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LNYAUGURATION OF GENGHIS KHAN,
HISTORY
OF
GENGHIS KHAN.
BY JACOB ABBOTT.
SHith Bngrabings.
NEW YORK:
JIARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
FRANELIN SQUARE.
1860.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight
hundred and sixty, by
HARPER & BROTHERS,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of
New York.
â€
PREFACE
Tue word khan is not a name, but a title.
It means chieftain or king. It is a word used
in various forms by the different tribes and na-
tions that from time immemorial have inhabit-
ed central Asia, and has been applied to a great
number of potentates and rulers that have from
time to time arisen among them. Genghis
Khan was the greatest of these princes. He
was, in fact, one of the most renowned conquer-
ors whose exploits history records.
As in all other cases occurring in the series
of histories to which this work belongs, where
the events narrated took place at such a period
or in such a part of the world that positively
reliable and authentic information in respect to
them can now no longer be obtained, the au-
thor is not responsible for the actual truth of
the narrative which he offers, but only for the
honesty and fidelity with which he has com-
piled it from the best sources of information
now within reach.
Chapter
I.
Il.
Iv.
Vi.
VIL.
VIII.
Ix.
xi.
XII.
XIII.
XIV.
XV.
XVI.
XVII,
XVIII.
XIX.
XX.
XXI.
XXII.
CONTENTS.
PASTORAL LIFE IN ASIA...--.--------
THE MONGULS
YEZONKAI KHAN
THE FIRST BATTLE...-.--..---..----
. VANG KHAN
TEMUJIN IN EXILE
RUPTURE WITH VANG KHAN
PROGRESS OF THE QUARREL ......---.-
THE DEATH OF VANG KHAN
. THE DEATH OF YEMUKA
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EMPIRE
DOMINIONS OF GENGHIS KHAN
THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE KUSHLUK
IDIKUT
THE STORY OF HUJAKU
CONQUESTS IN CHINA
THE SULTAN MOHAMMED
THE WAR WITH THE SULTAN
THE FALL OF BOKHARA
BATTLES AND SIEGES
VICTORIOUS CAMPAIGNS
GRAND CELEBRATIONS
CONCLUSION
ENGRAVINGS
THE INAUGURATION OF GENGHIS KHAN... Frontispiece.
ENCAMPMENT OF A PATRIARCH 20
SHOOTING AT PUBSUERS .....---..--..-....-..-. 35
MAP—EMPIRE OF GENGHIS KHAN...-...--------- 44
PURTA IN THE TENT OF VANG EHAN .---.---.._. 62
DRINKING THE BITTER’ WATER.....--.---.------ 107
PRESENTATION OF THE SHONGAR.......--..----- 173
THE MERCHANTS OFFERING THEIR GOODS....._-..- 222
THE GOVERNOR ON THE TERRACE .....-..---.--- 261
THE BATTLE OF THE BOATS.-......-..----.---- 277
GENGHIS KHAN
CHAPTER I.
PasToraL LIFE IN ASIA,
Four different modes of life enumerated.
Tee are four several methods by which
the various communities into which the
human race is divided obtain their subsistence
from the produttions of the earth, each of which
leads to its own peculiar system of social organ-
ization, distinct fn ita leading: characteristics
from those of all the rest.. Each tends to its
own peculiar form of government, gifes rise to
its own manners and customs, and forms, in a
word, @ distinctive and characteristic type of
life.
These methods are the following:
1. By hunting wild animals in a state of na-
ture.
2. By rearing tame animals in pasturages.
3. By gathering fruits and vegetables which
grow spontaneously in a state of nature.
4, By rearing fruits and grains and other veg-
etables by artificial tillage in cultivated ground.
14 GENGHIS KHAN.
Northern and southern climes. Animal food in arctic regions.
By the two former methods man subsists on
animal food. By the two latter on vegetable
food.
As we go north, from the temperate regions
toward the poles, man is found to subsist more
and more on animal food. This seems to be
the intention of Providence. In the arctic
regions scarcely any vegetables grow that are
fit for human food, but animals whose flesh is
nutritious and adapted to the use of man are
abundant.
As we go south, from temperate regions to-
ward the equator, man is found to subsist more
and more on vegetable food. This, too, seems
to be the intention of nature. Within the
tropics scarcely any animals live that are fit
for human food; while fruits, roots, and other
vegetable productions which are nutritious and
adapted to the use of man are abundant.
In accordance with this difference in the pro-
ductions of the different regions of the earth,
there seems to be a difference in the constitu-
tions of the races of men formed to inhabit
them. The tribes that inhabit Greenland and
Kamtschatka can not preserve their accustom-
ed health and vigor om any other than animal
food. If put upon a diet of vegetables they
soon begin to pine away. The reverse is true
PasToRAL LIFE IN ASIA. 15
Tropical regions. Appetite changes with climate.
of the vegetable-eaters of the tropics. They
preserve their health and strength well on a diet
of rice, or bread-fruit, or bananas, and would un-
doubtedly be made sick by being fed on the
flesh of walruses, seals, and white bears.
In the temperate regions the productions of
the above-mentioned extremes are mingled.
Here many animals whose flesh is fit for hu-
man food live and thrive, and here grows, too,
a vast variety of nutritious fruits, and roots, and
seeds. The physical constitution of the various
races of men that inhabit these regions is modi-
fied accordingly. In the temperate climes men
can. live on vegetable food, or on avimal food,
or on both. The constitution differs, too, in
different individuals, and it changes at differ-
ent periods of the year. Some persons require
more of animal, and others more of vegetable
food, to preserve their bodily and mental pow-
ers in the best condition, and each onc observes
a change in himself in passing from winter to
summer. In the summer the desire for a diet
of fruits and vegetables seems to come north-
ward with the sun, and in the winter the appe-
tite for flesh comes southward from the arctic
regions with the cold.
When we consider the different conditions
in which the different regions of the earth are
16 GENGHIS KHAN.
First steps toward civilization.
placed in respect to their capacity of produc-
tion for animal and vegetable food, we shall see
that this adjustment of the constitution of man,
both to the differences of climate and to the
changes of the seasons, is a very wise and be-
neficent arrangement of Divine Providence. To
confine man absolutely either to animal or veg-
etable food would be to depopulate a large part
of the earth.
It results from these general facts in respect
to the distribution of the supplies of animal and
vegetable food for man in different latitudes
that, in all northern climes in our hemisphere,
men living in a savage state must be hunters,
while those that live near the equator must de-
pend for their subsistence on fruits and roots
growing wild. When, moreover, any tribe or
race of men in either of these localities take the
first steps toward civilization, they begin, in the
one case, by taming animals, and rearing them in
flocks and herds ; and, in the other case, by sav-
ing the seeds of food-producing plants, and cul-
tivating them by artificial tillage in inclosed and
private fields. This last isthe condition of all
the half-civilized tribes of the tropical regions of
the earth, whereas the former prevails in all the
northern temperate and arctic regions, as far to
the northward as domesticated animals can live.
PAasToRAL LIFE IN ASIA. 17
Interior of Asia. Pastoral habits of the people.
From time immemorial, the whole interior of
the continent of Asia has been inhabited by
tribes and nations that have taken this one step
in the advance toward civilization, but have
gone no farther. They live, not, like the In-
dians in North America, by hunting wild beasts,
but by rearing and pasturing flocks and herds
of animals that they have tamed. These ani-
mals feed, of course, on grass and herbage; and,
as grass and herbage can only grow on open
ground, the forests have gradually disappeared,
and the country. has for ages consisted of great
grassy plains, or of smooth hill-sides covered
with verdure. Over these plains, or along the
river valleys, wander the different tribes of
which these pastoral nations are composed, liv-
ing in tents, or in frail huts almost equally mov-
able, and driving their flocks and herds before
them from one pasture-ground to another, ac-
cording as the condition of the grass, or that of
the springs and streams of water, may require.
We obtain a pretty distinct idea of the na-
ture of this pastoral life, and of the manners and
customs, and the domestic constitution to which
it gives rise, in the accounts given us in the Old
Testament of Abraham and Lot, and of their
wanderings with their flocks and herds over the
country lying between the Euphrates and the
B
18 GENGHIS KHAN.
Picture of pastoral life, Large families accumulated.
Mediterranean Sea. They lived in tents, in or-
der that they might remove their habitations
the more easily from place to place in follow-
ing their flocks and herds to different pasture-
grounds. Their wealth consisted almost whol-
ly in these flocks and herds, the land being al-
most every where common. Sometimes, when
two parties traveling together came to a fertile
and well-watered district, their herdsmen and
followers were disposed to contend for the priv-
ilege of feeding their flocks upon it, and the
contention would often lead to a quarrel and
combat, if it had not been settled by an amica-
ble agreement on the part of the chieftains.
The father of a family was the legislator and
tuler of it, and his sons, with their wives, and
his son’s sons, remained with him, sometimes
for many years, sharing his means of subsist-
ence, submiting to his authority, and going with
him from place to place, with all his flocks and
herds, They employed, too, so many herds-
men, and other servants and followers, as to
form, in many cases, quite an extended com-
munity, and sometimes, in case of hostilities
with any other wandering tribe, a single patri-
arch could send forth from his own domestiga.
circle a force of several hundred armed men.
Such a company as this, when moving across
ENOAMPMENT OF A PATRIARCH.
PasToRAL LIFE IN ASIA. 21
Rise of patriarchal governments.
the country on its way from onc region of pas-
turage to another, appeared like an immense
caravan on its march, and when settled at an en-
campment the tents formed quite a little town.
Whenever the head of one of these wander-
ing families died, the tendency was not for the
members of the community to separate, but to
keep together, and allow the oldest son to take
the father’s place as chieftain and ruler. This
was necessary for defense, as, of course, such
communities as these were in perpetual danger
of coming into collision with other communi-
ties roaming about like themselves over the
same regions. It would necessarily result, too,
from the circumstances of the case, that a strong
and well-managed party, with an able and saga-
cious chieftain at the head of it, would attract
other and weaker parties to join it; or, on the
arising of some pretext for a quarrel, would
make war upon it and conquer it. Thus, in
process of time, small nations, as it were, would
be formed, which would continue united and
strong as long as the able leadership continued ;
and then they would separate into their orig-
inal elements, which elements would be formed
again into other combinations.
Such, substantially, was pastoral life in the
beginning. In process of time, of course, the
22 GENGHIS KHAN.
Origin of the towns. Great chieftains. Genghis Khan.
tribes banded together became larger and larger.
Some few towns and cities were built as places
for the manufacture of implements and arms,
or as resting-places for the caravans of mer-
chants in conveying from place to place such
articles as were bought and sold. But these
places were comparatively few and unimport-
ant. A pastoral and roaming life continued to
be the destiny of the great mass of the people.
And this state of things, which was commenced
on the banks of the Euphrates before the time
of Abraham, spread through the whole breadth
of Asia, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Pa-
cific Ocean, and has continued with very little
change from those early periods to the present
time.
