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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
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country at the time of Chinghiz's death ; the King of Djungar was 67 years of age,
and was the chief of all the tribes, being considered the 37th descendant of the conqueror in a direct line. His predecessor was the Wushun Wang. M. Bonin
gives (Revue de Paris, i 5th February 1898) the following description of the tomb and of the country surrounding it. Between the yamen (palace) of the King (Wang) of Djungar and the tomb of Chinghiz-Khan, there are five or six marches made difficult by the sands of the Gobi, but horses and camels may be used for the journey. The road, southward through the desert, passes near the great lama-monastery called Barong-tsao or Si-tsao (Monastery of the West), and in Chinese San-t'ang sse (Three Temples). This celebrated monastery was built by the King of Djungar to hold the tablets of his ancestors—on the ruins of an old temple, said to have been erected by Chinghiz himself. More than a thousand lamas are registered there, forty of them live at the expense of the Emperor of China. Crossing afterwards the two upper branches of the Ulan ATúren (Red Piver) on the banks of which Chinghiz was murdered, according to local tradition, close to the lake of Chahan Nor (White Lake), near which are the tents of the Prince of Wan, one arrives at last at the spot called V eke-E jen-Koro, in Mongol : the abode of the Great Lord, where the tomb is to be found. It is erected to the south-east of the village, comprising some twenty tents or tent-like huts built of earth, Two large white felt tents, placed side by side, similar to the tents of the modern Mongols, but much larger, cover the tomb ; a red curtain, when drawn, discloses the large and low silver coffin, which contains the ashes of the Emperor, placed on the ground of the second tent ; it is shaped like a big trunk, with great rosaces engraved upon it. The Emperor, according to local tradition, was cremated on the bank of the Ulan Muren, where he is supposed to have been slain. On the twenty-first day of the third moon the anniversary fête of Mongolia takes place ; on this day of the year only are the two mortuary tents opened, and the coffin is exhibited to be venerated by people coming from all parts of Mongolia. Many other relics, dispersed all over the Ordo land, are brought thither on this occasion ; these relics called in Mongol Chinghiz Bogdo (Sacred remains of Chinghiz) number ten ; they are in the order adopted by the Mongols : the saddle of Chinghiz, hidden in the Wan territory ; the bow, kept at a place named Hu-ki-ta-lao Hei, near Yeke Etjen-Koro ; the remains of his war-horse, called Antegan-tsegun (more), preserved at Kebere in the Djungar territory ; a fire-arm kept in the palace of the King of Djungar ; a wooden and leather vase called Pao-lao-antri, kept at the place Shienni-chente ; a wax figure containing the ashes of the Khan's equerry, called Altaquatosu, kept at Ottok (one of the seven tribes) ; the remains of the second wife, who lay at Kiasa, on the banks of the Yellow River, at a place called on Prjevalsky's map in Chinese Djiou-Djin-fu, and in Mongol Tumir-Alku ; the tomb of the third wife of Chinghiz, who killed him, and lay to-day at Bagha-Ejen-Koro, " the abode of the little Sovereign," at a day's march to the south of the Djungar King's palace ; the very tomb of Yeke-Etjen-Koro, which is supposed to contain also the ashes of the first wife of the Khan ; and last, his great standard, a black wood spear planted in the desert, more han i 5o miles to the south of the tomb ; the iron of it never gets rusty ; no one dares touch it, and therefore it is not carried to Yeke-Etjen-Koro with the other relics for the yearly festival. (See also Rockhill, Diary, p. 29.)—H. C.]
NOTE 4.—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. (Era'. 443 ; D' Olisson, I. 381, IL 13 ; and see Cathay, 5o7-508.)
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-
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