READING HALL

THE DOORS OF WISDOM

HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS

CHAPTER VIII.

THE KHALKHAS.

IN the previous chapter I have described the various tribes which 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 are comprised in the generic name Khalkha. They live for the most part to the north of the desert, and remained independent of the Chinese to a considerably later date. They 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 Tushiyetu Khan; secondly, the Brigade Kerulun Bars, consisting of the twenty-three banners subject to the Setzen Khan; thirdly, the brigade Waidurya Naghor, comprising the nineteen banners subject to the Jassaktu Khan; and lastly, the brigade Tshitshirlik or Tsetserlik, 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 net apparently appear before the days of Dayan Khan, when the Khalkhas are mentioned as forming one of the six Tumens or grand divisions into which the Mongols were then divided. 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 Kerulon and other rivers, which had been their homeland before the adventurous career of Genghis Khan carried them hither and thither, through the breadth of Asia. To this confined district they had been driven by the early Ming Emperors after their expulsion from China. In the latter 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, as I 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 lass subordinate to that of the Chakhars. The tribes who remained behind were apparently those encamped about lake Buyur and Kulun and their feeders, and especially about the river Kalka. On the division of Dayan Khan’s patrimony they fell to Geressandsa Jelair Khuntaidshi, his youngest son, the hearth or home-child, who like Tului, the youngest son of Genghis, was richly endowed with clans. Geressandsa left seven sons, named 1, Ashikhai Darkhan Khuntaidshi; 2, Noyantai Khatan Batur; 3, Waidsang Noyan Unugho; 4, Daldang Kundulen; 5, Amin Dural; 6, (? ) ; 7, Odkhan Noyan. Among these sons the Khalkhas were apportioned, so that they were divided into seven sections.

These sections were ranged according to the 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 eastern wing comprised those subject to his third and fifth sons. 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 sources of the river Dsak, bordering upon the Kalmuks on the east. These two sections eventually became divided into four, each of which had an independent 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. 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 Altan 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 Khan, 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 dependant on him, and that the Russians translating this surname called him Solotoi Tzar, i.e. Golden King.

It was doubtless the same Kirghises who gave the neighbouring Teleskoi lake its title of Altan Noor or Golden sea. This identification I believe to be new, and it greatly simplifies an obscure corner of Mongol history. As I have said, the western wing of the Khalkhas consisted of four sections, ruled by Ashikhai Darkhan Khungtaidshi, Noyantai Khatan Batur, Daldan Kundulen, and Odkhan Noyan, the eldest, second, fourth, and seventh sons of Geressandsa, one of the seven Bolods. Among these Ashikhai doubtless occupied the nominal superiority given to the eldest son. He had two sons, named Buyandara and Tumendara Daitshing. Each of them became the founder of an important branch of the Western 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 secluded country about lake Ubsa and the river Kemtshik, and there founded the power of the Altan Khans. We are told he had a son named Shului Ubashi Khungtaidshi. I identify him with the Kunkantshei of the Russian narratives mentioned below. Shali’s eldest son was Ombo Erdeni. He can be no other than the Irden Kontaischa who is mentioned as the Altan Khan by Fischer about 1652. As Ombo Erdeni was the father of Lobdzang 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 among whom these Khalkhas were divided, with probably a nominal supremacy among the others as head of the family, but like Altan Khan of the Tumeds, he seems to have carved out a much more important position for himself. 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. 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 who defeated them at this time, we are told by Pallas, was Laikhor Khan, to whom for a 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 (i.e., the Motors), the Tubinzi, 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 was sent, in the name of the Czar Michal Feodorovitch, to the Altan Khan. For this duty Wasilei Tumenez, 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, cloths of various kinds 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... 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 Kirghises, 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 Kirghises 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 Kunkantshei. 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 (i.e., 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 well 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.e. the Lama patriarch), in the presence of the grandees of the court, and of the aforesaid Koshutshin 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 the 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 faithful to the Russian Czar with all his people. The envoys pressed for more concession, and urged that he and his people should acknowledge themselves as dependants 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 sacred idol of Buddha in their hands and raised it aloft. The Golden King explained to the envoys the nature of the Kutukta, who lived at his court. He told them that “he was looked upon by his people as a saint, that he had been sent to them from the country of the Lamas (i.e. from Thibet), and that he could read 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 stories 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 kingdom, and to provide them with necessaries on the way. 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 Kondelet Shuker, whom I cannot identify, but he probably belonged to the eastern division. They reported that it was a month’s journey on horseback from the land of the Kirghises to the court of the Altan Khan, and they travelled for ten days over rocky mountains, among which they met with high stone buildings which were unoccupied. These were doubtless the small Lama temples called Suburgans, and known to the Russians as Kamene Metsheti or stone temples. The envoys stayed 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 Iyuz. They then followed the Yenisei valley by the rivers Askis, Abakan, Kantegir, 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 Mergen and Kitshin Bakshi, who went on to Moscow to convey to the 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 suzerain, was extending his authority nearer home. He had, early in the century, as I have previously mentioned, defeated the Sungarian Kalmuks. Before 1619 Kharakulla, the founder of the Sungarian empire, had been forced to fly and to escape to Siberia, and he would seem to have been master of the greater part of the modern province of Kobdo, and of the country north of the Sayanian mountains. It was hardly likely that under these circumstances the Altan Khan would be a very subservient protégé of the Russians, and we accordingly find that in 1619 a misunderstanding arose between them. The Kirghises went to him and offered to acknowledge him as their sovereign if he would protect them against the Russians. He undertook to do this, and also took the tribute from them which they formerly paid to the Russians. The latter did not choose to make reprisals, and the chief result of the quarrel was that the negotiations between the two powers was interrupted for many years. The date of Laikhor Khan’s death is unknown to me. He was succeeded by his son Sukati; who first took the title of Jassaktu Khan. The authority of the Altan Khan extended some distance into Siberia, and the Tubini, 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 Russians. He sent envoys to Tomsk to say that he and his subjects were willing to acknowledge the supremacy of the Russians, to pay tribute, and to engage to fight the enemies of the Emperor, and asked that an embassy might be sent in return to whom he might in person perform the ceremonies of acknowledgment. The motive of this offer was probably fear of the rising power of the Manchus. In 1634 an embassy was accordingly sent off from Tomsk, consisting of the nobleman Yakof Tugatshuskoi, and an official of the Chancellary at Tomsk named Drushina. The Khan kept his word except as to doing homage in person. This was undertaken for him by his cousin Dural tabun and two of his brothers-in-law named Biyun tabun and Taitshin tabun. On this occasion the Khan offered some presents, but they were considered so poor that they were rejected, and the Khan, his mother the widow Chetshen, and Dural tabun were soundly abused by the much-expecting officer of the Chancellary.

