canse of
the dispersal and prostration of the Khalkas.
Among his odier monuments is ft winding road whidi he made over the
mountains called Khonin Tag, for a passage from Mongolia into Siberia.
Formerly these mountains had been impassablei nor is the passage very
easy now.$ But the fiict which gave Lobdsan a preponderating influence,
was that one of his brothers had become a very renowned Kutuchta.
Lamaism had spread very greatly among the Mongols, and it was a
subject of pride among the Khalkha chiefs to have a Kutuchta or
regenerate Buddha among them. It was the custom for their princes to
send a son to Thibet, who entered the religious profession, and was
generally promoted rapidly. It would seem that it was easy for one in
this sphere of life to acquire the privilege oi becomii^ the vdiide of the
rebirth of some fismous saint Lobdsan's brother, named Oendur Toroltu
Khutuktu, became the Khubilgan or reincamation of the celebrated
Dongkhor Mansushiri Khuttdcta.|
In 1657, before his Cetther's death, he had made a raid upon the
Kiighiz territory at the head of 4,000 men. They opposed him but
were badly beaten. He then reduced the Tartars in the district of
Tomsk to tribute, and by the recruits he got firom among the Kiighises
and Tartars he raised his army to 8,000 men. He now determined to
attack the Russian towns of Tomsk, Kusnetz, and Krasnoyarsk, and
prepared some bumii^ arrows to fire their wooden bulwarks with. He
also made an alliance with Koka, the chief of the Telenguts, who wished
him to attack Tomsk on <me side, while he attacked it <m another.
The Russian settlements were probably never in such imminent dai^;er.
It was averted by the sudden death of Lobdzan's father, which caused
him to retire precipitately to secure the throne. When he had secured
it he altered his policy, and desired to conciliate the Russians, and
also to secure the obedience of their clients, the Kirghises, to himsd£
In 1659 he sent sixty men to the Tubini and Kirghises. From the
former he asked a free passage throi^h the land for his envoys to the
Russians. From the latter he demanded hostages and tribute. These
• PkclMr. ;o0. t Sctaidt, Mat. 81. PMm. Acad., tt. 469*
X Tiotkowiki, i. PitdMr, op. dt, 707. 8ciuiiidt,pp.dt.,46^
f Rimr^ A«U» 1014. |P«UM,8MU.Utot. Nacb. Mb. 4it. If oaf. VWfc.» U« 4^*
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THE WESTERN KHALKHAS OP JASSAKTU KHAK. 469
they refused to give, and prepared to retire to the neigfahourhood of
Krasnoyarsk. The authorities at Tomsk xrould have treated his advances
with indifference but for orders from Moscow, which led them to
send the former envoy, Gretshanin, to the Mongol court again. He
traversed a little known country, and his journal was abstracted by
Fischer. Leaving Tonisk in September, 1659, he came to a lake named
Boshie Osero (between the rivers Urup and lyus), where the first Kiighiz
yurts were. There he got a Mongol guide, and with him made his way
to the Yenisei, where he got horMs from die TulnnL He then Jirent to
the mouth of the Abakan, where the Karaits lived, and thence to the
country of the Altini on the river Wibat There he sufiimd considerably
from want of food, and had to supplement his provisions with roots.
While he stayed there, there arrived a Mongol commissary named
Mergen I>ega, who had gone to collect tribute from the Kirghites. He
offexed to accompany the envoy when he shotikl have collected the
tribute. This was done in about two months, and in February, 1660^ they
set out and passed- successively* the rivers Adsabaz (i^., the ShdMu),
Chegan macha, and Karasibi. Then crossing a mountain they came to
the river Amii, the most important fieeder of the Abakan wfaidi comes
from Mongolia. After four or five days they reached the Oka, which
flows between two high mountains, then the Alatz, then the Kondeien»
which ted them into the valley of the Kemtshik Here they got
fiesh horses, and on6e more went on until they arrived at the Khan's
court on the Ubsa lake> on the eleventh of March. The Khan, who is
called in the narrative Lousan Sahin Kontaisha, had gone to visit his
brother the Kutuchta, but he had ordered a good tent and vicfnak to be
provided for the envoys. He returned in a few days and gave them an
audience. They pressed on him to become a vassal of the Russians
like his father had been, and complained that he should have molested
the Kirghises, who were Russian subjects. They also told him that if he
sent any envoys they would be welcomed at the Rttsman court. Heg^ly
accepted the Czar's expressions of good will, and as to the rest he
promised to see Gretshanin again. It was some wedcs before he had
another audience, and in the meantime the Kutuchta sent a messenger
to ask the Russians to pay him a visit. The Khan had moved his camp
from Ubsa lake, and gone by way of the Amtitai and Kara Usun to the
river Tez, to within a two days' journey of the Kutudita. The Russians
availed themselves of the Kutuchta's invitation and went to see bins.
They were well received, and he Suggested that he would also send
envoys. He also offered to supply the Czar with horses and food for any
messengers he might wish to send to explore the neighbouring and hostile
districts of Bukharia, Yarkand, Kashgar, Turfen, Tangut, and China.
Having thanked him for his civility they returned once more to tte
Khan's court A lew days after their arrival the Khanfs fitvourite wlfe^
named Matshika, died. At such Umes it is customary for private people
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470 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
among the Mongols to leave their houses, but in the case of the chiefe
they change their place of encampment and seclude themselves during
the season of mourning. In pursuance of this custom, the Khan left
his quarters on the river Tez, and when he had found (resh ones he
summoned Gretshanin to a private audience. In answer to his com-
plaints he disputed that his father had ever made himself subject to the
Russians, and even if it had been so it would not bind him, who was then
a young man, and whose consent had not been obtained. He also
said he had not acted contrary to his fiuher's promises, had taken none
of the Russian towns nor injured their subjects. As to the Kirghises, they
had long been enemies of the Russians, and as they had acted badly
towards himself he was justified in punishing them.
At the final audience the Khan spoke in the same fiishion. Neither
gold nor silver, nor any other gift should induce him to become another
man's subject. ** What," continued he, ** would other Khans like mysdf,
nobles and lords, say if I yielded such a thing unless I was compelled
thereto by war or force. My father may have suffered himself to say
or write as he pleased. In so doing he followed his own will, which
cannot bind me. I will not contend that I am not to obey the Czar,
but I am bound to obey him only to the extent that a younger brother
submits to the elder, or a son to his father. Nay more, if the Czar
should send mc aid against my enemies, I would not in that case refuse
to pay him such homage as is consistent with my honour."
Gretshanin refused to entertain this proposal as being one derogatory
to his master's dignity, and he accordingly set out on his return the day
after the audience, accompanied by envoys from the Khan and from his
brother the Kutuchta.*^ At this point ends the interesting account of
the early intercourse between the Russians and the Mongols, which we
owe to Fischer's researches in the archives of Siberia.
In 1661 Lobdzan, through some private grudge, attacked his suzereign
the Jassaktu Khan, took him prisoner, and put him to death. He also
seized on his goods and appropriated a portion of his snl^ects.t This
led to serious consequences. Gumbo Ikleng, Lobdzan's uncle, migrated
with his clans to the Chinese frontier to seek vengeance upon the mur-
derer.} He and his people settled there, and were organised as one of
the Forty-nine Banners. I shall have more to say of them presently.
Meanwnile the tribes of the Jassaktu Khan were scattered. At this
poust the Chinese narrative translated by Schmidt, and the account in
Du Halde are not quite consistent with one another, and my story
must be a compromise between diem. Du Hakle says that the Tushlyetu
Khan sent word to the various chiefe of Mongolia, asking them to join
him against the usurper, and t&at having assembled their forces they
defeated and took hhn prisoner, but fiot wishing to dip their hands in
* Ftocber, op. dt, 7x6-7x8. t Schmidt, Mem. St. Pttert. Acad., ii. 469. Da IUIi«, It. x^.
I Schmidt, op. dt.,& 469.
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THE WESTERN KHALKHAS OF JASSAKTU KHAN. 471
his blood, they tent him to the Grand Lama to punish him at be would.*
De MaiUa says that in fear of the conMerates he had fled to the £leuths,t
while Schmidt's authcMrity also says he fled to the Ogheleds or EleutHs.
This seems a more reasonable account. Lobdzan now disappears for
sometime.
In 1669 ^^ Dalai Lama nominated Tsengguu, the brother of the
murdered Khan^ to the ofSce of Jassaktu Khan, and he collected
together and restored order among his subjects,} but through the in
bdiaviour of Lobdsan, nuny of these had been scattered, and the greater
portion had joined the Eastern Khalkas, under the Tushiyetu Khan.
The latter now refused to surrender them. Tsenggun, after many
fruitless efibru to regain them, prepared for war. He also sent ambas-
'sadors to the Dalai Lama to ask for his influence. The latter thereupon
despatdied one of his principal Lamas to the two Khans to settle the
dispute, but having been bribed by the Tushiyetu Khan, he contented
himself with specious promises, without doing anything further. | ^ The
Jassaktu Khan despairing of any justice from that quarter sent his
second son to the Emperor of China to entreat him to espouse his
interests." f This is probably the embassy mentioned by De Mailla in
1684.^ We are told the Emperor 6f China sent an envoy to the Dalai
Lama, to urge him to join with him in an efibrt to maintain the peace.tt
Meanwhile the Jassaktu Khan Tsenggen died, and was succeeded by his
son named Shara4t ^^ ^^ ^ proUgi and close ally of the great chief
of the Kalmuks, Galdan Khan. The latter took his part, and also urged
upon the Tushiyetu Khan that he shouki restore the fugitive western
dans to their chief. A conference was at length held in the territory of
the Tushiyetu Khan, which was attended by envoys from the Mancfan
Emperor, the Dalai Lama, and the great Kalmuk chief. 1 shall relate in
the account of the Eastern Kalmtiks the jealousies that arose at this
meeting, and howthe envoys of Galdan left it in disgust.
In 1683 the Manchu Emperor sent stately embassies to each of the
Khalkha chiefs, apparently to take them presents but in effect to report
upon their country, and to inspire them with peaceable disposition. The
names and titles of the various envoys are given at length by Mailla.
He tells us that to each of the eight principal chiefs were sent a pao tstf,
or long robe of ceremony, bordered with black sable, with a cap decoraled
in the same manner but of a lighter shade, a string of coral beads, boots
of leather and of silk furred, a girdle ornamented with precious stones
and coral, with a handkerchief, purse, and small knife in an ivory sheath,
also a quiver ornamented with precious stones and corals, with a bow
and arrows, a gold bowl for taking tea in, also decorated with precious
* Du Halde. iv. 167. t De MsiUa, xi. 94. X Du Halde %xj% hit ton, op. cit., iv. i^;.
f Schmidt, op. cit., ii 469. | Du H«ldc, iv. iM. Schmidt, op. cit, 469.
f Du HjJde* iv. x68. •* De Maills, xi. xo6. Tt Du Halde, iv. 169. De yailJa, xi. 107
n Schmidt, op. dl., IL 469. Du UiUde, i\ . 169.
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472 HISTORY OF THE UOMGOU.
ytones and coral, another of gilt lacquer for rice, and an entire service
of silver dishes, five sable skins nearly Mack, as many skins of beavers,
leopards, tigers, and sea leopards, nine blocks or bricks of tea, ninety
pieces of silk, and 900 pieces of fine blue cotton stuff.*
Meanwhile Lobdzan apparently continued to rule in his out-of-the-way
comer of Mongolia. In i68f he had sent a messenger to do homage
in the old fashion to the Manchu courtt He was now fiivoored by
a qiecial envoy,} but the latter em rouU was met by a messenger
finom the Kahnuk chief Galdan, who told him that he had been badly
defeated by the Jassaktu Khan. The latter, having heard that Lobdzan
was intriguing with the Russians, had sent his ekiest son against
him at the head of ten or twelve thousand men, who surprised him in
the night while he was overcome with wine, captured him, dispersed
his people, and carried off his treasures and himsdf to his father's
camp.| He survived for some time, for Gerbillon mentions having seen
him at a later day, *^ at the assembly of the estates of Tartary.* | As
to his people, a portion at least remained independent in their old country,
where they remained in 1737, and were then 5,000 strong, and were
ruled by a successor of Lobdzan's.T
Let us once more revert to the Jassaktu Khan. As I have said he was
called Shara and was a proUgi of the Kahnuk chief Galdan, who uiged
him to attack the Tushiyetu Khan, to recover his lost dans. He consented
to do so, and also drew a chief named Dekdekei into his plan. Tushiyetu
determined to forestal them, marched against and captured them. The
Jassaktu Khan was drowned while his companion was also put to death.**
The rash victors then invaded the territory of Galdan, who speedily
exacted vengeance as I shall show further on. This was in 1687. As he
advanced through the territory of the Khalkhas of Jassaktu Khan, the
latter were terrified at their allies, and migrated under Tsewangshab (the
brother of the murdered Shara), and two chieft named Sereng and Akhai,
and put themselves under the protection of die Manchus, by whom they
wcie settled on the borders of the Urads. I shall describe later on the
grand reception which the Manchu Emperor gave the Khalkha chieCi
in 169a In their distress they had become very submissive, and
admowledged die Emperor as their suzereign, who in his turn placed
them on the ^ame footing as the Mongob of the Forty-nine Banners.
Sereng and Akhai were each given command of a banner, while
Tsewangshab was given the title of Koshoi Chin Wang and the
command of the Western Khalkhas, who again became known as the
Khalkhas of Jassaktu Khan.tt The Tushiyetu Khan however was made
overchief of all the Khalkhas. Itwasprobablyjealousy of this promodon
which caused the Western Khalkhas in 1696 to migrate once more to
• D« Mailla, xi. 97. M^^n- 1^-%^' ild-,^ | Da H«ld«, hr. 1S7.
5 Ptllts, Wst, N«cb, Ac, i« 4T. Note. ** ScbaMl, M«m.» ftc, U. 469* Dv HtMo, iv. t^o.
tt Sdmridt, op. dtn tt. 47«»*
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TH£ £ASTICRN Ktf ALKHAS OF THE INNER DIVISION. 473
their ancient camping ground, wbere they are still found. In 1700
Tsewangshab ^vas appointed Jassaktu Khan by the Dafau Lama, to
whom he sent many presents.*
This part of Mongolia has been especially thi Urra-incogniia in that
very unknown land, the Northcim Gobi. Latterly, however, h has been
traversed by two careful travdlers, namely, M. Shismaref and Mr.
Ney Elias* The lattv found it almost deserted^ and its towns nearly
deacroyed by a cruel inroad of the Tungans, while parties of fugitive
Mongc^ scared by the terrible inroad, were met in various dhrectlons.t
In the admirable m^ appended to Mr. Elias* pi4per in the Journal of
the Geographical Society, the dominiofis of the Jassaktu Khan aie
marked out. The authority for the boundary lines is not given, but the
work is so well done in other respects that it no doubt rqmsents fiuth*
fully the present extent of the dominions of the Khans of the Western
Khalkha^. The boundary is very irregular and can be better studied
from the map accompanying this work than fimn any mere description.
It is bounded on theeast by the possessions of another Khalkha diie^
namely, the Sain Noyan, on the south by the Gobi desert, on the nordi
by the province of Kobdo, and on the west by the same province and
the districts of Barkul and KhamiL Schmidt's authority gives the
boundaries thus : on the east, Ui^;in Shhgal dscd ; on the west, lake
Khara Usu Ekk Noor ; on the south, Artsa Khara Tokoi ; and on the
north, the river Tobi.} I shall esctract Timkowski's account of the
topography of the Khalkha country at the end of the chapter.
Besides die Jassaktu Khan there are several other princes bdonging
to this section of the Khalkhas. They comprise a beile, two kungs of the
first and sbc of the second dass, and nine taidzi of the first dass.|
THE EASTERN KHALKHAS OF THE INNER DIVISION.
In the previous narrative I described how the Altan Khan Lobdxan
assassinated his susereign the Jassaktu Khan, and how in consequence
his uncle Gumbo Ilden, with a portion of his clans^ fled to the Chinese
fionder.l He was granted the title of BeiH, and his people were
formed into a banner and ranged amimg the Forty-nine Banners.
^ Their country is bounded on the east by that of the Khortshins, on
the west by the Naimanst, on the south by the Tumeds, and on the north
by the Dsarods and Ongnighods. It is 125 li from east to west
and 230 li from north to south, and is 1,210 li from Peking. Their
chief camp is at Tsaghan kochotun." f
t Ney fiUa^ Joancy throHli WMtera Mongolia, Jowl Roy. Ocogr. Soc^ jcliil* xoS. Pauia.
2 0pcit.,U.463- iTiinkowaki,ii.U5. |Aau,47o. Sohmidt, op. dt,ii.43S.
Y Schmidt, op. dt., li. 43>- TimkoviU ii. 179.
20
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474 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
THE NORTHERN KHALKHAS OF TUSHIYETU KHAN.
I HAVE already described how the Khalkhas were divided into seven
sections, under the seven sons of Geressandsa^ the son of Dayan Khan,
and how several of these sections settled in North-western MongoHa
and became the subjects of the Jassaktu Khans, forming the western
division of the Khalkhas. Other sections settled on the Tula and the
Kerulon, and are known as the eastern Khalkhas, the supreme overchicf
of these latter being the Tushiyetu Khan. These eastern sections
comprised the tribes who obeyed Unugho Waidsang Noyan, the third,
and Amin Dural, the 6fth sons of Geressandsa, Unugho, we are told,
settled on the river Tula, and became the ancestor of the Tushiyetu
Khans. Unugho had five sons, of whom the eldest was called Abatai,
surnamed Wadshiiai Sain Khrni. At first the title of Khan was not in
use among the Khalkhas, it being reserved apparently for the chiefs of
the elder line of the Mongols, namely, of the Chakhars, but Abatai
having made a jotu-ney to Thibet paid the Dalai Lama a solemn visit,
and received a diploma of investiture from him, alter which he was
everywhere acknowledged as Khan. He was succeeded by his son
Eriyekei, who took the title of Mergen Khan. Mergen Khan left three
sons, of whom the eldest was called Gumbo, who first adopted the title of
Tushiyetu Khan. In 1636 he sent a lelter jointly with Shului, the Setzen
Khan of the Eastern Khalkhas, to the Manchu Emperor, offering his
submission, and the next year he sent an envoy with presents of camels,
horses, sable skins, eagles' feathers, and a Russian gun, on which occasion
the Emperor demanded that the three Khans of the Khalkhas, according
to ancient custom, should for the future send the so-called ''white nine,** that
is to say, each of them one white camel and eight white horses. In 1646
the chief of the Sunids,'named Tcnggis, broke away fWmt his allegiance
and fted across the desert with his clans. He was chased by the Imperial
troops. Gumbo sent an army of 20,000 men to the assistance of his
fugitive countryman. The allies met the Imperial army in a place
called Dsashi Bulak. They were defeated and lost over a thousand
camels and horses. Soon after, Erke Tsokor, a relative of Gumbo's,
made an arbitrary raid upon the Barins (then under Manchu protection),
and carried off a quantity of prisoners and booty. The Manchu
Emperor sent a messenger with a sharp rebuke for the Khalkha chief,
upon which another envoy was despatched by Gumbo with a present of
horses. He was sent back with a notice that his masters should capture
and hand over the Sunid chief Tenggis, and also hand over the booty
captured from the Bagharins or Barins. Five years later Tenggis
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THE NORTHERN KHALKHAS OF Tl/SHIYETU KHAN. 475
returned to his allegiance, and Gumbo and his people asked to be
forgiven. The Manchu court demanded that the Klian shculd send
some of his relatives as hostages, but this was evaded, nor was the
plunder captured from the Barins restored. About 1653 the Taidshi
Bondar, one of Gumbo's dependants, submitted with his people to the
Manchus, was given the title of Jassak Chin Wang, and assigned
quarters near the river Tai^n. I shall have more to say about him
presently. Gumbo now wrote to suggest that Bondar was the person
who had attacked the Barins, and sent to ask for bis surrender. The
Manchu Emperor thus replied. " You have resolutely set yourself against
all our commands. You have not sent your sons or younger brothers
to the court as hostages. You have diis year failed to send the tribute
of 'the white nine.' You have not restored their plunder to the
Ragharins, but you have on the contrary insolently demanded the return
of a man who has sought refuge with us, which is most intolerable and
inconsistent with established usage. Even if you had done as we desired
you, we should not have returned Bondar and his dependants to you. This
is our answer." In" the spring of the same year Gumbo sent a messenger
with " the white nine,** but when he arrived at the gate on the frontier
he was not received, and had to return with the things he had brought
with hmu Gumbo died in 1655, and was succeeded as Tushiyetu Khan
by his son Tsagundorji, who sent three of his subjects named Metgen.
Noyan, Darkhan Noyan, and Dandshin Lama to announce his accession.
They seem to have carried a submissive message, for the Emperor
promised to overiook their jpast offences, and as it was so many years
since the outrage on the Barins had been committed, this should also be
overiooked. In the following winter the Tushiyetu Khan sent messengers
to convey his submission, and to perform the Manchu Emperor's bdiests,
and in 1656 the Manchu court confirmed the division of the Khalkhasinto
eight districts, of which the Tushiyetu Khan and Mergen Noyan each
controlled one. In 1658 an Imperial messenger was sent to thcTushiyctw
Khan with presents, &c., and also with wholesome monitions to be
obedient and well behaved.*
In 1683 the Manchu Emperor sent statdy embassies to the Kbalkha
and Kalmuk chiefs, with the declared motive of taking presents, but
really to report upon their country. I have already described the
presents that were sent to the diffcrciU chiefs.f The brother of Tushiyetu
Khan was a Kutuchta or regenerate Buddha, and for him a special kind
of present was sent. This consisted of seven laige napkins of fine
linen, a cup of precious stone (probably of jade), a ewer of the same
material with a handle, a string of coral beads, an embroidelt^d saddle
covered with gold plates, a complete service of gilt lacquer, and a golden
tea urn ornamented with precious stones and corals, as well as presents
of furs, tea, silk, &c.t ^
• Schmidt, M«m. St. Peten. Acud . ii. 43<5-46o f Ante, 471. I De MaUU. xi. 97
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476 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
We now arrive at a critical turn in the history of the Khalkhas. I
have aheady described how, in 1661, the Jassaktu Khan had been mur-
dered by his dependant Lobdxan, and how a portion of his subjects found
refuge with the Tushiyetu Khan. The latter, we are told, summoned the
other Khalkha chiefs to march against the usurper, whom they defeated,
and a fresh Jassaktu Khan was nominated by the Dalai Lama in 1669.*
He applied to theTushiyetu Khan for the restoration of the clans who had
fled to him, but the latter, who was much influenced by the advice of his
brother the Kutuchta, refused to surrender them. This brother was named
Chepsuntanpa or Jabzun.t He had served a probation of eight years
in Thibet and became much inflated by his promotion, and according to
Du Halde claimed to be the equal of the Dalai Lama and to be
independent pf him, and his assumption was affirmed largely by his
brother and his subjects.}
When the Tushiyetu Khan refused to make restitution of the dans
which he had appropriated, the Jassaktu Khan had recourse to the
Dalai Lama, who despatched a Lama to settle matters, but he was gained
over by the Tushiyetu Khan. Fresh complaints were then laid before
the Manchu Emperor, who uiiged the great archpriest of Thibet to send
an influential Lama to the Khalkha country, promising to sendames*
senger there himself.f The Dalai Lama accordingly despatched the
Kutuchta Sanpatchinpu to the Khalkha country. This was in 1684, but
this dignitary died on the way at Koko Khotan. The Manchu Emperor
sent word of this to the Dalai Lama, who thereupon nominated a fiesh
envoy, namely, the Kutuchta Eleute Tlataiefim, and ordered him to go
to Koko Khotan and get the seal of office of the deceased Lama,
and then to proceed on his way. He was also given the title of
Jassaktu Lama.|| It was in 1686, after many delays, that a general
assembly of the Khalkhas was at length held in the country of Mergen
TaishL The Emperor was represented by the first president of the
tribunal of the Mongols named AignLT Galdan, the Kalmuk chief
and the patron of the Jassaktu Khan, also had his representatives there.
The Kutuchu from Thibet was a person of great consequence, and as
the envoy of the Dalai Lama would naturally have presided, but the
Kutuchta, brother of Tushiyetu Khan, insist^ upon being treated with
equal distinction, upon whidi the envoys of Galdan, protested against
the pretensions of the latter as an outrage upon their common high
priest The matter was at length settled by the two Kutuchtas being
assigned seats opposite to one another. A solemn treaty was then
entered into, which the Tushiyetu Khan and his brother undertook to
observe.** News of the peace was sent to the Manchu court, and was
much welcomed there.tt
*Aat«,470i. tDtlCaUU,sL97* Timkvwtkl, L 143. t Do HjUdc. iv. 168.
fI>0llalili,iLio7. I>aHiad«,hr.i68. | D« MaOU, iL i07» 108. 5 Da Hftld«, iv. 169.
''•DiHiddf.lv.iSs. ttD«ICail]a,».io8.
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THE NORTHERN KHALKHAS OP TUSHIYETU KHAN. 477
Memwhile the Tushiyetu Khan was by no means prooi|>t In fulfilling
the conditiotts of the peace, and Galdan, the Kalmuk chief who had
been mudi irritated by the slight shown to the representative of
die Dalai Lama at the conference, sent an envoy to onnplain
of thisy and also to urge the carrying out of the treaty. The
complaints of the envoy movedHhe Khalkha Kntuchta to fury, and he
sent him back to his master in chains, and with a rude letter. He
fbOowed this up by attacking and defeating the Jassaktu Khan, and
then by making a raid upon the taritory of Galdan, seizing his brother,
executing him, and parading his head about on a spear.* With this
provocation we are not surfNrised to find the Kalmuk chief marching
against the Khalkhas. He accordingly in the latter part of 1687 set
out at the head of 3iofioo men, and was joined by some of the chiefs of
the Western Khalkhas. The Tushiyetu Khan meanwhile summoned his
dependants. Galdan advanced rapidly. On the river Timur he severely
defeated Kaltan, the son of the Tushiyetu Khan, and of the fotce of
Spoo men whom he commanded, only one hundred remadned. Meanwhile
another body attacked the sacred Mongol settlement of Erdeni tchao,
fiunous for its f,amaterics. This was speedily captured. The harem of
the Tushiyetu Khan had fled with a small escort ; and panic and confusion
reigned throughout the Khalkha district, which was crowded with
fugitives.! Galdan was in alliance with another chief named Tukaxha
rabdan, who was at the head of six or seven thousand men. All the
Khalkhas of the £unily of the Tushiyetu Khan who were met with were
slaughtered, and a special vengeance seems to have been wreaked upon
the proUgh of the Kutuchta. Two temples which he had built at great
cost were destroyed, the sacred books were burnt, and so were the
statues4 nnd the sacred buildings at Erdeni tchao were also given to the
flames. The country was scoured in various directions, and ocders were
given to put all the Khalkhas to death who should be met with.
GerfoiUon, who should have gone to the Selinga to arrange a treaty on
behalf of the Chinese with the Russians in 1688, tells us he met with
a great number of the fiigitives in the desert, and was prevented from
reaching his destination by the disturbed condition of the country. The
Tttdiiyetu Khan and his brother the Kutuchta fled to the south of the
Karong or limits, and encamped on the Chinese frontier, and Galdan
did not fail to complain to the Imperial court of its offering refuge to
such evil doers. He threatened to fc^ow them there. The KhaUdia
chief was now in great straits, and in conjunction with his brother the
Kutuchta he wrote to the Emperor, offering to aduiowledge themselves
subjects of the empire, and asking to be put on the same footing as
the Mongols of the Forty-nine Banners. An official named Horn!
was accordingly sent to make arrangements for their settlement, and to
* D« Haldc, hr. 170. 171. t De MailU, si ii0, 117.
1 1>« ItoillB, xL X17. Dii HaMo, hr. 173.
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47S HlSTOKy OP THE MONGOL&
make a census of them. He found there were thirty Taishis, more ihan
600 Lamas, and 2,000 families, comprising 30,000 individuals, and he
was told there was as many more who had not as yet been able to join
them, and of whom they promised to give an account The Mandarin
at Koko Kbotan was ordered to supply them with rice. Meanwhile
a long correspondence was initiated between Galdan and the Emperor.
The latter admitted that he had grievances, but said the Khalkhas had
been punished enough, while the former insisted that he should not be
satisfied until the Tushiyetu Khan and his brother were surrendered to
him. As he could get no satisfaction he advanced once more into the
Khalkha country, and put to death or made slaves of all the Khalkhas
he found encamped on the river Kerulon, which he followed for con-
venience of forage.* I shall in a subsequent chapter relate the bsue of
his struggle with the Manchu empire.
Early in 169 1 the Emperor Kanghi issued summonses to the various
Khalkha chiefs and their subjects to meet him at a grand conference.
Gerbillon, who attended this meeting, has left us a graphic account of
it, from which I shall quote. He tells us the Emperor set out on the
ninth of May, 1691, accompanied by the greater part of his court, his
guards, &c. He passed most of his time on the way in hunting, and
passed by the site of the old summer palace of Khubilai at Shangtu.
He also amused himself by watching wrestlers. Wrestling is a favourite
amusement among the Mongols. They dress themsdves in a thick
jacket, tightly girt, then seizing each other by the shoulders or by the
top of the chest, they try to trip each other. On this occasion the
victors presented themselves to the Emperor on their knees to do
homage.t
The rendezvous was fixed at the plain of Dolonor or Tolonor, i>., the
seven lakes or springs. To Gerbillon was assigned the duty of setting out
the camp. The Imperial tents were in the centre. They included four
enclosures, one inside the other, one of whidi contained the tents of the
body guards. This was the largest, and formed a gallery round the rest.
Another was bounded by an impassable net work of yellow cords.
Each enclosure had three gates, one to the east, another to the west,
and the third, by which the Emperor entered, to the south. Ihesc were
guarded by the body guards. The! inncrmcst court was fooned of yellow
hangings, and had only one door of lacquered wood, and was guarded by
two bias, who allowed only the Emperor's servants to enter. Over
this door hung a yellow standard with a broidered border of black.
In the middle of this endosure was the Imperial tent, which was round
and made in the Mongol fashion, very like a dovecot ; generally there
were two such, one for sleeping and the other for living in.
Besides these there were also two marquees erected for holding the
assemblies in, one was five and the other four fathoms in diameter.
• Da Haldt. iv. 174. t 0« MaiUa, xi. 154. Not*.
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THE NORTHfiRK KUALKHAS OF TUSUIYETU KHAN. 479
InsidI they were hung with upettry of bhxe silk, and outside with thick
felts, <:oYered with fine ctoth. These tents were sunnounted with an
embr^oidered cylinder of ck)th, with a border of black. Inside one tent was
placed the Emperor's couch, which was hung with gold tissue sprinkled
with dragons. The coveriets and cushions were of satin. It also had a
cover of fox skins. Inside the other there was a small platform, five feet
wide and a foot and a half high, covered with woollen doth. A screen,
upon which was painted a dragon, closed the doorway between the two
tents. The floor was covered with white felt, and in the middle of this was
a mat from Tong king. At the two comers of the Imperial tent were two
others for the Emperoi's sons. Those of the grandees were ranged
round about. Towards the south a space was reserved for the musicians,
elephants, and insignia of the empire. Outside the tents of the grandees
and 300 paces away were those of the bias or grooms and the petty
officials of the court. The troops were distributed in twenty-seven
quarters and forming a girdle about the rest. Between each quarter
an cxercismg ground of 100 paces was left open. When the Emperor
inspected them they were ranged in ranks, with their swords by their sides.
The bows, quivers, and muskets were placed on the gromid ; their o£ficers
were at their head and their banners were flying. Each of the four
brigades of musqueteers had eight small cannons, two laige ones, and
two mortars with it. The various princes were at the heads of their
contingents, having the insignia of their offices hung before their tents.
For the highest rank these consisted of two laige standards, a long
banner of the same colour as 'Uhe banner" to which the chief belonged,
and two long pikes having yak taik hanging from the summit. Gerbillon
describes the various exercises gone through' by the troops before the
Emperor, lie goes on to say that on the day fixed for the reception of
the Khalkha chiefs all the troops were dressed in full uniform, and took
up the positions assigned them. Outside the three interior enclosures
of the Imperial marqu^, and a lew feet from the entrance to the outer
one, there was built a large yellow tent, four fathoms square, with a
lesser one behind it In the former was a platform, two feet high,
covered with two felt carpets, one white, the other red, with yellow
dragons upon it. In its midst was put a yellow satin cushion, embroidered
with flowers and foliage, with the Imperial arms in gold. This was for
the Emperor's seat The ground was covered with felts, and over them
were placed Tongking mats. Close by these was another tent, in which
was a table with gold and jewelled cups upon it, while the various spaces
of the enclosure were occupied by soldiers in double ranks, amidst whom
was the band and the Imperial insignia, the latter being borne by men
dressed in gowns of red taffeta, sprinkled with circles with white spots.
They were preceded by four elephants, which had been broi^^ht expressly
from Peking, and whose liarness ^as magnificent They were called
the bearers of the Crown jeweb. They were accompanied by the
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480 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
Emperor^s hones, also magnificently caparisoned. These arrangements
having been made, and the various officials having been posted according
to their ranks, the Royal princes and regulos, both Mancha and Mongol,
were ranged on the Emperor's left, the ri|^t being reserved for the
chiefs of the Khalkhas.*
When all the arrangements were complete, die Kutuchta of the Khal-
khas and the Tushiyetu Khan were ushered into the audience tenL The
former was dressed in a long robe of yellow satin, with a border of sable
fur. Over this he had a scarf, blood red in cdour, fastened over his
shoulder. His hair and beard were shaven. On his head he had a
kind of mitre of ydlow satin, with the four comers turned np and
ornamented with very dark sable. His shoes were made of red satin
with pointed toes, the seams being covered with yellow lace. He was
accompanied by two other Lamas, and Was introduced by the president
of the tribunal of the Mongols. His brother the Khan, who followed
him, was dressed in a long robe of gold and silk brocade^ but it was very
dirty. His head was covered with a fur cap. He had no suite with
him, and was introduced by one of the chief officers of the Imperial
guard. The Emperor received them standing and did not allow them
to kned, but took them by the hand as they were about to do so. He
was dressed in his ceremonial robes, consisting of a long gown of ydlow
brocade, with dragons embroidered upon it in gold and silk. Overthiswas
another garment of violet satin, on which were embroidered four drdes^
a foot in diameter, containing dragons in gold. One of the drdes
was in the middle of his back, another in fiiont, and the other two
on the sleeves. His cap was ornamented in front with a great pearL
He had a string of beads about his neck, some of them of coral, others
of a kind of agate (? jade). His shoes were of black satin. His sons
and the other grandees were similarly but not so ridily attired. The
audience lasted half an hour, during which a casket was brought in,
containing a s^ and letters patent, which were presented to the
Tushiyetu Khan.
After the audience the chiefe were conducted to the laige tent outside
the third endosure. There they were joined by the Empenv, who seated
himself in Eastern fiuhion on the platform. His sons were seated on a
cushion behind himu The Manchu and Mongol tributary princes and
grandees were ranged in two rows' on the left, while on the Emperoi's
right were seated the Kutuchta and the three Khalkha chieft who had
the title of Khan, namdy, the Jassaktu Khan, the Tushiyetu Khan, and
the Setaen Khan ; the Lama occupying the first place. Beside them sat
the Emperor's undes and brothers, and some seven or ei^t htmdred
Taishis, subordinates of the Khalkha chiefs, seated in fifteen ot sixteen
rows. When the Emperor entered, the whole assembly rose and remained
standing until the Khalkha Khans had done homage. As soon as he was
•GerUnoo. De lfaiUft.xi. 15S, iS7* Not*.
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• THE NORTHERN KHALKHAS OF TUSHIYETU KHAN. 48 1
seated, the officials of the tribunal of the Mongols conducted these
princes to a position thirty paces in front of the Imperial platform, when
an officer addressed them in Mongol, saying, " Kneel down," upon which
they knelt Then the officer shouted, " Touch the ground with your heads "
(i.e.^ make the kowtow). This they did three times. They were then
ordered to rise and to kneel again, and thus they went through the
performance until they had knelt three times, and touched the ground
with their heads nine times. The Lamas were excused from this
ceremony, but they remained standing like the rest After the perform-
ance of this solemn homage, the Khalkha chiefs were conducted to the
places which had been assigned them, whem they were given refresh-
ments in silver vessels. These were piled up in different stages,
conuining beef, mutton, and game; others contained pastry, sweeU,
and dried fruits. The Kutuchta and the three Khans each had a separate
table, as well as the Emperor's sons and the grandees of the first class. The
others were seated on cushions, two, three, or four at a table, according
to their rank. Before the rest began, the Emperor's two chamberlains
placed two special Ubles respectfully before him, after which the chief
butler presented him with a cup of tea, the cup made of precious stone
and ornamented with gold, all present meanwhile kneeling and doing
<* the kowtow." The rest of the company then drank tea in order of rank,
the grand regulos of Peking being placed on the same footing as the
three Khalkha Khans. Before and after drinking, each one bent a knee
and bowed towards the ground. The Lamas drank, as was their custom,
out of their own cups, and the Kutuchta was accordingly presented with
one before drinking. The same ceremony was gone through in drinking
wine, &c. The Emperor himself offered wine to the Kutuchta, to the
three Khans, and to some twenty of the principal Twshis. They received
this honour kneeling, holding the cup with one hand and doing the
kowtow. The butlers handed wine to the rest of the company.
During the entertainment there ^vas an exhibition of tight-rope dancing
and of marionnettes. The Khalkhas were much amused with thes^
except the Kutuchta, who kept up an appearance of utter indifference and
gravity, as befitted his pretensions. The day after the feast the Kutuchta,
the three Khans, and the principal Taishis were summoned to receive
their presents. The Kutuchta received ifioo taeU of silver, and each
of the three Khans fifteen pieces of satin, with some large silver vessels
for tea, and several complete Manchu ceremonial robes, such as are worn
by the higher grandees. They were also given pieces of cloth for their
servants, a great quantity of tea, and some embroidered saddles. Five
of the nearest relatives of the three Khans were created princes of
the second class. Others were raised to the third rank, or given the
title of Kong. All received Manchu dresses, which th^ at once put on,
and in which they always afterwards appeared when in the Emperor's
presence ; the Kutuchta retained of his former dress only his scarf and
2P
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48t HISTORY or THE ICOtfGOLS.
shoes. After the presentation there was a coUatioii, with music and
tight-iope dancing as before. The following day the Emperor reviewed
the troops, and after they had retired he amused himsdf with ardieryy
using a bow so strong that none of the KhaUcha princes could draw it.
He then entertained them with the horse races called PaohiaL The
horses were ridden by tight-rope dancers, who rode them without reins,
seisif^ them by the crupper, and stooping down almost to the ground,
first on one side, then on the other. They stood on their heads on
the saddles, &c. There then followed wrestling matches between
Khalkha wrestlers and those of M^chu, Chinese, and Soudiem Mongol
origin. The Khalkhas won in this, their national pastime. The whole
concluded with a visit paid by the wives and daughters of the Mongol
chiefs to the Emperor, by whom they were entertained with refireshmoits,
with music, and marionnettes. The En^teror also paid a visit to die
Kutucfata, and on the day of his departure he gave another audience^
after which he ordered die camps to be ndsed. The three Khalkha
Khans and the various Taishis were ranged in ranks on their knees as
he passed, while many of the Khalkhas who were reduced to great want
implored his assistance and were relieved.*^ This stately conference
practically closes the independent history of the Khalkhas. Thence-
forward they became subjects of the Manchus, and their history is that
of the laiger empire in which they were swallowed up. At this time
Galdan still QccupiM their old country. When he was at length finally
defeated, the Khalkhas of the.Tushiyetu Khan, who had found protection
under the wing of the empire, drifted back once more to their old
country ^n the banks of the Tula and Sdinga. As I have said, they
consist of twenty banners ; and besides the Tushiyetu Khan they are
governed by a tsin wang, two Idun wangs, two beisse, six kungs, and
eight jassaks, who have the title of taidzi of the first class.t
" Their present country is bounded on the east by the Kentei chain
and the encampments of the KhaBdias of the Setaen Khan, ^n the west by
the river Ongtn or Ungld, on the south by the desert of Gobi, and on
the north by the Russian frontier.'* }
When this frontier was revised in 1727, a body of Khalkhas, ptohkbty
before attached to this section, became Russian subjects. They numbered
about Sfioo.l I shall describe the topography of the whole Khalkha
^strict further on.
* GerUlloB. abttncttd hgr De MaOUir 9idt op^ dt., li. xs3-i6i. Panin.
t Timkowtki, U. 225, I Borf'a HyacinUt, 99^ flclmidc, op. ctt.. U. 413-
f HftBdbiicb der GtOfrftpfafe und Statbtik voa smmi, by BnuMr ft Ptafth, 9B.
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THS ini>I>L£ KKALKHAS OF THE SAIN NOVAN. 483
THE WESTERN KUALiCHAS OF THE INNER DIVISION.
Unuoho^ the tyrd son of Gerestandsa, the son of Dayin Khan, had
two sons, the elder of these, named Abatai, became the anoestor of the
Tiishiyetu Khans, as I have described m the former pan^^ph. His
second son was caUed Abo^^ with tiie surname Meigen Noyan. He
had three sons, of whom the second was called Rakholi. Rakholi had
five sons, named Bondar, Bambashihi, Sardshi, Jamso^ and Erintshin,
an dependants of the Tushiyetu Ehan.
In 1653 Bondar quarrelled with the Tushiyetu Khan Gumbo, and with
his brothers Bambashihi^ Jamso, and Erintshin he escaped at the head
of one thousand families, and submitted to the Manchus. Bondar was
given the title of Jassak Khoskhoi Darkhan Chin Wang, and was made
overchief of the Ibik he had taken with him. They were formed into a
banner of the Inner division, and were ass^ed quarters by the river
Taigun.* They are now subject to a prince of the third class and
three chiefii of high rank.
^Their country is lao U from east to west and 130 from north to south.
It is bounded on the east by the Durben Keukeds, on the west by the
Mao Minggans, on the south by the Tumeds of Koko Khotan, and on
the north by the desert of Gobi. It is 1,130 li distant from Peking,^ t
THE MIDDLE KHALKHAS OF THE SAIN NOYAN.
As I have said, the Noyan Unugho, the second son of Geiessandsa
Jelair Khungtaidshi, had five sons. We have abeady considered Abatai
and Abugho, the two ddest. The third, Tuni, died childless ; die
fourth and fifth sons were respectively nan^d Tumengken and Band.
From them are descended the princes of the Middle Khalkhas, who
form twenty-four banners. Tumei^;ken, the elder of the two, was
supreme chief. Originally, says Schmidt, the Khalkhas were devoted
to the elder form of the Lama religion, that of the so-caUed Red Lamas,
but after holding a controversy with a follower of the Ydlow rite,
Tumengken found this latter preferable, and for the fiiture took the
Yellow Lamas under his protection, and gained the good opinion of the
* ScluBidt. op. dL, U. 449^ 490. t IMumfAt ii. 97^. Schnidt, U. 449-
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484 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
Dalai Lama, The latter gave him the title of Sain Noyan, and the
same rank as the three other great chiefs of the Khalkhas. The ddest
son of Tumengken was Jodba, who was styled Setzen Noyan ; his second
son Dandshin Lama also received a title from the Dalai Lama. He was
styled Nom Khan. In 1637 the latter sent tribute to the Imperial court,
and his messenger returned laden with gifts, and he seems to have
succeeded his father as Sain Noyan, to the exclusion of his elder brother.
In 1647 he joined with his relative and nominal overlord, the Tushiyetu
Khan, in affording assistance to the fugitive Sunid prince Tenggis, for
which he was sharply reproved by the Manchu Emperor. In 1650 he
sent hb son Erdeni Nomtshi to the court with a £riendly letter. To this
an answer was sent bidding him do homage. In 1654 he again sent his
son with a more submissive note, and the following year sent a relative
to do homage. On the division of the KhaTkhas into e^ht administrative
districts he was thought sufficiently important to be ordered to send the
tribute of ''the white nine.^ On the death of Dandshin Lama, he was
succeeded as Sain Noyan by his son Tasjab^ and on the death of the
latter he was in turn succeeded by his ton Shamba, who was invested
with the title of Itegemjitu Eyetei Erke Daitshing. It was in his reign
that the Kalmuk chief Galdan made his raid upon the country of the
Khalkhas. Like the other Khalkha chiefs, Shamba fled to the Chinese"
frontier and acknowledged himself a subject of the Manchus, and he
and his people were given quarters on the borders of the Urads* At the
great conference in 1690, which I have already described, his people
-w&rt divided into banners, and were subordinated to the Tushiyetu Khan.
In 1696 Shamba, with his people, returned once more to their old
country north of the desert In the following year he died, leaving two
sons, the elder of whom received the title of Chin Wang, and the 3roui^;er
that of Uluster tussalakshi Gung. In 1724 the Middle Khalkhas, in con-
sideration of their numbers and of the distinguished services of their
chiefs, were made independent of the Tudiiyetu Khans, acquired a
separate administration, and their chief, who was then named Dashi-
dundub, once more took the title c^ Sain Noyan. They then comprised
nineteen banners. At a later date three other banners were constituted,
while there was a further addition made to them of two Eleuth or
Kalmuk banners. This makes up altogether twenty-four banners.*
They are controlled by two tsin wangs, one of whom is the Sain Noyan,
while the odier governs twenty-three banners ; two ktun wangs, two
beile, a kung of the first, five of the second dass, and ten jassak taidzLt
'' Their country is bounded on the east by Boro Buighassu Olom, on
the west by the mountains Kul Saya S<)ghotu eldn, on the south by
Tsetsei1ik> and on die north by the river Chilaghotu.*}
* SchnUdt, Mem. St. PeUri. Acad., ii. 47^474- t Tlnkswikf, ii. tt5-
2 SeluBidt, op. cit.»iL 470.
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THE EASTERN KHALKHAS OF THE 8ETZSN KHAN. 485
THE EASTERN KHALKHAS OF THE SETZEN KHAN.
As I have sakly^Uie patrimony of Gcressandsa Bolod^ the youngest son of
Dayan Khan, was divided into seven sections among his seven sons. Of
these sons, the ^th was named Amin DuraL His son was called Moro
Buima. He settled with his people on the river Kenilon. His son,
named Shului, first took the title of Setzen S^han, thus forming the thiid
Khalkha chief who was styled Khan. This section of the Khalkhas
was dependant upon the Khan of the Chakhars. When the latter were
defeated in 1634 by the Mandms, the Setzen Khan Shului, in concert
with the chiefs of the Wesomotshins and the Sunids,«ent a friendly letter
to the Manchu court with a present of camels and horses. As notwith-
standmg this his subjects in 1635 commenced to trade with the Ming
empire, the Manchu Emperor sent him the foUowing note. ^ The Ming
are my sworn foes. Lingdan Khan of the Chakhars, corrupted by the
presents annually sent him by the Ming, not only did not help me against
them but even sent them assistance. I was therefore constrained to take
up arms agsunst him, and to vanquish him, and as heaven disapproved
of their conduct it delivered them into our hands. I consider that your
people trading with the Ming is giving them very material assistance.
It were well if you took warning from the Chaldiars, otherwise thdr fate
may overtake you.^ The following winter Shului sent Waidsang Lama to
the court to say that he had forbidden the trade with the Ming. He was
well received and liberally rewarded with presents. In 1636 Shului sent
a present to the court of one of the wild horses (? a wild ass) called
Taki, and the following year followed it with a present of horses, armour,
helmets, sable skins, eagles' feathers, a Russian gun, bows and arrows from
the Khotong (i>., the people of Little Bucharia), saddles, bridles, h^itchets
from the people Armas ? white squirrel skins, and black Tangutan fox
skins.t AfterthbitwasdecidedthatheshouIdsend"thewhitenine''every
year and nothmg more. In 1646 Shului assisted the rebel Sunid prince
Tenggis with a contingent of i3»ooo men, under the command of his
son Bumba. The confederates were defeated by the Manchu troops,
and in 1648^ when Tenggis submitted, Shului to make peace sent a
present of 100 camels and 1,000 horses, and asked to be forgiven. His
messengers were sent back with orders for the Khan to send his sons or
younger brothers to the court to do homage. In 1652, on the occasion
of offering tribute, a disturbance arose on account of the presents which
were given in return. A rebuke was administeied to them, upon
* Ante, 496 tAgoodlrttMoro^«cti49MMdTiaMbltk9rtlMMoiiCotoof thejMfiod.
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486 HISTORY OP THE MONGOLS.
which Shului ceased to send tribute. In 1655 he was succeeded as
Setxen Khan by his son Babu, who sent his son Modsang Mergen Tsokor
to do homage. The old misunderstanding was overiooked, and it was
decided that the tribute of '' the white nine " should be renewed. In
the same year the Khalkhas were divided into eight sections belonging
to the eastern and western divisions, and the Setzen Khan was assigned
one of the sections of the eastern division. In 168 1 a subject of Babu's
made a raid upon the territory of the Wesumutshins, who were then
subjects of the Manchus. This led to the strengthening of the frontier
guards on both sides, and to the administration of a sharp rebuke to
the Setzen Khan's envoys when they took the tribute in that year.* In
1682 tlie Manchu Emperor sent important embassies with presents to
the various Khalkha chiefs. Among others the Setzen Khan was also
thus honoured.!
Babu died in 1685, and was succeeded as Setzen Khan by his son
Norbu.t Two years later, the strife that had arisen among the Khalkhas
on account of the murder of the Jassaktu Khan was settled by a peace.f
This was followed by the death of Norbu, and the Emperor sent word
to the Tushiyetu Khan, his brother the Kutuchta, and the Jassaktu
Khan to proclaim Norbu's son Ildeng Arabtan his successor.!) He also
died very shortly after.f This was about the time when Galdan, the
Kalmuk chief, was laying waste the country of the Khalkhas. On the
death of Ildeng Arabtan his son Wemeki wsis a minor, and his guardian
Namjal abandoned the Khalkha country, and at the head of more
than 100,000 families submitted to the Manchus.** The young bo/s
mother pressed the Emperor to grant him the title of Khan, which he did
after some hcsitation.tt With the other Khalkha chiefs the Seuen Khan
took part in the graikl reception held by the Emperor Kanghi at Dolo
Nur, in 1691 (which I have previously described), and there became
definitely a Manchu subject.
On tlie collapse of the power of Galdan, the Setzen Khan and his people
seem to have drifted back into their old quarters. They are now divided
into twenty-one banners, and are encamped in the country watered by
the river Kerulon. Besides the Setzen Khan they have among their
princes a tsin wang, a kiun wang, a beile, two beisse, a kung of the first,
two kungs of the second, and three kungs of the third class, besides
twelve jassaks.U
Their country is bounded on the west by the Kentei range which
separates them from the Khalkhas of Tushiyetu Khan, on the north by
the Russian frontier, on the east by the country of the Wesumutshins
and the Solons, and on the south by the desert of Gobi. Schmidt's
• Schmidt. Mem. St. Peters. AcaiL» U. 4fiZ'46s- t De MailU, xl. 96.
I Schmidt, op. cit.. ii» 465. f Vidt ante, 470.
Schmidt. 09. cit.. ii. 463- De MaiUt, xi. X09. f Schmidt, ii. 465. De Mailla» xL ist.
Schmidt, op. cit.. ii. 465. tt Dn lUMe, ir. 173. U TimkowaJd. U. aas.
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THE EASTERN KHALRUAS OF THE SETZEN KHAN. 487
authority gives the boundaries thus : on the west Tsaghan Chilaghotu,
on the north the Undurkhan, on the east Erdcni Tologoi^ and on the
south Targun Tsaidam.* ^
The country of Khalkhas comprises the ancient seats of the race before
the great conquests of Jingis Khan, the motherland of the Mongol
people. The following topographical sketch of this land is a translation
from the Chinese account of Mongolia, which was made by Klaproth,
and appended to Timkowski's Travels, and is still the best condensed
account accessible to me.
MOUNTAINS.
Burkhan ula (or the Divine mountain), in which the Onon has its
source. Mount Ti li ven Phou tha (Durbcn PuU), situated on the
Onon : it is near this mountain that Jingis Khan was born. Tono ula
(ula signifies, in Mongol, a high mountain), on the right bank of the
Kerulun. The Emperor Kangfai stopped there in June^ 1696, during
his campaign against Galdan, prince of the Sungarians, and caused
the following inscription in Chinese verse to be carved in the rock : --
*^ How immense is the desert of Gobi ; how broad and deep is the
Kerulon ! It is here that six corps of my army, under my command,
displayed their courage. Like the thunderbolt, they destroyed every thing !
The sun and the moon behdd them with terror. The enemy fled
before them, and the surrounding deserts have recovered the tranquillity
of peace."
1 he Khingan : this great chain of mountains stretches along the right
bank of the Onon, and to the east of the little mountains of Kentei, and it
extends to the source of the Amour. The Kentei ula is to the south of
the heights of the Onon. Two small rivers, which afterwards form the
Kerulon, have their sources in the south-east of these mountains. To
the west rise the mountains of Dzilung daba and Terelkdzi (daba, in
Mongol, indicates a mountain, the summit of which may be crossed).
The Baga Kentei, or Little Kentei, is near Uiga, and joins mount
Terelkdzi, where the Tula has its source. The Tsuku (Tchikoi), which
enters the Russian frontier, issues from the north side of the Baga Kentei.
Mount Kirsa is to the east oi the sources of the Tula : this chain
commences at the northern extremity of the Khingan, follows the Tula
towards the north, and turning, forms the mountains of Terelkdzi.
Khan ula is to the north of the Khingan, on the left bank of the Tula.
The Kul, a small river which issues from it, flows to the north, and
falls into the Tula. About thirty li to the south-east is the woody district
called Djao modo. In the month of June, 1696^ the Emperor Kanghi
defeated in this place the army of the Sungarians, and to hand down
* Op. cit., ii. 461"
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488 HISTORY OP THE MONGOLS.
thermemory ci thi» victory to posterity, he caused the foHowing imscriptioii
to be cut in the rock : —
"Heaven has lent us its powerful aid to subdue our enemies and
to destroy the wicked. These wild beasts (the Sungarians), weakened
by i^istance, fled to the west : Heaven seconded our efforts : they soon
fell under the sword of my troops : at the first beat of the drum their
tents, planted in the wilderness, were abandoned. I have caused
to be engraved on these roda die account of the great deeds of the
victorious army.''
The Dulan khara, to the south-ivest of Khan ula, opposite to the Tula,
approaches, on the south, to the great desert of Gobi, and on the north
to the Tula. The Khadamal is on the north side ^ the little river
Khara ussu : its north aide approaches the Russian frontier, and forms
the northern limit of the Khalkhas. The Kaliar is between the Khara
ussu and the Orichon. These mountains join the Djamur ula, which lies
on the north bank of the Tula, at the place tdiere it fidls into the
Orkhon. The chain following the course of the Tula inclines to the
north. Towards the east it extends to the Selbi daba, and forms a
semicircle some hundred H in extent The Burung is between the
Orkbon and the Selenga. This mountain extends some hundred li from
east to west The Bongfaun Shara extends above aoo li to the west of
the Burung. Farther to the north are the mountains Stric^^ng and
Erkhetu, between the Selenga and the Oikhon.
The Khantai chain, to the north of the Selei^fa, extends northwards
beyond the Russian frontiers. The Kuku tsilotu is on the south bank of
the Orkhon ; following the course of that river, it indines towards the
east. One hundred li from it, to the east, there are warm springs. The
Sirkha adziigan (in Mongol, adzirgan signifies a stallion) is to the east
of the source of the Orichon, At the western foot of this mountain
stands the temple of Erdeni dzao. The Kanghi kamar is to the south
of the Sirkha adzirgan ; the Orkhon flows on the north side of this
chain, and the Onghin muren rises on the south. The Django, to the
north of the source of the Orkhon, is separated by that river from the
Sirka adzirgan, and forms the eastern part of the Khangai mountains.
The chain of the latter is to the north of the sources of the Orkhon, and
500 li to the north-west of the Onghin mureiL This chain is higher than
any of those in the vicinity ; it b^^ to the north-west of the Altai,
crosses the Orkhon and the Tula, and forms the great mountains of
Khingan and Kentei. To the west of the Kuku ula the chain turns to
the north, surrounds all the sources of the Selenga, and approaches the
Russian frontiers. The Orkhon and the Tamir rise in these mountains ;
they seem to be the same which, in ancient Chinese writers, are called
the Van jan shan. The Bam dzurukhe is to the east of the source of
the Orkhon ; farther to the north-east is mount Saikhan ula ; and still
farther to the east, the Enikhetai kubsul, at the termination of die
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THE £ASTSltN KHALKHAS OP THE 3ETZEN KHAN. 489
course of the river Kassoi, and on Its north bank. 'Mount Undur b
to die west of the Kubsul ; the Nauman ula on the north bank of the
Sdenga ; the Kaldzan bur^ttai to die west of the Kaiman uk ; the
£rtsit to the west of the Kaldzan burgutta!, and to the south of the
banks of the Kharatal ; the Koiboldok on an island in lake Kosogol*;
the Ulbechi to the east of lake Sang^ dalai. Farther to the south
extend the Uriu uga mountains.
The Altai ula, formerly called, in Chinese, Khi shan, or Gold
mountain, is to the north-west of the course of the river Tes, and
extends at least 2,000 li (670 miles). Its summits rise above the clouds,
and the snow which covers them does not mdt even in the summer ; they
are considered as the principal chain from which all the mountains of
north-western Mongolia spring. Their main point is to the north-west
of lake Ubsa ; diey rise in stages one above another, and divide into
four branches ; one begins at the sources of the Ertsis or Irtish, and
runs northwards to the Russian frontier by the name of the Altai
mountains ; that which runs north-east follows the course of the Tcs on
the north side for about a thousand li, and forms to the east the chain of
the Tangnu mountains. This chain meets further to the north-east, the
north side of the Kangai, and extends to the north as far as the Selenga.
About a hundred li to the south of that river begins the third branch,
which runs to the east, by the name of the Ulan gum mountains, and
borders on the north ride lake Kirghiz nur. Further to the south-east
it forms the Kokei mountains, and then those of Anghi. The Kunghd
rises from the south, and the Ukhai from the north ride of these latter
mountains. The same branch of the Altai forms, forther to the north,
the Ma]^ mountains, from the south side of which issues the nver
Buigassutai ; lastly, towards the north-east, it approaches the south
side of the Kangai, and borders the rivers Kassui and Tamir. The
southern branch extends, almost without interruption, describing various
sinuosities. From its western side flow the Narym, the Kuitsil, the
Kaliotu, the Akar, the Bordri, the Khaba, the Khira, the Khara-Ertsis,
and the Ertsis. This branch turns to the east ; the Buyantu flows from
its northern ride ; the Tsinghil and the Bulagan from the south ride.
Farther to the east it termmates the Altai chain, but extends in several
!w^n branches as far as the great desert of Gobi, where it forms, on the
south-east, the mountains of Gurban Saikham ; to the south, those of
Nomokhon ula, and to the east, those of Uburgun ula, &c The
Tarbaktai ula extends about 600 li to the west of Narym, the Kuitril,
and the Kaliotu.
The Birga daba, to the south-east of the source of the Kerulon, is a
branch of the Kefitri mountains ; from its left ride issues the Birga. gol,
which empties itself Into ^le Onon. The Tsihing daba is to the west
of theKantei; from iU left issoes the Tsihing, a small river whidi Ms
into the Kerulon. Mount Teteldri is to the west of thoTfeflung; the
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490 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
Tcreldzi rises in U and falls into the Kenilon. Mount Galaiai is to the
south of the Tcreldzi ; the Adakhai to the north of the Tula ; the Selbi
daba to the south-west of the Adakhai ; the Ukher daba (Ukher, in
Mongol, means an ox) to the north-west of the Khangai ; the little river
Ukher forms the Tui ; the Koko ola is to the west of the Ukher, from its
left side issues the Tamir, and from its right the Baitarik ; the Tsegan
Uilo, 800 h to the north of Kalgan, is near to the line of posts on the
frontier. These mountains extend about 200 li from east to west. When
the Emperor Kanghi passed through this country, in his campaign
against Galdan, he caused a stone • monument to be erected, with the
following inscriprion : —
" All that i^ covered by the azure vault of heaven is peopled by my
children. I re-establish peace through the whole extent of my dominions ;
I crush the serpents and reptiles. The genii who preside over the lakes,
the mountains, the rich pasture, and the sweet fountains, second my
enterprises. This stone will transmit the memory of them to posterity.^
To the north of mount Tono and the desert extends a vast steppe,
abounding in pasture, and well watered. It is the chief abode of the
Khalkhas, and extends 5,000 li from east to west.
RIVERS.*
The Kerulon, formerly called by the Chinese Lu khiu ho, rises on
the south side of the chain of Kcntei, 3oo li to the north of the country
of the Ordus. It receives 6ve small rivers, runs 300 li £uther north,
and tumi> towards the south-east, passes for 100 li throu|^ a dek of
the Bain ula. and receives the Sungher ; and, at the distance of another
too li, having run to the south of mount Tono, it turns towards the
tiorth-east, and 200 li farther on receives the Tereldzi, which comes from
the south-east. Having flowed 800 li farther, inclining a little towards
the east, it runs with many windings for 100 li between two mountains,
and then 200 li to the north-east, till it falls into lake Kulun or Dalai
nur. When it issues from the lake, it forms the boundary between the
Solonob and the Russians, where it receives from the inhabitants the
name of the Ergune (Argun); and after a course of 800 li farther to the
north-east, empties itself into the Amur. To the south of the Kendon
lies the great desert of Gobi, destitute of pasturage and water. In the
tenth and eleventh centuries this river formed the boundary between the
kingdom of Liau and the Mongols.
AVhen the Emperor Kang hi, in 1696^ marched against Galdan, lie
stopped on the banks of tliis river, thinking that the enemy would dispute
the passage; but the Sungarians, being surprised by the arrival of the
Chinese, fled towards the west. Kang hi exclaimed : " I was told that
Galdan was an able warrior, and that nothing could resist hinl, but he
proves his ignorance by not attempting to maintain his ground on the
jLerulon." The Emperor then ascended the river as far as mount Tono,
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THE EASTERN KHALKHAS OF THE SETZEN KHAN. 49I
where he pitched his camp. The great army of the west defeated the
enemy nboij; this time, and then the Emperor returned to China.
Tlie Onon, which afterwards takes the name of the Amur, was
formerly called in Chinese the \Va nan ho; it rises :!oo li to the north-
west of the Kerulon m mount Tercldzi, which is a branch of the Kcntci
chain It ^ovrs to the eastward, to the north of the same chain, and to
the south of the great Khingan. It flows 500 li farther, receives eight
sm.ill rivers, and having joined the Korsu gol, which comes from the
south, It turns to the north-cast ; above 1,000 li further it passes to the
south of the «^own of Nerchinsk. In the interval it receives above ten
small rivers running from the north-west, such as the Agachu, the
Tarbakhatai, the Tulvidai, the Tarbaldzi, &c., and several others which
come from the south ; 300 li farther, it reaches the stone which marks the
frontier. To the south of the source of this river flows the Kerulon, and
to the west the Tula. Jingis Khan, the founder of the dynasty of the
Yuen, was born in these parts. It was near this river that the Emperor
of China defeated, in 14 to, as we have mentioned above, Buniashiri
Khan, a descendant of thai great conqueror.
A hundred li to the north-west of the source of the Onon, the Tula is
formed by two springs which issuo from the Tereldzi mountains and the
little Kentel. This river runs 2uo li to the south-west, and receives
several smaller sUeamis. After leaving the north of the wood district of
Djao modo, :t flows westwards for 100 li, then passes by tlie Klian ula,
opposite to which it bathes the town of Urga or kuren (the camp),
again runs for 100 li to the south, then for above 300 ii to the north-west,
receives the Karotka gol ( §7?/, in Mongol, means a river), and falls at length,
150 li .'irther, into the Orkhon. It was near the Tula that, in 1407, Li
wen chung, a Chinese general, arriving suddenly from the Kerulon, .
with his light cavalry, defeated Nangdm k'nara djang, general of the
Yuen. In 14 14 the Oirads were completely beaten there by the Emperor
in person.
The district of Djao modo or Dzao modo is to the south of the Tula ;
it is surrounded on three sides by mountains, and on the north side by a
rivar ; to the west is the Khingan, and to the east the Khan ula. In
1696 Galdan was completely defeated there by the Chinese army.
The Orkhon, called by ancient Chinese authors the A lu hoen, has
two sources, one to the south of the Khanghi, the other, the Uiiastai,
issues from the mountain Oldzietu dulan khara ula. These two rivulets,
after flowing 500 li to the south-east, unite and form a river, which runs
100 li eastwards in die mountains, then 200 li to the north-east, and
passes to the west of the temple of Erdeni Djao. After leaving the
mountains, and running 150 li farther, it turns to the north-west, joins the
Jirmatai and the Tamir, which come from the west, and then goes
straight to the north.
A hundred U further on, the Orkhon turns and flows 100 li to the
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492 HISTORY or THE MOKGOU.
north-east, and receives a warm spring which cootet ftom the south, and
300 li farther is Joined hf the Tola from the south-west Haying passed
the west side of mount Kaliar, it is Joined by the Khara from the south*
east ; 100 li finnn this place it turns to the nordi*west and falls into the
Selenga. The Orkhon is larger than the Tula, but less considerable^ than
the Selenga, like which it has a very sinuous course between the moun-
tains. Its current is rapid, and its water veiy dear, and abounding in
fish, and the banks ate thickly covered with willows and elms. To the
north of its Junction with the Sdenga is the frontier of Russia, and to
the south, the territory of the Tushiyetu Khan of the Khalkhas. The
Chinese general U wen chung, after defeating Mangdzu Khara djang
near the Tula, pursued him to these parts.
The Khara gol rises to the north of the Tula, in mount Selbi, and has
the name of the KuigoL It runs to the north, receives on the west the
Narin and the Buigudtai, and on the east the Adakhai, the Sungnar,
and the Tui^la; 150 li farther it turns to the ncnth-west, receives
afterwards, on the left, the Boro and the Jakdurj runs direct to the
north, and falls into the Orkhon.
The Onghin rises near the source of the Orkhon, runs south*east|
through a level country, and after a course of 700 li Ms into the lake
of Kuragan ulen nor. This little lake is 800 li north-west of the
country of the Ordus.
The Tamir has two arms ; the western rises to the west of the source
of the Orkhon, and to the north of the Khangai ; the other to the east
of this mountain, and to the north of mount Kuku daba ; and these
two arms are above 200 U from each other. They run north-west, receive
several little rivers, and after a course of 200 li, join in a river, which,
^ 100 li farther, fi^ills into the Orkhon.
The Selenga issues from the mountains to the north-west of the
Ktiangai ; it has properly six sources. The northern, the Kharatal, and
the Buktsui, run to the south-east ; the southern, namdy, the Eder,
Tislotu,*^ Uhatai, and Adzirak, to the north-east. After a course of
about 300 li, they all Join in one river, which, after running aoo li to
the east, receives the Khassui from the south-east ; 200 li to the north-
east, the Ekhe from the north-west ; and 400 li farther to the north-east,
the Orkhon from the south-west. Its course is then to the' north-east, to
the Russian frontier. From the west it receives the DJedV from the
east the Gmku,} the Ud^, &c. ; and after a course of ifioo li to the
north it £a11s into lake Baikal, from which it issues, uuder the name of
Angara, and empties itself into the Northern Ocean.
The Ekhe issues from lake Kosogol or Khussugol, to the north-west
of the mountains, runs above 700 11 to the south-east, and falls into the
Selenga. It receives on both sides a great number of small rivers. The
Khassui issues from the mountains to the north 6i the Tamur, runs 500
•TOola,ofNe]rBllMriMiir! t SUdi^Niy BllM*alIap. lOaka,V9fmUm%U9p.
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THB KASTSRN KBAIXHAS OP THI SCTZEN KHAN. 493
K to the south-east, and fiUls into the Sdenga. The Tbi gol (Tuin
gol) rises to the sooth of the Khangai, runs above 300 li to the sooth, and
fJEOls into lake Oit^
The Baitarik rises to the sooth of mount Koko daha. After a cooiae
of above aoo li to die south, it traverses the district of Kmen B^tshir,
and joins the Chak Baitarik ; 100 li liuther it receives, 00 die liglit,
the Tsagan temur, and after running 300 li tether fiAs into kke
Chagan nur.
The Jabkan issues fttnn the mounuins to the north-west of Kuren
Bdtshir, runs more than aooli to the south-west, and receives, on die
r%ht, the Buigassatai, and too li fiirther the KungbeL After turning
to the nordi-west it receives the Khobdo, after the totter has been
joined by the Buyantu, and 100 li ftuther ftdls into the Kiighis nur
Oake of the Ku-ghis). Here is the western frontier of the country of
theKhalkhas.
The Tes comes from the south side of the Tangnu mountains, runs
to the south-west, receives sereral smaD streams, approaches on the
south'West the Altai mountains, and falls into lake Ubra. The SakH
khara gd fiedls into the same lake on the south-west side.
LAKES.
The Koko nur (different from the great lake of the same name in
Tangut). Near its banks Jingis was elected Khan by the assembled
Mongols. The position of this lake is now unknown. The Buir nur is
l,aoo 11 to the west of Tsttsigar. The Kulun nur, or Dahd, is 1,170 li
to the west of the same town. This great lake is 600 li in circumference ;
it is formed by the waters of the Kerukm, which comes from the south-
west. Under the Thang, this lake was called, by the Chinese, Kiu lun,
and under the dynasty of the Ming, Ko liuan. The Kossogol, above 600
li to the north of the Selenga, is 100 K in circumference. In the middle of
it is the island of Kui boldok. The Ekhe issues from it on the south-west
The Sangliin dalai is to the west of the sources of the Sdei^^ and of
mount Orb^hi ; it is above 100 li in circumference, and has no outlet.
The Uldjeitu tsagan nur is to the south-east of the Sanghin dalai. To
the north-east it gives rise to the Tchdlotor, which fidls into the Sdei^ia.
The Orok is to the south-east of die Kuen behshir ; the Tui gol ftdb
into it on the north. The Kirghis nur, to the south-east of mount Uhm
gum, is 340 li in circumference ; it receives the Jabkan. There is also
a lake^ Ikhe and nur, to the south-west of the precedh^ (u^ the lake
Hara of Ney Elias). The river Kobdo fells into it from the west, and the
Buyantu from die south. The Ubsa nor, to the south-east of the
Altai mountains, is formed by die Tes, wliidi enters it oa dM north-east,
and by the Sakli Khara from the south-west
On the south bank of die Orldvon there are wann springs.*
•TfmlRmiki.U.n6-a42.
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494 annoitY or thb iiohools.
Inthisdescr^litioiitiiMdiisvwylidtliftil and uAmMf compkte^it Is
odd that an iapottaatlalDe named like Tasfen by Mr. Ney Eliaa ahovld
be fwiiftedt It it situated onljr about fifteen or twenty miles from tbe lake
Aralof the above descriptioii, whose nam^ like the great sea of Aral itt the
wes^ is derifod from comaining an idand» And meaning island. Lake
Ttegen is a lasge and probably deep lake^ extending towards the noith
and north-west, and its water is sweet and beautiluUy clear. It is about
350 ieet lower in heigfat than the Aesl, and Mr. Elias conjectures that
it may reeeiye die overflow of the latter/ and if so, it is probably
confused with it in the Chinese narrative. Besides the river Tui and
Baitaiik mentioned above as flowing southwards from the Kangfaai
chain, Mr. Elias mantions a third small parallel stream, which be calls
the Tatsy and which is some thirty yards broad. It flows into a lake
called Sira Buritu. In the country of the Jassaktu Khan, south-west of
the Stike mountains, diere are several lakes, probably saline, figured in
his map. The principal of these are named the Tmkul Nur, Chaghan
Ghir Nur, Tuigut Nur, Alak Nur, Sirkha Nur, Daiighil Nur, Igher
Nur, and Tsafchar Tshig.
NoU I.— On page 455 I said that the name Khalkha is generally
derived from the river Kalka, a tributary of the BuyurorBuir lake, and
this is the view hM by the Jesuit missionaries, who did so much to
dear up the topography of Mongolia.t This derivation is not improbaUe,
inasmuch as we know of sevend other Mongol tribes who are similarly
named, but it ought to be mentioned that Schmidt does not approve of
it He argues that the Khalkhas did not spring horn the neighbour-
hood of that river, but fi!om the neighbouriiood of the Khangbai
mountains, and says the name means a shield or shelter.} It is curious
that the reigning family among the Koriiotes bear the name Galgas,
which is probably connected wi^ Uie name we are discussing.!
N0U 2. — The Abbe Hue has a curious story about a kingdom of Eie,))
by which no doubt the country of the MFestem Mongob of the Inner
division is meant I have no means of verifying the details, but abstract
it as acurious picture of Mongol life. He says the kingdom of Efe is a
portion of the territory of the eij^t banners, which the Emperor Kien-
Lung dismembered in favour of a prince of the Khalkhas. Sun-Tch4,
founder of the Mantchou dynasty, laid down this maxim : *^ In the south,
establish no kings ; in the north, interrupt no alliances.'^ This policy
has ever since been exactly pursued by the court of P^ng. The
Emperor Kien-Lung, in order to attach to his dynasty the prince in
question, gave him his daughter in marriage, hoping by this means to
*N«grBliai,JoQnudRo]r. Goocr.8oenxUil.X3x,i3s. t D« HAld«, !▼. 196.
X SduDldt. Mem. St. Pettn. Acadn U. 49^ | Paltot, Saal. Hitt. Nacb., Ac, i. 15-
I Hvc't Travili, i. 80.
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TH£ XASTfilUf KHALKKAS OF THE STTZSN KHAN. 495
fix him at PekUig, and thus to weaken the still dreaded power of the
KhalUia soviereigns. He batit for him^ within the circuit of the YtXkm
Town itsd( a lai|^ and magnificent palace, but the Mongol prince could
not adapt or reconcile himsdf to the stiff arbitrary etiquette of a court
Amid tiie pomp and luxurjr accumulated for his entertainment, he was
incessantly absorbed widi the thought of hb tents and his herds ; even
the snows and frosts of his country were matters of r^^ret The attentions
of the court being altogether inadequate to the dissipation of bis ennui,
he began to talk about returning to his prairies in the Khalkhas. On the
other hand, h» young wife, accustomed to the refinements of the court
of Pddng, could not bear the idea of ^pending the rest of her days in
the desert, amongst milkmaids and shepherds. The Emperor resorted
to a compromife which sufficiendy met the wishes of his son-in-law,
without too violently disconcerting the feelings t>f his daughter. He
dismembered a portion of the Chakhar territory, and assigned it to the
MaoipA prince ; he buHt fer him, amid these solitudes, a small but hand-
some city, and presented to hhn a hundred femilies cf slaves skilled in €tMe
arts and manu&ctnres of China. In this manner, while the young
Ifanchn princess was enabled to dw^ in a city and to have a court,
the Mongol prince, on his part, was in a position to enjoy the tranquillity
of the Land of Grass, and to resume at will the pleasures of nomadic
Kfe, in which he had passed his boyhood.
The King of Efe brought widi him into his petty dominions a great
number of Mongol Khalkhas, n^o inhabit, under the tent, the country
bestowed upon their prince. These Tartars fully maintain the reputation
for strength and acdve vigour which is generally attributed to the men
of their nation. They are conudered the most powerful wrestlers in
southern Mongolia. From their infancy, they are trained to gymnastic
esercises, and at the public wrestling matches, celebrated every year at
Pddng, a great number of these men attend to compete for the priies,
and to sustahi the reputation of their country. Yet, thotq^ fer siq)erior
in strength to the Chinese, they are sometimes thrown by the latter,
generally more active, and especially more tricky.
In the great match of 1843, ^ wresder of the kingdom of Efe had
overthrown all competitorsi Tartan and Chinese. His body, of gigantic
pcoportiens, was fixed upon legs which seemed iomiovable cohmms ; his
hands, like great gn^pliog vons, seiaed his antagonisti, raised them,
and then hurled them to the ground, almost without effort No person
had been at all able to stand beflue his prodigiotts strength) and they
were about to assign him the prise, vdien a Chinese stepped into the
ring. He was short, smaM, meagre, and i^peaied calculated for no oAer
purpose than to augment the number of the Efeian's victuns. He
advanced, however, with an air of firm confidence ; the Goliath of Efe
stretched out his brawny arms to grasp hhai when the CMnese, who had
his mouth fiill of water, suddenly discharged the hquad in tilt giantfs
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496 HISTORY or THE MONGOLS.
Cace. The Tartar mechanically raised his hands to vnpc his eyes» and
at the instant, the cunning Chhiese mshed in, caught him round the
waist, threw him off his balance, and down he went, amid the convulsive
laughter of the spectators.
Not^ 3.— Northern Mongolia is separated from Southern Mon;;olia;
the Khalkhas country from the country of the Forty-nine Banners, not
by the desert, but by an artificial barrier known as the Limits, which
traverses the desert from south-west to north-east It was beyond this
limit that the Mongols were driven when they were expdled irom China
by the Ming Emperors.*^ This barrier is called Karong by De Mailla»
Carou by Gcrbillon and D*Anville,t and Couren, /.^., Kuren by HucJ It
is not, as I suggested, a row of palisades, but is rather a low mound or
rampart, meant to mark a boundary rather than to be a protection. It
is thence, apparently, that it gets its name. KurS or Kuren means an
enclosure, an encampment walled round, and sometimes a cattle pen.!
Thence the native name for the town of Urga is Ta Kuren, or great
walled encampmentll This points also to Che true etymology of Kaim-
korum. Colonel Yule says the greater number of the MSS. of Marco
Polo have Caracoron, and not Caracorum, and the name therefore means
Black enclosure, and not Black city, as I wrongly wrote.^
NvU 4. — There is an account of the origin of the troubles among
the Khalkhas, given by Timkowski,** but it is so full of mistakes and
incongruities that I Have not quoted or used it. It is in fact quite
unreliable.
* Aot*. 3S4* t Rittw't Aftto,Ss. 969. I Rac.L 7a.
t Ney EUat, Jeva. Ray. Otogr. Soc, itiii. its. Tialvwtki, i. j.
I Nejr BlUt, id»t xaa. Note. Tixnkowiki, loc dt. f Aatt, 300. ** Op» dt., L 142.
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CHAPTER IX.
THE KHOSHOTES.
WE have now completed our survey of the history of the
Eastern Mongols or Mongols propeiiy so calledi and must
turn to that of the Western Mongols, more generally
known in Europe as Kalmuks. Our former task has been comparatively
dear, and a goodly list of authorities has enabled us to reconstruct the
Mongol history, from the time of Jingis Khan to the period when
the Mongols lost their independence in the seventeenth century. Our
present task is very far from being as satisfactory. Materiab are
wanting, or at all events are not at present accessible^ to enable us to
give the history the same continuity, and our path is surrounded with
daikness and with uncertainty at many points, but I am not without hope
that the following story may (fisentangle some at least of the difficulties
which surround it
As I have said, the Western Mongols are known generally in Europe
as Kalmuks. This name is not native. Timkowski £uled to find it used
amcmg any of die Kalmuk tribes, and only heard of it as applied to a
small Thibetan dan. There is no Thibetan tribe known to me with such
a name, but one division of Thibet is called Kilmauk by Turner,* which
may be the origin of Timkowsld's statement. It is the name by which
the Western Mongols are known to their Turkish neighbours and to the
Russians, who have doubtless borrowed it from the Turks ; it is a name
familiar to the Turks for a long period, and it is the name by which the
Western Mongols were known to Abulgfaazi Khan, the historian of the
Mongols^ who wrote in the seventeenth century.
The name has received more than one etymology. Thus Pallas says that
it arose thus : ^ A laige section of the race having long before the days of
Jingis Khan made an invasion of the west were lost in the neighbourhood
of the Caucasus, upon which those who remained behind were styled
Khalimaks by their neighbours. KhaHmak, he says, meaning * broken,'
remnant.* t This derivation is very fiur inched and incredible, and I
mnch prefer that given by Fischer, who makes Kalmuk a corruprion of
Kalpak, the name given by the Muhammedan Turks to the fur caps
* BmbM«y to TMUc, 3x5. f PaUm StnX, Hitt. Noch., Ac, i. 6. PallM* VojrafW, 1 488,
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498 HISTORY Of THE M0N(iOLS
worn by the Ealmukf, they themsdves wearing the tchehna or turban.*
The name thus became in a measure synonymous with unbeliever.t The
name Kahnuk is applied not only to Mongol tribes^ but also to some
Turkish tribes, who apparently wear the same head gear, ix. gr.^
the Tdenguts who inhabit the Altai mountains. They are Turks, are
called White Ealmuks by their neighbours, and are in feet tlu Kal-
muks of Mr. Ney Elias's narrative. It is well known also that the
Manguts, a section of the Nogaisy are called Kara Kalpaks, from
wearing black caps, and in' conclusion 1 may cite the authority of the
English traveller Jenkinson, who was in Russia in the sixteenth century,
and who tells us that the Mongols were called Karakalmaki by the
Tartars, /./., by the Turks.} These facts make it very probi^ble that
Fischer's is the correct etymology of the name Ealmuk, and fiirthttr,
that that name is of small value iu working out the origines of t)|e race,
inasmuch as it is indefinite in its application, and is not indigenous.
The people whom western vrriters generally call Kalmuks are known to
the Chinese as Wala, otherwise written Olot. The Jesuit father Ainiot
adopted the form Eleuth, which afterwards became the fisishionaUe way
of spelling it.§
This name introduces us to sooie difficult questions. With Ritter tMud
some others it is the Chinese transcription of the Mongol name Uin^
the letter r being wanting in Chinese^ but as 1 shall show in the account ^
the Sungars, Uirad by itself is not a race-name at all among the Mongolf.
Again, while Ssanang Setzen distinctly uses the form Oghded for one
section of the Western Mongols,| we find the form Odot used by Fvtcher
to whom it came doubtless from some Mongol authority, and not from a
Chinese one. f I believe, therefore^ that Olot or Ogheled is very neariy
the indigenous form of the name.
Now while the Chinese use the name generically, and apply it to the
various tribes of Western Mongols, whom we style Kalmuks, it would
seem that Ssanang Setzen applies it specifically to one branch of them
only, and so in fact do the Kalmuks themsdves.**
I am not dear about the explanation of this, and my solution must be
accepted as a purely tentative one. It is this : the dominant tribe
among the Kalmuks at the beginning of the seventeenth century was
that of the Koshotes. They are the Eleuths par exalUna^ the Eleuths
of Kokonur, and I believe that they are alone property so called, but
as they were the dominant tribe, the name was applied to all the rest,
just as Englishman indudes Scotchman and Irishman.
The Khoshotes are the dominant Kalmuks in the district of Kokonur
and Thibet As I hl^ve said, they are known to the Chinese as Olot
The Thibetans call them Solqia, and Khoshote seems to be their
* Fuchtr. Sibirisch* Ceihichte. 37. t De HeU'a TrmYolt» 223. I Pitcher, op. cit. 39*
% Rittcr't Asia, ii. 44G. | Suiuog Setscn, 37. f Fisch«r't Sfbiritehtt OMMchts, ^.
** PallM, Hitt Nacb., *e.. i. «.
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THE KHOSHOTES.- 499
indigenous name. According to one account they received this name
from the intrepidity they showed in a fight nvith a chief named Buigari
Khan.* A more probable etymology connects them with the frcmtier
town of Kho-dshu.t I may state that the present habitat of the Eastern
Khalkhas of the Inner division is called Tsaghan Khoshotu.{ This is,
I think, an interesting circumstance. As I have already said,| the
Khoshotes are governed by a royal race named Galgas, which dahns
descent from Khassar, the brother of Jingis Khan. I have also remadbed
on the great probability that when the various clans whom he goverhed
were assigned to him, they all lived in close contact, and as the
majority of his clans lived in Eastern Mongolia, it is by no mfeans
improbable that the Khoshotes dieh lived in the very district to Which
I have just referred, which is still called Tsaghan Khoshotu, and fhence
derived their name.
Before 4he Khoshotes invaded Thibet they would seem to have lived
in the district of Alashan, and on the borders of Kan suh. I am disposed
to think with Klaproth that they are to be identified with the so-called
Chikin Mongols, who in the early part of the fifteenth century lived on
the frontiers of Shensi, between the towns of Su chau and Sa chau.
They derived their name from the district Chikin, where they settled
in 1404. They moved thither from a place named Kharato, and were
considered as Chinese subjects.]
This event is referred to by De Mailla, and in the Ming Annals
translated by Delamarre. We thence gather that when Kulichi, who
I believe to have been the then overchief of the Western Mongols,f
attempted to become entirely supreme, and when the Chinese Emperor
sent him a seal of investiture, &&, he was shaiply attacked by
several of his subordinates and driven away. The chief of these was
named Halutai, ^o has been identified with the Adai of Ssanang
Setzen.** We are told that Halutai and his companion Mahamu sent
in their submission to the Chinese court. Delamarre names the chiefs
who did so, Aluthai, Fahul (probably a corruption of Mahamu) and
Tchahan taluhoa or Chagan talugu. Now it is curious that a current
etymology of the name Eleuth is, that it is derived from this very
Halutai.tt Whether there be any foundation for this, which I doubt,
or not, it is a curious fact that the chief who submitted to China in
1404 should be consideired as the eponymous leader of the race, whom
we identify with the Khoshotes and Chikin Mongols.
The name Khoshote only appears in Ssanang Setzen as that of a small
section of the Chakhars, and under the form Khotshid,tt but Adai, whom
^Vidtiain. t PfcUu Hist. Ntdu, ftCt )• ^ NoU.
t Schmidt, Mem. St. Pettr«. Acad., ii. 4«9« ♦ ^^^ •"*«. 49l.
I Atte Myg lottt, 263. f Ante, 352. ** ^^ •»*•• S5«.
Tt Sckmi^i SsAoaog S«uen, 404. NoM9* Tiakowiki, ii, 209. Hot*.
II Ssanaog Setmo, aos Jki 207.
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pO HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
I have identified with Halutai,* does and is made by him the chief of the
Khortshins, who it will be remembeied, like the Khoshote% are governed
by princes descended from Khassar, the brother of Jingis.t I shall not
repeat the story of the life of Halutal, which I have abeady tokU
In 14x3 we read that ** the Tche kin Munku,'' which Dekmarre
translates as the Mongols with red battlts-axefl^ ofiered a rdbge to a
fugitive fnmi the Chinese empire named Laoti Khan, and that the
Emperor in conseqoence reiNrimanded tiiem severely.! These were
doubtless the Chikin Mongols or Khoshotes. Halutai was killed in 1434
by Toghon, the overchief of the Western Mongols^ and his son Apo-
tchq^ submitted to the Chinese. |
In describing the dominions of Essen Khan, the son of Toghon, the
author of the description of Mongolia, translated by Hyadnthe, says it
was bounded on the west by the Chikin Mongols.1f
I will now turn to the account of the Khoshotes given by Pallas. He
tdls us that the Khoshote chiefii daim descent from Khassar, the
brother of Jingis Khan.*^ In this, confirming the independent account
of Schmidttt
He traces their descent from him thus : —
Kbcbota KhaaMT
Eoka Sammar Taldshi
AndA. or AdMhari GalM Chiiiff Tftidthi
Ra Ramnakta
Bnrkan Shadahin, or Saadahi
Saba Shlrma, or Shabi ShirMnoii
Aktarguldi Noyon
It is possible that this last chief is to be identified with the Halutai
of the Chinese accounts. We are told he left two sons, named Arrak
Tonmiur and Werrok Tommur, who ruled their people jointly. They
were in alliance with a brave chief named Toghon Taishi, in whose army
their contingent fought so bravely against a chief named Bulgari Khan,
that they acquired the name Khoshote Although I cannot approve of
this etymology, the story probably points to the period when the
Khoshotes first became a portion of the Western Mongols. By Toghon
Taishi is no doubt meant the toghon Taishi who ruled over the Kahnuks
in the fifteenth century, and who killed Halutai, as I have already
mentioned.
Werrdc Tiraur's son was called Dorong Dutshin, who had three sons,
named Run Togadai, Chingsen, and Tummur, from whom, says Pallas, the
family acquired the name Galgas. The eldest of the three was succeeded
by Sam Mulkho or Sai Malakhu ; he by his son Attakhai, and he by his '
*^^ft^'^ t Ant., 438. IAiite.353-3A>. ♦ Ddainan«b W-
I DelaiMm. aas- f TimhowtU, 11 ti 3. •• Hiat. Nack* 1. 24.
ftMem.8t.Pet«ra.Ac«d..ii.4«a. Aata.4S8. JI PaUaa. op. eit, I. as-
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THE RHOSHOTCS. 50I
ton Nagudi or Nagadai, who left eight sons^ the ddett of whom was
named Rossa. Rossa had two sons, named Uhak Chingsan and Boko
Mifsa. The second of these had a son named Khana Noyon Khongor,
with %diom the definite history of the Khoshotes really commences. He
was very young when the death of his lather and the extinction of the
fiunily of Ubak Chingsan, in the person of his grandson Shuker, left
him the leadership of the Horde. The Saissans and other chiefe
compdled Shaker's widow, named Akho Khatun, to mairy the young
Khan. For a ioi^ lune she refused to lie with him. At length she
dreamt one night that five tigers suckled at and lacerated her breasts.
This dream was interpreted by the wise men, that she should have five
valiant sons. She thereupon lay with die youqg Khan, and had by him
five sons, namdy, Boib^ghus Baatur, Tummeda Kunddun^ Nomien
Khan Guushi, Sassaktu Ching Baatm; and Buyan Otdiun Baatur,
who were known as Tahun Bars {U.^ the five tigers).. The Kalmuks
as^n to Khongor two other sons, by a concubine^ who were called
Khammugai Mintu and Kainuk Tushntu.
On the division of Khongor's patrimony, Boibeghus Baatur, as the
eldest son, got the main diare. He is wdl known among the Kalmuks,
according to Pallas, as the first who introduced Lamaism among them.
Before his day they had been Shamanists, like the Baiga-Buriats are
stUL It was shortly before this time that Altaa Khan, Khan of the
Eastern Mongols, was regenerating the Lamaism of the Mongols proper,
and the conversion of the Kahnnks was probably due in some measure
to his seaL The evangelist who did the work, however, was a Thibetan
Lama, who as the autiKN* of the Zi^;an Nom or White Scriptures is
known as 2^agan Nomien Khan. Boibeghus persuaded the other Kalmuk
princes to become Lamaists, to acknowledge the grand Lama as then:
spiritual head, and to send their young people to Thibet for education.
The Sungar chief Kharakulia, the Derbet Dahu Taishi, and the Toigut
Urfaik each sent a son to Thibet to become a Lama.
It would seem that in the terrible war that was waged by Ahan Khan
of the Tumeds agafaist die Kalmuks, to which I have already referred,
die Western Moi^s had been driven westward, towards the Saissan
and BaOcash lakes. As we find the Khoshotes at the b^^imiing of die
seventeenth century much mixed up with the Toiguts, it is not impossible
that Ssanang Setsea refers to them under the name Sinbis,* a name
odierwtse uidmowa to me. He says that Khutuktu Setxen Khungtaidshiy
Altan Khan's grand-nephew, attadoed the Toiguts on the river Irtish,
and look a portkm of the Toiguts and Sinbis prisoners. He left
two sons named Utshirtu Setsen and Ablai TaidshLt They are else-
where catted Ofchirttt Han and Abatai Noyen.} See also De MaiUaJ
where they are named Outsio ton han and Hopa lai poyen.| Ablai
•Op.dt.2XX. tFallM.Hist.N«cii.,La7- III»«M.a«UCIil«e.l.3S». Nol*.
f ]>«lt«iUft.xi.7» |PtoelMi^t8ib.QMn6io.
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^02 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
lived on the river Irtish, where there are some remains of a Lama
temple whidi stiU bears his name, and is known as Abiai kit*
Utshirtu married a daughter of the Khungtaidshi of the Sungars, and
settled in the neighbourhood of lake Saissan.t Ablai was of a quarrel-
some disposition. He had a feud with his brother, with whom he fought,
but havii^ been defeated, he retired towards the river Jaik, where the
Torguts had already setded. He had a struggle with them, and even
captured their chief Punruk or Buntshuk, the father of Ayuka Khan.
Upon this the various Torgut chiefs, and the Derbets who wandered
between the Volga and the Don, united together under Ayuka, attacked
their unruly countryman, and captured him. His uhis was dispersed,
and the larger portion joined the Sungars. Before he was taken
prisoner he lived, according to the Mongol Sagas, in the mountain Chir
tumer ula, probably a portion of the Moguldsharian range.J He
remained a prisoner for some years. His end is uncertain. Pallas met
widi a tradition among the Kahnuks that he was drowned in the
river SaL|
His elder brother Utshirtu had an equally unfortunate end. He woukl
seem to have once exercised a suiereignty over the other KaUnuk princes,
for Du Halde thus speaks of bun. ^ It is not above eighty years since
all these Eleuths were united under one chief or king named Otchutu
tchetching Han.* R
Sengh^, the chief of the Sungars, married one of his dau|^ten named
Ana Dara, and on Sengh^s death his brotiier, the cdebnted Galdan,
acquired his widow, and so became the son-in-law of Utshirtu ; Gaklan,
as I have said, became a Lama, and he apparently passed his noviciate
in the dominions of his fi&ther-in-law. After the murder of his brother
Senghtf, it was chiefly with troops furnished by Utshirtu that Galdan
defeated the murderers and seated himself on the throne. He had a
severe struggle with his uncle Shuker, and was forced to take refuge with
his father-in-law Utshirtu. Notwithstanding all these favours he was not
long in power bef<»e he fought against his benefactor, whom he defeated
near the lake Kizal pu (? the Kizilbashi), and had his throat cut.^ A
portion of Utshirtu's people then submitted to Galdan. The rest, who
attached themselves to his son Erdeni Khungtaidshi, escaped to lake
Koko nur to Dalai Khungtaidshi, the Khoshote chief of those parts.
In the description of Mongolia attached to Timkowski's Travels, we
read that in 1686 Tsirung Lakur, Erke, and Arabtan, grandsons of
Utshirtu Khan, fled to the Chinese frontier, where they were assigned
quarters, I cannot find any confirmation of the relationship of the
three chiefs just mentioned to Utshirtu Khan in Pallas or elsewhere, nor
do I think they were Khoshotes at all, but Khoits. I shall refer to them
• Fischer, op. dfc, 6i«. PallM, op. dt., Llj, t Fwcber, opx dt, «io.
X PallMi ep. dt., i. aS. i PdUt, op. dt., 1. aS.
Op. dt.. iv. 154. Memoim da k ll©aeovie, i. 41a. ^ Du Halde, iv. i5«. X37-
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TH« KR08ROTE8. 503
in a later chapter. The descendants of Utshirtu were apparently
scattered. A large part were absorbed^ no doubt, by the Khoshotes of
Kokonur.
This completes our survey of the descendants of Boibeghus, the eldest
of the five tigers. The name of the second in fiill jns Tummeda Usang
Kunddung Duigatshi Ubasha. He is mentioned among those who took
part in the great war in Thibet* In 1643 Baatur Khungtaidshi, chief of
the Sungarsy was at war with Yangir Sultan, the overchief of the Kiighiz
Kazaksy and we are told he requested the Khoshote chief Kundulen to act
in concert with him. He replied that he was living at peace with Yangir
Stthan, who had declared himself his son (i>., had acknowledged his
dependance on him). This highly displeased the Khungtaidshi, who
sent a messenger to his father-in-law Urluk, the chief of the TorguU, to
march against and punish Kundulen, but his messenger was waylaid,
and his plan frustrated.t In 1648, Kunduleng, who is called Dudji
Taishi Kuldalang by Abulghazi, made a raid upon the province of Kat^
and carried o(f a laige number of prisoners, upon which Abnlghaii went
in pursuit of him. Kundelung was overtaken in a place named Yugunik
Bach, where he was attacked. He retained his ground but fled the
following morning, abandcming a large number of horses and camels.
The Khan pursued him with only a small body. The Kalmnks were
again attacked and defeated, their chief being shot through the arm,
while their standard bearer and his standard were captured.}
Kunddung's heritage was not very large^and it became much dis-
integrated among his descendants. Two of the grandsons of his son
Kallaka Dalai Ubasha, who were named Mangun and Khairtu, fled to
Russia at the time of the revolutions in Sungaria. Another, who was
descended from his second son Ubasha Khungtaidshi, died among the
Cossacks of Stavropol Dordshi Tsushi, his third son, migrated to
Russia io 1675, being the first Khoshote to do so. He took with him
1,500 fiunilies besides his own, and settled on the river Ikk. Among
his descendants, says Pallas, Tukchi had 920^ Gunga Baltshur had 180,
Ganjden noibo, Ganga, Janjiri, Dipsan, and Bayarlakho had each fi-om
thirty to sixty families. These^ together with 100 families under the
Mangun above mentioned, and 220 families under Errenpal, a grandson
ci Kundelung^s fourth son Eika daidshin, accompanied the Toiguts in
their celebrated flight.! A small section of the Khoshotes under Takka,
ft descendant of Dordshi Arabian, managed to esciqpe when the Toiguts
nignited, and still remain on the Volga.^
We have now considered the two eldest sons of Khongor and their
descendants. The third son Guushi fills a much more important place
in history.
In order to imderstand his position, it will be necessary to give a short
* PaUaa, op, dc, a/. t Fiacb«>, op. cit., Sio^is. % Kat Is a town of Khoarttm*
( Abvlfhasl* U. »«6t 347. | FMtfiafira. 5 PallM, Mitt. N«ch., ac^ <• «S>
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504 KlSTOKt or TRB MOMOOLS.
resume of the previous intercourse there had been between the Mongols
and the Lamas. I shall reserve a more detailed account of the system
of Lamaism for another volume. Jingis Khan and his. ancestpn
were Shamanists. Shamanism, idiich is the prevailing rel^on of the
Tunguses and many Siberian tribes, is a mixture of nature worship
and of fetishism ; the supreme God being identified with Heaven (tengri),
and symbolised by fire^ and is known as Khonqusda. Shamanism
remained the State religion of the Mongob during die reigns of
Ogotai, Kuyuk, and Mangu Khan, although there can be small doubt
that the many Buddhists who lived in the Kin eifipire, in that of Kara
Khitai, &c., must have secured some converts attbtig the more hunMe
Mongols. The Buddhism that prevailed at that day, not^ of die
Himalayahs, was of two kinds. The more pure and unsophisticated
existed in China, under the name of Foism. \ A^more corrupt kind,
which was a good deal mixed up with Sivaism a^ various Ibrms of
necromancy, existed in Thibet, and was known ai[l«amaism. The same
form survives in Thibet as the old L4unaism or that of the Red Dunas.
