and Turkish kinsmen on the west, but politically separate from them. Collectively they were known as the "Tunguse," and covered a widespread area, varying much in habits and culture. Their northern branches lived a wild nomad life in the forests north of the Amur River, while those in the fertile plains of Southern Manchuria, who were known as "Manchus," were more civilized and cultured. About the beginning of the seventeenth century this Manchu tribe of Tunguses began to rise from obscurity. By agriculture they had become wealthy; they possessed a literature influenced by Chinese culture from the south; and, being a northern race, they were skilled in the art of war. It was not long before they made themselves masters of what is now Manchuria, thus laying the seeds of the Manchu race, or, as it was soon to be, the Manchu dynasty of China. In 1644, chafing under Chinese misrule, their ruler, Thai tsu, by a remarkable train of events, overthrew the tottering Ming dynasty at Peking and made himself ruler of the great Chinese Empire with its teeming millions and its highly developed civilization. Thai tsu was succeeded in 1662 by the Emperor Kang-hi; and shortly after his ascent to the Dragon Throne there was a revolt of some of the Tunguse tribes on the Amur River against their own kinsmen who were ruling at Peking. An expedition was accordingly sent to reduce them, and a dramatic incident in the history of North-East Asia now took place.
The Cossacks were at this moment pushing their forces into the Amur country, and they too began operations against these same Tunguse tribes of North Manchuria. The two expeditions joined hands,