In 1635 the Russians requested him to use his influence with the Khirghises to revert once more to their allegiance to the Russians. This he undertook, and sent a Lama named Dain Mergen Lansa to them, but they were obdurate. He also sent envoys who were to proceed to Moscow with tribute. This consisted of 200 sable skins on his own account and 100 on account of the Lama. They asked for presents in return. For the Khan, gold, silver, great beads, coral, precious stones of various colours, a good suit of armour, a sword, a firearm with six barrels, gold brocade, fine doth, a Turkish or Persian horse (argamak), a bell, a drum, musical instruments for the service of the temple, a telescope, and a striking clock, together with a monk who had been to Jerusalem that he might teach them how the Christians prayed, an interpreter who understood the Russian and Mongolian speech and writing, a doctor with medicines, a silversmith, a gunsmith, and a tanner. On behalf of the Lama, great beads, gold, silver, five pieces of cloth of various colours, two different kinds of tents, gold brocade, damask ornamented with silver, red coral… 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 him also send tribute regularly, to send back any Russian messengers who might go to his court without delay, and properly escorted. As the Khan and Lama had complained of the rude conduct of the Drushina, 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 receive his homage. One of these was deputed to visit the Lama, who did not generally live with the Khan, but with his brother Dain Noyan. They found the Khan encamped on a river called the Kusim takai. They were received by his brothers Dain Noyan and Mergen Noyan and other chiefs, 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 the mouth of one of his tabuns. The chief envoy insisted that this question must be put by the Khan in person, standing. When this had been done and the envoy had replied, he 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. Among other things, it contained complaints about the unruliness of the Khirghises, and desired the Khan to punish them. The Khan promised to consult the Lama Dain Mergen 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 held degrading among the Mongols, nor was it their custom for a chief to do homage in person. There the matter remained, and the envoys returned to their tent. A week after Dural tabun communicated to them that his master would not degrade himself 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 person, but if they pleased the Lama would perform this in 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 the term 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 that 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 Feodorovich, and of the princes Alexis and Ivan Michaelovitch. This was further confirmed by a draught of spirits in which gold was mingled. The Khan also promised to punish the refractory Kirghises.

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 arshins of English cloth, 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 followed 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 gave him a gown and mantle, both of English cloth. He was also given a pearl embroidered cape which he seemed to covet very much. The Khan’s treasurer was presented with two long gowns with gold bands, two short gowns of English cloth, two skins of Morocco leather, three pieces of red leather, and eight arshins of English cloth. Each of the Khan’s three wives received four arshins of English 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 Czar, whether they would be as graciously rewarded as their brother had been. 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 Kalmuks. These were accordingly surrendered, but they received some horses in exchange.

At this time there happened to be at the Khan’s court envoys from the Jassaktu Khan, from the Khalkha Khan Katan Baghatur, and from Burchan Kutuchta, the son of Altan Khan. They also were rewarded each with a piece of English cloth. This narrative is not less amusing, as showing the wonderful acquisitiveness of the Mongols, 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 country of the Kirghises assembled some of the latter and urged them to be faithful to the Russians. This had little effect, and indeed when Dural tabun arrived at Tomsk a treacherous Kirghiz shot him with an arrow and nearly killed him. When he recovered he went on to Moscow. There he presented letters from his master and his brother. The chief burdens of these letters was begging for largess and presents, and that they might not be misunderstood the articles needed were specified. One brother asked for 1,000 ducats, 1,000 great beads, a cloth tent to hold 1,000 persons, 108 great red coral beads, a black fox skin, a good suit of armour, and a sword. Another asked for 300 great coral beads, 2,000 great beads, 300 pieces of amber, a sword, 10 pieces of cloth of different colours. Another asked for 108 precious stones of many colours, 5 pieces of doth, 10 gilt cups, a saddle and bridle decorated with silver, 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 received and rewarded. On their return home they were accompanied by two Russian officials, namely, Wasilei Starkof and Stephen Newierof, one as an envoy to the Khan and the other to his family. They set out from Tomsk in 1638. In some weeks they reached the Khan’s camp. The ninth of November was fixed upon for the audience, this being a lucky day. At first there was a long pause, neither party beginning to speak. On previous occasions the Khan had broken the ice by asking after 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 threats and even to violence. The envoys went back to their tent, and the Mongols removed the provisions which they had supplied.

