CHAPTER XI.

THE CHOROS.

 

IN the previous chapter I tried to show that the term Durben Uirad is rather a descriptive epithet than a proper name. It means the four allies, and denotes a confederacy of tribes, but is not in itself a race name. It is a term of considerable antiquity, and is found in the pages of Chinese authors as well as in those of native writers. The Chinese form is Wala, which is accommodated to the feet that the Chinese have no letter. This form is as old at least as the fifteenth century.

The connotation of the term is by no means fixed. Thus Ssanang Setsen tells us that the four factors of which the Durben Uirads were formed consisted of the Kergud (the Keraits or Torguts), the Khoit, of whom I shall say more presently, the Elighud or Eleuth (the Khoshotes), and the Baghatud or Baatud (the heroes or brave ones), and comprising, as I believe, the Sungars and Derbets before their division.

Pallas, from native Kalmuk sources, gives us two different solutions of the extension of the name. According to one of these the Durben Uirad consisted of the Oelot or Eleuths, the Khoits, the Tumuts, and the Barga Buriats. This may be a traditional meaning of the phrase, but it is one which has dearly been obsolete for a long time, as Schmidt says the Tumuts or Tumeds have for a very long period at least belonged to the Mongols proper, while the Barga Buriats, although closely connected with the Kalmuks, as I shall show in the next chapter, have had a history distinct from theirs from the days of Genghis Khan himself. The other tradition distinguishes the ancient Eleuths from the modern four Kalmuk tribes, and ignoring the Tumuts, replaces the four names above mentioned by two hordes named Khoit-Bahtud and Barga-Burat. This tradition may be of some value. If the Eleuths are to be, as I believe, property identified with the Khoshotes, then their origin and history does stand considerably apart from those of the other Kalmuks. While if the Bahtud represent the Sungars and Derbets, then Khoit-Bahtud would comprehend very fairly the Kalmuk race, which I distinguish by the name of Chores, the Torguts having, as I have shown, a separate royal race and history.

There is a fourth meaning of the term Durben Uirad, which is perhaps mote generally known, and that is the one which makes the name comprehend the four great Kalmuk tribes of the Sungars, Derbets, Torguts, and Khoshotes, who, when the Khoits became disintegrated, formed in fact the nation of the Kalmuks.

These facts will show that the connotation of the term is very uncertain; we may roughly say, however, that it is a general name, including those tribes which western writers designate as Kalmuks.

As I have shown, the division into Eastern and Western Mongols, or into Mongols and Kalmuks, is one of very old date, and it is probable that the race name of the Western Mongols was that of the particular tribe which was predominant at the time; thus at one time they were styled Keraits, at another Sungars.

During the reign of Genghis the political topography of Asia was entirely altered. For a time at least the many tribes and nations which he had conquered were welded into a homogeneous whole, and Turks and Mongols were equally ready to obey his commands. It would seem that no attempt was made to alter the internal organisation of many of the conquered tribes. The patriarchal hierarchy of chiefs, from the chieftain of the tribe to the head of the family, remained in many cases not only unaltered itself but the posts of leaders were retained by the same men. When the empire of Genghis was divided among his sons the headship of the family was retained, as we have seen, by the branch which had its focus in the ancient country of the Mongols at Karakorum. This headship was retained and acknowledged for several generations, but at last it inevitably failed to command the respect of the distant dependencies, and the vast and unwieldy empire broke into pieces. The fragments were very naturally constituted,—one became the empire of the Il Khans, and comprised the Mongol possessions south of the Oxus; a second, the empire of Jagatai, comprised Turkestan and Little Bukharia; a third, that of the Golden Horde, included the wild steppe country from the Dnieper to the Altai mountains. These three empires were essentially Turkish, and beyond the picked soldiers and the bodyguards of the chiefs probably few Mongols were to be found in them. The Mongols naturally retained their allegiance to the elder branch, which had moved its court from Karakorum to Peking, and is known in history as the Yuen dynasty. During the reign of that dynasty we do not hear of any division or schism among them. They no doubt all retained their substantive and individual existence under their own chiefs, but they all, so far as we know, obeyed implicitly the central authority of the Mongol Emperors of China. At length, in 1368, the Yuen dynasty came to an end, and was succeeded by the native dynasty of the Ming, and the Mongols were driven out of China and once more made Karakorum their capital The beaten and decrepit dynasty could not however retain its authority over all the race; ancient divisions reappeared, aad especially the great division which had from early times separated them into two parts—the Eastern and the Western Mongols.

It is well established that the two important Kalmuk tribes of the Sungars and Derbets formed comparatively recently but one tribe, which was divided between two brothers named Ongoso and Ongorkhoi, who became the respective founders of the Sungarian and Derbetan royal houses. Among the ancestors of these two brothers was a chief named Ulinda budun Taidshi, who was surnamed Zorros or Choros, whence all his descendants and also his tribe or ulus got the name of Zorros or Choros. From this we are justified in inferring that the name of the joint tribe before the separation just named was Choros. But this name included another important element besides the Sungars and Derbets, namely, the Khoits. Pallas tells us that the mother of Ulinda budun was foe wife of Yoboghon Mergen, the founder of foe royal family of the Khoits, but that her son was born of the gods; a story similar to those told of foe founders of foe Mongol and Mancini dynasties. The real meaning of the story doubtless is that the chiefs of the Khoits, the Sungars, and the Derbets all belonged to the same common stock, and in fact we are told that on his death Yoboghon Merten divided his heritage into five portions, one of which constituted foe Sungars and Derbets.

Again, we are told by Pallas that the celebrated Kalmuk chief Amursana was a Khoit. On turning to the Emperor Kienlung’s narrative of the conquest of the Eleuths, we are told that Amursana sprang from the royal race of Tcholos (Choros).

I believe, therefore, that originally the Khoits, Sungars, and Derbets formed but one tribe, and that its collective name was the name I have put at the head of this chapter, namely, Choros. I do not pretend with the fragmentary materials that are at present accessible to give more than a tentative solution in such questions, but I believe this to be the most reasonable inference from the evidence.

I will now set out foe legends about Yoboghon Mergen, as told by Pallas. He tells us that the Kalmuk tradition makes Yoboghon live about three generations before Genhis Khan. By his valour and other qualities he brought a great number of people under his subjection. Yoboghon Mergen, he says, means a hero who goes on foot, and he derived his name from the fact that from his bulk and strength no-horse could carry him, and when he had a waggon built for himself this also broke down, so that he was obliged to march a-foot. During his reign there was great confusion in China (other accounts say in Thibet), and in his extremity the legitimate ruler there, called in Yoboghon, with whose assistance peace was speedily secured. The treacherous Chinese, however, saw that in these allies they also had terrible neighbours, and when they had loaded him and his chief warriors with presents they contrived to poison him. On his death the Uirads returned to their own land, and were divided into five sections or hordes.

On the return of this army it was noticed that one of the highest peaks of the Bogda Ula range had fallen down, which was considered as an omen connected with the death of the hero. As an offering to the mountain and as a souvenir from his faithful people, they erected a colossal statue of him on one of the ridges of the Bogda Ula. This was made of piled up rocks, and the attitude was that of a man lying down resting his head on one arm. Pallas says that according to old Sungars there were still in his time remains of this statue, which the Kalmuks went and visited.

Many years after Yoboghon’s death his great-great-grandson Urluk Khoshutshi, on the occasion of a solemn “in memoriam” sacrifice which he made there, had a huge iron tripod with a gilt rim made, and had it erected on a peak adjoining that on which his ancestor's statue was placed. This festival was renewed annually among the Sungars, and so long as their empire flourished large annual pilgrimages were made to the mountain, on which occasions the chief made offerings of all kinds of cattle, which were duly consecrated by the priests and then allowed to go free. There were large numbers of these sacred and proscribed cattle grazing on the mountain, which no one might take except the priests, who were allowed to shoot them when they went there at the time of the festival. The Khoits retained, after the death of the founder of their power, the title of honour of Baatut (the brave), given him by the Chinese, a title still borne by the few of the race who remain.

During the supremacy of Yoboghon we are told that there arose among the Eleuths, who then lived in the western part of Thibet and were governed by a number of petty chiefs or Noyons, a small chief celebrated for his knowledge of magic, which brought him great reputation. His real name is not recorded, but is renowned enough among the Mongols by the soubriquets of Boh Noyon or Lussim Khan (the magician prince or dragon chief). By his skill and deceptions he acquired considerable influence over many other small princes, who at length elected him their overchief, and integrated into one whole a number of clans which in later times formed the tribes of the Sungars and Derbets.

Boh Khan had no legitimate children, and it was a master stroke of his craft that he succeeded in getting appointed as his heir one who was probably his natural son, under the pretence that he was of a supernatural and mysterious origin. This happened, according to the Kalmuk chronicles, in this way:—“Yoboghon Mergen, when he was one day hunting, found a beautiful maiden, who was the product of a love intrigue of an angel (Tanggrin) who had been banished from heaven to earth. She became his wife, but not content with a mere man for a husband she formed an illicit connection with the magician prince while her husband was absent on a long campaign. Before the latter’s return she had a son, and when she heard of his arrival she exposed him under a tree. Boh Khan learnt (as the Kalmuks avow) through his magic, or as is the better opinion through a messenger from the mother, of the fate of the boy; sent for him and took him to his home. As he was found in misty weather (Budun) and a small horned owl (Uli Shabuun) was seen fluttering over him, he named him Ulinda Budun and appointed him his successor. While he was lying under the tree where he was found, a crocked broken branch hung over him, from which the sap trickled into his mouth and afforded him a scanty nourishment. This branch was shaped like the crooked tube which the Kalmuks attach to their stills when distilling brandy, and which they call Zorros, whence his descendants and his people were called Zorros. Boh Khan gave it out that the child was of supernatural origin.” Such is the fabulous story told about the origin of the royal family of Sungars; the only portion of it that is probably true is the existence of an ancestral chief named Ulinda Budun, from whom the tribes I am now describing received the name of Choros or Zorros. It is clear that if the connection of Yoboghon with the Bogda Ula mountains is to be depended upon that he must have lived long after the days of Genghis Khan, before whose reign the Kalmuks lived far to the east of this area. Pallas says some of the Kalmuk stories place Ulinda Budun at the beginning of the sixteenth century, which must be very much too late. He gives a table which seems much more reliable, and which was given him by an old Sungarian Lama and scholar; according to this Ulinda was succeeded by Chaiman Taidshi, he by Chullun Boko, be by Boko Chilledu, and he again by Gukhai Dayu. With this name we meet with collateral evidence elsewhere.

As we have shown, the dominant tribe among the Kalmuks at the accession of Genghis was that of the Keraits, and this supremacy was retained by them until after the expulsion of the Mongols from China, for we find that in 1339 Ugetshi Khaskhaga, of the Kergud (of the Keraits), claimed to be the rightful overchief of the Durben Uirads.

At this time there happened a curious intrigue at the Mongol court, the story of which I have already abstracted from Ssanang Setzen. The Mongol Khan Elbek was persuaded by one of his dependants to make love to his sister-in-law Goa Beidshi, and afterwards to kill his brother and appropriate her. This dependant was named Chuchai or rather Khukhai Dashu, and Ssanang Setsen tells us he belonged to the Jakha Minggan of the Uirads. Minggan means thousand in Mongol, and, like Tumen, which means ten thousand, is used by Ssanang Setzen to denote a fragment or section. So that the Jakha Minggan means merely the Jakha division of the Uirads. This Khukhai Dadshu is clearly the same person as Schmidt has already suggested as the Gukhai Dayu of the list of Pallas.

I have already described the issue of the intrigue; how the Khan had his brother murdered and then took his wife to himself, how she revenged herself especially upon Khukhai by persuading the Khan that he had taken liberties with her, and how in consequence the Khan had him put to death. When the Khan learned the falsity of the story he was too much enamoured of his wife to be angry with her, but he turned to Batula, the son of Khukhai, and said,  I have killed thy father wrongfully.” To make amends he gave him his daughter Samur Gundshi in marriage, raised him to the rank of Chingsang, and also appointed him chief over the four Uirads.

In the list of Pallas Gukhai Dayu is succeeded by Arkhan Chingsen, and he in turn by Batulan Chingsen, who is unquestionably the same person as the Batula Chingsang of Ssanang Setsen. There is great difficulty in accepting Ssanang Setsen’s statements about this chieftain without considerable reserve. He makes him the father of Bachamu or Machamu, and tells us that the latter’s surname was Toghon. This Toghon was a well-known person to the Chinese, and they tell us that he was the son of Machamu and not the same person, and as they had diplomatic intercourse with both of them we can hardly doubt their statements. Further, no such name as Batula Chingsang occurs, so far as I know, either in De Mailla's or Delamarre’s works; and on the other hand, no such name as Bachamu or Machamu occurs in Pallas’s list. My solution of the difficulty is that Ssanang Setsen has made a slight mistake. He has made Toghon and Machamu synonyms of the same person, while Machamu was in fact a synonym for Batula Chingsang. Ching sang, as we know, is a Chinese title, and this being so, it is probable that Batula is also the Chinese form of the title Baatur, which we know was actually borne at a much later day by the Sungar chief Hotohochin, the father of Galdan, who was styled Baatur Taishi, and that is the name by which he is generally known. We are also told that another Mongol chief named Chetchen ombo was confirmed by the Manchu Emperor in his titles of Batur and Tusietu Batur Tagsing, titles having reference to his warlike prowess.

When we remember that Batula is unlike in form to any Mongol name known to us, while it is the form that the title Baatur would take in Chinese, which has no letter r, I cannot help urging that this is an almost certain solution.

If we conclude, therefore, that Batula and Ching sang are merely titles, we have room for the conjecture that the real name of the person who bore them was Machamu, and this would pro tanto reconcile the Chinese narrative and that of Ssanang Setsen, since one makes Batula and the other makes Makhamu the father of Toghon Taishi.

We are told by Ssanang Setzen that Ugetshi Khasi hagha was very much annoyed at the promotion of Batula (whom he considered as one of his subjects) to be the chief of the four Uirads while he was still living, and that he expressed himself freely about it; the Khan Elbek upon this persuaded his son-in-law Batula (Machamu) to try and kill him. He was, however, warned in time by one of Elbek’s wives, and himself succeeded in killing the Khan and in appropriating his widow, the strong minded Uldshei Khung Beidshi.

This was according to Ssanang Setzen in 1399, and for awhile, as I have shown, the Mongols passed under the authority of Ugetshi, the Kulichi of the Chinese. This usurpation was by no means universally popular, and when it received the sanction of the Chinese court in 1404 opposition was aroused, and we are told that Marhapa, Yesuntai and Halutai (Adai), allying themselves with Makamu, marched against the usurper and completely defeated him, after which Adai and Makamu sent their homage to the Chinese Emperor, who concealed his displeasure and received it with seeming cordiality.

In 1409 the Chinese Emperor sent envoys with presents for Adai and other chiefs, but instead of accepting them they killed one of the envoys and treated the other with contumely. The Emperor being much annoyed created Mahamu (who is called Mahom of Wala, of the Uirads, by Delamarre) prince of Chun ning. Thaipin was created prince of Hien y, and Patupula prince of Gan lo. Shortly after this, Adai and his protégé the Khan Peniacheli or Uldshei Timur were defeated by the Uirads and crossed the river Lukhu. In the latter part of 1413 a courier arrived at the Imperial court with the news that Mahamu had defeated Peniacheli and put him to death, and had put Talipa or Delbek on the throne. He shortly after, namely in 1413, so severely pressed Adai that he was forced to cross the desert and take shelter on the Chinese frontier, where he asked assistance from the Emperor. The latter appointed him prince of Honing (of Karakorum) and sent him provisions. This displeased Mahamu, who withheld his tribute and collected an army on the river Inma. The Emperor upon this set out at the head of a large army to meet him. He arrived about the middle of summer at Salihor, and after two days’ march he learnt from the country people that Mahamu was only 100 li distant As he did net come to him the Emperor was satisfied that his intentions were not friendly, and in fact Makamu, accompanied by the Khan Delbek, Tai ping and Polo, and at the head of 30,000 men, offered battle. I have already described this fight, and how the battle was in fact a drawn fight, Mahamu retaining his ground till nightfall, when he retired behind the Tula and went northwards. The next year, 1416 (Delamarre says 1415), Mahamu sent some horses as tribute and excused himself for what he had done on the plea that he was afraid that the Emperor, at the instigation of Adai, his enemy, had marched into Tartary to exterminate him. In 1417 (Delamarre says 1416) Adai sent word to the court that he had defeated Mahamu, and also sent the prisoners and horses which he had captured. A few days after Koaninnu buka, the envoy of Mahamu and of Tai ping also arrived to do homage in their name. Makamu died, according to De Mailla, in 1418, and was succeeded by his son Toghon. According to Ssanang Setzen Batula Chingsang was killed by Ugetshi Khaskhaga in 1415, but his dates at this period are very confused and unreliable. According to him the Uirads passed entirely for some years into the power of Ugetshi and his son Esseku, who also controlled all the Mongols except the small section governed by Adai Khan. He makes Esseku Khan marry the widow of Mahamu or Batula Chingsang, and die in 1425.

Mahamu had, as I have stated, taken prisoner a chief of the Assod tribe named Ugudeleku, and had reduced him to slavery. From the basket he had to carry on his back Ugudeleku was styled Aroktai. When Ugetshi killed Mahamu, Aroktai fell into his hands. The legitimate Khan Adsai and his mother Uldsheitu Khung Beidshi were already prisoners in his house, and they remained so during the reign of his successor Esseku. On the fetter’s death in 1425, his widow Samur Gundshi, who was a daughter of the Mongol chief Elbek Khan, sent them home to their own people, and also sent word by them that Esseku Khakan was dead, that his people were without a head and in a state of confusion, and bade them march against them. This was very treacherous language on the part of the Queen, for besides being the daughter of Elbek Khan she had also been the wife of Mahamu, and was the mother of his son (who is styled Bachamu by Ssanang Setzen). This son overheard his mother’s words, and reproached her for them. At that time Adai Khan was ruling over the section of the Mongols which still remained independent. It was to him that the three released prisoners repaired. Having married Uldsheitu Khung Beidshi, he Adsai and Aroktai placed themselves at the head of an army and defeated the Uirads at the mountain. Jalman brought them under subjection, and captured the son of Mahamu already named.

I have already described how he was treated, and how he got the surname of Toghon. We are told that whilst he was a slave in the house of Aroktai, the latter’s wife, named Gerel Agha, touched by his forlorn condition, treated him well. While she was one day combing his hair, Mongkebai the Mongholtshin said to her, “Agha, while you comb his hair it would be easy to cut his throat,” and then retired. Soon after this his mother, Samur Gundshi, begged for and obtained the release of her son, and took him home with her. When he arrived there he summoned the chiefs of the Uirads, and urged upon them that it was a favourable opportunity for them to break off the yoke, as confusion then reigned among the Mongols and they had no leader. They accordingly marched against and defeated them. Adai Khan took refuge in the sacred Ordu of the Mongol Imperial family, but was pursued there and killed. Toghon Taishi then rode round the enclosure of the ordu three times on his horse Mirsanu sain khongkhor, and said, thou art a fair dwelling for the body of Sutu. “I am Toghon, the son of Sutai.” These words excited the indignation of the chiefs of the Forty and Four (of the Mongols). They spoke to one another referring to Genghis Khan. “That Bogda lord was not only the chief of the Mongols, but had also conquered everybody, not only the five banners of his own people, but also the four foreign nations, and was a son of the Khormusda Tegri. This is a raving idiot.” They then went to him and said, “Thy words and thy deeds are very perverse. It were more fitting if thou wert to bow thyself before the Bodga Lord in gratitude and to entreat his protection for thy life.” Toghon Taishi heeded not their admonition, but replied, “From whom am I to expect the protection of my life if not from myself. Now that the whole nation is subject to me I mean to adopt the title of Khan, and to seat myself on the throne of the old Mongol sovereigns.” He then made an offering to the Bogda Lord (? Genghis Khan). As he turned round to go away it was noticed by those who were looking at the gold chariot of the lord (the carriage on which his image was borne) that the large arrow inside quivered and shook, upon which blood flowed from Toghon Taishi’s mouth and nose, and he fell powerless to the ground. When he was undressed those present noticed a wound like that made by an arrow between his shoulder blades, and as they noticed that the point and notch of the middle arrow in the coach were soiled with blood the Forty and Four concluded that Toghon Taishi had been punished by the Lord himself. Such is the Saga told by the native Mongol historian about the usurpation of the throne of his ancestors by the stranger Toghon Taishi. I will now collect together such notices as I can find about him in the Chinese authors.

In 1424 Adai, having recovered from the severe defeat he had sustained at the hands of Mahamu, had himself proclaimed Khakan and threatened, the Chinese frontier, upon which the Emperor marched against him. The latter heard when he arrived at the river Si yang that he had been entirely defeated by Toghon and that many of his subjects had gone over to his rival.

We next hear of Toghon in 1434, when we are told that he slew Adai at the mountain Una, and that he sent one of his officers named Amké to announce the fact and to take presents to the Imperial court, and also to take the Jude seal of the deceased. He was well received by the Emperor, who gave him back the seal and told him to take care of it.

In 1438 a horse fair was established at Ta thong for purposes of trade with the Uirads.

In 1442 the Uirads sent envoys to offer tribute to the Chinese court. We are told that originally the Uirad embassy consisted of but about thirty persons, but that, encouraged by the presents given by the Emperor, they went by thousands, and the cost to the town of Ta thong of maintaining them rose to over 300,000 taels; the officers who were responsible for this extravagance were imprisoned, and the Emperor fixed the number who were to go in future at 300. Nevertheless, they again came this year to the number of over 2,000. They were all received. They exchanged their horses for bows. Before his death Toghon Taishi, according to Ssanang Setzen, summoned his son Essen to him and said, “Sutu can raise his people aloft, but Sutai cannot protect hers. While I have implored the goddess mother Sutai, I have been reduced to this condition by the Bogda lord himself (has been shot through by his arrow); meanwhile, I have wholly cleared away the thorns from your path; nothing remains to be cleared away but Mongkebai, of the Mongholtshin tribe,”—upon which he died. Schmidt observes that this passage means that Toghon Taishi had not succeeded in entirely extirpating the old royal race of the Mongols, and that something still remained for his son to do. According to Ssanang Setzen Toghon Taidshi died in 1438, but the Chinese authorities are much more reliable on such a point, and we learn from De Mailla that the news of his death reached the Chinese court in the latter part of 1444, so that he doubtless died during that year. He appears in two of the Kalmuk genealogies given by Pallas, and his was doubtless one of the greatest names in Kalmuk history, and he was for the greater part of his reign master not only of the Uirads but also of the Mongols. He was succeeded by his son Essen, the Yassun of one of Pallas’s lists, and probably the Essama of another. To the Chinese he was known as Yesien.

One of Essen’s first acts was to put to death Mongkebai the Mongholtshin, as his father had advised him. He was now master of all Mongolia except the districts of Uriangkai. Having attacked the latter several times, he united himself to their chief in marriage. This chief was no doubt Totobuka, who is called leader of the Uleangra. He then proceeded to molest the Chinese frontier posts of Cha chau, Che kin… An army of 200,000 men was sent against him, under Chu yong, but it did not dare to advance far, and returned without meeting Essen. The cynical author translated by De Mailla says its leaders were as liberally rewarded as if they had captured Essen. This was in 1445.

We next read of Essen attacking China, and even carrying off the Emperor a prisoner to Mongolia. The cause of the war is differently assigned by De Mailla and Delamarre. The former says that Essen demanded an Imperial princess in marriage. His envoy was told by the Imperial favourite, who controlled his master, that his request would be granted. He accordingly sent a marriage present of a great number of horses, accompanied by 2,000men, which number the guides raised to 3,000 in order that it might seem a greater honour. Delamarre says nothing about the Imperial princess, and merely says that the Kalmuks exaggerated the escort of their envoys in order to receive more presents. The eunuch received the presents for himself but when reminded that they were a wedding present and meant for the Emperor, the latter disavowed all knowledge of the transaction, and the eunuch thereupon repudiated his promise and sent the envoys home. Essen was naturally much enraged. Delamarre says he was enraged that his envoys did not receive sufficient gratuities. He accordingly marched a large force towards China. Totobuka, his nominee as Khan, went at the head of the Uriangits against Liautung, Alachewan (? Alak chingsang) marched by way of Suenfu upon Thse chen, another general invaded Kan siu, while Essen himself advanced towards Ta thong. Having defeated a contingent that marched against him, he threatened to march towards Peking, which was thrown into confusion. The eunuch Wang chin undertook to command the army, which, including camp followers, consisted of 500.000 men. He was a very incapable person, and the review of the army at Long hu tai was a scene of terrible confusion, neither was it sufficiently provided with food, while the rain fell in torrents. In vain the more capable officers presented their reports urging a halt. The eunuch was not to be moved, and when the astrologer Pen te thsin told him that the stars were not favourable, he replied that “if disaster came it would be by the decree of heaven.”

