The calif's
plans.--Objections to them.--Arguments of the calif.--Message to
Genghis Khan.--Artful device.--The answer of Genghis Khan.--The
caravan arrives at Otrar.--The governor's treachery.--The party
massacred.--Genghis Khan hears the tidings.--He declares
war.--Preparations.

The portion of China which Genghis Khan had added to his dominions by
the conquests described in the last chapter was called Katay, and the
possession of it, added to the extensive territories which were
previously under his sway, made his empire very vast. The country
which he now held, either under his direct government, or as tributary
provinces and kingdoms, extended north and south through the whole
interior of Asia, and from the shores of the Japan and China Seas on
the east, nearly to the Caspian Sea on the west, a distance of nearly
three thousand miles.

Beyond his western limits lay Turkestan and other countries governed
by the Mohammedans. Among the other Mohammedan princes there was a
certain Sultan Mohammed, a great and very powerful sovereign, who
reigned over an extensive region in the neighborhood of the Caspian
Sea, though the principal seat of his power was a country called
Karazm. He was, in consequence, sometimes styled Mohammed Karazm.

It might perhaps have been expected that Genghis Khan, having subdued
all the rivals within his reach in the eastern part of Asia, and being
strong and secure in the possession of his power, would have found
some pretext for making war upon the sultan, with a view of conquering
his territories too, and adding the countries bordering on the Caspian
to his dominions. But, for some reason or other, he concluded, in this
instance, to adopt a different policy. Whether it was that he was
tired of war and wished for repose, or whether the sultan's dominions
were too remote, or his power too great to make it prudent to attack
him, he determined on sending an embassy instead of an army, with a
view of proposing to the sultan a treaty of friendship and alliance.

The time when this embassy was sent was in the year 1217, and the name
of the principal embassador was Makinut.

Makinut set out on his mission accompanied by a large retinue of
attendants and guards. The journey occupied several weeks, but at
length he arrived in the sultan's dominions. Soon after his arrival he
was admitted to an audience of the sultan, and there, accompanied by
his own secretaries, and in the presence of all the