During 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 refusing to supply it without his master’s consent. After five days of suffering 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, Yelden 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 Starkof’s 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 it was according to their customs that envoys to the court should so do. This he did. The following day other presents were demanded for the Khan and his wives. He took them to his tent, but he was not admitted, end they were distributed among the dependants of the court. Nor did the Lama forget himself among these extortions, and cajoled the envoys into making him presents under pretence 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 second 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 asking after the Czar’s health, but he did so sitting and with his cap on. This led to sharp remonstrance, but as Starkof feared the audience might end as before, he at length submitted and handed in the Czar’s letter. The Khan in his letter had asked the Czar 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 Kirghises, and he bade him send some 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. In his narrative Starkof complains 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 was 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. Travelling up the Kemtshik, he turned to the left to the river Baria (doubtless a small feeder of the Kemtshik). Having mounted this to its source, he crossed a mountain and came to a lake named Urutshu (probably a mountain lake). Then crossing another range he arrived at lake Alatori chequered sea, (a name applied to lakes with islands). This Fischer and Ritter identify with the lake Ubsa. Starkof 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 near the Khan’s favourite quarters called Altan Kadusun, i.e, the Golden Meadow. The Russians called it Saimistshe 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 suggests that it was this residence from which the Altan Khan got his name. At their audience with Dain Noyan the same difficulties as before arose as to the proper ceremonial, and that chief expressed himself offensively about the Czar’s presents. Starkof had been rejoined 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.

Starkof describes how they were supplied with tea, which he says was an unknown drink. “ They call 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 naive 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 plundered. Starkof now had his final audience. The Czar’s letter was read out and interpreted, and the Khan expressed himself dissatisfied in that several of the things his envoys had asked for as presents, such as a doctor, a monk from Jerusalem, had not been sent him. He suggested that a depot should be formed where 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 previously 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 behalf 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 of 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 1639, the Altan Khan went to pay a visit to his elder brother Kalantshin Noyan, who lived twenty days’ journey to the east. On their return home they were attacked and plundered by a body of Mongols, who seemed to care little for the Khan’s representatives who accompanied them. It was some time before the Russians again had diplomatic intercourse with the Mongols. The tribute which the latter sent was doubtless a mere blind under which to extort presents from the grateful Russian court. The greed and stinginess which is so often complained of in the envoys’ reports were old Mongol failings, as we know from the accounts 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 wealth is very scarce.

Let us now turn once more to the elder line of the family, namely, the Jassaktu Khans. I don’t know when Laikhor Khan died, but he was succeeded by his son Subati, who first took the title of Jassaktu Khan. He was the first of this section of the Khalkhas to enter into friendly relations with China. In 1637, however, he marched against Koko Khotan to attack it. The Manchu Emperor sent an army against him which defeated him. To make peace with his suzerain 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 them, therefore has the Tegri (i.e., 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. 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 (i.e., by the Altan Khan), offering to mediate between him and the Mongol 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 (i.e, the Altan Khan), with his clans, made another excursion to Koko Khotan under pretence of hunting, and made a cattle raid there. The Emperor sent a messenger 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 he had from the first striven to be friendly with them and had overlooked former offences; he desired them to return the robbers (already complained of), and bade them not trust too much to the remoteness and inaccessibility of their country.

In 1652 the Altan Khan of his own free will made over the Kirghises, who had been his tributaries, to the Russians. Fischer says that as he did not wish to appear as acting badly towards his former subjects, he arranged with his cousin Mergen Taishi, that under pretence of a family quarrel with the Khan, he should march with 700 men as if escaping from the Mongols into the Kirghiz country. This he accordingly did, and under the plea that he wished to protect the Kirghises, he occupied an old Tartar fort that existed at the mouth of the Syda, one of the tributaries of the Yenisei. The Kirghises 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 fully from the Taishi as to the motive of his coming. Hardly had he reached the Kirghiz frontier, when he heard that the Altan Khan and his son were already in the country, and were encamped with 4,000 men at the mouth of the Yerba (one of the tributaries of the Yenisei), and had besieged his cousin the Taishi there. The suspicious Kirghises were assembled on 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 Indsul (a tributary of the Iyus), where they intrenched themselves behind wooden palisades. Thence they sent to Tomsk and Krasnoyarsk for help against Irden Kontaishi (i.e., Ombo Erdeni, the Altan Khan). The Russians collected what forces they could at Tomsk and Krasnoyarsk, and also sent for aid to Yeneseisk and Kusnetz, 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 regard for him, and told them that as he was now growing old he proposed to resign one-half his kingdom to his son Lousan (i.e., Lobdzan), that he had come to introduce him among them, and hoped they would show him the same regard they had shown to himself. The Khan then took his departure homewards, his cousin Mergen, who had become reconciled to him, followed him on foot, while the Kirghises returned to their old quarters. But this cheerful condition of things 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 fled to the chief of the Kalmuks. The Tubini asked for an ostrog or settlement, and for a Russian garrison, stones and coral, another of gilt lacquer for rice, and an entire service of silver dishes, five sable skins nearly black, 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 1681 he had sent a messenger to do homage in the old fashion to the Manchu court. He was now favoured by a special envoy, but the latter en route was met by a messenger from the Kalmuk 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 eldest 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 himself to his fathers 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 1727, and were then 5,000 strong, and were ruled by a successor of Lobdzan’s.

Let us once more revert to the Jassaktu Khan. As I have said he was called Shara and was a protect of the Kalmuk chief Galdan, who urged him to attack the Tushiyetu Khan, to recover his lost clans. He consented to do so, and also drew a chief named Dekdekei into his plan. Tushiyetu determined to forestall 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 chiefs named Sereng and Akhai. and put themselves under the protection of the Manchus, by whom they were settled on the borders of the Urads. I shall describe later on the grand reception which the Manchu Emperor gave the Khalkha chiefs in 1690. In their distress they had become very submissive, and acknowledged the Emperor as their suzerain, who in his turn placed them on the same footing as the Mongols 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. It was probably jealousy of this promotion which caused the Western Khalkhas in 1696 to migrate once more to their ancient camping ground, where they are still found. In 1700 Tsewangshab was appointed Jassaktu Khan by the Dalai Lama, to whom he sent many presents.

