Universal consternation was diffused through the wide
       borders of the Khan's encampment by this disastrous
       intelligence, not so much on account of the numbers
       slain, or the total extinction of a powerful ally, as because       30
       the position of the Cossack force was likely to put
       to hazard the future advances of the Kalmucks, or at
       least to retard and hold them in check until the heavier
       columns of the Russian army should arrive upon their
       flanks. The siege of Koulagina was instantly raised;
       and that signal, so fatal to the happiness of the women
       and their children, once again resounded through the
       tents--the signal for flight, and this time for a flight
       more rapid than ever. About 150 miles ahead of their                 5
       present position, there arose a tract of hilly country,
       forming a sort of margin to the vast, sealike expanse of
       champaign savannas, steppes, and occasionally of sandy
       deserts, which stretched away on each side of this margin
       both eastwards and westwards. Pretty nearly in the                  10
       centre of this hilly range lay a narrow defile, through
       which passed the nearest and the most practicable route
       to the River Torgau (the farther bank of which river
       offered the next great station of security for a general
       halt). It was the more essential to gain this pass before           15
       the Cossacks, inasmuch as not only would the delay in
       forcing the pass give time to the Russian pursuing
       columns for combining their attacks and for bringing
       up their artillery, but also because (even if all enemies in
       pursuit were thrown out of the question) it was held, by            20
       those best acquainted with the difficult and obscure geography
       of these pathless steppes--that the loss of this one
       narrow strait amongst the hills would have the effect of
       throwing them (as their only alternative in a case where
       so wide a sweep of pasturage was required) upon a circuit           25
       of at least 500 miles extra; besides that, after all, this
       circuitous route would carry them to the Torgau at a point
       unfitted for the passage of their heavy baggage. The
       defile in the hills, therefore, it was resolved to gain; and
       yet, unless they moved upon it with the velocity of light           30
       cavalry, there was little chance but it would be found
       preoccupied by the Cossacks. They, it is true, had
       suffered greatly in the recent sanguinary action with the
       defeated _ouloss_; but the excitement of victory, and the
       intense sympathy with their unexampled triumph, had
       again swelled their ranks, and would probably act with
       the force of a vortex to draw in their simple countrymen
       from the Caspian. The question, therefore, of preoccupation
       was reduced to a race. The Cossacks were marching                    5
       upon an oblique line not above 50 miles longer than
       that which led to the same point from the Kalmuck
       headquarters before Koulagina; and therefore, without
       the most furious haste on the part of the Kalmucks, there
       was not a chance for them, burdened and "trashed"[6] as             10
       they were, to anticipate so agile a light cavalry as the
       Cossacks in seizing this important pass.
       Dreadful were the feelings of the poor women on hearing
       this exposition of the case. For they easily understood
       that too capital an interest (the _summa rerum_)                    15
       was now at stake to allow of any regard to minor interests,
       or what would be considered such in their present
       circumstances. The dreadful week already passed--their
       inauguration in misery--was yet fresh in their
       remembrance. The scars of suffering were impressed                  20
       not only upon their memories, but upon their very persons
       and the persons of their children; and they knew that,
       where no speed had much chance of meeting the cravings
       of the chieftains, no test would be accepted, short of
       absolute exhaustion, that as much had been accomplished             25
       as could be accomplished. Weseloff, the Russian captive,
       has recorded the silent wretchedness with which the
       women and elder boys assisted in drawing the tent ropes.
       On the 5th of January all had been animation and the
       joyousness of indefinite expectation; now, on the contrary,         30
       a brief but bitter experience had taught them to
       take an amended calculation of what it was that lay
       before them.
       One whole day and far into the succeeding night had
       the renewed flight continued; the sufferings had been                5
       greater than before, for the cold had been more intense,
       and many perished out of the living creatures through
       every class except only the camels--whose powers of
       endurance seemed equally adapted to cold and heat.
       The second morning, however, brought an alleviation to              10
       the distress. Snow had begun to fall; and, though not
       deep at present, it was easily foreseen that it soon would
       be so, and that, as a halt would in that case become
       unavoidable, no plan could be better than that of staying
       where they were, especially as the same cause would                 15
       check the advance of the Cossacks. Here, then, was the
       last interval of comfort which gleamed upon the unhappy
       nation during their whole migration. For ten days the
       snow continued to fall with little intermission. At the
       end of that time, keen, bright, frosty weather succeeded;           20
       the drifting had ceased. In three days the smooth expanse
       became firm enough to support the treading of the
       camels; and the flight was recommenced. But during
       the halt much domestic comfort had been enjoyed; and,
       for the last time, universal plenty. The cows and oxen              25
       had perished in such vast numbers on the previous
       marches that an order was now issued to turn what
       remained to account by slaughtering the whole, and
       salting whatever part should be found to exceed the
       immediate consumption. This measure led to a scene                  30
       of general banqueting, and even of festivity amongst all
       who were not incapacitated for joyous emotions by distress
       of mind, by grief for the unhappy experience of the
       few last days, and by anxiety for the too gloomy future.
       Seventy thousand persons of all ages had already perished,
       exclusively of the many thousand allies who had been cut
       down by the Cossack sabre. And the losses in reversion
       were likely to be many more. For rumors began now to
       arrive from all quarters, by the mounted couriers whom               5
       the Khan had dispatched to the rear and to each flank as
       well as in advance, that large masses of the imperial troops
       were converging from all parts of Central Asia to the fords
       of the River Torgau, as the most convenient point for
       intercepting the flying tribes; and it was already well             10
       known that a powerful division was close in their rear,
       and was retarded only by the numerous artillery which
       had been judged necessary to support their operations.
       New motives were thus daily arising for quickening the
       motions of the wretched Kalmucks, and for exhausting                15
       those who were previously but too much exhausted.
       It was not until the 2d day of February that the
       Khan's advanced guard came in sight of Ouchim, the
       defile among the hills of Moulgaldchares, in which they
       anticipated so bloody an opposition from the Cossacks.              20
       A pretty large body of these light cavalry had, in fact,
       preoccupied the pass by some hours; but the Khan,
       having two great advantages--namely, a strong body of
       infantry, who had been conveyed by sections of five on
       about two hundred camels, and some pieces of light                  25
       artillery which he had not yet been forced to abandon--soon
       began to make a serious impression upon this
       unsupported detachment; and they would probably at any
       rate have retired; but, at the very moment when they
       were making some dispositions in that view, Zebek-Dorchi            30
       appeared upon their rear with a body of trained riflemen,
       who had distinguished themselves in the war with Turkey.
