The early history of the Mongols, like that of all central-Asian tribes, is extremely obscure. Even the meaning of the name " Mongol" is a disputed point, though a general consent is now given to Schott's etymology of the word from " mong," meaning brave. From the earliest and very scanty notice we have of the Mongols in the history of the T'ang dynasty of China (A.D. 619-90) and in works of later times, it appears that their original camping-grounds were along the courses of the Kerulon, Upper Nonni, and Argun rivers. But in the absence of all historical particulars of their origin, legend, as is usual, has been busy with their early years. The Mongol historian Ssanang Ssetzen gives currency to the myth that they sprang from a blue wolf; and the soberest story on record is that their ancestor Budantsar was miraculously conceived of a Mongol widow. By craft and violence Budantsar gained the chieftainship over a tribe living in the neighbourhood of his mother's tent, and thus left a heritage to his son. Varying fortunes attended the descendants of Budantsar, but on the whole their power gradually increased, until Yesukai, the father of Jenghiz Khan, who was eighth in descent from Budantsar, made his authority felt over a considerable area. How this dominion was extended under the rule of Jenghiz Khan has already been shown (see JENGHIZ KHAN), and when that great conqueror was laid to rest in the valley of Keleen in 1227 he left to his sons an empire which stretched from the China Sea to the banks of the Dnieper. .

Over the whole of this vast region Jenghiz Khan set his second surviving son Oghotai or Ogdai as khakan, or chief khan, while to the family of his deceased eldest son Juchi he assigned the country from Kayalik and Kharezm to the borders of Bulgar and Saksin " where'er the hoofs of Mongol horses had tramped;" to Jagatai, his eldest surviving son, the territory from the borders of the Uigur country to Bokhara; while Tule, the youngest, received charge of the home country of the Mongols, the care of the imperial encampment and family, and of the archives of Ogdai the state. The appointment of Ogdai as his successor, bekhan. contrary to the usual Mongol custom of primogeniture, gave rise to some bitterness of feeling among the followers of Jagatai. But the commands of Jenghiz Khan subdued these murmurs, and Ogdai was finally led to the throne by his dispossessed brother amid the plaudits of the assembled Mongols. The ceremony was comnleted by Ogdai making three solemn genuflexions to the sun, and by the princes taking an oath by which they swore " that so long as there remained of his posterity a morsel of flesh which thrown upon the grass would prevent the cows from eating, or which put in the fat would prevent the dogs from taking it, they would not place on the throne a prince of any other branch." In accordance with Mongol customs, Ogdai signalized his accession to the throne by distribut-ing among his grandees presents from his father's treasures, and to his father's spirit he sacrificed forty maidens and numerous horses. Once fairly on the throne, he set himself vigorously to follow up the conquests won by his father. At the head of a large army he marched southwards into China to complete the ruin of the Kin dynasty, which had already been so rudely shaken, while at the same time Title advanced into the province of Honan from the side of Shense. Against this combined attack the Kin troops made a vigor-ous stand, but the skill and courage of the Mongols bore down every opposition, and over a hecatomb of slaughtered foes they captured Kai-fung Foo, the cajjital of their ene-mies. From Kai-fung Foo the emperor fled to Joo-ning Foo, whither the Mongols quickly followed. After sustaining a siege for some weeks, and enduring all the horrors of starvation, the garrison submitted to the Mongols, and at the same time the emperor committed suicide by hang-ing. Thus fell in 1234 the Kin or "Golden" dynasty, which had ruled over the northern portion of China for more than a century.

But though Ogdai's first care was to extend his empire in the rich and fertile provinces of China, he was not forgetful of the obligation under which Jenghiz Khan's conquests in western Asia had laid him to maintain his supremacy over the kingdom of Kharezm. This was the more incumbent on him since Jelal al-din, who had been driven by Jenghiz into India, had returned, reinforced by the support of the sultan of Delhi, whose daughter he had married, and, having reconquered his hereditary domains, had advanced westward as far as Tiflis and Khelat. Once more to dispossess the young sultan, Ogdai sent a force of 300,000 men into Kharezm. With such amazing ra-pidity did this army march in pursuit of its foe that the advanced Mongol guards reached Amid (Diarbekr), whither Jelal al-dln had retreated, before that unfortunate sovereign had any idea of their approach. Accompanied by a few followers, Jelal al-din fled to the Kurdish mountains, where he was basely murdered by a peasant. The primary object of the Mongol invasion was thus accomplished; but, with the instinct of their race, they made this conquest but a stepping-stone to another, and without a moment's delay pushed on still farther westward. Unchecked and almost unopposed, they overran the districts of Diarbekr, Mesopotamia, Erbil, and Khelat, and then advanced upon Azerbijan. So great was the terror with which these fierce warriors inspired the people of the provinces they attacked that single Mongols are said to have slain the inhabitants of entire villages without a hand having been raised against them. In the following year (1236) they invaded Georgia and Great Armenia, committing frightful atrocities, sparing neither man nor woman, young nor old, with the exception of those whom they saved to minister to their wants or passions. Tiflis was among the cities _captured by assault, and Kars was surrendered at their approach in the vain hope that submission would gain clemency from the victors. Meanwhile, in 1235, Ogdai, whose troops were as numerous as their thirst for conquest was devouring, despatched three armies in as many direc-tions. One was directed against Corea, one against the Sung dynasty, which ruled over the provinces of China south of the Yang-tsze Keang, and the third was sent west-ward into eastern Europe. This last force was commanded by Batu, the sonjDf Juchi, Ogdai's deceased eldest brother, who took with him the celebrated Sabutai Bahadur as his chief adviser. Bulgar, the capital city of the Bulgars, fell before the force under Sabutai, while Batu pushed on over the Volga. With irresistible vigour and astonishing speed the Mongols made their way through the forests of Penza and Tamboff, and appeared before the " beautiful city " of Riazan. For five days they discharged a ceaseless storm of shot from their balistas, and, having made a breach in the defences, carried the city by assault on the 21st of December 1237. "The prince, with his mother, wife, .sons, the boyars, and the inhabitants, without regard to age or sex, were slaughtered with the savage cruelty of Mongol revenge; some were impaled, some shot at with arrows for sport, others were flayed or had nails or splinters of wood driven under their nails. Priests were roasted alive, and nuns and maidens ravished in the churches before their relatives. 'No eye remained open to weep for the dead.'" Moscow, at this time a place of little importance, next fell into the hands of the invaders, who then advanced against Vladimir. After having held out for several days against the Mongol attacks, the city at length succumbed, and the horrors of Riazan were repeated. The imperial family, with a vast crowd of fugitives, sought shelter in the cathedral, only to perish by the swords of the conquerors or by the flames which reduced it to ashes. If possible, a more dire fate overtook the inhabitants of Kozelsk, near Kaluga, where, in revenge for a partial defeat inflicted on a Mongol force, the followers of Batu held so terrible a " carnival of death " that the city was renamed by its captors Mobalig, "the city of woe." With the tide of victory thus strong in their favour the Mongols advanced against Kieff, "the mother of cities," and carried it by assault. The inevitable massacre followed, and the city was razed to the ground. While the scene of blood-shed was at its height a catastrophe occurred which at any other time would have been considered of supreme horror. Under the weight of a vast crowd of fugitives the flat roof of the metropolitan church fell in, burying all, young and old, in a vast hecatomb.

Victorious and always advancing, the Mongols, having desolated this portion of Russia, moved on in two divisions, one under Batu into Hungary, and the other under Baidar and Kaidu into Poland. Without a check, Batu marched to the neighbourhood of Pesth, where the whole force of the kingdom was arrayed to resist him. The Hungarian army was posted on the wide heath of Mohi, which is bounded by " the vine-clad hills of Tokay," the mountains of Lomnitz, and the woods of Diosgyor. To an army thus hemmed in on all sides defeat meant ruin, and Batu instantly recognized the dangerous position in which his enemies had placed themselves. To add to his chances of success he determined to deliver his attack by night, and while the careless Hungarians were sleeping he launched his battalions into their midst. Panic-stricken and help-less, they fled in all directions, followed by their merciless foes. Two archbishops, three bishops, and many of the nobility were among the slain, and the roads for two days' journey from the field of battle were strewn with corpses. The king, Bela IV., was saved by the fleetness of his horse, though closely pursued by a body of Mongols, who followed at his heels as far as the coast of the Adriatic, burning and destroying everything in their way. Meanwhile Batu captured Pesth, and on Christmas Day 1241, having crossed the Danube on the ice, took Gran by assault. While Batu had been thus triumphing, the force under Baidar and Kaidu had carried fire and sword into Poland. At their approach the inhabitants of Cracow deserted the city, after having given it over to the flames. Disappointed at the loss of their expected spoil, the Mongols advanced to Wahlstatt in the neighbourhood of Liegnitz, where the Polish army under Duke Henry II. of Silesia awaited their onslaught. With savage impetuosity, the troops of Baidar rushed to the attack, and completely defeated the Poles. As usual, no quarter was given. The massacre was frightful, and Duke Henry himself was amongst the slain. It was a Mongol habit to cut off an ear from each corpse of their slaughtered foes, and on this occasion it is said that they filled nine sacks with these ghastly trophies. Following the example of the inhabitants of Cracow, the people of Liegnitz left but the blackened walls of what had once been the town as a prey for the Mongols, who without delay pushed south-eastward into Moravia as far as the vicinity of Troppau. While laying waste the country in the neighbourhood of that town, they received the announcement of the death of Ogdai, and at the same time a summons for Batu to return eastwards into Mongolia.

While his lieutenants had been thus carrying his arms in all directions, Ogdai had been giving himself up to ignoble ease and licentiousness. Like many Mongols, he was much given to drink, and it was to a disease produced by this cause that he finally succumbed on the 11th of December 1241. He was succeeded by his son Kuyuk, who reigned only seven years. Little of his character is known, but it is noticeable that his two ministers to whom he left the entire conduct of affairs were Christians, as also were his doctors, and that a Christian chapel stood before his tent. This leaning towards Christianity, however, brought no peaceful tendencies with it. On the contrary, we hear of an advance against the sultan of Rtim (Asia Minor), and of an expedition into Syria, by which that country was made tributary to the Great Mongol empire, of a fresh campaign against Corea, and of another attack on the Sung dynasty of China. On the death of Kuyuk dissensions which had been for a long time smouldering between the houses of Ogdai and Jagatai broke out into open war, and after the short and disputed reigns of Kaidu and Chapai, grand-sons of Ogdai, the lordship passed away from the house of Ogdai for ever.

