to 2132 years before Christ; and the year 2637 has been chosen
for the lawful epoch, by the authority of the present emperor.
The difference arises from the uncertain duration of the two first
dynasties; and the vacant space that lies beyond them, as far as the
real, or fabulous, times of Fohi, or Hoangti. Sematsien dates his
authentic chronology from the year 841; the thirty-six eclipses of
Confucius (thirty-one of which have been verified) were observed between
the years 722 and 480 before Christ. The historical period of China does
not ascend above the Greek Olympiads.]

[Footnote 24: After several ages of anarchy and despotism, the dynasty
of the Han (before Christ 206) was the aera of the revival of learning.
The fragments of ancient literature were restored; the characters were
improved and fixed; and the future preservation of books was secured
by the useful inventions of ink, paper, and the art of printing.
Ninety-seven years before Christ, Sematsien published the first history
of China. His labors were illustrated, and continued, by a series of
one hundred and eighty historians. The substance of their works is still
extant; and the most considerable of them are now deposited in the king
of France's library.]

[Footnote 25: China has been illustrated by the labors of the French; of
the missionaries at Pekin, and Messrs. Freret and De Guignes at Paris.
The substance of the three preceding notes is extracted from the
Chou-king, with the preface and notes of M. de Guignes, Paris, 1770. The
Tong-Kien-Kang-Mou, translated by P. de Mailla, under the name of Hist.
Generale de la Chine, tom. i. p. xlix.--cc.; the Memoires sur la Chine,
Paris, 1776, &c., tom. i. p. 1--323; tom. ii. p. 5--364; the Histoire
des Huns, tom. i. p. 4--131, tom. v. p. 345--362; and the Memoires de
l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. x. p. 377--402; tom. xv. p. 495--564;
tom. xviii. p. 178--295; xxxvi. p. 164--238.]

[Footnote 26: See the Histoire Generale des Voyages, tom. xviii., and
the Genealogical History, vol. ii. p. 620--664.]

Chapter XXVI: Progress of The Huns.--Part II.

The Huns, who under the reign of Valens threatened the empire of Rome,
had been formidable, in a much earlier period, to the empire of China.
[27] Their ancient, perhaps their original, seat was an extensive,
though dry and barren, tract of country, immediately on the north side
of the great wall. Their place is at present occupied by the forty-nine
Hords or B