This part of Mongolia has been especially the terra-incognita in that very unknown land, the Northern Gobi. Latterly, however, it has been traversed by two careful travellers, namely, M. Shismaref and Mr. Ney Elias. The latter found it almost deserted, and its towns nearly destroyed by a cruel inroad of the Tungans, while parties of fugitive Mongols, scared by the terrible inroad, were met in various directions. In the admirable map appended to Mr. Elias’ paper in the Journal of the Geographical Society, the dominions of the Jassaktu Khan are 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 represents faithfully the present extent of the dominions of the Khans of the Western Khalkhas. The boundary is very irregular and can be better studied from the map accompanying this work than from any mere description. It is bounded on the east by the possessions of another Khalkha chief, namely, the Sain Noyan, on the south by the Gobi desert, on the north 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, Ungin Shirgal dsol; on the west, lake Khara Usu Elek Noor; on the south, Artsa Khara Tokoi; and on the north, the river Toin. I shall extract Timkowski’s account of the topography of the Khalkha country at the end of the chapter.

Besides the Jassaktu Khan there are several other princes belonging to this section of the Khalkhas. They comprise a beile, two kungs of the first and six of the second class, and nine taidzi of the first class.

THE EASTERN KHALKHAS OF THE INNER DIVISION.

In the previous narrative I described how the Altan Khan Lobdzan assassinated his sovereign the Jassaktu Khan, and how in consequence his uncle Gumbo Ilden, with a portion of his clans, fled to the Chinese frontier.!! He was granted the title of Beill, and his people were formed into a banner and ranged among the Forty-nine Banners.

“ Their country is bounded on the east by that of the Khortshins, on the west by the Naimans, on the south by the Tunteds, 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.”

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 Mongolia 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 overchief of these latter being the Tushiyetu Khan. These eastern sections comprised the tribes who obeyed Unugho Waidsang Noyan, the third, and Amin Dural, the fifth 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 Wadshirai Sain Khan. 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 journey to Thibet paid the Dalai Lama a solemn visit, and received a diploma of investiture from him, after 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 letter 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 Tenggis, broke away from his allegiance and fled 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 returned to his allegiance, and Gumbo and his people asked to be forgiven. The Manchu court demanded that the Khan should 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 Targun. 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 his 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 this year failed to send the tribute of ‘the white nine.’ You have not restored their plunder to the Bagharins, 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 him. Gumbo died in 1655, and was succeeded as Tushiyetu Khan by his son Tsagundorji, who sent three of his subjects named Mergen. Noyan, Darkhan Noyan, and Dandshin Lama to announce his accession. They seem to have carried a submissive message, for the Emperor promised to overlook their past offences, and as it was so many years since the outrage on the Barins had been committed, this should also be overlooked. In the following winter the Tushiyetu Khan sent messengers to convey his submission, and to perform the Manchu Emperor’s behests, and in 1656 the Manchu court confirmed the division of the Khalkhas into eight districts, of which the Tushiyetu Khan and Mergen Noyan each . controlled one. In 1658 an Imperial messenger was sent to the Tushiyetu Khan with presents, &c., and also with wholesome monitions to be obedient and well behaved.

In 1682 the Manchu Emperor sent stately embassies to the Khalkha 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 different chiefs. The brother of Tushiyetu Khan was a Kuluchta or regenerate Buddha, and for him a special kind of present was sent. This consisted of seven large 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 embroidered 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.

We now arrive at a critical turn in the history of the Khalkhas. I have already described how, in 1661, the Jassaktu Khan had been murdered by his dependant Lobdzan, and how a portion of his subjects found refuge with the Tushiyetu Khan. The latter, we are told, summoned the other Khalkha chiefs to inarch against the usurper, whom they defeated, and a fresh Jassaktu Khan was nominated by the Dalai Lama in 1669. He applied to the Tushiyetu 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. 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 of him, and his assumption was affirmed largely by his brother and his subjects.

When the Tushiyetu Khan refused to make restitution of the clans 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 urged the great archpriest of Thibet to send an influential Lama to the Khalkha country, promising to send a mes­senger there himself. 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 fresh envoy, namely, the Kutuchta Eleute Ilakuefan, 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 Taishi. The Emperor was represented by the first president of the tribunal of the Mongols named Argni. Galdan, the Kalmuk chief and the patron of the Jassaktu Khan, also had his representatives there. The Kutuchta 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, insisted upon being treated with equal distinction, upon which 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.

