________________
MAY, 1985.)
CHINGHIZ KHAN AND HIS ANCESTORS.
147
country, where mulberries and jujubes grew, and reached A-li-ma, i.e. Almaligh, the modern Ili or old Kalja, where the ruler of the realm of Pagu-man (? a form of Plano Carpini's Besserman, the old Russian Bussurman, i.e. Musalman) together with the Mongol ta-lu-hua. chi (darugha) went out to meet them. The biographer of Ch'ang-ch'un mentions the apples (alima) for which Almaligh was famous, and also that the people there ased a kind of cloth called tuluma, made of vegetable wool (i.e. of cotton), which was then very little known in China." He also mentions the aqueducts used in irrigation.
Moving on from Almaligh the travellers in four days reached the River Talas which they crossed at the end of October. Chung-lu now hastened on as a courier, to announce the sage's approach to Chinghiz Khân, while Chen-hai continued to escort him. A few days later they met the envoy of the Kin emperor whom we have already named, who was on his way back to China, and reported that Chinghiz was pursuing the Sultan Jalâlu'd-din towards India. This part of the country, we are told, belonged to the empire of Si-Lillo or Kara Khitai, and its people were engaged in agriculture, and in raising silk,
They also made grape wine there. As it did not rain during the whole summer and autumn, the land had to be artificially watered by canals. Passing along the northern flanks of the Alexandrofski Mountains, the travellers reached a rained city built of red stones, a military encampment, and great grave-mounds, i.e., the neighbourhood of Avlie-ata. Crossing the mountains by the well-known gorge at Avlie-ata they speedily reached Sairam, whose Muhammadan ruler went out to meet them and directed them to their lodg. ings. There one of Ch'ang-Ch'un's disciples, named Ch'nokia-ku, died." Going onwards now to the southwest they arrived in three days at a town whose Muhammadan ruler also entertained them. After passing another town they reached the Ho-ch'ao-mulien, i.e., Ho-chaoMuran, or river of Khojend, meaning the Sihun or Jaxartes. This they crossed by a floating bridge, the guardian of which presented Chen. hai with a tish having an enormous mouth and without scales (probably a silurus). They passed two towns, outside one of which they were entertained with dinner and wine, while boys
» ibid. Notes, p. 33. * ibid. 35.
performed some plays, dancing with swords and climbing on poles to amuse them. Passing two more towns they traversed a valley running north and south, where they passed the night under & wide-spreading mulberry-tree, which could shelter 100 men. At another town they saw & well over 100 feet deep, where an old Muhammadan had a bullock which turned the draw-beam and thus drew water for people. Chinghiz had noticed him on his march, and ordered him to be exempt from taxes. At Sie-misze-kan(Samarkand), the Tai-shi-yi-la-kuo-kung doubtless as we have seen, Yeliu Chutsai with the other officials went to meet them. Chung-lu informed the sage that some rebels had recently broken the floating bridge over the Amu Daria or Oxus, and that as it was the depth of winter he had better wait at Samarkand till the spring, which he agreed to do. He tells us that in the midst of the city was an elevated place about 100 feet high on which the Sultan's new palace had been built. This had been afterwards occupied by the Taishi, who on account of some robberies no longer lived there, and it was given up to Ch'ang-Ch'an, who said the Taouists had no fear. The Taishi supplicd everything needed for his daily wants. He was frequently visited by Chinese, who went to pay him their respects, and he also discussed the eclipse of the sun which he had seen on the Kerulon with an astronomer. He tells us this eclipse was total at noon on the Keralon, that ths of the sun were alone eclipsed at the Kin Shan Mountains, and the eclipse there was at its height at 10 in the morning. At Samarkand only ths were so eclipsed. He explains the natare of solar eclipses in naive, but accurate language. Meanwhile Chungla, who had been sent on to explore, returned with the report that the second prince, i.e. Chagatai, had moved with an army and had repaired the bridges, and that Chinghiz Khan was then south of the Ta-suo-shan, i.e. the Hinda-Kush, and that the road by which he would have to travel was thickly covered with snow. The prince, i.e. Chagatni, invited tho sage to pay him a visit, and wait till the time was more convenient for starting, but he declined on the plea that he only lived on vegetables, rico meal, &c., and understood there were nono there. He describes the balans or almondtrees at Samarkand and also the peacocks and
ibid. Notes, pp. 33-37.
