century, after their expulsion from China."
Dr. Bretschneider (_Med. Res._ I. p. 123) rightly observes: "It seems,
however, that Paderin is mistaken in his supposition. At least it does not
agree with the position assigned to the ancient Mongol residence in the
Mongol annals _Erdenin erikhe_, translated into Russian, in 1883, by
Professor Pozdneiev. It is there positively stated (p. 110, note 2) that
the monastery of _Erdenidsu_, founded in 1585, was erected on the ruins of
that city, which once had been built by order of Ogotai Khan, and where he
had established his residence; and where, after the expulsion of the
Mongols from China, Togontemur again had fixed the Mongol court. This vast
monastery still exists, one English mile, or more, east of the Orkhon. It
has even been astronomically determined by the Jesuit missionaries, and is
marked on our maps of Mongolia. Pozdneiev, who visited the place in 1877,
obligingly informs me that the square earthen wall surrounding the
monastery of Erdenidsu, and measuring about an English mile in
circumference, may well be the very wall of ancient Karakorum."
Recent researches have fully confirmed the belief that the Erdeni Tso, or
Eideni Chao, Monastery occupies the site of Karakorum, near the bank of
the Orkhon, between this river and the Kokchin (old) Orkhon. (See map in
_Inscriptions de l'Orkhon_, Helsingfors, 1892; a plan of the vicinity and
of the Erdeni Tso is given (plate 36) in _W. Radloff's Atlas der
Alterthuemer der Mongolei_, St. Pet., 1892.)
[Illustration]
According to a work of the 13th century quoted by the late Professor G.
Deveria, the distance between the old capital of the Uighur, Kara
Balgasun, on the left bank of the Orkhon, north of Erdeni Tso, and the
Ho-lin or Karakorum of the Mongols, would be 70 _li_ (about 30 miles), and
such is the space between Erdeni Tso and Kara Balgasun. M. Marcel Monnier
(_Itineraires_, p. 107) estimates the bird's-eye distance from Erdeni Tso
to Kara Balgasun at 33 kilom. (about 20-1/2 miles). "When the brilliant
epoch of the power of the Chinghizkhanides," says Professor Axel Heikel,
"was at an end, the city of Karakorum fell into oblivion, and towards the
year 1590 was founded, in the centre of this historically celebrated
region of the Orkhon, the most ancient of Buddhist monasteries of
Mongolia, this of Erdeni Tso [Erdeni Chao]. It was built, according to a
Mongol chronicle, on the ruins of the town built by Okkodai, so
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