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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[DECEMBER, 1881.
Temujin or Chinghiz Khân, and therefore, instead of accepting Tayang's proposal, he sent messengers with six bottles of wine to his rival to inform him of what had happened.' Douglas adds to this notice (apparently from the She wei or "Woof of History" by Chin-Yunseih) that wine was previously unknown to the Mongols, and their chief, who did not like the first taste of it, made a remark which sounds somewhat trite to our sophisticated ears. "A little of this stuff," he said, "raises the spirits, but an overdose confuses them." In return for the information and the presents, he sent his correspondent 500 horses and 1,000 sheep and made an alliance with him against the Naimans. In the authority translated by De Mailla the Ah-lahwuh-sze of the Yuan-shi is merely called the chief of the Ouang-coupou, (a corruption of Vangut). There we also read that the Mongols had hitherto been unacquainted with wine and only used a certain intoxicating liquor made from milk. The rest of the story is told as in the extract from Douglas, and is probably based on the same authority. In the Yuan-shi-lei-pien Ah-la-hwuh-sze is called Alausse, and we further read that he was the chief of the White Tata, that he belonged to the stock of the ancient chiefs of the Tukue," and that Tayang proposed that he, Cha mukha and himself should form an alliance against Chinghiz Khân." Rashidu'ddin tells us that in the spring of the mouse year?' Tayang Khân sent a trusty messenger named Jukhanan to Alakush Tikin Khuri, the ebief of the Ongut. Erdmann thus translates his message: "They say that a Padishah who has the naubet' has arisen in our country. He aspires to heaven and to subdue the sun and moon. As you know there cannot be two swords in one sheath, two souls in one body, two eyes in one socket, so there is not room for two Padishahs in one realm. Be my right hand, come and help me, and I will make his ram my own. Alakush, who was conscious that the Naiman power was on the wane, while that of Chinghiz Khân was rising, after consulting with his sons and chiefs, determined to throw in his lot with the latter, and sent one of his people named Turbidash to acquaint Chinghiz with what was
passing. According to D'Ohsson's account Tayang in his letter to Alakush spoke contemptuously of Chinghiz as "the wood prince," referring to the woody country inhabited by the Mongols, but this seems to be a mistranslation. Abu'lgházi in his notice instead of the simile about the two swords in one sheath uses a quaint Eastern illustration drawn from the imagery of his own time and country, and very contrary to that of the early Mongols. "Ten dervishes can find room on one piece of carpet, while the whole world is too small for two sovereigns.'l1 The Huang-Yuan calls Alakush Alakhusi-dikikholi of the race Bangu., This work also makes Tayang ask if there can be two masters in this world, and seems to suggest that this can be so in the heavens where the sun and moon divide authority between them. He calls the messenger sent by Alakush to Chinghiz, Dorbitashi." In Miles' Shajrat ul Atrak he is called Nooridash. Having thus brought together the various authorities we must illustrate the meaning of their statements by a commentary. As will be seen Alakush Tikin is made the chief of the Potata or White Tartars by some authors and of the Ongut by others. The Potata or White Tartars, by which name the tribe was known to the Chinese, were a section of the Tartars proper who, when the race was broken and dispersed, settled in the In-shan mountains, where it made itself felt in the latter years of the Tang dynasty. In the year 880 this section of the Tartars submitted to Chu-ye-che-sin, otherwise called Li-kue-chang and his son Li-ke-yung, who were chiefs of the Sha-to or Turks of the Sandy Desert, who afterwards founded the Tsin dynasty in China. This explains Gaubil's statement that the chief of the Potata was of the stock of the ancient princes of the Turks." The Sha-to Turks were a tribe subject to the Khakan of the Western Turks. They lived originally, according to De Guignes, near lake Lop, whence they retired in the 8th century to escape the encroachments of the Tibetans to Peting, north of Jighur, where they became eventually subject to the Tibetans, who planted them at Kan-chau, in the western part of
! Douglas, p. 43; Hyacinthe, p. 31. • Douglas, pp. 43 and 44. . Op cit. tom. IX, pp. 35 and 36. 10. e. of the Turks. » Gaubil, pp. 10 and 11..
19 i, e. 1204. . emusío played in front of the royal tent every
day, and a symbol of sovereignty.
IS Erdmann, pp. 299 and 300. 16 Op.cit., vol. I, pp. 83 and 84.
Op. cit., p. 177. 90 Visdelou, pp. 328 and 329.
11. e. his power.
Op. cit., p. 88. Op. cit., p. 73 op. cit., p. 10.
