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summarily, or in too little detail, in these assembled in large numbers under our eye, and
historical documents, he was instructed to fill considering that each of them possesses books
the gaps by collecting information on these which set out his country’s history, chronology
subjects from the scholars of China, India and and religion, and has at least a partial acquain­
other countries, considering that representatives tance with these different subjects.”
of all the peoples of the world are to be found Thus at the age of sixty the old minister
at His Majesty’s court.” set to work on a History of the World; again he
He then mentions specifically that Ghazan sought out books and informants and spared no
advised him to consult frquently Pulad pains to collect the most exact records of every
Chingsiang. the Great Khan’s High Commissi­ civilized people. He was, of course, already
oner at Tabriz, the Persian capital. Pulad was familiar with the history of his own country ;
a sinicized Mongol, well known for his encyclo­ for China he was lucky enough to find two
pedic knowledge of Turkish and Mongol tribal scholars at Olijeitu’s court, Li Ta-chi and
lore, and there is no doubt that he helped to Mak-sun, who answered his questions and pro­
make Rashid’s History a fuller and more vided him with a compendium of Chinese
accurate record than otherwise would have history compiled by three Buddhist monks
been the case. whose work, they assured him, had been
Rashid worked indefatigably at his History checked and approved by the Confucfan literati;
during the last years of Ghazan’s reign. Like his summary of Indian history, which includes
Pliny, he was avaricious of time and, unwill­ a long passage on the life and teaching of the
ing to neglect his official duties, he formed the Buddha, was derived in part a learned bhikshu.
habit of rising early and doing his literary or religious mendicant, and in part from an able
work in the hours between morning prayer arid monograph by the earlier persian scholar al-
sunrise. The book was uncompleted when his Biruni, who wrote about 1030.
royal patron died in 1304 at the early age of Most interesting, from our point of view,
thirtythree. (Most Mongol Khans died young, is what Rashid has to say about Europeans or,
usually of drink !) Ghazan was succeeded by as he calls them, in Muslim fashion, the Franks.
his brother Oljeitu, who was less of a reformer, In his Mongol history he scarcely mentions
but equally interested in his people’s past, and them, though in one intriguing passage he tells
it was to him that Rashid presented the us that in 1257 Hulegu, pushing westwards
finished History in April 1306. The new Khan through Iraq and Syria, ordered his generals tc
read it with deep attention and congratulated free the lands on the shores of the Mediter-
the minister on his achievement. Set out in rantan from the children of Ifrins and Laokitar.
impressive detail, the story was such as to This refers to .the Crusaders, who then still held
flatter a Mongol’s pride : Oljeitu doubtless felt a few outposts in Syria and Palestine ; ‘Ifrins’
a satisfaction that it was recorded in durable is obviously France, and Professor Boyle has
prose and would never be forgotten. Then a recently shown that ‘Lankitar’ must be Angle-
thought struck him. Rashid had written the terre (England), the initial T being the Arabic
history of the Mongols; would it not be a good article ‘al\ Clearly Edward I (‘Prince’ Edward
thing to write a history of the nations the till his father Henry Ill’s death in 1272) must
Mongols had conquered ? A second volume have made his country widely known in the
would reinforce the first. The Mongol armies East as a result of his Crusading activities. But
had spread over a large part of the world; now in his second volume Rashid goes into fuller
was the opportunity to record the annals of detail : he tells of the quarrels between the
\ every nation. popes and the German emperors, whose names
“Now that the world is subject ,to us he gives ; he knows that under Edward I
Mongols (Oljeitu told Rashid), with the result England has reduced Scotland to dependence,
that doctors, astronomers, scholars and histor­ and that there are no snakes in Ireland. Where
ians, natives of China, India, Kashmir. Tibet did he learn all this ? Possibly from the chro­
and o.ther nations, Turk. Arab and Frank, are nicle of the Bohemian Dominican, Martin of
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