as unquestionable by all later writers,* that the tribes of
Eastern Tartars, termed Niü-tschi, and Tchur-tehe, who
founded the dynasty of Kin,, were a people of Tungusian
race. The relics of their language preserved by Chinese
historians, are nearly allied to the Mand-shü dialect, and
the present Mandshoos acknowledge this relationship.
The Niu-tchi or Tchür-tehes were independent nomadic
tribes who wandered in the deserts which reach northward
to the river Sagalien or Amur and westward to the
Songari.f This last river divided them from the Khitans,.
a people not less celebrated than themselves, who possessed
an extensive empire in the East before the union of the
Tchür-tches under one chieftain obtained for them, in 1114,
a preponderance of power over the Khitans, and enabled
them to conquer that people and found .sjpp the north of
China and through Eastern Tartary the celebrated monarchy
of the Kin. The Kin ruled contemporaneously with' the
Chinese dynasty of the Song, whom they compelled to
retire into the countries to the southward of. the Yang-
tse-kiang. Their empire was termed by the Tartar nations
Khitaï, apparently from its previous .rulers, whence,, the
celebrated appellation of Cathay. Both the Kin andvthe
native Song were overpowered by the Mongoles, who
invaded China under Tschingghis-Khan in 1211.
The empire of the Khitans, which had been subverted by
the Niü-tchi or Kins, had been founded in 907 by a chieftain
who had united under his command the numerous bordes
of this people. The Khitans had inhabited for many ages
the countries reaching northward from the river Sera, and
bounded towards the west by the mountains Of Kingan
and the Great Desert, towards the east separated from.thp
Niü-tchi by the river Songari. They have been subject
at different times to the Turkish khakans and the Chinese
emperors. Early in the tenth century, beginning from
* See Rémusat, Récherches, ubi supra.—Klaproth, Asia Polyglotta, s. 292.
—M. D’Ohssou, Hist, des Mongols, tom. 1.—Ritter, Asien., Th. 2, s. 488.—
D’Avesac, Relation de J. du Plan Carpiu. Rec. de Voyages, tom. 4, p. 520.
t D’Ohsson, Hist, des Mongoles, 1, p. 116.
the era above mentioned, they extended their power over
all Eastern Tartary and the northern province of China.
They adopted the arts and habits of the Chinese, and the
refinement of their manners prepared the downfal which
they experienced from the arms of the Kin. The Khitan
dynasty adopted the name of L6ao, which means iron,
as that of Kin means gold. ■
A passage has ^bftemt^ited from Raschid-ed-din which
seems to imply, that the Khitans were of Mongolian origin ;
but that writer was not ^aware of the national distinction
between the.-different Tartarian*races? AbeERemusat, as
did Klaproth at the time when he wrotehis Asia Polyglotta,
|gfelieved the Khitans to*be a people ofethe Tungusian race,
and that opinion has been adopted by' M. D’Ohsson, the
learned historian of the-Mongolian people.*
The defeat of the Khitans^'and their .expulsion from the
nofth 60 China, is supposed to have-; given .occasion to a
revolution-importaht . in the history of the -»eastern world.
Driven towards the west they were invited to Khorasm
by ’a rebel govenor1, who had- s revolted against the Seljuk
sultan 6f- Turkistan. The Khitans are said to-have drivem
on that occasion the Eru^eS or Turkomans out of Trans-
oxiana,, which they had previously« inhabited, into the
countries to the southward of the Oxus, and thus occasioned
one of the great Turkish inroads into ^the southern parts of
Asia.f
In • the^hifiese^cords relating :,td ^’e^rlier times the
barbarous nations- to the north-eastward of the empire are
designated by the general name of Toung-hous The ToUng^.
hou are distinguished from the Hiong-nd or Turkish race,
wh6 were for many ages the most powerful among all the
northern nations'. No clear and definite account^ can be
traced of the tribes bllonging the Toung-hou; but
among them, according to M. Abel-Reniusat, were in^
eluded the He-choui-Moko or the Mokho of the Black
River, and other hordes who'* two centuries before our
* D’Ohsson, ubi supra.
t De Guignes, Hist, des Huns, vol 1, part 2, pp. 510,522 ; vol. 2, p. 190.