       These men had contrived to crawl unobserved over the
       cliffs which skirted the ravine, availing themselves of the
       dry beds of the summer torrents and other inequalities of
       the ground to conceal their movement. Disorder and
       trepidation ensued instantly in the Cossack files; the
       Khan, who had been waiting with the _elite_ of his heavy
       cavalry, charged furiously upon them. Total overthrow                5
       followed to the Cossacks, and a slaughter such as in some
       measure avenged the recent bloody extermination of their
       allies, the ancient _ouloss_ of Feka-Zechorr. The slight
       horses of the Cossacks were unable to support the weight
       of heavy Polish dragoons and a body of trained _cameleers_          10
       (that is, cuirassiers mounted on camels); hardy they were,
       but not strong, nor a match for their antagonists in weight;
       and their extraordinary efforts through the last few days
       to gain their present position had greatly diminished their
       powers for effecting an escape. Very few, in fact, _did_            15
       escape; and the bloody day of Ouchim became as memorable
       among the Cossacks as that which, about twenty
       days before, had signalized the complete annihilation of
       the Feka-Zechorr.[7]
       The road was now open to the River Igritch, and as yet              20
       even far beyond it to the Torgau; but how long this
       state of things would continue was every day more
       doubtful. Certain intelligence was now received that a
       large Russian army, well appointed in every arm, was
       advancing upon the Torgau under the command of
       General Traubenberg. This officer was to be joined on
       his route by ten thousand Bashkirs, and pretty nearly the            5
       same amount of Kirghises--both hereditary enemies of
       the Kalmucks--both exasperated to a point of madness
       by the bloody trophies which Oubacha and Momotbacha
       had, in late years, won from such of their compatriots as
       served under the Sultan. The Czarina's yoke these wild              10
       nations bore with submissive patience, but not the hands
       by which it had been imposed; and accordingly, catching
       with eagerness at the present occasion offered to their
       vengeance, they sent an assurance to the Czarina of their
       perfect obedience to her commands, and at the same time             15
       a message significantly declaring in what spirit they meant
       to execute them--viz. "that they would not trouble her
       Majesty with prisoners."
       Here then arose, as before with the Cossacks, a race
       for the Kalmucks with the regular armies of Russia, and             20
       concurrently with nations as fierce and semi-humanized
       as themselves, besides that they were stung into threefold
       activity by the furies of mortified pride and military
       abasement, under the eyes of the Turkish Sultan. The
       forces, and more especially the artillery, of Russia were           25
       far too overwhelming to permit the thought of a regular
       opposition in pitched battles, even with a less dilapidated
       state of their resources than they could reasonably expect
       at the period of their arrival on the Torgau. In their
       speed lay their only hope--in strength of foot, as before,          30
       and not in strength of arm. Onward, therefore, the Kalmucks
       pressed, marking the lines of their wide-extending
       march over the sad solitudes of the steppes by a never-ending
       chain of corpses. The old and the young, the
       sick man on his couch, the mother with her baby--all
       were left behind. Sights such as these, with the many
       rueful aggravations incident to the helpless condition of
       infancy--of disease and of female weakness abandoned
       to the wolves amidst a howling wilderness--continued to              5
       track their course through a space of full two thousand
       miles; for so much at the least it was likely to prove,
       including the circuits to which they were often compelled
       by rivers or hostile tribes, from the point of starting on
       the Wolga until they could reach their destined halting             10
       ground on the east bank of the Torgau. For the first
       seven weeks of this march their sufferings had been imbittered
       by the excessive severity of the cold; and every
       night--so long as wood was to be had for fires, either
       from the lading of the camels, or from the desperate sacrifice      15
       of their baggage wagons, or (as occasionally happened)
       from the forests which skirted the banks of the many
       rivers which crossed their path--no spectacle was more
       frequent than that of a circle, composed of men, women,
       and children, gathered by hundreds round a central fire,            20
       all dead and stiff at the return of morning light. Myriads
       were left behind from pure exhaustion, of whom none
       had a chance, under the combined evils which beset
       them, of surviving through the next twenty-four hours.
       Frost, however, and snow at length ceased to persecute;             25
       the vast extent of the march at length brought them into
       more genial latitudes, and the unusual duration of the
       march was gradually bringing them into more genial
       seasons of the year. Two thousand miles had at least
       been traversed; February, March, April, were gone; the              30
       balmy month of May had opened; vernal sights and
       sounds came from every side to comfort the heart-weary
       travellers; and at last, in the latter end of May, crossing
       the Torgau, they took up a position where they hoped to
       find liberty to repose themselves for many weeks in comfort
       as well as in security, and to draw such supplies from
       the fertile neighborhood as might restore their shattered
       forces to a condition for executing, with less of wreck
       and ruin, the large remainder of the journey.                        5
       Yes; it was true that two thousand miles of wandering
       had been completed, but in a period of nearly five
       months, and with the terrific sacrifice of at least two hundred
       and fifty thousand souls, to say nothing of herds and
       flocks past all reckoning. These had all perished: ox,              10
       cow, horse, mule, ass, sheep, or goat, not one survived--only
       the camels. These arid and adust creatures, looking
       like the mummies of some antediluvian animals, without
       the affections or sensibilities of flesh and blood--these
       only still erected their speaking eyes to the eastern               15
       heavens, and had to all appearance come out from this
       long tempest of trial unscathed and hardly diminished.
       The Khan, knowing how much he was individually
       answerable for the misery which had been sustained,
       must have wept tears even more bitter than those of                 20
       Xerxes when he threw his eyes over the myriads whom
       he had assembled: for the tears of Xerxes were
       unmingled with compunction. Whatever amends were in
       his power, the Khan resolved to make, by sacrifices to
       the general good of all personal regards; and, accordingly,         25
       even at this point of their advance, he once more deliberately
       brought under review the whole question of the
       revolt. The question was formally debated before the
       Council, whether, even at this point, they should untread
       their steps, and, throwing themselves upon the Czarina's            30
       mercy, return to their old allegiance. In that case,
       Oubacha professed himself willing to become the scapegoat
       for the general transgression. This, he argued, was
       no fantastic scheme, but even easy of accomplishment;
       for the unlimited and sacred power of the Khan, so well
       known to the Empress, made it absolutely iniquitous to
       attribute any separate responsibility to the people. Upon
       the Khan rested the guilt--upon the Khan would
       descend the imperial vengeance. This proposal was                    5
       applauded for its generosity, but was energetically opposed
       by Zebek-Dorchi. Were they to lose the whole
       journey of two thousand miles? Was their misery to
       perish without fruit? True it was that they had yet
       reached only the halfway house; but, in that respect,               10
       the motives were evenly balanced for retreat or for
       advance. Either way they would have pretty nearly
       the same distance to traverse, but with this difference--that,
       forwards, their route lay through lands comparatively
       fertile; backwards, through a blasted wilderness,                   15
       rich only in memorials of their sorrow, and hideous to
       Kalmuck eyes by the trophies of their calamity. Besides,
       though the Empress might accept an excuse for the past,
       would she the less forbear to suspect for the future?
