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
Muren (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 fete 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.]