HUN S. 
470 
The Hans, in a very early period of their hiftory, ap- 
pear to have been highly formidable to the empire ot 
China. Their ancient, perhaps their original, feat, was 
an extenfive, though dry and barren, trafil of country, 
immediately on the north fide of the great Chinefe wall. 
Their place is at prefent occupied by the forty-nine hords 
or banners of the Mongoys, alfo a paftoral nation, which 
eonfilts of about two hundred thoufand families. But 
the valour of the Huns foon extended the narrow limits 
of their dominions; and their ruftic chiefs, who ailumed 
the appellation of Tanjou, gradually became the conque¬ 
rors, and the fovereigns, of a formidable empire. Towards 
the eail, their victorious arms were flopped only by the 
ocean ; and the tribes, which are thinly fcattered between 
the Amoor and the extreme peninfula of Corea, adhered 
with reludtance to the ftandard of the Huns. On the 
weft, near the head of the Irtifh, and in the valleys of 
Imaus, they found a more ample fpace, and more nume¬ 
rous enemies. One of the lieutenants of the Tanjou 
fubdued in a fingle expedition twenty-fix nations ; the 
Igours, diftinguiflied above the Tartar race by the ufe of 
letters, were in the number of his vafials: and, by the 
ilrange connexion of human events, the flight ot one of 
thofe vagrant tribes recalled the victorious Parthians from 
the invafton of Syria. On the fide of the north, the 
ocean was afiigned as the limit of the power of the Huns. 
Without enemies to refill their progrefs, or witneffes to 
contradict their vanity, they might fecurely achieve a 
real, or imaginary, conqueft of the frozen regions of Si¬ 
beria. The Northern Sea was fixed as the remote boun¬ 
dary of their empire. But the name of that fea, on whofe 
fhores the Chinefe patriot Sovou embraced the life of a 
fhepherd and an exile, may be transferred with much 
more probability to the Baikal. The lubmifhon of fo 
many diftant nations might flatter the pride of the Tan¬ 
jou ; but the valour of the Huns could be rewarded only 
by the enjoyment of the wealth and luxury of the empire 
of the fouth. In the third century before the Chriftian 
sera, the Chinefe wall of fifteen hundred miles in length 
was conftrudted, to defend their frontiers againft the in¬ 
roads of their enemies; but this llupendous work has 
never contributed to the fafety of that unwarlike people. 
See the article China, vol. iv. p.4.80, and the correfpon- 
dent Engraving of the Chinefe Wall. The cavalry of the 
Huns frequently confifted of two or three hundred thou¬ 
fand men, formidable by the matchlefs dexterity • with 
which they managed their bows and their horfes ; by 
their hardy patience in fupporting the inclemency of the 
weather ; and by the incredible fpeed of their march, 
which was feidom checked by torrents or precipices, by 
the deeped rivers or by the mod lofty mountains. They 
fpread themfelves at once over the face of the country ; 
and their rapid impetuofitv furprifed, aftonifhed, and difi- 
concerted, the grave and elaborate taffies of a Chinefe 
army. The emperor Kaoti, a foldier of fortune, whofe 
perfonal merit had railed him to the throne, marched 
again!! the Huns with -thole veteran troops which had 
been trained in the civil wars of China. But he was 
foon furrounded by the Huns, and after a liege of feven 
days, the monarch, hopelefs of relief, was reduced to pur- 
chafe his deliverance by an ignominious capitulation. 
The fucceflors of Kaoti, whole lives were dedicated to 
the arts of peace or the luxury of the palace, fubmitted 
to a more permanent difgrace. They too haftily confelfed 
the inlufficiency of arms and fortification. They were 
too ca'.ily convinced, that, while the blazing fignals an¬ 
nounced on every fide the approach of the Huns, the 
Chinefe troops, who-flept with the helmet on their head 
and the cuirafs on their back, were dellroyed by the in- 
ceflant labour of ineffeftual marches. A regular payment 
of money and filk was Itipulated as the condition of a 
temporary and precarious peace ; and the wretched ex¬ 
pedient of difguifing a real tribute, under the names of a 
gift or fubfidy, was praftiled by the emperors of China. 
