"Their Holiest Place [Of The Mongols Of Ordos] Is A Collection Of Felt Tents Called 'Edjen-Joro,' Reputed To Contain The Bones Of Jenghiz Khan. These Sacred Relics Are Entrusted To The Care Of A Caste Of Darhats, Numbering Some Fifty Families.

Every summer, on the twenty-first day of the sixth moon, sacrifices are offered up in his honour, when

Numbers of people congregate to join in the celebration, such gatherings being called tailgan." On the southern border of the Ordos are the ruins of Boro-balgasun [Grey town], said to date from Jenghiz Khan's time. (Potanin, Proc. R. G. S. IX. 1887, p. 233.)

The last traveller who visited the tomb of Chinghiz is M. C. E. Bonin, in July 1896; he was then on the banks of the Yellow River in the northern part of the Ordo country, which is exclusively inhabited by nomadic and pastoral Mongols, forming seven tribes or hords, Djungar, Talat, Wan, Ottok, Djassak, Wushun and Hangkin, among which are eastward the Djungar and in the centre the Wan; according to their own tradition, these tribes descend from the seven armies encamped in the country at the time of Chinghiz's death; the King of Djungar was 67 years of age, and was the chief of all the tribes, being considered the 37th descendant of the conqueror in a direct line. His predecessor was the Wushun Wang. M. Bonin gives (Revue de Paris, 15th February 1898) the following description of the tomb and of the country surrounding it.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 861 of 1256
Words from 233989 to 234242 of 342071