       The Czarina's _pardon_ they might obtain, but could they            20
       ever hope to recover her _confidence_? Doubtless there
       would now be a standing presumption against them, an
       immortal ground of jealousy; and a jealous government
       would be but another name for a harsh one. Finally,
       whatever motives there ever had been for the revolt                 25
       surely remained unimpaired by anything that had occurred.
       In reality the revolt was, after all, no revolt,
       but (strictly speaking) a return to their old allegiance;
       since, not above one hundred and fifty years ago (viz. in
       the year 1616), their ancestors had revolted from the               30
       Emperor of China. They had now tried both governments;
       and for them China was the land of promise, and
       Russia the house of bondage.
       Spite, however, of all that Zebek could say or do, the
       yearning of the people was strongly in behalf of the
       Khan's proposal; the pardon of their prince, they persuaded
       themselves, would be readily conceded by the
       Empress: and there is little doubt that they would at
       this time have thrown themselves gladly upon the imperial            5
       mercy; when suddenly all was defeated by the arrival of
       two envoys from Traubenberg. This general had reached
       the fortress of Orsk, after a very painful march, on the
       12th of April; thence he set forward toward Oriembourg,
       which he reached upon the 1st of June, having been                  10
       joined on his route at various times through the month
       of May by the Kirghises and a corps of ten thousand
       Bashkirs. From Oriembourg he sent forward his official
       offers to the Khan, which were harsh and peremptory,
       holding out no specific stipulations as to pardon or                15
       impunity, an exacting unconditional submission as the
       preliminary price of any cessation from military operations.
       The personal character of Traubenberg, which
       was anything but energetic, and the condition of his
       army, disorganized in a great measure by the length and             20
       severity of the march, made it probable that, with a little
       time for negotiation, a more conciliatory tone would have
       been assumed. But, unhappily for all parties, sinister
       events occurred in the meantime such as effectually put
       an end to every hope of the kind.                                   25
       The two envoys sent forward by Traubenberg had
       reported to this officer that a distance of only ten days'
       march lay between his own headquarters and those of
       the Khan. Upon this fact transpiring, the Kirghises, by
       their prince Nourali, and the Bashkirs, entreated the               30
       Russian general to advance without delay. Once having
       placed his cannon in position, so as to command the
       Kalmuck camp, the fate of the rebel Khan and his
       people would be in his own hands, and they would
       themselves form his advanced guard. Traubenberg, however
       (_why_ has not been certainly explained), refused to
       march; grounding his refusal upon the condition of his
       army and their absolute need of refreshment. Long
       and fierce was the altercation; but at length, seeing no             5
       chance of prevailing, and dreading above all other events
       the escape of their detested enemy, the ferocious Bashkirs
       went off in a body by forced marches. In six days
       they reached the Torgau, crossed by swimming their
       horses, and fell upon the Kalmucks, who were dispersed              10
       for many a league in search of food or provender for
       their camels. The first day's action was one vast succession
       of independent skirmishes, diffused over a field
       of thirty to forty miles in extent; one party often breaking
       up into three or four, and again (according to the                  15
       accidents of ground) three or four blending into one;
       flight and pursuit, rescue and total overthrow, going on
       simultaneously, under all varieties of form, in all
       quarters of the plain. The Bashkirs had found themselves obliged,
       by the scattered state of the Kalmucks, to split up into            20
       innumerable sections; and thus, for some hours, it had
       been impossible for the most practised eye to collect the
       general tendency of the day's fortune. Both the Khan
       and Zebek-Dorchi were at one moment made prisoners,
       and more than once in imminent danger of being cut                  25
       down; but at length Zebek succeeded in rallying a
       strong column of infantry, which, with the support of the
       camel corps on each flank, compelled the Bashkirs to
       retreat. Clouds, however, of these wild cavalry continued
       to arrive through the next two days and nights, followed            30
       or accompanied by the Kirghises. These being viewed
       as the advanced parties of Traubenberg's army, the
       Kalmuck chieftains saw no hope of safety but in flight;
       and in this way it happened that a retreat, which had so
       recently been brought to a pause, was resumed at the
       very moment when the unhappy fugitives were anticipating
       a deep repose, without further molestation, the whole
       summer through.
       It seemed as though every variety of wretchedness                    5
       were predestined to the Kalmucks, and as if their sufferings
       were incomplete unless they were rounded and
       matured by all that the most dreadful agencies of summer's
       heat could superadd to those of frost and winter.
       To this sequel of their story we shall immediately revert,          10
       after first noticing a little romantic episode which occurred
       at this point between Oubacha and his unprincipled
       cousin, Zebek-Dorchi.
       There was, at the time of the Kalmuck flight from the
       Wolga, a Russian gentleman of some rank at the court                15
       of the Khan, whom, for political reasons, it was thought
       necessary to carry along with them as a captive. For
       some weeks his confinement had been very strict, and in
       one or two instances cruel; but, as the increasing distance
       was continually diminishing the chances of escape,                  20
       and perhaps, also, as the misery of the guards gradually
       withdrew their attention from all minor interests to their
       own personal sufferings, the vigilance of the custody
       grew more and more relaxed; until at length, upon a
       petition to the Khan, Mr. Weseloff was formally restored            25
       to liberty; and it was understood that he might use his
       liberty in whatever way he chose; even for returning
       to Russia, if that should be his wish. Accordingly, he
       was making active preparations for his journey to St.
