The last traveller who visited the tomb of Chinghiz is M. C. E. Bonin, in
July 1896; he was then on the banks of the Yellow River in the northern
part of the Ordo country, which is exclusively inhabited by nomadic and
pastoral Mongols, forming seven tribes or hords, Djungar, Talat, Wan,
Ottok, Djassak, Wushun and Hangkin, among which are eastward the Djungar
and in the centre the Wan; according to their own tradition, these tribes
descend from the seven armies encamped in the country at the time of
Chinghiz”s death; the King of Djungar was 67 years of age, and was the
chief of all the tribes, being considered the 37th descendant of the
conqueror in a direct line. His predecessor was the Wushun Wang. M. Bonin
gives (_Revue de Paris_, 15th February 1898) the following description of
the tomb and of the country surrounding it. Between the _yamen_ (palace)
of the King (Wang) of Djungar and the tomb of Chinghiz-Khan, there are
five or six marches made difficult by the sands of the Gobi, but horses
and camels may be used for the journey. The road, southward through the
desert, passes near the great lama-monastery called _Barong-tsao_ or
_Si-tsao_ (Monastery of the West), and in Chinese _San-t”ang sse_ (Three
Temples). This celebrated monastery was built by the King of Djungar to
hold the tablets of his ancestors–on the ruins of an old temple, said to
have been erected by Chinghiz himself. More than a thousand lamas are
registered there, forty of them live at the expense of the Emperor of
China. Crossing afterwards the two upper branches of the Ulan Mren (Red
River) on the banks of which Chinghiz was murdered, according to local
tradition, close to the lake of Chahan Nor (White Lake), near which are
the tents of the Prince of Wan, one arrives at last at the spot called
_Yeke-Etjen-Koro_, in Mongol: the abode of the Great Lord, where the tomb
is to be found. It is erected to the south-east of the village, comprising
some twenty tents or tent-like huts built of earth. Two large white felt
tents, placed side by side, similar to the tents of the modern Mongols,
but much larger, cover the tomb; a red curtain, when drawn, discloses the
large and low silver coffin, which contains the ashes of the Emperor,
placed on the ground of the second tent; it is shaped like a big trunk,
with great rosaces engraved upon it. The Emperor, according to local
tradition, was cremated on the bank of the Ulan Muren, where he is
supposed to have been slain. On the twenty-first day of the third moon the
anniversary fte of Mongolia takes place; on this day of the year only are
the two mortuary tents opened, and the coffin is exhibited to be venerated
by people coming from all parts of Mongolia. Many other relics, dispersed
all over the Ordo land, are brought thither on this occasion; these relics
called in Mongol _Chinghiz Bogdo_ (Sacred remains of Chinghiz) number ten;
they are in the order adopted by the Mongols: the saddle of Chinghiz,
hidden in the Wan territory; the bow, kept at a place named Hu-ki-ta-lao
Hei, near Yeke Etjen-Koro; the remains of his war-horse, called
Antegan-tsegun (more), preserved at Kebere in the Djungar territory; a
fire-arm kept in the palace of the King of Djungar; a wooden and leather
vase called Pao-lao-antri, kept at the place Shien-ni-chente; a wax figure
containing the ashes of the Khan”s equerry, called Altaqua-tosu, kept at
Ottok (one of the seven tribes); the remains of the second wife, who lay at
Kiasa, on the banks of the Yellow River, at a place called on Prjevalsky”s
map in Chinese Djiou-Djin-fu, and in Mongol Tumir-Alku; the tomb of the
third wife of Chinghiz, who killed him, and lay to-day at Bagha-Ejen-Koro,
‘the abode of the little Sovereign,’ at a day”s march to the south of the
Djungar King”s palace; the very tomb of Yeke-Etjen-Koro, which is supposed
to contain also the ashes of the first wife of the Khan; and last, his
great standard, a black wood spear planted in the desert, more than 150
miles to the south of the tomb; the iron of it never gets rusty; no one
dares touch it, and therefore it is not carried to Yeke-Etjen-Koro with the
other relics for the yearly festival. (See also _Rockhill, Diary_, p. 29.)
–H. C.]
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