On the 1st of July 1251 Mangu, the eldest son of Maugu Tule, and nephew to Ogdai, was elected khakan. With Khan perfect impartiality, Mangu allowed the light of his coun-tenance to fall upon the Christians, Mohammedans, and Buddhists among his subjects, although Shamanism was recognized as the state religion. Two years after his accession his court was visited by Rubruquis and other Christian monks, who were hospitably received. The de-scription given by Rubruquis of the khakan's palace at Karakorum shows how wide was the interval which sepa-rated him from the nomad, tent-living life of his fore-fathers. It was "surrounded by brick walls. ... Its southern side had three doors. Its central hall was like a church, and consisted of a nave and two aisles, separated by columns. Here the court sat on great occasions. In front of the throne was placed a silver tree, having at its base four lions, from whose mouths there spouted into four silver basins wine, kumiss, hydromel, and terasine. At the top of the tree a silver angel sounded a trumpet when the reservoirs that supplied the four fountains wanted replenishing." On his accession complaints reached Mangu that dissensions had broken out in the province of Persia, and he therefore sent a force under the command of his Hulagu. brother Hulagu to punish the Ismailites or Assassins, who were held to be the cause of the disorder. Marching by Samarkand and Kesh, Hulagu crossed the Oxus and advanced by way of Balkh into the province of Kohistan. The terror of the Mongol name induced Rokn al-din, the chief of the Assassins, to deprecate the wrath of Hulagu by offers of submission, and he was so far successful that he was able to purchase a temporary immunity from massacre by dismantling fifty of the principal fortresses in Kohistan. But when once the country had thus been left at the mercy of the invaders, their belief in the old saying "Stone dead hath no fellow " sharpened their battle-axes, and, sparing neither man, woman, nor child, they exterminated the unhappy people. Hulagu then marched across the snowy mountains in the direction of Baghdad. On arriving before the town he demanded its surrender. This being refused, he laid siege to the walls in the usual destruc-tive Mongol fashion, and at length, finding resistance hope-less, the caliph was induced to give himself up and to open the gates to his enemies. On the 15th of February 1263 the Mongols entered the walls, and, following their in-stincts, sacked the city. For seven days it was given up to pillage, fire, and the sword, and the number of killed was said to have reached the enormous sum of 800,000. For the moment the caliph's life was spared, and he was allowed to carry away 100 wives out of 700 who lived in his harem, as being those upon whom " neither the sun nor moon had shone." But his fate soon overtook him. Accounts differ as to the circumstances of his death, some saying that he was sewn up in a sack and trodden to death by horses, others that he was starved to death. To the Moslem world his loss was a religious catastrophe, as by it Islam lost its srjiritual head. While at Baghdad Hulagu gave his astronomer, Nasir al-din, permission to build an observatory. The town of Maragha was the site chosen, and, under the superintendence of Nasir al-din and four western Asiatic astronomers who were associated with him, a handsome observatory was built, and furnished with " armillary spheres and astrolabes, and with a beautifully-executed terrestrial globe showing the five climates." One terrible result of the Mongol invasion was a fearful famine, which desolated the provinces of Irak-Arabi, Mesopotamia, Syria, and Rum. But, though the inhabitants starved, the Mongols had strength and energy left to continue their onward march into Syria. Aleppo was stormed and sacked, Damascus surrendered, and Hulagu was meditating the capture of Jerusalem with the object of restoring it to the Christians when he received the news of Mangu's death, and, as in duty bound, at once set out on his return to Mongolia, leaving Kitubuka in command of the Mongol forces in Syria. As a reward for his services, Hulagu received the investiture of his conquests, and established there the empire of the Ilkhans.

While Hulagu was prosecuting these conquests in western Asia, Mangu and his next brother Kublai were pursuing a like course in southern China. Southward they even advanced into Tong-king, and westward they carried their arms over the frontier into Tibet. But in one respect there was a vast difference between the two campaigns. Under the wise command of Kublai all indiscriminate massacres were forbidden, and probably for the first time in Mongol history the inhabitants and garrisons of captured cities were treated with humanity. While carrying on the war in the province of Sze-ch'uen Mangu was seized with an attack of dysentery, which proved fatal after a few days' illness. His body was carried into Mongolia on the backs of two asses, and, in pursuance of the custom of slaughter-ing every one encountered on the way, 20,000 persons were, according to Marco Polo, put to the sword.

At the Kuriltai, or assembly of notables, which was held at Shang-tu after the death of Mangu, his brother Ku-blai (see KUBLAI KHAN) was elected khakan. For thirty-five years he sat on the Mongol throne, and at his death in 1294, in his seventy-ninth year, he was succeeded by his son Timur Khan, or, as he was otherwise called, Uldsheitu Khan. The reign of this sovereign was chiefly remarkable for the healing of the division which had for thirty years separated the families of Ogdai and Jagatai from that of the ruling khakan. Uldsheitu was succeeded by his nephew Khaissan. In accordance with the usual ceremony, on the election being announced four of the princes of the blood raised the new khakan aloft on a piece of white felt, two others supported him, while a seventh offered him the cup. " Meanwhile, while Shaman offered up prayers for his prosperity and saluted him by the title of Kuluk Khan, carts full of gold pieces and rich tissues were brought out and distributed. So many pearls were spread on the ground that it resembled the sky. The feast lasted a week, during each day of which 40 oxen and 4000 sheep were consumed. Libations of milk from 700 sacred cows and 7000 ewes were sprinkled on the ground." With that tolerance which so markedly char-acterized the Mongols at this period, Kuluk worshipped indiscriminately at the temples of the Chinese Shang-te and before the Buddhist shrines, while at the same time he lent a favourable countenance to John of Montecorvino, who, during the whole of his reign, was archbishop of Peking. Unfortunately the archbishop was not so tolerant as the khakan, and carried on as fierce a dispute with the Nestorian Christians of his day as that which divided the Dominicans and Jesuits in China three centuries later. After a short reign, and at the early age of thirty-one, Kuluk was gathered to his fathers in February 1311. His nephew and successor, Buyantu, was a man of considerable culture, and substantially patronized Chinese literature. Among other benefits which he conferred on letters, he rescued the celebrated inscription-bearing "stone drams," which are commonly said to be of the Chow period (B.C. 1122-255), from the decay and ruin to which they were left by the last emperor of the Kin dynasty, and placed them in the gateway of the temple of Confucius at Peking, where they nowT stand. After a reign of nine years Buyantu was succeeded by his son Gegen, who perished in 1323 by the knife of an assassin,—the first occasion on which a reigning descendant of Jenghiz Khan thus met his fate. Yissun Timur, who was the next sovereign, devoted himself mainly to the administration of his empire. He divided China, which until that time had been apportioned into twelve provinces, into eighteen provinces, and rearranged the system of state granaries, which had fallen into disorder. His court was visited by Friar Odoric, who gives a minute description of the palace and its inhabitants. Speaking of the palace this writer says—

" Its basement was raised about two paces from the ground, and within there were twenty-four columns of gold, and all the walls were hung with skins of red leather, said to be the finest in the world. In the midst of the palace was a great jar more than two paces in height, made, of a certain precious stone called merdacas (jade) ; its price exceeded the value of four large towns. . . . Into this vessel drink was conducted by certain conduits from the court of the palace, and beside it were many golden goblets, from which those drank who listed. . . . When the khakan sat on his throne, the queen was on his left hand, and a step lower two others of his women, while at the bottom of the steps stood the other ladies of his family. All those who were married wore upon their heads the foot of a man as it were a cubit and a half in length, and at the top of the foot there were certain cranes' feathers, the whole foot being set with great pearls, so that if there were in the whole world any fine and large pearls they were to be found in the decoration of those ladies."

The following years were years of great natural and political convulsions. Devastating floods swept over China, carrying death and ruin to thousands of homes; earthquakes made desolate whole districts; and in more than one part of the empire the banners of revolt were unfurled. The khakans who now successively occupied the throne, instead of striving to stem the tide of discontent and disorder, gave themselves up to every kind of debauchery. As a natural consequence, the conduct of affairs fell entirely into the hands of their ministers, who but too often reflected the vices of their sovereigns. A comet which appeared in the Toghon reign of Toghon Timur Khan, and which was believed to Timur be the precursor of fresh disasters to the reigning house, Khan, justified the prediction by being almost immediately fol-lowed by an earthquake, which overthrew the temple of the Imperial Ancestors, from the altars of which, as if to complete the misfortune, the silver tablets of the emperors were in the consequent confusion stolen. It was not long before the popular discontent found vent. In order to prevent the recurrence of the periodical inundations caused by the overflow of the Yellow river, the emperor ordered a levy of 70,000 men to excavate a new channel for its dangerous stream, and imposed a heavy tax to meet the necessary expenses. These oppressive edicts overstrained the patience of the people, and they broke into open re-bellion. Under various leaders the rebels captured a num-ber of cities in the provinces of Keang-nan and Honan, and took possession of Hang-chow, the capital of the Sung emperors. At tSie same time pirates ravaged the coasts and swept the imperial vessels off the sea. While these combined disorders were disturbing the country, the emperor, under the guidance of Tibetan Lamas, was being initiated into the sensual enjoyments peculiar to the warmer climates of Asia.

In 1355 a Buddhist priest named Choo Yuen-chang became so impressed with the misery of his countrymen that he threw off his vestments and enrolled himself in the rebel army. His military genius soon raised him to the position of a leader, and with extraordinary success he overcame with his rude levies the trained legions of the Mongol emperor. While unable to defeat or check the rebels in the central provinces Toghon Timur was also called upon to face a rebellion in Corea. Nor were his arms more fortunate in the north than in the south. An army which was sent to suppress the revolt was cut to pieces almost to a man. These events made a dream which the emperor dreamt about this time of easy interpretation. He saw in his sleep " a wild boar with iron tusks rush into the city and wound the people, who were driven hither and thither without finding shelter. Mean-while the sun and the moon rushed together and perished." "This dream," said the diviner, "is a prophecy that the khakan will lose his empire." The fulfilment followed closely on the prophecy. By a subterfuge, the rebels, after having gained possession of most of the central provinces of the empire, captured Peking. But Toghon Timur by a hasty flight escaped from his enemies, and sought safety on the shores of the Dolonor in Mongolia. For a time the western provinces of China continued to hold out against the rebels, but with the flight of Toghon Timur the Mon-gol troops lost heart, and in 1368 the ex-Buddhist priest ascended the throne as the first sovereign of the Ming or " Bright" dynasty, under the title of Hung-woo.