But there ftiil remained a more difgraceful article of tri¬ 
bute, which violated the flicred feelings of humanity and 
nature. The hardlhips of the lavage life, which deftroy 
in their infancy the children who are born with a lelk 
healthy and robuft cbnftitution, introduce a remarkable 
difproportion between the numbers of the two fexes. 
The Tartars are an ugly, and even deformed, race ; and, 
while they confider their own women as the inftruments 
of domeftic labour, their defires, or rather their appetites, 
are directed to the enjoyment of more elegant beauty. 
A leleft band of the faireft maidens of China was annu¬ 
ally devoted to the rude embraces of the Huns ; and the 
alliance of the haughty Tanjous was lecured by their 
marriage with the genuine or adopted daughters of the 
imperial family, which vainly attempted to efcape the fa- 
crilegious pollution. ' The fituatioip of thefe unhappy 
victims, is deferibed in the verfes of a Chinefe princels, 
who laments that fire had been condemned by her parents 
to a diftant exile, under a barbarian hulband ; who com¬ 
plains that four milk was her only drink, raw flefh her 
only food, a tent her only palace ; and who exprefles,; 
in a ftrain of pathetic fimplicity, the natural vvilh,. that 
Hie were transformed into a bird, to fly back to her dear 
country, the objefil of her tender and perpetual regret. 
The conquelt of China has been twice achieved by 
the paftoral tribes of the north: the forces of the Huns 
were not inferior to thofe of the Moguls or of the Man- 
choos ; and their ambition might entertain the molt fan- 
guine hopes of fuccefs. But their pride was humbled, 
and their progrefs was checked, by the arms and policy 
of Vouti, the fifth emperor of the powerful dynafty of 
the Han. In his long reign of fifty-four years, the bar¬ 
barians of the fouthern provinces fubmitted to the laws 
and manners of China, and the ancient limits of the mo¬ 
narch}’- were enlarged, from -the great river of Kiang. to 
the port of Canton. Inltead of confining himfeif to the 
timid operations of a defenfive war, his lieutenants pene¬ 
trated many hundred miles into the country of the Huns,. 
In thofe boundlels defects, where it is importable to form 
magazines, and difficult to tranfport a fufficient fupply 
of provilions, the armies of Vouti were repeatedly expoied 
to intolerable hardlhips; and, of one hundred and forty 
thoufand foldiers, who marched againft the barbarians, 
thirty thoufand only returned in fafety to the feet of their, 
mailer. Thefe lofies, however, were compenfated by 
fplendid and decifive fuccefs. The Chinefe generals im¬ 
proved the fuperiority which they derived from the tem¬ 
per of their arms, their chariots of war, and the lervice of 
their Tartar auxiliaries. The camp of the Tanjou was' 
furprifed in the midft of lleep and intemperance: and, 
though the monarch of the Huns bravely cut his way 
through the ranks of the enemy, he left above fifteen 
thoufand of his fubjects on the field of battle. Yet this 
fignal victory, which was preceded and followed by many 
bloody engagements, contributed much lei's to the -de- 
ftruction of the power of the Huns, than the efl'eflual 
policy which was employed to detach the tributary na¬ 
tions from their obedience. Intimidated by the arms, or 
allured by the promifes, of Vouti and his fucceflors, the 
moll considerable tribes, both of the eaft and of the weft, 
difclaimed the authority of the Tanjou. While fome 
acknowledged- themlelves the allies or vafials of the em¬ 
pire, they all became the implacable enemies of the Huns: 
and the numbers of that haughty people, as loon as they 
w'ere reduced to their native ftrength, might perhaps 
have been contained within the walls of one of the great 
and populous cities of China. The defection of his fub- 
jefts, and the perplexity of a civil war, at length com¬ 
pelled the Tanjou himfeif to renounce the dignity of ari 
independent fovereign, and the freedom of a warlike and 
liigh-fpirited nation. He was received at Sigan, the ca¬ 
pital of the monarchy, by the troops, the mandarins, and 
the emperor himfeif, with all the honours that could, 
adorn and difguife the triumph of Chinefe vanity. A 
magnificent palace was prepared for his reception; his, 
place was afiigned above all the princes of the royal family; 
ami--. 
