wn hands, the instruments of freedom and victory. They sallied
from the mountains; [25] a sceptre was the reward of his advice; and the
annual ceremony, in which a piece of iron was heated in the fire, and
a smith's hammer [2511] was successively handled by the prince and his
nobles, recorded for ages the humble profession and rational pride of
the Turkish nation. Bertezena, [2512] their first leader, signalized
their valor and his own in successful combats against the neighboring
tribes; but when he presumed to ask in marriage the daughter of
the great khan, the insolent demand of a slave and a mechanic was
contemptuously rejected. The disgrace was expiated by a more noble
alliance with a princess of China; and the decisive battle which almost
extirpated the nation of the Geougen, established in Tartary the new and
more powerful empire of the Turks. [2513] They reigned over the north;
but they confessed the vanity of conquest, by their faithful attachment
to the mountain of their fathers. The royal encampment seldom lost sight
of Mount Altai, from whence the River Irtish descends to water the rich
pastures of the Calmucks, [26] which nourish the largest sheep and oxen
in the world. The soil is fruitful, and the climate mild and temperate:
the happy region was ignorant of earthquake and pestilence; the
emperor's throne was turned towards the East, and a golden wolf on the
top of a spear seemed to guard the entrance of his tent. One of the
successors of Bertezena was tempted by the luxury and superstition of
China; but his design of building cities and temples was defeated by the
simple wisdom of a Barbarian counsellor. "The Turks," he said, "are not
equal in number to one hundredth part of the inhabitants of China. If
we balance their power, and elude their armies, it is because we wander
without any fixed habitations in the exercise of war and hunting.
Are we strong? we advance and conquer: are we feeble? we retire and
are concealed. Should the Turks confine themselves within the walls of
cities, the loss of a battle would be the destruction of their empire.
The bonzes preach only patience, humility, and the renunciation of the
world. Such, O king! is not the religion of heroes." They entertained,
with less reluctance, the doctrines of Zoroaster; but the greatest part
of the nation acquiesced, without inquiry, in the opinions, or rather in
the practice, of their ancestors. The honors of sacrifice were
reserved for the su