b o o k , t h e pooreft in the countries bordering upon the Lake Baikal;
■ v'_; he ihppofes them all to have been the work o f the Mongol
Hordes at different periods, who inhabited, at various times,
the diftridfs in which the burial places at prefent exiil. He
grounds his proof upon the following circumitances: Zin-
ghis, or Tchinghis Khan, laid the foundation o f his vail
power in the beginning of the 13th century.- The roving
hordes of Mongols, who were firft under his dominion, inhabited
the countries about the rivers Selenga, Tola, Orkon,
and Anon, ftretching from the river Amoor to the Mongol
Defert, which leads to the wall o f China. Thefe hordes were
at that time a poor tribe, and hence the tombs which are
found in thofe parts are very fcantily provided with rich accoutrements,
and ornaments o f any value.
' Zinghis had no fooner brought the Mongols under his
fubjeffion, than he turned his arms to different quarters.
With the aid of thefe warlike tribes, he and his immediate
fucceffors conquered great part o f China, independent Tartary,
Periia, and the regions as far as the Black Sea, and held for
fome years almoit all Ruffia under their yoke. The plunder
of fuch vaft countries centered for the moll part in the fet-
tlement o f the chief Khan, acknowledged by all the feudal
princes as the head of that extenfive empire ; which, upon
the death o f Zinghis Khan, was divided into many independent
principalities. This fettlement was about the middle
of the 13th century, not far from the banks o f the
Irtiih, as appears from the travels o f the miffionary Ru-
bruquis, who, in his way to the court o f the Khan Magnu,
defcribgs the laft river he craffed to be the Yaik ; and as
he never mentions the Irtiih, it is probable that the
feat o f the court was fituated between thofe two rivers;
and accordingly we find, in corroboration o f this fuppoiition,
pofition, that the richeil fepulchres are difcovered in the parts CHAP-
between the Yaik and the Irtiih. . v|~ .
Towards the beginning o f the 13 th century, the empire
o f the Mongols fell to pieces; and therefore there feems no
other period, but the 1 3th and 14th centuries, in which they
could have colledted fuch an immenfe booty as the ornaments
found in thefe tombs feem to indicate.
It is a remarkable circumllance, that many of thefe ornaments
are executed with fuch tafte and elegance, as is hardly
to be accounted for from the Hate o f the arts at that time in
the Eaft: and indeed they were undoubtedly the work o f
Europeans, whom the liberality o f Zinghis Khan and his fucceffors
drew to their courts; for Rubruquis met at the court
o f Magnu William Boucher, a French goldfmith, emploved
by the Khan.
Mr. Muller, with his ufual candour, allows one exception
to his general affertion, that all the tombs o f Siberia, in which
arms and ornaments were interred with the deceafed, were
the burial places o f the Mongols ; and he defcribes a few
which feem o f a far more antient date, and contain copper
arms, utenfils, and ornaments. Thefe relicks are. now. pre-
erved in the chamber o f rarities, and I examined them with
great attention. The knives, fpears, and fwords, being,uni-
ormly o f copper, feem to prove, that the people who were
buried in thefe parts were not acquainted with the ufe o f
won ; and therefore mud have been o f very high antiquity,,
and far anterior to the Mongol hordes.
Mr. Muller, who has inveftigated all thefe fubjecls with a
won erful fpmt o f inquiry, fuppofes thefe people to have
een the Igurs, or Uigurs * , from whom Zinghis,Khan, as
P r e f e H m H i a r ¡ a n T a n c e iW s o f th e <»«W«ces found in thefe tombs referable*
'inhabited parts o f ’ sibe/k; ‘ o T e 'ra fT h e ¿ H - U , “ Bib‘ **
T 2 his