tle, and became dominant over the
clans. Thus first came into history the great tribe of the Turks, whose
later history was destined to be so momentous. The dominion of the Khan
of the Turks grew so enormously that in time it extended from Central
Siberia on the north to Persia on the south, while he made his power
felt by China on the east and by Rome on the west. Ambassadors from the
Khan reached Constantinople, and Roman envoys were received in return
in his tent at the foot of the Altai range.

The Turks were the first of the nomad organizations who made their power
felt throughout the civilized world. On the eastern steppes other tribes
came into prominence. The Khitans were supreme in this region from 900
to 1100 A.D., and made serious inroads into China. They were followed by
the Kins, or Golden Tartars, a tribe of Manchu origin, who proved a
terrible foe, conquering and long holding a large section of Northern
China. Then came the Mongols, the most powerful and terrible of all, who
overthrew the Kins and became sole lords of the empire of the steppes.
It is with the remarkable career of this Mongol tribe that we are here
particularly concerned.

The first of the Mongol chiefs whose name is preserved was Budantsar,
who conquered the district between the Onon and the Kerulon, the
earliest known home of the Mongol race. His descendants ruled over the
clan until about the year 1135, when the first step of rebellion of the
Mongols from the power of the Kins took place. This was under Kabul, a
descendant of Budantsar. The war with the Kins continued under later
leaders, of whom Yissugei captured a powerful Tartar chief named
Temujin. On returning home he learned that his wife had given birth to a
son, to whom he gave his captive's name of Temujin. This child, born
probably in 1162 A.D., afterwards became the famous conqueror Genghis
Khan.

The birthplace of the future hero was on the banks of the Onon. His
father, chief over forty thousand families, died when he was still
young, and many of the tribesmen, refusing to be governed by a boy,
broke loose from his authority. His mother, a woman worthy of her race,
succeeded in bringing numbers of them back to their allegiance, but the
young chief found himself at the head of but half the warriors who had
followed his father to victory.

The enemies of Temujin little knew with whom they had to deal. At first
misfortune pursued the youth, and he was at length taken priso