Meanwhile the Tushiyetu Khan was by no means prompt in fulfilling the conditions of the peace, and Galdan, the Kalmuk chief who had been much irritated by the slight shown to the representative of the Dalai Lama at the conference, sent an envoy to complain of this, and also to urge the carrying out of the treaty. The complaints of the envoy moved the Khalkha Kutuchta to fury, and he sent him back to his master in chains, and with a rude letter. He followed this up by attacking and defeating the Jassaktu Khan, and then by making a raid upon the territory of Galdan, seizing his brother, executing him, and parading his head about on a spear. With this provocation we are not surprised to find the Kalmuk chief marching against the Khalkhas. He accordingly in the latter part of 1687 set out at the head of 30,000 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 force of 5,000 men whom he commanded, only one hundred remained. Meanwhile another body attacked the sacred Mongol settlement of Erdeni tchao, famous for its Lamaseries. 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 Tukarha rabdan, who was at the head of six or seven thousand men. All the Khalkhas of the family of the Tushiyetu Khan who were met with were slaughtered, and a special vengeance seems to have been wreaked upon the proteges of the Kutuchta. Two temples which he had built at great cost were destroyed, the sacred books were burnt, and so were the statues, and the sacred buildings at Erdeni tchao were also given to the flames. The country was scoured in various directions, and orders were given to put all the Khalkhas to death who should be met with. Gerbillon, 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 fugitives in the desert, and was prevented from reaching his destination by the disturbed condition of the country. The Tushiyetu 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 follow them there. The Khalkha chief was now in great straits, and in conjunction with his brother the Kutuchta he wrote to the Emperor, offering to acknowledge 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 Horni was accordingly sent to make arrangements for their settlement, and to make a census of them. He found there were thirty Taishis, more than 600 Lamas, and 2,000 families, comprising 20,000 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 Khotan 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 convenience of forage. I shall in a subsequent chapter relate the issue of his struggle with the Manchu empire.

Early in 1691 the Emperor Kanghi issued summonses to the various Khalkha chiefs and their subjects to meet him at a grand conference. Gerbilion, 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... He passed most of his time on the way in hunting, and passed by the site of the old summer palace of Kublai at Shangtu. He also amused himself by watching wrestlers. Wrestling is a favourite amusement among the Mongols. They dress themselves 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.

The rendezvous was fixed at the plain of Dolonor or Tolonor, i.e., the seven lakes or springs. To Gerbilion 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 which 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. These were guarded by the body guards. The innermost court was formed of yellow hangings, and had only one door of lacquered wood, and was guarded by two hias or grooms, 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 enclosure 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. Inside they were hung with tapestry of blue silk, and outside with thick felts, covered with fine cloth. These tents were surmounted with an embroidered cylinder of cloth, with a border of black. Inside one tent was placed the Emperor’s couch, which was hung with gold tissue sprinkled with dragons. The coverlets 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 cloth. 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 Emperor’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 hias 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 exercising 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 ground ; their officers were at their head and their banners were flying. Each of the four brigades of musqueteers had eight small cannons, two large 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 large standards, a long banner of the same colour as “the banner” to which the chief belonged, and two long pikes having yak tails hanging from the summit. Gerbilion describes the various exercises gone through by the troops before the Emperor. He 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 marquee, and a few 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 brought expressly from Peking, and whose harness was magnificent. They were called the bearers of the Crown jewels. They were accompanied by the Emperor’s horses, 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 Manchu and Mongol, were ranged on the Emperor’s left, the right being reserved for the chiefs of the Khalkhas.

When all the arrangements were complete, the Kutuchta of the Khalkhas and the Tushiyetu Khan were ushered into the audience tent. 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 colour, fastened over his shoulder. His hair and beard were shaven. On his head he had a kind of mitre of yellow satin, with the four comers turned up 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 kneel, 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 yellow brocade, with dragons embroidered upon it in gold and silk. Over this was another garment of violet satin, on which were embroidered four circles, a foot in diameter, containing dragons in gold. One of the circles was in the middle of his back, another in front, 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 richly attired. The audience lasted half an hour, during which a casket was brought in, containing a seal and letters patent, which were presented to the Tushiyetu Khan.

After the audience the chiefs were conducted to the large tent outside the third enclosure. There they were joined by the Emperor, who seated himself in Eastern fashion on the platform. His sons were seated on a cushion behind him. The Manchu and Mongol tributary princes and grandees were ranged in two rows on the left, while on the Emperor’s right were seated the Kutuchta and the three Khalkha chiefs who had the title of Khan, namely, the Jassaktu Khan, the Tushiyetu Khan, and the Setzen Khan; the Lama occupying the first place. Beside them sat the Emperor’s uncles and brothers, and some seven or eight hundred Taishis, subordinates of the Khalkha chiefs, seated in fifteen or 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 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 performance of this solemn homage, the Khalkha chiefs were conducted to the places which had been assigned them, where they were given refreshments in silver vessels. These were piled up in different stages, containing beef, mutton, and game; others contained pastry, sweets, 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 tables 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. The Emperor himself offered wine to the Kutuchta, to the three Khans, and to some twenty of the principal Taishis. 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 was an exhibition of tight-rope dancing and of marionnettes. The Khalkhas were much amused with these, 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 1,000 taels 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 they 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 shoes. After the presentation there was a collation, with music and tight-rope dancing as before. The following day the Emperor reviewed the troops, and after they had retired he amused himself with archery, using a bow so strong that none of the Khalkha princes could draw it He then entertained them with the horse races called Paohiai. The horses were ridden by tight-rope dancers, who rode them without reins, seizing 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 Manchu, Chinese, and Southern 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 refreshments, with music, and marionnettes. The Emperor also paid a visit to the Kutuchta, and on the day of his departure he gave another audience, after which he ordered the camps to be raised. 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. Thenceforward they became subjects of the Manchus, and their history is that of the larger empire in which they were swallowed up. At this time Galdan still occupied 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 on the banks of the Tula and Selinga. As I have said, they consist of twenty banners; and besides the Tushiyetu Khan they are governed by a tsin wang, two kiun wangs, two beisse, six kungs, and eight jassaks, who have the title of taidzi of the first class,

“Their present country is bounded on the east by the Kentei chain and the encampments of the Khalkhas of the Setzen Khan, on the west by the river Ongin or Ungki, 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, probably before attached to this section, became Russian subjects. They numbered about 5,000§ I shall describe the topography of the whole Khalkha district further on.