Of the various chieftains that have from
time to time risen to command among these
shepherd nations but little is known, for very
few and very scanty records have been kept
of the history of any of them. Some of them
have been famous as conquerors, and have ac-
quired very extended dominions. The most
celebrated of all is perhaps Genghis Khan, the
hero of this history. He came upon the stage
more than three thousand years after the time
of the great prototype of his class, the Patriarch
Abraham.
THE MONGULS. 23
Monguls. Origin of the name. A Mongul family.
CHAPTER II.
THe MoONGULS.
(TERE thousand years is a period of time
long enough to produce great changes,
and in the course of that time a great many
different nations and congeries of nations were
formed in the regions of Central Asia. The
term Tartars has been employed generically to
denote almost the whole race. The Monguls
are a portion of this people, who are said to de-
rive their name from Mongol Khan, one of their
earliest and most powerful chieftains. The de-
scendants of this khan called themselves by his
name, just as the descendants of the twelve sons
of Jacob called themselves Israelites, or children
of Israel, from the name Isracl, which was one
of the designations of the great patriarch from
whose twelve sons the twelve tribes of the Jews
descended. The country inhabited by the Mon-
guls was called Mongolia.
To obtain a clear conception ofa single Mon-
gul family, you must imagine, first, a rather
small, short, thick-set man, with long black
24 GENGHIS KHAN.
Their occupations. Animals of the Monguls,
hair, a flat face, and a dark olive complexion.
His wife, if her face were not so flat and her
nose so broad, would be quite a brilliant little
beauty, her eyes are so black and sparkling.
The children have much the appearance of
young Indians as they run shouting among the
cattle on the hill-sides, or, if young, playing
half-naked about the door of the hut, their long
black hair streaming in the wind.
Like all the rest of the inhabitants of Central
Asia, these people depended almost entirely for
their subsistence on the products of their flocks
and herds. Of course, their great occupation
consisted in watching their animals while feed-
ing by day, and in putting them in places of
security by night, in taking care of and rearing
the young, in making butter and cheese from
the milk, and clothing from the skins, in driv
ing the cattle to and fro in search of pasturage,
and, finally, in making war on the people of
other tribes to settle disputes arising out of con-
flicting claims to territory, or to replenish their
stock of sheep and oxen by seizing and driving
off the flocks of their neighbors.
The animals which the Monguls most prized
were camels, oxen and cows, sheep, goats, and
horses. They were very proud of their horses,
and they rode them with great courage and
THE MONGULS. 25
Their towns and villages. Mode of building their tents.
spirit. They always went mounted in going to
war. Their arms were bows and arrows, pikes
or spears, and a sort of sword or sabre, which
was manufactured in some of the towns toward
the west, and supplied to them in the course of
trade by great traveling caravans.
Although the mass of the people lived in the
open country with their flocks and herds, there
were, notwithstanding, a great many towns and
villages, though such centres of population were
much fewer and less important among them
than they are in countries the inhabitants of
which live by tilling the ground. Some of
these towns were the residences of the khans
and of the heads of tribes. Others were places
of manufacture or centres of commerce, and
many of them were fortified with embankments
of earth or walls of stone.
The habitations of the common pcople, even
those built in the towns, were rude huts made
so as to be easily taken down and removed.
The tents were made by means of poles set in
a circle in the ground, and brought nearly to-
gether at the top, so as to form a frame similar
to that of an Indian wigwam. A hoop was
placed near the top of these poles, so as to pre-
serve a round opening there for the smoke to
go out. The frame was then covered with
26 GENGHIS KHAN.
Bad fueL Comfortless homes.
sheets of a sort of thick gray felt, so placed as
to leave the opening within the hoop free. The
felt, too, was arranged below in such a manner
that the corner of one of the sheets could be
raised and let down again to form a sort of
door. The edges of the sheets in other places
were fastened together very carefully, especially
in winter, to keep out the cold air.
Within the tent, on the ground in the centre,
the family built their fire, which was made of
sticks, leaves, grass, and dried droppings of all
sorts, gathered from the ground, for the coun-
try produced scarcely any wood., Countries
roamed over by herds of animals that gain
their living by pasturing on the grass and
herbage are almost always destitute of trees.
Trees in such a case have no opportunity to
grow.
The tents of the Monguls thus made were,
of course, very comfortless homes. They could
not be kept warm, there was so much cold air
coming continually in through the crevices,
notwithstanding all the people’s contrivances
to make them tight. The smoke, too, did not
all escape through the hoop-hole above. Much
of it remained in the tent and mingled with the
atmosphere. This evil was aggravated by the
kind of fuel which they used, which was of such
THe MONGULS. 27
Movable houses built at last.
a nature that it made only a sort of smoulder-
ing fire instead of burning, like good dry wood,
with a bright and clear flame.
The discomforts of these huts and tents were
increased by the custom which prevailed among
the people of allowing the animals to come into
them, especially those that were young and
feeble, and to live there with the family.
In process of time, as the people increased in
tiches and in mechanical skill, some of the
more wealthy chieftains began to build houses
so large and so handsome that they could not
be conveniently taken down to be removed, and
then they contrived a way of mounting them
upon trucks placed at the four corners, and
moving them bodily in this way across the
plains, as a table is moved across a floor upon
its castors. It was necessary, of course, that
the houses should be made very light in order
to be managed in this way. They were, in
fact, still tents rather than houses, being made
of the same materials, only they were put to-
gether in a more substantial and ornamental
manner. The frame was made of very light
poles, though these poles were fitted together
in permanent joinings. The covering was, like
that of the tents, made of felt, but the sheets
were joined together by close and strong seams,
28 GENGHIS KHAN.
The painting. Account of a large movable honse.
and the whole was coated with a species of
paint, which not only closed all the pores and
interstices and made the structure very tight,
but also served to ornament it; for they were
accustomed, in painting these houses, to adorn
the covering with pictures of birds, beasts, and
trees, represented in such a manner as doubt-
less, in their eyes, produced a very beautiful
effect.
These movable houses were sometimes very
large. -A certain traveler who visited the coun-
try not far from the time of Genghis Khan says
that he saw one of these structures in motion
which was thirty feet in diameter. It was
drawn by twenty-two oxen. It was so large
that it extended five feet on each side beyond
the wheels. The oxen, in drawing it, were not
attached, as with us, to the centre of the for-
ward axle-tree, but to the ends of the axle-trees,
which projected beyond the wheels on each
side. There were eleven oxen on each side
drawing upon the axle-trees. There were, of
course, many drivers. The one who was chief
in command stood in the door of the tent or
house which looked forward, and there, with
many loud shouts and flourishing gesticulations,
issued his orders to the oxen and to the other
men.
THE MoNGULS. 29
The traveling chests. Necessity of such an arrangement.
The household goods of this traveling chicf-
tain were packed in chests made for the pur-
pose, the house itself, of course, in order to be
made as light as possible, having been emptied
of all its contents. These chests were large,
and were made of wicker or basket-work, cov-
ered, like the house, with felt. The covers
were made of a rounded form, so as to throw
off the rain, and the felt was painted over with
a certain composition which made it impervious
to the water. These chests were not intended
to be unpacked at the end of the journey, but
to remain as they were, as permanent store-
houses of utensils, clothing, and provisions.
They were placed in rows, each on its own cart,
near the tent, where they could be resorted to
conveniently from time to time by the serv-
ants and attendants, as occasion might require.
The tent placed in the centre, with these great
chests on their carts near it, formed, as it wera,
a house with one great room standing by itself,
and all the little rooms and closets arranged in
rows by the side of it.
Some such arrangement as this is obviously
necessary in case of a great deal of furniture or
baggage belonging to a man who lives in a
tent, and who desires to be at liberty to re-
move his whole establishment from place to
30 GENGHIS KHAN.
Houses in the towns,
place at short notice; for a tent, from the
very principle of its construction, is incapable
of being divided into rooms, or of accommo-
dating extensive stores of furniture or goods.
Of course, a special contrivance is required for
the accommodation of this species of property.
This was especially the case with the Monguls,
among whom there were many rich and great
men who often accumulated a large amount of
movable property. There was one rich Mon-
gul, it was said, who had two hundred such
chest-carts, which were arranged in two rows
around and behind his tent, so that his estab-
lishment, when he was encamped, looked like
quite a little village.
The style of building adopted among the
Monguls for tents and movable houses seemed
to set the fashion for all their houses, even for
those that were built in the towns, and were
meant to stand permanently where they were
first set up. These permanent houses were lit-
tle better than tents. They consisted each of
one single room without any subdivisions what-
ever. They were made round, too, like the
tents, only the top, instead’ of running up to a
point, was rounded like a dome. There were
no floors above that formed on the ground, and
no windows.
Toe MoONGULS. al
Roads over the plains. Tribes and families,
Such was the general character of the dwell-
ings of the Monguls in the days of Genghis
Khan. They took their character evidently
from the wandering and pastoral life that the
people led. One would have thought that very
excellent roads would have been necessary to
have enabled them to draw the ponderous
carts containing their dwellings and household
goods. But this was less necessary than might
have been supposed on account of the nature
of the country, which consisted chiefly of im-
mense grassy plains and smooth river valleys,
over which, in many places, wheels would travel
tolerably well in any direction without much
making of roadway. Then, again, in all such
countries, the people who journey from place
to place, and the herds of cattle that move to
and fro, naturally fall into the same lines of
travel, and thus, in time, wear great trails, as
cows make paths in a pasture. These, with a
little artificial improvement at certain points,
make very good summer roads, and in the win-
ter it is not necessary to use them at all.
The Monguls, like the ancient Jews, were
divided into tribes, and these were subdivided
into families ; a family meaning in this connec-
tion not one household, but a large congeries
of households, including all those that were
32 GENGHIS KHAN.
Influence of diversity of pursuits,
of known relationship to each other. These
groups of relatives had each its head, and the
tribe to which they pertained had also its gen-
eral head. There were, it is said, three sets of
these tribes, forming three grand divisions of the
Mongul people, each of which was ruled by its
own khan; and then, to complete the system,
there was the grand khan, who ruled over all.
A constitution of society like this almost al-
ways prevails in pastoral countries, and we
shall see, on a little reflection, that it is natural
that it should do so. In a country like ours,
where the pursuits of men are so infinitely di-
versified, the descendants of different families
become mingled together in the most promis-
cuous manner. The son of a farmer in one
state goes off, as.soon as he is of age, to some
other state, to find a place among merehants or
manufacturers; because he wishes to be a mer-
chant or a manufacturer himself, while his fa-
ther supplies his place on the farm perhaps by
hiring a man who likes farming, and has come
hundreds of miles in search of work. Thus
the descendants of one American grandfather
and grandmother will be found, after a lapse
of a few years, scattered in every direction all
over the land, and, indeed, sometimes all over
the world.
THE MONGULS. 33
Tribes and clans. Mode of making war.
