madic tribes of Central Asia none can divine.

There is no appearance

that the nomadic tribes of Mongolia called themselves by these names, or that their neighbours denominated them so, or that they were known to them by these names before Jenghis Khan. These names cannot have come to us from the Chinese, for we had them before we had any knowledge of or connection with China; and the name Tata or Tatse, so often met with in the Chinese annals, was indiscriminately bestowed by the Chinese writers on all the nomadic tribes of Central Asia, and what was common to all could be peculiar to none. It equally belonged to the Turkish tribes as well as to the Mongolian. According to a Mongolian work, entitled Norbou-prengba, the Mongolians were called Bida; and by Ma-touanlin, a respectable Chinese author, they are called Pe-ti, or the Northern Ti. The name of Mongol could not come from the Hindoos, as they had no direct communication with them, nor are they mentioned in any of their mythological accounts. But the relations of the Mongols with the Tibetians were very close and intimate, and up to the time of Jenghis Khan, the former were called Pide or Peda by the latter. There is no reason why we should not believe that the Mongols called themselves also by the same name at that time, and that consequently Peti was the name by which they were known also to the Chinese, because it is well known that Mongol is a recent denomination. It is certain that the name Mongol is not found in all the ancient writings of the Chinese historians. At the time of Pakba Lama, in the reign of Kooblay Khan, near the end of the 13th century, the Tibetians no longer designated the Mongols by the name of Pida, but by that of Hor. The square character which Pakba composed for the Mongols by order of the emperor Khouvilai (Kooblay Khan) was then called Hor-yig, a term signifying the New alphabet. Many chapters of the Norbou-prengba, and amongst others those which make mention of the nation of the Bide, comprehend the narratives, the histories, and the prophecies of Lamadchou-adichah, a personage very celebrated in Tibet, and who lived at an epoch far anterior to Jenghis Khagan. At this very day the Mongolian tribes who dwell to the N. of the upper course of the Kinsha Keaung, in Northern Tibet, are called in Tibetian Hor and Ghia-Hor, or the Black Hor.' The above remarks are taken from Schmidt's letter to M. Remusat, professor of Chinese at Paris." The Khalkhas, according to Schmidt, are th descendants of those Mongols who were driven out of China by the cele

'Mr Schmidt is a very learned protestant missionary, now or very lately engaged in translating the New Testament into the language of the Mongols and Khalkhas who inhabit alongst the Russian frontier to the S. of Selinginsky and Kiakhta, and also in compiling a Tibeto-Mongolian dictionary. His acquired knowledge of the Mongolian language has enabled him to throw a new light on the languages and tribes of Central Asia. He has declared the works of Abulghazi and Arabshah, on the origin of the nomadic tribes of Asia, totally unworthy of credit, and that the Mussulmaun writers were completely ignorant of the history of Central Asia. We can refer such readers as are curious on this subject to Georgi's account of the Kalmucks and Pallas' travels alongst the Mongolian frontier, where he will find the traditionary accounts of the Kalmucks quite at variance with the ridiculous fables of Abulghazi, Arabshah, and other Mussulmaun writers, who have hitherto been implicitly followed by La Croix, Strahlenberg, Des Guignes, and even by Remusat and Klaproth. This letter of Schmidt, published in the first volume of the Journal Asiatique, (see p. 324, 327, 330, of that work,) gave great offence to Joles Von Klaproth, who replied to Schmidt. This has been followed by a counter-reply from Schmidt, published in 1827, in German, 8vo. and entitled Researches into the History of the People of Central Asia.' The same learned gentleman has been enabled to publish, by the patronage of the emperor, the translation of the Mongolian history, composed by Setsen Sanan Keonug Taidshi a learned Mongolian chief. Mr Schmidt has also published a comparison of the doctrines of the Buddhists with the opinion of the Gnostics, 8vo. 1828.

