HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS

CHAPTER IX

.THE KHOSHOTES.

 

WE have now completed our survey of the history of the Eastern Mongob or Mongob properly so called, and must turn to that of the Western Mongols, more generally known in Europe as Kalmuks. Our former task has been comparatively clear, and a goodly list of authorities has enabled us to reconstruct the Mongol history, from the time of Genhis Khan to the period when the Mongols lost their independence in the seventeenth century. Our present task is very far from being as satisfactory. Materials are wanting, or at all events are not at present accessible, to enable us to give the history the same continuity, and our path is surrounded with darkness and with uncertainty at many points, but I am not without hope that the following story may disentangle some at least of the difficulties which surround it.

As I have said, the Western Mongols are known generally in Europe as Kalmuks. This name is not native. Timkowski failed to find it used among any of the Kalmuk tribes, and only heard of it as applied to a small Thibetan dan. There is no Thibetan tribe known to me with such a name, but one division of Thibet is called Kilmauk by Turner, which may be the origin of Timkowski’s statement. It is the name by which the Western Mongols are known to their Turkish neighbours and to the Russians, who have doubtless borrowed it from the Turks; it is a name familiar to the Turks for a long period, and it is the name by which the Western Mongols were known to Abulghazi Khan, the historian of the Mongols, who wrote in the seventeenth century.

The name has received more than one etymology. Thus Pallas says that It arose thus: “A large section of the race having long before the days rtf Jingis Khan made an invasion of the west were lost in the neighbourhood of the Caucasus, upon which those who remained behind were styled Khalimaks by their neighbours. Khahmak, he says, meaning ‘broken’, remnant”. The derivation is very for fetched and incredible, and I much prefer that given by Fischer, who makes Kalmuk a corruption of Kalpak, the name given by the Mohammedan Turks to the for caps worn by the Kalmuks, they themselves wearing the tchelma or turban. The name thus became in a measure synonymous with unbeliever. The name Kalmuk is applied not only to Mongol tribes, but also to some Turkish tribes, who apparently wear the same head gear, ex. gr. the Telenguts who inhabit the Altai mountains. They are Turks, are called White Kalmuks by their neighbours, and are in fact the Kalmuks of Mr. Ney Elias’s narrative. It is well known also that the Manguts, a section of the Nogais, are called Kara Kalpaks, from wearing black caps, and in conclusion I may cite the authority of the English traveller Jenkinson, who was in Russia in the sixteenth century, and who tells us that the Mongols were called Karakalmaks by the Tartars, i.e. by the Turks.!These facts make it very probable that Fischer’s is the correct etymology of the name Kalmuk, and farther, that that name is of small value in working out the origines of the race, inasmuch as it is indefinite in its application, and is not indigenous. The people whom western writers generally call Kalmuks are known to the Chinese as Wala, otherwise written Olot. The Jesuit father Amiot adopted the form Eleuth, which afterwards became the fashionable way of spelling it.

This name introduces us to some difficult questions. With Ritter and some others it is the Chinese transcription of the Mongol name Uirad, the letter r being wanting in Chinese, but as I shall show in the account qf the Sungars, Uirad by itself is not a race-name at all among the Mongols. Again, while Ssanang Setzen distinctly uses the form Oghded for one section of the Western Mongols, we find the form Oelot used by Fischer to whom it came doubtless from some Mongol authority, and not from a Chinese one. I believe, therefore, that Olot or Ogheled is very nearly the indigenous form of the name.

Now while the Chinese use the name generically, and apply it to the various tribes of Western Mongols, whom we style Kalmuks, it would seem that Ssanang Setzen applies it specifically to one branch of them only, and so in fact do the Kalmuks themselves.

I am not clear about the explanation of this, and my solution must be accepted as a purely tentative one. It is this: the dominant tribe among the Kalmuks at the beginning of the seventeenth century was that of the Koshotes. They are the Eleuths par excellence., the Eleuths of Kokonur, and I believe that they are alone properly so called, but as they were the dominant tribe, the name was applied to all the rest, just as Englishman indudes Scotchman and Irishman.

The Khoshotes are the dominant Kalmuks in the district of Kokonur and Thibet. As I have said, they are known to the Chinese as Olot. The Thibetans call them Sokpa, and Khoshote seems to be their indigenous name. According to one account they received this name from the intrepidity they showed in a fight with a chief named Bulgari Khan. A more probable etymology connects them with the frontier town of Kho-dshu. I may state that the present habitat of the Eastern Khalkhas of the Inner division is called Tsaghan Khoshotu. This is, I think, an interesting circumstance. As I have already said, the Khoshotes are governed by a royal race named Galgas, which claims descent from Khassar, the brother of Genghis Khan. I have also remarked on the great probability that when the various clans whom he goverhed were assigned to him, they all lived in close contact, and as the majority of his clans lived in Eastern Mongolia, it is by no mtans improbable that the Khoshotes then lived in the very district to which I have just referred, which is still called Tsaghan Khoshotu, and thence derived their name.

Before the Khoshotes invaded Thibet they would seem to have lived in the district of Alashan, and on the borders of Kan sub. I am disposed to think with Klaproth that they are to be identified with the so-called Chikin Mongols, who in the early part of the fifteenth century lived on the frontiers of Shensi, between the towns of Su chau and Sa chau. They derived their name from the district Chikin, where they settled in 1404. They moved thither from a place named Kharato, and were considered as Chinese subjects.

This event is referred to by De Mailla, and in the Ming Annals translated by Delamarre. We thence gather that when Kulichi, who I believe to have been the then overchief of the Western Mongols, attempted to become entirely supreme, and when the Chinese Emperor sent him a seal of investiture, &c., he was sharply attacked by several of his subordinates and driven away. The chief of these was named Halutai, who has been identified with the Adai of Ssanang Setzen. We are told that Halutai and his companion Mahamu sent in their submission to the Chinese court. Delamarre names the chiefs who did so, Aluthai, Fahul (probably a corruption of Mahamu) and Tchahan taluhoa or Chagan talugu. Now it is curious that a current etymology of the name Eleuth is, that it is derived from this very Halutai. Whether there be any foundation for this, which I doubt, or not, it is a curious fact that the chief who submitted to China in 1404 should be considered as the eponymous leader of the race, whom we identify with the Khoshotes and Chikin Mongols.

The name Khoshote only appears in Ssanang Setzen as that of a small section of the Chakhars, and under the form Khotshid, but Adai, whom I have identified with Halutai, does and is made by him the chief of the Khortshins, who it will be remembered, like the Khoshotes, are governed by princes descended from Khassar, the brother of Genghis. I shall not repeat the story of the life of Halutai, which I have already told.

In 1412 we read that “the Tche kin Munku,” which Delamane translates as the Mongols with red battles-axes, offered a refuge to a fugitive from the Chinese empire named Laoti Khan, and that the Emperor in consequence reprimanded them severely. These were doubtless the Chikin Mongols or Khoshotes. Halutai was killed in 1434 by Toghon, the overchief of the Western Mongols, and his son Apothegan submitted to the Chinese.

In describing the dominions of Essen Khan, the son of Toghon, the author of the description of Mongolia, translated by Hyacinthe, says it was bounded on the west by the Chikin Mongols.

I will now turn to the account of the Khoshotes given by Pallas. He tells us that the Khoshote chiefs claim descent from Khassar, the brother of  Genghis Khan. In this, confirming the independent account of Schmidttt

He traces their descent from him thus :—

Khabutu Khasasr

Enka Summur Taidahi

Anda, or Adaahari Galan Chiaf Taidahi

Ra Ramnalrtn

Barkan Shadahln, or Saadabi Saba Sliinna, or Shabi Shimnun

Akurguldi Noyon

It is possible that this last chief is to be identified with the Halutai of the Chinese accounts. We are told he left two sons, named Arrak Tommur and Werrok Tommur, who ruled their people jointly. They were in alliance with a brave chief named Toghon Taishi, in whose army their contingent fought so bravely against a chief named Bulgari Khan, that they acquired the name Khoshot. Although I cannot approve of this etymology, the story probably points to the period when the Khoshotes first became a portion of the Western Mongols. By Toghon Taishi is no doubt meant the Toghon Taishi who ruled over the Kalmuks in the fifteenth century, and who killed Halutai, as I have already mentioned.

Werrok Timur’s son was called Dorong Dutshin, who had three sons, named Run Togadai, Chingsen, and Tummur,from whom, says Pallas, the family acquired the name Galgas. The eldest of the three was succeeded by Sam Mulkho or Sai Malakhu; he by his son Attakhai, and he by his son Nagudi or Nagadai, who left eight sons, the eldest of whom was named Russa. Russa had two sons, named Ubak Chingsan and Boko Mina. The second of these had a son named Khana Noyon Khongor, with whom the definite history of the Khoshotes really commences. He was very young when the death of his father and the extinction of the fiunily of Ubak Chingsan, in the person of his grandson Shuker, left him the leadership of the Horde. The Saisaans and other chiefs compiled Shaker’s widow, named Akho Khatun, to marry the young Khan. For a long time she refused to lie with him. At length she dreamt one night that five tigers suckled at and lacerated her breasts. This dream was interpreted by the wise men, that she should have five valiant sons. She thereupon lay with the young Khan, and had by him five sons, namely, Boibeghus Baatur, Tummeda Kundelung Nomien Khan Guushi, Sassaktu Ching Baatm; and Buyan Otchun Baatur, who were known as Tabun Ban (i.e., the five tigers). The Kalmuks assign to Khongor two other sons, by a concubine, who were called Khammugai Mintu and Kainuk Tushutu.