The unwieldy army escorting the feeble Emperor at length arrived at Ta thong, where it was decided to retreat. Koleng, the commander of the garrison there, urged that in order to place the Emperor, in safety the army should retreat by way of Tse king koan. The eunuch, on the other hand, wished him to traverse his native country of Wei chau, so that his brother might have the honour of entertaining him. Thus the army returned by way of Tu mu, and stayed there some time. As it was crossing the Ki min chan mountain news arrived that Essen was close at hand. He attacked the rearguard of the army. U khet-chong, the count of Kong chuen, and his brother the lieutenant-general Khe khin opposed him, but were slaughtered with their men, upon which the force constituting the rearguard dispersed. Chu yong and Sue hoan marched to the rescue with worn men, but all perished. At length, after two days’ march, they encamped at Tu mu. There they dug some wells but found no water. Essen learnt the condition of their army from a spy whom he sent out, and when it resumed its march attacked it on all sides, and it began to disperse. Essen ordered quarter to be given to all who did not resist, but the excited Tartars heeded not, and more than 100,000 Chinese were slaughtered, among whom were the generals Chang fu, Wang cho, the Ministers of State Hoang ye, Tsao nai, and Chang i, and a great number of other officers. The Emperor himself was captured. Seeing himself surrounded by enemies he descended from his horse, knelt with his face turned towards the south, and afterwards sat down on a cushion without showing any marks of excitement. This repose, which was probably due largely to imbecility, according to the Chinese account, greatly impressed the Tatars. Their commander, Sai kan, went to tell his master, who hardly crediting the news sent two Chinese to confirm it. When he found it was true he turned to some of the leading Mongols and asked, “What should be done with him?” One of the chief of these replied, “There was no question what should be done. That as the family of Ming had destroyed that of Yuen it was necessary to kill him.” But Peyen Timur interposed warmly and said he ought to be treated as a Noyan (a lord), and he urged upon Essen that he would render his name immortal by releasing his prisoner and sending him home again. This was generally assented to, but Essen had other things in view. He confided him to Peyen Timur and ordered him to be well guarded and to be treated with honour. He then sent word to Peking, where the news was received with consternation. The Queen dowager despatched the most precious objects in gold and precious stones which she possessed, which were placed on eight mules. The Emperor’s wife also sent her jewels. But Essen was not to be thus bought.

Meanwhile, the prince Ching wang, younger brother of the Emperor, was appointed regent, and his son Chu kien chin, who was then two years old, was named heir-apparent. The eunuch Wang chin had perished at Tu mu, having been killed by one of his servants. His goods were now confiscated, and his creatures imprisoned or put to death. The mandarins who had charge of the confiscation reported that the late favourite had several houses as magnificent as the Emperor’s palace, that he had for his table a service of ten gold plates a foot in diameter garnished with precious stones, sixty chests filled with gold and silver, one hundred pieces of jade, fifty trees of coral seven to eight feet high, and over 10,000 horses besides those he had taken with him on his expedition.

Essen returned northwards by way of Ta thong, and in the hope that it would surrender he took the Emperor close to the walls. The latter, aware of his design, shouted to the governor in the ambiguous sentence, “Ko teng, you are allied to me. How then am I outside?” The answer was, “It is by your majesty’s command that I defend this place.” He sent some people out with presents of robes for the Emperor, who distributed them among Essen and his two brothers Peyen Timur and Ta tong. These people also brought out 10,000 taels of gold and as many of silver, which were offered as ransom, but were refused by Essen, who was piqued at having failed to acquire possession of the town. He tried in a similar way to obtain possession of Suen hoa fu, but was again foiled. Leaving China by Miao ul chuang, he arrived in twenty-eight days at his ordinary residence at He fong lin.

The Emperor was taken to his tent, where music and Tatar dances were performed for him by Essen’s wife and concubines. Thence he went to the tent of Peyen Timur, where he was similarly entertained. The Chinese Emperor was named Ing tsong. He is called the Daiming Jingtai Khaghan by Ssanang Setzen, who tells us he entrusted him to the keeping of Alima Chingsang and told him to conduct him to the warm district of Jirghughan minggan utshiyed daira. Essen was pressed by some about him to put his prisoner to death. De Mailla says that he consented, but that on the day fixed for the execution there was a terrible storm, in which his horse was killed by thunder, which frightened him.

Meanwhile it was determined to fill the vacant throne at Peking, and Ing tsong’s brother Ching wang was elected Emperor with the title of King ti. The absent Emperor received the title of superior Emperor (ex Emperor). On the first day of the ninth month Ing tsong arrived at Ipé in Tatary, and Essen sent word to the Chinese court that he demanded a ransom of 100 taels of gold, 300 taels of silver, and 200. pieces of the best silken goods. As no heed was paid to this message Essen sent a defiant letter, and the new Emperor ordered the fortifications on the frontier to be put in order; stores were provided and the garrisons augmented. Essen approached the frontier with a large army, spreading the report that he was escorting the Emperor Ing tsong to Peking. He was accompanied by Totobuka, the titular Khan of the Mongols. He summoned Ta thong to surrender, but as its governor refused to do so he passed on and attacked the pass of Tse-king-koan; its commander Han tsing and the garrison perished. The Kalmuks now spread over the province of Peh cheh li, but the brave war minister Yu Hen did not lose heart; he set fire to the forage that there was in the environs of Peking so that the enemy, whose force consisted entirely of cavalry, should be compelled to retire, and he summoned an army from Liautung.

Essen soon appeared before the capital and made several attacks upon it. In one of these, according to Delamarre, a body of 10,000 Kalmuks fell into an ambuscade, and Essen’s brother Puilo, and Maonahai one of his generals, were killed by a blow from a stone.

This was at the gate Te chen. They were also defeated at the gates Chang-i and Thu-chen, the citizens showering down tiles upon them from the roofs of their houses.

Finding more resistance than he expected Essen sent into the city to treat. His advances were not met in a very cordial fashion. None of the higher mandarins would volunteer to be envoys to his camp, so two of lower rank named Wang fu and Chao yong were told off for the duty and were at the same time raised to the rank of grandees of the empire. Essen had taken the Emperor Ing tsong with him, and when the envoys arrived at the camp they were ushered into a Lama temple, where he was confined, and where they found him with Essen and his brother Peyen Timur, both armed cap-à-pie. They submitted their letters, which were written in Chinese for the Emperor and in Tatar (Mongol) for Essen. The latter discovering that they were only mandarins of low rank sent them back and said he wished Wang ché, U yong, Yu kien, and Che heng to go themselves.

Meanwhile the troops from Liau tung were approaching. De Mailla says they numbered 220,000 men. This succour raised the spirits of the besieged, who made sorties and attacked Essen on three sides, but were apparently very partially successful. Essen however did not deem it prudent to remain longer, bet retired northwards, plundering the towns on his route. The Chinese pursued the Kalmucks, who separated into several sections. Essen retired by way of Ku yong koan, Peyen Timur by Tsi king koan, while Totobuka sent to the Chinese court to protest that he would not again enter China. Delamarre parenthetically observes that Essen had the main authority in the State, and that although Totobuka was nominally Khan, that he had fewer soldiers than the Kalmuk chief, while Ola or Ala, one of the latter generals, had fewer still. The three, although united in their campaign against China, were by no means cordially disposed to one another. The Khakan Totobuka having sent an embassy with presents, it was determined to fan feeling of jealousy, and it returned to its master with large presents. After collecting together the various sections of his army Essen feasted the captive Emperor with a fat horse which he killed in his honour, and promised to release him. Totobuka also made offers of peace to him, but he counted more on the good offices of Peyen Timur, to whose wife he sent to ask to beg for his release. She said she had no power. Her husband on returning from hunting sent him a present of game and wine (? kumis), and philosophically told him not to despair.

One of Ing tsong’s eunuchs, who had gone over to the Kalmuks, seems to have acquired great influence over Essen. He now persuaded him to make an invasion into China by way of Ninghia and to capture the studs of horses there. This he did, and retired again after a month’s pillaging, leaving several thousands of his men at Ho thao, whence they made raids upon the district of Ninghia. This was in 1449 or 1452. Next year the Kalmuks advanced into the district of Ta thong as fer as Cha o, where they were defeated by the Chinese general Ten, who was created marquis of Tin chang. Some months later they were defeated by Chu kien in a sharp struggle near Kia Ida and near Suen fe. The eunuch Hi-ning was no friend to his late master, but tried several times to persuade Essen to put him to death. Ing tsong was not ignorant of his intrigues, and he now had an opportunity of revenging himself. Having need of a messenger to carry a letter to Peking, Hi-ning, who wished very much to go there, volunteered to take it. The Emperor sent him, and at the same time sent orders to the governor of Suen hoa fu to imprison him and send him on to Peking. This was accordingly done, and he was put to death there in the open streets.

In the seventh mouth, Hala, prince of the Tatars, sent his tribute of horses to the imperial court. This was doubtless the Alak Chingsang of Ssanang Setzen.

Essen, who desired to cone to terms with the Imperial court but was afraid that his previous conduct would hardly make his advances acceptable, addressed himself to Hala, who accepted the office of mediator and sent an envoy to the court with offers of peace. The grandees having deliberated determined to send the mandarins Hiu pin and Ma chin to make inquiries as to whether the news was reliable. They returned to Peking and reported favourably. Meanwhile the Chinese treated the envoy of Hala with special consideration, hoping by detaching his master from the interests of Essen to create a diversion in Tatary if it were found necessary. But the Kalmuk chief was quite sincere, and sent another embassy to demand peace. The difficulty now arose on the part of the new Emperor King ti, who seemed disinclined to vacate his throne again in favour of his captive brother. The grandees however agreed that he should not be prejudiced by his brother’s return. He sent Liche the assessor of rites with a pacific letter to Totobuka the titular Khan of Tatary, who took with him seals of office as Khan for Essen and also for Hala. Seventeen days after leaving Peking he arrived at Chepator, where Essen was encamped. Having delivered the seals and letters to him he went on to the tent of Peyen Timur, where he found the captive Emperor Ing tsong. Beside the tent was a cart drawn by oxen, which carried his baggage when he moved about. Liche was much distressed at the forlorn condition of the Emperor, and both wept at the audience; the Emperor saying that if he regained his liberty he should go and end his days by the tombs of his ancestors. Essen at a subsequent interview told Liche to return home and to tell his master to send a suitable cortege to accompany his brother home again. His brother Peyen Timur suggested to him that if a Chinese princess were sent to be married to Essen’s son it would facilitate matters very much. Liche gave a prudent and diplomatic answer to this request. On his return home, having persuaded King ti with some difficulty that. Essen was quite sincere, the latter sent a magnificent cortege headed by the Imperial censor Yang chen to take his brother home again. Yang chen had considerable tact, and having assured Essen that the Emperor would be escorted by 3,000 brave warriors, that then was no disturbance on the frontier which they need fear, and that it was not seemly to demand gold or silver as a ransom when he proposed to generously send the Emperor home, preparations were at once made for the departure. On the day after his interview with Yang chen Essen entertained the Emperor in his own tent and himself played before him on a kind of Tatar guitar while his wives offered him drink. Yang chen was desired to sit during the banquet, the same civility being to Essen’s minister Amké, but the former refused, saying, that although in the midst of the desert, he was not going to be uncivil to his prince. Essen replied that they seemed to be very punctilious in China, among his people these things were not so much considered. This feast was followed by another given him by Peyen Timur. Ing tsong at length set out on his return. Essen accompanied him for half a day’s journey, and on taking leave of him presented him with his coat of mail, his bow, and his quiver full of arrows. Peyen Timur went on with him to the mountain Ye hu ling, where he again feasted him. The next day he paraded the troops in ranks, with their herds behind them, and they presented Ing tsong with a great number of cattle and sheep. Peyen Timur was much attached to the Emperor, and had shown him much kindness during his captivity. They both wept at parting. He sent on 500 Kalmuks to escort him to Peking. Soon after he had left him Amké overtook him with a present of game from Essen. Ing tsong travelled by way of Suen hoa fa, and at length arrived at Peking. His brother was greatly embarrassed by his arrival, which was by no means welcome, and he let it be known that a very cordial reception would not be pleasing to him. Ing tsong, seeing how matters stood, removed all difficulties by resigning the throne in his favour and going to live in the southern palace. This was in 1450 or 1451.

I mentioned that Ssanang Setzen shortly describes Essen’s campaign in China and his capture of the Emperor. He goes on to say that when he set out on his return he let it be known that whoever should forestal him in acquainting his mother with the good news should be put to death. When he reached his home he thus addressed her, “Mother, I feel as if I were born again.” She replied, “My darling, does that mean you have taken the Emperor prisoner?” “Who told you?” he said. “Buke Sorson told me out of the delight of his heart,” she replied. Upon which, without heeding his mother’s protests, Essen had him put to death.

This murder was very displeasing to the Mongols, who fell away from him in large numbers and sided with the Khakhan Taissong, the Totobuka of the Chinese authors. In conjunction with his brothers Akbardshi and Mandaghol he marched against the Uirads and encountered them in the country of Turufanu Kara (Turfan). To try the issue of the battle a champion was chosen on either side. Baghatur Shigussutai of the Oraghods represented the Mongols, and Baghatur Ghoilinchi the Uirad Buriads. When the two Baghaturs neared one another one of them asked the other his name and tribe, and then remembered that on that very spot when their people were at peace the former had thus spoken to the latter at a feast. “Suppose at some future time the Uirads and Mongols should go to war and we two should be chosen as champions and have to fight it out, what would you do to me? Ghoilinchi replied, I am a good archer, and if you were covered with armour as you are now I would shoot you through and through; and I, replied his friend, am a good swordsman, and would cleave you down from the crown to the girdle.” Baghatur Shigussutai, who had remembered the conversation, had encased himself in double armour. Thus prepared he addressed his rival at some distance and said, “Far-shooting Archer, you have the precedence: shoot.” Ghoilinchi thereupon shot an arrow which pierced the double harness of the other, wounded him slightly, and remained fixed in the hinder pommel of his saddle; after which the latter clove him to the ground.

It was decided that the fight should commence at dawn on the following day. Both sides remained on guard during the night, but the Uirads, according to Ssanang Setsen, were in great fear and deliberated whether they should give in or what they should do. Upon this Abdulla Setsen of the Teilenguds remarked that the Mongol people were simple and short­sighted, and that he would go and see if he could not create discord among them. If it turned out well he should be rewarded, if he should perish they might then take his children. On his way he thought to himself—Taissong Khan is prudent and discerning, but Akbardshi Jinong is stupid and inconsiderate; I will try and deceive him ... When he arrived in the tent of the Jinong he said to him, “If you, Jinong, had the sole power we should not be enemies, we should assist one another in war, and meet death united. Essen Taishi has sent me to tell you this.” He then continued, “We hear that the Khan your brother always speaks with contempt of you, and that he as the elder brother takes everything for himself and leaves nothing for you the younger.” The Jinong replied, “Let us confer on this matter tonight.” He then continued, “What Abdulla says is true. When the Khan my brother raised me to the rank of Jinong and gave me authority over the Baraghon Tumen he placed all be gave me on a blind black camel stallion, and in this very campaign he has taken away my servant Alakshid Tsaghan. How can I live with him as a brother? I will unite myself with the Four Uirads and drive him away.” Upon this Akbardshi’s son Kharghotsok remarked—“The proverb says: He who forsakes his family must go forward; he who quits his mother’s womb must come outwards; he who forsakes his parents-in-law will be despised; he, however, who abandons his prince will be abhorred. Essen Taishi is certainly my father-in-law, but that does not concern you, and I speak thus that my father may not stain his name. Rather than trust to the words of a stranger it were better to treat him as an enemy and to cut him down.” His father replied that his chatter was foolish, and allied himself with the Uirads, at whose head he advanced the following morning against his brother. Taissong was defeated and fled, and was put to death by Mongol named Tsabdan who had a grudge against him. Ssanang Setsen dates this in 1452. Delamarre tells us that Totobuka had married Essen’s sister but had refused to make her son his heir, upon which he assassinated him and sent his wife and son to the Chinese. He also sent to do homage and to pay tribute. The Chinese minister Yu kien declared that although Essen had repented and had of his own free will sent to do homage, his crimes were so enormous that he did not deserve pardon. He thought that this strife between sovereign and subject was an opportunity sent by heaven to enable the Chinese to exact revenge from him, and asked to be put at the head of an army to march against them, but the Emperor did hot permit it.

The curious account of the reign of Akbardshi, the successor of Taissong Khan, who is unknown to the Chinese historians, but whose story is much mixed up with that of Essen Khan, I have already abstracted from Ssanang Setzen and shall not here repeat it. According to this story Essen was only styled Taishi and Jinong until after Akbardshi’s death. Delamarre says that after killing the prince Totobuka Essen had himself proclaimed Thien chen Khan (celestial and holy Khan).

Like the Eastern Mongols the Kalmuks were divided into two administrative sections, the Segor gar or right wing and the Baraghon gar or left wing; each of these was apparently controlled by a Chingsang. At this time these two officers were styled Alak Chingsang and Timur Chingsang. Offices of such trust among the Mongols were nearly always reserved for near relatives of the Khan, his sons or brothers. It is very probable that Timur Chingsang is to be identified with the Peyen Timur of the Chinese narratives, who is called a brother of Essen’s, and was his companion in his wars. In regard to Alak, he is clearly the Alachewan of Delamarre, who is elsewhere called Ala by the same author. He is called a general of Essen’s, and was in all probability another of his brothers.

I have described how these two chiefs went one day to Essen to ask him to grant the title of Taishi; how he refused, saying he had already given that title to his son; how they then reproached hire, marched an army against him and drove him away, and how in his flight he met with Bagho the son of Boke Sorsson whom he had put to death, and how he in turn was killed and his body hung upon a tree on the mountain Kugei Khan by the son of his former victim.

In the Chinese account we are told that Ala asked for the post of Grand “Preceptor,” the first post in the empire, for himself. Essen not only refused him but also killed his two sons, upon which he marched against him at the head of his people and killed him. Ssanang Setzen dates his death in 1453, Delamarre in 1454, and Timkowski in 1455. With Essen passed away the glorious epoch in the history of the Western Mongols. Under him the whole Mongol world was once more united, and in some measure revenged itself upon the Chinese by frequent victories over them and by capturing their sacred ruler, the latter was a stroke of fortune which has seldom fallen to a nomadic chief, and makes us surmise that with a little more vigour abroad and a little more unity at home he might have rivalled, at least in Asia, the role of Genghis Khan. With his death the supremacy of the Kalmuks seems to have vanished away very rapidly. We are unfortunately left in the dark about them by Ssanang Setsen, who for a while confines himself to the history of the Eastern Mongols, and the Chinese accounts of Mongolia also become exceedingly meagre.

We are told that soon after Essen’s death the Tatar Puilai killed Ala, seized the mother and widow of Essen, and put Maeulh the son of Totobuka on the throne, and that after this Puilai and his officers Maolihai, were the renowned chiefs among the Tatars who increased in power daily. This Puilai is no doubt the Polai of De Mailla. He is called Bulai by Timkowski. The Maeulh of the above account is no doubt the Molon Khan and Maolihai the Molikhai of Ssanang Setzen. He does not name Puilai, who seems to have now become the chief of the Kalmuks.

In 1460 Puilai, Maolihai, and others invaded the Chinese frontier with three divisions. They marched by way of Ta thong and Wi Yuen. They pillaged the country in the neighbourhood of the pass of Yen Men and of the towns Tai chau, Su chau, and Si chau. In 1461 Puilai sent a letter proposing an agreement, but he nevertheless continued his incursions.

In the latter part of 1465 Maolihai at the head of a large army invaded the Chinese districts of Yen gan and Sui te in Shensi. The Emperor ordered Yang sin the commander of Ta thong, Li kao commander of Ning hia, and Hiang chong governor of Shen si, to resist them. There was scarcely a year in which Puilai, the little king, Maolihai or others did not make raids upon the districts of Yen gan and Sui te and carry off prisoners. It is to this period we must refer the passage in De Mailla where he says “The Tatars became formidable to China, especially after Maolihai, in the sixth year of Ing tsong, penetrated into the districts of Ku yuen, Leang chau, and King chau.” We are told that being incited by Holochu and Mongko, enemies of Pohai (? of Puilai), who was then in possession there, he had crossed the Yellow river and attacked and killed Pohai. Finding the country fertile the three confederates settled there and sent their homage to the Chinese court.

In 1468 Topo, prince of the Uirads, sent his chief minister Hoché Timur to take tribute to the Chinese. In the Ming annals we read that in the early years of the reign of Hien tsong, who mounted the throne in 1465, Maolihai, Kiaokiaslan, Puilohu, and Mantlu successively pillaged the frontier. In 1473 the three former chiefs made a cruel raid into China, which I have already described. In 1482 the Tatar Ismain invaded Yen sui, and was defeated at the mountain Thai by the colonel Liau nin; other detachments of them were beaten at Chong tsui, Mu kua yuen, San li tha, and Heche yai, and suffered great losses.

We now reach a period when the Mongols, under Dayan Khan, were being welded together into a homogeneous power, while the Kalmuks were apparently being disintegrated and broken into fragments. They occupied the country north of the Tien Shan or Celestial range, and especially the neighbourhood of the Bogdo Ula mountain. Their capital was in the valley of the river Ili, and probably on the site of Kuldja. In the description of Ili, extracted from the Sin kiang chi lio by Stanislas Julien, it is said that under the Ming the territory of Ili belonged to the Wala (the Uirads). The same account is given in the Thai Thsing i tong chi. It is to this country, and especially to the sacred mountain of Bogdo Ula, as I have shown, that the traditions of the Khoits revert. Lastly, De Mailla, in describing the revolutions that took place in the district of Khamil and Turfan in the middle ages, says that the mountains Tien shan separated the country of Khamil from that of the Wala or Uirads, and that when the Uirads were all powerful in the reign of their great Khan Toghon they captured Khamil. This was about 1472. And we find Uirads meddling in its internal history more than twenty years later. As I have said, they were gradually becoming disintegrated as the Mongols were gaming in strength. The latter were at length controlled by their great chief Altan Khan, of the Tumeds, and we read that in 1552 he marched against the Four Uirads, and killed the prince of the Naiman Mingghan Khoit (of the eight thousand Khoits), named Mani Mingghatu, on the mountain Kunggei Sabkhan, captured his wife Jigeken Agha, and his two sons Tokhai and Kokoter, and subdued the whole people. He also recovered Khoning (Karakorum) from them. In 1562 his great nephew Khutuktai defeated the Torguts on the Irtish, as I have already related. But a turn in Kalmuk fortune was at hand and was brought about by the Khoit chief Esselbei Kia, such is his name as given by Ssanang Setten, and he was the son of the Mani Minghatu just named. He is called Esilban Sain Ka (the distinguished Esilban Ka) by Pallas. He says he was a prince of the Khoits, at first subject to the Buirats but afterwards their conqueror. Ssanang Selzen and Pallas give two different versions of his struggle with the Mongols, which I shall now abstract. According to the former, as Setzen Khungtaidshi of the Ordus tribe was returning in 1574 from an expedition against Togmak he learnt that Buyan Baghatur Khungtaidshi and his brothers, the sons of his suzerain the Jinong Noyandara, had set out on an expedition against the Uirads; he thereupon left his baggage at Bars Kul (Barkul) and also set out against them. Baghatur Khungtaidshi had meanwhile attacked the Naiman Mingghan Khoit Tumed (the eight thousand Khoit division), under Esselbei Kia, on the “morning side” (the south) of the Khargai (? Kanghai chain) and had subdued them. Setzen Khungtaidshi thereupon marched against the Baghatud (as I suppose, the joint Sungars and Derbets), whom he encountered and vanquished, under their chiefs Khamsu and Duritu, on the “evening side” (the north) of the Jahnan mountain. His son Uldshei Ilduchi pursued them for three months, although he and his men had finished all their provisions and were obliged to subsist on a kind of earth called Barkilda by the Mongols. On the south side of the Tobakhan mountain he subdued the four clans of the Choros, under their chief Bajira Shigetshin, after which the princes, father and son, set out on their return home. Meanwhile Setzen Khungtaidshi sent messengers from Bulungkir, where he then was, to Baghatur Khungtaidshi with the message, “Esselbei Kia is regarded by his own people as their eye, and is not the man to treat us treacherously; as we have decided to divide the Khoits and to break their power, we may as well leave the matter in his hands.” Baghatur, who was then apparently in the Khoit country and had Esselbei Kia in his hands, was dissatisfied with this proposal and would not give the messengers an audience. Esselbei Kia, who was flattered by the good opinion of him Setzen Khungtaidshi had expressed, drew out of the kettle the best piece, namely, the four great ribs, and put them before the messengers, who thereupon set out on their return. When Baghatur learnt this he flew into a great rage and attacked Esselbei Kia with the words, “You have Consumed the best half of a whole horse, the four ribs on either side next to the shoulder pieces. The proverb says, ‘that he who dips his finger in another’s milk will not scruple to capture another’s herd.’ So you have dipped your hand in my kettle, and acted the master against my will. You had better have the culprit finger eaten.” Those of the four Uirads who were present, angry at this insult, plotted together, while Esselbei Kia stamped with his foot, threw down the rest of the flesh and said, “I have not eaten the four horse ribs, but the eight ribs of my father Sutai Minghatu will come, and are not far off.” Upon which he collected an armed force, with whom he on the following night attacked Baghatur Khungtaidshi in his camp on the river Kerchissun, killed him, and then retired from that country. This was in 1575.

