of the American Indians, 345 



mucs, and Siberians. Tartar is a name of no definite applica- 

 tion to any tribe. Before Genghis Khan*s reign they were all 

 caWedTurks. The Chinese caW a\\ the Turkish tribes'^ Tartars, 

 '^' The Mandshurs are said to be Moguls, so called from Man- 

 sueu Khan, great-grandfather to Kang-hi, the late Emperor of 

 China f. Mongols, Calmucs, Turks, and Turcomans are all 

 confounded in most histories by the name of Tartars J. Tur- 

 questan, Cashgar, Calmuckia, and Mongolia comprise the fer- 

 tile countries between lake Aral and the river Amoor, and that 

 i^ the region which has ever been the head-quarters of all the 

 powerful Asiatic conquerors, and it is to them that we must 

 look from the earliest ages for the fugitives that have peopled 

 America. Calmuckia was, about the year 1720, invaded by 

 300,000 Chinese troops, commanded by the emperor's best 

 general, who was his fourteenth son. The Contaish, or prince 

 of the Calmucs, who can bring into the field 100,000 ex- 

 cellent cavalry, defeated them. Mr. Bell calls him the Great 

 Khan of Tartary, and describes him as a man of sense, 

 affable, and strictly punctual to his word §. This is the exact 

 theatre of war between the Chinese and the Tartars at this 

 period, in 1828 1|. The Calmucs are called Dsongari, in 



*^* Respecting Turks, Turcomans, and Turquestan, see Marsden's Marco Polo, p. 

 45, 154. Several Persian monarchs have been Turcomans. — See Harris's Voyages, 

 ii 907. In the work called the Kuzzilbash {Literary Gazette, March 1, 1828.) the 

 Turcomans are described with broad features and little angular eyes. If this be 

 meant as a real description, it proves the difficulty of attaining accuracy on this 

 subject, as Bajazet, the Turkish emperor, is, in Timur's letter to him, called a Turco- 

 man. — Sherifeddin^ ii. 148. The Turks of Constantinople are now a medley of 

 Turks, Saracens, and Arabs. 



t Abul Ghazi, notes, vol. ii 384, 387, 429. A daughter of the Emperor Kublai 

 was married to the Ring of Korea, and received Kublai's seal as his son-in-law.— 

 Du Halde, ii. 379. See notes to Abul Ghazi, p. 541. 



X Levesque, Hist.de Russle, vol. vii. 191, 270. 



§ Bell of Antermony, Journey to Pekin, 1720. Wars and Sports of the Mongols, 

 p. 101. In the year 1811, one Bagh van Ho declared himself King and Priest of Tar- 

 tary, and with 60,000 Mogul and other troops menaced and alarmed the Chinese 

 dynasty. To show the Chinese governor of Nayman the devotedness of his followers, 

 one hundred of them, by his command, stabbed themselves to the heart in the gover- 

 nor's presence. His manners were courteous, and he spoke four languages. — Univ. 

 Mag. Oct. 1811. This shows the uncertainty of history regarding these regions: 

 the Abb6 Chappe asserts, that these people were all destroyed or dispersed by the 

 Chinese in 1757. See vol. i.295. 



II According to Pallas, vol. i. p. 495, " The Mongols, Buriat^, and Calmucs may 

 be considered as the same in person, manners, and rustic economy." When the 

 Chinese ambassadors passed through Siberia, they requested permission of Colonel 



