Populations Primitives de la Mongolia Orientale. 65 



facilement, au point de vue Ethnologique, est autrement important 

 qu'une simple question de décoration de poteries. 



Au Nord du fleuve Khalkas, des Mongols du même nom, et 

 du Buir-nor (nor=lac) se trouve une horde spéciale de Mongols, 

 les Barakhas. De même que les Tchahar Mongols %^aMm.~&, des 

 rives du Dolon-nor, ces Bai-aldias^ 4 ^ EHfl¥ ne font en aucune 



(46) (page 54 grande note Barakker. Marco Paulo.) H. Yule dans son livre „ Travels of 

 ,, Marco paolo 1903 (Vol. 1 Chapter 5a, Sundry Particulars of the Plain beyond Caracoron pag. 

 270-271),, parle long-uement des Barakhas, et en fuit une description assez complite. Nous en 

 „ donnons es un extrait: „ The Archimandrite Palladius (Elucidations. 16, 17) writes : In Mon- 

 „ gol text of Chingis-Khan's biography, this country is called Barhu and Barhuchin ; it is to be 

 „ supposed, according to Colonel Yule's identification of this name with the modern Barguzin, 

 „ that this country was near Lake Baikal. The fact that Merkits were in Baigu is confirmed by 

 „ the following statement in Chingis-Khan's biography : when Chingis-Khan defeated his 

 „ enemies, the Merkits, they fled to Barhuchin tokum. Tokum signifies a hollow, a low 

 „ place according to the Chinese translation of the above mentioned biography, made in 13S1 ; 

 „ thus Barhuchin tokum undoubtedly corresponds M. Polo's Plain of Bargu. As to M. Polo's 

 „ statement that the inhabitants of Bargu were Merkits, it cannot be accepted unconditionally. 

 „ The Merkits were not indigenous to the country near Baikal, but belonged originally — accord- 

 „ ing to a division set forth in the Mongol text of the Yuan ch'ao pi shi, — to the categori of 

 , , tribes living in yurts, i. e. namad tribes, or tribes of the desert. Meanwhile we find in the 

 „ same biography of Chingis-Khan, mention of a people called Barhun, which belonged to the 

 ,, category of tribes living in the forests ; and we have therefore reason to suppose that the Bar- 

 „ huns were the aborigines of Barhu. After the time of Chingis-Khan, this ethnographic name 

 „ disappears from Chinese history ; it appears again in the middle of the 16th century. Tho 

 „ author of the Yyu (1543-1544), in enumerating the tribes inhabiting Mongolia and the 

 „ adjacent countries, mentions the Barhu as a strong tribe capable to supply up to several tens of 

 „ thousands ? of warriors, armed with steel swords ; but the country inhabited by them is 

 „ not indicated. The Mongols, it is added, call them Black-Ta-tze (Kara Mongols, i. e. Lower 

 „ Mongols). 



„ At the close of the 17th century, the Barhus are found inhabiting the western slopes of the 

 „ interior Hing-an, as well as between Lake Kulon and River Khalkha, and dependent on a 

 prince of eastern Khalkhas Doro beile (Manchu title.) 



„ At the time of Galdan-K.'ian's invasion a port of them fled to Siberia with the eastern 

 „ Khalkhas, but afterwards they returned. (Mung ku yew mu ki and Lung Sha ki liu.) After 

 „ their rebellion in 1696, quelled by a Manchu General, they were included with other petty 

 „ tribes (regarding which few researches have been made) in the category butkha, or hunters and 

 „ received a military origanisation. They are divided into Old and New Barhu, according to the 

 „ time when they were brought under Manchu rule. The Barhus belong to the Mongolian not to 

 „ the Tungusian race ; they are sometimes considered even to have been in relationship with 

 „ the Khalkhas. (He lung kiang wai ki, „ and „ Lung sha ki lio.) 



., This is all the substantial information we possess on the Barhu. Is there an affinity to be 

 „ found between the modern Barhus and the Barhuns of Chingis-khan's biography ? — and is it 

 „ to be supposed, that in the course of time, they spread from Lake Baikal to the Hing'an range? 

 „ Or is it more correct to consider them a branch of the Mongol race indigenous to the Hing'an 

 „ Mountains, and which raceived the general archaic name of Bargu, which might have pointed 

 „ out the physical character of the country they inhabited (Kin-Shi) just as we find in history 



