Note 1 — Chapter XLIII · THE MANCHURIAN FRONTIER.

The Chinese applied to the eastern Mongols the name of Dun-Khu, whence the name Tunguses. And wild they must have been in early times, if the account be true that during the winter they lived in subterraneous dwellings, and smeared their bodies with pigs’ fat to protect themselves from cold. The first amelioration in their condition is said to have been due to the conquests of the Coreans, who, in their wars with China, made use of these northern neighbours. When, however, the Coreans fell under the sway of the Chinese, in 677 A.D., the Tungusians, who were subsequently known as the Manchu, retired northwards to the Shan-alin mountains. With the help of many Coreans, they founded the empire of the Bokhai, and the country became one of the most flourishing kingdoms on the eastern sea. The heirs of the power of the Bokhai were the Jurjis, who founded the empire of Kin, and were known as Kin, or Golden Tatars. They dominated over Northern China in the 12th century, and were the ancestors of the Manchu. It is not necessary to follow the vicissitudes of this kingdom through the centuries that followed; but in 1618 the power of the Manchu was so well established, that their king made war with China, and repeatedly defeated the emperor. Some years later, a revolution broke out in China, in the midst of which, in 1643, the emperor committed suicide; whereupon the imperial party called in the aid of the Manchu, who drove the rebels out of Peking. The Chinese general was then left to pursue them further south, whilst the Manchu chief, finding the throne vacant, took it for himself and kept it, and the Manchu dynasty reigns in China to this day. These events were followed by very remarkable consequences to the Manchu country and people; for though by conquest they had gained a neighbouring throne, yet the Chinese managed so to fuse their conquerors with themselves, and to get possession of their country, that the Manchu, during the two centuries they have reigned in China, may be said to have been working out their own annihilation. Their manners, language, their very country has become Chinese, and some maintain that the Manchu proper are now extinct.