It is the diversity of pursuits which prevails
in such a country as ours, taken in connection
with the diversity of capacity and of taste in
different individuals, that produces this disper-
sion.
Among a people devoted wholly to pastoral
pursuits, all this is different. The young men,
as they grow up, can have generally no induce-
ment to leave their homes. They continue to
live with their parents and relatives, sharing
the care of the flocks and herds, and making
common cause with them in every thing that
is of common interest. It is thus that those
great family groups are formed which exist in
all pastoral countries under the name of tribes
or clans, and form the constituent elements of
the whole social and political organization of
the people.
In case of general war, each tribe of the Mon-
guls furnished, of course, a certain quota of
armed men, in proportion to its numbers and
strength. These men always went to war, as
has already been said, on horseback, and the
spectacle which these troops presented in gal-
loping in squadrons over the plains was some-
times very imposing. The shock of the onset
when they charged in this way upon the ene-
my was tremendous. They were armed with
Cc
34 GENGHIS KHAN.
Horsemen. ° The bow and arrow.
bows and arrows, and also with sabres. As
they approached the enemy, they discharged
first a shower of arrows upon him, while they
were in the act of advancing at the top of their
speed. Then, dropping their bows by their
side, they would draw their sabres, and be ready,
as soon as the horses fell upon the enemy, to
cut down all opposed: to them with the most
furious and deadly blows.
If they were repulsed, and compelled by a
superior force to retreat, they would gallop at
full speed over the plains, turning at the same
time in their saddles, and shooting at their pur-
suers with their arrows as coolly, and with as
correct an aim, almost,.as if they were still.
While thus retreating the trooper would guide
and control his horse by his voice, and by the
pressure of his heels upon his sides, so as to
have both his arms free for fighting his pur-
suers.
These arrows were very formidable weap-
ons, it is said. One of the travelers who visit-
ed the country in those days says that they
could be shot with so much force as to pierce
the body of a man entirely through.
It must be remembered, however, in respect
to all such statements relating to the efficiency
‘of the bow and arrow, that the forse with which
THE MONGULS. 85
The flying horseman. Nature of the bow and arrow.
SHOOTING AT PURSUERS.
an arrow can be thrown depends not upon any
independent action of the bow, but altogether
upon the strength of the man who draws it.
The bow, in straightening itself for the propul-
sion of the arrow, expends only the force which
the man has imparted to it by bending it; so
that the real power by which the arrow is pro-
pelled is, after all, the muscular strength of the
archer. It is true, a great deal depends on the
qualities of the bow, and also on the skill of the
man in using it, to make all this muscular
36 GrenGHiIs KHAN.
Superiority of fire-arms. Sources of Information.
strength effective. With a poor bow, or with
unskillful management, a great deal of it would
be wasted. But with the best possible bow,
and with the most consummate skill of the
archer, it is the strength of the archer’s arm
which throws the arrow, after all.
It is very different in this respect with a bul-
let thrown by the force of gunpowder from the
barrel of a gun. The force in this case is the
explosive force of the powder, and the bullet is
thrown to the same distance whether it is a
very weak man or a very strong man that pulls
the trigger.
But to return to the Monguls. All the in-
formation which we can obtain in respect to
the condition of the people before the time of
Genghis Khan comes to us from the reports
of travelers who, either as merchants, or as em-
bassadors from caliphs or kings, made long
journeys into these distant regions, and have
left records, more or less complete, of their ad-
ventures, and accounts of what they saw, in
writings which have been preserved by the
learned men of the East. It is very doubtful
how far these accounts are to be believed. One
of these travelers, a learned man named Salam,
who made a journey far into the interior of
Asia by order of the Caliph Mohammed Amin
THr MoONGULS. 87
Gog and Magog. Salam.
Billah, some time before the reign of Genghis
Khan, says that, among other objects of re-
search and investigation which occupied his
mind, he was directed to ascertain the truth in
respect to the two famous nations Gog and
Magog, or, as they are designated in his ac-
count, Yagog and Magog. The story that had
been told of these two nations by the Arabian
writers, and which was extensively believed,
was, that the people of Yagog were of the or-
dinary size of men, but those of Magog were
only about two feet high. These people had
made war upon the neighboring nations, and
had destroyed many cities and towns, but had
at last been overpowered and shut up in prison.
Salam, the traveler whom the caliph sent to
ascertain whether their accounts were true,
traveled at the head of a caravan containing
fifty men, and with camels bearing stores and
provisions fora year. He was gone along time.
When he came back he gave an account of his
travels; and in respect to Gog and Magog, he
said that he had found that the accounts which
had been heard respecting them were true. He
traveled on, he said, from the country of one
chieftain to another till he reached the Caspian
Sea, and then went on beyond that sea for
thirty or forty days more. In one place the
38 GENGHIS KHAN.
Adventures of Salam and his party. The wonderful mountain.
party came to a tract of low black land, which
exhaled an odor so offensive that they were
-obliged to use perfumes all the way to over-
power the noxious smells. They were ten days
in crossing this fetid territory. After this they
went on a month longer through a desert coun-
try, and at length came to a fertile land which
was covered with the ruins of cities that the
people of Gog and Magog had destroyed.
In’ six days more they reached the country
of the nation by which the people of Gog and
Magog had been conquered and shut up in
prison. Here they found a great many strong
castles. There was a large city here too, con-
taining temples and academies of learning, and
also the residence of the king.
The travelers took up their abode in this
city for a time, and while they were there they
madé an excursion of two days’ journey into
the country to see the place where the people
of Gog and Magog were confined. When they
arrived at the place they found a lofty mount-
ain. There was a great opening made in the
face of this mountain two or three hundred feet
wide. The opening was protected on each side
by enormous buttresses, between which was
placed an immense double gate, the buttresses
and the gate being all of iron. The buttresses
Tor MoncuL_S. 39
Great bolts and bars. The prisoners,
were surmounted with an iron bulwark, and
with lofty towers also of iron, which were car-
ried up as high as to the top of the mountain
itself The gates were of the width of the
opening cut in the mountain, and were seven-
ty-five feet high; and the valves, lintels, and
threshold, and also the bolts, the lock, and the
key, were all of proportional size.
Salam, on arriving at the place, saw all these
wonderful structures with his own eyes, and he
was told by the people there that it was the
custom of the governor of the castles already
mentioned to take horse every Friday with ten
others, and, coming to the gate, to strike the
great bolt three times with a ponderous ham-
mer weighing five pounds, when there would
be heard a murmuring noise within, which were
the groans of the Yagog and Magog people con-
fined in the mountain. Indeed, Salam was told
that the poor captives often appeared on the
battlements above. Thus the real existence of
this people was, in his opinion, fully proved;
and even the story in respect to the diminutive
size of the Magogs was substantiated, for Salam
was told that once, in a high wind, three of them
were blown off from the battlements to the
ground, and that, on being measured, they were
found but three spans bigh.
40 GENGHIS KHAN.
Traveler’ tle. = s—s*=
This is a specimen of the tales brought home
from remote countries by the. most learned and
accomplished travelers of those times. In com-
paring these absurd and ridiculous tales with
the reports which are brought back from dis-
tant regions in our days by such travelers as
Humboldt, Livingstone, and Kane, we shall
perceive what an immense progress in intelli-
gence and information the human mind has
made since those days.
YEZONKAI KHAN. 41
Yezonkai Behadr.
Orthography of Mongul names.
Cuoaprer ITI.
YEZONKAI KHAN.
Te name of the father of Genghis Khan is
a word which can not be pronounced ex-
actly in English. It sounded something like
this, Yezonkai Behadr, with the accent on the
last syllable, Behadr, and the a sounded like a
in hark. This is as near as we can come to it;
but the name, as it was really pronounced by
the Mongul people, can not be written in En-
glish letters nor spoken with English sounds.
Indeed, in all languages so entirely distinct
from each other as the Mongul language was
from ours, the sounds are different, and the let-
ters by which the sounds are represented are
different too. Some of the sounds are so ut-
terly unlike any sounds that we have in En-
glish that it is as impossible to write them in
Kinglish characters as it is for us to write in
English letters the sound that a man makes
when he chirps to his horse or his dog, or when
he whistles. Sometimes writers attempt to rep-
resent the latter sound by the word whew ; aud
42 GENGHIS KHAN.
Great diversities. Yezonkai's power.
when, in reading a dialogue, we come to the
word whew, inserted to express a part of what
one of the speakers uttered, we understand by
it that he whistled; but how different, after all,
is the sound of the spoken word whew from the
whistling sound that it is intended to repre-
sent !
Now, in all the languages of Asia, there are
many sounds as impossible to be rendered by
the European letters as this, and in making
the attempt every different writer falls into a
different mode. Thus the first name of Gen-
ghis Khan’s father is spelled by different trav-
elers and historians, Yezonkai, Yesukay, Yes-
suki, Yesughi, Bissukay, Bisukay, Pisukay, and
in several other ways. The real sound was un-
doubtedly as different from any of these as they
were all different from each other. In this nar-
rative I shall adopt the first of these methods,
and call him Yezonkai Behadr.
Yezonkai was a great khan, and he descend-
ed in a direct line through ten generations, so
it was said, from a deity. Great sovereigns in
those countries and times were very fond of
tracing back their descent to some divine ori-
gin, by way of establishing more fully in the
minds of the people their divine right to the
throne. Yezonkai’s residence was at a great
Herat a
, -
YEZONKAI KHAN, 45
A successful warrior. Katay.
palace in the country, called by a name, the
sound of which, as nearly as it can be repre-
sented in English letters, was Diloneldak. From
this, his capital, he used to make warlike ex-
cursions at the head of hordes of Monguls into
the surrounding countries, in the prosecution
of quarrels which he made with them tinder
various pretexts; and as he was a skillful com-
mander, and had great influence in inducing all
the inferior khans to bring large troops of men
from their various tribes to add to his army, he
was usually victorious, and in this way he ex-
tended his empire very considerably while he
lived, and thus made a very good preparation
for the subsequent exploits of his son.
The northern part of China was at that time
entirely separated from the southern part, and
was under a different government. It consti-
tuted an entirely distinct country, and was call-
ed Katay.* This country was under the do-
minion of a chieftain called the Khan of Katay.
This khan was very jealous of the increasing
power of Yezonkai, and took part against him
in all his wars with the tribes around him, and
assisted them in their attempts to resist him ;
but he did not succeed. Yezonkai was too
* Spelled variously Kathay, Katay, Kitay, and in other
ways.
46 GENGHIS KHAN. {1163.
The Khan of Temujin. Mongul custom.
powerful for them, and went on extending his
conquests far and wide.
At last, under the pretense of some affront
which he had received from them, Yezonkai
made war upon a powerful tribe of Tartars that
lived in his neighborhood. He invaded their
territories at the head of an immense horde of
Mongul troops, and began seizing and driving
off their cattle.
