almost
extirpated the nation of the Geougen, established in Tartary the new and
more powerful empire of the Turks. They reigned over the north; but
they confessed the vanity of conquest, by their faithful attachment to
the mountain of their fathers. The royal encampment seldom lost sight
of Mount Altai, from whence the River Irtish descends to water the rich
pastures of the Calmucks, which nourish the largest sheep and oxen in
the world. The soil is fruitful, and the climate mild and temperate: the
happy region was ignorant of earthquake and pestilence; the emperor's
throne was turned towards the East, and a golden wolf on the top of a
spear seemed to guard the entrance of his tent. One of the successors of
Bertezena was tempted by the luxury and superstition of China; but his
design of building cities and temples was defeated by the simple wisdom
of a Barbarian counsellor. "The Turks," he said, "are not equal in
number to one hundredth part of the inhabitants of China. If we balance
their power, and elude their armies, it is because we wander without any
fixed habitations in the exercise of war and hunting. Are we strong? we
advance and conquer: are we feeble? we retire and are concealed. Should
the Turks confine themselves within the walls of cities, the loss of a
battle would be the destruction of their empire. The bonzes preach only
patience, humility, and the renunciation of the world. Such, O king! is
not the religion of heroes." They entertained, with less reluctance, the
doctrines of Zoroaster; but the greatest part of the nation acquiesced,
without inquiry, in the opinions, or rather in the practice, of their
ancestors. The honors of sacrifice were reserved for the supreme deity;
they acknowledged, in rude hymns, their obligations to the air, the
fire, the water, and the earth; and their priests derived some profit
from the art of divination. Their unwritten laws were rigorous and
impartial: theft was punished with a tenfold restitution; adultery,
treason, and murder, with death; and no chastisement could be inflicted
too severe for the rare and inexpiable guilt of cowardice. As the
subject nations marched under the standard of the Turks, their cavalry,
both men and horses, were proudly computed by millions; one of their
effective armies consisted of four hundred thousand soldiers, and in
less than fifty years they were connected in peace and war with the
Romans, the Persians, and the Chinese. In their northern l