It is evident, therefore, that the Mongols and Chinese had engines of war, but that they were deficient in some advantage possessed by those of the Western nations.  Rashiduddin’s expression as to their having no Kumgha mangonels, seems to be unexplained.  Is it perhaps an error for Karabugha, the name given by the Turks and Arabs to a kind of great mangonel?  This was known also in Europe as Carabaga, Calabra, etc.  It is mentioned under the former name by Marino Sanudo, and under the latter, with other quaintly-named engines, by William of Tudela, as used by Simon de Montfort the Elder against the Albigenses:—­

  “E dressa sos Calabres, et foi Mal Vezina
  E sas autras pereiras, e Dona, e Reina;
  Pessia les autz murs e la sala peirina."[9]

  ("He set up his Calabers, and likewise his Ill-Neighbours,
  With many a more machine, this the Lady, that the Queen,
  And breached the lofty walls, and smashed the stately Halls.”)

Now, in looking at the Chinese representations of their ancient mangonels, which are evidently genuine, and of which I have given some specimens (figs.  I, 2, 3), I see none worked by the counterpoise; all (and there are six or seven different representations in the work from which these are taken) are shown as worked by man-ropes.  Hence, probably, the improvement brought from the West was essentially the use of the counterpoised lever.  And, after I had come to this conclusion, I found it to be the view of Captain Fave. (See Du Feu Gregeois, by MM.  Reinaud and Fave, p. 193.)

In Ramusio the two Polos propose to Kublai to make “mangani al modo di Ponente"; and it is worthy of note that in the campaigns of Alauddin Khilji and his generals in the Deccan, circa 1300, frequent mention is made of the Western Manjaniks and their great power. (See Elliot, III. 75, 78, etc.)

Of the kind worked by man-ropes must have been that huge mangonel which Mahomed Iba Kasim, the conqueror of Sind, set in battery against the great Dagoba of Daubul, and which required 500 men to work it.  Like Simon de Montfort’s it had a tender name; it was called “The Bride.” (Elliot, I. 120.)

Before quitting this subject, I will quote a curious passage from the History of the Sung Dynasty, contributed to the work of Reinaud and Fave by M. Stanislas Julien:  “In the 9th year of the period Hien-shun (A.D. 1273) the frontier cities had fallen into the hands of the enemy (Tartars).  The Pao (or engines for shooting) of the Bwei-Hwei (Mahomedans) were imitated, but in imitating them very ingenious improvements were introduced, and pao of a different and very superior kind were constructed.  Moreover, an extraordinary method was invented of neutralising the effects of the enemy’s pao.  Ropes were made of rice-straw 4 inches thick, and 34 feet