Pallas says nothing of the reason for Esselbei’s outbreak, but merely describes that event. He says he furtively collected a number of resolute men and gave some of the Uirad princes notice of his intention. He told them that they should feign that they wished to do homage to the Mongols in the ancient fashion. Following his advice, they prepared a rich train laden with presents, borne by caparisoned camels. He and the bravest warriors hid themselves in the dossels which camels carry on both sides so that each camel carried two men, armed with good sabres. When the convoy arrived in the Mongol court, where all the great men had assembled, and after the preliminary ceremonies, the camels were unladen, the hidden warriors came out, fell upon the Mongols present, and caused a great slaughter. The Uirads then fell upon the Mongol army in its first consternation, and compelled it to abandon their land, and to give the Uirad princes their freedom and a just alliance. Esselbei now became the head of tbe Uirads, except only a few who, to escape submitting to him, fled to Bukharia. But whilst each of the Uirad princes willingly surrendered to him the headship, he proved himself unworthy of the position, and abandoned himself to drunkenness. At length there arose great hostility against him, and a certain Torgut called Abuda Budshi (Abuda the shooter, because he was the first to use fire­arms), with the assistance of some other Kalmuk princes (among whom Shuker, an uncle of Galdan’s, whose life kia had once saved, is named), captured him and had him killed by a common Kalmuk named Ulan.

The Kalmuk chronicles report that in this war a whole army of Mongols, under Ushi Khungtaidshi, was surprised in the night and slaughtered. His horse Umik Shorkhal alone survived, and conveyed the news of the death of their husbands to the widowed Mongol women. Upon which Deere Zasen Khatun, the wife of Ushi, who was then pregnant, collected an army of armed women and marched against the Kalmuks. She was, however, wounded by Abuda Budshi in the under lip with a bullet. The boy who was the offspring of this Amazon, says Pallas, was born without any thumb on his right hand, and was thence known as Mukhor Lusang (the crippled Lusang). The death of Esselbei probably occurred at the end of the sixteenth century, coincidently with the rise of the rival Kalmuk power of the Sungars, who for a while were predominant among the Western Mongols, and to whose history we will now turn.

The Sungarian royal house is traced up by the Kalmuks to the great chiefs of the Uirads who have occupied us largely already, Toghon Taishi and Essun. The table as given by Pallas is as follows:—

Ollodoi and Kokon were the last of their respective lines, so that the family of Arkhan Chingsen inherited the family patrimony. Arkhan Chingsen is made the father of Ongozo and Ongorkhoi, between whom the patrimony was divided.

The two sections were respectively known as Sungars and Derbets. The latter I shall consider presently.

Ongozo was the stern-father of the Sungarian royal race, and was succeeded by his son Bulai, or Abuda Ablai Taidshi. Up to this point I have no means of checking this account, and merely repeat it from Pallas, who collected it from the native chroniclers.

Here however I find myself at issue with Pallas and those who have followed him. Bulai’s son he calls Kharakhulla. This is a name not known to the Chinese authors, but it occurs in the Russian authorities consulted by Fischer and Muller, and Pallas tells us it is a famous name among the Kalmuks. He derived it from having killed a wild beast of the species Kharakhulla, and it was therefore merely an epithet, and is in fact so used by Pallas, who gives us his real name, namely, Khutugaitu. Pallas makes him be succeeded by his son Baatur Taidshi, who, he tells us, as early as 1616 left his father and settled on the Irtish, and he would have us believe that while the father was a wretched fugitive driven into Siberia by the Khalkhas, that the son was flourishing in the neighbourhood of the Saissan lake, and that the father survived till 1635, when Baatur at length secured the whole of his heritage. It is not the custom for the Mongol Khans, to use a graphic Lancashire phrase, “to pull off their shirts until they go to bed” to divide their empires with their sons while still living, nor is it the custom of the Mongols to divide their allegiance in this way. I believe that Khutugaitu and Baatur Khungtaidshi were in foot the same person. Baatur and Khungtaidshi are both of them titles, and were given, as I believe, to Khutugaitu for important services he rendered the Dalai Lama. This view is made almost certain when we turn to the Chinese accounts, which tell us that the father of Galdan (who, in Pallas, is Baatur Khungtaidshi) was called Hotohochin, who took the title of Patur Taidji. Hotohochin is merely the Chinese transcript of Khutugaitu, and we are here expressly told that he took the title of Patur (Baatur). I believe, therefore, that Pallas has mistaken the two names of one chief for the names of father and son, and I shall treat the two as one person.

According to the Chinese, Khutugaitu settled north of the Altai (of the Ektag Altai), whence he and his people were known as Northern Eleuths. Pallas tells us that Baatur Taidshi (the same person) settled on the Irtish, where he subdued several petty princes. It was probably this migration to the north which led to his people being called Sungars. Sungar, or Segon gar as Ssanang Setzen has it, means right wing, and is used often by that author as the correlative of Baraghon gar, or left wing. The previous inhabitants of the Irtish valley were apparently the Torguts, and Baatur married a daughter of Urluk the Torgut chief. The two leaders are found sending envoys jointly to the Russians, as we shall see presently. As the Torgut migration took place during Baatur’s reign over the Sungars, it is not improbable that the domestic quarrel previously referred to which caused it was between Baatur and Urluk.

In the valley of the Black Irtish Baatur came in contact with both the Russians and the Altan Khans of the Khalkhas. The former had recently broken up the Khanate of Siberia and the country of the upper Ob, and Yenissei was very unsettled. The Sungars made claims to the allegiance of the Barabinski and other Turkish tribes in the neighbourhood of the Tara, who they said had been their subjects from time immemorial, and from whom they had the right to collect tribute. Accordingly they entered this district in 1606 to assert their claims. The Russians collected a force of Tatars and Cossacks from the towns of Tobolsk Tumen, Turinsk, and Tara, and marched against them but failed to drive them away. In the following year a small body of them were allied with the sons of the dispossessed Siberian Khan Kuchum in making a raid beyond the Tara upon the districts of Tobolsk, Tumen… After this, some of the Tatars of the Tara district having deserted to them, they returned in their company about 200 strong and ravaged the neighbourhood of the city of Tara. The Voivode there, Ivan Mosalskoi, sent envoys to them to demand the return of the deserters, and to invite them to submit to the Russians, to pay tribute, and to go to Tara to do homage. This they declined to do, and alleged further that they knew nothing of the deserters. The inhabitants of the Tara district had been accustomed to get their salt in the steppes of the Irtish, and thence supplied the whole country with that article, which was a monopoly in their hands. In 1610 and 1611 the Kalmuks asserted claims to these salt mines and refused permission to the Cossacks, to take salt from them. A great scarcity of salt was the consequence, and in 1611 a large body of armed Tatars assembled at Tara determined to march and maintain their right; but the cause of strife was partially removed when, two years later, namely, in 1613, a fresh mine of salt was discovered in the salt lake of Yamish.

The Kalmuks having discovered that this policy was not wise, adopted another, and in 1615 envoys went to Tara from three of their Taishis, Bagatir (Baatur), Turgen, and Urluk. After staying thirteen days they returned home. The following year Baatur and some other Taishis swore the oath of allegiance to the Russians before two Cossacks who had been sent to them from Tobolsk, but the whole matter was only nominal and a farce, and no doubt had some ulterior object.

In 1618 the Russians defeated a body of Kalmuks in alliance with the Siberian princes on the steppe between the Irtish and the Tobol, and captured seventy camels. In one of their skirmishes they captured a Bakshi, an inferior grade of Lama or neophyte, and we are told the Kalmuks offered fifty horses as his ransom.

Meanwhile the Sungars were embroiled in a contest with their powerful neighbour in the east, the Altan Khan of the Khalkhas. About 1620 Kharakhulla seems to have captured his capital, which was on the Ubsa lake, and carried off much booty and many prisoners. He was at the head of 4,000 men. But the Mongols returned upon him so swiftly that he not only lost all he had won but had to fly with only one son and to leave his wife and children behind. He escaped to the Ob and fortified himself at the outlet of the river Chumish. Others of the Sungars found refuge on the Irtish, Tobol…

The Russians were uneasy at the arrival of these visitors, who were given to plunder and unstable. Although fugitives they seem to have offered their aid to the Siberian princes whom the Russians had dispossessed, and gave them other causes for apprehension. Not only the Sungars but the Derbets also, under their chiefs Dalai and Mergen, were at this time refugees in Siberia. Fischer describes also the doings of a Kalmuk Taishi whom he calls Sengul. He seems to have rebelled against the encroachments of Baatur upon the power of the petty princes, and he courted the friendship of the Russians, finding enough for his prowess in attacking the Mongols, Kirghiz Kazaks, and Nogays. The Bashkirs, the Barabinski, and others also felt his arm. In 1633 he sent some envoys to the Russians, but the latter did not consider it good policy to continue the intercourse, and as he felt himself slighted he ravaged the district of Tumen. Baatur seems to have extended his influence on all sides, and especially punished the Kerghiz Kazaks, many of whom he captured and sent on to Tumen to be exchanged against Kalmuk prisoners. On the other hand he was unfortunate in his struggle with the Khalkhas, and was again defeated by them in 1633. But we now reach a period when the internal policy of the Mongol tribes, both the Eastern and Western Mongols, was greatly revolutionised. This was the effect of the introduction of Lamaism among them. It had been introduced among the Eastern Mongols about forty years before. It had now spread also among the Kalmuks, among whom it was introduced by a Lama named Zagan Nomien Khan, and so deeply had it taken root that each of the three great chiefs, Kharakhulla of the Sungars, Dalai Taishi of the Derbets, and Urluk of the Torguts, had dedicated a son to the monastic life. It is no doubt at this epoch that we must date the peace which was made between the Mongols and Kalmuks, through the intervention of the Lamas, and especially of the Mongol Khutuktu, and which no doubt led to a great increase in the power of Baatur. The Kalmuks appear almost annually in the Russian records, either as plundering the frontier, taking yassak or tribute from tribes subject to the Czar, or helping the Siberian princes in their expeditions.

It would seem they were now determined to prevent the Russians from getting their salt at the lake Yamish. They accordingly in 1634 posted themselves 2,000 strong in its neighbourhood, and the Russians who had gone there took shelter at the nearest village on the Irtish. When they found they could not entice them out they determined to try and surprise Tara, and to cover their operations they spread the report that they intended to fight the Kirghiz Kazaks, but the deceit was soon discovered when the Taishi Kuisha with his sons Ombo and Yalsi entered the district of Tara and ravaged the whole land with great cruelty; they then laid siege to the town and pressed it hard, but troops at length arrived from Tobolsk and in the engagement which was fought outside, the Kalmuks were beaten and had to surrender the booty they had captured. Meanwhile another body, who were doubtless Derbets, made an attack on the district of Tumen under their leader Dalai Taishi, and retired with their plunder to their trysting-place on the river Ishim. The Russians of Taxa and Tumen combined and marched against them there, but only overtook a small body, some of whom they captured at the wood Kosh-karagai. They then exchanged them for Russian prisoners. Like the Indians of our day they left their women, children, and old folks in camp to look after the herds while the warriors marched off to plunder. Such a camp was passed through by a Cossack who went as an envoy to the Taishi Kuisha in 1637. In 1638 the Cossacks, who went to get salt at the lake Yamish and who were led by Bogdan Arshinskoi, invited the Kalmuks in its neighbourhood to a conference, where peace was made. The Kalmuks promised not to molest the Russian settlements nor to attack the Russians who happened to be out hunting or fishing, and also gave them permission to get their salt there, and even furnished sampler beasts to carry the salt to their boats. These transactions and struggles on the Russian frontier were no doubt carried on with small detached clans or tribes, who although subject nominally to the head of the race had many small skirmishes on their own account. It is time we should once more turn to the main horde and its leader Baatur. This seems to have migrated once more to its old quarters on the Hi. In 1634 he made a successful raid upon the towns south of the Tien Shan mountains, and the following year received the patent of Khungtaidshi from the Dalai Lama and also the title of Erdeni Baatur.

He now seems to have courted the friendship of the Russians. We find him ordering his viceroy north of the Altai, who was named Kula Taishi and who lived between the Ob and the Irtish, to restore some families of Tatars from Tara, whom he had carried off, and also sending back 100 families (who had deserted the Russians) with 1,000 horses. The people of Tara upon this sent presents of cloth for him, his brothers, and Kula. This led to the exchange of messengers and the promise on the part of the Khungtaidshi to restrain his people from injuring toe Russians and to assist them in the portage of their salt from Yamish. Baatur sent envoys to ask for presents, and asking also that they themselves might be sent on to Moscow, but at this period orders had been issued that no Kalmuk messengers should be sent on there. Among the presents asked for were a suit of armour, a gun, and some lead (for shot), ten sows and two boars, a couple of game cocks, and ten small sporting dogs. Fischer tells us that at this time he was building some fixed dwellings for the Lamas, and wished to introduce agriculture among his people. The chief of these fixed settlements was called Kubak Sari. Pallas says he spent most of his time in beautifying and cultivating his country, and was known as the Shepherd Prince. In 1640 a present of 400 rubles worth of silver work, silk, and cloth, was sent from Moscow for him and his deputy Kula. Orders were also sent to buy the swine, dogs, and fowls in Siberia and to send them to Yamishewa, whence the Khungtaidshi could send for them. It was two years before this could be done, a good proof of the poverty of the Siberian settlements in such things. This present aroused the envy of Shuker, Baatur’s brother; who complained that he, who had shared in his brother’s act in returning the deserters, &c. had been forgotten, while Kula, who was only a Koshutshi, had been remembered, and he accordingly sent envoys to Tobolsk to ask for presents.

The Kirghises who lived on the Abakan and its neighbourhood were the victims, as I have shown, of the Altan Khans on the one hand, and of the Russians on the other. To escape from this position they now began to migrate, and did so into Kalmuk territory, upon which the Kalmuks claimed the exclusive right of taxing them, but as the Russians still imposed yassak upon them, Baatur in 1641 made reprisals by claiming yassak from the Barabinski Tatars. A Cossack named Ilyin was sent with presents to his court to treat about this, but found him absent, on an expedition against the Kirghiz Kazaks, and had an interview with his wife Dara Uba Saltsha, the daughter of Urluk Taishi, who detained him till her husband’s return.

When this dispute was settled Baatur raised another question, and accused the Cossacks of Kusnetz of having attacked the small tribe of the Kersagalen (who lived on the upper Tom, and who were his subjects), of having killed some and captured others for whose ransom they asked an exorbitant sum. This also was explained as a mistake which had been made by the Cossack Ilyin, who fell on the Kersagalen when he ought to have attacked the Telenguts. I have said that when the Russian envoy Ilyin went to Baatur’s camp the latter was away fighting with the Kirghiz Kazaks. He had been involved in war in 1635 with their great chief Ishim Khan (with whom Abulghazi bad sought refuge in his distress), and had captured his son Yangir Sultan. The latter having escaped, persistently molested the Kalmuk settlements, and Baatur determined to crush him effectually. In 1643 he collected a force of 15,000 men, and was also joined by the Alat-Kirgisi (? the Kirghises of the Ala Tau) and the Tokmani with a force of 10,000 men. Yangir could only muster 600, with whom be ventured to oppose him. He planted one half of them in a fort in a defile, and the other half behind a mountain, and while the Kalmuks attacked the former he fell on their rear with the latter portion, and his firearms were so effectual that 10,000 of the enemy remained on the field. He was soon after joined by Yalantush, another Kazak prince, with 20,000 men, and Baatur was compelled to retire. He carried off, however, the prisoners he had captured in the war, which makes it look as if the account of the battle was a good deal coloured by hyperbole. In this war he was assisted by the two Khoshote chiefs Utshirtu and Ablai, whom I have previously named.

At this time the chief camp of Baatur was at Kubak Sari, which was near the river Imil. When the Cossack Ilyin returned home he was accompanied by two envoys from Baatur, bearing a letter which was thus worded:—“To the Great Lord and Grand Prince, Baghatur Khungtaidshi sends greeting: We are well and would know how you are. You the Grand Prince and I the Khungtaidshi have hitherto lived in peace together. You are my father and I am your son. The most distant peoples have heard of our goodwill towards one another. If my people and yours trade together they will not plunder one another nor fight against each other, but there will be peace between them. “Your people have attacked our subjects the Kersagalen on the river Tom and taken some of them prisoners. If this be known to you, great prince, if it was done by your orders, then return the prisoners without exacting ransom; if it was not, then let the culprits pay us a penalty.” They demand a ransom of 400 sable skins for each prisoner, even though only a boy of ten years old. “If you will not be so gracious as to order their release without ransom, our old friendship will be at stake. We send you as presents two panther skins, six rutshi (thick leather used for arm braces in archery), and two horses; and I ask in return for a suit of armour, a gun, four game cocks, and eight game hens. If you want anything from us, great lord, state it in a letter. Permit my envoys to go to Moscow. They take the horses with them.”

At this time there were many Kalmuk fugitives in the Baraba steppe, who had taken refuge there on account of famine. It is said they subsisted on fish which they caught in lake Saissan, which received its present name of Saissan nur (noble lake) on this occasion from the grateful people. It was previously known as Kisalpu nur.

The envoys did not go on to Moscow, and further intercourse between the two nations, including another letter from Baghatur, is described by Fischer. The chief grievance between them being the allegiance of the border people, the Kirghises, Kersagalen, and the Tatars of Baraba. At length the Khungtaidshi seems to have grown weary of diplomacy, and in 1649 his deputy Sakil, the son of Kula Taishi, made a raid into the district of Tomsk and laid waste the village of Shagarska. The following year the Russians sent Volodomir Klapikof, a captain of Strelizes, to complain. He found the Khungtaidshi at Kubak sari, where he was busy building a stone town; a discussion ensued which showed that Sakil’s attack had been provoked by a Russian attack on a Kalmuk settlement, and an offer was made an the part of Baatur to release any Russian subjects he had as prisoners when the Russians had similarly released his people the Kirghises: Klapikof was accompanied home again by some envoys from the Kalmuk chiefs who asked for presents. Besides those already named he asked for two carpenters, two masons, two smiths, two gun smiths, a cannon, some gold tinsel, twenty swine, five boars, five game cocks, ten game hens, and a bell. This demand shows how bucolic and agricultural the nomad chief had become, and we now reach the term of his career. Fischer says he died in or before 1660. Pallas says in 1665. He may well claim an honourable place in Asiatic history. Not only did he consolidate the scattered Kalmuks into a strong empire, not only did he make his arm felt among all his neighbours, but he had also the talent, so seldom met with among nomads, of inducing his people to adopt more settled habits. This revolution in their customs was doubtless largely due to the Lamas, who now settled in large numbers in Sungaria, and built temples in many places there. Baatur was a prominent figure in the history of the Yellow Lamas, and largely assisted Guushi, the Khoshote chief in his campaign in Thibet in 1643. By his nine wives he left twelve sons and two daughters. The latter were married to the two Khoshote chiefs Utshirtu and Ablai.

Pallas tells us that the Kalmuk concur in making Baatur be succeeded by his son Segretis is also the testimony of the Chinese authors. Du Halde has a different story, and makes him be succeeded by a son Ontchon, and he again by Senghé. I can only reconcile these statements by supposing that Du Halde was mistaken in making Ontchon a son of Baatur’s, and in fact a Sungar at all, and I would venture to offer a tentative solution of the difficulty. Pallas calls Onchon, Otshotbu Baatur, quoting apparently some passage of Du Halde unknown to me. I also find among my notes that Ontchon was otherwise known as Otsho bushotbu Baatur and Bushetu Khan. Unfortunately I have mislaid my reference in this case. On turning to the geneolngiral table of the Khoshote royal family, which at this time almost rivalled in importance that of the Sungars, we find that the youngest son of Khana Noyon Khongor, the youngest in fact of the Five Tigers, was called Buyan Otchun Baatur.

Pallas tells us nothing of him beside his name, but that name is so very like the one that we are discussing, that there is very great probability of its representing in fact the same person. This is increased when we turn to the Chinese accounts and find it there stated that after Utshirtu Khan and Abatai Khan (the two Khoshote chiefs already named)  Chetchen Ombu having won a great victory over those who wore white caps, was given the titles Baatur and Tusiotu Baatur Tagshing by the Emperor. The same account makes him, and not Gaushi, like father of Dalai Khan, the Khoshote chief of Koko nur. The comparison of these names, and the fact that the Khoshote chiefs were so newly connected in marriage at this time with the Sungars, make it far from improbable, therefore, that the Ontchon of Du Halde was no other than the youngest of the Five Tigers, and so I shall treat him. I will now transcribe the curious Saga about him told by Du Halde. He says that “during a war with the Baraks he happened to fell ill of small-pox in his camp, and was abandoned by his followers according to their eastern. He was found in his tent by the enemy, who took care of him. He did not discover who he was, and was kept by them as a common slave, during which time Senghé, who did not doubt that he was dead, married his wife. But at the end of three years, Ontchon having disclosed who he was to the Kazaks, and having promised them that if they restored him his liberty and gave him a guard of 100 men as an escort, that he would never renew the war against them, they restored him to his liberty. Having arrived on the frontier, he sent a courier to Senghé to apprise him of his adventure and return, who, surprised at this unexpected news, immediately went to Ontchon’s wife, who was now become his own, to ask her what she would determine in such a conjecture. The woman, who had acted with honour, replied that rite had only married him in the persuasion that her first husband was dead, and that therefore since he was living she was indispensably obliged to return to him again. But Senghé, who was equally enamoured with her and her fortune, as he had got possession, was resolved to beep it. Wherefore, under pretence of complimenting the prince on his return, he despatched certain persons whom he could trust with secret orders to murder him and all his retinue, which bring executed accordingly, he gave out that he had defeated a body of the Buruts. The naive account I have abstracted from Gerbillon’s account in Du Halde, altering it only so as to make it consistent with the above correction.

It would seem that Senghé in fact succeeded his father Baatur. In 1657 he fought against Lobdsang Khan on the Yenissei and the same year laid siege to Krasnoyarsk. Senghé was own brother to Galdan. His father Baatur had two sons by another wife, who where named Setzen and Baatur. They were jealous of Senghé, as they deemed their portions too small; they accordingly attacked him several times and eventually killed him. They thought to seize upon the succession but were prevented by the Saissans, who at the instigation of his widow had them killed. The Chinese accounts make them the victims of their brother Galdan. The latter had been placed when young in the service of the Grand Lama, and was himself a Lama. He resigned all his rights to the succession to his brother Senghé. On the murder of Senghé, Galdan, who was always of a warlike and turbulent disposition, unlike what a Lama should be, got dispensation from the Grand Lama to renew his rights, attacked his brothers, killed them, and caused himself to be declared Taidji. Galdan was born in 1645. Pallas says that at the beginning of his reign he was assisted with the advice of his brother’s widow Ana Dara, a daughter of the Khoshote Utshirtu, whom he seems to have married. His first war was against his uncle Shuker, a very turbulent person, whose raids upon Thibet I have mentioned elsewhere. In his first encounter with Shuker Galdan was defeated, and in 1673 he took refuge with his father-in-law Utshirtu, with whom he quarrelled, for Pallas goes on to say that in 1676 he at the same time surprised his father-in-law and also Shuker, the latter of whom he imprisoned and killed his son Baga Mandshi, while his grandson Khardu Taidshi, who was then thirteen years old, was lucky enough to escape to Thibet and afterwards to put himself under Chinese protection. Gerbillon says the battle was fought near a great lake called Kizil pu (lake Sassian). Unkowski gives us some details about it. He tells us that at Guldan’s accession Setsen Khang lived on the Saissan lake. Galdan quarrelled with him. The quarrel, having smouldered for five years, at length broke out. Setsen Khan advanced by the Sout kol or White sea (the lake Sairam), and intended to cross the Talki mountains and fell upon Galdan in the valley of the Ili unawares. Galdan, however, was informed of his plans, forestalled him, and attacked and defeated his forces in the mountain passes. He then fled towards the Saissan lake, where he was pursued. He was captured there and decapitated. Manu of his people  was also slaughtered, while 15,000 prisoners were captured. The Kalmuks have still a legend that after the fight the Saissan lake was tinged with blood for a distance of six days’ journey, that its water was afterwards considered unwholesome. Müller puts by the side of the legend the somewhat Philistine commentary that Unkowski had told him that when he passed that way he had used the water both for drinking and cooking. Galdan acquired grew reputation among the kalmuks from his profession as Lama, and from his close relations with the Dalai lama, and seems to have rapidly won for himself a supreme authority in Sungaria, where he subdued not only his own special people the Sungars, but also the Derbets and Khoshotes. In 1676 he took the title of Kkungtaidshi. Fugitives from his attacks began to arrive in China. Thus we read that in 1677 a Jinong of the Eleuths having been beaten by him took refuge there. Shortly after the people of Kokonur fled in large numbers to the Chinese frontier. One party, several thousands strong, led by the Taishi Marghen, went with their tents and baggage as if to make a permanent settlement. This was followed by a second migration of 10,000 Tatars, led by the Tsfaong Putipatur the Choeba of Lopotsan, the Hocbetsi of Erdeni, the Upaché of Sifan, and the Upaché of Patai mannu. These fugitives arrived in sad plight, and the emperor Kanghi allowed them to settle on the frontier and ordered them to be supplied with cattle; he also took the precaution of stationing some troops there as guards.