A purer form was introduced in the fifteenth century, and is known as
that of the Yellow Lamas. Although the Mongol Khans did not accept
Lamaism as the State religion, they yet paid its professors considerable
deference. In a Mongol work entided Jirukenu Tolta, quoted by.Sdinndt,
it is stated that Jingis himsdf sent an envoy to the chief of the Lamas of
Thibet, who was then named Jebtsun Sodnam Chemo^.wtth die message :
*^ If you will follow my counsel, I will become die lord and protector of
the faithful, and will combine the practice of religion with the government
of the State. With this object I have relieved the whole priesthood of
Thibet from the payment of taxes.** The Lama in his reply consented to
foUow the behests of the Khan.*
Kuyuk Khan had by him a Hochang or Lama, to whom he gave a
golden seal, with the commission to pray for die wel&re df the- people.
He had a brother named Namo, who was so well thought of by Mangu
Khan that he appointed him head of all the Hochangs In the empire.t He
also gave him the tide of Institutor of the Monarch. The Chinese
commentator on the historical work Kangmu has the following caustic
remarks on this occasion.
^The existence of a monarchy is founded on mutual dhities, on those
of a fisuher to his son, of a sovereign to his subject, of a husband to his
wife, of the young men to the iM, and of friends to one another. As to
this Namo, he was a stranger of low extracticm, who bom bk die west,
having quitted his home^ wandering about for a Hving, he could not fulfil
the duties of supporting hii fidher and mother. He shaved his head and
opened his tunic, a proof that he did not know the duty a subject owes to
his sovereign. Hav&^VdiqKnsadon firom being matried he had no
descendants, lie loiew not the dudes either of a husband or a fother.
* S^kaMf% Wf t» iiining Sttf, S9»» t D« Halite, is. S94'
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TBB KHOSHOTtS. 505
He sat on his hcds ; he did not therefore pay the respect dae to old
age. He renoanoed society^ and retired from the world ; he did not
therefore know the duties of friendship. He had none of the qualities
therrfore upon whidb a Stale is founded. He received die tite of Ho shi
(f>.y Imperial Institutor), hut what could he teach? how could he be an
example to others? The Mongols, who were baibaiians, were not very
exacting in this behalf, but since they quitted their foils and adopted the
cap and girdle (^./., the Chinese costtune), it behoved them to be more
decent As to oursdves, we pdnt this out to show how brutes ding
together** (^., Ai^ilice, birds of a feather, ftc.)*
The first Mongol of influence who became a Lamaist was Kutan or
Godan, the brother of Kuyuk Khan. Ssanang Setien has made a mistake
in styling him Khan, and in making him the successor of Kuyuk, and I
was myself misled in correcting this error, in suggesting that he was a
broUier of Khubilai*s.t Khulnba, m foct, had no brother of that name
so far as we know. Ssanang Setsen has a short Saga in reference to
die conversion of Godan. He tdls us that he was very ill, and dial
none of the doctors that were summoned did him any go6d, whereupon
he sent Dorda Daikhan, of die Oimaghods, at the head of an embassy
to the Sakia Gunge r Gialtsan, to ask for his assistance. The hitter
had gone, says Ssanang Setzen, on a visit to Hindostan, and had
there confuted the heretical opinions of the six heretical diiefs of religion
(? the Brahmins), whence he had acqwred the dtle of Pandita. On his
return, his unde Dagba r Gialtsan prophesied as follows : ^The chief
of all the Mongol people, the Khubilgan of the Boddhisatwa Godan
Khakan, will send thee an envoy named Dorda. His cap will seem as if
it had a hawk upon it, his booto will have the form of a swine's snout,
and his house will look like a wooden network (a reference to the wooden
trdlis work of the Mongol yurts). At his third or fourth word you will
hear the strain ctshigcj By this envoy he will appeal to you, and it will
dien be your duty to accept the inviudon without question, inasmuch as
the cause of religion will be much forthered."
On the arrival of the envoys the Sakia pandita saw that the prophecy
was fulfilled, and set out in 1344 on his inarch, and arrived three yeara^
bter at the Khan's residence. He cured the Khan of his iUness, and
converted many Mongols to the faith, and found Nirwana, U^ died in
I25i.{ The same story is told in a different manner in the ^Spring of
the Heart*| AccortUng to that work Dorda and Godan, the socth and
seventh brothers (cousins) of Khubihd had, in compliance with their
mother's orders, moved to die district west of Siting called Shira Talas,
• D'OhnoB, n. j6i. Vota. til«l^i«S-
I Schmidt exptaiM tM« m th« drswUag aoto wUeh the ICongoto ow in their tot«mn
% Sfiuwiic Sttseo, 113. I i^ the Jimkemi Tdta sittiidy ciM
as
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506 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
within the limits of Lientsu» and there settled. There they heard that
the nqpfaew of the Lama whom Jingis had placed over the hierarchy
of Thibet^ and who was named Sakia Pandita Go dGa rCialtsan, had
recently returned from Hindosun, where he had made many converts.
Upon this Dorda set out for Thibet with a laiige following. He
addressed the following letter to the Lama. ^Salda Pandita, thou
must come to me ; urge not thine age as a plea for the enjoyment of
repose. It is thy duty to promote the welfare of all creatures, and for
this reason men of thy profession are accounted sacred. In case thou
shouldst not come I will send many warriors to thee, and the hardships
of so many people would grievously afiect thee." Salda Pandita was
much surprised, and saw that it was a fulfilment of the prophecy of the
Bogda Sodnam Chemo* (which I have already stated), set out for the
Mongol camp, which was in the district of Lientsu. He was cordially
received by Godan, who was the first to receive the rdigious vows at
his hands. He remained seven years in that land, and did much to
spread the faith there.t The Mongol Sagas attribute to him the
invention of their first alphabet They tell us that while he was
pondering over the matter he one night had a dream in which he was
told to fashion the letters after the first object he should see when he
awoke. This happened to be a woman carrying a notched stick or
tally over her shoulder. He thereupon constructed an alphabet and
formed a set of horizontal lineal characters for the letters a, e, i ; na, ne,
ni ; ba, be, bi ; kha, ke, Id ; ga, ge, gi ; ma, me, mi ; la, le, li ; ra, re, ri ;
sa, se, si ; da, de, di ; ta, te, ti ; ya, ye, yi ; tsa, tse, chi ; dsa, dse, gi ;
wa, we. The system was very defective, and none of the religious
writings were transcribed into it| Mr. Wylie tells us that this alphabet
was in fiict an adaptation of the Uighur letters to Mongol uses, in which
the fourteen Uighur consonants were retained, and that it was not
complete on the Lama's death.| Sakia Pandita was succeeded as
overseer of the monastery of Sasekia by his nephew Mati Dwadshawa,!
who was then fifteen years old. We are told he was a remarkable child,
and had already, at the age of seven, mastered many of the religious
books, and knew how to recite many thousand prayers. The inhabitants
of the country called htm the holy child, whence his name Bashpa, in
Chinese, Pasepa.? For the proper meaning see below, Bashpa was
corrupted into Pag'pa.
Ssanang Setzen describes how Khubilai Khan was persuaded by his
* Called Dagba rOiftltitn bf SMjuing SetMS. Sm prtvlom rM«*
t SduB&dt, SuAAOg 8eUeii» Notes, pagt jm, 394* PalUs. Hist. Nadi.. ii. 397. Kl*prath1f
I, gi. I Schmidt, op. cit, 394. Pallas, ii. S5t*
( Wylie on an ancient Boddhist Inacription at Keu Yong Kwan in China, so.
I TUa la Samcrit for Bannar of wisdom. Schnddt, op. cit , 395.
f Tba Ynen AnsaU, citad by Panthler, Jonrnal Aaiatiqnc, lAx, 8. Reaosat lUcbatclMS
t«laalancniaTartaraa,346* Schmidt, Saaoang Setaen, 393* Ac
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THE KH08H0TES. pj^
ynfe Chambui Got to tend for the Basbiw Lama. How he at first
objected on the ground that it was not seemly that he should sit on a
lower seat than the boy Lama. How she in consequence repaired
to the Lama, who aigued that the humility of a proselyte did not accord
well with a discussion about ranki and that he, as the incarnation of a
Wadshradhara, could not sit on a lower seat than the Khan. And how
she got over the difficulty by the suggestion, that when Kbubilai was
taking the vows he should occupy a humbler seat than the Lama, bul
when they were dealing with matters afliKting the govenmient they
should then be seated on equal seats. To this both assented, and
KhulMlai said he would speak on the morrow with the Lama, on the
Tantras of the Kei Wadshra. He goes on to say that on the f<aiowiiig
day at their meeting, the Lama could not answer any of the Khan't
questions, nor did he understand a word he said. He was much trouble^
and having asked that the conversation mii^ be renewed die following:
day, retired. The explanation of his ignorance was, that the Sudurs or
Sutras of the Tantras of Kei Wadshratu, formerly the property of the
Sakia Pandita,had come into the hands of the Khan, and that Madi
Dhwadshawa had not seen the book.
On the following night the Lama could not sleep for a long time
because of his anxiety and concern. When he at length fell asleep, he
saw an old man in the form of a Brahmin, with snow*white hair matted
together on the crown of his head, and in his hand a flute made from a
man's marrow bone, who approached him and said, '' Man, do not
harass your mind in this way, but get up and put a lamp in order/* opoa
idikh the old man disappeared, but returned shortly after with a small
box, in which there was a book, and said, ^ Examine this quickly, and
impress its contents on your mind, for I will return before daybreak,
remove the book, and replace it in its own place." Alter this, the vision
again disappeared. Madi Dhwaddiawa read the book through three
times, and fixed it in his memory. At daybreak the apparition returned
and said, ^ Young man, yesterday you were vanquished because you had
not with you the very superior Lama ; to«day you have him on your
head, and the great Khan will not be able to vanquish you in the
hnpending struggle. He will always have before his eyes the Lama
to whom he prays, and the person with whom he disputes."* The old
ipoifc then disappeaied. It was the spirit of the lordly MahakaU^ who,
with the hdp of the Riti KhuMlghan, had removed the Tantras of the
Kei Wadshra from the piUow box of the Khan.
On the following day Madi Dhwadshawa had his audience with the Khan
as arranged, and the latter was not able to withstand hhn, upon which
he took the vows of the sublime Kei Wadshra, and the Khan granted
• I hsYt trauUtml thif twittiic* litmlly, wiUioBt uadcrtUadiM »t.
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5o8 HISTORY OF TfU MONGOLS.
him the fc^owing titie, Bamsum dioigie rGialbo bLama a Fagspa, in
Chinese, Sai^ Sh^ Dai Wang Guyuthirii !.#., chief of the fiuth in the
three reabnSi the chief Lama.* Schmidt adds in a note that a Pagspa
18 the Thibetan equivalent of the Sanscrit Arya Gunis^ri, corrupted by the
Mongols into Guyushiri or Guyoshi. This again is equivalent to the
Mongol Khutuktu or Khutuchta, and means simply the most sacred or
most pre-eminent Lama.t
After his initiation, Khubilai presented the Lama with a golden dish of
the weight of loo stdshirs, and upon it a beantiliil unpterced pearl of the
^le of a camel foaFs dropping.l This last was a present from Surghatu-
Marghatsa, of the Mergeds, the father of his wife Chambui Khatun«
The Khan also gave him a silver dish of the weight of i,ooo sidshirs,
and upon it a representation of the mountain Sumer, of the four Duipas,
and of the sun and moon made of gold, the seven holy jewels, and the
ei|^t objects of sacrifice, besides much gold, silver, lapis lazuli, and
other precious things, with silk and other goods, besides elephants,
horses, camels, and other cattle in great quantity. He also endowed
hhn with the lands pertaining to the town of Selemdshi, with their
inhabitants. Thus did Khubilai introduce the light of rdigion into
Mongolia, and sent to India for images and relics of Buddha, including
his sacred dish.|
Such is the quaint Saga as told by Ssanang Setzen. Another ibrm of it
is given in the work already quoted, namdy, the ^ Sprhig of the Heart^l
The Chhiese accounts are more sober in tbeh cokmring. We are tokl
in the Yuen history that Bashpi^ lU the age of fifteen, composed an
ode in honour of KhubiUu, widi which the latter was charmed, and when
he mounted the throne in 1259, he gave him the tide of Kue se, or
preceptor of the kingdom, and a jade seal.^ It has been supposed by
some, induding D^Ohsson,** who misled me,ttthat this was the com-
mencement of the dynasty of the Dalai Lamas, bat this is entirely
erroneous. Bashpa was doubtless their prototype, but qua Lama, he was
merely the hierarch of the Red sect, the Dalai Lamas, as Koeppen has
shown, originated with the founder of the YeUow sect.}| Bashpa Lama
is an important figure in Mongol history, because he not onfy converted
their great Khan, but also invented an alphabet for them, of which I
nmst now give some account The work was done at the instance of
KhttbaaL Thenewidphabet was based on that of Thibet, and conslsied
of about 1,000 characters, composed of forty-one radicals. ^The
* Sttnaag StiMii, u^. t SahaUit* Note, op. dk., 395-
I Schmidt's Note, Staaaag Soteon, 398. | Staaaag SeUeo, 1 19.
I Sebmidt, StAnaac Sttzen, 397.
^ RemoMt Rachtrcbca Mir let lansnea TarUrof, 34^. Pauthier, Journ. Asitt., xii. 10, 11.
Gaubi), 237. ^
*• D'OhMOtt, ii. 37«. tt Ant^. «o. H J^«* Wra.
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THE KH0SH0TE8. 509
order of the tener«, says Remusat, is that oi the Thibeun alphabet
Thus we have the hard aspirated and soft gutural, k, 1^ and g, with
their nasal ng ; the palatals tch, tchh, dj, with their nasal gn ; the dentals
ty th, d» with thdr nasal n,'' &c. ; but although founded on the Thibetan,
the forms of the letters in many cases perceptibly differ.* The forty-
one radicals, with their equivalent values, have been given by Pauthier.t
Badipa at length comfrfeted his task, and was in consequence raised
to the rank of ta pao U wang, king of the law of the sacred jeweLt An
Imperial decree initiated the public use of his alphabet in the same
year. In 1272 a request was preferred to the Eihperor by Ho li ho sun,
that schools should be created for the study of this character, that the sons
of public functionaries and that those employed in the exchequer should
learn to use it in pteference to that of the Uighurs. An Imperial decree
was the consequence, enjoining the exclusive use of these characters.}
Pautfiier goes on to cite several other decrees enforcing thb use, but
it would appear that it was only sparingly and rductantly enq>loyed,
the more popular and apparently more easy character was the Uighur.
This is the reason probably that so few specimens of it survive to our
own day, and that its very existence has until recently been a matter of
doubt to European scholars. |
Koeppen compares with some force the position c^ die Bashpa Lama
and his successors, in regard to the Mongol Emperor's with that of the
Pope's, to the Emperors Pepin and Karl the Greatf Although the
character wa3 introduced officially, it was not found very practicabie,
and although Khubilai ordered a new revision of the Buddhist Scriptures,
and this was completed between 1285 and 1306 by a body of twenty-
nine schobirs, skilled in the Sanscrit, Thibetan, Uighur, and Chinese
tongues, it was not for some years that the Mongols had them translated,
into their vernacular. Khubilai was an enthusiastic convert to Buddhism.
He caused a great number of monasteries and temples to be buih, initr
alia, ** the temple of the sovereign repose of the wise life,*' at Pekmg.**
He rebuilt the monastery of Utai, in the province of Shansi, which had
been originally erected by the T<^ Tartars in the fifUi century, and
which is still one of the most fankous of their monasteries. He also gave
up the palace of the Sung Emperors to the Lamas as a residencctt Ihave
described the consequences of this patronage dsewheie^ how it led to
a most arrogant bdiaviour cm the part of the Lamas, and how this
again was in no smaU measure the cause of the expulsion of the
Mongols from China. Very little is known of the oigaalsation
and history of Thibet during the Mongd occupancy, nor is it a
part of our present subject. There is one*of the Lamas however
I ■ I !■ II
• Mmk9nk» Mf )•• UsfMS Tartaret. 34S* t Journ. AaUt., xix. 44.
: Paotbitr, Jwrn. Adal.. «i^, ||, ( Piuthier. flp; dt^ 17. I VH* hdn.
nOp.ch.,^ -tPf M»iUmii.44«' trKo»fP«SOp.cit.,i«».
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5IO HISTORY OF TH£ MOXCOUI.
who conoes prominently (orwBxd as the inventor of the present Mongol
alphabet. His name was Choig>'i Odser, and he lived in the reign
of Kuhik Khan.* In the '' Spring of the Heart,** already quoted, it
is said that Kuluk Khan ordered this Lama to translate the Buddhist
Scriptures into the Mongol language, and to transcribe them into its
characters. He thereupon tried to do this with the Bashpa or square
characters, but failed to do so. Hitherto these Scriptures had been
translated into Uighur, but nol into Mongol. Having failed with the
square character, the Lama Choagyi took up again the alphabet of the
Sakia Pandita, and having, altered it and added some characters, he
succeeded in writing out the Buddhist work named Pantsharakslia, not
however without borrowing a good many words from the Uighur.t If
wepuszle our way through the intricacies of the Buddhist philosophy,
and the vocabulary it needs to express them, we shall not wonder that the
language of an ingenuous people like the Mongols should hardly be
equal to finding suitable terms within its own limits for the translation
of its Scriptures.'
Such is the origin of the cursive writing still in use among the Mongols,
and in which the history of Ssanang Setien and other works is written.
It is founded on the Uighur. It consists of seven vowels, six diphthongs,
and seventeen consonants, which are combined in various ways so as to
represent loi forms, which differ when at the beginning, middle, or end
of a word, so that the alphabet may be said to consist altogether of
303 letters.} When the Mongols were expelled from China, their
intercourse with Thibet to a large extent ceased. It is probable that
Lamaism had made but a small impression upon them. Except the
people about the court, the great body of the nation no doubt remained
Shamanists, as the Boriau are stilL
The only form of Lamaism which had hitherto prevailed in Thibet, so
for as we know, was that of the Red Lamas.
Shortly after the expulsion of the Mongols, a remarkable reformer
appeared in Thibet under the name of Tsong kha pa. He was bom in
the land of Amdo, and woukl appear to have passed some of his life in
Bunna, or some other country where the primitive Buddhism still
survived. I shall have a good deal to say about him in a future volume.
At present it will suffice to say that the reputation of his wisdom collected
about him a great crowd of scholars at the monastery of Galdan. He
is considered an incarnation of Amitabha, of Mandshushiri, of Vadshra-
pant, and Mahakala.1 He became the founder of a new sect known as the
Gdttg pas or virtuous sect, who are distinguished by their ck>ser adhesion
to the old forms of Buddhism as it still survives in the south, their yellow
* Smmoc Stum, lax. SchmUlt** Note, 398. Anu, 292.
t tcbmUt, 8«uMac S«tfM» sfS. ] KMpfta, of. cit., too. » Kooppto, op. cit, 1 18.
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THE KHOSHOTES. 511
caps, whence they are often styled the Yellow sect, their practice of celibtcy,
and their discarding the necromancy, and other corruptions whidi the
Red sect has encrusted upon itself. He died about 141 7. Among his
many scholars two were specially distinguished^ and became, one the
founder of the line of the Dalai Lamas, the other that of the Bantshin
Erdenis. The two joint hierarchs of the Yellow sect are often represented
with their master in the centre as a triad* Dalai Lama is a curious
compound, the former being the Mongol word for sea, and Lama in
Thibetan meaning overseer priest, and conjointly the two words signify
the priest, whose authority is wide as the ocean. The Thibetan equivalent
for Dalai is Jamtso or Gfamitsa He Ihres at Lhassa. The other
hierarch known as Bantshen Erdeni, or Bantshen Rin po chen, is
the Teshu Lama of Turner and other travellers, and lives at Tatshi
Lumbo. The succession is kept up by a metempsychosis, by which,
when either dynast dies, his soul is bom again within a certain period
in the body cf some young child, who is mariced out in certain ways,
and when he has passed the ordeal of examination by the augurs and
others, is worshipped as a new Khubilgan or incarnation of the former
Lama. A description of the details of the s>'stem and its surroundings
I shall reserve for another volume.
The first Dalai Lama was Called Gedun dubpa, he was probably a nephew
of Tsong kha pa's, was bom in 1389 or 1391, and died in 1473 <>r M7^^
Under him many monasteries and temples were built He was not
of course styled Dalai, that being a Mongol word, and the Mongols not
having as yet had any intercourse with Thibet His successor was named
Gedun Jamtso, and ruled from 1474 or 1476 to 1540 or 1542. He also
built many churches and monasteries, and did much for the organisation
of the Lamas, and appointed a special officer to control the civil
administration of the country, who was styled Dhe pa or Upa-t He
answered partially to a mayor of the palace in Merovingian days.
The third Dalai Lama succeeded in 1543, and was called in Thibetan
Sod nam Jamtso. It was during his supremacy that Lamaism was so
widely spread among the Mongols.
The first of the Mongol chiefe to enter into relations with the Lamas
was, as I have said, Khutuktai Setzen Khungtaidshi,! and this was in
1566. He entered Thibet and carried off several Lamas with him.|i
Koeppen suggests that it was political foresight which led the Mongol
chiefs to adopt their new faith, and that they hoped through it to mate
themselves masters of Thibet, and eventually of China^f but I think
this is a somewhat morbid view ; there is an ingenuousness and sim*
plicity about the Mongol attachment to Lamaism which prechides such
« Kotppea. id., nS. t Koeppca, o^ cit, ijf . I EcMppm* PP. cit, 131.
( Ante, #03. I Ante, 403. * Op. dt., 136.
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5 1 2 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
motives. Khutuktai SeUen persuaded his uncle to become a proselyte,
and they invited the Dalai Lama to come and meet them, which he did,
performing many wonders on the way» as I have described.* After a
most successful interview, in which he gained the two Mongol Khans
as his supporters, he was given the title of Wadshradhara Dalai Lama,
!>., the diamond sceptre holding Dalai Laina,t and this is really the
first use of the title now so well known of Dalai Lama. The office and
post had existed, as we have seen, for some time, but it was now that it
first got so named.
When he returned home again, the Dalai Lama left bdiind him as
his vicar or proxy Mandshusri Khutuktu, who took op his residence at
Koko Khotan. The Khutuktus or Kutochtas, as the name is otherwise
spelt, are a body of high Lamas who rank immediately below the two
chief hierarchs. Their succession also is kept up by metempsychosis,
and they are the Khubilgans or incamatiens of former Buddhist saints
and divinities.
The (aith seems to have spread very rapidly in Mongolia, and we now
lead of its extension among the Khalkhas and Chakhars, thus in 1587,
accofxling to Ssanang Setsen, Abitai Ghalsagho, a Taidshi of the
Khalkhas, p^d a visit of respect to the Dalai Lama, and took to him,
besides many presents of goods and cattle, a tent covered with sable fiirs.
The Lama expounded to him the doctrines of the faith, and bade him
with his eyes closed take from his right hand an image of Buddha, upon
which he did so, and drew out the portrait of Wadshrapani. The Dalai
Lama said it was the portrait of the divine sceptre bearer, that it was
in a house which took fire with many other images, and it alone was
saved, whence he said it is an image very rich hn blessing. The Lama
also gave him a Sharil or relic of the Buddha Sakiamuni of the sixe
of one's thumb, a copper image of the Buddha Chakrasambara, and
many other sacred curiosities and relics from Hindostan, and finally
a laige tent covered wtUi tigers' skins, with its fiirniture. The Lama
also revealed to him that he was an incarnation of Wadshrapani,
and on this account gave him the title of Nomun Yeke Wadshra
Khakan.t Ssanang Setzen goes on to say that in the same year
Amutai Khungtaidsbi of the Chakhars also went to pay reverence
to the Dalai Lama, and took him innumeral^ presents of gold,
silver, and other goods and valuables, camels, horses, &c. He also
conveyed to him the wish of Tumen Khan of the Chakhars, and
the whole Chakhar people, that he, the Bogda Lama, would deign to go
among them; upon which the ommscient Lama replied, "If he invite me
before the following, year I can then go ; the year after I shall not be able
to go." None of those present understood the enigmatical sentence. The
* Aut«, 4ao. t Ko6pptii» x39< I %wa»ag S«lMa, 253.
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THE KHOSHOTB$. 513
Lama then initiated him into the faith, and gave him much instruction
and advice. The next year, the first day of the tenth month, the omni-
scient Bogda was sitting under a tree covered with fruit blossoms, on a
very h^h mountain, when there appeared over the tree the form of a man
in clerical costume. They looked at one another with expressions of
joy and love, and made obeisance to one another, and then spoke much
to one another in the language of Hindostan, after which the vision
vanished. The disciples asked the Lama what the apparition meant
He answered : " This was Tarpa rGialtsanj whose Mongol name is
Tonilkhoin ilaghuk anu Toll, from the temple at Nilom Tala. He came
to see me because the time draws near when I must set out on my
journey." After his return from the mountain, the Lama was immediately
attacked with sickness.
At that time there went from the Chinese Emperor an embassy of
1,000 men, headed by three nobles, named Snbing, Budshong, and
Saching. They took htm as a present a golden throne and a valuaUe
sanfte for travelling in, with nine white riding horses with golden
saddles, and 300 carriages for baggage, 100 sidshirs of gold, and i/)00
sidshirs of silver, for his use on the way, besides many valuables and
goods of all kinds. He sent a letter written in Imperial yellow as fc^ows :
** In order to further the cause of religion and follow the example of the
former Emperors, Tai Taitsong, Yonglo, and Wangti, I assign to you
the title of Sang Shing Dai Wang Guyushiri, which the Mongol Emperor
Khubilai first instituted, raise you to the rank of Over-Lama, and summon
you to me.*' * This was no doubt a piece of Statecraft on the part of the
decaying Ming authorities to checkmate the growing influence of the
Mongols in Thibet We read further, that about the same time Tumen
Khakhan of the Chakhars sent some further envoys, attended by i/)0o
men, bearing rich gifts, to whom the Bogda Lama said : ^ The
expressions of good will of the two ruleis (f>., the Khan of the Chaldiart
and the Chinese Emperor) is very praiseworthy, inasmuch as their
good deeds in the cause of religion, have furthered not only thmr own
interests but also those of all living creatures. It therefore becomes
my duty immediately to obey the call which has come from two such
mighty sovereigns. I told Amutai Khungtaidshi last year that 'if the
invitation came before next year I could go, but if it did not c<Mne till the
year after I should not be able to do so.' Now ate these words fulfilled,
and the object of my present existence, as well as the course of my active
life, have reached their end, and I am on the point of starting on my
journey for the welfsre of others.* Soon after these words, and in the
presence of the envoys, he died, or rather was transmigrated, ""and
rejoined the heart of the pitying cUvinity and omnipotent all-seeing one,
and raised himself to the realm of ChuamadL'*
* SMtianf 8«tsen, tsS.
2T
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514 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
This was in 1588, when he was foity-fcvcn years old On the twwity-
fifth of the same month his body was burnt, hit skull appeared as that
of the Chongshim Boddhisatwa, in the form o€ the Chakrasambara, with
pitying eyes, and after there were found among his ashes an extraordinary
number of sharils or relics, in the form of letters, as when before the
time of the Ghassanbang, Nomun Khakan built the thousand temple
pyramids.*
The fourth Dalai Lama was styled Dalai Erdemtu by the Mongols,
and Yon tan Jamtso by the Thibeuns.t It is a dear proof of the
increasing Mongol influence in these parts, that he should have become
r^^nerate in a Mongol boy, the son of Dara Khatim, the wife of a
grandson of Altan Khan.
AltAB Kliaa
S«iife DvcarMig Tlorar
Ghartu Atecondtcm A third Ma SniBcr DattahiacsDara KluUttn
Dalml Erdemtu
The young Dalai Lama remained in Mongolia until his fourteenth
year, and did not go to Lhassa until 1602, and was then duly installed by
the Bantshen Lama. The Mongols were naturally somewhat loth to part
with the divinity who had so honoured their country, and we accordingly
find that in 1604 the Khutuktu bSampa Jamtso was appointed as his vicar
in Mongolia. He took up his resideiioe in the country of the Khalkhas
at Uiga, and afterwards removed to the great monastery of Kuren, on
the river Tula. There his descendant still live, for like other Khutuktus
he is renewed by metempsychosis. Among all the hierarehs of Lamaism
he ranks immediately next to Che Dalai Lama and the Bantshen Lama.
As the various caravans that go from Kiachta to Peking pass through
hb country he is well known to Europeans, and mentioned in many
accounts. He is known to the Mongols as Maidari Khutuktu (Maidari
being the corruption of Maitreya), and also Gegen Khutuktu (the great
Khutuktu). His proper title was rje bTsun Dam pa Taranatha,! and
he was a Khubilgan of the Bogda Padma Sambhava.S
The history of Thibet at this period is very uncertain, and one can
only follow in the wake of Koeppen and ofier a tentative solution.
It would seem that during the ancient rigimu of the Red Lamas there
was a temporal sovereign of Thibet, styled the Tsanpo, who filled a
similar post to that occupied by the Tycoon of Japan, in reference to
the Mikado. At first the heads of the Yeltow Lama sect were merely
the abbots or superiors of large monasteries. About 15S0, when Altan
Khan of the Mongols raised the third Dalai Lama to the supreme
»Ii^2$7. t Ko^ptn* op. dt., X42. 8cfamidt*s Saaaaac Setato, 4x7^
I Koeppan, op. dt., 243. i SaaMAg Satsen, flS3>
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THE KHOSHOTES. 515
position, which promotion was confirmed, as we have seen^ by
the Chinese court, it would seem that this tenoporal ruler of Thibet,
who was then named Chovang Namgial, left Lhassa and retired to
Ladak, M^here he was acknowledged as king and controlled the greater
portion of Western Thibet. His son Yamia Numgial, who succeeded his
ftther in 1600, was defeated and taken prisoner by Ali Mir, the chief of
Baltistan, when many temples, monasteries^ and statues of Buddha
were destroyed by the fanatical Muhammedans, while the sacred books
were burnt or thrown into the Indus.* Some time after, the conqueror
made peace with Yamia Namgial, gave him his daughter in nuurriage,
and reinstated him as chief of Ladak. The son of this marriage
succeeded to the throne in 1620, broke down the supremacy of the
Sultan of Haiti, who was himself the tributary of the great Slogul
Yehanghir, recovered the various towns which his father and grandfather
had held, and having settled hin^self firmly in Ladak, prepared to
attack Lhassa.
He is no doubt the Guru Sodnam Namgial, chief of the Sliira Uighurs,
of Ssanang Setzen, against whom we are told that Bushuktu Jinong of
the Ordus marched and whom he defeated in i596.t
There were at this time two well marked parties in Thibet. The old
conservative party of the Red Lamas, of which the Tsanpo was the tern*
poral representative. It was doubtless the national party, was supported
by the native Thibetans, and had its chief seat in Western Thibet ; and
the party of the Yellow Lamas, supported chiefly by the Chinese court
and by the Mongols, with its main seat at Lhassa. Koeppen compares
the situation very fairly to that of Italy in the middle ages, when the
Germans on the one side, and the Italians on the other, surged in conflict
about the papal diair, the Mongols representing the Germans. The
ascetic and retued life of the Dalai Lama left the control of matters
very much in the hands of the clever intriguers who generally surround
such a court, and especially of the mayor of the palace, or prime minister,
the dbepa or tipa. This state of things had lately been intensified by the
continuance of a long period of minority. From 1 588, when the third
Dalai Lama died, to 1630^ when the fifth arrived at tlie age of manhood,
there was practically a long regency, and during the reign of the fourth
or Mongol Dalai Lama, it is very certain that the chief people about the
court and those who contrcrfled affairs were Mongols.
The fourth Dalai Lama died in i6i6> and became regenerate the next
year in the son of Daba Guruba Noyan, in the land of Sakia I>akpOy}
but he was not ooniecrated by the Bantshen for some years after. It was
in this interval that the Tsanpo made his attack upon Lhassa, as I have
mentk>ned. Ssanang Setzen tells us that in 1619 the seven Tumeds,
* Ko«ppe«» 145. t StMung S«txcn, z6s. t SmOMug S«uen, t^y
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5x6 HISTORY OP THE MONGOLS.
under the lead of Bagha Toin and Khailin Ugetai Baghatur Tabunang,
inarched against the Tsanpo Khakan, who was at the head of xoo,ooo
men, and he goes on to say that the Bantthen Erdeni was then in the
monastery of Tatshi Lumbo engaged in secluded contemplation. When
he suddenly heard of the strife, he said, ** to stop such mischief would be a
most meritorious work f upon which he moi^nted his horse called Norwu
Wangchen, and hasted with the speed of the whirlwind to the spot, and
alighted between the contending armies. It was remarked by every one
iiow the haid rock yielded to his horse's hoofs, as if it had been mud.
This event was foretold, says Ssanang Setxen, by Padma Sambhawa in
these words : ** In the future, in the days of 500 tribulatkms, somebody
will ly bom on the river Galchu, who will raise a bulwark for an army
in sight of the mountain Jakburi,* f>., one of the three summits of the
mountain Putala, near Lhas8a.t On that occasion a Lama or Khubilgan
of Anudawa will perform a most beneficent act by saving loo^ooo lives."!
Ssanang Setzen leaves the issue of the story in this hazy condition, from
which we may imply perhaps that peace on not very advantageous
terms was in some way secured. It was two or three years after this,
namely, about 1623, that the Bogda Bantshen, accompanied by all the
Lamas and religicas of the monastery of Brasbong, and with a complete
Lama's dress, repaired to the house of Gunxba Noyan. As he entered
the house the young Dalai Lama, who as I have said lived there, said
to him : " Bulub Bantshin, why have you delayed so long } *' The Bogda
upon this took some sugar out of his pocket, gave it to the boy and
said, ** My son, has the time seemed long to you ? " He then took him
on his knee, embraced and caressed him, and discussed with him
the fundamental truths of religion, so that everybody was astonished.
The same year he conducted him to the monastery of Brasbong, and
when he had shaved him, put a yellow cap on his head, dressed him in
t)ie Lama dress, and gave him instruction in all wisdom. This he learnt
without difficulty. He was given the name of Lobzang Jamtso.§
Meanwhile the old jealousy and strife between the rival sections of
Lamaists, between the national party and that of the Mongols and
strangers continued. In 1634 the Ming dynasty of Chinese Emperors
came to an end, and was finally supplanted by the Manchus, and we
find both parties, that of the Red Lamas and that of the Yellow, sending
envoys to secure the powerful support of the new dynasty. This was
hardly sufficiently consolidated to encourage it to interfere in far distant
Thibet. The party of the Yellow Lamas was being very hard pressed,
and in its difficulty appealed for assistance to the Western Mongols or
Kahnuks, who had so recently b^com^ conv^s, and who lived not far
firom its borders.
'SufiMff8eUcn,S73. t Koeppen, 146. Note. I Sftftiung Setxea, 275 ftad 419-
^ SiftMUig S«Utn, s/j.
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THE KHOSHOTE&
517
At last, theiii we have readied the end of our long digression, ahd
will now resume the history of the Khoshotes. Up to this time,
according to Turner, the Yellow Lamas had chiefly prevailed in the
province of Kilmauk, while the Red Lamas had their main strength in
that of Khumbauk, hut their monasteries were scattered promiscuously
over the country> In the struggle 1 have mentioned, the Ydlow
Lamas had been beaten in. six engagements. The Kalmuks, when
appealed to for help, were ready enough as new converts to enter upon
the religious war ; and we are told that Guushi Khan of the Khoshotes
(f>^ the third of the five tigers) allied himself with Baatur Khungtaidshi
of the Sungars, with Urluk the chief of the Toiguts, with his own
brother Kundehmg Ubasha, and with his nqihews Utshirtu Khan and
Ablai, in order to assist the Dalai Lama. They attacked the Tsanpo,
and after some engagements defeated him in a great battle and captured
his ciqpital, and having taken him prisoner put hhn to death.t Gerbillon
tells us the capital of the Tsanpo^ then destroyed, was situated at
PutakLt Turner, in describing the same event, says the Red Lamas were
driven from their possessions in various quarters, more particularly from
the neighbourhood of Teshu Lumbo, where they were fixed in great
numbers. That place was rased to the ground, and the great monastery
of Teshu Lumbo was erected among the ruins.f The Tsanpos or
secular rulers of Thibet wei« now entirely deposed, and the temporal
sovereignty over Thibet was made over by the victorious Mongols to
the Dahu Lama. The discomfited Red Lamas with their partisans
retired southwards towards Bhutan, where their three chief Lamas lived
in the time of Turner.l It is very probable that the Bhutan people, who
are almost indistinguishable firom the Thibetans proper, are descended
to a large extent from the emigrants who fled on the vict<Mry of the Yellow
sect. As a reward for his eminent services, Guushi Khan received .the
title of Terbayatshi Sadshini Barinchi Gushi Nomien Khan, and a
portion of northern aiid central Thibet were assigned to his people for
pasture.^
The revolution in Thibet, to which I have referred and from ¥^iidi the
great temporal position of the Dalai Lamas dates, took place in 1643.**
Some time after, Thibet was disturbed by a raid made there by the
Sungar chief Shuker, the brother of Baatur Khungtaidshi. On this
occasion Guushi and the other Kalmuk chiefii bound themselves to
pursue and punish Ihe invader, to consider themsdves as the sul^ects of
the Dalai Lama, and sent contingents to form a garrison for him. These
were, however, to remain under their own chiefk" ft
It was doubtless directly after this deposition of the Tsanpo that
• Tunier't Embusy, 315. 4 Du Halde» iv. 45*. Kocppent Lamaiam, 13a.
; D« Ualda, W. 161. i Turaar'a Bmbaaay, 313. | BmbMajr, 313. f PaUaa,op.dt.,L3o.
*» Koeppaa, op. cH.. II. xiz. ft P«D«H op. cJt., L 27.
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5l8 HISTORY or THE MOhCOU.
occurred the embasfy described by Stanang Setien, when he tdls us
that Guoshi Tsonlshi received the title of Haghuksan Khuktu from the
Dalai Lama and the Bogda Bantthin. and was sent by them on an
embassy to Mukden^the capiul of the lising Manchu empire.* The
same embassy is rttferred to in Kanghi's histor>' of the conquest of the
Eleuths, where he says. " The first of their kings who came to do homage
was called Kusi Han (<>., Guushi). He went in the reign of Shun chi,
was ^tU received, and given the title of Siive (/>., Bright), and he
was entered in the Imperial registers as Suve Kusi han." t
Guushi Klian, who was already dead, in 1656 was succeeded in his
authority in Thibet, that is, as deputy or viceroy of the Dalai Lama, by
his son Dayan Khan, vrho may possibly be the Chetchen ombo men-
tioned in Kan^s narrative, where, we are told, that on account of a
great victory he won over the white caps he received the glorious titles of
Baatur and Tushiyetu Baatur Taitsing, Mongol terms having aUunon
to his bravery in ridding the province of the brigands who mfested it,
Dayan Khan bore the Thibetan title of Jik jirko,| and is called
Ezir Khan by Hilarion in the memoirs published by the Russian Mission
at Peking*! Bemier describes an embassy sent in 1664 by the Tsanpo
of Thibet to the Indian Emperor Aurungad). This Tsanpo or Chiampo,
as he writes it, can be no other than Dayan Khan.| He died about
167a? Dayan Khan was succeeded as Protector of Thibet by his son
DaUi Khan, who bore the Thibetan title of Kontshok (#>., Jewel,
equivalent to the Mongol tenn Erdeni).** The Khoshote chief acted as
commander-in-chief of the forces, and not as controller of the civil
administration. This post was filled, as I have said, by the tipa or depa,
who, although he wore the Lama dress, was allowed to marry, and dkl
not follow the ascetk rules of the Lamas.tt On the destruction of the
Tsanpo his power had greatly increased and he acquired the title of
Tisri or regenttt According to Georgi, it was in the early time of
Dalai Khan's administration that the then tipa rebelled s^nst hb
sacred sovereign, but he was suppressed and shut up in a fortress. This
was doubtless with the aid of the Khoshotes.!!
The deposed Tipa was succeeded by another named Sangfe Jamtso,
who was credited with being the natural son of the then ruling Dalai
Lama (namely, Dalai Lama Nag Bang Lobsang Jamtso), and who had
acquired some fome as a writer upon medicine, astronomy, chronology,
&c.i| In 1682 the Dalai Lama, his reputed father, died, upon which the
Tipa, who was no doubt abetted by the higher dignitaries at Lhassa,
who were perhaps his nominees, concealed the death and gave it out
* Stinang Setzen, a88, aSg. t M«moiret tur la Cbine. i. 331. Note.
; PaUas. SAml. hiftt. aach., ftc, i. 30. ^ Kotppeo, 171. R Koeppcn, op. cit., 171. Note.
% Id. •* Koeppen'i Lamaim, 171. Note ». tt Do Matlta, xi. 223. Nou.
i: Kooppeo, 154. §♦ Koeppta, op. at., 171. f| Kocppeo. 171.
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THE KHOSHOTES. 519
tliai he had mdred for contemplation to the more secluded apartments
in the palace, and that ha wished to see no one^ and he cited instances
of other Buddhas who had venudned in the ecstatic state for years.
The plan succeeded, and for sixteen years the chair of the Dalai Lama
was vacant
While the Khoshoto chle6 of Thibet ai^pear to have been dose allies
and friends of the Manchu Emperors, the Tipa is generally found
intriguing with the Sungars, who were then at open strife with the
Manchus. To secure sudi an influential person, and to prevent him
from raising Gakian's campaign into a religious war, the Emperor
Kanghi seems to have treated him with some consideration. He raised
him to the rank of a prince, with the title of Thibet Wang, and afterwards
to the hi|^ rank of Tsukapa.* This seems to have had little effect
upon hiuL At length the Emperor began to suspect that something was
wrong at Lhassa, and sent an envoy to summon the Bantshen Lama to
report upon how matters stood there. Thelatter was, however, put under
restraint and prevented from going by the Tipa, who used his authority
to favour Galdan, and we are told that his envoy, a Lama named Khutuktu
Tsirong, before the battle at Ulang potang, pubKdy prayed for Gakian's
success.^ The Emperor now sent him a caustic letter, in which he
reproached him widi his ingratitude, with having in several ways assisted
Galdan, and with having furthered the wedding between Galdan's
daughter and Tsinong Bushtti, one of the iChoshote chiefs of KokO nor.
He toM him that a great many of Gakian's officers and more thah tuo
diousand of his subjecu had accused hhn, the Tipa, of compassing their
master's ruin ; and he ended by promising him diat if he did not afnend
his ways, render him a foil account of what had taken place, kllow
the two Lamas whom he had sent to see the Ehilai Lama, set the BanUhen at
liberty, send the Tsinong Khutuktu, whom he charged with having ptayed
for Gakian's success, loaded with chains to the court, and dedafe the
marriage of Gakian's daughter to be null and wid, that he shoukl pay for
his temerity with his blood.}
Kanghi set out on his western campaign in i6g6, and we are toM that
at Kue-hoa-ching, on the frontiers of Shensi and Shansi, he gave
audiences to several envoys from the Dalai Lama (/.#., really from the
Tipa), the Dalai Khan, the Khutuktu Bantshen, and from eight Taishis of
Tshig hai.l As he approached the borders of Thibet, near the district
of Surho, his people captured a party of Mongols, wWdi turned out to be
envoys from the Daki Lama (no doubt firom the Tipa), from the Tsinong
Bnshta prince of Tsing hai, and from another Taishi of the same
distrkt. They had been to pay a visit to GakUn, and were returning
with some of his dependents, inching his grandson Tortrf Kumon.
• DtlHillli«ii239-
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520 HrSTORY-OF THE MONGOLS.
The* forlorn condition of Galdan seeins to have made his friend and
proUgi, the Tipa, more submissive, and we find hhn in 1697 writing a
letter to the Emperor, in which he excused his former conduct He said
that the Emperor's letter had covered him with confusion ; he confessed
how much he owed to him. " Is not your majesty," he said» " the Fo
Mienchuchuii from whom nothing is hidden." Well assured that all was
open to the Emperor, how could he hope to conceal from him the death
of the Dalai Lama ; he promised to introduce the two Lamas whom he
had sent, when they should arrive, to the Grand Lama. He promised
that the Bantshen should go in person to the court. He declared that the
Khutuktu Tsinong was not present at the battle ^ Uian putai^; he had
not arrived there till after the fight, and had then only exhorted Galdan
to peace ; he refused to send him to the court, and was sure the Emperor
would do no harm to one ^iio had been seven times incarnate. As to
Galdan's daughter, since she had married before the quanel between
Galdan and the Khalkhas, she could not suffer for what had since
occurred.* The Emperor was not to be deoeivedy and the Tipa was
at length intimidated into more ingenuous ways.
Nimatang, one of the principal Khutuktus of Putala, was despatched
to the Imperial court to justify his master's conduct. He was received,
according to Gerbillon, with great consideration. The EmpenM- went in
person to meet him at the door of the second indofure of his palace, and
he accepted his presents. These oon^sted of incense pastils, of pieces
of doth very like ratteen, of pieces of coral, &c He confessed that the
Dalai Lama had in fea been dead for sixteen years, #>.,had died in 1681.
That before be died he had assured the Lamas about him that he would
become r^^erate the following year, and had pointed out to them the
place where he should again be bom ; that he had instructed them to
keep his death secret, and to reply to inquuies that he was <^>serving the
Tsochen (f>., was engaged in religious abstraction and contemplation),
and that as a gauge of this he had left a packet containing a p(»trait of
Buddha, or of himself (for he held himself as the incarnation of Buddha),
with orders to take it to the Emperor on the tenth moon of the uxteenth
year after his death, meaning that his death was only then to be pro-
claimed. The Emperor undertook not to open the packet until the
appointed time, and meanwhile sent back the Khutuktu with orders for
his master to send him Galdan's dauighter, and to let the Bantshen go as
he had demanded. Two days after their departure, the Emperor learnt
from the envoys he had sent to Galdan's court that he had been deceived,
that the death of the last Dalai Lama had been announced thexe, and
thi^ the new Dalai Lama, who was then fifteen years, had already beguii
to give public audiences. The Emperor sent messengers to recall the
*D«M«ilUi,si«S9S-9So.
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THB KH08BOTB8. 5^1
Klmtiiktii, who, wben diarged with duplidtyy could aofy answa* that he
had delivered the menage of hn roaster, the Tipa. The pad»t was
opened before the Mong^a and Mandm notabilities. A small statue of
Bnddha was fotmd inside^ whose head was detached and fell on to the
flocMT, while the rest of th^^^ody remained in the Emperor's hand. The
Khntuktu was much confused at the incident^ the Mongol grandees
looked upon it as of bad augury, while the Emperor and his Manchu
dependants were delated.* Some time after the Emperor received a
letter from the Tipa, excosfaig his conduct on the plea of the difficulty he
had in discovering die person into whom the Dalai Lama's soul had
passed, and the necessity of taking precautions to avoid disturbance
during the interr^;mmi ; and he added that it was <mly in the tenth
month of 1696 diat he was finally assured it had passed into the body of
the young Dalai Lama, whom he had so recently proclaimed, and he
ttiged upon the Emperor that he shoold protect the youthful pontiff
against his rivaU.t
Having caused him to be proclaimed, the Tipa sent an envoy to take
the news to Tse wang Arabtan, Galdan's nephew, who was then engaged
at the head of a large force, at the instigation of the En^teror, in hunting
for his uncle. The elevation of the new Dalai Lama was to be a kind of
^' Truce of God,'' and he was ordered for one year to desist from war and to
disband his troops. This was meant probably to give Galdan breathing
tune, and was very annoying to the Emperor, who despatched the
Khutuktu Nhnatang with a summons to the Tipa to go to Pddng.
De Mailia gives us in 4xUhso a letter from the Empenv, who was then
engaged in his campaign against Galdan, to his eldest son, in which he
mveighs at lei^^ upon the treachery of Nimatai^ and the Lamas in
general, whom he accuses of bemg merely the toob of the Tipa; he orders
his son to have the chief of them then in China seized, separatdy con-
fined and tried, and ofders especially Uiat they should be tried by
Manchu, f>., by urdMassed judges. Dogs, he says, only baik at strangers,
and are frdthful and useful to their masters, but these vile Lamas foiget
that they owe everything to us; they are ungratefiil and treacherous, and
determined to undo us. Do not hesitate to charge them with these
offences, for these reproaches are just and well deserved4
Some ^e after he wrote to Tse wang Arabdan, tdHng him of the
fanmenae preparations he had made for crushing Galdan ; he also
informed him <^ the ill behaviour of the Tipa, and told him that a huge
number of Saissans and of Hachha Eleuths {U^ Ehoshotes) had sub-
mkted to him, and that others were doing so daily.}
The young Dalai Lama, the pr0i4ge of the Tipa, was stjied Lobdzaog
Rindien Tsang Shang Jamtao. He proved tobe of a vidoas disposition,
•OtrbUkMi, quoted b9rD«lf«ili*,Ki.fl«9.aS«. Note. t De if eiUm si. 1^7.
tDe]ialllmop.cit,sL47a. | De Midlm xi. stT-
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532 HISTORY Of THS MONGOLS.
licentious, and a debauchee, and was indt£Rnent to tlie counsel of the
Regent, of the Chinese Emperor, and of the Sungar chief Tsewang.^«btaii«
This conduct gave rise to doubts as to his authenticity. It was affinned
that he sprang from a tamWy of the Red sect, and that he could not
therefore be the true incarnation of the Dalai Lama. The scandal caused
by his behaviour at length became so great that, on the instigation of the
Emperor Kaifghi and of several Mongol and Kalmuk chiefs, a council of
Lamas and augurs or diviners (Chos Idong) was summoned to report
as to whether he was a veritable Khubilgan ot no. They-reported that
although he was possessed of the created and peccable soui, yet that
the soul of the Boddhisatwa was unfolded in him, and as the Rq;ent
had supported hhn they would not venture to depose him.* In afl this
we see the influence of die Tipa. A more consistent part was acted by
the protector of the State, the descendant of Guushi Khan. Dalai Khan
had been succeeded in that office by his too Laxxang or Latsan Khan,
and the latter now took up arms against the Tipa and his ^oUgt. He
attacked their capital, killed the Tipa, the cause of so much mischief, and
captured his pfvUgit^ the young Dalai Lama. As the hitter's escort was
passing the great monastery of Prebung, situated about twenty li west of
Lhassa, 9^000 of the monks who were there, with other devotees, made an
attack on the Khoshote escort and canied off the youag pontiff into the
monastery. Latsan Khan hastened to the i^ot and surrounded the
monastery with his troops.
Meanwhile a fierce dispute ensued inside as to whether the Dalai Lama
was a genuine Khubilgan or not At length the diief augur of the
monastery declared with an oath that he was a genuine Khubilgan.
Latsan thereupon proceeded to storm the monastery, and many of the
inmates were wounded or cut down. The young pontiff was captured,
and carried off to Dam, the residence of the Khah. There, according to
one account, he was beheaded, while according to another he was sent to
China, but fdl ill on the way and died of dropsy. This hi^fipened in 1705
or i7o6.t Latsan Khan was handsomely rewarded by the Emperor
Kanghiy whose great enemy the Tipa he had destroyed ; he was given a
golden seal and the title Fu kiao kung shun khan (the obedient Khan, the
supporter and pacificator of reUgion).)
Shortly after it was announced that the Dalai Lama was once more
regenerate in the person of a boy five years old, who had been bom at
Lithang, hi Kham or Eastern Thibet His name v 4s Lobdzang Kalsang
Jamtso. Although he was supported by many people, both lay and
clerical, he was appalently not acceptable to Latsan Khan, and to escape
him, he was taken to the Khoshotes of Koko nur, "vrbo declared for him,
and sent to the Emperor to ask him to confirm him in his authority. He
was conducted to the temple of Tarsa, at Si ning fu.|
♦KwHWpM^Hg. tKotppta,pp.cltnii«i90. |/rf..H.i90. 4KotpptB,U.i9t. Tlml(owtki,i4Si
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THE KHOSHOTBS. 533
Gaklan had been sttCceeded as chief of the Sungars by his nephew
Tse wang Arabtaxii who seems to have been as ambitious as his uncle.
He had been on good tenns with the Manchus until Galdan's death, but
after that he became a suspected personage at their court because of his
lelusal to surrender the ashes of Galdan and to send Gaidan's daughter,
whom I have before mentioned, to Peking. He was also, apparently,
jealous of the influence acquired by the Manchu empire in Thibet, and
lodced upon Latsan Khan as th^proii^^ of the empire. This soon led
to a serious quarrd. Latsan Khan had a son named Tan chong, and
Tsewang Arabtan had a daughter about the same age, whom he offered
in marriage to the young Ehoshote chie£ When the young man attended
the marriage festival at Ili, the capital of the Sungarian empire, he was
seized and imprisoned.*
Under pretence of restoring the faith,t Tse wang Arabtan now marched
two armies— one towards Sining fu, the residence of the Dalst lama; the
other, under the command of his general Sereng Donduk, crossed the
mountams south of Khotan, marched past the Tengri nur, and ^peured
in November, 1717, before Lhassa, which was attacked. It was captured
by treason, and the Sui^ars were welcomed by many as delivereHk
Latsan Khan had taken refuge at Putala, but he was captured and put
to death, and his son Surdzu was taken prisoner.)
With this event the protectorship of the Dalai Lama passed out of the
hands of the Khoshotes, nor have I any means of further tracing the
descendants of Dayan Khan.
Guushi Khan had inherited only 5,000 subjects from his father,} and it
was his addi^ss and skill in the afiairs of Thibet which enabled him to
so greatly increase his power. His clans were apportioned between his
two sons. The great bulk of them remained under Dalai Khungtaidshi,!
about the Koko nur. The remainder, who were really the garrison of
Thibet, filled ahnost exactly the position that the French did in
Rome for so long as the protectors of the Pope against the Italians.
They were assigned lands for pasture in Northern and Cential Thibet*
There some of their descendants still remain, and though there has been
a considerable fusion with the natives, still, according to Hue, one may
still discern among the black Thibetan tents a certain number of Mongol
huts, while a large number of Mongol expressions which are used in the
country, having passed into the Thibetan idiom, probaWy originated with
them.
We will now considerthe Khoshotes of Koko nur. The second son of
Guushi Khan was called Dalai Khungtaidshi. To him his father left his
• Koeppen. op. dt., a. 193. Meraoirw cone, let Chliiotoes, L 335. Note.
tTimkoweki,i452.
I Koepprn, op. cit., ii. 194. Memt. eur let Chin., L S35. Note. Timkowtki, i. 43'.
I PiOlftt, op. clW J. a9. i ^^*^ »°fr»« ^ ^^^ ^ *3a.
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524 HISTORY OF THK MOMOOLS.
Mithority over tlie Kho8liDtes» and he ruled in the neighbourhood of die
Koko nur lake, he is probably to be klentified whh die Talai Patur Ta^^
of Kanghi ; his narrative says her was known as the vaKant Taidshi and
that he settled wkh his people in the neighbouihood of Koko nur, whence
they were known as the Eleuths of Koko nnr.* The Kalinnk chronicles
praise him because, in dcfouh of sufficient food for die Thibetan poor, he
persuaded the Uirat princes to allow them to emigrate to a place in die
Altai, where the veiy wholesome and nourishing root znona grows.t He
divided his uhis with his brother very generously^ but his people sufieied
much Item die Sungar invasions^ and many of them drifted towards
China. His descendants are called the princes of Tsinghai, f>^ of Koko
nur, Iqr De Mailla4 Gecbillon tdls us that they weie bidy eight In
number, each one with his tecritory and people apart, and leaguing
together only for common defence, and that they were vassals of the
Dalai Khan, or rather of the Dalai Lama.f MThen the Emperor Kanghi
was engaged in his campaign against Galdan he was afraid that the
latter^ who had married one of his daughters to the son of the Tsinong
Bushto, one of the princ^al chieb of Koko nur,| might find allies
among the Khoshotes there, and issued a manifesto to their princes. He
praised them for having behaved so wdl towards the empire, and then
went on to recount the causes and the issue of his strugi^ widi Galdan,
and the deception iriiidi the Tipa had practised on him. He went on to say
that Galdan had boasted that die Taishis of Tsinghai and the Russians
were diq>osed to assist him in attau:king China, that he had been thwarted
in his recent campaign, and it might be that he might seek refege
with them. Kanghi bade them bear in mind that in that case they
would forfeit his friendship unless they arrested Galdan and sent him to
him in chains, and he bade them also arrest aU his dependants diere.
Some time after Paodiu, a deputy whom the Emperor had sent with this
despatch, returned and reported that, having entered the country of
Cbsghan tolagoi d Tsinghai, he had sent theKanpu Chenparen a copy
of the manifesto^ with injunctions to him to comptA the T^^iis of
Tsinghai to ccmform to the Emperor's orders. The Kanpu upon diis
assemUed these princes to esqdain to them die orders he had received.
Tachpatur, accompanied by thirty-one Taishis, attended, and affirmed
that Galdan had put to death their chief Haotshr khan ^ a comipdcn of
Utshirtn Khan), bad appropriated a large mdnber of their people, and
that they deemed him a dangerous enemy. In rqpurd to his daughter,
who was married to the son of die Trinong Bushto, they coukl not sur^
render her. They also assured hhn that they were feithfol disc^des of
the Dalai Lama, and should do nothii^ withoot his onien.i[
^IfMMimooQe. l«Cliiaoi«,i.ssi. Molt. t MIm Hiit.NMlu.Ae.,1.30.
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In 1697, wbea Galdaii wm dcip>t<d, the Taidshl, Djaju Baate
aad odien went to Peking and recognised Uie severdgnty of the Mandia
Bmperor. In coneeqoence of wludi they were all faiveeted with
hereditaiy ri^^ite, and one of them was raised to the lank of Tsin wang.
Seven others were made Beiks, five Beiases, six Kung, and a gieat
number Taidshi In 1733 Lobdiang Dandan, son of D|a|si Baator, per-
saaded the others to invade China.*
The Emperor sent an army against diem whidi easily sabdned
diem. Only those who had taken no part in the levoU were confirmed
in dieir dignities. These chiefs were subjected to a triennial tribute, and
divided into three classes, so that in nine years each had to offer the
tribute once. The trade between the Chinese and the ^K^Kkai%^ of
Kdco nur is carried on at Si ning fu.
In 1735 the five tribes of Koko nur were divided into twenty-nine
banners. The Ehiths form twenty-one, the Khoits three, the T<»guts four,
and the Khalkhas one.t .Here Ehith is clearly used aa a synonym for
Koahotei and contrasted with the other wptdBc names of Kalmuk tzibesi
thus confirming my previous contendon. Besides the above there are
four Mongol regiments belonging to the Lama Chaghan nomun Khan.
The tribute of all these tribes is sent by. way of Si ning fit. The Jassaks*
or chiefs of Koko nur consist of three Kiun wangs, two Beiles, two.
Beisses, four Kungs, and eighteen Taidshis. Each of whom has a banner
under his omtroL}
I win now transcribe the Chinese topographical descr^on of the
Koko nur country appended to Timkowski's tmvels.
''The chain of mountains Kuen hin^ or Kul kun, is on the western
frontier of the country. The Hoang ho has its source in them ; namely,
in the nuMifit^^p* Aklan tsikin, Barbukha, and Bayan khara. In 1782
Kien lung sent his equerry Amida to present his ofierings to the Yellow
River ; the source of which he ordered him to investigate' Araida, on his
return to Peking presented the account of his journey to the Emperor,
who <Hndered him to draw up an account of the origin of this river.
'^ This work says that the second source of the Hoang ho issues from the
rock of the Khadasun<^hok>, and forms the Altan gol, a small river, the
water of whidi is muddy and yellow. It traverses the Odon-tala, in
Chinese Sing su hai (aea of stars), and runs to the east. Originally the
source of the Hoang ho was in the mountains of Kashgar and Khotan ;
the streams which issued from them entered lake Lob nur, from which
they afterwards issued*
'^ The true Kuen hm was theref <»e in Eastern Turkestan, where are the
first sources of the Ydk>w River. Writers who were ignorant of it, took
*Ttekawdd*«Miiiority caUshlaacraDinoofOvMfat KkM,bat tiUt toiapttribto. H«
wm no doibt m jnciBdam. Timkowali, ii. J70.
tTteiiG0vrdd,aLJ7O. iTimkowOi. 370.272.
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526 HISTORY OP THE MOMGOLS.
the lOilkun of Koko inir lor the Kuen hin. The momrtiiillt of Tsi
chi shan, in Mongol, AmSe mahhin musnn ula, are 550 li tooth-eatt
of the frontier of Si ning. Thb chain runs along the north bank of the
Yellow River, for the kngth of 500 li ; it has seven summits, whidi rise
above the clouds. It is considered as the highest of the Koko nur ;
near mount Bayan khara, it extends towards the east; one of its peaks
is so lofiy that it may be seen at the distance of 100 li ; it is covered
with snow and ice which never melt All the neighbooring mounteins
are likewise white with snow, and intersected with precipices. Stinking
fogs render these paru very unhealthy, and they are but little frequented.
^ The Hoang ho runs at the foot of these m'ountains, and then turns to
thenorth. At the commencement of every season, the inhabitants bring
offerings to these mountains. The country of Koko nur contains in all
thirteen great and lofty mountains, which are called by the Thibetan name
of Ami^ or ancestors, to whidi offerings are brought. The Ami^naldztg
mussun ula is the highest
'^ The Ye chui shan, the name of which is Chinese, and signifies
mountain of the hot spring, is to the south-west, beyond the frontier of
Si ning. Besides these, diere are the mountains Fung li chan, Mang
theou chan, Tche ngo chin chan, and Shu hoen chan, which have
ancient Chinese names : they have been the scene of several remaricable
battles. Mount Khan tologoi, 200 li to the south of Koko nur, lies in
the midst of the steppe. To the west is mount Tsokto : thick fogs imhct
these parts, winch likewise produce poisonous herbs. Mount Kuisun
tologoi is situated in the middle of the lake Koko nur ; ito summit is
quite white, and a small temple stands upon it The Thibetan Lamas
who live in it come out only once a year, when the lake is frxnen, to
procure com. The Manitu ula, near the source of the Yellow River, is
extremely high, and on its sides are Chinese characters, engraved on
them in ancient time*. The Altan gachun choh> is a great stone, or
rock, of considerable height; the perpendicular sides consist of a ydlowish
red clay, and are sterile ; at the summit is a reservoir, from which issue
several little streams, the water of whidi is of a yellow or gold cdour ;
these uniting, form the Altan, which is the true source of the Yellow
River.
*^ The Yellow River, or Hoang ho, called in Thibetan, Rma chn, and
in Mongol, Kara muren, or Kara gol, has its source at the western
extremity of the country of the Koko nur ; it issues by subtenraneoos
channels from lake Lob, situated in Little Bucharia, receives the AUan,
passes thixmgh the Odon tala (sea of stars), and the hkes Dsarei^ and
Oreng, runs south-east, turns to the north-west, and then to the norA-
east. After having thus performed a course of above 3,70011, it enteim
China, near Ho chan, at the fort Tsi chi kuan.^
^ The K<^o nur, in Chinese, Tsinghai (blue sea), had formeriy the
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THE RHOSHOTXS. $27
nmme of Si hai (western tea) ; it is 500 li to the west of Si idn^ ; it is
above 750 11 in drcumlereiice, and contains the islands of Kuisson
tologoi and Tsagan khada ; its waters are of a bhiish hue.
^ In 1734^ the Chinese army being in pursuit of the rebel Arabian,
prince of the Sungarians, arrived on the banks of the Ildie khor^i, a
small river to the north of the Koko nur ; the men and the horses
sufiered extremely from thirst, when a spring suddenly burst from the
ground before the camp. The men and the horses recovered their
strength, and this event inspired the Chinese army with such courage,
that it succeeded in overtaking and defeating the enemy. The com-
mander-in-chief sent a report of these circumsunces to the Emperor,
who gave orders to erect a monument, on which the event should be
inscribed, and to present offerings to the spirit of the blue lake.
'' Beyond the frontiers of Si ning, and behind the temple of Archan
kit, there are mineral waters. A lake of above 100 li in circum-
ference, and situated to the north-west of the Koko nur, produces a
greenish salt ; it receives from the west, the Mukhor bulak and the
Khara ussu, two small rivers which issue from it again on the south-
east, and ioo 11 farther on join the Bsukhu. The Mongols of
Koko nur, the inhabitants of Si ning and of Tangut, collect the salt of
this lake.
" The country of the Koko nur produces salt, bariey, and rye ; the
principal animals are camels, long-haired oxen, wUd oxen, wolves,
panthers, lynxes, chamois goats, large eagles, and a kind <^ fish without
scales, which is found only in the lake Koko nur. It is of a round
form, and has black spots on the back; its length is from two to four
inches ; the larger fish of this species are called bukha, and the smaller
nukhu.
** Independently of the twenty-six Mongol tribes, whom we have just
described, the Imperial geography of China mentions the Eluths of
Chorosy the right and left wings of the Khalkhas, and the dqMirtment of
Ching te fu, or Ye ho.**
Hue describes the vast plains whidi adjoin the Kpko nur as of '' great
fertility and of a most agreeable aspect Although enditly destitute of
trees, the grass is of prodigious height, and it is watered by numerous
streams. The Mongob are in consequence much attached to these
pastures. The hordes of brigands harass them in vain. They content
themselves with a frequent change of encampment in order to bafile their
enemies, but when they can no longer avoid the danger, they encounter it
with great Iwavery and fight gallantly." He amusingly compares these
shepherds, always ready for battle, ** with the languishing fiddle-faddles of
Virgil, eternally occupied in piping on a flute, or in decorating with ribands
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538 HUTORY or TllS IIONOOLS.
and flowers their prelty straw hats.'' The chief tribote thef take to
Peking ccmsists of fiirs and gold dust*
On their joomey to Thibet, Hue and his companion were introdiiced
to the son of the King of Koko nur, iJ^ no doabt ^e descendant
of Dalai KhongtaidshL ^ They were surprised with his noble mien and
degant manners. He was attired in a handsome robe of light blue ck>tliy
over which was a sort of jacket of violet doth, with a broad border of
blade vdvet His left ear was decorated in Thibetan lashioii with a.goUI
ear-ring, from which hung sevend trinkets; his complexion was ahnost as
fiur as their own, and his countenance admirably gentle in its espreesion;
in utter contradistinction from ordinary Tartars his garments were
exquisitely dean." The two missionaries entertained die prince at their
house with tea, &c^ and on his taking leave of them. Hue says he drew
from a purse, elegantly embroidered, a small agate snuff-box, and
gradottsly oflered them each a pincKt
I have described the descendants of the three ddest of the five Tigers.
Those -of their two younger brothers were unknown to Pallas, but they
probably, with their clans, are to be found among the Khoshotes of Koko
nur already described.
Therestillremainsfordescription a small section of the Khoshotes. Khana
Noyon Khongor, the father of the five Tigers, had a half brother named
Khara Sabar, who was the ancestw of a prinoe named Samiang. The
intervening links are given by Pallas4 On the break-up of the Sungaiian
enqNre^ in 1759, he emigrated to Russia with his wife, who was a Khoit
princess, and about 260 families. His friendship for the Russians seems
to have been displeasing to the other Kalmuk chie£^ and his son Bokbon
succeeded in detaching most of his frtther's peq[>le from their allegiance
and accompanied Ayuka Khan of the Toiguts in his celebrated flight*
Samiang died in 1772, and left his few remaining people, together with
certain Toiguts who remained behind, to his stepson Turomen, who vras
of Sungarian descent!
It is probably the descendants of his subjects who still form a small
section of the Volga Kalmuks, and are encamped on the Aktuba. I shall
have more to say about the Kalmuks of this area in the next chapter,
and will here content myself with a short description of a visit paid
to the Khoshotes by two missionary agents of the Russian Bible Society
in 1^23. They were then governed by a prince named Sered-Jeh. He
had acquired many of the habiu of civilised life, and we are told he was
'^a colond in the Russian service, and knight of several orders, was very
perceptibly distinguished by his information and manners from the other
Kalmuk princes, and he had already done much for the civilisation of his
subjects, who feared him more than they loved him, because they r^^arded
•Op.ch..U.%. tHM'tTravtKB. 10^x7: I Hbl. NmIu ac.. i. jo^ H. .
I PbUm, op. dl., L sx.
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THE KHOSH0TE8. 539
an his attcsDpcs at amdioratkm as so many perakioiit innovations. He
resided on the Idt bank of the Volga, in a large wooden castle, thirty
peaces in fixmt, which he fortified with Runian outworks liien he r^umed
from the French war: in the revoltitimiary campaigns he commanded his
own troops, and the Toiguts. His castle was wdl fitted up in the interior,
and contained a number of saloons, with mahogany furniture, histies,
mirrors, a billiard table, pianoforte, a number of dodss, &c. His court
was nevertheless held on the steppes during some part of the warm
weather. When we had changed our dxess,'^ say the travelers, '< we went to
the castle and delivered our introductory letter to the prince, who received
us politely and kindly. Cokmd Kachanof was present likewise, and we
dined at the prince's table with him, and part of his suite, together with the
prince's daughters, two of his brothers (Baatur Ubashi and Cheringa), a
young Tartar prince of the name of Ered-Jab (who had some official
business), and a Russian secretary of the prince's. The princess was in,
and we therefore did not see her. The table was set in a summer-house,
in the smaU but beautiful garden at the back of the castle. Before
dinner, a sm«n wen turned Kalmuk cup of arsa (or treble distilled Kabnuk
brandy) was handed, round to the company, with smoked sabnon, Bruns-
wick sausage, and bread. At table we sat next the high pristaw, who was
at the prince's right hand ; his wife was on the prince's left, next to her
the prince's daughters, and brother, and then the secretaries of the prince
and of the high pristaw. Prince £red*Jab sat at the bottom of the
table, and supptied the place of the mistress of the house, in helping the
dishes. Everything was weU cooked, for amongst the Russian families
the prince had in his service, besides a musician and a gardener, an
exceUent cook, who formerly occupied that station in the household ef a
Russian count
" Chicken soup was first set on (by the Kalmuk attendants) in a silver
tureen ; then foUowed beef, veal, roast mutton, and antelopes (stuffed and
not stuffed), with cucumbers, salad, gherkins,&c Wine was'not forgotten:
different sorts of Greek wines, champagne, and odier Frencb wines, which
were there of great price, followed one after another. Thedessert consisted
of melons, arbutus-berries, apples, and plums, from the prince's garden.
Immediately after we left the table, coflee was handed round, after which
the company dispersed in different directions about the garden. During
dinner, and afterwards, a band of ten or twelve Kalnmks, headed by the
Russian musician, performed a number of German symphonies and
marches, with considerable eiqiertness : the prince had procured the
music for them from Petersburgh. The conversation at table was easy
and unconstrained, generaUy in the Russian language, occasionally in
Kalmuk or Tartar, once or twice in German. Sered-Jeh, who talked
most, endeavoured to turn the conversation upon such topics as would
occasion a diqmte amongst the various foreigners who were assembled at
ax
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5^0 HISTORY OP THE MONGOLS.
hit Uble ; or bring into notice the religious peculiarities of each, that he
might have the amusement of seeing how each would manage to defiend
his own, without afironting hi& neighbour. For instance, we had to
account for not worshipping imageSi without saying anything offensive to
the Russians ; the Russians were to inform him why they undertook
pilgrimages to Kief; and Ered-Jab (who was closely watched by
some Tartars of distinction) was to discourse of the beatitudes in the
ELoran, and the prohlbitioa of wine, to which he himself paid no sort of
attention. Colonel Kachanof estimated the profit which the Sareptans
must make on their goods, thought little or nothing of the labour which was
expended, and complained that the work was badly done. Sered-Jeh
took up our defence, and sent for some Russia leather and some raw
hides, whose respective prices showed that the profit of the Sareptan
tanners was not nearly so great as the colonel had stated— and so otL
Before we took our leave the prince told us that he would receive some of
our books."*
No^ I. — In the previous chapter I have described the origin of the
celebrated Mongol system of writing called Bashpa. For a long time it
was doubted whether any specimens of it still survived, and a controversy
of some length arose in Europe on the subject. I shall now condense the
results obtained, relying mainly upon the essays of Professor Gregorief,t
Mr, Wylie's paper, already cited,{ and M. Pauthier's paper.S
Although attention had been drawn to coins with inscriptions in the
square characters by Endlicher and Leontiefsky, and allusions to it
occur in the works of Pallas, Remusat, and Klaprotb, it was the
celebrated linguist Von Gabelentz, who in 1839 first published a scientific
account of the alphabet in the second volume of the *^ Zeitscrift fur die
Kunde des Moigenlandes," p. 17. This was in an essay on an inscription
in the Mongol character which had been extracted for him by Neumaun
from a reprint of a Chinese work on lapidary inscription^ entitled ''Shih
mih tseuen hwa," first published in i6i8.|| The transcription and expla-
nation of Von Gabelentz is described by Pauthier as accurate.lT The
Inscription consisted of a yarligh or edict of the Mongol Emperor Buyantu
Khan, dated a.d. 1314. It contained a confirmation of certain immunities
granted to various Buddhist monasteries by his predecessors. It has
been translated by Mr, Wylie, and is a curious proof of the influence the
Buddhists acquired in China during the Mongol supremacy.**
* Calmac TarUry; or, a Jbarncy from SarepU to Btrtn,\ Calmuc hordei» ftc, by Heiuy
Avgostns Zwkk, 340 •344.
t Jonnud AtUtiqae, 5th Series, xvU. 542. I JournAl Atietique, 3th Series, xix. 461.
I Jounisl Asiatique, jtli Series, xlx. 3.
I Ortgorieff op. uL, 514. Wjriie, Bwsy en Ken jraag wsaf laseriptioo, 13.
t Journal AsUU^ve, 3th Series, tux, 33. ** Journal Asiatique, sth Series, xix. 463.
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THE RHOSHOTES. 531
In 1846 there was discovered in the district of Minusinsk, in the
government of Yenisseisk, in Eastern Siberia, one of the paizahs or
official warrants granted by the Mongol Emperors and referred to in
pieceding pages.* This one was made of silver, and contained on each
side an inscription in gilt letters, and in the Bashpa character. A fac-
simile of one side of it is given by Colonel Yule in his edition of Marco
Polo.^t This relic is now in the Asiatic Museum of the Imperial
Academy at St Petersburgh. The inscription upon it was pub-
lished by the Archhnandrite Habakkuk and by Gr^orief, and led to a
fierce struggle between the latter and the redoubtable but very capricious
editor of Ssanang SeUen, Dr. Schmidt, and M. Banzarof t The general
result seems to be that the inscription should be read : ** By the strength
of the eternal sky. May thmame of the Khakan be held sacred. He
who does not respect it shall perish.''
About the same time an impression of a second stone inscription was
forwarded to St. Petersburgh. This also was a yarligh or edict, and had
been issued by the mother of the Emperor Kuhik Khan. It was found in
a Buddhist monastery at Pao sing fu, chief town of Chi li, 330 leagues
from Peking.l This has not yet apparently been published.
In 1S45 A finailar paisah or tablet to the one above described, only with
the inscription in the Uighur character, was found at Gruchovka, on the
Dnieper, in the government of Ekaterinoslaf. This is probably older
than the other. According to M. Banzarof, the inscription runs thus:
^ By the strength of the eternal heaven and by favour of its great power.
He who disobeys the order of Abdullah will do ill and shall die."! A
facsimile of this tablet is also given by Colonel Yule.
In 1853 a third tablet was found in the district of Verkneudinsk, in the
Trans-Baikal district This is now preserved in the Hermitage Museum
at St Pctersbuigh.
A small woric in the Bashpa character has survived to our own day. It
is called the " Pih kea sing," or Book of Surnames. This has been pre-
served, says Mr. Wylie,by being reprinted in the "King chuen pae peen,*
a work in 120 books, published in 1581, consisting of extracts from other
works on every class of subjects. The eighty-first book is occupied
exclusively with the reprint of the " Pih kea sing,* but so unmercifully
mutilated are the characters that without the Chinese key it would have
been utterly impossiMe to decipher them.^T The ** Pih kea sing" was
reproduced in facsimile in 1855 by Mr. Edkins.^
In 1854, while Shanghai was in the possession of the rebels, Mr. Wylie
procured a copy of an inscription in a Confuciaa temple there, which
proved to be a transcript into the Bashpa characters of an edict of
* Ante, 271. t Op. dt. and Ed., i. S4S. I Joom*! AtUtU)M, stb Strittt, xvU. saS, •! Mq
f Id,t sas. I Id., 545. t EiMy on Km Yoag InteriptioB, x$.
** Trant. China Branch Roy. At. SoCn P*rt s* iox>io8.
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533 HISTORY or THS MOWOOLS.
KIwitHl^* Kkm in honour of Coafticittt, of whkh the original in Chinese
dutfacten w»s bdow.* The slab has since disappearad, and is probtbly
destroyed. The faiscription hM been trmnslatad bjr ll« Panthkr.t
Mr. Wylie tdls vs that besides these inscriptions he knew of some
thirty othets^ of which notices are contained in Chinese books in his
possession*!
Some thne afterwards, namely, in 1863, l^e copied the cdebrated
inscription, in six languages and characters, engraved on an arched gate-
way at the Keu yung kwan on the road from Pddng to Kalgan. One of
these venioAS is in the Bashpa diaracter. The whole appears in fac-
simile in Cokmd Yde's ** Marco Pdo," and in the ^ Memoir'' on these in-
scriptions to which Ihave before referred ; in which he furdier says that he
has in his possession a number of odns in the Badipa character, dating
from 1308 to 13S44 This completes the materials at present accessible
to those idio would fiirther prosecute the curious subject of the earlier
Mongol writing
NoU 2.— -In myaccount of the Khoshotes in Thibet I conduded widi
the death of Latsan Khan, but it is not quite dear whether those who
succeeded to his audiority were not also Khoshotes, and perhaps members
of his family. I therefore abstract the following passage from the
account of Thibet appended to Timkowski's travels. Afber mentioning
that Tse wang Arabtan had killed Latsan Khan and taken his son
Surdsu prisoner, the i^ccount continues : —
" He committed these hostilaties under the pretext of restoring rdigion ;
but in reality in hope of conquering Thibet The Thibetans sent deputies
to the £nq>eror of China, to ask for succours ; the coot of Pddng
acoonSngly sent an army under the command of General Ohinda.
The troops of the rebd were goi^g to retreat to the north, but bdng
se<hiced by the black Lamas,! they returned, and ventured to oppose the
Qiinese battalions. Kanghi, in his anger, sent again six divisions of
his army, under the command of one of his sons, who afterwards
succeeded him, and at the same t&ne gave to Gardiankiam, who resided
in the temple of Tarsa, the title of Dalai Lama, a letter expressive of his
fiivour to him, and a seal Yang sing, the commander-in-chief, at the
head of a body of troops, destined to ieplace the pontiff on the throne,
marched from Si ning, and passed the frontier; he exterminated the
bladL Lamas, killed Dakdion, the pretended prince of Thibet, restored
peace to the country, and placed Dalai Lama on the throne d Budala.
In consequence of these events, Thibet was given to the Dalai Lama, by
an Imperial Ordinance, dated the fifieendi day of the ninth monA of the
ifty-ninth year of Kanghi, which corresponds to the year 1710 of our
'WVa«,EMiiyoiiKMY«^.Iaacrifdoa,tS. t J<Ntf«sl AilAliqM, stk 8«r., xte. 991 •« Mq.
:)«inuaAai«tivit,5tii8«l«,sis.4fS. |Op.ck^f|. 9 7 Uto IU4 Lmdas.
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THI KH0SR0TX8. 533
ert. Other persons received the dignity of princes, and the title of
Kalion, a kind of Thibetian ministers, with the power of governing
Thibet They were Arbuba, Lunbunai, Polonai, Kanchennai, formerly
generals of Latsan and Djamai, shandsaba to Dalai Lama. An
Imperial ordinance of 1723 coniierred on the Dalai Lama the title of
tk4 pn-^m$9$intfy just pf th$ Wut^ of thi irui dMnUy, orof thi most
tnu divmiiy 0/ iho lV4tt
'^In 1727, Arbuba, Lunbunai, and Djamai, having revolted, die
Emperor Yung ching sent to Thibet, by diflcfeot roads, troops under
the command of General DJalanga, to exterminate the rebels. Before
their arrival at Thibet, the Taidsi Polonai, governor of Western Thibet,
having ahready reached Lhassa with the army of Tatshi-hmibu, had
seised Arbuba and the other rebds, and in expectation of the arrival of
the Imperial troops, had sent to court a circumstantial account of the
revolt. After the execution of Arbuba, Lunbunai, and Djamai, peace
was again restored to That>et Pol<mai was named prince of the third class,
and governor-general (tf Thibet. At the sanie time the Emperor gave orders
to increase the Chinese garrison in that province, and to boiid at Koda,
near Ta tsien lu (in the Chinese province of Snchuan), the tenq>le of
Kuei yuan to serve in fiiture.as the residence of die Dalai Lama. The
town of Djachi was built in 1733, and two years afterwards, in 1735, ^^
Sungarians submitted. At this time the Dalai Lama was conducted
back to Budala, In the fourth year of Kien Lung (1739X Polonai was
elevated by an ordinance to the dignity of prince of the second dass, and
confirmed in his charge of govem(v-general <d Thibet After his death,
Djurmot Namghial, his second son, was invested with his ftidier's
dignities, but in 1750 he was put to death for his criminal enterprises.
The dignity of prince was afterwards abolished in Thibet, and the
government was confided to Chinese generals, with the consent of the
Dalai Lama.**
NoU 3. — Besides the Khoshotes, who still live in Thibet and Koko nur,
there can be no doubt that there are others in the Chinese government of
Ili, broken fin^paients of the dans bdonging to the descendants of the
dkiefe whom I have named in this chapter; and we are told in the
notice of the country of Ili, abstracted by Stanislas Julien,t that 3,115
Khoshotes then formed a portion of its garrison.
Note 4. — In the topographical account of the country of Koko nur
above given, and which is a translation from die Chinese, it is suggested
that the Hoang ho issued firom lake Lob. This says Kli^Mroth alludes to
an old Chinese tradition wluch deserves to be examined, though we know
very poritivdy that the lake Lob has at present no conimunication with
the Hoang hat
•TimlcowiU,L45t<4M« t Jown. Aiiat 4th 8tr.» vUi. jBs. X Tialwiraki, U. *7«. N«to.
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CHAPTER X.
THE KERAITS AND TORGUTS.
THE name of Prester John has an attractive interest both for those
who love the romances of the nursery and for those who study
the moie sober facts of mediaeval history. To both it is a puzzle
and a paradox, and has given rise to much discussion. That a Christian
king and priest reigned in an isolated fan off land over a Christian people,
environed by pagans and barbarians, was a belief of most mediaeval
writers. Some of them fixed his residence in Abyssinia, others in India,
others again on the borders of China. The legend gradually grew more
definite as the various envoys to the Mongol Khans returned and brought
news of their having been in contact with this Christian people, and
(^nion became settled that the Prester John of history was the King of
the Mongol nation of the Keraits, a disciple of the Nestorians. This
view, which has been held by De Guignes, Remusat, Pauthier, and most
of the modem inqnirers in this field, has been recently assailed by Dr.
Oppert, who has written an elaborately learned book in which he has
proposed a new solution. I bdieve that solution to be entirely fiiulty,
and I propose to criticise it shortly. Dr. Oppert*s main position is that
Prester John is not to be identified with the insignificant sovereign
of the Kerait Mongols, but with the much more important Gurichan of
the Kara Khitais. A few words first about the so-called letters of
Prester John. These weU-known epistles are found both in prose and in
rhymed versions, and are undoubtedly of considerable antiquity. Colonel
Yule, whose critical acumen in such matt^^ few will question, thus spoke
of them before Dr. Oppert's book appeared : — ** Letters all^;ed to have
been addressed by him were in circulation. Large extracts of them may
be seen in Assemanni, and a translation has been given by Mr. Layard.
By the circulation of these }sX^^ glaring forgm€S tmdficHonsasth^art^
the idea of this great Christian conqueror was planted in the mind of the
European nations.*^ Dr. Oppert speaks of them as of similar andiority to
the story of Sindbad the Sailor,t and every dispaationate scholar who reads
them will see at once, both from their style and contents, that Colonel Yule's
strictures are well deserved. He calls himself lord of the three Indies as
•Cmtkay and th» Way Thither, 175. tOp.clt. Prtlpot.
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THE KXRAITS AND TOROUTS. 535
fiur as wlieie the Apostle Thomas preached, as lar also as Babylon and the
toirerof BabeL '^ Our Ux^" he says,^ is the home of the elephant, diome-
dary, camd, crocodile, meta coHinanim, cametennus, tinserete, panther,
wild ass, wkke and red lion, white bear, . • . wild men, homed
men, Cyclopes, men with eyes behind and before, centaurs, fauns, satyrs^
pigmies, gianu twenty ells high, the phoenix," &c. In fact of all the
repertory, real and imaginary, of mediaeval and monkish natural history.
Among his subjects were cannibals, Gog and Magog, the Anie and
Aget, Azenach, Fommt:peri, Befim, Conei, Samante, Agriniandri, Salterei,
Armei, Anafragei, Vintefolei, Casbei, AlaneL ** These and many others
were driven by Alexander the Great," he says, ** among the hi|^ mountains
of the moon." Assuredly the author of our letter was near akin to the
author of Baron Munchausen. Who ever heard of these wonderful
races save the Casbei and Alanei ? But this is only a sample of the
beginning, the absurdities continue to the end, nor is it pro6table to
quote them. They are printed at length in Dr. Oppert's work,* and are
followed there by a portion of the journal of the travels of Johannes de
Hese in several parts of the worid, in which may be seen the confused
geographical notions about India the greater and India the less, about
the Asiatic and the African Ethiopians, and how easily the legends about
Prester John, when his existence in Asia became doubtful, gradually fixed
themselves in Abyssinia, where a Christian king ruling over a Christian
people had existed for many generations, and whose language and
descriptions make it probable that the letters of Prester John were
written after Abyssinia had been fuced upcm as his home, most of the
marvels described in them being such as have their home in Africa; while
to suit the topography with the old stories about the evangelising of the
further East by St. Thomas, the land of Prester John was made to inchide
the further India, which was the special field of his labours, and the inter-
vening country; and other details were filled in from the accounts
brought home by the missionaries of Thibet, where another pontiff ruler
reigned. The river Yconus, whose source was in Paradise, which flowed
through Prester John's country, according to the letters, is no other than
the river of Paradise Gyon or Gihon, thus described by John de Marig-
nolli in the middle of the fourteenth century. '*Gyon is that which
circleth the land of Ethiopia, where are now the n^^roes, and which is
called the land of Prester John. It is indeed believed to be the Nile
which descends into Egypt by a breach made in the place which is called
Abasty (/.^., Abyssinia).t Colonel Yule adds the note that many fathers
of the Church believed the Gihon passed undeiground from Paradise to
reappear as the Nile, that Pomponhis Mela supposes the Nile to come
under the sea from the Antichthonic world, and other heathen writers
• Oppert, 167-17^, t Cathay and Uit Way Thither, 348.
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536 * HISTCKRY OF THE MONGOLS.
bdieired it to be a resurrection of the Euphratei.* The extract from
MarignoUi is interesting as showing that Abyssinia was deemed the land
of Prester John as early as the former half ci the fourteenth century.
The name ol Abyssinia in MarignoQi is doubtless, as Cofond Yule
suggests, a corruption of the Abascy, the Abasd of Blacco Pok^ from the
Arabic name of Abyssinia Habskt This name led to a curious com-
plication. It is well known that a laige district in the Caucasus is called
Abassia or Abkhasia. This district was in the middle ages more or
less under the domination of Georgia. Like Abyssbua, it was also
occupied by a Christian people and ruled over by a Christian king^ and
it was even called Abyssinia, as is shown in the recent memoirs of M.
Bruun of Odessa, a transcript of which I owe to the courtesy of Colonel
Yute. It therefore came about that it was confounded with the African
Abassia, and in its turn was made the home of Prester John, and this, too,
at an eariy date, for I find in a note to Karamtin that among the papers
sent to him from Konigsberg there were two letters addressed the aoth of
January, 1407, by Conrad of Jungingen, grand master of the Teutonic
knights, to the Kings of Armenia and Abassia, or Prester John (Regi
Abassiae sive presbyters Johanni)4 M. Bruun, in the very learned and
ii^nious essay to which I have already referred, has argued on the same
side, and has tried to identify the country of Prester John with Georgia
and Abassia ; but I confoss that his arguments have not moved my judg-
ment| and they amount in reality to little more than this — that Georgia
was a Christian country, that some of its longs were called Ivan or John,
and others were called David, and that some of the accounts of the
Syrian and Jewish chroniclers may be so explained as to allow of this
view being urged; but, as in the case of Abys^nia and other places where
kings answering many of the attributes of Prester John lived, this view
gains its strength by ignoring the statements of those travellers who
daim to have come into immediate contact with Prester John's country
and his descendants, and by relying upon generalised evidence, which
can be made to suit almost any theory, and this is the objection I have
to M. Oppert, viiiose important work I must now treat of very shortly.
The contenticm of M. Oppert is based entirely, or almost entirely upon the
statements of three authors, namely, Otto of Freisingen, Benjamin of
Tudela, and Rubruquis.
The mainsUy <tf M. Oppert's theory is the chronicle of Bishop Otto of
Freisingen, a work which has acquired a factitious reputation in this con-
troversy, because it has been stated with some authority that the story of
Prester John depends eventually upon its statements. I believe^ on the
contrary, that it is of much less value in the solution of the question than
some other authorities to which I shall presently refer.
•/^S4S- Notti. t/4.,348. Notes. tKafaiBiiB,Ui.a9S. Nottss.
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THE KI&AITS AND TORQUTS. 537
Otto of Freisingen tdls us that when at Rome in 1145 he saw the
Syrian Bishop of Gabala,* who had gone there to lay before Pope
Eugenius the Third the peril of the Church in the Bast since the capture
of Edessa. "He also told us," says Otto^ **how not many years
before one John, king and priest, who dwells in the extreme Orient
beyond Persia and Armenia, and is with his people a Christian, but a
Nestorian had waged war against the brother kings of the Persians and
the Medes, who are called the Saiiiiardes, and had captured Ecbatana
(of which he had spoken above), the seat of their dominion. The said
kings having met him with their forces, made up of Persians, Medes, and
Syrians. The battle had been maintained for three days, either party
preferring death to flight. But at last Presbyter John, for so they are •
wont to style him^ having routed the Persians, came forth the victor from
a most sanguinary battle. After this victory (he went on to say) the
aforesaid John was advancing to fight in aid of the Church at Jerusaldn;
but when he arrived at the Tigris and found there no possible means of
transport for his army he turned northward, as he had heard that the
river in that quarter was frozen over in winter time. Halting there for
some years in expectation of a frost, which never came owing to the
mildness of the season, he lost many of his people through the unaccus-
tomed climate, and was obliged to return homewards. This personage
was said to be of the ancient race of those Magi who were mentioned in
the Gospel, and to rule the same nations as they did, and to have such
glory and wealth that he used (they say) only an emerald scqitre. It
was (they say) from his being fired by the example of his fadiers, who
came to adore Christ in the cradle, that he was proposing to go to
Jerusalem when he was prevented by the cause already alleged.*t We
may add that Otto elsewhere identifies Ecbatana with the Armenian
tower Ani4 Such is the statement upon which the theory of M. Oppert
is mainly founded. He identifies the "Persarum et Medorum reget
fratres Samiardos dictos " with Sanjar and his brother Boikeyardk, the
Seljuki rulers *f Khorasan and Persia, &c., arguing that Samiardos and
Sanjar are the same word. He then goes on to identify the battle above
named with the great defeat sustained by Sultan Sanjar at the hands of
the Guikhan of Kara Khitai, whom he in turn identifies with Prester
John.5 But, as has been urged by M. Bruun, at the tune of Sultan
SanjaPs celebrated defeat his brothers had been long dead. Ani was
certainly not his royal residence, nor yet was Hamadan, which M. Oppert
identifies with the Ecbatana of Otto in spite of the latter's own interpre-
Ution of the name.| Nor is there the slighteet evidence in the Persian
and Arabic historians, so far as I know, that the Gurkhan either captured
•ni»l.torth€lLotdlc*ii,kiNofUi«ii«yr4iL t Yahr.ll«coPolo.a«dMtioii.tt.5S^S«H.
J/il..d4i. |Op|»rt,op,cit.,X35. | Yolt'i M««P Pote. »d EdJUon. it 54©.
ay
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538 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
Ani or advanced to the Tigris, nor that he and his people were Christians;
in fact, there is very great probability that they were something very
different. The fact is, the narrative of Otto is unrdiabie from end to end.
The only foundation of fact it probably contains is this : A belief in an
Eastern powerful Christian king named Prester John was then prfr>
valent in the East, and the Christians there, who were being harassed
by the attacks of the Seljuki Turks and the Saracens, were only too ready
to identify any potent enemy of their oppressors who came from the East
with Prester John. Such an enemy was he who defeated Sultan Sanjar,
and it may be that his victory is the foundation of Otto's distorted
narrative ; and that is all we can say.
We will now consider the statements of Benjamin of Tudela. Few
mediaeval authors read more suspiciously in many places than does
Benjamin of Tudela, and so fly-blown are his pages that his work has
been pronounced a forgery by some critics. Mr. Asher, his latest editor,
who has published an elaborate translation of the work with notes, has to
make apologies for his narrative, and tells us that he did not go to many
places described in his itinerary. Among the suspicious passages in his
narrative few are more suspicious, and even incomprehensible, than the
passage relied upon by M. Oppert, as has been hinted by Mr. Asher.*
This passage I shall abstract from Mr. Asher's translation ; it says ** the
cities of Kishapur were inhabited in his day by four tribes of Israel,
namely, Dan, Zabulon, Asser, and Naphthali,t being part of the exiles
who were carried into captivity by Shalmaneser, King of Assyria, as
mentioned in Scripture, who banished them to Lachlach and Chabor, and
the mountains of Gozen and the mountains of Media ; their country was
twenty days' journey in extent, and they possessed many towns and cities
in the mountains ; the river Kisil Osein was their boundary on one side,
and they were subject to their own prince, who bore the name of Rabbi
Joseph Amarkh la Halevi . . . some of them were excellent scholars
and others carried on agriculture, others again were engaged in war with
the country of Cuth by way of the desert They were ii^alliance with
the Caphar Tarac^ or infidel Turks, who adored iks wind and lived in the
desert. They ate no bread and drank no wine, but devoured their meat
raw and quite unprepared. They had no noses, but drew breath through
two small holes, and ate all soru of meat, whether from clean or unclean
beasts, and were on very friendly terms with the Jews.
About eighteen years before this nation invaded Persia with a
numerous host and took the city of Rai, which they smote with the edge
of the sword, took all the spoil, and returned to their deserts. Nothing
similar was seen before in the kingdom of Persia, and when the king of
that country heard of the occurrence he was wrath ... he raised a
• Yid$ BMjamin of Tudela, by Ather, U. 175. t Oppert^ Pmbyttr Johanaft, ao. Note.
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THE KERATTS AND TORGUTS. 539
war cry in his whole empire, coOected all his troops, and made inquiry
for a guide to show him where the enemy had pitched his tents. A man
was found who said he would show the king the place of their retreat, for
he was one of them. The king promised to enrich him if he would. He
told them fifteen days' provisions of bread and water would be needed for
crossing the desert, for there were no provisions to be had on the way.
They accordingly marched for fifteen days, and at length suffered great
distress ; the guide excused himself by saying he had missed his way,
and his head was cut 6ff by the king's command. The remaining pro*
visions were equally divided, but at length everything eatable was con-
sumed, and after travelling for thirteen additional days in the desert, tbey
at length reached the mountains of Khasbin, where the Jews dwelt. They
encamped in the gardens and orchards, and near the springs, which are
on the river Kizil Ozein. It was the fruit season, and they made free and
destroyed much, but no living being came forward. On the mountains,
however, they discovered cities and many towers, and the king com-
manded two of his servants to go and ask the name of the nation which
inhabited those mountains, and to cross over to them either in boats or
by swimming the river. They at last discovered a large bridge, fortified
fay towers and secured by a lodced gate, and on the other side of the
bridge a considerable city. They shouted ; when a man came out to ask
what they wanted they could not make themselves understood, and sent
for an interpreter who spoke both languages. Upon the questions being
repeated, they replied. We are the servants of the King of Persia, and
have come to inquire who you aie and whose subjects. The answer was,
We are Jews, we acknowledge no Idng nor prince of the Gentiles, but are
subjects of a Jewish prince. Upon tHfuiries after the Ghusd^ ike Caphar
Tarac or infidel Turks^ the Jews made answer ^ Verify they are our allies,
whoever seeks to harm them we consider our own enemy.
The two men returned and reported to the King of Persia, who became
much afraid, and especially when after two days the Jews sent a herald
to oAer him battle. The king said : *^ I am not come to war against yoU,
but against the Caphar Tarac, who are my enemies ; and if you attack me
I will certainly take my vengeance, and will destroy aU the Jews in my
kingdom, for I am well aware of your superiority over me in my present
positicm ; but I entreat you to act kindly, and not to harass me, but allow
me to fight widi the Caphar Tarac, my enemy, and also to sell me as
much provision as I need for my host.'' The Jews took counsel together
and determined to comply with the Persian king's request for the sake of
his Jewish subjects. They were thereupon admitted, and for fifteen days
were treated with most honourable distinction and respect The Jews,
however, meanwhile sent information to their allies the Caphar Tarac.
These took possession of all the mountain passes and assembled a huge
host, consisting of all the inhabitants of that desert, and when the iOng
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540 Risrmy or thi Mongols.
of Penia went forth to give them battle the Caphar Tarac conquered and
slew so many of the Persians that the king escaped to his country wiA
only very few followers.* In his escape he carried off a Jew named R.
