a blacksmith, who used to steal as many cattle as he possibly could from the flock of Vut-Khan.  At length the herds complained to their lord of the reiterated robberies which were committed by Zingis, and Vut-khan went with an army to seize him.  But Zingis fled and hid himself among the Tartars, and the troops of Vut-khan returned to their own country, after having made considerable spoil both from the Moal and the Tartars.  Then Zingis remonstrated with the Moal and Tartars, upon their want of a supreme ruler to defend them from the oppressions of their neighbours, and they were induced by his suggestions to appoint him to be their khan or ruler.  Immediately after his elevation, Zingis gathered an army secretly together, and made a sudden invasion of the territories belonging to Vut, whom he defeated in battle, and forced to fly for refuge into Katay.  During this invasion, one of the daughters of Vut was made prisoner, whom Zingis gave in marriage to one of his sons, and to whom she bore Mangu-khan, the presently reigning great khan of the Moal and Tartars.  In all his subsequent wars, Zingis used continually to send the Tartars before him in the van of his army:  by which means their name came to be spread abroad in the world, as, wherever they made their appearance, the astonished people were in use to run away, crying out, the Tartars! the Tartars!  In consequence of almost continual war, this nation of the Tartars is now almost utterly extirpated, yet the name remains; although the Moals use every effort to abolish that name and to exalt their own.  The country where these Tartars formerly inhabited, and where the court of Zingis still remains, is now called Mancherule; and as this was the centre of all their conquests, they still esteem it as their royal residence, and there the great khan is for the most part elected.

[1] About the year 1097.

SECTION XX.

Of the Russians, Hungarians, Alanians, and of the Caspian.

I know not whether Sartach really believes in Christ, but am certain that he refuses to be called a Christian, and I rather think that he scoffs at Christianity.  His residence lies in the way through which the Russians, Walachians, Bulgarians of the lesser Bulgaria, the Soldaians, or Christians of Casaria, the Kerkis, Alanians, and other Christians have to pass in their way with gifts or tribute to the court of his father Baatu-khan; and by this means Sartach is more connected with the Christians than any of the rest, yet when the Saracens or Mahometans bring their gifts, they are sooner dispatched.  Sartach has always about him some Nestorian priests, who count their beads and sing their devotions.

There is another commander under Baatu-khan, called Berta or Berca, who pastures his flocks towards the Iron-gate, or Derbent, through which lies the passage of all the Saracens or Mahometans who come from Persia and Turkey, to pay their gifts and tributes to Baatu, and who make presents to Berta in their way.  This person professes himself to be of the Mahometan faith, and will not permit swines flesh to be eaten in his dominions.  But it appearing to Baatu, that his affairs suffered detriment by this intercourse with the Mahometans, we learnt on our return, that he had commanded Berta to remove from the Iron-gate to the east side of the Volga.