brated Hongvoo, the deliverer of his country and founder of the Ming dynasty, in 1368. They are distinguished from the Sharra or Southern Mongols in this, that the latter always remained in their present settlements, whilst the former, driven out of China, retired to the N. of the Shamo, and lived under their own khans, who were nominally subject to the khan of the Sharra Mongols. Upon the expulsion of the Mongols from China, the princes of the race of Jenghis Khan seized each a territory for himself, forming different hordes and petty sovereignties. The chief of these princes was called the Chabar Khan, who was descended from the elder branch of the family of Kooblay Khan. To this chief all the other Mongol hordes were nominally tributary, including the Khalkhas and Eluths. But in process of time the two latter grew too powerful even to acknowledge this supremacy of the elder branch, and became totally independent of the khan of the Sharra Mongols, who was himself compelled, in 1630, to own the supremacy of the Mandshoor princes. The Khalkhas, who enjoyed by far the best portion of Mongolia, increased very rapidly, and quickly became powerful, rich, and independent of the authority of the Chahar Khan. Their taykis or heads of tribes, who were all of the family of Kooblay Khan, growing numerous, became gradually independent of each other; and before the war with their neighbours the Eluths, then also independent of the Sharra Mongols, they were ranged under seven standards, or chiefs, three of whom received, as the most powerful, the title of khan, from the Great lama of Tibet, the supreme pontiff of the Mongolian faith. The first of these khans, called the Shassaktoo, to distinguish him from the other two, possessed the country immediately to the E. of Soongaria, extending from the most western range of the great Bogdo eastward to the Selingha, Orkhon, and Toola rivers. The Tooshidtoo khan, the most potent of the three, possessed all the tract eastward from these rivers to mount Kentey or Kinhan Alin, whence the Kerlon and Toola derive their sources. The Cheching khan resided towards the source of the Kerlon and alongst that river as far E. as the Argoon and Puyur lakes. It must be observed, however, that most of the taykis who were under these khans acted as sovereigns in their own territories, and paid these khans no further deference than that of allowing them the precedence in their kourouttae or diets, held for the conducting of all public business. The number of the Khalkhas in 1688 amounted to 600,000 families, or 3,000,000 persons, and they were very rich in flocks and horses, while all the tribute they then paid to the Celestial court was only a dromedary and nine white horses, for which they enjoyed a free trade with China. But an unfortunate rupture with the Eluths, which was caused by the nefarious conduct of Tooshidtoo Khan and his brother the Khootookhtoo lama, proved the ruin of their prosperity, and compelled them, to avoid utter destruction, to implore the protection of the emperor Kang-hee and become his vassals. Their petition was granted and the offer accepted, and after several engagements, the Eluths were finally defeated in 1696, and the Khalkhas restored to their wonted territories. By the successful termination of this contest the sovereignty of China was extended W. and N.W. to Soongaria and the Russian frontier to the S. of the Baikal More, and the Khalkhas have ever since been the voluntary vassals of the court of Peking. They were divided into three standards by the Chinese, but the chief khan seems to be the Tooshidtoo, whose camp or Oorga was placed on the Iben Pira in 1726, a small stream which falls into the Orkhon on the left bank, 49° 26′ 47′′ N. lat. and 10o 59′ W. long. of Peking. It seems at present to be on the Toola river 220

miles S.E. of Kiakhta, and has been converted into a sort of town called Kyræ. The temples, the palaces of the khan and the Khootookhtoo lama, the houses of the lamas, and the palace of the Chinese viceroy and that of the Russian mission, are wooden buildings, the rest are felt huts. It may be observed that none of the Mongol princes or chiefs of the nomadic tribes are now allowed to take the title of khan as heretofore. The prince of the Khalkhas does not, it would seem, pay any tribute to the court of Peking, but on the contrary receives magnificent presents, as an acknowledgment for his tribe serving as a sort of garrison on the Russian frontier.