On the division of Khongor’s patrimony, Boibeghus Baatur, as the eldest son, got the main share. He is well known among the Kalmuks, according to Pallas, as the first who introduced Lamaism among them. Before his day they had been Shamanists, like the Barga-Buriats are still. It was shortly before this time that Altan Khan, Khan of the Eastern Mongols, was regenerating the Lamaism of the Mongols proper, and the conversion of the Kalmuks was probably due in some measure to his seal. The evangelist who did the work, however, was a Thibetan Lama, who as the author of the Zagan Nom or White Scriptures is known as Zagan Nomien Khan. Boibeghus persuaded the other Kalmuk princes to become Lamaists, to acknowledge the grand Lama as their spiritual head, and to send their young people to Thibet for education. The Sungar chief Kharakutta, the Derbet Dalai Taisbi, and the Torgut Urtuk each sent a son to Thibet to become a Lama.

It would seem that in the terrible war that was waged by Altan Khan of the Tumeds against the Kalmuks, to which I have already referred, the Western Mongols had been driven westward, towards the Saissan and Balkash lakes. As we find the Khoshotes at the beginning of the seventeenth century much mixed up with the Torguts, it is not impossible that Ssanang Setsen refers to them under the name Sinbis, a name otherwise unknown to me. He says that Khutuktu Setsen Khungtaidsbi, Altan Khan’s grand-nephew, attacked the Toiguts on the river Irtish, and took a portion of the Torguts and Sinbis prisoners. He left two sons named Utshirtu Setsen and Ablai Taidshi. They are elsewhere catted Orchirtu Han and Abatai Noyen. See also De Mailla, where they are named Outsio ton han and Hope lai poyen. Ablai lived on the river Irtish, where there are some remains of a Lama temple which still bears his name, and is known as Ablai kit. Utshirtu married a daughter of the Khungtaidshi of the Sungars, and settled in the neighbourhood of lake Saissamt Ablai was of a quarrelsome disposition. He had a feud with his brother, with whom he fought, but having been defeated, he retired towards the river Jaik, where the Torguts had already settled. He had a struggle with them, and even captured their chief Punzuk or Buntshuk, the lather of Ayuka Khan. Upon this the various Torgut chiefs, and the Derbets who wandered between the Volga and the Don, united together under Ayuka, attacked their unruly countryman, and captured him. His ulus was dispersed, and the larger portion joined the Sungars. Before he was taken prisoner he lived, according to the Mongol Sagas, in the mountain Chir tumer ula, probably a portion of the Moguldsharian range. He remained a prisoner for some years. His end is uncertain. Pallas met with a tradition among the Kalmuks that he was drowned in the river Sal.

His elder brother Utshirtu had an equally unfortunate end. He would seem to have once exercised a susereignty over the other Kalmuk princes, for Du Halde thus speaks of him. “It is not above eighty years since all these Eleuths were united under one chief or king named Otchirtu tchetching Han.”

Senghé, the chief of the Sungars, married one of his daughters named Ana Dara, and on Senghé’s death his brother, the celebrated Galdan, acquired his widow, and so became the son-in-law of Utshirtu; Galdan, as I have said, became a Lama, and he apparently passed his noviciate in the dominions of his father-in-law. After the murder of his brother Senghé, it was chiefly with troops furnished by Utshirtu that Galdan defeated the murderers and seated himself on the throne. He had a severe struggle with his uncle Shuker, and was forced to take refuge with his father-in-law Utshirtu. Notwithstanding all these favours he was not long in power before he fought against his benefactor, whom he defeated near the lake Kizal pu (? the Kizilbashi), and had his throat cut off. A portion of Utshirtu’s people then submitted to Galdan. The rest, who attached themselves to his son Erdeni Khungtaidshi, escaped to lake Koko nur to Dalai Khungtaidshi, the Khoshote chief of those parts. In the description of Mongolia attached to Timkowski’s Travels, we read that in 1686 Tsirung Lakur, Erke, and Arabtan, grandsons of Utshirtu Khan, fled to the Chinese frontier, where they were assigned quarters. I cannot find any confirmation of the relationship of the three chiefs just mentioned to Utshirtu Khan in Pallas or elsewhere, nor do I think they were Khoshotes at all, but Khoits. I shall refer to them in a later chapter. The descendants of Utshirtu were apparently scattered. A large part were absorbed, no doubt, by the Khoshotes of Kokonur.

This completes oar survey of the descendants of Boibeghus, the eldest of the five tigers. The name of the second in full was Tummeda Usang Kundelung Duigatshi Ubasha. He is mentioned among those who took part in the great war in Thibet. In 1643 Baatur Khungtaidshi, chief of the Sungars, was at war with Yangir Sultan, the overchief of the Kirghiz Kazaks, and we are told he requested the Khoshote chief Kundulen to act in concert with him. He replied that he was living at peace with Yangir Sultan, who had declared himself his son (i.e., had acknowledged his dependance on him). This highly displeased the Khungtaidshi, who sent a messenger to his father-in-law Urluk, the chief of the Torguts, to march against and punish Kundulen, but his messenger was waylaid, and his plan frustrated. In 1648, Kunduleng, who is called Dudji Taishi Kuldalang by Abulghazi, made a raid upon the province of Kat, and carried off a large number of prisoners, upon which Abulghari went in pursuit of him. Kundelung was overtaken in a place named Yuguruk Bach, where he was attacked. He retained his ground but fled the following morning, abandoning a large number of horses and camels. The Khan pursued him with only a small body. The Kalmuks were again attacked and defeated, their chief being shot through the arm, while their standard bearer and his standard were captured.

Kundelung’s heritage was not very large, and it became much disintegrated among his descendants. Two of the grandsons of his son Kallaka Dalai Ubasha, who were named Mangun and Khairtu, fled to Russia at the time of the revolutions in Sungaria. Another, who was descended from his second son Ubasha Khungtaidshi, died among the Cossacks of Stavropol. Dordshi Taishi, his third son, migrated to Russia in 1675, being the first Khoshote to do so. He took with him 1,500 families besides his own, and settled on the river Ilek. Among his descendants, says Pallas, Tukchi had 920, Gunga Baltshur had 180, Ganden norbo, Ganga, Janjiri, Dipsan, and Bayarlakho had each from thirty to sixty families. These, together with 100 families under the Mangun above mentioned, and 220 families under Enenpal, a grandson of Kundelung’s fourth son Erica daidshin, accompanied the Torguts in their celebrated flight. A small section of the Khoshotes under Taklca, a descendant of Dordshi Arabian, managed to escape when the Torguts migrated, and still remain on the Volga.

We have now considered the two eldest sons of Khongor and their descendants. The third son Guushi fills a much more important place in history.

In order to understand his position, it will be necessary to give a short resumé of the previous intercourse there had been between the Mongols and the Lamas. I shall reserve a more detailed account of the system of Lamaism for another volume. Genghis Khan and his ancestors were Shamanists. Shamanism, which is the prevailing religion of the Tunguses and many Siberian tribes, is a mixture of nature worship and of fetishism; the supreme God being identified with Heaven (tengri), and symbolised by fire, and is known as Khormusda. Shamanism remained the State religion of the Mongob during die reigns of Ogotai, Kuyuk, and Mangu Khan, although there can be small doubt that the many Buddhists who lived in the Kin empire, in that of Kara Khitai, &c., must have secured some converts among the more humble Mongols. The Buddhism that prevailed at that day, north of the Himalayahs, was of two kinds. The more pure and unsophisticated existed in China, under the name of Foism. A more corrupt kind, which was a good deal mixed up with Sivaism ajnd various forms of necromancy, existed in Thibet, and was known as Lamaism. The same form survives in Thibet as the old Lamaism or that of the Red Lamas. A purer form was introduced in the fifteenth century, and b known as that of the Yellow Lamas. Although the Mongol Khans did not accept Lamaism as the State religion, they yet paid its professors considerable deference. In a Mongol work entitled Jirukenu Tolta, quoted by Sdmtidt, it is stated that Gemnghis himself sent an envoy to the chief of the Lamas of Thibet, who was then named Jebtsun Sodnam Chemo, with the message : “If you will follow my counsel, I will become the lord and protector of the faithful, and will combine the practice of religion with the government of the State. With this object I have relieved the whole priesthood of Thibet from the payment of taxes.” The Lama in his reply consented to follow the behests of the Khan.

Kuyuk Khan had by him a Hochang or Lama, to whom he gave a golden seal, with the commission to pray for the welfare of the people. He had a brother named Namo, who was so well thought of by Mangu Khan that he appointed him head of all the Hochangs in the empire.t He also gave him the title of Institutor of the Monarch. The Chinese commentator on the historical work Kangmu has the following caustic remarks on this occasion.

“The existence of a monarchy is founded on mutual duties, on those of a father to his son, of a sovereign to his subject, of a husband to his wife, of the young men to the old, and of friends to one another. As to this Namo, he was a stranger of low extraction, who born in the west, having quitted his home, wandering about for a living, he could not fulfil the duties of supporting hit father and mother. He shaved his head and opened his tunic, a proof that he did not know the duty a subject owes to his sovereign. Having dispensation from being married he had no descendants, he 1mew not the duties either of a husband or a father. He sat on his heels; he did not therefore pay the respect due to old age. He renounced society, and retired from the world; he did not therefore know the duties of friendship. He had none of the qualities therefore upon which a State is founded. He received the title of Ho shi (i.e., Imperial Institutor), but what could he teach? how could he be an example to others ? The Mongols, who were barbarians, were not very exacting in this behalf, but since they quitted their frits and adopted the cap and girdle (i.e., the Chinese costume), it behoved them to be more decent. As to ourselves, we point this out to show how brutes cling together (i.e,, Anglice, birds of a feather)

The first Mongol of influence who became a Lamaist was Kutan or Godan, the brother of Kuyuk Khan. Ssanang Setzen has made a mistake in styling him Khan, and in making him the successor of Kuyuk, and I was myself misled in correcting this error, in suggesting that he was a brother of Kublai’s. Kublai, in fact had no brother of that name so far as we know. Ssanang Setzen has a short Saga in reference to the conversion of Godan. He tells us that he was very in, and that none of the doctors that were summoned did him any good, whereupon he sent Dorda Darkhan, of the Oimaghods, at the head of an embassy to the Sakia Gunger Gialtsan, to ask for his assistance. The latter had gone, says Ssanang Setzen, on a visit to Hindostan, and had there confuted the heretical opinions of the six heretical chiefs of religion (? the Brahmins), whence he had acquired the title of Pandita. On his return, his unde Dagbar Gialtsan prophesied as follows : “The chief of all the Mongol people, toe Khubilgan of the Boddhisatwa Godan Khakan, will send thee an envoy named Dorda. His cap will seem as if it had a hawk upon it, his boots will have the form of a swine’s snout, and his house will look like a wooden network (a reference to the wooden trellis work of the Mongol yurts). At his third or fourth word you will hear the strain etshige. By this envoy he will appeal to you, and it will then be your duty to accept toe invitation without question, inasmuch as the cause of religion will be much furthered.”