About this time an opportunity was afforded Galdan of extending his influence to the south of the Tien Shan range. The Hodjas or saintly families of Kashgar were divided into two rival factions known as the Back Mountaineers and White Mountaineers, who struggled fiercely for power. The Kashgar Khan Ismail, a jealous supporter of the Montenegrin or Black Mountaineer party, drove Appak Hodja, the head of the rival party, from his native country. He retired to Cashmere, whence he proceeded to Thibet, where he so ingratiated himself with the Dalai Lama that the latter dispatched him with a letter to Galdan requesting the latter to re-establish the authority of Appak in Kashgar and Yarkend. Galdan seized this opportunity, conquered the so-called Little Bukharia in 1678, and appointed Appak his viceroy with Yarkend for his capital. The family of the Kashgar Khan was carried by Galdan into captivity to the Ili region and retried in the Mussulman town of Kuldja. From this time until its conquest by the Chinese Little Bukharia was ruled by the Sungarians, who did not interfere with the infernal administration of the country but limited themselves to receiving a tribute of 40o,000 tiangas per month. At this time Galdan’s residence was at the mountain Kin chan, two months’ journey from Kia yu koan, in the country anciently called Ta wan. In 1679 he sent to ask for an interpreter from the Chinese who knew Chinese, Mongol, and Manchu, and sent to the mandarin on the frontier three horses and a complete suit of sable as a present to the Emperor in order that he might not oppose his projects in the direction of Sihai or Kokonur the cradle of his race. The presents were accepted and an interpreter sent as desired. The messenger who accompanied him described Galdan on his return as about thirty-six years old, with a severe countenance and as being addicted to drink.

About this time, having conquered Turfen and Khamil and killed the Torgut chief Nasa Mamut, he took the title of Bushtu Khan, till then, according to Timkowski, only used by the descendants of Genghis Khan. On this occasion he sent a present to the Chinese Emperor of certain cuirasses styled sosekia, and much valued, guns, horses, camels, and sabre skins. The Emperor in return conferred upon him a state seal of the same authority as that used by the Khalka princes. This was in 1679. It was at this time that the feud began to arise among the Khalka princes, one of whom, the Tushiyetu Khan, endeavoured to appropriate some of the tribes of the Jassaktu Khan, as I have described. The latter appealed to Galdan, who was very ready to interfere, especially as he resented the presumption of a Lama, the brother of the Tushiyetu Khan, who raised pretensions to rivalry with the Grand Lama of Thibet

In 1682 the Emperor sent envoys with magnificent presents to the various Khalkha chiefs, and also to Galdan. They went in reality to learn how matters stood in Mongolia. Those who were sent to Galdan consisted of two grandees of the first class, a prince of the Imperial fondly named Sanko, and others. Their journey is described at some length by De Mailla. The chief envoy reported that having arrived at the frontier of Galdan’s dominions, he sent messengers to acquaint him with their journey. They met Galdan at Sarpateou. When he first heard of their journey he expressed surprise, but afterwards congratulated himself that the Chinese, who had not previously sent envoys to his people, should have done him this honour, and stating that he regarded this as the most glorious event of his reign. At Mao li keou the envoys were met by a Saissan or nobleman, who furnished each of the party with a horse, and also thirty horses and ten camels as sumpter beasts, and a large number of sheep for their consumption. At Tsitsiha, one day’s journey from the Court, they were met by another Saissan, who again suggested that there must be some occult reason for the embassy. The envoys replied that the empire being at peace their master wished to show his good feeling for the Khan, and had therefore sent them. They also sent to ask how he proposed to receive them. The 28th of the moon was chosen as a lucky day for the audience. Galdan was seated on a mat, his feet crossed in the Tatar fashion. He raised himself from his seat and stooped when he received the Imperial missive, while his grandees on each side received the other presents. The envoys being seated, Galdan referred to the several years’ war, by which he had reduced his turbulent subjects, and inquired the motive the Emperor in sending eight of his young people to study in Tangut (Thibet, where he wished to retain exclusive influence). They answered in courtly fashion that acquiring new knowledge is like eating a grand feast, it causes joy and contentment to the heart. The following day the envoys were spectators of the Mongol games and the Lama dances, and the day after, being the new moon, they were incited to hear the exposition of the sacred books. After which they were feasted until the 9th of the month. These festivals, which were held every new year, being concluded, the envoys called attention to the feet that many of Galdan’s subjects went to China without passports. Galdan replied that all who went as his envoys or to do homage always went with property sealed papers, but that many who lived far away from his court, such as the Derbets, Torguts, and Khoshotes, had to go to China so frequently for purposes of commerce, that it was not always convenient to give them papers; but it was at length agreed that unless so furnished they were in future to be stopped at the frontier. The envoys were again feasted before leaving, and Galdan in his turn sent back presents for the Emperor, consisting of 400 picked horses, sixty camels, 300 sable skins, 500 ermine skins, three skins of the chelisun (?), 200 fox skins spotted with white and yellow, twenty yellow fox skins, five pieces of gilt leather, a live eagle of the species called tiao by the Chinese, and four guns.

For a long period jealousy and other causes had led to a coolness between Galdan and the chiefs of the Khalkhas. I have described at some length the incidents of the quarrel, and how the Tushiyetu Khan of the Khalkhas, by his unfair treatment of the Jassaktu Khan and by encouraging the pretensions of his brother the Khutuktu, at length brought matters to a crisis.

In the earlier part of 1688 Galdan, whose ambitious views were in this instance at least assisted by a plausible pretext, marched at the head of 30,000 men against the Tushiyetu Khan of the Khalkas. The latter and his brother summoned the other Khalka princes to their assistance, and a large army was accordingly assembled to resist the invasion. “The king of the Eleuths saw very well that it would be rashness to come to an engagement with an army so superior to his own; wherefore he only sought to post his troops to advantage, flattering himself that divisions would soon arise in the army of the Khalkas, which accordingly happened. The chief of one of the most numerous standards decamped first in the night with all his forces, Tchetching han (the Setzen Khan of the Khalkhas) a little after followed his example, and, in short, all the rest made their retreat, leaving Tushiyetu Khan and the Lama his brother with none but the forces of their own standard.”

Galdan continued his advance, and on arriving at Temur (the river Tamir, a tributary of the Orkhon) he sharply attacked Kahan the son of Tushiyetu, and of several thousand men whom he had with him hardly a hundred remained. Another body, under the three chiefs Tantsin wen pu, Tantsila, and Tukarharabdan, captured Erdeni tchao and burnt it. The Khalkhas were panic-stricken, the wife and children of Tushiyetu Khan fled in the night in custody of 300 men, while his subjects deserted their tents and flocks and hurried away, and the Chinese envoy, writing in 1688, describes them as a scattered body of fugitives. Galdan put to death all the Mongols he met with of the family of Tushiyetu Khan, penetrated even to his camp and the ordinary residence of the Lama his brother, burned whatever he could not carry away, and entirely destroyed two fine temples which the Lama had built at great expense. After which he sent some of his troops to scour the country, ordering them to put to the sword all the Khalkhas they met with. They fled on every side. Many of these fugitives were met by Gerbillon and the embassy which went that year to settle the boundary question with the Russians. Tushiyetu Khan and his brother retired to the southern extremities of the desert, and agreed to submit to the Emperor and to become his vassals. The latter thereupon sent envoys to Galdan acknowledging that he had a just cause for his aggression, but he represented to him that he ought to be satisfied with the humiliation and ruin he had brought upon his enemies. Galdan was inexorable; he replied respectfully that he had undertaken the war to revenge the death of his brother, that he thought no prince would give refuge to so wicked a person as the Khalkha Lama, who had been the author of so many barbarities, and that therefore he was resolved to pursue him wherever he retreated; that the Emperor was also interested in his punishment since he had notoriously violated the promises made to his majesty’s ambassadors in the assembly of the states, and shown so little deference to his mediation. To the envoys of the Dalai Lama, who seem to have urged him to clemency, he replied, Who will revenge my brother’s death if I make peace with the Tushiyetu Khan? Know that I am resolved to continue the war with all my forces for five or six years, I mean to destroy the Khalkas, and shall not be content until I have seen at my feet Chepsuntanpa (the Tushiyetu’s brother) humbled and loaded with chains.

He had to postpone his vengeance however, for a while in consequence of troubles nearer home. His elder brother Senghé, to whom he had succeeded, had left several sons, among whom the eldest was Tse wang Arabtan. They were no-doubt the legitimate heirs to the Kalmuk throne on the death of Galdan, and as the latter probably had ulterior views in favour of his own family, he seems to have determined to exterminate them. Tse wang Arabtan was betrothed to Hohai, daughter of the Setzen Khan of the Khalkhas. Galdan carried her off. In 1688 Solom Arabtan, brother of Tse wang, who was with Galdan at his camp at Op, died suddenly, and it was suspected that Galdan had killed him. With these grievances to revenge, Tse wang Arabtan marched against his uncle, defeated him in the country of Puktakrin habichar, and having recovered his betrothed and revenged his brother’s death, he returned homewards. This happened about 1689, when Horni, an envoy from the Manchu Emperor, was at Galdan’s camp. On his return the latter reported that he had been well received. Galdan made inquiries about, the Chinese grandees who had been the previous year to the Selinga with a large escort, and was told that it was merely a commission sent to define the limits between the Chinese and the Russian empires. Horni further explained that the reason why the embassy went by way of the Selinga and not through the country of the Khalkhas was because of the unsettled condition of the latter. Galdan, at a subsequent audience, reciprocated the expressions of goodwill made by the Emperor, against whom he avowed he had no ill will, but he desired vengeance against the Tushiyetu Khan and his brother. While Horni was with Galdan envoys also went to the latter from the Dalai Lama with the object of securing peace, but received a similar evasive answer.

Horni on his return home reported that Galdan’s people had suffered so much in the recent fight with Tse wang Arabtan that some of them were obliged to eat human flesh for food. He was now sent to the frontier of the Khalkhas country (to the karong or limits where they were then encamped). News arrived sometime after that Galdan was preparing for a fresh campaign against the Khalkhas, so the Emperor ordered a large army to be in readiness to protect the frontier. It was divided into several divisions, one of which under the orders of Horni was ordered to march to the Kerulon. Soon after a Lama who passed by way of Kia hiu koan reported that he had lately left Galdan encamped at Hopto (Kobdo), that he had several thousand infantry with him but only few cavalry, and that after resting where he was awhile he proposed to invade the Khalkhas country. Shortly after further news arrived that he had crossed the river Urtcha at the head of 30,000 men, and that he had asked assistance from the Russians, from whom he hoped to get considerable aid. The Manchu Emperor inquired about this from the Russians Kilikuli (?) and Ifanistsi (), who were then at his court. They could only say that the rumour was without foundation. Fresh news arrived some days after that Galdan was short of provisions and had killed many of his cattle. In regard to these negotiations with Russia we learn from the narrative of Nicholas Witsen that while Galdan was driving out the Khalkhas he was on very friendly terms with the Russians, whose traders went regularly to Sungaria. In 1688 he sent an envoy named Darkhan Saissan to Irkutsk with a letter and a present of white doth with red stripes which was made in his country. In the letter he mentioned the war he had been waging against the Khalkhas, and seems to have asked for an alliance with the Russians. Galdan was then encamped at a place called Kholdu, not far from Selinginsk. The Russians were not disposed to embroil themselves in this quarrel, and accordingly replied that if the Mongols attacked him (Galdan) in his own country they would not fail to send troops to his assistance from Selinginsk, Udinsk, and Nerchinsk; but that to assist him in an invasion of the Mongol territory would cause much confusion, nor would it be possible on account of the distance. He was also requested not to molest the Mongol Taishis who had put themselves under Russian protection at Selinginsk and Udinsk. On the return of the envoy a present of straw-coloured and red English cloth (doubtless yellow and red baize) was sent for Galdan, while some red Hamburgh cloth, brandy, beer, and beef were given him for his own use. This was not the only message he sent the Russians. On another occasion he told them that if they would let him have 2,000 or 3,000 good Cossacks, with some cannons, that he would ravage all the borders of China outside the Great Wall. We must now revert to Galdan’s struggles with the empire.

The Emperor was quite satisfied that he meant war, and he accordingly told Sunu, an Imperial prince who commanded the Bannermen, to hold himself in readiness. Galdan it would seem did now enter the Khalkhas country, and for convenience of forage followed the course of the Kerulon. Great preparations for a campaign were made at the Manchu court. The Forty-nine Banners of the Mongols, the Eight Banners of the Manchus, and a Chinese Banner were assembled. Before marching the Emperor wrote a letter to Galdan recalling him to the fact that he had invaded the borders of the empire contrary to his promise; that it was his (the Emperor’s) duty to protect the weak against the strong, and threatening him with vengeance unless he sent envoys with his submission. He also reproached him with having retained some envoys whom he had sent to him, namely, the Khutuktu, Ilakuefan, and others. A few days later the Emperor heard from Horni that he had attacked a body of 20,000 Eleuths encamped on the river Hurhoei. These Eleuths had made a raid upon the country of Utchun-kutsin, and had captured a large number of prisoners and much booty. The Imperial forces were at first successful, but became demoralised, and instead of pursuing the Eleuths began to appropriate the booty, the latter turned upon and seem to have completely routed them. This defeat caused considerable chagrin at the court, more especially as it was brought on by the aggressiveness of the Imperial forces. The Emperor at once prepared another army. He at first designed to have commanded it in person, and had sent me orders to follow him, but at the instance of the council and the grandees of the empire he altered his resolution and gave the command to his eldest brother (Hoché yu tsing wang), whom he created generalissimo, with whom he also sent his eldest son (In-ti) and the principal of his council. Galdan, who was apprised of their march, attended them with great resolution about eighty leagues from Peking. This prince was very advantageously posted, and though he wanted artillery, with which the Imperial army was well provided, and had but few troops, yet notwithstanding the inequality he accepted the offer of battle. At first his vanguard suffered very much from the enemy’s cannon, which obliged him to change his order of battle, but as he was posted behind a great marsh, where the Emperor’s army could not surround him, he defended himself with great bravery till night, when each party retired to their camp. The grand master of the artillery, who was also cl to the Emperor by the mother’s side, was killed about the end of this action by a musket shot, as he was giving orders for withdrawing the cannon.” This is the account of the battle by Gerbillon, who was a neutral witness, and it qualifies considerably the account given by the Chinese annals by De Mailla, which, after claiming a victory, proceed to recount the punishment of the generals for not having made it complete. But to continue Gerbillon’s account.—“The following days were spent in mutual negotiations, the result of which was that the king of the Eleuths should retire with the remainder of his forces, but first take an oath before his for never to return into the territories of the Emperor or those of any of his allies. In his retreat a great part of his army perished by want.” Galdan refers to this arrangement in a letter to the Russian court, and makes out it was a truce for a year that was agreed upon.

Tse wang Arabtan had quarrelled with his uncle, as I have said, and the Manchus sent envoys to gain him over to them. Meanwhile Galdan continued his policy of aggrandisement, and the various tribes from the river Kerulon to the Koko nur lake felt the weight of his hand, and he seems to have effectively subdued the Khalkha country and also that of the Kirghises or Buruts. Meanwhile he intrigued in various directions. Ambition, say foe Chinese annals, became his only god. He pretended to be a devotee of Islam to please the Kazaks and Turks, while he sowed dissension among the Mongols by taking up keenly the cause of the Dalai Lama against his rival the brother of the Tushiyetu Khan. News reached the Imperial court that his couriers were constantly going to Thibet and to the Mongol princes. Gerbillon reports that he thus addressed the chief of the Korchin Mongols, the most powerful tribe of the Forty-nine Banners, which had been particularly faithful to the Manchu cause:

“What can be more unworthy than our becoming slaves to those whom we have commanded? We are Mongols, and united under one law, wherefore let us join our forces and regain an empire which belongs to us and was the inheritance of our ancestors. I shall share with pleasure the glory and fruits of my conquests with such as will share the peril; but if there should be any of the Mongol princes, as I persuade myself there are none, so base as to desire to remain slaves to the Manchus, our common enemies, they may depend on being the first objects of our revenge, and their ruin shall be the prelude to the conquest of China.”

The Korchin chief, with praiseworthy fidelity, passed this letter on to his suzereign. The latter began to prepare to punish him. He forbade the Dalai Lama and the Mongol princes to receive couriers unless furnished with letters of authority sealed by the princes who sent them, and he also ordered the garrison of Kue-hoa-ching to arrest all those who had no passports, and wrote a minatory despatch to Galdan, in which he charged him with duplicity, and threatened him with the consequences. He also began, preparations on a large scale for the campaign, and endeavoured to inspire increased zeal by promising to reinstate in their positions degraded mandarins who should prove themselves zealous in that war. Among other preparations, we are told he ordered a great number of quilted cotton cuirasses for the troops. He appointed a grand festival for the first month in 1696, to which he invited the various officers who were destined to command in the expedition. The ceremony was characterised by great pomp, the Emperor sitting on his throne and the various grandees on magnificently decorated seats; on the right were the mandarins who were to command the troops, and on the left those charged with the duties of the commissariat, and the various inferior officers ranged according to their rank. A grand symphony opened the festival. The Emperor having summoned Pé Féyanku, who had been appointed generalissimo, to approach, presented him with the wine cup. The latter received it on his knees, then rising descended the steps of the throne, again went down, on his knees, emptied it, and stooped with his forehead to the ground. The other generals were similarly honoured. The Emperor then ordered his body guards to present wine to the inferior officers, who advanced in sections of ten to the foot of the throne and went through the same performance. After the ceremony, which lasted nearly two hours, the grand steward of the household distributed silken pieces to the greater officers.

A few days after it was announced that two armies would inarch against Galdan; one commanded by Féyanku, the other by the Emperor  in person. A third army was also organised under the orders of the general Sapsu. Shortly before this time Homhulan and some other officers of Galdan deserted to the Manchus. They reported that he had passed the spring of 1695 near Kobdo, that he afterwards encamped at the sources of the Kerulon, where he had been joined by the Taishis Ho rabdan, Tantsila, and Tantsin gomup, with some 3,000 men, and that, having followed the course of the Kerulon, he was then (autumn of 1695) Peyen ulan with 6,000 men. His nephew Tse wang Arabtan, who was not friendly with him, was at Keluna-pira. The first division of the Imperial army consisted of 35,600 men, partly Chinese and partly Mongols of the Forty-nine Banners, and Manchus. The second of 37,700 men, chiefly from the garrison of Peking and the province of Pecheli, and probably the flower of the whole force. The third consisted of 35,43o. Every body of 10,000 fighting men had from 40,000 to 50,000 retainers, attached to it, so that the whole force was probably little short of a million. The commander-in-chief, Féyanku, made a report on the practical routes leading from Kuhoa ching to Karong (the limits), beyond which Galdan was supposed to be, and orders were given to dig wells where necessary. Before setting out the Emperor offered a grand sacrifice to heaven; then he went to the hall of his ancestors to acquaint them with his approaching departure. He left the palace by the street Ngan-ting-men, and the gate in the rampart enclosing that part of the city to the camp, attended by the eight banners, his own picked Manchu soldiers. The Manchu canoniers went first, then the Chinese canoniers of the Banners, and lastly the Chinese soldiers. His arrival was signalled by three volleys of artillery. When he reached the camp his officers and soldiers saluted him without dismounting by a profound inclination of the head, and then commenced to march. The princes and people, who were merely spectators and not going forward, formed an avenue on their knees, between which the cortège marched. The army was divided into sixteen brigades, two to each banner, and the details of their commands are stated in De Mailla’s annals. After again sacrificing and imploring the favour of heaven for his expedition, he set out on the 1st of April, 1696. He was accompanied by the Jesuit fathers Thomas Pereira and Gerbillon, the last of whom has written an account of the expedition. The vast procession of baggage waggons caused much inconvenience, although the season was favourable, the marshy places being frozen hard. Regulations were drawn up for crossing the enemy’s country. The baggage was ordered to start at daybreak, no fire was to be lighted before that time, and only one meal was to be made each day. The Emperor and his sons shared in these restraints as an example. The itinerary of the march is interesting when we consider the paucity of information about the desert of Mongolia. On the 1st day of the third month the Emperor was at Nan keou, on the 2nd at Yu i, there he rested. On the 4th day he slept at Cheho, on the 5th at Ching u, where he rested three days. On the 9th day he encamped at Mao eulh ku, and the 10th at Tu die chin, on the 11th at Tsilun, on the 12th at Nohai hojo, near the little river of Shantu. On the 13th at Poro Khotan, where the Emperor and his sons and the Khalkha chiefs amused themselves with archery. Having delayed there a day on account of bad weather he encamped on the 15th at the lakes of Kon-nur. There the army was assailed by snow and wind, and we are told the Emperor refused shelter till his soldiers were provided. This bad weather cleared away on the following day, and on the 17th the Tushiyetu Khan of the Khalkhas and his brother the Lama went to pay him their respects. The army now altered a broken hilly country still for the most part covered with snow. On the 18th it encamped at Keizu bulak, near the lake Poyoktei; the 19th and 20th was spent in hunting and resting. On the 21st it encamped at Holbo, between two lakes. The route still lay over sandy downs, and on the 22nd the camp was fixed at Aghirtu; on the 23rd at Uchimuk, near the nitrous lake of the same name, and situated north of a great plain. There they met with very bad weather, snow and wind. They rested on the 25th and 26th at Kaltu, where they again suffered a good deal from the severe weather. The bad roads and weather began now to tell on the sumpter beasts. On the 27th they encamped at Kon-nur; on the 28th at the Chaghan nur or White Lake, where they amused themselves with fishing. The 29th and following day were spent at Hulustai. They now approached a better country, and on the 2nd of May reached the rich pastures of Suritu.

There the regulation about eating only one meal a day was put in force. On the 4th they encamped at Habirghan, on the 5th at Horho, in the country of Karong (at the limits), on the 6th at Keterku, on the 7th at Targhit, close to a great lake. Those who had gone forward “to prospect” reported that Galdan was encamped on the Tula, eighteen days’ march from the Karong. At Targhit the Emperor was joined by the envoys whom he had sent to Galdan and who had been kept prisoners for three months and been meanwhile badly treated. They were sent back with only scant provisions for the journey, consisting chiefly of lean camels and camels’ foals, dogs and colts. Having rested for a day the Imperial forces again advanced on the 9th and encamped at Sensen, on the 10th at Kodo, where they stayed till the 12th.

The grandees pressed upon the Emperor the risks that attended him in such a journey, and begged him to return and to leave his troops under the orders of their generals. He replied with energy and dignity “that he would do nothing of the kind. Had he not informed his ancestors in solemn fashion of his intentions? Did not every soldier know what he meant to do when he set out? Had not his ancestors won their thrones by encountering danger and difficulty? How could he, sprung from mighty heroes, fly like a woman at the shadow of danger? Hew could he meet his ancestors after such craven conduct?” Upon this his advisers fell on their knees and asked pardon. On the 13th day of the fourth moon he encamped at Sudetu, on the further borders of the country of Karong. Near there was an engraved boundary stone of the empire, for the Kara or limiting line passed through the place. This is the northern frontier of the country of the Forty-nine Banners. The cold now began to increase, and the beard was frozen before sunrise. Messengers brought word that Galdan, who had been for some time encamped on the Tula, had retired along the Kerulon, and was when they left encamped at Tarban. The next day after leaving Sudetu they reached Hulosutai chaka nur, where a stone was found with an inscription recording that Yong lo, the third Emperor of the Ming dynasty, had passed by this route, and doubtless in the same fashion, when pursuing the Mongols, who had been driven from China by his father Hong yu.

On the 16th the Mongol army encamped at Kara manhi-hapirhan, where there arrived a person who had been sent to Galdan by one of the Mongol princes subject to the Manchus with a pretended alliance. He reported that he had been gladly received by Galdan, who said 60,000 Russians were allied with him, and promised that if his master would join him they would together march upon Peking after they had defeated the Imperial troops, and that the conquered country should be divided between them. The Emperor rewarded this Mongol messenger with a present of 100 taels.

On the 17th there was a halt; an advance guard of 3,000 Chinese foot soldiers and all the musketeers of the eight banners, to the number of 2,000, with 800 Chinese body guards and 800 Mongol cavalry, and the greater part of the artillery was sent on. They were commanded by the Emperor’s eldest son and by Sosan laoye. The troops of the three first standards formed the main army under the Emperor, while the remaining five standards formed the rear guard.