THE WESTERN KHALKHAS OF THE INNER DIVISION.

Unugho, the third son of Geressandsa, the son of Dayan Khan, had two sons, the elder of these, named Abatai, became the ancestor of the Tushiyetu Khans, as I have described in the former paragraph. His second son was called Abugho, with the surname Mergen Noyan. He had three sons, of whom the second was called Rakholi. Rakholi had five sons, named Bondar, Bambashihi, Sardshi, Jamso, and Erintshin, all dependants of the Tushiyetu Khan.

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 folk he had taken with him. They were formed into a banner of the Inner division, and were assigned quarters by the river Targun. They are now subject to a prince of the third class and three chiefs of high rank.

“Their country is 120 li 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.”

THE MIDDLE KHALKHAS OF THE SAIN NOYAN.

As I have said, the Noyan Unugho, the second son of Geressandsa Jelair Khungtaidshi, had five sons. We have already considered Abatai and Abugho, the two eldest. The third, Tami, died childless; the fourth and fifth sons were respectively named Tumengken and Barai. From them are descended the princes of the Middle Khalkhas, who form twenty-four banners. Tumengken, 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-called Red Lamas, but after holding a controversy with a follower of the Yellow rite, Tumengken found this latter preferable, and for the future took the Yellow Lamas under his protection, and gained the good opinion of the 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 oldest 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 his son Erdeni Nomtshi to the court with a friendly 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 Khalkhas into eight 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 were 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 they younger that of Uluster tussalakshi Gung. In 1724 the Middle Khalkhas, in consideration of their numbers and of the distinguished services of their chiefs, were made independent of the Tushiyetu Khans, acquired a separate administration, and their chief, who was then named Dashidundub, once more took the title of 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 other governs twenty-three banners; two ktun wangs, two beile, a kung of the first, five of the second class, and ten jassak taidzi.

“Their country is bounded on the east by Boro Burghassu Olom, on the west by the mountains Kul Saya Shoghotu ekin, on the south by Tsetserlik and on die north by the river Chilaghotu.”

THE EASTERN KHALKHAS OF THE SETZEN KHAN.

As I have said the patrimony of Geressandsa Bolod, the youngest son of Dayan Khan, was divided into seven sections among his seven sons. Of these sons, the fifth 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 Khan, thus forming the third 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 Manchus, the Setzen Khan Shului, in concert with the chiefs of the Wesomotshins and the Sunids, sent a friendly letter to the Manchu court with a present of camels and horses. As notwithstanding this his subjects in 1635 commenced to trade with the Ming empire, the Manchu Emperor sent him the following 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 against 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 Chahkars, otherwise their  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.e., the people of Little Bucharia), saddles, bridles, hatchets from the people Armas? white squirrel skins, and black Tangutan fox skins. After this it was decided that he should send the “white nine” every year and nothing more. In 1646 Shulul assisted the rebel Sunid prince Tenggis with a contingent of 13.ooo men, under the command of his son Bumba. The confederates were defeated by the Manchu troops, and in 1648, when Tenggis submitted, Shulul, 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 administered to them, upon which Shulul 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 overlooked, 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 1681 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 the 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. 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. 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. 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 was 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 boy’s mother pressed the Emperor to grant him the title of Khan, which he did after some hesitation. With the other Khalkha chiefs the Setzen Khan took part in the grand reception held by the Emperor Kanghi at Dolo Nur, in 1691 (which I have previously described), and there became definitely a Manchu subject.

On the 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.

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 authority gives the boundaries thus : on the west Tsaghan Chilaghotu, on the north the Undurkhan, on the east Erdeni Tologoi, and on the south Targun Tsaidam.

The country of Khalkhas comprises the ancient seats of the race before the great conquests of Genghis 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 (Durben Puta), situated on the Onon : it is near this mountain that Genghis Khan was born. Tono ula (ula signifies, in Mongol, a high mountain), on the right bank of the Kerulun. The Emperor Kanghi 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 behind them with terror. The enemy fled before them, and the surrounding deserts have recovered the tranquillity of peace.”

The 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 the memory of this victory to posterity, he caused the following inscription 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 resistance, 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 rocks die account of the great deeds of the victorious army.”

The Dulan khara, to the south-west 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 of 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 Orkhon. These mountains join the Djamur ula, which lies on the north bank of the Tula, at the place where it falls 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 li in extent. The Burung is between the Orkhon and the Selenga. This mountain extends some hundred li from east to west. The Bonghun Shara extends above 200 li to the west of the Burung. Farther to the north are the mountains Sirkegung and Erkhetu, between the Selenga and the Orkhon.

The Khantai chain, to the north of the Selenga, extends northwards beyond the Russian frontiers. The Kuku tsilotu is on the south bank of the Orkhon; following the course of that river, it inclines towards the east. One hundred li from it, to the east, there are warm springs. The Sirkha adzirgan (in Mongol, adzirgan signifies a stallion) is to the east of the source of the Orkhon, 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 muren. This chain is higher than any of those in the vicinity; it begins 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 Yan jan shan. The Bain 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 Erukhetai kubsul, at the termination of the course of the river Kassui, and on its north bank. Mount Undur is to the west of the Kubsul ; the Nauman ula on the north bank of the Selenga; the Kaldzan burguttai to the west of the Kaiman ula; the Ertsit to the west of the Kaldzan burguttai, 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 Sanghin dalai. Farther to the south extend the Urlu 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 melt 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; they 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 Tes 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 Kunghei rises from the south, and the Ukhai from the north ride of these latter mountains. The same branch of the Altai forms, farther to the north, the Malga mountains, from the south side of which issues the river 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 terminates the Altai chain, but extends in several small 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. The Tarbaktai ula extends about 600 li to the west of Narym, the Kuitsil, and the Kaliotu.

