his four heirs; to the same tribe belonged the two wives of
Chagatai, two of Hulaku's seven wives, one of Mangku Kaan's, two at least
of Kublai's including the beloved Jamui Khatun, one at least of Abaka's,
two of Ahmed Tigudar's, two of Arghun's, and two of Ghazan's.

The seat of the Kungurats was near the Great Wall. Their name is still
applied to one of the tribes of the Uzbeks of Western Turkestan, whose
body appears to have been made up of fractions of many of the Turk and
Mongol tribes. Kungurat is also the name of a town of Khiva, near the Sea
of Aral, perhaps borrowed from the Uzbek clan.

The conversion of _Kungurat_ into _Ungrat_ is due, I suppose, to that
Mongol tendency to soften gutturals which has been before noticed.
(_Erdm._ 199-200; _Hammer, passim; Burnes_, III. 143, 225.)

The Ramusian version adds here these curious and apparently genuine
particulars:--

"The Great Kaan sends his commissioners to the Province to select four or
five hundred, or whatever number may be ordered, of the most beautiful
young women, according to the scale of beauty enjoined upon them. And they
set a value upon the comparative beauty of the damsels in this way. The
commissioners on arriving assemble all the girls of the province, in
presence of appraisers appointed for the purpose. These carefully survey
the points of each girl in succession, as (for example) her hair, her
complexion, eyebrows, mouth, lips, and the proportion of all her limbs.
They will then set down some as estimated at 16 carats, some at 17, 18,
20, or more or less, according to the sum of the beauties or defects of
each. And whatever standard the Great Kaan may have fixed for those that
are to be brought to him, whether it be 20 carats or 21, the commissioners
select the required number from those who have attained that standard, and
bring them to him. And when they reach his presence he has them appraised
anew by other parties, and has a selection made of 30 or 40 of those, who
then get the highest valuation."

Marsden and Murray miss the meaning of this curious statement in a
surprising manner, supposing the carat to represent some absolute value, 4
grains of gold according to the former, whence the damsel of 20 carats was
estimated at 13_s._ 4_d._! This is sad nonsense; but Marsden would not
have made the mistake had he not been fortunate enough to live before the
introduction of Competitive Examinations. This Kungurat business was in
fact a compe