On the 18th they encamped at Ongon elezu, where they rested the following day. On the 20th they arrived at Sibartai. Meanwhile Féyanku, who commanded the western army that was marching towards the Tula, to cut off Galdan’s retreat in that direction, had met with great difficulties, and sent word that he should not arrive there as soon as expected. On the 24th the main army encamped at Chaban pulak, where a halt of several days was made. On the 30th they reached Taring chéri.

The march had latterly become very trying. Once fairly in the desert it was found impossible to proceed with the baggage cattle on account of the yielding sand and the impedimenta; rice and other food was removed to the backs of 40,000 camels; but these also began to give way, especially as Galdan had ordered the grass on the route to be burnt. Meanwhile the Emperor heard worse news of his other two armies. Féyanku had first to make a three months’ march, then a great detour towards the west to find water. He was obliged to leave many of his men behind, and arrived on the Kerulon with only 10,000. The third army was in still worse plight, and eventually its commander, leaving the rest behind, went with 2,ooo men only, to join Féyanku. The Emperor was naturally very much depressed at this news. He suggested that terms should be made with Galdan, and sent an embassy to him with a proposal including the gift of an Imperial princess for a wife, but the embassy was waylaid and plundered by robbers. The Emperor had written to apprise Galdan of his approach, to tell him he had come to settle the differences that had long divided the Khalkhas and Eleuths, and that it would be prudent for him to submit. The envoys were told they would not be admitted, and that they were at liberty to return with their letters and presents.

On the 4th of June the army encamped at Idu-chilu-aru-pulak, twenty lis from Talan pulak, and the next day at Rukuchel. On the 6th it reached Yentu puritu, and the next day the Kerulon, where it encamped at a place called Erdenitolohak kerlon pulong.

It would seem that Galdan had continued to hope that the Emperor would be frightened by the terrible march across the desert and would never reach him. Now that he found he was mistaken, and not knowing the pressure on the Imperial resources, he thought it prudent to retire towards Sungaria, and when the Manchu army reached the Kerulon it found only his deserted camps (which had been fired), with the débris resulting from a hasty withdrawal. But this retreat had been foreseen, and it was to cut it oft that Féyanku had been sent with the second army to the Tula. This army, says Gerbillon, had penetrated by roads hitherto deemed impracticable. As this was the worst part of the desert, being almost naked and badly supplied with water, and containing neither forage nor inhabitants, almost the whole force, even the officers, was reduced to march on foot, while the horses had to be led. Provisions ran short, and for eleven days they had without other food than some fragments of horse and camel flesh, and many had died of misery. They had now reached and were encamped at a place caned Chao modo, fixed by the Father Jartoux at 840 long. W. of Peiting, and 47 42 N.L. Meanwhile the main army under the Emperor marched westwards along the Kerulon, and Gerbillon, who describes the progress of the cavalcade, tells us that the various colours of the quilted silken doublets of the soldiers, mingled with the gold upon their cuirasses and their gay standards, formed a magnificent spectacle. The Emperor advanced westwards as far as Tono and Suilhitu, when as provisions and forage were running short, he turned aside to the more fertile district of Toirin, while he sent a detachment of 5,000 or 6,000 men in pursuit of Galdan. It did not overtake him. He was however waylaid by Féyanku, who, having heard from one of his generals that he was encamped at the outfall of the Terdchi (? a tributary of the Tula), sent his general Chétai with a portion of the army with orders to try and bring on an engagement. Finding the enemy too strong Chétai contented himself with a discharge of musketry and then retired, pursued by Galdan. Féyanku, who was still encamped at Chao modo, dismounted his troops, posted them on a hill, and awaited the onslaught of Galdan. It was a critical position for either army, as retreat was almost impossible. The sustained fire of the Imperial artillery and musketeers, and the vigorous charges which they made, at length broke the ranks of the Kalmuks; they began to retreat. Féyanku now remounted his soldiers, descended from the mountain and pursued the enemy for upwards of thirty li, as far as the out­fall of the Terelchi. Two thousand of the Sungars were put hors-de-combat, their army was dispersed, their baggage, arms, and herds, with a large part of their women and children, fell into the hands of the victors. Galdan’s wife was shun by a musket ball in the confusion; he himself with his son, daughter, and a few retainers fled westwards, while crowds of his subjects surrendered to the Imperial general. Well might the gratitude of the Emperor overflow towards his victorious troops, for his position had become very critical, and their food had been nearly all consumed.

The captured booty, comprising 6,000 oxen, about 70,000 sheep, 5,000 hones, and as many camels, was a grand boon to the victors, and the Emperor, we are told, did not fail to return thanks to heaven for the victory. A table like an altar was erected on the open space in front of his tent, and upon it was placed a chafingdish, in which were burnt sweet smelling pastiks, and two lighted candles; in front of this the Emperor stood alone, with his face turned towards the south; the grandees were all around on their knees; taking a small glass of spirits, he raised it aloft several times, then emptied it on the ground, stooping low while he did so. Afterwards he received the congratulations of his chief officers, each of whom made three genuflexions, and touched the ground nine times with his head, in the fashion prescribed in the ceremonial of the court. The Emperor gave orders that the prisoners who had been captured and the Sungars who had voluntarily submitted should have lands assigned to them outside the gate Chang-kia-keou, one of the gates off the Great Wall, and ordered them to be supplied with cattle, food... He then began his march home again. On the way he amused himself with hunting Mongol antelopes, while the various Khalkha and Mongol princes through whose territory he passed went to compliment him on his success, and received presents. At Holho or Holosutai he was met by the Tushiyetu Khan and his brother the Lama, the real originators of the war. They offered him a present off several horses, and in return received some silk.

Among the officers of Galdan who submitted to Féyanku were the Mohammedan Aptush Khan, the Taishis Chereng or Zeren Chap, Baatur, Kuru merghen, and Hantu; the Saissans Mei, Mamukoin, Erinchin, Hasha, and many others. Ho rabdan, a brave commander, who had fought with considerable skill in the late battle, and had received two wounds there, disappeared after the fight. Galdan himself fled with only a handful of followers. So great was his fame and so various his resources that the Emperor was far from satisfied that the terrible defeat he had sustained would crush him. He had married the daughter of a powerful chief of Tsinghai or Kokonur named Bushtu Tsinong, and it was feared that he might get active assistance there if he managed to escape so far. The Emperor accordingly wrote to the Kokonur chiefs, as I have already described, and he also sent expeditions in various directions to try and capture or kill him. He also wrote very pressing letters to him recounting his many offences, yet promising him pardon and even rewards if he would submit.

In the latter part off 1696 one off the Manchu generals named Tsu leang pu was surprised in the country of Honkin by 3,000 men, who turned out to be Kalmuks. On the 5th off December one off Galdan’s chief officers named Tushiyetu-nabur, with eighty followers, surrendered to Féyanku, and was by him sent on to the Imperial camp. He reported that his master had intended to retire towards Hami (Khamil), until he heard that his retreat there was cut off, that he was now in the country of Saisu churi, and that he still had about 4000 people with him, most of them women and children, 1,000 only being warriors, who were in the greatest distress. A few days later the Manchu general Honanta captured a party of travellers who were on their way to Thibet. They turned out to be Tarhan ompu an envoy from the Dalai Lama to Galdan, the Saissan Hortao, sent by his son-in-law Bushtu, prince off Tsinghai, and Hochetsi (? a Koshote), sent by Ponchu, another chief of Tsinghai. They were returning home with Galdan’s answer, escorting the Tortsi Kumon, who was sent by him as an envoy, his own grandson, and others to the number of eighty. They had left Galdan, who was then encamped at Kurembertsir, on the 5th of the previous month. They announced that he was on the point of retiring towards Pekerchakan with over a thousand men, who still remained faithful to him, that Ho rabdan was at Chapka kuen Chen with an equal number, but that Tantsin ompu had quarrelled with him and retired to the country of Tamir. They reported also that Galdan and his followers had suffered terribly since their great defeat, having neither clothes nor cattle sufficient, and that Galdan was much broken down by his misfortunes. A few days later an envoy from him went to the camp of Féyanku offering submission. He was sent on to the Imperial camp. The Emperor received him seated on a platform, under a splendid canopy or tent. He recounted to him the ill-conduct which had brought his master to this pass. “Speak,” he said in conclusion, “if you have aught to say in palliation.” “Our misfortunes,” said the envoy, “have opened our eyes to wisdom and prudence; we only ask to be accepted as his majesty’s faithful subjects. We confess that we have done ill, that ow sole object in fighting with the Khalkhas was to plunder them; but repentance ought to command pardon, and I don’t doubt that shortly my master will, like the Khalkhas, repose peaceably under the shadow of the Imperial throne.” The Emperor dismissed the envoy with a letter promising that Galdan and his people should share in the riches which China offers those who are faithful subjects, and be forgiven if he would attend the court in person; promising further, that for eighty days the Imperial armies would halt and cease from pursuing him, but that if he failed to return by that time he should be hunted without ceasing. A few days later the victorious general Féyanku was received by the Emperor in his camp at Sar kuto with great distinction. He received his honours with becoming modesty, attributing his victory to the exactitude with which he had followed out the Imperial instructions. Kanghi re-entered his capital on the 19th day of the twelfth moon by the north gate, and sought a much-needed repose in his palace. Early in the following year Galdan’s son was captured by the chief of Khamil, and sent as a prisoner to the court. The festivals of the new year were celebrated with unusual rejoicings, and the capture added some lustre to them. He was called Septen Parchur, or rather Sebten Baljur (long and very happy life), a name given to him by the Dalai Lama. Gerbillon, who was in attendance on the Emperor, describes him as a boy of fourteen, good looking, dressed in a doth coat with a fox-skin cap. He had an unhappy embarrassed air. At the audience he fell on his knees before the Emperor, who questioned him about h is, and learnt from him that he was not more than twenty-six days’ march from Pulukir, where they then were. The Emperor judged that the garrison of 3,000 men he had at Pulukir would amply suffice for the pursuit of the fugitive. The young prince was sent as a prisoner to Peking.

I have mentioned that Kanghi sent a letter to Galdan, giving him eighty days’ grace. The envoys which took it now returned. They reported that only one of them named Pochi was allowed an audience. He had to wait for a longtime. At length Galdan appeared. He was seated on a heap of stones in the open plain, and did not permit Pochi to approach him. He thanked the Emperor for his benevolent intentions, and to prove his gratitude he promised to send one of his officers to acquaint him with his real sentiments. After which short audience he mounted his horse and rode away. In all this we see the suspicious, guarded behaviour of a desert chief accustomed to surprises and treacheries. Galdan probably suspected that the envoys were assassins, or at least sent to circumvent him in some way. Two Sungars were afterwards seat by the Emperor. They were also received in audience, and reported the strength of the empire and how those who had been made prisoners, had found a comfortable asylum in China. All this was doubtless worm­wood and gall to the proud chief, and we are told he broke off the audience without saying a word to them. It was evident that his spirit was by no means crushed. So the Emperor hastened on the preparation at the armies which were to further punish him. Féyanku once more advanced at the head of a large force, which numbered 20,000 to 25,000 Manchus and Chinese, besides Mongol and Khalkha auxiliaries, raising it to about 150,000 men. This marched across the great desert. A second army was sent from Liau tung, under Sap su, and marched through a better country towards the Kerulon. Galdan learnt of these preparations, and retired by forced marches to Assaktu hala hotsirhan. Again the Emperor sent an envoy to him, and chose for the purpose the son of Galdan’s nurse, that is probably his foster brother, asking him to submit. He also wrote to Tse wang Arabdan. But the drama was nearing its end, and on the 5th of June Kanghi received news from Féyanku that the great Sungar chief was no more. He had died six weeks before at a place called Hochaho mutatai. He had fallen ill at daybreak, and died the same night, and his body had been burnt. The Emperor Kien Lung says he poisoned himself. Some of his followers surrendered themselves to Féyanku; the rest went westwards to join Tse wang Rabdan.

The news was very grateful to the Emperor and his forces; the latter were now ordered home again. Deeming that the death of Galdan was the work of heaven, he began by returning thanks to it. In the open plain a table was dressed as an altar, and upon it were placed odours and perfumes. Accompanied by his eldest son, the military mandarins, and the literati, he made the triple genuflexion and saluted the ground with his forehead, and afterwards received the congratulations of the court in his tent. He then ordered the ashes of Galdan to be sent for and despatched to Peking, in order that they might be scattered to the winds as had been done with those of the rebel U-san-kuei; and he also ordered, what seems a cruel and heartless proceeding, that Galdan’s young son Septen Parchur should be beheaded and his head exposed on a stake, but he afterwards revoked this sentence. After the death of Galdan his chief general Tantsila, with a few hundred men, wandered about the desert and attempted, it would seem, to reach Thibet. He was attacked by some of the troops of Tse wang Arabtan and his people scattered. Among the captives were the daughter and mother of Galdan, and also the ashes of the latter. After a long correspondence Tse wang Arabtan at length agreed to surrender them to the Emperor. The Draconic code of China condemns all the relatives of a rebel taken in arms to death, but the Emperor exercised his clemency on the present occasion, and both the daughter and son of Galdan were treated with generosity. His ashes were apparently scattered (having been first reduced to dust) in the presence of the Manchu, Mongol, Sungar, Khalkha, and Chinese soldiers, on the great parade ground outside the city walls.

Thus ended the career of one of the ablest of the desert chiefs. His achievements may be shortly recited from one of the Emperor Kanghi’s own letters. “Galdan was a formidable enemy. Samarkand, Bokhara, Pulut (Burut), Urghendj, Kashgar, Suirmen (?), Turfan, Khamil, were taken from the Muhammedans, and the capture of more than 1,200 towns prove to what a length he had carried his arms. The Khalkhas in vain assembled their seven Banners, numbering 100,000 men, to oppose him. One year sufficed for their dispersion.” Nor can we deny the intrepidity and indomitable courage he displayed in opposing the very superior forces of China, even after he had been robbed of all the resources which can keep together an army in such a wild inhospitable region as Sungaria. In order to understand the influence he possessed among the Kalmuks, which survived so many misfortunes, we must remember that he was a Lama before he became the chief of the Sungars, and was therefore a very considerable person entirely outside his position as Khan, and that the Tipa or secular ruler of Thibet was an attached friend of his. He was a worthy successor of his father and a worthy predecessor of that chief of Kashgar who at this moment is raising a protest against the absorption of everything vigorous in Central Asia by the Philistinism of China. If his days, had been east at a different period than that of the palmy days of Manchu supremacy, he would doubtless have imitated the Chinese rôle of many other Tatar chiefs of whom Genghis was the type.

Senghé, the elder brother of Galdan, left several sons, the eldest of whom was Tse wang Arabtan, who was born in 1665; the others were Solom Araptan, Dandshin Ombo, Dugar Arabtan, and Chereng Donduk. Tse wang Arabtan and his two next brothers took part in Galdan’s campaign against Utsbirtu Khan, and the great reputation they then acquired aroused their uncle’s jealousy, for they had the right to the succession. By the advice of an old lama he put Solom Araptan to death. Dugar Arabtan fled to the Chinese. He afterwards collected a body of Kalmuks on the upper Yenissei, and was slain by the Khalkha chief Lobsan Khan in 1689. Tse wang Arabtan escaped (having been warned by the Lamas) to the Balkhash Sea, where he at first wandered with but seven followers. He seems to have returned and to have gradually acquired a considerable influence among the Kalmuks north of the Tien shan mountains, and to have opposed his uncle on equal terms. The cause of their struggle, according to De Mailla, was that Galdan had appropriated a Khalkha princess to whom be was betrothed. He also charged him with his brother’s death. In the fight which followed Galdan was defeated. Tse wang Arabtan was then apparently encamped in the beautiful valley of Borotalas, near the Sairam lake. This was in the year following the fight with the Khalkhas (1689). Galdan seems to have returned home for a while, and was seen at the end of that year by an envoy of the Dalai Lama at Hopto (Kobdo) with several thousand men. It was then reported that the Khatun Honu and Tse wang Arabtan were marching against him. They do not seem to have come to blows, however, and we merely hear of Tse wang Arabian’s corresponding with the Imperial court against his uncle. Some fugitives who deserted Galdan in 1695 reported that Tse wang Arabian was then encamped at the Kéluna pira, that he had no communications with Galdan, and that many of the latter’s people were passing over to him. In 1696 an envoy from him went to the court, with presents for the Emperor, and to complain that only 200 of his subjects were allowed to trade with the empire. Kanghi referred the matter to the tribunal of foreign affairs, who advised that the number should be augmented to 300. The envoys were sent back with a present consisting of twenty pieces of silk, two tea services (one of silver, the other of rare wood),a state robe made of doubled fox skin, sable cap, a girdle ornamented with precious stones, leather boots, and socks made of brocade. During Galdan’s campaign against the Khalkhas he seems to have been superseded by his nephew in his authority over Western Sungaria, and also to some extent in the towns on the flanks of the Tien shan mountains, for we read that in 1696 he had a garrison of 500 men at Turfan. The town of Khamil and its district was then ruled by its own immediate chief; a Muhammadan named Tarkammbegh. Early in 1697 he appealed to the Mancini Emperor for aid against Tse wang Arabtan, who had threatened him. Arabtan accused him of having crossed the Kalmuk frontiers, of having invaded Golden’s country, and there captured Septen Baljur, the son of Galdan, and some other Sungars. He had also detained some envoys whom Tse vang Rabdan had sent to him; the latter now sent him a minatory letter demanding the return of his envoy, that Galdan’s son should be shown to his messenger, and that the other prisoners should be sent to him to Turfan. The prince of Khamil replied that the prisoners had all been sent to China, that he had not invaded Galdan’s territory, and that he now considered himself the subject of the Manchus, who had beaten his former master Galdan. Tse wang Arabtan was enraged at this news, and imprisoned seventy persons whom the prince of Khamil had sent to appease his wrath. It is clear that however much Tse wang Arabtan was aggrieved at his uncle and determined to punish him, he was not prepared to allow the dependant princes to invade the rights of the Sungarian empire, of which the death of Galdan in 1697 had left him master, and several of the petty chiefs who had followed Galdan now joined him. One of them named Tantsila had apparently some reason for not doing so; perhaps he wished to enrol himself under the Imperial banner. However this was, he was attacked near Khamil by the troops of Tse wang Arabtan and his people were dispersed. In this fight the ashes of Galdan, and also one of hid sons and his daughter Chonsi hai fell into the hands of the victor.

Pallas makes Galdan put Dandshin Ombo, the brother of Tse wang Arabtan, to death, but this is a mistake. He is dearly the same person as the Tantsin Ompu of De Mailla, who was one of his chief supporters. He had quarrelled and left him after the battle of Chao modo. When Tantsila was defeated he fled to Khamil; many of his people joined Tse wang Arabtan, and others went to Dandshin Ombo. The Emperor wrote the latter a letter in 1697, asking him to submit, and later in the year the general Féyanku, who was encamped at the country of Keker of the Shanghai, came across the envoys whom he had sent with his answer; they told him they were commissioned to submit in their master’s name to the orders of the Emperor. They said farther, that he was encamped at Hotong kormotu, and Tse wang Arabtan at Boro tara, twelve days’ march from each other, while Ho rabdan, who is perhaps to be identified with Dugar Arabtan, their brother, was at Kara Irtish, six or seven days’ journey from Dandshin Ombo, and twelve or thirteen days’ journey from Toe wang Arabtan. They reported farther, that the country of Hotong kormoto was very cold and that their master had doubtless then left it and gone to join his brother Tse wang Arabtan. The Emperor, who was probably afraid of the Sungara coalescing into too strong a power, sent them hade with a letter advising their master to submit to him rather than to his brother. He also wrote to Tse wang Arabtan demanding the surrender of the trophies of his victory. The Sungar chief replied to the envoys, that “the war being now ended injuries ought to be forgotten. We ought to have pity for the vanquished; it would be barbarous to think of annihilating them. It is the first law of humanity, and that which custom has always consecrated among the Eleuths.” Tse wang Arabian sent them a messenger describing the details of the defeat of Tantsila and taking with him Cheren Sanlup, a son of Galdan, and also his mother Pulin. As for the daughter, he said it was not usual far the Eleuths to exact vengeance from the daughters of their enemies, while the ashes of Galdan would not add to the Emperor’s triumph. The envoys replied to this “that it was a constant maxim with the Chinese to extirpate the families of rebels taken openhanded.” They afterwards had an audience with him himself and urged similar arguments, but in vain, and it was not until after several pressing embassies that he at last reluctantly surrendered the ashes of his uncle and the person of his cousin, Galdan’s daughter. The Emperor behaved magnanimously, pardoned her and her brother, and gave them positions of dignity at the count. About this time Tantsila submitted to the Manchus.

Like Galdan, Tse wang Arabtan had to carry on a fierce war with his western neighbours the Kirghiz Kazaks. In a letter winch he wrote to the Emperor in 1698 he explained the causes of this war. How Galdan had captured the son of Tuké (? Tevkel), the Khan of the Kazaks, and sent him to the Dalai Lama. How at the earnest request of Tuké he had sent back his son, escorted by 500 men; and how with base ingratitude the latter had put all the latter to death and then made an incursion into the country of Hulijanhan, which belonged to him, and carried oft more than 106 families. How his father-in-law Ayuka bad sent him his daughter (his own wife) escorted by her brother Santsit chapu, and Tuké had attempted to waylay them; and how he had pillaged a caravan that the previous autumn was returning from the Russians. As a result of this war he seems to have subdued a huge portion of the Middle Horde of the Kirghiz Kazaks.

He also subdued the Burats or Black Kirghises who lived about the Issikul lake, called Tuskel by Miller. They consisted of 5,000 families, and supplied the Kalmuks with a contingent of 3,000 soldiers.

I have described how Sandship, a son of Ayuka Khan, left his father with the intention of fighting the Sungars. Pallas says he went with 15,000 tents, and Midler with 30,000 men. The latter author says he inarched through the land of the Bashkirs and Kazaks towards the Irtish. When he arrived at the salt lake of Yamish he turned aside towards the Imil; he intended to take up his winter quarters there. The Khung­taidshi, treating him as his brother-in-law, sent him an invitation to go and see him. Sandship evaded seeing him, and sent an envoy to ask for a fine passage through the Sungarian empire to the Dalai Lama. Something having aroused suspicion, they searched and found in the envoys roller a letter sent by Sandship to the Dalai Lama asking the latter’s permission to kill the Khungtaidshi. Tse wang Arabtan now marched himself with a large army, which surrounded Sandship and his followers and captured them Sandship and his wife and a few others were sent back to Ayuka, while his people were amalgamated with the Sungars and increased their strength very considerably.

As I have said, the Tipa of Thibet was a protégé of Galdan’s. He had been attacked and driven out by Latsan Khan, die chief of the Thibetan Khoshotes. This revolution meant the displacement of the influence and authority of the Sungars in Thibet, and as Latsan Khan was very friendly with the Manchus, and was in fact little more than their tool, Tse wang Khan was much irritated, and having allied himself with the Khoshotes of Koconur he sent two armies, one against Si ning fu, where the Dalai Lama was then kept in durance, and the other across the great desert, against Putala. The former expedition seems to have miscarried. The latter was very successful; it was commanded by Zeven or Chereng Donduk, who having successfully passed the desert appeared before Lhassa, which he captured. Latsan Khan took refuge at Putala, but was shortly after captured and put to death. The country of Lhassa was ravaged, the towns taken as soon as besieged, and the temples plundered; even that of the grand Lama did not escape. In the latter, great riches, which had been accumulating many years, were captured. “All the Lamas which could be met with were put into bags and laid upon camels in order to transport them to Tartary.” The Lamas who constructed the Thibetan portion of the great map of the Chinese empire, which was reproduced by D’Anville, narrowly escaped capture.

Koeppen has apparently followed Georgi in dating the capture of Lhassa. in November, 1717, but Unkowski, the Russian envoy, who was at Tse wang Arabtan’s court in 1722, and has left us some details of Sungarian history at this period, dates it in 1709 and 1710, and he could hardly be mistaken. The Thibetans seem to have appealed for succour to the Manchu court, and in 1712 or 1713 a strong army of Mongols and Chinese marched against him. It had already passed his border town of Khamil when the Khungtaidshi heard of it. A considerable army was assembled under Chereng Donduk and other Saissans, which marched against the enemy as far as Turfan. The Manchus had to pass a mountain, at whose foot the Kalmuks by concealed. The latter suddenly attacked them at daybreak and scattered their army. A portion of them took refuge at Khamil, but were apparently pursued there, and Khamil itself was captured and levelled with the ground. This event is no doubt that referred to in the narrative translated by Hyacinthe in Timkowski’s travels, where we read that the Thibetans having sought aid from China “the court of Peking sent an army commanded by General Olunda. The troops of the rebel were going to retreat to the north, but being seduced by the black lamas they returned and “ventured to oppose the chinese battalions.”  Such is the diplomatic language under which the defeat is concealed. To continue Unkowski’s story. He says that two years after, a great army, numbering 100,000 men, marched, from China against the Kalmuks. This rebuilt the city of Khamil, and having made the road to Turfan easily passable by building some small towns on the way (the Kalmuks were away), succeeded in capturing Turfan. It was fortified, and remained afterwards subject to the Chinese. They do not seem on this occasion to have advanced further into the Kalmuk country, but turned aside into Thibet, which they effectually subdued, as I have described.