Mosh^ and it was from this person that Benjamin daims to have heard
the story.*
I have preferred to extract the whole piece^ so that it may speak for
itself. The Caphar Tarac, or rather Kofar al Turak or infidel Tiuksy of
Benjamin M. Oppert identifies with the Kara Khitai, and the defeated
Persian king with Sanjar. He alters the Nishapur of Asher into
Nisbun, which he also writes where Asher writes Khazbin ; the Kiril osein
of the latter he reads Gosan, and identifies the country described as
the neighbourhood of Samarkand Granting that these emendations are
good| what a marvellous geogn^phical jumble Benjamin's story remains.
But it is not with this we have to deal We know the history of the
campaign which Sanjar fought against the Kam Khitai in tolerable detail
from Persian and other sources, but not one syllable of this queer
romantic story is found among them ; but we need not trouble ourselves
to go outside the document itself, does not it identify the Caphar Tarac
not with the Kara Khitai, but with the Ghusses, who were infidel Turks,
although the Mussulman Seljuki and other Turkomans sprang firom
them ? Were not these Ghusses at this very time harassing Persia, and
did not they eventually carry off Sanjar as their prisoner? There is
surely no answer to this except M. Oppert's, who makes the passage to be
a corruption, — surely a very easy way out of the difficulty. From end to
end of it there is nothing about Kara Khitai or Prester John ; nor, as M.
Bruun has remarked, is it to be foigotten that Benjamin expressly tells
that the Caphar Tarac worshipped the wind, while the subjects of Prester
John were Christians. This second authority of M. Oppert's therefore,
fails entirely. Now for the third.
The story of Rubmquis is as follows : — " At the time when the Franks
took Antioch the sovereignty in these Northern regions was held by a
certain Coir Cham. Coir was his proper name, Cham his title, the word
having the meaning of soothsayer, which is applied to their princes
because they govern by means of divination.t And we read in the history
of Antioch that the Turks sent for succour against the Franks to King C<Mr
Cham, for all the Turks came originally from those parts of the workL
Now this Cohr was (tfCaraCatay; Cara meaning Black and Catay being
the name of a nation, so that Cara Catay is as much as to say the Black
Cathayens. And they were so called to distinguish them from the proper
Cathayens, who dwelt upon the ocean in the far East But those Black
Cathayens inhabited certain mountain pastures (a^;>es) which I passed
* B«QJamin of TiiMa, Aahat% Trmntlatiofi, i. x^g, Ac
t A toiiuptloo btwttn KhMi chtef and lUw, the medldne mm of th< SlumMwiHt. Ccthaj
MidtboW«yTli2tiMr»i7«. Notes.
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THE KBIIAITS AMD TOROUTS. 541
through, and in a certain fUdn among ihou nt^imMns dweltaarUtin
NisUrioHf who was a mighty shepherd and lord over the people called
Naimam^who were Nestorian Christians; and when Cbir Cham died that
Nestorian raised himself to be king (in his pUice), and the NestCMriaas
used to call him King John, and to tell things of him ten tfanas hi
excess of the troth,**
This is tolerably correct history, except, as I shall show presently, in
iu making the Naimans Nestorians and identifyhig their diiaf with
Prester John, bat it is anything but a support to Dr. Opperf s tiieory.
Rubruquis here identifies Prester John, not with the Gnddian of Kam
Khitai but with Gushluk, the Naiman king who sti{^)lanted htm, while it
is the Naimans and not the Kara Khitai who are said to have been
Christians.
It most be confessed that a grave theory was sddom based iqpon so
sloidef a foundation as that of which Dr. Oppert is the author. There is
no evidence that either the Kara Khitai or their chief were Qiristians, and
the only basis for such a notion resolves itself reaUy into the exoeedlai^
vague and fhul testimony of Otto of Freisfaigen, which I have aheady
analysed.
Before considering the direct evidence in favour of identifying Prester
John with the chief of the Keraits, I must now analyse the remaining
very crooked story aatold by Rubruquis. He goes on to say diat ^ The
Nestorians spread great tales about the King John, although when he
(Rubraquis) passed over the land diat had been his pasture grounds (ia^
the Naiman country), nobody knew anything about him except a few Net*
torians. Those pastures were then occupied by Ken Cham(<>.,Jingis Khan).
. . . Now this John had a brother who was also a great pastoral dne^
whose name was Unc, and he dwelt on the other side of those alpa of
Cara CaUy, some three weeks' journey distant from his brother, being the
lord of a certain little town called Caracorom, and ruling over a people
called Crit ^d Mecrit (/.<., Kerait and Merkit). These peqtle firere
also Nestorian Cliristians, but their lord had abandoned Christianfty and
had taken to idolatry, keeping about him those priests of the idols who
are all addicted to sorcery and invocation of demons.* This account is
a strange mixture of troth and error. It seems almost incredible to
suppose that the Naimans were Christians. I have already identified
diem with the Turkish tribe Naiman, whkh forms a section of the middle
horde of the Kirghis Kasaks, and we have no evidence anywhere dee
that Christianity prevailed among them; they were probaUy Shamanists,
like many of their descendants are still, while their chiefs were periiiqps
Buddhists. Rubroquis's own sUtement that when he passed through
their countiy nobody knew anything of Prester John sav* a few Nes*
• YUt** Cftthftr tad tiM Way TUtttr, Tjt, 177*
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543 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
torians is conclusive. Again, it is very certain that Gushluk, chief of
the Naimansi who supplanted the chief of Kara Khitai^ and thus became
himself Gur Khan, was no brother of Unc or Wang, the chief of the
Keraits ; but this mistake was easily made, for Raschid tells us that
Wang had an uncle styled Gur Khan, to whom I shall refer presently^
and it is the uncle who has doubtless been confused by Rubruquis with
the other Gur Khan, and which has led to his crooked narrative ; and
this seems clear when we continue his story, which goes on thus : " Now
King John being dead without leaving an heir, his brother Unc was
brought in and caused himself to be called Cham, and his flocks and
herds spread about even to the borders of Moal,^ &c. It is of coarse
absurd to argue that Wang, chief of the Keraits, succeeded Gushluk, the
Naiman chief, but not so ridiculous to suppose that he supplanted his
Inrothers, as we know he did. The story of Rubruquis in fact, when
divested of its confusion, confirms remarkably the testimony of other
witnesses. Let us now turn to these. In the first (dace, while we have
no evidence that the Kara Ehitai or the Naimans were Christians, the
evidence that the Keraits were so is most clear ; thus Raschid, surely a
very independent authority in describing them, says ** the Keraits had
their own rulers and professed the Christian faith.** Elsewhere he tells
us that ^ Khulagu's principal wife was Dokuz Khatun, the daughter of
Iku, son of Wang Khan. She had been his fiithei's wife. , , » As
tht Keraitt had for a long time been ChrisHa$is, Dokuz Khatun was much
attached to the Christians, who dorii^^ her life were in a flourishing
condition. Khulagu favoured the Christians in consequence all over his
empire, new churches were constantly built, and at the gate of the ordu
of Dokuz Khatun there was a chapel where bells were constantly rung." t
Khttb^'s mother was . Siurkuktini Bigi, daughter of Yakembo, the
brother of Wang Khan, king of the Keraits. Raschid says that,
'* although she was a Christian, yet she showed great consideration for
the Moslem Imaums," &c.t These extracu will suffice without adducing
the testimony of Marco Polo and others who knew their country so well
Not only were the Keraits Christians, but their country and the neigh-
bouring province of Kansu seem to have been very strongholds of
Nestorian Christianity. Tanchet, /./., Tangut, is expressly named as the
seat of one of their metropolitan sees.|
Marco Polo, the most judicious and critical of all mediaeval European
traveUers, constantly mentions the existence of Christians in that pro-
vince and on its borders, i>., on the frontier lands of the Keraits. Thus
speaking of Campichu, f>., the modem city of Kan chau, he says : '* It is
* VollttMBtidgc Uebenicbt Ut Aaltcttcn TurkUchen Tatariscben and if ogholiacheA Voelker-
ttamiM aach Raadddaddiot Torima bearbeitet Ton F. V. Brdmann Kataii, 1841, W>.
tQaatreiiMre'sRaaehid,94.9S* I Pauthi«r's Marco Polo, 1. 2x4. Note.
f Cathay and tbe Way Thither, 179.
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THE KERAITS AND TOROXTTS. 543
the principal town of Tangut,'* and continues, '^iu inhabitants are idolaters,
Saracens {i^,, Mahomedans), and Christians, which Christians have in
this city three lai|^e and beautiful churches.* Five days' east of Cami»chu
was Erguiul, a province of Tangut. Its people also were Nestorian
Christians^ idolaters, and those who worshipped Mahomett South-east of
Erguiul was Singu (i.^., Si ngan fu), also in Tangut, where were also some
Christians. This is the town where the celebrated Nestorian inscription
of the seventh century, written in Syriac characters, which has been
much written about, was found. Again, eight days' journey west of
Erguiul was Egrigaia, another province of Tangut, where there were also
Christians. In its capital, Calachan (f./., Alashan), were five churches
belonging to the Nestorian Christians.^ These passages suffice to show,
what perhaps is hardly necessary, that Nestorian Christianity was a
very active fiatith in the north-western borders of China in the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries. We are now in a position for quoting the direct
authorities in favour of Prester John having been the chief of the Keraits.
Gr^orius Bar Hebraeus, sumamed Abulfaradj, was a Jacobite
Christian, of the town of Malatia in Cappadocia. He was bom in 1222
and died in 1286, and wrote during the reign of Argun Khan, the Ilkhan
of Persia. He composed a chronicle in Syriac, in which he tells us that
** in the year 398 of the H^^ira, i,e., 1007, a tribe called Keryt, living in
the inner land of the Turks, was converted to Christianity, and their king
was baptised. ... At that time Ebedjesus, metropolitan of Mem, wrote
to the Nestorian Cathohcos or Patriarch saying " the king of the Keryt
people, who live in the inner Turk land, while he was hunting in a high
mountain of his kingdom, and having got into the snow and lost his way,
suddenly saw a saint, who thus addressed him : ^ If you will believe in Christ
I will show you a way on which you shall not perish.' Then did the king
promise to become a sheep in Christ's fold. Having been shown the way,
the king^on reaching home sunmioned the Christian merchants who were at
his court and adopted their faith. Having received a copy of the gospels,
which he worshipped daily, he sent me a messenger with the request that
I should go to him or send him a priest who should baptise him. In
regard to fasting, he inquired how they should fast who had no food but
flesh and milk. Finally, he mentioned that the number of his people
who had been converted was 200,000." Upon this the Catholicos sent to
the metropolitan for two priests and deacons, with the necessary altar
fiirnituiei to baptise these people and convert them. And in r^^ard
to fasting, that they should abstain from meat and live on milk.
Inasmuch as the meats prohibited during the forty days' fest were not
found in his country.f
* Yal«'t BIm-co Polo, 2nd E(L, i. 222, t Marco Polo, and Ed., i. 266. t M» i» V^
§ Oppert der Preibyter Johuun, 88-90* D'OhMon, i. 48, 49.
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544 HISXO&Y or THE IfONOOUL
Here, llieii» is the very first mentioii we have in a western writer of a
Christian people in Inner Asia, and strangely enough the name is Keryt,
while the details of the story have all the air of truth about them. If the
XeryU were an insignificant tribe, as Oppert argues, and if the real
Prester John was the sovereign of Kara Khitai, how iu it that the name
Ketyt should have reached the ears of the Syrian chronicler at all, and
why should the Catholicos have called them Keryt ? Surely this one feet
outweiifhs all M. Oppert's arguments put together. Again, the same
duonider mentions that.
^In the year of the Greeks 1514* of the Arabs 599 (d^^ a.d. laoa),
iMM KkoH^itho is the Christian King Johannes, ruling over a tribe of the
barbarian Huns called Keryt, was served with great diligence by Jingis
Kfam,* . . . The chronicler goes on to describe the struggle between
the two, and then proceeds : ^ But it must be known that the King
Johannes^ the Keryt, was not overthrown without cause. This hx^
pened when he forsook the fear of Christ, who had raised hhn up, and
had taken a wife from a Chinese nation called Karakbata, then he forsook
the rdigion of his fediers and served strange gods. God took away his
Ungdom and gave it to one wordiier than he, and his heart was upright
before God.«'«
In these notices we have another important feet If the dates attached
to them are retiiible, it makes it almost impossible to identify Prester
John with the ddef of Kara Khitai, for that empire was only founded
in 1135, on the overtiirofw id the Khitan empire in China by the ICns,
and in them we have a menticMi of the conversion of the Keryts more
than a century earlier. We.also see deariy that Abolferragius identifies
the well-known Unk or Wang Khan of the Keraiu with Prester J<^
and goes fiirther, for he attributes his defection fimn the Christian
fehh to his marriage with a daqghter of the Khan of Kara Khitai,
who, according to Dr. Oppert, was himself the Presbyter Johannes of
that day.
The nekt andiority of value is Rubruquis, whose testimony I have
akeady dissected. Then comes that of Marco Pok>, the most detailed
and worthy of all Eastern travelers of mediaeval times. Hehadhimsdf
traversed a part of the land <A the Keraits. He was attached to the
court of ti&e Grand Khan, and he speaks with the greatest authority.
Now he not only identifies Prester Jdin with the Wang Khan <tf the
Kendts, but tens us expressly that he ruled in iWhik. He speaks of his
diescettdant George as still living there in his day, and this George, who
Is also referred to as a descendant of Prester Jdm, was actually con-
verted from Nestorianism to Catholicism by John of Monte Corvino^ took
Uie lesser orders, and assisted him occasionally when performing mass»
• Oppwt, op. elt.» 93*
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TAB UatAlTS AMD TOKGUTS. 545
SO that he was actually his coo^MUUon. Again, Odoric, in travelling
firom Peking towuds Shensi about 1326-27, also visited the country of
Piester John. ... He speaks as if his family still existed in
aathority.*
These tacts, which might be enlaiged, gives us con6dence in our
conchision that the Prester Jokn (^ history most be identified with the
Khan of the Kecatts. Let us now coflect, as £ur as we can, the iUMs
of the history of the Keraits.
First, about their countiy and name.. The Yellow River at one portion
of its course makes a very extraordinary bend, almost at r^t angles
with itsel£ The district bounded on the west and north by this elbow is
the w^known country of the Ordus. North of the river is the camping
ground of the Tumeds of Koko Khotan, the Urads, Maominggansi &c.
West of the river is a great stretch of country, idiich before the days of
Jingis was very thriving and populous, and which formed the empire ef
Hia, with its capital at Nii^hia. To the Mongols it was known as
Tangut, and was the scene of 8<mie of their most dreadful butcheriefc
This empire of Hia included the Ordus. cottntry,t and it stretched away
westward as far al least as Sachiu,{ while it extended lunthwards to
Etsina, on the borders of the deserti
Marco Polo has given us the best description of this district In
describing the province of Egrigaia, which belonged to Tangut, he- tells
us its capital was Calachan, which Colond Yule identifies with great
probability with Din yilan yin, the capital of the modem kingdom of
Alashan, situated a little west of die Yellow River.il After desoibiqg
this province^ he continues, we shall now proc6ed eastward from this
place and enter the territory that was formerly Prester John's.^ This
territory he calls Tenduc, and tells us its capital was also called Tenduc^
that it had been the capital of Prester John, and that his heirs still mled
there.** After leaving the province, he proceeded eastward for throe days,
and then arrived at Chaghan nur.tt This description answers exiictly to
the site fixed upon by Colonel Yule, namely, ** the extensive and wdl
cultivated plain which stretches from the. Yellow River past the city of
Koko Khotan, which still abounds in the remains of cities attributed to
the Mongol era ;''tt and he %rther suggests that it is not improbable that
the modem dty of Koko Khotan, which was called Tsingchan in the
middle ages, is on the same site as Prester John's cafHtaL I am disposed
to agree most emphatically in this, one of the happiest of the very many
happy suggestions of Colonel Yule» not only because the site answers the
description, but because we know how constant impoftaht trading posU
and cities are to their old sites in the East, and that Koko Khotan is by
• Yito'k ICatco Polo, aad Bdn i. i^S- t Ttahowdt), U. s66.
TYiilc% Marco Polo. aadB<L,i. 444. Map. |/tf.,i.8as. Ud^i-m- ^Id^Lijt,
2Z
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54j6 history or the Mongols.
hx the most in^iortant city of this district M. Pauthier identifies
Tenduc with Ta thung, the name of a city and fu of Northern Shansi»
south of the Wall and not very far from Koko Khotan. We may take it
therefore that the country of Prester John, as understood by Polo^
included the district now held by the Tunieds of Koko Khotan and its
neighbourhood. Now, on turning to Raschid's account of the Keraits,
we find him sa3ring that their country is Uten and Kelurat, as well as
Mongolistan and the borders of China.* The borders of China answers
surely with great exactness to the site of Tenduc as above fixed, while it
is exceedingly probable that his authority extended across the desert as
iar as the Kerulon. The statement of I^Ohsson that the Keraits lived on
the banks of the Orkon and the Tula, and in the neighbourhood of the
Karakorum mountains^t I can find no authority for, save the Uundering
remark of Rubruquis, that his capital was Karakorum, while we know
from the very much sounder statement of Raschid, that Karakorum was
within the territory of the Naimans. Having fixed their site, let us now
consider their name.
Raschkl tells us that in old days there was a chief who had eight sons,
all of whom had Uack or dark sldns, whence men called them Keraits*
In process of time his clans, who were distributed among his children,
took their names from them except one, which retained the royal
authority and continued to be called Kerait.| Abulghazi says that Kerait
means Kara Baian («>., Black Sheep), and he tells us a man had seven
sons who were dark complexioned, whence people called them Kerait, a
name which passed to their descendants.! These are both etymologies
that savour of an Eastern origin^ althougli there can be small doubt that
the word Kara (black) is an element in the name. The form in Ssanang
Setzen is Kergud,| whose termination would strengthen the notion that
it is a family name, such as Saldshigod, Taidshigod, &c, ftc The
Keraits formed a very important element in the Mongol world, and at the
accession of Jingis they are named as one of the four sections into which
the race was divided. We are even told that in some way the Mongol
sovereigns proper were subordinate to those of the Keraits ; and it is
probable that during the domination oi the Kin Emperors (who, unlike
their predecessors of the Liao dynasty, seem to have meddled little
with Mongolia) they exercised supremacy in the country beyond the
frontier. Putting aside the notices I have already referred to from AbuK
faradj, &c., the history of the Keraits commences with a king named
Merghtts Buyuruk Khan, who probably lived in the eariy part of the
• Er4iiuum*s MtrtcU from RMchkU aXttmiy dtetf, x^o. In hi» lat«r Uttorjr of Tem»|ui M.
Erdmano bM altcrod this, apparently to aait an m priori notion into Onon and Kcrnlon
(Erdmann*p Temojin, S30), which we know to have bttn the conntf7 of J^"^ Khao*« own
people.
t D*Oha«ca. i. 30.
I ErdmMm*« Temc^in, 231* i Ahn%ha»i, nd. Dttou, 47. | Op, cit., XT*
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THB KERAITS AND TORGUTS. $47
twelfth century. At that time the chief of the Tatars, who lived on lake
Buyur (not of the Nairoans, as Erdnumn says)/ was Naur Buyuruk
Khan (? the Khan of the lake Buyur). He captured Merghus in an
engagement and sent him at a prisoner to the Kin Emperor, who put
hira to death by nailing him on a wooden ass.! His widow took a
characteristic revenge. She sent w^d to the Tatar chief that she wished
to give him a feast. He having accepted the invitation, she sent him ten
oxen, loo sheep, and loo sacks of knmis. The latter, however, instead
of containing drink, concealed a body of armed men, who cut their way
out during the feast and killed the Tatar chief.}
Meighus left two sons, called Kurjakuz Buyuruk and Gurkhan, between
whom his tribes were apparently divided, the former having the chief
inheritance. He had five sons, namely, Tugrul, Erke Kara, Tatimur
Taishi, Buka Timur, and Ilka Sengun. On their father's death Tugrul
was apparently absent on the frontier, and his brothers Tatimur Taishi
and Buka Timur took the (^portunity to seize the throne. He returned
and put them to death, and then occupied it himself. Erge Kara fled
to the Naimans, who sent an anny to his assistance. This drove Tugrul
away, upon which he went and sought assistance from Yissugei, the
^her of Jingis Khan, and Eige Kara was in his turn expelled.!
The next year Tugrul was defeated and expelled by his uncle the
Gurkhan ; the battle between them being fought in the defile Khalagun.
He once more had recourse to Yissugei, who marched in person against
the Gurkhan, and made him take refuge in Tangut. On this occasion
Tugrul and Yissugei became sworn friends (anda).i On the death of
Yissugei, Tugrul was once more dispossessed of his throne by his brother
Eige, in alliance with the chief of the Naimans, called Inaktzi by
Hyacinth. He fled to the Uighurs, and thence to Kara Khitai ; but
finding no help there he returned across the desert, and suffered great
distress, having had to drink sheep's milk and blood fiom his camels'
veins. He now sent for aid to Temujin, the son of his old friend Yissugei.
This was readily granted. He gave Tugrul a grand feast on the banks of
the river Tura,f and promised to acknowledge him as his father. It was
probably soon after this that Jingis Khan fought against the Tatars, and
was rewarded by the Kin Emperor for doing sa Raschid teBs us that
on the same occasion Tugrul received the title of Awang, whence he is
generally referred to as Wang Khan or Unk Khan, which was corrupted
by the Western writers into Johannes, from which came his title of
Presbyter Johannes,**
• Temttjin. 232. ExtracU from Ru/ekiA, 13a. t D'OhMon, i. 50.
t Brdnian*t Temu^io, 221. D*ObMon. i. 50. ♦ Erdmwui'i TemnHn, tn-
I Erdniim** Tmm^, as4* Note,
5Alitt!€riverofthi.iMWi«Wl»l«tothelDfod«. D'Ohwon. i. 54. Not«,
•• On the mtftulng of Um word. Me Efdm«an> TemiijJn. Note 70.
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548 HISTORY or THS M01I00L8.
This wUl be tbe proper {dace to iniert A curioot story told by Umko
Polo, bat not confinned, as far as I know, by any other antfaority. He
says that at Cakhu* the Golden King (i>., the Kin En^ierory as was first
suggested by Marsden) had boilt a qplendid palace, "and it came to
pass," says Marco Polo, ^that the Golden King was at war widi Prester
John, and the king held a position so strong that Prester John was not
able to get at him or to do him any scathe, wbeiefore he was in great
wrath. So seventeen gallants belonging to Prester John's court came to
him in a body, and said that if he would they were ready to bring him
the Golden Kii^ alive. His answer was that he desired nothing better,
and would be much bounden to them if they would do sa So when they
had taken leave of their lord and master Prester John, they set off
together, this goodly company of gallants, and went to the Golden King
and presented themselves before him, sayii^^ that they had come from
foreign parts to enter his service. And he answered by tellii^ them they
were right welcome, and that he was ^ad to have their service never
imagining that they had any ill intent And so these mischievous squires
took service with the G<^en King^ and served him so well that he grew
to love them dearly. And when they had abode with that king nearly
two years, conducting themselves like persons who thought of anything
but treason, they one day accompanied the king on a pleasure party when
he hid very few else along with him, for in those gallants the king had
perfect trust, and thus kept them immediately about his person. So after
they had crossed a certain river that is about a mile from the castle, and
saw that they were alone with the king, they said one to another that now
was the time to achieve that they had came for. They all incontinently
drew and told the king that he must go with them, and make no resist-
ance or they would slay him. The king at this was in alarm and great
astonishment, and said. How then, good, my sons, what thing is this ye
say, and whither would ye^have me go ? They answered and said. You
shall come with us, will ye, nill ye, to Prester John our lord ?
** And on this the Golden King was so sorely grieved that he was like
to die, and he said to them. Good, my sons, for God*s sake have pity and
compassion upon me. Ye wot well what honourable and kindly enter-
Uinment ye have had in my house, and now ye would deliver me into the
hands of my enemy. In sooth, if ye do what ye say, ye will do a very
naughty and disloyal deed, and a right villainous. But they answered
only that so it must be, and away they had him to Prester J<^ their
lord.
*'And when Pxester John beheld the king he was right glad, and
greeted him with something like a malison. The king answered not a
word, as if he wist not what behoved him to say. So Prester John
• C«lood Y«l« it ifiiiiaMd to ideMify thU placa with Kicbai to aiuuitt, op. dt, s^
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THE KERAITS AND TORGUTS. 549
ordered him to be taken straightway and to be put to look after cattle,
but to be well looked after himself also. So they took him and set him
to keep cattle. This did Prester John of the gnsdge he bore the king to
heap contumely on him, and to show what a nothing he was, compared
to himself.
^ And when the king had thus kept cattle for two years, Prester John
sent for him, and treated him with honour and dothed hhn in rich robes,
and said to him : Now, Sir King, art thou satisfied that thou wast in no
way a man to stand against me ? Truly, my good lofd, I know well, and
always did know, that I was in no way a mom to stand against thee. And
when he had said this Prester John replied : I ask no more; but hence-
forth thou shalt be waited on and honourably treated. So he caused
horses and harness of war to be given to him, with a goodly train, and
sent him back to his own country. And after that he remained ever
IneAdly to Prester John and held fast by him.* *
I have abstracted the account as given by Colonel Yule in his graphic
language. The whole story seems to me to be fidralous, and is unsup-
ported, so fir as I know, by the Chinese annals. It is perhaps a tale
belonging to some other period^ and with some other actots iHiich has
been attached to the Kin Emperor and Prester John by the dd traveller.
Temujin had now acquired a considerable power in Mongolia,
although he would seem to have been in some way a subordinate chief to
Wang Khan, whom he treated with considerable deference. In 1 197 he
fought with the Merkits, and when he defeated them he surrendered the
booty to his patron, who was then apparently at his courtt Wang Khan
after this, we are told, returned to the country Wang ho, 1^., to the
Hoang ho or YeDow River, where, being Joined by many adventurers, he
was able to attack the Merkits alone, as he judged that their power had
been broken by the campaign of Jingis in the previous year. He defeated
them and forced their chief to fly, but he did not reciprocate the
generosity of his profegi,\
In 1 199 Wang Khan and Temujin had a joint campaign against the
Naimans, whom they defeated and forced their chie^ Buyuruk, to escape
to the country of Kem Kemjut (i>., of the Upper Yenissei). This defeat
was, however, not a crushing one, for some months later we find Gugsu
Seirak, a Naiman general, phindering the camp of Wang Khan's brother,
Ilka Sengun, and also some of Wang Khan's own people. He advanced
as far as a place named Baiberak biljizehi where a fight took place,
which was only stopped at nightfall Wang Khan and Jingis had fought
as allies in this battle, but before it could be renewed discord was
sown between them, as I have described, by the insinuations of Jamuka,
the chief of the Jadjerats.! Petis de la Croix assigns a different reason
• Yule's Marco Polo, nd, Bd, H. la, fte. t Do Moillft, ix. ao. I Dt MailK ib jo.
I Vii» ontt, 93. Brimaaiili Tomtuin, 072, &c.
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S$0 HISTORY or THE MONGOLS.
for Jamuka^s jealousy of Jingis to that there cited, naInely^that he had
supplanted him in obtaining the hand of Wisulugine, the daughter of
Wang Khan.* The result of his intrigue was that Wang Khan withdrew
his forces and retired along the river Asauli,t and then passed to the Tula^
while his brother Ilka went to Badrua AltaLf Jingis was also forced to
retire, and went home to his '^ Ydlow Plains.* | Gugsu Seirak went in pur-
suit of Ilka Sengun, and plundered him of his cattle and food. He then
marched against Wang Khan, whose ulus he overtook on the borders of
Lidua maserah,^ and also plundered. The latta- gave his son Sengun
command of an army corps, and sent him against the enemy ; he also
sent for assistance to Jingis.**^ Jingis sent his four bravest generals to
his assistance, namely, Bugfaurdshi Noyan, Mukuli Guiwang, Jilukan
Behadur, and Buraghul Noyan.tt Before their arrival Sengun had been
defeated, Wang Khan's two generals, Tegin Kuri and Ituigan Edeku,
had been killed, and Sengun himself barely escaped on a wounded horse.
The four generals of Jingis attacked and defeated the Naimans, and
restored the captured booty to Wang Khan, who expressed himself in
terms of cordial gratitude for the help which his protigi had sent him4t
while he rewarded Bugfaurdshi with a present of a state robe and ten great
cups of gold.|| Temnjin n&m appointed a Kuriltai for the following
year, which was to meet on his own Yellow Plains, and where his recent
gracioiis acts would probably increase his reputation. Wang Khan was
invited and attended the meetings and it was there determined to make
war upon the Taijuts.| |
The latter were commanded by their chiefe Angku Hukufu (the Hang
hu of De MaiHaXVir Kuril BduMler, Terkutai Kiriltuk, and Kududar, and
with them was a contingent sent by the chief of the Meikits, under
his brothers Kudua and Redshaneg. Their rendezvous was on the river
Onon, while Jingia and his friend had theirs on the Yellow Plains. In the
fight iHiidi ensued the TaQuts were beaten, as I have described.***
These victories aroused jealousies elsewhere, and the two allies were
now forced to struggle with a confederacy of the tribes of Eastern
Mongolia, headed apparently by the Tatars. The allies were suc-
cessrul,ttt and we are xxAA. that after the victory Wang Khan returned by
way of the river Lolin4tl
Wang Khan seems to have been an unruly person at home, and we are
t(dd that when at the approach of winter he was en route from the
• Hittoiy of Jiagit Khan, 29.
t TIm HMvi, a tmall tribotefy of tiM SaHaga, which tpriafft in lal. 47.50 N. and long. 15.^0
W. •( Ptfciag, anS lalla into tho ra^n ttraam hi lat. 49.30, loog. 13.25. Oaobil, 7. Nota 2»
I/i. DallaUk,iz.aa. | Tba Idani Altai of D*OhMoo, i. 58.
I Brdauan, 273. 1^ Brdmaaa» 273. Nota 89. ** Erdmaaa'a Bstractt from Raachid, 136.
tt U' It Brdmaoa*^ Tama|itt« S74* ft D*0b2Ma, i. 59*
||B«taMB,op.€tl.,a79* Yf O^ dt.. is. aa ***Aata,55. tttAata,5d.
mDtlfaiUa, 11.23.
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THE KERAITS AND TORGUTS. 55 1
Kerulon to Kura Kia (? the Tenduc of Marco Polo), his brother Ilka
Sengun made overtures to four of his generals, named Ilkutu, Ilkungkttr,
Narin Tugrul, and Alin Taishi, to dethrone him.* De MaiUa calls the
generals Antun, Asu, and Yenhotor. He says that the former two
informed their master, who had Ilka Sengun and Yenhotor imprisoned.
He leproAched the latter with having brol^n the word he had given him
when they returned from Hia together, that they would aid one another.
Ilka Sengun was treatied with so much severity that he fled to the
Naimans.t Wang Khan spent the winter at Kuta Kia^ and Jingis at
Jaghachar, on the Chinese frontier.^
Jingis Khan by his various victories had made himsdf greatly feared
in Mongdia, and we some time after this find him, when in alliance with
Wang Khaui threatened by a very daii^perons confederacy.
The confederated tribes were the Naimans, under Buyuruk Khan, the
Merkits, under their chief Tukta Bigi, and die several tribes allied with him,
as the Durbansy Tatars^ Kalakinsy and Saljuts. The two allies were posted
on the Olkhtti. Gaubil teUt us that besides his four great generab Jingis
had with him a mdnber oC a Western Royal family, named Say y(?a relict
of the Sassanians); he was a great adept in the art of war, and was a fire-
worshipper, whence he was called Chapar or the Guebre.| The advance
posts of thi two princes were situated at a place called Gui-jagjeru-
jiwerid,! they had determmed to fight on the plain of Kiueitan,f but on
the approach of the enemy they retired to Karann Jidun, in the neigh-
bourhood of Tajar Atgoh.** Sengun, the son of Wang Khan, who was in
command of the advance guard, was first attacked, and withdrew into the
mountains, where he caused snow, &c., to fall by magical arts.tt The
confederated princes were defeated by the dements, as I have described.}}
After the fight Wang Khan and Jingis went to encamp on the borders
of the And. if They then took up their winter quarters at Alchia Kungur.||
Here proposals were made fi>r mutual intermarriages. Juji, the eldest
son of Jingis, was to marry Jaur Bigi, daughter of Wang Khan, while
Kudshin Bigi, daughter of Jingis, was betrothed to Kush Buka, the son
of Sengun.^ ^
• Erdnuiim, op. dt.. a78. t De MailU. Ix. aj.
I Brdmaon, ayS. Hywiiitbe My« Jadjar-vUt (».r.. the mountaiji Jadjar). Id. Not* 104.
De Mailla, the mouauin Cheteber* op. cit., ix. S4. D'Ohaaoo Myt Cbaafa cUar, on tbt frontier
of the Cburtchca (U,, of Maacharia). Op. dt, I. 6j.
I Oanbil, 6. | Brdoiaim, tSi. Y Dt Mallla, ix. aS.
^ Raadtid Mya thit Atkoh it Mentkal with tht wall of Itktoder.on the Chlntat firootler <U,
tht Great Cbloett WalJ). Erdmano. Nott itS.
tt So tayt Erdmaam aSa. Dt MaiUa aayt the maskiaa waa in tht aaensiet raaka. Vids
ante, 59.
n Antt,59. Hyadnthe callt tht plaot of rtfaf* <^^^ two princta Ahm tdiiai, and taya
tbtauunttnial«wiUitheNaimanawaaatChoidan. Erdmann. Notaiao.
If D'Ohasoo, i. 65. Aral maant ialand in Moagol, and la given aa a namt to lakM with
iilMdt. fiff4flMaa caUt tht place Anc* Op.dt^iSt.
II Aata, 99* ^^ Btdmana. iSy
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55^ UlSrORY OF THB MONGOLS.
These nqpotuuions broke down, and led to a coohiess between the two
friends, which was fanned into vigour by Januika, the old enemy of Jingis,
who incited the jealousy of Sengon, Wang Khan's son, and suggested
that Jingis was in communication with the Naimans, the old enemies of
the Keraits. His words were no doubt confirmed by those of Altun,
Kudsher, and Dariti Utsuken, three relations of Jingis, who had dis-
obeyed him in his campaign against the Tatars, and on being reproved
had gone over to Wang Khan. They now promised Sengun to Idll the
mother and all the children of Jingis.* With them were allied the
Mengkut Thugai Kulkai and the Hedergin Mukurkuran. Sengun urged
upon his father the necessity of punishing Jingis, but he -was only angry,
said he had sworn anda with him, that he owed him his life, and further,
that he was growing old and wished for peace, and that if they wished to
fight they might go then^selvesy but they were not to return to complain if
they£Euled.t Sengun now tried to getjingis into his power by craft He pie-
tended to prepare a least to celebrate the betrothal of his daughter, and
invited Jingis to it. The latter innocently set out, and had gone a two days'
journey when, as he passed the camp of his step^EUher Mengelig Itshigeh,
of the Kunkurats, he was warned by him of his danger and returned
home.! Sengun's first attempt having Cftiled, he now, in the spring of
1203, determined to assassinate his rivaL One of the chief officers of
Wang Khan, named Yegeh Jaran, on returning to his tent told his wife
Alak Sendun of the intended mischiefl This was overheard by one
of his herdsmen named Kishlik, who was returning with milk ; he con-
fided the secret to another named Badai, and they went and warned
Jingis of his danger. They also told him that it was in hi^ tent that he
was to be seized; he accordingly ordered everything valuable to be
removed from it, but ordered it to be left stan<5ing, and marched away
widi hts troops to the hills of Siludeljitf He had hardly gone when
Sengun and Ilka Sengun arrived with their troops, and seeing the camp
standing and the fires lit, they fired an immense volley of arrows into it,
but they soon found that it was abandoned, and determined to pursue the
Mongol chief. I
Jingis had posted an advance guard on the mountain Muundurdisku.
Sengun, who pursued, halted for the night at a place called Kulun
Beikat by the Mongols (<>., some place near the lake Kulun), situated
near the mountain Nemudarend. This place was covered with a wood
of red willows. They were first seen by two servants of Iljidai Noyan,
who went to apprise Jingis. The latter had gone to Kalanchin
* De MailU, ix. vj. \ Erdmawi, aSs- De MaiUa« is. aS.
\ ErdtnaaD, a86. D'Obaton, 1* 69.
) ? The border* of the river Soyeklji* in the KhinfgMi rmnge. D'OhMOB, L 64. NoM 4.
I Petis de U Croix, op. dt, 59.
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THB KXRAIT8 AMD TOROVTS.
553
alt,* in the Khinggsnmoiiatuiis, At sunrise the armies weve ia presence
of each other; that of Tenuijin being much in^Brior in numbers, but it
weie animated by the courage of Kubuldar Siyan, who was anda or
sworn friend to Temiyin, and who offered to plant his tuk or standard on a
hill behind the enemy. This he succeeded in doing. The hill was called
Gubtan. Inspired by this act, Jingb and his companions marched upon
the enemy ; he routed the Jirkins, their best tribe, and also that of the
Tungfcaits.t Hyacinthe says he first defeated the tribes Julgyn, Duoga,
and Chor Tiremin,} and then fell on the main bcdy of Wang Khan's
army.} Sengun was shot in the eye with an arrow. The battle of
Kalanchin alt became famous among the Mongob asRaschid rqports^l
but we clearly have not a luU account of it, for immediately after what
should be an inMoense victory we find the victor a lu^^^eless fugitive at
Bal|ttna.Y The piobability is, that although he was successful at first
the issue of the battle was really against Jingis. This is coi^irmed
by the fact that after the battle Wang Khan attacked the uhis or camp of
Khassar, Jingis Khan's brother, who had become separated &om him,
and carried off his haiem, &c** When he had been a recluse at Ba^una
for some time, Jingis came out from his hiding quarters and went along
the river Ur, whence he moved on to a {rface called Galtakai kada,tt near
the river Kala, where his forces were raised to 4,600 men Following the
Kala he posted his forces near the lake Tunga (the Naur Turukah of
Erdmann), at a place named Turuka Kurgan^H Thence he sent off
messengers to Wai^ Khan with the letter which I have already
abstracted.il
This letter conduded with a request that he,his son Sengon, IlkaSengui^
Kiqer, AHun, and the other chiefe would each send an officer to make
peace widi him, and he appointed lake Buyur as the rendexvous. Wang
Khan was disposed to treat, but his intemperate son refused, was
very wrath, and ordered his generals Belgdi Biji and Tudan to
assemble the army, to plant the tuk or standard, and sound the drums
and trumpets.ll After the fight at Kalancbin alt Wang Khan had
encamped at Kait Kulgat alt^ where Ilka Sengun, the relatives of Temujin,
* Brdmann, aS7. Tii«r« it a gitMt divergence amoaf the aothoritiei as to tbe site of tbia
kiMUa. De MaiUa and OauWI placa it between tbe Tala and tbe Keroloo (De Ifaiila, ia. 33.
Oaabil, io)> but Raachid, whoae atatament ia mocb more in acoordaooe witb tbe other facta
waotiooed, places it on tbe bordera of the Jurchia, ia,, of Maochnria, and in another pbtce taya
h waa near the river OIkhoi and tha old home of the InHraeaw. BtdoMnn. Noto^aaduS.
Halacfaoo, which ia tha Chiniae name aa given ia one place bjr De If ailla, im* stpht ideatifted
with great probability by D*Oheaoo with the Halgon, one of the eonthern afluenta of the
Kalfca river. Ssanang Setren placea the only light he namea between tha two cUali at tha
oatflow of the OnoB, near Ka]aaBnifm,t.«., near the Knlonlaka. Op.cit.,87.
t Brdmann, al7. D'Ohiton» i. 71.
I CfauUcUn, Tongnal, and Holiaiemaa of De If ailU, ia. 39. | Bfdmaaa* op. dt. NoteuS.
I D*Ofaeeoo, i. 7T. Note. 11 Ante, S9*
**Delfftilliuix.3t' Aate,4Sd* tt Hegtegai Keda of Erdmann, a89> C D^hmoa, i. n*
II Ante, do. II Brdmana» 295.
3*
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554 RI810RY or THl ICOMOOLS.
who had taken tdogt with hhn, and othav formed a plot against hka.
This was discovered, and he attacked them and took their goods from
them. Dariti Utsuken tipon this abandoned him and went ov«r to Jingisi
with a Nirun tribe and the SaUat tribe of the Keraiu, while Kujer,
Altun and Kuta Timur, the dnel of the Tatars, escaped to the Naimans.
Jingis, to put Wang Khan off his guard, practised the ruse I described,*
and advanced rapidly with his troops, idiom he ordered to put gags in
their mouths,t and at length arrived at the mountains Jejtr. A sharp
battle ensued there, in iriiich die Keraits were defeated, the victors
captured a vast booty, and Wang Khan and Sengim fled ; the former
bitterly blamed his son for the result.} The site of the Jejir mountains,
where the battle was fought, is not very certain. Gaubil places them in
the high land between the Tula and the Kendon,! not fisr therefore from
the modem Utga. I believe they were on the Chinese frontier and are
to be identified with the Jadjar ula of HyadntheP
The battle is described by Marco Polo with a good deal of rhetorical
effort, but with fow Homeric touches. He tells us the cause of the
quarrel between the two chiefs was that Jingis asked for the daughter of
Prester John, who deemed it a piece of ptesun4>tion that one of his
li^^emen should do so, and refund somewhat harshly. This enraged
Jingis, who mustered his forces. Prester Jdm also mustered his. At
length the former arrived in the beautifol plain of Tenduc (in Prester
John's country), and Prester John pitdied his camp twenty miles away,
and both armies rested so diat they mi^^ be fresher and heartier for the
battle. During this interval Jingis summoned his astrologers to see with
whom the victory would remain.
^The Saracens tried to ascertain, but were unable to give a true
answer. The Christians, however, did give a true answer, and showed
manifestly beforehand how the event should be. For they got a cane
and split it lengthwise, and laid one-half on this side and one-half on
that, allowing no one to touch the pieces, and one piece of cane they
called Jingis Khan, and the other piece they called Prester John, and
they said to Jingis, now mark and you will see die event of the battle
and who shall have the best of it, for whose cane soever shaU get above
the other, to hhn shall the victory be given. Then they read a psahn out
of the Psalter and went through other incantations, and lo, while all were
beholding the cane that bore the name of Jingis Khan, without being
tottdied by anybody, advanced to the other that bore the name of Prester
John and got to the top of it. When Jingis saw that, he was gready
delighted, and seeing how in this matter he found the Christians to tdl
the truth, he always treated them with great respect, and held them for
»AMte,6taa(l43S- t D'OImmd. i. 8i. I Erdnums, 497. |Op.ch.,io.
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THB KBIUIT8 AND 1X»GUTS. $$$
men of tmtfa for ever M&trJ^ The Venetian traTeller merdy says of the
battle that it was the greatett battle that ever was seen. That the
numbers slain on both sides were very great, and that in the end Jingis
won the victory. This simplicity may be contrasted with the high flown
language of Mirkhond in describing the same fight, in which he says
tiie neighii^ of the horses and the oies of the soldiers obliged heaven to
shut jts ears, and the air seemed to be a Add of canes and reed% because
of the arrows.t Some anthors, including Marco Polo, and apparently
Mirkhond^ make Wang Khan peridi in this battle^ but this is a
mistake. He fled towards the west* When he reached a place nMaed
Negun Ussun,^ he was seized by Kuri Subaju and Iteng Shal, two
officers of Baibuka Taiwang, chief of the Naimans. By them he was
pot to death, and his head was taken to their master, who (according
to Raschid) was much displeased, and toki them they shouki have
captured him alive.| Abulkhair, on the other hand, says he insulted
the dead in words lull of scorn and spite, and he adds the mocal,
^ It is a base action to tear off a lion's beard."^ His skuU was made
into a drinking cup by the conqueror.**^ Several writers made Jingis
marry a daughter of Wang Khan, which is a mistake; he really
married his niece, named Abika, i^iich is periiaps the foundation
of the story. Abulfaradj mentions the great conqueror having in
a dream seen a religious perscm who promised liim success;
when he told this to his wile, she said the description answered
that of a Christian bishop who used to vbit her lather Prester John.
Jingis then inquired for a bishop among the Uighur Christians in hb
camp, and they pointed out Mar Denha. After this he treated the
Christians with much less severity, and diowed them many distinctions.
Vincent of Beauvais also speaks of Rabbanta, a Nestorian monk who
lived in the confidence of Jingis's wile, daughter of the Christian King
David or Prester John, and who used by divination to make many
revelations to the Tatars.tt
When Wang Khan fled to the country of the Naimans hb son Sengun
escaped by way of Istu Balghasun towards Thibet, where he phmdered
some of the inhalMtants, who rose against him, and he again fled to a
place named Gusatu jau gasmeh, on the borders of Kashgar.tl D'Ohsson
says to the country of Kuman, on the borders of Kashgar and Khoten.f|
There he was slain by Kilij Arslan, the chief of the Turkish tribe of
the Kalajes. His wives and children were sent to Jingis Khan.|| The
* Y«le*t Marco Polo, and Bd., i. a34pa37. t Pttis do to Croix, op. €it.» 54. | Id., 56.
i D'Ohsson tayt On Uutto* and says furthtr that it msant tht eifht rivers* and was therefore
the country of the Upper Venissei.
I Brdsnano, 298. D'Ohsson, i. 82. f Petia do la Croix, 37. ** Ante, 6c.
tt YvW hiarco Polo^ and Bd., 1. 339- K Brdmann, afS. H Op. dt., i* H*
II BrdiiMWi» ^qB. 0*Ohatoo, i. Sa.
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556 HinORY or THE IfOMOOIA
gntt Mongol chief appropriatod tlie territory of his former friend
and patron, but it is not in accordance widi the usual Mong(d citsicHn
that he should entirely have disfdaced his family. It is much more
probaUe that ho placed some at least of the late chiefs tribes under die
control of his relatives, and we accordingly read in Maito Pdo and dse-
where that a portion of Tenduc was governed long afterwards by one
of Wang Khan's descendants. «
Masco Polo^ in describing the district of Tenduc, says the king of the
province is of the lineage of Prestcr John, Geofge by name, not that he
holds anydiiog like die idiole of what Prester John possMsed. "^Itb
the custom,'' he adds, "^ that di6se kings of die lineage of Prester|john
always obtain to wife either daughters of the Grand Khan or other
princesses of his fiunily.''*^ This George may be eidier the western name
Geoige or a comipdon of the Thibetan and Mongol name Jurji or Doije,
iHiieh is more probable. He is again mendimed by Marco P<^o as
having taken part in a fight against Kaidu, die great rival of Khubilai,
near Karakoram. He n there called the grandson of Prester John, and
also the younger Preptcr John,t and it is not imprdbaMe therefore that he
wa^ a son of Sengun's. The name Geoige is mendoned, as I shall show
presendy, by John of Monte Corvino, who knew him very intimately. It
is not likely that eidier he or Marco Polo were mistaken as to his lineage ;
on the other hand, it is generally supposed that we have no nodce of him
except in European authors. I bdieve, on the contrary, that we have,
and that he was no other than the Juiji who is made the eldest son of
Khubilai in Von Hammer's tables, while by Gaubil Odng kin is called the
heir to die throne^ Wassaf also says the latter was Khubilai's eklest son.
Colonel Yule suggests that he died young4 I would rather suggest that
Jur)i, who is not named in the succession, as be would assuredly have
been if he was Khul^lai's eldest son, was no son of Khubilai at all, but
was in fiict the son of Wang Khan, mendoned by Polo as fighting on
Khubilai's side against Kaidu. As I said, he is mentioiied by John of
Monte Corvino, who speaks thus of him : ''A certain Idng of this part
of the worid, by name Geoige, belonging to the sect of the Nestorian
Chrisdans, and of the illustrious lineage of that great king who was
called Prester John of India, in the first year of my arrival heref attached
himsdf to me, and after he had been converted by me to the verity of
the Catholic firith took the lesser orders, and when I celebrated mass
used to attend me wearing his royal robes. Certain others of the
Nestorians on this account accused him of apostacy, but he brought over
a great part of Ms people with him to the true Catholic fiiuth, and built a
church of royal magnificence in honour of our God, of the Holy Trinity,
* ¥«!•*■ Msfto Pole» sad Bd., i. ^5.
tY«l«*aMtfcoPplo,itt^,il.,990> J Y«l«^ Maim P^ «ad Ed., L 99*.
t He anind at Cambultc or P<Usf» whtnet th* Wttw It dated «bo«t xjf9-d-
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THB KB1UUT8 AMD TOROUTS. 557
and of onr lord die Pope, giving it the lUUOM of thtRoait^ This
Kii^ Geoige, six years ago (U., ia 1299), departed to the Lord, leaving
as his heir a son scarcely out of the cradle, and who is now ($^^ in 1505)
nine years okL And after King Geotge's death his bcothen^ perhdious
ibliowers of the errors of NestorinSy perverted again att those whom he
had brought over to the Church and carried thsm back to Uieir original
schismatical creed. And being all alone and not able to leave his
majesty the Cham, I could not go to visit the dmrdi above mentioned,
which is twenty days' journey distant Yet if I could get some good
Mow-wotfcers to help me I trust in God that all this might be retrieved,
for I still possess the grant which was made in our fitvour by the late
King Geoige befoie mentioned . • • I had been in treaty wtt the
faite King George, if he had lived, to transUUe tiie idMle Latin ritual, that
itmight be sung throughout the whole extent of his tenitory; and whilst
he was alive I used to celebrate mass in his church ncpanrthig to the
Latin ritual, reading in the before mentioned language and chamcter the
words of both the prefiM:e and the canon.''* Colonel Yule says /'the
distance mentioned, twenty days' journey from Peldi^ suiu quite well
with the position assigned to Tenduc^ and no doubt the Roman Church
was in the city to which Marco Polo gives that name.''t
Friar Odoric, travdhng westwards from China in 1526 and 13^, saya
he arrived after a jouiney of fifty days at the country of Pnster John,
whose principal city was Tosan, nHiich although ^ dlief dty, Vicensa
would be ccmsidered iu si^erior. Besides it^ he had many other cities
under him, and by a standing compact always received to wile the Great
Khan's daughter4 This Tocan Cdond Yule identifies with Tothung, a
circle of administration immediate^ east of Nin^iia and embracing a
part of the Ordus country.} This notice condndes the list of Western
authorities who refer to Prester John and his people*
Let us now approach die subject from another point of view. At the
accession of Jtngis the Mongd race was divided into four great sectkAS,
the Mongols proper, dM Tatars, die Merldts, and the Keraits. Of
these the last were no doubt at that date die most io^KNrtant, what th^
has become of their descendaau ? The Mongols of Jingis Khan, that is
the Yeka or Great Mongols^ are no doubt rqiresented by the Khalkhas
and the Forty-nine banners. The Tatarswere terribly punished and
scattered. The Metidts I bdiere to have been the ancestors of the
modem Buriats. And by a process of exhaustion we arrive at the con-
clusion that the Kalmnks represent the ancient Kenits, and this view
may be suppocted by other oonskkiatioss, but first a lew words about
the name by whidi the Kafanuks are generally spoken of by the Chinese
and Mongd writers and those who dmw inspiration from them.
•Calte3rAndtkftWiVTIiltlMfvtM<4Qt. t Yito't MucoP«lo.iBd£4nl.i^
IC«tbagrAa«ll»W^rTiatlMr,i4^i47* %l^,i4l^ Notes.
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558 HISTORY OF TBI IfOMOOLt.
This name it Durben Uumdy and it means, according to good
audioritiet, Uie four allies,* and is used by Ssanaag Setien as Uie
corrdative of the tenn '^tlie Forty,* which he applies to the Mongols
proper. The name arose no doabt ftom the Kahmiks having in the
middle ages formed a confoderacy of four tribes or sections. These four
sections are named by Ssanaag Setzen as the Kergud, Baghatud, Choit,
and the Ogfaeledf It is therefore a descriptive term, which may be fitly
compared with the term ^ allies," by which the English and French were
known in the Russian war, and it has no specific vahie as a race name.
It has been confounded, as I believe most improperly, with the name
of another tribe which does not bdong to die purely Mongol race. This
tribe is called Uirad or Uirat by Raschid. He tdU us it lived on the
Segias Muran.| Abulghasi, who follows Raschid, calls the place Sikis
Muran, and adds that it means the eight rivers.! These eight rivers were
the head streams of the Kern or Upper YenisseL Now it is curious that
dose to this area there still remains a people whose indigenous name is
Uirad, and who are known to the Russians as Telenguts, and, as I have
said in the first chapter, it is these Uirads who I believe are the
descendants of the Ufarads of Rasdiid, with whom the Kalmuks had
nothing to da Having rid ourselves of this impediment, let us now
proceed. As I have said, one of the four divisions of the Durben Uirads
in Ssanang Setsen is that of the Keiguds or Keraits. This is a hint that
the andent Keraits were dosdy related to the modern Kalmuks.
Now, on turning to die account of the early history of the Torguts
given by Pallas,! which he derived firom a chronicle written by Gabung
Sharrap, a prince of the Toiguts, we find their royal house derived from
one Kas wang or Ki wang, who separated himself with the TorguU firom
his soverdgn Wang Khan. Both Pallas and Remusatf identify this
Wang Khan with the great chief of the Keraits. One of the prindpal
tribes or clans of the Torguu. is still called Keret or Karat**^ De Mailla
tdls us Uie family name of Wang Khan was Yeliku.tt This seems like a
Chinese transcription of the fomoosTorgut dan-name Efket The name
Toigut is derived by certain of the Kalmyks from the word Turuk or
Turugut, which means giants or great people, and say further it was
given, them by Jingis Khan.}}' It is not improbable, however, that it is
derived, like many other Mongol names, from the fdace v^ere they lived,
and it is curious that in the country of the Tumeds of Koko Khotan,
whkh has been identified as the probable position of Wang Khan's
country, there is a river Tnrguen and a place called Torgfai.{| Lastly, it
is very remarkable that when the Durben Uirads first appear in history
* Remaiat Lm Lftsiffuet TarUret, asS. Pallmt SaidI. Hi«t. Nach., ac.» i. 6.
t Op. dt., 57. I BrdmADBVi T«iiii4lo, Ac., 187. I Op. dt. Bd. DMiiiaiaoiM, 45.
I Sml. Hist. Nidi., Ac, i. 50. f I<« Labcom T«rt«rM. ajS. ** Pallas, op. cit.« i. 9s.
ttOp.cH.tix.17. nP<^UMv«P*«i»ni-n* i^»MJCap,DaUiuUa,vol.it.
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THE KBRAITS AND TOAOXJTS. 559
after the expulsion of the Mongols from China that the chieftain who
claimed to be by right their sovereign was Ugetohi Khaskhagha, of the
Kergad or Keraits. These facts make it very probable Indeed that the
Keraits are now rej^resented by the Kahnuks.
As I have said, the Toigut chiefs daim descent ftom Km wang or
Ki wangy the brother of Wang Khan. Ki wang or Gni wang is merely
a Chinese title, meaning Great Khan, and we find it applied to one of
Jingis's great generals, namdy, Mukah Guiwang.* The Ki wang who
separated himself from his brother and suzereign Wang Khan was
doubtless Ilka Seugun, whose prowess got him the Thibetan title of
Yakembo Keraiti, i>., great Kerait Prince,t and we are expressly told
that he detached one of Wang Khan's tribes, namely, the Tungkaiu, from
their allegiance to him4 Yakembo was very closely connected with the
ftimily of Jingis ; his eldest daughter Abika married the great conqueror
himself. Another named Bigtutemish Fudshin was married to his eldest
son Juji ; the thiid, Siuikukteni, married Tului, and became the mother
of the great Khans Mangu and Khnbilai ; while the fourth was married
to a chief of the Onguts.} And it is very probable indeed that when
Jingis appropriated the country of Wang Khan that he left a number of
his clans under the authority of Yakembo, and that these clans are the
modem Torguts. We will now try and trace out the story of Yakembo's
descendants.
Pallas tells us Ki wang had a son called Sof&i, otherwise entitled
Buyani Tetkukshi, who had a son Bayar, whose grandson was called
Makhachi Menggo, with the surname of Karat. He says it is die
most famous name among the ancestors of the Toigut princesi and that all
his d^endants are called Karat He also tdls us that Makhadii means a
murderer, and that the name was derived from his havii^ married his
seven daughters to seven princes, whom he afterwards murdered and
appropriated their lands. He is clearly looked upon by the Torguts as
the hero of their royal line. Now, on turning to Ssanang Setzen's history
of the Mongols under the years I393-I399» ^^^ r^^ that the Khakan of
the Mongols, named Elbek Khakan, rewarded one Chuchai Dadshu for
some important services he had rendered him by promising to appoint
him Chin sang, and to give him authority over the four Uirads. By his
counsel the Khakan murdered his brother Khaigotsok Khungtaidshi and
appropriated his widow. The ktter revenged herself by poisoning the
Khakan's mind against Chuchai Dadshu so much that he had him put to
death. Finding out soon after that the charges against his fovourite
were groundless, he raised his son Batula to his fother's rank^ and gave
him the command of the four Uirads. We are told that these events aroused
the anger of one Ugetshi Khaskhagha of the Keiguds, who claimed
*BrdiiiMB*iTtaM4iii#iyS* tM )foU73. t^^f^ ^Id^m-
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56o HunroRY or the MOirooLa.
himfdf to be die chief of the foilr Uirmds. He marched ageintt die
iniflV^"^ defeated and killed him, appropriated his widow Oldshei Chung
Beidshi, and aobdued the greater part of the Mongol race.* I believe
that UgettU is no other than the Makhatshi of FaSas. The former was
a Ketgud iU,, a Kerait), the latter is especially distingnishM by the name
KeraitL One was succeeded by a son Yassnn, the other by Esselou
Their names are in Deict the same, i^th the exception of the initial M in
Malrhaturhi ; and further, in the lists of Pallas, w^ch give the names of
most of Ae Uirad princes of any renown, Makhatshi is the only one
which can be correlated with UgeUhi. For these reasons I shall treat
them as the same. I have already shown reason for identifying the
Ugetshi of Ssanang Setsen with the Gultsi of Timkowski, and the Knlidii
of the Chinese authors.t The Ming annals say he usurped the throne
under the title of Kohan (/.#., Khakan)4 De MaiUa teOs us that Kulichi,
who had authority among the people of the North, arrogated to himself
the title of Khan or king of the Tatars, not daring to take that of Khan
of the Mongols, for fear of arousing against him the princes of the
Mong^ royal fiunily. This was in 1388. The Chinese Emperor sent
him a seal and patent of office confirming him in the title which he had
usurped. He also sent him four pieces of gold brocade.} These marks
of £ftvour were displeasing to certam other princes, who were impatient of
obeying one that did not belong to the <M Imperial stock.| These chiefii
having collected an army, attacked and drove him away. This was in
1404. There can be no doubt that for some years Uget^dii reigiked
supreme in Mongolia, the l^^itimate Khan Adsai being a kind of state
prisoner or puiq>et in his hands. The chronology of this period of
Mongol history is terribly confused. Ssanang Setsen makes Ugetshi
murder his rival Batula in I4I5,Y while the Ming annals make Kulichi be
kiOed by Aroktai in 1409-** Ugetshi was succeeded by his son Esseku,
whom I identify with die Yassun of Pallas. This was, according to
Ssanang Setsen, in 1415. He was then twenty-nine years old. He
rnarried the widow of Batukk, and was known as Esseku Khakan. Adsai
and Aroktai continued to live iaids house, as they had done in that of
hb lather. He reigned^r eleven years, and died in 1425 ft After his
death confusion reigned among the Uirads. When this was overcome^
we find them rated over by the rival house descended firmn Chuchat
Dadshu. Ssanang Setien tells us nothing more, so far as we can see,
about the descendants of Ugetshi, and we ate now left to the meagre
rslatioa of Pallas. He tells us the son of Yassun was called Boegho or
Boibego Urliik, and was the ancestor of the many Toigut princes who
* Smumbs S«Umi* Lil-MS* Aata, 350.
t Aatt, iS2, 1 DtUuiMrrc« 97. ) Op. dt., x. 153. Delamarrt, 155.
Fi4«a8lr,s93- f0^cit.,I45• ** Op. dt., z^. ft SMmaaf SttMB, 147*
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THB KDtAITS AMD TOROUTS. 561
lh«d on the Volga. He had six tons by hit two wives, nam^, Suls^a,
Baara, Good, Maagkhai, WeQa Zanaen, and BoOikhuiL*
The ddeat ton of Sidt^ga Uiluk waa the vaal founder of the later
Tofgut power, he was cafied Kha Urluk. Up to hia time the Toignta
aeem to hare lived in doae neigfaboiixhood with the other Kahnnka, and,
like them, anffBrad hi die terrible campaigns waged against them hy
AhanKhan. It ia probable that up to diat time their princes exercised a
considerable awlhority in Sungaria, but diat cas^aign seems to have
shattered and disintegrated die nation very consideraUy. We read that
m 156a Altan Khan's great-nqphew, Khtitiiktai Setsen, marched against
the four Uirads, and that on the river Erchis (f ^., the Irtish) he defeated
the Toigagods (i^ the Torgiits). As a token of their- subjection, he
cansedn Warlrrhamel to be killed and its skin to be planted as a standard
on thoiheasth of the royal tent. He also carried off a number of ToiguU
«dd*fiMiis as his prisoners.t
This defeat no doubt considerably shattered the power of the Toirguta.
Some years later the Sungars began to grow very poweiful, and we read
that about i6i6their.great chief Baatursqparated himself from his £aher
and settled in the country of the Irtish. This was probably after a
struggle with the Torguts, for Pallas assigns quarrels with the Sungars
as the motives of their migration ; and the Scotch traveller Bdl, who
travelled on the Volga in 1715, says their sepantion from the other
Kahnuks took place on account of a domestic quarreL Whatever the
cause, it would seem that about 1616 they left their old home in Sungaria,
under the leadership of Urink, and migrated across the Kiii^us steppes.
On their way, Bell tdls us they defeated the Tartar chieftain Eyball
Utsik, who lived beyond die Yemba, whose sulijects were no doubt the
Yhnbulatian Tartars of Pallas.t He also defeated the Astrakhan Nogays^
and the same year (^ in 1616) made peace with the Russians.1
When next we read of the Toiguta it is in connectioo with Siberia.
Alter the final defeat of Kuchum, Khan of Siberia, several princes of his
house attempted to revive his authority; among these was one called
Ishim, who styled himself Khan of Siberia. We are told that in order
to strengthen his positiofi he married the daufl^iter of Uriuk, the Tot^t
duetl The latter had his camp apparently on the upper Tobol,Y whence
his influence was widely felt It was no doubt his subjects who made
occasional raids upon the territory of Khuarezm, as described by
Abulghasi Khan. They first appeared there eariy in the reign of Arab
Muhammed Khan. They were i/xx> in number, and marching between
the lake of Khodja and the mountain of Cheikh Jdil, they pilkged the
villages on both sides of the river as for as the fcnt of Tuk, whence they
returned home, passing by BurichL Arab Muhammed pursued them,
* PatiM, op. elt^ i. 97. t Smmos StUts, ill. tOp.ctt,L98. fM.
I FiiclMr, Sft. Gfdk, 444- f FiMbtf, of. dt^ 577*
3B
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562 HTSTOitY or THS MONGOLS.
and recovered the prisoners and booty they had taken, but did not
capture a single Kalmiik.* Twelve years later, and just at the end of
the reign of Arab Muhammed, they nuule another incursion by way of
Bakurghan, and succeeded in carrying off a considerable booty.t They
returned again some years later, about 1624, and carried off a laige
number of prisoners belonging to the il or clan of Abulj^iaxLt
Meanwhile Khu Urluk was a powerful influence elsewhere* He was
suspected by the Russians of intriguing with the troublesome Nogays of
Astrakhan against them, but on their sending an envoy to him, about
1632, he received him well, arranged for a mutual trade between the two
nations, and himself sent back envoys to Tumen to promise on behalf of
himself, his brothers, &c., that they would live peaceaMy with the
Russians. The Kalmuk merchants who accompanied the envoy foimd
a good market for their wares, especially their horses, and a Russian
caravan accompanied them on their return home.! Meanwhile he
covertly intrigued with the Nogays, gained over one of their chiefo named
Sultanai, and threatened the rest, who appealed to the Russians for aid.
This was in 1633.I He seems to have dominated over the whole of the
steppes of the Kirghiz Kazaks, and it is dear from the narrative of
Abulghazi that the inhabitants of Khuarenn sufiered severely at his
hands.ir We are told that about 1639 the Turkomans of Mangushlak
were entirely crushed, only 700 families of them remained, and they were
subject to the Kalmuks. Abulghazi adds that the sovereign of the
Kalmuks, having heard of his arrival at Mangushlak, sent for him, and
having detained hhn for a year, afterwards let him return to his people at
Urgendj.** It is probable that at this time the Kalmuks had their winter
quarters on the Yaik or Yemba, and their sununer camps on the upper
Tobol.
In 1643 Urluk moved his camp to the neighbourhood of Astrakhan,
and intrigued again with the Nogays to detach them from their allegiance
to Russia. Upon this the inhabitants of Astrakhan marched against
him, defeated and killed him, with several of his sons and grandsons.tt
His following numbered about 50,000 tents. While he lived he was
suspicious of his sons, and only gave them small inheritances, but on his
death the horde was divided between his three sons, Daitshing, Yeldeng,
and Loosang. The eldest was offered the patent of Khan by the Bogda
Lama, but he refused it
The two younger sons were the first to cross the Yaik into the Volga
steppe, where they defeated the Nogays of the tribes Kitai-Kaptchak,Maile-
bash, and Etissan.Jt They also conquered the Turkmans or Truchmen of
the Red Camel clan (Uhm temine), who lived south of the Yemba. Later
* Abulghazi, Ed. Desmaisons, 396. t /d., 298. I Id., 325- i Fiacber, op. dt., 462.
1 14., 576. H Vidt, op. cit., 337. •• /A, 338. 11 Fiachar, op. dt. 577.
n PaUaa, op. dt.,i. S9- BeU madgna Uiia action to Kha Urluk, and makM the tlira«. tribal
KOfdiiafa.
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THS K£RAITS AKD TORaUTS. 5^
in the same year Daitahing followed his brothers, and, Uke them^d to fight
with the Nogays and with the Bashkirs. In 1650 the brothers quanelled,
and Loosang recrossed the Yaik, and went towards Siberia. He was
pursued by an officer named Saissan Khoshootshi, overUken on tbt river
Or, and deprived of the greater portion of his fo&ewers, whiie he Umself
escaped to the ToboL Yeldeng must soon after thb have died^ at least
when in 1656 Daitshing Taidshi and his son Punzuk or Bantshult
formally submitted to the Ciar Alesds Michaetovitchy no mention is made
of him. In 1662 Daitshing repeated for the second time on the brook
Bereket, sixty versts from Astrakhan^ the treaty with the Russians.
During the reigns of Urhik's sons the Kahnuks continued their attadts
upon the country of Khuaresm. Thus in 1648 they made an altatk,
which I have already described.* At this time Abolghazi sent home to
his own country a prince (tur^ of the uruk of the Toiguts, named Buyan,
who was then at Khuarezm, havmg gone there for purposes of commei'ce.t
In 1652 the Torguts, under command of three of their chiefe nimed
Meigen Taishi (probably the Meigen mentioned below), Okchateb^
and Toghul, plundered the villages near Hezar asb, and advanced
as far as Sedur and Darughan, and retired with a great number
of prisoners. Abulghazi determined to pursue them, contrary to
the advice of his B^s, who urged that they had been gone ten
days, and were now far enough away. He overtook a party of them
near the moimtain Irder, and having taken them prisoners, put them to
death. He then pursued the mam body, which on his appnoadi
scattered, each of its three chiefs going a diffiurent way, leaving the weak
and the laggards to look after themselves. Okchuteb^ and Toghul weM
overUken at Sakin Rabat There they fortified themselves, and sent
envoys to say they had entered upon his (Abu^hazi's) territory by
mistake. They were very humble, ofiered to give back all the booty they
had captured in the district of Uigenj, and swore not to molest it again.
Abulghazi listened to their prayer, since, as he says, neither their fothcti
nor elder brothers had ever been enemies of his state, and he sent diem
home with rich presents4
Yeldei^s son Mergen quarrelled with his brothera, a quarrel whidi
was made use of fay Daitshing's son Punsuk, iHio imprisoned and killed
him and appropriated his subjects. He had to stsuggle for the prize,
however, with Dugar, the son of his uncle Kirossan, who had stood by
Mergen. He also was defeated, and forced to take refoge with tlie Krim
Tatars. This happened in 167a Punzuk, who was now master of the
greater part of the Torgut horde, was soon after this surprised by die
Khoshote Ablai Taidshi.f He died in his hands, and left the (uiaci-
paUty of the Torguts to his eldest son Ayuka Taidshi. Namoseran had
• Aale, 503. t AbulghMi. S4i> I OP- <**•• 34S-35I. i VU$ aate, sos.
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564 Hunmty op thk momcols.
ant to Paafak tte giMtatt inhCTkanfie among llie bobs of Diitaliiiig.
He luMl not tht sane luck in inocasing it, and hit desoendanto were
cooaideted only as priacea of the second tank, ranking neit to tke
Khans.*
In 1673 Ayuka had some intetcoorse with the Russians. HethenKvtd
on the riv«r Sarpa, on the steppe between the Don and the Volga« Since
the time of Daitshing the TofguU had annually received a payment of
gdhl» merchandise, and victuals in retom lor acting as policemen to 1
of the turlNilent tribes north of the Caucasus. AyukabadconHpelledi
of the Nogays to give him hostages. He was not at this time in a
very contented mood, as the payment of his donative by the Russians
was in artear, but he promised to go to Astrakhan to renew the oath
of allegiance. He arrived <m the 26th of Februaryi 1673. The governor
prepared a splendid tent and an imposing guard to receive him, and the
following day he took the oath, as did his cousins Melush, Nasarmamut,
Tugiaif and Dordsha Taidshi, and all the Saissans present, both in the
name of themsdves and of the other princes (among whom the Derbet
SokaiL Zeren is e^>ecially named), and for the Nogays under their
authority. The dadi was sworn in Katanuk fashion, each one with
his swotd on his head touching a figure of Buddha, a rosary, and
a sacred book. Ayuka swore to serve fiuthlully ^ the Czar Alexis
Michadovitdi and his sons Ivan and Peter against their enemies,
especially the Turks and Tatars, and to protect their towns and subjects.
Not to molest the Nogays, the Ediisanian, Jimbulatian, and other Tatalv
under the jurisdiction of Astrakhan. To have no dealings with the
Tttdush Sultan, the ^lah of Persia, the Krim Khan, die Bey of Azo^
they of Temruk^ Taban, and Besknes, the Kumuks, or other enemies of
Russia. Toprevent iht Tatar (^., Nogay) Mursas from committing depre-
dations, le shelter no deserters from Astrakhan, and to allow the Mursas
who wished to visit AstraUian to go there freely. Not to demand back
escaped Christian slaves, not to ask exorbitant ransom for fugitives who
mii^lidlintheifway. ToassisUheRussianmerchants'barksontfaeVolga
and to send their horses for sale to the Russian markets at Tambo^ Kasi-
mof, Wolodomir, and Moscow. To be content with the annual payment the
Russians made them, to make an annual campaign against the Kumuks,
and Krim Tatars^ and, lastly, to deliver up to the Russians the Khoshote
prince Ablai and Ayuka's uncle Dugar, whom they had imprisoned.*
This treaty, like many of those made by Russia with her barbarous neigh*
boors, seems tran^Murently onesided On the other hand there was only
a promise to dehveor up all heathen and Muhammedan escaped prisoners,
to prohibit the Yaik Coasacks and die Bashkirs from making hicursions
upon the Kahnnks, and the payment of the arrears of the donative due
•PaUM,ef.dt,i.6ow
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THS KKRATTS AMD TOUOUTS. 565
to them. Totfiedtligiitaiidatthedesireof AyakaandhbfollowarSytlie
Rimians after the oetemony peiformed some military manoeuviesy fired
off guns, Sec.y and both parties kit the conference highly fOeased.*
The position of Ayuka and his peoi^ was an awkward one. Placed
on die confines of the Russian empire and its hereditary and (then
anything hut helpless foe) the TuilUy whose vanguard was formed by the
Khanate of Krim, he was naturally made the subject of mtrigues by both.
He had among his subjects the Nogays, a turbulent and uneasy race, and
his nortfiem neighbours were the Cossacks of the Yaflc and the Bashkirs.
The three latter were constantly making inroads into each other's country
and into that of the Kafanuks. Inroads whidi led naturslly toreprisals,
in whidi the Russian frontier was not always respected. In 1676 Ayuka
was encamped in the steppes of the Yaik, where he had gone to await the
arrival of the Khoshote chief Dordshi TaidshLt The Russians com-
plained to hnn of the disturbances on the finontier, and invited him to
another conference at Astrakhan, where he went with the Derbet prince
Solomzeren and many others. There mutual complaints were made, and
it was agreed diat Ayuka should renew his former oath.
Ten years later the Russians grew more uneasy on hearing diat Ayuka
had been in communlcadon with the Krim Khan, and that gifts had
passed between them. They sent 1dm a note, leminding him of
his oath. Ayuka retorted that the Bashkirs and Cossacks were per-
mitted to attack htuL But he was afrakl of filling between the two
stools, and he sent the letters of Nart Gitei, the Krim Khan, to Astrakhan
and promised the Russians not only to assist them in any war they had
with the Tatars, but also to send a contingent in any struggle they might
have with the Poles and the Turks. The Russian policy towards their
border tribes was the favourite pdicy of our own country until lately. To
set one tribe's jealounes against another, and to bind the more intractable
to their duties by an annual donative. This policy was fi^owed in the case
of Ayuka with indifferent success. He was either dissatisfied with their
bounty, or else, like the Kazak chiefe, he was unable to restrain the more
turbulent of his subjects, and one of these causes led to constant inter-
ference with his liberty and to his being summoned constantly to a
council to repeat his oath of allegiance, and to his being threatened
with the invasion of his territory by the Cossacks. It was thus
that in 1682 the complaints of the neif^bourii^ peoples wei« made
the excuse for sending Ayuka a fresh missive, in which be was ordei^
to make some recompense for the past, and to give up three of his
nearest relatives as hostages for the ftitnre. These demands only
embittered him, and he refiised compliance. In the August of that
year, on the invitation of the Uralian Bashkirs, he mardied a large
* PallM. op. dt., i. 6X| tfa. t Pailftt, bp. dt, i. 6a. Antt^soj.
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566 HISTORY or THE MONGOLS.
body of Kahnuks and Nogays and revolted Baskirs into the Uii
province as far as Kasan. He burnt and laid waste many villages^
and carried away everything living, but £&iled to take Ufa itself.
Thus a lai^ body of Russians, Chuvashes, and Cheremlsses were
carried into c^Atvity, and a ponion of the Bashkirs attached them*
selves to Ayuka's horde. The same year a troop of Kalmuks and
Bashkirs fell upon Samara, drove away its garrison, and beat a body of
Cossacks in the neighbourhood. Ayuka was, not unnaturally, rather
afraid of his success. He knew the vengeance of the Russians would
follow him. Having placed the property and baggage of the horde in a
place of safety, near the lake of Samar, and the Ufa river, he tried to
come to terms, promised to make amends, and even to escecute one of his
principal chiefs. In case his overtures were rejected, he threatened to
desert the Russian borders, and to depart beyond the Yemba. He also
took the conciliatory step of forbidding the sale as slaves of the prisoners
taken in the late campaign. His envoys were told- at Astrakhan that the
only terms the Russians would forward to Moscbw were the giving of
hostages and the payment of an annual tribute of 500 horses. He was
also told that in future he must forego his annual donative. These terms
were not agreeable to Ayuka, and the negotiations were broken off.
Towards the end of March, 1683, as he was marching from the Volga
towards the steppes of the Narym, a party of the Bashkirs fell on the
Kalmuk outposts, who were watching the Yaik Cossacks. He accordingly
marched towards their country with a large army, but thought better
of it, turned asides and crossed the Yaik. Meanwhile the Russians
offored to restore him to his former favour if he would restore the prisoners,
suriender some fugitive Bashkirs, and give three good hostages.
Although he was at this time attacked by two parties of Cossacks of the
Don and the Yaik he fulfilled these conditions. We are told that he was
by no means humble in his attitude, and reminded the Russians that he
was their ally and not their subject, and that his friendship was sought
by others besides them, namely, by the Krim Tatars and the Turks. At
length he once more renewed his oath with Solom Zeren.*
We next hear of Ayuka in 1693, when he was engaged in punishing
the Bashkirs. He would seem to have been at this tune on good terms
with the Russians, and to have carried out their policy of punishing the
neighbouring unruly tribes. He pushed his excursions, we are told, up
to the foot of the Caucasus, and being opposed on his march by the
Nogays of the Kuban, he completely defeated them. The bodies of his
slain foes were cast by his orders into a pit dug under a great tumulus
situated on the field of battle, and still known in the country by the
name of Bairin Tolkon (mountain of joy), bestowed on it by the
* PallM, L 67.
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THE KERAITS AND TOROUTS. 567
victorious Khan.* About this time he seems to have been granted the
title of Khan by the Russian Emperor, for after the year 1700 he is so
styled in official documents, and is no longer called Taishi.t
By his three wives Ayuka had eight sons and five daughters, the eldest
of the latter, named Sederdshap, was married to the Sungar chief Tse
wang Arabtan, and was murdered by her stepson. Two others, named
Loosangshap and Galdanshap, were married to Arabtan, the son of the
Sungar chief Setzen Akhai. A fourtli, named Buntar, was married to the
Derbet prince Menko Timur, while the fifth died unmarried.
He had great trouble with his sons, which chiefly arose from the
intr^fues he carried on with his daughters-in-law. His eldest son, Bjak
or Chakdurdshap, who had married a daughter of the Khoshote Setzen
Khan, was especially aggrieved. He rebelled in 1701, and was sup-
ported by the horde. Ayuka was forced to fly to the Cossack towns on
the Yaik ; his son followed him towards the Yaik, and sent messengers to
the Sungarian Kontaish. Ayuka upon this gave his inheritance to
another son, Gundshep, who employed a murderer to Idll his brother.
The attempt failed, and Gundshep fled to Saratov In the meanwhile a
third son, Sandship, set out with 15,000 followers (?) on the Quixotic
errand of possessing himself, by craft or otherwise^ of the empire of
Sungaria, then held by Tse wang Araptan. Without striking a blow his
plans were frustrated. His followers were appropriated, and he himself
with several of his immediate friends were sent back again to Ayuka.
This was in 1704. He was soon afterwards killed by an explosion of
gunpowder. Ayuka and his eldest son were reconciled to one another
with the help of the Russian Kn&s Boris Alex. Galizin. Soon afterwards
Gunshep, who his father had formeriy appointed his heir, also died. In
1711a solemn and memorable conference took place between Ayuka and
the Russians. It was agreed that as Khan he should receive an annual
stipend of 2,000 rubles, besides 2,000 sacks of flour and a quantity of
powder and shot for his troops. He promised to be faithful to the
Emperor till his death, to send a body of 10,000 Kalmuks into the Kuban
steppe whenever the Azof Cossacks should prove rebellious, and to give
assistance when the Bashkirs were troublesome. In 1713 Ayuka
declared his eldest son Chakdurdshap to be his successor, and in
confirmation gave him the Khan's seal which he had received from the
Dalai Lama, and used another one himself. He died, however, before
his father, having meanwhile chosen from among his many children his
son Dassang to be the head of the house and given him the seal he had
received from Ayuka. Gunshep had also died some yean before.
In 1722 Peter the Great stayed at Astrakhan on his expedition to
Persia ; he gave Ayuka a very gracious audience^ and received him on
*I>tIUirkTnivel»»aa4. t Pidltf , 0|>. dt., i. €8.
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568 HISTORY or THB IfONOOLS.
board his galley on ib» Volga, near Sarato^ treating him and his ^fe
like sovereign princes ;* but he arbitrarily fiicd upon his cousin Dordshi,
who had a good reputation, to succeed to the Khan's power, and exacted
from him that in that case he would give the Russians hostages. Ayuka's
plans were different Foigetting his duties to the hereditary representative
Dassang, and under pretence of his disobedience, he drove him away and
chose one of his younger sons called Cheren Donduk as his heir. At
this unf<Mrtunate juncture Ayuka died, aged eifi^ty-three, and left
everything in coniusion.t No sooner was he dead than one of his
widows, Darmabala, strove to secure the chief power to Donduk Ombo,
his grandson. Dordshi Taidshi, the Russian nominee, refused the
honour on the ground that he was too weak to restrain the other princes,
but really because he was unwilling to give lus sons as hostages. He
suggested Dassang or Cheren Donduk as the candidates who had the
best tide. In this difficulty the Russian governor named Cheren
Donduk, who was a son of Darmabala's, an imbecile and the last choice
of Ayuka,' as we have seen, to hold the position of Vice-Khan, pending
the confirmation of the court. Soon after Cheren Donduk was duly
appointed Khan of the Toiguts by the Russians. He was very weak.
He allowed himself to be baptised, which disgusted his peo^de, and then
became a Lamaist, which disgusted the Russians. Donduk Ombo, by
bis address and skill, had formed a large party among the Toiguts
favourable to •himself He acquired by his perseverance some small
brass cannons which could be carried on camels. The Khan did the
same, and the Russians, fearfiil of a general conflagratioii, forbade the
sale of powder and anmumition to the Ealmuks.
Having seduced a great portion of the Kalmuks to his side, and having
beaten the Khan in an engagement and amipelled him to take
refuge at Zaritxin, and fearful of the Russian commander, he now fled
with his peof^ to the Kuban, and put himself imder the protection of the
Turks. Hence he made inroads into the Russian territory, and returned
thence with other portions of the Volga horde, the only Kalmuks who
remained there were scattered and disintegrated.
The Khan, in order to renew his authority, had recourse to the
Dalai Lama, who in the summer of 1735 s^nt him tiie Palent, a o^ of
which,. Pallas says, was in the library of the Imperial Academy. The
ceremony of investiture is imposing. It took place on the loUi
September, i735* The Khan's felt tent was hung with silken tissues, and
two seats were placed in it, one for the Khan and a lesser one at
its side for Shakur Lama, the then chief priest of the Toigirts.
The idols were set out in an adjoining tent, where some Lamas
performed the services amidst the sound of trumpets and other
*D%Ba^Tnif9U,M4* tPsllM,«p.tft.70b
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THX KERAITS AND TORGUTS. 569
instnunents. The Khan sat on his seat and awaited the arrival of the
Grand Lama, who at length set out from his dwelling amidst solemn
prayers, accompanied by a long procession of other Lamas. Having
taken his seat on the appointed i^ace, there then arrived Baatur
Ombo, who had been sent by the Khan as his envoy to the Dalai Lama,
and who had himself become a Lama, and was now styled Baatur
Gellong. He was accompanied by many other Lamas on horseback. He
enteied bearing 00 his head the Holy Missive or Patent of the Dalai
Lama, escorted by two mandshia (/.#., neophytes), one with a number
of lighted pastils, the other bearing a vessel with glowing coals, on
which some Thibetan roots (i>., sweet-scented roots) were burning.
Behind Baatur was another Lama with the sacred statues and relics,
and then came the Khan's state riding horse, accompanied by other
Lamas. Upon this was the saddle sent him as a present by the Dalai
Lama. Others bore his state robes, cap, and girdle (from the latter of
which hung a dagger and a kaife), his sword, gun, quiver, and bow.
Lastly came two small standards or tuks, one sent by the Dalai Lama as
the symbol of the authority of Khan, the other sent by the living Buddha
Choidshing (? the Bogda Lama). This procession was also accompanied
)>y a number of Lamas with music, &c. . The two standards were planted
before the Khan's tent, the remaining things were taken inside, except
die arms and horse which were left outside. The Khan having put on his
state robes, Shakur Lama took the sacred missive, which was written in
Thibetan, and read it out, first in the tent and then outside. It ran thus :
" To the wise, holy, and prosperous Shasobense Daitshing Khan (this
was the new name conferred by the Dalai Lama) our blessing. We
wish thee and thy people the former happy times, that thy power may
increase, that as a wise householder and a noble flower thou mayest
shine, and that thou as well as others may remain steadfast in the fiuth.
Thy good wishes and thy well-intentioned gifts, namely, a good chadak
(a sillcen hanging for a temple) and carpet, two rosaries of eight beads,
eighty pieces of gold money, two pieces of cloth, &c, have been delivered
to us, and have been accepted in the name of the Almighty Tseng khapa
and the high clergy of the YeUow caps (<>., the adherents of the Dalai
Lama). We wish that thereby peace and happiness, both internal and
external, may be secured to thy people and all living beings ; strengthen
thyself in the faith that thou mayest do right to all thy subjects. Thy fore-
father, as a defender of the faith and as our constant adorer, has gone to
his eternal repose, and as followers of his example all the Toigut and other
princes ought in a fatherly and grandfatherly way to rule then* people in
peace and love, so that they may acquire beneficent knowledge to the
increase of the power and authority of the true faith of the Yellow caps,
that they be indulgent to its professors and help them on their good
path, diligently remember the prescribed prayers, confonn benevolently
3C
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570 HISTORY OF THB MONGOLS.
in all matters pertaining to religion, and have in view the precepts of Hie
godSy the holy writings, and the priesthood. Then will we ahvayt be
fiivourably disposed to thee, and thou mayest rely confidently on our
spuitual assistance in all things. As a proof of our well wishing, we send
thee a sacred Sangia (a symbol of authority in the form of a ycdlow fillet,
and answering to a crown among European sovereigns), my portrait, a
true Shalir (i>., a relic) of the ruler of the worid Sakiamuni, besides
sacred pills (Uruhi) and other consecrated things, and diree pieces of red
lacquer. Given at Budala on a piopitlotts day of the white month.* *
The various Kalmuk grandees now came to Shakur Lama to receive
his blessing, while the Khan mounted his horse, girt himsdf with the
sword, quiver, and bow which the Dalai Lama had sent him, and
repaired to the temple, or rather sacred tent, where he deposited his
arms and adored the several gods. He then returned to his sute tent,
where a foast was held amidst music and the distribution of drink, while
he sat on his throne decked in his robe% among which a scarf of white
Chinese sarcenet was conspicuous. He afterwards granted honorary
dtles to several of his dependants, and acquainted the Russian
commissary at his court that he had received consecration by the Dalai
Lama. This investiture was of small avail to Cheren Donduk. His
rival, Donduk Ombo, m^de peace with the Russians, and having secured
the obedience of the greater part of the Kahnuks, he in 173$ left the
Kuban and arrived in the Volga steppes, and Cheren Donduk prudently
escaped to St Petersburgh, where he died. At length it )ras
determined to recognise the de factP Khan as Khan also de jure^ and
Donduk Ombo was accordingly, in 173$, invested with the Khanatt W
Ismailof^ the governor of Astrakhan, an authority which he held till Isi
death in 1741. He governed the horde with great skill, and gaine4 OHldi
credit by his successful wars with the Kuban and Krim Tartsri^ ^jfA
acquired for himself the reputation of the greatest of the Kalmuk Kbans
of die Volga. For his important service in defeating the Kuban Tartars
in 1736 his stipend was raised to 3,000 rubles in money and 2poo sacks
of fiour. In 1738 his eldest son Galdan Norbo, a fovourite with the
horde, rebelled, and was so successfiil that his father took strong
measures. He divorced Noibo's mother, shut him out ftom the suc-
cession, and sent an embassy to the Dalai Lama to secure it for a
younger son, Kandul, by another wife. Norbo seems to have escaped to
Kazan, and to have there died in 174a Dcmduk Ombo removed about
6/)oo families of the Turkmans of Mangishlak, belonging to the Red
Camel horde. These he augmented by some 8/x)o fiunilies of Khun-
duran Mankats or Mountain Nogays, whom he had subdued in his
expedition against the Kuban Tatars. The combined tribes were settled
in the Kuban steppe and made tributay.t
* TiM whit* month or ZagAiMftra aiisw«ra to FtbciHujr. PaIIm. op. dt^ \f 7$^
t PaUm, Of. dt.. 79> * '
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THE KERAITS AND TORGUTS. 571
Donduk Ombo died in 174I9 and left as his successor his yoimg son
Kandul, whom I have just named, and who was then only ten years okL
His mother Dshan acted as regent. She was unscrupulous and had
several distinguished Kalmuks killed, among others Galdan Dandshin, a
son of the Khan Ayuka, and her proceedings produced great confusion
in the horde. She was a Circassian, from the Kabarda, was suspected
of being a Muhammedan, and of being in collusion with the tribes of
the Caucasus, and un£uthful to the horde. Her coquettiags with the
Caucasian Tartars and the mountain tribes was not favourably viewed
by the Russians. The Russian governor of Astrakhan, Tatitschef, theie-
lore proceeded to appoint Donduk Taishi, a grandson of Ayuka's, to the
temporary Khanate pending the confirmation by the authorities at
Moscow, and to grant him a yearly allowance of ipoo golden rubles
and as many sacks of flour. He was not only the legitimate heir
to the power as representative of Chakdofdshap, the eldest son of
Ayuka, but had proved laithfiil to Russia in Donduk Ombo^s rebellion.
The restless widow Dshan escaped with her children and 700 families,
being the clan to which Donduk Ombo bdonged, to the Eabarda, and
sent 9n embassy to the renowned Shah of Persia, Nadir, to ask for
assistance. The Shah held out hopes, but they came to nothing, and
she was persuaded to submit to the Russians. Her eldest son Kandiil
returned to his father's ulus or horde^ called Baga Zqochor, while she and
her other thildren were sent to Moscow, where they were portly after*
wards baptised and raised to the d^ity of princes. She was christened
Wiera, while her two daughters received the names of Nadeshda and
Linbof, and her sons those of Alexei, Jona% and Philip. A chnstening
gift of 1,000 rubles was given to each of them, and 1,700 rubles for their
dress. Their offences were foigiven, but to prevent a- recurrence of
disturbances among the Kalmuks, they were assigned a residence at
Moscow. The sons entered the Russian service and received a yearly
stipend. Alexei and Jonas rose to the rank of brigadier, with an Income
of 1,000 rubles.
On the death of the Khan Donduk Taishi she waf permitted, in con-
junction with one of her sons, to rule over an ulus of 2,500 families, and
settled in the fbrtiess of Yenataewa, where a large house was built for
her. One of her daughters died at Moscow, the other, who was a
Kahnuk«beattty, was married to Prince Derbetef, of the Kahnuks of
SuvropoL*
Let us now return once more to Donduk TaishL In 174* be wwit to
Moscow to attend the coronation of the Empress Elizabeth and to swear
fealty to the Russian authorities. He was still only Vice-Khan, the
dignity of Khan being for a time in abeyance. In I7S7 ^ applied to the
* PallM, op. dt.* i. 8s» ta.
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572 HISTORY or THE MONGOLS.
Russian authorities to have his son Ubasha nominated as his successor.
The Russians were not displeased at this request, which implied that the
Emperor rather than the Grand Lama was to be considered as the
investing authority. They determined to confer at the same time the
dignity of Khan on Donduk Taishl, and that of Vice-Khan upon his son,
mdiich was accordingly done with all the stately ceremonial which the
Russian authorities practise when they wish to impress their bailMxous
dependants with a notion of their grandeur. The account is given at
some length by PaUas. The Khan received the dignity standing, and
afterwards knelt sind kowtowed three times in honour of the Empress.
The oath of allegiance was sworn in the presence of a statue of Buddha,
whidi the princes touched widi their hands, and the solemn deed con-
taining the Khan's oath was signed with his tamgha or seal. The state
sword was girt on him by the Imperial assessor himself, while other
Russian officers dressed him in his saMe-lined robes and 04), and
another officer bore the tvdc, which was handed to a saissan who i^anted
it in liront of the tent* At the parting interview the new Khan showed
the Russian assessor a hill, not hi from the Solancn Saymistriii, and
which is called Wetan Kharatokhoi by the Kahnuks, and toki him he
wished to have a monument erected there, at his own cost, commemo-
ratkig the Imperial favour conferred on him. He had charged his
Bodoktshei or market judge with the matter, and asked assistance from
the Russians in building it This monument was in fiut pot up, but was
made of such perishable materials (^, of wood and cement) that it
soon decayed, and Pallas says that only iu ruins remained wlien he
wrote.t
Donduk Taishi did not live very long after his promotion, but died on the
sist of January, 1761, and was succc^ed by his son Ubasha, who was
then only seventeen years old, and who had latdy married Mandere, the
daughter of the Khoshote chief EfimnpaL He succeeded to the chieftain-
ship of looyooo families, and their camping ground extended from the
Yaik to the Don, and from Zaritzin on the Volga to the northern slopes
of the Caucasus. At the time of Ubasha's accession there was a young
prince named Z^btk Dord^, a grandson of the Khan Donduk Ombo,
who set up pretensions to the throne, and to escape, as he said, from
some Kahnuk nobles who had threatened to assassinate him, he fled
widi sixty-five followers to the Russian town of Cherkask, whence he
forwarded his compUinU to the Russian court. The opportunity of
lesseiUng the authority of the Khan during his minority was too
frivountble to be lost by the Russians. They had akeady abridged it
somnMiat in the year of his accession by deciding that the Sargatshis or
members of the Khan's council shoukl be atuched to the ministry of
•MiM,op.dt.»i.ls. iid^di.
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THE KERAITS AND TOROUTS. 573
foreign affiurs, with an annual salary of loo rubies, ^MUt the Khan's
ahsdute power was reduced practically to being president of this council.
Zebek Dordshi was now appointed chief of the Sargatshis by the Russian
authorities/ The meddling and patronage of the Russians was becoming
intolerably vexatious, interferences on every small pretext were frequent,
his power was also harshly employed by the then Russian Grand Pristof
KishinskoL Ubasha, through the intrigues of ambitious dependants,
the discontent of the Kalmuks, and the Russian policy, was being
reduced to a nonentity, and listened with avidity to the only scheme for
escaping from his difficuhies. This was no less a remedy than the trans-
planting of himself and his people from the banks of the Volga to the
borders of China, a gigantic plan, which was carried out in a marvellous
manner, for it will be admitted that to transport several hundred thousand
pecple, not soldiers but families with women and children, across the
steppes and sand wastes of Siberia, exposed to the attacks of the Kazaks^
to terrible privations, &c, and to bring it to a successful issue, constitutes
one of the heroic chapters in the history of human endurance. The original
suggestion of the migration has been credited to several people. Berg-
mann would assign it to Zebek Dordshi ; arguing that he was not content
with the promotion the Russians had given him, and that he had expected
by their means to supplant his relative altogether, and determined, as they
did not place him on the Khan's throne, to revenge himself by per-
suading the race to leave Russia and to seek quarters elsewfaere.t But,
as Madame de Hell says, this is a wholly inadequate, and in &ct an
incredible reason.^ The real fountain head and source of the movement
was, I believe, the invitation or suggestion of the Manchn court In
order to understand this we must revert somewhat
About 1703 war broke out, between Ayuka Khan and the chief
of the Sungars, and in that year Ayuka Khan's nephew Karapuchin
(the Arabshur of Remusat) set out with his mother on a pilgrimage
to Thibet As the war was going on the young prince did not venture to
return, but went on to China, where he was well received and settled on
the western frontier of Shensi.f His name was Chereng or Tsereng.|
After a stay of nine years, he in lyia received permission to return
fr6m the Emperor KanghL At the same time, under pretence of escorting
him, but really in order to report upon the reason of the migration of the
Torguts from Sungaria, to secure them as aUies, and perhaps to persuade
them to return, the Emperor sent some companions with him» headed by
a Chinese official named Tulishen.^ Whatever the arguments of
* Bergmuiii. t i47-tS3. DeHsll.MS. t B«rfnitaB, 09. dt., U 153-157.
I De H«U*i TMvri^ aj6. ♦ Wtur, Vol. 2, 4fi4*
I Mems. tur U China, i. 342. Nou. Where be If called Teereng Ubeehi.
f The Mconnt of thie embesey hat been printed m Chine, tod hM eleo been trnneUted into
fingUih br Sir George Suumtoo. bat I have noi met witb a copy of iu
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574 H18IORY OF THE MONGOLS.
Tulishen, they had no immediate fruit in regard to inducing a return of
the Toiguts to their old country. They, however, probably sowed teed
which was now, fifty-eight years later, to be harvested. There was a
constant communication going on between the Volga Kalmuks and their
brethren in the East, and also with Thibet, and parties of Mongols were
constantly passing to and fro, and during Ubasha's reign his people had
been thus laigdy recruited. On one occasion the Khoit diief Chereng^
sometimes called the perfidious Chereng, retired apparently before the
victorious Manchus and settled with 10,000 of his people among the
Torguts. He also has been credited with the suggesting the great
migration, but the chief instrument of all in the work, according to Pallas,
was the then chief Lama of the Volga horde, Loosangjatsar Arantshimba,
a son of the prince Bambar. He had filled that position for fifteen years,
and was held to be a KhubKgan or regenerate Buddha by the Volga
Kalmuks. He is described by Pallas as a treacherous impostor. How-
ever this may be, he seems to have continuously uiged the Kalmuks to
leave the country of heretics and to return towards the fatherland and
focus of their religion, their ancient home on the borders of Thibet
These various persons jcnned in urging upon the Khan the iMt>priety of
his migrating, and he was at length persuaded. It seems that he took part
in the Russian war with Tuikey in 1769 and 1770^ and that he marched
himself with 30,000 men to assist the Russians, and made a diversion
in the Kuban, while one of his principal officers, Momotubash, with $,000
men, assisted at the siege of Otshakof. The former body fought a
severe battle on the river Kalaus, in whidi 5,000 of the enemy perished.*
Ubasha returned home flushed with victory, and not in a condition to be
dragooned by the Russian Grand Pristof Kishinskoi. The latter seems
to have been a violent and imprudent person. He heard of the rumours
about the migration, but instead of using pacifying used very irritating
language. At his interview with Ubasha he jeered him, and concluded
his speech with the words : "You flatter yourself that there will be a
fortunate issue to the business, but you must know that you are merely a
bear fastened to a chain, who cannot go where he will but where he is
drivea^t This language was unpardonable, and It is quite clear that the
Russian yoke was becoming unbearable, and necessarily so, lor as
Madame de HeD says, 'Mt was impossible to allow that the whole
southern portion of the empire should be given up to turbulent hordes
which, though nominally subject to the crown, sdll indulged their pro-
pensity to pillage without scruple. Placed, as they were, between the
central and southern provinces, and occupying almost all the approaches
to the Caucasus, the Kalmuks were destined of necessity (If they sUyed
there) to lose their independence and fall beneath the Immediate yoke of
*B«rgmittm,i. 169. t/4,i6gr.