       Petersburg, when it occurred to Zebek-Dorchi that not               30
       improbably, in some of the battles which were then anticipated
       with Traubenberg, it might happen to them to
       lose some prisoner of rank,--in which case the Russian
       Weseloff would be a pledge in their hands for negotiating
       an exchange. Upon this plea, to his own severe affliction,
       the Russian was detained until the further pleasure
       of the Khan. The Khan's name, indeed, was used
       through the whole affair, but, as it seemed, with so little
       concurrence on his part, that, when Weseloff in a private            5
       audience humbly remonstrated upon the injustice done
       him and the cruelty of thus sporting with his feelings by
       setting him at liberty, and, as it were, tempting him into
       dreams of home and restored happiness only for the purpose
       of blighting them, the good-natured prince disclaimed               10
       all participation in the affair, and went so far in
       proving his sincerity as even to give him permission to
       effect his escape; and, as a ready means of commencing
       it without raising suspicion, the Khan mentioned to Mr.
       Weseloff that he had just then received a message from              15
       the Hetman of the Bashkirs, soliciting a private interview
       on the banks of the Torgau at a spot pointed out. That
       interview was arranged for the coming night; and Mr.
       Weseloff might go in the Khan's _suite_, which on either
       side was not to exceed three persons. Weseloff was a                20
       prudent man, acquainted with the world, and he read
       treachery in the very outline of this scheme, as stated by
       the Khan--treachery against the Khan's person. He
       mused a little, and then communicated so much of his
       suspicions to the Khan as might put him on his guard;               25
       but, upon further consideration, he begged leave to
       decline the honor of accompanying the Khan. The fact
       was that three Kalmucks, who had strong motives for
       returning to their countrymen on the west bank of the
       Wolga, guessing the intentions of Weseloff, had offered             30
       to join him in his escape. These men the Khan would
       probably find himself obliged to countenance in their
       project, so that it became a point of honor with Weseloff
       to conceal their intentions, and therefore to accomplish
       the evasion from the camp (of which the first steps only
       would be hazardous) without risking the notice of the
       Khan.
       The district in which they were now encamped
       abounded through many hundred miles with wild horses                 5
       of a docile and beautiful breed. Each of the four fugitives
       had caught from seven to ten of these spirited
       creatures in the course of the last few days. This
       raised no suspicion, for the rest of the Kalmucks had
       been making the same sort of provision against the coming           10
       toils of their remaining route to China. These horses
       were secured by halters, and hidden about dusk in the
       thickets which lined the margin of the river. To these
       thickets, about ten at night, the four fugitives repaired.
       They took a circuitous path, which drew them as little as           15
       possible within danger of challenge from any of the outposts
       or of the patrols which had been established on the
       quarters where the Bashkirs lay; and in three-quarters of
       an hour they reached the rendezvous. The moon had
       now risen, the horses were unfastened; and they were                20
       in the act of mounting, when the deep silence of the
       woods was disturbed by a violent uproar and the clashing
       of arms. Weseloff fancied that he heard the voice of
       the Khan shouting for assistance. He remembered
       the communication made by that prince in the morning; and,          25
       requesting his companions to support him, he rode off in
       the direction of the sound. A very short distance brought
       him to an open glade in the wood, where he beheld four
       men contending with a party of at least nine or ten.
       Two of the four were dismounted at the very instant of              30
       Weseloff's arrival. One of these he recognized almost
       certainly as the Khan, who was fighting hand to hand,
       but at great disadvantage, with two of the adverse horsemen.
       Seeing that no time was to be lost, Weseloff fired
       and brought down one of the two. His companions discharged
       their carabines at the same moment; and then all
       rushed simultaneously into the little open area. The
       thundering sound of about thirty horses, all rushing at
       once into a narrow space, gave the impression that a                 5
       whole troop of cavalry was coming down upon the assailants,
       who accordingly wheeled about and fled with one
       impulse. Weseloff advanced to the dismounted cavalier,
       who, as he expected, proved to be the Khan. The man
       whom Weseloff had shot was lying dead; and both were                10
       shocked, though Weseloff at least was not surprised, on
       stooping down and scrutinizing his features, to recognize
       a well-known confidential servant of Zebek-Dorchi.
       Nothing was said by either party. The Khan rode off,
       escorted by Weseloff and his companions; and for some               15
       time a dead silence prevailed. The situation of Weseloff
       was delicate and critical. To leave the Khan at this point
       was probably to cancel their recent services; for he might
       be again crossed on his path, and again attacked, by the
       very party from whom he had just been delivered. Yet, on            20
       the other hand, to return to the camp was to endanger the
       chances of accomplishing the escape. The Khan, also, was
       apparently revolving all this in his mind; for at length he
       broke silence and said: "I comprehend your situation;
       and, under other circumstances, I might feel it my duty to          25
       detain your companions, but it would ill become me to do
       so after the important service you have just rendered me.
       Let us turn a little to the left. There, where you see the
       watch fire, is an outpost. Attend me so far. I am then
       safe. You may turn and pursue your enterprise; for                  30
       the circumstances under which you will appear as my
       escort are sufficient to shield you from all suspicion for
       the present. I regret having no better means at my disposal
       for testifying my gratitude. But tell me before we
       part--was it accident only which led you to my rescue?
       Or had you acquired any knowledge of the plot by which
       I was decoyed into this snare?" Weseloff answered very
       candidly that mere accident had brought him to the spot
       at which he heard the uproar; but that, _having_ heard it,           5
       and connecting it with the Khan's communication of the
       morning, he had then designedly gone after the sound in
       a way which he certainly should not have done, at so
       critical a moment, unless in the expectation of finding
       the Khan assaulted by assassins. A few minutes after                10
       they reached the outpost at which it became safe to
       leave the Tartar chieftain; and immediately the four
       fugitives commenced a flight which is, perhaps, without a
       parallel in the annals of travelling. Each of them led
       six or seven horses besides the one he rode; and by                 15
       shifting from one to the other (like the ancient Desultors
       of the Roman circus), so as never to burden the same
       horse for more than half an hour at a time, they continued
       to advance at the rate of 200 miles in the twenty-four
       hours for three days consecutively. After that time,                20
       considering themselves beyond pursuit, they proceeded
       less rapidly; though still with a velocity which staggered
       the belief of Weseloff's friends in after years. He was,
       however, a man of high principle, and always adhered
       firmly to the details of his printed report. One of the             25
       circumstances there stated is that they continued to pursue
       the route by which the Kalmucks had fled, never for
       an instant finding any difficulty in tracing it by the skeletons
       and other memorials of their calamities. In particular,
       he mentions vast heaps of money as part of the                      30
       valuable property which it had been necessary to sacrifice.
