336 Mr. Ranking on the Remains of Elephants 



residences have been, from the earhest ages, on the banks of the 

 several rivers, some of the largest upon the globe, which dis- 

 charge their copious streams into the Arctic and Pacific Seas : 

 viz. the Amoor, the Hoang, the Kiang-keou, the Lena, the 

 Jenesai, the Irtish, the Tobol, and the Oby. 



The Amoor is formed by the Argoon and the Shilka, and dis- 

 charges itself into the Pacific Ocean in north latitude 53°, east 

 longitude from Greenwich, 142° 14^ The Shilka rises in the 

 Yablonnoy Mountains, east longitude 109° 14', being formed by 

 the tributary streams Ingoda, Onona, and Nertcha, and passes 

 by Nertshinsk. (Tooke, vol. i. 271. Rees's Cyc. "Amur.") 

 Genghis Khan, the first Great Mogul, was born near the city 

 of Nertshinsk, and some of his family continued to reside there 

 after his immense conquests. It was the custom of the im- 

 perial family to travel in large carriages drawn by four ele- 

 phants, and four white dromedaries j the emperor, empress, 

 and children each having a separate one. 



Pekin was conquered in 1211, and wajs the capital of the 

 Mogul emperors to the year 1369. They possessed many 

 thousands of elephants, and used those quadrupeds on their 

 hunting expeditions towards the gulf of Leaotong, annually, 

 when the whole court establishment, consisting of fifty or a 

 hundred thousand persons, attended the emperor. Banks of 

 rivers, all of which, in this quarter, run into the Pacific, must 

 have been, from necessity, the usual residence on these expedi- 

 tions. In the year 1286, Kublai fought his rebel relation, 

 Nayan, chief of a district in Leaotong, who disputed the em- 

 pire. There were eight hundred and sixty thousand com- 

 batants, and elephants were used ; the grand khan being in a 

 castle borne upon the backs of four elephants. The Sira 

 Muren, near this scene of blood and destruction, discharges 

 its waters into the gulf of Leaotong. — (Wars and Sports, 

 ch. ii.) 



The capital of China is placed by Ptolemy in latitude 38° 36', 

 and in ancient times there was a " council of five thousand^ 

 every one of whom findeth an elephant for the commonwealth." 

 — {Purchas, ed. 1525, vol. v. p. 400.) As far back as the 

 year before Christ 1100, Singan, in Shensi, was the capital of 

 China. The emperor who resided here invaded Tartary and 



