the Turks and relieving his own knights. A hundred Turks surrounded him, but each as he ventured to approach him paid for his temerity with the loss of his head or a limb; of one valiant emir he smote off at a blow the head, right shoulder and arm.

Richard, learning that three thousand Turks had broken into the town, kept his men in ignorance of it, and he took an opportunity of going back with a few knights and crossbowmen; and such was the terror which his presence inspired that the infidels all fled before him. He then returned to the field of battle, and by evening the rout of the Turks was complete. The Christians had lost but one knight; seven hundred Turks and fifteen hundred horses lay dead on the plain. Richard, who for his prowess on this day was compared with Hector, Alexander, Judas Maccabæus and Roland, had used his sword so vigorously, that his right hand was all one blister; his knights had emulated his valor; but all agreed that it was only by the aid of God that a handful of men had triumphed over such numbers.

Saladin at first sharply rebuked his troops for their cowardice, for it was said that the King of England had ridden through their ranks from right to left without any one venturing to oppose him, and had even dismounted and eaten his mid-day meal on the ground between the two armies. But the noble sultan soon forgave all, and entertained his emirs at a banquet in the even. He led his army back to Natroon, and thence proceeded to Jerusalem, where he was joined by the troops of Mosul and Aleppo, and by a corps from Egypt.

The Christians derived no advantage from their victory; the French, who were at Cæsarea, refused to advance, the pilgrims in general were ill-disposed toward King Richard, and le and several of his knights fell sick. Saladin again advanced to Ramla, and his light horse extended their excursions to the gates of Joppa. King Richard, having in vain sought to rouse the pilgrims to vigorous measures, determined to have peace at any price; and Saladin, aware how tired of the war his Turkish troops were, was not averse to an arrangement. Accordingly, on the King of England's sending to request a supply of snow and fruits, they were sent to him in abundance,

and Richard took this occasion of inviting Aboo Beker to visit him, with whom he sent back a knight requesting Malek-elAdel to mediate a peace between him and the sultan; adding that Saladin might as well give up his demand of Ascalon, as after he was gone he would find it easy to deal with the few Christians who would remain; that he himself asked nothing but an honorable peace, which would not injure him in the minds of his fellow-Christians; and that if the sultan insisted on Ascalon, he should at least pay him what the rebuilding of it had cost him.

At length it was settled that a truce for three years, to commence from the 2d of September, 1192, should be made; that Ascalon should be razed at the joint labor and expense of the Christians and the Moslems; that the country from Tyre to Joppa, including Ramla and Lidda, should belong to the Christians; that all the Mohammedan States, particularly that of the Assassins on the one side, and the principality of Antioch and the lordship of Tiberias on the other, should be included in the truce; that, finally, the pilgrims to Jerusalem should be free and untaxed.-T. KEIGHTLEY.

ENGHIS KHAN, the famous Tartar conqueror, is said to have caused the destruction of five millions, or even fourteen millions of human beings. His private appellation was Temugin; his historical name is variously written Zingis Khan, Gengis Khan and Chingis Khan. He was a son of a Mongo

lian chief, and was born on the banks of the river Onon in 1162. This barbarian never learned to read or write. At the age of thirteen he ascended the throne on the death of his father Yesukai, who had reigned over thirteen hordes and about 35,000 families. Many of them refused to pay tithes or obedience to the boy king, who therefore fought a battle against his rebellious subjects. The future conqueror of Asia was reduced to fly and obey; but he rose superior to his fortune, and in his fortieth year he had established his fame and dominion over the circumjacent tribes.

About 1206 Temugin summoned the notables of his kingdom to an assembly, and at their request he was proclaimed Great Khan, or Emperor of the Moguls and Tartars. He then assumed the name of Jenghis Khan. He promulgated a code of laws adapted to the preservation of domestic peace and the exercise of foreign hostility. The punishment of death was inflicted on the crimes of adultery, murder, perjury and the theft of a horse or an ox. The future election of the Great Khan was vested in the princes of his family and the heads of the tribes. The victorious nation was held sacred

from all servile labors which were abandoned to slaves and strangers; every labor was servile except the profession of arms. The new laws established a system of pure theism and perfect toleration. His first and only article of faith was the existence of one God, the author of all good.