The name of the khan who ruled over these
people was Temujin. Temujin assembled his
forces as soon as he could, and went to meet
the invaders. A great battle was fought, and
Yezonkai was victorious. Temujin was defeat-
ed and put to flight. Yezonkai encamped aft-
er the battle on the banks of the River Amoor,
near a mountain. He had all his family with
him, for it was often the custom, in these enter-
prises, for the chieftain to take with him not
only all his household, but a large portion of
his household goods. Yezonkai had several
wives, and almost immediately after the battle,
one of them, named Olan Ayka, gave birth to
a son. Yezonkai, fresh from the battle, de-
termined to commemorate his victory by giv-
ing his new-born son the name of his vanquish-
edenemy. So he named him Temujin.* His
* The name is intended to be pronounced Tim-oo-zhin,
1163.] YEZONKAI KHAN. 47
Birth of Genghis Khan. Predictions of the astrologer,
birth took place, as nearly as can now be ascer-
tained, in the year of our Lord 1163.
Such were the circumstances of our hero’s
birth, for it was this Temujin who afterward
became renowned throughout all Asia under
the name of Genghis Khan. Through all the
early part of his life, however, he was always
known by the name which his father gave him
in the tent by the river side where he was
born.
Among the other grand personages in Ye-
zonkai’s train at this time, there was a certain
old astrologer named Sugujin. He was a rela-
tive of Yezonkai, and also his principal minis-
ter of state. This man, by his skill in astrol-
ogy, which he applied to the peculiar circum-
stances of the child, foretold for him at once a
wonderful career. He would grow up, the as-
trologer said, to be a great warrior. He would
conquer all his enemies, and extend his con-
quests so far that he would, in the end, become
the Khan of all Tartary. Young Temujin’s
parents were, of course, greatly pleased with
these predictions, and when, not long after this
time, the astrologer died, they appointed his
son, whose name was Karasher, to be the guard-
ian and instructor of the boy. They trusted,
it seems, to the son to give the young prince
48 GENGHIS KHAN. (1175.
Explanation of the predictions. Karasher.
‘Such a training in early life as should prepare
him to realize the grand destiny which the fa-
ther had foretold for him.
There would be something remarkable in the
fact that these predictions were uttered at the
birth of Genghis Khan, since they were after-
ward so completely fulfilled, were it not that
similar prognostications of greatness and glory
were almost always offered to the fathers and
mothers of young princes in those days by
the astrologers and soothsayers of their courts.
Such promises were, of course, very flattering
to these parents at the time, and brought those
who made them into great favor. Then,in the
end, if the result verified them, they were re-
membered and recorded as something wonder-
ful; if not, they were forgotten.
Karasher, the astrologer’s son, who had been
appointed young Temujin’s tutor, took his pupil
under his charge, and began to form plans for
educating him, Karasher was a man of great
talents and of considerable attainments in learn-
ing, so far as there could be any thing like
learning in such a country and among such a
people. He taught him the names of the va-
Tious tribes that lived in the countries around,
and the names of the principal chieftains that
ruled over them. He also gave him such in-
1175.] YEZONKAI KHAN. 49
E£Aucation of Temujin. His precocity.
formation as he possessed in respect to the coun-
tries themselves, describing the situation of the
mountains, the lakes, and the rivers, and the
great deserts which here and there intervened
between the fertile regions. He taught him,
moreover, to ride, and trained him in all such
athletic exercises as were practiced by the youth
of those times. He instructed him also in the
use of arms, teaching him how to shoot with a
bow and arrow, and how to hold and handle
his sabre, both when on horseback and when
on foot. He particularly instructed him in the
art of shooting his arrow in any direction when
Tiding at a gallop upon his horse, behind as
well as before, and to the right side as well as
to the left. To do this coolly, skillfully, and
with a true aim, required great practice as well
as much courage and presence of mind.
Young Temujin entered into all these things
with great spirit. Indeed, he very soon ceased
to feel any interest in any thing else, so that by
the time that he was nine years of age it was
said that he thought of nothing but exercising
himself in the use of arms.
Nine years of age, however, with him was
more than it would be with a young man
among us, for the Asiatics arrive at maturity
much earlier than the nations of Western Eu-
D
50 GENGHIS KHAN. [1175.
lis early marriage. Plans of Temujin’s father.
rope and America. Indeed, by the time that
Temujin was thirteen years old, his father con-
sidered him a man—at least he considered him
old enough to be married. Hé was married,
in fact, and had two children before he was fif-
teen, if the accounts which the historians have
given us respecting him are true.
Just before Temujin was thirteen, his father,
in one of his campaigns in Katay, was defeated
in a battle, and, although a great many of his
followers escaped, he himself was surrounded
and overpowered by the horsemen of the enemy,
and was made prisoner. He was put under the
care of a guard; for, of course, among people
living almost altogether on horseback and in
tents, there could be very few prisons. Ye-
zonkai followed the camp of his conqueror for
some time under the custody of his guard; but
at length he succeeded in bribing his keeper to
let him escape, and so contrived, after encoun-
tering many difficulties and suffering many
hardships, to make his way back to his own
country.
He was determined now to make a new in-
cursion into Katay, and that with a larger force
than he had had before. So he made an alli-
ance with the chieftain of a neighboring tribe,
called the Naymans; and, in order to seal and
1175.] YEZONKAI KHAN. 51
Karizu. Tayian. Death of Yezonkai,
establish this alliance, he contracted that his
son should marry the daughter of his ally.
This was the time when Temujin was but thir-
teen years old. The name of this his first wife
was Karizu—at lcast that was one of her
names. Her father’s name was Tayian.
Before Yezonkai had time to mature his
plans for his new invasion of Katay, he fell
sick and died. He left five sons and a daughter,
it is said; but Temujin seems to have been the
oldest of them all, for by his will his father left
his kingdom, if the command of the group of
tribes which were under his sway can be called
a kingdom, to him, notwithstanding that he was
yet only thirteen years old.
52 GENGHIS KHAN. (1175.
Temujin’s accession. Discontent.
A
CHAPTER IV.
Tur First BAatTTueE.
i the language of the Monguls and of their
neighbors the Tartars, a collection of tribes
banded together under one chieftain was desig-
nated by a name which sounded like the word
orda. This is the origin, it is said, of the En-
glish word horde.
The orda over which Yezonkai had ruled,
and the command of which, at his death, he left
to his son, consisted of a great number of sep-
arate tribes, each of which had its own particu-
lar chieftain. All these subordinate chieftains
were content to be under Yezonkai’s rule and
leadership while he lived. He was competent,
they thought, to direct their movements and to
lead them into battle against their enemies.
But when he died, leaving only a young man
thirteen years of age to succeed him, several of
them were disposed to rebel. ‘There were two
of them, in particular, who thought that they
were themselves better qualified to reign over
the nation than such a boy; so they formed
4175.] THe First Battie. 53
Taychot and Chamuka. Arrangements for the battle,
an alliance with each other, and with such other
tribes as were disposed to join them, and ad-
vanced to make war upon Temujin at the head
of a great number of squadrons of troops,
amounting in all to thirty thousand men.
The names of the two leaders of this rebel-
lion were Taychot and Chamuka.
Young Temujin depended chiefly on his
mother for guidance and direction in this emerg-
ency. He was himself very brave and spirited ;
but bravery and spirit, though they are of such
vital importance in a commander on the field
of battle, when the contest actually comes on,
are by no means the principal qualities that are
required in making the preliminary arrange-
ments. ,
Accordingly, Temujin left the forming of the
to his mother, while he thought only of
orses, of his arms and equipments, and of
fury with which he would gallop in among
the enemy when the time should arrive for the
battle to begin. His mother, in connection with
the chief officers of the army and counselors of
state who were around her, and on whom her
husband Yezonkai, during his lifetime, had been
most accustomed to rely, arranged all the plans.
They sent off messengers to the heads of all
the tribes that they supposed would be friendly
pl
hig ;
54 GENGHIS KHAN. [1175.
Temujin’s erdor. Porgie.
to Temujin, and appointed places of rendezvous
for the troops that they were to send. They
made arrangements for the stores of provisions
which would be required, settled questions of
precedence among the different clans, regulated
the order of march, and attended to all other
necessary details.
In the mean time, Temujin thought only of
the approaching battle. He was engaged con-
tinually in riding up and down upon spirited
horses, and shooting in all directions, backward
and forward, and both to the right side and to
the left, with his bow and arrow. Nor was all
this exhibition of ardor on his part a mere use-
less display. It had great influence in awaken-
ing a corresponding ardor among the chieftains
of the troops, and among the troops themselves.
They felt proud of the spirit and energy which
their young prince displayed, and were more
and more resolved to exert themselves to the
utmost in defending his cause.
There was another young prince, of the name
of Porgie, of about Temujin’s age, who was also
full of ardor for the fight. He was the chief-
tain of one of the tribes that remained faithful
to Temujin, and he was equally earnest with
Temujin for the battle to begin.
At length the troops were ready, and, with
1175.] THE First BatTtTLeE. 55
Exaggerated statements. The battle.
Temujin and his mother at the head of them,
they went forth to attack the rebels. The reb-
els were ready to receive them. They were
thirty thousand strong, according to the state-
ments of the historians. This number is
probably exaggerated, as all numbers were
in those days, when there was no regular en-
rollment of troops and no strict system of cnu-
meration.
At any rate, there was a very great battle.
Immense troops of horsemen coming at full
speed in opposite directions shot showers of ar-
rows at cach other when they arrived at the
proper distance for the arrows to take cffect,
and then, throwing down their bows and draw-
ing their sabres, rushed madly on, until they
came together with an awful shock, the dread-
ful confusion and terror of which no person
can describe. The air was filled with the most
terrific outcries, in which yells of fury, shrieks
of agony, and shouts of triumph were equally
mingled. Some of the troops maintained their
position through the shock, and rode on, bear-
ing down all before them. Others were over-
thrown and trampled in the dust; while all,
both those who were up and those who were
down, were cutting in every direction with their
sabres, killing men and inciting the horses to
56 GENGHIS KHAN. (11765.
Bravery of Temujin and Porgie.
redoubled fury by the wounds which they gave
them.
In the midst of such scenes as these Temujin
and Porgie fought furiously with the rest.
Temujin distinguished himself greatly. It is
probable that those who were immediately
around him felt that he was under their charge,
and that they must do all in their power to pro-
tect him from danger. This they could do
much more easily and effectually under the
mode of fighting which prevailed in those days
than would be possible now, when gunpowder
is the principal agent of destruction. Temu-
jin’s attendants and followers could gather
around him and defend him from assailants.
They could prevent him from charging any
squadron which was likely to be strong enough
to overpower him, and they could keep his en-
emies so much at bay that they could not reach
him with their sabres. But upon a modern
field of battle there is much less opportunity
to protect a young prince or general’s son, Or
other personage whose life may be considered
as peculiarly valuable. No precautions of his
attendants can prevent a bomb’s bursting at his
feet, or shield him from the rifle balls that come
whistling from such great distances through the
ar.
