abdicated their nationality.

The decline, or rather the extinction of the Mantchou nation, is now
progressing more rapidly than ever. Up to the reign of Tao-Kouan, the
regions watered by the Songari were exclusively inhabited by Mantchous:
entrance into those vast districts was prohibited to the Chinese, and no
man was permitted to cultivate the soil within their range. At the
commencement of the present reign, these districts were put up for public
sale, in order to supply the deficiency in the Imperial treasury. The
Chinese rushed upon them like birds of prey, and a few years sufficed to
remove every thing that could in any way recall the memory of their
ancient possessors. It would be vain for anyone now to seek in
Mantchouria a single town, a single village, that is not composed
entirely of Chinese.

Yet, amid the general transformation, there are still a few tribes, such
as the Si-Po and the Solon, which faithfully retain the Mantchou type.
Up to the present day their territories have been invaded neither by the
Chinese nor by cultivation; they continue to dwell in tents and to
furnish soldiers to the Imperial armies. It has been remarked, however,
that their frequent appearance at Peking, and their long periods of
service in the provincial garrisons, are beginning to make terrible
inroads upon their habits and tastes.

When the Mantchous conquered China, they imposed upon the conquered
people a portion of their dress and many of their usages. Tobacco
smoking, for example, and the manner of dressing the hair, now in use by
the Chinese, came to them from the Mantchou Tartars. But the Chinese, in
their turn, did far more than this; they managed to make their conquerors
adopt their manners and their language. You may now traverse Mantchouria
to the river Amour, without being at all aware that you are not
travelling in a province of China. The local colouring has become
totally effaced. With the exception of a few nomadic tribes no one
speaks Mantchou: and there would, perhaps, remain no trace of this fine
language, had not the Emperors Khang-Hi and Kien-Loung erected, in its
honour, monuments imperishable in themselves, and which will ever attract
the attention of European orientalists.

At one time the Mantchous had no writing of their own; it was not until
1624, that Tai-Tsou-Kao-Hoang-Ti, chief of the Eastern Tartars, directed
several learned persons of his nation to design a system of letters for
t