silks of
China for the furs of Siberia; the imperfect rudiments of civilized life
were obliterated; and the native fierceness of the Huns was exasperated
by their intercourse with the savage tribes, who were compared, with
some propriety, to the wild beasts of the desert. Their independent
spirit soon rejected the hereditary succession of the Tanjous; and while
each horde was governed by its peculiar mursa, their tumultuary council
directed the public measures of the whole nation. As late as the
thirteenth century, their transient residence on the eastern banks of
the Volga was attested by the name of Great Hungary. [49] In the winter,
they descended with their flocks and herds towards the mouth of that
mighty river; and their summer excursions reached as high as the
latitude of Saratoff, or perhaps the conflux of the Kama. Such at least
were the recent limits of the black Calmucks, [50] who remained about a
century under the protection of Russia; and who have since returned to
their native seats on the frontiers of the Chinese empire. The march,
and the return, of those wandering Tartars, whose united camp consists
of fifty thousand tents or families, illustrate the distant emigrations
of the ancient Huns. [51]

[Footnote 44: The various accidents, the downfall, and the flight of the
Huns, are related in the Kang-Mou, tom. iii. p. 88, 91, 95, 139, &c. The
small numbers of each horde may be due to their losses and divisions.]

[Footnote 45: M. de Guignes has skilfully traced the footsteps of the
Huns through the vast deserts of Tartary, (tom. ii. p. 123, 277, &c.,
325, &c.)]

[Footnote 45a: The Armenian authors often mention this people under the
name of Hepthal. St. Martin considers that the name of Nepthalites is an
error of a copyist. St. Martin, iv. 254.--M.]

[Footnote 46: Mohammed, sultan of Carizme, reigned in Sogdiana when
it was invaded (A.D. 1218) by Zingis and his moguls. The Oriental
historians (see D'Herbelot, Petit de la Croix, &c.,) celebrate the
populous cities which he ruined, and the fruitful country which he
desolated. In the next century, the same provinces of Chorasmia and
Nawaralnahr were described by Abulfeda, (Hudson, Geograph. Minor. tom.
iii.) Their actual misery may be seen in the Genealogical History of the
Tartars, p. 423--469.]

[Footnote 47: Justin (xli. 6) has left a short abridgment of the Greek
kings of Bactriana. To their industry I should ascribe the new and
extraordinary trade,