1175.] THe First BATTLE. 57
Influence of Temujin’s example. Taychot slain. The victory.
At any rate, whether protected by his attend-
ants or only by the fortune of war, Temujin
passed through the battle without being hurt,
and the courage and energy which he display-
ed were greatly commended by all who wit-
nessed them. His mother was in the battle too,
though, perhaps, not personally involved in the
actual conflicts of it. She directed the ma-
neeuvres, however, and by her presence and
her activity greatly encouraged and animated
the men. In consequence of the spirit and en-
ergy infused into the troops by her presence,
and by the extraordinary ardor and bravery of
Temujin, the battle was gained. The army of
the enemy was put to flight. One of the lead-
ers, Taychot, was slain. The other made his
escape, and Temujin and his mother were left
in possession of the field.
Of course, after having fought with so much
energy and effect on such a field, Temujin was
now no longer considered as a boy, but took
his place at once as a man among men, and was
immediately recognized by all the army as
their prince and sovereign, and as fully entitled,
by his capacity if not by his years, to rule in his
own name. He assumed and exercised his
powers with as much calmness and self-posses-
sion as if he had been accustomed to them for
58 GENGHIS KHAN. (1175.
Rewards and honors. Temujin's rising fame.
many years. He made addresses to his officers
and soldiers, and distributed honors and re-
wards to them with a combined majesty and
grace which, in their opinion, denoted much
grandeur of soul. The rewards and honors
were characteristic of the customs of the coun-
try and the times. They consisted of horses,
arms, splendid articles of dress, and personal
ornaments. Of course, among a people who
lived, as it were, always on horseback, such
objects as these were the ones most highly
prized.
The consequence of this victory was, that
nearly the whole country occupied by the reb-
els submitted without any farther resistance to
Temujin’s sway. Other tribes, who lived on
the borders of his dominions, sent in to pro-
pose treaties of alliance. The khan of one of
these tribes demanded of Temujin the hand of
his sister in marriage to seal and confirm the
alliance which he proposed to make. In a
word, the fame of Temujin’s prowess spread
rapidly after the battle over all the surround-
ing countries, and high anticipations began to
be formed of the greatness and glory of his
reign.
In the course of the next year Temujin was
married to his second wife, although he was at
1175.) Tur First Battie. 59
His second wife, Purta carried away captive.
this time only fourteen years old. The name
of his bride was Purta Kugin. By this wife,
who was probably of about his own age, he
had a daughter, who was born before the close
of the year after the marriage.
In his journeys about the country Temujin
sometimes took his wives with him, and some-
times he left them temporarily in some place
of supposed security. Toward the end of the
second year Purta was again about to become
a mother, and Temujin, who at that time had
occasion to go off on some military expedition,
fearing that the fatigue and exposure would be
more than she could well bear, left her at home.
While he was gone a troop of horsemen, from
a tribe of his enemies, came suddenly into the
district on a marauding expedition. They over-
powered the troops Temujin had left to guard
the place, and seized and carried off every thing
that they could find that was valuable. They
made prisoner of Purta, too, and carried her
away a captive. The plunder they divided
among themselves, but Purta they sent as a
present to a certain khan who reigned over a
neighboring country, and whose favor they
wished to secure. The name of this chieftain
was Vang Khan. As this Vang Khan figures
somewhat conspicuously in the subsequent his-
60 GENGHIS KHAN. (1175.
Customary present. Purte and Vang Khan.
tory of Temujin, a full account of him will be
given in the next chapter. All that is neces-
sary to say here is, that the intention of the
captors of Purta, in sending her to him as a
present, was that he should make her his wife.
It was the custom of these khans to have as
many wives as they could obtain, so that when
prisoners of high rank were taken in war, if
there were any young and beautiful women
among them, they were considered as charm-
ing presents to send to any great prince or po-
tentate near, whom the captors were desirous of
pleasing. It made no difference, in such cases,
whether the person who was to receive the pres-
ent were young or old. Sometimes the older
he was the more highly he would prize such a
gift.
Vang Khan, it happened, was old. He was
old enough to be Temujin’s father. Indeed, he
had been in the habit of calling Temujin his
son. He had been in alliance with Yezonkai,
Temujin’s father, some years before, when Te-
mujin was quite a boy, and it was at that time
that he began to call him his son.
Accordingly, when Purta was brought to him
by the messengers who had been sent in charge
of her, and presented to him in his tent, he
said,
PURTA IN THE TENT OF VANG KHAN.
1176.] Tue First BATT Le. 63
Purta's return. Wirth of her chfld.
“She is very beautiful, but I can not take
her for my wile, for she is the wife of iny son.
I can not marry the wife of my son.â€
Vang Khan, however, received Purta under
his charge, gave her a place in his household,
and took good care of her.
When Temujin returned home from his ex-
pedition, and Icarned what had happened dur-
ing his absence, he was greatly distressed at the
loss of his wife. Not long afterward he ascer-
tained where she was, and he immediately sent
a deputation to Vang Khan asking him to send
her home. With this request Vang Khan im-
mediately complied, and Purta sct out on her
return, She was stopped on the way, however,
by the birth of her child. It wasason. As
soon as the child was born it was determined
to continue the journcy, for there was danger,
if they delayed, that some new troop of enemics
might come up, in which case Purta would per-
haps be made captive again. So Purta, it is
said, wrapped up the tender limbs of the infant
in some sort of paste or dough, to save them
from the effects of the jolting produced by the
Tough sort of cart in which she was compelled
to ride, and in that condition she held the babe
in her lap all the way home.
She arrived at her husband’s residence in
64 GENGHIS KHAN. (1175.
Jughi, Temujin's wonderful dream.
safety. Temujin was overjoyed at seeing her
again; and he was particularly pleased with his
little son, who came out of his packing safe and
sound. In commemoration of his safe arrival
after so strange and dangerous a journey, his
father named him Safe-arrived ; that is, he gave
him for a name the word in their language that
means that. The word itself was Jughi.
The commencement of Temujin’s career was
thus, on the whole, quite prosperous, and every
thing seemed to promise well. He was him-
self full of ambition and of hope, and began to
feel dissatisfied with the empire which his fa-
ther had left him, and to form plans for extend-
ing it. He dreamed one night that his arms
grew out to an enormous length, and that he
took a sword in each of them, and stretched
them out to see how far they would reach,
pointing one to the eastward and the other to
the westward. In the morning he related his
dream to his mother. She interpreted it to
him. She told him it meant undoubtedly that
he was destined to become a great conqueror,
and that the directions in which his kingdom
would be extended were toward the eastward
and toward the westward.
Temujin continued for about two years after
this in prosperity, and then his good fortune
1175.] THE First BAtrue. 65
Dizaffection among his subjects. A rebellion, Temujin discouraged.
began to wane. There came areaction. Some
of the tribes under his dominion began to grow
discontented. The subordinate khans began to
form plots and conspiracies. Even his own
tribe turned against him. Rebellions broke out
in various parts of his dominions; and he was
obliged to make many hurried expeditions here
and there, and to fight many desperate battles
to suppress them. In one of these contests he
was taken prisoner. Ie, however, contrived
to make his escape. Hc then made proposals
to the disaffected Ikhans, which he hoped would
satisfy them, and bring them once more to sub-
mit to him, since what he thus offered to do in
these proposals was pretty much all that they
had professed to require. But the proposals
did not satisfy them. What they really intend-
ed to do was to depose Temujin altegether, and
then either divide his dominions among them-
selves, or select some one of their number to
reign in his stead.
At last, Temujin, finding that he could not
pacify his enemies, and that they were, more-
over, growing stronger every day, while those
that adhered to him were growing fewer in
numbers and diminishing in strength, became
discouraged. He began to think that perhaps
he really was too young to rule over a kingdom
K
66 GENGHIS KHAN. (1175.
Temujin plana a temporary abdication.
composed of wandering hordes of men so war-
like and wild, and he concluded for a time to
give up the attempt, and wait until times should
change, or, at least, until he should be grown
somewhat older. Accordingly, in conjunction
with his mother, he formed a plan for retiring
temporarily from the field; unless, indeed, as
we might reasonably suspect, his mother form-
ed the plan herself; and by her influence over
him induced him to adopt it.
The plan was this: that Temujin should send
an embassador to the court of Vang Khan to
ask Vang Khan to receive him, and protect him
for a time in his dominions, until the affairs of
his own kingdom should become settled. Then,
if Vang Khan should accede to this proposal,
Temujin was to appoint his uncle to act as re-
gent during his absence. His mother, too, was
to be married to a certain emir, or prince, named
Menglik, who was to be made prime minister
under the regent, and was to take precedence
of all the other princes or :khans in the king-
dom. The government was to be managed by
the regent and the minister until such time as
it should be deemed expedient for Temujin to
return.
Miia nlan was carried into effect. Vang
Khan readily consv..+ed to receive Temujin into
1175.) THE First BATTLE, 67
Arrangement of a regency. Temujin's departure.
his dominions, and to protect him there. He
was very ready to do this, he said, on account
of the friendship which he had borne for Temu-
jin’s father. Temujin’s mother was married to
the emir, and the emir was made the first prince
of the realm. Finally, Temujin’s uncle was
proclaimed regent, and duly invested with all
necessary authority for governing the country
until Temujin’s return. These things being all
satisfactorily arranged, Temujin set out for the
country of Vang Khan at the head of an armed
escort, to protect him on the way, of six thou-
sand men. He took with him all his family,
and a considerable suite of servants and attend-
ants. Among them was his old tutor and
guardian Karasher, the person who had been
appointed by his father to take charge of him,
and to teach and train him when he was a boy.
Being protected by so powerful an escort,
Temujin’s party were not molested on their
journey, and they all arrived safely at the court
of Vang Khan.
68 GENGHIS KHAN. (1175.
Karakatay. Vang Khan's dominione.
CHAPTER V.
Vana KHAN.
Te country over which Vang Khan ruled
was called Karakatay. It bordered upon
the country of Katay, which has already been
mentioned as forming the northern part of what
is now China. Indeed, as its name imports, it
was considered in some sense as a portion of
the same general district of country. It was
that part of Katay which was inhabited by
Tartars.
Vang Khan’s name at first was Togrul. The
name Vang Khan, which was, in fact, a title
tather than a name, was given him long after-
ward, when he had attained to the height of his
power. To avoid confusion, however, we shall
drop the name Togrul, and call him Vang Khan
from the beginning.
Vang Khan was descended from a powerful
line of khans who had reigned over Karakatay
for many generations. These khans were a
wild and lawless race of men, continually fight-
ing with each other, both for mastery, and also
1175.] Vane KAN. 69
The cruel fate of Mergus. His wife's stratagem.
for the plunder of each other’s flocks and herds.
In this way most furious and cruel wars were
often fought between near relatives. Vang
Khan’s grandfather, whose name was Mergus,
was taken prisoner in one of these quarrels by
another khan, who, though he was a relative,
was so much exasperated by something that
Mergus had done that he sent him away to a
great distance to the king of a certain country
which is called Kurga, to be disposed of there.