       These heaps were found lying still untouched in
       the deserts. From these Weseloff and his companions
       took as much as they could conveniently carry; and this
       it was, with the price of their beautiful horses, which they
       afterward sold at one of the Russian military settlements
       for about L15 apiece, which eventually enabled them to
       pursue their journey in Russia. This journey, as regarded
       Weseloff in particular, was closed by a tragical catastrophe.        5
       He was at that time young and the only child
       of a doting mother. Her affliction under the violent abduction
       of her son had been excessive, and probably had
       undermined her constitution. Still she had supported it.
       Weseloff, giving way to the natural impulses of his filial          10
       affection, had imprudently posted through Russia to his
       mother's house without warning of his approach. He
       rushed precipitately into her presence; and she, who had
       stood the shocks of sorrow, was found unequal to the
       shock of joy too sudden and too acute. She died upon                15
       the spot.
       *       *       *       *       *
       We now revert to the final scenes of the Kalmuck
       flight. These it would be useless to pursue circumstantially
       through the whole two thousand miles of suffering
       which remained; for the character of that suffering was             20
       even more monotonous than on the former half of the
       flight, but also more severe. Its main elements were
       excessive heat, with the accompaniments of famine and
       thirst, but aggravated at every step by the murderous
       attacks of their cruel enemies, the Bashkirs and the                25
       Kirghises.
       These people, "more fell than anguish, hunger, or
       the sea," stuck to the unhappy Kalmucks like a swarm of
       enraged hornets. And very often, while _they_ were
       attacking them in the rear, their advanced parties and
       30 flanks were attacked with almost equal fury by the people
       of the country which they were traversing; and with good
       reason, since the law of self-preservation had now obliged
       the fugitive Tartars to plunder provisions and to forage
       wherever they passed. In this respect their condition
       was a constant oscillation of wretchedness; for sometimes,
       pressed by grinding famine, they took a circuit of
       perhaps a hundred miles, in order to strike into a land              5
       rich in the comforts of life; but in such a land they were
       sure to find a crowded population, of which every arm
       was raised in unrelenting hostility, with all the advantages
       of local knowledge, and with constant preoccupation of
       all the defensible positions, mountain passes, or bridges.          10
       Sometimes, again, wearied out with this mode of suffering,
       they took a circuit of perhaps a hundred miles, in
       order to strike into a land with few or no inhabitants.
       But in such a land they were sure to meet absolute
       starvation. Then, again, whether with or without this               15
       plague of starvation, whether with or without this plague
       of hostility in front, whatever might be the "fierce varieties"
       of their misery in this respect, no rest ever came
       to their unhappy rear; _post equitem sedet atra cura_: it
       was a torment like the undying worm of conscience.                  20
       And, upon the whole, it presented a spectacle altogether
       unprecedented in the history of mankind. Private and
       personal malignity is not unfrequently immortal; but rare
       indeed is it to find the same pertinacity of malice in
       a nation. And what imbittered the interest was that the             25
       malice was reciprocal. Thus far the parties met upon
       equal terms; but that equality only sharpened the sense
       of their dire inequality as to other circumstances. The
       Bashkirs were ready to fight "from morn till dewy eve."
       The Kalmucks, on the contrary, were always obliged to               30
       run. Was it _from_ their enemies as creatures whom they
       feared? No; but _towards_ their friends--towards that
       final haven of China--as what was hourly implored by
       the prayers of their wives and the tears of their children.
       But, though they fled unwillingly, too often they fled in
       vain--being unwillingly recalled. There lay the torment.
       Every day the Bashkirs fell upon them; every
       day the same unprofitable battle was renewed; as a
       matter of course, the Kalmucks recalled part of their                5
       advanced guard to fight them; every day the battle raged
       for hours, and uniformly with the same result. For, no
       sooner did the Bashkirs find themselves too heavily
       pressed, and that the Kalmuck march had been retarded
       by some hours, than they retired into the boundless                 10
       deserts, where all pursuit was hopeless. But if the Kalmucks
       resolved to press forwards, regardless of their enemies--in
       that case their attacks became so fierce and
       overwhelming that the general safety seemed likely to be
       brought into question; nor could any effectual remedy               15
       be applied to the case, even for each separate day, except
       by a most embarrassing halt and by countermarches
       that, to men in their circumstances, were almost worse
       than death. It will not be surprising that the irritation
       of such a systematic persecution, superadded to a previous,         20
       and hereditary hatred, and accompanied by the
       stinging consciousness of utter impotence as regarded all
       effectual vengeance, should gradually have inflamed the
       Kalmuck animosity into the wildest expression of downright
       madness and frenzy. Indeed, long before the                         25
       frontiers of China were approached, the hostility of both
       sides had assumed the appearance much more of a
       warfare amongst wild beasts than amongst creatures
       acknowledging the restraints of reason or the claims of a
       common nature. The spectacle became too atrocious; it               30
       was that of a host of lunatics pursued by a host of fiends.
       *       *       *       *       *
       On a fine morning in early autumn of the year 1771,
       Kien Long, the Emperor of China, was pursuing his
       amusements in a wild frontier district lying on the outside
       of the Great Wall. For many hundred square
       leagues the country was desolate of inhabitants, but rich
       in woods of ancient growth, and overrun with game of
       every description. In a central spot of this solitary                5
       region the Emperor had built a gorgeous hunting lodge,
       to which he resorted annually for recreation and relief
       from the cares of government. Led onwards in pursuit of
       game, he had rambled to a distance of 200 miles or
       more from his lodge, followed at a little distance by a             10
       sufficient military escort, and every night pitching his
       tent in a different situation, until at length he had arrived
       on the very margin of the vast central deserts of Asia.[8]
       Here he was standing by accident, at an opening of his
       pavilion, enjoying the morning sunshine, when suddenly              15
       to the westward there arose a vast, cloudy vapor, which
       by degrees expanded, mounted, and seemed to be slowly
       diffusing itself over the whole face of the heavens. By
       and by this vast sheet of mist began to thicken toward
       the horizon and to roll forward in billowy volumes. The             20
       Emperor's suite assembled from all quarters; the silver
       trumpets were sounded in the rear; and from all the
       glades and forest avenues began to trot forwards towards
       the pavilion the yagers--half cavalry, half huntsmen--who
       composed the imperial escort. Conjecture was on                     25
       the stretch to divine the cause of this phenomenon; and
       the interest continually increased in proportion as simple
       curiosity gradually deepened into the anxiety of uncertain
       danger. At first it had been imagined that some vast
       troops of deer or other wild animals of the chase had
       been disturbed in their forest haunts by the Emperor's
       movements, or possibly by wild beasts prowling for prey,
       and might be fetching a compass by way of re-entering
       the forest grounds at some remoter points, secure from               5
       molestation. But this conjecture was dissipated by the
       slow increase of the cloud and the steadiness of its
       motion. In the course of two hours the vast phenomenon
       had advanced to a point which was judged to be
       within five miles of the spectators, though all calculations        10
       of distance were difficult, and often fallacious, when
       applied to the endless expanses of the Tartar deserts.
