No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
Art. IV.—The Northern Frontagers of China. Part VIII. The Kirais and Prester John
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011
Extract
Before reporting the history of the Kirais in detail, so far as we can recover it, I will shortly dissect the story of Prester John. That a Christian king ruled over an Eastern people, remote from the centre of Christian life and isolated from the world, was a story that was very widely spread in early times; and inasmuch as more than one community answered to this description in distant parts of the world, it was natural that this king should be identified with the rulers of very different races. He was generally known as Presbyter Johannes or Prester John, and most travellers who went far afield in early times claimed to have discovered him.
- Type
- Original Communications
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1889
References
page 370 note 1 A corruption between Khan, chief, and Kam, the medicine man of the Shamanists.—Cathay and the Way Thither, p. 176, note 2.
page 399 note 1 Palladius says the larks in Mongolia are stationary. The Yuan shi uses the snow-bunting and the wild goose for its illustrations.
page 410 note 1 Perhaps jade cup is meant.
page 410 note 2 Nikuntaishi was Yessugei's elder brother, so Khuchar had better claims to the throne than his cousin Temujin. See Palladius, note 322.
page 410 note 3 Altan was cousin to Chinghiz Khan's father.
page 411 note 1 Sacha and Taichu were not sons of Bartan, but sons of Khutukhtu-Jurki, son of Ukin Barkhakh, Bartan's elder brother, and had therefore also superior claims to the latter's descendants.
page 411 note 2 This is no doubt some proverbial phrase in use among the Mongols. Palladius says the last expression means to have connection with the Myerkitams, to whom was allotted the plaiting of sheeps' tails and curls, and was a term of opprobrium, since sheeps' tails and curls were deemed useless (Id. notes 330, 331).
page 413 note 1 Gaubil, pp. 6, 9. Chapar or Jabar is mentioned in chapter 120, in the biographical section of the Yuan-shi. Bretschneider reads Dja-ba-r huo-djo. He says that he was reported to belong to Sai yi in the Si yü (i.e. the Western land, meaning here Persia). He was the chief of his tribe, whence the title of Huodj, which, we are told, in their language was the name of an office (doubtless the Persian Khojah). He was tall, with a long beard, large eyes, and broad forehead, brave, and a skilful rider and archer.—Bretschneider, Notices, etc. p. 49.
page 419 note 1 I find a station Chel on the map, north-east of Barkul and south-west of Chaghan Tala, which possibly answers to this Chual.
page 423 note 1 Col. Yule says the Arabic băriya—a desert; Marco Polo, vol. i. p. 233.