Thus ended the sovereignty of the house of Jenghiz Khan in China, nor need we look far to find the cause of its fall. Brave and hardy the Mongols have always shown themselves to be; but the capacity for consolidating the fruits of victory, for establishing a settled form of govern-ment, and for gaining the allegiance of the conquered peoples, have invariably been wanting in them. For a time their prowess and the exceptional ability of some of the first emperors of their line held the people of China in a bondage which was only outwardly peaceful, and, when the hands which held the reins lost their nervous power, and the troops, enervated by the softer climate of China, lost much of their hardihood, the long pent-up hatred of a foreign yoke broke out and with gathering strength drove the invaders back to their Mongolian pasture-grounds.

Not content with having recovered China, the emperor Hung-woo sent an army of 400,000 men into Mongolia in pursuit of the forces which yet remained to the khakan. Even on their own ground the disheartened Mongols failed in their resistance to the Chinese, and at all points suffered disaster. Meanwhile Toghon Timur, who did not long survive his defeat, was succeeded in the khakanate by Biliktu Khan, who again in 1379 was f ollow-ed by Ussakhal Khan. During the reign of this last prince the Chinese again invaded Mongolia, and inflicted a crushing defeat on the khan's forces in the neighbour-hood of Lake Buyur. Besides the slain, 2994 officers and 77,000 soldiers are said to have been taken prisoners, and an immense booty to have been secured. This defeat was the final ruin of the eastern branch of the Mongols, who from this time surrendered the supremacy to the western division of the tribe. At first the Keraits or Torgod, as in the early days before Jenghiz Khan rose to power, exercised lordship over the eastern Mongols, but from these before long the supremacy passed to the Oirad, who for fifty years treated them as vassals. Not-withstanding their subjection, however, the Keraits still preserved the imperial line, and khakan after khakan assumed the nominal sovereignty of the tribe, while the real power rested with the descendants of Toghon, the Oirad chief, who had originally attached them to his sceptre. Gradually, however, the Mongol tribes broke away from all governing centres, and established scattered communities with as many chiefs over the whole of eastern Mongolia. The discredit of having finally disin-tegrated the tribe is generally attached to Lingdan Khan (1604-1634), of whom, in reference to his arrogant and brutal character, has been quoted the Mongolian proverb : " A raging khakan disturbs the state, and a raging saghan (elephant) overthrows his keepers."

At this time the Mongols, though scattered and in The isolated bodies, had recovered somewhat from the shock Cha-of the disaster which they suffered at the hand of the firstkliars Ming sovereign of China. When first driven northwards, they betook themselves to the banks of the Kerulon, from whence they had originally started on their victorious career; but gradually, as the Chinese power became weaker among the frontier tribes, they again pushed southwards, and at this time had established colonies in the Ordus country, within the northern bend of the Yellow river. The Mongol royal family and their immediate surroundings occupied the Chakhar country to. the north-west of the Ordus territory, where they became eventually subjugated by the Manchus on the overthrow of the Ming dynasty in 1644 by the present rulers of China. Possibly out of consideration for the royal descent of their chiefs, the Chinese emperors have invariably placed these Mongols in a privileged position, and have incorporated the eight banners or military divisions of the Chakhars as one of the eight banners of the imperial Manchu army. The remaining Mongols who submitted to the Manchus were divided into 135 banners, 49 representing all those on the south-east of the desert, and 86 the Khalkhas, whose territory stretched along the north of the desert from the neighbourhood of Barkhul on the west to the Dalai-nor on the north-east. From and before this period the history of the eastern Mongols has been that of all the nomad tribes of central Asia, about which nothing can be more certainly said than that that which appears most improbable is most likely to happen, and that that which might naturally be expected rarely occurs. Each tribe, as its fortunes varied, either rose to power or sank into insignificance. At times the old vigour and strength which had nerved the arm of Jenghiz Khan seemed to return to the tribe, and we read of successful expeditions being made by the Ordu Mongols into Tibet, and even of invasions into China. The relations with Tibet thus inaugurated brought about a rapid spread of Buddhism among the Mongolians, and in the beginning of the 17th century the honour of having a Dalai Lama born among them was vouchsafed to them. In 1625 Toba, one of the sons of Bushuktu Jinung Khan, went on a pilgrimage to the Dalai Lama, and brought back with him a copy of the Tanjur to be translated into Mongolian, as the Kanjur had already been. But though the prowess of the Ordu Mongols was still unsubdued, their mode of living was as barren and rugged as the steppes and rocky hills which make up their territory. Their flocks and herds, on which they are entirely dependent for food and clothing, are not numerous, and, like their masters, are neither well fed nor well favoured. But though living in this miserable condi-tion their princes yet keep up a certain amount of barbaric state, and the people have at least the reputation of being honest. Several of the tribes who had originally migrated with those who finally settled in the Ordu territory, finding the country to be so inhospitable, moved farther eastward into richer pastures. Among these were the Tumeds, one of whose chiefs, Altan Khan, is famous in later Mongol his-tory for the power he acquired. For many years during the 16th century he carried on a not altogether unsuccessful war with China, and finally, when peace was made (1571), the Chinese were fain to create him a prince of the empire and to confer a golden seal of authority upon him. In Tibet his arms were as successful as in China; but, as has often happened in history, the physical conquerors became the mental subjects of the conquered. Lamaism has always had a great attraction in the eyes of the Mongols, and, through the instrumentality of some Lamaist prisoners whom Altan brought back in his train, the religion spread at this time rapidly among the Tumeds. Altan himself embraced the faith, and received at his court the Bogda Sodnam Gyamtso Khutuktu, on whom he lavished every token of honour. One immediate effect of the introduction of Buddhism among the Tumeds was to put an end to the sacrifices which were commonly made at the grave of their chieftains. In 1584 Altan died, and was succeeded by his son Senge Dugureng Timur. The rich territory occupied by the Tumeds, together with the increased intercourse with China which sprang up after the wrars of Altan, began to effect a change in the manner of life of the people. By degrees the pastoral habits of the inhabitants became more agricultural, and at the present day, as in Manchuria, Chinese immigrants have so stamped their mark on the fields and markets, on the towns and villages, that the country has become to all intents and purposes part of China proper.

Passing now from the inner division of the Mongols—that The is to say, the Chakhars and the 49 banners who live in the Khal-southern and eastern portions of the desert—we come to the ,J'as-outer division, which is divided into 86 banners, and occupies the territory to the north of the desert. Of these the chief are the Khalkhas, who are divided into the West-ern and Eastern Khalkhas. These people form the link of communication between Europe and eastern Asia. Early in the 17th century the Russians sent an embassy to the court of the Golden Khan with the object of persuading the Mongol khan to acknowledge allegiance to the czar. This he did without much hesitation or inquiry, and he fur-ther despatched envoys to Moscow on the return of the Russian embassy. But the allegiance thus lightly acknow-ledged was lightly thrown off, and in a quarrel which broke out between the Khirghiz and the Russians the Khalkhas took the side of the former. The breach, however, was soon healed over, and we find the Golden Khan sending an envoy again to Moscow, asking on behalf of his master for presents of jewels, arms, a telescope, a clock, and "a monk who had been to Jerusalem that he might teach the Khalkhas how the Christians prayed." Their submission to Russia on the north did not save them, however, from the Chinese attacks on the south. In central Asia, as the recent history of Russia in that part of the world shows, the depredations of a tribe on the property of its neighbours supply a ready cause of quarrel at any moment, and the Chinese had no difficulty, therefore, in justifying an invasion of the Khalkha territory. At that time the present Manchu dynasty ruled in China, and to the then reigning sovereign the Khalkhas gave in their submission. For some time the Chinese yoke sat lightly on their consciences, but difficulties having arisen with the Kal-muks, they were ready enough to claim the protection of China. To cement the alliance the emperor K'ang-he invited all the Khalkha chiefs to meet him at the plain of Dolonor. This ceremony brought the separate history of the Khalkhas to a close, since from that time they have been engulfed in the Chinese empire.

Another important branch of the great Mongolian family is the tribe of the Koshod or Eleuths. These claim that their chieftains have maintained unbroken the direct descent from Khassar, a brother of Jenghiz Khan. Their home is in the neighbourhood of the Koko-nor, and in the country to the north of the narrow strip of the Kansuh province which separates that district from Mongolia proper. The pasture in the territories thus indicated is rich and abund-ant, and the Eleuths have therefore had fewer temptations to wander than most of their cognate tribes. Being thus stationary and within a short distance of the Chinese frontier, they easily fell under the dominion of that empire, and in the year 1725 were incorporated into 29 imperial banners.