       Through the next hour, during which the gentle morning
       breeze had a little freshened, the dusty vapor had developed
       itself far and wide into the appearance of huge                     15
       aerial draperies, hanging in mighty volumes from the sky
       to the earth; and at particular points, where the eddies
       of the breeze acted upon the pendulous skirts of these
       aerial curtains, rents were perceived, sometimes taking the
       form of regular arches, portals, and windows, through               20
       which began dimly to gleam the heads of camels "indorsed"[9]
       with human beings, and at intervals the moving
       of men and horses in tumultuous array, and then through
       other openings, or vistas, at far-distant points, the flashing
       of polished arms. But sometimes, as the wind slackened              25
       or died away, all those openings, of whatever form,
       in the cloudy pall, would slowly close, and for a time the
       whole pageant was shut up from view; although the
       growing din, the clamors, the shrieks, and groans ascending
       from infuriated myriads, reported, in a language not                30
       to be misunderstood, what was going on behind the
       cloudy screen.
       It was, in fact, the Kalmuck host, now in the last
       extremities of their exhaustion, and very fast approaching
       to that final stage of privation and killing misery beyond
       which few or none could have lived, but also, happily for
       themselves, fast approaching (in a literal sense) that final         5
       stage of their long pilgrimage at which they would meet
       hospitality on a scale of royal magnificence and full protection
       from their enemies. These enemies, however, as
       yet, still were hanging on their rear as fiercely as ever,
       though this day was destined to be the last of their hideous        10
       persecution. The Khan had, in fact, sent forward
       couriers with all the requisite statements and petitions,
       addressed to the Emperor of China. These had been
       duly received, and preparations made in consequence to
       welcome the Kalmucks with the most paternal benevolence.            15
       But as these couriers had been dispatched from
       the Torgau at the moment of arrival thither, and before
       the advance of Traubenberg had made it necessary
       for the Khan to order a hasty renewal of the flight, the
       Emperor had not looked for their arrival on his frontiers           20
       until full three months after the present time. The Khan
       had, indeed, expressly notified his intention to pass the
       summer heats on the banks of the Torgau, and to recommence
       his retreat about the beginning of September. The
       subsequent change of plan being unknown to Kien Long,               25
       left him for some time in doubt as to the true interpretation
       to be put upon this mighty apparition in the desert:
       but at length the savage clamors of hostile fury and
       clangor of weapons unveiled to the Emperor the true
       nature of those unexpected calamities which had so prematurely      30
       precipitated the Kalmuck measure.
       Apprehending the real state of affairs, the Emperor
       instantly perceived that the first act of his fatherly care
       for these erring children (as he esteemed them), now
       returning to their ancient obedience, must be--to deliver
       them from their pursuers. And this was less difficult
       than might have been supposed. Not many miles in the
       rear was a body of well-appointed cavalry, with a strong
       detachment of artillery, who always attended the Emperor's           5
       motions. These were hastily summoned. Meantime
       it occurred to the train of courtiers that some danger
       might arise to the Emperor's person from the proximity
       of a lawless enemy, and accordingly he was induced to
       retire a little to the rear. It soon appeared, however, to          10
       those who watched the vapory shroud in the desert, that
       its motion was not such as would argue the direction of
       the march to be exactly upon the pavilion, but rather in
       a diagonal line, making an angle of full 45 degrees with
       that line in which the imperial _cortege_ had been standing,        15
       and therefore with a distance continually increasing.
       Those who knew the country judged that the Kalmucks
       were making for a large fresh-water lake about seven or
       eight miles distant. They were right; and to that point
       the imperial cavalry was ordered up; and it was precisely           20
       in that spot, and about three hours after, and at noonday
       on the 8th of September, that the great Exodus of the
       Kalmuck Tartars was brought to a final close, and with a
       scene of such memorable and hellish fury as formed an
       appropriate winding up to an expedition in all its parts            25
       and details so awfully disastrous. The Emperor was not
       personally present, or at least he saw whatever he _did_ see
       from too great a distance to discriminate its individual
       features; but he records in his written memorial the
       report made to him of this scene by some of his own                 30
       officers.
       The Lake of Tengis, near the frightful Desert of Kobi,
       lay in a hollow amongst hills of a moderate height, ranging
       generally from two to three thousand feet high. About
       eleven o'clock in the forenoon, the Chinese cavalry
       reached the summit of a road which led through a cradle-like
       dip in the mountains right down upon the margin of
       the lake. From this pass, elevated about two thousand
       feet above the level of the water, they continued to                 5
       descend, by a very winding and difficult road, for an hour
       and a half; and during the whole of this descent they were
       compelled to be inactive spectators of the fiendish spectacle
       below. The Kalmucks, reduced by this time from
       about six hundred thousand souls to two hundred and                 10
       sixty thousand, and after enduring for two months and a
       half the miseries we have previously described--outrageous
       heat, famine, and the destroying scimiter of the
       Kirghises and the Bashkirs--had for the last ten days
       been traversing a hideous desert, where no vestiges were            15
       seen of vegetation, and no drop of water could be found.
