VIII.] THE NORTHERN MONGOLS. 291 



pure and bright." The Kins, however, retained their brightness 

 only a little over a century, having been eclipsed by Jenghiz- 

 Khan in 1234. But about the middle of the i4th century the 

 Niu-chi again rose to power under Aishiu-Gioro, who, although 

 of miraculous birth and surrounded by other legendary matter, 

 appears to have been a historical person. He may be regarded 

 as the true founder of the Manchu dynasty, for it was in his time 

 that this name came into general use. Sing-tsu, one of his 

 descendants, constructed the palisade, a feeble imitation of the 

 Great Wall, sections of which still exist. Thai-tsu, a still more 

 famous member of the family, greatly extended the Manchu 

 kingdom (1580-1626), and it was his son Tai-dsung who first 

 assumed the imperial dignity under the title of Tai-Tsing. After 

 his death, the Ming dynasty having been overthrown by a rebel 

 chief, the Manchus were invited by the imperialists to aid in 

 restoring order, entered Peking in triumph, and, finding that the 

 last of the Mings had committed suicide, placed Tai-dsung's 

 nephew on the throne, thus founding the still reigning Manchu 

 dynasty (1644). 



Such has been the contribution of the Manchu people to 

 history ; their contributions to arts, letters, science, in a word, to 

 the general progress of mankind, have been nil. They found the 

 Middle Kingdom, after ages of a sluggish growth, in a state of 

 absolute stagnation, and there they have left it. On the other 

 hand their assumption of the imperial administration has brought 

 about their own ruin, their effacement, and almost their very 

 extinction as a separate nationality. Manchuria, like Mongolia, 

 is organised in a number of half military, half civil divisions, the 

 so-called Pafa', or " Eight Banners," and the constant demand 

 made on these reserves, to support the dynasty and supply trust- 

 worthy garrisons for all the strongholds of the empire, has drawn 

 off the best blood of the people, in fact sapped its vitality at the 

 fountain-head. Then the rich arable tracts thus depleted were 

 gradually occupied by agricultural settlers from the south, with 

 the result that the Manchu race has nearly disappeared. From 

 the ethnical standpoint the whole region beyond the Great Wall 

 as far north as the Amur has practically become an integral 

 part of China, and from the political standpoint since 1898 an 



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