U2 CHINESE TARTARY. 



gouta, which is considered as the cradle of the present imperial fa- 

 mily, is surrounded by a wooden wall, composed of plain stakes, 

 driven into the earth, which touch each other, and are twenty feet 

 high. Without this palisado there is another of the same kind, 

 which is a league in circumference, and has four gates correspond- 

 ing to the four cardinal points. 



The Moguls, properly so called, as has been observed, have no 

 towns ; but in the country of Little Bucharia, possessed by the Eluts, 

 or Kalmucs, who were subjected by the Chinese in 1759, is the city 

 of Casgar, formerly the capital of a kingdom, nearly corresponding in 

 its limits with Little Bucharia, and which still retains some trade j 

 Yarkand, situate on a river of the same name ; and Turfan the capi- 

 tal of a detached principality ; once much frequented by merchants 

 in their way from Persia to China. 



Trade The principal trade of the Manchews consists in ginseng, 



and pearls found in several rivers which fall into the Amur. This 

 pearl fishery belongs to the emperor, but the greater part of the 

 pearls are small, and not of a fine water : a kind much more beauti- 

 ful are found in other rivers of Tartary, which flow into the Eastern 

 Sea. The companies and merchants who engage in this fishery must 

 every year give to the emperor, for permission to fish, 1140 pearis ; 

 this is the fixed tribute, and they must be pure and without blemish, 

 or they ai'e returned, and others required in their stead. 



The sable skins of this country are highly valued, because they 

 are reckoned to be very strong and durable. The most beautiful 

 skins are set apart for the emperor, who buys a certain number of 

 them at a stated price ; the rest are sold at a high rate even in the 

 country, where they are eagerly bought up by the mandarins and 

 merchants. 



The wandering tribes of Moguls know little of trade : they, how- 

 ever, exchange their cattle for cloth, silk, stuffs, and other apparel, 

 and ornaments for themselves and their women. 



Government, laws... .The departments of the country of the Man- 

 chew Tartars are governed by viceroys appointed by the emperor of 

 China. The wandering tribes of Moguls are govei'ned by khans, or 

 particular princes, who are independent of each other, but all subject 

 to the authority of the Chinese emperor. When the Manchews sub- 

 dued China, they conferred certain titles on the most powerful of the 

 Mogul princes, and assigned them revenues, but far inferior to those 

 of the Manchew lords at Peking. The emperor settled the limits of 

 their respective territories, and gave them laws according to which 

 they are at present governed. These tributary khans have not the 

 power of condemning their subjects to death, nor of depriving them 

 of their possessions : the cases of death and confiscation are reserved 

 for the supreme tribunal established at Peking for the affairs of the 

 Moguls, to which every individual may appeal from the sentence of 

 his prince, who is obliged to appear in person whenever he is cited. 



Religion.. ..Many of the Tartar tribes profess the religion of the 

 lamas, or that of Tibet, of which we shall give a farther account in 

 the description of that country. They frequently make pilgrimages 

 in great numbers, from the distance sometimes of a thousand miles, 

 to Putola and Teeshoo Loomboo, to pay devout homage and bring 

 offerings to the lama. 



Another religion, which is very prevalent among the Tartars, is that 

 of Schamanism. The professors of this religious sect believe in one 