The King of Kurga put him into a sack, sew-
ed up the mouth of it, and then laid him across
the wooden image of an ass, and left him there
to die of hunger and suffocation.
The wife of Mergus was greatly enraged
when she heard of the cruel fate of her hus-
band. She determined to be revenged. It
seems that the relative of her husband who had
taken him prisoner, and had sent him to the
King of Kurga, had been her lover in former
times before her marriage; so she sent him a
message, in which she dissembled her grief for
the loss of her husband, and only blamed the
King of Kurga for his cruel death, and then
said that she had long felt an affection for him,
and that, if he continued of the same mind as
when he had formally addressed her, she was
now willing to become his wife, and offered, if
70 GrenGcHIS KHAN. (1176.
Nawr. He falls into the snare,
he would come to a certain place, which she spe-
cified, to meet her, she would join him there.
Nawr, for that was the chieftain’s name, fell
at once into the snare which the beautiful wid-
ow thus laid for him. He immediately accept-
ed her proposals, and proceeded to the place of
rendezvous. He went, of course, attended by
a suitable guard, though his guard was small,
and consisted chiefly of friends and personal
attendants. The princess was attended also by
a guard, not large enough, however, to excite
any suspicion. She also took with her in her
train a large number of carts, which were to be
drawn by bullocks, and which were laden with
stores of provisions, clothing, and other such
valuables, intended as a present for her new
husband. Among these, however, there were
a large number of great barrels, or rounded
receptacles of some sort, in which she had
concealed a considerable force of armed men.
These receptacles were so arranged that the
men concealed in them could open them from
within in an instant, at a given signal, and issue
forth suddenly all armed and ready for action.
Among the other stores which the princess
had provided, there was a large supply of a
certain intoxicating drink which the Monguls
and Tartars were accustomed to make in those
1175.] Vane KHAN. 71
Armed men in ambuszade. Death of Nawr.
days. As soon as the two parties met at the
place of rendezvous the princess gave Nawr a
very cordial greeting, and invited him and all
his party to a feast, to be partaken on the spot.
The invitation was accepted, the stores of pro-
visions were opened, and many of the presents
were unpacked and displayed. At the feast
Nawr and his party were all supplied abund-
antly with the intoxicating liquor, which, as is
usual in such cases, they were easily led to
drink to excess; while, on the other hand, the
princess’s party, who knew what was coming,
took good care to keep themselves sober.
length, when the proper moment arrived, the
princess made the signal. In an instant the
men who had been placed in ambuscade in the
barrels burst forth from their concealment and
rushed upon the guests at the feast. The prin-
cess herself, who was all ready for action, drew
a dagger from her girdle and stabbed Nawr to
the heart. Her guards, assisted by the re-en-
forcement which had so suddenly appeared,
slew or secured all his attendants, who were so
totally incapacitated, partly by the drink which
they had taken, and partly by their astonish-
ment at the sudden appearance of so over-
whelming a force, that they were incapable of
mnaking any resistance.
72 GEeNnGHIS KHAN. [1175.
Credibility of these tales. Early life of Vang Khan.
The princess, having thus accomplished her
revenge, marshaled her men, packed up her
pretended presents, and returned in triumph
home.
Such stories as these, related by the Asiatic
writers, though they were probably often much
embellished in the narration, had doubtless all
some foundation in fact, and they give us some
faint idea of the modes of life and action which
prevailed among these half-savage chieftains in
those times. Vang Khan himself was the
grandson of Mergus, who was sewed up in the
sack. His father was the oldest son of the
princess who contrived the above-narrated
stratagem to revenge her husband’s death. It
is said that he used to accompany his father to
the wars when he was only ten yearsold. The
way in which he formed his friendship for Ye-
zonkai, and the alliance with him which led
him to call Temujin his son and to refuse to
take his wife away from him, as already related,
was this: When his father died he succeeded
to the command, being the oldest son; but the
others were jealous of him, and after many and
long quarrels with them and with other rela-
tives, especially with his uncle, who seemed to
take the lead against him, he was at last over-
powered or outmanceuvred, and was obliged to
1175.) Vane KHAN, 73
Reception of Temujin. Prester John.
fly. He took refuge, in his distress, in the coun-
try of Yezonkai. Yezonkai received him in a
very friendly manner, and gave him effectual
protection. After a time he furnished him with
troops, and helped him to recover his kingdom,
and to drive his uncle away into banishment in
his turn. It was while he was thus in Yezon-
kai’s dominions that he became acquainted with
Temujin, who was then very small, ard it was
there that he learned to call him his son. Of
course, now that Temujin was obliged to fly
himself from his native country and abandon
his hereditary dominions, as he had done be-
fore, he was glad of the opportunity of requit-
ing to the son the favor which he had received,
in precisely similar circumstances, from the
father, and so he gave Temujin a very kind
reception.
There is another circumstance which is some-
what curious in respect to Vang Khan, and that
is, that he is generally supposed to be the prince
whose fame was about this period spread all
over Europe, under the name of Prester John,
by the Christian missionaries in Asia. These
missionaries sent to the Pope, and to various
Christian kings in Europe, very exaggerated
accounts of the success of their missions among
the Persians, Turks, and Tartars; and at last
74. GENGHIS KHAN. (1175.
Hie letter to the King of France. Other letters.
they wrote word that the great Khan of the
Tartars had become a convert, and had even
become a preacher of the Gospel, and had taken
the name of Prester John. The word prester
was understood to be a corruption of presbyter.
A great deal was accordingly written and said
all through Christendom about the great Tartar
convert, Prester John. There were several let-
ters forwarded by the missionaries, professedly
from him, and addressed to the Pope and to the
different kings of Europe. Some of these let-
ters, it is said, are still in existence. One of
them was to the King of France. In this let-
ter the writer tells the King of France of his
great wealth and of the vastness of his domin-
ions. He says he has seventy kings to serve
and wait upon him. He invites the King of
France to come and see him, promising to be-
stow a great kingdom upon him if he will, and
also to make him his heir and leave all his do-
minions to him when he dies; with a great deal
more of the same general character.
The other letters were much the same, and
the interest which they naturally excited was
increased by the accounts which the mission-
aries gave of the greatness and renown of this
more than royal convert, and of the progress
which Christianity had made and was still mak-
1175.) Vane KHAN. 75
The probable truth. Temnujin and Vang Khan.
ing in his dominions through their instrument-
ality.
It is supposed, in modern times, that these
stories were pretty much all inventions on the
part of the missionaries, or, at least, that the ac-
counts which they sent were greatly exagger-
ated and embellished; and there is but little
doubt that they had much more to do with the
authorship of the letters than any khan. Still,
however, it is supposed that there was a great
prince who at least encouraged the missionaries
in their work, and allowed them to preach
Christianity in his dominions, and, if so, there
is little doubt that Vang Khan was the man.
At all events, he was a very great and pow-
erful prince, and he reigned over a wide extent
of country. The name of his capital was Kara-
korom. The distance which Temujin had to
travel to reach this city was about ten days’
journey.
He was received by Vang Khan with great
marks of kindness and consideration. Vang
Khan promised to protect him, and, in due time,
‘to assist him in recovering his kingdom. In
the mean while Temujin promised to enter at
once into Vang Khan’s service, and to devote
himself faithfully to promoting the interests of
his kind protector by every means in his power,
76 GENGHIS KHAN. (1182.
Temujin’s popularity.
CHAPTER VI.
TeMUJIN IN EXILE.
\ 7.ANG KHAN gave Temujin a very hon-
orable position in his court. It was nat-
ural that he should do so, for Temujin was a
prince in the prime of his youth, and of very
attractive person and manners; and, though he
was for the present an exile, as it were, from
his native land, he was not by any means in a
destitute or hopeless condition. His family and
friends were still in the ascendency at home,
and he himself, in coming to the kingdom of
Vang Khan, had brought with him quite an
important body of troops. Being, at the same
time, personally possessed of great courage and
of much military skill, he was prepared to ren-
der his protector good service in return for his
protection. In a word, the arrival of Temujin
at the court of Vang Khan was an event calcu-
lated to make quite a sensation.
At first every body was very much pleased
with him, and he was very popular; but before
long the other young princes of the court, and
1182.) TEMUJIN IN EXILE, 77
Rivals and enemies appear. Plots. Yemuka, Wisulujine.
the chieftains of the neighboring tribes, began
to be jealous of him. Vang Khan gave him
precedence over them all, partly on account of
his personal attachment to him, and partly on
account of the rank which he held in his own
country, which, being that of a sovereign prince,
naturally entitled him to the very highest po-
sition among the subordinate chieftains in the
retinue of Vang Khan. But these subordinate
chieftains were not satisfied. They murmured,
at first secretly, and afterward more openly,
and soon began to form combinations and plots
against the new favorite, as they called him.
An incident soon occurred which greatly in-
creased this animosity, and gave to Temujin’s
enemies, all at once, a very powerful leader
and head. This leader was a very influential
chieftain named Yemuka. This Yemuka, it
seems, was in love with the daughter of Vang
Khan, the Princess Wisulujine. Te asked her
in marriage of her father. To preciscly what
state of forwardness the negotiations had ad-
vanced does not appear, but, at any rate, when
Temujin arrived, Wisulujine soon began to turn
her thoughts toward him. He was undoubt-
edly younger, handsomer, and more accomplish-
ed than her old lover, and before long she
gave her father to understand that she would
78 GENGHIS KHAN. (1182.
Yemuka's disappointment. Ilta rage. ~ Conspiracy formed.
much rather have him for her husband than
Yemuka. It is true, Temujin had one or two
wives already; but this made no difference, for
it was the custom then, as, indeed, it is still, for
the Asiatic princes and chieftains to take as
many wives as their wealth and position would
enable them to maintain. Yemuka was ac-
cordingly refused, and Wisulujine was given in
marriage to Temujin.
Yemuka was, of course, dreadfully enraged.
He vowed that he would be revenged. He im-
mediately began to intrigue with all the dis-
contented persons and parties in the kingdom,
not only with those who were envious and jeal-
ous of Temujin, but also with all those who,
for any reason, were disposed to put themselves
in opposition to Vang Khan’s government.
Thus a formidable conspiracy was formed for
the purpose of compassing Temujin’s ruin.
The conspirators first tried the effect of pri-
vate remonstrances with Vang Khan, in which
they made all sorts of evil representations
against Temujin, but to no effect. Temujin
rallied about him so many old friends, and
made so many new friends by his courage and
energy, that his party at court proved stronger
than that of his enemies, and, for a time, they
seemed likely to fail entirely of their design.
1182.] TEMUJIN IN HXILE. 79
Progress of the league. Oath of the conspirators.