During the Kin dynasty of China the Keraits, as has been pointed out, were for a time supreme in Mongolia, and it was during that period that one of the earliest recognized sovereigns, Merghus Buyuruk Khan, sat on the throne. In an engagement with a neighbouring Tatar tribe their khan was captured and sent as a propitia-tory present to the Kin emperor, who put him to death by nailing him on a wooden ass. On the treacherous Tatar chief the widow determined to avenge herself, and chose the occasion of a feast as a fitting opportunity. With well-disguised friendship she sent him a present of ten oxen, a hundred sheep, and a hundred sacks of kumiss. These last, however, instead of being filled with skins of the liquor which Mongolians love so well, contained armed men, who, when the Tatar was feasted, rushed from their concealment and killed him. A grandson of Merghus was the celebrated Wang Khan,who was sometimes the ally and sometimes the enemy of Jenghiz Khan, and has also been identified as the Prester John of early Western writers. In war he was almost invariably unfortunate, and it was with no great difficulty, therefore, that his brother Ki Wang detached the greater part of the Kerait tribes from his banner, and The founded the Torgod chieftainship, named probably from Torgod. j-jjg comltry where they settled themselves. The unrest peculiar to the dwellers in the Mongolian desert disturbed the Torgod as much as their neighbours. Their history for several centuries consists of nothing but a succession of wars with the tribes on either side of them, and it was not until 1672, when Ayuka Khan opened relations with the Russians, that the country obtained an even temporarily settled existence. Its position, indeed, at this time made it necessary that Ayuka should ally himself either with the Russians or with his southern neighbours the Turks, though at the same time it was obvious that his alliance with the one would bring him into collision with the other. His northern neighbours, the Cossacks of the Yaik and the Bashkirs, both subject to Russia, had the not uncommon propensity for invading his borders and harassing his sub-jects. This gave rise to complaints of the czar's govern-ment and a disposition to open friendly relations with the Krim khan. A rupture with Russia followed, and Ayuka carried his arms as far as Kasan, burning and laying waste the villages and towns on his route and carrying off prisoners and spoils. Satisfied with this vengeance, he advanced no farther, but made a peace with the Russians, which was confirmed in 1722 at an audience which Peter the Great gave him at Astrakhan. On Ayuka's death shortly after this event, he was succeeded by his son Cheren Donduk, who received from the Dalai Lama a patent to the throne. But this spiritual support availed him little against the plots of his nephew Donduk Ombo, who so completely gained the suffrages of the people that Cheren Donduk fled before him to St Petersburg, where he died, leaving his nephew in possession. With consummate impartiality the Russians, when they found that Donduk Ombo had not only seized the throne but was governing the country with vigour and wisdom, formally invested him with the khanate. At his death he was succeeded by Donduk Taishi, who, we are told, went to Moscow to attend the coronation of the empress Elizabeth, and to swear fealty to the Russians. After a short reign he died, and his throne was occupied by his son Ubaslia. The position of the Torgod at this time, hemmed in as they were between the Russians and Turks, was rapidly becoming unbearable, and the question of migrating " bag and baggage" was very generally mooted. In the war between his two power-ful neighbours in 1769 and 1770, Ubasha gave valuable assistance to the Russians. His troops took part in the siege of Otchakoff, and gained a decided victory on the Kalans. Flushed with these successes, he was in no mood to listen patiently to the taunts of the governor of Astrakhan, who likened him to a "bear fastened to a chain," and he made up his mind to break away once and for all from a tutelage which was as galling as it was oppressive. He determined, therefore, to migrate eastward with his people, and on the 5th of January 1771 he began his march with 70,000 families. In vain the Russians attempted to recall the fugitives, who, in spite of infinite hardships, after a journey of eight months reached the province of Hi, where they were welcomed by the Chinese authorities. Food for a year's consumption was supplied to each family; and land, money, and cattle were freely distributed. How many lost their lives on the toilsome march it is impos-sible to say, but it is believed that 300,000 persons sur-vived to receive the hospitality of the Chinese. This migration is interesting as illustrating the many displace-ments of tribes and peoples which have taken place on the continent of Asia at different periods of history. Such another migration occurred between four and five thousand years ago, when the Chinese crossed from western Asia into their present empire; such, again, was the movement which carried the Osmanli Turks from north-eastern Asia into Asia Minor, and eventually across the Bosphorus. By this desperate venture the Torgod escaped, it is true, the oppression of the Russians, but they fell into the hands of other masters, who, if not so exacting, were equally de-termined to be supreme. The Chinese, flattered by the compliment implied by the transference of allegiance, settled them on lands in the province of Hi, in the neighbourhood of the Altai Mountains, and to the west of the desert of Gobi. But the price they were made to pay for-tius liberality was absorption in the Chinese empire. Like the other Chinese-subdued Mongols, the Torgod were divided into banners, and from that time forth they lost their individuality.

Among the Mongol chiefs who rose to fame during the rule of the Ming dynasty of China was Toghon, the Kal-muk khan, who, taking advantage of the state of confusion which reigned among the tribes of Mongolia, established for himself an empire in north-western Asia. Death carried him off in 1441, and his throne devolved upon his son Ye-seen, who w7as no degenerate offspring. Being without individual foes in Mongolia for the same reason that Xarvaez had no enemies—namely, that he had killed them all—he turned his arms against China, which through all history has been the happy hunting-ground of the northern tribes, and had the unexampled good fortune to take prisoner the Chinese emperor Ching-tung. But victory did not always decide in his favour, and, after having suf-fered reverses at the hands of the Chinese, he deemed it wise to open negotiations for the restoration of his imperial prisoner. Tims, after a captivity of seven years, Ching-tung re-entered his capital in 1457, not altogether to the general satisfaction of his subjects. On the death of Ye-seen, shortly after this event, the Kalmuks lost much of their power in eastern Asia, but retained enough in other por-tions of their territory to annoy the Russians by raids within the Russian frontier, and by constant acts of pillage. In the 17th century their authority was partly restored by Galdan, a Lama, who succeeded by the usual combination Galdau of wile and violence to the throne of his brother Senghe. Khan. Having been partly educated at Lhasa, he was well versed in Asiatic politics, and, taking advantage of a quarrel be-tween the Black and White Mountaineers of Kashgar, he overran Little Bokhara, and left a viceroy to rule over the province with his capital at Yarkand. At the same time he opened relations with China, and exchanged presents with the emperor. Having thus secured his powerful southern neighbour, as he thought, he turned his arms against the Khalkhas, whose chief ground of offence was their attachment to the cause of his brothers. But his rest-less ambition created alarm at Peking, and the emperor K'ang-he determined to protect the Khalkhas against their enemy. Great preparations were made for the campaign. The emperor, in person commanding one of the two forces, marched into Mongolia. After enduring incredible hard-ships during the march through the desert of Gobi the im-perial army encountered the Kalmuks at Chao-modo. The engagement was fiercely contested, but ended in the com-plete victory of the Chinese, who pursued the Kalmuks for 10 miles, and completely dispersed their forces. Immense numbers were slain, among whom was Galdan's wife, and many thousands surrendered themselves to the victors. Galdan, with his son, daughter, and a few followers, fled westward and escaped; and thus collapsed a power which had threatened at one time to overshadow the whole of Cen-tral Asia. For a time Galdan still maintained a semblance of resistance to his powerful enemy, and death overtook him while yet in the field against the Chinese. The news of his death was received with great rejoicings at Peking. The emperor held a special service of thanksgiving to Heaven for the deliverance vouchsafed, and ordered that the ashes of his enemy, whose body had been burned, should be brought to the capital and there scattered to the four winds. The fear which had been thus inspired was no idle terror. Galdan was a man to be feared. The conqueror of Samarkand, Bokhara, Urgenj, Kashgar, Hami, and twelve hundred other towns, might well be considered a formidable foe, and Heaven a merciful deliverer in ridding Asia of so restless and dangerous a chieftain.

But though Galdan was dead the Chinese did not enjoy that complete immunity from war at the hand of his suc-cessor that they had looked for. Tse-wang Arabtan was, however, but the shadow of his brother and predecessor, and a dispute which arose with the Russians during his reign weakened his power in other directions. Little Bok-hara was said to be rich in gold mines, and therefore be-came a coveted region in the eyes of the Russians. Under the vigorous administration of Peter the Great an expedition was despatched to force a passage into the desired province. To oppose this invasion the Kalmuks assembled in force, and after a protracted and undecided engagement the Russians were glad to agree to retire down the Irtish and to give up all further advance.

To Tse-wang Arabtan succeeded Amursama owing to the support he received from the Chinese emperor K'een-lung, who nominated him khan of the Kalmuks and chief of Sungaria. But, though to the ear these titles were as high-sounding as those of his predecessors, in reality the power they represented was curtailed by the presence of Chinese commissioners, in whose hands rested the real authority. The galling weight of this state of dependence drove Amursama before long into revolt. He dispersed the Chinese garrisons stationed in Hi, killed the generals, and advanced his own forces as far as Palikun on the river Hi. To punish this revolt, K'een-lung sent a large force into the rebellious province. As on the previous occa-sion, the Chinese were everywhere victorious, and Amursama fled into Siberia, where he died of smallpox after a short illness. The Chinese demanded his body, but the Russians refused to give it up, though they allowed the Chinese commissioners to identify it. On the death of Amursama, K'een-lung determined to abolish the khanate, and in place of it he nominated four Hans to rule over the Sungars, the Torgod, the Khoshod, and the Dorbod. But this divided authority proved quite as unmanageable as that which had been wielded by the khan, and the new rulers soon attempted to throwT off the yoke imposed upon them from Peking. Again a Chinese army marched into Hi, and this time a severe measure of repression was meted out to the rebels and their sympathizers. A general massacre of the Kalmuks was ordered, and was faithfully carried out. The province which had been as a fruitful field was utterly wrecked, and the place of the Sungars was taken by exiled criminals from China.

But while China was thus absorbing the Mongols within her reach, Russia was gathering within her borders those with whom she came into contact. Among these were the Buriats, who occupied a large territory on both sides of the Baikal Lake. As usual in such cases, disputes arose out of disturbances on the frontier, and were ended by the Buriats and the neighbouring Mongol tribes becom-ing one and all tributary to Russia.

Of the Mongol tribes who became entirely subject to The Russia the principal are those of the Crimea, of Kasan, and Golden of Astrakhan; of these the Tatars of Kasan are the truestHor(i<> representatives of the Golden Horde or Kipchaks, who originally formed the subjects of Batu and Orda. Batu, whose victorious campaign in Russia has already been sketched, was finally awarded as his fief the vast steppes which stretch from the Carpathian Mountains to the Balkash Lake. Over these vast plains the Mongols followed their flocks and herds, while the more settled among them established themselves along the banks of the rivers which flow through that region. Batu himself fixed his headquarters on the Volga, and there set up his Golden Tent from which the horde acquired the name of the Golden Horde. In 1255 Batu died and was succeeded by his brother Bereke Khan. During the reign of this sovereign the exactions which were demanded from the Russian Christians by the Mongols aroused the Christian world against the barbarian conquerors, and at the command of Pope Alexander IV. a general crusade was preached against them. But though the rage of the Christians was great, they lacked that united energy which might have availed them against their enemies ; and, while they were yet breathing out denuncia-tions, a Tatar host, led by Nogai and Tulabagha, appeared in Poland. After a rapid and triumphant march, the invaders took and destroyed Cracow, and from thence ad-vanced as far as Bythom in Oppeln, from which point they eventually retired, carrying with them a crowd of Christian slaves. From this time the Mongols became for a season an important factor in European politics. They corresponded and treated with the European sovereigns, and intermarried with royal families. Hulagu, the famous general, married a daughter of Michael Pala?ologus ; Toktu Khan took as his wife ilaria, the daughter of Andronicus II. ; and to Nogai Michael betrothed his daughter Irene. But Bereke's influence extended beyond Europe into Egypt, from which country, as well as from Constantinople, he secured the services of artisans to build him dwellings of a more substantial nature than that of his Golden Tent. But his widely extending intercourse with foreign nations brought in its train a consequence which tended fatally to under-mine the existence of the horde. His conversion to Islam introduced a strongly disintegrating influence into the community, and with it were sown the seeds of its final dis-ruption. Bereke was succeeded on his death in 1265 by his grandson Mangu Timur, who throughout his reign was con-stantly engaged in hostilities with the Russians and his other European neighbours. The Genoese alone found under his patronage a means of advancing their possessions. For some time these people had held large colonies in southern Russia, and in the Crimea had divided the trade with the Venetians. By the support of Mangu Timur these last were driven out of the field, and the Genoese were left in the enjoyment of a monopoly of the commerce. The reigns of the khans who succeeded Mangu Timur were no less stormy than his had been; but even in these troublous times the influences which surrounded the Mongols led them onward in the path of civilization. Toktu, the next khan but one to Mangu Timur, is the first Mongol ruler whom we hear of as having struck coins. Those issued during his reign bear the mint marks of Sarai, New Sarai, Bulgar, Ukek, Kharezm, Krim, Jullad, and Madjarui, and vary in date from 1291 to 1312.