Religion.] What was the religion of the Mongols before the accession of Jenghis Khan, is difficult to determine, as we have no accounts of them prior to that period; but it seems to have been a species of Shamanism. They received, however, in the reign of Kooblay Khan, the system of Boodha, and the use of alphabetical characters through the medium of Pakba lama, a learned Tibetian. This eminent personage was honoured by Kablay with the title of the pre-eminent lama,'- -a title which appears, in the Mongolian history of Setsen Sanan Keoung Taidshi, to be expressed in the three languages of Tibet, China, and Mongolia. He was also denominated in these languages, 'king of the doctrine and of the three kingdoms.' By his influence, and that of the Tibetian priesthood, the Mongols became complete Boodhists; but after their expulsion from China in 1368, the Mongols relapsed into Shamanism, a fact which Schmidt has proved from the Mongolian history above mentioned. There we are told, that Altan Khagan, of the tribe of the twelve Tummeds, in conjunction with his brother, Gun-bilik-merg-hin-djinong, of the Ortoos tribe, governed a great part of the Mongol nation. This personage, at the age of 67, marched against Kharra-toebit (Black Tibet), and subdued the two divisions of the Upper and the Lower Ouigoors, in 1573. He made prisoners three chiefs of the Lower Ouigoors, with a great number of their subjects, and carried away, to his own country, Arik-lama and Goumy-choga-bakchi, with a great number of Tibetians. It was there that Arik-lama, having rehearsed to the Khagan, with very great detail, the dogmas of the succession of births, according to the three unlucky degrees of nativity, and their evils, and the way of arriving at the kingdom of the Aganista (this is a species of the Tangri or divinity, in the mythology of the Boodhists), the science of the glorious advantage from the deliverance which one can obtain or lose by his virtues or his vices, the soul of the Khagan felt a commencement of the faith, and he set himself to recite the grand formula of the six syllables, “om ma ni pad mi khom." It is clear from this, that after the Mongols were expelled from China, Boodhism terminated amongst them, and made way for the old worship of the Tongri, or spirits; and more than 200 years elapsed before that Boodhism was introduced anew amongst them, on which the Mongolian history has furnished the most exact dates. The Boodhism of the Mongols is exactly the same with Lamaism, the system practised in Tibet. It differs from Shamanism in this, that while the latter allows no succession to the numberless Tangri or gods, whether in time or place, the former teaches, that by a mysterious operation performed in the person of the Grand lama, the same divinity subsists eternally in this supreme pontiff under different human forms which he deigns successively to assume. In their language Boodha is called Chiggimoonee, and, amongst the Kalmucks, Chakamoonee or Sacyomoonee. Moonie signifies a saint. In the same language, Tagounzilan-irakhsan, or the Comer, is one of the names of Boodha, intimating that he comes not into the world

* Mat not! Sakya mungi in the sa

by birth like human beings. Another Mongolian name is Chakea Singha, the Lion Chakia; and Chakia ün Arslan, Lion of the family of Chakia. This system teaches the transmigration of souls. Whilst the Russian embassy, in 1820, was on the road to Oorga, the Russians were requested not to fish, as the souls of their ancestors might have passed into fish. Besides this common doctrine, they Lelieve in a future state, purgatory, the invocation of saints, image-worship, confession, absolution, pardons, and other doctrines so very conformable to the Romish system, as celibacy in both sexes, monasteries, nunneries, crossings, holy water, beads, &c. that it seems a perfect counterpart of it. They believe in the incarnated Boodha or Fo, but they also believe that he communicates his divinity to his chosen servants, who officiate as his vicars in various parts of his spiritual dominions. These vicars are, in the Mongolian language, denominated khootookhtoos. This is a very convenient piece of ecclesiastical policy; for, considering the immense extent of his spiritual empire, it is impossible for by far the greater number of his spiritual subjects to come all the way to Lassa, and worship his incarnate person. To save them the toil and trouble of so distant a pilgrimage, the Grand lama has appointed chosen lamas, to whom a portion of his divinity is communicated, to act in his name and authority, and to confer the same blessings, and receive the same homage, as he himself. There are reckoned not less than 10 khootookhtoos in his wide spread empire; and the lama khootookhtoo of the Khalkhas resides at Oorga, where he has a grand temple, and there receives the worship of his Mongolian votaries. Though the khootookhtoos, like their master, the Dalai lama of Lassa, never die, yet they have not like him the power of choosing the body in which they are to re-appear. The choice generally falls on some child of some great family, who is, in consequence, regularly trained for the office. This khootookhtooship was founded among the Khalkhas in 1680, by a brother of Tooshidtoo-khan, who had himself been bred a lama, and served his noviciate at Lassa during 8 years. There he had acquired so great a reputation among his fellow lamas that he determined to set up for himself, pretending to be a living Fo as well as his master. The scheme succeeded so well that the Khalkhas readily believed his pretentions, and adored him as an incarnated lama, and his brother went regularly on set days to worship him, gave him on all occasions the upper hand, and was entirely managed by him. Ever since, the apotheosis has been regularly renewed, and the Khalkhas believe their khootookhtoo to be as divine and immortal as the Dalai lama himself. The last incarnation of this person was in 1820, when a new khootookhtoo was brought all the way from Tibet by a caravan of 1,000 camels. He was then a child of seven years old. The Oorga being the residence both of the political and spiritual heads of the Khalkha community, is resorted to from all parts of Northern Mongolia, and by lamas from Tibet, China, and other parts of Central Asia, and by traders from the surrounding tribes. The lamas are held in great veneration by their ignorant votaries, who receive absolution from them on their bare knees and bare-headed, and believe that they possess supernatural powers, and that they can bring down hail and rain from heaven. The lamas go with their heads and beards shaved, and wear mitres and caps like bishops. The Khalkha lamas have many stone temples and monasteries. In these they meet for religious service, and sing alternately and in chorus, accompanied by the sound of noisy instruments. Indeed, their whole manner of worship bears so strong a resemblance to that of the Roman Catholics, that all travellers who have

