The Czarina made no stay in these regions, farther than to catch a supply of salmon, which were amazingly abundant. The mariners found the shores almost constantly beset by thick fogs, rendering the navigation very difficult and dangerous. Beside this, there seemed to be rocks and reefs on every hand, and swift currents, that made it necessary to use the utmost caution.
The straits were soon passed, and the ship entered the Japanese Sea, which lies between Tartary and the islands of Japan. The course of the ship was still southerly, and for several days nothing of particular interest happened. While they were thus pursuing their voyage, the officers of the ship usually dined together, Alexis and a Russian merchant, who had entered the vessel at Okotsk, being of the party. Much hilarity prevailed, songs were sung, and many good stories were told.
One day, after dinner, while all were sitting around the table, the conversation turned upon Tartary, a vast country which lay westward of the Japanese Sea. After a good deal had been said on the subject, the captain of the ship, whose name was Orlof, joined in the discourse, and proceeded as follows:
“In ancient times, the Tartars were called Scythians; and in their contests with the Romans, they appear to have displayed great vigor of character. They have been spread over nearly all the central and northern part of Asia, from time immemorial; but they are broken into many tribes, and pass under many different names, as Cossacks, Kalmucks, Mongols, Kirghises, Kalkas, Mandshurs, Uzbeks, Turkomans, &c. The tribes which inhabit Siberia, the Ostiacks, Tunguses and others, are but fragments of the great Tartar family.
“At the present day, the central part of Asia, from the Caspian and Volga on the west, to the Sea of Japan on the east, is occupied by Tartars, though divided into two separate governments—Independent Tartary and Chinese Tartary. The latter, including Thibet, is nearly as extensive as Siberia, and has been subject to the emperor of China since 1647, for it was about that time that the Mandshur Tartars took Pekin, and set one of their princes on the throne of China. Since that time, the emperors of China have been of this Tartar line.
“The Mogols are regarded as the original race of all the Tartars, and also of the Japanese, Chinese, and some of the adjacent nations. They are, also, the original stock from which the Turks have sprung, as well as the Huns, and some other tribes of Europe. But the point about which I was going to speak, is the inconsistency of the Tartar character. With other nations, they are considered savage and merciless, while, among each other, they are kind, gentle and affectionate, in a remarkable degree. Of these two opposite characters there is abundant proof.
“Attila, the leader of the Huns, who fell like a cloud of desolating locusts upon Italy, about the year 400 after Christ, was called the ‘scourge of God.’ His mission seemed to be to destroy, and he performed the fearful work without mercy. Hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children, were sacrificed to his fury, and that of his bloody followers.
“In 1206, Genghis Khan founded the empire of the Mogols, and spread his empire from east to west, three thousand five hundred miles. Not only lesser kingdoms, but China itself became subject to his sway. In the early part of his career, he took a large number of prisoners; but, as if to make his name a terror throughout the world, he ordered those of the most elevated rank to be thrown into caldrons of boiling water. He pursued his conquests with amazing success, but with unsparing severity. Cities, towns, and countries he laid waste, and he crushed human beings with as little feeling as if they had been only so many spiders. He trod the earth, crushing human beings, as remorselessly as we do insects. He turned his armies against China, and passed the great wall, which had been built a thousand years before, to save that empire from the Tartars, who even then, appear to have excited the dread of their neighbors.
“Genghis entered China, and attacked Pekin. This at last yielded, and for an entire month, it was given up to fire and the sword. He afterwards led his armies against the more western nations. The conflict and the slaughter were fearful; in the destruction of two cities, alone, Bochara and Samarcand, two hundred thousand people were destroyed, of every age and sex. Everywhere he was successful, but at last he died, in his sixty-sixth year. Six millions of people fell victims to the bloody wars of this great butcher of his fellow-men. Yet, savage as he was in war, Genghis was a promoter of learning, and a friend to religious freedom; he welcomed all learned men at his court, and showed great tenderness to friends, and especially, his own family.
“Timour the Tartar, or Tamerlane, though the son of a peasant, became a king, and, about the year 1400, had so extended his conquests that his empire nearly exceeded that of Genghis Khan. He subdued Persia, India, Syria, and Asia Minor. He conquered Bajazet, the sultan of Constantinople, and took him prisoner. He twice took Bagdat, and in the latter case, gave it up to the fury of his soldiers, who slew eight hundred thousand men. Yet Timour—thus savage in war—was a man of many agreeable qualities, and has left behind him numerous anecdotes of justice and gentleness.