The Rashīdī History 9.3.3

9.3.3

Le Sultan Ablun-Mouhan, ayant appris que j'étais sur le trone de l'Empire Chinois, m'envoie des ambassadeurs. . . . Une telle conduite mérite quelque attention de ma part. . . ." And the venerable Amyot adds significantly:—"Ten years afterwards, that is to say in the year 1657, the King of Tourfan again despatched ambassadors carrying tribute, which means in plain French, that he sent people to trade and to receive presents from the Emperor. Yet His Imperial Majesty was greatly flattered by this new mission." A still more inexplicable statement is contained in a letter written by Amyot from Peking some time subsequently. Referring to Turfan, he says the country was so broken up in the early part of the sixteenth century, that in the year 1533 there were seventy-five small independent States, all the chiefs of which called themselves king. Here, all that can be said is that Amyot must have fallen into some error. He was living at Peking as far back as the middle of the eighteenth century, and may be assumed to have had good sources of information on historical as well as other subjects, but on this occasion he does not mention the authority for the statement he makes.