Many of the Moguls and Tartars had been converted by the missionaries of Christ and of Mohammed, and others were Pagan idolaters. These various systems were taught and practiced in freedom and concord in the camp of Jenghis.

The nomadic hordes of the desert, who pitched their tents between the wall of China and the Volga were successively reduced, and the Mogul emperor became the lord of many millions of shepherds and soldiers, who were eager to invade the mild and wealthy climates of the South. In 1208 he defeated Toto and Kushlek on the Irtish. He meditated the invasion of China, and astonished the Court of Pekin by sending ambassadors, who exacted tribute and affected to treat the Son of Heaven with contempt. The Chinese emperor returned a haughty answer.

About 1212 Jenghis invaded Northern China and pierced the feeble rampart of the Great Wall. Ninety cities of China were taken by storm or reduced by famine by the Moguls. Jenghis, from a knowledge of the filial piety of the Chinese, covered his vanguard with their captive parents. This cruel and unworthy abuse of the virtue of his enemies gradually proved fruitless. The war was suspended by a treaty, and Jenghis was induced to retire by giving him a Chinese princess, three thousand horses, five hundred young men, as many virgins, and a tribute of gold and silk. In his second expedition Jenghis compelled the Chinese emperor to retire beyond Hoang Ho, the Yellow River, to a more southern residence. In 1215, after a long siege, during which the Chinese are said to have discharged ingots of gold and silver from their engines, he captured Pekin. The five northern provinces of China were annexed to the empire of Jenghis.

The Mogul empire touched on the west the dominions of Mohammed, Sultan of Khorasmia, who reigned from the Persian Gulf to the borders of India. A caravan of three ambassadors and one hundred and fifty merchants was arrested

and murdered by the command of Mohammed. Provoked by this crime, Jenghis invaded Southern Asia in 1218, with an army of about 700,000 men. In the wide plains which extend to the north of the Sihon or Jaxartes, he encountered 400,000 soldiers of the Sultan. In the first battle, which was suspended by the night, 160,000 Khorasmians were slain. Mohammed retreated and distributed his troops in the fortified frontier towns. Jenghis, who had Chinese engineers skilled in the mechanic arts, besieged and took Bokhara, Samarkand, Herat, Balkh, Candahar and Otrav. He conquered Transoxiana, Khorasmia and Khorassan.

After the death of Mohammed, his successor Jelal-ed-Deen fought many battles against Jenghis, and his valor checked the Moguls in their victorious career. Jenghis pursued Jelaled-Deen to the Indus, and there he yielded with reluctance to the murmurs of his weary troops, who sighed for the enjoyment of their native land. Their return was signalized by the overthrow of the rebellious or independent kingdoms of Tartary. Jenghis died in 1227, in the sixty-third year of his age, and with his last breath exhorted his sons to achieve the conquest of the Chinese Empire. His son Oktai was elected Great Khan or Emperor.

THE MOGUL CONQUEROR.

From the spacious highlands between China, Siberia, and the Caspian Sea, the tide of emigration and war has repeatedly been poured. These ancient seats of the Huns and Turks were occupied in the twelfth century by many pastoral tribes, of the same descent and similar manners, which were united and (A.D. 1206–1227) led to conquest by the formidable Zingis. In his ascent to greatness, that barbarian (whose private appellation was Temugin) had trampled on the necks of his equals. His birth was noble, but it was in the pride of victory that the prince or people deduced his seventh ancestor from the immaculate conception of a virgin. His father had reigned over thirteen hordes, which composed about thirty or forty thousand families; above two-thirds refused to pay tithes or obedience to his infant son, and at the age of thirteen Temugin fought a battle against his rebellious subjects. The