The Birga daba, to the south-east of the source of the Kerulon, is a branch of the Kentei mountains; from its left ride issues the Birga gol, which empties itself into the Onon. The Tsilung daba is to the west of the Kantei; from its left issues the Tsilung, a small river which falls into the Kerulon. Mount Tereldzi is to the west of the Tsilung; the Tereldzi rises in it and falls into the Kerulon. Mount Galatai is to the south of the Tereldzi; 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 tsilo, 800 li 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 inscription : —

“All that is 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 Kentei, 3oo li to the north of the country of the Ordus. It receives five small rivers, runs 300 li further north, and turns towards the south-east, passes for 100 li through a cleft of the Bain ula and receives the Sungher; and, at the distance of another 100 li, having run to the south of mount Tono, it turns towards the north-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 Dalal nur. When it issues from the lake, it forms the boundary between the Solones 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 Kerulon 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.

When the Emperor Kang hi, in 1696, marched against Galdan, he stopped on the banks of this 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 him, but he proves his ignorance by not attempting to maintain his ground on the Kerulon.” The Emperor then ascended the river as far as mount Tono, where he pitched his camp. The great army of the west defeated the enemy about this time, and then the Emperor returned to China.

The Onon, which afterwards takes the name of the Amur, was formerly called in Chinese the Wa nan ho; it rises 300 li to the northwest of the Kerulon in mount Tereldzi, which is a branch of the Kentci chain. It flows  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 small rivers, and having joined the Korsu gol, which comes from the south, it turns to the north-east; above 1,000 li further it passes to the south of the town of Nerchinsk. In the interval it receives above ten small rivers running from the north-west, such as the Agachu, the Tarbakhatai, the Tuludai, 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. Genghis 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 1410, as we have mentioned above, Buniashiri Khan, a descendant of that great conqueror.

A hundred li to the north-west of the source of the Onon, the Tula is formed by two springs which issue from the Tereldzi mountains and the little Kentei. This river runs 200 li to the south-west, and receives several smaller streams. After leaving the north of the wood district of Djao modo, it flows westwards for 100 li, then passes by the Khan 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 li to the north-west, receives the Karotka gol (gol, in Mongol, means a river), and falls at length, 150 li farther, 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 Nangdzu khara djang, general of the Yuen. In 1414 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 river; 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 Uliastai, 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 li further on, the Orkhon turns and flows 100 li to the

The Orkhon, called by ancient Chinese authors the A lu hoen, has two sources, one to the south of the Khanghi, the other, the Uliastai, 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 the 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 !i 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 li further on, the Orkhon turns and flows 100 li to the north-east, and receives a warm spring which comes from the south, and 300 li farther is joined by the Tula from the south-west. Having passed the west side of mount Kaliar, it is joined by the Khara from the south­east; 100 li from this place it turns to the north-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 moun­tains. Its current is rapid, and its water very dear, and abounding in fish, and the banks are thickly covered with willows and elms. To the north of its junction with the Selenga is the frontier of Russia, and to the south, the territory of the Tushiyetu Khan of the Khalkhas. The Chinese general Li 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 Burgudtai, and on the east the Adakhai, the Sungnar, and the Tungla; 150 li farther it turns to the north-west, receives afterwards, on the left, the Boro and the Jakdur, 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 fells 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 li 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, foils into the Orkhon.

The Selenga issues from the mountains to the north-west of the Khangai; it has properly six sources. The northern, the Kharatal, and the Buktsui, run to the south-east; the southern, namely, 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 200 li to the east, receives the Khassui from the south-east; 200 li to the north­east, 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 Djedé, from the east the Chuku, the Udér, &c.; and after a course of 1,000 li to the north it fells into lake Baikal, from which it issues, under 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 li 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 of the Tamir, runs 500 li to the south-east, and falls into the Selenga. The Tui gol (Tuin gol) rises to the south of the Khangai, runs above 300 li to the south, and falls into lake Orok.

The Baitarik rises to the south of mount Koko daba. After a course of above 200 li to the south, it traverses the district of Koren Beltshir, and joins the Chak Baitarik; 100 li further it receives, on the right, the Tsagan temur, and after running 200 li farther fells into lake Cbagan nur.

The Jabkan issues from the mountains to the north-west of Koren Beltshir, runs more than 200 li to the south-west, and receives, on the right, the Butgassutai, and 200 li farther the Kungbei. After turning to the north-west it receives the Khobdo, after the latter has been joined by the Buyantu, and 100 li farther fells into the Kirghiz nur (lake of the Kirghiz). Here is the western frontier of the country of the Khalkhas.

The Tes comes from the south side of the Tangnu mountains, runs to the south-west, receives several small streams, approaches on the south-west the Altai mountains, and fells into lake Ubra. The Sakli khara gol fells 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 Genghis was elected Khan by the assembled Mongols. The position of this lake is now unknown. The Buir nur is 1,200 li to the west of Tsitsigar. The Kulun nur, or Dalai, 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 Kerulon, which comes from the south­west. 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 li in circumference. In the middle of it is the island of Kui boldok. The Ekbe issues from it on the south-west. The Sanghin dalai is to the west of the sources of the Selenga, and of mount Orbeghi; 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 Tcholotor, which fetts into the Selenga. The Orok is to the south-east of the Kuen beltshir; the Tui gol fells into it on the north. The Kirghiz nur, to the south-east of mount Ulan gum, is 340 li in circumference; it receives the Jabkan. There is also a lake Ikhe aral nur, to the south-west of the preceding (i.e., the lake Hara of Ney Elias). The river Kobdo fells into it from the west, and the Buyantu from the south. The Ubsa nor, to the south-east of the Altai mountains, is formed by the Tes, which enters it as the north-east, and by the Sakli Khara from the south-west.