In 1717 the Chinese advanced as for as the river Kharashan (? Khareshar), to the town of Tzalish, where they were repulsed by the Kalmuk garrison. In 1719 another Chinese army marched over the Mongolian desert (probably through northern Sungaria) and approached the Saissan lake, where the most northern subjects of the Khungtaidshi lived. As the attack was unexpected the Chinese succeeded in carrying off a considerable booty in cattle and prisoners and nearly captured Galdan Chereng, the heir to the Kalmuk throne. The strife with the Chinese continued until the Emperor Kanghis’s death, and almost every year there was a struggle between them.

This is amply confirmed by the Chinese accounts, which speak, however, from a different point of view. They state that after the withdrawal of the Imperial forces Tse wang Arabtan attacked his neighbours and increased his power, and more than once ravaged Si tsang (the tribes of the Thibetan frontier). He also attacked the Mongol tribes under Chinese protection. As he knew the country well he evaded the troops sent against him by Kanghi, and when beaten in one place reappeared in another, “Like wolves, who at the sight of the huntsmen scatter to their dens, and at the withdrawal of danger assemble again round the prey they have abandoned with regret Such was the policy of these desert robbers.” Yong cheng, the successor of Kanghi, withdrew the Imperial forces from China, and allowed the desert tribes to fight it out among themselves; he merely supplied the Mongols on the frontier with men, pay, and provisions. Tse wang Arabtan made a show of deference to these preparations, but he strengthened himself elsewhere.

The Kalmuk hold upon the towns of the so-called Little Bukharia remained firmly fixed during the greater part of the reign of Tse wang Arabtan. It would seem that at his accession they attempted to withhold their tribute, but he attacked the Khan of Yarkend and carried him off, with many other chiefs with him, to the valley of Ili. It is probably this straggle which is referred to by Captain Valikhanof: he says that the Hodja Appak, having lost some credit among the Mussulmans (probably by his alliance with Galdan), proclaimed his brother Khan Ismail Muhammed Emil, from Ush Turfan, Khan, and then prevailed upon him to attack the Sungarians. The latter fell on the Kalmuk camps and returned with 30,000 prisoners of both sexes, and a great quantity of cattle and booty; but was afterwards so frightened at his own intrepidity that he fled to the mountains, where he was killed by one of his own guides. The strife continued there between the Black Mountaineer party, of which Hodja Daniel was the moving spirit, and the White Mountaineers, of which Ahmed Hodja was chief. Some time after the above raid, we are told that “the Kalmuks, who until then had not been able to resent the inroad of the Kashgarians, arrived at Yarkend with a large force. Daniel, with the view of gaining the favour of the Sungarians, joined their troops with all his Yarkendians, and the united forces forthwith marched upon Kashgar. After several encounters the Kashgarians were obliged to open their gates. The Kalmuks appointed a Hakimbeg, chosen by the people, and led away the Kashgar Hodja Ahmed, their own ally Daniel Hodja, and the families of both prisoners to Ili. In 1720 Tse wang Arabtan restored Daniel to his native country, and made him ruler over the six towns. On his arrival at Yarkend the Hodja appointed governors over the towns entrusted to him, and fixed his own revenue at the modest rate of 100,000 tiangas, that of Appak having been 1,000 tiangas for every hundred of his subjects. His eldest son Djagan, who was a hostage with the Sungarian Khans, and Daniel himself paid occasional visits to Ili

Tse wang Arabtan was probably the most powerful sovereign of the Sungarian dynasty, and was much esteemed by his subjects, whom he ruled over like a father. He could put from 40,000 to 6o,000 men in the field, and he received from the Dalai Lama the title of Erdeni Suriktu Baatur Khungtaidshi. We will now turn shortly to his intercourse with Russia.

Like most other countries Russia has had its romantic El Dorado, a land outside its borders where it was fancied wealth and ease might be bought easily by washing gold out of a river, and which led to some adventurous journeys. The El Dorado was the country of Little Bukharia, and especially the neighbourhood of Yarkend, reported to be rich in gold deposits. In 1714 prince Gagarin, the governor of Siberia, presented a report in which he suggested that it would be possible to appropriate this country, which was then subject to the Khungtaidshi, and he suggested that a series of forts should be pushed along from the Irtish as far as Yarkend to form a protection to the route through the Kalmuk country. With the note he sent specimens of the gold dust which had been taken to Tobolsk for sale. In consequence of this letter Ivan Bukholz was ordered by the Emperor to repair to Siberia, and having collected a force of 2,000 or 3,000 men, to proceed to build a fort near the lake Yamish, and thence, if possible, to make his way to Yarkend. He arrived at Tobolsk in November, 1714. Having collected two regiments of infantry, 700 dragoons, a small body of artillery, and seventy handicraftsmen, the whole numbering about 2,933 men, he set out in July, 1715, and marching by way of Tara he reached the Irtish, and at length the lake of Yamish, which I have already referred to as the place whence the Cossacks and others got their supplies of salt. It is situated about six and a half versts from the Irtish. Between this lake and the Irtish is another small lake called Priasnoe osero (the fresh water lake), out of which there runs a small called the Priasnukha, which falls into the Irtish. It was on a height dose to the mouth of this stream that Bukholz proceeded to build a small fortress, with an earthen rampart. It was called Yamishewa. This was naturally viewed as an invasion of their country by the Kalmuks. At this time Tse wang Arahtan’s brother Chereng Donduk had his camping ground in the neighbourhood of the river Imil and lake Saissan, and was almost as powerful as his brother. In conjunction with the latter he collected a force of 10,000 men, which he commanded in person, with which he attempted to surprise the Russians. Having failed in this they proceeded to beleaguer them in the fortress. Chereng Donduk addressed a letter to its commander, in which he threatened that if he did not retire with his people that he (Chereng Donduk) would blockade him not only during the winter but also during the whole of the next year until he compelled his surrender. Bukholz replied that he had been commissioned by the Emperor to build not only this fortress but also others, and that they were not meant as a menace to the Kalmuks; that he was plentifully supplied with provisions, and that assistance would shortly come to him from Tobolsk. The siege in consequence proceeded, and the Kalmuks waylaid a large caravan of 700 persons which had been sent to provision the new settlement and to trade with the Kalmuks. A large sum of money, the pay of the Cossacks there, was also appropriated. This caravan had been waylaid at a place in the Irtish steppe called Koriakof Yar, and after a struggle had been obliged to submit to numbers. Meanwhile a pestilence broke out among the garrison, and was so bad that twenty to thirty men died daily. Under these circumstances, and as no help seemed forthcoming, it was at length determined to abandon the fortress and to retire. The fortress was accordingly dismantled and the buildings pulled down, and the garrison, which had been reduced to 700 men, most of whom were ill, retired northwards. They settled near the mouth of the Om, where they built a fort which was called Omskaia Krepost and was situated about 377 versts from Tara. Soon after Bukholz was re-called, and in the summer of the same year, namely, in 1716, another expedition, under the command of an officer of dragoons named Marigorof, was sent to reoccupy the lost ground at Yamishewa. A letter was sent at the same time to the Khungtaidshi, complaining of the recent conduct of Chereng Donduk, and asking for a return of the prisoners and army chest which the Kalmuks had captured. This was accompanied by a letter from the Emperor, in which he asked the Khungtaidshi to give assistance to his people when they should go to Little Bukharia.

Peter the Great was much interested in the progress of the gold-exploring schemes of his deputy Gagarin, and he urged him on to continue his efforts. Another expedition was accordingly got ready, the command of it was given to an officer named Stupin. This expedition set out in 1717. When be arrived at Yamishewa he built a regular fort there.

In the spring of 1718 Wilianof, who had been sent with the above- named letters to the Khungtaidshi, returned, and reported that he had found him in his summer camp on the river Kharkir, close to the Mustag chain (probably on one of the feeders of the river Tekes). Tse wang Arabtan complained that the inhabitants of the Siberian towns took tribute from his people. He also complained about the fortresses which the Russians were building on the Irtish, and he mingled his complaints with threats of what he would do if they were not dismantled. He took leave of him on the and of March. He was then in his winter quarters on the Korgos, a feeder of the Ili. Meanwhile Stupin continued his task. In the autumn of 1718 he built a fresh fortress on the Irtish, aa8 versts from Yamishewa, to which he gave the name of Semi Palatinsk, or the seven palaces. It was so called from its being near the ruins of a Lama monastery, probably founded in the preceding century, like that of Ablai kit. In these ruins several Thibetan MSS. were found, which were apparently the first that reached Europe.

The Emperor seems to have grown impatient at the slow progress of his design, ignorant no doubt of the enormous geographical difficulties in the way of its accomplishment. Early in 1719 he appointed general Likharef, in whom he put great trust, to superintend the proceedings. He took with him a large number of officers, and reached Tobolsk in May, 1720. Having arrived at Semi Palatinsk, he proceeded towards lake Saissan; he had 440 men with him, who travelled in thirty-four boats. The Kalmuks, either afraid of or resenting this invasion, now assembled a large army, consisting of 20,000 men, under Galdan Chereng, Tse wang Arabian’s son and heir. The 1st of August, the day on which, according to the Greek ritual, the water is blessed, a ceremony that Likharef had determined should be carried out on the upper Irtish, was chosen by the Kalmuks for their attack. The forces were very disproportionate, but the Russians carried firearms and had several small cannons, while the Kalmuks had only bows, arrows, &c. The former also had the advantage of position. The fight continued for three days, during which the Russians lost only one grenadier, while three other soldiers were wounded. The Kalmuks seem to have lost severely, nor dare they leave the high ground and join issue with the Russians down below. At length the discipline and superior weapons of their enemy demoralised them, and they suggested a parley, where it was agreed that the Russians should desist from their advance and retire once more down the Irtish. They gladly agreed to this. At the point where the high ground that surrounds lake Saissan fades away into the plain, Likharef laid the foundations of a new fortress, named Ustkamenogorskaia (“the town situated at the beginning of the range”). It is situated 181 versts from Semi Palatinsk, and is not far from Ablai kit. This was apparently the last attempt made by the Russians to reach the gold country of Yarkend. In 1722 their envoy, Unkowski, went to the Khungtaidshi’s court, and his narrative has been abstracted by Muller. He reported that among the Kalmuks the highest rank, next to the chief, was that of Saissan, and that at this time the lint of the Saissans was Chereng Donduk. He had his camp on the rivers Lepshi and Kantar, towards Siberia, and had nearly as many subjects as the Khungtaidshi himself. The Khungtaidshi was assisted in the government by a council of Saissans, named Saiga, and at the time of Unhowski’s visit these Saissans were named Sandak Baatur, Sham Dandshin, Sankri Buaksok, Sodbo, Batwmasi, Zimbil, Son, Zak, Basnn, Bakrigir, the councillor Namishka Darkhan Zaruktu, and the Khungtaidskfs secretary Sotom Darksa. He reported that during the previous thirty years (since the reign of Baatur Kungtaidshi) agriculture had made great progress among the Kalmuks. It was chiefly introduced, no doubt, from the prosperous towns beyond the Tien Shan mountains. Wheat, barley, millet, and rice were their chief serials. They also grew beautiful fruits, such as red, green, and white melons; large pumpkins, red and white grapes, plums, and apples, which seemed to thrive in the saline soft. The richest products in tins way came apparently from Yarkend. Among their domestic animate he reports hones, camels, oxen, large sheep, goats, mules, &c. They traded with Russia, China, Thibet, and even India, and the articles they got from Russia were doth of various colours, otter skins, black and red leather or Yuften, black fox skins, needles, scissors, looking-glasses. For these they exchanged all kinds of cotton and silken goods, which were chiefly made at Yarkend, and also various kinds of furs. The Kalmuks had for some years made cloth and leather, and worked iron.

Tse wang Arabtant’s campaign against Thibet had apparently aroused the hatred of the Lamas, and, according to Pallas, it was with their connivance that he was murdered. This was in 1737.

Tse wang Arabtan was married twice. By his first wife Txungu Arabtan, the daughter of a Derbet chief named Kuisba, he had two sons, Galdan Chereng and Lusang Shunu. The latter distinguished himself in his father’s war with the Kirghiz Kazaks in 1703, and thereby gained the envy of his brother, from whose vengeance he escaped to the Volga, where he married, and died in 1733. Tse wang Arabtan’s second wife was Sedershap, a daughter of the Torgut chief Ayuki. By her he had three sons and four daughters. She was charged by Galdan Chereng with his father’s death, and on mounting the throne he put her to death with all her children. He continued the hereditary war of his people against the Mongols, under Chinese protection, and with success, but this was terminated in 1734 by the intervention of the Dalai Lama.

The Emperor Kien Lung says tint Galdan sent envoys to him to ask him to number him among his subjects, and sent tribute and his homage accordingly. They were graciously received. He was faithful to his promise, and remained in peace with the empire for the rest of his days.

In regard to the Sungarian dependencies south of the Tien shan Captain Valikhanof says that “Galdan Chereng, on succeeding to the throne, confirmed the Hodja Daniel in the enjoyment of his former privileges, the immediate sway over Little Bukharia was therefore, as the next result of these changes, transferred to the descendants or Hodja Isaac, or, in other words, the Black Mountaineer party. After the death of Daniel, Galdan Chereng, with the view of dividing the government of Little Bukharia, issued sealed patents to his children, apportioning Yarkend to the eldest, Hodja Djagan; Kashgar to the second, Yusuf; Aksu to the third, Ayub; and Khotan to the youngest, Abdullah. The most celebrated of these was Yusuf, ruler of Kashgar, whose mother was the daughter of a Kalmuk Noyon, with whom Yusuf spent his childhood in Sungaria, and thereby acquired a thorough mastery over the Kalmuk language, which he spoke and wrote with much facility. Galdan Chereng died in 1745, and with him passed away the glorious period of Sungarian history.

According to Pallas he was also twice married. By his first wife, whom he divorced, he had two daughters, and by his second wife two sons, named Bayan or Bizigan and Zebek Dordshi. The former was born in 1733, and succeeded his father; the latter was only five years old when Galdan Chereng died. Bayan was styled Adshan Khan. There seems to be some confusion in the story at this point; neither the Chinese account nor that of the Abbé Chappe d’Auteroche know anything of the younger brother, while the name they give to the successor of Galdan Chereng seems compounded of those of the two brothers. Thus in the note to Kien Lung’s account of the war against the Eleuths we are told the successor of Galdan was called Tse wang torgui Namuchar, and that Atchan was a kind of nursery name which continued to be used by his people from contempt. Chappe d’Auderoche calls him Tsebek Dorju. He was only fifteen years old on his father’s death, and was a promising boy, but as he grew up he gave himself up to wantonness and defied the Sarga or supreme court of the Kalmuks, and also the Lamas. He is called the perfidious Atchan in Kien Lung’s narrative, which says he ran through the career of crime with great strides, and committed all kinds of wickedness. He became very unpopular, and the different chiefs conspired against him. Among these we are told the most crafty was his own half-brother, the son of Galdan Chereng by a concubine, and therefore disqualified for the succession. He was a Lama, and his name was Dardsha, and he had been given an appanage on the borders of Little Bukharia and the Kirghises by his father. He marched against his brother, captured him, had his eyes put out, and imprisoned him in a Bukharian town. He was joined by the greater portion of the Sungars, and especially by the Saissans or princes and the Lamas, and was acknowledged also by the Dalai Lama, who gave him the title of Erdeni Lama Baatur Khungtaidshi. He then proceeded to put to death such of the reigning family as he could lay his hands upon.

The usurpation of the Lama, who was also a bastard, was not acquiesced in by a large portion of the Sungars. Although the legitimate male descendants of Tse wang Arabtan were extinct, there still remained the family of his brother Chereng Donduk, who had led the army in the wars in Thibet. He seems to be the Ta Chereng of the Chinese authors. We are told by the editor of Kien Lung's narrative that he was the most important of the chiefs of Si tsang, and that with the assistance of Chinese auxiliaries and his own people he subdued the surrounding tribes, and even made Tse wang Arabtan afraid of him. He was not long, we are told, before he rebelled, abandoned the country where he lived, put to death the greater portion of the Imperial troops which were with him, and then retired to the desert. He probably went northwards, for we read that Chereng Donduk encamped to the north of Tse wang Arabtan, and that his ulus was as important as his brother’s. According to Pallas he had a son named Dagba, and he again a son named Ta wa tsi. The Chinese author already named, calls Ta wa tsi a grandson of Ta Chereng. On the rebellion of Tse wang Arabian's descendants Ta wa tsi was heir to the Sungarian throne, and his claims were supported by Amursana, who belonged to the tribe of the Khoits, and was probably descended from Esselbei Kia. The Lama Dardsha however was so powerful that they both escaped to the Kirghiz Kazaks. Ta wa tsi had a large party among the Kalmuks, and with their assistance and that of the Kazaks he returned once more to Sungaria, surprised the Lama in the night, defeated his army, and supplanted him. The Lama was killed in the struggle. J Meanwhile Amursana, who had so assisted Ta wa tsi, had formed plans of his own. He lived it would seem in the heart of the Kalmuk country on the banks of the Ili, where he planted the royal standard in front of his tent, dispensed justice, and acted like a sovereign. Ta wa tsi was naturally jealous and marched against him and his dependants and defeated them. Amursana took refuge in China, as did other Kalmuk chiefs, notably the three Cherengs, namely, Chereng the Derbet, Chereng Ubashi, and Chereng Muko.

Ta wa tsi now became for a short time the overchief of the Kalmuks, and lord paramount over the local chiefs of Little Bukharia. I have mentioned that Chereng appointed Yusuf to be ruler of Kashgar. Yusuf was compelled by Ta wa tsi to live in the province of Ili. In the than disturbed state of Sungaria he thought it a good opportunity to free his people from the Sungar domination.

“Under the pretence that Kashgar was being threatened by the Buruts he obtained leave from Ta wa tsi to return home. When there he fortified the town and raised an army. This was in 1754, when Amursana had applied to the Chinese for assistance against his rival. The Kalmuks had latterly appointed Hakim Begs, on whose fidelity they could rely, and who were bound to them by the tie of common ambition. Two of these, Abdul Vakhab of Aksu and Khodja Sibek of Ush Turfan, acquainted the Kalmuks with the real cause of the warlike preparations at Kashgar. They also incited Hudoyar Beg ish hag of Kashgar and Absatar Beg of Attach to fall upon the Hodja and put him to death while at his devotions in the Mechet, but this plot was discovered, and its chief instrument, Hudoyar Beg, executed. Absatar and the son of Hudoyar escaped to Ili and reported to Ta wa tsi that the inhabitants of Kashgar and Yarkend had thrown off the Sungarian yoke and that the Hodja had put the Ish kaga to death for his fidelity to the Sungarians.”

Ta wa tsi, who had not then a force at his disposal, sent an emissary to report. Yusuf escaped, but the Hodja Djagan who ruled at Yarkend was captured by the Kalmuks, assisted by the Hakim Hari Beg, into whose house they enticed him. Yusuf now assembled the people of Kashgar and urged upon them that the time was come for breaking their yoke. His appeal was eagerly responded to. “Timbrels were sounded over the gates of the town, and the Kasgarians swore to remain true to their determination of re-conquering the lost liberties of their country. The Hodja Yusuf, as an ardent Mussulman, proposed to the people that they should convert 300 Kalmuk merchants, who lay encamped in the vicinity of the town, to Islamism, and ordered them to be slaughtered in case they refused to adopt it A small number of Eleuths, who acted as police-officers or Kasakansp in the towns of Little Bukharia, were sent back to their country to acquaint the Khan of Sungaria with what had occurred. Yusuf then despatched 1,000 men to Burchuk to attack the Kalmuk envoy in case he should attempt to carry off the Hodja Djagan to Ili, and also made preparations for sending a large army to Yarkend. Hodja Sadik, son of Djagan, who had eluded capture, gathered together 7,000 men in two days at Khotan, and joined by a body of Kirghises (Buruts) marched against-Yarkend. He carried with him the family of Hazi Beg in chains, intending to put them all to torture and death if harm befel his father. Hazi Beg, in his perplexity, determined to ask pardon of Hodja Djagan, an extremely kind and weak man. With tears in his eyes and the Koran on his head he appeared before him and easily obtained forgiveness. Had then informed Djagan of the events that had transpired at Kashgar, and asked permission to kill the Sungarian envoy and his retinue and to raise the standard of Islam. The Hodja answered that an unbeliever could only be killed in battle, and ordered the Kalmuks to be escorted out of the town under a strong guard, warning them never to visit the country again. Yusuf in the meanwhile sent ambassadors to Kokand and Bokhara to acquaint those cities with his emancipation from the Sungarian yoke and to request assistance. He likewise appealed to the Andijan Kirghises, at the head of whom was Kibat Mirza.

Let us now revert once more to Ta wa tsi. Amursana was received with considerable deference by the Chinese Emperor, who questioned him as to the claims he set up to the throne, and he says he was tolerably satisfied with his answers. Whether be was so or not, it was clearly a piece of good fortune for the Emperor to have in his hands a person with decent claims to the throne of Sungaria. He gave him the title of Choang tsin wang (prince of the first rank, with two titles), and he assigned him lands in the country of the Khalkhas. After a while the Emperor Kien Lung, who seems to have been ambitious to rival the great deeds of his grandfather Kanghi, determined to displace Ta wa tsi. The pretext for attacking him was that the latter in a letter he had sent him had treated him as an equal, “Full of stupid pride,” says the Emperor, “he presumes to address me as an equal. It is clear, he is a barbarian and ignorant of the very elements of Divine law, which prescribes a due subordination.”

He appointed Amursana lieutenant-general, sent him a seal of office, and supplied him with troops and other necessaries, and sent with him a Chinese general named Panti as chief counsellor, but in effect the latter had the actual authority, and Amursana could do nothing without consulting him. He also sent more valuable help in the person of the Ché or Imperial guards, consisting chiefly of Manchu and Solon soldiers. The army set out in 1755. “They broke cheerfully,” says the Emperor, “through all obstacles. Hardly had they bent a bow or drawn an arrow before there was submission everywhere.” Ta wa tsi, unable to offer effectual resistance, fled with 300 men through the Muzart pass to Ush Turfan. The governor of that town, Hadjern Beg, delivered him up to the Chinese, for which service he was created a prince, and the Uirads asked that the Emperor would give them a chief. He accordingly appointed Amursana, to whom they did homage. Five months sufficed for the work. Ta wa tsi was sent as a prisoner to Peking.

Amursana expected the Emperor would have had him executed, but he, on the contrary, received him with the same condescension as if he had come freely to do homage, and gave him a palace at Peking for a residence, and the title Tsin wang (prince of the first rank). He gave him retainers suitable to his rank, and allowed him the privilege of a daily audience. This behaviour was dictated by a desire to have some one to play off against Amursana if he should prove treacherous. The captive prince did not flourish in exile, he pined away and soon after died, leaving an only son, an infant, who did not long survive his father. With his death the descendants of Baatur Khungtaidshi, the founder of the Sungarian empire, seem to have come to an end.

Amursana was now nominated as chief of Sungaria by the Manchus. Hb was however a very different position from the chiefs whose history we have considered. They were acknowledged as the legitimate rulers by the various tribes of the country. Amursana was a very secondary chief in his antecedents. He had no claims to be Lord Paramount, and probably received the willing allegiance only of his own people, the Khoits. We are told by Pallas that the Koshotes attempted to regain for their leader the position of Khan or overchief. A number of other chiefs retained their allegiance for the imprisoned Ta wa tsi, whom they considered as their legitimate sovereign. The position of Amursana was therefore by no means a strong one. He nevertheless attempted to recover possession of the towns of Little Bukharia, which had become independent, as I have described. Not being able to send a large body of troops against them it was suggested to him by Abdul Vahab of Akau and Hodja Sibek of Ush Turfan that the children of Ahmed Hodja, who were then at Ili, might be utilised for the purpose, and that if he offered to make one of them governor there, that the revolted towns would return to their allegiance. With the consent of the Chinese general Panti, two of them named Burhaneddin and Khan Hodja were accordingly summoned to Kujdja from Iren Habargan, where they lived in exile. The former marched with an army of Eleuths, Turkestani, and a small number of Chinese upon Aksu, while his brother remained as a hostage at Ili. Burhaneddin marched from Aksu to Ush Turfan, where he was well received. Meanwhile the Black Mountaineer Hodjas prepared to defend themselves. The invaders only mustered 5,000 Mussulmans from Kucha, Aksu, Turfan, and Dolon, 1,000 Sungarians commanded by the Saissan Dan chin, and 400 Chinese headed by Turuntai Dayen, and they were not strong enough to cope with the enemy. Meanwhile the people of Yarkend, contrary to the advice of Yusuf, determined to march upon Aksu and to nip the invasion in the bud. They were led by Hodja Ahi, the eldest son of Djagan Huda Berdy, as also Shanegi of Yarkend, and the Kargalik ruler Mirgen Beg. They consisted of contingents from Khotan and Yarkend and some Kirghises, and laid siege to Ush Turfan. They sent messages into the town calling upon their rivals there, the White Mountaineers, to forget their mutual animosities and to march together upon Ili, and offered to yield Kashgar, Aksu, and Turfan to Burhaneddin. They found the latter surrounded by Chinese Kalmuks and Begs, whom native writers have stigmatised as impious men. He told the deputies to advise the Black Mountaineer Hodjas to go to Ili and seek forgiveness from the viceroy of China and from Amursana.

