their motion in riding, the contents are violently shaken, and a thin porridge is produced, upon which they make their dinner. "When these Tartars come to engage in battle, they never mix with the enemy, but keep hovering about him, discharging their arrows first from one side and then from the other, occasionally pretending to fly, and during their flight, shooting arrows backwards at their pursuers, killing men and horses, as if they were combating face to face. In this sort of warfare the adversary imagines he has gained a victory, when in fact he has lost the battle; for the _Tartars_, observing the mischief they have done him, wheel about, and renewing the fight, overpower his remaining troops, and make them prisoners in spite of their utmost exertions. "Their horses are so well broken-in to quick changes of movement, that upon the signal given they instantly turn in every direction; and by these rapid manœuvres many victories have been obtained. All that has been here related is spoken of the original manners of the _Tartar_ chiefs; but at the present day they are much corrupted. Those who dwell at _Ukaka_, forsaking their own laws, have adopted the customs of the people who worship idols, and those who inhabit the eastern provinces have adopted the manners of the _Saracens_." It may now be well to examine the term _conquerors of the world_, and to limit it. By following Gibbon,[21] we may ascertain what the true Mongolians _did_ conquer, and what they _did_ not. _Death of Zingiz-Khan_, A.D. 1227.--The work done by the great founder of the Mongolian empire, was, in the first instance, the consolidation of separate, and previously disunited, tribes. As a conqueror, he rather overran countries and showed the ease with which victories might be gained than established permanent empires. In this way he ravaged and subdued:-- 1. _Northern China._--The _southern_ empire was first subdued by his grandson. 2. _Bokhara, Persia, Kharizmia (the parts between Balk and the Caspian)._--I think it likely that, considering the great number of Turkish tribes that lay between Mongolia and Persia, the natural hostility they bore to the last-named country, and the easy terms on which they offered their swords and valour, there was a considerable Turk element in the Mongolian army of Persia. Still, I have nothing beyond the mere probability to allege. The greatest and widest conquests were effected in the generation after Zingis: by the nephews of his sons, _i.e._, Zingis's grandsons. _Southern China._--Conquered, and permanently conquered, by Kublai-Khan. The effect of China upon its subjugators was that which the Romans attributed to the conquest of Greece upon themselves. The victors were moulded to the fashion of the vanquished. The religion, the dress, and the luxury of China, were adopted by the Mongolians even during the lifetime of Kublai-Khan; to whom Korea, Anam, Pegu, Tibet, and Bengal were tributary.