Page:The Annual Register 1758.djvu/283

 and received the blood in a cup. Both dipt the points of their swords in it, and lifting them to their heads eagerly sucked it. When the modern Tartars take an oath, they dip their sabres in water, which they afterwards drink. The barbarity of some of their customs appears to have been softened by time; but one thing that has remained invariable in the character of these people, is their rage of invading the neighbouring nations upon every opportunity that offers, and often of falling upon one another, when they are confined in their own country by superior force or fear. Their wars, their incursions, their ravages, differ in nothing from those of the Scythians. We may apply to them what the prophet Jeremiah said, speaking of the irruption of their ancestors into Judea: Their chariots are as a whirlwind; their horses are swifter than eagles, and their quiver is as an open sepulchre, iv. 13.

Asia hath often felt that they have lost nothing of the brutal impetuosity of their ancestors. Their success is less surprizing than that continuance of their valour, which, though not always sufficient to preserve their conquests, still kept up in them a desire to recover them. Thus, though expelled China in 1368, after possessing it above a century, they never ceased their efforts to recover it, and in 1644 reduced it in such a manner, that they have no reason to apprehend a second expulsion. The exploits of Tamerlane, the chief of one of their rulers, are well known. He was equal to Cæsar in courage, and not inferior to Alexander in good fortune. He conquered the Indies, subdued Persia, vanquished the Turks, and ravaged all Egypt. His name and his reputation have reached nations to whom his country is still unknown.

The Tartars are generally divided into three distinct powers: the first are those known by the name of Tartars; the second are the Calmucks; and the third the Moungals.

The Tartars, properly so called, live to the west of the Caspian sea. The most considerable of them are the Usbecs; the Kara Kallpacks; the Nagais, who are subject to Russia; the Baskirs, who also hold of that empire; and the Daghestans, who depend on no power, and who are more savage than any of those just named.—The Nagais, who at present occupy the lands of Astracan, between the Jaick and the Wolga, and the Baskirs, who are situated in the eastern part of the kingdom of Casan, between the Wolga and the river Kama, formerly received tribute from Russia, which the Great Duke of Muscovy carried to them annually upon his own horses. He was obliged to walk on foot, followed by the principal persons of his court, to meet the persons who came to demand this tribute, who were the poorest and most wretched of all the tribes. John or Iwan, Duke of Muscovy, surnamed the Great, was the first, who, to free himself, from this shameful mark of servitude, attempted to bring the Tartars under subjection. His son Basil continued to reduce them; but the final blow was given them by John Basilides, a prince detested for his barbarity, but resolute and 