On the arrival of the envoys the Sakia pandita saw that the prophecy was fulfilled, and set out in 1244 on his march, and arrived three years later at the Khan’s residence. He cured the Khan of his illness, and converted many Mongols to the faith, and found Nirwana, i.e. died in 1251. The same story is told in a different manner in the “Spring of the Heart”. According to that work Dorda and Godan, the sixth and seventh brothers (cousins) of Khubilai had, in compliance with their mother’s orders, moved to the district west of Siling called Shira Talas, within the limits of Lientsu, and there settled. There they heard that the nephew of the Lama whom Genghis had placed over the hierarchy of Thibet, and who was named Sakia Pandita Go dGa rGialtsan, had recently returned from Hindostan, where he had made many converts. Upon this Dorda set out for Thibet with a large following. He addressed the following letter to the Lama. “Saida Pandita, thou must came to me; urge not thine age as a plea for the enjoyment of repose. It is thy duty to promote the welfare of all creatures, and for this reason men of thy profession are accounted sacred. In case thou shouldst not come I will send many warriors to thee, and the hardships of so many people would grievously affect thee”. Saida Pandita was much surprised, and saw that it was a fulfilment of the prophecy of the Bogda Sodnam Chemo (which I have already stated), set out for the Mongol camp, which was in the district of Lientsu. He was cordially received by Godan, who was the first to receive the religious vows at his hands. He remained seven years in that land, and did much to spread the faith there. The Mongol Sagas attribute to him the invention of their first alphabet. They tell us that while he was pondering over the matter he one night had a dream in which he was told to fashion the letters after the first object he should see when he awoke. This happened to be a woman carrying a notched stick or tally over her shoulder. He thereupon constructed an alphabet and formed a set of horizontal lineal characters for the letters a, e, i; na, ne, ni; ba, be, bi; kha, ke, ki; ga, ge, gi; ma, me, mi; la, le, li; ra, re, ri; sa, se, si; da, de, di; ta, te, ti; ya, ye, yi; tsa, tse, chi; dsa, dse, gi; wa, we. The system was very defective, and none of the religious writings were transcribed into it. Mr. Wylie tells us that this alphabet was in fact an adaptation of the Uighur letters to Mongol uses, in which the fourteen Uighur consonants were retained, and that it was not complete on the Lama’s death. Sakia Pandita was succeeded as overseer of the monastery of Saselda by his nephew Mati Dwadshawa, who was then fifteen years old. We are told he was a remarkable child, and had already, at the age of seven, mastered many of the religious books, and knew how to recite many thousand prayers. The inhabitants of the country called him the holy child, whence his name Bashpa, in Chinese, Pasepa. For the proper meaning see below, Bashpa was corrupted into Pag’pa.

Ssanang Setzen describes how Kublai Khan was persuaded by his wife Chambui Goa to send for the Bashpa Lama. How he at first objected on the ground that It was not seemly that he should sit on a lower seat than the boy Lama. How she in consequence repaired to the Lama, who argued that the humility of a proselyte did not accord well with a discussion about rank, and that he, as the incarnation of a Wadshradhara, could not sit on a lower seat than the Khan. And how she got over the difficulty by the suggestion, that when Kublai was taking the vows he should occupy a humbler seat than the Lama, but when they were dealing with matters affecting the government they should then be seated on equal seats. To this both assented, and Kublai said be would speak on the morrow with the Lama, on the Tantras of the Kei Wadshra. He goes on to say that on the following day at their meeting, the Lama could not answer any of the Khan’s questions, nor did he understand a word he said. He was much trouble and having asked that the conversation might be renewed the following day, retired. The explanation of his ignorance was, that the Sudurs or Sutras of the Tantras of Kei Wadshratu, formerly the property of the Sakia Pandita, had come into the hands of the Khan, and that Madi Dhwadshawa had not seen the book.

On the foltowing night the Lama could not sleep for a long time because of his anxiety and concern. When he at length fell asleep, he saw an old man in the form of a Brahmin, with snow-white hair matted together on the crown of his head, and in his hand a flute made from a man’s marrow bone, who approached him and said, “Man, do not harass your mind in this way, but get up and put a lamp in order,” upon which the old man disappeared, but returned shortly after with a small box, in which there was a book, and said, “Examine this quickly, and impress its contents on your mind, for I will return before daybreak, remove the book, and replace it in its own place.” After this, the vision again disappeared. Madi Dhwadshawa read the book through three times, and fixed it in his memory. At daybreak the apparition returned and said,  Young man, yesterday you were vanquished because you had not with you the very superior Lama; today you have him on your head, and the great Khan will not be able to vanquish you in the impending struggle. He will always have before his eyes the Lama to whom he prays, and the person with whom he disputes.” The old man then disappeared. It was the spirit of the lordly Mahakala, who, with the help of the Riti Khubilghan, had removed the Tantras of the Kei Wadshra from the pillow box of the Khan.

On the following day Madi Dhwadshawa had his audience with the Khan as arranged, and the latter was not able to withstand him, upon which he took the vows of the sublime Kei Wadshra, and the Khan granted  him the following title, Bamsum choigie rGialbo bLama a Fagspa, in Chinese, Sang Sing Dai Wang Guyushiri, i.e,, chief of the faith in the three realms, the chief Lama. Schmidt adds in a note that a Pagspa is the Thibetan equivalent of the Sanscrit Arya Gurus’ll, corrupted by the Mongols into Guyushiri or Guyushi. This again is equivalent to the Mongol Khutuktu or Khutuchta, and means simply the most sacred or most pre-eminent Lama.

After his initiation, Kublai presented the Lama with a golden dish of the weight of 100 sidshirs, and upon it a beautiful unpierced peart of the rise of a camel foal’s dropping. This last was a present from Surghatu Marghatsa, of the Mergeds, the father of his wife Chambui Khatun. The Khan also gave him a silver dish of the weight of 1,000 sidshirs, and upon it a representation of the mountain Sumer, of the four Duipas, and of the sun and moon made of gold, the seven holy jewels, and the eight objects of sacrifice, besides much gold, silver, lapis lazuli, and other precious things, with silk and other goods, besides elephants, horses, camels, and other cattle in great quantity. He also endowed him with the lands pertaining to the town of Sriemdshi, with their inhabitants. Thus did Khubilai introduce the light of religion into Mongolia, and sent to India for images and relics of Buddha, including his sacred dish.

Such is the quaint Saga as told by Ssanang Setzen. Another form of it is given in the work already quoted, namely, the “Spring of the Heart.”

The Chinese accounts are more sober in their colouring. We are told in the Yuen history that Bashpa, at the age of fifteen, composed an ode in honour of Kublai, with which the latter was charmed, and when he mounted the throne in 1259, he gave him the title of Kne se, or preceptor of the kingdom, and a jade seal. It has been supposed by some, including D’Ohsson, who misled me,tt that this was the commencement of the dynasty of the Dalai Lamas, but this is entirely erroneous. Bashpa was doubtless their prototype, but qua Lama, he was merely the hierarch of the Red sect, the Dalai Lamas, as Koeppen has shown, originated with the founder of the Yellow sect. Bashpa Lama is an important figure in Mongol history, because he not only converted their great Khan, but also invented an alphabet for them, of which I must now give some account. The work was done at the instance of Kublai. The new alphabet was based on that of Thibet, and consisted of about 1,000 characters, composed of forty-one radicals. “The order of the letter, says Remusat, is that of the Thibetan alphabet. Thus we have the hard aspirated and soft gutural, k, kh, and g, with their nasal ng ; the palatals tch, tchh, dj, with their nasal gn; the dentals t, th, d, with their nasal n,” &c.; but although founded on the Thibetan, the forms of the letters in many cases perceptibly differ. The forty-one radicals, with their equivalent values, have been given by Pauthier. Bashpa at length completed his task, and was in consequence raised to the rank of ta pao fit wang, king of the law of the sacred jewels. An Imperial decree initiated the public use of his alphabet in the same year. In 1272 a request was preferred to the Emperor by Ho li ho sun, that schools should be created for the study of this character, that the sons of public functionaries and that those employed in the exchequer should learn to use it in preference to that of the Uighurs. An Imperial decree was the consequence, enjoining the exclusive use of these characters, Pauthier goes on to cite several other decrees enforcing this use, but it would appear that it was only sparingly and reluctantly employed, the more popular and apparently more easy character was the Uighur. This is the reason probably that so few specimens of it survive to our own day, and that its very existence has until recently been a matter of doubt to European scholars.

