Gurkhan received Kushluk and his party in a very friendly manner, and Genghis Khan did not follow them. Whether he thought that the distance was too great, or that the power of Gurkhan was too formidable to make it prudent for him to advance into his dominions without a stronger force, does not appear. At any rate, for the time being he gave up the pursuit, and after fully securing the fruits of the victory which he had gained at Ardish, and receiving the submission of all the tribes and khans that inhabited that region of country, he set out on his return home. It is related that one of the khans who gave in his submission to Genghis Khan at this time made him a present of a certain bird called a _shongar_, according to a custom often observed among the people of that region. The shongar was a very large and fierce bird of prey, which, however, could be trained like the falcons which were so much prized in the Middle Ages by the princes and nobles of Europe. It seems it was customary for an inferior khan to present one of these birds to his superior on great occasions, as an emblem and token of his submission to his superior's authority. The bird in such a case was very richly decorated with gold and precious stones, so that the present was sometimes of a very costly and magnificent character. Genghis Khan received such a present as this from a chieftain named Urus Inal, who was among those that yielded to his sway in the country of the Irtish, after the battle at which Tukta Bey was defeated and killed. The bird was presented to Genghis Khan by Urus with great ceremony, as an act of submission and homage. What, in the end, was the fate of Prince Kushluk, will appear in the next chapter. [Illustration: PRESENTATION OF THE SHONGAR.] CHAPTER XIV. IDIKUT. 1208 Idikut.--The old system of farming revenues.--Evils of farming the revenue.--Modern system.--Disinterested collectors.--Independent and impartial courts.--Waste of the public money.--Shuwakem.--Idikut's quarrel with Gurkhan's tax-gatherers.--Rebellion.--He sends to Genghis Khan.--His reception of the embassy.--Idikut's visit to Genghis Khan.--Gurkhan in a rage.--Jena.--Subsequent history of Kushluk.--Kushluk's final defeat and flight.--Hotly pursued by Jena.--Kushluk's death.--Genghis Khan's triumph.