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CHAP. IV.
A FRENCH MISSIONARY IN TARTARY.—TCHINQUIZ-KHAN PROCLAIMED SOVEREIGN OF THE TARTARS.—CHARACTER OF THIS FAMOUS CONQUEROR.—HIS CONQUESTS.—HIS DEATH.—HIS RELIGIOUS FAITH.—ELECTION OF HIS SUCCESSOR.—TARTAR INVASION OF GEORGIA OF ARMENIA.—GREGORY IX. AND THE QUEEN RHOUZOUDAN.—INVASION OF POLAND.—SAINT HYACINTH.—BATTLE OF LIEGNITZ.—RAVAGES OF THE MONGOLS IN POLAND AND RUSSIA.—FREDERIC BARBAROSSA—ST. LOUIS AND QUEEN BLANCHE.—BELA IV. KING OF HUNGARY.—ADVENTURES OF THE CANON OF VARADIN. — GREGORY IX. PREACHES A CRUSADE AGAINST THE TARTARS.—GREGORY IX. AND FREDERIC BARBAROSSA.—RELIGION OF THE MONGOL TARTARS.—INNOCENT IV. AT THE COUNCIL-GENERAL OF LYONS—DECREE THAT MISSIONARY AMBASSADORS SHALL BE SENT TO THE TARTARS.
A few years ago, a French missionary was following across the Steppes of Tartary a Mongol caravan, which was conducting a long string of camels, laden with Chinese merchandise, to Kiakta, on the frontiers of Siberia. One day, the caravan stopped in a vast plain, not far from the source of the Onan, one of the great tributaries of the river Amour. The place of encampment chosen by these nomadic herdsmen was an immense prairie, which, as the wind swept over the high grass that covered it, resembled a wide sea. The horizon was bounded in all directions by a girdle of mountains of a yellowish tint, whose summits were covered by eternal snows, then glittering in the rays of the sun.
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