and journeying along the southern
slopes of the Tian-Shan Mountains.

All this is conjecture, but we touch firmer soil when we trace them to
the upper course of the Hoang-ho, or Yellow River, whose stream they
followed eastward until they reached the fertile plains of the district
now known as Shan-se. Here the immigrants settled in small colonies, and
put in practice those habits of settled labor which they seem to have
brought with them from afar. Yet there is reason to believe that they
had at one time been nomads, belonging to the herding rather than to the
agricultural races of the earth. Many of the common words in their
language are partly made up of the characters for sheep and cattle, and
the Chinese house so resembles the Tartar tent in outline that it is
said that the soldiers of Genghis Khan, on taking a city, at once pulled
down the walls of the houses and left the roof supported by its wooden
columns as an excellent substitute for a tent.

However that be, the new-comers seem to have quickly become farmers,
growing grain for food and flax for their garments. The culture of the
silk-worm was early known, trade was developed, and fairs were held.
There was intellectual culture also. They knew something of astronomy,
and probably possessed the art of hieroglyphic writing,--which, if they
came from Babylonia, they may well have brought with them.

This took place five thousand years or more ago, and for a long time the
history of the Chinese was that of the conquest of the native tribes.
They name themselves the "black-haired race," but their foes are classed
as "fiery dogs" in the north, "great bowmen" in the east, "mounted
warriors" in the west, and "ungovernable vermin" in the south. Against
these savages war was probably long continued, the invaders gradually
widening their area, founding new states, driving back the natives into
the mountains and deserts, and finally so nearly annihilating them that
only a small remnant remained. The descendants of these, the Meaou-tsze,
mountain-dwellers, still remain hostile to China, and hold their own in
the mountain strongholds against its armies.

Such was the China with which history opens. Ancient Chinese writers
amuse themselves with a period of millions of years in which venerable
dynasties reigned, serving to fill up the vast gap made by their
imagination in the period before written history began. And when history
does appear it is not easy to tell how muc