he story of her many virtues. Thus for more than
twenty years after the death of Kaotsong the great empress continued to
hold her own in peace and in war.

In her later years wars broke out, which were handled by her with
promptness and success. But age now weighed upon her. In 704, when she
was more than eighty years old, she became so ill that for several
months she was unable to receive her ministers. This weakening of the
strong hand was taken advantage of by her enemies. Murdering her
principal relatives, they broke into the palace and demanded her
abdication. Unable to resist, she, with unabated dignity of mien, handed
to them the imperial seal and the other emblems of power. In the
following year she died. For more than forty years she had been the
supreme ruler of China, and held her great office with a strength and
dignity which may well be called superb.

_THE TARTARS AND GENGHIS KHAN._

In the northern section of the vast Mongolian plateau, that immense
outreach of pasture-lands which forms the great abiding-place of the
shepherd tribes of the earth, there long dwelt a warlike race which was
destined to play an extraordinary part in the world's history. The
original home of this people, who at an early date had won the
significant name of Mongol, or "the brave," was in the strip of
territory between the Onon and the Kerulon, tributaries of the upper
Amur River, the great water artery of East Siberia. In this retreat,
strongly protected from attack, and with sufficient herbage for their
flocks, the Mongols may have dwelt for ages unknown to history. We hear
of them first in the ninth century, when they appeared as a section of
the great horde of the Shiwei, attracting attention by their great
strength and extraordinary courage, characteristics to which they owed
their distinctive title. For two or three centuries they were among the
tribes that paid tribute to China, and there was nothing in their career
of special interest. Then they suddenly broke into startling prominence,
and sent a wave of terror over the whole civilized world.

The history of China is so closely connected with that of the nomad
tribes that one cannot be given without the other, and before telling
the story of the Mongols a brief outline of the history of these tribes
is desirable. China is on three sides abundantly defended from invasion,
by the ocean on the east, and by mountains and desert on the south and
west. Its only vu