There were many of the White Mountaineer party in the besieger’s ranks; the latter were also deserted by the Kirghises in the first engagement, and were soon after joined by the majority of the Begs with the troops under their command. The leaders of the expedition now with difficulty found shelter at Kashgar, where they were pursued. Burhaneddin was met outside by crowds of people, who refused to obey the Montenegrin Hodjas, while a body of Andijan Kirghises who were in their service also declared they would not fight against him. They thereupon retired to Yarkend, while their partisan, Hosh Kaifiak, who was Hakim Beg of Kashgar, migrated to Kokand. Burhaneddin now advanced upon Yarkend. He sent a deputation to the town composed of several Begs, a Chinese Mandarin, and a Kalmuk Saissan. They were presented to the Hodja Djagan, having been first obliged to go through the degrading ceremony of licking tire threshold of the palace. To Burhaneddin’s summons in the name of the Bogdo Khan and that of Amursana to surrender and place himself under the protection of China, he answered, “that, as an independent Mussulman prince, he would listen to no terms, but would wage against them—a ‘Haxat’ or religious war.” The letter which conveyed the terms of Burhaneddin he ordered to be tom and thrown into the fire. The town was bravely defended for some time, but there were traitors busy inside, and after a while the Black Hodjas abandoned it, its gates were thrown open, and Burhaneddin entered it in triumph. Thus Little Bukharia fell again into the hands of a dependant of the rulers of Sungaria.

Let us turn once more to Amursana. I have described how a large section of the Kalmuks were impatient of his control. His position was probably rendered more difficult and embarrassing by his being a nominee of the Manchu Emperor. When the main army retired Panti with 500 Manchus remained behind to act as a kind of garrison.

The Chinese method of treating dependants does not secure very hearty allegiance. Although he had the title of ruler, the Emperor’s deputies had in fact the power. They thwarted him and acted as spies upon his doings. Lastly, Kien Lung, under pretence of doing him honour, summoned him to the court. Amursana grew weary of this dependance, and to assure himself of the support of the Kalmuks he spread the report that the Emperor intended to subjugate them as he had already done the Mongols. The neutral witness Amiot could see plainly that human endurance was more than tried by the constant espionage. The Emperor’s point of view was different. Amursana he describes as “a wolf who, having satisfied his hunger, is still given to prowling in search of fresh carnage.”  Amursana in fact took up arms, speedily dispersed the small garrison the Manchus kept in the country of Ili, and killed the two generals Panti and Aiongan, destroyed the forts the Emperor had constructed at various points to defend the country, and the depots of provisions for the troops and the couriers, and advanced as far as Palikun on the river Ili, which then seems to have held an Imperial garrison. In this rebellion many Manchus perished.

The advisers of the Emperor urged upon him that it would be prudent “to abandon Palikun and its dependencies and to put a stop to a useless war.” Kien Lung, instead of this, appointed fresh generals and fresh troops, with orders that they must either capture the rebel or perish in the attempt. When the news spread that fresh armies were on the way the Kalmuks scattered in various directions, and Amursana himself was constrained to fly too. The two Imperial generals who commanded the new levies were named Chereng and Yu pao (the former from his name was doubtless a Mongol), and were jealous of one another. Amursana had been cornered in a small fort where it was almost impossible for him to escape, when they relaxed their efforts and he escaped. He fled apparently to his old friends the Kazaks. The two generals were recalled with the intention that they should be executed, but being only meagrely escorted they were waylaid en route by the Eleuths and killed. Two other generals were nominated in their place, who were named Taltanga and Yarhashan. The Kazaks, though nominally subject to the empire, secretly favoured Amursana, and supplied him with provisions and assistance. They craftily sent envoys to the Imperial generals asking them to spare their country, and assuring them that their chief Ablai would in a few days be able to seize their common enemy and send him to them. Taltanga listened favourably to this proposal and thereby disgusted some of his allies who knew the policy of the desert robbers better. Instead of capturing Amursana, Ablai in fact furnished him with post horses, camels, and other requisites for flight, and then wrote to excuse himself, saying that he had escaped him and found refuge with the Russians.

The Emperor was naturally greatly enraged and recalled his generals. The following brief, which I have somewhat shortened and paraphrased, was addressed by him to the principal grandees and shown to the officers of the Eight Banners. It gives a good idea, as Amiot says, of the state of affairs:

“The first time that Amursana escaped from Ili, Chereng and Yu pao had the command of the troops I sent into the west. Instead of pursuing the rebel they remained idle in their camp, and did not take precautions for preventing his escape. Informed of their conduct I recalled them, but being intercepted on the way by a number of brigands, they were miserably massacred. One of their lieutenant-generals whom I had also recalled escaped and confessed freely his fault and that of the others. Chalafunga (that was his name) said: We knew Amursana was not far off. Yu pao first knew it. He took little notice, and merely remarked that Chereng ought to be told, so that they could take joint measures. Chereng was as little eager to march as his companion, alleging that he had not sufficient horses. After consultation it was decided that Yu pao should advance first to Tursun, where Amursana was, and that Chereng should follow him if his assistance should be required. Meanwhile time was lost and Amursana fled, and as they had only provisions for four days and were short of horses, they determined to return to Ili to complete the other commissions the Emperor had entrusted them with. Such was the inexcusable conduct of my generals. If they were short of horses, why did they not let me know; if these horses were so weak and few, how came it that Taltanga was afterwards able with them to reach the Kazak country? If they had no food, how did they exist in their month’s march to Ili in a country suffering from want? If this excuse had been true, why did they not use more zeal to capture food from the enemy? Chalafunga and Ulden were no less to blame. They also had armies entrusted to them sufficient for their purpose if they had had more zeal. Ulden told me, says the Emperor, that Chereng had given him some troops with which to march against the rebel, but that it was then too late. I heard, he says, en route that Amursana had fled and was already a long way off, of which I informed Chereng. Soon after I heard that the Muhammedans, who live not far from Ili, had pillaged the badly escorted baggage of Amursana, and that he had retraced his steps and recaptured his lost goods. Of this I informed Chereng, and asked him for a reinforcement of 500 men with which, to join the Muhammedans and pursue the rebel. Yu pao had already marched after him, and was returning fruitless when he met my couriers; they read him my despatches which aroused his anger. He accused me of having some sinister ambition. He then returned my letter to the courier and told him to take it to Chereng. The latter also suspected me, deprived me of my command, and bade me go to Yu pao, who would find me suitable employment I went to him and repeated my request, upon which in scorn he gave me fifty men. With these I set off and got as far as Kurmeton, but we were so reduced by fatigue and hunger, that we had great difficulty in surviving. In default of horses we rode on camels, which we had to kill for meat. Of fifty men only twenty-five remained. At Kurmeton we heard that Amursana had again fled. What motive, says the Emperor, was there for this ill conduct? Some of my generals allow the rebel to escape, others will not give themselves the trouble to pursue. Some aroused the hatred of the Mongol princes upon whom they were dependant for great assistance, others allow themselves to be duped by the Kazaks. Was it that they wished the culprit to escape or that they should die of want in the desert? No. I see their device; they wish to prove to me that the campaign is Quixotic, and its end impossible, and thus to force me to put an end to it.”

 Amiot adds that, with the exception of Panti, Aiongan, Hoki, and a few others, whose names and tablets are placed in the Kung chen Tsée Tang (hall of the great men who have deserved well of the empire), almost all the other general officers who served in the first two campaigns perished miserably, either by the sword or the enemy, the treason of their allies, their punishment as criminals in Peking, or by suicide. The friendly chiefs Nima, Payar, Sila, Mangalik… who disapproved of Taltanga’s easy faith in Kazak promises, having tried by entreaty, then by raillery, and lastly by indignant tones to alter his decision, but in vain, abandoned him. Feeling that it would be most imprudent to expose the few Manchu soldiers he had with him to the dangers of this land of treachery and suspicion, he determined to return, but this only increased his difficulties. Nima, Payar, Sila, Mangalik, and other chiefs of hordes who had formerly been his allies, some of them as enemies of Amursana, and others as friends of Ta wa tsi, not only deserted him but committed atrocities in doing so. The first to abandon him was Payar, and in retiring he massacred all those whom he could capture.

Taltanga sent Hoki, the intrepid Hoki as the Emperor calls him, in pursuit. Hoki asked Mani (another auxiliary chief who had been well treated by the Emperor and given the title of Wang) to assist him; he refused to accompany him or to supply him with troops, and offered him only his counsel, which was that he should first summon Payar to an audience so that he might satisfy himself whether he was a rebel or no. Hoki replied that as he would not assist him he would himself march at the head of his soldiers and root the rebel out in his own camp, and would afterwards hold Mani responsible for any bloodshed that might happen. Again the latter counselled him not to compel Payar’s rebellion by attacking him, but to go to him with an escort of some thirty men and to reason with him. He accordingly went, but as soon as he appeared within shot he and his escort were met by a shower of weapons. He retired fighting desperately. He fell wounded by an arrow. His soldiers went to help him, but he would not have them stay, but taking the peacock's feather from his hat he said, “I have received great favour from the Emperor, he made me a general. As I cannot beat the enemy I can at least die under their blows. Let him know how I died. Take this to the Tsongtu of Barkul.” Such was the news the latter received from two Solon soldiers, the survivors of Hoki’s band, and which he had sent on to the Court. The Imperial forces were in fact almost driven out. Their sole remaining strong garrison in the country of the Kalmuks was apparently Barkul, whose governor fortified it and collected there the scattered soldiers he could find, and even this was apparently beleaguered by the Kalmuks. This news was very distressing to the Emperor, who hardly knew what to do, when affairs took a brighter turn. Chao hoei, an able general, who had with him only a few troops, collected the debris of Hoki’s army, attacked the various bands of Kalmuks he met, spread the news that the Emperor was sending formidable forces to punish the wrongdoers, and at length marched towards Ili. He sent to the Emperor a well digested scheme which determined him instead of abandoning the war, as he was rather disposed to do, to prosecute it vigorously. He appointed Chao hoei generalissimo and sent him some fresh troops, and in 1757 two new armies set out, one marching by the northern route the other by the southern. The Kalmuks, instead of being welded together by the continued disasters of their formidable enemy, were torn in pieces by internal quarrels and jealousies. Amursana had heard of this and thought it a favourable opportunity for him to return. He marched towards Ili, his army increasing as he went along. He was greatly surprised on reaching there to find Chao hoei at the head of a new force. He deemed it wise to retire, and once more by forced marches retreated to the country of the Kazaks. Chao hoei sent Fu té, one of his subordinates, in pursuit, while he busied himself in restoring order to the disintegrated tribes of Sungaria. Fu té pursued Amursana with energy at the head of his army. He arrived in the country of the Kazaks about the same time as Amursana. The Kazaks submitted and asked to be numbered among the subjects of the empire, and asked also that some of their chiefs might be sent on to Peking to do homage. They gave him a free pass into their country and offered him supplies. Amursana now saw that he must escape further away, and he fled to the vast regions of Locha (Siberia).

Once more did the grandees of the court, many of whom had lost relatives in the dreary war, urge upon the Emperor that he might now end it and cease the pursuit of the rebel; many others urged him to abandon altogether the province of Ili. “It is too far off for us to govern it long, let those have it who choose to take it,” they said. The Emperor was not in a mood now to listen to these sentiments, and he renewed his instructions to Chao hoei and Fu té to prosecute the war vigorously. “Meanwhile, he says in his memoir, “insulted heaven had fixed the hour of vengeance. A dreadful disease was the instrument it used to equate the balance of justice against the reprobate who had provoked it. It reached him when he thought himself beyond the reach of pursuit. It severed the blade thread of his days just as he seemed in prospect of enjoying life at least in liberty. Thus perished in the flower of his age he whose perfidy had caused so much disorder and cost so much blood. Abandoned by his people, who feared to catch his disease, scarce could be in this strange land find any one to render the funeral honours to his body. He in fact died of the smallpox in Siberia. The Emperor wrote several times to the Russians to demand his body, in order as he said to make of the rebel ashes an example of terror. The Russians refused to surrender it, although they showed it to the Chinese commissioners. “Each nation,” they said, “has customs which it holds sacred. A custom deemed sacred with us is not to expose the add fragments of an unfortunate who has sought refuge among us to ignominy. Your enemy is dead, we have shown you the body, that ought to suffice.” Chappe Dauteroche tells us Amursana, before he found refuge in Russia, had been joined by his wife Bitei, a daughter of Galdan Chereng. She afterwards went on to St. Petersburg, where she was seen in 1761. Her first husband was Ichidanjin, an elder brother of Amursana’s, by whom she had a son named Puntsuk. He adds further, that Amursana made a considerable stay at Tobolsk, where he was confined for some time in the Archbishop’s country house.

When the Manchus drove Amursana away from Sungaria, they determined apparently to do away with the supreme authority of the Over Khan, which had been exercised more or less since the time of Esselbei Kia, and to reconstitute the four Uirad divisions in their old condition. Thus breaking up the formidable power which the Kalmuks wielded when united. The Emperor says that before the time of Galdan Chereng (? the older Galdan) they were divided into four sections, each governed by its own prince, styled La té, and these larger divisions comprised among them twenty-one separate hordes or tribes, whose chiefs were styled Nganki. He claims to have revived this old form of government under a different name. He nominated four chiefs over the four main divisions, to each of whom he gave the title of Han, while he appointed smaller chiefs of various grades over the twenty-one tribes. He decreed that the dignity of Han should be hereditary, while the appointment of the lesser chiefs he retained in his own hands as the reward of meritorious service, and he appointed one of them to be their head and the channel by which he communicated with them. He distributed money among them, and he sent them agricultural implements and other necessaries to induce them to lead a more settled life. The four main divisions of the Kalmuks so constituted were the Cholos or Choros (the Sungars proper), the Khonote (? the Xhoits), the Huntéb (? the Khoshotes), and the Derbets. They all proved, from the Emperor’s point of view, intractable and rebellious, and he determined to exterminate them. He had named Ta wa tsi to be the Khan of Chores, but his speedy death prevented the arrangement from being completely carried out. This was probably in 1755. Another chief now became the head of the Choros tribe. I don’t know his name, and we are merely told that he was assassinated by his nephew Chana Karpu, who seized the inheritance. He in his turn was killed by Galdan Torgui. The Emperor says he chose the latter himself to govern the Cholos, and gave him the title of Han and its prerogatives; “becoming a monster, I was constrained,” says the Emperor,“to purge the earth of him.” This means that he rebelled. We are told elsewhere that it was the Taidji Tawa who captured him, cut off his head, and sent it to the Emperor, who caused it to be exposed as a warning to rebels. “I uprooted his race,” says Kien Lung, “changed into a desert the unhappy country where the perfidious Cholos formerly dwelt.” Payar or Bayar was nominated to the headship of the Huntéhé^ He was the first to break away from the Manchu yoke, and I have described the intercourse which Taltanga, the Manchu general, had with him. “He ended a life, of which he had so often made himself unworthy,” says the Emperor, “in the midst of tortures.” His dispersed subjects, reduced to slavery or killed, have left behind only the memory of their former condition in the name Huntéhé.

The chief whom the Emperor nominated over the Khonoté was Chakturman. He was also suspected of conspiracy against the Emperor. The Manchu general Yarhashan marched against him, and was so well satisfied of his intentions that he did not wait for further orders from Peking. He attacked him, took him prisoner, and had him executed outside the gates of Palikun (? Kuldja), and gave up to the fury of his soldiers all the Chonoté who did not escape by flight. This last cruel and abominable massacre was apparently made with very small excuse. Of the four chiefs the only one who escaped was the leader of the Derbets, of whom I shall speak again presently. The twenty-one Nganki or chieftains of the lesser hordes seem nearly all to have perished, some by the sword, others by the hand of the executioner. A few escaped northwards towards Russia, while the rest were reduced to slavery. Thus was Sungaria fairly trodden under, and very shortly its dependencies on the south of the Tien shan mountains were also incorporated with the Manchu empire.

It is not without reason that the Emperor enlarges in his memoir upon the terrible punishment inflicted upon this province, a punishment which converted a tolerably populous and thriving empire into almost a desert. The Manchu soldiers seem to have destroyed the Kalmuks mercilessly, and their provocation was very slight. Their campaign against them was a similar chapter in the annals of human butchery to those against the Miautze of Suchuan, and against the Mussulmans o Yunnan at a later date. The beautiful valley of Ili, which was such a busy and prosperous region in the glorious days of Sungar supremacy, became a Chinese penal settlement “Sungaria,” says Captain Valikhanof, “having been depopulated by the massacre of half a million of Eleuths was settled by China from the province of Kan su, and to increase the population was converted into a place of exile for criminals. For the protection of the country Manchu soldiers of the green banner were also transferred thither, and colonies of Sibos and Solons and Daurs were established in the Ili district. Seven thousand Mussulman families were forcibly converted into agriculturists, and the remnant of the extirpated Sungarians were allotted a certain extent of country to roam in. The government of the country was confided to a Tzian Tziun, with three lieutenants, the residence of one being at Tarbagatai, and that of another in Little Bukharia. The Chinese showed great caution in the treatment of the country, as its population had fought with great determination in the attempt to assert their independence. The internal government was left on the same fooling, and it was only for maintaining the peace of the country that Chinese garrisons were stationed in the most important towns; pickets were also posted in such localities as were best suited to guard the frontier, and stations were established for insuring rapidity in travelling. This successful subjugation of Sungaria and. Little Bukharia infused into the Chinese a military spirit and a thirst for conquest. During the government of Kien Lung they apparently desired to re-enact the scenes of the Sung dynasty. In the years 1756, 1758, and 1760 bodies of Chinese troops entered the territories of the Middle Horde. The fall of Sungaria, once so powerful as to be a perpetual menace to every country adjacent, and the conquest of Little Bukharia caused a panic throughout the whole of Asia, and strengthened a curious Mussulman superstition that the Chinese would one day conquer the whole globe, when there would be an end to the world. The immediate result of the general uneasiness was that Ablai, the head of the Middle Horde, Nurali, of the Little Horde, and the Burut chiefs hastened to negotiate with the celestial conqueror. Ablai in 1766 acknowledged himself a vassal of the Bogdo Khan, and received the title of prince. Nurali sent an embassy to Peking, the ruler of Kokand, Edenia Bi, in 1758, and after him in succession Naibuta Bi likewise recognised the protectorate of the Son of Heaven. In the description of Sungaria translated by Stanislas Julien from Chinese sources, and previously cited, we are told that the Khoits subject to prince Tanguté had their pastures in the country of Boro Burgasu, twenty leagues north-east of Ili (of Kuldja), (?at Boro Talas); the Sungars, Eleuths, and Khorbos had their pastures about Kungghes, forty-four leagues south-east of Ili; while Yuldus, south-east of Kungghes, was the ancient pasture ground of the Sungars and Keliyets. At Yamlek, north of Ili, were the ancient pastures of the Sungars and Erkets. Other Sungars and the Bukus nomadised about Kurtu, south of the Hi; while Gurban Alimatu, east of Kurtu, was the residence of the chiefs of the Eleuths and Noyats. West of Salkitu are Chainchi, Achi buri, and Khorgon. This part of the country was formerly occupied by several Sungar chiefs, named Namé Khondsirgar, Batur Ubashi, and Khotung Mergen. Other Sungars and some Derbets pastured in the district of Talas, west of the Ili (the country south of the river Chu).”

Such is the meagre account which alone I can meet with as to the fragments and shreds of the old Sungar nation which remained after the great massacre. The valley of the Ili, as I have said, was made a penal Chinese settlement, and is largely occupied now by Chinese and Turks, while the Kirghises and Telenguts have occupied large portions of Northern Sungaria. A large number of Kalmuks seem to have escaped to Russia, others fled towards China; and there, there are still found certain Kalmuk tribes still known as “the Eleuths of Choros.” They inhabit the country situated north of the mountains Ho lan shan and Lung chau shan, bounded on the east by Ninghia, on the west by Kan chau, on the south by Liang chau, and on the north by the Gobi desert and the country of the Khalkhas. In the narrative translated by Timkowski we are told that among the fugitives from Galdan were Tsirung, Baatur, Erke, and Arabtan, who were grandsons of Utshirtu Khan. They were probably children or descendants of his daughter, who married Senghé, the eldest son of Baatur Khungtaidshi. Arabtan is to be identified with Dugar Arabtan, son of Senghé, and Erke perhaps with Erke Baarang, son of Tse wang Arabtan. We are told that they requested the Emperor to assign them an abode, and that he granted them the lands situated beyond the frontiers of Ninghia and Kan chau, in the countries of Kaldjan Burgut, Kongor olong, and Bayan nuru; and in the Sandy desert Ablai Galbai Gobi, from the mountains of Alashan westwards as for as the banks of the Edsinei, on condition that they should keep at a distance of sixty li from the frontier of China. A line of demarcation was drawn in consequence. In 1697 the Eleuths petitioned the Emperor to organise them in divisions like the Forty-nine Mongol Banners, and to appoint head of tribes with hereditary dignities. They were accordingly divided into three banners. These Kalmuks are those known to Huc and recent Russian travellers as the Mongols of Alashan. Let us now complete our surrey of the Choros by the history of the Derbets.

As I have already said, the Sungars and Derbets formed, at a not very remote period, but one nation, subject to the chiefs of the family of Choros. The two sections broke asunder under two brothers named Ongozo and Onghorkoi. Onghorkoi was the stem father of the Derbet princes. His successor, according to Pallas, was Manghan Taidshi. Manghan’s successor was Toghon Taidshi, otherwise called Milmobokho, whose successor was Yannis Taidshi. Yannis had three sons, named Erke Yeldeng, Dalai Taidshi, and Yeldeng Ubasha Taidshi. Erke Yeldeng had a son named Mergen.

Until the disastrous war which the Sungars waged with the Khalkhas in the early part of the seventeenth century the Derbets lived in close alliance with the former in the eastern part of Sungaria. In that war they suffered severely, and in 1621, when Kharakhulla took refuge in Russia, he was accompanied by Dalai and Mergen, the abovenamed chiefs of the Derbets. They seem to have settled with their people in the steppes of the Ob, and in alliance with the Sungar chief Shuker and another named Sain Taishi. The following year Dalai Taishi was encamped on the river Serednei Yurtak, four days’ journey from Tumen. Early in 1623 the Russians sent an envoy to him, and then found him encamped in the country of the Kirghiz Kazaks, at a mountain named Penyi gori.

In 1628 a quarrel arose between the three Kalmuk chiefs, Shuker of the Sungari, Dalai of the Derbets, and Urluk of the Torguts, which led to Shuker retiring from the valley of the Irtish and the Ishim towards the Tobol. In 1631 the Russians exchanged messages with Erke Yeldeng, Dalai’s elder brother, who encamped on the Irtish, and who promised to restore some fugitives from Tara and also that he and his brother would not in future molest the Kirghiz Kazak. In 1631 we find Dalai supplying the pretender to the Siberian crown (Ablai) with a contingent of 150 men, who assisted him in a raid upon Russian territory but were defeated. In 1634 the Siberian prince was again assisted by a number of Kalmuk subjects of Dalai Taishi. Dalai Taishi died in 1637. He had two wived, one was called Aakhai, the other was a daughter of the Torgut chief Khu Urluk. He had nine sons, among whom he distributed his subjects during his lifetime. Daitshing Khoshutshi and Solom Chereng (the youngest son by the second wife) were the most amply provided for. On the death of his father, Daitshing (who already had one wife called Dara Eke) married his stepmother according to Mongol fashion, and sought in conjunction with his brother Gumba to deprive his eldest living brother of the headship of the family. When they made peace with one another they seem to have courted the friendship of the Russians, and returned some prisoners of theirs in their hands. The Russians reciprocated this goodwill and sent presents back for Daitshing and Gumba. Fresh courtesies were exchanged in 1642. Daitshing was killed in 1644, apparently by Khu Urluk the Torgut chief and father of his stepmother. On his death his wife, who had previously been his stepmother, went with her son Solom Chereng, who was then seven years old, to live with her father, Khu Urluk, on the Volga; with them went a considerable number of Derbets. I shall revert to them presently.

Muller frequently mentions at this period a chief named Kuisha, whom he in one place called an Eteuth. Pallas tells us he was a Derbet, and as he is generally mentioned in company with Dalai Taishi, he was probably his brother. He lived on the Yamin river (? a tributary of the Irtish). In 1634 he threatened the Russians who were getting salt at lake Yamish. In 1637 bis sons Ombo and Yalsi attacked Tara, and embassies were afterwards exchanged between them. He fought with Daitshing, the son of Urluk, the chief of the Torguts, and was defeated and captured.  This is the last we hear of him.

