96 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 



the sword as the emblem of physical force ; and, 

 according to the traditions and songs of the Sclavonic 

 nations, the Tartar has a new deity for every day of 

 his life, a saying which very significantly expresses a 

 devotion that regards only the enjoyments of each 

 passing day. Blind obedience to their leaders is 

 instinctive in this race ; and military discipline, which 

 among others is the elaborate work of art, is with 

 them the spontaneous impulse of nature. Their 

 leaders, who have obtained such hideous renown, 

 combined in their own persons all the good and bad 

 qualities of their hordes ; they were born to command 

 armies, and possessed the art of strategy in the highest 

 degree, and were utterly incapable of mercy. The 

 deeds of Attila, the scourge of God, are well known. 

 Genghis Khan, sitting in his tent beneath the pole- 

 star, issued his orders to two armies, one of which was 

 devastating India, the other Germany. Nay, the 

 inferior leaders often apprehended and fell in with the 

 general plan of operations without receiving any spe- 

 cial instructions ; the whole host, the whole race, was 

 evermore conducted by the unfailing instinct that 

 guides the vulture to its prey. Genghis Khan could 

 not read, he did not even know the history of his own 

 race, and yet he and the other Mongol conquerors 

 were not barbarians, if the art of creating wealth and 

 power constitutes civilization. The Mongols were 