The adoption of Islam by the rulers of the Golden Horde had as one result the drawing closer of the relations of the Mongols with Constantinople and Egypt. Embassies passed between the three courts, and so important was the alliance with the Mongols deemed by the sultan Nasir, Tuler of Egypt, that he sent to demand in marriage oa princess of the house of Jenghiz Khan. At first his request was refused by the proud Mongols, but the present of a million gold dinars, besides a number of horses and suits of armour, changed the refusal into an acquiescence, and in October 1319 the princess landed at Alexandria in regal state. Her reception at Cairo was accompanied with feasting and rejoicing, and the members of her escort were sent back laden with presents. With that religious toleration common to his race, Uzbeg Khan, having married one princess to Nasir, gave another in marriage to George the prince of Moscow, whose cause he espoused in a quarrel existing between that prince and his uncle, the grand-prince Michael. Assuming the attitude of a judge in the dispute, Uzbeg Khan summoned Michael to appear before him, and, having given his decision against him, ordered his execution. The sentence was carried out with aggravated cruelty in sight of his nephew and accuser. From this time Uzbeg's sympathies turned towards Christianity. He protected the Russian churches within his frontiers, and put his seal to his new religious views by marrying a daughter of the Greek emperor, Andronicus III. He died in 1340, after a reign of twenty-eight years. His coins were struck at Sarai, Kharezm, Mokshi, Bulgar, Azak, and Krim, and are dated from 1313 to 1340. His son and successor, Tinibeg Khan, after a reign of only a few months, was murdered by his brother Janibeg Khan, who usurped his throne, and, according to the historian Ibn Haidar, proved himself to be "just, God-fearing, and the patron of the meritorious." These excellent qualities did not, however, prevent his making a raid into Poland, which was conducted in the usual Mongol manner, nor did they save his country-men from being decimated by the black plague, which for the first time in 1345 swept over Asia and Europe, from the confines of China to Paris and London. With all their love of war the Mongols had a keen eye to monetary advantage, and Janibeg, who was no exception to the rule, concluded treaties with the merchant-princes of Venice and Genoa, in which the minute acquaintance displayed with shipping dues and customs charges shows how great were the advances the Mongols had made in their knowledge of European commerce since the days of Jenghiz Khan. The throne Janibeg had seized by violence was, in 1357, snatched from him by violence. As he lay ill on his return from a successful expedition against Persia he was murdered by his son Berdibeg, who in his turn was, after a short reign, murdered by his son Kulpa. With the death of Berdibeg the fortunes of the Golden Horde began rapidly to decline.
As the Uzbeg proverb says,—" The hump of the camel was cut off in the person of Berdibeg." The But while the power of the Golden Horde was dwindling away, the White Horde or Eastern Kipchak, which Horde, wag .|.ne inheritance of the elder branch of the family Eastern °f Jnchi, remained prosperous and full of vitality. The Kipchak. descendants of Orda, Batu's elder brother, being far re-moved from the dangerous influences of European courts, maintained much of the simplicity and vigour of their nomad ancestors, and the throne descended from father to son with undiminished authority until the reign of Urus Khan (1360), when complications arose which changed the fortunes of the tribe. Like many other opponents of the Mongol rulers, Khan Tuli Khoja paid with his life for his temerity in opposing the political schemes of his connexion Urus Khan. Toktamish, the son of the murdered man, fled at the news of his father's death and sought refuge at the court of the famous Timur-i-leng (Tamerlane), who received him with honour and at once agreed to espouse his cause. With this intention he despatched a force against Urus Khan, and gained some advantage over him, but, while fitting out another army to make a fresh attack, news reached him of the death of Urus. Only at Sighnak are coins known to have been struck during the reign of Urus, and these bear date from 1372 to 1375.

He was followed on the throne by his two sons, Tuk-Tok-takia and Timur Malik, each in turn; the first reigned buttanusn-for a few weeks, and the second was killed in a battle against Toktamish, the son of his father's enemy. Toktamish now seized the throne, not only of Eastern Kipchak but also of the Golden Horde, over which his arms had at the same time proved victorious. His demands for trib-ute from the Russian princes met with evasions from men who had grown accustomed to the diminished power of the later rulers of the Golden Horde, and Toktamish therefore at once marched an army into Russia. Having captured Serpukhoff, he advanced on Moscow. On the 23d August 1382 his troops appeared before the doomed city. For some days the inhabitants bravely withstood the constant attacks on the walls, but failed in their resistance to the stratagems which were so common a phase in Mongolian warfare. With astonishing credulity they opened the gates to the Mongols, who declared themselves the enemies of the grand-prince alone, and not of the people. The usual result followed. The Russian general, who was invited to Toktamish's tent, was there slain, and at the same time the signal was given for a general slaughter. Without discriminating age or sex, the Mongol troops butchered the wretched inhabitants without mercy, and, having made the streets desolate and the houses tenantless, they first plundered the city and then gave it over to the flames. The same pitiless fate overtook Vladimir, Zvenigorod, Yurieff, Mozhaisk, and Dimitroff. With better fortune, the inhabitants of Pereslavl and Kolomna escaped with their lives from the troops of Toktamish, but at the expense of their cities, which were burned to the ground. Satisfied with his conquests, the khan returned homewards, travers-ing and plundering the principality of Riazan on his way. Flushed with success, Toktamish demanded from his patron Timur the restoration of Kharezm, which had fallen into the hands of the latter at a period when disorder reigned in the Golden Horde. Such a request was not likely to be well received by Timur, and, in answer to his positive refusal to yield the city, Toktamish marched an army of 90,000 men against Tabriz. After a siege of eight days the city was taken by assault and ruthlessly ravaged. Meanwhile Timur was collecting forces to punish his rebellious protege. When his plans were fully matured, he advanced upon Old Urgenj and captured it. More merci-ful than Toktamish, he transported the inhabitants to Samarkand, but in order to mark his anger against the rebellious city he levelled it with the ground and sowed barley on the site where it had stood. On the banks of the Oxus he encountered his enemy, and after a bloody battle completely routed the Kipchaks, who fled in confu-sion. A lull followed this victory, but in 1390 Timur again took the field. To each man was given "a bow, with thirty arrows, a quiver, and a buckler. The army was mounted, and a spare horse was supplied to every two men, while a tent was furnished for every ten, and with this were two spades, a pickaxe, a sickle, a saw, an axe, an awl, a hundred needles, 8 lb of cord, an ox's hide, and a strong pan." Thus equipped the army set forth on. its march. After a considerable delay owing to an illness which over-took Timur his troops arrived at Kara Saman. Here envoys arrived from Toktamish bearing presents and a message asking pardon for his past conduct ; but Timur was inexorable, and, though he treated the messengers with consideration, he paid no attention to their prayer. In face of innumerable difficulties, as well as of cold, hunger, and weariness, Timur marched forward month after month through the Kipchak country in pursuit of Toktamish. At last, on the 18th of June, he overtook him at Kandurcha, in the country of the Bulgars, and at once forced him to an engagement. For three days the battle lasted, and after inclining now to this side and now to that victory finally de-cided in favour of Timur. The Kipchaks were completely routed and fled in all directions, while it is said as many as 100,000 corpses testified to the severity of the fighting. Timur pursued his flying enemy as far as the Volga, slaughtering all who fell into his hands, and ravaged and destroyed the towns of Sarai, Saraichuk, and Astrakhan. Having inflicted this terrible blow on the Golden Horde, Timur distributed rewards to his chieftains, and presided at a series of banquets in celebration of his victory. These rejoicings over, he returned to Samarkand laden with spoils and trophies. But Toktamish, though defeated, was not subdued, and in 1395 Timur found it necessary again to undertake a campaign against him. This time the armies met upon the Terek, and after a fiercely-contested battle the Kipchaks again fled in confusion. When the victory was gained, Timur, we are told, knelt down on the field and returned thanks to Heaven for his success. The pur-suit along the Volga was vigorously undertaken, and the slaughter among the fugitives was terrible. The hurried advance of Timur's horsemen threw the Russians into a state of wild alarm, and the grand-prince of Moscow ordered that an ancient image of the Virgin which was believed to possess miraculous power should be taken to Moscow to save that city from the destroyer. Success appeared to attend this measure, for Timur, threatened by the advancing autumn, gave up all further pursuit, and retired with a vast booty of gold ingots, silver bars, pieces of Antioch linen and of the embroidered cloth of Russia, etc. On his homeward march southwards he arrived before Azak, which was then the entrepot where the merchants of the east and west exchanged their wares. In vain the natives, with the Egyptian, Venetian, Genoese, Catalan, and Basque inhabitants, besought him to spare the city. His answer was a command to the Moslems to separate themselves from the rest of the people, whom he put to the sword, and then gave the city over to the flames. Circassia and Georgia next felt his iron heel, and the fastnesses of the central Caucasus were one and all destroyed. After these successes Timur gave himself up for a time to feasting and rejoicing, accompanied by every manifestation of Oriental luxury. " His tent of audience was hung with silk, its poles were golden, or probably covered with golden plates, the nails being silver; his throne was of gold, enriched with precious stones; the floor was sprinkled with rose water." But his vengeance was not satisfied, and, having refreshed his troops by this halt, he marched northwards against Astrakhan, which he utterly destroyed. The inhabitants were driven out into the country to perish with the cold, while the commander of the city was killed by being forced beneath the ice of the Volga. Sarai next shared the same fate, and Timur, having thus crushed for the second time the empire of Toktamish, set out on his return home by way of Derbend and Azerbijan. The defeated khan succeeded shortly afterwards in recapturing Sarai;. but, being again driven out, he retired in 1398 to Kieff, a fugitive from his king-dom. During his reign, which lasted for twenty-four years, he struck coins at Kharezm, Krim, New Krim, Azak, Sarai, New Sarai, Saraichuk, and Astrakhan. The power in the hands of the successors of Toktamish never revived after the last campaign of Timur. They were constantly engaged in wars with the Russians and the Krim Tatars, with whom the Russians had allied themselves, and by degrees their empire decayed, until, on the seizure and death of Ahmed Khan at the beginning of the 16th cen-tury, the domination of the Golden Horde came to an end.

