The Washington herald., 1907-12-29
THE MONGOLS-A HISTORY

BY the death Of jeremiah Curtin the
linguists and a profound scholar he
was best known in the world Of itera-
ture, perhaps, as the translator Of the
works OF Sienkiewicz, which save for him
might never have become well known in
this country. His work In literature.
however. was both varied and extensive.
He made deep studies Of the myths and
folk-tales Of the Russians, Western Slavs.
and Magyars; wrote well Of the creation
myths Of primitive America, and was
an authority on Celtic legend. The later
years of his life were devoted 70 an his
torical study OF the Mongcls. and he had
just completed the work under review
when, in the Tipeness OF his power, his
career was cut short.
This posthumous work is dedicated 70
Theodore Roosevelt. President of the
United States, who has furnished a fore
word for the book. This fOreword is such
remarkably clear and lucid resume of
the aim. purposes. and utilities Of the
volume that il is from this. very largely.
that we take the facts for this review.
Theodore Roosevelt says. in summing up
the activities Of Mr.. Curtin:
The death of jeremiah Curtin robbed America Of
one Of her two or three foremost scholars The c1-
traordinary facility with which he learned any Ian
giage. his gift Of style in his own language his in
dusty, his restless activity and desire 20 see strange
nations and out-of-the-way peoples. and his great
gift Of imagination which enabled him 70 appre-
D
combined to render his work Of peculiar value His
extraordinary transations Of the Polish novels Of
Sienkiewicz would have been enough to establish a
first-class reputation for any But nothing
that he did more important than his studies of
the riSe Of the mighty Mungol Empire and its de-
cadence. In this particular ield other Ameri-
can or English scholar has ever approached him.
Continuing. ne shows how remarkable
is the general ignorance. even on the part
of the best scholars of America and Eng
land. Of the tremendous Importance in the
worlds history Of the shattering Mongol
invasion Says Mr.. Roosevelt:
Ignorance like this is partly due 70 the natural
tendency among men whose culture is that Of West
ern Europe 10 think Of history as only European
the history OF Latin and Teutonic Europe
But this does not entirely eNcuse ignor-
Rnce of such an event the MOng0l-Tartar in
vasion, which affected half Of Europe tar more pro
foundly than the cz1sades Il Is this ignorance Of
course accentuated among those who are not schol-
ars, which accounts for the possibility Of such
c0mically absurd remarks the infreQuently
made az the time Of the japanese Russian war that
for the first time since SaaInis. Asia had cen
quered Europc. AS a matter OF fact the recent
military supremacy Of the white or European races
is a matter Of only some three centuries. For the
four preceding centuries. that Is from the Thir-
teenth 10 the seventeenth. the Mongols and Turk
ish armies generally had the upper hand IN any
contest with European foes. appearing in Europe
always as invaders. and often conquerers; while
no ruler Of Europe OF their day had his credi;
such mighty feats Of arms such wide conquests. as
Genghis Kahn. Timour the Limper. as Bajazet
Selim and Amunath. as Baber and Akbar
In the present work. THE Mongols." 4"
Mr.. Curtin has described the campaigns
and the conquests of Temudjin (Genghis
Khan. and his lieutenants and success
sors in Northeast Asia, China. Russia.
Arabia. and Persia. the narrative being
brought down 10 the early part of the
fifteenth century, when the Mongols. af-
ter reigning in China. were finally ex-
PEELED from the country by the founders
OF the Ming dynasty.
About the very word Mongol there are
various significances. In its broad sense,