       Camels and men were already so overladen that it was a
       mere impossibility that they should carry a tolerable sufficiency
       for the passage of this frightful wilderness. On
       the eighth day the wretched daily allowance, which had              20
       been continually diminishing, failed entirely; and thus, for
       two days of insupportable fatigue, the horrors of thirst
       had been carried to the fiercest extremity. Upon this
       last morning, at the sight of the hills and the forest
       scenery, which announced to those who acted as guides               25
       the neighborhood of the Lake of Tengis, all the people
       rushed along with maddening eagerness to the anticipated
       solace. The day grew hotter and hotter, the people more
       and more exhausted; and gradually, in the general rush
       forward to the lake, all discipline and command were lost--all      30
       attempts to preserve a rear guard were neglected--the
       wild Bashkirs rode on amongst the encumbered people
       and slaughtered them by wholesale, and almost
       without resistance. Screams and tumultuous shouts proclaimed
       the progress of the massacre; but none heeded--none
       halted; all alike, pauper or noble, continued to rush
       on with maniacal haste to the waters--all with faces
       blackened by the heat preying upon the liver and with
       tongue drooping from the mouth. The cruel Bashkir was                5
       affected by the same misery, and manifested the same
       symptoms of his misery, as the wretched Kalmuck; the
       murderer was oftentimes in the same frantic misery as his
       murdered victim--many, indeed (an ordinary effect of
       thirst), in both nations had become lunatic, and in this            10
       state, whilst mere multitude and condensation of bodies
       alone opposed any check to the destroying scimiter and
       the trampling hoof, the lake was reached; and to that
       the whole vast body of enemies rushed, and together
       continued to rush, forgetful of all things at that moment           15
       but of one almighty instinct. This absorption of the
       thoughts in one maddening appetite lasted for a single
       half hour; but in the next arose the final scene of parting
       vengeance. Far and wide the waters of the solitary lake
       were instantly dyed red with blood and gore: here rode a            20
       party of savage Bashkirs, hewing off heads as fast as the
       swaths fall before the mower's scythe; there stood unarmed
       Kalmucks in a death grapple with their detested foes,
       both up to the middle in water, and oftentimes both sinking
       together below the surface, from weakness or from                   25
       struggles, and perishing in each other's arms. Did the
       Bashkirs at any point collect into a cluster for the sake
       of giving impetus to the assault? Thither were the camels
       driven in fiercely by those who rode them, generally
       women or boys; and even these quiet creatures were                  30
       forced into a share in this carnival of murder by trampling
       down as many as they could strike prostrate with the
       lash of their fore-legs. Every moment the water grew
       more polluted; and yet every moment fresh myriads came
       up to the lake and rushed in, not able to resist their
       frantic thirst, and swallowing large draughts of water,
       visibly contaminated with the blood of their slaughtered
       compatriots. Wheresoever the lake was shallow enough
       to allow of men raising their heads above the water, there,          5
       for scores of acres, were to be seen all forms of ghastly
       fear, of agonizing struggle, of spasm, of death, and the
       fear of death--revenge, and the lunacy of revenge--until
       the neutral spectators, of whom there were not a
       few, now descending the eastern side of the lake, at length         10
       averted their eyes in horror. This horror, which seemed
       incapable of further addition, was, however, increased
       by an unexpected incident. The Bashkirs, beginning to
       perceive here and there the approach of the Chinese
       cavalry, felt it prudent--wheresoever they were sufficiently        15
       at leisure from the passions of the murderous
       scene--to gather into bodies. This was noticed by the
       governor of a small Chinese fort built upon an eminence
       above the lake; and immediately he threw in a broadside,
       which spread havoc among the Bashkir tribe. As often                20
       as the Bashkirs collected into _globes_ and _turms_ as their
       only means of meeting the long line of descending
       Chinese cavalry, so often did the Chinese governor of the
       fort pour in his exterminating broadside; until at length
       the lake, at its lower end, became one vast seething                25
       caldron of human bloodshed and carnage. The Chinese
       cavalry had reached the foot of the hills; the Bashkirs,
       attentive to _their_ movements, had formed; skirmishes had
       been fought; and, with a quick sense that the contest was
       henceforward rapidly becoming hopeless, the Bashkirs                30
       and Kirghises began to retire. The pursuit was not as
       vigorous as the Kalmuck hatred would have desired.
       But, at the same time, the very gloomiest hatred could
       not but find, in their own dreadful experience of the
       Asiatic deserts, and in the certainty that these wretched
       Bashkirs had to repeat that same experience a second
       time, for thousands of miles, as the price exacted by a
       retributary Providence for their vindictive cruelty--not
       the very gloomiest of the Kalmucks, or the least reflecting,         5
       but found in all this a retaliatory chastisement more
       complete and absolute than any which their swords and
       lances could have obtained or human vengeance could
       have devised.
       *       *       *       *       *
       Here ends the tale of the Kalmuck wanderings in the                 10
       Desert; for any subsequent marches which awaited them
       were neither long nor painful. Every possible alleviation
       and refreshment for their exhausted bodies had been
       already provided by Kien Long with the most princely
       munificence; and lands of great fertility were immediately          15
       assigned to them in ample extent along the River Ily, not
       very far from the point at which they had first emerged
       from the wilderness of Kobi. But the beneficent attention
       of the Chinese Emperor may be best stated in his own
       words, as translated into French by one of the Jesuit               20
       missionaries: "La nation des Torgotes (_savoir les Kalmuques_)
       arriva a Ily, toute delabree, n'ayant ni de quoi
       vivre, ni de quoi se vetir. Je l'avais prevu; et j'avais
       ordonne de faire en tout genre les provisions necessaires
       pour pouvoir les secourir promptement: c'est ce qui a ete           25
       execute. On a fait la division des terres: et on a assigne
       a chaque famille une portion suffisante pour pouvoir servir
       a son entretien, soit en la cultivant, soit en y nourissant
       des bestiaux. On a donne a chaque particulier des etoffes
       pour l'habiller, des grains pour se nourrir pendant l'espace        30
       d'une annee, des ustensiles pour le menage et d'autres
       choses necessaires: et outre cela plusieurs onces d'argent,
       pour se pourvoir de ce qu'on aurait pu oublier. On a
       designe des lieux particuliers, fertiles en paturages; et on
       leur a donne des boeufs, moutons, etc., pour qu'ils pussent
       dans la suite travailler par eux-memes a leur entretien et
       a leur bien-etre."
       These are the words of the Emperor himself, speaking                 5
       in his own person of his own paternal cares; but another
       Chinese, treating the same subject, records the munificence
       of this prince in terms which proclaim still more
       forcibly the disinterested generosity which prompted, and
       the delicate considerateness which conducted, this extensive        10
       bounty. He has been speaking of the Kalmucks,
       and he goes on thus:--"Lorsqu'ils arriverent sur nos
       frontieres (au nombre de plusieurs centaines de mille,
       quoique la fatigue extreme, la faim, la soif, et toutes les
       autres incommodites inseparables d'une tres-longue et               15
       tres-penible route en eussent fait perir presque autant),
       ils etaient reduits a la derniere misere; ils manquaient
       de tout. Il" (viz. l'empereur, Kien Long) "leur fit preparer
       des logemens conformes a leur maniere de vivre;
       il leur fit distribuer des alimens et des habits; il leur fit       20
       donner des boeufs, des moutons, et des ustensiles, pour
       les mettre en etat de former des troupeaux et de cultiver
       la terre, et tout cela a ses propres frais, qui se sont
       montes a des sommes immenses, sans compter l'argent
       qu'il a donne a chaque chef-de-famille, pour pouvoir a la           25
       subsistance de sa femme et de ses enfans."
