scriptions of the
Seres. There can be no mistaking the fact that in this case also the
great object was within the horizon of vision, yet the details
ascribed to it are often far from being true characteristics, being
only the accidents of its outer borders.

_The Medieval Cathay._--"Cathay" is the name by which the Chinese empire
was known to medieval Europe, and it is in its original form (_Kitai_)
that China is still known in Russia and to most of the nations of
Central Asia. West of Russia this name has long ceased to be a
geographical expression, but it is associated with a remarkable phase in
the history of geography and commerce. The name first became known to
Europe in the 13th century, when the vast conquests of Jenghiz Khan and
his house drew a new and vivid attention to Asia. For some three
centuries previously the northern provinces of China had been detached
from indigenous rule, and subject to northern conquerors. The first of
these foreign dynasties was of a race called _Khitan_ issuing from the
basin of the Sungari river, and supposed (but doubtfully) to have been
of the blood of the modern Tunguses. The rule of this race endured for
two centuries and originated the application of the name _Khitat_ or
_Khitai_ to northern China. The dynasty itself, known in Chinese history
as _Liao_, or "Iron," disappeared from China 1123, but the name remained
attached to the territory which they had ruled.

The Khitan were displaced by the Nuechih (_Nyuche_ or _Churche_) race,
akin to the modern Manchus. These reigned, under the title of _Kin_, or
"Golden," till Jenghiz and his Mongols invaded them in turn. In 1234 the
conquest of the Kin empire was completed, and the dynasty extinguished
under Ogdai (Ogotai), the son and successor of Jenghiz Khan. Forty years
later, in the reign of Kublai, grandson and ablest successor of Jenghiz,
the Mongol rule was extended over southern China (1276), which till
then had remained under a native dynasty, the Sung, holding its royal
residence in a vast and splendid city, now known as Hang-chow, but then
as Ling-nan, or more commonly as _King-sze_, i.e. the court. The
southern empire was usually called by the conquerors _Mantzi_ (or as
some of the old travellers write, _Mangi_), a name which western
Asiatics seem to have identified with _Machin_ (from the Sanskrit
_Mahachin_), one of the names by which China was known to the traders
from Persian and Arabian ports.

The conqu