At length the conspirators opened communi-
cation with the foreign enemies of Vang Khan,
and formed a league with them to make war
against and destroy both Vang Khan and Te-
mujin together. The accounts of the progress
of this league, and of the different nations and
tribes which took part in it, is imperfect and
confused; but at length, after various prelim-
inary contests and manceuvres, arrangements
were made for assembling a large army with a
view of invading Vang Khan’s dominions and
deciding the question by a battle. The differ-
ent chieftains and khans whose troops were
united to form this army bound themselves to-
gether by a solemn oath, according to the cus-
toms of those times, not to rest until both Vang
Khan and Temujin should be destroyed.
The manner in which they took the oath
was this: They brought out into an open space
on the plain where they had assembled to take
the oath, a horse, a wild ox, and a dog. Ata
given signal they fell upon these animals with
their swords, and cut them all to pieces in the
most furious manner. When they had finish-
ed, they stood together and called out aloud in
the following words:
“Hear! O God! O heaven! O earth! the
oath that we swear against Vang Khan and
80 GENGHIS KHAN. (1182.
The oath. Karakorom. Plan formed by Temujin.
Temujin. If any one of us spares them when
we have them in our power, or if we fail to
keep the promise that we have made to destroy
them, may we meet with the same fate that has
befallen these beasts that we have now cut to
pieces.â€
They uttered this imprecation in a very sol-
emn manner, standing among the mangled and
bloody remains of the beasts which lay strewed
all about the ground.
These preparations had been made thus far
very secretly; but tidings of what was going
on came, before a great while, to Karakorom,
Vang Khan’s capital. Temujin was greatly
excited when he heard the news. He imme-
diately proposed that he should take his own
troops, and join with them as many of Vang
Khan’s soldiers as could be conveniently spared,
and go forth to meet the enemy. To this Vang
Khan consented. Temujin took one half of
Vang Khan’s troops to join his own, leaving
the other half to protect the capital, and so set
forth on his expedition. He went off in the
direction toward the frontier where he had un-
derstood the principal part of the hostile forces
were assembling. After a long march, prob-
ably one of many days, he arrived there before
the enemy was quite prepared for him. Then
1182.] TEMUJIN IN EXILE, 81
The campaign. Unexpected arrival of Vang Khan. ILis story.
followed a serics of manceuvres and counter-
manceuvres, in which Temujin was all the time
endeavoring to bring the rebels to battle, while
they were doing all in their power to avoid it.
Their object in this delay was to gain time for
re-enforeements to come in, consisting of bodies
of troops belonging to certain members of the
league who had not yet arrived.
At length, when these manceuvres were
brought to an end, and the battle was about to
be fought, Temujin and his whole army were
one day greatly surprised to sec his father-in-
law, Vang Khan himself, coming into the camp
at the head of a small and forlorn-looking band
of followers, who had all the appearance of fu-
gitives escaped from a battle. They looked
anxious, way-worn, and exhausted, and the
horses that they rode seemed wholly spent
with fatigue and privation. On explanation,
Temujin learned that, as soon as it was known
that he had left the capital, and taken with him
a large part of the army, a certain tribe of Vang
Khan’s enemies, living in another direction,
had determined to seize the opportunity to in-
vade his dominions, and had accordingly come
suddenly in, with an immense horde, to attack
the capital. Vang Khan had done all that he
could to defend the city, but he had been over-
F
82 GenGHIS KHAN. (1182.
Temujin’s promises. Result of the battle.
powered. The greater part of his soldiers had
been killed or wounded. The city had been
taken and pillaged. His son, with those of the.
troops that had been able to save themselves,
had escaped to the mountains. As to Vang
Khan himself, he had thought it best to make
his way, as soon as possible, to the camp of
Temujin, where he had now arrived, after en-
during great hardships and sufferings on the
way.
Temujin was at first much amazed at hear-
ing this story. He, however, bade his father-
in-law not to be cast down or discouraged, and
promised him full revenge, and a complete tri-
umph over all his enemies at the coming bat-
tle. So he proceeded at once to complete his ar-
rangements for the coming fight. He resigned
to Vang Khan the command of the main body
of the army, while he placed himself at the
head of one of the wings, assigning the other
to the chieftain next in rank in his army. In
this order he went into battle.
The battle was a very obstinate and bloody
one, but, in the end, Temujin’s party was vic-
torious. The troops opposed to him were de-
feated and driven off the field. The victory
appeared to be due altogether to Temujin him-
self; for, after the struggle had continued a long
1182.] TremMuUJIN IN EXILE. 83
Tempujin victorious. State of things at Karakorom. Erkekara.
time, and the result still appeared doubtful, the
troops of Temujin’s wing finally made a des-
perate charge, and forced their way with such
fury into the midst of the forces of the enemy
that nothing could withstand them. This en-
couraged and animated the other troops to such
a degree that very soon the enemy were en-
tirely routed and driven from off the field.
The effect of this victory was to raise the rep-
utation of Temujin as a military commander
higher than ever, and greatly to increase the
confidence which Vang Khan was inclined to
repose in him. The victory, too, seemed at first
to have well-nigh broken up the party of the
tebels. Still, the way was not yet open for
Vang Khan to return and take possession of
his throne and of his capital, for he learned
that one of his brothers had assumed the gov-
ernment, and was reigning in Karakorom in
his place. It would seem that this brother,
whose name was Erkekara, had been one of
the leaders of the party opposed to Temujin.
It was natural that he should be so; for, being
the brother of the king, he would, of course, oc-
cupy a very high position in the court, and
would be one of the first to experience the ill
effects produced by the coming in of any new
favorite. He had accordingly joined in the
84 GENGHIS KHAN. (1182.
Preparations for the final conflict. Erkekara vanquished.
plots that were formed against Temujin and
Vang Khan. Indeed, he was considered, in
some respects, as the head of their party, and
when Vang Khan was driven away from his
capital, this brother assumed the throne in his
stead. The question was, how could he now
be dispossessed and Vang Khan restored.
Temujin began immediately to form his plans
for the accomplishment of this purpose. He
concentrated his forces after the battle, and
soon afterward opened negotiations with other
tribes, who had before been uncertain which
side to espouse, but were now assisted a great
deal in coming to a decision by the victory
which Temujin had obtained. In the mean
time the rebels were not idle. They banded
themselves together anew, and made great ex-
ertions to procure re-enforcements. Erkekara
fortified himself as strongly as possible in Kara-
korom, and collected ample supplies of ammu-
nition and military stores. It was not until
the following year that the parties had com-
pleted their preparations and were prepared
for the final struggle. Then, however, anoth-
er great battle was fought, and again Temujin
was victorious. Erkekara was killed or driven
away in his turn. Karakorom was retaken,
and Vang Khan entered it in triumph at the
1182.] TEMUJIN IN EXILE, 85
Vang Khan restored. Temujin’s popularity.
head of his troops, and was once more estab-
lished on his throne.
Of course, the rank and influence of Temu-
jin at his court was now higher than ever be-
fore. He was now about twenty-two or twen-
ty-three years of age. Ile had already three
wives, though it is not certain that all of them
were with him at Vang Khan’s court. Ie was
extremely popular in the army, as young com-
manders of great courage and spirit almost al-
ways are. Vang Khan placed great reliance
upon him, and lavished upon him all possible
honors.
He does not seem, however, yet to have be-
gun to form any plans for returning to his na-
tive land.
86 GENGHIS KHAN. [1182.
Erkekara, State of the country.
CHapTerR VII.
RUPTURE WITH VANG KHAN,
EMUJIN remained at the court, or in the
dominions of Vang Khan, for a great many
years. During the greater portion of this time
he continued in the service of Vang Khan, and
on good terms with him, though, in the end, as
we shall presently see, their friendship was
turned into a bitter enmity.
Erkekara, Vang Khan’s brother, who had
usurped his throne during the rebellion, was
killed, it was said, at the time when Vang Khan
recovered his throne. Several of the other
rebel chieftains were also killed, but some of
them succeeded in saving themselves from ut-
ter ruin, and in gradually recovering their for-
mer power over the hordes which they respect-
ively commanded. It must be remembered
that the country was not divided at this time
into regular territorial states and kingdoms, but
was rather one vast undivided region, occupied
by immense hordes, each of which was more or
less stationary, it is true, in its own district or
1182.] RupTURE WITH Vana KHAN. 87
Wandering habits. Yemuka. “ Sankum.
range, but was nevertheless without any per-
manent settlement. The various clans drifted
slowly this way and that among the plains and
mountains, as the prospects of pasturage, the
fortune of war, or the pressure of contermin-
ous hordes might incline them. In cases, too,
where a number of hordes were united un-
der one general chieftain, as was the case with
those over whom Vang Khan claimed to have
sway, the tie by which they were bound togeth-
er was very feeble, and the distinction between
astate of submission and of rebellion, except in
case of actual war, was very slightly defined.
Yemuka, the chieftain who had been so ex-
asperated against Temujin on account of his
being supplanted by him in the affections of
the young princess, Vang Khan’s daughter,
whom Temujin had married for his third wife,
succeeded in making his escape at the time
when Vang Khan conquered his cnemies and
recovered his throne. For a time he concealed
himself, or at least kept out of Vang Khan’s
reach, by dwelling with hordes whose range
was at some distance from Karakorom. He
soon, however, contrived to open secret nego-
tiations with one of Vang Khan’s sons, whose
name was something that sounded like San-
kum, Some authors, in attempting to repre:
88 GENGHIS KHAN. (1182.
Yemuka's intrigues with Sankum. Deceit.
sent his name in our letters, spelled it Sun-
ghim.
Yemuka easily persuaded this young San-
kum to take sides with him in the quarrel. It
was natural that he should do so, for, being the
son of Vang Khan, he was in some measure
displaced from his own legitimate and proper
position at his father’s court by the great and
constantly increasing influence which Temujin
exercised.
“ And besides,†said Yemuka, in the secret
representations which he made to Sankum,
“this new-comer is not only interfering with
the curtailing your proper influence and con-
sideration now, but his design is by-and-by to
circumvent and supplant you altogether. He
is forming plans for making himself your fa-
ther’s heir, and so robbing you of your rightful
inheritance.â€
Sankum listened very eagerly to these sug-
gestions, and finally it was agreed between him
and Yemuka that Sankum should exert his in-
fluence with his father to obtain permission for
Yemuka to come back to court, and to be re-
ceived again into his father’s service, under pre-
tense of having repented of his rebellion, and
of being now disposed to return to his allegi-
ance. Sankum did this, and, after a time, Vang
1182.] RupTURE wiTH Vane KHAN. 89
Temujin's situation. His military expeditions.
Khan was persuaded to allow Yemuka to re-
turn.
Thus a sort of outward peace was made, but
it was no real peace. Yemuka was as envious
and jealous of Temujin as ever, and now, more-
over, in addition to this envy and jealousy, he
felt the stimulus of revenge. Things, howev-
er, seem to have gone on very quietly for a
time, or at least without any open outbreak in
the court. During this time Vang Khan was,
as usual with such princes, frequently engaged
in wars with the neighboring hordes. In these
wars he relied a great dealon Temujin. Temu-
jin was in command of a large body of troops,
which consisted in part of his own guard, the
troops that had come with him from his own
country, and in part of other bands of men
whom Vang Khan had placed under his orders,
or who had joined him of their own accord.