       Thus, after their memorable year of misery, the Kalmucks
       were replaced in territorial possessions, and in
       comfort equal, perhaps, or even superior, to that which
       they had enjoyed in Russia, and with superior political             30
       advantages. But, if equal or superior, their condition
       was no longer the same; if not in degree, their social
       prosperity had altered in quality; for, instead of being a
       purely pastoral and vagrant people, they were now in
       circumstances which obliged them to become essentially
       dependent upon agriculture; and thus far raised in social
       rank that, by the natural course of their habits and the
       necessities of life, they were effectually reclaimed from
       roving and from the savage customs connected with a half             5
       nomadic life. They gained also in political privileges,
       chiefly through the immunity from military service which
       their new relations enabled them to obtain. These were
       circumstances of advantage and gain. But one great
       disadvantage there was, amply to overbalance all other              10
       possible gain: the chances were lost, or were removed to
       an incalculable distance, for their conversion to Christianity,
       without which in these times there is no absolute
       advance possible on the path of true civilization.
       One word remains to be said upon the _personal_ interests           15
       concerned in this great drama. The catastrophe in this
       respect was remarkable and complete. Oubacha, with all
       his goodness and incapacity of suspecting, had, since the
       mysterious affair on the banks of the Torgau, felt his
       mind alienated from his cousin; he revolted from the man            20
       that would have murdered him; and he had displayed his
       caution so visibly as to provoke a reaction in the bearing
       of Zebek-Dorchi and a displeasure which all his dissimulation
       could not hide. This had produced a feud, which,
       by keeping them aloof, had probably saved the life of               25
       Oubacha; for the friendship of Zebek-Dorchi was more
       fatal than his open enmity. After the settlement on the
       Ily this feud continued to advance, until it came under
       the notice of the Emperor, on occasion of a visit which
       all the Tartar chieftains made to his Majesty at his hunting        30
       lodge in 1772. The Emperor informed himself accurately
       of all the particulars connected with the transaction--of
       all the rights and claims put forward--and of the
       way in which they would severally affect the interests of
       the Kalmuck people. The consequence was that he
       adopted the cause of Oubacha, and repressed the pretensions
       of Zebek-Dorchi, who, on his part, so deeply
       resented this discountenance to his ambitious projects
       that, in conjunction with other chiefs, he had the presumption       5
       even to weave nets of treason against the Emperor
       himself. Plots were laid, were detected, were baffled;
       counter-plots were constructed upon the same basis,
       and with the benefit of the opportunities thus offered.
       Finally, Zebek-Dorchi was invited to the imperial lodge,            10
       together with all his accomplices; and, under the skilful
       management of the Chinese nobles in the Emperor's
       establishment, the murderous artifices of these Tartar
       chieftains were made to recoil upon themselves, and the
       whole of them perished by assassination at a great imperial         15
       banquet. For the Chinese morality is exactly of
       that kind which approves in everything the _lex talionis_:
       "... Lex nec justior ulla est [as _they_ think]
       Quam necis artifices arte perire sua."
       So perished Zebek-Dorchi, the author and originator of              20
       the great Tartar Exodus. Oubacha, meantime, and his
       people were gradually recovering from the effects of their
       misery, and repairing their losses. Peace and prosperity,
       under the gentle rule of a fatherly lord paramount,
       redawned upon the tribes: their household _lares_, after so         25
       harsh a translation to distant climates, found again a
       happy reinstatement in what had, in fact, been their
       primitive abodes: they found themselves settled in quiet
       sylvan scenes, rich in all the luxuries of life, and endowed
       with the perfect loveliness of Arcadian beauty. But from            30
       the hills of this favored land, and even from the level
       grounds as they approach its western border, they still
       look out upon that fearful wilderness which once beheld
       a nation in agony--the utter extirpation of nearly half a
       million from amongst its numbers, and for the remainder
       a storm of misery so fierce that in the end (as happened
       also at Athens during the Peloponnesian war from a different         5
       form of misery) very many lost their memory; all
       records of their past life were wiped out as with a sponge--utterly
       erased and cancelled: and many others lost
       their reason; some in a gentle form of pensive melancholy,
       some in a more restless form of feverish delirium
       and nervous agitation, and others in the fixed forms of             10
       tempestuous mania, raving frenzy, or moping idiocy.
       Two great commemorative monuments arose in after
       years to mark the depth and permanence of the awe--the
       sacred and reverential grief, with which all persons
       looked back upon the dread calamities attached to the               15
       year of the tiger--all who had either personally shared
       in those calamities and had themselves drunk from that
       cup of sorrow, or who had effectually been made witnesses
       to their results and associated with their relief: two great
       monuments; one embodied in the religious solemnity,                 20
       enjoined by the Dalai-Lama, called in the Tartar language
       a _Romanang_--that is, a national commemoration, with
       music the most rich and solemn, of all the souls who
       departed to the rest of Paradise from the afflictions of the
       Desert (this took place about six years after the arrival           25
       in China); secondly, another, more durable, and more
       commensurate to the scale of the calamity and to the
       grandeur of this national Exodus, in the mighty columns
       of granite and brass erected by the Emperor, Kien Long,
       near the banks of the Ily. These columns stand upon                 30
       the very margin of the steppes, and they bear a short but
       emphatic inscription[10] to the following effect:--
       By the Will of God,
       Here, upon the Brink of these Deserts,
       Which from this point begin and stretch away,
       Pathless, treeless, waterless,
       For thousands of miles, and along the margins of many mighty Nations,
       Rested from their labors and from great afflictions
       Under the shadow of the Chinese Wall,
       And by the favor of KIEN LONG, God's Lieutenant upon Earth,
       The ancient Children of the Wilderness--the Torgote Tartars-- 10
       Flying before the wrath of the Grecian Czar,
       Wandering Sheep who had strayed away from the Celestial Empire
       in the year 1616,
       But are now mercifully gathered again, after infinite sorrow,
       Into the fold of their forgiving Shepherd.                    15
       Hallowed be the spot
       and
       Hallowed be the day--September 8, 1771!
       Amen.