by the murder of a brother. He attacked the Khalkas, and thus incurred
the resentment of K`ang Hsi, whose subjects they were; and in order to
strengthen his power, he applied to the Dalai Lama for ordination, but
was refused. He then feigned conversion to Mahometanism, though without
attracting Mahometan sympathies. In 1689 the Emperor in person led an
army against him, crossing the deadly desert of Gobi for this purpose.
Finally, after a further expedition and a decisive defeat in 1693,
Galdan became a fugitive, and died three years afterwards. He was
succeeded as khan by his nephew, Arabtan, who soon took up the offensive
against China. He invaded Tibet, and pillaged the monasteries as far
as Lhasa; but was ultimately driven back by a Manchu army to Sungaria,
where he was murdered in 1727.

The question of the calendar early attracted attention under the reign
of K`ang Hsi. After the capture of Peking in 1644, the Manchus had
employed the Jesuit Father, Schaal, upon the Astronomical Board, an
appointment which, owing to the jealousies aroused, very nearly cost him
his life. What he taught was hardly superior to the astronomy then in
vogue, which had been inherited from the Mongols, being nothing more
than the old Ptolemaic system, already discarded in Europe. In 1669, a
Flemish Jesuit Father from Courtrai, named Verbiest, was placed upon the
Board, and was entrusted with the correction of the calendar according
to more recent investigations.

Christianity was officially recognized in 1692, and an Imperial edict
was issued ordering its toleration throughout the empire. The discovery
of the Nestorian tablet in 1625 had given a considerable impulse, in
spite of its heretical associations, to Christian propagandism; and it
was estimated that in 1627 there were no fewer than thirteen thousand
converts, many of whom were highly placed officials, and even members of