Koeppen compares with some force the position of the Bashpa Lama and his successors, in regard to the Mongol Emperor’s with that of the Pope’s, to the Emperors Pepin and Karl the Great. Although the character was introduced officially, it was not found very practicable, and although Kublai ordered a new revision of the Buddhist Scriptures, and this was completed between 1285 and 1306 by a body of twenty-nine scholars, skilled in the Sanscrit, Thibetan, Uighur, and Chinese tongues, it was not for some years that the Mongols had them translated into their vernacular. Kublai was an enthusiastic convert to Buddhism. He caused a great number of monasteries and temples to be built,  the temple of the sovereign repose of the wise life,” at Peking. He rebuilt the monastery of Utai, in the province of Shansi, which had been originally erected by the Topa Tartars in the fifth century, and which is still one of the most famous of their monasteries. He also gave up the pahce of the Sung Emperors to the Lamas as a residence, tt I have described the consequences of this patronage elsewhere, how it led to a most arrogant behaviour on the part of the Lamas, and how this again was in no small measure the cause of the expulsion of the Mongols from China. Very little is known of the organisation and history of Thibet during the Mongol occupancy, nor is it a part of our present subject. There is one of the Lamas however  who comes prominently forward as the inventor of the present Mongol alphabet. His name was Choigyi Odser, and he lived in the reign of Kuluk Khan. In the “Spring of the Heart,” already quoted, it is said that Kuluk Khan ordered this Lama to translate the Buddhist Scriptures into the Mongol language, and to transcribe them into its characters. He thereupon tried to do this with the Bashpa or square characters, but failed to do so. Hitherto these Scriptures had been translated into Uighur, but not into Mongol. Having failed with the square character, the Lama Choigyi took up again the alphabet of the Sakia Pandita, and having, altered it and added some characters, he succeeded in writing out the Buddhist work named Pantsharaksha, not however without borrowing a good many words from the Uighur. If we puzzle our way through the intricacies of the Buddhist philosophy, and the vocabulary it needs to express them, we shall not wonder that the language of an ingenuous people like the Mongols should hardly be equal to finding suitable terms within its own limits for the translation of its Scriptures.

Such is the origin of the cursive writing still in use among the Mongols, and in which the history of Ssanang Setsen and other works is written. It is founded on the Uighur. It consists of seven vowels, six diphthongs, and seventeen consonants, which are combined in various ways so as to represent tot forms, which differ when at the beginning, middle, or end of a word, so that the alphabet may be said to consist altogether of 303 letters. When the Mongols were expelled from China, their intercourse with Thibet to a large extent ceased. It is probable that Lamaism had made but a small impression upon them. Except the people about the court, the great body of the nation no doubt remained Shamanists, as the Buriats are still.

The only form of Lamaism which had hitherto prevailed in Thibet, so for as we know, was that of the Red Lamas.

Shortly after the expulsion of the Mongols, a remarkable reformer appeared in Thibet under the name of Tsong kha pa. He was born in the land of Amdo, and would appear to have passed some of his life in Burma, or some other country where the primitive Buddhism still survived. I shall have a good deal to say about him in a future volume. At present it will suffice to say that the reputation of his wisdom collected about him a great crowd of scholars at the monastery of Galdan. He is considered an incarnation of Amitabha, of Mandshushiri, of Vadshra-pani, and Mahakala. He became the founder of a new sect known as the Getag pas or virtuous sect, who are distinguished by their doser adhesion to the old forms of Buddhism as it still survives in the south, their yellow caps, whence they are often styled the Yellow sect, their practice of celibacy, and their discarding the necromancy, and other corruptions which the Red sect has encrusted upon itself. He died about 1417. Among his many scholars two were specially distinguished, and became, one the founder of the line of the Dalai Lamas, the other that of the Bantshin Erdenis. The two joint hierarchs of the Yellow sect are often represented with their master in the centre as a triad. Dalai Lama is a curious compound, the former being the Mongol word for sea, and Lama in Thibetan meaning overseer priest, and conjointly the two words signify the priest, whose authority is wide as the ocean. The Thibetan equivalent for Dalai is Jamtso or Giamtso. He lives at Lhassa. The other hierarch known as Bantshen Erdeni, or Bantshen Rin po chen, is the Teshu Lama of Turner and other travellers, and lives at Tatshi Lumbo. The succession is kept up by a metempsychosis, by which, when either dynast dies, his soul is bom again within a certain period in the body of some young child, who is marked out in certain ways, and when he has passed the ordeal of examination by the augurs and others, is worshipped as a new Khubilgan or incarnation of the former Lama. A description of the details of the system and its surroundings I shall reserve for another volume.

The first Dalai Lama was tailed Gedun dubpa, he was probably a nephew of Tsong kha pa’s, was born in 1389 or 1391, and died in 1473 or i47&t Under him many monasteries and temples were built. He was not of course styled Dalai, that being a Mongol word, and the Mongols not having as yet had any intercourse with Thibet. His successor was named Gedun Jamtso, and ruled from 1474 or 1476 to 1540 or 1542. He also built many churches and monasteries, and did much for the organisation of the Lamas, and appointed a special officer to control the civil administration of the country, who was styled Dhe pa or Tipat. He answered partially to a mayor of the palace in Merovingian days.

The third Dalai Lama succeeded in 1543, and was called in Thibetan Sod nam Jamtso. It was during his supremacy that Lamaism was so widely spread among the Mongols.

The first of the Mongol chiefs to enter into relations with the Lamas was, as I have said, Khutuktai Setzen Khungtaidshi, and this was in 1566. He entered Thibet and carried off several Lamas with him. Koeppen suggests that it was political foresight which led the Mongol chiefs to adopt their new faith, and that they hoped through it to make themselves masters of Thibet, and eventually of China, but I think this is a somewhat morbid view; there is an ingenuousness and simplicity about the Mongol attachment to Lamaism which precludes such  motives. Khutuktai Setaen persuaded his uncle to become a proselyte, and they invited the Dalai Lama to come and meet them, which he did, performing many wonders on the way, as I have described. After a most successful interview, in which he gained the two Mongol Khans as his supporters, he was given the title of Wadshradhara Dalai Lama, i.e., the diamond sceptre holding Dalai Lama, and this is really the first use of the title now so well known of Dalai Lama. The office and post had existed, as we have seen, for some time, but it was now that it first got so named.

When he returned home again the Dalai Lama left behind him as his vicar or proxy Mandshusri Khutuktu, who took up his residence at Koko Khotan. The Khutuktus or Kutuchtas, as the name is otherwise spelt, are a body of high Lamas who rank immediately below the two chief hierarchs. Their succession also is kept up by metempsychosis, and they are the Khubilgans or incarnations of former Buddhist saints and divinities.

The faith seems to have spread very rapidly in Mongolia, and we now read of its extension among the Khalkhas and Chakhars, thus in 1587, according to Ssanang Setxen, Abitai Ghalsagho, a Taidshi of the Khalkhas, paid a visit of respect to the Dalai Lama, and took to him, besides many presents of goods and cattle, a tent covered with sable furs. The Lama expounded to him the doctrines of the faith, and bade him with his eyes closed take from his right hand an image of Buddha, upon which he did so, and drew out the portrait of Wadshrapani. The Dalai Lama said it was the portrait of the divine sceptre bearer, that it was in a house which took fire with many other images, and it alone was saved, whence he said it is an image very rich in blessing. The Lama also gave him a Sharil or relic of the Buddha Sakiamuni of the sire of one’s thumb, a copper image of the Buddha Chakrasambara, and many other sacred curiosities and relics from Hindostan, and finally a large tent covered with tigers’ skins, with its furniture. The Lama also revealed to him that he was an incarnation of Wadshrapani, and on this account gave him the title of Nomun Yeke Wadshra Khakan. Ssanang Setren goes on to say that in the same year Amutai Khungtaidshi of the Chakhars also went to pay reverence to the Dalai Lama, and took him innumerable presents of gold, silver, and other goods and valuables, camels, horses, &c. He also conveyed to him the wish of Tumen Khan of the Chakhars, and the whole Chakhar people, that he, the Bogda Lama, would deign to go among them; upon which the omniscient Lama replied, “If he invite me before the following year I can then go; the year after I shall not be able to go.” None of those present understood the enigmatical sentence. The Lama then initiated him into the faith, and gave him much instruction and advice. The next year, the first day of the tenth month, the omniscient Bogda was sitting under a tree covered with fruit blossoms, on a very high mountain, when there appeared over the tree the form of a man in clerical costume. They looked at one another with expressions of joy and love, and made obeisance to one another, and then spoke much to one another in the language of Hindostan, after which the vision vanished. The disciples asked the Lama what the apparition meant He answered: “This was Tarpa rGialtsan, whose Mongol name is Tonilkhoin ilaghuk anu Toli, from the temple at Nilom Tala. He came to see me because the time draws near when I must set out on my journey.” After his return from the mountain, the Lama was immediately attacked with sickness.

At that time there went from the Chinese Emperor an embassy of 1.000 men, headed by three nobles, named Subing, Budshong, and Saching. They took him as a present a golden throne and a valuable sanfte for travelling in, with nine white riding horses with golden saddles, and 300 carriages for baggage, 100 sidshirs of gold, and 1,000 sidshirs of silver, for his use on the way, besides many valuables and goods of all kinds. He sent a letter written in Imperial yellow as follows : “In order to further the cause of religion and follow the example of the former Emperors, Tai Taitsong, Yonglo, and Wangti, I assign to you the title of Sang Shing Dai Wang Guyushiri, which the Mongol Emperor Kublai first instituted, raise you to the rank of Over-Lama, and summon you to me.” This was no doubt a piece of Statecraft on the part of the decaying Ming authorities to checkmate the growing influence of the Mongols in Thibet. We read further, that about the same time Tumen Khakhan of the Chakhars sent some further envoys, attended by 1,000 men, bearing rich gifts, to whom the Bogda Lama said: “The expressions of good will of the two rulers (i.e., the Khan of the Chakhars and the Chinese Emperor) is very praiseworthy, inasmuch as their good deeds in the cause of religion, have furthered not only their own interests but also those of all living creatures. It therefore becomes my duty immediately to obey the call which has come from two such mighty sovereigns. I told Amutai Khungtaidshi last year that if the invitation came before next year I could go, but if it did not crane till die year after I should not be able to do so? Now are these words fulfilled, and the object of my present existence, as well as the course of my active life, have reached their end, and I am on the point of starting on my journey for the welfare of others.” Soon after these words, and in the presence of the envoys, he died, or rather was transmigrated, “and rejoined the heart of the pitying divinity and omnipotent all-seeing one, and raised himself to the realm of Chiramadi.”'

