The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-10-04
Ill


Venetian had this to say about the Tartars
Originally, the Tartars dwelt in the North,
on the borders of the Chorcha. Their
country was one of great plains and there
were no towns or villages in It, but excellent
pasture lands with great rivers and many
sheets Of water; in fact, it was very fine
and extensive region. But there was no
sovereign in the land. They did. however,
pay tax and tribute to a great Prince. who
was called in their tongue Unc Can, the same
that We call Prester John. him, in fact,
about whose great dominion all the
world talks. The tribute he had of
them was one beast out OF every ten,
and also 1.-THE OF all their other gear.
Now 1t came 10 pass that the Tartars
multiplied exceedingly and when Prester
John saw how great people'they had be-
come he began to fear that he should have
trouble from them. So he made scheme to
distribute them over sundry countries
When the Tartars became aware Of this
they took it much amiss, and with one con-
sent they left their country and went OF
across desert to a distant region toward
the north, where Prester John could not
get at them to annoy them. Thus they re-
volted from his authority and paid him
tribute no longer. And so things continued
for time
1t Is obvious that this passage lends itself
to copious annexation. The present re-
wiser points out that Chorcha is the Manchu
country, whose people were at that time
called by the Mongols Churcke. The
founders Of the Kin dynasty, which the
Mongols supe. seeded in Northern China,
were Of Churche race, Mr.. Cordier re-
produces some interesting comments on
this part Of Polos text by Mr.. Rockhill.
the we'll known American diplomatist THE
earliest date" writes Mr.. Rockhill, ito
which l have been able to trace back the
name Tartar is A. d. 1872. Mention is made
in Turkish inscription found on the River
Orkhon and bearing that date, Of the Tokrz
Tatar. or Nine tribes of) Tatars and of the
Otuz Tatar, OF Thirty (tribes OF Tatars.
1t Is probable that these tribes were then
living between the Oguz or Uighur Turks
on the West and the Kitan on the East.
Mr.. Thomas Waters tells me that the Ia
tars are first mentioned by the Chinese in
the period extending from A. D. $50 to s7+,
Chinese writings, however. is under date
of $50. We read in the work known as
Wu-tai-shih that the Ta-ta we're a branch
of the Mo-ho (the name which the Nu-chen
Tartars bore during the Sui and Tang
periods). They first lived TO the north of
the Kitan. Later on, they we're conquered
by the last named people, whereupon they
scattered. part becoming tributaries to
the Kita, another TO the Po-hai (anotfer
branch OF the Mo-ho), while some bands
took up their abode in the Vim Shan, h
Southern Mongolia. north of the provinces
Of Chilli, and Shansi and took the name
of Ta-ta' In 9sl the Chinese Ambassador
to the Prince Of kao-chang tkarakhodjo,
some twenty miles southeast of TurfanD
traversed the Ta-ta country. The Tartars
then seem to have occupied the northern
bend of the Yellow River. The Chinese
Ambassador gives the names Of some
nine tribes OF Ta-ta living on either side of
the river He notes that their neighbors
to the east we're Kitan, ard that for long
time they had been fighting them after the
occupation Of kan-cbou by the Uighur
Turks" We may gather from this that the
Tartars were already setted along the yell
low River, and the Yin Shan (the valley In
which ia now situated the important frontier
mart Of Kwei-hau Chengl at the beginning
Of the ninth century, for the Uighrlrs, driven
southwark by the Kirghiz, frst occupied
Rancho in Northwestern Kan-suh, some
where about A. D. s42.
It will be observed that in the passage
from Polo's narrative that we have quoted
iS- 10 IN lad
Prester John. who by the Venetian is identi-
fed with Prince to whom the Tartars,
before the creation OF the Mongol Empire
by Zenghiz and his descendants, had paid
tribute, and whom they called in their
tongue ~Unc Can" The idea thar Chris
tian potentate Of enormous wealth and
power and bearing the title of Prester
John ruled over vest tracts in the Far
East was universal i'll Europe from the
middle of the twelfth to the end of the
thirteenth century. after which time the
Asiatic story seems gradually to have
died away. while to the royal Presbyter
was assigned a locus in Abyssinia. The
equivocal application OF the term India"
to the east of Asia and the east Of Africa
may have facilitated this transfer. Col,
Yule had a suspicion, now known to have
been unfounded, that the term may. from
the first, have belonged to the Abyssinian
Prince, though circumstances led to its
being applied to another quarter. II il
certain that the report Of Prester Johns
inordinate magnificence became diffused in
Europe about the year 1875, when a letter
full of the most extravagant details was
circulated which purported to have been
addressed by this potentate to the Greek
Emperor Manuel. the Roman Emperor
Frederick (Barbarossa), the Pope and
other Christian sovereigns. BY the cir
c,lation of this letter, which may have
been, as Col. Yule thought IT. fiction,
the idea of this Christ ian conqueror was
planted deep in the mind of Europe, and
twned itself around every rumor OF revo-
luton in Further Asia.
The truth, which has been evolved from
the latest researches, is set forth by NJ
Corder, the reviser Of Col. Yule's edition
He begins by directing attention 10 the
extensive diffusion Of HISTORIAN Chris
tanity in Asia during the first twelve CEN
turtles after Chfist He points out that
a Christian historian. Gregory Abulfara,
relates curious history of the conversion,
in the beginning of the eleventh century.
of the king Of Kerith," with his people.
who dwelt In the remote northeast of the
land OF the Turks. That the keraits con-
tinued to profess Christianity down to
the time of lengths In attested by the posi-