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witnessed it have been struck with it. The dress of the ghyllongs or monks bears a great resemblance to that of the Catholic priesthood. Their idols or images of Boodha are brought generally from Tibet, and are represented in a sitting posture, with tapers burning before them in the dark recesses of their temples. These tapers are generally perfumed with musk. The lamas are very numerous, as every Mongol family of any distinction considers it their duty to train up one of the family for the holy office. Their sheep-skin caps are all dyed yellow, but that of the khootooktoo is of yellow satin, with the four corners turned up and faced with extremely fine black sable. He also wears a long gown of yellow satin, the colour worn by the emperor of China. Sometimes the cloak is red instead of yellow. In several places are whole communities of lamas, living together in the vicinity of some stone or wooden temple, one of which, near the mountain Minga Dara, is inhabited by 1,000 of this class. They affect an appearance of great devotion and abstraction, and seem always so engaged in reading their sacred books, as to pay not the smallest attention to external objects. They always seem praying or reading, continually repeating, if not reading, the well-known Boodhist prayer of "Om ma ni pad mi khom," in a sort of harmonious low tone like the humming of a bee, a prayer which no one has yet been able to understand or explain. Their votaries leave all their spiritual concerns in their hands, and the duty of prayer is performed wholly by proxy, being either performed by the lamas, as there are no congregational meetings of the laity for religious worship, or by prayer mills, which are set in motion by wind or water, which the lamas find much more expeditious and easy than the usual mode of oral petitions. As the whole burden of prayer is devolved by the people on the lamas, this ingenious mode of performing it by machinery was resorted to to save the continual toil of oral repetition; and it even saves the people the trouble of resorting to or sending for a lama; for, by dint of this expedient a Tartar can pray as long and as often as he pleases, and it is a much cheaper mode of performing the duty than the candle-worship of his Russian neighbours, and less troublesome than counting beads like some of the Greek clergy when engaged in company. This method is performed in the following way: A Mongol procures a number of prayers from a lama, written on a long slip of paper, and this he hangs where it will be moved by the wind, passengers, or any thing whatever that comes in contact with it, or it is rolled round a barrel or cylinder of a small windmill. One stage contains 100 of these praying-mills, and the roof of a lama chapel has so many hanging prayers, that not one can move a step without also moving petitions. Near the door of the chapel is a case containing the books of their law, secured from intrusion by iron bands. This case turns round on its axis vertically, and is easily put in motion together with a number of bells and pendants. The motion of these whirligigs which are sometimes erected near falls of water in order to produce it-saves the trouble of repeating them; for, supposing 100 prayers pasted round the circumference of one whirligig, every rotation sends off 100 prayers at once to Shakiamoonee; and, supposing 100 of these praying-mills, 10,000 prayers are sent off by a single rotation of these mills. This device does credit to Tartar ingenuity, and even surpasses that of the Jesuit, who, by running over the letters of the alphabet, contended that he repeated all the prayers that were ever composed out of it. These whirligigs are common over all Tibet, in the temples of China, amongst the yellow and black Mongols, and the Eluth Kalmucks, and are mentioned