dreds of leagues further to the east, that he might
pay homage to the grand khan in Tartary. It was a terrible journey,
beneath a blazing sun, over burning plains, whitened by the bones of
those who had perished by the way. Those dreary solitudes had for ages
been traversed by caravans, and instead of cities and villages, and
the hum of busy life, the eye met only the tombs in which the dead
mouldered; and the silence of the grave oppressed the soul.

In the year 1249, Alexander returned from his humiliating journey to
Tartary. The khan was so well satisfied with his conduct, that he
appointed him king of all the realms of southern Russia. The pope, now
thoroughly alienated from Daniel, corresponded with Alexander,
entreating him to bring the Greek church under the supremacy of Rome,
and thus secure for himself the protection and the blessing of the
father of all the faithful. Alexander returned the peremptory reply,

"We wish to follow the true doctrines of the church. As for your
doctrines, we have no desire either to adopt them or to know them."

Alexander administered the government so much in accordance with the
will of his haughty masters, that the khan gradually increased his
dominion. Bati, the Tartar chieftain, who was encamped with his army
on the banks of the Volga and the Don, died in the year 1257, and his
bloody sword, the only scepter of his power, passed into the hands of
his brother Berki. Alexander felt compelled to hasten to the Tartar
camp, with expressions of homage to the new captain, and with rich
presents to conciliate his favor. Many of the Tartars had by this time
embraced Christianity, and there were frequent intermarriages between
the Russian nobles and princesses of the Tartar race. It is a curious
fact, that even then the Tartars were so conscious of the power of the
clergy over the popular mind, that they employed all the arts of
courtesy and bribes to secure their influence to hold the Russians in
subjection.

The Tartars exacted enormous tribute from the subjugated country. An
insurrection, headed by a son of Alexander, broke out at Novgorod. The
grand prince, terrified in view of the Mogol wrath which might be
expected to overwhelm him, arrested and imprisoned his son, who had
countenanced the enterprise, and punished the nobles implicated in the
movement with terrible severity. Some were hung; others had their eyes
plucked out and their noses cut off. But, unappeased by this fearful