This was in 1588, when he was forty-seven years old. On the twenty­fifth of the same month his body was burnt, his skull appeared as that of the Chongshim Boddhisatwa, in the form of the Chakrasambara, with pitying eyes, and after there were found among his ashes an extraordinary number of sharils or relics, in the form of letters, as when before the time of the Ghassanbang, Nomun Khakan built the thousand temple pyramids.

The fourth Dalai Lama was styled Dalai Erdemtu by the Mongols, and Yon tan Jamtso by the Thibetans.fIt is a dear proof of the increasing Mongol influence in these parts, that he should have become regenerate in a Mongol boy, the son of Dara Khatun, the wife of a grandson of Altan Khan.

Altan Khan

Senge Dugureng Timur

                            Ghartu; a second son; a third son; Dara Khatun

                                                                                                          Dalai Erdemtu

The young Dalai Lama remained in Mongolia until his fourteenth year, and did not go to Lhassa until 1602, and was then duly installed by the Bantshen Lama. The Mongols were naturally somewhat loth to part with the divinity who had so honoured their country, and we accordingly find that in 1604 the Khutuktu bSampa Jamtso was appointed as his vicar in Mongolia. He took up his residence in the country of the Khalkhas at Urga, and afterwards removed to the great monastery of Kuren, on the river Tula. There his descendant still live, for like other Khutuktus be is renewed by metempsychosis. Among all the hierarchs of Lamaism he ranks immediately next to the Dalai Lama and the Bantshen Lama. As the various caravans that go from Kiachta to Peking pass through his country he is well known to Europeans, and mentioned in many accounts. He is known to the Mongols as Maidan Khutuktu (Maidari being the corruption of Maitreya), and also Gegen Khutuktu (the great Khutuktu). His proper title was rje bTsun Dam pa Taranatha, and he was a Khubilgan of the Bogda Padma Sambhava-j

The history of Thibet at this period is very uncertain, and one can only follow in the wake of Koeppen and offer a tentative solution.

It would seem that during the ancient régime of the Red Lamas there was a temporal sovereign of Thibet, styled the Tsanpo, who filled a similar post to that occupied by the Tycoon of Japan, in reference to the Mikado. At first the heads of the Yellow Lama sect were merely the abbots or superiors of large monasteries. About 1580, when Altan Khan of the Mongols raised the third Dalai Lama to the supreme position, which promotion was confirmed, as we have seen, by the Chinese court, it would seem that this temporal ruler of Thibet, who was then named Chovang Namgial, left Lhassa and retired to Ladak, where he was acknowledged as king and controlled the greater portion of Western Thibet. His son Yamia Namgial, who succeeded his father in 1600, was defeated and taken prisoner by Ali Mir, the chief of Baltistan, when many temples, monasteries, and statues of Buddha were destroyed by the fanatical Muhammedans, while the sacred books were burnt or thrown into the Indus. Some time after, the conqueror made peace with Yamia Namgial, gave him his daughter in marriage, and reinstated him as chief of Ladak. The son of this marriage succeeded to the throne in 1620, broke down the supremacy of the Sultan of Balti, who was himself the tributary of the great Mogul Yehanghir, recovered the various towns which his father and grandfather had held, and having settled himself firmly in Ladak, prepared to attack Lhassa.

He is no doubt the Guru Sodnam Namgial, chief of the Shira Uighurs, of Ssanang Setzen, against whom we are told that Bushuktu Jinong of the Ordus marched and whom he defeated in 1596.

There were at this time two well marked parties in Thibet. The old conservative party of the Red Lamas, of which the Tsanpo was the temporal representative. It was doubtless the national party, was supported by the native Thibetans, and had its chief seat in Western Thibet; and the party of the Yellow Lamas, supported chiefly by the Chinese court and by the Mongols, with its main seat at Lhassa. Koeppen compares the situation very fairly to that of Italy in the middle ages, when the Germans on the one side, and the Italians on the other, surged in conflict about the papal chair, the Mongols representing the Germans. The ascetic and retired life of the Dalai Lama left the control of matters very much in the hands of the clever intriguers who generally surround such a court, and especially of the mayor of the palace, or prime minister, the dhepa or tipa. This state of things had lately been intensified by the continuance of a long period of minority. From 1588, when the third Dalai Lama died, to 1630, when the fifth arrived at the age of manhood, . there was practically a long regency, and during the reign of the fourth or Mongol Dalai Lama, it is very certain that the chief people about the court and those who controlled affairs were Mongols.

The fourth Dalai Lama died in 1616, and became regenerate the next year in the son of Daba Guruba Noyan, in the land of Sakia Dakpo, but he was not consecrated by the Bantshen for some years after. It was in this interval that the Tsanpo made his attack upon Lhassa, as I have mentioned. Ssanang Setzen tells us that in 1619 the seven Tumeds, under the lead of Bagha Toin and Khailin Ugetai Baghatur Tabunang marched against the Tsanpo Khakan, who was at the head of 100,000 men, and he goes on to say that the Bantshen Erdeni was then in the monastery of Tatshi Lumbo engaged in secluded contemplation. When he suddenly heard of the strife, he said, “to stop such mischief would be a most meritorious work”, upon which he mounted his horse called Norwu Wangchen, and hasted with the speed of the whirlwind to the spot, and alighted between the contending armies. It was remarked by every one how the hard rock yielded to his horse’s hoofs, as if it had been mud. This event was foretold, says Ssanang Setsen, by Padma Sambhawa in these words: “In the future, in the days of 500 tribulations, somebody will be bom on the river Galchu, who will raise a bulwark for an army in sight of the mountain Jakburi, one of ths three summits of the mountain Putala, near Lhassa. On that occasion a Lama or Khubilgan of Anudawa will perform a most beneficent act by saving 100,000 lives.” Ssanang Setzen leaves the issue of the story in this hazy condition, from which we may imply perhaps that peace on not very advantageous terms was in some way secured. It was two or three years after this, namely, about 1623, that the Bogda Bantshen, accompanied by all the Lamas and religious of the monastery of Brasbong, and with a complete Lama’s dress, repaired to the house of Guruba Noyan. As he entered the house the young Dalai Lama, who as I have said lived there, said to him : “Bulub Bantshin, why have you delayed so long?”.  The Bogda upon this took some sugar out of his pocket, gave it to the boy and said, “My son, has the time seemed long to you?”. He then took him on his knee, embraced and caressed him, and discussed with him the fundamental truths of religion, so that everybody was astonished. The same year he conducted him to the monastery of Brasbong, and when he had shaved him, put a yellow cap on his head, dressed him in tfie Lama dress, and gave him instruction in all wisdom. This he learnt without difficulty. He was given the name of Lobzang Jamtso.

Meanwhile the old jealousy and strife between the rival sections of Lamaists, between the national party and that of the Mongols and strangers continued. In 1634 the Ming dynasty of Chinese Emperors came to an end, and was finally supplanted by the Manchus, and we find both parties, that of the Red Lamas and that of the Yellow, sending envoys to secure the powerfill support of the new dynasty. This was hardly sufficiently consolidated to encourage it to interfere in far distant Thibet. The party of the Yellow Lamas was being very hard pressed, and in its difficulty appealed for assistance to the Western Mongols or Kalmuks, who had so recently become converts, and who lived not far from its borders.

At last, then, we have reached the end of our long digression, ahd will now resume the history of the Khoshotes. Up to this according to Turner, the Yellow Lamas had chiefly prevailed in the province of Kilmauk, while the Red Lamas had their main strength in that of Khumbauk, but their monasteries were scattered promiscuously over the country. In the struggle I have mentioned, the Yellow Lamas had been beaten in six engagements. The Kalmuks, when appealed to for help, were ready enough as new converts to enter upon the religious war; and we are told that Guushi Khan of the Khoshotes (the third of the five tigers) allied himself with Banter Khungtaidshi of the Sungars, with Urluk the chief of the Torguts, with his own brother Kundehmg Ubasha, and with his nephews Utshirtu Khan and Ablai, in order to assist the Dalai Lama. They attacked the Tsanpo, and after some engagements defeated him in a great battle and captured his capital, and having taken him prisoner put him to death. Gerbillon tells us the capital of the Tsanpo, then destroyed, was situated at Putala. Turner, in describing the same event, says the Red Lamas were driven from their possessions in various quarters, more particularly from the neighbourhood of Teshu Lumbo, where they were fixed in great numbers. That place was rased to the ground, and the great monastery of Teshu Lumbo was erected among the ruins. The Tsanpos or secular rulers of Thibet were now entirely deposed, and the temporal sovereignty over Thibet was made over by the victorious Mongols to the Dalai Lama. The discomfited Red Lamas with their partisans retired southwards towards Bhutan, where their three chief Lamas lived in the time of Turner. I It is very probable that the Bhutan people, who are almost indistinguishable from the Thibetans proper, are descended to a large extent from the emigrants who fled on the victory of the Yellow sect. As a reward for his eminent services, Guushi Khan received the title of Terbayatshi Sadshini Barinchi Gushi Nomien Khan, and a portion of northern and central Thibet were assigned to his people for pasture.

The revolution in Thibet, to which I have referred and from which the great temporal position of the Dalai Lamas dates, took place in 1643.

Some time after, Thibet was disturbed by a raid made there by the Sungar chief Shuker, the brother of Baatur Khungtaidshi. On this occasion Guushi and the other Kalmuk chiefs bound themselves to pursue and punish the invader, to consider themselves as the sutyects of the Dalai Lama, and sent contingents to form a garrison for him. These were, however, to remain under their own chiefs.”

