- ETHNOLOGY, ETC., OF CHINA. V7 
when, during the Kin dynasty (A.D.1123-1260) they ruled the 
Northern provinces, they amalgamated with the inhabitants 
of those regions. It is, moreover, said of the Mongols that the 
“ skill with which they have governed the Chinese Empire, and 
readiness with which they have adopted a civilisation higher 
than their own, give promise of still further advances when 
they become familiar with the civilisation of Christian lands.” * 
Under the term Mongols a great many tribes occupying the 
steppes of Central Asia are comprised under the general name 
of Tartars—a word unknownamong the people themselves.t 
Bordering on China, and owing fealty to that empire, is 
Tibet, the people of which country partake of the character- 
istics of the Mongols and Hindoos. Of the Tibetians it is said 
that “they are mild in disposition, have a stronger religious 
feeling than the Chinese,” and never have left their own 
highlands for emigration or conquest. 
The Manchu Tartars are scarcely distinguishable from the 
Chinese by external appearances. The Chinese are rather 
taller and of more slender and delicate frame than the Tartars, 
who are in general short, thick, and robust. ‘The smali eye, 
elliptical at the inner extremity, is a predominating feature in 
the cast of both the Chinese and Tartar countenance. They 
both have the same high cheek-bones and pointed chins; in 
complexion also they are alike, of a yellowisn brunette. 
The Ortous comprise a tribe whose region extends between 
the Hoangho and Great Wall to a distance of 100 leagues 
from east to west, and seventy from north to south. ‘he 
tribe so called has been alternately subject to the Tartars and 
to the Chinese. About A.D. 1696 the Manchus were described 
by the Emperor Kanghi as “a very civilised nation who have 
lost nothing of the old manners of the true Mongols.” ‘ Their 
princes live in perfect union among themselves. No one ever 
heard of a thief among them, although they take not the 
slightest precaution for guarding their camels and horses.” 
In the 9th century, A.D., three nations appeared roaming 
about the northern side of China and Corea; in the west or 
modern Mongolia the Mong-u, who in the sequel were called 
Monk-kos and Mongoles; farther to the east the Kaitanes ; 
and beyond Corea, as far as the Hastern Ocean, the Niudsches, 
or Kin, who are, generally speaking, the same people with the 
Tunguses and the Manchus, the present sovereigns of China. 
* Williams, vol. i., p. 44. 
+ Klaproth confines the appellation Tartars to the Mongols, Kalmucks, 
Kalkas, Eleuths, and Buriats, while the Kirghis, Usbecks, Cossacks, and 
Turks are of Kurdish and Z’urkoman origin. 
t The remark does not refer to immediately recent times. 
