Chingis Khan spent five months there (an. 1208), during which
he invaded and plundered the country in the neighbourhood. [Si hia shu
shi.] The Alashan Mountains form a semicircle 500 li in extent, and
have over forty narrow passes leading to the department of Ning-hia; the
broadest and most practicable of these is now called Ch'i-mu-K'ow; it is
not more than 80 feet broad. [Ning hia ju chi.] It may be that the
Urahai fortress existed near this pass."
"From Liang-chow fu, M. Polo follows a special route, leaving the modern
postal route on his right; the road he took has, since the time of the
Emperor K'ang-hi, been called the courier's route." (Palladius, 18.) - H.
C.]
NOTE 2. - Calachan, the chief town of Egrigaia, is mentioned, according
to Klaproth, by Rashiduddin, among the cities of Tangut, as KALAJAN. The
name and approximate position suggest, as just noticed, identity with
Alashan, the modern capital of which, called by Prjevalsky Dyn-yuan-yin,
stands some distance west of the Hwang-Ho, in about lat. 39 deg.. Polo gives
no data for the interval between this and his next stage.
[The Dyn-yuan-yin of Prjevalsky is the camp of Ting-yuan-yng or Fu-ma-
fu of M. Bonin, the residence of the Si-wang (western prince), of Alashan,
an abbreviation of Alade-shan (shan, mountain in Chinese), Alade =
Eleuth or Oeloet; the sister of this prince married a son of Prince Tuan,
the chief of the Boxers.
