ey, silk,
etc., in return for which they offered but a moderate supply of furs,
and something over half a ton of ginseng (_Panax repens_), the famous
forked root said to resemble the human body, and much valued by the
Chinese as a strengthening medicine. This, of course, was a case of
"giving too little and asking too much," and the negotiations came to
nothing. In 1629, Abkhai, who by this time was master of Korea, marched
upon Peking, at the head of a large army, and encamped within a few
miles from its walls; but he was unable to capture the city, and had
finally to retire. The next few years were devoted by the Manchus, who
now began to possess artillery of their own casting, to the conquest of
Mongolia, in the hope of thus securing an easy passage for their armies
into China. An offer of peace was now made by the Chinese Emperor, for
reasons shortly to be stated; but the Manchu terms were too severe, and
hostilities were resumed, the Manchus chiefly occupying themselves in
devastating the country round Peking, their numbers being constantly
swelled by a stream of deserters from the Chinese ranks. In 1643, Abkhai
died; he was succeeded by his ninth son, a boy of five, and was later on
canonised as T`ai Tsung, the Great Forefather. By 1635, he had already
begun to style himself Emperor of China, and had established a system
of public examinations. The name of the dynasty had been "Manchu" ever
since 1616; twenty years later he translated this term into the Chinese
word _Ch`ing_ (or Ts`ing), which means "pure"; and as the Great Pure
Dynasty it will be remembered in history. Other important enactments of
his reign were prohibitions against the use of tobacco, which had been
recently introduced into Manchuria from Japan, through Korea; against
the Chinese fashion of dress and of wearing the hair; and against the
practice of binding the feet of girls. All except the first of these
were directed towards the complete denationalisation of the Chinese who
had accepted his rule, and whose numbers were increasing daily.

So far, the Manchus seem to have been little influenced by religious
beliefs or scruples, except of a very primitive kind; but when they
came into closer contact with the Chinese, Buddhism began to spread its
charms, and not in vain, though strongly opposed by Abkhai himself.

In 1635 the Manchus had effected the conquest of Mongolia, aided to a
great extent by frequent defections of large bodies of Mongols wh