FOOTNOTES:
[37] "Narrative of the Chinese Embassy to the Khan of Torgouth Tartars, in the years 1712, '13, '14 and '15, by the Chinese Ambassador, and published by the emperor's authority at Pekin." London. I am indebted to the kindness of Baron Walckenaer for an acquaintance with this work.
[38] The flight of the Kalmucks has also been attributed to Prince Chereng Taidchi, of whom mention has been made above. This version of the matter seems to us improbable. Chereng had left China as an outlaw, and it is not to be supposed that he was favourable to the emigration, notwithstanding the impatience with which he endured the yoke of Russia. It appears, on the contrary, that he never ceased to protest against the resolution adopted by Oubacha.
[39] The MS. belongs to M. Ternaux Compans, who has obligingly placed at my disposal all the rich stores of his valuable library.
[40] Here again we see that the Chinese give the name of Tatars to the Mongols, which confirms our opinion, that the denomination we give to the Mussulman subjects of Southern Russia is incorrect. We have substituted Tatar for the word Tartar in the MS.
[41] The Chinese doubtless adopted the name Torgouth, because the fugitive Kalmucks consisted, in a great measure, of that tribe. The Kalmucks that remained in Russia are almost all Derbetes and Koschoots.
[42] Russian documents confirm the fact, that a captain of this name commanding a Russian detachment was carried off by the fugitive Kalmucks.
[43] There is here, evidently, a confusion of names. The Soongars, or Tchong-Kars, as the Chinese call them, are a branch of the Eleuths, and are the very nation who played the important part here attributed to the Eleuths in general.
[44] This assertion seems totally erroneous. The Torgouths arrived in Russia in 1630, and Aiouki was not raised to the dignity of khan until 1675; he could not, therefore, have acted the part here ascribed to him. The relation of the Chinese embassy to Aiouki (1712-1715) likewise confirms in all points the inaccuracy of the Emperor Kien Long's historical version. At that period China was a country almost unknown to the Kalmucks, and Aiouki, in all his conferences with the ambassadors, was continually asking for information of all kinds respecting the celestial empire.
[45] The part of southern Russia comprised between the Volga and the Jaïk. The Tatars also gave the name of Etchil to the Volga.