One solitary fragment of the Golden Horde, the khanate of Astrakhan, maintained for a time an existence after the fall of the central power. But even this last remnant ceased to be a Mongol apanage in 1554, when it was captured by the Russians and converted into a Russian province. The fate which thus overtook the Golden Horde was destined to be shared by all the western branches of the great Mongol family. The khans of Kasan and Kasimoff had already in 1552 succumbed to the growing power of Russia, and the Krim Tatars were next to The fall under the same yoke. In the 15th century, when Krim the Krim Tatars first appear as an independent power, Tatari they attempted to strengthen their position by allying themselves with the Russians, to whom they looked for help against the attacks of the Golden Horde. But while they were in this state of dependence another power arose in eastern Asia which modified the political events of that region. In 1453 Constantinople was taken by the Osmanli Turks, who, having quarrelled with the Genoese merchants who monopolized the trade on the Euxine, sent an expedition into the Crimea to punish the presumptuous traders. The power which had captured Constantinople was not likely to be held in check by any forces at the disposal of the Genoese, and without any serious opposi-tion Kaffa, Sudak, Balaclava, and Inkerman fell before the troops of the sultan Mohammed. It was plain that, situated as the Crimea was between the two great powers of Russia and Turkey, it must of necessity fall under the direction of one of them. Which it should be was decided by the invasion of the Turks, who restored Mengli Girai, the deposed khan, to the throne, and virtually converted the khanate into a dependency of Constanti-nople. But though under the tutelage of Turkey, Mengli Girai, whose leading policy seems to have been the desire to strengthen himself against the khans of the Golden Horde, formed a close alliance with the grand-prince Ivan of Russia. One result of this friendship was that the Mongols were enabled, and encouraged, to indulge their predatory habits at the expense of the enemies of Russia,, and in this way both Lithuania and Poland suffered terribly from their incursions. It was destined, however,, that in their turn the Russians should not escape from the marauding tendencies of their allies, for, on pretext of a quarrel with reference to the succession to the Kasan throne, Mohammed Girai Khan in 1521 marched an army northwards until, after having devastated the country, massacred the people, and desecrated the churches on his route, he arrived at the heights of Vorobieff overlooking Moscow. The terror of the unfortunate inhabitants at the sight once again of the dreaded Mongols was extreme ; but the horrors which had accompanied similar past visitations were happily averted by a treaty, by which the grand-prince Vasili undertook to pay a perpetual trib-ute to the Krim khans. This, however, proved but a truce. It was impossible that an aggressive state like Russia should live in friendship with a marauding power like that of the Krim Tatars. The primary cause of contention was the khanate of Kasan, which was recovered by the Mongols, and lost again to Russia with that of Astrakhan in 1555. The sultan, however, declined to accept this condition of things as final, and instigated Devlet Girai, the Krim khan, to attempt their recovery. With this object the latter marched an army northwards, where, finding the road to Moscow unprotected, he pushed on in the direction of that ill-starred city. On arriving before its walls he found a large Russian force occupying the suburbs. With these, however, he wras saved from an encounter, for just as his foremost men approached the town a fire broke out, which, in consequence of the high wind blowing at the time, spread with frightful rapidity, and in the space of six hours destroyed all the churches, palaces, and houses, with the exception of the Kremlin, within a compass of 30 miles. Thousands of the inhabitants perished in the flames. "The river and ditches about Moscow," says Horsey, " were stopped and filled with the multitudes of people, laden with gold, silver, jewels, chains, ear-rings, and treasures. So many thousands were there burned and drowned that the river could not be cleaned for twelve months afterwards." Satisfied with the destruction he had indirectly caused, and unwilling to attack the Kremlin, the khan withdrew to the Crimea, ravaging the country as he went. Another invasion of Russia, a few years later (1572), was not so fortunate for the Mongols, who suffered a severe defeat near Molody, 50 versts from Moscow. A campaign against Persia made a diversion in the wars which were constantly waged between the Krim khan and the Russians, Cossacks, and Poles. So hardly were these last pressed by their per-tinacious enemies in 1649 that they bound themselves by treaty to pay an annual subsidy to the khan. But the fortunes of war were not always on the side of the Tatars, and with the advent of Peter the Great to the Russian throne the power of the Krim Mongols began to decline. In 1696 the czar, supported by a large Cossack force under Mazeppa, took the field against Selim Girai Khan, and gained such successes that the latter was compelled to cede Azoff to him. By a turn of the wheel of fortune the khan had the satisfaction in 1710 of having it restored to him by treaty; but this wras the last real success that attended the Tatar arms. In 1735 the Russians in their turn invaded the Crimea, captured the celebrated lines of Perekop, and ravaged Baghchi Serai, the capital. The inevitable fate which was hanging over the Krim Tatars was now being rapidly accomplished. In 1783 the Krim, together with the eastern portion of the land of the Nogais, became absorbed into the Russian province of Taurida.

Another branch of the Mongol family which requires mention is that of the Kazaks (see KIRGHIZ, vol. xiv. pp. 95, 96), whose ancient capital was Sighnak, which, as we have seen, passed into the hands of the great Timur. It will now only be necessary to refer briefly to the Uzbegs, who, on the destruction of the Golden Horde, assumed an important position on the east of the Caspian Sea. The founder of their greatness was the khan Abulkhair, who reigned in the 15th century, and who, like another Jenghiz Khan, consolidated a power out of a number of small clans, and added lustre to it by his successful wars. Sheibani Khan, his grandson, proved himself a worthy successor, and a doughty antagonist of the great Moghul emperor Baber. In 1500 he inflicted a severe defeat on Baber's forces, and captured Samarkand, Herat, and Kandahar. By these and other conquests he became possessed of all the country be-tween the Oxus and the Jaxartes, of Ferghana, Kharezm, and Hissar, as well as of the territory of Tashkend from Kashgar to the frontiers of China. In the following year, by a dashing exploit, Baber recovered Samarkand, but only to lose it again a few months later. During several succeed-ing years Sheibani's arms proved victorious in many fields of battle, and but for an indiscreet outrage on the terri-tories of the shah of Persia he might have left behind him a powerful empire. The anger, however, of Shah Ismael roused against him a force before which he was destined to fall. The two armies met in the neighbourhood of Merv, where, after a desperate encounter, the Uzbegs were completely defeated. Sheibani, with a few followers, sought refuge in a cattle-pound. But, finding no exit on the farther side, the refugees tried to leap their horses over the wall. In this attempt Sheibani was killed. When his body was recognized by his exultant enemies they cut off the head and presented it to the shah, who caused the skull to be mounted in gold and to be converted into a drinking-cup. After this defeat the Uzbegs withdrew across the Oxus and abandoned Khorasan. Farther east the news aroused Baber to renewed activity, and before long he reoccupied Samarkand and the province "Beyond the River," which had been dominated by the Uzbegs for nine years. But though the Uzbegs were defeated, they were by
no means crushed, and ere long we find their khans reigning, now at Samarkand, and now at Bokhara. As time advanced and Eurojiean powers began to encroach more and more into Asia, the history of the khanates ceases to be confined to the internecine struggles of rival khans. Even Bokhara was not beyond the reach of Russian ambition and English diplomacy. Several European envoys found their way thither during the first half of the present century, and the murder of Stoddart and Connolly in 1842 forms a melancholy episode in British relations with that fanatical capital. With the absorption of the khanate of Bokhara and the capture of Khiva by the Russians the individual history of the Mongol tribes in Central Asia comes to an end, and their name has left its imprint only on the dreary
stretch of Chinese-owned country from Manchuria to the Altai Mountains, and to the equally unattractive country in the neighbourhood of the Koko-nor. (R. K. D.)

Language and Literature.—The Mongol tongue is a member of the great stock which recent scholars designate as Finno-Tataric or Ural-Altaic, which comprehends also the languages of the Tungoos (Manchu), Turko-Tatars, Finns, and Samoyeds. The members of this group are not so closely related to one another as those of the Indo-European stock ; but they are all bound together by the com-mon principle of agglutinative formation, especially the so-called harmony of vowels, by their grammatical structure, and also by certain common elements in the stock of roots which inn through them all, or through particular more closely-connected families within the group.1

The fatherland proper of the Mongols is the so-called Mongolia. It stretches from Siberia in the north towards the Great "Wall of China in the south, from Dauria and Manchuria in the east to the Altai and the sources of the Irtish, Thian-shan (i.e., heaven moun-tains), and East Turkestan in the west. In the centre of this country is the desert of Gobi (Chinese Sha-mo, i.e., sand-sea). The Mongolian population, however, extends in the south over the Great Wall to the basin of the Koko-nor (blue lake), and thence extends due west over Tangut and the northern border of Tibet. Crossing the political frontier, we find Mongols in the Russian province Turkestan, in the territories of Seniiryetshensk (land of the seven streams), Alatau, and Semipalatinsk in the west, in the south of the province of Tomsk, with a more populous region due north in Siberia, round the Baikal Lake. The country north of the Gobi, from the Altai, Tangnu, and the Saian mountains in the west to Manchuria in the east, is called Khalkha, with the chief districts Urga (Eire), Uliassutai, Khobdo (Kobdo). In a north-westerly direction from Gobi, between Thian-shan and the Altai, is Sungaria. The sum total of the Mongol population under Chinese government is calculated at between two and three millions.

Generally the whole Mongol tribe may be divided into three branches : East Mongols, W7est Mongols, and Buriats.

(1) The East Mongols are divided into the Khalkhas in the borders just mentioned, the Sbara Mongols south of the Gobi along the Great AVall north-eastward to Manchuria, and lastly the Shir-aigol or Sharaigol in Tangut and in northern Tibet.

(2) On the signification and employment of the different names of the West Mongols (Kalmuks, Oelod, Oirad or Dorbon Oirad = the four Oirad, Mongol Oirad), and also as regards the subdivision of the tribes, there is much uncertainty. The name Kalmuk, so generally employed among us, is in fact only used by the "Volga Kalmuks (Khalimak), but even with them the name is not common, and almost a byname. It is of foreign origin, and most likely a Tataric word which has yet to be explained. Oirad means the "near ones," the "related." The usual explanation given is that the single tribes consider themselves as being related to each other,— hence Mongol Oirad, "the Mongol related tribe." This is the favourite name among Kalmuks. Dorbon Oirad, or the four related tribes, comprise (1) Simgars, (2) Torgod, (3) Khoshod, (4) Dorbod.

