the north-west, and took possession of the
plains situated upon the banks of the river Ili, beyond the glaciers of
the Moussour mountains; this is that part of Tartary which is now called
the Tourgout. The other division marched southwards, associated with it
in its course several other tribes, and reached the regions watered by
the Indus. There it laid waste the kingdom founded by the successors of
Alexander, strove for some time against the Parthians, and finished by
establishing itself in Bactriana. The Greeks called these Tartar tribes
Indo-Scythians.

Meanwhile divisions arose among the Huns; and the Chinese, ever politic
and cunning, took advantage of this circumstance to enfeeble them.
Towards the year 48 of our era, the Tartar empire was divided into
northern and southern. Under the dynasty of Han, the Northern Huns were
completely defeated by the Chinese armies. They were obliged to abandon
the regions wherein they had settled, and proceeded in large numbers
towards the west, to the borders of the Caspian Sea; here they spread
themselves over the countries watered by the Volga, and round the Palus
Maeotis.

They commenced in 376 their formidable irruptions upon the Roman empire.
They began by subduing the territory of the Alani, a nomad and pastoral
people like themselves; some of these sought refuge in the Circassian
mountains, others migrated further west, and finally settled on the
shores of the Danube. Later, they drove before them the Suevi, the
Goths, the Gepidae, and the Vandals, and with these advanced to ravage
Germany, in the beginning of the fifth century. These large hordes of
barbarians resembling waves, one driven on by the other, thus formed, in
their destructive course, a fearful torrent, which finally inundated
Europe.

The Southern Huns, who had remained in Tartary, were for a long time
weakened by the dispersion of their northern countrymen; but they
recovered, by insensible degrees, and again became terrible to the
Chinese; though they did not acquire a political and historical
importance till the time of the famous Tchinggiskhan, towards the close
of the twelfth century.

The power of the Tartars, long confined within the desert steppes of
Mongolia, broke at length its bounds, and innumerable armies might be
seen descending from the lofty table-lands of Central Asia, and
precipitating themselves with fury on horrified nations: Tchinggiskhan
carried pillage and death even to the