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m KIRAITS AND TORGUTS. 575
Rnsna.'^ And thdr coy&lry was in fact being rapidly encniadied upon.
The Yaik was lined whk Coasack ftnts, Gennan coknitts were aetUing
on the northern boiden, while the fine country on the Don and the
Tereky the Kuma and the Volga was not likely to remain loQg unap-
pcopriated by other settkft. The Rnasians had demanded that a son of
Ubasha's should be surrendered to them as a hostage, while it had been
determined to remove 100 young men of their best families and to bring
them up under Russian survetUancet
It^was not only the princes who lelt the burden of the yoke, the
ccmimon people were also in a fit state to listen to the tempUtion of
quitting the Volga. They sufibtd severely in their contests with the
Kazaks and the Kriro Khans (in which the Russians were not always
faithful allies). Especially had they been victims in thdr last war with
the latter, when their cattle, having been moved on to a sterile steppe,
sufiered terribly from fiunine and pestilence. These facts concurred to
make the flight popular with all classes, except perhaps the Derbets, a
portion of whose disintegrated horde had long lived with the Torguts.
They seem to have informed the authorities of the projected flight, and
to have stayed behind in considersble numbers, not because the river was
not iroieikf as some suggest, but because they disapproved of the flight.
The Russians were not taken by surprise, they were fully warned, but
were either indiflerent or incredulous, and even supplied the Kalmuks
with two cannon and their equipment, on the hollow pretence of the
latter that they wanted them in their struggles with the Kirghiz Kazaks.
^It was on the $th of January, 177 1, the day appointed by the high
priests, that Ubasha began his march with 7o/xx> families. Most of the
hordes were then assembled in the steppes on the left bank of the Volga,
and the whole multitude followed him. Only iSfiOo fiunilies remained
in Russia.*'!
The Kalmuks before their retreat, as a rule, behaved well ; they no
doubt deemed it prudent not to attract vengeance upon themselves by
ravaging the neighbouring towns. There were some exceptions to thi%
however, and one piece of atrocious cruelty is especially dwelt upon by
Bergmann. It would seem that, having captured a small body of
dn^oons and Cossacks, they wrapped the head and hands of their
leader, Dudin, tightly in the ^ green "and bloody stra^ made from a
freshly flayed ox hide. These shrunk of course as they dried, and put
the unfortunate victim to frightful torture. One of his Cossacks
managed to escape to the Kirghises, and was by them sold at Khiva, and
having escaped again told this story, and reported that he had seen
Dudin two months after, still with the stn^ upon him and at the point
of death. AH the Russians of this troop seem to have perished.}
De Helft TniTtIs, aa6. t BefgnuMS, <n>. cit^ i* tSt. IPtHell,aJ7. f BtrgmiMB, 189.
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576 HisnroiitY of the Mongols.
The cavalcade mardMHl as lighUy as possible, and die heavier things
were abandoned on the route, Ul>asha himself setting the exanq>le by
having his huge yurts cat down and the poles made into spear handles,
kettles, fumitore, and hordes of Russian copper money were thrown
away, and Pallas says that some of them were recovered years alter.*
The procession necessarily occupied a vast space on account of forage.
The catde^ women, and children travelled in the centre^ while the men
protected the front, rear, and flanks. Ubasha himself, with 15,000 men,
went up the Yaik to cover them from any attacks by the Cossacks.
They traversed the steppe between the Volga and Yaik in safety in eight
days. The Cossacks of the Yaik were then absent at the Caspian
fishing, except a few himdreds who occupied the forts on that river, one
of these named Kulagina the Kahnuks tried in vain to take, makii^ use
of the two small cannons they had carried off. They crossed the Yaik
easily on the ice, and hastened on over the snow-covered Kirghiz
steppes. Hardly had they crossed the river when some 2,000 Cossacks,
under the Starshin Mitrassof, went in pursuit, and overtook a portion of
them, the ulus YekaZookhor, under the princes Assarkho, Mashi, and the
tribe of the Exkets, consisting of i/xw yurts, at once gave in, and
turned once mofe to Russia. The section of the Erkets was commanded
by twenty Saissans, and had committed some outrages. To conceal the
evidence of this they determined to put to death thirty Russian prisoners
whom they had with them, and to leave their bodies in the steppe. The
outrage was reported to the Empress, who ordered the chief culprits to
be knouted and degraded, while their goods were sold and the produce
given to the families of the thirty murdered men.t The Kalmuks now
began to suffer considerably. The terrible wastes of the Kirghises are in
spring, when the snow melts, almost impassable; horses and cattle
began to grow meagre and fiiil, and many of the poor had to trudge on on
foot, and complaints began to be heard from rich and poor alike4
After journeying for two months they arrived at the river Iigitch.
They were buoyed up by delusive hopes held out by the princes that the
goal of their journey was not far off, but they now began to see the
real extent of the dangers that surrounded them, and they loudly
upbraided the princes for bringing them into such a pass, and even
prayed, accordir^ to Bergmann, for the arrival of some Russian troops to
whom they might surrender, and with whom they might retum.| After
crossing the Irgitch the country becomes very difficult, especially
in spring, from the number of rivers and watercourses that have to
be traversed; these tried the strength of the fugitives very much.
The larger streams the Kalmuks cross by means of curious floating
bridges, made of bundles of reeds fastened together. Between the Iigitch
• Sianl. Hist. Nach., i. 9'' t Bcrgmaim, op. ctt., X94-Z96. X '<<•> i- 19&
« /4., i. va.
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THS KBHAIT8 AMD TOR0UT8. 577
and the Tofgti they kMt a laigc poction of thdr heids» and thdr misery
increased CQoMerahly,*
They still oontinned to drag along with them the two cannons which
they had obtained from the Russians^ but at length the carnages on
which they were drawn were worn oat, and they abandoned them on the
ether 8idet)f the Toigait As they neared the Toigai a body of Russian
troops, wider the command of General Traubenbeig, set out from the
iMt of Orsk, on the river Ural, in pnraitit of them, and joined a body of
the Kiigliiz Kasaks of the litde horde, under their Khan Nurali, not fiu:
from the river Torgat» They marched on together to the tether Toigai
liver, where the Russian general determined to stop. The Kalmnkn
were already ten days^ march from there ; his troops had been much
harassed, and were many of them sick ; and having contented himself
with sending on two messengers to bid the Kalmuks retuni, he made his
way to the Ibrt of Uisk, on the ToboL He has been a good deal blamed
far his want of enterprise and enesgy, but his prodenoe would seem to be
amply justified.^ The mrssr^gen having arrived at the Kalmnk can^
an assembly was there summoned, and a debate ensued as to whether
they should return or not It was determined to go on, for the way back
was as bad as the way forward. They had now reached tiie better
country of the Ishim, where they seem to have loitered awhUe, aiid lihctt
they had two sharp brushes with the Kirghiz Kasaks.!
They were now to cross a more dreads country. The terrible steppe
of Kangarbein sharra ussun, which is 150 versts across, and which
for fihuee days the wearied wanderers had to traverse,! takes its name
from the ydlow colour of the unwholesome water that alone can be get
^Mre. Fatigue, heat, and thirst drove them to drink this, and the con-
sequence was that many of them suffered horribly. Many hundreds
amst have perished there. When they emerged from this yellow waste
they were assailed by the Kasaks. NunOi, with the Little horde, and Ablai,
with the Middle horde, attacked them vigorously, and a bloody two days'
batOe was fou|^ against these old enemies. At length.the Kahnuks
vsached the banks of the Balkhash sea, triiere a second battle was fought
with the Kazaks. I notke on the map attadied to MichelFs Russians in
Central Asia there h a place called Kahnak kaigan, near die Balkhash ;
this ought doubtless to be Kalmak kuigan, the Kafanuk mound,
and probably marics where the dead rested. The Kasaks now returned
home again. The fugitives had lastly to run the gauntlet of the Buruts
or Black Kirg^ses, renowned as robbers and plunderers, and at length
arrived within the borders ol the Chinese empire, namely, at Char^pen,
not iu frmn the river IlLf This was in the middle of I77i> ^nd after a
march of eight months. ^ Thus was accomplished,^ says Madame de Hell,
3D
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57^ HISTORY OF TRE MONGOLS.
** the most extraordinary emigration of modem times. The empire was
suddenly deprived of a pastoral and wariike people, whose habits accorded
so weU with the Caspian steppes; and the regions in which many
thousand families had fed thdr innumerable flocks and herds for a long
series of years were left desdate and anpeopled.*^*
The Manchu Emperor had been faifonned of the nkarch of the Tofgvts,
and he gave orders for their settlement on their arrival in the province of
Ili. Khuhed^, one of the general coundUors, was told to go there and
make preparations for dieir reception. There were some about the court
who distrusted the Kahnuks, and urged that the perfidkxis Chereng,
among others, was with them ; but the Emperor was not moved from his
design. He ordered Khuhed^ however, to take the precaution of forti-
fying some strong posts. He also ordered him to get together sufficient
provisions for tiieir sustenance.
When they at length arrived, in a very foilom condition, they were
supplied with food for a year's consumption and also with clothing.
It would seem that they had lost a large number of their herds, and eadi
family was accordingly assigned land for tilling as well as pasturage.
They were also granted furniture, &c, and several ounces of silver each
to buy what they needed, and with catde, &C., to make a fresh start
with.t
The vanity of the Chinese Emperor was touched in no small d^^ree
by this arduous journey, performed, as he satisfied himself, and perhi^M
with justice^in order that the Toiguts might vohmtarHy place themselves
under his protection. Such confidence and affection was Indeed testi-
mony to the grandeur of China much more valuable than the deference
extorted from conquered subjects. He caused a record of the event to
be written in four languages and engraved on a stone^ which was set up
in the province of Ili, the new home of the Toiguts. This famous
historical document was translated by Father Amiot} Listen to one
paragraph. ^ No one need blush when he can Emit bis desires; no one has
occasion to fear when he knows how to desist In due time. Such are tiie
sentiments that actuate me. In all places under heaven, to the remotest
comers beyond the sea, there are men who obey under the names of slaves
or subjects. Shall I persuade myself that they are all submitted to me
andthatthey own themselves my vassals? Far from me be so'clumerlcal
a pretension. What I persuade myself, and what is strictly true, is that
the Toiigouths, without any interference on my part, have come of their
own full accord to live henoefbtth under my laws. Heaven has no doubt
inspired them with this design ; tfiey have only obeyed Heaven in putting
it in force. I should do wrong not to commemorate this event in an
authentic monument'
* ]>• Hdr« Tnivelfl. tJ7. t KMBOircs nr to Chine, i. 4SS. ftc.
t Tc la given in Dc H«fl*i Trtreli, 327^35.
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TBM KBtAITS AUD TORQUTa 579
AltboiigkthesiifilMdngftolditToisnl»Mitlietf nwttdi nuiit kave bcM
tfcestiva^^ieee i* dcaily great cxtgf^ttioft in the Mxaant of BefginaiiiL
AlVe until xeneoHwr thai tfaejr vert nomadba by on^» and that iang
marchas woe Ui^mSm to thon^ aa wore also the vaiioas inckkfltt that
accompaiiy a daaEvwi-j^iiraejr over aach a ooaatxy aa tba KiiK^
aftiHBaa^ -aBB aHhaaali 4Baif<aBEiMaQ jsoof aas uBtaflaB'OC riiufpsi ovarj^
things k is not iM»^ that they h>it a t^ laige fwtion oC thdr
aumbera an the way» as Betgmaim vfould have us bdieve.* Thave b
considerable discrepancy between the Russian numbers and those
supplied by the Chiaese. The former make out that only 4o/»c> families
loft iUMia, while the latter chum (hat SO/m» <amil^
mouths arrived in ChiBa.t This kind of discrepancy shefira that the loss
of life on the journey couU not have bean so gttat as Bergmann
supposes.
The following register of the strength of the European Kalmuks
subject to Ubasha in 1767 is taken from a document prepared by the
Vice-Khan Ubasha himself and printed by Pallas.)
1. The Khan's special horde, inchiding the femiiies of the higher
clei^y ^ • • 7A7^
TheKerats ": 3»^»
ThcZaatun ^ • 3»57o
TheBuuron • •••' ^"*5
The Sapsor M9^
The so-called Koktshinar •• 7^7
Those free from taxes ...w ^SO
Khundur Tatars •; 755
Turkmens living with the horde • 331
Bashkirs, &c - •• - -— ^^
2. The Uhis of prince Bainbar and his family.. ^Ml
3. Ditto ditto Dondukof ^>'^
4. Ditto ditto Zebek Dordshi and his brothers Kirep and
Aksakal ^^
5. The Ulus of prince Assarkho 597
6. Ditto ditto Mashi m 714
7. Ditto ditto Yandik • 409
8. The Deri)et Uhis - ^^
9. The Ulus of the Khoshote prince Tukcbl 9^1
la Ditto cUtto ditto Menghon •*... 100
u. Ditto ditto ditto Erranpal 2ao
12. Ditto ditto <Mtto GungiBaljur 182
13. Ditto ditto ditto Samiang 279
• Op. dt, i. a*9. *c. ^ ***«•* •" " ^^^'^ ^ ^"^
{ Saml. Hkt. Nftch.. &c» L 99.
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58o BinOKT OF TMM IfOMOMS.
14. A ronnbcr oJuoM chat hfinngiig! t<».iraiiowiTotfttl,Klwthou, and
SoQgar prinoet^ as foUews ! —
Emcgta UbMiu — lia
Bayaddnch — ^.-» 165
Bttro KaAa •••^.^. r59
Bossaraaan Taidihl 305
M oomiit Uba^ ... 311
AkhateUbadrf ..« tos
16
•••«•••••'
jansikiu ••••••••••••••• 00
Gataaluri —-•^....15
Pipam ••••«••••••••«• 59
Bayariahtia «^.^«.. 34
BirfdBO Ukn —•••«.. 11
15. The 90-cafled Uttle princes Sherenfy Slmrakolnfiy Unmldiaiy Loosaiif-
japk Janama, Dekleshf Ereng, and Noftadaluni had about 9ta
That is ak<»Kether 4h^ tents.*
Pallas remaiks dutt di^ Kahmte inade the tetam as saudl as passibia
on accoontof the levy of iMn. that ndght be^ rBi|«i6wl of tfieni, and he
tether adds that in the above anmneiaUon the LaaMS ai« not indndedy
so that the whole nionber of fttraifies may wcffl be increased by a third,
and we may calodate that Ubasha^ ad^eets nuinbetad not fiur from
65)000 Of TOyOoo families*
After the Torguts had been reBeted their princes went on to the
Imperial court to pay their respects there. ^ They were coidiictedy* says
the Emperor, ** with honour and free of expense by the Imperial post
roads to the place where I then was. 1 saw them« spohe to them, and
was pleased that they should enjoy the pleasures of the chase with me ;
and after the days allotted to that recreation were ended they repaired
in suite to Ge Ho. There I gave them the banquet of ceremony.'*! TUa
was in the palace of I mien yu (iV., the ordinary residence) in the garden
of lo^ooo trees, and they were accorded various titles according to Aeir
ranM
We know little of the history of the Eastern Torguts after their
migration. Pallas tdls us that Ubasha and Giereng were the first to do
honuge to the Manchus, and that they went to Peking for the purpose,
n^dk Zebekdordshi and Bambar imitated their example the year following.
Their subjects were divided into banners, like the other Mongols. The
poor were tau^^t agriculture, and the princes were assigned condderable
stipends. A portion of them were settled m the Altai, others in the
western part of the Gobi desert. The Khoshote prince Erranpal became
a Lama and Mved at Peking, while Shereng was killed by the Buruts.|
In enumerating the various contii^^ts that formed the garrison of IB,
the Chinese author translated by Stamilas Julien mentions 35,59$
Torg*Jts.| In the same memoir, which is a topographical description of
the Clnnese i^ovince or district of Ili, different i^aces are mentioned as
the former camping grounds of various tribes ; thtis Yuldus, south-east of
Kungghes, and one of the vaBeys of the Bogda Ula cluster of mountains,
•FilU«,op.dL,L9mss. tMinoirM«tfUCyM,i.4ia. Dt H«ir» Tnvy*. ass-
lM«aaiittrteChiM,i.4^ IPiOU^i.st. I JotfS. Aitet.,4tli8«iH» viiLsSs.
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TRB KUUUT8 AMD Toitmrrs. 58t
ismentioiiedMtlieaiideMpMlimgtoiiiidcCtlieSi^^ and theKdiyet.
Tlie latter MmeteMraredirUieaihMM form of KimtOT A^dn
it it said that in Yandek, 4ec^ nof^ of III, were the ancient pastures of
AeErkets.* TIm EilKts ttfU fom a tiotable section of the Tor^Suts, and
I find aome reteence to than in PalhM, tfaos : The tecoiid son of Boegho
Urhikwas caHed Bovra. Hehadlbur sons, of trhom the eldest, Zazen
Hoyon,had thirteen wi^res and many children; and PaBas tells vs that
ftis branch of the fMniljr was so moltipiied that the faidiridoals became
▼ery poor and weak. They wiffingly sidMnitted Ihemadves to the Torgtrt
hero Kha Urhsk, who admitted tiiem with eertain pfivileKes as his kubjectoy
and made their princes Saissans. Thehr ottidb or dan was known as Yike
Erket or Great Eiket (i.4., great freemen), bo^ the commonalty and
Saissans were of princely descent The descendants of a thhd son
of Boegho Urhik, Boke Taiddii, joined die Volga horde ; tlMy were
known as Baga Erket (^^ little fineeBien).t
Having followed the foftones of those Torgots who migrated, we must
now shortly revert to die fragment of them whidi remained behhid.
They formed but a small section of the Volga Kahnuks, the lafger portion
of whom belong to the tribe of Deffoets, of whom I shall speak in the
next chapter. The European Torguts ccmsbt of several smaQ secdons.
The most important of these^ consisting of 3,593 tents, was controlled in
Pallas's day by the princes Dondulcott I have already explained how
on the death of Donduk Ombo in 1741, his widow Dshan, with her
children, after a short and turiyulent reign, took refuge with the
Russians, and how her eldest son Kandul returned to his people.|
This tribe or ulus was diat especbdly subject to her late husband
and called Baga Zookhor {to., little Zooklior).| This horde was
visited by the missionary Zwick, whose narrative I have •previously
quoted, and he says it then consisted of 1,700 families, and was
governed by the Saissans Onker, Jo^fib, and Otddr. The mission-
aries were not well received. When they told hfan diat the books
they ofiered him contained the wonl of the Most High God, Onker
jeeringly retorted, ^how it happened that they had never taken them
long before, and whether it were right to keep audi precious and
important diings to themselves.^ They were mora civilly treated by the
Lamas, but they also resolutdy refiised to take any of the books. On the
arrival of the Pristof or Russian superintendent of the hordes, they had a
ooQfereace with him, and he tried to forward their ebfects. With him
they visited an old Lama, but ^he was as (inn as arock in his deter-
minadon diat he would receive none of die books,*' and the Pristof 's
eloquence was expended upon him fbr two hours in vain, till at last
'/4. tP*0«t.«p.cit.»i.S7' IOp.citni.M. |AM«sri.
I PftllM, cp. ch., 89. Ix.
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5S3 HISTORY OF TUI UOVG(HA
the latter laid two of tbo books on the altar. The Lama ^laieay
observed that they might be there, but that he ehoold take care to
proclaim that the High Pristof had left them there against his consent.
This enraged the latter^ and he hinted that the govemors of the horde
had been guilty of maladministration and of embezztemefit* *^ Jf they
have been guilty of dishonesty let them be punished/ said the Lama«
calmly, ** they are in your haadst" The Pristof replied he would depose
them and dioose others. ''That is contrary to preoedent,* said the
Lama, " for the elders have always elected their governors, but'' added
he, '^ do as you please, lor you have the power in your own hands.''*
One section of the Toiguts was a| the time of the flight governed by
the prince AssaAho and his nephew MasU. It was called Yike Zookor
or Great Zookor.t I have described how, on being pursued by the
Russian ^|Oops, these chiefs with their followers gave in» and once more
returned to Russia.) The chiefs were sent on to St. Petersburg, where
they died.| 1 have small doubt that the two danaare the same as those
mentioned by Zwick as governed in his day by the princes Erdeni and
Zerren Ubashi, who had their winter quarters In the Sarpa nuurshes.|
He describes a visit he paid to them ; their camp was then at a frfaoe
called Baktur Malep (place of heroes' whips). ''The tents of the two
princes were about a quarter of a mile asundtr, and between them was a
multitude of tents and cars beloi^ging to the Russian, Armenian, and
Tatar merchants, forming the market or basaar of the horde.lT He thus
describes his audience with prince Erdeni :~
" Having learned from the Kahnuks that the day of our arrival (the
and of June) was marked as fortunate in their astrological calendar, we
hastened to make our first visit to the prince the same evening. When
we approached the tent a servant came out to meet us and inquired what
we wanted ; we desired to be announced as people who had brought
letters from the capital to the prince, upon which we were readily
admitted. We drew near to the tent from the right side, according to
the Kahnuk custom, for it is considered unmannerly to advance directly
to the door, or to approach from the kit side. We also took care not to
tread on the threshold, an old Mogul ceremonial, which Ruisbrok
observed in the camp of Mangu Khan. We made the usual salutation
to the prince— Mende sun tabe tiniger buis ta? 'Are you quite hale
and weU?' to which he wp^itd 'Munde' (well) ; after which we were
obliged to sit cioss-kgged upon a carpet, in the Asiatic frishion. The
prince sat in the same position, on his cushion in the interior of the tent^
by Ids wife DeUek ; oo thi^ left was tiw little prince Rashi Sangjai
Docdje, attended by his nurse. Erdeni is in his forty-second year, of a
short squat figure, and good countenance. He is intelligent, good-natured,
* A Joanty to SanptCt by Zwick, 2t5-4aS. t Bcrcmtiw, L 194.
lVid$»m^57^ |PyU»,•^dt..l.«. |Op.d(.,39. t0^cit..S4-
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THB KBRAITS AlfD TOftGUTS. $83
Bvdy, and agreeabte; M^ien we entered he was playing on the Domber
er Kafantdc giiittr. His wife Ddldc is six-and-twenty, of a robust figure,
and truly Kahnuk iace^ with prominent cheek-bones. The prince was
dressed in a short Kahntdc coat of blue doOi^ white trousers, a mottled
silk wabtcoat, and a thidc vt^twet cap trimmed with sable and ornamented
with a red tassel and gold loop. The princess wore a blue and white
dress orer a red silk petticoat ornamented with gold flowers ; she had on
her head a high square Kidnwk cap of Persian gold muslin, trimmed
(like her husband's) with saUe, and widi a large silk tassd.
''The tent was about ten yards in diameter, and as many in height,
and furnished all round in the inside with carpets for the accommodation
of visitors. Opposite to the door was the prince's throne or cushion,
about an eU high, and covered vfith green cotton, and over it a kind of
canopy of the same material. On each side was suspended an image ;
the left represented one of their dreadful idols, Bansarakza; the right was
a collection of astrological drdes and many figures of different colours.
Both were designed for the protection of the young prince, and to shield
him from evil. To the left of the prince's couch was the altar, with a
bench in front of it, and on the altar were silver vesi»els, with rice and
other oHerings ; behiad it a number of chests piled upon one another,
and covered with a Persian doth. Above was a wooden shrine, with a
well -formed gilt im^e of one of their principal idol-ddties, Sakia-
muni, the founder of their rdigion. On the right of the prince there was
also a heap of chests, covered yrith Persian cloth, on which stood a few
trinket boxes belonging to the princess. These chests probably contained
the valuables of the royal family, and those on the left of the throne the
sacred writings, the idols, and other things pertaining to the altar. In
the middle of the tent there was a hearth, with a cresset and a common
tea-kettle ; on the left of the door stood a few pails and cans, ornamented
with brass hoops, containing sour mares' milk, or chigan, the chief
subsistence of the Kafanuks at this time of the year.
*' Erdeni read the letter twice through with care, and then asked us our
names and the immediate object of our journey, which we endeavoured
to explain in the most satisfactory manner. He next inquired, in a
friendly manner, after his old acquaintances, Brother Schmidt, of Peters-
burgh (the editor of Ssanang Setzen), and Loos, of Sarepta, and rejoiced
to hear of their welfare. After we had been treated with Kalmuk tea
and chigan, we took our leave, and returned to our carriages."
The missionaries afterwards visited the other Torgut prince named
Zerren Ubashi. He was then about thirty years old, and is described as
above the middle height, slender, and well looking. He wore a loose
violet-coloured robe of cotton. He was fitting on a cushion in the interior
of his tent, opposite to the door ; the tent was roomy and clean, without
any splendour ; was arranged for the most part like that of Erdem's, but
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5^4 HISTORY OF THE MOXGOU.
was smaller, as hn was a widowei; After the salutatkm lie invited tlien
to sit down^ as they had done at EidenifSy on the riglit oC the throne^ on
the same side with the altar. He asked about their business^ name»
and profession, and seemed piqued that they«were Jiot beavers of aktter
to him from the Russian minister like the om sent to ErdenL As usual,
there was no desire to become better acquainted with Christianity.
They afterwards visitedthe chief priest of the horde. "We took with us,*
Zi^ck says, ''a present of tobacco and giogerbread. He is about thirt|^
with a countenance indicating at the same time good-4iatnie,and iMgotry.
Contrary to the custom of other ecclesiastics ofhis rank, who, to cpunteflisit
sanctity, put on a grave insensibility, and speak little and like an oracle,
to give themselves an appearance of wisdiMn, he was both polite and
conversable, without in any way lowering his dignity. When we arrived
he was sitting cross-legged on a high cushion, in a loose ydlow robe^
with the red Orldmchi (or scarf) of a Gellong over his left shoulder,
and a large cap trimmed with fur on his head, like jthose which the
GeUongs usually wear. He was playing mechanically with the beads of
his rosary, without seeming to know what he was doing. His handsome
tent was well furnished with religious vessels, and on the splendid altar-
table, besides cups, there was a stand for books, many beautiful Krudns
(or prayer machines) with Sanscrit characters in gold, and some images
and pictures of their gods. On the carpets, which were spread all around
tike interior of the tent, there were two rows of GelloQgs, clad according
to their respective dignities, in red and yellow, and drinking chigan with
great assiduity ; this liquor was supplied by the Gezuls, from two large
vessels full of it which stood in the middle of the hut Afiter the saluta-
tion, the bald-headed Gellongs, at a wink from their chief, drew their
ranks closer to make room for us, and we were treated with chigan, out
of cups of honour of maplewood. The Lama pretended to be ignorant
of the object of our journey, though he had no doubt been informed of it,
both by his watchful servants and by the prince himself; for it is seldom
that anything is determined in a horde without the advice of the Lama,
and the business in question belonged especially to his own department
It seemed however to all the rulers oi the horde a matter of considerable
importance, and therefore they endeavoured each to shift the responsi-
bility to another. When we had explained to the Lama the cause of our
visit he turned the conversation, and inquired after Brother Loos, whom
he had known many years ago, and then asked if we meant to leave the
horde the next day? We replied, that our pbns depended upon
the prince's answer, and that we were therefore unable to fix the time of
our departure. The sign was then given, by a few strokes on a metal
basin in the neighbouring Khurul, for the priests to assembly and we
took our leave."
Two days later they paid Erdeni another visit, ^but only found
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THX KSIUITS AMD TOROUTS. fSj
tto prittc«s8 and her senrttitf at liome : Ihe pnace kameU; with a
Aoiiiefons compaiiy of Gdloi^ and nobler WMi^a^^ at cafda in the
hut of justice, a few ttcps from hit tent They drank chlgan in great
abundance ; this liquor, taken to excess, produces a «li|^ faitoadcatlon.
The princess took the opportunity of bringing out her omaasents lor our
admiradon. Amongst these wo particuhttiy notked a golden ear^iring,
with a fine pear-shaped pearl of the sise of a laige haaeKnut i this, she
said, was an heir*kx)m in her fiunily. We also perceived a beantifol
rosary, made of the smoodi black kernels of an unknown fruit, with coral
and round onyx-stones interspersed. In showing us a richly-embroidered
purser and a pair of red Morocco boota, tho princess asked ua if the
German ladies had any ornaments to compare with hers, which we wore
compelled to answer very humbly.* The conversation afrerwarda fell
upon images, and she took the opportunity of inquiring whether the
images of our gods were as splendid as theiis. We infeoned her that we
had statues, but that we did not worship diefli, but addressed our prayers
to the Supreme Bdng, in sf^rit, and with the heart She replied that it
was the same aaaongst themselves, but aa the senses could not reach the
invisible Deity they liked to have a visible representation befcre them in
ptmyer, but that this was not essential, and that in caaea frfiere they could
not have the images (in travelling across the steppes for example), they
weie accustomed to wordiip without any symbol addressed to the senses.
^For,' said she, 'the AU-wise knows and aees everything, even the
interior of the heart, and observes whether we pray to hias^ at home^ or
on the steppes, with aoMOEiage, or as the Invisible.' After this, when we
were conversing about the formation of the worid, the princess esqxessed
a wish to see a map, which we promised we would show her befoie kmg.
During our sUy the prince took so much notice of us as tokavehisgaase
for a few moments to welcome us, apologising at the saaw time for not
receiving our visit, as he was eager to join a party in the next hut After
he returned the company became k>ud and rioCous^ upon whidi the
princess seemed uneasy, and looked often throu|^ the lattice-work of
her own tent into the hut of Juatice^ which she could easily de^ aa the
lerwer felts of both tents were turned up to let in the air. Sbtt said once
to her maid, 'The diigan has made them merry over there; the
Germans win think they «re all drunk r We were obliged to take our
leave for ^is time, without any foittMr conference with the prince^ and
to wait for a better opportunity. On the foOowmg day, the dth of Jun%
it presented itself^ We took with us the promiaed maps (some good
surveys of these ateppes)» with which the prince^ Ua wife^ and daughter
weie all hi|^y delighted. DfSkk looked for her early home on the
Volga, by the Bogdo mountain, mbiat her frither, a petty prince^ fed his
herds ; Mingmer wanted to see the situation of the Khoshoto camp^
into which she had married ; and Erdeni the position of his own horde,
3«
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5S6 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
and the road by whidi we hid reached It : diey were all amaaed to find
these placet correctly laid down. I prepared a copy of this chart ibr the
prince, at his request**
I have abstracted these sentences as giving a good fMcture of Kalmuk
life ; for other details I must refer to a subsequent volume. When
Zwick was travelling among die Toiguts, the two clans subject to Erdeni
and Zerren Ubashi were at war with the Derbets.*
We read in Beigmann*8 account of the migration of the Kalmuks that,
beside the tribe of Ylke Zookx^, theie was another section of the ToiguU
who thought it prudent to return when pursued by the RuseiaBS. This
was the tribe of the Erkets, which had no special prince, but was governed
by twenty Saissans.t This tiibe is not mentioned by Pallas in his
enumeration of the Kahnuks who st&yed behind,t but it was visited by
Zwick. He tells us It had Its usual residence between the Don and the
Sarpa, and passed the winter on the well-wooded shores of the Caspian,
above Kislar.| He says its strength was estimated at i,ooo tents, and
was entirely dependant on Russia^ being governed by Saissans or nobles
of its own body appointed by the Russian Emperor. '' As there is here
no Oeigo (? orda) or princes' court/' says Zwick, ** the Kura or circle of
ecclesiastical huts surrounding the Lama may be considered as the centre
or headquarters of the encampment, and one of the Saissans in command
is usually residing hi this Kura. In all the Kalmuk hordes the adminis-
tration of public affairs, which is divided between the princes and the
superior priests, is transacted within this circle.*'!! The missionaries
were cordially received, but made no way in their special woric, the
Lamas, as usual, opposing, saying '* they wished to abide, by their old
religion, and wanted no other ; that in the meai-^time they should always
remain good and peaceable subjects, and pray for the Emperor and the
welfare of the kingdom in their own way.^f
Another section of the Torguts is known as the Yandikshan horde,
from Yandik, a Torgut prince who ruled at the time of the migration.
In Pallas's day it consisted of 1,216 tents ;** when Zwick visited it it con-
sisted of 1/300 tents, and was governed by a young widow of Deibet
origin named Nadmid or Bagush ; she had married Sandshi Ubashi,
father of Zerren Ubashi.tt Pallas mentions a fourth small section of
Torguts, under the sons and brothers of prince Arabshur, who, according
to his genealogical tables, was a brother of Sandshi. This small section
consisted of forty-seven tents. Zwick also mentions another section of
them, but as he tells us their princes were the sons of Zebek Ubashi, who
was tiM chief of the Derbets, it is very probable that he was mistaken
In makmg them Torguts.
*F«fatxt chapter. t Bercmann, o^ dt.« 195. ( 0^ dt., i. 93. | O^ oHi, sS. 99.
fOp. dt., 189. tW., 192. •' P«ltM, op. cit, i. 93. It Zwick, op.«lf ., ioj.
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THX KERAITS AMD TORC^JTS. 587
NoU I.— It it a ciiriout iact that among the tribes oC tha Kifglutes
net with by the early Russian explorers in Siberia was one named
Karait, which lived on the river Abakan.* This is probably the tribe
named Kerei, which is still dominant in the valley of the Bkck Irtish.
Pallas speaks of Kharaits and Kharauhins as still living in his day
near Kalgan*t
NoU 2, — The mixing of blood with drink in the making of solemn
pacts, wMch was so common among the MoQgds, was a very wide«spead
custom elsewhere, and I abstract some notices of it from Eidmann. In
the annals of Tacitus we find a description of the treadiery of Rhadamast
towards MithrklateSy Annab XII. 47, in ^iHiich he says : ** Bteest regibus,
quottes in societatem coeant^implicare dextras, poUicesqoelntAse viadie
nodoque praestringere. Mox ubi sanguis in artus extremot se%flttderit|
levi ictu cruorem elidunt atque invicem lambunt Id fedus altamim
habetur, quasi mutuo cruore sanctum." Valerius mentions a similar
custom among the Armenians, thus : ** Sariastes adversus patron suum
Tigrarem, Acmeniae regem^ ita cum amids consensit, ut omaes dextris
manibns sanguinem mitterent atque eum invicem sorberent.'^t A'slmtlar
custom prevailed among the ancient Romans, thus Festus says : ** Assir-
atum apud antiquos dicebatur genus quoddam potionts ex vino et
sanguine temperatum quod Latini prisci Assis vocarunt* Sallust, in his
account of Catiline, says : ** Humani corporis sanguinem vino permixtum
in pateris drcumtulisse inde cum post execrationem oranes d^ustavissent
sicuti in solemnibus sacris fieri consuevit quaesisse consilium suum,** &c.
In the primitive Hungarian Saga of the Hetu Moger there is a description
of the way in which Almus was chosen chief, and how each man on
swearing allegiance to him stretched his right arm over a basin, and
having opened a vein, allowed some of the blood to run into it, and swore
to be true to him and his family ; to treat each other as equals,' and to
share the booty fairly. While the blood ran into the bowl a wish was
invoked that if either side fbfgot the pact the blood might not cease to
ilow till the vein was empty.|
•iV^^/rj.*— In regard to the divination by twigs, mentioned in this
chapter, Petisdela Croix quotes from Thevenot thus : *^ This expeffanent
of die canes was then in use among the Tatars, and is still among the
Africans, TUrks, and other Muhammedan nations. The Ccjas or
registers of their corsairs or pirate ships commonly try this trick bdbve
they fis^t, and this is what they call D0 ihe book. It is true that they
oftener use arrows. Two men sit on the ground over i^alnst one
another, and hold each of them two arrows by die iron part or hetdt.
The ends of the two contrary arrows are fixed togetheri <me in another.
• Fitchw't WO^ (Ml., 709. \ Stall. HiM. Vftdu, Ach I. «. | Op, dt.> lft> ti.
IBhbasan'ftTfiimJia. Notfi XS5'
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58g HISTORY OP THE ICOirO<»J.
by the notdiM what tlie bowstring comet in thootinf , lo that the four
arrows together make, as it were, but two sticks in a parallel Mne. Then
the Co|a reads a certain Arabian prayer. They pretend that during the
reading these two pairs of arrows, two of which represent the ChristiaiiSy
die other the Turks, shall approach one another in spite of these that
hold them, and after fighting the one pair shall get above the other.*
Cc^onel Yule has collected some other curious instances. He says the
Chinese method of divinatkm is conducted by two persons tossing in the
air two symmetrical pieces of wood or bamboo of a particular form, it
is described, he says, by Mendosa, and more particularly, with illustra<^
tioBs, by DooUttle.t Rubmquis was the witness of a shniUur process at
the Mongol court He says that oo visiting Kuktai; a Christian queen of
Mangu Khan, who was ill, he found the Nestorians repeating certain
verses, he knew not vrbMl (they said it was part of a psafan), over two
twigs which were brou^^t into contact in the hands of two men4
Colonel Yule goes on to say, Mr. Jaeschke writes from Lahaul, there are
numy diflbent ways of divination practised among the Buddhists, and that
also mentioned by Marco Polo is known to our Lama, but in a slightly
difeent way, makiog use of two arrows instead of a cane split up, where-
fore this kind is called da fw, '^ arrow divination,'' and, he adds, the
practice is not extinct in India, for in 1833 Mr. Vigne witnessed its
application to detect ^bt robber of a Government chest at Lodiana.!
NoU 4.— In the account of the migration of the Torguts, translated by
the Jesuiu and elsewhere, it is stated that they originally left their
fatherland under the leadership of Ayuk% and that they leil there in
consequence of a dispute between him and Tse wang Rabtan, the Sun*
garian chief.| This is not correct as we have seen, the migmtion having
tal^n place, at least into Siberia, two generations before. It is not
improbable that it was really caused in a great measure by the wars of
Altan Khan of the Ehalkhasf (not the great Altan Khan of theTumeds,
from whom they sufifered so much in the preceding century). Their camp-
ing ground, after they left the Irtish and before they crossed the Yemba,
seems to have been the okl country of the Usbegs before their emigration,
namely, that watered by the Irgitch, the Uikoiak, the Upper Tobd, the
Ishim, &C. It is curious that two ioq^ortant rivers in this area are
respectively called Tuigai and Kara Toiigpai ; whether this name be
connected with Torgut I don't know.
M^/e 5.— In r^^ to the fiste of Dudini the Russian officer, and his
troops who were captured as I have mentioned,** I find a reference in
the account of the migration of the Tofguts translated by the Jesuits. It
is there said that among the Russians whom tiie Torguts carried off was
•Hltt.ofGtiishi«a«.5a. Not*. t Yali'i Umco P0I0.MS Bd.. i. tsS.
lid. %I4, |lltiiM.iarlaCUM|i.4fl7< faDtc,4S7. **Aat<bS79-
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THE K1RAIT8 AND TOROUTS
5«9
a certain Dudifl. When the Torgut chiefii haa an audience with die
Manchu Emperor he arieed them if it was true that belove Uwir
departure they had pillaged the possessionf of the Russians and had
carried off one of their officers and one hundred soldiers. ^ We did
so^** said the Tof;gut prince, *' we could not avoid it in the position in
which we were placed. It is probable they perished on the way. I
recdlect that when they were divided among us eif ht of them fett to
my share. ! will inquire of my people if any of these Russians survive^
and if so will send them on to your Majesty when I return to lU.***^
Noiti^ — The foliowii^ table of the Torgut princes contains those
names only which are of Importanoe in iUustrating the prtcediag chapter.
It is abstracted from the fuller tables given by Pallas.
Botf ho Uriuk
SulMca Uriok
Bawm
Hit
Goori
Hit
Maajkhti WtOal
Klitt Uriuk ■6i«.i643
art the rule over
fitttttnt tht
of the BtfA
Yike Erkett Brkett
Stlttt
I
Dtitthiof
Ytlltoc
OlehMrf
olT^
Merfoii
Stetrtp
jftttrflNrt ■MraHi
tkttath^roft
Ktlsuc Cbrottiot
««t4kf P»Um
Chtkdordtluip
ArtbUn
die4t.t
AyidHkUum
Stndthip
4itdt.f.
OiitiL<|i OvUtM
ChtfMDMiMc
Dtattng Dondok Ttithi Doadok Ombo
Khaa r74i— tTfc XImui itSS— X74>
iMKlMa OaldMiNtrbo
X761
BoktLrco
i)ot4ihi
EMriii
MWDtbft Attarbko
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CHAPTER XI.
THE CHOROS.
IN the pvevuNis dmfMt I tried to skew tlMt the term Durben Uind
it rather a descriptive qiithet tlum a proper name. It means the
four allies, and denotes a oonlederacy of tribes, but is not in itself
a race name. It is a term of considerable antiquity, and is found in the
pages ofChinese anthers as well as in those of native writers. The Chinese
form is Wala, which is accommodated to the fiict that the Chinese have
no letter r. This form is as old at least as the fifteenth century.
The connotation of the term is by no means fixed. Thus Ssanang
Setxen tdls us that the four factors of which the Durben Uirads were
formed consisted of the Keigud («^., the Keraits or Tcrgatt), the Khoit,
of whom I shaH say more presently, the Elighud or Eleuth {i^., the
Khoshotes), and the Bsghatud or Baatud (i.#., the heroes or brave ones),*
and comprising, as I believe, the Sui^an and DerbeU before their
division.
Pallas, Irom native Kahnuk sources, gives us t0Q dt^Rerent solutions of
the extension of the name. According to one of these the Durben
Uirad consisted of the Oelot or Eleuths, the Khoits, the Tumuts, and
the Baiga Buriats.t This may be a traditional meaniug of the phrase,
but it is one which has clearly been obsolete for a long time, as Schmidt
says the Tumuu or Ttoieds have for a very long period at least belonged
to the Mongob proper4 while the Barga Buriats, although doeely con-
nected with the Kahnuks,as I shall show in the next chapterj have had a
history distinct from theirs from the days of Jingis Khan hims^ The
other tradition distinguishes the ancient Eleuths from the modem four
Kahnuk tribes, and ignoring the Tumuts, replaces the four names above
mentioned by two hordes named Khoit*^9ahtod and Baiiga-Burat. This
tradition may be of some vahie. If the Eleuths are to be, as I believe,
properly identified with the Khoshotes, then their origin and history
does stand considerably apart firom those of the other Kalmuks. While
if the Bahtud represent the Sungars and Derbets, then Khoit-Bahtud
would comfvehend very foirly the Kalmuk race, which I distinguish
by the name of Choros, the Totguts having, as I have shown, a separste
royal race and history.
•0^dtnS7. FsllSt,«p.eit.,i.|3. t 8MU.iUM.NMfa.,i.4. } SMMff iitOT»i STS*
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THS CHOR08. $91
There is a fourth meaning of the term Dnrben Ufarad, whkh is perhaps
more generailjr known, and that is the one which makes die name com*
prehend the four gieat Kahnuk tribes of the Sungars, Derbtts, Torguts»
and KhoshoteSy who, when the Khoits became disintegrated, formed in
hct the nation of the KaUnnks.
These &cts will show that the dnmotation of the term is very
uncertain ; we may roughly say, however, that it is a general nam^
including those tribes which western writers designate as Kafanuks.
As I have shown, the division into Eastern and Western Mongols, or
into Mongols and Kahnuks, is one of very okl date, and it is probable
that the race name of the Western Mongols was that of the particular
tribe which was predominant at the time ; thus at one time they wett
styled Keraits, at imother Sungars.
During the reign of }higis the political topography of Asia was entirdy
altered. For a time at least the many tribes and nations whidi he had
conquered were welded into a homogeneous whole, and Turics and
Mongols were equally ready to obey his commands. It would seem that
no auempt was made to alter the internal oiganisation of many of die con-
quered tribes. The patriarchal hierarchy ofdnefo,fir(mi the chieftain of the
tribe to the head of the fiaunily, remained in many cases not only unaltered
itself but the posts of leaders were retained by the same men. When
the empire of Jingis was divided among his sons the headship of the
fiunily was retained, as we have seen, by the branch which had iu focus
in the ancient country of the Mongols at Karakorum. This headship
was retained and acknowledged for several generations, but at last H
inevitably foiled to command the respect of the distant dependencies,
and the vast and unwiddy empire broke into pieces. The fragments
were very naturally constituted,— one became the empire of die II Khans,
and comprised the Mongol possessions south of the Oxus ; a second, the
emfure of }agatai, comprised Turkestan and Little Bukharia ; a thhrd,
that of the Golden Horde, included the wild steppe country from the
Dnieper to the Altai mountams. Thcs^ three empires were essentiaBy
Turirish, and beyond the picked soldiers and the bodyguards of the chieft
probably few Mongols were to be found in them. The Mongols naturally
retamed their ali^^ce to the elder branch, which had moved its comt
from Karakorum to Pekfaig, and is known in history as the Yuen dynasty.
During the reign of that dynasty we do not hear of any division or schism
among them. They no doubt all retamed their substantive and faidividoal
existence under their own chiefs, but they all, so fer as we know, obeyed
implicitly the central authority of the Mongol Emperors of China. At
length, in 136S, the Yuen dynasty came to an end, and was succeeded by
the native dynasty of the Ming, and the M6ngols were driven out oC
China and once more naade Karakorum their capital The beaten and
decrepid dynasty coi^ not however retain its authority over all the
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592 HISTORY or THE MONGOLS.
race; ancient divisions ceappesredy sad twptdally tbt great dividon
idiich had from eariy times separated them into two parts^-the Eastern
and the Western Mongols.
It is well establi^ied that the two important Eahnuk tribes of the
Songars and Derbets formed comparatively recently but one tribe, whidi
was divided between two toothers named Ongoso and Ongorkhoi, who
became the respective founders of the Sungarian and Derbetan royal
houses.* Among the ancestors of these two brothers was a chief named
Ulinda budun Taidshi, who was sumamed Zorros or Chores, whence all
his desoendanu and also his tribe or uhis got the name of Zorros or
Choros.t From this we are justified in inlerriog that the name of the
joint tribe before the separation just named was Choios. But this name
included another important element besides die Songan and Derbets^
namely, the Khoits. Pallas tdls us that the mother of Ulinda budun was
the wife of Yoboghon Mergen, the founder <^ the royal fomlly of the
Khoits, but that her son was b<mi of the gods^t a story similar to those
told of the founders of the Mongol and Mandm dynasties. The real
meaning of the story doubtless b that the chiefii of the Khoits, the
Songars, and the Derbeu all belonged to the same conunon slock, and in
fact we are toki that on his death Yoboghon Mergen divided his heriti^^e
into five portions, one of which constituted the Sun^ars and Derbets. |
Again, we are told by Pallas that the celebrated Kahnuk chief
Amursana was a KhoitI On turning to the Emperor Kienlung's narrative
of the conquest of the EleUths, we are told that Amursana spnng from
the royal race of Tdiolos (^., of Choro6).f
I believe, therefore, that originally the Ehoits, Suogars, and DerbeU
formed iMit one tribe, and that its collective name was the name I have
put at the hfiBud of this duqiter, namely, Choros. I do not pretend with
the firagmentary materials that are at present accessible to give more
than a tentative sohition in such questions, but I believe this to be the
most reasonable inference from the evidence.
I ^irill now set out the legends about Yoboghon Mergen, &&, as told
by Pallas. He tells us diat the Kalmuk tradition makes Yoboghon live
about three generations before Jingis Khan. By his valour and other
qualities he brought a great number of people under his subjection.
Yoboi^n Mergen, he says, means a hero vAo goes on foot, and he
derived his name bom the fact that firom his bulk and strength
no-horse could carry him, and when he had a waggon built fot himself
dds also bfoke down, so that he was obl^^ to march a-foot. During his
vs^ diere was great confiision in China (odier accounts say in Thibet),'
and in his extremity the legitimate ruler there, called in Yoboghon, with
>F«llM,op.€it.,i.sS* t.FftUa9<i<34- I PalUt, op. dt., i. S3. i Id,, 1st,
1 14^ i. 4S. 1 If emt. fiir la CUav, 1. 340.
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THE CHOROS. 593
whose assistance peace was speedily secured. The treacherous Chinese,
however, saw that in these allies they also had terrible neighbours, and
when they had loaded him and his chief warriors with presents they con*
trived to poison him. On his death the Uirads returned to their own
land, and were divided into five sections or hordes.
On the return of this army it was noticed that one of the highest peaks of
the Bogda Ula range had fallen down, which was considered as an omen
connected with the death of the hero. As an ofiering to the mountain
and as a souvenir from his faithful people, they erected a colossal statue
of him on one of the ridges of the Bogda Ula. This was made of piled
up rocks, and the attitude was that of a man lying down restmg his head
on one arm. Pallas says that according to old Sungars there were still in
his time remains of this statue^ which the Kalmuks went and visited.
Many years after Yoboghon's death his great-great-grandson Uiluk
Khoshutshi, on the occasion of a solemn ''inmemoriam" sacrifice which
be made there, had a huge iron tripod vrith a gilt rim made, and had it
erected on a peak adjoining that on which his ancestor's statue was placed.
This festival was renewed annually among the Sungars, and so long as
their empire flourished large annual pilgrimages were made to the
mountain, on which occasions the chiefs made offerings of all kinds of
cattle, which were duly consecrated by the priests and then allowed to
go free. There were large numbers of these sacred and proscribed
cattle grazing on the mountain, which no one might take except the
priests, who were allowed to shoot them when they went there at the
time of the festival. The Khoits reta&ed, after the death of the founder
of their power, the title of honour of Baatut (1./., the brave), given him by
the Chinese, a title still borne by the few of the race who remain.
During the supremacy of Yoboghon we are told that there arose
among the Eleuths, who then lived in the western part of Thibet and
were governed by a number of petty chiefe or Noyons, a small chief
celebrated for his knowledge of magic, which brought hun great reputa-
tion. His real name is not recorded, but is renowned enough among
the Mongols by the soubriquets of fioh Noyon or Lusnm Khan (f>., the
magician prince or dragon chief). By his skill and deceptions he acquired
considerable influence over many other small princes, who at length elected
him their overchief, and int^n^ted into one whole a number of dant
which in later times formed the tribes of the Sungars and Derbets.*
Boh Khan had no legitimate children, and it was a master stroke of
his craft that he succeeded in getting appointed as his heir one who was
probably his natural son, under the pretence that he was of a supernatural
and mysterious origin. This happened, according to the Kalmuk
chronicles, in this way :— ^^ Yoboghon Meigen, when he was c»ie day
* Pallas, op. dt, 1. js.
3'
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594 HISTORY or the Mongols.
hunting^ found a beautiful maiden^ who was the product of a love intrigue
of an angd (Tanggrin) who had been banbhed from lieaven to earth.*
She became his wife, but not content with a mere man for a husband she
formed an illicit connection with the magician prince while her husband
was absent on a long campaign. Before the latter*s return she had a
son, and when she heard of his arrival she exposed him under a
tree. Boh Khan learnt (as the Kalmuks avow) through his magic, or as
is the better opinion through a messenger from the mother, of the fate of
the boy ; sent for him and took him to his home. As he was found in
misty weather (Budun) and a small homed owl (Uli Shabuun) was seen
fluttering over him, he named him Ulinda Budun and appointed him
his successor. While he was lying under the tree where he was found, a
crooked broken branch hung over him, from wliich the sap trickled into
his mouth and afforded him a scanty nourishment. This branch was
shaped like the crooked tube which the Kalmuks attach to their stills
when distilling brandy, and which they call Zorros, whence his descendants
and his people were caUed Z^mtos. Boh Khan gave it out that the
child was of supernatural origin.'^' Such is the fabulous story told
about the origin of the royal family of Sungars ; the only portion of it
that is probably true is the existence of an ancestral chief named Ulinda
Budun, from whom the tribes I am now describing received the name of
Choros or Zorros. It is clear that if the connection of Yoboghon with the
Bogda Ula mountains is to be depended upon that he must have lived long
after the days of Jingis Khan, before whose reign the Kalmuks lived for
to the east of this area. Pallas says some of the Kafanuk stories place
Ulinda Budun at the banning of the sixteenth century, which must be
very much too late. He gives a table which seems much more reliable,
and which was given hun by an old Sungarian Lama and scholar;
according to this Ulinda was succeeded by Chahnan Taidshi, he by
Chullun Boko, he by Boko Chilledu, and he again by Gukliai Dayu.t
With this name we meet with collateral evidence elsewhere.
As we have shown, the dominant tribe among the Kalmuks at the
accession of Jingis was that of the Keraits, and this supremacy was
retained by them until after the expulsion of the Mongols from China, for
we find that in 1339 Ugeuhi Khaskhaga, of the Kergud (i>., of the
Keraits), claimed to be the rightful overchicf of the Durben Uirads.§
At this time there happened a curious intrigue at the Mongol court, the
story of which I have already abstracted from Ssanang Setzen.| The
Mongol Khan Eibek was persuaded by one of his dependants to make
lo\ e to his sister-in-law Goa Beidshi, and afterwards to kill his brother
and appropriate her. This dependant was named Chuchai or rather
'^ PaU«« quotas tht appropriate commentary— Datnr h«c venia antiquiuti, ut iniiceiido
homano diTioit, primordia aogVMtlora facial. LIt.— Pallai, op. cit.» i. 35. Note.
t PaUat, op. cit., i. S3, 94* I Pallaa, i. 33. f Ante, 399. |Aate,99o>
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THB CHORDS. 595
Khukhai Daalui, and Ssaiuu^r Setien tdls ut he belonged to the Jakha
Minggan oi the Uirads.* Minggan means thousand In Mongol, and, like
Tumen, which means ten thoitsand, is used by Ssanang Seuen to denote
a fragment or section. So that the Jakha Minggan means merely the
Jakha division oi the Uirads. This Khokhai Dadshu is deariy the same
person as Schmidt has already suggestedt as the Gukhai Dayu of the
Ust of Pallas.
I have already described the issue of the intrigue ; how the Khan had
his brother murdered and then took his wife to himself, how she revenged
herself especially upon Khukhai by persuading the Khan that he had
taken liberties with her, and how in consequence the Khan had him put
to death.t When the Khan learned the folsity of the story lie ^as too
much enamoured of his wife to be angry with her, but he turned to
Batula, the son of Khukhai, and said, ^ I have killed thy father wrong-
foUy.*' To make amends he gave him his daughter Samur Gundshi In
marriage, raised him to the rank of Chingsang, and also appointed him
chief over the four Uirads.}
In the list of Pallas Gukhai Dayu is succeeded by Arkhan Chlngseni
and he in turn by Batulan ChingseUi who is unquestionably the same
person as the Batula Chingsang of Ssanang Setsen. There is great
difficulty in accepting Ssanang Setsen^ statements about this chieftain
without considerable reserve. He makes him the frither of Bachamu or
Machamu, and tells us that the latter^s surname was Toghon. This
Toghon was a well-known person to the Chinese, and they tell us that he
was the son of Machamu and not the same person, and as they had
diplomatic intercourse with both of them we can hardly doubt their state-
ments. Further, no such name as Batula Chingsang occurs, so far as I
know, either in De Mailla's or Delamarre's wocks ; and on the other
hand, no such name as Bachamu or Machamu occurs in PaOas's list.
My solution of the difficulty is that Ssanang Setsen has made a slight
mistake. He has made Toghon and Machamu synonyms of the same
person, while Machamu was in fact a synonym for Batula Chingsang.
Ching sang, as we know, is a Chinese title, and this being so, it is probable
that Batula is also the CUnese form of the title Baatur, which we know
was actually borne at a much later day by the Sungar chief Hotohochin,
the father of Gakian, who was styled Baatur Taishi,| and that is the
name by which he is generally known. We are also told that another
Mongol chief named Chetchen ombo was confirmed by the Mancha
Emperor in his titles of Batur and Tusietu Batur Tagsing, titles havmg
reference to his warlike prowess.^
When we lemember that Batula is unlike in form to any Mongol name
known to us, whHe it is the form that the title Baatur wouM take m
» SMiiang Setito, 139. t 8«iuuig a«t«eii, 405. X F«#Mita.35o.a5i.
9SuiwBsS«lseo,M3- iMtnt. w !• CWnt. 1. 331. Note. Hid,
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596 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
Chinesei which has no letter r, I cannot fadp urging that this is an
almost certain solution.
If we conclude, thereforci that jBatula and Ching sang are merely titles,
we have room for the conjecture that the real name of the person who
bore them was Machamu, and this would pro tanto reconcile the Chinese
narrative and that of Ssanang Setsen, since one makes Batula and the
other makes Makhamu the fiaither of Toghon Taishi.
We are told by Ssanang Setxen that Ugetshi Khasl hagha was very
much annoyed at the promotion of Batula (whom he considered as one
of his subjects) to be the chief of the four Uirads while he was still living,
and that he expressed himself Iredy about it ; the Khan Elbek upon this
persuaded his son-in-law Batula (i>., Machamu) to try and kill him.
He was, however, warned in time by one of Elbek's wives, and himself
succeeded in killing the Khan and in appropriating his widow, the strong*
minded Uldshei Khung Beidshi.*
This was according to Ssanang Setzen in 1399, and for awhile, as 1
have shown, the Mongols passed under the authority of Ugetshi, the
Kulichi of the Chinese.t This usurpation was by no means universally
popular, and when it received the sanction of tlie Chinese court in 1404 X
opposition was aroused, and we are told that Marhapa, Yesuntai and
Halutai (f>., Adai), allying themselves with Makamu^ marched against
the usurper and completely defeated him, after which Adai and Mahamu
sent their homage to the Chinese Emperor, who concealed his displeasure
and received it with seeming cordiality.f
In 1409 the Chinese Emperor sent envoys with presents for Adai
and other chiefe, but instead of accepting them they killed one of the
envoys and treated the other with contumely. The Emperor being much
annoyed created Mahamu (who is called Mahom of Wala, i^.^ of the
Uimds, by Delamarre) prince of Chun ning. Thaipin was created
prince of H ien y , and Patupula prince of Gan lo. | Shortly after this, Adai
and his proUgi the Khan Peniachdi or Uldshei Timur were defeat
by the Uirads and crossed the river Lukhu.^ In the latter part of
141 3 a courier arrived at the Imperial court with the news that Mahamu
had defeated Peniacheli and put him to death, and had put Talipa or
Ddbek on the throne.** He shortly after, namely in 1413, so severely
pressed Adai that he was forced to cross the desert and take shelter
on the Chinese frontier, where he asked assistance from the Emperor.
The latter appointed hun prince of Honing {U., of Karakorum) and sent
him provisions.tt This displeased Mahamu, who withheld his tribute
and collected an army on the river Inma. The Emperor upon this set
out at the head of a large army to meet him. He arrived about the
• Ssanang Sttsen, 143.145. Ante, 551 > 55a. t Ante, 560. ] De MaUla, x. 153.
i Da Mama, X. 133. Ante. 533. I DeJamarre, t6S. De If aUia, x. 167.
t Delamarre. ify. Aiite,3S4. •* Dt MaUJa. x. ITS- Delamarre. xSo. t1 Da Mailla, x. W
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XHB CHOROIb 597
middle of Munmer at Sallliory and after two days' march he leant ftom
the coontry people that Blahamn was only loo U distant As he did net
come to him the Emperor was satisfied that his intenticms weie not
friendly, and in fieict Mahamu^ accompanied by the Khan Delbc^ Tai
ping^ and Polo, and at the head ci 50^000 men, offered battle. I have
already described this 6gfat, and how the battle was in laot a drawn
fight, Mahanm retaining his ground till niglttlal^ when he retired
bdiind the Tula and went northwards.* The next year, Ce., in 1416
(Delamarre says 141 5}> Mahamo sent some horses as tiibute and excused
hhnself for what he had done on the plea that he was afraid that die
Empoxv, at the instigation of Adai,his enemy, had marched into Tartary
to exteiminate him.t In 1417 (Delamarre says 1416) Adai sent word to
the court that he had defeated Mahamn, and also sent the prisoners and
horses which he had captured. A i&w days after Koaninnu bvka, tiie
envoy (^ Mahamu and of Tai ping also arrived to do homage in their name^}
Mahamu died, according to De Mailla, in 1418; and was succeeded by
his wn Toghon.} According to Ssanang Setsen Batnla Chingsang
was killed by UgetaU Khasldiagha in 141 5, but his dates at tiiis period
are very confused and unreliable. According to him the Uirads passed
entirdy for some years into the power of Ugetshi and his son Esseku,
who also controlled all the Mongols except the small section governed
by Adai Khan. He makes Esseku Khan marry the widow of Mahamu
or Batula Chingsang, and die in 1415.
Mahamu had, as I have stated,| taken prisoner a chief of the Assod
tribe named Ugudeleku, and had reduced him to slavery. From the
basket he had to carry on his back Ugudeleku was styled Aroktai.
When Ugetshi killed Mahamu, Aroktai f;^ into his hands. The legiti-
mate Khan Adsai and his mother Uldsheitu Khung Beidshi were aheady
prisoners in his house^ and they remained so during the reign oi his
successor Esseku. On the latter's death in 1425, his widow Samur Gundshi,
who was a daughter of the Mongol chief Elbek Khan, sent them home to
dieir own people, and also sent word by them that Esseku Khakan was
dead, that his i>eop1e were without a head and in a state of confusion, and
bade them march against them. This was very treadierous language on
the part of the Queen, for besides being the daughter of Elbek Khan she
had also been the wife of Mahamu, and was the mother of his son (who
is styled Bachamu by Ssanang Setsen). This son oveiheard his mother's
words, and reproached her for them. At that time Adai Khan was ruling
over the section of the Mongols which still remained indq>endent It
was to him that the three released prisoners repaired. Having married
Uldsheitu Khung Beidshi, he Adsai and Aroktai pbced themselves
* V4d$ tAM* 3SS« t D« MailU. z. 173. Dtbunarre, 1S4.
I De Mailla, s. ty€, DalamarM, xMw f Op. cit., s. xtS. | Aat»t 357.
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59^ HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
at the head of an army and defeated the Uirads at the mountain.
Jahnan brought them under subjection, and captured the son of Mahamu
already named.
I have aheady described how he was treated, and how he got the
surname of Toghon.* We are told that whilst he was a slave in the
house of Aroktai, the latter's wife, named Gerel Agha, touched by his
forlorn condition, treated him wdL While she was one day combing his
hair, Mongkebai the Mongholtshin said to her, " Agha, while you comb
his hair it would be easy to cut his throat," and then retired. Soon after
this his mother, Samur Gundshi, begged for and obtained the release of
her son, and took him home with her. When he arrived there he
summoned the chiefs of the Uirads, and urged upon them that it was a
favourable opportunity for them to break off the yoke, as confusion then
reigned among the Mongols and they had no leader. They accordingly
marched against and defeated them. Adai Khan took refuge in the
sacred Ordu of the Mongol Imperial family, but was pursued there and
killed. Toghon Taishi then rode round the enclosure of the ordu three
times on his horse Mirsanu sain khoQgkhor, and said, thou art a £ur
dwelling for the body of Sutu. I am Toghon, the son of SutaLt These
words excited the indignation of the chiefs of the Forty and Four (^^.,
of the Mongols). They spoke to one another referring to Jingis Khan.
" That Bogda lord was not only the chief of the Mongols, but had also
conquered everybody, not only the five banners of his own people, but
also the four foreign nations, and was a son of the Khormusda Tegri.
This is a raving idiot" They then went to him and said, " Thy wards and
thy deeds are very perverse. It were more fitting if thou wert to bow
thyself before the Bodga Lord in gratitude and to entreat his protection for
thy hfe." Toghon Taishi heeded not their admonition, but replied, " From
whom am I to expect the protection of my life if not from myself. Now
tiiat the whole nation is subject to me I mean to adopt the title of Khan,
and. to seat myself on the throne of the old Mongol sovereigns." He
then made an offering to the Bogda Lord (? Jingis Khan). As he
turned round to go away it was noticed by those who were looking at the
gold chariot of the lord (i>., the carriage on which his image was borne)
that the large arrow inside quivered and shook, upon which blood flowed
from Toghon Taishi's moutli and nose, and he fell powerless to the
ground. When he was undressed those present noticed a wound like
that made by an arrow between his shoulder blades, and as they noticed
that the point and notch of the middle arrow in the coach were soiled
with blood the Forty and Four concluded that Toghon Taishi had been
• Ante, 360.
t !.#., of the dirine lineage of the Mongol ImperUl famUy. Toghon coold cWum thit in right
of bis mother, the daughter of Elbck Kbao, and the descendant of Jingia Khan. Schmidt.
Sianasg Setxen, 40}.
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THE CHOROS. 599
punished by the Lord himsel£* Such is the Saga told by the native
Mongol historian aboat the usurpation of the throne of his ancestors
by the stranger Toghon Taishi. I will how collect together such notices
as I can find about fiim in the Chinese authors.
In r424 Adai, having recovered from the severe defeat he had sustained
at the hands of Mahamu, had himself proclaimed Khakan and threatened,
the Chinese frontier, upon which the Emperor marched against him.
The latter heard when he arrived at the river Si yang that he had been
entirely defeated by Toghon and that many of his subjects had gone over
tp his rival.t
We next hear of Toghon ii) 1434, when we are told that he slew Adai
at the mountain Una, and that he sent one of his officers named Amk6
to announce the fact and to take presents to the Imperial court, and also
to take the Jude seal of the deceased. He was weU received by the
Emperor, who gsve htm back the seal and told him to take care of itt
In 1438 a horse fair was established at Ta thong for purposes of trade
with the Uirads.|
In 1442 the Uirads sent envoys to offer tribute to the Chinese court
We are told that originally the Uirad embassy consisted of but about thirty
persons, but that, encouraged by the presents given by the Emperor,
they went by thousands, and the cost to the town of Ta thong cX
maintaining them rose to over 300^000 taels ; the officers who were
responsible for this extravagance were imprisoned, and the Emperor
Bxed the number who were to go in future at 300. Nevertheless, they
again came this year to the number of over 2,000. They were all
received. They exchanged their horses for bows.|| Before his death
Toghon Taishi, according to Ssahang Setzen, summoned his son Essen
to him and said, " Sutu can raise kis people aloft, but Sutai cannot jj^ro-
tect kirs. While I haye implored the goddess mother Sutai, I have
been reduced to this condition by the Bogda lord himself (t.&, has
been shot through by his arrow) ; meanwhile, I have wholly cleared
away the thorns from your path ; nothing remains to be cleared
away but Mongkebai, of the Mongfaoltshin tribe,''— upon which he
diedlT Schmidt observes that this passage means that ToghoQ
Taishi had not succeeded in entirdy extirpating the old royal race
of the Mongols, and that something still remained for his son to do.**
According to Ssanang Setzen Toghon Taidshi died in i43B,tt but the
Chinese authorities are much more rdiable on such a point, and we
learn from De Mailla that the news of his death reached the Chinese
court in the latter part of 1444, so that he doubtless died during
that year. He appears in two of the Kahnuk genealogies given by
• Staiiftag 8«tMii, X49 and 151. t De MailU. x. 280. Delamarre, 199.
tDtUmarre»sS5* Dt Maill*, x. 196. ft DeUmur*. a49*
I DtUmatira, asa. f Smuwbc Stteeo, 151. ** Op. dt, 4<>5> ttM.,fS).
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6oo HisrroRT or the monools.
PalUs,* and his was doabdess one of the greatnt names in Kalmuk
history, and he was for the greater part of his reign master not only
of the Uhads but also of the Mongols. He was succeeded by his son
Essen, the Yassun of one of Pallas's lists,t and piobably the Essama of
another.} To the Chinese he was known as Yesieo.
One of Essen's first acu was to put to death Mongkebai the
Monghc^tshin, as his Cither had advised him. He was now masler of all
Mongolia etc^ the districts of UriangkaLI Havii^ attacked the latter
several times, he united himsdf to their chief in marriage. Thb chief
was no doubt Totobaka, who is called leader of the Uleangra.| He then
proceeded to molest the Chinese frontier posu of Cha chait, Che kin,
&cir An army oi 300,000 men was sent against him, under Chu yong,
but it did not dare to advance for, and returned without meeting Essen.
The cynical author translated by De Mailla sajrs its leaders weie as
liberally rewarded as if diey had captured Essen.** This was in 1445.
We next read of Essen attacking China, and even carrying off the
Emperor a prisoner to Mongolia. The cause of tiie war is difeently
assigned by De Mailla and Delamane. The former says that Essen
demanded an Imperial princess in marriage. His envoy was told by
the Imperial ftvourite, who controlled hb masler, that his request
would be granted. He accordhigly sent a maniage present of a great
number of horses, accompanied by apoo men, which number the guides
ndsed to 3,000^ hi order that it might seem a greater hooour.tt Dda-
marre says nothing about the Imperial princess, and merely says that
the Ealmuks ejcagi^erated the escort of thehr envoys hi order to
receive more presents.tt The eunuch received the presents for hlmsd^
but when reminded that they were a weddii^ present and. meant for
the Emperor, iht latter disavowed all knowledge ^ the transaction, and
the eunuch thereupon repudiated his promise and sent the envoys heme.
Essen was naturally much enraged.!! Delamarre says he was enraged that
his envoys did not receive sufficient gratuities. He accordingly marched
a large force towards China. Totobuka, his nominee as Khan, went at
the head of the Uriangits against Liautung, Alachewan (? Alak diingsai^
marched by way of Suenfu upon Thse chen, another general invaded
Kan siu, while Essen himsdf advanced towards Ta thong.gi Havhig
defeated a contingent that marched against hhn, he threatened to march
towards Peking, which was thrown into confbdon. The eunuch Wang
chin undertook to conmiand the army, which, hiduding camp foUowerSy
consisted of $b6,6oo men. He was a very incapable person, and the
review 93f 'the army at Long hu tai was a scene of terrible confusiooy
^^LHitt.NacbnAc,Lt5tnd34. t Op. dt. i. 34. I/i^l*35*
I CiOliid UlMBgrft br DdMwmt ««•, and W^lMSShs ky !>• If aUla, s. MS.
|D«taaifr«»a6l. f Ddamam, 160. •* Op. dt , x., 106.
^ b« IfaiUa, 1. S07. n Op. dt., t68. || Dt IfdlU, x. 206. f ! DduBtm, s68.
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THBCHQRO& 6oi
neiAer was it sufficieiitly piovided with food, while the nhi fell in
torrents. In vain the move amiable officers pr^Mnted dieir reporu
urging a halt. Theeunuch was not to be moved, and when the astrologer
Pen te thsin told him that the stars were not favourabte^ he replied that
^if disaster came it would be by the decree of heaven.''
The unwieldy army escorting the feeble Emperor at length arrived at
Ta thong, where it was decided to retreat Koleng, the commander
of the garrison there, urged that m order to place the Emperor, in
safety the army should retreat by way of Tse Idng koan. The eunnch,
on the other hand, wished hhn to traverse his native country of Wet
chau, so that his brother might have the honour of entertainiog hhrL
Thus the army returned by way of Tu mu, and stayed there some time.
As it was crossing the Ki min chan uKmntain news arrived that Essen
was close at hand.* He attacked the rearguard of the army. U khet-
chong, the count of Kong chuen, and his brother the fieutenant-general
Khe khin opposed him, but were slaughtered with their men, upon which
the force constituting the rearguard dispersed* Chu yong and Sue hoan
marched to the rescue with 401OOO men, but all perished. At length,
alter two days' march, they encamped at Tu nuL There they dug some
wdls but found no water.! Essen learnt the condition of their <army
from a spy whom he sent out, and when it resumed its march attacked
it on all sides, and it began to diverse. Essen <vdered quarter to be
given to all who did not resist, but the excited Tartars heeded not, and
more than loo^ooo Chinese were slaug^itered, among whom were the
generals Chang fu, Wang cho, the Ministers of State Hoang ye, Tsao nai,
and Chang i, and a great number of other officers. The Emperor himself
was captured. Seeing himself surrounded by enemies he descended
from his horse, knelt with his £u:e turned towards the south, and
afterwards sat down on a cushion without showing any marks oi excite-
ment. This repose, which was probably due laigdy to imbecility, accord-
ing to die Chinese account, greatly impressed the Tatars.} Their com-
mander, Sai kan, went to tell his master, who hardly crediting the news sent
two Chinese to confirm it When he found it was true he turned to some
of the leading Mongols and adced, ^What shouM be done widi hun P "
One of the chief of these relied, ^ There was no question what should be
done. That as the family of Ming had destroyed that of Yuen it was
necessary to kill him." But Peyen Timur interposed warmly and said
he ought to be treated as a Noyan (i>., a lord), and he urged upon Essen
that he would render has name inmiortal by rdeasiog his prisoner and
sending him home again. This was generally assented to^ but Essen
had other things in view. He confided him to Peyen Timur and ordered
him to be well guarded and to be treated with honour. Ho tiien sent
* D« IfaUbi I. U9. t D«taflMm, syo. I D» If aills, s. ixx,
30
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6o2 HISTORY OF TRC MONGOLS*
Word to Peking) where the news was received with consternation. The
Queeii dowager despatched the most precious objects in gold and
precious stones which she possessed, which were placed on eight mules.
The Emperor's wife also sent her jewels. But Essen was not to be thus
bought
Meanwhile, the prince Ching wang, younger brother of the EmperoTi
was appointed r^ent, and his son Chu kien chin, who was then two
years old, was named heir-apparent The eunuch Wang chin had
perished at Tu mu, having been killed by one of his servants. His goods
were now confiscated, and his creatures imprisoned or put to death. TIm
mandarins who had chaige of the confiscation reported that the late
favourite had several houses as magnificent as the Emperor's palace^
that he had for his table a service of ten gold plates a foot in diameter
garnished with precious stones, sixty chests filled with gold and silver,
one hundred pieces of jade, fifty trees of coral seven to eight feet high,
and over 10,000 horses besides those he had taken with him on his
expedition.*
Essen returned northwards by way of Ta thongs and in the hope that
it would surrender he took the Emperor close to the walls. The latter,
aware of his design, shouted to the governor in the ambiguous sentence,
** Ko tengy you are allied to me. How then am I outside }^ The answer
was, ** It is by your majesty's command that I defend this place.* He
sent some people out with presents of robes for the Emperor, who
distributed them among Essen and his two brothers Peyen Timur and
Ta tong. These people also brought out 10,000 taels of gold and as
many of silver, which were offered as ransom, but were refused by Essen,
who was piqued at having failed to acquire possession of the town. He
tried in a similar way to obtain possession of Suen hoa fu, but was again
foiled. Leaving China by Miao ul chuang, he arrived in twenty-^ght
days at his ordinary residence at He fong lin.
The Emperor was taken to his tent, where music and Tatar dances were
performed for him by Essen's wife and concubines. Thence he went to
the tent of Peyen Timur, where he was similariy enteruined. The
Chinese Emperor was named Ing tsong. He is called the Daimlng
Jingtai Khi^han by Ssanang Setzen, who tells us he entrusted him to
the keeping of Alima Chingsang and told him to conduct him to the
warm district of Jirghughan minggant utshiyed daira. Essen was
pressed by some about him to put his prisoner to death. De Mailla says
that he consented, but that on the day Ifated for the execution there was a
terril)le storm, in which his horse was killed by thunder, which frightened
him.
Meanwhile it was determined to fill the vacant throne at Peking^ and
«'D«U«iU8,s.tX4«tss. D«ttBiaii«*i^3. t JirglMfluui miafiu umm Moo.
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THBCHOKOa. 603
Itig Hong's brother Chiag waog was elected Emperor with the title of
King tL* The absent Emperor received the title of superior Emperor
(f>., ex Emperor).t On the first day of the ninth month Ing tsong
arrived at Ip4 inTatary, and Essen sent word to the Chinese court that he
demanded a ransom of 100 taels of gold, aoo tads of sihrer, and 2oo.pieces
of the best silken goods-t As no heed was paid to this message Essen
sent a defiant letter, and the new Emperor ordered the fortifications, Ac,
on the frontier to be put in order ; stores were provided and the garrisons
augmented. Essen approached the frontier with a large army, spreading
the report that he was escorting the Emperor Ing tsong to Peking. He
was accompanied by Totobuka, the titular Khan of the Mongols.! He
summoned Ta thong to surrender, but as its governor refused to do so hs
passed on and attacked the pass of Tse-king-koan ; iu commander Han
tsing and the garrison perished. The Kalmuks now spread over the
province of Pdi cheh li, but the brave war minister Yu Iden did not lose
heart ; he set fire to the forage that there was in the environs of Peking
so that the enemy, whose force consisted entirely of cavalry, should be
compelled to retire, and he summoned an army from Liautung.N
Essen soon appeared before the cafutal and made several attacks upon
it. In one of these, acceding to Ddamarre, a body of 10^000 Kalmuks
fell into an ambuscade, and Essen's brother Puilo^ and Maonahai one of
his generals, were killed by a blow from a stone.
This was at the gate Te chen. They were also defeated at the gates
Chang*i and Thu-chen, the citiiens showering down tiles upon them
from the roofs of their houses.ir
Finding more resistance than he expected Essen sent into the city to
treat His advances were not met in a very cordial fashion. None of
the higher mandarins would volunteer to be envoys to his camp, so two
of lower rank named Wang fit and Chao yong were told ofi* for the duty
and were at the same time raised to the rank of grandees of the empire.
Essen had taken the Emperor Ing tsong with him, and when the envoys
arrived at the camp they were ushered into a Lama temple, where he was
confined, and where they found him with Essen and his brother Peyen
Timur, both armed cap-a-pie. They submitted their letters, which were
written in Chinese for the Emperor and in Tatar (fl/., Mongol) for Essen.
The lauer discovering that they were only mandarins of low rank sent
them back and said he wished Wang ch^ U yong, Yu kien, and Che
heng to go themselves.**
Meanwhile the troops from Liau tung were approaching. De
MaiUa says the^ {^umbered 220^000 men. This succour raised the
spiriu of the ^if|ed, who made sorties and atucked Essen on
• D« Maitln, ^. 410. t D«l*marre. 274* I D« MaiUa. x- si6.
|Ant^3Sx. D«^^iUa,i.tx7. | D« M aUU. s. aiS. ^ Dtlamarn, a?^ 177.
••DelltilU.x.4tl.
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6q4 HlflOItT or THl MOKOOLS.
tiiree sicks, but were apfwrcntlj very pcrtially successAiL Essea
hofverer did not deem it prudent to remain lonfer, but retiied
northwards, plondering tbe towns on bb route.* The Chfaiete
pursued die Kahnuks, who separated into several sectioiis. Essen
retired by way of Ku yoag koan, Peyen Timor by Ts6 king koan, while
Totobuka sent to the Chinese court to protest that ha wouki not again
enter China.t Delamarre parenthetically observes that Essen had die
main authority in die State, and that although Totobuka was nominally
Khan, dnt he had fewer soldiers than die Kalmuk chie^ wUle Oki or
Ala, one of the latter^ generals, had fewer sdlL The threes aldioiigfa
united in thehr campaign against China, were by no means cordially
disposed to one another. The Rhakan Totobuka having sent an
embassy with presents, it was determmed to fen dnsfeeUng of jeakmsy,
and it retumed to ita master with large presents.) After collecting
together the various sections of his army Essen feasted the capdve
Emperor with a fet horM n^iich he killed in his honour, and promised
to rdease Urn. Totobuka also made offers of peace to him, but he
counted more on tbcr good offices of Peyen Tfanur, to whose wife he
sent to ask to b^ for his release. She sakl she had no power. Her
husband on returning from huntii^ sent him a present of game and wine
<? kumis), and philosophically told him not to de^air.|
One of I ng tsong's eunuchs, who had gone over to die Kalmuka^ seems
to have acquired great Influence over Esseiu He now persuaded him to
make an invasion into China by way of Ninghia and to capture the studs
of horses there. This he did, and retired again after a month's pillaging^
leaving several thousands of his men at Ho thao, whence dwy made raids
upon the district of Ninghia. This was in 1449 or 1450U Next year
the Kalmuks advanced into the district of Ta thoi^ as fer as Cha Oy
where they were defeated by the Chinese general Ten, who was created
marquis of Tin diang. Some months later they were defeated by
Chu kien in a sharp struggle near Kia Ida and near Suen lu.| The
eunuch Hi-ning was no ftriend to his late master, but tried several
times to persuade Essen to put htm to death. Ing tsong was not
%ilorant of his intrigues, and he now had an opportunity of revenging
himsdf. Having need of a messenger to carry a letter to Pddng, Hi-
nlng, who wished very much to go there, volunteered to take it The
Enqperor sent him, and at the same time sent orders to the governor of
Suen boa fti to imprison him and send him on to Pddng. TUs was
accordingly done, and he was put to death there in the open stree^f
In the seventh month, Hala, prince of the Tatars, sent his iribute of
horses to the Imperial court** This was doubtless the Alak Chingsang
of Ssanang Set2en.tt
* Dt llaila, s. 2tf» DtlMMm, 177. t D» lUUla, x. mo. I DttbMMrrt, <77, aft.
|DelliUte,x.ttB. |P<lM— rf,^aH. D« lf•illi^ v. ats. 5 !>• Mailte, >• <«•
**D«lfai]lft,x.ttt. ttOpbdt.iigb •(■■«.
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THE CHOROS. 605
Esaoif wbodtaiaid to conie to teimt witl^ tte Iiqpeiial court but wis
aliaid that his previous conduct would haxdty make his adYS^Aoes accept*
able, addfftiaod lumsclf to Ijala, who accepted the office of mediator and
sant an envoy to the court with offers of peace. The gnmdees having
deUberated determined to send the mandarins Hiu pin and Ma chin to
make inquiries as to whether the news was reliable. They returned to
Peking and reported fiivourably. Meanwhile the Chinese tieatied the
envojr of Hala with special consideration, hoping by HM<^i*^if^ his master
from the interests of Essen to createa diversion in Tatary if it were found
necessary. But the Kalmuk chief was quite sincere, and sent another
embassy to demand peace. The difficulty now arose on the part of the
new Emperor King ti, who seemed disinclined to vacate his throne again
in favour of his captive brother. The grandees however agreed that
he should not b^ prejudiced by his brother's return. He sent Liche
the assessor of rites with a pacific letter to Totobuka the titular Khan
of Tatary, who took with him seals of office as Khan for Essen
and also for Hala.* Seventeen days afler leaving Peking he arrived
at Chepator, where Essen was encamped. Having delivered the seals
and letters to him he went on to the tent of Peyen Timur, where he
found the captiife Emperor Ing tsong. Beside the tent was a cart
drawn by oxen, which carried his baggage when he moved about.
Liche was much distressed at the forlorn condition of the Emperor,
and both wept at the audience ; the Enqieror saying that if he regained
his liberty he should go and end his days by the tombs of his
ancestors. Essen at a subsequent interview toki Liche to return home
and to tell his master to send a suit|ible cort^ to accompany his
brother home again. His brother Peyen Timur suggested to him that if
a Chinese princess were sent to be married to Essen's son it would
facilitate matters very much. Liche gave a prudent and diplomatic
answer to this request. On his return home, having persuaded King
ti with %omt difficulty that . Essen was quite sincere, the latter sent
ajnagnificent cort^ headed by the Imperial censor Yang chen to take
his brother home again. Yang chen had considerable tact, and having
assured Essen that the Emperor would be escorted by 3/k» brave
warriors, thattheve was no disturbance on the frontier which they need
fear, and that it was not seemly to demand gokl or silver as a ransom
when he proposed to generously send the Emperor home^ preparations
were at once made for the departure* On the day after his interview
widi Yang chen Ejuen entertained the Emperor in his own tent and him-
self played before him on a kind of Tatar guitar while his wives offered
him drink. Yai^ chen was desired to ut during the banquet, the
i civility keing errttnM to Essen's n^nister Amktf, but tiie fonner
* Dt Mania, s. s^ it4«
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6o6 HISTORY or THl MONOOLS.
refused, saying, that sdthough in the midst of the desat he was not going
to be uncivil to his prince. Essen replied that they seemed to be rery
punctilious in Chtna^ among his people these things were not so much con-
sidered.* This feast was followed by another given him by Peyen Timur.
Ing tsong at lengUi set out on his return. Essen accompanied him for
half a da/s journey, and on taking leave of him presented hiin with his
coat of mail, his bow, and his quiver full of arrows. Peyen Thnur went
on with him to the mountain Ye hu ling, where he again feasted
him. The next day he paraded the troops in ranks, with their herds
behind them, and they presented Ing tsong wi^ a great number of
cattle and sheep. Peyen Timur was much attached to the Emperor,
and had shown him much kindness during his captivity. They both
wept at parting. He sent on 500 Kalmuks to escort hini to
Peking. Soon after he had left him Amk^ overtook him whh a present
of game from £ssen.t Ing tsong travelled by way of Suen hoa fb,
and at length arrived at Peking. His brother was greatly embarrassed
by hfs arrival, which was by no means welcome, and he let it be
known that a very cordial reception would not be pleasing to him. Ing
tsong, seeing how matters stood, removed all difficulties by resigning the
throne in his favour and going to live in the southern palace.} This was
in I4SO or 1451.
I mentioned that Ssanang Setzen shortly describes Essen's campaign in
China and his capture of the Emperor. He goes on to say that when he
set out on his return he let it be known that whoever should forestal
him in acquainting his mother with the good news should be put to
death. When he reached his home he thus addressed her, ^ Mother,
I feel as if I were bom again.** She replied, ^* My darling, does that mean
you have taken the Emperor prisoner?** **Who told you?" he said.
^ Buke Sorson told me out of the delight of his heart,** she replied. Upon
which, without heeding his mother's protests, Essen had him put to death.
This murder was very displeasing to the Mongols, who fell away from
him in large numbers and sided with the Khakhan Taissong, the
Totobuka of the Chinese authors.! In conjunction with his brothers
Akbardshi and Mandaghol he marched against the Uirads and en*
countered them in the country of Turufanu Kara (i>., Turfitn).| To
try the issue of the battle a champion was chosen on dtfatr aide.
Baghatur Shigussutai of the Oraghods represented the Mongols, aad
Baghatur Ghoilinchi the Uirad Buriads. When the two Baghatnrs
neared one another one of them asked the other his name and tribe^ and
then remembered that on that very spot when their people were at peace
the former had thus spoken to the latter at a feast ** Suppose at some
future time the Uirads and Mongols should go to war and we two should
* De ll«{lte, s. 2j6. t De MftUla, X. oa;. I Dttaiaarrt, a8s-«85. D« If aIBb, x. Ml, sis*
I Staiuiif S«tj«n» iss. | Ante, jfiu
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THXCHO&0& 607
be chosen as champions and have to %fat it out, what would yoa do to
mti Ghoilinchi replied^ I am a good archer, and if you were covered
with lurmonr as you are now I would shoot you through and throo^ ;
and I, replied his friend, am a good swordsman, and would cleave you
down from the crown to the girdle." Baghatur Shigussutat, who had
remembered the conversation, had encased himself in double armour.
Thus prepared he addressed his rival at some distance and said, *' Far*
shooting Archer, you have the precedence : shoot** Ghoilinchi thereupon
shot an arrow which pierced the double harness of the other, wounded
him slightly, and remained fixed in the hinder pommel of hb saddle ;
after which the latter clove him to the ground.*
It was decided that the fight should commence at dawn on the following
day. Both sides remained on guard during the night, but the Uirads,
according to Ssanang Setsen, were in great fear and deliberated whether
they should give in or what they should do. Upon this Abdulla Setsen of
the Teilenguds remarked that the Mongol people were simple and short-
sighted, and that he would go and see if he could not create discord
among them. If it turned out wdl he should be rewarded, if he should
perish they might then take his children. On his way he thought to
himself— Taissong Khan is prudent and discerning, but Akbardshi Jinong
is stupid and inconsiderate ; I will try and deceive him. . . . When
he arrived in the tent of the Jinong he said to him, ** If you, Jinong, had
the sole power we should not be enemies, we should assist one another
in war, and meet death united. Essen Taishi has sent me to tell you
this.** He then continued, ^ We hear that the Khan your brother always
speaks with contempt of you, and that he as the elder brother takes
everything for himself and leaves nothing for you the younger." The
Jinong replied, ^ Let us confer on this matter to-night." Me then con-
tinued, ** What Abdulla says is true. When the Khan my brother raised
me to the rank of Jinong and gave me authority over the Baraghon
Tumen he placed all he gave me on a blind blade camel stallion, and in
this very campaign he has taken away my servant Alakshid Tsa^^ian.
How can I live with him as a brother ? I will unite myself with the Four
Uirads and drive him away." Upon this Akbardshi's son Khaighotsok
remariced — ''The proverb says : He who forsakes his Dunily must go
forward ; he who quits his mother's womb must come outwards ; he who
forsakes his parents-in-law will be despised ; he, however, who ab^dons
his prince will be abhorred. Essen Taishi is certainly my father-in-law,
but that does not concern you, and I speak thus that my father may not
stain his name. Rather than trust to the words of a stranger it were
better to treat him as an enemy and to cut him down." His fother
replied that his chatter was foolish, and allied himself with the Uirads, at
* Siaaaof Seuw, I5S«
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6o8 UISTOIlY or THB IIOMOOLS.
whose head be advanced tbe iollowtiig morning against Us brochttr.
Talssoog was defeated and fled, and was {wt to death bf« Mongol named
TSabdan who had a grudge against Mm.* Ssanang SeCten datai thb In
1453. Ddamarre tells ns that Totohnka had married Essen^ Sbterhnt
had refused to midce her son hb hen-, utxm which he asstsdnated hte
and sent his wife and son to the Chinese. He also sent to do homage
and to pay tribute. The Chinese minister Yu kien dedared that
although Essen had repemed and had of his own free wiB sent to do
homage, his crimes were so enormous that he did not deserve paidon.
He bought that this strife between sovereign and subfect was an oppor-
tunity sent by heaven to enable the Cliinese to exact reveiq;e from him,
and asked to be put at the head of an army to march against them,
but the Emperor did not permit it.t
The curious account of the reign of AldMud^, the successor of
Taissong Khan, who is unknown to tlie Chinese historians, but whose
story is much mixed up with that of Essen Khan, I have already abstracted
from Ssanang Setzen4 and shall not here repeat it According to this
story Essen was only styled Taishi and Jinong until alter Akbard^iys
death. Delamarre says that after killing the prince Totobuka Essen had
himself proclaimed Thien chen Khanf (f>., celestial and holy Khan).|
Like the Eastern Mongols the Kalmuks were divided into two adminis-
trative secdons, the Segor gar or right wing and the Baraghon gar or left
wing ; each of these was apparently controlled by a Chingsang. At this
rime these two officers were styled Alak Chingsang and Timur Chingsang.
Offices of such trust among the Mongols were nearly alwa3r5 reserved for
near relatives of the Khan, his sons or brothers. It is very probable
that Timur Chingsang is to be identified with the Peyen Timur of the
Chinese narratives, who is called a brother of Essen's, and was his com-
panion in his wars. In regard to Alak, he is clearly the Alachewan of Dela-
marre, who is elsewhere called Ala by the same author.^ He is caHed
a general of Essen's, and was in aU probability another of his brothers.
I have described how these two chiefs went one day to Essen to
ask him to grant the title of Taishi ; how he refused, saying he had
already given that title to his son ; how they then reproached him,
marched an army against him and drove him away, and how in his flight'he
met with Bagho the son of Boke Sorsson whom he had pot to deadi, and
how he in turn was killed and his body hung upon a tree on the mountain
Kttgel Khan by the son of his former victim.**
In the Chinese account we are toM that Ala asked lor the post ol
^Grand Preceptor,** the first post In die empire^ for himself. Essen not
only refused hiitr^but also killed his two sons, upon which he mardied
agwnsthim at the head <dhm people and killed hhn.tt Ssanang Setsen
i S«tMa. IS5. *i* ABto.s6r. t DcImmr*, iSy. De MaUla, 1. «$<•
iaate,j6fsl9* iOSbdt.iog. | Tiafcowild, tt. sts.
5 0f.dt.*sSSaada9i. *"Aite,sCi^ SMsaag Sttsra, iSs* tt Dttoaurn, igs.
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THE CHORDS. ^
dalM his death in 1453, Dehmuure in 14549 and Timkowski in 1455.
Wkh Easen paiaed away die glorious epoch in the history of the
Weatem Mongola. Undcnr him the whole Mongol world was once more
tmited,«[id in s<mie measure reveiq^ed itself upon the Chinese by frequent
victories over them and by capturing ^leir sacred ruler; the latter was a
stroke of fortune which has sehlom fidlen to a nomadic chie^ and makes
us surmise that with a little more vigour abroad and a fittle more unity at
home he might have rivalled, at least in Asia, the rMe of Jingis Khan.
With his death the supremacy of the Kahnnks seems to have vani^ed
away very rapidly. We are unfortunately left in the dark about them by
Ssanang Setien, who for a while confines himself to the history of the
Eastern Mongols, and the Chinese accounts of Mongolia also become
exceedingly meagre.
We are told that soon after Essen's death the Tatar Fuilai killed Ala,
seized the mother and widow of Essen, and put Maeulh the son of Toto-
buka on the throne, and that after this PuUai and his officers Maolihai,
&c., were the renowned chiefs among the Tatars who increased in power
daily.* This Puilai is no doubt the Polai of De Mailla.t He is caUed
Bulai by Timkowski.) The Maeulh of the above account is no doubt the
Melon Elian and Maolihai the Molikhai of Ssanang Setzen.{ He does not
name Puilai^ who seems to have now become the chief of the Kalmuks.
In 1460 1 Puilai, Maolihai, and others invaded the Chinese frontier
with three divisions. They marched by way of Ta thong and Wi Yuen.
They pillaged the country in the neighbourhood of the pass of Yen Men
and of the towns Tai chau, Su chau, and Si chau.lT In 1461 Puilai
sent a letter proposing an agreement, but he nevertheless continued his
incursions.**
In the latter part of 1465 Maolihai at the head of a laige army invaded
the Chinese districts of Yen gan and Sui te in Shensi. Hie Emperor ordered
Yang sin the commander of Ta thong, Li k^ commander of Ning hia,
and Hiang chong governor of Shen
scarcely a year in which Puilai, the lit
not make raids upon the districts of
off prisoBers.tt It is to this period ^
MaiUa where he says "The Tatars
especially after Maolihai, in the sixth y<
the districts of Ku yuen, Leang chau, a:
beinjB^ incited by Holochu and Mongko
who was then in possessk>n there^ he hi
attacked and killed Pohal Findmg 1
federates settled there and sent their he _
^Dthuoarrt.soo. t Op. ck.» x. U9« I Op. dt, iU tij. I Ft4|# aolt, sM.
HHIItUlmaytMtfi. f DtliuiMm, 318, Dt MftUlm s. jisp, •« IMMnwrt, jaa.
ft DtlaoMm, SSS. ^ 0« Malllm x. 901. AateisSB.
3H
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6lO HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
In 1468 Topoy prince of the Uinub, tent his chief minister Hoch6
Timur to take tribute to the Chinese.* In the Ming annals we xead
that in the eariy years of the reign of Hien tsong, who mounted the
throne in 1465, Maolihai, Klaokiaslaui PuilohUi and Mantlu sttccessivdy
pillaged the frontier. In ^73 the three former chie£i made a cnid raid
into China, which I have already described.t In 143a -the Tatar Ismain
invaded Yen sui, and was defeated at the mountain Thai by the colonel
Liau nin ; other detachments of them were beaten at Chong tsui, Mu kua
yuen, San li tha, and Heche yai, and sufiered great losses.^
We now reach a period when the Mongols, under Dayan Khan, were
bong welded together into a homogeneous power, while the Kalmuks
were apparently being disint^^ted and broken into fragments. They
occupied the country north of the Tien Shan or Celestial range^ and
especially the neighbourhood of the Bogdo Ula mountain. Their capital
was in the valley of the river Ili, and probably on the site of Kuldja. In
the description of Hi, extracted from the Sin Idang chi lio by Stanislas
Juhen, it is said that under the Ming the territory of Ih belonged to the
Wala (f./., the Uirads). The same account is given in the Thai Thsing
i tong chi.{ It is to this country, and especially to the sacred mountain
of Bogdo Ula, as I have shown, that the traditions of the Khoits revert«
Lastly, De Mailla, in describing the revolutions that took place in the
district of Khamil and Turfan in the middle ages, says that the
mountains Tien shan separated the country of Khamil from that of
the Wala or Uirads, and that when the Uirads were all powerful in the
reign of their great Khan Toghon they captured Khamil | This was
about 1472. And we find Uirads meddling in its internal history more
than twenty years later.^ As I have said, they were gradually becoming
disintegrated as the Mongols were gaining in strength. The latter were
at length controlled by their great chief Altan Khan, of the Tumeds,**
and we read that in 1552 he marched against the Four Uirads, and
killed the prince of the Naiman Mingghan Khoit (f>., of the
eight thousand Khoits), named Mani Minggbatu, on the mountain
Kunggei Sabkhan, captured his wife Jigeken Agha, and his two sons
Tokhai and Kokoter, and subdued the whole people. He also ve*-
covered Khoning (/./., Karakorum) from them.tt In 1562 his great
nephew Khutuktai defeated the Totguts on the Irtish, as I have
already related4t But a turn in Kahnuk fortune was at hand and was
brought about by the Khoit chief Esselbei Kia, such is his name as given
by Ssanang Setten, and he was the son of the Mani Minghatu just
namedH He is called Esilban Sain Ka (f ./., the distinguished Esilban Ka)
by Pallas. He says he was a prince of the Khoits, at first subject to the
* D« MailU, X. 143- t Dtlemarrt, 357- Aato, S7o> 57X' I D«l«marr«, 380, s8t.
f Joom. Ariaft., 4th Ser., vliL 385. f Op. cit., z. t47. 5 /<*, «• aCo, &c. ** Antt« 4x6, te.
tt liiinin SetstOi flo^tix. H Aat*, S^i. H SsMumg SttMn, 119.
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THECHOROS. 6ll
Buirats but JEifterwards their conqueror.* Ssanang Seuen aod Pallas
give two different versions of his struggle with the Mongols, which I
shall now abstract. According to the former, as Sctzcn Khungtaidshi of
the Ordos tribe was returning in 1574 from an expedition against
Togmak he learnt that Buyan Baghatur Khungtaidshi and his brothers,
the sons of his suzerain the Jinong Noyandara, had set out on an
expedition against the Uirads ; he thereupon left his baggage at Bars Kul
{i,4,y Barkul) and also set out a^nst them.' Baghatur Khungtaidshi
had meanwhile attacked the Naiman Mingghan Khoit Turned (/^., the
eight thousand Khoit division), \mder Esselbei Kia, on the ''morning
skk" (<*./.» the south) of the Khargai (? Kanghai chain) and had subdued
them. Setien Khungtaidshi tiiereupon marched against the Baghatud
(/./., as I suppose, the joint Sungars and Derbets), whom he encountered
and vanquished, under their chiefs Khamsu and Duritu, on the ''evening
side* (f./., the north) of the Jalman mountain. His son Uldshei Uduchi
pursued them for three months, although he and his men had finished all
their provisions and were obliged to subsist on a kind of earth called
Barkilda by the Mongols.f Oil the south side of the Tobakhan mountain
he subdued the four dans of the Choros,^ under their chief Bajira
Shigetshin, after which the princes, father and son, set out on their return
home. Meanwhile Setzen Khungtaidshi sent messengers from Bulungkir*
where he then was, to Baghatur Khungtaidshi with the message,
'^ £sselbei Kia is regarded by his own people as their eye, and is not the
man to treat us treacherously ; as we have decided to divide the Khoits
and to break their power, we may as well leave the matter in his hands."