He was assisted in the command of this body
by four subordinate generals or khans, whom
he called his four intrepids. They were all
very brave and skillful commanders. At the
head of this troop Temujin was accustomed to
scour the country, hunting out Vang Khan’s
enemies, or making long expeditions over dis-
tant plains or among the mountains, in the
prosecution of Vang Khan’s warlike projects,
90 GENGHIS KHAN. (1182.
Popular commanders. Stories of Temujin’s cruelty.
whether those of invasion and plunder, or of
retaliation and vengeance.
Temujin was extremely popular with the
soldiers who served under him. Soldiers al-
ways love a dashing, fearless, and energetic
leader, who has the genius to devise brilliant
schemes, and the spirit to execute them in a
brilliant manner. They care very little how
dangerous the situations are into which he may
lead them. Those that get killed in perform-
ing the exploits which he undertakes can not
speak to complain, and those who survive are
only so much the better pleased that the dan-
gers that they have been brought safely through
were so desperate, and that the harvest of glory
which they have thereby acquired is so great.
Temujin, though a great favorite with his
own men, was, like almost all half-savage war-
riors of his class, utterly merciless, when he was
angry, in his treatment of his enemies. It is
said that after one of his battles, in which he
had gained a complete victory over an im-
mense horde of rebels and other foes, and had
taken great numbers of them prisoners, he or-
dered fires to be built and seventy large cal-
drons of water to be put over them, and then,
when the water was boiling hot, he caused the
principal leaders of the vanquished army to be
1182.] RuPTURE WITH Vane KHAN. 91
Probably fictions. Vang Khan's uneasiness.
thrown in headlong and thus scalded to death.
Then he marched at once into the country of
the enemy, and there took all the women and
children, and sent them off to be sold as slaves,
and seized the cattle and other property which
he found, and carried it offas plunder. In thus
taking possession of the enemy’s property and
making it his own, and selling the poor cap-
tives into slavery, there was nothing remark-
able. Such was the custom of the times. But
the act of scalding his prisoners to death seems
to denote or reveal in his character a vein of
peculiar and atrocious cruelty. It is possible,
however, that the story may not be true. It
may have been invented by Yemuka and San-
kum, or by some of his other enemies.
For Yemuka and Sankum, and others who
were combined with them, were continually
endeavoring to undermine Temujin’s influence
with Vang Khan, and thus deprive him of his
power. But he was too strong for them. His
great success in all his military undertakings
kept him up in spite of all that his rivals could
do to pull him down. As for Vang Khan him-
self, he was in part pleased with him and proud
of him, and in part he feared him. He was
very unwilling to be so dependent upon a sub-
ordinate chieftain, and yet he could not do
92 GENGHIS KHAN. [1202.
Temujin. Vang Khan's suspicions.
without him. A king never desires that any
one of his subjects should become too conspicu-
ous or too great, and Vang Khan would have
been very glad to have diminished, in some
way, the power and prestige which Temujin
had acquired, and which seemed to be increas-
ing every day. He, however, found no means
of effecting this in any quiet and peaceful man-
ner. Temujin was at the head of his troops,
generally away from Karakorom, where Vang
Khan resided, and he was, in a great measure,
independent. He raised his own recruits to
keep the numbers of his army good, and it was
always easy to subsist if there chanced to be
any failure in the ordinary and regular sup-
plies.
Besides, occasions were continually occurring
in which Vang Khan wished for Temujin’s aid,
and could not dispense with it. At one time,
while engaged in some important campaigns,
far away among the mountains, Yemuka con-
trived to awaken so much distrust of Temujin
in Vang Khan’s mind, that Vang Khan secret-
ly decamped in the night, and marched away to
a distant place to save himself from a plot which
Yemuka had told him that Temujin was con-
triving. Here, however, he was attacked by a
large body of his enemies, and was reduced to
1202.] RUPTURE WITH VaNG KHAN. 93
a eeeeeessSSsSsSSsSSSSSSSSSSS
A reconciliation. Fresh suspicions.
such straits that he was obliged to send couriers
off at once to Temujin to Come with his intrep-
ids and save him. Temujin came. He rescued
Vang Khan from his danger, and drove his en-
emies away. Vang Khan was very grateful
for this service, so that the two friends became
entirely reconciled to each other, and werc
united more closely than ever, greatly to Ye-
muka’s disappointment and chagrin. They
made a new league of amity, and, to seal and
confirm it, they agreed upon a double marriage
between their two families. A son of Temujin
was to be marricd to a daughter of Vang Khan,
and a son of Vang Khan to a daughter of Te-
mujin.
This new compact did not, however, last long.
As soon as Vang Khan found that the danger
from which Temujin had rescued him was pass-
ed, he began again to listen to the representa-
tions of Yemuka and Sankum, who still insist-
ed that Temujin was a very dangerous man,
and was by no means to be trusted. They said
that he was ambitious and unprincipled, and
that he was only waiting for a favorable oppor-
tunity to rebel himself against Vang Khan and
depose him from his throne. They made a
great many statements to the khan in confirm:
ation of their opinion, some of which were true
94 GENGHIS KHAN. (1202.
Plans laid. Treachery. Menglik.
doubtless, but many were exaggerated, and
others probably false. They, however, suc-
ceeded at last in making such an impression
upon the khan’s mind that he finally determ-
ined to take measures for putting Temujin out
of the way.
Accordingly, on some pretext or other, he
contrived to send Temujin away from Kara-
korom, his capital, for Temujin was so great a
favorite with the royal guards and with all the
garrison of the town, that he did not dare to
undertake any thing openly against him there.
Vang Khan also sent a messenger to Temujin’s
own country to persuade the chief persons there
to join him in his plot. It will be recollected
that, at the time that Temujin left his own
country, when he was about fourteen years old,
his mother had married a great chieftain there,
named Menglik, and that this Menglik, in con-
junction doubtless with Temujin’s mother, had
been made regent during his absence. Vang
Khan now sent to Menglik to propose that he
should unite with him to destroy Temujin.
“You have no interest,†said Vang Khan in
the message that he sent to Menglik, “‘in taking
his part. It is true that you have married his
thother, but, personally, he is nothing to you.
And, if he is once out of the way, you will be
1202.] RuptuRE witH Vane KHAN. 95
Menglik gives Temujin warning. The double marriage.
acknowledged as the Grand Khan of the Mon-
guls in your own right, whereas you now hold
your place in subordination to him, and he may
at any time return and set you aside alto-
gether.â€
Vang Khar. hoped by these arguments to in-
duce Menglik to come and assist him in his
plan of putting Temujin to death, or, at least,
if Menglik would not assist him in perpetrating
the deed, he thought that, by these arguments,
he should induce him to be willing that it
should be committed, so that he should him-
self have nothing to fear afterward from his re-
sentment. But Menglik received the proposal
in a very different way from what Vang Khan
had expected. He said nothing, but he de-
termined immediately to let Temujin know of
the danger that he was in. He accordingly at
once set out to go to Temujin’s camp to inform
him of Vang Khan’s designs.
In the mean time, Vang Khan, having ma-
tured his plans, made an appointment for Te-
mujin to meet him at a certain place designated
for the purpose of consummating the double
marriage between their children, which had
been before agreed upon. Temujin, not sus-
pecting any treachery, received and entertained
the messenger in a very honorable manner, and
96 GrenGHIS KHayn. [1202.
Plans frustrated. Temujin's camp. Karasher.
said that he would come. After making the
necessary preparations, he set out, in company
with the messenger and with a grand retinue
of his own attendants, to go to the place ap-
pointed. On his way he was met or overtaken
by Menglik, who had come to warn him of his
danger. As soon as Temujin had heard what
his stepfather had to say, he made some excuse
for postponing the journey, and, sending a civil
answer to Vang Khan by the embassador, he
ordered him to go forward, and went back him-
self to his own camp.
This camp was at some distance from “Kara-
korom. Vang Khan, as has already been stated,
had sent Temujin away from the capital on ac-
count of his being so great a favorite that he
was afraid of some tumult if he were to attempt
any thing against him there. Temujin was,
however, pretty strong in his camp. The
troops that usually attended him were there,
with the four intrepids as commanders of the
four principal divisions of them. His old in-
structor and guardian, Karasher, was with him
too. Karasher, it seems, had continued in Te-
mujin’s service up to this time, and was accus-
tomed to accompany him in all his expeditions
as his counselor and friend.
When Vang Khan learned, by the return of
1202.) RUPTURE WITH VAaNG KHAN. 97.
Vang Khan's plans. Lis plans betrayed by two slaves.
his messenger, that Temujin declined to come
to the place of rendezvous which he had ap-
pointed, he concluded at once that he suspected
treachery, and he immediately decided that he
must now strike a decisive blow without any
delay, otherwise Temujin would put himself
more and more on his guard. He was not
mistaken, it seems, however, in thinking how
great a favorite Temujin was at Karakorom,
for his secret design was betrayed to Temujin
by two of his servants, who overheard him
speak of it to one of his wives. Vang Khan’s
plan was to go out secretly to Temujin’s camp
at the head of an armed force superior to his,
and there come upon him and his whole troop
suddenly, by surprise, in the night, by which
means, he thought, he should easily overpower
the whole encampment, and either kill Temu-
jin and his generals, or else make them prison-
ers. The two men who betrayed this plan
were slaves, who were employed to take care
of the horses of some person connected with
Vang Khan’s household, and to render various
other services. Their names were Badu and
Kishlik. It seems that these men were one
day carrying some milk to Vang Khan’s house
or tent, and there they overheard a conversa-
tion between Vang Khan and his wife, by
G
98 GENGHIS KHAN. [1202.
How the slaves overheard. A council called.
which they learned the particulars of the plan
formed for Temujin’s destruction. The expe-
dition was to set out, they heard, on the follow-
ing morning.
It is not at all surprising that they overheard
this conversation, for not only the tents, but
even the houses used by these Asiatic nations
were built of very frail and thin materials, and
the partitions were often made of canvas and
felt, and other such substances as could have
very little power to intercept sound.
The two slaves determined to proceed at
once to Temujin’s camp and warn him of his
danger. So they stole away from their quar-
ters at nightfall, and, after traveling diligently
all night, in the morning they reached the
camp and told Temujin what they had learn-
ed. Temujin was surprised; but he had been,
in some measure, prepared for such intelligence
by the communication which his stepfather had
made him in respect to Vang Khan’s treacher-
ous designs a few days before. He immediate-
ly summoned Karasher and some of his other
friends, in order to consult in respect to what
it was best to do.
It was resolved to elude Vang Khan’s design
by means of a stratagem. He was to come
upon them, according to the account of the
