Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume I.djvu/140

128 128 CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA, ETC. accompanied his coffin* killed every individual they met on that long journey. It was not until the procession had reached the great Ordou, the ancient territory of Tchinguiz-Khan, near the source of the Keroulan, that his death was publicly made known. After the funeral ceremonies, in which an immense number of men and horses were immolatedf , the coffin was buried in one of the mountains that form the chain of Borkan-Caldoun, whence issue the rivers On an, Keroulan, and Toula. The Mongol historians relate, that one day, when Tchinguiz-Khan was hunting in this region, he lay down to rest himself under the shade of a large tree. After remaining there a few minutes, seemingly in profound thought, he said that it was there he would wish to be buried, and his sons, being informed of the circumstance, ordered that the interment should take place in that spot. Some time afterwards, it is added, the ground became covered with a thick forest, so that the particular tree beneath which the remains of Tchin- guiz-Khan had been deposited, could no longer be re- of burial, the convoy killed every one they met on the way, saying. ' Go and serve our lord and master in another world.' For they are so possessed by a demon, that they believe the persons killed in this way go and serve the deceased king. Their fury extended itself even to the horses they found on the roads ; they cut their throats in order that they too might serve the Khan. It is said that when the body of Mangou-Khan was carried to the mountains to be buried, the soldiers who bore it killed in this way more than 20,000 men." — "Voyage de Marco Polo, edition de Bergeron," vol. i. ch. 3. p. 54. ■]• This atrocious custom existed for a long time in Tartary, but at present it is extremely rare. Only on the graves of persons of rank horses are sacrificed. See " Souvenirs d'un Voyage en Tartarie a Thibet."
 * " When the body of this great Khan was transported to the place