THE MONGOLS A HISTORY BY JEREMIAH CURTIN AUTHOR OF “MYTHS AND FOLK-LORE OF IRELAND,” “HERO-TALES OF IRELAND,” “MYTH AND FOLK-TALES OF THE RUSSIANS, WESTERN SLAVS, AND MAGYARS,” “CREATION MYTHS OF PRIMITIVE AMERICA,” ETC. With a Foreword by THEODORE ROOSEVELT BOSTON LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 1908 Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, I dedicate to you the present volume entitled “The Mongols, a History.” I do this because on September 5th, 1901, in the city of Burlington where you addressed Vermont veterans, I asked permission to make the dedication and you gave it. You were Vice-President at that time. I made this request because I have great respect and admiration for you as a man, as a leader of men, and a scholar; and because of the way in which I came first to know you. In 1891 you, as Chairman of the Civil Service Commission, were in Washington. I had just returned to that city from a work of two years among Pacific Coast Indians. Of these, two tribes in California had asked me to intercede for them with the President, who in those days was Benjamin Harrison. These Indians were among the truly wretched and suffering. One tribe of them had been almost exterminated through a massacre inflicted by white men. The other reduced to a feeble remnant through various man-killing processes. Still they were worthy of earnest attention. Their myths have a beauty and a value which should preserve them till literature perishes. These two tribes were the Wintu and the Yana whose account of the world and its origin I published later on in “Creation Myths of Primitive America.” On reaching Washington I went to Frederick T. Greenhalge, my classmate, who then represented a part of Massachusetts in Congress, but afterward was one of that Commonwealth’s renowned governors. Greenhalge tried to induce a strong man or two from the Senate or House to assist us to act on the President, but, though promises were made, no man came with support, and we went alone to the White House. The case had been stated clearly on two pages which I held ready for delivery. When I had given the reason of my coming the President answered: “I see no way to help you. What can I do in this matter?” “You can give,” replied I, “the executive impulse. Send this statement to the Secretary of the Interior, and direct him to act on it.” “That will suffice,” added Greenhalge. “I will do it,” said the President, after thinking a moment. He took my paper, jotted down the directions I had suggested, and sent them to the Secretary.