It was doubtless directly after this deposition of the Tsanpo that  occurred the embassy described by Ssanang Setsen, when be tells us that Guushi Tsordshi received the title of Ilaghuksan Khuktu from the Dalai Lama and the Bogda Bantshin, and was sent by them on an embassy to Mukden, the capital of the rising Manchu empire. The same embassy is referred to in Kanghi’s history of the conquest of the Eleuths, where he says. “The first of their kings who came to do homage was called Kusi Han (i.e., Guushi). He went in the reign of Shun chi, was well received, and given the title of Suve (Bright), and he was entered in the Imperial registers as Suve Kusi han.

Guushi Khan, who was already dead, in 1656 was succeeded in his authority in Thibet, that is, as deputy or viceroy of the Dalai Lama, by his son Dayan Khan, who may possibly be the Chetchen ombo mentioned in Kanghi’s narrative, where, we are told, that on account of a great victory he won over the white caps he received the glorious titles of Baatur and Tushiyetu Baatur Taitsing, Mongol terms having allusion to his bravery in ridding the province of the brigands who infested it. Dayan Khan bore the Thibetan title of Jik jirko, and is called Ezir Khan by Hilarion in the memoirs published by the Russian Mission at Peking. Bernier describes an embassy sent in 1664 by the Tsanpo of Thibet to the Indian Emperor Aurungaeb. This Tsanpo or Chiampo, as he writes it, can be no other than Dayan Khan. He died about 1670. Dayan Khan was succeeded as Protector of Thibet by his son Dalai Khan, who bore the Thibetan title of Kontshok (Jewel, equivalent to the Mongol term Erdeni). The Khoshote chief acted as commander-in-chief of the forces, and not as controller of the civil administration. This post was filled, as I have said, by the tipa or depa, who, although he wore the Lama dress, was allowed to marry, and did not follow the ascetic rules of the Lamas. On the destruction of the Tsanpo his power had greatly increased and he acquired the title of Tisri or regent. According to Georgi, it was in the early time of Dalai Khan’s administration that the then tipa rebelled against his sacred sovereign, but he was suppressed and shut up in a fortress. This was doubtless with the aid of the Khoshotes.

The deposed Tipa was succeeded by another named Sangje Jamtso, who was credited with being the natural son of the then ruling Dalai Lama (namely, Dalai Lama Nag Bang Lobsang Jamtso), and who had acquired some fame as a writer upon medicine, astronomy, chronology. In 1682 the Dalai Lama, his reputed father, died, upon which the Tipa, who was no doubt abetted by the higher dignitaries at Lhassa, who were perhaps his nominees, concealed the death and gave it out that he had retired for contemplation to the more secluded apartments in the palace, and that he wished to see no one, and he cited instances of other Buddhas who had remained in the ecstatic state for years. The plan succeeded, and for sixteen yean the chair of the Dalai Lama was vacant.

While the Khoshote chiefs of Thibet appear to have been close allies and friends of the Manchu Emperors, the Tipa is generally found intriguing with the Sungars, who were then at open strife with the Manchus. To secure such an influential person, and to prevent him from raising Galdan’s campaign into a religious war. The Emperor Kanghi seems to have treated him with some consideration. He raised him to the rank of a prince, with the title of Thibet Wang, and afterwards to the higher rank of Tsukapa. This seems to have had little effect upon him. At length the Emperor began to suspect that something was wrong at Lhassa, and sent an envoy to summon the Bemtshen Lama to report upon how matters stood there. The latter was, however, put under restraint and prevented from going by the Tipa, who used his authority to favour Galdan, and we are told that his envoy, a Lama named Khutuktu Tsirong, before the battle at Ulang putang, publicly prayed for Galdan’s success. The Emperor now sent him a caustic letter, in which he reproached him with his ingratitude, with having in several ways assisted Galdan, and with having furthered the wedding between Galdan’s daughter and Tsinong Bushtu, one of the Khoshote chiefs of Koko nur. He told him that a great many of Galdan’s officers and more that two thousand of his subjects had accused him, the Tipa, of compassing their master’s ruin; and he ended by promising him that if he did hot ainend his ways, render him a foil account of what had taken place, allow the two Lamas whom he had sent to see the Dalai Lama, set the Bantsben at liberty, send the Tsinong Khutuktu, whom he charged with having prayed for Galdan’s success, loaded with chains to the court, and declare the marriage of Galdan’s daughter to be null and void, that he should pay for his temerity with his blood.

Kanghi set out on his western campaign in 1696, and we are told that at Kue-hoa-ching, on the frontiers of Shensi and Shansi, he gave audiences to several envoys from the Dalai Lama (really from the Tipa), the Dalai Khan, the Khutuktu Bantshen, and from eight Taishis of Tsing hai. As he approached the borders of Thibet, near the district of Surho, his people captured a party of Mongols, which turned out to be envoys from the Dalai Lama (no doubt from the Tipa), from the Tsinong Bushtu prince of Tsing hai, and from another Taishi of the same district. They had been to pay a visit to Galdan, and were returning with some of his dependents, inclufflng his grandson Tortsi Kumon.

The forlorn condition of Galdan seems to have made his friend and protégé the Tipa, more submissive, and we find him in 1697 writing a letter to the Emperor, in which he excused his former conduct. He said that the Emperor’s letter had covered him with confusion; he confessed how much he owed to him. “Is not your majesty,” he said, “the Fo Mienchuchuli from whom nothing is hidden.” Well assured that all was open to the Emperor, how could he hope to conceal from him the death of the Dalai Lama; he promised to introduce the two Lamas whom he had sent, when they should arrive, to the Grand Lama. He promised that the Bantshen should go in person to the court. He declared that the Khutuktu Tsinong was not present at the battle of Ulan putang; he had not arrived there till after the fight, and had then only exhorted Galdan to peace; he refused to send him to the court, and was sure the Emperor would do no harm to one who had been seven times incarnate. As to Galdan’s daughter, since she had married before the quarrel between Galdan and the Khalkhas, she could not suffer for what had since occurred. The Emperor was not to be deceived, and the Tipa was at length intimidated into more ingenuous ways.

Nimatang, one of the principal Khutuktus of Putala, was despatched to the Imperial court to justify his master’s conduct. He was received, according to Gerbilion, with great consideration. The Emperor went in person to meet him at the door of the second indoeure of his palace, and he accepted his presents. These consisted of incense pastils, of pieces of cloth very like ratteen, of pieces of coral. He confessed that the Dalai Lama had in fact been dead for sixteen years, he had died in 1681. That before he died he had assured the Lamas about him that he would become regenerate the following year, and had pointed out to them the place where he should again be born; that he had instructed them to keep his death secret, and to reply to inquiries that he was observing the Tsochen (was engaged in religious abstraction and contemplation), and that as a gauge of this he had left a packet containing a portrait of Buddha, or of himself (for he held himself as the incarnation of Buddha), with orders to take it to the Emperor on the tenth moon of the sixteenth year after bis death, meaning that his death was only then to be proclaimed. The Emperor undertook not to open the packet until the appointed time, and meanwhile sent back the Khutuktu with orders for his master to send him Galdan’s daughter, and to let the Bantshen go as he had demanded. Two days after their departure, the Emperor learnt from the envoys he had sent to Galdan’s court that he had been deceived, that the death of the last Dalai Lama had been announced there, and that the new Dalai Lama, who was then fifteen years, had already begun to give public audiences. The Emperor sent messengers to recall the Khutuktu, who, when charged with duplicity, could only answer that he had delivered the message of his master, the Tipa. The packet was opened before the Mongol and Manchu notabilities. A small statue of Buddha was found inside, whose heed was detached and fell on to the floor, while the rest of thejjody remained in the Emperor’s hand. The Khutuktu was much confused at the incident, the Mongol grandees looked upon it as of bad augury, while the Emperor and his Manchu dependants were delighted. Some time after the Emperor received a letter from the Tipa, excusing his conduct on the plea of the difficulty he had in discovering the person into whom the Dalai Lama’s soul had passed, and the necessity of taking precautions to avoid disturbance during the interregnum; and he added that it was only in the tenth month of 1696 that he was finally assured it had passed into the body of the young Dalai Lama, whom he had so recently proclaimed, and he urged upon the Emperor that he should protect the youthful pontiff against his rivals.

Having caused him to be proclaimed, the Tipa sent an envoy to take the news to Tse wang Arabtan, Galdan’s nephew, who was then engaged at the head of a large force, at the instigation of the Emperor, in hunting for his uncle. The elevation of the new Dalai Lama was to be a kind of “Truce of God,” and he was ordered for one year to desist from war and to disband his troops. This was meant probably to give Galdan breathing time, and was very annoying to the Emperor, who despatched the Khutuktu Nimatang with a summons to the Tipa to go to Peking.

De Mailla gives us in extenso a letter from the Emperor, who was then engaged in his campaign against Galdan, to his eldest son, in which he inveighs at length upon the treachery of Nimatang and the Lamas in general, whom he accuses of being merely the tools of the Tipa; he orders his son to have the chief of them then in China seised, separately confined and tried, and orders especially that they should be tried by Manchu, by unbiassed judges. “Dogs”, he says, “only bark at strangers, and are faithful and useful to their masters, but these vile Lamas forget that they owe everything to us; they are ungrateful and treacherous, and determined to undo us. Do not hesitate to charge them with these offences, for these reproaches are just and well deserved”

Some time after he wrote to Tse wang Arabdan, telling him of the immense preparations he had made for crushing Galdan; he also informed him of the ill behaviour of the Tipa, and told him that a large number of Saissans and of Hachha Eleuths (Khoshotes) had submitted to him, and that others were doing so daily.

