486 THE HORSE. 



yond this dreary wilderness are the vast countries of the 

 Eastern Tartars, extending on the west to the little Altaic 

 mountains, the ancient Imaus ; to the mountains of Siberia 

 on the north ; and to the Sea of Okotsk on the east. This 

 great region is now included within the nominal and actual 

 dominions of China, and was long known as Chinese Tartary. 

 It is known to modern geographers as Mongolia, and the in- 

 habitants as Mongoles, names which probably have had no 

 other origin than the misapprehension of writers. It is the 

 great seat of the Kalmuk and allied people. It abounds with 

 Horses, which form the wealth of the nomadic tribes, who 

 have been horsemen and wanderers in every known period. 

 The horses of these countries are stout and enduring, but 

 very small, being, in truth, merely what we term ponies. 

 They have been the instruments, however, of extensive re- 

 volutions. It is generally believed that the Huns came from 

 this country. But, however this be, we learn that the pre- 

 datory horsemen of Eastern Asia were in the earliest periods 

 of history the ruthless enemies of the settled inhabitants 

 within their reach. The annals of the Chinese relate chiefly 

 to the unceasing contests with these barbarians, and inform 

 us, that at length a wall, more than 1200 miles in length, 

 was raised up against their encroachments. This wall, the 

 most remarkable monument of human labour in the world, 

 still exists, to inform us how frail a barrier it proved against 

 the warlike horsemen it was designed to curb. Twice after- 

 wards they rendered themselves masters of the empire, and 

 now remain its sovereigns. In the beginning of the thir- 

 teenth century appeared Genghis, the Pagan, the most ruth- 

 less conqueror that had appeared in the world. Uniting the 

 various tribes, both of the Eastern and "Western Tartars, 

 he subdued, in an incredibly short time, the greater part of 

 Asia, bringing havoc and desolation wherever he carried his 

 hordes. 



To the eastward of Thibet is what is termed Independent 

 Tartary, inhabited by the Turcomans, the Kirguisans, and 