With Kuisha is sometimes associated a chief named Baibagish, who gave his name to the so-called Baibagatshef ulus. He also was probably a Derbet. These various small chiefs were doubtless all dependant on Kula, who acted as the deputy of the Khungtaidshi north of the mountains. But to resume our story.

Daitshing, as I have said, was to some extent a usurper, having pushed aside his elder brother Toin Taidshi, who was the eldest living member of the family. On his death, Eshkep, Toin’s son, became the supreme chief of the Derbets. He is wrongly made a son of Daitshing’s by Muller. In 1643 he sent an envoy to Tara. On the death of Daitshing the latter’s brothers and relatives were determined to revenge themselves upon his murderer Urluk. We are told that the Khungtaidshi interposed with his authority and summoned the princes to a meeting, but that Gumba had already set out. What the result of his expedition was we are not told, but Urluk is soon after found with his people in the neighbourhood of Astrakhan, where he was killed, as I have described.

In 1645 an embassy arrived at Tumen from Gumba Taishi and his mother Akhai and from Eshkep and his mother Deri Ika. Similar embassies went to Tumen in 1647 and 1648. Eshkep had lived for some years on very friendly terms with die Russians. In 1690 the Siberian princes made a raid upon the Russian settlements and burnt the monastery at Dolmatof, on the river Izet. The people of Tara sent some troops in pursuit of the plunderers. They did not meet with them but fell upon a small camp of twenty yurts belonging to Eshkep and his brother Dalai Ubashi, and plundered it. They carried off seventy prisoners, forty camels, 300 horses, and 500 bead of cattle. A messenger was sent to Tobolsk to demand the return of these, but the people of Tara refused to part with them, alleging that they recognised among the horses some which had been stolen from them, and that they had seen among the Kalmuks whom they had plundered Russian clothes which probably belonged to some of their countrymen who had bean carried off. This unprovoked attack converted Eshkep into an enemy of the Russians, and he seems to have allied himself with the Siberian princes and supplied them with troops with which they in 1659 made a raid into the Barabinski steppe. This assistance was apparently given covertly, for in the very same year Eshkep and other Kalmuk princes sent some of their people to trade at Tumen, who disposed of 1,150 horses, 234 head of cattle, and 1,000 sheep. Eshkep teems to have been succeeded by his son Dshal, who we are told built a stone temple, which still existed on the left bank of the Irtish, in the Podpusknoi Stanitz. In 1702 he was driven by the Bashkirs to take shelter with the Sungarian Khungtaidshi, by whom he was settled on Che river Chu, where he died in 1729 at the age of ninety.

The Eastern Derbets remained apparently under subjection to the Sungar princes, and I have little information about them. When Amursana was driven away, the Chinese, as I have said, divided the Kalmuks once more into four tribes, and among these the Derbets are specially named. They alone were spared when the three other sections of the Eastern Kalmuks were annihilated. Their Khan, according to the Emperor, had alone remained faithful, and in consequence his people were spared and continued to till their soil and to look after their herds in peace. Other fragments of the Derbets joined the Torguts in Russia, others again retired towards China and the Kokonur country.

Let us now turn to Solom Chereng and the Derbets of the Volga. We have already said that he went to the Volga in 1644. In 1673 he joined the Torgut horde with his son Menkotimur and about 5,000 families. Ayuka was then Khan of the Torguts. In company with the latter and also on another occasion separately he swore the oath of fealty to Russia. In 1701, when Ayuka and his son Chakdurdshap were at variance, Solom Chereng was no longer alive. His son Menkotimur fought first with one and then with the other, and eventually fled with his Derbets to the Don. On the reconciliation of father and son, Ayuka compelled him to ally himself with him, and gave his own daughter in marriage to Quitter or Cheter, the son of Menkotimur. On her death Cheter was married to another daughter of Ayuka’s. Cheter Taidshi succeeded his father Menkotimur, and in 1717, with the common failing of the Kalmuks, be put away his wife and married the daughter of Chakdurdshap, and the niece therefore of his previous wife. She had already had two sons by a Khoshote chief, and he had carried her away by force from the Khoshote ulus. Whereupon Ayuka summoned him to his court and kept him in custody. The Khoshotes insisted that he should be punished and the Derbet horde dispersed, but Chakdurdshap interposed, and settled matters in a strange fashion. Cheker kept the wife he had run away with, and his divorced wife was married to his son Lawan Donduk. In 1723 Ayuka died, and dissension arose among the Torguts about the succession. Cheter fled with his son Lawan Donduk and a great portion of his horde to the Don. His youngest son Gunga Dordshi, however, remained with a portion of the Derbets, and attached himself to Donduk Ombo. In 1721, when the commotions among the Torguts had increased, those princes who wished to be neutral escaped to the Derbets on the Don. The Kalmuks were thus divided into two sections; 30,000 of them lived on the Volga, the rest, about 14,000, on the Don. The two rivals for the Khanship, the Vice-Khan Cheren Donduk and Donduk Ombo, both attacked the Don Kalmuks, and forced them to return and declare for either one side or the other. In 1731 Donduk Ombo gave his uncle a severe beating, and then retired with a large portion of the horde to the Kuban; with him went Cheter Taidshi and his son Gunga. His other son Lawan Donduk collected a considerable number of Derbets, and settled with the consent of the Russians within the Lines of Zaritzin. His father tried through Russian influence to persuade him to return, but meanwhile Gunga made a raid upon a body of Don Cossacks, and carried off a number of Kalmuks who wintered on the Donets, and the negotiations broke down.

Donduk Ombo, Khan of the Torguts, died in 1741. Lawa Donduk, who had succeeded his father as chief of the Derbets, made peace with the young Khan, his successor. They met in 1743 and confirmed it, but the trace was a very hollow one. The Derbet chief was not unnaturally afraid that he and his horde were to be swallowed up by the much more numerous Torguts. He once move mowed to the Don, and even assisted the Cossacks in their espionage on the movements of the Torguts. Lawa Donduk and his eldest son both died about 1748 and the former was succeeded by his younger son Galdan Chereng. The occasion was favourable for the ambitious plans of the Torguts. The Derbet chief was young. Donduk Taishi, the Torgut, gave him his daughter in marriage, and then proceeded by various intrigues to detach his adherents from him. His daughter, the wife of the young chief, was a sensual woman. In the language of Pallas, she had many lovers among the priests and Saissans, which caused her husband much jealousy. She also seconded her father’s plans. In the winter of 1760 a grand attack upon the Kalmuk territory was threatened by the Kirghiz Kazaks. This gave the Torgut chief an excuse to collect a great force. He also ordered Galdan Chereng to join him with 1,000 men, and to leave the rest of his horde on the Sarpa. The latter prepared to obey, collected his men, and was on his march to join the Torgut Khan when he was warned of his intentions by a faithful Saissan, and fled to Zaritzin, and encamped with his people within the Lines on the Yelshanka brook. Craft and force were both used against the Derbet chief teo compel him to return, and he probably only escaped by the opportune death of Donduk Taishi in 1761. Galdan Chereng took advantage of the confusion, and once more escaped to the Don. His wife, as is common among the Kalmuks, preferred to join her lovers among the Torguts to going with her husband.

Expecting a general confusion, in which there would be some chance of revenging himself and improving his position, the Derbet chief prepared for war. Through the intervention of the Russians, anarchy was prevented. Ubasha succeeded to his father’s authority among the Torguts, and Galdan Chereng was reconciled to him as well as to his own wife. No sooner did he get her home, however, than he imprisoned her lovers, seized their goods, and had them beaten with scourges, so that one of them died, while she was sent home to her own people. He then married a Torgut princess, and lived peaceably with the Torgut Khan. In 1763 the Russians suspected he was intriguing with the Khan of the Crimea, and summoned him first to the Volga and then to St. Petersburg, where he died. His body was burnt, and the ashes placed under a brick tomb there. He left an infant son, during whose minority Ubasha tried once more to appropriate the Derbet horde. It once more escaped to the country between the Don and the Volga. The young prince was called Zebek Ubasha, and his relative Zenden was named his guardian. We now reach the period when the Torguts migrated, as I have described. This was in 1771. The Derbets did not join in the flight, but informed, the Russians about it. Rumours arose two years afterwards that they intended to follow the example of their brothers, and the Russians determined to take precautions, and summoned Zebek Ubasha and other chiefs to St Petersburg. There he died in 1774, leaving no issue. The dignity of Khan and Vice-Khan now fell into abeyance among the Volga Kalmuks, and the Derbets there were divided among three brothers, named Jal, Tundut, and Zenden, descended from a brother of Solom Chereng. For fifteen years after the flight the Volga Kalmuks were governed by a Saiga or council, composed of three chiefs, a Derbet, a Torgut, and a Khoshote. From 1786-1788 they were subject to the court of justice at Astrakhan. From 1788 to 1796 their affairs were controlled by a chancellery, consisting of two Russian and several Kalmuk members, which sat first at Yenatayaresk and then at Astrakhan. In 1802 the Emperor Paul, in one of his inexplicable caprices, thought fit to reestablish the office of Vice-Khan, and bestowed it upon prince Chutshei. He was the son of the Tundut above named. The administration of the hordes was again made independent, the functions of the Russian Pristofs were limited, and they could no longer abuse their power as much as they had done. But upon the death of Chutshei the Kalmuks again came under the Russian laws and tribunals; they loot all their privileges unreservedly, and the sovereignty of the Khans and Vice-Khans disappeared for ever.

“The complete subjection of the Kalmuks was not, however, effected without much difficulty. Discontent prevailed among them in the highest degree, but their attempts at revolt were all fruitless. Hemmed in on all sides by lines of Cossacks, the tribes were constrained to accept the Russian sway in all its extent. The only remarkable incident of their last struggles was a partial emigration into the Cossack country. This insubordination excited the Czar’s utmost wrath, and he despatched an extraordinary courier to Astrakhan, with orders to arrest the high priest and the principal chiefs of the hordes and send them to St. Petersburg. Before leaving Astrakhan they engaged a curtain Maximof as interpreter. When they arrived at St Petersburg the Emperor’s fit of anger was over. They were well received, and returned to the steppes invested with a new Russian dignity. The audience where they took leave of the Emperor was turned to good account by the interpreter. In returning their thanks to his majesty, knowing he ran no risk of contradiction, he made Paul believe that the Kalmuks earnestly entreated that his Imperial majesty would grant him also an honorary grade in recompense for his good services. The Czar was taken in by the trick, and he quitted the court with the title of major.

When Zwick visited the steppes of the Volga there was a great feud in progress among the Kalmuks there. He thus describes the origin of the quarrel: “Erdeni, the chief of one division of the Torgut horde, married Zebek, the sister of Erdeni prince of the Derbets. In the fortieth year of her age he sent her home to her lather’s tribe, in consequence of her infidelity. The Derbets demanded restitution of the dower. The Torguts refused it; and hence arose between the two clans the most violent animosity, the people on each side espousing the cause of their chieftain, and plunder and murder ensuing. Though the Derbet Erdeni had died the autumn before, the feud was not appeased, but was kept alive by his brother Jambe. The contest between the two hordes would have been very unequal (as the Derbets were reckoned at ten or from that to twelve thousand tents or families, and the Torguts at only 400,) but other hordes joined in the strife, according to their connection with the different parties concerned. On the side of the Derbets was the Tandikishan division of the Torgut horde, 1,000 tents strong, commanded by the princess Bogush or Nadmid, sister to the Derbet prince. On the other hand, Zerren Ubasha, another Torgut, with his horde of 800 tents, and the Began Zookors with 1,700 tents, took the part of the Torgut Erdeni, because the chief of the three nobles, by whom they were governed, was related to the Torgut prince. A third detachment of Torguts, under the command of three brothers, Jugal, Otshir, and Setter, ranged themselves nominally with prince Erdeni, and plundered friend and foe in a most unruly manner. It was chiefly by this branch of the Torgut tribe, that many Russian horsemen and Tartars were pillaged. Of all the hordes on the steppes, but two remained neutral; the Erkets, estimated at 1,000 tents, and the Khoshotes, of the same strength; the former on the western, the latter on the eastern shore of the Volga: so that of the 2o,ooo tents or families of Kalmuks, who inhabited the government of Astrakhan, there were, at the time we were travelling amongst them, only 2,000 at peace, and 3,000 were in arms against about 15,000. The Torguts, though in number only a fifth of the Derbets, had some advantages in the unequal strife, which enabled them to persevere with vigour. Their barren waterless steppes, and constant change of position, prevented them from being easily reached by the Derbets. The Torguts are moreover a hardy race, inured to privations, and subsisting in summer by the chase of antelopes, which abound on the steppes. For this reason, they are almost universally provided with guns, which is not the case with the less active and hardy Derbets. The Torgut horses are also decidedly superior to the Derbet, both in swiftness and capability of sustaining fatigue. They are fed upon worm wood and other dry herbs, while those of the Derbets are accustomed to richer pasture, and though apparently in better condition, are not so strong. These feuds had now lasted and gained strength uninterruptedly for three years. Government had not hitherto interfered with any severity, but had taken the tone of conciliation and kindness. As this had proved unavailing, and the Kalmuks, after the Russian residents (or Pristofs) were recalled from the hordes which we were to visit, burst forth with redoubled fury, on being relieved from their troublesome inspectors, it seemed probable that some important change was about to take place in the state of the tribes.

Zwick paid a visit to the horde controlled by the three brothers, Setter, Jirgal, and Otshir, whom he calls sons of Zebek Ubashi. According to Pallas, as we have seen, that chief died childless. Zwick calk them Torguts, which is surely a mistake. The missionaries took letters and various presents for them. Setter was idiotic and had been so from childhood, and Otshir ruled in his stead. He is probably the Otshir Kapshukof of Madame De Hell, who was chief of the three ulusses, Karakusofski, Yandikofski, and Great Derbet. They found Jirgal encamped at Itelgin Khuduk (the hawk’s well). They thus describe their interview: “Jirgal, a man about thirty years of age, thin, with only one eye, and in very duty apparel, was lounging on a couch which was equally dirty, in a tent which had nothing princely about it. He took the introductory letter, which we presented, carelessly (contemptuously even), and after asking a few questions in a short boorish manner, he sent us back to our carriages. It was evident that we were to deal with a boor, though of princely rank, and we had very soon further proof of this fact. Just as we had eaten our moderate supper, by the side of our carriage, and were ready to betake ourselves to repose, the prince sent word by one of his servants that he was coming to pay us a visit. He arrived immediately, attended by two little pages. He called for tea, and first civilly and then with threats, desired to have brandy with it. He had already learnt from our attendants how much we had brought with us, and he drank, either separately or with his tea, fifteen glasses of brandy, which was the whole of our stock, except a small remainder which he carried off with him. He demanded abundance of sugar with it, and the gingerbread which we had designed for future presents. We could refuse him nothing, for our stores had been already announced, and we felt ourselves entirely in the power of an uncivilized (and as we dearly saw, blood-thirsty) robber, who perhaps had only to speak the word, and is subjects (a suspicious-looking rabble in Russian, Armenian, and Circassian dresses, whom we had already seen in considerable numbers about us) would have fallen upon us without mercy or delay. Neither here, nor in the other hordes which we afterwards visited, were there any Russian Pristofs, to whom we could apply for protection. The prince’s love of plunder was now uppermost, and he desired to see our horses, but we succeeded in turning him from his purpose, by telling him that they were the property of the Government, which we had no power to dispose of. Upon this, he asked to see our daggers (which we had left in the coach), set himself by the fire, and tried them in various ways, particularly by letting them fl,al together with his own, into the ground, after which he pronounced that mine (a very fine one, winch I had bought at Astrakhan four years ago from a Persian) was the best of them all. He took possession of it immediately with the words, “We will change,” and threw his own (which was a miserably poor one) to me. Brother Schill lost his tobacco pipe on this occasion, and would have lost his good coat, if Jirgal, who had tried it on during the visit, had not luckily forgotten it when he was going away. As this was the process, I cleared away as well as I could everything that lay near us, whilst I sat by the side of the prince. The younger of our Tartars, Amur-Khan, was asleep in the coach before Jirgal arrived; old André was busy in looking after the fire and making the tea. At last, when Jirgal was intoxicated with the brandy he had taken, he insisted that André should dance and sing to him. André declared that he could not do either. The prince then roared to Amur-Khan, who came out bewildered and half asleep, and declared in like manner that he could not sing; and then the two pages who were kneeling before their master watching every wink, and catching occasional morsels of gingerbread which he threw them, were ordered to sing. They strode up in concert a Kalmuk song, in honour of a certain Shushing Saloh, a bandit, who was at last taken by the Russians, and banished to Siberia. When Jirgal thought proper to leave us (at one of clock) he desired that our André should take care of him home, and without the smallest provocation, he tried to stab him on the road. At the first attempt, André caught hold of his arm, and at the second he ran away and made his escape. We were afterwards informed by a credible eye-witness that Jirgal is every now and then possessed with this murderous propensity, and that this very spring he had maimed a young man, hand and foot, on a similar occasion. No merchant now comes to the neighbourhood, and even his countrymen keep at a distance, for he plunders and ill-treats all who come in his way. Formerly he governed the whole horde, winch three brothers had inherited from their father, but as his greedy revolted his subjects, the second brother, Otshir, supported by the high Pristof, assumed the command. Thus Jirgal (as well as his brother Setter) lost his share of the horde, and ha was at this  time surrounded only by a motley rabble whom he had gathered together. All this was entirely unknown to us, till we found it out by unpleasant experience. We were now in haste to make our escape, and as soon as Jirgal had slept off the effects of his brandy, on the following morning the 7th of July, we went to him, to ask for het letter which we had presented to him, without which we should have no introduction to Otshir. The letter we obtained without any difficulty, but we neither saw nor heard any more of the things he had stolen. We had hardly got back to our coach when the prince came on horseback and demanded punch tea, which we could not give him, as he had taken ail our brandy the evening before. He dictated to one of his attendants a few netted lines, saying that he agreed in opinion with Erdeni, and had also, received two of our books; and he hade us come and fetch this writing the following day, when it would be sealed and ready. He desired two Gezulls who were precept to take the books, upon which they both slipt out of the way in silence. When he was about to ride off be told Brother Schill to follow him, and at some little distance he again pressed him to give him his coat, offering a horse in return (which it would not have been easy to get, for the prince had none in his possession except the identical beast upon which he was riding); at last, under various pretences, the demand was eluded, and in the afternoon he sent us a sheep and some chigan.”

Madame De Hell describes the European Kalmuks as being divided into two great classes, “those belonging respectively to the princes and to the Crown, but all are answerable to the same laws and the same tribunals. The former pay a tax of twenty-five roubles to their princes, who have the right of taking from among them all the persons they require for their domestic service, and they are bound to maintain a police and good order within their camp. Every chief has at his command several subaltern chiefs called Saissans, who have the immediate superintendence of 100 or 150. His office is nearly hereditary. He who fills it enjoys the title of prince, but this is not shared by the other members of his family. The Saissans are entitled to a contribution of two roubles from every kibitka or tent under their command. The hordes of the Crown come under more direct Russian surveillance. They paid no tax at first, and were bound to military service in the same way as the Cossacks, but they have been exempted from it since 1836, and now pay merely a tax of twenty-five roubles for each family. The princely hordes, likewise, used to supply troops for the frontier services, but this was changed in 1825, and since then the Kalmuks have been free from all military service, and pay only twenty-five roubles per tent to the princes and two and a half to the Crown.”

Besides these two great divisions the Kalmuks are also distinguished into various ulusses or hordes belonging to various princes. Each ulus has its own camping ground for summer and winter. Zwick tells us that the Derbets lived chiefly to the east of the Don and the Sarpa in the summer and in the winter on the banks of the Kuma.

According to Madame De Hell “the Kalmuk territory has been considerably reduced since the departure of Ubasha. It now comprises but a small extent of country on the left bank of the Volga, and the Kirghises of the Inner Horde now occupy the steppes between the Ural and the Volga. The present limits of European Kalmukia are to the north and east of the Volga as far as latitude 48 deg.; a line drawn from that point to the mouths of the Volga parallel with the course of the river and at a distance from it of about forty miles, and lastly the Caspian Sea as for as Kuma. On the south side the boundary is the Kuma, and a line drawn from that river below Vladimirafka to the upper course of the Kugulcha. The Egorlik, and a line passing through the sources of the different rivers that fall into the Don, forms the frontiers on the west. The whole portion of the steppes included between the Volga, the frontiers of the Government of Saratof and the country of the Don Cossacks, and the 46th degree of north latitude forms the summer camping ground of the following ulusses Karakusofski, Yandikofski, and Great Derbet, belonging to prince Otshir Kapshukof; Little Derbet, belonging to prince Tondudof, and Ikitsokurofski, which is now (1838) without a proprietor, its prince having died childless. It is not known who is going to have his inheritance. The whole territory comprises about 4,105424 hectares of land; 40,000 were detached from it in 1838 by prince Tondudof and presented to the Cossacks, in return for which act of generosity the Crown conferred on him the rank of captain. He gave a splendid ball on the occasion, which cost upwards of 15,000 roubles. We saw him in that town at the governor’s soiree, where he made a poor figure, yet he is the richest of all the Kalmuk princes for he possesses 4,500 tents, and his income amounts, it is said, to more than 200,000 roubles.

“The Kalmuks occupy in all 10,297,587 hectares of land, of which 8,599415 are in the Government of Astrakhan and 1,598,172 in that of the Caucasus. These figures, which cannot be expected to be mathematically correct, are the result of my own observations and of the assertions of the Kalmuks, compared with some surveys made by order of the Administrative Committee.”

In regard to the number of the European Kalmuks the same gifted authoress reports thus: “According to the official documents communicated to me, the Kalmuk population does not exceed 15,000 families. On this head, however, it is impossible to arrive at very exact statistics, for the princes having themselves to pay the Crown dues, have of course an interest in making the population seem as small as possible. I am inclined to believe from sundry facts that the number of the.tents is scarcely under 20,000. At all events, it seems ascertained that the Kalmuk population has remained stationary for the last sixty years, a fact which is owing to the ravages of disease, such as smallpox and others of the cutaneous kind.”

I have already enumerated from Pallas the fragments of the Torgut horde that remained behind after the great migration. He also gives a table of the other Kalmuks, which runs thus:

Under the Khoshote Prince Samyang                 817. tents.

                    Talcka and his nephews                     210 

                     Samyang’s stepson Tummen            294 

                     Derbet Jirgal                                           50

                    Zebek Ubasha and his relations        4422 

Besides these a very large body of Kalmuks, numbering some 12,000 men, were nominally Christians, and lived in the district of Stavropol.

In regard to the latter, Giorgi says that towards the end of the seventeenth century the Khan and Taishis of the Torguts were informed that the Russians did not intend to surrender such of the Kalmuk fugitives as became Christians. After a while the number of these converts increased, and some of their leaders even became Christians. As they did not agree with their unconverted brethren, the Russian authorities at length, in 1737, planted them as a separate colony in the fruitful district watered by the rivers Samara, Sok, and Tok, and also gave them the city of Stavropol (city of the cross), where churches, schools, and dwellings were built for them. They were under similar regulations to the Cossacks, and they were divided into ulusses, and these again into companies under their own leaders. The contingent they supplied served on the Orenburgh-Kirghiz frontier, and was free from all taxes; they were in fact in Russian pay. At first they were subject to a baptised Kalmuk princess named Anna, afterwards to prince Peter Torgutskoy, and when Georgi wrote to a judicial court or Saiga. Jn 1754 they numbered 8,695 souls; in 1771 about 14,000. It was only the princes who lived at Stavropol; their subjects lived, like their unconverted brethren, in tents in the open country.

Most of these Kalmuks of Stavropol were no doubt merely nominal Christians, who sought protection from Russia during the troubled period of their history, and when things looked brighter they rejoined their brethren further north. In the time of Madame De Hell they had been greatly reduced in numbers. She thus speaks of them: “Lastly are to be enumerated 500 families of Kalmuks, improperly called Christians, who occupy the two banks of the Banna between Vladimirofka and the Caspian. Some Russian missionaries attempted their conversion towards the close of the last century, but their proselytising efforts, based on force, were fruitless, and produced nothing but revolts. Since then these Kalmuks, some of whom bad suffered themselves to be baptised, were called Christians, chiefly for the purpose of distinguishing them from those who are not bound to military service. They are chiefly employed in guarding the salt pools, and belong, under the denomination of Cossacks, to the regiment of Mosdok. The Government feeds them and their horses when they are on actual service, but they still pay a tax for every head of cattle, the amount of which goes into the regimental chest.

A number of Kalmuks are also found among the Cossacks of the Don and the Ural, the former in Pallas’ day consisted of about 2,000 men and were known as Cherkasian Kalmuks and were ruled like the other Cossacks by their own Starchins. Their origin dates from the time of Ayuka Khan. Georgi also mentions a small section of Muhammedan Kalmuks living east of the Ural mountains and in the Government of Orenburgh. They were a fragment of the Volga Kalmuks who were subdued by the Kirghises and by them circumcised and converted to Islam. They eventually moved into the Bashkir country, where the Bashkirs granted them pastures, gave them their daughters in marriage, and they adopted the Bashkir mode of living.

 

 

 

CHAPTER XII. THE BURIATS