The young Dalai Lama, the protégé of the Tipa, was styled Lobdzang Rinchen Tsang Shang Jamtso. He proved to be of a vicious disposition, licentious, and a debauchee, and was indifferent to the counsel of the Regent, of the Chinese Emperor, and of the Sungar chief Tse wang Arabtan. This conduct gave rise to doubts as to his authenticity. It was affirmed that he sprang from a family of the Red sect, and that he could not therefore be the true incarnation of the Dalai Lama. The scandal caused by his behaviour at length became so great that, on the instigation of the Emperor Kanghi and of several Mongol and Kalmuk chiefs, a council of Lamas and augurs or diviners (Chos Idong) was summoned to report as to whether he was a veritable Khubilgan or no. They reported that although he was possessed of the created and peccable soul, yet that the soul of the Boddhisatwa was unfolded in him, and as the Regent had supported him they would not venture to depose him. In all this we see the influence of the Tipa. A more consistent part was acted by the protector of the State, the descendant of Guusbi Khan. Dalai Khan had been succeeded in that office by his son Laszang or Latsan Khan, and the latter now took up arms against the Tipa and his protégé. He attacked their capital, killed the Tipa, the cause of so much mischief, and captured his protégé, the young Dalai Lama. As the latter’s escort was passing the great monastery of Prebung, situated about twenty li west of Lhassa, 9,000 of the monks who were there, with other devotees, made an attack on the Khoshote escort and carried off the young pontiff into the monastery. Latsan Khan hastened to the spot and surrounded the monastery with his troops.

Meanwhile a fierce dispute ensued inside as to whether the Dalai Lama was a genuine Khubilgan or not. At length the chief augur of the monastery declared with an oath that he was a genuine Khubilgan. Latsan thereupon proceeded to storm the monastery, and many of the inmates were wounded or cut down. The young pontiff was captured, and carried off to Dam, the residence of the Khan. There, according to one account, he was beheaded, while according to another he was sent to China, but fell ill on the way and died of dropsy. This happened in 1705 or 17o6. Latsan Khan was handsomely rewarded by the Emperor Kanghi, whose great enemy the Tipa he had destroyed; he was given a golden seal and the title Fu kiao kung shun khan (the obedient Khan, the supporter and pacificator of religion).

Shortly after it was announced that the Dalai Lama was once more regenerate in the person of a boy five years old, who had been born at Lithang, in Kham or Eastern Thibet. His name was Lobdzang Kalsang Jamtso. Although he was supported by many people, both lay and clerical, he was apparently not acceptable to Latsan Khan, and to escape him, he was taken to the Khoshotes of Koko nur, who declared for him, and sent to the Emperor to ask him to confirm him in his authority. He was conducted to the temple of Tarsa, at Si ning fu.

Galdan had been succeeded as chief of the Sungars by his nephew Tse wang Arabtan, who seems to have been as ambitious as his uncle. He had been on good terms with the Manchus until Galdan’s death, but after that he became a suspected personage at their court because of his refusal to surrender the ashes of Galdan and to send Galdan’s daughter, whom I have before mentioned, to Peking. He was also, apparently, jealous of the influence acquired by the Manchu empire in Thibet, and looked upon Latsan Khan as the protégé of the empire. This soon led to a serious quarrel Latsan Khan had a son named Tan chong, and Tsewang Arabtan had a daughter about the same age, whom he offered in marriage to the young Khoshote chief. When the young man attended the marriage festival at Ili, the capital of the Sungarian empire, he was seized and imprisoned.

Under pretence of restoring the faith, Tse wang Arabtan now marched two armies—one towards Sining fu, the residence of the Dalai Lama; the other, under the command of his general Sereng Donduk, crossed the mountains south of Khotan, marched past the Tengri nur, and appeared in November, 1717, before Lhassa, which was attacked. It was captured by treason, and the Sungars were welcomed by many as deliverers. Latsan Khan had taken refuge at Putala, but he was captured and put to death, and his son Surdzu was taken prisoner.

With this event the protectorship of the Dalai Lama passed out of the hands of the Khoshotes, nor have I any means of further tracing the descendants of Dayan Khan.

Guushi Khan had inherited only 5,000 subjects from his father, and it was his address and skill in the affairs of Thibet which enabled him to so greatly increase his power. His clans were apportioned between his two sons. The great bulk of them remained under Dalai Khungtaldshi, about the Koko nur. The remainder, who were really the garrison of Thibet, filled almost exactly the position that the French did in Rome for so long as the protectors of the Pope against the Italians. They were assigned lands for pasture in Northern and Central Thibet. There some of their descendants still remain, and though there has been a considerable fusion with the natives, still, according to Hue, one may still discern among the black Thibetan tents a certain number of Mongol huts, while a large number of Mongol expressions which are used in the country, having passed into the Thibetan idiom, probably originated with them.

We will now considerthe Khoshotes of Koko nur. The second son of Guushi Khan was called Dalai Khungtaidshi. To him his father left his authority over the Khoshotes, and he ruled in the neighbourhood of the Koko nur lake, he is probably to be identified with the Talai Patur Taidshi of Kanghi; his narrative say “he was known as the valiant Taidshi and that he settled with his people in the neighbourhood of Koko nur, whence they were known as the Eleuths of Koko nur.” The Kahnuk chronicles praise him because, in default of sufficient food for the Thibetan poor, he persuaded the Uirat princes to allow them to emigrate to a place in the Altai, where the very wholesome and nourishing root suuna grows. He divided his ulus with his brother very generously, but his people suffered much from the Sungar invasions, and many of them drifted towards China. His descendants are called the princes of Tsinghai, of Koko nur, by De Mailla. Gerbillon tells us that they were only eight in number, each one with his territory and people apart, and leaguing together only for common defence, and that they were vassals of the Dalai Khan, or rather of the Dalai Lama. When the Emperor Kanghi was engaged in his campaign against Galdan he was afraid that the latter, who had married one of his daughters to the son of the Tsinong Bushtu, one of the principal chiefs of Koko nur, might find allies among the Khoshotes there, and issued a manifesto to their princes. He praised them for having behaved so well towards the empire, and then went on to recount the causes and the issue of his struggle with Galdan, and the deception which the Tipa had practised on him. He went on to say that Galdan had boasted that the Taishis of Tsinghai and the Russians were disposed to assist him in attacking China, that he had been thwarted in his recent campaign, and it might be that be might seek refuge with them. Kanghi bade them bear in mind that in that case they would forfeit his friendship unless they arrested Galdan and sent him to him in chains, and he bade them also arrest all his dependants there. Some time after Paochu, a deputy whom the Emperor had sent with this despatch, returned and reported that, having entered the country of Chaghan tolagoi of Tsinghai, he had sent the Kanpu Chenparen a copy of the manifesto, with injunctions to him to compel the Taishis of Tsinghai to conform to the Emperor’s orders. The Kanpu upon this assembled these princes to explain to them the orders he had received. Tachpatyr, accompanied by thirty-one Taishis, attended, and affirmed that Galdan had put to death their chief Haotsir Mum (? a corruption of Utshirtu Khan), had appropriated a large number of their people, and that they deemed him a dangerous enemy. In regard to his daughter, who was married to the son of the Tsinong Bushtu, they could not surrender her. They also assured him that they were fiuthfal disciples of the Dalai Lama, and should do nothing without his orders.

In 1697, when Galdan was defeated, the Taidshi, Djajai Baatur and others went to Peking and recognised the sovereignty of the Manchu Emperor. In consequence of which they were all invested with hereditary rights, and one of them was raised to the rank of Tsin wang. Seven others were made Beiles, five Beisses, six Kung, and a great number Taidshi. In 1723 Lobdzang Dandrin, son of Djajsi Baatur, persuaded the others to invade China.

The Emperor sent an army against them which easily subdued them. Only those who had taken no part in the revolt were confirmed in their dignities. These chiefs were subjected to a triennial tribute, and divided into three classes, so that in nine years each had to offer the tribute once. The trade between the Chinese and the inhabitants of Koko nur is carried on at Si ning fu.

In 1725 the five tribes of Koko nur were divided into twenty-nine banners. The Eluths form twenty-one, the Khoits three, the Torguts four, and the Khalkhas one. Here Eluth is dearly used as a synonym for Koshote, and contrasted with the other specific names of Kalmuk tribes, thus confirming my previous contention. Besides the above there are four Mongol regiments belonging to the Lama Chaghan nomun Khan. The tribute of all these tribes is sent by way of Si ning fu. The Jassaks or chiefs of Koko nur consist of three Kiun wangs, two Beiles, two. Beisses, four Kungs, and eighteen Taidshis. Each of whom has a banner under his control.

I will now transcribe the Chinese topographical description of the Koko nur country appended to Timkowski’s travels.

“The chain of mountains Kuen lun, or Kul kun, is on the western frontier of the country. The Hoang ho has its source in them; namely, in the mountains Aldan tsikin, Barbukha, and Bayan khara. In 1782 Kien lung sent his equerry Amida to present his offerings to the Yellow Riverj the source of which he ordered him to Investigate”' Amida, on bis return to Peking, presented the account of his journey to the Emperor, who ordered him to draw up an account of the origin of this river.

“This work says that the second source of the Hoang ho issues from the rock of the Khadasun-cholo, and forms the Alton gol, a small river, the water of which is muddy and yellow. It traverses the Odon-tala, in Chinese Sing su hai (sea of stars), and runs to the east. Originally the source of the Hoang bo was in the mountains of Kashgar and Khotan ; the streams which issued from them entered lake Lob nur, from which they afterwards issued.

“The true Kuen lun was therefore in Eastern Turkestan, where are the first sources of the Yellow River. Writers who were ignorant of it, took  the Kulkun of Koko nur for the Kuen lun. The mountains of Tsi chi shan, in Mongol, Amfte makfrin musun ula, are 550 li south-east of the frontier of Si ning. This chain runs along the north bank of the Yellow River, for the length of 300 li; it has seven summits, which rise above the clouds. It is considered as the highest of the Koko nur; near mount Bayan khara, it extends towards the east; one of its peaks is so lofty that it may be seen at the distance of 100 li; it is covered with snow and ice whidi never melt All the neighbouring mountains are likewise white with snow, and intersected with precipices. Stinking fogs render these parts very unhealthy, and they are but little frequented.