Baghatur, who was then apparently in the Khoit country and had Esselbei
Kia in his hands, was dissatisfied with this proposal and would not give
the messengers an audience. Esselbei Kia, who was flattered by the good
opinion of him Setxen Khungtaidshi had expressed, drew out of the
kettle the best piece, namely, the four great ribs, and put them before the
messengers, who thereupon set out on thehr return. When Baghatur
learnt this he flew into a great rage and attacked Esselbei Kia with the
words, " You have Consumed the best half of a whole horse, the four
ribs on either side next to the shoulder pieces. The proverb says,
' that he who dips his fbiger in another's milk will not scruple to capture
another's herd.' So you have dipped your hand in my kettle^ and
acted the master agahist my win. You had better have the culprit
finger eaten." Those of the four Uirads who were 'present, angry
at this insult, plotted together, while Esselbei Kia stamped with his
foot, threw down the rest of the flteh and said, ** I have not eaten the
•S«ml.Hist.Ntch.,i.57.
t This is probably Ui« te-caUad itooa bvuat ai«itioaa4 by PaUiain hit TnweU, ii. SS* S|S
sod 697^; and iii« ajS. Schmidt, Staaans S«tatQ« 4i3*
t ? A NCtioacf the larfer dlrialsa of tht aime namt.
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6ll HISTORY OF TH£ MONGOLS.
four hone rib% but the eight ribs of my ftoher Sotai Minghatu will
come, and are not far off." Upon which he collected an axmedlorce, with
whom he on the following night attacked Baghatur Khungtaidshi in his
camp on the river Kerdliissun, killed him, and then retired from that
country. This was in 1575.*
Pallks says nothing of the reason for £sselbet's ontbteak, but loerdy
describes that event He says he furdvdy collected a number of resohite
men and gave some of the Uirad princes notice ^ his intention. He
told them that they should feign that they wished to do homage to the
Mongols in the ancient £uhion. Following his advice, they prepared a
rich train laden with presents, borne by caparisoned camels. He and
the bravest warriors hid themselves in the dossds which camels carry on
both sides so that each camel carried two men, anned with good
sabres. When the convoy arrived in the Mongol court, where all the great
men had assembled, and after die preliminary ceremonies, the camels were
unladen, the hidden warriors came out» fett upon the Mongols pfesent,
and caused a great slaughter. The Uirads then fdl upon the Mongol
army in its first consternation, and compelled it to abandon their
land, and to give the Uirad princes their freedom and a just alliance.
Esselbei now became the head of the Uirads, except only a few who, to
escape submitting to him, fled to Bukharia. But whilst each of the
Uirad princes willingly sunendeied to him the headship, he proved
himself unworthy of the position, and abandoned himself to drunkenness.
At length there arose great hostility against him, and a certainTorgut called
Abuda Budshi (f>., Abuda the shooter, because he was the first to use fiie*
arms), with the assistance of some other Kaknuk princes (among whom
Shuker, an unde of Galdan'S| whose life Kia had once saved, is named),
captured him and had him killed by a common Kalmuk named Ulan.
The Kalmuk dm>nides report that in this war a whole army of
Mongols, under Ushi Khungtaidshi, was suiprised in the night and
slaughtered. His horse Urruk Shorkhal alone survived, and conveyed
the news of the death of their husbands to iht widowed Mongol women.
Upon which Deere Zasen Khatun, the wife of Udii, who was then
pregnant, collected an army of armed women and marched against the
Kalmuks. She was, however, wounded by Abuda Budshi in the under
lip with a bullet The boy who was the ofibprii^ of this Amazon, says
Pallas, waa bom.without any thumb on his right hand, and was thence
known as Mukhor Lusaag (m;, the cripided Lusang).t The death of
Esselbei probably occurred at the end of the sixteenth century, coinci-
dently with the rise of die rhral Kahnok power of the Sungars, ¥^ for a
while were predominant among the Western Mongds, and to whoae
history we will now turn.
S«Utn,ii7Mi4si9. tPal]M»S«ttLHktlliidb,i.s7«s8
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THK CHOROS. 613
The Sungarian royal house Is traced up hy the Kalmuks to the great
chiefs of the Uirads who have occupied us largely already^Toghon Taishi
and Essun. The table as given by Pallas is as follows : —
TogboaTfttehi
UtMMBoi Dftfkfaatt M«yM
Bona AyoiSMa
UUokono Tftidati
DitflKliaa NoyoB
KUIiikUrrok
Kluunmuk TaidaU
Uikttd TaiiU ArUuui ChiagMii OchoBi Oafoi
AkahlTaidU ^ 1 I.. . No>ol«o Chingtcn
[ ^ Oasn»o Ooi^khoi
Moafoi ZtMOk Amida Ctdnsaen
D JpJ KholkMU Xhothootehi
OUodoi aldarka BaJdl Noyon Kbatha
Kokon Baatvr
OUodoi and Kokon were the ^Lst of their respective lines> so that the
family of Arkhan Chingsen inherited the family patrimony. Arkhan
Chingsen is made the father of Ongozo and Ongorkhoi, between whom
the patrimony was divided.*
. The two sections were respectively known as Sungars and Derbets.
The latter I shall consider presently.
Ongozo was the stem-father of the Sungarian royal race, and was suc-
ceeded by his son Bulai, or Abuda Ablai Taidshi. Up to this point I have
no means of checking this account, and merely repeat it from Pallas, who
collected it from the native chroniclers.
Here however I find myself at issue with Pallas and those who have
followed him. Bulai's son he calls Kharakhulla. This is.a name not known
to the Chinese authors, but it occurs in the Russian authorities consulted
by Fischer and Muller,t and Pallas tells us it is a famous name among
the Kalmuks. He derived it from having killed a wild beast of the
species KharakhuUa,! and it was therefore merely an epithet, and is in
fact so used by Pallas, who gives us his real name, namely, Khntugaitu.}
Pallas makes him be succeeded by his son Baatur Taidshi, who, he tells
us, as early as 161 6 left his father and settled on the Irtish, and he would
have us believe that while the father was a wretched fugitive driven into
Siberia by the Khalkhas, that the son was flourishing in the neighbourhood
of the Saissan lake, and that the father survived till 1635, when Baatur
at length seciu^ the whole of his heritage. It is not the custom for the
•Padu. 8MU.HiM.N«^,L34*55. t fflb. Owch., 443- S«mLRatt.GMch.,Tiliia8o,ac
,4MefiktHMvwyflifttandlibiAlioB,withathicklMibyaMkaa«crAduk browa
I Qp. cU., i. 30.
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6l4 HISTORY OP THE MONGOLS.
Mongol Khans, to use a graphic Lancashire phrase, ''to pull off thdr
shirts until Hbey go to bed*' (#./., to divide their emfnres with their sons
irhile still living), nor is it the custom of the Mongols to divide their
allegiance in this way. I believe that Khutugaitu and Baatur Khungtaidshi
were in fisct the same person. Baatur and Khungtaidshi are both of thesi
titles, and were given, as I bdieve, to Khutugaitu for impbrtant services
he rendered the Dalai Lama. This view is made almost certain when we
turn to the Chinese accounts, which tell us that the father of Galdan
(who, in Pallas, is Baatur Khungtaidshi) was called Hotohochin, who
took the title of Patur TaidjL* Hotohochin is merdy the Chinese
transcript of Khutugaitu, and we are here expressly told that he took the
title of Patiir (Id., Baatur). I bdieve, therefore, that Pallas has mistaken
the two names of one chief for the names of father and son, and I shall
treat the two as one person.
According to the Chinese, Khutugaitu settled north of the Altai (/./.,
of the Ektag Altai), whence he and his people were known as Northern
Eleuths.t PaUas teUs us that Baatur Taidshi (/./., the same person) settled
on the Irtish, where he subdued several petty princes.) It was probably
this migration to the north which led to his people being called Sungars.
Sungar, or Segon gar as Ssanang Setzen has it, means right wing, and is
used often by that author as the correlative of Baraghon gar, or left wing.
The previous inhabitants of the Irtish valley were apparently the Toiguts,f
and Baatur married a daughther of Uriuk the Torgut chief. The two
leaders are found sending envoys jointly to the Russians, as we shall
see presently. As the Toigut migration took place during Baatur's reign
over the Sungars, it is not improbable that the domestic quarrel previously
referred to| which caused it was between Baatur and Urluk.
In the valley of the Black Irtish Baatur came in contact with both the
Russians and the Altan Khans of the Khalkhas. The former had
recently broken up the Khanate of Siberia and the country of the upper
Ob, and Yenissei was very unsettled. The Sungars made claims to the
allegiance of the Barabinski and other Turkish tribes in the neighbourhood
of the Tara, who they said had been their subjects from time immemo-
rial, and from whom they had the right to collect tribute. Accordingly
they entered this district in 1606 to assert their claims. The Russians
collected a force of TaUrs and Cossacks from the towns of Tobolsk
Tumen, Turinsk, and Tara, and marched against them but failed to drive
them away.lT In the fdUowing year a small body of them were allied
with the sons of the dispossessed Siberian Khan Kuchum in making a
raid beyond the Tara upon the districts of Tobolsk, Tumen, &c** After
this, some of the Tatars of the Tara district having deserted to them,
•Meint.MirUCliliM.i.S5X. Note. D« Mailla, sL 79*
tM«Bt.MirIaCbiae,i.33X. Dt MaUte, xi. 79. | StMl. Hkt. Nttlk* 1. 39.
I SMUiang Seucs, sxi. | Aal*, 561.
f nMlMr,8ib.OMch.,S54* MtUcr, or. cU., vUL S64s. •• PiMhw, op. eil., SS4*
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THE CHOROS. 615
they retnmed in thdr company about aoo strong and ravaged the neigh-
bourhood of the city of Tanu The Voivode there» Ivan Mosalskoi, sent
envoys to them to demand the return of the deserters, and to invite them
to submit to the Russians, to pay tribute, and to go to Tara to do homage*
This they declined to do^ and alleged further that they knew nothing of
the deserters.* The inhabitanU of the Tara district had been accustomed
to get their salt in the steppes of the Irtish, and thence supplied the whole
country with that article, which was a monopoly in their hands. In 1610
and 1611 the Kalmnks asserted claims to these salt mines and refused
permission to the Cossadcs, Anx, to take salt from them. A great scarcity
of salt was the consequence, and in 1611 a large body of armed Tatars
assembled at Tara determined to march and nuuntain their right ; but
the cause of strife was partially removed when, two years later, namely,
in 1613, a fresh mine of salt was discovered in the salt lake of Yaniish.
The Kalmuks having discovered that this policy was not wise, adopted
another, and in 161 5 envoys went to Tara from three of their Taishis,
Bagatir (/./., Baatur), Turgen, and Urluk. After staying thirteen days
they returned home. The following year Baatur and some other Taishis
swore the oath of allegiance to the Russians before two Cossacks who
had been sent to them from Tobolsk, but the whole matter was only
nominal and a fEu-ce, and no doubt had some ulterior object.t
In 161S the Russians defeated a body of Kalmuks in alliance with the
Siberian princes on the steppe between the Irtish and the Tobol, and
captured seventy camels. In one of their skirmishes they captured a
Bakshi, an inferior grade of Lama or neophyte, and we are told the
Kalmuks offered fifty horses as his ransom.)
Meanwhile the Sungars were embroiled in a contest with their power-
ful neighbour in the east, the AlUn Khan of the Khalkhas. About 1620
Kharakhulla seems to have captured his capital, which was on the Ubsa
lake, and carried oft much booty and many prisoners-! He was at the
head of 4,000 men. But the Mongols returned upon him so swiftly that
he not only lost all he had won but had to fly with only one son and to
leave his wife and children behind. He escaped to the Ob and fortified
himself at the outlet of the river Chumish.| Others of the Sungars
found reftige on the Irtish, Tobol, &c.%
The Russians were uneasy at the arrival of these visitors, m*o were
given to phmder and unstable. Although fugitives they seem to have
ofiered their aid to the Siberian princes whom the KtMSlftttS had dis-
possessed, and gave them other causes for apprehension. Not only the
Sungars bat the DerbeU also, under their chiefs Dalai abd Meigen,** were
at this time refugees in Siberia. Fischer describes also the doings of a
- — ' '' ■ ■ «■ ^.w
• Piditr. op. dt., 3S7. M«U*r# op. cit., it|li «i.
f Fi«dMr. op. oil.. S57-339. *•«««' oP- «*«- ^*«' ^' ^ Vi$Klm, Pp. du, 360. . | Auto, 4^
)Polloo,op.ciu,37. IIttnor.op.dt..vai.>Sfc f Fhcior, 443- ••FWflalrt.
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6l6 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
Kalmuk Taishi whom he calls SenguL He seems to have rebelled against
the encroachments of Baatur upon the power of the i>etty princes, and he
courted the friendship of the Russians, finding enough for his prowess in
attacking the Mongols, Kirghix Kazaks, and Nogays. The* Bashkirs,
the Barabinski, and others also felt his arm. In 1633 ^ *^i^^ some
envoys to the Russians, but the latter did not consider it good policy to
continue the intercourse, and as he felt himself sli|^ited he ravaged the
district of Tumen. Baatur seems to have extended his influence 00
an sides, and especially punished the Keighiz Kaiaks, many of whom
he captured and sent on to Tumen to be exchanged against Kainmk
prisoners.* On the other hand he was unfortunate in his struggle with
the Khalkhas, and was again defeated by them in 1633. Hot we now
reach a period when the internal policy of the Mongol tribes, both the
Eastern and Western Mongols, was greatly revolutionised. Jhis was Ae
effect ofthe introduction of Lamaism among them. It had been introduced
among the Eastern Mongols abont forty years before.t It had now spcead
also among the Kalmnks, among whom it was introduced by a Lama
named Zagan Nomien Khan, and so deeply had it taken root that each
of the three great chiefs, KharakhuUa of the Sungars, Dalai Taishi of
the Derbets, and Uiluk of the Torguts, had dedicated a son to die
monastic life.} It is no doubt at this epoch that we must date die
peace which was made between the Mongols and Kalmuks, through the
intervention of the Lamas, and especially of the Mongol IChntaktn4 and
which no doubt led to a great increase in the power of Baatur. The
Kahnuks appear almost annually in the Russian records, either as
plundering the frontier, taking yassak or tribute from tribes subject to
the Czar, or helping the Siberian princes in their expeditions.
It would seem they were now determined to prevent the Russians from
getting their salt at the lake Yamish.| They accordingly in 1634 posted
themselves 2,000 strong in its neighbourhood, and the Russians who
had gone there took shelter at the nearest village on the Irtish. When
they found they could not entice them out they determined to try
and surprise Tara, and to cover their operations they spread the report
that they intended to fight the Kirghiz Kazaks, but the deceit was soon
discovered when the Taishi Kuisha with his sons Ombo and Yalsi
entered the district of Tara and ravaged the whole land with great
cruelty ;' they then laid siege to the town and pressed it hard, but
troc^ at length arrived from Tobolsk, and in the engagement which was
fought outside, the ^Calmuks were beaten and had to surrender the booty
they had captured.^^ Meanwhile another body, who were doubtless
DerbeU, made an attack on the district of Tumen under their leader
*ViKlMr,opcit,448. t ABte.5i4» I PiJIm, op. dt. i. s6. |/if.,3».
ITUiUlwitabMrtluafaday'sjoanMyfromSraUPaUtiBtk. MiUl«r, op. dt., ▼iii. SS.
f Fiaclwr, op. dU, S«S-57t-
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THE CHOROS. 617
Dalai Taiahi, and retired with thdr plunder to their tiysting-place on the
river Ithim. The Rusaans of Tara and Tiunen combined and marched
against them there, bat only overtook a small hodf^iomc of whom they
captured at the wood Kosh-kan^. Th6y then exchanged them for
Russian prisoners.* Like the Indians^ of our day they left their women,
children, and old folks in camp td l6ok after the herds while the warriors
marched off to phmder. Such a camp was passed through by a Cossack
who went as an envoy to the Tushi Kuisha in i637.t In 1638 the
Cossacks^ vibo went to^^et salt at the lake Yamish and who were led by
Bogdan Arshinskoi, i&vited the Kalmnki in its nei^^bouihood to a con-
ference, whevepeace was made. The Kalmuks promised not to molest the
Russian aettlennnts nor to attack the Russians who happened to be out
hunting or fishing, and also gave them permission to get their salt there,
and even fun&ished sompter beasts to carry the sah to their boats.)
These transactions and strugi^s on the Russian frontier were no doubt
carried on with small detached dans or tribes, who although subject
nominally to the head of the race had many small skirmishes on their own
account It is time we should once more turn to die main horde and its
leader Baatur. This seems to have migrated once more to iu old
quarters on the III. In 1634 he made a successful raid upon the towns
south of the Tien Shan mountains, and the following year received die
patent of Khungtaidshi from the Dalai Lama and also the title of Erdeni
Baatur.}
He now seems to have courted the friendship of the Russians. We
find him ordering his viceroy north of the Altai, who was named Kula
Taishi and who lived between the Ob and the Irtish, to restore some
families of Tatars from Tara, whom he had carried aS, and also sending
back 100 families (who had deserted the Russians) with 1,000 horses. |
The pec^e of Tara upon this sent presents of doth for him, his brothers,
and Kula. This led to the exchange of messengers and the promise on the
part of the Khungtaidshi to restrain his people firom mjuring the Russians
and to assist them in the portage of their sah firomYamish.f Baatursent
envoys to ask for presents, and asking also that they themselves might be
sent on to Moscow, but at this period orders had been issued that no
Kahnuk messengers should be sent on there. Among the presents asked
for were a suit of annour, a gun, and some lead (for shot j^ ten sows and two
boars, a couple of game cocks, and ten small ^porting dogs. Fischer
tdls us that at this time he was building some fixed dwellings for the
Lamas, and wished to introduce agriculture among his people. The
chief of these fixed setdemenu was called Kubak SarL Pallas says he
•/A.370,57x. lld^ST^ lld,,m'
f Tlie titk cT SlMttttsldtfii. whkh aMwtrt in rabttuMt to Ov niM and Alio to t^
of SnluiMor Um TwkB, that U, pott ht owner at tba btad «l tkt bitrarchy of priacoa, ntana
tktawaaUkopriact. Sm Pallat, SamL Hiat. Nach.. i. 39.
|Piacter,S9S.9S6. ^id^S»^ •»W.,6oa.6ts-
31
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6l8 HISTORY OP THI MONGOLS.
Spent most of his time in beautifying and cultivating his country, and was
known as the Shepherd Prince.* In 1640 a present of 400 rubles' wonh of
silver work, silk, and cloth, was sent from Moscow for him and his deputy
Kula.t Orders were also sent to buy the swine, dogs, and fowls in Siberia
and to send them to Yamishewa. whence the Khungtaidshi could send for
them. It was two years before this could be done, a good proof of the
poverty of the Siberian settlements in such things4 This present
aroused the envy of Shukcr, Baatur's brother, who complained that
he, who had shared in his brothers act in returning the deserters, &c.
had been forgotten, while Kula, who was only a Koshutshi, had been
remembered, and he accordingly sent envoys to Tobolsk to ask for
presents.
The Kirghises who lived on the Abakan and its neighbourhood were
the victims, as I have shown, of the Altan Khans on the one hand, and
of the Russians on the other. To escape from this position they now
began to migrate, and did so into Kalmuk territory, upon which the
Kalmuks claimed the exclusive right of taxing them, but as the Russians
still imposed yassak upoA them, Baatur in 1641 made reprisals by
claiming yassak from the Barabinski Tatars. A Cossack named Ilyin
was sent with presents to his court to treat about this, but found him
absent, on an expedition against the Kirghiz KazakS, and had an interview
with his wife Dara Uba Saltsha, the daughter of Urluk Taishi, who
detained him till her husband's return.
When this dispute was setded Baatur raised another question, and
accused the Cossacks of Kusnetz of having attacked the small tribe of
the Keisagalen (who lived on the upper Tom, and who were his subjects),
of having killed some and captured others for whose ransom they asked
an exorbitant sum. This also was explained as a mistake which had been
made by the Cossack Ilyin, wlio fell on the Kersagalen when be ought
to have attacked the Telenguts.f I have said that when the Russian
envoy Ilyin went to Baatur s camp the latter was away fighting with the
Kirghiz Kazaks. He had been involved in war in 1635 with their great
chief Ishim I^an (with whom Abulghazl bad sought refuge in his distress),
and had captured his son Yangir Sultan. The latter having escaped,
persistendy molested the Kalmuk settlements, and Baatur determined to
crush him effectually. In 1643 he collected a force of 15,000 men, and
was also joined by the Alat-Kiigisi (? the Kitghises of the Ala Tau) and
the Tokmani with a force of 10,000 men. Yangir could only muster 600,
with whom he ventured to oppose him. He planted one half of them in
a fbrt in a defile, and the other half behind a mountain, and while the
Kalmuks attacked the former he fell on their rear with the latter portion,
and his firearms were so effectual that 10,000 (sic ! ! i) of the enemy renttuned
* Op. dt, i. 39- t FUebtf, Of . dt., 604. t Id. iU.,6tl^
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THE CHOROS. 619
on the field. He was soon after joined by Yalantosh, another Eazak i^ince,
with 20^000 men, and Baatar was compelled to retire. He carried ofiE,
however, the prisoners he had captured in the wax, which makes it look
as if the acc6unt of the battle was a good deal coloured by hyperbole.
In this war he was assisted by the two Khoshote chiefs Utshirtu and
Ablai, whom I have previously named."
At this time the chief camp of Baatur was at Kubak Sari, which was
near the river Imil. When the Cossack Ilyin returned home he was
accompanied by two envoys from Baatur, bearing a letter which was thus
worded:— ''To the Great Lord and Grand Prince, Baghatur Khungtaidshi
sends greeting : We are well and would know how you are. You the Grand
Prince and I the Khungtaidshi have hitherto lived in peace together.
You are my father and I am your son. The most distant peoples have
heard of our goodwill towards one anothef. If my people and your's
trade together they will not plunder one another nor fight against each
other, bat there will be peace between them. Your people have attacked
our subjects the Kersagalen on the river Tom and taken some of them
prisoners. If this be known to you, great prince, if it was done by your
orders, then return the prisoners without exacting ransom ; if it was not,
then let the culprits pay us a penalty. They demand a ransom of 400
sable skins for each prisoner, even though only a boy of ten years old.
If you will not be so gracious as to order their release without ransom,
our old friendship will be at stake. We send you as presents two pandier
skins, six rutshi (1.^., thick leather used for arm braces in archery), and
two horses ; and I ask in return for a suit of annour, a gun, four game
cocks, and eight game hens. If you want anything from us, great
lord, state it in a letter. Permit my envoys to go to Moscow. They take
the horses with thenu*^
At this time there were many Kalmuk fugitives in the Baraba steppe,
who had taken refuge there on account of famine. It is said they
subsisted on fish which they caught in lake Saissan, which received its
present name of Saissan nur (t.e.y noble lake) on this occasion from the
grateful people. It was previously known as Kisalpu nur.t
The envoys did not go on to Moscow, and further intercourse between
the two nations, including another letter from Baghatur, is described
by Fischer.f The chief grievance between them being the allegiance of
the border people, the Kiiighises, Kersagalen, and the Tatars of Baraba.
At length the Khungtaidshi seems to have grown weary of diplomacy,
and in 1649 his deputy Sakil, the son of Kula Taishi, made a raid into
the district of Tomsk and laid waste the village of Shagarska. The
following year the Russians sent Volodomir Klapikof, a captain of
Strelizes, to complain. He foimd the Khungtaidshi at Kubak sari, where
'Ante, 501. t Fitchttr, 6x3, 614. | /it., 6x5. | Fischer, 615.
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6aO HISTORY OF THE MOK00L8.
ht was busy baildix^ a sto&e town ; a diicussion ensued iHiidi showed
that Sakil's attack had been provi^ced by a Russian attack on a Kahnuk
settlement, and an ofier was made on the part of Baator to rdeaae muf
Rnssian subjects he had as pnsooers when die Russians had similariy
released his people the IQii^uses: Kkfrikof was accompanied home agam
by some envoys from the Kahnuk chie( who asked for presents. Be^des
these already named he asked for two carpenters, two masons, two
smiths, two gun smiths, a cannon, some gold tinsel, twenty swine, five
boars, five game codes, ten game hens, aiul a belL This demand
shows how bucolic and agricultural the nomade chief had become, and
we now reach the term of his career. Fiadier says he died in or before
i66a* Pallas says in i66s.t He may wdl claim an honourable {dace in
Asiatic history. Not only did he consolidate the scattevsd Kalmnks into
a strong ei^pir% not only did he make his arm lUt ilmong all his
neighbours, but he had also die talent, so seldom met with among
Aomades, of inducing his people to adopt more settled habits. This
revolution in their customs was doubtless largely due to the Lamasy who
now settled in laige numbers in Sungaria, and buih tsn^des in inaiiy
places there. Baatnr was a pcominant figure in the history of die Ydlow
Lamas, and laigdy assisted Guushi, the Khoshote chiei; in hia campaign
hi Thibet in 16434 By his nine wives he left twtfve sons and two
davg^iters. The ktter were married to the two Khoshote chiefo Utshhtu
andAblai4
Pallas tdk us dial the Kahnuk accounts concur in making Baatur be
succeeded by his aon SengHI Thisisalsodietestimonyof the Chinese
andmrs.l' Du Halde has a diffisrent story, and makea hun be succeeded
bynaonOntdion,aad]ieagainby Sengfa^** I can only reconcile diese
statements by supposing diat Du Halde was mistaken in making
Ontdion a son of Baatnr's, and in. foct a Sungar at all^ and I would
venture to offer a tentative eohitkm of the difficulty. Pallaa calls
Onchon, Otshotbu Baatur, quoting apparendy some passage of Du Halde
unknown to me. I also find among my notes that Ontchon was other*
wise known as O/el^boshotbu Baatur and Bushetu Khan. Unfortunately
I have mislaid my reference in this case. On turning to the genealogical
table of the Khoshote royal family, which at this time almost rivalled in
importance that of the Sungars, we find that the youngest son of Khana
Noyon Khongor, the youngest in fact of the Five Tigeri,tt was called
Mt^mm Oiektm Bamiitr.
Pallas tdls us nodiing of him beside his name, but that name ia so
very like the one that we are dkcussing^ that there is very great piober
bility of iu representing in foct die same person. This is increased
•ML.di4. tOpkdt.,i.st- Ilat«.5t7. I PiOIm. op. dt., i. )».
|liaa.lllil.Na6lu,L4e. Y Mtau.urUCfa]a«. 1.331. Not*. «• Da Bdit, hr. 154-
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68f
Triien we tmm to the Chiacte aecovnts and fiftd it dkeet ttirttd tluit after
UtefairdE Khan mad MMtaa Kfam (t>., tiie tiro Klmliote cUefii ahcadjr
BMoed)* ClwCcbeii03Mfci^hiviiigwona|(fittvkt0iTO9ertiu^
iHiite caps,f««s gW>in the tides Baatmridid T^isiata Butor TegftiSi^bsr
the £ii4[ien>r. The fame account makes him, and not Gnnrin, die fiuta*
of Dalai Khitt, die Khoshote chief of Kite nor. The oompaflseB of
these names, and the £Kt diat ike JQioshioie cUMs wtn so neatly
cennectod in tnatiiage at dds time widi theS^mgan^makeekteftom
ioqiitobabley therefore^ diat the Ontchon of Da Halde was no other than
Um i^oimiast of the Five Tigers^ aJni sol shatt treit htaa* I wiE now
trsascribe die carious Saga abottt him told hyDnHaUe. He sa^ps that
<< dorhig a war with the Kasaks he happened to Ml ffl of smaD-^iOK in his
camp^aadwas ahaadoned by Us Ibttowwi accovdiag to ^elr castom.
He was Ibund in Us tent by the ensmy, thAio to(dc care of bfan. He did
not discover who he was, and was kqrt by them as a common slave,
daring which time Stnghe^ who did not doubt that he was dead, married
his wife. B«t at the end of dwee years, Ontchon liaTii^ ^sdosed wlio
liewastotheKasakSyttd having promised them that if they restored
idm his fiberty and gave him a guard of loo men as an escort, that he
woohl never raaew the war against tkem, they restored hhn to his liberty.
Raving arrived on the frontier, he sent a coorier to Sen|^ to apprise
him of his adventure and return, who, surprised at dds unesqiected news,
inmediatdy wmt to Ontcfaon's wife, who was now become his own, to ask
her what she would determine in sudi a confeeture. The woman, who
had acted with honour, repfied that ^le had only mauled kfan in the per-
suasion that her first hurtiand was dead, and that dmefore since be was
fivingshewasin<fispettsablyobl^|edtorstnmtohimagain. ButSens^,
who was equally enamoured with bar and her fortune as he had got
posaessioo, was resolved to keep it Wherefere^ under pretence of
complimenting the prince on his letunit he despatched certain pers<Mis
whom he couM trust with seoift orders to mufder him and aD his rednue,
which being executed, aocordingfy, he gave cut that he had defeated a
be^ of the Buruts." This mdve account I have abstracted frpm
Gediffion^ account in Dn HaMe, altering it only so as to make it
conristent with die above oemctioiu
It wooM seem that Sengh6 in feet succeeded his fedier Baatar. In
r6S7 he Ibug^t against Lobdsang Khan on the Yenissei and the same
year lidd siege to Krasnoyarskt Sengh6 was own brother to Gakkn.
His fether Baatur had two sons by another wife, who where named
Setzen and Baatur. They were jealous of Senghl^ as diey deemed
dieir portions too small; they accordingly attacked him seveml times
and eventually kiDad him4 They thought to seize upon the successioil
Aat«,9M. tMlai,op.tlt.,i.4e* t Ifeaii. ssr It Ctdat, i. ss«* Note.
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682 HiSTonr or ram Mongols.
but woe pnfwiftid bf tiie Siiiminfj wbo at the inttigatloii oB hoM
widow had Ihem kilM.* The Chiaeee accountt make them die
Tktima of their bfother Galdaa. The latter had been placed when
yooag in the eenrioe of the Gfand Lama^ and was himsdf a
Lama. He lesigaed aU hie riffi^ to die taccetrion to hit l»other
Seni^ On the mnrder ef SengM^ Gatdan, who waa alwayt of a
wailfte and tarfaulent diiprttkBi unlike what, a Lama dionkl be, got
dispeneatiott 6om tiie Grand Lama to renew hie rights, attKked his
brotherSykiBed them, and caused himself to be declared TakL^t Galdan
was bom in 1645. Pallas says that at the beginning of his reign he was
assisted with the advice of his brodm^s widow AnftDara, a daughter of
the Khoidiote Utshiitu, whom he seems to ha;ve married. His first war
was against his uncle Shaker, a Tery turbulent perKmi whose raids
upon Thibet I have mentioned clseiihere4 In his first encounter with
Shuker Galdan was defeated, and in 1673 he took reftige with his fiither-
iii*law Utdiirtn, with whom he quarrelled, for Paflas goes on to si^
diat in 1676 he at the same time surprised his fiuhor-in-law and also
Sinker, the latter of whom he tmprisened and killed his son Bagis
Mandshi, while his grandeon Khardu Taidshi^ who was then thirteen
years okl, was Ittcksr enough to escape to Thibet and afterwMds to put
himself under Qunese protection. Getbitton says die batde was foogfat
near a great lake called Kisil pu (i^^ lake Saissan)4 Uafcowsid gives
us some details about it He t^s us thnt at Gi^dan% acceision Setsen
KhanI lived on the Saissan lah^ Galdan «|aafrefled with him. The
quarrel, having smouldered for five years^at length beeke out Setiea
Khan advanced by the Sout Idol oc White sea (f>.» the lake SairamXf "^
intended to ooss the TaOd nuNrntains and fell upon Galdan in die vaUcy
of the Ili unawares. Galdan, however, was Inferaind of his plans, fore-
stalled luuDa, and attacked and defeated his feroes in the mountain passes.
He then fled towards die. Saissan lak^ where he was pursued. He was
^p^yyf^ff tbflpff #*v^ 4pfypitt\tfilt Ifany of his people weee also slan^itered,
while tsfioo prisooen were captiHudi The Kafannks have sdfl a lefend
that after this fi^ the Saissan bke waa tinged wkh Mood for a distance
of six dayaf journey, that its water wis afterwards considered unwhole-
some. Miiller puts by die side of the legend the soowwhat FhUistiae
commentary that Unkowdd had tokl hhn that when he passed that way
he had used the water both fer drinking and cooking*** Galdan acquired
great reputation awiong the Kahmiks from his profession as Lama and
firam his dose rdations with the Dalai Lama, and seems to have rapidly
won fer himsetf a supreme authority in Sungaria, where he subdued not
only his own q^edal people the Sungars, but also the Decbets and
«USUtr,op.cit,Lit4. t Memt. Mr U China, i. 33s- lAaHmtStf.
|D«Halit.iv.i97. Aats. | Tliit wu Utihiitti KhM^ titto. Pritas^ ip. «il« i. jl
^ BrtwhBtHf, op. dt« ** Mttll«r, op. dt^ i. z45» uS*
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*l
KhotlKites. Iai676lieiotkteti4eq|KlMi«tiicliU. FttgHim i
hb attadd btgaa to anrive ia dfaMu' Thuit «• i«d Ant is 1677 a
Jmoog of tlie Ekibi lunrinf bMB bealM by Irin took nltige Hwre.*
Sliortlr after tittpeopk of KokoMor fled mlaifoiMBboni to theChmeee
ftontier. One perty, Kwena Hwownidf Umif^ led by tke Teiiki Mec-
glienholiDUUtottsiy went with their teihte end hofgofe os if to make a
pennaneat letlkifawn. This was followed by a eeoeod migiaUoii of
IO/90O Tatars, led by the TiiiioBfPat^wtar the Chosba of LopolSaa(l),
4e Hochetsi of £ideni,t the Upachi of Sifim (TX and the Ufwchi of
Palai mamn (?). These fcgkifes aniyed fai sad plight, and the ^^^poror
Kangfai aBewed them to settle on the foaciar and ordeiad them to be
SMppMed wMi caltle ; ha also took tha pncaation of staUoning some
troope there as giiafds4
Aboatthbtkaeanoppnitnahy was afiwied Gakkm of oiteadiiV his
kiflaeacetathesoa^of Ae Tien Shan na^e. The Hodfas or saimly
fiunilies of Kashgar were divided into two rival fictions knowa as the
Black Moontaineers and White Moantaineers, who straggled fiercely te
power. Tha Keihgar Khaa Ismail, a sealoas supporter of die Montane-
grin or Black Moimtaiaeer party, drove Appak Hodja, the head of the
rival party, from his nativo country. He rctu«d to Cashmere^ whence
he proceeded to Thibet, where heso iiigratiated himself with ^ Dalai
Laoaa that the hitter dispatched him with a letter to Gakhm requesting
ths latter to re-establish the antfaority of Appak in Kashgar and Yarkend
Galdan seised this opportonity, conquered die so-called little BMkharia
in 1678^ and appointed Appak his viceroy with Yaikend lor his capitaL
Tha fiunil^ of the Ka^hgariChan was carried by Galdan into captivity to
the IM regioo and setded in the Mussulman town of Kuklja. From this
time until its conquest by the Chinese Little Bukharia waa ruled by die
Suagarians, who dki not interfere with the internal administration of the
couiitry but Iknited themselves to receiving a tribute of 400^000 tiaagas per
mottth-i At this time Galdan's residenca was at die moaatain Em Chan,
two mondis' journey from Kia yu koan, in die country andsntfy called Ta
wan. In 2679 he sent to ask fer an interpreter from theChhiese who knew
Chinese, Mongol, and Mandut, and sent to the mandarin on the frontier
three hmrses and a oomidete suit of sable as a present to the Emperoi^
in order that he might not oppose his projects in the direction of SOud
or Kokoniir the cradle of his race. The presents were accepted and an
interpreter sent as desired. The messenger who arrompaaied him
described Galdan on his return as about thirty-six yaais Mp with a
severe countenance and as being addicted to drink.
About this time, having conquered Turfrm and Khamil and kflled the
Toigut chief Nasa Mamut, he took die title of Bushtu Khan, tin then,
* D« ICaiUa. xi. 83. t mi. tlM KkodMtM of Bfteri. FM^mI«,sm- | IH M^lftt sI« S4.
» ValikhuMfk Nanaav*. trmlatiS by MkteO, Hg.
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6t4 HITAXmY or TKB MOMOOU.
I to Tknkoirdci^* floly iMd hf the dMCcoda&tt of Jiagb EhUL
On tlik iwiiMiBn Jw lent a prctet to tiie Chlmifi EapCTOc of cartate
cttinuMii styled tiffcmi sod nMidi TalMd$ KooMy iMmeSy **^w*i»H Mid
saMeskttt. Tlie Bay<Por to ytteni caafanad mpoo him a mte tcid of
ttesanoatttlHistyM that iiaod l>f the Kballn fMrino^ Hutwatm
1^79* It wMttt this tune Am die lead began to arkeaiMmsthftXhaflca
princes, one of wImnb^ the l^iddjrotn Khan, eadeaioored lo apprapnale
some of the tribes of the Jassakta Khan, as I have describedt The latter
appealed to Galdan, who was rerj ready to interlbre, especially as he
losented the presamfition of a Laa^y^ die brother of the Toshiyetn Khan,
who raised pretensions to rlvahry with the Gtand Lama of Thibet
In itta the Empetor sent envoys with magidficent presents to the
varioiisKhalkhachieft,anda]sotoGaldan. They went hi reality to leaa
how amlters stood in M oofolia. Those who were sent to Galdaa oon-
^sted of two grandees of the first class, a prince of the Imperial toolly
named Soidco, and others. Hieir journey is described at some
lengdi by De MaiDa. The chief envoy reported diat having arcived at
the frontier of Galdan^domfakions, he sent messei^ers to acquaint hfan
with tliefar joomey. They met Galdan at Sarpateoa. When he first
heaid of their journey he expressed surprise, but afterwards congratalated
himself that the Chinese, who had not previously sent envoys to hb
peo|fl^ should have done him tins honour, and stating tiiat he rqgardsd
thb as the most gloiious event of his rdgn. At Mao H keou
the envoys were met by a Sdssan or noUeman, who furnished each
of the party with a horse, and also thirty horses and ten camds is
sumpter beasts, and a laige nnmber of sheep for their copsumption.
At Tkitsiha, one da/s journey from the Court, they were met by
another Saissan, who again suggested that there must be some occult
reason for the embassy. The envoys replied that die empire being at
peace diefr master wished to show his good fieeling for the Khan, and had
therefore sent them. They also sent to ask how he proposed to receive
them. The 26th of the moon was diosen as a lucky day for the audience.
Galdan was seated on a mat, his fret crossed in the Tatar faduon. He
ndsed himsdf from his seat and stooped when he received the Imperial
missive, while his grandees on each side received tlie other presents.
The envoys being seated, Galdan referred to the several years' war, by
which he had lednced his turbulent subjects, and inquired the motive of
the Emperor in sending eight of his young peofde to study in Tangut
{U., Thibet, where he wished to retain exdusive influence). They
answered in courtly frshion that acquiring new knowledge is like eating
a grand frast, it causes joy and contentment to the heart The following
day the envoys were spectators of the Mongol games and the Lama
•Op.cit,Lz44* P•IIas,o^d^i.40. t Dt Mtina•op.cit..si.fl|^aS. IAM%47i-
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THE CKOROS. 635
dancesy and th^ day af^, being the new moon, they were invited to hear
the ejcpositioQ of the sacred bookt. After which they were feasted until
the 9th of the month. These festivals, which were held every new year,
being concluded, the envoys called attention to the hct that many of
Galdan's subjects went to China without pasq>orU. Galdan replied that
ail who went as his envoys or to do homage always went with propeily
sealed papers, but that many who lived for away from his court, such as
the Derbets, Torgnts, and Khoshotes, had to go to China so frequently
for purposes of commerce, &c^ that it was not always convenient to give
them papers ; bi^ it mi at length agreed that unless so furnished they
were in future to be sU^iped at the frontier. The envoys were again
Csasted before leaving, and Galdan in his turn sent back presents for the
Emperor, consisting of 400 picked horses, sixty camds, 300 sable
skins, 500 ermine ridns, three skins of the chelisun (?), 100 fox skins
spotted with white and yellow, twenty yellow fox skins, five pieces of gilt
leather, a live eagle of the species called tiao by the Chinese, and four
gun£*
For a long period jealousy and other causes had led to a coolness
between Galdan and the diiefii of the Khalkhas. I have desoibed at
some length the incidents of the quarrel, and how the Tushiyetu Khan
of the Khalkhas, by his unfur treatment of the Jassaktu Khan and by
encottiaging the pretensions of his brother the Khutuktu, at length
brought matters to a cris]s.t
In the earlier part of 168S} Galdan, whose ambitious views were in this
instance at least assisted by a plausible pretext, marched at the head (d
3(VXX> men against the Tushiyetu Khan of the Khalkas. The latter and
his brother summoned the other Khalka princes to their assistance, and
a large army was accordingly assembled to resist the invanon. ** The
king of the Eleuths saw very ^ell that it would be rashness to come to an
engagement with an army so superior to his own ; wherefore he only
sought to post his troops to advantage, flattering himself that divisions
would soon arise in the army <^ the Khalkas, which accordingly
happened. The chief of one of the most numerous standards decamped
flrst in the night with all his forces, Tchetching han (1./:., the Setsen Khan
of the Khalkhas) a little after followed his example, and, in short, all the
rest made their retreat, leaving Tushiyetu Khan and the Lama his brother
with none but the forces of their own standard.*)
Galdan continued his advance, and on arriving at Temur (j>., the river
Tamir, a tributary of the Orkhon) he sharply attacked Kahan the son of
Tushiyetu, and of several thousand men whom he had with him hardly a
hundred remained. Another body, under the three chkft Tantsin
wen pu, Tantsila, and Tukariiarabdan, ca{ttuied Erdeni tchao and burnt
» D« Mama, xL 109^100. t Ant*. 476. &c. X Dt Maflla, xi. 114. | D« HaMe, W. i7t<
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626 HISTORY OP THE JfONOOLS.
it* The Khalkhan were panic-sttidcen, the wife and cfaHdren of
Tushiyetu Khan fled in the night in cnttody of 300 men, while his
subjects deserted their tents and flocks and hurried away, and the
Chinese envoy, writing in 1688, describes them as a scattered body of
fugitives. Galdan put to death all the Mongote he net with of the
fiunily of Tushiyetu Khan, penetrated even to his camp and the ordinary
residence of the Lama his brother, burned whatever be could not carry
away, and entirely destroyed two fine temples which the Lama had ImStt
at great expense. After which he sent some of his troops to scour the
country, ordering them to put to the sword aH the Khalkhas they met with.
They fled on every side.t Many of these fugitives were met by Gerbillon
and the embassy which went that year to settle the boundary questicm
with the Russians. Tushiyetu Khan and his brother retired to the
southern extremities of the desert, and agreed to submit to the Emperor
and to become his vassals. The latter thereupon sent envoys to Gajdan
acknowledgring that he had a just cause for his aggression, but he repre-
sented to him that he ought to be satisfied with the humiliation and'ruin
he had brought upon his enemies.} Galdan was inexofable ; he replied
respectfully that he had undertaken the war to revenge the death of his
brother, that he thought no prince would give refuge to so wicked a
person as the Khalkha Lama, who had been the author of so many
barbarities, and that therefore he was resolved to pursue him wherever
he retreated ; that the Emperor was also interested in his punishment
since he had notoriously violated the promises made to his msyesty's
ambassadors in the assembly of the states, and shown so little deference
to his mediation.} To the envoys of the Dalai Lama, who seem to have
uiged him to clemency, he readied. Who will revenge my brother's deadi
if I make peace with the Tushiyetu Khan ? Know that I am resolved to
continue the war with all my forces for five or six years. I mean to
destroy the Khalkas, and shall not be content until I have seen at my
feet Chepsununpa (tL^r., the Tushiyetu's brother) humbled and loaded
with chains. I
He had to postpone his vengeance however, for a while in consequence
of troubles nearer home. His elder brother Sengh^, to whom he had
succeeded, had left several sons, among whom the eklest was Tse wang
Arabtan. They were no'doubt the legitimate heirs to the Kalmnk throne
on the death of Galdan, and as the latter probably had ulterior views in
favour of his own family, he seems to have determined to exterminate
them. Tse wang Arabtan was betrothed to Hohai, daughter of the
Setxen Khan of the Khalkhas. Galdan carried her off. In 16S8 Sclcm
Arabtan, brother of Tse wang, who was with Galdan at his camp at Op,
died suddenly, and it was suq)ected that Galdan had killed him. With
_^
* D« MailU, xi. ix6. .\Bte, 477* t G«rbinon« in Du HaUb, op. dt, iv. 27X. i7t-
2Delfai]h,op.eit.,xii;^ I Da Hiadt, iv. i;s. f D« MdUa, li. xao. -
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THE CHOROS. 6S7
these grievances to revenge^ Tse wang ArabUa marched against his
uncle, defeated him in the country of Puktakrin habichar/and having
recovered his betrothed and revenged his brother's death, he returned
homewards.* This happened about 1689, when Homi, an envoy from
the Manchu Emperor, was at Galdan's camp. On his return the latter
reported that he had been well received. Galdan made inquiries about,
the Chinese grandees who had been the previous year to the Selinga
with a large escort, and was told that it %vas merely a commission sent to
define the limits between the Chinese and the Russian empire6.t Homi
further explained that the reason why the embassy went by way of
the Selinga and not through the country of the Khalkhas was because
of the unsettled condition of the latter.} Galdan» at a subsequent
audience, reciprocated the expressions of goodwill made by the
Emperor, against whom he avowed he had no illwiU, but he desired
vengeance against the Tushiyetu Khan and his brother.S While Homi
was with Galdan envoys also went to the latter from the Dalai Lama
with the object of securing peace, but received a similar evasive answer.
Homi on his return home reported that Galdan's people bad suffered
so much in the recent fight with Tse wang Arabian that some of them
were obliged to eat human flesh for food. I He was now sent to the
frontier of the Khalkhas coimtry (/>.» to the karpng or limits where they
were then encamped). News arrived son^ime after that Galdan was
preparing for a fresh campaign against the Khalkhas, so the Emperor
ordered a large army to be in readiness to protect the frontier. It was
divided into several divisions, one of which under the orders of Homi was
ordered to march to the Kerulon. Soon after a Lama who passed by
way of Kia hiu koan reported that he had lately left Galdan encamped
at Hopto (}>., Kobdo), that he had several thousand infantry with him
but only few cavalry, and that after resting where he was awhile he
proposed to invade the Khalkhas country.^ Shortly after further news
arrived that he had crossed the river Urtcha at the head of 30,000 men,
and that he had asked assistance from the Russians, from whom he
hoped to get considerable aid. The Manchu Emperor inquired about
thb from the Russians KilikuH (?) and Ifanistsi (?), who were then at
his court. They could only say that the rumour was without founda-
tion.** Fresh news arrived some days after that Galdan was short of
provisions and had killed many of his cattle. In regard to these negoti-
ations with Russia we learn from the narrative of Nicholas Witsen that
while Galdan was driving out the Khalkhas he was on very friendly
terms with the Russians, whose traders went regularly to Sungaria. In
1688 he sent an envoy named Darkhan Saissan to Irkutsk with a letter
t Thm ernktHy wliteh had •iwumi hi» mfiiirw ««t is Jatt the mi» wMck wm McooipuiMI
ky Otrlilloo, Md ol wUdi h« hM left M u MCODBt.
2D«li*ill«.si.i33. ♦W..134. iWnias. n^^ii^' ••«.,i3».
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638 HISTORY OP THE MONGOLS.
and a present of idiite cloth widi red stripes which was made in his
country. In the letter he mentioned the war he had been waging against
the Khalkhas, and seems to have asked for an alliance with the
Russians.* Galdan was then encamped at a place called Kholdu, not
far from Selinginslct The Russians were not disposed to embroil
themselves in this quarrel, and accordingly replied that if the Mongols
attacked him (Galdan) in his own country they would not fail to send
troops to his assistance from Selinginsk, Udinsk, and Nerchinsk ; but
that to assist him in an invasion of the Mongol territory would cause
much confusion, nor would it be possible on account of the distance.
. He was also requested not to molest the Mongol Taishis who had put
themselves under Russian protection at Selinginsk and Udinsk.; On
the return of the envoy a present d straw-coloured and red English
cloth (i>., doubtless yellow and red baize) was sent for Galdan, while
some red Hambuigh cloth, brandy, beer, and beef were given him for his
own use.| This was not the only message he sent the Russians. On
another occasion he told them that if they would let him have 2,000 or
3,000 good Cossacks, with some cannons, that he would ravage all the
borders of China outside the Great WalL|| We must now revert to
Galdan's strug^es with the empire.
The Emperor was quite satisfied that he meant war, and he accordingly
told Sunu, an Imperial prince who commanded the Bannermen, to
hold himself in readiness. Galdan it would seem did now enter the
Khalkhas country, and for convenience of forage followed the course
of the Kerulon.l Great* preparations for a campaign were made at
the Manchu court. The Forty-nine Banners of the Mongols, the Eight
Banners of the Manchus, and a Chinese Banner were assembled.
Before marching the Emperor wrote a letter to Galdan recalling him to
the fact that he had invaded the borders of the empire contrary to his
promise ; that it was his (the Emperor's) duty to protect the weak
against the strong, and threatening hun with vengeance unless he sent
envoys with his submission. He also reproached him with having
retained some envoys whom he had sent to him, namely, the Khutuktu,
Ilakuefan, and others.** A few days later the Emperor heard from
Homi that he had attacked a body of 20,000 Eleuths encamped on the
1 iver Hurfaoei. These Eleuths had made a raid upon the country of Utohun-
kutsin, and had captured a laige number of prisoners and much booty.
The Imperial forces were at first successful, but became demoralised,
and instead of pursuing the Eleuths began to appropriate the booty,
the latter turned upon and seem to have completely routed tbem.tt
This defeat caused considerable chagrin at the Imperial coart»
more especially as it was brought on by the aggressivenest of the
«Mimcr«ep.cit..i.4^,496. t/rf..4t7. :id.,4iB, fM..429. .» W.. 434-
t Du Haldt, iY. 174. ♦• De Mailta, xi. 141, Ac ft D« Uaillft. xl. 143.
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THE CHORDS. 629
Imperial forces* The Emperor itt once ptegmnd another aimy. ** He
at first designed to lisve commanded it in panon, and had sent me
orders tci follow him, b«t at the instance of the covndl and the giandees
of the empire he altered his resolution and gave the command to his
eldest brother (Hochtf yu tsi^g wang), whom he created gcneffBliiiimiv
with whom he also sent his eldest son (In-ti) and the principal of hk
cotmciL GaMan^who was apprised of their niutfdiy attended them with
great rcsohition about sighty leagues £rom Peking.* This prince was
very advantageously posted, and though he wanted aitilkry, with whidi
the Imperial army was well providect and had but few troops, yet hol-
withstanding the inequality he accepted the ofier of battle. At first his
vanguard suffered very much horn the enemy's cannon, whid^oUiged him
to change his order of battle, but as he was posted bdiind a great marshy
where the Emperor's army could not surround him, he defended himself
with great bravery till iMght, when each party retired to thmr camp. The
grand master of the artiUeiy, who was also unde to the Eoqperor by the
mother's side, was killed about the end of this action by a musket slM,
as he was giving orders for withdrawing the cannoa^ This is Uie
account of the battle by GerbiQon, who was a neutral witness, and it
qualifies considerably the account given by the Chinese«nnak translattd
by De Mail^, which, after claiming a victory, proceed to fecoimt tha
punishment of the generals for not having made it compkne. But to
continue GerbiUon's account :—*' The following days weve spent in
mutual negotiations, the result of which was that tha king of the Elauths
should retire with the remainder of his forces, but first take an oath
before his Fo never to return into the territories of the Emperor or those
of any of his allies. In his retreat a great part of his army perished by
want."t Galdan refers to this arrangement in a letter to the Russian
court, and makes out it was a truce fm: a year that was agreed upon4
Tse wang Arabtan had quarrelled with his tmde, as I have said, and
the Mandms sent envoys to gain him over to them. Meanwhile Galdan
ccmtinued his policy of aggrandisement, and the variova tribes firom ^
river Eienilon to the Koko nur lake Idt the weight of his hand, and he
seems to have efiectively subdued the Xhalldia country and also that of
the Kiighises or Buruts* Meanwhile he intrigued in various directions.
Ambitioo, say the Chinese anqals, became his only god. He {uretended
to be a devotee of Islam to i^ease the Kasaks and Turks, while he sowed
dissension among the Mongob by takhig up keenly ib» cause of the
Dahu Lama against his rival the brother oC the TtBshiyetttKhan.1 Mews
reached the Imperial court that his coviefs were constantly goii^ to
Thibet and to the Mongol fmaoea. GeriMlkm iqNNts duit he thus
addressed the chief of the Koxchhn Moogols, the most powerfol tribe of
* I>« llailla wuBM tlM ptaM Ultii ff*f. xL 147.
tGOTbmooteI>»HAUb,op.cit, IV.X7S. I MOOtr, of^ dt., i 4at> I De Mailla, xi. 174.
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650 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
the Forty-nine Banners, which had been particularly faithful to the
Manchu cause : ^ What can be more unworthy than our becommg slaves
to those whom we have commanded ? We are Mongols, and united
nndcT one law, wherefore let us join our forces and regain an empire
which bdongs to us and was the inheritance of our ancestors. I shall
share with pleasure the glory and fruits of my conquests with such as will
share the peril ; but if there should be any of the Mongol princes, as I
persuade myself there are none, so base as to desire to remain slaves to
the Manchtts, our common en^nies, they may depend on being the first
objects of our revenge, and their ruin shall be the prdude to the conquest
of China.**^ The Korchin chief, with praiseworthy iiddity, passed this
letter on tahis suzereign. The latter began to prepare to punish him.
He forbade the Dalai Lama and the Mongol princes to receive couriers
unless furnished with letters of authority sealed by the princes who sent
them, and he also ordered the garrison of Kue-hoa<^hing to arrest all
those who had no passports, and wrote a minatory despatch to Galdian,
in which he charged him with duplicity, vnd threatened him with thie
consequences.t He also began preparations on a large scale for the
campaign, and endeavoured to inspire increased zeal by promising to
reinstate in their positions d^^raded mandarins who should prove
themselves zealous in that war. Among other preparations, we are
told he ordered a great number of quilted cotton cuirasses for fhe troOps.|
He appointed a grand festival for the first month in 1696, to which he
invited the various officers who were destined to command in the
expedition. The ceremony was diaracterised by great pomp, the
Emperor sitting on his throne and the various grandees on magnificently
decorated seats ; on the right were the mandarins who were to command
the troops, and on the left those charged with the duties of the com-
missariat, and the various inferior officers ranged according to their
rank. A grand symphony opened the festival The Emperor having
summoned Vs Ffyanko, who had been appointed generalissimo, to
approach, presented him with the wine cup. The latter received it on
his knees, then rising descended the steps oi the throne, agaiii went
down, on hb knees, emptied it, and stooped with his forehead to the
groimd. The other generals were similarly honoured. The Emperor
then ordered his body guards to-present wine to the inferior officers, who
advanced ia sections of ten to the foot of the throne and went through
the same performance. After the ceremony, which lasted neariy two hours,
the grand steward of the housdiold distributed silken pieces to the
greater officers.
A few days after it was aimounced that two armies would march
against Galdan ; one conunanded by F^yanko^ the other by the Emperor
> GtrUUoo in Do HtJd«, op. dt., iv. 177. t D« UtMa, xl. I75-I77.
2 Dc Ifaflla. op. dt., 178.
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THE CHOR06. 63I
in penoiL* A third anny was alio oiganised uoder the oiders of the
general Sapsu.t Shortly hefore this time Homhnlan and some other
officers of Ga(dan deserted to the Manchns. They reported that he had
passed the spring of 1695 near Kohdo, that he afterwards encamped at
the sources of the Kenilon, where he had been joined by the Taishis Ho
rabdan, Tantsila, and Tantsin gomnp, with some 3,000 men, and that,
having followed the course <^ the Kemlon* he was then (f>.,in the autumn
of 1695) at Payen ul^n with 6,000 men. His nephew Tse wang Arabtan,
who was not friendly with him, was at Kehina*pira. The first division of
the Imperial army consisted of 35,600 men, partly Chinese and partly
Mongols of' the Forty-nine Banners, and Manchus. The second of
37,700 men, chiefly from the garrison of Pddng and the province of
Pecheli, and probably the flower of the whole force. The third consisted
^ 35t45o* Every body of 10,000 fighting men had from 40,000 to 50^000
retainers, &c, attached to it, so tiiat the whole force was probably little
short of a million. The commander-in-chief, F^nko, made a report on
the practical routes leading from Ku4 hoa ching to Karong (It^ the
limits), beyond whidi Galdan was supposed to be, and orders were given
to dig wells where necessary. Before setting out the Emperor offered a
grand sacrifice to heaven ; then he went to the hall of l^s ancestors to
acquaint them with his approaching departure. He left the palace by the
street Ngan-ting-men, and the gate in the rampart enclosing that part
of the city to the camp, attended by the eight banners, his own picked
Mandin soldiers. The Manchu canoniers went first, then the Chinese
canoniers of the Banners, and lastly the Chinese soldiers. His arrival was
signalled by three volleys of artiOery. When he reached the camp his
officers and soldiers salutedhim without dismoontiqg by a profound indi*
nation of the head, and then commenced to mardL The princes and people,
who were merely spectators and not going forward, formed an avenue on
their knees, between which the cortig^ marched. The army was divided
into sucteen brigades, two to each banner, and the details of their
commands are stated in De MaiOa's annals.^ After again sacrificing and
hnploring the favour of heaven for his expedition, he set out <m the ist
of April, 1696. He was accompanied by the Jesuit fathers Thomas
Pereira and Gerbillon, the last of whom has written an account of the
expedition. The vast procession of baggage waggons caused much
inconvenience, although the season was favourable, the marshy places
being firosen hard. Regulations were drawn up for crossing the enem/s
country. The baggage was ordered to start at daybreak, no fire was to
be lighted before that time, and only one meal was to be made each day.
The Emperor and his sons shared in these restraints as an example.
The itinerary of the march is interesting when we consider the paudty
* D« MaUla. tSo. t Dt MailU, xi. 183. I Op. dt. d. 114-186.
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632 HISTORY or THE MONGOLS.
of information about the detert of Mongolia. On the iH day of the tfaifd
month the Emperor was at Nan keouy^on die and at Yn i,t there he rested.
On the 4th day he slept at Chdio^ on the 5^1 at Chfaig u^ where he
rested three days. On the 9th day he encamped at Mao eulh kn, and
the loth at Tu die chi%| on the nth at Tsilun^i on the lath at Ifohad
hojo, near the little river of Shantu. On the iidi at Poro Khotony wheie
the Emperor and his sons and the Khalkha chieft amused themsdvts
with archery. Havii^ delayed there a day on account of bad weather
he encamped on the 15th at the lakes of Kon-nur. There the army was
assailed by snow and wind, and we are t<M the Emperor recused shelter
till his soldiers were provided. This bad weather cleared away on the
foUowing day, and on the 17th the Tushiyetu Khan of the Khalkhas
and his brodier the Lama went to pay him their respects. The army
now entered a brcten hilly country still for the most part covered with
snow. On the i8th it encamped at Keizu bulak, near the lake Poyoktei ;
the 19th and 20th was spent in hunting and resting. On the 21st it
encamped at Holbo^ between two lakes. The route still lay over sandy
downs, and on the 22nd the camp was fixed at Ai^iirtu ; on the 23rd at
Uchimuk, near the nitrous lake of the same name, and situated north of
a great plain. There they met with very bad weather, snow and wind.
They rested on the 25th and 26th at Kaltu, where they again sufierad a
good deal from the severe weather. The bad roads and weather began
now to tell on the sumpter beasts. On die 27th they encamped at K<m-nnr;
on the 2Sth at the Chaghan nur or White Lake, where they amused them-
selves with filing. The 29th and foUowing day were spent at Hulustai
They now approached a better country, and on the 2nd of May reached
the ridi pastures of Suritu.
There the r^ulation about eating only one meal a day was put in force.
On the 4th they encamped at Habiighan, on the 5th at Horho, in the
country of Karong (tV., at the limits), on the 6th at Keterku, on the 7th
at Targhit, dose to a great lake. Those who had gone forward '' to
prospect ** reported that Galdan was encamped on the Tula, eighteen
days' march from the Karong. At Targhit the Emperor was joined by
the envoys whom he had sent to Galdan and who had been kept
prisoners for throe months and been meanwhile badly treated. They
were sent back with only scant provisions for the journey, consisting
chiefly of lean camels and camels' foals, dogs and colts.| Having rested
for a day the In^ierial forces again advanced on the 9th and encamped
at Sensen,^ on the loth at Kodo, where they sUyed till the 12th.
The grandees pressed upon the Emperor the risks that attended him
m such a journey, and b^eged him to return and to leave his troops
*S— TiMlnwite^lliK tTbtYnUaofGerbilloci.
: Tlw TodM tiMo of 1>« Mailk't ICap. i TU Chiloo Palhato of QtrMUoo.
a D« MaiUA, XX. X93. Not*. H Th* Poiim of QofMHon.
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THB CBOROL 653
under tlieoKlen of didr generals. He replied with eneigy and dignity
^tftat he would do noddng of die kind. Had he not informed hit
Ancestors in sdemn fiuhion of his intentions ? Did not every soldier
know iHiat he meant to do when he set oitt ? Had not hb ancestors won
their tinones hy encotmtering danger and difficulty? How could he,
qnrung from nuf^ heroes^ fly like a woman at the shadow of danger?
How couhl he meet his ancestors after such craven conduct ?* Upon
this his advisenfidl on their knees and asked pardon. On the 15th day
of the fouxdi moon he encamped at Sudetu, on the further borders
of the country of Kanmg. Near there there was an engraved boundary
ifeone of the empire^ iSr the Kara or limiting hne passed throu^ the
place. This is the northern frontier ef the country of the Forty-nine
Banners. The cold now began to increase, and die beard was
froien before sunrise. Messengers brought word that Galdan, who
had been for some time encamped on the Tula, had retired along
tibe Kerukm, and was when they left encamped at Tarhan. The
next day after leaving Sodetu they reached Huk>sutai dnka nur,
where a st<me was found with an inscription recording that Yong lo, the
third Emperor of the Ming dynasty, had passed by this route, and
doabckss in the same fashion, when pursuing the Mongols, who had
been driven from Chiiui by his fitther Hong vu.
On the i6th the Mongol army encamped at Kara manhi-hapirhan,
where there arrived a penon who had been sent to Galdan by one of the
Moi^ol princes sol^ect to the Manchus with a pretended alliance. He
reported that he had been i^adly received by Galdan, who said that 60^000
Russians were allied with him, and promised that if his master would join
him they would together march upon Peking alter they had defeated the
Imperial troops, and diat the conquered country should be divided
between them. Hie Einperor rewarded this Mongd messenger with a
present of 100 taels.*
On the lydi there was a hah ; an advance guard of 3,000 Chinese feot
sokfiers and sB. the musketeers of the ei^t baimers, to the number of
2/xn^ with Soo Chinese body guards and 800 Mongol cavalry, and the
greater part of the artillery was sent on. They were commanded by the
Emperor's ddest son and by Sosan laoye. The troops of the three first
standards formed the main army under the Emperor, vfh3it the remaining
five standards formed the rear guard«t
On the i8th they encamped at Ongon detu, where they rested the
foDowiiig day. On the 20th they arrived at SibartaL Meanwhile
Feyaidai, who commanded the western army that was marchii^ towards
the Tula, to cut off Galdan's retreat in that direction, had met with great
difficulties, and sent word that he should not arrive there as soon as
•GcrWBMi in DtlCaiai^Nott, 11.198. t /<!.» 198, 199* NotM.
3L
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654 HISTORY OF TH£ MONOOLS.
eiqiected On the 24tfa the main army encamped at Chaban polak,
where a halt of several day$ wats made. On the 30th they reached
Toring ch6ri.
The march had latterly become very trying. Once lairiy in the
desert it was found impossible to proceed with the baggage cattle on
account of the yielding sand and the impedimenta ; rice and other ibod
was removed to the backs of 40/x)o camels ; but these also b^;an to give
way, especially as Galdan had ordered the grass on the route to be
burnt Meanwhile the Emperor heard worse news of his other two
armies. Feyanku had first to make a three months' march, then a
great detour towards the west to find water. He was obl^ed to leave
many of his men behind, and arrived on the Kerukm with only loyooo.
The third army was in still worse plight, and eventually its commander,
leaving the rest behind, went with 2yooo men only, to join Feyanku. The
Emperor was naturally very much depiessed at this news. He suggested
that terms should be made with Galdan, and sent an embassy to him
with a proposal including the gift of an Imperial princess for a wife, but
the embassy was waylaid and plundered by robbers. The Emperor had
written to apprise Galdan of his approach, to tell him he had come to
settle the differences that had long divided the Khalkhas and Eleuths,
and that it would be pnident for him to submit. The envoys were told
they would not be admitted, and that they were at liberty to return with
their letters and presents.
On the 4th of June the army encamped at ldu*chilu-aru-pulak, twenty
lis from Talan pulak, and the next day at RukucheL On the 6th it
reached Yentu puritu, and the next day the Kerulon, where it encamped
at a place called Erdenitolohak kerlon pulong.
It would seem that Galdan had continued to hope that the Emperor
would be frightened by the terrible march across the desert and would
never reach him. Now that he found he was mistaken, and not knowing
tlie pressure on the Imperial resources, he thought it prudent to retire
towards Sungaria, and when the Manchu army reached the Kerulon
it found only his deserted camps (which had been fired), with the
debris resulting from a hasty withdrawal. But this retreat had been
foreseen, and it was to cut it off that Feyanku had been sent with the
second ai my to the Tula. This army, says Gerbillon, had penetrated by
roads hitherto deemed impracticable. As this was the worst part of
the desert, being almost naked and badly supplied with water, and
containing neither forage nor inhabitants, almost the whole force, even
the officers, was reduced to march on foot, while the horses had to be
led. Provisions ran short, and for eleven days they had matched
without other food than some fragments of horse and camel flesh,
and many had died of misery.* They had now reached and were
* De MailU, n. 307. Note.
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THl CHOROS. 63$
encamped at a place called Chao modo, fixed by the Father Jartoux
at 840 long. W. of Pddng, and 47 43 N.L.* Meanwhile the mam
anny under the Emperor marched westwards along the Kemlon, and
Gerfoillony who dettribes die progress of the cavalcade, tells us that
the various colours of the quilted silken doublets of the' soldiers,
mingled with the gold upon their cuirasses and their gay standards,
formed a magnificent sipecucle. The Emperor advanced westwards
as far as Tooo and Suilhitu, when as provisions and fraage were
running short, he turned aside to the more fertile district of Toirin,
while he sent a deta^mient of 5,000 or 6,000 men in pursuit of Galdan.
It did not overtake him. He was however waylaid by Feyanku, who,
having heard firom one of his generals that he was encamped at the
outfall of the Terdchi (? a tributary of the Tula), sent his general Chdtai
widi a portion of the army with orders to try and bring on an engage-
ment Finding die enemy too strong Ch^tai contented himself with a
discharge of musketry and then retired, pursued by Galdan. Feyanku,
who was still encamped at Chao modo, dismounted his troops, posted
them on a hill, and awaited the onsbnght of Galdan. It was a critical
position for either army, as retreat was almost impossiUe. The sustained
fire of the Imperial artillery and musketeers, and the vigorous chaiges
which they made, at length broke the ranks of the Kahnuks ; they began
to retreat Feyanku now remounted his soldiers, descended from the
mountain and pursued the enemy for upwards of thirty li, as £au- as the out*
fiJIofdieTereldiL TwothousandoftheSungars were put 4^iw£f<<?M^
their army was disperMd, their baggage, arms, and herds, with a large
part of their women and children, fell into the hands of the victors.
Galdan's wife was slain by a musket ball in the confusion ; he himsel)^
widi his son, daughter, and a few retainers fied westwards, while crowds
of his subjects surrendered to the Imperial general. Well might the
gratitude of the Enqieror overflow towards his victorious troops, for
his position had become very critical, and their food had been nearly aH
consumed.
The captured booty, comprising 6,000 oxen, about 70,000 sheep, 5,000
horses, and as many camels, was a grand boon to the victors, and the
Emperor, we are told, did not fail to return thanks to heaven for the
victory. A table like an altar was erected on the qpen space in front of
his tent, and upon it was placed a chafingdish, in which were burnt
sweet smelling pastiles, and two lighted candles ; in frcmt of this the
Emperor stood alone, with his fiu» turned towards the south; the
grandees were all around on their knees ; taking a small glass of spirits,
he raised it aloft several times, then emptied it on the ground, stoopiiig
low while he did so. Afterwards he received the congratulations of his
•PlalVtMMiMi«f«3r.345* Note.
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636 HISTORY or THE MONGOLS.
chief officers, each of whom made three genoterions, and touched die
ground nine times with his head, in the fashion prescribed in die
ceremonial of the court* The Emperor gave orders that the prisoners
who had been captured and the Sungars who had vohmtarily submitted
should have lands assigned to them outside the gate Chang-kia-keou, one
of the gates of the Great Wall, and ordered them to be supplied with
cattle, food, &c. He then began his march home again« On the way
he amused himself with hnntnig Mongol antelopes, while the various
Khalkha and Mongol princes throufi^ whose territory he passed went to
compliment him on his success, and received presents At Hdho or
Holosutai he was met by the Tushiyetu Khan and his brother the Lama,
the real originators of the war. They offered him a present of several
horftes, and in return received some silk,.&c.
Among the officers of Galdan who submitted to Feyanku were the
Muhammedan Aptush Khan, the Taishis Chereng or Zeren Chap,
Baatur, Kuru merghen, and Hantu; the Saissans Mei, Mamwkoin,
Erinchin, Hasha, and many others. Ho rabdan, a brave com-
mander, who had fought with considerable skill in the late battle,
and had received two wounds there, disappeared after the fight Galdan
himself (led with only a handful of followers.* So great was his fame
and so various his resources that the Emperor was far from satisfied that
tiie terrible defeat he had sustained would crush him. He had married
die daughter of a powerful chief of Tsingfaai or Kokpnur named Bushtu
Tsinong, and it was feared that he mi|^ get adtive assistance d^re if
he managed to escape so far. The Emperor accordingly wrote to the
Kokonur chicft, as I have already described,t and he also sent expe*
ditions in various directions to try and capture or loll him.^ He also
wrote very pressing letters to him recounting his many ofifences, yet
pronusing him pardon and even rewards if he would submit.}
In the latter part of 1696 ooe of the Mandiu genends named Tso
leang pu was surprised in the country oi Honkin by 2fioo men, who
turned out to be Kahnuks.! On the 5th of December, one of Galdan's
chief officers named Tushiyettt-habur, with eii^lity followers, surrendered
to Feyanku, and was by him sent on to the Imperial camp. He rqwrtcd
that his master had intended to retire towards Hami (i>., KhamilX until
he heard that his retreat there was cut ofl( that he was now in the
country of Saisu churi, and that he still had about 4/300 people with
him, most of them women and children, ifloo only btii^ warnora,
who were in the greatest distress.^ A few days later the Manchn general
Honanta captured a party of travellers who were on their way to Thibet
They turned out to beTarhanoo^ an envoy from die Dalai Lama to
Galdan, the Saissan Hortao, sent by hb son^n^w Bushtu, prmoe of
•D«MaiUa.si.sx5. tABlt,5M- XD«Htilk.d.sts. »/il^sss-
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THE CROROS 637
Tsinghai, and Hochetsi (? a Koshote), sent by Ponchu, another chief of
TdngfaaL They were returnhig home with Gildan's answer, escorting the
Tortsi Knmotiy who was sent by him as an envoy, his own giandton, and
others to the number of eighty. They had left Galdan, who was then
encamped at Kurembertstr, on the 5th of the previous month. They
announced that he was on the point of retirii^ towards Pdrerchakan
with over a thousand men, who still remamed £euthful to him,
that Ho rabdan was at Chapka kuendien with an equal number,
but that Tantsin ompu had qtiarrdled with him and rethed to the
country of Tamir. They reported also that Galdan and his followers had
sofiered terribly since their great defeat, having neither dothes nor cattle
soflident, and that Galdan was much broken down by his misfortunes. A
few days later an envoy from him went to the camp of Feyanku offering
submission. He was sent cm to the Imperial camp. The Emperor
received him seated on a platform, under a spfendid canc^y or tent
He recounted to him the ill-conduct which had brought his master to this
pass. ^ Speak,** he said in condusion, ** if you have aught to say in
paiyation.'^ « Our nusfortunes,'' said tiie envoy, '^ have opened our eycfc
to wisdom and prudence ; we only ask to be accepted as his majesty's
feiAliil subjects. We confess that we have done ill, that omr aok object
in fighting' with the Khalkhas was to plunder them; but repentance
ought to comnumd paid(m, and I don't doubt that shortly my master will,
like the KhalMias, repose peaceably under the shadow of the Imperial
^irone.''* The Emperor dismissed the envoy with a letter promising
that Galdan and his peaplt should share in the riches wluch China offers
those who are feithfol subjects, and be foigiven if he would attend the
court in peison ; pnmusiag further, that for ei|^ty days the Imperial
armies would halt and cease from pursuing him, but that if he foiled to
return by that time he should be hunted without ceasing. A few days
huer the victorious general Feyanku was received by the Emperor in his
camp at Sar kuto with great distinction. He received his honours with
becoming modesty, attributing his victory to the exactitude with which
he had foUowed out the Imperial instructions. Kai^ le'^entei^ lus
capital oB die 1 9^ day ^ the twelfth moon by the north gate, and soi«fat
a much*needed repose in his palace. Early m the f^iUowing year
Galdan'sson was captured by the chief of Khamil, and sent as aiNriso&cr
tothecanrt« The festivals of the new year were cdebrated with unusual
rejoicings, and thiscaptare added some lustre to them. HewascaOed
Septen Pardiur, or rather Sebten Baljtnr (^., long and very happy Hfe), a
name given to him by the Dalai Lama. Geibittoii, who was in
attendance on the Emperor, describes htm as a boy of Ibwteen, good^
looking, dressed in a doth coat with a fox-skfai cap. He had an unlMppy
•I>«ll«U]ft,xi.tst.tS4.
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638 mSTOKY or TRB MONGOLS.
enbamssed air. At ^ aadieiioe he feu on his knees belbn the
Empentf, who questkxied him about hb fiuhtr, and leamt tern him that
he was not more Uum twenty-six dsgrt* maich fiom Pahikk, n^wre they
dienweie. The Emperor judged that the ganison of 3,000 men he had
atPnhikirwoiiklamplyeiiffioelbrtheparaiutofdielvvEit^ Theyoung
prince was sent as a prisoner to Pddi^
I have mentioned that Kang^ sent m letter to Galdan, giving him'
dghty days' giace. The envoys wiiich tooic it now retomed. They
reported that only one of them named Podii was aflowed an andienoOi
He had to wait lor a long time. At length Galdan appeared. He was
seated on a heap of stones in the open ptein, and did not permit Pochi to
approadihim. He tiianked the Emperor lor his benevojant intcntionfi and
10 prove his gratitade he promised to send one of his officers to aoqiaint
him with his real sentiments. After wiiich short audience he momited
his horse and rode away. In all this we see the mmpkiaimp goarded
bdiaviour of a desert chief aocnstomed to soiprises and ticadierics.
Galdan probaUy suspected that the envoys were atsa^ns^ or at least
sent to circumvent him in some way. TTwo Songars were afterwards sent
by the Emperor. They were also received in audience^ and r^orted the
strength of the empire and how those who had been made prisoner^ &C.,
had found a comlbrtable asylnm in China. AH this was doubtless wenn-
wood and gall to the proud chiefs and we are told he hnke off the
audience without saying a word to them.* It was evident that his spirit
was by no means crushed. So the Emperor hastened on the pteparation of
the armies which were to further punish him. Feyankuonoemoreadvanced
at the head of a lafge force, which numbered 10,000 to 3$^ooo Manduis
and Chinese, besides Mongol and Khalkha amdliariesi raising it to about
iSOyooo men. This marched across tiie great desert. A second army
was sent from Liau tung, under Sap su, and marched through a better
country towards the Kcrulon. Gydait leamt of these preparations, and
retired by forced marches to Assaktu hala hotsafaan. Again the Emperor
sent an envoy to him, and chose for the puipooe die son of Galdan's
nurse, that is probably his Ibsler brodiery asking him to submit He also
wrote to Tse wang Arabdan. But the diama was neariog its end, and
on the 5th of June KangU recehred news from Feyaaku dut the
great Sungar chief was no more. He had died she wedbi before at a
place called Hodiaho nuttataL He had ftOlen ill at daybreak, and died
the same m|^ and his body had been burnt. The Empersr Kien Long
says he poisoned himseitt Some of his followers sanendered themselves
toFeyanku; die rest went westwards to join Tse wang iabdan4
The news was very gmlefid to the Emperor and histetcs; the btler
were now ordered home agafai* Deeming tfuft the death of Giddan was
•OelUilUml.iC7. tM«mt.twUCktet,i.S3- 1 Dt Mailta, iL «|»,
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THE CHOR08. 639
tbe work of heaven, he began by retiming thanks to h. In the open
plahi a taUe was dresaed as an altar, and npon it were placed
odours and perfumes. Accompanied by his ddest son, the military
mandarins, and the literati, he made the triple genuflexion and saluted
the ground widi his fordiead,and afterwards received the congratuhitions
of the court in his tent He then ordered the ashes of Galdan to be sent
for and despatched to Peking, in order that they might be scattered to the
winds as had been done with those of the rebel U-san-kuei ; and he also
ordered, what seems a crud and heartless proceeding, that Galdan's young
sonSepten Pardnir should be beheaded and his head exposed on a stake,
but he afterwards revoked this sentence. After the death of Galdan his
chief general Tantsila, with a few hundred men, wandered about the
desert and attempted^ it would seem, to reach Thibet He was attacked
by some Of the troops of Tse wang Arabtan and his people scattered.
Among the captives were the daughter and mother of Galdan, and also
the ashes of the latter. Af^er a long correspondence Tse wang Arabtim
at length agreed to surrender them to the Emperor. The Draconic code
of China condemns all the relatives of a rebel taken in arms to death, but
the Emperor exercised his clemency on the present occasion, and bodi
the daughter and son of Galdan were treated with generosity.^ Hb
ashes were apparently scattered (having been first reduced to dust) in
tbe presence of the Manchu, Mongol, Sungar, Khalkha, and Giinese
soldiers, on the great parade ground outside the city waUs.t
Thus ended the career of one of the a1>lest of the desert chie6. His.
achievements may be shortly recited from one of the Emperor Kanghi's
own letters. '^Galdan was a formidable enemy. Samarkand, Bokhara,
Pulut («./., Burnt), UrgHendj, Kashgar, Suirmen (?), Turfen, Khamil, were
taken from the Muhammedans, and the capture of more than i,aoo towns
prove to what a length he had carried his arms. The Khalkhas in vain
assembled their seven Banners, numberii^ loo^ooo men, to oppose him.
One year sufficed for their dispersion.'' Nor can we deny the intrepidity
and indomitable courage he dispUyed in opposing the very superior
forces of China, even after he had been robl)ed of all the resources wfaieh
can keep together an army in such a wild inhospitaUe region as
Sungaria. In order to understand the influence he possessed among the
kalmidcs, which survived so many misfortunes, we nmsr remember that
he was a Lama before, he becanie tiie diief of the Songars^ and was
therefore a very considerable person entirely outside his positfon as
Khan, and that the Tipa or secular ruler of Thibet was an attached
friend of his. He was a word^ successor of Ins fother and a worthy
pradecessor o£ dikt chief of Kashgar who at this moment is lainn^
a protest wuatt the absorptioii of everything vlgoroos in Ctetral
•D•lC•ifIll,xi.90^ t/A,iiS.
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640 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
Asia by the PhUittinism of China. If his days, had been cast at
a di£BMnent period than that of the pahny days of Mancfau mxprefu^Yf he
would doubtless have imitated the Chinese r61e of many other Tatar
chiefo of whom Jingis was the type.-
Sengfa^ the elder brother of Galdan, left several sons^ the eldest of
whom was Tse wang Arabtan, who was bom in 1665 ;* the others were
Solom Araptan, Dandshin Ombo^ Dugar Arabian, and Chereng Donduk.
Tse wang Arabtan and his two next brothers took part in Galdan's
campa^ against Utshirtu Khan, and the great reputation they then
acquired aroused their uncle's jealousy, for they had the right to the suc-
cession. By the advice of an old Lama he j;Hit Solom Araptan to death.t
Dugar Arabtan fled to the Chinese. He afterwards collected a body
of Kalmuks on the upper Yenissei, and was slain by the Khalkha chief
Lobcan Khan in 16894 Tse wang. Arabtan escaped (having be^
warned by the Lamas) tp. the Balkhash Sea4 where he at first wandered
with but seven followers.1 He seems to have returned and to have
gradually acquired a considerable influence among the Kalm»ks north of
the Tien shan mountains, and to have opposed his uncle on equal terms.
The cause of their struggle, according to De MaiUa, was that Galdan
had appropriated a Khalkha princess to whom he was betrothed. He
also charged him with his brother's death. In the fight which followed
Galdan was defeated.ir Tsewang Arabtan was then apparently encamped
in the beautiful valley of Borotalas^ near the Sairas^ lake. This was
in the year following the fight with the Khalkhas (ue,, in 1689). Galdan
seems to have returned home for a while, and was seen at the end of that
year by an envoy of the Dalai Lama at Hopto (i!^^., Kobdo) with several
thousand men. It was then reported that the Khatun Honu and Tse
wang Arabtan were marrhing against him.^ They do not seem to have
come to blows, however, and we merely hear of Tse wang Arabian's
corresponding with the Imperial court against his uncle. Some fiigitives
who deserted Galdan in 1695 reported that Tse wang Ar]sbtan was then
encamped at the K^luna pira, that he had no communications with
Galdan, and that many of the lattei^s people were passing over to him.tt
In 1696 an envoy from him went to the court, with presents for the
Emperor, and to complain that only 200 of his subjects were allowed to
trade with the empire. Kanghi referred the matter to the tribunal
of foreign affiurs, who advised that the number should be augmented to
300. The envoys were sent back with a present consisting of twenty
pieces of silk, two tea services {one of silver, th^ other of rare wood), a
•PaUM»Sainl.Hiit.N«cb.,&c,i.4a. t MiiUw. Sunl. Raw. Hkt., i. 137.
I PallM, op. cit.. 4a, and GeMalogictl Tabto.
IDaHalS^njFatlMtQaldanhad hfartd anassiiii to put Urn - "- n Ai nfwlw lliili
blow* only itrnck out one of his ejret. Op. eiu, iv. 238.
f MllUer, op. cit, i. 127- t De Maflla, xl. 136. «* De If aiUa, id., 197.
tt De MaUU, xi. 178.
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TSCCHOM)S. 6fl
stitte rate SHMie of doufaled 'Idx ifciii, a saUe cap, a girdle ornamented
Giddaa^ caiBiMign against tfaeKlMAfaat 1m seems to hare be^
bf liis nephew in his anthoiity over Wegttm Smigaria, and also to some
evlenl in the towns on the flanks of ^e Tien duuii momitains, for we read
that an 1696 he had a ganiwn of 500 men «t Ttit&n.t The town of
Khamil and its district was then inled bf its own inane^&ite chie( a Mn^
hanmiedannaaMdBhtiiktaiiiiafbekorTaikammebq(h4 £arlymi697he
appeetod to the MandmEmpewr for aid against TsewangArabtan^ who
had tltteatened turn. Arabtanaccttsed him of having crossed the Kaloralc
frontiers, of having invaded Gakhm's country, and dM« captmed Septen
BidfOTy the son of Galdan, and some other Snngars. He- had also
detained some envoys wliom Tse vang Rabdan had sent to him ; the
latter now sent him a minatory letter demamfing the . retnm of his
envoy, that Gaklsn's son dKMild be shown to his mnisfiyr, and that the
odwr prisoners dKNdd be sent to hhn to Tttrfan. The prince of fChamil
reined that the prisoners had aB been sent to China, that he had not
invaded Galdan^ territory^ and that he now considered himsdf the
sobject of the li<nchttS| who had beaten his Hormer master Galdan.
Tse wang Ambtan was enraged at tiiis news, and imprisoned seventy
persons whom the prince of KhamM had sent to appease h» wmA.| It
is dear that however modi Tse wang Arabtan was aggrieved at his tmde
and determined to pmiidi him, he was not prepared to allow the
dependant princes to invade tiie riglMs of the Songarian empire, of
which the death of Galdan in 1697 had left him master, and several
oi the petty chieii who had fdlowed Galdan now joined him. One of
them named Tantsila had apparently some reason for not doing so;R
periiaps he wished to enrol himself under the Imperial banner. However
this was, he was attadoed near iChan^ by the troops of Tse wang
Arabtan and his people were dispersed. In this fight the ashes of
Galdan, and also one of )^ sons and his daiighter Chonsi hai fdl into
the hands of the victor.^
Pallas makes Galdan put Dandshin Ombo, the brother of Tse wang
Arabtan, to death, but this is a mistake. He is deariy die same person as
the Tantsin Ompu of De Mailla, who was one of his chief supporters. He
had quaridled and left hun after the battle of Chao mode.** When Tantsila
was defeated he fled to KhamO ; many of his peoi^e jdned Tse wang
Arabtan, and others went to Dandshin Ombo.tt The Emperor wrote the
latter a letter in 1697, asking him to submit, and later in the year the
general Feyanku, who was encamped at the country of Keker of the
Khanghai, came across the envoys whom he had sent with his answer ;
they told him they were commissioned to submit in their master's name
* !>• Mallla, xL i8x. t Da M«ilU, xi. 227- I De MailU, xi. as7* | D« MaflU, xi. a6l.
I De MaiUo, xi. Jl7. f De Bf aUU, xi. 388. •• De Hattla, xi. a49> tt/A,i88.
3M
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642 Huromr or «n movgols.
to the orders of the Emperor. They eui talher, thet he tn
at Hotong konnota^end Tse waag AtaUaa et Pole tan (£#^Boto taksX
tedve days' maidi from eadi other, while Ho rahdan, nhe i» peAq^ to
be identified with Dugar Arabtaiv fhtk hrotfaery v<» ^ K«n Ma (f^
the Kara Irtish), six or seven days' journey from Dandriwn Ombo^ and
twelve or thirteen dayif journey from Tse wnagArahtan, Thsyreported
frurther, that the country of Hotong kormoto was very cold and that dmr
master had doubtless dwn left it and gone to/nSe M ArwAbr Tse wang.
Arabtan. The Emperor, who was prabahly afraid of iho Sungars
coalescing into too strong a power, sent them beck with a letter advising
their master to submits to him raUier than to his brothet. Heabowroltto
Tse wangArsbtan demanding the SMiender of the trophies of his victory.
The Sui^ar chief replied to the envoys, * that the war bemg now ended
iiyttrks ought to be Ibiyotten* We om^ to have pity Inr the van*
<|ttisbed; it would be barbarous to think cf annihilating them. It
is die first law of bqmanity» sind tttft idddi custom has always con^
secmted amoi^ the EleirthSk''* Tse wangAndiCan sent them a messenger
descrttwig the details of the defeat of Tkntsiia and tsddng widi him
Cheren Sanhip^ a son of Galdan, and also his modMr Pofin. As
for tfatt dauc^ter, he said it was not usual for the Eleuths to exact
vengeance fixan the daughters of their enemies, while the ariies of Galdan
would not add to the Emperor^ triumph. The envoys replied to this
"that it was a constant maxim wjA Uie Chhiese to exttrpete the fronOles
of rebels taken openhanded.'' They afterwards had an aadience with him
himself and uiged fhnilar aiguraents, but in Tain, and it was not until
after several pressiug canbassies that he at last rductandy surrendered
the ashes of his uncle and the person of his cousoi, GaMan*» daughter.
The Emperor behaved magnanimnusly, pardoned her and her brothet;'
and gave them positions of dignity at the courtf About this time
Tantsila submitted to the Manchus.)
Like Galdan, Tse wang Arabtan had to carry on a fierce war with his
western neighbours the Kirghiz Kazaks. In a letter which he wrote to
the Emperor in 1698 be explained the causes of this war. How Galdan
had captured the son of Tuk6 (? Tevkei), the Khan of the Kazaks, and
sent him to the Dalai Lama. How at the earnest request of Tnktf ho
had sent back his son, escorted by 500 men ; and how with base ingrati-
tude the latter had put all the latter to death and then made an incursion
into the country of Hnlijanhan, which belonged to him, and carried ofi
more than 106 families. How his frither-in-law Ayuka had sent him his
daugliter (his own wife) escorted by her brother Santsit chapu, and
Tuktf had attempted to waylay them; and how he had pillaged a caravan
that the previous autumn was returning from the JUissians.| As a result
•f>tUaXilM»UUt99V tI>tMailU,si.9«5. JM.,ii 199. | D« lUUIa, «l« SM.
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THl CBOROS. 643
of thii wm he letma to Iwve tabdued « Urge portion of the Middle
Horde of the Kirghb Kattfct.*
He also nbdaed the BnniU or Black Khghiaes who fived about the
Iwknl kke, called Tvskel hf Miner. They contieted of 5,000 fiukiilies,
and «qpplaed the Kahraika with a contiiigeiit of 3^000 Mkfters.t
I have deaoibed how Sandihip, a ton of Ayuka Khan^ left his firther
with the intentioii of fighting the Suiigart4 Pallas says he went with
15,000 tents,! and Mailer with 30,000 men. The latter author says he
aaiched through the land of the Bashkirs and Kasaks towards the Irtish.
When he arrived at the salt lake of Yamish he turned aside towards the
Imil ; he intended to take up his winter quarters there. The Khung-
taidshi, treating him as his brother-in-law, sent him an invitation to go
aadseehkn. Sandship evaded seeing him, and sent an envoy to adc for
a fioee passage through the Sungarian empire to the Dalai Lama. Some-
thing having aroused Suspicion, they searched and found in die envoys
: a letter sent by Sandship to the Dalai Lama aridng die latter^s
I to kin the KhungtakbhL Tse wang Arabtan now marched
hwneglfwith a large army, which surrounded Sandship and his followers
and captured thepn. Sandship and his wife and a fow others were sent
bade to Ayuk% while his people were amalgamated with die Sungars
and increased their strength very consideraMy.l
Aa I have said, the Tipa of Thibet was a prot^ of Galdan's. He
had been attarked and driven out by Latsan Khan, the chief of die
Thibetan Khoshot»s.Y This revolution meant the displacement of the
in<ucnce and audiority of the Sungars in Thibet, and as Latsan iChan
was very friendfy with the Manchus, and was in foct little more than
their tool, Tse wang IGian was mach irritated, and having allied hknsdf
with the Khoahotes of Kokomnr he sent two armies, one against
Si ning fu, where the Dalai Lama was then kept in durance,** and the other
across the great desert, against Putala. The former expedition seems to
have mi8carried.tt Thelatier was very soccessfiil; it was commanded by
Zeren or Chereng Donduk, who having successfully passed the desert
sqipeared before Lhassa, which he captured. Latsan Khan took refuge
at Putala, but was shordy after captured and put to death4t Thecoontry
of Lhassa was ravaged, the towns taken as soon as besieged, and the
temples plundered ; even that of die grand Lama did not escape. In
the latter, great ridies, whidi had been accumulating many years, were
captured. ^ AU the Lamas which could be met widi were put into bags
and laid upon cameb in order to transport them to Tartary.^H TheLamas
who constructed the Thibetan pordon of the great map of the Chinese
empire, which was reproduced by D'Anville^ narrowly escaped capmre^H
• I>c IfaillA, si. J94. PAllu,Iiiat,iw.,4i. t Miltar* i. 1301 IAat«, sf;.
S Op. dt, i. 69. I Milter, o^cit.,i.i3x, 132. ^Ant^sai. **Aalt,SM>
ttKoeppea»ii.Z94. U Ko^ppM, ii. 194. f | Do H*Mc» hr. 451 . || /
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644 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
Koq>peii h^ apparemly folbwed Geoigi in dating Uie capt^
in November, 1717^ bat Unkowski, the Rotsian Okrof, who was at Tte
wang Arabtan's court in 1723, and has left us sotte details of Smgarian
history at this penod, dates it in 1709 and 1710^ tmd he could hardly be
mistaken. The Thibetans seem to have appeslert ibr succour to the
Manchu court, and in 1713 ori7i3astr90gai;vqrof Mongols and Chinese
marched against him. It had akeady passed his bolder town of Khaaul
when the Khungtaid^ heard of it. A considerable anny was aiscunblfld
under Chereng Dooduk and other Saissans, whidi marriied against
the enemy as £ur as TuHan. The Bfandms had to pass a mpuntaiwi
at whose foot the Kalmuks ky concealed. The httlsr suddenly
attadced diem at daybresk and scatterad dieir aimy. A poitkNi of
them took reilige at Khaail, but were apparsndy pursued there^
and KhamU itself was captured and knelled with die ground.* This
ervnt is no doubt that refared to in the namthre traaelated by
Hyacinthe in Timkowski's travds, where we read that the Thibrtans
having sou|^ aid firom China ^the omrt of Peluqg sent an anny
commanded by General Ohmda. The troops of the sebd were going
to retreat to the north, but being seduced by the blade Lamas they
returned and vnUund to ^^m iks Chimtu hMMms.^ Such Is
the diplomatic language under which the defeat is concealed. To con-
tinue Unkowsk?s story. He says that two years after, a great army,
numbering loo^ooo men, marched, from China against die Kahnaks.
This rebuilt the dty of Khamil, and having made dM road to Turfiin
easily passable by building some small towns en the way (the Kahnuks
were away), succeeded in capturing Tuiftn. It was fortified, and
remained afterwards subjea ID the Chinese4 They do not seem on diU
cflccasion to have advanced fiirther into the Kalmuk country, but turned
aside into Thibet, which they efibctually subdued, as I hare d«9cHbed.f
In 1717 the Chinese advanced as fiur as die river Kharashan (? Khara-
shar), to the town of TsaMsh, where diey were repulsed by the Kalmuk
garrison In 1719 another Chinese array marched over the Mongoliaa
desert («./., probably through nordMrn Sungaria) and approached die
Saissan lake, ndbere the most northern sidsjects of the Khui^^taidshi
lived. As die attack was unexpected the Chinese succeeded in cairying
off a considerable booty hi otttle and prisoiers and heaily captured
Giddaii Chereng, the hdr to die Kahnuk throne. The strife widi die
Chinese continued until the Emperor Kai^^his^s death| and almost every
jreiHr there was a struggle between them.|
This is amply confirmed by die Chinese accounts, wfalch speak, how*
ever, from a different point of view. They state that after the withdrawsl
of the In^perial forces Tse wang Arabian attacked his neighbours and
• Unkowrid, liaiter, Si«J. JMh*. OmcIi., i. 155- t Tlmkowrid, i. 4Sa.
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THE CHOROS. 645
Increased his power, and more than once ravaged Si tsang (i ./^ the tribes
of the Thibetan frontier).* He also attacked the Mongol tribes under
Chinese pcoCectioiL As he knew the country well he evaded the troops
sent against him by Kanghi, and when beaten in one place reappeared
in another.t ^Like wolves, who at the sight of the huntomen scatter to
their dens, and at the withdrawal of danger assemble again round the
prey they have abandoned widi regret Sudi was the policy of these desert
robbers.*^ Yong cheng, the successor of Kanghi, withdrew the Imperial
forces from China, and allowed the desert tribes to fight it out among
themselves ; he merely supplied the Mongds on the frontier with men,
pay, and provisions. Tse wang Arabian made a show of deference to
these preparations, but he strengthened himsdf dsewheie.
The Kalmuk hold upon the towns of the so<alled little Bnkharia
remained firmly fixed during the greater part of the reign of Tse wang
Arabian. It would seem that at his accesrion they attempted to with*
hold their tribute, but he attacked the Khan of Yarkend and carried him
off, with many other chiefs with him, to the valley of IlLS It is
probably this straggle which is referred to by Captain VaHkhanof : he
says that the Hodja A{^[>ak, having lost some credit among the Mussul-
mans (probably by his alliance with Galdan),| proclaimed his brother
Khan Ismail Muhammed Emil, from Ush Turfim, Khan, and then pre*
viMled upon him to attack Uie Sungarians. The latter fidl on the Kalmuk
camps and returned with 30,000 prisoners of both sexes^ and a great
quantity of cattle and booty; but was afterwards so frightened at his own
intrepidity that hefled tothe mountains, where he was kitted by one of his
owngttt<fas.l The strife continued there between the Black Mountaineer
party, of which Hodja Daniel was the moving spirit, and the White
Mountaineers, of which Ahmed Hodja was chiet Some time alter the
above raid, we are told that ^ the Kahnnks, who until then had not been
Mt to resent tiie inroad of the Kashgarians, arrived at Yaifcend with a
htfgeforce. Daniel, widi the view of gaining the fiicvour of the Sungarians,
joined their troops wHh all his Yaikendians, and the united forces
fordtwith mardied upon Kashgar. After several encounters the Ka^i-
garians were obliged to open their gates. The Kalmuks appomted m
Hakimbeg, chosen by the people, and led away the Kashgar Hodja
Ahmed, their own ally Daniel Hodja, aad the teulies of both prisoners
to 10. In tyio Tse wnng Arabian restored Daniel to his native oovntry,
and mede l^m mler over the ax towns. On his aorrival at Yaricend the
Hodja iqypointed governors over the towns entrusted to him^ and fixed
his own revenue at the modest rate of loo^ooo tiangas, that of Appak
having been t,ooo tiangas for every hun^bped of his subjects. His eldeat
* Uotm. tor b Chiae, i. 333 Not«. ' T Dt Bf tiU^ >i. 540i
:Bftni,nrUCMs#,i.39o. f MOIltf» op. dt., i. 190. iVm»nl^6»%.
