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JULY, 1884.]
CHINGHIZ KHAN AND HIS ANCESTORS.
out several hundreds of banners were brought out, and a thousand horsemen were arranged under each banner. Every ten horsemen were directed to take three dried sheep, an iron cauldron, and a skin of water, and along with his hosts were despatched horses, mares, and geldings, without number, to supply them with milk, and for riding." The Yuan-shi-lei-pen tells us that he left behind him as his vicegerent his brother, Tiemuko," who had in his service an officer named Sakisse, who was a Hoeihu or Uighur by origin, and his family had settled in China, formerly he had been cupbearer to the prince, and afterwards became a distinguished officer. Chinghiz Khân, we are further told, took with him several Chinese generals. He formed special corps, skilled in throwing stones at besieged cities." They were commanded by a Mongol, named Yenmuhay, and Suetalahay, who lived at Yenking, but was a foreigner by origin.23 Chinghiz Khân was now ready to leave. We read that on the day when the sacrifice of the departure was celebrated, there fell snow to the depth of three feet. Chinghiz, apparently deeming it an ill-omen, consulted Yeliu-chu-tsai, who replied, "This predominance of the god of the waters over the usual temperature of summer is an assured gauge of victory."" Yeliu-chu-tsai accompanied the great conqueror, and it is from his diary that we are able roughly to recover his route. The first place he names is Bula. This is, no doubt, as Palladius says, the place called Bo-lo, in the narrative of Chang-ti's journey, in which we read that wheat and rice were cultivated there. On the mountains round it many cypresses were found, which did not grow vigorously, but tortuously between the stones. The dwelling houses and bazârs stood interspersed among the gardens. The houses were built of clay, and the windows furnished with glass. This authority places it south of lake Alakkul. The place is called Pulad by the Persian authors who place it near lake Sut." Haithon also mentions Phulat, as a town near Sutkul. It is also named by Rubruquis as a place where they dug gold, and made arms. On the Chinese
20 Id. pp. 273 and 968.
1 I.e. Ochigin.
i.e. regiments of balisters.
33 Gaubil, p. 34.
Biography of Yeliu-chu-teai, in Nouveaux Mélanges Asiatiques, tome II, p. 65.
199
map published by Palladius it is called Pu-la, and is placed between Emil and Almaligh. Palladius puts it on the river Borotala, which flows north of lake Sairam, and empties itself into the Ebi-nor. It was on the main route from Mongolia to the west. After passing Bula the invaders crossed the Yin-shan mountains, by which the Talki or Borokhoro range, north of Kulja, is meant. These mountains are traversed by a famous defile, called the Iron Gates, through which Chinghiz Khân and his army marched. About this we have an interesting passage in the narrative of Ch'ang Ch'un's journey. "We suddenly got sight," he says, " of a splendid lake, about 200 li in circumference, enclosed on all sides by snowtopped peaks, which were reflected in the water. The master named it the lake of Heaven." Following the shore we descended in a southern direction; and on either side saw nothing but perpendicular cliffs and rugged peaks. The mountains were covered to their summits with dense forests, consisting of birches and pines, more than a hundred feet high. The river winds through the gorge for about sixty or seventy li, with a rapid current, sometimes shooting down in cascades. The second prince," who was with the emperor at the time he went to the west, first made a way through these mountains, cut through the rocks, and built fortyeight bridges with wood cut on the mountains. The bridges are so wide that two carts can pass together." Palladius remarks that Yelin-chu-tsai in his poems also speaks of these bridges, and of the splendid mountain lake. Dr. Bretschneider says that in the Chinese work, Sin-kiang-chi-lio, there is a reference to this defile, which affords additional corroboration for identifying it with the difficult road made through the mountains by the son of Chinghiz Khân. That work, in describing the Talki pass, tells us that at the present time forty-two bridges have to be passed in crossing the mountain. Putimtsoff, who went from Bukhtarminsk to Kulja in 1811, states that the great high road from Peking to Kulja leading along the northern slopes of the Celestial mountains, passes by lake Sairam, and that
35 I.e. Lake Sairam.
26 See Notes on Med. Travellers, p. 70, note 40; and Notices of Med. Geogr., p. 147.
1 Lake Sairam is doubtless meant.
1s I.e. Chagatai.
29 I.e. Chinghiz Khan.