The signification of the name Oelod, in the East Mongolian Oegeled, now the most widely spread among the tribes living in China, is likewise very doubtful. Some assert that " Oelod " is nothing but the Chinese transcription of Oirad, as the ordinary Chinese language does not possess the sound r. We have, however, to bear in mind that we have a Mongolian root ogelekil, with the sense "to be in-imical," "to bear hatred, ill-will," &c. The main population of the Kalmaks live, or rather drag out, their existence after the usual fashion of nomad tribes in Sungaria, in the eastern part of the Thian-shan, on the south border of the Gobi, on Koko-nor, and in the province of Kan-suh. All these are under the Chinese Government. In consequence, however, of the extension of the Russian empire in Thian-shan and Alatau, many hordes have come under the Rus-sian sway. According to aii approximate account we may reckon in the territory Semiryetshensk (Kuldja) and Semipalatinsk 34,000 Kalmuks, while in the southern part of the government Tomsk, on the Altai, the Kalmuk population amounted formerly to 19,000. Besides these we find a section of Kalmuk population far in the west, on the banks of the Volga (near Astrakhan). From their original seats in Sungaria they turned in their migrations to the north, crossed the steppe of the Kirghiz, and thus gradually reached the Emba and the Or. Between these two rivers and the Ural the Torgod settled in 1616 ; thence they crossed the Volga in 1650, and took possession of the now so-called steppe of the Kalmuks, being followed in 1673 by the Dorbod, and in 1675 by the Khoshod. In 1771 a considerable number returned to the Chinese empire. At the present time there is a not unimportant population in the so-called steppe of the Kalmuks, which extends between the Caspian and the Volga in the east and the Don in the west, and from the town of Sarepta in the north to the Kuma and the Manytch in the south. According to modern statistical accounts, this popula-tion amounts to 75,630. To these we have to add 24,603 more on the borders of the Cossacks of the Don, and lastly 7298 in the bordering provinces of Orenburg and Saratoff. The sum total of the so-called Volga Kalmuks is therefore 107,531.

(3) In the southern part of the Russian province of Irkutsk, in a wide circle round the Baikal Lake, lies the heirdom proper of the Buriata, which they also call the "Holy Sea;" the country east of the lake is commonly called Transbaikalia. Their country practically extends from the Chinese frontier on the south within almost parallel lines to the north, to the town Kirensk on the Lena, and from the Onon in the east to the Oka, a tributary of the Angara, in the west, and still farther west towards iSijni-Udinsk. They are most numerous beyond the Baikal Lake, in the valleys along the Uda, the Onon, and the Selenga, and in Nertchinsk. These Trans-Baikalian Buriats came to these parts only towards the end of the 17th century from the Khalkhas. While Mongols and Kal-muks generally continue to live after the usual fashion of nomads, we find here agricultural pursuits, most likely, however, due mainly to Russian influence. Christianity is also making its way. The sum total of the Buriats amounts at present to about 250,000.

Another tribe separated from the rest of the Mongols is the so-called Hazára (the thousand), and the four Aimak (i.e., tribes), who wander about as herdsmen in Afghanistan, between Herat and Kabul. In external characteristics they are Mongols, and in all probability they are the remains of a tribe from the time of the Mongol dynasty. Their language, which shows, of course, Persian influence, is strictly Mongolian, more particularly West Mongolian or Kalmuk, as has been proved by H. C. von dor Gabelentz.

Agreeably with this threefold division of the Mongols we have also a threefold division of their respective languages : (1) East Mongolian or Mongolian proper, (2) West Mongolian or Kalmuk, (3) Buriatia

The dialects just mentioned are found to be in close relation to each other when we examine their roots, inflexions, and grammatical structure. The difference between them is indeed so slight that whoever understands one of them understands all. Phonetically a characteristic of them all is the "harmony of vowels," which are divided into two chief classes : the hard a, o, u ; and the soft e, o, i),; between which i is in the middle. All vowels of the same word must necessarily belong to the same class, so that the nature of the first or root-vowel determines the nature of the other or inflexion-vowels ; now and then a sort of retrogressive harmony takes place, so that a later vowel determines the nature of the former. The consonants preceding the vowels are equally under their influence.

The Mongolian characters, which in a slightly altered form are also in use among the Manchus, are written perpendicularly from above downward, and the lines follow from left to right, the alpha-bet having signs for seven vowels a, e, i, o, u, o, ii, and diphthongs derived from them ao, ai, ei, ii, oi, ui, Si, Hi, and for seventeen con-sonants n, b, Teh, gh, k, g, m, I, r (never initial), t, d, y, s (ds), ts, ss, ah, w. All these are modified in shape according to their position, in the beginning, middle, or end of a word, and also by certain orthographic rules. In Mongolian and Manchu writing the syllable (i.e., the consonant together with the vowel) is considered as a unit, in other words, a syllabarium rather than an alphabet. The exist-ing characters are lineal descendants of the original Uigurian forms, which were themselves derived from the Syriac, having been brought to the Uigurs by Nestorian missionaries. An Indian and Tibetan influence may also be noticed, while the arrangement of the char-acters in perpendicular lines is common to the Chinese. The writ-ing was brought into its present shape by the learned Lamas Sa-skya Pandita, Phags-pa Lama, and Tshoitshi Odser in the 13th century, but is exceedingly imperfect. To express the frequently-occurring letters borrowed from Sanskrit and Tibetan, which are wanting in the Mongol alphabet, a special alphabet called Galik is employed. Every one who has tried to read Mongolian knows how many difficulties have to be overcome, arising from the ambi-guity of certain letters, or from the fact that the same sign is to be pronounced differently according to its position in the word. Thus, there are no means for distinguishing the o and u, 6 and ii, the consonants g and k, t and d, y and s (ds). A and e, o (u) and ö (ii), a (e) and n, g and kh, t (d) and on, are liable to be mistaken for each other. Other changes will be noticed and avoided by advanced students. It is a great defect that such common words, as acla (a fury) and ende (here), ende (here) and nada (me), aldctn (fathom) and altan (gold), orclu (court-residence) and urtu (long), onokhu (to seize) and unukhu (to ride), tere (this) and dcre (pillow), gebe (said) and kebe (made), gem (evil) and kein (measure), ger (house) and ker (how), naran (sun) and nere (name), yagon (what) and dsagon (hundred), should be written exactly alike. This list might be largely increased. These defects apply equally to the Mongolian and Buriatic alphabets.

In 1648 the Saya Pandita composed a new alphabet (the Kalmuk), in which these ambiguities are avoided, though thegraphie differences, between the two alphabets are only slight. The Kalmuk alphabet avoids the angular and clumsy shapes of the Mongolian, and has, on the contrary, a rounded and pleasing shape. The Kalmuk alphabet has also this great advantage, that every sound has its distinct graphic character ; a mistake between two characters can scarcely occur. The Kalmuk words once mastered, they can be easily recognized in their Mongolian shape. The dialectical differ-ences are also very slight.
The Kalmuk, therefore, is the key of the Mongolian, and should form the groundwork of Mongolian studies. The Kalmuk and East Mongolian dialects do notdiffer much, at least in thespokenlanguage; but the Kalmuks write according to their pronunciation, while the Mongols do not. For example, son (dsbn), "hundred," is pronounced alike by the Kalmuks and the East Mongolians ; but according to-Mongolian orthography the word appears in the form dsagon. The dialectic difference between the two dialects very frequently lies only in a different pronunciation of some letters. Thus East Mon-golian ds is in Kalmuk soft s, &c. The chief difference between the-two dialects lies in the fact that in Kalmuk the soft guttural g be-tween two vowels is omitted, while, through the joining of the two-vowels, a long vowel is produced. In the pronunciation of common East Mongolian the g is likewise omitted, but it is written, while in Kalmuk, as just now mentioned, the guttural can only bo traced through the lengthening of the syllable. Thus we lind : Mongol khagan, "prince," Kalmuk khän; M. dagon, "voice, sound," K. clön, dün; M. dologan, "seven," K. dolon ; M. agola, "mountain," K. ola, via; M. nagor, "lake," K. nör, nur; M. ulagan, "red," K. ulän; M. yagon, "what," K. yön (yün); M. dabagan,"mountain-ridge," K. dabän ; M. ssanagan, "thought," K. ssanän ; M. baragon, "on the right," K. barön, barün ; M. shibagon, "bird," K. showön ;. M. chilagon, "stone," K. chilön (chulün) ; M. jirgogan, "six," K. surgän; M. degere, "high, above," K. dere; M. ugukhu, " to drink,"' K. ukhu; M. togodshi, "history," K. tödshi, tüdshi ; M. cgüden, "door," K. öden; M. dsegün, "left," K. son; M. iigede, "in the height," K. ödö; M. iigclcd, "the Kalmuks," K. Bind; M. iiileged, "if one has done," K. iiiled; M. kbbegiin, "son," K. ko'wön; M. gcgiin, "mare," K. gun; N. kegiir, "corpse," K. kür; M. kharigad, "returned," K. khared, &c.

The Buriatic, in these peculiarities, is almost always found with East Mongolian, with which it is in every respect closely allied. In the pronunciation of some letters the transition of East Mongolian tsa, tse into Buriatic ss is noticeable ; for instance : Mong. tsetsek, "flower," Buriatic ssessck ; M. tsak, "time," B. ssak; M. tsagan, "white," B. ssagan ; M. tsctscn, "prudent," B. ssesscn. Ss is some-times pronounced like (the German) ch: East M. ssain, "good," B. chain; M. ssedkil, "heart," B. chcdkil. K in the beginning or middle of a word is always aspirated.

The noun is declined by the help of appended particles, some of which are independent post-positions, viz., Gen. yin, u, un ; Dat. dur, a; Acc. yi, i; Ablat. etse ; Instrum. her, yer; Associative, luga, lüge. The dative and accusative have also special forms which have at the same time a possessive sense, viz., Dat. dagan, degen -r Accus, ben, yen. The plural is expressed by affixes (nar, ner, od, ss, d), or frequently bywords of plurality, "all," "many," e.g., kiimiin nogod (man, many = men). The oblique cases have the same endings in singular and plural. Gender is not indicated. The adjective is uuiuflected both as attribute and as predicate ; there is no comparative form, this idea being expressed by the con-struction or by the use of certain particles. The personal pronouns are hi, I; tchi, thou ; bida, we ; ta, ye ; their genitives serve as pos-sessives. The demonstratives are ene, tere (this, that), plural ede, tede ; interrogative ken, who % The relative is lacking, and its place is supplied by circumlocutions. The numerals are: 1, niyen; 2, fchoyar ; 3, gurban ; 4, dUrben ; 5, tabun ; 6, jirgugan ; 7, dologan; 8,naiman; 9, yisun; 10, arban; 100, dsagon; 1000, minggan. The ordinals are formed by appending titgar, tuger. The theme of the verb is seen in the imperative, as bari, grasp. The conjugation is rich in forms for tense and mood, but person and number are with few exceptions unexpressed. The present is formed from the theme by adding mui (barimui), the preterite by bai or luga (baribai, bari-luga), the future by ssugai or ssit, (barissugai, barissu). The preterite has also in the third person the terminations dsugui and run ; the future has in the third person yu, and in the first ya. The conditional ends in bassit (baribassu), the precative in tugai, tiigei, the potential in sa (barimuisa), the imperative plural in Ictun, the gerund in the present in n, dsu {barin, baridsit) or tala, "while, till" (baritala, "inter capiendum"), in the preterite it is formed in gad (barigad) ; the present part, has Hehi (bariktchi), the past part. kssan (barikssan); the supine ends in ra, the infinitive in khu (barikhu, or when used substantively barikhui). There is but one perfectly regular conjugation, and derivative forms, derived from the theme by infixes, are conjugated on the same scheme. Thus the passive has infixed ta or kda (barikdakhu, to be grasped), the causative gul [barigulkku, to cause to grasp), the co-operative or sociative Usa or Ida (bariltsakhu, to grasp together).