Y llidi«U*« KoMUat is CoMtd Am, 179.
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646 HISTORY OF THB MONGOLS.
son Djagan, who was a hostage with the Sungariaa Khans, and Daiiiei
himself paid occasional visits to IH.**
Tse wang Arabtan was probaUy the most poweffol sovereign of the
Sungarian dynasty, and was mnch esteemed by his tnbjectSy whom he
ruled over like a father. He could pat from AOpoo to 6ofioo men in the
field, and he received from the Dalai Lama the title of Erdeni Suriktu
Baatur KhungtaidshLt We will now turn shortly to hts intercourse with
Russia.
Like most other countries Russia has had its romantic £1 DoindOy a
land outside its borders where it was fimcied wealth and ease might be
bought easily by washing gold out of a river, and whidi led to some
adventurous journeys. This £1 Dorado was the country of Little
Bukharia, and espedaHy the neighbouriiood of Yarfcend, reported to
be rich in gold deposits. In 1714 prince CafpatUf the governor of
Siberia, presented a report in vdiich he suggested that it would be
possible to appropriate this country, which was then subject to the
Khungtaidshi, and he suggested that a series of forts should be pushed
along from the Irtish as far as Yarkend to fcnrm a protection to die
route through the Kalmuk country. With the note he sent specimens
of the gold dust which had been taken to Tobolsk for sale4 In conse-
quence of this letter Ivan Bukholx was ordered by the Emperor to repair
to Siberia, and having collected a force of 2,000 or Sfioo men, to proceed
to build a fort near the lake Yamish, and thence^ if possible, to make his
way to Yarkend. He arrived at Tobolsk in November^ 1714-I Having
collected two re^ments of infontry, 700 dragoons, a small body of
artillery, and seventy handicraftsnien, the idide numberhig about 2,93s
men, he set out in July, 171 5, and marching by way of Tara he reaped
ihe Irtish, and at length the lake of Yamish,| which I have already
referred to as the place whence the Cossadcs and others got their
supplies of sak. It b situated about six and a half versts from the Irtish.
Between this lake and the Irtish is another small lake called PriMnoe
osero (1^, the fresh water lake), out of which there nms a smaH stream
called the Priasnukha, which faUs into the Irtish. It was on a heiigfat
dose to the mouth of this stream^ that Bukhotz proceeded to buHd a
small fortress, with an eardttn rampart^ It was called Yamlshewa.
This was naturally viewed as an invasion of their oouatiy by the
Kahnuks. At this tune Tse wang Arabtan's brother Cheieng Dondok**
had his camping ground in iho neighbourhood of the river Imilaadlake
Saissan, and was ahnost as poverfol as his brother. In conjunctioa with
the latter he collected a force of 10,000 men, which he commanded in
person, vrath which he attempted to surprise the Russians. Having
failed in this they proceeded to beleaguer them in the fortress. Choeng
* /a., 17a. t P«U«t, op. dt., i. 43. I MOlkr. op. dt., iv. t^j-^i^
4/i.,4i3. j/^si4. Y/¥.»ai7* ** Bf tlUcr ctik kin his conia. td^zu.
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THE CHOROS, 647
D<mdiik addretied a letter to its commander, in which he threatened that
if he did not retire with hit people that he (Cheieng Dond^) would
hiockade him not only during the winter but also during the whole of the
next year until he compelled his surrender/ Bukhols replied that he had
been commissioned by the Emperor to build not only this fortress but
also others, and that they were not meant as a menace to the Kalmuks ;
that he wts plentiiully siq»plied with pnmsions, and diat assistance would
shortly come to him Iran Tobolsk. The siege in consequence proceeded,
and the Kafanuks waylaid a laige caravan of 700 perMns which had been
wwt to piovisioQ the new settlement and to trade with the Kahnuks. A
large sum of money, the pay of the Cossacks there, was also appropriated.
This caravan had been waylaid at a (dace in the Irtish steppe called
Koriakof Yar, and after a struggle had been obliged to submit to numbers.t
Meanwhile a pestilence broke out among the garrison, and was so bad
that twenty to thirty men died daily. Underthese circumstances, and as
no help seemed forthcoming, it was at length determined to abandon the
fortress and to retire. The fortress was accordingly dismantled and the
buildings pulled down, and the garrison, which had been reduced to 700
men, most of whom were ill, retired northwards.^ They settled near the
mouth of the Om, where they built a fort which was called Omskaia
Krepost and was situated about 277 versts from Tara. Soon after
Bukholz was re-called, and in the summer of the same year, namely, in
17 16, another expedition, under the command of an officer of dragoons
named Marigorof, was sent to reoccupy the lost ground at Yamishewa.
A letter was sent at the same time to the Khungtaidshi, complaining of
the recent conduct of Chereng Donduk, and asking for a return of the
prisoners and army chest which the Kalmuks had captured.S This was
accompanied by a letter from the £mperor, in wliich he asked the
Khungtaidshi to give assistance to his people when they should go to
Little Bukharia, &c.|
Peter the Great was mucn interested in the progress of the
gokl-ex(4oring schemes of his deputy Gagann, and he utged him on
to continue his efforts. Another expedition was accordingly got ready,
the command of it was given to an officer named Stupin. This
expedition set out in 1717. When he arrived at Yamishewa he built a
regular fort there.1[
In the spring of 1718 Wilianof, who had been sent with the above-
named letters to the Khungtaidshi, returned, and reported that he liad
found him in his summer camp on the river Kharkir, close to the
Mustag chain (<>., probably on one of the feeders of the river Tekes).
Tse wang Arabian complained that the inhabitants of the Siberian towns
took tribute from his people. He also complained about the fortresses
•/i<.,ai3. tW..ai8. lW..a3i. ♦/tt.aatf.
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648 HISTORY OF THS UOVOOiA
which the Russians were bailding on the Irdah^ and' he miftgled his
complaints with threats of what he would do if diey weee not
dismantled. He took leave of him on the and of March. He was then
in his winter quarters on die Kot^oh a feeder of the Ili.* Meanwhile
Stupin continued his task. In the antunm of 17 18 he built a fresh
fortress on the Irtish^ 228 versts from Yamiriieway to which he gave the
name of Semi Palatinsk, or the seven palaces. It was so called from its
being near the ruins of a Lama monastery, probably founded in the
preceding century, like that of Ablai kit, &c. In these ruins several
Thibetan MSS. were found, which were apparently the first that reached
£nrope.t
The Emperor seems to have grown impatient at the slow progress of
his design, ignorant no doubt of the enonnous geograf^cal difficulties
in the way of its accomplishment. Eariy in 1719 he appointed general
Likharef, in whom he put great trust, to superintend the proceedings.
He took with him a large number of officers, and reached Tobolsk in
May, 172a Having arrived at Semi Palatinsk, he proceeded towards
lake Saissan ; he had 440 men with him, who travelled in thirty-four
boats. The Kalmuks, either afraid of or resenting this invasion, now
assembled a huge army, consisting of 20,000 men, under Galdan Cherei^,
Tse wang Arabtan's son and heir. The ist of August, the day on
which, according to the Greek ritual, the water is blessed, a ceremony
that Likharef had determined should be carried out on the upper Irtish,
was chosen by the Kalmuks for their attack. The forces wcte very
disproportionate, but the Russians carried firearms and had several small
cannons, while the Kalmuks had only bows, arrows, &c. The former
also had the advantage of position. The fight continued fbr three days,
during which the Russians lost only one grenacfier, while three other
soldiers were wounded. The Kalmuks seem to have lost severely, nor
dare they leave the high ground and join issue with the Russians down
below. At length the discipline and superior weapons of ^heir enemy
demoralised them, and tiiey 'suggested a pariey, wheie it was agreed
that the Russians diould desist from their advance and retire once more
down the Irtish. They gladly agreed to this. At the point where the high
ground that surrounds lake Saissan fiules away into the plain Likharef
laid the foundations of a new fortress, named Ustkamenogorskata (^.,
''the town situated at the banning of the range 'O* It is situated 181
versts from Semi Palatinsk, and is not fiar from Ablai kit.t "rhis
was apparently the last attempt made by the Russians to reach the
gold country of Yarkend. In 1722 their envoy, Unkowski, went to the
Khungtaidshi's court, and his narrative has been abstracted by MiiUer. He
reported duit among the Kalmuks the highest rank, next to the chief, was
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that of SaisMii, and that at thif tinoe the first of the Saistans was
Chereng Doodnk. He had his caoqp on the men Lqpdii and Kafatar,
towards Siberia, and had neaxiy as many subjects as the KhnnftakWu
hinisd£* The lOnqgtaidsy was assisted in the covenMBOt by a cooiidl
cf Saitnans. named Satfa, and at the time of UidoDwaki^ visit tfiese
Sttifflf^ were n^f**^ -Sftn^^^v Baatliry Sham Dandshiny SanicD BayBak,
Sodbo^ Batnmasiy Zimbil, San^ Zak» Basnn, Baksigir, the councillor
Namishka Daikfaaa Zaruktu, and die Kfaui^;taidshPs secretaiy Solom
Darksa. Hereportedthatduruf the previous thirty ]rcam(i>^ since the
reign of Baatur Kungtaidshi) agxioultine had made great piogress among
the Kahnuks. It was chiefly introduced, no doubt, fiom tte prosperous
towns beyond the Tien Shan mountains. Wheat, bailey, mfflet, and rice
were their chief serials. They also grew beantifid fruits^ such as rod^
green, and white mdons ; hu:ge pumpkins, red and wlute grapes^ plumi,
and iqNiies, which seemed to thrive in the saline soil The tidiest
products in dus way came apparency finnn Yaikeod. Among their
domestic animals he r^orts hones, camels, oooen, laige sheep, goats,
muks, &c They traded with Rsssia, Chhia, Thibet, and even India,
and the artides they got from Russia were ckth of various cokwrk, otter
skins, black and red leadier or Ynilen, black fox lUns, needles, sdsson,
looking-glasses, &c For ^ese they exdianged all kinds of cotton and
silken goods, whidi were dikfly made at Yaxkend, and also various kinds
offursi The Kahnuks had for some yean Biade doth and leaAer, and
wori:ediion.t
Tse waqg Arabian^ can^aign against Thibet bad apparently aroused
the hatied of tiieLainia% and, accocding to PaOas, it was with tbrir
connivance that he was murdeied. This was in 1737.
Tse wang Arsbtan was married twice. By his first wife Tsungu
Arsbtan, the daughter of a Detbet diief named Kuisha, he had two sons,
Galdan Chereng and Lusang l^nnu. The tetter distinguidaedhhnsdf in
his fiuher's war with the Kii|^ Kaxaks in 1723, and diereby gained the
envy of his brodiei^ from whose vengeance he escaped to the Volga,
where he married, and died in 1733. Tse wang Arabtan^s second wife
was Sedershap, a daughter of the Tdigut duef Ayuki. By her he had
three sons and (oat daughters. She was chaigied by Galdan Cherei^
widihisfii^esdeath,andonmountn«thedironehe put her to deadi
wi& an her childnn. He contfauMd the hereditary war of his people
against the Mongols, under Chinese protectkm, and with success, but
this was terminated in 1734 by Ae intetvflitkm of die Ddai Lama.t
The Emperor Kien Lung says that CaMiw sent envoys to him to
a^ him to number hjm amoi^ his sulijecU, and sent tribute and
his homage accovdin^. They weie gradoualy recehred. He was
•M«BM««^dt,tz3S. tmmtt,9p.a$^Ut3$^X4f^> :Pa]lM,op.cit.,LiS.
3W
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650 HISTORY OF THB UONOOtS.
Cadthfiil to his promise^ and remained in peace with the empire for
the rest of his days.*
In r^ard to the Sungariari dependencies south of the Tien shan
Captain Valikhanof says that ''Galdan Chereng, on succeeding to the
throne^ confirmed the Hodja Daniel in the enjoyment of his former
privil^esy the immediate sway over Little Bukharia was therefore, as the
next result of these changes, transferred to the descendants or Hodja
Isaac, or, in other words, the Black Mountaineer party. After the death
of Daniel, Gaklan Chereng, with the view of dividing the government of
Little Bukharia, issued sealed patents to his children, apportioning
Yarkend to the eldest,. Hodja Djagan ; Kashgar to the second, Yusuf ;
Aksu to the third, Ayub ; and Khotan to the youngest, Abdullah. The
most celebrated of these was Yusuf, ruler of Kashgar, whose mother was
the daughter of a Kalrouk Noyon, with whom Yusuf spent his childhood
in Sungaria, and thereby acquired a thorou^^ mastery over the Kalmuk
language, which he spoke and wrote with much facility.t Galdan
Chereng died in 1745, and with him passed away the glorious period of
Sungarian history.t
According to Pallas he was also twice married. By his iirst wife,
whom he divorced, he had two daughters, and by his second wife two
sons, named Bayan or Bizigan and Zebek DordshL The former was bom
in 1733, And succeeded his father; the latter was only five years old when
Galdan Chereng died. Bayan was styled Adshan Khan. There seems to
be some confusion in the story at this point ; neither the Chinese account
nor that of the Abb^ Chappe d'Auteroche know anything of the younger •
brother, while the name they give to the successor of Galdan Chereng
seems compounded of those of the two brothers. Thus in the note to
Kien Lung's account of the war against the Eleuths we are told the
successor of Galdan was called Tse wang toigui Namuchar, and that
Atchan was a kind of nursery name which continued to be used by his
people from contempt! Chappe d'Auderoche calls him Tsebek Doiju.|
He was only fifteen years old on his Other's death, and was a promising
boy, but as he grew up he gaye himself up to wantonness and defied the
Saiga or supreme court of the Kalmuks, and also the Lamas.^ He is
called the perfidious Atchan in Kien Lung's narrative, which says he ran
through the career of crime with great strides, and committed all kinds
of wickedness.^ He became very unpopular, and the difierent diie£i
conspired against him. Amcmg these we are told the most ciafty was
his own half-brother, the son of Galdan Chereng by a concubine,tt and
therefore disqualified for the succession. He was: a Lama, and his name
was Dardsha, and he had been given an appai^ge on the borders of
* Mens, tnr la Chine, i. 339. t Micbell, op. cit., 173. X PaUm, op. ck., i. 45-
i Mcmoiro sur la Chins, i. 339. Note. i Voyaf e to Siberia. Prefftce, vili.
% Pallas, i. 44. •« llauM. ear U Chiot, i. 339* tt Id», i. 339^
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THE CHOROS. 651
Little Bukharia and the Kii^ghises by his father. He marched against
his brother, captured him, had his eyes put out, and imprisoned him in a
Bukharian town. He was joined by die greater portion of the Sungars,
and especially by the Saissans or princes and the Lamas, and was
acknowledged also by the Dalai Lama, who gave him the title of Erdeni
Lama Baatur Khungtaidshi. He then proceeded to put to death such of
the reigning £unily as he could lay his hands upon.*
The usurpation of the Lama, who was also a bastard, was not acquiesced
in by a large portion of the Sungars. Ahhough the legitimate male
descendants of Tse wang Arabtan were extinct, there still remained the
family of his brother Chereng Donduk, vdio had led the army in the wars
in Thibet, &c. He seems to be the Ta Chereng of the Chinese authors.
We are told by the editor of Kien Lung's narrative that he was the most
important of the chiefs of Si tsang, and that with the assistance of
Chinese auxiliaries and his own people he subdued the surrounding
tribes, and even made Tse wang Arabtan afraid of him. He was not
long, we are told, before he rebelled, abandoned the country where he
lived, put to death the greater portion of the Imperial troops which were
with him, and then retired to the desertt He probably went northwards,
for we read that Chereng Donduk encamped to the north of Tse wang
Arabtan, and that his uhis was as important as his brother's.} According
to Pallas he had a son named Dagba, and he again a son named Ta wa
tsL The Chinese author already named, calls Ta wa tsi a grandson of
Ta Chereng. On the rebellion of Tse wang Arabian's descendants Ta
wa tsi was heir to the Sungarian throne, and his claims were supported
by Amursana, who belonged to the tribe of the Khoits, and was probably
descended from Esselbei Kia. The Lama Dardsha however was 10
powerful that they both escaped to the Kir:^^ Kazaks. Ta wa tsi had a
large party among the Kalmuks, and with their assistance and that of the
Kazaks he returned once more to Sungaria, surprised the Lama in the
night, defeated his army, and supplanted him. The Lama was killed in
the struggle.§ Meanwhile Amursana, who had so assisted Ta wa tsi,
had formed plans of his own. He lived it woukl seem in the heart
of the Kalmuk country on the banks of the lU, where he planted the royal
standard in front of his tent, dispensed justice, and acted like a sovereign.|
Ta wa tsi was naturally jealous and marched against htm and his
dependants and defeated them.^ Amursana took refuge in China, as did
other Kalmuk chiefs, notably the three Cherengs, namely, Chertog the
Derbet, Chereng Ubashi, and Chereng Muko.**
Ta wa tsi now became for a short time the cverchief of the Kalmuks,
and lord panunount over the local chlefii of Little Bukharia. I have men-
•Palla*,op.cft.,l.44. tBf«as.rarUChia«,i.s3S«3S6. Not*. X Ftff aatt, C#l.
|ChH»peDut«och«,op.dt,is. | Mtmfl. wr U CUat, i. S4i*
5ChappeDMtciioclM,op.dt.,ix. •* Mtmi. tur U Chiao, i» 34s. Note.
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65a HI0IO&T or THB MOmOlA
tiooed that Galdaa OwKCBg appoiiited Yasaf to be rykr of Kashmir.
Yvfof irio compdled by Ta ws tfi to live in dio pcoviDoeof IlL la
tbe than dtaturbed state of Sooganalie Aougbt it a good opportunity to
fieehia people from the Sungar domination. ^ Under the pretence that
Kad^ar wai beii^ dueatmed by the Bunits he obtained ItKwt from
Ta wa tai to letom home* When thei« fie fortified the town and lataed
en aimy. Thia wai in 1754, whm Amnrsana had applied to the Chinese
for assistance against his riraL* The Kahnnks had latteijbr appointed
Hakim Begs, on whose fiddity they could rdy, and who weie boond to
tiwm byte tie of common amUtion. Two of theaoy Abdnl Vakiiab of
Akaa and Kfaodja Sibdc of Ush Tmfuv acquainted the Kahnnks with the
real cause of tiie waiiilBe preparations at Ka^gar. They also incited
Hudoyar Beg $sk Jh^gm of Kasl^iar and Absatar B^ of Artosh to foil
upon the Hodja and put him to death wiifle at his devotions in the
liedMt, but this plot was disooveied, and its chief ittstroment> Hudoyar
Beg, eiecuted. Absatar and the son of Hudoyar tacaptd to Ili and
Imported to Ta wa tsi that die inhabitants of Kashgar and Yaikend had
thrown off die Sungarian y<te and that the Ho(^ had put the Ish kaga to
death for his fiddity to the Sungaiians.'' Ta wa tsi, who had not then a
force at bis diqjosal, sent an emissary toreportt Yusuf escaped, but the
Hodja Djagan who ruled at Yaikend was oqytured by the KalmukSp
assisted by the Hakim Haa Beg, into whose house they enticed him.
Yusuf now assemUed the people of Kashgar and mged upon them that
the time was come for bzeaking dieir yoke. His appeal was eageriy
responded to. ^Timbrels were sounded over the gates of the town, and
the Kasgaxians swore to remain true to their detenmnadon of re-am-
quering die lost liberties of their country. The Hodja Yusuf, as an
ardent Mussulman, proposed to the peojde that they should convert 500
Kahnnk merchants, who lay encamped in the vicinity of the town, to
Isiamism, and ordered them to be alauj^btered in case they refosed to
adopt it A small number of Eleuths, who acted as p<^ce-officers or
Kasakans' in the towns of Little Bukharia, were sent back to thetr
country to acquaint the Khan ci Sungaria with what had occurred.
Yusuf then despatched 1,000 men to Burchuk to attack the Kalmuk
envoy in case he should attempt to cany off the Hodja Djagan to Ili, and
also made preparatkms for sending a lazge anny to Yarkend Hodja
Sadflc, son of Djagan, who had eluded capture, gathered together 7,000
men in two days at Khotan, and joined by a body of Kirghises (Buruts)
marched against*Yarkend. He carried with him the fiunily of Haxi Beg
in chains, intending to put them all to torture and death if harm befel
his fiither. Had Beg, in his peipledty, determined to ask pardon of
Ho^ia Djagan, an eitiemely kind and weak man. With tears in his
•Fld^amsw. tVaUkkaacriBinclidrtltaMlMteCMtnaABb,in«i74*
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THBCB0R08. 653
eyes tiid tfae Konn on his hetd he appeared hefere him and easajr
obtaioed Ibiiigiveneis. Han then hifoniKd Djagan of the events that
had transpifod at Kaahgar, and asked permission to kill the SfOigailan
envoy and his rednue and to raise the standard of Islam. The Hod|a
answered that an uhbelievcr could only be killed in batlSe^ and ordered
the Kahnuks to be escorted oat of tfw town imder a strong guard,
warning them never to visit the country agafaL Yusiifm the meanwhile
sent ambassadors to Kokand and Boldiara to acquaint those dties wkh
his emancipation Urom the Simgarian yoke and to reqjuest assistmioe.
He hkevnse appealed to the Andijan Kiighises, at the head of whom was
Kibat Miraa.**
Let US now revert ooee more to TawatsL Amnrsana was receivtd with
considerable deference by Uie Chinese Emperor, who questioned him as
to the claims he set np to tiie throne, and he says he was tolerably
satisfied with his ahswer8.t Whether be was so or not, it was dearly a
)>ieoe of good fortone for die EnqMror to have in his hands a person with
decent daims to the throne of Sungaria. He gave him the title of
Choang tsin wang (f>., prince of the first rank, with two titles),' and he
assigned him lands in the country of the Khalkhas4 After a while the
Emperor Kien Lung, who seems to have been ambttiotts to rival the great
deeds of his grand&ther Kangbi, determined to displace Ta wa tsu The
pretext for attacking him was that the latter in a letter he had sent
him had treated him as an equal ^ Fidl of stupid pride^* says the
Emperor, ''he presumes to address me as an equal It is dear he is a
barbarian and ignorant of the very elements of Divine law, which
prescribes a due subordination."!
He ai^bited Amursana lieutenant-general, sent him a seal of office,
and supplied him wiUi troops and other necessaries, and sent with him a
Chinese general named Panti as chief counsellor, but in effect the latter
had the actual authority, and Amursana could do nothing without
consulting him.| He also sent more valuable hdp in the person of the
Ch^or Imperial guards, consisting chiefly of Manchu and Solon soldiers.^
The army set out in 1755. ''They broke cheerfully,'' says the Emperor,
"through all obstacles. Hardly had they bent a bow or dmwn an arrow
before there was submission everywhere.** Ta wa tsi, unable to offer
effectual resistance, fled with 300 men through the Musart pass to Ush
Tur&n. The governor of that town, Hadjem B^, ddivered him up
to the Chinese, for which service he was created a prince,^ and the
Uirads asked that the £mperor would give them a diiet He accord-
ingly appointed Amursana, to whom they did homage* Five months
sufficed for die work. Ta wa tsi was sent as a prisoner to Peking.
* Id.t 17s- 177* t Kien Innc'i NarrotiT*, Mmbb. rar la CUnc, i. Ui» I /<^ >• 343'
I llonoiret sor la Chine, 1. 344. Note. | Memoiret ear la Chiae, L S49* Note.
Y Memoiret vu la Chine, i. 346. ** Valikaaof, op. dt., 177.
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654 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
Annirsaiui expected the Emperor would have had him executed, but he,
on the cofttraiy^ received him with the same condescension as if he had
come fieely to do homafc, and gave him a palace at Peking for a
residence, and tlie title Tsin wang (/>., prince of the first rank). He
gave him retainers suitable to his rank^ and allowed him the prixalege of
a daily audience. This behaviour was dictaiied by a desire to have some
one to play off against Ainursana if he should prove treadierous. The
captive prince did not flourish in exile, he pined away and soon after
died, leaving an only son, an infanti who did not long smvive his father.*
With his death the descendants of Baatur Khungtaidshi, the founder of
the Sungarian empire, seem to have come to an end.
AoMu^ana. was now nominated as chief of Sungaria by the Manchus.
His was however a very different position horn the chiefs whose history we
have considered. They were acknowle<^[ed as the l^itimate rulers by
the various tribes of the coimtry. Amursana was a very secondary chief
in his antecedents. He had no claims to be Lord Paramount, and probably
received the willing all^^ce only of bis own people^ the Khoits. We are
told by Pallas that the Koshotes attempted to regain for their leader the
position of Khan or overchief.t A number of other chiefs retained their
alk^iaace for the imprisoned Ta wa tsi, whom they considered as their
legidmate sovereign4 The position of Amursana was therefore by no
means a strong one. He nevertheless attempted to recover possession
of the towns of Little Bukharia, whidi had become independent, as I
have described. Not being able to send a large body of troops against
them it was suggested to him by Abdul Vahab of Aksu and Hodja Sibck
of Ush Turfan that the children of Ahmed Hodja, who were then at Hi,
might be utilised for the purpose, and that if he offered to make one of
them governor there, that the revolted towns would return to their
allegianoe. With the consent of the Chinese general Panti, two of them
named Burhaneddin and Khan Hodja were accordingly summoned to
KttkQa from lien Habatgan, where they lived in exile. The former marched
with an army of Eleuths, Turkestani, and a small number of Chinese
upon Aksu, while hb brother remained as a hostage at Hi: Burhaneddin
marched from Aksu to Ush lurfan, where he was well received. Mean-
while the Blade Mountaineer Hodjas prepared to defend themselve:*.
The invaders only mustered 5,000 MussuUnans from Kucha, Aksu, Turfan,
and Dokm, 1,000 Sungarians commanded by the Saissan Dan chin, and
400 Chinese headed by Turuntai Dayen, and they were not strong
enough to cope with the enemy. Meanwhile the people of Yarkend,
contrary to the advice of Yusuf, determined to march upon Aksu and to
nip the invasion in the bud. They were led by Hodja Ahi, the eldest
son of Djagan Huda Berdy, as also Shanegi of Yaritend, and the
« lltnotm tor Ui Chioe, i. 547* Note. t Op. dtn i. «.
I Chappe Dtnttrocfae. op. ciL Frdiue,k. Jkms. tv la ChiBo» L J5S. Note.
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THE CHOROS. 655
Kargalik niler Miiftn Beg; They consisted of contingcru irom KhoUn
and Yarkend and some KirgiiiseSy Ac, and laid siege to Ush TuiCui.
They sent messages into the town calling upon their rivals there, the
White Aoiintaineersi to foiget their mutual animosities and to march
together upon IHy and offered to yield Kashgar, Aksu, and Tnrfoi to
Burfaaneddin. They fotmd the latter surroonded by Chinese Kalmnks
and Begs, whom native writers have stigmatised as impious men. He
told the deputies to advise the Black Mountaineer Hodjas to go to lli
and seek forgiveness from the viceroy of China and firom Amnrsana.
There were many of the White Mountaineer party in the besiq^a
ranks ; the latter were also deserted by the Kiighises m the first engage-
ment, and were soon after joined by the majority of the Begs with the
troops under their command. The leaders of the expedition now with
diificuhy found shelter at Kashgar, where they were pursued. Bur*
haneddin was met outside by crowds of people, yrho refused to obey the
Montenqprin Hodjas, while a body of Andijan Kiighises who weie an
their service also declared they would not fight against him. They
diereupon retired to Yarkend, while their partisan, Hosh Kaiflakf who
was Hakim B^ of Kashgar, nugrated to Kokand. Burhaneddin now
advanced upon Yarkend. He sent a deputation to the town composed
of several Begs, a Chinese Mandarin, and a Kalmuk Saissan. They
were presented to the Hodja Djagan, having been first obliged to go
through the degrading ceremony of licking the direshold of the palace.
To Burhaneddin's summons in the name of the Bogdo Khan and that of
Amursana to surrender and place himself under the protection of China,
he answered, '^that, as an independent Mussulman prince^ he would
Csten to no terms, but would wage against diem— a ^ Hasat' or
religious war." The letter which coiiveyed the terms of Boihaneddin he
ordered to be torn and thrown into the fire. The town was bravely
defended for some time, but there were traitors busy inside, and after a
while the Black Hodjas abandoned it, its gates were thrown open, and
Buiiianeddin entered it in triumph.* Thus Little Bukharia fell again
into the hands of a dependant of the rulers of Sungaria. Let us
turn once more to Amursana. I have described how a large section of
the Kahnuks were impatient of his contrd. His posiHoa was probably
rendered more difficult and embarrassing by his being a nominee of the
Manchu Emperor. When the main army retired Panti with $00
Manchus remained behind to act as a kind of garrison.
The Chinese method of treating dependants does not secure very
hearty allegiance. Although he had the title of ruler, the Emperor's
depndes had In feet the power. They thwarted him and acted as spies
upon his doings. Lastly, Kkn Lung, under pretence of doing him
yMtmmt iUihtiri Wmwktm m Cm$ni iUia. i7»i».
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656 HISTORY or THE M OMOOL8.
honoar, mnunoned him to the couzt Amtirsana grew weaiy of this
dependance, and t» astme himself of the tuppoit of the Kahnuks he
spread the lepot that the Emperor intended to subjugate them as he
had akeady done the Mongols.* The neutral witness Amiot could see
pUinly that human endurance was moro than tried bj the constant
espionage. The Emperor's point of view was diBfeient Amursana he
describes as ^ a wolf who, having satisfied his hunger, is still given to
prowling in search of iresh carnage." t Amursana in fact took up arms,
speedily dispersed the small garrison the Manchua kept in the country of
Hi, and killed the two generals Panti and Aiongan, destroyed the forts the
Emperor had constructed at various points to defend the country, and
the dep6ts of provisions for the troops and the couriers, and advimced as
far as Palikun on the river Hi, idiich then seems to have held an
Imperial garrison. In this rebellion many Manchus perished*
The advisers of the Emperor uiged upon him that it would be prudent
*^ to abandon Palikun and its dqpendencies and to put a stop to a useless
war.* Kien Lung, instead of this, appointed fresh generals and firesh
troops, with orders that they must either oqyture the rdl>el or perish in
the attempt. When the news spread that fresh armies were on the way
the Kalmuks scattered in various directions, and Amursana himself was
constrained to fly too. The two Imperial generals who commanded the
new levies were named Chereng and Yu pao (the former from his name
was doubtless a MoQgol), and wevejealous of one aaodier. Amursanahad
been cornered in a small Ibrt where it was almost impossible for htm to
escape, when they rdaxed their efforts and he escaped. He fled
apparently to his old friends the Kasaks. The two generals were recalled
with the intention that they should be executed, bat being only meagrely
escorted they were waylaid in fvmU by the Eleuths and killed. Two
other generals were nominated in their place^ who were named Taltanga
and Yaihashan. The Kazaks, diough nominally subject to the empire^
secretly fiivonred Amursana, and supplied him with provisions and
assistance. They craftily sent envoys to the Imperial generals asking
them to spare their country, and assuring them that their chief Abfau
would in a few days be able to seize their common enemy and send him
to them. Taltanga listened frivourably to this pn^Msal and thereby
disgusted some of his allies who knew the policy of the desert robbers
better. Instead of capturing Anmrsana, Ahtak in fact furnished him
with post horses, camds, and other requisites for flight, and then wrote
to excuse himsd^ saying that he had esci^ied him and found le&ge with
the Russians.
The En^ieror was naturally greatly enraged and recalled his gcaenJs*
The (crowing brie^ which I have someidiat shortened and paxaphraseA
*Amio<^N«t«,ll«aKiif«Mr1»CUM,Ls4aiS49- tM«Ls#.
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THE qHOROS. 657
wat addressed by him to the principal grandees and shown to the officers
of the Eight Banners. It gives a good idea, as Amiot says, of the state
of affiurs. " The first time that Amursana escaped from 111, Chereng
and Yu pao had the command of the troops I sent mto the west Instead
of pursuing the rebel they remained idle in their camp, ^nd did not take
precautions for preventing his escape. Informed of their conduct I
reca&ed them, but being intercqpted on the way by a number of brigands,
they were miserat^y massacred. One of their lieutenant-generals whom
I had also recalled escaped and confessed freely his fault and that of tjie
others. Chalafunga (that was his name) said: We knew Amursana
was not £u- oC . . . Yu pao first knew it He took little notice, and
merely remarked that Chereng ought to be told, so that they could take
joint measures. Chereng was as little eager to march as his companion,
alleging that he had not sufficient horses. After consultation it was
decided that Yu pao should advance first to Turson, where Amursana
was, and that Chereng should follow him if his assistance should be
required. Meanwhile time was lost and Amursana fled, and as they had
only provisions for four days and were short of horses, they determined
to return to Hi to complete the other commissions the Emperor had
entrusted them with. Such was the inexcusable conduct of my generals.
If they were short of horses, why did they not let m^ know ; if these
horses were so weak and few, how came it that Taltanga was afterwards
able with them to reach the Kazak country ? If they had no food, how
did they exist in their month's march to Hi in a country suffering from
want ? If this excuse ha4 been true, why did they not use more zeal to
capture food from the enemy ? Chalafunga and Ulden were no less
to blame. They also had armies entrusted to them sufficient for their
purpose if they had had more zeal. Ulden told me^ says the Emperor,
that Chereng had given him scune troops with which to march against
die rebel, but that it was then too late. I heard, he says, en route that
Amursana had fled and was already a long way off, of which I informed
Chereng. Soon after I heard that the Muhammedans, who live not far
from Hi, had pillaged the badly escorted baggage of Amursana, and
that he had retraced his steps and recaptured his lost goodsr Of this
I informed Chereng, and asked him for a reinforcement of 500 men with
which to join the Muhammedans and pursue the rebel Yu pao ha^
already m^iyj^f^ after him, and was. returning fiiiitless when he ihet my
couriers ; they read him my despatches which aroused his anger. He
accused me of having some sinister ambition. He then returned my
letter to the courier and told him to take it to Chereng. The latter also
SQ^iected me, deprived me of my command, and bade me go to Yu pao,
who would find me suitable employment I went to him and repeated
my request, tipon which in scorn he gave me fifty men. With these I set
o£^ and got as far as Kurmeton, but we were so reduced by 6&tigue and
30 -
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^58 RXtTDItT OF THE MONGOLS.
hunger, that we had great difficulty m sttrrfving. In dcfiuik of hones we
rode on camels, which we had to kill formeac Of fifty men only twenty-
five remained. At Kurmeton we heaid that Amonana had again fled.
What motive, says the Emperor, was there for this ill conduct ? Some
of my generals allow the rebel to escape, others will »ot give themselves
the trouble to pursue. Some anmsed the hatred of the Mongol
princes upon whom they were dependant for great assistance, others
aUow themsehres to be duped by die Kazaks. Was it that they wished the
culprit to escape or that they should die of want in the desert ? No. I
see their device; they wish to prove to me that the campaign is Quixotic,
and iu end impossible, and thus to force me to put an end to it.** Amiot
adds that, with the exceptkm of Panti, Aiongan, Hold, and a few others,
whose names and Ublets are placed in the Kung chen Ts^ Tang (ia^
hall of the great men who have deserved well of the onpire), almost all
the Uher general officers who served in the first two campaigns perished
miserably, either by the sword or the enemy, the treason of their allies,
their punishment as criminals in Pekii^, or by suicide.* The friendly
chiefs Nima, Payar, Sila, Mangalik, &c., who disapproved of Taltanga's
easy fiuth in Kazak promises, having tried by entreaty, then by raillery,
and lastly by indignant tones to alter his decision, but in vain, abandoned
him. Feeling that it would be most imprudent to expose the few
Manchu soldiers he had with him to the dangers of this land of treachery
and suspicion, he determined to return, but this only incrqised his diffi*
culties. Nima, Payar, Sila, Mai^ialik, and other chiefe of hordes who
had formerly been his allies, some of them as enemies of Amursana, and
others as friends of Ta wa tsi, not only deserted him but committed
atrocities in doing sa The first to abandon him was Payar, and in
retiring he massacred all those whom he coukl capture.
Taltanga sent Hoki, the intrepid Hoki as the Emperor calls him, in
pursuit Hoki asked Mani (another auxiliary chief who had been wdl
treated by the Emperor and given the title of Wang) to assist him ; he
refiised to accompany him or to supply him with troops, and offered him
only his counsel, which was that he shoukl first summon Payar to an
audience so that he might satisfy himself whether he was a rebel or no.
Hoki replied that as he woukl not assist hfan he would himself march
at the head of his soldiers and root the rebel out in his own camp, and
wouki afterwards hold Mani req[>onsible for any bloodshed that might
happen. Again the latter counseled hfan not to compel Payar's rebdlion
by atta^ng him, but to go to him with an escort of some thirty men
and to reason with him. He accordingly went, but as soon as he
appeared within shut he and his escort were met by a shower of weapons.
He retired fighting desperately. He feU wounded by an arrow, fits
* MeauHTt* ftur la Chioa, i. uu^s^
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THE CH0R05. 659
soldiers went to help him» but he would not have them stay, but taking
the peacock's feather from his hat he said, I have received ^reat favour
from the Emperor, he made me a general. As I cannot beat the enem>'
I can at least die under their blows. Let hun know how I died. Take
this to the Tsongtu of Barkul. Such was the news the latter received
from two Solon soldiers, the survivors of Hoki's band, and which he
had sent on to the Court. The Imperial forces were in hct almost
driven out. Their sole remaining strong garrison in the country of the
Kalmuks was ai^Murently Barkul, whose governor fortified it and collected
there the scattered soldiers he could find» and even this was apparently
beleaguered by the Kalmuks.* This news was very distressing to the
Emperor, who hardly knew what to do, when affairs took a brighter
turn. Chao hoei, an able general, who had with htm only a few troops,
collected the debris 4>f Hoki's army, attacked the various bands of
Kalmuks he met, spread the news that the Emperor was sending formid-
able forces to punish the wrongdoers, and at lengdk marched towards
IlL He sent to the Emperor a well digested scheme which detennined
him instead of abandoning the war, as he was rather disposed to do, to
prosecute it vigorously. He appointed Chao hoei generalissimo and
sent him some fresh troops, and in 1757 two new armies set out, one
marching by the northern route the other by the southern. The Kalmuks,
instead of being welded together by the continued disasters of their
formidable enemy, were torn in pieces by internal quarrels and jealousies.f
Amursana had heard of Uib and thought it a fovourable opportunity for
him to return. He marched towards Ili, his army increasing as he went
along. He was greatly surprised on reaching there to find Chao hoei at
the head of a new force. He deemed it wise to retire, and once more by
forced marches retreated to the country of the Kazaks. Chao hoei sent
Fu t^ one of his subordinates, in pursuit, while he busied himself in
restoring otder to the disintegrated tribes of Sungaria. Fu t6 pursued
Amursana with enei^gy at the bead of his army. He arrived in the
country of the Kazaks about the same time as Amursana. The Kazaks
submitted and askcid to be numbered amoog the subjects of the empire,
and asked also Chat some of their chiefs might be sent on to Peking to
do homage. They gave him a free pass into their country and offered
him supplies. Amursana now saw that he must escape further away,
and he fled to the vast r^ions of Locha (r>.| Siberia).}
Once more did die grandees of the court, many of whom had lost
relatives in the dreary war, urge upon the Emperor that he might now
end it and cease the pursuit of the rebel ; many others nrged him to
abandon altogedier the province of 111. ^ It b too far off for us to govern
it long, let those have it who choose to take it,* they said. The Emperor
* Axniot in Mtns. nr la Cluat. i. 359-3^ t Vid* M«in». mm* U ChiM, 363.
: 1I«BM. wr lA ChiM, i. 363*366.
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66o HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
was not in a mood now to listen to these sentimentSy and he renewed his
instructions to Chao hoei and Fa t^ to prosecute the war YifOfously.
'^Meanii^e,'^ he says in his nl^Hnoir, ^ insulted heaven had fixed the hour
of vengeance. A dreadful ^sease was the instrument it used to equate
the balance of justice against the reprobate who had provoked it. It
reached him when he thought himself beyond the reach of pursuit It
severed the bUck thread of his days just as he seemed in prospect of
enjoying life at least in liberty. Thus perished in the flower of his age
he whose perfidy had caused so much disorder and cost so much blood.
Abandoned by his people, who feared to catch his disease, scarce could
he in tSoM strange land find any one to render the f\ineral honours to his
body."*^ He in fact died of the smallpox in Siberia. The Emperor
wrote several times to the Russians to demand his body* in order as he*
said to make of the rebd ashes an example of terror. The Rnssians
refused to surrender it, although they showed it to the Chinese com-
missioners. ** Eadi nation,'' they said, ^ has customs which it holds
sacred. A custom deemed sacred lArtth us is not to eqK>9e the cold
ficngments of an Imfoitnnate whohassooght refuge among as to ignominy.
Your enemy is deady we have shown you the body, that ought to suffice."t
Chappe Dauterodie tdls us Anmrsana, before he found lefUge in Russia,
had been joined by his wife Bitei, a daughter of Galdan Chereng. She
afterwards went on to St Petenburg, iHiere ^be was seen in 1761.
Her first husband was Ichidanjin, an ekler brother of Amursana's, by
whom she had a son named Puntsuk. He adds further, that Amursana
made a considerable stay at Tobolsk, where he was confined for some
time in the Archbidiop's country house4
When the Manchus drove Amursana away fitrni Sungaria, they deter-
mined apparently to do away^widi the supreme authority of the Over
Khan^ vidch had been exerdsad more or less since the time of Essdbet
Kia, and to reconstitute the fc«tr Uind divisions in their old conditicm.
Thus brealdiig up the formidable power which die Kalmuks wielded when
united. The Emperor says that before the time of Galdan Chereng (? the
older Galdan) they were divided into four sections, each governed by its
own prince, st3ded La t^, and these larger divisions comprised among
them twenty-one separate hordes or tribes, whose chiefs were styled
NgankL He daims to have revived this old form of govemraenf under a
different name. He nominated four chiefe over the four main divisions,
to each of whom^he gave the title of Han, while he appointed smaller
dneft of various grades over the twenty-one tribes. He decreed that the
dignity of Han should be hereditary, while the appointment of the lesser
chiefe he retained in his own hands as the reward of meritorious service,
and he appointed one of thfim to be their head and the channel by which
'Mmm. Mr la Chine, 1.368.369. t Itoan. tnr la CUoe, i. 369. Note.
I JottCMf to Siberia. PrefiMc, sL, zii.
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THB CHOROS. 66l
he commiiiuaitod with than. He distiibiited money, ka, among them,
and he sent them agricultural implements and other necessaries to induce
them to lead a more settled life. The four main divisions of the Kahnuks
so constttoted were the Chdos or Choros (le., the Sungars pioper), the
Khonote (? the Shoiu), the HvaktOd (? the Khoshotes), and the Derbets.
They all proved, from the Emperor's point of view, intractable and
rebelHotts, and he determined to exterminate them. He had named Tawa
tsi to be the Khan of Choros, but his speedy death prevented the amuse-
ment from bdi^ conq>letdy carried out* This was probably in 1755^
Another chief now became the head of die Choros tribe. I don't know
his name, and we are merely told that he was assassinated by his nephew
Chana Karpu^ who seised the inheritance. He in his turn was killed by
Galdan Toiguit The Emperor says he chose the latter himself to
govern the Cholos, and gave him the title of Han and its prerogatives ;
''becoming a mcmster, I was constrained,'' says the Emperor, ^ to pmge
the earth of him." This means that he rebelled4 We are told dse-
vdiere that it was the Taidji Tawa w1r> captured him, cut off hb head,
and sent it to the Emperor, who caused it to be exposed as a warning to
RS>els.t ** I uprooted his race," says Kien Lung, '^ I changed into a
desert the xaAappy country where the perfidious Cholos Ibrmeriy dwelt"|
Payar or Bayar was nominated to the headship of the HuntA^.^ He
was the first to break away from the Manchn yoke,** and I have
described the intercourse which Taltanga, the Manchu general^ had with
him. " He ended a life, of vdiich he had so often made himself unworthy,"
says the Emperor, " in the midst of tortures." His dispersed subjects,
reduced to slavery or killed, have left behind only the memory of their
former condition in the name Hunt^6.tt
The chief whom the Emperor nominated over the Khonottf was
Chakturman. He was also suspected of conspiracy against the Emperor.
The Manchu general Yarhashan marched i^;ainst' him, and was so well
satisfied of his intentions that he did not wait for forther orders frtun
Peking. He attacked him, took him prisoner, and had him executed
outside the gates of Palikun (? Kuldja), and gave up to the fory of his
soldiers all the Chonot^ who did not escape by flight.tt This.Ust cruel
and abominable massacre was apparently made with very small excuscU
Of the four chiefs the 6nly one who escaped was the leader of the Derbets,
of whom I shall speak again presently. The twenty-one Nganki or
chieftains of the lesser hordes seem neariy all to have perished, some by
the sword, others by the hand of the executioner. A few escaped north-
wards towards Russia, while the rest were reduced to slavery.|| Thus
was Sungaria fairly trodden under, and very shortly its dependencies on
•llc»oirwMrkCUM.i.37S- Note. t/4.,3ffS- t/^374* i^nS^-
lld^Vi* %id^V^ "MtSSg. tt/in374- n/*.3W.
11/^375. Nott. U^d^V^Sn-
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662 HISTORY OP THE MONGOLS.
the south of the Tien shan mountains were also incorporated with the
Manchu empire.
It is not without reason that the Emperor enlarges in his memoir
upon the terrible punishment inflicted upon this province, a punishment
which converted a tolerably populous and thriving empire into almost a
desert. The Manchu soldiers seem to have destroyed the Kalmuks
mercilessly, and their provocation was very slight Their campaign
against them was a similar chapter in the annals of human butchery to
those against the Miautze of Suchuan, and against the Mussulmans o
Yunnan at a later date. The beaotifur valley of Hi, which was such
a busy and prosperous region in the glorious days of Sungar supremacy,
became a Chinese penal settlement. '^Sungaria,*' says Captain Valikhanof,
** having been depopulated by the massacre of half a million of £Ieuths»
was settled by China frcnn the province of Kan su, and to increase the
population was converted into a place of exile for criminals. For the
protection of the country Manchu soldiers of the green banner were also
transferred thither, and colonies of Sibos and Solons and Daurs were
established in the Hi district Seven thousand Mussulman families were
forcibly converted into agriculturists, and the remnant of the extirpated
Sungarians were allotted a certain extent of country to roam in. The
government of the country was confided to a Trian Tziun, with three
lieutenants, the residence of one being at Tarbagatai, and that of another
in Little Bukharia. The Chinese showed great caution in the treatment
of the country, as its population had fought with great determination in the
attempt to assert their independence. The internal government was left
on the same footing, and it was only for maintaining the peace of the
country that Chinese garrisons were stationed in the most imp(»rtant
towns ; pickets were also posted in such localities as were best suited to
guard the frontier, and stations were established for insuring rapidity in
travelling. This successful subjugation of Sungaria and Little Bukharia
infused into the Chinese a military spirit and a thirst for conquest
During the government of Kien Lung they apparently desired to re-enact
the scenes of the Sung dynasty. In the years 1756, 1758, and 1760
bodies of Chinese troops entered the territories of the Middle Horde.
The fall of Sungaria, once so powerful as to be a perpetual menace to
every country adjacent, and the conquest of Little Bukharia caused a
panic throughout the whole of Asia, and strengthened a curious Mussul-
man superstition that the Chinese would one day conquer the whole
globe, when there would be an end to the world. The immediate result
of the general uneasiness was that Ablai, the head c^ the Middle Horde,
Nurali, of the Little Horde, and the Burnt chiefs hastened to negotiate
with the celestial conqueror. Ablai in 1766 acknowledged himself a
vassal of the Bogdo Khan, and received the title of prince. Nurali sent
an embassy to Peking, the ruler of Kokand, Edenia Bi, in 1758, and after
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THS CROROS. 663
him in snccessioD Narbnta Bi likewise recognised the protectonUe of the
Son of Heaven.'*^ In the description of Sungaria tnmslaied by Staaislas
Julien from Chinese sources, and previously ctled, we are told that the
Khoits sabfect to prince Tangut^ had their pastmes in the country of
Boro Bnrgasu, twenty leagues north-east of lli (Le^ of Kuldja), Q at Boro
Talas) ; the Sungars, Kieuths^ and Khorbos had their pastures about
Kungghes, forty-four leagues south-east of lli ; while Yukhas, south-east
of KunggheSy was the ancient pasture ground of the Sungars and
Keliyets.t At Yamkk, &Cy noith of Ih, were the ancient pastures of the
Sungars and £rkets4 Other Sungars and the Bukus nomadised about
Kurtu, south of the lli ; whikTGurban Aliroatu, east of Kurtu, was the
resklence of the chiefs of the Eleuths and Noyats. West of Salkitu are
Chamcht, Achi buri, and Khoigon. This part of the country was
formerly occupied by sevend Sungar chie£s named Nam6 Khondsaigar,
Batur Ubashiy and Khotung Mergen. Other Sungars and some Derbets
pastured in the district of Tahtt» west of the lli (/x^ the country south of
the river Chu). } Such is the meagre account which alone I canmeet with
as to the fragments and shreds of the okl Sungar natHNi which remained
after the great massacre. The valley of the Jli, as I have sud, was made
a penal Chinese settlemetxt, and is largdfy occupied now by Chinese and
TUrkSy while the Kirghises and Telenguts have occupied large portions of
Northern Sungaria. A large number of Kalmuks seem to have escaped to
Russia^ others fled towards China ; and there^ there are still found certain
Kafanuk tribes still known as ''the Eleuths of Choros." They inhabit
the country situated north of the mountains Ho Ian shan and Lung chan
shan, bounded on the east by Ninghia, on the west by Earn chau, on the
south by Liang chau, and on the north by the Gobi desert and the
country of the Khalkhas.1 In the narrative translated by Timkowski we
are told that among the fugitives from Galdan were Tsirung, Baatur,
Erke, and Arabtan, who were grandsons of Utshirtu Khan. They were
probably children or descendants of his dau^ter, who married Sengh^
the eldest son of Baatur Khungtatdshi. Arabtan is to be identified with
Dugar Arabtan, son of Sengfa^, and Erke perhaps with Etke Baarang, son
of Tse wang Arabtan.1[ We are tokl that they requested the Emperor to
assign them an abode, and that he granted them the lands situated
beyond the frontiers of Ninghia and Kan chau, in the countries of
Kaldjan Buigut, Kongor c^ng, and Bayan nuru ; and in the Sandy
desert AUai Gklbai Gobi, from the moontaine of Alashan westwards
as frr as the banks of the Edsinei, on condition that they shoukl
keep at a distance of sixty li from the frontier of China. A line of
demarcation was drawn in consequence. In 1697 the Eleuths petitioned
•ValilikaiioCifeMiclMU*taiMiteMinC«alnlAsia,ia7,i8a. t KM«sat«,5to.
! rM# aaia, jSi. ^ Jowb. AtUt., 4th 8«rn viii. Jif* 2 Timkowdd, ii. 277.
Y PaUMtOp. dtn GtoMtegital TaU« of Um SaofUi.
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664 HISTORY OF TBB MOMOOLS.
the Emperor to organise tiiem ia dhrtslons like the Forty-nine Mongol
Banners, and to appoint heads of tribes with hereditary d^nities. They
were accordinj^ divided into three banners.* These Kalnmks are those
known to Hue and recent Russian travdlers as the Mongols of AUshan.
Let ns now complete oar survey of the Choros by ^anitn;«iy the history
of the Decfaets.
As I have already said,t the Sungars and Derbets formed, at a not
very remote period, but one aatioii, subject to the diiefo of the family of
Choros. The two sections broke asunder under two brothers named
Ohgoio and OnghockoL On^iorkoi was the stem £aher of the Derbet
princes. His successor, according to 'Pallas, was Man^^ian TaidshL
Manghai^s successor was Toghon Taidshi, otherwise called Milmolsokho,
whose successor was Yannis TaidshL. Yannis had three sons, named
Erke Yeldeng, Dalai Taidshi, and Yekleng Ubadia TaidshL Erioe
Yddeng had a son named Mergen.
Until the disastrous war which the iSungars waged with the Khalkhas in
the early part of the seventeenth century the Derbets lived in ck)ae alliance
with the former in the eastern part of Sungaria4 In that war they
suflfered severdy, and in 1621, when Kharakhulla took refoge in Russia,
he was accompanied by Dalai and Meigcn, the abovenamed chiefii of
the Deibets.1 They seem to have settled with their people in the
stq;»pes of the Ob, and in alliance with the Sungar chief Shuker and
another named Sain Taishi»| The following year Dalai Taishi was
encamped on the river Serednd Yurtak, four days^ journey from Tumen.Y
Eariy in 1623 the Russians sent an envoy to him, and then found him
encamped in the country of the Ktighix Kasaks, at a mountain named
Penyi gorL**
In 1628 a quarrel arose between the three Kahnuk diiels, Shuker of
the Sungari, Dahu of the Dertwts, and Uriuk of the Tocgut% which led
to Shuker retiring from the valleys of the Irtish and the Ishim towards
the Tobol.tt In 1631 the Russians exchanged messages with Erke
Yddeng, Dalai's ekkr brodier, who encamped on the Irtish, and who
promised to restore some fogitives from Tara and also tibat he and his
brother would not in future molest the iCtighiz Kasaks4t In 1631 we
find Dalai supplying die pretender to the Siberian crown (Ablai) with a
contii^fent of 150 men, who assisted him in a raid upon Russian territory
but were defoated.il In 1634 the Siberian prince was again assisted
by a number of Kahnuks, subjects of Dahu TaishL|| Dalai Taishi
£ed in 1637. He had two wive% one was called Aafchai, the odier
was a daughter of the Toigut diief Khu Urluk. He had nine
* Tiakowtki, op. dt, iL <79- t Ante; 613. I PaXiMM, up, du, L 4P
f Ma»«>op.dt.»Tiii.a8i. IM.^iBs. %M„tlB^.
** MSUcr lucgctt* P«s^ fori, a ■kavataift of Aft KsMk eof^Btry adtod Alak «lft b]r liM
Kalmokt. Op. cit.» tUI. 289. Molt.
ttAL.905. n^St4« Hi<^Si5. HMlMr,4te. || Mttiter, vitt. 336. ^Mtar, 57^
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THE CHOROfi. ^5
sotts» amoiig whom he disttibiited his subjects during his liietime.
Dakshing Khoshutshi and Solom Chereng (the youngest son by the
second wile) were the most amply provided for. * On the death of his
fother, Daitshing (who akeady had one wife called Dara Eke) married
his stejnnotheri according to Mongol fashion, and sought in conjunction
with his brother Gumba to deprive his eldest living brother of the head-
shq> of the faoBuly.t When they made peace with one another they
seem to have courted the friendship of the Russians, and returned
•OBfte prisoners of theirs in their hands. The Russians reciprocated
Hus goodwill and sent presents back for Daitshing and Gumba.t Fresh
courteuds were exchanged in 1642.I Daitshing was killed in 1644,
iqipareotly by Khu Uriuk the Toxgut chief and father of his stqmiother.|
On his death his urife^ who had previously been his stepmother, went
with her son S<^om Chereng, who was then seven years old, to live with
her £iither, Khu Urluk, on the Volga; with them went ft considerable
number of Derbets. I shall revert to them presently.
Miilkr frnpiently mentions at thb period a chief named Kuisha,
whom he in one place called an EleudL^ Pallas tells us he was a
Derbet,** and as he is goierally mentioned in conipany with Dalai Taishi,
he was probably his brother. He lived on the Yamin rivertt (? a tributary
of the Irtish). In 1634 he threatened the Rusdans who were getting
salt at lake Yamish4t In 1637 his sons Ombo and Yalsi attacked Tara,§|
and embasaes were afterwards exchanged between them. He fought
with Daitshii^, the son of Urluk, the chief of the Torguts, and was
defeated and captured.|| This is the last we hear (^ him.
With Kuisha is sometimes associated a chief named Baibagish,f f who
gave his name to the so-called Baibagatshef ulus.*** He also was probably
a Derbet lliese various small chiefs were doubtless all dependant on
Kula, who acted as the deputy of the Khungtaidshi north of the
mountains. But to resume our story.
Daitshing, as I have said, was (o some extent a usurper, having
pushed aside his elder brother Toin Taidshi, injio was the eldest living
member of the family. On his death, Eshkep, Toin's son, became the
supreme chief of the Derbets. He is wrongly made a son of Daitshing's
by Miiller. In 1643 he sent an envoy to Tanuttt On the death of
Dartshing the latter's brothers and relatives were determined to revenge
themselves upon his murderer Urluk. We are told that the Khungtaidshi
interposed with his authority and summoned the princes to a meeting,
but that Gumba had already set outt{| What the result of his expedition
was we are not told, but Urluk is soon after found with his people in the
neighbourhood of Astrakhan, where he was killed, as I have described.|S{
* PiOlafl, op. cit.. i. 48. t Pallas, op. dtn i. 48- Miiller, viii. 349*
I MftUer, viii. 3S0. %Jd„ 355- I Id,, 4^2. Pallas,!. 48.
5Pp.ett..hr.aS5« Noto. •• Op. cit., i. 43. ft MiUtor, Tui. jSs* U^AtSSi*
WM.335. ll/ini.S4a. tU /ArSefl- •^w..37«.
tttllllU«r,viii.s9S. Ut M&ller, tIU. 41a. H|Aat«,sit.
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666 Misitmv or mm momools.
In 1645 an embassy arrived at Tumen fiewn Gmabn Taishi and hb
mother Akhai and from £shkep and his motiMr Dari flea.* Sioiilv
embassies went to Tumen in 1647 and i64&t Ealtep had Mved lor
some years on very friendly terms with die Rnnsiawi In i6$o ^e
Siberian princes made a raid upon the Russian aettkmeats aad bann
the monastery at Oobnato^ on the river Iset The people of Tatm sent
some troq;>s in pursuit of the plunderers. They did not meet with them
but fell upon a small camp of twenty yuru bdonging to Eshkqf^ and Ua
brother Dalai Ubashi and phmdered it They carried off
pris<Miers, forty camelSy 300 hones» and 500 head of cattle. A i
was sent to Tobolsk to demand the return of these, but the psfiple of
Tara refused to part with diem, allegiog that they recogmsed amoof dK
horses some which had been stolen from them, and that diey had
among the Kalmuks whom they had pluadeied Russian
l»obably belonged to tome of their countrymen who haA
oftt This unprovoked attack converted Eshkep into mi
Russians, and he seems to have allied himself w^ the Sikirfaa princes
and supplied them with troops with whidi they in i^|9 laadt a raid into
die Barabinski steppe.f This a^istance was mpastintly given covertly,
for in the very same year EsUcep and other ITatmidr pfinces sent sooie
of their people to trade at Tumen, who diffpotai of i«i5o horses^ 234
head of cattl^ and ipoo sheep.| Eshhty lojiff »> have been succeeded
by his son Dshal, who we are told byilt a atooe temple, which stiHensted
(temp. MUller ; the Kalmuks cafled it Dshalia-Obo after him, while
the Russians gave it the name «f KaS»assunskaya bashna) on the left
bank of the Irtish, in the Pod^MOknoi Stanitz. In 1702 he was driven
by the Bashkirs to take iheker with the Sungarian Khungtaidshi, by
whom he was settled on dbe river Chu, where he died in 1729 at the age
of ninety.^
The Eastern Deibets remained appaiendy under subjection to die
Sui^ar princea, and 1 have little information about them. When
Amursana was driven away, the Chinese, as I have said, divided the
Kalmuks once more into four tribes, and among these the Derbets are
specially named. They afone were spared when the three other sectioBS
of the Eastern Kahnuks were annihilated. Their Khan, according to
the Emperor, had afone remained foithfrd, and in consequence hb
people were spared and continued to till their soil and to look after
their herds in peace.^ Other fragments of the Derbets joined the
Torguts in Russia, odiers again retired towards Chhia and the Kokoour
country.tt
Let us now turn to S<dom Cheieng and die Derbets of the V(4ga. We
*M&Uer.op.cit.,viu.SSS. ti<..3te-3^ lM,,u^. PiMk«, «». ciU st«*
f MfUlcr,op.cit,viU.45i* VlMhtf.slS. | MSltar, of . dU ^rML 4S'*
YMftltorrTiii.447. Paaas,i.4S.
• «crlaCUai,Ls7C. ft PiinM,op. cll.,l.4S>
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TH« CHOROS. 667
have already said that he went to the Volga in 1644. In 1673 he joined
the Toigat horde with his son Menkotimur and about 5,000 families.
Ayuka was then Khan of the Tofguts. In company with the latter and
also on another occasion separately he swoce the oath of feahy to Russia.
In 1701^ when Ayuka and his son Chakdurdshap were at variance, Solom
Chereng was no longer alive. His son Menkotimur fought first with one
and thai with the other, and eventually fled with his Deihets to the Don.
On the reconciUatfon of fiaher and son, Ayuka compdled him to ally
himself with him, and gave his own daughter in marriage to Chutter or
Cheter, the son of Menkotimur. On her death Cheter was married to
another daughter of Ayuka's. Cheter Taidshi succeeded his father
Menkotimur, and in 1717, with the common faiUng of the Kahnuks,
he put away his wife and married the daughter of Chakdurdshap, and the
niece therefore of his previous wife. She had already had two sons by
a Khoshote chief, and he had carried her away by force from the
Khoshote uhis. Whereupon Ayuka sununoned him to his court and kept
him in custody. The Khoshotes Insisted that he should be punished and
the Derbet horde dispersed, but Chakdurdshap interposed, and settled
matters In a strange fashion. Cheker kept die wife he had run away
with, and his divorced wife was married to his son Lawan Donduk.
In 1723 Ayuka died, and dissension arose among the Torguts about the
succession. Cheter fled with his son Lawan Donduk and a great portion
of hu horde to the Don. His youi^^ son Gunga Dordshi, however,
remained with a portion of the Derbets» and attached himself to Donduk
Ombo. In 1721, when the commotions among the Toiguts had increased,
those princes who wished to be neutral escaped to the Derbets on the
Don. The Kahnuks were thus divided into two sections; 30,oooof them
lived on the Vdga, the rest, about 149000, on the Don. The two rivab
for the Khanship, the Vice-Khan Cheren Donduk and Donduk Ombo,
both attacked the Don Kalmuks, and forced them to return and declare
for either one side or the other. ' In 1731 Donduk Ombo gave his uncle
a severe beating, and then retired with a laige portion of the horde to
the Kuban ; with him went Cheter Taidshi and his son Gunga. His
other son Lawan Donduk collected a considerable number of Derbets,
and settled with the consent of the Russians within the Lines of Zaritzin.
His father tried through Russian influence to persuade him to return, but
meanwhile Gunga made a raid upon a body of Don Cossadcs, and
carried off a number of Kahnuks who wintered on the Donets, and the
n^;otiations broke down.*
Dondnk Ornbo^ Khan of the Torguts, died in 1741. Lawa Donduk,
who had succeeded his father as chief of the Dert>ets, made peace
with the young Khan, his successor. They met in 1743 and con-
* P«nM, ©p. cit., i. 49-5X«
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66$ HISTORY OF THS MONGOLS.
firmed ft, but the truce was a very hollow one. The Derfoet chief wis
not unnaturally afraid that he and his horde were to be swallowed op b^
the much more numerous Torguts. He once more moved to the Don,
and even assisted the Cossacks in their espion^;e on the movements of
the Toiigfuts. Lawa Donduk and his ddest son both died about 1748^
and the former was succeeded by his younger son Galdan Cherpng. The
occasion was favourable for the*' ambitious plans of the Toqpits* The
Derbet chief was young. Donduk Taishi, the Torg^Uf gave him bis
daughter in marriage, and then proceeded by various intrigues to
detach his adherenu from him. His daughter, the wife of the young
chief, was a sensual woman. In the language of Pallas, she had many
lovers among the priests and Saissans, which earned her husband
much jealousy. She also seconded her fadier's plans. In the winter
of 1760 a grand attack upon the Kafanuk territory was threatened
by the Eirghis Kazaks. This gave the Tofgut chief an excuse to
collect a great force. He also ordered Galdan Cbereng to join hia
with 1,000 men, and to leave the rest of his horde on the Sarpa.
The latter prepared to obey, collected his men, and was on his
march to join the Torgut Khan when he was warned of his inten-
tions by a £uthful Saissan, and fled to Zaritsin, and encamped with
his people within the Lines on the Yelshnnka brook. Craft and
force were both used against the Derbet cluef to compel him to retiicn»
and he probably only escaped by the opportune deaA of Dondidc
Taishi in 1761. Galdan Chereng took advantage of the confiisioo,
and once more escaped to the Don. His wife, as is ^-^^iMnnn
among the Kalmuks, preferred to join her lovers among the Toiguts
to going with her husband.*
Expecting a general confusion, in which there woukl be some chance
of revenging himself and improving his posilton, the Deibet chief
prepared for war. Through the intervention of the Russians, anarchy was
prevented. Ubasha succeeded to his iather^ anthority among the
Torguts, and Galdan Chereng was reconciled to him as wett as to his
Qfwn wife. No sooner did he get her home, however, than he imprisoned
her lovers, seized their goods, and had them beaten with scourges, &c.,
so that one of them died, while she was sent home to her own people.
He then married a Toigut princess, and lived peaceably with the Toigut
Khan. In 1763 the Russians suspected he was intriguing with the Khan
of dit Crimea, and summoned him first to the Volga and tiben to St.
I%tnribiirg, where he died. His body was burnt, and the ashes
placed under a bride tomb there. He left an infant son, during whose
minority Ubasha tried once more to appropriate the Deibet horde.
It once more escaped to the country between the Don and the Vo|^
The young prince was called Zebek Ubasha, Mid his relative Zenden was
* PaUaa, eptt dl., i. Si-H*
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THSCHOKOS. 669
his gpaidkuiu* We now retch the period when the Toigatt
mignitedf m I have describedt This was in 1771. The Decbets did
not jo^ in the flighty but infbmed the Russians about it Rumours
arose two years afterwards that they intended to follow the example
of their biolfaet% and the Russians determined to take precautions,
and summoned Zebek Ubasha and other chie£i to St Petersburg.
There he died in 1774, leaving no issue. The dignity of Khan and
Vice-Khan now Idl into abeyance among the Volga Kalmuks, and
the Derbets there were divided among thiee brotheis, named Jal,
Tundnty and Zenden, descended from a brother of Solom Chereng4 For
fifteen years after the fl^ht the Volga Kalmuks were governed by a
Saiga or council, composed of three chiefs, a Derbet, a ToTgut, and a
Khoshote. From 1786-1788 they were subject to the court of justice
at Astrakhan. From 1788 to 1796 their affiurs were controlled by a
chanceOary, consisting of two Russian and several Kalmuk members,
which sat fint at Yenatayaresk and then at Astrakhan.! In 1802 the
Emperor Paul, in one of his inexplicable caprices, thou^t fit to
re-establish the office of Vice^Khan, and bestowed it upon prince
Chntshei.l He was the son of the Tundut above named.t ** T^
administration of the hordes was again made independent, the ftmctions
of the Russian Pristoft were limited, and they could no longer abuse
their power as mnch as they had done. But upon the death of Qmtshd
^he Kalmuks again came under the Russian laws and tribunals ; they
lost aB their privileges unreservedly, and the sovereignty of the Khans
and Vice-Khans disaf^peared for ever.****
^ The complete subjectioQ of the Kalmuks was not, however, efiected
withoQt mnch cGfficolty. Discontent prevailed among them in the
hi^est degree, hnt &eb attempts at revolt were afl fruidess. Hemmed
in on all sides by lines of Cossadcs, the tribes were constrained to accept
the Rus»an sway in all its extent The only remarkable incident of dieir
last stmggles was a partial emigration into the Cossack country. This
insubordination exdled the Csax^s utmost wrath, and he despatched an
extiaOTdinafy courier to Astrakhan, with ordeis to arrest the high priest
and die principal cliie& of the hordes and send them to St Petersboig.
Before leaving Astrakhan diey engaged a certain Maximof as interpreter.
When they arrived at St Petersbuig the Enqteror's fit of anger was over.
They were wdl received, and returned to the stqipes invested with a new
Russian dignity. The audience where they took leave of the Emperor
was turned to good accomit by the interpreter. In retnmii^ their thanks
to hisnuyeaty, knowing he ran no risk of contmdiction, he made Jfmd
befiete tlwt the Kalmuks earnestly entreated diat hisln^erial ma|eslar
would grant hira also an hanoiary grade in recompense for his good
IDsBriNYMPditsaS. nBmwmum.u990k •«l>«£Mt,na
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670 HISItHlT or THB MONGOLS.
services. Hie Czar was taken ta by the tricky and he qidtted the couit
with the title of major.**
When Zwick visited the stepper of die Volga theve was a great lend hi
progress among die Kahnnks there. He thus describes the origin, &&,
of the quanel :—^Erdeni^ the chief of one division of the Toigut faofde^
married 2^bek, the sister of Erdeni prince of the Dert^ets. In thn
fortieth year of her age he sent her home to her fitther's tfibe, in coase-
qnence of her infiddity. The Deriliets dfmanded leatitation of the
dower. The Toiguts refused it ; and hence aroee between the two
dans the most violent animosity, the people on eadi skle esponsiag the
cause of their chieftain, and phmder and murder enstnog. Thoogh
the Deri)ei Erdeni had died the antnmn befoie^ the fend was not
a^ypeased, but was kept alive by his brother Jambe. The contest
between the two hordes would have been very unequal (as the Deibets
were redooned at ten or from that to twelve thousand tenta or families,
and the Torguts at only 400,) but other hordes joined in the strife^
according to their connection with the different parties concerned. On
the side of the Derbets was the Tandikishan diviskm of the Toignt
horde, i/x)0 tents strong, commanded by the princess Bognsh or
Nadmid, sister to the Derbet prince. On the other hand, Zerren
Ubasha, another Torgut, with his horde of 800 tents^ and the Began
Zookors with 1,700 tento, took the part of the Tofgut Erdeni, because
the chief of the three nobles, by whom they were governed, was rdaied
t6 the Toigut prince. A third detachment of Tofgnts,t under the
command of three brothers, Jiigal, Otshir, and Setter, ranged thetn-
sdves nominally with prince Erdeni, and plundered friend and foe in a
most unruly manner. It was chiefly by thb branch of the Teignt
tribe, that many Russian horsemen and Tartars were pillaged. Of all
the hordes on the steppes, but two remained neutral; the Erkets^ esti-
mated at 1,000 tents, and the Khodiotes, of the same strength ; the
former on die western, the latter on the eastern dioie of the Volga : so
that of the ^opoo tents or families of Kafanuks, who inhabited thegovem-
ment of Astraldian, there were, at the time we were travdling amongst
them, only 3/xx> at peace, and yfxio were in arms against about i5/)oa
The Torguts, though in number only a fifth of the Deriiets, had
some advantnges in the unequal strife, whidi enabled them to persevere
with vigour. Their barren waterless steppes, and constant duu^ of
position, prevented them from being easily readied by the Derikts.
The Tofgots are moreover a hardy race^ inured to privadons, and
subsisting in summer by the diale of antdopes, which abpundonthe
steppes. For this reason, they are ahnostunivcnaDyprofvided with guns,
friudi b not the case with the less acdve and hardy Dertiels. The
•D«HdrtoTfm¥di,is6b | Tbir wm fwOy DMbiftt. KMilBftiu
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THK CHORDS. 671
Totgot honet ave alto deddedljr topenor to die Deibet, bodi ki
fwiftnetsand.capmbOityofsiittainiiigfiiaigiie. TWjr are fed upon wonii-
ivood and other dtj heriMi iHUle tiioee of dko Decbeta axe accnatoroed
to richer pasture^ and though apparently in better condhloni are not to
strong. These letida had now lasted and gained strength uninterruptedly
for three years. Government had not hitherto interfered with any
severity, but had taken die tone of conciliation and kindness. As dus
had proved unaVaihog, and the Kahnuka^ aAer the Russian residents (or
Pristo6) were recalled from the hordes whidi we were to yiiit, burst
forth with redoubled fory, on being rdieved from diehr troublesome
inspectors^ it seemed probable diat some important change was about to
take place in the state of the tribes.'^
2wick paid a visit to die horde controlled by the three brodier% Setter,
Jiigal, and Otshir, whom he calls son^ of Ztlbtk UbashL Aoooiding to
Pallas, as we have seen, that chief died childless. Zwick calls them
Toiguts, which is surdy a mistake.t The missionaries took letters and
various presents for them. Setter was idiotic and had been so from
childhood, and Otshir ruled in hb stead. He b probably the Otsfair
Kapshokof of Madame De HeD, who was diief of the three uhisses,
Karalcusofrki, Yandikofski, and Great Derbett They found Jiigal
encamped at Itelgin Khoduk (>>., the hawk's wdl). They thus describe
their interview ^— " Jirgal, a man about diirty years of age, thin, with
only one eye, and in very duty appard, was lounging on a couch which
was equally dirty, in a tent which had nothing princely about it. He
took the introductory letter, which we presented, carelessly (contemptu-
ously even), and after asking a few questions in a short boorish manner,
he soit us back to our carriages. It was evident that we were to deal
with a boor, though of princely rank, and we had very soon forther proof
of this feet Just as we had eaten our moderate supper, by the side of
our carriage, and were ready to betake oursdves to repose, die prince
sent word by one of his servants that he was coming to pay us a visit
He arrived immediatdy, attended by two Httie pages. He called for tea,
and first dvOly and then with threats, desired to have brandy with it
He had already learnt from our attendants how much we had brought
with us, and he drank, dther separatdy or widi his tea, fifteen glasses of
brandy, which was the whole of our stode, except a small remainder
which he carried off with hiin. He demanded abundance of sugar with
it, and the gingerbread which we had designed for future presents. We
could refuse him nothing, for our stores had been already announced,
and we felt ourselves entirdym the power ofan uncivilised (and as we
dcaily saw, Wood-ddrsty) robber, who periiaps had only to speak die
word, and his subjects (a suspidous-looldng rabble In Russian, Armcnten,
>2wkk.op.clt,4i-44- t (^M# aate, sM* i D« itelTt TnTdt, S97-
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672 HISTORY OP THB MONGOLS.
and Cifcastiaii dreaes, whom we liad alNtdy seen in considenlble
nnmbars about us) would have £dlen vpon us without mercy or dday.
Neither hei^ nor in the other hordes which we afterwards visited, were
there any Rnssian Pristofs, to whom we could apply for protection.
The prince's love of pluncter was now uppeimost, and he desired to see
our horses, hot we succeeded in turning him horn his purpose, by tellhig
him that they were the property of die Government, which we had no
power to dispose o£ Upon tiiis, be asked to tee oor daggers (which we
had left in the coach), set himself by the fire, and tried them in various
ways, particularly by letting ihem £dl, togcdier with his Own, into the
ground, after which he pronounced that mine (a very fine one^ wlucfa I
had bought at Astrakhan four years ago from a Persian) was the best of
them aU. He took possession of it immediately with the wofdny * We
win diange,' and threw his own (which w^ a miserably poor one) to me.
Brother Schill lost his tobacco-pipe on this occasion, and would have
lost his good coat, if Jiigal, idio had tried it on during the visit, had
not hiddly ft>rgotten it wiien he was going away. As thb was the
piDcess, I cleared away as well as I could everything that lay near us,
vdnlst I sat by the side of the prince. The younger of our Tartars,
Amdr-iChan, was asleep in tlie coach before Jiigal arrived; M, AmM
was busy in looking after die fire and making the tea. At last, when
Jlfgal was intoxicated with the brandy he had taken, he insisted diat
Andrtf should danee and sing to him. Andr6 dedared that he could not
do eidier. The prince then roaied to Amur-Khan, who came out
bewilderedandhalf asleep, and declared in like manner that he could
not sing ; and then die two pages wiu> were kneeling before their, master,
watching every wink, and catching occasional morsels of gingeibread
which he threw them, were ordered to sing. They strudc up in concert
a Kalmuk song, in honour of a certain Shushing Saloh, a bandit, who
was at last taken by the Russians, and banished to Siberia. When
Jirgal thought proper to leave us (at one o^dock) be desired that our
Andr6 ^lould take care of him home, and without the smallest provo-
cation, he tried to stab him on the road. At the first attonpt, Andr6
caught hokl of his arm, and at the second he ran away and made his
escape. We were afterwards informed by a credible eye-witness that
}iigal is every now and then possessed with this murderous oro-
pensity, and that this very spring he had maimed a young n^n, hand
and foot, on a shnOar occasion. No merchant now comes to the neigh-
bourhood, and even his countrymen keep at a distance, for he phmders
and iO-treats aM nAko come in his way. Formerly he governed the whole
horde, which llftduee brodMrs had inherited from thar fieidier, but as
his ftiLisdiWHii tevolted his subjects, the second brodier, Otshir, supported
by the fif^ Ihistoi^ assumed the command. Thus Jugal (as wdl
as his brodier Setter) lost his share of the hotdt, and he was at this
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dmeiorraimdedoiilf V^modeyzaMeidMmbei^ tofldlKr.
AU this was entirdjr uoknpwn to us^ till we fouad it out by mplasitpt
eaqi^erieniffi We wece now in haste to make oar escape, and as sooa aa.
Jkgal had slept off the effects of hts hiandy, on the f olowing aioca*
ing the Ttb of July, we went to him, to ask lor die letter wtdch wf^
bad preifRited to him, without which we shoold have no introduction ta
Otshir. Tb^ letter we obtained without any diffiaiUy^ but we neither
saw nor hifrd any more of the diings he had stolen. We had haidlj
got back to oar coach when the prince came on borsdMckand demanded
punch tea» which we could not give faun, as he had taken all oor biaadf
tht evening before. He dictated to one of his attendants a few onpoii?
nected HneSy saying that he. agreed in opinion with Erdeai, and had also,
received two of ouj^ books 2 and he bade as cone and fetch this writii^
the following day, when it would be sealed and ready. He de^pad two
GesuSs who were preterit to take the books, upon whkh they faodi
slipt oot of the way in silence. When he was aboot to ride off he
told Brother Schill to follow hinv and at some little distance he again
pressed him to give him his coat, ofieriag a horse in return (which it
would not have been easy to get, for the prince had none in his possesdon
txotpt the identical beast upon which he was r^ing) ; at last^ ^°^^
various pretences, the demand was elided, and in the afternoon he sent
OS a sheep and some chigan.'^
Madame De Hell describes the £urq[iean Kalmnks as being divided
into two great dasses,** those bdongingrespectivdy to the princes and to
the Crown, bat all are answerable to the same laws and the same tribunals.
The former pay a tax of twenty-€ve roubles to their princes, who have
the rigltt of taking from among them all the persons they require for
their domestic service, and they are bound to maintain a police and good
Older within their can^ Every chief has at bis command several
subattem chiefs called Saissans, who have the immediate superintendence
of 100 or 15a His office is neariy hereditary. He who fills it enjoy|
the title of prince, but this is not shared by 'the other members of his
family. The Si\]i<itan<i are entitled to a contribution of two roubles fnun
every Idbitka or tent under their command. The hordes of the Crown
come under mof;e direct Russian surveillance. They paid no tax at
first, and were bound to military service in the same way as the Cossacks,
but they have beoi exempted firom it since 1856^ and now pay merely a
tax of twenty-five roubles for each femily. The prinody hordes, likewise,
used to supply troops for the fifontier services, but this was changed in
1825, and since then the Kahnuks have been free fitmi all military
service, and pay only twqnty-five roubles per tent to the princes and two
and a half to the Crown.'^
•DtH«U,237.
3Q
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674 HISTORY OF THB MONGOLS.
Besides these two great divisions the Kahnuks are also distiagmsbed
into various uhisses or hordes bdonging to various inrinces. Eadi uhis
has its own canq>ing ground for summer and winter.* Zwidc teBs us
that the Derbets lived chiefly to the east of the Don and the Sarpa in
the summer and in the winter on the banks of the Knma.t
According to Madame De Hell *' the Kalmuk territory has been
considerably reduced since the departure of Ubasha. It now courses
but a small extent of country on the left bank of the Volga, and the
fiSighises of the Inner Horde now occupy the steppes between the Ural
and the Volga. The present limits of European Kalmukia are to the
Berth and east of the Volga as far as latitude 48 d^.; a line drawn from
diat point to the mouths of the Volga parallel with die course of the
river and at a distance from it of about forty miles, and lastly the Caspian
Sea as finr as Kuma. On the south side the boundary is the Kuma, and
a Une drawn from that river below Vladi^iirofka to the upper course of
the Kugulcha. The Egorlik, and a line passing through the sources of
the dtfietent rivers that fall into the Don, forms the frontiers on the west.
The whole portion of the steppes included between the Volga, the
frontiers of the Government of Saratof and the country of the Don
Cossacks, and the 46th degree of north latitude forms the summer
camping ground of the following ulusses : — Karakusofski, Yandikofski,
and Great Derbet, belonging to prince Otshir Kapshukof ; Little Derbet,
belonging to prince Tondudof,and Ikitsokurofski, which is now(f>.,in 1838)
without a proprietor, its prince having died childless. It is not known
who is going to have his inheritance. The whole territory comprises
about 4,105424 hectares of land; 40,000 were detached from it in
1838 by prince Tondudof and presented to the Cossacks, in return for
which act of generosity the Crown conferred on him the rank of captain.
He gave a splendid ball on ihe occasion, which cost upwards of 15,000
roubles. Wc saw him in tliat town at the governor's soir6e, where he made
a poor figure, yet he is the richest of all the Kalmuk princes for he
possesses 4,500 tents, and his income amounts, it is said, to more than
200,000 roubles.
"The Kalmyks occupy in all 10,297,587 hectares of land, of which
^fS99A^S ^^ ^^ t^c Government of Astrakhan and 1,598,172 in that of
the Caucasus. These figures, which cannot be expected to be mathe-
matically correct, are the result of my own observations and of the
assertions of the Kalmuks^ compared with some surveys made by order
of the Administrative Committee.''t
In regard to the number of the European Kalmuks the sanie,giftod
authoress reports thus : *^ According to the official documents cocn-
municated to me, the Kalmuk population does not exceed iSiOOO fuailies^
• Id., 1 Op. cit., 3$, 39. I De Hell't Tnvek, 237, 338.
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THE CHOROS. 6/5
On tlus head, howerer, it is impossible to arrive at very exact statittics,
for the princes haring themselves to pay the Crown dues, have of course
an interest in maUng the population seem as small as possible. I am
inclined to believe from sundry facts that the number of the tents is
scarcdy under 2o»ooa At all events, it seems ascertained that the
Kahnnk population has remained stationary for the last sixty years, a fact
which is owing to the ravages of disease, such as smallpox and others of
the cutaneous kind.^
I have already enumerated from PaUast the fragments of the Torgut
horde that remained behind after the great migration. He also gives a
table of the other Kalmuks, which runs thus :
Under the Khoshote Prince Samyang 817 tents.
„ yf „ Takka and his nephews 210 „
„ y, „ Samyang's Stepson Tummen.. 294 „
„ Derbetjirgal 50 »»
„ ,, Zebek Ubasha and his relations 4422 „
Besides these a very large body of Kalmuks, numbering some i2fioo
men, were nominally Christians, and lived in the district of StavropoLt
In regard to the latter, Giorgi says that towards the end of the
seventeenth century the Khan and Taishis of the Torguto were informed
that the Russians did not intend to surrender such of theKalmuk fugitivesas
became Christians. After a while the number of these converts increased,
and some of their leaders even became Christians. As they did not
agree with their unconverted brethren, the Russian authorities at length,
in 1737, planted them as a separate colony in the fruitful district watered
by the rivers Samara, Sok, and Tok, and also gave them the city of
StavrQpol {i.e.f city of the cross), where churches, schook, and dwellings
were built for them. They were under similar regulations to the
Cossacks, and they were divided into ulusses, and these again into
companies under their own leaders. Tlie contingent they supplied served
on the Orenburgh-Kirghiz frontier, and was free from all taxes ; they
were in fact in Russian pay. At first they were subject to a baptised
Kalmuk princess named Anna, afterwards to prince Peter Toigutskoy,
and when Georgi wrote to a judicial court or Saiga. In 1754 they
numbered 8,695 souls ; in 1771 about 14,000. It was only the prmces
who lived at Stavropol; their subjects lived, like their unconverted
brethren, in tents in the open country*!
Most of these Kalmuks of Stavropol were no doubt merely nominal
Christians, who sought protection from Russia during the troubled period
of their history, and when things looked brighter they rejoined their
brethren further north. In the time of Madame De Hell they had been
greatly reduced in numbers. She thus speaks of them : *^ Lastly are to
* op. cit., 840. t Vidt ante. 586. I Op. cit., i. 94.
I Gcorfi betchrdbnBf aUtr VatioBcn det Rvstisclitii Reichs, 417.
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676 HlSIOmT OF THE MOVGOLS.
be enmnerated $00 iaroOies of Kalmiikii impropeify edled Chrisdans,
who occupy the two banks of the Soma between Vhidfanirafka and die
Caqiian. Some Russian missionaries attetopted their umverilon towardi
the dose of die last centoiy, bat their proselytismg cflR«t% based on
farce, weie Ihutless, and produced nothing bat revolts. Sfaice dien these
Kahnuks, some of whom had sofieted themsdves to be baptised, were
called Christians^ chiefly for the purpose of distinguishing diem from
those who are not bound to military service. They are chieAy employed
in guarding the salt pools, and bdong, under die denomination of
Cossacks, to the rqriment of M osdok. The Government leeds them and
their horses idien they are on actual service, hot they still pay a tax for
every head of cattle^ the amount of which goes into the regimental chest*
A number of Kafanuks are also found among the Cossacks of the Don
and the Ural, the former in Pallasf day consisted of about 3,000 men and
were known as Cherkasian Kalmuks and were ruled like the other Cos-
sacks by their own Starchins. Their origin dates from the time of Ayuka
Khan.t Georgi also mentions a smaO section of Muhammedan Kalmuks
living east of the Ural mountains and in the Government of Orenburgh.
They were a fragment of the Volga Kahnuks who were subdued by
the Kiighises and by them circurocised and converted to Islam. They
eventually moved into the Bashkir country, where the Bashkirs granted
diem pastures, gave them their dau^^ters in marriage, ftc, and diey
adc^ited die Bashkir mode of living4
Note I. — In a subject like die one we are writing about, a tentative
result Is the mily one we can often obtain, and this has fiequendy to be
motfified ^ our Cvrts increase upon us. Thus in the chapter on the
iQioshotes I ventured to suggest that they were the Eleuths proper,
and that die latter name became afterwards extended so as to include
Sdl the KafannksJ I have also suggested that the term Baghatud^
osed by Ssanang Setsen, was a name under which the Sungars and
Beibets were comprised. After a good deal of thought I am now
disposed to modify these amdnsions. The Chinese accounts refer so
pointedly to the Sungars under the name Eleuth that I am coiistrained
to condtude that the Sungars were in fact primarily meant by that name.
In Kien Lang's account of the conquest of the Sungars they are almost
invariably called Eleuths. Eleuth and Sungar are in fact used as cdnr
vertible temis.1 Agidn, the Kmg of Choros is said to have been the diief
of die four princes who had fbnneriy ruled the Eleuths; and Ta wa tsi^
who was the legitimate Sungar chief, is specially mentioned as bdng
descended from Choros Khan.T Again, Miiller, in describing die
•DeHMfrflp.citn^Sg' t PaIIm, op. dt> i. 9f* t Oion|i, Op^ <>t., 41^^
irM»aBt«,4oS. |JiMM.tiirfaiChine,k366,s;f,38o. ^/<f.,i4o.
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THE CHORO& 677
KahmikiS mendons the Eleatlit and Kho6hote$ as distinct branches of
the Doiben Uiiads.* Lastly, in De Mailla, while the subjects of Galdan
are constantly referred to as Eleuths, the Khoshotes are distingaished by
a special name, namdy, Hachha.t On the other hand, the name
Khoshote, which 9caxdmg to Pallas means hero,| is a mere synonym
for Ba^^atud or Bahtud, which means the same thing,! and it would
seem from the Notes to Kieh Lang's Narrative that it was only after
Utshirtn and his brother Ablai migrated to the west of the Loangho that
they were styled Eleuths, implying that they obtained that name only
when they had moved into the country of the Eleuths proper, so that I
am now disposed to identify the Sungars with the Eleutiis of the
Chinese, and the Ogheled of Ssanang Setzen ; and the Khoshotes with
the Bahtud or Baghatud of the latter author.
NaU 2, — In regard to the so-called stone butter, mentioned ante page
611, 1 find that Schmidt's references there given are not to the Frendi
edition of Pallas's Travels, which is the one usually quoted, but to some
other edition. In the French edition it will be found described in Vol iL
lao^ iii. 396^ and iv. 566. It seems to be a kind of greasy earth found in
crevices in the rocks, the product of the disintegration of the aluminous
parts of granite and other rocks, and is probably the same substance as the
kaolin or China day used for making porcelain in the barbarous latitudes
of China, and for filling up the interstices in badly made cotton cloth in
civilised Europe. A similar earth is used by some of the Indian tribes
of America, in cases of emergency, in place of more nourishing food.
NoU 3. — I mentioned that KharakhuUa derived his name firom a wild
animal of the same name, whose- description I copied finom Pallas. I
find the same animal mentioned by Mr. Dilke in his account of lake
Sairam, published in the ^Geographical Magarine." He identifies it
with the lynx. In addition to the mention of KharakhuUa by Fischer, I
notice that Miiller has several references to him in his eighth volume, but
he adds nothing material to what I have already stated about hfan in
the text
Nifte 4.— On page 496 I mentioned that Timkowski gives an account
of Galdan and of the origin of the troubles among the Kalmuks, which
seems utteriy wrong. I believe that his mistake is, however, ci^Mbie of
correction. He has confosed Galdan, the Sungar chief, who was a Lama
originally, as I have said, with the son of the Jassaktu Khan of the
Khalkhas, who was also a Lama, and was in fiurt the first Khutuktu who
appeared among the Khalkhas. It would seem that the latter's name
also was Galdan,| which makes the error a very excusable one^ and has
in foct been made by Pallas himself.f^
NoU 5. — ^The efibrts of the Christian missionaries among the Kahnnks
• Op. ch., aSo. Note. i 0^ cit, xi. t^- I Op. cit.. i. xa 1 14,, i. as«
I PallM. SuBl. Hht. Nacb., a. 4S3. Nott. fLocctt.
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678 HISTORY or THS MONOOIA
liave been very meagrely rewarded Lamaiam seems to suit their ways
of thought mudi better. When in 1763 Catherine II. planted the
German clonics on the Volga, the United Brethren formed a settlement
at the junction of the Sarpa and the Volga, and with a reference to the
iirst bo<^ of Kings, a 17, they named it Sarepta. This settlement was
phmdered by Pugachef in 1774. When the revolt was qudled the settle-
ment again began to flourish, grazing and husbandry prospered. Many
Kalnraks visited it, and many of the Brethren became acquainted with
their language, but their efforts in proselytising were unsuccessful, and
for some time the settlement began again to decay. The secretary of the
Russian Bible Society at that time was Isaac Jacob Schmidt, '^a man
well skilled in the Mongol tongue,'' and wdl known to our readers as the
translator of Ssanang Setzen. In 1815 some translations of the New
Testament which he had made were published ; and in the same year
two of the Sarepta Brothers, named Schill and Hubner, accompanied by
their Instructor in the Kalmuk language (Brother Loos), set off to the
Khoshote horde which encamped on the Volga, 140 miles from Sarepta
and thirty-five from Astrakhan. They were well received by prince
Tumene, and also furnished with a teacher named Schalz, who had
formerly been a chief in the tribe. The Russian Bible Society now sent
some copies of the Scriptures to be distributed. During Tumene's reign
no hindrance was put in the way of their distribution, but on his death
in 1816, and on the arrival of his successor Schwedshab from St
Petersburg, great difficulties arose, chiefly on account of Nomtu and
Badma, two Buriat nobles who had been summoned from lake Baikal to
assist in translating the Bible into their dialect, and who became converts
to Christianity, and sent word to their countrymen. A copy of their
letter came into the hands of the Khoshotes, and created some iU-feeling
there.
In 1818 Hubner was relieved by Loos. Among their converts was a
Toigut named Sodnom, who brought over his brother and some others,
and a small Christian conmiunity was thus formed in the Khoshote
horde ; but this was by no means welcome to the authorities, and in the
autumn of 182 1 the converted Kalmuks and the three Brethren received
an order to quit the horde. They departed without molestation under
the guidance of brother Schill, and arrived, twenty-two in number, on the
banks of the Volga opposite Sarepta. This was in October, and the
winter was coming on. The island in the Volga, which betonged to
Sarepta, was at first assigned them, where they pitched their tents and
where a log-house wa^ buikl for their teachers. In the Easter of iSaa a
home was allotted them on the west shore of the Volga, near a mineral
spring, a little more than three miles from Sarepta, where th^ dwelt
more than a year awaiting baptism. At this time however the Established
Church reserved to itself exclusively the right of converting heathens and
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THE CHOHOS. 679
of allowing them to make an open profession of Christianity by being
baptised ; other Christian bodies were merely allowed to assist in dis-
seminating the Scriptures. ^ The question what was to become of the
exiles who liad settled near Sarepta was decided in 1823. On the 12th
of October in that year fifteen Kalmuks of the Derbet horde, headed by
a priest (/>., a Lama), made a plundering expedition upon their believing
countrymen, one of them named Lurum escaped with difficulty. Nothing
remained for the oppressed but to put themselves under the Russian
protection at Zaritztn. Sodnom and his brother were baptised there'
into the orthodox Greek Church, and so ended the efforts of the Sarepta
Brothers for the conversion of the Kahnuks.*^ Zwick himself was one
of the Brothers, and the journey he took in 1823 among the Kalmuks to
distribute Bibles has already furnished us with some curious facts in their
later history.
The prince Tumcne just named was visited by Madame Dc Hell, who
thus describes him :— '^ Prince Tumene is the wealthiest and most
influential of all the Kalmuk chiefs. In 181 5 he raised a raiment at his
own expense, and led it to Paris, for which meritorious service he was
rewarded with numerous decorations. He has now the rank of colonel,
and lie was the first of this nomade people who exchanged his kibitka for
an European dwelling. Absolute master in his own family (among the
Kalmuks the same respect is paki to the eldest brother as to the father),
he employs his authority only for the good of those around him. He
possesses about a million deciatines of land, and several hundred
families, from which he derives a considerable revenue. His race, which
belongs to the tribe of the Khoshotes, is one of the most ancient and
ttspectbd among the Kalmuks. Repeatedly tried by severe afflictions,
his mmd has taken an exclusively religious bent, and the superstitious
practices to which he devotes himsdf give him a great reputation for
sanctity among his countrymen. An isolated pavilion at some distance
from the palace is his habitual abode, where he passes his life in prayer
and religious conference with the most celebrated priests of the country.
No one but these latter is allowed admission into his mysterious
sanctuary ; even his brothers have never entered it. This is assuredly a
singular mode of existence, eq^eciaUy if we compare it with that which
he might lead amidst the splendour and conveniences with which he has
embellished his palace, and which betoken a cast of thought far superior
to what we should expect to find in a Kahnuk. This voluntary sacrifice
of earthly delights, this asceticism caused by moral sufferings, strikingly
reminds us of Christianity and the oris^ of our rdigious orders. Likt
the most fervent Catholks, this votary of Lama seeks in soHtude, pmyer,
austerity, and the hope of anotiier life, consobtions which all his fortune
* Zwidt, o|i. ciu 14-23.
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68o
HISTORY OF TUB MONGOLS.
is poweilesi to afford him I Is not this the history of many a Trappist
or Carthusian?''*
NoU 6.— The following genealogical taUes iUastrate the history of the
Sungars and Derbeis as given in this chapter.
SenfM
TMwaag
ArabUa
Oaldaa Cbertog
Bajaa SagAn
or
Adthan Khan
Butv Khongtaidahi
Oaidan
BMktoKkan
Sapteo Bal|iir
Solom
AnbUn
ZeLk
Dordaha
DaodihiQ
Ombo
Lama
Dardtba
iUesitimata
Doflar
AraSlan
Cberaag
Dondak
Daffba
Tawatai
BitoYaUtng
MerctATaidihi
ToinTaidahi
Babktp
Dahal
Ddaitaidthi
Yannia TaidUii
!
Yddeag Ubaaha
7K«aha
Gomba Soloih Cbercog
Mesko Timar
Cbeter Taidahi
Lama Donduk
!
Shacgi) Norbo Oaldan Chareag
ZebekUbaaba
In these lists, which I have taken from Pallas, I have merely abstracted
those najaes which occur in the preceding text
* De HeU. op. cit., X69.
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CHAPTER XII.
THE BURIATS.
IN an inquiry like the present, which bristles with difficulties^ and in
which opinion is unsettled upon so many points, it is not strange
that our conclusions arc often only tentative and subject to be
modified by further criticism. More than once in the course of this
work I have had to qualify or alter opinions formerly held, and held in
common with previous inquirers. I have now to do so again. On page
498 I asserted that Uirad is not a race name among the Mongols. On
page 558 I argued that the term Durben Uirad is a mere descriptive
epithet, and not in use as an indigenous name among the Mongols, and
further, the only race who style themselves Uirad are the Telenguts, who
I therefore identified with the Uirads of Raschid. I again argued the
same way on page 590. That this conclusion was not without some
warrant may be seen by an examination of the reasons there given, but
it is a conclusion to which I cannot now wholly subscribe. It is true the
Telenguts still call themselves Uirads, and that they were treated as
Uirads by Ssanang Setzen in the seventeenth century ; but this I now
hold to be due to the fact that they were formerly in close alliance if not
subject to the Uirads, and I now hold that the modem Telenguts are
descended from the Telenguts of Raschid, and not from the Uirads of
that author. Nor am I so confident now that the name is not used as a
race name, or that its etymology has been finally settled. I have only
recently met with a passage in a scarce work by Schmidt, in which it is
stated that the favourite name the Volga Kalmuks give themselves is
Uirad or Mongol Uirad.* Schmidt, who probably knew the Volga
Kalmuks better than anybody, is not likely to have been mistaken. It
seems dear further, that the name by which the Kalmuks were known to
the Chinese during the supremacy of the Ming, namely, Wala is a mere
transcription of Uirad ; the Chinese, who have no r, replacing it by /.
