The Nāṣirī Generations 257.3.1

257.3.1

This is the place where Mr. H. H. Howorth, in his Mongols Proper page 59, on the authority of some foreign translation says: “He now collected an army and marched against the Keraits. His army was very inferior in numbers, but attacked the enemy with ardour,” &c. His “flight from the Awang Khan” is not alluded to in the least, and he must have been exceedingly clever to collect an army, but, at page 552 of the same book, the story is told from another translation in a totally different manner. Tamur-chi thought it advisable however to withdraw quietly during the night towards the source of the Balijunah—some say, the Lake Baljiunah—Baljunah Nawar—and others, Baljunah Bulak, Bulagh, or Balik, signifying a spring in Turkish, whither the women and children had been previously despatched. This lake was salt, and contained but little water, scarcely sufficient for his people to drink. If we consider that Kara-Kuram was the chief encampment or dwelling-place of the Awang Khan, the retreat of Tamur-chi towards this lake of Baljunah, in which there was scarcely enough muddy water to quench the thirst of man and beast, and his subsequent movements, are sufficiently clear.