“The Hoang ho runs at the foot of these mountains, and then turns to the north. At the commencement of every season, the inhabitants bring offerings to these mountains. The country of Koko nur contains in all thirteen great and lofty mountains, which are called by the Thibetan name of Amié, or ancestors, to which offerings are brought. The Amiémaldzig mussun ula is the highest.

“The Ye chui shan, the name of which is Chinese, and signifies mountain of the hot spring, is to the south-west, beyond the frontier of Si ning. Besides these, there are the mountains Fung li chan, Mang theou chan, Tche ngo chin chan, and Shu hoen chan, which have ancient Chinese names : they have been the scene of several remarkable battles. Mount Khan tologoi, 200 li to the south of Koko nur, lies in the midst of the steppe. To the west is mount Tsokto: thick fogs infect these parts, which likewise produce poisonous herbs. Mount Kuisun tologoi is situated in the middle of the lake Koko nur; its summit is quite white, and a small temple stands upon it. The Thibetan Lamas who live in it come out only once a year, when the lake is frozen, to procure corn. The Manitu ula, near the source of the Yellow River, is extremely high, and on its sides are Chinese characters, engraved on them in ancient timet. The Allan gachun choio is a great stone, or rock, of considerable height; the perpendicular sides consist of a yellowish red day, and are sterile; at the summit is a reservoir, from which issue several little streams, the water of which is of a yellow or gold colour; these uniting, form the Allan, which is the true source of the Yellow River.

“ The Yellow River, or Hoang ho, called in Thibetan, Rma chu, and in Mongol, Kara muren, or Kara gol, has its source at the western extremity of the country of the Koko nur; it issues by subterraneous channels from lake Lob, situated in Little Bucharia, receives the Altam, passes through the Odon tala (sea of stars), and the lakes Dzareng and Oreng, runs south-east, turns to the north-west, and then to the north­east. After having thus performed a course of above 3,700 li, it enters China, near Ho chan, at the fort Tsi chi kuan.

“The Koko nur, in Chinese, Tsinghai (blue sea), had formerly the name of Si hai (western sea); it is 500 li to the west of Si ning; it is above 750 li in circumference, and contains the islands of Kuissun tologoi and Tsagan khada; its waters are of a bluish hue.

“In 1734the Chinese army being in pursuit of the rebel Arabtan, prince of the Sungarians, arrived on the banks of the Ikhe khorghi, a small river to the north of the Koko nur; the men and the horses suffered extremely from thirst, when a spring suddenly burst from the ground before the camp. The men and the horses recovered their strength, and this event inspired the Chinese army with such courage, that it succeeded in overtaking and defeating the enemy. The commander-in-chief sent a report of these circumstances to the Emperor, who gave orders to erect a monument, on which the event should be inscribed, and to present offerings to the spirit of the blue lake.

“Beyond the frontiers of Si ning, and behind the temple of Archan kit, there are mineral waters. A lake of above 100 li in circumference, and situated to the north-west of the Koko nur, produces a greenish salt; it receives from the west, the Mukhor bulak and the Khara ussu, two small rivers which issue from it again on the south­east, and ioo li farther on join the Barkhu. The Mongols of Koko nur, the inhabitants of Si ning and of Tangut, collect the salt of this lake.

“The country of the Koko nur produces salt, barley, and rye; the principal animals are camels, long-haired oxen, wild oxen, wolves, panthers, lynxes, chamois goats, large eagles, and a kind of fish without scales, which is found only in the lake Koko nur. It is of a round form, and has black spots on the back; its length is from two to four inches; the larger fish of this species are called bukha, and the smaller nukhu.

“Independently of the twenty-six Mongol tribes, whom we have just described, the Imperial geography of China mentions the Eluths of Chores, the right and left wings of the Khalkhas, and the department of Ching te fu, or Ye ho.”

Hué describes the vast plains which adjoin the Koko nur as of “great fertility and of a most agreeable aspect Although entirely destitute of trees, the grass is of prodigious height and it is watered by numerous streams. The Mongols are in consequence much attached to these pastures. The hordes of brigands harass them in vain. They content themselves with a frequent change of encampment in order to baffle their enemies, but when they can no longer avoid the danger, they encounter it with great bravery and fight gallantly.” He amusingly compares these shepherds, always ready for battle, “with the languishing fiddle-faddles of Virgil, eternally occupied in piping on a flute, or in decorating with ribands and flowers their pretty straw hats”. The chief tribate they take to Peking consists of furs and gold dust”

On their journey to Thibet, Hué and his companion were introduced to the son of the King of Koko nur, no doubt the descendant of Dalai Khungtaidshi. “They were surprised with his noble mien and elegant manners. He was attired in a handsome robe of light blue doth, over which was a sort of jacket of violet doth, with a broad border of blade velvet. His left ear was decorated in Thibetan fashion with a-gold earring, from which hung several trinkets; his complexion was almost as fair as their own, and his countenance admirably gentle in its expression; in utter contradistinction from ordinary Tartars his garments were exquisitely dean.0 The two missionaries entertained the prince at their house with tea, Ac., and on his taking leave of them, Hue says he drew from a purse, elegantly embroidered, a small agate snuff-box, and graciously offered them each a pinch.”

I have described the descendants of the three eldest of the five Tigers. Those of their two younger Tigers were unknown to Pallas, but they probably, with their clans, are to be found among the Khoshotes of Koko nur already described.

There still remains for description a small section of the Khoshotes. Khana Noyon Khongor, the father of the five Tigers, had a half brother named Khara Sabar, who was the ancestor of a prince named Samiang. The intervening links are given by Pallas. On the break-up of the Sungarian empire, in 1759, he emigrated to Russia with his wife, who was a Khoit princess, and about 260 families. His friendship for the Russians seems to have been displeasing to the other Kalmuk chiefs, and his son Bokbon succeeded in detaching most of his father’s people from their allegiance and accompanied Ayuka Khan of the Torguts in his celebrated flight. Samiang died in 1772, and left his few remaining people, together with certain Torguts who remained behind, to his stepson Tummen, who was of Sungarian descent.

It is probably the descendants of his subjects who still form a small section of the Volga Kalmuks, and are encamped on the Aktuba. I shall have more to say about the Kalmuks of this area in the next chapter, and will here content myself with a short description of a visit paid to the Khoshotes by two missionary agents of the Russian Bible Society in 1823. They were then governed by a prince named Sered-Jeh. He had acquired many of the habits of civilised life, and we are told he was “a colonel in the Russian service”, and knight of several orders, was very perceptibly distinguished by his information and manners from the other Kalmuk princes, and he had already done much for the civilisation of his subjects, who feared Mm more than they loved him, because they regarded all his attempts at amelioration as so many pernicious innovations. He resided on the left bank of the Volga, in a large wooden castle, thirty places in front, which he fortified with Russian outworks when he returned from the French war: in the revolutionary campaigns he commanded his own troops, and the Torguts. His castle was well fitted up in the interior, and contained a number of saloons, with mahogany furniture, lustres, minors, a billiard table, pianoforte, a number of docks.... His court was nevertheless held on the steppes during some part of the warm weather. When we had changed our dress, say the travellers, “we went to the castle and delivered our introductory letter to the prince, who received us politely and kindly. Colonel Kachanof was present likewise, and we dined at the prince’s table with him, and part of his suite, together with the prince’s daughters, two of his brothers (Baatur Ubashi and Cheringa), a young Tartar prince of the name of Ered-Jab (who had some official business), and a Russian secretary of the prince’s. The princess was ill, and we therefore did not see her. The table was set in a summer-house, in the small but beautiful garden at the back of the castle. Before dinner, a small well turned Kalmuk cup of arsa (or treble distilled Kalmuk brandy) was handed, round to the company, with smoked salmon, Brunswick sausage, and bread. At table we sat next the high pristaw, who was at the prince’s right hand; his wife was on the prince’s left, next to her the prince’s daughters, and brother, and then the secretaries of the prince and of the high pristaw. Prince Ered-Jab sat at the bottom of the table, and supplied the place of the mistress of the house, in helping the dishes. Everything was well cooked, for amongst the Russian families the prince had in his service, besides a musician and a gardener, an excellent cook, who formerly occupied that station in the household of a Russian count.

“ Chicken soup was first set on (by the Kalmuk attendants) in a silver tureen; then followed beef, veal, roast mutton, and antelopes (stuffed and hot stuffed), with cucumbers, salad, gheridns,&c. Wine was not forgotten: different sorts of Greek wines, champagne, and other French wines, which were there of great price, followed one after another. The dessert consisted of melons, arbutus-berries, apples, and plums, from the prince’s garden. Immediately after we left the table, coffee was handed round, after which the company dispersed in different directions about the garden. During dinner, and afterwards, a band of ten or twelve Kalnmks, headed by the Russian musician, performed a number of German symphonies and marches, with considerable expertness: the prince had procured the music for them from Petersburgh. The conversation at table was easy and unconstrained, generally in the Russian language, occasionally in Kalmuk or Tartar, once or twice in German. Sered-Jeh, who talked most, endeavoured to turn the conversation upon such topics as would occasion a dispute amongst the various foreigners who were assembled at his table or bring into notice the religious peculiarities of each, that he might have the amusement of seeing how each would manage to defend his own, without affronting his neighbour. For instance, we had to account for not worshipping images, without saying anything offensive to the Russians; the Russians were to inform him why they undertook pilgrimages to Kief; and Ered-Jab (who was closely watched by some Tartars of distinction) was to discourse of the beatitudes in the Koran, and the prohibition of wine, to which he himself paid no sort of attention. Colonel Kachanof estimated the profit which the Sareptans must make on their goods, thought little or nothing of the labour which was expended, and complained that the work was badly done. Sered-Jeh took up our defence, and sent for some Russia leather and some raw hides, whose respective prices showed that the profit of the Sareptan tanners was not nearly so great as the colonel had stated—and so on. Before we took our leave the prince told us that he would receive some of our books.”