[52] See Klaproth, Asia Polyglotta, p. 202.
[53] The Kitans occupied the country north of the Chinese provinces of Tschy Li and Ching-Ching, watered by the Charamuin, or Liao Ho and its confluents. Ibid.
[54] The chain of mountains called In Chan, begins north of the country of the Ordos, or of the most northern curve of the Hoang Ho, or Yellow River, and extends eastward to the sources of the rivers that fall into the western part of the Gulf of Pekin.
[55] We have entirely rejected from our discussion the word Tartar, which owes its origin only to a jeu de mots, of which St. Louis was the author.
[56] Mongal is the most frequent reading in the MSS.; and where the more exact reading, Mongal, occurs, it is probably a correction by the copyists. Mongal is the form prevalent among the Russians; and we have already had occasion to remark, that in transcribing proper names, Du Plan de Carpin generally adopts the Slavonic pronunciation, as he had it from his companion and interpreter, Benedict of Poland. (Extract from the interesting treatise of M. D'Avezac, on the travels of Du P. de C.)
[57] Terra quadam est in partibus Orientis de qua dictum est supra, quæ Mongal nominatur. Hæc terra quondam populos quatuor habuit: unus Yeka Mongal, id est magni Mongali vocabantur; secundus Su Mongal, id est aquatici Mongali vocabantur; sibi autem se ipsos Tartaros appellabant, a quodam fluvio qui currit per terram illorum qui Tatar nominatur. Alius appellabatur Merkit; quartus Mecrit. Hi populi omnes unam formani personarum et unam linguam habebant, quamvis inter se per provincias et principes essent divisi.
In terra Jeka Mongal fuit quidam qui vocabatur Chingis; este incepit esse robustus venator coram domino: dedicit enim homines furari, rapere prædam. Ibat autem ad alias terras et quoscumque poterat capere et sibi associare non demittebat; homines autem suæ gentes ad se inclinavit, qui tanquam ducem ipsum sequebantur ad omnia malefacta. Hic autem incepit pugnare cum Su Mongal sive Tartaris, postquam plures homines aggregaverat sibi, et interfecit ducem eorum, et multo bello sibi omnes Tataros subjugavit et in suam servitutem recepit ac redegit. Post hæc cum omnibus istis pugnavit cum Merkitis, qui erant positi juxta terram Tartarorum, quas etiam sibi bello subjecit. Inde procedens pugnavit contra Mecritas et etiam illos devicit.
[58] The name Nogaï appears to me to have occasioned the same mistakes as Tatar; misled by the conspicuous part played for some time by the Nogaï hordes, most writers have comprehended under that name all the Mussulman tribes of the provinces of Astrakhan and Kasan.
[59] A large four-wheeled vehicle covered with felt. The wheels are never greased, and the noise they make can often be heard at a distance of several versts.