Besides the Uh^,t or Durben Uirad,; we also read of the Uirad Buriad§
and the Gol Minggin of the Uirad.| I am therefore pretty confident
that Uirad is an indigenous name among the Kalmuks. Let us now
• FofMhaiic«ii in IHtitf dw Ahtrn. lUL, Ac., &u Volk. Ifitt. AtitM.. 4S. Nfilt.
t SMoaag SetMB, ^. 139, 149, 153. 159, 267. Ac I M., I43i X47* and 160. i /^ iS5*
3R
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682 HISTORY or THE MONGOLS.
shortly consider its meaning. Remutat and PalUSy both of them fint-
rate authoritiesy tells as that Darben Uirad means the four allies^* and
this etymology has been pretty generally received, but there is another
which has some plausibility.
In speaking of the herds of white mares kept by jingis Khan, Marco
Polo says, ^ The milk of these mares is drunk by himself and his fionily,
and none else except by those of one great tribe that have also the
privilege of drinking it. This privilege was granted them by Jingis Khan
on account of a certain victory they helped him to win long aga The
name of the tribe is Horiad.*^ Colonel Yule identifies the Horiad with
the Uirady and he adds that according to Vambery, Oyurat means a grey
horse* This, as Colonel Yule says, is in curious accord with the anecdote
told by Pallas. I may add further that Vambery considers that Kunkurat
is derived from the Turki Kongur-At, a chesnut horse, which would
make a parallel example.} Whatever the etymology, I believe the
ancient Uirads of Raschid to have been the ancestors of the modem
Kahnuks.
According to Abulghazi, the Uirads were settled on the Sikiz Muran
(/.^., the eight rivers). These eight rivers, he says, fell into the Angara,
that is, into the great head stream of the Kem or Yenissei, which flows
out of the lake Baikal. This is confirmed by the names of the rivers.
Thus the Ikra or Akra Muran is doubtless the Irinit The Aka Muran
is no doubt the Oka, the Chaghan Muran, or white river, doubtless
survives in the Biela, which is a new name given to one of the tributaries
of the Angara by the Russians, and which means white, while the Jurja
Muran is perhaps the upper Tunguska, Juiji being the Mongol name for
the Tungus.{ Of the other four rivers the Kara Ussun is still the name
of a tributary of the Oka. The Une Muran is probably the modem
Unga. The Kuk Muran, or blue river, and the Sanbikun (called Siyitun
by Erdmann) I cannot identify ; but these suffice to fix the homeland of
the Uirads in the days of Jingis Khan. The Uirads were divided into
several tribes. Although they spoke Mongol,* yet their dialect wa^some*
what different from that of the other Mongols. Thus a knife, which
among the other Mongals was called gitukah, they called mudghah.
They were close allies of Jingis Khan, to whom they apparently sub-
mitted without any struggle. Their chief in his days was named
Khutuka Bigi, who left two sons named Inalji and Turalji, and a
daughter named Ukul Kitmish, who seems to have married Mangu Khan.
Turalji married Jijegan, Jingis Khan's daughter, and was thence known
as Turalji Kutgan, or the son-in-law. By her he became the father of
Buka Timur,| who was a famous general and served in Khulagu's
western campaign. It was probably with him that the laige body of
* Vids ante, 538. t Yule't Marco P^lo, and Ed.» L tgi. J ''•• 390.
i VoA Hammer*! IJkha&s, i. xo. Note. | Brdmana'i TtoradUin, z88.
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THE BURIATS. 683
Uirads entered Persia, who are mentioned by the Egyptian historian
Makrizi. He describes how in 1296 i5/xx> Uirad families deserted the
service of Gazan Khan of Persia and went to the Mamduke ruler of
Damascus, by whcmi they were well received. We are told that their
heathenish practices, however, gave ofifence to the faithful, that they were
settled in the SAhil or coast districts of Palestine, where many of them
died, and the others embraced Islam, spread over the country, and
gradually became absorbed in the general papulation. Their sons and
daughters were greatly admired for their beauty.*
We are now in a position to inquire into the oirigines of the Buriats,
who still form the most unsophisticated of the Mongol tribes, and who
occupy such a large area on both sides of the Baikal Sea. They are
otherwise known as Barga Buriats, and are called BraUki by the Russian
travellers. Buriat ought perhaps to be written Burut, the name by which
the Eastern or Proper Kirghises are also known. Schmidt tells us the
Kaknuks call these Kirghises, as well as the Buriats of the Baikal
Burut.t The etymology of the name is perhaps to be found in the
word Buri, which, according to Timkowski, means a stallion.
According to the traditions of the Buriats, they are very closely
connected with the Uirads. They say that Eleiith and Buriad were
two brothers, who quarrdled about a foal and separated.! Ssanang
Setsen calls them Uirad BuriadI As I have said, the Buriats
are also called Barga Buriats. This connects them with the Barguts
of Raschid. He makes the name generic, and tells us it includes
the Barguts, the Kuris, the Tulis, and the Tumats.f The name
Bargut, wrongly written Tufghaut by Abulghasi, means ** on the other
side,*^ and was given them, he teUs us, probably copying Raschid, because
they lived on the other side of the Selinga, in the country called the
plain of Bargu by Marco Polo, and which^ according to Hyacinthe, is
still called Barakhu.** The same country is doubtless meant by the
Barguchin Tugrum of Raschid,who tells us the Tnmats lived there. The
latter form of the name survives on the river Barguzin, which flows
into lake Baikal on the east, and on which is the Russian settlement of
BarguzinskoLtt
The various Bargut tribes seem to be referred to in the history of Jingis
Khan under the name of Turiiats. Their chief was then called Tatulah
Snkar. They seem to have rebelled during his absence in China, and in
1 2 17 he sent his general Burghul against them. He demanded a con-
tingent of troops from their neighbours the Kirghises, and afterwards
subdued them.f t We are tokl by Petis de la Croix that the Tumats were
• Vttlc*a Marco Polo, sod Ed. . i. 299- t Sdunidt. PoracbMcm, Ac, 4S.
t Op. cit., ii. 478. f FiKhcr't Sibirifthe G««chi€tc« 3$, J G^ ciu, 155.
q Er4nana*s Tfnadiio, ib^ ** Yw lt*k Marco Palo» aod Bd.. L «!$•
It irotkaaon, i. 30. EntanaBB, 189. H Erdnuuin*! Temodjui. 355. riTlirtO, i. 157.
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684 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
SO terribly pniiished on this occasion that Jii^s himadf came to the rescue
of the survivors, and ordered their children to be educated and dieir
wives and dau|^ters to be married.*
After this the Tumats and their allies disappear from history for many
centuries. If there aie any native chronides extant among the Buriats
none of them have been made accessible to us, and we do not meet with
reliable notices <^ them until die Russian invasion of Siberia. We can
only dimly gather that during the interval they spread a good deal from
their original homeland. Of this we have ■ some evidence. Thus
Raschid himself tells us that the country on the Angara^ then
occupied by the UiradSy was the former homeland of the Tumats. And
on turning to the traditions of the Kalmuks, collected by Pallas, we find
that the most widely spread belief among them makes out that the four
sections of the Durben Uirads were originally the Eleuths, the Khoits, the
TummutSy and the Barga Buriats. These Tummuts can be no other
than the Tumats of Raschid. Pallas adds that the Kalmuks do not know
what has become of the Tummuts. They believe that they still exist in
Eastern Asia, and mention a fable according to which the roving spirit
Sharashulma, who is often the leader of tribes when wandering,
separated them from the other Uirads and led them far away.t We
must be careful to distinguish them from the Seven Tumeds, a tribe of
very modem origin among the Mongols of the Forty-nine Banners, whom
i have already described, and with whom they are confounded by Pallas
and Schmidt! Many of the Buriats still remain in the country watered
by the Angara and also in the land of Bargu, both of them inhabited, as
1 have shown, by the Barguts in the time of Jingis Khan. Another body
of them is now found on the Lena. This, however, seems to be an
intrusive section. Fischer has remarked that when the Russians con-
quered the Tunguses on the Lena the latter, who are clearly the old
inhabitants of this area, were tributaries of the Buriats, pointing to their
having been conquered by them ; and among the Yakuts, another
intrusive tribe, on the Middle Lena, who fonn a curious section of the
Turk race, there is a tradition that they comparatively recently
migrated down that river from the neighbourhood of the Baikal
lake, where they formerly lived on good terms with the Buriats,
but having quarrelled with them they were driven from their
old land. The movement of the Buriats to the Lena was perhaps
coincident with the migration of the Yakuts, and may have been con-
nected also with the displacing of the Tumats on the Angara by the
Uirads. It is curious that Baikal, meaning rich sea, is a Yakut and not
a Buriat gloss. Let us now turn to the later history of the Buriats. They
are first named, so far as I know, in the Russian annals in 1612, when we
• op. dt., xxs. t PallM, Sftml. Hist. Nacfa.. i. 7.
X PmllM, op. cit., i. 7. Suaaac SoUto* 373.
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THB BUKIATS. 685
read that the Siberian tribe oi the Arini submitted to die Russians,
and that a short time before the same Arini had been attacked by
theBuriats.* They" are next mentioned in 1622, when we are told they
appeared on the Yenissei with a body of 3,000 men^t but they seem to
have retired again. It was not dll 1627 that they came into actual
contact with the Russians. In that year Maxim Perfirief with forty
Cossacks was sent along the river Tunguska, and reached the so-called
Buriat waterfalls or rapids, made tributary the Tunguses on its banks,
aiid then went overland to the settlements of the Buriats, who refused
sabmission. He returned to Yeniseisk in 16284 The same year tbe
CossUck sotnik or captain, Peter Beketof^ with a party of Cossacks, bnih
the fort or setdement of Kibenskoi, whence he navigated the Tunguska
in canoes, passed the WaterfiaUs, and took tribute from the Buriats on the
Oka. He also carried off a number of Buriats as slaves, but these
were retumed.f The Cossack explorers of Siberia had a good deal of
the buccaneer about them, and their brave and dangerous^joumeys were
often made in search of plunder, furs, &c, which were easQy forced irom the
weak tribes. It would seem that rumours had reached the.Russians that
there was a good deal of silver among the Buriats. This came to diem
from China by way of the Mongols, and it was this winch appaiendy
induced the Voivode of Yeniseisk, Yakof Rhripunof, to make an
Expedition into dieir country. He set out from Tobolsk in the sjmng of
162S, and a year later reached the mouth of the Ilim, a tributary of the
Tlinguska. Leaving a small body of Cossacks there in charge of some
guns he bad taken with htm, and sending thirty others towards the Lena,
he marched widi the remainder to the Angara. He met with the Buriats
on the Oka, where we are told he was victorious, but his victory bore no
fruits, for he returned and almost immediately died. This expedition
also carried off twenty-^me Bnriats as slaves, but they were sent home
again.| The Russians now attempted to approach the Buriats in a more
diplomatic fsishion, sent diem bock some prisoners they had captured,
and sent two Cossadcs to them as envoys, but they. were not well
received, and one of them w:|s kUledlf
In 1631 the Russians built a fort near the mouth <^ the Oka, which
was given the name of Bratskoi from die Buriats in whose country it was
bidh. After the murder of the Cossack above named the Ataman
Maxim Perfirief, widi fifteen Cossacks, had made an expedition to
the Buriats. Each of them was preaeocted with a sable skin by the latter
in gratitude for the release of their friends above named. This present
was construed by the Russians into a paymient of tribute, but the
construction was resented by the Buriats, who also persuaded the
Tui^foses to. cease paying yassak.**
* Ftecher*a Sib. Ocach., i. 390. t Fischer, op. dt^ 999- MnUer, ^•'"'nnfc ftc, viii 137.
|Fitcliw,pp.ilt..477»47«. ♦M..4;^4«o. I PbdMr» ^ d W 485, 4Si.*
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686 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
In 1635 the Burials killed Dunaief and fifty-two Cossacks who formed
the garrison of the Bratzkoi ostrog, and carried <^ their guns and
ammunition.* A force was now sent from Yeniseisk to punish them*
They were speedily reduced, and the Russians extended their authority
so much among them that in 1639 the district subjea to the Ostrog at
Uratskoi extended from the Wichorefka, a tributary of the Angara, as £ar
as the Uda.t
Meanwhile the Cossacks were also advancing on die side of the Lena.
The Tunguses there were tributaries of the Buriats, and were forbidden by
the latter to pay the Russians tribute. The sotnik Beketof accordingly
set out to punish them. He had thirty men only with him, of whom he
left ten at Ust Kut.t With the rest he advanced to the river Kulenga,
where the Buriat steppe commenced. This was in 1631. After a march
of five days he came upon a body of 200 Buriats, who fled. The
Cossacks having entrenched themselves, sent to demand that they should
become Russian subjects. They promised to send them some furs in two
days as a tribute. Two of their chiefs accordingly went with sixty
followers.. They were allowed to enter the stockade after d^>ositing
their bows and arrows outside, and they then offered five wretched
summer sable skins and a rotten fox skin, almost denuded of hair. The
Russian commander was indignant, and saw that a trick was being
played upon him. While the Buriats, who seem to have had no intention
of becoming tributaries, pullc^d out the knives and daggers they had
hidden in their clothes, but Uie Russians were prepared and laid forty
of them on the ground, and wounded many of the rest, while they
only succeeded in killing three Tunguses (who were proteg<$s of the
Russians, among them being the Tungus chief Lipka), and wounding one
Cossack. Meanwhile the Buriats assembled outside to revenge their
dead countrymen. Beketof thought it prudent to retire, and having
mounted his men on Buriat horses, made a hasty retreat, riding in one
march twenty four hours together, and at length reached the mouth of
the Tutur, where his allies the Tunguses lived, and where he determined
to build an ostrog or settlement. §
A few years later, namely, in 1640, Wasilei Witesef was sent at the
head of ten Cossacks from llimsk along the Lena. He brought many of
the Tunguses into subjection, and then went to the Buriats at the mouth
of the Onga, a tributary of the Lena, from whom he demanded tribute.
Some excused themselves on the ground that they had already to pay
tribute to the Mongols on the other side of lake Baikal, whfle others
asked time for consultation with their friends. I Wasilei having returned
• W:, 490. t Id., 490.
X These numbers arc iuteresting m showing how very like Pizsrro's campAign io Peru this
RMsUn mtvABce wm. and with what very small bodies of troops Siberia was conquered.
f U,, ♦95-407- il '^» 723-7a».
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THE BUKIATS. 687
to Ilimsk, it was determined to prosecute a campaign against the
Buriats. One hmidred men, under his conuxiand, were accordingly
sent in the early spring of 1641. They marched on snow shoes, and
were guided by the Tunguses, and so surprised the Burials that in
three weeks they were made to submit. Their chief Chepchugai
kept up the struggle, however, and we are told he defended his yurt
bravely, and wounded many of the Russians with the arrows he shot
from it. He was only subdued when his tent was set on fire by the
Russians, and he had perished in it.* Having recovered from their panic,
the Buriats afterwards recommenced the struggle, and we are told that
Kurshum, Chepchugai's brother collected a body of 200 of them
and made an attack, in the hope <^ releasing his countrymen who had
been taken prisoners, among whom his son Chefdakom was the most
distinguished, a bloody struggle ensued, which lasted from dawn till
nightfall, in which the Buriats were at length beaten ofi^ akhough not
until the Russians had suffered severely.t This struggle seems to have
cowed the Buriats, and the Russians having offered to release their
prisoners, who were chiefly women, if they would go to them and do
homage and agree to pay tribute, Kurshum, who was now their head
chief, went to their camp. The prisoners were set free except
Chefdakom, Kurshum's son, whom the Russians wished to retain as a
hostage, and whose freedom was only purchased by his father agreeing
to become a hostile in his place.t Later in the year an ostrog was built
on the Lena to control these Buriats. This was called Werkholensk.|
In 1644 a sub-chief of Cossacks named Kurbat Iwanof, who commanded
at Werkholensk, made an apparently unprovoked attack on the Buriats
in the steppes of (he Angara, and returned with much booty. This
caused an alliance between the Angara Buiiats and those of the Lena,
who determined upon a joint expedition against Werkholensk. They
accordingly carried off the Russian cattle there and beleagured the fort.
They were 2,000 strong, were all mounted, armed with bows and arrows,
with swords and lances, and many of them wore coats of mail ; but they
did not take the fort, although its garrison was only fifity strong. But
they did not pay tribute that year, and they so frightened the Tunguses
that they also stayed away with their yassak. The following year Alexei
Bedaref, with 1 30 Cossacks, was sent from Ilimsk to relieve the fort. On
the way he defeated a body of 500 Buriats, and when he came near
Werkholensk the besiegers withdrew. He turned aside to attack one
of the jQuriat camps, which he surprised in the absence of the warriors,
and took some prisoners. He then went on to Werkholensk, where he
was followed by the Buriats. They prayed him to release theh* people,
which he did on condition that they became tributary. The following
• Wm 7*3. 7afi. t /rf., 726, I Id,, 727. i W., 72S.
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6HS HISTORY OP THE MOMOOLS.
year, U^ in 1646^ he marched against another of their tribes, but. it
8ho«»ed a bold front Notwithstanding this the Russians overcame then,
and also succeeded in subduing a third tiibe. But meajEiidiik die Buriats
began to collect together in laige numbers from the neighbourhood
round, and. Bedaref deemed it prudent to retire to WeiUutoiskt ii^ich
he had some difficulty in reaching.* The same year Bedaref had a
campaign with the BudaU beyond the Angara. In this he was at first
suocessfiil, but as he returned his retreat was cut off by 2,000 of the enemy,
and he lost oumy of his men in a struggle with thenx. The Buriats, how-
ever, lost heart in turn and retired, and he reached Weridiolensk in safety.
Emboldened by their success, diey seem in 1648 to have bekagured
Weridiolensir, Ust knt, and even Ilimsk, but the Russian firearms and
their vigorous poficy was an ovennalch for the poorfy armed Buriats, and
in the can^Mugn which followed they lost many horses, cattle, and other
booty. A pordon of it was carried off by the Bunats in a subsequent
engagement, but the Russians managed to secure their prisoners.! In the
foUowii^.year the campaign was urged vigg^ously against them in the
district of the Lena, their tribes weoe subdued one after another, their
confederacy was broken up, and many of them fled beyond the Baikal to
thw countrymen the Afongob ; but they were no better off there and
returned again. At length, after a devastating and bloody stn^;gle,
idiich lasted over many years, they were about 1655 cowed and 8ttli|ie<$ed.|
And after this the Lena Bunats may be looked iqMia as Russian subjects
and as following the fortunes of the Russians in Siberia. Let us now
turn once more to their brethren on the Angara and its tributaries.
In 1647 the Bunats on the Uday^who were ai^iarently threatened by
the Mongols, sent an enVoy to Kmsnoyarsk to make a treaty of peace
with the Russians. Their dnef, wfap was called Uanko^ went shortly
after in person with his son and a small party to ask that the Russians
would build an ostrog m his country, psutly to protect them against the
Mongols and also as a place where they might receive their tribute. This
request was acceded to, and a small fort was botit on the eastern bank of
the Uda, which was allied Udinskoi.i Their fidelity was not very firm,
for on the disappearance of the Mongol dai^psr they seem to have fidlen
upon the Cossacks who were sent to them to collect tribute and to have
killed them. This was in 1649. In 1652 they were once more brought
to submission by a Russian force commanded by Kirilht Bnnakoll
In 1648 the post of Bratskoi was removed fixna its old slbrntion at the
mouth of the Oka on td the odier bankof the Angara. Its new site was
a very fruitfid one, and the ground was espedally productive in gvain,
and, returned tenfoM of what was sown. This removal seems to have
excited the jealousy of the Buriats in die nejs^ibouriiood, who i^MUed,
•Phchor,op.dt.,73it-73X. t FlKhtr, of. dt., 731-755. M^ny^
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THE BURIATS. 689
and in 1650 paid no yassak or tribate^ and were only restored to
obedience by tbe practised and skilful band of Maxbn Perfirief, the
former governor of Bratsk<M, who had gained considerable inftaence
there.* After this^ Bratskoi was once more removed to its old site on
the Oka. This was in 1654, and the remoival was superintended by
Dimitri Firstly who was ordered to build another ootpost on the
Anganut This second post was called Balaganakoi, and was situated
about six versts above the outflow of the Unga, and opposite the island
of Osinkoi. It was so named after a tribe of Bnriats called Bok)gat, wiio
Hved on the rivers Ui^ga and Ossa4 Before this oetrog was built the
Bologats had been plundered by the Russians under the pretence of
collecting tribute from them^ and directly alter it was completed 1,700 of
them became Russian subjects, and the Ai^[ara became a Russian river
as far as the great sea of Baikal They founded a colony at Balagansk^
and proceeded to work the iron mines in the ne^boorfaood, which had
long been known to the inhabitants.f The Bolofats desired the Russians
to send to Uieir brethren on the rivers BielSy Kitoi« and Irioit, three
feeders of the Angara wfaidi flow into it from the west, to reduce them
also ; but, as the sententious Fischer says, it is often easier to conquer
than to retain. In 1658 the heavy hand of Ivan Pokhabof, the governor
of Balagansk, caused an outbreak among the Bologats, who killed the
Russians who were sent to them and fled. The Russians pursued them
to the rivers Biela, Kitoi, and Irknt, but they fled southwards to
llie Mongols. So great waS die migration that in 1659 hardly any
yassak was taken to Balagansk. The following year the Mongols carried
off the few remaining Boriats that remained in this part of the country.|
The Russians had now come dose to the sacred lake of the Buriats,
the great Baikal Sea. The first Russian who navigated it was Kurbat
Ivanof, who had marched from Yakutsk in 1643 with not more than
seventy-five men. With these he made a binding on the isle of Olkhon,
and defeated the Buriats iHio lived there, and who were 1^000 strong.^
In 1646 another Cossack named Kolesnikof set out from Yeniseisk and
skirted the northern shores of the Baikal with a body of men, and went
as far as the upper Angara, which flows mU the Baikal, and buih an
ostrog there^ which he called Werkhangarskoi. This was in 1647.
While wintering there he heard that some Mongob, who encamped
on lake Yeralna (between the rivers Baigurin and Selinga), were rich in
silver. This excited his cupidity, as it did that of Khripumof, already
aientioned. He accordingly sent four Cossacks with a chief of the
Tungoses to explore. They proceeded along the river Barguxin as fer as
the lake Yerafiia, and as they met with no Moikgols they continued on as
• riMher. Of. d*., 75S-797*
t«Wyy. lid.,74M- IM..7W. |/A,744> %Id.,74^
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69P HISTORY OF THB MONGOLS.
te as the Sdiofa. They there met with a powerful Mongol diief named
Tanikaiotahaiit who xecdved them well and gave them some gold, and
two silver bowls. He also told them that these predous metals were not
found in his coontiy, bat that they were obtained from the Chinese. He
also sent a body of M<mgols to escort them back to the Baigusin.
Kolesnikofnowretumedto Yeniseisk, and thence to Moscow. This was
in 1647.* Meanwhile another expedition had set out in 1646 from
Yeniseisk to tatpLart the BaikaL This consisted of eighty-four men,
and was commanded by Ivan Pokhabof. He made tributary the Buriats
who lived on the river Ossa, and buUt a fort on an island opposite
where that river faUs into the Angara. He also imposed a tribute on the
Buriats who lived on die Irkut, and the following year set out for the
southern shores of the BaikaL He attacked the Mongols who lived
there and took some of them prisoners. They turned out to be subjects
of Turukai, who had behaved so well to the Russians the year before,
and with whom wem then staying four Cossacks who had been sent to
him by Kolesniskot One of these was sent to ask for the lelease of the
captured Mongols. Mutual explanations followed, and peace was once
more restored. Pokhabof had heard from the Buriats on the Angara
that they obtained their silver from a Mongol Khan named Zisan (<>^
the Setzen Khan of the Khalkhas whom I have previously described),
who was &ther-in-law to Turukai, and lived not far from the Selinga.
Pokhabof asked Turukai to supply him with some guides to his fother-in*
law's urga or camp. Turukai, ^dio suspected the object of his visit, and
knew how hopeless it was to seek for silver in Mongolia, neverthdess
distrusted the policy of admitting such powerful neighbours into the
heart of his country. He therefore adopted the plan of conducting
them by such a circuitous route that it took them two months to traverse
what ought to have been gone over in a fortnight. The Russians learned
from the Setzen Khan that any gM and silver he had, he obtained by
trade with the Chinese. Pokhabof returned to Yeniseisk in 1648. On
his return the inhabitants of Yeniseisk sent Ivan Galkin with sixty
Cossacks to make the tribes about the Baikal tributary. When he
arrived on the Barguzin he built an ostrog, which became the nucleus of
the Russian possessions beyond the great sea. It was given the name of
Barguzinskoi.
In 1650 an envoy from the Setsen Khan of the Khalkas, who had been
to Moscow, was returning home with some Russians, when several of
the latter were murdered by the Buriats on the Baikal at a place called
Pasolskoi muis, i>., cape of the envoys, and a monastery was afrcrwaids
erected on the spot.
The Buriats on the Irkut were made tributary, as I have described, by
•Fiitter»7sa-7S4-
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THE BURIATS. 691
Bokhabof in 1646. It was not, however, till 1661 that an ostrog was
bwk on that ihrw:, which became the nucleus of the now Camous city of
lfkntsk.«
I gather nothing mat from Fischer as to the Russian conquest of the
Buriats beyond the BaikaL They formed, in fiurt^ but a small element in
the popi^tion of the TVans-Baikal country or Dauria^ where the
Tunguses were the predominant race. With the subjection of the latter
Fischer deals in considerable detail. So does MuHer in his great
collection on Russian history, but I can find nothing about the conquest
of the Buriato there. Later autliors, such as Georgi, Pallas, GmeUn,
&C., merely describe the manners and customs of the Buriats, aud tell us
Uttle or nothii^ about thefar history. It U very probable that the Trans-
Baikal Buriats were as easily subdued and became as feithful subjects as
those on this side of that sea. The Buriats have of late years been a
good deal sophisticated. Many of them have been baptised, whHe a
large number of the rest have forsaken their old allegiance to Red
Lamaism and Shamanism and been converted by the Yellow Lamas. It
now remains to give a conqiectus of their various tribes and fragments
as they were in 1766, when Pallas and Geoigi wrote thdr accounts of
them.t
1. Ih Uu district of Irkutsk were two tribes named Buyan, one of 171,
the other of 454 males ; two tribes of Abaganat, one 188, the other 479;
the Ashagabat of 596; Karamut, 270; Babai, 89J Chenoriit, 90;
Kurkut, 191 ; Karokut, 530; Chetshelo, 65; Chitut, n6; Kurumchin,
743 ; Algut, 56.
2. In the district of Werkholensk.'-T^ait Abasai, in two tribes,
numbering 1,639 males, of whom 4^ live on the isle of Olkhon ; two
tribes of Chenorut, together 1,098 ; Hingudur, 581 ; Bayin Tabin, 306 ;
Ura Kolbonda, 801 ; Olsanai, 415.
7^^ Living among the TungHses.'-l\it'T}x\,\xx^\<^l\ Otshut,34r» Kulen,
224.
4. /« the district of Balaganskoi.'-'TYit Walsai, 356 ; Kubnet, 396 ;
Sharat, 79; Bikat, 200; Noyet, 103; Sungar, 135; Kholtubai, 289;
Murui,370j Ikanat,269; Ongoi,242; Ongotu,8o; Bpioldoi,9a
5. In the distria of Tunkinskoi.^'nkt Tirtdi, 370; Muwi, 370;
Khonrat,346; Rirkult,a24;Khonkhodoi, 2,319; Sholot,i76; Badarkhan,
73 ; Irkut, 122 ; Chichidar, 33 ; Sharamut, 105 ; Sayektai, 206 ; Zengen-
diin, 195.
6. In the district of Ilinskoi were five bands, which together number
713 males.
7. /«i?«Ar»MrZ>iwna, and especially on the river Uda, lived the eleicen
tribes of the so^aUed Khorin Buriats (i>., Sheep Buriats). They were
•FkclMr»76i. t PilluSttBl.HiM.N«elL»ftc.i.x3. Georgi, Reiat. L 496.
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69a HISTORY OF THB 1I0N00L8.
thus named:— The Kemkitt, 3f09o; Gelit, ifOoj; Batngid, 641;
Kulduty 1,556; Khuaxan, 1,573; Bataaai^ 534; Sharah, 856; Khadai,
1,108 ; Zagan, 535 ; Kolbit, 506 ; Gntshil, 653. The Khodna were in
Ctorg^t time subject to a chief named Detdahi Olboiicf ; hit special
tribe was that of the Kaiakuts.*
8. Ih tA€ dnirki 0/ UiUHsA oMiiS^UMgmskwtnih^ioS^omi^
Golot, 572| Noyet, 179; Band, ao8; Ongoi, 55^; Ongoto, 159; Khoi-
tubal, 258; Kingultu, I61 ; Irkidei, 168; Sharaldai, aao; Kharangui,
fonning two tribes, togedier 987 ; Chenonit, 349 ; dson, 193 ; Bahai
and Khurumchi together, 185; Bomol and Tutulor,a35 ; and Afaigui,
17a.
Georgi does not mention the last seven names ; but this district was
especially well known to Pallas, who had trareOed there, and he is no
doubt right He says the Buriats altogether nnmbeied about yifioo men,
f>., of men paying tribute. Besides those above enumerated were some
small broken chms about the Udinskoi ostrog and Krasnoyarsk.t
Pallas tells us that besides the Boriau who Hved near the Sdii^^a
subject to Russia, there were the following clans of Mongols proper
living in that district :— Zongol, numbering 1,484 males who paid tribute ;
Ashekhabat, 832 ; Tabungut, divided into three sections, together 865 ;
Sartol, 813 ; Attagan, 1172 ; Khachagan, 315 ; and dose to Selenginsk,
332 ; altogether 5,713 males. They were doubtless the descendants of
the subjects of Tunikai above mentioned.
*Op.cit^sg7. t0^dt*i.i4.
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NOTES, CORHECTIONS, AND ADDITIONS.
Page 4, line 39. Read Kho ti, and not Cho si.
M 5* »ff a6. Read Crequir, and not Ereqoir.
„ II, „ 34, Replace the full stop after Diarbdce by a comma.
„ 14, „ 28. Insert ** the '* between George and Poorth.
ti l^f •> 19* Insert a comma after Gnirdkuh.
I* i7t tf 41* RcA^ lives, and not lived.
„ 20, „ 13. I have remitted the proof that the Naimans were Tories to
these notes, and I will now adduce them : —
Schmidt and D^Avezac have leaned to the opinion that they were Mongols,
relying almost entirely on the fact that a small and obscure tribe of the Porty-
nine Banners is still called Naiman. Beyond this, I do not know of a tittle of
evidence to support such a conclusion. Now, as Naiman merely means eight
in Mongol, this coincidence in name proves very little, while the evidence that
the Naimans against whom Jingis fought vrere Turks seems to me irresistible.
In the first place, if there is a small tribe of Eastern Mongols called Naiman,
there are several very imporunt tribes of Turks so called. Thus one division
of the U^begs is called the Uighur Naiman. The Uzbegs are typical Turks.
So are the Kirghiz Kazaka. According to M. Spaski, whose account has been
abstracted by Klaproth,* we find a tribe of Naimans consisting of 35,000
fiimilies, another of 4,000 families, a tribe of Naiman*Kungrat of 15^000 families,
and another of Baganalin-Naiman of 6^000 families. Rytschkof disddes the
Middle Horde into four sections, of which he says that of the Naimans is the
most powerful. Falk also says that its most important tribe is that of the
Naimans. Again let us turn to another confederacy of Turks, namely, the
Proper Kirghises or Buruts. We find from Captain Valikhanof ^s description
of Sungaria, translated by Michell, that tribes of Naimans have joined them.
Here, then, is a large array of Turkish tribes called Naiman to set against
the obscure tribe of Mongolia, iiet us now go somewhat further. Levchine,
whose account of the Kirghiz Kasaks is most detailed and reliable, tells us the
Naimans do not belong to the primitive confederacy of the Kazaks, but Joined
them at the time the Jelairs, Karluks, and other tribes did so. Valikhanof
describes the Naimans among the Kirghises as an alien tribe who have joined
tnem. These statements show that the present Naimans are fragments of a
former race which has been scattered, and when we consider that the Kazaks
and the Kirghises were in immediate contact with the old area occupied by the
*- B«toochtuiig and WiderltOBg <ler Fortchongso iieb«r die gcachichte der If ittei-Aiiati-
Voihw dss Hsmi, J. J. Schmidt, 40*
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694 HISTORY or THE MOKGOLS.
Naimtns in the time of Jingia, we an led imsittibly to the coacliieioQ that
these fragments are the descendants of the old Naiaans, and that Omnhn
the Naimans are typical Tarks.
On turning to another daas of evidence, namely, the linguistic, we shall find
that the names home by the old Naiman chiefs, the only rdica we have of their
language, were Turkish. Thus the earliest of the Naiman sovereigns on record
was Inandj Belgeh Buhu Khan. Inahdj is a Turkish name, meaning believing,
and is derived from the verb inanmak, to beHeve ; Belga is also Turkish, and
means wise, belog derived from bilmek. Bugu or Buku is the same as bogha,
which in Turkish means a bull. It was the name of the famous king of the
Uighur Turks, to whom I shall refer presently.* Inandj left two tons named
Bai Buka and Buyumk. The former of whom is generally referred to by his
Chinese title of Tai-wang, cormpted by the Mongols into Tayang.
Buyumk is a title in Turkish meaning commander, and we are told was
borne (like that of Kushluk, which in Turkish means powerfol, or that of Khan,
which is common to Turks and Mongols) by sill the Naiman chiefs.t One of the
Naiman generals was called Sairak. He was dumamed Kuksu, whkfa we are
told was the Turkish (or one with a pain in the chest.) But the mtcmt importan
fact is the eutement of Raschid, who, when speaking of the Bajrauts, tells us tha^
one of- their chiefs was named Ungiir Kaisat, and adds that Kaisat in the
Naiman tongue {Le,j in the Turkish) was equivalent to Bekaul (»'.#., in the
MoogoJ).) Von Hammer translates Kaisat by the carver or chief of the
kitchen, g-
Ede Tukluk is named as one of the Naiman chiefs.^ Raschid tells us this
name is Turkish for he who knows the seven parts of wisdom.**
These -several £aicts make it almost certain that the Naimans were Tnrics. I
may mention that the place in the Naiman country called Sehets in the text,
page 20, line 15, also occurs in Raschid*8 account of the Mekrins,tt who lived
near the country of Bishbalig, so that it probably represents some place on the
southern frontier of the Naiman country.
Page 21, line 13. The evidence that the Uighurs were Turks is overwhelming.
They were the subject of a long controversy between Klaproth and Schmidt, in
which the va&t knowledge of the former enabled him to defeat the latter at every
point, and there is no one I suppose now who disputes the fact of their having
been Turks. The Eastern Turkish dialect, of which a dictionary has been
published by M. Vambery, is in (act known as the Uighur dialect. Among the
proofs adduced by Klaproth are the following :— The Chinese historians tell us
that the people who were called Uighur during the Mongol domination were
known as Kao chang during the dynasty of the Thang. The language of the
Kao chang, of which we possess a vocabulary of about Soo worda, is pure
Eastern Turkish. Raschid distinctly says the Uighurs were Turks. The
missionary friars who went as envoys to the Mongols in the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries tell us the Uighur language was of the true Turk and
* Klaprotb, Nonv. Journ. Asiatiqae, xiv. 338. t D*OhMOtt, i. 37.
; Td., i. 57. Erdmann't Temujin, 239. Nota. ) /if., ais*
i-Erdmum* 272. ^ Id. NoU 81.
** Voa Hsma^er's Ilkhant. L id, and id,» Kots 3. . ft £rdinaBB*t Tenmyia, m.
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HISIMY OP TBS UOmOOtB. 69$
Cofnan Stock. Tho CbinMe htttoriimt who wrate doriag tlie Moogol dyiiitty
tall us tbt Uiglivrt were o£ the tame race as Um Hoti ho, and tiul their
langoafea were ideaHcal. Now all the Hoei hu wovde pieeeiiel by the
Chinese are Twldsh. Tin Crim Talais speak a tongue which was called
linfua Qgnresca by the Oenosse, and ef wMdi Von Hammer pnbliehcd a
vecabolaiy in the Mines, de rOrient, hr. 399.* AhmCvadj calls the Uighen a
Tarkish people. Uhigh Bef» a descendant of Timttr*s, gives as the names of
the twdve-jear cycle in the Ui|^ tongue, which he calls Tarkish; he also
gives the names of the months in Uighnr^ These have keen eiamined by
IQaproth,t and have besn shown to he nearly all Turkish. In the work jott
quoted may be fidund a vast mass of Cscts making certitude doubly certain.
There is another question in rsgard to the Uighurs which I believe has been
the foosdation of a great deal ol nusunderstanding. We are told by Etdmann,
who is doubtless quoting from Raschid, that after the capture .cf Yengigent by
Jaji in 1218, the Ulus Beds returned home to its head-quarters at Karakorum,
and was replaced by 10,000 Turkomans4 D*Obsson{ and Von Hammer both
state the same fact of the Uighurs. This points to Bede and Uighur having
been synonymous terms. Schmidt tells us that in the Thibetan work named Nom
Oharkhoi Todorkhoi TolK, the Northern Mongols are called Badii Hor.| Now
we know from Mr. Hodgson^s researches upon the tribes of Thibet that Hor or
Hor pa is the name, not of the Mongols who are called Sok or Sok pa by the
Thibetans, but of the Uighurs, and there can be small doubt that by Biidii Hor
the Uighurs who lived to the north of Thibet were meant, and that the term is
used as the correlative of Shara Uighur or Shara Sharaigol, by which the
Uighurs who live more to the south and mixed with the ThibeUns were dis-
tinguished. This use of the term Bede or Biidii, as denoting those to the north at
once connects it with the Pe ti, one of the Chinese names Sot their northern neigh-
bours, and which means merdy northern barbarians. This identification, which
was countcaanced by the very great authority of Abel Remusat, was objected to
on, I believe, veiy insufficient grounds by Klaproth. The name Pe ti occurs in
the Chinese narrative as early as the days of Confucius, and then represents
the tribes who lived in the districts between the Chinese firontier and (lie great
desert, and who were doubtless Turks. De Guignes in fact identifies the
Pe H with the Hiong nu (who were Turks).ir The Pe ti or Bede were
doubtless, as Schmidt has suggested, the Batce of Ptolemey and the Betse of
Ammianus Marcellinus, who describe them as tribes of Series. The name has
no connection^ so far as I know, with the Mongols, but is properly applied to
the Uighurs and other Turks on the Thibetan "iuid Chinese frontiers, and has
been applied to the Mongols only by Ssanang Setsen and his commentator
Schmidt. The former's probable reason for so doing I have already given.**
Vt is carious that Erdmann speaks of the two divisions of the country of the
Turkish tribe of the Kirghises as Khins are Bede and Bede Urun.tt
* iOaproth, Tsblesax Historittoes de TAtie., rax, las.
t B«l«achtuiic sod Wid«rlcfaiig der Fortchnofeo dea Herrn, J. J. Schmidt, xo, u.
I Brdmton't Tenrnjia, 373, 374. f D'Ohtsoa, i. 233. I Schmidt, Porschanfra, ftc, 55.
% Id., snd in De Guifnea, Hiet. dea Hubs, L s* " Ante, 32, Ac
tt Brdmsnn'e Temii4jin, 31
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696 HTRORT OF THE MONOOLS.
Page ai, line 19. For Ottat mA (Mm.
„ 23, ,, 13. The Ktniti. Bo hg m I know Ui«f« km bten a perfect
agreement among all the autbora who have hithcflo wrkteo «bo«t the lf<Migelft
or about PreaCer John in making tbm Keraitt Mongoki 1 hare held that
opinion very ftroly myaelf, and did ao, at aaaj b« lecn •« turning to Chapter,
X., devoted to the Keraiu and Torgiit% tfll veiy lately. But aOer a gieat deal
of thought and of aifting of evidence^ I am coBvinced thaft that position is a
fidte one, and that the Kecaits wem not Moogola hot Tnrka. If we examine
the direct evidence upon wfaidi the Keraita have been tieated at Mongola, it
will be found to be veiy feeble. It conaiati mainly in the bet that Jingia Khan
had intimate reUtkma with their chiet This is not much. So he had with
the chiefe of the Karluka and Uighora, who are everywhere allowed to have
been Turks. Pallas and others pohited ont that the chief family among the
Torgnts is still called Keret ; but as Kerait ia o6mposed of the particle kara,
which both in Turk and Mongol mean merefy black, this is very weak evidence.
How weak may be seen when we find that not a family merely, but the
principal tribe among the ICrghises proper or Buruts is still called Kirei,
while there are two tribes among the Kirghis Kazaks, one of the Little
Horde and the other of the Middle, respectively called Kereit and Kirei,
while it is very probidrfe that the name Ghirei, by which a famons family
in the history both of the Kasaks and of Crtm vms. known is but a form of the
same name. Now, while we know of n6 tribe among the Mongols bearing the
indigenous name Kerait, save the small fiunily I have mentioned among the
Torguts, it is carious that Kliiet is the generic name by which the BuriaU call
the Chinese.* It is also a very remarkable fact that no ancient author, so £»> as
I know, calls the Keraits Mongols. RMdiid dasaes them among the people
who afterwards adopted the name of Mongol He pats them in a separate
class with five others ; none of which are Mongols, four being Turkish, and
the fifth (the Tanguu) Thibetan. Marco Polo does not mention the Keraits
by name, with him Preeter John is merely the ruler of Tenduch. Carpini does
not name them either, for, as we shall show, the Mekrits and Merkiu were in
reality the same people. Rubmquls is in the same position, for he has
transferred his Prester John to the Crit and Merkit (f««., to the Mekrits and
Merkits). On the other hand, in the notice of AbulCaradj quoted in the loth
chapter, and which is the very first mention we have of either Prester John or
of the Keraits, we are tokl that the king of the Keryt lived in the inner Turk
land. In another place the same aolhor speaks of him as ruling over a tribe
of barbarian Huns called Keryt.t Khondemir speaks of the Keraits as Turks4
We thus see that there is no direct evidence in favour of making the Keraits
Mongols. Let us now examine the names of the tribes which composed the
Kerait nation, i. The Keraits. This, which gave its name to the race was,
as I have said, compounded of the particle kaca, meaning black both in
Turkish and Mongol. 2. The Chirkirs. This may be compared with a tribal
name among the Turks, who frequently refier to the Kirghises as the
Khirkhin 3. Tanguts. This is clearly the same name as that of the tribe
* Qeorgl't RaiM., L s^s* t Opptrt** PrMbyter Johaanet, 88 sad ga. IM*,9>> Nols.
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SISTO^Y OP THE 1IQII00L8. 697
which g»vo Ht tt«BM to Tangttt, and which wn oartaialsr aol MoogoL 4.
Sakayit. Aflwog tha Ucbegs I find a tribe called Sayat.* The other two
namet, Aliat and Tobant, I catinot illiiatrale.
Let U8 now torn to the namet of their chieft. The first of them recorded
by Raschid is Merghus or Marcus Bayoruk Khan. The first of these names
has been compared with theChristiao name Mark, and is a veiy probable name
for a Nestorian king* Buyomk is Turkish, and means emperor.t It was a
name borne by some chiefo ef the Turkish Nahnans itham I have already
described.
Merghos Biiyorak had two sons, Kmjakna Bnyvruk and Gar Khan.
Buynnik is the Torkish title again repeated. Our Khan is a title which was
home by the chief of Khara Khitai, who, althoui^ a Khitan by origin, was to
aU intenU and porpoaes a Tnridsh sovereign. The son of Knijakaa waa
Tngml or Thngnil, a fismoos name among the Turks, borne by many of them,
such as the Seljuk Saltan, Ac. These facts point to the Keraits havhig been
Turks, a condusion which ia much confinned and made alnost condnaive, if
we conaider some others. I have nothing to add to what I have said in Uie
tenth chapter ahoat the poeitioo of the Kerait coontry; in which my con-
clusions are those oi Colonel Yale, namely, that Tendudi waa situated not Ihr
firom Koko KhoUn, and to the north of the Ordus country. If we torn to the
Chinese historians we shall £ul to find any mention of either M oikgola or
Shi wd, the ancestors of the Mongob in this part of the cooatry befixe the
days of Jingis Khan, and yet, as the Kerait sovereign had the title of Wang,
and from the meagre accounts we have of him, seems to have had considerable
intercourse with China, this is curious. It is no less remarkable that until
the time of Jingis we do not meet with the name of Kerait even in the Chinese
annals. It was a new name to the Chinese, but that it waa an old tribal
name on the frontier we know from the atatement of AbuUaradj. This being
so, we are forced to look fix* some other name ; and as we have shown reasons
for holding the Keraits to have been Turks, we need not fear a Tnrkiah name ;
and as the Keraits were Christians, we may be even more pieciae^ and look for
the only Christian Turks we know, namely, the Uighnra, called Chui khu or Hoei
Hu by the Chinese. And what do we find ? We are told that when the Uighur
empire at Karakorum was broken up a large portion of the race went south-
wards and settled on the Chinese firontier. We are expressly told by Visdelou
that they attacked the town of Thiente (i^^ Tendnch), where they were
defeated by a Chinese general, and that one section of them submitted to the
Emperor. The other, under thdr Khan, asked permission to settle at (hin vn,
a request which was refused by the Emperor, although he sent them * great
^quantity of grain to asdst them in their distress. The following year th^
attacked the Chinese borders, and, having committed great ravages, actually
settled between the towns of Thiente and Chin vu. Another body, under the
Khan, encamped south of the town of Ta tung fit, in the mountains Liu-
men -shan. Several of the grandees of the Uighurs submitted to the Emperor,
and were rewarded with titles, and many of their foUowers seem to have
'■V«Db«7'tTraf«is,3^ Note. t I^OImioii, i. 9^ NoC«,
3T
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69t ninoftv Of THB MoaiGou.
> Chioet t«tjtcu> TIm Qiteeie toght Mvtral esgafemeatt with thek
m«in'bodx,wliich«red«UiMbyVlidiloa.« At tliittiiM other hordes of them
oycrnm leveral proviocet of Tangvt mad tocded thort, etpocialljr in the
ditlrktt of 8hA chan and Kua chaa, and aa fur tomb at the river Chaidam,t
It ■aeroi clear, 10 fiict, that the whole of the northern frontier of the {Mretent
Chinete empire, fion Sachiu to the bordert of the province of Pehcfaefali, wat
occopied by the Uighnrt, and among the placet tpeciaUy mentioned at to
occupied are Thiente and Ta ten^^ which have been identified on the beat
evidence with Tendoc, the conntiy of the Keraitt.
In regard to the religion of the Uif^nrt, Carpini tellt ut they were Chrittiant
of the tect of the Netloriant4 Rnbruquit tayt that in aU their cities these wat a
mixtnre of Nettoriant and Saracent {ia,, Bf nttolmans),! and adds the following
interttling tentence ; — *^ Et ipta Caracamm (Karakoram) est qnaai in territoris
eonun et tola terra regis aive Prtabiteri Johannis et Uoc fratris ejns drta terras
eorum M$4lisfi m pdtemt ad mfuikmtm^ iUi Yt^^mers ittltr m^mta ad mindmrn^ if
we consider that he Identified Preeter John with the niler of the Mekriu and
M erkitSy who mled at Karakonun. This looks very like an actual statement
that the people of the moonUins of the Prester John, i>., of Tendoc, />., the
Keraitt, were Uighurt. The name Tarti, f>., infidel, whith wat applied to the
Uighnrt by many writert indicatet, tayt Colonel Yule, the extentive prevalence
of Nettorian Chrittianity among them.| De la Croix tells a stocy which also
points ia the direction wo have been arguing. He says that before Jingis
Khan invaded Khaarexm he had a dream, in wbicb a Christian bichop appeared
to him. On repeating this to his wifo, a danghter of Prester John*s, she said
it waa the same person who had often given counsel to her father, and in
consequence he summoned the U^ttr bishop of Mardenha to him.^ This
concurrence of testimony of various Unde pointt to clearly to my mind to the
Keraitt being detcended from the Uighurt, that I feel ooUipelled to accept it.
I believe that when the empire of Hia conquered the varioot townt on ilt
northern frontier, whidi were occupied by the Uighurt, that the Uighurt north
of the Ordut country, who were ruled perhapt by descendantt of Qhao
mo te prince of the Uighurt, who wat granted the title of Hoai i kton wang
by the Chinese Bmperor, and who seemt to have lived in thit very dittrict,^
remained independent, and conttituted the Chrittian kingdom of the kerait%
which has been such a pussle to all inquirers.
Pag* 33> ^^ <5* At hi the case of the Nalmans and the Keraits, I have
remitted the proof that the Bf erkiu were Turks and not Mongols to these
notes. The quettion in their cate it |>y no meant an easy one to solve, and
our conclusion is in effect but a tentative one. In the first place, it it dear
that neither the name If eridt nor thote of itt constituent tribes are known, so
fitf as I know, as surviving anywhere, either among the Mongols, Kalmuks,
or Turks. It is pr«>bable, therefore, that it is not the indigenous name, but one
given to the tribe by itt nei^^bours, and it may be connected with the Mongol
term Merged, meaning an archer. The indigenous name is more probably
* Viadelou, iSi-HS- t RlsRrotb, B^kuchtimg, Ac.. 6x.
X D*Ave<ac, 38a. f /i&. afla And s88. I Catliftjr and tbt Way Thither, 303. Nots.
* % Op, dt, 1. 150. •• VJirtUse, IH*
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HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS. 699
Udiqnit, to which I have already ftiimd. Of the cwmtitotnt tribes that
formed the Merldt nation one, accordinf to BrdBumn, ia called Uighvr.
DtNiMon calla it Ohux. Thia \n a cnriotta fiMt, and points to the face having
had tome rdationa with the Tuilct.
Ratchid naea 6ie names If erUta and Mehrits as eynenynii of the same race,
so does Ahnlghasi who talks of the Meridts also called Mekrits. Marco Polo
mentions only Mescrip or Mdvit, where most odier writers pat Meridt. The
Chinese authors speak only of one tribe, namely, the Mie U ki, while Rubroqnis
speaks of Unk Khan, or Wang Khan, as ruling over the Grit and Merkit In
opposition to an this weight of authority, tiiere ia only the statement of Carpini,
who divides the Mongol race into ftmr sections, of ndiich he mikes the Merkit
one, and the Mekrit another, and yet every aathor known to me has chosen to
follow the lame sutement, lame at every point of the Franciscan fHar, and I
confess to having been led away tike the rest. This has been chiefly oat of a
^m/v conctasion that the Keratts were a secthm of the Mongols, and moat be
identified with the ICrit of Rttbraqnis, or ttie Mekrit of CarpinL After o^lecting
farther evidence I am quite satisfied that Carptnrs statement is quite unreliable,
and that Mekrit and Mefkit are synonyms for the same race, which is also
sometimes called Megriii or Begrin.* I have already said that the Uighurs
formerly hdd court at Karakorum, whidi was apparently their northern
capital, in close contact with the country of the Merkits, and also that one
of the Merkit tribes was called Uighur. Now it is a very remarkable
fkct that Raschid also names another tribe, Begrin or Megrin, who he says
Iwed in the mountain Sehets, ifi Uighuristan. He tells us their country
lay next to the special ultis of Kaidu Khan, who accordingly appropriated
it. Jingis Khan married Mugat Khatun, tiie daughter of their chief, but
be had no children by her. The mother of Kashin, the son of Kaidu, named
Sipegineh, was also a Megrin or Mekrit.t This mention of Mekrits in Uighuri-
stan stands hy no means alone. 80 eariy aa the narrative of Theophylactus
Simonocatta, we find him mentioning the Mukrit« {ia.^ the Mekrits) as living
in the close neighbourhood of the people he calls Thngas. Lassen, Klaproth,
Cotond Yule« and others have agreed in referring this name to China, and
making it a comiption of Tamghadj. I believe this to be an error, neither the
description nor the situation suit China. Taugas is word for word the Tagazgaa
of the Araba, by which they designate the Uighurs. This identificatioo which
I believe to be in a great measure new, clears up yery materially many
difBcalties in Eastern history. Mekrits lived on in this district of Uighuristan
tin a much later date, and we find them mentioned so late as the time
OfTimur.
This concurrence of focts, that of Merktts living in contact with the old Uighur
country, of one of their tribea being still called Uighur. and of Merkits and
Mekrits being found in close contact with Uighurs in the south, as weH as the
north, makes the conclusion very probable that they were in foct related to
the Uighurs. It may be that they formed one of the two sections, into
* ErdmannN Temudjin, 185. Extrsctt from JUtchid, SJ- Abolghssi, Bd. Octm.. S3
O'ATc/ac in the Rtcu^l de Voyactt, iv. 537. Y«il«*s Msrop Polo, and B4^ i. aSj.
t Erdmaon's EttracU Irmb Ratchid, 66, 69.
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7«> HISTORY OF THB MOVOOIA
which the Uigban wwe divided fitm «ifly tim«% aod they WB^
in their old coimtiy wfaea their brechren were driirtii away Jrom Karakomm*
This it oDDfinned by, aad at the fame time cs^laiu the atitanoat oi lUdir^
that the Crit and Mekfit were Ohrittians, for the Uii^haia wheeefvtr wemet with
them at this dale teem to have been largelty made «p of Chrlatiaai, mid in fiict
formed the only Chrittian race in the Eaet.
If they were more or leta Tmkt in origin it woaM aocoont for their dote
alliance with the Naimant in thck tttaggle with JIngit Khan, and for their
chiefe having fled for lefogeto Chithhric,the Nafanandiief who ntorped the throne
of Kara Kbitai; hot it wonid teem that tb^r were in reaUty a mixed race, for
RatchidtntpealdngQfdietovthe£nllerktta,whomhe caUt Megrin, tayt they
were neither Mongolt nor Uighoft.* (See abo below in the note on Corea.)
TheMerkitt were divided into foor tribet caOed re^ectirely* U^fanr, liiidan»
Tndakelin, and Jiyan.t
Page 24» linet 14 and 15. For Taidkge and Knrmachi read Taidege and
Kureachi. We are told that the name Kistimi in Tartar (k#., in Tnildth)it
appUed to thoee tribet iHiich are peaceehly aUied together't
Page24,linei7. BcateKnrtoL I wat mitled by a tutement of Erdmana^t,
which it not very clear J into datting the Kurhitt with the Baffott; bat the
Korlmt were clearly a taction of the Kmikurett, who were Tuilct. About
them I thall have more to cay preteotly.
Page as, line i. Among the tribet of the Forty-nine Bannert there it one
called Jdaid, which I have identified with the Jelairt. i It hat, howew. beea
eoggetted that thit name Jelaid ia a comiption of Joriat or Jadjerat, a well
known tribe in the time of Jingit Khan. Stanang Setsen, however, dittinctly
nametatribeJalair.T HealtotpeakaoftheKhalkhaJalair.** Notwithttand-
ing thit enrvival of the name among the Mongob, I believethatthejel«r tribe,
who an freqnentfy mentioned in the early dayt of Jingit, wat Turkith, andnot
HongoL Thit I judge from the foct that while onfy an obecore tribe of Jelaiit
tnrvivet among the Moagolt, that one of the dtvitiont of die Uabegt it ttill
called Jelair,tt while Levchine telle nt Jelain occnr among the Kirghia Kasakt
ofthe great Horde. They were not originaUy a part of the Kanaka proper, hot
joined them abont the tame time that the Naimant did. Secondly, I notice
amongthe coattitnent tribet of the Jelairs, at deecribed by Ratchid, a tribe
Tolangkit, which may be compared with the Turkith Tdengutt^ Third^,
Ratchid doet not datt the Jelaire among the Moogdt proper, nckher Niront
norDarlegina,biit among tboee tribet which were ttyledBfongolt in later timet.
Fourthly, they were not an independent tribe, but were davet of the Mongeb.
Thete foctt are anything bat condntive, they only weigh down the balance
in one direction vntfl freth evidence accraet, and the ^'^rnduaiCTi ia a pnrely
tentative one.
Page as, Ime '30. The name Tartar hat given riae to moch iMr*">fi^
Bergeron tnggetu foUowing in the wake of Matthew Pariti that it it derived
from a river Tartar or Tatar. No tuch river ezitU In Mongolia, and Paris
%EHBmmr9Tmma4in.m. | rjilr mte. 444. tOp.cit,xls. ••/^•••y.
ttVambw/tTfmveHS^S. Mote.
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HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS. 70I
IMobably had ia his miod the TarUnit of the ancieots, wh«e tiie ahadtt of the
deftd fetired. BtrgeiOD alio aogfotU that it may be derived ficom the Syrlac
Totar Of Tatar, neaniac fomkBO, abandoned, an nttedy impoeeiUe deriration.
The Persiana, aa it their froot« derive it firom an eponymous aocetlor, named
Taftar, the btother of M^^;* bat it deazly came to nt from China* Befiofe
we diecuaa ita mfffii^"g among the Chinese, we must say a word or two abont
its form. The Ibrm Tartar haa been objected to, and we have been told that
it originated in a >» ^esprit of Lo«lis the 9th, contained in the following
gcntence extracted from a letter of his to his mother Blanca, which is given by
llfttthew Paria. "Engat nos mater coeleste sdstinm, qnia si perveniant
ipsi vel ttoe ipsos quos vocamus Tartaros ad snas Tartareaa sedcs undo
exierunt fetmdemns vd ipsi nos omnes ad ccdom snbvehent."t This was
written in 1941 ; hot as Wolff says this form of the name already appears in the
narratives of the Dominican Julian in 1237 and 1240; in a letter of a Hnngarian
bishop to the Bishop of Paris, at the end of 1140; in a letter of Heniy Raspcof
Thnringia, written on the loth of March, and another of the Prmncsscan
Jordanus on the 10th of April, iHf. The pUy on the word attriboted to St.
Lonis occurs in Jordan's letter, who says ''a gente Tartarorum a Tartaro
orinnda;" also in a letter of the Emperor Prederick the and, written on the ^rd of
Jaly,ia4i. Thus ** Tartar^ is a form of the word which has a respectable pedi-
gree, beaides having been the form used by Abel Remusat in his great woric On
the other hand the Russian and Byxantine authors write Tatar ; the Bohemian
chronicler Dalemil, Tateri; Ivo of Naibonne, and Thomas of Spalatro, Tattarl
or Tatari. Let us now turn to the races caUcd Tartars. The Mongols with
whom Enropeans first came in contact, namely, the vast array of Batu Khan,
were known to Western writers as Tartars. As the main body of "The Golden
Horde** (the tribes subject to Batu were so named) was Turkish, and consisted
of the old occupants of the Desht Kipchak, whose descendanU stiU live at
Kazan, and in the Crimea ; Turk and Tartar became synonymous terms in the
pages of Western writers ; thus the names of Independent, or Great Tartary,
was appKed to Turkestan and the neighbouring countries, and Little Tartaiy
to the Turk country of south-eastern Russia. Klaproth and Abel Remusat first
corrected this mistake. They showed that the name Tartar isnot recognisedby
the Turkish tribes, and is even held by them as a term of reproach, and they
argoed that it belonged properly only to the leaders, and not to the main body
of Batu's army, that is, to the Mongols, and not to the Turks. This wtt a slep
in the right direction, hut only a step. The name Tartar was sometimes applied
generically by the Chinese to all their northern neighbours, and it was thus that it
came to be applied to the Mongols. But there was a specific race Tartar, from
whkh the generic term was derived. This we might guess from the fiurt that
the name Tartar was known in the west long bcftwc the days of Mongol
■npcemacy, and when the Mongols were only an obscure tribe. It first occvs*
according to Wolff, in a Persian woric, entitled Mojeinel Eltawamh^ written in
I ia6. Let us now turn to the Chinese authoririesw Visdebu says the Chinese
at first called them Tha tche, afterwards Tha tha, and commonly Thn tse.
«AbelRMaMM,LssLaaio«8Tart«it.a. tWoli;«&
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7D2 HISTORY Of THB MOMOOLS.
aadlasd3roiUofcosleiBptSaotbAtM,i<., thetliDldngTiHUrf.* HegoMoo
to say th« Chiaeie me tbe term in diree difierent tessett first at a generic name
for aU tiieir northern nelghboitrs, whence even the Russians are called Ta pi tha
tse, l^ loog-nosed Tartars. In a second sense it is employed in the Geo-
graphical work called Knam yn k'u as equivalent to the tribes of Mongolia and
Snngaria; whUe in its third or proper sense it is limited to a particular tribe,
or set of tribes, who first appear under the name doring the Thang dynasty. The
first ambor who mentions them, and who is the best anthority on the snbject, wss
the Chinese historian, Gheou-yam-sieon, who was bom in 1007 and died in 1073.
** He tells ns they were descended fix>m the Moho, of whom tiiey were a section ;
their country was situated to the north-cast of that of the Hii and Khitans.*'
The Moho were the ancestors of the Kin Tartars and the Manchus, that is,
were the Tunguses of Manchuria. We are tcdd that the Moho having been
attacked by the Khitans were dispersed ; one portion submitted to the Khitans,
another sought refiige among the Po hai to the east, while a third section took
refuge in tbe Inshan mountains, and took the name of Tartar.l This descrip-
tion agrees very tolerably with that given by Raschid of the Tartars, whom he
places in north-eaitem Mongolia, about lake Buyur and its neighbouriiood, in
the very district where the -Solong and Daorians (the near relatives of the
Mandras) still live, whom I believe to be their descendants. Visdelon ssjrs
that two of the names of the Tartar chieftains are recorded; these axe Mei
siam wen and Yu yue siam wen, and he adds that Siam wen was a titie used
among the Juchi or Kin Tartars, and the Khitans, and that Yu yue was also a
title of the higher nobility with the two peoples. I may add that various
tribes of Manchuria are still known as Yu pi Thache, Koelka Thache, ftc.
I have already tentatively identified the Tartars with the Ta che Shi wei of
the Hoan yu ki and the He che tse of Visdelou,} the former meaning Shi wei
with great waggons, and the latter Black Chariots. Now it is a curious
coincidence that the only traveller who has crossed the old Tartar country,
and whose narrarive is accessible to me, in referring to the ancient kingdom
of Niucheu (which he says comprehended all the land upwards from
Nerchinsk, still called Niucheu by the Chinese, and from the Amur down to
the Albanian mountains, and Liau tung) says ** it is not long since that waggon-
wheels bound with iron, and large millstones were found in this country, from
whence I conjecture that the Nieucheuers which border on the said province
of Liau tung formerly followed their trade and manual employments in this
Russian Dauria; since they made use of these waggon-wheels bound with
iron, which are nowhere else to be found among the Mongolians,*" &c.%
In regard to the etymology of the name I may add that in Manchu a felt
yurt is called Tatara boo (/.a, a Tartar house), and WoHf distinctly says that
Tartar or Tata is a Tunguisic word, originally meaning to drag or puIL
In Monj^ol tatakhu means to draw or pull, whence tata ghal an aqueduct,
andiatari taxes, tolls, but the primitive meaning is to draw or move, whence it
meaSis also a nomade. A tent or house-shelter in the steppe is called
* Vitdelou. op. cit.» 327. t ia., Beoifne the Ongutt or While Titrtsn. Vidt wUe.
J ' Vid4 ante, 30. ^ TrsTelt of Ubrand Idw, 47,
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MmOltY OF THX MONGOLS. 703
tataa or tsU, no that tlie name it really eqnnraleot to Nomades. A« I have
■hown it waa apecifkally applied t6 the Tungnalan ancetlort ot the Danriaaa
and SolofM.
Pagea6 Knea. Per AQ lead AljL
It yh H.xi* For Viadeloa read Viideloo.
M 34« ,. 6. For Beda read Bade.
t» 3S, ,. 4. The Konlnirau formed a cooSederacj of six tribee, who are
fieqeeotly fnentioned in the history of Jiofis Khan. They were called
Kanknrats, Inkiraaeet, OUthonods, Karannts, Knrelata or Knrluts, and IQildns.
I ha^ small doubt that th«y "were Turks, for ahhong^ small clans still servife
among the Mongols who are called Khongkirad (Le., Kunkurat) by Ssanang
Setcen, there Is no tri^ among them which bears the name, while we find that
one of the four main divisiotts of the Utbegs is called Kiat Ktmgrat, whence
the ikame of one of the chief towns in the Khanate of Khtva. We next have
the fact Uiat Jingis Khan and his family were in the habit of choosing their
wives from among them, and we are distinctly told that there was an old pact
in existence by which they did so.* This also favovrs the notion that they
were Tnrka for the Kahnnks and Mongols still deem Turkish damsels to be
the foirett of the desert, and it was mainly with Turkish tribes that Jingis
entered into matrimonial alliances.t The country inhabited by the Knnkorats
is a difficult matter to eettle, we have numerous names given us vrithin their
territory, but unfortunately they are but names, and I cannot identify their sites
from the maps accessible to me. I believe, however, that they occupied the
greater part of the mountainous band of countfy on the north of China which
separatee it fit>m Mongolia, and that they were in contact with the Keraits,
Nmmans, and Mongols. For those who may come after, and who may have
better opportunities, I subjoin the follo%^ng list of these localities :—
According to Raschid they lived in the Ongu (called Atguh by Erdroann),
and he adds that it divided the Chinese from the Mongols. He tells
us their country was called Utjih and waa situated in the district of Karaun
Jidnn or Chidun.t In another place he tells uff the Kunkurats had formerly
their winter camp in a place called Altchia Kiragur. Elsewhere, again,
he tells us that Altchia Kungur waa near the mountains of Khudja Buldak,
and near Lake Semuhai. He also calls the mountaina which aeparate
China Ifrom Mongolia the Djai | Altchia. | The name Kungur, which
was attached to Altchia, was probsbly given to those mountains from their
having been the home of the Kunkurats ot Kttngrads, whose name according
to Vambeiy is derived from Kongur At (f.#., a chesnut horse). | If the Karaun
Jidun of the above accoum be the same place as the Karaun Kipchak
mentioned elsewhere,^ and which Raschid says means the Black Forest, then
we may fix its site approximately, for this place is called Halavuen by De
MaiUay** and Ha la hoen by Oaubil, who says it is a notable range of
mountains south of the river Onghin in Western MongoIia.tt Thia would
suit very well the description of the struggle between Khubilai and his brother
* Vidg ittprm, p^t 50. tViJe supra, chapter L. paadni.
1 Erdmann • Tcnra4)>fi. i99< § D'Obssoo, i. 66. i Vambcry't Bokhara, uo.
f£rdnuum,a89 O*0bsioii, i. 73. ** Op. du. ix. 9. ttOp.ciu8.
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704 HISTORY or THE MOKOOLS.
AtVUbdkM^MU th« battk wlikh thqr firaght in 1961 mt s ri4ii 4 tk$ AUmcmlM
AUcMaKmmgmr^ The Kanuia KipCchak of tbe Wotl«m wrken it 00 doobl
the Koyi Kdbker of Stamuig SeUeiLt
Page 38, line it. TheduefreesonfermakiiigtheDHtaniorDiiniiaiitoftiie
dme of Jingie, Torks it thiu the name oocon at e trihal name MDoog dM Usbege
and Kirghix Kazakt in the Wett, and thai thty w«fe eoottantlj fiound allM
with the Natmant and Meridtt againat the Ifoagolt. Their naoM mertljr
meantfiwr. TbeBarintand Sokamittwefeof the tameatock aatheDorhaaa.
We are toU the three trihea aprang from three brother84 But in ragard to
thete trflwt the coochitioo it by no maaha certain, and it moat be remembertd
a dittiict of Central Mongolia ia aUU called Sarin, while tribet called Dvfbaa
or Durbed torvive both aoKMig the Forty-nine Bannert and the ICalmnfca.
P«g« 3S, line 13. In regard to the BayanU, Ratchid telle nt they woe
divided into two tectiont, namely, the Jadi Bigrantt and the Kehnm Bayantt.
The former, he addt, were to called from living 00 a river of the tame naaM
(t\«., on the Jida, a main tribntaiy of the Selinga), and the latter from living on
the Sttppe (Gehreh or Kehxeh meant plain or tieppe). The Bigrantt, he
sayt, were neis^boort of the Uiradt. Fkom thete tiatementt we gather that
they Uved to the aouth of the Baikal lake. That they were Tarkt it probabk
from the lact that the only tribe known elaewhere of the aame name it the
tribe of which Jinkethi, the maternal grandfather of Ifnhammed^ the Khnaresm
Shah, wat chief. Thit wat a tribe of the Yemeka, which in tain wat a taction
of the very typical Tnrkith tribe of the Kankalit.| Thirdly, we may gtlher the
tame ooncfaition from the namea of their chiefr. Thiia one of their chiefii wat
named Ungtm Kaitat, and Ratchid addt that Kaitat m ik^Nmitmm Ungm(i^iMi
Turkith) wmt equivalent to Begavl (^., in Mongol), the chief of the kilchen.|
These iactt taken with the farther one, thait we don't know of any Mongol
tribe in later dayt ctUed Bayant mafcet it pcobahle that thete Bayantt were
Turkt,
Page 41, line 15. Thit name I mutt plead guilty to having tpelt very in->
conttaatly, at it it tpelt difierently by nearly every anthority. It will appear
again under .the Ibrmt Uttuken and Utthuken.
Page 45, line 40. For Borg^ut toad BarguC
Page 47, line a. Hyacinth callt the place Tieie von paste and Oaebil Te
yuei Luen panto.f
Page 50, line 6. It it not only among Wett«n anthora that the tradition
exitu that Temudjin wat a tmith. The Mongolt attert that hia anvO it ttill
preterved on Mount Darkhan ; they tay it ia made of a particular metalt called
Burin, which hat the propertiet of iron and coppery being at once hard and
flexible.^ The Mongolt make pflgrimaget amwally to thit monntain, and oier
tacrificet on one of itt tummitt, to the memory oi Jiagjb Shan. Theie ia a
high mountain on the itUnd Olkhon, in the middle of the Baikal tea, on which
it fixed a tripod, and on thit an iri^TKittlB. Thiaalaoia traditionally coMiect^
with Jingit Khan. \ . ' "^, ^ *
• D*OhHoa, ti. 3SI. Aato.aax. |Op.cH.,ay. I Bidaw— '■ Trnwulpn, m tt%
fiyOlMMNi, 1.197. Note. VoaH«aoMr^Goldealitrit,74.
|VoaHaBMur»tIUihtai,i.it. nBtot.dtQtagitKhta,«Cnt. » Titihwiti, in*
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BI8TORT or TBB ICONQOIA 705
Pagt 50, Uttc M^ yao Hammer has ghwi an ingai^oaa cx^anatlon of the
chmoology of the chief events in the etoiy of Jingie Khan, at ghren hy the
Thqr hated hb nieaMrf to Utterly tiiat they placed hts biidi» hie in-
I aa Khan* and hie death, each in a ** Swinee year," according to the
Tnckieh Cyde, namely, in 1155, la^ and laay. It it certainly a cnrione
coincidence that tbeee three yeare ehoold correepond toSwine^t yeart, and that
d^PenianaehMld have di&ied from the Cadneee hi reepect to them in their
chwmolqpr of the great conqneior't ^b.*
Pas« 5o» Una 18. For Oidionodt read Olkhoooda.
M ft 37- Eidmann calla this general Todan Kahnr)i,Hyadnthecallt
him 1 OQD Khnr|a*T
Page 51, lines 6 and 7. Sari KQiar means Ydlow plafais, and Ulagai Bnlak
red ^rings«|
Page 51, line 15, Btdmann hae Udats and Nnjakint, tee a6i, hot it ought
clearfy to he Umts and Nnjrakina.
Ftge 51, Ifam 18. We are toM that while Teamdfin was a prisoner he was
tended hy an old dame named Taidthn Jg)e^ who oembed ont his hair and
plaoed a piece of iiH nnder the cangne, where his shoolders had heen made
taw.l
Page 5a, line as* In regard to the terats Qnran and Qnrkhan, Erdmann has
a lone not% in which he paints oat some inconsistencies on the part of Von
Hammer jmd odiers. He holds that Qnran hae not the meaning of Rmg, hot
father that of a compact hody of men answering to the Qreeh phalanx, and he
gives a diagram of the arrangement of the thirteen gnrans when in battle array,
ranged in the form of a sqnam irtth four gnrans on each Cmo, and the one
commanded hgr the chief in the middle. In regard to the term OmUian, he
distingaishes it from Qnrgan, the former means chief commander, soverdgn,
or leader, the latter means son-ln4aw, or one otherwise connected hy hlood
with the overchief; thne the prhioes who married Jingis Khan^ dangfatert wem
etyled Onigans. Tissttrienk was also styled Qnrgan, inasmuch as he married
the daughter of the last eotperor of the Yaan dynasty.| The commanders of
the thirteen Quranawere~i.Temndjin's mother, Uhm Eke. 3. Temndjin him-
self; hie eooe, and near rdntives. 3«TnfiaJnB^adnr,witii a section of the Jelaira,
MidmrKnran with the HederUne, and Janrfcah with the Knrulats. 4. The eons
ofSarkadaNoyan, and hit brodierKuridai with the Qau and Bndats. $and6.
The eons of Snrfcaktn Burgi Sidthdi Sigi, and hit nephew Taidthn wi^ the
jaiOnandSntfcnkhis. 7, Utnjn Kudu Ardengi, aleo belonging to the Klatt.
8. The, eona of Mnngdu Kian, Jhigihnt, and his brothers, rebtites of
Temn^jin, together with Ungnr and the Bsyants. 9- ^>*^ Utsnknn,
Temndjin^k uncle, hie cousin Knjer, a son of Negun Taishi, and Dtlu, one of
hit rektires, together with the Doghbts and theDarlei^ ftmiliet of Nekus,
Kurfcan, 8eki9it, and BOin. 10. Juji Khan« the eon of Kutnla Khan. u.Ahnn,
a grandson of KntaU Khan. la. Daki Behndnr the Kunegkiat, with the
13. Qmidi^ineh and the sons cf Jericeh Llngfcnm.f
•VoaHMBaMV^QoldnHordt,36tad9«. f BidBuna, sS9b tad N tit 38.
lD*0laMi,i.4i« Molt. 4lidaiaD,sio.
I Biitmns, Mttt5t> p. SfTilh* ^1
3V
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706 H18TORT OF THE MOWOOLS.
Page 52, line sS. The place U called TheUui BalJ«s (»^.. ** the pUia ol
Beljuaa).* D'Oheson teys the Beljniia is a tc^ntaiy of the Infoda, hat m
Ritter^e map it is oiaricad at a Hoatt lahab whaaoe ions die little river Taca,
whkh ftUs into the Ingoda after the lattw haa tahea Ha gieat head eaatwaid.
It it to the eatt of the Alathana mooatahis, which form the oaaia watenhad
here between the OnoB and the lagoda.
^•9^ 53* lint S, ^b^ Dt hUaU t^ya ^that the ditcentcnt againil the
Taidthuu cote to mch a pitch that Ch^i^, Mika, Yebuken, and mtaiky ether
officers, together with the tribee Tnlanchi« Salar» and Moogu quitted them and
jmoed Temudiin."t
Page 52, line 10. The Kielei or Ykilietse of De MaiUa were not tiie Knmbts
but the Inb'rattesy another tribe of the aasM confcdcffary > and the Podu of
De MaiUa is cleariy the Butug Noyan of Raschid, who is mentioned by
Brdmann. He tells us that while Temndjin was at Baldjnna, the Inkirattrt,
who were attacked by the Knrulatt, joined htm4 Oanbil ideattfiet the Ecgop,
with the Afgun, but I very much question the piopciety of doing eo.
Page 52, line 3a Kakurthin, the mother of Sidtheh Bigi, had appaient^
been married to Yissugei, the father of Temndjin, she was therefore the latter't
ttep-mother, and Sidtheh Bigi, a kind of ttep4>rother of hit. It would seem
that Temudjin't brother, Belgutei, wat not at the leatt, but in charge of hit
brother't ttud, while that of Sidtheh Biji wat in charge of a Tatdtbot natsed
Buri (the Poli of De Mailla), a page of the latter't named Kabki T§i (i^., the
male fox), having ttolen one of Temudjin*t honet, wat puaithed by Belgutei,
upon which Buri ttruck the latter on the thonlder with hit tword* Belgutei't
people teized the firtt weapont at hand including the perches of the hawks
and went off to Sidtheh Bigi*t yurt, whence they carried off hit mother
Kakurthin (the Kuakttin of De Mailla), and hit wiie» Hohchin.f
P^e 53* Une $8. 9at Taidthut read Tartar.
*i 53» » 4^ ^^ Wanjan Siang read Waaien Siang.
>f 54> n 6* For Tului read TugraL
>» 54* tf 13* Thulan Boldak it perhapt a corruption of Thalan Bayot,
the plaint of the Baljuna. De MaiUa and Hyadnthe imply that Aere were two
fightt, and that after having been defeated the Burgint were portoed, and that
it wat a month later when their chiefii Sidtheh Bigi and Taidthn were
killed.|
Page 54, line 16. On thit chief see p. 559.
f« $4t »» ^7* P<"^ Bogordthi and Borgul read Bogfaordthi and Bogfaatul.
The Mooholi of De MaiUa it the wdMmown Mongol general Biakuli, and not
to be identified with Bughoml^ so that he aatignt the incident to a difiaceat
hero.
Page 54, line 34. For Tului read TugruJ.
»» S4i t« 37* '^h^ ^00 it no doubt the Sabotai Bahadur of Ratchid, one
of the nine Qrlokt. (Set p. 114.)
P^Se 55» line 5. A tributary of the ChOBpi, one of the feedert of the SeHaga,
— i, a6i, and Note 48. t Op. dt., is. is. I 0^ dt., Jos*
a<6. J>«IUiUA,X4,i9. aD9MsUU.U.S7. Brdnunw NtM ^l*
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HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS. 707
ft called Mftma. On it it the Rnttitn ttation of Manschintkoi. (See Ritter*t
map.)
Page 55, line la For Babur Oeheth read Buker Gehreh.
M 55> If 15* Kirihath meant red ttone. Kizilbash meant red fiead.
and is pven to the well-knowa lake of Sungaria becauae of the fith with red
heads found there. Ratchid seems to cidl the place here mentioned Kiziltash.
Hyacinthe reads hit Chinete authority, bolrever, Kathik-bakshi,* so that the
name is uncertain.
Page 55, line 17. For latter read former* it was Boyaruk and not Tayang
Khao, who was defeated, and Ede Tnklnk, who commanded his advance guard
was captured.f
Page $5, line 27. For river Sari read Sari Kihar or Yellow Plains.
<• S5* n 4^* D^Ohsson caUs this place Elenkat Turath.l
t* 55 1 •» 42* For Burgotin read Bargosin.
.. 56, ,. 3. For Taidshnt read Tartar.
y, $6, „ 4. Called Ali by De Mailla.|
Page 56, line ti. Both Erdmann and D*Ohsson say lake Buyur, but it is not
certain that this is right, De MaOla says the two allies met near the lake Huto,
the Khutu nor of Hyacinthe, and they met the confDderates near the river
Pdylie, the Baili gol of Hyacinthe. | After the fight Temudjm wintered at
Jajar nla en the frontier of Manchoria.^
Page 56, fine 12. The confideratet contitted of Alak Udur, chief of the
Merkitt, Kirhan Taithi of the Taidthats, and the Tartars Jankur and Kelbeker
or Rdenker.**
Page 56, line 18. For Taidthnts read Tartars.
„ 56, ,« so. This river waa probably the Kemlon.
„ 56, „ ai. Hyacinthe callt it Tula bir,tt De Mailla TohvpieJI and
Ganbil Tnlupir.})
Page 56, line a6. Voo Hammer tayt it means the seven grave moands,||
De Mailla calls it Holuhan.^ ^ Hyacinthe, who dates the battle in the
year 1,200, says it was fought in the Canton Khaliyartai Khorog.^^** After
the fight Teraudjin wintered on the banks of the river Ulkui Si]jii]jat.ttt
Page 56, line 28. These tribes are called Antai Tartar, and Sahan Tartar by
De Mailla,ttt ^^^ ^^^ QO doubt the two divisions of the Tartars called Alji and
Chaghan by* Raschid.
Page 56^ line 39. This name ought rather to be spelt Ulkui.
>» 57i tf 14- For Salichai read Salikhai.
It S7» M 21- 'I*^i> ^^^^ covered with panther skins, may, as Colonel
Yule haa suggested, be well compared with the audience tent used by Khubilai
Khan, whidi is described by Marco Polo as most artfully covered with lion's
akins striped with black and white, &cSSf Klaproth asserts that Schmidt has
»N«tet«. t Brdmna, 972. J Op. dt., i. 60. } Op. dU is. as.
De If aillft» ix. 23. Ertoana, Notes 99, 100. T Erdnuum, Note 104.
' Brdmiini. s;9. D*Oliiaoo, 1. Ca. t f Erdmnn, Kote i«9. XI Op, dt, ix, u*
H Op. dt., C R Ukkans, 29; 5Y is. 25. **• Erdouou. Mote its.
ttt Bfdmaan, sot. D'OhMoa,t64. Notaa. Ht Op. dt.. Ix. 23.
HI Yole'e Marco Polo, and Etf., i. 391-
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708 HISIOET OP THB MONGOLS.
wiOQi^ translated the ptwgt which rtlbn to tiger tkiiM end not peather
ekiDs; the word in the origiiial being ben (e tige^ and not irbis (a panther).*
Page 57, line 14. In thie pani|^aph I ha^ loOowed the Saga as told by that
most treacherooa leader Seanang Setsen. Since I wrote it I have met with an
Essay of iaapfoth*s,t which pro?ea bejood doobt that the Mongol hialoriaa has
conlbsed the campaign against the Tartars with that against Corea» which I
shall leler to in a snbseiioent note.
Page 57, line S9. For Chortshi read KhvchL
9* S7$ »• 43* ^^ Chnlan read IDwlan*
,. 59^ ft 4« Add Tartar to the names of the other tribes, and for
Katagnn read KataUn.
Page 59, line 96. Hyadnthe writes this name Kharahrhin Shata (<^., Black
crags.)t
P*C^ 59t lin^ 35* This is the same place mentioned on p. 59* and also in a
previoas note.
Page $9, line 43. The Terfchans paid no taxes, did not divide the booty with
anyone* not even with the prince's customs officers. They could enter the
prince's presence withoat leave, and were pardoned nine times whatever their
fanlt might be, ftcf
P^^ S9« ^^ 45* For I>c Mailla, is. 43 read bu 33.
Page 60, line i. In this paragraph I have lollowed Wolft I may add that
Oanbil and De Mailla know nothing of this march and merdy say Temn^in
went to the lake Tongko, whence he indited his letter. I notice that one of
the tributaries of the Ingoda, not hs finom lake Baldjnna, is called the Tanga,|
and it is very likely that the extremely humble letter which IdIIows, was in
fiKt written when Tsnndjin was in his dire distress.
Page 60, line 33. By Keule, the well4mown Kiulun lake is doobtless meant
M 61, „ 7. D'Ohssoo has misled me here. Kndshir was the eon of
Ndron Taishi (Tcknn Taishi of lyOhssonX ^^ uncle of Temodjin, and was
therefore the lattei's first coosin.f Altnn was the son of Kutula Khan, the
Khubilai of D'Ohssoo, and great uncle of Temodjio, and was therefore his
fothei's cousin.** Kndshir is called Hosara, son of Niekoen, by De Mailla.tt
Page 61, line 15. Satcha was no doubt Sidsheh Bijni, the chief of the
Burgins. Taidju, I have followed D'Ohsson, i. 77, note, in calling an uncle of
Temudjin, but he was in foct either a brother or an uncle of Sidsheh Bigi.}}
The meaning of the story is doubtless that most of these relatives of Temudjin
represented the elder branch of the family, I may add that De Mailla makes
Temudjin call his fistheriand Ilan pira or the three rivers.{}
Page 61, line 35. Dariti Utchugen was an uncle of Temudjio's, vitU p. 45.
„ 61, „ 40, &c, page 63, line 2, and page 55, line 2. For Kassar read
Khassar.
Page 62, line $. The position of the battle is not quite certain, but I prefer
to follow tiie Chinese authorities. De Mania says it was fon|^t at Kalanchin
* Novr. JooiTB. Atiat., xi, 449* Not*. t Jonrn. Awit., U. 195.
SchiaMt't SMBMf S«tMa, sli. I Pttis de U Croix, 49. Erdmaan* Note isp.
I PaUm*! Vojraftf, ftc, iv. flsS. Y BriaMsa, %». ** Brteuas, s|o.
ft Op. dt., Ix. 31. nBrdmaaa,a69. H Op. dt Is. «■.
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HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS. 709
AltvHjraciiitiM uy at Khattkchiii Shatu, and Raichid at Hnltin Baricat and
Kalanchin AH. De Mailla distinctly says Kalanchin Alt was titnated between
the Tula and the Kerolon. Ratchid says it was on the borders of the Juchis
(f^M of Manchuria), and Ssanang Setzen places it near the lake Kiulun.*
After the battle, we are told Temudjin went to hunt at Naiman kura (/^., the
eight endosores or ounps), that is, the eight Ordus, or, in other words, in his
own coontiy.t
Page 6a, line 24. As to this date^ which is a swines year» see a previous note.
»f 63, „ 39. For Otrat read Uirad.
», 62, „ 40. For Taidsbnt read Tartar.
>* 63, „ 43. The battle-field was afterwards known as the field of white
bones4 I bave here and elsewhere called the fiiar who mentions this battle
Carpino, as doea D*Ohsaon,| but this is clearly wrong, his real name was John
of Piano Carpini, a name he derived firom a place in the territory of Perugia. |
Page 63, lines 11 and 19. For Tatakun, which is Wolff *s reading^ read
Tata tungo.
Page 63, line a6. For Taidshuts read Tartars.
M 63, „ 44. For D'Ohsson, 190, 191, read I 90, 91.
„ 64, „ za. Lairi means holy mountain. IT
•> 64, „ 13. De Mailla calls this place Lu se ching.**
fi 64, „ 3a, ftc. For Oueok^iu read Gukju. He belonged to the tribe
Kuneket, a section of the Umaats, and was the son of Mengelik Ijigeh, to
whom Jiagia hat given his own mother Ulun Eke in marriage. He made him
commander of the ri|^t wing of his army, so that Gukju was a kind of step-
brother of Temn^in's.tt
Page 64, line 40. For fivty-eif^t read twenty-eight.
„ 65, „ z. Jingis, according to Schmidt, Brdmaim,&c., is derived from
the Mongol adverb Ching or Jing, meaning fast, immovable4t What Schmidt
says is, that Jingis had three names ; first Temudjin, then Solfcto Bokdo Jingis
Khan, and thirdly, after hia coocjuest of China, SoUo Bogdo Dai Ming Jingis ;
and he means the second of these names when he speaks of the middle namcj}
Page 65, line 3. For Chas read Khas.
t* fiSt t* 19* Ulugh Tag, the Ulnda ot the Chinese, means great moun-
tain, and answers to the Altai of other authors ; and here no doubt connotes
the gr^ monntain range of Sungaria.
Page 65, line aS. For including, read ^included in.** The other six lu 01
Tangut are thua enumerated by Panthier : — i. Sha chau (iV., " sand district**),
the Sachu of Polo. 2. Suh chau, the Succhur of Pola 3. Kan chau, the
Campichin of Polo. 4. I-toi-nai, the Euina of Polo. 5. Yung chang, the
Erguiul of Polo. 6. Nin^ia.||
Page 65, line 30. Bretschneider tells us that in 1206 Juji, the son of Jingis,
defeated the wood tribes of Southern Siberia. The two Officers whom Jingis
•Yole't Harm Polo, radB4.,i.aS7> t Schmidt^ Saaaug SoIsm, 9I9.
IBrotKhMia«>,a9. ^Vol.iLsu. Note. I Cathaj Mi tho Wajr TkHhw, cniiL
^ lyOluMD, i. 97. Not*. ^Op.tknkL4f^ tt Bfdmam, »S-
Iianatt«SetMii,a79. U jMra* Arfat, M. 9«u » Panyoi>> Matce Polobssg. Nolo.
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7IO HISTORV OF THE MONGOLS.
tent to receive the eubmitsion of the Kirghises were called Altaa and Borah,*
and the two metiengera sent by the Kh-ghitet with the falcons were cidlcd
Alibeg Timor and Altek Berak.
Page 65, line 30. For Oirat read Uirad. On this passage see Chapter Xlh
„ 66, H 2. The three sons of Tukta, the chief of the Meildts, named
Jilann, Jiynk, and Kotnlkun, and his brother Kodtia, fled after the battle and
sooght refiige in the Uighor country, and sent a messenger named Turgan to
ask the Idiknt to grant them an asylum. He, however, marclMd against them
and defeated them on the river Jem.t
Page 66, line 16. This is doubtless the Ling chau of Qanbil, which be places
in Shensi, and in 38.10 N. lat. and xo.35 W. long, from Peking.
Page 66, line ao. De Mailla calls it Wuh la hal, and Pauthier says this is a
fiur transcript of Eriaca when translated into Chinese.
Page 66, line 21. Pauthier calls this place U men, and says it means the five
gaus-t
Page 66, line 58. For Seknak Tekin read Siknak Tigin.
u ^> t* 3^ For Inchan read Inshan.
M 68, „ II. Gaubil says that the year before he had sent Chepe Noyan
and Yeliu kohay, a Khitan prince who had deserted the IQn dynasty and joined
the Mongols, to the firontiers of Shansi and PehchehU to reconnoitre, and that
they returned after pillaging thcre.1
Page 68, line 12. For Keralan read Ketulon.
„ 68, „ 40. Wainen Hoeho read Wanien Hosho.
*. 69, „ I. This general was Min ngan. He was ttyled Chapar or the
Oiiebre.|
Page 69, line 13. Insert a comma after Mukuli.
tf 7o« .» II. Instead of towns read departments or districts.
„ 70, „ 17. The Perisans call her Kubku Khatun.^
»» 70, » 29. We are told that Utubu had fhmished the inhabitants ot
Yen king with cuirasses and horses with which to resist the Mongols. On
their retirement he asked for the return of these, upon which they rebelled
under Kanta, Picher, and Chalar.**
Page 70, line 38. For Khu tsai read Chu tsai. We are told he was descended
from Apaokhi, the fiounder of the Khitan dynasty. His ancestor had a small
principality neur the celebrated mountain Ye wu lu, in Manchuria (!.#., near
the modem Knang ning hien). His £ather was a high officer in the service of
the Kin Emperor. He himself was bom in 11 90, and he accompanied Jingis
on his western expedition.tt
Page 71, line 16. The Kin Emperor now sent to ask for terms, and Jingis
would have assented, saying to his general Samuka, ** Let it be as in hunting,
where, when one has enclosed all the sUgs and has killed what one lists, it is hard
not to let a poor hare escape ; ** but Samuka, who had not as yet distinguished
*Efdauuui,3i]. t Erdmann, 31a.
t Paotbkrli Muco Polo. ao6. YuK's Marco Polo, and Ed., i. tig,
• Op. dtn 14. I ftSBbli. 6 aad Z5- % Do Mailla, ix. 6x. Note.
*^ De Mailla, ix. 64. tr Bretschneider, 109 and iit.
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HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS. 7H
hifDidf enoogb, watof* difiereot opiiuon, and tent to the IQn Emperor offBriag
him peace on condition only that he resigned the title of Empeior and becane
a subject of the Mongols, which he refuted.*
Page 71, line 34. For '* the Hoa tao ** read Hoa tao.
>• 71* » 38. De Mailla aiQri he contrived a defeat to that he mi^ not
leem a traitor.t
Page 7a, lines 6 and 7. For Uirata and Angiratset read Uirads and Inkir-
Page 72, line 13. This sabmisskm of Corea has been conl^onded hy Ssansng
Setreo with the conquest of the Merkits, whom he calls Solongos Merged.
Klaprotb saya that Solangkah is the Mongol name of the northern part of
Coiea and of the country traversed by the river Ohirin, and Ohirin is still the
name borne by Northern Corea and its language. In Chinese it is wrHten
Kihn. The Coreans are called Solgho and Solonghos by the Mongols, as
appears £rom the worlc called the Mirror df the Mongol Language, where we
read, the people of Chao hien (Chao sian) are called Solgho, they aie cooiroofily
called Solongghoa. The Manchus calls the Coreans Solkho, and Klaproth sug-
gests that Ssanang Setsen has misread the name Solonggos Merged for Mergeds
of the Seltnga.^ According to the Corean accounts, quoted by the Chinese
and the Japanese, this conquest of Cores took place in 1219. In the Yuan
history we are told that in laxS Luku, general of the mountain Tsin Shan, of
the kingdom of the Khitans, fled with 90,000 men to the kingdom of Solgo
(<.#., of Corea), where he captured the town of Kiang tung ching aad estab-
lished himself. Thereupon Jingis Khan sent his general Kha jen dsa la, at the
head of an army, against him« He entered the couatiy of Solgo. Hiumg ta
siuaa, a chief of those parts, went to the Mongol camp to assist in the siege of
the town where Luku had taken refiige, while Wang chi (otherwise called
Wang thun), the king of Corea, supplied the Mongols with beef, spirits, and
wine, and sent his general Chao dsung to make common cause against the
rebeL The Corean general agreed that his master should become a tributaiy
of Jingis Khan. He also supplied the Mongob with 10,000 measures of rice.
The next year the king of Corea sent two of his officers, named In kung dsieou
and Stti y, with a civil message to the Mongol general, and he was shortly
alter granted the title of king by letters patent, and we are told he received
them from the Mongol oflficer on his knees; after this Corea became
tributary.!
Page 7a, line 43. This is from Rubruqois, whose account is not very reliable
. On this point, see p. 547.
Page 73, line 3. De la Croix says he was naOed to the door of a coUege-t
«f 73* M 4* The whole of this paragraph, which I owe to Wolff; Is, 1
now believe, wrong and ulteriy misleading To begin with the last sentence,
tka authority for it is no doubt a passage of Gaobirs, which runs thus :— ^ Ju|i,
the eldeal son of Jingis, went a long way to the north-west of China. The
conntiy to which be went is not known, but amoag the hordes he conquered
* De Miails, is. 7S- t Op. ck.. is. «7. I Noov. Joers. Asist^ ix. 44H94,
^ Jouni. Asist., iL a9M97* I OP* dti ii«.
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713 HlflltAT or THS MONGOLS.
wv the Ottlian, HaaaM, KowhmtfmAadia, and TaimthoJtttrkaii.'' It was
ool of tbeaa MflMa no Aotm iSbMt WoMTi wlio mifsrtiiiiataljr aaldoas cnoa Ut
aothorftki^ fluiltt the bofdaa of Use Khan, tba Samoyedk tribe of tba Kn^^
nkadtf, Ac ; bat I aan qoiCe eoaviacad that Oaabil's ttatement raaiy mkn to
JajPte rampaifa iATnhaatas. Ooaefaan is Uafcend; Haaaaa, Rachnasi;
KoakanfoolBaclw^ oc Yulon and Kioche, aa it oBay be nad, is no doubt
s comiptioa of Urfm^t the osme of the capital of Khnarasm ;* aad
TkiaaihoinifhaB is probahiy a aifadiig op of Tcmied and Nor, two wcB
koomk toiwaa of TranaoEiaiis; ao that thia atatemeat of WoUPa ia fimnded
on a man cotruptod leading of the account of the campaign widch ia
deacribad on page ys, 4te,,of thia worit. I luwe ■eairhed in vain alao for any
warrant for tlie ftrat aentence of the paragraph, nHiich makea the MerUt chieft
be aent into tlie north of Mongolia to aranae the Tamata, ftc. The atoiy aa
I nowrBadit,afteracaiefelcoUectionof all theantlioritiea,nuiathQa9 — Onhit
retnitt from China, Jingia aent an armj againat the Tnmats, wlio were not, aa I
have atated in line S5, a aection of ^e Keraita, hot a aection of the Bargnta, and
anbdned them. He then tuned hia attention to Knahhik, wlio 1 believe waa fai
alUance with the fonrMerfcitdiiefo mentioned in the text. He living at Kaahgar
and they probably in the valley of the Chu, and perhapa at Balaaai^on. Jmgit
aent two armiea-one under Chepd ( whoae coorae we hate deacribcd ) ; the other
under Subntai and hia son Joji, was sent against the Mcildt chiefii, who woe
met and defoated, we are told, on the banlca of the river Jemt (not the Kem or
Yeniasq, as Woiff seams to read it>. Threeof them were killed, and the fourth
alone, who waa called Knitwkan Mergen, eacaped alive, and waa afterwards
put 10 death, as I have atated in the text, I beUeve this batde to have beca
fooght, not in Northern Mongolia, as previoua anthofitiea have atated, but on
the borders of Turkestan. The Knltnkan of Raachid I take to be tiie
Tak tughan or Takna Khan of the tribe of Meriut of other writera, who, we are
told, had retired towards Jend pursued by the Mongols. We are further told
that a battle was fou^t between them, and that Tuk tughan had been put to
the sword with his people. After which Juji had retired homewarda| This
battle was fought between two small rivers in a place in Kadigar (t.#., within
the territory of Kara Khiu), and I believe that eome mounds, still caUad
Merki Kurgan, near the Chu, probably mark the apot|
Page 73, line 43. For Irak Areb read Irak Arab.
i» 74> *t 6. For Irak Ad|em read Irak Arab.
„ 74, „ 18. The Tabakat i Naaari deaciibes Targhu aa a kind of
woven ailk of a red colour.!
Page 74, line 29. For Inallsig read Inaljuk.
t* 74* w 34- Aocordfaig to another laew, which I think very probable,
when Muhammedy the Khuaresm Shah, heard that the Merkita had
dsfoited ao near his borders, aa I have atated above, he pursue
reached this recent battle-field, whom blood and cocpaes were stOl
about. From a wounded man he heard tiiat the Jfongsla had only
* D« MaOlit, ix. g;. N«u. t Brdmaoa, sss.
lTMakaliN«iri«fl69«Ml279« IUvwt)r*t Notes. f0^ciU«^•
|ThtTakakstiNMiri,s69. Rsrsrtir't Nolt.
