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 OF THE KOMAN EMPIRE 83 and an exile,^^ may be transferred, with much more probabihty, to the Baikal, a capacious basin, above three hundred miles in length, which disdains the modest appellation of a lake,^^ and which actually communicates with the seas of the North, by the long course of the Angara, the Tonguska, and the Jenissea. The submission of so many distant nations might flatter the pride of the Tanjou ; but the valour of the Huns could be re- [zengM] warded only by the enjoyment of the wealth and luxury of the empire of the South. In the third century befoi'e the Christian rsy Meng aera, a wall of fifteen hundred miles in length was constructed, b.c."' '^' to defend the frontiers of China against the inroads of the Huns ; ^^ but this stupendous work, which holds a conspicuous place in the map of the world, has never contributed to the safety of an unwarlike people. The cavalry of the Tanjou frequently consisted of two or three hundred thousand men, formidable by the matchless dexterity with which they managed their bows and their horses ; by their hardy patience in supporting the inclemency of the weather ; and by the incredible speed of their march, which was seldom checked by torrents or precipices, by the deepest rivers or by the most lofty mountains. They spread themselves at once over the face of Their wars the country ; and their rapid impetuosity surprised, astonished, Chinese, ant. and disconcerted the grave and elaborate tactics of a Chinese army. The emperor Kaoti,^* a soldier of fortune, whose per- [Han Kao tsu sonal merit had raised him to the throne, marched against theHandynaa- Huns with those veteran troops which had been trained in the civil wars of China. But he was soon surrounded by the Bar- barians ; and after a siege of seven days, the monarch, hopeless [Near xa of relief, was reduced to purchase his deliverance by anshansi]' ignominious capitulation. The successors of Kaoti, whose lives were dedicated to the arts of peace or the luxury of the palace, 31 The fame of Sovou, or So-ou, his merit, and his singular adventures are still celebrated in China. See the Eloge de Moukden, p. 20, and notes, p. 241- 247 ; and Mdmoires sur la Chine, tom. iii. p. 317-360. ^See Isbrand Ives, in Harris's collection, vol. ii. p. 931 ; Bell's Travels, vol. i. p. 247-254 ; and Gmelin, in the Hist. G6n6rale des Voyages, tom. xviii. p. 283- 329. They all remark the vulgar opinion that the /lo/y sea grows angry and tempestuous if any one presumes to call it a lake. This grammatical nicety often excites a dispute between the absurd superstition of the mariners and the absurd obstinacy of travellers. ^The construction of the wall of China is mentioned by Duhalde (tom. ii. p. 45) and de Guignes (tom. ii. p. 59). 3^ See the life of Lieoupang, or Kaoti, in the Hist, de la Chine, published at Paris, 1777, &c., tom. i. p. 442-522. This voluminous work is the translation (by the P. de Mailla) of the Tong-Kien Kayig-Mou, the celebrated abridgment of the great History of Semakouang (a.d. 1084) and his continuators.