There are no prepositions, only post-positions. Adverbs are either simple particles (affirmative, negative, interrogative, modal, &c), or are formed by suffixes from other parts of speech. There are very few conjunctions ; the relations of clauses and sentences are mainly indicated by the verbal forms (part., sup., conditional, but mainly by the gerund).
The order of words and sentences in construction is pretty much the opposite of that which we follow. In a simple sentence the indication of time and place, whether given by an adverb or a sub-stantive with a post-position, always comes lirst; then comes the subject, always preceded by its adjective or genitive, then the object and other cases depending on the verb, last of all the verb itself preceded by any adverbs that belong to it. So in the structure of a period all causal, hypothetical, concessive clauses, which can be conceived as preceding the main predication in point of time, or even as contemporary with it, or as in any way modifying it, must come first; the finite verb appears only at the end of the main predication or apodosis. The periods are longer than in other languages ; a single one may fill several pages.

Grammars and dictionaries may be divided according to the three dialects. For East Mongolian, I. J. Schmidt gave the first grammar (Petersb., 1831), and a Mongolian-German-Russian dictionary (Petersb., 1835). Next Jos. Kowalewski published in Russian a Mongolian grammar (Kasan, 1835), a chrestomathy (2 vols., Kasan, 1836,1837), and his great Dictionnaire mongol-russe-français (8 vols., Kasan, 1844, 1846, 1849). We name also R. Yuille, Short Mongolian Grammar (in Mongolian), xylographed at the mission press near Sselenginsk beyond Lake Baikal (1838). A. Bobrownikow's Russian Grammar of the Mongolian-Kahnuk Language (Kasan, 1849) is also very good. An abridgment of Schmidt's work is C. Puini, Elementi della grammatica mongolica (Florence, 1878). A. Popow's Mongolian Chrestomathy appeared inj? vols, at Kasan (183b). For the Kalmuk we have grammars by Popow (Kasan, 1847), Bobrownikow as above, and H. A. 2wick (s. I. et a.), autographed at Donaueschingen (1851). Zwick's autographed Kalmuk and German dictionary with a printed German index appeared (s. I. et a.) in 1852 ; B. Jiilg's edition of the tales of Siddhi-kilr (Leips., 1866) gives a complete glossary to these stories. There are small Russian and Kalmuk vocabularies by P. Smirnow (Kasan, 1857) and C. Golstunskyi (Petersb., I860).

For the Buriatic we have Castren, Versuch einer Burjatischen Sprachlehre, edited by Schiefner (1857), and A. Orlow's Russian grammar of the Mongol-Buri-atic colloquial language (Kasan, 1878).

Literature.—A. clear distinction must be drawn between the higher and nobler written or book-language and the common or conversational language of every-day life. The difference between the two is very considerable, and may be fairly compared to that between the Modern High German book-language and the different dialects. All grammars and dictionaries as yet published treat only of the book-language; and so also, with a few exceptions, the published literary documents are written in this higher style. The exceptions are the Gesser-Khan, and the Siddhi-kür and Djangariad (the last two published by Golstunskyi). The popular or conversational language has only quite lately been fixed in writing by A. Pozdnyeyew in his Russian work, Specimens of the Popukvr Literature of the Mongolian Tribes, part L, " Popular Songs" (Petersb., 1880), which contains rich material for the study of the popular literature.

The literature known at present consists mostly of translations from the Tibetan, the holy language of Buddhism, which is still the language of the learned. The Tibetan Buddhist literature is itself translated from the Sanskrit; hence, now and then, through Mongols and Kalmuks we get acquainted with Indian works the originals of which are not known in Sanskrit. Such is the case, for instance, with the tales of Sitklhi-kfir. Many books have also been translated from the Chinese. Most of the writings are of a religious, historical, philosophical, medical, astronomical, or astrological character. Favourite sub-jects are folk-lore and fairy tales. Among the religious books, perhaps the most important is that containing the legends entitled iiliger iin dalai, "ocean of comparisons" (edited by the late I. Jacob Schmidt under the title, Der Weise und der Thor, in Tibetan and German, Petersb., 1843). To this may be added the boddhi mor, or "the holy path," the altan gerel, "gleaming of gold," the viani gambo, and yertiintchü yin toll, "mirror of the world." What was known of poetical literature before Pozdnyeyew is scarcely worth mentioning. In some parts of the historical and narrative literature we lind, wherever the nar-rative takes a higher flight, an admixture of poetical diction. The poetry appears in a certain parallelism of the phrases, with a return either of the same endings (rhyme) or of the same words (refrain). Frequently we find, besides the rhyme or refrain, alliteration. The essay of H. C. von der Gabelcntz iu Z.f. d. Kunde des Morgenlandes, vol. i. pp. 20-37, "Einiges über Mongolische Poesie," has been superseded by the work of Pozdnyeyew.

Among historical works a high place is due to that composed by the tribal prince, Ssanang Ssetsen, in the middle of the 17th century (GwhivMe der Ost-Mongolen und ihres Fürstenhauses, Mong. and Germ., by I. J. Schmidt, Petersb., 1829), and to the Altan toUchi, i.e., "Golden knob" or "precious contents" (text and Russian translation by the Lama Galsang Gomboyew, Petersb., 1858). Of folk-lore and fairy tales, we have the legend of the hero Gesser-Khan (text ed. by I. J. Schmidt, Petersb., 1836, and German version, 1839; comp. Schott, Véber die Sage v. Geser-Khan, Berl., 1851, and B. Jiilgin the Transactions of the Würzburger Philol.Versam. of ISliS, pp. öS sqq., Leips., 1869); and the tales about Ardshi Bordshi (Russian version by Galsang Gomboyew, Petersb., 1858 ; text and German trans, by B. Jülg, Innsbr., 1S67, 1868). A favourite book is the tales of Siddhi-kür based on the Sanskrit Vétala panchavincati (Russian trans, by Galsang Gomboyew, Petersb., 1865 ; nine of the tales in Mongolian and German by B. Jülg, Innsbr., 1868). The fuller collection of these tales in Kalmuk first became known by the German trans, of B. Bergmann in vol. i. of his Nomadische Streifereien unter d. Kalmüken (4 vols., Riga, 1804, 1805); an autographed edition in the vulgar dialect was published by C. Golstunskyi (Petersb., 1864 ; text and German trans, with glossary by B. Jülg, Leips., 1866). A poetic heroic story is the Djangariad, extracts from which were given by Bergmann (op. cit., i v. 181 sqq.); a complete Russian version by A. Bobrownikow (Petersb., 1854); a German version by F. v. Erdmann in Z.D.M.G., 1857 (Kalmuk text by Golstunskyi, Petersb., 1864). A similar poem is the history of Ubashi Khuntaidshi and his war with the Oirad, Kalmuk text and Russian trans, by G. Gomboyew in his Altan tobtchi as above, and text alone autographed by Golstunskyi (Petersb., 1864). Some books of religion for the Christian Buriata (transcribed iu Russian characters) represent the Buriatic dialect. The Russian and English Bible Societies have given us a translation of the whole Bible. I. J. Schmidt translated the Gospels and the Acts into Mongolian and Kalmuk for the Russian Bible Society (8 vols., Petersb., 1819-1821),—a masterly work. The English missionaries, E. Stallybrass and W. Swan, and afterwards R. Yuille, translated the whole Old Testament into Mongolian (1836-1840). This work was printed at a mission press erected at great cost for the purpose near Sselenginsk, beyond Lake Baikal in Siberia. In 1846 the New Testament by the same hands appeared at London.

The richest collections of Mongolian and Kalmuk printed books and MSS. are in the Asiatic museum of the Petersburg Academy, and in the libraries of Kasan and Irkutsk ; there is also a good collection in the royal library at Dresden. Consult in general, besides the already-cited works of Bergmann and Pozdnyeyew, P. S. Pallas, Sammlungen historischer Nachrichten ü. d.Mongolischen Völkerschaften (2 vols., Petersb., 1770-1801); I. J. Schmidt, Forschungen im Gebiete der älteren . . . Bildungsgeschichte der Völker Mittelasiens, vorz. d. Mongolen und Tibeter (Petersb. and Leips., 1824) ; B. Jülg, "On the Present State of Mongolian Researches," Journ. 11. As. Soc, xiv. (1882), pp. 42-65. (B. J.)



Footnotes

1 Compare W. Schott, Versuch uber die tatarisehen Sprachen (Berl., 1836), Ueber das altai'sche oder fmnisch-tatarische Sprachengeschlecht (Berl., 1849), Altajisclie Studien, Parts i.-v. (Berk, 1860-1870); and A. Castren, Ethnologlsche Yorlesungen uber die Altai'schen Volk&r; edited by A. Schiefner (Petersb., 1857).

Cf. H. C. von der Gabelentz, in the Zeitschrift f. d. Knude d. Morgenlandes" Göttingen, 1838, vol. ii. pp. 1-21, " Versuch Liber einealte mongolische Inschrift.1*
Cf. H. C. von der Gabelentz, in the Zeitschrift f. d. Knude d. Morgenlandes" Göttingen, 1838, vol. ii. pp. 1-21, " Versuch Liber einealte mongolische Inschrift.1*

1 See his essay, "Ueber die Sprache der Hazáras und Ainiaks," in the Zeitschrift der deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, vol. xx. pp. 320-335.







The above article was written by two authors:

First part (History of the Mongols)
R. K. Douglas, Professor of Chinese, Kings College, London

Second part (Language and Literature of the Mongols)
Prof. B. Jülg, University of Innsbruck