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msrrwY or the monool& 713
that veiy d«gr, so he puahed 00 and uycrtook them at dawn, and at
once prepared to fight them. The Mongol leaden did not with to fight» and
said they had ahvady entrapped the pfey in whoee pursuit they had set
out, and that they had not permitaion fipom Jingit to fi^t, hot ahonld do eo
if attacked. Mnhammed nevertheleM attacked them, the right winga, saya
lfa|or Raverty, of each army, aa ia often the case in eastern, as it has been in
western battles, broke their respective opponemts ; the centre waa driven back
some distance, and was only saved from defeat by the gallantry of Jelal od
dia, Muhammed's son. The battle lasted till night&ll, when the Mongols
lighted an immense nnmbet of fires to deceive the Khnarezmiaos, and then
decamped. Muhammed was seized with irresohition, and retired to Samarkand
without attempting anything more.* Now, this is unquestionably the battle
I have described 00 page 75, in which Wolff has taken the Mongols over the
Kashgarian mountains, and made the fight to take place in Eastern Ferghana*
This view, which I thought exceedingly reasonable when I wrote the passage,
1 no longer think so. The main obstacle to understanding this campaign,
which is very confused as told by Erdmann, D'Ohsson, A:c«, is the uncertain
topography of the valley of the Jaxartes in the Mongol period. Thus we
read of Juji attacking certain towns which we have eveiy reason for placing
in Western Turkestan, and as an episode receiving the submission of Ufkend,
which has been identified with the city of that name at the extreme eastern
point of Ferghana. It was the necessity of taking Juji round by this district
that made Wolfl^ whom I have followed, send Juji round by Kashgar over the
passes of Aki2ek, &c, and thus into the valley of the upper Jaxartes,
and identify Sighnak and Barkhalikend with the Senderach and Marghilan of
Eastern Ferghana. This was rendered necessary becanse we knew of no
Uxkend save that in the upper Sihun; but 00 turning to Vambery's Bokhara,
t find that there waa another town of this name in Western Turkestan, ck>ae
to tlie other places which were attacked by Jujt 1 there read, *< about the same
spot DOW occupied by Oidjdovan lay the considerable town of Jend, the
fimitier^fortress towards Khoaresm. Eastwards of Jend lay the towns of
Ashnas, Uzkend, Signak;^ and he adds in a note that this Uxkend is not to
be conficmnded with the Uxkend of Eastern Ferghana. Having obtained this
rectification, we have no need to take Juji into Eastern Ferghana, and may
accept the account of his doings as contained in this and a previous note rather
than the one in the text and that of the current authorities. According to Petis
de la Croix, the great fight between Juji and Muhammed took place at Karaku,}
^^« 75* luie 24. For Je lu lien ko cead Yeliu Im ko.
„ 75, „ De la Croix says that Otrar is the Farab of the Arabs*!
** 75* M 38. For Doub read Doab. I am reminded by Cokmel Yule that
ilwse MMMs are not equivalents, although the places they designate are so,
each of them being a tract between two rivers.
Page 76, lines i, xi, 15, and 17. For InallaflL read Inaljuk.
tf 7^ ft 23. Erase but
H 7^ »• 16. This is wrong, as I have already pointed out Sighnakwaft
•M. tOp.tit»xxTi. lO^€it.,I0o* |Op.dt,t49.
33C
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714 BISTORT or THS MONOOLS.
t town of Wtftern Tmtettan, and became the capital of tlM While Horde. It
waa ahiiated twenty foor milet (Oenaan) north-weet of Otrar.*
Page 76» line 37. Wolff identiiea Jend with the town catted Chettkeat ; it ia
alto called Jinkett
Page 77> Utte XI. Brdmann calla the leadera oftUa body Alak Noyan, Sngtn,
andTngbal Tbementionof Akai it, I believe, amiaUkaof WoUTt. Efdmann
aaya they marched opon Benaket, another name fior Taahkeod, #>., ** the atone
town,*' which waa aho called Shaah.
P«g« 77> line 42. Thia ia a mistake of Wolff 'a. Thetown wa« caUed Sertak
according to Vambery, who says it is aUnated north of Bokhara. It ia caUed
Zemiik by Mirkhond, and Zertnk by Juveini.^ ^ Nnr roeana light, and waa so
called becaoae it contained ao many shrines.
Page 78, line 14. Erdmann says be moonted the steps of the pulpit, mad that
what he aaid was, " There ia no hay in the fields, find fodder for my people."|
Page 79. line "• For " towards '» read by way oC Termed, as Cokmel Ynle
reminds me« is north of the Oxus.
Page 79, line 14. These are doobtless German miles ; De la Croix says
three leagues.|
Page 79, fine 17. For Turkomans and KankaUs read Turkomana or Kankalis.
>t 79* It 26. Insert ** by Jingis" after sons.
„ 80, „ 8 and 10. Koshka and Kahiga are the Kaksha and Kohluga of
Colonel Yule.
Page 80, line 23. TheLengert and Semnan of Erdmann*a Temodjin, 404.
It &>, „ 32. For Medsheda read Mnsjids.
n 81 , „ 2. The Tnktai or TokUi of Wolff is the Tngachar of fifdmann.
It 81, „ 34. There were two celebrated fbrta named Karendar, one
between Nessa an4. Nishapoor^ and the other where Gfaiaz nd din or Qhiath
ud din found refoge. The latter waa more probably situated, not in Khoraaaan
but in the Kurdish mountaina, between Kermanahah and Baghdad, and at the
place called Ardahan by De la Croix ;«* he calls it so fitom the Ardahan
mountains. It was otherwise known aa Ktfum
Page 8r, line 36. ITOhsson, apparently Sallowing Raachid, and cerUinly
supported by Abulghazi, says Kazvin,tt Erdmann will have it the place the
Sultan went to is the fortress of Ferzin, in the Kurdish mountains ;)| but the
accounts of the campaign are very confused.
Page 82, line 3. For Jeferan read Isferan.
„ 82, ,. 10. For her young children read hia young children.
„ 82, „ 12. The history of Snbutai's and Chep^s campaign against
Muhammed is singularly hard to fbllow. I have made a very careful
examination of it since I wrote the account in the first chapter, and am
disposed to think that WoHf and DX>h8Bon have net been on the right
track, and have somewhat mialed me, and I now prefer £rdmann*a narrative at
several points to theirs. I believe that after aoouring the country on either
side of the Mazanderan mountains, the two chiefo met before Rai, which
• Wolff, 71. Not«. t Op. cit., 71. I Vam^ry't Bokhara, ia6. } Op. cit., 381.
I Op. cit., 219. ^ Wolff* 79. *• Op. cit., 235.
It Op. cic, i. 249. Abulghasi* Bd. Dasm., xt7* 21 Op. cH., 39a, and Note S91-
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HISTCHiy OF THE MONGOLS. 715
waft captured, not on a fubaaquont occaakm, but in this very campaigo ; to
that the eventa I have detcribed on page 93 followed immediately on the
capture of Demavend. After capturing Rai the two commandera aeparated.
Chep€ attacked and took Knm, as I have described on pape 93. He then went
on to Hamadan (the ancient Ecbatana), which snbmiued to him, as did the
towns of Dinawar, ftc He then followed Mohammed to Kaiendar. The latter
escaped once more, and reached the fortreas of Seij^un, near Kasvin, and
thence passed into Ohilan.
Page 82, line 34. For through Ma^anderan and Ohilan read through Ghilan
and Mazanderan.
Page 82, linea 35 and 36. Thia is probably the modem Asterabad. For
Nissan read NesJutvi.
Page 83, line as. Okl Urgency was the capital of Kbuarezm, as Khiva is of
the modern Khanate answering to Khuarssm ; but the site of the ancient city
of Uigendj and the modem Khiva are a short distance apart.
Page ^ line 31. For Bamiran read Bamian.
„ 84, n 27. For Solan read Sultan. If ajor Raverty calls Uslak Solttti
Arsalak SolUn.*
Page 84, line 37. The Shadbakh of Brdmann.t and ** Shadyakh of Nishapoor'
of Major Raverty.
Page 85, lines 4 and 22. This campaign was more probably fought in 1221
than in 1220. Brdmann says that Jelal od din*s fight, when he retired from
Urgendj, took place on the X2th of February, 122 1, and 4jiis was certainly
before the siege ; Petis de la Croix says distinctly it was in i22i!|
Page 85, line 5. As to Urgendj, see note on line 22, page 83.
»« 85, „ 31. The rest of the tnhahiUnU were also sbioghtered after the
division, except the young people.§
Page 86, line a$. On Khareader or Karendar, see note on line 34, page 81.
„ 87, „ 2. It is probable that it was this body of Mongols which
formed the cordon round the northern borders of Khorassan and nearly
captured Jelal od din.
Page 87i line 10. For Men el rood and Muijab read Meru rood and Murghab.
M 87, „ 23. D'Ohsson says merely that the soldiers were so treated.|
>« 87, „ 27. For Jhanknshai read Jihankushai.
„ 88, „ 20. For two months read three months.
«» 89, „ 8. His name was Amin Malik.^ Brdmann calls him governor
of Meru, but he had been really governor of Herat, and had with him ao,6oo
Kankalis.**
Page 89, line 9. Agruk is the Ighrak of Major Raverty.
„ 89, „ 20. He was also called Kutuktu Noyan. He was a Tartar by
birth, and was adopted by Jingis Khan, and was given in charge to Burle
Fudahin, who had not yet had a child. He called Jingis, Idsbeh (/>., fiither),
and Burte Fudshin he called Berigan Egeh or Sain Egeh. He lived to an old
age and was much respected, his motto was ** Fear not and speak the truth.Tf
• Tttehftt i Nanri, 279. t Op. ch.. 408. I History of JiagU Klian. 256.
i D'OlMMMh L 969. Brdmaoo, 41a. ] Op. cit.. L s86. t Tab. i Nasiri. 487.
** IVOhMoo, i. ag7. tt Erdmaon, i79-z&t. D'OhMoo. i. 804-
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7l6 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
Page 89> line 32. Colonel Yoie writes me that this if Permui, at the feet of
the Hinda Kusb, wkere the last battk with Dot t Muhammed was fought.
Page 89, line 37. This ttatemeat is from WoUr, and H not qafte exact
Bfdmann says he fetired towards the moimuins of Kerman and Lenkoran,*
Ravesty calls these mountains Karman and Sankuran.t D'Oheson says he
retired to Peshacwnr. This, is no doubt right, and his fotlowera were not the
Kankaltshnt the Kalladjes.
Page 90, line 8. The governor he left there was ifahmnd Yelva^ or
Mahmud the En^oy.
Page 90, line 28. For Khuarazmiens read Kbuaresmians.
„ 92, „ I. D'Ohason says he winteied in the moontainous district of
Buya Ketver, near the sources of the Indus4
Page 93, line 7. Colonel Yule tells me BakaUm is Baghlan, north of the
Hindu Knsh mentioned in Wood*s Oxus.
Page 92, line 17. Before leaving Transoxiana )^s, who had been joined by
his sons, seems to have held a grand fete at Benaket or Tonkat. This was in
1224. It is described by De la Crohc, but his description is a mett rhetorical
display without fiict8.§
Page 92, line 24. For Jakut read Yakut.
M 92» M 30. The Colon Taishi of D*Ohssoo.|
f* 92, », 39. For Knbilai read Xfaubtlai.
ft 93> >f 2. Erdmann says it was in 7224,*^ but Dt>hs8on has it as 1
have stated it.
Page 93, line 6. In regard to this paragraph, see a previous note on Hue 12,
page 82.
Page 94, line 17. For Kankasus read Cancasus.
>* 95i t» 22. Erdmann calls him Batn.^
ft 96t ti 10. This battle, according to Erdmann, was fought on the i6th
of June, I223.tt
Page 96, line 39. Oaubil, who also mentions this, says the battle was fought
near the town of Potsepali.||
Page 96, line 42. Nusitagir Hi, as Mirkhond calls him, was the wdl known
Yeliu Taishi, the founder of the dynasty of Kara Khitai. The story of his
expedition round the Caspian seems to have no foundation except the existence
of certain tribes named Kaitaks in the Caucasus.
Page 97, line 42. Tai tnng fu is also called Tai yuan fu.
«* 98, „ 17. For Ortus read Ordus*
„ 98, „ 28. For his, read Jingis Khan^s.
It 98» „ 29. For Bugurdshin, Bericul, read Boghordshi, Bughurul.
f« 98, „ 30. For their, read the Mongol.
«* 98) „ 43. For Kai foug fu read Kai fong fu.
>i 99i tt 4* I'his reception, according to Erdmann, was held at Bulca
Suhika.$§
• Op. dt., 439. t Tab. i Nasirit ago. t Op^ dt, 1. 318.
i Op. ehn 3SX-3^> I Op. ck., i. 3x2, % Op. dt* 438. ** Op. dt., 433.
tt Op* di., 43& n Op. dt., 4X. f f Brdnwiia^ T«ma4)to» 439.
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HISTORY OP THE MONGOLS. y\^
Pago 99« Uao 3^ Eidauum w$% he was caUod Irma in the Tengutaa (f.#.,
the ThibcUn) languaipB.*
Page loo, line 7. Gfuihi) ^g% the Gaiite4>f Jingia Khaa*s mentroent against
him was that be had given an asyhim to two ef his enemies named Sonkoenkt
and Chelaho.t He woald seem also to have courted an alliance with the Kin
empire after the death of the Empenr Utahu,} a policy which could not but
pcove displeasing to the Mongols.
Page 100, line 16. De la Croix says the Tangutan soldiers were dressed in
cloth o£ gold and silver and Chinese silks^ and that their common soldiers were
as richly dressed as the Mongol officers.|
Page 100, line 35. Schmidt, who is my authority here, eays bind and not
hart, but it is probable that he has translated hind what ought to be bitch,
as he has done in the case of the wife of Burteohino, the slem>father of the
Mongol race.
Page loi, line 25. For Chulan read Khnlan.
„ -101, H 37. Etxina is peihaps to be identified with the town of Hon
tsiangy on the river Etsina.)
Page loi, line 38. Colonel Ynle says Liang chan fit does not include the
whole of this flnger-like projection.
Page loa, line 4. On the capture of Ling chan, Yeliu Chutsai took poesossion
of iu registers, and also of two mole loads of the gfaiseng root (t^, of Taiksy
rhubarb).
Page I03, line 42. The authorities differ very much in regard to the deatfi o^
the king of Tangut. Petis de la Croix says he arrived at the Mongol camp
eight days after the death of Jingis Khan, and that he was put to death
according to his orders, with all his children and several of his lords.Y
Page 103, line la The Yaan annals made him die near Sail kol, in his camp
of Karatuski. These are Mongol names, and DX>hsson suggests that they
were given to Chinese localities.^ They answer to the district of Tsing diui
hien, on the banks of the river Si kiang or Western Kiang, twelve leagues east
of the town of Tsin chau.tt Raachid says he died in the Liung Sban moun*
tains, in Sheosi. Hyacinth says that Liu pan is seventy 11 to the south-west of
Ku yuen chau.{t
Page 103, line x6. For Carpioo, read Carpini.
Page 104, lines 8 and 14. For Chatnn, read Khatun. Khatun muren means
queen's river, rather than maiden's river.
Page X06, line 30. For Borchatu, read Borkhata.
»f X06, „ 3a. For Ohulan, read Khulan.
« 107. „ 8. See Hist, Nach.» &c, p. 71.
„ 107, „ 21. For Urian read Uriangknt.
M 107, „ 31. Besides Burte, Jingis had four other wives, namely,
Khulan Khatun, the daughter of Dair Ussun, of the Merkits; Bisugat Khatun,
a Tartar, by whom he had a son, Ujanr, who died young ; Kuchn Khatun,. the
•Af. tOp.dt,4>*49* XWotfr,iri. f Op. dt., J71.
I S«tYale*t Marco Pole, sad BdnS2« Note. f Op.cit,s8x. ^ Op. cH^ i. 370.
tti;*: 11 BTOIwoa, i. S75.
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7lft HlSrOHY OF THE UOMOOLS.
dbiigMr of the Kin Eaqitror; and BiMltia» Um ttster of Biingat TbtM
w^nsiiit five chief wives. Beaidee then he had aa.ooocabinee Abika Khataa,
thedanght«rofYakembooC the fCerakt, and fitter to the wives of Jiiji and
Teltti ; and Kurbaea Khatua, the widow of Tayang of the Naimane, and a
daaghter of the king of Hia,*
Page X07, line 33. According to De la Croix, Jnji was nominated chief
huntamany jagatai chief Justice, Ogotai chief oovncHlor, and Titfni coaunander-
ia-chiett
Page 107, Hne 39. Pdr Alslnkan read AHalnfcaa. She was also callad Altaian.
Erdmaon does not nasM in his list the danghler who was married to the chief
of the Uighnrs. I>X)hsson calls her Alton Btgi.}
Page 107, line 40. For Chelan read Khelan.
t> 108, „ 3^ Colonel Ynle writes me that he rather Identifies the names
than the person^ and this through the intermediate form of Camios Khan of
Father Ricold.|
Page loS, lini 31. D*Ohsson gives a quaint illustration of this :— ** A man,**
says Jings, ** cannot, like the son, shine everywhere ; it is necetaaty, therefore,
that his wife, while he Is absent in war or the chase, should keep his harness
in good order, so that if a messenger come from the c^ief or a traveller enters
her hut, he may see it in good order and find there a good meal. This does
honour to a jnan, and you may know a man by his wife.**]
Page no, line 37. ** A fat hound won't hunt " was one of his sayings, and it
may be compared with an Arab saying, ** You must keep a hound hungry if he
is to hunt.*^
Page III, line 27. Different thefts were punished by the inflicdon of a
certain number of blows with the bastinado,- as 7, 17, 27, 37, up to 700. These
might be compounded fer by paying nine times the value of the thing stolen.**
Every person must work for the public service ; those who were not soldiers
hsd to give at certain seasons so many days work upon the pobKc works,
and one day in each week employ themselves in the Great Khan*s service. ft
A man might not marry within the first or second degree, otherwise there were
no restrictions, and he might marry two sisteie, ftc^t The children by slaves
were legitimate, but took rank after thoee by the regular wives. Families
allied themselves sometimes by marrying their deceased members to one
another. This custom still survives. Having drawn figures of the parties on
paper,' and also some of their cattle, they throw them with the marriage
contract into the fire, and they are persuaded all this is carried by the smoke
to their children in the other world, who there carry out the contract. The
Mongol code also forbade the taking of one of their own nation for a slave, or
the harbouring or assisting, on pain of death, of the slaves of another.|{ Peace
was not to be made with the enemy until he was entirely subdued.
Page III, line 35, and page 112, line 3. For Carpioo, read Carpini.
„ ix2» „ 17. Among those exempt from taxes De la Croix names the
people who waahed the dead.||
* Erdmann't T«aMi4JiB* 44^* t Op. cat., 141. I Op. cit.. i. xix.
^ Y«le*t Ifarco Polo, ad Ed., 249. | Op. cit, I. 391 . f Srd«aaa, 457.
•• De la Croix* t4. tt/d..«a. !:/d.,S5. %i 14^^-96. NO^dt.,8o.
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HUTCMtT OP THB MOWOOLS. 719
Page f 12, lino iS, It wm foriiirMwi aay priaoe, on pftin of death, to ityle
hUuolf iOiaiam oatU ho had boon doly appotatod by a Koriltai.* On the thlea
of iChan and lOiakaa Colonel Ynk haa a very good note. He says the former
nay be rendered lord* and waa appbed generally to Tartar chiefii, whether
•oveieign or not. It haa become ainoe In Penla, and eepecially in Al%aniatan,
a aoit of Baq., and in India la now n oommon affix in the namea of If naaolman
Hindoeunie of all rUiaai. In Tnfkey alone it haa been reaenrod for the
Sultan. Kaan, a form of Khakan, the XnTovot of the Bysantine hittoriana,
was the peculiar title of the tttpienie eovereiga of the Mongols. It prebaMy
means Khan of Khana, Lord of Lords. Colonel Yale adds, ** the Undency to
swelling titles is alwaya to degenerate, and when the value of Khan had sdnk,
a new form, KJUkm-KkMrn^ waa deviaed at the court of Delhi, and applied to
cme of the high officers of statei**t
Page IT2, line 4a. Vincent, Colonel Yule reminds me, was not a chronicler,
but the author of a medi«val encyclopedia.
Page 113, line i. Insert he, before foresaw.
n 113* .f s6. I am reminded that this is not the Scotch use of the term
ilk. I mean by the phrase, <* people of that kind.**
Page 114, tine a(>. After amU add page 51.
„ 114, ,, 30. This is a mistake of Ssanang Setxen's; he belonged to
the Uriangkut tribe.
Page X 1*4, line 33. This was Siki Khutuktu, Jingis Khao*s foster son, about
whom see in a previous note on line ao, page 89.
Page 115, 11004. The various minor divisions, with their commanders, are
given at length by Brdmann.|
Page 115, line ig. Since I wrote the life of Jingis, 1 have met with Dr.
Bretschneider*8 pamphlet on Chinese travellers to the West, in which he gives
two letters from a correspondence between Jingis Khan and the Chinese
philosopher Ch*ang-chhin. As the letters are very good illustrations of the
ways of thought of these two men, I will extract them with Dr. Bretschneider^
notea :—
Jingis Khan wrote to Ch^ang-ch'un.
** Heaven has abandoned China owing to its haughtiness and extravagant
luxury. But I, living in the northern wilderness,- have not inordinate passions.
I like simplicity and purity of manners. I hate luxury, and exercise moderation.
I have only one coat and one food. I eat the same food and am dressed in the
same tatters as my humble herdsmen-l 1 consider the people my children, and
take an interest in talented men aa if they were my brothers. We always
agree in oar principles, and we are always united in mutual affection. At
military exercises I am always in the front, and in time of battle am never
behind. In the space of seven years I have succeeded in accomplishing a great
work, and united the whole world in one empire. I have not myself dis-
tinguished qualities, but the government of the Kin is inconstant* and therefore
Heaven assisu me to obtain the throne (of the Kin). The Sung to the south,
• M., 80. t Yule't Marco Polo, zad EA, 9. Note. I Op. cit., 447-453-
f A. PaUmdids statct that the gown of Jinfis Khan, made oi simpio stctf, was kept at a
relic by hia aoceiaaort, the lloofol Bmperon of China.
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720 HISPO&V OP TRI MOVOOLS.
the Hm*ho to the nofth,* the Hia to the eeit, and the berteritae in the west,
all together have ackaowledged my topmnacy. It eeene to iBe,that eiiioe the
remote time of the »hat^^ each a Taet emfire hai not been eeen. tet as my
calling is high, the obKgatkms incomheot on me are alto heavy ; and I lear,
that in my ruling there may be eometWng waatinf . To craee a river we anke
boats and rudders. Likewlae we invite eage men and chooee oat assistants fi>r
keeping the empire in good order. Since the tiase t came to the throne, I have
always taken to heart the ruling of my people ; but I ooold not find worthy
men to occupy the places of the ikrm (knng) and the nme (k*ia^t With
respect to these circumstances I inquired, and heard that tium master hast
penetrated the troth, and that thou walkest in the path of right. Deeply
learned and much experienced, thou hast much explofod the laws. Thy
sanctity is become manifest. Thon hast coneerved tiie rigorous roles of the
ancient sages. Thou art endowed with the eminent talteto of celebrated
men. For a long time thou hast lived in the caverns of the rocks and hast
retired fixnn the world ; but to thee the people who have acquired sanctity
repair, like clouds on the path of the imnrartals, in innumerable mnltitndes. I
knew, that after the war thou hadst contlnned to live at Shantung at the same
place, and I was always thinking of thee. I know the stories of the returning
from the river Wei in the same cart, and of the invitations in the reed hut
three times repeated.| But what shall I do ? We are separated by mountains
and plains of great extent, and I cannot meet thee. I can only descend from
my throne and stand by the side.} I have fasted and washed.| I have
ordered my ad|utant Liu Chung-la to prepare an escort and a simple cart for
thee.^ Do not be afraid of the thousand li ; I implore thee to move thy
sainted steps. Do not think of the extent of the sandy desert. Comroisserato
the people in the preeent situation of affiiirs, or have pity upon me and com-
municate to me the means of preserving life. I shall serve thee myself; I hope^
that at least thou wilt leave me a trifle of thy wisdom.** Say only one word
to me and I shall be happy. In this letter I have only briefly expressed my
* There ia aomc cooAmIod as to the poeition aesi^ed to these Bstkms.
t The saa knag and the kia k'iag are meant. Since the time of the Choe 4/Daety, iiaa— «43
ac, the thfoe knng were the hicheet councillors of the empire; the nine k*inc occupied
difierent parts of the admlnistnition.
I This is an allpatoo to t«ro ezamplee of Chinese history* that aagee had been iavited by
emperors to occupy high eharges. Wen wang, the virtual ibander ol the Choo dynasty, found
an eU man fishing in the river Wei, whose ooovcrsetioc proved so sage, that the prince begged
him to inter hb service as minister, and took him along with him In his cart. The other
allaBlMireiBr8toChouKo-liaag,whewhowassoMhtoatbyLlnPei,the founder of the Shu
Han dynasty, whom his fiune for wisdom had tuachad. Ha waa fMad (aj». ao7) inhahitlaga
reed hut, and was with diOcuhy persuaded to abandon his hermit's Hie.
i Jingis proposes to Ch'ang-di'ttn that he should tube hh Oiagis*s) place in governing.
I A Chinese phrase of politeoesa, nmaning that the hoet has worthily prepared himself to
raeeiva his guest. The phrase in its literal menning—" fut and wash * wcwild seam strafe
ftpom tha lips of Jingis. Baschid-eddin remarks that it was a nils amoagst the Ifoogols
nevarto wash or bathe thaakselves. The Mussohaans in Ifoagotia, wiw aoiaetimee infringed
theae rales, were pot to death. It seems that the Mongols of the piaaBBt tiaM fiMiir eon-
sdsntioosly thsse practkss of their anoeetort. (KMl«ante,p.izi,H.H.H.)
% la andent timee in China the Bmparer used to send a cart for the eagsa when Invitii^
Ihsm. (Palladiaa.)
«» Ulaayi^, '*apU oat a ttttla.**
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HI8I0&Y OP THB UGKOOkS. 72\
thougbtt, and hope that thoa wOt oadTitand them. I hope alf(s that thoa»
having penetrated the priadplet of the great tao^ ffympathitest with all that ia
right, and wilt not resist the unshes o£ the people.
" Given oa the ist day of the Sth month, zax^.*'
Ch*ang-ch*un's answer to Jingis Khan.
" K'ia Ch*ii*ki &om Si-hia hien,* devoted to the'Uo, received latdy ftom a&r
the most high decree. I must observe that all the people near the sea shore
(».#., of Shaotong, Ch'ang-chMm'k native coontry) are without talent. I coofiess
that in worldly matters I am dull, and have not succeeded in investigating the
tao, although I tried hard in every possible way ; I have got old and am not
yet dead. My repute has spread over all kingdoms, but as to my sanctity I am
not better than ordinary people; and when I look inwards I am deeply
ashamed cA myselt . Who knows my hidden thooghts ? Befiore this I have
had several invitations from the soathem capital,t and from the Sttng,«nfl
have not gone. But now, at the first call of the Dragon coaxt4 I am ready.
Why ? I have heard that the JBmperor has been gifred by Heaven with soch
valout and wisdom, as has never been seen in ancient times or in oor own
days. Majestic splendour is accompanied by justice. The Chinese people as
well as the barbarians have acknowledged the Emperor's supremacy. At first
I was undecided whether I would hide msrself in the mountains, or flee into the
sea (to an island), but I dared not oppose the order. I decided to brave frost
and snow, in order to be once presented to the Emperor. I heard at first, that
Your Majesty's chariot was not frtfther than north of Hnan-chan and Fu
chau.| But alter arriving in Yen (Peking).'! was informed that it had moved
far away, it was not known how many thousand U. Storm and dost never
cease, obscuring the heavens; 1 am old and infirm, and fear that t shaU be
unable to endure the pain of such a long journey, and that perhaps I cannot
reach Your Majesty; and even should I reach (I vrould not be good for
anything). Public afEsirs and affisirs of war are not within my ciqpacity. The
doctrine of tao teaches to restrain the paaaions, but that is a very difficult taak.
Considering these reasons I conferred with Liu Chung-ln, and asked him that
I might wait in Yen (Peking) or in Te-hing (now Pao-an chau) the return of
Your Majesty. But he would not agree to that, and thui» I mys^ undertook
to lay my case before the Emperor. I am anxious to satisfy the desire of Your
Majesty, and to brave frost and snow; wherefore i solicit the decision (whether
I shall start or wait). We were four, who at the same time became ordained
* K'fai— " Ch'aBg-ch*«i*s fiunily name ;** Ch'n-ki, anothM' naoM of tht tags. 8i-Ua aim wm
kit nativo plaM.
t Th« soathem capital, Nankiac, at the time of the Kin 4ynastr was the prMeak K*al-fmg
lit, the reddeace of the Kia Bmpenv after PeUng had been taken ky Jiagit.
XLuag-tinff. He meaaa the Moogol court.
^ABcientHuaa-eluui.acoonUactotheTata<tagyit*«BgcU,wasto the uocth.«aet of the
L.-.hi.k^ 0^\M (Greet Wall) i8o U diataat. whica tke praeeat Kn
S»4hi-kHm gau (Qxeat Wall) i8o U diataat,
Andetu Pu chaa haa been identiAed by PafladiBa, from petaonal inspection, with the raina
caned Kara Balgaaon by the present Mongola. It liea on the road from PeUag to KiaMrta,
aboet thirty Bngltah mitea from Kalfsa. Brstschnddsr, op. dt., so. Nsta 27.
3V
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732 HISTOKV OP THB MONGOLS.
monks. Thret haTe attained sanctity. Only I have nndeservedly the lepate
of a sainted man. My appearanoe is fMtrdied, my hody is weak. I am waiting
for Yoor Majesty's order.
'* Written in the srd month of 122a"
Dr. Bretschneider adds the observation, that of course Jingis's letter was not
written by himself; as he could not write in any language, but that his ideas
were taken down by a Chinese in his suite, very likely by Yelin Chutsai. His
letter is written in a classical Chinese style.*
Page 1x6, line 3. Ogotai is derived from Oegata, a Mongol adverb meaning
onhigh.t
Page 1x6, line 5. It is very doubtful if he ruled over the Keraits.
M Ii7> » 4* Yeliu Chutsai, for purposes of revenue^ divided the provinces
of Pehchehli, Shantung, Shansi, and Liautnng into ten departments, with a
cnstem-house in each department. | He also secured the good-will of the
Chinese by giving to three of their race, namely, Shetienche, LiuhemSy and
Yenche high military commands. | One of hit great reforms was the payment
of flinctionaries by a regular salary instead of assigning them the filming
of a certain district. This aroused some opposition, which was headed by
the Kunkurat Wachin, Ogotai*s uncle, and Shemoyen, a high mandarin, who
intrigued against him, but Ogotai supported him ; and some time after, when
Shemoyen got into some disgrace, Chutsai showed his magnanimity by urging
on his behalf that his only fault was his pride. | He was Ogotafs most
confidential adviser and his chanc^lor of the exchequer in China. A siyiilar
post was occupied in the West by Mahmud Yelvadj. Chntsai's appointment
dates from 1229.^ When Yeliu Chutsai received his appointment Chin kai, a
Kcrait, and therefore probably a Christian, was named as his deputy.
Page XX7, line 43. De Mailla** and IVOhssontt date this in 1230, which is
doubtless right*
Page 118, line 3. Colonel Yule reminds me that Kung ta^ is the Chinese
name of Confucius.
Page 1x8, line 23. For Tong tcheu and Hoa tcho read Tong chau and Hoa
chau.
Page 1 18, line 28. Antchar is the Antsar of De Mailla4|
„ 118, „ 42. See Oaubil, 51 ; De Mailla, ix. 142 ; and D*Ohsson, i. 380.
„ lao^ „ 12. Kiun chau was the town now called Yu chau.{{
„ ISO, „ 24. TheHoshangofOaubiLII
„ X20, „ 29. Oaubil says his mouth was slit from ear to ear.
„ rao, „ 32. Oaubil says that Ira Buka asked that he might die in the
Kin territory.
Page 123, Une 23. Wanien was the frunily name of the Kin Imperial stock.
„ 123, „ 26. These comprised ftigitives from the surrounding districts.
f» 1^1 If 3* Loy*ng or Honanfo is one of the very oldest towns of
China, and contains some of its oldest moaumenta.^f
«/(l., ISO. t D'Obnsa, U. n. Note. I Gmobil, 59. ♦W.,57. |/i<.,6o«Ci.
f Brettchneider, op. dt., xxo.
•• Op. dt., is. 135. tt Op, dt, U. 14. I J Op. dt, fac. 139. ^ GauWl, §5.
|(Op.dt.,66. T^OsuW.Si. Not«.
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HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS. 723
Page 124, line 15, 31, &c. For Hachaha read Hvthahii or Hmhalni.
„ 124, n 32. For Burgul read Baghnrul.
„ 124, M 39 and 43. For Joa read Yu. Th^ Yu ia a tributary of the HoK
„ 125, M 26. The ipot where thia home atood, Oanbil aaya, is still
shown near Vu ning In.^
Page 125, line 36. Ching ling was killed the same day in a tomultt
„ 126, ,, 15. Talui was somaroed Yekeh No3ran (t>.. Great Nojran) and
Ulugh Noyan.l
Page 126, line 17. For Novan read No3ran.
„ 126, ,, 21, and 129, line 9. For Rokn nd din read Rokn nd din.
M 126, ,« 22 and 24, and 127, line 3. Masanderan has, by a slip^ been
wrongly spelt in these lines.
Page 127, line 7. For Irak Areb read Irak Arab.
„ 127, «, II. Insert were before imrsned.
„ 127, „ 24. For this read the.
M 128, ,» 15. Erase to.
», 128, „ 39. I am disposed to think now that by Soussans Raachid
meant the Saksins, a Turkish race who lived about the mouths of the Volga.
Page 130, line 15. For Esferan read Isferan.
,, 130, „ 21. He was nearly surprised at the fort of Shirkebnt, near
Mttkan.{
Page 131, line 20. For Nessaui read Nessavi.
n 132* ** 13* For Irak Areb and Zek Abad read Irak Arab and Zenk
Abad.
Page 132, line 1$. Jebel Hamrin means the red mountain.|)
„ 132, ,, 21. For Jelisavetpol read YeUsavetpol.
,, 132, „ 24. This is also spelt Mukan.
M 132, „ 31. For Imanise read Tmanise.
i34f >. 6. Von Hammer calls him Nussal,^ but D'Ohsson reads
this name YesheL^ Kurgus, accordmg to Von Hammer, means the bhnd-
cyed.tt
Page 134, line 29. Chin kai was a Kerait, and was one of the companions of
Jingis Khan at the river Baldjuna, and he had a joint appointment with Yeliu
Chutsai in China.!}
F^Se 135, line I. For Yss ud din read Iz ud din.
„ 136, y, 18. In this account I have ibllowed De Mailla. Oaubil makes
prince Kutan and Chahay command the first army ; Kutchu, Temntai, and
Changjao the second ; and Petu, son of the king of Liau tung YeHu Ihiko, with
other chiefs and the general Chagan, command the third.§|
Page 136, line 24. For It read He.
«t 136, „ 40. De Mailla assigns these victories to Temutai.||
M i37» t» 29. De Mailla makes Mangu command the expedition.5ir
* op. cit.. 86. Note. f De Maillm, Ix. 206. I Brdmsna'a T«aui^in» 445.
S D'Ohason, iii. 49. | Von Hammer's Ilkhsni, ito. 5 HUuuis. izj.
•* Op. dt., iii. 108. It Op. cit., 53. 11 Gaubil, 57.
f f Op. ciu 90. II Op. dt., ix. 816, 2X7- f Y Op. ch., ix. 320.
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»39.
»♦
39-
«4».
7-
141.
iS.
t42.
10.
H^^
3»-
144.
41-
734 HI8T(»tY or THS MONOOLS.
P*9e 13S, Hm 5« Th^ were rather the Kankelit. De Maillt cells them the
Koentieulds.*
Page 138, lioe 23. Per DJiheBkoechai reed JiheAkoetai.
„ 138, „ 34. Thie hes mkled previoae inqoirert ae well at myielf. An
attentive peratal of Carpini thowe he bat cooiiieed the campaign againtt
Khuareim with this ooe. Barchhi it no doubt BaiJchalflcent, Jahiat or Ytkint
Yenghikeat, and Oma Urgendj.
Page 139, lioet 4 and 14. Por Itteslawett read Itheelaweta.
H i39t H 27. Kelkan wet a eon of Jingii Khan by the Metkit Khnlan
Khatnn.
P^« X39t lio« 35- Read Bowt into the Volga the German milet below If ologda.
Por rdigiont read religiout.
For Boharit read Bi^|irit FSde page xi.
For Altuntath read Altonbath.
Por Koladathon read Koladaahaii.
For They read The llongolt.
According to a letter of the Oerman.friart quoted by
bf atthew Parity and dated May» 1241, the Chnetlaiia loet zo^ooo men in thit
battle.t
Page 145, line 19. Por Jarotlaf mad YarodaL
„ 145, „ 27. ThedittricttofHoaenpIot and Leobthot, which belongid
id Moravia and the Bishop of OUnnts, were devattated, for they were planted
with Oerman colonies by Bithop Bmno^ ftc4
Page I45« line 3a Before Hraditch insert " the monastenr of St. Stephen at«**
M .145* »t 35- Uwat thePremonttrateneian nannefyofObroviUwfaich
was destroyed; Both the k>ng worde are wrongly spelt in the text*
Page 146, line 17. For Mnnlenbech read Mnhleabech.
»• 146, „ SI. Alba Julia is the Peyerwai of the Httogeriaas^ and is now
called Karlsbnrgh.
Page 146, line 23. For He read They.
»• 146* I* 33* Por Thomas read ThonuB.
n I47» M 3'* Kutan it also known as Kotiak.
>* H7* I* 41* Pof Zahiuk read Zolnnk.
„ T4S, „ 2. Wolff calls Ugolin, Ugrin.
«* 148* »t 36- On the same day the Mongols slanghtered a great body
of people who had taken refuge in the Dom and palaoe of Waisen, which ie
on the Danube aboat four German miles from Pesth4
Fage 1 50* line 34. Colonel Yule suggests mangonels rather than cttepilts.
»» IS'* M '©• P***" Oxen read Ofen.
„ 151, „ 12. For They read The Mongols.
i, •5if »» 27. For Politie read Volitse.
^ 152, », 29, For they read the Anstrians.
„ 154, », 21. Colonel Yule properly corrects Zodiac to Cycle*
•» I55> n 26. Wolff says Petschova, but ? Petschora.
tf «55f n ^9. For Soyol read Soyots.
•td^kum* tWolfi,ifS. :Wolfl;a4S. |W«tf,i9i.
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HISTORY O^ THE MONGOLS. 725
Page 155, Kae 59. For Ko chaoa king read Ko tliav king.
M i55> .« 40. For KobiUi read KhnbtUi.
«* 156, „ I. On the eite of Karakomm, lee p. iSe.
ft 156, M 93, CiU if a Hdiculoas roittake of mine; it onght to be cake.
•» 15^ M 44* In the note oonect the page in Pansier firam 171 to 171.
ft 157* I* 10. Two prieata oC the Tao aect.*
„ 15S, H 14* For Yan Ung read Yen king.
H 15S, „ a& ThU place it called Koahei Nanr (».«., the lake Knehei) by
Voo Hemmer, who «aya it waa Jour day^ joam^ from Karakonnn.t It it
called Keoshe and lake Goenca by D*Oh<^aon.t
Page 15S, line 32. We are tok) that Jagatai pretcribed a certain nomber of
cvpt to be dnmk dally, but this mle he evaded by having die caps made
bigger.!
P^^ 15^ lint 37. He waa found dead in bed after a carouse near the
moontam Utegu Knlan.| His most inflnential wife, Turakina, seems to have
been jealous of the tfiree daaghters of the Kerait Yak— ibo, who had married
so well, Sinrknkteni having been the chief wifo of Tnlui^ Bigtutemish of Juji,
and Abika one of Jingis Khan's wives. After his death Abika had been married
to a dyer on the borders of China, and went every year with her son, who
was dressed as a cupbearer, to pay her respects at tiie ccnirt. It was while
she waa there, and after her son had served him with kumis that Ogotai
died. Abika and her boy were thereupon accused of having potsoi^ him ;
but Itchikadait the son of Juji Khassar, defended them» and declared it was
clear he had died from excessive drinking.^
Page i(iD, line 17. For Uirats read Uirads.
H x6o, „ 26. Ogotat had six chief wives and sixty concubines. Hisfirst
wifii was Bnrakchin,** the Polahaof OaubiLtt She waa a Knnkurat» and left no
children. The second wife was Turakina, a Merkit by birth» and formerly the
wifo of Dahr Uasun, the chief of the Merkits.|t His third wifo waa M ungba,
and the fourth Haahin. Kashi, the fifth son of Ogotai, who was bom during
Jingis Khan*s first campaign against Hia or Kashin, and thence got his name,
died young from debancheiy.|i
Page 161, line x. Kuyuk, we are told, had his yurt in the district of Kamak,
or, according to others, Mingrak and ImiL He waa ddicate, and, aecoiding to
Abulghaai, even paralyted-||
Page 161, line la. The Ngaotnla homan of De Mailla.55^
„ 161, „ a6. Palladiuf tays he has teen a ttatement in a^deacription of
Llau tung of the Ming period, according to which Chuttai was buried in the
cemetery of his anceafors near mount Y wu lu, in Manchuria. This seems
more probable, and there may have been on the Wan hill only a numntneni to
hia memory. During the Kien lung period and in 1714 the name of the Wan.
hill was changed to Wan Thu than (m., hill of longevity). No traces of the
•X>tlCsaia,iz.aa7. tllkhsas.sa. 2 ii- Is Mid ig^. 4 D'ObMoa. U. 8*
|irOhMoa,iLa7. f Von Hmiumt** Uldwiw, ^S- ** Abvlghtfi, Bd. D^tn., 151
ft Opt dt.. 90. 22 Von Htmmor*k Ilkfaaaa, js- If Abnlflia^ ija.
H0p.dt.,i9>. ftOp.elt.,lx.ajft.
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796 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
nooomettt then remaioed, bat in 1751 1 monvmeot was raited to him tnora by
oraar 01 tko Emparoc*
Page 161, Hae 32. MaaMid bey was the ton of Mahnrad YelTadj.t
„ i^, H 43. She was a Miihafniiiedan4
o i6t, „ 7. This is the same place where Ogotai had his spring
camptl and which is ao difierently spelt. It is called Dalan daba in the Yuen
history,! and Wankiasa MiesuH by De Mailla.^
Page i6a, line az. For Ismailyen read Ismaeiite.
„ ite, „ 27, and 163, line 29. For Carpino read Carpini.
,, 162, „ 28. Shortly after his accesron Ka3mk sent aa army against
Corea, which compelkd its king to pay tribote and the people to receive
Mongol governora or damghaa.^
Page 164, line 24. For Ismailyens read IsauMHtes.
tf 164, „ 30, 165, Une 40, and 166, Hne 3. For Carpino read Carpini.
«• 165, ,, 12. 8liir6 was a Mohammedan %om Samarlcand.tt
»« i<^« ft M. This paragraph,, which I owe to Ssanang Setxen, is a
mistalce. See Chapter IX. on the Khoshotes, p. 505,
Page 166, line 5. Abulghasi sajrs he had three sons, Rhodja Ognl and Bagu
(the Nagtt of D*Ohsson and of oar text), whose mother waa Kamish (r>.,
Ognl OaimiahX and a third son named Oku.|| He also had two daughters, the
eldest of whom married the chief of the Ongnts, and the second married Stagu,
prince of Titrian.||
Page 167, line 8. For Khelatt and Ogatai read Khelat and Ogotai.
tf 167, „ 10. For Achraf read Ashraf.
„ 169, ,. 2. For Rees ain read Ras al ain.
M 169, „ 8. This is a Ai^intf «wM#rur. I have not ao described him*
ahhongh I meant to do. Knrgox had set oat to render account to Ogotai how
he had administered the affairs of Persia, where he had raled with singular
justice and moderation, having his seat of power at Tus. ||
Page 170, line 14. The vacant post of Bitikudji was given to the Khodja
Fakhr ud din Bihishti.ft
Page 170, line 20. Ogul Oaimish was a daughter of Kutukta, chief of the
Uirads.*** She is called Charmis in a letter of Mangu Khan*s written to St.
Louis.ttt
Page 170, line 24. Colonel Yule doobta this fact, but I think it very probable
See irahsson, ii. 240.
Page 171, line 23. Mangussar was the son of the great Subotal Bahadur,
tf iT^t ft 35- Katakush is called Inahliotan by De Mailla.}}} She was
the mother of Shiramun.
Page 172, Hne 40. Bela, the secretary of Ogul Gaimish, escaped. The
Emperor's mother being ill, he had issued a general amnesty to propitiate
* Bretchneidcr, op. eit, 109. t D'OhtMO, ii, tgn, I li,» 194.
I Sm ptfe 158. I D'OhMoo, ii. 193. Note. f Op. cit., ix. 141. ** Ganbil, 106.
tt IVOhMoo, ii. 13^. :: Op. dt 152. H GaubH. 305. Note. H D'OhsMo.iiL 116-118
ff D*OliMoii« iU. 126. *^ D*ObMoii, n. 246. mDclfaiII«,iz.S46. Not« a.
::i ix. a55.
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HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS. 737
hMi^»«n, and B«la cam* whhin it. His funily and goods, however, were
■eised, and be himself sent off on a mission to Syria and Ecrpt.*
P«g« 175* liM I. De Mailla says Chelimen (£.#., Shiramun) and Yesopoli
were exiled to the coontxy of llolochi, where they were careivlly gnaided,
Kiliki, wife of OgoUi, and Hutieni were sent to the west of the conntry
governed by Kaun. Hontan or Hatan and Moli, sons of Ogotai, were sent
one to Bishbalig and the other to the Irtish. Kaidvi, son of Kashi, and Perini
were sent to the countiy of Qiarki (».#., Manchuria) Todo, son of Kharadjar,
to the country of Imil and Mongoto, another grandiMn of Ogotai was sent
witii the princess KIlikL All the gold, silver, predoas stones, and jewels of
the family of Ogotai were oonfiscated.t
Page 173, line 16. For des read der.
.» 173* •• 29. Kayalic was probably within the special ulns of Ogotai.
In this line, for Amalig read Almalig.
Page 175, line i. For Tumir read Timnr.
„ 176, „ 4 and 5. For lies and maintains read lay and maintained.
M >7^t t> 10. For Yesseini read Yenissei.
II i77t >t 10. For to read too.
II t77» i» 99* For a part read in part.
M 17S, „ I. For Tagajar read Tngajar or Tugachar.
,» 17S1 i» 30. This, says Colonel Ynk, was no doubt the instnmient
called bslalaika by Dr. Clarke; it is a kind of two-stringed lyre, and is the
most common instrument in use among the Kalmuks^
Page 179, line 23. For Changtn read Shangta.
II I79t »• 33* This river is called Ara by Gaubi!.}
„ 180, „ 4. Erase and.
„ x8o, „ XI. For Khaischan read Khaissan.
„ 181, „ 20. For sosereign read suserain.
•I iSi, „ 34 and 37. For ordn read orda, and for T^mur read Timur.
„ 183, „ 12. Kuluk Khan was the successor of Timur.
Pages 184 and 185. By an inadvertence on my part, the notes on these two
pages appear as if they were my own ; they are really Colonel Yale*«, and
ought to have appeared in inverted commas.
Page 184, line 34. This is the Toghon Timur of my own narrative.
„ x88, „ 2. Dandar is the Taitar of De Mailla. |
„ 188, „ 7. The Yuen annals state that in 1251 Yelvadj was made
governor of the province of Yen king. De Mailla says that Yalawachi, Puchir
Walupu and Tutar were given charge of the administration of Yen king.f
Page 188, line 27. This college, according to D'Ohsson, was called Khant.**
II 189, „ 30. Colonel Yule thinks there is not sufficient evidence to
connect Rubruquis with Ruysbrok in Holland. See Introduction.
Page 189, line 41, and 191, line 35. Terasine is more properly written
dar4sun, according to my excellent friend just quoted.
* lyOhMoa, U. 073. 274. t D« MalUa is. 956.
; Yule^ Marco Polo, tnd E4.. i- 33X- -^ \ Op. cit., 3i6. i Op. cit., ix. sjs.
f Brttachawdsr. no. De lialUs, ix. s}). "* Op. dt, ii. 267.
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73S ainonY OF TBI uonaou.
Page 190, lint 24. For Sancto read Saacu.
«• 19^ u 3Z' Behai ad din was named hit minltCer of finance.*
H 192, ,• 36. For Cbemt od din read Shemt ad din.t
„ 192, •• 42. Add Qar and Sidjestan to the placet here named.}
t. 193* •• 9* ^omdM and bridget were ordered to be repaired, and the
country wett of Tungat wat reterved for patturing his hortet.}
Page 193, line 16. Von Hammer tayt Pfuhle.| On thit place lee the note
at the end of the chapter.
Page 193 1 line a;. For Itmailyent read Itmaelitet.
»i I94f It 7' He croeted the Oxut on the 2Qd Jaoaaiy, 1256.^ In iu
aeighbonrhood he had a hunt, when nine lions were killed.
Page 194, line 13. For Girdk|ah read Qtrdkuh. Von Hammer says it wat
aho called Derikunbed or the arched gallery.**
Page 194, lines 19 and 2a i^'or Turim read Tarim, and insert a comma after
Rndbar.
Page 194, line 27. It held out, however, for fourteen years, and ¥ras not taken
till £)ecember, la/att
Page 194, line 28. For Kest read Kurt
»» 194. f» 31- Von Hammer says it was not far from Hain or Ghain4}
11 195. »» 38* D'Ohtton t*ys great cistentt were found inside, filled with
various kinds pf food, including some vinegar and honey. These, it was said,
had been put there by Hassan Sabbah 170 years before, and had kept good in
consequence of his excellence.ti
Page 199, line 18. The Mongols were attacked near Anbar.||
„ 201, „ 7. This is the Wakf of Von Hammei.«nr
„ 202, ,, 17, 34, 39, &c. Bugaou^t perhaps rather to be written Baka,
as Von Hammer writes it ;*** D'Ohsson writes Boca. Buka Timor was the
brother of Khulagu's wife Oljai.ttt
Page 202, line 33, and 205, line 12. For Irak Areb read Irak Arab.
„ 203, „ 17. This was in August, 1258.$^
«• 203, „ 20. For suzereign read suzerain.
„ 204, „ 40. Alter the comma after Mongols to a full stop.
209, „ 16. This is the Kalat ur Rum of D'Ohsson. Von Hammer
says Kalatol Rum means the Roman castle, and that it was on the site of the
ancient Zeogma.{S$
Page 209, lines 18 and 19. Menbedsh, according to Von Hammer, is a cor-
ruption of its old name Bambyce ; it was also known as Hierapoh's. It owed
iu former name to its trade in cotton, and its latter one to its temples, of which
the chief was that of Astarte. Ncdshm means the star^fiart ; Rakka is the
ancient Kalinike, also known as Nicephorium ; while Jaaber is fismous as the
place where Suleiman, the grandfather of Osman, the founder of the Osmanii
power, was drowned. 1 1 1)
• r*Ohteon, Ui. ia8. t D'Oh««)n, iii. lag- I D*Oh««on, iii. 130. f Bretschoeider, 6a.
I Voo Hsmffier't Ckfaans* 87. ^ Von Hmoamer'* nkhans, w ** Yo*«'« Polo* i«* ®*» *• *53»
tt Von H*mioer*« llkhwis, 95- 11 OP- ^^* »»• 'W» ♦♦ Bretichneider. «6.
I,! IHchans. 154. M W. '^ Von Hammer** Ilkbant, 151. ttt Bratvh
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HISTOaV OF THK MONGOLS* 729
Paft J09, lint as. The Hama of Von Hammer it better known as Hamatb. .
^ aio, M 30. For BToabit read AyiUt
„ >aix, m I9» He only leigned at the ^ceroy of hie brother, nor did he
coin flMoey in hit owa^name, bnt the dinart and dirhemt were ttmck in the
name eC Mango Khan» a vtage which continued under Abaka and his
encoesior; Argun, eon eC Ahaka. added hit own name to diat of the Khakan ;
and Oasan» Axgnn't aen» who became a MuttuUnan, broke off hit allegiance
entirtly.*
Page an, line aa. For tutereignty read tnxerainty.
«f an. „ 37. Colonel Yule doubtt thit etymology. I took it from
D*Ohaion, who eaye that it it the meaning of the word in MongoLt
Page aia, line ao. They tummoned Chen chi king, itt king, a vestal of the
Sung empire, to reoognite their tupremacy4 Annam it probably a corruption
of the Chinete name Ngan-nan (ia., the pacificated touth). The name Tung
king, which meant eattem capital, it doubtlett got from one of itt citiee. Kiao
chi, in Chinese, meant with crotsed.toet.i
Page 212, Hne a8. For he read Unangkadai.
«i a 13, „ 7. Kitat was no doubt appointed hit damgha (j>^ commissary
or agent). RuttTa wat then aubject immediately to Batu Khan.
Page ai3, Ihse 25, and ai8. line 9. For Moke read Mokn or Moko.
tf ai3, ;, 33. For Mian chan read Mian chao.
„ 214, „ 17. Mangu*t death took place in Augutt, 1259.I
M 213, „ 25, and aiS, line 9. Thit it the name eltewhere tpelt Tugachar.
„ 216, „ 18. It^would teem the Mongols alto use the word Mangu in
the tente of eternal, but they do not apply it to mortals.^
Page ai6, line 19. Khubilai wat bom in the eighth monih of 12 16.**
„ 218, „ 27. Kuntukai had been left in command of Mangu*t main
army when the lAtter't remaint were escorted to Karakorum by his ton Assutai*
Page a 18, Hne a8. For Lupin read Liupan. Thit wat the tame place where
Jingit Khan died.
Page 218, line 40. For ton read brother.
M 220, „ 40. Thit it a mistake of D'Ohston's. There were no Dalai
Lamas till a much later date. See attU page 504, &c. Mati Dhwadsba wat no
doubr only made tupreme head of the Red Lamat. The civil jtiritdiction
seems to have been retained in Mongol hands* and Thibet was divided into
provinces by Khubilai.
Page 224, line 34. This army was commanded by Atchu or Achu, ton of
Uriangkadai ; he had fioUowed his father in Thibet, India, Cochin China, Tung
king, Knangsi, and Kukuang.tt
Page 225, line 14. Alihaya wat probably the Alibeg, ton of Mahraud Yelvuaj
ofVattaf.U
Page 225, line 16. These engineert were called Alai ud din and IsmaiLff
• P«athi«r's Maroo Polo, 236. t Op. cH., ti. 5x8. Note.
II>X>hnoe.H.SxS. ild„3». Note. I Yoto't Marco Polo» smI Ed., i. 3af.
YD'Olis8oa,iLs35. Note. •• De MailUi, ix. aSa. Yule's Mamro Polo, sod Bd., i. jaS.
ttGsnbil,X4o. Noes. H D'OhNOS. li. 397* Note. iiid^lL^
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730 HIS1X)RY OF THK MOVOGIS.
Page 225, lin« 36. D^hsioa tayi Poloboan.*
,, 226, „ 8 and 13. For Cha y^ng rtad 8ba yang .
„ 226, „ 23 and 2S. For Cha fti kcoa and Cha ta kai lead Ska Col kaoo.
„ 227, ,, 15. This is tba wen known Chineae firvtt called luchii in
India, where it has been acclimatised.
Page 228, line 30. For soxereignty read suzerainty.
„ 229, J, 17. Insert at between jeered and him.
M 2^« M 24 and 28. For Chang chi kie and Chi kong raad Chang M
ki^ and Sh^ koog. De Mailla places this moontain to the nocdi-catc ofChla
kiang.
Page 230, line 12. For Carpino read Carpini.
•• 33o> M ^ For Ailhaya read Allhaya.
t# 231, „ 30. For "who** read the envoys.
M 232, „ 26. For Si tu read Si-ho.
ft 237, „ 31. For Chang chi kie read Chang shi kS«.
*t 237, „ 21. Chen ching, which De Mailla calls Tang kh^^t Colonal
Yule reminds me is Cochin China.
Page 237, line 43. In the third reference to De Mailla pot 395-399.
*f 238, H 44, For De Mailla, ix. 204, read 304.
„ 240, „ 35. Honkilachi is merely the Chinese corraptuMt for KonkoraL
»t 243, n 38. For vice-regent read vicegerent.
I* MS* *t 34* ^^ ^^ *^ ^*^^ ^^ PH^ ^^» ^^ 4^
„ 247, ,9 17. For Chang tu read Shang tu.
»f 247, „ 31. See note on page 240^ line 35.
n 247, „ 36. Colonel Yule writer me that Mobar and Malabar are two
different placea. Mobar connotes the Coromandel region, t.^., the aonth-oaat
coast of India, commencing with Cape Coroorin.^ Malabar is of courao on
the west coast of India.
Page 247, line 39. For Siognigti read Singu^i.
„ 248, „ 6. For Chen chen read Chen ching.
M 248, „ 20. For nephew read second cousin.
** 24S, ,, 30. For Putula read Putala or Butala.
n 249, ,, 37. D*Ohsson sa3r8 his place was given to Oldjai.J
„ 250, „ 9. For suzereign read suzerain.
n 250, „ 14, He died, and it was suspected he had been killed. |
M 25^1 .t 37* For Chi tsu tend Shi tsn.
1* 254, ,» 27. For Gourt read Court.
tt 254* >« 39* For Ortus read Ordns.
» 256* n 22. For Idkn read Idnn.
i> 256, „ 27. For Yung se read Yuen se.
if 259, „ 17. Panthier says there still survives at Peking, to the nocth
of the city, a tower called the beU tower, which is of great height and open to
the winds. The bell, which is hnng on the hi^est storey, may be hnaid aft a
great distance. This tower, he says, is in close neighbourhood to another hidlt
* Op. dt., U. 396. t Op. dt, ix. 399. 1 Csth«y tadtlM Wsj TUdl•r,l0bS(•
f Op. dt.. U. 474- jDsliaiUiwix.449.
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HISTORY or THE llOlfOOLS. 731
in 137s by KhttbOai, on which to ft d/tptydn, of mMt ddicste cootlnictiott,
which contiitt of feor baiint tilled widi wmler, wfaidi flows from one to another
in a regnfatf straam. This moves a figore which coeaes out at certain intenrali
and maihs the hocm.*
Page 259, line 34. Insert the between of and ancient,
•t 359, ., 43. Colonel Yule sajrs a green moimt, answering to the
description and about 160 fcet high, stiO stands immediately in rear of the
palace buildings (at Pelting). It is called by the Chinese King Shan, Court
momitain. Wan sa Shan, iTen Thousand Year mount, and Mei Shao, Coal
mount ; but it is not certain that this ia the one made by Khubtlat. A figure of
it is given by Colood Ynle.t
Page 260, line ao. For Kia ping fii read Kai ping fu.
„ 261 » „ 12* For shepherd read shepherds.
t> 263, H 13. For establishment read establishments.
*» 263, „ 31. Colonel Yule says he was an officer of the Mongol camp,
whose duties are thus described by Muhammed Hindu Shah in a work on the
offices of the Perso-Mongol court* ** He to an officer appointed by the cooncH
of state, who at the time when the camp is struck goes over the ground with
his servants and collects slaves of either sex, or cattle, such as horses, camds,
and asses, that have been left bdiind, and retains them until the owners appear
and prove their claim to the property, when he makes it over to them. He
sticks up a flag by hto tent or hut, so that he may be easily found.* The name
is apparently derived from Bularghu, lost property.|
Page 263, line 37. The rendesvous of the great hunt to called Cachar Modun
by Polo. Colonel Yule identifies it with Biodun Khotan, in the district north
qI the eastern extremity of the Great WalLf
Page 264, line 7. These were really tiger skins. See note on page 57,
line 21.
Page 265, line i. This practice was rigidly to£ot09d among the Mongols, and
to mentioned by Rubmquis and other traveUerSr a breach of it being pnnished
with death. The tent ropes were regarded as the threshold in the case of tenu
and Mr. Michie thus describes the survival of the superstition to our day. He
says, ** There to a right and a wrong way of approaching a jrwt ; outside the
door there are generaUy ropes lying 00 the ground, heM down by stakes lor
the purpose of tying up animals when they want to keep them together.
There is a way of getting over or round these ropes that I never learnt bat on
one occasion, the ignorant breach of the rule on our part exduded os firom the
hospitality of the family;" and Colonel Ytile adds, *< the fading or superstition
was in fiill force in Persia in the seventeenth century, at least in regard to the
king's palace. It was held a sin to tread upon it in entering.*'!
Page 265, line ifi. Pauthier gives from the Yuen si a resume of the State
robes presented three times a year to the mandarine and other high officials.
They constoted of five caps of sable, dc. ; five dresses of sky-blue silk ; five
Ught ones of red silk; five under garmenu, in white silk, and thin as gauae;
* Marco Polo, ii. S7S. Nou. t Marco Polo^ and Ed., i. 560.
! Yale's aiarco Polo, and Ed.« i. 593, 394. f Id., i. 394* I /d.» i. J7^
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732 HISTORY or THS MOHOOLS.
five girAlM of fold tiMoe and ffii «itk ; fiv« ifwy tabl0(»; fire b^
diu^; ftm iM4m pcndeatf ; five oollan of vldto silk hangiag down on ttie
broast; fivopniraofredleatberbooto;. and five pain of aocki of while aillu*
Page 966, fine s. Of coorae all that ia hece meant ia that be intioduoedat
tbe Mongol court. It waa an old Chineae coatom.
Page 267» line tu Polo aaya tbe nnmber of lahrtationa waa tar and act
three. Carpini alao speaks of aaldnf fiMir gcnnflexiona.t
Page 369, line 15. Vambeiy wID have it tbe proper name is Kechllan or
Kecbiklen (U^ night watchers), froni Kiche or Kkhek^ Uighnr for nigfaLt
Page 271, line 27. These pairahs were accompanied by patents of office
called yarlighs by the Moogols.|
Page 27I) line 41. Colonel Ynle says that ** nnder the Persian branch of
he Mongol royal boose the degree of honour was indicated by the nnmber of
lion*8 heads npon the plate, which varied from one to Byt^ The lion and son
which snrvives, or has been revived in modem Persian decoration, so called,
formed the emblem of the son in Leo (ui^ in bright power). It had already
been used on the coins of the Sdjokian sovereigns of Persia and Icooism,
on the coins of the Ilkhans, Gasan, Uldjeitu, and Abased, and is also
fimnd on some of those of Muhammed Urbdc Khan of Kipchak.**|
Page 272, line 11. Paothier enomerates the varioas standards in nse among
the Mongols, and said they were decorated with the symbols of the various
elements ; tiius there waa a standard of the genins of the winds (fuog peh), of
the master of the rain (yn se), of the prince of thunder (tai kung), each with a
genius upon it ; the standards of the five elements— metal, water, wood, fire,
and earth ; the standards of each of the twenty eight constellations, &c. The
standard of the son (yih khi), formed of a blue stuff with the sun's disc
embroidered on it, supported by clouds ; that of th moon (yne khi), similariy
decorated widi the moon's disc The standard of the five sacred Chinese
mountains, of the grand peace of the empire, of the ic,ooo years of the
emperor, In which rice plants intermingled, formed the standards of the
eastenii western, northern, and southern sky, each with diverse beings with
different emblems. The standard of the great genius (ta chin khi). those of
the ivory gate, of the goMen dram, of tbe white tiger, of the green dragon, of
the dragooa of all shapes and colours, of the horse diagon^ of the kx \w of the
bnftdo, the rhinoceros, of tbe golden cow, of the wolf, of the genii of the four
cardinal points, ifto.f
Page 273, Une 1$. The first issue of paper money made by the Mongols was
In 1236, beft>re they moved to China.**
Page 272, line 27. Paothier says 1,872407,175 francs. He compares this
with the assignats issued daring the French revolution, which amounted in
September, 1792,102,700,000,000 firancs; in August, 1793, to 5,000,000,000;
and in 1796, to 45,^8,ooo,ooo.tt
Page 274 and 275. The larger notes on these two pages, one of whidi has
*Ps«tUer'flfarooPoio,s«9. Nets. t Y«l«^ Pok». sod BA» L sSo.
21rf^36l. |JSf..S4S. i/A,S4> ^ Fsat]ii«r'« PoK ^56. Not*.
«*Y«lt^Pols.sadld.,l.4is. ttt^cil.,jsa.
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HISTORY OF iBE MONGOLS. 733
btca iiuidfvteiitly repeated, are taken fiom Colotiei Yule, end ovght to have
been in inverted commaa.
Page 376, Hne 6. She waa atyled Ksnkn'or the great conaort by Raachid, the
eqniyaieat of the Chineae Hwang hen.* She waa a Kunlmrat, and, aceording
to Paathier, the mother of Dordji, Ching kin, Mankola, and Nttmukan.t
Page 376, line 2S. Raachid aaid when Khubilai was born Jingis was much
svpriaed to find him brown, as all his own children' were blondea4
Page 276, line 4a. There are stIU remains of the fine avenues planted by
Khubilai and hia successors in various parts of Northern China.}
Page 377, line 6. The ayatem of relieving the poor in vogue among the
Mongols was borrowed by them from the Chinese, who had elaborated their
ayatem from the early days of the Han dsmasty, and eapecially during that of
the Thang. Public workshops were established in various parts of the big
towns, where sacrifioea were offaied to the spirite of tiie earth (ch^) ; officiala
were appointed in the large districts to fix maximum and minimum pricea for
food, so that the poor should not suffer in hard times nor the fiirmera in good
ones. In 1293 an inundation of the river Kiang flooded large parte of the
provincea of Che kiang and Kiang si. An edict was accordingly passed, by
which the importe were taken off those provinces temporarily, and the kMt
harvests were replaced from the pubUc granariea.| The relief of the poor
comprised many methods, such as remission of taxee, distribution of doles of
rice, millet, Ac. ; and the annals are crowded with notices of such acte, in
which aged literates, the poor, orphana, and foundlings were relieved by the
State. Such unibrtnnatec are called Heaven's children (thien min). In an
edict of 1360, bureaux were created for diatributing coals, alms, Ac. In 1283
hostels were founded in the Chinese quarter of the capital where orphans and
old people might find refuge. In 1391 winter and aummer dotha were distri-
buted to widows, ftc. Dispensaries, where medicines could be had free, were
also founded, and each one ¥ras taxed for their aupportf
Page 378, line 17. Colonel Yule has given to his second edition of Maico
Pok> an illustration of some very interesting astronomical inatrumente, dating
from the reign of Khubilai Khan, which still survive at Peking, othera like them
having until late years been at Nanking. Those at Peking are not easily
acceasible, but their companiona at Nanking were described by Father Ricci,
and his description has been extracted by Colonel Yule. They consist of a
huge globe, an armillary sphere, a gnomon, and a curiona compound astrolabe.
They are veiy well cast in bronze, and are traditkmally iuppoeed to have been
made by Ko show long, Khnbilai'a chief astronomer.^^
Page 379, line 8. In hia new edition of Marco Polo, Colonel Yule gh^ a
plate of this inscription.tt
Page aSo, line 4. The Chineae annals, according to Pantider and Oanbil, say
Khubilai left ten sons. Of the names mentioned in his note Kuridai and
' Yalt*t Polo, and Ed., I. sso. t Pnlhitr't Polo, 158. : 0*OhiiOB, Q. 475* Mela.
i Yvle't Polo, and Ed., 1. 427. fPAiitUer^lCBrco Polo, 345* Holt.
t/^,S40>&c Noiit. «»Yate*iM«xcoPalo,»DdBd„il.,|44.te.
tt Op. dt., L ag$.
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734- HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
Temkan wtere not known iqipnr«nUy to Onnbi], nnd bo callft Hvtnk^ Ttamrh
GantanpnluMi.*
Page 960, line i6. Since I wrote this note I hcvortctivtd Dr. Brattckniita^
tdminble pemphlet on the Chinese medkivil travellert to the Weet, which
oontaina much new matter. This I diall leave fisr the second vohtme* and at
pieseot only correct the errors contained in this note.
Page 280, lines 23, 34, and 35. I have moat awkwardly began this stoiyjn ^
the first person phiral, and then changed to direct narrative. The we and our
in these lines on^t to read they and their. Dr. Bietschneider says the phrase
translated a coontry watered by rivers is Wn ton in the original, which
Remnsat suggested means river or water. He'is disposed, however, to treat it
as a proper name, derived 60m the weU-known tribe Wn son, who lived in this
district.
Page aSo, line 32. Bretschneider says he was informed by Captain
Mataseoftki that the Jabkan or Dsabgan is called Hon Moren by the Mongols.t
He says that it is often flooded in sammer.
Page 280, line 37. Bretschneider trandates this more probably, ** Chang ti
proceeded again in a north-westerly direction, the distance by road southward
to Bie shi baU at the nearest point being 500 li, a coontry inhabited by a great
nomber of Chinese." Besides wheat and millet, he also mentions barley and kn
{U.y the setaria italics) as growing there.
Page 280, line 43, Bretschneider, in Hen of this line, has " There are mills
which are pat in motion by the running Mrater."
Page aSi, line x. Bretschneider corrects the Nie man of Panthier to Ye man^
which he identifies with some probability as Bmil.
Page 281, line 5. Polo is the Pulad of Raschid, and the Phnlat of Haython's
narrative. He tells ns it was situated near Sottt knl (i>., the milk lake or lake
Sairam). Algn, the grandson of Jagatai, defeated the army of Arikbuka in
1262, near the city of Polad and the lake Sont.^ Bretschneider entirely alters
Paothier's reading at this point ; the larches of the latter he reads cypresses,
which he says did not thrive, bat grew tortuously because^of the stones. He
says the houses were built of clay and had glass windows.} AH about the
metal washing, &c., was a misreading of Paothier's.
Page 281, lines 15, 17, and.26. For Carpino read Carpini.
„ 281, „ 35. Bretschneider reads melons instead of gourds.
„ 281, „ 40. Pauthier has here misunderstood the original, which says
that among the inhabitants of Chi miirh were many Chinese fix>m Ping and
Feu. Ping chau was the name of an ancient province corresponding to the
northern part of Pehchehli and Shan si. Feu is Feu chau fu in Shan si.
Page 281, line 41. Bretschneider suggests that this animal was the lynx.
„ 282, », 2. In the original it says that there was a wine there with a
strong smell. H
Page 28a, line 3. Here I have been hidicroitily napping. Pauthier has
monnaies and not montagnes, but the word is divided between the bottom and
•Af.,i. 3S3i Note. tOp,cit,69. IAI.,70. Note 40.
i idu 7^ Notes 4a, 43- I Wi 73-
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HISTORY OF THS MONGOLS. 735
top of 8 page, and I can't conceive how I misread him« The reference of
course is to coins.
Page 282, line 5. Here again Pauthier and Remnsat are mnch at £snlt, the
original reads, " In this coontiy (U,, Mao or Maa) the people pot horses to
sledgeSi and cany heavy hardens in this way from station to station, going
very qnickly. It is reported the Khi li ki sse use stags instead of horses."*
Page 282, line 19. Sari Kurgan is rather yellow mounds than white mounds.
„ 282, „ 24. Hoang ho is of course Yellow River, and Dr. Bretschneider
ingeniously suggests that the term is used here as a synonym for Chu, which
we are told in the Kalmuk language means muddy, and implies that it is there,
fore essentially a yellow rhrer.
Page 282, line 34. The meaning of the original is rather that they were
shaped like a Chinese lady's ahoct
Page 282, line 36. For Jaxates read Jaxartes.
„ 282, „ 41. For suerely read surely.
H 284, », 25. UldsheitUy according to D'Ohsson, means the fortunate.^
*« als, „ I. She was called Gukjin.{
„ 285, „ 21. He was styled Seyed EdjiL|
„ 286, ,, 28. Gaubil says Timur made peace with the King of Annam,
and reopened intercourse with India, which had been dosed alter Khubilai's
expedition to Java. 5^
Page 287, line 5, Titiya, the king of Mien or Burmah, had fiuled to send his
tribute for several years, and Timur was on the point of marching against him
fdien his son Sinhobati went in person to do homage, upon which Timur wrote
him a gracious letter confirming him in his position and nominating his son
Sinhobati as his successor, and also sent him a paixah or tablet with the figure
of a tiger on it.** It was three years after this, and in 1300, that Titiya,
having been killed by his brother Asankoy^, Sinhobati sought the assistance of
Timur, as I have said.
Page 287, line 15. Insert the between and and people.
„ 288, „ 40. Insert a comma after beyond.
„ 289, „ 10. Insert officials after those.
«• 289, „ 31. He died on the xst day of the year X307.tt
*t 290, „ 20. For Buyut read Bayut.
tt 291, „ 20. His Chinese title was U tsong.
„ 292, „ 7. I have been somewhat inconsistent in this account of
Ananda from following different authorities. Raschid, who is followed by
D'Ohsson, says he was sent home to his government at the instance of Gukjin,
while Gaubil says he was put to death with the princess Peyan and the
minister Antay4t
Page 292, line 27. For Choigji read Choigyi.
<r ^* •« 3^ Erase the second and.
» ^97» «» 34* Colonel Yule writes me that the Che li is the Chioeae
name of the Laos or Shan state called Kiang Hung, on the Mekong River.
« Op. «it., 74- t Id., 75. Nots. 1 Op cit, U. 507. i U„ a. soS. Ifote.
|/i.,U.S07- f Op.ctt..sa4. •-I>oMalBm,fi.4at.469- I>X)hMib, ii. 509.
ttDslCaiUs,ix.4^. nGaubUtSjS. I>X>hnoa, U. sch
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736 HISTOltV OF THE NOKOOIA
Page 299, \\a%6. la 13x4 Aicbift, ah ooroy ffOm the kiag of Hkn, an itUad
neer JapAOt to the eest of Fu kien, went to the Mongol court with tiibitte.
SOachatingy king of Mepor, also sent one of his oflkert with rarttiee from hit
countiy.* Similar embaeaioi with preaenta west in 1319 fton the kings of
Hieo and of Bnnnah,
Pege a99i line eS. For Chutepala read Shotepala*
»t >99t M 59* ^X bi* ^>^^ Anotheshdi, who wae a Knnkurat, he left two
aooa, Sbntepala and Ututubaka.t
Page 300, line 27. For Kolin read Korin. Komm does not mean city, bm i»
a coemption oC Koran, which meant an enclotar% and U eqaiTslent to the
Ring of the Aviaiva.
Psge 302, Hoe 13. Hit official title in Cbinete hittocy it Ing ttong.
». 302, „ 36. He was called Chang kuey4
•« 306, „ 19. Yen Timor was the third too of Cboangw, and one oC the
greatest generate of the period.|
Page 306, line 30. Tachtf Timor is the Chaothiyen of Gaobil ; he was the
ton of Toto, a prince of the Kankalis.|
Page 308, line 5. He named him institotor of the emperor.^'
«i 309« .« 40. According to Qaobil the plot was fiMmed by tome Uighnr
Lamas.**
Psge 310, line 32. The tecond reference it to page 299.
>f 31I1 •* 17. The Chinete, who blame him lor thity tell ot he did to on
the advice of Ala hoen Timor, a detcendant of Ogotai. He wat a fitvonrits of
hit father, Kushala.tt
Page 313, line 43. The second reference is to page 307.
*> 316, ,• 2, Ac. For Ilacho read Ilakha
«» 320, n 13. Cokmel Yule chafis me for uaing the teim Qerman flote^
but it really expresses to English ears what I mean, although the Antes diat
were played in Shun tft palace had nothing to do with Gennany.
Page 321, line 31. For external read eternal.
M 394* ** 43* Ahihoei ia the Alnwen Timor of GanbiL According to
Gaobil he went originally to attitt Shon U against hit eaemict, and only
developed hit ambitiooa tchemet afterwards.!}
Page 328, line 16. Erate him.
14, &C. For Ilacho read Ilakha
28, ftc. For Bindthing read Bingjing.
. /.«., the sopreme Lama.
For Chat Boo read Khas Boo.
For Bocha read Bukha.
For vocem read voce. The reference is to page 65.
For Tho lie pet read Tho lie pie.
For thonrs read tboms.
* DsMalUs, husw. t Ds llttMs, is. 5^. Not*. ; QsnMl.stf. |OsaSil,ati.
IDH)lMeo.ii.M6. OMbil,s^ f D'OhMsa. ii. 551. ** Op. ciu ii. S69. Nm.
tt OsaUl, J7«. Osaisilk,lx.3fe. II 0|iu cH.. joj.
33«.
>•
14
330,
f»
28
333.
»»
29
334.
i>
«5
334.
»»
17-
334.
tt
44.
336,
tf
39.
337.
*t
37.
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mSTGRY OP THE MOMOOLS. 737
Page 339^ Hue 5. For Chmiti read Slnniti ; he died in the 4th !iioiitli of X370.
9* 34it «i 20. Tar Aijen fa U the k read Ayen lii H tha la.
*f 343» *i S* Per Pie kiac iian read Pie Ida ahait
** 343t »t 31. For thier read tlieir.
>• 344t tt XI* F'or Kinggluui read S3ii Shan.*
f> 3A tf xr- That IB, the Mongol country.
n 349i >f »& Khe-Baiilianofopcobah]ytoheidenti£«dwith the town
on the river Bmil or Imil, which wae the capital oCOgotai Khan.
Page 34^ Une 99. Add <* of** alter west.
•• 350* >» I. BlhckiapfohahlytheTlencof'DelaCrois.t.
„ 35<S tt >4> Ac For Chnchai read Xhokhat
n 35o» »> x5> Ac For Chang read Khnng.
*« 3Sit *• 27, and 352, fine 6. I much doubt now if Kergod and Kerait
coQAote the same ddng, and if the Karaite were e?er at the head of tfie
Kahnulc confederacy. See arnU note to page 23, line 13.
Page 35a, line ii. Onn Tininr ia probahly the Key Tfnrar of De la Croix.
He makes him be aocceeded by ArU Timor, who ia pethapa to be identified
with UgietshLt
Page 353, line 19. Piechipali it no donbt BiahhaKg.
«* 354* t> 7* I*^*^ ^ L^" ia the old Chineae naaae lor the Kemkm.
n 354> >• x8- The Koloan hai ia doabtlesa lake Kidnn, into which the
Kerulon flows, and not the aea of BaikaL
Page 355, line 9. Delbdc it probably the Waltay'Khan of De la Crois, who
tells at he was lineally deeoended ftom Artichaga (i/., Aiikboka), the imrth
son of Tuhii.|
Page 356, line aS. This is a mistake of Saanaag Setaen's ; he was really a
deacendant of Jaji Khassar. Adai ia probably the Orday of Petia de la Croix»
who says he was the eon of Ofday» the son of HaUk Timor. |
Page 357, line 5. For Karaite read Kergod.
1^ 35S, „ 29 and 31. For Chang read Khnng.
n 359* >» 17 *>^ 28. Talan namnr ia pethapa a cormptioo of Dolon
Dur or lake Dolon.
Psge 360, line 7. For Tching aang read Ching aang.
»« 360, „ 33* The Athai of the Ming annala la doiMeas Oie Aday of
De la Croix. This author says that both Orday and Aday were descended from
Arilcbuka.
Page 3G0, line 35. De la Matre says that he fnd hia oiBoers Torchepd
aod others, were persecnted by Thothopoahao (i>., by Tdobaka or Taissong
IChan).^
Page 361, line la. Totobaka waa the noauaee of Toghon Khan, and it seema
improbable ^iciefoie that he shonld hare been a son of Adsai. Totobaka
nwmh to have been the special chief of the Uleang-n (^., of the Uriangfcnta).**
j'a)$« 36Z, line 38. For vocem read voce. The campnign referred to la
di scribed on paf6 607.
' Ut M^iila. X. 7a. tOpvdt.,4M. I/d«4M. %ii^¥» ^id.,^1.
f De 1& Marr«. S4^ ** De hi Msrre, sSB^
4^
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738 HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS.
Page 36a, line 90. For chief retdchiefr.
>• 365* „ 30. On tbeie Ching eanga see fiirtber ott* pages 399 and 400.
f» 3^> >i 24. For Mdlchai read Molikhai.
>i 368, „ II. For confines read copfinea.
«« 368, », 28. On this see farther page 609.
>» 370, •• 31 • For Monghol read Mongol.
«» 372t t» 6. De la Marreaaysfhrther that in the first year of Hiaotsong
{U.t in 1488), " the Little Prince'* wrote a letter asking that he might be pci^
mitted to do homage and to style himself Ta ynen ta khokan, i>^ Tartar Emperor
of the dynasty of Yuen. The Emperor allowed hfm to do sa Afterwards he, in
company with Pesren Mongko, Hochai (prince of the northern horde), Ipulain,
&c^ went and pillaged 00 the noithem borders of the Yellow River, and the
difierent tribes supporting one another they became veiy formidable. Liau trnig,
Snen fu, Tathong, and Yen-sni all solliBred. Yue was appointed governor of
Kan chan and Leang chan, and at his request his command was reinforced by
two divisioiis.* In 1498 Yue anrprised " the little Prince" at the mountain
Holan. He advanced against them by three routes, drew them into ambushest
and defeated them with great carnage, capturing many thousaoda of camels,
horses, cattle, sheep, arms, Act
Page 373, line 11. Jirgughan meuis the Six (j>., the Six Tumens), a generic
term for all the Mongols.
P^c 375* ^^^^ 2<* Oarchans or Daridians are doubtless the Teifcans of
Western writers.
P*8® 375> line 3a. Insert *' who *' before says.
tt 37^ •> ^ 'Fh>> >• somewhat mialeading ; by the Imperial Ordna I
meantheorduaorteotaoftbeniltngfamay. The tribe Ordna belonged to the
Baraghongar.
Page 376, fine 7. The Bara^^XNi gar was the western and not the eastern
section. See page 399.
P<^« 379> line 32. For 1415 read 16x5.
»f 382. M S- Insert "< name of the "before founder.
tf 382. .1 38* For Radshapika read Radshipeka.
tt 38a, „ 43. Add a reference to Jonm. Aaiat, iii. 108.
"t* 3^ f ) 44* Por dir read die, and inaert stops between the contracted
words.
PH® 384* line 6. For Sunidea read Snnids.
n 3^5* ft 30, and 386, fine X2. For Kokn kboto read Kolco khotan, t^
Blue city.
Page 388, line 28. For north read sooth,
ft 3^ M 39* '^^ name is derived 60m the feet of their fiving in the
wooda, and meana literally the wood folk* The mountainooa and woody
eovatiy north of Liau tung and of the eastern part of Pehchehli was called
Uriankai4 Timkowaki tella ua this district was oeded to the Uriankai in the
year 1403. In 1445 the Uriankhan were conquered by BasenKhaa of the Uirads.!
*Op.€it.,4i8* t/i..420»4ax. X TimJcofrskl, iL at}. KlaprQth*t Nste.
fD«lfAiUa,z.so6. Dc Is Msrte, as« and aSo.
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HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS. 739
Page 392, line 36. For land read tand.
>t 393f ti 40. Add page 377 after vidg ante.
M 394f 19 27. The Oniuds are otherwise known at Ongnigoda. See
page 448.
Page 397, line 10. Replace the fiill stop before *< the valley" by a temicolon.
1* 397* t> 34* The Abbe Hue tella a curious story about a king of the
Barins. He says he was accused at Peking of having conspired against the
emperor. He was tried by the supreme tribunal without being heard, and
condemned to be ** shortened at both ends,** the meaning of this decree being
that his head and feet should be cut oft The king made enormooa presents to
the officials who were sent to superintend the execution of the Imperial edict,
and they contented themselves with cutting off his braid of hair and the soles
of his boots. They reported at Peking that the order had been executed, and
no more was said about the matter. The king, however, descended from his
throne and was succeeded by his son.*
Page 398, lines 7 and 12. For Lian read Liau.
I* 393, t* 15- Keshikten means fortunate, happy, blessed.t
„ 400, „ 37. Erace the full stop.
„ 401, „ 18. Urdu means north in MongoL
n 404, „ 24, and 416, line 3a For snzereign read suzerain.
M 405, „ 9. Insert on between went and to.
1* 405) u 17* For chas read Khas.
«• 405* «* 42. For sub vocem read sub voce.
„ 406, M 28. For rigorous read vigorous.
„ 407, „ 6. For rigour read vigour.
„ 408, „ 16. Coincide in time, m., be synchronous with, is donbtless
meant.
Page 4x0, line 35. For ** at which " read when.
» 4i5» ft II. For TumenreadTumens.
„ 416, „ 10. For Tumeds read Tnmens.
It 416, „ 41. Insert a comma between Altan and Kilo.
„ 419, „ 22. For Kin read Ming.
„ 420, „ x8. Ulaghan Muren or the Red River is a northern feeder of
the Hoang ha|
Page 430, fine 29. I no longer agree with Schmidt in identi^ng Oun etgt
with the Irgene kun of the Turkish traditions, the latter I believe was the
valley of the Issikul lake.
Page 420, line 38. For Khutuktu read Khutuktai.
„ 421, „ 14. For Khakan read Khungtaidahi.
„ 421, „ 28. He is here addressing AUan Khan as the reincarnate
Khubilai, whose chief wife was Chambui, or rather Jambui Khatun*
Page 422, Une 17. Khormusda is the Indian Indra.|
n 423, „ 18. For Ubashhi read Ubashi.
t« 4i4t H 9* Por Ordarma read Oidarma*
• Hue's Travels, i. 170. t Yak's Marco Pdlo^ and Bd. i. j%r.
I Kocpptn, 136. f Id,, 137.
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M 444.
If
15
V 445»
.»
I.
.» 449.
tt
7'
n 453.
t*
«5-
.< 455.
»»
»;•
740 HISTORY OP THE MONGOLS.
^^ 439* liM 15. Brase and.
H 44^, ,, a7x I now doubt If the modern Khorloe are deecended torn
the Korulate of the time of Jingit.
P^« 443. line 32. On thia aee note on line 11, page 3S.
. On Chia aee note on line i. page 35.
Ara Khortaliins meant Southern Khortahins.*
The Chineae wtiten make Najan deecend from BelgnteLt
. For Barin read Bnmi.
. Waidttiya ia abo written Bidnria. The fionr dtviaiona
teem to have been called from the Khan Ula (Khan A|^ola) mtrantaina, the
Kerolon river, tiie Bidnria lake, and the Tietaerlik moadtauu ; the laat of v^ich
occur frequently io early Mongol hiatory.
Page 455, line 19. Ratchid says that Khalka ia equivalent to Ouran, and
repreaents the phalanx or close body of truopa, which formed a notable feature
in Mongol tactica. Thia it a very probable derivation4
P<^ 456. line 33. For Qeafiicte re«ui Gediichte.
t» 4^t *i 9« 4^. line 10, and 470, line 30, Ac. For auiereign, icad
auaeraln.
Page 460. line 37. That is to prevail upon them to return to their *»^^*yaiK^T
„ 468, „ 16, &c. This name ought rather to be spelt Khutuktu*
„ 468, „ '\6, The He of this and succeeding lines refera of coorae to
• Lobdzan.
Page 477, line la. According to De Mailla it waa in the early monUta of
1688.S
Page 48a» line 34. These Mongola are doubtleaa the small tribes enumerated
on page ^ o£ thi< work.
Page 48a, liae 40. For assen read asien.
». 494. .9 3X* For Mongols read Khalkhaa. Dr. Bretachneider tells na
tiiat Efe in Maochu means the son -in-law of the emperor. The word iM alao
used at the present time by the Chinese. This explains the name given to
this kingdom by Hue, a name which will not be found 00 the map.|
Page 496, line 16. Schmidt says the Volga Kalmuks caU themael^ee
Khalimakf and tays it it unmeaning in their language, and that they have
borrowed it from the TarUrs (m.. the Nogajra) and other tribes.^
Page 498, line 23. On this see page 68.
» 499* It I* Pallas says Khoahote means pre-eminent hero, or
warrior,**
Page 501, line 41. Utshirtu and Ablai were allied with Baatur, the chief of
the Sungara, in his war against the Krghis Kaaaks in 1643. Alter idiidi,
having married hia two daughters^ they settled on lake Saiaaan.tt Fischer
makea them the sons of Gusi Chan, i^., of Guushi Khan. In the Mema snr la
Chine we read that Orchirtu Khan and Abatai Noyen chose the country west
of the Loang ho (? the Uluogkn or Unmga, which flows into lake IQsilbaah)
frr their residence, and were called Bleuth Mongols.^
*PftUM,L9. f PMrthi«r'tlf«reoPole.S3t. Note. IErdauttii'ftT«mQ4|la,S7S*
i Op. dt., XI . X14. I BntschxMidsr, op. ^U, ^ Nots 7, % Pondniofftn, Ae., 4/^
** Samlttncsa. ftc.» *. 10. tt Fischer's Sib. Gtsb.» 6x0. U Op. dt, L s3>*
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RI8T0&T or THB MOHOOLS. 741
Pftge 50a, fine 18. For tnflereigsty ntd raxeraiiity.
H 503« •» 33* Kisil pn it tha old luQne of like StitMii,*
ft 50>t ft 34* TbMe people am caOtd the Hochetti (1^., KboAomi) of
Erdeni by De Mafluut
Page 503, linet 9, 14, and 15. For Kmiduleog reed Kenddiiiig.
ft S03t n M* Bfke Taiihfai, DorlaU, and Dalai UbaaU, tona of
Knudehing, weie leat oa an embasty to Roada in 16594
Page SOS, Use is. That Kotan was a great figure in Kalmnk tradition may
be gathered from the fiiet that the anthority iaXkmtd by Pallaa at wdl at
Stanang Betsen place hmi aoMag the Khaae.|
Page 507, line i, and 508, Una iz. For Ghambai read JmAnL
«t 51I1 f« 3* The old tect are ttyled Dokpa.
t» 5i4« t* 3«' He it called the Taranth Lama in the nanatiyei of Mr.
Bogle and Mr. Taraer.|
Page siSi lina 13. For great read Great.
». 5*3. H 25. Erate ttiU.
It S^ *» '3* For ittiKt read infett
„ 5^, „ 28. For Ayoka read Ubatha.
tt S3>* I* ^* Colonel Yvle remlndt wm that he hat figwed both aidea
of it.
Page 532, line 38. For Bntala read Pntala.
tt 5^6* M II. For MemoirtreadMeauHT.
H 537. t» 29- Fo>' *o^«^ "•* *<*^"^
»« S3^» «* 3^* Inuert a comma after ** before.'*
M 540, „ a6. Intert Qt after teUa.
tt 54i> tt 31* For Kerait read Mekrit.
tt 542» tt 31. Kitaboka, one of KMagu't gtneralt, wai a Kerait, and
Haythoo, the Armenian, teHs at he liked the ChriatUna well, tot he waa of the
race of the three kingt who went to adore the Savioor.f
Page 543, line 6. Colonel Yole correcta Si ngan fVi to Si niag Au
tt 545t tt 9. Marco Polo tayt the Kara Mnrtn (Ia, the npper Hoangho)
came from the land of Marco Polo.^ BCaico Pok> tayt Teodoch contained a
tilver mine in a monntain. In that portion of the dittrict of Tathnng occnpied
by tiie Tnmedt there it a mountain ttill called the preckraa monntain. Polo
alto tayt that the asore ttone wat fomid in Tendach, and the Imperial
Geography mentiont thit ttone at a prodnct of the coontry of the Tamedt.tt
Page S46, line 23. It it the tign of the plnral, and the name ia really Keri
or Kara, the Kbelie of the Chinetr.tt
Page 547, line 37. Inaktti ia donbtlett a cormptioli of InandJ.
t. 547. .. 37- Vambcryti^ that Ong it Uighnr, and meant rightH
tt 549t .t 31- The fight took place at Baker Gebreh. Wang Khan
•Fischer, op. cit.,«is. t Op. dt^ li. C« aad 89. t M«lltr» op. tit, vIB, «t.
f PkllM,S«aLHiitNach.,i.ii. | Bogk't Thibot. lotrodMtion, zUx.
Y D^>bMOB. Ui. 3aS* NoCt. •* Yole^ Maroo Pelo^ tad Bd., 0. 04.
ttPMithkt'tllaitoPolo^ no, tn. Noi*. JI/d.,ti9.
HYalt^litfCoPoli^tBdEd.,i.t3t. Nota.
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74a amoEY or thb momools.
captBfftd Kadn and Jilaiui, tko two Mmt tou of Tnkta, kilM anotlMr soa
oaiMd Tukua, and drov* Tuktm buaaetf to t$km nloit at Baigoiin.*
Pift 5499 line 4i» and 550, Itoo i« Ac Jamoka onthl rather to be Chamuka.
n 550t f> 4- Brdmaiin tajt he paiaed to Tatan Tnknlah.t
tt 553f M 3* For ware lead wat.
M S54« »• IK* Thaae mountahia are prohably to be identified with thoae
of Tseteerlik, where the Middle KhaUkhaa of Sain Noyan encamp.
Pege 555, Uae 35. Brdmann epeUa thia name Kuaaatn-Thar-Kaahme.^ OaabiJ
calls it the kingdom of Katse, between Tarfta and Kaahgar.
Pege 556, line 31. Marco Polo aays that Numnkan, the fbforth aon of
Khubilaiy was the joint leader with king George of the Khan's army which
fought against Kaidu.}
Page 557, line 3a Thia paragraph is Aitt of statementa which I no longer
endorse. For their correction I refer to the notes on the names Kerait, Merkit,
Tartar, Ac., pages 696-703.
Page 558, linea i and 3a. On this and the following paragraphs see title
on the Teleaknts, pagee 33 and 94, where it will be seen I have modified
my views. I don't now see salBcient evidence for following Palles and
Remnsat fai identifying the IQwang of Torgut tradition with Yakembo Keraiti.
Keret, as I have shown elsewhere, is a common tribal name among the Tiirics ;
and as to Erket, it simply meana the fineemen. - See page 58U
Page 558, line 34. Add thsj before say.
559* It 9* Per snxereign read soaerain.
5S9f tt io« For Seogun read Sengon.
S59t >» 33 end 38, and 560, Une 36L For Chuchai read iChakhai.
560, „ 22. For that read who.
S6i. „ 3* MnUer says diat Solsoga Urlok Uved in the land of Koko
finr, and diat it was his son Uriok Taisha who was called Go CJriuk by the
Kalmoks, and who firat migrated to Sibeiia in the first year of the seventeenth
century. I
Page 562, line 27. For or read ** and the.'*
,, 562, ., 28, In 1641 the people of Tobolsk and Tumen fonght against
Urlnk and his sons Daitshing and IMenei, by whom they were defeated.1)
Page 562, line 35. Daitahing married a daaghter of the Sungar chief
Shnker.** In 1627 he was living with his father-in-law, between the Irtish
and the Ishim. In 1628 he seems to have left him and had a struggle with his
own fother, and was at issue with the Russians. In 1637 he was struggling
with Kuisha Taisha of the Eleuth horde (he was a Derbet, see ante page 666),
whom he defeated and captured. In 1646 he supported the Siberian prince
Devlet C^iirei against the Russians, and in 1647 he ravaged tlieir borders with
fire and sword to revenge his fethei's death. In 1648 he marched against the
Chcassians, and in 1652 fought with the Ba8hkirs.tt
Psge 563* line 36. We are told that Punzuk or Muntahuk lived 00 the Yaik,
>Br«i8Mams7i. D'Ohiwa, 1. 55. t Op. cit.. 173. I Tcmii4jii^ Note 161.
iyiito'tPok>,SBd£dHi.353« I Op. dt.. ir. 284. Note. 5 Fiicher, op. cit., 574.
••MttHar.viiLjos. tt M. Ir. a^, Ac. NotM.
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HISTOItY OF THB MONOOLS. 743
vliere, in company with hit ccraiin Dngar, he fought against the Torgut Taishi
Zaiba» whom he defeated. He and hit coadn then qaatielied about the booty.
Punsuk died in 1674.*
Page 569, line 19. He was no doubt the Banchen Erdeni Lama.
„ 5«o, „ 35- F« Shereng read Chereng.
*> 580, „ 37. For Stamilas read Stanislas.
S9o,/astim, These paragraphs must be read with what I have said on
the same subject in the twelfth chiq>ter, where I hsve coostderably modified
my views.
Page 591, Ime 13. For Keraits read Kergnd.
«> 594i «i 3>3<^' ^^ ^^^ paragraph I have again ideatilled Keigud and
Kerait, a conclusion I now think problematica].
Page 599, line 30. For has read have.
„ 602, „ 34. For he read Essen.
„ 609, „ iS. If De la Marre*s authority was mistaken in killing Essen's
brother Puilo before Peking in 1449 (ante 603), as is very probable, we should
identify him with the PuUai here named, vdio is called Polai by De M aina.t
The Maonahai of De laMarre is not improbably the Maolihai of this paragraph.
Page 611, line i. For Buirats read Buriats.
„ 611, „ 7. Barskul means the leopard lake, and has, I now brieve,
nothing to do with the iowm of BarkuL
Page 61X, line 37. Remove eaten from the next line, and i|iaert it after have.
>, 613, „ 35. This Abuda may be the same as the one meiitk>ned on the
previous page.
Page 613, line 38. Eallas has evidently taken his account of these matters
from Muller4
Page 621, Une 33. See Du Halde, iv. 155 and 156.
„ 621, „ 39. For where read were.
„ 62a. „ 26. Soot kul means literally the llOk lake*
M 630, „ 12. For suzer^gn read suserain.
» 636, „ 23. This is not quite ri^^t ; Qaldan's dau^iter had married a
son of Boshtu Tsinong.J
Page 643, line 6. Sandship is surely the same person mentioned as Santsit
chapn on the previous page.
Page 646, line 12. The gold country, whose reputatioci had readied the
Russian setdemenU in Siberia, was no doubt the gold district of Thok-jalung
on the great plateau of Western Thibet, between 32 and 34 N. Ut. and 80
and 84 E. long., ^kh has recenUy been viwted by one of Cokmd If oot*
gomery's pundits.]
Page 652, line 30. For ordered read order.
H 66$, „ 36. For Dartshing read Daitshing.
„ 666, „ 24. Remove the bracket to after the word BfnQef.
ir,hr.a86. No(«. t Op. dt., x. a^g.
IKMiep.cit..vUi.s69,fte. ) D« If sills, sL sss. | Bo^'t Thibet, tstrodoctiop, csiiv.
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