- Rashiduddin relates that the escort, in carrying Chinghiz to his
burial, slew all whom they met, and that forty noble and beautiful girls
were despatched to serve him in the other world, as well as superb horses.
As Mangku Kaan died in the heart of China, any attempt to carry out the
barbarous rule in his case would involve great slaughter. (Erd. 443;
D'Ohsson, I. 381, II. 13; and see Cathay, 507-508.)
Sanang Setzen ignores these barbarities. He describes the body of Chinghiz
as removed to his native land on a two-wheeled waggon, the whole host
escorting it, and wailing as they went: "And Kiluken Bahadur of the Sunid
Tribe (one of the Khan's old comrades) lifted up his voice and sang -
'Whilom Thou didst swoop like a Falcon: A rumbling waggon now
trundles thee off:
O My King!
Hast thou in truth then forsaken thy wife and thy children
and the Diet of thy People?
O My King!
Circling in pride like an Eagle whilom Thou didst lead us,
O My King!
But now Thou hast stumbled and fallen, like an unbroken Colt,
O My King!'" (p. 108.)
["The burying of living men with the dead was a general custom with the
tribes of Eastern Asia. Favourite servants and wives were usually buried
in this way. In China, the chief wives and those concubines who had
already borne children, were exempted from this lot. The Tunguz and other
tribes were accustomed to kill the selected victims by strangulation.