449. [4] The Great Plain On The Lower Araxes And Cyrus.

The word Moghan = Magi:

And Abulfeda quotes this as the etymology of the name. (Reinaud's Abulf. I. 300.) - Y. [Cordier, Odoric, 36.]

[5] Here is the passage, which is worth giving for more reasons than one:

"That portion of ancient Babylon which is still occupied is (as we have heard from persons of character from beyond sea) styled BALDACH, whilst the part that lies, according to the prophecy, deserted and pathless extends some ten miles to the Tower of Babel The inhabited portion called Baldach is very large and populous; and though it should belong to the Persian monarchy it has been conceded by the Kings of the Persians to their High Priest, whom they call the Caliph; in order that in this also a certain analogy [quaedam habitudo] such as has been often remarked before, should be exhibited between Babylon and Rome. For the same (privilege) that here in the city of Rome has been made over to our chief Pontiff by the Christian Emperor, has there been conceded to their High Priest by the Pagan Kings of Persia, to whom Babylonia has for a long time been subject. But the Kings of the Persians (just as our Kings have their royal city, like Aachen) have themselves established the seat of their kingdom at Egbatana, which, in the Book of Judith, Arphaxat is said to have founded, and which in their tongue is called HANI, containing as they allege 100,000 or more fighting men, and have reserved to themselves nothing of Babylon except the nominal dominion. Finally, the place which is now vulgarly called Babylonia, as I have mentioned, is not upon the Euphrates (at all) as people suppose, but on the Nile, about 6 days' journey from Alexandria, and is the same as Memphis, to which Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, anciently gave the name of Babylon." - Ottonis Frising. Lib. VII. cap. 3, in Germanic Hist. Illust. etc. Christiani Urstisii Basiliensis, Francof. 1585. - Y.

[6] Sbasalar, or "General-in-chief," = Pers. Sipahsalar. - Y.

[7] Continuatio Ann. Admutensium, in Pertz, Scriptores, IX. 580.

[8] E.g. ii. 42.

[9] St. Martin, Mem. sur l'Armenie, II. 77.

[10] ["The Keraits," says Mr. Rockhill (Rubruck, 111, note), "lived on the Orkhon and the Tula, south-east of Lake Baikal; Abulfaraj relates their conversion to Christianity in 1007 by the Nestorian Bishop of Merv. Rashideddin, however, says their conversion took place in the time of Chingis Khan. (D'Ohsson, I. 48; Chabot, Mar Jabalaha, III. 14.) D'Avezac (536) identifies, with some plausibility, I think, the Keraits with the Ki-le (or T'ieh-le) of the early Chinese annals. The name K'i-le was applied in the 3rd century A.D. to all the Turkish tribes, such as the Hui-hu (Uigurs), Kieh-Ku (Kirghiz) Alans, etc., and they are said to be the same as the Kao-ch'e, from whom descended the Cangle of Rubruck. (T'ang shu, Bk. 217, i.; Ma Tuan-lin, Bk. 344, 9, Bk. 347, 4.) As to the Merkits, or Merkites, they were a nomadic people of Turkish stock, with a possible infusion of Mongol blood. They are called by Mohammedan writers Uduyut, and were divided into four tribes. They lived on the Lower Selinga and its feeders. (D'Ohsson, i. 54; Howorth, History, I., pt. i. 22, 698.)" - H. C.]

[11] [Onan Kerule is "the country watered by the Orkhon and Kerulun Rivers, i.e. the country to the south and south-east of Lake Baikal. The headquarters (ya-chang) of the principal chief of the Uigurs in the eighth century was 500 li (about 165 miles) south-west of the confluence of the Wen-Kun ho (Orkhon) and the Tu-lo ho (Tura). Its ruins, sometimes, but wrongly, confounded with those of the Mongol city of Karakorum, some 20 miles from it, built in 1235 by Ogodai, are now known by the name of Kara Balgasun, 'Black City.'" [See p. 228.] The name Onankerule seems to be taken from the form Onan-ou- Keloran, which occurs in Mohammedan writers. (Quatremere, 115 et seq.; see also T'ang shu, Bk. 43b; Rockhill, Rubruck, 116, note.) - H. C.]

[12] Vambery makes Ong an Uighur word, signifying "right." [Palladius (l.c. 23) says: "The consonance of the names of Wang-Khan and Wang-Ku (Ung-Khan and Ongu - Ongot of Rashiduddin, a Turkish Tribe) led to the confusion regarding the tribes and persons, which at M. Polo's time seems to have been general among the Europeans in China; M. Polo and Johannes de Monte Corvino transfer the title of Prester John from Wang-Khan, already perished at that time, to the distinguished family of Wang-Ku." - H. C.]

CHAPTER XLVII.

OF CHINGHIS, AND HOW HE BECAME THE FIRST KAAN OF THE TARTARS.

Now it came to pass in the year of Christ's Incarnation 1187 that the Tartars made them a King whose name was CHINGHIS KAAN.[NOTE 1] He was a man of great worth, and of great ability (eloquence), and valour. And as soon as the news that he had been chosen King was spread abroad through those countries, all the Tartars in the world came to him and owned him for their Lord. And right well did he maintain the Sovereignty they had given him. What shall I say? The Tartars gathered to him in astonishing multitude, and when he saw such numbers he made a great furniture of spears and arrows and such other arms as they used, and set about the conquest of all those regions till he had conquered eight provinces. When he conquered a province he did no harm to the people or their property, but merely established some of his own men in the country along with a proportion of theirs, whilst he led the remainder to the conquest of other provinces. And when those whom he had conquered became aware how well and safely he protected them against all others, and how they suffered no ill at his hands, and saw what a noble prince he was, then they joined him heart and soul and became his devoted followers.

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