nches Coloriees, Pl.
95; in _Gould_, as above; in _Gray, Genera of Birds_, vol. iii. p. 517
(life size); and in the _Ibis_ for April, 1860. From the last our cut is
taken.

[See _A. David et Oustalet_, _Oiseaux de la Chine_, 389, on _Syrrhaptes
Pallasii_ or _Syrrhaptes Paradoxus_.--H. C.]

[Illustration: Syrrhaptes Pallasii.]

NOTE 4.--Gerfalcons (_Shonkar_) were objects of high estimation in the
Middle Ages, and were frequent presents to and from royal personages. Thus
among the presents sent with an embassy from King James II. of Aragon to
the Sultan of Egypt, in 1314, we find three white gerfalcons. They were
sent in homage to Chinghiz and to Kublai, by the Kirghiz, but I cannot
identify the mountains where they or the Peregrines were found. The
Peregrine falcon was in Europe sometimes termed _Faucon Tartare_. (See
_Menage_ s. v. _Sahin_.) The Peregrine of Northern Japan, and probably
therefore that of Siberia, is identical with that of Europe. Witsen speaks
of an island in the Sea of Tartary, from which falcons were got,
apparently referring to a Chinese map as his authority; but I know nothing
more of it. (_Capmany_, IV. 64-65; _Ibis_, 1862, p. 314; _Witsen_, II.
656.)

[On the _Falco peregrinus_, Lin., and other Falcons, see Ed. Blanc's paper
mentioned on p. 162. The _Falco Saker_ is to be found all over Central
Asia; it is called by the Pekingese _Hwang-yng_ (yellow falcon), (_David
et Oustalet_, _Oiseaux de la Chine_, 31-32.)--H. C.]

CHAPTER LVII.

OF THE KINGDOM OF ERGUIUL, AND PROVINCE OF SINJU.

On leaving Campichu, then, you travel five days across a tract in which
many spirits are heard speaking in the night season; and at the end of
those five marches, towards the east, you come to a kingdom called
ERGUIUL, belonging to the Great Kaan. It is one of the several kingdoms
which make up the great Province of Tangut. The people consist of
Nestorian Christians, Idolaters, and worshippers of Mahommet.[NOTE 1]

There are plenty of cities in this kingdom, but the capital is ERGUIUL.
You can travel in a south-easterly direction from this place into the
province of Cathay. Should you follow that road to the south-east, you
come to a city called SINJU, belonging also to Tangut, and subject to the
Great Kaan, which has under it many towns and villages.[NOTE 2] The
population is composed of Idolaters, and worshippers of Mahommet, but
there are some Christians also. There are wild cattle in that country