On the south bank of the Orkhon there are warm springs.

In this description, which it very faithful and tolerably complete, it is odd that unimportant lake named lake Turgen by Mr. Ney Elias should be omitted. It is situated only about fifteen or twenty miles from the lake Aral of the above description, whose name, like the great sea of Aral in the west, is derived from containing an island, Aral meaning island. Lake Turgen is a large and probably deep lake, extending towards the north and north-west, and its water is sweet and beautifully clear. It is about 550 feet lower in height than the Aral, and Mr. Elias conjectures that it may receive the overflow of the latter, and if so, it is probably confused with it in the Chinese narrative. Besides the river Tui and Baitarik mentioned above as flowing southwards from the Kanghai chain, Mr. Elias mentions a third small parallel stream, which he calls the Tats, 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 Sirke mountains, there are several lakes, probably saline, figured in his map. The principal of these are named the Turkul Nur, Chaghan Ghir Nur, Tuigut Nur, Alak Nur, Sirkha Nur, Danghil Nur, Igher Nur, and Tsakhar Tsing.

Note q.—I said that the name Khalkha is generally derived from the river Kalka, a tributary of the Buyur or Buir lake, and this is the view held by the Jesuit missionaries, who did so much to dear up the topography of Mongolia. This derivation is not improbable, inasmuch as we know of several 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 from the neighbourhood of that river, but from the neighbourhood of the Khanghai mountains, and says the name means a shield or shelter. It is curious that the reigning family among the Koshotes bear the name Galgas, which is probably connected with the name we are discussing.

Note 2—The Abbé Hue has a curious story about a kingdom of Efe, by which no doubt the country of the Western Mongols of the Inner division is meant. I have no means of verifying the details, but abstract it as  curious picture of Mongol life. He says the kingdom of Efe is a portion of the territory of the eight banners, which the Emperor Kien-Lung dismembered in favour of a prince of the Khalkhas. Sun-Tch´r, founder of the Manchou 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 Peking. 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 fix him at Peking, and thus to weaken the still dreaded power of the Khalkha sovereigns. He built for him, within the circuit of the Yellow Town itself, a large and magnificent palace, but the Mongol prince could not adapt or reconcile himself to the stiff arbitrary etiquette of a court. Amid the pomp and luxury accumulated for his entertainment, he was incessantly absorbed with the thought of his tents and his herds; even the snows and frosts of his country were matters of regret. The attentions of the court being altogether inadequate to the dissipation of his ennui, he began to talk about returning to his prairies in the Khalkhas. On the other hand, his young wife, accustomed to the refinements of the court of Peking, could not bear the idea of spending the rest of her days in the desert, amongst milkmaids and shepherds. The Emperor resorted to a compromise which sufficiently met the wishes of his son-in-law, without too violently disconcerting the feelings of his daughter. He dismembered a portion of the Chakhar territory, and assigned it to the Mongol prince; he built for him, amid these solitudes, a small but handsome city, and presented to him a hundred families of slaves skilled in tire arts and manufactures of China. In this manner, while the young Manchu princess was enabled to dwell in a city and to have a court, the Mongol prince, on his part, was in a position to enjoy the tranquillity af the Land of Grass, and to resume at will the pleasures of nomadic life, in which he had passed his boyhood.

The King of Efe brought with him into his petty dominions a great number of Mongol Khalkhas, who inhabit, under the tent, the country bestowed upon their prince. These Tartars fully maintain the reputation for strength and active vigour which is generally attributed to the men of their nation. They are considered the most powerful wrestlers in southern Mongolia. From their infancy, they are trained to gymnastic exercises, and at the public wrestling matches, celebrated every year at Peking, a great number of these men attend to compete for the prizes, and to sustain the reputation of their country. Yet, though for superior 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, a wrestler of the kingdom of Efe had overthrown all competitors, Tartars and Chinese. His body, of gigantic proportions, was fixed upon legs which seemed immovable columns; his hands, like great grappling irons, seised his antagonists, raised them, and then hurled them to the ground, almost without effort No person had been at all able to stand before his prodigious strength, and they were about to assign him the prize, when a Chinese stepped into the ring. He was short, small, meagre, and appeared calculated for no other purpose than to augment the number of the Efeian’s victims. He advanced, however, with an air of firm confidence; the Goliath of Efe stretched out his brawny arms to grasp him, when the Chinese, who had He mouth full of water, suddenly discharged the liquid in the giant’s face. The Tartar mechanically raised his hands to wipe his eyes, and at the instant, the cunning Chinese rushed in, caught him round the waist, threw him off his balance, and down he went, amid the convulsive laughter of the spectators.

Note 3.—Northern Mongolia is separated from Southern Mongolia; 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 expelled from China by the Ming Emperors. This barrier is called Karong by De Mailla, Carou by Gerbillon and D’AnviIle, and Couren, i.e., Kuren by Hué. 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. Kurt 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 encampment. This points also to the true etymology of Kara­korum. Colonel Yule says the greater number of the MSS. of Marco Polo have Caracorum, and not Caracorum, and the name therefore means Black enclosure, and not Black city, as I wrongly wrote.

Note 4.—There is an account of the origin of the troubles among the Khalkhas, given by Timkowski, but it is so full off mistakes and incongruities that I have not quoted or used it. It is in fact quite unreliable.

CHAPTER IX

THE KHOSHOTES.